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12 PAGES | `4.00BHUBANESWAR | TUESDAY, MARCH 23 | 2021

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Actor Dia Mirza shares a post about waterscarcity in Instagram to observeWorld Water Day

CLIMATE CRUSADERAfter winning T20I series, India look for awinning start when they take onEngland in the first ODI

1ST ODI TODAY

SPORTS | P12LEISURE | P2

India-Pakistan cease-fire marked a milestonein secret talks brokered by the UAE thatbegan months earlier INTERNATIONAL | P10

INDO-PAK PEACE PLAN

VOLUME 10, ISSUE 350 | www.orissapost.com

IRREGULAR by MANJUL

Ministers can’t resign based on corruption charges. If that’s the case,

there’ll be none left to run govt!

SHORT TAKES

Srinagar: Four Lashkar-e-Taiba(LeT) militants were killed in anencounter with security forcesMonday in Shopian district ofJammu and Kashmir, policesaid. Security forces launcheda cordon and search operationin Manihal area of the districtaround midnight, followinginformation about the presenceof militants there.

4 LeT men killed

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Night curfew back in MalkangiriGap between twovax doses raised

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, March 22: The percapital loan burden in the statewent up from `9,180 in 2009-10 to`23,524 by January-end of thisyear, Finance Minister NiranjanPujari said, Monday.

In a reply to Congress MLATaraprasad Bahinipati’s query,Pujari said the per capita debtburden was `9,180.06 in 2009-10that went up to `23,524.82 tillJanuary, 2020-21. However, this isless than the national per capitalloan and that of some of the lead-ing states in the country.

The total loan burden of thestate by January-end was`1,03,410.40 crore including ̀ 6,347.44crore from foreign agencies and`53,385.92 crore from internalsources like CAMPA, OMBADCand open market.

The state government gener-ally takes loans from internationalfinancial agencies, governmentof India, internal sources, provi-dent fund and other resources, hesaid. As far as loans from exter-nal aided agencies are concerned,the minister said it has borrowedfrom agencies like World Bank,Asian Development Bank,International Fund for AgricultureDevelopment, Japan InternationalCooperation Agency, KfWDevelopment Bank, BRICS Bankand Asian InfrastructureInvestment Bank for infrastruc-ture projects. As the NABARDhas launched various programmes,Pujari said the state governmenthas borrowed `15,623.55 crore.

AGENCIES

New Delhi, March 22: Centralgovernment's tax collections onpetrol and diesel have jumpedover 300 per cent in the last sixyears as excise duty on the twofuels was hiked, the Lok Sabhawas informed Monday.

The central government col-lected `29,279 crore from exciseduty on petrol and `42,881 croreon diesel in 2014-15 -- the first yearof office of the Modi government.

The collections on petrol anddiesel rose to ̀ 2.94 lakh crore in thefirst 10 months of the current fis-cal (2020-21), according to infor-mation furnished by Minister ofState Anurag Singh Thakur in awritten reply to a question in theLok Sabha. Together with exciseduty on natural gas, the centralgovernment in 2014-15 collected`74,158 crore which has gone upto ̀ 2.95 lakh crore in April 2020 toJanuary 2021 period.

He said taxes collected on petrol,diesel and natural gas as a per-centage of total revenue havegone up from 5.4 per cent in 2014-15 to 12.2 per cent this fiscal.Excise duty on petrol has beenraised from ̀ 9.48 per litre in 2014to `32.90 a litre now while thesame on diesel has gone up from`3.56 a litre to ̀ 31.80. Taxes makeup for 60 per cent of the presentretail price of petrol of ̀ 91.17 a litrein Delhi. Excise duty makes up for36 per cent of the retail price.Over 53 per cent of the retail sell-

ing price of ̀ 81.47 a litre of dieselin Delhi is made up of taxes.

As much as 39 per cent of the re-tail price comprises of central ex-cise. "The total central excise duty(including basic excise duty, cessesand surcharge) was increased by ̀ 3per litre on petrol and diesel witheffect from March 14, 2020. It wasrevised upwards by `10 per litreon petrol and ̀ 13 per litre on dieselwith effect from May 6, 2020,"Thakur said. These increases tookaway the gain that would have ac-crued to consumers from a sharpdrop in global oil prices. The hikein excise duty is similar to the in-crease in taxes the governmentdid between November 2014 andJanuary 2016.

Over nine instalments, duty onpetrol was hiked by ̀ 11.77 per litreand that on diesel by 13.47 a litre inthose 15 months. The governmenthad cut excise duty by ̀ 2 in October2017, and by `1.50 a year later. Butit raised excise duty by ̀ 2 per litrein July 2019. The excise duty rateshave been calibrated to generateresources for infrastructure andother developmental items.

AGENCIES

New Delhi, March 22: KanganaRanaut was declared Best Actressfor her performances in the Hindifilms Manikarnika and Panga atthe 67th National Film Awards thatwere announced in the city Monday.Manoj Bajpayee, for the Hindi filmBhonsle, and Dhanush, for his rolein the Tamil film Asuran, werejointly declared Best Actor.

Director Priyadarshan's Malayalamfilm "Marakkar: ArabikadalinteSimham" was declared the best fea-ture film and Sanjay Puran SinghChauhan was named best directorfor Hindi film "Bahattar Hoorain"by the National Film Award jury,headed by filmmaker N Chandra,

who said they judged the movies "notas gods but as parents".

The 67th edition of the awardswere organised by Directorate of

Film Festivals (DFF) of the Ministryof Information and Broadcasting.The ceremony was scheduled to beheld in May 2020 but had to be post-

poned owing to the Covid pandemic.Late actor Sushant Singh Raput-

starrer "Chhichhore" was adjudgedthe best Hindi film. The award for

the best film on social issues wentto Marathi film "Anandi Gopal",the Nargis Dutt award for NationalIntegration was given to"Taj Mahal"and the best popular providing

wholesome entertainment was givento the Telugu film "Maharshi". TheIndira Gandhi award for first filmwent to Malayalam film "Helen" byMathukutty Xavier.

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, March 22:Targeting the state governmentover law and order situation in thestate, the BJP and the CongressMonday demanded removal of LawMinister Pratap Jena over his al-leged involvement in the Mahangadouble murder case.

BJP members stalled the pro-ceedings of the house several timesthroughout the day demanding re-moval and arrest of Jena in con-nection with Mahanga double mur-der case. Even, The BJP members

urged Speaker SN Patro not to allowJena to participate in the pro-ceedings. As soon as the house as-sembled at 10.30 am, Leader ofOpposition Pradipta Naik urgedthe Speaker to allow him to raise theissue of Mahanga case. Patro, how-ever, said the issue could be raisedduring zero hour and asked Ministerof State for Home Dibya ShankarMishra to reply to a question.

In protest the BJP members car-rying posters and banners stormedinto the well of the house, shoutedslogans and disrupted the pro-ceedings. As the Assembly plunged

into a chaos, the Speaker adjournedthe house till 11.30 am. Naik saidJena is named as the 13th accusedin the FIR lodged in Mahanga PS.

In his reply, the Speaker askedNaik to show him a rule or lawthat will restrict the minister fromentering the house. Later, Patroclarified that a person again whomnon-bailable warrant has been is-sued, he/she cannot enter theAssembly. Congress MLA SantoshSingh Saluja demanded removalof Jena from the ministry and citeda similar ruling by former SpeakerMaheswar Mohanty in the past.

Central tax on fueljumps 300% in 6 yrs

Kangana, Manoj Bajpayee and Dhanush win top honours

Oppn demands Jena’s scalp

State’s per capitadebt burden rises to ̀ 23,524

New Delhi: The Delhi High CourtMonday stayed the recentsingle bench order upholdingthe Singapore EmergencyAward and stalling Future Retailfrom going ahead with the`24,713 crore deal with RelianceRetail. The bench also stayed`20 lakh fine and the showcause notice to the Biyanis. P11

Respite for Future

AGENCIES

New Delhi, March 22: TheCentre Monday revised thetime window within whichthe 2nd dose of Covishieldcan be taken, asking all statesand Union Territories to ad-minister it between 4 and 8weeks instead of 4-6 weeks.

"In view of the emerg-ing scientific evidence, theinterval between two dosesof a specific COVID-19 vac-cine i e. COVISHIELD , hasbeen revisited by NationalTechnical Advisory Groupon Immunisation (NTAGI)and subsequently by NEG-VAC in its 20th meetingduring which the recom-mendation has been re-

vised to provide 2nd dose ofCOVISHIELD at 4-8 weeks'interval after 1st dose in-stead of earlier practiced in-terval of 4-6 weeks,” theUnion health ministryMonday said.

In a letter written to thechief secretaries of statesand UTs Monday, UnionHealth Secretary RajeshBhushan said the ministryhas accepted the recom-mendations of NTAGI andNEGVAC. “…and has there-after advised the states andUTs to ensure the adminis-tration of 2nd dose of CO-VISHIELD to beneficiarieswithin this stipulated timeinterval of 4-8 weeks afterthe 1st dose," he said.

NATIONAL AWARDS FOR ODIA FLICKSBHUBANESWAR: SabyasachiMohapatra’s Sala Budhar Badla and NilaMadhab Panda’s Kalira Atita have sharedthe 67th National Film Awards as the BestOdia Film. Panda, in his tweet wrote, “Afilm I made for the planet, to createawareness about the climate crisis wehave upon us. Feel extremely elated thatKalira Atita has been awarded the Best Odia Film (shared ) at the 67th National FilmAwards, thank you.” While ‘Sala Budhar Badla’ in Sambalpuri dialect, released inOctober 2019, showcased the folk art and culture of Western Odisha, Panda’s KaliraAtita is about acute water scarcity and has made an entry into Oscars race.

67TH NATIONAL FILM AWARDS

JOYRIDE

Tourists on elephant safari at the Bagori Range of Kaziranga National Park in Golaghat district of Assam, Monday

POST NEWS NETWORK

Malkangiri, March 22: Thedistrict administration Mondaydecided to clamp night curfewfrom Tuesday as part of a pre-ventive measure to check thespread of Covid-19 following asteep rise in the number of casesin the state.

District Collector Y Vijay gavehis approval to an order direct-ing imposition of night curfewin the district. The order saidthe night curfew will remain inforce in Malkangiri from 9 pm to6 am from March 23 till March 31,2021. During the enforcement ofthe night curfew, movement of in-

dividuals shall be strictly pro-hibited except for essential ac-tivities.

Notably, 146 new Covid-19 cases

were recorded in the state overlast 24 hours, the maximum overlast 40 days. Speculations arerife that similar measures mightbe extended in other parts of thestate as well.

The district administrationalso restricted the number ofpeople in meetings, theatres, op-eras and cinemas to 200 during theprevalence of the night curfew.

People were barred from par-ticipating in Dola Purnima andHoli festivals at public placesscheduled for March 28 and 29 andto keep their celebrations con-fined. ‘Dola Melans’ are allowedwith 50 participants with strictadherence to Covid-complaint

behaviors and norms.The district administration

has restricted the number ofparticipants to 200 in the ‘BadaYatra’ festival currently beingheld in the district. This apart,residents have been asked toabide by the Covid-19 restric-tions of wearing face masks andmaintaining a minimum socialdistance of 6-ft.

This apart, the SP has beenasked to keep a watch on theentry and exit points of BadaYatra festival and to ensure thatdevotees participating in the fes-tival abide by the Covid-19 norms.

The temple managements inthe district have been asked notto allow large assemblage of devo-tees on their temple premisesand any violation of the orderwill be severely dealt with.Religious rituals in temples willcontinue as usual with strict ad-herence to Covid-19 protocols.

Earlier in the day, the SpecialRelief Commissioner (SRC) PKJena said Chief Minister NaveenPatnaik will take stock of thepandemic situation at a reviewmeeting Tuesday to decide onthe next course of action for con-tainment of the spread.

BMC SEALS XIMB CAMPUS

BHUBANESWAR: The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation onMonday sealed the campus of Xavier Institute of ManagementBhubaneswar after the detection of 23 Covid-19 cases. "In the largerpublic interest and to contain the further spread of the virus, theentire XIMB institute campus is hereby sealed until further order,"said the Bhubaneswar civic body in an order. According to the order,no one shall be allowed to move into or from outside the XIMB cam-pus except an authorised person of the Bhubaneswar MunicipalCorporation. All the inhabitants within the campus if any shall strict-ly remain inside. The supply of essentials and medical requirementsif required will be ensured by Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation.All other institutions located within the boundary of the campus ishereby closed forthwith, the order said. The corporation said that allthe staff and students of the institution shall have to undergomandatory Covid-19 testing on March 22. The detected positivecases are to be kept in isolation in separate rooms of a single hosteland be kept in strict observation by the institute authority. Odishareported 146 new positive cases in the last 24 hours with Khordharegistering the maximum 35 cases followed by Cuttack (25) andMayurbhanj (13). While 87 cases have been detected from quaran-tine, 59 are local contracts, informed the health department.

NORMS FOR HOLI, DOLA PURNIMA OUTBHUBANESWAR: Amidst a surge in Covid cases in the state capital, theBhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) Monday issued fresh guidelinesfor curbing people’s movement in Holi and Dola Purnima festivals. Followingthe state government’s order on placing curbs on celebration of all kinds offunctions related to Dola Purnima and Holi, the BMC mentioned that only sixpersons will be allowed to carry the idol during the event. “There shall be noprocession and playing of sound instruments which are likely to attract theattention of public and will cause congregation. People carrying idol need towear face masks appropriately. There shall be no jatra/orchestra/MeenaBazar or any kind of celebrations in the Dola Melan,” the BMC instructed.Organisers will ensure that maximum 50 to 60 people are present at anypoint in time at the Dola Melan Padia with strict adherence of COVID norms.

P2 SILICON VALLEY STAR ACCUSED OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT

leisure Actor Thomas Middleditch, best known forhis role in the TV show Silicon Valley, hasbeen accused of sexual misconducttowards a (then)-21-year-old woman onthe dance floor in a now-defunct LosAngeles private club, in 2019.

Actress-model Bella Thorne and musicianBenjamin Mascolo are engaged. The 27-year-oldsinger took to Instagram and posted a picture ofthe couple, confirming the happy news. Bellaand Benjamin started dating in June 2019, whenthey confirmed their romance on social media.

TUESDAY | MARCH 23 | 2021 | BHUBANESWAR

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AQUARIUSIt always pays to haveextra cash, and in thatregard, you will be ahappy person today! Youmay carefully update and crosscheckyour financial position. Of course, thereare people who don't share your happi-ness and will try to advise you to thecontrary. Ignore them, says Ganesha.

PISCESA good day is in the off-ing, says Ganesha. Youare likely to receivenews you will be glad to share and cele-brate with your family. A few pendingdeals are likely to be finalised in theafternoon, and there are indications youwill need to go off on a short visit forbusiness purposes later on in the day.

SAGITTARIUSSimple living and highthinking, says Ganesha,will be your mantratoday. Approach yourwork with devotion and honesty. Yourdark days will not end until your penanceis over. Be austere, honest and let yourego go. This is your time to mend all thatwrongs you have done in the past.

LIBRAToday seems like a goodday to take a break andgo on a pleasure trip torevitalise yourself, says Ganesha. Evenon the business front, it will do you aworld of good to take a break from theusual routine. This evening, you are atyour best winning the heart of the oppo-site sex at social gatherings.

SCORPIOToday you are likely toremain the unvaryingobject of emotions andsentiments, predicts Ganesha. Yourinkling for performing arts may drawyou to take up some lessons in classicalmusic and traditional dance. A romantic,candlelit evening with your sweetheartmay be on the cards to wrap up the day.

LEOIf you are the one whosets the corporatemantra each morning,then know that today,your mantra will be fabulous, and will bechanted by many in your organisation.Being a business magnate might not bethe easiest thing, but you are who youare, and you are good at it. Your busi-ness-like approach shall come in handylater in the day, as you may launch newproducts in the market, says Ganesha.

VIRGOWatch you step, warnsGanesha. Trouble islurking just round thecorner and waiting towaylay you. At work, you will find your-self in a high-spirited mood and will behelpful to your colleagues. You mightend the day in the company of familymembers recollecting the happy daysyou have spent in each other's company.

GEMINIA hectic and busy dayawaits you. You need tothink about how, whereand in what proportion to concentrateyour energies upon the numerous jobsthrust upon you. You will be able to suc-cesfully complete your tasks in the laterhalf of the day, says Ganesha.

CANCERYou will savour a tastymeal. You will go out fordinner with your friendsor family. It may so happen that you willtake out time from your hectic scheduleto prepare tasty food and invite friendsand relatives. Your nature of helping oth-ers will make you popular and you willbenefit from it, says Ganesha.

ARIESToday is the day for cre-ativity, while you leavethe logic for tomorrow,even when it comes towork. You are bent upon success atwork, but Ganesha warns that it requirescommitment and devotion. In theevening, you may want to be left alonewith your spouse or a book.

FORTUNE FORECAST

TAURUSToday your money will beburning holes in yourpockets. You will be dyingsquander it away and getrid of it as fast as possible. You'll be toss-ing it around as if you owned a gold mine.Ganesha urges you to hold your horsesand tighten your purse strings. Other wiseyou are going to regret it,and feel like anidiot. Beware. You many not have anybank balance left to speak of.

CAPRICORNThe day will have a bun-dle of things to offertoday, some good, somenot so good. At work, youare likely to overlook the most obviousthings, and come across some unexpect-ed ones. But as dawn turns to dusk, apleasant surprise may get you allpepped up.

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.

BELLA THORNE ENGAGED TO BENJAMIN MASCOLO

Mumbai: Actress KanganaRanaut won the National FilmAward as Best Actress for the

fourth time on Monday, for herperformances in Manikarnika

and Panga. Shortly after the an-nouncement, she posted a thank-you

video on social media for the cast andcrew of both films, saying her win

would not be possible withoutthem.

Speaking in Hindi, Kanganasaid: “I just got to know that theNational Awards have been an-nounced, in which I have been

awarded for my per for mance inManikarnika and Panga.”

About her win for Manikarnika, shesaid: “I will be forever grateful to the wholeteam of Manikarnika for supporting mein every possible manner and standing byme. I want to share the National Award witheach one of you.”

The actress also thanked her unit ofPanga in the video, which she posted onher blue tick accounts in Twitter andInstagram.

Finally, Kangana thanked her fans andfamily, saying nothing would have beenpossible without their support. IANS

MUMBAI: On the occasion ofWorld Water Day, actress Dia Mirzatook to Instagram to share a post

about water scarcity.She posted a picture of her sitting by

the riverside and wrote: “1 in 4 childrenwill live with water scarcity by 2040.

Think about that. Let’s keep working to-gether to secure our forests, #ActOnClimateand #SaveWater #WorldWaterDay

#GlobalGoals #ForPeopleForPlanet.”The actress married Mumbai-based en-

trepreneur Vaibhav Rekhi last month in asmall, intimate ceremony.

She had taken to social media to informher fans that only biodegradable and natu-

ral materials were used for her wedding cer-emony. The wedding was conducted by awoman priest.

The actress was previously married toSahil Sangha in 2014. They announcedtheir separation in August 2019. IANS

MUMBAI: Actress Janhvi KapoorSunday refused to kiss a fan during a

virtual conversation.Janhvi engaged in an interac-tive session with fans on

Instagram where she re-sponded to various queriesfrom them.

A fan asked Janhvi:“Can we kiss”. Reacting

to the same, the actressposted a photograph of

herself wearing maskand captioned it: “No”.

Janhvi also an-swered several cu-rious questions fromnetizens.

A user asked

about her diet routine to which Janhvireplied by sharing a photo of herselfwith a cup of ice cream in her hand. “4scoops a day”, the actress captioned it.

Another user quizzed about herfavourite memory of traveling, to which

she replied: “Road trippingaround the south of France

a couple of years ago.”Asked who is her

favourite co-star,Janhvi shared a pho-tograph where sheis seen hugging herGunjan Saxena:The Kargil Girlco-star Pankaj

Tripathi.IANS

Janhvi refuses to kiss fan

Dia talks about water scarcity

BHUBANESWAR:Father of the NationMahatma Gandhi hadfirst visited Odishaabout 100 years ago onthis day. In a bid to celebrate theoccasion, Odisha Sangeet NatakAkademi in collaboration withOdia Language, Literature andCulture Department of Odisha,has taken a unique initiative.

As per the plan, the Akademihas decided to stage a play

Gandhinka Odisha, written byShankar Tripathy, in every district

of Odisha at the same time. “The play will be staged by 30

theatre troupes at same num-ber of auditoriums of all dis-tricts at 6.30 pm Tuesday.Prominent directors of varioustheatre troupes have been giventhe assignment to present theplay,” said OSNA secretaryPrabodh Kumar Rath.

All performances will berecorded, aired live while

Akademi has plans in place to ap-proach Guinness World Records, Limcaand India Book of records to registerit as a world record, added Rath.

