8UL W\SH VWULNH RQ $UP\ FDPS IRLOHG - Daily Pioneer

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T he Supreme Court on Thursday observed that promises by political parties to grant irrational freebies during the poll process is a “serious issue” but ruled out the possi- bility of considering a plea for de-recognising parties for mak- ing promises to give freebies. Asking stakeholders to give suggestions on this aspect before August 17, a Bench comprising Chief Justice NV Ramana and Justice Krishna Murari said the idea to de- recognise political parties for making promises to give irra- tional freebies during the polls was “undemocratic”. “I do not want to enter the area of de-registering a politi- cal party etc. As it is an unde- mocratic idea.We are a democ- racy after all,” the CJI said, adding the issue of promise to grant irrational freebies during the poll process is a “serious” one but he will not encroach into the legislative domain even if there was a statutory vacuum on the matter. “You can call me reluctant or conservative but I do not want to encroach upon the leg- islative domain...I am a strict orthodox. I do not want to encroach on the areas meant for the legislature. It is not an easy thing. Let us hear others also,” the Bench said. The CJI, who is demitting office on August 26, said some suggestions have been made by senior lawyers and asked the remaining parties to do the needful before his retirement and fixed the case for further hearing on August 17. “Freebies and social wel- fare scheme are different...Economy losing the money and the welfare of peo- ple, both have to be balanced and that is why, this debate. Please submit something before my retirement,” the CJI said. The top court was hearing a PIL filed by lawyer and BJP leader Ashwini Upadhyay, which opposes the practice of political parties promising freebies during elections and seeks the Election Commission to invoke its powers to freeze their election symbols and can- cel their registration. D elhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and the BJP were engaged in a bitter war of words on Thursday over the ongoing debate on the issue of so-called freebies being promised by political parties to influence voters ahead of elec- tions. Kejriwal hit out at the Centre and said that taxpayers are betrayed when their tax money is used to waive off loans of “rich friends”. Kejriwal claimed that the Centre waived Rs 10 lakh crore of loans and Rs 5 lakh crore of taxes of super rich people and their compa- nies. “There seems to be some- thing wrong with the Centre’s finances the way it is “strong- ly opposing” free facilities for people,” Kejriwal added. On the other hand, in a blistering attack on Kejriwal the BJP claimed that while the Central Government’s welfare policies empowered different deprived sections of society with targeted schemes, some parties like the AAP engage in ‘revadi’ culture by dishing out freebies to everyone for polit- ical gains. “Revadi culture is about dishing out lollipops for polit- ical gains and it makes no transformation to people’s lives. It misuses taxpayers’ money with the rich benefiting at the cost of the poor,” said the BJP. At an online briefing, cit- ing the Agnipath Defence recruitment scheme, reduc- tion in States’ share in central taxes from 42 per cent to 29 per cent, Goods and Services Tax (GST) imposed on food items and 25 per cent cut in MNREGA fund, Kejriwal asked where all the money was going? A lert troops of the Indian Army foiled a repeat of the 2016 Uri attack, gunning down two heavily-armed terrorists, as they attempted to storm a well- fortified Army post at Pargal in Darhal area of Rajouri in the early hours of Thursday. At least three soldiers of the Indian Army were killed while repuls- ing the terror attack during a three-hour-long gunfight. Three soldiers, including one senior Army officer, who received grievous injuries dur- ing the exchange of fire, were undergoing treatment, but one of them succumbed later, tak- ing the Army’s toll to four. The slain militants are sus- pected to be the members of the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) fidayeen squad. The two-member suicide squad, sporting combat dress- es, lobbed grenades and opened indiscriminate firing in a bid to storm the Army camp around 3.00 A.M. The terrorists want- ed to recreate the Uri garrison attack of 2016 and inflict max- imum fatalities. However, the alert sentries foiled the terror attack while suffering collater- al damage. The Pargal Army post, located 25 kms away from the Line of Control, acted as an active base of an Army unit deployed in the forward area. The post accommodated a large number of soldiers in the remote area and was well- guarded by several sentry posi- tions and barbed wire fencing. This is the first major ter- ror strike on an Army installa- tion in Jammu region since October 2021. A total number of nine sol- diers including two JCO’s were martyred in the thickly-forest- ed area of Dera Ki Gali and Nar Khas in the Mendhar tehsil of Poonch between October 11- October 16. Another fidayeen attack was foiled in the Sunjwan area of Jammu ahead of the visit of Prime Minister on April 22 this year. Preliminary reports sug- gested that the attack was car- ried out by a well-entrenched module of the terror outfit as a few locals had spotted suspi- cious movement of non-locals in the area two days ago. Following general alert, ahead of the Independence Day cel- ebrations, the cordon and search operations were launched to maintain a high degree of alertness. According to a Jammu based Defence PRO Lt-Col Devender Anand, “In the early hours on Thursday, alert sen- tries of the Indian Army post at Pargal, in Rajouri district detected suspicious persons approaching their post taking advantage of the inclement weather and dense foliage” He said the sentries chal- lenged the two terrorists who lobbed grenades while attempt- ing to gain entry inside the post. I n a second major blow to the ruling Trinamool Congress in a matter of three weeks, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday arrested party strongman and its national executive member Anubrata Mondal in a cattle smuggling case. Mondal, a senior leader and Birbhum district presi- dent, evaded 10 out of 11 CBI summons and was arrested by the central agency in an early morning swoop in his Bolpur residence in Birbhum district. Mondal’s residence is bare- ly a mile away from the icon- ic Shantiniketan-Viswa Bharati of Rabindranath Tagore. While his lawyers would not pray for bail, the TMC leader was remanded to 10 days CBI custody by a special court at Asansol. Mondal’s arrest comes three weeks after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested senior Bengal Minister and party secretary general Partha Chatterjee and his close aide Arpita Mukherjee on money laun- dering charges connected to the school-level recruitment scam. D elhi Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena on Thursday ordered registration of First Information Report (FIR) against eleven former Delhi Development Authority (DDA) officials, including then Member (Finance) and Member (Engineering), over alleged financial misappropri- ation and violation of norms in a 2013 case. The LG, the DDA chair- man, also ordered “permanent withdrawal of full pension” of nine retired officials. The nine retired officials include a chief engineer, a superintendent engineer and an executive engi- neer while the others were employed in the finance and accounts departments. In a statement, the Raj Niwas said, “Lt Governor VK Saxena in his capacity as DDA chairman has ordered that an FIR be registered against the then member (finance) and the then member (engineer- ing) of DDA, apart from nine other officials in a 2013 case of blatant financial misappropri- ation and violation of codal formalities, Central Public Works Department Works Manual.” “I am of the considered view that the entire sequence of events amounts to criminal breach of trust and the angle of corruption cannot be ruled out. Hence, it is directed to register FIR in this case against all concerned, including incumbent Supervisory Officers, viz Abhai Kumar Sinha EM, DDA and Venkatesh Mohan, EM, DDA within 15 days,” the LG said in his order. A fter China blocked a move at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to designate Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) deputy chief Abdul Rauf Azhar as a “global terrorist,” India on Thursday hit back say- ing it exposed Beijing’s “dou- ble speak” and “double stan- dards” in the fight against ter- rorism. It was the second time in last few weeks, China blocked such a move. The Indian condemnation came a day after a joint bid by India and the US to blacklist Abdul Rauf, the younger broth- er of JeM founder Masood Azhar, was blocked by China by placing a “technical hold” on the proposal. Beijing said more time was needed to study the issue. All other 14 mem- bers of the UNSC supported the Indian move. “It is unfor- tunate that the sanctions committee has been prevented from playing its role due to political considerations. China’s action exposes its dou- ble standards when it comes to the international communi- ty’s shared battle against ter- rorism,” said Government sources. T he Income Tax Department has seized “benami” prop- erty or “unaccounted” assets worth an estimated 390 crore during searches at multiple locations linked to some busi- ness groups in Jalna district of Maharashtra for tax evasion. The seized assets included 56 crore in cash and 32 kilo- grams of gold, pearls and dia- monds worth 14 crore, offi- cials said. The searches were done between August 1 and 8 at the residential and offi- cial premises of func- tionaries of the two groups engaged in steel, clothing and real estate business. The searches also yield- ed property documents and digital data to be scruti- nised for further action, a reason why the agency has not identified the business groups covered in the search operation. A no confidence motion against Bihar Asembly Speaker Vijay Kumar Sinha (BJP), who has refused to quit despite a change of Government, has delayed the convening of the Assembly session for a vote. A no confidence motion signed by several legislators of the Grand Alliance was submitted to the Assembly Secretariat on Wednesday. In the first Cabinet meeting after taking oath on Wednesday, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his deputy, Tejashwi Yadav, decided to con- vene the Bihar Assembly session on August 24 to seek a vote. The no confidence motion could be taken up only after 14 days from the date it was served on. He said it will be taken first on the day the House convenes. K nown for his thrilling action scenes in commer- cial blockbusters, superstar Salman Khan, popularly known as “Bhaijaan,” spent a day with the crew of the front- line warship INS Visakhapatnam. He danced and performed some physical fitness drills with the sailors and officers in a tribute to the valiant soldiers. Taking time off from his hectic schedule recently, the superstar also engaged in group activities like a game of tug of war besides cooking food in the kitchen of the state-of-the- art destroyer in Mumbai. The social media went abuzz with photographs of Salman Khan performing one hand pushups and carrying out dumbbell curls with the officers and sailors. He also signed autographs and waved the Indian flag. The Naval crew looked quite ecstatic to have him on board. They hoisted the Indian flag together with the actor. It is the second time the superstar visited a warship. In 2014, Salman Khan spent Independence Day with the naval officers in Goa. Talking about his love for the armed forces, he even played the role of a naval offi- cer in his movie “Bharat” in which he starred opposite Katrina Kaif. Amongst the largest destroyers built in India, INS Visakhapatnam has an overall length of 164 metre and dis- placement of over 7,500 tonne. Kolkata: In a sudden devel- opment the Enforcement Directorate investigating the multi-crore coal scam has summoned 8 senior IPS offi- cers to Delhi between August 22 and 31. Detailed story on P4

Transcript of 8UL W\SH VWULNH RQ $UP\ FDPS IRLOHG - Daily Pioneer

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The Supreme Court onThursday observed that

promises by political parties togrant irrational freebies duringthe poll process is a “seriousissue” but ruled out the possi-bility of considering a plea forde-recognising parties for mak-ing promises to give freebies.

Asking stakeholders to givesuggestions on this aspectbefore August 17, a Benchcomprising Chief Justice NVRamana and Justice KrishnaMurari said the idea to de-recognise political parties formaking promises to give irra-tional freebies during the pollswas “undemocratic”.

“I do not want to enter thearea of de-registering a politi-cal party etc. As it is an unde-mocratic idea.We are a democ-racy after all,” the CJI said,adding the issue of promise togrant irrational freebies duringthe poll process is a “serious”one but he will not encroachinto the legislative domaineven if there was a statutoryvacuum on the matter.

“You can call me reluctant

or conservative but I do notwant to encroach upon the leg-islative domain...I am a strictorthodox. I do not want toencroach on the areas meantfor the legislature. It is not aneasy thing. Let us hear othersalso,” the Bench said.

The CJI, who is demittingoffice on August 26, said somesuggestions have been made bysenior lawyers and asked theremaining parties to do theneedful before his retirementand fixed the case for furtherhearing on August 17.

“Freebies and social wel-fare scheme aredifferent...Economy losing themoney and the welfare of peo-ple, both have to be balancedand that is why, this debate.Please submit somethingbefore my retirement,” the CJIsaid.

The top court was hearinga PIL filed by lawyer and BJPleader Ashwini Upadhyay,which opposes the practice ofpolitical parties promisingfreebies during elections andseeks the Election Commissionto invoke its powers to freezetheir election symbols and can-cel their registration.

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Delhi Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal and the BJP were

engaged in a bitter war ofwords on Thursday over theongoing debate on the issue ofso-called freebies beingpromised by political parties toinfluence voters ahead of elec-tions.

Kejriwal hit out at theCentre and said that taxpayersare betrayed when their taxmoney is used to waive offloans of “rich friends”. Kejriwalclaimed that the Centre waivedRs 10 lakh crore of loans andRs 5 lakh crore of taxes of superrich people and their compa-nies.

“There seems to be some-thing wrong with the Centre’sfinances the way it is “strong-ly opposing” free facilities forpeople,” Kejriwal added.

On the other hand, in ablistering attack on Kejriwal

the BJP claimed that while theCentral Government’s welfarepolicies empowered differentdeprived sections of societywith targeted schemes, someparties like the AAP engage in‘revadi’ culture by dishing outfreebies to everyone for polit-ical gains.

“Revadi culture is aboutdishing out lollipops for polit-ical gains and it makes notransformation to people’slives. It misuses taxpayers’money with the rich benefitingat the cost of the poor,” said the BJP.

At an online briefing, cit-ing the Agnipath Defencerecruitment scheme, reduc-tion in States’ share in centraltaxes from 42 per cent to 29per cent, Goods and ServicesTax (GST) imposed on fooditems and 25 per cent cut inMNREGA fund, Kejriwalasked where all the moneywas going?

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Alert troops of the IndianArmy foiled a repeat of the

2016 Uri attack, gunning downtwo heavily-armed terrorists, asthey attempted to storm a well-fortified Army post at Pargal inDarhal area of Rajouri in theearly hours of Thursday. Atleast three soldiers of the IndianArmy were killed while repuls-ing the terror attack during athree-hour-long gunfight.

Three soldiers, includingone senior Army officer, whoreceived grievous injuries dur-ing the exchange of fire, wereundergoing treatment, but oneof them succumbed later, tak-ing the Army’s toll to four.

The slain militants are sus-pected to be the members ofthe Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM)fidayeen squad.

The two-member suicidesquad, sporting combat dress-es, lobbed grenades and openedindiscriminate firing in a bid tostorm the Army camp around3.00 A.M. The terrorists want-ed to recreate the Uri garrisonattack of 2016 and inflict max-imum fatalities. However, thealert sentries foiled the terrorattack while suffering collater-al damage.

The Pargal Army post,

located 25 kms away from theLine of Control, acted as anactive base of an Army unitdeployed in the forward area.The post accommodated alarge number of soldiers in theremote area and was well-guarded by several sentry posi-tions and barbed wire fencing.

This is the first major ter-ror strike on an Army installa-tion in Jammu region sinceOctober 2021.

A total number of nine sol-diers including two JCO’s weremartyred in the thickly-forest-ed area of Dera Ki Gali and NarKhas in the Mendhar tehsil ofPoonch between October 11-October 16. Another fidayeenattack was foiled in theSunjwan area of Jammu aheadof the visit of Prime Minister onApril 22 this year.

Preliminary reports sug-gested that the attack was car-

ried out by a well-entrenchedmodule of the terror outfit asa few locals had spotted suspi-cious movement of non-localsin the area two days ago.Following general alert, aheadof the Independence Day cel-ebrations, the cordon andsearch operations werelaunched to maintain a highdegree of alertness.

According to a Jammubased Defence PRO Lt-ColDevender Anand, “In the earlyhours on Thursday, alert sen-tries of the Indian Army postat Pargal, in Rajouri districtdetected suspicious personsapproaching their post takingadvantage of the inclementweather and dense foliage”

He said the sentries chal-lenged the two terrorists wholobbed grenades while attempt-ing to gain entry inside thepost.

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In a second major blow to theruling Trinamool Congress

in a matter of three weeks, theCentral Bureau of Investigation(CBI) on Thursday arrestedparty strongman and itsnational executive memberAnubrata Mondal in a cattlesmuggling case.

Mondal, a senior leaderand Birbhum district presi-dent, evaded 10 out of 11 CBIsummons and was arrested bythe central agency in an earlymorning swoop in his Bolpurresidence in Birbhum district.

Mondal’s residence is bare-ly a mile away from the icon-ic Shantiniketan-Viswa Bharatiof Rabindranath Tagore.

While his lawyers wouldnot pray for bail, the TMCleader was remanded to 10days CBI custody by a specialcourt at Asansol.

Mondal’s arrest comesthree weeks after theEnforcement Directorate (ED)arrested senior BengalMinister and party secretarygeneral Partha Chatterjee andhis close aide ArpitaMukherjee on money laun-dering charges connected tothe school-level recruitmentscam.

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Delhi Lieutenant GovernorVinai Kumar Saxena on

Thursday ordered registrationof First Information Report(FIR) against eleven formerDelhi Development Authority(DDA) officials, including thenMember (Finance) andMember (Engineering), overalleged financial misappropri-ation and violation of norms ina 2013 case.

The LG, the DDA chair-man, also ordered “permanentwithdrawal of full pension” ofnine retired officials. The nineretired officials include a chiefengineer, a superintendentengineer and an executive engi-neer while the others wereemployed in the finance andaccounts departments.

In a statement, the RajNiwas said, “Lt Governor VK

Saxena in his capacity as DDAchairman has ordered that anFIR be registered against thethen member (finance) andthe then member (engineer-ing) of DDA, apart from nineother officials in a 2013 case ofblatant financial misappropri-ation and violation of codalformalities, Central PublicWorks Department WorksManual.”

“I am of the consideredview that the entire sequenceof events amounts to criminalbreach of trust and the angleof corruption cannot be ruledout. Hence, it is directed toregister FIR in this case againstall concerned, includingincumbent SupervisoryOfficers, viz Abhai KumarSinha EM, DDA andVenkatesh Mohan, EM, DDAwithin 15 days,” the LG said inhis order.

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After China blocked a moveat the United Nations

Security Council (UNSC) todesignate Jaish-e-Mohammed(JeM) deputy chief Abdul RaufAzhar as a “global terrorist,”India on Thursday hit back say-ing it exposed Beijing’s “dou-ble speak” and “double stan-dards” in the fight against ter-rorism. It was the second timein last few weeks, Chinablocked such a move.

The Indian condemnationcame a day after a joint bid byIndia and the US to blacklistAbdul Rauf, the younger broth-er of JeM founder MasoodAzhar, was blocked by Chinaby placing a “technical hold”on the proposal. Beijing saidmore time was needed to studythe issue. All other 14 mem-bers of the UNSC supportedthe Indian move. “It is unfor-tunate that the sanctions

committee has been preventedfrom playing its role due topolitical considerations.China’s action exposes its dou-ble standards when it comes tothe international communi-ty’s shared battle against ter-rorism,” said Governmentsources.

