ammu ising - Epaper Daily Jammu Rising

Sanjeev Jainappointed ViceChancellor of

Central UniversityJammu

Former Vice Chancellor ofShri Mata Vaishno Devi Uni-versity (SMVDU), Katra, ProfSanjeev Jain has been ap-pointed as new Vice Chancel-lor of Central University ofJammu.

Prof Jain has replaced ProfAshok Aima, whose five-yearterm ended in May, 2021.

The new Vice Chancellorcould not be appointed due tothe outbreak of COVID pan

3 youth killed in roadaccident in Srinagar

Three youth were killed ina road accident in thesummer capital, Srinagaron Friday.Official sources said that ascooty was hit by a vehicleat Panzinara on Srinagaroutskirts, resulting in onthe spot death of threepersons who were ridingthe two-wheeler.''The deceased have beenidentified as Shahid Fayaz,

Army recoverswireless set, AK-

47 round inRajouri

The Army troops recov-ered one wireless set andone round of AK-47 rifle onFriday morning in Lamberivillage bordering Rajouridistrict in Jammu and Kash-mir.

Defence sources said thatduring a search operation,Army troops recovered awireless set, one Ak-47round, a charger and a radio

C M Y K C M Y K C M Y K

RNI No: JKENG/2011/40494

BRIEF NEWS

NEWS P-3 NEWS P-5 NEWS P-12 NATIONAL P-8 SPORT P-7

Polytechnic students

protest,demands

recheckingand revalu-

ation ofPapers.

JAKEDAorganisesawareness

programmeon PM-

KUSUM

Azadi ka AmrutMahotsav:

Awareness cuminteraction pro-

gram on NGDRSheld at RTI Gole

Gujral

Kisan sansadenters 2nd

day, farmersdiscuss agri

laws

Olympic archery:Deepika ninth inranking round as

Koreans domi-nate

JAMMU RISING

JAMMU RISINGJAMMU, JULY 23

36 people have died inlandslides in Maharashtra’sRaigad district as incessantrain continued to batter theKonkan region of the state,leaving thousands strandedin floods and landslides. Heli-copters are being used toevacuate people from theflood-hit regions in Raigad,about 70 km from Mumbai.

Authorities have appealedto those trapped to go to therooftops or on heights from

where the rescue teams in the

36 Dead In Landslides In Rain-Hit Maharashtra;Evacuation With Choppers


Divisional CommissionerJammu, Dr Raghav Langertoday inspected the status ofwork on the upcomingJammu Haat building Com-plex – earlier known as J&KTrade Facilitation Centre.

During visit to the site, theDiv Com was accompaniedby Managing Director J&KTrade Promotion Organiza-tion, Ankita Kar; DirectorHandloom & Handicrafts,Vikas Gupta; General Man-ager DIC, Jammu, SubahMehta; General ManagerSICOP, Rajan Sharma; As-sistant Engineer, Chaman-deep Singh and other con-

cerned officers. Pertinently, the place was

rechristened under Govern-ment Order No. 146 IND of2021, dated, 13-7-2021 re-naming the J&K Trade Facil-itation Centre, ExhibitionGround, Jammu as ‘JammuHaat’. As per the vision & di-rections of the LieutenantGovernor, this mega facilitywould be used to promotehandicraft, handloom and in-dustrial and allied activitiesin the division.

During the site visit, theDivisional Commissioneralong with officers took around of each floor of thebuilding and inspected theprogress of work and facili-

ties developed there forartists and traders.

The building has 7 floors,62 shops (display counters)including parking, confer-ence hall/ exhibition hall fa-cilities.

The concerned engineersapprised the Div Com thatover 90 percent work hasbeen completed, while re-maining allied works are inprogress. It was further in-formed that as per the direc-tions of the office of theLieutenant Governor thepace of work has been expe-dited.

The Divisional

Jammu Haat project nearing completion: Div Com


In a historic move, Lieu-tenant Governor, ManojSinha today inaugurated thenight flight operations at theJammu Airport, fulfilling theaspirations of the people ofthe region by commencingthe much-awaited facility.

The Lt Governor virtuallyflagged off the first late-nightflight of Go Air from Jammuto Delhi to mark the occa-sion. He acknowledged thesupport of Government ofIndia and different agenciesfor coordination and ensur-

ing the fulfillment of variousprocedural and on-ground fa-cilities imperative for thestart of night operations.

The Lt Governor observedthat the much-awaited facilitywill give relief to the passen-gers and in turn will have along term positive impact onthe economy of the region.

“The commencement ofthe night flight operationswill give impetus to the localeconomy, investment by en-hancing the aerial connectiv-ity and increasing tourismfootfall in the region. It willalso provide much needed

flexibility for residents of theJammu division to travel tothe national capital and be-yond”, he added.

Pertinently, the move willalso benefit the farmers ofthe region as the UT govern-ment has recently inked anMoU with Go Air for sub-sidised air transportation ofvegetables and fruits fromJammu and Kashmir, withthe first consignment of Sri-nagar cherry and Jammulichi being dispatched toDubai and Mumbai,

Lt Governor inaugurates much-awaited NightFlight Operations at Jammu Airport


Jammu and Kashmir to-day reported 63 newCOVID-19 cases while onedeath was also reported inKashmir division in the last24 hours.

Of the fresh cases, 30 werereported in Kashmir and 33in Jammu as per data thustaking the overall infectiontally to 3,20,403 while thedeath toll has reached 4,374.

A total of 3,14, 620 havealready recovered from thedisease including the 166 re-coveries in the last 24 hoursalone.

Presently, there are a totalof 1,409 active virus cases inJ&K- 845 in Kashmir and564 in Jammu.

The Government on Fri-day informed that 63 newpositive cases of novelCorona virus (COVID-19),33 from Jammu division and30 from Kashmir division,have been reported today,thus taking the total numberof positive cases in Jammuand Kashmir to 320403.Also01 COVID-19 death hasbeen reported from Kashmirdivision.

Moreover, 166 moreCOVID-19 patients have re-covered and discharged fromvarious hospitals including82 from Jammu Division and84 from Kashmir Division.

Besides this, 99.28 percentof population above the ageof 45 years has been vacci-nated across the Jammu and

Kashmir.The Bulletin also informs

that No confirmed case ofMucormycosis has been re-ported today, thus the totalnumber of confirmed casesremains 35 in the UT ofJ&K.

According to the dailyMedia Bulletin on novelCorona virus (Covid-19), outof 320403 positive cases,1409 are Active Positive,314620 have recovered and4374 have died; 2138 inJammu division and 2236 inKashmir division.

The Bulletin further saidthat out of 11268573 test re-sults available, 10948170samples have been tested asnegative till today.

Till date 2731727 persons

have been enlisted for obser-vation which included 8281persons in home quarantineincluding facilities operatedby government, 1409 in iso-lation and 354908 in homesurveillance. Besides,2362755 persons have com-pleted their surveillance pe-riod.

Providing district-wisebreakup, the Bulletin saidthat Srinagar has 71094 posi-tive cases (including 05cases reported today) with343 Active Positive, 69919recovered (including 32cases recovered today), 832deaths; Baramulla has 23518positive cases (including 01cases reported today) with 86Active Positive, 23150 re

Jammu and Kashmir reports 63 new +ve cases, one death

NEW DELHI, JULY 23As many as 35,342 new

COVID-19 cases and 38,740recoveries were reported inthe last 24 hours, the unionhealth ministry informed onFriday.

The cumulative positivecases now stand at3,12,93,062, including3,04,68,079 recoveries and4,05,513 active cases.

The country’s COVID

India reports 35,342 newCOVID19 cases, 38,740

recoveries, and 483 deathsin last 24 hoursNEW DELHI, JULY 23

35 new Earthquake obser-vatories are planned to be setup across India before theyear end. This is going to be ahuge jump in enhancing In-dia's capacity of earthquakemonitoring and related is-sues, considering the factthat while in the last 70 years,115 such observatories wereset up across the country, un-der the government headedby Prime Minister NarendraModi, a quantum increase of35 such new observatories

has been planned. This wasstated by Union Minister ofState (Independent Charge)Science & Technology; Min-ister of State (IndependentCharge) Earth Sciences;MoS PMO/DoPT, Person-nel, Public Grievances, Pen-sions, Atomic Energy andSpace, Dr Jitendra Singh inreply to a Starred Question inLok Sabha today. In an elabo-rate reply, the Minister ex-plained that the NationalCentre for Seismology underthe Union Ministry of Earth

Sciences is the nodal agencyof Government of India formonitoring and studyingearthquakes, in and aroundthe country. For this purpose,a National SeismologicalNetwork (NSN) was set up,which consisted of 115 ob-servatories across the coun-try. However, consideringthe need for increased preci-sion and more evidencebased inferences, 35 newsuch Stations are being com-missioned and will start

35 Earthquake Observatories planned acrossIndia before year end: Dr Jitendra


The Jammu and Kashmirgovernment Friday postedDirector General Youth Ser-vices and Sports , Dr Saleemur Rehman as Director Gen-eral Family Welfare, MCHand Immunization.

As per an order issued bythe General AdministrationDepartment, Dr Rehman,who was holding the addi-tional charge of the post ofDG, Family Welfare, MCHand Immunization, will

Two JKAS officerstransferred


A top Lashkar-e-Taiba(LeT) commander wasamong two militants whowere killed by security forcesin an encounter in appletownship of Sopore in thisnorth Kashmir district on Fri-day.

A police spokespersonsaid that following specificinformation about presenceof militants, a joint Cordonand Search Operation(CASO) was launched by 22Rashtriya Rifles (RR), Spe-cial Operation Group (SOG)

and CRPF at Warpora, So-pore late Thursday night.

Top LeT commander among 2 militantskilled in Sopore encounter


“Jammu police have shotdown a hexa-copter carryinga payload of 5-kg IED mate-rial near Akhnoor area, thethreads of which were simi-lar as that of the one used fordropping payloads at AirForce Station Jammu,”Mukesh Singh, AdditionalDirector General of Police,Jammu Zone told reportershere at a press conference.

The ADGP said that policehad received a specific inputthat the JeM was planning todrop a payload through adrone near Akhnoor, adding,“At around 0100 hrs, policeshot down the drone when itwent down to drop the pay-load that was around 5 KgIED material.”

“The drone payload wasready to be triggered afterconnecting with wires,” hesaid.

The parts of the dronewere made in China, added

the top cop.

J&K Police foils terror plot, shoots down dronecarrying 5 kg IED: ADGP Mukesh Singh


The turnaround in thepower transmission and dis-tribution sector in the lastone year in Jammu & Kash-mir has helped in achievingreliable, quality, and sustain-able electricity supply.Power sector of the UT hasnot seen any developmentsince last three decades andfurther strengthening of in-frastructure will help thegovernment’s aim of provid-ing uninterrupted supply tohouseholds even in the ruralareas, Lieutenant GovernorManoj Sinha said, while ded-icating 07 different power in-frastructure projects worthRs 10.11 crore to the publicincluding new receiving sta-tion and power augmentationin Kashmir Division.

The new projects inaugu-

rated by the Lt Governor tar-get 4 districts viz. Pulwama,Bandipora, Ganderbal, andBudgam would benefit30,400 households.

Construction of the newreceiving station at Pulwamaunder the languishing projectwill provide reliable powersupply to 3350 households.

Hardly any work was donein the last three decades tostrengthen the power infra-structure in the J&K UT. Wehave inherited a plethora ofproblems confronting thepower generation, transmis-sion, and distribution sectors.But, we are determined for atime-bound solution to theproblems. Rs. 5000 crore hasbeen allocated to transformthe power infrastructure and Iam certain with a pragmatic

Lt Governor Dedicates Seven Power InfrastructureProjects Worth ? 10.11 Crore To Public In J&K

Price: Rs.1 | 2 | Vol. No.: 11 | Issue No: 170 Postal Registration No. JK-458/16-18 epaper.dailyjammurising.in

Train servicerestored on

Baramulla-Banihaltrack after two days

The train service was re-stored on Friday betweenBaramulla in north Kash-mir and Banihal inJammu division after re-maining suspended fortwo days to curtail thespread of COVID-19.

Official sources said thattrains are plying normallyon Budgam-Baramullaand Budgam-Banihalroutes on Friday after re-maining suspended fortwo days. ?The decision tosuspend the train servicewas taken keeping in con-sideration the safety ofpassengers followingheavy rushed expected onthe occasion of Eid,? theysaid.

Authorities in the pastalso used to suspend trainruns on Baramulla-

JAMMU, SATURDAY JULY 24, 2021

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Plethora of problems plaguing the power genera-tion, transmission, and distribution sector in J&K forlast many decades are now being resolved at a fasterpace: LG

Strengthening of infrastructure will help govern-ment’s aim of providing uninterrupted supply tohouseholds even in the rural areas: LG

Government is committed for quality & reliable sup-ply but I urge majority of households not paying forelectricity to come forward and pay their bills & helpthe reform process: LG

New projects target 4 districts- Pulwama,Bandipora, Ganderbal & Budgam- benefiting 30,400households adding 44.2 MVA to the existing capacity Turn to page 2 Turn to page 2

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Jammu Rising NEWS Jammu, Saturday, July 24, 2021,Daily2

FROM PAGE ONESanjeev Jain appointed Vice Chancellorof Central Univer-

sity Jammudemic.Madhya Pradesh resident, Prof Jain was appointed as the

Vice Chancellor of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University on March15, 2016 for a term of three years, but he was given an extension oftwo years.

Prof Jain had resigned from his post in April 2019 and was ap-pointed as the Director of the Indian Institute of Information Technol-ogy, Jabalpur.

Prof Jain has rich academic and research experience.

Army recovers wireless set, AK-47round in Rajouri

set.''All items have been seized for due examination,'' theysaid.

3 youth killed in road accident in SrinagarSameer Ahmad Dar and Mushtaq Ahmad, all residents ofPanzinara,'' they said. Police have registered a case and initiated investigation intothe incident.''After completing all the legal and medical formalities, thebodies of the deceased were handed over to their relatives forlast rites,'' they added.

Lt Governor Dedicates Seven Power Infrastructure ProjectsWorth ? 10.11 Crore To Public In J&K

approach, we will be able to mitigate the challenges of this sec-tor,” the Lt Governor said.

Three receiving stations of Bandipora districts have been addedwith substantial MVAcapacity for the benefit of the people. Aug-mentation of the existing receiving station at Shadipora, Bandiporawith an additional 3.7 MVA capacity will benefit 5000 house-holds. Similarly, the addition of 2.3 MVAcapacity at Ajas is goingto benefit 2900 households and Markundal with additional ca-pacity augmentation of 7.4 MVAwill benefit 5,700 households inthe districts. In total, the capacity augmentation in Bandipora willbenefit 13,600 households.

“The government is incurring huge losses in the power sectorbecause people are not paying their bills. No government can pro-vide reliable power unless citizens decide to pay. It is my humbleappeal to the people to pay power bills. It is in the interest of UT,”Lt Governor said.

The Lt Governor advised the power department functionaries toincorporate public opinion in the planning and execution of the ini-tiatives aimed at increasing revenue realization.

Reiterating the directions passed in previous meetings, the LtGovernor directed the power department to complete the workon Unique Identification numbers for Transformers on priority.

The other power projects inaugurated today include Augmen-tation of existing Receiving Station Kurhama from 2×6.3 to 2×10MVA, Ganderbal; Augmentation of existing Receiving StationNagam from 4+6.3 to 10+6.3 MVA, Budgam and Augmentationof existing Receiving Station Wadwan from 2×6.3 to 2×10 MV,Budgam benefiting 6750, 2600 and 4100 households respec-tively.

The 07 new power infrastructure projects have been executedunder Languishing and PMDP-Rural schemes by KashmirPower Distribution Corporation Limited (KPDCL).

Baseer Ahmed Khan, Advisor to Lt Governor; Arun KumarMehta, Chief Secretary, Rohit Kansal, Principal Secretary, PowerDevelopment Department; Nitishwar Kumar, Principal Secre-tary to Lt Governor; Basharat Qayoom, Managing Director,KPDCL, concerned Chief Engineers attended the inaugural cer-emony at Raj Bhavan.

J&K Police foils terror plot, shoots down drone carrying5 kg IED: ADGP Mukesh Singh

Mr Singh said that the serial number of the flight controllerused in the drone is just one digit different from the one dronethat was earlier shot down at Aknoor some time back.

Preliminary analysis suggested that it was a hexa-copter with sixwings fitted with a flight controller and GPS, the ADGPsaid andadded that the packed IED was supposed to be dropped by droneand to be picked up by the receiver.

“We waited for the suspect but no one turned up,” he said.The ADGP said that the drone shot down at Kathua is an as-

sembled one with its parts manufactured from Taiwan and Hong-Kong.

On recent Air Force Station Jammu attacks, he said, “Strings re-covered in today’s drone were the same as that of those used to dropthe payloads at Air Force Station.

“Further investigations are on and it seems that JeM has as-sembled many drones with the same series and there is just a differ-ence of one digit in the serial number of the one drone recoveredearlier at Akhnoor and the one recovered this morning,” he said.

“The drones recovered in the recent past are being used to droppayloads including AK-47 rifles and IED material.

“Such drones can travel up to 20 km distance depending on thepayload,” the ADGP said, adding that in the last one-and-a-halfyears, Police have recovered 16 AK-47 rifles, magazines, 15grenades and 18 IEDs airdropped by the drones in the region.Train service restored on Baramulla-Banihaltrack aftertwo days

Banihal track during the festivals, including Eid-ul-Fitr andEid-ul-Adha, to prevent damage to the railway property.Railway property worth lakhs of rupees has been damagedby people in the past in stone pelting incidents.

The train service on Budgam-Baramulla route was par-tially restored on July 14 after remaining suspended forover two months. The development had come a fortnight af-ter partial train service was allowed on Budgam-Banihalroute in view of significant decline in the number of COVID-19 cases in J&K.

Train service on 137-km-long Banihal-Baramulla route,comprising 17 stations, was suspended on May 10 to curtailthe spread of unabated rise in the number of COVID-19cases.

The railway service on Baramulla-Banihal track was par-tially resumed on February 22 this year after remainingsuspended for over 11 months due to the pandemic. Therailway authorities had ordered suspension of train servicesbetween Banihal and Baramulla in the Kashmir divisionwith immediate effect in March last year in view of the out-break of COVID-19 pandemic in the Union Territory.

The service was initially suspended till March 31. But, theduration of suspension was extended several times due to nodwindling of COVID-19 cases.

In 2020, only a special train run of Kashmir's first LuxuryGlass-roofed AC train was held in September last year be-tween Baramulla and Banihal for a documentary that wasfilmed on the 137-km-long rail link, which before the re-strictions used to ferry over 30,000 commuters every day.

In order to make train journeys in Kashmir valley comfort-able and exciting, the Northern Railways in 2018 intro-duced the first Air-Conditioned train fitted with a glass-rooftop and bigger window panes for sightseeing.

However, the full-fledged operation of the special coachwas not possible, first due to unrest post abrogation of spe-cial status of J&K on August 5 in 2019 and later due toCOVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

Top LeT commander among 2 militants killedin Sopore encounter

During the search operation, as the presence of militants gotascertained they were given repeated opportunities to surrender.However, he said instead of surrendering, the militants fired indis-criminately upon the joint search party which was retaliated lead-ing to an encounter.

''In the ensuing encounter, two categorised militants of LeTwere killed and their bodies were retrieved from the site of en-counter. The duo was identified as Fayaz Ahmad War aliasRukana alias Umar, a resident of Warpora, a top commander ofLeT, and Shaheen Ahmad Mir alias Shaheen Molvi, a residentof Cherpora Budgam,'' he said.

The spokesperson said as per police records, both the killedmilitants were part of groups involved in various militant relatedactivities and several cases were registered against them.

He said War had a long history of militant related cases as hewas associated with militancy since year 2008. ''Although he hadsurrendered earlier with arms and ammunition yet after his re-lease, he again worked as a militant associate for proscribed outfitHizbul Mujahideen (HM) and was detained under Public SafetyAct (PSA),'' the spokesperson said.

However, the spokesperson said War, after his release inMarch-2020, again joined militant ranks of proscribed outfit LeT.Besides, the spokesperson said being part of groups involved inseveral militant related cases War was instrumental in planningand executing attacks on security establishments and civiliankillings. ''War figured among the list of most wanted militants inNorth Kashmir. He was the last active militant who perpetrated aseries of various crimes and violence in north Kashmir,'' thespokespersonsaid.

It included attack on Police party at Warpora Sopore on March4, 2020 in which one police personnel and a civilian were killed, at-tack on Joint Naka party at Ahad Baba crossing on April 18, 2020in which three CRPF personnel were killed.

''He was responsible for killing of one civilian namely DanishManzoor Najar resident of Eidipora Bomai, attack on joint Nakaparty of Police and CRPF at Model Town Sopore in which onecivilian namely Bashir Ahmad Khan resident of HMT Srinagarand a CRPF personnel were killed,'' the spokesperson said.

War fired upon Municipal councillors at Lone Mohalla Build-ing near SDH Sopore on June 12, 2021 in which two Municipalcouncillors and a police personnel were killed, adding the LeTCommander was involved in killing of two police personnel andtwo civilians at Main Chowk Sopore.

Moreover, War was also involved in a series of grenade attackson Police/Security establishments in areas of PD Sopore. ''OnMay 26, 2020, he carried out a grenade attack on Police Post Po-tukhah, on December 12, 2020 grenade attack on a Bus Stand inwhich four civilians got injured, on March 13, 2021 anothergrenade attack on Bus Stand in which two police personnel got in-jured,'' the spokesperson said.

Incriminating materials, arms and ammunition including twoAK-47 rifles, four Magazines were recovered from the site of en-counter. ''All the recovered materials have been taken into caserecords for further investigation and to probe their complicity inother crimes,'' the spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kashmir rangeVijay Kumar congratulating the security forces said one slainmilitant is Fayaz Ahmad, who was involved in several attacks onsecurity forces and civilians.