The play will be staged here atRabindra Mandap and will be di-rected by Nabin Parida, an eminenttheatre director and an ex-principal

of Utkal Sangeet Mahavidyalay. PNN

WORLD RECORD IN THE MAKING

Akademi to celebrate 100th anniv ofBapu’s maiden Odisha visit todayWritten by Shankar Tripathy,Odia play ‘GandhinkaOdisha’, to be directed by 30eminent directors, will bestaged in 30 cultural centres of all districts

BHUBANESWAR: Bhoomika, a theatretroupe from Bolangir presented Kosaliplay Nagarbar here at Bhanja KalaMandap, Monday, on the fourth day ofstate level drama festival Ranga Sangam.

The event is being jointly organisedby Odisha Sangeet Natak Akademi(OSNA) and the Department of OdiaLanguage, Literature and Culture,Government of Odisha.

Designed and directed jointly byRamchandra Sahoo and ChittaranjanDas, the 100-minute play was an adap-tation of Marathi play Basanta Sabanisa.The play was first adapted to Hindi byUsha Banerjee from which it was madein Kosali, said Chittaranjan.

Though the original play was a

Tamasha, a form of folk theatre, somemodifications have been made whilebeing adapted to Kosali, addedChittaranjan.

The play was about a ruler of 18thCentury whose inefficiency leaves hisstate on the brink of anarchy. His socalled trusted lieutenants take advantageof the circumstances and situation de-teriorates further. However, an honest hav-ildar and a sepoy manage to foil the con-spiracy and bail out the kingdom froma precarious situation. The dignitarieswho attended the evening includedBolangir MLA Narasingha Mishra, em-inent theatre director Gadadhar Barikfrom Sonepur and OSNA secretaryPrabodh Kumar Rath. PNN

SANGEET NATAK AKADEMI’S STATE LEVEL DRAMA FEST

Kosali play Nagarbar takesaudience back to 18th Century

Kangana thanks all for National Award

A scene from the play Nagarbar staged at Bhanja Kala Mandap, Monday

P3

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TUESDAY | MARCH 23 | 2021 | BHUBANESWAR

CENTENARY FETEDignitaries flag off anawareness vehicle to markcentenary celebrations ofGandhi’s Odisha visit atOdisha Khadi and VillageIndustries Board inBhubaneswar, Monday

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, March 22: Over Rs51.15 crore have been plundered in3,406 cybercrime cases in the statein the last two years (2019 & 20)according to the Minister of State(MoS) Home, Dibya ShankarMishra’s statement in Assembly,Monday.

In a written reply to BJD legis-lator SoumyaRanjanPatnaik, theministersaid 3,406 cy-bercrimecasesamountingto Rs51,15,28,881have beenregistered intwo years.

A total of 1,475 cybercrime casesinvolving fraud of Rs 16.08 crorewere registered in 2019 while itjumped to 1,931 cases with cheat-ing of Rs 35.07 crore in the lastyear, Mishra said.

He also notified that a total of 708persons (342 in 2019 & 366 in 2020)inside and outside the state havebeen arrested for their involve-ment in the cybercrime cases.Convictions were reported againstonly two cases in 2019 while noconviction has been reportedagainst the cases filed in 2020, hestated.

In another reply to the House, theminister stated that 2,984 rapes,1,470 murders, five bank robberyand 17 ATM loot cases were re-ported in 2020.

Mishra said that Odisha Policehas never been biased. Immediatesteps are taken on receiving any in-formation about any incident or ac-cident and stringent actions asper law are taken against criminals.Strong legal actions are beingtaken against the violators irre-

spective of their posi-tion and status, the min-ister pointed out.

“Odisha Police is al-ways ready for the serv-ice of the poor, weak anddowntrodden. Emphasishas been given to the im-plementation of 5T andMo Sarkar with an ob-jective to provide better

policing to the people,” he added. Countermeasures taken by Odisha

police to pin down cyber criminalsinclude establishment of cyber-crime cells in every district, threededicated police stations in citieslike Berhampur, Sambalpur &Rourkela, issuance of Compendiumon CYBER CRIME INVESTIGA-

TION and establishment of CyberForensic Labs across the state.

76 IAS, as many IPS posts vacant

PNN&AGENCIES

Puri/Konark, March 22:PresidentRam Nath Kovind along with FirstLady Savita Kovind Monday of-fered prayers at the Srimandir inPuri before visiting the Sun Templeat Konark on the last day of histhree-day visit to Odisha.

Kovind and his wife arrived at thetemple around 9:10am, accompa-nied by Governor Ganeshi Lal andUnion Minister DharmendraPradhan, and spent about 40 min-utes at the 12th century shrine.

They entered the sanctum sanc-torum of the temple and paid obei-sance to deities – Lord Balabhadra,Devi Subhadra and Lord Jagannath.They also offered prayers to MaaBimala and Mahalaxmi on the prem-ises of the Srimandir.

Puri’s Gajapati MaharajaDibyasingha Deb and ShreeJagannath Temple Administration(SJTA) chief Krishan Kumar wel-comed them at the Lion’s Gate of thetemple. The temple was decoratedwith flowers for President’s visitand the security had been beefed upin the town. Shops and businessestablishments on both sides of theGrand Road were closed for securitypurpose. No visitor or devotee wasallowed to enter the shrine 30 min-utes before President’s arrival.

Kovind donated Rs 1 lakh for thedevelopment of the shrine, said an

SJTA official. After paying obei-sance to the Srimandir deities, thePresident went straight to the he-lipad and flew to Sun Temple atKonark. They reached the BlackPagoda at 10:45am.

Puri Additional Collector BinayKumar Das, ASI superintendent(Bhubaneswar Circle) Arun KumarMallick, senior police official BinayKataria, Konark NAC executive of-ficer M Srinivas, tourism officerSarojkant Pradhan and inspectorin-charge Ranjan Kumar Mallick

welcomed them at the UNESCOWorld Heritage Site.

The President and the First Lady,accompanied by Governor GaneshiLal and Union MinisterDharmendra Pradhan, visited the13th century shrine in battery-op-erated vehicles. According to anofficial who accompanied thePresident to the shrine, Kovind ap-preciated the magnificent artisticskills displayed on stones by theOdia artisans 800 years ago. Theywatched a short documentary film

on the Sun Temple at the inter-pretation hall and planted a fewsaplings. After taking a few minutesrest at Konark Jatri Niwas, theyflew back to Bhubaneswar at 4.30pm.

Over 40 platoons of police and se-curity personnel besides 250 officerswere deployed to ensure security ofthe President. Kovind had Sundayattended the 18th convocation ofNational Institute of Technology(NIT), Rourkela and also inaugurateda super specialty hospital of theRourkela Steel Plant.

`51.15Cr swindled bycybercrooks in 2 yrs

Prez, First Lady offer prayers at Srimandir

SJTA chief Krishan Kumar hands over a portrait of the Trinity to the President and the First Lady in Puri. GovernorGaneshi Lal, Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Collector Samarth Verma are also seen OP PHOTO

BHUBANESWAR: As many as 76out of sanctioned 248 IAS officers’posts are lying vacant in the state,Chief Minister Naveen Patnaiktold the Assembly, Monday.

In a written reply to a questionof Talsara MLA Bhabani ShankarBhoi (BJP), Patnaik said 145 IAS of-ficers are presently serving in thestate against the sanctioned strengthof 248. While 25 Odisha cadre IASofficers are in Central deputation,two are in inter-state deputation, hesaid. So, there are 76 vacancies inIAS officers’ posts.

Apart from the above, he said, an-other IAS officer is working in the

state on inter-state deputation. Similarly, out of cadre strength

of 195 IPS officers, 76 posts havefallen vacant in the state.

The Chief Minister said 93 IPSofficers are presently posted in thestate while 25 are on Central dep-utation and one is on inter-statedeputation.

He said that the state govern-ment has promoted 27 senior OASofficers to the rank of IAS and allare working in the state.

Naveen further stated that thestate government has given addi-tional charges to some IAS officersdue to the shortage of officers.

n CYBERCRIMECASES LEAPEDFROM 1,475 IN 2019TO 1,931 IN 2020

n 2,984 RAPES, 1,470MURDERS, FIVEBANK ROBBERY AND17 ATM LOOT CASESREPORTED IN 2020

708 PERSONS INSIDE AND OUTSIDE THE STATE ARRESTED

Homecoming: Jaga leaves SCB for Kandhamal

Judicial officer sans integrity threat to judiciary: HCAGENCIES

New Delhi, March 22: In a signif-icant judgement, the Orissa HighCourt recently observed that a ju-dicial officer having sound knowledgeof law but lacking in integrity or hav-ing a dubious character is a great dan-ger to the smooth functioning of thejudiciary.

The High Court made the obser-vation last week while upholdingthe order of compulsory retirementpassed in connection with a judi-cial officer.

The bench of Chief Justice SMuralidhar and Justice BP Routraywas hearing the case of RamaChandra Mohanty, a judicial offi-cer, who sought the quashing of anorder of compulsory retirement andfor al l consequential service benefits.

While serving as a civil judge(Senior Division) at Koraput he wasdirected to retire in public interestwith effect from March 22, 2010 videLaw department of Odisha’s notifi-cation dated March 9, 2010.

During his tenure, two depart-mental proceedings were initiated

against Mohanty. In the first pro-ceeding, in the year 2003, five chargeswere framed relating to unautho-rised retention of government quar-ters, deliberate delay in making pay-ment of bills towards the purchaseof law jour nals for BolangirJudgeship, etc touching to grossmisconduct and failure in due dis-charge of duties under Rules 3 and4 of the Orissa Government ServantConduct Rules, 1959.

In respect of other departmentalproceedings, the charge against the

petitioner was that he availed a loanin the name of one of his Class IVservants without his knowledge andconsent and did not repay the sametill a complaint was made by thesaid employee.

The bench observed that judicialofficers of the subordinate courts inthe state are under the administra-tive control of the High Court int e r m s o f A r t i c l e 2 3 5 o f t h eConstitution.

Further, the court also observedthat they are different from other civil

servants and that a single blot intheir service record makes themvulnerable and thus, they are ex-pected to have a good character in allrespects.

The Court further remarked,“Needless to say that the object ofcompulsory retirement is to weed outthe dishonest, the corrupt, and thedeadwood. It is true that if an hon-est and sincere judicial officer iscompulsorily retired, it might lowerthe morale of his colleagues. Equally,an officer having sound knowledgeof the law but lacking in integrityor having a dubious character is agreat danger to the smooth func-tioning of the judiciary.”

It also said, “What is to be weighedis the performance of the officer onan overall evaluation of his entireservice period. Above all, his im-partiality, reputation, integrity, as wellas moral character, should be takeninto account.”

Apart from this, the Court pe-rused the personal file of Mohantyand noted that the personal recorddoes not support his contention thathe had an unblemished career as ajudge.

The HC was hearing thecase of RamaChandraMohanty, a judicial officer,who sought thequashing of anorder of compulsoryretirement

PNN/AGENCIES

Cuttack, March 22: Jaga,the first of craniopagus con-joined twins Jaga-Kalia, is re-turning to his own districtKandhamal after ages.

It is a matter of both joyand sorrow for Kandhamalpeople. They are happy aboutJaga’s return and remorse-ful over Kalia’s demise.

He was discharged fromSCB Medical College andHospital, Monday and is re-turning home in a special am-bulance. A two-member doc-tor team of Kandhamal DHHis accompanying him.

The conjoined twins hadleft their district for AIIMS,New Delhi in 2017. They wereseparated in a two-phase sur-gery. While the first phasewas carried out August 28,2017, the second phase wasdone October 25, the same

year. The first and secondphases of the surgeries hadlasted for 25 hours and 20hours respectively. OdishaGovernment had then sanc-tioned Rs 10,00,000 for operations.

Two years after their sur-gery, Jaga and Kalia were dis-charged from AIIMS, NewDelhi September 6, 2019 andthey reached Cuttack the nextday. They were immediatelyput at SCBMCH for observa-tions. Kalia, unfortunately,breathed his last at 9.10pm,November 25, 2020.

The process of his shifting

to Kandhamal DHH startedfollowing his mother,Pushpanjali’s request for thesame. She cited her inabilityto continue her son’s treat-ment at SCBMCH due to fi-nancial crunch.

Pushpanjali had written toKandhamal District Collectorto shift Jag a back toKandhamal DHH. The col-lector had forwarded the ap-plication to the HealthDe par tment and it was approved.

The Odisha HealthDirectorate had asked theSCBMCH authorities, par-ticularly the team which hadbeen treating Jaga to begin theprocess of shifting him safelyto Kandhamal. Team leaderand Head of the Neurosurgeryde par tment, Dr ProfSudhanshu Mishra also gaveg reen signal for Jaga’s shifting.

INFECTED RECOVERED DEAD

World 12,39,61,575 9,98,82,160 27,29,282

India 1,15,14,489 1,11,51,468 1,59,967

Odisha 3,38,963 3,36,206 1,919

COVID-19 TRACKER

100 yrs of Bapu’svisit to stateBhubaneswar: A discussion on comple-tion of 100th year of Mahatma Gandhi’sOdisha visit will be conducted in theAssembly Tuesday. Speaker SN Patroinformed media persons about thisafter holding an all-party meetingMonday. The discussion will be con-ducted on the first-half through amotion, he said. Recently, the stateCabinet has decided to organise eventsthroughout the year starting fromMarch 23, 2021 to create awareness onideals and principles of Gandhi.

BLISTERING HEAT: Schoolgirls use umbrellas to shield themselves from scorching heat in Chandrasekharpur area ofBhubaneswar, Monday OP PHOTO

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, March 22: Departmentof Gastroenterology will be openedat MKCG Medical College & Hospitalin Berhampur soon.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaikhas approved the proposal, Monday.Patnaik has approved 19 academicand non-academic posts for both sur-gical and medical Gastroenterology.Opening of the two super-specialtydepartments at the MKCG MedicalCollege would benefit the people ofwhole South Odisha in particular,he said.

Gastroenterologydept soon at MKCG

downtownTUESDAY | MARCH 23 | 2021 | BHUBANESWARP4

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AFFIDAVITBy virtue of an affidavitsworn before the NotaryPublic, Berhampur,Ganjam on 18.03.2021. I,Smt. Sangita Acharya,W/o- Sri BibhudarsiAcharya, at C-17, HindalcoRS Colony, P.O./P.S.-Hirakud, Dist.-Sambalpur, Odishadeclare that I havechanged my parentalname from SangitaKumari Tripathy to Smt.Sangita Acharya. Thus Ishall be known as Smt.Sangita Acharya for allpurposes.

By an affidavit swornbefore the ExecutiveMagistrate, Sundargarh, I,Ranjeeta Delki, W/o.-Gokula Delki, R/o-Village/P.O.- Birbira,Dist.- Sundargarh(Odisha) declare that myhusband working as aArmy/Governmentemployee. In his Servicerecord, my date of birth iswrongly mentioned as11.05.1992. But my actualand correct date of birthis 10.05.1991.

CLASSIFIEDAFFIDAVIT

POST NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi, March 22: Biju JanataDal (BJD) MP Sasmit Patra Mondayurged the Union government to di-rect Food Corporation of India(FCI) to immediately procure sur-plus rice of 30 lakh metric tonnefrom Odisha. The BJD MP alsourged the Union government to re-lease a pending subsidy of Rs 5,616crore to the state.

Speaking during Zero Hour inRajya Sabha, the BJD MP said that

Odisha is the fourth largestfood supplier in the coun-try. He said every year thestate consumes 24 lakhmetric tonne of rice andduring this Kharif season,around 30 lakh MT rice isrequired to be lifted by theFCI.

“If we look at the figures tillMarch 13 of the current year, we willfind that only 6.65 lakh MT rice hasbeen lifted by FCI. If things moveat this pace, FCI will not be able to

meet the required target of procur-ing 30 lakh MT rice during thisKharif season. If we compare itwith last year, only 17 lakh MT ricewas lifted,” Patra said.

The BJD MP stated that state ex-chequer may incur loss of Rs 4,160crore if FCI does not procure the sur-plus rice. “Had the same amount ofrice been procured, around 13 lakh

MT rice would still remain storedin the state leading to a situationwhere Odisha will incur a loss of Rs4,160 crore to its state exchequer,”Patra said.

Procure 30L tonne surplus rice from state: SasmitNEW DELHI:Biju Janata Dal (BJD)MP Amar Patnaik Monday sug-gested the Union government toinitiate a research on Odisha’s mar-itime trade history and utilise theinformation for strengtheningIndia’s cultural diplomacy.

Speaking during the Zero Hourin Rajya Sabha, the

BJD MP saidthat Odisha

was instru-mental inshapinghistoryand cul-ture forSouth-

East Asia.He saidOdishaplayed a

significant role in the evolution ofHind culture in Bali.

“Kalinga had maritime tradelinks with South-Asian, East-African, and certain Arab coun-tries. This maritime trade not onlyhelped in economic development, butalso led to greater socio-culturalassimilation of the whole region.The trade routes, discovered by ourforefathers in Odisha, have not only

socio-cultural significance, but geo-political consequence as well, intoday's day and age,” Patnaik said.

“The impact that maritime tradeof Odisha had created in the Indo-Pacific region 'then' could providean edge for India to negotiate diplo-matically 'now' in a better way, if wedevelop this perspective,” Patnaiksaid.

The BJD MP urged the Uniongovernment to promote further re-search and study about maritime his-tory of Odisha as most of it re-mains unexplored.

“Tapping into the ancient mar-itime culture of Odisha will providea whole new dimension to India'sstrength in cultural diplomacy andsoft power in harbouring greater tieswith South-East Asia,” Patnaikadded.

Tap Odisha’s maritime history: Amar to Centre

O D I S H A I N

The impact thatmaritime trade ofOdisha had created

in the Indo-Pacific region'then' could provide an edgefor India to negotiatediplomatically ‘now’ in abetter way...(sic)

AMAR PATNAIK I BJD MP

POST NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi, March 22: A delega-tion of BJD MPs Monday met UnionMinister of State for RuralDevelopment Sadhvi Niranjan Jyotiand demanded inclusion of 13.95lakh households under PradhanMantri Aawas Yojana (Gramin)(PMAY-G) permanent waitlist.

In the memorandumsubmitted to the minis-ter, the BJD MPs con-tended that the state gov-ernment has identified13.95 lakh eligible fami-lies, who were left outfrom the permanentwaitlist of PMAY-G pre-pared on the basis ofSocio-Economic CasteCensus, 2011.

The BJD stated thatthe eligible PMAY-Ghouseholds need to becaptured throughAawaas+ App developedby the Ministry of RuralDevelopment. However,due to general electionsin 2019, the state gov-ernment could identifyonly 35,000 householdsthrough the app tillMarch 7, 2019, the dead-line fixed by the min-istry.

“On the request of thestate, the RuralDevelopment Ministryopened the window ofAawaas+ for a period of one monthonly for 14 Fani affected districts.The state government identified7.87 lakh eligible households in

Fani affected districts throughAawaas+ and along with 35,000households of non-Fani affecteddistricts completed geo-taggingand Aadhaar seeding as mandatedby the ministry,” the BJD submitted.

The ruling party of Odisha, how-ever, said that despite the comple-tion of all requirements for iden-

tification in respectof 8.22 lakh eligiblefamilies, they couldnot be covered underPMAY-G by the ministry.

The BJD submit-ted in the memo-randum that ChiefMinister NaveenPatnaik had alsowritten letters to thePrime Minister andRural DevelopmentMinister highlight-ing the issue.

It has also beensubmitted in thememorandum thatthe window ofAawaas+ is yet to beopened for 16 non-Fani affected dis-tricts. The BJD fur-ther submitted thatthe state has identi-fied, geo-tagged andAadhar seeded 5.72lakh eligible house-holds in 16 non-Faniaffected districts in

the state developed portal.“This data can easily be migrated

to Aawaas+ once the ministryagrees to do so,” BJD submitted.

BJD seeks inclusionof 13.95L households under PMAY-G

THE BJD STATED THAT THEELIGIBLE PMAY-G

HOUSEHOLDS NEED TO BECAPTURED THROUGH

AAWAAS+ APPDEVELOPED BY THEMINISTRY OF RURAL

DEVELOPMENT

HOWEVER, DUE TOGENERAL ELECTIONS IN

2019, THE STATEGOVERNMENT COULDIDENTIFY ONLY 35,000

HOUSEHOLDS THROUGHTHE APP TILL

MARCH 7, 2019

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, March 22: TheWorld Water Day was celebratedat ICAR-CIFA Kausalyaganga,Bhubaneswar Monday by organ-ising workshop on ‘Valuing ofwater for Life’.

Director of Soil Conservationand Watershed DevelopmentHemant Kumar Panda empha-sised on global water crisis and fo-cussed on implementation of con-servation measures includingrainwater harvesting, rooftopwater harvesting, integrated farm-

ing system necessary for doublingthe farmers’ yield.

ICAR-CIFA director SarojKumar Swain threw light on thecurrent water scarcity. He alsostressed upon need-based tech-nologies for conservation and re-duction in wastage of water. ICAR-CIFA is enrolled in water budgetingresearch work.

In the workshop, S C Rath, for-mer Principal Scientist of ICAR-CIFA, Bhubaneswar stressed onvaluation of water, saving water,implications of water crisis ondaily life, water requirement for

different crops and water budg-eting for different daily activities.He stated that it is imperative tofollow suitable water conserva-tion measures and spread the mes-sage of saving water.

