60f5d68043a4e.pdf - OrissaPost
12
cmyk cmyk 12 PAGES | ` 5.00 BHUBANESWAR | TUESDAY, JULY 20 | 2021 Actor Urvashi Rautela scores a fan following of 39 mn on Instagram. She posted a pic of her celebrating the new number INSTA FEAT OF URVASHI After overwhelming Sri Lanka in the first ODI, India look to seal 3-match series with a win in the second game SECOND ODI TODAY SPORTS | P12 LEISURE | P2 The US and its allies have accused China’s Ministry of State Security of a global cyber hacking campaign INTERNATIONAL | P10 US, ALLIES ACCUSE CHINA VOLUME 11, ISSUE 110 | www.orissapost.com IRREGULAR by MANJUL Call a journalist and complain about the rising prices. I am sure the govt will listen to you. WEATHER BHUB 35.8° 35.6° CTK 26.4° MAX MIN TEMP Humidity 100% 72% Rainfall 32.3mm Nil Forecast Light rain very likely 27.4° INDEX VARIATION SENSEX 52553.40 586.66 NIFTY 15752.40 171.00 DOLLAR 75.54 `0.32 EURO 88.40 `0.21 GOLD `48,070 `17 SILVER `67,493 `826 BULLION BOURSES CURRENCY MARKET WATCH 3 more Covid cases at Games Tokyo: One Olympics concerned personnel and a contractor were among three COVID-19 cases detected on Monday by the Games organisers, a day after three sportspersons, two of them staying at the athletes Village, tested positive for the virus. The Games concerned personnel is based in Chiba. The third case is of a journalist who has travelled for the event and was under a 14-day quarantine in Tokyo. The contractor is based in Saitama. The three cases were revealed by the organising committee in its daily update of COVID-19 list. The total number of Games-related cases now stands at 58. On Sunday, the first instance of athletes staying at the village catching the infection came to light. 30 killed, many hurt in Pakistan bus mishap Lahore: At least 30 people were killed, mostly labourers who were going to their hometown to celebrate Eid-ul Azha, and over 40 others injured Monday when a passenger bus collided with a trailer truck on a highway in Dera Ghazi Khan district of Pakistan's Punjab Province. The bus was en route from Sialkot to Rajanpur when the accident took place on the Indus Highway near Taunsa bypass in Dera Ghazi Khan district, some 430 km from Lahore. The majority of the passengers were labourers who were going to their hometown to celebrate Eid-ul Azha Wednesday. The injured were shifted to a nearby hospital where medical staff confirmed the death of 18 people upon their arrival. AGENCIES New Delhi, July 19: Opposition par- ties Monday hit out at the govern- ment over the alleged phone-tapping of prominent personalities in the country using Israeli Pegasus spy- ware and demanded an independent judicial or parliamentary committee probe. An international media consor- tium reported Sunday that more than 300 verified mobile phone numbers, including of two serving ministers, over 40 journalists, three opposition leaders and one sitting judge besides scores of businesspersons and ac- tivists in India could have been tar- geted for hacking through an Israeli spyware sold only to government agencies. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the matter using the hash- tag "Pegasus". "We know what he's been reading- everything on your phone," Gandhi wrote Monday as a tweet-reply to his own post two days ago in which he had asked people, "I'm wondering what you guys are reading these days." The government has, however, dis- missed allegations of any kind of surveillance on its part, saying the ac- cusation has no concrete basis or truth associated with it whatsoever. IT and Communications Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told Lok Sabha that with several checks and balances being in place, "any sort of illegal surveillance" by unauthorised per- sons is not possible in India. Terming it a very serious issue concerning national security, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor demanded an independent judicial or parliamentary committee probe. Since the government has said that it has not done any snooping, this should be probed, he said. "I feel that there should be a thorough inde- pendent judicial inquiry or a joint parliamentary committee. We can- not just brush it under the carpet," he told reporters. He raised the issue through social media too. "GoI has denied resorting to unau- thorised surveillance. The question this raises is, if #Pegasus is only sold to governments, which other govts (China/Pak?) are using it to snoop on prominent Indian citizens? Shouldn't the authorities call for an independent investigation," he tweeted referring to the government of India. The CPIM said two years ago, the party had raised in Parliament that this "dangerous spyware" was being used in India as revealed by WhatsApp. "The Modi government's response had not categorically denied that it en- gaged the services of NSO (the Israeli tech firm that created the spyware) but claimed that there is no "unau- thorized surveillance". With these revelations, it is clear that this gov- ernment has engaged NSO for such surveillance against its own citizens," the party said in a statement Monday. "The central government must come clean on what is its engage- ment with NSO, what are the terms and how much of our public funds has been paid for this,” the party de- manded. Under Indian laws, the use of cyber spy software to hack smartphones even by the government is prohib- ited, the party said, asking under what law the government has un- dertaken such "surveillance activi- ties" over citizens. "The right to privacy is a funda- mental right as laid down by the Supreme Court, but this BJP gov- ernment is prevaricating on legis- lating the privacy law," the party said. The CPIM also said there have been earlier instances of hacking smartphones and computers of human rights activists and they have been exposed. It alleged that the spying toll is digitally planted on their devices. "It is then used for their arrests under draconian laws. The `snoop, plant, arrest' formula employed by this BJP government is a violation of the fundamental rights of Indian cit- izens,” the CPIM said. The TMC said it will raise the issue in parliament. POST NEWS NETWORK Balasore, July 19: Mystery continues to deepen over the death of Paralakhemundi Assistant Conservator of Forest (ACF) Soumya Ranjan Mohapatra whose sudden death due to burns has shocked the state. Mohapatra’s mother claimed Monday that her son and daughter-in-law Bidyabharati had entered into an agreement before marriage that they would not indulge in any form of physical relationship till a year after their wedding. “She (Bidyabharati) did not have any physical re- lationship with my son. They had an agreement be- fore marriage on this issue,” the deceased ACF’s mother Tulasi, informed police. “My son once told me that he had a fight with Bidyabharati one night. Then Bidyabharati broke her wedding bangles and left Soumya’s quarters late in the night. Soumya finally found her at the residence of DFO Sangram Keshari Behera,” Tulasi added. The ACF’s mother also al- leged that Bidyabharati had an affair with another man near her village before mar- riage. She also said that Bidyabharti’s parents were aware of her relationship. Another relative of the deceased rubbished the claims of Bidyabharati and Behera that Soumya had accidentally set himself on fire. “Bidyabharati had claimed before the media that she was serving food when Soumya accidentally burnt himself. She had also said that the cook was preparing food to be sent to the DFO. However, on that particular day, a feast was organised at the DFO’s residence. So on a day when a feast was being organised at his place, why would the DFO need food,” the relative pointed out. A police team from Paralakhemundi reached Khaira police station here Monday in connection with the ongoing probe. The team is scheduled to record the statements of all family members of the deceased ACF, a member of the in- vestigating team informed. The team will also meet the family of Bidyabharati. AGENCIES New Delhi, July 19: The Supreme Court Monday ordered the release of Manipuri activist Erendro Leichombam, on or before 5 pm Monday. Leichombam was booked under the National Security Act (NSA) for a Facebook post criticising BJP leaders for advocating cow dung and cow urine as cure for Covid. A Bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and MR Shah said a person cannot be kept in jail even for a day for such an act. Justice Chandrachud said: "He cannot be kept in jail even for a day. We will order his release today". Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, for his part, requested the bench to list the matter for Tuesday. However, the bench did not budge and said the court will grant interim relief Monday. The bench said: "We are of the view that continued detention of the petitioner would be a violation of right to life and personal liberty under Article 21. We accordingly direct that the petitioner shall be released forth- with subject to interim directions of this court and subject to further or- ders". The court directed its registrar ju- dicial to communicate the order to Manipur Central Jail for release of the activist before 5 pm Monday. The counsel for the petitioner submitted that he would press for compensa- tion at the next hearing. The plea was filed in Supreme Court by Leichombam's father L Raghumani Singh, stating that the detention of the activist is a reprisal for his criticism against BJP leaders for advocating cow dung and cow urine as cures for Covid. "Erendro, a Manipuri political activist, has been preventively detained solely to pun- ish him for his criticism of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders for advo- cating cow dung and cow urine as cures for Covid," said the petition. The plea contended that it is a shocking instance of misuse of pre- ventive detention law to stifle com- pletely innocuous speech, which is fully constitutionally protected. Leichombam was initially ar- rested May 13 for his Facebook post on the complaint of BJP leaders. On May 17, the day he was granted bail by the local court, the district magistrate Imphal West District, de- tained him under the stringent NSA, which is a preventive deten- tion law. The plea said he has al- ready spent 45 days in custody for an "innocuous piece of speech". POST NEWS NETWORK Bhubaneswar, July 19: Clearing the air on the possible onset of third wave of Covid 19 in Odisha, Director of Medical Education and Training (DMET) Monday said it is still in an assessment stage. Speaking to reporters here, Mohanty said, “The third wave of Covid-19 is still at an estimate stage, we have to see whether it will arrive or not. Different people are making different opinions about the third wave.” While many are suggesting that the third wave is likely to hit by October or November, the daily cases are declining and the situation cur- rently is in a plateau stage, he said. Though the spread of Covid-19 in the community has come down, peo- ple have to remain cautious and fol- low all Covid-19 appropriate behaviour till it has not been rooted out, he said. Commenting on the R-value or ef- fective reproduction number used by the Chennai-based Institute of Mathematical Sciences (IMSc) to measure the spread of Covid-19, Mohanty said it does not reflect the situation at the grassroots level. During the first wave, the R value was 2.5 per cent, now it is less than 1 per cent (0.88) in India. So it is just a mathematical model, the director stated. The R-value stands for the number of people one person can in- fect. If the R-value is more than 1, it means every 100 infected people on an average can pass on the infection to more than 100 people. Meanwhile, Public Health Director Niranjan Mishra said the state gov- ernment is completely prepared to deal with the possible third wave of Covid-19. The Covid-19 infection graph in the state is in decline while in some districts, it is still on the plateau stage. However, there is no need to panic, Mishra said. Now, the government is giving emphasis on testing, track- ing, tracing and jabbing. Meanwhile, the state’s Covid tally soared to 9,55,974 Monday as 1,648 more peo- ple tested positive for the infection, while 58 fresh fatalities were reported. AGENCIES New Delhi, July 19: The Union government's tax col- lections on petrol and diesel jumped by 88 per cent to `3.35 lakh crore in the year to March 31, after excise duty was raised to a record high, the Lok Sabha was informed Monday. Excise duty on petrol was hiked from `19.98 per litre to `32.9 last year to recoup gain arising from interna- tional oil prices plunging to multi-year low as pandemic gulped demand. The same on diesel was raised to `31.8 from `15.83 a litre, according to a writ- ten reply to a question given by the Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Rameswar Teli in the Lok Sabha. This led to excise collections on petrol and diesel jumping to `3.35 lakh crore in 2020-21 (April 2020 to March 2021), from `1.78 lakh crore a year back, he said. Collections would have been higher but for fuel sales falling due to lock- down and other restric- tions imposed to curb the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, which muted economic activity and stalled mobility. In 2018-19, excise collections on petrol and diesel were `2.13 lakh crore. To a separate ques- tion, the Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said excise collections in April-June this year totalled `1.01 lakh crore. This number includes excise on not just petrol and diesel but also ATF, nat- ural gas and crude oil. The total excise collection in FY21 was `3.89 lakh crore. "Prices of petrol and diesel are market-deter- mined with effect from June 26, 2010 and October 19, 2014 respectively," Teli said. Since then, the Public Sector Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) have been taking appropriate decisions on the pricing of petrol and diesel on the basis of international prod- uct prices and other mar- ket conditions. "The OMCs have increased and de- creased the prices of petrol and diesel according to changes in international prices and rupee-dollar ex- change rate," he said. Free him today: SC on activist held for FB post No proof of Covid 3rd wave in state yet: DMET Snoopgate: Oppn puts govt on mat NEW TWIST IN DEATH PROBE Excise mop-up on fuel jumps 88 pc PARALAKHEMUNDI ACF’S DEATH CONG DEMANDS INDEPENDENT JUDICIAL OR JPC PROBE INTO PHONE-TAPPING VAISHNAW, RAHUL, PRASHANT KISHORE POTENTIAL SPYWARE TARGETS NEW DELHI: Former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, BJP ministers Ashwini Vaishnaw and Prahlad Singh Patel, as also former election commissioner Ashok Lavasa and poll strate- gist Prashant Kishor were among those whose phone numbers were listed as potential targets for hacking through an Israeli spyware sold only to the government agencies, an international media consortium reported Monday. The Wire news portal, in the second part of its revelations from the international collaborative investigation called the Pegasus Project, reported that the phone number of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's nephew and TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee and 11 phone numbers belonging to the Supreme Court staffer and her close relatives, who accused former Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi of sexual harassment in April 2019, were selected as targets for sur- veillance. The government dismissed the media reports on the use of Pegasus software to snoop on Indians, saying the allegations levelled just ahead of the Monsoon session of Parliament are aimed at "maligning Indian democracy". IMPROMPTU FIELD: Youngsters play football at waterlogged Shivaji Park after heavy rains in Mumbai, Monday, PTI PHOTO
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12 PAGES | `5.00BHUBANESWAR | TUESDAY, JULY 20 | 2021
y
Actor Urvashi Rautela scores a fan following of39 mn on Instagram. She posted a pic of hercelebrating the new number
INSTA FEAT OF URVASHIAfter overwhelming Sri Lanka in the first ODI, Indialook to seal 3-match series with a winin the second game
SECOND ODI TODAY
SPORTS | P12LEISURE | P2
The US and its allies have accused China’s Ministryof State Security of a global cyberhacking campaign INTERNATIONAL | P10
US, ALLIES ACCUSE CHINA
VOLUME 11, ISSUE 110 | www.orissapost.com
IRREGULAR by MANJUL
Call a journalist and complain about the rising prices. I am sure
the govt will listen to you.
WEATHERBHUB
35.8° 35.6°CTK
26.4°MAX
MINTE
MP
Humidity 100% 72%Rainfall 32.3mm Nil
Forecast
Light rainvery likely
27.4°
INDEX VARIATION
SENSEX 52553.40 586.66
NIFTY 15752.40 171.00
DOLLAR 75.54 `0.32
EURO 88.40 `0.21
GOLD `48,070 `17
SILVER `67,493 `826BULL
ION
BOU
RSES
CU
RREN
CY
MARKET WATCH
3 more Covid cases at Games Tokyo: One Olympics concernedpersonnel and a contractor wereamong three COVID-19 casesdetected on Monday by the Gamesorganisers, a day after threesportspersons, two of them stayingat the athletes Village, testedpositive for the virus. The Gamesconcerned personnel is based inChiba. The third case is of ajournalist who has travelled for theevent and was under a 14-dayquarantine in Tokyo. The contractoris based in Saitama. The three caseswere revealed by the organisingcommittee in its daily update ofCOVID-19 list. The total number ofGames-related cases now stands at58. On Sunday, the first instance ofathletes staying at the villagecatching the infection came to light.
30 killed, many hurt in Pakistan bus mishap Lahore: At least 30 people were killed,mostly labourers who were going totheir hometown to celebrate Eid-ulAzha, and over 40 others injuredMonday when a passenger buscollided with a trailer truck on ahighway in Dera Ghazi Khan district ofPakistan's Punjab Province. The buswas en route from Sialkot to Rajanpurwhen the accident took place on theIndus Highway near Taunsa bypass inDera Ghazi Khan district, some 430 kmfrom Lahore. The majority of thepassengers were labourers who weregoing to their hometown to celebrateEid-ul Azha Wednesday. The injuredwere shifted to a nearby hospitalwhere medical staff confirmed thedeath of 18 people upon their arrival.
AGENCIES
New Delhi, July 19: Opposition par-ties Monday hit out at the govern-ment over the alleged phone-tappingof prominent personalities in thecountry using Israeli Pegasus spy-ware and demanded an independentjudicial or parliamentary committeeprobe.
An international media consor-tium reported Sunday that more than300 verified mobile phone numbers,including of two serving ministers,over 40 journalists, three oppositionleaders and one sitting judge besidesscores of businesspersons and ac-tivists in India could have been tar-geted for hacking through an Israelispyware sold only to governmentagencies.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi tooka swipe at Prime Minister NarendraModi on the matter using the hash-tag "Pegasus".
"We know what he's been reading-everything on your phone," Gandhiwrote Monday as a tweet-reply to hisown post two days ago in which he hadasked people, "I'm wondering whatyou guys are reading these days."
The government has, however, dis-missed allegations of any kind ofsurveillance on its part, saying the ac-cusation has no concrete basis ortruth associated with it whatsoever.
IT and Communications MinisterAshwini Vaishnaw told Lok Sabhathat with several checks and balancesbeing in place, "any sort of illegalsurveillance" by unauthorised per-sons is not possible in India.
Terming it a very serious issueconcerning national security, Congressleader Shashi Tharoor demanded anindependent judicial or parliamentarycommittee probe.
Since the government has said thatit has not done any snooping, this
should be probed, he said. "I feel thatthere should be a thorough inde-pendent judicial inquiry or a jointparliamentary committee. We can-not just brush it under the carpet," hetold reporters. He raised the issuethrough social media too.
"GoI has denied resorting to unau-thorised surveillance. The questionthis raises is, if #Pegasus is only soldto governments, which other govts(China/Pak?) are using it to snoopon prominent Indian citizens?Shouldn't the authorities call for anindependent investigation," he tweetedreferring to the government of India.
The CPIM said two years ago, theparty had raised in Parliament thatthis "dangerous spyware" was beingused in India as revealed by WhatsApp.
"The Modi government's responsehad not categorically denied that it en-gaged the services of NSO (the Israelitech firm that created the spyware)but claimed that there is no "unau-thorized surveillance". With theserevelations, it is clear that this gov-ernment has engaged NSO for suchsurveillance against its own citizens,"the party said in a statement Monday.
"The central government must
come clean on what is its engage-ment with NSO, what are the termsand how much of our public funds hasbeen paid for this,” the party de-manded.
Under Indian laws, the use of cyberspy software to hack smartphoneseven by the government is prohib-ited, the party said, asking underwhat law the government has un-dertaken such "surveillance activi-ties" over citizens.
"The right to privacy is a funda-mental right as laid down by theSupreme Court, but this BJP gov-ernment is prevaricating on legis-lating the privacy law," the partysaid. The CPIM also said there havebeen earlier instances of hackingsmartphones and computers ofhuman rights activists and theyhave been exposed. It alleged that thespying toll is digitally planted ontheir devices.
"It is then used for their arrestsunder draconian laws. The `snoop,plant, arrest' formula employed bythis BJP government is a violation ofthe fundamental rights of Indian cit-izens,” the CPIM said. The TMC saidit will raise the issue in parliament.
POST NEWS NETWORK
Balasore, July 19: Mysterycontinues to deepen overthe death ofParalakhemundi AssistantConservator of Forest (ACF)Soumya Ranjan Mohapatrawhose sudden death due toburns has shocked the state.
Mohapatra’s motherclaimed Monday that her
son and daughter-in-lawBidyabharati had enteredinto an agreement beforemarriage that they wouldnot indulge in any form ofphysical relationship till ayear after their wedding.
“She (Bidyabharati) didnot have any physical re-lationship with my son.They had an agreement be-fore marriage on this issue,”the deceased ACF’s motherTulasi, informed police.
“My son once told methat he had a fight withBidyabharati one night.Then Bidyabharati brokeher wedding bangles andleft Soumya’s quarters latein the night. Soumya finallyfound her at the residenceof DFO Sangram KeshariBehera,” Tulasi added.
The ACF’s mother also al-leged that Bidyabharati had
an affair with another mannear her village before mar-riage. She also said thatBidyabharti’s parents wereaware of her relationship.
Another relative of thedeceased rubbished theclaims of Bidyabharati andBehera that Soumya hadaccidentally set himself onfire.
“Bidyabharati had
claimed before the mediathat she was serving foodwhen Soumya accidentallyburnt himself. She had alsosaid that the cook waspreparing food to be sentto the DFO. However, onthat particular day, a feastwas organised at the DFO’sresidence. So on a day whena feast was being organisedat his place, why would theDFO need food,” the relativepointed out.
A police team fromParalakhemundi reachedKhaira police station hereMonday in connection withthe ongoing probe. The teamis scheduled to record thestatements of all familymembers of the deceasedACF, a member of the in-vestigating team informed.The team will also meet thefamily of Bidyabharati.