Mr Kumar terming the encounter a big success, congratulatedpolice and security forces for conducting successful operationwithout any collateral damage. ''War was involved in several at-tacks & killings of civilians and security forces. He was last perpe-trator of violence in north Kashmir,'' the IGPKashmir added.

''In this connection, Police have registered a case under rele-vant sections of law and investigation has been initiated. People arerequested to cooperate with police till the area is completely sani-tised and cleared of all the explosive materials, if any,'' thespokesperson said.

36 Dead In Landslides In Rain-Hit Maharashtra;Evacuation With Choppers

helicopters can spot and evacuate them. Maharashtra is wit-nessing the heaviest rain in July in 40 years.

VDO.AIThe deaths happened in three landslides which took place yes-

terday, with 32 bodies being found in one spot and four others inanother location. Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, who tookstock of the situation in Maharashtra, spoke with local authori-ties today.

35 Earthquake Observatories planned across Indiabefore year end: Dr Jitendra

functioning by December 2021. Giving an update on this initia-tive, Dr Jitendra Singh said that the installation of these 35 new sta-tions is already in progress. Meanwhile, it has also been plannedthat in the next five years, that is by March 2026, another 100such Earthquake Observatories/Seismic Stations will be installedin order to further increase the detection capability of earthquakesthroughout the country. Dwelling on the technical aspects of the is-sue, the reply stated that the existing network is capable of record-ing any event of earthquake upto (Magnitude) M:2.5 and above inand around Delhi, M:3.0 and above for North Eastern Region,M:3.5 and above in Peninsular and extra-peninsular region,M:4.0 and above in Andaman region and M:4.5 and above inBorder regions. It is also planned to strengthen the National Seis-mological Network (NSN) further to increase the detection capa-bility of earthquakes. Pertinent to mention that the first-ever suchobservatory in India was established way back on 1st Decem-ber, 1898 at Alipore, Kolkata, immediately following the massiveShillong earthquake of 1897. Thereafter, several major earth-quakes have taken place in the country and this calls for a consid-ered scientific response. Meanwhile, the Modi government isalso considering proper planning and implementation of pre andpost disaster preparedness in the event of an earthquake and othersuch situations.

Read more at: http://www.jammulinksnews.com/newsde-tail/258265/Jammu-Links-News-35_Earthquake_Observato-ries_planned_across_India_before_year_end_Dr_Jitendra

Copyright © Jammu Links NewsIndia reports 35,342 new COVID19 cases, 38,740 recoveries,

and 483 deaths in last 24 hoursdeath tally has reached 4,19,470, including 483 in the last 24

hours.As per the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), as

many as 45,29,39,545 samples have been tested for COVID sofar. Of these, 16,68,561 were tested in the last 24 hours.

The daily positivity rate currently stands at 2.12 per cent, andhas remained less than 3 per cent for 32 consecutive days. The ac-tive cases constitute 1.30 per cent of total cases.

The recovery rate is currently at 97.36 per centA total of 42,34,17,030 doses of COVID-19 vaccines have

been administered across the country so far, including33,39,45,151 first doses. 8,94,71,879 people in the country arefully vaccinated.

54,76,423 doses were administered in the last 24 hours, ofwhich 36,24,007 were first doses and 18,52,416 were seconddoses.

According to the health ministry, 43,87,50,190 vaccine doseshave been supplied to states so far. 41,12,30,353 have been con-sumed (including wastage), while 71,40,000 are in the pipeline.

2,75,19,837 unutilized COVID Vaccine doses are still availablewith the States and union territories and private hospitals to be ad-ministered. (Agency)

Two JKAS officers transferredassume the charge on full time basis with immediate basis.Mohammad Ashraf Bhat, Special Secretary to the govern-

ment in the youth Services and Sports department, shall hold theadditional charge of DG Youth Services and Sports till furtherorders.

Jammu Haat project nearing com-pletion: Div Com

Commissioner directed the executing agencies to expedite thepace of progress for early completion of the project in all respectsso that it would be dedicated to the public at the earliest.

The MD, Trade Promotion Organization, while giving detailsof the floor management and facilities in the building, apprised theDiv Com that the basement is kept for parking of vehicles be-sides spaces have also been created for exhibition of handicrafts,Handloom & Industrial products of entrepreneurs with emphasison ODOP. The space can also be utilized for buyers- sellers meet-ings organized by various line departments for interstate as wellas export oriented promotion of local products. The shops to be al-lotted on rotational basis to registered manufacturers/ servicesector/ industrial units/ PMEGPunits/ startups to promote theirproducts, spaces for women entrepreneur development institutefor undertaking various development schemes for the womenentrepreneurs, the MD added.

Moreover, adequate space will also be utilized for housingtraining centres/ labs /libraries. Jammu Haat also has the facilitiesof a conference/Exhibition Hall which has been developed in athematic manner to promote local industry.

The Div Com said that the Jammu Haat will showcase therich, varied handicraft tradition of the region and provide marketsupport to local artisans and weavers for promotion of local prod-ucts. He said with the opening of this facility it will become amajor tourist attraction in Jammu.

The Div Com instructed the Director Handicraft & Handloomto explore the possibilities for developing more such facilities. Hesuggested opening outlets on National Highways, routes to pil-grimage sites like Shri Mata Vaishno Devi route and routes totourist destinations.

The Div Com also asked the concerned officers to organizeMela-cum Exhibitions/ art programs.

Lt Governor inaugurates much-awaited NightFlight Operations at Jammu Airport

respectively. The formal inauguration of cargo facility is ex-pected soon.

As per airport authorities, the re-carpeting work of the run-way has been completed and the runway approach lighting sys-tem, which includes a series of light bars with strobe lights havealready been installed and put in operation. Accordingly, night op-erations have been started with all others facilities like Instru-ment Landing System (ILS), CAT-1 lights, PAPI, etc. as they arealready installed and commissioned at the Jammu airport.

It was also informed that the extended runway of 1300 ft.length has merged with the existing one, and all allied worksshall also be completed by 31st Aug. 2021.

Even though the Jammu airport had extended its operationaltimings in early 2019, the Night flights facility in Jammu hadremained a distant dream due to unwarranted delays in runway ex-pansion work and other allied procedures that have gatheredspeed in the past year.

Sh. Ranjan Prakash Thakur, Principal Secretary, Industries &Commerce Department; Air Commodore Ajay Singh Pathania,AOC Air Force Station Jammu; Sh. Mukesh Singh, AdditionalDGP; Sh SK Garg Director, Jammu Airport; Sh Kaushik Khona,CEO Go Air; besides officers and team of senior officials of GoAir were present during the flag-off ceremony through virtualmode.

Jammu and Kashmir reports 63 new +vecases, one death

covered (including 17 cases recovered today), 282 deaths;Budgam reported 22830 positive cases (including 02 cases re-ported today) with 71 active positive cases, 22554 recovered (in-cluding 08 cases recovered today), 205 deaths; Pulwama has15133 positive cases (including 13 cases recovered today) with 76Active Positive, 14863 recovered (including 07 cases recoveredtoday)and 194deaths; Kupwara has 14028 positive cases (in-cluding 01 cases reported today), 53 Active Positive, 13810 recov-eries, 165 deaths; Anantnag district has 16301 positive caseswith 69 Active Positive, 16027 recovered (including 09 casesrecovered today), 205 deaths; Bandipora has 9457 positive cases(including 02 cases reported today), with 63 Active Positive,9294 recoveries (including 05 cases recovered today), 100deaths; Ganderbal has 9840 positive cases (including 03 cases re-ported today) with 60 Active Positive, 9702 recoveries (including04 cases recovered today) and 78 deaths; Kulgam has 11219positive cases (including 02 cases recovered today) with 15 Ac-tive Positive, 11087 recoveries (including 02 cases recovered to-day) and 117 deaths while as Shopian has 5578 positive cases (in-cluding 01 cases reported today )with 09 active positive cases,5511recoveriesand 58 deaths.

Similarly, Jammu has 52697 positive cases (including 04cases reported today) with 149 active positive cases, 51409 re-

coveries (including 22 cases recovered today), 1139 deaths;Udhampur has 11268 positive cases (including 02 cases re-ported today), 28 active positive cases, 11105 recoveries (in-cluding 03 cases recovered today) and 135 deaths; Rajouri has10879 positive cases (including 01 cases reported today) 60 ac-tive positive, 10594 recoveries (including 09 cases recoveredtoday) and 225 deaths; Doda has 7172 positive cases (including08 cases reported today) with 102 Active positive, 6946 recov-ered (including 31 cases recovered today) and 124 deaths;Kathua has 9257 positive cases with 05 active positive cases,9102 recovered (including 08 cases recovered today)and 150deaths; Samba has 7120positive cases (including 01 cases re-ported today)with 38 active positive cases, 6963 recoveries and119 deaths; Kishtwar has 4613 positive cases (including 04cases reported today) with 48 Active Positive, 4522 recoveries(including 05 cases recovered today) and 43 deaths; Poonch has6242 positive cases (including 01 cases reported today) with56 active positive, 6092 recoveries (including 04 cases recoveredtoday) and 94 deaths; Ramban has 5946 positive cases (includ-ing 02 cases reported today) with 35 active positive cases, 5845recoveries and 66 deaths while Reasi has 6211 positive cases(including 10 cases recovered today)with 43 active positivecases, 6125recoveriesand 43 deaths.

According to the bulletin, among the total 320403 positivecases in J&K, 22785 have been reported as travelers while297618 as others.

The Bulletin said that the breakup represents districts fromwhich the patients have been traced or are ordinarily residing.

The bulletin added that there are 2423 COVID dedicatedbeds, 2019 Isolation beds with 1983 vacant beds and 404 ICUbeds where 390 beds are vacant in Jammu division while thereare 3353 COVID dedicated beds, 3074 Isolation beds where3024 beds are vacant and 279 ICU beds where 235 are vacantbeds in Kashmir division. There are a total of 5776 COVID ded-icated beds, 5093 Isolation beds with 5007 beds vacant and 683ICU beds with 625 vacant beds in the Union Territory of Jammuand Kashmir.

The Central Government is continuously monitoring theevolving situation of Covid-19 in the Union Territory and isproviding all necessary support towards effective containment ofthe spread of Covid-19 and better clinical management of posi-tive cases.

The government has also started free tele-consultation generalOPD services by Specialists/MBBS Doctors for the residents ofJ&K under National Tele-consultation Service. People can availthese services from Home by registering online on web portalhttps://esanjeevaniopd.in/. The services are available on Mondayto Saturday from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm. People can also downloadand install e-sanjeevani OPD app from Google play store.

To ensure public convenience and avoid chaos & paniccrowding at tertiary care hospitals, COVID-19 Triage Facilityhas been started in Jammu at (i) Chest Disease Hospital, Jammu(opposite GMC Hospital Complex, Jammu, Triage CD HospitalJammu Contact No.-9541925371, 0191-2561000), (ii) GovtHospital Gandhinagar (Old Block) Contact No.0191-2459300and in Srinagar at (i) National Institute of Technology Campus,Hazratbal, Srinagar, Contact No. 9419006991& (ii) SKIMS-JVC Bemina, Contact No. 7006617821, that shall act as “firstarrival point” for screening of any COVID +ve patient intendingto get admitted in Govt. Medical College Jammu/ Srinagar &Associated Hospitals, SKIMS Soura and other identified dedi-cated COVID Hospitals under Directorate of Health ServicesJammu/ Kashmir.

For COVID +ve cases in periphery areas and districts otherthan Jammu/ Srinagar, the triage point shall be the concernedDistrict Hospital / New GMCs (Doda/ Kathua/ Rajouri/ Bara-mulla/ Anantnag). Admission of such patients from these districtsto GMC Jammu/ Srinagar, SKIMS Soura etc shall be strictlyon referral basis only.

Besides, 24x7 Rapid Antigen Testing facilities for COVID-19have been started outside the emergency of GMC HospitalJammu. The facility will be very useful for segregation of patientsin emergency wing of GMC Jammu.

3 match series of 50 overs is being organised ByVriddhi Sports Foundation and Shubham Khajuria crick-et academy. Taking brilliant initiative by both club/acad-emy to make sure that jammu players need long cricketformat and make combination of youngsters and experi-ence of first class cricketers to explore their talent in longformat game .

In the first match of series played at country cricketstadium , Garota.

Vriddhi Royals won the toss and elected to batfirst.Scored 92 for the loss of 10 wickets in 28 overs, frombatting side Deepak Dogra scored 24* unbeaten andSumit Kumar scored 15 runs, Kanhaiya scores 13 runs .From bowling side Harman took 3 wkts , ShubhamKhajuria and Vishal kumar took 2 wkts each.

SKCA chased the score in 18 overs for the loss of 3 wkts, and this won the match convincingly by 7 wkts.

From batting side Abinav Puri scored 45 runs whereasShubham Khajuria scored 27 runs and remained not out.

From bowling side Tegvansh Singh and Ankush took 1wkt each. Harman was declared the Man of Match for hisgood bowling spell.

Next match will be played on Monday.Match was officiated by Deepak Dogra & Tejinder Pal

singh from Vriddhi Royals and Shubham Khajuria fromSKCA.

Subham Khajuria CAWins the first match of 3

match Series againstVriddhi Royals.

3 Jammu, Saturday July 24, 2021 DailyNEWS

Polytechnic students protest, demands rechecking and revaluation of Papers.

NEW DELHI, JULY23: The Bombay HighCourt on Friday withdreworal observations it madewhile hearing posthu-mously the appeals made bylate Christian priest StanSwamy, Live Law has re-ported.

Swamy had died mo-ments before the BombayHigh Court was to take uphis bail plea on July 5.Swamy, a Jesuit priest, hadbeen arrested last year inconnection with allegedlinks to the Bhima-Kore-gaon violence.

The bench of Justices S.S.Shinde and N.J. Jamadarheard the matter on July 19.Justice Shinde was quotedby Indian Express as saying,"We don’t have time nor-mally, but I saw the funeralservice (of Swamy). It wasvery gracious… Such a won-derful person. The kind ofservice he has rendered tothe society. We have greatrespect for his work.Legally, whatever is there

against him is a differentmatter."

The bench also referred tothe criticism of the NIA andthe judiciary over delay inbail hearings.

During hearing of thematter on Friday, Addi-tional Solicitor General AnilSingh, who represented theNIA, pointed out "personalcomment" of judges is "be-ing twisted by the media".

Justice Shinde said ifSingh was hurt by the com-ments, the court was with-drawing the statement,Live Law reported.

"I had said, so far as legalissues are concerned, thatis different. Suppose youare hurt that I personallysaid something, I takethose words back," Shindewas quoted as saying byLive Law.

"If you want, I take mywords back. Our endeav-our is to stay fair and bal-anced always. That shouldbe the end of the matter,"Justice Shinde said. "Ourproblem is that we don'thave control on what hap-pens outside (the court),"the HC said. Singh then

said that he had no griev-ances with the court. It wasjust that "public percep-tion" mattered to agencies.

Sanjay Yadav sworn in asChief Justice of AllahabadHC

Meanwhile, Mihir Desai,the advocate for Swamy,requested the BombayHigh Court to monitor themagisterial inquiry into hisdeath by invoking itsparens-patriae jurisdic-tion. He said that there ex-isted previous SupremeCourt judgements rulingthat High Courts could ex-ercise parens-patriae juris-diction or act as the ‘par-ent’ of such appellants,who were not in a positionto take decisions for them-selves. Advocate Desaiurged the High Court topermit Swamy's aide, fa-ther Frazer Mascarenhas, toparticipate in the inquirysupposed to be conductedinto Swamy's death as persection 176 of the CrPC.

Bombay HC withdraws ‘praise’ for StanSwamy after NIA advocate objects

NEW DELHI, JULY23: Chinese President XiJinping has made a rarevisit to Nyingchi, a strategi-cally located Tibetan bor-der town close toArunachal Pradesh, the of-ficial media reported onFriday.

Xi arrived at the Ny-ingchi Mainling Airport onWednesday and waswarmly welcomed by localpeople and officials of var-ious ethnic groups, Xinhuanews agency reported.

He then visited theNyang River Bridge, to in-spect the ecologicalpreservation in the basinof the Brahmaputra river,

which is called YarlungZangbo in the Tibetan lan-guage.

Nyingchi is a prefecture-level city in Tibet that isadjacent to the Arunachal

Pradesh border.The India-China border dispute cov-ers the 3,488-km Line ofActual Control (LAC).

Chinese leaders period-ically visit Tibet. But Xi,

who also heads the rulingCommunist Party of Chinaand the powerful CentralMilitary Commission --the overall high commandof the Chinese military --is perhaps the first topleader in recent years tovisit Tibet's border town.

Nyingchi was in news inJune when China fully op-erationalised its first bul-let train in Tibet.

The train connects Ti-bet's provincial capitalLhasa with Nyingchi. Ithas a designed speed of160 km per hour and oper-ates on a single-line elec-trified railway covering435.5-km.

Xi Jinping makes rare visit to Tibetan townbordering Arunachal Pradesh

NEW DELHI, JULY23: President of India, whois the Visitor to Central uni-versities, has approved theappointment of vice-chan-cellors in 12 universities,according to Ministry ofEducation (MoE) officials.

The universities includethe Central Universities ofHaryana, HimachalPradesh, Jammu, Jhark-hand, Karnataka, TamilNadu and Hyderabad.

Central University ofSouth Bihar (Gaya), Ma-nipur University, MaulanaAzad National Urdu Uni-versity (MANUU), North-Eastern Hill University(NEHU) and Guru Ghasi-

das University, Bilaspurare also among the univer-sities for which new VCshave been appointed.

Union Minister of Edu-cation Dharmendra Prad-han had on Thursday in-formed the Rajya Sabha

that a total of 22 posts ofvice-chancellors in centraluniversities are vacant, outof which appointments to12 posts have already beenfinalised.

Professor TarkeshwarKumar has been appointed

the vice-chancellor of thecentral university ofHaryana, Professor SatPrakash Bansal of Hi-machal Pradesh Universityand Dr Sanjeev Jain ofJammu University.

President approves appointment of 12 VCs, including universities in Haryana, Himachal

MUMBAI, JULY 23:Businessman Raj Kundraon Friday challenged be-fore the Bombay HighCourt his arrest in a case ofalleged production and dis-tribution of pornographicfilms through apps, sayingthese videos might be de-scribed as "lascivious" butdo not show "explicit sex-ual acts".

Kundra (45), the hus-band of actor Shilpa Shetty,was arrested on July 19 byMumbai Police. A magis-trate's court remanded himin police custody till July27.

The petition soughtquashing of the lowercourt's order.

The magistrate's ordersending him in police cus-tody violated the law asserving a notice under sec-tion 41A of the Code ofCriminal Procedure (beforearrest) is mandatory, espe-cially in view of the COVID-

19 pandemic, it said.As per section 41A, the

police may, in cases wherethe arrest is not warranted,issue summons to the ac-cused person and recordhis or her statement.

The material which thepolice claim to be porno-graphic did not “depict di-rect explicit sexual acts andsexual intercourse butshows material in the formof short movies which arelascivious or appeal to the

prurient interest of personsat best”, Kundra's plea con-tended.

Hence section 67A of theInformation TechnologyAct (publishing sexuallyexplicit content) cannot beinvoked, and at the most, itwould attract section 67(publishing lascivious con-tent), it said.

On July 19, 2021, the po-lice carried out a search athis office and requestedhim to go to the police sta-

tion to record a statement,Kundra said.

"The respondent (police)arrested the petitioner inthe police station where hewas called under the garbof recording his state-ment,” the plea alleged.

After his arrest Kundrawas asked to sign a noticeissued under section 41A ofCrPC which he refused todo, it claimed.

Further, the sections un-der which he is booked donot prescribe a sentence ofmore than seven years injail, so his arrest, withoutprior notice under section41 A, "is completely illegal",the petition said.

When the First Informa-tion Report (FIR) was regis-tered in February 2021, hewas not even named as ac-cused, Kundra said, addingthat a charge sheet wasfiled in the case in April andseveral other accused arenow out on bail.

Raj Kundra tells Bombay HC: Filmsdon't contain explicitly sexual acts

BALASORE(ODISHA), JULY 23:India on Friday success-fully flight-tested the NewGeneration Akash (Akash-NG) missile from the Inte-grated Test Range,Chandipur, off the Odishacoast, DRDO sources said.

The test was carried outby Defence Research De-velopment Organisation(DRDO) against a high-speed unmanned aerialtarget which was success-fully intercepted by themissile.

The surface-to-air mis-sile was also successfullyflight-tested two days agofrom the same launchground of ITR atChandipur near here,sources said.

The flight trial was con-ducted from launch pad 3of the ITR with all weapon

system elements such asmultifunction radar, com-mand, control communica-tion system and launcherparticipating in deploy-ment configuration, theysaid.

“The missile, equippedwith a radio frequencyseeker, successfully inter-cepted a high speed un-manned aerial target,” a

DRDO spokesperson said.On July 21, the missile

was flight-tested withoutthe seeker, meeting all themission requirements.

Minister Rajnath Singhcongratulated DRDO, In-dian Air Force and the In-dustry on the second suc-cessful flight test ofAkash-NG in a span ofthree days.

The missile system hasbeen developed by DefenceResearch $@$# Develop-ment Laboratory (DRDL),Hyderabad, in collabora-tion with other DRDO labo-ratories. The test was car-ried out amid inclementweather conditions provingthe all-weather capabilityof the weapon system.

In order to capture flightdata, ITR deployed a num-ber of Range stations likeElectro Optical TrackingSystem, Radar andTelemetry.

The flawless perform-ance of the entire weaponsystem has been confirmedby complete flight data cap-tured by these systems.During the test, the missiledemonstrated high ma-noeuvrability required forneutralising fast and agileaerial threats, sources said.

India successfully flight-tests new generation surface-to-air Akash missile

NEW DELHI,JULY 22: The sur-vey notes that India is the best per-forming country when compared tosouth and southwest Asia region(63.12 per cent) and Asia Pacific region(65.85 per cent)

As per the latest UN Global Surveyon Digital and Sustainable Trade, Facil-itation, India's ranking jumped from78.49% in 2019 to 90.32% in 2021

India has made significant progressin its ranking in terms of cross-bordertrade, according to a UN survey thattracked 143 countries on key trade facil-itation criteria over two years.