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The Income Tax Departmenthas seized “benami” prop-

erty or “unaccounted” assetsworth an estimated �390 croreduring searches at multiplelocations linked to some busi-ness groups in Jalna district ofMaharashtra for tax evasion.

The seized assets included�56 crore in cash and 32 kilo-grams of gold, pearls and dia-monds worth �14 crore, offi-cials said. The searches weredone between August 1 and8 at the residential and offi-cia l premises of func-tionaries of the two groupsengaged in steel, clothingand real estate business.

The searches also yield-ed property documents anddigital data to be scruti-nised for further action, areason why the agency hasnot identified the businessgroups covered in the searchoperation.

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Ano confidence motionagainst Bihar Asembly

Speaker Vijay Kumar Sinha(BJP), who has refused to quitdespite a change of Government,has delayed the convening of theAssembly session for a vote. Ano confidence motion signed byseveral legislators of the GrandAlliance was submitted to theAssembly Secretariat on Wednesday. In the first Cabinetmeeting after taking oath onWednesday, Chief MinisterNitish Kumar and his deputy,Tejashwi Yadav, decided to con-vene the Bihar Assembly sessionon August 24 to seek a vote. Theno confidence motion could betaken up only after 14 days fromthe date it was served on. He saidit will be taken first on the daythe House convenes.

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Known for his thrillingaction scenes in commer-

cial blockbusters, superstarSalman Khan, popularlyknown as “Bhaijaan,” spent aday with the crew of the front-line warship INSVisakhapatnam. He dancedand performed some physicalfitness drills with the sailorsand officers in a tribute to thevaliant soldiers.

Taking time off from hishectic schedule recently, thesuperstar also engaged in groupactivities like a game of tug ofwar besides cooking food inthe kitchen of the state-of-the-art destroyer in Mumbai.

The social media wentabuzz with photographs ofSalman Khan performing onehand pushups and carryingout dumbbell curls with the

officers and sailors. He alsosigned autographs and wavedthe Indian flag.

The Naval crew lookedquite ecstatic to have him onboard. They hoisted theIndian flag together with theactor.

It is the second time thesuperstar visited a warship. In2014, Salman Khan spentIndependence Day with the

naval officers in Goa.Talking about his love for

the armed forces, he evenplayed the role of a naval offi-cer in his movie “Bharat” inwhich he starred oppositeKatrina Kaif.

Amongst the largestdestroyers built in India, INSVisakhapatnam has an overalllength of 164 metre and dis-placement of over 7,500 tonne.

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+����������,�-���������������������������Kolkata: In a sudden devel-opment the EnforcementDirectorate investigating themulti-crore coal scam hassummoned 8 senior IPS offi-cers to Delhi between August22 and 31.

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PNS JAMSHEDPUR

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PNS RANCHI

PNS JAMSHEDPUR

M FAIYAZ AHMAD DALTONGANJ

AVINASH ANJAN HAZARIBAG

jharkhand 02RANCHI | FRIDAY | AUGUST 12 , 2022

PNS RANCHI

PNS HAZARIBAG

BSF celebrates Rakhi with Inner Wheel members, school girls

SHAILESH SHARMA HAZARIBAG

Newly constructed agriculture market still waiting settlement

PNS HAZARIBAGHCDSH Dental College becomes first Conscious Sedation center

PANKAJ KUMAR DHANBADParents up in arms against realisation of education extension fee

Independence Day parade rehearsals begin

Continuous rains inRanchi for last 3 days

PNS RANCHI

PNS RANCHI

PNS RANCHI Tiranga yatra on tractors

jharkhand 03RANCHI | FRIDAY | AUGUST 12 , 2022

Rakshabandhan celebrations at SBPS

CMPDI distributes Tricolours among citizens

PNS RANCHIRanchi DLSA Secy assures every possible help to destitute women

NEWS IN PIX

A damaged vehicle after a tree fell on it, due to heavy monsoon rains at Rajendra Chowk in Ranchi on Thursday. Pix by Vinay Murmu

State BJP President cum Rajya Sabha MP Deepak Prakash, Ranchi MLA CP Singh alongwith party workers participate in a ‘Tractor Tiranga rally’ahead of the Independence Day at Birsa Chowk in Ranchi on Thursday. Pix by Vinay Murmu

Ranchi Senior SP Kishor Kaushal celebrates Rakhi with kids during Raksha Bandhan festival in Ranchi on Thursday. Pix by Vinay Murmu

Swarnrekha River overflows near Ranchi after heavy monsoon rains on Thursday. Pix by Vinay Murmu

Farmers busy at their field for paddy plantation during monsoon rains, near Ranchi on Thurs-day. PNS

PNS RANCHI

Ranchi DLSA Secretary, Rakesh Ranjan talks to a destitute woman in Ranchi. PNS

Assistant Police Personnel. (File Photo)

Pratul Shahdeo

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Prime Minister NarendraModi on Thursday cele-

brated Raksha Bandhan andthe 'Har Ghar Tiranga' cam-paign with children at his offi-cial residence to usher in the75th anniversary of India'sIndependence.

It was “special” occasionsince the young girls were thedaughters of sweepers, peons,gardeners, drivers, and otherhelpers who work at the PrimeMinister's Office (PMO). Thelittle girls tied "rakhis" on hiswrist.

Later, the PM gave a tri-colour to each of the girls andwaved the flag along withthem. Slogans of 'Bharat MataKi Jai' and 'Vande Mataram'were also raised by the chil-dren. The Prime Minister wasalso seen interacting with thechildren and discussing howthe country was celebrating the75th anniversary ofIndependence this year. Hediscussed the colours of thenational flag and urged all thechildren to put up the Tirangaat their residence on August 15.

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Jagdeep Dhankhar was onThursday sworn in as the

14th Vice President of India.President Droupadi Murmuadministered the oath toDhankhar (71) during a briefceremony at the RashtrapatiBhavan. Dhankhar took theoath in Hindi in the name ofgod. "Bahut-bahut badhai(many congratulations),"Murmu said after Dhankharsigned the register of oath.

Before the swearing-in, theElection Commission's certifi-cation of election issued toDhankhar was read out. PrimeMinister Narendra Modi,Dhankhar's predecessor MVenkaiah Naidu, former pres-ident Ram Nath Kovind, for-mer vice president M HamidAnsari, and Union ministersRajnath Singh, Amit Shah,Nirmala Sitharaman and NitinGadkari were among the dig-nitaries present on the occa-sion. In the morning,

Dhankhar paid tributes at RajGhat, the memorial ofMahatma Gandhi. "Felt blessed,inspired and motivated to beever in service of Bharat inserene sublimity of Raj Ghatwhile paying respects to pujyaBapu," he tweeted then.Dhankhar's reemergence inthe political scene in 2019 as

West Bengal governor sur-prised many, so has his rise tothe office of the Vice Presidentof India. Dhankhar wasdeclared elected as the VicePresident on Saturday after hebagged 528 votes against hisrival candidate Margaret Alva's182. A man of many interests,his long legal career at the

Rajasthan High Court and theSupreme Court and a brief stintas the junior parliamentaryaffairs minister at the Centrewill come in handy as he pre-sides over Rajya Sabha as itschairman. Dhankhar, who hadbeen associated with the JanataDal and the Congress, joinedthe BJP only in 2008 after a hia-tus of nearly a decade.

BJP has describedDhankhar as a "kisan putra"while announcing his candi-dature for the vice presidentialelection, a move seen in polit-ical circles as aimed at reach-ing out to the politically sig-nificant Jat community whichhad participated in huge num-bers in the year-long farmers'protests on the borders of thenational capital against agri-culture reform measuresunveiled in June 2020.

In his initial journey as apolitician, Dhankhar was influ-enced by Devi Lal and later,shifted to the Congress duringthe tenure of Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao.

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Union Civil AviationMinister Jyotiraditya

Scindia on Thursday ordered aprobe into an incident of body-builder Bobby Kataria smokingon a SpiceJet flight.

A viral video clip on socialmedia showed Kataria, who has6.3 lakh Instagram followers,smoking a cigarette in one ofthe SpiceJet plane's middlerows.

Passengers are not allowedto take lighter in the plane.Passengers are also not allowedto smoke in the plane. SpiceJetconfirmed that the video is oldand was brought to their atten-

tion in January 2022, notingthat proper action was takenagainst Bobby at the time.After investigation, the airlinehad put the passenger on "noflying list" for 15 days inFebruary, it said. The incidentoccurred aboard a SpiceJetSG706 aircraft coming fromDubai to Delhi.

As per the DirectorateGeneral of Civil Aviation(DGCA) norms, an airline hasthe power to ban an "unruly"passenger for a certain periodof time if he or she violates anyrules. When the video of thisincident was posted on Twitteron Thursday, Scindia respond-ed: "Investigating it. There will

be no tolerance towards suchhazardous behaviour." In astatement, SpiceJet said: "Thisis with reference to a video onsocial media of a passengersmoking onboard a SpiceJetaircraft.

The matter had been inves-tigated thoroughly in January2022 when the video wasbrought to our notice and acomplaint had been filed by theairline with the Udyog ViharPolice Station in Gurugram."

The video, the investigationhad revealed, was shot onJanuary 20, 2022 while pas-sengers were boarding flight SG706 scheduled to fly fromDubai to Delhi, it said.

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Siblings Rahul Gandhi andPriyanka Gandhi posted a

montage of pictures on RakshaBandhan on Thursday, theimages revealing their closebond right from their growingup years to their political pre-sent as Congress leaders.

The former Congress pres-ident and party general secre-tary Priyanka Gandhi Vadrawished people on the festival."Me and my sister @priyanka-gandhi have been together sincechildhood, have seen many

ups and downs in life togetherand always gave courage andstrength to each other. Today,on day of Rakhi, I wish that thelove between every brotherand sister remains forever,"Rahul said on Instagram, shar-ing pictures from their child-hood and recent times.

In a warm display of broth-er-sister love, he also posted pic-tures of Priyanka and him onTwitter. The pictures also fea-tured their grandmother IndiraGandhi and their father RajivGandhi, both former PMS,with them as children.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi has , which drove him

to join a political party that hadlittle presence in his State ofAndhra Pradesh, saying his"energy is infectious".

In a three-page farewell let-ter to Naidu, whose term as theVice President ended onWednesday, the Prime Ministersaid, "Your energy is infectious.It can be seen in your wit andwisdom. Your one-liners arewidely admired. Articulationhas always been among yourgreatest strengths." RecallingNaidu's strengths, Modi saidfrom the small lanes of Nelloreto the vice-presidency, yours

has been an outstanding andinspiring journey. Referring tohis chairmanship of RajyaSabha, Modi said Naidu hasalways been a "stickler for par-liamentary discipline and tra-ditions". "I know of your per-sonal anguish and discomfortwhenever there were unseem-ly disruptions or the dignity ofthe Parliament was lowered in

any manner. Whenever youspoke about it, there was deeppain in your voice, conveyingyour worry for the long-termfuture of our nation and thevibrancy of the Parliament,"Modi wrote in the letteraddressed to Naidu asVenkaiah 'garu'.

The prime minister said asthe chairman of Rajya Sabha,Naidu presided over the Housewith brilliance. The success ofyour approach is evident in therecord rise in the Rajya Sabha'sproductivity during your yearsas the Chairman, Modi point-ed out."In the five years goneby, several historic bills havebeen passed and you will cer-tainly look back at them withsatisfaction.

I am sure the legislationson Articles 370 and 35(A)(relating to abrogation of cer-tain sections of Article 370),which were first tabled in theRajya Sabha, would have madeyou very proud," he said.

Recalling Naidu's tenure inthe BJP organisation, the primeminister said it has also beenmemorable. "Needless to say,the interest you took in organ-isational matters energisedevery karyakarta (worker).

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The Central VigilanceCommission (CVC) has

drastically brought down thependency of disciplinary mat-ters against CentralGovernment employees andcarried out an exercise to reviewpending cases so as to ensurethat all cases reach a logical endwithin a reasonable time.

This was conveyed by

Central VigilanceCommissioner Suresh N Pateland vigilance commissionersArvind Kumar and PraveenKumar Srivastava when theycalled on Union Minister forPersonnel Jitendra Singh onThursday.

Citing figures, Patelinformed Singh that the pen-dency of 2,099 disciplinarymatters for the period prior toDecember 2018 had been

reduced to 227 by June 30, 2022due to a special campaign ini-tiated by the commission in2020, an official release said.Similarly, overall outstandingdisciplinary matters which onan average as on December2019 used to be around 5,000at a given point of time hascome down drastically in therange of 1,700 now due tocooperation of the authoritiesat different levels, it said.

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The CBI has registered afresh case in connection

with the corruption in the WestBengal Central School ServiceCommission againstHeadmistress of Birpara GirlsHigh School, Alipurduar andunknown officials of the WestBengal Central School ServiceCommission (WBCSSC).

The case has been registeredunder Indian Penal Code sec-tions relating to criminal con-spiracy, cheating, offences relat-ing to public servants beingbribed and Prevention ofCorruption Act relating to crim-inal misconduct by public ser-vants. The FIR names SantaMondal, Headmistress ofBirpara Girls High School andunknown officials of the West

Bengal Central School ServiceCommission and unknownofficials of West Bengal SchoolEducation Department andunknown private persons.

The case follows a directivefrom the Calcutta High Courtto the CBI to register a regularcase in connection with thealleged offences committed bysome officials of the WBCSSCand Education Departmentregarding transfer of Mondalfrom Birpara to VidyamandirHigh School, Siliguri.

“It is alleged that the trans-fer of the said Santa Mondal waswholly illegal to any schoolbefore completion five years andit is not known whether sheapplied through proper chan-nels for transfer which cannotbe done because of the Rule offive years service in a school

before transfer. Therefore, it isalleged that she wrote directly tosome officials of West BengalEducation Department for hertransfer and transfer orderwas passed in her favour,” readsFIR. The transfer order was ille-gally passed by then Secretary

WBCSSC in connivance withCommission officials for “extra-neous consideration in favour ofSanta Mondal by extendingundue advantage to her throughdishonest performance of theirpublic duty in matter of trans-fer,” it added.

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India and Bangladesh onThursday reviewed the entire

spectrum of their bilateraldefence and strategic ties hereduring the talks betweenDefence Secretary Ajay Kumarand his Bangladesh counterpartBangladesh Lt General Waker-Uz-Zaman.

The talks were held underthe aegis of the fourth India-Bangladesh Annual DefenceDialogue between Ajay Kumarand Zaman who is PrincipalStaff Officer of Armed ForcesDivision of Bangladesh,defence ministry officials saidhere.

During their interaction,they reviewed ongoing defencecooperation between the twocountries and expressed satis-faction that collaboration isgrowing despite difficultiesimposed by COVID-19 pan-

demic. The talks covered theexisting bilateral exercises andtraining and agreed to increasethe complexity of these exer-cises. Both the sides reviewedthe progress on various bilateraldefence cooperation initiativesand expressed commitment tofurther elevate engagementsbetween the Armed Forces.Various aspects of defenceindustrial and capability build-ing cooperation came up fordetailed discussions. Both sidesemphasised need to workclosely to implement USD 500million line of credit extendedfrom India for defence items.

The Defence Secretarycommended the Bangladeshiside for their efforts in UNpeace keeping. The ArmedForces of both countries con-tinue to seek bilateral cooper-ation in multiple fields andincreased engagements are apositive sign for future of rela-tions of both countries.

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The Congress on Thursdaysaid it will continue its fight

against price rise by organisinga series of “Mehangai Chaupal”meetings in all Assembly con-stituencies from August 17 to 23that will culminate in a megarally in Delhi's Ramlila maidanon August 28.

Congress general secretarycommunications Jairam Rameshsaid in a statement that the"Mehangai Chaupal" interactivemeetings would be organised inmandis, retail markets and otherlocations in all assembly con-stituencies. The party said it Thiswill culminate in a “MehangaiPar Halla Bol” rally on August 28at the Ramlila Maidan which willbe addressed by senior Congress

leaders, he said. He said theIndian National Congress'nationwide agitation on August5 against the Modi government's"anti-people" policies stronglyresonated with the people. Theparty is also scheduled to under-take Bharat Jodo Yatra across thelength and breadth of the coun-try shortly.

"Prime Minister NarendraModi's desperate attempt to tarlegitimate protest as ‘black magic'only highlights the BJP govern-ment's insecurity about its fail-ure to control rampaging infla-tion and unemployment,"Ramesh said in statement.Congress has hit back at primeminister over his 'kala jadu'(blackmagic) remark, saying while thecountry wants him to talk abouttheir problems but "jumlajeevi"keeps saying just anything.

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After Chhattisgarh, theCentral team of Rural

Development Ministry, hasflagged several irregularitiesin the functioning of thePradhan Mantri Aawas Yojna(Gramin) scheme in Odishatoo.

These range from anom-alies in the list of beneficiaries,as many as 37 per cent, dis-crepancies in uploading data onAwas-soft website, fudging inbeneficiaries bank accountnumbers, transfer of funds tonon-eligible persons and deny-ing benefits to legitimate indi-viduals.

This was pointed out byUnion Minister of RuralDevelopment and PanchayatiRaj, Giriraj Singh during hismeeting with Odisha Ministerof Panchayati Raj andDrinking Water Pradip KumarAmat recently to discussprogress in the implementationof the central flagship.

The (PMAY-G) has beenimplemented from April 1,2016, with an objective of pro-viding "Housing for All" byMarch 2024. Union Minister ofEducation and SkillDevelopment andE n t r e p r e n e u r s h i p ,Dharmendra Pradhan was also

present in the meeting. GirirajSingh also raised serious objec-tions to the change of logo ofthe PMAY-G which is againstthe scheme guidelines, said anofficial from the Ministry.

The Union RuralDevelopment Minister calledfor effective monitoring of thePMAY-G scheme in the statesaying that social audit of thePanchayats needs to be under-taken.

He also emphasized oneffective convergence of thescheme with SwachhBharatMission for construc-tion of toilets, Saubhagyascheme for power connectionto every household, HarGharNal Se Jal for tapped waterand Pradhan Mantri UjjwalaYojana for LPG/Gas connec-tion.

“The convergence is still apaltry 20-25 per cent, he said,”according to the official. GirirajSingh said his Ministry, togeth-er with the State Government,has a target to provide housesto the more than 8 lakh bene-ficiaries in Odisha. The tribaland backward districts shouldbe accorded priority, he said.