The theme of World Water Day2021 was ‘Valuing Water ’ .According to the United Nations,“The value of water is about muchmore than its price.” This day iscelebrated keeping in line withSustainable Development GoalNo- 6 which is aimed to achievewater and sanitation by all for 2030.

Experts’ thrust on water budgeting, rainwater harvesting WORLD WATER DAY

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, March 22:Welcoming the ‘Mo College’ cam-paign of the state government,which was launched by ChiefMinister Naveen Patnaik Sunday,Utkal University Vice-ChancellorSabita Acharya, Monday, said thatthis initiative will provide an op-portunity to reconnect the vast net-work of our alumni.

She said that the best thing isthat this initiative will give a boostto the alumni connect component

of the National Education Policy(NEP) 2020. Such programmes willhugely benefit the students and ed-ucational institutions,” said Sabita.

Earlier, more than 110 teachingand non-teaching staff and closeto 200 students of Utkal Universitytook part in the launch of ‘MoCollege’ programme Sunday. LEDscreens were set up at the NewAdministrative Block to facilitatelive streaming of the launchingceremony. Chief Minister NaveenPatnaik launched the programmevia videoconferencing and the

launch ceremony was live streamedthrough Youtube, Facebook andother social media sites.

Kunja Bihari Panda, Coordinatorof ‘Mo College’ campaign, UtkalUniversity coordinated and or-ganised the event. He said, “It is awelcome initiative. Mo College isbeing launched after the successof ‘Mo School’ campaign. Everyonehas a unique attachment towardstheir Alma Mater. This programmewill provide the opportunity to re-connect with their colleges anduniversities and such associationswill benefit not only the presentstudents and educational institutionsbut also society as a whole.”

‘Mo College’ campaign boost to NEP: Utkal VC

CRY FOR JOB REGULARISATION

Members of Power Distribution Franchise Employees’ Association stage a sit-in in front of Idco Tower in Bhubaneswar, Monday, demanding job regularisation

Bhubaneswar: The CommissioneratePolice has launched an enquiry totrace the whereabouts of a minor stu-dent of Ramadevi Women’s Universityhere who had gone missing a few days back. The missing girl ofJagannath Vihar area under Bharatpurpolice limits is a Plus III first year stu-dent. According to sources, the victimwas sent to a nearby shop. However,she did not return despite lapse of sev-eral hours. Later, her parents lodged amissing complaint with Bharatpurpolice who started a probe into thematter after registering a case.

PNN/AGENCIES

Bhubaneswar, March 22:Odisha'sCovid-19 tally climbed to 3,38,963 as146 more people tested positive forthe disease, a Health departmentofficial said Monday. Of the newcases, 87 were reported from quar-antine centres and 59 during con-tact tracing.

Khurda district reported thehighest number of new cases at35, followed by Cuttack (25),Mayurbhanj (13), Nuapada andSundargarh (12 each).

Several new cases were detectedin an educational institute in thecity, a Bhubaneswar MunicipalCorporation official said. “In view

of the detection of a large num-ber of Covid-19 positive cases inXavier Institute of Management,Bhubaneswar, the entire XIMB in-stitute campus is hereby sealeduntil further order,” the civic bodysaid in a notice issued on Sunday.

BMC started collecting samplesfrom all the people who were stay-ing at the institute's campus. “Thosewho have tested positive for thedisease are kept in isolation in a hos-tel of the institute. They will beunder observation,” the BMC of-ficial said. The institute has beenasked to make necessary arrange-ments for food for students whowere diagnosed with disease.

Two private educational insti-tutes in Cuttack had reported 47 newCOVID-19 cases last week.Meanwhile, three districts- Boudh,Gajapati and Malkangiri- haveturned "coronavirus free" as noactive case exists there.

The death toll in the coastal stateremained at 1,919 as no fresh fatalitywas reported in the last 24 hours,the official said. Fifty-three otherCOVID-19 patients have so far dieddue to co-morbidities in the state.

Odisha now has 867 active cases,and 3,36,124 people have recoveredfrom the virus.

The state has so far conductedover 88.14 lakh sample tests forCOVID-19, including 25,315 onSunday, and the positivity ratestands at 3.85 per cent.

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, March 22: Thestudents of College of Forestry,OUAT shaved their heads near theuniversity premises, Monday, in aprotest urging the state govern-ment to make 4-year BSc degreein Forestry as minimum qualifi-

cation for recruitment to key posts.These posts include forest rangeofficer, assistant conservator offorests, assistant manager of OdishaForest Development Corporation(OFDC) and junior manager of OFDC.

Earlier, the students had taken outa mock funeral procession at Lower

PMG Sunday here as part of theiragitation to press for various demands.

Paralakhemundi MLA KNarayan Rao and Mohana MLADasarathi Gomango visited the stu-dents at Lower PMG and assuredof taking to government for theirdemands.

OUAT Forestry students shave heads in protest Probe starts intomissing RD girl

With 146 fresh cases,Covid tally at 3,38,963

WASSUP TODAYBHUBANESWAR

n Saheed Diwas to commemorateBhagat Singh, Master CenteenSquare, 8am

n Blood donation camp, Red CrossBhawan, 9am

n ‘Pranam Bapu’ programme to mark100-yr of Mahatma Gandhi’s Odishavisit, State Museum, 9.30am

n Painting exhibition on centenarycelebration of Gandhi’s Odisha visit,Panthaniwas, Lewis Road, 11am

n Book launch, Lohia Academy, 5pm

n Event on Odissi by UtkalRangamancha, Guru Kelu CharanMohapatra Odissi Research Centre,6.30pm

n State-level theatre fest, Bhanja KalaMandap, 6.30pm

n Stage play by Odisha Sangeet NatakAkademi, Rabindra Mandap, 6.30pm

PURIn Blood donation camp by

Shreekshetra Press Club and RedCross Society, Youth Hostel, 2pm

n Sand art expo to mark World TBDay, Lighthouse beach, 4pm

CUTTACKn Annual fest of Chelitola Cultural

Academy, Sarala Bhawan, 6.30pm

Programmes/announcements for wassup today may be sent to

opwassup@gmail.com for record, it must also carry the sender’s

mobile number for our verification, but not for publication.

Bhubaneswar : Vigilance sleuthsMonday caught a Forest official whilereceiving bribe from a lady Forestguard, who had approached theaccused to manipulate a show-causeaction initiated against her by thedepartment. The accused was identi-fied as Golekh Bihari Behera, workingas Forester, Wildlife, Chemundia sec-tion in Nayagarh. According to sources,the accused demanded Rs 35,000 fromthe forest guard.

Forester caught taking bribe

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POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhograi, March 22: The districtadministration in Balasore has im-posed restrictions on the celebra-tions of famous Chadak Mela ofBaba Chandaneswarjew in Bhograiof the district.

The deity is worshipped at Hugulivillage on the fringes of the state. Thefamous fair, which is celebrated onthe premises of Chandaneswar tem-ple during Maha Bisuva Sankrati, at-tracts lakhs of devotees from in andaround the state, including places likeWest Bengal and Jharkhand

Devotees congregate at the templepremises during the festival and paytheir obeisance to the deity.

This year, the festival will be heldfrom April 2 as per Covid-19 re-strictions due to sudden resurgenceof the disease. The district admin-

istration has allowed the servitorsto only perform the rituals during thefestival, while devotees have beenbarred from attending the festival inthe temple premises.

The matter came to fore followinga meeting attended by Bhograi MLAAnant Das, District Collector K

Sudarshan Chakravorti, temple servi-tors, president of ChandaneswarTrust Board and some local intellectuals.

However, the district adminis-tration has allowed servitors to per-form rituals. Only 14 servitors andtrust members will perform the rit-

uals this year.“People have decided not to or-

ganise the fair this year due to resur-gence of Covid-19 pandemic. As largegatherings pose threats of outbreakof the infectious virus, it was de-cided that only rituals will be per-formed to keep the age-old custom

alive,” MLA Anant Das said.Awareness banners will be put

up at various places urging devo-tees not to visit the temple during thefestival. In fact, it has been decidedto close the main gate of the templeto prevent entry of outsiders anddevotees into the temple premises.

Collector K Sudarshan Chakravortisaid, “It was unanimously decidedthat the Chadak Mela will not beconducted this year. Only ritualswill be performed by a handful ofservitors. Residents and people fromoutside will not be allowed during therituals.” The special characteristicof the fair is that devotees piercetheir body with iron nails and dancebarefoot under the scorching heat ina grand procession.

It is believed that Lord Shiva ispleased with such penance and showers blessings on devotees.

No Chadak Mela this year due to Covid-19 restrictions DEVOTEES BARRED FROM VISITING THE TEMPLE, ONLY RITUALS WILL BE HELD

POST NEWS NETWORK

Kutra, March 22: Unemploymentis acquiring serious proportionsin Sundargarh district due to clo-sure of several limestone anddolomite mines under this block, areport said.

The closure of mines has ren-dered hundreds of labourers job-less, the report said. This has ledto a spurt in migration as theunemployed are leaving for otherstates in search of livelihood. Atthe same time, many, who are with-out work, have resorted to anti-so-cial activities to earn a livelihoodand, hence, the crime graph inthe area is rising.

Reports said that the mines ofowned by Tata Steel, MishrilalMines, Kapur Mines and OCL arelying closed due to various reasonsdespite the presence of severali n d u s t r i e s i n a d j o i n i n gRajgangpur block. Experts, how-

ever, have a piece of advice to solvethe unemployment problem. Theysaid that the rainwater stored in theabandoned mines can be used forirrigating the farmlands in the re-gion. This will help prevent thelabourers from migrating to otherstates and draw them towards agri-culture to earn their livelihood.

However, lack of efforts on partof the district administration andagricultural authorities have spoiledthe chances of using the rainwaterfor irrigation.

Reports said that a limestone

mine of Tata Steel is lying closedfor more than a year after the ex-piry of its lease. Hundreds of youthsunder the block were employed inthe mine. However, they lost theirjobs after its closure. It has been lyingabandoned since then and largecraters which have been createdearlier are filled with rainwater.

Residents have demanded thatthe district administration use motorpumps to supply the accumulatedrainwater to their farmlands. It willhelp them to irrigate their cropsand ensure a better harvest.

Deities having a boat ride in the Sileru river at the start of the famed ‘Bada Yatra’ held every two years in Malkangiri district, Monday OP PHOTO

Closure of mines renderslocals jobless in Sundargarh

EXPERTS CALL FOR USE OF RAINWATER IN THE CLOSED MINES TO IRRIGATE THE FARMLANDS IN KUTRA BLOCK

Village road laying workbilled 21 times in Nayagarh

POST NEWS NETWORK

Nabarangpur, March 22: Asmany as six persons were arrestedfrom various parts of this districton charges of selling a tribal girlin Delhi for `1 lakh, police said.

The accused include four womenand two men. They were arrestedafter police conducted raids atvarious places in Nabarangpur.

Police said, the accused hadtaken the girl to Delhi on pretextof providing her job, but laterthey allegedly married her to aperson in lieu of `1 lakh.

Tribal girl sold inDelhi rescued, 6 held

POST NEWS NETWORK

Rayagada, March 22: A two-wheeler rider was slapped a fine of`18,500 Sunday night for flouting thetraffic norms in Rayagada townunder the provisions in the MotorVehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019.

According to a source, the violator,named Y Sagar, was issued a chal-lan for allegedly driving a scooterwhich has been registered in thename of Harish Chandra Swainof JK Pur locality in this town.

During a routine checking atnight, a team comprising TransportDepartment personnel andRayagada police nabbed the vio-lator while he was trying to flee thespot at DIB Chhak in Rayagada.

Sagar was issued a challan afterhe failed to show valid documents.The youth tried to escape in highspeed but was eventually nabbed.Later, it was found that Sagar wasdriving the vehicle without a driv-ing license and a helmet as well,a department official stated.

“He was fined `18,500 undervarious Sections of the MV Act.”Assistant Motor Vehicle InspectorAshok Kumar Panigrahi said.

Two-wheeler riderslapped `18,500 fine in Rayagada

POST NEWS NETWORK

Chhendipada, March 22: In ashocking incident, a man reportedlyhacked his father to death with anaxe at Durgapur Kuda Sahi underJarapada police limits in Anguldistrict Monday.

The accused did not even sparehis mother and injured her seriously.

The deceased has been identi-fied as Batakrushna Behera and hisinjured wife as Rukmani Behera.The accused son, identified asTrinatha Behera, is absconding.

According to the police, Nathaworked as a driver and was livingaway from the village. He had re-turned home Sunday night.

Natha and his fatherBatakrushna had a quarrel Monday

morning over some family issues.The scene turned uglier whenNatha lost his cool and started at-tacking his father with an axe. Hismother became an unwanted vic-tim. While trying to rescue herhusband, she too received injuries.

Realising it that he had killedhis father, Natha immediately fledfrom the spot. Hearing Rukmani’scries, neighbours rushed to herand sent her to Angul district head-quarters hospital (DHH) by a 108 am-bulance.

On being informed, a team fromJarapada police station reachedthe spot and recovered the bodyfor post-mortem. Registering acase, the police have launched aninvestigation into the matter anda manhunt for the absconding son.

Man hacks father todeath, injures mother

POST NEWS NETWORK

Jajpur, March 22: The Directorof Inquiry, Lokayukta, has beendirected to conduct a probe intothe illegal quarrying of black stonesfrom Aruha hill under Dharmasalatehsil in this district, a report said.

The matter came to fore afterthe chairman of Lokayukta re-cently passed an order during hear-ing of a case 1355/2020 on illegalquarrying of black stones from thehill. The Director of Inquiry,Lokayukta, will conduct a probeinto the allegation of illegal min-ing on the hill under Dharmasalatehsil in exercise of the power con-ferred under Section 20(2) of theOdisha Lokayukta Act, 2014. Thematter came up for hearing after acomplaint was filed by the plaintiffSarbeswar Behura.

The Director of Inquiry will con-duct a probe and submit the reportwithin 60 days from the date of re-ceipt of this reference. The order hascome as a relief for the local resi-dents as they hope that the probewill help in unmasking the accusedleaseholder as well as the govern-ment officials who connived withthe former in looting black stonesfrom the hill.

The order further stated that thestate government has lost revenueworth several crores due to the un-

holy alliance between the districtadministration, especially theDharmasala tehsildar and the lease-holder Trinath Jena.

According to the complaint, theleaseholder Jena extracted blackstone from the hill beyond the per-missible limits of lease area. Thedistrict Collector, Dharmasalatehsildar, and Jena have filed theirsubmissions in reply to an ear-lier order by the Lokayukta wherethey have denied any irregulari-ties in mining of black stones.However, the reply submitted bythe Collector goes to show thatthe Aruha black stone quarry No-1 was settled in favour of TrinathJena in 2017-18 on lease for a pe-riod of five years.

The reply further reveals that

that there is regular enforcementof activities going on the lease areaunder Dharmasala tehsil and anamount ̀ 19,37,020.00 has been col-lected from royalty and penalty.This apart, 103 vehicles have beenseized by the enforcement team sofar, the Collector stated. In his reply,the tehsildar stated that several ve-hicles involved in illegal trans-portation have been seized. Andthe law has been set into motionagainst the wrongdoers.

The complainant has pointedout that though there are over 500small and big quarries under theDharmasal tehsil, royalty andpenalty collected from them is lessthan one per cent in comparison tothe illegal quarrying carried out onthe hill.

The Director of Inquiry,Lokayukta, will conduct a

probe and submit the reportwithin 60 days from the date ofreceipt of this reference

Arecent order passed by theLokyaukta said the state

government has lost revenueworth several crores due to theunholy alliance between the district administration

Lokayukta orders probe into illegal black stone quarrying at Aruha hill

FACT FILE

ACCORDING TO A COMPLAINT, THE LEASEHOLDER JENA EXTRACTED BLACK STONEFROM THE HILL BEYOND THE PERMISSIBLE LIMITS OF LEASE AREA

POST NEWS NETWORK

Nayagarh, March 22: Acting onallegations regarding rampant ir-regularities in constructing a vil-lage road under Bhapur block inNayagarh district, the districtCollector Poma Tudu recently or-dered for a detailed probe. It mayseem incredible, but the fact is thatpayment for the work has beenbilled 21 times.

The road-laying work was carriedout earlier under Mahatma GandhiNational Rural EmploymentGuarantee Scheme (MGNREGS).

According to a source, the stretchof 850 metre-long road laying workat Gopalprasad village of Badasarapanchayat in the district was re-named several times during thelast three fiscals. It was billed ac-cordingly and allegedly a sum ofover ̀ 1,00,00,000 has been embezzled.

A three-member team headedproject director DRDA, Nayagarh,will conduct an official probeinto the matter. Based on the re-port of the inquiry committee,stringent legal actions will be

taken against the wrongdoers,the project director SubashChandra Ray said.

In the FY 2018-19 the villageroad laying work was billed sixtimes, in the FY 2019-20 it wasbilled nine times and in the FY2020-21 it was billed another sixtimes, a local social activist ofBaigunia village NabakishoreBarad stated.

In the FY 2018-19 the village road laying workwas billed six times, inthe FY 2019-20 it wasbilled nine times and inthe FY 2020-21 it wasbilled another six times

Dulanga mines produce 46.75lakh tonnes coal in 4 yearsPOST NEWS NETWORK

Sundargarh, March 22: TheNational Ther mal PowerCorporation (NTPC)-owned Dulangacoal mines in this district have pro-duced 46.75 lakh tonnes of coal dur-ing last four years, a report said.

The Dulanga coal block in Ib val-ley was allocated to NTPC by theUnion Coal Ministry in January2006. The coal produced fromDulanga coal mines is mainly usedas fuel at NTPC’s 1600 megawattsuper thermal power plant at

Darlipalli in the district.The Dulanga coal mine became

operational on February 28, 2018,while coal production started fromthe mines from September 18, 2018.Prime Minister Narendra Modidedicated the coal mines to the na-tion, September 22, 2018 followingwhich coal transportation was re-sumed from the mines.

Chittaranjan Barik, the groupgeneral manager of the mines, toldthe media at a press meet. Barik alsospoke on peripheral developments,rehabilitation and resettlement

measures for the displaced, con-struction of roads, drinking watersupply, education and healthcare fa-cilities and skill development train-ing and assistance undertaken bythe mines in the area for the dis-placed. He said that the companyhas paid `28.62 crore towards coalblock allotment to the state gov-ernment, ̀ 120 crore towards royaltyand miscellaneous charges, `5.8crore to district mineral founda-tion, `145 crore towards annualcharges and ̀ 8 crore towards high-est production.

A preparatory meeting for the Chadak Mela underway OP PHOTO

DIVINE BOAT RIDE

FILE PHOTO

WORDSWORTH

power post P6

T he exodus of refugees from Myanmar (Burma) escaping crackdownby the military junta of that country to the bordering Indian state ofMizoram has created a diplomatic-humanitarian dilemma for India.

The repression by the junta since it engineered a coup February 1 to denypower to the elected government led by Aung San Suu Kyi has assumed graveproportions. The order to shoot pro-democracy supporters of Burma has forcedmany police and security personnel to flee the country as they have refusedto open fire on their own ‘brethren’. They are among about 300 refugees whohave taken shelter in Mizoram. The junta has sent a missive to a Mizoramgovernment official to deport the personnel who incurred its wrath by dis-obeying the shoot at sight order.

Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga has been categorical in his sup-port to the cause of the refugees who have close ethnic ties with the domi-nant section of the state’s population. The ruling Mizo National Front is anally of the National Democratic Alliance and as such the CM has written toPrime Minister Narendra Modi explaining why the Centre’s order on 10 Marchto the four bordering states of Mizoram, Tripura, Manipur and ArunachalPradesh, to stop entry of the refugees is unacceptable to the state. TheMizoram government’s stand is that both the state and the Centre shouldextend all kinds of help to the refugees on humanitarian grounds till nor-malcy returns to Burma. These refugees are being hounded by the junta forprotesting against the coup and demanding restoration of the democraticprocess in their country.

There has been a steady influx of refugees to Mizoram through the over1,600 km-long porous borders between India and Burma. Realising the mag-nitude of the suffering of their tribe in the neighbouring country, Mizoramstate government has followed a standard operating procedure (SOP) togive temporary shelter to the refugees. The MP from Mizoram told Parliamentabout the plight of about 300 refugees in Mizoram and urged the Centre tohelp as the state lacks the resources and wherewithal to provide shelter tothem. However, the SOP was stopped after the Union Ministry of Home Affairs(MHA) wrote to the Assam Rifles and the four bordering states directing themto check illegal influx from that country. It cited earlier guidelines for theidentification and deportation of illegal migrants. However, the Mizoramgovernment has declined to abide by the instructions on the ground of eth-nic ties between the Mizos and residents of the bordering Chin state ofBurma. It insists that it can’t be indifferent to their sufferings. The stand ofthat state government must be admired in these difficult times.

