9cj 5DA TcfdYVU f_UVc hYVV]d `W Z]]VXR] ^Z_Vc

12
I n a shocking incident, a deputy superintendent of police (DSP) investigating ille- gal stone-mining was on Tuesday run over by an over- loaded truck when he sig- nalled its driver to stop the truck near Pachgaon village in Nuh district of Haryana. Tauru DSP Surender Singh died on the spot. His gunman and dri- ver jumped aside to safety. One accused was later arrested after getting injured in a shootout with the police, said police officials. “One accused has been arrested following an encounter. He got shot in the leg. Teams are conducting raids to arrest others accused also. Strict action will be taken,” said a senior police officer. Police sources said that acting on a tip-off, the 59-year- old Singh had arrived at Pachgaon under Sadar police station area around 11.30 am to conduct raids to stop illegal mining in Aravalli hills when he spotted the truck at 11.50 am. Spotting a suspicious-look- ing dumper there, the DSP who was accompanied by two policemen, a driver and a gun- man, signaled the driver to stop. But the dumper driver, instead of applying brakes, in a bid to speed away from the spot, tried to run over the men present there. While the gun- man and others jumped aside to safety, the DSP was crushed under the wheels of the truck. He was rushed to hospital where he was declared brought dead. “When the DSP reached the spot, there was an illegal truck. He alighted from his car and went near the truck. The truck driver, instead of coming out, ran over Singh,” said Nuh police spokesperson Krishna Kumar. According to local author- ities Singh died on the spot. Haryana ADGP (law and order) Sandeep Khirwar said a case under IPC sections 302 (murder), 307, 333, 186, 353 along with 379 and 188 has been registered, and the police will come out with full progress report very soon. Singh was recruited as assistant-sub inspector in Haryana Police in 1994. He was currently posted as DSP, Tauru, and was to retire in four months. He was a native of Sarangpur village in Hisar and lived with his family in Kurukshetra.Reacting to the incident, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said in the case of murder of DSP Tauru, orders have been given to take strict action. Continued on Page 2 T erming the situation in Sri Lanka as a “very serious crisis,” External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday said India is naturally worried about its consequences and the “spillover” it can have for the country. Underlining this point dur- ing the all-party meeting to dis- cuss the situation in the island nation, Jaishankar, however, dismissed suggestions about such a situation arising in India. Political parties from Tamil Nadu, including the DMK and the AIADMK, had demanded an all-party meet before Parliament’s monsoon session began and suggested that India should intervene to help the neighbouring country over- come the crisis. “The reason we took the initiative to request you all to join an all-party meeting was...This is a very serious cri- sis and what we are seeing in Sri Lanka is in many ways an unprecedented situation,” Jaishankar said. “It is a matter which per- tains to a very close neighbour and given the near proximity, we naturally worry about the consequences, the spillover it has for us,” he added. Jaishankar also said there have seen some “misinformed comparisons” in the context of Sri Lanka wherein some peo- ple have asked whether “can such a situation happen in India”. M Thambidurai (AIADMK), Saugata Ray (Trinamool Congress), Farooq Abdullah (National Conference), Sanjay Singh (Aam Aadmi Party), Keshava Rao (Telangana Rashtra Samithi), Ritesh Pandey (Bahujan Samaj Party), Vijayasai Reddy (YSR Congress) and Vaiko (MDMK) were among those who attend- ed the meeting. Continued on Page 2 M aharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Tuesday won another political round against the Uddhav Thackeray camp as Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla recognised Rahul Shewale as the Shiv Sena leader in the Lower House of Parliament. “Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla has recognised Rahul Shewale as the Shiv Sena leader in the Lower House,” said the Maharashtra Chief Minister, who staged a political coup against Thackeray and ousted him from power in Maharashtra. The two factions are now fighting to claim the organisa- tion and legacy of late Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray. Shinde, who spoke to newspersons, was flanked by 12 Shiv Sena Lok Sabha members who had written to Speaker Om Birla to change the leader of the Parliamentary party. Rahul Shewale, the new leader of the party in the Lok Sabha, said, “Uddhav Thackeray was keen on realign- ing with the BJP, but went back on his word.” Continued on Page 2 T he Agnipath scheme was back at the centre of a new controversy amid allegations by the Opposition parties that caste and religion were basis for recruitment in the armed forces under this scheme. However, the Government outrightly rejected the allegations and said it was following the age-old practice of recruitment. The issue was raked up by Tejashwi Yadav (RJD) and Sanjay Singh (AAP) saying the registration form for the army recruitment mentioned that the aspirants have to furnish a caste certificate. Joining them was BJP MP Varun Gandhi, who said if patriotism would be decided “on the basis of caste”. BJP ally JD(U) too questioned the move. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh dismissed the Opposition’s allegation and said, “It’s just a rumour. Earlier system, existing since the pre- independence era, is going on. No change has been made. Old system is being continued.” Continued on Page 2 A day after the Ministry of Agriculture notified the formation of a committee on Minimum Support Price (MSP), the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) has rejected it saying that “so-called farmer leaders” who supported the now-repealed farm laws are its members. The SKM said it had no plans to send three repre- sentatives to the Government’s 29-member panel. In a related development, the Centre on Tuesday informed Parliament that they had not assured the SKM of setting up a committee to pro- vide legal guarantee on the minimum support price. In its official statement, the SKM alleged that the Government has included five of its “loyalists”, who openly advocated the three “anti- farmer” laws, in the committee and all of them are either directly associated with the BJP-RSS or support their poli- cies. SKM, an umbrella body of farmers’ organisations that led the over one-year-long protest at Delhi Borders against three Central farm laws, says the Centre’s committee looks “bogus” as it did not talk about ensuring the legal rights of farmers. “By announcing this committee before the Parliament session, the Government has tried to com- plete the paperwork,” it said. “The chairman of the com- mittee is former agriculture secretary Sanjay Agarwal, who drafted all three anti-farmer bills. Continued on Page 2 F or the first time in 44 years, Sri Lanka’s Parliament will directly elect a President on Wednesday in a triangular con- test, with last minute political manoeuvring indicating an edge for Dullas Alahapperuma over Acting President Ranil Wickremesinghe after he received crucial backing from the Opposition parties as well as a majority of lawmakers from his parent party. Wickremesinghe, Alahapperuma and leftist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake were proposed by lawmakers on Tuesday as the three candidates for the July 20 presidential election to pick the successor to Gotabaya Rajapaksa after he resigned following a popular uprising against his Government for mismanaging the economy that forced him to flee the country. A majority of members of the ruling Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) party was in favour of nominating Alahapperuma, a leader of its breakaway faction, for the post of the President and principal Opposition leader Sajith Premadasa as the Prime Minister, Chairman of the SLPP, GL Peiris, said on Tuesday, ahead of Wednesday’s presidential election. Although analysts here believe that 73-year-old Wickremesinghe is in the lead, the evidence of numbers in the 225-assembly don’t necessari- ly suggest it would be plain sail- ing. Without the ruling SLPP’s backing, Wickremesinghe would be a non-starter as he only has his seat in Parliament to be in the reckoning. Going back to the original parliamentary composition in August 2020, the SLPP number of 145 had seen reversals with 52 of the lawmakers breaking away. The total of 93 later became 97 with 4 lawmakers returning. Wickremesinghe needs 16 more votes to cross the magi- cal figure of 113 in the 225- member house. Detailed report on P8 T wo weeks after admonish- ing her, the Supreme Court on Tuesday granted interim protection from arrest till August 10 to suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma in connection with the FIRs/com- plaints filed against her in sev- eral States over her remarks on Prophet Mohammad made during a TV debate. The apex court also pro- tected her from any coercive action in the FIRs/complaints which may be registered or entertained in the future about the May 26 telecast. A bench of Justices Surya Kant and JB Pardiwala, which had earlier refused to club the multiple FIRs lodged against Sharma after coming down heavily on her for the contro- versial comments, took note of the alleged threats to life extended to her after its July 1 order. Observing that it never wanted Sharma to visit every court for relief, the bench issued notices to the Centre and several States, including Delhi, West Bengal, and Maharashtra, on her plea urg- ing protection from arrest as well as the revival of her with- drawn petition seeking club- bing of nine FIRs lodged in sev- eral States. Continued on Page 2 U nion Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday released a list of food items that will be exempted from GST when sold loose and not pre-packed or pre-labelled. Facing criticism over GST on daily use items, Sitharaman identified these items as: puls- es (daal), wheat, rye, oats, maize, rice, flour (aatta), suji (rawa), besan, puffed rice, curd, lassi. She said the imposition of GST was a collective decision of the GST council and the 5 per cent tax is being levied on wheat flour and other items after nod from all States, including non-BJP ruled States. Non-BJP ruled States of Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Kerala had agreed to imposing the 5 per cent levy, the FM said. In a series of tweets, Sitharaman said States levied sales tax or VAT on food- grains in the pre-Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime and the present levy on cereals, pulses, flour, curd and lassi is an exercise to curb tax leakage. The decision, she said, was taken by the GST Council, where all States are represent- ed, through a consensus. The Minister’s comments have come against the back- drop of the first two days of the monsoon session of Parliament virtually getting washed away due to vociferous protests by Opposition parties over the GST on daily use items and other issues. Continued on Page 2 T he Supreme Court on Tuesday transferred PILs pending before it and in many High Courts challenging the Centre’s “Agnipath” scheme for recruitment in the Armed forces to the Delhi High Court. T he Gujarat Police detained filmmaker Avinash Das from Mumbai on Tuesday in a case related to sharing on Twitter a photo of Union Home Minister Amit Shah with arrested IAS officer Pooja Singhal, officials said. As per the FIR, in a caption to the photo Das had claimed the picture was taken a few days before Singhal’s arrest, while it was actually taken in 2017. The crime branch had alleged this was done with an intention to tarnish Shah’s image. “We detained Das from Mumbai on Tuesday. He is being brought to Ahmedabad by our team for further legal process,” the city crime branch’s Assistant Commissioner of Police DP Chudasama said. Continued on Page 2

Transcript of 9cj 5DA TcfdYVU f_UVc hYVV]d `W Z]]VXR] ^Z_Vc

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In a shocking incident, adeputy superintendent of

police (DSP) investigating ille-gal stone-mining was onTuesday run over by an over-loaded truck when he sig-nalled its driver to stop thetruck near Pachgaon village inNuh district of Haryana. TauruDSP Surender Singh died onthe spot. His gunman and dri-ver jumped aside to safety.

One accused was laterarrested after getting injured ina shootout with the police,said police officials.

“One accused has beenarrested following anencounter. He got shot in theleg. Teams are conducting raidsto arrest others accused also.Strict action will be taken,” saida senior police officer.

Police sources said thatacting on a tip-off, the 59-year-old Singh had arrived atPachgaon under Sadar policestation area around 11.30 am toconduct raids to stop illegalmining in Aravalli hills whenhe spotted the truck at 11.50am. Spotting a suspicious-look-

ing dumper there, the DSP whowas accompanied by twopolicemen, a driver and a gun-man, signaled the driver tostop. But the dumper driver,instead of applying brakes, in abid to speed away from thespot, tried to run over the menpresent there. While the gun-man and others jumped asideto safety, the DSP was crushedunder the wheels of the truck.He was rushed to hospitalwhere he was declared broughtdead.

“When the DSP reached

the spot, there was an illegaltruck. He alighted from his carand went near the truck. Thetruck driver, instead of comingout, ran over Singh,” said Nuhpolice spokesperson KrishnaKumar.

According to local author-ities Singh died on the spot.

Haryana ADGP (law andorder) Sandeep Khirwar said acase under IPC sections 302(murder), 307, 333, 186, 353along with 379 and 188 hasbeen registered, and the policewill come out with full progress

report very soon. Singh wasrecruited as assistant-subinspector in Haryana Police in1994.

He was currently posted asDSP, Tauru, and was to retire infour months. He was a nativeof Sarangpur village in Hisarand lived with his family inKurukshetra.Reacting to theincident, Haryana ChiefMinister Manohar Lal Khattarsaid in the case of murder ofDSP Tauru, orders have beengiven to take strict action.

Continued on Page 2

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Terming the situation in SriLanka as a “very serious

crisis,” External Affairs MinisterS Jaishankar on Tuesday saidIndia is naturally worried aboutits consequences and the“spillover” it can have for thecountry.

Underlining this point dur-ing the all-party meeting to dis-cuss the situation in the islandnation, Jaishankar, however,dismissed suggestions aboutsuch a situation arising inIndia.

Political parties from TamilNadu, including the DMK andthe AIADMK, had demandedan all-party meet beforeParliament’s monsoon sessionbegan and suggested that Indiashould intervene to help theneighbouring country over-come the crisis.

“The reason we took theinitiative to request you all tojoin an all-party meetingwas...This is a very serious cri-sis and what we are seeing in SriLanka is in many ways anunprecedented situation,”Jaishankar said.

“It is a matter which per-tains to a very close neighbour

and given the near proximity,we naturally worry about theconsequences, the spillover ithas for us,” he added.

Jaishankar also said therehave seen some “misinformedcomparisons” in the context ofSri Lanka wherein some peo-ple have asked whether “cansuch a situation happen inIndia”.

M Thambidurai(AIADMK), Saugata Ray

(Trinamool Congress), FarooqAbdullah (NationalConference), Sanjay Singh(Aam Aadmi Party), KeshavaRao (Telangana RashtraSamithi), Ritesh Pandey

(Bahujan Samaj Party),Vijayasai Reddy (YSRCongress) and Vaiko (MDMK)were among those who attend-ed the meeting.

Continued on Page 2

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Maharashtra Chief MinisterEknath Shinde on

Tuesday won another politicalround against the UddhavThackeray camp as Lok SabhaSpeaker Om Birla recognisedRahul Shewale as the Shiv Senaleader in the Lower House ofParliament.

“Lok Sabha Speaker OmBirla has recognised RahulShewale as the Shiv Sena leaderin the Lower House,” said theMaharashtra Chief Minister,who staged a political coupagainst Thackeray and oustedhim from power in

Maharashtra.The two factions are now

fighting to claim the organisa-tion and legacy of late ShivSena chief Bal Thackeray.

Shinde, who spoke tonewspersons, was flanked by 12Shiv Sena Lok Sabha memberswho had written to Speaker

Om Birla to change the leaderof the Parliamentary party.

Rahul Shewale, the newleader of the party in the LokSabha, said, “UddhavThackeray was keen on realign-ing with the BJP, but went backon his word.”

Continued on Page 2

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The Agnipath scheme wasback at the centre of a new

controversy amid allegations bythe Opposition parties thatcaste and religion were basis forrecruitment in the armed forcesunder this scheme. However,the Government outrightlyrejected the allegations andsaid it was following the age-oldpractice of recruitment.

The issue was raked up byTejashwi Yadav (RJD) andSanjay Singh (AAP) saying theregistration form for the armyrecruitment mentioned thatthe aspirants have to furnish acaste certificate. Joining them

was BJP MP Varun Gandhi,who said if patriotism would bedecided “on the basis of caste”.BJP ally JD(U) too questionedthe move.

Defence Minister RajnathSingh dismissed theOpposition’s allegation andsaid, “It’s just a rumour. Earliersystem, existing since the pre-independence era, is going on.No change has been made. Oldsystem is being continued.”

Continued on Page 2

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Aday after the Ministry ofAgriculture notified the

formation of a committee onMinimum Support Price(MSP), the Samyukta KisanMorcha (SKM) has rejected itsaying that “so-called farmerleaders” who supported thenow-repealed farm laws are itsmembers. The SKM said it hadno plans to send three repre-sentatives to the Government’s29-member panel.

In a related development,the Centre on Tuesdayinformed Parliament that theyhad not assured the SKM ofsetting up a committee to pro-vide legal guarantee on theminimum support price.

In its official statement, theSKM alleged that theGovernment has included five

of its “loyalists”, who openlyadvocated the three “anti-farmer” laws, in the committeeand all of them are eitherdirectly associated with theBJP-RSS or support their poli-cies.

SKM, an umbrella body offarmers’ organisations that ledthe over one-year-long protestat Delhi Borders against threeCentral farm laws, says theCentre’s committee looks“bogus” as it did not talk aboutensuring the legal rights offarmers. “By announcing thiscommittee before theParliament session, theGovernment has tried to com-plete the paperwork,” it said.

“The chairman of the com-mittee is former agriculturesecretary Sanjay Agarwal, whodrafted all three anti-farmerbills.

Continued on Page 2

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For the first time in 44 years,Sri Lanka’s Parliament will

directly elect a President onWednesday in a triangular con-test, with last minute politicalmanoeuvring indicating anedge for Dullas Alahapperumaover Acting President RanilWickremesinghe after hereceived crucial backing fromthe Opposition parties as wellas a majority of lawmakersfrom his parent party.

W i c k r e m e s i n g h e ,Alahapperuma and leftistJanatha Vimukthi Peramuna(JVP) leader Anura KumaraDissanayake were proposed bylawmakers on Tuesday as thethree candidates for the July 20presidential election to pick thesuccessor to GotabayaRajapaksa after he resignedfollowing a popular uprisingagainst his Government formismanaging the economy thatforced him to flee the country.

A majority of members ofthe ruling Sri Lanka PodujanaPeramuna (SLPP) party was infavour of nominating

Alahapperuma, a leader of itsbreakaway faction, for the postof the President and principalOpposition leader SajithPremadasa as the PrimeMinister, Chairman of theSLPP, GL Peiris, said onTuesday, ahead of Wednesday’spresidential election.

Although analysts herebelieve that 73-year-oldWickremesinghe is in the lead,the evidence of numbers in the225-assembly don’t necessari-ly suggest it would be plain sail-ing. Without the ruling SLPP’sbacking, Wickremesinghewould be a non-starter as heonly has his seat in Parliamentto be in the reckoning.

Going back to the originalparliamentary composition inAugust 2020, the SLPP numberof 145 had seen reversals with52 of the lawmakers breakingaway. The total of 93 laterbecame 97 with 4 lawmakersreturning.

Wickremesinghe needs 16more votes to cross the magi-cal figure of 113 in the 225-member house.

Detailed report on P8

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Two weeks after admonish-ing her, the Supreme Court

on Tuesday granted interimprotection from arrest tillAugust 10 to suspended BJPspokesperson Nupur Sharma inconnection with the FIRs/com-plaints filed against her in sev-eral States over her remarks onProphet Mohammad madeduring a TV debate.

The apex court also pro-tected her from any coerciveaction in the FIRs/complaintswhich may be registered orentertained in the future aboutthe May 26 telecast.

A bench of Justices SuryaKant and JB Pardiwala, whichhad earlier refused to club themultiple FIRs lodged againstSharma after coming downheavily on her for the contro-versial comments, took note of

the alleged threats to lifeextended to her after its July 1order.

Observing that it neverwanted Sharma to visit everycourt for relief, the benchissued notices to the Centreand several States, includingDelhi, West Bengal, andMaharashtra, on her plea urg-ing protection from arrest aswell as the revival of her with-drawn petition seeking club-bing of nine FIRs lodged in sev-eral States.

Continued on Page 2

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Union Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman on

Tuesday released a list of fooditems that will be exemptedfrom GST when sold loose andnot pre-packed or pre-labelled.Facing criticism over GST ondaily use items, Sitharamanidentified these items as: puls-es (daal), wheat, rye, oats,maize, rice, flour (aatta), suji(rawa), besan, puffed rice, curd,lassi.

She said the imposition ofGST was a collective decisionof the GST council and the 5per cent tax is being levied onwheat flour and other itemsafter nod from all States,

including non-BJP ruled States.Non-BJP ruled States of

Punjab, Chhattisgarh,Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, WestBengal, Andhra Pradesh,Telangana and Kerala hadagreed to imposing the 5 percent levy, the FM said.

In a series of tweets,Sitharaman said States leviedsales tax or VAT on food-grains in the pre-Goods andServices Tax (GST) regime andthe present levy on cereals,pulses, flour, curd and lassi isan exercise to curb tax leakage.

The decision, she said, wastaken by the GST Council,where all States are represent-ed, through a consensus.

The Minister’s commentshave come against the back-drop of the first two days of themonsoon session of Parliamentvirtually getting washed awaydue to vociferous protests byOpposition parties over theGST on daily use items andother issues.

Continued on Page 2

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The Supreme Court onTuesday transferred PILs

pending before it and in manyHigh Courts challenging theCentre’s “Agnipath” schemefor recruitment in the Armedforces to the Delhi HighCourt.

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The Gujarat Police detainedfilmmaker Avinash Das

from Mumbai on Tuesday in acase related to sharing onTwitter a photo of Union HomeMinister Amit Shah witharrested IAS officer PoojaSinghal, officials said.

As per the FIR, in a captionto the photo Das had claimedthe picture was taken a fewdays before Singhal’s arrest,while it was actually taken in2017.

The crime branch hadalleged this was done with anintention to tarnish Shah’simage.

“We detained Das fromMumbai on Tuesday. He isbeing brought to Ahmedabadby our team for further legalprocess,” the city crime branch’sAssistant Commissioner ofPolice DP Chudasama said.

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From Page 1“Is this the first time such

food articles are being taxed?No. States were collecting sig-nificant revenue from food-grain in the pre-GST regime.Punjab alone collected more Rs2,000 crore on food grain byway of purchase tax. UP col-lected Rs 700 crore,” she said.

Sitharaman also cited VATon rice levied prior to 2017 inPunjab, Telangana, UttarPradesh, Andhra Pradesh,Kerala and Bihar to buttress herpoint.

However, the tweets didnot give instances of levy of taxon pulses, paneer and lassi ashas been the case now.

“Recently, the GST Councilin its 47th meeting recom-mended reconsidering theapproach for the imposition ofGST on specified food itemslike pulses, cereals, flour, etc.There have been a lot of mis-

conceptions about this thathave been spread,” the minis-ter said.

When the GST regime,which subsumed 17 centraland state taxes including cen-tral excise and state VAT, wasrolled out in July 2017, a 5 percent tax was levied on ‘brand-ed’ cereals, pulses, and flour.

“Later this was amended totax only such items whichwere sold under registeredbrand or brand on whichenforceable right was not fore-gone by the supplier,” she said.“However, soon rampant mis-use of this provision wasobserved by reputed manufac-turers and brand owners andgradually GST revenue fromthese items fell significantly.”

