A`]ZeZTd ` - Daily Pioneer

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P rime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said the truth of last year’s Pulwama ter- ror attack, in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed, has been accepted in Pakistan Parliament. His statement comes two days after Pakistan’s Science and Technology Minister Fawad Chaudhry admitted his country’s role in the Pulwama attack during a debate in their National Assembly. Modi also said that when the entire nation was mourn- ing the brave soldiers’ death in Pulwama attack, some people indulged in “dirty politics” for their political gains. Without mentioning China, the PM said that Indian soldiers are giving a befitting reply to those eyeing to grab the country’s land. He was speaking at Kevadiya in Gujarat’s Narmada district after paying tributes to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel at the Statue of Unity on his 145th birth anniversary. “The country cannot forget the unwarranted statements made after the Pulwama attack. Dirty politics laced with self- ishness and arrogance was at its peak when the country was suf- fering from immense pain,” Modi said. “But the real face of such people has been exposed after the truth was accepted in the Parliament of our neighbour- ing country,” he said in his address on the occasion of Rashtriya Ekta Diwas. During a debate in Pakistan’s National Assembly on Thursday, Chaudhry had said, “Humne Hindustan ko ghus ke maara (We hit India in their home). Our success in Pulwama, is a success of this nation under the leadership of Imran Khan. You and we are all part of that success.” The PM said he remained silent despite all the “accusa- tions and filthy words” used against him after the Pulwama terror attack. “Politics done after Pulwama attack shows that people can cross any limit for their political gains. I want to urge such political parties not to indulge in this kind of pol- itics as it affects the morale of our security forces,” the Prime Minister said. “For your political gains, you should not play into the hands of anti-national forces, knowingly or unknowingly,” he added. T he process of bringing back Rahul Gandhi as the Congress chief after Bihar Assembly polls has begun with the party conducting the first round of meeting to convene the All India Congress Committee (AICC) session. All State units of the party have been asked to send details of members who are eligible to vote. A note sent to State units by Congress’ Central Election Authority headed by Madhusudan Mistry said, “This is to inform you that the AICC intends to convene its meeting as soon as possible, and you will be intimated as soon as dates and venue are finalised.” AICC sources said the ses- sion will be held in December the dates of which will be decided at a later stage. Rahul is most likely to take over as the party president, a post he relinquished last year after the dismal performance of the Congress in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Since then his mother continues to be the interim chief, though all deci- sions are being taken by Rahul in coordination with his sibling Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. Priyanka is general secretary in the party. AICC sources said Rahul’s comeback is being planned ahead of the Assembly election in five States, including Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal next year. T he Election Commission (EC) has said that the free Covid-19 promise made by the BJP in the run-up to the Bihar election is not a violation of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC). Responding to a com- plaint by RTI activist on October 28, the EC said it has found no violation of the pro- visions of the model code in the issue. “...no violation of any of the provisions of Model Code of Conduct has been observed...,” the EC said. The EC has cited three pro- visions from the MCC which include that the “State election manifestos should not contain anything repugnant to the Constitution; should avoid making promises that vitiate the purity of the electoral process or exert undue influ- ence on the voter and trust of the voters should be sought only on promises that can be fulfilled”. The EC’s clean chit came in response to a representation by RTI activist Saket Gokhale, alleging that the announcement was a gross violation of the Union Government’s powers, and an attempt to mislead vot- ers, given that the vaccine pol- icy is not decided yet. The EC had taken the same stand on a complaint received during the Lok Sabha elections last year against the Congress’s NYAY scheme that guaranteed a min- imum income of 6,000 per month, or 72,000 a year, for 25 crore people. The EC’s letter adds that manifestos are always issued by particular parties for a partic- ular election. The EC cited cer- tain guidelines for election manifestos contained in Part VIII of the Model Code of Conduct to conclude that the free vaccine promise was not violative of it. New Delhi: The month of October was the coldest in 58 years in the national Capital, according to India Meteorological Department (IMD) data. The mean minimum tem- perature in October this year was 17.2 degrees Celsius, the lowest since 1962, when it was 16.9 degrees Celsius, the IMD said. Normally, Delhi records a mean minimum temperature of 19.1 degrees Celsius in October. On Thursday, Delhi recorded a minimum temper- ature of 12.5 degrees Celsius — the lowest in the month of October in 26 years. The last time Delhi recorded such a low temperature was in 1994. The national Capital had recorded a low of 12.3 degrees Celsius on October 31, 1994, according to the IMD data. The normal minimum temperature for this time of the year is 15-16 degrees Celsius, the IMD said. Kuldeep Srivastava, the head of the IMD’s regional forecasting center, said the absence of cloud cover is a major reason for such low minimum temperatures this time. Clouds trap some of the outgoing infrared radiation and radiate it back downward, warming the ground. Another reason is calm winds, which allow formation of mist and fog, Srivastava said. Delhi had recorded its all- time low temperature of 9.4 degrees Celsius on October 31, 1937, he said. PTI S ean Connery, the charis- matic Scottish actor who rose to international super- stardom as the suave secret agent James Bond and then abandoned the role to carve out an Oscar-winning career in other rugged roles, has died. He was 90. Connery’s wife and two sons said he “died peacefully in his sleep surrounded by fami- ly” in the Bahamas, where he lived. Son Jason Connery said his father had been “unwell for some time.” Bond producers Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli said they were “devastated” by the news. They said Connery’s “gritty and witty portrayal of the sexy and charismatic secret agent” was largely responsible for the success of the film series. “He was and shall always be remembered as the original James Bond whose indelible entrance into cinema history began when he announced those unforgettable words — ‘The name’s Bond... James Bond,’” they said in a statement. Daniel Craig, the current Bond, said Connery “defined an era and a style” and that the “wit and charm he portrayed on screen could be measured in mega watts.” Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the coun- try was mourning “one of her best loved sons.” Connery, was a com- manding screen presence for some 40 years. He was in his early 30s — and little known — when he starred in the first Bond thriller, 1962’s “Dr. No,” based on the Ian Fleming novel. Condemned as immoral by the Vatican and the Kremlin, but screened at the White House for Bond fan John F Kennedy, “Dr No” was a box office hit and launched a fran- chise that long outlasted its Cold War origins. United Artists couldn’t wait to make more films about the British secret agent, with ever more elaborate stunts and gad- gets, along with more exotic locales and more prominent co-stars, among them Lotte Lenya and Jill St. John. Turn to Page 4 F ormer Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath has moved the Supreme Court challenging an order of the Election Commission revoking his star campaigner status over multiple violations of Model Code of Conduct. Senior lawyer and Congress Rajya Sabha member Vivek Tankha said the former Chief Minister has challenged the EC’s decision on various grounds and an urgent hearing on his plea would be sought. The plea has been filed through advocate-on-record Varun Chopra and the defects point- ed out in it by the apex court registry have been cured, said Tankha. Nath in his plea states that EC had already passed an order on October 26 on the same complaint by BJP and had advised the Congress leader to not use such words. However, “punishing him again” by an October 30 order is “com- pletely in teeth of principles of fair play and res judicata.” However, Nath has claimed in his plea that such an order is “illegal” and in “violation of his and the Congress’ constitutional and statutory rights.” The petitioner has claimed that Election Commission of India did not issue any notice to Nath before passing the order to take away his star cam- paigner status. A fter Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s stinging attack on the Opposition over questions posed to the Government after the Pulwama terror attack in February last year, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor dismissed BJP demand for an apology from his party. Tharoor said he was “still trying to figure out what the Congress is supposed to apol- ogise for…”. “I am still trying to figure out what the Congress is sup- posed to apologise for. For expecting the Government to keep our soldiers safe? For ral- lying around the flag rather than politicising a national tragedy? For expressing con- dolences to the families of our martyrs?” he said. Congress national spokesperson Pawan Khera, meanwhile, denied that his party ever questioned the Modi Government on Pulwama attack, but he too raised the issue of safety of the jawans. “No such questions were raised against the Government,” he said, adding, “How were 40 soldiers were martyred, this raises the ques- tion on their safety. Such a query becomes the right of every Indian.” The terror attack on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama on February 14, 2019, had claimed the lives of 40.

Transcript of A`]ZeZTd ` - Daily Pioneer

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Prime Minister NarendraModi on Saturday said the

truth of last year’s Pulwama ter-ror attack, in which 40 CRPFpersonnel were killed, has beenaccepted in PakistanParliament.

His statement comes twodays after Pakistan’s Scienceand Technology MinisterFawad Chaudhry admitted hiscountry’s role in the Pulwamaattack during a debate in theirNational Assembly.

Modi also said that whenthe entire nation was mourn-ing the brave soldiers’ death inPulwama attack, some peopleindulged in “dirty politics” fortheir political gains.

Without mentioningChina, the PM said that Indiansoldiers are giving a befittingreply to those eyeing to grab thecountry’s land.

He was speaking atKevadiya in Gujarat’s Narmada district after payingtributes to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel at the Statueof Unity on his 145th birthanniversary.

“The country cannot forgetthe unwarranted statements

made after the Pulwama attack.Dirty politics laced with self-ishness and arrogance was at itspeak when the country was suf-fering from immense pain,”Modi said.

“But the real face of suchpeople has been exposed afterthe truth was accepted in theParliament of our neighbour-ing country,” he said in hisaddress on the occasion ofRashtriya Ekta Diwas.

During a debate inPakistan’s National Assemblyon Thursday, Chaudhry hadsaid, “Humne Hindustan koghus ke maara (We hit India intheir home). Our success inPulwama, is a success of thisnation under the leadership ofImran Khan. You and we are allpart of that success.”

The PM said he remainedsilent despite all the “accusa-tions and filthy words” usedagainst him after the Pulwamaterror attack.

“Politics done afterPulwama attack shows thatpeople can cross any limit fortheir political gains. I want tourge such political parties notto indulge in this kind of pol-itics as it affects the morale ofour security forces,” the Prime

Minister said.“For your political gains,

you should not play into thehands of anti-national forces,knowingly or unknowingly,”he added.

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The process of bringing backRahul Gandhi as the

Congress chief after BiharAssembly polls has begun withthe party conducting the firstround of meeting to convenethe All India CongressCommittee (AICC) session.All State units of the party havebeen asked to send details ofmembers who are eligible tovote.

A note sent to State unitsby Congress’ Central ElectionAuthority headed byMadhusudan Mistry said,“This is to inform you that theAICC intends to convene itsmeeting as soon as possible,and you will be intimated assoon as dates and venue arefinalised.”

AICC sources said the ses-sion will be held in Decemberthe dates of which will bedecided at a later stage.

Rahul is most likely totake over as the party president,a post he relinquished last yearafter the dismal performance ofthe Congress in the 2019 LokSabha elections. Since then hismother continues to be theinterim chief, though all deci-sions are being taken by Rahulin coordination with his siblingPriyanka Gandhi Vadra.Priyanka is general secretary inthe party.

AICC sources said Rahul’scomeback is being plannedahead of the Assembly electionin five States, including Kerala,Tamil Nadu and West Bengalnext year.

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The Election Commission(EC) has said that the free

Covid-19 promise made bythe BJP in the run-up to theBihar election is not a violationof the Model Code of Conduct(MCC). Responding to a com-plaint by RTI activist onOctober 28, the EC said it hasfound no violation of the pro-visions of the model code in theissue. “...no violation of any ofthe provisions of Model Codeof Conduct has beenobserved...,” the EC said.

The EC has cited three pro-visions from the MCC whichinclude that the “State electionmanifestos should not containanything repugnant to theConstitution; should avoidmaking promises that vitiatethe purity of the electoralprocess or exert undue influ-ence on the voter and trust ofthe voters should be soughtonly on promises that can befulfilled”.

The EC’s clean chit came in

response to a representation byRTI activist Saket Gokhale,alleging that the announcementwas a gross violation of theUnion Government’s powers,and an attempt to mislead vot-ers, given that the vaccine pol-icy is not decided yet. The EChad taken the same stand on acomplaint received during theLok Sabha elections last yearagainst the Congress’s NYAYscheme that guaranteed a min-imum income of �6,000 permonth, or �72,000 a year, for 25crore people.

The EC’s letter adds thatmanifestos are always issued byparticular parties for a partic-ular election. The EC cited cer-tain guidelines for electionmanifestos contained in PartVIII of the Model Code ofConduct to conclude that thefree vaccine promise was notviolative of it.

New Delhi: The month ofOctober was the coldest in 58years in the national Capital,according to IndiaMeteorological Department(IMD) data.

The mean minimum tem-perature in October this yearwas 17.2 degrees Celsius, thelowest since 1962, when it was16.9 degrees Celsius, the IMDsaid. Normally, Delhi records amean minimum temperatureof 19.1 degrees Celsius inOctober.

On Thursday, Delhirecorded a minimum temper-ature of 12.5 degrees Celsius —the lowest in the month ofOctober in 26 years. The lasttime Delhi recorded such a low

temperature was in 1994.The national Capital had

recorded a low of 12.3 degreesCelsius on October 31, 1994,according to the IMD data.

The normal minimum

temperature for this time of theyear is 15-16 degrees Celsius,the IMD said.

Kuldeep Srivastava, thehead of the IMD’s regionalforecasting center, said theabsence of cloud cover is amajor reason for such lowminimum temperatures thistime.

Clouds trap some of theoutgoing infrared radiationand radiate it back downward,warming the ground. Anotherreason is calm winds, whichallow formation of mist andfog, Srivastava said.

Delhi had recorded its all-time low temperature of 9.4degrees Celsius on October31, 1937, he said. PTI

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Sean Connery, the charis-matic Scottish actor who

rose to international super-stardom as the suave secretagent James Bond and thenabandoned the role to carve outan Oscar-winning career inother rugged roles, has died. He was 90.

Connery’s wife and twosons said he “died peacefully inhis sleep surrounded by fami-ly” in the Bahamas, where helived. Son Jason Connery saidhis father had been “unwell forsome time.”

Bond producers Michael GWilson and Barbara Broccolisaid they were “devastated” bythe news. They said Connery’s“gritty and witty portrayal of

the sexy and charismatic secretagent” was largely responsiblefor the success of the filmseries.

“He was and shall alwaysbe remembered as the originalJames Bond whose indelibleentrance into cinema historybegan when he announcedthose unforgettable words —‘The name’s Bond... JamesBond,’” they said in a statement.

Daniel Craig, the currentBond, said Connery “definedan era and a style” and that the“wit and charm he portrayedon screen could be measured inmega watts.”

Scottish First MinisterNicola Sturgeon said the coun-try was mourning “one of herbest loved sons.”

Connery, was a com-

manding screen presence forsome 40 years. He was in hisearly 30s — and little known —when he starred in the firstBond thriller, 1962’s “Dr. No,”based on the Ian Fleming novel.

Condemned as immoral bythe Vatican and the Kremlin,but screened at the WhiteHouse for Bond fan John FKennedy, “Dr No” was a boxoffice hit and launched a fran-chise that long outlasted itsCold War origins.

United Artists couldn’t waitto make more films about theBritish secret agent, with evermore elaborate stunts and gad-gets, along with more exoticlocales and more prominentco-stars, among them LotteLenya and Jill St. John.

Turn to Page 4

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Former Madhya PradeshChief Minister Kamal Nath

has moved the Supreme Courtchallenging an order of theElection Commission revokinghis star campaigner status over

multiple violations of ModelCode of Conduct.

Senior lawyer andCongress Rajya Sabha memberVivek Tankha said the formerChief Minister has challengedthe EC’s decision on variousgrounds and an urgent hearingon his plea would be sought.The plea has been filed throughadvocate-on-record VarunChopra and the defects point-ed out in it by the apex courtregistry have been cured, saidTankha.

Nath in his plea states that

EC had already passed an orderon October 26 on the samecomplaint by BJP and hadadvised the Congress leader tonot use such words. However,

“punishing him again” by anOctober 30 order is “com-pletely in teeth of principles offair play and res judicata.”

However, Nath has claimedin his plea that such an orderis “illegal” and in “violation of his and theCongress’ constitutional andstatutory rights.”

The petitioner has claimedthat Election Commission ofIndia did not issue any noticeto Nath before passing theorder to take away his star cam-paigner status.

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After Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s stinging

attack on the Opposition overquestions posed to theGovernment after the Pulwamaterror attack in February lastyear, Congress MP ShashiTharoor dismissed BJPdemand for an apology fromhis party.

Tharoor said he was “stilltrying to figure out what theCongress is supposed to apol-ogise for…”.

“I am still trying to figureout what the Congress is sup-posed to apologise for. Forexpecting the Government tokeep our soldiers safe? For ral-lying around the flag rather

than politicising a nationaltragedy? For expressing con-dolences to the families of ourmartyrs?” he said.

Congress nationalspokesperson Pawan Khera,meanwhile, denied that hisparty ever questioned the ModiGovernment on Pulwamaattack, but he too raised theissue of safety of the jawans.