In fact, most of the refugees are from Myanmar’s Chin state, which sharesa 404-km border with Mizoram itself. The residents of Chin have close eth-nic ties with the Mizo and Kuki tribes scattered across Mizoram and Manipur.

The Assam Rifles has, on Centre’s instruction, stepped up surveillance alongthe border identifying 58 crossing points as being vulnerable to infiltrationover the past few weeks. But, the force is caught in a dilemma as it has torely on the local Mizos for information as well as checking illegal activitiesalong the border, including smuggling. It obviously can’t afford to antago-nise the locals by being harsh with refugees having strong ethnic ties withthem. In fact, the relationship has been officially recognised by both the coun-tries in the form of a free movement regime (FMR) that allows people in bor-der villages to trade and move freely up to 16 kilometres inside each other’sterritory. But the FMR has been suspended since March 2020 on account ofthe Covid-19 pandemic.

The Centre has, however, iterated that state governments and UnionTerritory Administrations have no powers to grant ‘refugee’ status to anyforeigner and India is not a signatory to the UN Refugee Convention of 1951and its 1967 protocol. The Indian government’s dilemma stems from the factthat it has been getting assistance from the Myanmar junta for tackling in-surgents operating in the north-east from its soil. India can’t adopt an os-trich-like policy when, as the Mizoram CM pointed out to the Centre,Myanmar is in turmoil and ‘innocent, hapless citizens are being persecutedand killed by the military regime’ on a daily basis. Every day, terrifiedBurmese citizens are struggling to cross over to Mizoram in search of shel-ter and protection.

Just as the state government has no power to accord refugee status to anyforeigner, similarly, the Centre’s infrastructure to stop infiltration is woefullyinadequate.

A humanitarian crisis is snowballing in the neighbouring countryand the Centre should give precedence to humanitarian concerns ratherthan to diplomatic niceties. Bangladesh did so in the recent past givingshelter to hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees fleeing brutali-ties by Myanmar’s military. The Indian government shut its doors to theRohingyas because of its skewed ethno-religious policy. The mistakeshould not be repeated. Humanity’s consumption of

fresh water has long ex-ceeded the rate of replen-

ishment. Now, researchers arewarning that this essential naturalresource is running out. If we areto reverse this trend, investing innatural solutions is our best hope.

Less than 1% of all water onEarth is accessible or usable freshwater. Most is held in inland wetlands,including rivers, lakes, marshes,peatlands, and underground aquifers.These wetlands are nature’s waterharvesters, cleaners, and bankers.By capturing, purifying, storing,and releasing rain and floodwater be-fore releasing it when needed, theyenable the global water cycle that en-sures a constant supply.

Worldwide, wetlands’ full inte-gration into water planning andmanagement across all economicsectors would bring far-reachingbenefits. Sufficient water suppliescould stimulate economic growth,reduce conflict, and relieve envi-ronmental stress. But that requiressignificant sustained investment tomeet surging demand.

Consumption of fresh water hasincreased six-fold over the last 100years, and demand is still rising,with agriculture, industry, and en-

ergy accounting for 90% of thetotal. At least 55% more water willbe required by 2050 to meet the de-mand created by economic growth,urbanisation, and a global popu-lation of nearly ten billion people.

Already, there is considerablyless water per person now thanthere was just two decades ago. Asa result, over three billion people facesevere water shortages, which oftenfuel violent conflict. By 2050, morethan half the world’s people will bewater-insecure; in dry regions, cli-mate change will aggravate scarcity.

Climate change is only one threat.Pollution is also exacerbating thewater crisis. Unsafe drinking wateris a potentially fatal reality for peo-ple around the world. Virtually allfreshwater sources are now con-taminated to some extent; not evenMount Everest’s snowcaps havebeen spared. So, why aren’t we sav-ing and protecting wetlands? Theirversatility is especially relevantwhen considering that water cri-sis ranks among the World EconomicForum’s top five global risks interms of impact. Their water-har-nessing capacities above and belowground – counteracting droughts,floods, and the impact of melting gla-ciers – are particularly important.

And yet, although they providemost of our fresh water, nearly 90%of all wetlands have disappearedsince the Industrial Revolution, andthe loss is accelerating in tandemwith globalisation. Many remainingwetlands are critically endangered.

Wetlands are particularly vul-nerable because they are frequentlyconsidered wasteland to be con-verted for farming and develop-ment, or disease-ridden areas tobe reclaimed. This tendency high-lights the lack of understanding ofwetlands’ critical role that under-pins the world’s water crisis. Toensure safe, secure, and adequatewater supplies, we must focus onthe connection between humandependence on water and what wedo to wetlands.

Yes, there are other options forincreasing our water supply, butnone is ideal. Seawater desalinationcreates more problems than itsolves. Cloud seeding raises trou-bling questions. And mass con-struction of water capture plantsrequires considerable investmentand often disrupts local economiesand ways of life. Moreover, unlikewetlands, these options cannot si-multaneously provide food, medi-cine, income for one in seven peo-

ple, a home for countless species,or mitigate climate change.

With half of global GDP de-pendent on ecosystem services, sav-ing wetlands should be a top priorityin crafting a green recovery from theCOVID-19 crisis. Chennai’s revi-talisation of ancient wetlands inIndia to prevent another ‘day zero’– like the one in 2019, when thecity’s water ran out – offers a blue-print for others. Importantly, wemust rethink and overhaul agri-culture, by far the biggest consumerof water, to get more ‘crop per drop.’Industry, too, must step up as anequal partner in conservation andefficient use. Ecosystem protectionand an attractive business envi-ronment might once have seemedincompatible. Today, businesses’very survival depends on a healthynatural environment.

Wetlands are the planet’s bestsolutions to the existential issue offreshwater supply. We can haveenough here on Earth withoutneeding to search beyond Earthfor it. All we must do is protect thenatural solutions we already haveand use them wisely.

The writer is SecretaryGeneral of the Ramsar

Convention on Wetlands ©PROJECT SYNDICATE

Overcoming water scarcity naturally

WHEN COPS PLANT BOMBST

hat old adage says whenthieves fall out, honestmen come by their own.In Mumbai, there is noth-

ing honest in the air as yet with al-legations, wild and otherwise, fly-ing thick in the wake of the scarecaused by the discovery of dyna-mite sticks near the skyscraperhome of Mukesh Ambani.

The dramatic disclosures in thecase should put all of India on no-tice, and bring to attention thehuge risks when police forces thatmust control crime and maintainlaw & order are allowed to runamok and use unconventional andillegal means to deliver what thelaw requires them to do by therule book. What we see today is atleast in part the continued falloutfrom the time Mumbai police wenton a trigger-happy spree with theso-called “encounter” killings thatled to the force becoming split be-tween two gangs. This was anarrangement under which gangswere being ostensibly eliminatedbut what it delivered was some-thing very different as gangstersoutsourced the killing of their ri-vals to the police. Soon, the gangsoutside were mirrored with gangsinside the force, each police “en-counter” team known for its loy-alties, information sources andthe price at which rivals could bebumped off. This kind of failureat the political and professionallevel led to loss of control and theinjection of a new level of murk-iness in a system that has alwaysbeen on the edge of murky and sub-merged in corruption.

It is not a coincidence that theman who had a hand in plantingthe explosives near Ambani’s homethis time is an old timer from thosedays of disgrace and shame forthe Mumbai police. He is himselfa disgraced, low ranked police of-ficer, making this an inside jobthat in itself reveals the kind of rotthat runs through a police force thatyears ago took pride in being calledthe Scotland Yard of India. Thereis also no doubt that this disgracedofficer, an Assistant Police Inspectornamed Sachin Vaze, has in thepast worked as the ‘A’ team of theman who now headed the force,the Commissioner of Police ParamBir Singh. This was in the 1990s,

when Singh as DeputyCommissioner had Vaze in histeam as an “encounter specialist”.

Singh has since been shuntedout, but he has hit back sayingState Home Minister, AnilDeshmukh of the NCP, had askedVaze to collect Rs 100 crore frombars, and assorted businesses inMumbai. Singh, of course, criesfoul now but was silent all along,which in itself raises its own ques-tions about his conduct, given thatthere is political rivalry also atplay between the BJP-led Centreand the Shiv Sena-led State. Vazehas been arrested by the NIA, a lit-tle over one year after he was re-instated in service in a rather oddmove, after being suspended andthen resigning from the policeforce way back in 2007.

And who reinstated him? Singhheaded the committee that did thedeed, though Vaze was being pros-ecuted for the death in custody ofKhwaja Yunus, a 27-year-old com-puter engineer, in a case now pend-ing in courts. The reason cited forthe urgent reinstatement was theneed to hire more police staff intimes of a pandemic! From thetop to the bottom, the rot runsdeep and won’t be easy to cleansince it is now so much a part ofthe system that it has created its

own efficiencies, paybacks and away of working that keeps themachinery moving. There is an-other death that could be traced toSingh and Vaze’s hands now – oneof the cars used in the Ambani casewas allegedly being parked at thePolice Commissioner’s office; theprecise car carrying the dynamitebelonged to a little-known busi-nessman who has since died inmysterious circumstances.

The truth will for long remainconcealed behind a flood of alle-gations, innuendoes and surmises.Whatever the picture may be, thereis no doubt that the Mumbai Policewill not command respect. It maywell embolden other members ofthe force to test boundaries and fur-ther lower standards.

Controlling this slide will re-quire a huge effort. But what lookslike a problem of the police inMumbai is a problem that we seeacross the nation, where en-counters have become the pre-ferred way to eliminate gangsters,cut short the legal process of pros-ecution and take cover under theplea that the people of India sup-port the killing of gangsters. Whatthis simplistic analysis refusesto see or learn is that due processis not a hurdle to be crossed butthe only way in which the forces

can be kept honest, can be madeto deliver on their legal mandateand to be able to truly controlcrime and conduct investigationsbringing those truly guilty to jus-tice.

Any approach that shortchangesdue process is an invitation todisaster, as we see happening inMumbai. Consider that if the so-called “encounters” were inves-tigated, if Vaze and his seniorSingh were held to account fortheir actions, this team of twowould not have had the capacityto rise to the levels they have andsabotage the system in the waythey have today. This writer ispersonally witness to how these“encounter” specialists have goneabout their work, almost all of itillegal, almost a private den thatis sometimes dirtier than the codewith which gangs may operate.More than two decades ago, oneof these “specialists” in a privateconversation revealed that he hadthe power to listen in to any mo-bile conversation without dueprocess, kept a set of guns in hislocker in the office which he dis-played and made no bones aboutadmitting that he was not clean andthat his team was known for beingthe one that made money – whichwas a cause of jealousy amongmany others!

Mumbai, and the nation, needsto put a stop to short termismwhen it comes to daily policing.There is only one way to controlcrime, maintain law & order andbuild confidence among the citi-zenry. It’s the old-fashioned way ofgetting this right. It takes time, ef-fort, skill and involves supportfor the men who live up to thepledge of the uniform. It demandsexemplary punishment for thosewho break the rules. This is calleddue process, in letter and in spirit,and is the only way. Whenever itis violated, we will get the murk-iness that shames the Mumbaipolice today. Whenever it is fol-lowed, we will get a force thatmakes the city proud of its workand commitment.

The writer is a journalistand a faculty member at

Bhavan’s SPJIMR. Views arepersonal ©THE BILLION PRESS

FOCUS

SPECTRUM

What looks like a problem of the police inMumbai is a problem that we see across thenation, where encounters have become the preferred way to eliminate gangsters, cut short the legal process of prosecution and take cover under the plea that the people of India support the killing of gangsters

Influx from Myanmar

TUESDAY | MARCH 23 | 2021 | BHUBANESWAR

The supreme end is thefreedom of the spirit.

SRI AUROBINDO

SUSTAINABILITY

THE TRUTH WILLFOR LONG

REMAIN CONCEALED

BEHIND A FLOOD OF

ALLEGATIONS,INNUENDOES

AND SURMISES.WHATEVER THE

PICTURE MAYBE, THERE IS NO

DOUBT THATTHE MUMBAIPOLICE WILL

NOT COMMANDRESPECT

Jagdish Rattanani

WISDOM CORNERYou can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the peopleall the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN

The worst sin toward our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but tobe indifferent to them: that’s the essence of inhumanity.

GEORGE BERNARD SHAW

Cherish your visions and your dreams as they are the children ofyour soul, the blueprints of your ultimate achievements.

NAPOLEON HILL

MAHARASHTRA

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

BY 2050, MORETHAN HALF THE

WORLD’S PEOPLEWILL BE

WATER-INSECURE

Martha RojasUrrego

Women’s safety

Sir, Indian Railways issued detailed guidelines to prevent incidentsof crime against women in trains and on railway premises. Theguidelines include an action plan, preventive measures, sensitisation,surveillance over the identified vulnerable areas, notice for pas-sengers and special measures. Guidelines also advise zonal rail-ways and production units that acting proactively they may imple-ment various other mechanisms to ensure the safety of womendepending upon local conditions and circumstances. In recent years,there has been a surge in incidents of crimes against women pas-sengers. Of the 23 million passengers who travel in trains across therailway network every day, about 4.6 million are women passengers.A majority of complaints from women related to molestation, eve-teasing, harassment, and unauthorised entry of male passengers incoaches reserved for women, among others. In addition, womenpassengers become victims of chain/mobile snatching, handbaglifting and other instances of thefts of luggage. The women passengersthose are hesitating to travel in trains will feel comfortable to travelif all measures are taken to check crimes against women.

Hitesh Kumar Parida, PANIKOILI (JAJPUR)

Unhappy India

Sir, On March 20, UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network re-leased the World Happiness Report 2021. In the survey for 2021, 149countries had participated. Finland emerged as the happiest country inthe world for fourth time in a row. On the other hand, India is laggingbehind, almost at the end in the race of happiness. To be precise, out of149 countries, we are at rank 139. Why Indians are unhappy? Why havewe scored so less in the happiness exam? These questions are a matterof concern. Everyone blames the vast population of India for its poorperformance. But how far is it justified? For some wise analysts, the pop-ulation would have been an incentive to boost our ranking. The mostdisquieted issue is the mental wellbeing of our citizens. According toa report of NCRB, our nation sees 381 suicides every day. Evidently, peo-ple are mentally depressed. This spectre must be taken seriously andit’s time we Indians understand the importance of mental wellbeing. Tolook out for a solution, we can’t be as extreme as Bhutan, to measureits development by Gross National Happiness instead of GDP. But,surely the government can allocate an exclusive council that looks afterthe mental wellbeing of its citizens. Let’s take it seriously or we’ll haveto pay a huge price for it in future. N Soumik, BHUBANESWAR

cmyk

cmyk

Mimsy

This appears in some dictionaries with the sense prim oraffected, over-refined or mincing. In this sense, mimsy has long

been known in the British Isles, especially in Scots and northerndialects; an example is in A Rock in the Baltic, by Robert Barr(1906): “In one corner of the room stood a sewing-machine, and onthe long table were piles of mimsy stuff out of which femininecreations are constructed.” It’s known in other spellings, such asmimsey and mimzy; closely related is mimp; an elaborated versionis miminy-piminy or niminy-piminy. Aficionados of Lewis Carrollwill know a different meaning, which appears in the poem calledJabberwocky in his Through the Looking-Glass: “All mimsy were theborogoves”. Later in the book, Humpty-Dumpty explains itsmeaning as being a blend (he calls it a portmanteau word) offlimsy and miserable, so meaning “unhappy”. Carroll eitherinvented it afresh or borrowed an existing English dialect word andgave it a new meaning. All forms seem to be built on mim. Thislittle word may come from an imitation of pursing up the mouth inprudishness (a related form is mim-mouthed, affectedly prim andproper in speech, which appears in Virginibus Puerisque, by RobertLouis Stevenson, published in 1881: “Mim-mouthed friends andrelations hold up their hands in quite a little elegiacal synod abouthis path: and what cares he for all this?”) Mimsy is far from dead.It was found in the issue of The Medical Post for 6 January 2004(which was published in Toronto, but the writer was rememberinghis childhood in Scotland): “Certainly if I had been drafted into theArmed Forces I would have been streets ahead of these mimsy BoyScouts with their cowboy hats and their two-fingered apology for asalute.” It also appeared in an article by Griff Rhys Jones in theIndependent on 24 October 2003: “This is food writing. Not mimsypseudo-porn, but genuinely funny gastro-investigation driven by a slavering appetite.”

cmyk

cmyk

RAJASTHAN

TUESDAY | MARCH 23 | 2021 | BHUBANESWARP7

KERALA

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

Thiruvananthapuram, March22: With the April 6 Assembly pollsapproaching fast, Pinarayi Vijayannowadays appears to be easily avail-able to the media in contrast to hisearlier image of being one of themost inaccessible Chief Ministersin Kerala.

All those who have been follow-ing Vijayan, right from the time heassumed office in May 2016, he wentinto the record books by becomingthe first Chief Minister of the stateto cancel the weekly post-cabinetmedia briefing, and he made it crys-tal clear that he will speak onlywhen he wanted to and not when themedia sought him.

Then came his classic act of chas-ing away the media by literallyshouting, "Kadeku purethu" (get

out) when the media came to covera peace meeting in the state capital.

However, this tough postureagainst the media at times camehandy for even the media-friendlyCongress-led UDF top leaders, who

used to taunt the media and escapereplying by saying: “Why don't youask like this to Vijayan. All know youare afraid of him.”

A media critic on the conditionof anonymity said Vijayan has al-

ways been like this and wheneverhe needs the support of the media,he is liberal in giving interviews.

“Even though, Vijayan and histeam are claiming that they wouldbecome the first government to re-tain power, they have sensed thatthings are not rosy as they think,and hence this is the latest game planof the Vijayan think-tank to reachout to the media as quickly and beas polite as possible. Just ahead ofthe 2016 Assembly polls also his PRteam was chasing the media and wasgiving interviews at will duringthe course of his state-wide Yatrathen. For the media, memory isshort-lived and for them it's only theTRP that matters and that's alsoknown to Vijayan, and hence he isthe winner,” said the critic.

Incidentally Sunday, an agitatedLeader of Opposition Ramesh

Chennithala alleged that the gov-ernment was influencing the mediaby giving advertisements worthcrores of rupees.

“The recent pre-poll surveys ap-pear to be heavily biased towardsthe Left and the media have beencampaigning against the Congress-led UDF. The government has spentby now Rs 200 crore for advertise-ments. In a democracy, the opposi-tion also has to be given time andspace by the media and none shouldforget that the Vijayan governmenthad to backtrack on a number ofschemes, after we raised strong ob-jections. The same company haspartnered with three different mediaorganisations to do the pre-poll sur-vey and it should also be noted thatthe Vijayan government has givenadvertisements to newspapers inGujarat also,” said Chennithala.

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Thiruvananthapuram, March22: The CPI, the second largestpar tner in the ruling LeftDemocratic Front in Kerala,Monday made it clear the Left gov-ernment would continue with the"same position" on the affidavitfiled by it in the Supreme Court inconnection with the Sabarimalawomen’s entry issue, triggeringsharp reactions from the BJP andCongress.

On the other hand, the CPI(M)claimed that there was a deliberateattempt by someone to makeSabarimala a topic of discussionduring the time of election.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayansaid in Kottayam that some peoplewere trying to raise the Sabarimalaissue again during the electiontime. “No need to raise it now...Let'sthink about other things after thefinal verdict,” he said, adding thathis government had granted Rs1,487 crore for improving the ameni-ties of pilgrims at the hill temple.

While talking to a private chan-nel, CPI state secretary KanamRajendran said the governmenthas already taken a stand in itsoriginal petition on the matter and"it would be continued".

It was clearly mentioned in theaffidavit that it was not the gov-ernment but a panel of expertsand scholars of "Hindu dharm"which should take a final decisionon the entry of young women at thehilltop temple, he said.

"The state government and theTravancore Devaswom Board(which manages the shrine) havetaken a stand in the original peti-tion regarding the matter. The sameposition will be continued likethat," Rajendran said. It was not thegovernment to take a final deci-sion on the customs and traditionsof the temple, the Left leader said."The government had said (in theaffidavit) that a panel of scholarsand experts, proficient in HinduDharm, should be set up and thefinal judgment should be pro-nounced after taking into accountits opinion on the women's entry.

The government will continue thisstand," he said. The Left leader'sstatement comes at a time when theopposition parties are keen to knowwhether the LDF government willmake any change in the presentaffidavit in the case, pending inthe Supreme Court.

Lashing out at the CPI leaderover his statement, BJP state pres-ident K Surendran said Rajendran'sstand that there would not be anychange in the Left government'saffidavit, which backs women'sentry in Sabarimala, would turn theholy land into a place of riot again.

"If the CPI(M) continues its moveto destroy Sabarimala, the agitationwill start again. We are ready to fightfrom the front again for devotees,"he said during an election cam-paign at Nariapuram.

He also said if the BJP-NDA gov-ernment comes to power in thestate, Sabarimala would be liberatedfrom the clutches of politicians.

Criticising the CPI leader, seniorCongress leader K Muraleedharansaid the "insincere" approach ofthe Marxist government towardsSabarimala has been exposedthrough Rajendran's statement.