Suppliers and industryassociations asked the govern-ment to impose GST uniform-ly on all packaged commoditiesto stop such misuse, she said.

From Page 1Taking to Twitter, Leader

of Opposition in BiharAssembly Tejashwi Yadavshared a screenshot of thenotification which asked theaspirants to share their castecertificates.

“Don’t ask the caste of themonk, but ask the caste of thesoldier. The BJP Governmentof the Sangh runs away fromthe caste census but asks forcaste from Agniveer brotherswho gave their lives for the ser-vice of the country. Thesecastes are being asked becausethe country’s largest casteistorganisation RSS will later sortout Agniveers on the basis ofcaste,” tweeted Yadav.

Later, in a separate tweet hesaid,’’ The contractual system‘Agnipath’ was not implement-ed till 75 years after indepen-dence. More than 75 per centof soldiers were not laid offafter joining the forces. But thecasteist Government of theSangh will reject 75 per centsoldiers on the basis of caste?Why need a caste certificate

when there is no reservation inthe armed forces?’”

Janata Dal (United) tooquestioned the need to askcaste certificates from the can-didates. “Honourable DefenceMinister Rajnath Singh ji, thereis no reservation in the armedforces. What is the need to askfor caste certificates from thecandidates? The concernedofficials should answer,” JDUleader Upendra Kushwahatweeted.

The Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) said there is a bid to cre-ate “Jaativeers” using Agniveers.Claiming that it is for the firsttime in the history of India thatcaste is being asked in theArmy recruitment, AAP leaderSanjay Singh tweeted, “Do youwant to make Agniveer orJaativeer?

“The ugly face of the ModiGovernment has come in frontof the country. Does Modi jinot consider dalits, backwards,tribals to be eligible for armyrecruitment?” Singh said.

Denying the allegations,the BJP said, “This has been the

norm ever since. The hiringprocess has not been changed.”

The national spokesper-son of BJP, Sambit Patra said,“In 2013, the Indian Armyhad submitted an affidavit inthe Supreme Court stating thatthere is no role of caste as faras the selection process is con-cerned. However, there is a col-umn for caste that is requiredto be filled during the recruit-ment process as it is an admin-istrative or operative require-ment.”

Union Minister AnuragThakur said, “There are nochanges, the details are thesame that were collected earli-er. Lakhs of youth have appliedto become Agniveers. Thisshows that the Opposition’spropaganda, especially theAAP’s lies, has come before thenation. The AAP does politicsof lies.”

“Recruitments are done asper Army Rules 1954 andDefence Service Regulation1987. Some parties like theAAP try to mislead youthwithout knowing the truth,”

Thakur added.Officials also said no

change was made to the Armyrecruitment policy for theAgniveer and caste and religioncolumns were being used sincethe inception.

The requirement for aspi-rants to submit caste certificatesand if required, religion cer-tificates have always been there,they said. There is no change tothe Agniveer recruitmentscheme in this regard, officialssaid.

As regards religion columnin the registration form, theysaid it is required for perform-ing last rites as per religious rit-uals for recruits who die dur-ing training and soldiers whodie in harness.

Officials said the require-ment for the aspirants to sub-mit caste certificates and, ifrequired, religion certificates,was always there. Besides,recruitment in the Army innon-commissioned ranks isalso on the basis of caste andreligion for specific caste-basedregiments.

From Page 1“In the meanwhile, as an

interim measure, it is directedthat no coercive action shall betaken against the petitionerpursuant to the impugned nineFIRs/complaints or suchFIRs/complaints which maybe registered/entertained infuture pertaining to the telecastdated May 26, 2022,” the benchsaid. The top court soughtresponses of the Centre and theconcerned States by August 10,the next date of hearing.

While taking note of thesubmissions made by senioradvocate Maninder Singh, whoappeared for Sharma andreferred to the threats to herlife, the bench said its concernis how to ensure that the peti-tioner will avail of the alterna-tive remedy as permitted by thecourt on July 1.

“In the light of these sub-sequent events, some of which

have been noticed above, theconcern of this court is how toensure that the petitioner is ableto avail the alternative remedyas permitted by this court in anorder dated July 1,” the benchobserved, issuing notices to dif-ferent State Governments,where FIRs are registered.

The top court said, “Thepetitioner has approached thiscourt to quash all FIRs regis-tered against her. Since herprayer can be granted in exer-cise of powers under Article226, this court had on July 12022 relegated the petitioner toavail alternate remedy.” Itadded that now the petitionerhas filed a miscellaneous appli-cation pointing out interaliathat it has become impossiblefor her to avail remedy grant-ed by this court and that thereis imminent necessity to protecther life and liberty as guaran-teed under Article 21.

From Page 1Not a single culprit will be

spared.Haryana HomeMinister Anil Vij said, “I havegiven directions for stringentaction against the culprits. Ifneeded, we will call the policefrom nearby districts to nab theculprits. No one will bespared.”Meanwhile, the Leaderof Opposition, BhupinderSingh Hooda, called the inci-dent shameful. “Mining mafiais going out of hand. Law andorder situation is deteriorating.MLAs are being threatened,police are also not safe. Howwill the public feel safe? TheGovernment needs to act,” theCongress leadersaid.Expressing deep condo-lences on the unfortunate deathof the DSP, Chief MinisterKhattar announced a relief ofRs 1 crore and job to one of thefamily members of the DSP.

From Page 1P Chidambaram and

Manickam Tagore (Congress),Sharad Pawar (NCP) and TRBaalu and M M Abdulla (DMK)too attended the meeting.

Jaishankar, who made theinitial remarks, andParliamentary Affairs MinisterPralhad Joshi, were among thesenior members of theGovernment at the briefing.

The External AffairsMinister later informed themedia that 38 leaders attendedthe all-party meeting. “We hadinvited 46 parties, 28 partiesattended. From our side, therewere 8 ministers, includingPralhad Joshi and Purshottam

Rupala,” Jaishankar said.The Government gave two

presentations to the leaders,including from a political per-spective and from a foreignpolicy view.

The participants explainedthe political turbulence andeconomic crisis besides the debtsituation, he said.On India fac-ing such a situation, the Ministersaid, “Many members were con-cerned about lessons of SriLanka and we had anticipatedthat question. We also haveseen some very misplaced spec-ulation in the Press saying some-thing has happened in Sri Lankaso we should be worrying aboutsituations in parts of India.”

Sri Lanka is facing its worsteconomic crisis in sevendecades, with a severe foreignexchange shortage hamperingthe import of essentials, includ-ing food, fuel and medicines.

The economic crisis hasalso sparked a political crisisthere after a popular uprisingagainst the Government.

The meeting here was to bechaired by Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman andMinister of External Affairs SJaishankar.

However, Sitharaman couldnot attend the meeting.Jaishankar apologised for herabsence and presided over themeeting.

From Page 1“We had also asked

Thackeray not to supportMargaret Alva for the VP’spost, but our views wereignored,” he added.

The Shiv Sena has 19 MPsin the Lok Sabha of whom 12are lending their support to theShinde camp.

Twelve Lok Sabha mem-bers of the Shiv Sena, includ-ing Maharashtra ChiefMinister Eknath Shinde’s sonShrikant Shinde, earlier metSpeaker Om Birla and request-ed him to change the party’sfloor leader in the LowerHouse of Parliament.

The rebel Shiv Sena MPsmet Birla a day after the party’sfloor leader, Vinayak Raut,gave a letter to the Speaker,asking him not to entertain anyrepresentation from the rivalfaction.

“Twelve Lok Sabha mem-bers of the Shiv Sena met

Speaker Om Birla and request-ed him to appoint RahulShewale in place of VinayakRaut as the party’s floor leader,”Hemant Godse, one of the 12MPs of the Shinde factionwho met Birla, said.

Raut, in his letter submit-ted to the Speaker on Mondaynight, had made it clear that hewas the “duly appointed”leader of the Shiv SenaParliamentary Party and RajanVichare was the chief whip.

As per sources, 12 MPsbacking the ShindeGovernment are -Dhairyasheel SambhajiraoMane, Sadashiv Lokhande,Hemant Godse, Hemant Patil,Rajendra Gavit, SanjayMandlik, Shrikant Shinde,Shrirang Barne, RahulShewale, Prataprao GanpatraoJadhav, Krupal Tumane,Bhavna Gawli. Asked about hisvisit to Delhi, the ChiefMinister said he was here for

discussions with the legal teamon the disqualification petitionagainst 16 MLAs supportinghim filed by the UddhavThackeray camp.

He will also hold discus-sions with the legal team on theOther Backward Class (OBC)reservations issue as the mat-ter is expected to come up forhearing in the Supreme Court.

“The MaharashtraGovernment is committed toproviding justice to OBCs,”Shinde told reporters here.

Faced by a rebellion in itsranks, senior Shiv Sena leaderSanjay Raut said the party wasready for a fight over the sym-bol and control of the organi-sation.

Interacting with the mediahere, Raut also claimed that theBJP was trying to breakMaharashtra into three pieces,and making a dent in the ShivSena ranks was part of the saf-fron party’s conspiracy.

From Page 1The Ahmedabad crime

branch had registered an FIRagainst the Mumbai-basedfilmmaker under Section 469(forgery) of the Indian PenalCode as well as provisions ofthe Prevention of Insults toNational Honour Act and theInformation Technology Act, ashe had also posted on hisInstagram and Facebookaccounts another photo of awoman wearing the nationalflag.

The FIR against 46-year-old Das was registered in Juneafter he shared a photo show-ing Singhal, who had beenarrested by the EnforcementDirectorate in a money laun-dering case, whispering some-thing to Shah.

The filmmaker was alsobooked for insulting nationalhonour by sharing on hisInstagram and Facebookaccounts a photo of a womanwearing the national flag.

From Page 1He is accompanied by

Ramesh Chand, a member ofNITI Aayog, who was the mainadvocate of these three laws. Thespace has been left for three rep-resentatives of SKM but theGovernment has placed its fiveloyalists who openly advocatedall three anti-farmer laws. Allthese people are either directlyassociated with BJP-RSS or sup-port their policy” SKM said in astatement.

SKM leaders said thatKrishna Veer Choudhary is asso-ciated with the Indian Farmers’Society and is a leader of the BJP.Syed Pasha Patel is a former BJPMLC from Maharashtra.Pramod Kumar Choudhary is amember of the national execu-tive of the RSS affiliatedBharatiya Kisan Sangh. GunwantPatil, associated with the Shetkariorganisation, is a WTO advocateand general secretary of the

Swatantra Bharat Paksh Party.Guni Prakash has been a pioneerin opposing the farmers’ move-ment.

“These five people spokeopenly in favor of all three anti-farmer laws and most of themhave been spewing venomagainst the farmers’ movement,”SKM said, adding there is nomention of making a law onMSP in the agenda of the com-mittee. That is, this question willnot be placed before the com-mittee. Some items have beenput in the agenda on which thegovernment committee isalready established,” it said.

Krantikari Kisan Unionpresident and SKM coordinationcommittee member Dr DarshanPal pointed out that despitePunjab leading the protests onthe matter none of the experts inthe 29-member committee werefrom the State. “We will exposethe MSP committee,” said Pal.

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President Ram Nath Kovindon Tuesday said former

president A P J Abdul Kalamwas an ideal representation ofIndo-Islamic culture and threetraits of a powerful nation tohim included maintainingbrotherhood and the capabili-ty to work together.

Addressing the fourth A PJ Abdul Kalam MemorialLecture at the RashtrapatiBhavan auditorium here, hesaid that "every Indian is proudof that great son of the coun-try".

The President said thatKalam used to say that there arethree special things in anypowerful country.

"The first thing is to takepride in what the country hasachieved. The second thing isto maintain brotherhood. Andthe third thing is the capabili-ty to work together," Kovindwas quoted as saying in a state-

ment issued by the RashtrapatiBhavan.

Kalam wanted people toremember the stories of thegreat people of India and learnfrom them, Kovind said.

"He also used to say thatevery country that has movedforward has a sense of mission.Therefore, whatever work is tobe done, there should be a pas-sion to complete it like a mis-sion. He wanted all of us tokeep moving forward united-ly to strengthen the fabric ofour country," he said.

Kovind said that as muchas Kalam used to lay emphasison science, he used to giveequal importance to spiritual-ity.

Creating interest for sci-ence among the common peo-ple was one of his missions, hesaid.

"He carried forward thismission through an organisa-tion. But it is also worth not-ing that he used to meet saintsand mystics of all religionsand tried to learn somethingfrom them," Kovind said.

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On an average, eight armedforces personnel commit-

ted suicide every month in thelast five years. The Centre onTuesday informed the LokSabha that as many as 819armed forces personnel tookthe drastic step in the last fiveyears even as several stepshave been taken to address theissue.

The highest number ofsuch cases numbering 642 wasreported in the Army followedby 148 in the IAF and 29 in theNavy, the governmentinformed the Rajya Sabha.The Ministerof State forDefence Ajay Bhatt's replycame following a question onthe number of servicemen andex-servicemen who committedsuicide in the last five years.

On steps taken to addressthis serious issue, he said, "For

management of stress and sui-cides in services, the armedforces are continuously evolv-ing measures to improve thestress mitigating mechanisms.An elaborate mental healthprogramme has been formu-lated and is in vogue since2009." He said various mech-anisms to observe and identi-fy armed forces personnel withproblems such as depressionand suicidal tendencies are inplace.

"Personnel at high risk ofstress are identified and coun-seled by unit commandingofficers, regimental medicalofficers and junior leaders asper laid down procedures,"the minister said.

He said all the personnelreturning to their respectiveunits after leave are inter-viewed, counselled and med-ically examined by the regi-mental medical officers.

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The Enforcement Directorate(ED) on Tuesday said it has

filed a Prosecution Complaint(chargesheet) against 6Bangladeshi nationals in amoney laundering case con-nected to the “offences of crossborder implication”. Theseaccused persons were arrestedon May 14 under PMLA.Thosechargesheeted in the PMLAcase are Proshanta KumarHalder, Imam Hossain, AmanaSultana. Swapan Maitra, UttamKumar Mistry, Pranesh KumarHalder and others. The SpecialPMLA court in Kolkata hastaken cognizance of theProsecution Complaint. TheED said in a statement. “Thesubject was registered by the EDas an offence of Cross BorderImplications under PMLA) asProshanta Kumar Halder wasfound to be accused in a bankfraud in Bangladesh and hasbeen alleged to have siphonedoff money/ proceeds of crimeoutside Bangladesh to variouscountries,” it said.

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Services of Delhi Metro blueline were delayed due to a

major technical issue onTuesday at 8 am, followingwhich several commuters,largely office goers, faced hard-ship.

However, The Delhi Metrosenior official said that therepair work of the line will beconducted only in the night forthree hours to fully resolve theissue. While the commutersalso claimed that the metro isrunning at a very low speedthan the normal and everytrain is delayed for 15 minutes.

The Blue Line connectsDwarka Sector-21 in Delhiand Electronic City in Noidawith a branch at Yamuna Bankto Vaishali.

The snag was reportedearly morning and the DelhiMetro tweeted around 8 am toalert commuters, which in themorning hours largely com-prised office-goers.

"Blue Line Update: Delay inservices from Indraprastha toYamuna Bank. Normal ser-vice on all other lines," it tweet-ed.

In a statement, the DelhiMetro said train services areaffected between Indraprasthaand Yamuna Bank stations ofthe Blue Line since morningbecause of a "suspected case ofcable theft" on the down line.

"This has resulted in trackcircuit drop (signalling issue) inthis section restricting thetrains to move in manual modein limited speed of up to 25kmph only," a senior officialsaid.

Because of this issue, therewill be minor bunching oftrains between these two sta-tions, the DMRC said. VaniBhatia, who stays in Noida andcommutes to Delhi, said,"Today, the train I boardedfrom Noida Sector 52 station

was running at a normal speed.But, as soon as it reachedAkshardham, all commuterswere asked to deboard with fre-quent announcements beingmade that there was a techni-cal snag. The next metroarrived after 15 minutes," shesaid.

Many commuters took toTwitter to share the hardshipsthey were facing and remind-ed Delhi Metro that the BlueLine was witnessing snags a bittoo frequently in the last twomonths.

DMRC officials said therestoration work on the affect-ed stretch of the Blue Line willbe completed on Tuesday nightafter the closure of revenue ser-vices. This is because "access totrack" will be necessary for upto three hours to identify theexact location of the theft andcarry out necessary replace-ment work, they said.

"To inform passengersabout the matter, announce-ments are being made at thestations and inside the trains onBlue Line. The informationhas also been shared throughsocial media," an official said.

Services on the Blue Line ofthe Delhi Metro were delayedfor over two hours due to atechnical snag on June 9. OnJune 6, services on the BlueLine were impacted for nearly

an hour-and-a-half due to atechnical snag caused by abird hit. Recently, DMRC chiefVikas Kumar, when askedabout several technical snagsbeing reported on Delhi Metrocorridors, particularly on theBlue Line, had said, "Most ofthese were overhead equip-ment issues caused by bird hitand birds dropping somethingon it. In our report submittedto the Delhi transport depart-ment, we have mentioned that".

According to Delhi Metroofficials, there have been seveninstances wherein Metro ser-vices were impacted rangingfrom few minutes to couple ofhours.

In four minor incidences,the services were delayed forfew minutes on a very limitedsection to undertake the trou-bleshooting of the impactedtrain or signaling system, whichis a normal procedure in sucha vast technical set up whichkeeps providing safe, reliableand punctual Metro servicesfor most part of the daythroughout the year.

In remaining three inci-dents, two on the Blue Line andone on the Yellow Line, the ser-vices were affected for aboutone to two hours. "None ofthese incidences were result ofa technical failure," claimedofficial.

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Delhi Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal on Tuesday said

the killing of a deputy super-intendent of police in Haryanawas the result of the failure ofthe entire government machin-ery in the state.

The deputy superinten-dent of police investigatingillegal stone-mining was killedon Tuesday when a truck hesignalled to stop in Haryana'sNuh district drove into him,officials said. Tauru DSPSurendra Singh had signalled adumper-truck to halt to checkdocuments. But the driver spedon, running over him.

"Extremely sad. The mur-der of a police officer inHaryana is the result of the fail-ure of the entire governmentsystem in Haryana. How willthe public be safe where thepolice is not safe? May the soulof the martyr police officer restin peace and may God givecourage to the family in thishour of grief," Kejriwal tweet-ed in Hindi.

According to police, theofficer's gunman and his driverjumped aside to safety, but theDSP was hit.

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A21 year-old woman deliv-ered her baby on the floor

outside the emergency depart-ment of Delhi's SafdarjungHospital on Tuesday morning,with the family alleging that shespent the night there after notbeing let inside the maternityward or labour room.

Taking note of the incident,the Delhi Commission forWomen (DCW) on Tuesdayissued a notice to Delhi'sSafdarjung Hospital after awoman delivered her baby out-side its emergency wing as shewas allegedly denied admissionby the Centre-run facility, andsought a report in the matter.

This comes after a video ofthe woman delivering her babywent viral on social media. TheUnion health ministry has alsosought a report from the hos-pital in the matter.

In the video, some womenare seen standing around thepregnant woman with a saree,covering her during the deliv-ery. Some nurses are also seenat the spot.The woman's rela-

tives are heard alleging that thehospital did not admit her onMonday and she spent thenight outside its emergencydepartment.The hospital hasalso initiated an inquiry intothe incident, according tosources. "The woman, a resi-

dent of Khera, Ghaziabad, andher baby have been admitted tothe hospital and both are doingwell. They are being treatedunder a senior doctor in thegynaecology department," saidManoj C, the DeputyCommissioner of Police

(DCP), Southwest district. TheDelhi Commission for Womensaid taking suo-motu cogni-sance of the video, it has issueda notice to Safdarjung Hospitalseeking details of its inquiryreport and action taken againstits staff for alleged medical neg-

ligence. The commission saidit has also sought an actiontaken report from the hospitalby July 25. "Such incidents,where even reputed govern-ment hospitals deny admissionand care to critical patients,break the trust of common

people in the public healthcaresystem. I have issued a noticeto Safdarjung Hospital andhave asked the hospital author-ities to fix accountability in thematter," said DCW chief SwatiMaliwal. "The incident isshameful and urgent steps must

be taken to ensure actionagainst the negligent officersand to rectify the situation sothat it is never repeated again,"she added. Meanwhile,Sarfdarjung Hospital in a state-ment issued on Tuesday saidthat in an unbooked case, a 21

year-old patient was referredfrom Dadri on July 18. "AsSafdarjung Hospital has a norefusal policy, she was exam-ined by the senior resident onduty at 5:45 pm on July 18 andher condition was found to be33+6 weeks gestation withpreeclampsia in early labor.The patient was offered admis-sion but she did not return withthe admission paper," the state-ment read.

"The next day the seniorresident on morning duty wasinformed that a patient wasdelivering outside. A teamfrom gynaecology departmentwas dispatched immediatelyand the patient's delivery wastaken care of," statement fur-ther read.

"The patient is currentlyadmitted and the baby, weigh-ing 1.4 kg is admitted in nurs-ery nine in view of low birthweight. Both are in stable con-dition. There are six doctors,including two senior residents(SR) posted in the Gynaereceiving room round theclock," said the spokesperson ofthe hospital.

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The Delhi Government willsend out forms to con-

sumers from next month withtheir electricity bills that willrequire them to state whetherthey want to avail power sub-sidy or not.

Officials said that the gov-ernment has already prepareda Standard OperatingProcedure (SOP) for havingonline and offline forms forseeking feedback, and it is like-ly to come up for approvalbefore the Cabinet this month.

The power departmentplans to attach forms alongwith electricity bills that willread "I want to avail the powersubsidy" along with a messagefrom Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal, according to a gov-ernment official.

Consumers will have tosubmit the forms at the zonaloffices of their respective dis-coms if they wish to avail thesubsidy. In case of non-sub-mission of the form, it will beassumed that the consumer iswilling to forego the subsidyand from October 1, will becharged as per the applicablerates, the official said. The

forms will have to be submit-ted by the end of September.

Since the cost of printing somany forms is high, the formswill only be attached with thebills for two cycles. However,the option of availing the sub-sidy will remain open for theconsumers, the official said.

Kejriwal had announced inMay that from October 1,power subsidy would be pro-vided to only those consumerswho specifically ask for it.