“No such questions wereraised against theGovernment,” he said, adding,“How were 40 soldiers weremartyred, this raises the ques-tion on their safety. Such aquery becomes the right ofevery Indian.” The terror attackon a CRPF convoy in Pulwamaon February 14, 2019, hadclaimed the lives of 40.

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�What is your role in Pyaar Tune KyaKiya?

I play Preet a girl who is alreadyengaged. She enjoys life and loves her parentsa lot. She is independent in her thinking andwants to fulfill her father’s dream of openingfranchises of his restaurant across India. Thatway she is very ambitious.�How is this different from Zara Siddiquiin Ishq Subhan Allah on Zee TV?

The main obvious difference of courseis that Zara is from a Muslim family. Preetbelongs to a Punjabi family. Zara is all aboutfighting for Muslim women’s rights. Preetis more focused on realising her dad’s dream.�What were some of the things that youhad to prepare for in Pyaar Tune Kya Kiya?

I am not the kind to prepare for thecharacter in advance. I read the script andgo to the sets and go with my instincts onwhat feels right when I am finally in frontof the camera. Also, for Preet, I didn’thave much time to prepare. She has theselayers that unravel which I learnt as theepisode progressed. I had a differentperspective on my character. The directorand writer have a different one. So, thebest thing was not to prep in advance. Onthe sets, once a scene was explained tome, I would close my eyes and think howshe would behave and go with it andbuilt my character�What got you interested in acting?

It was not one thing. I knew fromthe very beginning that I would not beable to do a 9 am to 5 pm job. I was bornto act. Being an artist, I can live so manypersonalities. I can play so manyprofessions. I am the tailor of my life.If I am playing Zara or Preet, I am me,Eisha yet I am not. I am playingsomeone else. I can experiment withdifferent things in my life through mycharacters. I don’t always have to be me.I can do so much more as an actor�Did you think that Dhaani of IshqKa Rang Safed would become sopopular?

Not at all. I was 16 when I gave theaudition for the show. I played a 20-year-old widow in the show and howshe dealt with people whocontinuously targeted her because Iwas a widow. I was not sure whetherpeople would accept me in this role.I too was not convinced whether Iwould be able to do justice to thisrole. But luckily for me everythingfell into place. People lovedDhaani. I too learnt a lot along theway.�Was it tough to play a widowat such a young age?

It was extremely tough. I had

no idea about the struggles of awidow. My maternal grandmotherwas a widow but she was in her70s. I had no clue what youngwidows go through and howsociety looks at them and treatsthem. But when I actually got toplay Dhaani did I realise theharsh reality of life and would

cry when I would hear the real-life horror stories of these young

women who have every right to live acolourful life but the society doesn’t let themand puts so many restrictions on them –can't eat certain kinds of food, can’t laughor have dreams and ambitions.�What next?

I want to know the same. I am not surewhere I will go from here. There are a fewprojects. But for now, I am at home takinga break.

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Just because there is a ghost in themovie, it doesn’t make it scary. Sadly,most horror films are based on two

premises — either the things that go bumpin the night are flesh eating ugly as sin,(remember Ramsay Brothers ghosts?),blood dripping creatures or the ghost isjust out for revenge. In Kaali Khuhi, it isthe latter. This means that there arebodies that are falling left, right and centreand nothing else much.

It is another matter that TerrieSamundra, who has written and directedthis one, has added a rather sad andhorrible reason for this ghost to takerevenge — female foeticide. The positiveshere are the subject of the film, which is

hard-hitting and the atmosphere thatSamundra has managed to create — a non-descript village in Punjab, the sprawlingfields, the early morning mist, the heavyrains and a well that has non-existentwater. All this adds to the creepiness.Beyond this, there is nothing much herethat will hold one’s interest as the first halfwill leave one wondering what ishappening. It is only after 45 minutes intothe film that one will get some claritywhich makes one wonder why such a longbuild up?

Even Shabana Azmi’s talents arewasted here. There is nothing much for herto do here but appear to be part scaredabout what is coming and part trying toappear that all is well in a village that hasa horrible practice of throwing newborngirl child into a well. Hence the title KaaliKhuhi. Despite this, she is the one whoholds the film together.

Overall, a watchable movie.#�����������$����

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Are you the kind of person wholoves to watch rom-coms withhappily-ever after? If the answer

is a resounding yes, then Holidate isa movie that is right up your alley eventhough we know how it is going toend. While there is nothing new thatthe movie has to offer — a single girlwho is heart-broken and the familypushing her to date and parades a slewof eligible men – yet the way the movieprogresses, it is sweet, cut and fun towatch even though we as Indians maynot subscribe to the concept. Ourmothers one the other hand, may havea totally different take on this.

Nothing gets you going likewatching a romance film with clearundertones of comic timing even ifthere are a couple of moments that

will make one cringe or blush givenwhether one is a prude or is open-minded.

Believe it or not, a romanticmovie is definitely what we need inthese testing times. Holidate will leavethe viewer feeling warm and fuzzyhowever cliched the story may be.

Emma Roberts as Sloane is cuteand shines here. However, one didn’thave to show the other womenaround her to be weird or strange.Take an example: Her aunt, a cougar,who will go after any man even theman Sloane’s mother has chosen hasher intended. But however weird orstrange these other women may be,they are fun to watch as theymeander through the film. They addthe fun element to the movie.

Luke Bracey, Jackson, plays theHemsworthy charm with aplomb toRoberts' aversion to crowds anddressing up. Together they look cutemaking this film watchable.

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Have you ever wondered what wouldhappen if you committed a crime andthe evil followed you home and made

a home for itself in your head? The resultwould be devastating and the guilt wouldeventually eat one alive and kill in the end. HisHouse is not your typical horror movie wherethe ghost goes bump in the night to scare youaway. This ghost has an agenda — an eye foran eye — death for death. And it all beginswith the couple fleeing from war-torn Sudanand seeking asylum in Britain.

How does one win against the ghost thatis in one’s head? How does one move forwardand live with what one did just so that he andhis wife could flee and survive while many

from his village died? These are some of thequestions that haunt the house where thiscouple lives. In that sense is it really the housethat is haunted? Is the couple really the ‘goodpeople’ like the husband keeps repeating sothat they can stay in Britain and not be sentback?

His House explores all these questionswith the haunting and horror explodesaround the husband. He does his best to blendin — wears grays, eats with fork and knifeinstead of hands and insists he is home herein Britain. All the while, the wife wants to goback to Sudan even at the cost of letting theghost take her husband in exchange for thelittle girl she lost.

Do the couple manage to overcome theirdifferences? Are they finally at peace withthemselves? Has ghost been vanquished?Watch this one.

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Punjab Chief Secretary ViniMahajan on Saturday said

the State has witnessed adecline in straw burning inci-dents this year as 5 per centless stubble burning area havebeen reported in the statewith the effective in-situ andex-situ management of cropresidue and concerted effortsto sensitise the farmers.

During a virtual meetingwith senior officers, all theDeputy Commissioners andSenior Superintendent of Policehere, the Chief Secretaryexpressed satisfaction over theeffective steps taken by the StateGovernment to end the haz-ardous practice of residue burn-ing. Mahajan directed the offi-cials to further intensify theefforts to eradicate the menace.She pointed out that as many as137.89 lakh MT of paddy hasarrived in the mandis of thestate so far, which is 33 per centhigher than the previous year.

Instructing all DeputyCommissioners and SSPsregarding the problem of cropresidue burning, the ChiefSecretary said the districtadministration should enforcethe instructions strictly toensure zero stubble burning incoming days though the inci-

dents of burning of straw havebeen less so far as compared tolast year. Total straw burningarea this year is 7.49 lakhhectare as compare to 7.90lakh hectare last year till date,which is 5.23 percent less. 336less cases of straw burninghave been reported in a singleday so far this year as comparedto last year, while the arrival ofpaddy is 33 per cent higher.

Additional Chief SecretaryDevelopment Anirudh Tewariapprised the Chief Secretary thaton October 30 last year, 3,135cases of straw burning werereported, which are 2,799 this

year. In Bathinda district, 202cases have been reported thisyear as compared to 343 casesof last year. Similarly, inFerozepur 290 cases have beenreported this year as comparedto 328 of last year and in Mansa,151 cases, instead of 285 of pre-vious year, have been reported,while the rest of the districtshave also witnessed a decline.

Taking stock of the pro-curement, lifting and paymentof paddy, the Chief Secretarywas apprised that out of totalRs 22,753.44 crore, payment ofRs 22,506.10 crore has beenmade to farmers so far and

most of the paddy crop hasbeen lifted.

Simultaneously, reviewingthe situation of Covid-19 inthe State, the Chief Secretaryinstructed to expedite the RT-PCR testing. “At present, thenumber of Corona cases in thestate has come down justbecause of the testing done inlarge quantities,” she said,adding that more tests shouldbe conducted in crowded areasand offices. The ChiefSecretary said, as all the gov-ernment offices are now work-ing with 100 per cent staff, thusit is need of the hour to

increase RT-PCR testing. Shealso directed the DistrictOfficers to proactively carryout awareness generation dri-ves for dengue prevention andto strictly enforce all precau-tionary protocols.

Instructing officers to keepa special tab on the sale of fire-crackers in view of the upcom-ing festivals amid Covid-19 sit-uations, she said that the entireprocess should be completedkeeping in view the COVID-19 protocols and special atten-tion should be paid to the saleof foreign firecrackers. Besidesthis, licenses for sale of fire-crackers should be issued asper the instructions issued bythe Government of India andthe State Government.

Those present in the meet-ing included; DGP DinkarGupta, Additional ChiefSecretary DevelopmentAnirudh Tewari, PrincipalSecretary Industries &Commerce Alok Shekhar,Principal Secretary FinanceKAP. Sinha, Principal SecretaryMedical Education & ResearchDK Tewari, Principal Secretaryto the Chief Minister TejvirSingh, Principal SecretaryHealth and Family WelfareHussan Lal and Dr KK Talwar,all Deputy Commissioners,Police Commissioners and SSPs.

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Taking no chances with thepossibility of surge in

Covid-19 cases due toincreased public meetings,interactions and social gettogether in the ongoing festiveseason, Haryana DirectorGeneral of Health Services DrSuraj Bhan Kamboj onSaturday asked the districtChief Medical Officers to con-duct extensive sampling andtesting of coronavirus for earlydetection and containment ofthe pandemic in the comingfortnight. In addition to this,health officers were directed toramp up facilities to facilitatethose positive patients in homequarantine, he added.

Talking to The Pioneerover the phone, Dr Kambojsaid, “We have reviewed thestatus of response measures toCovid-19 with the district med-

ical officers and instructedthem to gear up testing, track-ing and treatment strategy dur-ing the festive season.”

He said the Ministry ofHealth and Family welfare hasrecently instructed the StateHealth department to regular-ly monitor the symptom devel-opment and hospitalisationtrend amongst the home iso-lated patients and focus onrapid contact tracing, and quickisolation of the traced contactsto be effectively enforced.

The DG Health said aninstruction on conductingART-PCR and Rapid AntigenCovid-19 sampling camps inthe next two weeks has beengiven at pre-designated placesin the districts especially theslums, far flung, crowded areaswhich are more vulnerable tospread of disease. It would beorganised in campaign mode.

Furthermore, strict com-

pliance of wearing face masksmust be ensured besides whichefforts should be made to spreadawareness of the disease throughIEC and direct counselling. It isalso directed to ensure that allthe precautions for prevention ofspread of disease, such as PPEKits, social distancing, handhygiene etc should be adheredto in the camps and any laxityin this regard will be strictlyviewed, he added.

When asked about somepeople seen throwing Covid-19guidelines to the wind in mar-kets and public places, DrKamboj said, “We emphasisedthe importance of wearing facemasks, saying people shouldconsider them as a “vaccine”against the virus till the timeone is available. The spread ofthe virus can be stopped to alarge extent if everyone wearsa mask. People should consid-er masks as a vaccine till thereis one. It has more benefits thana lockdown.”

Urging people to be extracautious during ongoing fes-tivities, DG Health said, “Wehave asked the concernedadministrative officers toensure that traders, shopkeep-ers are following health guide-lines in their premises in mar-ket areas. The health officershave also been directed toorganise special testing campsin markets, with a special focuson sweet shops, eateries, illu-mination gadgets, electricalappliances sale outlets as these

shops expect the most footfallin the coming days.

Asked about a rising posi-tivity rate typically suggeststhat a region is testing inade-quately, DG Health told thatabout 20, 000 testing is beingdone on a daily basis in theState. The tests per million ofthe population are 1, 03, 014.

When contacted, DrDhruva Chaudhary, who isthe nodal officer for Covid-19in Haryana, said that districtmedical officers have been

advised not to compromise ontesting and keep the level ofdaily tests at a higher level withgreater proportion of RT-PCRtests. ‘Test-track-treat’ is the keystrategy for containment ofthe pandemic,” he reiterated.

He added the increase inthe new cases due to festivitiesis a grave concern. Taking noteof it seriously, the district med-ical officers have been sug-gested to ramp up IEC prac-tices and promote mask-wear-ing with more rigour. It wasadvised to ensure proper stan-dard of care and early identifi-cation as well as early hospi-talisation of cases.

Asked about that afterappearing to drop of new infec-tions of the Covid-19 and nowState started rising Covid-19cases again over the few days,Chaudhary said the rising cases might have beenattributed to social gatheringsduring the festivities, the dete-riorating air quality, increasing

incidences of respiratory dis-orders among others.

When asked that the recentdip in cases has led many peo-ple to believe that the threat ofcovid-19 is over, he said, “Weall wish and pray for the samebut can’t take any chances. Wecan’t let the virus play spoil-sport in the festivities. We willnot lower the guard till thevirus is wiped out.”

Another health officer saidHaryana rising case rate hascome right at the start of the fes-tive season which indicates thatcases may continue to rise.“Positivity rate is a crucial met-ric as experts say it shows howwidespread the virus is in thecommunity, and when coupledwith increase new cases, indi-cates that the virus is spreadingfast,” he said, adding that in theongoing festive season, Statehealth department is taking allnecessary steps like testing, sur-veillance, contact tracing andawareness, to flatten the curve.

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The Punjab Government onSaturday said it has initiat-

ed a drive to eradicate tobaccouse to save children and youthas well as tobacco free work-place on the occasion of NoTobacco Day.

Health Minister BalbirSingh Sidhu said Punjab is thefirst State in the country to cel-ebrate a State specific “PunjabState No Tobacco Day” onNovember 1. The theme of thecampaign is “Tobacco FreeWorkplaces”. Punjab is also apioneer state to focus on youthby timely ban on E cigarettes,hookah bars and by declaringhostels of Colleges/Universitiesas Tobacco Free. State willcontinue making efforts tocurb this menace of Tobacco asthis will go a long way indeterring young children andyouth from initiation and alsomotivate current users to quit.

Explaining the objectiveof this campaign, he said that

to make all the offices Tobaccofree and to protect non-usersfrom involuntary exposure totobacco smoke at workplaces.

Sidhu said the health depart-ment, Punjab has taken uptobacco control as a flagship pro-gramme. All 22 districts havebeen declared as Tobacco SmokeFree. Total 739 villages havedeclared themselves TobaccoFree. However, during the year2019-20, around 21,581 Challanshave been issued against the vio-lators under Cigarette and otherTobacco products Act, 2003(COTPA, 2003). TobaccoCessation centres have beenestablished in all districts. Freecounseling services and ces-sation medicines like TabBupropion, Nicotine gumsand patches are being pro-vided in these centres. Total20,239 Tobacco users havereceived services at thesecentres in 2019-20.

Describing tobaccouse is a major threatto public health glob-

ally, he said that smokelesstobacco users first of all areprone to deadly diseases andearly death, and secondly usershave a tendency to spit in pub-lic places, and therefore itincreases health risks especial-ly by spreading infectious andcontagious diseases.

The Minister urged all thecitizens of Punjab not to use orspit tobacco in public places asit is prohibited under section268, 269 & 278 of Indian Penal

code, 1860. A strict actionwill be taken against theviolators under thisdrive. He said a specialweek long campaign willbe launched fromNovember 1 to 7 fordeclaring all theGovernment offices asTobacco Free and for thestrict implementation ofAnti-Tobacco laws. TheMinister added at district

level, all the Governmenthealth facilities will bedeclared as Tobacco Free.

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Punjab Chief Minister CaptAmarinder Singh on

Saturday launched a post-matricscholarship scheme for studentsbelonging to the ScheduledCastes category on ValmikiJayanti. He also laid foundationstones of projects worth Rs 50crore at Ram Tirath in Amritsaron the occasion.

Participating in theValmiki Jayanti celebrationsvirtually, the CM also inaugu-rated a new Ram Tirath ITIcampus while giving the go-ahead for the establishment ofa skill development centre toprepare Dalit students for com-petitive exams.

