BcPcT]TTSbc^PRc U^a_dQ[XRV^^S - Daily Pioneer

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M aking a strong case for a significant role for India in the United Nations, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday stressed the need for changes in the international body and questioned its posi- tion in fighting the coron- avirus pandemic. He also assured the global community that India will pro- vide corona vaccine to the world as it is the world’s biggest pharmaceutical drugs manu- facturer. Addressing the 75th annu- al session of the United Nations General Assembly virtually in Hindi, Modi said India has already supplied relevant drugs to more than 150 countries in the past few months since the outbreak of the pandemic. He said while the world is fighting it for the last eight to nine months, “where is the UN in this joint fight. Where is the effective response.” Focussing on a more prominent role for India in the UN and fight against corona, the Prime Minister avoided making any reference to ongo- ing tension at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and frosty ties with Pakistan in his 20-minute speech. He also did not respond to Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s remarks about India in his speech. However, Modi put a ques- tion mark on the UN role by stating that though the third world war did not take place so far but the past years saw sev- eral wars and civil strifes besides terrorist attacks killing scores of innocent people. The PM acknowledged that while the UN had several notable achievements to its name in the 75 years of its experience, including the pre- vention of a third world war, “we can’t deny terrorist attacks shook the world”. “We have successfully avoided a third world war but we cannot deny many wars happened, many civil wars happened. Terrorist attack shook the world. Blood was spilled. Those were killed were like you and me. Children left the world prematurely,” he said. Strongly pitching a greater position for India, he said when the UN was formed in 1945 the world was signifi- cantly different. Challenges in the 21st century and future are now different and the UN has to change to keep pace with changing times, Modi said adding the global forum need- ed to introspect. Underlining that the UN commands respect in India, Modi, however, said the coun- trymen were anxious as to when will the much awaited reforms take place in the body. “They are worried whether the process will reach a logical end. Till when will India be kept away from the UN’s deci- sion-making process?” he said. “When we were weak, we didn’t trouble the world. When we became strong, we didn’t become a bojh (burden) on the world. Till when do we have to wait? India has sent soldiers to UN peace-keeping missions and India has lost the most number of soldiers. India has always thought about the wel- fare of the world,” the PM said in strong opening remarks. Turn to Page 4 B JP national president JP Nadda on Saturday announced a new team of office-bearers and significant- ly replaced Ram Madhav, P Muralidhar Rao, Anil Jain, Saroj Pandey as general secre- taries. Nadda appointed Bengaluru Member of Parliament Tejasvi Surya as party’s youth wing president, replacing Poonam Mahajan. The list of eight general secretaries has five new faces with Bhupender Yadav, Arun Singh, and Vijayvargiya being retained. Dushyant Kumar Gautam (MP Delhi), D Purandareshwari, CT Ravi (MLA, Karnataka), Chugh (Punjab), and Dilip Saikia ( MP, Assam) are new choices as general secretaries. In the list of vice presidents, Nadda has retained ex-Chief Ministers Dr Raman Singh (Chhattisgarh), Vasundhara Raje (Rajasthan), and Baijyant Jay Panda (Odisha). The new vice-presidents are: West Bengal leader Mukul Roy, former Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das, mem- bers of Parliament Rekha Verma, Annapurna Devi, Bharatiben Shiyal, DK Aruna, Radha Mohan Singh, M Chuba Ao and AP Abdullakutty. Radha Mohan Singh is a former Union Minister and former State BJP president. His induction as the party’s national VP comes ahead of the Bihar Assembly polls, obviously to send a message among his Rajput caste men. Besides Radha Mohan Singh, the poll- bound Bihar has three others in the list of office-bearers, most of them retained from the last team. Similarly, Mukul Roy’s ele- vation as vice-president is seen as a move with an eye on the next year’s Bengal Assembly elections. In addition to Roy, Member of Parliament (West Bengal) Raju Bisht figures as spokesperson in the list. The “new team” which has come into effect eight months after Nadda took up the reins of the party represents more or less a status quo, mirroring the profile under the two-terms of Amit Shah. Among 12 vice-presidents announced, Dr Raman, Raje and Panda have been retained in their posts. Ahead of the crucial Madhya Pradesh bypolls for an odd-22 Assembly seats, the BJP has continued with its senior leader Kailash Vijaywargiya as party general secretary from MP. Turn to Page 4 T he CBI has filed a chargesheet against nine police officials, including then Inspector/SHO, two Sub- Inspectors, two Head Constables and four constables of Sathankulam Police Station (Tamil Nadu) for allegedly tor- turing a father-son duo, both traders, to death on June 19, in a case that triggered nationwide outrage. Traders P Jeyaraj (59) and his son J Feniks (31) were taken into custody by the Sattankulam Police allegedly for violating the lockdown rule that mandated the closure of all business establishments after 8 pm. Jeyaraj, who owned a mobile phone shop, had kept open his shop beyond the time limit, according to the police version. He was taken to the police station while his son reached the station to find out why his father was taken into custody. While Feniks died on June 22 at the Kovipatti General Hospital, Jeyaraj was found dead on June 23. Police bru- tality is said to be the cause of the deaths. The Tamil Nadu Government had ordered a magistrate level probe, but the cops in the Sattankulam Station refused to cooperate with the magistrate which led the Madras High Court to order the revenue administration to take possession of the police station, a first of kind incident in the country. Later the State Government ordered a CBI probe into the case following the request by the Director General of Police. Turn to Page 4 C hief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday said that the Aam Aadmi Party Government will make water supply in Delhi as good as in developed countries and hire a consultant for better water management ensuring not a drop goes waste in the city. “The Government will hire a consultant to suggest mea- sures to improve water supply management and no wastage of water in Delhi to enhance the water availability,” he said. “The process got a bit delayed due to corona other- wise the process would have been completed in March or April,” he said. The Chief Minister also said that his Government has been working to increase water availability in Delhi. He said, “We have been working to increase water avail- ability in Delhi. We have been talking to the Governments of UP, HP, Uttarakhand and other States, which have more water.” The CM said some Opposition leaders are saying that the water supply in Delhi is being privatised. “No pri- vatisation of water is happen- ing. There can be no privatisa- tion of water at any cost,” he said. Turn to Page 4 B ollywood came alive — albeit for wrong reasons — on Saturday, as the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) grilled three top actresses Deepika Padukone, Shraddha Kapoor, Sara Ali Khan and Deepika’s manager Karishma Kapoor while it arrested Kshitij Ravi Prasad, a former executive of Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions, in connection with the Sushant Singh Rajput’s death-related drug case. The day unfolded as Deepika took the media Paparazzi by surprise as she walked quietly without any security into Evelyn House, the guesthouse of the Mumbai Port Trust near the Taj Mahal Palace which has been con- verted into the makeshift NCB office, at 9.48 am on Saturday. She confronted with her manager Karishma Prakash during questioning. She was questioned for nearly six hours. Shraddha Kapoor reached the NCB office around 12 pm and left after six hours, while Sara Ali Khan reached around 1 pm and left around 5.30 pm. Turn to Page 4 T he government will need 80,000 crore over the next one year to buy and dis- tribute Covid-19 vaccine across the country, said Adar Poonawalla, CEO of Serum Institute of India (SII). “Quick question; will the Government of India have 80,000 crores available, over the next one year? Because that’s what @MoHFW_INDIA needs, to buy and distribute the vaccine to everyone in India. This is the next concerning the challenge we need to tackle. @PMOIndia,” Poonawalla tweeted. The world’s leading vac- cine manufacturer, SII, has joined hands with five global pharma companies including AstraZeneca to produce one billion doses of its vaccine candidate, besides partnering with Russia’s Gamaleya Research Institute to manufac- ture the Sputnik V vaccine. The Serum Institute of India has pledged half of it to the country. Turn to Page 4 T he reports of growing rift within the Bengal BJP that was hitherto ruled out by party stalwarts on Saturday came to the fore with senior leader and former State party president Rahul Sinha speaking out openly against the central lead- ership’s decision to honour Trinamool Congress defectors with priced posts at the cost of time-tested performers. Sinha’s outburst came hours after Mukul Roy and Anupam Hazra were elevated to the post of BJP national vice president and national gener- al secretary respectively. Turn to Page 4 O ne of the oldest partners of the BJP — the Shiromani Akali Dal — which has been with it through thick and thin for decades, finally quit the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) on Saturday, signaling a complete political break from its past on the three farm Bills passed by Parliament early this week. Eyeing the March 2022 Assembly elections which is expected to be fought on the Farm Bills, SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal announced the decision to part with NDA after a meeting of the core committee of the party here saying the decision was taken due to injustice to farmers, Sikhs, Punjab and Punjabi language. “In the last two months, our attempt was to make aware the Central Government, the sentiments of the people of Punjab. But with regret we have to say that the Bill was passed with brute force…You know what hap- pened in the Rajya Sabha…Our Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal had resigned earlier in protest,” Badal said late in the evening. He said the party took a conscious decision after talk- ing to the party workers, talk- ing to the farmers and people of the state. “For the last few days, I have been talking to everybody… The entire lead- ership of the Akali Dal has decided not to be a part of the NDA which has brought Ordinances and Bills which are against Punjab and farm- ers,” he said. Turn to Page 4

Transcript of BcPcT]TTSbc^PRc U^a_dQ[XRV^^S - Daily Pioneer

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Making a strong case for asignificant role for India

in the United Nations, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi onSaturday stressed the need forchanges in the internationalbody and questioned its posi-tion in fighting the coron-avirus pandemic.

He also assured the globalcommunity that India will pro-vide corona vaccine to theworld as it is the world’s biggestpharmaceutical drugs manu-facturer.

Addressing the 75th annu-al session of the United NationsGeneral Assembly virtually inHindi, Modi said India hasalready supplied relevant drugsto more than 150 countries inthe past few months since theoutbreak of the pandemic. Hesaid while the world is fighting

it for the last eight to ninemonths, “where is the UN inthis joint fight. Where is theeffective response.”

Focussing on a moreprominent role for India in theUN and fight against corona,the Prime Minister avoidedmaking any reference to ongo-ing tension at the Line ofActual Control (LAC) andfrosty ties with Pakistan in his20-minute speech. He also didnot respond to Pakistan PrimeMinister Imran Khan’s remarksabout India in his speech.

However, Modi put a ques-tion mark on the UN role bystating that though the thirdworld war did not take place sofar but the past years saw sev-eral wars and civil strifesbesides terrorist attacks killingscores of innocent people.

The PM acknowledgedthat while the UN had several

notable achievements to itsname in the 75 years of itsexperience, including the pre-vention of a third world war,“we can’t deny terrorist attacksshook the world”.

“We have successfullyavoided a third world war butwe cannot deny many warshappened, many civil warshappened. Terrorist attackshook the world. Blood wasspilled. Those were killed werelike you and me. Children leftthe world prematurely,” he said.

Strongly pitching a greaterposition for India, he saidwhen the UN was formed in1945 the world was signifi-cantly different. Challenges inthe 21st century and future arenow different and the UN hasto change to keep pace withchanging times, Modi saidadding the global forum need-ed to introspect.

Underlining that the UNcommands respect in India,Modi, however, said the coun-trymen were anxious as towhen will the much awaitedreforms take place in the body.“They are worried whetherthe process will reach a logicalend. Till when will India bekept away from the UN’s deci-sion-making process?” he said.

“When we were weak, we

didn’t trouble the world. Whenwe became strong, we didn’tbecome a bojh (burden) on theworld. Till when do we have towait? India has sent soldiers toUN peace-keeping missionsand India has lost the mostnumber of soldiers. India hasalways thought about the wel-fare of the world,” the PM saidin strong opening remarks.

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BJP national president JPNadda on Saturday

announced a new team ofoffice-bearers and significant-ly replaced Ram Madhav, PMuralidhar Rao, Anil Jain,Saroj Pandey as general secre-taries.

Nadda appointedBengaluru Member ofParliament Tejasvi Surya asparty’s youth wing president,replacing Poonam Mahajan.

The list of eight generalsecretaries has five new faceswith Bhupender Yadav, ArunSingh, and Vijayvargiya beingretained.

Dushyant Kumar Gautam(MP Delhi), DPurandareshwari, CT Ravi(MLA, Karnataka), Chugh(Punjab), and Dilip Saikia ( MP,Assam) are new choices asgeneral secretaries.

In the list of vice presidents,Nadda has retained ex-ChiefMinisters Dr Raman Singh(Chhattisgarh), VasundharaRaje (Rajasthan), and BaijyantJay Panda (Odisha).

The new vice-presidentsare: West Bengal leader MukulRoy, former Jharkhand ChiefMinister Raghubar Das, mem-bers of Parliament RekhaVerma, Annapurna Devi,Bharatiben Shiyal, DK Aruna,

Radha Mohan Singh, M ChubaAo and AP Abdullakutty.

Radha Mohan Singh is aformer Union Minister andformer State BJP president.His induction as the party’snational VP comes ahead of the

Bihar Assembly polls, obviouslyto send a message among hisRajput caste men. BesidesRadha Mohan Singh, the poll-bound Bihar has three others inthe list of office-bearers, mostof them retained from the lastteam.

Similarly, Mukul Roy’s ele-vation as vice-president is seenas a move with an eye on thenext year’s Bengal Assemblyelections. In addition to Roy,Member of Parliament (WestBengal) Raju Bisht figures asspokesperson in the list.

The “new team” which hascome into effect eight monthsafter Nadda took up the reinsof the party represents more orless a status quo, mirroring theprofile under the two-terms ofAmit Shah.

Among 12 vice-presidentsannounced, Dr Raman, Rajeand Panda have been retainedin their posts.

Ahead of the crucialMadhya Pradesh bypolls for anodd-22 Assembly seats, theBJP has continued with itssenior leader KailashVijaywargiya as party generalsecretary from MP.

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The CBI has filed achargesheet against nine

police officials, including thenInspector/SHO, two Sub-Inspectors, two HeadConstables and four constablesof Sathankulam Police Station(Tamil Nadu) for allegedly tor-turing a father-son duo, bothtraders, to death on June 19, ina case that triggered nationwideoutrage.

Traders P Jeyaraj (59) andhis son J Feniks (31) weretaken into custody by theSattankulam Police allegedlyfor violating the lockdown rulethat mandated the closure of allbusiness establishments after 8pm. Jeyaraj, who owned a

mobile phone shop, had keptopen his shop beyond the timelimit, according to the policeversion. He was taken to thepolice station while his sonreached the station to find outwhy his father was taken intocustody.

While Feniks died on June22 at the Kovipatti GeneralHospital, Jeyaraj was founddead on June 23. Police bru-tality is said to be the cause ofthe deaths.

The Tamil NaduGovernment had ordered amagistrate level probe, but thecops in the Sattankulam Stationrefused to cooperate with themagistrate which led theMadras High Court to orderthe revenue administration totake possession of the policestation, a first of kind incidentin the country. Later the StateGovernment ordered a CBIprobe into the case followingthe request by the DirectorGeneral of Police.

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Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal on Saturday said

that the Aam Aadmi PartyGovernment will make watersupply in Delhi as good as indeveloped countries and hire aconsultant for better watermanagement ensuring not adrop goes waste in the city.

“The Government will hirea consultant to suggest mea-sures to improve water supplymanagement and no wastage ofwater in Delhi to enhance thewater availability,” he said.

“The process got a bitdelayed due to corona other-wise the process would havebeen completed in March orApril,” he said.

The Chief Minister also

said that his Government hasbeen working to increase wateravailability in Delhi.

He said, “We have beenworking to increase water avail-ability in Delhi. We have beentalking to the Governments ofUP, HP, Uttarakhand and otherStates, which have more water.”

The CM said someOpposition leaders are sayingthat the water supply in Delhiis being privatised. “No pri-vatisation of water is happen-ing. There can be no privatisa-tion of water at any cost,” hesaid.

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Bollywood came alive —albeit for wrong reasons —

on Saturday, as the NarcoticsControl Bureau (NCB) grilledthree top actresses DeepikaPadukone, Shraddha Kapoor,Sara Ali Khan and Deepika’smanager Karishma Kapoorwhile it arrested Kshitij RaviPrasad, a former executive ofKaran Johar’s DharmaProductions, in connectionwith the Sushant Singh Rajput’sdeath-related drug case.

The day unfolded asDeepika took the media

Paparazzi by surprise as shewalked quietly without anysecurity into Evelyn House,the guesthouse of the MumbaiPort Trust near the Taj MahalPalace which has been con-verted into the makeshift NCBoffice, at 9.48 am on Saturday.

She confronted with hermanager Karishma Prakashduring questioning. She wasquestioned for nearly six hours.

Shraddha Kapoor reachedthe NCB office around 12 pmand left after six hours, whileSara Ali Khan reached around1 pm and left around 5.30 pm.

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The government will need�80,000 crore over the

next one year to buy and dis-tribute Covid-19 vaccine acrossthe country, said AdarPoonawalla, CEO of SerumInstitute of India (SII).

“Quick question; will theGovernment of India have�80,000 crores available, overthe next one year? Becausethat’s what @MoHFW_INDIAneeds, to buy and distribute thevaccine to everyone in India.This is the next concerning the

challenge we need to tackle.@PMOIndia,” Poonawallatweeted.

The world’s leading vac-cine manufacturer, SII, hasjoined hands with five globalpharma companies includingAstraZeneca to produce onebillion doses of its vaccinecandidate, besides partneringwith Russia’s GamaleyaResearch Institute to manufac-ture the Sputnik V vaccine.

The Serum Institute ofIndia has pledged half of it tothe country.

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The reports of growing riftwithin the Bengal BJP that

was hitherto ruled out by partystalwarts on Saturday came tothe fore with senior leader andformer State party presidentRahul Sinha speaking outopenly against the central lead-ership’s decision to honourTrinamool Congress defectorswith priced posts at the cost oftime-tested performers.

Sinha’s outburst camehours after Mukul Roy andAnupam Hazra were elevatedto the post of BJP national vicepresident and national gener-al secretary respectively.

Turn to Page 4

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One of the oldest partnersof the BJP — the

Shiromani Akali Dal — whichhas been with it through thickand thin for decades, finallyquit the National DemocraticAlliance (NDA) on Saturday,signaling a complete politicalbreak from its past on thethree farm Bills passed byParliament early this week.

Eyeing the March 2022Assembly elections which isexpected to be fought on theFarm Bills, SAD chief SukhbirSingh Badal announced thedecision to part with NDAafter a meeting of the corecommittee of the party heresaying the decision was takendue to injustice to farmers,Sikhs, Punjab and Punjabilanguage.

“In the last two months,our attempt was to makeaware the CentralGovernment, the sentimentsof the people of Punjab. Butwith regret we have to say thatthe Bill was passed with bruteforce…You know what hap-pened in the RajyaSabha…Our MinisterHarsimrat Kaur Badal hadresigned earlier in protest,”Badal said late in the evening.

He said the party took aconscious decision after talk-ing to the party workers, talk-ing to the farmers and peopleof the state. “For the last fewdays, I have been talking toeverybody… The entire lead-ership of the Akali Dal hasdecided not to be a part of theNDA which has broughtOrdinances and Bills whichare against Punjab and farm-ers,” he said.

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� What is your role in Indiawaali Maa?I play Chinamma, a girl from

Mangalore. She is Rohan’s girlfriend.They both have moved to the US and areplanning to return to India now. She istruly in love with Rohan and wants tosupport him in his business. She has a lotof baggage since her childhood. She losther mother at an early age so she nevergot to experience that selfless love. Shewonders how someone can love selflesslyand make sacrifices. Though her fatherloves her, he wants her to follow thefamily traditions. However, she wants todo what she loves in life. She wants toexperience what true love really is.� What made you say yes to the role?

I have worked with Akshay beforeand when he told me about the projectand that he had signed it, I found itinteresting. The story is such that it willtouch everybody’s heart. Today, most ofus have become thankless to our parentsand the ef forts they put in ourupbringing. In such a scenario, the showgives out a beautiful message and it feelsgreat that I am a part of this show. Theshow is a tribute to all Indian mothers. � How did acting happen to you?

I was always inclined towards it, butI didn’t take it seriously initially. No onefrom my family was in this field and I hadno idea of how to get there and becomea part of it. It just happened with me. Iwas working with a bank in Delhi and gotan opportunity to do a small role in aproject. Then people startedrecommending me for some projects andthen I started giving auditions. It was likea chain for me. � How supportive was your family?

My family has always beensupportive. They never me or my sisterwhat should we become in our loves, theyleft it upto us to make a choice. Hadanyone from my family been in this field,I would have definitely received some tipsfrom them, but that was not the case.Hence, I was all by myself, but they neverstopped me from doing anything.� Were there any apprehensions beforeentering this field?

There were many. But slowly yourealise that in every artistic field, thereis very low certainity. So either you go fora settled job and be certain abouteverything or take that risk to becomewhat you want. It’s your choice to make.� What kind of roles attract you?

There are a lot of roles that attractme. TV is changing and some beautifulshows are coming up that offer actorssome good roles. So I would like to be apart of shows that are unique and havean interesting story to tell.� Any plans of exploring the digitalspace?

Yes, definitely. There are so manyplatforms now and an actor can do somuch. I would like to explore everything.I have not done much work till date, it’salmost like a starting. I want to webseries, theatre and films. I want toexplore all the mediums.� Any actor or director you would liketo work with?

There are lots of them. It’s very hardto name one. After every movie that I see,I end up following the actors anddirectors on Instagram and then keepstalking them.� Do you still get butterflies in yourstomach when you see yourself onTV?

Yes. It happens with me everytime Ido a new project. Whenever I am on sets,I get so nervous and excited at the sametime. But after doing a couple of scenes,I get back to normal.

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Apoorva Lakhia has shrunkfrom the big screen to tubespace, from multiplexes to

OTT, much too smoothly to notraise an eyebrow or two.

Having said that, the webseries that he has directed,Crackdown, brings in it, explosiveenergy, slick pace and of coursethe ability to withstand and negatein style any possibility of beingfathomed, till the very end.

That’s what makes this slicklyput together anti-terror spy storyworth the time you would spendwith it, on it. Lakhia skillfullypursues the goal of making hisviewers susceptible to bingewatching and then audaciouslywalks away with an ending that’sabrupt, killing and fodder foranother season chant withoutlosing much time.

Without letting out anyspoilers, the story pursues acovert operation and operatorswithin RAandW to take downterrorati in general and terrorcells in particular. Taking downterror cells, as it turns out,becomes like a walk into thebeehive with plot after plot

springing up to taunt the hero inpursuit. Saqeeb, by the way,manages the operation with a nononsense approach that leaves notime for the viewer to dwell onanything else than the job athand. That gives the series apinpoint focus and narrows downavenues to stray into emotionsother than the one which givesthem constant palpitation andanticipation.

Lakhia, please do zoom intoSeason 2 just like the way youtook us through Season 1.... withno time lost, with no bilaterals,with no dilly dallying. After all,you have sent the benchmark forthis much anticipated secondpart.

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Let’s get one thing clear here. Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes neverhad a sister; only an older brother, Microft. So fans of the original 56 storiesby the author should not be scratching their heads wondering where this

sister was all along. This movie directed by Harry Bradbeer is based on a series of books written

by Nancy Springer. Now that we have one of the most popular detective characterall sorted out, it’s time to talk about the movie.

It is interesting to see how this sister is so much like Sherlock Holmes andat times smarter. Yes, she does manage to outwit and outsmart him, at least inthis one, to be a step ahead and solve the mystery. A bit strange to see a film thathas Sherlock Holmes and him taking a back seat. But Henry Cavill, yes the manwho plays Superman, fits the bill here. His straight laced face with somewhat smirkwhen he realises that he has been upped by a 16-year-old makes one smile sincewe all know that Sherlock Holmes was only outwitted once in his life — a womanwhom he referred to as The Lady.

Given that Benedict Cumberbatch played this life size character in the BBCseries so well, Cavill sits pretty in this role.

Millie Bobby Brown who plays Enola Holmes is brilliant. She is funny,charming and steals your heart from the word go even if she doesn’t conform tothe definition of how a proper lady should behave — definitely not stand in frontof her brothers in knickers pants and camisole worn in 1890s. But she holds herground brilliantly and takes you on a roller coaster ride. While there isn’t muchof a mystery yet Brown manages to keep the viewers entertained till the very end.So much so that one will wait for the next one. There are more right?

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What would you do if you are the second-born royal? Mostprobably travel the world, do charity work, cut ribbons andsupport your sibling whenever called upon to so. Not quite right

if one goes by the movie directed by Anna Mastro. Here, if you are second-born you are born with certain privileges or should one say powers uniqueto each royal born later even if it is by a minute. So if one is missing outon watching Avenger movies, Secret Society... is somewhat of asubstitute. Or one can say that it is the fun take on the X-Men series.

While it may not be on the lines of Avengers and X-Men, it does comewith its fair share of gizmos, secret organisation, a fancy costume, a jetand not to forget a plot where there is revenge and murder. The filmis entertaining enough given that these royals have weird powers whichthey must master not to benefit themselves but to do good for the othersand ensure that the world is free from dangerous criminals.

It is engrossing, exhilarating and kid-friendly. At the same time, theadults can enjoy the intrigue and the underground operative station —like a Batman Cave and state of the art weapons and computers to keeptabs on what is happening around the globe and in the house of the mostnotorious criminals as well. Quite the operation that will keep the adultsglued to the seats till the very end.

If you love movies where the characters have superpowers that theyuse to fight crime, even if they are just teenagers, Secret Society... is justup your alley.

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The Delhi PoliceCommissioner, SN

Shrivastava on Saturday inau-gurated a “Wellness Centre”under umbrella projectNiramaya at Sector-23 policestation in Dwarka.

According to SantoshKumar Meena, the DeputyCommissioner of Police(DCP), Dwarka, the WellnessCentre (in Association withChaudhary Brahm PrakashAyurved Charak Sansthan)CBPACS, Najafgarh, Yoga Parkand Open Gym have beenoperationalized for Police offi-cers or personnel and theirfamily members, as ‘GoodHealth adds Life to Years’.