The official shared that itwas agreed in the meeting thatanomalies pointed out by theCentral team will be resolvedand punitive action will be ini-tiated against fraudulent ben-

eficiaries and complicit offi-cials. Last week, the UnionRural Development Ministryhad also cautioned theCongress-led Chhattisgarhgovernment that it "shall becompelled to reconsider itssupport to its other coreschemes" if it fails to dulyimplement the rural housingscheme. ?

In a letter to ChhattisgarhChief Secretary Amitabh Jain,Rural Development SecretaryNagendra Nath Sinha hadmentioned that the state gov-ernment has not shown satis-factory progress despite sever-al letters and meetings in thisconnection.

"If the state is unable toimplement PMAY-G..., theministry shall be compelled toreconsider its support to othercore Rural Development(Ministry) schemes/pro-grammes," Sinha said in the let-ter.

He had said despite sever-al rounds of communicationfrom "various levels of theUnion Ministry to theChhattisgarh government, ithas neither shown satisfactoryprogress nor released the duestate share of Rs 562 crore, asa result of which the work ofPMAY-G has come to a stand-still in state, a situation, whichyou are well aware of ".

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The Enforcement Directorate(ED) has summoned eight

senior police officers of WestBengal to appear for question-ing next week before theagency’s office in the nationalCapital in connection with thecoal smuggling case.

The Indian Police Service(IPS) officers summoned byED are Gyanwant Singh (ADG,CID), Koteswara Rao, SSelvamurugan, Shyam Singh,Rajeev Mishra, Sukesh Kumar

Jain and Tathagata Basu, offi-cials said. The IPS officershave been given specific datesto appear before the ED at itsNew Delhi office, they added."These IPS officers played cru-cial roles in the coal smugglingcase.

There is evidence that theseofficers benefited from thescam. All of them were postedin areas where the smugglinghappened," the ED official said.Last year, seven of these eightofficers were summoned by theED for questioning in the case.

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The Supreme Court onThursday warned the State

football associations of "exer-cising its authority" if oustedAIFF chief and NCP leaderPraful Patel attends their meet-ings and interferes with theadministration of justice. Theapex court said it will interveneif any attempt is made to sab-otage the hosting of the 2022FIFA-U-17 Women's WorldCup in India.

A bench of Justices DYChandrachud, Surya Kant andAS Bopanna refused to hear themodification applications filedby the Centre and StateFootball Associations, and thecontempt petition of theCommittee of Administrators(COA) against Patel for alleged-ly "interfering with the pro-ceedings" of the top court afterit was informed that a meetingis scheduled for Thursdayevening with FIFA authori-ties.

The All India FootballFederation (AIFF) has been atthe centre of a controversyafter it failed to hold timelyelections due to a delay in final-ising its constitution, a key

requirement for the presti-gious tournament to be held inthe country.

As the delay persisted, theapex court appointed a three-member Committee ofAdministrators (CoA) com-prising former chief electioncommissioner S Y Quraishi, ex-Supreme Court judge AnilDave and former India footballcaptain Bhaskar Ganguly torun the day-to-day affairs of theAIFF.

Patel, despite being oust-ed by the SC, allegedly held ameeting with 35 InterveningMember Associations onAugust 6, amid the continuedthreat of a ban on AIFF by theworld football body AIFA andthe Asian FootballConfederation on account ofnon-holding of the election.Patel is an executive councilmember of the AIFA and vicepresident of AFC.

Additional SolicitorGeneral Balbir Singh, appear-ing for the Ministry for YouthAffairs and Sports, said he hasinstructions to inform the courtthat on Wednesday a meetingwith officials of the FIFA washeld and another round isscheduled for Thursday

evening, and efforts are beingmade to iron out the differ-ences and salvage the 2022FIFA-U-17 Women's WorldCup.

"Then we will hold backour hands and we should notopen up the case," the benchsaid and refused to hear thematters listed for hearing.

Singh said the court mayrecord in its order that the sec-retary of COA and secretary ofthe AIFF be allowed to be pre-sent in the meeting with theFIFA officials. Senior advo-cate Gopal Sankaranarayanan,appearing for the COA, said itwould be appropriate if onlythe two representatives alreadydecided by the COA participatein the meeting with FIFA.Singh assured the bench thatthe ousted entities (Patel) willnot be involved.

On Wednesday, the topcourt had warned State footballAssociations that it does notappreciate their "back doormethods" to defeat the ordersof the court and it is up to themto hold the 2022 FIFA-U-17Women's World Cup in India.India is due to host the FIFAUnder-17 Women world cupfrom October 11, 2022.

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Signifying close Defence tiesbetween two countries,

three French Rafele jets alongwith support aircraft stoppedfor a day at an IAF airbase andflew out after refuelling onThursday. The French contin-gent is carrying out a majorlong range mission in Indo-Pacific codenamed Pegase 22.

The stop over and refu-elling operation at IAF airbasein Sulur near Coimbatore inTamil Nadu demonstrated ahigh level of mutual trust andinteroperability betweenFrench and Indian Air Forces,which has been further boost-ed by fact that both Air Forcesnow fly Rafale jets.

It also illustrated concreteimplementation of the recip-rocal logistics support agree-ment signed by France andIndia in 2018, the FrenchEmbassy said here. LaudingIAF’s role in this successfuloperation, the Ambassador of

France to India EmmanuelLenain, said: “France is a resi-dent power of Indo-Pacific,and this ambitious long-dis-tance air power projectiondemonstrates our commitmentto the region and our partners.

It is only natural that tocarry out this mission, we relyon India, our foremost strate-gic partner in Asia. My heart-felt thanks to Indian Air Forcefor welcoming the French con-tingent.”

Giving details of the oper-ation, French officials saidfrom August ten to September18, the French Air and SpaceForce is carrying out a majorlong-range mission in Indo-Pacific, code-named Pégase22. The first stage of this mis-sion aims to demonstrateFrance’s capacity for long-dis-tance air power projection bydeploying an Air Force con-tingent from metropolitanFrance to the French territoryof New Caledonia in the PacificOcean in less than 72 hours(10th-12th August).

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Income tax payers will not beallowed to enrol in the

Government's social securityscheme Atal Pension Yojana(APY) from October 1, accord-ing to a notification.

The Government intro-duced APY on June 1, 2015, toprovide social security to work-ers mainly in the unorganisedsector. Subscribers of thescheme get a minimum guar-anteed pension of Rs 1,000 toRs 5,000 per month after attain-ing 60 years of age dependingon their contributions.

"... From 1st October,2022,any citizen who is or has beenan income tax payer, shall notbe eligible to join APY," theFinance Ministry said in thenotification.

The Ministry has modified

its earlier notification on APY.The new notification,

issued on Wednesday, will notapply to subscribers who havejoined or joins the schemebefore October 1, 2022.

In case a subscriber, whojoined on or after October 1,2022, is subsequently found tohave been an income tax payeron or before the date of appli-cation, the APY account shallbe closed and the accumulatedpension wealth till date wouldbe given to the subscriber, thenotification said.

Under the income tax law,people having taxable incomeof up to Rs 2.5 lakh are notrequired to pay income tax.

Currently, all Indian citi-zens between the age group of18-40 years can join APYthrough bank or post officebranches where one has the

savings bank account.The government had co-

contributed 50 per cent of thetotal contribution or Rs 1,000per annum, whichever is lower,to each eligible subscriber, whojoined the scheme during theperiod from June 2015 toMarch 2016. It was also subjectto the condition that the sub-scriber was not a beneficiary ofany social security scheme and

also not an income tax payer.Those APY subscribers

received the government's co-contribution for a five-yearperiod from 2015-16 to 2019-20.

More than 99 lakh APYaccounts were opened duringthe last fiscal, taking the totalnumber of subscribers to 4.01crore at the end of March2022.

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Aday after assuming thepost of Deputy-Chief

Minister of Bihar TejashwiPrasad Yadav on Thursdayasserted that the “job creation”in the State will be the “ top pri-ority” of the new Governmentheaded by Chief MinisterNitish Kumar and that hewould fulfill his promise ofproviding 10 lakh jobs.

Yadav, son of former ChiefMinister Lalu Prasad and theRJD patriarch , said the‘Mahagathbandhan’ govern-ment will “deliver” on thepromise of providing 10 lakhjobs that he had made whilespearheading the RJD's cam-paign during the assemblyelections in 2020.

Yadav said that NitishKumar, with whom he tookoath the day before, has issuedinstructions to the officialsconcerned to accord “top pri-ority” to job creation.

JD(U) leader Kumar tookoath as Bihar Chief Minister forthe eighth time on Wednesdayafter snapping ties with theBJP-led NDA and joined handswith the RJD and otherOpposition parties, includingthe Congress, to form a‘Mahagathbandhan' govern-ment.

“There are so many vacantposts in government depart-ments. We will begin by fillingthese up. Just for the time tillwe become fully functionalafter proving a majority on thefloor of the assembly”, Yadavtold a news channel.

It was not just a promisebut an acknowledgement of thecrying need for employmentgeneration in Bihar, the deputychief minister said.

“We cannot think of goingback on it since people hadshowered their blessings in the

elections in which the RJD-ledalliance polled only about12,000 votes less, across all 243assembly seats than the NDA”,he recalled.

The RJD leader alsoblamed the BJP for the “nega-tive perception” about his partywhich is often accused of theuse of muscle power, resultingin bad law and order.

“The problem is we do notknow how to do publicity forourselves. The BJP, led byPrime Minister NarendraModi, is adept at publicity.

But the people will seethrough their allegations oncethey get to see the perfor-mance of our government”,said Yadav.

Backing the the JD(U)allegations that the BJP wastrying to split it despite beingan alliance partner, Yadav said“Nitish Kumar ji was under somuch pressure…..They (BJP)were trying to do in Bihar whatthey have done in all states.Intimidate or lure with money”.

“While sharing power, theBJP did not accommodate evensmall requests like central sta-tus for Patna University whichNitish Kumar ji had urged thePM to confer in public view.Forget about special status,special economic package, anda package for flood-hit areas”,he alleged.

On the question on BJPleaders pointing-out past polit-ical acrimony between Kumarand his father Lalu Prasad, heretorted “and why did they joinhands with the JD(U) in 2017after so much venom wasspewed by them against NitishKumar ji ? Even the PrimeMinister had made the infa-mous DNA jibe”.

“Was it not the PrimeMinister, again, who hadrecently called Nitish Kumar jia true socialist?”

He should be happy thatthe CM is now heading a gov-ernment in collaboration withideological peers, Yadavremarked taking a swipe at thePrime Minister NarendraModi.

“We all are socialists, atheart. We may fight, but we willstay together”, he added, dis-missing speculations of theearly collapse of the govern-ment because of internal con-tradictions.

“ The termMahagathbandhan came intobeing when Nitish Kumar jihad joined hands with LaluPrasad ji. We are very happythat he is back with us”, said the33-year-old leader, a formercricketer , who had made hisdebut in the 2015 assemblypolls and was made the DeputyCM of the Grand Alliancegovernment.

Yadav’s assertion has comein the backdrop of worseningjob situation across the coun-try in the post-Covid-19 situ-ation and the nation-wide lock-down with lakhs of migrantworkers, most of them fromBihar, losing their livelihoods.

The Opposition partieshave accused the BJP-led cen-tral government of failing tocreate sufficient jobs for theunemployed youth in the coun-try.

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The summons issued tosenior CPI(M) leader

Thomas Isaac by the ED overKIIFB transactions has set thestage for a political slugfest inKerala with the Left andCongress on Thursday ques-tioning the central agency'saction, while the BJP termedthe two rival fronts as "birds ofa feather".

Isaac and the ruling LDFhave also initiated a legal bat-tle by challenging in the KeralaHigh Court the EnforcementDirectorate's "fishing and rov-ing" exercise", alleging that it

was aimed at discrediting theKerala InfrastructureInvestment Fund Board(KIIFB).

Amidst the brewing polit-ical tension, the High Courttoday posted Isaac's plea chal-lenging the ED summons forfurther consideration to nextweek and reserved orders inthe PIL moved by five LDFMLAs against the probe intoKIIFB financial dealings.

It all started after Isaac,apparently armed with thesupport of his party CPI(M),decided not to appear beforethe ED till the court decideshis petition.

Launching a scathing

attack on the BJP-led centralgovernment, Isaac, earlier inthe day, said they were usingthe Enforcement Directorate(ED) as a "political tool" to"isolate, arrest or detain theiropponents or topple state gov-ernments ruled by oppositionwithout any hesitation".

Throwing his weightbehind Isaac, Congress leaderand Leader of Opposition(LoP) in the state assembly, VD Satheesan, said the agencycannot probe foreign financialdealings and its notices to theCPI(M) leader were of no rel-evance.

BJP state president KSurendran criticised both the

CPI(M) and the Congress overthe issue, questioning whySatheesan was trying to rescuethe CPI(M) leader. He allegedthat "they are all birds of afeather" as they all are afraid ofan ED probe into the variousfinancial irregularities com-mitted by them.

Surendran, speaking toreporters in Thrissur, furthersaid that just because ED wasquestioning Congress chiefSonia Gandhi and RahulGandhi, was the party of theview that the agency shouldnot probe anything across thecountry.

He also asked whetherother Congress leaders,

including Kerala PradeshCongress Committee (KPCC)president K Sudhakaran,shared the same view or standas Satheesan.

Earlier, CPI(M) MLAs KK Shailaja, I B Sathish andactor M Mukesh, CPI MLA EChandrasekharan andCongress (Secular) MLAKadannappalli Ramachandranhad moved the joint plea in thehigh court against the EDprobe alleging that the samewas a "fishing and roving"exercise aimed at discreditingthe Kerala InfrastructureInvestment Fund Board(KIIFB).

They had also claimed

that the actions of ED willadversely affect or bring to ahalt over 900 developmentprojects, worth around Rs73,000 crore, in the state.

During hearing of Isaac'splea, the high court askedwhy ED cannot questionsomeone if it has any doubtsand at the same time it told theprobe agency that privacy ofan individual cannot be vio-lated. Isaac, in his plea, hascontended that the agency hasno power to question him orask for his personal informa-tion or details just because hewas the former head of KIIFBand was its ex-officio memberpresently. Taking note of his

contentions, the court saidthat the privacy of an individ-ual cannot be violated.

The lawyer appearing forthe agency said that the inves-tigating officer asked for doc-uments that he felt wererequired for the inquiry and itwas the prerogative of the ED.

He also said that present-ly the ED has only issuedsummons and Isaac shouldcooperate with the investiga-tion. The ED had served anotice to the senior Marxistleader last month, seeking hisappearance before it on July19. He, however, did notappear before the probeagency, saying he had to attend

classes at a party-run institutein the state capital.

Then, Isaac had termedthe ED notice to him as a'political move' by the BJP gov-ernment at the Centre, alleg-ing it was misusing all inves-tigation agencies for its polit-ical gains.

The second notice seekinghis appearance was sent by EDin the first week of August.

In his reply to the secondnotice, Isaac has contendedthat the summons issued tohim should be withdrawn orrecalled by the ED and itshould refrain from initiatingfurther proceedings againsthim in the matter.

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Heavy rains wreaked havocin parts of Himachal

Pradesh on Thursday with twopeople being buried alive underdebris following a landslide inKullu district, while shops andvehicles were washed awayand highways blocked by flashfloods in other places.

In Kullu, Chavelu Devi(55) and Kritika (17) diedwhen their house at Khadel vil-lage in Sheel gram panchayat ofAnni tehsil was hit by debrisfollowing the landslide around9 am, Director of state disastermanagement departmentSudesh Mokhta said.

In another incident in thedistrict, 10 shops and threevehicles were washed awayafter a cloudburst hit theDeuthi gram panchayat inAnni tehsil around 7.30 am, headded.

An old bus stand and apanchayat building at Deuthiare also facing the risk of beingwashed away, and revenuedepartment officials havereached the spot to assess thesituation, he added.

In Shimla district, threesmall cars and a pickup vehi-cle were washed away duringtorrential rains at DiyandaliNullah in Chopal tehsil, theofficial said.

In Mandi district, theMandi-Kullu national high-

way has been blocked due to alandslide in the morning, hesaid.

The Mandi DistrictEmergency Operation Centre(DEOC) said the incidentoccurred at 7 Mile near Pandohdue to which NationalHighway-21 has been com-pletely blocked. Vehicular traf-fic has been diverted throughKataula.

In Chamba district, acrasher, two compressorsmachines and a store of a con-struction company werewashed away in a cloudburstincident near Ala Nullah inBharmour tehsil, Mokhta said.

In Lahaul-Spiti district,National Highway-3 has beenblocked. There is a flood-likesituation and stones are con-tinuously falling near Kuthbihalafter flash floods at Tellingnullah in Lahaul subdivision,he added.

Road restoration work isunder process, the official said.

Besides, state highwaynumber 26 was blocked fol-lowing a f lash f lood atSindhwari nullah in Udaipursubdivision of Lahaul-Spiti dis-trict, he said.

Flash floods were alsoreported at Lote and TozingNullahs in Lahaul subdivisionand the assessment of losses isbeing done, Mokhta said.

A car was hit by flashfloods at Tozing Nullah, andthe road has been closed forvehicular movement to avoidany untoward incident, he said.

Two cars were damaged asa major portion of the road inMauza Shamlecha caved indue to heavy rains in Solan dis-trict on Thursday, the state dis-aster management departmentsaid.

However, no loss of life wasreported in the accident.

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Jammu city recorded 189.6mm rain in 24 hours, the

highest downpour in a day inalmost 26 years, causing land-slides and flash floods, mete-orological department offi-cials said on Thursday.

There were flash floods inmost of the rivers, includingTawi and Chenab, whichinundated low-lying areas anddamaged infrastructure.

Two landslides werereported — in Panjirthi andCircular Road — causingdamage to road, a buildingand some vehicles, the officialssaid.

The flash floods damagedsmall bridges in KalikaColony, washed out a wall ofSatsang Garh, a spiritual cen-tre, and a vehicle in Buntalab,they said.

Hundreds of houses inseveral colonies in low-lyingareas were inundated and traf-fic came to a halt due towater-logging, prompting thedistrict administration tosound a flood alert, they said.

According to the MeTdepartment, this is the high-est 24-hour rainfall in Augustfor Jammu city since 1996.The city had recorded 218.4mm of rainfall on August 23,1996. The all-time highestrainfall, 228.6 mm, in Jammucity was recorded on August5, 1926, it said.

The Jammu-Srinagarnational highway was closedfor traffic due to landslidesand mudslides, triggered byheavy rains in Ramban.