AGENCIES
New Delhi, July 19: The SupremeCourt Monday ordered the release ofManipuri activist ErendroLeichombam, on or before 5 pmMonday. Leichombam was bookedunder the National Security Act (NSA)for a Facebook post criticising BJPleaders for advocating cow dung andcow urine as cure for Covid.
A Bench of Justices DYChandrachud and MR Shah said aperson cannot be kept in jail even fora day for such an act. JusticeChandrachud said: "He cannot be
kept in jail even for a day. We willorder his release today".
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, forhis part, requested the bench to listthe matter for Tuesday. However, thebench did not budge and said thecourt will grant interim relief Monday.
The bench said: "We are of theview that continued detention of thepetitioner would be a violation ofright to life and personal liberty underArticle 21. We accordingly direct thatthe petitioner shall be released forth-with subject to interim directions ofthis court and subject to further or-ders".
The court directed its registrar ju-dicial to communicate the order toManipur Central Jail for release of theactivist before 5 pm Monday. The
counsel for the petitioner submittedthat he would press for compensa-tion at the next hearing.
The plea was filed in SupremeCourt by Leichombam's father LRaghumani Singh, stating that thedetention of the activist is a reprisalfor his criticism against BJP leadersfor advocating cow dung and cowurine as cures for Covid. "Erendro, aManipuri political activist, has beenpreventively detained solely to pun-ish him for his criticism of BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP) leaders for advo-cating cow dung and cow urine ascures for Covid," said the petition.
The plea contended that it is ashocking instance of misuse of pre-ventive detention law to stifle com-pletely innocuous speech, which is fullyconstitutionally protected.
Leichombam was initially ar-rested May 13 for his Facebook poston the complaint of BJP leaders. OnMay 17, the day he was grantedbail by the local court, the districtmagistrate Imphal West District, de-tained him under the stringentNSA, which is a preventive deten-tion law. The plea said he has al-ready spent 45 days in custody foran "innocuous piece of speech".
POST NEWS NETWORK
Bhubaneswar, July 19: Clearingthe air on the possible onset of thirdwave of Covid 19 in Odisha, Directorof Medical Education and Training(DMET) Monday said it is still in anassessment stage.
Speaking to reporters here, Mohantysaid, “The third wave of Covid-19 isstill at an estimate stage, we have tosee whether it will arrive or not.Different people are making differentopinions about the third wave.”
While many are suggesting thatthe third wave is likely to hit byOctober or November, the daily casesare declining and the situation cur-rently is in a plateau stage, he said.
Though the spread of Covid-19 inthe community has come down, peo-ple have to remain cautious and fol-low all Covid-19 appropriate behaviourtill it has not been rooted out, he said.
Commenting on the R-value or ef-fective reproduction number used bythe Chennai-based Institute ofMathematical Sciences (IMSc) tomeasure the spread of Covid-19,Mohanty said it does not reflect thesituation at the grassroots level.
During the first wave, the R valuewas 2.5 per cent, now it is less than 1per cent (0.88) in India. So it is just amathematical model, the directorstated. The R-value stands for thenumber of people one person can in-fect. If the R-value is more than 1, itmeans every 100 infected people on anaverage can pass on the infection tomore than 100 people.
Meanwhile, Public Health DirectorNiranjan Mishra said the state gov-ernment is completely prepared todeal with the possible third wave ofCovid-19. The Covid-19 infection graphin the state is in decline while in somedistricts, it is still on the plateau stage.However, there is no need to panic,Mishra said. Now, the governmentis giving emphasis on testing, track-ing, tracing and jabbing. Meanwhile,the state’s Covid tally soared to9,55,974 Monday as 1,648 more peo-ple tested positive for the infection,while 58 fresh fatalities were reported.
AGENCIES
New Delhi, July 19: TheUnion government's tax col-lections on petrol and dieseljumped by 88 per cent to`3.35 lakh crore in the yearto March 31, after exciseduty was raised to a recordhigh, the Lok Sabha wasinformed Monday.
Excise duty on petrol washiked from `19.98 per litreto `32.9 last year to recoupgain arising from interna-tional oil prices plunging tomulti-year low as pandemicgulped demand.
The same on diesel wasraised to `31.8 from `15.83a litre, according to a writ-ten reply to a question givenby the Minister of State forPetroleum and Natural GasRameswar Teli in the LokSabha. This led to excisecollections on petrol anddiesel jumping to ̀ 3.35 lakhcrore in 2020-21 (April 2020to March 2021), from `1.78lakh crore a year back, hesaid.
Collections would havebeen higher but for fuelsales falling due to lock-down and other restric-tions imposed to curb thespread of the coronavirus
pandemic, which mutedeconomic activity andstalled mobility. In 2018-19,excise collections on petroland diesel were `2.13 lakhcrore. To a separate ques-tion, the Minister of Statef o r F i n a n c e P a n k a jChaudhary said excisecollections in April-Junethis year totalled `1.01lakh crore.
This number includesexcise on not just petroland diesel but also ATF, nat-ural gas and crude oil. Thetotal excise collection inFY21 was `3.89 lakh crore.
"Prices of petrol anddiesel are market-deter-mined with effect from June26, 2010 and October 19, 2014respectively," Teli said.
Since then, the PublicSector Oil MarketingCompanies (OMCs) havebeen taking appropriatedecisions on the pricing ofpetrol and diesel on thebasis of international prod-uct prices and other mar-ket conditions. "The OMCshave increased and de-creased the prices of petroland diesel according tochanges in internationalprices and rupee-dollar ex-change rate," he said.
Free him today: SC on activist held for FB post
No proof of Covid3rd wave instate yet: DMET
Snoopgate: Oppnputs govt on mat
NEW TWIST IN DEATH PROBE
Excise mop-up onfuel jumps 88 pc
PARALAKHEMUNDI ACF’S DEATH
CONG DEMANDS INDEPENDENT JUDICIAL OR JPC PROBE INTO PHONE-TAPPING
VAISHNAW, RAHUL, PRASHANT KISHOREPOTENTIAL SPYWARE TARGETS
NEW DELHI: Former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, BJP ministers Ashwini Vaishnaw andPrahlad Singh Patel, as also former election commissioner Ashok Lavasa and poll strate-gist Prashant Kishor were among those whose phone numbers were listed as potentialtargets for hacking through an Israeli spyware sold only to the government agencies, aninternational media consortium reported Monday. The Wire news portal, in the secondpart of its revelations from the international collaborative investigation called thePegasus Project, reported that the phone number of West Bengal Chief Minister MamataBanerjee's nephew and TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee and 11 phone numbers belonging tothe Supreme Court staffer and her close relatives, who accused former Chief Justice ofIndia Ranjan Gogoi of sexual harassment in April 2019, were selected as targets for sur-veillance. The government dismissed the media reports on the use of Pegasus softwareto snoop on Indians, saying the allegations levelled just ahead of the Monsoon session ofParliament are aimed at "maligning Indian democracy".
IMPROMPTU FIELD: Youngsters play football at waterlogged Shivaji Park after heavy rains in Mumbai, Monday, PTI PHOTO
Mumbai: ActressUrvashi Rautela has scored a fanfollowing of 39 million on Instagram.The actress posted a picture of hercelebrating the new number Monday,with a picture.
In the Instagram image, Urvashican be seen posing next to a cake
and a room full of balloons.She even put marquee lightswhich had 39 million writ-ten on it.
“39 MILLION LOVE. ON@instagram LOVE YOU ALL.ALSO HAPPY BIRTHDAYLOVE OF MY LIFE #OS-
CARRAUTELA,” shewrote as the caption, with
pink heart emojis.Urvashi will next
be seen in the webseries InspectorAvinash . The series is based onthe l i fe ofInspector Mishraand has RandeepHooda essayingthe title role. IANS
P2 TOM HOLLANDER-STARRER THE ALCHEMIST DELAYED AGAIN
leisureThe film adaptation of Paulo Coelho’sbeloved novel The Alchemist, is still hittingroadblocks due to undisclosed financialobstacles. The project has been shut down,and the crew sent home, said sources.
Veteran Spanish actress-activist Pilar Bardem, themother of Oscar-winner Javier Bardem, died due tothe complications from lung disease not related toCOVID-19. She was 82. The Goya Award-winningactress passed away at the Ruber Hospital in Madrid.
TUESDAY | JULY 20 | 2021 | BHUBANESWAR
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AQUARIUSYou are a strong-willed per-son, and during the tough-est of times you remainfocused. A constant smile on your faceand positive attitude will help you win thehearts and minds of people at work aswell as at home. Such a feeling of con-tentment and happiness motivate you todo your best.
PISCESYou will be treading newground at work. Exciting asthat sounds, it merelymeans you will have to do a lot of travel-ling today. You will also find yourselfswamped with drafting new businessproposals, holding meetings, or other-wise networking over the phone.
SAGITTARIUSThe day begins on a brightnote and you decide toflaunt your sunny side up,foresees Ganesha. At home front, sharingof work with your partner will keep thehome atmosphere peaceful and harmo-nious. Both of you discover a joy is cleaning and cooking together.
LIBRAGanesha says you will puteverything aside to paymore attention to your out-ward appearance and your beauty as youwill be more aware about it. People willget attracted to your beauty today. Youwill be able to share your own ideas andthoughts with people, at the same timeyou will learn about their views and fromtheir experiences.
SCORPIOKeep your eyes and earsopen and believe in onlywhat you see. Remember,believing in rumours may lead to uglysituations. Your efforts to be differentand stand out would pay off well, pre-dicts Ganesha.
LEOYou need to keep your tem-per in check and guardagainst being aggressivetoday. You need to channelise your ener-gies towards some productive pursuits,otherwise you may make someone thetarget of your anger.
VIRGOYou are renowned for yourleadership qualities andtoday they will be muchappreciated for the way you manage yourteam. You will get a long-due promotion,and will come in for some extra cash.Ganesha says you received all this bywisely balancing work and home, so becareful not to slip up on this front.
GEMINIYou will become more emo-tional and sensitive today.Health, diet, career, job andsuch things will be on your mind and willgive rise to mental stress and worry. Youneed to take care of your health andhygiene, says Ganesha.
CANCERToday, you will put yourheart and soul into whatev-er task you take up. And,that's a great thing to do, says Ganesha.Don't lose heart though, if despite thebest efforts, the results of your efforts arenot too forthcoming. Feeling dejected isonly going to hamper your progress.
ARIESYou need to be very cau-tious today, says Ganesha.The results of a lot of hardwork over a long time may be undone byone impulsive decision. After a stressfulmorning, you could just wish to spend timewith children, playing their childish games.
FORTUNE FORECAST
TAURUSLove is on the cards, saysGanesha. Your senses arelikely to remain highlyactive today. Stay alert and avoid drift-ing into your own world at the cost ofwork. It is best for you to keep your eyesand ears open to avoid any misunder-standing with your near and dear ones,suggests Ganesha.
CAPRICORNYou will be a live wire,today. With amazing exu-berance you have complet-ed mammoth tasks and have spread theenergy around. It will give you tremen-dous job-satisfaction, foresees Ganesha.Everything seems well and good the per-sonal front, too.
BREVITY
CALVIN AND HOBBES
PEANUTS CROSSWORD
SUDOKU
SOLUTIONS
CRO
SSW
ORD
SUD
OKU
CHECK FOR SOLUTIONS OF THE PUZZLES TOMORROW
post To solve the Sudoku puzzle, fill in the boxes in such amanner that every row, column and 3x3 box containsthe digits 1 to 9, without repeating any.
VETERAN ACTRESS PILAR BARDEMSUCCUMBS TO LUNG DISEASE
Mumbai: Actress Shilpa ShettyKundra took to social media Mondayto suggest meditation that offersbenefits like calming the mind, re-ducing stress and sharpening theeyesight. The ancient meditationpractice is called Tratak.
“We may not always have thepower to change what’s happeningaround us, but we can definitelycontrol what happens within.That is possible onlythrough Yoga. Giveyourself the abilityto calm the mind,reduce unwantedthoughts,centreyour
wander-ing
attention, and improve your focusthrough Tratak Meditation,” Shilpawrote in an Instagram post.
The actress, who is known for herpenchant for Yoga, also mentionedthe benefits of the meditation,which include increased concen-tration levels, fighting sleeping dif-ficulties, sharpening eyesight andreducing stress.
On the work front, Shilpa is setto make her comeback into
Hindi films after 14 yearswith the upcoming com-
edy Hungama 2. ThePriyadarshan direc-torial also featuresParesh Rawal, Rajpal
Yadav, MeezaanJafri and PranithaSubhash in keyroles. IANS
Many don’t know but SouthKorean culture or K-culturetrends began in the 1980s.
Today South Korea is considereda major exporter of popular cul-ture. It started with the K-dramasthen the K-pop which spread likea wildfire all across East, Southeastand South Asia. Today these arethe five most popular K-culturetrends among Indian youths.
WEBTOONSIt originated in South Korea, but
now it has gained immense tractionamong those aged between 15-24.This new wave has been gettingmore and more comic readers turn-ing to them. It is visible in the num-ber of monthly active users of KrossKomics, which is a webtoon app.Today the app has crossed 3 milliondownloads since it commencedservice in India in December 2019.
K-POPIt is short for Korean popular
music, which is a music genre thatalso originated in South Korea aspart of South Korean culture. Thegenres take their influence fromall around the world, such as pop,experimental, rock, jazz, gospel,hip-hop, R&B, reggae, electronicdance, folk, country, and classicalon top of their traditional Koreanmusic roots.
K-DRAMAThe Korean Drama which is now
famously called K- Drama. Theyare Korean language television se-ries that are made in South Korea.
Today Korean dramas are very pop-ular in India. Many K-dramas havebeen adapted into Hindi movies,the most famous ones areAawarapan, Prem Ratan DhanPayo, Barfi! and many more.
KOREAN CUISINEKoreans usually have grilled
meats which are accompanied bywonderfully spicy and sour shredsof cabbage. It’s called Kimchi.Kimchi is preserved cabbage (alsomade with other vegetables) that isthe cornerstone of Korean cook-ing. Local inquiries for dishes suchas Korean fried chicken, Koreanstyle Ramyeon, Kimchi, gimbap,kimchi-jjigae started flooding inafter Korean Expatriates listedtheir canteens on online food delivery platforms.
KOREAN FASHIONWith the Korean Wave sweeping
over many countries, the culturalinfluence of Korea has reached theIndian fashion world, as well. Koreanfashion is evident in the outfitsworn by artists, who are partner-ing up with major fashion housesto showcase their work. Today thereare several stores that offer onlySouth Korean fashion labels andclothes. IANS
Popular K-culturetrends visible among
Indian youths
Shilpa’s mantra to reduce stress
Urvashi
garners 39 mn
Insta followers
New Delhi: Elnaaz Norouzi, who will be seenin the web show Chutzpah, has been
taking Hindi lessons to hone her dialogue skills, and the Iranian-German actress describesit as a struggle well worth it.
“For two years I tookHindi lessons. In
Bollywood, every day is astruggle — from learning
Hindi to learning dance. It’sa constant struggle as I have toprove myself among otherIndian girls who have all thetraining and grooming fromchildhood,” she said.
Elnaaz says she wantedto be an actress afterwatching Hindi films.Her biggest inspira-tion is Shah RukhKhan and as a new-comer, she got achance to act withhim in two advertisements.“Meeting ShahRukh Khan wassurreal. WhenI met him I re-alised dreamsdo come true,”signed of fElnaaz. IANS
Norouzi taking Hindi lessons
POST NEWS NETWORK
Puri, July 19: The district andSrimandir administration have madeelaborate arrangements to ensuresmooth conduct of the Bahuda Yatraof the deities that will be performedin the Holy City sans devotees forthe second year in a row.
In order to ensure that servitorsand policemen involved in pullingof the chariots don’t feel the pinchof the soaring daytime tempera-ture, they will be served with ORSdrinks. This apart, Fire Servicesand PHEO authorities have beenasked to sprinkle water on the roadin regular intervals, Shree JagannathTemple Administration (SJTA) chiefKrishan Kumar said after holding areview meeting with senior officialshere.
Tata Power has been asked to en-sure uninterrupted power duringthe retur n car festival of theSrimandir deities, Kumar said.
The SJTA has urged devotees andpublic to stay indoors and witness thefestival through television.
On the other hand, lodges and ho-tels in the Holy City have been vacatedahead of the curfew that is in placefrom 8pm July 19 to 8pm July 21. “Incase of any information regarding anyunauthorised check-in at hotels orlodgings during the period, strin-gent action will be taken,” Puri su-perintendent of police (SP) KV Singhsaid.
Sources said that the districtpolice has deployed 22 spe-cial teams to check unautho-rised entry to the Grand Roadduring the curfew period.Each team will have a video-grapher apart from senior po-lice officials. This apart, threemobile teams will also be de-ployed on the Grand Road.
The SP further said thatthe security arrangementsduring Bahuda will also re-main in force during SunaBesha, Adharapana andNiladri Bije rituals. “Curfewwill also be clamped during thefestivities from July 20 to 23and 10 dedicated teams, eachhaving an executive magis-trate and senior police offi-cials, will be deployed on theGrand Road during the pe-riod,” Singh said.
As per rituals, the MangalaAlati of the deities will beperformed at 4am whileAbakash will be performedby 5am. After completion of afew other rituals, the Pahandiof the deities will start at 12noon and conclude by 2.30pm.The Chhera Panhara ritualwill be conducted by 3.30pm.The pulling of the chariotswill start by 4pm.
Lord Jagannath and Hissiblings Lord Balabhadra andDevi Subhadra are all set to
return to the Lions’ Gate of Srimandirfrom Srigundicha temple here afterending their nine-day sojourn. Thethree chariots—Nandighosha,Taladhwaja and Darpadalana—havebeen thoroughly examined by the experts and pulled to theNakachana Gate of Srigundichatemple ahead of the Bahuda Yatra,said an official of SJTA.
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downtown
POST NEWS NETWORK
Bhubaneswar, July 19: Aftermore than two months’ hiatus,Capital Region Urban Transport(CRUT) Monday resumed op-erations of its Mo Buses in thestate capital.
CRUT had announced re-sumption of Mo Bus opera-tions with only 87 buses on 16routes. Sources said that allthe buses were thoroughly sani-tised both inside and outside forpassenger safety. The first daysaw about 80 per cent occu-pancy with more than 15,000riders.
“About 15,000 to 20,000 rid-ers took the bus Monday.However, since no passengerwas allowed to stand duringthe ride, as per state govern-ment’s guidelines, only 80 percent occupancy was observed.We will keep adding morebuses and routes over a pe-riod of time,” an official atCRUT stated.
It can be mentioned thatCRUT has a fleet of more than200 buses operating in about25 routes covering Puri, Cuttackand Bhubaneswar.
The daily ridership of thebuses in the Capital city had
crossed more than 1 lakh be-fore Covid.
However, the numbers saw asteady rise in 2020 until stategovernment instructed lock-down May 5.
Moreover, CRUT stated thatit would keep regular opera-tion of the Mo Bus service suspended during weekendshutdowns.
However, bus services for in-coming passengers will con-tinue from railway station toCuttack and Khurda, and shut-tle service will be availablefrom airport to railway stationduring weekends.
Tight security for deities’RETURN JOURNEY
The SJTA has urged devoteesand public to stay indoors and
witness the festival throughtelevision
22special police teams havebeen deployed to check
unauthorised entry to the GrandRoad during the curfew period
Lodges and hotels in the HolyCity have been vacated ahead
of the curfew that is in placefrom 8pm July 19 to 8pm July 21
The tradition ofBahuda YatraAs per tradition, three chariots were pulled one by
one with southward turn from the entry gateparking and stationed at the exit gate of Gundicha
temple known as Nakachanadwar facing towards the maintemple Saturday.
While the chariot of Subhadra was pulled first followedby the chariot of Balabhadra, the chariot of LordJagannath was pulled at the last. This exercise is called“Dakshini Moda”.
After the observance of the daily needs of deities inthe Adap mandap, three Pujapandas came with the“agyamallyas” in a procession Saturday and handedover the order of the deities to park the chariots in front
of theNakachanadwarfor the returnjourney.
About f ivehundred policepersonnel wereengaged in mak-ing all the threechariots on theDakshini modaexercise.
This apar t ,from the prepa-ration by the tem-ple administra-tion was on toobserve Suna
Besha, the golden attire of the Trinity and Adharapanarituals of deities after their arrival at the Singhadwarof the main temple.