“Police as a profession isknown for tremendous stress,that it takes one through con-tinuous unspecified workinghours leading to unhealthyeating habits causing adverseimpact on their efficiency. Most

of the police personnel eithershow little concern about theirhealth for numerous reasons orare extremely pressed for time.This essentially means animmediate need to reach astate of complete physical,mental and social well-being,”said the DCP.

“Keeping up with our com-mitment of responsible com-munity policing as well as tohave a health reality check and

early detection of the healthissues, Dwarka District Policetook an initiative in this direc-tion under “Niramaya Project”and opened three differentfacilities including WellnessCentre, Yoga Park and OpenGym at Dwarka Sector-23,”said the DCP.

“The focus of the initiativewas to nip the bud and toincrease awareness about themajor health concerns, the

repercussions of these con-cerns as well as how to besthandle these health issues,”said the DCP.

“The emphasis was alsoon the health and general wellbeing of our police personneland their families. The team ofdoctors will give free consul-tancy to the police officers andpersonnel with emphasis on theimportance of maintaining ahealthy lifestyle as a preventivecare. Yoga Park will benefitpolice personnel as well as res-idents to boost their metabo-lism, minimize stress, etc. andOpen Gym helps in dealingwith athletic performance andregular exercises. It will overallboost ‘Healthy and Stress freeLiving’,” said the DCP.

Apart from this, the CPalso interacted with 34rewardees who had done goodworks. Further, VC room forinteraction with complainantswas also operationalized atPolice Station Dwarka Sector-23.

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In a bid to escalate the impactof the anti-dengue campaign,

the Delhi Government hasdecided to seek participationfrom the Resident WelfareAssociation (RWAs) of Delhi tocontain the vector borne dis-eases in the National Capital.

Following a huge partici-pation from the citizens of

Delhi in the third week of the10 Hafte 10 Baje 10 Minuteanti-dengue campaign of theDelhi government, the 10-week mass awareness cam-paign enters into its fourthweek. Last year, the RWAsplayed a huge role to combatDengue.

"Right now, we are dealingwith the Coronavirus pan-demic, but it is also the seasonof dengue and the cases are sig-

nificantly increasing. We havere-launched the '10 Hafte 10Baje 10 Minute Har RavivarDengue Par Vaar' this seasonand this is the third week of ouranti-dengue campaign. I hopethat the people must be check-ing their houses this year aswell. We do not want people tosuffer from Dengue and wehave to be conscious aboutboth Dengue andCoronavirus," Kejriwal had

said. Kejriwal also said, "Citizens

must help in spreading aware-ness about measures to preventDengue. They must pick up thephone and call 10 of theirfriends and relatives and advisethem on the good practices ofpreventing Dengue, such asdraining stagnant water andreplacing it. They must alsoadvise their friends and rela-tives to take all measures to

remain safe from Coronavirus."This week the key focus of

the Delhi government would beon the participation of theRWAs.

Last year, through the par-ticipation of the RWAs andother organisations, only 2036cases and two deaths as against15867 cases and 60 deaths in2015. The first edition of theanti-dengue campaign waslaunched in 2019.

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In its 29th board meetingchaired by Chief Minister

Arvind Kejriwal, the DelhiUrban Shelter ImprovementBoard has taken a decision toprovide in-situ housing toaffected people of PrincessPark area near India Gate onaccount of the construction ofthe National War Museum bythe Ministry of Defense.

As per a survey carried outby DUSIB, 203 families are liv-ing in that area. On eligibilitydetermination as per DelhiSlum and JJ Relocation and

Rehabilitation Policy 2015(Now Mukhya Mantri AwasYojana), they will be allottedhouses at Dwarka till houses atDev Nagar near Karol Bagh willbe constructed which will takenearly 18 months.0

“The Delhi Governmenthas decided to construct 784houses at Dev Nagar near KarolBagh at a cost of Rs 102 croresto facilitate these people to havein-situ housing. The housesthat are being constructed willhave two rooms, a kitchen,bath, and toilet with all goodamenities like parking space,parks, community halls, etc.

The buildings will be multi-sto-ried (stilt plus 14 stories) hav-ing lifts and fire staircases, etc.The project will be completedin 18 months,” the governmentsaid in a statement.

Meanwhile, the residents ofthe Princess Park area will beshifted to already constructedhouses by DUSIB at Sector 16-B, Dwarka, they will have theoption to shift to the newlyconstructed housing premisesin Dev Nagar, Karol Bagh, itsaid.

The slum-dwellers from150 jhuggis at Dev Nagar plotwill also be shifted to Dwarka

to facilitate the construction of784 houses.

After allocating houses forinhabitants of Princess Park

and Dev Nagar, the remaininghouses will be used for in-siturehabilitation of jhuggis near-by, it added.

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North Delhi MunicipalCorporation (NMC)

removed a large number oftemporary encroachmentsfrom Sanjay Gandhi TransportNagar with the help of localpolice, a senior official said onSaturday.

“North Corporation lifted15 trucks parked in the noparking zone with the help ofcranes and took them to theCorporation's store. About 55temporary kiosks on the pave-ment were also removed withthe help of JCB,” he said.

The official said that about2700 square meters of road wascleared from encroachment.“The encroachments wereremoved in a joint action by theofficial of licensing, engineer-ing, horticulture and healthdepartment of Civil Lines Zonein the last couple of days,” hesaid. The action was taken bythe Civil Lines zone to reducedust emission as per instruc-tions of the EnvironmentPollution (Prevention andControl) Authority and DelhiPollution Control Committee.

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For the benefit of BRPL con-sumers especially those

residing in West Delhi a newPermanent Lok Adalat (PLA)was virtually inaugurated byJustice Hima Kohli, Judge,Delhi High Court andExecutive Chairperson of DelhiState Legal Services Authority(DSLSA) in Vikaspuri.

A senior BSES official saidthat after being established bythe DSLSA, this is the firstexclusive PLA for a discom inDelhi. “The other two PLAs arecommon for all the discoms inthe National Capital. The twoexisting Permanent LokAdalats (Electricity) at ITOwere set-up way back in 1999to take-up the cases pertainingto the Delhi Vidyut Board.After privatisation, they havebeen entertaining cases per-taining to the Delhi Discoms,including BSES RajdhaniPower Limited and BSESYamuna Power Limited,” hesaid.

Working under the aegis of

DSLSA, a PLA is an importanttool for consumers andDiscoms to amicably andspeedily resolve billing dis-putes and power-theft cases.Infact, it is an institutionalizedform of the Lok Adalat, he said.

Earlier, the residents ofWest Delhi had to travel a greatdistance to file their cases at thePLA at ITO in Central Delhi.“The establishment of the PLAat Vikaspuri will greatly helpthe electricity consumers ofWest Delhi. Apart from thetraditional route, West Delhiconsumers will also be able toavail services of the virtual PLAat Vikaspuri,” he added.

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Asecurity guard, in his early40’s, was allegedly killed

after a delivery van hit his cycleon the Lala Lajpat Rai Marg inNational Capital.

The deceased, identifiedas Ajay Kumar Singh, a residentof Sangam Vihar in southDelhi. According to R P Meena,the Deputy Commissioner ofPolice (DCP), Southeast, theincident took place around 9pm on Friday near ShamshanGhat, Lala Lajpat Rai Marg.

“Singh, who was a securi-ty guard at a showroom inConnaught Place, was on theway to his workplace when thevan rammed into the rear of hiscycle, killing him on the spot,”said the DCP.

“The accused driver wasapprehended from the spotand a case was registered underIndian Penal Code sections279 (rash driving or riding ona public way) and 304 A (caus-ing death by negligence). Theaccused driver, Satender Singh,is a resident of Govindpuri inSoutheast Delhi. He was arrest-ed,” said the DCP.

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The new Industrial andEmployment Policy of

Haryana, 2020 will come intoforce from November 1 on theoccasion of Haryana Day.

This announcement wasmade by Haryana ChiefMinister Manohar Lal Khattaron Saturday while briefing themedia in Gurugram.

Haryana CM Khattar andDeputy CM DushyantChautala earlier had invitedsuggestions from entrepreneurson the draft of new industrialand employment policy forthe state and also chaired ameeting with entrepreneurswith them.

Khattar, at the meeting,informed that the new indus-trial and employment policy ofthe state will be formulated byincorporating the suggestionsreceived from entrepreneurs.

“The Haryana government

is putting all its efforts to pro-vide employment opportunitiesto the youth of the state inindustries and when sugges-tions were invited from entre-preneurs in this regard, theysuggested making skills and

behaviour along with skill upgradation for the youth of thestate to work in the industries,”the CM said at the meeting.

"For this, we have directedRaja Nehru, Vice Chancellor ofShri Vishwakarma SkillUniversity, to prepare a shortterm course for BehaviouralAptitude. This university willalso give its certificate to theyouth after that course," headded.

"In the new industrial andEmployment Policy -2020,there will be a focus on bring-ing maximum investment inHaryana and giving employ-ment to the youth of the state."

Earlier, in a meeting orga-nized with entrepreneurs, theChief Minister said that

Haryana is still one of theleading states in the country asan industry.

After this, with the effortsof the government, Haryanacame in sixth place and lateralso reached the third place.

“This time Haryana fell abit behind in the ranking dueto some procedural shortcom-ings but in future, those gapswill be removed and will againcome to the leading states,Khattar said.

The deputy CM Chautalasaid that “it is the government'sidea to focus on providingemployment to the people ofthe state. For this, the youth willbe made skilled and madeavailable to the industries,” hesaid.

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Aday after South DelhiMunicipal Corporation

(SDMC) bulldozed eight gatesof two residential colonies atGreen Park Extension and atSafdarjung Enclave; AamAadmi Party (AAP) leaderssaid that the civic body tookaction without giving any priornotice. However, SDMCspokesperson Radha Krishandid not respond to calls orwhatsApp messages and offi-cials of the south zone of theSDMC have no idea about theissue.

AAP senior leader andMLA Somnath Bharti andsenior leader Durgesh Pathakon Saturday slammed the BJP-ruled municipal Corporationfor demolishing eight gates ofthe Green Park Extension with-out any prior notice.

“The gates were con-structed after many criminalactivities were reported in thearea. The AAP demandsimmediate posting of DelhiPolice officers in the area toensure the safety and securityof the RWA. The AAP willstand shoulder to shoulderwith the people and rebuild all

these eight gates,” he said.Bharti said, “The destruc-

tive mentality and policies ofthe BJP got exposed in Delhi atthe Malviya Nagar assemblyconstituency. “Amid theCOVID-19 pandemic suchbehaviour from the BJP-ledMCD is condemnable andcompletely unacceptable,” hesaid.

“In the past 15 years, theBJP is ruling the municipalcorporations of Delhi but theyhave not helped any RWAregarding any issues but todaythe BJP is demolishing theirgates. These gates were built bythe RWA for the safety andsecurity of the residents. TheDelhi police is also under theBharatiya Janata Party ruledcentral government and if theDelhi police was competentenough to secure the residentsof the RWAs then there wouldnot have any necessity to buildthese gates,” he said.

Durgesh Pathak said, “Theemployees of municipalCorporations are not gettingtheir salaries and the whole cityhas become dirty due to theincompetence of the MCDs.The BJP has a bigger plan todemolish all the gates of theRWAs across Delhi. This will

happen at GK, Safdarjung,Pitampura and other places too.The AAP will not allow suchdemolition in Delhi and we willstand beside the residents andrebuild these gates,” he said.

Shrimati Neha Puri,General Secretary of GreenPark Extension RWA said,“Yesterday the officials ofSDMC along with the Delhipolice came to our RWA withthree JCBs and demolishedeight gates. The RWAs of Delhihave always walked beyondtheir responsibilities for thesafety and security of the resi-dents. In the time of COVID-19, the RWAs have providedquarantine facilities and oxygento the people without muchsupport and recognition.”

“Our safety and securityhave gone for a toss and thewhole RWA is completely openfrom all the sides. The officialslied to us by saying that this wasdone following a High Courtorder. Today we met theDeputy Commissioner ofSDMC and briefed him the sit-uation but no official showedus any formal order copy of thedemolition. Moreover, I want tosay that MCD has encroachedvarious parts of our RWA,” shesaid.

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Patna: Senior BJP leader RaviShankar Prasad said onSaturday that the constituents ofthe NDA will contest the Biharassembly elections together,asserting that the problemswithin the coalition will beresolved.

Prasad, the Union LawMinister, exuded confidencethat the Nitish Kumar-ledalliance in Bihar will win theelection with a decisive man-date because of the develop-ment work done by the Centreand state government.

“NDA is one... We willcontest the elections together. Ifthere is some problem, it willbe solved,” he said, replying toa question on the differencesbetween the LJP and JD(U).

Nitish Kumar's JD(U) andChirag Paswan-led LJP havebeen at loggerheads for sometime.

The LJP has indicated thatit would field candidates againstthe JD(U), leading to an uneasysituation within the NDA inBihar. Even as Paswan swears byhis loyalty towards PrimeMinister Narendra Modi, inwhose cabinet his father andLJP founder Ram Vilas Paswanis a minister, he has often crit-icised the Nitish Kumar gov-ernment.The elections will beheld in the state in three phas-es from October 28 toNovember 7. The votes will becounted on November 10.

Speaking to reporters at theparty office here, Prasad saidthat discussions are underwayon the seat-sharing “at levelswhere it should be”

“This is the domain of theparliamentary board and cen-tral election committee. It istheir job to decide. I can't entertheir domain,” he said, reply-

ing to a question on the seat-sharing formula.

Prasad, who represents thePatna Sahib seat in the LokSabha, said the Nitish Kumar-led government has done a lotof work for the state's overalldevelopment.

“I am confident that thepeople of Bihar will bless theNDA and help it return topower with a decisive mandatebecause of its developmentwork. Prime Minister NarendraModi's love for Bihar is evidentfrom the fact that theannouncements which he madehave been translated into real-ity,” the minister said.

In an apparent swipe at RJDleader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav,Prasad questioned why thephotos of Lalu Prasad andRabri Devi have been droppedfrom the party's hoardings. PTI

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Prime Minister NarendraModi will inaugurate

online eight sewage treatmentplants (STPs) set up at different places in Uttarakhandunder the Namami Gangeproject on September 29, ChiefMinister Trivendra SinghRawat said on Saturday.

Out of the eight STPs, builtat a cost of over Rs 500 crore,four are in Haridwar, two inRishikesh and one each inMuni-ki-Reti and Badrinath,he said.

Together these STPs willhave a capacity of treating152.5 million litres of sewageper day, Rawat said, adding thatthe solid waste generated bythe plants will be used as com-post.

Jaunpur/Deoria (UP): UttarPradesh Chief Minister YogiAdityanath on Saturday saidthose opposing the Centre'sagriculture-related Bills are“anti-farmer”.

Prime Minister NarendraModi had promised to doublethe income of farmers and theBills have been passed with thisaim in mind, he said, address-ing BJP workers at a schoolauditorium in Jaunpur.

The chief minister said thelegislations will free farmersfrom the grip of middlemenand provide them with anoption to sell their produce asper their choice. The oppo-sition is misleading people butthey will not be allowed to suc-ceed, he said, terming thoseopposing the Bills as “anti-farmer”.

Without taking names, thechief minister in Deoria said:“Those who exploited farmersand mocked migrants... Those

who don't know whether sug-arcane is grown on land or treesare pretending to be warriors offarmers and labourers.”

Speaking about the workdone by his government duringthe coronavirus pandemic, hesaid those who have been withthe people in the most difficulttimes will be in power andclaimed that in the last sixmonths, the state governmenthas distributed free foodgrain12 times so that no one faceshunger. Referring to theupcoming bypolls in the state,he said there will not be any bigrallies or public meetings.

So, every BJP worker andoffice-bearer will have to takethe responsibility of everybooth.

If you win a booth, youwill win an election, he said,exhorting party workers to winthe Malhani (Jaunpur) andDeoria Sadar assembly seatsfor the BJP.

We are dedicated to devel-opment and in this by-electionyou all have to think aboutwho will bring developmentand who will provide employ-ment, he said.

Bypolls to eight Assemblyseats in Uttar Pradesh are like-ly to be held soon. Enumerating the achievementsof the BJP-led government atthe Centre and in UttarPradesh while speaking inDeoria, he said:

“We took the developmentwork forward with establish-ment of Medical College inDeoria... By next year classeswill also start with 100 studentsand people will get high qual-ity medical facilities.”

He said that due to gov-ernment focus on waterdrainage, potable water andcleanliness, the number ofdeaths due to encephalitis hasreduced substantially in com-parison to 2014. PTI

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Ajawan from the BorderSecurity Forces (BSF) was

injured when a pressure impro-vised explosive device (IED),laid by naxals, went off ininsurgency-hit Kanker districtof Chhattisgarh on Saturday,police said.

The incident took place ataround 1.30 pm onKoyalibeda-Dhutta road underKoyalibeda police station area,where a team of BSF's 4th bat-talion was out on a road secu-rity operation, Kanker addi-tional superintendent of policeGorakhnath Baghel told PTI.

When the patrolling teamwas cordoning off the forestnear a culvert, it might havecome in contact with the pres-sure IED connection, trigger-ing the blast, he said.

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Amid a grim battle beingwaged by it against

Coronavirus, Maharashtranotched a positive milestone of10 lakh recoveries on Saturday,as 23,644 more people were dis-charged from various hospitalsafter full recovery.

On a day when 430 morepeople succumbed to Covid-19and 20,419 others tested positivefor the pandemic, the numberof people discharged from var-ious hospitals after full recoverysince the second week of March this year went up to10,16,450.

With fresh 430 deaths, theCovid-19 toll in the statebreached 35000 mark, as the

total number of deaths shot upfrom 34,761 to 35,191.

Similarly, with the fresh20419 new cases, the total infec-tions rose from 13,00,757 to13,21,176.

Of the 430 deaths reportedon Saturday, Pune accounted fora maximum of 90 deaths, fol-lowed by 56 deaths in Thane, 44in Mumbai, 28 in Sangli, 27 inKolhapur, 21 in Satara, 18 eachin Nashik and Solapur, 15 inNagpur, 12 in Parbhani, 11 inOsmanabad and 10 in Jalgaon

In the lower range, therewere 9 deaths in Chandrapur,8 each in Ahmednagar andAurangabad, 7 each in Raigadand Yavatmal, 5 each inRatnagiri, Nanded and Wardha,4 each in Latur, Amravati and

Buldhana, 3 in Palghar, 2 eachin Sindhudurg and Beed andone death each in Jalna andWashim. In addition, five per-sons from outside the statedied in Maharashtra.

With 44 deaths, Mumbai’sCovid-19 toll went up from8,706 8,750 while the infectedcases rose by 2,282 cases to trig-ger a jump in the total numberof infections from 194,303 to196,585.

Meanwhile, for the seventhconsecutive day, the state recov-ery rate rose from 76.33 per centto 76.94 per cent. The mortali-ty rate in the state stood at 2.66per cent. The number of “activecases” in the state went downfrom Friday’s figure of 2,72,775to 2,69,119.

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The Jammu and Kashmir unitof the BJP on Saturday urged

Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinhato immediately provide compen-sation to the families of three menwho were allegedly killed in a fakeencounter in South Kashmir'sShopian district in July.

The men, hailing fromremote areas of Rajouri district,had gone to Shopian for work butthey went missing on the day theArmy claimed to have neutralizedthree “terrorists” in a gunfight.

“The Army in its inquiry intothe killings at Amshipora village,prima facie, found that the sol-diers involved had exceeded theirpowers under the Armed ForcesSpecial Powers Act (AFSPA), and

that disciplinary action wouldbe taken. “Also recently, theDNA samples of the labourershave matched with those of theirfamily members,” BJP spokesper-son Tahir Choudhary said in astatement here. He said the fam-ilies of the deceased are facing dif-ficult times and therefore, the gov-ernment must intervene.

“I urge the LG to give a hear-ing to their families and providecompensation to them at the ear-liest,” the BJP leader said, thank-ing Sinha for his “efforts and forpushing authorities for a fairprobe”.

Choudhary said he had alsosubmitted a presentation to UnionHome Minister Amit Shah forproviding compensation to thefamilies of the victims.

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Jaipur: As the World TourismDay will be celebrated onSunday this year amid thecoronavirus pandemic withthe theme “Tourism and RuralDevelopment”, the Rajasthangovernment's new tourism pol-icy complements the themekeeping rural tourism in

focus.The Rajasthan govern-

ment's new tourism policy pro-vides for innovative tourismproducts and services with thefocus on lesser known desti-nations especially in the ruralareas, confirmed tourism offi-cials. IANS

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From Page 1SII presently produces 1.5

billion doses of polio, measlesand influenza vaccines for 170countries.

A fortnight ago,Poonawalla said that it wouldtake four to five years until“everyone on the planet” getsvaccinated. He estimated theneed for close to 15 billiondoses of the Covid-19 vaccineif a two-dose programme —similar to the measles vaccina-tions drive — is put in place.

“It’s going to take four tofive years until everyone getsthe vaccine on this planet.”Poonawala had earlier pre-dicted that if the coronavirusshot is a two-dose vaccine, asis the case with measles orrotavirus, then the world wouldrequire 15 billion doses. Thephase-III or the last stage of theclinical trial of the Covid-19vaccine “Covishield”, beingdeveloped by OxfordUniversity, and manufacturedby the SII began at the state-runSassoon General Hospital inPune on Monday.

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From Page 1Karishma, who appeared

before the NCB for the secondconsecutive day and whosearrival at the investigatingagency’s office went unnoticed,was grilled for nearly eight-longhours.

Talking to media personsafter the film personalities’ day-long questioning, NCB’s DeputyDirector General Mutha AshokJain said: “We have not issuedfresh summons to anyone elsetoday. Over the next couple ofdays, our Special InvestigationTeam and the Mumbai zonaloffice will review the progressof the two cases – CR no 15/20and CR no 16/20 and plan forthe future”.

“We have questionedDeepika Padukone, KarishmaPrakash, Sara Ali Khan andShraddha Kapoor,” Jain said.

Jain clarified that whileDeepika was questioned inconnection with the expandedBollywood-drug nexus caseinvolving the use of drugs bythe film personalities, Sara andShraddha were grilled in con-nection with the both theSushant death-related case andexpanded Bollywood-drug

nexus case. Jain confirmed thatKishtij, a former associate offilm maker Karan Johar, hadbeen arrested “We have ques-tioned and formally placedhim under arrest. He will beproduced before court tomor-row,” Jain. Jain, however, stead-fastly declined to spell out as towhat transpired at the ques-tioning of three actresses andKarishma.

Asked if the NCB wouldquestion filmmaker KarqanJohar in the wake of the arrestof his former associate Kishtij,Jain said: “We cannot reply inifs and buts.” In a related devel-opment, the Mumbai policewarned the media vehiclesagainst chasing the vehicles ofcelebs who are being sum-moned for the drugs probeby the NCB. “Today we haveobserved a lot of media vehi-cles chasing people who werecalled for the inquiry. Thevehicles will be seizedbecause they are endangeringtheir lives as well as lives ofwhoever was called & com-mon people,” Mumbai’sDeputy Commissioner ofPolice (Zone-1) SangramSingh Nishandar said.

From Page 1He said 130 crore Indians still believed in the ideals of the

UN but added the global body needed to adapt and change tostay relevant in current times.

His remarks came in the backdrop of India elected as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council (UNSC), thehighest-decision making forum.

There are five permanent members - the United States, theUnited Kingdom, China, Russia and France. India was electedas a non-permanent member of the UNSC for a two-year termin June, along with Ireland, Mexico and Norway and will assumethe new responsibility from January next year.

He also said India took the lead in marking October 2 asInternational Day of non-violence and June 22 as InternationalDay of Yoga. India has always thought about the welfare of theworld. “From our neighbourhood first policy to look-east pol-icy, are all guided by these principles,” the Prime Minister said.

A regards India’s efforts against corona, Modi said vaccineproduction here will help in bringing the world out of the pan-demic. “We are moving towards Phase 3 of clinical trials. We areincreasing infrastructure and will help others increase it,” he said.

On its role as a non-permanent member of the UNSC, Modisaid India will use its experience as the world’s largest democ-racy for the benefit of the world. “India will stand for shanti, surak-sha and samriddhi. We will always oppose drugs, illegalweapons, money laundering. India’s experience will strengthenthe way for vishwa-kalyan (good for the world).”

Highlighting the achievements in the last four to five years,Modi said India brought changes through Reform-Perform-Transform process. In the last few years, linking 400-500 mil-lion people with the banking system was not easy. India is oneof the leaders in digital transactions globally. India is workingon making country tuberculosis-free by 2025. India has initiat-ed a huge process of connecting villages with optical fibre, hesaid.

From Page 1Nadda has effected changes

in its national spokespersons -dropping leaders GVLNarasimha Rao (RS MP) andMeenakshi Lekhi (MP, NewDelhi).

One of the stark and dis-tinct changes in the team is thereplacement of the high-profileMadhav who was overseeingsensitive States, includingJammu & Kashmir, withPunjab’s Tarun Chugh as gen-eral secretary.

It is expected that thechanges in the party might befollowed by the long-awaitedCabinet reshuffle in comingmonths, according to sources.There is no confirmation

whether those who weremoved out of the office-bear-er’s list would be shifted toGovernment or assigned otherkey party jobs.

‘Firebrand’ Bengaluru MPSurya, appreciated by PrimeMinister Narendra Modi him-self, has been appointed asparty’s youth wing president,replacing Poonam Mahajan.

The reshuffle has raised thenumber of national spokesper-sons to 23, MP Anil Baluni ele-vated as chief spokesperson andremains media in-charge. Thelist of spokespersons includeSambit Patra, SudhanshuTrivedi (RS MP), SyedShahnawaz Hussain, RajivPratap Rudy, Nalin Kohli, RajivChandrashekhar (RS MP),Seyed Zafar Islam (MP RS),and Tom Vaddakam.

Dr K Laxman fromTelangana has been appointedin-charge of the OBC cell whileRaj Kumar Chauhan, an MPfrom Uttar Pradesh. will headthe Kisan Morcha. Lal SinghArya has been named the headof the SC Morcha, SamirOaraon will head the STMorcha and Jamal Siddiquiwill head the Minority Morcha.

