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12
T he State on Friday regis- tered 69 more Coid-19 deaths, with which the total toll mounted to to 5,377, said the Health and Family Welfare Department. Khordha district reported the maximum 26 deaths fol- lowed by Baleswar with 10, Sambalpur seven, Kendrapada six, Bargarh five, Sundargarh four, Balangir, Jharsuguda, Kandhamal and Rayagada two each and Dhenkanal, Nuapada and Subarnapur one each. With the 26 more deaths, the total toll crossed the 1,000- mark in Khordha and reached 1,003. Of the total deaths in Khordha district, capital city Bhubaneswar has reported almost 70 per cent. Bhubaneswar has reported a total of 711 deaths since the outbreak of the pandemic. On Friday, the State report- ed 1,917 new positive cases, increasing the total tally to 9,63,851. Out of the new cases, 1,109 cases were from quaran- tine centres and 808 local cases, informed the Information and Public Relations Department. A total of 78,134 samples were tested in the last 24 hours and the total positivity rate (TPR) was 2.45 per cent. Khordha district registered the day’s highest 518 cases fol- lowed by Cuttack with 256 and Puri 118. The districts which reported below-100 cases were Jagatsinghpur with 92, Angul 91, Jajpur 87, Baleswar 84, Nayagarh 76, Kendrapada 73, Mayurbhanj 69, Sundargarh 50, Bhadrak 55, Dhenakanal 37, Keonjhar 33, Kandhamal 25, Bargarh 19, Gajapati 16, Sambalpur 15, Malkangiri 12, Rayagada 11, Balangir, Nabarangpur and Koraput 10 each, Jharsuguda nine, Boudh and Ganjam seven each, Subarnapur and Kalahandi six each, Nuapada five and Deogarh one. Besides, 109 cases were reported from the State pool. So far, 9,39,160 patients have recovered in the State. C hief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday said that even though the Covid-19 sit- uation is under control in the State, people should not be complacent and should be extra cautious. Reviewing the pandemic situation, Patnaik said that although the test positivity rate has decreased significantly in the last few weeks, there is still a need for further reduction in the infection rate in some dis- tricts. "Even though the pandem- ic situation is under control, this is no time for complacency. Only by remaining alert will we be safe. Therefore, the Chief Minister has asked people in the State to strictly adhere to Covid- 19 rules and not crowded places,” a statement issued by the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) stated. He further said if the third wave comes by the end of August, as predicted by scien- tists, the State would have to deal with the situation. “The State Government is emphasising on investing in human resources along with strengthening the healthcare infrastructure. The district administration has a responsi- bility to ensure that people are able to access healthcare with- out any hassle,” the statement added. “Therefore, it is the core responsibility of everyone, including police station IICs, BDOs, SDPOs, Sub-Collectors, SPs and Collectors to ensure that there is no problem in healthcare delivery right from the district hospitals to the CHCs.” Patnaik said the State has spent around Rs 2,004 crore to support the poor, especially small farmers, construction workers, MGNREGS workers, indigenous tribal families, Scheduled Castes, tribal stu- dents and mothers of Mission Shakti and street vendors dur- ing the second wave of Coronavirus pandemic. The assistance pro- grammes included various pro- grammes of ten departments of the State Government. Chief Secretary Suresh Mohapatra emphasised on the vaccination of teachers and school staff for the reopening of schools (for Classes X and XII) in the State on July 26. Health Secretary PK Mohapatra spoke about the preparations for the third wave during the meeting while Development and Special Relief Commissioner PK Jena, spoke about the implementation of the Chief Minister's Covid Aid. The meeting, conducted by 5T Secretary VK Pandian also reviewed the implementation of the Biju Health Welfare Scheme. T he 12-day-long famous RathYatra came to an end here in Puri on Friday night with Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra making their Niladri Bije (entry to the Shreemandir). At late night, the holy sib- lings were enthroned on the Ratna Singhasan, the bejeweled throne. Before going to bed, they were served Pakhal (soaked rice) as supper, which is not for public sale. The public can get Abhada (rice dishes) on Saturday, which is famous as Nilachal Abhada. The Abhada makes promi- nence, as the deities will be offered rice and pulses with varieties of curries for the first time after returning from the Rath Yatra. During their stay on the chariots, the deities are usual- ly offered fruits, milks and dry foods without rice dishes. After the Bahuda Yatra, the Lords will first taste the home made cuisines in the Shreemandir. The day was also celebrat- ed as Rasogola day as Lord Jagannath pacified the anguish of Mahalakshmi with the sweetmeat. As Lord Jagannath had visited the Gundicha Temple without taking Mahalakshmi with Him, the Goddess got irritated and blocked His entry to the tem- ple by shutting the Lions’ Gate. Lord Jagannath confessed His mistake and offered her Rasogola. The ritual was also observed during entry of Lord Jagannath, which is famous as Lakshmi-Narayan Kali (quar- rel). To mark the cheerful return of Lords, quintals of Rasagolas were offered on board the chariots. However, due to Covid restriction on public entry, Rasagola offerings were limited to only servitors, Sadhus of mutts and persons present on duty. As per schedule, Pahandi Bije began at 4 pm as Lord Sudarshan was first to enter the Shreemandir. Later, the three siblings entered through Goti Pahandi (marching one after another) and were established in the sanctum sanctorum by the Daitapati servitors. The Daitapati servitors left the temple at night. Notably, Daitapati servitors have only rites during a month starting from Snan Yatra (bathing cer- emony) up to the Niladri Bije. C hief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday inaugu- rated three industrial projects and performed groundbreak- ing of 11 others. These projects range across the renewable ener- gy, metal and downstream, tex- tile and apparel, fertiliser, plastic and food processing sectors. The leading companies pro- moting the projects include Aditya Birla Renewables Limited, IFFCO, Supreme Industries and Britannia Industries Limited. In a major boost to the Make in Odisha, these 14 industrial units with a combined invest- ment of Rs 1,537.07 crore would generate employment opportu- nities for 3,773 persons, said an official release. The CM said, “Odisha is fast emerging as the ‘manu- facturing hub of Eastern India’. My Government’s stable poli- cy and regulatory environ- ment have enabled the growth of industries.” B hubaneswar on Friday reg- istered 318 new Covid-19 positive cases, with which the total tally in the city surged to 97,488. Out of the new cases, 256 were local contacts and 65 quarantine cases. The local contacts includ- ed 21 cases in Khandagiri, 20 in Patia, 12 in Saheed Nagar, 11 in Nayapalli, 10 each in Laxmisagar abd Dumduma and eight each in Chandrasekharpur and Rasulgarh. The active cases stood at 1,797. Meanwhile, 15 more patients succumbed to the disease in the city, pushing the total death toll to 711. However, 235 persons recovered on the day, increas- ing the total recoveries to 94,959. T he low pressure area over northwest Bay of Bengal and neighbourhood has become well-marked over the northwest Bay off north Odisha and West Bengal coasts, said the Regional Office of the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) here on Friday. Under the influence of the system, widespread light to moderate rainfall with heavy to very heavy rainfall activity is likely to occur at several parts of the State in the next 24 hours. The IMD has also issued “Orange Warning” for heavy to very heavy rainfall with iso- lated extremely heavy rainfall to occur at isolated parts of Sundargarh, Keonjhar, Deogarh,Jharsuguda, Sambalpur, Subarnapur, Bargarh, Balangir and Nuapada districts in the next 24 hours. “The southwest monsoon has been active over Odisha. Several parts of the State including north coastal Odisha, Mayurbhanj, Dhenkanal, Puri, Subarnapur, Boudh, Balangir and Kalahandi received heavy rainfall in the past 24 hours,” said the weather office. T he Pegasus snooping scan- dal continued to derail the proceedings of Parliament. Both Houses on Friday saw slogan-shouting and repeated adjournments even as the Rajya Sabha suspended TMC MP Santanu Sen who on Thursday snatched a state- ment read out by Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and tore it off. The MP has been sus- pended for the remaining peri- od of the ongoing Monsoon Session. The strong action against Sen took place after a motion moved by the Government was passed by the House soon after it met for the day. However, the TMC MP refused to leave the House and kept sitting despite repeated pleas by Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu and Deputy Chairman Harivansh. As a result, the House could not function and was adjourned repeatedly. In a tweet, Sen termed his suspension as “unparliamen- tary” and said his party’s voice and its leader’s voice cannot be stopped. The Government made its intentions clear and soon after the obituary references and lay- ing of papers, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs V Muraleedharan moved a motion for Sen’s suspension. “I move that Dr Santanu Sen, AITC, be suspended from the services of the House...for his unruly behaviour, unbe- coming of a member of the Rajya Sabha, yesterday...” Muraleedharan said in his motion. It was passed by a voice vote and Naidu asked Sen to leave the House. However, the TMC mem- bers protested and raised objection to the manner in which the motion was brought without listing it in the day’s business. Sukhendu Sekhar Ray (TMC) said the moving of the motion was not mentioned in the revised list of business. Naidu said he had approved the motion to main- tain the dignity of the House. Roy’s party colleague Derek O’Brien claimed a Minister behaved aggressively after the House was adjourned on Thursday. Sensing the mood of the House, the Chairman adjourned it till 12.00 pm after Sen’s suspension. The agitated members did not allow the House to run when the House met again and despite repeat- ed pleas by Harivansh, Sen did not go out of the House. The Deputy Chairman first adjourned the House till 12.30 pm and then till 2.30 pm as the TMC protested. Meanwhile, the Lok Sabha proceedings were adjourned for the day following disrup- tions by Opposition parties which raised slogans on the Pegasus snooping row and the farmers’ issue by gathering in the Well of the House. As soon as the House met for the day at 11 am, some Opposition members rushed to the Well but they were pre- vented from doing so by floor leaders of their respective par- ties as Speaker Om Birla want- ed to make observations on the Indian squad participating in the Tokyo Olympics. Birla extended best wish- es to the Indian contingent on behalf of the House. The mega carnival of sports is from Friday. Members thumped benches in support of the Indian squad. Soon after Birla had made his observations, several mem- bers from the Congress, the Trinamool Congress and the Shiromani Akali Dal gathered in the Well of the House rais- ing slogans and holding plac- ards. The TMC shouted slo- gans demanding details of the money allegedly spent by the Government on Pegasus spy- ware. Congress members had placards demanding a Supreme Court monitored judicial probe into the Pegasus allega- tions. A mid continuous mud- slinging against each other by the BJP and the Congress over the Pegasus spyware phone-tapping controversy, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Friday sought a judicial enquiry, claiming he is not a potential target but “every single phone of his is definitely tapped”. The BJP hit back and dared the Congress leader to submit his phone for investigation if he believed it was tapped. Addressing the media out- side the Parliament complex, Rahul said, “I get phone calls from IB [Intelligence Bureau] people who tap my phone. They call me up and say beware we are tapping you. My secu- rity people tell me that they have to debrief what I say to their seniors.” Rahul quipped that only those who are “thieves or cor- rupt will get scared of Narendra Modi”. “Pegasus is classified by the Israeli State as a weapon and that weapon is supposed to be used against terrorists. The Prime Minister and the Home Minister has used this weapon against the Indian State,” he said. “They have used it polit- ically, they have used in Karnataka, they have used to scuttle probes, they have used it against the Supreme Court, against all the institutions. The only word for this is treason. There is no other word for this and the Home Minister should resign,” Rahul said. S everal political leaders, sep- aratists and journalists from Kashmir, including then Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti’s two relatives, may have been targeted for telephone snooping between 2017 and 2019. According to the report published by The Wire, even journalists working in Delhi but belonging to Kashmir were under surveillance using Pegasus spyware. “Others on the leaked data- base include at least two mem- bers of People’s Democratic party (PDP) chief and former Chief Minister of J&K Mehbooba Mufti’s family. Their selection as potential targets of surveillance happened when Mehbooba was still Chief Minister of the erstwhile State and in a coalition with the BJP. In fact, Mufti’s family members were chosen for potential sur- veillance just months before the Government collapsed as the BJP pulled out of the coalition in June 2018,” The Wire report- ed on Friday. However, Mehbooba said that surveillance, as a concept, for Kashmiris is not new. “People are used to having their thoughts, ideas not only intercepted but even being punished for them,” the former J&K CM said.

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The State on Friday regis-tered 69 more Coid-19

deaths, with which the total tollmounted to to 5,377, said theHealth and Family WelfareDepartment.

Khordha district reportedthe maximum 26 deaths fol-lowed by Baleswar with 10,Sambalpur seven, Kendrapadasix, Bargarh five, Sundargarhfour, Balangir, Jharsuguda,Kandhamal and Rayagada twoeach and Dhenkanal, Nuapadaand Subarnapur one each.

With the 26 more deaths,the total toll crossed the 1,000-mark in Khordha and reached1,003. Of the total deaths inKhordha district, capital cityBhubaneswar has reportedalmost 70 per cent.

Bhubaneswar has reporteda total of 711 deaths since theoutbreak of the pandemic.

On Friday, the State report-ed 1,917 new positive cases,increasing the total tally to9,63,851. Out of the new cases,

1,109 cases were from quaran-tine centres and 808 local cases,informed the Information andPublic Relations Department.

A total of 78,134 sampleswere tested in the last 24 hoursand the total positivity rate(TPR) was 2.45 percent.

Khordha districtregistered the day’shighest 518 cases fol-lowed by Cuttack with256 and Puri 118.

The districtswhich reported below-100cases were Jagatsinghpur with92, Angul 91, Jajpur 87,Baleswar 84, Nayagarh 76,

Kendrapada 73, Mayurbhanj69, Sundargarh 50, Bhadrak 55,Dhenakanal 37, Keonjhar 33,Kandhamal 25, Bargarh 19,Gajapati 16, Sambalpur 15,Malkangiri 12, Rayagada 11,Balangir, Nabarangpur and

Koraput 10 each,Jharsuguda nine, Boudhand Ganjam seven each,Subarnapur andKalahandi six each,Nuapada five andDeogarh one.

Besides, 109 caseswere reported from the Statepool.

So far, 9,39,160 patientshave recovered in the State.

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Chief Minister NaveenPatnaik on Friday said that

even though the Covid-19 sit-uation is under control in theState, people should not becomplacent and should beextra cautious.

Reviewing the pandemicsituation, Patnaik said thatalthough the test positivity ratehas decreased significantly inthe last few weeks, there is stilla need for further reduction inthe infection rate in some dis-tricts.

"Even though the pandem-ic situation is under control, thisis no time for complacency.Only by remaining alert will webe safe. Therefore, the ChiefMinister has asked people in theState to strictly adhere to Covid-19 rules and not crowdedplaces,” a statement issued bythe Chief Minister’s Office(CMO) stated.

He further said if the thirdwave comes by the end ofAugust, as predicted by scien-tists, the State would have todeal with the situation.

“The State Government isemphasising on investing inhuman resources along withstrengthening the healthcareinfrastructure. The districtadministration has a responsi-bility to ensure that people areable to access healthcare with-out any hassle,” the statementadded.

“Therefore, it is the coreresponsibility of everyone,including police station IICs,BDOs, SDPOs, Sub-Collectors,SPs and Collectors to ensurethat there is no problem inhealthcare delivery right fromthe district hospitals to theCHCs.”

Patnaik said the State hasspent around Rs 2,004 crore tosupport the poor, especiallysmall farmers, construction

workers, MGNREGS workers,indigenous tribal families,Scheduled Castes, tribal stu-dents and mothers of MissionShakti and street vendors dur-ing the second wave ofCoronavirus pandemic.

The assistance pro-grammes included various pro-grammes of ten departments of

the State Government.Chief Secretary Suresh

Mohapatra emphasised onthe vaccination of teachers andschool staff for the reopeningof schools (for Classes X andXII) in the State on July 26.

Health Secretary PKMohapatra spoke about thepreparations for the third wave

during the meeting whileDevelopment and Special ReliefCommissioner PK Jena, spokeabout the implementation ofthe Chief Minister's Covid Aid.

The meeting, conducted by5T Secretary VK Pandian alsoreviewed the implementationof the Biju Health WelfareScheme.

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The 12-day-long famousRathYatra came to an end

here in Puri on Friday nightwith Lord Jagannath, LordBalabhadra and Devi Subhadramaking their Niladri Bije (entryto the Shreemandir).

At late night, the holy sib-lings were enthroned on theRatna Singhasan, the bejeweledthrone. Before going to bed,they were served Pakhal(soaked rice) as supper, whichis not for public sale.

The public can get Abhada(rice dishes) on Saturday, whichis famous as Nilachal Abhada.The Abhada makes promi-nence, as the deities will beoffered rice and pulses withvarieties of curries for the firsttime after returning from theRath Yatra.

During their stay on thechariots, the deities are usual-ly offered fruits, milks and dryfoods without rice dishes. Afterthe Bahuda Yatra, the Lordswill first taste the home madecuisines in the Shreemandir.

The day was also celebrat-ed as Rasogola day as LordJagannath pacified the anguishof Mahalakshmi with thesweetmeat. As Lord Jagannathhad visited the GundichaTemple without takingMahalakshmi with Him, theGoddess got irritated andblocked His entry to the tem-ple by shutting the Lions’ Gate.Lord Jagannath confessed Hismistake and offered herRasogola. The ritual was alsoobserved during entry of LordJagannath, which is famous asLakshmi-Narayan Kali (quar-rel).

To mark the cheerfulreturn of Lords, quintals ofRasagolas were offered onboard the chariots. However,due to Covid restriction onpublic entry, Rasagola offeringswere limited to only servitors,Sadhus of mutts and personspresent on duty.

As per schedule, PahandiBije began at 4 pm as LordSudarshan was first to enter theShreemandir. Later, the threesiblings entered through GotiPahandi (marching one afteranother) and were establishedin the sanctum sanctorum bythe Daitapati servitors.

The Daitapati servitors leftthe temple at night. Notably,

Daitapati servitors have onlyrites during a month starting

from Snan Yatra (bathing cer-emony) up to the Niladri Bije.

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Chief Minister NaveenPatnaik on Friday inaugu-

rated three industrial projectsand performed groundbreak-ing of 11 others. These projectsrange across the renewable ener-

gy, metal and downstream, tex-tile and apparel, fertiliser, plasticand food processing sectors.

The leading companies pro-moting the projects includeAditya Birla Renewables Limited,IFFCO, Supreme Industries andBritannia Industries Limited.

In a major boost to the Makein Odisha, these 14 industrialunits with a combined invest-

ment of Rs 1,537.07 crore wouldgenerate employment opportu-nities for 3,773 persons, said anofficial release.

The CM said, “Odisha isfast emerging as the ‘manu-facturing hub of Eastern India’.My Government’s stable poli-cy and regulatory environ-ment have enabled the growthof industries.”

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Bhubaneswar on Friday reg-istered 318 new Covid-19

positive cases, with which thetotal tally in the city surged to97,488. Out of the new cases,256 were local contacts and 65quarantine cases.

The local contacts includ-ed 21 cases in Khandagiri, 20in Patia, 12 in Saheed Nagar,11 in Nayapalli, 10 each in

Laxmisagar abd Dumdumaand eight each inChandrasekharpur andRasulgarh.

The active cases stood at1,797. Meanwhile, 15 morepatients succumbed to thedisease in the city, pushing thetotal death toll to 711.

However, 235 personsrecovered on the day, increas-ing the total recoveries to94,959.

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The low pressure area overnorthwest Bay of Bengal

and neighbourhood hasbecome well-marked over thenorthwest Bay off northOdisha and West Bengalcoasts, said the RegionalOffice of the IndianMeteorological Department(IMD) here on Friday.

Under the influence of thesystem, widespread light tomoderate rainfall with heavyto very heavy rainfall activityis likely to occur atseveral parts of theState in the next 24hours.

The IMD hasalso issued“Orange Warning” for heavyto very heavy rainfall with iso-lated extremely heavy rainfallto occur at isolated parts ofSundargarh, Keonjhar,D e o g a r h , J h a r s u g u d a ,Sambalpur, Subarnapur,Bargarh, Balangir andNuapada districts in the next24 hours.

“The southwest monsoonhas been active over Odisha.Several parts of the Stateincluding north coastalOdisha, Mayurbhanj,Dhenkanal, Puri, Subarnapur,Boudh, Balangir andKalahandi received heavyrainfall in the past 24 hours,”said the weather office.

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The Pegasus snooping scan-dal continued to derail the

proceedings of Parliament.Both Houses on Friday sawslogan-shouting and repeatedadjournments even as theRajya Sabha suspended TMCMP Santanu Sen who onThursday snatched a state-ment read out by InformationTechnology Minister AshwiniVaishnaw and tore it off.

The MP has been sus-pended for the remaining peri-od of the ongoing MonsoonSession.

The strong action againstSen took place after a motionmoved by the Governmentwas passed by the House soonafter it met for the day.However, the TMC MPrefused to leave the House andkept sitting despite repeatedpleas by Chairman MVenkaiah Naidu and DeputyChairman Harivansh. As aresult, the House could notfunction and was adjournedrepeatedly.

In a tweet, Sen termed hissuspension as “unparliamen-tary” and said his party’s voiceand its leader’s voice cannot bestopped.

The Government made itsintentions clear and soon afterthe obituary references and lay-ing of papers, Minister of Statefor Parliamentary Affairs V

Muraleedharan moved amotion for Sen’s suspension.

“I move that Dr SantanuSen, AITC, be suspended fromthe services of the House...forhis unruly behaviour, unbe-coming of a member of theRajya Sabha, yesterday...”Muraleedharan said in hismotion. It was passed by avoice vote and Naidu asked Sento leave the House.