Reasi received 152.5 mmin 24 hours, followed byUdhampur (121.6 mm) andSamba (105 mm), the officialssaid.

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Assam on Thursday pro-posed that the regional

committees formed byGovernments of the State andArunachal Pradesh to resolvedifferences along the inter-State boundary should com-plete their joint inspection ofthe disputed areas by Augustend.

The committees wil lthereafter submit reports totheir respective governmentsby September 15, the Assamregional committee decided at

a meeting here.Assam cabinet minister

Ashok Singhal, who was pre-sent at the meeting, said thedecisions will be communi-cated to the panel concernedin Arunachal Pradesh.

"We want to complete thejoint inspections by the end ofthis month and then submitour findings to the respectivegovernments by September15. We will discuss this fur-ther with our counterparts ofthe neighbouring state andfinalise the schedule," he said.

The committees were

formed following a discussionbetween Assam ChiefMinister Himanta BiswaSarma and his ArunachalPradesh counterpart PemaKhandu on July 15, whichresulted in the signing of the'Namsai Declaration'.

The two North-easternneighbours have also decidedto restrict the number of 'dis-puted villages' to 86 instead ofthe previous 123, and try toresolve the rest of the issuesby September 15.

Thursday's meeting of theregional committee was

chaired by state BorderProtection and Developmentdepartment minister AtulBora. Several other minis-ters and senior officials werealso present.

The two states share an804.1 km-long border. The

grievance of ArunachalPradesh which was made aunion territory in 1972 isthat several forested tracts inthe plains that had tradition-ally belonged to hill tribalchiefs and communities wereunilaterally transferred toAssam. After ArunachalPradesh achieved statehoodin 1987, a tripartite commit-tee was appointed which rec-ommended that certain terri-tories be transferred fromAssam to Arunachal. Assamcontested this and the matteris in the Supreme Court.

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The Income Tax Departmenthas detected unaccounted

income of over Rs 150 croreafter it recently searched aJaipur-based group engaged inthe business of gems and jew-ellery, hospitality and realestate. The searches werelaunched on August 3 andmore than three dozen premis-es of the business group, whichhas not been named by theCentral Board of Direct Taxes(CBDT) in its Press statement,in Jaipur and Kota districts inRajasthan were covered.

The IT-Department hasseized "unaccounted assets" ofover Rs 11 crore so far, theCBDT said Thursday.

The CBDT is the regulato-ry body that frames policy forthe tax department.

In the real estate businessvertical, the tax officials foundthat the group has been"indulging in large-scale taxevasion by accepting cash onthe sale of residential dwellingsand land which has not beenrecorded in the regular booksof account," reads the state-ment.

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While almost all the Opposition parties ral-lied behind the Mahagathbandhan, led by

Nitish Kumar, there has been a stoic silence onpart of the top Congress leadership which hasneither publicly extended a congratulatorymessage to Nitish nor called a meeting in thisregard in its headquarters in the nationalCapital.

However, sources in the party told ThePioneer, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi hadbeen sounded out about the winds of changeduring the first week of June when she wasdetected with Covid and was hospitalised.

Nitish had made the first call, which wasapparently a courtesy phone call, enquiring overher health even as she was under pressure toappear before the Enforcement Directorate inthe National Herald money laundering case.

A query seeking AICC Media and PublicityDepartment chairman Pawan Khera’s responseon Congress’ silence yielded no response.

Sonia is said to have confided to a close con-fidant her conversation with Nitish. “Bihar islooking for a change and we need to get in touchwith Lalu Prasad (RJD patriarch) as soon as pos-sible to bridge the gap between Nitish and Lalu,”sources quoted her.

Sources also confirmed that Nitish soughthelp from the Congress high command so thathe does not succumb to the pressures of BJP.

Thereafter, Sonia suggested Nitish to get in touchwith Rahul Gandhi and the task was given toTejashwi Yadav. Rahul and Tejashwi then tookforward the conversation for the politicalchange in Bihar initiated by Kumar.

“Following the foundation readied by topleaders and probable principal alliance partners,Congress deputed its Bihar incharge BhaktaCharan Das to craft the job. The main focus wasto gather such a large number that it would beimpossible for the BJP to effect a split and top-ple the new regime. Hence the figure of 164 leg-islators comprising even from the Left wasworked upon. Kumar established five phone callcontacts directly to Sonia including the recenttwo within 24 hours which is public now,” a topCongress leader privy to all the developmentstold The Pioneer.

Kumar, who had been a long-time associ-ate of BJP and a strong partner in NDA sinceAtal Bihari Vajpaye years, was quick to assess thefrequent developments which included succes-sive visits of top BJP leaders Home MinisterAmit Shah, BJP president JP Nadda, BJP’s Stateinchgare and Education Minister DharmendraPradhan and the turmoil within his party led byhis once close confidant, bureaucrat-turned-politician RCP Singh. Political leaders of Biharfeel that Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) led byChirag Paswan who has been foul mouthingNitish too will have no option other than com-ing into the fold of Mahagathbandhan.

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Adelegation of the UddhavThackeray-led faction of

the Shiv Sena on Thursday metMaharashtra Assembly SpeakerRahul Narvekar and asked himto include its MLAs in theHouse Business AdvisoryCommittee (BAC).

Sunil Prabhu, the chiefwhip appointed by Thackeray,said as the Thackeray-led party

remains the original Sena, itsrepresentatives should be partof the BAC which decides thebusiness of the House during asession.

The party recommendedthat he (Prabhu) and AjayChoudhary be included in theBAC, Prabhu added.

Choudhary was appointedthe leader of the Shiv Sena leg-islature party replacing EknathShinde after the latter rebelledand brought down the Uddhav

Thackeray-led MaharashtraGovernment in June.

The appointments of bothPrabhu and Chaudhary werecontested by the rebel camp ledby Shinde who is nowMaharashtra chief minister.

The Shinde factionappointed BharatshetGogawale as the chief whip.

Currently, the Shiv Sena isrepresented by rebel MLAsUday Samant and Dada Bhusein the BAC.

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��������������������Sir — the Election Commission has righ-tly opined that freebies can be lifesaversduring crisis periods. The supreme courthas also said that there is a differencebetween freebies and welfare schemes likethe difference between chalk and cheese.One cannot differentiate both from oneanother without much thought. So it takesa deep understanding and brainstormingamong all stakeholders to formulate pro-per guidelines to curb the inducement cul-ture pre and post polls period withouthurting the welfare agenda. When ambi-guity prevails in defining such culture itself,it's not possible to stop the parties frommaking unrealistic promises. As the apexcourt has aptly said it's also undemocra-tic to punish the political parties on thatgrounds.

DVG Sankararao | Vizianagaram

��������������������������Sir — Once again a grand coalition gov-ernment has formed in Bihar. NitishKumar took oath as Chief Minister for therecord eighth time and RJD leaderTejashwi Yadav took oath as Deputy ChiefMinister for the second time. At themoment it is not clear which ministryTejashwi Yadav will handle as DeputyChief Minister, but if the Home Ministrycomes to him, then it will be clear that thistime he will be a more powerful DeputyChief Minister than last time.

This may increase the challenge ofNitish Kumar because no one can knowbetter than him how questions have beenraised about law and order during RJD's time. It also cannot be overlookedthat when Nitish Kumar came out of the Grand Alliance, he highlighted the corruption of RJD leaders as well astheir interference in law and order. It maybe difficult for Nitish Kumar to pursuehis agenda of good governance andaccommodate the election promises ofRJD.

Divyansha Sharma | Ujjain

���������������������Sir — Rakshabandhan is a major festivalin India celebrated widely all over thecountry. As one of the fastest growingeconomies in the world, India possess-es a rich cultural heritage too. A hugelydiverse group of people celebrating dif-ferent festivals throughout the year. Aswe see the markets and sweet shops over-crowded in festival seasons. Still, we cansee a huge divide between the incomesof people across India. As one sectionenjoys overwhelming options of food richin taste and energy, contradictory to thatother section is hardly able to survive andenjoy the festival. Surprisingly, One sec-tion of Indians (around 40%) are strug-gling with obesity. On the other hand,one section faces a lack of proper nutri-tion-rich diet and malnutrition through-out the year. Instead of overconsumingfood and materials this festival season,let's try to fill the gap and make sureevery section of society enjoys it with thesame joy.'

Soumydeep Saxena | Ujjain

������������������ ������� �Sir — More than 7 per cent of India'spopulation owns digital currency rankingseventh in the world. According to the UN,the use of cryptocurrency rose globally atan unprecedented rate during the COVID-19 pandemic. The UN trade and develop-ment body UNCTAD said that in 2021,developing countries accounted for 15 ofthe top 20 economies when it comes to theshare of the population that owns cryp-tocurrencies. The cryptocurrencies remainunregulated and that is the reason for therapid uptake of cryptocurrencies in deve-loping countries, including the facilitationof remittances and as a hedge against cur-rency and inflation risks. If cryptocurren-cies become a widespread means of pay-ment and even replace domestic curren-cies unofficially (a process called crypto-nation), this could jeopardize the mone-tary sovereignty of countries.

Bhagwan Thadani | Mumbai

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India stood its ground, theChinese have also dug in theirheels. To the world, it is evidentthat China is a power thatintends to increase its holdover territory by military andnonmilitary means. Tibet isone example and the tensionswe see in Taiwan today postthe visit of US House SpeakerNancy Pelosi is another. Chinalooks at itself as the next hege-mony on the global stage andwith an economy and a mili-tary rapidly gaining strength,it remains a headache not justfor India but for the world. ForIndia, the additional worry isthat China sits on its borders,always threatening and pro-voking.

Another major shift onesees in recent years has beenthat of India and its ties withPakistan. Since 1947, despitethe wars and the terroristattacks from across the border,the general consensus stayedthat India must stay engagedwith Pakistan. After all, geog-raphy is not a matter of choiceand the fact that Pakistan is aneighbour will never change,so talk we must. That hasundergone a dramatic andbold change. In recent years,India has not shied away frompointing the finger at Pakistan

for many of the terrorist attacksin India, bilaterally and glob-ally. India has also gone a stepfurther and now refuses toindulge in talks where thetrust deficit is so huge thatIndo-Pak talks have beenreduced to photo-ops withnear zero movements on cru-cial issues. Since 2019 whenterrorist groups based inPakistan launched attacks inthe former Jammu andKashmir state, India retaliateddecisively and since then it isalso worth noting that therehave been no major terroristattacks against India fromPakistani soil.

There has of course beena great change in dynamicswhen it comes to balancingthe great old powers, name-ly Russia and the US. Indiahas traditionally been alwayscloser to Russia but recentyears point to a shift. TheIndo-US bilateral relation-ship has grown in strength,which has also attracted criti-cism that India might beinvesting just too heavily inthis relationship. The Russiaties remain strong but thegrowing Russia -China axis,post-Ukraine crisis, poses amajor policy challenge forIndia. Wheels within wheels

and China and Pakistanalready share a cozy relation-ship with some today evenreferring to Pakistan as noth-ing more than a satellite stateof China. For India the chal-lenge remains to maintain adelicate balance, keeping oldfriends happy while newfriendships are formed.

In the last 75 years, theworld has changed and so hasIndia. The world has seen theend of the Cold War and aworld shifting from bipolar tounipolar and also stages of amultipolar one. India has shedits old skin too and is ready toembrace the world in a moreconfident fashion, cognisant ofits position on the world stage.But challenges remain somevery tough ones like China.How well India navigates thesechallenges will shape its foreignpolicy and the country in thedecades to follow.

(The author, a Delhi-based journalist and foreign

affairs analyst, holds aMasters in International

Relations from the AmericanUniversity in Washington

DC. In 2009, her book‘Piercing the Heart: Untold

Stories of 26/11’, was published. The views

expressed are personal.)

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This year marks 75 years ofIndia's independence anda moment that is beingcherished and celebrated.

But then, like with all celebrations,we must look back and takestock of the journey traveled sofar and also chart our futurecourse of action. Foreign policyis one of those areas that usuallysee continuity over long periodsof time, the political changesnotwithstanding. The Indianstory is similar in the sense thatone sees continuity for a longperiod since 1947, for instance,India's commitment to a non-aligned status, among others.But with the political scenariochanging in the last decade or so,the contours of foreign policyhave also seen some majorchanges. A few have been boldwhile others have been more ofa subtle nature.

The biggest change is proba-bly a change in attitude where onesees a more confident Indiaengaging with the world. Wehave also seen the emergence oflate of a number of regional andother informal groupings whereIndia occupies a place of globalsignificance. The Indo PacificQuad and the West Asia Quad orthe I2U2, are recent instanceswhere India is a member alongwith the United States, of group-ings that influence the IndoPacific and the Middle East. Itwould also be significant to notehere that this would not have beenpossible without India havingdone the groundwork in the firstplace by building strong bilateralties with member states as diverseas Israel and the United ArabEmirates (UAE) on the one hand,and with countries like Japan andAustralia on the other hand.

At the same time, we have toacknowledge the challenges aheadand accept that there are a fewheadaches that are not going to beeasy to resolve. The biggest oneof course remains China. WhileIndia, under Prime MinisterNarendraModi, has pushed moreaggressively for a solution to theChinese problem, an outcomeremains elusive. 2020 saw theworst fighting between India andChina since 1962, and while

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India has been a democratic countryfor 75 years, but in the last five to sixyears, the debate about democracyand authoritarianism has suddenly hit

the conscience of Indian academics,media channels, and public space. Thequestion is, why is this the case in the lastfew years even while the country cele-brates the 75 years of Independence anddemocratic life?

Why are we so perplexed and doubt-ful of our democratic system’s success after75 years of its accomplishment? Is itbecause of rising trends or apprehensionof authoritarian tendencies? If we carefullyobserve the debate, we can conclude thatthis indeed is the case in the minds of thepeople.

The first apprehension of this trendcomes from the politics of labelling thepeople into electorally wanted or unwan-ted categories. Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar(June 6, 2022) in an article said that afterJuly 7, 2022, the current Bharatiya JanataParty will not have a single MP or MLAfrom the Muslim community, whichaccording to the 2011 Census comprises14.2 or approximately 172.2 million peo-ple in the country. It isolates and reducesthe Muslims to politically insignificantconstituency, which is similar to author-itarian policy of anti-Semitism. Besides,the nature of politics is divisive and cre-ates a binary geography of friends andfoes, which is nourished by rewarding thedissemination of mindless separatist ordemonized statements of party leaders,short quotes, videos or messages.

The idea of an internal enemy or out-sider living inside is constantly inventedor reinvented to create a politics of anx-iety among the majority and to polarizethem in a fashion that reduces their poli-tically diverse or heterogeneity interestsinto homogeneous interests. A scientificjustification for this aversion of theminority is given through pathologizingor presenting them as conspirator, traitor,unfit so that they can be locked up in theminds of the majority in the line of socialDarwinist thinking of survival of thefittest. This trend is so obvious that itdraws popular attention towards thechallenges of democracy.

Another factor explaining the chal-lenges of democracy and rise of authori-tarianism in India can be located into newtrends which set up a new moral con-science that gives priority to duties overrights. In a programme titled “Azadi KeAmrit Mahotsav Se Swarnim Bharat KeOre,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi saidthat “for the last 75 years, we have onlykept talking about rights, fighting forrights, and wasting our time” that kept thecountry weak. He suggested that for thenext 25 years, India must adopt a newvision that prioritizes duties over rights.However, it is noteworthy that he empha-sized the duties of the people to the nationrather than duties of the government tothe people. The emphasis on duty is situa-

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ted in an intriguing analogy bet-ween the time of colonial rule,when people suffered, struggled,and sacrificed for national free-dom, and the present situation, inwhich an independent nation,though free, still requires sacrificeand suffering for an imagined orutopian future vision of a nationdevoid of any socio-political andeconomic crisis.

Any appeal to suffering is anaesthetic duty that deserves peo-ple’s praise, because it is a meansto achieve national glory. It can bebetter dissected by examining thegovernment’s justification for the2016 demonetization policy, theGoods and Services Tax policy2017, the Farm Bills of 2020, andthe recent Aganiveer scheme, inwhich the government makes anemotional appeal for the approvalof these schemes founded on theimagined cheerful future that canbe achieved by prioritizing thepeople’s duties over their rights andthe government’s rights over itsduties.

These challenges are exacer-bated by views that regard obedi-ence to authority as a virtue andresistance or questioning as evil. Itis based on the idea that theleader is infallible or an emperorendowed with superhuman qual-ities, and the popular media investsin portraying him in such a waythat people become curious aboutwhat he eats, how many hours heworks, and his childhood adven-tures, which elevates him abovecriticism. Its goal is to distance him

from infallible people, bureau-crats, opposition leaders, and hisown ministers, so that failure canbe blamed on them rather than onhim.

It tactfully moved his acts andchoices out of the realm of scien-tific justification or criticism andinto that of religion and faith. Anyeffort to contest the supremeleader’s choice or action is viewedas a plot or an act of heresy, not justagainst him but also against thenation.

It fosters an irrationalismbased on what Umberto Eco refersto in The New York Review arti-cle (June 22, 1995) as “the cult ofaction for action’s sake. Actionbeing beautiful in itself, it must betaken before, or without, any pre-vious reflection. Thinking is a formof emasculation”. In Indian politics,this pattern is fairly obvious; if welook at the last ten years of parlia-ment’s legislative business in termsof passing the bills, we will findthat approximately 41 per cent ofthe bills were passed without ade-quate debate and discussion, andwithout involving the standingand consultative committees andstakeholders.

This trend is also evident in thestate legislature, where, accordingto the Annual Review of State Law2020, 59 per cent of bills werepassed in a single day without ade-quate time for scrutiny. Anyattempt by the Opposition to calllegislation, bills, or laws into ques-tion is undermined by eliciting anemotional response and reaction

from supreme leaders through anew rhetoric of action just for thesake of action. The primacy ofaction over thinking and deliber-ation is a concerning sign of therising trend of authoritarianism.

The most important of theseare the centralising discursivepractices pushed and disseminat-ed through the media by the busi-ness tycoon in order to free thewelfare state from its democraticcommitment to social welfare andallow for rapid privatisation andliberalisation of the economy with-out delay or dissent. The attemptto proclaim democratic right todissent inevitably morphs into anattempt to obstruct national gloryand is conspired by malign inten-tion of the Opposition, and thusmust be dealt with immediately,with or without due process of law.