There are 12 vice-presi-dents, eight national generalsecretaries and one generalsecretary (organisation) BLSantosh with joint general sec-retaries ---V Satish, SaudanSingh, Shiv Prakash (all fourRSS representatives in the BJP)--- and 13 national secretaries.Treasurer’s post has been givento Rajesh Aggarwal with SudhirGupta (MP) being his deputy.

From Page 1Both the leaders had defected from the TMC with former

once being Chief Minister Mamata Baneree’s Man Friday.Refusing to hide his anger Sinha said, he was higly disap-

pointed “at the way the TMC defectors are being honoured inthe party at cost of old time-tested workers.”

Sinha was replaced by Hazra a former TMC MP. Apparentlyexpecting some ‘compensatory’ arrangement from the party highcommand Sinha said, he would come out with a detailed state-ment a few days later.

“I will speak up in details 10-12 days later but for now I cansay that I am extremely disappointed by the new arrangementwhere TMC defectors have been honoured with priced posts…Is this the reward I got for serving the party for the past 40 years?”he said adding “nothing can be more unfortunate and disap-pointing than this.”

From Page 1The chargesheet has been

filed under Indian Penal CodeSections relating to criminalconspiracy, murder and com-mon intention among others.

The chargesheet filed beforea designated court at Maduraialso covers other IPC Sectionsincluding those dealing withwrongful confinement, destruc-tion of evidence, false informa-tion, false evidence, false chargeof offense made with intent toinjure, falsification of records bya public servant.

One more accused, thenSub Inspector died during inves-tigation. The charged policemenwere arrested during the inves-tigation and are presently injudicial custody.

The CBI had registered twocases on July 7 this year relatedto the allegations of the custo-dial deaths on the request ofTamil Nadu Government andfurther notification from theCentre.

“A CBI team camped con-tinuously at Madurai and

worked untiringly in the casesdespite the odds of Covid-19pandemic,” the agency said in astatement here.

CBI investigation revealedthat the father-son duo wasarrested in the evening of June19 and allegedly tortured at theSathankulam Police Station bythe accused in the evening aswell as in the intervening night,consequent to which both ofthem succumbed to the injuriesand died in the interveningnight of June 22 and June 23.

After investigation, a com-bined chargesheet in both caseshas been filed. Further investi-gation is continuing to look intothe role of other persons in thecase, it added.

The accused chargesheetedin the cases are S Sridhar, thenInspector/SHO, K Balakrishnan,then Sub-Inspector; PRaghuganesh, then Sub-Inspector, S Murugan, thenHead Constable, A Samadurai,then Head Constable, MMuthuraja, then Constable, SChelladurai, then Constable, XThomas Francis, then Constableand S Veilumuthu, then consta-ble.

From Page 1The Chief Minister said a

lot of water goes to waste inDelhi. The Delhi Jal Boardsupplies 930 million gallons ofwater (MGD) per day to thecity -- 176 litres per person. Ofthis, a lot of water gets stolenand leaked.

Accountability should befixed for every drop of water.There should not be anywastage, Kejriwal asserted. Hesaid, “We have started walkingin the direction of providinground-the-clock water supply.The consultant will tell usabout the state-of-art technol-ogy, such as the SCADA sys-tem, with the help of whichwater supply can be managedfrom the central control room,”he said.

Kejriwal said that the DelhiGovernment is committed toensuring a regular supply ofwater in Delhi just like manydeveloped and technologicallyadvanced nations across theworld.

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Panaji: This monsoon season, Goa has record-ed the highest rainfall since 1961, IndianMeteorological Department (IMD) said.

Speaking to reporters on Saturday Rahul M,scientist at IMD Goa, the state witnessed 412cms of rainfall from the south west monsoonsin 2020, which is 41 per cent higher than thenormal value of rainfall in the state. IANS

From Page 1Badal also referred to the Jammu &

Kashmir Official Languages Bill, 2020, inwhich Punjabi was not recognized as an offi-cial language in the Union Territory whichhas a sizeable number of Punjabi speakingpeople.

After the resignation of Harsimrat Kaurfrom the Narendra Modi Cabinet, SAD hadbeen raising the twin issues of the Farm Billsand the status of Punjabi language publical-ly. He had repeatedly lashed out at the BJPfor “misusing” its “brute majority” to pass billsin the Parliament.

“Dr Farooq Abdullah of the NationalConference, who is a former Chief Ministerof Jammu and Kashmir, supported me andsaid that a sizable number of Kashmiris alsospoke Punjabi. The Peoples DemocraticParty (PDP) has also supported the inclusionof Punjabi as an official language in the unionterritory,” he said earlier.

Terming the entire development as a “sadday for democracy”, Sukhbir said that the

founding fathers of the Constitution wereinspired by a vision of India as a multi reli-gious, multicultural and multilingual nationand respect for regional languages was seenan important tool to preserve and promotethis ideal.

He also expressed anguish that whilePunjabi had been excluded from the list ofofficial languages, English had been includ-ed in the list.

“This is sure to hurt the sentiments ofPunjabis in Jammu and Kashmir as well aseverywhere else”, he added.

Earlier this week, Sukhbir had hinted thatno alliance or government was important forAkali Dal in front of the welfare of the farm-ers, while declaring that the party would ful-fill its responsibility towards the ‘annadaata’come what may.

He said that theSAD had taken a consistent stand from dayone in favour of farmers and told farmer rep-resentatives that it would fulfill its responsi-bility as and when required.

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With an aim to tackleshortage of medical oxy-

gen and the resultant increasein prices amid rising Covid-19cases in the country, theNational PharmaceuticalsPricing Authority (NPPA) hascapped the ex-factory price ofliquid medical oxygen (LMO)and filled cylinders for sixmonths.

It has also instructed thestates to fix transport costs forthe supply of medical oxygen toaddress COVID-19 exigencies.

The ex-factory price ofLMO at the manufacturers’end has been capped at Rs15.22 per cubic metre, exclusiveof GST, while the ex-factorycost of a medical oxygen cylin-der has been capped at thefillers’ end at �25.71 per cubicmetre, exclusive of GST, asagainst the existing ceilingprice of �17.49 per cubic metre.

However, it is subject to thetransportation cost fixation atthe state level.

The move by the NPPAcomes after a three-foldincrease in the price of medicaloxygen gas. A few days ago theCentre had urged the States toallow unhindered movement ofthe oxygen cylinders to ensuretimely help to the needypatients.

The authority said that thedemand for medical oxygenhad gone up almost four times,from 750MT/day to 2,800MT/day. Besides, deliverythrough cylinders has increasedfrom 11 per cent pre-Covid to50 per cent of current oxygensupply, leading to an exponen-tial rise in prices.

“This has caused a strainat all levels in the value chainof production and supply,especially for distant and inte-rior districts based on terrainand distance.”

The manufacturers ofmedical oxygen and fillershad represented to theGovernment for up to a three-fold price increase in the ceil-ing price of gaseous medicaloxygen.

“It is, therefore, imperativeto cap the price of LMO toensure uninterrupted avail-ability of medical oxygenthrough cylinders to the hos-pitals and consumers,” theorganisation said.

The NPPA said that use ofoxygen for medical purposesfrom the overall productionhas also signif icantlyincreased. “Currently, duringthe Covid-19 pandemic,around 50% of the total liquidoxygen production is used formedical purposes in compar-ison with around 15% usageduring the pre-Covid period.

Liquid oxygen is beingdiverted from industrial use tomedical use to cope with theadditional demand. Manystates/UTs are dependent onthe medical oxygen supplyfrom other states/UTs. To meetthe enhanced requirement,medical oxygen is being sup-plied to remote areas of thecountry after incurring addi-tional cost on transportation,”it added.

However, the All IndiaIndustrial Gas Manufacturers’Association (AIIGMA)felt thatthe Government should capthe cost of oxygen at the levelof the hospital instead of thesupplier end.

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As former Prime MinisterManmohan Singh turned

88 on Saturday, greetingspoured in from across thepolitical spectrum withCongress leader Rahul Gandhisaying that India feels theabsence of a PM with the“depth” of Singh.

If anyone in public lifealive today is deserving of theBharat Ratna, it is “undoubt-edly” Singh, said his party col-league P Chidambaram whoserved as finance minister andhome minister under the UPAI and II governments led byManmohan Singh.

Greeting his predecessoron his birthday, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi wished Singha long and healthy life.

Several Union Ministersand BJP leaders, includingNirmala Sitharaman, RajnathSingh, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi,Jyotiraditya Scindia andVasundhra Raje Scindia, DMK

chief M K Stalin and WestBengal Chief Minister MamataBanerjee also extended theirgreetings.

Manmohan Singh headedthe UPA coalitionGovernments between 2004and 2014 and earlier as afinance minister under the P VNarasimha Rao governmentsupervised the liberalisation ofthe Indian economy in the1990s.

“Birthday greetings to DrManmohan Singh Ji. I pray toAlmighty that he is blessed witha long and healthy life,” PrimeMinister Modi tweeted.

Former Congress presi-dent Rahul Gandhi wishedSingh, saying, “India feels theabsence of a PM with thedepth of Dr Manmohan Singh.His honesty, decency and ded-ication are a source of inspira-tion for us all.”

“Wishing him a very happybirthday and a lovely yearahead,” Gandhi tweeted withthe hashtag

‘HappyBirthdayDrMMSingh’.Stalin hailed Singh for his

“visionary leadership & futur-istic ideas”, saying that they hadbeen instrumental in estab-lishing India’s global promi-nence.

“Greetings to former PrimeMinister and Economist Dr.Manmohan Singh ji on hisbirthday. Wishing him goodhealth and more productiveyears in public life,” TrinamoolCongress supremo MamataBanerjee tweeted.

Congress general secretaryin-charge organisation K CVenugopal lauded Singh’s“journey filled with incredibleachievements”.

“Dr. Manmohan Singh’s lifeis an inspiration to us all. Hishumility, honesty and incredi-ble intellect make him anexemplary leader,” he tweeted.

Punjab Chief MinisterAmarinder Singh extended warm wishes toSingh, praying for his goodhealth and long life.

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After announcing minimumsupport prices for rabi

crops in advance, the Centre onSaturday ordered commence-ment of procurement opera-tions for kharif paddy/rice“immediately” (from Saturday)in Punjab and Haryana to pla-cate farmers agitating againstthe farm Bills. Significantly,these two States have beenwitnessing maximum protestagainst the farm Bills in the lastfew days.

While ‘rail roko’ agitationby farmers organisations wascontinued in Punjab’s Amritsarand Ferozepur districts onSaturday as more farmers andtheir farmers joined in. Theprotesters reached the protestsite in tractor trailers, buses,four-wheelers and even onmotorcycles and went bare-chested to express their resent-ment over the response gotfrom the Union Government.Farmers have extended the‘rail roko’ agitation tillSeptember 29. Besides, farmersprotests continued in sporadicmanner in Haryana, UP andsouthern states.

In its order, the Ministry ofConsumer Affairs, Food andPublic Distribution said itwould commence procurementof paddy in the two northIndian States from Saturday,ahead of October 1, the date setfor commencing procurementacross the country otherwise.The order said that the step hasbeen taken in view of earlyarrival of paddy this year. According to the ministry,state procuring agenciesincluding Food Corporation ofIndia (FCI) are in a state ofreadiness for smoothly under-taking procurement opera-tions.

The Kharif MarketingSeason (KMS) 2020-21 forpaddy/rice was scheduled tocommence from October 1 inall procuring States, but the

Centre has allowed procure-ment operations to begin fromSaturday in both these states.

“…in view of early arrivalof paddy in the mandis ofHar yana and Punjab.Government of India hasappeared the commencementof procurement operationsfor paddy/rice immediatelyin both these States fromtoday, i.e. with effect from26th September 2020 toensure that farmers are facil-itated in selling their pro-duce at Minimum SupportPrice (MSP) expeditiously,”the order said. “Orders forcommencement of procure-ment operations for paddy/rice from 26th September,2020 in Haryana and Punjabhave been issued,” it added.

P K Das, additional chiefsecretary, Food, Civil Suppliesand Consumer Affairsdepartment, Haryana, saidthat about 4 lakh quintals of‘PR-126’ variety of paddy hasbeen harvested by farmers infour districts of Kurukshetra,Karnal, Ambala and Kaithal.Farmers of these districts havebrought their crops to themandis and procurement will

start from Sunday.The Government has kept

a target to procure 113 lakhtonnes of rice from Punjaband 44 lakh tonnes fromHaryana during the kharifmarketing season. Otherwise,total rice procurement targetis kept at 495.37 lakh tonnesfor the entire country for the2020-21 kharif season.

The Centre has fixed MSPfor ‘’common variety’’ paddyat �1,868 per quintal and for‘’A’’ grade variety at Rs 1,888per quintal for the currentyear.

In the last kharif season(KMS 2019-20), a total quan-tity of 512 lakh metric tonnesof rice was procured from 23states. However, biggest quan-

tity of rice was procured fromPunjab (109 lakh tonnes met-ric tonnes), and the state wasfollowed by Telangana (73LMT), Andhra Pradesh (54LMT), Chhattisgarh (49 LMT),Odisha (47 LMT) and Haryana(43 LMT).

Farmers have been protest-ing on rails tracks at manyplaces in the state sinceSeptember 24. Squatting onrails tracks, agitating farmerson Saturday shouted slogansagainst the BJP-led government at the Centre anddemanded the rollback of thefarm Bills which theydescribed as black laws.

In Amritsar, a group ofprotesting farmers went shirt-less to express their anger

against the farm Bills. Farmershave taken off their ‘kurtas’ andshirts to make the governmenthear our voice, said KisanMazdoor SangharshCommittee general secretarySarwan Singh Pandher overthe phone. Bare-chested pro-testers, sitting on Amritsar-Delhi rail track, raised slogansagainst the BJP-led centralgovernment.

In Mohali, farmers burnteffigy of PM Modi and blockedroads. Keeping in view theundergoing blockade of rail-way lines by farmers at sever-al places, the Northern rail-way’s Ferozepur division hasextended the cancellation of 14trains (up and down) for onemore day on September 27.

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The Congress on Saturdaylaunched a ‘Speak up for

farmers’ campaign on socialmedia protesting the farmBills, with former party chiefRahul Gandhi urging people toraise their voice against whathe described was the NarendraModi Government’s “exploita-tion” of farmers.

The party also attackedthe Centre over the controver-sial labour Bills passed by theParliament. It asked the otherOpposition parties to join theprotest on the new labour lawsjust like they extended theirunited protest against the farmbills that has led to a country-wide agitation.

“Let us raise our voicestogether against the atrocitiesand exploitation of farmers bythe Modi Government,” Rahulsaid in his message.

The three farm Bills andthe labour code laws werepassed by both houses ofParliament during theMonsoon session and areawaiting presidential assent.

Rahul , who was abroad forhis mother and party chiefSonia Gandhi’s treatment whenthe bills were passed, said theselegislations will “enslave” farm-ers and minimum supportprice (MSP) will be “snatched

away”. Rahul extended party’s full

support to the ongoing farmers’agitation across the country,particularly in Punjab andHaryana, where it entered itssecond day with sporadic inci-dents of violence being report-ed.

Rahul even went to theextent of claiming that theselegislations will result in an EastIndia company-like culture.

The Congress, on its offi-cial Twitter handle, alleged thatthe agriculture bills passed bythe government in a “highlyundemocratic manner arenothing but an attack on ourfarmers and an attempt totransform agriculture intoanother revenue stream fortheir crony capitalist friends”.

Describing the three labourcodes passed by Parliament as“anti-labour”, Congress saidthe farms bill passed hasalready led to country wide agi-tation by farmers and this newlabour law will bring anotherset of restlessness to the work-ers class who are the propellerof the country growth.

“They have weakenedtrade unions and finished thesecurity and safety for theworkers,” senior Congressleader and former minister oflabour and employmentMallikarjun Kharge said at

AICC Press conference. Hewas joined by partyspokesman Pawan Khera andINTUC General Secretary GSanjeev Reddy.

Attacking the Governmentover the Bills, Kharge said thegovernment’s claim that thelaws will increase ease of doingbusiness is false.

“States’ powers have beenusurped by the central gov-ernment with these laws.These codes are anti-worker,anti-labourer and it is impor-tant to agitate against them,”the Rajya Sabha MP said.

“All parties must opposethese laws. The Modi govern-ment only listens to corporatesand after these laws it will notlisten to trade unions,” hesaid.

Congress spokespersonPawan Khera alleged this gov-ernment is “betraying theinterests” of different sectionsone after another. As the issueof injustice to farmers wasongoing, this governmentbetrayed workers, just likefarmers,” he said.

Reddy alleged that there isno provision for safety andsecurity of workers in thesebills.

“We will protest andstruggle against these unjust,anti-labour and anti-tradeunion laws,” he said.

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The Khadi and VillageIndustries Commission

(KVIC) has appointed SunilSethi, a leading personality inthe Indian fashion industry, asits adviser.

Sethi will advise theCommission on latest designinterventions in the ready-made garments segment aswell as promotion of Khadi inIndia and abroad.

Earlier, renowned fashiondesigner Ms Ritu Beri servedas advisor to KVIC whose

term expired recently.Sethi has over four

decades of experience in glob-al merchandising, where hehas contributed significantly tothe growth of Indian handi-crafts, design and the textileindustry, through many inno-vative and successful initia-tives.

As Chairman of theFashion Design Council ofIndia, which is represented by400 designers, Sethi has beenworking to take Indian fashionindustry global.

“Sustainable growth of

Khadi in the fashion industry,both locally and internation-ally, is the key idea behind theappointment. KVIC hasalready marked its advent onthe global platform and fromhere on we must capitalise onevery opportunity.

Khadi artisans are capableof producing the finest quali-ty and the most unique fabricin the world and with thenewest design innovations,Khadi can be a favourite of avast global consumer seg-ment,” KVIC Chairman, VinaiKumar Saxena said.

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NITI Aayog CEO AmitabhKant on Thursday said

the idea of an aspirationalIndia is deeply linked to ourspirit of entrepreneurship andthis spirit is a driving forcewhich will turn the wheels ofIndian economy, propelling itto greater heights.

“If India’s growth story hasto continue then withoutwomen entrepreneurs and gen-der parity, India cannot grow,and it is pretty clear that India’sbusinesses cannot grow with-out women entrepreneurs.Gender constraints impedewomen entry in the entrepre-neurial Landscape and ahealthy ecosystem, it trulyrequires conscious efforts toimprove women’s access toknowledge and the requisiteskills,” Kant said at a webinarorganised by FLO, the Women’sWing of FICCI on “AspirationalIndia- Role of WomenEntrepreneurs in India’sTransformation.”

The session elaborated onthe role of women entrepre-neurs as an important,untapped source of economicgrowth and have an importantrole as key drivers in India’stransformation journey.

Jahnabi Phookan, NationalPresident, FLO said “Talkingabout an aspirational India isnot enough, we should all be apartner in the process. Ourendeavour is to create eco-nomic possibilities for womenat different levels and equipthem to be in charge of theirlives and participate in thesustainable development of thenation”.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi on Saturday held

wide-ranging talks with his SriLankan counterpart MahindaRajapaksa, covering the entireexpanse of bilateral ties andwith a focus on further expand-ing cooperation in key areas.

In his opening remarks ata virtual bilateral summit, Modisaid he was confident that themassive electoral victory of theruling party in Sri Lankabacked by the RajapaksaGovernment’s policies will facil-itate deeper cooperationbetween the two countries.

“An opportunity has cometo begin a new chapter inIndia-Sri Lanka ties after yourparty’s electoral victory. Peoplefrom both the countries arelooking at us with new hopeand expectations,” Modi said.

Rajapaksa was sworn in asSri Lankan prime minister for

a fresh term on August 9 afterhis party, the Sri Lanka People’sFront, secured a two-thirdmajority in the parliamentarypolls.

Modi said India gives pri-ority to its relations with SriLanka as he mentioned his gov-ernment’s neighbourhood-firstpolicy as well as SAGAR(Security and Growth for All inthe Region) doctrine.

It was Prime MinisterModi’s first such virtual bilat-eral engagement with a leaderof a neighbouring country. ForRajapaksa, it was the first diplo-matic engagement with a leaderof a foreign country after hewas sworn in as prime minis-ter.

It was learnt that the twoleaders deliberated on a host ofissues like ways to furtherdeepen overall defence andtrade ties as well as expansionof existing cooperation in sev-eral key areas.

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APIL has been filed in theSupreme Court for equal

protection of law to peoplebelonging to the third gender,alleging that there was nopenal provision which pro-tects them from offences of sex-ual assault.

The plea, which has madethe ministries of law and jus-tice, and social justice andempowerment as parties,referred to the provisions of theIPC of 1860 and recentamendments into the statuteand other laws on sexualoffences and alleged that noneof them talked about the “trans-gender, transsexuals, kinnar

and eunuchs”. “In spite of declaring trans-

gender people to be a ‘thirdgender’ by this court, there isno provision / section in theIndian Penal Code which mayprotect the third gender fromthe sexual assault by male/female or another transgender,”it said.

The PIL challenged theconstitutional validity of certainclauses of Section 354A (out-raging the modesty of woman)of IPC, to the extent that theyare interpreted to exclude vic-tims of sexual harassment whoare transgender persons, asbeing ultra vires Articles 14, 15and 21 of the Constitution.

The plea filed by lawyer

Reepak Kansal, in his person-al capacity, said that though theapex court in 2014, had grant-ed “recognition to the trans-gender/ third gender as ‘per-sons’ falling under the ambit ofArticle 14 of the IndianConstitution”, still they do not

have equal protection of law inrelation to sexual offenses.

“The petitioner is filingthis petition...With respect toequal protection of law to thethird gender/transgenderfrom the sexual assault/offences as there is no provi-

sion / section in the IPCwhich may protect the thirdgender from the sexual assaultby male/ female or anothertransgender therefore, an anti–discrimination laws areneeded to safeguard the basiccitizenship rights of trans-gender persons,” the plea said.

The plea, which may

come up for hearing in fewdays, has sought a direction tothe Centre to “make appro-priate modification/ interpre-tation of sections/ provisionsof IPC dealing with sexualassault to include transgender/transsexuals/ kinnar andeunuchs in the definitionsaccordingly”.

It also referred to an inci-dent of not lodging an FIR byDelhi Police on a sexualharassment complaint of aDelhi University transgenderstudent on the ground thatthere was no provision in theIPC to deal with transgenders.

The plea urged the topcourt “to issue an appropriateorder... Directing the respon-dents to pass an Anti-Discrimination Bill thatpenalises discrimination andharassment on the basis ofgender”.

It also sought a directionto the Centre to adopt andimplement the UniversalDeclaration of Human Rightsbeing signatory of it.

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Union Home Minister AmitShah will inaugurate a

four-day event here on Sundayto highlight the Northeastregion’s various potentials likeeco-tourism, culture, heritageand business.

The ‘Destination NorthEast-2020’ is a calendar eventof the Ministry ofDevelopment of North EasternRegion conceptualised withthe objective of taking thenortheastern region to otherparts of the country and bring-ing them closer together inorder to strengthen nationalintegration, an official state-ment said.

The home minister willinaugurate the event throughvideo conference while UnionMinister for Development ofNorth Eastern Region

(DoNER) Jitendra Singh willbe the guest of honour.

For ‘Destination NorthEast 2020’, the theme is ‘TheEmerging DelightfulDestinations’, which speaks ofthe tourism destinationsemerging stronger and moreattractive when the sectorpicks up momentum.

The programme focusesmostly on tourism and coin-cides with World TourismDay which falls on September27.

The four-day programmewill feature audio visual pre-sentation of the tourist spots ofthe states and the region, mes-sages from State icons andachievers, introduction toprominent local entrepreneursand virtual exhibition of hand-icraft, traditional fashion, andlocal products, the statementsaid.

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Aligarh: A youth was shotdead in Peepli village of Tappalarea for opposing liquor sale.Police has registered a caseagainst 8 people. One is in cus-tody.

36-years-old Neeraj aliasNeeru, resident of Peepli villagewas a farmer. Neeru's brotherPrakash has said in the com-plaint that some people used tobring liquor from Haryana andsell it in the village.

When Neeru opposed toselling liquor, they started accus-ing and threatening to kill him.Late in the night, Neeru wassleeping in a separate roomwhen 4 people, includingJayveer, entered the room at andstarted beating Neeru withhockey and rods and finally shotin the head with a gun. PNS

Aligarh: Jailed foreigners whojoined the Tablighi Jamaat inDelhi Nizamuddin during thecorona period are facing diffi-culties these days. Even aftergranting the bail, they will notbe able to leave the district tillthe trial is settled and willremain under the vigilance ofthe district police-administra-tion. In Aligarh also, two SriLankan Jamaatis were arrestedon 1st April from RangrezanMasjid, who are currently injail.

Uttar Pradesh SpecialSecretary Ramnivas Sharmaissued a letter to DM-SSP stat-ed that these foreigners can beinvolved in illegal activities orthey can escape. Jamaati, whowas caught in some districts,are trying to go to their coun-try after coming out of jail.They should not be sent to theircountry until the governmentorders. PNS

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The case of murderous assault andgang-rape of a young dalit woman

in Boolgadhi village of KotwaliChandpa in Uttar Pradesh's Hathrasdistrict is continuously catching on.Superintendent of Police Vikrantveerhas moved the line to Inspector ofChandpa. Inspector posted in crimebranch has been given charge ofChandpa. Along with this, on Saturday,the police have arrested the fourthaccused and sent him to jail.

This was the case:Last month, the command of

Chandpa police station from KotwaliHathras was handed over to the crimeinspector by the Superintendent ofPolice. After taking charge, the inspec-tors were examining the atmosphere ofthe area. Meanwhile, on 14 September,a young woman from Boolgarhhi wasattacked. In which the police tookaction by registering a case against anaccused. The woman was admitted to

JN Medical said that she was gang-raped by four people including Sandeepand strangled with the intention ofkilling her.