Launching Dr BRAmbedkar Post-Matric SCScholarship Scheme, thePunjab Chief Minister said itwill ensure that poor studentsget free higher education,which the Centre unfairlydeprived them of with anabrupt withdrawal of Rs 800crore aid to the State.

Stressing that the StateGovernment is committed tothe welfare of the Scheduled

Castes, Capt Amarinder saidthe scheme being launchedwithout any financial contri-bution from the Centre willprovide 100 per cent fee waiv-er to SC students. The scheme,which is likely to benefit overthree lakh poor SC studentsevery year, will involve noupfront payment by them togovernment or private educa-tional institutions.

The institutes will providefree education to SC studentsunder the scheme against directsubsidy from the StateGovernment, the CMannounced, adding studentswill also get a monthly stipend

to buy books and uniforms.In addition to it, he

announced an annual holidayunder the NegotiableInstruments Act in memory ofgreat personality and saidAmaritsar’s Guru Nanak DevUniversity will organise a sem-inar on Bhagwan Valmiki onthe eve of his birth anniversaryevery year. Giving details ofBhagwan Valmiki Tirath Sthal(Ram Tirath) projects, theChief Minister said theseinclude a panorama onMaharishi Valmiki (Rs 25-30crore), facade lights (Rs 10.9crore) and a filtration plant inthe sarovar (Rs 4.75 crore).

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Punjab Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) on Saturday said

the party would not be a partof the all-party delegationheaded by Chief Minister CaptAmarinder Singh to meetPresident Ram Nath Kovindover the controversial Centralfarm laws, describing it as amere political drama.

Addressing a news confer-ence, senior AAP senior leader and Leader ofOpposition Harpal SinghCheema said the three farmBills passed by the StateGovernment in the speciallyconvened Vidhan Sabha onOctober 20 by rushing amend-ments to negate the contro-versial laws would be mean-ingless, saying it would not helpprotect the interests of thefarmers.

Cheema said there is nopoint in meeting the Presidentas the Punjab Governor has notyet signed the proposed Billssaying Capt Amarinder Singhis trying to fool the people ofPunjab especially the farmersby projecting himself as theirtrue champion.

The Leader of Oppositionsaid Amarinder was a mere puppet in the hands ofPrime Minister NarendraModi, which was why he hadnot so far met either the PrimeMinister or the UnionAgriculture Minister and theRailway Minister alone or as a delegation against theblack laws.

Cheema said instead ofmeeting the President, ifPunjab Chief MinisterAmarinder Singh had led a del-egation of all parties, to meetthe Prime Minister in thisregard, the AAP would havegladly accepted the offer.

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Haryana Chief MinisterManohar Lal Khattar and

Deputy Chief Minister,Dushyant Chautala haveextended their greetings andbest wishes to the people of thestate on the eve of Haryana Day.

Khattar said during the 54years of its formation, Haryanahas made unprecedentedprogress in all fields. Due tohard work and dedication ofthe people, the State has left anindelible mark in the world inthe fields of agriculture, indus-try and sports. He hoped thatin the coming time, Haryanawill achieve new heights ofprogress.

He said that this year’sHaryana Day is important inmany ways. While the worldwas struggling with the Covid-19 pandemic, the hard-workingfarmers of Haryana producedrecord food grains, on theother hand, the StateGovernment implemented sev-eral new schemes using IT,turning this challenge into anopportunity.

Deputy Chief Minister,

Chautala said in his messagethat today’s Haryana is a resultof the hard work of the farm-ers and labourers, the enter-prise of the industrialists andthe passion of the businessmen.Today, the State is leading inevery aspect, from agricultur-al fields to sports fields andfrom education to industrialdevelopment, he added. Hehoped that in future alsoHaryana will remain on thepath of progress in the sameway and will set new records ofdevelopment.

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Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)president Sukhbir Singh

Badal on Saturday urged PrimeMinister Narendra Modi todirect the Union FinanceMinistry to offer a comprehen-sive relief package for farmers.

In a statement, Badal saidthe decision not to include thefarming community in the ambit of the Centre’s schemewhich seeks to provide ex-gra-tia payment of the differencebetween compound interest andsimple interest to borrowers forsix months proved that policymakers were totally out of syncwith grassroot realities.

“It is a sad day for Indiandemocracy if policy makers havebecome so out of touch with theagriculture sector that they donot realise that farmers bore thebrunt of the Covid-19 pandem-ic. Thousands of tonnes offruits and vegetables simply rot-ted in the fields. Farmers whohad made investments in polyand net houses suffered hugelosses as their produce could notbe marketed for months.Everyone associated with agri-culture and allied activities like

dairy farming lost money. Evenpaddy growers in Punjab suf-fered huge losses as they had to pay double for labour,”Sukhbir said.

He said farmers were expect-ing a complete waiver of theircrop loans and waiver of inter-est on tractor loans as well as loans taken for otherallied activities.

“It is shocking that instead ofdoing this, the Union govern-ment is not even ready to savethem from compound interestbeing charged from them due todefault in instalments. Thefinance ministry has played acruel joke on the ‘annadaata’ whoput his life at risk to supply foodto the nation during the pan-demic,” he said.

Badal urged the PrimeMinister to direct the ministry tocome out with guidelines forbanks which offer concrete reliefto farmers who are unable torepay crop loans and pay inter-est on other loans. He said farm-ers should not be discriminatedagainst by issuing clarificationsthat agricultural loans will not beeligible for the interest on interest waiver announced bythe Centre.

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With the man-animal con-flict on the rise, more

than 120 calls have beenreceived in just about 20 days on the first ever dedi-cated human-wildlife conflicthelpline launched in Shimla, capital of hill StateHimachal Pradesh.

The first of its kind helplinelaunched in the state current-ly covers the area under the

jurisdiction of ShimlaMunicipal Corporation. TheForest Department will soon beexpanding the ambit of thehelpline 1800-4194575launched on October 8.

The State has been wit-nessing growing cases ofhuman-wildlife conflict, whichoften results in panic and blood-shed. Earlier this month, a leop-ard had attacked a one-and-a-half-year-old baby at Shelai vil-lage of Chopal in Shimla district.The villagers had chased theleopard and found the body ofthe child a few metres awayfrom the house.

Cases of monkeys causingdamage to the crops, monkeysattacking humans, instancesof lifting of domestic animals

by leopards, sightings of blackbears and leopards in humanhabitations have also beenreported in the recent past.

“After the launch of thehelpline, more than 120 callshave so far been received relat-ed to animal attacks, injuredanimals, and sightings ofpredators like leopards inhuman habitations amongother complaints. More than 50percent complaints were relat-ed to monkey menace whilefew complaints were aboutsnakes, leopards among otherwild animals,” said KrishanKumar, Divisional ForestOfficer, Shimla, HimachalPradesh Forest Departmentwhile talking to The Pioneer.

The DFO said, “This is the

first 24x7 dedicated human-wildlife conflict helplinelaunched in the state. In case,the operator fails to attend thecall for some reason, the callercan leave a voice message.”

Elaborating, he said, “Wehave a rapid-response team ofsix-eight members, two rescuevehicles, equipment like netguns, tranquilising guns amongothers. After a complaint isreceived on the helpline, ateam is sent to act according-ly. Injured animals are rescuedand treated before releasingthem into the forest. Similarly,wild animals are captured bysetting up cage traps in therespective areas from wherecomplaints are received.”

The helpline is currently

covering an area of around 25km and its ambit will beincreased in due course oftime, the DFO added.

As per the data with thestate’s Forest Department, atotal of 98 complaints related tohuman-wildlife conflict werereceived in the fiscal year 2018-19, 255 complaints in 2019-20and 181 from April toSeptember this year in Shimla.These complaints were receivedon emergency helpline num-bers and other contact num-bers of the Forest Departmentand were related to monkeys,leopards, langurs, snakes andblack bears.

Notably, the rhesusmacaque (monkey) popula-tion stands at 136443 in com-

parison to 205167 in the year2015 in the state. Similarly, theaverage troupe size of monkeysin density hotspots is 226 inHimachal, as per the ForestDepartment’s data.

Apart from this, there wereabout 761 leopards in the stateas per 2004 census but theirnumber has seeminglyincreased as felines are now fre-quently being spotted neartowns, suburbs and villages inHimachal.

The official data statedthat the state has witnessed 34deaths due to leopard attackssince 2004. Also, 367 cases ofinjury to people have beenreported over the same period,out of which 99 injuries were ofgrievous nature.

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On the 145th birth anniver-sary of first Deputy Prime

Minister of India SardarVallabhbhai Patel being cele-brated as ‘Rashtriya EktaDiwas’, Himachal ChiefMinister Jai Ram Thakur onSaturday garlanded his portraitat the Ridge here on Saturday.He also paid floral tributes onthe statue of former PrimeMinister Indira Gandhi on herdeath anniversary.

Addressing the gathering,the Chief Minister said that itwas due to the determination,dedication, diplomacy and ironwill of Sardar Patel that Indiatoday stands united.

Thakur said the presentUnion Government under theleadership of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi was engagingwith the legacy of Sardar Patelwith all due considerations,respect and diligence.

He also remembered thecontributions of Indira Gandhion her death anniversary, say-ing she made immense contri-butions for upholding the unityand integrity of the country.

He said that she laid down her life for the cause ofthe nation.

Jai Ram Thakur also felic-itated the people of the State onthe occasion of MaharishiValmiki Jayanti and urged themto imbibe the teachings of this‘Adikavi’ which were more rel-evant even today.

He also administered theoath of national unity pledge tothe gathering on the occasion.

An impressive march pastwas presented by the Statepolice contingent. UrbanDevelopment Minister SureshBhardwaj, Chairperson

Saksham Gudiya Board RoopaSharma, Mayor Satya Koundal,Chairman HIMFED GaneshDutt, Chief Secretary AnilKhachi, Additional ChiefSecretary Manoj Kumar,Director General of PoliceSanjay Kundu, Secretary GADDevesh Kumar, DeputyCommissioner Aditya Negi,Director, Information andPublic Relations Harbans SinghBrascon and other senior civiland police officers were presenton the occasion.

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One Nation One RationCard (ONORC) Scheme

was launched by VP SinghBadnore, Governor of Punjaband Administrator, UTChandigarh during the cele-bration of Rashtriya Ekta Diwasat Sukhna Lake here.

Manoj Parida, Advisor tothe Administrator, and VinodP. Kavle, Secretary Food &Supplies and Consumer Affairs& Legal Metrology and othersenior officials were also pre-sent at the event.

Chandigarh is the first UTto introduce the ONORC

Scheme with integration ofDBT. Chandigarh has recentlybeen ranked as the Best admin-istered UT in the country.

This ONORC enables themigrant beneficiaries to getration, even when he moves outto other states or UTs. This isparticularly helpful for themigrant labour who stays a fewmonths at one place and there-after goes to another State forwork. Without portability ofthe ration card, these migrantpeople were deprived of theirentitlement of ration underthe National Food SecurityAct, 2013.

The department has set up

helpline no. “14445” and adedicated service window inthe office. The migrant personhas to either call on “14445” orvisit the service window in thedepartment to register underthe ONORC Scheme.

The migrant persons haveto bring their Aadhar Card,Ration Card, Provide BankDetails and Address inChandigarh. They have to visitthe office for biometric authen-tication. After successful reg-istration, the food subsidyamount in lieu of food grainswill be transferred into theMigrant’s bank account as perthe entitlement under NFSA.

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Haryana Chief MinisterManohar Lal Khattar and

Deputy CM Dushyant Chautalaon Saturday held joint publicmeetings in the Baroda assem-bly constituency and urged peo-ple to vote for BJP-JJP candidateYogeshwar Dutt in the bypollsscheduled for November 3.

Both Khattar and Chautalahit out at the Congress and for-mer Chief Minister Bhupinder

Singh Hooda for “neglecting”the constituency during their 10-year-old regime in the state. Thebypolls were necessitated due tothe demise of Congress MLAShri Krishan Hooda in April,who had won the seat three con-secutive times. The Congress hasfielded Induraj Narwal while theINLD has given ticket toJoginder Singh Malik.

Addressing a gathering atRajgharana in Gohana, Khattarsaid the contest was only

between the BJP-JJP and theCongress. “On one side is thealliance (BJP-JJP) and theother side is the Congress. Youjust compare the two contes-tants. When you compare, onone side is our candidatewrestler Yogeshwar Dutt, whois internationally renowned.When he got medals, everyIndian was proud of his feat.He brought laurels to thenation,” said Khattar.

“On the other side is

(Congress candidate) Induraj.Somebody is telling me that theyhave not seen him addressingpeople in the media. Therefore,you have to compare,” saidKhattar. He said Dutt has thevision and enthusiasm forBaroda and he is capable of car-rying out welfare works for thisconstituency in every way.

Deputy CM DushyantChautala while urging voters toensure a historic victory for theBJP-JJP candidate saidYogeshwar Dutt had brought lau-rels to the nation and he can takeup their issues with the presidentand the prime minister.

But the Congress candidatehimself has said his reach islimited only to “Bapu-Beta”(Bhupinder Singh Hooda andDeepender Hooda), saidChautala. Khattar said the stategovernment had carried outdevelopment works worth Rs165 crore in Baroda in the lastfour months. “It was a backward

constituency and nobody toldme about this. I do not knowwhy the late Shri Krishan Hoodanever came to me and raised anyissue of his constituency,”saidKhattar. He said former CMBhupinder Singh Hooda neverspoke about the constituencywith him. Hooda’s constituen-cy Garhi Sampla Kiloi in Rohtaklies adjacent to the Baroda seatin Sonepat.

He said Congress is “spread-ing lies” over the Centre’s threefarm laws by stating that theminimum support price (MSP)and mandi systems will be dis-mantled, said Khattar. He saidthe MSP system will never end.“They do not have any issue asthey are out of power now.They are restless like a fish outof water,” said Khattar.

Chautala earlier addressingthe gathering slammed theCongress, accusing it of takingaway farmers’’ land during its10-year regime. He said 73,000acres were given to privatebuilders during the Congressregime in the state. HaryanaDeputy CM asked people to askHooda to give an account of hisrule in the state.

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Twelve more people diedfrom coronavirus in

Haryana on Saturday as 1743fresh cases surfaced, pushingthe State’s infection count to1,67,210, according to a healthbulletin.

So far, 1789 people havedied from the infection in theState. A total of 1391 Covid-19patients were released fromdifferent parts of the State afterrecovery, taking the total countto 153,230. Of the fresh fatal-ities, three each were reportedfrom Hisar and Bhiwani, twoeach from Gurugram andSonepat and one each fromFaridabad and Ambala, thebulletin said.

Among the districts whichreported the maximum caseswere Gurugram (498),Faridabad (282), Hisar (201),Rohtak (114), Sonepat (102),Mahendergarh (74), Rewari

(73), Bhiwani (57), Sirsa (53)and Jhajjar (52). Currently, thestate has 12,191 active caseswith the recovery rate hoveringaround 91.64 per cent.

503 FRESH CASES INPUNJAB, 16 DEATHSSixteen more fatalities

linked to Covid-19 in Punjabpushed the death toll from thedisease to 4203 while 503 newcases raised the infection tallyto 1,33,658 on Saturday,according to a medical bulletin.Three deaths were reportedfrom Bathinda, two each fromAmritsar, SAS Nagar, Muktsarand Ludhiana; one each fromFaridkot, Ferozepur, Jalandhar,Moga and Tarn Taran, the bul-letin said. The State has 4, 257active Covid-19 cases, accord-ing to the bulletin.

The places which reportedfresh coronavirus cases includ-ed Jalandhar (105), Mohali(74), Bathinda (58) and

Ludhiana (42), it said. A totalof 328 patients were dischargedafter recovering from the infec-tion, taking the Covid-19recovery count to 1,25,198 inthe state. Eighteen criticalpatients are on ventilator sup-port while 97 are on oxygensupport, the bulletin said. Atotal of 26,04,208 samples havebeen collected for Covid-19testing in Punjab, it said.

ONE DEATH, 67 NEWCASES IN CHANDIGARH

A 39- year- old coron-avirus positive man, resident ofSector 46, Chandigarh died,bringing the toll to 226 in theUnion Territory while 67 newcases took the infection tally to14,418 on Saturday, accordingto a medical bulletin. Eightytwo patients were dischargedafter they recovered from theinfection, taking the number ofrecoveries to 13,551 in the UT,according to the bulletin.

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For decades, with actors from Connery toCraig in the leading role, filmgoers have lovedthe outrageous stunts, vicious villains and lik-able, roguish hero who enjoyed a life of carous-ing, fast cars, gadgety weapons, elegant clothesand vodka martinis (always shaken, not stirred).