Here, what is interesting aboutthe discourse is that theOpposition is a powerful evil that,though not able to harness itspower in electoral success, is soeffective at misleading people forlarge protests and movements.Therefore, it must be dealt with bydeploying democratic tactics thatjustify and necessitate authoritar-ian actions, revealing how mech-anistically authoritarianism usesdemocracy and democracy usesauthoritarianism.

In conclusion, the current dis-cussion about democratic chal-lenges is quite pertinent and clear,and it requires a critical examina-tion of its pervasive and silent dis-course.

(The author is anAssistant Professor at

Bhagini NiveditaCollege, University of

Delhi.)

Fraternity, as opposed toliberty and equality, fails toget traction in public dis-

course or political programmes.Political leaders and Constitu-tion makers laid as muchimportance to fraternity as toliberty and equality.

Indian unity and solidarity,it was realised, was not to betaken for granted. It had to bestrengthened by recognisingand accepting India’s immenseregional, linguistic, ethnic andreligious diversity.

Dr BR Ambedkar held thatpolitical democracy cannot lastunless there lies at its basesocial democracy. By socialdemocracy, he meant a way oflife which recognises liberty,equality and fraternity as prin-ciples of life.

They form a union of trinityin a sense that to divorce one

from the other is to defeat thevery purpose of democracy.Elaborating on the importanceof fraternity, he said, “Fraternitymeans a sense of commonbrotherhood of all Indians beingone people. It is the principlewhich gives unity and solidarityto social life.”

The beginning was filledwith hope for fraternity. Therewas a broad social consensus onthe values of nationalism, secu-larism and democracy, as well ason the practice of non-violenceacross all major political entities,which together contributed tothe creation of a temper ofdemocracy in the country.Discussion, debate and persua-sion, backed by public opinion,was stressed upon for advancingsocial and political change asopposed to glorification of mis-trust, animosity and violence.

However, soon the traditionof consensus and reconciliationthat was expected to guide andsteer the spirit of fraternity,was found eroding.

The linguistic, caste andcommunal riots generated alot of negative energy and, in theprocess, depleted much of oursocial capital. The initial opti-mism for unity and a sense ofnationhood, born out of the richlegacy of the freedom move-ment, mature political leader-ship, and Constitutional spirit,started to taper off.

Amid the social and poli-tical churning, one serious casu-alty was the erosion of credibi-lity of the political parties, withits negative multiplier effectspervading our social and eco-nomic life. Inter and intra-party instability, intense mud-slinging, infighting and fac-

tionalism within parties, abse-nce of long-term political pro-grammes have been the com-mon maladies.

Dharnas, bandhs, block-age of roads, rioting, wantonviolence, mob lynching, attackson private and public propertyare now order of the day. Notonly educational and militaryinstitutions, even Constitutionalbodies are witnessing encroach-ments of dirty politics. Allthese developments are grosslyvitiating social fabric and pub-lic life.

The amplifying power ofsocial media coupled with anabsence of its accountabilityhave also provided a fertileground to create divisions andfissures in society. Misinfor-mation, disinformation, out-rage, hate speech, fake news —all are in full play through the

medium, pervading toxicity insocial relations.

The question is, why anideal so enshrined in the pream-ble in our Constitution has gota short shrift or getting margin-alised in public discourse andimagination, in contrast to lib-erty and equality? Why hasfraternity failed to gain a pri-vileged expression and attentionin political manifestos, pro-grammes and activities?

Some reasons are obvious.The principle of fraternityrequires from us a sense of dutyand responsibility as opposed torights, privileges and entitle-ments. This may appear anonerous task for most of thepeople.

Further, the idea of reci-procity, solidarity and socialbond do not sit well with indi-vidual goals in a predominan-

tly materialistic, market-drivenmodern life. Further, unlikeequality and liberty, which seemattainable through political,legal and Constitutional means,fraternity doesn’t seem to haveany clear and well-defined insti-tutional frameworks for it to gettraction and realised.

Clearly, for making fellow-feeling as a way of life, we haveto recognize the major sources,platforms or trigger points ofdiscord and enmity. First, all thepolitical parties must sit togeth-er and have a broad consensuson the key issues with a nation-al perspective. Secondly,accountability of social medianeeds to be fixed urgently.Thirdly, we must focus more onissues and activities whichdemonstrate commonality andcollectivism. Sports, music,space science, yoga, valour of

Indian Armed Forces, Indianconstitution, national anthem/song/tricolour, inspirationalpersonalities, etc., could besome arenas surrounding whichwe can build bridges and dee-pen cohesion.

Fourthly, the Governmentand the ruling party as keystakeholders in the project mustdo virtue signaling throughright actions and legal frame-works to promote our diversi-ty and plurality. Lastly, a senseof fraternity must be inter-nalised and displayed by us all,in private and public life alike,and also at all times, good orbad.

The challenges in the pathof fraternity projects are many.But we must overcome them, asit is on the pillar of fraternal rela-tions that a well-functioningand healthy democracy rests.

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(The author is a former bank executive.)

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The prisoners at the penal colony inSt Petersburg were expecting a visitby officials, thinking it would be

some sort of inspection. Instead, men inuniform arrived and offered themamnesty - if they agreed to fight along-side the Russian army in Ukraine.

Over the following days, about adozen or so left the prison, according toa woman whose boyfriend is serving asentence there. Speaking on condition ofanonymity because she feared reprisals,she said her boyfriend wasn't among thevolunteers, although with years left on hissentence, he "couldn't not think about it".

As Russia continues to suffer lossesin its invasion of Ukraine, now nearingits sixth month, the Kremlin has refusedto announce a full-blown mobilisation -a move that could be very unpopular forPresident Vladimir Putin. That has ledinstead to a covert recruitment effort thatincludes using prisoners to make up themanpower shortage.

This also is happening amid reportsthat hundreds of Russian soldiers arerefusing to fight and trying to quit themilitary.

"We're seeing a huge outflow of peo-ple who want to leave the war zone - thosewho have been serving for a long timeand those who have signed a contract justrecently," said Alexei Tabalov, a lawyerwho runs the Conscript's School legal aidgroup.

The group has seen an influx ofrequests from men who want to termi-nate their contracts, "and I personally getthe impression that everyone who can isready to run away," Tabalov said in aninterview with The Associated Press."And the Defence Ministry is diggingdeep to find those it can persuade to

serve."Although the Defence Ministry

denies that any "mobilisation activities"are taking place, authorities seem to bepulling out all the stops to bolster enlist-ment. Billboards and public transit adsin various regions proclaim, "This is TheJob," urging men to join the profession-al army. Authorities have set up mobilerecruiting centers in some cities, includ-ing one at the site of a half marathon inSiberia in May.

Regional administrations are form-ing "volunteer battalions" that are pro-moted on state television. The businessdaily Kommersant counted at least 40such entities in 20 regions, with officialspromising volunteers monthly salariesranging from the equivalent of $2,150 to

nearly $5,500, plus bonuses.The AP saw thousands of openings

on job search websites for various mili-tary specialists.

The British military said this weekthat Russia had formed a major newground force called the 3rd Army Corpsfrom "volunteer battalions," seeking menup to age 50 and requiring only a mid-dle-school education, while offering"lucrative cash bonuses" once they aredeployed to Ukraine.

But complaints also are surfacing inthe media that some aren't getting theirpromised payments, although thosereports can't be independently verified.

In early August, Tabalov said hebegan receiving multiple requests for legalhelp from reservists who have been

ordered to take part in a two-monthtraining in areas near the border withUkraine.

The recruitment of prisoners hasbeen going on in recent weeks in as manyas seven regions, said Vladimir Osechkin,founder of the Gulagu.Net prisonerrights group, citing inmates and their rel-atives that his group had contacted.

It's not the first time that authoritieshave used such a tactic, with the SovietUnion employing "prisoner battalions"during World War II.

Nor is Russia alone. Early in the war,Ukrainian President VolodymyrZelenskyy promised amnesty to militaryveterans behind bars if they volunteeredto fight, although it remains unclear ifanything came out of it.

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The European Union's fullban on Russian coal imports

kicked in on Thursday at atime when British defence intel-ligence said that Western sanc-tions were increasingly havingan impact, even on Russia'sdefence exports.

Britain said that Moscowwas already strained by theneed to produce armoured fight-ing vehicles for its troops inUkraine and hence "is highlyunlikely to be capable of fulfill-ing some export orders", in asector it has long taken pride in.

The British defence intelli-gence update, highlighting "theincreasing effect of Westernsanctions", dovetails withWestern belief that the series ofmeasures they imposed on theKremlin since the February 24invasion of Ukraine are increas-ingly having an impact on theRussian economy.

The update said thatbecause of the war and sanc-tions, "its military industrialcapacity is now under significantstrain, and the credibility ofmany of its weapon systems hasbeen undermined by their asso-ciation with Russian forces' poorperformance".

Russia military credibilitycame under more pressure onWednesday when Ukraine saidnine Russian warplanes weredestroyed in a string of explo-sions at an air base in Russian-controlled Crimea that appearedto be the result of a Ukrainianattack.

Russia denied any aircraftwere damaged in the blasts - orthat any attack took place. Butsatellite photos clearly showed at

least seven fighter planes at thebase had been blown up andothers probably damaged.

British Defence SecretaryBen Wallace dismissed Russianexplanations of the blasts,including a wayward cigarettebutt, as "excuses".

"When you just look at thefootage of two simultaneousexplosions not quite next to eachother, and some of the reporteddamage even by the Russianauthorities, I think it's clear thatthat's not something that hap-pens by someone dropping acigarette," Wallace said.

And to put more pressureon Russia, Wallace said onThursday that Britain will sendmore multiple launch rocket sys-tems and guided missiles toUkraine to help it resist Russia'sinvasion.

The new weapons, whosenumber wasn't specified, comeon top of several rocket-launchsystems given by Britain toUkraine earlier this year.

Britain said the new missilescan hit targets up to 80 kilome-tres away with pinpoint accura-cy.

Wallace said the bolsteredmilitary support shows the West"will stand shoulder-to-shoulder,providing defensive military aidto Ukraine to help them defendagainst Putin's invasion",Wallace said at a meeting ofmostly northern European alliesof Ukraine.

Ukrainian PresidentVolodymyr Zelenskyy pleadedfor more aid by videoconference.

"We need armament, muni-tion for our defence," he said."The sooner we stop Russia, thesooner we can feel safe."

Thursday also marked theday when an EU ban on coalimports from Russia was takingeffect in following a long phase-in going back to April.

The 27-nation EU said itwill affect about 25 per cent ofRussian coal exports and createa loss of about USD 8 billion ayear.

The EU is also trying towean itself off Russian gasimports, but is too dependent toimpose a full ban.

As the war is now nearingthe half-year point, Russia is fac-ing other challenges too.

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Ukrainian President Volod-ymyr Zelenskyy called on

Western nations Thursday toprovide more money to helpUkraine's military keep fight-ing nearly 5 1/2 months afterRussia invaded its neighbour.

"The sooner we stopRussia, the sooner we can feelsafe," Zelenskyy said whileaddressing defence leaders at aDenmark conference aimed atstrengthening financing forweapons, training and demi-ning work in his country.

"We need armaments,

munitions for our defence," headded, speaking via a live linkfrom Ukraine.

The conference in Copen-hagen is a follow-up to an Aprilmeeting at a US air base inGermany that established theUS-led Ukraine DefenceContact Group, which coordi-nates international militarysupport for Ukraine.

Ukrainian DefenceMinister Oleksii Reznikov, whoattended the conference inDenmark's capital, told jour-nalists that acquiring morefighter planes is the country'spriority right now.

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Sri Lanka's ousted presidentGotabaya Rajapaksa left

Singapore for Thailand afterhis short-term visit pass expiredon Thursday, according to amedia report.

Rajapaksa boarded a flightfrom Singapore to Bangkok,after Thailand confirmed a daybefore that it had received arequest from the current SriLankan government for him tovisit the country.

Responding to mediaqueries, Singapore's Immigra-tion & Checkpoints Authoritysaid that Rajapaksa left Singa-pore on Thursday, The StraitsTimes newspaper reported.

Prime Minister PrayutChan-o-cha on Wednesday con-firmed a temporary visit toThailand by the 73-year-oldembattled Sri Lankan leaderfor humanitarian reasons, andsaid he promised not to conduct

political activities in the king-dom during his search for per-manent asylum in another coun-try.

Rajapaksa, who is current-ly in Singapore after fleeing SriLanka in July amid mass anti-government protests, is seekingrefuge in Thailand as hisSingapore visa runs out onThursday.

After flying to the Maldiveson July 13, Rajapaksa then fledto Singapore, where heannounced his resignation aday later after months of protests

over the country's economiccrisis.

"This is a humanitarianissue. We have made a promisethat it's a temporary stay. No(political) activities are allowed,and this will help him find acountry to take refuge in," Prayutwas quoted as saying by theBangkok Post newspaper onWednesday.

Foreign Minister DonPramudwinai said the oustedpresident can stay in Thailandfor 90 days as he is still a diplo-matic passport holder, the reportsaid.

Don said the Sri Lankangovernment did not oppose thevisit and the Thai governmentwould not make accommoda-tion arrangements for him. Thevisit would not pose conflictswith Colombo as actingPresident Ranil Wickreme-singhe had worked for himwhen he was in power, headded.

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Several features, includingcurbing the Sri Lankan

President's power to sack thePrime Minister and the Cabinet,have been included in the draftof a constitutional amendmentbill that seeks to reduce the con-centration of power in one per-son, justice minister WijeyedasaRajapakshe has said.

He said the text of the draftof the 22nd Amendment to theConstitution was changed afterthe ouster of former presidentGotabaya Rajapaksa.

"The former president want-ed to retain the power to sack theprime minister and the cabinetas he wished. Since his departurewe have changed that so thepresident can't remove the PrimeMinister and the Cabinet,"Rajapakshe said on Wednesday.

His comments came as hesubmitted to Parliament theconstitutional amendment bill toclip the powers of the president,a key demand of protesters call-ing for political reforms andsolutions to the country's worsteconomic crisis. Rajapaksa fledthe country to the Maldives afteran uprising against him on July9 and four days later he resignedafter reaching Singapore.

The minister said thereforming of presidential pow-ers was in line with the demandof the protesters who carried ona relentless campaign for overfour months demanding theresignation of Rajapaksa for hisbungling of the ongoing eco-nomic crisis. He said for a longtime since Sri Lanka adopted theConstitution in 1978, the needto reduce too much power inone person was a majordemand.

"The demand was to eitherabolish the presidential systemor prune powers to make par-liament empowered," he said.

The 22nd Amendment wasformulated amid the ongoingeconomic turmoil in the coun-try which also caused a political

crisis. It is meant to replace the20A that had given unfetteredpowers to President Rajapaksaafter abolishing the 19thAmendment.

Describing the salient fea-tures of the 22A. Rajapakshe saidthe best features of the 19Areversed by Rajapaksa through20A have been restored.

"All top positions includingthe post of the governor of thecentral bank can be made by thepresident only under theConstitutional Council appro-val," Rajapakshe said.

The Constitutional Councilis a representative supreme bodyconsisting of government andopposition parties.

Under the 20A, the Consti-tutional Council was convertedto a parliamentary council justto rubber stamp presidentialpowers. "The president will con-tinue to be the defence ministerunder 22A which is the onlyministry the president can hold,"Rajapakshe said.

"Of course, he will beallowed to hold any ministry for14 days until suitable appoint-ments can be made," he said.

The 22A would also haveanti-corruption features, a keydemand of the protesters.

He said under the 20ARajapaksa increased the numberof judges for the Supreme Courtand Appeals Court.

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Africa's national parks, home tothousands of wildlife species

such as lions, elephants and buf-faloes, are increasingly threatened bybelow-average rainfall and newinfrastructure projects, stressinghabitats and the species that rely onthem.

A prolonged drought in muchof the continent's east, exacerbatedby climate change, and large-scaledevelopments, including oil drillingand livestock grazing, are hamper-ing conservation efforts in protect-ed areas, several environmentalexperts say.

The at-risk parks stretch all theway from Kenya in the east - hometo Tsavo and Nairobi national parks- south to the Mkomazi andSerengeti parks in Tanzania, theQuirimbas and Gorongosa parks inMozambique and the famousKruger National Park in SouthAfrica, and west to the KahuziBiega, Salonga and Virunga reservesin Congo.

The parks not only protect floraand fauna but also act as natural car-bon sinks - storing carbon dioxideemitted into the air and reducing theeffects of global warming.

An estimated 38% of Africa'sbiodiversity areas are under severe

threat from climate change andinfrastructure development, saidKen Mwathe of BirdLifeInternational. "Key biodiversityareas over the years, especially inAfrica, have been regarded byinvestors as idle and ready fordevelopment," said Mwathe."Governments allocate land in theseareas for infrastructural develop-ment."He added that the "powerlinesand other energy infrastructurecause collisions with birds, due tolow visibility. The numbers killedthis way are not few."

In their quest to bolster livingstandards and achieve sustainabledevelopment goals, such as access to

clean water and food, boosting jobsand economic growth and improv-ing the quality of education, Africangovernments have set their sights onlarge building projects, many ofthem funded by foreign invest-ments, especially by China.

The proposed East African OilPipeline, for example, which theUgandan government says can helplift millions out of poverty, runsthrough Uganda's Kidepo valley,Murchison Falls and BwindiImpenetrable Forest, threateningspecies and drawing criticism fromclimate campaigners.

The growth of urban popula-tions and the building that goes with

it, like new roads, electricity grids,gas pipes, ports and railways, havealso added to the pressure on parks,conservationists said.

But they add that replacingwildlife with infrastructure is thewrong approach for economicgrowth. "We have to have a futurewhere wildlife is not separated frompeople," said Sam Shaba, the pro-gram manager at the HoneyguideFoundation in Tanzania, an envi-ronmental non-profit organization.

When "people start to see thatliving with wildlife provides theanswer to sustainable development... that's the game-changer," saidShaba.

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Asecond Australian state onThursday banned public

displays of Nazi symbols.New South Wales, the

nation's most populous state,followed Victoria, the secondmost populous, which bannedthe public display of Nazi sym-bols in June.

The law was passed withthe unanimous support of thestate parliament's upper cham-ber. The lower chamber passedthe bill on Tuesday.

Queensland and Tasmaniastates have foreshadowed sim-ilar laws, which would meanhalf of Australia's eight statesand territories and most of theAustralian population werebanned from displaying Nazi

symbols.New South Wales Jewish

Board of Deputies chief exec-utive Darren Bark describedthe passing of the law as a his-toric day for the state.