This matter kept on catching up.Various organizations united to providejustice. During the deliberations, thesection of gang rape was increased. OnFriday, the police arrested the thirdaccused and sent him to jail. OnFriday night, the Superintendent ofPolice moved the line to InspectorChandpa.

Laxman Singh, posted in the crimebranch, has been given the commandof Chandpa Kotwali.

The SOG and the Chandpa policewere continuously pushing to catch thefourth accused of gang rape and mur-derous attack. The police finally gotsuccess on Saturday morning. Policearrested the fourth accused Ramu sonof Rakesh and sent him to jail. SPVikrantveer says that three namescame to light during the deliberations.In this case, all the accused and thosewho came to light have been arrested.

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BJP’s Kerala unit president KSurendran alleged on

Saturday that the CPI(M)Government in the State is sab-otaging the probe into all cor-ruption cases brought to lightby his party.

“A day after the CentralBureau of Investigationlaunched a probe against theLIFE Mission project of theState Government, theVigilance Department underthe direct control of ChiefMinister Pinarayi Vijayan hasremoved and destroyed all therelevant files from theSecretariat atThiruvananthapuram. It was tosubvert the probe by the CBI,the Chief Minister orderedVigilance probe into the alle-gation of corruption worthhundreds of crore rupees,” saidSurendran while speaking to

reporters at Pathanamthittawhere he inaugurated a MahilaMorchcha rally demanding theresignation of Ministers E PJayarajan and K T Jaleel againstwhom there are big allega-tions of corruption.

The CBI on Friday has reg-istered a case in the ChiefJudicial Magistrate Court,Ernakulam, in awarding theLIFE Mission contracts ofbuilding apartment complex atWadakancherry to two privateentrepreneurs without anyexperience in construction sec-tor.

According to sources inCBI, even ministers would besummoned for questioning inthis case.

The CBI case is a follow upto a complaint filed byCongress legislator AnilAkkara, who representsWadakkancherry constituencyin the Assembly.

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Kerala, which declared itselfas a Covid-19 free-State on

May 8, is facing an unprece-dented grievous situation witha steep hike in the number ofnew patients diagnosed withthe pandemic as well as thetotal number of persons under-going treatment for the disease.

The State has put neigh-bouring Tamil Nadu waybehind in both the categories,according to the facts and fig-ures released by the respectiveState Governments onSaturday.

While Kerala diagnosed7,006 new persons with Covid-19 by Saturday evening, therewere only 5,647 new patients inTamil Nadu which has morethan twice the population thanthe former. There were 52,678

active Coronavirus afflictedpersons in Kerala as onSaturday evening. But the cor-responding figure for TamilNadu was 46,336.

The only segment in whichKerala is trailing Tamil Nadu isin the number of fatalities.While Kerala announced 21deaths on Saturday, Tamil Nadusaw 85 persons succumbing tothe pandemic during the last 24hours.

A Government physicianin Kerala, whom The Pioneerhas been in touch with sincethe first case was reported inthe State, said that theGovernment of Kerala hasbeen furnishing false detailsabout the number of casesfrom the beginning itself. Buthe did not want his name to bedisclosed.

“Even the number ofdeaths from the State is faulty.

I have authentic figures fromPathanamthitta district wheremore than 50 persons had diedbecause of Covid-19. But theofficial claim is just threedeaths,” said the doctor.

A senior scientist ofVikram Sarabhai Space Centre,Thiruvananthapuram, said thesituation in Kerala has beengrave from the beginning itself.“If you are bold enough, just goto Medical College Hospital inthe capital city. I have seen itpersonally,” said the scientist.

The doctor said that ChiefMinister Pinarayi Vijayan knewwell that the situation in theState would no more be keptsecret from the general public.“It is dangerous to come toKerala at this juncture. Out ofthe 7,006 new cases diagnosedon Saturday, 6,668 contractedthe pandemic through socialcontact” he said.

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Panaji: Goa BJP president Sadanand Shet Tanavade onSaturday said that the fact that dozens of BJP workers, includ-ing Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, tested coronavirus posi-tive only showed that the cadres were out in the field duringthe pandemic.

“Sixty eight BJP workers throughout Goa tested positiveduring the pandemic. They tested positive precisely becausethey were out in the field, in the service of people, unlikeCongress leaders who stayed indoors and only issued state-ments,” Tanavade said.

Speaking at the inaugural session of the state BharatiyaJanata Party executive meeting held in Mapusa town, locat-ed a short distance from Panaji, Tanavade said that the BJPwas already actively preparing for a host of elections, includ-ing zilla panchayats and municipalities, ahead of the 2022Assembly polls.

In all, one fifth of Goa's 40 legislators have tested posi-tive, including Sawant, former Deputy Chief Minister SudinDhavalikar, former Chief Ministers Churchill Alemao and RaviNaik, MLAs Antonio Fernandes, Nilkanth Halarnkar,Dayanand Sopte and Clafasio Dias.

Union Minister of State for Defence and AYUSH ShripadNaik, who is a Lok Sabha MP from Goa, had also tested pos-itive.

Tanavade said that the BJP in Goa was gearing up for theupcoming polls delayed due to the Covid-19 spread. “The BJPwill return to power with an absolute majority in Goa in 2022,”he said. IANS

Amaravati: The Andhra Pradesh Government has ordered thepolice to secure all places of worship to avoid any untowardincident, especially in the light of the Antarvedi Sri LakshmiNarasimha Swamy temple chariot blaze, at a time when reli-gious politics is raging in the state.

The police department has already initiated the processof asking priests and religious heads across the state to be vig-ilant and fix surveillance cameras in churches, temples,mosques.

In Prakasam and West Godavari districts, like all others,the police visited temples, churches and mosques, suggestingsafety measures to the clergy as well as locals.

A Prakasam police official said the department is keep-ing 24x7 vigil at all places of worship in the district.

A couple of policemen were seen securing a LordHanuman temple at Parchur village, another temple atKomarole, a mosque in Kandukur town and a Telugu BaptistChurch in Pamuru.

Similar scenes were seen in Epurupalem, PC Palli, Kanigiand other places in the district.

Meanwhile, Prakasam Superintendent of Police (SP),Siddharth Kaushal, has warned hate mongers that the policeare keeping a strict vigil to thwart any opportunity for vest-ed interests to exploit the situation.

“We are taking it very seriously on the ground. We areensuring that no opportunity is given and everything is attend-ed to promptly on ground, responded to promptly and noopportunity is given to exploit this situation,” Kaushal toldIANS.

He said police are also monitoring social media to lookfor troublemakers. “We are drawing up a list of suspects whomight want to capitalise on a provocation. We are keeping aclose watch, taking everything very seriously on the ground,”he asserted. IANS

Jaipur: Rajasthan reported2,045 fresh coronavirus caseson Saturday while the state'sdeath toll due to the infectionrose to 1,426 with 14 morefatalities, according to a healthdepartment bulletin.

The state's infection tallynow stood at 1,26,775.

Ajmer, Banswara, Baran,Bikaner, Dungarpur, Jaipur,Jalore, Jhunjhunu, Jodhpur,Kota, Pali, Sikar, Tonk andUdaipur reported one deatheach, according to the bulletin.

The maximum number offresh cases was reported fromJaipur (415), while Jodhpurand Bikaner reported 335 and108 infections, respectively.

Other cases were report-

ed from Ajmer (100), Alwar(153), Banswara (22), Baran(20), Barmer (3), Bharatpur(15), Bhilwara (90), Bundi (10),Chittorgarh (18), Churu (23),Dausa (37), Dholpur (20),Dungarpur (35), Ganganagar(23), Hanumangarh (19),Jaisalmer (29), Jalore (84),Jhalawar (10), Jhunjhunu (26),Karauli (20), Kota (53), Nagaur(43), Pali (83), Pratapgarh (5),Rajsamand (32),Sawaimadhopur (18), Sikar(58), Sirohi (5), Tonk (30) andUdaipur (103).

In Rajasthan, 1,05,994patients have recovered fromCOVID-19 so far and the num-ber of active cases stood at19,355. PTI

Lucknow: As many as 4,412fresh COVID-19 cases tookUttar Pradesh's infection tally to3,82,835 on Saturday, while 67more deaths pushed the toll to5,517.

There are 57,086 active casesin the state, according to officials.A total of 4,412 fresh coron-avirus cases were reported. Thedeath toll due to the virus hasmounted to 5,517, AdditionalChief Secretary, Health, AmitMohan Prasad said.

The number of activepatients in the state stands at57,086. Currently, 29,266patients are under home isola-tion, he said. As many as3,20,232 patients have recoveredand been discharged from hos-pitals, Prasad said, adding thatthe state's recovery rate hasgone up to 83.64 per cent.

On Friday, over 1.56 lakhsamples were tested, taking thetotal number of COVID-19tests conducted in the state to

over 94 lakh, he said.Stressing that the positivity

rate in the state is coming down,the officer said since the past oneweek, a declining trend hasbeen seen in the number of dailycases. In a meeting with seniorofficials earlier in the day, ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanathexpressed satisfaction over thedeclining positivity rate.

He said it is an indicationthat the state's strategy to con-tain the infection is showinggood results. He asked officialsto continue testing in the samemanner and ensure that there isno shortage of manpower ormedicines in COVID-19 hospi-tals. Adityanath directed theofficials to pay special attentionto Lucknow, which has report-ed the maximum number ofcases and deaths in the state, andprepare a better model for con-taining the infection after con-sulting the district's nodal offi-cer. PTI

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Alocal court on Saturday awarded seven year sen-tence to a man for raping a woman on the pre-

text of marriage in Udhampur district of Jammu andKashmir, an official said.

Additional session judge Udhampur, S R Gandhipronounced the judgment after hearing the addi-tional public prosecutor Anil Kumar Magotra for thestate, and counsel for the accused and the materialon record, the official said. Surinder Singh, a resi-dent of Kotli Jija village of Udhampur, was arrest-ed after the woman lodged a written complaint atRehmbal Police Station on December 7, 2011, alleg-ing that the accused had called her and when shemet him, he outraged her modesty and also threat-ened her not to tell anyone about the incident.

The victim also claimed that Singh afterwardsrepeatedly made physical relations with her with apromise to marry her, the official said.

On the basis of the report, an FIR was registeredand the accused was arrested after thorough inves-tigation. Later, the charge sheet was presented in thecourt of Additional District and session judge court,Udhampur.

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Following repeated incidentsof arms dropping using

drones by the Pakistan basedhandlers of terrorist outfits indifferent parts of Jammuregion, the border securitygrid and security checkpointsalong the National highway hasbeen beefed up to prevent anymajor terror strike on a vitalsecurity installation in theregion.

Inspector General ofPolice, Jammu Zone , MukeshSingh Saturday chaired a highlevel meeting with the districtpolice chiefs following appre-hensions of 'subversive' activi-ties by the anti national ele-ments and reviewed theBorder Security Grid andNational Highway security.

In the recent weeks, sever-

al incidents of arms droppingalong the International borderin Samba and Kathua havecome to light where local Overground workers (OGW's) weretasked to ferry the arms andammunition consignment totheir conduits before handingthem over to the commandersof different terrorist outfits. Inmany cases, these conduitshave been caught red handedwith arms consignment by thealert security forces but thereare apprehensions that some ofthese consignments have beendelivered 'successfully' withoutcoming on the radar of thesecurity forces.

In a separate meeting onFriday IGP, Jammu MukeshSingh had directed the seniorpolice officers to remain alertin their respective jurisdictionand ensure strict 'Naka' check-

ing on the National Highwayfrom Kashmir valley to Jammuregion to prevent the move-ment of arms and terrorists intheir region.

The meeting was attendedby the senior police officersincluding range DIG's and dis-trict police chiefs of Jammu,Samba, Kathua and Udhampur.

During the security reviewmeeting, detailed presentationswere given by the senior offi-cers discussing the three tierdeployment of paramilitaryforces along the Internationalborder and the counter terror-ist grid in the region. Directionswere issued to the police offi-cers of these bordering districtsto strengthen the intelligencenetwork in the border belt andmaintain tight vigil on themovement of suspected peoplein the area.

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Seven people were in custodyon Saturday after a stabbing

outside the former Paris officesof satirical newspaper CharlieHebdo, including the suspectedassailant, authorities said.Counterterrorism authoritiesare investigating what authori-ties called an Islamic extremistattack linked to Charlie Hebdo,which lost 12 employees in anal-Qaida attack in 2015.

The weekly, which rou-tinely mocks religious andother prominent figures,recently republished carica-tures of the ProphetMuhammad that outragedmany Muslims.

The suspected assailant inFriday’s stabbing had beenarrested a month ago for car-rying a screwdriver but was noton police radar for Islamicradicalisation, Interior MinisterGerald Darmanin said. He saidthe screwdriver was considereda weapon, but did not explainwhy.

The suspect arrived inFrance three years ago as anunaccompanied minor, appar-

ently from Pakistan, but hisidentity was still being verified,the minister said.

Seven others were detainedin the aftermath of Friday’sattack, but one has beenreleased, according to judicialofficials.

Five of those in custodywere detained in the Paris sub-urb of Pantin in a residencewhere the suspect is believed tohave lived, a police officialsaid.

Two people were woundedin Friday’s attack, a woman anda man working at a documen-tary production company whohad stepped outside for asmoke break.

The interior minister con-ceded that security was lackingon the street where CharlieHebdo was once headquar-tered, and ordered special pro-tection for all “symbolic sites,”noting in particular Jewishsites around the Yom Kippurholiday this weekend.

A Jewish grocery store wastargeted days after the CharlieHebdo newsroom massacre,in what authorities say werecoordinated attacks.

Colombo: Former Sri LankanPresident Maithripala Sirisenashould take responsibility forthe 2019 Easter Sunday bomb-ings that claimed the lives ofover 250 people, ex-policechief Pujith Jayasundara hastold a panel probing theattack, according to mediareports.

On April 21, 2019, EasterSunday, nine suicide bombersbelonging to the local Islamicextremist group NationalThawheed Jamaat (NTJ) car-ried out a series of blasts thattore through three churchesand as many luxury hotels inthe island nation, killing 258

people, including 11 Indians,and injuring over 500 people.

Sri Lankan police havearrested over 200 suspects inconnection with the bomb-ings. Links between the NTJand the Islamic State (IS)were later established.

Suspended InspectorGeneral of Police Jayasunderatestified on Thursday beforethe presidential inquiry com-mission probing the attacks,the Daily Mirror Lankareported. “I provided intelli-gence to senior DIGs NandanaMunasinghe, Latheef, PriyalalDasanayake and WarunaJayasundara who had been

appointed to cover the entireisland. Provincial officers werealso informed,” the newspaperquoted Jayasundera as saying.

He said Sirisena’s brotherhad ensured the intelligencethat he provided was deletedfrom telecom records, who atthe time was the president ofMobitel Telecom, reportedthe Colombo Page.Jayasundara told the com-mission that Sirisena hadasked him to take responsi-bility for the attack and indi-rectly offered inducements —high government post,appointment as anAmbassador. PTI

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US President Donald Trump hasalleged that a new set of docu-

ments have revealed that Russiansinterfered in the 2016 presidentialelections on behalf of his then rivaland Democratic presidential nom-inee Hillary Clinton.

The alleged Russian interferencein US elections in 2016 was one ofthe major topics for the OppositionDemocrats in the first three years ofTrump’s presidency and also becamethe basis of the failed impeachmentproceedings against him.

“I’ve been tarred with this hor-rible witch hunt for four years. AndI didn’t do it. Think of it. Whatwould my numbers be, if I didn’t gothrough almost four years of aRussian witch hunt that turned outto be just the opposite. They were theones involved with Russia,” Trumpsaid while addressing a Repubicancampaign rally in Newport, Virginiaon Friday.

“A new trove of documents…now prove that Russia interferedin 2016. Unfortunately, it was onbehalf of Hillary Clinton, not Trump.

They interfered with disinfor-mation,” Trump said.Trump allegedthe 2016 presidential elections wereinterfered by the Russians on behalfof rival Clinton’s campaign.

“The newly released text mes-sages make 100 per cent clear. TheFBI knew that Democrats pur-chased Russian disinformation tar-geting me, your favourite president,which then formed the basis for thewitch hunt,” he said as he praisedseveral Fox News anchors for stand-ing by him during those days.

Trump also accused theDemocrats and the Russians of spy-ing on him and his campaign.

“It was a whole big disinforma-tion campaign,” he said amidstcheers and applause from his audi-ence. Now it’s turning out….Not

turning out, turning out, it’s donebecause if you look at everything,that’s come out over the last few days,it’s we caught them. They spied onmy campaign and they tried for acoup,” he said.

“Can you believe it, in this dayand age? And we caught them cold.… It turned out to be a total hoax.In fact, Biden’s son was just revealedtwo days ago, got USD 3.5 milliondollars from the wife of the mayorof Moscow,” he alleged.

The Trump administration ear-lier this month charged a Russiannational in a sweeping plot to sowdistrust in the American politicalprocess and imposed sanctionsagainst a Russia-linked Ukrainianlawmaker accused of interfering inthe US presidential election.

Those actions, combined with aMicrosoft announcement on hack-ing

attempts targeting US politicalcampaigns, parties and consultants,

underscore the extent to which thesame cyber intrusions and foreigninfluence operations that defined the2016 White House race remain apersistent concern, according tolocal media reports.

Meanwhile, latest polls show thatTrump, 74, is fast catching up withhis Democratic rival and former vicepresident Joe Biden, 77, with the lat-ter leading by 6.7 per cent on anational average against a double-digit lead more than a month ago.

In the battleground States, thelead has now come down to 3.6 percent ahead of the November 3 pres-idential election.

Trump in his rallies over the past10 days has been attracting a hugecrowd, with his supporters ignoringsocial distancing measures of coro-navirus pandemic.

Biden on the other hand has notbeen doing large public rallies. Hismeetings are mostly virtual andsmall in-person ones at times.

Seoul: South Korea said onSaturday it will request NorthKorea to further investigate thekilling of a South Korean gov-ernment official who was shotby North Korean troops afterbeing found adrift near therivals’ disputed sea boundarywhile apparently trying todefect.

Seoul could also possiblycall for a joint investigation intoTuesday’s shooting, whichsparked outrage in the Southand drew a rare apology fromNorth Korean leader Kim JongUn.

Kim was quoted as sayinghe was “very sorry” over whathe described as an “unexpect-ed, unfortunate incident” in amessage sent by Pyongyang’sUnited Front Department, aNorth Korean governmentagency in charge of inter-Korean relations.

However, the North Koreanmessage, which was announcedby the office of South KoreanPresident Moon Jae-in onFriday, largely passed the blamefor the shooting to the SouthKorean official, claiming that herefused to answer questionsand attempted to flee beforeNorth Korean troops fired athim.

South Korean officials dur-ing a presidential NationalSecurity Council meetingFriday evening concluded thatfurther investigation was need-ed because the North’s accountof the incident was differentfrom what was gathered bySouth Korean intelligence,Moon’s office said.

“We have decided torequest the North to conduct anadditional investigation andalso request a joint investigationwith the North if needed,” the

Blue House said in a statement. It said the South will also

“swiftly take measures to fur-ther strengthen surveillanceposture” in waters off the coun-try’s western coast to preventsimilar incidents.

South Korea’s coast guardwas deploying dozens of vesselsand hundreds of officers tosearch waters near the westernsea border Saturday for the offi-cial’s remains.

The North’s state mediahave yet to report on the inci-dent or Kim’s apology.

South Korea earlier accusedthe North of shooting the man,who was likely trying to defect,and burning his body afterfinding him on a floating objectin North Korean waters. SouthKorean officials condemnedwhat they called an “atrociousact” and pressed North Korea topunish those responsible. AP

Beijing: The ruling Communist Party of Chinahas suspended a senior official in Tibet for cor-ruption and divulging state secrets, accordingto the official media.

Wang Jinhe, 55, a former party member anddeputy director of Tibet’s transport authority,has been subject to disciplinary and supervisoryinvestigations for suspected serious violationsof discipline and law in April this year.

He has been in the vice post of the Tibettransport authority for eight years since 2012,the state-run Xinhua news agency.

The discipline inspection commission of theTibet Autonomous Region announced onFriday that Wang was expelled from theCommunist party and removed from his posi-tion for corruption, divulging state secrets andillegally possessing ammunition.

The commission said Wang had demon-strated disloyalty to the party and even coun-tered the inspection by transferring and con-cealing evidence.

He illegally occupied public houses; divulgedstate secrets, and illegally possessed ammuni-tion, the commission said.

He took advantage of his position to pro-vide unlawful help in contracting projects tothose who offered him bribes of a huge amount,it said, without releasing details.

Wang has seriously violated the party’s dis-ciplines of politics, organisation, work and life.And, his actions should be dealt with serious-ly, it said.

Wang has since been expelled from the partyand removed from his government position withall illegal gains confiscated.

Thousands of Communist Party of Chinaofficials have been suspended since ChinesePresident Xi Jinping took power in 2012.

Critics allege that Xi also made effective useof the anti-graft campaign to consolidate hispower. PTI

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United Nations: Russia andChina blocked the official releaseof a report by UN experts onLibya that accused its warringparties and their internationalbackers -- including Russia -- ofviolating a UN arms embargo onthe conflict-wracked country,UN diplomats said Friday.

Germany’s deputy UNambassador, Günter Sautter,said he brought the issue to theSecurity Council after the twocountries blocked the report’srelease by the committee mon-itoring sanctions on Libya,which Germany heads. “Manydelegations have asked for thepublication of the panel ofexperts’ interim report,” he said.

“This would create muchneeded transparency. It wouldcontribute to naming and sham-ing those who continue to bla-tantly violate the arms embargoin spite of agreements that havebeen made.”

But diplomats, speaking oncondition of anonymity becauseFriday’s council consultationswere closed, said Russia and

close ally China again blockedthe report’s publication.

Sautter said before the meet-ing, when asked what Germanycould do if Russia and Chinablocked the report’s releaseagain: “Let me assure you I willcontinue to use every tool athand in order to make sure thatwe have the necessary trans-parency.”

The report, seen by TheAssociated Press earlier thismonth, said the arms embargowas being violated by Libya’sUN-supported government inthe west, which is backed byTurkey and Qatar, and by rivaleast-based forces under com-mander Khalifa Hifter, backedby the United Arab Emirates,Russia and Jordan.

The panel said the embar-go remains “totally ineffective.”The experts said 11 companiesalso violated the arms embargo,including the Wagner Group, aprivate Russian security com-pany that the panel said in Mayprovided between 800 and 1,200mercenaries to Hifter.

In addition, the experts saidthe warring parties and theirinternational backers, along withEgypt and Syria, failed to inspectaircraft or vessels if they havereasonable grounds to believethe cargo contains militaryweapons and ammunition, asrequired by a 2015 SecurityCouncil resolution.

Anwar Gargash, the UnitedArab Emirates’ minister of statefor foreign affairs, told a groupof reporters at a virtual briefingFriday that he wouldn’t com-ment on a report he hadn’tseen. But he said that “we cate-gorically deny” many of the“wild allegations that we’ve beenhearing in the press.”

In the years after the 2011uprising that toppled longtimeautocrat Moammar Gadhafi,Libya has sunk further into tur-moil and is now dividedbetween two rival administra-tions based in the country’s eastand west, with an array of fight-ers and militias backed by var-ious foreign powers allied witheach side. AP

Washington: President DonaldTrump plans on Saturday toname conservative federalappeals court judge AmyConey Barrett to fill the vacan-cy on the US Supreme Courtcreated by the death of JusticeRuth Bader Ginsburg, twosources said on Friday.

His decision, which comesa week after the liberal icon’sdeath at age 87, sets the stagefor what promises to be a bit-ter confirmation fight in theU.S. Senate, which is controlledby Trump’s fellow Republicans.Trump has asked SenateRepublicans to confirm hisnominee ahead of the Nov. 3US election, when he seeks asecond term in office andDemocrats aim to seize controlof the chamber.

Barrett, 48, was appointedby Trump to the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court ofAppeals in 2017 and is knownfor her conservative religiousviews. Supreme Court justices

are given lifetime appoint-ments.

If confirmed by the Senate,she would become the fifthwoman to serve on the highcourt while expanding its con-servative majority to a rock-solid 6-3.

Trump plans a formalintroduction at the WhiteHouse on Saturday. Twosources confirmed on Fridaythat Trump plans to nominateBarrett, but warned thatTrump could change hismind. Trump himself toldreporters on Friday that hehad made his decision, butdeclined to say who his pickwas.

Barrett has been viewed asa frontrunner throughout,along with fellow federalappeals court judge BarbaraLagoa. Barrett previouslyserved as a clerk to conserva-tive Supreme Court JusticeAntonin Scalia, who died in2016. Agency

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London: Thousands gatheredon Saturday at London’sTrafalgar Square to protestlockdowns and social distanc-ing rules imposed to slow thespread of COVID-19.

London’s MetropolitanPolice has warned demonstra-tors to follow social-distancingrules. Police said before theevent that officers will firstengage with people and explainthe social distancing rules, butthey may take enforcementaction if protesters still fail tocomply. As the protest began,police were visible around theedges of the crowd but didn’tconfront protesters, most ofwhom weren’t wearing masks.

“I know there is great frus-tration to these regulations, butthey have been designed tokeep everyone safe from what isa lethal virus,” Cmdr. AdeAdelekan said. “By flagrantlygathering in large numbers andignoring social distancing, youare putting your at risk.” AP

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Kyiv: Hundreds of women call-ing for the authoritarian pres-ident to step down protested inBelarus’ capital on Saturday,continuing the large demon-strations that have rocked thecountry since early August.

Police blocked off the cen-ter of Minsk and arrested morethan 60 demonstrators, accord-ing to the Viasna human rightsorganisation. Some of thosearrested were chased down by

police in building courtyardswhere they were trying to takerefuge, Viasna said.

Protests, by far the largestand most persistent in Belarussince independence from theSoviet Union in 1991, beganAugust 9 after an election thatofficials said gave PresidentAlexander Lukashenko a sixthterm in office.

Opponents and some pollworkers say the results, in

which Lukashenko was talliedwith 80 per cent support, weremanipulated.