"Kanam Rajendran says that theLDF government will not makeany change in the existing affi-davit. That means, the governmentis still sticking to its stand of al-lowing young women's entry inSabarimala. They want devotees'vote but they are not ready to changetheir stand," he said.

The government was giving allsupport to destroy the customs andtraditions of the shrine,Muraleedharan, also the UDF can-didate in Nemom, alleged.

Meanwhile, TDB president NVasu said it was the governmentwhich has to take a decision onthe affidavit. "There has been noissue at Sabarimala for the lastthree years...Festivals have beengoing on in a peaceful atmosphere.There has been no complaint ofviolation of any customs or tradi-tions," he said, adding the presentcontroversies would only help de-stroy the peaceful atmosphere inSabarimala.

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

Jaipur, March 22: Over 50,000 stu-dents, who went home during theCovid lockdown, have now returnedto Kota, Rajasthan's education hub,and started preparations with thesole aim to crack various compet-itive exams and make a mark forthemselves.

Despite many adverse circum-stances, including lockdown andcurfew throughout the year, Kotamanaged to maintain its credibil-ity -- preparing students for engi-neering and medical entrance ex-aminations and delivering someof the best results.

While two Kota coaching stu-dents have secured 100 percentile-- scoring 300 out of 300 marks in therecently released JEE-MainFebruary result, in NEET-UG, Allenstudent Soyeb Aftab created his-tory by scoring 720 out of 720.

Students studying in Kota alsotopped the Kishore VaigyanikProtsahan Yojana (KVPY)Fellowship 2020 Result. The high-est number of students from Kotahas been selected in the qualify-ing round of the Olympiads.

As per Naveen Maheshwari,Director, Allen Career Institute,"The students and parents acrossthe country have again expressedconfidence in the Kota system andteaching methodology.

"The institutes are continuouslydelivering better results. Studentsare constantly coming here to pre-pare for their dream careers. Herein Covid time, we started a 31-bedhospital dedicated to students.Students' health and safety are thepriority for Allen."

Ayush Goyal, HOD, Reliable

Institute, says, "Kota is committedto the students. Kota City has madea mark across the country to fulfillstudents' career dreams and is tak-

ing good care of them. Due to bet-ter facilities, the students are com-ing to Kota, and new batches havecommenced. Kota is committed toproviding better care to the stu-dents," he said.

Sunil Aggarwal, President,Coralpark Hostel Association said:"We look forward to fulfilling allthe needs of students. We are con-stantly working on providing ahome-like environment for the stu-dents and ensuring that they willnot face any problems while prepar-ing for their career dream.

"For this, the guidelines of Covid-19 are being followed, and an iso-lation facility is also being pro-vided to the students."

Bhagwan Birla, President,Landmark Hostel Association says,"Parents along with the studentscoming to Kota, are happy to see thearrangements here. They feel that asafe, healthy, and clean environment,just like home, is provided in Kota.

"This is the reason that studentsare constantly coming here andare busy preparing for their ca-reers," he added.

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Jaipur, March 22: All IndiaCongress Committee general sec-retary in-charge for Rajasthan AjayMaken Monday exuded confidencethat the party will win the threeAssembly seats going to bypollsnext month.

Maken said the Ashok Gehlotgovernment has presented an ‘ex-cellent’ budget and the party willbe benefited by it.

“Our observers, ministers in-charge and others have been work-ing for several weeks. We are aheadin preparations and the party willwin bypolls on all seats,” he told re-porters at the airport. At a meetingwith state Congress leaders andworkers, Maken asked them to con-tinue working on the ground toensure that the party wins.

“We are confident that the partywill deliver better results as com-pared to the BJP,” he said.

After the meeting, Maken saidparty workers gave important sug-gestions which will be implemented.

On the alleged phone tappingissue raised by the BJP in the re-cently concluded Assembly ses-

sion, Maken claimed the mostphone tapping was done in Gujaratwhen Narendra Modi was the ChiefMinister.

“It is the BJP which has beenblamed for phone tapping,” he said.

Maken said he has asked stateCongress chief Govind SinghDotasra to forward the panel ofnames shortlisted so that it couldbe sent for approval to the partyhigh-command for finalising can-didates. Bypolls will be held inSahara (Bhilwara), Sujangarh(Churu) and Rajsamand Assemblyconstituencies. According to theelection schedule, nominationswill start with the issuance of no-tification March 23.

Polling will be held April 17, andcounting will take place May 2.

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

Jaipur, March 22: Bears have de-veloped a special liking for foodserved in hotels!

This surprising revelation hasbeen made in a research paper sub-mitted by Udaipur-based researcherswhich was published in CambridgeUniversity's magazine Oryx.

The research was carried out bythe Mohanlal Sukhadia University'sUdaipur team which included re-searcher Utkarsh Prajapati,Assistant Professor Vijay KumarKoli and Nature ConservationFoundation scientist KS GopiSundar.

Prajapati said that a research,for the first time in the world, showsthat the sloth bears have been en-tering the city from the forest areas.

In Mount Abu, bears visit thetownship scurrying for trash toeat. Now they have got accustomedto eating cooked savouries.

Balaji Curry, Deputy ForestConservator of Forests Department,said that the incidents of bearsseen in cities have increased in thelast five years, while the incidentsof attacks on humans have in-creased in the last two years.

Research also revealed that abear attacks human when suddenlyencountered, but the interestingfact is that it has been the womenwho have been exposed to the high-

est number of bear attacks.If a woman comes in front of a

bear with children, the bear turnsaggressive.

According to Gopi Sundar, the nat-ural habitat of the sloth bear isthreatened and that is why bears arecoming out of the forests more andmore heading towards city limits.

The growing aggression trendin bears is also due to the dumpingof food items in the dustbin.Attracted by the cooked meals foundin dustbins as leftovers, the slothbears head for cities and when theydo not get this food, they become vi-olent and attack the humans.

According to these researchers,bears are generally considered tobe shy animals, but their naturehas changed over the years as theyare now seen shifting to urbanareas from their natural habitat --

the once dense forests. This trans-formation has spiked the conflict be-tween bears and humans.

Aiming to find the reason whybears started visiting populatedareas, despite the availability ofsufficient quantity of food in theforests, these researchers started thestudy and found many stunningfacts such as bears, these days, havedeveloped a liking for food cookedin hotels.

Due to their liking for mealsserved at hotels, they enter MountAbu, a hill station of Rajasthanand can be seen eating food dumpedacross the road. The research startedin December 2018 and the researchpaper was sent to CambridgeUniversity.

After being reviewed by scientists,this research has recently been fea-tured in the Oryx magazine.

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

Thiruvananthapuram, March22: Kerala's Safdar HashmiMemorial Library, formed in 1988immediately after the theatre artistewas shot dead in Delhi, has awomen's wing which is creatingwaves across the state through in-novative methods as well as by lend-ing helping hands to them in everypossible way.

The library has over 14,000 booksand is the main cultural hub ofMayyil in Kannur district, thehome district of Chief MinisterPinarayi Vijayan.

The women's group,which is a part of the li-brary, is into women em-powerment, women en-trepreneurship, trainingfor competitive examina-tions, developing financialinde pendence amongwomen, increasing women'sparticipation in culture, artand theatre and developing read-ing habit among women.

The 'Streevedi' or the women'sgroup has also been actively in-volved in spreading awareness onmenstrual cleanliness and 'men-strual cup' among women.

Light Emitting Diode (LED) clin-ics have also been conducted tospread awareness on power con-servation among women. Later, theLED clinics were transformed intoLED bulb making projects.

Rishna, the panchayat presidentof Mayyil and one of the key op-erators of the women's wing, told

IANS: "More than a library, we havetransformed this place into a cul-tural platform for women, pro-moting women entrepreneurs, fi-nancial independence of women,creating awareness among womenon menstrual hygiene and envi-ronment hazards caused by sanitarynapkins."

"We are also into making ofmasks, hand sanitisers, room clean-ing liquid solutions which are ourmain revenue earning models," she

added.The women's wing has also con-

ducted several dramas across the dis-trict featuring all women troupe.There is also a "travelling library"which supplies books at everydoorstep and is compulsory thatwomen of the area read a book andreturn it within two weeks.

The library is meeting the inci-dental expenses of the woman li-brarian who moves in a two wheelerand connects with 200 homes perweek.

Another major feature of the li-brary is the initiative to conductgroup reading and reading collec-tives.

Rishna said, "This is to createawareness among the general pub-

lic as to how serious we are andhow important reading is."

Initially, the local people weresceptical about the women centricprogrammes, but of late everythinghas changed and they now feel thatwhat the women's group is doing isan effective step towards the soci-ety at large.

Radhakrishnan, who is from theMayyil panchayat, told IANS, "Thosewomen who would spend theirleisure time watching serials aremuch advanced now. They are nowreading classics, making paperbags, LED bulbs, cleaning materi-als and masks which are sold inthe market, fetching them a goodamount besides helping to makethe project a huge success."

HOTEL MEALS WOOINGBEARS OUT OF JUNGLES

Library-centric women’s movement creating waves

Morethan a library, we

have transformed thisplace into a cultural

platform for women, promotingwomen entrepreneurs, financial

independence of women, creatingawareness among women on

menstrual hygiene andenvironment hazards caused

by sanitary napkinsRISHNA I PANCHAYAT PRESIDENT OF

MAYYI

Cong confident of winningall 3 Assembly bypolls in Raj

50K students return as Kota delivers best results

NEW IDENTITY

KOTA CREATED A NEWIDENTITY ACROSS THE

COUNTRY WHEN LOCKDOWNWAS ANNOUNCED AFTERMARCH 22, 2020

MORE THAN 50,000STUDENTS WERE SENT

HOME SAFELY TO THEIRPARENTS DURING THIS PHASE INA HEALTHY AND CLEANENVIRONMENT. THIS WAS THEBIGGEST HOMECOMING OFSTUDENTS

EVENTUALLY KOTA SEEMS TOBE CATCHING UP WITH THE

SPEED ON THE PATH TOWARDSTHE NEW NORMAL AFTERGETTING HIT BY THE PANDEMICAS THE STREETS OF THE CITYHAVE AGAIN STARTED BUZZINGWITH STUDENTS

CPI says no change in Sabarimala affidavit;irks Congress & BJP

For a change, Vijayan turns media-friendlyTHE CM NOWADAYS APPEARS TO BE EASILY AVAILABLE TO THE MEDIA IN CONTRAST TO HIS EARLIER IMAGE

OF BEING ONE OF THE MOST INACCESSIBLE LEADERS IN KERALA

Our observers,ministers in-charge and

others have been working forseveral weeks. We are aheadin preparations and the partywill win bypolls on all seatsAJAY MAKEN I AICC GENERAL SECRETARY

Have you seen how acricket stadium in

Gujarat was renamed afterModi? One day, they willchange the name of thecountry. They are selling PSUsto private partiesMAMATA BANERJEE | WEST BENGAL CHIEFMINISTER

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nationalTUESDAY | MARCH 23 | 2021 | BHUBANESWAR

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Rahul Gandhitalks ofprotecting

Assam’s ‘asmita’(pride and identity),but today I want toask him publicly -will Congress do it with AIUDF ChiefBadruddin Ajmal on his lap?

AMIT SHAH | UNION HOME MINISTER

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The high courttakingcognisance of

new facts in theHathras case andordering an inquiryinto threats towitnesses and other issues has putthe UP government in the dock andthe people have been forced tothink as to how victims will getjustice

MAYAWATI | BSP CHIEF

The CMs of UPand MP willsign a pact

today to link the Kenand Betwa rivers.This will all butdestroy the PannaTiger Reserve in MP, a success storyin translocation and revival. I hadsuggested alternatives 10 years agobut alas...

JAIRAM RAMESH | CONGRESS LEADER

Uttarakhand CMtests COVID +veDehradun: Uttarakhand ChiefMinister Tirath Singh RawatMonday said he has testedpositive for COVID-19. Thechief minister took to Twitterto inform the people about hisCOVID-19 test report and saidhe has tested positive for thepandemic but he is alright andhas no complications. He hasisolated himself and is underthe observation of doctors.Rawat also advised the peoplewho had come into contactwith him over the past fewdays to get themselves tested.

Maoist coupleheld in T’ganaKarimnagar: A Maoist couplewas arrested Monday inMancherial district forallegedly trying to reorganise‘Sikasa’, a frontal organisationaffiliated to the bannedCPI(ML), police said. Theyclaimed that the couple werealso trying to promote theactivities of the outfit in urbanareas. VaranasiSubrahmanyam and his wifeVijayalaxmi were arrested atVijayawada railway station,Mancherial DeputyCommissioner of Police G UdayKumar Reddy told reporters.

7-year-old killedin bomb blastBurdwan: A seven-year-oldboy was killed and anotherchild injured in a crude bombexplosion in Burdwan city inWest Bengal Monday, policesaid. The incident happenedaround 11 am in Rasikpur'sSubhaspally area of the city,they said. Sheikh Afroz (7)and Sheikh Ibrahim (9) wereplaying near their house whenthey hit a packet in which thecrude bombs were kept,leading to the blast, Burdwanpolice station’s inspector-in-charge Pintu Saha said.

Thunderstorms likely in MPBhopal: Parts of MadhyaPradesh may witnessthunderstorms, gusty windsand lightning strikes in thenext 24 hours, as per theyellow alert issued by theIndia MeteorologicalDepartment (IMD) Monday.Isolated places in the districtsof Bhopal, Jabalpur, Sagar,Hoshangabad, Gwalior andChambal divisions are likelyto see thunderstorms,lightning and gusty wind withspeed reaching 30-40kilometres per hour (KMPH),it said. Similar weathertrendwith gusty winds mightbe witnessed in ten districtsRewa, Satna, Khandwa,Khargone, Burhanpur, Ratlam,Ujjain, Dewas, Sahajpur andAgar- Malwa districts.

SHORT TAKES

The Gandhi Peace Prize for the year 2020 is beingconferred on Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman,the culture ministry said Monday. The Gandhi PeacePrize is an annual award instituted by governmentof India since 1995, the 125th birth anniversarycommemoration year of Mahatma Gandhi

GANDHI PEACE PRIZETO ‘BANGABANDHU’

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, March 22: The coro-navirus pandemic is on the upswingagain in India which observed a‘Janata curfew’ this day a year ago,having paved the way for an over two-month long strict nationwide lock-down to curb the contagion.

Millions of people across thecountry stayed indoors March 22,2020 in an unprecedented and over-whelming response to PrimeMinister Narendra Modi’s appealfor the nationwide curfew, comingout briefly at 5 pm to show their grat-itude to healthcare and other es-sential service providers withsounds of bells, conches and claps.

This day, the country’s infectiontally stood at 360 and the death tollat 7. India reported its first case ofcoronavirus infection January 30last year from Kerala, and the firstdeath March 10 from Karnataka.

India crossed the grim milestoneof one crore COVID-19 cases onDecember 19, even as the spread ofthe virus slowed down with almosta month being taken for the 10 lakhnew infections, unlike in the periodfrom August till mid-Novemberwhen they rose at a faster rate.

The daily rise in cases fell below30,000 since December 14 (27,071) andthe lowest daily increase of 8,635 in-

fections was reported on February2 this year. The daily rise in cases,however, started remaining above30,000 from March 18.

India reported 46,951 new coro-navirus infections in a day, thehighest so far this year, taking thenationwide COVID-19 tally to1,16,46,081, according to the Unionhealth ministry data updatedMonday. India has seen 2,60,742cases in the last seven days.

The daily fresh cases remainedbelow 20,000 from January 8 tillMarch 10 after which the casesbegan to spike.

The national recovery rate wasat its highest at 97.33 per centFebruary 17 which has come downto 95.75 per cent.

The active caseload was at itslowest at 1,35,926 February 12, com-prising 1.25 per cent of the total in-fections.

Around 13 states and UnionTerritories (UTs) were out of thegrip of COVID-19 before the JanataCurfew was announced.

India stands at number one po-sition in terms of recovered coro-navirus cases followed by Brazil,while it is in the third spot in termsof the cases after the US and Brazil,according to the Johns HopkinsUniversity, which has been com-piling global COVID-19 data.

REUTERS

New Delhi, March 22: India andPakistan are to hold the first meet-ing in three years Tuesday of acommission on water rights from theIndus River in a further sign of rap-prochement in relations frozen since2019 during disputes over Kashmir.

The Per manent IndusCommission, set up in 1960, willmeet for two days in New Delhi,according to two Indian officialsinvolved with water issues andPakistan’s foreign ministry.

Pakistan will raise objections tothe technical designs of India’splanned Pakal Dul and Lower Kalnaihydroelectric plants, Pakistani for-eign ministry spokesman ZahidHafeez Chaudhri said.

The Indus River, one of the world’slargest, and its tributaries feed 80

percent of Pakistan’s irrigated agri-culture.

The talks are the latest in both na-tions’ tentative efforts to re-engageafter a 2019 suicide bomb in IndianKashmir that New Delhi blamed onPakistan-based guerrillas and India’smove later that year to stripKashmir’s constitutional autonomy.

UAE INVOLVEDBoth nations are now focussed on

coping with unprecedented eco-nomic downturns due to COVID-19.

Bloomberg news agency andForeign Policy magazine have re-ported that the United ArabEmirates, with whom both Indiaand Pakistan have close ties, may

have played a role in secret effortsto achieve a detente.

Last month, India and Pakistanannounced a rare agreement tostop firing on the bitterly-contestedKashmir border, which Bloombergsaid was also the result of UAE-brokered talks. There was no im-mediate comment from India,Pakistan or the UAE to theBloomberg report out Monday.

At the water-sharing talks, bothsides are expected to try and nar-row differences over the hydro-proj-ects, Indian officials said.

One of the Indian officials, whoasked to remain unidentified, saidthe Pakal Dul and Lower Kalnaiprojects along with a couple of oth-ers - which Pakistan is concernedwould hurt the flow of water down-stream - were in line with the pro-visions of the treaty.

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

New Delhi, March 22: TheGovernment of the NationalCapital Ter ritory of Delhi(Amendment) Bill, 2021 was passedin the Lok Sabha Monday.

In reply to a debate, UnionMinister of State for Home Affairs,AG Kishan Reddy said, “No mur-der of democracy is taking placewith the amendments inGovernment of National CapitalTerritory of Delhi (Amendment)bill. No right has been taken awayfrom the Delhi government neitherany new right has been given to theLieutenant Governor.”

This amendment only seeks toremove ambiguities in governanceand is in line with court judg-ments and it will enhance ac-countability, Reddy said.

Participating in the debate,Congress’s Manish Tewari said,The problem with the BJP is thattheir stand changes on the sidethey are seated in Parliament.

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi , March 22:Researchers at the Indian Instituteof Science Education andResearch (IISER) Bhopal and theUniversity of Nebraska MedicalCentre (UNMC) in the US haveidentified a drug that can be re-purposed to treat COVID-19.

According to the team,‘Rapamycin’ is currently beingused for treating cancer patientsand those who have undergoneorgan transplantation. Its ana-logues are commonly available inIndia and abroad.

The research was publishedin a peer-reviewed paper recentlyin the reputed InternationalElsevier jour nal, ChemicoBiological Interactions. The re-searchers showed that the bio-chemical working of this drugmolecule points to its promisein the treatment of COVID-19.

The development of a new drugis time-consuming and cannotbe relied on as a solution in com-

bating the immediate pandemic.Drug repurposing is an attrac-tive solution, wherein, an exist-ing drug is used to treat anotherrelated or unrelated ailment maybe tested against COVID-19, saidAmjad Husain, Principal Scientist,and Chief Executive Officer,Innovation and Incubation Centerfor Entrepreneurship (IICE),IISER Bhopal.

Since the repurposed drug hasgone through the clinical devel-opment process for the treatmentof other diseases and has alreadybeen tested for toxicity, manysteps in preclinical and early clin-ical development can be avoidedand the drug can be directly testedon COVID-19 subjects in phase-IItrials, he added.

LOST LABOUR

A farmer inspects wheat crop affected due to rains and strong winds, at a village on the outskirts of Amritsar, Monday

LS passes GNCTDAmendment Bill

REUTERS

New Delhi, March 22: Mizoram,an Indian border state, into whichmore than 1,000 people fromMyanmar have sought refuge, ispushing Prime Minister NarendraModi’s administration to engagewith representatives of theSoutheast Asian country’s oustedelected government.

By calling for the restoration ofdemocracy but unwilling to openlycondemn the military, which staged

a coup Feb 1, India’s federal gov-ernment has taken a cautious ap-proach towards Myanmar despitean escalation in violence.

But the chief minister of thenortheastern state of Mizoram saidSunday that he had held talks witha member of a committee of oustedlawmakers in Myanmar, which isattempting to reestablish the civil-ian government.

“Our thoughts and prayers arewith #Myanmar in these tryingtimes,” Chief MinisterZoramthanga, who uses only onename, wrote in a tweet, after talk-ing online with Zin Mar Aung, whohas been named by the lawmakers’

committee as its foreign minister.Mizoram shares close ties with

parts of Myanmar. Many of thepeople who have sought shelter inthe remote Indian state since lateFebruary are defecting policemenand their families.