Official sources said a total of 5,000 Covid-19 testswere conducted, including 3,500 servitors and policepersonnel. As per the Supreme Court directive, onlyservitors who tested Covid-19 negative could pull the char-iots while the police personnel tested Covid negativeshould be engaged in festival duty.
The entire city and Badadanda would be placed undercurfew for 48 hours for the Return Car Festival. Thedistrict administration has asked all the hotels and lodg-ing houses located on either side of the Grand road tovacate the rooms occupied by the visitors.
Temple sources said after arriving at Lions’ Gate July20, the Suna Besha of deities on the Raths would beheld July 21 followed by Adharapana offering July 22 andfinally, the presiding deities would return to their orig-inal abode in the sanctum sanctorum of the temple July23 known as Niladri Bije (homecoming of deities).
Mo Buses ferry 15K on Day 1
downtownTUESDAY | JULY 20 | 2021 | BHUBANESWARP4
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AFFIDAVIT
I, Proshish Golyan,W/O. Amrit Ananddo hereby declarethat my son's namehas been changedfrom AdhvikAnand to AdhvikAnand Golyan inpresence of Ms.Tanushree SamalExecutiveMagistrate,Bhubaneswar.dated 19.07.2021
CLASSIFIEDAFFIDAVIT
DENOUNCING FUEL PRICE HIKE
Barabati-Cuttack MLA Mohammed Moquim and other Congress leaders take part in a signature campaign in CDA areaof the Silver City condemning the skyrocketing fuel prices, Monday OP PHOTO
PNN & AGENCIES
Bhubaneswar, July 19: Odisha’sdaily Covid-19 cases dropped below2,000 for the first time in five daysas 1,648 people tested positive forthe viral infection in the past 24hours, a Health official said Monday.
The state had last reported below2,000 daily cases (1,930) July 12.While 2,074 persons tested posi-tive for the infection July 13, thecoastal state registered 2,110 freshinfections a day after. July 15 wit-nessed 2,070 fresh cases, while July16 saw 2,182 persons testing posi-tive for the virus. Odisha regis-tered 2,215 new Covid cases July 17,said the official.
With 1,648 fresh cases, Odisha’sCovid-19 tally soared to 9,55,974.Meanwhile, 58 fresh fatalitiespushed the state’s coronavirusdeath toll to 5,116.
As many as 955 new cases were
reported in quarantine centres,while 693 fresh infections were de-tected during contact tracing, saidthe official.
In the past 24 hours, only four ofthe 30 districts registered more than100 Covid cases with Cuttack re-porting the highest number of 332 cases followed by Khurda (211),Jajpur (113) and Jagatsinghpur (112).
Khurda district, of whichBhubaneswar is a part, recorded thehighest number of fresh fatalities
at 19, followed by Bargarh (seven),Ganjam (five) and Bolangir (four).
The state now has 20,387 activecases, while 9,30,418 people haverecovered from the disease to date,including 2,492 Sunday. Fifty-threecoronavirus patients have died dueto comorbidities thus far.
As far as the active cases areconcerned, Khurda district has thehighest 4,498 cases followed byCuttack (2,842), Balasore (1,625) andJajpur (1,461). The other 26 dis-tricts in the state have active casesbelow 1,000 of which eight districtshave less than 100 active cases.
Health experts claimed that con-sidering a decline in the daily Covidcases in the past few days, the in-fection has almost reached a plateaustage in almost all the districts.The Test Positivity Rate (TPR),which has been hovering around2.9 per cent for the last few days, fur-ther reduced to 2.3 per cent with1,648 samples out of the 69,812tested for the viral infection turnedout positive Sunday.
Only Cuttack district has TPRabove 5 per cent, while other 29districts have recorded TPR lessthan 5 per cent. Nabarangpur dis-trict in southern Odisha has the low-est TPR of 0.2 per cent.
Odisha has so far tested over1.51 crore samples for Covid-19, including 69,812 Sunday. The state’s positivity rate stands at 6.31per cent.
As many as 1.40 crore people,including 2,306 pregnant women,have been inoculated to date, theHealth official pointed out.
BELOW 2K COVIDCASES AFTER 5 DAYS1.40 CRORE PEOPLE, INCLUDING 2,306 PREGNANT WOMEN,
HAVE BEEN INOCULATED SO FAR
The Test Positivity Rate,which has been hovering
around 2.9 per cent for the lastfew days, further reduced to 2.3per cent
Khurda district recorded thehighest number of fresh
fatalities at 19, followed byBargarh (seven), Ganjam (five)and Bolangir (four)
POST NEWS NETWORK
Bhubaneswar, July 19: SAIInternational School has receivedaffiliation from the CambridgeAssessment Inter nationalEducation, UK to offer its world-lead-ing Cambridge programme. SAIhas received affiliation for the earlygrades – the International GeneralCertificate of Secondary Education(IGCSE) and the AS&A (AdvancedSubsidiary and Advanced) levels.
Primary segment will completelyfollow the IGCSE curriculum whilestudents of Classes IV and above canopt for either IGCSE curriculum orCBSE curriculum. The school willcontinue to remain affiliated to theCBSE as well.
SAI International School willset up a new block for IGCSE classes.
The new IGCSE block will haveall facilities to ensure that every stu-dent gets a 360-degree education.The facilities include music lab,science lab, robotics lab, innovationlab, computer lab, language lab,art lab, multi-activity rooms, out-door science park, outdoor sportsarea, recreation area and cafeteria.
Silpi Sahoo, co-founder andchairperson, SAI InternationalEducation Group, said, “As we pre-pare our children to be tomorrow’scitizens in the rapidly changingglobalised world, the newCambridge programme will in-fuse international understandingand intercultural behaviour.”
AGENCIES
Bhubaneswar, July 19: OdishaBJP activists Monday held a demon-stration here alleging massive cor-ruption in Mo Cycle project and de-manded arrest of all governmentofficers involved in the scam.
The BJP activists, led byBhubaneswar district unit presidentBabu Singh, took out a rally fromthe party office to Sishu BhawanSquare and demanded the gov-ernment to recover the money fromthe officers.
The party alleged that the gov-ernment had bought 2,000 bicyclesat Rs 25,000 each in 2018 and spentRs 1 crore more on their mainte-nance under Mo Cycle scheme,launched with an objective to help
people commute at a cheaper costin the city. A 37-km long colouredcycle track was also made for easymovement of the cyclists.
Singh said these cycles were soldto a scrap dealer at Rs 500 eachand sought a clarification from theBMC and the BSCL as to how thecycles fitted with GPS landed in ascrap yard at Dumduma. AccusingBMC and BSCL of looting croresof central assistance provided to the
state under the Smart City initia-tive, he demanded a thorough in-vestigation into the alleged scam.
He questioned the silence ofboth BMC and BSCL and their in-action towards filing an FIR to in-quire into the scam even after it waswidely reported in the media.
The BJP leader alleged that ChiefMinister Naveen Patnaik has be-trayed people by showing a rosy pic-ture of the smart city.
POST NEWS NETWORK
Bhubaneswar, July 19: The OdishaPublic Service Commission Mondaydeclared the schedule for OdishaCivil Services (Preliminary)Examination, 2020. The exam willbe conducted August 27 in Balasore,Berhampur, Bhubaneswar, Cuttackand Sambalpur.
As per the schedule, out of the twopapers of the Odisha Civil Services(Preliminary) Exam, Paper-I (GeneralStudies) will be held from 10am to12 noon August 27 (Friday). Paper-II (General Studies) will be from1:30pm to 3:30pm. The Commissionfurther said that differently-abled can-didates will be given 40 minutesextra in each sitting.
Candidates will have to answera total of 180 questions in the exam.They will answer 100 multiplechoice questions (MCQs) in Paper-I and 80 MCQs in Paper-II.
POST NEWS NETWORK
Bhubaneswar, July 19: Studentsand members of All Odisha BPUTStudents’ Organisation Mondaymet Skill Development andTechnical Education MinisterPremananda Nayak congratulatinghim for the state government’s de-cision to upgrade the College ofEngineering and Technology (CET),Bhubaneswar to a non-affiliatinguniversity to facilitate researchand higher studies.
Welcoming the decision, the stu-dents said that this would help im-prove the technical education in thestate in a big way. They also de-manded reopening of all techni-cal institutions in the state.
Minister Nayak, after meeting thestudents, said that a meeting willsoon be held to take a decision inthis regard.
POST NEWS NETWORK
Cuttack, July 19: NCC GroupCuttack started a virtual camp ‘EkBharat Shreshtha Bharat VIII’Monday under the aegis of NCCDirectorate Odisha, Bhubaneswar.
The camp will continue till July27. A total of 250 NCC Cadets andAssociate NCC Officers from thestates of Odisha, Punjab, Haryana,Himachal Pradesh & union terri-tory of Chandigarh will partici-pate in the event.
The organisers have chosen‘Google meet G suite’ platform totrain the cadets even during Covid.The theme of the camp is ‘KargilWar, 1999’. The camp will be con-ducted through various presenta-tions, discussions and interactionsto showcase the history, geogra-phy, cuisines, tourism and culturalheritages of both paired states andtwo union territories.
NCC Cuttack conductsvirtual camp
BPUT studentsdemand reopeningof institutions
‘IGCSE curriculum at SAI Int’lfor 360-degree education’
SCHEDULE FOR OCS
PRELIMS OUTBJP takes to streets over‘Mo Cycle’ imbroglio
The govt had bought2,000 bicycles at `25,000each and spent `1 croreon their maintenance,the BJP alleged
POST NEWS NETWORK
Bhubaneswar, July 19: ChiefSecretary SC Mahapatra asked thesecretaries and senior officers of var-ious departments to understandthe intricacies of MultidimensionalPoverty Index (MPI) and monitorthe developmental interventionsaccordingly for speedy attainmentof Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs).
Mahapatra gave this directionwhile attending a one-day consul-tative workshop on SDG relatedMPI here Monday.
“The focus of SDG is to endpoverty in all its forms everywhere.Therefore, the multidimensionalpoverty measurement parameteris crucial for working towards theachievement of the SDG-2030agenda,” he said in the meeting.
Development CommissionerPradeep Kumar Jena said, “MPI re-flects both the incidence and in-tensity of poverty. It shows how
many are poor in a given popula-tion and what is the level of theirdeprivation.”
The MPI experts from NITIAayog said that MPI reflects peo-ple’s experience of poverty in dif-ferent forms and dimensions. Italso reflects the policy priorities re-garding poverty eradication.
Discussions in the workshopshowed that MPI is calculated onthe basis of 10 indicators arranged
into three sectors namely health,education and standard of living.
Health includes the indicatorslike nutrition and child mortality;education embraces years of school-ing of a household member andschool attendance up to the age ofthe completion of Class VIII; andstandard of living covers the in-dicators like cooking fuel, sanita-tion, drinking water, housing, elec-tricity and assets.
POST NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi, July 19: Supportingthe Marine Aids to Navigation Bill,2021, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD)Monday appreciated the move of theUnion government to develop 65lighthouses in PPP mode and saidthat Odisha’s five lighthouses pres-ent huge potential for tourism.
Speaking on behalf of the partyin Rajya Sabha, BJD MP SubhashSingh suggested that Chilika Lakeand the Gopalpur beach will beadded attractions if developed asplaces of tourist interest.
“As the Centre seeks to develop65 lighthouses in PPP mode, Odisha’sfive lighthouses present huge po-tential for tourism. One of the fivelighthouses situated along Odishacoast is the 180-year old functionaltower, which continues to guideships. The British-era ‘False Point’island lighthouse, a 129-ft massive
minaret-like structure, is situatedoff the Kendrapara coast. Its loca-tion, which is close to massive man-grove vegetation infested with croc-odiles, makes it an adventuroustourist place on the eastern coast,”Subhash Chandra Singh said. Healso said that the False Point is theoldest working lighthouse in India.
The BJD MP said that theParadip lighthouse holds tourismpotential because of its proxim-ity to the port town, Cuttack andBhubaneswar cities (100 kilome-tres). “Another century-old light-house is at Gopalpur in Ganjam dis-trict. The 150-year old tower usedto assist ships sailing betweenRangoon and the Coromandel coastports and is already a tourist place,”Singh said. It is to be mentioned thatMarine Aids to Navigation Bill,2021, provides for the development,maintenance and management ofaids to navigation in India.
POST NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi, July 19: The RajyaSabha Monday paid homage toRaghunath Mohapatra, a sculptorand member of the Upper House whopassed away May 9 at the age of 78due to Covid related complications.
Rajya Sabha Chair man MVenkaiah Naidu said in an obitu-ary that Mohapatra was a geniusin the world of sculpture. He wasthe recipient of several prestigiousawards and recognitions like PadmaShri in the year 1976, PadmaBhushan in the year 2001 andPadma Vidhushan in the year 2013.
“Though he did not get any for-mal training in sculpture, his crafts-manship was such that he wasrevered as an encyclopedia in thefield of sculpture. The uniquenessabout his craft was that he neverused machines for sculpting butchose chisel and hammer only tocreate several masterpieces,” theChairman said.
RS PAYS HOMAGE TO MOHAPATRA
BJD SUPPORTS MARINEAIDS NAVIGATION BILL
Babus told to know intricacies of MPI
MPI IS CALCULATED ON THEBASIS OF 10 INDICATORS
ARRANGED INTO THREE SECTORSNAMELY HEALTH, EDUCATION ANDSTANDARD OF LIVING
STANDARD OF LIVING COVERS THEINDICATORS LIKE COOKING FUEL,
SANITATION, DRINKING WATER,HOUSING, ELECTRICITY AND ASSETS
WORKSHOP ON SDG
HEALTH INCLUDES THEINDICATORS LIKE
NUTRITION AND CHILDMORTALITY WHILEEDUCATION EMBRACES YEARSOF SCHOOLING OF AHOUSEHOLD MEMBER ANDSCHOOL ATTENDANCE UP TOTHE AGE OF THE COMPLETIONOF CLASS VIII
`95 crore for ‘Mo School’ AbhiyanBHUBANESWAR: The 26th Executive Council meeting of ‘Mo School’ Abhiyan washeld Monday under the chairmanship of School and Mass Education (S&ME)department principal secretary Satyabrata Sahu. The meeting, which was held invirtual mode, approved projects worth Rs 95 crore in 23 districts of Odisha. In thelast one month, more than 23,000 alumni have joined the ‘Mo School’ Abhiyan.Alumni members along with various philanthropic organisations havecontributed Rs 11.56 crore for development of schools across the state.
POST NEWS NETWORK
Bhubaneswar, July 19: ChiefMinister Naveen Patnaik Mondayinaugurated irrigation facility for15,359 hectares of farmland in fiveblocks of Mayurbhanj district onvirtual mode.
With the inauguration of the fa-cility, 15,359 hectares of land in 94villages of Baripada, Betanti,Morada, Suliapada andRasgovindpur blocks of Mayurbhanjwill get water from Subarnarekhariver through a canal system.
Patnaik said, “This is a greatday for Mayurbhanj district and thewhole of Odisha. This new irri-gation facility will bring forthgolden harvest for Mayurbhanj.”
He said irrigation facilities willbe provided to 1.06 lakh hectares ofland in Mayurbhanj and Balasoredistricts through the Subarnarekhairrigation project.
Stating that he is giving specialemphasis on Mayurbhnaj, Patnaiksaid the district is witnessing de-velopment in all the sectors, whether
it is the healthcare or the successfulimplementation of Mission Shaktior the development of the tribals.
“Mayurbhanj will be one of thefew districts in the country to pro-vide piped drinking water to allthe households,” Patnaik said,adding, the government is spend-ing around Rs 768 crore on pipedwater projects in the district.
Stating that irrigation is a pri-ority area of his government, theChief Minister said that 10,000hectares of land would be irri-gated from Deo irrigation projectfrom the next Kharif season. He said
that about 15 irrigation projectswould be completed in the next2/3 years. As water is a valuable nat-ural resource, he advised all con-cerned to utilize the natural re-source properly. Speaking aboutwelfare activities undertaken forfarmers, the Patnaik said the stategovernment has always been withthe farmers and working for theirbetterment. Over 67 lakh farmerfamilies are getting benefits underthe Kalia scheme, he said.
“The farmers are able to live withdignity today because of various wel-fare programmes of the state gov-
ernment,” he said. His governmentwould continue its fight for therights of farmers, he added.
Attending the function, PanchayatiRaj Minister Pratap Jena said thatabout 70,000 hectares of land inMayurbhanj district will be irri-gated by January 2024. Secretaryto Chief Minister (5T) VK Pandiancoordinated the programme.
Irrigation boost to 15K ha farmlandFILLIP TO AGRIPRODUCTIVITY
With the inauguration of thefacility, 15,359 hectares of
land in 94 villages of Baripada,Betanti, Morada, Suliapada andRasgovindpur blocks ofMayurbhanj will get water fromSubarnarekha river through acanal system
The Chief Minister said that10,000 hectares of land
would be irrigated from Deoirrigation project from the nextKharif season
The Suvarnarekha irrigation project inaugurated by CM Naveen Patnaik, Monday
stateTUESDAY | JULY 20 | 2021 | BHUBANESWARP5
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POST NEWS NETWORK
Malkangiri, July 19: In a wel-come change, posters appealing tothe Maoists to give up arms andjoin the mainstream were foundstuck by the Intelligence depart-ment of Odisha Police in theSwabhiman Anchal of this dis-trict, Monday.
The development comes a dayafter the Odisha Police DG Abhayavisited Malkangiri district andreviewed the Left-wing Extremism(LWE) situation in the district.During the visit, two Maoists car-rying bounties on their head sur-rendered before the DG and othersecurity officials in the district.
The posters were found stucknear Sarkubandha village andthey called upon the Maosists toshun the path of violence andjoin the mainstream by accept-ing the incentives offered by thestate government. The Maoistswho would surrender and jointhe mainstream would be pro-vided with free vocational train-ing for employment, a house to livein and all the cases registeredagainst them will be withdrawn,the posters read.
The posters issued by theIntelligence department have alsoreleased the phone number thatthe Maoists can contact beforesurrendering.
Earlier, posters of the Maoistsoutfits were only found in theSwabhiman area through whichthey tried to instigate the localresidents against the security
forces as well as against the im-plementation of developmentalprojects in the area.
However, the posters stuck bythe security officials is beingviewed as a welcome and impor-tant change, indicating the that theultras are losing ground in theregion, as the security forces takecontrol of the area.
Posters urging Maoists to give uparms found in Swabhiman Anchal
WELCOME CHANGEThe development
comes a dayafter Odisha
Police DGAbhaya visited
Malkangiri district and
reviewed theLeft-wing
Extremism (LWE)situation in the
region. TwoMaoists carrying
bounties on their head
surrenderedbefore the DG
and other security officials
Earlier, posters of theMaoists outfits were only
found in the Swabhiman areathrough which they tried toinstigate the local residentsagainst the security forcesand over implementation ofdevelopmental projects in
the area
Posters stuck by thesecurity officials is beingviewed as a welcome andimportant change,indicating the that theultras are losing ground inthe region, as the securityforces take control of thearea
POST NEWS NETWORK
Bhadrak, July 19: Despite therepeated plea of the villagers foran Ang anwadi building atBalichaturi village in Sayan pan-chayat under Tihidi block ofBhadrak, no action has been takenin this regard there has been no ef-fort in direction by the district ad-ministration.
Upset and aggrieved over theadministrative indifference, thevillagers have now decided not towait for the authorities for help.They have made up their mind tobuild their own Anganwadi centre.
The villagers collected fundsand contributed labour and builta house for their kids – what theycall it their Anganwadi centre.
According to reports, the vil-lage has been sanctioned a miniAganwadi centre, but no buildingwas constructed. As a result, chil-dren are made to sit on the veran-dah of a villager’s house wherethey are not sheltered from sum-mer heat or rains during the monsoon.
Villagers alleged that when itrains, their children get drenched.In that event, the Anganwadiworker has no option but to suspendthe classes. This is a routine af-fair during the monsoon. Fed upwith the miseries, the mothers ofthe children got together one dayand resolved to build their ownAnganwadi centre.
The villagers said that the ad-ministration had made an esti-mate for construction of a miniAganwadi centre in the village in2018. Thereafter, locals pleaded
with the BDO and the tehsildar toidentify a place for the building ofthe proposed Anganwadi centre.However, nothing worked out asthe administration failed to ear-mark a place. With no place to sit,children continued to suffer, whiletheir mothers were worried everytime it rained.