Despite wide-scale deten-tions of demonstrators and thearrest of many prominentopposition figures, the protestshaven’t shown signs of abating.Lukashenko further angeredopponents this week by takingthe oath of office for a newterm in an unexpected cere-mony. AP

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The Trump Administrationis seeking to restrict the

stay of journalists from Chinain the US to just 90 days withthe provision of another exten-sion for a similar duration,according to a federal notifi-cation.

The move came amidstworsening of bilateral ties overa range of issues like the coro-navirus pandemic, trade,Beijing’s increasing grip onHong Kong and alleged humanrights abuses against minoritiesin the Xinjiang province.

The proposal of the

Department of HomelandSecurity is part of the fixedtime limit on visas of students,researchers and foreign jour-nalists in the US.

While the time limit forforeign journalists in generalhas been restricted to 240 daysand another extension of asimilar period, those for ajournalist from China wouldbe issued a I visa by the UnitedStates just for 90 days, as perthe federal notification issuedon Friday.

Stake holders have 30 daysto respond to the federal noti-fication before it can beenforced.

�������������������������;������������>1���� Beijing: China’s fastest subway

train, travelling at 160 kms perhour, made its debut in south-ern Guangzhou city, officialmedia reported on Saturday.

The subway train will beput into service at GuangzhouMetro’s No. 18 and No. 22metro lines, which are stillunder construction. Once it isput into service, it will take 25minutes and 30 minutes fromNansha Free Trade Zone to theSouth Guangzhou train stationand East Guangzhou train sta-tion, respectively, state-runGlobal Times reported. Thetwo lines will extend toGuangdong’s Zhuhai,Zhongshan and Dongguancities in the future. PTI

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Finance ministry sourceshave countered CAG audit

finding of central Governmentwrongly retaining �47,272crore of GST compensationcess meant for States, sayingtemporary retention cannot betermed as diversion.

Days after theComptroller and AuditorGeneral (CAG) flagged that theCentre in first two years of theGST implementation wronglyretained GST compensationcess that was meant to be usedspecifically to compensatestates for loss of revenue, min-istry sources said compensationdue for the year 2017-18 and2018-19 was fully paid to states.

Time taken in reconcilia-tion of compensation receiptscan’t be termed as diversion ofGST cess fund when the duesto states were fully released bythe central government, theysaid.

Sources said that in 2017-18, �62,611 crore was collect-

ed, out of which the govern-ment released full compensa-tion dues of �41,146 crore tothe States and union territories(UTs).

In 2018-19, an amount of�95,081 crore was collected, outof which �69,275 crore waspaid as full compensation duesto States and UTs.

They said an amount of�47,271 crore collected in the2017-18 and 2018-19 hadremained unutilised for rec-onciliation post full payment ofGST compensation dues.

For the year 2019-20, thecentral Government released�1,65,302 crore as GST com-pensation against a cess col-lection of �95,444 crore whichit could do so with theunutilised cess of �47,271crore.

The GST (Compensationto States) Act guarantees allstates an annual growth rate of14 per cent in their GST rev-enue in the first five years ofimplementation of GST begin-ning July 2017. It was intro-

duced as a relief for States forthe loss of revenues arisingfrom the implementation ofGST.

If a state’s revenue growsslower than 14 per cent, it issupposed to be compensated bythe Centre using the fundsspecifically collected as com-pensation cess. To providethese grants, a GST compen-sation cess is levied on certainluxury and sin goods.

The collected compensa-tion cess flows into the con-solidated fund of India (CFI),and is then transferred to thePublic Account of India, wherea GST compensation cessaccount has been created. Statesare compensated bi-monthlyfrom the accumulated funds inthis account.

However, instead of trans-ferring the entire GST cessamount to the GST compen-sation fund during 2017-18 and2018-19, the CAG found thatthe Centre retained these fundsin the CFI and used it for otherpurposes.

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Telecom regulator Trai hasdecided to drop proceed-

ings against Vodafone Idea Ltd(VIL) in priority plan matterafter the telco withdrew con-tentious claims on faster speedand modified its offering.

The move brings downcurtains on the controversialpriority plan issue, which sawthe Telecom RegulatoryAuthority of India (Trai) initi-ating a probe into telco’s claimsof priority network and fasterdata speeds for premium cus-tomers.

Last month, the regulatorhad slapped a show-causenotice on VIL over its prioritymobile plan, saying the tariffoffer lacked transparency andwas “misleading” and not incompliance with regulatoryframework.

Faced with regulatory heat,VIL recently dropped the fasterdata speed claims whichformed a prominent part of itspay-more-for-priority-treat-ment offering and filed arevised plan with Trai.

The regulator has nowinformed VIL that “the author-ity has decided not to proceedwith the investigation/ furtherinquiry”. Trai letter, seen byPTI, noted that the operatorhas informed that the earlierRedX plan has been discon-tinued and that a new tariff

plan of RedX, without theclaim of priority 4G networkfeature with faster speed, hasbeen filed. “It has been furtherstated that VIL believes that thesame would address the con-cerns of the authority andbased on the same, VILrequested the authority to grantclosure to the pending enquiry,”the regulator said closing thematter. Earlier this month, VILsubmitted a new RedX planwith Trai as

it removed claims of fasterdata speeds - a major bone ofcontention. The company’swebsite too had stopped tout-ing claims of faster speeds forRedX plan and instead spoke ofbenefits purely in terms ofentertainment privileges(Netflix and Amazon Prime),travel privileges, mobility ben-efits and other privileges for thesaid offer. Trai had been exam-ining VIL’s priority plan RedXand Bharti Airtel Platinumoffering to see if network pref-erence to specific customers ledto deterioration of services forother non-premium sub-scribers or violated any norms.

Bharti Airtel, how-ever, was not issued a show-cause notice for its platinumplan. Airtel had withdrawn itsplatinum offering and offeredto abide by Trai’s views andhence the regulator did notproceed with further investi-gation on it.

New Delhi: Leading privatesector medical service providerFortis Healthcare has handedover a cheque of �2.5 crore atthe initiative of Minister ofState for Health and FamilyWelfare Ashwini KumarChoubey.Fortis Healthcare’s MD andCEO Dr AshutoshRaghuvanshi, senior VicePresident (Corporate Affairs

and CSR) Manu Kapila, SRL’sCEO Anand Kumar handedover the cheque to IndianCouncil of Medical Research(ICMR) Director General Prof(DR) Balram Bhargav andsenior financial advisor RajivRoy. On the occasion, ShriChoubey was present. At theevent, Shri Choubey said thatthe ICMR has established anoutstanding parameter in the

field of research. Not only inIndia, this institute one of thebest research institute in theworld. Since day first of Covid-19 pandemic, the scientists areworking tirelessly day andnight. He also said that theFortis Hospital has done acommendable job and “I amsure this would inspire many.”

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Persistently high inflationfanned in part due to sup-

ply side disruptions along withseasonal factors will deter theReserve Bank to administer adose of lending rate cut duringthe upcoming monetary poli-cy review.

In a poll conducted byIANS, economist and industryexperts cited elevated inflationlevel as a key determinant fora pause in policy easing.

Notably, the expectedmove comes at a time whenindustrial output is at historiclow due to the Covid-19 pan-demic.

A policy easing, if admin-istered, would have theoreti-cally allowed commercial

banks to reduce their lendingrates thereby helping both con-sumers and the industry to getcheaper finance.

Subsequently, the increasedmoney flow in the hands ofconsumers would have helpedto boost demand, and for theindustry provided a higherflow of capital investment onthe back of lower cost.

Nonetheless, retail inflationhas been at an elevated levelduring July-August.

“In view of the retail infla-tion being higher than RBI’scomfort zone for two consec-utive quarters in the past andlikelihood of it remaining inexcess of 6 per cent in July-September as well, no rate cutis expected in the upcomingpolicy review,” Sunil Kumar

Sinha, Principal Economist,India Ratings & Research toldIANS.

“But RBI will continue tomaintain its accommodativepolicy stance to signal thatpolicy rates are not going to goup either.”

Lately, data showed thatIndia’s August retail inflationstood at an elevated level.

The retail or consumerprice index stood at 6.69 percent in August. It had risen to6.73 per cent in July.

As per the data, retail infla-tion level has reached the upperlimit of the medium-term CPIinflation target of 4 per cent.The target is set within a bandof +/- 2 per cent.

“Given the elevated CPIinflation, we expect an extend-

ed pause from the MPC,” saidAditi Nayar, PrincipalEconomist, ICRA.

The RBI’s MPC (MonetaryPolicy Committee) is expectedto release its resolution on themonetary policy after theirmeet on Sep 29th to Oct 1st,2020.

“We believe that MPC will

continue to hold the interestrates in the near term given thecontinuing inflationary con-cerns,” said Suman ChowdhuryChief Analytical Officer atAcuite Ratings and Research.

“However, the accom-modative stance is likely to per-sist in the face of the ongoingeconomic contraction.”

Besides inflation, other

economic indicators, showeddecline in production and inessence revival of economicgrowth due to localised lock-downs, supply chain disrup-tions and lack of labour supply.

“Our inflation trajectorysuggests that technically thenext opportune time to cut maynot come before end-3QFY21,”said Madhavi Arora, LeadEconomist, FX and Rates forEdelweiss Securities.

“However, the modestreduction in July and AugustCPI inflation will provide somecomfort for the RBI. We main-tain the depth of ongoing fallin demand is not yet reflectedaccurately in inflation, and asit starts to percolate in data andas supply normalise progres-sively, headline CPI inflation

will likely moderate towards 4per cent by end-CY20, admit-tedly also helped by base effect.”

The August datapoint fur-ther showed that India’s con-sumer food price index hadeased a bit to 9.05 per centagainst 9.27 per cent reportedfor July 2020.

On its part, BrickworkRatings said: “We expect infla-tion to remain b elow 6 per centin Q3FY21 as food inflation islikely to lower in the wake ofabundant harvests.”

“The pandemic is stillevolving, and credit offtake,even at a low rate of interest,looks sticky. With uncertaintyregarding the pandemic looming large, the RBI may not pro-vide a GDP forecast for FY21in the upcoming MPC meet-

ing. As in the previous state-ments, the RBI may continue totalk about economic contrac-tion without quantifying themagnitude.”

Last month, the MPC ofthe central bank decided toretain its key short-term lend-ing rate to curb the rise in infla-tion, and stabilise the generaleconomic environment.

Even though it retained therepo rate -- or short-term lend-ing rate for commercial banks,at 4 per cent, the MPC agreedto maintain the growth-ori-ented a ccommodative stance.

Likewise, the reverse reporate stood unchanged at 3.35per cent, and the marginalstanding facility (MSF) rateand the ‘Bank Rate’ at 4.25 percent.

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No further relaxation is like-ly in terms of e-invoicing

as the Centre is set to go aheadwith the decision to make GSTe-invoicing mandatory forcompanies with annualturnover of over �500 crore fortheir business-to-businesstransactions starting October 1.

Industry representatives,however, have urged the gov-ernment to not make itmandatory and rather allowvoluntary compliance.

The rel ie f , however,would be there for relativelysmaller businesses, as thethreshold for mandatory e-invoicing, a step to improvetax compliance, was earlierplanned to be kept at �100crore, is set to be raised to�500 crore on the recom-mendations of an empoweredpanel of the Goods andServices Tax (GST) Council.

The initial date for its rollout was April 1, 2020, but theCentre notified October 1,2020, as revised date forimplementation of e-invoic-ing.

New Delhi: In a big change inits business strategy, the coun-try’s largest coal-fired power

producer NTPC proposes tocompletely stop land acquisi-tion for green field thermal

projects and rather look forreducing its carbon footprintthrough aggressive renewableenergy push.

“We have taken the deci-sion not to acquire any furtherland for green field thermalprojects in near future and thefocus will be on reducing thecarbon foot print,” NTPCchairman Gurdeep Singh saidin a statement to the share-holders at a recently conclud-ed AGM.As part of its initiativeto transform itself into a renew-able player, NTPC has alsodecided to set up a separategreen focused subsidiary.

By 2032, state-ownedNTPC plans to add 32 GW ofrenewable generation capacityto its portfolio through organ-ic and inorganic routes. Non-fossil fuel-based generationcapacity will make up nearly 30per cent of its portfolio, which,at present, is less than 10 percent. Short term target is toreach 10 GW of renewablecapacity up to 2022.“In order toget access to large tracts of landfor RE projects, discussions arein progress with state govern-ments of Gujarat, Rajasthan,Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtraand Andhra Pradesh for allo-cation of land parcels for settingup of renewable projects. Thesewould be developed underUltra Mega Renewable EnergyPower Parks scheme of the gov-ernment of India,” the compa-ny chairman informed theshareholders. IANS

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Caution over the upcomingmonetary policy review

along with a strong US dollaris expected to check the appre-ciation in Indian rupee duringthe short-term.

Notably, a likely US fiscalstimulus package combinedwith caution over the upcom-ing monetary policy reviewslated for October 1 may limitthe rise in the USDINR spot.

“The strength in dollarindex, foreign fund outflowscould weigh Rupee for next fewweeks going ahead,” saidDevarsh Vakil, Deputy Head ofRetail Research at HDFCSecurities. “Dollar continues togain as concerns about risingCovid-19 cases in ducing aslowdown in the global eco-nomic recovery weigh on stockmarkets and emerging cur-rencies, in turn benefiting theoversold dollar.”Recently, acomment by a senior US Fedofficial on the need for moreUS fiscal stimulus added “fur-

ther fuel to the fire”.“In near term, dollar and

the safe haven yen are likely tooutperform,” he said.

According to Sajal Gupta,Head, Forex and Rates,Edelweiss Securities: “Rupeeclosed at 73.60 after a rollercoaster week, but remainedstable to strong on expectedReliance Retail deal pipeline.”

“Other developments suchas RBI again mopping-up $3billion in the previous w eek,S&P affirming India’s ratingswith a word of caution onfuture growth outlook areexpected curtail the apprecia-tion, however, rupee maystrengthen toward 73 in com-ing days within a range of73.90 to 73.20.” Besides, mar-ket will keep an eye out for thepan-ultimate monetary policyre view for the calendar year2020 which is slated for Oct 1.

Last week, the rupeestrengthened to Rs 73.60against a greenback.

“Rupee can be in range of73.25-74.10 as the dollar index

keeps has strong support near$94-94.20, and some upsidepossibly towards $95-95.40shall keep rupee appreciation atcheck,” said Jateen Trivedi,Senior Research Analyst(Commodity & Currency) atLKP Securities. “The market iscautiously awaiting the out-come of the RBI monetarypolicy me eting on October 1.More or less the range remainsbetween 73.25-74.10 on broadtrading.”However, corporatedollar inflows along with IPOlisting will keep the apprecia-tion momentum going on forthe Indian currency.

“The hope that the US fis-cal stimulus package will rolloutsoon is tempting to think thatthis may be an end to the dol-lar bull run, but there s tillremains a high risk over the pas-sage of the stimulus package. Sounless the bill is passed, we mayobserve some appreciation in theUSDINR spot towards the 74zone,” said Rahul Gupta, Headof Research-Currency at EmkayGlobal Financial Services.

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Diesel prices fell again onSaturday continuing its

southward movement in tan-dem with fall in global productprices and steady crude prices.

Oil marketing companies,however, kept petrol pricesunchanged for the fourth con-secutive day.

In the national capital,diesel prices fell by 16 paise perlitre to �70.94 a litre down from�71.10 per litre on Friday.Petrol prices remained static at�81.06 a litre.

In the other metros ofMumbai, Chennai and Kolkataas well diesel prices fell between15-18 paise per litre.

The price fall is on theback of expectation of slowingdemand for oil globally as asecond wave of coronavirusspike threatens further deraileconomic activity.

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Building on the opportunityof trust, transparency and

security in Crypto trading,India’s first Business-to-Business (B2B) Crypto tradingexchange, DigitX, hasannounced its commencementof trading operations.

Speaking on the occasionAshish Mehta, Co-Founder,DigitX said “Crypto even sinceits inception have had a rollercoaster ride, where it enjoys ahigh degree of popularityamong a certain section of thesociety and at the same time itfaces questions on security andtransparency. It is our humbleinitiative, to educate investorsin the ecosystem and people atlarge about the potential of thisalternative asset class, whichworks on the principal of superefficiency through BlockChain. We are starting opera-tions with our trusted membersand by the end of 2021, we areaiming to have members onboard.”

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His love for the game beganwhen he was in Class III.From there on there was noturning back. While heplayed cricket at district

level, he didn’t pursue it further becausehis parents wanted him to have a prop-er job that was steady. Meet PrathameshAvachare, the co-founder of theViratGang fan community that has sevenlakh followers since its inception in2012.

“I was a good player and maybe man-aged to play at the State level as well. Butdestiny had other things in mind. I wasalways good with numbers and comput-ers hence, did my computer engineeringand today I have my own digital market-ing agency in Nashik. What keeps megoing is the ViratGang — a fan club thata friend, Dileep MK, and I started backin 2012. It was a chance meeting that ledme to Dileep. When I was 17, I had wona competition run by Cinthol to challengeVirat Kohli to an unusual game. I wasamong the top five winners. I had playedwith Kohli using a baseball bat; neitherwon. We were tied. It was fun. He is sucha good player. I love the way he plays. Icame to Delhi and came to know ofDileep. We instantly connected and keptin touch,” the 25-year-old tells you.

Both Avachare and MK are Kohlifans and wanted to do something. Hence,ViratGang was born. The communityholds events where fans congregate. Ifpossible, the present Team India captainmakes and appearance. One is told thattheirs is the only fan club that Kohli fol-lows on Twitter.

“It is not possible for Virat Kohli tobe there at each and every event that weorganise but he does make an appearancewhen possible. We are always in touch

with him over Twitter. There is very lit-tle that we don’t know about the man andthe game that he plays. Even during thelockdown, we posted things that ViratKohli said to keep the morale of the peo-ple high and ensure their mental wellbe-ing. While there was nothing muchrelated to the game, it was important thatwe were in touch with the community,”Avachare tells you.

While it is not always possible for himto be present for each and every matchthat India plays, he is there for all the

matches that are played in the countryand the important ones.

“I was there in England last year forthe World Cup. I travel as much as I canand follow the team. It is easier to do sowhen they are playing domestic cricket.It is a bit of an expensive hobby but thepleasure that I derive from watchingKohli play in the stadium has a charmthat can’t be replaced,” Avachare tells you.

The lockdown pushed forward someof the plans that the club had planned butthings are moving now, he tells you andsoon they will be out with merchandiseon Virat Kohli. He tells you that since theIPL started, they have a parallel fan clubfor the RCB team where they just don’tgo ga-ga over Kohli but the entire team.“We have the RCB Bold Brigade calledThe Red Army. This means that when theteam won their first match the other day,we were thrilled. It goes without sayingthat they are my favourites. Here we fol-low all the players in the team and evenhave merchandise to offer to the fans likeT-shirts, key chain and wrist bands,”Avachare says.

All this requires a lot of work andplanning, he tells you and thereforeDileep and he make a calendar of eventsthat they need to follow everyday. “It isnot as if we can afford to have a blank dayon Twitter. We have to update everydayand let the fans know what is happening.If it is not about the game, it is about theevents that we are set to organise,”Avachare says.

He tells you that while he has fol-lowed every game that Team India hasplayed since 2005, when SachinTendulkar was in the team he hasn’t seenany reruns of games played before that.

“I started following cricket serious-ly in 2005. Don’t know much about thematch played before. But that doesn’tmean I don’t know who the top playersof that time were or what their recordswere. It is just easier to follow the gameas one is growing up and keep tabs onyour favourite player,” Avachare says.

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He is a CharteredAccountant by profes-sion and takes tutorials.Numbers is his love butwhat keeps the family

together is their love for cricket. Hischildhood dream was to play crick-et or become an umpire. But unfor-tunately, the love for food meant thathe couldn’t maintain the well of fit-ness that was required to play inter-national level. Meet Ashish Thakkar.

“We are a Gujarati family and ourinherent love for numbers is in me aswell. However, my grandfather, father,me and now my daughter are suchavid fans of the game that it wasimpossible to stay away from it.While I did not end up being anumpire or a cricket analyst, I amhappy that I can still be part of thegame even as a spectator,” Thakkartells you.

Ashish’s love for the game comesfrom his family. He tells you that hisgreat grandfather had some interestwhich was passed on to his grandfa-ther who then introduced his son andlater Ashish to the game.

“I still remember it was inNovember 1986 that I saw my first gameat Wankhede Stadium. It was a match that my father took me to; it was just apractice match between England and Bombay. I fell in love with the atmosphere.It was in Class IX when I started regularly going for all the international gamesthat were played in the city. I am not a fan of any player, it would be difficult toname one. I am a fan of the game. As long as the game is played in the spirit ofthe sport, it doesn’t matter who wins,” Ashish says.

While his great grandfather, grandfather and father grew up listening to thecommentary for away games. For other games, they would end up watching atBrabourne Stadium. He started watching the game on the Black and White TVand then Wankhede Stadium.

His father, Surya Kanth Thakkar tells you that his memory of the game datesback to the radio days. Like his son, he is the fan of the game. “When I was intro-duced to the game, I was told to love the game and no side with a team. I taughtthe same thing to my son and now granddaughter,” the 71-year-old tells you andsays that during his time, his favourite player was Andy Roberts. He used to regaleAshish with stories about the cricketer.

“I am will be honest here. I am a traditionalist and love Test Matches, thenODIs and then comes T20 format. There have been instances when I have satalone to just watch a Test Match. My daughter on the other hand prefers the T20,”Ashish tells you.

His 12-year-daughter, Ishti is no less. While she may not be a fan of the TestMatch, her love for the T20-format keeps her glued and interested in the game.When I first saw the T20 game, I fell in love with the players who would hit foursand sixes. My problem with the IPL is that since all of them have Indian players,it has become difficult for me to choose a team. But since I live in Mumbai, Isupport Mumbai Indians and its Captain Rohit Sharma. The way he captains histeam is great,” Ishti says. For her, the best part of cricket is the sportsmanship thatthe game inculcates. And while there are boys in her class who are fans of thegame, she did manage to convince some of her girlfriends who are now fans ofthe game.

He and his family have no problems that the game had to be held outside.While he would have preferred it to be held in India, what he loves is that theleague is being held at least even though there is no crowd to cheer the playerson the field.

While Ashish’s dream to umpire at the international level never materisled,he has umpired for the local community games. “I was perhaps the only 16-year-old who was umpiring games for 25 year olds back when I was in school. I haveno regrets that I was not able to umpire. I am happy I can watch the game withall the changes that have been introduced over the years including the introduc-tion of the third umpire. If technology can eliminate human error, why not? Therehave been matches in the past that a team has lost due to a wrong decision bythe umpire. It is good to improve the game and introduce new rules,” Ashish says.

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Young Shubman Gill drove, pulledand cut with authority in anunbeaten 62-ball 70 as Kolkata

Knight Riders overwhelmed SunrsiersHyderabad by seven wickets in theIndian Premier League here on Saturday.

Gill and Eoin Morgan (42 not out in29 balls) complemented a disciplinedbowling effort, helping the Knight Ridersopen their account with a convincing win.

The 21-year-old opener anchored thechase perfectly as Morgan counterat-tacked to seal the issue in KKR’s favourwith two overs to spare, after their open-ing game debacle.

Opting to bat, Sunrisers Hyderabadnever got going after Pat Cummins(1/19) and rookie spinner VarunChakravarthy (1/25) removed the open-ing pair of Jonny Bairstow and DavidWarner respectively, and were restrictedto a below-par 142/4.

After an explosive start by KKR, thebowling-heavy SRH did make someinroads with Khalil Ahmed and TNatarajan dismissing Sunil Narine (0) andNitish Rana (26 off 13).

Rashid Khan got into the act straight-way, trapping KKR skipper DineshKarthik for a duck.

But a calm and composed Gill was incomplete control of his innings andpaced it brilliantly on way to his fifth IPLfifty. Reigning World Cup-winning skip-per Morgan played the perfect support-ing role before joining the party by smack-ing Bhuvneshwar Kumar for a huge sixin the 15th over to tilt the match in favourof KKR.

Earlier, KKR looked more intent andaggressive with their approach, having

brought in Narine and Cummins up frontwith the new ball.

Having drawn flak for bowling shortagainst Mumbai Indians, the IPL’s most-expensive overseas buy Cummins smart-ly altered his length and bowled JonnyBairstow with an absolute ripper to giveKKR the first breakthrough.

In his second-coming, architect-turned-spinner Chakravarthy dismisseda well-set Warner (36 off 30) in a softmanner for his maiden IPL wicket, giv-ing KKR the big breakthrough.

The Australian left-hander, who gotout cheaply against Royal ChallengersBangalore, looked to make a mark withsome clean hits, but a lapse in concentra-

tion did him in and he spooned a sim-ple catch to Chakravarthy.

The two wickets meant that SRHcould not step up the momentum and atthe halfway mark, at 61 for two, the run-rate was just above six.

Manish Pandey returned to form atNo 3 with a 38-ball 51 and along withWriddhiman Saha (30 off 31 balls), triedto repair the damage but the duo were dis-missed at the death and SRH lacked thefinishing touch to settle for a seeminglybelow-par total.

In hindsight, sending Saha ahead ofMohammad Nabi looked like a tacticalblunder as the Indian wicketkeeper wast-ed a lot of deliveries in making 30 off 31.

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Sanju Samson would like to contin-ue his dream form while the pres-

ence of Jos Buttler puts RajasthanRoyals on even keel with Kings XIPunjab in an IPL game which promis-es to be yet another six-hitting con-test.

Coming into the match aftermorale-boosting victories, both KXIPand the Royals would look to build awinning momentum after startingthe tournament as underdogs.

Buttler, who missed the firstmatch due to quarantine rules as hereached the UAE separately with hisfamily, is expected to open alongsideYashashvi Jaiswal while Steve Smithwill take David Miller’s position in thebatting order. Tom Curran and JofraArcher will again complete the four-player overseas quota.