However, the TMC mem-bers protested and raisedobjection to the manner inwhich the motion was broughtwithout listing it in the day’sbusiness. Sukhendu SekharRay (TMC) said the moving ofthe motion was not mentionedin the revised list of business.

Naidu said he hadapproved the motion to main-tain the dignity of the House.Roy’s party colleague DerekO’Brien claimed a Ministerbehaved aggressively after theHouse was adjourned onThursday.

Sensing the mood of theHouse, the Chairmanadjourned it till 12.00 pm afterSen’s suspension. The agitatedmembers did not allow theHouse to run when the Housemet again and despite repeat-ed pleas by Harivansh, Sen didnot go out of the House.

The Deputy Chairmanfirst adjourned the House till12.30 pm and then till 2.30 pmas the TMC protested.

Meanwhile, the Lok Sabhaproceedings were adjournedfor the day following disrup-tions by Opposition partieswhich raised slogans on thePegasus snooping row and thefarmers’ issue by gathering inthe Well of the House.

As soon as the House metfor the day at 11 am, someOpposition members rushedto the Well but they were pre-vented from doing so by floorleaders of their respective par-ties as Speaker Om Birla want-ed to make observations on theIndian squad participating inthe Tokyo Olympics.

Birla extended best wish-es to the Indian contingent onbehalf of the House. The megacarnival of sports is fromFriday. Members thumpedbenches in support of theIndian squad.

Soon after Birla had madehis observations, several mem-bers from the Congress, theTrinamool Congress and theShiromani Akali Dal gatheredin the Well of the House rais-ing slogans and holding plac-ards. The TMC shouted slo-gans demanding details of themoney allegedly spent by theGovernment on Pegasus spy-ware.

Congress members hadplacards demanding a SupremeCourt monitored judicialprobe into the Pegasus allega-tions.

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Amid continuous mud-slinging against each other

by the BJP and the Congressover the Pegasus spywarephone-tapping controversy,former Congress presidentRahul Gandhi on Friday soughta judicial enquiry, claiming heis not a potential target but“every single phone of his isdefinitely tapped”. The BJP hitback and dared the Congressleader to submit his phone forinvestigation if he believed itwas tapped.

Addressing the media out-side the Parliament complex,Rahul said, “I get phone callsfrom IB [Intelligence Bureau]people who tap my phone.They call me up and say bewarewe are tapping you. My secu-rity people tell me that theyhave to debrief what I say totheir seniors.”

Rahul quipped that onlythose who are “thieves or cor-rupt will get scared of NarendraModi”.

“Pegasus is classified by theIsraeli State as a weapon andthat weapon is supposed to beused against terrorists. ThePrime Minister and the HomeMinister has used this weaponagainst the Indian State,” hesaid.

“They have used it polit-ically, they have used inKarnataka, they have used toscuttle probes, they have usedit against the Supreme Court,

against all the institutions.The only word for this istreason. There is no otherword for this and the HomeMinister should resign,” Rahulsaid.

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Several political leaders, sep-aratists and journalists from

Kashmir, including then ChiefMinister Mehbooba Mufti’s two relatives, may havebeen targeted for telephonesnooping between 2017 and2019.

According to the reportpublished by The Wire, evenjournalists working in Delhibut belonging to Kashmir were

under surveillance usingPegasus spyware.

“Others on the leaked data-base include at least two mem-bers of People’s Democraticparty (PDP) chief and formerChief Minister of J&KMehbooba Mufti’s family. Theirselection as potential targets ofsurveillance happened whenMehbooba was still ChiefMinister of the erstwhile Stateand in a coalition with the BJP.In fact, Mufti’s family members

were chosen for potential sur-veillance just months before theGovernment collapsed as theBJP pulled out of the coalitionin June 2018,” The Wire report-ed on Friday.

However, Mehbooba saidthat surveillance, as a concept,for Kashmiris is not new.“People are used to havingtheir thoughts, ideas not onlyintercepted but even beingpunished for them,” the formerJ&K CM said.

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Afew days after a group ofBPUT students met Skill

Development MinisterPremananda Nayak demand-ing reopening of its affiliatedinstitutions, a letter of theSkil l Development andTechnical EducationDepartment regarding com-mencement of physical class-es in all engineering and tech-nical institutions from July 26is doing the rounds on socialmedia.

However, theGovernment has not madeany official announcement inthis regard yet. So, is the let-ter a genuine one? No, the let-ter, dated July 22, addressingVice-Chancel lors of a l lGovernment and private tech-nical universities, Director ofIGIT Sarang, Principals ofall Government and privateengineering Colleges is a fakeone.

“ The Government ispleased to announce that alltechnical universities and col-

leges, engineering and pro-fessional colleges under Stateand private administrationare allowed to open from July26 following COVID-19 pro-tocols and SOP. Hostels areallowed to open from July 23,”the fake letter reads.

Commenting on the mat-ter, the Minister said no suchletter has been written by theconcerned department. TheGovernment is yet to take callon commencement of physi-cal classes in technical andengineering colleges.

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As part of reforms in high-er education, the State

Government on Friday added‘Environmental Study andDisaster Management’ to thesyllabus of undergraduate (UG)programme.

The new subject will bemandatory for +3 First Yearstudents in Arts, Science andCommerce streams. The four-unit syllabus will carry 100marks in the first semesterexamination.

Notably, at a State Cabinetmeeting on May 29, 2021, it

was decided to introduce ‘dis-aster and pandemic prepared-ness’ as part of the curriculumin schools and colleges.Accordingly, the HigherEducation Department hasrevised the existing model syl-labus ‘Environmental Science’ as ‘EnvironmentalStudy and DisasterManagement‘, an official releasestated on Friday.

The revised syllabus wouldbe introduced in undergradu-ate courses from this academ-ic session, informed HigherEducation Minister ArunKumar Sahoo.

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In the prestigious NationalTalent Search Examination

(NTSE) conducted by theUnion Ministry of Education,15 students from the DAVPublic School,Chandrasekharpur here havequalified in the final round forthe session 2019- 20.

The performance regis-tered is the highest for any indi-vidual school in Odisha. TheSCERT and the NCERT con-ducted the exams in tworounds every year.

The achievers areAmbarish, Aryan, Bismit,Biswajeet, Om Prakash,Pratham Pratik, Seetal,Shubhangi, Srutija, Srijita,Stithi, Swastik Mohapatra,Swastik Pradhan, Swayam andTathagat.

The students qualified inthe NTSE are eligible foradmission into prestigiousinstitutions of the nation withattractive scholarships. Theschool authorities congratu-lated the meritorious studentsand their guide teacher Dr SDSingh for the remarkable feat.

����� �������! ������

In a new twist in the death ofParlakhemundi Assistant

Conservator of Forests (ACF)Soumya Rajan Mohapatra, hiswife Bidyabharati Panda, whohad so far been silent over themurder charges levelled againsther by her in-laws, on Tuesdayclaimed that her late husband

had extramarital affairs withother women.

"He used to send 'I LoveYou' messages to other womenover WhatsApp chat," Bidyaclaimed and said Soumyachanged the password of hismobile phone after she learntof their relationships.

Even though he hadremoved the contact lists, call

histories and Whatsapp chathistories were there, Bidya fur-ther said.

Bidya further claimed thatshe learnt about Soumya’saffairs three months after mar-riage.

She refuted the allegationsregarding an agreement paperon property transfer. Theunsigned agreement paper hasbeen seized by police. Bidyaclaimed that she was unawareof the agreement that wasallegedly made for transfer ofSoumya's salary and properties

in her favour.However, Soumya’s family

denied the extramarital chargelevelled by Bidya.

“Her statement is a ploy toescape police action. My sonhad never kept any illicit rela-tionship with anyone. Many ofhis friends used to call him onseveral occasions. Some ofthem have tied rakhi toSoumya,” Soumya’s motherTulasi Mohapatra said.

Bidyabharati's father rub-bishes the charges of familyfeud between his daughter and

son-in-law."There was no such conflict

between my daughter and son-in-law. Whatever was therebetween them had beenresolved. The family membersof my daughter's in-laws arenice while my son-in-law wasGodly," he said.

About the woman PoliceInspector Mamata Panda, whohad allegedly detained theambulance carrying an injuredSoumya to hospital, he saidMamata is a distant relative, butI don’t know her personally."

����� ���������

Ayouth was mowed down bya car on NH-16 near CRPF

Square here on Tuesday. Thedeceased, identified as RajeshKumar Swain, was a resident ofRourkela and had come herefor his marriage engagementon Wednesday.

Four occupants of the car,including two young women,who were drunk, were detainedin this connection.

The four youths, includingthe two women, were headingtowards Jayadev Vihar from

Khandagiri in a car in inebri-ated condition. Midway, theirvehicle hit the scooter of Rajeshand he died on the spot.

“All the four persons havebeen detained for questioning.They were drunk. Along withtheir car, we have also seizedalcohol from the vehicle,” saidcity DCP Umashankar Dash.

Police sources said the twogirls are residents of HimachalPradesh and Sikkim.

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In a statement of BJP leaderPruthwiraj Harichandan on

the caste-based census onWednesday triggered sharpcriticism from other politicalparties in the State.

Ruling BJD leader IpsitaSahu said Hraichandan’s state-ment exposed the doublestandards of the BJP. As he isnot a member of the StateAssembly, he isn’t aware abouta unanimous resolutionpassed in the House inFebruary 2020 on the OdishaState Backward Class Census(Amendment) Bill, which wassupported by all political par-ties, including the BJP.

Samjawadi Party Statepresident Rabi Behera criti-cised the “volta face” of theBJP and said that when PrimeMinister Modi recent lystrengthened his Cabinet withmaximum representationfrom the backward classeseying the upcoming electionsand Union Minister and fron-trunner Odisha BJP faceDharmendra Pradhan hastime and again demandedbackward class reservationin Odisha, Hraichandan’sstatement showed the party’sdouble standard.

����� ���������

The Dhauli Books has published abook entitled ‘Bande Utkal Janani:

Atita O Bartaman’ consisting of 25chapters with detailed studies aboutthe State anthem of Odisha.

The song was written byKantakabi Lakshmikanta Mahapatra(1888-1953) and was first sung at the9th session of the Utkal UnionConference at Puri in 1913.

Dr Santosh Kumar Mohanty, ayoung scholar of Odisha, working inthe Central Institute of Indian

Languages, Mysuru, Karnataka, haswritten the well-researched book onthe poem. The book has been pub-lished by author Manu Dash of theDhauli Books, Bhubaneswar.

The book comprises collections ofdata from various sources likeGovernment proceedings, letters, oldbooks and magazines, proceedings ofthe Utkal Union Conferences, ‘UtkalDipika’, ‘Sambulpur Patriot’ and oth-ers. The combination of a total 111facsimiles/images enriches the impor-tance of the book.

It also features patriotic songs

sung at the Utkal Union Conferences and the discussion filledwith new data on the subject ofinspiration to form the Utkal UnionConference. Prominent scholars,including Prof Kishore Kumar Basa,Dr Natabar Satapathy, KamalakantaMohapatra, Debendra Kumar Dash,Prof Jatindra Kumar Nayak and DrLalatendu Das Mohapatra, haveunderlined the importance of thebook in their views.

This is the f irst and authentic research book on the Stateanthem.

����� ���������

Around 150 children from11 communities in

Chhatabar, Binjhagiri,Pitagadia Bhoi Sahiu,Jamujhari, Dalua, Bhola,Kujimahal, Daspur, Chudang,Krushananagar andMahimanagar from Chandaka,Daruthenga, Kantabada,Chhatabar panchayats ofBhubaneswar and Jatni block inKhurdha have done a com-mendable job this month.

They have engaged them-selves in cleaning of their sur-roundings including theirhouses and common places ofthe communities. The placesnear the community centers,ICDS centers, school campus,tuition centers are the targetedareas. Unwanted plants, shrubsand unwanted heaps werecleaned.

Apart from this they plant-ed 200 trees including mango,jackfruit, papaya, lemon etc. in

various places in the vicinity.The uncared plants rooted inodd places were replanted inproper places after cleaning thesurroundings.

These activities wereundertaken under FamilyStrengthening Program of SOSChildren’s VillagesBhubaneswar beginning fromJuly on every Sunday. Theinspiration came from the VanMahotsav Week celebrated in

July first week.The children have spared 2

hours on every Sunday duringmorning times with supportfrom the Animators, Tutors,Self Help Group leaders and thevillage leaders. The staffs ofFamily Strengthening Programwere instrumental in providingthe leadership. The positiveaction has given them enoughjoy and satisfaction during theCovid lockdown.

����� ���������

The Akhil BharatiyaSanyukta Adhibakta

Manch, Bharat Lawyers Visionand All Women Advocates’Forum jointly organised a spe-cial programme on the occa-sion of "Bahudare FerijaCorona".

The event, chaired byforum chairman HarapriyaSamantaray, saw the planting of

medicinal trees near the inter-section of Jagannath Road,Tankpani Road and Sai Mandir.In addition, Corona warriorjournalists and lawyers werehonored, including formerBhubaneswar Bar Associationpresident Jiaul Haque, formerBhubaneswar Bar Associationassistant secretary AmulyaMohanty, Abhijit Mishra,Tapaswini Swain andGangadhar Behera.

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The Rasagola theory isderived from a combina-

tion of Rasa and Gola. Rasa isa fusion of word and meaningthat bathes the minds of read-ers with savour of bliss. It is thetruth of poetry, shining with-out cessation. Clear to theheart, it is yet beyond thewords. Gola means circlewhich is a simple shape. It isthe set of all points in a planethat are at a given distancefrom a given point, the centre.Equivalently it is the curvetraced out by a point thatmoves so that its distance froma given point is constant.

Rasa also means sugar-cane juice and gola symbolis-

es a circle which is made ofboiled Paneer which is alsomade from milk. The combi-nation made of the two ingre-dients makes a sweet dishcalled Rasagola, a tastiest sweetwith sugar soup.

A rasa literally means"juice, essence or taste". It con-notes a concept in Indian artsabout the aesthetic flavour ofany visual, literary or musicalwork that evokes an emotionor feeling in the reader or audi-ence but cannot be described.Although the concept of rasais fundamental to many formsof Indian arts including dance,music, theatre, painting, sculp-ture, and literature, the inter-pretation and implementationof a particular rasa differs

between different styles andschools. The Indian theory ofrasa is also found in the Hinduarts and Ramayana musicalproductions in Bali and Java(Indonesia), but with regionalcreative evolution.

The word rasa appears inancient Vedic literature. InRigveda, it connotes a liquid,an extract and flavor. In

Atharvaveda, rasa in manycontexts means "taste", andalso the sense of "the sap ofgrain".

According to DanielMeyer-Dinkgräfe, a Professorof Drama, rasa in theUpanishads refers to the"essence, self-luminous con-sciousness, quintessence" butalso "taste" in some contexts. Inpost-Vedic literature, the wordgenerally connotes "extract,essence, juice or tasty liquid".

Bharata Muni enunciatedthe eight Rasas in theNatyasastra, an ancientSanskrit text of dramatic the-ory and other performancearts, written between 200 BCand 200 AD. In the Indian per-forming arts, a rasa is a senti-ment or emotion evoked ineach member of the audienceby the art. The Natya Shastramentions six rasa in one sec-tion, but in the dedicated sec-

tion on rasa it states and dis-cusses eight primary rasa.

Raudram rasa of thedestructive fury of goddessDurga in Bharatanatyam isrelated to love, humour, comic,pathetic, disgust, fury, angercompassion, sympathy, heroic,terrible, horrifying, marvel-lous and amazing.

Rasagola is produced froma combination of determi-nants (vibhava), consequents(anubhava) and transitoryStates (vyabhicaribhava).

Vibhava (hetu, karana,nimmita) means ‘cause’ ofwhat happens or is happeningin life. Bharata has termed it as‘Vibhava’ and has described itsprimary purpose as, creatingthe awareness of the emotionsthat the creator (poet/author)intends to. With the referenceto artistic presentation (cre-ative expression), Vibhava canbe inntepreted as, ‘developing

the knowledge or understand-ing of a specific emotion (men-tal state) that the creator(poet/author) intends to con-vey through the means andmodes of acting. The Vibhavasare of two types; one is‘Aalambana Vibhava’ and theother is ‘Uddipana Vibhava’. Inbroader sense, they are theinternal and external causes ofsomething. ‘AlambanaVibhava’ is source of a partic-ular emotion that determinesits nature and ‘UddipanaVibhava’ is the one, whichenhances the emotion causedby a stimulant. It has no directbearing or connection with thecause or consequence and it isnot a part of the process butindirectly plays the role ofenhancer of a particular emo-tion borne out of a stimulant.This can be best explained bymany literary presentationssuch as works of Kalidasa or

other renowned authors.‘Anu’ is a Sanskrit word

and in this context, it means“in reaction to”! Here in thiscase since it is the natural reac-tion of body to ‘Vibhava’ it istermed as ‘Anubhava’.Apparently, there is a verythin demarcation between thetwo; yet they cannot be termedas the same because Vibhava isthe cause and Anubhava is itsconsequence. Vibhava is defin-itive whereas Anubhava is notdefinitive.

The simple reason for thisis it is not possible to linkAnubhava with a specific emo-tion (mental state). For exam-ple, physical reaction like‘strenuous expression on theface’ is a sure physical reactionwhich is a manifestation of adefinite ‘cause’ or Vibhava.Therefore, the physical reac-tion of strenouous expressionon the face will be the

‘Anubhava’.Nevertheless, since such a

reaction could be the result ofeither a body ache or mentalstress or for being thrown in toan awkward condition. Asmentioned earlier, the Vibhavais definitive because it is theinternal state, which triggersthe anubhava, which is theexternal manifestation.

Vyabhicaribhava “vari-ants” or Sacaribhava refer tothe “accessories of permanent emotions” (like ratietc.) according to ChirañjivaBha??acharya (fl. 17th centu-ry).—These vyabhicaribhavasare thirty-three in number. These vyabhicarib-havas are neither permanentnor inborn. Madness is a vari-ant in the case of sgara spe-cially in vipralambha-sgara.These three treated above arevery much needed for themanifestation of rasa.

������'�2���� ���6���

Once, Vijay in his tiny agewas crying to get family’s

assurance to fulfil his wish ofbecoming a doctor. Though hisfather could understand hisstrong eagerness, he was inca-pable of telling him, “go ahead,I’ll support”, as he was livingwith penury and was largelydependent on wage labour.

After a while he couldmuster up courage only toadvise him to continue studiesto become a teacher at best.

These are the portion of abook ‘Today is Mine,’ an auto-biographical account ofGanjam district Collector VijayAmruta Kulange, now a popu-lar name in Odisha.

Kulange by virtue of hisstrong commitment and strictdiscipline contained the firstwave and second wave ofCovid-19 in the district. Manyof his life experiences are nar-

rated in the book.Apart from dealing suc-

cessfully with Covid-19 wave indistrict where lakhs of migrantlabourers returned home, dur-ing the first wave, it was reallya massive task to quarantine,trace, test and treat the positivecases.

Kulange’s innovative ideasto combat the Covid pandem-ic had set a precedent for oth-ers to follow, with many in thecountry hailing as ‘Ganjamstrategy’. Earlier, before Covidpandemic, he had undertakenmany progressive steps in thedistrict and had introduced‘Jala Ghanti’ (Water Bell) inschools for students to drinkwater at regular intervals,checking child marriage, ‘A

Child, A Tree’, ‘Movement ofRevenue Rath’ to name but afew. He also had taken specialinitiatives to highlight Ganjam’srich tradition and culture.

During the early part of hiscareer, it seemed to Vijay thathis dream was shattered. But,he didn’t lose hope andmarched ahead in his studies.After completing academiceducation, he had completedteacher’s training and becamea teacher to fulfil his father’swish first.

A strong willingness showspath to success, and a doeremerges victorious is all thatKulange proved. He made it tothe Indian Civil ServicesExaminations and became anIAS officer.

����� ���������

IRS officer Rasmi Ranjan Dasfrom Odisha, who currently

serves as the Joint Secretary ofthe Union Ministry of Finance,is among the 25 tax experts fromaround the world appointed asmembers of the United NationsTax Committee for the 2021-2025 term. He is the only Indian

in the newly-formed committee.Das has around 28 years of

experience as a member ofIndian Revenue Service (IRS) inpolicy making and implement-ing direct tax laws in India. Heis the Indian Delegate toInclusive Framework (IF), agroup of more than 135 coun-tries monitoring BEPS, andMember of its Steering Group

which is involved in building aconsensus-based solution toaddress direct tax challengesposed by digitalisation of theeconomy.

Das holds a PG Diploma inPublic Policy and Managementfrom the IIM Bangalore and aPG Degree in InternationalRelations from the JawaharlalNehru University, New Delhi.

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In the latest development inParalakhemundi ACF

Soumya Ranjan Mohapatra’sdeath case, accused DFOSangram Keshari Behera wasgrilled by police on Friday.

Investigating officer of thecase and Paralakhemundipolice station IIC BibekanandaSwain, along with SDPORamakrushna Pati, went toBehera’s office and questionedhim.

Crime Branch officialsincluding DSP Bijay KumarMallik were also present dur-ing the interrogation.

However, the DFO refutedthe allegation of his relationshipwith Soumya’s wifeBidyabharati, which wasalleged by the deceased’s fam-ily.

Police said the DFO fully

cooperated in the three-hourmarathon interrogation.“Investigation from all angles isunderway. We have recorded astatement of DFO Behera,”said the SDPO. The DFO wasbrought to his office 10 daysafter Soumya’s death for ques-tioning.