He said there are manypeople who feel they can paytheir power bills without thesubsidy and the money thussaved can be spent on devel-oping schools and hospitals inthe city.

Domestic consumers whouse up to 200 units of electric-ity in a month get 100 per centsubsidy. Such consumers num-ber around 30.39 lakh. Further,the Kejriwal government pro-vides 50 per cent subsidy (upto Rs 800) to over 16.59 lakhconsumers who use 201-400units per month.

As a large number of con-sumers in Delhi pay their elec-tricity bills online, the usualplatforms of discom portalsand apps for opting for subsidyscheme will also be available.

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Aman was killed after beingallegedly hit with stones

and bricks by a group of menfollowing an argument overparking near Delhi's SaketMetro station. Police said thatthey have arrested one of theaccused while manhunt hasbeen initiated to nab theremaining others.

The deceased identified asRohit. According to BeniatMary Jaiker, the DeputyCommissioner of Police(DCP), South district, on July16, a police control room(PCR) call was received abouta person lying near Saket Metrostation in an injured condi-tion."When police reached the

spot, they found out that theinjured had been shifted toSafdarjung hospital. Later inthe day, the police wasinformed by the hospital thatthe person had died," said theDCP. Rohit along with histhree friends — Rahul Yadav,Ashu Yadav and Amit Jain —were in a car and wanted topark the vehicle near the metrostation.

However, five-six boyswere standing at place wherethey wanted to park car, policesaid. This led to an argumentbetween the two groups whichsoon escalated into a scuffleduring which those standingnear metro station hit Rohitwith bricks and stones, saidDCP.On the basis of Rahul'sstatement and Rohit's Medico

Legal Case (MLC), a case wasregistered under sections 302(Murder), 308 (Attempt tocommit culpable homicide)and 34 (Common intention) ofthe Indian Penal Code, the offi-cer said.

The police formed differentteams and checked footagefrom hundreds of CCTV cam-eras that helped nab one of theaccused, identified asPriyanshu, (22), a resident ofSaidulajab, the officer added.When interrogated, theaccused disclosed that he alongwith his five friends were stand-ing near gate a gate of the Saketmetro station when the fourpeople, including Rohit, camein a car and wanted to parktheir vehicle where they werestanding, the DCP said.

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Delhi's State Council ofEducational Research and

Training (SCERT) on Tuesdayheld a joint orientation pro-gramme on Mission Buniyaadfor government schools in thenational Capital. The pro-gramme was attended by 2700head of schools (HoS) underDirectorate of Education (DoE)and Municipal Corporation ofDelhi (MCD).

The orientation was led byMCD Commissioner GyaneshBharti and Secretary(Education) Ashok Kumar.Officials said that the mainaim of the orientation was todiscuss the achievements andlearnings from the previousphase of Mission Buniyaad,held between April and June,and draw a roadmap to furtherstrengthen the foundationallearning skills of students study-ing in DoE and MCD schoolsthrough this program.

Bharti said that around 26lakh children studying in DoEand MCD schools are the futureof Delhi. "With the introductionof Mission Buniyaad in all gov-ernment schools we have seen20-30 per cent improvement inthe learning level of children,which is just the first milestone,"said Bharti. He said that as a

good school leader, HoS shouldengage and motivate teachers tohelp every child learn better.Support of all teachers isrequired to achieve 100 per centresults in attaining the goals ofMission Buniyaad."

Further, SecretaryEducation, Kumar said thatMission Buniyaad was a successin its current phase due to col-lective efforts of teachers andHoS from both DoE and MCDschools. "We should not rest tillwe bring every child back to themainstream. Our focus shouldbe to build the foundationrather than completing the syl-labus. HoS and teachers shouldown the project and do theirbest," said Kumar.

Discussing the report onMission Buniyaad, the DirectorEducation, Himanshu Guptasaid that DoE and MCD's edu-cation department have workedhard to bring many childrenupto grade appropriate level toan extent. "Now DoE is alsofocusing on strengthening pri-mary education significantlybecause 85 per cent of braindevelopment in children hap-pens till age six," he said.

Director Education (MCD),Vikas Tripathi said that at MCDschools, the learning trajectoryof every child is tracked to helpthem individually, as per theirlearning requirements.

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Adelegation of Delhi BJP ledby its president Adesh

Gupta and Leader of theOpposition, Delhi Assembly,Ramvir Singh Bidhuri onTuesday met Lt. GovernorVinai Kumar Saxena anddemanded that DelhiGovernment should be direct-ed to roll back enhancedpower tariff as well as devel-opment charges for water.Delhi BJP also held protests inall 70 Assemblies in the nation-al capital on this issue.

After the meeting with LtGovernor, Bidhuri said thatBhidhuri said that from April1, the IFC for water for com-mercial properties fallingunder category A and Bincreased by Rs 18.38 persquare meter. For the proper-ties coming under category C,

the prices increased by Rs13.13 per sqm. For Category D,the rates rose to Rs 7.88 persqm, and for the category E, F,G, and H the rates surged by Rs5.25 per sqm, the revised ratesare Rs 110.25 per sqm.

“The revised rates for theIFC for water for the residen-tial properties in the nationalCapital for category A and Bare Rs 220.50 per sqm, for Ccategory it is Rs 165.38 persqm, for category D itincreased to Rs 110.5 per sqmand for the category E, F, G,and H it is Rs 55.13 per sqm,”Bhidhuri said.

“The IFC for the sewerconnection in the capital forthe commercial building undercategory A and B increased byRs 11.03 per sqm, for catego-ry C is Rs 7.88 per sqm, for cat-egory D rose by Rs 4.73 persqm, and for category E, F, G,and H increased by Rs 3.15 per

sqm,” he informed. The revisedrates of the IFC sewer line forthe residential buildings inDelhi for the category A and Bare Rs 132.30 per sqm, for cat-egory C are Rs 99.23 per sqm,

for category D are Rs 66.15 persqm and for the category E, F,G, H are Rs 33.08 per sqm,Bhidhuri added. Guptaclaimed that an appointmentwas sought from CM Kejriwal

to discuss issues, includingrise in power purchase adjust-ment cost. But instead of pay-ing attention to local issues, heis busy planning his Singaporetrip, Gupta alleged.

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The Supreme Court agreedto hear on Wednesday the

plea of the Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) challenging the post-ponement of the MunicipalCorporations of Delhi (MCD)polls on the ground of delim-itation of wards in the nation-al Capital.

A bench comprising ChiefJustice N V Ramana and jus-tices Krishna Murari and HimaKohli took note of the plea ofthe counsel for the AAP thatthe unification of three MCDsand the consequential delimi-tation exercise cannot be avalid ground to defer the civicpolls. “Delimitation is not aground to delay the municipal

elections. Please post this writpetition with the pending con-tempt plea tomorrow before abench headed by Justice A MKhanwilkar,” lawyer ShadanFarasat, appearing for the AAP,told the bench.

A bench headed by JusticeKhanwilkar is hearing a con-tempt plea for not holding upmunicipal polls, the lawyersaid, while seeking the taggingof AAP's plea with the onepending for hearing onWednesday. “Post along withthe contempt (plea),” the CJIsaid.

The announcement of theelection schedule for the threeDelhi civic bodies was deferredin March this year and later, theCentre brought a Bill for theunification of MCDs.

���77���������� � !.*�)

Madame Tussauds India, amuseum featuring wax

statues of celebrities, reopenedon Tuesday after a brief closuredue to the COVID-19 pan-demic and at a new address inNoida.

The museum located atDelhi's Connaught Place wasearlier shut down at the onsetof a nationwide lockdownimposed to curb the spread ofthe coronavirus in March 2020.

The museum has nowreopened and moved to theDLF Mall of India in Noida, asatellite town of Delhi in UttarPradesh, its operators MerlinEntertainments said.

"India, recognised for itsrich cultural past, sparklingBollywood star-studded actorsand entertainment sector diver-sity, is an iconic destination tohost the world renownedattraction brand," the operatorsaid in a statement.

"The new wax attraction byMadame Tussauds will featureclose to 50 figures from variousgenres, including history,sports, music, film and televi-sion," it added. Visitors willhave the opportunity to meetcurrent and late internationaland domestic figures such as

Prime Minister NarendraModi, freedom fighters includ-ing Mahatma Gandhi, SardarVallabhbhai Patel, Bhagat Singhand Subhas Chandra Bose,Cricket legends like SachinTendulkar, Kapil Dev and ViratKohli, Bollywood stars likeShah Rukh Khan, SalmanKhan, Anil Kapoor, KatrinaKaif and Madhubala, singinglegends Asha Bhosle and SonuNigam, and many more.

Children will also get anopportunity to meet theirfavourite cartoon characterssuch as Motu-Patlu, accordingto the statement. "Each waxfigure is crafted by over 20international artists workingconcurrently for 3-6 months tocreate the magic. The attrac-

tion's audiences have long helda special place in their heartsfor Madame Tussauds and vis-itors are promised an unfor-gettable star-studded experi-ence," the statement said.Madame Tussauds has over 23locations around the globe,from New York to Shanghai,Amsterdam to Sydney, and ofcourse, London, where thestory began, according to thestatement.

Throughout its over-250-year-long history, MadameTussauds has brought to lifethousands of celebrities, starsand heroes -- in mindblowinglyaccurate detail -- allowing thevisitors to brush shoulderswith their idols and reach forthe stars, the statement said.

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The Lok Sabha and RajyaSabha were adjourned for

the second consecutive day onTuesday without transactingany business amid protests byopposition members overimposition of GST on somenew items and on price riseissue.

The Lok Sabha wasadjourned in the morning bySpeaker Om Birla after theopposition members movedto the well of the house andcontinued to raise slogansagainst the Modi governmentover the issue of price rise. Oneof the placards read "GabbarSingh Strikes Again".

Birla first appealed to theopposition members to go totheir seats and said carrying ofplacards inside the House is

against Parliamentary Rules.He said since the House is dis-cussing farmers' issue, themembers should participatein it. "You carry rules book butdon't follow rules. The rulesprohibit carrying placards herebut you are carrying them. Youraise farmers issue outside theHouse but not inside”, he saidand adjourned the house till 2pm.

As soon as the Lok Sabhareassembled at 2 pm, opposi-tion members belonging tothe Congress, TrinamoolCongress, DMK and otherscame to the well of the Housecarrying placards to protestagainst price rise and imposi-tion of the GST on some newitems. After laying of papers bythe members, Kirit PremjibhaiSolanki, who was on the chairadjourned the House for the

day.In the Rajya Sabha, pro-ceedings in the pre-lunch ses-sion were adjourned withouttransacting any business asOpposition parties, includingthe Congress, pressed for animmediate discussion on issuesranging from price rise to theAgnipath scheme.

Members of the Congress,Left, and Aam Aadmi Partyinsisted on a discussion on theissues, forcing adjournment ofproceedings till 2 pm.

Chairman M VenkaiahNaidu rejected notices given byLeader of the OppositionMallikarjun Kharge and otherleaders under rule 267 that callsfor setting aside the business ofthe day to take up the issueslisted by them. "I am not admit-ting them," Naidu said soonafter the listed papers were laidon the table.

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The Centre has given itsnod for renaming seven

cities and towns, includingAllahabad to Prayagraj, in thelast five years. Union Ministerof State for Home AffairsNityanand Rai informed theLok Sabha on Tuesday that aproposal has also been receivedfrom the West Bengal govern-ment for renaming the state as'Bangla' in all three languages- Bengali, English and Hindi.

While the No ObjectionCertificate (NOC) to changethe name of Allahabad in UttarPradesh to Prayagraj was givenon December 15, 2018, theNOC for changing the name ofRajahmundry city in Andhra

Pradeshto Rajamahendravaramwas given on August 3, 2017, hesaid replying to a written ques-tion. Approval for changing thename of Nagar Untari inJharkhand to Shri BanshidharNagar was given in August,2018, he said.

Clearance was also given tochange names of BirshingpurPali, Hoshangabad Nagar andBabai city - all three in MadhyaPradesh - to Maa BirasiniDham (2018), Narmadapuram(2021) and Makhan Nagar(2021), respectively, the min-ister said.

Approval to change nameof Punjab's Shri Hargobindpurcity to Shri HargobindpurSahib was given in March 2022,the minister added.

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The Supreme Court onTuesday transferred PILs

pending before it and in manyHigh Courts challenging theCentre's 'Agnipath' schemefor recruitment in the Armedforces to Delhi High Court.

A bench of Justices DYChandrachud, Surya Kant,and AS Bopanna also askedthe High Courts of Kerala,Punjab and Haryana, Patna,and Uttarakhand to transferthe PILs pending before themagainst the 'Agnipath' schemeto Delhi High Court or keepit pending till a decision fromthe Delhi High Court if thepetitioners before it so desires.

"In this backdrop, we areof the view the three writpetitions which have beeninstituted before this courtshould be transferred to theDelhi High Court and renum-bered under Article 226 of theConstitution.

Ordinarily, we would havedisposed of these petitions bygranting liberty to the peti-tioners to move the DelhiHigh Court afresh but we aredesisting from following that

course of action, to obviate anyfurther delay in withdrawal ofthe petitions and filing offresh petitions", the benchsaid.

The bench directed theregistrar judicial of the topcourt shall accordingly trans-mit the record of the three writpetitions filed under Article 32of the constitution to the reg-istrar judicial of Delhi HighCourt so that the petitions canbe renumbered and be placedbefore the appropriate benchin terms of the appropriatedirections of the Chief Justiceof the High Court.

"It would be appropriateto direct that the copy of thepresent order be placed onrecord of the proceedings ineach of the High Courts by thecounsel appearing on behalf ofUnion of India in those pro-ceedings", said the bench.

"We request the DelhiHigh Court for expeditiousdisposal of the writ petitionsafter hearing the parties," thebench said, adding that theUnion of India shall ensurethat copy of this order isimmediately placed before theregistrar judicial of the con-cerned High Courts.

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The Centre has exemptedhighway projects related

to defence and strategic impor-tance within 100 km of the Lineof Control (LoC) or the Line ofActual Control (LAC) from therequirement of environmentalclearance. It has notifiedamendments to environmentalimpact assessment rules,

The notification issued bythe Union EnvironmentMinistry also exempts projectspertaining to the expansion ofterminal buildings at airports(without an increase in theexisting area of the airport)from seeking green nod.

It also increases the exemp-tion threshold of biomass-based power plants which alsouse auxiliary fuels such as coal,lignite or petroleum productsup to 15 percent and fish han-dling capacity of ports and har-bours which exclusively handlefish.

"Highway projects relat-ed to defence and strategicimportance in border statesare sensitive in nature and inmany cases need to be exe-cuted on priority keeping inview strategic, defence andsecurity considerations.""And in this regard, the cen-tral government deems it

necessary to exempt such pro-jects from the requirement ofenvironmental clearance in theborder areas subject to speci-fied standard operating proce-dure along with standard envi-ronmental safeguards for self-compliance by the executingagency," the notification read.

All highway projects areexempted up to 100 km fromthe LOC, LAC or the border, itsaid. Environmental activistshad opposed the draft notifi-cation issued in April to exemptborder projects from environ-mental clearance, saying itwould cause environmentaldegradation in areas having a

fragile ecology.With the amended policy

coming into force, certainstretches of the Char Dhamproject in Uttarakhand, sever-al other projects in theHimalayas and the northeastwhich fall within 100 km of theborder or the LAC will notrequire the green nod. The pro-ject involves the widening of899 km of roads in ecological-ly sensitive areas ofUttarakhand to improve con-nectivity to Kedarnath,Badrinath, Yamunothri, andGangotri shrines.

After being challenged byan environmental non-profitorganisation in Uttarakhand,Citizens for Green Doon, theSupreme Court had inSeptember 2020 ordered thatthe carriageway width for theChar Dham project should notexceed 5.5m as prescribed in a2018 circular of the UnionRoad Transport Ministry.

The Defence Ministry hadthen sought a modification in

the order to allow the width tobe of 10m so that heavymachinery like missile launch-ers could be easily moved up tothe India-China boundary inUttarakhand. The top courthad then asked a high-poweredcommittee to look into theissue which said the widthshould be allowed to be of 10min view of the strategic impor-tance of these highways. Theministry said that biomass-based thermal power plants(TPP) using auxiliary fuel suchas coal, lignite or petroleumproducts up to 15 percent arealready exempted from therequirement of environmentalclearance.

"In view of the activity ofusing the aforesaid fuel mixbeing eco-friendly, and in orderto encourage such activities, thecentral government deems itnecessary to increase thethreshold capacity for suchTPPs for which environmentalclearance shall not be required,"the notification read.

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After facing a backlash ontaking an exorbitant ser-

vice charge on tea being servedin one of the premium trains,the Indian Railways has final-ly removed the on-board ser-vice charges on all meals andbeverages that are not pre-ordered on premium trains.And the prices of tea and cof-fee will be the same for all pas-sengers who have pre-bookedit or ordered those on thetrain, and will see no increasein the rates.

The directives have comeagainst the backdrop of a tweetby The Pioneer journalistDeepak Kumar Jha, on June 30.The tweet, which had goneviral, cited the resentmentwithin passengers who had topay �50 service charge for a �20cup of tea on-board the expresstrains making the price of a cupof tea to �70. Under the pre-vious norm of the IndianRailway Catering and TourismCorporation (IRCTC), if theperson has not booked their

meals along with their trainticket, they had to pay an addi-tional �50 while ordering foodduring the journey, even if it isjust a �20 cup of tea or coffee.

Now, a passenger, who hasnot pre-booked his meals onboard premium trains likeRajdhani, Duronto or Shatabdi,will pay �20 for tea (similar tothe amount paid by those whopre-booked their meals).Earlier, the cost of such non-pre-booked tea was �70,including the service charge.

Interestingly, one finds inthe latest July 15 order ofIRCTC that while on one handthe service charge of �50 hasbeen done away with, the pricesof snacks, lunch and dinnerhave been increased by anidentical Rs 50.

Previously, the rates forbreakfast, lunch and eveningsnacks were �105, �185 and Rs90, respectively while an addi-tional service charge of �50used to be levied with eachmeal. However, though thepassengers will now not pay theservice charge, still they willhave to pay �155, �235, and

�140 for these meals. "Theremoval of the service chargewill only reflect in the prices oftea and coffee. In this, the pas-senger who has not pre-bookedwill pay the same amount as apassenger who has booked it.

However, for all othermeals the service chargeamount has been added to thecost of meals for non-bookedfacilities," a senior railway offi-cer of catering departmentsaid.

For Vande Bharat trains,passengers who haven't bookedthe on-board services have toshell out the same amount forbreakfast/lunch ordinner/evening snacks as theydid when they were chargedservice charges, with theincrease showing in the cost ofthe food instead of the charges.

Keeping the resentment inmind, the Centre last week reit-erated that no hotels or restau-rants can add service chargesautomatically or by default inthe food bill which will alsoinclude the service charge forcatering in Indian Railwayspremises including trains.

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Joint Opposition candidatefor the vice presidential elec-

tion Margaret Alva on Tuesdayfiled her nomination papers forthe post and was accompaniedby a host of leaders from vari-ous parties.

Alva said elections do notfrighten her and winning andlosing is a part of life but thetrust of members of both hous-es of Parliament will help herbring people together, findcommon solutions and helpbuild a strong and united India.

The vice presidential pollwill be held on August 6 to electthe successor to M VenkaiahNaidu, whose term ends onAugust 10. Alva, 80, is pittedagainst NDA's JagdeepDhankhar, who resigned asWest Bengal governor afterbeing nominated on Saturdayevening.

Several opposition lead-ers, including Congress' RahulGandhi, NCP's Sharad Pawar,Leader of Opposition in theRajya Sabha MallikarjunKharge and leader of theCongress in the Lok SabhaAdhir Ranjan Chowdhury,were present during her nom-ination filing.

Shiv Sena's Sanjay Raut,Samajwadi Party's Ram GopalYadav, DMK's Tiruchi Siva,CPI-M's Sitaram Yechury, CPI'sD Raja and MDMK's Vaikowere also present during thenomination filing. No leaderfrom the Trinamool Congressor the Aam Aadmi Party waspresent during the nomination

filing of the joint oppositioncandidate. Both the partieswere not represented at theopposition meeting that decid-ed on fielding Alva as theirconsensus candidate, but Pawarhad said that he is in touch withboth TMC leader and WestBengal Chief Minister MamataBanerjee as well as AAP con-vener and Delhi Chief minis-ter Arvind Kejriwal.

Alva said the comingtogether of the opposition tosupport my candidature for thepost of Vice President of India,"is a metaphor of the reality thatis India". "We come from var-ious corners of this great coun-try, speak different languages,and follow different religionsand customs.

Our unity, in our diversity,is our strength. We fight forwhat is important to us: touphold the pillars of democra-cy, to strengthen our institu-tions, and for an India that is‘Saare Jahan se Accha', thatbelongs to each and every oneof us. An India where there isrespect for all," she said.

Alva was first elected toParliament in 1974 and servedfour consecutive six year termsin the Rajya Sabha followed byone in the Lok Sabha.

During her 30 years inParliament she served on sev-eral important and prestigiouscommittees, served as presid-ing officer in both Houses andchaired the ParliamentaryCommittee on Empowermentof Women for five years andwas part of Indian delegation tomany international confer-ences.

1�������� ����7�8������������� ��� ���� ���! � ���+�) ��������������� ���� ��������������������/ ����0 ������! ���� "��� � ������ ��� � ���� ��9�������+����/ �" ��#�������� ��������1���������� ���� �� �� ��������������������������������� � ���������New Delhi: The Supreme

Court on Tuesday did notagree to the plea of a man,whose 17-year-old daughterwas found dead at a private res-idential school in Tamil Nadu,that a doctor of his choice bepermitted to be part of a teamof experts ordered by theMadras High Court to conducta fresh postmortem on herbody.

The death of the class 12girl on July 13 in the premisesof the residential school hadsparked off violence in certainareas of Kallakurichi district inTamil Nadu.

The Madras High Court,while taking strong note of vio-lent incidents, had directedstate police chief to constitutea special investigation team(SIT) to identify the rioters andtake stern action against them.It had also ordered a re-post-mortem on the body of the girl.