“I am really excited to play my firstgame, it was great to be back in train-ing with the boys, there’s a great vibearound the team so I’m really lookingforward to taking the field,” Buttlersaid on the eve of the match.

“The atmosphere and energyaround the squad is fantastic, obvious-ly lots of confidence after that firstgame. The training has been veryenergetic, guys are lively and enjoyingeach other’s company. So expecting areally tough match against Kings XI,”

Buttler said after a net session atSharjah ground.

KL Rahul, touted as a futureIndia captaincy material, plun-dered a record 132 not out offjust 69 balls with the help ofseven sixes in a much biggerground in Dubai to leadKXIP to a resounding97-run win over RCB.

The 28-year-oldRahul, one of thecleanest hitters of theball, notched up thehighest score by anIndian in IPL histo-ry and he wouldlike to continuein the same veinon a groundwhich has shortboundaries onall sides.

The youngSamson, onthe otherhand, madea mince-meat of theC h e n n a iSuper Kings

bowlers, hitting nine sixes inhis 32-ball 74 before JofraArcher joined the party witha four-six burst in the finalover in the match played atthe same venue in Sharjahon Tuesday.

The Royals captainSmith also chipped in

with a 47-ball 69while playing hisfirst match afterconcussion relatedissues in theUnited Kingdom.

“Great to geta win on theboard, theteam playedfantasticallywell in the firstgame. It wasan outstandingbatting perfor-

mance and a fantastic bowling perfor-mance in tough bowling conditions,”Buttler said, praising his colleagues.

For KXIP, Australian all-rounderGlenn Maxwell would look to makeamends for his low score (5) in the ear-lier match against RCB.

In the bowling department,Mohammed Shami and West IndianSheldon Cottrell led the pace-bowlingdepartment quite well for KXIP whilethe likes of leg-spinners Ravi Bishnoiand Murugan Ashwin grabbed threewickets apiece against RCB.

The Royals managed to defendtheir 216 run target with Archerbowling brilliantly at the death and legspinner Rahul Tewatia (3/37 in 4overs) inflicting top order damage.

The sore point was yet anotherpoor show from Jaydev Unadkat,who has never been able to raise hisIPL game save one odd season withRising Pune Supergiants.

It will be interesting if Smithand Andrew McDonald decide totry out rookie Kartik Tyagi orseasoned Varun Aaron inUnadkat’s place keeping his lackof pace and short boundaries inmind.

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Two consecutive defeats have left ChennaiSuper Kings reeling and skipper Mahendra

Singh Dhoni is contemplating rejigging thecombination, saying they are lacking steam andneed to come back with a clearer picture forthe next IPL games.

“I don’t think it was a good game for us.There was no dew, but the wicket did slowdown. We are lacking a bit of steam in the bat-ting and that hurts. The run rate keeps onmounting after such slow starts and adds pres-sure, we need to figure that out,” Dhoni saidafter the match against Capitals on Fridaynight. “We need to come back with a clearerpicture, looking at the combination. Maybe, theteam balance will get better once (Ambati)Rayudu comes back in the next game.”

Rayudu, who struck a brilliant 48-ball 71in CSK’s five-wicket win over MI in the tour-nament-opener, missed the next two games dueto a hamstring injury.

The CSK captain expressed hope thatRayudu will be available in their next game.

“That will give us the room to experimentwith an extra bowler perhaps. There are quitea few things we can think about. We are onebatter extra to start off, so the players need tostep up.”

Dhoni also asked his bowlers to pull uptheir socks after two ordinary outings.

“We need to get better with our lengths,lines and pace. I think the spinners have notcome to the party yet. We are bowling good

deliveries, but we are giving away the bound-ary deliveries bit too often,” he said.

Spin bowling has been traditionally CSK’sstrength but struggling at the moment, prompt-ing head coach Fleming to say it was an areaof concern.

“Yeah, it’s an area of concern, because it’sbeen such a strength for CSK, and you’ve got

to think that the style of play that we’ve devel-oped over the last 12 years is heavily based onspin. So what we’re trying to do is find a dif-ferent personality.

“Spin still plays a part, and we’ve played onthree different grounds, so each game has beendifferent conditions. We’re struggling to adjustto find the pace and the style to bowl throughthe middle, and that, in the last two games inparticular, has been an area where we haven’tdone so well. So from a strength to an area ofconcern, we need to rectify that.”

Asked about the possible team combina-tion in the upcoming matches, Fleming said,“All bets are on the table at the moment as wetry to find a way. We are looking forward toplaying a number of games here (in Dubai), wewere interested in how this pitch played, andget conditions right so we can get right com-bination.”

Barring some fielding lapses, Delhi Capitalscaptain Shreyas Iyer was happy with the per-formance of his side so far.

“I am really happy with the performance.I would give them the benefit of doubt, is toughto catch in these conditions. You misjudge theball, really don’t know how to pace yourself,”he said.

Shimron Hetmyer grassed two chances butit did not hurt the team much.

“In the team meeting we decided that weare going to assess the batting conditions earlyand then play accordingly. The way the open-ers started, gave us a lot of confidence and thefinish was good too.

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Neetu David, one of India’s finest woman cricketersin the late ‘90s and early 2000s, has been appoint-

ed chairman of the women’s selection committeereplacing Hemalata Kala, the BCCI announced onSaturday.

The other members of the panel are MithuMukherjee, Renu Margrate, Arati Vaidya and VKalpana — all former India players.

The four-year term of the previous panel, led byKala, ended in March 2020. It had Sudha Shah, AnjaliPendharkar, Shashi Gupta and Lopamudra Banerjeeas other members.

Their last assignment was selecting the team forthe women’s World T20 in Australia, where India endedrunners-up.

“On account of seniority, Neetu David, the formerleft-arm spinner, will head the five-member commit-tee,” BCCI secretary Jay Shah said in a statement.

She holds the world record for best bowling fig-ures in an innings in a Test — 8/53 against Englandin Jamshedpur in 1995.

“She is also the second-highest wicket-taker forIndia in WODIs with 141 scalps and was also the firstfrom India to take 100 WODI wickets,” Shah observed.

India’s women’s cricket will get back to action witha three-team Women’s Challenger Series in the UAEand for that, the BCCI was required to form a newwomen’s selection panel.

There were a lot of applications but the former left-arm spinner David, who was India’s highest wicket-taker in WODIS before Jhulan Goswami surpassed her,was the top contender.

David played 10 Tests in which she had taken 41wickets. She retired from international cricket in 2008.

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Brilliant performances fromAshleigh Gardner and

Megan Schutt helped Australiadefeat New Zealand by 17 runsin the first T20I of the three-match series on Saturday.

With both sides playinginternational cricket for thefirst time since the T20 WorldCup in March, it was the expe-rienced hand of White Fernsskipper Sophie Devine whoelected to bowl first, andclaimed 3/8 from her first threeovers to leave the Australiansreeling at 81/5.

However, Gardner, whocame to bat at number five,played a superb knock of 61 tohelp the hosts post 138/6 in theirallotted 20 overs. The 23-year-

old batswoman scored 6 foursand 3 sixes during her 41-ballknock.

Chasing the target, the vis-itors had a decent start as open-ers Devine (29) and MaddyGreen (5) put on 27 runs for thefirst wicket. However followingtheir dismissals, the White Fernswent off the track and kept los-ing wickets at regular intervals,thus unable to keep up with therequired run-rate.

While Suzie Bates (33) didkeep their hopes alive, shecouldn’t find support from theremaining batters as NewZealand could manage 121/7 intheir full quota of overs.

For Australia, Schutt wasthe pick of the bowlers as shescalped four wickets givingaway just 23 runs.

�!� � Spin legend Shane Warne onSaturday expressed his “surprise” that wick-etkeeper-batsman Sanju Samson is notplaying for India across formats.

Samson smashed a 32-ball 74 againstChennai Super Kings to power RajasthanRoyals to a 16-run win in the IPL onTuesday.

Warne praised the 25-year-old playerafter his exploits.

“Sanju Samson, what a player he is. Ihave said for a long time and I think SanjuSamson is probably one of the most excit-ing players I have seen for a long time. I amsurprised that he is not playing all forms ofcricket for India,” said Warne in anInstagram live session of Rajasthan Royals.

The Australian legend added, “He is thatgood. He is an absolute champion he is gotall the shots, quality, and class.

“So, hopefully, he has a consistent yearand helps Rajasthan Royals lift the IPL tro-phy and I hope to see in him Indian coloursin all three forms of cricket.”

In recent times, KL Rahul has cement-ed his place as the number one wicketkeep-er-batsman in the Indian team for the lim-ited overs format, pipping Rishabh Pant. PTI

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Need to up my game and get a few runs: DKQ=*#-�())���(#%��(#�++0@���%?%#OA(3,%��A(#�=?%���0�Abu Dhabi: It was a happy weekend out-ing for his team Kolkata Knight Ridersbut skipper Dinesh Karthik had noqualms in admitting that he needs to uphis own game after failing again in theIPL.

While he was delighted with histeam’s convincing win on Saturday,Karthik, who failed to open his account,said he will look to get going in the com-ing matches.

“One duck doesn’t make you a badplayer. I need to probably up my gameand get a few runs,” Karthik said at thepost-match presentation ceremony.

He added, “Always good to get onboard. We have been working reallyhard. I think one of the advantages ofhaving all-rounders and it is a privilegeto use them whenever I can.

“The fact that we have been able togroom the youngsters is pleasing. It hasbeen an emotional journey for us with(Kamlesh) Nagarkoti for the last coupleof years.

“But credit to the management tohave stuck to him. It feels good to seethe youngsters doing well. I want Gill toenjoy his journey in cricket.”

His counterpart David Warner,who opted to bat after winning the toss,said his team needs to score moreboundaries.

“I think I got my decision right. Forus, our strength is death bowling. Ithought it was actually a difficult wick-et to accelerate on. The Kolkata boysshowed us that if you can keep wicketsat the end, that’s what wins you games.

“I don’t regret what I did at thebeginning of the game and I stick by mydecision. Cummins, as he does,(bowled) Test match line and length.There was a little bit of movement hereand there.

“We went four or five overs for 20and coming back with three wickets inhand at the end probably killed us a lit-tle bit there. An extra 30 or 40 runswould have been great.”

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Serena Williams admittedshe is still feeling the lin-

gering effects of an Achillesproblem on Saturday butsaid it would not derail herprotracted pursuit of arecord-equalling 24th GrandSlam at the French Open.

The American is a three-time winner at RolandGarros but remains onemajor triumph short ofMargaret Court’s all-time

mark after losing in thesemi-finals of the US

Open earlier thismonth.

She has yet toplay on clay thisseason and with-

drew from theItalian Open in

Rome last week dueto a left Achilles tendon

injury sustained in NewYork.

“I didn’t play any tune-ups, which is really rare. Butthis whole year has beenreally rare,” said Williams.

“After New York I flew toFrance and I’ve just beentraining at (coach PatrickMouratoglou’s) academy,mostly rehabbing, trying tobe ready.

“I wouldn’t be playing ifI didn’t think I could per-form,” she added.

“I'm not at 100% physi-cally. But I don’t know anyathlete that ever plays phys-ically when they’re feelingperfect. That’s just some-thing I think as athletes wehave to play with.”

Williams turned 39 onSaturday and is appearing atRoland Garros for the 18thtime. She made her tourna-ment debut in 1998, losing toeventual champion ArantxaSanchez Vicario in the fourthround.

“I honestly neverthought I would be playing atmy age. I mean, I don’t quitelook 39. But yeah I don’tknow when it’s going to stopfor me. I just have fun. When

I feel it’s over, it’s over,”Williams said.

“But I could have guar-anteed and pretty much betmy life that I would nothave been playing at 39.”

‘HOME AWAY FROM HOME’Her last Grand Slam title

came at the 2017 AustralianOpen while in the earlystages of pregnancy. Sincegiving birth to baby Olympia,she has reached four finals innine attempts without beingable to land that elusive 24thmajor.

She has not gone beyondthe last 16 in Paris since herdefeat to Garbine Muguruzain the 2016 final.

Williams initially indi-cated she would prefer to stayin private accommodationwhile competing at theFrench Open, but organisersinsisted that all players stayin tournament hotels toreduce the risks from coro-navirus.

“It’s definitely weird. Thishas always been my homeaway from home. I always

loved being here. It has beenreally different for me stayingat an apartment,” saidWilliams, who plays compa-triot Kristie Ahn in a repeatof their US Open first-roundencounter.

“It was really important todo everything that I could tojust create my own personalbubble, just to stay in it, atravel bubble, like everythingthat I can possibly do we kindof do. It works. It definitelybeats staying at home.”

The rescheduled tourna-ment, pushed back fourmonths due to the Covid-19outbreak, will begin in wetand blustery conditions withtemperatures at 16 degreesCelsius (60 Fahrenheit)accompanied by winds of upto 60 km/h.

“I hate the cold. I’m fromLA and I live in Florida. Forhalf my life I’ve never seensnow. Cold weather and medo not mix. That’s my Achillesheel,” joked Williams.

“But I’m dealing with it.I’m having a positive attitudeabout it.”

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Novak Djokovic willrenew his love-hate rela-tionship with Roland

Garros in the knowledge that itis himself rather than seeminglyunsettled 12-time championRafael Nadal who could posethe greatest threat to winninga second Paris title and 18thGrand Slam crown.

The only man to beatDjokovic in 2020 is Djokovic,after the Serb’s hair-triggertemper prompted a sensation-al disqualification from the USOpen.

The 33-year-old arrives inthe French capital with a 31-1record this year after his NewYork brain-fade was followedby a record 36th Masters title inRome.

Djokovic’s 2016 triumph atRoland Garros allowed him tobecome only the third manafter Don Budge and RodLaver to hold all four GrandSlams at the same time.

Not even Nadal, the hold-er of 19 majors, or RogerFederer, with a record 20 Slams,can match that staggeringachievement.

Federer will miss theFrench Open as he rehabs hisinjured knee while Nadal hasplayed just three matches sinceFebruary, a ring-rustiness evi-dent in his quarter-final exit inRome.

However, Djokovic refusedto get carried away by hischances at Roland Garrosahead of Sunday’s start in a wetand chilly Paris.

“It’s Nadal,” insisted theworld number one whenpushed on who is the favourite.“You just can’t put anybody infront of him.”

Djokovic is right to becautious after experiencingnumerous low points on the redclay of Paris.

In the 2012 final againstNadal, having won eight gamesin a row, he was up a break andpushing to level the match at

two sets apiece when rainbrought an overnight suspen-sion.

Play resumed the followingday but Djokovic’s momentumwas lost and a double-fault onchampionship point complet-ed his misery.

Twelve months later,Djokovic was poised for asemi-final win over Nadal withjust a routine putaway requiredto help give him a 5-3 final setlead and a chance to serve forthe match.

However, he chose a smashrather than a soothing touch.He tumbled into the net, losingthe point and Nadal pouncedto eventually take the tie afterfour hours and 37 minutes.

In 2018, he lost a quarter-final to world number 72Marco Cecchinato while lastyear he was beaten in the semi-finals by Dominic Thiem.

That match took two daysto complete, featured numerousrain stoppages and winds sostrong that a courtside umbrel-la was sent flying across court.

“BALL IS DANGEROUS”Djokovic will start his tour-

nament against Sweden’sMikael Ymer, the world num-ber 80.

Nadal, who skipped thedefence of his US Open titledue to fears over coronavirus,eyes a 13th French Open.

Since his title-winningdebut in 2005, the Spaniard hasonly lost twice at Roland Garrosin 95 matches — to RobinSoderling in 2009 and Djokovicin 2015.

The 34-year-old mayappear to be under-cookedafter his last-eight exit in Rometo Diego Schwartzman.

However, the last time hesuffered such an early depar-ture from the Italian capitalwas in 2017 — just weeks laterhe was lifting a 10th FrenchOpen without dropping a set.

Nadal cut an unsettledfigure at a pre-tournamentpress conference on Friday

where he admitted the coldand damp conditions forcedhim to face his “most difficultever Roland Garros”.

He is also unhappy aboutusing a new brand of ball.

“For the health of theplayers, the ball is super heavyand becomes dangerous forthe elbow and for the shoul-ders,” he said.

Nadal begins his cam-paign against Egor Gerasimov,the 83rd-rankedBelarusian.

The unusual sightof Roland Garrosbeing played in theautumn also meansradically differentconditions to thoseexpected in its normaltime slot of May andJune.

MURRAY VS WAWRINKAThat could suit newly-

crowned US Open winnerThiem who has lost the lasttwo finals to Nadal in Paris.

The world number threeAustrian has 17 career titleswith 10 of those on clay.

Four of his five wins overNadal have come on clay withthree of four victories againstDjokovic carved out on thesport’s most testing surface.

This year, Thiem will be inthe same half of the draw asNadal and starts against MarinCilic, the 2014 US Open win-ner and a former world num-ber three.

World number five DaniilMedvedev has yet to win amatch at the tournament inthree visits while sixth-rankedStefanos Tsitsipas made thelast 16 in 2019, losing a five-set marathon to 2015 cham-pion Stan Wawrinka.

Wawrinka faces fellowthree-time major winnerAndy Murray in the firstround on Sunday in a rematchof their 2017 semi-final epic,a tie which Murray describedas the clash which “ended hiship”.

Djoker braced for French demons

Brighton: Bruno Fernandesconverted a penalty in the 10thminute of stoppage time withthe last kick of a wild game toearn Manchester United a 3-2win over Brighton, which hadearlier scored in added-on timeand also hit the goal frame onfive occasions on Saturday.

United was awarded a spotkick after the referee saw on thepitchside monitor that HarryMaguire’s header deflected offthe outstretched hand ofBrighton striker Neal Maupaybefore being cleared off the line.

Despite the full-time whis-tle having already been blown,Fernandes was allowed to takea penalty and the Portugal play-

maker found the corner ofthe net to score the latestPremier League goal since2011 and secure a first winof the campaign forUnited.

Even Bruno acceptedit was fortunate. “They have alot of chances, it’s true,”Fernandes said. “Maybe every-one can say they deserve more,or not. The point is, score goals— don’t hit the crossbar or thepost. “Sometimes you have tohave some luck.”

Brighton went ahead inthe 40th minute when Maupayconverted a cheeky Panenka

penalty after Fernandes broughtdown Tariq Lamptey.

United equalized threeminutes later via an own-goal byLewis Dunk, who inadvertent-ly turned the ball into his ownnet after Nemanja Matic pulledthe ball back across the face ofgoal at a free kick.

Brighton was denied apenalty at the start of the secondhalf after Paul Pogba was ini-tially adjudged to have clippedthe legs of Aaron Connolly. The

referee changed his mind afterviewing the incident on thepitchside monitor and bookedConnolly.

Then United went aheadthrough Marcus Rashford,who cut in from the left afterbeing played in behind theBrighton defense, deliveredtwo shimmies, before gettingthe ball back on his left footand rifling in a shot thatdeflected into the top corner inthe 55th minute. AFP

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Everton extended their per-fect start to the Premier

League season as Richarlison’scontroversial penalty sealed a2-1 win at Crystal Palace onSaturday.

Carlo Ancelotti’s side tookthe lead through DominicCalvert-Lewin’s fifth goal ofthe campaign in the first halfat Selhurst Park.

Cheikhou Kouyateequalised for Palace beforeEagles defender Joel Wardwas penalised for handballafter the video assistant refer-ee advised Kevin Friend toconsult the pitchside monitor.

Brazil forward Richarlisonconverted the spot-kick andEverton held on in the secondhalf to make it three successiveleague victories and five winsin a row in all competitions.

Everton sit top of the tableat this early stage and while atitle challenge is unlikely, theycould be contenders for a top-four finish.

The visitors went aheadwith their first serious attackin the 10th minute.

Colombian playmakerJames Rodriguez unfurled asublime pass into SeamusColeman and the captain cut

back for Calvert-Lewin to netwith conviction.

Palace hit back in the 26thminute when Kouyate gotbetween Michael Keane and

Richarlison to head his secondgoal for the club.

The Eagles richly deservedit and yet they were almostimmediately pegged back

when VAR had to look at ahandball incident involvingWard on the half-hour mark.

Richarlison’s cross had hitthe Palace full-back on the

shirt sleeve and it was notdeemed a spot-kick, but it wasonly a brief let-off for RoyHodgson’s men.

In the 40th minute, James’ssuperb pass was headed byLucas Digne onto Ward’s handin the penalty area.

Friend pointed to the spotafter using the pitchside mon-itor and Richarlison fired intothe corner to put Evertonback in front.

Calvert-Lewin shouldhave grabbed his sixthgoal of the season and putthe game to bed in the51st minute, but his effortfrom James’s corner sailedwide.

As rain poured down insouth London, Palace pressedfor an equaliser, with WilfriedZaha and Ebere Eze havingshots blocked.

Eze was replaced by MichyBatshuayi with 15 minutesleft and Hodgson also intro-duced Christian Benteke, butit was to no avail.

����� �.���

Runaway Formula One seriesleader Lewis Hamilton

emerged from a “horrible” red-flagged qualifying session atSochi on Saturday with a stun-ning pole position for Sunday’sRussian Grand Prix.

The Mercedes six-timechampion clockeda best lap in oneminute and 31.304seconds to outpaceMax Verstappen of Red Bull byhalf a second.

His Mercedes team-mateValtteri Bottas was third-quick-est with Sergio Perez of RacingPoint sharing the second row.

Hamilton is bidding toclaim his fifth win at the Sochitrack where Mercedes havedominated winning all six racessince 2014.

If he translate pole intovictory, he will equal MichaelSchumacher’s career record of91 Grand Prix wins.

Saturday’s second sessionwas interrupted for 10 minutesafter Sebastian Vettel crashed inhis Ferrari. He was unhurt.

Replays showed that theGerman driver, in his final sea-son with Ferrari, clipped a kerbat Turn Four and lost control ashe smacked into the barriers.

The red flags came outwith Hamilton in a perilous15th place with just over twominutes remaining.

He said: “It was one of theworst qualifying sessions. It

was horrible — heart in yourmouth.

“I wanted to stay out and doa banker but they said come inand get new tyres and then thered flag came out. It was a risk,we got through but I am start-ing on softs which is not good.

“Undoubtedly I am likely toget dragged past tomorrow, itwill make it hard to win therace.”

Once Q2 eventuallyresumed Hamilton managedto put in the fourth quickesttime to get through to the top10 shoot-out but missing fromit were both Ferraris with Vettel’steammate Charles Leclercknocked out in 11th place.

In fifth place on Sunday’sSochi grid is Daniel Ricciardofor Renault, Carlos Sainz wassixth for McLaren, ahead ofEsteban Ocon in the secondRenault, Lando Norris in thesecond McLaren, Pierre Gasly ofAlpha Tauri and Alex Albon inthe second Red Bull.

Sunday’s race is due to bewatched by the biggest sportingcrowd in the Covid-19 era with30,000 fans allowed to attend.

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One week after its youngattacking stars

impressed in theBundesliga, Borussia Dortmundslumped to a 2-0 defeat atAugsburg.

Gio Reyna, Jadon Sancho,Erling Haaland and JudeBellingham grabbed the head-lines in beating BorussiaMönchengladbach 3-0 in theopening round, but were frus-trated by a stubborn defensemarshaled by Augsburg goal-keeper Rafal Gikiewicz onSaturday.

Dortmund dominatedthe first half with eight effortson target, but FelixUduokhai scored withAugsburg’s onlychance of the half,heading home afree kick fromclose range inthe 40thminute.

F o r m e rSchalke player DanielCaligiuri doubled thelead in the 54th, holdingoff Thomas Meunier’s

challenge before shoot-ing past Dortmund ‘keep-er Roman Bürki.

Dortmund coachLucien Favre sent on

Marco Reus and Julian Brandtwith half an hour to play, to lit-tle effect. The 18-year-oldBrazilian Reinier followed for hisBundesliga debut in the 69th,but he couldn’t lift the sideeither.

Gikiewicz denied MatsHummels, then Haaland late on,as Augsburg claimed its secondwin in two games.

Gikiewicz’s former side,Union Berlin, salvaged a 1-1 draw at Gladbach thanksto Nico Schlotterbeck’s late

equalizer. Marcus Thuramscored with a deflect-

ed header forGladbach in the

56th.B a y e r

Leverkusenand Leipzig

drew 1-1, andpromoted sides

Arminia Bielefeldand Stuttgart enjoyed

wins over Cologne andMainz, respectively.

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Defending Indian SuperLeague champions ATK

Mohun Bagan on Saturdayannounced the signing of high-profile defender SandeshJhingan.

The 27-year-old Arjunaawardee is said to be the high-est-valued footballer in India butthe club did not reveal the sign-ing amount.

“I am delighted to havejoined ATKMB. I had a detailedchat with the coach and theowners and I admire their visionand I am very happy that theyfelt that I could be a part of thefamily,” Jhingan said in a release.

The former Kerala Blastersdefender was keen to ply histrade in Europe, preferablyPortugal but because of thepandemic he changed his plansand joined the club, will competein the AFC Cup 2021.

Jhingan will form a troikawith his India teammate PritamKotal and Spaniard recruit Tiriand he will have a chance toprove his mettle at Internationallevel.

Turin: Serie A’s leading scorerlast season with 98 goals,Atalanta began its new cam-paign in the same carefree,entertaining style as it camefrom behind to win 4-2 atTorino.

The host, thumped 7-0 inthe same fixture last season,started strongly but in the endhad little response to Atalanta’srelentless attacks.

Simone Zaza fired againstthe bar in an early Torino attackand the Bulls went ahead in the11th minute with the goal com-ing almost inevitably from theircaptain Andrea Belotti, whoscored with an angled shotoff Tomas Rincon’s pass.

Atalanta was behindfor just two minutes beforecaptain Alejandro Gomezscored with a long-rangeshot. Gomez also set up asecond for Luis Muriel eightminutes later with a looping passover the Torino defence and theColombian provided a spectac-ular finish with a low shot intothe far corner of the net.

The goals continued to flowas Hans Hateboer scored a thirdfor Atalanta from a Gomez

cross in the 42nd minute beforeBelotti struck again to pull oneback a minute later for Torino.