Police are also likely toquestion Gurandi police stationOIC Mamata Panda, who hap-pens to be the sister-in-law ofBidya. She might be questionedfor allegedly stopping theambulance carrying Soumyato the hospital after he sustainedburn injuries.

The ambulance hadallegedly been stopped midwayby Panda without any valid rea-sons. On Thursday night, policehad questioned the ambulancedriver.

Earlier in the day, a hand-written note written by Soumyacame to the fore which displayshis love for his wife. The notehanded over by Soumya’slawyer indicates that thedeceased was ready to sacrifice

everything for his wife. “Whatever you want, I will

make arrangements for that. I’lldefinitely fulfil that. I willresign from my job and be aservant to you. But I want asmall place at your feet. I don’twant your qualification. I won’tever tell you anything aboutthis. I just need you as my wifeand a good friend,” the notereads.

But significantly, he alsowrote, “After this, if anythinghappens. if any small thinghappens, I won’t play any role.I won’t explain anything. Iwon’t tell anything. In the end,whatever she decides, she isfine to do. If I interrupt at thattime by saying anything forpunishment, she can file acase of domestic violenceagainst me.”

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The Vigilance police on Friday arrest-ed Ashutosh Mishra, Public Prosecutor

in the court of Special Judge, Vigilance,Bhawanipatna on the charges of accumu-lating properties disproportionate to hisknown sources of income.

Earlier on July 3, Mishra was caughtred-handed by personnel of the VigilanceCell Division, Cuttack while he was

accepting a bribe of Rs 1 lakh an accusedto hush up a case in the Vigilance court.

Following the trap, search was con-ducted at the residential house of Mishraat Radhakrushna Nagar in Bhawanipatnaand assets worth Rs 85 lakh was detect-ed including cash of Rs 15. 60 lakh.

During the course of further inquiry,income and expenditure of Mishra wasascertained and he was found in posses-sion of assets worth Rs 75 lakh, dispro-

portionate to his known sources ofincome.

Mishra, who was on bail, was re-arrested and produced in the court ofSpecial Judge, Vigilance, Bhawanipatna onthe day. The court rejected his bail pleaand remanded him to judicial custody.

Meanwhile, the appointment ofMishra as Special Public Prosecutor(Vigilance) has been terminated by theGovernment.

����� 5����2���

Woman farmer SushamaPradhan of Panchgaon

panchayat under Lakhanpurblock in Jharsuguda districtwas felicitated on the 40thFoundation Day of Nabard onMonday here.

At Jharsuguda Collector'soffice, DRDA Project DirectorTapiram Majhi, ADM PradeepSahoo, Nabard DGMSudhansu Sekhar Chaulia,LDM Ajit Kerketa, AJKA chiefGoutam Behera etc were pre-sent to deliver memento andcertificate to Sushama.

Sources said that Sushamagot spectacular success in plan-tain farming in one acre landwith the financial support fromDistrict Mineral Foundationfunds and Farmers ProductionCommittee set up by AJKAorganisation. By planting 1,200

of plantain trees, Sushama gothefty profit of around Rs 1.45

lakh by selling plantain after 11months during Corona pan-

demic and thus became a rolemodel for others.

����� ������

The New Generation (NG)version of Akash missile

was test-fired off the Odishacoast on Friday.

The surface-to-air missiledeveloped by the DefenceResearch and Development

Organisation (DRDO) wasfired from launch pad No.3 ofthe Integrated Test Range (ITR)in Chandipur near here at11.56 am.

DRDO scientists wereexamining the testing data col-lected through radar, sourcessaid. The medium-range mis-

sile is capable of carryingnuclear warheads. This wasthe second test of the missilethis month and the fourth thisyear. The Akash-NG was firsttested on January 25, 2021. Itwas tested for second time onMarch 23. The third test wasconducted on July 21.

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Even though there have beenmassive seizures of con-

signments of ganja in the Stateand many smugglers have beentaken into custody, the tradecontinues unabated.

In a glaring example, theGocchipada policee seized 180kg ganja from a car nearNedipadar village inKandhamal district on Friday.

The cops also arrestedthree persons in connection.

The peddlers were identi-fied as Prakash Sahu ofNedipadar village, Kasta Rana

and Sisu Rana of Binikimendivillage.

As per reports, the

Gochhipada police got a tipoffon the transportation of a con-traband consignment which

was smuggled out of the dis-trict.

Immediately, they set atrap and intercepted a Hondacar at Pudeni Chhak nearNedipadar village. During thesearch, they found several bagscontaining 180 kg ganja in thecar.

Following the seizure, thethree occupants of the car weretaken into custody for failing toproduce necessary documentsfor transportation of the ganja.

The trio were bookedunder relevant sections of theNDPS Act and forwarded tocourt, police said.

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The CRPF 126 Battalionbusted a Maoist camp near

Kandenjharen village in thePatdarha Reserve Forest underthe Boden police station ofNuapada district on Thursday.

The forces seized hugequantities of explosives andseveral other substances andmaterials like 25 gelatin sticks,37 detonators, eight tiffinbombs and a gun from thespot. The CRPF Battaliontraced the camp while launch-ing a combing operation there.Sensing the arrival of the CRPFpersonnel, the Leftwingextremists fled the camp leav-ing behind the items.

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The Similipal Tiger Reservein Mayurbhanj district in

Odisha has been placed in sec-ond position in the safety indexof the National TigerConservation Authority(NTCA).

The NTCA has issued thesafety index using state-of-the-art technology for the conser-vation of wildlife, tiger con-servation projects and rarebiodiversity. While theDudhwa National Park ofMadhya Pradesh topped theindex, the Satkosia wildlifesanctuary in Odisha’s Anguldistrict found the 11th place inthe list.

The NTCA had monitoredthe patrolling system at 34tiger sanctuaries in the coun-try through the M-STrIPESapp. Based on the findings, theSimilipal Tiger Reserve projectoccupied the second spot interms of forest safety, accord-ing to Baripada Regional ChiefConservator of Forest (RCCF)M Yogajayananda.

The M-STrIPES app mea-sures how many kilometersthe sanctuary is patrolled with-in a specified timeframe.According to the NTCA andthe Wildlife Institute of India(WII), 50,000 km of patrollinghad been carried out in theSimilipal sanctuary during thesame period.

Yogajayananda said therole of 400 protection assistants(PAs) and about 200 forestguards working for the safety ofSimilipal was important.Despite inclement weather andharsh conditions, they patrolday and night in every beat ofSimilipal.

For forest protection,Similipal has been divided intovarious grids. A team com-prising of two or three PAs anda Forest Guard has beenformed for safety of the sanc-tuary. Through this M-STrIPESapp, the patrol system is mon-itored every month and thereport is sent to the NTCA.Based on data from varioustiger reserve projects across thecountry, the NTCA carries outan evaluation process. The pre-sent index hints that Similipalwould be the country’s No.1sanctuary in the coming daysin terms of forest protection,the official stated.

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The Vigilance police on Friday conductedsimultaneous house searches on five prop-

erties of Gobinda Bhoi, Gram PanchayatExtension Officer (GPEO) of Turekela block inBalangir district, on the allegations of posses-sion of assets disproportionate to his knownsources of income.

During search properties worth Rs 1.66crore were detected in the name of Bhoi andhis family members.

These included one-double storied build-ing at Kantabanji in Balangir district, 10 plotsin Kantabanji, Larkipali, Chatuanka in the dis-trict, two four-wheelers, three two-wheelers andother movable and immovable properties.Further search was continuing.

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Sub-Inspector of Police, Golamunda police sta-tion, Kalahandi, Ugrasen Patel was on

Thursday arrested for carrying Rs 2 lakh whilegoing to report for duty. He was forwarded to theCourt of Special Judge, Vigilance, Bhawanipatna.

On a tip-off, Vigilance sleuths of Koraput hadintercepted Patel while he was going by his BajajPulsar motorcycle and seized cash of Rs 2 lakhfrom him which he could not account for.

Later, his assets were searched and assessedat his office and residential locations. TheVigilance also registered a case under Preventionof Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018 againstPatel.

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The residents of the NewBarracks Road area have

been facing huge inconve-niences due to traffic rushcaused by Brahmapur ArmyCanteen and URC ExtensionCentre over past few years.

The parking of a largenumber of vehicles and longqueues of army officials on the30 ft narrow road of the NewBarracks Street that connects toOld Bus Stand and GandhiSquare causes serious trafficand movement issues for com-

mon people, more particular-ly, the elderly, women and chil-dren. Due to non-opening ofthe gate by the local canteenauthorities, thousands of ex-army officials who come to thecanteen/store and URCExtension Center every daypark their vehicles on the pub-lic road.

The women residents andhouse wives of the locality arescared to come out because ofcrowd and blockade of publicroad. A local resident andscribe drew the attention of theSecretary, Department of ESW,New Delhi about the problem

in February this year request-ing to direct the military can-teen authorities to open theirgate and ensure the parking ofthe vehicles inside their canteenpremises instead of on publicroad, but in vain. Similarly,there are repeated requests bythe local residents to have thequeue as well as parking insidethe premises of the extensioncounter of the canteen insteadof on public road but the localauthorities have ignored them.There is a demand to openanother entry gate adjoiningNCC office of the southernboundary of the URC Center

and Ex-Army Service Hospitalas this measure could avoidsuch huge crowd and parkingproblem which too remainunheeded.

Former Assembly DeputySpeaker Rama Chandra Pandakeeping the public perceptionsin mind and on the request ofthe local residents, too hadwritten a letter in December2017 and in June 2018 to theSecretary, Department ofDefence, Government of India,requesting to open both entryand exist points of ECHSComplex from south or westside of the boundary wall of

ECHS as the roads on thesetwo sides do not have the res-idential area as an alternativemeasure for permanent solu-

tion of the problem.In response to his letter, the

MoD instructed the officers toinvestigate the matter and inti-

mate HQs by January 26, 2018which too was reportedlyignored by the local authoritiesof the military canteen.

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The Odisha PrimaryTeachers’ Association on

Friday demanded that withoutany further delay the StateGovernment should reopenthe primary and upper prima-ry schools. Even the ICMR hasalready said that children havemore immunity as has beenproved in sero-surveys.

The association also saidthat while the Governmenthas taken a decision to reopenClasses-X and XII from nextweek, why should it not allowreopening of Classes-I to VIII?On the basis of recommenda-tions of the ICMR, the prima-ry and upper primary schoolscould be opened with propersanitisation, mask wearing andvaccination, it said.

Association presidentBrahmananda Moharana saidthat as children of the poor andeconomically weaker sectionsare unable to afford the inter-net fees for online classes,classroom teaching is the onlyoption left.

Moharana further addedthat as the primary educationis the foundation for the stu-dents’ future, the Governmentshould immediately start class-room teaching and open theseschools in the larger interest ofthe children.

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What is Pegasus spyware? Itis a “licensed organisa-

tion run by an Israeli compa-ny, NSO Group”. It can beused to infiltrate smart phonesthat run on both iOS andAndroid operating systems and

turn them into surveillancedevices.

It is a fact of deep concernthat Indian democracy is farfrom an Ideal one. The PrimeMinister is having Ministers inhis Cabinet but he has a trustdeficit in some of them. Someof his Cabinet Colleagues’smart phones are thereforebeing tapped or “spywared”.

This has been made publicfrom what has come out in theWashington Post of the US, theGuardian of the UK and the LeMandi in France. The names oftwo Central Ministers, name-ly, Smriti Irani and PrahalladSingh Patel are there in thepublic domain. Their smart

phones were tapped. Not onlythis. The services of the spyorganisation called the“Pegasus Spyware” wereemployed probably with severalcrores of rupees to break theJDS-Congress Government inKarnataka. Over and above, thetelephones of scores of jour-nalists namely SwatiChatruvedi and many othersincluding SiddharthVaradarajan of the Wire andpoll strategist Prashanta Kishor,Rahul Gandhi, etc were spiedupon to gather rich politicaldividends. The Pegasus spy-ware can put under perfect sur-veillance any person whoseactivities may substantially go

against the Prime Minister orthe President of the day. Theorganisation is being used tosubvert democracy. No democ-racy, which is having morallygifted political leaders both inthe Government and in theOpposition, will have any needfor any spying organisationlike the Pegasus. The PrimeMinister or the President whoare having a sense of insecuri-ty will try to capture and tamethe journalists of the land andthe media houses. But there arecertain journalists who arefreelancers, who cannot bepurchased. In addition, thereare media houses that do nothave any “price tag”.

The solution to this horri-ble image-destroying, reputa-tion-annihilating spying systemlies in having the following fivepillars here in India to strength-en our democracy and make itan ideal one.

One, the electoral systemcalled the First-Past-the-Post(FPTP) System that givesunequal representation inVidhan Sabha and Lok Sabhamust go and it must be replacedwith the Mixed PR System ofNew Zealand. Why should BJPhave 103 Members extra in theLok Sabha? According to itsvoting percentage, that is 37%,the BJP is entitled to have only200 members in the Lok Sabha.

Not at all a single memberextra, but it is now having 303members.

Two, governance must notbe “shrouded with secrecy”.Governance must be fair andethical. So the 2nd pillar need-ed for Indian democracy isCabinet meetings held by thePrime Minister and ChiefMinisters respectively must beopen to the Press. Each Cabinetmeeting is to be held in thepresence of, say, 30 journalistssitting in the Press gallery andcovering the Cabinet proceed-ings.

Third, funding of politicalparties by corporate housesmust be banned. The income

and expenditure of each polit-ical party must be audited byqualified people appointed bythe Election Commission ofIndia.

Fourth, phased electionsmust be done away with andinstead single-day electionsbe held. The ElectionCommission must not actaccording to the whims andcaprices of the PMO. And, inaddition, the Prime Ministerand Central Ministers mustnot be allowed to canvas inState elections, ignoring theirbasic responsibilities at theCentral level. Counting mustfollow soon after the voting isover.

Fifth, it relates to the sta-bility of the Government.Once a Government is formedwhether by a single party or bya coalition of parties, it mustcontinue for the whole term off ive years. The way theCongress Government waspulled down in MP and JDS –Congress coalition that wasde-stabilized by the BJP mustnot be allowed to happen.The continuance of theGovernment shall be over-seen by the ElectionCommission of India andSupreme Court of India.

(The writer is general sec-retary, Freethought Party ofIndia)

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Taking a serious note ofhigh air fares, especially

during the festive season, aParliamentary StandingCommittee on Transport,Tourism and Culture in itsreport ‘Status of AviationConnectivity in the country’,has asked to fix an upper limitof air fares for every sectorespecially in the economy class.

The Committee alsoexpressed concern that there isno uniformity in the cancella-tion charges levied by the air-lines. The Committee also rec-ommended that five Star/threeStar hotels and multiplexesshould be constructed near thenew airports and asked theMinistry should considermandatorily earmarking mini-mum 100 acres of land, whilemaking plans for future airports.

The Committee chairmanTG Venkatesh, presented itsreport in the Parliament onFriday. On the exorbitant airfares, the Committee expressedhope that the Ministry shouldconsider fixing an upper limitfor every sector, especially inthe economy class of air fares.The Committee also notedthat even after reduction of theAviation Turbine Fuel (ATF)

prices over a period of time, theairlines have not passed on thebenefit of reduction in ATFprices to the consumers. TheCommittee recommended thatthe Ministry should take effec-tive steps to ensure that the air-lines pass on the benefit to thetravelers by reducing the airfares and inform theCommittee about the specificsteps taken in this regard andthe outcome thereof.

The Committee empha-sized the need for rationalizingthe cancellation charges andprescribing an upper limit ofcancellation charges that can becollected from the passengers.

The Committee has reiter-ated its recommendation in thisregard, made in its 276th and291st Reports, requiring theairlines to restrict not morethan 50% of the base fare ascancellation charges. The taxand fuel surcharge collectedshould be refunded to the pas-sengers on cancellation of tick-ets. The Committee hopes thatthe Ministry would be able topersuade the airlines for suchrationalization in the interest ofthe passengers.

The Committee also rec-ommended that the Ministryshould ensure that designatedholding areas should be made

available at all airports toaccommodate passengers whoare stranded at the airport dueto cancellation or reschedulingof flights. The Committeeimpressed upon the Ministry tourge upon the airlines to makesure that facilities such as food,water, medical help and accom-modation are available tostranded passengers.

As per the information pro-vided by the ministry of civilaviation to the committee mem-bers, India’s domestic passengerthroughput has reached around137 million in 2019-20 from 61million in 2013-14 and inter-national passenger traffic hasreached 67 million in 2019-20from 47 million in 2013-14.Prior to the outbreak ofCOVID-19 pandemic, theIndian civil aviation sector wasgrowing at a CompoundAnnual Growth Rate of 14 per-cent and was among the fastestgrowing civil aviation sector inthe world. “Despite India beingthe world’s fastest growing avi-ation market, its airports aregrappling with serious capacityconstraints because such a paceof growth has resulted in a strainon the aviation infrastructure,resulting in traffic congestionsand delays at a majority of theairports,” it said.

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The Centre on Fridayinformed the Parliament

that only 22 heritage trees hadto be relocated because of theCentral Vista Avenue redevel-opment project.

Responding to a questionin Lok Sabha on the relocationof trees to the Badarpur Eco-Park, Union EnvironmentMinister Bhupender Yadav saidaccording to informationreceived from the CentralPublic Works Department,"only 22 number of trees havebeen relocated from theCentral Vista Avenue to theeco-park, Badarpur, and thereis no other proposal to relocatetrees from the Central VistaAvenue to Badarpur". He saidthere is a proposal to plant 10saplings for every tree uproot-ed or removed, and the com-pensatory plantation will be

done at the Badarpur Eco-Park, Badarpur.

The redevelopment projectof the Central Vista -- thepower corridor of the country-- includes the revamping ofthe three-km-long Rajpathfrom the Rashtrapati Bhavan toIndia Gate. It also envisages anew triangular Parliamentbuilding, a Common CentralSecretariat and new residencesfor the prime minister and thevice president.

On another query on cen-sus of trees, Yadav said, "As peravailable information, no treecensus has been conducted inthe recent past."

"However, the ForestSurvey of India (FSI) carriesout sample plot based regularinventory of trees in forests andoutside forests in the countryunder its National ForestInventory Programme," he said.

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Union Agriculture MinisterNarendra Singh Tomar on

Friday informed Parliamentthat the Government has norecord of farmers who havedied during the agitation atDelhi's borders against threenew farm laws since 2020. TheMinister said the Governmenthas not undertaken any studyto ascertain the apprehensionsin the minds of farmers aboutthe three farm laws.

Asked if the Governmentwas aware of the total numberof farmers who have died dur-ing farm protests since 2020,Tomar said: "The Governmentof India has no such record."However, the CentralGovernment during discus-sions with farmers' unionshad appealed to them thatchildren and elders, especial-ly women, should be allowedto go home in view of the coldprevailing at that time and theCovid-19 situation, he said ina written reply in the RajyaSabha.

Further, in a separate reply,Tomar said, "No study hasbeen undertaken to ascertainthe reasons for apprehensionscreated in the mind of farmerson account of these farm laws.However, the Centre has proac-tively undertaken efforts toreach out the farmers to

remove their apprehensions, headded.

Asserting that the govern-ment is serious and sensitivetowards farmers’ issues, theminister said the Centre hasbeen engaged in active discus-sions with the farmers unions.

Further, allaying concernsover farmers' privacy dataunder a new initiative'Agristack', Tomar said thegovernment has not involvedany private company in devel-oping the digital ecosystem onagriculture. Tomar also said hisministry in consultation withthe Ministry of Electronicsand Information Technology isin the process of bringing outa data policy for the agriculturesector.

Agristack is a digitalecosystem for covering every-thing related to agriculture,including farmers' databases,land records, soil types, andcrops. In a written reply to theRajya Sabha, Tomar said hisministry has commenced thework for creating 'Agristack' inthe country and is in theprocess of finalising the 'IndiaDigital Ecosystem ofAgriculture (IDEA)', whichwill lay down a framework forAgristack. "No private sectorcompanies are involved inbuilding the Agristack," hesaid.

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Seeking Opposition parties toensure that people were vac-

cinated, Union Health MinisterMansukh Mandaviya on Fridaysaid in the Lok Sabha that thereshould be no politics over theCovid-19 pandemic.

Responding during zerohour amidst noisy Oppositionprotests , the Minister said theGovernment is still in talkswith US company Pfizer withrespect to making its vaccineavailable in India.

"There should be no poli-tics on the issue of Covid andvaccination. The PrimeMinister has said this severaltimes," Mandaviya said inresponse to a question asked byShiv Sena MP Rahul Shewale.

The Minister detailed howPrime Minister Narendra Modiinteracted with the ChiefMinisters over 20 times beforeallowing them to float tendersfor 25 per cent of the vaccineas demanded by them. He saidon Jul 21 the Centre started anew vaccine policy when thestates conveyed that they werenot able to get vaccines pur-chased at their end.

"I will also not want toindulge in politics on this issuebut I want to present the facts,"he said, adding that the PrimeMinister till date has held over20 meetings and discussionswith the State Governmentsand Chief Ministers.

He said some opposition-ruled states raised the issue thathealth is a state subject and theyshould be taken into confi-dence.

"Many said Health is aState subject, States said we alsoneed permission to buy vac-cines. We said that we have noproblem with this. The Statessaid that we want to go out fortender to buy the vaccine.Modi ji said that we are readyto do whatever help is needed,"the Health minister said.

He said accordingly, thestates were allowed to buy 25per cent and 25 per cent by theprivate (sector). The Centrewas to procure 50 per cent forthe people.