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The Central Bureau ofInvestigation (CBI) has

filed its first chargesheet in themulti-crore coal smugglingcase implicating for now 41persons that include some topEastern Coal Fields Limited(ECL) officials, and a formerState-level Trinamool Congressleader.

The names of TMCnational general secretary andAbhishek Banerjee and hiswife Rujira Narula Banerjeehowever do not figure in thechargesheet. The duo havebeen questioned by the CBIand Enforcement Directorateon several occasions in thecase.

The 41 individuals includeAnup Maji alias Lala a localbusinessman the main mas-termind who has allegedly

amassed wealth to the tune ofseveral hundred crore, VinayMishra a former Bengal youthTMC vice-president --- whoenjoyed an elaborate policeprotection before fleeing thecountry --- and his brotherVikash Mishra, presently inCBI custody.

Besides alerting theInterpol CBI has alreadyannounced a cash award of Rs1 lakh for providing informa-tion about Vinay Mishra whois believed to be in hiding inthe island country of Vaniatu.Mishra formerly known to beclose to Banerjee is known tohave surrendered his Indiancitizenship and acquired theone of his new country.

A bevy of former top ECLofficials including generalmanagers, Agents and man-agers have also been named inthe chargesheet. The senior

officials have been named bothas facilitators and beneficiariesin the case. At least seven ofthem were arrested as late aslast week. A number of serv-ing and retired police officialshave been named in thechargesheet. This apart, about22 companies involved in coaltrade have also been named inthe document.

Both coal and cattle smug-gling turned out to be high-profile cases after names ofsome senior politicians includ-ing Banerjee and Bengal min-ister Maloy Ghatak and anMLA from Purulia bobbed upduring investigations.

Both Abhishek Banerjeewho is also the nephew ofChief Minister MamataBanerjee and Rujira his wifehave repeatedly been ques-tioned by the ED and CBI inrelation to the case. According

to sources the couple havebeen asked questions regardinga transaction in a bank accountin Thailand repeatedly men-tioned by Bengal OppositionLeader Suvendu Adhikari inhis speeches.During interro-gation Rujira has allegedlybeen asked about an allegedtransfer of heavy amounts toher account by principal mas-termind Lala. She has howev-er denied the knowledge ofsuch transfer. Her husband, theTMC MP from DiamondHarbour --- who has also beenquestioned about the transac-tions --- has however allegedpolitical vendetta saying theBJP Government was unleash-ing the central agencies behindhim because the saffron partyfailed to win Bengal in 2021Assembly elections.

“ECL and its coal minesbelong to the Centre, the mines

are guarded by the CISF andthe borders through whichthey are smuggled out are alsoguarded by the BSF … so howcan you blame the State gov-ernment and its police … it isclearly and act of vendettaand failing to win Bengal in201 the BJP Government istrying to malign and harass uswith the help of Agencies asthey have been doing to theopposition parties all over thecountry … but we will neverbow down before them,” saidBanerjee in an earlier state-ment. Recently BengalMinister Maloy Ghatak wasalso summoned to Delhi alongwith a Purulia TMC MLA inconnection with the coalsmuggling case. The duo how-ever failed to appear before theED office. Ghatak is fromAsansol from where the coalsmuggling took place.

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The National Commissionfor Women (NCW) and

the National Commission forProtection of Child Rights(NCPCR) on Tuesday soughtaction against the NEET frisk-ing personnel for asking a 17-year-old girl to remove herinnerwear before entering anexam centre in Kerala.

A case was registered bythe police after the teenlodged a formal complaint.

The Indian Penal Code(IPC) Sections 354 (Assault orcriminal force to woman withintent to outrage her mod-esty) and 509 (Word, gestureor act intended to insult themodesty of a woman) havebeen invoked, police said.

The NCW said it hastaken serious note of thereported incident which is"shameful and outrageous tothe modesty" of young girls.

"Chairperson RekhaSharma has written to thechairperson of the NationalTesting Agency (NTA) to con-duct an independent inquiryinto the allegations levelled bythe girl students and to takeappropriate action in accor-dance with law against theresponsible. The Commissionhas also sought a time-boundinvestigation in the matter," itsaid in a statement.

The NCW has also writ-ten to the Director General ofPolice (DGI), Kerala to con-duct a fair investigation in thematter and register FIR if the

allegations are found to betrue.

The action taken mustbe apprised to the commis-sion within three days.

The NCPCR, on the otherhand, has written to KollamDistrict Collector requestingan inquiry into the matter asto how many children under-went a similar treatment onJuly 17 during the check-ing/frisking of aspirantsappearing in the NationalEligibility Entrance Testexamination.

"You are further request-ed to fumish statements of theaffected children and informthe Commission about thestaff involved and actiontaken against them," theNCPCR said in the letter

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The Directorate General ofCivil Aviation (DGCA) on

Tuesday grounded Go First’stwo A320neo flights, Mumbaito Leh and Srinagar to Delhiafter facing engine-relatedissues. There have been multi-ple technical malfunction inci-dents in Indian airlines in thelast one month. The DGCA hasordered a probe in the incidentand grounded two planes hav-ing Pratt and Whitney enginestill further clearance. Both air-craft reported faults in enginenumber 2.

The Go First aircraft A320registered as VT-WGA oper-ating as G8-386 from Mumbaito Leh on Tuesday diverted toDelhi as its engine No.2 EIU(engine interface unit) fault.Another A320 Neo aircraft

registered at VT- WJG that wasflying from Srinagar to Delhihad to return to Srinagar. Theflight G8 6202 that took off at11:40am on Tuesday turnedback due to the engine 2’sexhaust gas temperature (EGT)overlimit.According to DGCA,the flight from Mumbai to Lehwas redirected to Delhi whilethe Srinagar-Delhi flight madea turn back towards Srinagar.

Over the last three days,Aviation Minister JyotiradityaScindia has held multiple meet-ings with airlines and officialsfrom his ministry and DGCAofficials to ensure safety over-sight.

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AParliamentary StandingCommittee of the Housing

and Urban Affairs (2021-22) on'Implementation of Metro RailProjects - An Appraisal, in itsreport said that despite a lapseof more than four years, six ofthe 12 States where Metro railnetworks are either operationalor under construction wereyet to constitute UnifiedMetropolitan TransportAuthority (UMTA) as a statu-tory body. These six States are-- National Capital Territory ofDelhi, Karnataka, Gujarat,Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra(in Mumbai only) andRajasthan.

As per Metro Rail Policy,2017, state governments arerequired to constitute UMTA

as a statutory body for prepa-ration of a comprehensivemobility plan for the city.

"The committee, however,found that despite a lapse ofmore than four years, out of 12states where Metro rail networkhad either commenced or wasunder construction, six stateswere yet to constitute UMTA,viz., NCT of Delhi, Karnataka,Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh,Maharashtra (in r/o Mumbaionly) and Rajasthan," accord-ing to an official statement.

The committee, therefore,recommended the UnionMinistry of Housing and UrbanAffairs to "take up and encour-age setting up of UMTA in thestates…without any furtherdelay", it said.

"Noting the capital inten-sive nature of metro projects,the Committee recommended

adoption of less capital inten-sive MetroLite and MetroNeonetworks in smaller cities withlow ridership, and as feeder tohigh capacity metro systems,"the statement said.

Noting that currently,metro rail projects are beinggoverned by three central acts,the committee felt the need fora single and comprehensive leg-islation, as many metro projectsare under planning, develop-ment and operating phases indifferent cities under differentmodels viz. Exclusive owner-ship of state governments, JV(joint venture) with centralgovernment, PPP (public pri-vate partnership) basis, privateownership, etc. And manymore cities are expected to takeup the different kinds of metroprojects- MRTS, LRTSMetroLite, MetroNeo, etc., it

further said.The panel also said barring

Delhi Metro and Mumbai'sLine 1, many operational met-ros vis. Bengaluru Metro,Hyderabad Metro, LucknowMetro, Chennai Metro, KolkataMetro and Kochi Metro, had"low ridership leading to delayin achieving break-even".

The committee, therefore,recommended the need forincreasing ridership, as per thestatement.

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AParliamentary committeeon Tuesday said the

Government should take"proactive steps" to encouragemore States to adopt theDecentralised Procurement(DCP) system for foodgrains.Under the DCP scheme, food-grains are procured and dis-tributed by the state govern-ments themselves. The desig-nated DCP states procure, storeand issue foodgrains underpublic distribution system(PDS) and other welfareschemes of the Government ofIndia.

The Standing Committeeon Food, Consumer Affairsand Public Distribution, head-ed by Sudip Bandyopadhyay, inits 13th report had observed

that only eight states haveadopted the DCP scheme forwheat and 15 states for rice,even after 23 years of inception.

The committee had alsoobserved that the DCP schemehas added efficiency to PDS bymaking it possible to supplygrains suited to local taste,while recommending to thefood ministry to promote it foradoption even though thescheme is mandatoryfor states.

Tabling the action takenreport on recommendationsmade in its 13th report inParliament on Tuesday, thecommittee said, "In its actiontaken reply, the ministry hasmerely stated that governmentis making all out efforts forimplementing the scheme in allthe states."

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Coal allocation cannotamount to proceeds of

crime per se under the moneylaundering law, the DelhiHigh Court Tuesday said.

The obser vation wasmade by Justice YashwantVarma while quashing theproceedings initiated againsta company by theEnforcement Directorate,including provisional attach-ment of properties, in con-nection with an al legedmoney laundering case aris-ing from the allocation of acoal block to it by the author-ities in 2003.

The court said that the

Prevention of MoneyLaundering Act (PMLA)seeks to confiscate assets thatmay be derived or obtainedfrom criminal activity andtherefore, only gains obtainedby the utilization of the allo-cation could be viewed as pro-ceeds of crime and not theallocation itself.

In the present case, theCBI, in 2010, registered anFIR alleging misrepresenta-tion by the petitioner com-pany for obtaining the coalallocation as well as diversionof extracted coal.

The FIR and the conse-quential charge sheet werequashed by the concernedcourt but after the allocation

was cancelled by the SupremeCourt, a second FIR was reg-istered by the CBI in 2016 andanother charge sheet was filedin 2020 alleging that the peti-tioner fraudulently and dis-honestly obtained the coal allo-cation.

While the Supreme Courtstayed further proceedingsbefore the trial court, the EDinitiated proceedings againstthe petitioner based on thesecond charge sheet.

The court stated that theoffence of money launderingrests on the commission of apredicate offense and it can-not possibly survive or subsistonce the predicate offence isfound to be not established

and since the first chargesheet concerning the alloca-tion was quashed in the pre-sent case, it would have to“necessarily acknowledge thatno criminal activity wasindulged in”.

“The criminal activity onwhich the allegation of money

laundering is constructed andraised is the allocation of thecoal block. As noted above,there is no allegation that anyillegal monetary gains werederived or obtained as on 04September 2003 (when theallocation was made and theoffense was stated to have been

committed and completed).This coupled with the fact thatthe allocation itself would notrepresent proceeds of crimeleads the court to theunescapable conclusion thatthe impugned proceedings arerendered patently illegal,” saidthe court.

The court stated that it isthe gains obtained from acriminal activity that is con-cealed or projected to beuntainted that can form thesubject matter of the offenceunder PMLA and the alloca-tion of a coal block in itselfdid not give rise to any mon-etary gains.

“An allocation of coal can-not possibly be viewed as

amounting to proceeds ofcrime per se. That documentat best enabled the holderthereof to obtain a mininglease. Viewed in that back-drop it cannot be said that theallocation of coal is propertyas contemplated under theAct,” it asserted.

The court also clarifiedthat the offence of money laun-dering being a “stand-aloneoffense” only conveys that it isto be tried separately in accor-dance with the procedure pre-scribed under PMLA.

“The entire edifice of acharge of money laundering israised on an allegation of apredicate offense having beencommitted, proceeds of crime

generated from such activity,and a projection of the taint-ed property as untainted.However, once it is found onmerits that the accused hadnot indulged in any criminalactivity, the property cannotlegally be treated as proceedsof crime or be viewed asproperty derived or obtainedfrom criminal activity,” thecourt said.

In its 133-page order, thecourt further observed that isthe date of the commission ofthe offense of money laun-dering and not the date ofcommission of a scheduledoffense that is relevant anddeterminative to invokePMLA.

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Aday after E P Jayarajan, theall powerful Left

Democratic Front convenerdeclared that he would boycottIndiGo Airlines in future for itsdecision to ban him for threeweeks and described it as theworst in the world, the airlinesgot a pat on the back for itscommendable services from atrans woman.

Actress SukanyeahKrishna, who f lew fromBangalore toThiruvananthapuram inIndoGo praised the airlines forits ‘splendid’ service and cour-tesy extebded to the passengers.“Though I have flown in manyairlines, I would like to rateIndiGo as the best for thecourtesy extended to the pas-sengers , especially to personslike me who are always lookeddown by other airlines . There

were instances in the past whensome airlines refused to allowme to travel despite my hold-ing valid tickets,” Krishna wrotein her social media pages onTuesday. She said that recent-ly she had an unfortunate expe-rience while flying with anoth-er airlines. “Having under-stood that I was a trans woman,the staff denied me permissionto board the aircraft. It is onlyafter prolonged arguments thatthey allowed me permission tofly by the aircraft. The attitudeof the staff throughout theflight was unbearable and dis-criminatory,” writes Krishna.

But she was all praise forIndiGo for being kind anddignified in their behaviour toher. “Last June while I was fly-ing from Bangalore toTrivandrum by IndiGo air-lines, I had a surprise waitingfor me. The airlines authoritiesinformed me that I have beenselected as the Pride Customer

of the Pride Month.Throughout the journey, I wastreated like a celebrity by thecrew as well as the commanderof the flight. I could not believewhat was happening aroundme as they suffocated me withlove,” writes Krishna who hasalso posted pictures of herwith the flight crew.

Jayarajan was barred fromflying IndiGo for his behaviourinside the aircraft last monthwhen he allegedly assaulted twoCongress activists for raisingslogans against chief ministerPinarayi Vijayan who too wasflying from Kannur toThiruvananthapuram. ThoughVijayan had come out of theaircraft asThiruvananthapuram airportmuch before the Congressmenshouted slogans at him,Jayarajan who was travellingwith Vijayan rushed to themand reportedly assaulted them.The airlines which held a probe

into the matter barred theCongressman from flying forthe nest two weeks whileJayarajan was slapped with aban for three weeks.

The CPI(M) leader, onbeing informed about the tem-porary ban, declared that hewould not travel by the airlineseven of there are no other air-lines in the world. “I preferwalking all the way fromThoruvananthapuram toKannur. Let the K-Rail come,we will see to that the IndiGo

airlines disappear from theskies,” said Jayarajan.

K Jayashankar, politicalcritic, said that Jayarajan’s deci-sion not to fly IndiGo has putthe airlines in real trouble.“Jayarajan being a powerfulCPI(M) leader, partymenincluding Pinarayi Vijayan mayhave to declare that they wouldfollow suit and express soli-darity with Jayarajan,” saidJayashankar. For the uninitiat-ed, Kerala is not short of anykind of controversies.

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The Russian embassy onTuesday said it has taken up

with the Ministry of ExternalAffairs (MEA) the detention ofa Russian cargo ship in Cochinport and requested for an“explanation” of the circum-stances of the incident.

There was no immediatecomment on the issue by theMEA. “The Russian embassy inIndia is aware of the Russiancargo ship detention in theIndian port of Cochin, onboard of which a military cargofor the Indian armed forces wasdelivered,” it said.

“According to the prelimi-nary information, these actionsare connected with the claim ofthe Estonian shore servicecompany Bunker Partner OU,which claimed that the ownersof the ship allegedly had a debt,”

it said adding the RussianConsulate General in Chennaiis seized of the matter. “Wewould like to underline that thecourt allowed the unloading ofcargo, since it has nothing to dowith the lawsuit,” the embassyadded.

The embassy said it hassent to the MEA an officialrequest for “explanation of thecircumstances of the incident”.“We have also asked the

Ministry to ensure uncondi-tional observance of the rightsof the Russian ship owners andthe crew,” the embassy said.

The Kerala High Courthad on Monday ordered seiz-ing of the ship for non-pay-ment of Rs 1.87 crore of fuelcharges to the Estonian com-pany. Since the ship carriedarms for Indian Navy it wasallowed to unload the cargowhile in detention.

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The EnforcementDirectorate (ED) on

Tuesday arrested formerMumbai PoliceCommissioner Sanjay Pandeyin connection with a moneylaundering case linked to thealleged illegal phone tappingof NSE employees.

The retired 1986-batchIndian Police Service (IPS)officer was taken into custodyby the ED after over sevenhours of questioning in thecase, officials said.

His arrest came after twoconsecutive days of question-

ing in connection with themoney laundering case linkedto the alleged illegal phonetapping of the National StockExchange (NSE) employees.

Last week, the agency hadarrested former NSE CEOChitra Ramkrishna in thecase.

Pandey retired from ser-vice on June 30. Before hisfour-month stint as Mumbai'sPolice Commissioner, Pandeyser ved as the actingMaharashtra DirectorGeneral of Police (DGP).

Pandey is facing two con-nected FIRs by the ED andCentral Bureau of

Investigation (CBI) of illegalinterception of phones of NSEemployees by iSec ServicesPrivate Ltd, a companyfounded by him, and violationof Securities and ExchangeBoard of India guidelines inconducting NSE's systemaudit.

Before his arrest, theagency questioned him inconnection with the func-tioning and activities of iSecSecurities Pvt. Ltd, one of thefirms that conducted a secu-rity audit of NSE around thetime the co-location irregu-larities allegedly took place.

In its FIR, the CBI had

alleged that Ravi Narain andRamkrishna, both formerchief executives of the NSE,had roped in the companyfounded Pandey to snoop onthe stock market employeesby illegally intercepting theirphone calls.

After the CBI FIR, the EDhad named Pandey, his Delhi-based company iSEC ServicesPvt. Ltd, NSE's former MDand CEOs Narain andRamkrishna, executive vicepresident Ravi Varanasi andhead (premises) MaheshHaldipur, among others in themoney laundering case.

Under the Prevention ofMoney Laundering Act(PMLA) probe, the ED isprobing if any proceeds ofcrime were generated throughthis alleged illegal act and theaccused laundered publicfunds.

Pandey was earlier ques-

tioned by the ED on July 5 inthe alleged NSE co-locationscam case in Delhi.

The ED discovered secretphone surveillance whileprobing the alleged financialirregularities at the NSE fol-lowing which it reported it tothe Ministry of Home Affairs(MHA), which asked the CBIto probe the charges, officialshad earlier said.

The CBI had alleged in itscomplaint that during theperiod 2009-17, Narain,Ramkrishna, Varanasi andHaldipur conspired to ille-gally intercept the telephonesof NSE employees for which

they hired iSEC Services PvtLtd.

The company allegedlyreceived a payment of Rs 4.45crore for illegal tapping whichwas camouflaged as "PeriodicStudy of CyberVulnerabilities" at the NSE,the CBI alleged in its FIR.

The company also pro-vided transcripts of thetapped conversations tosenior management of thestock market, it had claimed.

"...Top officials of NSEissued agreement and workorders in favour of said pri-vate company and illegallyintercepted the phone calls of

its employees by installingmachines, in contravention ofprovisions under IndianTelegraph Act," the CBI hadsaid in a statement.

Officials said the inter-ception was stopped in 2019,months after the CBI startedprobing the NSE co-locationscam in 2018, and themachines and other infra-structure used for intercep-tion were disposed of as e-waste by the bourse.

The co-location andphone tapping cases relate tomanipulation of the stockmarket through electroniccontrivances.

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����������� ��� ���������Sir — Examination centers are like templesas the place decides the future of studentsappearing for the examination. Properchecking and scrutiny are done in these cen-ters before entering the hall and during theexamination as well. Both male and femalestudents are checked and counter-checkedto prevent unethical practices, which includecopying as well. In the Thiruvananthapuramexamination center girl students appearingfor the NEET examination were subjectedto scrutiny, which included removing theirinner wear to complete the formalities.

It is indeed a violation of human rightsand needs to be taken seriously with adetailed inquiry. It is most unfortunate andnot heard of in any civilized society. Suchincidents should not happen in the future.The morale of the girl students as their con-fidence level must have nose-dived justbefore the exam not to speak of the humil-iation they must have endured. It is a humil-iation that will not be tolerated by girl stu-dents and their parents.

C.K. Subramaniam | Mumbai

�� ���������������� �������Sir — The idea of a four-day work week hasbeen going on for some time now across theglobe. The debate first started in Germanywhen IG Metall, Europe’s largest trade union,envisaged this concept in 2020. Germany hasthe lowest rate of working hours in a weekat 34.

Though the four-day work week con-cept has become the latest buzz across theworld, especially after the outbreak of theCovid-19 pandemic, with employees beingjoyous about spending an extra day onleisure activities and recovering from theweekly work stress, this theory is virtuallyimpossible, especially in a big country likeIndia where the labor class forms a hugechunk, and who contribute towards betterand increased productivity at the workplace.

Also in manufacturing sectors, whichneed to be operated round-the-clock, theconcept of a four-day work week is imprac-tical. Implementing a four-day work week

is not all that easy as it requires the right sup-port, technology, and workplace culture.

Ranganathan Sivakumar | Chennai

������������������ �Sir — The defection by elected membershas become a routine affair nowadaysthroughout our country, which is indi-rectly insulting the voters' decision anddamaging the tenets of democracy.Therefore it is the need of the hour toapply the anti-defection law strictly,which has been amended in past.Moreover, if an elected member defectshe should be disqualified immediatelyfrom the seat and be banned from con-testing the election for at least TWOTERMS. Such practice will save the vot-

ers' rights and the democratic value. S.M.Arif Hussain | Hyderabad

� ����������������Sir — The candidature of Draupadi Murmuas the presidential candidate is laudable one.Wow, this is India, where we embrace andrespect every community. Representation ofan Adivasi woman to India which is in itsAzadi ka Amrit Mahotsav a splendid 75 yearsof independence is a remarkable achievement.Her win would indicate the feeling of the newvibrant India. The nation welcomes her to thegrand chair as the first citizen of this nation.

