OUR CORRESPONDENT

TOKYO: Bhavinaben Patel clinched a historic silver in table tennis to give India its first medal in Paralympics before high jumper Nishad Kumar also came second but the cel-ebrations of a Super Sunday were somewhat muted after discus thrower Vinod Kumar’s bronze-winning result was put on hold due to a protest over his disability classification.

Patel, who was diagnosed with polio when she was 12 months old, became only the second Indian woman to win a medal at the Paralympics after she signed off with a silver fol-lowing a 0-3 loss to world num-

ber one Chinese paddler Ying Zhou in the women’s singles table tennis class 4 final.

Nishad then clinched a sil-ver with an Asian record before discus thrower Vinod fetched a bronze which was put on hold after a protest over his disabil-ity classification as India began collecting what is expected to be an unprecedented haul of athletics medals in the Games.

It somewhat marred the upbeat mood in the Indian camp on the National Sports Day, which is the birth anni-versary of hockey wizard Major Dhyan Chand. Vinod’s clas-sification in F52, which is for athletes with impaired mus-cle power, restricted range of

movement, limb deficiency or leg length difference, was done on August 22 by the organisers.

It was not clear on what grounds the classification has been challenged.

“Results of this event are currently under review due to classification observation in competition. The Victory Cer-emony has been postponed to the evening session of 30th August,” read a statement from the Games organisers.

India’s Chef de Mission Gursharan Singh said that Vinod’s medal stands for now till a decision on the matter by the technical officials likely to come on Monday.

But the day began brightly,

Nation: Pg 6 IMD: After July, August too set to record less than normal rainfall

Film: Pg 12Afghan directors to discuss Taliban takeover

KOLKATA: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee congratulated table tennis player Bhavinaben Hasmukhbhai Patel for win-ning a silver medal in Tokyo Paralympics. Banerjee said that the nation is proud of Patel and wished her for future endeavours. “Heartiest congratulations to Bhavina Patel for winning the silver medal at #TokyoParalympics. We are extremely proud of you for this historic win! Wishing you the very best in all your future endeavours,” Banerjee tweeted.

Mamata congratulates Bhavinaben

City: Pg 2State adopts three-layered mechanism to fight third wave

NMP a ‘ploy to sell India’, Oppn raised alarm over it a year back in Parl: TMC

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: Dubbing the Centre’s National Monetiza-tion Pipeline as a scheme to ‘sell India’, Trinamool Con-gress (TMC) Rajya Sabha MP Derek O’ Brien on Sun-day said a year and a half ago, the Opposition MPs had raised the issue on the floor of the Parliament but were

apparently not given any importance.

“ WHERE # Parliament WHAT Raised alarm about BJP Govt’s new Sell India cam-paign to strip nation’s assets. WHEN A year and a half ago, 16 March 2020 WHO Respon-sible opposition doing our job to stop Becho India,” the TMC MP tweeted.

It was O’ Brien, who had

raised the issue on March 16, 2020 and criticised the Centre for its policy to sell the coun-try’s public properties. Trin-amool Congress chairperson Mamata Banerjee had severely criticised the demonetisation policy of the BJP during her virtual address at the Tri-namool Chhatra Parishad (TMCP) foundation day on Saturday. Turn to P4

RNI NO.: WBENG/2015/65962

VOL. 7, ISSUE 237 | Monday, 30 August 2021 | Kolkata | Pages 12 | Rs 3.00PUBLISHED FROM DELHI | KOLKATA

MILLENNIUMPOST.IN

No Half Truths

INDIA’S REMARKABLE SUNDAY AT PARALYMPICS

CityDOWNPOUR TO CONTINUE 3

NationAAP BRINGS OUT TIRANGA YATRA 4

edit

THE FIGHT MUST GO ON 7

internationalISRAEL STRIKES HAMAS TARGETS 8

business‘EASE OF DOING BIZ STILL CUMBERSOME’ 10

In today’s paper

...

MPOST BUREAU

NEW DELHI: The suspen-sion of scheduled interna-tional passenger flights due to the coronavirus outbreak has been extended till September 30, aviation regulator DGCA said on Sunday.

“However, international scheduled flights may be allowed on selected routes by the competent authority on a case-to-case basis,” it added.

Scheduled international passenger services have been suspended in India since March 23, 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. But special interna-tional flights have been oper-ating under the Vande Bharat Mission since May 2020 and under bilateral “air bubble” arrangements with selected countries since July 2020.

India has formed air-bub-ble pacts with around 28 coun-tries, including the US, the UK, the UAE, Kenya, Bhutan and France. Under an air-bubble pact between two countries, special international flights can be operated by their airlines between their territories.

The circular issued by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) also said the suspension does not affect the operations of international all-cargo services and flights spe-cifically approved by it.

Suspension of international

flights extended till Sept 30‘New plan of HM is to remit all cases through ED to harass Oppn’

with the 34-year-old Patel clinching a silver. She lost 7-11 5-11 6-11 loss to Zhou, a two-time gold medallist, in the women’s singles summit clash which lasted 19 minutes.

Deepa Malik, who is the

current president of Paralym-pic Committee of India (PCI), was the first Indian woman to win a medal in the Paralympic Games when she had claimed a silver in shotput at Rio five years back. Turn to P4

OUR CORRESPONDENT

CHANDIGARH: Farmers in Punjab blocked highways for two hours on Sunday in protest against the police lathicharge on their Haryana counterparts as the neighbouring state gov-ernment defended the police action, which a farmer leader alleged led to one death.

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Sun-day defended the police action against protesting farmers in Karnal, saying they promised a peaceful protest but hurled stones at police and blocked highways.

Haryana Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala too condemned farmers’ vio-lence in Karnal but promised action against a duty magistrate who was caught on camera tell-ing police to break farmers’ heads during their protest.

A day after the police action in Karnal, a farm union leader accused police of causing death to a farmer, allegedly injured in the lathicharge, but Karnal Inspector General of Police Mamta Singh refuted the alle-gation, saying that he died at home.

Owing allegiance to various farmer bodies, the protesters in Punjab burnt effigies of the BJP-led Haryana government for using “force” on farmers in Karnal.

Around 10 people were allegedly injured on Saturday as police lathicharged a group of farmers disrupting traffic movement on a national high-way while heading towards Karnal to protest against a BJP meeting. The two-hour-long agitation in Punjab that started at 12 noon also inconvenienced commuters, who got stuck in traffic snarls at several places.

The protest disrupted vehic-ular traffic at many places

and affected routes along the Jalandhar-Pathankot highway, Ludhiana-Chandigarh high-way, Amritsar-Ganganagar highway and Ferozepur-Zira road.