"For the 25 per cent, statesissued tenders and we said wewill provide all possible help.The suppliers were limited andthe Indian government toowas holding talks," he said.

Many issued global ten-ders. But there were only twoIndian companies which had

started vaccine manufactur-ing, the Serum Institute ofIndia (Covishield) and BharatBiotech (Covaxin), Mandaviyasaid.

He said Moderna has reg-istered in India and taken per-mission. Johnson and Johnsonhas tied up with Biological Eand work on technology trans-fer has begun.

"With Pfizer, the Indiangovernment was holding talkswith it. But the company saidit will not deal with the statesand the Indian government isholding talks with us. Eventoday, an experts group is hold-ing talks with the company,"Mandaviya said.

In a meeting with thestates, the chief ministers saidthey were not getting adequatesupply of vaccines and theCentre should procure 25 percent, which the states were toearlier acquire, of the vaccines.

So a new policy came intobeing from June 21 underwhich the Centre decided tovaccinate all the citizens, hesaid.

"The issue is about politics.There should be no politics onthis issue. Our goal is to vacci-nate 100 percent people abovethe age of 18 years. We all needto work on it together. It is notthe time to indulge in politics,"said the new health ministerwho replaced Dr HarshVardhan on the July sevencabinet reshuffle at the centre.

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Amidst disruption of theLok Sabha business and

slogan-shouting, the JointCommittee of Parliament (JCP)examining the Personal DataProtection Bill was on Fridaygiven an extension till theWinter Session to submit itsreport.

The Personal DataProtection Bill seeks to regulatethe use of individual's data bythe Government and privatecompanies.

This is for the fifth time thecommittee's tenure has beenextended. The JPC was con-stituted in the Lok Sabha inDecember 2019 and wasexpected to submit its report inthe Budget Session.

P P Chaudhary of the rul-ing BJP moved a motion in thehouse seeking extension up tothe Winter Session ofParliament for the 30-memberpanel to submit its report.

"That this House doesextend up to the first week ofWinter session of Parliament,2021, the time for the presen-tation of the report of the JointCommittee on the PersonalData Protection Bill, 2019,"the motion read. It was passedby a voice vote.

The lower house wasadjourned till 1200 hours andthan adjourned for the day asorder could not be restored inthe house.

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To mark the 30th anniver-sary of India's economic

liberalisation, former PrimeMinister Manmohan Singh onFriday said the road ahead iseven more daunting than dur-ing the 1991 economic crisisand the nation would need torecalibrate its priorities toensure a dignified life for allIndians.

In a statement, Singh saidhe was deeply saddened at thedevastation caused by theCovid-19 pandemic and theloss of millions of fellowIndians and livelihoods.

Recalling that as theFinance Minister in 1991, heended his budget speech byquoting Victor Hugo, 'Nopower on Earth can stop anidea whose time has come', andsaid, "Thirty years later, as anation, we must rememberRobert Frost's poem -- 'But Ihave promises to keep, Andmiles to go before I sleep'."

"It is not a time to rejoiceand exult but to introspectand ponder. The road ahead iseven more daunting than dur-ing the 1991 crisis," Singh saidin the statement.

"Our priorities as a nationneed to be recalibrated to fore-

most ensure a healthy and dig-nified life for every singleIndian,"said the former PM.

He said that on this day, 30years ago in 1991, the Congressushered in significant reformsof India's economy and paveda new path for the nation's eco-nomic policy.

Over the last three decades,successive governments havefollowed this path to catapultthe nation to a USD 3 trillioneconomy and into the league ofthe world's largest economies,the former prime ministernoted.

More importantly, he said,nearly 300 million fellowIndians have been lifted out ofpoverty in this period andhundreds of millions of newjobs have been provided for theyouth.

Singh said the reformsprocess unleashed the spirit offree enterprise which hashelped produce world-class

companies and help Indiaemerge as a global power inmany sectors.

"The economic liberalisa-tion process in 1991 was trig-gered by an economic crisisthat confronted our nationthen, but it was not limited tocrisis management. The edificeof India's economic reformswas built on the desire to pros-per, the belief in our capabili-ties and the confidence torelinquish control of the econ-omy by the government," hesaid.

Singh said he was fortunateto play a role in this reformprocess along with several ofhis colleagues in the Congressparty.

"It gives us immense joy tolook back with pride at thetremendous economic progressmade by our nation in the lastthree decades. But I am alsodeeply saddened at the devas-tation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the loss ofmillions of fellow Indians," hesaid.

The social sectors of healthand education have laggedbehind and not kept pace withour economic progress. Toomany lives and livelihoodshave been lost that should nothave been, Singh lamented.

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The India MeteorologicalDepartment (IMD) has

said that Mahabaleshwar, inSatara district, one ofMaharashtra's most well-patro-nised hill stations, experiencedits wettest day ever on Friday.Ending at 8.30am on Friday,the 24-hour rainfall recordedwas 594mm.

The IMD has issued analert for the next 24 hours forthe distr icts of Raigad,Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg incoastal Konkan and also forPune, Satara and Kolhapur inWestern Maharashtra. TheMet Department has predict-ed isolated extremely heavyfalls are very likely overKonkan, Goa and centralMaharashtra in the next twodays. The Met Departmentalso predicted thT heavy rainsWOULD batter several partsof west and south India.

According to the IMD,Mahabaleshwar, some 260kilometres from here, got 482mm of rainfall on Wednesdayand 461 on Thursday. In thelast 10 days, Mahabaleshwarhas received 1886.6mm —which was 40 per cent of thetotal July rain quota. Between2000 and 2021, on seven occa-sions extreme heavy rainfall

events (more than 400mm in24 hours) were reported eitherin July or August. Eventhough it is a high rainfallreceiving area, with June andSeptember average of5130mm, this trend of intensespells within a short durationis on a rise.

The IMD predicted scat-tered to fairly widespreadrainfall with isolated heavyfalls are likely to continueover Gujarat till July 23, but itsintensity will increase fromJuly 24. "Fairly widespread towidespread rainfall with iso-lated heavy to very heavy fallsvery likely to continue overwest coast during next 2-3days with reduction there-after," the IMD said.

"Isolated extremely heavyfalls are also very likely overKonkan, Goa, the adjoiningghat areas of centralMaharashtra during July 23-24with reduction thereafter andover coastal and south interi-or Karnataka, (from) todayJuly 23," it said.

Maharashtra, especiallythe Konkan region, has beenwitnessing a deluge. In neigh-bouring Goa, several parts,including Sattari andBicholim tehsils in north andDharbandora in south, arereeling under a flood-like sit-uation. A large number ofhouses was inundated as thewater level of some riversrose following heavy rainsover the past few days.TheIMD said scattered to fairlywidespread rainfall with iso-lated heavy falls are likely tocontinue over Gujarat till July23, with an increase in inten-sity from July 24.

"It is likely to increase tofairly widespread to widespreadrainfall with isolated heavy tovery heavy falls on July 24-26.Isolated extremely heavy fallsalso likely over Gujarat regionJuly 25," the IMD added.

It said fairly widespread towidespread rainfall with iso-lated heavy to very heavy fallsare likely to continue over eastand adjoining central Indiaduring July 23-25 with reduc-tion thereafter.

Isolated extremely heavyfalls also likely over westMadhya Pradesh on July 23 andJuly 24 and east MadhyaPradesh, Telangana and Odishaon July 23, the IMD added.

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The Supreme Court onFriday directed the CBI

Director to set up a monitor-ing mechanism to ensure thatappeals are filed without delays.The apex court's directioncame when the CBI filed anappeal 647 days after the HighCourt verdict. As per rulesappeals against HC orders areto be filed in SC within 60 days.

A Bench of Justices DYChandrachud and MR Shahwhile dismissing the appeal onaccount of delay asked the CBIDirector to ensure that steps aretaken on the administrativeside to monitor filing ofappeals.

“We are of the view that theCBI must take all necessarysteps to ensure that these kindsof delays do not occur in thefuture. Delays are liable tocause grave misgivings on rea-sons for delay. We directDirector CBI to take necessaryadministrative steps to moni-tor filing of appeals on an ICTplatform so that delays don'ttake place,” the Court said.

In November 2018, a

Special CBI judge at Raipur hadconvicted the accused for threeyears in a corruption case. TheHigh Court by its judgment ofJune, 2019, reversed the judg-ment and acquitted theaccused. The appeal against itwas filed by CBI after 647days. As per rule, appeal againsttrial court judgment has to befiled in High Court in 180 daysand appeal against the HighCourt Judgment has to be filedin Supreme Court in 60 days.

When CBI stated that delaywas on account of COVID, thebench said, “There is a delay of647 days. In application forcondonation of delay, explana-tion given is on grounds ofCovid which doesn’t explainthe entire duration of delay.Explanation of delay onaccount of Covid is not accept-able since the judgment wasmuch before the onset of thepandemic in March 2020."

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As fighting rages inAfghanistan with the

Taliban controlling many partsof the country, External AffairsMinister S Jaishankar on Fridayheld parleys with topAfghanistan peace negotiatorAbdullah Abdullah. They dis-cussed the overall situationthere.

Abdullah, the chairman ofthe powerful High Council forNational Reconciliation, hasbeen playing a key role innegotiating with all the stake-holders to bring lasting peaceand stability in Afghanistan.

It is learnt that the influ-ential Afghan leader is in Indiaon a private visit.

"Always good to meetChairman HCNR@DrabdullahCE. Appreciatehis sentiments and support forour relationship.Value hisinsights on the region,"Jaishankar tweeted.

Incidentally, Jaishankarsome days ago in a conclave ofthe Shanghai CooperationOrganisation(SCO)suggesteda three-point way forward torestore peace in the strife-torncountry.

Afghanistan has been wit-

nessing a series of terrorattacks since the US beganwithdrawing its troops on May 1. The US has alreadypulled back the majority of itsforces and is looking to com-plete the drawdown by August31, ending nearly two-decadeof its military presence in thecountry.

With the situation deteri-orating in Afghanistan in thelast few weeks, India has beenin touch with leading interna-tional players as well as theAfghan government on theoverall developments in thatcountry.

A day ahead of Jaishankar-Abdullah meeting, External

affairs ministry spokespersonArindam Bagchi on Thursdaysaid India supports the gov-ernment and the people ofAfghanistan in realising theiraspirations for a peaceful,democratic and prosperousfuture that protects the interestof all sections.

India has been a majorstakeholder in the peace andstability of Afghanistan. It hasalready invested nearly USDthree billion in aid and recon-struction activities in the coun-try. India has been supportinga national peace and reconcil-iation process which is Afghan-led, Afghan-owned andAfghan-controlled.

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India and the US will discussthe entire range of bilateral

strategic ties during the two-day visit of Secretary of State,Antony J Blinken starting July 27. He will meet ExternalAffairs Minister S Jaishankarand National SecurityAdvisor(NSA) Ajit Doval.

Giving details of Blinken’svisit, the External AffairsMinistry said here on Fridaythis is his first visit to India afterassuming charge as U.S.Secretary of State.

Blinken's visit is an oppor-tunity to continue the high-levelbilateral dialogue and bolster theIndia-US global strategic part-nership, the Ministry said.

Both sides will review therobust and multifaceted India-US bilateral relations, andpotential for consolidatingthem further.

Discussions will focus onregional and global issues ofmutual interest – includingrecovery from the Covid-19pandemic, the Indo-Pacificregion, Afghanistan and coop-eration in the UN, the ministrystatement said.

Blinken and Jaishankar arealso likely to do the ground workfor the Quad summit and bilat-

eral meetings between PrimeMinister Narendra Modi and USPresident Joseph Biden due to beheld in Washington later thisyear, sources said. Incidentally,Jaishankar and Blinken are intouch on the phone for some-time now, they added.

The US President has saidthe America’s Indo-Pacific strat-egy that includes India is an areaof importance, particularlygiven increasing tensionsbetween the U.S. and China.

Underlining the growingties between the two countriesin various fields includingdefence, Defence SecretaryLloyd Austin was the first seniorofficial of the Biden adminis-tration to visit Delhi in Marchfollowed by Biden’s special envoyon climate change John Kerry.

India also reciprocated andJaishankar visited Washington inMay, and held talks with Blinkenin London on the sidelines of theG-7 Foreign Ministers’ meetingalso in May and in Rome at theG-20 Foreign Ministers' meetingin June.

The Quad summit includ-ing leaders of the U.S., Japan,Australia and India, which washeld virtually earlier this year,is expected to be held inWashington with the leaders‘in-person’ in September.

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Beijing: Chinese President XiJinping has made a rare visit toNyingchi, a strategically locat-ed border town close toArunachal Pradesh, during hisfirst visit to the politically sen-sitive region of Tibet where heunderlined the need for "last-ing stability" and "high-quali-ty development" for the plateauregion. <Xi was in Tibet fromWednesday, but his importantvisit was kept under wraps byChina's official media till theend of the trip on Friday due tothe sensitivities of the trip.

On Wednesday Xi flewdirectly to Nyingchi not farfrom the Indian border aftervisiting several places in thecity. Later he travelled to Tibet'scapital Lhasa by the recentlycommissioned high-speed bul-let train.

According to state-runXinhua news agency, Xi visit-

ed the Tibet AutonomousRegion in connection with the70th anniversary of Tibet's"peaceful liberation the firsttime in the history of the Partyand the country."

During his visit, Xi stressedfully implementing the guide-lines of the ruling CommunistParty of China for "governingTibet in a new era and writinga new chapter of lasting stabil-ity and high-quality develop-ment for the plateau region",the report said.

China is accused of sup-pressing cultural and religiousfreedom in the remote andmainly Buddhist Himalayanregion. China has rejected theaccusations.

In footage released by Statebroadcaster CCTV, Xi, 68, wasseen greeting a crowd wearingethnic costumes and wavingthe Chinese flag as he disem-barked from his plane at the

Mainling Airport in Nyingchi.Chinese leaders periodi-

cally visit Tibet. But Xi, whoalso heads the rulingCommunist Party of China(CPC) and the powerfulCentral Military Commission-- the overall high command ofthe Chinese military — is per-haps the first top leader inrecent years to visit Tibet'sborder town.

He visited Tibet as VicePresident in 2011 to com-memorate the 60th anniversaryof “the peaceful liberation ofTibet''.

The last sitting ChinesePresident to officially visit Tibetwas Jiang Zemin in 1990.During his visit to Nyingchi, Xi,visited the Nyang River Bridgeto inspect the ecological preser-vation in the basin of theBrahmaputra river, which iscalled Yarlung Zangbo in theTibetan language. PTI

New Delhi: Northern Railwayrevs up the tourist season inShimla by re-introducing theleisure-oriented hop-on hop-off service on the 118 years oldscenic kalka-shimla narrowgauge section which is aUNESCO World Heritage Site.This convenience will enable thetourists to see all places of inter-est on purchase of a single tick-et. The ticket can be boughtfrom any station on the Kalka-Shimla section.

General Manager, NR, Sh.Ashutosh Gangal elaborated thesalient feature of the Hop-on

Hop-off service over the Kalka-Shimla section. By this service,NR will facilitate the passengersto see all places of tourist inter-est over the KSR section on pur-chase of a single ticket. The pas-sengers can board any coach ofany train subject to availabilityof seats. The passenger canBoard/deboard any trainfrom/at any station subject toscheduled stoppage of train atthe said station. Tickets forHop-on Hop-off service shall beissued from all stations of theKalka - Shimla Narrow gaugesection.

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Two days ago Bengal ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee

called upon the Oppositionparties to unite and act inadvance to throw the BJP outof power. On Friday Banerjee’sparty appointed her the chair-person of the All IndiaTrinamool Congress parlia-mentary committee that theTrinamool Congress insiderscalled a step taken well inadvance to beat the “Congress’right to galvanise theOpposition” in the 2024 generalelections to say the least.

The decision takes placeahead of the Chief Minister’svisit to Delhi where she islikely to meet a number ofopposition leaders includingNCP chief Sharad Pawar — ina bid to lay the groundwork fora greater national focus for her-self and her party.

“Mamata Banerjee willbecome our Trinamool parlia-

mentary party chairperson.This is a reality we are formal-ising. Mamata Banerjee is aseven-time MP. She was alreadyguiding the parliamentaryparty… there are two levels tothe development … a concep-tual level and a strategic level,”O’Brien said.

“All the MPs who were pre-sent were consulted and thosewho were not were spoken toover telephone and there was aunanimous decision to appointMamata Banerjee who is alsothe Trinamool Congressnational president the chair-person of the parliamentarycommittee … we are proud andfeel empowered,” Roy said.

Banerjee a former UnionMinister and MP of 26 yearsreplaces Sudip Bandopadhyayto the post and becomes one ofvery few such leaders apartfrom Congress’ Sonia Gandhito become the parliamentarycommittee chairperson of herparty without being an MP.

Gandhi became the Congresspresident as also the parlia-mentary committee chief in1998.

Not completely devoid ofrelevance senior Trinamoolleader and Bengal MinisterArup Biswas had onWednesday said “ebar BharatBanglar meye ke chai” mean-ing thereby that not onlyBengal but also India wantedthe daughter of Bengal at thehelm of affairs in Delhi.

The Friday’s announce-ment came in the midst ofstormy session in Parliament

post suspension of TrinamoolMP Shantanu Sen for allegedmisdemenour shown towardsInformation TechnologyMinister Ashwini Vaishnaweven when he was respondingto the Pegasus snooping scan-dal.

Soon after Sen’s suspensionO’Brien said, “We want parlia-ment to run. But at the sametime we want two or threeissues to be discussed. Wewant structured discussion onPegasus issue, and Farmers’ Bill... We want the farm laws to berepealed.”

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Ajoint team of security forces on Fridaygunned down two Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT)

terrorists in the Warpora area of Sopore inBaramulla district.

The operation was launched late Thursdayevening on the basis of a specific intelligenceinput about the presence of terrorists in theWarpora area of Sopore.

The slain terrorists were involved in a num-ber of attacks on civilians including the one thatkilled four innocent civilians and a policemanin Sopore on 12 June 2021.

According to a police spokesman, "both theterrorists have been identified as Fayaz AhmadWar @Rukana @Umar son of Gh Mohi-Ud-DinWar resident of Warpora a top commander ofproscribed terror outfit LeT and ShaheenAhmad Mir @Shaheen Molvi son of MohdKamal Mir resident of Cherpora Budgam".

According to a police spokesman,FayazAhmad War had a long history of terror crimecases, as he was associated with terrorism sinceyear 2008.

Although he had surrendered earlier witharms & ammunition yet after his release he againworked as terrorist associate for proscribed ter-

ror outfit HM and was detained under PSA.However after his release, in March-2020 heagain joined terrorist ranks of proscribed ter-ror outfit LeT. Besides being part of groupsinvolved in several terror crime cases, he wasvery instrumental in planning and executing ter-ror attacks on security establishments andcivilian killings and figured among the list ofmost wanted terrorists in North Kashmir.

As per the police records, the LeTCommander was the last active terrorist whoperpetrated a series of various terror crimes andviolence in North Kashmir, He was also involvedin a series of grenade attacks on Police/Securityestablishments in Sopore.

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APakistani drone fitted with a readyto be used Improvised Explosive

device (IED) was shot down by the alertcops of Jammu & Kashmir police nearKanachak area of Jammu late Thursdaynight.

The drone, which a senior policeofficer claimed was assembled withspare parts from China,Taiwan andHongkong, had penetrated approxi-mately 6-7 kms inside the Indian terri-tory before it was shot down nearGurah Pattan village of Kanachak areain Jammu. After the drone attack on AirForce Station, Jammu on June 27, 2021the security of several vital installationswas beefed up and anti drone technol-ogy was installed to prevent the similarstrike.

Preliminary investigations of thedrone assembly revealed, the strings usedto drop the payload fitted with the dronewas similar to the one recovered by theinvestigation agencies from the site ofdrone attack inside the Air Force station,Jammu on June 27, 2021.

Additional Director General ofPolice Mukesh Singh told reporters inJammu, "so far 25 to 30 drone sorties

have been detected and according tointelligence agencies at least Sixteen AK47 rifles, 3 M4 US made rifles, 34 pis-tols, 15 grenades and 18 IEDs, 4 lakh cur-rency recovered so far in the last 18months".

Sharing details of the operation,ADGP Singh said, 'late Thursday night,we got specific inputs that a Pakistanbased terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammadwas planning to drop some payload viaa drone in Akhnoor sector. Singh said,``We rushed a police party to maintain

a strict vigil. At about 1 am, the dronewas spotted in the Kanachak area andwhen it made a low flight to release thepayload it was shot down by our police-men".

ADGP Mukesh Singh said the dronewas carrying a payload of five-kg IEDmaterial in a semi-assembled state andonly wires had to be connected to it totrigger a blast.“Preliminary analysis of thedrone revealed that it was a hexacopterwith six wings and a flight controller andGPS.”

Singh said the drone shot down inKanachak was assembled with partsmade in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.He added these drones can travel up to20 kilometres with a payload of 10 to 12kg. The aerial distance between the placewhere the drone was shot down and theborder is about six to seven kilometres.

Security forces have fired at severaldrones since June 27, but this is the firsttime that police have shot down such aflying object carrying a payload. Thereis a difference of a digit between the flightcontroller serial number of the droneshot down on Friday and that of anoth-er brought down a year ago in Kathua’sHiranagar sector.

“It establishes beyond doubt that theterror group has procured many flightcontrollers with similar series for the pur-pose of installing them in drones.”Responding to a direct question whetherthere was any common link with thedrone attack on the Air Force StationSingh said as per preliminary investiga-tions We have recovered the samethreads and it is now confirmed that asimilar drone had dropped the payloadat IAF station. The National InvestigationAgency is investigating the case, headded.