"Nazi symbols are a gate-way to violence and are used asa recruitment tool by extrem-ists," Bark said.

"Banning their display is along-overdue and much-need-ed law in our state. The perpe-trators will finally be held toaccount," he added.

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McDonald's will startreopening restaurants in

Ukraine in the coming months,a symbol of the war-torn coun-try's return to some sense ofnormalcy and a show of sup-port after the American fast-food chain pulled out of Russia.

The burger giant closed itsUkrainian restaurants afterRussia's invasion nearly sixmonths ago but has continuedto pay more than 10,000McDonald's employees in thecountry.

McDonald's said onThursday that it will begingradually reopening somerestaurants in the capital, Kyiv,and western Ukraine, whereother companies are doingbusiness away from the fight-ing. Western businesses likeSpanish clothing retailers Zara

and Mango are open in Kyiv."We've spoken extensively

to our employees who haveexpressed a strong desire toreturn to work and see ourrestaurants in Ukraine reopen,"Paul Pomroy, corporate seniorvice president of internationaloperated markets, said in amessage to employees.

"In recent months, thebelief that this would supporta small but important sense ofnormalcy has grown stronger."

The Ukrainian economyhas been severely damaged bythe war and restarting busi-nesses, even in a limited capac-ity would help.

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In a striking speech beforethousands of North Koreans,

leader Kim Jong Un's sister saidhe suffered a fever while guid-ing the country to victory overthe coronavirus. She blamedrival South Korea for the out-break and vowed "deadly" retal-iation.

Kim Yo Jong, a powerfulofficial in charge of inter-Korean relations, glorified herbrother's leadership during theoutbreak in her speechWednesday at a national meet-ing where he jubilantlydescribed the country's wide-ly disputed success over thevirus as an "amazing miracle"in global public health.

North Korea's statementsabout its outbreak are widelybelieved to be manipulated tohelp Kim Jong Un maintainabsolute authority. But expertsbelieve the victory announce-ment signals his intention tomove to other priorities and areconcerned his sister's remarksportend a provocation, whichmight include nuclear or mis-sile tests or even border skir-mishes.

The North's official KoreanCentral News Agency saidThursday that Kim Jong Undeclared victory over COVID-19 and ordered an easing ofpreventive measures just threemonths after the country firstacknowledged an outbreak.

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Aplane provided by theSpanish government has

brought 294 Afghan refugeesvia Pakistan to Spain, author-ities said Thursday, bringing to3,900 the number of peopleevacuated by Madrid since theTaliban takeover ofAfghanistan last year.

A government statementsaid the latest group of Afghanworkers and their families flewinto an air base near Madridlate Wednesday and were metby government officials, includ-ing Spanish Foreign AffairsMinister José Albares. "Thisflight is further evidence thatwe are keeping our commit-ment to not leave anyonebehind," Albares said.

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China on Thursday renewed its threat toattack Taiwan following almost a week

of war games near the island. Taiwan hascalled Beijing's claims to the self-governingdemocracy "wishful thinking" and launchedits own military exercises.

Taiwan's "collusion with external forcesto seek independence and provocation willonly accelerate their own demise and pushTaiwan into the abyss of disaster," ChineseForeign Ministry spokesperson WangWenbin said at a daily briefing.

"Their pursuit of Taiwan independencewill never succeed, and any attempt to sellthe national interest will be met with a com-plete failure," Wang told reporters.

China's attempt to intimidate theTaiwanese public and advertise its strategyfor blockading and potentially invading theisland was nominally prompted by a visit toTaipei last week by US House Speaker NancyPelosi.

The US, Japan and allies havedenounced the exercises, with the Group ofSeven industrialised nations issuing a state-ment at a recent meeting expressing its con-cern.

On Wednesday, Britain's governmentsummoned Chinese Ambassador ZhengZeguang to the Foreign Office to demandan explanation of "Beijing's aggressive andwide-ranging escalation against Taiwan".

Taiwan says Beijing used Pelosi's visit asa pretext to raise the stakes in its feud withTaipei, firing missiles into the Taiwan Straitand over the island into the Pacific Ocean.China also sent planes and ships across themidline in the strait that has long been abuffer between the sides, which separatedamid civil war in 1949.

In a lengthy policy statement on Taiwanissued Wednesday, China distorted thehistorical record, including the UnitedNations' 1972 resolution that transferred theChina seat on the Security Council fromBeijing to Taipei, Taiwan's Cabinet-levelMainland Affairs Council said. The Chinesestatement also discarded a pledge not to sendtroops or government officials to Taiwan thatwas contained in previous statements.

The UN resolution makes no mentionof Taiwan's status, although China regardsit as a foundational document proclaimingthe Communist Party's right to control overthe island.

The Taiwanese council's statement saidChina was orchestrating its moves againstTaiwan ahead of the ruling CommunistParty's 20th National Congress to be heldlater this year. President and party leader XiJinping is expected to receive a third five-year term at the conclave, after leading arelentless crackdown on political figuresaccused of corruption, human rights activistsand civil society groups.

Xi's suppression of free speech and

political opposition in Hong Kong was alsoseen as a factor behind Taiwan's PresidentTsai Ing-wen winning a second term in 2020.

China says it plans to annex Taiwanunder the now widely discredited "one coun-try, two systems" format applied in HongKong. The concept has been thoroughlyrejected in Taiwanese public opinion pollsin which respondents have overwhelming-ly favoured the status-quo of de-facto inde-pendence.

The Chinese statement is "full of wish-ful thinking, and ignores the facts," theMainland Affairs Council said in its pressrelease.

The "crude and clumsy political opera-tions by the Beijing authorities further high-light its arrogant thinking pattern of attempt-ing to use force to invade and destroy theTaiwan Strait and regional peace," therelease said.

"The authorities in Beijing deceivethemselves. We warn the Beijing authoritiesto immediately stop threatening Taiwan withforce and spreading false information," itsaid.

Taiwan placed its military under highalert during the Chinese drills but took nodirect countermeasures. It held artillery drillsoff its southwestern coast facing China thatran through Thursday, illustrating the chal-lenges the People's Liberation Army wouldface were it to launch an invasion across thestrait.

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House Speaker Nancy Pelosihas said the US just cannot

allow China to establish a "newnormal" to put pressure onTaiwan through the kind ofmilitary drills and warplaneincursions that Beijing launchedafter she visited the self-gov-erning island.

China on Wednesday ann-ounced that it has "successfullycompleted" its week-long andunprecedented military drillsthat have essentially encircledTaiwan.

Initially, the People's Libe-ration Army announced thewar games in the busy TaiwanStrait from August 4 to 7, theday after Pelosi, who is the hig-hest-ranking US leader to havevisited Taiwan in 25 years, leftTaipei after high-level meetings.It later kept extending them,keeping the breakaway islandon tenterhooks.

"What we saw with Chinais that they were trying toestablish sort of a new normal.And we just can't let that hap-pen," Pelosi told a news con-ference on Wednesday, refer-ring to the provocative drills.

The Chinese military exer-cises involved hundreds of war-planes, dozens of naval ships,including an aircraft carriergroup with a nuclear submarinein tow, amid assertions by the

official media here that suchwar games in the busy TaiwanStrait will be a new normal.

Pelosi's trip to Taipei ange-red Beijing, which views Taiwanas a breakaway province thatmust be reunited with themainland, by force if necessary.

Taiwan has accused Chinaof using the recent drills as prac-tice for an invasion.

"We didn't go there to talkabout China. We went there topraise Taiwan. And we wentthere to show our friendship tosay, 'China cannot isolate Tai-wan,'" Pelosi asserted during thenews conference on Wednesdayafter her trip to Asia.

"The visit delivered a clearstatement that America's com-mitment to a free and openIndo-Pacific is unshakeable,"Pelosi noted.

The US along with severalworld powers have been talkingabout the need to ensure a free,open and thriving Indo-Pacificin the backdrop of China's ris-ing military manoeuvring in theresource-rich region.

China claims nearly all ofthe disputed South China Sea,though Taiwan, the Philippines,Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnamall claim parts of it. Beijing hasbuilt artificial islands and mil-itary installations in the SouthChina Sea. China also has ter-ritorial disputes with Japan inthe East China Sea.

����� =57:57

Britain's prime ministerial can-didate Rishi Sunak has insist-

ed that he would rather lose theConservative Party leadershiprace to replace Boris Johnson thanwin on a false promise on how heplans to tackle the economic cri-sis.

In an interview with theBBC, the British Indian formerChancellor said he was commit-ted to helping the most vulnera-ble families with the cost-of-liv-ing crisis and felt a "moral respon-sibility to go further" and provide"extra help" over the winter.

The issue has become the keydividing line between him and hisrival, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss,

who has pledged tax cuts whichthe former finance minister insistswill benefit wealthier householdsrather than those who need itmost.

"I would rather lose than winon a false promise," Sunak, 42,said.

"What I'm determined to dois help people across this coun-try through what will be a verydifficult winter. My first prefer-ence is always not to take moneyoff people in the first place," hesaid.

As the candidates continue tobe grilled by Conservative Partymembers who will be voting inthe election in hustings up anddown the UK, the issue of soar-ing inflation and prices has dom-inated the agenda.

"People can judge me on myrecord," reiterated Sunak in hisBBC interview on Wednesdaynight, referring to his work asChancellor through the COVIDlockdown.

"People can judge me on theirrecord - when bills were going upby around 1,200 pounds earlierthis year, I made sure the mostvulnerable received around 1,200pounds," he pointed out.

Sunak also promised to "gofurther" than what he has alreadyannounced if elected PrimeMinister.

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The death toll from lastweekend's fighting between

Israel and Gaza militants hasrisen to 47, after a man diedfrom wounds sustained duringthe violence, the HealthMinistry in Gaza said onThursday.

Israeli aircraft struck tar-gets in the Gaza Strip and thePalestinian Islamic Jihad mili-tant group fired more than athousand rockets over threedays of fighting, the worstcross-border violence since an11-day war with Hamas lastyear.

According to the Health

Ministry, 47 people were killed,among them were 16 childrenand four women.

Israeli strikes appear tohave killed some 30 people,among them several militantsand two senior Islamic Jihadcommanders, one of whom

Israel said it targeted in orderto foil an imminent attack.

As many as 16 peoplemight have been killed byrockets misfired by Palestinianmilitants. It wasn't immediate-ly clear how the man whosedeath was announced onThursday was wounded.

A cease-fire took hold onSunday night, bringing an endto the fighting, in which noIsraelis were killed or serious-ly wounded.

Israel and Gaza's militantHamas rulers have fought fourwars and several smaller battlesover the last 15 years at a stag-gering cost to the territory's 2million Palestinian residents.

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Greek authorities say a searchand rescue operation is

ongoing for a second day fordozens of migrants missing afterthe boat they were on sank inrough seas off a southeasternGreek island. A Greek navyvessel and three nearby mer-chant ships were still searchingfor between around 30 to 50people believed missing after theboat that had been carryingthem from the Turkish coast ofAntalya to Italy capsized in theearly hours of Wed. No furthersurvivors had been located since29 men from Afghanistan, Iranand Iraq were rescued shortlyafter the boat sank about 33 nau-tical miles southeast of theisland of Karpathos, the Greekcoast guard said.

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Donald Trump 's pick forgovernor in the swing state

of Wisconsin easily defeated afavourite of the Republicanestablishment.

In Connecticut, the statethat launched the Bush familyand its brand of compassionateconservatism, a fiery Senatecontender who promotedTrump's election lies upset thestate GOP's endorsed candi-date. Meanwhile in Washington,Republicans ranging fromSenate Minority Leader MitchMcConnell to conspiracy theo-rist Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greenedefended Trump against anunprecedented FBI search.

And that was just this week.The rapid developments

crystalised the former presi-dent's singular status atop a

party he has spent the pastseven years breaking down andrebuilding in his image. Facingmounting legal vulnerabilitiesand considering another presi-dential run, he needs supportfrom the party to maintain hispolitical career. But, whetherthey like it or not, many in theparty also need Trump, whoseendorsement has proven crucialfor those seeking to advance tothe November ballot.

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The south London homewhere Dadabhai Naoroji, a

prominent member of theIndian freedom struggle andBritain's first Indian parlia-mentarian, lived for aroundeight years at the end of the19th century has been hon-oured with a commemorativeBlue Plaque.

The Blue Plaque scheme,run by the English Heritagecharity, honours the historicsignificance of particular build-

ings across London. Naoroji'splaque was unveiled onWednesday to coincide withthe 75th anniversary celebra-tions of Indian Independence.

Naoroji, often referred to asthe "grand old man of India",

is reported to have moved toWashington House, 72 AnerleyPark, Penge, Bromley, at a timewhen his thoughts were turn-ing increasingly towards fullindependence for India in1897. That red-brick homenow has a plaque which reads:"Dadabhai Naoroji 1825-1917Indian Nationalist and MPlived here".

"Naoroji made seven tripsto England and spent overthree decades of his long life inLondon," English Heritage saidin a statement.

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New Delhi: Gold in the nation-al capital on Thursday declined�347 to �52,709 per 10 gramsamid decline in internationalyellow metal prices, accordingto HDFC Securities.

In the previous trade, theprecious metal had closed at�53,056 per 10 grams.

Silver also fell sharply by�455 to �59,103 per kg from�59,558 per kg in the previoustrade.

In the international mar-ket, gold was quoting lower atUSD 1,787 per ounce while sil-ver was flat at USD 20.45 perounce.

“Gold prices retreated aftersoft US inflation data andeased recession worries,” saidTapan Patel, Senior Analyst(Commodities) at HDFCSecurities. PTI

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New Delhi: Trade betweenIndia and the UK is expectedto double by 2030 driven by theproposed free trade pact,investment in technology,diversification of global supplychains and ease of doing busi-ness, a report said on Thursday.

India’s trade in goods andservices with the UK increasedto USD 31.34 billion in 2022from USD 19.51 billion in2015, said the report.

The second edition of theBritain Meets India Report2022, launched by GrantThornton Bharat in partner-ship with the Confederation ofIndian Industry (CII), sup-ported by the UK’s Departmentof International Trade, alsorevealed that 618 UK compa-nies have been identified inIndia that together employapproximately 4.66 lakh peopleand have a combined turnoverof Rs 3,634.9 billion.

“The UK remained thesixth-largest investor in India,with a cumulative investmentof approximately USD 31.92billion in 2000-22. This con-stituted around 5.4 per cent ofthe total Foreign DirectInvestment (FDI) into India,”

according to the report.In June, commerce and

industry minister Piyush Goyalexpressed hope that the freetrade agreement between Indiaand the United Kingdom willbe concluded by Diwali.

“The FTA is also expect-ed to result in significant ben-efits for both countries throughtariff concessions on alcoholicbeverages and the movement ofprofessionals,” the report said,adding that the proposed pactis expected to boost Indianexports in labour-intensive sec-tors such as leather, textile, jew-ellery, processed agri-productsand marine products, IT/ITES,education, pharma and health-care (Ayurveda, Yoga andNaturopathy, Unani, Siddhaand Homeopathy).

According to the report,the UK is likely to look atreducing tariffs on productssuch as apples, UK-manufac-tured medical devices andmachinery. British HighCommissioner to IndiaAlexander Ellis CMG said:“India has been one of the UK’smost important partners inthe journey of 75 years. The‘living bridge’ between our

countries is set to transforminto a stronger bond as we con-tinue to fight the pandemictogether and address the chal-lenges to our security in boththe physical and digital worlds.Our shared focus will be onstrengthening the economicrelationship between the twonations for a more secure andprosperous decade ahead.”

“The report has highlight-ed several new emerging sectorsand I hope we will derive qual-itative outcomes that nurtureopportunities for companiesin India and the UK. We con-tinue to work closely with thegovernments and businesseson both sides and leverage thestrengths of UK companies todeepen our trade relationship,”CII Director GeneralChandrajit Banerjee said.

“Trade between India andthe UK is expected to double by2030 from current levels -based on dynamic connectionsbetween people of both coun-tries, investment in technolo-gy, diversification of globalsupply chains and overall easeof doing business,” said VisheshC Chandiok, CEO, GrantThornton Bharat. PTI

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Mumbai: Equity benchmarkSensex rallied 515 points onThursday to reclaim the59,000-mark after a gap offour months, propelled byheavy buying in IT, bankingand financial stocks amid sus-tained foreign fund inflowsand positive Asian equities.

The 30-share BSE indexended 515.31 points or 0.88 percent higher at 59,332.60 -- itshighest closing since April 8,2022. Similarly, the broaderNSE Nifty gained 124.25 pointsor 124.25 per cent to close at17,659.

Axis Bank was the topgainer in the Sensex pack,climbing 2.75 per cent, fol-lowed by Bajaj Finance, HDFC,Tech Mahindra, TCS, SBI andWipro. On the other hand, ITC,NTPC, HUL, Bharti Airtel,Maruti and Nestle India wereamong the major laggards,sliding as much as 1.56 percent. Market breadth was infavour of the bulls, with 19 ofthe 30 Sensex counters logginggains.

“Investors cheered the USinflation data for July, whichcame in below the estimate andraised hopes that the FederalReserve may not be that aggres-sive in hiking interest rates inits next meeting.

Hence, the optimismspread across Asian markets,including India where investors

lapped up banking, IT andrealty stocks.

“Traders have also beendrawing comfort from thefalling crude oil prices and FIIinflows into the local shares inthe last few sessions,” saidShrikant Chouhan, Head ofEquity Research (Retail), KotakSecurities Ltd.

Siddhartha Khemka, Head- Retail Research, MotilalOswal Financial Services, saidcommodity costs have cor-rected over the last few weeks,offering some respite from therecord high inflation.

“India’s inflation data isdue on tomorrow (Friday)which would be eyed eagerlyamidst better US inflation data.

The benefit of the recentmoderation in commoditycosts is likely to start accruing

in H2 FY23E, which wouldboost corporate profitability.

“Thus the positivemomentum in the market islikely to sustain going ahead,though bouts of volatility can’tbe ruled out given mixed glob-al cues and increasing geopo-litical tensions,” he added.

Sectorally, BSE bankex,finance, IT and realty climbedup to 1.64 per cent, whileFMCG, metal, auto, telecomand basic materials nursedlosses.

Broader markets were up,with the BSE midcap indexadvancing 0.83 per cent and thesmallcap gauge rising 0.52 percent.