Connery continued as Bond in “FromRussia With Love,” “Goldfinger,” “Thunderball,”“You Only Live Twice” and “Diamonds AreForever,” often performing his own stunts.

“Diamonds Are Forever” came out in 1971and by then Connery had grown weary of play-ing 007 and feared he wasn’t being taken seri-ously despite his dramatic performances inAlfred Hitchcock’s “Marnie” and Sidney Lumet’s“The Hill.” “I’d been an actor since I was 25, butthe image the press put out was that I just fellinto this tuxedo and started mixing vodka mar-tinis,” he once complained.

When he walked away at age 41, Hollywoodinsiders predicted Connery would soon bewashed up. Who would hire a balding, middle-aged actor with a funny accent?

Connery fooled them all, playing a wide

range of characters and proving equally adeptat comedy, adventure or drama. And age onlyheightened the appeal of his dark stare andrugged brogue; he set a celebrity record of sortswhen at age 59 he was named People magazine’s“Sexiest Man Alive.”

He won the affection of fans of the “IndianaJones” franchise when he played Indy’s fatheropposite Harrison Ford in the third picture,1989’s “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.” Heturned in a poignant portrayal of an aging RobinHood opposite Audrey Hepburn in “Robin andMarian” in 1976 and, 15 years later, was KingRichard to Kevin Costner’s Robin Hood in“Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.”

He was the lovable English con man whojoined Michael Caine in swindling people in adistant land in “The Man Who Would Be King”and the bold Russian submarine commander in“The Hunt for Red October.”

Connery delivered a charming perfor-mance as a reclusive writer who mentors ateenage prodigy in 2000’s “Finding Forrester.”

He won his Oscar for supporting actor in1987 for his portrayal of a tough Chicago copwho joins Elliot Ness’ crime-fighters in “TheUntouchables.”

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Doctors from Delhi-basedAll India Institute of

Ayurveda (AIIA) under theUnion Ayush Ministry havefound that immunity enhancerherbal drugs like Fifatrol andAyush kwatha not onlyimproved the health of a coro-navirus-infected patient butalso turned the virus negativein just six days of treatment.

They asserted that the pre-sent case study proves efficacyof Ayurveda interventions inmild-to-moderate case ofCovid-19 infection in a veryshort period with completeregression of the symptomsgiven that at present there is nospecific cure for the disease.

The case report has beenpublished in the Journal ofAyurved Case Report, a quar-terly journal of the AIIA.According to the report, the 30year old patient, a male healthworkers was admitted withclinical symptoms such assevere fever and headache,fatigue, pain in eyes and loss of

appetite, smell and taste, allsymptoms of Covid-19..

The patient was givenAyush Kwatha, Seshmani Vatiand Lakshmivilasa rasa alsobesides Fifatrol, an immuneenhancer tablets developed byDelhi-based AIMIL Pharma.In fact, Fifatrol has found amention among around 200technologies and researchactivities evaluated by expertsin a recently released'Compendium of IndianTechnologies for CombatingCOVID-19 (Tracing, Testing&Treating)', compiled byNational ResearchDevelopment Corporation.

From the day one ofadmission, the patient wasgiven tablets of Fifatrol andother ayurvedic formulationsAyush Quath, Seshmani Vatiand Lakshmivilasa rasa. Thepatient recovered well and wasdischarged within six days afterhe was found Covid-19 nega-tive.

The lead author of thereport, Dr Sishir KumarMandal from the AIIA says that

the present case study provesefficacy of Ayurveda interven-tions in mild-to-moderate caseof Covid-19 infection in a veryshort period with completeregression of the symptoms.

“The treatment was per-sonalized, holistic, and purelybased on Ayurvedic principles,and no conventional medicineswere used. With this case study,it can be inferred that Ayurvedahas vast potential to address theCovid-19 and such other pan-demics; a large sample-sized,multicenter randomized andcontrolled clinical studies arethe need of the hour,” he said.

The evidence-based caseshowcasing successful man-agement of the Covid-19 inayush sector shows that thedimensions of the pandemicrequire an urgent harnessing ofall knowledge systems as ther-apeutic strategy available glob-ally as so far, no cure specificto coronavirus has been devel-oped either in modern westernmedicine or in traditional med-icines, said an official from theAyush Ministry.

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The Standing Committee of theNational Board of Wildlife

(NBWL) of the Union EnvironmentMinistry has approved the long-pending proposal of the UttarPradesh Government to reduceHastinapur Wildlife Sanctuary areato half from 2,073 square kilometer(Sq Km) noting that the area hasseveral towns and agriculture fieldswhich need to be excluded from theprotection zone.

The NBWL in a meeting heldrecently after giving nod, also askedthe Yogi Government to notify thenew area within next 30 days.

The move followed an orderfrom the National Green Tribunal(NGT) which in February 2020hearing a petition had directed theCentre and the UP Government toensure that the proposal for ratio-nalization of the boundaries ofHastinapur Wildlife Sanctuary iscompleted as early as possible.

The Uttar Pradesh Governmenthad entrusted Wildlife Institute ofIndia, Dehradun, under the UnionGovernment for the assessment ofwildlife habitats with special focuson swamp deer in HastinapurWildlife Sanctuary.

The WII gave go ahead forreduction in area, noting that there

were many areas as big as towns, likeChandpur in Bijnor, large part ofAmroha etc, which are part of thesanctuary. Other areas have also wit-nessed intense human activity,including agricultural fields. “Allsuch areas have been excluded in theproposal and we have recommend-ed the inclusion of 187.62 sq kmnear the northern boundaries of thesanctuary which is frequented byswamp deer, for which, the sanctu-ary was made in the first place,” saidthe WII.

The Chief Wild Life Warden ofthe UP Government informed thatafter rationalization, the area of thesanctuary would be reduced to1094.9 sq.km. “The StateGovernment would take action foraddition of 187.62 sq. km to thesanctuary or notify as Eco SensitiveZone (ESZ),” said the StandingCommittee of the NBWL.

Gaurav Bansal, petitioner in thecase who had been fighting for thenotification of the sanctuary for thelast four years was of the opinionthat in present form, the sanctuarywas quite “haphazard with toomuch of human interference.

Over the decades, the interfer-ence has only expanded bringingman-animal conflict to the fore.With the rationalisation of the area,the sanctuary will be more protect-ed now."

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Days after the Congress-ledPunjab Legislative

Assembly passed four bills tocounter the Centre’s controver-sial farm laws, the Ashok GehlotGovernment in Rajasthan onSaturday followed suit and intro-duced three bills to negate thecentral acts.

Apart from a few otheramendments in the bills, threenew sections have been added asspecial provisions for Rajasthan,providing for punishment forharassment of farmers and pow-ers to the state government togive directions. The bill proposespunishment of imprisonmentfrom three to seven years withor without a fine of Rs five lakhif any person, company or cor-porate house or any other asso-

ciation or body of personsharasses farmers.

On the first day of theassembly session, Rajasthan'sParliamentary Affairs MinisterShanti Dhariwal introduced theEssential Commodities (SpecialProvisions and RajasthanAmendment) Bill 2020, theFarmers (Empowerment andProtection) Agreement on PriceAssurance and Farm Services(Rajasthan Amendment) Bill2020 and the Farmers ProduceTrade and Commerce(Promotion and Facilitation andRajasthan Amendment) Bill2020.

A number of provisions toprotect the interests of farmers,including sale or purchase of acrop under farming agreementon a price equal or greater thanminimum support price and

imprisonment of three to sevenyears for harassment of farmers,have been included in the bills.The Farmers (Empowermentand Protection) Agreement onPrice Assurance and FarmServices (RajasthanAmendment) Bill, has a specif-ic provision to safeguardMinimum Support Price andseeks punishment for harass-ment of farmers and powers forthe State government to givedirections. The Bill proposespunishment of imprisonmentfrom three to seven years withor without a fine of Rs 5 lakh ifany person, company or corpo-rate house or any other associ-ation or body of persons harass-es farmers. The Congress lead-ership has suggested that stateswhere it is in power should passlaws of their own to counter the

central legislations that had trig-gered farmers' protests in severalparts of the country.

In the Farmers(Empowerment and Protection)Agreement on Price Assuranceand Farm Services (RajasthanAmendment) Bill, a provisionstates, "Provided further that noFarming Agreement for the saleor purchase of a crop shall bevalid unless the price paid forsuch agricultural produce isequal to, or greater than, the pre-vailing Minimum SupportPrices, announced by the CentralGovernment for that crop.”

"There has been extraordi-nary outrage amongst the farm-ers, farm labourers and all oth-ers engaged in incidental andancillary agricultural activities.Since the direct consequences ofthe Central Act would be to nul-

lify the minimum support pricemechanism that has stood thetest of time and introduce sev-eral other infirmities and dis-tortions operating to the gravedetriment and prejudice of agri-culture and the communitiesassociated with it," the statementof the bill said.

"The Parliament has alsointroduced a mechanism forproduction, trade and com-merce in agricultural producethrough this Central Act, that isvulnerable to encroachment andmanipulation by vested corpo-rate interests through provi-sions such as contract farmingminus a guarantee of mini-mum support price and leavingthe farmer open to the vagariesof market forces for getting aremunerative price for agricul-tural produce, fruits and veg-

etables. No check has been pro-vided against exploitation offarmers,” it said.

In the Farmers ProduceTrade and Commerce(Promotion and Facilitation andRajasthan Amendment) Bill,one of the proposed amend-ments pertains to regulation ofnotified agriculture produce,which says that the state gov-ernment may notify aFee/Cess/Cesses/Charges onnotified agricultural produce,brought or bought or sold, by acorporate or trader for trade andcommerce in a trade area.

After the House wasadjourned, deputy leader of oppo-sition Rajendra Rathore toldreporters that the BJP will opposethe bills and will prove during thedebate on Monday that the cen-tral laws are in favour of farmers.

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The EnforcementDirectorate (ED) carried

out searches at six residen-tial/office premises of anAhmedabad-based consultan-cy firms/builder group, TrueValue Group and Vipul &Manish Associates, in connec-tion with the bank fraud caseof Ardor Group of Companies.

The searches werelaunched against these firmson Thursday and continued illFriday. This resulted in seizureof huge cash in Indian cur-rency worth Rs 5.99 crore andforeign currency along withvarious incriminating docu-ments, the ED said in a state-ment here on Saturday.

The ED initiated investi-

gation under the Prevention ofMoney Laundering Act(PMLA) on the basis of sixFIRs registered by the CBI,Anti-Corruption Branch,Gandhinagar and an FIR byCBI, Bank Security and FraudCell (BS&FC), Mumbai undersections Indian Penal CodeSections relating to criminalconspiracy and cheatingbesides provisions of thePrevention of Corruption Act.

The Ardor Group ofCompanies and its Directors,in alleged connivance withunknown Bank officials, hadcheated and caused wrongfulloss to the consortium of Banksamounting to Rs 488 crore.

“Investigation conductedso far under PMLA resultedinto identification of assets

totalling to Rs 204.27 crore.These assets being the part ofproceeds of crime have beenprovisionally attached underPMLA,” the agency said.

Investigation also revealedthat Vipul & ManishAssociates and True ValueManagement Consultant Pvt.Ltd. floated numerous dummycompanies and made their rel-ative and associate personsdirectors of these companies todo circular trading with pur-pose to inflate books ofaccounts of Ardor GroupCompanies to facilitate them toobtain huge funds from con-sortium of banks which laterbecame non-performing asset(NPA), it further said, addingfurther investigation is underprogress.

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Many of the mini or minorstrokes can lead to a

major stroke in the first monthitself, neurologists have warnedand cautioned that it shouldserve as a wake-up call.

Nearly 30 per cent of strokevictims usually have previous-ly experienced mini-strokewhich is medically known astransient ischemic attacks(TIA).

“Since the symptoms ofmini-stroke go away com-pletely - sometimes very quick-ly – mostly patients and rela-tives heave the sigh of reliefthinking that everything issafe. But, it should be seen asan important warning sign asa mini-stroke or TIA could bea strong indication that a moresevere stroke is on the way,” saidDr Rajinder K Dhamija, headof the neurology department at

the Lady Hardinge Hospital inDelhi.

Hence, immediate treat-ment of TIA and evaluation tofind out mechanisms causingthese TIA's is important, hesaid.

A brain stroke happenswhen an artery in the brain orneck gets blocked or bleeds,as it causes disruption or ces-sation of the blood supply tothe brain. The clot or blockageobstructs blood and oxygenfrom reaching the brain’s tis-sues.

Worldwide stroke is a lead-ing cause of death and disabil-ity, despite the fact that up to80 percent of strokes are pre-ventable. One in four peopleexperiences a stroke duringtheir lifetime.

TIA symptoms includeweakness or numbness of theface, arm, or leg on one side ofthe body, slurred speech, and

sudden difficulty talking. Asudden severe headache, loss ofvision, and a loss of balancecould also indicate a minorstroke.

Unlike a stroke, which canmake the symptoms perma-nent, symptoms of a mini-stroke go away completely aftera short period, say from min-

utes to an hour with no lastingdamage.

In western countries, TIAclinics have been set up to han-dle such cases, said Dr Dhamijaeven as he shared that inIndians and Asians, usuallythere is blockage of intracranialvessels inside the brain causingbrain attack or stroke whereasin Caucasians, a blockage is

more common in carotid arter-ies which lie in the neck andsupply blood and nutrients tothe brain.

Brain attacks aka strokescan be prevented throughlifestyle changes and propermanagement of chronic con-ditions like Diabetes,Hypertension and increasedCholesterol.

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The Cooperative Nafed onSaturday invited bids from

importers for supply of 15,000tonnes of red onions byNovember 20 in order to boostthe domestic availability andcheck price rise. The coopera-tive has asked bidders to sup-ply 40 to 60 mm size of redonions from any country of ori-gin at Rs 50 per kg byNovember 20. They can bid fora minimum quantity of 2,000tonnes to be supplied in mul-tiple lots of 500 tonnes, it said.

The bidding will close onNovember 4 and received bidswill be opened on the same day.The shipments are to be deliv-ered at Jawaharlal Nehru Portand Kandla ports, it added. "Wehave floated tenders for supplyof 15,000 tonnes of importedred onions. This will helpincrease the domestic supplysituation," Nafed AdditionalManaging Director S K Singhsaid.

The bids will be evaluatedbased on volumes, quality andearly date of shipment. Biddershave to supply fresh, well driedand cured onions, he added.Since the buffer stock of onion,which Nafed manages onbehalf of the government, is

gradually getting depleted, thecooperative has been asked toaugment domestic supplieswith imported onions to con-tinue with ongoing marketintervention.

Last year, Nafed had notonly imported on its own somequantities but also distributedonions imported by state-runMMTC. This year, it wants toget the supplies from importersso that shipments could arrivefast and improve the domesticsupply situation. Even the sizeof onion Nafed has specified forsupply is what Indians nor-mally consume. Last year, bigsize onions were imported butthere were hardly any takers forthat.

So far, Nafed has offloadedaround 37,000 tonnes of onionfrom the buffer stock of near-

ly 1 lakh tonnes in select man-dis and retail markets so that tocheck retail prices which haveskyrocketed to over Rs 80 perkg in some parts of the coun-try due to damage to the kharifcrop in the wake of heavyrains in the key growing states.

On October 30, Commerceand Consumer Affairs MinisterPiyush Goyal had said that pri-vate traders have alreadyimported 7,000 tonnes of onionand another 25,000 tonnes areexpected to arrive beforeDiwali.

The government hopesthat the several measures takenrecently including ban onexport of onion and stock lim-its on traders will help easepressure on prices during thefestival period.

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New Delhi: India on Saturdayobserved 'National Unity Day'to commemorate the 145thbirth anniversary of SardarVallabhbhai Patel, with thePresident, the Prime Ministerand a host of other dignitariesrecalling his "iron-willed lead-ership and patriotism" andpaying rich tributes to him.

A series of events were heldacross the country to mark theday and government officials,security personnel and otherstook a pledge "to preserve theunity, integrity and security ofthe nation and also strive hardto spread this message".

President Ram NathKovind, Vice President MVenkaiah Naidu, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi andHome Minister Amit Shahpaid floral tributes to Patel, thefirst deputy prime ministerand home minister who iscredited with unifying thecountry post Independence.

While the PM offered flow-ers at the 'Statue of Unity'monument in Kevadiya inGujarat, the others paid tributesat his statue located at PatelChowk in Delhi.

On the occasion, Prime

Minister Modi also launched aseaplane service between theStatue of Unity and SabarmatiRiverfront in Ahmedabad.

He also addressed proba-tionary civil servants and saidSardar Patel used to callbureaucrats the "steel frame".

"The role of a steel frame isnot just to support the system,but also to remind the countrythat they will fulfil the respon-

sibility of taking the countryforward successfully amid bigcrisis and difficulties like afacilitator," Modi said.