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Kolkata: Bengal Leader ofOpposition Suvendu Adhikarihas filed a petition beforeCalcutta High Court seekingtransfer of all criminal casesregistered against him to theCentral Bureau ofInvestigation.

The BJP leader who wascurrently in Delhi to meetHome Minister Amit Shahsaid that there was a politics ofvendetta going on in Bengaland he was being made aprime target of that “politicalvendetta.”

Mr Adhikari also prayedfor an order of quashing ofFIRs registered against him bythe state police.

He said that the writ peti-tion seeking transfer of the

criminal cases against him tothe CBI for an “impartialinvestigation,” adding, therewas no law and order and ruleof law in Bengal. “The CID hasbeen planted against me toharass me … not only me butall the BJP men are beingattacked and harassed,” hesaid.

On the question of postpoll violence he said whatev-er had been submitted beforethe High Court by theNational Human RightsCommission was only tip ofthe iceberg and “there aremore atrocities being perpe-trated on our men … thepost-poll violence has notstopped … it is still continu-ing.” PNS

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Guwahati: A total of 42 chil-dren from Assam have beenrescued in Sikkim and broughtback to the state on Friday,Chief Minister Himanta BiswaSarma said.

The parents of the children,hailing from four villages ofChirang district along theIndo-Bhutan border, werelured by two persons whoassured that their educationwould be taken care of, but theyended up as domestic helps,Sarma told reporters here.

The two accused have beenarrested and during interroga-tion, one of them claimed thatin the last two years, 80 chil-dren have been trafficked fromthe state, with some sent toDubai as well, officials said.

The operation to rescue thechildren was initiated byChirang Police under the guid-ance of Bodoland TerritorialCouncil Chief Promod Bodoand Special DGP L R Bishnoi,while Sikkim Police providedthe necessary help and coop-eration. PTI

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New Delhi: The MizoramGovernment has constituted aboundary commission to dealwith demarcation of the State'sborder with Assam.

A Government notificationissued on Thursday said theboundary commission will bechaired by Deputy ChiefMinister Tawnluia and willhave Home MinisterLalchamliana as vice chair-man.

The boundary commis-sion's formation came at a timewhen Mizoram and Assamahead of a visit by HomeMinister Amit Shah to thenortheast to try and sort out thevarious border disputes. Statehome department secretarywas made member secretary.

The commission which willhave the state home departmentsecretary as its member-secre-tary, will consider the variousaspects of the Mizoram-Assamborder imbroglio, the notifica-tion said.

The commission will alsohave one member each fromleading NGOs, recognisedpolitical parties, Joint ActionCommittee on Inner LineReserve Forest Demand apartfrom three Ministers, chief sec-

retary, additional chief secretaryand Director General of Police(DGP), it said.

Prominent citizen and for-mer Lok Sabha member C.LRuala and former state homesecretary Lalbiakzama werealso appointed as members ofthe commission.

Meanwhile, a senior policeofficer said on Friday that thesituation at Aitlang hnar andBuarchep areas in Kolasib dis-trict along the Mizoram-Assamborder remained tense.

Mizoram DeputyInspector-General of Police(Northern Range)Lalbiakthanga Khiangte toldPTI that both the states forcesare now camping on the borderareas, face to face, and warneda serious confrontation couldtake place at any time if eitherside tried to make any advances.He however said that Assampolice had not made anyadvances since a standoff onJuly 10.

Khiangte said that peopleliving along the inter-state bor-ders on Mizoram side are nowliving a normal life and none ofthem have had to leave their vil-lages as a result of the con-frontation. PTI

Lucknow: Chief Minister YogiAdityanath said that due to thestrategy and continuous effortsof his Government, novel coro-navirus infection was undercontrol in the state but warnedthat the viral infection was notover yet and therefore even a lit-tle carelessness on its preventioncould be disastrous.

The Chief Minister wasreviewing the Covid situationacross the State at a high levelmeeting convened at LokBhawan in Lucknow on Friday.In the meeting, the ChiefMinister was apprised that 61new cases of coronavirus infec-tion were reported across thestate in the last 24 hours whilein the corresponding period, 86Covid-19 patients had recov-ered.

At present, the number ofactive coronavirus cases in thestate stands at 994. Besides, therecovery rate of coronavirusinfection in the State is 98.6 percent. The heartening news is thatnot a single Covid-19 patient has

been reported in Aligarh,Balrampur, Basti, Etah, Mahoba,Hathras and Shravasti districts.

The chief minister said thatvaccination was an importantsafeguard in preventing thespread of coronavirus and vac-cination should be done with thegoal of giving jabs to more andmore people of the targeted agegroup at the earliest. He said thatthe free registration facility beingprovided for Covid vaccinationthrough Common ServiceCentres in villages should begiven wide publicity.

It was informed in the meet-ing that till July 22, over 4,27crore vaccine doses had beenadministered. The chief minis-ter was also informed that 211samples were tested in KGMU,Lucknow and BHU, Varanasi inthe last days for the purpose ofintensive study and testingregarding the new Delta variantof novel coronavirus but not asingle sample confirmed thedangerous variant. PNS

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Distributing appointmentletters to 6,696 assistant

teachers out of a total vacancyof 69,000 thereby completingthe much-awaited process inLucknow on Friday, ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanathwarned of strict action againstthose spreading canards againstthe transparent recruitmentsystem adopted by the UttarPradesh government.

He asserted that theGovernment had already vacat-ed jails for such unscrupulouselements. Referring to theupcoming examination forPET, the chief minister said,“We are going to conduct thecountry's largest examinationin which the number of exam-inees will be over 30 lakh.”

At a function held at LokBhawan in Lucknow, Yogi per-sonally handed over appoint-ment letters to 10 appointeeswhile 240 newly-appointedteachers were present on theoccasion. The rest of the suc-cessful candidates will be hand-ed over appointment letters intheir respective districts. Theseassistant teachers were recruit-ed in Government schoolsagainst the 69,000 vacant postsunder the Basic EducationCouncil.

Congratulating the newly-appointed assistant teachers,the chief minister said that thegovernment and its depart-ment had completed therecruitment process with sin-cerity and fairness whichproved to be helpful for youthsin achieving their goals.

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Lucknow: Bahujan Samaj Partyon Friday kicked off its poll cam-paign by holding the first of itsseven Brahmin Sammelans atAyodhya. The UP Assemblyelections are due in 2022 and theBSP is struggling to win the con-fidence of the electorally influ-ential Brahmin community.

BSP supremo Mayawati onJuly 18 had announced to holdBrahmin Sammelan to woo theBrahmin community ahead ofUP Assembly elections fromAyodhya from July 23. Mayawatihad entrusted the responsibili-ty of the event on party nation-al general secretary SatishChandra Mishra.

Addressing the meeting,Mishra, said that his party hadmade a pre-poll alliance with thepublic rather than with anypolitical party. The BSP leaderfirst visited the Hanuman Garhiand Shri Ram LallaJanmabhoomi temples inAyodhya for darshan.

He said that the BSP hadmade the biggest alliance withthe people of the state for the2022 Assembly elections in UttarPradesh. Mishra said thatBhagwan Shri Ram belonged toeveryone and “we have alsocome to seek his blessings”. PNS

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Kerala on Friday reported17,518 fresh Covid-19

cases, pushing the tally to32,35,533 and taking the TestPositivity Rate (TPR) past the13 per cent mark. The TPRwas 13.63 per cent, up from12.38 per cent recorded onThursday.

It had crossed 11 per centon July 19 after remainingbelow it for several weeks

The number of people whosuccumbed to the virus rose to15,871 with 132 more deathsbeing recorded today.

As many as 11,067 peoplehave been cured of the infec-tion, taking the total recover-ies to 30,83,962 and the num-ber of active cases in the stateto 1,35,198, State Health Minister Veena Georgesaid.

Malappuram reported thehighest number of 2,871 cases,followed by Thrissur with 2,023and Kozhikode 1,870.

"Of the new cases, 110had come from outside thestate whie16,638 contractedthe disease through their con-tacts. The source of infectionof700 are yet to be traced.Seventy health workers arealso among the infected," therelease said.

A total of 1,28,489 sam-ples were tested in the last 24hours and the TPR was foundto be 13.63 per cent

The cumulative number ofspecimens examined so farstood at 2,59,50,704.

There are currently4,18,496 people under obser-vation in the State, out ofwhom 25,691 are in isolationwards of various hospitals.

There are 271 local selfGovernment bodies in the statewith a TPR of more than 15 percent, the release said.

George dismissed mediareports that Kerala has 10 lakhunused doses of vaccine andsaid the State has a stock ofaround 4.5 lakh doses.

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been carried out. However,since the crop damage causedby wild boar is increasing, thewild boar is estimated to beoverpopulated.”

Further, experienceshows that once killing is per-mitted, villagers or designat-ed hunters have frequentlynot followed the methodsprescribed. An example isthe case in Kerala where apregnant cow elephant diedfollowing several days ofintense agony after she hadbitten on a pineapple filledwith explosives. Enquiriesrevealed that the pineapplewas intended to kill a wildboar which, as a species, hadbeen declared “vermin”. Also,such a barbaric way of killingwas not permitted even in thecase of wild boars.

State Governments havedoubtless laid down restric-tions on the methods andguidelines governing killings— such as only rifles and pis-tols to be used and no killingof injured animals runningaway to forests, and huntingonly after receiving permis-sion from the forest depart-ment concerned and the vil-lage pradhan. But who is toensure compliance? The factis, methods that are not per-mitted are often used. Theseinclude laying out live wires

for animals to be electrocut-ed, trapping them for murderand poisoning them. There isno guarantee that animalsother than those declared as“vermin” would not comeinto contact with such wiresor consume the poison.

The argument that Stateforest department personnelshould watch out for thetransgressors and deal harsh-ly with them hardly holdswater. It would take a verylarge number of people andvehicles for doing that. Giventhat most forest departmentshave to make do with numer-ically inadequate staff,deployment on such anerrand would leave themwith very few people to carryout essential functions likecurbing poaching and pre-venting illegal felling of trees.The result may be a seriousdiminution of protectedspecies like elephants (fortusks), rhinos (for theirhorns) and tigers for theirbody parts which are soughtfor the manufacture of so-called aphrodisiacs.

Apart from the fact thatdeclaring an entire species ofwildlife as vermin is contraryto the spirit and content ofArticle 51 A (g) of theConstitution which enjoinsupon both the Government

and all citizens to show com-passion to all living crea-tures, animals can hardly beblamed for damaging stand-ing crops and attacking peo-ple. The loss of the vegetationthey feed on following thedestruction of their habitatsthrough encroachment byexpanding human settle-ments, roads and industries,as well as droughts and for-est fires, has driven them toagricultural fields for food.

Humans do not realisethat their own predatoryexploitation of nature isincreasing areas of human-animal conflict and makingnon-human species extinct atthe rate of 3,000 a year. In thisprocess, they are also destroy-ing the environment and theconditions that have madehuman life possible. Theyneed to realise that they arenot the lords of the universeand must live in harmonywith the world around them,including plants and animals.The Greek sophistProtagoras’ famous aphorism“Man is the measure of allthings” needs to be amendedto read, “Humans are thepreservers and protectors ofall things.”

(The author is ConsultingEditor, The Pioneer. The viewsexpressed are personal.)

������������� ����������Sir — This has reference to your edito-rial on ‘Rallying forces’ (July 23). “I willwin Bengal with one leg and Delhi withtwo legs,” claimed Didi. NCP leaderSharad Pawar has ruled out to be the con-sensus presidential candidate with an eyeon the Prime Minister’s post in case of afractured mandate in the 2024 generalelection. The coming together of theOpposition leaders is a mirage. Thoughthey have different ideologies, everyState’s prominent Opposition leader hasan eye on the Prime Minister’s chair. Itwas a failed attempt for them earlier in2019 too. They have to really unite, sink-ing their differences, to fight the BJP.

Furthermore, the coalition form ofGovernment is a failure in our country.Corruption always compromises strict andhonest adherence to the coalition dharma.To be fair to it, the BJP has no serious cor-ruption charges against it in the past sevenyears of its rule. But the ruling party hasfailed to arrest the fuel price hike, spurtin the prices of essential commodities,handling of the COVID-19 pandemic andthe Pegasus expose is embarrassing it now.The Opposition does not put in a strongeffort to highlight the Government’sshortcomings and misses. But it disruptsParliament, thus wasting the taxpayers’money, which won’t help these leaders.Moreover, even a united Opposition lacksa leader of mass appeal at the national level.

Sravana Ramachandran | Chennai

��������������������� �������� ��Sir — At the age of 107 years and India’sone of the first recipients of the presti-gious Nari Shakti Puraskar by the UnionGovernment for her exceptional contri-bution towards women’s empowerment,Kerala’s “oldest learner” BhageerathiAmma is no more. Famous as AksharaMuthashi, or Literacy Grandmother,Bhageerathi Amma inspired many bypassing the Level Four equivalencyexaminations at the age of 105, conduct-ed by the State-run Kerala State LiteracyMission (KSLM) in 2019.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had

also spoken about her during his 62ndepisode of his Mann Ki Baat programme.In her examination at Kollam, she cameout with flying colours with 205 out of atotal of 275 marks and full marks inmathematics. As she went on till 107 yearsof age, she had recently began preparingfor her Level Seven exam through digi-tal classes, but one sorrow remains thatAmma left without fulfilling the dreamof passing the 10th standard equivalen-cy exam. Bhageerathi Amma was one ofthe few learners in the world who taughtothers that age is no bar in education.Amma, you are still living in our hearts.May your soul rest in peace and may yourmovement find success!

Bidyut Kumar Chatterjee | Faridabad

� ����� �������������� ����� ��Sir — It refers to the editorial, ‘A stitch intime’. When Kerala Chief Minister

Pinarayi Vijayan can take the toughdecision of not inducting former HealthMinister KK Shailja in his Government(while it is to be noted that she was oneof the best performing Minister in the lastfive years) after creating history of sortsin the last 45 years by winning back-to-back elections and retaining power, thenhe should not have had any issue in oust-ing Forest Minister AK Saseendran.

Ultimately, Pinarayi Vijayan is in theearly days of his second term in succes-sion and he should not allow theOpposition parties any issue on a platterthat the latter could use to criticise him.Moreover, when he is not at the mercy ofother parties for his Government’s survival,then there is no reason for him to not actstrictly and set a strong precedent.

Bal Govind | Noida

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Apractice that continuesdespite strong and rea-soned opposition is thatof proclaiming species

of wild animals as “vermin” andthus putting them out of theambit of the protective umbrel-la of the Wildlife (Protection)Act, 1972, the principal instru-ment for protecting wild animalsin India. The wild boar and nil-gai have been proclaimed as“vermin” in Uttarakhand, thenilgai and boar in some districtsof Bihar, and the rhesus macaquein parts of Himachal Pradesh.

The Act does not define theterm “vermin” in terms of whatit connotes. It just states inSection 62: “The CentralGovernment may by notificationdeclare any wild animal otherthan those specified in ScheduleI and Part II of Schedule II to bevermin for any area and for suchperiod as may be specified there-in and so long as such notifica-tion is in force, such wild animalshall be deemed to have beenincluded in Schedule V.” Animalsincluded in Schedule V can befreely hunted.

The Central Governmentdeclares an animal as vermin fol-lowing requests from StateGovernments and the groundwhich has been invariably citedis that it causes damage to cropsand poses a danger to humanlife. There have no doubt beencases in which the Centre haswithheld permission. The funda-mental question, however, iswhether there should at all be aprovision for designating ananimal as “vermin”.

There are several reasons forasking this. For one thing, anarticle by Anupam Chakravartty,Rajeshwari Ganesan and RajitSengupta, published under theheading ‘Enemies of the state?’ inthe DownToEarth on June 15,2016, cites animal rights groupsas saying that the drive forkilling then underway was basedon popular perception ratherthan data. The country had nodata both on the populations ofanimals proposed to be killedand the extent of crop damagethey were supposed to be caus-ing. The article stated that, infact, Uttarakhand’s proposal onthe basis of which the Centrepermitted the killing of wildboars, clearly said, “There is noscientific survey or census of thewild boar population that has

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On the very same day that PrimeMinister Narendra Modi effect-ed a massive reconstitution ofhis council of ministers, India

got in the shock in the form of a Frenchcourt freezing residential propertiesbelonging to the Indian government inParis following a retrospective tax disputewith British power and energy giant CairnEnergy.

The decision will impact 20 proper-ties valued at Euro 20 million (�177crore), as part of a guarantee of the debtowed to Cairn that exited India a fewyears ago. The company with a marketcapitalisation of £755 million (about�7,800 crore) - has filed cases in severalcountries to pursue the unpaid interna-tional arbitration award of $1.7 billion(�12,750 crore). The company also filedcases in New York, seeking judicial con-firmation that Air India can be classed asthe alter ego of the Indian state and there-by jointly liable for the arbitral award.

The French court decision is unfor-tunate as it is feared it can start a newdiplomatic conflict and it also impingeson the sovereignty of the country. It mightcreate an image that India can be takenlightly by MNCs and other private play-ers.

And that is what exactly happened. Acase similar to Cairn is that of DevasMultimedia, floated by ex-ISRO execu-tives. It had entered into a deal withISRO's Antrix Corp. and the NationalCompany Law Tribunal said the 2005spectrum lease deal was fraudulent.Deutsche Telekom later picked up itsstake.

Devas moved an arbitration tribunalsaying that its multi-million-dollar invest-ments lost value because of the annul-ment. In 2020 the tribunal awardedDevas $1.2 billion. It is now seeking pay-ment from India (now stayed by SupremeCourt) in a New York court, asking AirIndia to pay the amount or forfeit its prop-erty, including planes, cargo handling,equipment, and artwork.

In both cases, the authorities in Indiabungled in pursuing the case. In the caseof Cairn and Devas, they moved thecourts in Germany and The Hague evenas the Indian arguments on jurisdictionand criminality in two arbitrations underBilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) underIndia-Mauritius and India-Germanyagreements were lost.

Cairn and Devas have chosen flagshipAir India planes and its prime propertyas a pressure tactic to force India into pay-ment negotiations. Trying to seize planesor property to realise unpaid dues may bean extreme tactic but there are precedents.Aircraft are valuable, mobile, and relative-ly easy to sell. A few years ago, US hedgefund Elliott Capital Management seizedan Argentine naval vessel to collect onbonds on which the country defaulted in2001.

The Cairn matter is one of the irra-tional tax system. The company is in dis-

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Agricultural and alliedactivities continue tobe the backbone of the

Indian economysupport-ingthe livelihood of 60 percent of the population and-contributing 1/6th of GDP. Itused to account formore thanhalf of GDP in 1951.

Half of the arable area con-tinues to depend on the mon-soon for irrigation. The propor-tion of gross irrigated area tototal cropped area couldincrease from 31 per cent in1984-85 to only 45 per cent, asper the agriculture census of2010-11.The total operatedarea under agriculturedecreased from 16 crorehectares in 2010-11 to 15.8crore hectares in 2015-16.

With succession not basedon primogeniture, populationexplosion has resulted in frag-

mentation of landholdings.Total operational holdingsincreased from 13.8 crore in2010-11 to 14.6 crore in 2015-16. The average size of anoperational holding declined to1.08 hectares in 2015-16 from1.15 hectares in 2010-11.

Small and marginal farm-ers suffer from the absence ofeconomies of scale, access toinformation, and their inabil-ity to participate in the pricediscovery mechanism. Theirparticipation is restricted bypoor vertical and horizontallinkages, limited access to themarket, and poor informationflow along the value chain.The challenge now is to opti-mize benefits through effec-tive and efficient means ofaggregation models.

Farmer aggregationassumes significance due to

the shift of Indian agriculturetowards high-value com-modities as a result of thegrowing importance of theagri-food market caused byliberalization, globalization,improved purchasing power,demand for safe and qualityfood, and expansion of nichemarkets.

Integrating small farmerswith agricultural markets is abig challenge. Many forms offarmer producer organizationshave been experimented withlike cooperatives, self-help

groups, Farmer ProducerCompanies, and commodityinterest groups to aggregatefarmers to help them benefitfrom economies of scale and tolink them to the markets.

Contract farming anddirect marketing are other insti-tutional interventions that canbe undertaken by organisedgroups of farmers. I have comeacross even Whatsapp groupsbeing used to connect farmersand consumers, bypassing mid-dlemen and getting betterpricesfor farmers. A FarmerProducer Company (FPC)seems to be the most useful forthe aggregation of small farm-ers. The FPCs offer more ben-efits compared to other formatsof aggregation. Its members areable to leverage their collectivestrength and bargaining powerto access financial and non-

financial inputs and servicesand appropriate technologiesleading to a reduction in trans-action costs. They can tap high-value markets and enter intopartnerships with private enti-ties on equitable terms.

The performance of coop-eratives has been generallypoor with the exception ofcooperative sugar factoriesand dairy cooperatives inMaharashtra and Gujarat.Amalsad cooperative Societyfor sapota and farming coop-erative Gambhira in Gujarat,MAHAGRAPES inMaharashtra, HOPCOMSand CAMPCO in Karnataka,Mulkanoor womens’ cooper-ative groups in combinedAndhra Pradesh, etc., haveperformed well. These suc-cessful models could not beemulated else where in the

country. In Budget 2019-20,the governmentannounced new central sectorschemes to facilitate the for-mation and promotion of10,000 new Farmer ProducerOrganisations (FPOs) andhandholding of each FPO forfive years from its aggregationand formation.