The improveament came about dueto several reforms undertaken by vari-ous departments particularly customsunder the Central Board of IndirectTaxes or CBIC.

As per the latest UN Global Surveyon Digital and Sustainable Trade Fa-cilitation, India's ranking jumped from78.49% in 2019 to 90.32% in 2021. Thebi-annual survey deals with trade fa-cilitation measures taken by countries.

"India has scored 90.32% in United

Nation's Economic and Social Com-mission for Asia Pacific's (UNESCAP)latest Global Survey on Digital andSustainable Trade Facilitation. TheSurvey hails this as a remarkable jump

from 78.49% in 2019," the Union Fi-nance Ministry said in a statement onFriday.

The Global Survey on Digital andSustainable Trade Facilitation is con-

ducted every two years by UNESCAP.The 2021 survey includes an assess-ment of 58 trade facilitation measurescovered by the WTO's Trade Facilita-tion Agreement.

After evaluation of 143 economies,the 2021 survey has highlighted India'ssignificant improvement in the scoreson all five key indicators. Transparencyimproved to 100 per cent in 2021 from93.33 per cent in 2019, formalities roseto 95.83 per cent in 2021 from 87.5 percent in 2019 while institutionalarrangement and cooperation jumpedimproved to 88.89 per cent in 2021from 66.67 per cent in 2019.

Other parameters like paperlesstrade improved to 96.3 per cent in2021 from 81.48 per cent in 2019 whilecross-border paperless trade im-proved to 66.67 per cent in 2021 from55.56 per cent in 2019, it said.

The survey notes that India is thebest-performing country when com-pared to the south and southwest Asiaregion (63.12 per cent) and the AsiaPacific region (65.85 per cent).

"The overall score of India has alsobeen found to be greater than manyOrganisation for Economic Co-oper-ation and Development (OECD) coun-tries including France, the UK,

Canada, Norway, Finland etc. and theoverall score is greater than the averagescore of EU. India has achieved a 100per cent score for the Transparency in-dex and 66 per cent in the "Women intrade" component," it said.

CBIC has been at forefront of path-breaking reforms under the umbrellaof ''Turant'' Customs to usher in face-less, paperless and contactless cus-toms by way of a series of reforms, thefinance ministry statement said.

This has had a direct impact interms of the improvement in the UN-ESCAP rankings on digital and sus-tainable trade facilitation, it said.

Further, during the COVID-19 pan-demic, customs formations have madeall efforts to expedite COVID relatedimports such as oxygen related equip-ment, life-saving medicines and vac-cines, it said.

A dedicated single window COVID-19 24x7 helpdesk for EXIM trade wascreated on the CBIC website to facili-tate quick resolution of issue(s) faced byimporters, it added.

India betters ranking in ease of cross-border trade aided by reforms

JAMMU RISINGJAMMU,JULY 23

The Deputy Commissioner(DC) Bandipora, Dr OwaisAhmad today visited far flungareas of Gurez valley includ-ing Kanzalwan, Bagtore, Iz-marg, Tarbal, Chuntiwari, etcto review the developmentalactivities in the border Sub-Division of Bandipora dis-trict.

The DC on the occasionvisited several villages andconducted on-spot inspectionof various ongoing works in-cluding Chontiwari-Baktoorroad being constructed underPMGSY besides other roadsbeing constructed, repairedand macadamized.

Dr Owais also reviewedworks of Rural DevelopmentDepartment, R&B in these ar-eas and held interaction with

panchayat members of Bag-tore Block regarding ongoingworks under various schemesof RDD.

Officers on the occasion in-formed the DC about theachievements registered andongoing projects in Gurezalong with their present sta-tus.

On the occasion, DC di-rected the officers to expedite

the work on ongoing projectsand work extra hours to meetthe deadline. He said there is alimited working season in theGurez Valley due to which theofficers need to work extrahours to complete the worksbefore the onset of winters inthe region.

He directed the officers toregularly visit Gurez to takeon spot review of develop-

mental works and also askedthem to mobilize the fieldstaff for redressal of genuinegrievances and effective im-plementation of different stateand central sponsoredschemes.Dr Owais also re-viewed the progress of vacci-nation in Gurez valley againstCovid-19 and appreciated theefforts of field staff to fightthe pandemic.He also inter-acted with people who ap-prised him about various is-sues faced by them especiallyduring winter when GurezValley remains cut off fromthe rest of the world. The DCgave patient hearing to thepeople and passed on-spot di-rections for early redressal ofseveral grievances and as-sured the people that he willpersonally look into all the is-sues flagged by the people.

DC B'pora visits far flung areasof Gurez valley


The Deputy Commis-sioner (DC).Anantnag, Dr.Piyush Singla today said thatthe Covid situation has im-proved significantly with re-covery rate going constantlyupwards and positive casesdropping to single digits inthe district.

The DC, however, cau-tioned against any leniencyand said the top researchers,epidmiologists and virolo-gists are consistently warningof another wave adding thatvaccine and Covid Appropri-ate Behaviour (VAB, CAB)are vital to avert the same.

Dr. Singla made these re-marks while briefing onCOVID-19 scenario and themeasures taken by the districtAdministration to address the

situation that arose due to its2nd wave.

Giving details, the DC in-formed that the current re-covery rate is above 98 per-cent while as positivity rateremained at 0.27 percent forlast seven days.

Calling upon the benefici-aries to receive the 2nd jab on

due time, the DC exhorted forcontinuing the ongoing im-munisation drives with fullmomentum so that maximumpopulation gets vaccinatedand herd immunity isachieved sooner.

Apprising about the vacci-nation figures, the DC saidmore than 3.78 lac doses

have been administered tovarious categories of benefici-aries so far and doorstep in-oculations are being effectedto vaccinate the target popula-tion with 2nd dose as well.

Dr. Singla informed thatthe enforcement and healthteams have been working onground to ensure the obser-vance of CAB at markets,public parks, tourist sites andother potential crowdedplaces. Regarding testing, theDC said the ramped up sam-pling is giving better pictureof infection and has been ef-fective in further controllingthe virus in the district.

Hailing dedication ofevery person involved inCovid mitigation, the DCstressed for sustained effortsto curb the pandemic effec-tively.

Covid situation improves; vaccination,CAB vital to avert 3rd Wave: DC Anantnag


To sensitize the farmersabout Pradhan Mantri UrjaSuraksha evam Uthan Ma-habhiyaan (PM-KUSUM)scheme, Jammu and Kash-mir Energy DevelopmentAgency (JAKEDA) in col-laboration with Department

of Science & Technology to-day organised an awarenesscum publicity programme atmini-secreterait here.

PM-KUSUM is a schemespecially designed andmeant for the upliftment offarmers in the country.

The programme was heldunder the supervision of Dis-

trict Development Chairper-son, Kulgam, M Afzal Par-rey, Deputy Commissioner(DC) Kulgam, Dr.BilalMohi-Ud-Din Bhat.

The District DevelopmentCouncil member, M AbbasRather, CPO, Zahid Sajad,DHO, Dr.Iqbal, CAO, Fa-rooq Ahmad field staff of

Agriculture and HorticultureDepartment participated inthe programme.

On the occasion, Dy-CEO,JAKEDA, Muzaffar AhmadMalik presented the detailsof the scheme and apprisedthe participants about thebenefits of Pradhan MantriUrja Suraksha evam UthanMahabhiyaan (PM-KUSUM).

He added that under thisscheme, Subsidized SolarPowered Agriculture Pumpsin the capacity range of 2 HPto 10 HP shall be provided tothe benificieries who will ap-ply for it.

The scheme envisages 50percent subsidy from CentralGovernment and 30 percentfrom UT Government andthe balance 20 percent isfarmer’s share.

He also informed the par-ticipants about the proce-dures to apply for Solarpumps.

JAKEDA organises awarenessprogramme on PM-KUSUM


The Deputy Commis-sioner (DC) Bandipora, Dr.Owais Ahmad today said thatthe Covid-19 situation is im-proving gradually with asteep decrease in positivecases and improvement in re-covery rate owing to exten-sive testing in containmentzones and vaccination drivelaunched at a large scale inthe district.

While briefing mediaabout the covid scenario inthe district, Dr Owais saidthat the number of activepositive cases has decreasedfurther to 66 with only fourpatients in hospital observa-tion while 62 patients are be-ing monitored at home. Hesaid the recovery rate in the

district has gone above 98percent with 9289 recoveriesso far and 100 deaths.

Dr Owais said the down-fall of the cases is due tostrict containment measuresincluding extensive sam-pling and subsequent vacci-nation drive at a large scale .He said 100 percent vaccina-tion of the 45 plus age grouphas been completed whilecurrently the focus is on thevaccination of 18-45 agegroup and more than 30thousand doses have beenadministered so far in thisage group. He appealed tothe youngsters to come for-ward and get vaccinated atdesignated locations as earlyas possible.

He said there are 23 con-tainment zones in the area in-

cluding the one containmentarea added very recently. Hesaid the positive cases werequickly isolated and masstesting was conducted toavoid spread of the virus andfortunately the situation wasbrought under control.

Dr Owais appreciated thepeople for following covidSOPs during Eid and urgedthem to continue to followthe guidelines as the pan-demic is not over yet.

He appealed to the eligiblepeople to get vaccinatedforthwith so that more vacci-nations in a shorter span oftime are done which willtranslate into significantHerd Immunity sooner.

Hailing efforts of line de-partments and all stakehold-ers for bringing the situation

under control, the DC im-pressed upon them to remainfocussed and committed soas to consolidate the results.

The DC said that theCovid Appropriate Behav-iour (CAB) and SOPs are vi-tal to prevent any spike in in-fections and cautionedagainst any complacency onpart of the stakeholders sothat the virus is kept at bayand its spread is curtailedfurther. He appealed to thepeople not to lower guardand asked them to followguidelines so that adminis-tration is not forced to takeaction against violators. Hesaid the general public canreport the violation of SOPsto the control rooms so thataction can be taken againstviolators

Covid situation improving, active casesconsistently going down: DC B'pora

Jammu Rising NEWS Jammu, Saturday July 24, 2021 Daily4

Shiv sena protest against centre govt over Pegasus snooping issue.


On the second day of hisvisit to J&K UT, BJP Na-tional General Secretary(Organization) B.L. San-tosh, chaired a meeting offormer MLAs & MLCs, atParty headquarter, Jammu,followed by another meet-ing of office bearers of J&Kunit of BJP in presence ofJ&K President RavinderRaina and Seh-PrabhariAshish Sood on Friday.

While speaking in thesemeetings, he said that afterthe Delimitation Commis-sion’s report, the next stepwould be elections and wehave to prepare to contestand register victory withthumping majority. He saidthat the splendid develop-ment under PM NarendraModi during the seven yearsand new projects of Health,Education, Power etc giftedto J&K after its reconstitu-tion are the hallmark of theunion government and thesame need to be highlightedat every plate from so that

the people are made to un-derstand as to who is theirreal well wisher, who standsfor real development of J&Kand who promoted dynasticpolitics.

B.L. Santosh said thatduring the COVID-19 pan-demic, BJP activists were onground round the clock tohelp the people through dif-ferent means and still theytoo have to devote their timein visiting the vaccinationcentres and guide the peo-ple to take benefit of the freevaccine to protect themfrom the deadly CoronaVirus till the country is freedof the Virus. He said that thepandemic can only be con-trolled by the united effortsand the party activists at alllevels are putting their bestin providing food items,sanitizers, face covers etc. tothe needy.

It is the BJP only whereany activist can reach to thehighest position in theparty. Each one of us is onlya carrier of a tradition andnot boss” he said and addedthat Seva hi Sangathan is

the core line of our service tothe humanity.

B.L. Santosh stressed onthe constitution of BoothCommittees and take up theparty’s programmes at thatlevel with proper manage-ment. He also sought detailsfrom the District Prabharisabout the number of Man-dals, their visits to the Man-dals and asked them to putmore efforts to ensure thatparty activists assigned dif-ferent responsibilities are inconstant touch with theirseniors.

Santosh stressed on theparty men to be availablenot on demand but by theiractivity, advising them to bein regular touch with theirrespective booths and par-ticipate in the activites. Healso sought details related tothe working of the head-quarter office and the mediamanagement besides dis-cussing Mann ki Baat pro-gramme and creating what-sapps groups at Mandalslevels.

Prominent among thosewho attended these meet-

ings included National Sec-retary Dr. Narinder Singh,former MP Shamsher SinghManhas, Vice-Presidents S.Varinderjit Singh, Sham LalSharma, Pawan Khajuria,Yudhvir Sethi, ShamChoudhary, Aseem Gupta,General Secretaries Dr.Davinder Manyal, AshokKaul, Adv. Vivodh Gupta,former Dy. Chief MinisterKavinder Gupta, formerPresidents Ashok Khajuria,Sat Sharma, Head QuarterIncharge Priya Sethi, formerMinisters Sukhnandan Ku-mar, Ajay Nanda, ShaktiParihar, Abdul Gani Kholi,Secretaries Arvind Gupta,Rekha Mahajan, TreasurerPrabhat Singh, Office Secre-tary Tilak Raj Gupta,Spokespersons Rajni Sethi,Abhinav Sharma, BalbirRam Rattan, Arun Gupta,Dr. Tahir Choudhary, Abi-jeet Jasrotia, InderjeetSamybal, former MLAs Ra-jeev Sharma, AshwaniSharma, former MLCs Ch.Vikram Randhawa, AllMorcha Incharges MunishSharma.

Be ready for Assembly elections: Santosh


With an aim to promotethe merit and instill thespirit of competitionamong the wards of Policepersonnel, Director Gen-eral of Police, J&K, ShriDilbag Singh has sanc-tioned meritorious schol-arship of rupees 14.60 lakhin favour of 294 wards of

serving Police personnel.The meritorious schol-

arship has been sanc-tioned in favour of thesewards for their perform-ance in the annual exami-nation of class 10th duringthe academic session2020-21. The scholarshiphas been granted out of theCentral Police Welfare

Fund vide PHQ ordernumber 2199 of 2021.

The Scholarship of Ru-pees 6000 each has beengranted in favour of 142wards for securing aboveninety percent marks andRupees 4000 each hasbeen sanctioned in favourof 152 wards who have se-cured eighty percent and

above marks in the exami-nation.

Police Headquarters un-der its welfare scheme hasintroduced various schol-arships to encourage themeritorious wards of serv-ing/retired, martyred/de-ceased police personnel.Besides, financial assis-tance is provided to the

DGP sanctions meritorious scholarship/special reward of Rs. 14.60 lakh for 294 wards

NEW DELHI, JULY23: At least two personswere killed and eightothers injured after asingle-storey house col-lapsed in Shivaji Nagararea of Govandi in east-ern Mumbai early onFriday, a civic officialsaid.

The incident occurredat plot number 3 nearBombay City Hospitalaround 5 am, he said.

"Seven fire enginesand one rescue van ofthe fire brigade, andpersonnel of the policeas well as other agenciesreached the spot andlaunched a search andrescue operation," the

Brihanmumbai Munici-pal Corporation (BMC)official said.

Ten people were in-jured in the incident, he

said, adding that whileseven of them wererushed to theGhatkopar-based Ra-jawadi Hospital, three

others were taken to theLokmanya Tilak Memo-rial Hospital in Sion.

However, doctors atthe Rajawadi Hospitaldeclared two of thembrought dead. The twodeceased were identi-fied as Neha ParvezShaikh (35) and MokarZabir Shaikh, (80). Thecondition of a woman,identified as ShamshadShaikh (45), is critical,he said.

All others are under-going treatment andtheir condition is stable,the official added.

Further details aboutthe incident areawaited.

Two dead, eight injured as housecollapses in Mumbai's Govandi


Jammu and Kashmir ForestDepartment and its alliedwings of Social Forestry, WildLife Protection and Soil andWater Conservation depart-ments have formulated an am-bitious plan envisaging largescale afforestation during cur-rent monsoon season acrossvarious districts of Jammu re-gion.

Commissioner SecretaryForests, Sanjeev Verma, in-formed this while chairing ameeting held here to reviewand finalize modalities re-garding effective implemen-tation of the plan.

PCCF Forest Department,S. Mohit Gera, PCCF/Direc-tor, Department of SocialForestry, Roshan Jaggi, ChiefWildlife Warden, SureshGupta and other concerned of-ficers were present in themeeting.

It was decided in the meet-ing that plantation on de-graded forests, Village Com-mon Lands, State Lands andPanchayat lands shall be takenup with active participation ofGram Panchayats. The offi-cers were advised to educatethe people through PRIs atdistrict, block and panchayat

level to fully participate inthese plantation drives.

Meanwhile, the SocialForestry Department has alsodrawn up a plan under FarmForestry Programme to pro-vide different plant saplings tointerested farmers and com-mon people as well at subsi-dized rates. It was informedthat the department which hasplayed an important role inlast couple of decades in rais-ing plantations on vacant landacross the length and breadthof Union Territory of Jammuand Kashmri shall take upplantation of 14.15 lakhsaplings over 1802 hectare ofarea in different districts ofJammu region. Similarly, thedepartment shall undertakeplantation of 10.35 lakhsaplings over an area of 1192hectare in different districtasof Kashmir region duringwinter season.

It was further informed thata comprehensive plan hasbeen chalked out by SocialForestry Department for Vil-lage Panchayats through Vil-lage Panchayat PlantationCommittees (VPPC’s) re-garding involvement of localpeople in taking up the plan-tations on common land, pro-prietary land, institutional

land like schools, colleges,hospitals and different linedepartments.

Pertinently, the Govern-ment has recently decidedthat all activities of the de-partment including Plantationand Management of MaturePlantations shall be taken upby VPPC’s within the juris-diction of their respectivepanchayats.

The meeting was apprisedthat benefits like fodder, fueland small timber shall flowfree of cost to panchayats and75% revenue to be obtainedafter final harvest shall be de-posited in the VPPC’s ac-count. The DDCs and BDCsare also taking active part inplantation drives of the de-partment within their respec-tive jurisdiction.

As per the directions ofJ&K Chief Secretary, the for-est and allied departmentshave also drawn up a plan toutilize “MG-NREGA” fundsfor taking up plantation activ-ities. This will go a long wayin enhancing benefits of theplan for the people of the areaand activities like protectionof forests from forest fire andremoval of weeds like lantanaclearance shall be taken upunder MG-NREGA.

Later, Commissioner Sec-retary reviewed constructionand beautification works be-ing done on Jammu Zoo andexpressed satisfaction overthe pace of progress on theproject. He was informed thatthe project is expected to becompleted soon.

Commissioner Secretary reviews modalities forsuccessful implementation

Jammu, Saturday July 24, 2021 Daily Jammu Rising NEWS5


The inhabitants of Bhaderwah havedemanded from the local administrationand Municipal Committee Bhaderwahto construct beautiful park in new busstand Kotli Bhaderwah as despite of somany facilities in and around the Newbus stand , there is no public park wherepassengers and tourists could have restfor few minutes . Local also informedthat there is vacant space available duly

acquired by the Urban Local bodies de-partment which is yet to be utilized be-sides a patch of stand land is also avail-able where beautiful park can beconstructed for the benefit of people . "Ivisited new bus stand Kotli Bhaderwahlast month but found no park to sit alongwith family as Bhaderwah is a famoustourist destination and there is immediateneed of construction of park for thebeautification of the area ," said JavedAhmed , a resident of Bhaderwah area.

"The local administration and Munici-pal Committee Bhaderwah should con-struct a park in new bus stand to providerelief to the passengers and tourists ."Ra-jinder Singh a visitor from Khellani area, said the construction of park in thepremises of new bus stand will not onlyhelp tackle the issue of parking but alsohelp the local administration to generateits own financial resources and there isspace available for the construction ofpark .

Construction of Park demanded in NewBus Stand Kotli Bhaderwah


Lights, Camera, Action—and the game begins.

The scene at various sportsstadia nowadays across thissensitive region is often visi-ble with crowds cheering uptheir favourites, sounds ofhip-hip hurray echoing andthe sports lovers enjoyingevery moment being part ofthe game.

Night tournaments culturehas finally made a comebackwith Jammu and KashmirSports Council reviving ithence, signifying ushering ofpeace and harmony acrossthe Union Territory.

The sports sector remainedone of the worst hamperedsince decades due to mili-tancy and political activitiesin Jammu and Kashmir butthe scenario has graduallystarted changing and bring-ing revolution in the field ofsports.

“Sports have finallystarted making a comebackin Jammu and Kashmir witha special focus by the gov-ernment,” an official said.

And, as a part of ongoingprocess of taking sports toevery nook and corner of theUnion Territory, Jammu and

Kashmir Sports Council—the highest body cateringsports—in a first, have initi-ated with the revival of nighttournaments in different dis-ciplines, which symbolisesreturn of peace and harmonyin the regions.

The tournaments at pres-ent are being conducted inthe disciplines of Basketball,Football, Kabaddi and Box-ing but in days ahead, sportsactivities will be taking a dri-ver’s seat, said an official.

Principal Secretary, J&KYouth Services and Sports,Alok Kumar speaking toUNI said, ''due to COVIDhindrances, sports activitiescould not be organised andnow with relaxation around,we begun with PremierLeague matches.''

''Night tournaments cul-ture has been revived acrossthe UT. We have increasedlighting, upgraded requiredfacilities in districts andmany night tournaments arein progress.''

''We have seen people en-joying and crowd cheeringup players during night tour-naments being organisedwith appropriate COVID be-haviour,” Mr Kumar ex-pressed and said, “much

more events are in pipelinefollowing all SOPs andCOVID guidelines in viewof apprehended Third Waveand we do not want to be thesuper spreader.''

The Principal Secretaryasserted that such activitieswill be continuing in futureas well as all those infra-structural set up where nightlight facilities and otherarrangements are in stand-ing.