Defending police action against protesting farmers in Karnal amid the opposition’s attack on his government, Chief Minister Khattar said they promised a peaceful protest but hurled stones at police and blocked highways. Turn to P4

Police lathicharge on farmers triggers protests

Farmer injured in Karnal police lathicharge died of heart attack, says BKU leader Gurnam Singh Chaduni

Highlights » Farmers in Punjab block roads, burn effigies » Farmers assured peaceful protest, but stones hurled at cops: Khat-tar on police action in Karnal » Chautala promises action against officer for telling cops to break farmers’ heads’

Farmers from the various unions stage a protest against Haryana Police and Government, in Amritsar, on Sunday MPOST

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: India added 45,083 new coronavirus infections taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 3,26,95,030, while active cases registered an increase for the fifth consecutive day, accord-ing to the Union Health Min-istry data updated on Sunday.

The death toll has climbed to 4,37,830 with 460 fresh fatalities, according to the data updated at 8 am.

The active cases have

increased to 3,68,558 compris-ing 1.13 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 97.53 per cent, the ministry said.

An increase of 8,783 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.

As many as 17,55,327 tests were conducted on Satur-day taking the total cumula-tive tests conducted so far for detection of COVID-19 in the country to 51,86,42,929.

The daily positivity rate was recorded at 2.57 per cent. It has been less than three per cent for the last 34 days.

The weekly positivity rate was recorded at 2.28 per cent. It has been below three per cent for the last 65 days,

according to the ministry.The number of people who

have recuperated from the dis-ease surged to 3,18,88,642, while the case fatality rate stands at 1.34 per cent, the data stated.

Cumulatively, 63.09 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered under the nationwide vaccination drive till Sunday morning.

More than 73.8 lakh doses have been administered in a 24 hours span, according to the ministry. Turn to P4

India logs 45,083 cases, 460 deathsACTIVE COVID CASES HAVE INCREASED TO 3,68,558

Bhavinaben, Nishad win silver; Vinod Kumar’s bronze on hold

Nishad Kumar competes in the men’s high jump T47 final at the Olympic Stadium PTI

Paralympic Committee of India chief Deepa Malik (L) with Paddler Bhavina Patel (R) PTI

Vinod Kumar wins a bronze in the men’s discus throw PTI

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has issued fresh standard operating procedures to accord final hearing of cases in physical mode from Septem-ber 1, and will employ a hybrid option from Tuesday to Thursday amid strict observance of Covid appropriate norms.

The top court has been hear-ing cases through video-conferenc-ing since March last year due to the pandemic and several bar bodies and lawyers have been demanding that physical hearings should resume immediately.

The SOP, issued by the Secretary General on August 28, made it clear that the courts would keep hearing miscellaneous cases through virtual mode on Mondays and Fridays.

Wearing of mask, frequent use of hand sanitiser and maintaining physical distancing norms are manda-tory for all entrants into the Supreme Court premises, including into the Courtrooms, the SOP said.

The procedures mandated that once litigants and the lawyers opt for the hearing through physical mode then hearing through video/tele-

conferencing mode to the party con-cerned will not be facilitated.

The SOP has been issued on the directions of Chief Justice N V Ramana who took note of the recom-mendations of the Judges’ Committee set up earlier to consider representa-tions and requests of bar bodies that the hearing through physical mode be started keeping in mind the financial and technical difficulties being faced by many lawyers.

With a view to gradually facilitate resumption of physical hearing, the final hearing/regular matters listed on non-miscellaneous days may be heard in the physical mode (with hybrid option), as may be decided by the Bench, considering the number of parties in a matter as well as the lim-ited capacity of the Court rooms; fur-ther, any other matter may be heard in physical mode on such days, if Bench directs likewise. Turn to P4

SC to resume physical hearing from Sept 1, to employ a hybrid option

Issues fresh SOP to facilitate hearing

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI/KABUL: The changing power equation in Afghanistan is a challenge for India, prompting a rethink of strategy and the Quad initiative underscored it, Defence Minis-ter Rajnath Singh said on Sunday.

The Defence Ministry is seri-ously considering the forma-tion of Integrated Battle Groups (IBGs) as quick decision-making is a key aspect during war time, he said, speaking on structural reforms, including Joint Com-mands in the armed forces.

He was addressing student officers of the 77th Staff Course at the Defence Services Staff Col-lege at nearby Wellington in Tamil Nadu.

“The changing equation in Afghanistan is a challenge for us...

These situations have forced our country to rethink its strategy. We are changing our strategy and the formation of Quad underlines this strategy,” he said.

“The changing equations have forced every country to think on its strategy. “QUAD (Quadrilat-eral security dialogue), a group of India, Australia, America and

Japan, has been formed under this background.”

The perception of linking national security to geographical boundaries -vis-a-vis cyber war-fare and biological attacks- has changed and the alignment and re-alignment of global powers add to the already changing security challenges, Singh said. Turn to P4

WASHINGTON/KABUL: An Afghan police chief says a rocket has struck a neighbour-hood northwest of Kabul’s inter-national airport amid the US evacuation there, killing a child.

Rashid, the Kabul police chief who goes by one name, says the rocket struck Sunday afternoon. No group immedi-ately claimed the attack.

Meanwhile, the US mili-tary confirmed on Sunday that it targeted an “explosive-laden vehicle” headed towards Kabul’s international airport where the American military is involved in an evacuation operation.

US military forces con-ducted a self-defence unmanned over-the-horizon airstrike today on a vehicle in Kabul, eliminat-ing an imminent ISIS-K threat to Hamid Karzai International airport,” said Capt Bill Urban, spokesman of the US Central Command. We are confident we successfully hit the target. Signif-icant secondary explosions from the vehicle indicated the pres-ence of a substantial amount of explosive material, Urban said.

The US is assessing the pos-sibilities of civilian casualties, though it has no indications at this time. Turn to P4

Kabul: Child killed in rocket strike; US drone hits 'explosive-laden vehicle'

Changes in Af a challenge for India: RajnathWe want to maintain Afghanistan’s trade, political ties with India: Taliban leader

A vehicle damaged in US drone strike in Kabul, on Sunday pti

Need to create right ecosystem for sports, games

M Venkaiah Naidu

NEW DELHI: Former Unitech promoters San-jay Chandra and Ajay Chandra have been shifted from the Tihar Jail here to Mumbai’s Arthur Road Jail and Taloja Central Jail, following a Supreme Court order, officials said on Sunday.

Director General (Prisons) Sandeep Goel confirmed that the brothers were shifted on Saturday.

“Sanjay and Ajay Chandra both were taken under police escort to Mumbai by train on Sat-urday morning. They reached Mumbai and were lodged in the jails there in the early hours of Sunday,” Goel said.

A bench of justices D Y Chandrachud and M R Shah had said that two reports of the Enforce-ment Directorate about the conduct of Sanjay and Ajay Chandra and the connivance of Tihar Jail staff in flouting orders and undermining the jurisdiction of the court have raised some seri-ous and disturbing issues.

“In the circumstances, we order and direct that both the accused, Sanjay Chandra and Ajay Chandra be shifted from Tihar Central Jail to the premises of Arthur Road Jail, Mumbai and Taloja Central Jail, Mumbai, respectively, the bench said in its 27-page order.