Rainfall deficit, unsea-sonal rains, floods are natur-al and continuing risks.Agricultural production hasincreased but productivity isgenerally lower than interna-tional benchmarks. Water-use efficiency is particularlylow. Some progressive farm-ers are de-risking themselvesby diversifying their produce.However, many relativelywell-off farmers continue withwater-guzzling crops like riceand sugarcane in water-defi-

cient regions. How to incen-tivize farmers to move awayfrom the over-production ofcereals (particularly rice andwheat)? How to go aboutagricultural diversification toboost oilseeds, protein, andfruits/vegetable production?These are policy challenges.

Rejuvenation of our agri-cultural sector needs appro-priate diversification andvalue-addition and looseningof outdated controls on agri-cultural markets. It is hopedthat protests against the farmlaws -misguided or mischie-vous or partly both - abatesoon and a sensible farmerleadership works on connect-ing farmers with FPOs.Farmers' apprehensions aboutthe entry of big corporates canbe addressed if they becomemembers of the FPOs.

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pute with the government over a2014 retrospective tax demand.The income-tax department seizeda 10 per cent stake in Indian oper-ations that Cairn was trying to sell.After a long dispute, it went forinternational arbitration and Cairnwon the $ 1.7 billion award.

The issue of high taxation, asrecently mentioned by PresidentRamnath Kovind, retrospectivetax, and confusion on predatingtaxes is an unresolved quagmire.There is an OECD move to havea global minimum tax on corpo-rates at 15 per cent or higher. TheUPA government introduced thecontroversial retrospective tax inMarch 2012. The NDA II wasexpected to correct it after 2014 butthe bureaucratic system continuedwith the supposed oddity.

The Supreme Court of Indiaon January 20, 2012 ruled infavour of Vodafone overturning a2010 decision of the Bombay HighCourt which ruled that Vodafonewas liable to retrospectively pay $2billion income-tax because Indiancapital gains taxes (CGT) appliedon the share transfers between twonon-resident entities.

But the smitten tax officialstook a different route to circum-vent the SC ruling with the intro-duction of the retrospective tax inMarch 2012, allowing the govern-ment to levy CGT — a move thatwas piloted by former financeminister Pranab Mukherjee in2012.

In March 2018 the thenfinance minister, the late ArunJaitley, said that the decision to taxVodafone retrospectively by UPAwas erroneous and also that the“present government will not begoing down that path”. On July 18,

2014, he had said that India wouldnot levy any tax with a retrospec-tive effect that creates an addition-al burden. But Jaitley made nomove to repeal the 2011 law.

The statements of Jaitley andPrime Minister Narendra Modipledging not to use retrospectivetaxation to overturn on CairnEnergy were used by a three-member tribunal at the PermanentCourt of Arbitration in The Hagueon December 20, 2020, to rule thatthe 2006 reorganisation of CairnEnergy’s India business beforelisting on local bourses was not“unlawful tax avoidance” andordered the tax authorities to dropthe tax demand. This did not hap-pen due to bureaucratic audacity.

Cairn has moved for imple-mentation of the arbitration awardin several jurisdictions on differ-ent continents, including the US,the UK, Canada, Singapore,Mauritius, France, and theNetherlands as the companyintends to focus on high-valueassets. Cairn has submitteddetailed series of proposals to theIndian government for settlementof the case. The NDA governmentis now opposing its stand appar-ently under pressure of officials.

It rattles India. Would thecountry lose its flagship aircraftcarrier and other prime assets?Technically it maya be so butauthorities say that they are yet toreceive a notice or communicationfrom the French court and the gov-ernment would vigorously defendits case. It translates into more lit-igations as well as negotiations.Director of Cairn’s corporate com-munication David Nisbet says thatthe company is keen on an agreedsettlement with India and keep the

trust of its shareholders. So, it has identified $70-billion

worth of Indian assets to retrievethe $1.7 billion award. However, aninternational company knows thatwhile it is important to contestgovernments, it also needs theirgoodwill to be in business.

The government is also innegotiations since January 2021,even before the present Frenchorder was flashed. It may giveCairn Energy one of the surren-dered oilfields — Ratna R-series —in the Arabian Sea that was takenaway from Essar-Premier Oil in2016 instead of an arbitrationpayment. Cairn had spudded thebiggest inland oil wells in Barmer,indicated in a survey by NGRI. Itexited the country after it wasgiven �10247 crore retro-taxdemand. Apparently, the govern-ment wants that the biggest oilcompany with one of the lowestoperational costs come back toIndia to shore up its image as alsocreate a show window for the inter-national investors.

It is also looking at the otheroption of giving it the Barmer oil-field. Vedanta, which now operatesthe field, has so far has not agreedto the government conditions forextending its contract. UnderVedanta, Rajasthan oilfields haveseen a steady decline in output.Cairn has protested against thehigh $9 cess per barrel on the oilproduced.

The bureaucrats had the issuesmired in a web. A political decisionto annul retro-tax under PrimeMinister Narendra Modi canensure that a Cairn, Vodafone,Devas, or Vedanta is not repeatedand bureaucrats do not muddy thewaters.

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Beijing: Pakistan ForeignMinister Shah MahmoodQureshi will hold talks with hisChinese counterpart Wang Yito discuss several bilateralissues, including progress of ajoint probe and increasingsecurity for thousands ofChinese workers after a blast ina bus in northwest Pakistankilled nine Chinese engineersand jolted the ties between thetwo all-weather allies.

Qureshi, who is due to arrive

on Friday night for the two-dayvisit, will hold talks with Wangin western China’s Chengdu city,Chinese Foreign Ministryspokesman Zhao Lijian said.

China rushed a specialteam to Pakistan to probe theJuly 14 blast in a shuttle bus atDasu area of Upper Kohistandistrict of the restive KhyberPakhtunkhwa province wherea Chinese company is buildinga 4320-MW dam on the Indusriver. PTI

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The Taliban say they don’twant to monopolise power,

but they insist there won’t bepeace in Afghanistan until thereis a new negotiated governmentin Kabul and President AshrafGhani is removed.

In an interview with TheAssociated Press, Talibanspokesman, Suhail Shaheen,who is also a member of thegroup’s negotiating team, laidout the insurgents’ stance onwhat should come next in acountry on the precipice.

The Taliban have swiftlycaptured territory in recentweeks, seized strategic bordercrossings and are threatening anumber of provincial capitals,as the last US and NATO sol-diers leave Afghanistan.

This week, the top US mil-itary officer, Gen. Mark Milley,

told a Pentagon press conferencethat the Taliban have “strategicmomentum,” and he did not ruleout a complete Taliban takeover.But he said it is not inevitable.“I don’t think the end game is yetwritten,” he said.

Memories of the Taliban’slast time in power some 20 yearsago, when they enforced a harshbrand of Islam that denied girlsan education and barred womenfrom work, have stoked fears oftheir return among many.

Afghans who can afford itare applying by the thousandsfor visas to leave Afghanistan,fearing a violent descent intochaos. The US-NATO with-drawal is more than 95 per centcomplete and due to be fin-ished by Aug. 31.

Shaheen said the Talibanwill lay down their weaponswhen a negotiated governmentacceptable to all sides in the

conflict is installed in Kabul andGhani’s government is gone.

“I want to make it clear thatwe do not believe in themonopoly of power becauseany governments who (sought)to monopolise power inAfghanistan in the past, werenot successful governments,”said Shaheen, apparentlyincluding the Taliban’s ownfive-year rule in that assess-ment. “So we do not want torepeat that same formula.”

But he was also uncom-promising on the continuedrule of Ghani, calling him a warmonger and accusing him ofusing his Tuesday speech onthe Islamic holy day of Eid-al-Adha to promise an offensiveagainst the Taliban.

Shaheen dismissed Ghani’sright to govern, resurrectingallegations of widespread fraudthat surrounded Ghani’s 2019election win. After that vote, bothGhani and his rival AbdullahAbdullah declared themselvespresident. After a compromisedeal, Abdullah is now No 2 in thegovernment and heads the rec-onciliation council.

Ghani has often said he willremain in office until newelections can determine thenext government. His critics —including ones outside theTaliban — accuse him of seek-ing only to keep power, caus-ing splits among governmentsupporters.

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Washington: The US carriedout airstrikes acrossAfghanistan in the last sever-al days as part of an effort tosupport the Afghan securityforces fighting Taliban insur-gents, the Pentagon has said.

The news of US airstrikesin Afghanistan came a dayafter America’s most seniormilitary officer admitted thatthe Taliban had gained “strate-gic momentum,” with theirforces now controlling abouthalf of Afghanistan’s morethan 400 district centres.

The Pentagon, however,refrained from giving anyspecifics of its airstrikes inAfghanistan.

“Without speaking tospecifics, I can say that in thelast several days, we have actedthrough airstrikes to supportthe ANDSF (Afghan NationalDefense and Security Forces)but I won’t get into tacticaldetails of those strikes,”Pentagon Press Secretary JohnKirby told reporters at a newsconference here.

“But we continue to beable to and we continue to, asthe Secretary said yesterday,conduct airstrikes in supportof the ANDSF,” he said.

The commander of USforces in the region, CentralCommand’s General Kenneth“Frank” McKenzie, wouldretain the authority to call forairstrikes in support of Afghanforces until the US withdraw-al from Afghanistan was com-plete. According to a defenceofficial, the US military hascarried out approximately sixor seven strikes in the past 30days, mostly using drones tolaunch the strikes, CNNreported.

A US defence official onThursday said that the strikestargeted “captured militaryequipment that the Taliban[were] able to seize from theANDSF,” the Voice of Americareported.

“There were enemy forces,enemy personnel targeted”alongside the captured equip-ment, the official added,speaking on the condition ofanonymity because of the sen-sitive nature of the informa-tion. The Taliban in recentdays swept across Afghanistan,pushing back the Afghan mil-itary and taking over signifi-cant swaths of territory as theUS nears the ends of its with-drawal. PTI

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Unfazed by Republicanthreats of a boycott, House

Speaker Nancy Pelosi declaredThursday that a congressionalcommittee investigating theJan 6 Capitol insurrection willtake on its “deadly serious”work whether Republicans par-ticipate or not.

The Republicans’ Houseleader, Kevin McCarthy, calledthe committee a “sham process”and suggested that GOP law-makers who take part couldface consequences.

McCarthy said Pelosi’srejection of two of theRepublicans he had attemptedto appoint was an “egregiousabuse of power.”

The escalating tensionbetween the two parties —before the investigation haseven started — is emblematicof the raw partisan anger thathas only worsened on CapitolHill since former President

Donald Trump’s supporterslaid siege to the Capitol andinterrupted the certification ofPresident Joe Biden’s victory.

With most Republicansstill loyal to Trump, and manydownplaying the severity of theviolent attack, there is littlebipartisan unity to be found.

McCarthy said Wednesdaythat he would withdraw thenames of all five Republicans hehad appointed after Pelosirejected two of them, Reps. JimBanks of Indiana and JimJordan of Ohio. Pelosi madeclear on Thursday that shewon’t relent, and Democratsmulled filling the empty seatsthemselves.

“It is my responsibility asthe speaker of the House tomake sure we get to the truthof this, and we will not let theirantics stand in the way of that,”Pelosi said of the Republicans.

It is unclear, for now,whether Pelosi will try to appointmore members to the select

panel, as she has the authority todo under committee rules. Sheleft open that possibility, sayingthat there are other memberswho would like to participate.But she said she hadn’t decidedwhether to appoint Illinois Rep.Adam Kinzinger, one of only twoRepublicans who voted in sup-port of creating the panel lastmonth.

The other, Wyoming Rep.Liz Cheney, has already beenappointed by Pelosi to sit on thecommittee along with sevenDemocrats — ensuring theyhave a quorum to proceed,whether other Republicans par-ticipate or not.

Cheney praised Kinzinger,saying he would be a “tremen-dous addition” to the panel.Several Democrats on the panelalso seemed to support theidea, with Chairman BennieThompson of Mississippi say-ing the military veteran is a “thekind of person we’d want tohave.”

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Prisoners inside Myanmar’smost notorious jail held a

protest Friday, singing popularsongs opposing the militarygovernment and chantingpolitical slogans, according tonearby residents and to videouploaded to social media.

One video showed a streetclose to Insein Prison inYangon with clear audio ofvoices shouting support forousted leader Aung San SuuKyi and ousted President WinMyint.

According to a lawyer rep-resenting some of thosedetained, the prisoners weredemanding the release of allthose held on political charges,an easing of prison regulationsand medical treatment forthose who have fallen sickamid spiralling cases of the

coronavirus. The lawyer askednot to be named due to the sen-sitivity of his position. He saidhe believed talks were under-way. A resident, who asked notto be named out of fear of pos-sible repercussions, told TheAssociated Press by phone thatshe cried when she heard thechants, which lasted for aroundtwo hours.

Prison authorities did notrespond to a request for com-ment. Witnesses said militaryvehicles entered the compoundand soldiers were stationedoutside.

Myanmar is currently reel-ing from soaring numbers ofCovid-19 cases and deaths thatare badly straining the coun-try’s medical infrastructure,already weakened when manystate medical workers went onstrike to protest the army’sseizure of power.

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Iran’s Supreme LeaderAyatollah Ali Khamenei on

Friday said he understandsprotesters’ anger over a droughtin the country’s southwest, asa fourth death related to ongo-ing demonstrations there wasreported.

The remark, reported bystate television, was the first

direct comment on the protestsby Khamenei since they beganin the Khuzestan region a weekago. Semiofficial news agencyFars reported a man was killedby shotgun fire in street vio-lence in the nearby city ofAligoudarz, which policeblamed on “counterrevolu-tionary elements.”

“People showed their dis-content, but we cannot have any

complaint since the issue ofwater in the hot climate ofKhuzestan is not a minor issue,”Khamenei was quoted as say-ing. He accused Iran’s enemiesof trying to exploit the situation.

He praised the people ofthe region for their loyalty andefforts during the devastatingwar against Iraq in the 1980’s,adding that “the people shouldnot face problems” anymore.

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UK health officials on Fridayissued a warning of an

increased risk of catching theDelta variant even if someonehas had Covid-19 before andurged caution as further inves-tigations remain ongoing.

Public Health England(PHE), which monitors allvariants of concern (VOC) inthe country on a weekly basis,found the Delta VOC caseshave risen by 33,716 since lastweek to a total of 286,765 andcontinues to account forapproximately 99 per cent ofcoronavirus cases across theUK. It also revealed that 897cases out of 68,688 infections of

the Delta variant – first iden-tified in India – recorded in an11-week period from April toJune were possible reinfec-tions.

“The Delta risk assessmenthas been updated to reflectearly signs of increased risk ofreinfection with Delta com-pared to Alpha [variant previ-ously dominant in the UK],”the PHE said.

“National surveillanceanalysis, adjusted for differentvariables including age andvaccination, shows a prelimi-nary signal of increased risk ofreinfection with Delta com-pared to Alpha. Further inves-tigations are being undertaken,”it noted.

Istanbul: A boat carrying 45migrants has sunk in the south-eastern Aegean Sea and rescueunits were deployed, Turkey’sdefense ministry said Friday.

The ministry tweeted thatthe boat capsized about 60miles (nearly 100 kilometers)south of the Greek island ofKarpathos. It said two shipsand one plane was involved inthe rescue attempt.

Migrants have tried tocross the Aegean Sea fromTurkey to Greece in the hopesof starting new lives in Europe.The journey is a deadly one. AP

Lahore: A Pakistani man washospitalised after his nose andears were chopped off with aknife for allegedly having anaffair with a married woman inthe country’s Punjab province.

The incident took place onThursday in the village ofMuzffarghar. According topolice, Abdul Qayum suspect-ed that Muhammad Akram ofhis village had an affair with hiswife.

“On Thursday, Qayum,along with his other accom-plices, intercepted Akram onhis way to home and took himto a deserted place where theycut off his nose and ears witha knife and left him in a criti-cal condition,” police said. PTI

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The UN Security Councilhas rejected a resolution

put forward by Russia andChina that would have imme-diately stripped the powers ofthe international high repre-sentative overseeing imple-mentation of the 1995 peaceagreement that ended the dev-astating war in Bosnia, andeliminated the position entire-ly in one year.

The draft resolution failedto get the minimum nine “yes”votes for adoption on

Thursday. The vote was 2-0,with only Russia and Chinavoting “yes” and the 13 othercouncil members abstaining.

The rejected resolution saidthe powers given to the high rep-resentative at a conference onimplementing the Dayton peaceagreement in 1997 “are no longerrequired given the progressachieved by the Bosnian parties”.It supported the appointment ofHigh Representative ChristianSchmidt of Germany “until July31, 2022, with closure of theOffice of the HighRepresentative”.

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With the first quarter grosstax mop-up reaching

�5.6 lakh crore, Icra Ratings onFriday said the Government isset to exceed the budgeted taxcollection target of �22.2 lakhcrore for 2021-22, led by indi-rect taxes.

The government has bud-geted a modest 9.5 per centgrowth in tax collections at�22.2 lakh crore for FY22, overFY21 collections of �20.2 lakhcrore. However, despite thesecond wave of the pandemic,the April-June quarter tax col-lections rose to �5.6 lakh crore,which is 39 per cent higherthan Q1 of FY20. As stated dif-ferently, this is 107 per centmore than Q1 of FY21 and 25.1per cent of the full-year target,according to an analysis by Icra.

The first quarter is tradi-tionally moderate for tax col-lection, as the economic activ-ity remains tepid.

The revenue department isyet to officially release tax col-lection data, but the financeministry informed the LokSabha on July 19 that Q1 taxrevenue mop-up reached �5.6lakh crore.

The ministry alsoinformed the House that theexcise duty on petrol and dieselfetched �94,181 crore in Q1.

“Given that tax inflows inQ1 were 39 per cent higherthan the pre-Covid level (of Q1of FY20), we expect the grosstax revenue to surpass FY22budget estimate of �22.2 lakhcrore. Growth in tax mop-up isled by indirect taxes, primari-ly taxes on petroleum prod-ucts,” Icra chief economist AditiNayar said.

According to her, Q1 col-lections at �5.6 trillion is 107per cent higher than �2.7 lakhcrore in Q1 of FY21, when thewhole country was under lock-down last year.

“But more meaningfully,this is a full 39 per cent morethan the pre-COVID level inQ1 of FY20,” she said. She fur-ther said while corporationtax, personal income tax andCentral GST receipts in Q1stood at 21-22 per cent of thebudget estimates, excise andcustoms collections alreadycrossed 30 per cent of thebudget estimate, boosted by thehigh taxes on fuels as well as arelatively faster recovery ininternational trade.

�' �� �� �����

The Government on Fridaysaid that under the Pradhan

Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana,1.37 crore candidates havebeen enrolled and of them1.29 crore candidates aretrained or oriented as of July 10.

Skill India Mission aims toempower the Indian youththrough skill development.Under this mission, theMinistry of Skill Developmentand Entrepreneurship isimplementing its flagshipscheme Pradhan MantriKaushal Vikas Yojana(PMKVY).

PMKVY has two compo-nents - Short Term Trainingand Recognition of PriorLearning.

“Under PMKVY, as onJuly 10, 2021, 1.37 crore can-didates have been enrolled;Out of which, 1.29 crore can-didates are trained/oriented,”Skill Development MinisterDharmendra Pradhan said ina written reply to the RajyaSabha.

In a separate reply, hesaid 18,353 industrial unitsare imparting apprenticeshiptraining in the country, at pre-sent.

�' �� 6�6���

The Sensex and Nifty mus-tered gains for the second

straight session on Friday,propped up by banking, FMCGand pharma stocks, but closedlower for the week as the surg-ing Delta variant cases sappedrisk appetite globally.

Overcoming a choppystart, the 30-share BSE Sensexended 138.59 points or 0.26 percent higher at 52,975.80.

On similar lines, the broad-er NSE Nifty advanced 32points or 0.20 per cent to fin-ish at 15,856.05.

ICICI Bank topped theSensex gainers’ chart with ajump of 3.18 per cent ahead ofits results on Saturday. ITC,SBI, HCL Tech, Axis Bank,Bajaj Finserv, Tech Mahindraand Sun Pharma were amongthe other winners, advancingup to 2.56 per cent.

On the other hand, L&T,HUL, Reliance Industries,NTPC, Asian Paints andHDFC Bank were the promi-nent losers, dropping up to 1.80per cent.

During the week, theSensex declined 164.26 pointsor 0.30 per cent, while the Niftyslipped 67.35 points or 0.42 percent.

“The markets today wit-nessed a bumper listing of oneof the most awaited IPOs in

recent history, Zomato. Theexuberance though was notbroad based, the marketbreadth remained negative forthe day. The weekly trend tooremained marginally negativeas all the major market capbased broader indices closedmarginally in the negative forthe week.

“The strong show of ITstocks continued whereas slip-pages in reported asset qualityand expectations of rising NPArisks dragged down the bank-ing stocks. The expected rise in

NPAs may have broader mar-ket implications as it exposesthe pandemic-caused vulnera-bility of both household aswell as corporate balancesheets,” said Joseph Thomas,Head of Research at EmkayWealth Management.

Vinod Nair, Head ofResearch at Geojit FinancialServices, said, “Domesticindices continued to advanceahead tracking rising globalrisk appetite and higher domes-tic inflows from local investors.”

�' �� �� �����

The country’s exports grew45.13 per cent to USD

22.48 billion during July 1-21on account of healthy growthin sectors such as gems andjewellery, petroleum and engi-neering, according to the pro-visional commerce ministrydata.