"I would also request thatwhatever decision a civil ser-vant takes should be in thenational interest and aimed atstrengthening the unity andsovereignty of the country andkeeping India's constitutionalspirit high," the prime minister

said.In a social media post,

Vice President Naidu said hisfervent wish was to make everychild familiar with the life andcontribution of Patel. Similarlyevery civil servant must readhis speeches and every politi-cian must imbibe Patel's greatqualities like integrity, firmnessand keeping people's interest atheart, he said.

"His love for motherland,leadership qualities, simplici-ty, honesty, integrity, down-to-earth nature, pragmaticapproach to resolving knottyproblems, earthly wisdom,discipline, and organisingskills will always remain aninspiration for every Indian,"he said.

Naidu recalled that Patelearned the reputation of 'IronMan' because of the manner inwhich he brought about andmaintained internal stability asthe home minister in the wakeof the Partition.

In a series of tweets inHindi, Shah said the country'sfirst home minister is an epit-ome of national unity and livesin the heart of every Indian.

He said Sardar Patel unit-

ed the nation postIndependence, which was scat-tered in hundreds of princelystates, and laid the foundationof today's strong India.

"The country can neverforget his great contribution,decisive leadership and unpar-alleled commitment towardsthe motherland," he said.

The home minister alsosaid that from uniting India toreconstruction of the SomnathTemple, Sardar Patel devotedeach and every moment of hislife, for the unity and integra-tion of the country.

"Iron willed leadership,devotion and patriotism ofSardar Patel ji will continue toguide us.

"On behalf of a gratefulnation, I pay my respects toSardar Patel, a great patriot andIron Man of India," hesaid.Later, Shah also adminis-tered the "National Unity Day"pledge to government officials,security personnel and others."Isolemnly pledge that I dedicatemyself to preserve the unity,integrity and security of thenation and also strive hard tospread this message amongmy fellow countrymen. PTI

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In its first major regulation since it was constituted recently, theNational Medical Commission (NMC) has come out with a

detailed list of requirements needed for setting a new medical col-lege and also for those existing ones --which plan to increase theirintake.A notification has been issued by the Union Health Ministryin this regard which will applicable to medical colleges being estab-lished from the 2021-22 academic session. During the transito-ry period, the established medical colleges will be governed bythe relevant regulations existing prior to the current notification.

"The new standards have been defined keeping the functionalrequirements of the institution(s). These allow optimization andflexibility in utilizing available resources, and harnessing mod-ern educational technology tools to facilitate moving towards qual-ity education, even when resources are relatively scarce," said thenotification titled as “Minimum Requirements For Annual MBBSAdmissions Regulations (2020).

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Kolkata: Union Home Minister AmitShah Will hold organisational meetingswith BJP activists in Bankura and Kolkataduring his two-day visit to West Bengalfrom November 5, a senior party leader saidon Saturday.

A preparatory meeting wasorganised by the state BJP in the evening,party sources said. "Amit Shah Ji willarrive at Andal airport in PaschimBarddhaman district on the night ofNovember 4. He will visit Bankura the nextday and hold an organisational meetingwith BJP leaders of the two Medinipur dis-tricts, Birbhum, Purulia and Bankura.

"He will visit Kolkata onNovember 6 and hold a meeting with thestate leaders," West Bengal BJP chief DilipGhosh said.

There is a proposal of Shahholding a press conference in Kolkata butnothing has been finalised yet, partysources said.

Asked whether Shah's visit ispurely organisational or he will look intothe allegations of worsening law and ordersituation in West Bengal, state BJP gener-al secretary Sayantan Basu said they willtake up the matter of political killings withhim.

"It was during Amit Shah Ji'stenure as the BJP chief that we have tast-ed so much success in West Bengal. He isnow the Union home minister. Every day,our party workers are getting killed. We willtake up the matter of political killings withhim," Basu said. Shah, along with BJP

national general secretary KailashVijayvargiya, vice-president Mukul Roy andstate chief Dilip Ghosh, will interact withbooth and district-level leaders, sourcessaid. This will be Shah's first visit tothe state since the COVID-19 outbreak. Hehad visited the state on March 1.

The home minister's visit nextweek assumes significance with GovernorJagdeep Dhankhar criticising the "wors-ening" law and order situation in the state.

State BJP leaders have also beendemanding the imposition of President'sRule, citing "breakdown of the rule of law".

Dhankhar had on Thursday metShah in New Delhi and discussed the "stateof affairs" in West Bengal. Shah's visitcomes just days after the party's state unitwitnessed a major organisational change,as general secretary (organisation) SubrataChattopadhyay was removed and hisdeputy Amitava Chakraborty was elevat-ed to the post by the central leadership.After having a limited presence in the polit-ically polarised state for decades, the BJPemerged as the main rival of the rulingTrinamool Congress, winning 18 of the 42Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal in the 2019general election.

With the BJP's strength increas-ing manifold in the state in the last fewyears, where it has never been in power,party leaders have exuded confidence thatthe party will end Chief Minister MamataBanerjee's 10-year rule in the assembly elec-tions. PTI

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Washington: US PresidentDonald Trump has accused hisrival and Democratic presi-dential candidate Joe Biden ofbeing a corrupt career politi-cian who has done nothing butbetray the Americans for thelast 47 years.

Trump is known to makeunsubstantiated allegationsagainst his rival, often makinguntrue claims. There is no evi-dence of Biden ever beingtainted by corruption.

Addressing a rally inRochster in Minnesota onFriday, Trump, 74, said Bidenhas obsession for power.

“Biden is a grimy, sleazyand corrupt career politicianwho has done nothing butbetrayed you for 47 long years.He will look you in the eyes,and then turn right around andstab you in the back. The onlything he cares about is politi-cal power,” Trump said.

A Democratic stronghold,Trump is seeking to wrestMinnesota for the Republicansfor decades. He is currentlytrailing behind Biden with fivepercentage points.

Making a strong case forhis re-election, Trump told hissupporters that giving him adecisive victory on November3 is the only way to defend theirdignity.

“There is only one way todefend your family and yourcountry. There is only one wayto preserve, protect and defendthe American Way of Life: youmust show up and vote onNovember 3,” he said.

“On November 3, vote todefeat Biden and SaveAmerican Freedom,” Trumpsaid, alleging that his opponentwill continue his 47 years ofcruelly betraying African-Americans.

Biden called them super-predators, ripped apart their

communities, and did every-thing in his power to wipe outthe Black middle class, said thepresident.

Noting that Biden’s planwill delay the COVID-19 vac-cine, postpone therapies, crashthe economy, and shut downthe entire country, Trumpasserted that under his plan, theadministration will deliver asafe vaccine to the AmericanPeople in just a few shortweeks!

“We will wipe out theChina Plague once and for all!A vote for Republicans is a votefor the American Dream, andthe party of Abraham Lincoln!”he said.

The US is the worst-affect-ed nation by the coronavirus,with the total number of infec-tions and deaths standing at9,034,925 and 229,544 respec-tively, according to JohnsHopkins University.

“Over the next four years,we will make America into theManufacturing Superpower ofthe World, and we will end ourreliance on China once and forall,” he said. PTI

Washington: Joe Biden ispromising to take the countryon a very different path fromwhat it has seen over the pastfour years under PresidentDonald Trump, on issues rang-ing from the coronavirus andhealth care to the environ-ment, education and more.

The Democratic presiden-tial nominee is promising toreverse Trump policy moves onthings such as withdrawingthe US from the Paris climateagreement and weakening pro-tections against environmentalpollution. While Trump wantsto kill the Affordable Care Act,Biden is proposing to expand“Obamacare” by adding a pub-lic option to cover moreAmericans.

Here’s what we know aboutwhat a Biden presidency mightlook like.

ECONOMY, TAXESAND THE DEBT

Biden argues that the econ-omy cannot fully recover untilCOVID-19 is contained.

For the long-term recovery,

the former vice president ispitching sweeping federalaction to avoid an extendedrecession and to address long-standing wealth inequality thatdisproportionately affects non-white Americans. AP

Dodoma: Tanzania’s two mainopposition parties are callingfor a re-run of Wednesday’selection after alleging wide-spread fraud, and they are urg-ing people into the streets forpeaceful protests on Monday.

The joint statement onSaturday by the CHADEMAand ACT Wazalendo partiescomes hours after populistPresident John Magufuli wasdeclared the winner of a sec-ond five-year term. The rulingparty also secured nearly everyseat in parliament, giving it thepower to change the country’s

constitution.“What happened on

October 28 was not an electionbut a butchering of democra-cy,” CHADEMA chairFreeman Mbowe toldreporters, asserting that morethan 20 people were killedduring the vote.

“We demand the electionrepeated with immediate effectand the dissolving of thenational electoral commis-sion.” The opposition hasalleged widespread irregulari-ties before and during the votein the East African nation. PTI

Vancouver (US): Tensionsboiled over into unrest follow-ing a vigil for a Black man shotand killed by law enforcementin a city near Portland, Oregon,in southwestern Washingtonstate.

Mourners gathered lateFriday in Hazel Dell, an unin-corporated area of Vancouver,Washington, where family andfriends say Kevin E. PetersonJr., 21, was shot Thursdaynight. The city is about 12 miles(19 kilometers) north ofPortland.

Hundreds of people gath-ered for the vigil Fridayevening, with some holdingsigns reading, “Honk for Blacklives. White silence is violence”and “Scream his name.” Nearby,tensions flared between left-and right-wing protesters.Video recorded by journalistsin a parking lot showed twogroups of people shouting ateach other. Also, some armeddemonstrators gathered near abuilding they told reportersthey were protecting.

The crowds ultimately fiz-

zled out near the vigil but agroup of hundreds of protest-ers later marched throughdowntown Vancouver.Windows were shattered, flagswere burned and federal agentsclothed in riot gear surround-ed a building — warning peo-ple that trespassing on federalproperty would be subject toarrest.

Family and friends haddescribed Peterson as a formerhigh school football player andthe proud father of an infantdaughter. AP

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Indonesian President JokoWidodo on Saturday strong-

ly condemned terrorist attacksin Paris and Nice and com-ments by French PresidentEmmanuel Macron that weredeemed offensive toward Islamand the global Muslim com-munity.

Widodo, the leader of theworld’s most populous Muslimnation, told a televised newsconference from the presiden-tial palace in the capital,Jakarta, that his governmentstrongly condemns the recentvigilantism in France against ateacher who was beheadednear Paris and a knife attack ata church in Nice that killedthree people.

Flanked by religious lead-ers and Cabinet ministers,Widodo also condemned com-ments made by Macron at anOct 21 national memorial forthe teacher as an insult toIslam. Macron had said that theteacher, Samuel Paty, “was thevictim of a conspiracy of stu-pidity, hate, lies ... Hate of theother ... Hate of what we pro-foundly are.”

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Sfax: A third suspect is inFrench custody on Saturday inconnection with an Islamicextremist knife attack thatkilled three people in a Nicechurch, as the family of thesuspected Tunisian assailantdemanded to see video footageof what happened.

Investigators in France,Tunisia and Italy are trying todetermine the motive of chiefsuspect Ibrahim Issaoui andwhether he acted alone andwhether he premeditatedThursday’s attack on the NotreDame Basilica.

Authorities have labeledthe attack, which took placeamid growing tensions aroundcartoons published by a Frenchnewspaper mocking theProphet Muhammad, an act ofIslamist terrorism, Issaoui, whotransited through Italy lastmonth en route to France, is incritical condition in a Frenchhospital after being woundedby police as they arrested him.

A 35-year-old man whohad met with Issaoui in Nicewas arrested overnight, a judi-cial official said on Saturday. A47-year-old man who had metwith Issaoui the night beforethe attack was already in cus-tody, bringing the number ofdetained suspects to three.Their connection to the attackremains unclear. A previouslyunknown Tunisian extremistgroup claimed responsibilityfor the attack, and Tunisian andFrench authorities are investi-gating whether the claim islegitimate. AP

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Yerevan (Armenia): Armenia’sleader urged Russia on Saturdayto consider providing securityassistance to end the fightingover Nagorno-Karabakh, thebiggest escalation in thedecades-long conflict betweenhis country and Azerbaijan.

Following more than amonth of intense fighting inwhich Azerbaijani troopsforged into the separatist terri-tory, Armenian Prime MinisterNikol Pashinian asked Russia’sPresident Vladimir Putin toquickly discuss possible securityaid to his country.

There was no immediateresponse from the Kremlin.

The request came asAzerbaijani troops forged deep-er into Nagorno-Karabakh andboth sides accused each ofbreaking a mutual pledge not totarget residential areas hoursafter it was made.

Russia, which has a militarybase in Armenia and has signeda pact obliging it to protect itsally in case of foreign aggres-sion, faces a delicate balancingact of trying to maintain goodties with Azerbaijan and avoida showdown with Turkey. AP

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ICICI Bank on Saturdayreported an over six-fold

jump in its standalone netprofit at �4,251 crore for thesecond quarter endedSeptember 2020.The bank hadposted a net profit of �655 croreduring the same period of theprevious fiscal year.

Total income (standalone)in July-September 2020 stoodat �23,650.77 crore, up from�22,759.52 crore in the sameperiod a year earlier, ICICIBank said in a regulatory filing.

On asset front, there was animprovement with gross non-performing assets (NPAs)falling to 5.17 per cent of grossadvances as of September 30,2020, against 5.37 per cent ayear ago.

In value terms, gross NPAsor bad loans stood at �38,989.19 crore as against�45,638.79 crore. Net NPAs fellto 1 per cent (�7,187.51 crore)from 1.60 per cent (�10,916.40crore). On consolidated basis,the bank’s net profit was upover four-times at �4,882 crorein Q2 FY21 against Rs 1,131crore in Q2 FY20. “The con-solidated profit after tax in Q22020 had a one-time addition-al charge due to re-measure-ment of accumulated deferredtax assets at the revised mar-ginal tax rate. The consolidat-ed return on equity was 14.2per cent in Q2 2021,” it said inthe filing. Income (consoli-dated) increased to Rs39,321.42 crore during thequarter from Rs 37,424.78 crorea year earlier.

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The EnforcementDirectorate has arrested a

person in connection with amoney laundering case linkedto an alleged �750 crore bankloan fraud committed by mis-using credit facilities, the cen-tral probe agency said onSaturday. It said SaiChandrasekhar was arrestedunder the Prevention of MoneyLaundering Act on Friday fol-lowing which a local courthere sent him to seven days EDcustody.The money launderingcase against Chandrasekharpertains to a probe initiated bythe agency against VirkaranAwasty, Vinod Sirohi andKPMG India Pvt Ltd, it said ina statement.

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Cooperative Nafed onSaturday invited bids from

importers for supply of 15,000tonnes of red onions byNovember 20 in order to boostthe domestic availability andcheck price rise.

The cooperative has askedbidders to supply 40 to 60 mmsize of red onions from anycountry of origin at �50 per kgby November 20. They can bidfor a minimum quantity of2,000 tonnes to be supplied inmultiple lots of 500 tonnes, itsaid.

The bidding will close onNovember 4 and received bidswill be opened on the same day.The shipments are to be deliv-ered at Jawaharlal Nehru Port

and Kandla ports, it added.“We have floated tenders

for supply of 15,000 tonnes ofimported red onions. This willhelp increase the domesticsupply situation,”

Nafed AdditionalManaging Director S K Singhtold PTI.

The bids will be evaluatedbased on volumes, quality andearly date of shipment. Biddershave to supply fresh, well driedand cured onions, he added.

Since the buffer stock ofonion, which Nafed manageson behalf of the government, isgradually getting depleted, thecooperative has been asked toaugment domestic supplieswith imported onions to con-tinue with ongoing marketintervention.

Last year, Nafed had notonly imported on its own somequantities but also distributedonions imported by state-runMMTC.

This year, it wants to getthe supplies from importers so

that shipments could arrivefast and improve the domesticsupply situation.

Even the size of onionNafed has specified for supplyis what Indians normally con-sume.

Last year, big size onionswere imported but there werehardly any takers for that.

So far, Nafed has offloadedaround 37,000 tonnes of onionfrom the buffer stock of near-ly 1 lakh tonnes in select man-dis and retail markets so thatto check retail prices whichhave skyrocketed to over Rs 80per kg in some parts of thecountry due to damage to thekharif crop in the wake ofheavy rains in the key growingstates.

On October 30,Commerce and ConsumerAffairs Minister Piyush Goyalhad said that private tradershave already imported 7,000tonnes of onion and another25,000 tonnes are expected toarrive before Diwali.

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India’s oil import bill may fallfurther in the remaining

period of the current fiscal withSaudi Arabia looking at givingdiscount in crude it sells toAsian Buyers.