A group of officials from Mizoramalso held meetings with India’s fed-eral home ministry last week, ask-ing New Delhi to help people flee-ing Myanmar and urging thegovernment to assist the pro-democ-racy movement.

“We have to help them in thetime of need,” Mizoram lawmakerK. Vanlalvena, who attended themeetings, said in an interview.

“We asked the Indian govern-ment to involve (itself) more in thelocal politics of Myanmar.”

India’s home ministry had pre-viously directed border states tostop the influx from Myanmar anddeport those who had crossed over.

The home and foreign ministriesdid not immediately respond toquestions from Reuters.

MIZORAM PUSHES PM TODO MORE IN MYANMAR

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

New Delhi, March 22: India wouldneed to generate at least 83 per centof its electricity from (non-hy-dropower) renewable energy sourcesby 2050, if it were to commit toachieving net-zero greenhouse gasemissions by mid-century, accordingto an independent study releasedMonday by the Council on Energy,Environment and Water (CEEW).

This would mean a massive 55-foldincrease in use of non-hydro re-newables in electricity generationwithin the coming three decades,from only 160 Terawatt-hour (TWh)(10 per cent) in 2019. Further, toachieve net-zero by 2050 the shareof electricity in India’s industrialenergy use must rise three-fold,

from 20 per cent in 2018 to 70 per centin 2050. The share of electric vehi-cles in passenger car sales would alsohave to rise to 76 per cent in 2050 fromjust 0.1 per cent in 2019.

These estimates are based onCEEW’s best understanding of

progress on mitigation technolo-gies. To meet net-zero, India wouldneed to either completely elimi-nate greenhouse gas (GHG) emis-sions, or balance these by seques-tering GHG emissions.

The CEEW study is the first ex-

ercise to outline multiple pathwaysfor India to attain net-zero emis-sions, rather than fixating on a sin-gle scenario or a single year. It high-lighted that India would need toreach peak emissions within thisdecade if it were to achieve net-zero emissions by mid-century, apace of transition unlike anythingthe world has seen before. Thiswould give India an extremely nar-row window to ensure a smoothand equitable transition from apeaking year to a net-zero year.

Advanced economies, includingChina, Japan, the UK, and the US,will have taken at least 30, and attimes well over 40 years for thistransition. Advanced economiespeaked emissions at much higherlevels of development, slower rates

of growth and would have hadlonger transition periods.

The CEEW study explains whyIndia’s case is different from thenet-zero pathways of China, the EU,Japan, the UK and the US. First, theper capita emissions for all othereconomies in their respective peak-ing years would be much higherthan India’s, even if India were topeak in 2050. Secondly, India's realGDP growth rate would be muchhigher than any other country posttheir peaking years. This indicatesthat India would need to put in sig-nificantly more effort to peak and sub-sequently reduce emissions. Thirdly,India would have a much lower percapita income to support the tran-sition, even if it began the post-peaktransition in 2050, let alone 2030.

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, March 22: PrimeMinister Narendra Modi Mondaylaunched 'Jal Shakti Abhiyan:Catch the Rain' campaign for con-serving water and stressed thatevery penny of MGNREGA fundsbe spent on rain water conserva-tion till the monsoon arrives.

Addressing an event at the vir-tual launch of the campaign on theWorld Water Day, Modi said it isa matter of concern that majorityof rain water in India gets wasted.He said the more the rain water isconserved, the less will be the de-pendence on groundwater.

He also called for creating moreawareness about water conser-vation and increased public par-ticipation in such efforts.

The prime minister also em-phasised on the need for involvingwomen in water conservation ef-forts, saying they understand thevalue of water better.

The success of campaigns like'Catch the Rain' is very impor-tant, he said, noting that bothurban and rural areas have beenincluded in the Jal Shakti Abhiyan.

“There is still some time for themonsoon to arrive and we have tomake efforts to conserve water.We should not be lacking behindin our preparedness,” he said.

Before the monsoon, thereshould be cleaning and desiltingof tanks, lakes, and wells and theircapacity to conserve water mustbe increased. Any hindrances inthe flow of rainwater should be ad-dressed.

“For all these things, we have toput in all our efforts,” he said.

Modi said India's self-sufficiencyis dependent on its water resourcesand water connectivity, and itsfast-paced development is not pos-sible without effective water con-servation.

PM launches ‘Catchthe Rain’ campaign IISER, UNMC identify drug

that can help treat COVID

THE CEEW STUDY IS THE FIRST EXERCISE TO OUTLINE MULTIPLE PATHWAYS FOR INDIA TO ATTAIN NET-ZEROEMISSIONS, RATHER THAN FIXATING ON A SINGLE SCENARIO OR A SINGLE YEAR

A year after ‘Janatacurfew’, India reportshighest surge this year

PTI PHOTO

India-Pak detente on with water-sharing talksLAST MONTH, INDIA AND PAKISTAN ANNOUNCED A RARE AGREEMENT TO STOP FIRING ON

THE BITTERLY-CONTESTED KASHMIR BORDER The

PermanentIndus

Commission,set up in 1960,will meet fortwo days inNew Delhi

The border state sharesclose ties with parts ofMyanmar. Many of the

people who have soughtshelter in the remote

Indian state since lateFebruary are defecting

policemen and their families

55x renewable energy growth needed for zero emission

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nationalTUESDAY | MARCH 23 | 2021 | BHUBANESWAR

BJP has not been able to decidewho will be their chief ministerial

candidate. They are not able torespect their own Chief Minister and spellout the name. If there is no stability andunity in the party, then how will it bringstability to Assam and assure the people togive a stable government?PRIYANKA GANDHI VADRA | CONGRESS LEADER

A 10-year-old tiger was found deadwith swollen neck in the Kishanpursanctuary of the Dudhwa TigerReserve, police said Monday. Noapparent injuries were detectedbut the neck was unusually swollen

TIGER FOUND DEAD

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Thegovernmentshould enact a

health guaranteelaw and guaranteethe provision ofhealth facilities toall the people through thegovernment. The criteria for healthfacilities should be decided by thegovernment

FAUZIA KHAN | RAJYA SABHA MEMBER

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5 Naxals held inChhattisgarhBijapur: Five naxals, one themallegedly involved in thekilling of four policemen afterabducting them in 2015, havebeen arrested from two placesin Chhattisgarh’s Bijapurdistrict, police said Monday.While four ultras, including awoman, were held near NH-63under Nelasnar police stationarea, another cadre wasarrested nearChinger villageunder Kutru police stationlimits, a police official said.Separate teams of DistrictForce and District ReserveGuard (DRG) were involved inthese operations to arrestNaxals Sunday.

BJP’s Patil, workers bookedPune: Maharashtra BJP chiefChandrakant Patil and some40-50 of his party workerswere booked for allegedviolation of COVID-19 normsduring a protest held at AlkaChowk here, police saidMonday. The protestdemanding the resignation ofstate Home Minister AnilDeshmukh, who is facingcorruption allegations fromIPS officer Param Bir Singh,was held Sunday and was ledby Patil. A case wasregistered against Patil and40-50 party workers Sundaynight for unlawful assembly,flouting COVID-19 norms andviolating orders under IPC,Disaster Management Actand Mumbai Police Actprovisions, an official said.

Skeleton foundin police stationSurat: Remains of a humanskeleton were found on thecompound of a police stationhere in Gujarat during aclean-up drive, police saidMonday. “Sunday afternoon,when seized vehicles werebeing removed with the helpof a crane at Khatodarapolice station compound,human skeletal remains werefound,” an official said,adding that the clean-upoperation was undertakenafter nearly two years.

Man held with 25kgs of poppyJammu: The police Mondayarrested a man and recovered25 kgs of poppy from hispossession in Jammu andKashmir’s Udhampur district,officials said. Based on specificinformation, a police teamstopped a truck at Jakhani areaon the highway for a thoroughsearch, they said. During thesearch, 25 kgs of poppy wasrecovered, they said. The mannamed Mohammad Shafi wasarrested and the vehicle wasseized, they said, adding that acase has been lodged atUdhampur police station.

SHORT TAKES

The BJP willnever allowthe Congress

party to undo thecomplete union ofhearts and mindsaccomplishedthrough untiring efforts andcommitment of the BJP leadership

JITENDRA SINGH | UNION MINISTER

Like a tusker,the Congresshas two sets

of teeth -- one toshow off andanother to chew. Itsays something andalways does the opposite... It isdividing the society

J P NADDA | BJP NATIONAL PRESIDENT

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Chennai, March 22: Cutting ahuge cake depicting the NationalFlag and eating it could not be con-strued as an offence punishableunder the relevant Act, the Madrashigh Court ruled Monday.

Justice N Anand Venkatesh gavethe ruling, while allowing a crim-inal original petition from a po-liceman in Coimbatore and heldthat such an act could not be con-strued as an offence under Section2 of the Prevention of Insults toNational Honour Act, 1971.

At a public function organised tocelebrate Christmas December 25,2013, in Coimbatore, a cake meas-uring 6 ft. In length and 5 ft inbreadth, the icing on which car-ried a tri-colour with Indian map out-line and Ashoka Chakra in the cen-

tre, was allegedly cut.It was distributed and consumed

by the special guests and about2,500 participants including 1000children. Then Coimbatore district

Collector and a DCP also took partin the celebration.

Contending that this amountedto disrespecting the National Flag,D Senthilkumar of Hindu Public

Party, lodged a police complaint.As there was no action, he moved

the local Magistrate court, whichFebruary 17, 2017 directed regis-tering of an FIR against the personsconcerned for the offence underSection 2 of the Act and file a finalreport. Aggrieved, the local in-spector moved the High Court withthe present petition.

Allowing it, the judge observedthat patriotism is not determinedby a gross physical act. The inten-tion behind the act will be the truetest and it is possible that some-times the very act itself manifeststhe intention behind it.

In the present case, even if the en-tire set of facts stated in the com-plaint are taken as it is, it must beseen as to what would have been theactual feeling with which the par-ticipants would have dispersed after

the function was over.Will they be feeling great pride in

belonging to this great nation, orwould the pride of India have comedown on the mere cutting of a cakeduring the celebration.

Without any hesitation, this Courtcan hold that the participants wouldhave felt only the former and not thelatter, the judge said.

For proper understanding, thejudge cited a hypothetical case ofwide par ticipation in anIndependence Day or Republic Daycelebration.

During such celebrations, theparticipants are provided with anational flag to be worn by them. Inreality, after the participants leavethe venue, they do not continue topossess the flag forever and it be-comes part of any other waste paper.

Will this mean that each of the

participants has insulted the na-tional Flag and should be proceededagainst under Section 2 of the Act?The obvious answer is in the neg-ative, the court observed.

If persons are allowed to givesuch broad meaning to the word'insult', many will become very un-comfortable and hesitant to han-dle the national Flag.

The National Flag is given dur-ing the function as a symbol of na-tional pride. Once such a feeling iscreated in the minds of the partic-ipants, the purpose for which the na-tional Flag was given or used willbe achieved, the judge noted.

The Flag Code does provide amechanism to destroy flags in pri-vate, in a manner consistent withthe dignity of the flag and as a re-sponsible citizen, it should be fol-lowed in letter and spirit.

Cutting cake depicting national flag not an offence: HCIF PERSONS ARE ALLOWED TO GIVE SUCH BROAD MEANING TO THE WORD ‘INSULT’, MANY WILL BECOME VERY

UNCOMFORTABLE AND HESITANT TO HANDLE THE NATIONAL FLAG, SAID THE JUDGE

AGENCIES

New Delhi, March 22: FormerMumbai Commissioner of PoliceParam Bir Singh moved theSupreme Court on Monday seekingdirection for immediate "unbiased,uninfluenced, impartial and fair"CBI probe into alleged corrupt mal-practices of Maharashtra HomeMinister Anil Deshmukh.

Singh, a 1988 batch IPS officer alsosought quashing of the order trans-ferring him from the post ofMumbai CP alleging it to be “ar-bitrary” and “illegal”.

“The Petitioner has invoked writjurisdiction of this Court to seek un-biased, uninfluenced, impartialand fair investigation in the corruptmalpractices of Anil Deshmukh, theHome Minister of Government ofMaharashtra, before the evidencesare destroyed,” he said in his plea.

Singh alleged, “Deshmukh hadbeen holding meetings in February,2021 at his residence with police of-ficers including Sachin Vaze of CrimeIntelligence Unit, Mumbai and SanjayPatil, ACP Social Service Branch,Mumbai, bypassing their seniors andhad instructed them that he had atarget to accumulate Rs 100 croresevery month and had directed to col-lect money from various establish-ments and other sources”.

Singh said it is reliably learnt thaton or about August 24-25, 2020, oneRashmi Shukla, the CommissionerIntelligence, State IntelligenceDepartment, had brought to thenotice of the Director General ofPolice, who in turn brought it to theknowledge of the Additional ChiefSecretary Home Department,Government of Maharashtra aboutcorrupt malpractices in postings /transfers by Deshmukh based ontelephonic interception.

He sought directions from courtto safeguard him from any furthercoercive steps apprehended in theretaliation for laying bare the cor-rupt malpractices of Deshmukh.

Ex-top cop moves SC seekingCBI probe against Maha HM

MUMBAI SUV CASE

PAWAR RULES OUTMAHA HM’S EXITMUMBAI: Former Mumbai policecommissioner Param Bir Singh's cor-ruption allegations againstMaharashtra Home Minister AnilDeshmukh pertain to a period whenhe was hospitalised and hence thequestion of his resignation does notarise, NCP chief Sharad Pawar saidMonday. "We got information thatDeshmukh was hospitalised at thattime in Nagpur. The allegation (bySingh) pertains to exactly the sameperiod when he was in hospital.There is a hospital certificate," Pawartold reporters in Delhi, his secondmedia briefing in as many days overan issue which has caused a flutter instate political circles. In his eight-page letter to Chief Minister UddhavThackeray, Singh on Saturdayclaimed Deshmukh wanted policeofficers to collect Rs 100 croremonthly from bars and hotels. Singhhad also alleged in the letter thatDeshmukh had called Mumbai policeAPI Sachin Waze around mid-February at the ministers official resi-dence and told him to collect Rs 100crore a month. Deshmukh had rub-bished the charges the same day.

DESHMUKH TRIED TO IMPLICATEBJP LEADERS: SINGH IN SC

NEW DELHI: Former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh hasunleashed a barrage of allegations against Maharashtra Home MinisterAnil Deshmukh in a petition in the Supreme Court, accusing him ofadopting corrupt practices in posting or transfer of police officers toimplicating BJP leaders in MP Mohan Delkar’s suicide. The petition saidFebruary 22, Member of Parliament Mohan Delkar was found dead in hisMumbai hotel room, leaving behind a 15-page suicide note. Singh saidthat after initial inquiries and report, he initiated investigation in thematter and sought advice from the Police Department's Legal Cell. “Thepetitioner was time and again pressurised by the Minister for Home,Government of Maharashtra to probe the role of certain leaders of BJPand somehow implicate them. It is submitted that there wastremendous pressure to give the entire episode a political angle.

Shri Ram Varsity tocome up in AyodhyaINDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

Lucknow, March 22: Uttar PradeshDeputy Chief Minister DineshSharma, who also holds the highereducation portfolio, has announcedthe setting up of a Shri RamUniversity in Ayodhya.

The project worth over Rs 5,000crore has been proposed by a privateplayer, and the university is likelyto come up by 2022.

The proposed university willhave Vedic maths (a collection oftechniques/sutras to solve math-ematical problems), Jyotish Kendra,Karma Kand (ritual services con-ducted by pundits) and research onGita, Vedic and other religiousscriptures, including theRamayana.

He said, “The private player hadproposed to establish the universityover 50 acres of land in Ayodhya,which has been cleared by the dis-trict magistrate. Even a committeeof the state universities has given areport in its favour. If all require-ments are fulfilled by them, the uni-versity will open soon.”

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

New Delhi, March 22: The DelhiHigh Court has sought responsefrom the Ministry of Home Affairsand the Election Commission on apetition seeking debarment of can-didates violating mask guidelinesduring the ensuing Assembly elec-tions to four states and a UnionTerritory.

A bench of Chief Justice D.N.Patel and Justice Jasmeet Singhissued notice on the petition filedby Chairman of think tank Centrefor Accountability and SystemicChange (CASC), Dr Vikram Singh.

Appearing for the ElectionCommission, advocate PankajChopra opposed the issuance of no-tice, stating that elections were nothappening in Delhi, and mask-relatedguidelines are to be enforced by dis-trict-level Officials of five states. Hesubmitted that merely because theElection Commission is in Delhi,the Delhi High Court will not au-tomatically have jurisdiction.

Appearing for the petitioner, ad-vocate Virag Gupta submitted thatthe objection of ElectionCommission is frivolous, especiallywhen Covid-19 is on the rise.

He highlighted by the notificationissued February 26, the ElectionCommission had made it mandatoryfor every person involved in elec-tion-related activity to wear a mask.

He also relied on a separate orderof the Delhi High Court in whichJustice Hari Shankar took suo motucognizance of non-wearing of masksby passengers in a Kolkata-Delhiflight.

Counsel for the petitioner sub-mitted that when the High Court cantake cognizance on non-wearingof masks in Kolkata airport, it canalso entertain this petition as likethe aviation regulator, the poll panelis also based in Delhi.

He submitted that ElectionCommission should perform itslegal and constitutional obligationsas per Article 324 of the Constitution.

The court thereafter issued no-tice and directed the Ministry ofHome Af fairs and ElectionCommission to file their reply. Thematter will now be heard April 30.

Delhi HC notice on plea to debarcandidates flouting mask norms

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, March 22: The DelhiCabinet on Monday approved anew excise policy lowering theminimum age for consumptionof liquor to 21 years from 25 years,Deputy Chief Minister ManishSisodia announced. According tothe new policy, no new liquorshops will be opened in Delhi andthe government will not run anyvend.

“The new excise policy was ap-proved by the Cabinet today on

basis of the recommendations ofthe Group of Ministers. It wasdecided that no new liquor shopswill be opened in the national cap-ital and the government will notrun any liquor shops. At present,60 per cent liquor shops in Delhiare run by the government,”Sisodia said at a press conference.

“Government will ensure equi-table distribution of liquor shops sothat liquor mafias are thrown out ofthe trade. A revenue growth of 20 percent is estimated after the reformsin excise department,” he added.

DELHI LOWERS LEGAL AGE OF DRINKING TO 21

STATE POLLS

Virchow Biotech toproduce Sputnik V

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, March 22: RussianDirect Investment Fund (RDIF)and Hyderabad-based VirchowBiotech Monday announced anagreement to produce up to 200million doses of Sputnik V vaccinein India.

The technology transfer is ex-pected to be completed in the sec-ond quarter of 2021 followed by full-scale commercial production ofSputnik V, RDIF and VirchowBiotech said in a joint statement.

Virchow Biotech capacities willhelp facilitate the global supplyof Sputnik V to international part-ners of RDIF, it added.

“The agreement with VirchowBiotech is an important step tofacilitate the full-scale local pro-duction of the vaccine in Indiaand to supply our internationalpartners globally,” RDIF CEO KirillDmitriev said. According to thestatement, the efficacy of SputnikV is 91.6 per cent as confirmed bythe data published in the Lancet.

“We are glad to sign a coopera-tion agreement with RDIF to pro-duce the Sputnik V coronavirusvaccine. Virchow’s proven capa-bilities in large scale drug sub-stance manufacturing should helpmeet the global demand for this vac-cine”, Virchow Biotech MDTummuru Murali said.

March 19, RDIF and India’sStelis Biopharma said they havepartnered to produce and supplya minimum of 200 million dosesof Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine.Locals indulge in angling during heavy rains, in the polluted waters of Dal lake, in Srinagar, Monday PTI PHOTO

WORLD WATER DAY

P10TUESDAY | MARCH 23 | 2021 | BHUBANESWAR

internationalWe can't bedeaf and

blind to what's goingon outside the UK. Wecan't put at risk thegains of ourvaccination campaign BEN WALLACE | BRITISH DEFENCE SECRETARY

Former President DonaldTrump will set up his ownsocial media platform andwill return to posting onlinesoon, his adviser andspokesman Jason Miller said

TRUMP PLANS SOCIALMEDIA RETURN

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I came toAfghanistan tolisten and

learn. This visit hasbeen very helpful forme, and it willinform myparticipation in the review we areundergoing here with POTUS

LLOYD AUSTIN | US DEFENCE SECRETARY

of theday uote

We call on theChinese tostop this

incursion andimmediately recallthese boatsviolating ourmaritime rights and encroachinginto our sovereign territory

DELFIN LORENZANA |PHILLIPINE DEFENCE MINISTER

I’m stillmissing a

(parliamentary)seat or two toachieve a stablegovernment

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU |ISRAEL PRIME MINISTER

Global Covidcases top 123.1mnWashington: The overallnumber of global Covid-19cases has surpassed 123.1million, while the deathshave surged to more than2.71 million, according to theJohns Hopkins University. Inits latest update on Mondaymorning, the University'sCenter for Systems Scienceand Engineering (CSSE)revealed that the currentglobal caseload and deathtoll stood at 123,135,920 and2,714,606, respectively. TheUS is the worst-hit countrywith the world's highestnumber of cases and deathsat 29,818,157 and 542,356,respectively.