It directed the Delhi Police commissioner to personally hold an inquiry into the conduct of Tihar Jail staff in regard to the Chandras and submit a report to the court within four weeks. MPOST

UNITECH’S CHANDRA BROTHERS SHIFTED FROM TIHAR TO MUMBAI JAILS

REMEMBERING NAZRUL

Minister Indranil Sen pays homage to poet Kavi Nazrul Islam on his death anniversary PIC/MPOST

Bengal adopts three-layered mechanism to fight third wave

State takes steps to revive gamma irradiation project

SOUMITRA NANDI

KOLKATA: In a bid to divert the export of cuttle fish to European countries, the Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA), Kolkata has imparted hands-on skilled training for preparation of value added Cephalopods that include – cuttle fish, squids and octopus .

The training assumes sig-nificance with the export-ers of West Bengal facing acute problems in export-ing to China due to detection of COVID -19 nucleic acid on the packaging material of frozen products. Export-ers from this region have been mainly exporting to China, cuttle fish as Block Fro-zen Whole.

However, out of 3 major exporters to China, 2 have been suspended after their consignment tested positive for COVID-19 nucleic acid in outer packaging material

and now exporters are refus-ing to send marine products to China.

“There is a good market for cuttle fish in Europe but for this purpose the need was to do some value addition to the cephalopods as the eating habit of Europe is different from that of China. However, the exporters did not possess the skill for any such value addition,” a senior official of MPEDA said.

Hence MPEDA NETFISH (Network of Fish Quality Man-agement & Sustainable Fishing) brought in trained supervisors and technical work force from Veraval area of Gujarat and rendered hands on training to the workers as well as manag-ers, supervisors, technologists for pre- processing, process-ing so that there is little prob-lem in acceptance in European market.

“We are hopeful that this skilled hands on training will go a long way towards secur-

ing the livelihood of processing personnel as well as the fisher-men for sustainability,” Archi-man Lahiri, Deputy Director MPEDA regional division Kolkata.

At least 147 participants from six leading process-ing units based at Digha, Sankarpur , Contai in East Midnapore and Jagadishpur in Howrah joined the training programme.

Good quantity of cephalo-pods (about 50 MT) is being captured and landed every day in different fish landing centre and fishing harbours.

Shyamsundar Das Secre-tary of Digha Fishermen and Fish Traders Association said that the training imparted by MPEDA has been 100 percent successful. “The fishermen are getting double the price for cuttle fish, squids and octo-pus. The price that was Rs 110-120 per kg is now being sold at around Rs 230-240 per kg,” he added.

Training imparted to divert export of cuttle fish to Europe147 staff from 6 processing units joined programme

SOUMITRA NANDI

KOLKATA: The state Food Processing Industries & Hor-ticulture (FPI&H) department has taken a major stride in revival of its gamma irradia-tion project at Chinsurah in Hooghly district that has been lying non-functional since 2004.

A top official of Board of Radiation and Isotope Tech-nology (BRIT) under Bhaba Atomic Research Centre vis-ited the site and assured full assistance in making the unit functional.

The export of fruits, vege-tables and betel leaf to US and European countries is expected to receive a big boost with the rejuvenation of this gamma irradiation project.

“There are some countries in US and Europe and Austra-lia too which follow very strict export standards in which killing of bacteria by using the gamma irradiation technol-ogy is mandatory. The tech-nology is very specialised and uses Cobalt 60 radiation that improves the shelf life of prod-ucts and reduce period of rip-ening of various fruits. CEO BRIT turned up at the site in Chinsurah last month and has agreed to extend support for

making this unit functional,” Subrata Gupta, Additional Chief Secretary of FPI&H department said.

The building for hous-ing the gamma radiation machine was already there but the machine that had been installed lying defunct due to non use for several years.

The erstwhile Left govern-ment had collaborated with Jadavpur University for the project but the latter had alleg-edly conceived it as an aca-demic project and hence the commercial viability could not be tapped. The project that was conceived in 2004 did not take off. “The export poten-tial of betel leaf (paan), which is cultivated mainly in South 24-Parganas, Nadia and Mid-

napore, will also receive a big boost with the installation of the gamma irradiation facility. Betel leaf is in huge demand in North America where it is used as an edible vegetable,” said a senior official of FPI&H department.

There is no such facil-ity in the entire eastern India. States like Maharashtra and Gujarat have procured man-goes from Bengal and used the gamma irradiation technol-ogy to export the stuff to the American countries. Gamma irradiation is used in a vari-ety of applications including sterilisation, decontamination and materials modification. It kills microorganisms of dif-ferent products in a specially designed cell.

TWO EMPLOYEES OF A HOSTEL HELD FOR SEXUALLY HARASSING MINOR BOYSKOLKATA: Two persons were arrested on Saturday night for allegedly harassing minor boys sexually in Sonarpur of South 24-Parganas. The accused, identified as Tarak Mondal and Somnath Chkraborty, were arrested and produced before the Baruipur court on Saturday following which they were remanded in police custody for four days. According to sources, on Saturday a woman approached the Sonarpur police station and sought help to rescue her son who was allegedly being harassed by two employees of the hostel, where the boy lives. The woman showed a letter to the police which was written by her son. In the letter, it was mentioned that Mondal and Chakraborty, two employees of the hostel used to abuse the children sexually. The minor boys were forced to wake up late night and they were being taken to other rooms.

TOURIST DROWNS IN DIGHA SEAKOLKATA: A youth from Nadia district drowned in Digha sea on Saturday while bathing. The body was found at sea shore near Talsari in Odisha on Sunday morning. According to sources, Ritam Sadhukhan (23) of Kotwali area in Nadia along with six of his friends went to Digha on Friday. On Saturday afternoon, they were bathing near the Khanika ghat in New Digha. Suddenly, Sadhukhan went missing. Police along with Disaster Management Group (DMG) personnel tried to find Sadhukhan but failed. At night details of Sad-hukhan containing photographs, his dress and body structure were sent to the adjacent police stations in-cluding the ones in Odisha. On Sunday morning, Sad-hukahn’s body was found lying on the Udaypur beach under jurisdiction of Talsari Marine police station. As the details sent by the Digha police matched with the body, cops of Talsari Marine police station informed back. Later, his friends and one of his relatives went to Talsari and identified the body.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: The state Food Safety Cell will launch check-ing drives at the road side stalls and shops to improve the qual-ity of the medium of cooking.

The cell has received com-plaints that many shops sell-ing “singara”, “kachuri” and “telebhaja” are using stale oil for several days. The officials of the cell will make surprise checks and the licences of the shops may be cancelled if infe-rior quality of oil is found to be used to prepare the mouth watering items. It has been decided that the same oil can not be used for more than twice to make the food items.

Thousands of people take singara, kachuri, vegetable and egg shops and telebhaja from

the shops most of whom are situated in north Kolkata. In the areas surrounding Bagba-zar, Shyambazar and Hatibagan continue to cater to people with traditional food items.