''People have been fed upof COVID pandemic, sosports is one of the bestmediums to refresh theirminds besides keeping ouryouth away from drug abuseand other social evils,'' saidMr Kumar.

He said the sports will be a'new normal' in the comingdays and private clubs willalso be included to give aboost to this sector.

Secretary, J&K SportsCouncil, Nuzhat Gul toldUNI that participation of en-thusiastic crowds duringnight tournaments haveshown how people are crazyabout sports in Jammu andKashmir.

''The night tournamentsare being organised in bothJammu as well as Kashmir

regions,'' she said, furthermaintaining that the initia-tive has been named as 'BackTo Community' with an aimto involve every section ofthe community to flourishsports at grassroots level.

''Community participationcan take sports to the grass-roots level, which ultimatelyhelps in identifying the talentfor further training in thehands of professionals,'' MsGul said.

Sports activities will alsobe enhanced further with theinvolvement of the corporatesector and everybody, whowants to be a sportsperson bychoice, will be supportedwith facilities and equip-ment.''Night tournaments arealso initiated as a part of theanti-drug campaign and if wehave to save our future gen-erations, there is no otherbetter platform than sports,''said the Secretary and addedthat sports have processednew thoughts among youthwhen pandemic has grippedevery head.

''Sports develop bonding,connect people and are ush-ering peace across theJammu and Kashmir forbright future stars,'' said MsGul.

Sports Council's night tournament culturesignifies ushering of peace in J&K


Krishi Vigyan Kendra Doda todayconducted one day training pro-gramme on Integrated Nutrient Man-agement in field crop for the exten-sion functionaries of AgricultureProduction and Farmers' Welfare De-partment Doda through Google meet.The programme was conducted underthe guidance of Dr J.P. Sharma, ViceChancellor, SKUAST Jammu andwas organized by the team of scien-tists of KVK Doda headed by Dr S.K.Gupta Director Extension SKUASTJammu. Agriculture Extension func-tionaries from different zones of Dis-trict Doda attended the programme.

The programme started with wel-come address by Dr Narinder Paul.He apprised the participants about thepurpose of the training programmeand highlighted the role of integratednutrient management in field crops incontext of the soil health and increas-ing production. Dr AS Charak SeniorScientist and Head KVK Doda gavea detailed presentation on the inte-grated nutrient management of thefield crops grown in District Dodaand urged upon for disseminating theknowledge gained through trainingsto the farmers of the district. Discus-sion was held on the various queriesraised by the participants on nanourea, micronutrients and organic ma-

nures. Anil Gupta, Chief Agriculture Of-

ficer Doda while speaking on the oc-casion stressed upon organization ofmore such programmes for the exten-sion functionaries to build up theircapacity to meet the expectations ofthe farming community on one handand department on the other. Hecalled for regular conduct of work-shops and extension functionariesand scientists' interactions. AshokKumar, Reeta Kotwal, Sanjeev Ku-mar Zutsi, Sajjad Ahmad, Aftab Ah-mad, Pankaj Kohli, Art Sharma,Rahila Shameem and other extensionfunctionaries attended the pro-gramme.

KVK Doda Conducts trainingprogramme on INM


Senior Social Activist and ProminentLeader Ajeet Bhagat expresssed concernover the non implementation of MahatmaGandhi National Rural EmploymentGuarantee Act [ MGNREGA] Rural De-velopment Department [ RDD ] DistrictKishtwar is bound to create works for jobcard holders and if such works are notcreated the department is bound to paythe wages to job card holders at the rateof Rs 20, 400 per year but here in District

Kishtwar job card have issued butwork has not been alloted. With the result

there is no gurantee of Job Card for thepoor educated unemployed youths. Sameis the condition of the horticulture andagriculture departments.

There are so many farmers who are in-terested to develop orchards in their areabut no assistance is being provided.nobarbed wire for fencing, the polythenecovers/ green houses have been providedto those , who are having their own or-chards with the result none shows interestto develop orchards in this regard,Headded.

Bhagat also demanded enhancingwages under[ MGNREGA] from Rs 204

to 500 per day and preparing job cards ofthose living Below Poverty Line[ BPL]so that the poor section of the societycould get benefits from this centrallysponsored scheme optimally.

Ajeet Bhagat appealed to the Lt. Gover-nor of Jammu and Kashmir,Chief Secre-tary Jammu and Kashmir, DivisionalCommissioner Jammu, Director RuralDevelopment Department RDD Jammuand District Development CommissionerKishtwar to look into the matter and is-sue instruction to the department for pro-viding jobs to the youths under [MGN-REGA].

Concern over non implementation of MGNREGAin District Kishtwar. Ajeet Bhagat


Roma Bahl-a prominent artist organ-ised an online painting exhibition here to-day with the title ‘Poetry in Colors’whichwere lauded by the netizens. ‘Poetry inColours’ have some of her works whichwere very much appreciated and receivedgood reviews from art fraternity and artlovers.

It is pertinent to share that Roma Bahl isa well known artist of art world who hasparticipated in many exhibitions at Na-

tional and International level. She dis-plays good knowledge of colours throughher paintings and her work puts her in thelist of well known artist of Jammu andKashmir. In the exhibition, she showedgood command and knowledge of thesubject and mediums like acrylic, oilpaints, mixed media and inks. The onlineaudiences enjoyed her work and some ofthe special mentioned work from her col-lection are Red Rains, Reflection, Birth-day Celebration, Blue clouds, BurningSaint, Friends, Golden Forest, Blue Bird,

God is watching, Journey, landscape andGreen Forest.

According to her when covid-19 hit theworld many artists were not able to show-case their talent and it was a great setbackfor artist and art world . She further addsthat situation like these should be utilisedby using social handle and reach out tothe audience. It also gives encouragementto the artist and with this positive thoughtshe decided to show her works on socialmedia which was well appreciated by artfraternity and art lovers

Roma displays good knowledge of colors


Bharti Airtel has announced new post-paid plans for Corporate and Retail cus-tomers. “In the post-pandemic world, theabundance of high-speed data is increas-ingly becoming a key need for customers;as Work From Home and Online Educa-tion is the new normal. In this context,Airtel’s has further simplified its Postpaidplans to offer industry-leading data bene-fits backed by a 5G ready network and su-perior digital-first customer care. Theplans also come with a range of exclusivebenefits such as bundled content andbusiness productivity tools,” a press com-muniqué issued by the company said.

Ajay Chitkara, Director and CEO - Air-tel Business said, “Over the past fewyears, Airtel has made massive invest-ments in spectrum, infrastructure, and lat-est technologies to build a 5G ready andsecure network that can support the digitaltransformation journeys of our cus-tomers. Our new Postpaid plans offer aholistic connectivity solution along withindustry-leading benefits to meet the pro-ductivity requirements of our customers in

the post-pandemic world.”As per the new tariff for retail cus-

tomers, a plan with 40 GB of data and un-limited calls will cost Rs 399 per monthfor a single number and will have Airtelthanks benefits including Wynk MusicApp, Airtel Xstream App, Shaw Acad-emy (1 year), Free Hello tunes. Similarly,Rs 499 per month plan will allow a sin-gle number to enjoy 75 GB data besidesunlimited calls and Airtel Thanks bene-fits including Amazon Prime (1 year),Disney+ Hotstar VIP (1 year), VIP Ser-vice, Airtel Secure, Wynk Music AppPremium, Airtel Xstream App Premium,Shaw Academy.While with the similarThanks benefits, Rs 999 per month planwith unlimited calls will allow 210 GBcombined data with two add-on numbers(1+2) and a Rs 1599 plan with unlimitedcalls will allow unlimited data and interna-tional roaming on a number with one add-on (1+1). However, additional addonswill cost Rs 299 per month with a 30 GBdata cap. The company has discontinuedits 749 Family Postpaid Plan for new cus-tomers and will now offer 999 as the onlyFamily Postpaid Plan with enhanced data

benefits. Now, Customers can add a con-nection to any Airtel Postpaid plan at justRs 299/SIM and get 30 GB additionaldata (10 GB earlier), unlimited calling,and Thanks benefits.

A key feedback Airtel received fromcustomers was the need for more data asthe entire family’s use of digital platformshas increased manifold. As a response,Airtel has refreshed its Family Postpaidplans to help its customers navigate thenew normal. With its simplified Postpaidproposition, customers can also easilybundle add-on connections with en-hanced data benefits to their existingplans. Also, the new corporate plans in-troduced by the company include Rs 299per month for 30GB data and Rs 349 permonth with 40GB data with Airtel CallManager and few Thanks benefit, Rs 399(60GB data) with Tracemate, GoogleWorkspace besides Call Manager and Rs499 for 100 GB and Rs 1599 for 500 Gbper month. The communiqué added thatall the eligible Airtel Corporate customerswill be migrated to the new plans, as appli-cable, from their subsequent billing cy-cles.

Airtel upgrades its Postpaid Plans toserve evolving customer needs

NOTICEI, AFIFA SHOKET

KOHLI D/O SHOKETHUSSAIN R/O MOHAL-LA GUJJAR ABADUPPER ROOP NAGARJAMMU APROCHEDTHE JDA FOR TRANS-FER OF LEASE HOLDRIGHT OF PLOT NO 1SECTOR 1B MEASUR-ING 1560SFT SITUAT-ED AT ROOP NAGARHOUSING COLONYJAMMU IF ANY BODYIS HAVING ANYOBJECTIONS WITHREFERENCE TOTRANSFER OF LEASEHOLD RIGHT OFABOVE SAID PLOTHE/SHE MAYAPPROACH JDAOFFICE WITH IN FIF-TEEN (15) DAYS.


BJP Mahila Morcha cel-ebrated new domicile re-form where Jammu Kash-mir government to issuedomicile certificate to thespouse of a native women.Earlier Jammu Kashmirwomen who were marriedoutside the union territory,made their spouse ineligi-ble for union territorydomicile. BJP mahila mor-cha celebrated this new re-form in a grand style. Aprogram was being organ-ized at party headquarter.Around 200 women partic-ipated in the program.

The program was wit-nessed by national organi-zation general secretaryB.L Santhosh, BJP JammuKashmir President Ravin-der Raina, organizationgeneral secretary AshokKaul, former minister Priyasethi and many other seniorparty leaders.

B.L Santosh in his state-ment said abrogation of ar-ticle 370 and 35A reversedyears of immorality. Jus-tice, dignity and equality ofJammu Kashmir women’shave been delivered. The

women of J&K have beenfilled with joy as now gov-ernment will issue domicileto spouse’s of nativewomen. He further JammuKashmir were facing dis-crimination and step-moth-erly treatment. BJP foughtfor equality right from thetime of Praja Parishad.

Ravinder Raina said wehave always been at theforefront against sepa-ratism in Jammu Kasmir.We fought against article370 and 35A and mademany sacrifices. This new

domicile reform is a matterof great relief for thewomen of Jammu Kashmirwho are married outsidethe union territory. Thisshows that J&K has fullyintegrated with the rest ofthe country.

Ashok kaul saidWomen’s are celebratingthis new law with immensejoy and happiness. The na-tive Women of this unionterritory were deprived oftheir rights since 1947. Arti-cle 370 was the root causeof hurting sentiments of

various sections of societyespecially women.

Priya Sethi in her state-ment said we suffered dis-crimination for manydecades due to article 370and 35A. We suffered a lot.As a women we were de-nied civil rights. All thecredit goes to Prime Minis-ter Modi, union ministerAmit Shah and LG ManojSinha for giving justice tothe women’s of JammuKashmir. With new re-forms democracy is fullyimplemented.

BJPMahila Morcha celebrated new domicile law

Jammu Rising

EDITORIALJammu, Saturday July 24, 2021 6

Stay away fromtemples under

Dharmath Trust

Senior Congressleader Dr KaranSingh—who is

also the ChairmanTrustee of DharmathT r u s t — We d n e s d a ywarned Kashmiri Pandits"not to indulge in affairsof temples and shrinesunder the Trust." "We aresurprised to see thatmany KPs have made it abusiness to be part oftemples and shrinesunder Dharmath Trust.We strongly condemnsuch an approach," DrSingh, according to hisclose aide, has said."Take the case ofHariparbat temple wherea self-styled group ofKPs is collecting dona-tion which, according toour information, goes toJammu. This attitude isnot tolerable. Hariparbattemple was constructedby MahrajaPratap Singhin 1920 and is aDharmath Trust proper-ty." He said KPs whoclaim to be "only Hindusin the country" should"not poke their nose inaffairs of temples andshrines under the Trust."On the shrine bill, hesaid the law, if passed bythe State legislature, ".

Shreya Singhal

It’s quite James Bond-esque; alle-gations of governments spying ontheir own people, questions being

parried by prevarications, and the hyper-bolic self-aggrandisement by a privatecompany. What the NSO-Pegasus exposéhas made amply clear, in case there wasstill any doubt, is that in the 21st century,it’s not merely about money or ammuni-tion, but rather the real weapon, one oflimitless potential and even greaterpropensity for harm — information. In-formation is power.

There has not been an outright denialfrom either the Indian government orNSO that the Indian government is aclient or uses the Pegasus software. TheNSO has stated that only governments,specifically law enforcement and intelli-gence organisations, are its customers,and not private entities. But the software isdesigned to be insidious. It does not usethe earlier spear-phishing attack, whichrequired a potential target to click on amalicious link to download infected code.Instead, it uses a “zero-click” attackwhich allows the device to be taken overremotely by exploiting software andhardware vulnerabilities.

Those who were supposedly targetedrange from the uppermost echelons of thejudiciary, Opposition party leaders, ac-tivists and journalists. Potential voices ofdissent.

Confined to our homes for the betterpart of a year, it seems that we are nowfaced with a high possibility of loss of

personal liberty. The Constitution guar-antees citizens of India the freedom ofthought, speech, expression, and recentlythe Supreme Court declared the right toprivacy a fundamental right. These are vi-tal for a nation to be able to identify itselfas a democracy. However, the stifling ofvoices of bearers of information, of dis-sent and of opinions, has made thebuzzing murmur now a deafening din —toe the line.

The Israeli Defence Ministry’s state-ment, that Pegasus and other cyber prod-ucts are exported “exclusively to govern-ment entities” and are “only for thepurpose of preventing and investigatingcrime and counter terrorism”, leads oneto think about the recent past. In Decem-ber 2018, the government authorised 10security and intelligence agencies to in-tercept, monitor and decrypt any informa-tion generated, transmitted, received orstored in any computer resource. ThisFebruary, the notification of the Interme-diary Guidelines and Digital MediaEthics Rules, seemingly to clamp downon the impunity with which social mediaplatforms operate, led to the now famousTwitter debacle. Both these notificationsare currently under challenge before theSupreme Court.

As a citizenry, we are at a tipping point,witnessing the slow erosion of democ-racy: If they are targeting those withpower, what of “us” with quieter voices?The earlier notifications issued by thegovernment had some conceivablechecks and balances; for example, autho-

risation is required before any of the 10notified agencies can intercept, monitoror decrypt any information. This andother grounds are being taken by the gov-ernment before the Supreme Court to de-fend its stance. “History shows that it isalways subtle and insidious encroach-ments made ostensibly for a good causethat imperceptibly but surely corrode thefoundations of liberty” (Maneka Gandhivs Union of India, 1978).

Let’s make no bones about it — Pegasushas been used to illegally hack into peo-ple’s lives and to obtain private informa-tion outside the boundaries of the law.Having seen the mendacious propagandain the build-up to the state elections lastyear, the treatment of farmers and stu-dents protesting the citizenship law, thelack of public outcry can only signal thatthe dangerous forces at work are succeed-ing.Freedom of thought, speech, expres-sion and privacy are something that wehave to protect, because at this bleak hourthere is no one else. These rights go handin hand with each other. The alleged use ofPegasus to illegally hack into persons’lives, listen in on private conversations,to thereafter use this private informationagainst said persons in hope of gainingundue advantage, are all outside theboundaries of the law. Political espionageat this level shows the insidious conductand intent. If the allegations of the gov-ernment using Pegasus are found to becorrect, then what are the safeguards toprotect our rights?

Sections 43 and 66 of the Information

Technology Act, 2000 criminalise hack-ing. Should it be proved that the Indiangovernment used the Pegasus software tohack into the phones of its citizens, with-out any reasonable cause, it would be awatershed moment, akin to Watergate.

A person has the basic fundamentalrights of liberty, privacy, speech and ex-pression amongst others. The governmentbarging into closed doors and private con-versations is deplorable. The effect is thata person does not have the freedom tothink, to speak or even be in the privacy oftheir own homes. Instead of being able totake constructive criticism, hearing thevoice of the people on their problems andusing that to course correct, the govern-ment prefers to simply silence dissent andthe minority.

The Data Protection Bill (yet to bepassed by Parliament) offers no protec-tion in respect of surveillance. A govern-ment whose surveillance policy is opaqueand covert offers no remedies and actualrecourse. These policies have a chillingeffect.

The majority is not always right. Ademocracy has the indelible right to ques-tion, to demand answers and explana-tions. State surveillance and a police stateare oppressive. Surveillance on this levelwould have the effect of instilling fearand directly hampering a person’s abilityto freely make their own decisions andpander to the majority. It would lead topeople craving the anonymity offered byprotection of the majority at the cost offree speech.

Pegasus scandal shows we cannot takeprivacy for granted

Partha Mukhopadhyay Do shades of colour on a piece

of paper really matter? For thosewho ask, Khori, a settlement onthe border of Delhi andHaryana, is a stark reminder ofthe power of colour. Estimatedby some to be as large as Darjeel-ing, it is now being progressivelydemolished under the directionsof the Supreme Court, because itlies on a tract of land that is notcoloured yellow on paper. Forthose who believe that the masterplan can be ignored, because lifeis “negotiated”, the erstwhileresidents of Khori provide asobering reality check. In thismaster plan, an explosion ofpink — an acknowledgement ofDelhi’s “unauthorised colonies”— differentiates it from its pred-ecessor. It’s a relic of incompleteconversations between previousplans and people. But the pinklayer sits uneasily on manycolours other than yellow, in-cluding some on the dreadedgreen. Citizens in Delhi ignorethis reality at their peril. This isjust one reason for them to en-gage with this master plan sub-stantively.

Though conversations be-

tween planners and those af-fected by planning have not beena strong point of master plan-ning, the Master Plan for 2041made a determined break fromthis past and adopted a widerconsultative approach. As itstates, “opinions, views and as-pirations of the people of Delhiwere garnered through continu-ous engagement …by partneringwith CSOs, RWA federations,market associations, profes-sional bodies, public campaignsetc., as well as through direct in-teraction with people. Dedicatedonline public consultations wereheld from September-November2020, including sessions withyouth, persons with disabilities,professionals, NGOs working ongender issues, people living inunauthorised colonies andslums, traders, industry repre-sentatives, etc.” It would be apity if this encouraging begin-ning was not fully leveraged toinform the planning process.This is especially so because theresponse from civil society hasnot just been vigorous, but alsoinformed and constructive —across a diverse range of classesand interests.

This engagement presumablygenerated a variety of inputs forthe DDA, as well as the NationalInstitute of Urban Affairs, whowere involved in producing thedocument. Indeed, some of thisis reflected in Volume I, whichattempts to set out a “vision” forDelhi. The old planning processexpected individual objectionssuch as a particular road align-ment causing problems for spe-cific properties. But in this newprocess of, hopefully, co-pro-ducing a vision, it is only fairand democratic that the draftplan be discussed thoroughlyamong those who had providedthe initial suggestions and thenobjections, if any, be registeredas per the given process. Itwould behove the DDA to returnto at least some of the more dis-advantaged communities withwhom they had held initial con-sultations, and discuss how theplan seeks to address their con-cerns. It would herald the begin-ning of productive conversa-tions that have yet tosubstantially imbue the plan-ning of Delhi.

To “foster a sustainable, live-able and vibrant Delhi”, inclu-

sion and equity are key ingredi-ents. The poor visibility of gen-der issues in planning for a citythat, fairly or unfairly, is excori-ated for its treatment of womenis concerning. The state alsoneeds to be mindful that manyof its actions exacerbate in-equality, rather than mitigate it.For example, the way resettle-ment colonies, which are fullyplanned formal spaces, are lo-cated and serviced. While vol-ume I does appear to strike adifferent path, it is not entirelyclear that Volume II, especiallySection 9, is fully aligned withthis direction. The intent here isnot to discuss substantive is-sues, but to insist that a diverseset of perspectives be as fullyaired as possible, in a construc-tive and mutually respectfulmanner.

Delhi’s governance structuremakes such conversations espe-cially important. It functions, asthe plan notes, “as a Union terri-tory with a special status desig-nated as the National CapitalTerritory of Delhi… [which]comprises of multiple local bod-ies that operate in separate ju-risdictions. While, this … leads

to institutional complexity andchallenges of multi-agency co-ordination”, it also limits thescope of representative partici-pation since the subject of land isin the domain of the Union gov-ernment, and not with either theGovernment of the NCT of Delhior the local bodies. The currentplan provided a consultation pe-riod of 45 days. Not only is thislimiting during a pandemic, it isalso worth noting that Chapter3 of the 1959 rules for masterplans did provide for “sugges-tions and objections in writing, ifany, in respect of the draft mas-ter plan [to] be filed …within 90days from the date of first publi-cation of the notice.” Given thenew improved approach toplanning, which DDA has initi-ated with this plan and the limi-tations on consultations duringthe pandemic, it would be betterif at least the original 90 days oran even longer time frame of(say) 120 days is provided fordiscussion. This would also pro-vide citizen groups time to re-view the extensive baseline stud-ies that underlie this plan, whichthe DDA made public just a weekago.

Why authorities must allow people of Delhi moretime to respond to the Master Plan for 2041

Varad Pande , Sub-hashish Bhadra

The central government hasrecently set up an advisorycouncil for Open Network forDigital Commerce (ONDC) todigitise e-commerce valuechains, standardise operations,promote inclusion of suppliers,and derive efficiencies in logis-tics. This is another effort bythe government to facilitate thecreation of shared digital infra-structure, as it has previouslydone for identity (Aadhaar)and payments (Unified Pay-ments Interface).