Elsewhere in Asia, bours-es in Hong Kong, Shanghai andSeoul ended with significantgains, while Tokyo closed in thered. PTI

New Delhi: The oil ministryhas ordered the diversion ofnatural gas from industries tothe city gas distribution sectorto cool CNG and piped cook-ing gas prices that have shot upby 70 per cent on the use ofimported fuel.

Less than three monthsafter it ordered the use of cost-lier imported LNG to meetincremental demand for auto-mobile fuel CNG and house-hold kitchen gas PNG, the min-istry on August 10 reverted toan old policy of primarily sup-plying domestically producedgas for city gas operations.

The allocation for city gasoperators like Indraprastha GasLtd in Delhi and MahanagarGas Ltd of Mumbai has beenincreased from 17.5 millionstandard cubic meters per dayto 20.78 mmscmd, officialssaid.

The increased allocationwill meet 94 per cent of thedemand for CNG to automo-biles and piped cooking gas tohousehold kitchens in thecountry. Previously, about 83-84 per cent of the demand wasmet and the remaining was metthrough the import of LNG byGAIL, they said.

Use of domestic gasinstead of imported fuel willbring down the cost of rawmaterial and ease CNG andPNG rates, officials said.

The move follows a mas-

sive jump in CNG and PNGprices in the country in the lastone year as operators usedcostlier imported LNG. CNGprices in Delhi went up by amassive 74 per cent (from Rs43.40 per kg in July 2021 to Rs75.61 per kg now) while PNGprices rose by 70 per cent(from Rs 29.66 per standardcubic meter to Rs 50.59 perscm).

Natural gas is the rawmaterial that is used for CNGand PNG. This gas comes fromfields such as Mumbai Highand Bassein in the Arabian Sea.As the domestic production ofgas is insufficient to meet all therequirements, the fuel isimported in the form ofLiquefied Natural Gas (LNG)in ships.

To promote the use ofcleaner fuel, the government in2014 included the City GasDistribution (CGD) sector onthe top priority list for receiv-ing gas from older or regulat-ed fields of state-owned ONGCand Oil India.

The CGD was put on a ‘nocut’ priority sector and alloca-tion was made twice a year --in April and October -- basedon consumption data of theprevious six months.

The ministry made suchfull allocation in March 2021and thereafter, in May 2022,issued an amendment to the2014 supply guideline to statethat incremental demand overand above the last year’s levelwould be met through import-ed LNG. PTI

New Delhi: Aviation stockswere in heavy demand onThursday, a day after the CivilAviation Ministry said thatdomestic airfare caps will beremoved. The Union AviationMinistry on Wednesday saidthat limits imposed on domes-tic airfares will be removedfrom August 31, after a span ofapproximately 27 months.

Shares of InterGlobeAviation opened at Rs 2,070.05,then gained further to touch2,080.80, registering a jump of2.09 per cent over its last close.

SpiceJet Ltd opened at Rs46.05, then jumped as much as6.80 per cent to Rs 47.90 ashare. “The decision to removeair fare caps has been takenafter careful analysis of dailydemand and prices of air tur-bine fuel (ATF). Stabilisationhas set in and we are certainthat the sector is poised forgrowth in domestic traffic inthe near future,” AviationMinister Jyotiraditya Scindia

said on Twitter.ATF prices have been com-

ing down during the last fewweeks after jumping to recordlevels, primarily due to theRussia-Ukraine war that beganon February 24.

On August 1, the price ofATF in Delhi was Rs 1.21 lakhper kilo-litre, which wasaround 14 per cent lower thanlast month.

The ministry had imposedlower and upper limits ondomestic airfares based onflight durations when serviceswere resumed on May 25,2020, after a two-month lock-down due to Covid pandemic.

On Wednesday, the CivilAviation Ministry stated in anorder: “After review of the cur-rent status of scheduled domes-tic operations viz-a-viz passen-ger demand for air travel...It hasbeen decided to remove the farebands notified from time to timeregarding the airfares with effectfrom August 31, 2022”. PTI

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New Delhi: Shares of CoalIndia gained over 3 per cent tohit a 52-week high in morningtrade on Thursday after thecompany reported robust Junequarter numbers.

On BSE, the stock openedstrong at Rs 226.00, then gainedfurther to hit a 52-week high ofRs 226.10, registering a rise of2.84 per cent over its previousclosing price after its Junequarter profit almost tripled toRs 8,832.86 crore.

On the NSE, the stockclimbed 3.16 per cent to a 52-week high of Rs 226.80.

Coal India Ltd on

Wednesday reported an almostthree-fold rise in consolidatednet profit at Rs 8,832.86 crorefor the June 2022 quarter on theback of higher sales.

The company had posted a

net profit of Rs 3,169.86 crorein the year-ago period, CoalIndia Ltd (CIL) said in a BSEfiling.

Its revenue from operationsduring the April-June periodincreased to Rs 35,092.17 crorefrom Rs 25,282.75 crore a yearago.

The company’s net sales inthe first quarter rose to Rs32,497.9 crore from Rs23,293.65 crore earlier.

Its output in the April-Juneperiod rose to 159.75 milliontonnes (MT) from 123.98 MTin the corresponding quarter ofthe previous fiscal. PTI

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New Delhi: JMC ProjectsLimited (JMC) on Thursdaysaid it has secured new ordersworth �1,524 crore in con-struction and water segments.

The orders include an engi-neering, procurement and con-struction project for integratedairport development in Asia for�1,012 crore, JMC, a subsidiaryof Kalpataru PowerTransmission Limited, said ina statement.

It has also bagged waterprojects worth Rs 370 crore andB&F (Buildings & Factories)

projects of 142 crore in India.“We are delighted with the

new order wins, especially theprestigious order for IntegratedAirport Development.

The new orders in thewater and B&F business help usto widen our clientele and fur-ther strengthen our orderbook,” JMC CEO andManaging Director SK Tripathisaid.

JMC Projects (India)Limited (JMC) is one of theleading civil construction andinfrastructure EPC companiesin India. PTI

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Mumbai: The rupee depreci-ated by 36 paise to close at79.61 (provisional) against theUS dollar on Thursday amidrising crude oil prices.

At the interbank foreignexchange market, the localcurrency opened at 79.22 andsaw an intra-day high of 79.22and a low of 79.69 against theAmerican currency.

It finally ended at 79.61,down 36 paise over its previousclose of 79.25.

Forex traders said therupee is likely to trade on amixed note in the near term.Recovery in domestic marketsfrom lower levels and FIIinflows may support the localunit.

Meanwhile, the dollarindex, which gauges the green-back’s strength against a basketof six currencies, fell 0.23 percent to 104.95, after official datashowed that US inflationslowed down from a 40-yearhigh in June to 8.5 per cent inJuly on lower gasoline prices.

Traders said investors nowwill focus on key domestic

macroeconomic data pointslike index of industrial pro-duction (IIP), consumer priceindex (CPI) and trade balancenumbers due on Friday for fur-ther cues.

Brent crude futures, theglobal oil benchmark,advanced 0.84 per cent to USD98.22 per barrel.

On the domestic equitymarket front, the BSE Sensexended 515.31 points or 0.88 percent higher at 59,332.60 points,while the broader NSE Niftyadvanced 124.25 points or 0.71per cent to 17,659.00 points.

Foreign institutionalinvestors remained net buyersin the capital market onWednesday as they purchasedshares worth �1,061.88 crore, asper exchange data. PTI

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New Delhi: MSME exportersare facing slowdown indemand in the global marketsdue to the ongoing warbetween Russia and Ukraineand they have sought immedi-ate intervention of the govern-ment to deal with the situation,according to industry players.

They added that the dip indemand may impact the coun-try’s exports in the comingmonths. Ludhiana Hand ToolsAssociation President S CRalhan said the industry is

passing through “acute reces-sion” in both domestic andinternational markets.

“Most of the sectorsincluding hand tools auto partsand spinning mills are workingat 25-60 per cent capacity only.At the moment, we are gettingvery small orders,” he said in astatement. Most of theexporters said they have ordersfor only one or two months.

“This scenario wouldimpact exports growth,” Ralhanadded.

Sharing similar views,Dalpat Forge (India) ManagerAshwani Aggarwal said thedemand situation is “bad” inboth domestic as well as glob-al markets like the US andEurope. “The governmentshould support us to deal withthe situation,” he said.

Leading leather sectorexporter and Chairman ofFarida Group Rafeeq Ahmedsaid though the factories cur-rently are running at full capac-ity, the order book position is

gradually “dwindling” for theseason.

“There are demand issuesmainly in the US due to highinflation there. We as exportersare planning how to deal withthis slowdown,” Ahmed said.

Federation of IndianExport Organisations (FIEO)Vice Chairman Khalid Khanadded that “order book posi-tion is bad”. Exports dipped,though marginally, for the firsttime in 17 months in July, whiletrade deficit tripled to a record

USD 31 billion fuelled by over70 per cent rise in crude oilimports. The outbound ship-ments during April-July 2022-23, however, stood at USD156.41 billion, an increase of19.35 per cent over USD 131.06billion in the correspondingperiod last fiscal. While the USis top market for domesticexporters, European nationsincluding the Netherlands,Belgium, Germany, Italy andFrance are among the top 20destinations. PTI

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New Delhi: The NationalHighways InfrastructureDevelopment Corporation andthe National Skill DevelopmentCorporation have signed anagreement to facilitate collab-oration in skill developmentinitiatives.

The Memorandum ofUnderstanding (MoU) pro-vides a formal basis of interac-tion between NHIDCL andNSDC, and will play a signifi-cant role in realising the aimsand objectives of the PrimeMinister’s skill developmentprogramme, the Ministry ofSkill Development andEntrepreneurship said.

“The purpose of this MoUis to establish the basis of col-laboration between NHIDCLand NSDC, to take up multipleinitiatives contributing towardsmaking India the Skill Capitalof the World,” it said in a state-ment on Thursday. PTI

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New Delhi: The supply of coalto electricity generating plantsincreased by 17.09 per cent to58.45 million tonnes in July dueto rise in power demand, thegovernment data said.

The government in thelast few months has taken var-ious measures to ensure ade-quate availability of coal forpower stations.

The total coal dispatch topower utilities stood at 49.92million tonnes (MT) in July lastfiscal, according to provision-al data of the coal ministry.

Overall dispatch of coal inthe country went up by 8.51 percent to 67.81 MT last monthcompared to 62.49 MT in thecorresponding month of pre-vious fiscal.

The overall coal produc-tion also went up by 11.37 percent to 60.42 MT in July asagainst 54.25 MT in the year-ago period.

Earlier, the governmenthad mandated Coal India (CIL)to import coal as an emergencymeasure to avoid the fuel short-age at power utilities and buildup buffer stock.

The state-owned firmaccounts for over 80 per cent ofIndia’s coal output.

Subsequently, CIL award-ed the contract for supply of7.91 lakh tonnes of importedcoal to PT Bara Daya EnergyLtd (consortium) to powergeneration companies (gen-cos) during August andSeptember. PTI

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Nick Kyrgios broke twice inthe final set as he rallied

to topple world number oneDaniil Medvedev in the sec-ond round of the ATPMontreal Masters onWednesday.

Australia's Wimbledonfinalist beat Medvedev 6-7(2/7), 6-4, 6-2 to produce hissecond career upset of a reign-ing number one after ambush-ing Rafael Nadal atWimbledon in 2014.

Kyrgios produced hisusual on-court antics, com-plaining about a high bounce,hitting a ball into the stands todraw a warning and bickeringwith his player box inmoments of tension.

But after gathering hisformidable resources, the 27-year-old ranked 37th finishedoff the match in exactly twohours.

"This is our fourth meet-ing and we know each otherwell," Kyrgios said. "I don't goin looking at the rankings, justthe guy in front of me.

"I had a clean objectivetoday — play a lot of serve andvolley and execute better.

"Hopefully I can keep thisrolling and keep on winning.Medvedev is a machine — he'snumber one for a reason."

Both players were comingoff weekend title wins, Kyrgiosat the Washington 500 onSunday and Medvedev at LosCabos, Mexico, on Saturday.

Kyrgios has won 14 of hislast 15 matches to improve to29-7 for 2022.

Medvedev lost for the11th time in 2022, but byreaching the final at LosCabos — where he lifted hisfirst trophy of the season — heis assured of taking the num-ber one ranking into his USOpen title defense later thismonth.

Second-seeded CarlosAlcaraz, who like Medvedevenjoyed a first-round bye,fared no better in his openingmatch.

American Tommy Paulspoiled the Spaniard'sCanadian debut with a 6-7(4/7), 7-6 (9/7), 6-3 victory.

The unseeded Americanconverted his fifth matchpoint to seal the second-roundvictory in three hours and 20minutes.

Alcaraz came into theevent with two prestigeMasters 1000 titles fromMiami and Madrid and hold-ing a 42-7 record this season.

Fourth seed Casper Ruudbacked up his defeat earlierthis season of Alex Molcan,beating the Slovakian 7-6(7/3), 6-3 in just under twohours.

Elsewhere, Italian JannikSinner needed three sets to getpast Adrian Mannarino 2-6,6-4, 6-2 while Alex de Minaurlined up an al l-AussieThursday match againstKyrgios by defeating GrigorDimitrov 7-6 (7/4), 7-5.

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Serena Williams, who indi-cated this week she is in

the home stretch of her sto-ried tennis career, fell 6-2, 6-4 to Belinda Bencic in the sec-ond round of the WTAToronto Masters onWednesday.

Switzerland's Bencic, theOlympic gold medallist inTokyo last year, broke the 23-time Grand Slam championtwice in the first set andonce in the second to repeata 2015 semi-final victoryover Williams in Toronto.

She needed five set pointsto pocket the opener, but thesecond set went moresmoothly and she wrapped upthe victory in front of a vocalpro-Williams crowd in justover an hour and a quarter.

Williams, who turns 41next month, had beatenSpain's Nuria Parrizas Diazon Monday for her first sin-gles victory since the 2021French Open, 14 months ago.

She revealed in an essayin Vogue magazine and an

Instagram post on Tuesdaythat "the countdown hasbegun" to her retirementfrom the sport.

Williams hasn't specifiedan actual retirement date butis expected to compete nextweek in Cincinnati beforetravelling to the US Open,which starts on August 29.

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Germany's world numbertwo Alexander Zverev says

he is facing a battle to be fit forthe US Open following surgeryon torn ankle ligaments at theFrench Open.

Zverev only returned to thepractice court last Sunday afterthe injury he suffered during hissemi-final against Rafael Nadalat Roland Garros in June.

Speaking in Hamburg at apress conference on Thursdaythe Tokyo Olympic championZverev said: "Obviously I am

going to try to make it to the USOpen even if it's in a very veryshort time."

The last Grand Slam of theseason starts in New York in alittle over a fortnight on August29.

If Flushing Meadows comestoo soon Zverev is aiming toreturn for the September 13-18Davis Cup group phase againstFrance, Belgium and Australia inhis native Hamburg.

���������������Rafael Nadal boosted his

hopes of competing at the US

Open on Wednesday byannouncing he will play in nextweek's Cincinnati Masters.

"Very happy to play again inCincy. Flying there tomorrow,"the 36-year-old wrote onInstagram.

World number three Nadalhas not played since suffering anabdominal tear at Wimbledonlast month which forced him towithdraw from his semi-finalagainst Nick Kyrgios.

The Spaniard hasn't playedin Cincinnati, where he waschampion in 2013, for fiveyears.

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Goals from David Alaba andKarim Benzema gave Real

Madrid a 2-0 victory overEintracht Frankfurt and a fifthUEFA Super Cup onWednesday.

While Frankfurt were dan-gerous, particularly in the firsthalf, Madrid's experience andindividual quality saw themthrough, as it did so often intheir victorious 2021-22Champions League campaign.

"It wasn't an easy game,they were entrenched in theirown half, but we managed toscore and we controlled it wellafterwards," Real Madrid man-ager Carlo Ancelotti toldMovistar TV.

"At the start of the season,you can't expect the team to bealready at 100 percent, but wewon and we have started theseason well. I believe it can helpus achieve better results andwinning helps motivate theplayers."

Frankfurt had the best ofthe early stages, with Madridkeeper Thibaut Courtois forcedinto a stunning anticipationsave when one-on-one withDaichi Kamada in the 14thminute.

Madrid almost got theirfirst, when Benzema releasedVinicius to curl past Kevin

Trapp in the penalty box, onlyfor Tuta to clear the ball off theline.

With Madrid dominatingpossession, Frankfurt mountedseveral counter-attacks untilMadrid launched a counter oftheir own in the 37th minute.

A diving Trapp got his fin-gertips to a goal-bound shot byVinicius, pushing the ball outfor a corner.

From the ensuing play,Benzema linked with Casemirojust next to the right post.

The Brazilian sucked inseveral Frankfurt defendersand a diving Trapp, beforeheading back to an unmarkedAlaba who scored from closerange.

After the goal, Madridstepped it up a gear and shouldhave gone 2-0 up, with Benzemauncharacteristically draggingthe ball wide with the goal beg-ging in the 41st minute.

Madrid's quality becamemore obvious in the second half,with Trapp saving a deflectedVinicius shot in the 54th minuteand Casemiro hitting the cross-bar with 61 minutes gone.

Borussia Dortmund loa-nee Ansgar Knauff had a chancesaved just minutes later, beforeVinicius and Benzema com-bined to put Madrid 2-0 up.

Vinicius skated down theleft before slicing the ball back

seemingly unsighted for theFrenchman to hammer homefrom the edge of the box.

Frankfurt fought hard inthe closing stages but Madridwere able to dominate the gameto win their fifth Super Cupfrom eight attempts.

Alaba praised his team'sdetermination to continue theirstellar form from last season.

"We were here to win andto collect the next title... Wewant to pick up where we leftoff last season," Alaba toldRTL.

"It's always nice to scoregoals - it doesn't happen sooften for me."

The match also highlight-ed the growing gap between theChampions League and EuropaLeague competitions, withMadrid being the ninthChampions League team towin the competition in thepast 10 years.

Only city rivals AtleticoMadrid have won the SuperCup when qualifying via aEuropa League win in the pastdecade, having done so bybeating Real in the 2018 edition.

Frankfurt joined Hamburg(1977 and 1983), Dortmund(1997) and Bremen (1992) aslosing Super Cup finalists fromGermany, with only BayernMunich (2013 and 2020) hav-ing won the showpiece event.

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Liverpool tied down HarveyElliott to a new "long-term"

deal on Thursday with the 19-year-old expected to featuremore prominently in JurgenKlopp's first-team plans thisseason.