Anganwadi worker SimalataMallick recounted her difficultiesin tending children in the verandahwhere managing things on a dailybasis was almost an uphill task
“After three days of labour, thevillagers managed to erect poles,walls and roof of the miniAganwadi centre. Now, the chil-dren at least have a place to sit.However, even now every time itrains, children are sent home,”she lamented.
When contacted for his com-ments, Tihidi BDO Basant KumarSahani said that funds have beens a n c t i o n e d fo r t h e m i n iAnganwadi building in the vil-lage, but a suitable site is yet tobe identified.
The BDO was all praise for thevillagers for their united efforts. Heassured that the process to identitythe land will be hastened.
ADMIN TURNS INDIFFERENT
Villagers set example, buildtheir own Anganwadi centre
The village was sanctioned amini Aganwadi centre, but no building was constructed for which children are made to sit onthe verandah of a villager’shouse where they are notsheltered from summer heat or monsoon rains
TWO KILLED, 2 INJURED INROAD MISHAPPOST NEWS NETWORK
Bargarh, July 19: Two personswere killed and two others were crit-ically injured after their motor-bikes collided head-on at PatharalaChowk under Bijepur tehsil inBargarh district late Sunday night.
The deceased have been identi-fied as Jyotiranjan Sahoo of Mahalavillage under Binika police limitsin Sundargarh district and AshishPradhan, a resident of Bargarhtown. The injured persons are SunilBag and Dhyanchand Jhankar.
According to a source, Sunil andAshish were travelling by a bike andas they neared Patharala Chowk,they collided head-on with the bikethat Jyotiranjan was riding. Dueto the impact of the collision,Ashish and Jyotiranjan died onthe spot. Incidentally, both werenot wearing helmets.
On being informed, policereached the spot, recovered thebodies and sent them for post-mortem. The injured were rushedto a nearby government hospital.
Police have launched a probe toascertain the cause of the acci-dent. However, with both the in-jured still unconscious, detailsabout the accident are yet to beobtained. Some locals said thatboth the bikes were travelling atvery high speed.
2 elephant carcassesrecovered in Keonjhar
FATHER HACKSSON TO DEATHPOST NEWS NETWORK
Baripada, July 19: In ashocking incident, a manallegedly hacked his son todeath Monday morning atN a r a n a k h u n t a v i l l a g eunder Badasahi police lim-its in Mayurbhanj district,a police official informed.The deceased has been iden-tified as Pramod KumarSingh, while the accused ish i s f at h e r A n i l Ku m a rSingh.
The two were involved in aheated altercation Mondaymorning over some issue.Things took an ugly turn when
Anil became violent. In a fit ofanger, he attacked Pramodwith a sharp weapon causingfatal injuries. Subsequently,Pramod died on the spot.
Anil fled the spot immedi-ately after committing thecrime. When the villagers ar-rived at the spot, they foundPramod lying in a pool ofblood.
On being infor med,Badasahi police arrived at thespot and sent the body for post-mortem. A murder case hasbeen registered in this con-nection and police havelaunched a manhunt to nabAnil.
POST NEWS NETWORK
Sonepur/Tarabha, July 19: Inan unfortunate incident, two farm-ers were electrocuted on an agri-cultural land at Pandikimal vil-lage under Tarabha block inSubarnapur district, Monday.
The deceased have been iden-tified as Radheshyam Sahu, 45,and Gopa Sahu, 20, of the vil-lage.
The mishap took place whenboth were turning on a waterpump to irrigate their land, whichis witnessing scarce rain. Locals
rescued them and rushed them toa Tarabha hospital, but doctors de-clared them “brought dead”.
On Being informed, Tarabha po-lice reached the spot and launchedan investigation. However, nocase has been registered in thisconnection yet.
Two electrocuted in Sonepur
POST NEWS NETWORK
Keonjhar, July 19: Two ele-phant carcasses were spottedat Raba village of Kushakalapanchayat under BhuyanJuang Pirh forest Range inKeonjhar district Mondaymorning, leaving animal loversin the state shocked.
The carcasses were of a fe-male elephant and a calf.
According to the local vil-lagers, a herd of elephants
had strayed into the villageSunday night. They found twopachyder ms lying deadMonday morning and imme-diately informed the Forestdepartment.
DFO Swayam Mallick anda team reached the spot and re-covered the carcasses and sentthem for autopsy.
While the cause of thedeaths is yet to be ascertained,the Forest department haslaunched an investigation intothe matter. Whether deathsare a result of electrocution,poisoning or natural deathwill only be known after thepost-mortem.
When asked, DFO Mallicksaid he has ordered an inves-tigation into the deaths. “It istoo early to say anything aboutthe reason of the death,” headded.
The cause of thedeaths is yet to beascertained and theforest officialslaunched a probe intothe matter
WORDSWORTH
power post P6
A t a time when the Indian government is locked in a tussle with socialnetwork service providers over guarding the privacy of users and pre-serving their right to criticise government actions and policies, a
shattering report published July 18 reveals activists, politicians and journalistsfrom around the world are under surveillance with the help of the Israelicompany NSO Group’s software – Pegasus. As per the NSO’s declared pol-icy, only government agencies are sold the spyware to track terrorists andIndia is among its clients. In fact, phones of 40 Indian journalists and socialactivists, two Union ministers and three Opposition leaders were among thoseallegedly bugged and kept under watch. An investigation by the France-basedmedia non-profit Forbidden Stories and Amnesty International into a mas-sive data leak was shared with The Guardian, The Washington Post, The Wire(of India) and 15 other media outlets.
The report said ‘authoritarian governments’ abused the Pegasus soft-ware, ‘hacking smartphones.’ The leak contains a list of more than 50,000numbers believed to have been of interest to clients of NSO since 2016. Over1,000 individuals, including 189 journalists, 600 politicians, 65 business ex-ecutives and 85 human rights activists in 50 countries were allegedly selectedby NSO clients for potential surveillance.
The Washington Post reported numbers on the list also belonged to headsof states and prime ministers, members of Arab royal families and diplo-mats. The inclusion of the numbers of heads of states and ministers sug-gest their relatives were also being spied on. The list included journalists formedia organisations around the world including The Hindustan Times,The Hindu, The Wire, The Indian Express, Agence France-Presse, The WallStreet Journal, CNN, The New York Times, Al Jazeera, France 24, Radio FreeEurope, Mediapart, El País, The Associated Press, Le Monde, Bloomberg, TheEconomist, Reuters and Voice of America, among others.
According to forensic analysis by Amnesty’s Security Lab, two women, closeto slain Saudi columnist Jamal Khashoggi, were targeted with Pegasus spy-ware. The phone of Khashoggi’s fiancée, Hatice Cengiz, was infected withthe spyware days after his murder in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October2018, the Washington Post reported.
The surveillance tool developed by NSO is so sophisticated that the vic-tims can be easily taken off guard and their phones hacked through the tech-nique called ‘zero click’. Claudio Guarnieri, who runs Amnesty International’sSecurity Lab, said once a phone was infected with Pegasus, a client of NSOcould in effect take control of the phone, enabling them to extract a person’smessages, calls, photos and emails, secretly activate cameras or micro-phones, and read the contents of encrypted messaging apps such as WhatsApp,Telegram and Signal. By accessing GPS and hardware sensors in the phone,a person’s past movements and present location can also be tracked with pin-point accuracy. By simply placing a WhatsApp call to a target device, Pegasuscode could be installed on the phone, even if the target never answered thecall. The scale is staggering compared with anything the world has ever seen.
Predictably, the NSO, which previously alleged police abuses of its soft-ware, has firmly denied what it calls ‘false claims’. It said in a release pub-lished by The Guardian that most of the claims are “uncorroborated theo-ries that raise serious doubts about the reliability of your sources, as wellas the basis of your story.”
Amnesty International insists the spyware is being used since Decemberto compromise telephones of journalists of well known media outlets in fourcontinents. Forensic tests conducted as part of this project showed clear signsof targeting by Pegasus spyware in hundreds of phones, of which 300 areIndian. The leaked database was accessed by Forbidden Stories and AmnestyInternational as part of a collaborative investigation called the ‘Pegasus Project’.A majority of the numbers identified in the list were geographically concentratedin 10 country clusters: India, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Mexico,Morocco, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has imme-diately begun damage control, asserting the allegations regarding govern-ment surveillance on specific people have no ‘concrete basis’. Ironically, thenewly appointed Minister for Electronics and Information TechnologyAshwini Vaishnaw who denied misuse of Pegasus in India has had hisname come up in the list of Indians being spied on. The government’s de-fence appears to be on weak grounds since NSO’s declared policy is to passon its spyware only to governments and their agencies and India is one ofits clients. If that is so, it is no big guess who is using Pegasus for snoopingon India’s journalists, social activists and politicians. This snooping spywarewas supposedly to be used against terror and criminal activities. Unfortunatelyin India, it is being exclusively used for monitoring those whom the Centralgovernment does not trust.
L ast November, two big storms– Eta and Iota – ripped intoCentral America. A
Washington Post reporter cover-ing their aftermath interviewed aHonduran woman named BlancaCosta, who was sheltering beneatha highway overpass. She supportedher three daughters by workingas a trash collector, and had threehorses to pull her garbage cart.Except now the horses had drowned.“I’ll just have to go on foot now,” saidCosta, 40, one of about 100 peoplefinding refuge under the bridge.“But it will be more difficult.”
The storms caused massive dam-age in Central America. Accordingto early estimates, the economictoll in Honduras was equivalentto 40 per cent of the country’s GDP.So, it should not surprise anyonethat plenty of people from the re-gion are now on the move.
When climate-driven disastersstrike, the vast majority of peopledon’t need or want to move far. Ifdrought drives a farm out of busi-ness, workers usually look for newjobs as near to home as possible.When extreme weather destroyshomes, people seek a temporaryescape, not permanent relocation.But as adverse climate events be-come more extreme – and they will– people will need to move farther
for longer.It is of course entirely unfair
that Hondurans have done so littleto cause the climate crisis that isnow taking such a costly toll there.Someone who collects trash witha horse-drawn cart does not generatea lot of carbon dioxide emissions,in contrast to someone in the UnitedStates driving a 310-horsepowerFord Bronco SUV.
By any moral calculation, there-fore, the US should be figuring outwhat its responsibilities are toCentral American climate migrants.And, whether they cross interna-tional borders or not, it should beUS policy to make their journeysas safe and humane as possible.
So, if the top priority is to limittemperature increases so that cli-mate disasters force fewer peoplefrom their homes, the second pri-ority is to manage the trauma of in-voluntary migration. Whether gov-ernments like it or not, millions ofpeople globally are already re-sorting to migration to cope withthe climate crisis. The US in par-ticular must respond with morethan walls, cages, or the stern warn-ing issued by President Joe Biden’sadministration to CentralAmericans: “do not come.”
But climate migrants aren’t head-ing to the US because they want to.
They have no choice, and theirjourney is at least as traumatic asthe storms that caused it. Familiesare torn apart, and people travel indifficult and dangerous conditions.Some die, others are killed, andmany more are robbed, extorted, orassaulted.
The main cause of the danger,death, and suffering migrants faceis often international borders.When desperate people are deniedthe right to cross a frontier safelyand legally, they have no optionbut to do so under cover of darkness,across deserts and oceans, and overfences and walls.
Moreover, border militarisationis now big business. Private secu-rity firms patrol borders for profit,having secured government con-tracts totaling billions of dollars tohunt, capture, and imprison mi-grants and refugees.
The firms currently profitingfrom turning borders into death-traps will not simply walk awayfrom this lucrative business, whilegovernments hooked on their own‘tough on migration’ policies won’tback down without a fight. Butthose seeking justice for migrantsand refugees have been fightingand winning immigration battles onthe streets. In addition, activistsand labour unions are pushing com-
panies to ditch their border-sur-veillance and detention contracts –and investors are noticing, withMicrosoft’s ties with US Immigrationand Customs Enforcement the lat-est to be put under the spotlight.
The climate movement must nowact in solidarity with migrant andrefugee activists and be part oftheir efforts to ensure safe, legalmigration. We should be thinkingabout how to support people mak-ing dangerous journeys, how tocreate meaningful work for them,and how to provide education, hous-ing, and health care as they seek newplaces to settle. And we should bethinking about how to build com-munities that encompass both newarrivals and existing residents.
These questions have alreadyroiled the politics of many countries.But they won’t go away – quite thecontrary. For the sake of climate mi-grants everywhere, we must ad-dress them. Our CO2 emissionspay no attention to national borders,and nor should our compassion.
The writer, a scholar in environmental sciences atMiddlebury College and a
member of the AmericanAcademy of Arts and Sciences,
is a co-founder of 350.org. ©PROJECT SYNDICATE
Our responsibility to climate migrants
COERCIVE & UNNECESSARY I
ndia’s young demography hasbeen considered to be its struc-tural advantage. Half the pop-ulation is below the age of 27.
Of course, there are poorer Africancountries whose median age ismuch lower. For example, it is 14.8years for Niger, 15.8 for Uganda, 19.7for Kenya. India’s own medianage in 1970, when it was muchpoorer, was just 19.3 years. Indiais still below the world’s medianage of 31. The median age in Japanis 47.3 and is similarly high inNorthern European countries.One consequence of an ageing so-ciety such as Japan is that pro-ductivity gains are slow. A 2016research paper from the NationalBureau of Economic Research,using data for different states ofAmerica, showed that a 10 percent increase in the share of pop-ulation above the age of 60 re-duces the per-capita GDP growthrate by 5.5 per cent. This effect isdue to slower growth in labourproductivity and lower growth inthe active labour force.
The flip side of ageing societiesis the decline in their total fertil-ity rate (TFR). This is the aver-age number of children that awoman of child bearing age willhave during her lifetime. Thisnumber is 1.4 for Japan and 1.1for South Korea and these areamong the lowest for countries oftheir size. For Taiwan it is 1.1.One stylised fact that seems toemerge is that developed and richeconomies are ageing, and their fer-tility rates are rapidly declining.This is true even within coun-tries, where richer and more ed-ucated folks tend to have smallerfamilies. When fertility rates fallbelow 2.1 they go below the re-placement rate. When a womanproduces two children, they re-place the two parents. Adjustingfor infant mortality the replace-ment rate, which corresponds tozero population growth, is 2.1. Ifthis rate stabilises for some time,then the population will cease togrow. Indeed, due to sustained lowTFR, the populations of countrieslike Japan, Germany and Russiaare actually shrinking.
Demographic projections unlike
those of economic growth are muchmore reliable. The fact of today’sIndia is that more than 16 statesalready have TFRs below the re-placement rate of 2.1. These are1.5 for West Bengal, 1.6 for AndhraPradesh, Telangana, Punjab andTamil Nadu, 1.7 for Kerala,Karnataka and Maharashtra. Thecountry as a whole has a TFR of 2.2.The states with high TFRs are Bihar(3.2), Uttar Pradesh (2.9), MadhyaPradesh (2.7), Rajasthan andJharkhand (2.5). Assam has 2.2 andGujarat has 2.1. These figures arefrom the Sample RegistrationSystem of 2018. Based on this, theEconomic Survey, the official doc-ument of the government of Indiain 2018-19, had flagged the issue ofageing dynamics in India. It said thatby 2031 all the states of India wouldreach TFR levels below the re-placement rate of 2.1. This trend isattributed to an increase in femaleeducation levels, postponement ofmarriage, access to family plan-ning methods, and the continued de-cline in infant mortality rate. So, itis fair to say that on an averageacross India families are choosingto have fewer children.
Why then are we imposing thetwo-child law? The fact is that dueto various socio-economic factors,identified by the government’sown reports, high GDP growth,
rapid urbanisation, increasing fe-male literacy will all lead to aquick fall in fertility rates in anycase. This is an organic process. Butunfortunately, we are pushing thelaw to punish families with morethan two kids. Such parents won’tbe allowed to stand for elections,won’t be eligible for governmentjobs or food subsidy and othergovernment schemes. The latest tojoin this bandwagon are the statesof Uttar Pradesh and Assam. TheChief Minister of Assam addressedthe immigrant Muslim commu-nity and urged it to adopt “decentfamily planning norms,” in thecontext of the new Assam law. So,this statement implies that thelaw is aimed at a particular sectionrather than all of society. Otherwisein the light of compelling evidenceon the decline of fertility ratesacross India, and in Assam too, itseems odd to limit the family size.
For mer Chief ElectionCommissioner, Dr SY Quraishi,in his book “The Population Myth:Islam, Family Planning and Politicsin India” has clearly shown withdata and analysis, that fertilityrates are determined more bysocio-economic factors and notreligion. Indeed, as even theNational Family Health Survey,fourth round, has documented,the fertility rate of a Muslim from
Tamil Nadu is much lower than aHindu from Bihar. So, it is regionnot religion which seems to bethe predominant factor, apart fromsocio-economic characteristics.
Coercive population planningpolicies do more harm than good.Former Chief Secretary of MadhyaPradesh, Nirmala Buch, has ex-tensively studied this issue on theground level, and in her 2006 book“The Law of Two Child Norm”has documented that due to the two-child law adopted in various states,there was a rise in sex-selective andunsafe abortions; men divorcedtheir wives to run for local bodyelections; and families gave upchildren for adoption to avoid dis-qualification. Thus, it is womenwho bear the disproportionateburden and negative consequenceof the two-child law.
Unfortunately, such a law per-taining to being disqualified fromcontesting local body elections isin force in the states of Gujarat,Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh,Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand,Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh,Telangana, Karnataka, Odishaand Haryana. It is interesting thatthe law does not apply to thosecontesting elections to the stateAssembly or the Parliament. Doesit not imply elitism?
China adopted a strict one-childpolicy for more than 30 years whichit abandoned in 2016, realising thefolly of this approach. And this yearit is officially encouraging a three-child norm. Singapore offers gen-erous incentives for families withmore children. Apart from thesocio-economic angle of the ill-ef-fects of coercive family planning,we must also acknowledge that itinfringes upon the individuals’right to choose. The policies tofocus on are to increase femaleliteracy and their participationin the workforce, and measuresthat increase productivity andper-capita incomes. The small fam-ily norm will automatically emergeas seen across the world.
The writer is an economistand Senior Fellow,
Takshashila Institution. ©THE BILLION PRESS
LOL
FOCUS
SPECTRUM
The fact is that due to various socio-economicfactors, identified by the government’s ownreports, high GDP growth, rapid urbanisation,increasing female literacy will all lead to a quick fall in fertility rates in any case
Pegasus Watch
Chief is at a wedding
Apolice officer in a small townstopped a motorist who was
speeding down Main Street. “Butofficer,” the man began, “I canexplain.”“Just be quiet,” snapped the officer.“I’m going to let you cool your heels injail until the chief gets back.”“But, officer, I just wanted to say,” the
motorist said.“And I said to keep
quiet! You’re going tojail!” the officer said.A few hours later the officer looked inon his prisoner and said, “Lucky foryou that the chief is at his daughter’swedding. He’ll be in a good moodwhen he gets back.”“Don’t count on it,” answered thefellow in the cell. “I’m the groom.”
TUESDAY | JULY 20 | 2021 | BHUBANESWAR
There is no better way tobecome friends than to laughtogether.