Iraqi intel officer shot deadBaghdad: A senior officer ofthe Iraqi National IntelligenceService (INIS) was shot deadby unidentified gunmen here,an Interior Ministry sourcesaid. The incident took placeSunday in Baghdad’sMansour neighbourhood.Gunmen opened fire atMohammed Laith with theirsilenced weapons near thehouse of one of his relatives.The attack came despiterepeated calls by the Iraqigovernment and politicalparties to contain theuncontrolled weapons ofsome armed groups in thecountry.

2 Aussies detainedin MyanmarSydney: Two Australianbusiness consultants havebeen detained in Myanmarwhile trying to leave thecountry which is gripped byunrest following theFebruary 1 military coup, alocal media report saidMonday. They are believed tobe under house arrest aftertrying to leave the countryon a relief flight March 19.The Sydney Morning Heraldnewspaper named the twomen as Matthew O'Kane andChrista Avery, a Canadian-Australian.

Malaysia expelsall NK diplomatsKuala Lumpur: Malaysia hasexpelled all diplomats of theNorth Korean Embassy herein response to the latter’sdecision to sever diplomaticties after Kuala Lumpurextradited a Pyongyangnational to the US overmoney laundering charges.In a statement issuedSunday, Foreign MinisterHishamm-uddin Husseinsaid: Malaysia has todayexpelled all diplomats of theEmbassy of North Korea inKuala Lumpur in keepingwith the decision for alldiplomatic staff and theirdependents to leave within48 hours.

SHORT TAKES

AGENCIES

London, March 22: Roughly 24hours after the Indian and Pakistanmilitary chiefs surprised the worldlast month with a rare joint pledgeto respect a 2003 cease-fire agree-ment, top diplomat of the UnitedArab Emirates made a quick one-day visit to New Delhi.

The UAE released an officialstatement on what Foreign MinisterSheikh Abdullan bin Zayed and hisIndian counterpart S Jaishankar dis-cussed February 26. It noted that thetwo leaders “discussed all regionaland international issues of com-mon interest and exchanged viewson them.”

Quoting officials, Bloomberg re-ports that the India-Pakistan cease-fire marked a milestone in secrettalks brokered by the UAE thatbegan months earlier. Speaking onthe condition of anonymity, one of-ficial revealed that the cease-fireis only the beginning of a largerroadmap to forge a lasting peacebetween the neighbours, who notonly boast of nuclear weapons, butalso spar regularly over a decades-old territory dispute.

According to the official, thenext step in the process involvesboth sides reinstating envoys inNew Delhi and Islamabad. The

envoys were pulled in 2019 afterPakistan protested India’s move toend special status for Jammu andKashmir. Following this comesthe most difficult part: Talks on re-suming trade and a lasting reso-lution on Kashmir, the subject ofthree wars since India andPakistan attained Independentfrom Britain in 1947.

In the past, both India andPakistan have regularly made peaceproposals, but they all fell throughquickly. Officials believed that itis unlikely that the current detentewould achieve much beyond thereturn of envoys and a resump-tion of trade through their Punjabland border.

Nevertheless, this process seemsto be the most concerted effort inyears and comes at a time whenthe Biden administration is seek-ing wider peace talks on Afghanistan– where both countries have battledfor influence for years. PrimeMinister Narendra Modi wants toshore up growth and focus mili-tary resources on the border withChina, while Pakistani leaders arealso facing economic crisis andlooking to make a good impressionwith the US and other powers.

Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry did-n’t comment on the talks or therole of the UAE, while the foreignministries of India and the UAEhad no immediate comment.

Incidentally, Pakistan army chiefGeneral Qamar Javed Bajwa re-cently asked India “to bury thepast and move forward” while say-ing the military was ready to entertalks to resolve “all our outstand-ing issues.” Bajwa’s commentscame a day after Prime MinisterImran Khan after called for a res-olution on Kashmir, which he de-scribed as “the one issue that holdsus back.”

Last Saturday, Modi sent a tweetwishing Imran Khan well after hewas diagnosed with COVID-19 – an-other sign that relations between thecountries are getting warmer.

The UAE, which has historictrade and diplomatic links withIndia and Pakistan, has taken amore assertive international roleunder de facto ruler SheikhMohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

CEASEFIRE FIRST STEP OFROADMAP FOR PEACE BETWEEN

INDIA, PAK: UAE OFFICIALS

‘UAE royals broker Indo-Pak peace plan’MENDING TIES

Next stepinvolves

reinstatingenvoys in India

and Pak, theysaid

This will befollowed by talkson resumingtrade andKashmir, theyadded

REUTERS

Frankfurt/ Taipei, March 22:AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vac-cine received a major boost Mondayafter data from a large trial showedit was safe and effective, poten-tially paving the way for its emer-gency authorisation in the UnitedStates as countries in Asia accel-erated its rollout.

The trials in the United States,Chile and Peru showed the vac-cine was 79% effective at prevent-ing symptomatic COVID-19 andcould bolster confidence in theproduct after confusion over its ef-ficacy data, dosing regimen andpossible side-effects.

Many European countries haltedthe use of the AstraZeneca shotearlier this month after some re-ports that it was linked to bloodclots, but have since resumed in-oculation after a regional regula-tor said it was safe. A survey onMonday showed Europeans re-mained sceptical over its safety.

Leaders in Asia have sought toboost public confidence by takingthe AstraZeneca shot themselvesamid concerns a slowdown in theglobal vaccination rollout couldhurt the fight against COVID-19,which has killed over 2.8 million peo-

ple worldwide.The AstraZeneca shot was among

the first and cheapest of the COVID-19 vaccines to be developed andlaunched at volume and is set to bethe mainstay of vaccination pro-grammes in much of the develop-ing world.

“I have just finished getting the(AstraZeneca) injection, there isno pain at the injection site, andthere is no soreness of the body,”Taiwan Premier Su Tseng-changtold reporters as the island launchedits inoculation campaign Monday.

Thailand’s Prime Minister alsobecame the first person in the coun-try to be inoculated with theAstraZeneca vaccine after its roll-out was temporarily put on holdover safety concer ns, whileIndonesia began using it Mondayafter suspending it last week. ButIndonesia’s Food and Drug agencyhas warned against its use on peo-ple with blood clotting disorders.

British Prime Minister BorisJohnson received his first dose ofthe AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccineon Friday, saying he “did not feela thing.” The European MedicinesAgency regulator said Thursday thevaccine is effective and not linkedwith a rise in the overall risk ofblood clots.

AstraZeneca Covidvax found 79%effective in US trial

AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine received amajor boost Monday after data from a large trial

showed it was safe and effective

A demonstrator skateboards in front of a burning police vehicle during a protest against a new proposed policing Billin Bristol, Britain REUTERS PHOTO

KILL THE BILL

REUTERS

Islamabad, March 22: A longwhite shawl on her head, Rani Khangives daily Koran lessons atPakistan’s first transgender-onlymadrasa, or Islamic religious school,which she set up herself using herlife savings.

The madrasa is an importantmilestone for the LGBTQ commu-nity in the overwhelmingly funda-mental Muslim country, wheretransgender people face ostracism,even though there is no official re-striction on them attending reli-gious schools or praying at mosques.

“Most families do not accept trans-gender people. They throw themout of their homes. Transgenderpeople turn to wrongdoing,” Khan,34, said, as other transgender peo-ple, their heads similarly covered,swayed back and forth behind her,reciting Koran verses. “At one time,I was also one of them.”

Holding back tears, Khan re-

called how she was disowned byher family at 13 and forced intobegging. At 17, she joined a trans-gender group, dancing at weddingsand other functions, but quit it toconnect with her religion after adream in which a deceased trans-gender friend and fellow dancerpleaded with her to do somethingfor the community.

Khan studied the Koran at home,and attended religious schools, be-fore opening the two-room madrasain October.

“I’m teaching the Koran to pleaseGod, to make my life here and in thehereafter,” Khan said, explaininghow the madrasa offered a placefor transgender people to worship,learn about Islam and repent for pastactions. She says the school hasnot received aid from the govern-ment, although some officials prom-ised to help students find jobs.

Along with some donations, Khanis teaching her students how to sewand embroider, in hopes of raising

funds for the school by selling cloth-ing. Pakistan’s parliament recog-nised the third gender in 2018, giv-ing such individuals fundamentalrights such as the ability to vote

and choose their gender on officialdocuments.

Nonetheless, the transgender re-main on the margins in the coun-try, and often have to resort to beg-

ging, dancing and prostitution tomake a living. The madrasa couldhelp trans people assimilate intomainstream society, IslamabadDeputy Commissioner HamzaShafqaat told Reuters.

“I’m hopeful that if you repli-cate this model in other cities, thingswill improve,” he said.

A religious school for transgen-der people has opened in Dhaka, thecapital of nearby Bangladesh, andlast year a Christian transgendergroup started its own church inPakistan’s bustling southern portcity of Karachi.

Pakistan’s 2017 census recordedabout 10,000 transgender people,though trans rights groups say thenumber could now be well over300,000 in the country of 220 million.

“It gives my heart peace when Iread the Koran,” said one madrasastudent, Simran Khan, who is alsoeager to learn life skills.

“It is much better than a life fullof insults,” the 19-year-old added.

A transgender Islamic school in Pakistan breaks barriersThe madrasa is an important milestone for the LGBTQ community in the overwhelmingly fundamental Muslim country

Rani Khan, a transgender woman who teaches the Koran at Pakistan’s firsttransgender only madrasa, looks at one of her students during a tailoringlesson in Islamabad REUTERS PHOTO

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

Niamey, March 22: At least 40 peo-ple were killed when a group ofarmed assailants attacked severalvillages in Niger’s Tahoua regionnear the border with Mali, a gov-ernment spokesperson saidMonday.

Spokesperson AbdoulramanZakaria said that soldiers weresent to the region and fought theattackers, reports dpa news agency.

It was not known who was be-hind the attack.

Numerous armed groups areactive in Niger and in the neigh-bouring Sahel countries.

Some have sworn allegiance tothe Islamic State terror group,while others are linked to Al Qaeda.

In the Mali border region therehave been recurring attacks.

A week ago, at least 58 peoplewere killed in an attack on markettraders in the region of Tillaberi,the government said. Niger has alsoseen demonstrations after the re-cent presidential election.

At the end of February, the elec-toral commission declared for-mer Foreign Minister MohamedBazoum, a close ally of outgoingPresident Mahamadou Issoufou,the winner with almost 56 percent of the vote. Former Presidentand opposition candidateMahamane Ousmane slammedthe result as fraudulent and claimshe is the winner. T heConstitutional Court on Sundayconfirmed Bazoum's victory.

40 killed in Nigerborder attack

NUMEROUS ARMEDGROUPS ARE ACTIVEIN NIGER AND IN THENEIGHBOURINGSAHEL COUNTRIES

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Washington, March 22:The Bidenadministration is scrambling tomanage a growing humanitarianand political challenge at the US-Mexico border that threatens toovershadow its ambitious legisla-tive agenda.

With the number of migrants

surging, administration officialssay Biden inherited an untenablesituation that resulted from whatthey say was President DonaldTrump's undermining and weak-ening of the immigration system.

But as Congress pivots to immi-gration legislation, stories of un-accompanied minors and familiestrying to cross the border and seek-

ing asylum and of overwhelmedborder facilities have begun to dom-inate the headlines, distractingfrom the White House's efforts to pro-mote the recently passed $1.9 tril-lion COVID-19 relief bill.

Biden told reporters Sunday at theWhite House that "at some point"he would go to the border and thathe knows what is going on in the bor-

der facilities. "A lot more, we arein the process of doing it now, in-cluding making sure we re-establishwhat existed before, which wasthey can stay in place and maketheir case from their home coun-tries," Biden said upon returningfrom a weekend at Camp David.

The White House dispatchedHomeland Security SecretaryAlejandro Mayorkas to four Sundaynews shows in an effort to stressthat it was working to get thingsunder control.

"Our message has been straight-forward — the border is closed,"Mayorkas said. "We are expellingfamilies. We are expelling singleadults. And we've made a decisionthat we will not expel young, vul-nerable children."

Biden aims to prevent border crossings The Biden

administration isscrambling to manage a

growing humanitarianand political

challenge at the US-Mexico border

REUTERS

Dhaka, March 22: A huge fireswept through Rohingya refugeecamps in southern BangladeshMonday, destroying thousands ofhomes, officials and witnessessaid.

Video shot by a resident showeda blaze ripping through theBalukhali camp in Cox’s Bazar,with people scrambling to recovertheir possessions amid burningshanties and tents.

"Fire services, rescue and re-sponse teams and volunteers areat the scene to try to control thefire and prevent it spreading fur-ther," said Louise Donovan,spokesperson for UN refugeeagency UNHCR in Cox's Bazar,where refugees live in ramshacklehuts. Rohingya refugees in thecamps said many homes wereburned down and several peoplehad died, but neither the au-thorities nor UNHCR confirmedthere were any deaths.

M o r e t h a n a m i l l i o nRohingya live in the mainlandcamps in southern Bangladesh,the vast majority having fledMyanmar in 2017 from a mili-tary-led crackdown that UN in-vestigators said was executedwith "genocidal intent", chargesMyanmar denies.

THOUSANDS OFROHINGYA HOMES IN BANGLA REFUGEECAMPS RAZED

Video shot by a resident showed ablaze ripping throughthe Balukhali camp inCox’s Bazar, with people scrambling torecover their possessions amid burning shanties

P11

businessTUESDAY | MARCH 23 | 2021 | BHUBANESWAR

Continuing withour commitment

to develop Chabahar Port,second shipment ofequipment reachesShahid Behesti TerminalMANSUKH MANDAVIYA | PORTS, SHIPPING AND WATERWAYSMINISTER

Moody’s Monday revised upwards itsoutlook on IndusInd Bank to ‘stable’ from‘negative’ while affirming its rating. Thechange in the outlook is driven byimprovement in its funding and capital,and the marginal hit on asset qualityduring the pandemic, Moody's said

MOODY’S UPS OUTLOOK

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BALBIR SINGH DHILLON |HEAD OF AUDI INDIA

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By baggingnew orders,we are

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RAMESH C MANSUKHANI |CHAIRMAN, MAN INDUSTRIES

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Maruti Suzuki to hike pricesNew Delhi: The country’slargest carmaker MarutiSuzuki India (MSI) Mondaysaid it will increase pricesacross its model range fromnext month in order to offsetthe impact of high inputcosts. Over the past year, thecost of the company'svehicles has been impactedadversely due to an increasein various input costs, theauto major said. "Hence, ithas become imperative forMSI to pass on some impactof the above additional costto customers through a priceincrease in April 2021," itadded.

AGEL shares at 52-week highNew Delhi: Shares of AdaniGreen Energy Ltd werelocked in upper circuit limitMonday after the firmannounced that its arm hasreceived a letter of award for300 MW wind power projectunder a tender of SolarEnergy Corporation of India(SECI). On BSE, the scrip rose5 per cent to its upper circuitlimit and also the 52-weekhigh of `1,251.05. Likewise,on NSE, the shares hit uppercircuit limit and 52-week highof `1,252.2, rising 5%.

Google’s VPsteps downNew Delhi: Tech giantGoogle’s vice-presidentCaesar Sengupta is steppingdown, after 15 years with thecompany. During his tenureat Google, Sengupta played akey role in starting, buildingand leading initiatives suchas ChromeOS, Next BillionUsers and Google Pay, acompany spokesperson saidin a statement. “After 15years with Google, Senguptahas made a personal decisionto leave the company andstart somethingentrepreneurial,” thestatement added.

Microsoft toreopen HQsSan Francisco: MicrosoftMonday announced to slowlyreopen its Redmond,Washington-basedheadquarters and nearbycampuses from March 29with a six-stage hybridworkplace strategy. Thecompany said that whilestages 4 and 5 offer limitedor augmented options forworkers who choose to beon-site, employees areencouraged to work remotelywhile their site remains instages 1-5 and should notfeel they need to return.

SHORT TAKES

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, March 22: TheParliament Monday approved aBill to increase Foreign DirectInvestment (FDI) limit in the in-surance sector from 49% to 74%with the Lok Sabha passing theproposed law by a voice vote.The Insurance (Amendment)Bill, 2021 was passed by RajyaSabha last week.

Piloting the Bill, FinanceMinister Nirmala SitharamanMonday said hiking the FDI limitin the insurance sector will helpinsurers raise additional fundsand tide over the financial prob-lems. The minister said the gov-ernment will provide funds to thepublic sector insurance compa-nies but private players will haveto raise capital on their own.

Observing that insurance com-panies are facing solvency re-lated issues, she said, "if growthcapital is hard to come by, therewill be a stress situation. In orderthat the stress situation is notleft unattended, we need to raisethe FDI limit." The Covid-19 pan-demic, Sitharaman said, has fur-ther added to the woes of insur-ance companies.

She further said the FDI limitwas being raised on the recom-mendations of insurance regula-tor IRDAI which has done exten-sive consultations with thestakeholders.

The FDI limit in the insurancesector, the minister said, has in-creased significantly after the gov-ernment decided to raise the capfrom 26% to 49% in 2015.

Parl passes insuranceamendment Bill toraise FDI limit to 74%

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Mumbai, March 22: The 'secondwave' of the pandemic is impactingbusiness normalisation in the coun-try, as coronavirus infections risein Maharashtra and other states, areport by a Japanese brokeragesaid Monday.

The Nomura India BusinessResumption Index dipped to 95.1for the week to March 21 from95.4 in the previous week as a re-sult of the rising infections, thebrokerage said.

Covid-19 infections are rising tonew heights across the country andmany local governments have beenforced to re-introduce stricter meas-

ures like night-time curfews andsealing off premises in order tocontain the spread.

“The pandemic's second wave isnow spreading to states outsideMaharashtra and is starting to im-pact mobility. This suggests a likelysequential dip in contact-basedservices and a near-term delay ofnormalisation,” it said.

The brokerage added that it ex-pects the impact to be “more tran-sitory and muted”, as factory op-erations remain uninterrupted,consumers and businesses haveadapted to the new normal andmedium-term tailwinds like vac-cinations, global growth, easy fi-nancial conditions continue.

It said as of mid-March, Googleworkplace and retail and recreationmobility fell by 3.7 percentage points

on a week-on-week basis and 0.3percentage points, respectively,while the more updated Apple driv-

ing index fell by 2.6 percentagepoints. However, power demandimproved by 2.6% week-on-weekafter a 0.6% decline the prior week,while the labour participation rateinched up to 40.6% from 39.5%.

The knock-on effect of the secondwave on mobility suggests a likelysequential dip in contact-basedservices and a near-term delay ofnormalisation, it said.

The medium-term tailwinds fromthe lagged impact of easy finan-cial conditions, fiscal activism,strong global growth and continu-ing vaccine momentum will supportreal GDP growth of 13.5% in FY’22,up from a contraction of 7.4% inFY21, it said.

‘Covid’s 2nd wave delays biz normalisation’The Nomura India BusinessResumption Indexdipped to 95.1 forthe week to March21 from 95.4 in theprevious week as aresult of the risinginfections, the brokerage said

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, March 22:The Futuregroup Monday said the NCLT cancontinue its hearing over the saleand merger of its retail businesswith Reliance Industries' retailarm after a division bench of theDelhi High Court stayed the pre-vious order with regard to the`24,713 crore deal.

"A Division Bench of DelhiHigh Court comprising ChiefJustice DN Patel and JusticeJasmeet Singh has stayed the in-terim order pronounced by JusticeJR Midha on March 18, 2021, thatincluded certain extreme direc-tions in an earlier interim orderoriginally passed on 2nd February2021," said a statement FutureCoupons Pvt Ltd.

The division bench also tookon record the Supreme Court'sorder, which records that the pro-ceedings before NCLT will be al-lowed to go without a final orderof sanction of the Scheme be-tween Future Group and Reliance,said Future Coupons Pvt Ltd in astatement.

"Accordingly, the NCLT cancontinue to hear the scheme asper the directions of the SupremeCourt but no final orders can bepassed until the Supreme Court de-cides on the petition filed byAmazon," it said.

The High Court order had comeover the petition filed by FutureRetail Ltd, a Future Group firm,which operates its flagship retailbusiness under several formatslike Big Bazaar, FBB, Easy DayClub, Hyper City etc. Amazon didnot respond to e-mailed query.

‘NCLT can continuehearing on RIL dealas per SC direction’

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, March 22: FinanceMinster Nirmala SitharamanMonday introduced the NationalBank for Financing Infrastructureand Development (NaBFID) Bill2021 in the Lok Sabha to pave the wayfor setting up of a government-owned development finance insti-tution (DFI) to help fund about 7,000infra projects under the NationalInfrastructure Pipeline.

The proposed legislation will giveeffect to the Budget announcementmade by the finance ministerFebruary 1. The government hasproposed ̀ 20,000 crore to capitalisethe institution. The Union Cabinethad last week approved the Budgetproposal of setting up a develop-ment finance institution (DFI),which will have tax benefits to en-able fund raising from investors.