Analysts tracking thedevelopment said that thebenchmark Dubai prices of oilhave fallen and so have thegross refining margins. If thisholds, a 10-20 cents per barreldiscount on Saudi light crudewould be available fromDecember onwards.

The development is posi-tive for India that importsmaximum oil from SaudiArabia after Iraq. Any dis-count on oil prices is expectedto set the ball rolling for cheap-er oil imports from other oilproducing countries as well.

India imports 85 per centof its domestic oil require-ments. So any change in oilprices results in big savings forthe country.

For India, good news isalso coming from global devel-

opments in the oil marketwhere prices are expected toremain soft in the absence ofany big pick up in demand dueto the Covid-19 pandemicwhile the market remains over-supplied with oil.

The benchmark Brentcrude prices witnessed a dropin the preceding week, fallingfrom a level of $42 a barrel tojust about $38 a barrel now.

India imported 227 milliontonnes of crude for $101.4 bil-lion in 2019-20. The import billin the April-September periodof the current fiscal (FY21) hasalready fallen by about 58 percent to $22 billion as comparedto an import bill of $52.6 bil-lion in the first half of FY20 dueto lower oil prices.

New Delhi:Former EconomicAffairs Secretary SubhashChandra Garg has claimedthat Nirmala Sitharaman askedfor and insisted on his transferfrom the Ministry of Finance inJune 2019 itself, within a monthof taking over as the UnionFinance Minister. Giving reasons for taking vol-untary retirement from gov-ernment service last year, Gargwrote in a blog: “Quite frankly,

I did not share a good and pro-ductive working relationshipwith the new Finance Ministerand I did not want to work any-where outside the Ministry ofFinance.”Profusely praising lateArun Jaitley as the FinanceMinister, Garg said that withthe new incumbent Sitharaman“it became quite apparent veryearly that working with her wasgoing to be quite difficult andit may not be conducive to

undertaking necessary reformsfor the attainment of the objec-tive of building a $10 trillioneconomy of India”.Garg saidthat Sitharaman had “pre-con-ceived notions” about him.“She, for reasons not very clear-ly known to me, came withsome pre-conceived notionsabout me. She did not seem tohave confidence in me. She wasnot quite comfortable workingwith me as well.”

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Volatility is expected to pre-vail over the Indian equi-

ty markets as sentiments battlebetween overhang of US pres-idential elections and healthydomestic Q2 earnings results,analysts said.

The market at best willmove in a “very tight rangewith risk aversion measurestaken by the investors”.

Besides, fears of a slowerglobal recovery due to risingCovid-19 cases in Europe andthe US are also expected to putpressure on the Indian stocks.

“The US presidential elec-tions are due on November 3.The results of the elections areusually declared on the night ofthe polling day,” said DeepakJasani, Head-Retail Research, atHDFC Securities.

“In case of any delay in theannouncement of a clear win-ner, the markets will keepreacting adversely as they hateuncertainty and sooner theannouncement happens, thefaster the expectation build-upon the next stimulus package,”Jasani added. He pointed outthat Nifty has shown signs of

‘breaking down’; however, con-tinuing weakness in the west-ern markets is necessary for itto accelerate the downmove.

“A break of 11,452-11,505could result in a faster downmove. On the other hand, amove above 11,762-11,775 willrekindle hopes for continuedupmove,” Jasani said.

According to Siddhartha

Khemka, Head-RetailResearch, Motilal OswalFinancial Services: “Goingahead, the market is likely toremain under pressure till theoverhang of the US electionsand the surging Covid cases inEurope continue. US electionswould dominate the globalmarkets next week alongsideFed and BoE meetings.”

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Privatisation-bound PSUrefiner Bharat Petroleum

Corporation Ltd. (BPCL) hasdelayed expansion plans for itsrefinery projects, pending itsshare sell off programme thatwill see government complete-ly exiting from the companyand handing over its manage-ment to a strategic investor.

BPCL has plans to expandits Bina refinery and take effi-ciency improvement measuresat Mumbai refinery. Butinvestment decisions on boththe projects are now left for thenew owners in the companythat is expected to take controlafter the current biddingprocess ends, sources said thata senior BPCL officials told

analysts at a recent post resultsconference call.

The Bina Refinery expan-sion involves taking up itscapacity from present 7.8 mil-lion tonne to 15 mt over nextfive years with an investment ofover Rs 30,000 crore. Plan isalso to set up a petrochemicalsunit with a 1.5 mtpa naphthacracker.With regard to Mumbairefinery the plan is to connectthe unit with an ethylene crack-er plant set up at an alternatelocation.These expansion planwill now be kept on the backburner till clarity emerged overthe company’s new owners.Government is selling its entire53.29 per cent stake in BPCL toa strategic investor to mobiliseover Rs 50,000 crore as disin-vestment receipt.

Chittaranjan:A VigilanceSeminar on “VIGILANTINDIA, PROSPEROUSINDIA” was organised today atAdministrative Meeting Room,on the occasion of VigilanceAwareness Week 2020 whichwas started from 27th Oct2020. Shri Praveen KumarMishra, General Managergraced the seminar as ChiefGuest. Sr Officers of CLW

attended this seminar main-taining protocols of COVID-19precautions. Shri R. Yadav,CVO & SDGM spoke in detailsabout good works being doneby CLW and also areas of con-cerns where Railwaymenshould be taking more carewhile discharging their duties.DyCVO gave presentation onsome important case studiesand system improvements.

Kolkata: Piyush Goyal, Hon’bleMinister of Railways,Commerce & Industry andConsumer Affairs, Food andPublic Distribution adminis-tered Rastriya Ekta DiwasPledge virtually to all themembers of Indian Railwaystoday i.e. on 29.10.2020. ManojJoshi, GM and senior officersas well as other staff of MetroRailway took this pledge withhim. Metro men have vowed topreserve the unity, integrity andsecurity of India and upholdthe spirit of unification of thecountry which was made pos-sible by the vision and actionsof Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.

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New Delhi:Fears of a slowerglobal recovery due to risingcases of Covid-19 infections inEurope and the US will castpressure on the Indian rupeenext week.Additionally, therupee is expected to get weak-er on account of uncertaintiesprevailing on the back ofupcoming US PresidentialElection which will be held onNov 3.“The continuation of the pan-demic in absence of a vaccineis creating havoc and is play-ing out in the Fx market. The

fear that economic conditionsare going to get worse beforethey get better, is keeping thedollar strong against EM cur-rencies,” said Rahul Gupta,Head of Research-Currency atEmkay Global FinancialServices.“Adding to this mood is the

uncertainty of the US presi-dential election outcome. So,next week the chances ofUSDINR trading above 74are higher and expect thespot pair to trade within73.50-74.50.” IANS

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Mumbai Indiansensured a top-two fin-ish in the Indian

Premier League points tablewith a clinical nine-wicket dec-imation of an already batteredDelhi Capitals, who wiltedunder relentless pressure fromTrent Boult and JaspritBumrah.

While Boult (3/21 in 4overs) dealt telling openingblows, Jasprit Bumrah (3/17 in4 overs) broke the backbone ofthe Delhi Capitals middle-order, choking them to 110 for9.

The defending championscoasted to victory in 14.2 overs,taking their points tally to 18and will have two shots in theplay-offs to get into the final.

Delhi Capitals, who hadwon seven out of their firstnine games, have now lostfour on the bounce and witha match left are in danger ofmissing out on the play-offswith an ever deterioratingnet-run-rate of minus 0.159.

While batting, DelhiCapitals consumed 62 dot balls,which effectively meant thatmore than half of their stipu-lated 20 overs had gone with-out scoring.

A target of 111 can’t bedefended nine out of 10 timesand the pocket dynamo IshanKishan scored 72 not out off 43balls to make the chase looklike a walk in the park.

Not for once did DelhiCapitals looked like being incontrol as they made the Dubaistrip and the MI bowling attacklook doubly menacing withsome of the best batsmen abdi-cating their responsibilities ofplaying fearless cricket.

Boult was brilliant upfrontremoving openers Shikhar

Dhawan (0) and Prithvi Shaw(10 off 11 balls) in the power-play which pegged the DelhiCapitals back.

Captain Shreyas Iyer (25off 29 balls) and Rishabh Pant(21 off 24 balls) then com-pounded their team’s worries asthey failed to regain the lostmomentum.

The duo, for theumpteenth time, looked likeplaying for themselves and theintent was missing whichaffected the morale of the bats-men coming down the order.

Quinton de Kock effecteda ‘MS Dhoni-esque’ stumpingoff Rahul Chahar to see Iyer’sreturn to the hut after whichcame Bumrah’s devastatingtwo-over spell.

A ball pitched on lengthwas climbing up while movinga shade away which MarcusStoinis edged to the wicket-keeper.

Pant’s misery ended whenBumrah came round the wick-et and fired one from wide off

the crease that came in with theangle to trap him leg before.

He then tormentedHarshal Patel, who played andmissed a few before beingadjudged leg-before, a decisionthat couldn’t be reviewed asPant had consumed it duringhis dismissal.

If Delhi Capitals miss outon a play-off berth, Iyer-Pantduo will have to accept theirresponsibility as premier inter-national players in this DCline-up.

Iyer has scored 414 runs in13 games but mostly coming inat No 3, his strike-rate of lessthan 125 has left a lot to bedesired.

Pant has been even worseand with each passing match,his wretched form is perhaps avindication of Sunil Joshi-lednational selection committee’sdecision to drop him fro thewhite ball squads for theAustralia tour.

In 10 games, he has scoredonly 274 runs at a below-par

strike rate of 112.29 and moreimportantly failed to score a 50even when he batted at No 4 inmost of the games.

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Mumbai Indians stand-incaptain Kieron Pollard on

Saturday informed that regularskipper Rohit Sharma’s injuredleft hamstring is on the mendand he is expected to be backsoon for the team.

Rohit sustained a recur-rent left hamstring injury againstKings Xi Punjab (October 18),which also prompted thenational selection committeeto leave him out of the Australia-bound Indian team.

“Rohit is getting better andhopefully he’ll be back soon,”Pollard said without putting adate on his comeback.

There was a possibility ofRohit returning to action onNovember 3 during MumbaiIndians’ last league game againstSunrisers Hyderabad, but thematch is now inconsequentialwith the defending championshaving ensured a top-two finish.

“There is a bright chance ofRohit playing in the play-offs.Having ensured a top-two fin-ish, it gives him extra days to getfitter,” a source privy to theRohit’s injury management toldPTI. The stop-gap captainseemed pretty happy after MI’s16 wins from 17 games underhis leadership over the years.

“We need to play anothercouple of good games and get tothe final. This isn’t supposed tobe our year (MI wins trophies inodd years only), but it’s beenworking for us so far,” Pollardsaid cheekily.

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Even with an abundance of religious festi-vals, thirty-six at a conservative esti-mate, Vijaydashmi or Dussehra hasremained special. Marking the end ofNavratri, it celebrates the victory of

good over evil. A double victory — of the goddessDurga over the buffalo demon Mahishasura andof the legendary prince Ram over Raavan, the ten-headed king of Lanka. Anyone who has witnessedthe burning of the enormous effigies of Raavan,his two rakshasa brothers, Kumbhakarna andMeghnad, cannot forget the high-octane dramathat is a fitting finale to the preceding nine nightswhen one of the world’s oldest epics, theRamayana, is dramatised in parts of North Indiaas the Ramlila.

Attributed to the sage Valmiki, composedbetween 200 BCE-200 CE, the Ramayana (Ram’sJourney), a 24,000 verse poem in Sanskrit, is oneof ancient India’s principal literary works, a cor-nerstone of art and culture in, not just the subcon-tinent, but across Southeast Asia. The story, com-pressed, is about Ram, a righteous, dutiful prince,who struggles to rescue his wife Sita from theclutches of her abductor, Raavan.

Ram’s difficulties, however, begin much earli-er, on the eve of his coronation when, due to themachinations of his stepmother, he is exiled forfourteen years. The couple go to the forest accom-panied by Ram’s younger brother Lakshman.When both brothers spurn the overtures of therakshasi Surpanakha, she incites her brotherRaavan, the all-powerful king, who abducts Sitaand imprisons her on his distant island kingdom.In his efforts to rescue Sita, Ram is helped by thearmies of the monkey king Sugreev, and his min-ister Hanuman. A terrible battle follows, Raavan iskilled. Reunited with Sita, Ram returns toAyodhya to assume kingship.

While Valmiki planted the tree, theRamayana, with over 300 transcreations, hasgrown into a forest. Among its offshoots in theGangetic plain is the Ramcharitmanas. Composedby the 16th century Vaishnava saint, Tulsidas, thechaupais (quatrain verses of poetry popular in themedieval period) in Awadhi bhasha, are still recit-ed in Hindu homes. Whereas high literary qualitymarks Valmiki’s work, the Ramcharitmanas isregarded as a ‘holy book’; Ram occupies apedestal as maryada purushottam, the man whopractised righteousness to perfection.

While its piety has given comfort to many, theRamcharitmanas has also inspired a colourfulannual ritual, the Ramlila, a theatrical event ofimmense popularity that had its first perfor-mance, it is said, in Varanasi around 480 yearsago. Later, as Hindu immigrants crossed overseas,the Ramlila tradition travelled to Fiji, Mauritius,South Africa, Guyana, Suriname, Trinidad andTobago. Within India, although the Ramayana

has versions in several regional languages, Ramlilaperformances are almost exclusive to the north.

The story’s episodic structure lends itself toenactment. Individual episodes bear titles like VanGaman (Departure for the Forest), Sita Apharan(The Kidnapping of Sita), Lanka Dahan (TheBurning of Lanka), Raavan Vadh (The Killing ofRaavan). Though similar to the original, theseamateur dramatisations can be a purist’s worstnightmare come true. Using local talent for everyaspect of the production — from lights and musicto scripting, direction and acting — they fre-quently combine Bollywood style entertainment.Songs, dances and over-the-top dialogues areinterspersed with reiterations of the messages ofthe Ramcharitmanas.

For instance, in the scene where Surpanakhamakes overtures to Ram and Lakshman, she maysashay onstage to the song Yeh mera dil pyaar kadiwana (from the film Don). The next episode,showing the decadence of Lanka, may have thedemon king, dressed in black and gold, quaffingwine and regaling his inebriated court with Urdupoetry. Zing is added to speech through rhyming,as when Hanuman proclaims his loyalty to Ram:Hanuman aapka wafadaar hei, sahayata karne kotaiyaar hei.

The didactic quality of the Ramcharitmanas,the razzmatazz of the Ramlila have contributed tothe legend’s popularity, but, in the last hundredyears, movie-making has become instrumental inthe spread of the meta-narrative. DadasahebPhalke who made India’s first film, RajaHarishchandra (1913) also made Lanka Dahan(1917). However, the credit for, arguably, the mostaccomplished and, in their time, extremely suc-cessful screen adaptations of the epic belongs toVijay Bhatt who made Bharat Milap (1942) andRam Rajya (1943). The latter, supposedly, was oneof the two films that Mahatma Gandhi everwatched. In recent times, the crown for recordviewership goes to the televised version of theRamayana, first aired in 1987 and, more recently,in April 2020 when it garnered, according toDoordarshan, 7.7 crore viewers. Following the re-telecast, the social media was inundated withmemes and discussions, such as Manthara beingvoted the world’s favourite villain, proving that thestory is evergreen.

This begs the question: What does the legendof Ram offer modern audiences?

Among millennials, age bracket 25-40 years,the oldest were children when the 1987 telecastkept entire families glued to their TV sets. In sub-sequent years, as the country shed its socialistimage and opted for more liberal economic poli-cies, they entered the job market. Better educatedthan previous generations, internet- savvy, theyhave preferred the rapid growth promised by theprivate sector, irrespective of frequent job

changes, over the slow-but-stable progression ofgovernment employment. Leveraging technologyin the pursuit of their professional and personalaspirations, they have focussed on creativity andvalue-addition. Economically better off than theirparents, owning a home and a car has become derigueur, as has been affording their children amore comfortable lifestyle.

While the family remains a core concern, mil-lennials are aware that having more choices hasimproved their quality of life. However, they arewary of being trapped by the ‘hedonic treadmill’.While increased awareness of the world hasmeant that they are more individualistic in theirchoices, there is a concern about the environment,a respect for diversity, a growing egalitarianism.Articulate on social media, they are ready,through collective power, to generate dissent oversocietal ills, to push for change.

However, as newer realities emerge, hope hasgiven way to anxiety. The economic slowdown,hugely exacerbated by the ongoing Covid-19 pan-demic, has already led (according to a CMIEreport) to 21 million salaried job losses. In thesecircumstances, difficult decisions need to betaken. As disquiet builds up and a certain amountof introspection is inevitable, the legend of Rambecomes less about myth and more about exam-ining the civilisational values it propagates.