Imports also rose 64.82per cent to USD 31.77 billionin the said period, leaving atrade deficit of USD 9.29 bil-lion.

Exports of gems and jew-ellery, petroleum and engi-neering during July 1-21 stoodat USD 424.5 million, USD923.33 million and USD 551. 4million, respectively, the datashowed.

Imports of petroleum,crude and products rose byabout 77.5 per cent to USD 1.16billion.

�' �� �� �����

As many as 792 projects outof 818 have been approved

for setting up food processingindustries by the private sector,with approved grants-in-aidof �5,792 crore so far, theGovernment informedParliament on Friday.

“Government has beenconsistently encouraging andincentivising increased privatesector investment for the over-all development of the foodprocessing sector of the coun-try to promote value additionin agricultural and allied sec-tors and reduce wastage,”Minister of the State for FoodProcessing Industries PrahladSingh Patel said.

The minister in a writtenreply to as Rajya Sabha also saidthe Government has recentlytaken three major initiatives inorder to further increase pri-vate sector participation in thesector. Firstly, the Governmenthas approved a ProductionLinked Incentive (PLI) schemefor the food processing sectorwith an outlay of �10,900 croreto support the creation of glob-al food manufacturing cham-pions and support Indianbrands of food products ininternational markets.

�' �� �� �����

The textile Ministry is in theprocess of obtaining

approval of the Union Cabinetfor the proposed MegaInvestment Textiles Parks(MITRA) scheme, under whichseven such parks will be set upin the country over the nextthree years, Parliament wasinformed on Friday.

Minister of State forTextiles Darshana Jardosh saidthe scheme was announced inUnion Budget 2021-22.

“Ministry of Textiles is inthe process of obtainingapproval of the Cabinet for theproposed scheme. Once, theproposed scheme is approvedand modalities are finalized, thedetails of location, governmentfunding structure etc. Will bedecided,” she said in a writtenreply to the Lok Sabha. In aseparate reply, the ministersaid during the pandemic, CCI(Cotton Corporation of India)procured 20.72 lakh bales valu-ing �5,615 crore from 4 lakhcotton farmers.

However, during the entirecotton season 2019-20, CCImade a record procurement of105.15 lakh bales (equivalent toaround 546.80 lakh quintalkapas).

New Delhi:Yes Bank on Fridayreported an over four-foldjump in net profit at �207crore for the quarter endedJune 2021. The bank said thiswas its highest net profit sinceDecember 2018. It had post-ed a net profit of �45 crore inthe same quarter of the previ-ous fiscal year. Total incomeduring Q1 FY22, however, wasdown at � 5,581.84 crore asagainst � 6,106.74 crore in Q1FY21, Yes Bank said in a reg-ulatory filing. Comparedsequentially, it was higher from�4,805.30 crore in the quarterended March 2021. The privatesector lender said its corporaterecoveries /resolutions duringthe quarter at �1,643 croreoutpaced the slippages of �1,258 crore. New business gen-eration continued for the quar-ter with retail disbursements of�5,006 crore, SME disburse-ments of �3,242 crore andwholesale banking disburse-ments of �3,625 crore, it said.On the asset quality front, thebank pared its bad loans pro-portion with gross non-per-forming assets (NPAs) falling to15.60 per cent of the grossadvances as of June 30, 2021,from 17.30 per cent in the year-ago period. PTI

����� �� �����

Supreme Court on Fridaydismissed the petition of

telecom majors Airtel andVodafone-Idea for re-compu-tation of dues, claiming errorsin Adjusted Gross Revenue(AGR) calculation. Airtel owesdue of �8,000 crore andVodafone-Idea owe �58,000crore to Department ofTelecom. In the petition, Airtelclaimed only �18,000 croreand Vodafone-Idea claimed�25,000 seeking re-computa-tion.

“All the miscellaneousapplications are dismissed,” abench headed by Justice LNageswara Rao said while pro-nouncing the order. Shares ofcash-strapped Vodafone Ideaplunged as much as 10% to �8.10 per share post the verdictthat came as a setback for thetelcos, whereas that of BhartiAirtel was trading over 1%higher at ?552 on the BSE.Under invoicing of Telecomcompanies were caught byCAG in 2011 during theiraudit on 2G Scam. As per thelicensing agreement on everycall certain portion (AdjustedGross Revenue - AGR) of thebill, the companies have to

share with Government. Thetelecom companies went up toSupreme Court against CAGauditing of their revenue andlost the case.

After the 2016 CAG reportfinding huge under invoicingand DoT issued notice to allcompanies to pay a total of�1.45 lakh crores. SupremeCourt Bench headed JusticeArun Mishra also ratified theGovernment’s claim in October2019 and ordered companies tostart paying immediately, citingthat this money was collectedtelecos from public alreadyper call.

Later Governmentinformed Supreme Court that20 year installment can begiven to the companies. InSeptember 2020, Justice

Mishra’s Bench allowed 10years installment starting fromMarch 2021. The bench hadasked the Managing Directors(MDs) or Chief ExecutiveOfficer (CEOs) of the telcosconcerned to furnish under-taking or personal guaranteefor payment of dues.

After getting 10 yearinstallment, biggest defaultersVodafone-Idea and Airtelapproached Supreme Courtseeking re-computation of theirdues, claiming errors in DoT’scalculations.

The apex court on Fridayhad held that demand raised bythe DoT in respect of AGRdues will be final and said thereshall be no dispute raised by thetelcos and that there shall notbe any re-assessment.

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New Delhi:The Supreme CourtFriday held that the consent ofregulator Sebi is not mandato-ry for compounding offencesunder section 24A of the SebiAct but taking views of theexpert body is necessary forstability in the securities mar-ket as well as investor protec-tion.

A bench headed by JusticeD Y Chandrachud said thoughSebi is not conferred with anyauthority to veto a decision forproceeding in trial offences, itis a regulatory and prosecutingagency and the SecuritiesAppellate Tribunal and thecourts must obtain its viewssince it is an expert body. Thebench said it is clear that Sebi’sconsent cannot be mandatorybefore or the Court beforewhich the proceeding is pend-ing, for exercising the power ofcompounding under Section24A. The apex court, whichelucidated some guidelines thatT or such courts must take intoaccount while adjudicating anapplication under Section 24A,said however that eliciting ofviews of Sebi was necessary inthe interest of the stability ofthe securities market and pro-tection of investors.

The bench, also compris-ing Justice M R Shah, said theSecurities and Exchange Boardof India (Sebi) has vital func-tions to discharge in main-taining an orderly and stablemarket so as to protect theinterests of investors. PTI

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New Delhi:Gold in thenational capital on Fridayrose �256 to �46,698 per 10gram amid supportive glob-al trends, according to HDFCSecurities.

The precious metal hadin the previous trade closedat �46,442 per 10 grams.

Silver also jumped � 662to �66,111 per kg, from �65,449 per kg in the previoustrade.

PTI

Mumbai:The rupee pared itsearly losses to close 6 paisehigher at 74.40 against the USdollar on Friday, rising for thethird session in a row on theback of weak crude oil pricesand gains in the domesticequities. A stronger dollar inthe overseas markets howev-er weighed on the rupee sen-timent. At the interbank forexmarket, the domestic cur-rency witnessed heavy volatil-ity. PTI

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Ranveer Brar recently joined theClubhouse app to be a part of the

Aman ki Asha campaign. In theseries, Brar talks about how Indiaand Pakistan share history, culture,language, and cuisine and how foodhas the power to blur the differencesbetween the two.

Brar shares details of the showand how India and Pakistan have alot in common when it comes tofood culture.

�Tell us about your debut onClubhouse and being a part ofAman ki Asha series?

It feels fantastic to debut onClubhouse, I think it’s a great plat-form. As a kid I’ve always been fas-cinated by audio media, havinggrown up listening to a radio. Thepower of audio has been a big dri-ving force in my life and it’s good tosee audio coming back to the fore-front again. So, yes, I am excited tobe a part of it.

�Your recent video, where youposted the recipe of Lahori malaikofte, also spoke about the unitythat food builds between two dif-ferent countries/cultures, how doyou connect yourself with differentcultures?

I’d say it’s serendipity that I putup a recipe of Lahori malai koftawhen I did and spoke about Punjabon both sides of the border, and thenAman ki Asha came up. For me, asa chef, and a food explorer, it’simportant to connect with culture asmuch as with cuisine. Food doesn’tstand alone. It has evolved and con-tinues to evolve along with geo-socio-political factors. Hence, whenI study the food history and cultur-al evolution of any region, it helps meconnect to the dish better.

�India and Pakistan practise a sim-ilar food culture. According toyou what are the similarities or dif-ferentiation?

A: With respect to similarities,both countries share similar climates,terrain and agriculture and the lastone is the dominant factor behindwhat you eat. We’ve grown up on thisside of Punjab, listening to stories

about the other side, more so, interms of food. I think the similari-ties lie with the spices, spice-mixingand elaborate cooking methods thatare primarily born out of similaritiesin climate and agriculture.

�Your favourite dish fromPakistan?

A: My favourite dish is Murghcholey, a dish I got introduced to inNew York.

�You are one of the fastest-grow-ing content creators in the culinary

space with over 5 million followerson your social media platforms.How is the transition to digitalspace treating you?

Social media or digital medium,in general, helps me express myselfbeyond a format and showcase con-tent unlike on television or othermediums. The volatility that socialmedia brings with it is an advantageand allows you to start afresh eachday despite making mistakes. I’d say,I’m very trend-agnostic but plat-form-friendly. For me, trends are rel-atively short-lived, you just have to

continuously say what you are say-ing, do what you are passionateabout and keep finding newer waysof being in touch with people whowant to be in touch with you.

�How was your experience cook-ing with celebs in You Got Chef ’dSeason 3?

It was a fun experience, to saythe least. Given the hard times overthe past year, it’s great to reconnectwith people in the physical space,cook in a different setup. All thecelebs I cooked with were super fun,especially Arjun Kapoor. And MylesCarrol’s highball concoctions are theicing on the cake.

�How has your journey in theindustry been so far?

When you are truly passionateabout something, you just pursue itwholeheartedly. I am someone whostarted by romancing food in thelanes of Lucknow, roughing it atMunir Ustad’s kebab stall andworked my way up the ranks. All Iknew through it all, was that I wasdoing what I love and wanted to doit for the rest of my life. And I’vealways believed that food is a giver.When you invest so much in itunconditionally, it will surely giveback. Above all, God has been kind.

8*.��

Say Manjot Singh, and most of uswould be at sea. But say Lali, andthe audience would perk up

immediately as they recall the popu-lar character that Manjot played inFukrey and Fukrey Returns. Hereturned with Chutzpah, the webseries, which was released on SonyLIVyesterday.

His entry in Bollywood is initself a filmy story. Before starring infilms such as Udaan and Student OfThe Year, Singh made his debut as theboy who grows up be the super-chorLucky, in Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!Born in Delhi to a Sikh family, he wentto audition for Dibakar Banerjee’s filmwithout having ever acted before, evenin school plays. After the audition,while the casting director rejected himfor the role of little Lucky, Dibakarinsisted, later saying, ‘Even though thecasting director wasn’t convinced, Ijust put my foot down.’ It turned outto be an incredible call, as Singh wenton to receive rave reviews for his per-formance in the film.

The actor, who was in Mumbai,initiated the telephonic conversationwith the fair warning that as much ashe would like to divulge spoilers andother details about Chutzpah, hecan’t. While the professional in himwould not share something he shouldnot but, the other part was that, he wasyet to watch the show. Naturally, whathe was able to talk about centredaround his experience. “For a majorportion of the shooting, whichwrapped up in January this year, I wasby myself on the set created for mycharacter. It took me some time to getmy head around the way we shot forChutzpah. You might be aware that theseries follows five stories, which areinterconnected by the internet. Mostof my bit involves me being by myself,in front of my computer, in the set cre-ated for the show. From an outsider’sperspective, I was really intrigued bythe trailer. While I am aware of thefiner details concerning the storyrevolving around Rishi, my characterin the series, I cannot wait to watchthe whole thing as soon as it isreleased,” shared Singh.

His account tickled our curiosityand we asked him how strenuous wasthe experience of shooting for some-thing as unconventional as Chutzpah?“I have been working in this industryfor over 12 years now and I believe this

was the most challenging projectthat has come my way. On the first dayof the shoot, I could not really under-stand the process that was underway;you could very well say that I was clue-less. I had a tough time dealing withthe fact that I did not get to interactwith my co-actors for a major chunkof the production. For scenesin the series, where I amshown interacting with some-one via my computer, theirlines were read to me and Icannot explain how difficultit is to respond to someoneelse’s dialogue when they arenot around. The reactionsthat come naturally, byresponding to someone else’sdialogue, or before and afteryour own dialogue had to beconsciously expressed. It wasextremely challenging to createthose reactions by way of imagina-tion, and you would get tired ofcounting the retakes we did," hechuckled.

“All in all, production was apainstaking process. But that is a partand parcel of life. If you want some-thing worth cherishing, you have to

pour every ounce of your being intoit. I would say shooting for Chutzpahwas like climbing a mountain. Withtime, I got used to it. From the sec-ond day, I got a hang ofthe technicalities. Iwas pretty nos-talgic on thelast day ofthe shoot. Ih a dg r o w nattachedto theh o u s e(set) thatwas creat-ed for me.I had madeit my own. Irecall lying onthe bed atthe set

after we were done shooting my bits.While another set alongside mine waslit up, the lights were switched off onmine and I remember feeling numbthinking that since we are done with

the shoot, this will be the lasttime I get to lie down on this

bed and this set will proba-bly be dismantled tomor-row. I had grown extreme-ly attached to the homethat was created for meand I don’t rememberever being this close to aset, before,” Manjot rumi-nated.

When we ask him formore information about his

character, Rishi, heunabashedly obliges us. “He is

very naïve. Humble and down toearth, he is under the misconcep-tion that just because he is a nice

person, everyone else is asgood and helpful as he is.

As the story progress-es, little by little,

that perceptionis corrected.He realises thatthe world bears

a stark contrastto how he pic-

tured it and it is acoming of age expe-

rience for him tounderstand that no

one, barring a fewexceptions, will support

you in this world. Hewants to bare his heart to

someone he likes but helacks chutzpah and hence he

has some trouble communicat-ing his feelings. He goes on tomeet an online camgirl, WildButterfly, portrayed by Elnaaz

Norouzi, who provides some abstractguidance, of sorts. You have to witnesshow he goes on to gain some chutzpahwhich changes his life,” he expressed.

We ask Manjot for his take on theinternet, whether it is a curse or a boon,and he said, “I think just about every-thing has its pros and cons. In mod-eration, everything is good. Frankly, Ifeel that the advantages outweigh thedisadvantages. But those disadvantagesare potent and can ruin someone’s life.Talking in particular about socialmedia, we all know what trolling is andit has also been represented in theshow. Now, while at face value itmight be disregarded but it may resultin a chain reaction of sorts which maylead to some serious consequences. Ibelieve that is partly why people sub-consciously choose to not reveal theirreal selves on social media. However,once again, the advantages cannot beignored. We all have seen how theinternet proved to be a lifesaver forscores of people against the backdropof the pandemic, earlier this year.”

He went on to highlight that theseries is something worth your while.He laughed as he said, “I know every-one keeps raving on about how goodtheir show/film is but have you seen thetrailer? While it might seem somewhatamusing, I would say Chutzpah is anincredible social drama and the trail-er serves as a wonderful teaser to what’sin store for viewers. Well, while Ihaven’t seen the series, I can vouch forit since it is directed by SimarpreetSingh sir and written by MrighdeepSingh Lamba, who also wrote Fukrey.Additionally, the work done by theDOPs, Amit Babbar and GianniGiannelli lent a Black Mirror-esque feelto the trailer. Chaa jayega ye show, youwait and watch.”

Manjot shared that he is just aseagerly waiting for the third part ofFukrey, but it all depends on theimpending third wave of the pandem-ic. “Just like the fans of the franchise,we too are waiting for the film to geta little better before we start workingon it. We believe we will start shoot-ing sometime next year. Additionally,I have another unnamed project whichmight commence shooting beforeFukrey,” he disclosed, as we wrappedup the conversation.

We just have one question for you.Were you also watching Chutzpahwith Manjot Singh yesterday?

Veteran producer AnandPandit has put the release

of his much-anticipated film,Chehre, starring AmitabhBachchan, on hold and saysmost production houses wouldlike to wait for conducive cir-cumstances before they releasepotential blockbusters.

“The industry has atremendous amount ofresilience and patience andwe know that a pandemic isnot the right time to takeunnecessary risks. I am waitingfor the government’s direc-tives regarding the opening oftheatres and then will take acall as to when Chehre will bereleased,” he says.

Pandit, who has worked to

speed up the vaccination drivewithin the industry and helpedcreate oxygen centres acrossMumbai, is well aware of thedangers posed by a possiblethird wave of COVID-19. Hevoices his thoughts, “At thistime, the more careful we are,the better it will be for all con-cerned. Yes, the industry needsto go back to work and it isalready doing that to someextent but the exhibitors are animportant part of the ecosys-tem and till they can open the-atres to full capacity, we cannotsay that we have truly turneda corner. Hopefully, bettertimes are ahead and we can goback to the movies the way weonce did, sooner than later.

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Venezualan actor ÉdgarRamírez wants people to

understand that although theworld is starting to come out ofthe pandemic, the fight is not yetover.

“Many families, includingmine, continue to be affected ter-ribly. At this very moment I havefamily members dying of COVID,so it is very important that weremain alert and attentive tothis global health hazard,” hesaid in a remote interviewfrom Los Angeles.

While he did not speci-fy which relatives he wasreferring to or where theywere, he stressed the impor-tance of avoiding fakenews, trusting sci-ence and gettingvaccinated.

“Rememberthat our grand-parents and ourparents defeatedpolio and small-pox with vac-cines and that itis very impor-tant to be verycareful becausein times of fearthere is a lot ofmisinformation.We need to trustscience and followthe recommenda-tions and be veryresponsible with theway we handle infor-mation in times of fearand uncertainty,”Ramírez shared.

With White Houseofficials stating that

vaccinationdrives areb e i n gramped up,hospita lsin someUS states,w h e r eCOVID-19 casesare soar-ing, arerunningout ofs p a c eb e c au s eof thedelta vari-ant, which

is ‘spreadingwith incredibleefficiency.’

R a m í r e zadvised caution

against the spread of COVID-19while promoting Disney’s upcom-ing film Jungle Cruise, in which heplays the villainous Spanish con-quistador Aguirre oppositeDwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt.

Jungle Cruise, an adventurefilm inspired by the iconicDisneyland theme park ride of thesame name, opens on July 30 inUS theaters and on Disney+ withpremier access.

Ramírez said that being in thisfilm ‘means a lot’ to him becausehe grew up watching Disneymovies. He also hinted at the pos-sibility of a sequel or new fran-chise.

“It’s beautiful to be part of theDisney universe in such an icon-ic movie which we'll hopebecomes the adventure saga of thisdecade,” he shared.

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Indian watercolour artistRahul Chakraborty says that

the art world is still strugglingto survive the impact of lock-downs, travel bans and socialdistancing, one and a half yearsinto the lockdown. Add to it theabsence of artist royalties, andthe challenges increase evenmore for the community inIndia.

“It brings with it such a sce-nario that there are no morephysical exhibitions, no morephysical workshops/classes, andstill artists have to continue toearn enough to live. It’s painfulto see that the creator is not get-ting any royalty for their artpieces, whereas buyers and sell-ers earn exponential amountsof value in terms of art andmoney,” he says.

Chakraborty, who nowworks as the COO of art-techorganisation, Jumbish, quit hisfinancially stable nine-to-fivejob to become a full time artist,notwithstanding the financialuncertainties of an artist’s life.He has also established hisown art school cal ledRahulOnkon. He says his artis-tic traits were considerablyinf luenced by FabrianoInAcquarello, and has becomethe Asia — Continental Adminof the International WatercolorMuseum platform.

“For the art domain, thelockdown presents an unprece-dented challenge, but it has alsobrought a huge opportunity togrow as new ways to reach theaudience via online can bedone by the artist themselves.In the last couple of years,multitudes of online galleries,platforms, marketplaces andeven social media shops havestarted distributing and sellingartworks through the internet.A great opportunity for artistseverywhere to share their artand broaden their audience. Butthe competition is tough, and itisn’t always easy to understandhow to make your art visible.”

“Forthcoming artists needto educate and upgrade them-selves about technology and itsimplications. They need toopen up their outlook for theNFT platform. In the comingdays, NFT is going to be thegamechanger. Early adopters

can have an extra edge in thisera. I believe probable art buy-ers would be the millennials,who are now in their twenties.We need to make our art visi-ble to those platforms/mediumswhere our would-be buyersare,” says the artist.

Speaking about the conceptof artist royalties, he explains,“Artist re-sale rights or Droit DeSuite, as known in French ter-minology, is both an example ofan economic right as well as anextension of the personhoodtheory of Copyright Law, whichemphasises upon a work repre-senting the character and per-sonality of the artist/author. Itbecomes an essential part ofmoral rights, particularly forvisual artists.”

“This permits the authorsof artistic works to benefitfrom the rising value of the

work, due to the nature of anartwork being one, wherein,value appreciates with time,popularity and its varied inter-pretation. The art market hasbeen argued to be too volatileto predict when or to what

extent a piece of artwork mayrise in value, if it does at all, andit needs exposure and multiplesales to get to such a point.Artists may initially sell theirunique, one piece, artwork fora lower cost, however, the valuemay appreciate upon garneringpopularity, and it is imperativeto not jeopardise their interestin the same.”