A senior official of Kolk-ata Municipal Corporation ( KMC) said hundreds of people visiting the city daily take these food items and so it is manda-tory to maintain the quality of the oil. Poor quality oil leads to stomach related problems like ameobiasis. He said two years ago the KMC had con-ducted a study on the quality of water that was being used in the road side stalls along with the Institute of Hygiene and Public Health. The food vendors were given training following which they started using KMC water.

Food Safety Cell officials to conduct suprise

checks at roadside stalls

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: With an aim to fight a possible third wave of Covid and to put in place ade-quate infrastructure, the state Health department has adopted three-layered mechanisms.

All the medical college hospitals and various teaching institutions have been asked to ensure quality control initia-tives so that the infection can be checked. There must be an infection control team in each medical college and hospital. The primary objective of this would be to keep various wards free from infections, espe-cially the labour rooms. It is apprehended that women and infants may be more vulnerable to the Covid third wave.

Health department officials will monitor the quality con-trol parameters at the hospitals from time to time.

The step has been taken as the experts have pointed out that more infants and chil-dren may be infected with Covid during the third wave compared to the other two previous waves. According to the experts, mothers may be infected in large numbers if

their children are infected.In another initiative, all

the district health officials have already been instructed to arrange adequate infra-structure for the children in the district and sub-divisional hospitals.

Health department is put-

ting adequate critical units in paediatric care ahead of an anticipatory third wave.

Around 2,348 critical care beds will be put in place to combat the unforeseen situ-ation. As many as 1550 CCU beds, 528 PICU beds and 270 NICU beds will be augmented.

A total 2,476 SNCU beds would be made functional in the state. Infrastructure aug-mentation works have been initiated.

In another mechanism, training of health workers has been given utmost importance ahead of the third wave.

Online training is being conducted to make the health workers aware how to combat the situation if the third wave hits. Teams of senior doctors have been constituted in this regard.

Training is being con-ducted at various levels by the

civic bodies as well. Kolkata Municipal Corporation doc-tors are being trained as to how the children can be provided with the best quality treatment if there is a third wave.

The doctors from the KMC and other civic bodies who will fight the battle from the front will be given training as to how the best services can be extended to the children. The training would also throw light as to how to treat patients at the Safe Homes.

KMC has already opened Safe Homes keeping the third wave in mind.

ABOUT 2,348 CRITICAL CARE BEDS WILL BE PUT IN PLACE

News at a Glance

Highlights » All medical college hospitals and various teaching institu-tions have been asked to ensure quality control initiatives » As many as 1550 CCU beds, 528 PICU beds and 270 NICU beds would be augmented » A total 2,476 SNCU beds would be made functional in the state, infrastructure augmentation works have been initiated » District health officials have been instructed to arrange adequate infrastructure for children in district and sub-divisional hospitals » KMC doctors are being trained as to how children can be provided with quality treatment

2 millenniumpostCitympMONDAY, 30 AUGUST, 2021 | KOLKATA

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Key Points » A top official of Board of Radiation and Isotope Technolo-gy (BRIT) under Bhaba Atomic Research Centre visited the site and assured full assistance in making the unit functional » “There are some countries in US and Europe and Australia which follow very strict export standards in which killing of bacteria by using the gamma irradiation technology is mandatory,” said additional chief secretary of FPI&H department, Subrata Gupta » The building for housing the gamma radiation machine was already there but the machine that had been installed lying defunct due to non use for several years

Obscene messages on social media: Actor lodges complaint

KOLKATA: A Bengali tele-vision actor has filed a com-plaint with the cybercrime cell of Kolkata Police after receiv-ing obscene messages from the fake account of a film director.Payel Sarkar, a popular face in serials like Tapur Tupur, Andarmahal, Bene Bou, Tumi Rabe Nirobe told reporters on Sunday that she had accepted a friend request from a pro-file carrying the name of a well known film director which had several photos and details of his works on Saturday.

However, soon afterwards she was told during a mes-senger chat that she has been chosen for the lead role of an upcoming film and then got an obscene message, Sarkar said. As she posted the entire screenshot of the chat on her Facebook wall, Payel was asked to check the profile of the film director by some of her friends and fans and discovered it was fake with several spelling bloomers, the actor said.

She reported the matter to the Kolkata Police cybercrime

cell who transferred it to the cybercrime cell of Barrackpore Police Commissionerate as she was a resident in the northern suburb of Baranagar which falls under Barrackpore. The fake account was deactivated, an official of Barrackpore Police Commissionerate said, adding that police was working to trace the person behind the account.

“I understood soon after-wards it was not the verified account of ...... sir. The fake account had many inconsisten-cies I realised when I checked later. But I went ahead with the complaint as I want to punish those who abuse, stalk and harass women and girls on social media. I have got all the cooperation from police,” she said. The director told report-ers he will also complain to the cyber cell and also legal steps behind those using his name in social media. “I was totally in the dark about such devel-opments till now. But I would request everyone to contact me over the phone or through my office...” he said. MPOST

Over 2.72L jabs administered in a day

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: The state on Sun-day administered 2,72,787 doses across Bengal and the number of cumulative doses administered so far in the state reached 3,94,29,448 till Sunday.

State on Saturday adminis-

tered 5.1 lakh doses. On Friday, around 5.6 lakh people were administered vaccinne which is the highest daily figure of Ben-gal so far. State has achieved 5 lakh daily milestone fourth so far. State had conducted more than 4 lakh doses six times so far.

Incidentally, state on August 23 crossed 5 lakh daily vaccination mark for the first time since the immunization drive began.

In the special category vac-cine group aged between 18-45, around 1,18,88,465 doses have been administered so far till Sunday.

Health department has the capacity to perform more than 7 lakh daily doses but inade-quate supply of vaccinne by the Centre.

The health department has been able to utilize each vial without any wastage. Despite the challenges posed by the inadequate supply of Covid vaccine by the Centre, the state health department has success-fully achieved these milestones.

Youth held for writing

exam posing as another examineeOUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: A fake candi-date was found writing a competitive examination on Saturday posing as the original examinee.

According to sources, on Saturday an examination of B.Tech lateral entry was tak-ing place at the Aliah Uni-versity in New Town. During the examination, while check-ing the documents invigilator doubted the identity of a youth who had appeared for the test. To confirm about the identity of the candidate, invigilator started questioning the candi-date Mirza Mohammad Meh-boob of Arambag in Hooghly as per the admit card, to con-firm his identity. While ques-tioning several discrepancies were found and finally the youth confessed that he was appearing for Mehboob and his name was Suvam Ghosal.

Ghosal was detained and Techno City police station was informed. Ghosal was handed over to the police. During interrogation, Ghosal told the cops that he lives in Chhatna in Bankura and was appearing in the examination posing as Mehboob for money.

Ghosal claimed that his father is suffering from several ailments and he is the only one to look after him.

Due to the financial crunch Ghosal had to discontinue his education. Police may send a notice to Mehboob for interrogation.