Whether we choose to draw inspiration fromValmiki’s original work or from Tulsidas’s wor-shipful rendition, the fact is that the legend livesin us. Just as it nurtures us, it is kept alive becauseof our anxieties. As audiences of longstanding, weare in the narrative, seeing something of ourselvesin its characters and something identifiable aboutthem in us. What makes the Ramayana, in partic-ular, interesting is the way it humanises its heroRam: as a man who, even at the worst of times,chooses to maintain his composure and, conse-quently, acts with intelligence, courage and com-mitment. The life lessons are custom-made forIndian realities, predicated on the notion that thelife you live isn’t always the one you want, but theone you are given.

Ergo, opting to conduct oneself with dignity,decency and decorum is praiseworthy. It startswith the awareness of dharma — knowing whatone’s duty is to oneself, family and society. Theadvice, though not always simple, is sound: followthe path of truth and righteousness, work forunity within the family and in society, respectdiverse cultures, use your judgement to filter goodadvice from bad, don’t speak ill of others, keepyour word, control your senses if you want toavoid sorrow, be compassionate. Understand thatlife can change its course in a split second; acceptwhat you cannot control but do your best, via theright attitude and action, to deal with it. Finally, itis adversity that brings one closer to the Self.

While the wisdom of these tenets isrespected, there are aspects of the legend thatmake millennials uncomfortable. (Devotees aredifferent as they see all Ram’s actions as godlyacts.) There are three instances when Ram’sbehaviour appears questionable: the deceitfulkilling of Vali, the killing of the Shambuka, theshudra ascetic who performed tapas and therejection of Sita. The last two appear in theseventh chapter of the Ramayana, UttaraKanda, believed to be a later addition. Ram’streatment of Sita, in particular, is condemned.Nothing new in that: through folk narratives,women have always shown sympathy with Sita’spain.

However, millennials’ views, focussed onthe injustice, are gender neutral. Says Teesta, athirty-five-year old Food Quality and SupplyChain Management professional, ‘The agni-pariksha Sita had to undergo was uncalledfor… synonymous with the disrespect and dis-trust of a man towards his wife. The founda-tion of any relationship is trust. Ram mis-judged and misconstrued his wife to defeat thisvery basis. He is a man of principles, an idealson and brother, but not perfect — not intoday’s context.’

Sanjay Rao, a thirty-year-old commercialpilot differs. ‘He was the ideal man, but thepeople he ruled were not. It was they whomade the allegations. As their king he had totake notice and act… though he sent Sita awayto the forest, he remained constant to her, in anage when kings were allowed several wives.’

A third view is articulated by Tilak, a thir-ty-six year old investment banker: ‘The trial-by-fire, though unpleasant, established Sita’sblamelessness, but casting her away, because ofa smear campaign, is unacceptable… She waspregnant at the time… If he felt that his cre-dentials as a ruler were under a shadow, hecould have considered stepping down, askedBharat to continue, as he had been regent forfourteen years, or appointed Lakshman. Thatwould have been more honourable and taughthis people a well-deserved lesson.’

Epics are relevant for the questions theyraise. While these don’t change, every age findsnew answers. Mythological time beingimmutable, we celebrate the victory of goodover evil with every Dussehra, and welcomethe victor home with every Diwali. Perhaps, asthis year’s diyas are lit, it’s time to acknowledgethat Ram rajya — a society built on virtues,morality and fairness — is what we create.

The writer is an author. She has recentlypublished ‘Bride of the Forest: The Untold

Story of Yayati’s Daughter’ with Speaking TigerBooks

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Living with Coronavirus has been a part of our life formonths now and despite many proposed solutions, thequestion how to deal with the pandemic still remains

unanswered. But one thing that we all must realise is thatthis is certainly going to come to an end. And probably inthe next few months. It is this hope that has to be nursedeven if reports suggest that there is a second surge or a thirdsurge or whatever. Yes, we have all reached the end of thetether and this is a worrisome trend. Already we are witness-ing desperate steps being taken by many as anxieties are tak-ing their toll on reason. Even the slightest trigger leads toexplosion in many cases. What we need to remember is thatthough our patience is wearing out, that is the one thing weneed today to survive in these difficult times. Even if our mindis getting wayward, there is need to exercise maximumpatience. Mind is the issue and we have to tame the mind.Our predicament is like that of a long distance runner intohis last lap. It is this last lap that creates maximum anxietyand coping with this anxiety is the most important require-ment in order to win. If we let our patience wear out in thelast lap and commit blunder out of sheer frustration, we standto lose. This is what is happening. Out of sheer desperation,people are throwing all caution to winds. It has to be under-stood that maximum caution is needed in this last lap. Thelifestyle disruption that stretched rather long has now reachedthe brink. While the festive season tempts us to venture out,the last round calls for extreme caution. The mantra, thenshould be to celebrate with care in the present times. As roadsand streets are getting overcrowded, social distancing has gonefor a toss. People are coming out in droves and masks seemto be a forgotten habit. This may prove dear. The protocolsthat we were following in the earlier days of the pandemicstill need to be followed, rather, more so. Complacence maybe dangerous. It is going to be a test of human patience. Thispatience comes from faith. Faith that we shall survive. It seemsas if people are losing faith and embracing recklessness. Itis not just a question of one’s own life. It is putting life of oth-ers to jeopardy. The fight against coronavirus is a war of attri-tion and more than strategy, the resilience is needed. Thebattle can be won by default, that is to hang around dogged-ly. True, the present generation did not experience a situa-tion like this, but that is no reason for not acquiring men-tal toughness. Our lifestyle changed drastically in the last fewdecades. As we outsourced everything, our metamorpho-sis from human beings to couch potatoes of television erato mouse potatoes of computer era and then to slouch pota-toes of the social media is complete. A large section of human-ity has forgotten the basic problem solving skills, the think-ing mind has become a vestige. Even small problems appearbig. It is time to reinvent, rather rediscover human poten-tial and practice the art of hanging around in crisis. Patiencein the wake of adversity is the best solution. Staying on thewicket was what good cricketers adopted when chips weredown. Life, after all, is a test match, not a T-20. So play defen-sively, on the backfoot.

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God is our friend. Lord Krishnastates this fact in the verse#5.24 of the Bhagwad Gita.

However, we shouldn’t make the samemistake as Arjuna did, for which he hadto apologise profusely to the Lord.(11.42) How do we deal with ourfriends? Who do we choose as afriend? My understanding in this mat-ter is to divide people in three cate-gories. Those, who are superior to usshould be treated with respect. Thoseequal to us should be treated as friends.And those inferior to us should betreated with compassion.

Based on this yardstick, God can-not be chosen as a friend, because, Heis omnipresent, omnipotent and omni-scient, whereas we are His parts. (15.7)Similarly, our dealings with our friendswill leave much to be desired if weadopt the same attitude towards God.Arjuna had to seek forgiveness for jok-ing with the Lord, the moment herealised who God actually was.

In fact, Gita is an excellent guideto learn what kind of relationship oneshould have with God. The very firstrequirement is to follow God’s instruc-tions. Personally, I find my nature to bea deterrent. Because I wish to becomeexceedingly dear to God. (12.20) I amtrying to get linked with God in manyways. (14.26) I try to chant “Ram”throughout the day. When I am notchanting, I try to remember Him,which is quite frequent, because my lifeis centered around God.

I don’t know if I have become a reg-ular practitioner of yoga as describedin the verse #9.22, but I am trying toget there. My wife and I have been wor-shiping God in His Laddu Gopal formfor more than three decades. (9.29) Wehave a regular pooja ghar in our resi-dence. We don’t worship God as is donein a regular temple, which is quite elab-

orate, but we honour God and feel Hispresence. Regarding taking shelterwith God as instructed by Lord Krishnain the verse #18.62, I am trying to fol-low God’s instructions in the verse#18.65, in which He states that weshould develop God consciousness,become His devotee, make sacrifices forHim and offer obeisance to Him.

I try to be as devoted to God (8.22)as my nature permits. Fighting mynature is a big battle for me, becausechanging my nature has not beeneasy. I believe that this is a commonproblem. There is a popular sayingwhich goes like this: “Nature and sig-nature don’t change.” They do if we aredetermined.

Lord Krishna has spoken aboutfour kinds of virtuous people, who wor-ship God (7.16) These are: a distressedperson, an inquisitive man, a seeker oftruth and a wise person. I find myselfin all the four categories. In this “dukha-laya” (place of miseries) (8.15), there areplenty of occasions when I feel dis-

tressed. Sure enough I turn to God forguidance and help. Who else can do thatbetter. Fortunately, I am never disap-pointed; My Lord does respond; Hehelps. I have plenty of material needsand who else other than God to turn to.

Being a writer, I need to learn morespiritual truths for which I surely haveto turn to God; He gives me realisa-tions. And after more than two decadesof writing, I can consider myself some-what of a wise man, whom God usesas an instrument, empowering me towrite.

To sum it up, I can state with con-viction that God is indeed a friend butnot in the conventional sense; He ismore like a well-wisher. This becameclear to Arjuna, when Lord Krishnapreached to him from the verse #18.64to 18.72. Similarly, I am under no illu-sion that I can treat God as a friend.Being a part of God, I am more thanhappy to remain that only.7����������������� ����&�� �������������������

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What is maya? Well theword literally meansillusion, but what doesit entail? The answerlies in the question

when you realise that there is only onetrue reality. So, what is this reality? Asstated countless times over in ancientscriptures and by sages, proved againby the intellectuals of today, what weperceive as reality and definite aroundus, isn’t truly so. And if you believe this,then maya too is maya! It is a play ofour mind.

The ‘one reality’ I spoke of can onlybe called so if it can be defined and ifthat definition remains constant. But,nothing is constant. Quantum physicsexplains this using the fourth dimen-sion, time, which is ever changing. Sinceevery object, molecule and atom isdefined by at least four dimensions ifnot more, one of them being time, theneverything is constantly changing, andnothing is ever really the same.

Let’s dive deeper into the scrip-tures. They say there is only one truereality, although known by severalnames — the Brahman, the infiniteconsciousness or the consciousnesssupreme. It exists beyond the physicalrealm we perceive to be the truth. Itexperiences no emotions, nothing isright or wrong. Simply put, it is the stateof nothingness. At this point, you areprobably challenging the veracity ofthis idea of the ‘reality’ as you feel themobile phone in your hand, hear thesounds of activity around you. The ideaof ‘nothingness’ being reality seemsridiculous, but it truly isn’t. Imagineyou dozed off and found yourselfdreaming of mountains and rivers,fresh green forests, the wind, people.In the dream, you were deeplyengrossed in the conversations andpleasure, peace and excitement, theview, the sensations. When you wakeup that dream dissolves and along withit every sensation. That is what mayais. The physical world we live in is real-ly only a dream. We are merely reflec-tions and mirages that have conversa-tions; feel pain, anxiety, happinessand love; eventually only to ‘wake up’to the reality that is nothingness. It isthis state of illusion that the scripturesstate we are living in.

A question arises here, why does itall feel so real if it isn’t, and if it is justa dream, how are we all living the sameone? This is a tricky concept to under-stand. There is a fitting quote I onceread in the Yog Vashisht, “The worldis a stage, the mind is its magical actor,the soul is a silent spectator watchingthe show in the light of its own intel-lect.” The consciousness supreme is aninfinite reality that remains absolutelystill, neither expanding nor shrinking,while our minds are smaller, finite enti-ties. The infinite reality reflects itself in

the finite entity creating the ‘dream’ weall live in. Since it is one supreme con-sciousness reflecting itself onto all ourminds that creates the dream we see orthe world we live in, each of us dreamsthe same dreams, so to say. Imagine youhave an empty pot of clay. What doesit contain? Nothing to some, and tosome it holds air. What surrounds thispot? Again, nothing, or perhaps air.Now if you break this pot, the air with-in merges with that outside and you seeno difference. The pot here is Maya. Itseparates the finite from the infinite cre-ating an illusion that they are disjoint-ed when in reality they are the same,they are one.

It may seem terrifying to abandoneverything you’ve ever believed andaccept that we are just characters of adream; and that what we feel, we don’treally feel and what we see, we don’treally see. The question arises, how doesone achieve this awakening?

As explained by Guru Vashisht, thepath to this wisdom lies with the fourgatekeepers at the entrance to therealm of freedom, mukti or moksha.These are self-control, self-enquiry, con-tentment and good com pany.

The quest for the eternal, unchang-ing freedom is achieved through theconquest of one’s mind because in wis-

dom there is self-control and peace. Itis not attained by rites, rituals or pil-grimages. Self-control is the conquestof the mind where you can look with-in and accept yourself as you are, see-ing the divinity within you. It is aboutbeing emotionless, without compromis-ing on empathy. If there is peace andserenity, there will always be anger andthe same goes for happiness and pain.Emotions can be compared with a see-saw. The best place to sit is at the cen-tre on the fulcrum. It is indeed difficultfor those who give in to temptationsand lean towards their cravings.However, with the right effort and guid-ance this effort yields unparalleledresults that cannot be experienced byonly the five senses.

Self-enquiry or gyan is a process ofclearing the ignorance and delusion.Once clear, they are unaffected by thegoing-ons in the world. You find peaceand bliss — peace because nothingtouches you and bliss because the heartexperiences the truth. It is enquiry thatgives freedom from delusion anddetachment. There is no limit to thecuriosity that unleashes when youlook within and begin to recognise thedivinity within you. The biggest ques-tion for which you seek an answer is“Who am I?” — You are the supreme

consciousness and the supreme con-sciousness is you. But this is a discus-sion for another time.

The company of righteous, wiseand enlightened people expands theintellect helping you eschew igno-rance and psychological distress. Whileit takes time to really understand thetruth and even longer to realise it, stim-ulating conversations keep our mindsopen and receptive. It is said that sat-sang (good company) is superior to allforms of religious practices like chari-ty, austerity, pilgrimage and the perfor-mance of religious rites.

It requires significant will and per-severance to achieve all four of theabove gatekeepers. You will realise, themoment you embark on this path, thateverything will start coming togetherfor you, just as a frame of a jigsaw puz-zle helps finding the pieces within it.Having said this, unfortunately thesegatekeepers come with no guaranteedoutcomes even though they assureyour journey in the right direction —so in the absence of milestones, at leastyou will have a compass. This path isone of faith, perseverance and accep-tance.

But the first step to achieving anyof the gatekeepers is recognising theconcept of maya. An easy way is this,you say: “Good morning, maya” every-day as you begin your day, knowing thatwhat follows will all exist within maya.As you go through your day, each timeyou receive a bout of awareness andremember that you are living in maya,say out loud, “oops, maya once again”.Do this every time you find yourselfwrapped in emotions too. As time goesby, and if you do this sincerely of course,you will find yourself aware of yourexistence being within maya about ahundred times a day, it becomes a habit,a part of your everyday life.

As it is for everything in life, youmust believe in the realm beyondmaya to be able to recognise it, thereare no halfway houses. It is easier saidthan done. For all you know, it couldbe a bedtime story for children, bornin another time. A story perhaps youmay see it as, however it is far removedfrom fiction. Yet even in the scripturesthey have factored in that those who areliving in ignorance may discard thelearning. And so I recommend youtrust their experience and embark onyour journey, then trust your instincts.Be aware of subtle shifts that may occur— perhaps some coincidences, sensa-tions that defy conventional logic, per-haps behaviour shifts without anycontext or even a call out of the blue.Notice the patterns, make the connec-tions between seemingly randomevents, and you will know that you areon the right path.

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Krish looked hassled whilefilling the exit clearanceform. It was his last work-

ing day in the organisation. Ithought it was the pain of docu-mentation that was troublinghim.

“So Krish, what next?” Iasked. “I don’t have anything inhand. I am leaving because themanager and organisation didnot bother to solve my prob-lems.” Krish said. His responsewas cold. I could sense frustra-tion, anger and aggression in histone as well as in his body lan-guage.

Significant learningthat I have gained work-ing as an HRProfessional is to let

people talk their heart out. Krish,it turned out, had hundreds ofpoints to complain about. ForKrish, everything was wrong,everyone was wrong, but Krishhimself.

This incident took me backto an important lesson I learnedbefore my graduation. January of2000, after my last paper formedical entrance (MBBS), I wassure that my dream of becominga doctor would remain a dream.I was not going to make it thisyear too.

From the time I startedpreparations, I used to dread thecompetitive landscape of medicalentrance. Two thousand-oddseats out of four lakh applicants;it was tough. “Ordinary peoplelike me can never crack theseexams,” I used to tell myself.That day too, with my mind fullof excuses, I came back homewhere an uncle, who happenedto be a doctor himself, asked meabout the exam. I vent out myfrustrations, which was a longlist. When I was done, my uncleasked me a question thatchanged my life. “Ketan, how

many seats do you need? “ heasked. “One,” I responded.“The go get it, stop givingyourself excuses”, he said.