THE MOTHER
SUSTAINABILITY
APART FROMTHE SOCIO-ECONOMIC
ANGLE OF THEILL-EFFECTS OF
COERCIVE FAMILY
PLANNING, WEMUST ALSO
ACKNOWLEDGETHAT IT
INFRINGES UPON THE
INDIVIDUALS’RIGHT TOCHOOSE
Ajit Ranade
WISDOM CORNER
Faith is the strength by which a shattered world shall emerge intothe light. HELEN KELLER
Better keep yourself clean and bright; you are the window throughwhich you must see the world. GEORGE BERNARD SHAW
Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is thetime to understand more, so that we may fear less. MARIE CURIE
TWO-CHILD POLICY
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: [email protected]
B-15, Rasulgarh Industrial Estate,Bhubaneswar-751010
LettersTO THE EDITOR
WHETHER GOVERNMENTSLIKE IT OR NOT,
MILLIONS OF PEOPLE GLOBALLY
ARE ALREADYRESORTING TOMIGRATION TO
COPE WITH THECLIMATE CRISIS
Bill McKibben
Climate catastrophe
Sir, Heavy rainfall triggered devastating floods causing dozensof casualties in Western Europe. Raging rivers submerged townsleaving Europeans shocked. Hundreds had died of heat inthe north western United States a few days earlier. Wildfire re-moved a village from the map in Canada. Two important factsare emerging from these disasters: the world is not willing toslow down climate change; and the world is not willing to livewith climate change either. Some of the world’s wealthiest na-tions that are burning coal, oil and gas in large amounts havebeen severely affected by climate change. These disasters thatoccurred a few months before climate negotiations in Glasgowserve as a warning not just for the developed countries but forall countries. Global emissions have increased since the 2015Paris Agreement negotiations. China is considered to be theworld’s biggest emitter today. While emissions have declinedin the USA and Europe, it is not sufficient to limit global tem-perature rise. Although developed countries are aware of thecatastrophic results of rise in temperature, they do not adoptstrict measures to combat it. Venu GS,Kollam
Parliament session
Sir, This is in reference to “Oppn prepares to corner govt,” Orissa POST, July19. With the Parliament back in session, the government and the Oppositionmust remember that this is a particularly testing time for ordinary citizens.Usual political preoccupations matter even less now. Unemployment andhigh fuel prices are real issues, much more important than MPs’ altercationsover superficial controversies. A constructive Parliament session will beone that discusses and debates the Covid-induced economic debacle and,hopefully, even evolves a national consensus on reforms that can propel a turn-around. Treasury benches finding ways to run away from crucial debates orOpposition disruption will be particularly awful at this moment. The run-uphas witnessed a flurry of political activities in both government and Oppositioncamps. A major Cabinet reshuffle has given the government a much-neededfacelift. Key portfolios have new ministers, which may help blunt to an ex-tent Opposition criticism of government failures. But the Opposition shouldask tough questions, and the government should be responsible enough toanswer them. The Parliament offers a valuable platform to the governmentto present its performance. The value of this session will be gauged by its suc-cess in moving the national conversation forward.
N Sadhasiva Reddy, BANGALORE
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On tenterhooks
It’s been so long since anyone has seen either a tenter, or the hooks on one,that the word and the idea behind it are now quite mysterious, so much so
that it sometimes appears as on tenderhooks, which sounds as though itought to make more sense. But at one time, the phrase on tenterhooks wouldhave evoked an image that was immediately understandable. It comes fromone of the processes of making woollen cloth. After it had been woven, thecloth still contained oil from the fleece, mixed with dirt. It was cleaned in afulling mill, but then it had to be dried carefully or it would shrink and crease.So the lengths of wet cloth were stretched on wooden frames, and left out inthe open for some time. This allowed them to dry and straightened theirweave. These frames were the tenters, and the tenter hooks were the metalhooks used to fix the cloth to the frame. At one time, it would have beencommon in manufacturing areas to see fields full of these frames (olderEnglish maps sometimes marked an area as a tenter-field). So it was not ahuge leap of the imagination to think of somebody on tenterhooks as being inan state of anxious suspense, stretched like the cloth on the tenter. Thetenters have gone, but the meaning has survived. Tenter comes from theLatin tendere, to stretch, via a French intermediate. The word has been in thelanguage since the fourteenth century, and on tenters soon after became aphrase meaning painful anxiety. The exact phrase on tenterhooks seems firstto have been used by Tobias Smollett in Roderick Random in 1748.
POST NEWS NETWORK
Baripada, July 19: Whilechildren of her age canhardly remember thenames of their familymembers, two year-and-seven-months-old ShreyasiMahanta of Mayurbhanjdistrict is gifted with abil-ity to spell the names ofanimals and identifycolours etc. This wonderkid, who currently stayswith her parents in NewDelhi, has secured a placein ‘India Book of Records’.
Shreyasi is the daughterof Subrat Mahanta, who isengaged with the para-medical department ofIndo-Tibetan Border Policein New Delhi , andTruptilata, who is a house-wife. They both said thattheir daughter possesses
tremendous memorypower which enables herto remember things. Shealso has a huge desire tolearn new things.
Shreyasi can recite allthe letters of English al-phabet and 10 Odisha al-phabets. She can identify10 animals, seven fooditems and seven colourswithout any mistake.
Subrat recorded a videoof his daughter and sent itto the ‘ India Book ofRecords’ of f ice andShreyasi easily qualified forthe f inal sta ge.Subsequently, Subrat wasinformed June 23 thatShreyasi has found a placein the ‘India Book ofRecords’.
The family received alldocuments and a certifi-cate from ‘India Book ofRecords’ July 17. As thenews broke, congratula-tory messages started pour-ing in from relatives,friends, villagers and evenfrom unknown people.
Residents of Bati Sahivillage of Ghagarbeda pan-chayat under Raruan block,where Shreyasi hails from,said Monday that byachieving such a feat atthis tender age Shreyasihas brought glory not onlyto Mayurbhanj but also toOdisha.
stateTUESDAY | JULY 20 | 2021 | BHUBANESWARP7
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POST NEWS NETWORK
Kesinga, July 19: With rains play-ing truant, the farmers in Kesingablock of Kalahandi district arestaring at another year of seedlingdeath (gaja marudi) situation. Theyhave been facing this problem forthe last six years in a row.
Farmers spraying water onseedlings is a common sight inKesinga block these days. Theyare trying their best to save theseedlings at least till the next spellof rainfall.
Kesinga’s share of rainfall inJune has been between 71.8 mmand 84.6 mm as against the nor-mal of 150 mm and 200 mm for inthe last six years. This is the mainreason why paddy cultivation hassuffered in this part of the district.According to the Central WaterCommission, Kesinga branch, theblock received only 78.4 mm rain
between July 1 and 19. The 26 gram panchayats in
Kesinga block have approximately30,000 hectares of cultivable land.By June-end, paddy transplantationwould have been completed in 9,000hectares. However, transplanta-tion has been done in only 5,000hectares so far.
One of the main reasons whyagricultural activities get delayedin some parts of the block is dueto the soil type. The panchayats ofBalsi, Paralsinga, Kandel, Shirol,Tundla, Belkhandi andTurlakhaman the soil type thereknown as ‘balia dorasa’ by the lo-cals. Without adequate rainwater
it is difficult to plough this varietyof soil. Hence, agricultural activ-ities suffer due to lack of rain.
Similarly, by June end, cottoncultivation should have been com-pleted in 10,000 hectares. But till mid-July, it has been done in only 6,000hectares. While maize cultivationhas been carried out in 105 hectares,sowing of groundnut and pulsecrops is yet to start.
What has added to the farmers’woes is that they are having prob-lems in acquiring seeds. They al-leged that the Agriculture de-partment is not providing themsufficient quantity of seeds.
When contacted, assistant agri-culture officer, Kesinga, JanakiBallav Pattanayak admitted thatagricultural activities have beendelayed due to scanty rainfall. Whenasked about seeds, he said stepsare being taken to provide seedsto the farmers as soon as possible.
Seedling death haunts Kesinga farmers SCANTY RAINFALL
AWARENESS DRIVE
Conch blowers participating in an awareness drive on Covid vaccination in Rangeilunda block of Ganjam district,Monday OP PHOTO
POST NEWS NETWORK
Bhubaneswar/Sambalpur, July19: Continuing its streak of highgender diversity, the IIM Sambalpurwelcomed their MBA class for the2021-23 academic year via a vir-tual inauguration programme.
Speaking on the occasion, ProfMahadeo Jaiswal, Director, IIMSambalpur, said, “The vision ofIIM Sambalpur is to ‘Nurture re-sponsible leaders with entrepre-neurial mind set’, and we operatearound our thee core values: in-novation, inclusiveness and in-tegrity.
“Our inclusiveness and valuepropositions are evident from thefact that we became the first IIMin 2019 with highest gender in-clusive diversity of 49% femalestudents in MBA, 44% in 2020 and
48% in 2021. As a result, everyother IIM s started following ourinclusive policy and now we arehappy to see that this has becomethe trend in all other institutes,”said Jaiswal.
“Another evidence of our in-clusiveness value propositions isthat we have signed MOUs withMSME, Government of India, andIndia SME Forum to develop smallbusinesses and start-ups in smallertowns to make business more in-clusive and not keep it confined tobig companies in big towns.”
“This year we have 48% girls ina batch of 169 students for MBA2021-23 academic year from morethan 22 different states in India.Sixty-seven per cent of the candi-dates are from engineering back-ground and 65% students haveprior working experience.”
IIM Sambalpur begins itsvirtual induction week
POST NEWS NETWORK
Kendrapara, July 19: The BijuPatnaik Stadium at Saranga localityin this town lies neglected and in a di-lapidated condition today. Not a sin-gle sports event has been organisedat the stadium in the last 13 years.Locals blamed it on apathy of the ad-ministration and said the stadium isinaccessible as it does not have properroad connectivity.
The stadium is now used by somelocals for drying cow-dung cakes andpaddy as well. It has also turned intoa safe haven for anti-social elements,the locals alleged. It is worth men-tioning here that the stadium wasconstructed at a cost of over ̀ 1 crore.
Kendrapara district has produceda number of state-level sportsper-sons, including sprinter Liza Beraand three women cricketers – SasmitaSenapati, Smrutirupa Mallick andLaxmipriya Behera. All the threewomen cricketers are from Teragaonpanchayat under Mahakalpada block.
Since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, Liza has come backfrom the sports hostel and is nowstaying at her parental house. Sinceher return, she has been forced totrain on roads as the stadium does not
have proper facilities. Varioussportspersons also complained thattheir careers are facing prematureends as the town does not have propertraining facilities. They blamed thedistrict administration for such asorry state of affairs.
On being contacted, district sportsofficer Lokanath Panigrahi said, “Anamount of ̀ 31,31,440 was sanctionedfor repair of the stadium. We haveutilised it for construction of a com-pound wall and infrastructure de-velopment. Provisions for drinkingwater and electrification of stadiumhave also been made. A proposal forconstruction of a sports hostel inthe town awaits government’s ap-proval. When it is completed it willhelp the budding talents inKendrapara district.”
Kendrapara stadiumin a dilapidated state
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
Bhawanipatna, July 19: A courtin Odisha Monday convicted a manand sentenced him to 10 years injail after convicting him for chop-ping off the hands of two migrantworkers in Kalahandi district eightyears ago.
Parsuram Naik, the ninth ac-cused in the case who was ab-sconding, was sentenced to rigor-ous imprisonment of 10 years and
also fined ̀ 15,000 by DharamgarhAdditional District and SessionsJudge, Bandana Kar.
Earlier in 2016, the court hadconvicted eight other accused per-sons and sentenced them to lifeimprisonment, besides imposing afine of `20,000 each.
In December 2013, some 12 labour-ers of Nuaguda and Pipalguda vil-lages in Jaipatna area were con-tracted to work in a brick factoryin Raipur in neighboring
Chhattisgarh.However, insteadthey were moved to Hyderabad.Two of the labourers managed toescape. However, agents followedthem and forcibly took them to thejungles of Bolangir district.
The agents kept them in their cus-tody illegally and December 15,chopped off their hands and leftthem in the jungle. This incidentwas reported widely by the mediaand the National Human RightsCommission took up the issue.
10-yr RI for chopping migrant workers’ hands
Wonder girl fromMayurbhanj placed inIndia Book of Records
TESTING TIMES
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INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE
Kolkata, July 19: By admittingthat Union Minister of State forHome Affairs, Nisith Pramanikcame to India from Bangladeshas a refugee, the BJP has wadedinto a bigger controversy -- howcould a 1986 born in Bangladeshget Indian citizenship?
BJP West Bengal general sec-retary Sayantan Basu told themedia Sunday that Pramanik hadcome to India from Bangladesh asa refugee like ‘millions of others’.
This came a day after AssamCongress chief Ripun Bora hadurged Prime Minister NarendraModi to enquire into the na-tionality of the newly-appointedUnion Minister.
July 17, Bora tweeted a letter hewrote to Modi the previous dayurging the Prime Minister to con-duct an enquiry. “Therefore, I urgeupon you to conduct an enquiryabout the actual birthplace andnationality of Nisith Pramanik ina most transparent way and clar-ify the whole issue as it createsconfusion across the country,” Borawrote in his letter.
Pramanik was inducted into theUnion Cabinet July 7. He was ear-
lier with the TMC. In 2019, ahead ofthe Lok Sabha polls, he sided withthe BJP. 'Pujar Mala', a Facebookpage from Bangladesh, had firstsparked a controversy by posting thatPramanik was bor n in theHarinathpur of Gaibandha inBangladesh. Pramanik's official en-tries in India say he was bornJanuary 17, 1986, at Dinhata in WestBengal's Cooch Behar district.
But if Pramanik was indeedborn in Bangladesh in 1986 andcame to India after birth, he clearly
does not qualify to be an Indiancitizen, unless the government ofthe day had provided him citizen-ship under some special consid-eration. March 26, 1971, has beenmarked as the cut-off date and onlythose entering India before thatdate would automatically qualifyfor Indian citizenship.
The 1985 Assam Accord reiter-ated this cut-off date and providedfor action against those entering thestate after that date.
Sayantan Basu said the BJP is
committed to enforce theCitizenship Amendment Act passedin Parliament precisely to providecitizenship to those entering Indiaon grounds of religious persecutionin Pakistan, Afghanistan andBangladesh after 1971.
“The point is the CAA is not yetimplemented in West Bengal andnobody, surely not Pramanik, hasyet applied for citizenship underCAA provisions,” said a seniorlawyer close to the TMC.
He said Pramanik has alreadyclaimed he was an Indian citizenand that he was born in Dinhata inIndia. “Now if it is established hewas born in Bangladesh and cameto India after birth, the question iswhether his claim of Indian citi-zenship is valid and tenable inlaw,” the lawyer said.
And it also leaves behind ques-tions over his integrity because ofthe contradictory data about hisplace of birth.
Pramanik won a seat in theBengal Assembly elections thissummer but resigned to retain hisLok Sabha membership.
He had written his MadhyamikPariksha or secondary exam ashis highest educational qualifica-tion in both affidavits.
The one for the assembly electionwas submitted March 18, 2021, andthe one for the Lok Sabha electionwas submitted March 25, 2019.
However, Pramanik's profile onthe Lok Sabha website says hiseducational qualification is"Bachelors of ComputerApplications (B.C.A.) Educated atBalakura Junior Basic School".
"In March, his highest educa-tional qualification was that hehad appeared in the higher sec-ondary exam � he did not clar-ify in his affidavit if he passed theexam. And now, in July, he has abachelor's degree!” asked formerTMC MLA Udayan Guha.
Guha alleged that the schoolthat Pramanik's Lok Sabha pro-file refers to is a non-descript jun-ior school where no such course asBCA has ever been offered.
"This is a junior basic school,so how can it offer a Bachelor's de-gree?"
Pramanik's profile, however,does not mention that the schoolgave him the degree. It says that thecourse was conducted at the school.However, the profile also does notmention which institution offeredthe degree, even if the school prem-ises was used as a venue.
BJP admission on Nisith Pramanik fuels controversyIf Pramanik was indeed born in Bangladesh in 1986 and came to India after birth, he clearly does not qualify to be an Indian
citizen, unless the government of the day had provided him citizenship under some special consideration
AGENCIES
Kolkata, July 19: In his first pub-lic criticism after BJP's defeat in theWest Bengal assembly polls, Leaderof Opposition in the State AssemblySuvendu Adhikari Sunday saidthe BJP lost because of severalleaders' overconfidence that theparty would get over 170 seats.
At a party meeting in Chandipurarea of Purba Medinipur district,Adhikari said this smugness andoverconfidence led to lack of un-derstanding of the emerging groundsituation.
"As we did well in the first twopoll phases in these parts of as-sembly segments, many of ourleaders became smug and over-confident. They started believingthat the BJP will secure 170-180seats in the elections, but they didnot do the groundwork. This costus dearly," the TMC turncoat said.
He said continuing work at theground level was equally importantas setting up targets, which was re-alistic but needed hard work.
Reacting to Adhikari's claims,Trinamool Congress spokesper-son Kunal Ghosh said, "Suvendu hasconveniently forgotten the slew ofsocial welfare projects and a spreeof development by Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee, and the man-date against BJP heavyweights'sustained campaign against theCM and TMC."
"The BJP was living in a fool'sparadise as many of their leaderspredicted that the saffron campwill cross 200 seats. Why he is find-ing fault with others? Didn'tSuvendu also boast repeatedly thathis party will get 180 seats at least?Actually, they don't know the pulseof Bengal, Trinamool does," Ghosh,the state general secretary of theTMC, said.
Overconfidence of BJP leadersled to party’s rout: Suvendu
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
Kolkata, July 19: Thirteen yearsafter their small car project wasforced out of West Bengal followingthe anti-land acquisition move-ment in Singur, Industry and ITMinister Partha Chatterjee hassaid talks are on with the Tatas forbig-ticket investments in the state.
Underscoring job creation as theTMC government's top priority,Chatterjee also said incentives tocompanies will depend on ability togenerate employment. He said theMamata Banerjee dispensationwants two large manufacturingunits to be set up by any prominentindustrial house at the earliest.
“We never had any enmity withthe Tatas, neither we fought againstthem. They are one of the mostrespected and biggest businesshouses of this country and alsoabroad. You can't blame the Tatas(for the Singur fiasco). The problemwas with the Left Front govern-ment and its forcible land acqui-sition policy. Tata group is alwaysmost welcome to come and investin Bengal,” Chatterjee, also theruling TMC's secretary general,told PTI in an interview.
Chatterjee said the salt to steel
business conglomerate has showninterest in setting up another TataCentre in Kolkata to house its offices.“We already have the presence ofTata Metaliks, one Tata Centre be-sides the TCS here. But if they arewilling to come up with big-ticketinvestments in manufacturing orother sectors, there is no problem.Our IT secretary recently told methey had shown interest in settingup a Tata Centre here,” he said.
When asked whether the stategovernment will go the extra mileto reach out to the Tatas, Chatterjeesaid he is already in touch withgroup officials to attract invest-ment. Singur, once known for mul-tiple crop farming, hogged media
limelight after Tata Motors set itssight on the land to build its cheap-est car Nano in 2006. The Left Frontgovernment acquired 997.11 acresalong the National Highway 2 andhanded it over to the company.
Mamata Banerjee, then in the op-position, called a 26- day hungerstrike demanding the return of347 acres of farmland that was"forcibly" acquired.
Despite several rounds of meet-ings between the TMC and the LeftFront government, the issue couldnot be resolved and the Tatas even-tually moved out of Singur to Sanandin Gujarat in 2008. The land ac-quired for the project was subse-quently returned to farmers in 2016.
13 years after Singur fiasco, Bengal minister says Tatas ‘most welcome’
A worker sanitises the hands of a student before she appears for the SSLC exam, during Covid-induced lockdown in Bangalore, Monday. PTI PHOTO
INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE
Bangalore, July 19:The BJP highcommand after conveying the sub-tle message to the Karnataka ChiefMinister BS Yediyurappa to go, isnow contemplating not to givemuch time to him.
Party sources explain that ifCM Yediyurappa gets time to makea decision regarding his exit, thereis a chance that he may try to con-solidate his position by getting thesupport of MLAs. If this happens,the BJP High Command will beforced to accept his demands. Thecentral leadership wants the changeto take place according to theirplans, sources added.
It is said that Yediyurappa has
been asked to take a call immedi-ately after July 26, on the comple-tion of two years of the BJP gov-ernment in Karnataka. However,it is said that he is asking for timetill August.
Yediyurappa had earlier, withthe support of more than 70 MLAshad not only challenged the highcommand in 2013, he managed toinstall DV Sadananda Gowda andJagadeesh Shettar as ChiefMinisters of the state, much to thechagrin of the BJP central lead-ership.
The past experiences have madethe BJP central leadership appre-hensive about Yediyurappa, andthey are creating pressure on himto take call on the issue in accor-dance with their terms and con-ditions, sources said.
BJP in no mood to give Yedi time to consolidate
Party sources explainthat if CM Yediyurappa
gets time to make adecision regarding hisexit, there is a chance
that he may try to consolidate his positionby getting the support
of MLAs
INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE
Bangalore, July 19:Giving promi-nence to the promotion of locallanguage, professional courses, in-cluding engineering would betaught in Kannada from next aca-demic year (2022-23) acrossKarnataka, said state Deputy ChiefMinister CN Ashwath NarayanSunday.
“We have initiated translation ofcurriculum into the regional lan-guage to teach professional courseslike engineering and medicine inalso Kannada from next academicyear,” said Narayan at a webinar,hosted by All Language FacultyAssociation of Kar natakaUniversity on New Education Policy- Study of Indian Languages'.
Narayan, who also holds theportfolio of IT, BT, Science andTechnology and Higher Education,said Kannada would be strength-ened as mother tongue under the
NewEducation Policy (NEP).