Kirti Wadhawan | Kanpur

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SOUNDBITE

with the BoJo government onmatters of conscience andprinciples, May faded out gen-tly with no rancor, bad blood,or political ambition to unseatBoJo. For all its fallibilities, theculture of internal democracyis still alive and kicking inBritish politics. There are nosuch parallel instances of inter-nal political ‘confidence votes’or gracious acceptance of theend of the individual politicaljourney, in the Indian context– our political leaders aresuperhumanly deified, theyremain infallible and essential-ly, forever.

Whenever political partiesimplode (as they did recentlywith the BoJo dispensation),there is no talk of the creationof a new party by disgruntledelements, no sheepherding ofParliamentarians in a resort oranti-defection clauses. Theparty (in this case,Conservatives) is visibly overand above the individuals wholead the same, and the DNA ofinternal democracy ensuresthe criticality of accountabili-ty and responsibility, on allleaders – no one is beyondquestioning.

The same seamless shift inleadership took place in theopposition Labour ranks withthe exit of Jeremy Corbynand the subsequent ascen-dancy of a rival from within,Keir Starmer. Idle talk of ‘dis-

ciplined/loyal soldier of theparty’ or vacuous conceptslike ‘high-command’, simplydoes not exist. Boris Johnson’sresignation speech said it all,‘the herd is powerful andwhen the herd moves, it movesand my friends in politics noone is remotely indispensable,and our brilliant andDarwinian system will pro-duce another leader equallycommitted to taking this coun-try forward, and so the polit-ical curtains come down onthe once-indefatigable, BoJo, atjust 58!

Now, in what might seemlike a dangerously dividedhouse to the Indian politicalsensibilities, there are over tenserious contenders toConservative leadership, andnone of them pertain to theprevious leaders like May andCameron. The diversity oftheir individual positions onissues like Brexit, tax andspending, culture wars, NHS,etc., is staggeringly different.No wild attributions of unnec-essary extremities like ‘anti-national’ are at play.

Even for a traditionalistparty like the Conservatives,the contender&#39;s list iscomposed of diversities ofethnicities, religions, and col-ors that truly depict the mul-ticulturality of Britain, whichwas once prided by democra-cies like ours and was starkly

missing in democracies likeBritain. Times have

changed. In such moments ofprecarious health and uncer-tainty within the Conservativeranks, the principal oppositionparty i.e., Labour, is only mak-ing perfunctory noises of‘Labour is ready for govern-ment’, but unlike our instinctof political machinations andmanipulations, no efforts to‘win’ over elected memberstowards their ranks, is initiat-ed. British citizenry will sim-ply not accept such selfish ‘rat-ting’ of individuals, owing tothe change of political fortunesfor political parties.

The ensuing British polit-ical drama is also a lesson inthe limits of populism and ver-biage that is directed solely atthe ‘past’ and ‘others’, as therestless British citizenrydemands hard results andpromised transformation. Thedistraction of real issues, asperfected by the gift of the gableaders like Boris Johnson wasexposed by his party and thepeople, and not so much by theopposition ranks. India sharesso much in common withBritain with its Westminsterstyle of democracy, and yet, somuch difference.

(The author is former LtGovernor of Andaman &

Nicobar Island andPuducherry. The views

expressed are personal.)

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Boris Johnson’s confessedhero, Winston Churchill,once said, a lie getshalfway around the world

before the truth has a chance toget its pants on, and it worked wellwith the blustering buffoonish actof Boris, till the sheer quantum oflies in the age-of-rage implodedthe ‘BoJo’ party! Knives didn’tcome out from the Labour bench-es, but in a typically British

way of democracy asChurchill had forewarned, ‘Theopposition occupies the benchesin front of you, but the enemy sitsbehind you. BoJo was ousted byhis party colleagues. Britain willsoon have its fourth PrimeMinister in a row, from the samepolitical party i.e., Conservativesin power since 2010! UnlikeIndia, where leadership cultsensure that the electorate elects‘leaders’ (who outsize parties), inmore mature democracies likeBritain, the electorate elect parties.In 2016, after six years of contin-ued Prime Ministership (includ-ing winning the first Conservativemajority since 1992), DavidCameron left 10 Downing Streetowning to the non-legally bind-ing result of Brexit at the age of49 – his famous last words at retir-ing from active politics, ‘I wasonce the future! Cameron’s suc-cessor and Brexit position rival,Theresa May, soon took over.

There was no overt bitternessbetween the two and certainly nomanipulation of intra-partyintrigues by the outgoingCameron – the Conservativesstayed put, and the intra-partyrivals moved on. Soon the hotpotato of Brexit proved too muchfor Theresa May too, as shefound herself facing no-confi-dence motions from her partycolleagues. By May 2019, Mayannounced, ‘it is now clear to methat it is in the best interests of thecountry for a new Prime Ministerto lead that effort, and in a movethat may seem shocking in theIndian context, May relegatedherself to the role of a ‘backbench’MP to ‘devote her full time to herconstituency of Maidenhead. Maypaved the way for her party’sBrexit rival, the posh Etonian withladdish charms, Boris Johnson.But for occasional disagreements

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Is the population a boon ora bane for India, and will webe able to convert its human

resources to productive use?Experts say it could be a boonbut only if the people areinvolved in regulating it.

The topic has come tofocus as India will be theworld's most populous countryin 2023, surpassing China.According to the latest WorldPopulation Prospects report, itmay go up to 1.429 billion nextyear when China's would be1.426 billion.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterresreleased the UN report on theworld population day this weekand said that by November 15,it would reach an eight billionglobal population mark. Itcould grow to 8.5 billion in2030 and 10.4 billion in 2100,

Those who support popu-lation growth believe that itwould supply low-cost labour,a valuable resource for India.They say it is positive, resultingin higher incomes and wagesand excellent export potential.India's population is youngand multitalented, so it couldbe more productive.

Historically, it took manycenturies for the global popu-lation to reach one billion. In2011 it reached the seven billionmark and tripled between 1950and 2020. (Source: UN DESA)

From 23 crore Indians in1901, the population growthwas slow until 1951. In the nextfive decades, it shot up threetimes. The 2001 populationcensus recorded 1.02 billion(102 crore).

Globally, there are about1.2 billion Hindus. India, which

has a population of 1.4 billion,has 80 per cent Hindus. TheBJP leaders are concernedabout the declining populationof Hindus and the increasingnumber of Muslims.

Those who oppose popu-lation rise argue that an accel-erating trend means more peo-ple to feed and provide cleanwater, electricity, and adequatesocial services like educationand healthcare. It also means asignificant environmentalimpact.

Secondly, India's econo-my was already showing signsof weakness before the Covid-19 crisis. A new report from theMcKinsey Global Instituteidentifies a reform plan for thenext 12 to 18 months. "If Indiadoes not create enough jobsand its workers are untrained,its demographic dividend may

become a liability. And educa-tion and skill development willbe the biggest enablers forreaping this dividend," thereport said.

Thirdly, ‘demographic div-idend’ is a result of investmentin quality education, health-care, and employment genera-tion, and how best we deal withaging, disease, and disability.

Fourthly, children have lostalmost two years of educationdue to the pandemic. The gapneeds to be addressed. Thereshould be more budget alloca-tion for health and education,as seen as lacking during thepandemic crisis.

India's efforts to curtailpopulation growth began rela-tively early and were the first tolaunch a national family plan-ning programme in 1952. Andsince then, there have been

many attempts to contain thegrowing numbers.

The "family planning" pro-grammes became coercive andcontroversial in 1975 whenIndira Gandhi declared a stateof Emergency. In April 1976,the government adopted an"integrated" approach to fam-ily planning that incentivisedcontraception and sterilisation.Since then, the subject hasbeen a no-no for politicians,and the family planningdepartment has been renamedfamily welfare.

In his Independence Dayaddress on August 15, 2019,Prime Minister Narendra Modibrought the issue to the nation-al focus. He extolled the virtuesof small families; he wanted the"uncontrolled growth" to bechecked. According to BJPinsiders, discussions are going

on to prepare a new popula-tion policy before the nextgeneral elections in 2024.Some BJP-ruled states like UPhave already taken measures toregulate the population accel-eration. Now is perhaps thetime for formulating policiesto contain it.

A national commission,set up by former prime minis-ter AtalBihari Vajpayee in 2000,also recommended constitutingpopulation regulation laws.

Parliament has also beendemanding regulation fromtime to time. Lawmakers fromboth the houses and from dif-ferent parties have, till now,proposed 35 Private Bills.

The RSS, the parent organ-isation of the ruling BJP, hasalso advocated a uniform pop-ulation policy. In his usualaddress to the RSS workers on

the last Vijayadasami Day, RSSchief Mohan Bhagwat said, “Apopulation policy keeping inmind the next 50 years shouldbe formulated, and it should beimplemented uniformly foreveryone.”

The family planning bud-get is only a meager 4 per centof the health budget, andIndia spends only 1.5 percent on birth spacing meth-ods. We need to invest morein the health and educationsectors.

Analysts believe popula-tion growth can be a double-edged sword, and the countryneeds to maximise its poten-tial. The government needs toweigh the pros and cons ofpopulat ion growth andchoose the r ightpath.Unplanned growth willonly result in chaos.

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/�/����/�� For quite some time, opinion makersfrom different quarters have beenasking the Narendra Modi govern-ment to scrap the Ministry of

Minority Affairs and replace it with a newMinistry of Religious affairs. There is a greatdeal of justification for such a demand. Indiais a growing international power, and theidentity of India can be secured globally bypresenting its culture and religion from aglobal perspective. The proposed Ministryof Religious affairs could be headed by apracticing spiritual leader to propagate theface of India's spiritual strength.

India has all along respected all reli-gions, but major religious groups see littlein common with Hinduism and want to liveseparately. A learned spiritual leader at thehead of the proposed ministry couldbridge this gap and integrate the commu-nities together.

In the West, some people could arguethat Hinduism is an old-styled religion witha huge baggage to reconcile with the con-temporary world. Modernity, whichemphasises the relegation of religion firm-ly to an individual's private life, is a chal-lenging idea for any culture. In India, it facesa particularly unusual problem: the persis-tence of numerous traditional and religiouspractices means that religion and moder-nity have to cohabit here in a complex, plur-al, transient, and historically evolving rela-tionship.

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) hasalready passed a resolution seeking an"immediate scrapping of both the MinorityCommission and the Minority AffairsMinistry" as the “very idea” of these insti-tutions "gives credence to a separatistmindset."

The resolution noted that “the Jehadisand Missionaries are not the persecutedbut the persecutors,” and “with the help ofthe Minority Commission, separateMinistry, they gather sympathy and carryout their anti-Hindu and anti-nationalactivities." It said that the National HumanRights Commission is "more than enoughto take care of the rights of all citizens ofthe country.”

It contended that “the MinorityCommission creates a false feeling that theMuslim and Christian communities arebeing persecuted,” whereas “the reality isthat it is they who are responsible for thepersecution of not only Hindus but on otherminority communities like the Sikhs andthe Buddhists.”

The main functions of the Ministry ofReligious Affairs should be:

a) Extending overall co-operation inimplementing development activities, pro-viding grants, taking initiatives for resourcemobilization, introducing online registra-tion, and utmost use of ICT in religiousaffairs management;

b) Assisting research and publicationsin the field of religion, and providing coop-eration in the management of charitableinstitutions;

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(The writer is a regularcolumnist of The

Pioneer)

c) Arranging and participatingin international conferences, sem-inars and dialogues on mattersrelating to religions and religiousaffairs and establishing connec-tions and improving relations, andsigning contracts, agreements, con-ventions with different countriesand international organizations/institutions;

d) Conducting various pro-grammes in the religious and edu-cational institutions for socialdevelopment, conducting researchand strengthening anti-terrorismcampaigns, religious values,integrity, brotherhood, and com-munal harmony;

d) Providing grants-in-aidincluding reforms of different reli-gious organisations and institu-tions, matters relating to moonsightings and celebration of impor-tant religious festivals; and sup-porting the destitute people fortheir rehabilitation with financialassistance.

More than 70 years after Indiabecame free from colonial rule,Indians generally feel their countryhas lived up to one of its post-Independence ideals: a societywhere followers of many religionscan live and practice freely. India'smassive population is diverse as wellas devout. Not only do most of theworld's Hindus, Jains and Sikhs livein India, but it also is home to oneof the world's largest Muslim pop-ulations and to millions ofChristians and Buddhists.

Indians see religious toleranceas a central part of who they are asa nation. Across the major religiousgroups, most people say it is veryimportant to respect all religions tobe “truly Indian.” And tolerance is

a religious as well as a civic value:Indians are united in the view thatrespecting other religions is a veryimportant part of what it means tobe a member of their own religiouscommunity.

These shared values are accom-panied by a number of beliefs thatcross religious lines. Not only do amajority of Hindus in India (77%)believe in karma, but an identicalpercentage of Muslims do, too. Athird of Christians in India (32%)- together with 81% of Hindus - saythey believe in the purifying powerof the Ganges River, a central beliefin Hinduism. In Northern India,12% of Hindus and 10% of Sikhs,along with 37% of Muslims, iden-tify with Sufism, a mystical traditionmost closely associated with Islam.And the vast majority of Indians ofall major religious backgroundssay that respecting elders is veryimportant to their faith.

Yet, despite sharing certain val-ues and religious beliefs - as well asliving in the same country, underthe same constitution - members ofIndia's major religious communitiesoften don't feel they have much incommon with one another. Themajority of Hindus see themselvesas very different from Muslims(66%), and most Muslims return thesentiment, saying they are very dif-ferent from Hindus (64%). Thereare a few exceptions: Two-thirds ofJains and about half of Sikhs saythey have a lot in common withHindus. But generally people inmajor religious communities seethemselves as different from others.

Moreover, Indians generallystick to their own religious groupwhen it comes to their friends.Hindus overwhelmingly say that

most or all of their close friends arealso Hindu. Of course, Hindusmake up the majority of the pop-ulation, and as a result of sheernumbers, may be more likely tointeract with fellow Hindus thanwith people of other religions.But even among Sikhs and Jains,who each form a sliver of thenational population, a large major-ity say their friends come mainlyor entirely from their small reli-gious community.

Indians, then, simultaneouslyexpress enthusiasm for religious tol-erance and a consistent preferencefor keeping their religious commu-nities in segregated spheres - theylive together separately. These twosentiments may seem paradoxical,but for many Indians, they are not.Indeed, many take both positions,saying it is important to be tolerantof others and expressing a desire tolimit personal connections acrossreligious lines. Indians who favor areligiously segregated society alsooverwhelmingly emphasize reli-gious tolerance as a core value.

In other words, Indians’ conceptof religious tolerance does not nec-essarily involve the mixing of reli-gious communities. While people insome countries may aspire to cre-ate a “melting pot” of different reli-gious identities, many Indians seemto prefer a country more like apatchwork fabric, with clear linesbetween groups. Most Hindus inIndia say being Hindu, and beingable to speak Hindi are very impor-tant to be ‘truly’ Indian.

Against this backdrop, the timehas come to scrap the Ministry ofMinority of Affairs without any fur-ther delay and create a unifyingMinistry of Religious affairs.

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Colombo: Sri Lanka's actingPresident RanilWickremesinghe has said thatmuch of the contents in his pri-vate residence here were notsalvageable after a group ofirate anti-government protest-ers torched it on July 9, destroy-ing his 125-year-old piano andmore than 4,000 books, someof them centuries-old.

In remarkable scenes of acountry in meltdown, anti-government protesters setWickremesinghe's private res-idence at Cambridge Place onfire, hours after they stormedthe President's House and otherkey buildings.

Wickremesinghe toldCNN in an interview thatmuch of its contents from historched residence were notsalvageable.

“I have lost more than

4,000 books, including somethat were centuries old,” hesaid.

A 125-year-old piano wasalso destroyed in the fire, hesaid.

A video released by DailyMirror newspaper on Twitteron July 10 showed grim visu-als of Wickremesinghe'scharred residence and a dam-aged sedan among others.

Paintings and artworkswere strewn across the houseand the compound.

Wickremesinghe said herespects the rights of the pro-testers to peacefully under-take their demonstrations, buthe asserted that he will notallow another governmentbuilding like the PresidentialPalace or the Prime Minister'sprivate residence to be occu-pied. PTI

Colombo: Ahead ofWednesday's presidential elec-tion, Sri Lanka's actingPresident RanilWickremesinghe has distancedhimself from the disgracedRajapaksa government, sayinghe was not in the "same admin-istration" and was appointed to"handle the economy" of thebankrupt country.

Wickremesinghe, 73, onTuesday was among three can-didates proposed by lawmakersfor Wednesday's presidentialelection to pick Rajapaksa'ssuccessor.

The 225-memberParliament will elect the nextpresident who will completethe remaining tenure of formerpresident Gotabaya Rajapaksa,who resigned last week.

There's growing discon-

tent brewing amongst the pub-lic over Wickremesinghe's pres-idential nomination, who manyconsider to be “more of thesame,” since he was part of theprevious Rajapaksa adminis-tration.

“I'm not the same, peopleknow that…I came here tohandle the economy,”Wickremesinghe told CNN inan interview on Monday, as hesought to distance himself fromRajapaksa, the person underwhom he had worked for thepast two months torescue thecrisis-hit Sri Lankan economy.

Wickremesinghe said theerstwhile Rajapaksa regimewas “covering up facts” aboutthe country's crippling financialcrisis, and assured the islandnation's beleaguered economy

would stabilise by the end ofnext year.

He was sworn-in as theacting President on Friday afterRajapaksa fled to the Maldivesand then to Singapore fromwhere he resigned in the faceof public revolt against hisgovernment's mishandling ofthe country's economy.

“The previous govern-ment was lying…covering upfacts about the fact that SriLanka was bankrupt and weneed to go to the IMF (for abailout package),”Wickremesinghe said duringthe interview.

In March 2022, Sri Lankahad to pay USD 7 billion indebts, when it had a little overUSD 1 billion in foreignexchange reserves. PTI

Colombo: For the first time in44 years, Sri Lanka's Parliamentwill directly elect a President onWednesday in a three-way con-test, with last minute politicalmaneuvering projecting a closefight between acting PresidentRanil Wickremesinghe andDullas Alahapperuma, a rebelleader of the ruling party whois backed by the opposition aswell as a majority of lawmak-ers from his parent party.

W i c k r e m e s i n g h e ,Alahapperuma and leftistJanatha Vimukthi Peramuna(JVP) leader Anura KumaraDissanayake were proposed bylawmakers on Tuesday as thethree candidates for the July 20presidential election to pick thesuccessor to GotabayaRajapaksa after he resignedfollowing a popular uprisingagainst his government formismanaging the economy thatforced him to flee the country.

A majority of members of

the ruling Sri Lanka PodujanaPeramuna (SLPP) party was infavour of nominatingAlahapperuma, a leader of its

breakaway faction, for the postof the President and principalOpposition leader SajithPremadasa as the Prime

Minister, Chairman of theSLPP, G L Peiris, said onTuesday, ahead of Wednesday'spresidential election.

Although analysts herebelieve that 73-year-oldWickremesinghe is in the lead,the evidence of numbers in the225-assembly don't necessari-ly suggest it would be plain sail-ing. Without the ruling SLPP'sbacking, Wickremesinghewould be a non-starter as heonly has his seat in Parliamentto be in the reckoning.

Going back to the originalparliamentary composition inAugust 2020, the SLPP numberof 145 had seen reversals with 52of the lawmakers breaking away.The total of 93 later became 97with 4 lawmakers returning.

Wickremesinghe needs 16more votes to cross the magi-cal figure of 113 in the 225-member house. He relies on atleast 9 of the 12 Tamil partyvotes plus enough defectorsfrom the main oppositionSamagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB),most of whom are his follow-ers having been introduced topolitics by him.

In a politically significantmove, Premadasa, the leader ofthe principal opposition partySJB, on Tuesday backed out infavour of Alahapperuma. PTI

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Colombo: The security hasbeen beefed up in and aroundSri Lanka's Parliament complexon Tuesday after the Speakerlodged a complaint with theInspector General of Policecalling for a detailed investiga-tion to be conducted into cer-tain inflammatory posts pub-lished on social media threat-ening Members of Parliament.

The complaint by SpeakerMahinda Yapa Abeywardenacame hours before Parliamentwas poised to accept the nom-inations for the post of presi-dent, which fell vacant lastweek after Gotabaya Rajapaksafled the country and laterresigned.

The Parliament is expect-ed to elect the new president onJuly 20. On Monday, SriLankan Members of

Parliament from the rulingparty Sri Lanka PodujanaPeramuna (SLPP) had com-plained of receiving threat mes-

sages on social media, warningthem against voting for SriLanka's Acting President RanilWickremesinghe. PTI

Kyiv: As Russia kept up itsrelentless shelling across thecountry, Ukrainian PresidentVolodymyr Zelenskyy expand-ed the shakeup of his securityservices on Monday by sus-pending 28 more officials, a dayafter he dismissed two seniorofficials over allegations thattheir agencies harboured “col-laborators and traitors.”

In his nightly videoaddress, Zelenskyy said a “per-sonnel audit” of the SecurityService of Ukraine (SBU) wasunderway, and the dismissal ofthe 28 officials was being decid-ed.

“Different levels, differentareas of focus. But the reasonsare similar — unsatisfactoryresults of work,” Zelenskyysaid.

On Sunday, he had firedSBU chief Ivan Bakanov andProsecutor General IrynaVenediktova.

Zelenskyy, citing hun-dreds of criminal proceedingsinto treason and collaborationby people within their depart-ments and other law enforce-ment agencies.

“Six months into the war,we continue to uncover loadsof these people in each ofthese agencies," said AndriySmirnov, deputy head ofUkraine's presidential office.

Analysts said the movesare designed to strengthenZelenskyy's control over thearmy and security agencies,which have been led by peopleappointed before the Russianinvasion began on February 24.

“In the conditions of a war,Zelenskyy needs leaders thatare capable of tackling severaltasks at the same time -- toresist Russia's intrigues withinthe country to create a fifth col-umn, to be in contact andcoordination with internationalexperts, to do their actual jobeffectively,” VolodymyrFesenko, a political analystwith the Penta Center thinktank, told The Associated Press.

Bakanov is a childhoodfriend and former businesspartner of Zelenskyy, whoappointed him to head theSBU. Bakanov had come under

growing criticism over securi-ty breaches since the warbegan.

Venediktova won interna-tional praise for her drive togather war-crimes evidenceagainst Russian military com-manders and officials, includ-ing Russian President VladimirPutin, over the destruction ofUkrainian cities and the killingof civilians.