That is when I under-stood that there will

always be stuff beyond my con-trol. Things to divert me, derailme; but I have to stay focused. Ishould not care and spend ener-gies on things outside my circleof influence. There is nothing,you or I can do to change thethings beyond my circle of influ-ence.

We tend to wait for that per-fect moment when we wish thateverything would fall in place.And when that happens, we willgive it our best shot. That neverhappens. Look back at your life,you will get your answers.

Three years after this hit me, Icompleted my graduation with agold medal, got through merit-based M.Sc courses and studied atone of the best B schools in India.

I changed, the way I lookedat the world changed; so did theresults. That is why perhaps Icould relate with what Krish wasundergoing. While he had hisproblem statement, I could seethe answers lying within him.Krish was in the “Why me” zone.He had to shift to “How to” and“What next” for things tochange. He just had to acceptthings that were outside his circleof influence and commit tofocusing on what was within hiscircle of influence.

We all have been in this situ-ation. Ask the following ques-

tions to yourself when stuck in asimilar situation:

● What facts or signals haveyou been ignoring or turning ablind eye to? Did you reachwhere you are in a day or over-time?

● What could you have donedifferently when you firstrealised the problem?

● What new did you learnabout yourself from the situa-tion?

● What are you going to loseif you stay like this and don’tchange?

● What is that one thing youwill do today? What will be thatone small action you can taketoday to move forward?

Remember, you and onlyyou are responsible for whereyou are in your career. Own upyour current state, establishwhere you want to be, have anaction plan. Results will follow!

Otherwise, you can chooseto wait for that perfect momentwhen all the variable of theworld will come into perfectalignment and make way for youto act and succeed.

Krish waited for sixteenyears, how long are you going towait?!���&�� ���������43���� � �������������

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����������� ��� � ���� ��� �� #����!�Thanks to our Prime

Minister Narendra Modifor taking revolutionary stepsto improve the agriculture sec-tor and to provide new oppor-tunities to farmers for theirprosperity. The farmers gotfreedom from many legalrestrictions and we have movedstrongly towards the PrimeMinister’s determination todouble their income.

These reforms were need-ed for a long time, but despitehollow promises, the previousGovernments could not mustercourage to implement them.

Today, those who havequestioned the reformativeefforts of the Governmentshould be asked why theycould not take any major andimportant decision in the inter-est of farmers even after rulingthe country for six decades.Was their political compul-sion behind this or some otherreasons?

Efforts are being made tocreate an atmosphere of con-fusion in the country regardingthe minimum support price(MSP). The canard of discon-tinuation of procurement bythe Government at the MSP isbeing instilled in the minds ofthe uninformed people.

Also, it is being said thefarmers will have no option butto sell their produce outside themarket at less than the MSP.First of all, I would like to cor-rect the misinformation. Wehave clarified many times thatthe MSP declaration will con-tinue and the Governmentprocurement on the MSP willcontinue in the future. TheMSP or procurement at MSPhas nothing to do with the newlegislation. Those who questionthe Government regarding theMSP should know that onlyafter the formation of the NDAGovernment under the lead-ership of Modi, the MSP isbeing determined by adding atleast fifty per cent profit to thecost the produce, as per therecommendations of theSwaminathan Committee. The

Government of India declaresthe MSP of 22 crops.

One of the biggest out-comes of agricultural reformsin the country is that for thefirst time after Independence,farmers have got freedom fromthe clutches of middlemen.Till now the farmers wereobliged to sell their produce inmandi and only about 30,000to 40,000 licensed traders doingbusiness in the mandis acrossthe country used to fix theprices of the produce.

Through the Farmers’Produce Trade and Commerce(Promotion and Facilitation)Act, 2020, farmers have notonly got freedom to sell pro-duce anywhere, but in today’stechnological era, a more con-

venient mechanism has beencreated to sell produce throughe-trading. Through this agrar-ian reform, the farmers can alsoearn more profit on their pro-duce by saving tax and trans-portation costs.

The question is beingraised again and again that thenew provisions will abolishthe Agricultural ProduceMarket Committees (APMC).Here again, I want to make itclear that the APMC mandiswill continue to work. Theonly difference is now farmershave freedom to sell their pro-duce outside mandis also.These amendments will alsoprovide an opportunity to themandis to develop their infra-structure and farmers will get

more facilities.Similarly, the Farmers

(Empowerment andProtection) Agreement onPrice Assurance and FarmServices Act, 2020 aims toconnect farmers directly withtraders, companies, processingunits and exporters. The farm-ers will get remunerative pricesin every circumstances as theprice of their produce is fixedbefore the sowing through theagricultural agreement.

Here, I would also like toclarify that the farmers will getadditional benefits under theterms of the agreement alongwith the minimum price. Theconfusion is being spread thatthe land of the farmers will behanded over to the industrial-

ists and traders. On the con-trary, the truth is that in con-tract farming, there will beagreement between a farmerand a businessman to assurethe price of produce at least atMSP. There is no issue of landin this case. No trader can takeloan on a farmer’s land nor canany recovery be made againstthe farmer’s land. This lawprotects the interests of farm-ers in a much better way thanthe existing contract farmingact of the States.

Provision has been made tomake payment of produce tothe farmers within three daysof sale. Simultaneously, it hasalso been provisioned to settlethe dispute at the local levelwithin 30 days to preclude

court cases. With this step ofthe Government, farmers willbe protected against the risk ofprice fluctuations in the mar-ket due to fixation of the priceof the produce before sowing.Along with this, farmers will beable to access state-of-the-arttechnology, advanced manure,seeds and equipment.

Under the EssentialCommodities (Amendment)Act 2020, a provision has beenmade to remove grains, pulses,oilseeds, onions, potatoes, etc,from the list of essential com-modities. This will increasethe capacity of storage andprocessing and farmers cansell their crops in the market ata reasonable price.

Till now farmers have been

worried about the loss of per-ishable crops like potato andonion. With the new provi-sions, the farmers will be ableto grow these crops with moreconfidence. The canard is beingspread here that hoarding willincrease and traders will earnprofits by selling products atinflated rate. This apprehensionis unfounded; the Governmenthas retained control of thestock limit as before on increas-ing the price beyond a limit.

Disagreement in politics isthe right of the Opposition butfor that, one should not playwith future of the farmers.Those swayed by the cry of theOpposition against the revolu-tionary farm laws should ver-ify facts and read the manifestoof the Congress in the 2019 LokSabha elections that promisedto abolish the mandi Act andremove ban on export andinter-State trade in agricultur-al produce.

In the same manifesto,they had promised to establishfarmers’ markets in big villagesand towns to provide freedomto farmers to sell their produce.In the same manifesto, theassurance of amendment in theEssential Commodities Actwas made. When the sameissues are covered in the newprovisions, the moot questionis why the atmosphere of con-fusion is being created byprotesting against the same.

Today after a long period,a serious effort has been madein the interest of farmers andfor improving their condition.Full provision has been madein these Acts to ensure thatfarmers get remunerative pricesfor their produce and all theirinterests are protected. I will askpolitical parties to think onceagain in the interest of thefarmers and the nation beforewhipping up a false opinion.

(The writer is UnionMinister, Agriculture andFarmers Welfare, RuralDevelopment, and FoodProcessing Industries)

�� �������� �� ����%����� ��8���� �� ����������Top officials in Iran say the

upcoming US presidentialelection doesn’t matter, butnearly everyone else thereseems to be holding theirbreath.

The race for the WhiteHouse could mean anotherfour years of President DonaldTrump’s “maximum pressure”campaign. Or it could bring JoeBiden, who has raised the pos-sibility of the US returning toIran’s 2015 nuclear deal withworld powers.

In the upper levels of Iran’sIslamic Republic, overseen by81-year-old Supreme LeaderAyatollah Ali Khamenei, anti-Americanism is as deeplyentrenched as at any time sincethe 1979 Islamic Revolution,with Presidents from both par-ties seen as equally repugnant.

“America has a deep-root-ed enmity against the Iraniannation and whether Trump iselected or Biden, it will nothave any impact on the USmain policy to strike theIranian nation,” Parliamentspeaker Mohammad BagherQalibaf said in September,according to the semi-officialFars news agency.

However noticeably,Khamenei himself hasn’t com-mented on the election, even aspublic interest has soared.State-run radio rebroadcast aBBC Farsi-language servicesimulcast of the presidentialdebates live — even as Irancontinues to target journalistsfor the British broadcaster.

That interest allegedlyincludes Iran’s security appa-ratus as well. US officials accusethe Islamic Republic of sendingemails to voters seeking tointimidate them into voting forTrump. It may have been anattempt to link the President toapparent election interferencein order to sow chaos, likeRussia’s interference inAmerica’s 2016 election. Tehrandenies being involved.

The Iranian public is pay-ing attention. The state-ownedpolling centre ISPA said thismonth that 55 per cent of peo-ple believe the outcome of theelection will affect Iran “a lot.”Over half expected Trumpwould win, while a fifth saidBiden. ISPA said it surveyedover 1,600 people by telephone,and did not provide a marginof error.

Trump’s re-election wouldmean the extension of his pres-sure campaign, including sanc-tions on Khamenei and othersenior officials. Some of thesanctions are largely symbolic— Khamenei has only oncetravelled to America and does-n’t hold any US bank accounts— but others have devastatedthe economy and sent the localcurrency into freefall. As ahedge, Iranians have pouredmoney into foreign currency,real estate, precious metals andthe stock market — which hita record high in August.

Trump on the campaigntrail has hit on that and hisdecision to launch a dronestrike that killed a top Iraniangeneral in January — a movethat led Tehran to launch aretaliatory ballistic missilestrike, wounding dozens ofAmerican troops.

To cheers, Trump hasdescribed the general, QassemSoleimani, as “the world’s No.1 terrorist,” likely due to hisbeing blamed for the impro-vised explosive devices thatmaimed US troops in Iraq andfor supporting Syria’s PresidentBashar Assad. Many Iraniansrevered Solemani for fightingagainst the Islamic State groupand in the Iran-Iraq war in the1980s, and millions flooded thestreets for his funeral proces-sions. “The first call I get whenwe win will be from the headof Iran, let’s make a deal. Theireconomy is crashing,” Trumptold a campaign rally inAllentown, Pennsylvania, on

Monday. “They will call and Iwant them to do well, but theycannot have a nuclear weapon.”

Biden has left open thepossibility of returning to thenuclear deal, in which Tehranagreed to limit its uraniumenrichment in exchange for thelifting of economic sanctions.The other signatories —Britain, France, Germany,

Russia and China — haveremained committed to theagreement and allowed a UNarms embargo to expire aspart of the deal, despite aWhite House push to keep it inplace.

After Trump withdrewfrom the deal in 2018 andrestored crippling sanctions,Iran began publicly abandon-

ing the agreement’s limits onenrichment. It now has at least2,105 kilograms (2.32 tons) oflow-enriched uranium, accord-ing to a September report bythe International AtomicEnergy Agency. Experts typi-cally say 1,050 kilograms (1.15tons) of low-enriched uraniumis enough material to be re-enriched for one nuclear

weapon.Iran insists its nuclear pro-

gramme is peaceful and stillallows IAEA inspectors tomonitor its atomic sites. Butexperts say the “breakout time”needed for Iran to build onenuclear weapon if it chooses todo so has dropped from oneyear under the deal to as littleas three months.

Iran in the past also hasthreatened to abandon anuclear nonproliferation treatyor expel international inspec-tors. It recently began con-struction at an undergroundnuclear site, likely building anew centrifuge assembly plantafter a reported sabotage attackthere earlier this year.

“‘America First’ has made

America alone,” Biden said ata televised ABC town hall thismonth, playing on a longtimeTrump slogan. “You have Irancloser to having enoughnuclear material to build abomb.”

What a return to the dealmeans, however, is in question.Biden’s campaign website sayshe would use “hard-noseddiplomacy and support fromour allies to strengthen andextend it.” One criticism of theaccord was its narrow focus onthe nuclear programme, despiteconcerns by the U.S., Israel andits Gulf Arab allies over Iran’sballistic missile programmeand its presence in Iraq,Lebanon and Syria.

Iran maintains that its bal-listic missile programme isvital for deterring potentialattacks and non-negotiable. Itis also unlikely to cease its mil-itary activities in Syria and Iraq,where it spent considerableblood and treasure in the waragainst the Islamic State group.

But ensuring the survival ofthe Islamic Republic, particu-larly amid the coronavirus pan-demic, may require the sameflexibility that saw Iran agree tonegotiations with the US in thefirst place. Iran will hold a pres-idential election in June, butany decision to re-engage withWashington would have to bemade by the supreme leader.

“Khamenei’s revolutionarypath actually leads to America— that is, by seeking a stable,safe, and meticulously mea-sured relationship with theUnited States, he believes hecan guarantee the survival ofboth the regime and its revo-lutionary content and orienta-tion,” wrote Mehdi Khalaji, aQom-trained Shia theologianwho is an analyst at theWashington Institute for NearEast Policy. “Tehran’s objectiveis therefore a scandalous para-dox: Deal with America toremain anti-American.” AP

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Late 2001, I entered the room of anastrologer friend. Finding himbusy reading the astrological chart

of somebody visiting him, I said sorryand then turned back. He stopped mefrom leaving and asked me for my opin-ion on the critical chart instead. Theword critical somehow got registeredfirmly in my mind. So, my first atten-tion was on looking at the criticality ofthe chart. After having a good look, Iobserved: “The person appears to begoing through an unprecedented situa-tion in life. I will not be surprised if heis faced with a criminal case of seriousconsequences. There seems to be a roleof a woman in the whole episode, possi-bly his wife, who seems to have tacitsupport of his mother. Is somebodybehind bars, I asked?”

The person who had come to seekguidance seemed baffled with such aquick observation. He looked curiouslytowards my astrologer friend, as if ask-ing him whether he had shared thedetails with me. The astrologer friendinstantly pointed out that no informa-tion had been shared. It appeared thatthe person could not believe his obser-vation. He asked me: “What is the basis

of your observation?”Well, it is very simple. Saturn the

lagna sub-lord, representing the personconcerned, is in the 5th house identifiedwith love life. Saturn is opposite the Sunidentified with government agencies aswell as Venus, the planet reflecting afemale and carnal desires. Cusp-wiseVenus is in the 10th house identifiedwith his profession, meaning that shewould be someone associated with hisworks. Sun, incidentally is the 12th lordposited in the friend signifying 11thhouse. 12th being 8th from 5th impliesthat he would be put through anunprecedented situation because ofsome unforeseen happening to his girl-friend. Neptune in the 2nd house iden-tified with family, is placed adverse toSaturn, Sun, mind signifying Moon andVenus. The obvious implication is thatthe girl’s presence in his life was anembarrassment to his family members.Saturn aspects Jupiter, the 4th and 7thlord, respectively signifying the motherand wife, and which is placed adverse toRahu and Mars. All put together makeshim vulnerable to be confronted withunforeseen circumstances, difficult towithstand, when time becomes adverse.

The possibility of his wife and even hismother being involved in the processwas there.

Let us now look at the transit.Saturn has moved to the 9th house,where from it extends its friendly aspectto the Sun and Venus. Remember, ifplanets are placed adverse to each otherin the birth chart, whenever theybecome supportive to each other duringtransit, they join hands to create mis-chief. Incidentally, Mars in transit ispassing through the 3rd house, oppositetransit Saturn, its dire enemy, thus, cre-ating ground for some criminal offence.

In the dasha chakra, he was runningMars dasha and Rahu antardasha. Marsbeing lord of 3rd house (one’s own ini-tiatives and dealings) and 8th house(great difficulties) remains the most dis-advantageous planet for the Virgo bornnative. Mars is in the 12th house in hisbirth chart. It points to loss of reputa-tion and unforeseen expenses, as well asserious difficulty to his love life, if anyin existence. Mars is placed adverse toRahu in the birth chart. Rahu occupiesthe constellation owned by Jupiter in the7th house, which again is oppositeMars. It implies that the partner’s firewill get so much enraged that she may

lose sense of reasons and direction. So,Mars — Rahu period had to put himthrough challenging situation. In pro-gression chart, the lagna had touchedNeptune of the birth chart, which wasplaced adverse to Venus which madehim susceptible to be faced with unfore-seen circumstances.

The person concerned was satisfiedwith my detailed explanation, whichsaved my astrologer friend the embar-rassment of being charged with breachof trust. He then asked: “When do I getout of this shit?” “The situation maybegin to ease out soon, most likelybeginning October 12, when sub-subperiod of Venus begins. For, Venusbeing lord of 2nd (union with family)occupies the constellation owned byMercury in the 11th house identifiedwith fulfilment of desires.

It was later revealed that his wife andmother could not digest his relationshipwith a lady colleague. Later his love matewas murdered. And his wife had beenarrested on the charge of having con-spired the brutal murder of that woman.

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