"As the NEP stresses on pro-viding professional courses in re-gional languages, we are takingsteps to realise its benefits," saidNarayan.
Advocating that Kannada shouldalso flourish with other languagesin line with the progress beingmade in other spheres of learn-ing like innovation and technol-ogy, the minister said courses andcurriculum would be designed byuniversities and subject experts.
"The NEP does not allow out-siders to enforce other languageson the natives," he added.
Professional courses inKannada from 2022-23
Wehave initiatedtranslation of
curriculum into theregional language to teachprofessional courses likeengineering and medicine
in also Kannada fromnext academic year
CN ASHWATH NARAYAN IDEPUTY CMINDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE
Kolkata, July 19: With the WestBengal government mulling overmoving the court challenging theallegations levelled against sev-eral Trinamool Congress leadersin the report submitted to CalcuttaHigh Court by the National HumanRights Commission on post-pollviolence in the state, GovernorJagdeep Dhankhar has left forDelhi amid speculation that hemight have a detailed discussionwith Home Minister Amit Shahon the NHRC report.
The Governor’s move came acouple of days after Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee met him and
had a detailed discussion for nearlytwo hours.
The Governor's visit to the na-tional capital assumes significancebecause he might have a discussionwith Home Minister Amit Shahon the NHRC report which was re-cently submitted to the court.
In its final report submitted tothe Calcutta High Court, the NHRCnot only criticised the state for its'indifference' towards the post-pollviolence and 'apathy' towards thevictims, but also alleged that thestate machinery played an impor-tant role in the violence.
“The situation in the state ofWest Bengal is a manifestation of'law of ruler', instead of 'Rule of
Law',” the report said.The rights body also made it
clear that the violent incidents inthe state reflected the 'appallingapathy' of the state governmenttowards the plight of the victims.
In the 50-page report, the NHRCsaid, "The spatio-temporal expanseof violent incidents in the state ofWest Bengal reflects the appallingapathy of the state government to-wards the plight of the victims.This was retributive violence by sup-porters of the ruling party againstsupporters of the main oppositionparty. It resulted in disruption of lifeand livelihood of thousands of peo-ple and their economic strangula-tion. The local police have beengrossly derelict, if not complicit,in this violence."
Commenting on the Governor'svisit to Delhi, BJP leader ShamikBanerjee said, "How would weknow why he went to Delhi? TheChief Minister had a closed-doormeeting with him for two hours andafter that he went to Delhi. It isalso possible that he went to Delhibecause of that. The Governor isthe head of the state and it is ex-pected that he will meet the ChiefMinister, the Prime Minister andthe President for the developmentof the state."
Meanwhile, the state is alsomulling to move the court chal-lenging the NHRC report whereseveral Trinamool Congress lead-ers have been labelled as 'crimi-nals/goons' for the post-poll vio-lence in the state.
WB MAY MOVE COURT AGAINST NHRC REPORT
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nationalTUESDAY | JULY 20 | 2021 | BHUBANESWAR
Pegasus revelations areabhorrent. If true, the
Modi government seemsto have launched a grave andsinister attack on the Right toPrivacy - constitutionallyguaranteed to Indian citizens asa Fundamental RightPRIYANKA GANDHI VADRA | CONG GENERAL SECY
Indian warship INS Tabar was partof a two-day exercise with Frenchfrigate FNS Aquitaine and fourRafale fighter aircraft of theFrench Navy in the Bay of Biscaylast week, officials said Monday
BOOST TO TIES
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Congress isready to faceelections in
Karnataka at anypoint of time
SIDDARAMAIAH |SENIOR CONGRESS LEADER
of theday uote
The ED hasprovisionallyseized my
family's propertyestimated at aroundRs 4 crore
ANIL DESHMUKH |FORMER MAHARASHTRA HOME MINISTER
Yoga traininghas beenincluded in the
Study in Indiaprogramme toencourage peoplefrom abroad seekingto learn it get authentic training inthe country
DHARMENDRA PRADHAN |UNION EDUCATION MINISTER
Cloudburst in U’khandDehradun: Three members ofa family, including a mother-daughter duo, were killedwhile one person wasreportedly missing after acloudburst hit two adjacentvillages in Uttarakhand'sUttarkashi district, officials said Monday. Those killed in the incidentthat took place Sunday night inMandav village were identifiedas Madhuri Devi (36), Ritu Devi(32) and her three-year-olddaughter Trishvi, Uttarkashi'sDisaster Management OfficerDevendra Patwal said, addingthat all the bodies have beenrecovered.
BSF nabs threeB’desh nationals Kolkata: Border Security Force(BSF) apprehended threeBangladeshi nationals,including a woman, when theywere illegally crossing theinternational border betweenIndia and Bangladesh atdifferent places in WestBengal, an official said hereMonday. The woman, whohailed from Rajbari district inBangladesh, was apprehendedMonday by the border guardsin Jhorpara area for illegallyentering the Indian territory, aBSF official said.
Kalyan Singh's condition unstableLucknow: The condition offormer Uttar Pradesh chiefminister Kalyan Singh isunstable, and doctors areclosely monitoring him, theSanjay Gandhi Post GraduateInstitute of Medical Sciences(SGPGIMS) here said Monday.
SHORT TAKES
AGENCIES
New Delhi, July 19: Rajya Sabha wit-nessed repeated adjournments on DayOne of the Monsoon session amidstuproar over various issues by MPs fromOpposition parties who did not evenallow Prime Minister Narendra Modito introduce newly inducted Unionministers to the Upper House.
Opposition also sought to raise theissue of the nationality of a newly in-ducted Union Minister of State alleg-ing he was a Bangladeshi national, butthe government dismissed the chargeas "baseless" and slammed them forcasting such aspersions on a leaderfrom a tribal community.
The House, which paid tributes tothe departed sitting and former MPs inthe morning, was adjourned severaltimes as slogan-shouting MPs fromOpposition parties kept insisting thattheir issues should be taken up first.Several of them had also trooped into
the Well of the House holding placards.The House was adjourned for the dayat around 3.30 pm, much ahead of itsscheduled time.
As the Prime Minister started in-troduction of the new ministers, theOpposition upped its sloganeering.Anguished over the Opposition's con-duct, Modi said it seems Oppositionmembers were not happy on inductionof such a large number of women, dalitand scheduled tribe ministers in theunion council.
It was for the first time that such anegative mindset was on display in theHouse, Modi said, and laid the list of newministers on the table of the House.
Newly appointed Leader of the Houseand Union minister Piyush Goyal toocondemned the Opposition behaviour,saying introduction of new ministersto the House was a practice being fol-lowed since the times of the first PrimeMinister Jawaharlal Nehru. Such con-duct would undermine the Indian dem-
ocratic traditions, he said.Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu made
several attempts to pacify the protest-ing MPs so that the House could conductlisted business, but in vain. He also re-jected 17 notices by different Oppositionparty members for suspension of thelisted business to take up issues raisedby them.
The first adjournment due to dis-ruptions took place at around 12.45 PMtill 2 PM, and one more till 3 PM. Butthe Opposition's sloganeering continuedleading to adjournment for day at around3.30 PM. Amidst uproar, the govern-ment introduced the Marine Aids toNavigation Bill, 2021, which was passedby Lok Sabha in March.
Opposition members led by TMC MPSukhendu Sekhar Ray and Congressleader Mallikarjun Kharge asked the gov-ernment to clear its stand over the na-tionality of a minister.
They, however, did not name the min-ister. The government dismissed theircharge as "baseless" and slammed themfor casting such aspersions on a leaderfrom a tribal community.
Earlier, Naidu urged members tohave informed discussions on all as-pects of the COVID-19 pandemic so thatthe country is better equipped to tacklethe possible third wave.
The Monsoon session, which has 19sittings scheduled, assumes enhancedsignificance in the context of the pre-vailing situation in the country andthe suffering of the people further com-pounded by the possible third wave, hesaid.
AGENCIES
T he Kashmir region is pre-dominantly mountainous, withdeep, narrow valleys and high,
barren plateaus. Many people believethat Jammu & Kashmir became oneadministrative unit only after theAnglo-Sikh war of 1846. Prior to this,both Jammu and Kashmir had theirindependent existence. The FirstAnglo-Sikh War was fought betweenthe Sikh Empire and the British EastIndia Company in 1845 and 1846 inand around the Ferozepur district ofPunjab. It resulted in defeat and par-tial subjugation of the Sikh kingdomand cession of Jammu and Kashmiras a separate princely state underBritish suzerainty.
Here one must also note that thename which the state gave to itselfwas Riyasat e Jammu wa Kashmir waLadakh wa Tibet ha (kingdom ofJammu, Kashmir, Ladakh and Tibet).It is also true that the views, concernsand interests of people inhabitingfrontier regions — Ladakh, Chitral,Gilgit, Baltistan and Tibet — havebeen peripheral to the discourse.
If we were to discuss about this region,we will have to start with the oldest ex-tant calendar anywhere in the world— the Saptarishi calendar which is nowin its 5097th edition. As per‘Rajatarangini’ — a history of Kashmirby Kalhana (12th CE) — Kashmir derivesher name from Rishi Kashyap who es-tablished a vale by creating 12 streams(Varaha Mula, now Baramulla).
Etymologically, Jammu is derivedfrom Jambupura, the settlement on thebanks of river Tawi established by RajaJambulochan in the 14th BCE.
Jammu was always with the Dogras,either directly or under the lordshipof Delhi or the Suba of Punjab. Thestate of Jammu & Kashmir, whichwas earlier under the rule of Hindusand Muslims, came under the rule ofMughals under emperor Akbar.
Parallels can easily be drawn be-tween Hyderabad and J&K – bothwere 21-gun salute states with a largeterritory and population. Both re-fused to sign the Instrument ofAccession before 15th August andharboured illusions of sovereignty.
While Nizam had leased out Berarto the British, the Maharaja had leased
out Gilgit Baltistan. Both denied rep-resentation and participation to themajority populations (Hindus in thecase of Hyderabad and Muslims in thecase of J&K).
Both faced popular movementsagainst their rule (Congress, AryaSamaj and the Communists againstthe Nizam, and the NationalConference and Muslim Conferenceagainst the Maharaja). The PressAttaché to Mountbatten Campbellwas asked by Mountbatten to visitboth the states as his special repre-sentative to bring conciliation be-tween the states and the Dominion. Inboth states, the 'Mulkis' or local resi-dents started an agitation seekingreservation of government jobs for lo-cals. The Congress and the RSS – bothwielded considerable influence –though did not have a strong organi-
sational presence. In Hyderabad, they piggybacked on
the Arya Samaj, and in J&K, they foundtheir ‘soulmate’ in Sheikh Abdullah.In both situations, the Indian Armywas called in to meet the strategic ob-jectives of the Indian State. However,while they completed the task inHyderabad, in J&K, they were ham-strung on account of Prime MinisterNehru’s faith in the UN. Perhaps, hav-ing learnt the lessons in J&K in 1947/48,India was better prepared to accom-plish all the goals of Mission Polo.
Both the Nizam and the Maharajawere driven to the wall before they signedthe Instrument of Accession. Both be-came Rajpramukhs in 1950, but thanksto the internationalisation of the dispute,J&K got Article 370, and its residents gotdual citizenship, and these anomalies con-tinued right up to 2019.
The Kashmir ‘kingdom’? The diverse discourse around Jammu and Kashmir is
historically deep-rooted and had many parallels along thenature and conduct of contemporary Hyderabad
RS sees repeatedadjournments
MONSOON SESSION
People shop at a market on the eve of Eid-ul-Zuha amid Covid-19 restrictions in Srinagar PTI PHOTO
FESTIVE FERVOUR
AGENCIES
Chandigarh, July 19: Declaring that his jour-ney has "just begun", Punjab Congress' newpresident Navjot Singh Sidhu Monday pledgedto work with every "member of the Cong fam-ily" to fulfil the “Jittega Punjab' mission, a dayafter being appointed to the key post after monthsof a bitter, polarising spat between him andChief Minister Amarinder Singh.
The 57-year-old cricketer-turned-politician,who had a busy day calling on leaders and min-isters, thanked the Congress leadership for ap-pointing him head of the Punjab unit, assertedhe would strengthen the party's organisationin the state. Assembly polls in the Congress-ruled state are due next year.
"Today, to work further for the same dream andstrengthen the invincible fort of the Congress inPunjab. I am grateful to Hon'ble Congress pres-ident Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and PriyankaGandhi for bestowing their faith in me and giv-ing me this pivotal responsibility," he said onTwitter.
Sidhu arrived in Chandigarh Monday morn-ing and met several party leaders, including for-mer chief minister Rajinder Kaur Bhathal, min-isters Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa, CharanjitSingh, Razia Sultana and Sukhjinder SinghRandhawa.
"Will work along every member of Congressfamily in Punjab to fulfil the mission of'JittegaPunjab' as a humble Congress workerto give power of the people back to the peoplethrough the Punjab model and the high command's18-point agenda ... My journey has just begun,”Sidhu said in another tweet.
MY JOURNEY HAS JUST BEGUN: SIDHU Sidhu who replaced Sunil Jakhar as Punjab Pradesh CongressCommittee (PPCC) chief, was elevated to the position despite
Amarinder Singh's strong reservations
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
Mumbai, July 19: A day after heavy showerspounded Mumbai, the rain intensity reducedbriefly on Monday morning but picked up mo-mentum again during the day, causing water-logging at some places and disruption of localtrain services on the Central Railway route, of-ficials said.
On Sunday, 30 people were killed in the me-tropolis in rain-related incidents, including 19in Mahul area of Chembur where a retainingwall collapsed on some houses after a land-slide. On Monday, no fresh death was reported,an official from the Brihanmumbai MunicipalCorporation (BMC) said.
However, after a brief spell of reduced in-tensity in the morning, the rains picked uppace again during the day, causing inundationin some areas.
Local train services on the Central Railway'sslow line were suspended for about half-an-hour around 3 pm Monday due to flooding ontracks between Kalwa and Mumbra stations inneighbouring Thane district, CR's chiefspokesperson Shivaji Sutar said. The serviceswere later restored on the slow corridor by3.35 pm, he said.
Earlier in the day, water-logging occurredbetween Vikhroli and Bhandup rail sectionfollowing heavy showers in parts of the suburbs,Sutar said.
HEAVY RAINS INMUMBAI AGAIN
Delta variant 40-60% moretransmissible than AlphaINDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE
New Delhi, July 19: Delta variantof Covid-19 virus is around 40-60 percent more transmissible than itspredecessor Alpha variant and hasalready spread to more than 80countries, including the UK, theUS, Singapore, and so on, said N.K.Arora, co-chair, IndianSARS-CoV-2 GenomicsConsortium (INSACOG).
Arora, the chief ofthe Covid-19 workinggroup of the NationalTechnical AdvisoryGroup on Immunization(NTAGI), also said thatDelta variant has mu-tations in its spike pro-tein, which helps it bind to theACE2 receptors present on the sur-face of the cells more firmly, mak-ing it more transmissible and ca-pable of evading the body'simmunity.
Citing some studies that showthat there are some mutations inthis variant that promote "syn-cytium formation", Arora said,"Besides, on invading a humancell, it replicates faster. It leads to
a strong inflammatory responsein organs like the lungs. However,it is difficult to say that diseasedue to delta variant is more se-vere. The age profile and the deathsduring the second wave in Indiawere quite similar to that seen dur-ing the first wave."
Delta variant was first identi-fied in October 2020 inIndia, and was prima-rily responsible for thesecond wave in thecountry and today ac-counting for over 80per cent of new Covid-19 cases. It emerged inMaharashtra and trav-elled northwards alongthe western states of
the country before entering thecentral and the eastern states.
While elaborating about theStandard Operating Procedure(SOP) for testing and follow-up onvariants, what makes the Deltavariant so transmissible, Arorasaid there is a need to keep a strictvigil on the emergence of variantsof concern and outbreaks so thatthey can be contained before theyspread to a larger region.
P10TUESDAY | JULY 20 | 2021 | BHUBANESWAR
What is concerningoverall, not just with
this advisory, would be aconstant tit-for-tat between USAnd China when it comes toHong Kong (which) in many waysis caught right in the middleTARA JOSEPH | PRESIDENT OF THE AMERICANCHAMBER OF COMMERCE IN HONG KONG
The Bootleg fire in theUS state of Oregonhas burned more than300,00 acres of landsince it erupted onJuly 6, fire officialssaid Monday
WILDFIRE IN OREGON
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internationalWe're doing abig opening up,and that's quite
right. If we don't do itnow we'll be openingup in the autumn andwinter months whenthe virus has the advantage of thecold weather. We'll lose the preciousfirebreak we get with the schoolholidays
BORIS JOHNSON | BRITISH PRIME MINISTER
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The TokyoOlympics are afestival of
peace for peoplearound the world,and we hope thatJapan holds theOlympics safely and successfully
MOON JAE-IN | SOUTH KOREAN PRESIDENT
Today, as wereflect on thesuffering of all
victims and survivorsof grave crimes, Iencourage all statesto ratify the RomeStatute, and call on the internationalcommunity to drive forward effortsto achieve accountability and justicefor all
ANTONIO GUTERRES | UN SECRETARY-GENERAL
Pared-back Haj in Mecca Mecca (Saudi Arabia): Tens ofthousands of vaccinatedMuslim pilgrims circledIslam's holiest site in MeccaSunday, but remained sociallydistanced and wore masks asthe coronavirus takes its tollon the hajj for a second yearrunning. The hajj pilgrimage,which once drew some 2.5million Muslims from all walksof life from across the globe,is now almost unrecognisable.It is being scaled back for thesecond year in a row due tothe coronavirus pandemic.
Nepal PM thanks ModiKathmandu: Nepal's newly-appointed Prime Minister SherBahadur Deuba Mondaythanked his Indiancounterpart Narendra Modifor the congratulatorymessage and said he sharedviews with him on furtherstrengthening ties betweenthe two neighbouringcountries during a cordialtelephone conversation. PMModi had immediatelycongratulated Deuba after theveteran Nepalese leader wona vote of confidence in thereinstated House ofRepresentatives Sunday night.
nCoV vax forteenagersKuwait City: Kuwait hasstarted vaccinating teenagersaged 12-15 against Covid-19 inpreparation for the newschool year that begins inSeptember. Buthaina Al-Mudhaf, assistantundersecretary for publichealth affairs of the KuwaitiHealth Ministry, said in astatement Sunday that thevaccination campaign tookplace in health centres acrosssix governorates.
One killed in CA shootingSan Francisco: One personwas killed and three otherswere injured during ashooting in Walnut Creek,Northern California, policesaid. Local police respondedafter receiving reports of ashooting at 1.37 a.m. Sunday,Xinhua news agency quotedthe police as saying in aFacebook post.
Lockdown begins in IranTehran: Iran Monday imposeda week-long lockdown on thecapital, Tehran, and thesurrounding region as thecountry struggles withanother surge in thecoronavirus pandemic, statemedia reported.
SHORT TAKES
A child looks on as water floods through a fence, in Wessem, Netherlands REUTERS
WATER, WATER EVERYWHERE
REUTERS
Washington, July 19: The UnitedStates and a coalition of alliesMonday accused China's Ministryof State Security of a global cyberhacking campaign, specifically at-tributing a large Microsoft attackdisclosed earlier this year to hack-ers working on Beijing’s behalf.
Opening a new area of tensionswith China, the United States isjoined by NATO, the EuropeanUnion, Britain, Australia, Japan,New Zealand and Canada to levelthe allegations, according to aWhite House fact sheet releasedMonday morning.
The announcement comes amonth after G7 and NATO lead-ers agreed with President Joe Bidenat summits in Cornwall, England,and Brussels in accusing China ofposing systemic challenges to theworld order.
The governments "will formallyattribute the malicious cyber cam-paign utilizing the zero-day vul-nerabilities in the MicrosoftExchange Server disclosed in Marchto malicious cyber actors affili-ated with the (Chinese Ministryof State Security) with high con-fidence," the US senior adminis-tration official told reporters ahead
of the announcement. "The UnitedStates and our allies and partnersare exposing further details of thePRC's (People’s Republic of China's)pattern of malicious cyber activ-
ities and taking further action tocounter it."
The Chinese embassy inWashington did not immediatelyrespond to a request for comment.Chinese officials have previouslysaid China is also a victim of hack-ing and opposes all forms of cyberattacks.
US federal agencies, includingthe National Security Council,the FBI and the National SecurityAgency, will outline more than 50techniques and procedures that"China state-sponsored actors"use in targeting US networks, theofficial said.