Elliott started three ofLiverpool's first four PremierLeague matches of last seasonbefore sustaining a fracture-dis-location of his ankle at Leedswhich sidelined him for fivemonths.

However, he has bouncedback to full fitness and come offthe bench in both of Liverpool'stwo games so far this seasonagainst Manchester City in theCommunity Shield and his oldclub Fulham on the openingweekend of the Premier Leagueseason.

The midfielder's new dealwill reportedly run until 2027.

"It's always nice to knowthat I'm going to be here formany more years, which isalways a great thing with it

being my boyhood club," Elliotttold the Liverpool website.

"There is nothing in thisworld that makes me morehappy and more excited thanthis."

In total, Elliott has made 22senior appearances since arriv-ing at Anfield in the summerof 2019.

"There is so much to likeabout this," said Liverpoolmanager Jurgen Klopp.

"For us, as a club, we get tocontinue our journey with aspecial young player who hasalready made a big impact onLiverpool FC.

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Bernardo Silva revealed onWednesday he has been

open with Manchester Cityover where he sees his futureamid speculation he could beBarcelona's next big moneysigning.

The Portuguese midfielderhas been a vital part of the Cityside that has won four PremierLeague titles in the past five sea-sons. City boss Pep Guardiolasaid on Friday he would notstand in Silva's way should hewish to leave Manchester.

However, the Englishchampions are reportedly set todemand a fee in excess of £80million that Barcelona willstruggle to match unless thereare a number of significantdepartures from the CampNou.

"My relationship with theclub is very honest. I've beenopen with them and they knowwhat I want," Silva told ESPN.

"If I stay, I'm very happy,and I will always respect thisclub and give all my best. If not,it's football and we'll just seewhat happens.

"It's a big club and theydon't want players who are nothappy at the club. They alwayssay to all of us that if you're nothappy, you can go.

"Of course, they are inbusiness and they want the rightamount of money for letting usgo, but personally it's a relation-

ship with the club that is veryrespectful."

Barcelona have alreadyspent around 150 million eurosthis summer on RobertLewandowski, Raphinha andJules Kounde, as well as addingAndreas Christensen andFranck Kessie on free transfers.

��■ ".5�:;�*�7;".5

The Brazilian FootballConfederation (CBF) said

on Wednesday it did not wantto replay an unfinished WorldCup qualifying match withArgentina.

"After receiving therequest from coach Tite andcoordinator Juninho Paulista,the President of CBF, EdnaldoRodrigues, will seek to sus-pend the match," said a state-ment on the federation website.

The original fixture, inSeptember last year, was halt-ed when Brazilian health offi-cials stormed on the pitchafter seven minutes in SaoPaulo, alleging Covid-19 quar-antine breaches by the visitors.

World football's govern-ing body FIFA ruled inFebruary that the game mustbe replayed in September.

Since February, both

nations have made sure ofqualifying for the World Cupin Qatar.

The CBF statement sug-gested that FIFA had alreadyagreed with the ArgentineFootball Association (AFA) tocall the game off.

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The Indian men's footballteam will play two interna-

tional friendly matches againstSingapore and hosts Vietnam inSeptember, the national federa-tion said on Thursday. TheIndian team will face Singaporeon September 24 before takingon Vietnam on Sept 27.

Vietnam is hosting thefriendly matches in the FIFAwindow (Sept 19 to 27) as partof their preparation for the 2022AFF Mitsubishi Electric Cup.

The Blue Tigers will travelto Vietnam on September 22and return back home onSeptember 28.

The matches are expected totake place at Thong NhatStadium in Ho Chi Minh city,according to Vietnam FootballFederation (VFF) website.

According to VFF, the threeteams will play in a tournamentfrom September 21 to 27 and theteam which gets the highestpoints after a round-robin for-

mat will be declared the cham-pion.

India are currently placed104th on the FIFA world rank-ings, while their two opponentsare placed at 97th (Vietnam) and159th (Singapore) respectively.

Having qualified for the2023 AFC Asian Cup twomonths back, India will be look-ing to prepare for the showpiececontinental tournament nextyear.

"We are happy about theupcoming challenges, and we'relooking forward to maintainingthe quality of performances thatwe have recently dished out,"India head coach Igor Stimacsaid.

The coach said efforts arebeing made to organise apreparatory camp and he ishopeful to have a practice matchagainst Kerala Blasters ahead oftheir departure to Vietnam.

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Coco Gauff overcame 13double-faults on

Wednesday as she battledpast Wimbledon championElena Rybakina and into thethird round of the WTAToronto Masters, where top-ranked Iga Swiatek sailedthrough.

Gauff, the US teenagerwho fell to Swiatek in theFrench Open final this year,held on to beat Rybakina 6-4, 6-7 (8/10), 7-6 (7/3).

Gauff lost out on fourchances to close out astraight-sets victory as a quar-tet of match points came andwent.

Kazakhstan's Rybakina,aided by Gauff 's servicestruggles, had looked as if shemight pull off another

marathon victory. She hadneeded three hours to get pastMarie Bouzkova in the firstround.

But Gauff finally pre-vailed, 70 minutes after herfirst opportunities, claimingvictory on her fifth matchpoint.

Both players were appear-

ing for the first time inFrancophone Montreal aftermaking Canadian debuts ayear ago in Toronto.

World number 11 Gaufflost serve three times againstRybakina but broke on fouroccasions.

Meanwhile, Swiatek glid-ed through untroubled in her

second-round match, defeat-ing Australian AjlaTomljanovic 6-1, 6-2 in 55minutes.

The top-seeded Pole withsix titles this season facednine break points, saving six.

Swiatek was playing hersecond tournament since los-ing to Alize Cornet in the thirdround at Wimbledon lastmonth, a defeat which endedher 37-match win streak.

Defending championCamila Giorgi made it to thethird round with a 6-3, 7-5defeat of Belgian EliseMertens.

Spanish fourth seed PaulaBadosa lasted for just 13 gamesbefore retiring as she trailed 7-5, 1-0 against Kazakh YuliaPutintseva.

Simona Halep beat ZhangShuai of China 6-4, 6-2.

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New Zealand Cricket saidon Thursday that they

are looking into allegations byformer skipper Ross Taylorthat he suffered racism.

The 38-year-old, who is ofNew Zealand-Samoandescent, retired from interna-tional cricket in April after aglorious career spanning 16years.

Taylor's comments are thelatest accusation of racism incricket.

In his autobiography Blackand White released onThursday, the legendary bats-man says he endured raciallybarbed comments from team-mates, but does not specify atwhat level of the game in

New Zealand.Taylor said that for most

of his career he was "an anom-aly, a brown face in a vanillaline-up".

"In many ways, dressing-room banter is the barometer,"he wrote.

"A teammate used to tellme, 'You're half a good guy,Ross, but which half is good?You don't know what I'mreferring to.' I was pretty sureI did.

"Other players also had toput up with comments thatdwelt on their ethnicity."

He represented NewZealand in 112 Tests, scoring7,683 runs between 2006 and2022. He was captain of theBlack Caps for two years until2012.

A spokesman for NewZealand Cricket said theyhave contacted Taylor aboutthe allegations.

"NZC has reached out toRoss to discuss some of thecomments in his book, both tobetter understand the detailsof them and to offer support.These discussions are ongo-ing," said the spokesman.

"Ross currently sits on anNZC working group seekingto improve the game's engage-ment with Pasifika communi-ties and his input is greatlyvalued.

"We consider him animportant part of our cricketfamily and are deeply disap-pointed he's been exposed tothis type of behaviour.

��■ *�%�.)�

West Indies' season ofwhite ball woe continued

on Wednesday when NewZealand completed a 13-runwin in the first T20I of a three-match series at Sabina Park inJamaica.

Fresh from a successfulEuropean sojourn, the BlackCaps posted a formidable 185for five batting first in a rain-interrupted innings before theirpremier bowlers combined tolimit the Caribbean side to 172for seven in reply.

Since getting the better ofBangladesh 2-0 in a T20I duel,the West Indies have beenswept 3-0 by the Bangladeshisand India in successive ODIseries before going down 4-1 tothe Indians in another T20I

campaign immediately pre-ceding this assignment.

New Zealand almost paidfor a period of complacencytowards the end of the matchas an explosive unbroken 58-run eighth-wicket partnershipbetween Romario Shepherd(31 not out) and Odean Smith(27 not out) gave the hosts aglimmer of hope after they hadcrashed to 114 for seven in the16th over.

But they were left with toomuch to do as 'Man of theMatch' Mitchell Santner's haulof three for 19 ripped the heartof the West Indies batting as heclaimed the wickets of captainNicholas Pooran first ballbefore adding ShimronHetmyer and top-scorerShamarh Brooks (42) to his listof victims.

����■ 7;<�:;=>.�

Legendary SachinTendulkar's son Arjun is

all set to leave Mumbai andin all likelihood will ply histrade for south-westernneighbours Goa in the nextdomestic season.

The 22-year-old left-armpacer, who has also been apart of IPL franchiseMumbai Indians, haveplayed two games forMumbai, during the 2020-21edition of Syed Mushtaq AliTrophy against Haryana andPuducherry respectively.

It has been learnt thatTendulkar junior has alreadyapplied for No ObjectionCertificate (NoC) from hishome association MCA.

"Getting maximumgame time on the ground isimportant for Arjun at thisjuncture of his career. Webelieve that the shift willimprove the probability ofArjun featuring in morecompetitive matches. He isembarking on a new phaseof his cricketing career," SRTSports Management said ina statement.

Tendulkar has playedtwo 'Tests' for the India U-19against Sri Lanka, three sum-mers back and has featuredin the Mumbai probables forthe white ball leg of thedomestic season even thistime.

For Tendulkar, the

biggest disappointment hasbeen getting dropped fromthe Mumbai squad this sea-son without being given achance to prove his mettle.

People who have moni-tored his progress feel thatthe youngster has the rightattitude and work ethic butdoes need consistent gametime to showcase what he iscapable of.

He has recently been apart of Mumbai Indians'developmental squad thatplayed a lot of T20 games inEngland.

The likes of KumarKartikeya, AnmolpreetSingh, Ramandeep Singh,Dewald Brevis were all partof the squad that playedT20 games against club sides.

A senior Goa CricketAssociation (GCA) didacknowledge that Tendulkarjunior is expected to be con-sidered among state's pre-season probables.

"We have been lookingout for left-hand bowlingtalent as also add players tothe middle order with mul-tiple skills. In this context,we invited Arjun Tendulkarto join the Goa side. We willbe playing pre-season trial-matches (white ball) and hewill be playing in thosegames. The selectors willthen take a call based on hisperformance," Goa CA pres-ident Suraj Lotlikar toldPTI.

����■ )�/;��5<7

Afghanistan's star spinner Rashid Khan,South African pace spearhead Kagiso

Rabada and dashing English batter LiamLivingstone are among the five direct signingsof MI Cape Town which will take part in theinaugural Cricket South Africa (CSA) T20League.

The talented Dewald Brevis, who playedfor Mumbai Indians in IPL along with Englandall-rounder Sam Curran are the other twodirect signings of the franchise.

For the record, Rashid plays for GujaratTitans, Rabada and Livingstone for PunjabKings and Curran last played for CSK in theIndian Premier League.

MI-Cape Town has thus signed three over-seas players, 1 capped South African and 1uncapped South African.

"With our direct player signings, we havetaken the first step towards building the MI

philosophy — having a strong core aroundwhich the team will be planned. I am glad towelcome Rashid, Kagiso, Liam, Sam andhappy to have Dewald continue with us on thisnew journey," team owner Akash Ambani said.

����■ :(#�.�

Sri Lanka legend MahelaJayawardene has picked

Pakistan captain Babar Azamas the cricketer who, hebelieves, can dethroneEngland's Joe Root as topTest batter.

Root has been ruling theroost at the top of the Testrankings since June, with theEnglishman enjoying a fineWorld Test Championship,and in a rich vein of formunder new coach BrendonMcCullum.

The former England cap-tain has scored more runsthan any other player since theturn of the decade, anddeservedly claimed the ICCMen's Test Player of the Yearaward in 2021.

"Tough one!" Jayawardenasaid on the latest episode ofThe ICC Review, when askedwho can dethrone Root fromthe top spot.

"I would say Babar Azamhas an opportunity. He's beenconsistent in all three formatsand it shows in his rankings.He's a naturally gifted player,plays in all conditions, he's gotthe game to adapt as well.

"It depends on the amountof cricket, who's playing whenand how much but the Babarmight be the guy."

Babar is the only player in

the top three in the batters'rankings in all three formats,occupying the top spot ineach of the white-ball formatsand currently ranked No.3 inTests.

"T20Is and ODIs, it istough one to hold on tobecause there are a lot ofgood players who have to beconsistent," Jayawardene said.

"I would put my money

on him at least for a little whileto hold to all three but thereare some good quality playersaround who will keep pushinghim."

Asked what makes Babarsuch a special player,Jayawardene said he was mostimpressed by the amount oftime the Pakistan skipper haswhile at the crease.

"(I) think it is just thetechnique, the time that he hasand the composure that he hasout there in the middle," theformer Sri Lanka captain said.

"He's not rattled at anytime, whether he plays T20Is,ODIs or Tests, he adjusts quitebrilliantly.

"Joe (Root) in Test crick-et is the same. He knowswhat he needs to do, he canthe tempo when he wants to,bats to what the conditionsoffer. Babar has that samequality, so that's why he'sbeen so consistent in all threeformats."

The two star cricketerswill come face to face later thisyear when England tourPakistan for a three-matchTest series in December.

Root could further solid-ify his No.1 spot in theupcoming series against SouthAfrica, while Babar will haveto wait until the series againstEngland later in the year tomake a charge for the top.

����■ %57�)5

Commonwealth GamesSilver medallist longjumper Murali

Sreeshankar finished sixth inhis debut Diamond Leaguemeeting here with a below-par7.94m effort.

Six days after winning ahistoric Silver at theBirmingham CWG,Sreeshankar competed in hismuch-anticipated maidenDiamond League but was farfrom his best in a strong fieldunder conditions not very idealfor jumping on Wednesdaynight.

Most of the 10 jumpersfaced headwind of above 1m/sin the first round but it got bet-ter as the competition pro-gressed.

Sreeshankar had won Silverin the CWG six days ago witha best jump of 8.08m. He hasa season's and personal best of8.36m.

He had finished seventh inthe World Championships inEugene, USA, last month witha best jump of 7.96m.

The 23-year-old openedwith a 7.61m under a 1.5m/s

headwind. He bettered it to7.84m and then followed it by7.83m.

From sixth in the firstround, he slipped to eight afterthe third and just aboutsqueezed into the top eight tosave himself from elimination.

Sreeshankar had 7.69m inhis fourth attempt and 7.94min his fifth to leave him at thesixth spot.

Under the revised 'FinalThree' rule of the DiamondLeague, only the top three getthe sixth and last attempt.

Tokyo Olympics Bronzemedallist Maykel Masso ofCuba won the event with a besteffort of 8.35m.

World ChampionshipsSilver medallist and reigningOlympic champion MiltiadisTentoglou of Greece (8.31m)finished second ahead ofMarquis Dendy (8.31m) ofUSA though both had identi-cal best jumps.

Tentoglou had two 8.30mjumps as his second best whileDendy had 8.30m and 8.17m assecond and third best jumps.

The 2019 WorldChampionships Gold medallistTajay Gayle of Jamaica was

fourth with a best of 8.06mwhile world indoor Silvermedallist Thobias Montler ofSweden was fifth with a besteffort of 7.96m.

Sreeshankar's next eventcould be in Lausanne,Switzerland as he has said hehas entered his name for WorldAthletics Tour silver label eventthere on August 30.

He collected threeDiamond League points to beat 10th in the qualificationranking for the final in Zurichon September 7-8. He will notmake the season-ending finaleas only the top six qualify forit and there is no men's longjump event in the remainingtwo legs in Lausanne (August26) and Brussels (September 2).

Tentoglou is at the top ofthe Diamond League rankingswith 31 points, followed byMasso (20) and Montler (16).

A new Diamond Leagueformat for jumps and throwswas approved in December, fol-lowing outrage from the ath-letes regarding the controver-sial 'Final Three' — winner-takes-all last round — format.

Under the new format, thebest throw or jump from the

entire competition, not justthe final three, win the event.But only the top three competi-tors after the fifth round will getthe sixth and final attempt.

Moreover, the best throw-ers/jumpers are seeded to per-form at the start of each round.

After round 3, only the topeight will remain in the com-petition and the order of jumpswill be redrawn with the bestperforming athlete starting firstin the next two rounds (rounds4 and 5).

After round 5, the topthree athletes get one addition-al attempt each. The order ofthe three remaining athletes isredrawn so that the best-placedathlete after round five goesfirst in the 'Final 3'.

There will be a two-minutebreak from the end of roundfive to the start of the final 3.Any 'live'' field and track eventswill be stopped for the durationof a 'Final 3' competition.

The old format did notconsider marks achieved inthe previous five attempts, withthe top three athletes going intoa fresh competition in the sixthand final round to pick thechampion.

��■ %57�)5

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryceand Noah Lyles under-

lined their dominant sprintseasons with victories at theMonaco Diamond Leagueon Wednesday, as FaithKipyegon narrowly missed asensational world record inthe 1500m.

Jamaica's Fraser-Pryce,fresh from a fifth world100m title in Eugene lastmonth, clocked a world lead-ing 10.62 seconds for thewin.

The Jamaican's victory inMonaco was her third sub-10.70 run within a week andsaw her become the firstwoman in history to break10.70 six times in the sameseason.

Her time also smashedthe previous meet best of10.72sec set by disgracedAmerican Marion Jones in1998.

"I did what I needed todo and we had fun and letthe clock do the talking," saidFraser-Pryce.

Lyles, who won theworld 200m title last month,also set a meet record, clock-ing 19.46sec to improve onhis previous mark of 19.65set back in 2018.

The American ran apowerful bend in a US clean-sweep, getting the better ofteenager Erriyon Knightonand world 400m championMichael Norman.

World and Olympic1500m champion Kipyegonarguably produced the stand-out performance of an amaz-ing night of track and field.

The Kenyan ran the sec-ond fastest ever time over thedistance as she won in3:50.37, falling just half a sec-ond short of EthiopianGenezebe Dibaba's worldrecord set in 2015, also inMonaco.

SREESHANKARFINISHES 6TH INDIAMOND LEAGUE DEBUT

LONG JUMPER

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