South Dinajpur: Nod sought for 48 CCU beds in 2 hospsOUR CORRESPONDENT

BALURGHAT: South Dinaj-pur district health department has sent a proposal to the state health department to increase the number of Critical Care Unit (CCU) beds for both Bal-urghat district hospital and Gangarampur subdivisional hospital.

According to a health offi-cial, the proposal was sent to the state health department for

the approval of 48 CCU beds for Balurghat and Gangaram-pur hospitals in order to pro-vide better health service to the district residents.

“At present Balurghat hos-pital has 12 CCU beds and Gangarampur hospital has six CCU beds. We have sent a proposal for more 12 CCU beds for Balurghat and 18 CCU beds for Gangarampur. Both the hospitals have immense pressure of the patients and

in most cases, the concerned authorities of both hospitals are not able to arrange CCU beds for the patients in spite of their demands due to the shortage of beds,” said the official.

Recently, a group of offi-cials-led by Chief Medical Offi-cer of Health Dr Sukumar Dey had inspected both the hos-pitals to see the infrastruc-ture and selected the suitable places where the new beds will be placed.

“Both the hospitals have enough infrastructures to keep the additional beds if the state health department approves the proposal of the district health department. We hope to get the approval from the higher authority soon,” added the health official.

Initially, it has been decided that the additional beds will be kept at the first floors of both hospitals for the criti-cal patients and children. The

Covid patients will not be treated there with the general patients.

According to a health source, the Covid patients have a separate hospital where 10 CCU beds are already there to treat the serious patients.

Notably, South Dinajpur has one district hospital, one subdivisional hospital, two super-specialty hospitals and eight block hospitals to treat the patients.

Project likely to boost export of fruits & vegetables

Representative Image

Representative Image

3millenniumpost City mpKOLKATA | MONDAY, 30 AUGUST, 2021

Somen Mitra’s wife Sikha returns to TMC

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: Various districts in both South and North Bengal have been receiving scattered rainfall from Friday.

The intensity of rainfall has reduced in South Bengal but in case of North Bengal it will continue to rain till Monday/Tuesday following which the situation is expected to improve.

“Monsoon trough has been mov-ing towards the South. It is situated between Bihar and Odisha. Orange alerts had already been issued for var-ious North Bengal districts.

Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar, Coochbe-har, Darjeeling and Kalimpong will continue to receive heavy rainfall till Monday/Tuesday. The situation may improve in North Bengal from Wednesday. It will also rain in Malda and South Dinajpur,” a weather offi-cial said.

People in South Bengal will con-tinue to feel discomfort due to the

high humid situation. The highest temperature in the city remained at 33.2 degree Celsius which was 1

degree above normal. The lowest temperature in the city

and its adjoining areas stood at 26.4

degree Celsius. The relative humidity touched 97

per cent. Some of the western parts of the state, particularly some parts of Birbhum, West Burdwan may receive scattered rainfall in the next 24 hours.

“Most parts of South Bengal will stay dry but the North Bengal dis-tricts will receive a heavy rainfall in the next two days. It may rain in some parts of South Bengal in the next 24 hours but the sultry weather will pre-vail,” the official said.

The sky remained cloudy in many parts of South Bengal on Sunday. Some other states may also receive a heavy to very heavy rainfall. North

Bengal districts received rainfall throughout last week as a monsoon trough had been stretching from Dal-tongunj in Jharkhand to Bay of Ben-gal bringing more rainfall in different parts.

The humidity level will mostly fluctuate in South Bengal. People have already been suffering from high humidity in Kolkata and other districts.

The situation will remain unchanged. Prior to the last week a monsoon trough was located over the Himalayan foothills which brought rainfall in several districts like Jalpai-guri, Cooch Behar and Alipurduar in North Bengal.

Due to the impact of monsoon trough, there has been a huge incur-sion of moisture from the sea into the mainland.

Due to the incursion of moisture there may be a formation of clouds over some districts in South Bengal. It may trigger scattered rainfall in some areas.

Heavy downpour to continue in several dists of North Bengal, alerts weatherman

‘Monsoon trough has been moving towards South & is situated between Bihar & Odisha’

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: The government-con-stituted enquiry committee started a probe into alleged complaints and irregularities related to Aliah University.

The four-member committee will conduct a probe related to “adminis-trative, financial and academic mat-ter” of the varsity and has been given a month’s time to complete the inquiry. After enquiry the committee will submit its report to the government with sugges-tions for further action.

The committee comprises officials from the minorities, finance and audit departments.

According to university sources, the committee has sought information from all top administrative officials including the registrar and Vice-Chancellor who have been associated with “financial and administrative” matters from financial year 2014-2015.

The details of purchases of labora-tory equipment, ACs and various fees like admission fees, hostel fees that has been collected from students and expenses related to appointment of teaching and non- teaching staff have been sought.

Even the list of permanent and contractual employees, their mode of appointment and salary has been sought.

However, a university official claimed that the audit of accounts has already been completed till March 2019.

The Aliah University Teachers’ Association said that somebody from the academic field who has a better knowledge of academic matters should have been the part of the enquiry committee.

The Association has written a let-ter in this regard to the Minority Affairs department.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: Trinamool Con-gress MLA Raj Chakraborty had a narrow escape as a group of miscreants attacked while he was attending a meeting over renovation of a Hanuman Mandir in Barrackpore.

In the attack, at least 6 TMC workers sustained injuries. It was alleged that around 30 miscreants had attacked TMC workers during the meeting.

Around 13 people have been arrested by the police till Sunday night in connection with the incident. According to sources, the Hanuman man-dir located near the platform number 1 of Barrackpore railway station is at least 60-year-old. Earlier, the Man-dir committee was being con-trolled by BJP leader Manish Shukla.

After he was murdered, a Mandir committee was looking after the day to day works. Uttam Das, chair-man, Board of Administrator of Barrackpore municipality alleged that there were several irregularities which the committee failed to justify. “On Sunday me, Chakraborty

and a few ward coordinators were present where matters regarding the renovation of the Hanuman mandir and other related works were being dis-cussed. Suddenly a group of miscreants attacked. Six of our party workers were injured and admitted to several hospitals,” Das said.

Sources informed that as soon as the miscreants attacked the meeting, security person-nel of the MLA surrounded him and took him away from the spot. Later, Das and oth-ers lodged a complaint at the Titagarh police station against the miscreants.

Trinamool Congress lead-ership alleged that the miscre-ants had brought firearms with them.

However, no shootout had taken place.

A case has been registered against unknown miscreants.

Narrow escape for MLA Raj Chakraborty; 6 TMC men

hurt in attack by miscreants

Aliah univ: Probe starts for alleged

irregularities

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: Sikha Mitra, the widow of former West Bengal Congress chief Somen Mitra, joined Trinamool Congress on Sunday afternoon.

Mala Roy, Trinamool Con-gress MP and party MLA Nay-ana Bandyopadhyay, handed over the party flag to Mitra at a function at the TMC office at Chowringhee and welcomed her to the party.

Mitra became a TMC MLA in 2011 and resigned in 2014. After joining TMC Mitra said: “It is a home-coming for me. I had never left the party. Though in the past six years my distance with TMC increased, the party did not take any disciplinary action against me.”