Chinese state-sponsored cyber ac-tors consistently scan target net-
works for critical and high vul-nerabilities within days of the vul-nerability’s public disclosure, the31-page US cybersecurity advisoryseen by Reuters says.
"We will show how the PRC'sMSS, Ministry of State Security,uses criminal contract hackers toconduct unsanctioned cyber op-erations globally, including fortheir own personal profit," the of-ficial said.
The United States in recentmonths has focused heavy attentionon Russia in accusing Russian cy-berhackers of a string of ran-somware attacks in the UnitedStates.
In Monday's announcement, USofficials formally blamed theChinese government "with highconfidence" for the hack that hitbusinesses and government agen-cies in the United States using aMicrosoft email service. Microsofthas already accused China of re-sponsibility.
The operation specifically ex-p l o i t e d w e a k n e s s e s i nMicrosoft’s exchange program,a common email sof tware.Cybersecurity experts wereshaken by the scale and volumeof the incident, totaling thou-sands of potential US victims.
Opening a new area oftensions with China,the United States isjoined by NATO, theEuropean Union,Britain, Australia,Japan, New Zealandand Canada to levelthe allegations
AGENCIES
Geneva, July 19: Climate changehas dramatically altered the SwissAlps landscape -- at a quicker pacethan expected -- as melting glaciershave created more than 1,000 newlakes across in the mountains, astudy published Monday showed.
The inventory of Swiss Glaciallakes showed that almost 1,200 newlakes have formed in formerlyglaciated regions of the Swiss Alpssince the end of the Little Ice Agearound 1850.
Around 1,000 of them still existtoday, according to the study pub-lished by the Swiss Federal Instituteof Aquatic Science and Technology(Eawag). That is far more than thefew hundreds the researchers hadexpected to find at the beginningof the project.
"We were surprised by the
s h e e r n u m b e r s , " D a n i e lOdermatt, head of the EawagRemote Sensing Group that car-
ried out the study, said in a state-ment. He said the "marked ac-celeration in formation" was
also surprising, pointing outthat "180 have been added in thelast decade alone".
Glaciers in the Swiss Alps are insteady decline, losing a full twopercent of their volume last yearalone, according to an annual studypublished by the Swiss Academiesof Science.
And even if the world were tofully implement the 2015 ParisAgreement -- which calls for cap-ping global warming at atleast twodegrees Celsius -- two-thirds of theAlpine glaciers will likely be lost,according to a 2019 study by theETH technical university in Zurich.
The Eawag assessment showedthat there was an initial peak in gla-cial lake formation in the SwissAlps between 1946 and 1973, whennearly eight new lakes appeared onaverage each year.
After a brief decline, the lakeformation rate surged between2006 and 2016, with 18 new lakes ap-pearing each year on average, while
the water surface swelled by over400 square metres (4,300 squarefeet) annually.
This, Eawag said, is "visible ev-idence of climate change in theAlps". The comprehensive inven-tory was made possible by largetroves of data gathered from theSwitzerland's glaciers since themid-19th century. In total, the re-searchers were able to draw ondata from seven periods between1850 and 2016.
For each of the 1,200 lakes formedsince 1850, the scientists recordedthe location, elevation, shape andarea of the lake at the differenttimes, as well as the type of mate-rial of the dam and surfacedrainage. Based on such basic in-formation, researchers can esti-mate hazards, including the risk ofa sudden emptying in the event ofa dam failure.
Climate change sees Swiss Alps add over 1,000 lakes: Study
The inventory of Swiss Glaciallakes showed that almost
1,200 new lakes have formed informerly glaciated regions of theSwiss Alps
Around 1,000 of them still existtoday, according to the study
published by the Swiss FederalInstitute of Aquatic Science andTechnology
Glaciers in the Swiss Alps are insteady decline, losing a full
two percent of their volume lastyear alone
RISING CONCERNS
After a brief decline, the lake formation rate surged between 2006 and 2016, with 18 new lakes appearing eachyear on average, while the water surface swelled by over 400 square metres (4,300 square feet) annually
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Helsinki, July 19: Danish car-toonist Kurt Westergaard, whoseimage of the Prophet Muhammadwearing a bomb as a turban wasat the center of widespread anti-Danish anger in the Muslimworld in the mid-2000s, has died.He was 86.
Westergaard's family announcedhis death to Danish media lateSunday and told the newspaperBerlingske that Westergaard diedin his sleep after a long period ofillness. Danish media reportedthat he died July 14, a day after hisbirthday.
From the early 1980s,Westergaard worked as a cartoonistfor Jyllands-Posten, one ofDenmark's leading newspapers,and was associated with the dailyuntil he turned 75.
Westergaard became knownworldwide in 2005 for his contro-versial depiction of the ProphetMuhammad in Jyllands-Posten,which published 12 editorial car-toons of the principal figure ofIslam. Muslims consider images ofthe prophet to be sacrilegious andencouraging idolatry.
The images, particularlyWestergaard's, sparked a hugewave of anger in the Muslim worldand escalated into violent anti-Denmark protests by Muslimsworldwide in 2006.
Several newspapers in neigh-bouring Norway also publishedthe controversial cartoons. Danishand Norwegian embassies in Syriawere burned down by angry crowdsduring the demonstrations.
Danish who drew contentious Muhammadcaricature dies at 86
INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE
New Delhi, July 19: Saudis werebehind behind an NSO spywareattack on the family of murderedjournalist Jamal Khashoggi, TheGuardian said in a report. Forensicanalysis revealed that the phonesof those close to the dissident jour-nalist were targetted before andafter he was murdered.
A joint investigation by theGuardian and other media organi-sations, based on leaked data andforensic analysis of phones, has un-covered new evidence that the com-pany’s spyware was used to try andmonitor people close to Khashoggiboth before and after his death.
In one case, a person inKhashoggi’s inner circle was hackedfour days after his murder, ac-cording to peer-reviewed forensicanalysis of her device.
The investigation points to an ap-parent attempt by Saudi Arabiaand its close ally the United ArabEmirates (UAE) to leverage the
NSO’s spy technology afterKhashoggi’s death to monitor hisassociates and the Turkish murderinvestigation, even going so far asto select the phone of Istanbul’schief prosecutor for potential sur-veillance, the Guardian report said.
Khashoggi was killed and dis-membered at the Saudi consulatein Istanbul in October 2018.
While the investigation mostlypoints to Khashoggi's close asso-ciates being targeted in the monthsafter the murder, it also identifiedevidence suggesting that an NSOclient targeted the phone of hisformer wife, Hanan Elatr, severalmonths before his death, betweenNovember 2017 and April 2018.
Saudis behind spywareattack on Khashoggi’s familyForensic analysis revealed that the phones of those
close to the dissident journalist were targetted before and after he was murdered
INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE
Tehran, July 19: Iran will con-tinue to attend the Vienna talks torevive the 2015 nuclear agreementafter President-elect EbrahimRaisi and his cabinet take officein August, the Foreign Ministrysaid on Monday.
The spokesman for the Ministry,Saeed Khatibzadeh, said during anonline press conference that Iranhas announced its intention tocontinue the talks with its partnersin the Joint Commission of theagreement, formally known asthe Joint Comprehensive Plan ofAction (JCPOA), reports Xinhua
news agency.Iran's policy will not change
under the new administration, hesaid, adding that the country will
return to its commitments as soonas the US returns to its obligationsand Tehran verifies it.
Under the deal reached in 2015,
Tehran agreed to roll back parts ofits nuclear program in exchange fordecreased economic sanctions.
However, Iran gradually stoppedimplementing parts of its com-mitments in May 2019, a year afterthe administration of former USPresident Donald Trump unilat-erally abandoned the agreement andre-imposed sanctions on Tehran.
Between April 6 and June 20,the JCPOA Joint Commission, at-tended by a US delegation indi-rectly, held talks in Vienna to dis-cuss a possible retur n ofWashington to the agreement andthe way to ensure a full and effec-tive implementation of the deal.
Iran to continue Vienna talks after Raisi takes office
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Moscow, July 19: Russia saidMonday it will stage military drillsnext month with Tajikistan andUzbekistan near the border withAfghanistan where the Talibanhas led a lightning offensive againstgovernment troops. The insurgentshave capitalised on the withdrawalof foreign troops to launch a seriesof offensives across the country.
Afghan government troops andrefugees have in recent weekscrossed into Tajikistan, fleeingTaliban advances.
The joint drills will take placeAugust 5-10 at the Kharbmaidontraining ground in Tajikistan nearthe Afghan border, the Russian de-fence ministry said in a statement.
Alexander Lapin, commanderof the Central Military District,said that the troops will run drillsto defeat "illegal armed units thatinvaded the territory of an alliedcountry". Troops from a Russianmilitary base in Tajikistan andthe Central Military District willtake part in the games, the defenceministry said.
The Taliban is now believed tocontrol roughly half ofAfghanistan's 400 districts, severalborder crossings, and has laid siegeto a string of provincial capitals.
More than a dozen diplomaticmissions in Afghanistan calledMonday for "an urgent end" to theTaliban's ruthless military offen-sive, saying it was at odds withclaims they want a negotiated set-tlement to end the conflict.
Russia to hold military drills near Afborder next month
US, allies accuse China of global ‘cyber sabotage’
P11
businessTUESDAY | JULY 20 | 2021 | BHUBANESWAR
The government hastaken a farsighted
decision to encourage Russianminers to supply coking coal toIndian steel mills. India can importat least 50 per cent coking coalfrom Russia and balance fromother countriesVR SHARMA | MANAGING DIRECTOR, JSPL
India’s FY22 Y-o-Y current accountdeficit is expected to widen, AcuiteRatings & Research said. Theratings agency estimatesapproximately $30 billion deficit vis-a-vis $26 billion estimate in FY21
‘CURRENT ACCOUNT DEFICITEXPECTED TO WIDEN’
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In the last 15-18 months, wehave seen a lot
of customers moveonline, not just in thetier-I & II cities butalso in smaller towns.Today, 65 per cent of customerorders and over 85 per cent of newcustomers on Amazon are from tier-II and below geographies
PRANAV BHASIN | DIRECTOR, MSME AND
SELLING PARTNER EXPERIENCE, AMAZON INDIA
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India has 35million out ofthe world's 222
million universitystudents. Learning isa perennial pandemicfor many Indianlearners but Covid has beencatastrophic because of our manypre-existing challenges
SHANTANU ROOJ | CEO, TEAMLEASE EDTECH
Currently,Notice InvitingTender (NIT)
for auction of 27mineral are issued byfour states, namely,Madhya Pradesh,Rajasthan, Odisha and Jharkhand.The minister further said "114mineral blocks are auctioned byvarious State Governments
PRALHAD JOSHI | COAL AND MINES MINISTER
RIL’s retail biz to grow 3 timesMumbai: Reliance Industries'(RIL) retail business isexpected to grow three timesin next the next three to fiveyears at a robust CAGR of 35-40 per cent, said a Bernsteinreport. Digital or newcommerce continues to scaleup and contributes 10 per centof sales, it said. It further saidthat, RIL's recently announcedclean energy business maywell be create a valuation ofabout $36 billion. It said cleanenergy has the potential to bevalue accretive if Reliance canpull it off.
Gold tumbles by`126; silver by `97New Delhi: Gold in thenational capital Mondaydipped `126 to `46,967 per 10gram in line with a fall ininternational precious metalprices, according to HDFCSecurities. In the previoustrade, the precious metal hadclosed at `47,093 per 10grams. Silver also went lowerby `97 to `66,856 perkilogram from `66,953 perkilogram in the previoustrade. In the global market,gold was trading lower atUSD 1,805 per ounce andsilver was flat at USD 25.39per ounce.
BharatPe tohire 100 peopleNew Delhi: Fintech firmBharatPe Monday said itwill hire 100 people acrossvarious roles for itstechnology team in thecurrent financial year. Thecompany, which isplanning to launch a slewof products in themerchant and consumerlending space, said it willbe almost tripling thestrength of its technologyteam and hiring 100 more members.
Cisco, NSDC for‘digital upskilling’New Delhi: Cisco NetworkingAcademy and the NationalSkill DevelopmentCorporation (NSDC) Mondayannounced a partnership thatis aimed at addressing theshortage of tech-proficientworkforce in India andcreating career opportunitiesfor millions in the digitaleconomy. The partnershipwill offer access to the CiscoNetworking Academy coursesthrough NSDC's e-Skill Indiaplatform to providecomprehensive digital skills critical for the digital-first world, astatement said.
SHORT TAKES
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
New Delhi, July 19: Assertingthat the Indian economy is show-ing signs of revival since the peak-ing of second Covid wave in May,the government Monday said thecountry’s strong fundamentals andmarket size will continue to at-tract market-seeking greenfieldinvestments.
Quoting the World InvestmentReport 2021, the Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman in a writtenreply to Lok Sabha said FDI in-flows into India rose by 25.4 percent to reach USD 64 billion in 2020,from USD 51 billion in 2019, be-coming fifth largest recipient inthe world in 2020, up from eighth po-sition it held in the previous year.
However, the announced green-field projects in India contracted by19 per cent in 2020, she said, addingthat this decline is significantlylower than the 44 per cent declinein developing economies.
"As has been witnessed in over-all FDI inflows, India's strongfundamentals and market sizewill continue to attract market-seeking greenfield investments,"she said.
In a reply to another question,Minister of State for Finance PankajChaudhary said, India’s forex re-serves as on June 25, 2021 stood atUSD 608.99 billion.
India has emerged as the fifthlargest foreign exchange reservesholder in the world after China,Japan, Switzerland and Russia, hesaid in a written reply to Lok Sabha.
"India's foreign exchange re-serves position is comfortable interms of import cover of morethan 18 months and provides cush-ion against unforeseen externalshocks. The government and RBIare closely monitoring the emerg-ing external position calibratingpolicies or regulations to supportrobust macroeconomic growth,"he said.
Replying to another questionChaudhary said "the Indian econ-omy is showing signs of revivalsince the peaking of the secondwave in the first half of May 2021on the back of targeted fiscal relief,strong push for capital expendi-ture, RBI's monetary policy meas-ures, and a rapid vaccination drive."
This is reflected in movementof several high frequency indi-cators like E-way bills, power con-sumption, rail freight, UPI trans-actions, vehicle registrations, etc,he said.
With regard to India's con-traction in Gross Domestic Product(GDP) by 7.3 per cent in 2020-21,Sitharaman said this reflects theunparalleled effect of the 'oncein a century' Covid-19 pandemicand the containment measuresthat were taken to control thepandemic.
The fundamentals of the econ-omy remained strong as gradualscaling back of lockdowns, alongwith the astute suppor t o fAatmanirbhar Bharat Missionplaced the economy firmly on thepath of recovery from the secondhalf of FY 2020-21, she added.
‘Strong market sizewill continue to attractforeign investements’
As has been witnessedin overall FDI inflows,India's strong
fundamentals and marketsize will continue toattract market-seekinggreenfield investmentsNIRMALA SITHARAMAN I FINANCE MINISTER
AGENCIES
Mumbai, July 19: American pri-vate equity firm Blackstone Mondaysaid it is acquiring a 70 per centstake in online learning platformSimplilearn Solutions for USD 250million (about `1,860 crore).
In a joint statement, Blackstonesaid private equity funds managedby it have entered into a definitiveagreement to buy out the existinginvestors -- Kalaari Capital, HelionVenture Partners and MayfieldFund, who collectively own 60 percent of Simplilearn.
Simplilearn founder and chiefexecutive Krishna Kumar saidthat Blackstone is investing USD250 million in the company andprevious investors -- KalaariCapital, Helion Venture Partnersand Mayfield Fund -- are exitingthe firm.
According to sources, the dealwill provide an exit to the exist-ing investors by buying out their60 per cent stake and also pickingup an additional 10 per cent frompromoters and other managementpersonnel, and values the SanFrancisco- and Bangalore-basedcompany at USD 400 million.
Blackstone already has a long listof investments in the country’s
educational space, including inByju’s, Aakash EducationalServices, Ascend Learning, Ellucianand Articulate - the SaaS-basedtraining and development plat-form for companies.
This is a first for Blackstonewhere it will have managementcontrol and majority equity.However, Kumar said he will con-tinue to run the company.
Simplilearn was founded in2010 by Kumar and has sincetrained over 2 million profes-
sionals across the world, makingit the world's largest Bootcampfor digital skilling that helps themacquire higher skills.
The company was backed byventure capital investors such asKalaari Capital, Helion VenturePartners and Mayfield Fund.
Announcing the deal, Amit Dixit,Blackstone Asia head, said: “Thisis our first private equity investmentin Asia in a consumer technologycompany wherein we own the ma-jority of the equity”.
Like many other sectors, tech-nology is disrupting education andedutech has been a high convic-tion theme for Blackstone in Indiaand globally, he said, addingSimplilearn is a differentiatedplayer in the digital skilling spacewith premium content created inpartnership with marquee uni-versities and industry partners.
Dixit said the company is keento accelerate growth and buildSimplilearn to be the world's pre-eminent digital learning company.
We believe Blackstone can addsignificant value to us because oftheir scale, commitment to build-ing businesses, and global net-work, which will enable us to de-velop par tnerships withuniversities and businesses as wecontinue to expand around theworld in the pandemic-hit worldthat has only accelerated the needfor digital skills, Kumar said.
Blackstone invests $250mn in Simplilearn
THIS IS A FIRST FORTHE AMERICAN PRIVATE EQUITYFIRM WHERE IT WILLHAVE MANAGEMENT CONTROL ANDMAJORITY EQUITY
INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE
New Delhi, July 19: India’s ac-celerated vaccination drive as wellas pent-up demand has triggereda recovery in leisure air travel,said Tata-SIA airline Vistara. Thetravel trend, which includes theVFR category, is still in a nascentstage but is expected to sustain.
In an interaction with IANS,Vistara’s Chief Commercial Officer,Vinod Kannan, said the airline re-mains optimistic about the future.
"We understand that people haveheld back their travel plans due tovarious reasons like travel re-strictions, rapid spread of the virusin the second wave etc., and goingby the trend, we hope they will re-sume travelling as soon as the sit-uation gets stabilised. In fact, weare noticing some level of recovery
in VFR and leisure travel."On corporate travel trend, he
said a complete rebound is un-likely until more of the global pop-ulation is fully vaccinated.
"Corporates are already tryingtheir best to vaccinate their staff.International travel to client loca-tions is also inhibited to ensurethat the employees are not stuckunder quarantine in different coun-tries abroad. However, we feel thisis temporary.
"The number of trips may befewer compared to pre-Covid lev-els; however, they will not com-pletely stop. Virtual meetings can-not completely replace physicalinteractions; hence, we are positivethat corporate traffic will also pickup slowly," Kannan said.
At present, the sector faces itsmost challenging time with high
cost of business, fluctuating de-mand and looming uncertainties.However, the country's vaccina-tion drive has instilled confidencein the travelling population.
"Vaccination being the only knownway to fight the pandemic, it is def-initely expected to have an impact
across all aspects of our lives, in-cluding aviation," Kannan said.Besides, he expects 'vaccine passports'to become a key requirement forthe future of global travel.
"We feel that some level of re-laxation can be offered to fully vac-cinated travellers for ease of move-
ment," he said.According to the recent figures
gathered by IATA, more than 20countries have partially or entirelylifted
theirentry restric-tions for those vaccinated againstCovid-19. This is being seen as anindication for the revival of in-
ternational travel. Furthermore, hesaid that the airline plans to startlong-haul operations to the US inthe coming months.
"We have initiated the processwith the relevant authorities andhave already received a temporary'Foreign Air Carrier' permit fromthe Department of Transportation,US. "We continue to monitor themarket and evaluate more suchopportunities from both fromthe commercial viability and fea-sibility of operations point of
view," Kannan said. Lately, theairline has expanded its interna-tional network under the 'air bub-
ble' agreements.In this period, eight interna-
tional destinations, includingLondon, Dhaka, Dubai, Doha,Frankfurt, Sharjah, Male andTokyo, were added.
Recovery signs: Vistara noticing recovery in leisure travel
Weunderstand that
people have held backtheir travel plans due to
various reasons like travelrestrictions, rapid spread of the
virus in the second wave etc., andgoing by the trend, we hope theywill resume travelling as soon as
the situation gets stabilizedVINOD KANNAN I CHIEF COMMERCIAL
OFFICER, VISTARA
Tata Steel Mining, Jindal Stainlesssign MoU for joint mining operationPOST NEWS NETWORK
Bhubaneswar, July 19: Tata SteelMining Limited (TSML) and JindalStainless Limited (JSL) have signeda MoU July 16, 2021 to jointly un-earth chrome ore locked up in theboundary between their mines lo-cated in Sukinda located at Jajpurdistrict. This would help conser-vation of chromite ore.