India’s approach of standard-ising the digital infrastructurelayer, either as its creator or fa-cilitator, is unique and offerslearnings for other countries.When done well, this approachcan level the playing field andcreate value for users. The e-commerce sector is ripe forsuch disruption. The market isdominated by a few playerswho are facing investigations

for unfair trade practices inmany countries. The sector ischaracterised by many smallplayers who individually do nothave the muscle to have an equi-table bargain with e-commercecompanies. Economists callthis a “market failure”, and itpresents a legitimate case forintervention. However, this ap-proach also comes with risksand we should tread with cau-tion. In general, governmentsshould intervene in marketsonly when there is a clearlyidentifiable market failure ormassive societal benefits fromcreating shared infrastructure.Moreover, we should designthe system such that it has thegreatest chance of success. Thethree “layers” of an open digi-tal ecosystem — tech, gover-nance and community — pro-vide a useful conceptualframework to think of bothadoption and safeguards.

The “tech layer” should be de-signed for minimalism and de-

centralisation. If possible, thegovernment should restrict itsrole to facilitating standardsand protocols that provideopen access, and in gettingthem adopted organically.Building an entire tech plat-form should happen only if astandards-based approachdoesn’t suffice. If built, the plat-form should be built on “pri-vacy by design” principles. Itshould collect minimalamounts of data (especiallypersonal data) and store it in adecentralised manner so thatthere is no honeypot for hack-ers. Data exchange protocolsshould be designed to minimisefriction but be based on clearrules that protect the consumerinterest. Tools like blockchaincould be used to build techni-cal safeguards that cannot beoverridden without active con-sent.

The “governance layer”around this should allay busi-ness fears of excessive state in-

tervention in e-commerce. Anydeployment of standards ortech should be accompanied bylaw or regulation that lays outthe scope of the project. If col-lection of any personal data isenvisaged, passing the dataprotection bill and creating anindependent regulator shouldbe a precondition. To assurethe industry of fairness, thegovernment could hand overthe stewardship of the stan-dards or platform to an inde-pendent society or non-profit.

Finally, a “community layer”can foster a truly inclusive andparticipatory process. This maybe achieved by making civil so-ciety and the public active con-tributors by, for example, mak-ing recordings or minutes ofthe meetings of this committeepublic, and seeking wide feed-back on drafts of the proposal.Once the framework is imple-mented, ensuring quick andtime-bound redressal of griev-ances will help build trust in the

system. The government’schampioning of open-sourcetechnology for digital com-merce is commendable. Itshould also push the envelopeon the other principles of theopen-source movement —transparency, collaboration,release early and often, inclu-sive meritocracy, and commu-nity.

Even if we do all things right,an infrastructure-led approachmay not be sufficient. For ex-ample, although UPI was set upto provide a level playing field,the top two service providerstoday process over 80 per centof transactions. Therefore, weneed to supplement infrastruc-ture with tightly-tailored regu-lation. Many countries are ex-ploring the concept of“interoperability”, that is, man-dating that private digital plat-forms like e-commerce firmsenable their users and suppli-ers to seamlessly solicit busi-ness on other platforms.

How Open Network for Digital Commerce coulddisrupt India’s e-commerce space

Jammu Rising SPORTSDaily7 Jammu, Saturday July 24, 2021

BUDAPEST, JULY23:Asian Games gold medal-list wrestler Vinesh Phogatmade an angry outburstthrough her Twitter handlelate on Thursday night, ex-pressing her disappointmentat her physiotherapist Poorn-ima Ngomdir not being givenaccreditation by the IndianOlympic Association despitesending the request longback.

"Is it a crime to ask for onePhysiotherapist for fourwomen wrestlers when thereare instances of one athletehaving multiple coaches/Staff? Where is the balance?We have asked for a Physio

long back and not at the lastmoment as reported.@IOA_Official @PMOIndia@ianuragthakur," read the26-year-old's tweet citing apicture of a report done byThe Times of India on the is-sue.

Vinesh, seen as a goldmedal hopeful, will competein the women's freestyle 53kgcategory. Her first match isscheduled for August 5 andshe will depart for Tokyofrom her training base in Bu-dapest on July 26. This will be

her second appearance at theOlympics. Vinesh is headedto Tokyo as the No. 1-rankedwrestler in her category.

In the 2016 Rio Olympics,Phogat was carried off themat on a stretcher after suffer-ing a career-threatening kneeinjury in the quarterfinalsagainst Sun Yanan of China.

Since the surgery and reha-bilitation, Vinesh has been infine form, winning the gold in2018 Commonwealth Gamesand Asian Games followedby a bronze medal in the 2019World Championships. Ear-lier this year, she won the goldmedal in the Asian Champi-onships.

Vinesh Phogat's angry outburst forphysio not getting accreditation

PATIALA, JULY23:Wrestler Jaskaran Singh'sperformance at the ongoingWorld cadet wrestlingChampionship finally endedPunjab’s three-decade waitfor a medal.

Singh, a 16-year-oldwrestler from Mandaur vil-lage in Patiala, won a silvermedal at the World Champi-onship (July 19-25) beingheld at Budapest, Hungary.

Notably, Randhir Singhwas the last wrestler of Pun-jab to win a medal at theWorld Cadet Championshipin 1987.

Jaskaran, who has beentrained by the coaches SarajSingh and Gurmel Singh atthe Rustum-E- Hind Pe-hwlan Kesar Singh Akahdain Patiala, has won the silvermedal in the 60 kg weightcategory in freestylewrestling. He defeated fourwrestlers one-sided in therun-up to the final bout. Inthe final, Jaskaran lost toKamronbek Kadamov ofUzbekistan.

Singh has already wonseveral medals at the Na-tional level Championships.

Saraj Singh said, “It wasJaskaran’s first internationaltournament, and he won amedal. He is a talentedyoung wrestler and will go along way.”

It has been learned thatJaskaran’s family had movedto Patiala from their village a

few years ago -- just to sup-port Jaskaran. Ranjeet Singh,Jaskaran's father, said, "Wehad shifted to Patiala to sup-port Jaskaran. We are veryhappy with his performance.We are thankful to hiscoaches."

Arjun awardee PalwinderSingh Cheema, incharge ofJaskaran's akahda, said,“Jaskaran has made every-

one proud. The hard work ofJaskaran and his coacheshave resulted in a bigachievement. I think this per-formance will inspire otherwrestlers.”

Mohinder Singh, GeneralSecretary, Patiala wrestlingassociation, said, “Thismedal will give a big boost tothe wrestling sport in thestate. “

Punjab lad shines at world cadetwrestling championship

TOKYO, JULY 23:The sky over theNational Stadium in Tokyo exploded inindigo and white as fireworks markedthe start of the opening ceremony forthe Olympics on Friday, celebrating theworld's best athletes set to competeamid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Postponed for a year, organisers wereforced to take the unprecedented step ofholding the Games without fans as thenovel coronavirus is on the rise again,taking lives around the world.

Even the opening ceremony, nor-mally a star-studded display teemingwith celebrities was eerily silent, withfewer than 1,000 people in attendance,strict social distancing rules, and signscalling on the spectators to "be quietaround the venue". Regardless, it marksa coming together of the world, with anaudience of hundreds of millionsaround the globe and at various stagesof the pandemic tuning in to watch thestart of the greatest show in sport.

Indigo and white are the colours ofTokyo's Olympic emblem.

The opening video featured at the sta-dium recapped Japan's path to theGames and the challenges the world hasfaced since the selection of the Japan-ese capital as host in 2013.

It showed how in 2020 the coron-avirus struck, with lockdowns forcingthe unprecedented postponement onlyfour months before the Games weresupposed to open, setting off a roller-coaster period of uncertainty and prepa-rations in isolation for the athletes.

Some of them are expected to use theceremony to make statements aboutequality and justice and several nationswill be represented by a man and awoman after the organisers changedtheir rules to allow two flagbearers.

Japan had billed the Olympics as anecho of the 1964 Tokyo Games, whichmarked the country's return to the worldstage after its devastating World WarTwo defeat, but this time showcasing itsrecovery from the 2011 earthquake,tsunami, and nuclear crisis.

Shortly before the fireworks, theopening video turned into the live ac-

tion shot of the stadium where a lone fe-male athlete placed her hand on theground over a single seed.

She then slowly stood up with hershadow stretching out in the shape of aseedling, underscoring the Games'theme of rebirth after the pandemic aswell as Japan's reconstruction after the2011 disasters.

With Tokyo's streets mostly emptyfor the long weekend, a small numberof the biggest enthusiasts bravedscorching heat and heavy security to geta photo in front of Tokyo's Olympic Sta-dium on Friday morning.

"The coronavirus pandemic started,and it was a tough year," said EtsukoIyazama, a 62-year-old retiree andticket holder. "I hope people will say inthe end that it was good that we held theOlympics." But by the evening hun-dreds of protesters carrying placardsthat read “Lives over Olympics”protested around the venue. The protest-ers, a mix of people in white surgicalmasks, yelled “Stop the Olympics” asthey marched.

No frills openingThe opening is taking place without

the usual mass choreography, hugeprops, and cornucopia of dancers, ac-tors, and lights associated with past cel-ebrations.

A vastly smaller number of athletes

will march in the teams' parade, withmany planning to fly in just before theircompetitions and leave shortly after toavoid infections.

Only 15 global leaders are in atten-dance, along with Japanese EmperorNaruhito, who will formally open theGames as his grandfather Hirohito didin 1964, and US First Lady Jill Biden.

The ceremony is marked by high-pro-file absences, including former PrimeMinister Shinzo Abe, who wooed theGames to Tokyo. Anumber of top spon-sors and economic leaders will also stayaway, highlighting strong opposition tothe sporting extravaganza in COVID-fatigued Japan.

Only a third of the nation have hadeven one dose of vaccines, promptingworries the Games could become a su-per-spreader event. More than 100 peo-ple involved with the Olympics have al-ready tested positive.

The Olympics have been hit by astring of scandals, including the exit ofsenior officials over derogatory com-ments about women, jokes about theHolocaust, and bullying.

The Games run until August 8.About 11,000 athletes from 204 na-

tional Olympic committees are ex-pected, along with a team of refugeeathletes competing under the Olympicflag.

Fireworks get Tokyo Olympics' no-frillsopening ceremony under way

NEW DELHIStar Indian archer Deepika Kumari

finished ninth in the women's individ-ual ranking round to secure an easyfirst-round clash in the main event as thecountry's Olympic campaign kick-started at the Yumenoshima Park inTokyo on Friday.

The world No.1 finished with 663points, while 20-year-old Koreanprodigy An San (680) topped the qualifi-cation round with an Olympic recordscore of 680.

Deepika will now have an easy first-round outing against world No.193Karma of Bhutan, who finished 56th inthe ranking round.

The Indian might run into San in thequarterfinal stage. Deepika had lost toher in straight sets during their only ex-change in an Olympic Test event at thesame venue in 2019.

The previous Olympic record scorein the individual ranking round was673, while the world record (692) isheld by Kang Chae Wong, the worldNo.3 who finished third with 675 pointsfor a Korean top-three in the qualifica-tion round.

Deepika shot perfect 10s and X (clos-est to the centre) 30 times from her 72arrows, while An San, who had defeatedthe Indian in straight sets in the final ofthe Tokyo Test Event in 2019, shot 3610s and X.The qualifying round resultsare used to seed the athletes and nationsfor the individual, mixed team and teamcompetitions, deciding their opponentsin the competition.

Archers shoot 72 arrows at the target

set 70 metres away, in 12 series of sixarrows.

Indian athletes' participation inOlympic opening ceremony to be 'bareminimum'

They are ranked from highest to low-est at the end of the round. An archer'sposition after the ranking round be-comes their seeding for match play.

The Games will officially open onFriday evening.

Olympic archery: Deepika ninth inranking round as Koreans dominate

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NEW DELHI, JULY 23:The men would be seeking toreclaim a glorious past, whilethe women would be aiming toscript some history of their ownwhen the two Indian hockeyteams begin their Olympiccampaign in Tokyo on Satur-day with expectations fromboth at a high.

Men will be up againsteighth-ranked New Zealand,followed by the women's clashwith the Netherlands.

Indian men's hockey has arich history in the SummerGames having won the gold anunprecedented eight times inthe past, the last of which cameway back in 1980 MoscowOlympics.

Aslump followed but the lastfew years have seen a resur-gence in fortunes. With a cur-rent world ranking of four, theIndians are considered a brightmedal prospect this timearound in Tokyo.

But it would be easier saidthan done as India are placed ina tough Group Aalongside thelikes of reigning Olympicchampions Argentina, mightyAustralia, hosts Japan, NewZealand and Spain.

Group B consists of worldchampions Belgium, Canada,Germany, Great Britain,Netherlands and South Africa.

The top four teams fromeach group qualify for the quar-terfinals.Going by form andcurrent ranking, the Indiansdefinitely start as favouritesagainst New Zealand as after2016 Rio Olympics, the Man-preet Singh-led side has beatenthe Black Sticks eight times outof the 11 encounters betweenthe two sides.The Indians havealso scored 34 goals as againsttheir rivals' 14 during thesematches.

India's last win against NewZealand came at the samevenue here back in 2019 at theFIH Test event, where theywon 5-0 in the final.

But India's chief coach Gra-ham Reid has asked his men tostay on guard and take onematch a time in pursuit of thepodium finish in Tokyo.

"New Zealand is a very goodteam, and I have a lot of respectfor the way they play. They arementally very tough, and theynever give up. This attitude oftheirs makes them a dangerousopponent," said Reid on the eve

of their campaign opener."They have a very skillful

forward line and honestly at theOlympics, world rankings don'treally matter. So, it will be im-portant for us to start well onSaturday."

The coach said having spentconsiderable amount of time atthe pitch after arriving here, hiswards are well prepared fortheir opener.

"When you get to some-where new, I always like tomake sure we do drills to famil-iarise and test the surface.Things like penalty corners andbounce of the turf is often veryimportant because overheadsalso play such an important rolein the matches these days,"Reid said.

"We went through the intri-cacies of the ground in the last 3-4 days in the village and train-ing sessions."

India captain ManpreetSingh, who is the country'sflag-bearer alongside boxinglegend MC Mary Kom in Fri-day's opening ceremony, cau-tioned against complacency.

New Zealand will be led bythe experienced Blair Tarrantwho has 217 internationals

caps to his credit."They are a team we need to

be careful of. We must stick toour basics, ensure we executeour plans properly and not getcomplacent at any point in thegame."In 2018, when NewZealand toured India ahead ofthe FIH Men's World Cup inBhubaneswar, the hosts hadtasted many victories (4-0, 3-1,4-2) against their opponents buthad gone down 2-3 in the cru-cial semifinal of the Gold CoastCommonwealth Games.After adismal eighth place finish inRio Games, much is expectedfrom the Manpreet-led side.Forthe women's team, it is a secondsuccessive Olympics, and atough opener awaits in worldno.1 Netherlands in their GroupAfixture.After appearing in theOlympics for the first time in 36years at the Rio Games, the In-dian women's team has onlygrown from strength tostrength, winning the 2016Asian Champions Trophy,2017 Asia Cup, the silvermedal at the 2018 AsianGames and reaching the qarter-finals of the 2018 Women'sWorld Cup for the first time inhistory.

Hockey: Men fancy chances against NZ; womenset for tough Dutch test in opener

NEW DELHI, JULY 23:Former world championMirabai Chanu will be in fo-cus for her high medal-win-ning chances at the TokyoOlympics as the Indianhopes to exorcise the ghostsof a disappointing RioGames and write a newchapter in the country'sweightlifting history.

Competing in the 49kgcategory, Chanu is beingconsidered a sure shot medalprospect for India as her per-sonal best of 205kg is onlysecond to China's Hou Zhi-hui's effort of 213kg in theeight-woman field.

The hype is similar to theone five years ago in Rio,

where Chanu could manageonly one lift from her six at-tempts and thus could not getan overall total in women's48kg event.

The diminutive Manipuriwill desperately hope for adifferent script this timeround, one that involves apodium.

Karnam Malleswari is theonly Indian weightlifter whohas an Olympic medal to hercredit, a bronze in the 69kgcategory at the 2000 SydneyGames when the weightlift-ing arena was opened towomen for the first time.

Post the Rio Games,Chanu has proved her mettleas a fighter and serious con-

tender. She has won medalsin almost all marquee events,including gold in the worldchampionship and the Com-monwealth Games, and abronze in the Asian champi-onship.

The coveted Olympicmedal will be the cherry ontop.

While Chanu will have oneeye on her competitors' bar-bells, the 26-year-old's mainbattle will be with herself. Inrecent times, her perform-ance in the snatch section hasoften proved to be her down-fall in important competi-tions.

Chanu has managed tomatch Zhihui, the favourite

to win the gold, in the cleanand jerk category, but herpersonal best of 88kg insnatch pales in comparison tothe Chinese lifter's worldrecord effort of 96kg.

Even USA's DelacruzJourdan Elizabeth has a betterpersonal best -- 89kg -- thanthe Indian's, while AisahWindy Cantika of Indonesiahad managed to pip Chanu towin a bronze in the snatchsection at the Asian champi-onship in April.

It is expected that Chanuwill try to better her worldrecord lift of 119kg in theclean and jerk category,should the competition de-mand it.

Tokyo is a platform for Mirabai Chanu toexorcise ghosts of 2016 Rio Games

Jammu Rising NATIONAL Jammu, Saturday July 24, 2021 Daily08

NEW DELHIParliament proceedings

were adjourned for the dayfollowing disruptions by Op-position parties which raisedslogans on the Pegasussnooping row and the farm-ers' issue by gathering in theWell of the House on Friday.

As soon as the House metfor the day at 11 am, someOpposition members rushedto the Well but they were pre-vented from doing so byfloor leaders of their respec-tive parties as Speaker OmBirla wanted to make obser-vations on the Indian squadparticipating in the TokyoOlympics.

Birla extended best wishesto the Indian contingent onbehalf of the House.

The mega carnival ofsports is from Friday. Mem-bers thumped benches insupport of the Indian squad.

Soon after Birla had madehis observations, severalmembers from Congress,Trinamool Congress andShiromani Akali Dal gath-ered in the Well of the Houseraising slogans and holdingplacards.

The TMC shouted slogansdemanding details of themoney allegedly spent by thegovernment on Pegasus spy-ware.

Congress members hadplacards demanding aSupreme Court monitoredjudicial probe into the Pega-sus allegations.

They also showed theircell phones to the Speaker.

Harsimrat Kaur Badal(SAD) was holding a placarddemanding rollback of thethree farm laws.

Slogans included 'jasoosikarna band karo' (stop spy-ing).

Birla said the health min-ister is replying on the coron-avirus vaccination drive andmembers should listen tohim.

He also pointed out that

some members were notwearing masks and said thethreat from the virus has notyet ceased.

"What message are yousending... please followCovid guidelines ... you willget appropriate chance toraise all the issues," he said.

Following this, membersmasked up before resumingsloganeering.

Some members were seenwearing blue T-shirts, appar-ently in support of the Indiansquad at Tokyo Olympics.

As disruptions continued,the Speaker adjourned theHouse till 12 noon at 11.20am.

As the House reassembledat 12 noon, Kirit Solanki,who was in the Chair, askedprotesting members to taketheir respective seats.

During the brief period forwhich the House functioned,resolutions were passed toappoint and elect new mem-bers in various parliamentarypanels as some of the mem-bers have become ministersin the recent reshuffle of theUnion Council of Ministers.

As the opposition uproarcontinued, Solanki said thatsuch behaviour does not suitsenior elected members ofthe House and adjourned theproceedings for the day.

The House will now meeton Monday after the week-end break.

Opposition members havebeen protesting over variousissues for the fourth straight

sitting of the Monsoon ses-sion.

The Upper House of Par-liament was adjourned fourtimes on Friday amid uproarby opposition members for adiscussion on the issue.

When the House reassem-bled at 2.30 pm following athird adjournment, Leader ofOpposition MallikarjunKharge demanded a discus-sion on the Pegasus spywarecontroversy.

"I have given a notice un-der rule 267 regarding the re-cent allegations in the mediaof government carrying outspying and online surveil-lance of several senior politi-cians, judges of SupremeCourt and high courts, jour-nalist of...," Kharge said.

However, BhubaneswarKalita, who was in the Chair,said a statement has alreadybeen made by the govern-ment and a discussion hasbeen started on this issue.

"On this, a statement hasalready been made. Now ifyou have to say somethingon that, then it would be onthe discussion and not likeit," he said.

Deputy Leader of theHouse, Mukhtar AbbasNaqvi, said that the Union in-formation technology (IT)minister has already repliedto this.

"The IT minister has al-ready replied to it and the en-tire country has seen the be-haviour by some members ofthe opposition with him,"

said Naqvi.Opposition members,

however, could not be paci-fied and continued with theirprotest, following whichKalita adjourned the housetill Monday.

The Rajya Sabha was ad-journed till 2.30 pm, as theChair asked Trinamool Con-gress (TMC) member San-tanu Sen to withdraw fromthe House who remainedpresent despite his suspen-sion for the remaining periodof the Monsoon Session.

In the morning, Ministerof State for ParliamentaryAffairs V Muraleedharanhad moved a motion forSen's suspension after hesnatched papers from ITMinister Ashwini Vaishnawthat contained his statementon the Pegasus snooping rowand tore those in the Houseon Thursday.

The motion was passed bya voice vote.

When the House reassem-bled at 12.30 pm followingadjournment, Deputy Chair-man Harivansh NarayanSingh, asked Sen to with-draw from the Rajya Sabha.

But the TMC member re-mained present in the House.

In the meantime, severalopposition MPs, includingKharge, sought to raise cer-tain issues. However, thedeputy chairman adjournedthe proceedings till 2.30 pm.

According to a conven-tion, no business is trans-acted in the Rajya Sabha if asuspended member contin-ues to be present in theHouse.

Congress and other oppo-sition members also de-manded a discussion on thePegasus spyware issue andcreated an uproar.

Chairman M VenkaiahNaidu adjourned the Housetill 12 noon.