U.S. State Departmentspokesman Ned Price, speak-ing to reporters in Washington,said when asked about thepersonnel changes that the twogovernments were in closecontact.

“The fact is that in all ofour relationships, and includ-ing in this relationship, weinvest not in personalities. Weinvest in institutions and, ofcourse, President Zelenskyyhas spoken to his rationale formaking these personnel shifts,”Price said.

He said Washington wouldcontinue to work with Kyiv onwar-crimes investigations andinformation sharing.Intelligence, he said, is "animportant element of the assis-tance that we are providing toour Ukrainian partners in aneffort to help them defendthemselves.” Zelensky appoint-ed the first deputy head of theSBU, Vasyl Maliuk, to be actinghead. Maliuk, 39, is known forefforts to fight corruption in thesecurity agencies; his appoint-ment was seen as part ofZelenskyy's efforts to get rid ofpro-Russian staffers in the SBU.

Fesenko said discontentwith Bakanov and Venediktovahad been brewing for a while,and it was possible thatUkraine's Western partnerspointed out the underperfor-mance of the SBU and theprosecutor general's office toZelenskyy.

Meanwhile, Russia pressed

forward with its missile andshelling attacks, whichUkrainian officials said weredesigned to intimidate thecivilian population and createpanic.

The commander-in-chiefof the Ukrainian armed forces,however, said his troops had“stabilized the situation" onthe front, largely thanks toWestern deliveries of techni-cally advanced rocket systems.

“It is complex, tense, butcompletely controllable,” Gen.Valeriy Zaluzhny wrote onTelegram after a phone callwith the Chairman of the U.S.Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. MarkA. Milley.

“An important factor con-tributing to our holding ourdefensive lines and positions isthe timely arrival of the M142HIMARS, delivering targetedstrikes against enemy commandposts, ammunition and fueldepots,” Zaluzhnyy said. PTI

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Tehran: Russian PresidentVladimir Putin's visit to Iranstarting Tuesday is intended todeepen ties with regionalheavyweights as part ofMoscow's challenge to theUnited States and Europe amidits grinding campaign inUkraine.

In only his second tripabroad since Russian tanksrolled into its neighbour inFebruary, Putin is scheduled tohold talks with Iran's PresidentEbrahim Raisi and TurkishPresident Recep TayyipErdogan about the pressingissues facing the region, includ-ing the conflict in Syria and aU.N.-backed proposal toresume exports of Ukrainiangrain to ease the global foodcrisis.

As the West heaps sanc-tions on Russia and the costlycampaign drags on, Putin isseeking to bolster ties withTehran, a fellow target of severeU.S.R sanctions and a potentialmilitary and trade partner.

In recent weeks, Russianofficials visited an airfield incentral Iran at least twice toreview Tehran's weapons-capa-ble drones for possible use inUkraine, the White House hasalleged.

But perhaps most crucial-ly, Tehran offers Putin a chancefor a high-stakes meeting withErdogan, who has sought tohelp broker talks on a peacefulsettlement of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, as well as helpnegotiations to unblockUkrainian grain through theBlack Sea.

Turkey, a NATO member,has found itself opposite Russiain bloody conflicts inAzerbaijan, Libya and Syria.

But Turkey hasn't imposedsanctions on the Kremlin, mak-ing it a sorely needed partnerfor Moscow. Grappling withrunaway inflation and a rapid-ly depreciating currency,Turkey also relies on theRussian market.

The gathering has sym-bolic meaning for Putin'sdomestic audience as well,

showing off Russia's interna-tional clout even as it growsincreasingly isolated andplunges deeper into con-frontation with the West. Itcomes just days after U.S.President Joe Biden's visitedIsrael and Saudi Arabia —Tehran's primary rivals in theregion.

From Jerusalem andJeddah, Biden urged Israel andArab countries to push back onRussian, Chinese and Iranianinfluence that has expandedwith the perception ofAmerica's retreat from theregion.

It was a tough sell. Israelmaintains good relations withPutin, a necessity given Russianpresence in Syria, Israel's north-eastern neighbor and frequenttarget of its airstrikes.

Saudi Arabia and theUnited Arab Emirates have sofar declined to pump more oilbeyond a plan approved bytheir energy alliance withMoscow.

But all the countries —despite their long-standingrivalries — could agree ondrawing closer to counter Iran,which has rapidly advanced itsnuclear program since formerPresident Donald Trump aban-doned Tehran's atomic accordwith world powers and reim-posed crushing sanctions. Talksto restore the deal have hit adeadlock.

Kyiv: Russian cruise missilesstruck villages around southernUkraine's port city of Odesaearly Tuesday, hitting houses, aschool and a community cen-tre as Russian PresidentVladimir Putin was in Iran todiscuss a UN-backed propos-al to unblock exports ofUkrainian grain.

Russian forces fired sevenKalibr cruise missiles at theOdesa region. The RussianDefence Ministry said strikeson the village of Bilenke had alegitimate military goal and"destroyed depots of ammuni-tion for weapons supplied bythe United States and Europeancountries."

A local official disputedMoscow's claim and said sixpeople were wounded.

"These strikes on peacefulpeople have one goal - tointimidate the population andthe authorities and keep themin constant tension," SerhiyBratchuk, the speaker of theOdesa regional government,

told Ukrainian television.

The Russian military inrecent weeks has targetedOdesa and parts of southernUkraine where its troops cap-tured cities earlier in the waramid indications that Ukrainewas planning counterattacks toretake Russian-occupied areas.

Meanwhile, Ukrainianforces on the ground in easternUkraine are fighting to holdonto the declining territoryunder their control.

At least two civilians werekilled and 15 more werewounded by Russian shellingacross the country over the past24 hours, Ukraine's presiden-tial office said in a morningupdate.

"There remains a high levelof threat of missile strikesthroughout the territory ofUkraine," said OleksandrShtupun, spokesman of theGeneral Staff of the Ukrainianarmed forces. PTI

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���� ����-����N���������-��� � �������C���)���� ����������F���������������A�,� Colombo: A majority of mem-bers of Sri Lanka's ruling SriLanka Podujana Peramuna(SLPP) party was in favour ofnominating DullasAlahapperuma, a leader of itsbreakaway faction, for the postof the President and principalOpposition leader SajithPremadasa as the PrimeMinister, Chairman of theSLPP, G L Peiris said onTuesday, ahead of Wednesday'spresidential election.

Acting Sri LankanPresident President RanilWickremesinghe and two oth-ers were proposed by lawmak-ers on Tuesday as the three can-didates for the July 20 presi-dential election to pick thesuccessor to GotabayaRajapaksa after he resignedfollowing a popular uprisingagainst his government formismanaging the economy.

Wickremesinghe, 73, willface-off against Alahapperuma,

a 63-year-old staunch SinhalaBuddhist nationalist and a keymember from the breakawaygroup of the SLPP and the left-ist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna(JVP) leader Anura KumaraDissanayake, 53, it was offi-cially announced in Parliament.

SLPP Chairman Peirissaid that the majority of hisparty was in favour of appoint-ing Alahapperuma as thePresident, underlining that thepeople's voice be highlighted inParliament, according to newsportal News First.Lk.

Peiris added that the SLPPlawmakers have agreed toappoint Opposition LeaderPremadasa, the 55-year-oldleader of Sri Lanka's principalopposition party Samagi JanaBalawegaya (SJB) as the PrimeMinister.

Incidentally, Premadasa onTuesday had withdrawn fromthe presidential race to support

Alahapperuma's nomination. Peiris said both parties

must come together and gov-ern the country and implementa programme to realise theaspirations of the citizens, thereport said. Wednesday's votewould also be a rare occasionwhen the House Speaker willvote.

Never in the history of thepresidency since 1978,Parliament had voted to elect apresident.

Presidential elections in1982, 1988, 1994, 1999, 2005,2010, 2015 and 2019 had elect-ed them by popular vote.

The only previous occa-sion when the presidencybecame vacant mid-term wasin 1993 when presidentRanasinghe Premadasa wasassassinated.

DB Wijetunga was unani-mously endorsed by Parliamentto run the balance ofPremadasa's term.

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China will take "resolute and strongmeasures" should the Speaker ofthe US House of Representatives

Nancy Pelosi proceed with reportedplans to visit Taiwan, the Chinese ForeignMinistry said Tuesday.

Pelosi, who is second in line to thepresidency, is due to visit the self-gov-erning island China claims as its own ter-ritory in August, according to a report inthe Financial Times.

She was originally scheduled to visitin April but had to postpone after she test-ed positive for COVID-19.

Pelosi would be the highest rankingAmerican lawmaker to visit the close USally since her predecessor as speaker,Newt Gingrich, travelled there 25 yearsago.

China has vowed to annex Taiwan byforce if necessary, and has advertised thatthreat by flying warplanes near Taiwaneseairspace and holding military exercisesbased on invasion scenarios.

It says those actions are aimed atdeterring advocates of the island's formalindependence and foreign allies -- prin-cipally the US — from coming to its aid,more than 70 years after the sides splitamid civil war.

A visit by Pelosi would "severelyundermine China's sovereignty and ter-ritorial integrity, gravely impact thefoundation of China-US relations andsend a seriously wrong signal to Taiwanindependence forces," Foreign Ministryspokesperson Zhao Lijiang said at a dailybriefing.

"If the US were to insist on going

down the wrong path, China will take res-olute and strong measures to safeguardits sovereignty and territorial integrity,"Zhao said.

China in recent days has also ratch-eted up its rhetoric over US arms salesto Taiwan, demanding the cancellationof a deal worth approximately $108 mil-lion that would boost its armed forces'chances of survival against its much big-ger foe.

China has the world's largest stand-ing military, with an increasingly sophis-ticated navy and a huge inventory of mis-siles pointed across the 180 km (100 mile)-wide Taiwan Strait.

"The Chinese People's Liberation

Army...Will resolutely thwart any form ofinterference by external forces and sep-aratist plots of Taiwan independence,'" theDefence Ministry said in a statementposted on its website Tuesday.

While Washington maintains a pol-icy of "strategic ambiguity" over whetherit would defend Taiwan in a conflict withChina, US law requires it must ensure theisland has the means to defend itself andconsider threats to its security as mattersof "grave concern".

Washington maintains only unoffi-cial relations with Taiwan in deference toBeijing, but is the island's strongestpolitical ally and source of defensive arms.

Zhao gave no details about what

potential actions China might take inresponse to Pelosi's visit, but Beijing hasgenerally used military flights and wargames to indicate its discontent.

Chinese pilots have also been accusedof aggressive action toward surveillanceaircraft from the US and its allies oper-ating in international airspace off theChinese coast, while using lasers andother methods to harass foreign warshipsin the South China Sea.

China's most serious threat againstTaiwan came in 1995-96, when it heldmilitary exercises and lobbed missiles intowaters north and south of the island inresponse to a visit to the US by then-President Lee Teng-hui.

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Rishi Sunak topped anotherround of voting on Tuesday

to edge even closer to his placeas one of two candidates whowill go head-to-head to beelected the new ConservativeParty leader and British PrimeMinister, as Kemi Badenochbecame the latest candidate tobe out of the running.

The British Indian formerChancellor received 118 votesin the fourth round of voting byhis party colleagues, just shy ofthe 120-mark – or one-third ofConservative Party MPs –needed to confirm his place asone of the final contenders inthe race to replace BorisJohnson.

He increased his tally fromMonday's 115, while TradeMinister Penny Mordaunt got92 votes and Foreign SecretaryLiz Truss 86 votes leaving therace to clinch second place stillopen. The elimination of for-mer equalities ministerBadenoch with 59 votes willnow turn the focus on whereher considerable support with-in the Tory members ofParliament will go, as thoseMPs are wooed by bothMordaunt and Truss to shoreup their chances of grabbingthat all-important second spot.

Sunak extended his lead inthe race to replace BorisJohnson as the ConservativeParty leader and British PrimeMinister, as he added 14 morevotes to his tally in the latest

round of voting by Tory mem-bers of Parliament.

Sunak, 42, has consistent-ly topped the shortlist sincevoting began last week and onMonday he bagged 115 votes inthe third round, which leavesonly four candidates in therace. Trade Minister PennyMordaunt is holding on tosecond place with 82 votesfollowed by Foreign SecretaryLiz Truss with 71 votes and for-mer equalities minister KemiBadenoch at 58 votes. TomTugendhat, Tory backbencherand House of CommonsForeign Affairs CommitteeChair, dropped his tally fromthe previous 32 to 31 votes andwas knocked out of the contestwith the least votes.

The fourth round of votingwill take place on Tuesday, atthe end of which another can-didate with the least votes willbe eliminated to edge towardsa final shortlist of just two can-didates by Thursday.

The battle remains poisedfor the all-important second

spot, with all eyes on the can-didate who will go head to headwith Sunak in the final leg ofthe race as the former financeminister's lead seems to becrystalising.

While Sunak picked up 14more votes from the previousround of 101, Mordauntdropped one from 83 in thesecond voting round last week.Truss has improved her tallyfrom 64 and Badenoch is upfrom 49 in the last round.

The magic number is seenas 120, with the candidatereceiving the backing of atleast 120 of his or herConservative Party colleaguesguaranteed a spot in the finalshortlist of two candidates tocompete for the Tory mem-bership votes.

The last few rounds of vot-ing are being held this week asa third live television debate,scheduled to be hosted by 'SkyNews' on Tuesday evening,was cancelled after the channelsaid both Sunak and Trusshad declined to take part.

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The World Health Organisation said Tuesdaythat coronavirus cases have tripled across

Europe in the past six weeks, accounting fornearly half of all infections globally.Hospitalisation rates have also doubled, althoughintensive care admissions have remained low.

In a statement on Tuesday, WHO's Europedirector, Dr Hans Kluge, described COVID-19as "a nasty and potentially deadly illness" thatpeople should not underestimate. He saidsuper-infectious relatives of the omicron vari-ant were driving new waves of disease across thecontinent and that repeat infections couldpotentially lead to long COVID.

WHO said the 53 countries in its Europeanregion, which stretches to central Asia, report-ed nearly 3 million new coronavirus infectionslast week and that the virus was killing about3,000 people every week. Globally, COVID-19cases have increased for the past five weeks, evenas countries have scaled back on testing.

"With rising cases, we're also seeing a risein hospitalisations, which are only set toincrease further in the autumn and wintermonths," Kluge said. "This forecast presents ahuge challenge to the health workforce in coun-try after country, already under enormous pres-sure dealing with unrelenting crises since2020." Earlier this week, editors of two Britishmedical journals said the country's NationalHealth Service has never before had so manyparts of the system so close to collapsing.

Kamran Abbasi, of the BMJ and AlastairMcLellan of the Health Service Journal wrote ina joint editorial that the UK government was fail-ing to address persistent problems worsened byCOVID, including ambulances lining up out-side hospitals too overloaded to accept newpatients. They slammed the government's insis-tence that vaccines have broken the linkbetween infections and hospitalisations.Although vaccines dramatically reduce thechances of severe disease and death, they havenot made a significant dent on transmission.

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The UK broke an unwel-come record on Tuesday

when Surrey in south-eastEngland hit the highest tem-perature ever since recordsbegan at 40 degrees Celsius.

The previous record was38.7°C set in 2019 at Cam-bridge Botanic Garden in east-ern England. The Meteoro-logical (Met) Office said thereading was provisional as thetemperatures are expected tosoar further with other regionsreporting their readings at dif-ferent times of the day.

The country was braced for"unprecedented" temperatureson Tuesday after the ongoingheat wave resulted in thehottest night on record at 26degrees Celsius in parts ofLondon overnight on Monday.

The Met Office red warn-ing of danger to life from

extreme heat remains in placefor much of central, northern,and south-east England,including the capital city. Atleast five people are believed tohave drowned after attemptingto escape the heat in rivers andlakes.

"Tuesday will be a prettyunprecedented day, with themercury possibly reachinghighs of 41°C in spots inEngland. This will make it thehottest day on record and thefirst time we have seen tem-peratures as high as 40°C,"said Rachel Ayers, a Met Officeforecaster.

"There are likely to bedelays on roads, with road clo-sures, as well as possible delaysand cancellations to trains andmaybe issues with air travel.This could pose a significanthealth risk tothose stuck onservices orroads during

the heat," she said.A high of 38.1°C was

reached in Suffolk, easternEngland, on Monday, just shortof the UK record of 38.7°C setin 2019. Scotland and Wales arealso forecast to see their hottestdays on record after a scorch-ing Monday, when the latter seta new high temperature markat 37.1°C.

Network Rail issued a "donot travel" warning for Tuesday,affecting services travellingthrough the "red zone" underthe Met Office warning map.Transport Secretary GrantShapps said the UK's rail net-work could not cope with theextreme heat, adding that itwould take "many years" beforeupgrades would mean servicescould handle the hotter climate.

"The simple answer is no,the network cannot cope withthe heat right now," he told theBBC. "In 40°C heat, tracks canreach 50°C, 60°C, and even70°C, and there's a severe dan-ger of tracks buckling and a ter-rible derailing. We are buildingnew specifications, creatingoverhead lines that can with-stand higher temperatures. Butwith the best will in the world,this is infrastructure whichhas taken decades to build, withsome of our railways stretchingback 200 years," he said.

����� -.!�.!

Outgoing British Prime Minister BorisJohnson chaired his final Cabinet meeting

on Tuesday, ahead of Conservative Party par-liamentarians casting their votes for the fourthround in the secret ballot to elect a new leader.

Johnson, 58, defended his government'srecord and commitment to tackling climatechange as he addressed the ongoing heat wave.

"Who can doubt that we were right to be thefirst major economy to go for net zero," he toldhis ministers at Downing Street.

"It may be sometimes unfashionable to saythis but it is the right thing to do," he said.

It came after the Opposition Labour Partyhad accused him of clocking off his job as primeminister ahead of time by missing three emer-gency Cabinet Office Briefing Room A(COBRA) meetings on the measures to tacklethe heat wave national emergency. It also fol-lowed a symbolic win for Johnson, forced toresign amid scandals rocking his leadership ear-lier this month, as his government won a no-confidence vote tabled to block Labour's effortsto overthrow the Govt and induce a snap election.

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Two former White Houseaides are expected to testi-

fy at the House Jan. 6 commit-tee's prime-time hearingThursday as the panel exam-ines what Donald Trump wasdoing as his supporters brokeinto the Capitol, according toa person familiar with theplans. Matthew Pottinger, for-mer deputy national securityadviser, and Sarah Matthews, aformer press aide, are expect-ed to testify, according to theperson, who was not autho-rised to publicly discuss thematter and requested anonymi-ty. Both Pottinger andMatthews resigned immedi-ately after the Jan. 6, 2021,insurrection that interruptedthe congressional certificationof President Joe Biden's victo-ry.

The two witnesses will addto the committee's narrative inits eighth, and possibly final,hearing this summer. Theprime-time hearing will detailwhat Trump did - or did not do- during several hours thatday as his supporters beatpolice officers and broke intothe Capitol.

Previous hearings have

detailed chaos in the WhiteHouse and aides and outsiderswere begging the president totell the rioters to leave. But hewaited more than three hoursto do so, and there are stillmany unanswered questionsabout what exactly he wasdoing and saying as the vio-lence unfolded.

A spokesperson for thecommittee declined to com-ment. Lawmakers on the nine-member panel have said thehearing will offer the mostcompelling evidence yet ofTrump's "dereliction of duty"that day, with witnesses detail-ing his failure to stem theangry mob.

"We have filled in theblanks," Rep. Adam Kinzinger,R-Ill., a member of the Housecommittee investigating theriot who will help leadThursday's session, saidSunday. "This is going to openpeople's eyes in a big way."

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Researchers in the UK claimed to have devel-oped a low-cost device that can take 3-D

images of the eye, a pioneering technology whichthey say can transform eye screening and treat-ment across the globe.

The device, developed by researchers fromthe University of Strathclyde, captures 3-Dimages of the retina, the back of the eye andcornea, and can be added at low cost to a slit lamp,a device commonly usedby optometrists.

Although there are existing instruments for3-D imaging, including Optical CoherenceTomography technology — the machines can costup to 100,000 pounds, often making them tooexpensive for large-scale population use, espe-cially in low-income countries.

The new technology is a simple and inex-pensive add-on to a standard lamp, and can

extend 3-D eye imaging to all settings whereoptometrists are present, the University ofStrathclyde said in a release on Monday.

It is so simple that a modified version of thetechnology brings potential of 3-D retinal 'self-ies' without an operator, meaning it could alsobe deployed in unassisted settings, like phar-macies, it said.

The technology can also be used to image thefront of the eye, which is important for corneatransplant patients as many machines can'tmeasure the edge of the cornea, it said.

The device has been developed by Dr MarioGiardini, Dr Ian Coghill, and Kirsty Jordan, atthe Department of Biomedical Engineering of theUniversity of Strathclyde.

"Patients can be imaged easily and inexpen-sively, without the need for a specialist to be pre-sent. Our device reliably takes 3-D images, andit is comfortable and fast, at less than a second,"Giardini said.

"The technology has the potential to revo-lutionise the screening and follow-up within thecommunity of conditions such as glaucoma, asany optometrist, anywhere in the world, couldafford it. This work makes eye diagnostics moreaccessible, reducing inequalities,"Giardini added.

The researchers also hope it can eventual-ly be used to detect eye cancer. Dr Livingstone,Consultant Ophthalmologist at NHS ForthValley, who has collaborated with Dr Giardini onprevious ophthalmology projects, said:"So muchof what we do as eye doctors depends on seeing things in 3D.

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New Delhi: India’s passengervehicle exports rose by 26 percent in the first quarter ascompared with the April-Juneperiod of last fiscal which sawdisruptions due to the secondwave of Covid-19.

As per the latest datareleased by the Society ofIndian AutomobileManufacturers (SIAM), pas-senger vehicle shipments roseto 1,60,263 units in the April-June period of this fiscal ascompared with 1,27,083 unitsin the same quarter of 2021-22.

Passenger car shipmentssaw an 88 per cent year-on-yeargrowth at 1,04,400 units whileutility vehicle exports rose 18per cent to 55,547 units duringthe period under review, SIAMdata showed.

Export of vans declined to316 units in April-June as com-

pared with 588 units in thesame period of the last fiscal.