The second half began inthe same vein with Torino’s

Alex Berenguer forcing asave from Marco Sportiellobefore Hateboer headedover from a good positionat the other end.

Atalanta kept pouringforward and added a fourth

in the 54th minute.Muriel broke down the right

and laid the ball into the path ofDe Roon who side-footed theball into the corner of the goalto hand Torino its secondstraight defeat under new coachMarco Giampaolo following its1-0 loss to Fiorentina. AFP

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It was not long ago when people pre-pared their travel bucket lists on theNew Years eve for a happy 2020 and

were waiting passionately to tick off theboxes. However, they ended upanguishing about the pandemic and thelockdown that followed and manymight have even torn off the lists.

The raging fury of the virus has ledto many business to draw their shutters,while others are left struggling. Onesuch sector that is on the receiving endis the tourism industry. With manyflights still suspended and travellingbeing the least favourite thing to do inthe current time, the industry is defi-nitely going through major loses.

“There have been a lot of estima-tions that predict the recovery of theoverall industry, which has been hithard by this pandemic. We believe thatit may take anywhere between 12-18months for us to recover from the cur-rent situation and come back to the pre-covid levels of travel demand, alsodepending upon how other countriesresume their international operations.Moreover, the demand will largelydepend on the fact that how differentcountries are placed in terms ofCOVID-19. We expect the aviationindustry to slowly and steadily rise evenstronger after this pandemic. In India,we are expecting a good economicgrowth on the back of a strong con-sumer demand, interest in travel and

festive season,” Willy Boulter, ChiefCommercial Officer, IndiGo, tells you.

He adds that the aviation industryis slowly getting back on track and thatthe travel demand has shown consis-tent growth.

“Travel demand has shown con-sistent growth after the opening of thedomestic markets since May 25, 2020.We have seen a positive trend over thefirst 100 days of resumption of opera-tions post the lockdown including thesteadily rising PLF, unit revenue andfuture bookings on the back of increas-ing customer confidence in air travel.We are bullish that our passengerloads will grow with the increase incapacity across our network. In addi-tion, if the regulation around the var-ious states becomes consistent and moreliberal in terms of rules and regulations,we should see much faster growth inpassenger numbers. IndiGo has estab-lished more than mandated proceduresand guidelines to provide a safe and has-sle-free travel experience onboard a leanclean flying machine,” Boulter asserts.

While the airlines are doing theirbest to increase the capacity anddemand and give a push to the tourismindustry, the positive is that the festiveseason is waiting right ahead.

“We have analysed the traffic everyfew days and the trends are up and itis encouraging that the demand is sus-taining now, with the travel trend

going up in terms of unit revenue andfuture bookings. The demand has cer-tainly picked up after July and we arebullish that it will further augment dur-ing the festive season. Also, the relax-ation in State Government restric-tions and the allowance of 60% capac-ity by Central Government will furtherhelp in increasing capacity as well asdemand. We are hoping to increase ourdomestic capacity as per our approvedsummer schedule for 2020 to 60% byDiwali. We recently celebrated theoperation of 50,000th flight post lock-down,” he tells you.

Not only this, but contrary to thebelief that air travel is not a good optionduring Corona, Boulter tells you thatthey have witnessed a shift from rail toair travel. “We have witnessed a shift ofrail traffic to air travel, with evenmigrant labourers travelling in flightsto ensure safety from COVID-19.Annually over a billion Indians travelby trains and even if 10% of that traf-fic shifts to air travel, it will drive astrong recovery for the aviation sector.Not to mention that the consistentgrowth is because of the returning con-sumer confidence,” he tells you.

Vipul Prakash, Chief OperatingOfficer, MakeMyTrip, too agrees withBoulter and tells you that more andmore people are now travelling aftermonths of being cooped up in theirhomes.

“The demand is likely to stayuneven as the pandemic situation is liveand evolving but it is clear that moreand more people are travelling and evenmore are willing to travel as we look atour search and booking data,” Prakashsays.

He adds that the industry holds abright future ahead as people have start-ed pre-booking their trips for the win-ter season.

“In the intermediate future, peoplewill start prioritising and planninghyperlocal and micro-getaways tounexplored and lesser-known destina-tions or places with lesser coronaviruscaseloads. While road-trips or self-driveholidays are increasingly being con-sidered and booked, travellers arealready showing signs of optimism bypre-booking trips for the winter seasonto Kerala and Andaman. A trend thatcan be largely attributed to the avail-ability of exclusive future travel dealsand vouchers on the platform — thatpromise more choices, flexibility inbooking along with heavy-discouns. AtMakeMyTrip, we are ensuring that ourtravellers can plan and book withgreater flexibility and ease as the uncer-tainty continues to linger on. Almost95% of our hotel bookings are hap-pening on flexible fares as we are work-ing with hotel partners to come up withflexible tariff options till the day ofcheck-in,” Prakash explains.

�What was the attraction of being partof the virtual concert?

To be honest, as you areaware due to the pandemic, we

have not done any perfor-mances. Just the thought of

coming together and play-ing was a wonderful

experience. I am gladwe got this opportu-nity.�Howtough/easy toput it all togeth-

er?We had become a little rustic. We need-

ed to brush up and did a couple of rehearsalsbecause we had not played in the last sixmonths. The tough part was that there wasno audience and one had to imagine them.While it was okay to get the feedback vir-tually with hearts and balloons but the feeland energy of a live performance couldn’tbe replaced. Having said this, virtual con-certs are the way forward. Even after thingsare back to normal, these kind concerts willcontinue. �You have been there for three decades,changes in music seen?

I have seen changes and I will see morechanges in the coming years. When we

started, there were very few venues. Theonly places where we played were at

college festivals. Today, there aremany venues that make it possiblefor us to reach out to different peo-ple. Also, the kind of music haschanged and it goes throughwaves. There were Punjabi songwaves, then there was the remixwave. A bunch of indie pop artists

came up. Things come and go.Now, there is electronica and DJs.�Did playing for a virtual audi-

ence affect the band’s energy?Well, it was not as if we had to get up

at 4:30 am to catch a flight, reach the venue

and set up the stage to perform. We werefar more rested and hence the energy levelwas high. But yes, we didn’t get to hear thelive audience shout and scream. Also,when one is on the live stage, the conver-sation one has with the audience is highlydependent on the response. Here it was abit different.�Has the profile of your fans changed?

The age spectrum is broader. There arepeople who grew up listening to our music.Then there is the whole audience who arein their 30s-40s. At the big festivals, thereare a lot of young professionals since studentscan’t afford the cost of the ticket. Studentsare at the college festivals. There are peoplewho are now bringing their children. I haveplayed for the bikers as well in Goa.�Do you think that the concept ofbeing part of a band is finally here?

When during our time, there werebands because there were college festivals.I remember when I was in school, I wouldgo to IIT Delhi to listen to bands come fromall over the country and watch them per-form — young college students who werepart of the band. For professional nights,there were bands coming from outside.Indian Ocean was not the first band norwould it be the last. However, the numbershave increased and music has becomemore Indianised.�Has technology helped promote

music for you?Yes and no. Yes, because we have more

equipment, we don’t have to go to a studioand pay big money to play. The record com-pany doesn’t have a big hold over you. Today,sitting at home, I can create music. No,because due to the Internet, everyonewants free music. Nowadays, people watchmusic. When you don’t sell, you don’t get anyroyalty. Ten cents a download won’t get youanywhere. Take an example. All our musicis on iTunes and the total annual income weget is $100. This is true globally.�Over the years, some members leftand new joined. Did it affect thedynamics when new members joined?

When we began, there were four of usfrom 1994 till 2009 and then Asheem(Chakravarty) died and it was like the leftside of the stage was empty. We had to bringin two people to replace him since he couldsing and play the table. Then our guitar play-er left and we brought in a new person. Buteach new person brings something newsince we don’t want clones.�What are your future plans?

We have a bunch of songs recorded andready for release. Since people watch ratherthan listen to music, we were planning todo some form of video. But they were puton hold but since going out of town is clear-ly not going to happen, we are going to workon new material.

� How did you get associated with Kiss The Ground?It is a bit of a long story. I was working on a previous project

— Life After Carbon which was about how we can make cities moresustainable. That is when I heard about Josh Tickell who had goneto college in my hometown in Florida. I heard that he wanted adviceon the film and did a bit of background research on him and hisdocumentary film Pump. I was completely blown away with it andit touched something in my heart and knew that this is what I want-ed to do with my life. I called him and requested him to come backto his hometown and give a talk in the college that he went to. Forthe next nine months I was trying to learn as much as I could aboutthe environment, about story telling and about production. A fewweeks later, I joined the team and have been here since Februarythis year.� What are the difficulties associated with making such films?

There are several. Take this film for example. It took us sevenyears to put it out. There were over a hundred scientists who weapproached and talked and collaborated with to corroborate whatwe are saying in this film.� Has the present pandemic made people sit up and take noticeof the documentary?

In some ways it is. The studio that I work with, when the pan-demic started, we went to a store and stocked up on things becausewe knew we would be on our own and didn’t know what wouldhappen. A lot of people realised that they needed to be in touchwith food supply and have food security.� Do you think that the movie can be a catalyst to creating abalance between environment and man?

Definitely, they are absolutely a catalyst. One thing that I haveseen with such films when I went to college of Environmental Studiesis there is one thing missing in the environmental movement iscommunication. The only people involved here are the one whostudy it and there is a large gap between the people who study itand the rest of the world. What movies do is bridge this gap espe-cially those like Kiss The Ground which bring regular people togeth-er and celebs and show a unified movement to make the world abetter place.� How necessary is to facilitate a conversation about the envi-ronment?

It is extremely important to bring everyone on one platform.But it is very difficult to do this. What we try to do is tell peoplethat they can be part of this movement from the comforts of theirhomes and day to day tasks.� Is the world prepared to make the change/transition?

I feel that people are ready to make changes in their lives. Thepresent pandemic has opened eyes of the people. Everyone is nowgoing back home; they are not congregating. At least in the US,food supply has been disrupted. What we are seeing is a resurgencein the local food economy. This means communities growing theirown food. What this film is about is empowering the local farmerto feed his family and the local community. I am not sure we areready to make a huge change but the world is pushing us in thatdirection.� How bleak will the future be with no changes?

It would be very bleak. At the rate at which we are going, thefilm shows that in 15 years, we will not be able to harvest food fromthe soil and we will be completely reliable on pesticides and fer-tilisers. Hundreds of thousands of people are being forced out of

their homes due to climate change. This is really themoment that we are take action now.� How important is it to teach importance of envi-ronment and Nature at school level?

All changes happen at the grassroot. It is thepeople who make things happen. Everyone has thecapacity to learn and change but it is the young peo-ple who are most likely to do it. It is important to

teach children these regenerative ways of life.Taking care of the planet is the most impor-tant thing for us to do today. It is not the sci-ence of it but to teach them to love the plan-et; the connection we have with it.�One lesson that people should take awayfrom the film?

Know where your food comes from,meet your farmer and talk with him andjust to know that everyone can be a partof this movement. Even the smallestdecision can make a decision.� What next?

We have a few projects that we areworking on. We are currently working ona short documentary series for TV on the

pesticides being sprayed on our food in ourhometown and how the town can shift to

regenerative agriculture. It will be a modelon how communities can come together to

bring a change. We are making another film —Revolution Generation, it is about how millen-nials are coming to power and taking over andcreating a more democratic equable system.

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���������������������������Having the first sip of your

favourite coffee, firstthing in the morning is

a feeling every coffee lover wouldrelate to. But with this unex-plained feeling comes a guilt ofdrinking too much of coffee andnot be able to do without it.

Here is an answer to all yourwoes — an award-winningvegan coffee infused with six nat-ural vitamins.

A brainchild of Bharat Sethi,Rage coffee was launched in2018. “The brand was born outof my passion for coffee.Unfortunately, we are alwaysserved poor quality products andso is the case with coffee. Afteran extensive research, we foundout that most of the coffees in themarket are artificial. That’swhen I thought of coming up

with something that has qualityand is not too expensive. This ishow Rage was born,” Sethiexplains.

The brand till date has fiveexotic flavours — Original, IrishHazelnut, Crème Caramel,Sparky Orange, and DarkChocolate. “The coffee tastes likefreshly grounded and gives a dis-tinctive kick of caffeine. Unlikeothers, it doesn’t taste bland orbitter,” he tells you.

Although India is majorly atea drinking nation, but the cof-fee lovers are witnessing a slowgrowth. Not to mention that themarket has been taken overseveral big players.

“We do realise that we havetough competition, but that iswhere the excitement comes in.Challenges are a part and parcel

of life and our USP is that we givequality coffee at best prices.That is the reason that our tar-get audience are accepting us

with open hearts and theresponse has been overwhelm-ing,” Sethi says.

To add to its products, the

brand has also launchedcoffee shots. “These coffeeshots comes in biodegrad-able packaging. The prod-uct quality is the sameonly delivery technique ischanged. This is meant forthose who want to enjoygood coffee at the comfortof their work place oreven on their way towork,” he tells you.

There is much moreon Sethi’s cards. “We willsoon be launching newexciting flavours,Peppermint andBubblegum to name afew. Bubblegum flavouredcoffee will be meant for 18-24 year olds who doesn’twant to go for the usual flavours,”he tells you.

��������� ����

He is a bass guitarist, who performed virtually for HCL’s Soundscapes with his

band. He speaks with Shalini Saksenaabout why he agreed to this virtualconcert and how the profile of his

fans has changed

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Picture this: Jay worked as a techni-cal consultant for a financial soft-ware company’s taxation productteam. For a new project, his teamwas forced to interact with the

financial services team due to political pres-sure from senior management. As expected,the initial interactions were a bit contentious.The technical lead for the taxation team,Abhay, saw this as an opportunity to shineand mandated that he would be the point ofcontact for interacting with the financial ser-viced team. All communications were nowrequired to be funneled through him.

This created a precarious situation forJay. All his emails and documents were pre-sented to the other team as if Abhay had pro-duced them. Abhay was taking credit foreverything Jay did. Abhay would edit outmajor chunks of essential technical advicebeyond his level of competence, and hewould keep coming back to Jay for moreinputs on how to answer questions comingfrom the other team. This entire episode leftJay feeling angry, frustrated, and unmotivat-ed.

The above is a classic example of officepolitics. Office politics is a reality that existsin every organisation, big or small: the largerthe firm, the more complex the politics.There is more of everything — players, com-petition, agendas, information, and more togain and lose. If you have enjoyed a goodnumber of years of work experience, I’m sureyou have experienced politicking in theworkplace.

Companies with a great culture knowhow to create systems to minimise or miti-gate politics. Indeed, productivity, employeeengagement, and a company’s growth dependon how much politics exists. Leaders have ahuge responsibility to recognise what causespolitics and which systems, processes, orpeople initiate or encourage it in their com-pany environment. Alternatively, employeesmust also understand their workplace’s polit-ical machinery to bring about success forthemselves and their team members.

As a leadership coach, I work with peo-ple managers from mid-level managers up toCXOs and board members from diverseindustries. These folks are all brilliant, intelli-gent, and accomplished individuals. When Iwork with them on their leadership goalsand challenges, I get to hear the real-life situ-ations they have encountered. The only thingsetting them back is their collective belief inoffice politics. I listen to statements like, “Idon’t like office politics, and I don’t want togo there at all.” “I cannot get to this positionbecause it requires me to be political, and Iam not a political person,” etc.. They holdthemselves back from greatness because oftheir limited perception of office politics. Intheir minds, office politics is a dirty wordthat they are better off not handling.Understanding and cruising through anorganisation’s power dynamics is the key dif-ferentiator between successful and extremelysuccessful people.

������������ ������������������It is all about power, influence, and rela-

tionships, the power entanglements betweencoworkers trying to get ahead. These strug-gles for advancement are usually based onwhat you are after and whom you formalliances with. Some people are drawn into itintentionally, many accidentally and mostunknowingly.

Definitely, through years of work experi-ence, people do learn to deal with this beastmore effectively. But why leave such a criticalskill to chance? Why not address it head-onby understanding the power dynamics early

on in your career and moving ahead victori-ously in your leadership journey.

��������� ������There are a few tell-tale signs of environ-

ments being intensely political. If youencounter these signs, often you know thechances of getting stuck in the dirty swamp ofpolitics are high. Beware when you encounterthe following patterns:● There is a lack of transparency in communi-cations. People are not direct and don’t meanwhat they say. There exists an unspoken sys-tem within the organisation that needs to beworked. ● Often poor performers are neither fired norreprimanded. Superstar employees quitbecause they don’t want to play the game anddon’t see any future growth.● The majority of the people are unwilling toacknowledge and celebrate their team mem-ber’s successes. Other’s growth invokes nega-tive emotions such as discomfort, resentment,or jealousy! They view it as being left behind.● Fear and limitations of opportunities drivemost conversations, decisions, and behaviours.● There is a constant underlying sense of com-petition amongst individuals for roles, visibili-ty, or growth.● Trust in leadership is weak.● Most individual performance rewards arenot in alignment with those of the organisa-tion’s wins.● People’s need for opportunity or recognitionmakes them nervous and fearful of makingmistakes and taking risks.● Most employees have little knowledge of andvisibility into the company’s decision-making.There is a significant distance between junior-level employees and executives; too manyclosed-door meetings with exclusive informa-tion are not shared with the rest of the organi-sation.● There is a lack of ownership amongst peo-ple. The general tendency is to shirk responsi-bility when possible. Instead of stepping upand taking on tasks outside their area, peoplecan quickly assign blame to someone else.

�� ������������Below are a few tricks on dealing with cor-

porate politics:Observe and listen: Most people jump intothings from the intention of action and contri-bution. Whether it is a meeting, a project, or anew role, everyone wants to perform well, andso they start doing things. Instead, be in anobservation and listening mode before youchoose to take action. This will help you iden-tify the influencers — they are the stakehold-ers that hold power to move things in theorganisation. Understand their needs andmindsets.

Do you know how the power distributionin your organisation works? Who are the keydecision-makers? What are their motivations?

Trust but not blindly: It is wonderful to findgood friends in your colleagues; after all, youare spending many waking hours with them.Research proves that it can be extremelyhealthy to have friendships at work. Personalbonds at work are essential; however, there is adifference between personal and professionalrelationships. Knowing the limits and bound-aries of these relationships is crucial.

It requires one to walk that tightropebetween sharing and oversharing. Practicessuch as socialising outside of work are helpingto advance careers and build networks andbonds. Be mindful — a drink too many canexpose you and give people something to talkabout or lead to even more severe conse-quences. The same rules apply to social mediainteractions with colleagues.

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Be clear of your vision: We all have avision for our lives, spoken or unspo-ken, explicit or implicit. A vision is howone commits to living their life, demon-strated by their choices, actions, words,and behaviors. What separates greatleaders from the average one is theirability to crystallise their vision andthen execute goals towards it. Beingclear of your desired reality helps youstay out of the unnecessary messes andface with courage and conviction, thepaths essential to actualise your dreams.

Communicate your vision: Once youknow and own your vision, communi-cate it intelligently and smartly withyour manager and team members. Thismay or may not mean sharing every-thing. Your vision may be to become theCFO of an organisation in a few years,identify the skills and experiences youneed to get there, and communicateonly those.

Stay informed, but avoid gossip: Keepin mind, no matter how tempting itmight seem, hear gossip but don’t gen-erate or propagate it. Being aware ofwhat is going on around you is prudent,but make sure not to get sucked into it.Being viewed as a gossip underminesthe trust people will have in you. Loosetalk can get you in trouble or make youseem immature.

There is a significant differencebetween gossiping and stayinginformed. The former projects you asimmature while the latter is a skill onemust develop to succeed at work.

Information is powerful: Most suc-cessful politicians spend their energymanaging up, down and sideways.They hustle and work their chain ofcommand. Such people base theircareer on building alliances with thepower brokers. They are astute enoughto be present at all the right meetings,jump in, and take personal credit for

other’s work and are informationhoarders. Information is power, andpower is politics. The one who hasknowledge holds power. The clear signof a political person is that they rarelyshare information.

Learn to read people: So many times, Ihave come across leaders misjudgingsituations and the intentions of people.The outspoken ones are edged to speakup the politically incorrect things likecomplaining about the health benefitsor a new policy. People don’t flinchbefore showing enthusiasm for ideasand activities that may harm yourcareer. As part of building ExecutivePresence, I often help leaders get edu-cated on sensing and reading body lan-guage in others and utilising powerstances for themselves. Reading peopleand situations is the number one talentto get ahead without getting in trouble.

Integrity and ethics always win: Thegeneral impression is that people thatrise quickly often have to do unethicalthings to get there. The negative conse-quences of acting out of your value sys-tem or integrity will catch up with you.There is no escaping that. Sometimesthings may take a little longer but staythe course and don’t succumb to wrong-doings and temptations.

��� ������������������ ������My book Checkmate Office Politics

discusses the distinction between goodpolitics and bad politics. Practicinggood or healthy politics enables peopleto further personal and team interestsfairly and justly. Staying alert and awareof the ‘bad’ politics helps to avoid need-less suffering and being taken advantageof. To look at politics through a positivelens, one must first understand the dif-ference between good and bad politicsor healthy and unhealthy politics.Healthy Politics: Healthy politicsalways attempts to empower

individuals. An effective politicianbuilds a strong network at all levelsinside and outside of an organisation.They are familiar with the pulse ofemployees at all levels. They have acrisp and clear understanding of thesuccess parameters in theirorganisation. Healthy politics requiressharing information and encouragingothers to do the same. Good politicsbelieves unity is Strength. Goodpoliticking fuels the promotion ofinnovation and problem-solving. Itadvocates respect and inclusiveness forall, irrespective of their role andposition. There is a goal of improvingsystems instituting permanentsolutions to problems. In the aboveexample of Jay and Abhay, Abhay wasdoing a good thing by streamlining thecommunication through a narrowchannel to avoid confusion, howeverhe could have given credit to Jayhighlighting his contributions in hisinteractions to avoid the bad politics.

Unhealthy Politics: The mostsignificant sign of harmful politics is thepersonal gains of a handful of people.Unhealthy politics leads to a divide andrule philosophy. It promotes authorityand compliance and creates a distanceamong people based on thesedifferences. Bad politics deviateattention away from the real issues.

As individuals working in the busi-ness world, when you feel powerless andout of control in situations where youbelieve you are at the receiving end ofpolitical manoeuvers of coworkers, it isessential to remember that there areseveral techniques you can apply to suc-ceed. You have a choice. The choice maynot always be an easy one. However, it isusually a choice between staying in yourcomfort zone or getting uncomfortablebut evolving into a better leader.

The writer is a leadership coach and anauthor. She has just published

Checkmate Office Politics: Build aPositive Power Equation at Work

with SAGE India

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Bollywood is in the eye of a storm.The industry thatdid yeoman service for the masses by entertainingthem has suddenly become a cesspool, a term Big B

used for politics. Nevertheless, Bollywood has been provid-ing three hours of power-packed action, fantasy, joy andromance — all for the price of peanuts. It made people laugh,cry, filled them with rage, and made them partake in theworld of make-believe. It aroused and awakened too, at times.All that has been pushed to the backburner. But before blam-ing Bollywood for all that is bad in the society we need topause and ponder. In more than a century of its history, theMumbai film industry has served the society in a way fewindustries have done. It has researched like no institutioncould do, it has taught like no teacher would have done. Itde-stressed the masses, at a price that the common mancould afford. It provided an outlet for the pent up feelingsof the people, made them rejoice and giggle, filled them withecstasy, made them forget their sorrows casting a magicalspell. There was a salutary hangover too. People would talkand discuss even after they had seen the film. No mean ser-vice to a huge majority that was starved for pleasure andjoy. It advocated the right lessons too. That it’s the good thattriumphs over the evil in the end. Or as you sow so you reap.All of a sudden, everything is being painted black. So blackthat it reeks of a design. Reasons are not far to seek. FrancisBacon once said that if you go deep into any problem youwill find people. Only, replace people with politics. Man,after all, is a political animal. So if you go deep into a prob-lem, you will find politics. Dirty politics. Forget those blamegames. Forget those ideas of cronyism and syndicate, lob-bies and pressure groups. They are everywhere. Even in thenoblest of institutions. We must go back to the basics. Andthat reminds of the class four English language idiom — Abad workman blames his tools. There is a hindi equivalent,too, and in Bollywood lingo: “If you don’t know how todance, you find fault with the dancing floor”. Films and thefilm world are of a different genre and for a different pur-pose. To be objective, films don’t create society, they reflectsociety. And on this count they are more real than manynews channels which pollute the society more than the films.Films are market driven and showcase the society. There isno formula for a hit film nor a lobby. It is the film goer whodecides and he is highly erratic. Interestingly, he himself does-n’t know why. Same happens in the case of film stars. Orelse meagre budget and no star film like Jai Santoshi Maawould not have been a bigger hit than the mega budget multi-starrer Sholay in the same year. Coming to stars making itbig, examples galore prove that it’s God given merit and notGodfather. From Dev Anand, Dilip Kumar and Rajkumarto Amitabh Bachchan, Shatrughan Sinha and the like provethat it is only merit. And failure of star sons confirms this.One last take. And a crucial one. While many news chan-nels try selling lies as truth, films are doing it the other wayround. Bollywood must stand and the show must go on.

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Then, we accept His creation.This has a huge implication onour lives. We will begin to seek

God’s guidance and help, because thisis the cosmic design. We, souls, areparts of God. (Bhagawad Gita 15.7) Ourexistence, independent of God, is verytroublesome as those who don’t havea connection do realise sooner orlater. And God will guide and help; wejust need to approach Him in allhumility. Therefore, humility is the firstquality we inculcate in ourselves.Imagine a world where people are hum-ble and treat others with respect. Thisbrings us to the next quality — becom-ing better. The way the creation is, thereis only one big entity, that is God. Wehumans are small and will remain so.However, there is no bar on becomingbetter.