At 12 noon, the proceed-ings were adjourned till12.30 pm.

Parliament adjourned for the dayas Oppn keeps up protest

NEW DELHIThe 'Kisan sansad', being

held at Jantar Mantar nearParliament where the Mon-soon Session is underway,entered its second day on Fri-day.

Paramilitary forces andpolice personnel have beendeployed at the site withheavy barricading at the en-trance to avoid any kind ofuntoward incident. Theprotest by the farmers waspeaceful.

The farmers started 'kisansansad' (farmers' Parliament)with speaker Hardev Arshi,deputy speaker Jagtar SinghBajwa and the agricultureminister.

The sansad had a one-hourquestion hour where ques-tions were thrown at the agri-culture minister who tried hisbest to defend the Centre'snew agriculture laws.

The minister told thesansad how amid the raging

Covid pandemic, farmerswere requested to head backto their homes and get them-selves vaccinated. Everytime the minister failed togive a satisfactory response,the members shamed him,raised their hands and ob-jected to his answers.

Bajwa, while addressingthe media, said, "The agri-culture minister failed to an-swer questions following

which members of thesansad shamed the ministerleading to disruption.”

“The question raised waswhen prime minister himselfhas stressed on the fact thatthere was MSP, it is still thereand it will continue to bethere then why is there an is-sue to make it a law(kanoon). If all the three agrilaws are made for the farm-ers, then why not cancel

them and make them againby consulting the farmers onit."Arshi said the kisan par-liament was adjourned for abrief period and the Friday'sproceedings were similar“the way the actual Parlia-ment functions”.

"In the question hour, weraised questions and the agri-culture minister could not re-spond to the queries and con-tinued to misguide thehouse," he said.

A group of 200 farmersreached Jantar Mantar incentral Delhi on Thursday toprotest against the Centre'sthree contentious farm lawsas the Monsoon session ofParliament was underway.

Delhi Lt Governor AnilBaijal has given a specialpermission for the demon-stration by a maximum of200 farmers at Jantar Mantar,a few metres away from theParliament Complex, till Au-gust 9.

Kisan sansad enters 2nd day,farmers discuss agri laws

NEW DELHI,JULY 23: A month afterthe United Kingdom appointed a liaison of-ficer at the Indian Navy facility to monitorsthreats in the Indian Ocean, its CarrierStrike Group (CSG) 2021, led by HMSQueen Elizabeth participated in complexmaritime interactions with the IndianNavy. It was the maiden visit of the UK'sCSG into the Indian Ocean, where it en-gaged in a two-day bilateral Passage Exer-cise (PASSEX) with the Indian Navy in theBay of Bengal to hone the two navies' abilityto operate together in the maritime domain.

Both navies conducted close-quarter ma-neuvering and a wide range of multi-ship,air, sea, and sub-surface maritime evolu-tions, too. While, the Indian Navy was repre-sented by INS Satpura, Ranvir, Jyoti,Kavaratti, Kulish, and a submarine, theRoyal Navy was spearheaded by the carrierbattle group which has six Royal Navy shipsand a submarine, a US Navy destroyer, afrigate from the Netherlands and 32 air-craft, and is manned by 3,700 sailors, avia-tors and marines from the combined forcesof the UK, US and the Netherlands. The ex-ercise also included the P8I—a long-rangemaritime reconnaissance aircraft capableof anti-submarine warfare. The exercisealso witnessed the maiden participation ofthe F-35B Lightning which operates fromthe deck of HMS Queen Elizabeth.

Now, the UK's CSG is moving towards theSouth China sea. HMS Queen Elizabeth ison her first deployment since commission-ing in late 2017, which indicates Britain'srenewed emphasis on security in the regionand concern about the Chinese navy's grow-ing power. Interoperability of Indian andUK navies will be aimed to counter the Chi-nese PLA Navy (PLAN), which is expand-ing its region. It is estimated that China hasover 100 warships and submarines that arecapable of operating in the Indian Oceanand coupled with bases in the region, theChinese navy may offer a viable deterrentto would-be enemies, according to seniorIndian navy officials.

As per the Royal Navy, such exercises en-able both forces to advance their interoper-ability and cooperation ahead of further ex-ercises when the Carrier Strike Group(CSG) returns to the Indian Ocean in theautumn. Other wargames are planned inOctober after touring the Indo-Pacific. Atri-service exercise is planned with the In-dian military off the coast of Goa and then toKarwar, where CSG Elizabeth will make aport call.

The UK has recently come up with an inte-grated review on security, defence, and for-eign policy which identifies India as a keypartner. The UK has also announced that itwill permanently deploy its two patrol ves-sels to the Indo-Pacific region.

Indian Navy believes that at any giventime there are between six and eight PLANwarships in the northern Indian Ocean,which is a clear indication of rapid expan-sion in the region. According to the RoyalNavy, both the UK and India are in themidst of a carrier renaissance, with the CSGspearheading the UK’s Joint Expeditionarycapability. "The joint endeavour providestangible security to our friends and a credi-ble deterrence to those who seek to under-

mine global security," British High Com-mission in New Delhi said in a statement.

An Indian warship, Indian Navy Ship(INS) Tabar is already on its way to Russia totake part in the celebrations of the NavyDay of Russia. After Russia, INS Tabar willalso exercise with the Royal Navy off thecoast of the UK in August. The ship hadsailed from India last month and reachedRussia, after exercising with navies of coun-tries, such as Greece, France, and Egypt.This is its maiden operational deployment ofRoyal Navy CSG, which is sailing over26,000 nautical miles, and will engage with40 countries from the Mediterranean to theIndo-Pacific and back again.

At the strategic level, the exercise is amuscular expression of closer defence part-nership that prime ministers Johnson andNarendra Modi envisaged in the UK-IndiaRoadmap 2030 agreed to in May.

On the deployment of CSG Elizabeth,Chief of Joint Operations, Vice Admiral SirBen Key said: “ It is a symbol of GlobalBritain in action and showcasing our com-mitment to India, confronting threats to in-ternational order and the Indo-Pacific Re-gion.”.

The deployment of the Royal Navy andIndian Navy meet this month is proof of thestrength, energy, and significance of thegrowing relationship between our navies,”said First Sea Lord, Admiral Sir TonyRadakin, while adding that the two navieswill work together in two oceans – startingmonth within the Indian Ocean as the Car-rier Strike Group arrives for the first roundof multiple UK-India exercises and laterthis summer in another exercise in the At-lantic Ocean.”

Interestingly, Indian-origin crewmem-ber Jagjeet Singh Grewal is a Leading En-gineering Technician on UK's CSG boardand he is working in the Marine EngineeringDepartment. Besides being responsible formaintaining aviation fuel to the higheststandard, he is also responsible for themaintenance of the fueling pumps on theflight deck. This will help the F-35B jets,Merlin helicopters, and other aircraft to op-erate to their optimum capacity. Currentlysettled in the UK, Grewal has a long familyhistory in the Indian military.

Grewal said, “My grandfather and grand-father-in-law served alongside the BritishArmy in the Second World War and re-ceived a Mention in Dispatches, BurmaStar, Africa Star, War Medal, and DefenceMedal. My father served in the Indian Airforce and currently, my wife’s brother anduncle are serving in the Indian Navy," whileadding “I am focused on doing my job to thehighest standards, but it is good to know Iam maintaining my family links whileworking with the Indian military.”

According to the statement issued by theHigh Commission in New Delhi, the fifthgeneration HMS Queen Elizabeth carrier isthe largest surface vessel ever constructed inthe UK. Taller than Niagara Falls, the65,000 tonnes carrier’s propellers gener-ate the power of 50 high-speed trains.

India and UK have bilateral exercises visEx-Ajeya Warrior for the Army, Ex-Konkanfor the Navy, and Ex-Indra Dhanush for theAir Force.

India, UK conduct maritimewargames with eye on China

NEW DELHI, JULY23:TMC MPShantanu Sen wassuspended from the RajyaSabha on Friday for the re-maining period of the mon-soon session after a motionmoved by the governmentwas passed by the House.

Soon after the obituaryreferences and laying of pa-pers, Minister of State forParliamentary Affairs VMuraleedharan moved amotion for Sen's suspensionafter the Trinamool Con-gress (TMC) membersnatched papers from Infor-mation Technology Minis-ter Ashwini Vaishnaw andtore those in the House onThursday.

The motion was passedby a voice vote and Chair-man M Venkaiah Naiduasked Sen to leave the

House.The TMC members

protested and raised objec-tion to the manner in whichthe motion was broughtwithout listing it in the day'sbusiness.

TMC MP SukhenduSekhar Ray raised the issueof Sen being threatened by aminister, but the chairmansaid it happened after theHouse was adjourned.

Rajya Sabha proceed-ings were adjourned forthe third time on Friday,till 2.30 pm, as the Chairasked Trinamool Congress(TMC) Santanu Sen towithdraw from the Housewho remained present de-spite his suspension for theremaining period of theMonsoon Session.

When the House re-

assembled at 12.30 pm fol-lowing a second adjourn-ment, Deputy ChairmanHarivansh Narayan Singh,asked Sen to withdrawfrom the Rajya Sabha. TheTMC member remainedpresent in the House.

In the meantime, severalopposition MPs, includingthe leader of the opposi-tion Mallikarjun Khargesought to raise certain is-sues. Many of the opposi-tion members were ontheir feet also. However,the deputy chairman ad-journed the proceedingstill 2.30 pm.

According to a conven-tion, no business is trans-acted in the Rajya Sabha ifa suspended member con-tinues to be present in theHouse.

In the morning, Ministerof State for ParliamentaryAffairs V Muraleedharanhad moved a motion forSen's suspension after theTMC member snatchedpapers from InformationTechnology Minister Ash-wini Vaishnaw that con-tained his statement on thePegasus snooping row andtore those in the House onThursday.

The motion was passedby a voice vote.

Congress and other op-position members also de-manded a discussion on thePegasus spyware issue andcreated an uproar.

Chairman M VenkaiahNaidu adjourned the Housetill 12 noon. At 12 noon, theproceedings were adjournedtill 12.30 pm.

TMC MPShantanu Sen suspendedfrom Rajya Sabha

NEW DELHI,JULY 23:The death toll in centralChina's unprecedented flashfloods triggered after theheaviest rainfall in 1,000 yearshas reached 33 with eight peo-ple missing, officials said onThursday.

The torrential rain has af-fected about three millionpeople in Henan province anda total of 376,000 residentshave been relocated to safeplaces, the provincial emer-gency management depart-ment said.

The worst affected has beenZhengzhou, the capital city ofthe Henan province-- it re-ceived a year's equivalent ofrains in just a few days. Work-ers driving construction vehi-cles are helping to rescuethose stranded due to therains and deliver food to thosewho are trapped.

Rainwater has damagedmore than 215,200 hectaresof crops, causing a direct eco-nomic loss of about 1.22 bil-lion yuan, state-run Xinhuanews agency reported.

Official media releasedvideos of rescue workershelping people stuck in sub-way tunnels to safety.

Videos showed people try-ing to wade through floods inthe downtown of the citywhile scores of cars and othervehicles washed away. Somevideos also showed peoplefalling into the massive cave-ins of the roads.

Rainwater poured into thesubway tunnel ofZhengzhou's Line Five, trap-ping an unknown number of

passengers aboard a subwaytrain. Of the trapped passen-gers, 12 people were killed.

Heavy waterlogging has ledto the virtual paralysis of thecity's road traffic.

Over 80 bus lines havebeen suspended, more than100 temporarily detouredand the subway service hasalso been temporarily sus-pended.China fines tech gi-ants for content exploitingchildrenPolice officers, fire-fighters and workers from thelocal sub-district have arrivedat the site for the rescue oper-ation, the report said.

Social media gives a boostto rescue efforts

The rains and the subse-quent flooding has downedpower supplies and as a re-sult, people have beenstranded at home, in officesand in public transport.Makeshift watercraft, like dig-gers trucks used by construc-tion companies, are beingused by rescuers and volun-teers. Inflatable boats andrafts are also being used byrescuers to transport citizensto dry land. Tens of thousandsof rescue workers, includingthe military, have been de-ployed across Henan. Peoplehave been using social mediato speed up rescue efforts inHenan province. Users ofWeibo, a social media plat-form have been connectingstranded citizens with profes-sional rescue workers andother helpers. However,some posts requesting helphave been taken down fromWeibo.

Construction vehiclesbeing used in rescue

efforts in China floods

Jammu Rising BUSINESS Jammu, Saturday July 24, 2021 Daily09

NEW DELHIAnalysts were a disap-

pointed lot on Thursday asgeneral insurance firm ICICILombard revealed that healthinsurance claims spiked ab-normally--from 49,000 in thewhole of last financial year to46,000 in just the first quarterof the current fiscal-- resultingin an all-time high loss ratio of91 per cent. Though a one-offevent given the exigencies ofthe Covid-19 pandemic, itbrought to attention the stressthat many general insurancecompanies are undergoingcurrently.

Experts believe that thismight only be a temporaryphenomenon and for the restof the financial year, the lossratios in the company’s healthsegment will improve pro-vided that there is no thirdwave and vaccination drivepicks up pace. As per a recentreport by ICRA, general in-surance companies in Indiawill see underwriting losseswiden in the fiscal due to a risein medical claims followingthe second wave of COVID-19 infections, coupled with adecline in legacy businessessuch as motor insurance.

As per the recent data by theGeneral Insurance Council,around Rs 24,000 crore worthof claims have been paid un-der medical insurance due toCovid-19-related hospitalisa-tion and related expenses tilldate. Experts at ICRA saypublic sector insurers may re-port high underwriting lossesin the range of Rs 12,400crore to Rs 13,500 crore dueto high medical insurance. Ex-perts point out that an under-writing loss occurs when theclaims paid out exceed thepremiums collected. Reportspoint out that general insurerspaid out almost 60 per cent of9.8 lakh claims worth Rs14,000 crore filed forCOVID-19 medical expensesin the last financial year.

“For ICICI Lombard thenature of claims were opti-cally different compared toFY21 as they included afflu-ent customers with high sumsassured, and moderate andcritical cases. We have re-duced our full-year estimatesto factor in higher loss ratiosfrom the second Covid wave,

although a potential thirdwave poses a downside risk toour forecasts. Given the ad-verse claims experience,ICICI Lombard has raised itspricing on selective renewalsand in group health businessby 15 to 20 per cent. It on-boarded 1,000 employees forscaling up retail health, an ex-tremely valuable proposi-tion,” observed KrishnanASV, Institutional ResearchAnalyst, HDFC Securities.

General insurance compa-nies had not anticipated sucha sudden rise in the number ofclaims during the Covid-19pandemic and no companyfelt that the pace of hospital-ization could be that fast dur-ing the second wave of thepandemic. “No one had antic-ipated such a kind of rise inthe number of claims. Theywere three times more thanduring the peak we had wit-nessed in September-October2020. We knew that therewould be a rise in the numberof Covid cases in India, butnot at this pace. From around 1lakh cases per day during thepeak of the first wave itreached close to 4 lakh casesper day in the country. Thoughwe have seen that the claimsare being settled smoothly ina large industry, there arebound to be elements of dis-satisfaction. I feel, given thekind of claims, there could beprice corrections in the fu-ture,” remarked Sanjay Datta,chief--claims, underwritingand reinsurance, ICICI Lom-bard General Insurance Com-pany Limited.

Currently, he feels that dueto a drop in the number ofcovid cases in the country,they are getting more claimsfor reimbursement for hospi-talization that had happenedduring the month of April and

May. “Cashless claims domi-nated during the Covid peakand now post that we are get-ting reimbursement claimsthat we are clearing regu-larly,” added Datta.

Experts point out that manyhealth insurance companieshave had a challenging timedue to a large number ofclaims witnessed during thesecond wave of the pandemic.April and May 2021 had wit-nessed 2.5 times more interms of number of claims thatgot reported. Most insurerswere not capacitated to handlethis sudden surge and alter-nate arrangements had to bemade by repositioning stafffrom other functions based ontheir ability and experience.“The health claims frequencyassumptions had all gone hay-wire for all insurers as no in-surer had priced the productwith a frequency anywhereclose to where it is. This hascaused considerable stress onthe cash flows of insurers withclaims ratios far exceeding thepremiums collected from allcustomers. For Covid-specificproducts that we launched, wehave paid claims about fourtimes the value of the pre-mium collected from theseproducts,” V. Surya-narayanan, managing directorof Chola MS General Insur-ance Company Limited, toldTHE WEEK.

Similarly, companies suchas Bajaj Allianz General In-surance also observed an in-crease in Covid-19 healthclaims from the last week ofMarch 2021 as the secondwave of the pandemic hit thecountry. The company ob-served that the average claimsize of Covid admissions hadgone down slightly whencompared to the same periodin 2020 mainly because the

hospitalisation duration camedown during the second wave.

“During the second wavethe hospitalisation is about sixdays from the earlier averageof close to nine days as wesaw hospitals being floodedwith patients and hence, theywere sending patients forhome quarantine after theywere less critical. We are hop-ing that once the vaccinationdrive ramps up in our country,the situation will stabilise,”pointed out T.A. Ramalingam,chief technical officer, BajajAllianz General Insurance.

Companies such as HDFCERGO also witnessed asharper spike in number ofclaims in the second wave ascompared to first wave due toa significant increase in costper day of hospitalisation. “InApril we saw significantlymore Covid-19 claims thanthe previous peak, which wasobserved in the month of Oc-tober'2020. Our teams workedtirelessly to manage the surgein claims and to ensure thathospitalisation and dischargeprocesses were made smoothfor the customers,” explainedRavi Vishwanath, president,accident and health business,HDFC ERGO General Insur-ance.

It has been observed that al-most all the health insurancecompanies were confrontedwith multiple challenges.“There have been issues ofover-billing at non-networkhospitals as network hospitalsare not billing the amount asper tariff. Even the staff at in-surance companies and hospi-tals are testing positive, con-sequently slowing down thesettlement process. Besidesthis, the investigation and ver-ification of claims had beendelayed due to the lockdownimposed and noncooperationof hospitals due to heavy pa-tient flow,” pointed out AnkitAnkit Agrawal, co-founderand CEO, InsuranceDekho.

Agarwal further points outthat due to the surge in num-bers of Covid patients the set-tlement and processing ofclaims had slowed down."Complaints and queries hadalso increased. There hadeven been an increase in fraudclaims seen during that time,"said Agarwal.

General insurance companies to take a hitdue to abnormal rise in COVID claims

NEW DELHIBiotechnology major Bio-

con has reported a 35.39 percent decline in its consoli-dated net profit at Rs 108.4crore for the quarter endedJune 30, 2021 mainly on ac-count of its share of loss inassociate startup entityBicara Therapeutics Inc. Thecompany had posted a netprofit of Rs 167.8 crore forthe corresponding period ofthe previous fiscal, Bioconsaid in a late night filing onThursday.

Consolidated revenue ofthe company stood at Rs1,807.8 crore for the quarterunder consideration. It wasRs 1,712.1 crore for the sameperiod a year ago, it added.

"Consolidated revenues, atRs 1,808 crore, saw a mutedgrowth on account ofCOVID-related operationalchallenges at Biocon's APIfacilities, both in Bengaluruand Hyderabad," Biocon Ex-ecutive Chairperson KiranMazumdar-Shaw said.

Q1FY22 P&L was alsoimpacted by a share of loss inits Boston-based associatestart-up entity, Bicara Thera-peutics Inc, she added.

"The outlook for the rest of

the year is promising withseveral drug approvals on theanvil, contingent to timelyUSFDAonsite inspections inIndia and Malaysia, whilstResearch Services continueto see rising demand," KiranMazumdar-Shaw said.

John Shaw, Vice-Chair-man and Non-Executive Di-rector, Biocon, will retirefrom the company's boarddue to health reasons, on July23, 2021, at the conclusion ofits Annual General Meeting,the company said.

As a key member of thecompany's board and the

management team since1999, John Shaw has con-tributed majorly to the trans-formation of Biocon from asmall enzymes company, toa globally recognized bio-pharmaceutical company, itadded.

John Shaw is married toBiocon Executive Chairper-son Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw.

The generics segmentbusiness of the company forthe first quarter of FY22posted a revenue at Rs 486crore, down 22 percent(year-on-year) from Rs 621crore in the same period of

the previous fiscal, the filingsaid.

Biosimilars segmentposted a revenue of Rs 758crore for the first quarterended June 30, 2021. It hadposted revenue of Rs 692crore for the correspondingperiod a year ago, it added.

Q1FY22 revenue of Syn-gene was at Rs 595 crore. Itwas Rs 422 crore in the firstquarter of FY 21, the filingsaid.

Shares of Biocon Ltd weretrading at Rs 397.25 per scripon BSE, down 1.38 per centfrom its previous close.

Biocon first quarter net profitdeclines 35% to Rs 108.4 cr NEW DELHI, JULY

22: Just months after itsabout $1-billion buyout ofAakash Educational Ser-vices, edtech major Byju’shas now acquired US-baseddigital reading platform Epicfor $500 million (around Rs3,729.8 crore).

Byju’s, which ranksamong the highest valuedstartups in the country, willalso invest an additional $1billion (about Rs 7,459.7crore) in the North Ameri-can market.

Byju’s, in a statement onWednesday, said it has ac-quired Epic, a digital readingplatform for kids aged 12years and under, in a $500-million deal.

The buyout will helpByju’s expand its footprint in

the US by providing accessto the over two millionteachers and 50 million kidsin Epic’s existing global userbase, which has more thandoubled over the last year

Epic has a collection ofover 40,000 books, audiobooks and videos from over

250 best publishersThe acquisition will help

Byju’s expand its footprint inthe US by providing accessto the over two millionteachers and 50 million kidsin Epic’s existing global userbase, which has more thandoubled over the last year, it

added.Epic CEO Suren

Markosian and co-founderKevin Donahue will remainin their roles, the statementnoted.

Epic has a collection ofover 40,000 books, audiobooks and videos from morethan 250 of the world’s bestpublishers. It has made ac-cess free to educators, andover two million teachershave signed up for class-room use.