Domestic car leaderMaruti Suzuki India (MSI) ledthe exports during the period,followed by Hyundai MotorIndia and Kia India at the sec-ond and third positions,respectively.

MSI exported 68,987 PVsin the period under review, up53 per cent from 45,056 unitsin the same period of the pre-vious fiscal year.

MSI’s top PV export mar-kets include Latin America,ASEAN, Africa, the MiddleEast and neighbouring regionswhile its top five export mod-els comprise Baleno, Dzire,Swift, S-Presso and Brezza.

Hyundai Motor India’sinternational dispatches stoodat 34,520 units during the Junequarter, up 15 per cent from theyear-ago period. PTI

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Mumbai: The rupee recoveredfrom its all-time low of 80.05 toclose 6 paise higher at 79.92(provisional) against the USdollar on Tuesday, tracking itsregional peers and a positivetrend in domestic equities.

At the interbank forex mar-ket, the local unit opened lowerat 80.00 against the greenbackand fell further to an intra-daylow of 80.05.

The local unit recoupedlosses later and settled at 79.92(provisional), registering a riseof 6 paise over its previousclose.

On Monday, the rupee forthe first time declined to thelow level of 80 against the USdollar in intra-day spot tradingbefore ending the session 16paise lower at 79.98 amid asurge in crude oil prices andunrelenting foreign fund out-flows.

“The Indian rupee broke

the level of 80 after many days’failed efforts by the dollar bullsamid higher crude oil prices.However, the central bank’sintervention and strongerregional currencies and equitiessupported the rupee to eraseearly morning losses,” saidDilip Parmar, ResearchAnalyst, HDFC Securities.

Parmar further said thenear-term consolidation in therupee is likely along with thedollar index ahead of theEuropean Central Bank (ECB)and Bank of Japan policy meet-ings on Thursday. PTI

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Mumbai: Equity benchmarksSensex and Nifty bounced backafter falling in initial trade onTuesday amid foreign fundsinflow and a mixed trend inglobal markets.

The 30-share BSE Sensexadvanced 246.47 points or 0.45per cent to settle at 54,767.62after starting the trade on aweak note. In a volatile session,the benchmark hit a high of54,817.52 and a low of54,232.82 during the day.

On similar lines, thebroader NSE Nifty climbed62.05 points or 0.38 per cent toclose at 16,340.55.

Among the Sensex con-stituents, Axis Bank, Mahindra& Mahindra, Bajaj Finserv,IndusInd Bank, Tata Steel,UltraTech Cement and StateBank of India were the major

gainers.However, Nestle India,

HCL Technologies, SunPharma, Kotak MahindraBank, Infosys, Dr Reddy’s andAsian Paints were the biggestlaggards.

In Asia, markets in Seouland Hong Kong ended lower,while Tokyo and Shanghai set-tled in the green.

Markets in Europe weretrading on a mixed note dur-ing mid-session deals. The USmarkets had ended lower onMonday.

International oil bench-mark Brent crude dipped 0.57per cent to USD 105.7 per bar-rel. Foreign institutionalinvestors turned net buyers onMonday, picking up sharesworth �156.08 crore, as perexchange data. PTI

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New Delhi: Gold in the nation-al capital on Tuesday rose by �6to �50,290 per 10 grams amidfirm global trends, according toHDFC Securities.

In the previous trade, theyellow metal settled at �50,284per 10 grams.

Silver, however, dipped by�137 to �55,539 per kg from�55,676 per kg in the previoustrade.

“Spot gold prices for 24-carat gold in Delhi were up by�6 per 10 grams in line withfirm COMEX gold prices,” saidTapan Patel, Senior Analyst(Commodities) at HDFCSecurities.

In the international mar-ket, gold was trading higher atUSD 1,711 per ounce while sil-ver was flat at USD 18.80 perounce. PTI

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New Delhi: Solar energy, infra-structure, military coopera-tion and startup ecosystem arefour critical areas where Indiacan be a valuable partner toAfrican nations, Commerceand Industry Piyush Goyalsaid on Tuesday.

The trade between Indiaand African countries has beenpretty balanced with exports oftrade and services of aboutUSD 40 billion and imports ofUSD 49 billion, Goyal saidwhile speaking at the inaugu-ration of 17th CII-Exim Bankconclave here.

“And we would like to con-tinue this engagement andpartnership where both Africannations and India support eachother in an endeavour to sup-port each other’s economicgrowth.

“India gives 27 LessDeveloped Countries fromAfrica the benefit of duty freetariff preference..It’s time wealso look at further deepeningand strengthening the tradepartnership and possibly lookat giving greater trading accessto both African continent andto India so that we can expandthis trade in a much faster andgreater way,” the minister said.

Speaking at the conclaveon ‘India-Africa Growth

Partnership - Creating SharedFutures’, he said India andSouth African countries canwork in several areas to bringcost effective, affordable andtruly designed for local popu-lation solutions in several areas.

“And India would like tostrengthen our offer of friend-ship, our offer of relationshipbased business so that we canmeet the dream of 1.4 billionAfrican people. There are fourareas of partnerships that Ibelieve can fulfil the aspirationsof the people of Africa andIndia going forward,” Goyalsaid.

He said both the countriesare blessed with significantamount of sunlight and solarpower can be one area ofengagement between Africaand India. PTI

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New Delhi: Russia has default-ed on the supply of at least 5cargoes or shiploads of LNG toIndia after its retaliatory sanc-tions hit one of the companiesthat supply gas to India, sourcessaid.

India’s largest gas firmGAIL has a long-term deal toimport 2.85 million tonnes ofliquefied natural gas (LNG) perannum from a Singapore-basedunit of Russian gas producerGazprom.

The company has sinceJune defaulted on the supply of5 cargoes of LNG under thatcontract citing difficulty insourcing gas due to sanctions,two sources briefed on thematter said.

While the contract pro-vides for making up of the vol-umes not supplied later, theRussian firm has so far norindicated how and when itwill make up for the lost vol-umes. PTI

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New Delhi: Enthused by strongrecovery in retail consumption,realty major DLF ChairmanRajiv Singh has said the com-pany has initiated the devel-opment of new shopping mallsand looks to double retail port-folio in next five years.

At present, DLF has a retailfootprint of 42 lakh square feetcomprising eight properties,including malls and shoppingcentres, mainly across Delhi-NCR. In a message to thecompany’s shareholders’, hesaid the company would alsoscale up development of hous-ing and office projects.

Singh mentioned that thepast couple of years have beenone of the most challengingand uncertain times experi-enced across the globe becauseof the outbreak of the COVID-

19 pandemic.“... Despite the hardships

faced in the recent past, yourcompany exhibited strongresilience during this chal-lenging phase and has comeout even stronger, delivering astrong performance across allkey parameters during the(last) fiscal,” he told share-holders in an annual report for2021-22. PTI

New Delhi: Finance ministryon Tuesday said that the econ-omy is on course to achieveprojected 8-8.5 per cent growthbased on high-frequency indi-cators for the first quarter of thecurrent fiscal.

The Economic Surveytabled in the Parliament onJanuary 31, 2022 projected thereal GDP during 2022-23 togrow at 8.0-8.5 per cent.

“Since then, sustainedgrowth momentum has beenobserved in several HighFrequency Indicators (HFIs),indicating that the projectedgrowth path is on course in thefirst quarter of FY 2022-23,”minister of state for financePankaj Chaudhary said in awritten reply to Rajya Sabha.

IMF, in its April 2022update of World EconomicOutlook, has also projectedIndia’s real GDP growth at 8.2per cent in 2022-23.

To ensure continuedgrowth momentum, he said,the government has taken sev-eral steps to address high infla-tion imported from abroad.

These include cut in exciseduty on petrol and diesel andspecial excise duty/cess on theexport of petrol, diesel and avi-ation turbine fuel that are like-ly to alleviate inflationary pres-sures, he said.

Further, he said, to rein ininflation, RBI in its JuneMonetary Policy Committeemeeting hiked the repo rate by50 basis points, on top of theearlier hike of 40 basis points

in May 2022.On the impact of geopo-

litical tension on Indian econ-omy, he said, Russia-Ukrainewar has led to global supply dis-ruptions resulting in steepincrease in global commodityprices, including prices ofcrude oil, gas, edible oils andfertilizers, among others.

The government is close-ly monitoring the global pricemovements and their impacton India’s economy throughtrade, he said.

Recently, prices of variouscommodities, including edibleoils, metals and crude oil, havestabilised. Many central banksincluding the US Fed havealso tightened their monetarypolicy to tackle inflation. TheRBI and government is close-ly monitoring the situationand stand ready to take appro-priate action, he said.

As per provisional esti-mates of annual nationalincome 2021-22, GrossDomestic Product (GDP) atcurrent prices for 2021-22

stood at Rs 2,36,64,637 crore,he said in another reply.

Using the impliedexchange rate for India for2021-22 from World Economicoutlook (WEO) of April 2022,the GDP for India at currentprices stood at USD 3.2 trillionin 2021-22, he said.

The real GDP growth ratefor 2021-22 stood at 8.7 percent while the central govern-ment’s fiscal deficit for 2021-22was Rs 15,86,537 crore, whichis 6.7 per cent of GDP.

As per the quarterly reporton public debt management forthe quarter January- March2022, he said, the provisionalestimate for central govern-ment’s public debt at end offinancial year 2021-22 was 52per cent of GDP.

The reasons for increase inthe debt include the pandem-ic-induced revenue shortfallin 2020-21 combined with thehigher spending undertaken bythe government to protect livesand livelihood of the peoplefrom the adverse impact of thepandemic, he said.

In reply to another ques-tion, he said, the size of India’sCurrent Account Deficit (CAD)depends on several factors,including exports, imports andprice of crude oil, among others.

The Government is care-fully monitoring the CAD andhas recently increased customsduty on gold from 10.75 percent to 15 per cent to restraingold imports that is likely toreduce CAD. PTI

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New Delhi: Facing criticismover GST on daily use items,Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman on Tuesday said the5 per cent tax is being levied onwheat flour and other itemsafter nod from all states, includ-ing non-BJP ruled states.

Non-BJP ruled states ofPunjab, Chhattisgarh,Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, WestBengal, Andhra Pradesh,Telangana and Kerala hadagreed to imposing the 5 percent levy, she said.

In a series of tweets,Sitharaman said states leviedsales tax or VAT on food-grains in the pre-Goods andServices Tax (GST) regime andthe present levy on cereals,pulses, flour, curd and lassi isan exercise to curb tax leakage.

The decision, she said, wastaken by the GST Council,where all states are represent-ed, through a consensus.

The minister’s commentscome against the backdrop ofthe first two days of the mon-soon session of Parliament vir-tually getting washed away dueto vociferous protests byOpposition parties over theGST on daily use items andother issues.

“Is this the first time suchfood articles are being taxed?No. States were collecting sig-nificant revenue from food-grain in the pre-GST regime.Punjab alone collected more Rs2,000 crore on food grain byway of purchase tax. UP col-lected Rs 700 crore,” she said.

Sitharaman also cited VATon rice levied prior to 2017 in

Punjab Telangana, UttarPradesh, Andhra Pradesh,Kerala and Bihar to buttress herpoint.

However, the tweets didnot give instances of levy of taxon pulses, paneer and lassi ashas been the case now.

“Recently, the GSTCouncil in its 47th meeting rec-ommended to reconsider theapproach for the imposition ofGST on specified food itemslike pulses, cereals, flour, etc.There have been a lot of mis-conceptions about this thathave been spread,” the minis-ter said.

When the GST regime,which subsumed 17 centraland state taxes including cen-tral excise and state VAT, wasrolled out in July 2017, a 5 percent tax was levied on ‘brand-ed’ cereals, pulses, and flour.

“Later this was amendedto tax only such items which

were sold under registeredbrand or brand on whichenforceable right was not fore-gone by the supplier,” she said.“However, soon rampant mis-use of this provision wasobserved by reputed manufac-turers and brand owners andgradually GST revenue fromthese items fell significantly.”

Suppliers and industryassociations asked the govern-ment to impose GST uniform-ly on all packaged commoditiesto stop such misuse, she said.

The issue was referred toa Fitment Committee consist-ing of officers from Rajasthan,West Bengal, Tamil Nadu,Bihar, Uttar Pradesh,Karnataka, Maharashtra,Haryana and Gujarat.

The panel, she said, exam-ined the issue over several meet-ings and made its recommen-dations for changing the modal-ities to curb misuse. PTI

Mumbai: Customers ofKarnataka-based SriMallikarjuna Pattana SahakariBank Niyamita andMaharashtra-based NashikZilla Girna Sahakari Bank willnot be able to withdraw fundsfrom their accounts with theRBI imposing restrictions onthe lenders.

The restrictions have beenimposed on the two coopera-tive banks by the Reserve Bankof India in wake of their dete-riorating financial positions.

The restrictions on SriMallikarjuna Pattana SahakariBank Niyamita, Maski(Karnataka) and Nashik ZillaGirna Sahakari Bank, Nashik(Maharashtra) will remain inforce for six months, as per twostatements issued by the centralbank.

In the case of Nashik ZillaGirna Sahakari Bank, the RBIsaid 99.87 per cent of thedepositors are fully covered bythe Deposit Insurance andCredit Guarantee Corporation

(DICGC) insurance scheme.Also, 99.53 per cent of the

depositors of Sri MallikarjunaPattana Sahakari BankNiyamitaare are fully covered bythe DICGC insurance scheme.

“Considering the bank’spresent liquidity position, noamount from the total balanceacross all savings bank or cur-rent accounts or any otheraccount of a depositor, may beallowed to be withdrawn, butare allowed to set off loans

against deposits...,” the RBIsaid in regards to theKarnataka-based bank.

A similar condition hasalso been imposed on theMaharashtra-based lender.

In wake of the restrictions,the two banks cannot, withoutprior approval of the RBI grantor renew any loans, make anyinvestment, incur any liability,including borrowal of fundsand acceptance of freshdeposits. PTI

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The Comptroller andAuditor General (CAG)

has pulled up the telecomdepartment for not finalisingpolicy on spectrum assign-ment for captive uses andflagged the absence of spec-trum price review for captiveusers administratively.

In its report titled‘Management of spectrumassigned on the administrativebasis to government depart-

ments/agencies’, the CAG askedthe Department of Telecom(DoT) to review the spectrumpricing mechanism for captiveusers to incentivise ministries,departments and agencies, andfor maintaining spectrummanagement discipline.

“They may consider dif-ferential pricing, dependingon the features and usage ofvarious spectrum bands,” theCAG said in a report tabled inParliament on Monday.

It noted that despite receiv-

ing a legal opinion (July 2021)on its own reference, regardingthe method for allotment ofspectrum for captive uses,including government depart-ments, the department hadnot finalised the policy forallotment and assignment ofspectrum for captive uses/othercommercial services with theapproval of the DigitalCommunications Commission.

The DCC is the apex bodyfor telecom policy formulation.

“DoT had also not

reviewed the pricing of spec-trum assigned for captive usersadministratively, on formulaebasis since 2012, though aCommittee had recommendedfor a periodical review of thepricing policy in 2013,” theCAG report said.

There was no differentialpricing for spectrum, depend-ing on features and usage ofvarious spectrum bandsassigned to users, it observed. PTI

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Mumbai: Godrej ConsumerProducts will invest Rs 100crore over the next three yearsto spread mass awareness aboutgreen lifestyles, a top officialsaid on Tuesday.

The brand, which haslaunched a ready-to-mix bodywash aimed at reducing plasticusage, will spend the money topromote better plastic con-sumption, its managing direc-tor and chief executive SudhirSitapati told reporters here.

Amid the widespread reg-ulatory actions like the ban on

single-use plastics, Sitapati saidbanning plastics is not theanswer to the current chal-lenges.

He said plastic has solveda lot of problems and democ-ratised consumption by mak-ing it possible for people fromdifferent strata of society to usevarious products.

Activist Afroze Shah saidcorporates need to do morewhen it comes to sustainability,and also stressed that it is themanagement of plastic where weneed to direct our efforts. PTI

New Delhi: India’s passengervehicle exports rose by 26 percent in April-June 2022 aidedby enhanced shipments toLatin America and Africa anda low base of the year-agoquarter that was hit by the sec-ond wave of Covid-19.

As per the latest datareleased by the Society ofIndian AutomobileManufacturers (SIAM), pas-senger vehicle shipments roseto 1,60,263 units in the April-June period of this fiscal ascompared with 1,27,083 unitsin the same quarter of 2021-22.

Passenger car shipmentssaw an 88 per cent year-on-yeargrowth at 1,04,400 units whileutility vehicle exports rose 18

per cent to 55,547 units duringthe period under review, SIAMdata showed.

Export of vans declined to316 units in April-June as com-pared with 588 units in thesame period of the last fiscal.

“In the recent past, therehas been a higher penetrationof India manufactured pas-senger vehicles in LatinAmerica and Africa as theeconomies of these regionsimprove,” SIAM Director

General Rajesh Menon toldPTI.

Indian manufactured vehi-cles meet the consumerrequirement of these regions asthe brands are global, havegood build quality and arecost competitive, he added.

“Effect of trade agreementwith Chile couple of years ago,has also recently helped inimproving the competitivenessof India manufactured pas-senger vehicles,” Menon noted.

Domestic car leader MarutiSuzuki India (MSI) led theexports during the first quar-ter, followed by Hyundai MotorIndia and Kia India at the sec-ond and third positions,respectively. PTI

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Fast-rising Indian lifterHarshada Garud won the

women's 45kg gold at the AsianYouth and Junior WeightliftingChampionship in Tashkent.

The 18-year-old claimedthe yellow metal with an aggre-gate of 157kg (69kg+88kg) onMonday. The total effort wasfour kgs better than her juniorworld championship title-win-ning lift of 153kg (70kg+83kg),which she had recorded in May.

Soumya Dalvi bagged thebronze in the 45kg youth event.

The youth world champi-onship bronze medallist heaved145kg (63kg+82kg) to makethe podium.

In the men's 49 kg youthevent, L Dhanush won thebronze in the snatch sectionwith an 85 kg effort.

However, the Indian fin-ished fourth overall with a besteffort of 185kg (85kg+100kg).

Medals are awarded sepa-rately for snatch, clean and jerk,and total lift in continental andWorld Championships. But, justone medal - for total lift - isawarded in the Olympics.

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Anew rule prevented India fromrejigging the weight categories of

its lifters for maximum advantage butcountry's 15-strong contingent, head-lined by Mirabai Chanu, is stillexpected to return with a bagful ofmedals from the BirminghamCommonwealth Games.

The Commonwealth tourna-ments, be it the CWG or theCommonwealth Championships,have been a happy hunting ground forIndian weightlifters, who revel in theabsence of traditional powerhouseslike China and North Korea.

India have finished as the best-performing nation in the sport in the1990, 2002, and 2018 editions.

They are the second most success-ful nation in the sport with 125medals, including 43 golds, behindAustralia (159), whose dominance hastaken a hit in the last few editions.

Indian weightlifters reigned

supreme in the 2018 Gold CoastGames, bringing home a rich haul ofnine medals including five golds.And this year too, all 15 lifters arecapable of podium finishes.

However, only a handful of them

are expected to strike gold.To increase India's chances of

winning more gold medals in thewomen's events, the IndianWeightlifting Federation (IWLF) andhead coach Vijay Sharma planned to

field Tokyo Olympic silver medallistChanu, a sure-shot title contender, inthe 55kg weight division.

Jhilli Dalabehera and SBindyarani Devi were to compete inthe 49kg and 59kg respectively whilePoppy Hazarika would have present-ed her challenge in the 64kg division.

But the entries were rejectedbased on a new rule that stated onlythe top-ranked lifter in a category willqualify for the CWG and if he/shewithdraws, the next best lifter will notget the berth, as was the case before.

This forced Chanu (49kg),Bindyarani (55kg), and Poppy (59kg)to drop back a weight class each whichresulted in Jhilli missing out on thequadrennial event and no Indianrepresentation in 64kg.

At the Games, all eyes will, nodoubt, be on Chanu but while all oth-ers will strive to stand atop the podi-um.

The former world champion,whose personal best in the women's

49kg stands at 207kg (88kg+119kg),a whopping 39kgs more than the sec-ond best lifter in the field, winning theyellow metal is almost a certainty.

All she has to do is execute twolegal lifts, one each in the snatch andclean and jerk, to win her thirdCWG medal.

She doesn't even need to bring herA game as her nearest rival, Nigeria'sStella Kingsley's best effort to date isjust 168kg (72kg+96kg).

However, the 27-year-old, whoalready has a CWG gold and silver inher trophy cabinet, has set herself big-ger targets.

Chanu is expected to rewrite herclean and jerk world record of 119kgand is also eager to breach the much-anticipated 90kg mark in the snatchsection. "CWG is relatively easy forme, I will be fighting with myself. Wehave planned to lift 91kg or 92kg atthe CWG.

Hopefully, it will happen," she hadtold PTI in an interview last month.

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Tottenham signedMiddlesbrough defend-

er Djed Spence on Tuesdayin a deal that could rise to areported £20 million ($24million).

Spence agreed a five-year contract withTottenham after impressingduring a loan spell withChampionship sideNottingham Forest last sea-son.

The 21-year-old right-back's initial price is believedto be £12.5 million but thatcould rise to £20 million ifadd-on clauses are reached.

Spence shot to promi-nence as Forest won promo-tion to the Premier Leaguevia the second tier play-offslast term.

He made 46 appear-ances, scoring three goals ina season that culminated

with victory overHuddersfield in the play-offfinal at Wembley.

Tottenham boss AntonioConte has been on a majorrecruitment drive since lead-ing his team to ChampionsLeague qualification via atop four finish in thePremier League.

The addition of Spencefollows Conte's moves forIvan Perisic, Fraser Forster,Yves Bissouma, Richarlisonand Clement Lenglet.

London-born Spencecame through Fulham'sacademy before moving toMiddlesbrough in 2018, withhis time at the RiversideStadium disrupted by a hostof managerial changes.

His temporary switchto Forest kick-started hiscareer, earning him EnglandUnder-21 recognition inMarch and now a dreammove to Tottenham.

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India's Avinash Sable finished11th in the final of the men's

3000m steeplechase event witha disappointing show on thefourth day of competitions atthe World Championshipshere.