According to SonamChandwani of KS Legal andAssociates, information aboutcopyright and royalties is not awidely-discussed topic in thecreative world, especially the artmarket. The lawyer says thatartists are eligible to get royal-ties upon the resale of theirworks.

“The issue of royalty forvisual artists has been longoverdue. Like musicians andauthors, visual artists deserve to

be compensated for their intel-lectual property and today withblockchain technology, it seemsver y possible. This wil lundoubtedly be a positive movefor the welfare of the artist com-munity. This is a necessarydisruption that requires to hap-pen to bring in more parity forthe artist in the secondary artmarket.”

“According to me this isinevitable — if not in theimmediate but definitely in thedistant future. The bigger ques-tion is how it will shape themarket. The general perceptionis that blockchain enabled roy-alty system will challenge theintermediaries, like galleries,curators and dealers, because itwill force transparency in anindustry where much of themarket thrives on informationasymmetry. This might notnecessarily be the case. Agreater system generated trans-parency will bring in moreprofessionalism within all theplayers in the ecosystem,”Lubna Sen, art curator andfounder of The Art Route,shares.

How is Jumbish tacklingthe issue? “Piracy, no royaltyand a long gestation period arevery common challenges facedby an artist. We bring a solutionto these through our flagshipproject — JDAT. This providesbetter and paperless prove-nance for our art collectors.Remember royalty and prove-nance are interrelated.Provenance is a record of own-ership of that art work, whichincludes the owner’s history andthe painting details.”

“To keep track of it ,Jumbish has brought amicrochip called JumbishDigital Authentication Tag(JDAT) which is a highlysecured chip and it can be readby any NFC reader device.JDAT apparently looks like athin paper, once it pastes at theback side of the painting thenthe painting becomes itself anauthentication certificate.”

With pioneering technolo-gy like JDAT, the artist canexpect to get paid a predeter-mined percentage of the resaleamount, as soon as the sale issealed. �*.��

If not as Farah in Chalte Chalteor Tulika from Pagglait, onewould, undoubtedly, remem-

ber actor Meghna Malik asAmmaji of Na Aana Is Des Laadoand Usha Rani Nehwal from thebiopic Saina. Before the worldtelevision premiere of the film,Malik gets candid about herpreparation process, a hungerthat drives her to the next role,and much more. Excerpts:

��You must have spent a lot oftime with Ushaji to get into theskin of character...

Well, the fact is that I was notable to meet Ushaji but Amolji(Gupte) met Saina and her par-ents. He was my guiding lighthere. I prepared by watching a lotof her interviews. I was shownmany old pictures of Saina andUshaji. Right from her dressingsense, aura, dialect, energy to theway she reacts to certain situa-tions and the bond that sheshares with Saina, I noticed everytiny detail about Ushaji.

Let me share one instancethat I clearly remember. When Iwas shown her old family pic-tures, I noticed that Ushaji had ahabit of carrying a bag with herat all times. It was because she wasvery cautious about Saina’s needs.In the film, you would havenoticed her style of carrying abag. Just like how mothers are,Ushaji always had the best inter-est of Saina in her mind. She issomebody who is unburdened bythe expectation of perfection.

Ushaji herself was a sportsperson, a district-level badmintonplayer. I can recall another smallbut important detail about her;she used to always put on sportsshoes on salwar kurta, exudingremarkable confidence. Evenwithout meeting her in person, Iknow that she is a woman of sub-stance, comfortable in her ownshoes. I have tried hard to captureall these intricacies.

There’s one sequence in thefilm where the mother (me) slapsthe child (Saina) because shemade some wrong move in thetournament. This incident actu-ally happened, and I got to knowit while watching Ushaji andSaina’s interview, where they dis-cussed this episode. Ushaji toldSaina ‘arey maine toh halke se

mara tha.’ But Saina responds bysaying, ‘Nahi nahi bhot zor semara tha, apko yaad nahi hai’.And they were crazily laughingabout it. From that interview, Igot to know the bond that themother-daughter share with eachother. These were some of thepoints that I have tried bringingit out into the portrayal.

��How was your experience ofplaying such a boisterous char-acter?

The experience was superfun. It was really amazing to cap-ture the spirit of a mother, whohas been always there for herdaughter. She has been there tomotivate her, scold her whenshe’s wrong, praise her for herachievements, and support her forher failures. She was there toensure that she does not get dis-tracted from anything. Therewere really beautiful dialogues inthe film, which truly conveyedher spirit.

��You have been a part of thisindustry for nearly two decades.What’s your process of pickinga film?

You are sounding as if merecharon taraf scripts hi scripts rehtiho (laughs). Sometimes, it’s themoney because, of course, youneed to pay your bills; sometimes,it’s the ensemble cast, productionhouse or at times because of thedirector... I mean it depends onthe project. For example, when Idid Pagglait, it was a very smallpart and it got edited even further,but it was about the script. I hadreally loved it. And here, in Saina,the character, script, director,everything was amazing. Ushajicoming from Haryana, I couldeasily relate to that landscape. Itwas almost to the point where Imade Amolji believe to cast me inthe film. I said ‘aap or kisi ko lehi nahi sakte, yeh toh mujhe hikarna hai’. And he said, ‘yehiUsha Rani ki spirit hai jo mujhechahiye’.

��From Chalte Chalte to Saina.How would you describe yourtransition?

(After a long pause, shesays...) Over the years, the jour-ney has been great. As I said, attimes you get very small parts,

and other times, you get interestingroles, where you actually want to cap-ture the soul of the character. But I feelyou have to be really lucky to always getmeaty roles where you can actually biteinto them and relish. It’s not always likethis, at least with me. I consider myselfa student even today. I am still learn-ing. The more challenging role, themore confident you eventually get. Youfeel happy about the learning process.I strongly feel that the audience shouldlove what you do, and you must enjoythe process while you do it. And I havealways believed that the journey is oftenmore beautiful than the destination.

I want to do so much more. I wantto play different characters, and learnfrom them. I don’t think I have accom-plished anything yet. But I still feellucky that people recognise me. Godhas been kind to me that way. I am thisperson who never gets disappointed byrejections. I learn and move on. Ibelieve in focussing on tomorrow. It’snot necessary that every time that youwant something, will come your way.But what you can do is: Do your bestto achieve it. I can only put in the hardwork, rest is upon luck!

(The film premieres on ZeeCinema on Sunday, July 25, 12 noon.)

Filmmaker Karan Malhotra, who hasdirected the much-awaited big-screen

entertainer Shamshera, reveals the film to bea visual spectacle for the audience.

He says, “I will be celebrating my birth-day by finalising the mix of Shamshera, avision I have cherished for some time now.I can’t wait to share this film with you all.As a filmmaker, I have been fortunateenough to be able to tell stories that I wouldlike to see as an audience and Shamshera isdefinitely that kind of a story. It is a visualextravaganza with complex human emotionsand it deserves to be on the big screen wherepeople have, for years, had a truly wholesomecinematic experience of watching Hindi fea-ture films.”

Malhotra feels lucky to have found theright team for this action entertainer and hehails Ranbir Kapoor to be a ‘generation-defining actor’.

He says, “I’m fortunate to have found asteadfast producer in Aditya Chopra and anall determined cast and crew for Shamsherawho have always been by my side right fromthe word go. Ranbir is a generation-defin-ing actor and has given his best toShamshera. Vaani (Kapoor) plays herstrength and compliments him beautifullyin the film. As far as Sanjay (Dutt) is con-cerned, you are in for a surprise.”

Karan believes that Shamshera celebrateseverything that a pan-Indian Hindi filmstands for and it will appeal to all audiencesegments who would want to watch goodcinema on the big screen post-pandemic.

Karan says, “I have grown up on quin-tessential Hindi cinema and I wanted to cre-ate a true blue Hindi film that everyone canenjoy in theatres. I feel confident that wehave achieved an entertainer that will appealto everyone. We are all waiting eagerly forthe COVID-19 situation to become betterin our country and then plan the release ofthe film in the grandest way possible.”

His archival photographs depict him asa sturdy Indian man with a hand

twirling his moustache. We also know himfor his role in the Kakori train robbery andthe Legislative Assembly Bombing of 1929.But there is more to ChandrashekharAzad (1906-1931) than most know.

On his 115th birth anniversary on July23, Garuda Prakashan launched Azad:The Invincible, a biographical novel trans-lated from Kannada to English, building acomprehensive portrait of the independentrevolutionary luminary throughanecdotes, letters, his con-temporaries’ bio-graphical refer-ences, andnews sourcesfrom pre-I n d e p e n d e n c eIndia.

Written by leg-endary Kannadawriter BabuKrishnamurthy andtranslated by ManjulaTekal, author ofDevayani, the book detailsAzad’s life and times, frombeing born in a small no-name village to poverty-stricken parents, runningaway from home as a youngboy, becoming a coolie inMumbai (then Bombay), learn-ing Sanskrit in Varanasi to hisbeginnings in the freedom struggle throughparticipation in the Non-Cooperationmovement and suffering flogging as a pun-ishment.

The book’s original Kannada version,titled Ajeya, was published several years agoand has seen numerous reprints. Now, it iscoming to the readers in English.

Azad later became a revolutionaryand commanded a revolutionary movementin North India for around a decade.Chosen to command the HindustanSocialist Republican Association (HSRA)after the death penalty of RamprasadBismil — quotes from whose biography isamong the many rich research material inthe book — Azad was responsible for the

political assassination of Saunders to avengethe death of Lala Lajpat Rai, who was beat-en up brutally when he was protestingpeacefully in 1928. He was also responsi-ble for orchestrating the bombing in the leg-islative assembly to protest the introductionof two highly oppressive and unpopular billsdesigned to increase the dictatorial powersof the British in India.

The book also details the politics at thattime and looks into the questions likehow and why he moved from beinga Gandhian to a revolutionary,choosing the path of armed revo-lution instead as the means ofcombating the British colonialrule.

“Azad: The Invincible isthe exciting, thrilling, andever-inspiring saga ofChandrashekhar Azad, theembodiment of courage,conviction and heroism ofthe Indian freedommovement which is‘stranger than fiction. Itkeeps the reader ontenterhooks from thefirst page to the lastpage,” says authorDr Babu

Krishnamurthy. Theyoung martyr, who roared “Main

Azad hoon… Azad Hee Rahoonga (I amfree; I will remain free)”, and lived up to hisword, when he engaged with the police inthe Alfred Park of Allahabad (nowPrayagraj). The book chronicles the episodein every single detail and also what hap-pened to Azad’s pistol.

“The book is a slice of history renderedin an easy anecdotal form. In narrating thestory of Chandrashekhar Azad, Dr BabuKrishnamurthy tells the story of his times,his friends and associates, their struggles,and achievements. It describes the valuesAzad inherited, tried to uphold, and indeedlived by throughout his young life,” sharestranslator Manjula Tekal.

The book was launched in a virtualpanel discussion by the author, translator,and Garuda Prakashan co-foundersSankrant Sanu and Ankur Pathak.

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Tokyo: Former world champi-on Mirabai Chanu will be infocus for her high medal-win-ning chances at the TokyoOlympics as the Indian hopesto exorcise the ghosts of a dis-appointing Rio Games andwrite a new chapter in thecountry’s weightlifting history.

Competing in the 49kgcategory, Chanu is being con-sidered a sure shot medalprospect for India as her per-sonal best of 205kg is only sec-ond to China’s Hou Zhihui’seffort of 213kg in the eight-woman field.

The hype is similar to theone five years ago in Rio, whereChanu could manage only onelift from her six attempts and

thus could not getan overall

total in

women’s 48kg event.The diminutive Manipuri

will desperately hope for a dif-ferent script this time round,one that involves a podium.

While Chanu will haveone eye on her competitors’barbells, the 26-year-old’s mainbattle will be with herself. Inrecent times, her performancein the snatch section has oftenproved to be her downfall inimportant competitions.

Chanu has managed tomatch Zhihui, the favourite towin the Gold, in the clean andjerk category, but her person-al best of 88kg in snatch palesin comparison to the Chineselifter’s world record effort of96kg.

Even USA’s DelacruzJourdan Elizabeth has a betterpersonal best — 89kg — thanthe Indian’s, while Aisah WindyCantika of Indonesia had man-aged to pip Chanu to win aBronze in the snatch section atthe Asian championship in

April.It is expected that

Chanu will try to bet-ter her world recordlift of 119kg in theclean and jerk cat-egory, should thec o m p e t i t i o ndemand it.

Interestingly,Chanu has set the

highest entry weightof 210kg, which is five

kilograms more than herpersonal best, followed byZhihui (205kg), who hadlifted 213kg (96g+117kg) at

the Asian championship. PTI

Tokyo: World No 1 DeepikaKumari was inconsistent but themale archers’ performance wassimply underwhelming in theOlympics’ ranking rounds,prompting a rejig of India’smixed pair combination on atopsy-turvy day at theYumenoshima Park on Friday.

The Koreans, who stayedaway from all Internationalcompetitions in the build-up tothe Olympics since 2019,reigned supreme, including atop-three finish in the women’ssection where young sensationAn San shattered a 25-year-oldOlympic record.

The Indian men’s team ofAtanu Das, Pravin Jadhav andTarundeep Rai, however, didnot post particularly impressivescores and just about managedto sneak into top 10 in the teamrankings.

Deepika slipped fromfourth at the halfway mark tofinish ninth with 663 pointswhich was way below her bestInternational ranking score of686. “I feel my performance wasgood as well as bad...It was inbetween I would say,” Deepikasaid.

Deepika’s biggest challengeis likely to be in the last-eightwhere she might run into Sanwho is making her Olympicdebut. “I want to show my best

performance here and I willshow that in my next rounds,”Deepika vowed to come backstrong.

In fact, there will be Koreain waiting for the Indians in thequarterfinals of both men’s teamand mixed pair competition.The mixed team, is the country’sbest bet to win an elusiveOlympic medal in archery.

India had identical rankingsof ninth in both men’s team andmixed pair competitions.

Deepika will not partnerher husband Das after the topIndian male archer slippedbehind Olympic debutantJadhav.

Jadhav was the best amongthe Indian trio with 656 pointsfor a 31st place finish, threepoints ahead of Das, while Rai,in his third Olympics appear-ance, took the 37th spot among64 archers.

India had the option tosend entries of Das andDeepika, who recently won aGold medal together at theParis World Cup, but the feder-ation went ahead with Jadhavbased on his current form.

In all likelihood, the Indianmixed pair team would run intotop seed Korea in the quartersafter overcoming eighth-rankedChinese Taipei.

Placed in the same half as

India, top seed Korea will opentheir main event against 16thranked Bangladesh.

The men’s trio’s combinedperformance was just enough tofinish inside top-10 as theytotalled 1961 for a ninth placefinish in their first Olympicappearance since London 2012.

The Indian men’s teammight run into top seed Korea,who got a bye into the quarters,should they beat eighth-rankedKazakhstan in the openinground.

In individual section,Jadhav will face 34th rankedGalsan Bazarzhapov of Russia,Das will take on Deng Yu-Cheng of Chinese Taipei, whileRai's opening challenge will beagainst Ukranian OleksiiHunbin. PTI

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The men would be seeking toreclaim a glorious past,

while the women would beaiming to script some history oftheir own when the two Indianhockey teams begin theirOlympic campaign on Saturdaywith expectations from both ata high.

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

With a current world rank-ing of four, the Indian men’s areconsidered a bright medalprospect this time around inTokyo.

ALL EYES ON VIKASThe seasoned Vikas

Krishan (69kg) will open India’sboxing campaign on Saturdayagainst local favouriteSewonrets Quincy MensahOkazawa.

He will be the lone Indianboxer in action on the openingday of boxing competitions atthe Ryogoku Kokugikan arena.

Tokyo: The Indian table tenniscontingent produced anunthinkable performance at theAsian Games, considered as‘mini-Olympics’ by the players.Three years down the line, canthey pull off another miracle atthe Tokyo Games?

Asian Games may have thepresence of continental power-houses like China, Korea andJapan but the Olympics are a dif-ferent ball game altogether.

Nevertheless, India exceed-ed all expectations to win a men’steam Bronze and mixed doublesBronze in Jakarta, ending thecountry’s medal drought at theAsian Games, but getting close

to even one medal here wouldbe a gargantuan task.

Before the paddlers arrivedin Tokyo, the only little hope wasin the mixed doubles categorybut an opener against the worldnumber one duo from ChineseTaipei has made the challenge alot tougher for A Sharath Kamaland Manika Batra.

Sharath along with GSathiyan has also been handeda tough draw in the men’s sin-gles competition.

The 20th seed is drawn tomeet reigning champion MaLong in round three provided heclears the second round (firstround bye) in his fourth

Olympics.If Sathiyan, who will make

his Olympics debut, clears thesecond round hurdle, he willface Japanese sensation andthird seed Harimoto Tomokazu.

Manika and debutantSutirtha Mukherjee will repre-sent India in women’s singles.

The unseeded Manika isexpected to beat Britain’s Tin-Tin Ho in the first round and isdrawn to meet 20th seedMargaryta Pestoska in the sec-ond. Sutirtha, world number 98,plays 78th-ranked LindaBergstroem from Sweden inthe opening round. PTI

Tokyo: Entering the TokyoOlympics on the back of anunprecedented run that begansometime after the inexplicablemeltdown in the Rio de JaneiroGames, Indian shooters bagginga medal or two, or, even three tofour, is a tangible reality.

All of the 15 shooters arecapable of winning medals, butfew are seen as sure shot tosecure podium finishes in theevents that start on Saturday.

One among them is thehighly-skilled SaurabhChaudhary, who will have a fewOlympic and world championsstanding in his way to glory atsport’s biggest showpiece.

Alongside Abhishek Verma,Chaudhary will be part of thefirst competition day action inthe men’s 10m air pistol event.

But before that, the fate ofApurvi Chandela and ElavenilValarivan — in the women’s 10mair rifle event — will be decid-ed. A good outing for either ofthem means India will have wontheir first medal in these Games.

Both Chandela and Elavenilwill enter the competition withplenty to look forward to, despitethe occasional blips here andthere. The 21-year-old Elavenil,world number 1 and consideredone of the country’s finest rifleshooters after some fine perfor-mances since breaking into thesenior team, will certainly fancyher chances.

On the second competi-tion day, India will have the sen-sational Manu Baker and thehard-working Yashaswini SinghDeswal representing the coun-try in the women’s 10m air pis-

tol competition.The women’s 10m pistol

event has attracted maximumnumber of entries but thatshould not worry the two Indianshooters given their skills andconsistency over the years.

In the men’s 10m air rifleevent, India will have theteenaged Divyansh SinghPanwar and the experiencedDeepak Kumar, with the formerespecially seen as a strong con-tender after his superb run ofform since breaking into the

senior team in 2019.If these eight participants

fire on the first two days, Indiacan expect a handful of medalsat the Games, which will makeup for returning empty-handedfrom the 2016 Rio Games.

In the middle andtowards the end of theshooting events too,India have in itsranks strong con-tenders in the formof Rahi Sarnobat,Aishwary PratapSingh Tomar,Anjum Moudgil,Tejaswini Sawant andthe seasoned SanjeevRajput, besides the twoskeet shooters in MairajAhmad Khan and Angad VirSingh Bajwa.

The likes of Sarnobat, whohas won a Silver and Gold in theISSF World Cups in New Delhiand Oisjek, Croatia respective-ly, world number one in 10m airrifle Divyansh Singh Panwar andAishwary Pratap Singh Tomarare all gunning for medals. PTI

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Tokyo: Indian tennis playersneed no less than a miraculousperformance to get close to themedal rounds as an under-pre-pared team of Sania Mirza anddebutant Ankita Raina faces atough Ukrainian challenge inthe opener while Sumit Nagalhas got a tough draw in the sin-gles competition.

Mirza, who is making arecord fourth Olympic appear-ance, and debutant Raina aregoing into the Olympics with-out playing a single competitivematch together this year, whichis far from ideal preparation.

They will open their cam-

paign against Ukraine’s twinsisters Nadiia and LyudmylaKichenok.

In the men’s singles, Nagalis extremely lucky to get anentry into the Olympics but hisrecent performances do notinspire confidence and he facesAsian Games champion DenisIstomin in his first round.There is a possibility of himgetting past the 34-year-oldUzbek but the Indian maynext face world number twoand Australian Open runner-up Danill Medvedev fromRussia and that could be end ofthe road for him. PTI

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The TokyoOlympics weredeclared open inan eerily empty

stadium on Friday afterdefying a year’s pandemicdelay and lingering coron-avirus threats that willmake them perhaps themost unusual Games inhistory.

Japan’s EmperorNaruhito made theannouncement against thebackdrop of thousands ofvacant seats at Tokyo’s68,000-capacity OlympicStadium, after Covid-19forced organisers to banspectators at all but a hand-ful of venues.

“I declare open theGames of Tokyo,” said themonarch, wearing a whitesurgical mask.

The stripped-downceremony, simplified toreduce coronavirus risks,unfolded in front of fewerthan 1,000 VIPs and sever-al thousand athletes.

A reduced parade ofabout 5,700 athletes, farlower than the usual num-bers, filed into the stadium,not all of them socially dis-tanced but all wearingmasks.

International OlympicCommittee presidentThomas Bach acknowl-edged the Games would be“very different from whatall of us had imagined.”

But “today is amoment of hope”, he saidin an address.

The 16-day Games,with 339 Gold medalsacross 33 sports, have asurreal air after the pan-demic compelled organis-ers to make this the firstGames with virtually nospectators.

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