The edtech space has seenstrong growth globally, in-cluding in India, with theCovid pandemic serving asan inflection point. Many of-fline classes went online toensure continuity of educa-tion while adhering to socialdistancing norms.

Byju’s acquires US-based children learn-ing platform Epic for $500m

NEW DELHI, JULY22: India witnessed a rela-tively high rate of tech sup-port scams at 69 per cent inthe last 12 months—amongthe highest globally—with asignificant increase seen insuch scams stemming fromunsolicited calls, a Microsoftsurvey said on Thursday.

Microsoft's 2021 GlobalTech Support Scam Re-search report showed thatconsumers in India experi-enced a relatively high "scamencounter rate" of 69 percent in the last 12 months,similar to the 70 per cent rateexperienced in 2018.

However, there was anoverall five-point drop insuch scam encounters glob-ally, with a rate of 59 per centover the same period.

Microsoft commissionedYouGov for this global surveyin 16 countries, including In-dia, Australia, Japan and Sin-gapore, and it included16,254 adult internet users(about 1,000 per country).This is a follow-up to similarsurveys that Microsoftfielded in 2018 and 2016.

About 48 per cent of the re-spondents in India weretricked into continuing withthe scam – an eight-point in-crease from 2018, and threetimes higher than the globalaverage (16 per cent). One inthree (31 per cent) of thosesurveyed continued engag-ing and eventually lost

money, an increase of 17points compared with 2018(14 per cent), the report said.

Consumers in India wholost money to such scams in2021 lost Rs 15,334 on aver-age. However, 88 per cent ofthose who lost any moneywere able to recover someback, with the average beingRs 10,797.

The most common meth-ods of payment for those wholost any money were throughbank transfers (43 per cent),followed by gift cards (38 percent), PayPal (32 per cent),credit cards (32 per cent),and Bitcoin (25 per cent).

Microsoft said the highnumber of people falling vic-tim to scams is likely due toconsumers in India beingmore trusting of unsolicitedcontact and more inclined tobelieve that a companywould initiate contact.

Of those surveyed in 2021,47 per cent said theythought that it was very orsomewhat likely that a com-pany would contact themvia an unsolicited call, pop-up, text message, ad oremail.

Interestingly, incidencesof unsolicited call scams in-creased from 23 per cent to31 per cent in India between2018 and 2021, and thiscontinues to be the scamtype that consumers in In-dia respond to most often.

The report noted that re-spondents in India were

most likely to respond to un-solicited telephone calls (45per cent) as compared to apop-up window or ad ontheir PC screen (33 percent), unsolicited emails (36per cent) and redirection toanother website (30 percent).

In contrast, global scamencounter rates for unso-licited calls fell from 27 percent in 2018 to 25 per centin 2021.

Microsoft said eachmonth, it receives about6,500 complaints globallyfrom people who have beenthe victim of a tech supportscam, which is down from13,000 reports in an averagemonth in prior years. How-ever, the number of such re-ports emanating from Indiais low.

"Tech support scams areperpetrated globally andtarget people of all ages.Findings reveal that com-pared to the rest of theworld, consumers in Indiaare more likely to be tar-geted, less inclined to ignorescam interactions, and as aresult, lose more money,"Mary Jo Schrade, AssistantGeneral Counsel (RegionalLead) at Microsoft DigitalCrimes Unit Asia, said in avirtual briefing.

She added that there is anurgent need for consumersto understand this threatand to protect themselvesfrom such scams.

Tactics used by fraudstersto victimise users onlinehave evolved over time,from pure cold calling tomore sophisticated ploys,such as fake 'pop-ups' dis-played on people's comput-ers.

The Microsoft DigitalCrimes Unit (DCU) is work-ing to help combat this issueby partnering with law en-forcement, strengtheningtechnology and educatingconsumers. Microsoft hasbeen fighting against techsupport scams since 2014and has supported law en-forcement officials to takelegal action against scam-mers over the years acrossgeographies like the US andIndia.

"Tech support scams willremain an industry-widechallenge until sufficientpeople are educated aboutthese scams and can avoidthem. The best way con-sumers in India and Asia Pa-cific can protect themselvesis to learn about these scam-mers are targeting people,be suspicious of any unso-licited contact from pur-ported tech company em-ployees and avoid lettingpeople they do not know re-motely access their comput-ers," Schrade said.

Asked if the shift to re-mote working amid the pan-demic had aggravated thesituation further, she an-swered in the affirmative.

7 in 10 consumers in India encountered tech supportscams last year, highest globally: Microsoft

WASHINGTON, JULY22: India "remains a chal-lenging place" to do business,the US has said, urging it tofoster an attractive and reli-able investment climate byreducing barriers to invest-ment and minimising thebureaucratic hurdles.

The State Department, ina report '2021 InvestmentClimate Statements: India'released on Wednesday, saidthat India remains a chal-lenging place to do businessand also referred to the re-moval of the special consti-tutional status from the stateof Jammu and Kashmir(J&K) and the passage of theCitizenship Amendment Act(CAA).

New protectionist meas-ures, including increased tar-iffs, procurement rules that

limit competitive choices,sanitary and phytosanitarymeasures not based on sci-ence, and Indian-specificstandards not aligned withinternational standards, ef-fectively closed off producersfrom global supply chainsand restricted the expansionin bilateral trade, the reportsaid.

In its report, the State De-partment said that the Na-tional Democratic Alliance(NDA) government's first100 days of its second termwere marked by two "contro-versial" decisions.

The removal of specialconstitutional status fromJ&K and the passage of theCAA, it said. India maintainsthat the CAA was its "inter-nal matter" and that "no for-eign party has any locus

standi on issues pertaining toIndia's sovereignty".

India has categorically toldthe international communitythat the scrapping of Article370 was its internal matter.

The State Department re-port said that protests fol-lowed the enactment of theCAA but ended with the onsetof COVID-19 in March 2020and the imposition of a strictnational lockdown.

The management ofCOVID-19 became the dom-inant issue in 2020, includ-ing the drop in economic ac-tivity and by December2020, economic activitystarted to show signs of posi-tive growth.

The BJP-led governmenthas faced some criticism forits response to the recentsurge in COVID-19 cases, it

said.The State Department said

that in response to the eco-nomic challenges created bythe COVID-19 pandemic andthe resulting national lock-down, India enacted exten-sive social welfare and eco-nomic stimulus programmesand increased spending oninfrastructure and publichealth.

The government alsoadopted production linkedincentives to promote man-ufacturing in pharmaceuti-cals, automobiles, textiles,electronics and other sectors.These measures helped In-dia recover from an approxi-mately eight per cent fall inGDP between April 2020and March 2021, with posi-tive growth returning by Jan-uary 2021, it said.

India 'challenging place' to do business,must ease hurdles: US State Dept

NEW DELHI, JULY22: Three committees of theCentre-run Airports Author-ity of India (AAI) in Januaryfound the Adani Group to bein violation of brandingnorms, prescribed in theconcession agreements, atthe airports in Ahmedabad,Mangaluru and Lucknowthat the conglomerate tookover last year.

Consequently, the AdaniGroup companies havestarted making changes inbrandings and displays in or-der to bring them in accor-dance with the concessionagreements that they hadsigned with the AAI.

As on June 29, the changesin brandings and displayswere in process at Lucknowand Manglauru airports and

had been completed at theAhmedabad airport, the AAIsaid.

The Adani Group won thebids to run the aforemen-tioned three airports in Feb-ruary 2019. The group com-panies then then took chargeof these airports in Octoberand November 2020. As onJune 29, the changes inbrandings and displays were

in process at Lucknow andManglauru airports and hadbeen completed at theAhmedabad airport, the AAIsaid

The Adani Group won thebids to run the aforemen-tioned three airports in Feb-ruary 2019

The group took charge ofthese airports in October andNovember 2020

AAI finds Adani firms violating norms;Group begins making changes

Jammu Rising ENTERTAINMENT Jammu, Saturday July 24, 2021 Daily10

Actors Neha Dhu-pia and AngadBedi on Monday

announced they are expect-ing their second child.

The couple, who wereblessed with a baby daugh-ter in 2018, took to their re-spective social media ac-counts and shared the news.

The duo posted a familypicture with their daughterMehr.

"Took us two days tocome with a caption... Thebest one we could think ofwas... Thank you, God,"Dhupia, 40, wrote.

Sharing the same pictureBedi wrote, "New Homeproduction comingsoon...Waheguru mehrkare."

Christians 'offended' byKareena Kapoor's book'Pregnancy Bible', files po-lice complaint

Kangana Ranaut to makeOTT debut, to host Indianversion of 'Temptation Is-land'

The couple had tied theknot in May 2018 in a pri-vate ceremony.

Bedi, 38, was last seen in2020 drama Gunjan Sax-ena: The Kargil Girl whileDhupia featured in 2018Kajol-starrer HelicopterEela.

Neha Dhupia-Angad Bediannounce second pregnancy

Bigg Boss 14 bosslady Rubina Di-laik is now going

the Bollywood way. Yes,you read that right. The ac-tress will be seen in aHindi film called Ardh.Noted trade analyst, TaranAdarsh tweeted out thesame a couple of hoursago. Rubina would bemaking her film debut withpopular faces such as Raj-pal Yadav and HitenTejwani. Music composerPalaash Muchhal will alsomake his debut as a directorwith Ardh. The filming ofArdh is said to start in Sep-tember this year. RubinaDilaik herself confirmedbeing a part of Ardh byretweeting Taran's tweetand a caption that read,"#Ardh" with a red heartemoticon and foldedhands. Have a dekko at thesame here:

Well, this is just excitingnews for all Rubina Dilaikfans. They have beenshowering her with all thelove and blessings for hernew venture. One of thefans commented, "OMGwe can’t wait for this newjourney to begin this is justthe start many more filmsto come waiting to see youdo films with big film ac-tors You will make it big in

Bollywood inshallah@RubiDilaik #RubinaDi-laik #bollywood #debut#films #movies #actress#superstar." Another fantweeted out, "#RubinaDi-

laik in #Ardh I'm so HappyFor You, you make us feelproud daily." One wrote,"Rubi you deserve this ..you are very hardworkingactress and this is what in-

spired us a lot .hai kisi kiburi najar na lagey queenko god please protect ourqueen from evil eyes #Ru-binaDilaik #Ardh." Have adekko at their tweets here:

Rubina Dilaik signs her first-ever Bollywoodproject 'Ardh' – deets inside

If you have been missingKapil Sharma and hisgang, Krushna Ab-

hishek, Chandan Prabhakar,Bharti Singh, Kiku Sharda andSudesh Lahri, here's someamazing news. Kapil and thecast and crew of The KapilSharma Show have begunshooting. Yes, you read thatright. The comedian-turned-actor himself shared a picturewith the cast and crew of theshow. All of them could beseen happily posing for a selfieand smiling brightly. KapilSharma captioned the postsaying, "new beginning withall the old faces #tkss#thekapilsharmashow #bless-ings #gratitude #coming-soon." Have a dekko at hispost here: Also Read - Trend-ing TV news today: Arjun Bi-jlani confirms being ap-proached for Bigg Boss 15,Aditya Srivastava aka Inspec-tor Abhijeet on CID's returnand more

From Kapil Sharma's story,we understand that the cast hasshot for the promo of the newseason. In the story, we can seeall of them decked up and

walking towards the camerawhile What ALife plays in thebackground. Have a look atthe snap and picture from theirshoot below: Also Read - It’s

AWKWARD! 7 pictures ofRahul Vaidya-Disha Parmar,Akshay Kumar-JacquelineFernandez and others that willmake you howl with laughter

The Kapil Sharma Show is back CONFIRMS comedian as he resumes shoot withKrushna Abhishek, Kiku Sharda and the rest of the cast

Bedroom Bomb-shells of televi-sion

They may be playing sim-ple and sanskaari bahus onscreen, but off it, they areoomph goddesses. Theykeep enchanting us withtheir bold and seductive im-ages, every now and then,through their social media.Today, we are taking a lookat the hottest clicks by ourfavourites like Shehnaaz

Gill, Nikki Tamboli, Shrad-dha Arya, Jennifer Winget,Erica Fernandes, SurbhiChandna and more, whotook us right inside theirbedrooms and left us gapingand gasping for breath withtheir too hot to handle pic-tures. Here's SurbhiChandna, the ever-gor-geous Naagin who recentlyshared these pictures.

Shehnaaz GillThis transformation of

Shehnaaz Gill is not justshocking for everyone butalso too HOT to handle. TheBigg Boss gurl is gettinghotter and hotter thesedays.

Nikki TamboliThere ain't nobody who

can beat Nikki Tamboliwhen it comes to sensuouspictures. She is just thehottest bombshell ever tofeature on Bigg Boss.

Mouni Roy

The Bong babe is trulyone of the hottest DIVA onthe block. Here's the Brah-mastra actress and her min-imalistic bedroom decor.

Nia SharmaNia won't shy away from

flaunting taking bold riskson-screen or on the gram.And she is unfazed with allthe bullying and trollingtoo. She's one boss lady whoalways follows her heart.Did a monochrome everlook so HOT?

Krystle D'SouzaWho wants to share a bed

coffee with Krystle D'-Souza? Quite a cosy placefor a coffee date, no?

Shraddha AryaThe perfect sin-dulgence!

Oh, by the way, that's Preetaaka Shraddha Arya, for y'all.We love that neon bikini.

Jennifer WingetHere's the gorgeous Jen-

nifer Winget. Can we have asmall spot there, Jenny? Itlooks quite comfy and spa-cious.

Erica FernandesNow, wouldn't a pizza be

just great on a date nightlike this? Erica Fernandes,would you share the pizzawith us?

Karishma TannaKhatron Ke Khiladi 10

winner Karishma Tanna'spictures will surely leaveyou gasping for breath!

Bedroom Bombshells: Nia Sharma, NikkiTamboli, Shehnaaz Gill and more TV hotties

who left us gaping and gasping for breath

Excel Entertain-ments had an-nounced a horror

comedy titled PhoneBhoot last year, whichhad got us all, at least alltrue movie-buffs im-mensely excited. Not onlythe unique title andumpteen possibilities ofidiosyncratic premise cre-ated buzz around themovie, but also it beingsomething completelydifferent for a big star likeKatrina Kaif, not to men-tion her first-time castingopposite two younger he-roes, Ishaan Khatter andSiddhant Chaturvedi, got

her legion of flans super-hyped for the film. Unfor-tunately, like all moviesannounced since lastyear, Phone Bhoot, too,has been delayed due tothe COVID-19 pandemicand its ensuing lock-downs. So, what's the lat-est update on it and whencould we expect a release.Thankfully, one of thefilm's producers, RiteshSidhwani, answeredthese queries in an exclu-sive interview with Bolly-woodLife. Also Read -Janhvi Kapoor andIshaan Khatter celebrate3 years of Dhadak with

fun BTS pictures fromthe sets

Opening up on wherethe film stands and whencould we expect to finallysee it, Ritesh Sidhwani ofExcel Entertainmentgave us some good news.“Phone Bhoot is just fin-ishing filming and itshould be ready for re-lease next year. This iswhere we are with theproject,” said Ritesh.Also Read - Throwbackto the time when KatrinaKaif wanted to QUIT Bol-lywood after watchingNamastey London;wanted to 'find a new ca-

reer' for herselfUpon being asked how

different or at least inter-esting a choice KatrinaKaif is for the movie,considering she hasn'tdone something re-motely close to this in thepast, Ritesh Sidhwaniadded, “Yes, she is, butwe'll talk more about it inthe coming months(smiled).” Fair enough.Also Read - Filmy Friday:When Shahid Kapoorreprimanded ArjunKapoor for his comment,'Ishaan Khatter keepsbuzzing around JanhviKapoor'.

BREAKING! Here's when Katrina Kaif,Ishaan Khatter, Siddhant Chaturvedi

starrer Phone Bhoot will release

Shilpa Shetty's hus-band, Raj Kundrawho was arrested on

Monday night has been ac-cused by a Youtuber of tryingto 'lure' her into working foran application called Hot-shots. The Youtuber, PuneetKaur is an NRI and an aspir-ing doctor. She took to her In-stagram stories and expressedher shock upon learning RajKundra's arrest and the casedetails. It was then that she re-vealed that Raj had reachedout to her through DMs. Shesaid, "Brooo do you OGS re-member our verified DMvideo where he reached out tome for hotshots!?!? Imdeaaad." Also Read -SHOCKING! Yeh RishtaKya Kehlata Hai's PriyankaUdhwani accuses AnshulPandey of cheating on her;calls it quits

In another Instagram story,

Puneet Kaur wrote, "I can’teven WTF this mans was re-ally luring people -we literallythought it was spam when he

sent that DM to me!? JesusChrist man rot in jail."

Thereafter, she shared avideo in which she is seen

with two other guys talkingabout Hotshots. One of herfriends thought that the ac-count was hacked and said,"This man has had a midlifecrisis, probably, messing withgirls to go to Hotshot.com todo something strange, I don'tknow." They looked up forthe site on Google and be-lieved that Raj's DM wouldbe hacked. "I think his ac-count got hacked," Puneet'sother friend added. Her otherfriend quipped in saying,"That would be giving himthe benefit of the doubt."Have a dekko at the snapshots of Puneet's Instagramstories here: Also Read - YehRishta Kya Kehlata Hai:What do you think aboutRanvir aka Karan Kundrra'sdeath track due to lead poi-soning in Shivangi Joshi-Mohsin Khan starrer? Votenow

OMG! Youtuber Puneet Kaur accuses Raj Kundra of tryingto 'lure' her into working for the app, shares proof

Jammu Rising HEALTH Jammu, Saturday July 24, 2021 Daily11

Anarthria, which is the loss ofthe ability to speak, can have avariety of causes, such as a

stroke or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.People with anarthria often retain

their linguistic ability, but paralysis mayprevent them from using technologicalaids to communicate.

Neuroscientists used machine learn-ing to translate into words and sentenceselectrical activity in the part of the brainresponsible for speech.

For the first time, scientists have man-aged to translate into text the brain ac-tivity of a person with paralysis who isunable to speak.

Neuroscientists implanted an elec-trode array the size of a credit card ontothe 36-year-old’s sensorimotor cortex,which is the part of the brain that con-trols the articulation of speech.

The scientists, led by the Universityof California, San Francisco (UCSF),then used “deep-learning algorithms” totrain computer models to recognize andclassify words from patterns in the partic-ipant’s brain activity.

They asked the man to think aboutsaying words that they presented to himon a screen.

In addition to the deep-learning mod-els, they used a “natural-languagemodel,” which is a program that predictsthe next word in a sentence based on theprevious words.

“This outcome really is a milestonetoward restoring speech for people whoare unable to communicate due to paral-ysis,” said David Moses, a postdoctoralengineer at UCSF and lead author of the

study, in an interview with the San Fran-cisco Chronicle.

“There have been other existing ap-proaches, but this is the first proof thatsomeone can attempt to speak and thatwe can translate what they were tryingto say from that brain activity.”

Loss of intelligible speechThe participant, who was 36 at the

start of the study, had a stroke in hisbrain stem when he was 20 that resultedin severe paralysis and loss of intelligiblespeech, known as anarthria.

Other causes of anarthria includeamyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a rare neu-

rological condition that mainly affectsthe nerves responsible for voluntarymovement.

The man in the study could vocalizegrunts and moans but was unable to artic-ulate words, despite having healthy cog-nitive functions.

Using slight movements of his head,he can control a computer-based typingdevice to communicate. However, histyping speed with this device is onlyaround five correct words per minute.

After 48 training sessions with thenew “mind-reading” technology overthe course of 81 weeks, he was able to

generate around 15 words per minute,with an error rate of 26%.

The scientists, who report their find-ings in The New England Journal ofMedicine, say speech decoding tech-nologies are generally considered usableif they have a word error rate below30%.

“This study represents a transforma-tional breakthrough in the field of brain-computer interfaces,” said Dr. Lee H.Schwamm, who chairs the advisorycommittee of the American Stroke As-sociation and was not involved in thenew research.

“While the intervention is quite inva-sive, requiring brain surgery to implant arecording strip on the surface of thebrain, and the ‘thought-to-spoken’con-version accuracy was modest, the para-digm is groundbreaking,” Dr.Schwamm told Medical News Today.

Dr. Schwamm is vice president, vir-tual care, at Mass General Brigham andprofessor of neurology at Harvard Med-ical School in Boston, MA.

He said that while previous researchhas used a similar interface to translatethoughts about movement into controlof a robotic arm, it is an even bigger leapto decipher words.

“What is most astounding is that thearea of the brain for sensor implant, thesensory-motor cortex, is not thought toplay an important role in language un-derstanding or word generation,” headded.

The area is involved in moving thelips and throat to produce speechsounds, so the next step may be to seewhether it can also assist with peoplewith aphasia, which is a more commoncause of disabling language disturbanceafter a stroke, said Dr. Schwamm.

Brain activity dataIn 48 training sessions, the participant

attempted to produce particular wordsfrom a set of 50 words.

In each trial, he was presented withone of these words on a screen. Whenthe word turned green after a 2-seconddelay, he attempted to say the word.

Over the course of these sessions, theresearchers collected 22 hours of brainactivity data, which they fed to the deep-

learning algorithm.In an additional final two sessions, the

man attempted to use the previouslytrained words to generate sentences suchas “I am thirsty” and “I need myglasses.”

In each trial, the participant was pre-sented with the sentence and attempted togenerate the words as quickly as possibleby thinking about saying them.

The deep-learning algorithm and lan-guage model enabled his thoughts to bedecoded without error in more than halfof the sentence trials.

Precise timing of wordsA previous studyTrusted Source by

the same group involved healthy volun-teers.

However, one of the biggest chal-lenges for researchers trying to create adeep-learning program that can translatethe brain activity of a person with paral-ysis is the precise timing of their words.

This is because the algorithm does nothave an obvious way to distinguish elec-trical activity that arises from trying toarticulate words, from the backgroundbrain activity.

Following training, however, the newalgorithm managed to correctly identify98% of the attempts by the participantto produce individual words.