The 27-year-old Sableclocked 8:31.75, way below hisseason's and personal best of8:12.48, which is a nationalrecord.

It was, however, the slow-est 3000m steeplechase finalrace in World Championshipshistory with all the three medalwinners clocking way belowtheir season's and personalbest. The runners ran a tacti-cal race with medal in mind.

Morocco's Olympic cham-pion Soufiane El Bakkali, whohas a season leading time of7:58.28, won the gold, clocking8:25.13, while Ethiopia'sLamecha Girma (SB: 7:58.68),who won silver in both theTokyo Games and last WorldChampionships, finished sec-ond in 8:26.01.

Kenya's defending champi-on Conseslus Kipruto (SB:8:08.76) was third with a timeof 8:27.92. Kipruto had wongold in the last edition with atime of 8:01.35.

Sable had qualified for thefinal after finishing third inheat number 3 and seventhoverall with a time of 8:18.75.

He had finished 13th in thelast edition of the champi-

onships in Doha in 2019 withthe then national record timeof 8:21.37.

The Indian Armymanfrom a village in Maharashtra'sBeed district was at 14th spotat the 1km mark with a time ofnearly 3 minutes (2:59.46) andremained there at the 2kmmark with 5:53.72.

He moved up to 12th in thelast lap and to 11th in the final100m stretch.

Sable, who has earlierserved at the Siachen Glaciersbefore taking to athletics, hasbeen on a national recordbreaking spree in recent times.His latest best was 8:12.48when he finished fifth at theprestigious Diamond LeagueMeeting in Rabat last month.

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China will host the 2022 AsianGames in autumn 2023,

organisers said on Tuesday, afterpostponing the event inHangzhou because of Covid-19.

The Games were originallyscheduled for September thisyear, but organisers postponedthem in May as China tried tostamp out a large Covid resur-

gence in several parts of thecountry.

The event will now be held inHangzhou from September 23 toOctober 8 2023, the OlympicCouncil of Asia (OCA) said.

Hangzhou lies less than 200kilometres (120 miles) from thecountry's biggest city Shanghai,which endured a months-longlockdown earlier this year as partof the ruling Communist Party's

zero-tolerance approach to thevirus.

The OCA said on Tuesdaythat the new dates were chosento avoid "conflict with othermajor international sportingevents".

The Hangzhou organisingcommittee vowed to "present awonderful and marvellous sportsand cultural event with Chinesecharacteristics", in a statement

confirming the new dates.China is the last major econ-

omy committed to stamping outdomestic spread of the virusthrough harsh lockdowns, masstesting and strict controls oninternational travel.

But that has hurt the coun-try's international sporting ambi-tions, with the world's most pop-ulous nation cancelling or post-poning almost all events since the

start of the pandemic, with theexception of this year's WinterOlympics in Beijing.

The World UniversityGames, scheduled to begin inJune in Chengdu and alreadydelayed from last year, have alsobeen postponed again, until 2023.

The Asian Games typicallyattract over 10,000 athletes fromacross the region.

Sports under zero-Covid

Organisers said in April thatHangzhou, a city of 12 million ineastern China, had finished con-structing 56 competition venuesfor the Asian Games and AsianPara Games.

Hangzhou will be the thirdcity in China to host the conti-nental competition after Beijingin 1990 and Guangzhou in 2010.

Some events are also expect-ed to be held in other provincialcities including Ningbo,Wenzhou, Huzhou, Shaoxingand Jinhua.

Almost all international sporthas ground to a halt in Chinasince Covid emerged in theChinese city of Wuhan in late2019.

The Beijing Olympics was anexception but was held in a"closed loop" with everyoneinside it -- including athletes,staff, volunteers and media -- tak-ing daily Covid tests and notallowed to venture into the widercity or have contact with the pub-lic.

The Chinese governmenthas touted the zero-Covid strat-egy as proof that it values humanlife above material concerns andcan avert the public health crisesseen in many Western countries.

Covid restrictions aroundthe country eased slightly thissummer as case numbers fromthe earlier Omicron-driven out-break dwindled.

But a rising wave of freshinfections this month have led tonew restrictions in parts of thecountry, with millions of peoplereceiving orders to stay homeover the weekend.

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11 players from ACG-NBAJump 2022 will receive full

scholarships to attend NBAAcademy India, an elite basket-ball training center for the topprospects from across the coun-try. From July 14-16, the ACG-Jump National Tryout was con-ducted at Jaypee Greens, Noida,bringing together 30 of India'smost promising young players.

The ACG-NBA Jump 2022National Tryout marks the cul-mination of a nationwide talentsearch which tipped off on May21, 2022, at Indira GandhiIndoor Stadium, New Delhi, andvisited six cities across India -Delhi, Kottayam, Ludhiana,Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai.Currently in its sixth edition, theprogram saw participation frommore than 1,600 aspirants.

Following are the selectedprospects for the NBA AcademyIndia: Harjeet Singh (Patiala),Tajinder Bir Singh (Jalandhar),Abhimanyu G (Chennai),Lavish Khanchi (Panipat), JatinHooda (Haryana), MayankChaudhary (Meerut),Mohammad Ishan (Jaipur),Guremaninder Singh Sandhu(Panipat), Vedansh Ranot(Mohali), Arshneil Dhaliwal(Chandigarh), Dorian LalSangmawia (Aizwal)

ACG-NBA Jump is India'sfirst national basketball scoutingprogram that provides aspiringbasketball players from acrossthe country with a platform tocompete alongside one another,showcase their skills and receiveadditional basketball develop-ment opportunities. As part ofthe NBA and ACG's commit-

ment to grow basketball inIndia, the program providestalented young players fromaround the country an opportu-nity to develop their skills underthe guidance of NBA-certifiedcoaches.

Launched in 2015, the 2022edition of ACG-NBA Jumpmarks the first time the programhas been held since 2020.Palpreet Singh, the top prospectfrom program's inaugural edi-tion, attended the 2016 NBA GLeague National Tryout in theUnited States and was subse-quently drafted by the LongIsland Nets in the 2016 NBA GLeague Draft. NBA AcademyIndia, which is also supported byACG, opened in 2017 and hasseen multiple players earn schol-arships to prep schools andjunior colleges in the U.S or signprofessional contracts, includingPrincepal Singh, who becamethe first NBA Academy Indiaplayer to sign with the NBA GLeague and first player fromIndia to win an NBA SummerLeague Championship.

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The 2028 Los Angeles Olympics kicked offa six-year countdown with the announce-

ment of the dates for the Games' return to thecity.

The opening ceremony will be July 14.Competition will run through July 30. TheParalympic Games will be Aug. 15-27.

"This milestone makes the games real forevery athlete actively training for their LA28dream and the fans who follow the journey,"said LA chief athlete officer Janet Evans, a five-time Olympic medalist swimmer.

Los Angeles previously hosted theOlympics in 1984 and 1932.

International Olympic CommitteePresident Thomas Bach was on hand for theannouncement. He visited future venues andmet with LA28 leadership.

"I have been really impressed by theprogress and creativity of the LA28 team," Bachsaid.

"They are using the power of the OlympicGames to inspire young people to get involvedin sport."

The Games will use existing stadiums andvenues across the region. The organizingcommittee said 15,000 athletes are expected tocompete in both the Olympic and Paralympicgames.

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Opener Abdullah Shafiquewas 112 not out and lead-

ing Pakistan at 223-3 in itschase of 342 to beat Sri Lankain the first test at Galle Stadiumon Tuesday.

The fourth day would havebelonged entirely to Pakistanbut captain Babar Azam wasout six overs from the end for55 after the best partnership ofthe match.

That gave Sri Lanka a sniffof hope that it can still win, butthe odds are with Pakistan,which needs 120 more runswith seven wickets in hand anda full day.

The highest successful runchase in Galle is 268 andPakistan went about achievingthe unlikely showing determi-nation and skill on a pitch thatslowed down and lackedbounce.

Sri Lanka made it easywith poor field placements.Despite having almost 350 runsto defend, the host spread thefield early in Pakistan's inningsand the batters were happy toknock off the singles and putup a solid foundation.

The openers combined for87 runs and the start Pakistanneeded, although Sri Lankaclaimed the wickets of Imam-

ul-Haq (35) and Azhar Ali (6)in quick succession.

First-innings century-maker Babar added 101 runsfor the third wicket withShafique to help Pakistan seizethe initiative.

Shafique was unbeaten atstumps having batted for closeto six hours. He'd faced 289deliveries and hit just five foursand one six.

The second century ofShafique's six-test career couldbe a match-winning one. Therewas a nervous moment when

he was on 4 and a loud lbwshout was turned down. TheSri Lankans reviewed andShafique was narrowly saved.

Spinner Prabath Jayasuriya,Sri Lanka's main weapon,broke the partnership when hegot one to spin from the roughoutside Babar's leg stump andthe ball clipped the off stumpbail much to Babar's bewilder-ment. A better defensive shotusing his feet could have savedhim.

Vice-captain MohammadRizwan, 7 not out, joined

Shafique and the pair ensuredthere were no further hiccups.

Earlier in the day, SriLanka's Dinesh Chandimal wasleft stranded on 94 when theirsecond innings was ended on337 with the addition of onlyeight runs. Jayasuriya was thelast man out for 4.

The series is being playedagainst the backdrop of aneconomic and political crisisengulfing Sri Lanka.

The second test, sched-uled to start on Sunday, wasswitched from Colombo toGalle because Sri Lanka Cricketdecided not to take any chanceswith potential political protestsin the capital.

The venue switch was con-firmed on Monday around thetime Ranil Wickremesinghedeclared a state of emergency.He became acting president lastweek after Gotabaya Rajapaksafled abroad and resigned aftermonths-long mass protestsover the country's economiccollapse.

SLC was forced to post-pone the Lanka PremierLeague which was scheduledfor next month due to the eco-nomic crisis. Officials alsoadmitted the Asia Cup theywere scheduled to host in lateAugust is slipping away fromthem due to the crisis.

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New Zealand earned afourth straight win

against Ireland to start theirTwenty20 series 1-0 atStormont.

Fresh off a 3-0 series winin the one-day internationalsat Malahide, New Zealandwon by 31 runs after posting173-8 and bowling out Irelandfor 142 with 10 balls to spare.

The Irish chase sputteredas no batter got a decentfoothold and wickets fell reg-ularly. Curtis Campher ledwith 29, one of only twoscores above 15.

Lockie Ferguson spear-headed New Zealand's bowl-ing with 4-14 in 20 balls.Jimmy Neesham and captainMitchell Santner took twowickets each.

Set 174 to win, Ireland wascut down to 37-4 before thepowerplay was over.

Andy Balbirnie fell to agreat catch running back bySantner, Garth Delany and PaulStirling were undone byFerguson's slower ball, andHarry Tector edged Santner.

Lorcan Tucker also edgedSantner, George Dockrell wascaught in the deep off Ish Sodhi,and leading scorer Campher wastrapped by a Ferguson yorker.

Mark Adair posed the lastthreat with 25 off 20 but hewas taken in a double-wicket17th over by Neesham.

The Black Caps had to batfirst and were reduced to 54-4 but Glenn Phillips led therecovery with an unbeaten 69and key partnerships withNeesham of 46 runs andMichael Bracewell of 45.

Ireland medium-pacerJosh Little took 4-35 by takingout Finn Allen and debutantDane Cleaver, and returned in

the 19th over to bowl debutantBracewell and Santner.

But Phillips held out, firstwith Neesham who hit thesightscreen in a 29 off 16balls, and with Bracewell, whomade 21 off 13.

Phillips helped plunder16 runs in the 18th over, reachhis third T20 fifty in the 19th,and take 19, including sixextras, off the last over. Phillipshit seven fours and a six.

The second of threematches is on Wednesday.

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Washington Sundar is look-ing forward to learn from

the legendary James Andersonduring his stint at Lancashire, aclub he chose even while play-ing on his Playstation.

With his upcoming stint atthe English county side, the 22-year-old will be making hiscomeback in red-ball cricketsince sustaining a finger injuryin July last year. The injury side-lined him from India's tour ofEngland last year and also thesecond leg of the 2021 IndianPremier League. "I rememberplaying with my Playstationand choosing Lancashire againstmost of the domestic teamshere. It is great to be here andplaying for Lancashire,"Washington said in an interviewwith the club's official YouTubechannel. The young all-rounderadded, "It has got some excitingtalents and some experiencedplayers. I am looking forward tosharing the dressing room withthem and to sharing of knowl-edge about how cricket is playedhere.

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The legendary Sunil Gavaskarfeels he can help the out-of-form Virat Kohli regain touch

by sorting his batting woes, espe-cially his weakness outside offstump.

Kohli is enduring a wretchedrun with the bat and has failed toscore a century since November2019. He could manage just 76 runsfrom six innings across formats onthe England soil, which includedthe rescheduled fifth Test, twoODIs and as many T20s.

"If I had about 20 minutes withhim, I would be able to tell him thethings he might have to do. It mighthelp him, I am not saying it willhelp him but it could, particularlywith regards to that off-stumpline," Gavaskar told 'India Today'.

"Having been an opening bat-ter, having been troubled by thatline, there are certain things thatyou try and do."

Kohli's lean patch has led tocalls for his ouster from the T20World Cup team, with even the leg-endary Kapil Dev voicing supportfor his exclusion.

However, many former andcurrent cricketers, including BabarAzam, Kevin Pietersen and ShoaibAkhtar have backed him to comegood in the upcoming games.

"It goes back to the fact that hisfirst mistake turns out to be his last.Again, just because he is notamongst the runs, there is this anx-iety to play at every delivery becausethat is what batters feel, they havegot to score," Gavaskar said.

"You look to play at deliveriesthat you otherwise won't. But hehas gotten out to good deliveries aswell on this particular tour."

Kohli has been rested for thelimited-overs series against WestIndies which includes five T20Is

and three ODIs.Gavaskar also praised Rishabh

Pant for batting responsibly in thethird ODI against England.

"Rishabh Pant seems to havelearned from his mistakes against

South Africa. He chased balls out-side off stump to slog them over theleg side then, but the way he bat-ted with responsibility yesterdayshows how well he paced hisinnings," the 73-year-old said.

"The way he smashed a flurry ofboundaries towards the end showedthat he is someone who can absorbpressure and then attack. We willneed to wait and see (whether Pantis able to replicate this form in T20Is).

He might have found the right tem-plate to play white ball cricket."

Pant smashed a maiden ODIcentury against England at OldTrafford in Manchester to help Indiaseal the three-game series 2-1.

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Australian batting great GregChappell on Tuesday called for

the lifetime captaincy ban on DavidWarner to be lifted, saying the starbatter has the capability to success-fully lead a side.

Warner, former captain SteveSmith and batter Cameron Bancroftwere banned from playing domesticor international cricket as punish-ment for their roles in the 2018 ball-tampering scandal in South Africa.

While Warner and Smith werebanned for one year, Bancroft wassuspended for nine months.

Additionally, Smith was strippedof the captaincy and banned fromleading Australia for two years, whileWarner was handed a lifelong lead-ership ban.

"He obviously had a central rolein what happened but he was not theonly one that was involved and I don'tknow why he should be treated anydifferently," Chappell told 'Fox SportsNews'.

"He's served his punishment, he

is a good leader in the side and notdoubt if he had had the opportuni-ty, I'm sure he would have captainedthe side quite well.

"I think he's paid his penalty andit's time to open it up for leadershiproles," he added.

According to Cricket Australia'sinvestigation held in the aftermath ofthe incident, while Smith andBancroft knew what they were get-ting into, it was Warner who haddeveloped the "plan to attempt to arti-ficially alter the condition of the ball".

Former skipper Ian Chappellhad also questioned why Smith is eli-gible to captain Australia again whenWarner is not.

Last month, Test skipper PatCummins had called for Warner's lifeban to end.

The pacer said he "fundamental-ly" disagrees with banning someonefor life.

However, Cricket Australia chiefexecutive Nick Hockley last week saidthat although Warner was an "out-standing" leader in the side there wereno plans to rescind the ban.

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Former Supreme Court judgeVineet Saran has taken over

as the BCCI's ethics officer andombudsman, filling the dualposts lying vacant for a year.

Saran has succeeded Justice(Retd) D K Jain, whose termended in June last year.

"Honourable Justice Saran'sappointment was made lastmonth," a BCCI official told PTI.

Saran, 65, is a former ChiefJustice of Odisha High Court,and also served as a judge inKarnataka and Allahabad HighCourt.

When contacted, Saran,who calls himself a cricket lover,said: "I took charge last month,but I have not passed any orderyet."

BCCI media rights,domestic cricket on ApexCouncil table

After the IPL windfall, theBCCI Apex Council will preparethe ground for the home seasonmedia rights (2023 onwards)and a full-fledged domestic sea-son after two years at its meet-ing on Thursday.

Majority of the ApexCouncil meetings have beenheld virtually over the past twoyears due to COVID-19, but allmembers are likely to meet inperson at the BCCI headquar-ters in Mumbai.

The 12-point agendaincludes "update on the 2022-2023 domestic season, gradationof umpires and media rights forcricket in India".

Current rights holder StarIndia had paid Rs 6138.1 crorefor the 2018-2023 cycle but thefigure is set to go much higherconsidering the massive gainsfrom the IPL media rights whichfetched Rs 48390 crore.

"The media rights will bediscussed as well as the upcom-ing domestic season," a the offi-cial said. While the Ranji Trophycould not be held for the firsttime ever in 2021 due to the pan-demic, it returned this year incurtailed form with teams get-ting to play only three leaguegames. With the COVID-19situation allowing the BCCI todo away with bubble both forinternational and domesticgames, the domestic season islikely to be a full-fledged one.

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England managing directorof cricket Rob Key has

praised Ben Stokes for his"selfless" decision to ignorethe "financial implications" ofretiring from one-day interna-tionals.

Stokes will make his 105thand final ODI appearance athis Durham home groundagainst South Africa onTuesday after taking his shockdecision to quit the format 24hours earlier.

Key's first act after beingappointed was to hire Stokes asEngland's Test captain, but heknows the relentless fixturedemands on top internationalplayers make it hard to featurein all versions of the game.

While the monetary termsof Stokes' central contractcould come under review, Keyfeels England's Test andTwenty20 teams will stand togain enormously from the all-rounder lightening his work-load.

"It may well end up havingfinancial implications to BenStokes in terms of his contract,"Key told Sky Sports News.

"That's why it's a selflessdecision, he could easily havesaid 'no, no, I'm the key' andkept getting picked in the 50-over team.

"But he wants to do theTest job as best as he can, hewants to take England's Testteam forward.

"I was probably surprisedat the timing but I'm not sur-prised that he's had to give oneformat away. I think it's agood decision from Ben thatEngland will benefit from inthe long term."

Key, who spoke to Stokesabout his decision lastThursday, thinks the 31-year-old was also motivated by hisdesire to continue being a pres-ence in both batting and bowl-ing disciplines in the Test side.

England's Test form hasbeen revitalised under Stokesand new red-ball coachBrendon McCullum.

Since the pair took charge,England have swept a three-Test series against NewZealand before defeating Indiain the final match of a Covid-delayed series.

"Him bowling is actuallythe thing he wants to be ableto do, he doesn't just want togo and be a batter, he wants tobe able to contribute as an all-rounder," Key said.

"To do that he feels this isthe best way. I'm hoping andI'm betting that this is whatgets him up to 120-plus Testmatches."

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Former South Africa captain Graeme Smithwas on Tuesday named as the head of a new

T20 franchise tournament to be staged in therepublic in January and February next year.

The announcement was made by CricketSouth Africa (CSA) six days after it revealed ithad withdrawn from a scheduled World CupSuper League one-day international series inAustralia in January, which would have clashedwith the new tournament.

CSA and South African television compa-ny SuperSport are the major shareholders in theleague, which is intended to be a major money-spinner for cash-strapped national body.

Reports from India claim the league will ineffect be an offshoot of the Indian PremierLeague, with IPL owners having bought six fran-chises in South Africa.

The CSA statement on 41-year-old Smith'sappointment did not give any detail about own-ership of the franchises but said one of Smith'sfirst tasks would be "to develop the brand andconfirm the participating franchises for thecricket fest to take place annually in SouthAfrica."

Smith, who retired as a player in 2014, didnot renew his contract as CSA director of crick-et when it expired in March but it was widelyspeculated that he would be involved with theT20 project.

"I'm extremely honoured to be entrustedwith leading this exciting new venture. I'mdeeply committed to South African cricket andhappy to serve the game as best I can," Smithsaid.

"I'm excited by the opportunity to deliver thenew league which I believe will be an extreme-

ly competitive product, one that can bring themuch-needed investment into the game and pro-vide new opportunities for players around theworld and more importantly to our SouthAfrican home-grown talent."

A spokesperson for CSA said he could notconfirm the reports out of India which namedMumbai Indians, Chennai Super Kings,Lucknow Super Giants, Sunrisers Hyderabad,Rajasthan Royals and Delhi Capitals as buyersof South African franchises.

CSA said when it announced its withdraw-al from the one-day series in Australia that itwanted its leading players to be available for thenew league.

South Africa forfeited the Super Leaguepoints available for the Australia series and asa consequence may be unable to qualify auto-matically for the 2023 Cricket World Cup.

"This new league promises to make a sig-nificant investment into both professionalcricket and development in South Africa, alongwith a positive socio-economic and tourisminjection into the country." the CSA's chief exec-utive Pholetsi Moseki said.

GAVASKAR OFFERS HELP TO KOHLI

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England Test captain BenStokes has returned the com-

pliment to Virat Kohli, saying hehas always admired the energyand commitment that the Indianstar brings to the field.

Stokes had announced hisretirement from ODI cricket onMonday, following which Kohlicalled the all-rounder "the mostcompetitive bloke" he has playedagainst.

"Look, Virat is going to godown as one of the greatestplayers to play the game in allthree formats. He is a phenom-enal player. And I have absolute-ly loved every time I have playedagainst someone like him," Stokestold Sky Sports. "The energy andthe commitment that he gives tothe game is something I havealways admired even before Istarted playing against him.When you play against guys likethat, you understand sort ofwhat it means to not just your-self but for everybody else whowas lucky enough to play at thetop level. "I am sure we will havesome other battles on the field.It was nice to hear what he(Kohli) said," said Stokes.

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