The NaBFID will be set up witha corpus of ̀ 20,000 crore and the gov-ernment will give an initial grantof ̀ 5,000 crore. The government ex-

pects the DFI to leverage this fundto raise up to ̀ 3 lakh crore in the nextfew years.

The Bill seeks to establish theNaBFID to support the develop-ment of long term non-recourseinfrastructure financing in India,including development of the bondsand derivatives markets necessaryfor infrastructure financing.

As per the statement of objects andreasons of the Bill, it seeks to enablethe central government, multilat-eral institutions, sovereign wealth

funds, and such other institutions tohold equity in the NaBFID. It pro-poses to enable the institution toprovide financial assistance to in-frastructure projects located in Indiaor partly in the country and to en-able the company to borrow or raisemoney by way of loans both in ru-pees and foreign currencies.

It also provide adequate safe-guards for decision making to ad-dress risk aversion and proposes es-tablishment of other developmentfinancial institutions, in addition

to the NaBFID established under theproposed legislation.

"The Institution shall have bothdevelopmental and financial ob-jectives. Among other things, thiswould include developing a deepand liquid bond market of inter-national standards for long-terminfrastructure financing in India in-cluding through widening of the is-suer and investor base," it said.

Govt introduces NaBFID Bill in LSThe Bill seeks to establish the

NaBFID to support thedevelopment of long term non-recourse infrastructure financingin India

The proposed legislation willgive effect to the Budget

announcement made by thefinance minister February 1

The Union Cabinet had lastweek approved the Budget

proposal of setting up a DFI,which will have tax benefits toenable fund raising from investors

FUNDING INFRA PROJECTS

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, March 22: “We now ex-pect the domestic economy toemerge as the world’s third-largesteconomy in FY32, from FY29 earlier,due to the pandemic shocks. Itshould touch Japan’s nominal GDPin 2031 (in USD terms) if it growsat 9% and in 2030 if it grows at10%,” a Bank of America (BofA)Securities report said Monday.

The report, however, did not as-cribe a size to either the domesticeconomy, which stood at $2.65 tril-lion in 2019-20, or to that of Japan,which in 2020 stood at $4.87 tril-lion. This assumes a realistic 6% real

growth, 5% inflation and 2% rupeedepreciation, the report added.

In 2017, BofA had predicted thatthe country would emerge as thethird-largest economy in 2027-28based on its assumption of the de-mographic dividend, growing fi-nancial maturity, and the emer-gence of mass markets. In theirMonday’s report, the house econo-mist at the Wall Street brokerage saidthey find all these three phenomenastrengthening now.

There are two other catalyststhat support structural changes.For one, the RBI has effectively at-tained a silent revolution in re-achieving adequacy of forex re-

serves after almost eight years now.This should help stabilize the rupeeby derisking the economy fromglobal shocks.

Further, sustained policy easingis finally bringing down real lend-ing rates that have been a drag ongrowth since 2016. The only main

downside risk to sustained growthis the oil prices, especially if ittrends at over $100 a barrel.

If the GDP grows at 10 per cent,as BofA assumed earlier, this will beachieved in 2029-30 and if it growsat 9%, overtaking Japanese economywill be pushed back by three yearsto 2031-32. “Our projection of 6%real growth is actually below the6.5% average since 2014 and our es-timated 7% potential,” it said.

Also, for the growth to pick up andsustain, the credit-to-GDP ratio, aproxy for financial maturity, shouldclimb to 102 in 2031-32 from 44% in2001-17 and 25% during 1980 andthe 1990s.

Covid pushes back India’s $5tn GDP goal by 3 yrs: BofAIn 2017, BofA had predicted that the country would emerge as the third-largest economy in 2027-28 based on its assumption of

the demographic dividend, growing financial maturity, and the emergence of mass markets

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

Mumbai, March 22: Strong GDPgrowth in FY’22 will drive logisticsdemand, India Ratings andResearch said. According to theagency, strong-to-moderate re-covery is already being witnessedacross various logistics sub-sectors.

Besides, commissioning of theDedicated Freight Corridor couldboost volumes and efficienciesacross ports as well as inland con-tainer depot/container freight sta-tion players.

As per Ind-Ra report, major ports'year-on-year volume growth hasbeen positive for the past threemonths, while private ports havealso reported resilient volumes in9MFY21.

"In FY22, Ind-Ra estimates an8% Y-o-Y improvement in volumesfor India ports sector (major + pri-vate ports), post an estimated 4%y-o-y decline in FY21."

"The 8% Y-o-Y rise will be led byprivate ports, which in the pastfive years have displayed a medianmultiplier (vs real GDP growthrate) of '1.4x', thus outperformingg rowth from major por ts.Historically, India's ports volumeshave closely followed GDP growth,with container growth coming in'2x' of overall cargo volumes."

Besides, the report cited thatdomestic air travel demand, which

has continued to recover in2HFY21, is expected to strengthenin FY22, though the risk to thisview arises from fresh waves ofCovid-19 recently.

"Both corporate and domestictravel demand are already showingsigns of revival, which has helpedsupport load factors and yields,

while cargo volumes are expectedto rise amid stronger macroeco-nomic fundamentals and e-com-merce push."

"Ind-Ra forecasts domestic pas-senger numbers to rise 10% in FY22(over FY20) implying a GDP mul-tiplier of '0.9x', lower than the '2.4x'(median estimate) for the FY15-FY20 period."

In terms of inland containerdepots, the agency forecasted ahealthy pickup in volumes eventhough competition remains in-tense and realisations remain soft.

"The reduced dwell time after thecommissioning of DFC and in-creased double stacking volumewill support higher operating ef-ficiencies.”

Strong GDP growth in FY’22 todrive logistics demand, says Ind-Ra

In FY22, Ind-Ra estimates an 8% Y-o-Yimprovement in volumes for India portssector, post an estimated 4% y-o-ydecline in FY21

BIZ BUZZ

Nykaa launches first trend store Bhubaneswar: Nykaa, India’s leading beauty andfashion destination, opened its first ‘On Trend Store’in City at the Utkal Kanika Galleria Mall. This is thefirst ‘On Trend’ format in Bhubaneswar, taking theoffline count to a total of two, with an existing NykaaLuxe store at Esplanade One Mall. At the store, itoffers leading brands-Nykaa Cosmetics, Huda Beauty, e.l.f, The Balm, KayBeauty, TONYMOLY, Maybelline& many more. The store also offers a giftwith purchase above `2,500. On the launch, Nykaa spokesperson said,“The store houses a selection of the best-selling/trending beauty andskincare products from Nykaa.com and we are elated to now extend thisunique offering to Bhubaneswar. Customer satisfaction and safety beingparamount, we have also implemented numerous hygiene protocols tosafeguard the health of our customers and employees”.

IMFA mines sets up rooftop solar plantsBhubaneswar: Sukinda Mines (Chromite) andMahagiri Mines (Chromite) of Indian Metals & FerroAlloys Ltd (IMFA) have reaffirmed commitment to the”Green India Mission” by the installation of ‘off-gridrooftop solar plants’ to harness solar energy. Onesolar plant of 30 KW is installed at the rooftop of theQuality Control & Laboratory building of Sukinda Mines (Chromite) toilluminate the premises, run laboratory muffle furnace and oven. Another 40KW solar plant is installed at the rooftop of Administration & Pit Headcomplex of Mahagiri Mines (Chromite) for lighting load in the premises. Thegreen initiative taken by IMFA at its mines is in the direction of continuousprocess of environment friendly and sustainable mining efforts.

V Guard donates 2,000 gum boots, hand glovesBhubaneswar: As a part of its CSR activity, taking into safety precaution ofsanitary workers, V Guard Industries Ltd. donated 2,000pieces of gum boot and hand gloves to BhubaneswarMunicipal Corporation (BMC) for their sanitary workers.This activity has been carried out in the presence ofBMC Commissioner Prem Chandra Chaudhary, DeputyCommissioner Suvendu Kumar Sahoo, Branch head VGuard Sumanta Kumar Pradhan and with V Guard team.

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, March 22: India’slargest integrated power gener-ation company, NTPC Ltd hasbeen conferred the prestigious‘Role Model’ Award at the mostcoveted and prestigious 11th CIINational HR Excellence Award2020-21 recently.

CII National CommitteeChairman on Leadership and HR,Sanjay Behl presented the award,along with Indrani Kar, Head ofCII’s Suresh Neotia Centre ofExcellence for Leadership to DKPatel, Director (HR), NTPC Limitedin the virtual conference "Learnfrom the Achievers" held amidstsenior leaders from the industryand HR assessors.

This award is the highest levelof recognition in the field of HRby Confederation of IndianIndustry. Since the institutional-ization of CII National HRExcellence Award, this is the onlythe second time when the awardof Role Model has been conferredto any organization. Further, thisaward has been to any organiza-tion given after a period of 10years. Importantly, NTPC is theonly PSU to have received thisprestigious award.

NTPC conferred with‘Role Model’ award

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Pune, March 22: Struggling openerShikhar Dhawan will be the focusin a spoilt-for-choice Indian teamwhen they take on World ChampionsEngland in a three-match ODI seriesstarting here Tuesday with the vis-itors eyeing a positive end to theirtour after Test and T20 debacles.

The series is particularly im-portant for the 35-year-old Dhawan,who failed to make an impact inthe first T20 in Ahmedabad beforewarming the benches the remain-ing two games which India won.

With the management havingplenty of options in (Shubman Gill)and outside (Prithvi Shaw andDevdutt Padikkal) the squad forthe opening slot, it will be a litmustest for ‘Gabbar’ to prove himself inthe lung-opener.

He is expected to open the in-nings along with seasoned cam-paigner Rohit Sharma, who was inblistering form in the T20 seriesand would be keen to carry on in thesame vein.

The ODI format gives Dhawanthe time he needs to build his innings.With loads of experience under hisbelt, the Delhi batsman could wellreturn to form come Tuesday. Forthe Indian team, the series would bean extension of its preparations forthe T20 World Cup later this year.

The 50-over-format, in general, re-mains low priority in 2021 with nomajor tournaments around the cor-ner. Skipper Virat Kohli was backamong the runs in the T20 seriesagainst England and he would lookto carry the momentum into theODIs.

It has been a while since Kohliscored a hundred in the format,his last and 43rd one coming againstthe West Indies (114 not out) at Portof Spain in August 2019.

He will be itching to make hisgood form count and end the cen-tury drought. It is also expectedthat both KL Rahul, who is notlikely to feature at the top of theorder, and Rishabh Pant, after turn-ing things around spectacularlysince the brilliant showing DownUnder, would be part of playing XI.

They would have a big role inthe middle-order along with the re-doubtable Hardik Pandya. Therecould be a toss-up betweenMumbaikars Shreyas Iyer andSuryakumar Yadav, for one spot inthe playing XI. Yadav proved him-self to be quite a power-hitter inthe T20 series, notching up a blis-tering half century in his maideninternational appearance.

The bowling attack is expected tobe spearheaded by BhuvneshwarKumar, who picked four wickets in

the T20 series, and the new ballwill be shared by Shardul Thakur.Thakur claimed eight wickets inthe T20 series.

Rookie pacer Prasidh Krishna,who has already caught the eye ofKohli, is also in the squad. Krishnaenjoyed a good Vijay Hazare Trophycampaign for Karnataka, claiming14 wickets in seven matches at anaverage of 24.5.

Spinners Yuzvendra Chahal andWashington Sundar are expected tobe preferred over Krunal Pandya andKuldeep Yadav. Also, a fit-againPandya would be the fifth bowler, butit remains to be seen how manyovers he can bowl.

On the other hand, Englandwould also be keen to end thetour on a high after sufferingdefeats in the Tests (1-3)and the T20 series (2-3).

And for it to happen,skipper Eoin Morgan'srole with the bat will bevital. The likes of JosButtler and the swash-buckling Jason Roy willhave to fire in unisonand all-rounder BenStokes will have tostep up with both thebat and ball.

England pacerMark Wood troubledthe Indian batterswith his pace and inthe absence of an in-jured Jofra Archer,he would have toshoulder greater re-sponsibility alongwith Chris Jordan andthe young Sam Curran.

The squads:India: Virat Kohli (C),

Rohit Sharma, ShikharDhawan, ShubmanGill, Shreyas Iyer,Suryakumar Yadav,Hardik Pandya,Rishabh Pant (wk),KL Rahul (wk),Yuzvendra Chahal,Kuldee p Yadav,Krunal Pandya,Washington Sundar, TNatarajan,Bhuvneshwar Kumar,Mohammed Siraj ,Prasidh Krishna &Shardul Thakur.

England: Eoin Morgan(C), Moeen Ali, JonnyBairstow, Sam Billings, JosButtler, Sam Curran, TomCurran, Liam Livingstone,Matt Parkinson, Adil Rashid,Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, ReeceTopley & Mark Wood; Covers:Jake Ball, Chris Jordan &Dawid Malan.

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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sportsTUESDAY | MARCH 23 | 2021 | BHUBANESWARP12

Focus on Dhawan as India eye winning start in ODI series against England

CHANGE IN GEAR100 ODIs played between India

and England so far, withIndia winning 53 as

compared to England’s 42, while two gamesended in ties and three with no results

48 ODIs played betweenthese two sides in India,with the home team

winning 31 as compared to England’s16, while one match ended in a tie

387/5 Highest total forIndia againstEngland at home

(Rajkot, 2008), while England’s highesttotal (366/8) came in Cuttack in 2017

125 Lowest total for England againstIndia in India (Jaipur, 2006),while India’s lowest (170) came

in 1993 in Bangalore – the only time the hometeam couldn’t reach 200-run mark

747Highest matchaggregate in anODI between two

sides in India as it came inCuttack in 2017

618 Runs scored by Virat Kohli against England –most by an active Indian player – in 14 matchesat an average of 56.18 with two centuries and

three half centuries; Eoin Morgan has scored 267 in 8 matches –most by a player from current squad for India series

INDIA LEGENDSWIN RSWS TITLE

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Raipur, March 22: India Legendsemerged champions in the firstedition of the Road Safety WorldSeries T20 after defeating Sri LankaLegends by 14 runs in the finalhere.

All-rounder Yusuf Pathan starredin the team’s victory with an un-beaten 62 and two wickets for 26runs, which restricted Sri Lanka to167/7 in 20 overs while chasing 182Sunday night. Swashbucklingopener Sanath Jayasuriya scored43 while skipper TillakaratneDilshan perished cheaply for 21.

Earlier, Yuvraj Singh and Yusufwent on a rampage, slamming halfcenturies to see India Legends posta competitive 181/4. Yuvraj made60 off 41 balls with four bound-aries and as many sixes, whileYusuf remained unbeaten on 62in 36 balls, with four hits to theropes and five sixes.

Apart from the two, legendaryopener and skipper SachinTendulkar got a classy 30, which in-

cluded five boundaries.For the Lankans, none of the

bowlers were impressive asRang ana Herath, SanathJayasuriya, Farveez Maharoof andKaushalya Weeraratne took onewicket each.

India lost their first wicket inthe third over itself when VirenderSehwag was castled by RanganaHerath. In the next over, Tendulkarswept Dilshan for back-to-backboundaries, before S Badrinathwas trapped in front of the wicketby Jayasuriya.

Yuvraj got a classy boundary offDhammika Prasad before the twowent silent for the next few overs.Yuvraj then smacked Dilshan fortwo sixes and by the end of 10th over,India were 77/2.

BRIEF SCORESIndia Legends 181/4 (Yusuf

Pathan 62 n o, Yuvraj Singh 60)beat Sri Lanka legends 167/7(Sanath Jayasuriya 43, ChinthakaJayasinghe 40; Yusuf Pathan 2/26)by 14 runs.

India youth brigadedominates ISSF WC

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, March 22: India’steenage shooting sensations ex-tended their dominance in the on-going ISSF World Cup here Monday,winning the mixed team goldmedals in both the 10m air pistoland 10m air rifle events to con-tinue their stupendous run of form.

The sensational duo of SaurabhChaudhary and Manu Bhakernotched up the 10m air pistol mixedteam gold medal as the host coun-try consolidated its top position inthe overall tally.

This was after Divyansh SinghPanwar and Elavenil Valarivanproduced some excellent shootingto comfortably claim the gold medalin the 10m mixed air rifle event.

The 18-year-old Chaudharyand the 19-year-old Bhaker de-feated Golnoush Sebhatollahiand Javed Foroughi of Iran 16-12,making a brilliant rally aftertrailing 0-4 at the end of the sec-ond series to give India their fifthgold at the ongoing event. Thiswas the pair’s fifth World Cupmixed team gold medal.

The Iranians began well butonce the Indians overcame theirstarting troubles, they were un-stoppable and lived up to the hugeexpectations by claiming the topprize.

Also for India, Yashaswini SinghDeswal and Abhishek Vermabagged the bronze medal in thesame event after getting the bet-

ter of Turkey’s Sevval Ilayda Tarhanand Ismail Keles 17-13 at the DrKarni Singh Shooting Range.

Earlier this morning, 21-year-old Elavenil and 18-year-oldDivyansh had combined to claimthe 10m air rifle mixed team gold.This was Elavenil’s first at the sen-ior level, while fourth for Divyanshat the senior World Cups.

The India duo shot a total of 16in the gold medal match to finishahead of Hungarian World No.1Istvan Peni and Eszter Denes whomanaged 10.

The Indians shot a 10.4 each inthe final shot to secure the top prizewhile the Hungarian pair got 10.7and 9.9 at the Dr Karni SinghShooting Range. Before that, theymore or less sealed the issue witha 10.8 apiece in the penultimate at-tempt, even as their opponentsmanaged 10.4 each.

Mary Carolynn Tucker andLucas Kozeniesky (17) of the USbagged the bronze medal ahead ofPoland’s Aneta Stankiewicz andTomasz Bartnik (15).

In the second qualification,Elavenil and Divyansh grabbedthe top spot after shooting 211.2and 210.1 respectively for an ag-gregate of 421.3. Together, Peniand Denes shot a total 419.2 in thequalification.

The other Indian pair in theevent, Anjum Moudgil and ArjunBabuta, could not make the finalafter finishing fifth in the qualify-ing with a total score of 418.1.

MANU BHAKER (L) & SAURABH CHAUDHARY

DIVYANSH SINGH PANWAR (L) & ELAVENIL VALARIVAN

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Madrid, March 22: Sergino Destand Lionel Messi scored twice eachto help Barcelona hammer RealSociedad 6-1 in their La Liga awayfixture Sunday.

Earlier, after Jan Oblak swattedthe ball away with a superb penaltysave in the 86th minute, AtleticoMadrid coach Diego Simeone cel-ebrated on the sideline as if histeam had just scored a goal.

Luis Suarez had earlier scored his500th career goal with club andcountry to help give Atletico a hard-fought 1-0 home win against rele-gation-threatened Alaves Sunday.

The victory, Atletico’s third in thelast seven league games, left theleaders four points ahead ofBarcelona, which stayed close byrouting fifth-place Real Sociedad.Messi played his 768th match forBarcelona to sur pass XaviHernandez for the record number

of club appearances.Seeking its first league title since

2014, Atlético will enter the inter-national break six points in frontof third-place Real Madrid, whowon 3-1 at Celta Vigo, Saturday.

Suarez, who had scored onlytwice in the last nine matches in allcompetitions, put Atletico aheadwith a diving header in the 54thminute after a cross by KieranTrippier.

Oblak, who hadn’t been suc-cessful on penalty kicks recently, pre-served the victory by diving to hisright to make a one-hand saveagainst the late shot from the spottaken by Joselu.

Barcelona easily beat Sociedadfor their fifth consecutive league win— and ninth straight away fromhome. Antoine Griezmann opened thescoring in the 37th before Dest net-ted in the 43rd and 53rd minutes forhis first league goals with the Catalanclub. The American right back hadalready scored in a Champions Leaguegame in his first season with theSpanish powerhouse.

Messi netted his league-leading22nd and 23rd goals from insidethe area in the 56th and 89th.Ousmane Demebele scored in the71st shortly after having a goal dis-allowed for offside. Sociedad’s lonegoal was scored by AnderBarrenetxea in the 77th.

Barcelona will next host rele-gation-threatened Valladolid whileAtletico visits fourth-place Sevilla.Seventh-place Villarreal beat Cadiz2-1 with goals by Gerard Moreno andCarlos Bacca. Valencia beat Granada2-1 thanks to goals from DanielWass and Alex Blanco.

Dest, Messi braces lift Barca

ON A ROLL: Lionel Messi and Sergino Dest rejoice after one of the Argentine’sgoals against Real Sociedad, Sunday

AN INTENSE BATTLE

JABAMANI, PYARI NAMED IN INDIAN TEAM BHUBANESWAR: Odisha women footballers Jabamani Tudu and PyariXaxa have been named in the senior national team for the upcominginternational friendly against Uzbekistan in Uzbekistan March 26-April8 in preparation for the forthcoming AFC Women’s Asian Cup 2022.

Players of Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy and Olympian Vivek SinghHockey Academy vie for ball during the MP side’s 5-0 win in their match ofthe Hockey India Sub Junior Women Academy National Championship at theKalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, Monday PIC: BIKASH NAYAK