Mitra claimed that though she had resigned as a Trinamool Congress MLA, she had never officially quit the party. “My husband was made the state Congress chief but I had taken a break from active politics. I was touched by the warmth and sim-plicity of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee who called me up and

requested me to be an active TMC worker. I decided that if I join active politics again, it has to be under her,” she told reporters.

She said after coming to power for the third consecutive time Trinamool Congress chairperson Mamata Banerjee had called her and requested her to join Banga Janani Bahini. It was learnt that she would be given an important post in the wing. On asked if her

son Rohan would join TMC, she said: “It is his decision. We do not force anything.”

The BJP had announced her name as a candidate from the Chowringhee Assembly seat. Within half an hour after the announcement Mitra said her name had been announced with-out her consent.

After joining, she said: “BJP is a communal party. It is true

that it has come to power by the people’s mandate. It will be dangerous for India if this party is allowed to continue.”

Mamata Banerjee has a long association with the Mitras. Somen Mitra became a TMC MP from Diamond Harbour in 2009. He resigned in 2014. Banerjee used to enquire about his health when Mitra was hospitalised in July 2020 and died some days later.

Reacting to the development, Congress state unit chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said, “I don’t know why Sikha Mitra left the Congress and joined the Trin-amool. She was with the TMC earlier and had joined the Con-gress but now returned to the ruling party. It is her personal decision. We have always treated her with respect.”

Differences had surfaced between the state Congress lead-ership helmed by Chowdhury, and Mitra and her son Rohan after the death of Somen Mitra last year.

Rohan Mitra, who had resigned as the state Congress general secretary in July, continues to remain in the party.

‘HAD NEVER OFFICIALLY QUIT TRINAMOOL’

Officials trek to hold Duare Sarkar camps, reach out to beneficiaries of 14 tribal villages

Covid-19 Stats » Number of deaths in past 24 hours 6 » Total death toll so far 18,423 » Tested COVID positive in the past 24 hours 650 » Total COVID positive cases so far 15,47,548 » Total patients recovered from COVID so far 15,20,055 » Discharged from hospitals in a day 683 » Total sample tested so far 1,69,40,42

Fresh cases dip to 650; 6 deaths in a day

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: Single-day Covid infection dropped to 650 on Sunday from what stood at 661 on Saturday.

Bengal has reported 6 Covid deaths on Sunday. The figure stood at 7 on Saturday. Around 18,423 people have so far died in Bengal due to Covid.

The total number of infected people in the state so far reached 15,47,548. Out of this, 15,20,055 people have recovered from Covid and released from hospitals.

As many as 683 people were discharged from different hospitals on Sunday. The per-centage of occupancy of Covid beds in the State remains at 3.05.

The recovery rate remains at 98.22 per cent with fatality rate being restricted within 1.19 for over 3 weeks.

The positivity rate has gone down to 1. 58 percent on Sunday from 1.61 percent on Saturday.

Number of daily caseload still remains higher in the dis-tricts like North 24-Parganas, Kolkata, South 24-Parganas, Hooghly and Darjeeling.

Around 88 fresh cases were detected in North 24-Parga-nas while in case of Kolkata the number was registered at 87.

Darjeeling has seen 44 new

cases, South 24-Parganas 59 and Hooghly 46, Coochbe-har has reported 17 new cases, Howrah 43, Nadia 48.

Bengal has so far carried out 1,69,40,427 Covid sam-ple tests out of which around 41,114 tests were done in the past 24 hours. Kolkata and North 24 Parganas have seen 1 death each on Sunday. Hooghly has seen 2 deaths, Nadia has seen 1 death and Kalimpong also 1.

Health department has so far addressed 21,34,217 gen-eral queries so far out of which 2,455 queries were addressed in the past 24 hours.

State has so far given tele-medicine consultations to 8,63,396 people so far out of which 1,279 were given con-sultation in the past 24 hours. Around 509 people have been given tele-psychological coun-selling in the past 24 hours taking the total number of counselling to 4,21,156 till Sunday.

The total number of mucor-mycosis infected cases reached 101 in the state and the total number of suspected cases stand at 204.

The number of confirmed deaths due to mucormyco-sis in Bengal has reached 23 while 49 others who have died are still among the suspected cases.

TMC leaders visit house of party’s assaulted worker in Tripura

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders on Sunday visited the house of Mujibar Rahaman, who was allegedly assaulted by the BJP workers on Saturday in Tripura.

Trinamool leaders Jaya Dutta and Sujata Mondol visited the house of Raha-man on Sunday afternoon.

His house at Badharghat was ransacked by the BJP workers on Saturday when Trinamool supporters were preparing to take out a rally to celebrate the foundation day of Trinamool Chhatra Parishad.

Two other Trinamool Congress supporters were also assaulted.

Kunal Ghosh, secretary of TMC Bengal and Dr Shantanu Sen, party’s Rajya Sabha MP, reached Tripura on Saturday.

Flouting the BJP’s ter-ror tactics, they took out a procession to celebrate the foundation day of TMCP.

Ghosh on Sunday said people in Tripura have shown keen interest in the pro-peo-ple schemes which TMC chairperson had announced in Bengal. “Once the BJP

government is ousted in the 2023 Assembly election, Trinamool will implement all these schemes like Kanyashree, Sabuj Sathi, Rupashree in Tripura,” he added.

He alleged that the Cen-tre did not send the National Human Rights Commission to Tripura where the BJP was attacking TMC supporters every day.

“The party’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee’s car was vandal-ised and the leaders were beaten up.

Two leaders, Jaya Dutta and Sudip Raha, were beaten up so badly that they had to be hospitalised. But, the NHRC was nowhere to be seen,” he maintained.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: The Alipurduar dis-trict administration braved inclem-ent weather to reach out to Buxa Primary school, situated adjacent to Buxa Fort for organising Duare Sarkar (Government at Doorstep) camp on Saturday. Located at a height of 3,500 feet above sea level, the dis-trict administration team led by DM Surendra Kumar Meena started trekking from Santhalbari to reach the camp.

“The beneficiaries hail from 14 tribal villages, which include Adma,

Chunavati, Lepchaka etc and have to take up a lot of trouble to come to the camp for availing benefits of various government schemes. Most of them have to trek a long distance to reach the camp.”

“So, we always try to ensure that cancellation of the camp on the scheduled day never happens. There was fear of landslides and other effects due to inclement weather, but all our officials took up the chal-lenge,” BDO Kalchini Prasanta Barman said.

More than 350 beneficiaries attended the camp for availing ben-

efits of Lakshmir Bhandar, Swasthya Sathi and other schemes. Some job cards were also distributed.

Many of the beneficiaries who attended the camp fall under the shadow zone and information regarding such government camps are circulated in advance.

So, we mobilise our resources in such a manner that the beneficiaries do not face any inconvenience,” Bar-man said.

More than 450 camps have already been held in the district and the administration plans to hold 1000 such camps.