Another challenge is to process thepatterns of brain activity fast enough totranslate in real time.

A studyTrusted Source published in2019 by the Cognitive Systems Lab atthe University of Bremen in Germanyalso used deep learning to decode brainactivity but not in real time.

Scientists translate brain waves of man with paralysis into words

Anew systematic review reportsthat individuals with more thanfive symptoms during the first

week of a SARS-CoV-2 infection were atincreased risk of developing persistentsymptoms or long COVID.

Age, sex, comorbidities, and hospital-ization during the initial phase of illnessalso predicted the development of thisform of the disease.

Individuals with long COVID were atincreased risk of cardiovascular and respi-ratory abnormalities.

Multidisciplinary care, including physi-cal rehabilitation, social support, and men-tal health services, may be necessary formanaging this condition.

According to the World Health Organi-zation (WHO), the total number ofCOVID-19 cases has surpassed 190 mil-lion globally, with the death toll crossing4 million.

As the COVID-19 pandemic has pro-gressed, it has become evident that besidesthe potential of developing severe or fatalillness during the first few weeks, a SARS-CoV-2 infection may also result in pro-longed illness in some people.

Most individuals with COVID-19 de-velop mild-to-moderate symptoms and re-cover within 2–3 weeks after symptom on-set.

However, a small but significant num-ber of individuals tend to experience per-sistent symptoms beyond 4 weeks after de-veloping COVID-19. The symptoms thatpeople experienced after this acute phaseare collectively known as long COVID or“post-acute COVID-19Trusted Source.”

Stay informed with live updates on thecurrent COVID-19 outbreak and visit ourcoronavirus hub for more advice on pre-vention and treatment.

Individuals with this condition may ex-perience prolonged illness, regardless ofthe severity of symptoms during the acutephase of the infection. Although the presen-tation of symptoms varies among thosewith this form of the disease, the commonsymptoms of long COVID include fa-tigue, muscle pain, headache, and depres-sion.

Around 1 in 5 individuals tend to experi-ence COVID-19 symptoms after 5 weeks.Additionally, these symptoms persist be-yond 12 weeks in about 10% of all peoplewith a SARS-CoV-2 infection.

The Therapies for long COVID (TLC)study group, at the University of Birming-ham in the United Kingdom, analyzed 27previously published studies on longCOVID to delineate the most commonsymptoms and gain insights about the pre-dictors of prolonged illness.

The researchers also reviewed the liter-ature to identify complications associatedwith long COVID and management prac-tices for the care of individuals with pro-longed illness.

Speaking to Medical News Today, Dr.Shamil Haroon, study co-author and co-

lead of the TLC group, noted: “One of thechallenges of assessing someone withlong COVID is the sheer breadth of symp-toms that people have reported and thathave been published in the literature.”

“Our systematic review enabled us tocombine the results of previous studies onlong COVID to produce estimates of theprevalence of the most common symp-toms. We [have] used this to develop asymptom burden questionnaire for longCOVID that holistically assesses the widerange of potentially related symptomswhile providing an objective measure ofsymptom burden as well as the impact onpeople’s lives.”

The study appears in the Journal of theRoyal Society of Medicine.

Symptoms and predictors of longCOVID

To identify the most common symp-toms and predictors of long COVID, theresearchers first conducted a literaturesearch to find studies involving individualswith the condition.

The researchers analyzed the pooleddata on the prevalence of various longCOVID symptoms from 27 studies to de-rive a more robust estimate of the mostcommon symptoms.

They found that fatigue, difficultybreathing, muscle pain, joint pain,headaches, and altered sense of smell andtaste were among the most prevalentsymptoms during the illness. Researchersalso frequently observed sleep disordersand cognitive symptoms, such as mem-ory and concentration problems, in indi-viduals with this condition.

Interestingly, having only mild COVIDduring the acute phase did not precludethe occurrence of prolonged illness, al-though being hospitalized at symptom on-set or needing oxygen had associationswith an increased risk of long COVID.One study also found that individuals ex-hibiting more than five symptoms duringthe first week of the illness had an in-creased likelihood of developing it.

Other factors associated with an in-creased risk of developing long COVIDincluded older age, being female, and hav-ing preexisting health conditions.

Age and preexisting health conditionsalso influenced the number of symptomsthat persisted during long COVID.

The researchers also found that longCOVID negatively affected subjectivequality of life, mental health, and employ-ment in a significant number of partici-pants. A majority of participants in thestudies self-reported a decline in qualityof life, even months after COVID-19 on-set.

Among the reviewed articles, one studyreportedTrusted Source that nearly 1 in 4individuals hospitalized for acuteCOVID-19 had symptoms of anxiety ordepression at 6 months after symptom on-set.

Aseparate study found that individualshospitalized for acute COVID-19 were atincreased risk of post-traumatic stress dis-order (PTSD). Inadequate social support,stigmatization, female gender, and thenumber of protracted symptoms were as-sociatedTrusted Source with severe PTSDsymptoms.

Complications involving multiple or-gan systems, including the respiratory,gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, and nerv-ous systems, are known to occur duringthe acute phase of COVID-19.

Similar to acute infection, the re-searchers found that a significant numberof individuals with COVID-19 had heartinflammation, impaired lung function,other lung-related abnormalities, dimin-ished kidney function, and neurologicalabnormalities at 2–3 months followingsymptom onset or hospital discharge.

Significantly, the studies on cardiovas-cular abnormalities involved nonhospital-ized individuals who were asymptomaticor had mild COVID-19 symptoms, high-lighting the possibility of long-term com-plications in nonhospitalized individualswith long COVID.

Long COVID: Number of symptomsin first week may predict risk

In a study of patients hospitalizedin the UK with SARS-CoV-2 in-fection, approximately one-half

of patients developed at least one com-plication.

The complication rate was highamong all age groups with and withoutpreexisting health conditions.

Kidney, complex respiratory, and sys-temic complications were most fre-quent. Neurological, gastrointestinal orliver, and cardiovascular complicationsalso occurred, with neurological com-plications associated with the poorestfunctional outcomes.

About 27% of the survivors had a de-creased ability to take care of them-selves following hospitalization, whichmay impact long-term healthcare andsocietal burden.

COVID-19Trusted Source is a dis-ease that usually causes mild respiratorysymptoms in most people. However,some individuals with certain underly-ing medical conditionsTrusted Sourceand older adults may be at greater riskfor severe illness.

In severe cases of COVID-19, anoveractive immune response to thepresence of the SARS-Co-V2 virus mayoccur, which may also cause damage toother organs of the body.

Complications related to damage ofthe blood vessels, kidneys, eyes, brain,skin, heart, and gastrointestinal organsmay result from severe SARS-CoV-2infection.

Current data focusing on mortalityoutcomes from COVI-19 in the UnitedKingdom demonstrate that 26% TrustedSourceof patients admitted to the hos-pital with SARS-Co-V2 infection diefrom their illness.

However, there is a lack of data re-garding morbidity related to in-hospitalcomplications and the long-term physi-cal and mental health burdens of pa-tients who survive COVID-19.

Stay informed with live updates onthe current COVID-19 outbreak andvisit our coronavirus hub for more ad-vice on prevention and treatment.

Need for morbidity dataA collaboration of researchers from

the Department of Health and SocialCare, Imperial College London, PublicHealth England, University of Edin-burgh, University of Glasgow, Univer-sity of Liverpool, University of Notting-ham, University of Oxford, and theUniversity of Sheffield — all based inthe U.K. — studied the incidence ofshort-term complications and associa-tion with sex, ethnicity, age, and patientoutcomes.

Their findings now appear in TheLancetTrusted Source.

The study took place in 302 U.K.healthcare facilities between January 17and August 4, 2020. It enrolled 80,388

patients 19 years or older hospitalizedwith highly suspected or confirmedSARS-CoV-2 infection. Of these, theresearchers included 73,197 patients inthe analysis.

The average age of patients includedin the study was 71 years, with the ma-jority being male (56%) and white(74%). Eighty-one percent of the pa-tients had underlying conditions atbaseline.

The study measured the incidence ofin-hospital neurological, cardiovascu-lar, gastrointestinal, complex respira-tory, acute kidney injury, and other sys-temic complications. The trial alsoexamined the patient’s ability for self-care.

Nurses and medical students col-lected data at specified intervals: on ad-mission, on days 1, 3, 9 of the hospitalstay, and at discharge (or at 28 days ifnot discharged).

Of the patients included in the finalanalysis, the study reported that about32% died during the trial and 50% ex-perienced at least one complication. Ap-proximately 44% of those that survivedhad at least one complication.

The rate of having at least one com-plication ranged from 27% in patientsaged 19–29 years with no comorbiditiesup to 58% in patients 60–69 years withtwo or more underlying conditions. Thecomplication rates tended to increasewith age and be higher in patients withpreexisting medical conditions and inpatients designated male at birth.

Dr. Thomas Drake, a co-author of thestudy from the University of Edinburgh,U.K., commented for MNT on the find-ings: “Complications from COVID-19affect nearly all groups admitted to hos-pital with severe disease. Although peo-ple over 50 years were at the highestrisk of developing complications, peopleunder the age of 50 years were also verylikely to develop complications, whichwas a real surprise.”

The incidence of complications wassimilar amongst white, East-Asian, andSouth-Asian racial and ethnic groups.However, complication rates were high-

est in Black (58%) versus white patients(49%).

Kidney, complex respiratory, sys-temic complications occurred most fre-quently. However, patients also devel-oped cardiovascular, liver orgastrointestinal, and neurological com-plications.

Patients with complications were 2.4times as likely to have an increased riskfor poorer self-care after discharge, withneurological complications moststrongly linked to the worst functionaloutcomes. In survivors with a compli-cation, about 27% had a decreased abil-ity to care for themselves.

Shahyar Yadegar, M.D., critical caremedicine specialist, pulmonologist, andmedical director of the ICU at Provi-dence Cedars-Sinai Tarzana MedicalCenter in Tarzana, CA, an expert not in-volved in the study, commented toMNT on the strengths and weaknessesof the study.

He said, “Over 80,000 patients wereincluded in this study, which aids in giv-ing a more representative view of whattruly happens within the population.”

“However, data were collected dur-ing the early days of the pandemic,which does not reflect the spread ofvariants that have since emerged. On-going data reports that variants are evenmore severe than the original strainstudied in this article, which suggeststhat complications from a variant areeven more severe than detailed.”

Dr. Drake elaborated on the study im-plications and the need for further re-search:

“Large numbers of patients withCOVID-19 will develop complications.Therefore we need to make sure health-care systems have enough resources tocare for patients and monitor their com-plications in the long-term.”

“We don’t know whether these com-plications get better or whether theylead to long-term problems,” he added.“We are currently following these peo-ple up to try and work out what thismeans for these patients and society go-ing forwards in the longer term.”

COVID-19: ‘Large numbers ofpatients will develop complications’

C M Y K C M Y K C M Y K

BACK PAGEJammu, Saturday July 24, 2021 Daily Jammu Rising12


In connection with the up-coming Muharram ulHaraam, the Deputy Com-missioner (DC) Baramulla,Bhupinder Kumar todaychaired a meeting at dakbungalow here to reviewthe arrangements put inplace for its smooth celebra-tion.

On the occasion, a com-prehensive discussion onthe subject was held

wherein it was given thatspecial arrangements shallbe made in view of the pres-ent circumstances emergeddue to COVID-19 outbreak.

Meanwhile, PresidentHussani Relief Committee(HRC) Baramulla, Moham-mad Ishaq Wani highlightedvarious issues and griev-ances that needs to be re-

solved for the smooth cele-bration of Muharram. He de-manded uninterrupted drink-ing water and power supply,adequate ration, fire woodespecially during the auspi-cious days.

Similarly, several otherrepresentatives belonging todifferent areas, also apprisedthe chair of different issuesand grievances pertaining todrinking water, power, ra-

tion, installation of lights atsome vital locations.

Speaking on the occasion,the DC stressed upon theconcerned officers to makeadequate arrangements withregard to uninterruptedpower and water supplymore especially in Shia dom-inated areas. He also directedto work in coordination andmake a viable mechanism sothat the devotees may not

face any inconvenience.Kumar also directed the

Municipal authorities to en-sure sanitation of all the vitallocations viz Imam Baras,shrines and masjids. He alsodirected the health authori-ties to make adequatearrangements and organizespecial camps for distribut-ing face masks, sanitizersand immunity boosting med-icines.

The DC appealed to followall the related SOPs andguidelines in letter and spiritso that the risk of COVID-19infection is mitigated.

Among others, the meet-ing was attended by SSPBaramulla, ADCs of Bara-mulla and Sopore, SDMs,district and sectoral officers,heads of various line depart-ments, representatives ofvarious Shia associations be-

DC B'la takes stock of Muharram arrangements


The Deputy Commissioner (DC)Kupwara, Imam Din today expressedgratitude to the people of Kupwara dis-trict for following Covid AppropriateBehavior (CAB) in letter and spirit dur-ing the celebration of Eid-ul-Adha.

The DC was addressing a presser inhis office chamber, here today.

Giving details, Imam Din said that76.17 percent people of above 45 year

age group have been vaccinated tilldate. He said the positivity rate has de-clined to 0.29 percent while, recoveryrate has gone up to 98.5 percent which isa sign of satisfaction for the district.

He said the district has currently 53active cases, adding that only 4 patientsare admitted in hospitals.

The DC reiterated his appeal to peo-ple to continuously follow the Covidappropriate behaviour and other SOPs.He also appealed them to come forward

and get vaccinated at nearby vaccina-tion centres for their safety against thepandemic.

District Health Officer, Abdul GaniDar and Nodal Officer Covid, GhulamNabi Sheikh were present at the occa-sion.

The readers can also reach us on theofficial Twitter account of DC Kup-wara:@dckupwara and official Twitteraccount of DIC Kupwara:@infokup-wara.

DC Kupwara expresses gratitude to people forfollowing CAB during Eid


Division of Food Scienceand Technology of Sher- e-Kashmir University of Agri-cultural Sciences and Tech-nology of Jammu(SKUAST-J), today organ-ized one day training pro-gramme on “Processing ofmango” under RKVY proj-ect entitled, “Value additionof sub-tropical fruits forwomen empowerment inJammu district” at villageParvah, Marh Zone, DistrictJammu.

In this training about 40rural farm women and unem-ployed youth from villageParvah participated.

Dr. Vikram Katryal, AEO,Marh, at the start of the pro-gramme extended a warmwelcome to the participating

rural women, unemployedyouth and Panch of Parvahvillage.

Dr. Neeraj Gupta, Princi-pal Investigator, RKVY Pro-ject started the training pro-gramme and gave detailed

demonstration for makingsquash from mango fruit. Dr.Anju Bhat, Professor andHead, FST delivered the lec-ture on nutritional signifi-cance of mango and its po-tential into processing.

At the end of the pro-gramme, Mrs. RinkuSharma, JAEO Marh ex-pressed the vote of thanks tothe participants, Panch andthe persons involved in thetraining programme.

Processing of mango: SKUAST- Jammu holds oneday training for rural women, unemployed youth


Deputy Commissioner(DC) Kishtwar AshokSharma today chaired ameeting of concerned offi-cers to review the imple-mentation of Government’sflagship Ayushman BharatPradhan Mantri Jan ArogyaYojana (AB-PMJAY) SE-HAT scheme in the district.

The meeting was in-formed that 103 CSCs arefunctional across the districtwherein people registerthemselves for availing ben-efits under the scheme andthat so far 90000 individualshave been registered in thedistrict.In the meeting, theDC called for increasing theregistration facilities tocover the rest of the benefi-ciaries.He directed CMO tolaunch a mass awarenesscampaign to create aware-ness among people for cent

percent coverage under thescheme. He also directed formobilizing field level work-ers including VLEs ASHAworkers, VLWs etc to createmass awareness about thescheme.

Furthermore VLEs weredirected to station them-selves at the ration depots onthe fixed days of week to en-

sure that the left out benefici-aries are sensitised and en-rolled in an effective man-ner.

He also directed CSCs toset a per day target for eachcentre to ensure speedy reg-istration and stressed tocomplete the process withinone month.

The meeting was attended

by Additional District De-velopment Commissioner,Sham Lal; Assistant Com-missioner Revenue, AkhterHussain Qazi; Chief Med-ical Officer, Dr R S Manhasbesides District CoordinatorCSC, Shagufta Basheer Ma-lik and District ManagerCSC Suman Kumar amongothers.

DC Kishtwar reviews status of PMJAY-SEHAT registration


To commemorate the 75years of India's Indepen-dence-“Azadi Ka Amrut Ma-hotsav" an awareness cuminteraction program for pub-lic was organized on the ben-efits and operation of the Na-tional Generic DocumentRegistration System (NG-DRS) by Sub RegistrarJammu North-1 in RevenueTraining Institute, Gole Gu-jral.

The aim of the programwas to feel the energy offreedom. A power-pointpresentation was given byAnjali from NIC. In the pro-gram the public was apprisedabout the benefits and oper-ation of the National GenericDocument Registration Sys-tem (NGDRS) which aims tobring all the stakeholders on

one platform for registrationof documents which other-wise was a cumbersomeprocess before introductionof NGDRS. Additional In-spector General Registra-tion, Jammu Leena Padha re-flected on some key points of

registration viz stamp dutywhich is 3% in case the docu-ment is registered in thename of a female, 5% in caseof joint property in the nameof a couple and 7% if boughtby a male.

The AIGR reiterated the

importance of the online reg-istration system. Some regis-tered documents were dis-tributed to the public by theAIGR on the spot and regis-tration of documents wasalso done in the presence ofthe general public.

Azadi ka Amrut Mahotsav: Awareness cum interactionprogram on NGDRS held at RTI Gole Gujral


The implementation of central RuralDevelopment Department schemes inJammu Division was today reviewedhere at a meeting chaired by DirectorRural Development Jammu, KishoreSingh Chib, through Video Conference.

The meeting reviewed the overallprogress of Development Schemes(Centrally Sponsored Schemes andCapex Budget) and other administra-tive issues including disposal of griev-ances.

A detailed discussion was held withDistrict Officers on MGNREGA indi-cators like Labour Budget, Work Com-pletion Status & Status of SoS Plan.

The Assistant Commissioners De-velopment of Jammu Division wereasked to take steps to achieve the tar-gets conveyed to the districts in re-spect of PMAY (G) & AwassPlus andC&D Pyt Sector 2021-22. Under 14thFinance Commission, the Chair re-viewed the progress regarding totalnumber of Plans/Activities uploadedand expenditure made on e-GramSwaraj Portal.

It was impressed upon all the DistrictOfficers to complete the PanchayatGhars under RGSA at the earliest andresolve all the matters related to landdispute and take up the matter with theconcerned agencies for execution ofthe same for timely completion of the

Panchayat Ghars. The Districts withlower progress were asked to expeditethe necessary actions for achievementof targets well in time. Directions werealso issued to the Districts to identifythe land for BDC and DDC officebuildings at the earliest. It was im-pressed upon all the subordinate offi-cers to dispose of the pending griev-ances and complaints lodged by thepublic at various forums in a timebound manner.

Deputy Director (Planning), Assis-tant Commissioner (s) Development &District Panchayat Officers of all thedistricts of Jammu Division besides Di-visional Publicity Officer, Jammu alsoparticipated in the meeting.

Director RDD reviews implementation ofCentral schemes in Jammu Div


The Power Department has decidedto constitute Circle Level Audit andProtection Teams for technical audit,maintenance and testingof all 66-33/11-6.6kV sub stations in J&K. Anorder to this effect was issued by Prin-cipal Secretary Power DevelopmentDepartment, Rohit Kansal today.

Commenting on the exercise, Prin-cipal Secretary, Power DevelopmentDepartment, Rohit Kansal noted thatthe Power Department has been grap-pling with a number of legacy issuespertaining to obsolete network, distri-bution bottlenecks and maintenanceparticularly preventive maintenanceissues. These led to breakdowns in thesystem causing disruptions in the distri-bution network and leading to incon-venience to consumers. He termed thisinitiative by the Department in consti-tuting special technical committees as afirst ever effort to address on a sustain-able and long term basis the technicalshortcomings of the electrical infra-structure in the UT.

The order issued by the departmentasks the newly constituted Protection

Team(s)to conduct testing of every ex-isting 66-33/11-6.6kV substationwithin the jurisdiction of its O&M Cir-cle at least once during a calendar yearand immediately after any major faultor addition of any new equipment/re-lay in thesubstation.

The same order also directs the Pro-tection Teamto not just test and inspecttheir respective substations but alsoconduct a technical audit of the substation about all technical and safetymatters such as availability and func-tionality of the Electrical Equipmentwithin the sub station, adherence topreventive maintenance schedules,availability of Safety Equipment andAdherence to the Standard operatingProcedure (SoP) for safe working forhandling of outages and for safe work-ing near energized system.

The order also asks the teams to coor-dinate with the protection teams of thetransmission system and ensure theoverall healthiness of the electricalnetwork. The order emphasizes vari-ous technical steps that need to betaken to ensure that systems are pro-tected against faults and overloading.The testing of equipment including

earthing of old stations has also beenincluded in the scope of the protectionteam.

It may be recalled that a number ofcomplaints and grievances had beenreceived from the public about fre-quent breakdowns in the electrical sys-tem. Taking cognizance of the same,the department had conducted a de-tailed exercise to find out the reasonsand the technical solution to the prob-lem.

The Chairman JPDCL, JagmohanSharma had physically visited a num-ber of substations and receiving sta-tions and inspected them and inter-acted with the field functionaries.Following his report, it was decided todevise an institutionalized system foran intensive cycle of maintenance ofall existing stations so as to ensure ad-herence to all technical parameters likerelay coordination, current and timesettings, testing of energy meters andtesting/commissioning of other equip-ment such as PowerTransformer/CT/PT/CircuitBreaker/LA/Isolators/Battery Charg-ers/ Batteries including earthing etc ofthe newly constructed stations.

Power Department Orders Technical Audit,Intensive Maintenance of all sub stations

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ammu ising - Epaper Daily Jammu Rising

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