This leads us to the third quality —to be able to coexist with others. Ourrelationships improve greatly. We realisethat no one is perfect, only God is,therefore, we need to accept faults ofothers as others accept ours. We alsorealise that we depend upon a whole lotof people for our existence. Slowly, themode of goodness begins to gainascendency. We speak better, we behavebetter, etc. This mode has an enormousinfluence over our senses and themind. It prods us to eat what is usefulto us, see what is illuminating, hearwhat benefits, and so on.

Gradually, we enter the spiritualrealm. We understand that there is athing like the Karmaphala principle.This is in short — what we sow, we reap.This is as simple as that. Some fruits areinstant, like if we appreciate someonewe get excellent vibrations from thatperson. Some take long like studyingto become financially self-supporting.

We begin to watch all our actions inorder to create a better future for our-selves. This is the beginning of spiritu-al intelligence. The wise ones turn tothe book eternal wisdom — The Gita.One then progresses to become eithera medium of God or an instrument.God uses us to deliver benefits to otherpeople. For example, someone is to geta donation, the Lord inspires one of usto do this noble deed, for which theLord rewards handsomely. Then, Goduses advanced devotes to deliver Hisinstructions to other devotees, that isHe uses one of His own to do this veryimportant job. Advancing this way, asoul begins to enjoy the company ofGod — the highest achievement priorto qualifying for liberation after a fewlives.

This is about those who acceptGod. The story is quite different forthose who don’t. They believe in thechance theory, that is anything can hap-pen anytime, though this is absurd. Onetime a person was arguing with meabout this; he said that he believed inchance. I asked him whether he sends

his children to school. He said yes. I,then, advised him to avoid this pain;they may get educated by chance. Egoof such persons is quite dominant; theydon’t listen to reason. They are guidedby material intelligence even thoughthere is cause and effect there also. Theyare mostly in the modes of passion anddarkness, and suffer on account ofthem. Their senses and minds are most-ly uncontrolled. They wish to becomebigger — a mirage.

Most of their lives such persons tryto compete with others or feel that oth-ers are after them. They are mostlyalone, at least this is how they feel. Lifeis mostly rudderless, jumping from onematter to another; there is hardlymuch focus. After all, without God con-sciousness, one will be whimsical only.

Therefore, it is wise to accept God.Life will take a perfect direction withunimaginable advantages accruing,and God will help in piloting usthrough future lives till we qualify forliberation — the greatest boon.+����������� ������! ��� ������������ ������

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Krishna, the theme did notconfine itself to the literaryworks alone, but also hasmanifested itself elaborate-ly in the art forms of India

which include, sculptural representa-tions, icons, images, paintings, murals-miniatures and archaeology (whichhas its subparts seals — epigraphy,coins and monuments etc). This arti-cle aims at providing an idea as to howShri Krishna has deeply expressedhimself through this varied art tradi-tion of India.

Generally, the icons are named asKrishna’s archa-avataras. Sanskrit termfor icon is archa-vigraha. Besides, termicon has its parallel in the word, pra-tima, which means an image. In theform of the science of images or pra-timas, iconography has a long histo-ry in India, which dates back to theVedic age. As one of the Rigvedicmantra mentions, one best icon (para-maapratima). After the Mauryan peri-od, elaborate temple iconographydeveloped in India and it continued tillthe Muslim invasions.

Iconography has an importantplace in India’s cultural tradition,since the same has religion and phi-losophy as its integral parts and as theimage worship constitutes the very

basis of its religion. Since, the religiousand philosophical trends originatefrom people’s mind and thus provemajor role in their lives, the icons thusserving as effective modes of express-ing this ideals and imparts regardingthe favorite icons of Krishna and othergods were also engraved in sculpturesalong side in the temples.

This art tradition on Krishna wasdeveloped on the basis of the Puranasand the Mahabharata. Its main aimwas to depict concepts-imageriesthemes, which are associated withKrishna from time to time. It also aimsto delineate new theological themes —or trends and symbols associatedwith Krishna in the later Puranas.With the result, his icons were engraft-ed with murals depicting new mean-ings and dimensions of his concept.Although, the scriptures in this wayhave provided much fundamentalframe-work to his icons and haveplayed a major role in the developmentof iconography of Krishna, yet differ-ences of treatment of Krishna conceptby both these sources (scriptural andicon — Art) is vividly visible.

As any tradition in India has neverceased to grow and further develop,the same trend applies to the Art tra-dition relating to Krishna’s iconic

manifestations. It has developed itselfunto a new form to meet the chal-lenges of time and circumstances. Italso had developed within its rangenew theological details from thepuranas, and the icons thus madeserved as very important mediums ofworship in the religious scenario of theIndians. Hence, during these times,the iconography of Krishna attainedthe mega position in the cultural artof India.

Now, to define icon, it is found thatgenerally icon of God or Krishnaimplies his imitation. Reference to theart tradition of iconography in Indiabe cited in the Vedas and upnishads,in the form of pratikriti. Besides, it isalso held that the vedic concept of theGods has inspired the framework ofthe icons of Gods, as in the Vedas andthe subsequent works Gods are spo-ken ‘men of the sky or Divo-naras andalso having forms like those of thehuman beings or Nri-peshas”.

As far as Krishna’s iconography isconcerned it has developed on thebasis of the scriptures like Agamas andthe Puranas. These works providemuch authentic material on Krishna’sicons, which are said to be of such typelike Chala, Achula, meaning thosewhich are very light in weight and

heavy in weight, light weight icons arefurther of four types known as Vautaka(those worshipped daily); utsava (wor-shipped on particular occasion); Bali(worshipped each day with offering ofPrasad); Snapana (sprinkled withholy water).

Where as the Achala icons aremade of stone and are of types suchas, mula vigraha and Dhruva. TheDhruva icon is further of these typeslike standing (sthanak), asan (sitting)and shayan (lying), with regard to thedetermination of dress ornamentssymbols which are to be applied thepeople of those regions according totheir cultural standards and trends.Apart from these types of Krishna’sicons other types of icons are men-tioned by Krishna’s icons other typesof icons are mentioned by Krishnahimself to Uddhava in a dialogue inBhagavatapurana, where he says thathis icons can be made of clay, sandalwood, stone, metal, sand, crystal, andof mental imagery (manomaya).

Generally, in the literary traditionon Krishna, the icons of Krishna aremade on the basis of the symbolswhich serve as key notes for makingicons individually and distinguishingthese form the other. The frameworkof icons is contemplated according tosome symbols in the abstract formand then is expressed in materialabstract form of specific symbol.Amongst all the Gods, it is Krishnawho has mostly impressed the templeart form of the medieval age, where-by he is shown in multiple form suchas Venugopal, alone or accompanyingRadha and other gopis during Rasa,holding govardhana mountain; asYogi in Narada’s vision, as youngcowherd boy in the company ofBalarama and Subhadra, as warriorkilling Kansa and his wrestlersJarasandha and Shishupala, drivingArjuna’s chariot.

In the icons, Krishna is eitherendowed with two or four arms. Twoarmed Krishna is in abhayadana pose.While, four armed Krishna is endowedwith conch, mace, chakra and lotus inhands. That various cults have addedto varied manifestations of Krishna iniconic forms. For instance, the cult oflotus and of conch, of mace associat-ed with Yaksha (he always holdsmace) be mentioned. Besides, mythol-ogy has also its role in the frameworkof the icons where he is depicted alongwith his family members.

Finally to conclude, let us assumethat the iconic representation ofKrishna provides us the true transla-tion in lithic form of the texts of thepuranas and the epic and thus supple-ments the same.%���! ��� ����������/��������������� ��"

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Past few months have been really diffi-cult for anyone trying to cope up withthe current times of pandemic, but it

has also bought opportunities for people toexplore. Time at home where most of theadults and all of the kids no longer have theresponsibilities of rushing off to work andschool every day. It’s an amazing gift thatthis pandemic has bestowed upon us, andaround the world we’re seeing people enjoy-ing it in ways they never thought possible.Individuals could invest their time in theright thing by staying at home and by beingproductive. These are a few ways to stayoptimistic and that will help you becomeuseful and productive during the Pandemic: ● Read the Classics: The local librariesmight be off-limits, but there are a numberof devices you can use to read as manybooks, magazines, comics, or graphic novelsas you want, many for a substantiallyreduced price. There are great book web-sites all over with bucket lists of bookseveryone should read at least once in theirlifetime. Make a goal of reading one perweek and see how far you get and whatwonderful new worlds you can discover.● Planting & Gardening: Your home isyour castle. Time to upgrade it! If yourworking hours are reduced or gone com-pletely for a while, turn your energytowards improving the condition of yourhome and yard. Surely somewhere in yourhome, there are projects to take on that youare handy enough to handle. It might meanpatching a hole in your fence, re-painting aroom, replacing the weather stripping onthe door, or planting new flower beds toadd some color to your life. Most homerepair stores are still open as they count asessential businesses. Pretty much every pro-ject under the sun you might want to takeon has an instructional video availableonline at YouTube or another site, so surveyyour home and yard and find a project that

you have been itching to scratch.● If you can’t learn, teach! There is some-thing inherent to human nature that pre-vents us from shutting ourselves off com-pletely from one other. We still seek to bringour contributions to the fight against thevirus by whatever means we can. Peopleeverywhere have taken to the Internet tomake their presence known in a helpfulway. Some offer psychological support, oth-ers provide inventive ways of killing time byteaching classes and Do-It-Yourself (DIY)courses. A few gentle souls are even there tooffer a conversation partner to those whoare stuck alone in isolation.

If you’ve got a device that records video,you’re qualified to teach people how to dosomething. If you’ve got an audio recorderand a voice, you’re set to record a podcastabout anything you want — your expertisein your job field, your favorite music ormovie, your own brand of humour, whatev-er you think people will enjoy listening to.

The Internet is not only a way for us tocome together, but also to share positivemessages and stories in this time of distress.

● Team Building exercises: Spread theknowledge. People have slowly adapted tothe new normal of “Working from home”. Itmust have probably been a while since thepeers must have even spoke to each otheron the calls other than work, coming upwith sessions where team can speak abouttheir experiences of working from home,share some good ideas and play somegames can help the rejuvenate the thoughtprocess of the employees and they feel freshand start working with a positive attitude. ● Analyse your budget: Even though, theeconomy has re-opened, it will somehowstill take time for it to be back to normaland boost and hence it becomes veryimportant to reassess our current budgetand our expenditures. One should high-light and spend where it is important atleast during this time of pandemic becauseit can help you get a gist of where themoney is going and will also be beneficialin a longer run.

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��'�������(�����������������,��D���((����,����&The intra-Afghan dialogue

going on in Qatar is a con-certed effort to chart a newcourse of peace and tranquili-ty in Afghanistan, torn apart by decades of occupationand civil war.

As the Taliban have beenwaging war to regain power bybrutal means, it is important inthis situation to look at the crit-ical roles played by Pakistanand America in this long--drawn Afghan quagmire.

Interestingly, Pakistan acountry that was reprimandedby US President Donald Trumpin 2018 for its “lies and deceit”joined as the third key player inthe historic US-Taliban peacetalks. This has even despiteWashington cutting securityassistance to Islamabad.

Since the signing of thepeace deal in February 2020amid the peak of the Covid-19pandemic, Pakistan’s fortunehas started changing. Somestrategic experts say the ImranKhan Government is trying toshed its image of a state asso-ciated with terror and terrorfinancing. Pakistan has beencriticised by world leaders fornot uprooting anti-India terrorforces on its soil.

As Pakistan has involveditself in the Afghan peace talks,it is vital for New Delhi toapproach the Afghan dilemmaafresh. Taliban is now in aposition of strength. New Delhi,Islamabad and Washingtonneed to tackle the monstervery cautiously. For the Ghaniregime, the durability of peacedepends on limiting Taliban’sinfluence in small pockets.Allowing the Taliban to regroupfor seeking a role larger than itsusual strength would heraldfull-scale disaster to Kabul.

Further, the arrival of theTaliban cadre to the heart ofAfghan politics once againmight jeopardise the democ-ratic institution building takenup by the previous Karzairegime and the current estab-lishment in the country.

Is there any hope that therewould be lasting peace inAfghanistan? It seems unlike-ly. Resting on the most unpre-dictable Taliban might beanother misstep in the lexiconof peace building inAfghanistan. However, theresilience demonstrated by the

group this time is extraordi-nary. They are working hard toproject themselves as a pan-Afghan identity. However, thisexpedient tactic would notoffer sizeable dividends to themas their brutality and antipathytowards the Afghan minoritieslike the Hazras and Sikhs areentrenched in the memory ofthe persecuted.

Hence, the enormity ofchallenges faced by the currentGhani regime is more than areality. Practically speaking,the US support in the form ofaid, advice and supervisionmust continue. WhetherTrump or Biden, whoevercomes to Washington inJanuary, without a secondthought, America must backany democratic regime thatcomes to Kabul. Else the hopeof building a civil society andgrassroot democratic institu-tions would be completelydestroyed.

It is unlikely that Pakistanwill learn from its past mistakesof aiding and abetting terrror-ism. No one knows how longthe Imran Government can

survive. As long as the PakistanArmy calls the shots, no demo-cratic leader or regime wouldhave a free hand in politicalaffairs of the country. And forsure, a country like Pakistancan best be safeguarded only bythe Army. It’s a notion deeplyentrenched in power corridorsof the country and among thepublic.

Its people have rarely hadthe experience of governed bystrong civilian leaders in the his-tory, except one like late BenazirBhutto. She ruled Pakistan dur-ing a tumultuous time. Butthen till her assassination in2007, she was always regardedby the country’s military a“security threat” simply becauseshe was working hard to pro-mote peace in South Asia andvoicing for a broad-basedGovernment in Afghanistan.

It is fair to say military inPakistan is an omnipotent insti-tution. Its influence in politicsis here to stay. So whatever isconvenient to it, accordingly,the future roadmap of Pakistanwill be drawn. Afghanistanhas always been viewed as a

playing ground and a zone ofinfluence by the PakistaniArmy. Thus its proxies, ratherthan Islamabad’s, have a majorsay in Kabul for years.Whenever this equation doesnot match, such regimes inKabul find it too difficult tosustain. Experience saysPakistan never wants a strongIndian presence inAfghanistan. Considering itstraditional rivalry with India,Islamabad would not allowDelhi to be in good termswith Kabul. Though India’scontinued outreach toAfghanistan has mostly beenreceived positively, the complexpower structures in that coun-try has hardly left any role forNew Delhi, except as an aidpartner.

The root cause for thisdilemma is no other thanPakistan, and to some extentthe US. Washington knowspretty well that without takingIslamabad into confidence,peace in Afghanistan wouldnot last long.

Currently, the ModiGovernment is advocating that

the talks must be Afghanowned and Afghan led. This isfine. But then, will Delhi beready to forge a deal with theTaliban if it comes back topower? This must be madeclear to the world that Delhiwould be forging a new normalwith the Taliban if it forms alegitimate Government inAfghanistan. Can anyone thinkthat Taliban will have trust inthe democratic process? Will itbe ready to contest elections incase it takes place?

What will happen if its can-didates are outright rejected bythe common people? TheTaliban is an experienced play-er. Its Government from 2001to 2006 led by Mullah Omarwas barely recognised by one ortwo countries around theworld. Afterwards, the Talibanregime tasted defeat from thepowerful force led by the USand its allies.

Since then, Afghanistan isvirtually under the occupa-tion of NATO forces eventhough democratically electedGovernments have reinforceda new sense of security and

peace in the country. In the last two decades, the

way the Taliban has intervenedin several pockets of the coun-try has demonstrated how bru-tal it could be. Its complete dis-regard for basic rights, partic-ularly of the minorities, chil-dren and women, have onlybrought fear and darkness tothe civilians in Afghanistan.

In such circumstances, theonly possibility for the Talibanis to charter a new peace courseto be acceptable as a Afghangovernment. It could be asmart power-sharing deal thatmay make the group a partnerin the legitimate Governmentof the country. Then the ques-tion comes, will these radicalsbe accepted by the democrati-cally elected leaders? Will therebe a working relationshipamong them that could survivefor some time? Will these war-lords simply accept a rule-based order? It all looks topsy-turvy.

They may not be accept-able by either Ghani or anyother popular leaders in thecountry. Accepting them is

simply a big blot on the fragiledemocratic set-up of the coun-try. Neither would they accepta system that offers an orderwherein one needs to beresponsible and deliveringgoods to the people. So theroad ahead in Afghanistan ismurky.

To conclude, the Taliban isto be handled carefully. It’sgood that they are back to apeace table. Pakistan has final-ly realised that its willingnessto back the peace process maymean a lot to the making ofpeace in its neighborhood. TheUS role is inseparable from adurable peace process inAfghanistan. Other criticalplayers such as India, Chinaand Russia need to see that theyare all engaged in any peacedeal that brings stability to alegitimate government inKabul.

When the Taliban repre-sentatives and the delegates ofthe Ghani Government meet inDoha, they would find it hardto resolve many critical issues.The two parties are showingvisions that could hardly meetat any point, particularly inregard to how Afghanistanwould be governed in future.Many hardline Taliban com-manders demand that Ghanibe replaced and an interim gov-ernment should come to Kabul.

Many of these militants arenot ready to work with theGhani Government. They evenview the Ghani Government asnot a legitimate representativeof the Afghan people. They allhave referred Ghani as a pup-pet. How will they work withsuch a leader now?

Way back in June, Ghanisaid during a virtual confer-ence: “I serve at will of theAfghan people, not to the willof the Taliban.” Such conflict-ing statements from both theTaliban and Ghani might puthurdle in the ongoing intra-Afghan talk. Ghani also saidany discussion of an interimgovernment is premature. He isabsolutely right as there aremany other critical issues to besorted out with the Taliban.Only, time will tell us, whatcould unfold for the war-rav-aged Afghanistan.

(The writer is an expert oninternational affairs)

=����������.�$���������������������������Wonder and mystery surrounds

the magnificent “Fairy Circles”.They are one of the most beautifulcreations of God. These unique“Fairy Circles” are found in theNamib Desert of Namibia in South-Western Africa. They are 10-65 feetin diametre. Usually, they are barrencircles lined with patches of vegeta-tion. They stretch for hundreds ofkilometres. Surprisingly, these circleslook other-worldly from imagestaken from various satellites.According to the local folklore, the“Fairy Circles” were once created bythe God himself. Some say that theyare no other than the footprints leftbehind by the God on the red soil ofthe Namib Desert. Another local tra-dition claims that these circles arepatches of desert poisoned by thebreath of dragons living beneath theNamibian Desert. This is mentionedin the folk tales of the Himba resi-dents of Namibia.

Much beyond, it has always beenpopular in South-Western Africathat “Namibia is the land that Godmade in anger”. This comes from thewide areas of Namibia that consistsof rugged and deeply forbiddingjungles. Indeed, rare records showthat this series of expressions believeto derive from the local inhabitantswho directly refer to the treacherousskeleton coast of the Namib Desert.Thus the tales of the Fairy Circles goon. They provide us clues to redis-cover the strange patterns.

Some mathematicians say thatthe whole landscape that covers theFairy Circles looks like polka dotsdress. Interestingly, these dots areregularly spaced across the NamibDesert. From far and the sky, theylook like islands in a sea of smallgrasslands. Even the biologists havefound it difficult to unearth the exis-tence of them. Tarnita, a theoretical

biologist and her team at the presti-gious Princeton University in the USsay that it is not possible to conductclose experiments about the FairyCircles in an area like the NamibDesert. Therefore such vast areaspose real big hurdles to test multiplehypotheses.

However after decades of stren-uous research, the environmental sci-entists and mathematicians havehighlighted two primary hypothesesabout these Circles. They are PlantCompetition Hypothesis and TermiteColony Hypothesis. Firstly, the entireNamib Desert is an arid desert.And such arid deserts are normallyfound closer to the equator becauseof direct sunlight it gets. Water is veryrare and the existing plants struggleto survive in areas like the NamibDesert. About the growth of strangepatterns like the Fairy Circles, Tarnitasays, “As vegetation expands, andthrives into a patch, smaller plantsnearby cannot get the water neces-sary to survive. The amount of veg-etation thins or disappears at theedges of the patch, forming regulardistanced gaps.”

Thus, all the Fairy Circles exhib-it regular patterns across this desert.Secondly, the Termite ColonyHypothesis says that under each ofthese patches, there exists a termitecolony. According to the ecologists,the eusocial insects where individu-als are divided into specialised groupsto support the overall survival oftheir colony make a large number ofunderground tunnels to transportfood for the rest of the members. Inthis whole process, the termitesseem to destroy the vegetationaround their colonies. Further, sci-entists state that in case of encroach-ments of one colony by the other,they fight till their enemy is finished.In this long and underground war of

survival, a series of termite coloniesdevelop in due course of time. Butinterestingly, these colonies areseemed to be of equal size and thereis no “termites land” between twocolonies. These are some of thenovel revelations that open up scopefor future research.

Thus the Namibian Fairy Circlesrepresent a unique ecosystem so fartill 2015. In the year 2016, such FairyCircles were discovered outsideNewman, in a small mining towncalled Pilbara region in WesternAustralia. This provides a new oppor-tunity to the scientific community toonce again uncover the origin and

growth of such phenomena. By now,the Australian Fairy Circles indicatethat these circles are the reaction ofthe plants to scare waters. Thoughboth the Australian and NamibianFairy Circles are more than almostthousands of kilometre apart, they aredeclared to be identical. UnlikeNamibia, where a large number ofinsects of species like ants and ter-mites are found in the Fairy Circles,the majority of the circles found inPilbara do not have ant or termitecolonies. Such nests or mounds ofinsects wherever discovered inAustralia are also randomly distrib-uted unlike the Namibian ones.

Besides their mysteries and sci-entific discoveries, the Fairy Circlesadd to the beauty of the biodiversi-ty of Namibia and Australia. Theyattract numerous insects and animalssuch as ants, bees, geckons, spiders,wasps and small mammals like gold-en moles, bat-eared foxes, black-backed jackals and aardvarks. Again,the Fairy Circles can be well-regard-ed as fine examples of allogenicecosystem engineering. Such ecosys-tems refer to an environment thattransforms the environment bymechanically changing materialsfrom one form to another. Such landforms helps in restoring water, peren-

nial plant and termite biomass acrossthe Namib Desert. As far as they arenot a threat to human and naturalenvironment, the Fairy Circles are tobe preserved.

For years, though the scientistsand researchers have suggested var-ious theories about the Fairy Circlesyet the mysteries have not come toan end about them. Hence, its veryexistence is highly debatable. Theywould remain enigmatic unlessdestroyed in the course of nature orthrough some man-made actions.

(The writer is a young environ-mental activist)

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One day, a group of self-acclaimedrationalists barged into my officeunannounced to question me on

the relevance of astrology. “Why do youmislead people with this unscientific dis-cipline?” they asked. “Well, I have been astudent of science, which is why I pursuethis discipline with confidence,” Iresponded. More than exposure to oneor other discipline of science, it is thescientific temper that matters the most.Scientific temper calls for a thoroughscrutiny before accepting or rejectingany view point, and with an open mind,free from any limitation whatsoever. Youare expected to thoroughly explore asubject before challenging its relevance.Let me tell you, astrology is a disciplinein its own right, having its own philoso-phy, premise, phraseology and workingmodalities. It doesn’t need sanction ofany other belief or discipline, includingscience, which itself is subject to contin-ued change.

A decade back, a lady known to mecame with a list of astrological terms,not in popular use. She wished to have asmall note on all of them. She informedme that Khuswant Singh (then alive)wished to write critically on Astrology. A

week later, in his weekly column in anational daily, he wrote disparagingly onastrology, based on those few liners.How can such a serious discipline becommented upon through a look intofew selective terms, which he did notunderstand?

Then came the next question: “Howcan you define anybody’s destiny infinite terms? Does individual freewillnot count in making one’s destiny?”Well, it’s your power of freewill thatdefines your destiny. Human beingsenjoy the exclusive privilege to guidetheir actions by choice and discrimina-tion. But whenever there is choiceoption in hand, the probability of its useand misuse remains equal.

And there is nothing like a freelunch in this world. You have to own upand bear with the consequences of thechoices you make. It’s again a mistakenperception that astrology straightawaylooks into one’s future space. Instead, itlooks into your present, which is noth-ing but a culmination of doing in thepast. And, seeded in the present is theway future is expected to unfold. If youknow that you have the seed of a mangotree in hand, if you plant and nurse it,

following its natural chemistry (expectedtimeline), will first sprout and then growinto a full-fledged mango tree. It maynot be out of place to mention here thatshould you self-reflect, through a dispas-sionate look into your thought-trends,you may figure the indwelling desiretrends. And all actions on your part aredriven by inlaid desire-trends, withrelated bearing on future course of life.So, astrology looks into your present,based on which future trends are antici-pated with a fair amount of precision.

Then came a counter: “Agreed, onecan watch out for own thought-trendsthrough self-reflection. But how can youread it through planetary projections?Planet’s gravitational pull can hardlyhave any bearing on us.” First, let me tellyou that it is not just the gravitationalpull of the planets that matters. Theplanets are not to be seen just as physicalobjects moving in the cosmos. All ofthem are energy balls either excitinglight in own right as Sun and other stel-lar bodies, or reflecting those drawnfrom other stellar bodies, or both.

Here a look into scientific principlesdeserves attention. Going by the percep-tion of modern theoretical physics, allexistences in this living world are actual-

ly manifestation of energy streams excit-ed from a ‘Singularity’ following the Big-bang. And energy particles having com-mon root, are in immediate and intimateconnect with each other. Even in so faras human beings are concerned, whatyou see of a being with a form body withhard bones, are at subtle level nothingbut an inseparable web of energy pat-tern, all primarily sourced to nature. So,at energy plane, there exists immediateconnect between man and the cosmicworld.

Now, thoughts playing throughmind are again nothing but energy.Their flow can’t be directly read. Butplanetary motions can be measured witha fair amount of precision. It is the cor-respondence between the movement ofcosmic bodies and the man that helpsdecipher how one’s mind would be flow-ing. So, planets are not doers, they arerather markers of what is going withinour minds. To sum up, though the disci-pline of astrology doesn’t claim scientificheritage, but its operating principlescan’t be termed unscientific either.

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