Midnapore: Now, forms of Lakshmir Bhandar scheme to be available at doorsteps

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: The East Mid-napore district administration will send forms related to state government’s scheme Lakshmir Bhandar at the doorstep of the residents.

The Asha workers will be entrusted with the responsibil-ity, a senior official in the district administration said.

The Lakshmir Bhandar scheme has been a part of second phase of Duare Sarkar (Govern-ment at Doorstep) programme which started from August 16 across the state.

The district administration has identified 25 blocks in the district where Lakshmir Bhan-dar forms will be delivered at doorstep.

The BDOs have arranged training of the Asha work-ers in their respective areas for smooth execution of the project, There have been some untoward incidents while persons have queued up for availing benefits of Duare Sarkar. The demand for Lakshmir Bhandar which has been launched from August 16 is the highest. In some areas the training has already been completed.

Mala Roy and Nayna Bandopadhyay hand over the Trinamool Congress flag to Shikha Mitra, in Kolkata, on Sunday

The Buxa Fort is located at a height of 3,500 feet above sea level

His house at Badharghat was ransacked by the BJP workers on Saturday

‘Due to the incursion of moisture there may be a formation of clouds over some districts in South Bengal’

File photo

About 13 people have been arrested by the police till Sunday night in connection with the incident

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File photo

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Maha’s Covid-19 tally grows by 4,666, death toll by 131

Recruitment of volunteers for trial of Covovax begins

3,510 PATIENTS DISCHARGED

4 millenniumpostNationmpMONDAY, 30 AUGUST, 2021 | KOLKATA

OUR CORRESPONDENT

SHIMLA: The small hill state, which felt devastated by the second wave of Covid-19, has however achieved a landmark of sorts by exceeding the pro-jected eligible population for the first dose of vaccination in the state, much ahead of its own target of August 31.

State’s health secretary Amitabh Awasthi informed Millennium Post that Him-achal Pradesh has become first state in the country to achieve this success even as many big states are either nearing 50 per-cent or below this mark.

Against a projected eligi-ble population, above 18 years, as per census was 53,77,820 but the health department has already vaccinated 54,65,698 persons as on August 28.

Along with this, 17.70 lakh persons have also been admin-istered second dose.

The performance of the state has been rated highly well in the country where the vaccine hesitancy has been the biggest reason, an advantage which Himachal Pradesh has enjoyed over all over the states.

Awasthi said “now that we have a successful model for the vaccination, the state has already embarked upon a plan to cover the entire popu-lation with a second dose by

November 30, 2021.We may even achieve the target before the deadline”.

To achieve this, there will be an approach based on every individual district and targeted population. There is only one area i.e. Malana –a landlocked village in Kullu valley, which has its own traditions, where the vaccine hesitancy has come as a biggest factor.

Initially the entire popula-tion had refused to take the jab till their ‘Devta’ took a deci-sion. After Devta’s nod, the villagers including local pan-chayat Pradhan get themselves vaccinated.

In Himachal Pradesh , 3576 persons have died of Covid while the number of persons cured are 2,07,288.

The active cases in the state are 1750 as on August 29–a drop of nearly a 1000 during the past 20 days.

Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur said the restrictions imposed in the state to prevent spread of Covid will continue.The schools have been closed till September 4.

The state has suffered a huge loss to the tourism sector due to Covid lockdown and the revival of the industry has now been marred by heavy mon-soon rains and landslides, thus, restricting the movement of the tourists.

MORENA (MP): A 16-year-old boy fell ill after he was allegedly administered a COVID-19 vaccine in Bagh Ka Pura locality in Ambah tehsil of Morena district in Madhya Pradesh, prompting authori-ties to order a probe on Sunday.

A senior health official said the probe will find out how the teenager was given the shot even though the government is yet to roll out any anti-COVID 19 vaccination programme for minors.

Pillu, son of Kamlesh Kush-waha, was administered the jab at a vaccination centre, nearly 35 km away from the Morena district headquarters, on Satur-day following which his head spun and he started frothing from the mouth, sources said.

Doctors in Ambah referred him to Gwalior for treatment, they said.

After Pillu fell ill, his family created a scene at the vaccina-tion centre.

We are checking whether Pillu reached Gwalior or not. According to uncon-firmed reports he returned

to his house instead of going to Gwalior, Morena District Chief Medical and Health Offi-cer (CM&HO) Dr AD Sharma said.

He said a team was sent to Pillu's house this morning. "We are checking whether Pillu was suffering from epilepsy," he added.

Dr Sharma said "An inquiry has been ordered to ascertain how the minor boy was given the COVID-19 shot".

Pillu's Aadhaar card will be checked, Dr Sharma added.

According to Pillu's Aad-haar card, he is 16-year-old and a resident of Kok Singh Ka Pura. His date of birth men-tioned on the card is January 1, 2005, said people who know the boy's family.

Indigenously developed Zydus Cadila COVID-19 vac-cine ZyCoV-D, which received approval for Emergency Use Authorisation from the Drug Controller General of India recently, will be administered to people 12 years and above, the Department of Biotechnol-ogy had said. AGENCIES

NEW DELHI: Recruitment of volunteers for the phase 2/3 clinical trial of COVID-19 vac-cine Covovax among children aged 2 to 17 years began on Sunday at the Hamdard Insti-tute of Medical Sciences and Research here.

The trial would be held across 10 sites and would cover 920 children –460 each in the age groups of 12-17 and 2-11 –according to official sources.

Indigenously developed Zydus Cadila's needle-free COVID-19 vaccine ZyCoV-D has received emergency use authorisation from the drug regulator, making it the first vaccine to be administered in the age group of 12-18 years in the country.

India's drug regulator in July had granted permission to Serum Institute of India (SII) for conducting phase 2/3 trial of Covovax on children aged 2 to 17 years with certain con-ditions on the basis of the rec-ommendations of the Subject Expert Committee (SEC) on COVID-19.

In the application submit-ted to the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI), SII's director (government and reg-ulatory affairs) Prakash Kumar Singh and director Prasad Kulkarni had stated that glob-ally, all adults aged 18 and above are being vaccinated and after this population is protected against COVID-l9, children will remain the most

susceptible group."There have been reports

of severe disease, including deaths in vulnerable children. It has also been predicted that the third wave of the pan-demic may affect children in the country. Moreover, until all age groups, including chil-dren, are covered under vacci-nation, the SARS-CoV-2 virus may remain in circulation, thus keeping everyone at risk of severe disease," the company had said in the application.

Considering all these fac-tors, several companies have already started evaluating the safety and immunogenic-ity of COVID-19 vaccines in the paediatric population, the Pune-based pharmaceutical company had stated.

SII had informed that their collaborator, Novavax Inc. of the US, has already generated

a large amount of data in adults in different countries and that the safety, efficacy and immu-nogenicity data on Novavax are very robust which includes a safety database of more than 50,000 adults from Australia, South Africa, the UK and the USA and preliminary safety data in 2,248 children.