This unique partnership setsan example for sustainable chromeore mining in an innovative man-ner. TSML and JSL would now ini-tiate steps to get necessary statu-tory approvals from concernedauthorities before jointly startingmining operations.
The MoU was signed by MCThomas, Managing Director, TataSteel Mining Limited, andShashibhushan Upadhyay, VicePresident (Projects), Jindal StainlessLimited. Ratan Jindal, Chairmanof Jindal Stainless Limited,Managing Director AbhyudayJindal and other senior officials
from both companies had joined vir-tually during the pact.
Thomas said, “We are commit-ted to sustainable mining and sucha joint initiative will set examplesfor organisations especially in themining industry to collaborate inthe larger interest of mineral con-servation and sustainability. Thesewill redefine the way mining isdone through technology, mineralconservation and safety”.
Commenting on the occasion,Abhyuday Jindal said, “This is a veryunique collaboration where JSL andTSML will derive maximum valuefrom a joint mining effort. This effortwill enhance the availability of ore inthe region without any adverse en-vironmental impact, as it is an al-ready explored area. The move willalso benefit local economy. We are alsocommitted to sustainable miningactivity in the region.”
BIZ BUZZMicrosoft unveils Windows 365 New Delhi: MicrosoftCorporation hasannounced the Windows365 – a cloud service thatintroduces a new way toexperience Windows10/Windows 11 tobusinesses of all sizes.Windows 365 takes theoperating system to theMicrosoft Cloud,streaming the full Windows experience – apps, data, and settings – topersonal or corporate devices. Secure by design and built with the principlesof Zero Trust, Windows 365 secures and stores information in the cloud, noton the device, providing a secure, productive experience for workers frominterns and contractors to software developers and industrial designers.Windows 365 also creates a new hybrid personal computing category calledCloud PC, which uses both the power of the cloud and the capabilities of thedevice to provide a full, personalized Windows experience.
100 premium incense sticks launched in a yearNew Delhi: Prabhu Shree Ram, a premium agarbatti (incense sticks)brand, launched over 100 premium agarbattis in last one year. The newbrand, launched in August 2020, has successfully expanded its market.The brand is easily available across the country. As the brand hasassociated with ‘Aastha’, it added a range of premium perfumes to itsarray of premium products. With an aggressive marketing strategy andmanufacturing of premium quality products, Prabhu Shree Ram isestablishing a strong identity in this segment.
AGENCIES
New Delhi, July 19: Eyewear re-tailer Lenskart Monday announcedit has raised $220 million in freshfunding led by Temasek and FalconEdge Capital, taking its valuationto nearly $2.5 billion. The companyrecently raised $95 million fromglobal investment fund KKR, tak-ing the total transaction size to$315 million to date. The currentround also saw participation fromBay Capital and Chiratae, the com-pany said in a statement.
"We're already the largest eye-wear player in India and in the top3 in Singapore. Lenskart envisions
to have 50 per cent of India wear-ing its specs over the next fiveyears and become the #1 eyewearplatform in Southeast Asia andMiddle East over the next 18 to 24months through organic and in-organic expansion," Founder andCEO Peyush Bansal said.
The company said that freshfunds will help it expand itspresence in India as well asscaling its growing operationsi n S o u t h e a s t A s i a a n d Middle East.
"Lenskart has built a world-class fully backward-integratedomnichannel eyewear retail ex-perience with extreme customer
centricity," Falcon Edge Capital co-Founder and Partner NavrozUdwadia said. The market op-portunity for Lenskart in targetgeographies is expected to be over$15 billion by 2025.
Along with the expansion,Lenskart is also planning to use thecapital to deepen its investments intechnology and AI-driven innova-tions to create a personalised ex-perience for its customers.
Founded in 2010, Lenskart iscurrently serving over seven mil-lion customers annually throughits omni-channel shopping expe-rience with more than 750 omni-channel stores in 175 cities.
Lenskart raises $220mn,now valued at $2.5bn
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
New Delhi, July 19: As many as104 startups from different sectorshave been registered on the StartupIndia Showcase platform, wheremost promising budding startups,chosen through various pro-grammes, are exhibited in the formof virtual profiles, an official state-ment said Monday.
Startup India Showcase is anonline discovery platform for themost promising startups of thecountry. These innovations spanacross various cutting-edge sec-tors such as Fintech,EntrepriseTech, Social Impact,HealthTech and EdTech.
These startups are solving crit-ical problems and have shown ex-ceptional innovation in their re-spective sectors, the commerce andindustry ministry said.
On the platform, each startuphas a profile page with a detailedpitch about their product, inno-vation, and USP in the form ofvideos and PDF links.
This provides unique visibilityto them in front of the entire startupecosystem. The startups act as theflag bearers of good quality ofIndian star tups. All DPIIT(Department for Promotion ofIndustry and Internal Trade)-recog-nised startups under Startup Indiaare eligible to apply for the show-case platform.
An apex committee has beenconstituted by DPIIT for the se-lection of startups for the showcaseplatform. The selection is donefrom the list of applications ofstartups, recommendations fromstates, and any other startup thatthe committee deems fit.
‘104 startups registeredon Startup IndiaShowcase platform’
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sports P12TUESDAY | JULY 20 | 2021 | BHUBANESWAR
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
Colombo, July 19: India’s youngguns will get another opportunityto flaunt their exceptional talent andsecure a series win against a hap-less Sri Lankan outfit in the secondODI here Tuesday.
Skipper Shikhar Dhawan was leftin complete awe at the other end asthe likes of Prithvi Shaw, IshanKishan and Suryakumar Yadavmade batting look ridiculouslyeasy in the first ODI Sunday night.
In the long run, India want to playmore aggressively in the shorter for-mats and the performance of thetrio served as a perfect template inthat context.
Their sensational batting alsoreinforced the might of India’sbench strength with ODI debu-tants Kishan and Yadav bossingthe opposition from ball one. SriLanka bowlers also made it eas-ier for the marauding Indian bat-ters who romped home to the winin the 37th over.
India are unlikely to makechanges as they would like to pocket
the series before giving chancesto other youngsters in the squad.
The only one feeling the heatwould be Manish Pandey, wholaboured to a 40-ball 26 in the seriesopener when others were at theirfluent best.
Shaw, in his comeback game,played breathtaking strokes on theoff-side but missed out on a bigscore. It is something he wouldlike to correct Tuesday.
It was good to see KuldeepChahal and Yuzvendra Chahalbowl in tandem after a long timeand they proved once again thatthey perform better as a pair.With spinners bowling the bulkof the overs, star all-rounderHardik Pandya showed promisein the five overs he bowled.
Senior-most pacer BhuvneshwarKumar did not have the best ofdays but trust him to be back in hiselements in the next game. It willtake a special effort from the strug-gling Sri Lankan side to pull oneback against the rampaging visi-tors.
The inexperienced team showed
it has the talent to compete with theopposition if not win. Most of thebatsmen got starts but could not con-vert. It is something they will haveto fix to test India.
Thanks to ChamikaKarunaratne’s 35-ball 43, Sri Lankawere able to cross 250. He feels histeam can regularly score 300-plusif the batsmen don’t squanderstarts.
“We were trying to play longerinnings - even when I was battingwith Dasun Shanaka in the 42nd or43rd over I asked him if I should gofor some big shots, but he told meto wait until the 45th over.
“If more of our batsmen hadbeen able to bat longer, we couldhave attacked earlier and gone fora bigger score. We do have the abil-ity to get to 300 or 350, and hopefullythat will happen in the next games,”said Karunaratne.
The bowlers too need to raisetheir game significantly to putpressure on the high-quality Indianbatsmen. Both teams might be in-terested in chasing with the slowpitch playing better in the evening.
India aim to stamp authority
BLAST FROM THE PASTWith the Tokyo Olympics approaching, let’s takes a look at
interesting facts and trivia about the Games from its previous editions. Here are some highlights and fun facts
from the 1952, 1956 and 1960 Olympics Games...
OLYMPICS DIARY
TOKYO: The Indian contingentwas largely satisfied with the foodand facilities provided at theOlympic Games Village, but a re-quest has gone out to the IndianEmbassy for 100 plus electric ket-tles to meet the athletes’ require-ment of warm water.
The kettles have not been keptin rooms at the Village.Also, the rooms willbe cleaned every thirdday to minimise theircontact with the house-keeping staff as or-ganisers face a hugetask of staging theGames in COVID-19times.
A major chunk ofthe Indian contingentar rived here onSunday and has spentclose to two days at theVillage. “The request for the ket-tle has come from the athletes.They need to drink warm water inthe morning. We have requestedthe Indian Embassy here and itshould be arranged soon,” India’sDeputy Chef de Mission PremVerma told PTI Monday.
A team official informed PTIthat accommodation is spick andspan but cleaning has not beendone since they checked in Sunday.
On that front, Verma said: “Tominimise contact, Local OrganisingCommittee has advised for clean-
ing every third day but if someonewants to get the room cleaneddaily, they can ask for it. The tow-els can be change from the groundfloor on a daily basis.”
The athletes are being servedfood from all around the world in-cluding India. Indian paddler GSathiyan told PTI that he has had
no issues with the foodand training arrange-ments so far but an-other team official saidthe ‘desi food’ can bea lot better.
However, the teamofficial added: “I wouldadvise the athletes togo for continental orJapanese food. TheIndian food at best isaverage and at timesundercooked. Yourather have the local
food. It is much better and the seafood being served is very fresh.”
Majority of the athletes arebeing handed testing kits daily sothat they can hand over their swabsamples to the IOA officials be-fore leaving for training.
On food arrangements, Vermasaid: “When you come to anothercountry, you should embrace its cul-ture including food. There is noth-ing wrong with the Indian foodbeing served in the dining hallbut one should not compare withwhat we get back home.”
Helsinki Games, 1952
Israel entered the Olympic Gamesfor the first time.
The Soviet Union rejoined theOlympic Games having beenabsent since 1912
A cold-war atmosphere dominatedthe Games as the Soviets set up arival Olympic village for EasternBloc countries.
USSR women gymnasts, who wonthe team competition, began astreak that would continue for 40years until the Soviet Union brokeup into separate republics.
The Helsinki Games marked thereturn of German and Japaneseteams to Olympic competition.East Germany had applied for
participation in the Games but wasdenied, and the German teamconsisted of athletes from WestGermany only.
Czech long-distance runner EmilZatopek won the 5,000m,successfully defended his 10,000mtitle and then took his third goldmedal in his first-ever marathon tocomplete a triple that remainsunique in Olympic history.
Lis Hartel of Denmark, who wasparalysed below the knees,claimed silver in the equestriandressage. She had to be helped onand off her horse.
Lars Hall, a carpenter fromSweden, became the first non-military winner of the modernpentathlon.
Melbourne Games, 1956
Melbourne won the right to hostthe 1956 Olympic Games by onevote over Buenos Aires.
It was the first time that theGames were held in the SouthernHemisphere.
Due to the reversal of seasons, theGames were held in November andDecember.
While most of the athletes traveleddown under for the 1956 Olympics,the horses and riders in theequestrian events did not. Due toAustralia’s strict quarantine rules,the equestrian competitions weremoved to Stockholm, Sweden—nearly 9,700 miles away—and heldfive months before the rest of theGames.
Egypt, Lebanon, and Iraqboycotted the Games in protest ofthe Israeli invasion of the SinaiPeninsula.
The Soviet invasion of Hungaryprovoked protests from numerousWestern countries, and some ofthem, such as Spain, Switzerlandand the Netherlands, withdrewfrom the Games.
People’s Republic of China refusedto participate because of thepresence of the Republic of China(Taiwan).
East and West Germany competedas a single team, a practice thatwould last through the 1964Games.
The US Basketball team put on themost dominant performance inOlympic history, scoring more than
twice as many points as theiropponents and won each of theirgames by at least 30 points.
Athletes entered the stadiumtogether during the closingceremony as a symbol of globalunity rather than in alphabeticalorder by National OlympicCommittees which was thepractice.
The elctric foil was introduced forthe first time in fencing and inswimming, the semi-automatic,digital-display timing deviceappeared.
Rome Games, 1960
Rome finally got its chance tostage the Olympic Games, 54 yearsafter it had to give up hostingrights of the 1908 Games, onfinancial grounds following theviolent eruption of Mount Vesuviusin 1906 which caused widespread
devastation to the city of Naples.
An Olympic Stadium, home to theopening and closing ceremoniesand the track-and-fieldcompetition, and a Sports Palacewere built for the Games, andseveral ancient sites were restoredand used as venues.
The wrestling competition wereheld in the Basilica of Maxentius,an ancient building in the RomanForum, and gymnastics in theCaracalla Baths while themarathon was run along theAppian Way and ended under theArch of Constantine.
Ethiopian runner Abebe Bikila wonthe marathon barefoot, becomingthe first Black African Olympicchampion.
USA’s Cassius Marcellus Clay, laterknown as Muhammad Ali, won thelight-heavyweight gold medal.
In 1958, the IOC made the decisionto adopt the Anthem composed bySpyros Samaras, with words byKostis Palamas, as the officialOlympic Anthem. It was played forthe first time in the 1960 RomeGames.
It was the last Games in whichSouth Africa was allowed toparticipate until 1992 as the IOCcould not tolerate the racistpolicies of the South Africangovernment.
The Games were broadcast live in18 European countries and, withonly a few hours delay, to theUnited States, Canada and Japan.
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
Colombo, July 19: Before goingout to bat in his debut ODI againstSri Lanka, young Ishan Kishan hadannounced in the dressing roomthat he would hit the first ball fora six, irrespective of the bowlerand where the ball would bepitched.
And he did what he had prom-i s ed by h i t t i n g a s i x o f fDhananjaya De Silva, the hometeam’s off-spinner.
Kishan, who celebrated his 23rdbirthday with a smashing 42-ball-59 told teammate YuzvendraChahal on ‘bcci.tv’ that he had afair idea that the surface was notproviding enough assistance tothe slow bowlers.
“I kept (wickets) for 50 oversand understood that the track did-n’t have much help for the spin-ners. So I was determined thatwherever the bowler pitches, Iwould hit him for a six. I had toldthat to everyone in the dressingroom before going out to bat,”Kishan said.
When asked why he was look-ing to hit every ball out of sightduring the initial phase, theJharkhand keeper-batter said thatit was the confidence that he hadgained while batting in the netsin the run-up to the series.
“Practice is very importantand I was in good touch duringthe net sessions. The pitch onwhich we practised, was also ofsimilar nature. So since I wasconnecting well, I didn’t haveto do anything different. Just
execute it in match situation.No change in game-plan. If Ihave a ball in my radar, I will hitit,” Kishan said.
He also said that getting theIndia cap from skipper ShikharDhawan indeed was a special mo-ment. “There can’t be a proudermoment than receiving your Indiacap. I was cherishing it and allmy friends in the team also wantedthat I get the cap.
“It was a special feeling whenmy teammates shook hands. Alsoyou know your family is alsowatching and it’s a big occasionfor them,” Kishan said.
Determined to hit 1st ball for 6: Ishan
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
Durham, July 19: MayankAgarwal’s fight to reclaim his placein Indian Test eleven starts onTuesday when he walks out to openin a three-day game against ‘CountySelect XI’, starting here tomorrowas best friend KL Rahul gears up tokeep wickets in Rishabh Pant’s ab-sence.
The match has been accordedfirst-class status, a first for India inmany years since MS Dhoni tookover captain. The Jharkhand dasherbelieved that an ‘official match’robbed all players from gettingsome game time.
However, the team managementwanted a proper first-class game toget into the groove before the startof the Test series next month.
According to BCCI sources, Pant,who had tested positive for COVID-19, has completed his stipulated 10-day isolation in an acquaintance’splace in London and is “recoveringwell” but he is yet to join the teambubble here.
“Even if Pant would have reachedin time for the practice game, hewould have been given adequaterest to get back in peak physical con-dition. He has been asymptomaticbut would need to train well aheadof the first Test in Nottingham,” asenior BCCI official told this agencyon conditions of anonymity.
“In any case both Pant andWriddhiman, who is isolated as a
precautionary measure will beavailable for first Test.” As it hadbeen reported earlier, KL Rahul,who has been doing keeping drills,will don the big gloves for the game.
However, it will be Mayank, whoseform will be closely monitored bythe team management as he is likelyto partner Rohit Sharma in the firstTest after Shubman Gill was ruledout of the series with shin splints.
Mayank hasn’t been in best offorms in Australia and had lost hisplace to Rohit, who missed the firsttwo Tests ‘Down Under’ due to quar-antine rules post hamstring injurybreak.
While Rahul has also scored bulkof his 2000 runs opening the in-nings, it is understood that he isbeing considered as a middle-orderbatsman and may be used later inthe series in case one of the seniorbatters (read Ajinkya Rahane) don’tget back to form.
Against a team comprising mostlyof youngsters, with only JamesBracey being a current Englandinternational, India might just tryboth Rahul and Mayank if they geta second innings. The match beinga three-day affair, the probability ofthat isn’t high.
In bowling de par tment,Mohammed Siraj will like to givea good account of himself andJasprit Bumrah wouldn’t mind get-ting a few wickets under his belt justlike Ravichandran Ashwin did lastweek for Surrey.
Warm-up game: Eyeson ‘opener’ Mayank
Flawless Morikawa wins British Open golfASSOCIATED PRESS
Sandwich (England), July 19:Collin Morikawa was making oneof the most satisfying walks ingolf, down the 18th fairway as asoon-to-be British Open champion,when he looked up at the hugegrandstand surrounding the green.
It was filled with spectators, whofirstly were applauding and soongiving a standing ovation to a 24-year-old American making a his-toric start to his major champi-onship career.
So different to 11 months ago,when Morikawa won his first major— the PGA Championship — atan empty venue.
“I hope the thing is off the table,”Morikawa said, “that I can playwith fans and I can play well on aSunday.” Fans. No fans. Parkland.Now even links. Morikawa is the
real deal, make no mistake.The mature-beyond-his-years
Californian closed with a bogey-free,4-under 66 at Royal St George's andwon the British Open in his debutSunday, becoming the first playerto capture two different majors onthe first attempt.
And this time there was a crowd,at 32,000 the biggest since golf re-turned following the coronavirusoutbreak.
After tapping in for par to winby two shots over Jordan Spieth, hegave a fist pump before applaudingthe spectators. Before long, he wasbeing handed the claret jug thatso many go their entire careerwithout winning. He gazed ador-ingly at it, then thrust it into the airand gave it a kiss.
People were seeing a young playeralready halfway to the career GrandSlam after eight starts, the first
since Bobby Jones in 1926 to win twomajors in so few appearances. Hefollows Gene Sarazen, Jones, JackNicklaus, Seve Ballesteros, TigerWoods, Rory McIlroy and Spieth inwinning multiple majors beforeturning 25.
His total of 15-under 265 was a72-hole record in 15 British Opensat Royal St George’s. In 13 of them,the winning score has been 5 underor lower. “When you make his-tory,” he said, “it’s hard to grasp,it’s hard to really take it in... At 24years old, it’s so hard to look backat the two short years that I havebeen a pro and see what I’ve donebecause I want more.”
He did it with style amid im-maculate weather on the links offSandwich Bay, flushing shots withhis irons and getting up-and-downon the rare occasions he foundtrouble. He called his putting dis-play one of the best of his short ca-reer, turning a statistical weak-ness into strength.
He completed a feat achieved byBen Curtis on the same course in2003, winning golf ’s oldest cham-pionship in his links debut.
Mixed reviews for Indian food; hot water needed
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
Nicholasville (US), July 19:Olympic-bound Indian golferAnirban Lahiri fired a stellar seven-under 65 to finish tied third at theBarbasol Championship here for hisbest result of the season, a timelyboost ahead of the Tokyo Games.
Lahiri, 34, made eight birdies, in-cluding four over his closing fiveholes, at Keene Trace Golf Clubhere Sunday to end his week on 20-under 268, one stroke behind theplayoff duo of Seamus Power andJT Poston. Ireland’s Power went onto earn his first PGA TOUR title fol-lowing a six-hole playoff.
It was a welcome return to formfor Lahiri. His third career top-three finish on the PGA TOURmoved him up from 129th to 108thon the FedExCup standings.
Lahiri finishesT3 at Barbasol