"Further in the ongoing Phase 2/3 study in India, more than 1,400 participants have received at least first dose of the vaccine with no safety concerns reported so far," the applica-tion stated.

In August 2020, US-based vaccine maker Novavax Inc had announced a licence agree-ment with SII for the develop-ment and commercialisation of NVX-CoV2373, its COVID-19 vaccine candidate, in low and middle-income countries and India. AGENCIES

OUR CORRESPONDENT

MUMBAI: Maharashtra on Sunday reported 4,666 new coronavirus positive cases, which increased its tally to 64,56,939, while 131 deaths pushed the toll to 1,37,157, the health department said.

A total of 3,510 patients were discharged from hospi-tals during the day, which took the state's recovery count to 62,63,416.

Maharashtra's recovery rate is 97 per cent and fatality rate is 2.12 per cent. There are 52,844 active cases at present.

So far, 2,03,210 tests have been carried out in the state for COVID-19 detection, which took the overall test count to 5,36,59,613.

Jalna, Akola, Yavatmal, Nagpur, Wardha, Bhandara, Gondia districts and Parb-hani city did not report a sin-gle infection case on Sunday, while there was no death due to the virus in Nagpur and Akola divisions of Vidarbha region during the day, the department said.

Mumbai city reported 345 new cases and two deaths. With this, the caseload in the city went up to 7,43,499 and death toll to 15,974 deaths.

Mumbai region saw 845 cases and 11 deaths during the day, which took its overall tally to 16,62,394 and 34,976 deaths.

Nashik division reported 828 cases, including 716 in Ahmednagar district, while Pune division reported 1,908 cases, including 406 in Satara, 505 in Solapur, 579 in Pune district.

Kolhapur division logged 815 cases, including 419 in Sangli district, Aurangabad division 58 cases, Latur divi-

sion 174 cases, Akola division 28 cases and Nagpur division reported 10 fresh cases.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Sunday accused the Centre of issuing direc-tives detailing restrictions on upcoming festivals like Dahi Handi and Ganpati Utsav to states amid the COVID-19 pandemic while allowing the BJP’s ‘Jan Ashirvad Yatra’ to take place.

He also said that Kerala,

which recently celebrated a fes-tival in a grand way, was now the top state in the country in terms of daily coronavirus detection.

“Since festivals like Dahi Handi, Ganpati Utsav, Navratri and Diwali are coming up, the Centre has advised states that there should be no crowding. The Centre has done its part, and now the state will do its part,” he said.

However, Pawar said, the Union government, on

the other hand, had allowed four Union ministers to hold Jan Ashirvad Yatras in Maharashtra.

“We will see the effect (in terms of COVID-19 cases) in the places where these yatras were held. In case the tally goes up, the Centre should ponder on who is responsible for it,” the NCP leader said.

Earlier, in a letter to the Maharashtra chief secretary, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan had said the trajectory of daily new cases had shown a decline over the last month but some districts in the state were showing early signs of an upsurge in infection count and positivity.

In his letter, Bhushan said the Union Home ministry had issued directions under the Disaster Management Act on focused containment measures.

“In light of this order, and in view of mass events and public gatherings expected during the celebration of upcoming festi-vals (including Dahi Handi and Ganpati Utsav) in Maharashtra, it is advised that the state may consider imposing and enforc-ing local restrictions in public observation of these festivals and mass gatherings,” Bhushan had said in the letter.

A health worker takes swab samples of a passenger for COVID-19 testing at Lokmanya Tilak Terminus railway station in Mumbai

NEW DELHI: The Railways has floated a tender for 58 Vande Bharat train sets after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced in his Inde-pendence Day speech that 75 such trains will be launched in 75 weeks of 'Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav' to connect different parts of the country.

Currently, only two such

Shatabdi-type semi-high speed trains are in operation.

The new coaches will be manufactured at the Inte-gral Coach Factory, Chennai, Modern Coach Factory, Rae Bareilly and Rail Coach Fac-tory, Kapurthala.

The closing date for the ten-der is October 20. A pre-bid meeting will be held on Sep-

tember 21 with the cut-off date for the submission of pre-bid queries being September 14.

The tender floated on August 28 has invited bids for the design, development, manufacturing, integration and testing of traction propul-sion electrics for the 58 rakes of Vande Bharat trains.

In his speech from the ram-

parts of the Red Fort on August 15, Modi had said that in the 75 weeks of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav' being celebrated to mark the journey of 75 years of Independence, the railways will launch 75 Vande Bharat trains to connect far-flung areas.

The railways had in Sep-tember last year floated a revised tender for procuring 44

semi-high speed Vande Bharat trains, mandating 75 per cent domestic component, making it a domestic tender.

That followed the govern-ment scrapping three global tenders for the ambitious project.

With the latest tender, 102 such trains will be delivered to the Railways by March 2024, an

official said, adding 75 of them will be available by August 15, 2023 itself.

The next lot of Vande Bharat trains with upgraded amenities, better seating space, security and surveillance sys-tems and features designed for emergencies, is expected to be commercially available from June 2022 onward. MPOST

Railways floats tender for 58 Vande Bharat trains

Villagers stand to register their names to receive a dose of COVID-19 vaccine at Panchayat Ghar in Jammu, on Sunday

1st dose: HP exceeds projected target of 100% vaccination

MP: Minor boy receives vaccine shot, falls sick

Changes in Af... Meanwhile, the Taliban wants to main-

tain Afghanistan’s trade, economic and politi-cal relations with India. Senior leader of the outfit Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai described India as an “important country” in the region. In a video address in Pashto, Stanekzai said consultations with various groups and political parties are going on to form a government in Kabul that will have representations from people from “different walks of life”. “We attach great importance to our trade, economic and political relations with India and want to maintain that rela-tion,” Stanekzai said on Saturday.

“We also need to keep the air trade open,” he was quoted as saying by Pakistani media outlet Independent Urdu.

The Taliban leader was referring to the air corridor between India and Afghanistan that was established to boost trade between the two countries in view of Pakistan’s denial to allow transit access.

Without elaborating, he said Afghanistan’s trade with India through Pakistan is “very important”. In his address, the Taliban leader also referred to Afghanistan’s relations with Pakistan, China and Russia.

Following the Taliban seizing control of Afghanistan, India has been focussing on the evacuation of its citizens, while carefully monitoring the unfolding developments in Kabul. “The situation on the ground is uncer-tain. The prime concern at present is the security and safety of the people. Currently, there is a lack of clarity or no clarity about any entity forming a government in Kabul,” Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Spokes-person Arindam Bagchi said on Friday when asked whether India will recognise a Taliban regime.

India has been a key stakeholder in Afghanistan and has invested nearly USD 3 billion in carrying out around 500 projects across the country.

Stanekzai was part of a group of foreign cadets who received training at the presti-gious Indian Military Academy in Dehradun in the early 1980s. He later quit the Afghan Army.

Kabul: Child killed...We remain vigilant for potential future

threats, Urban said in a statement.A Taliban spokesman earlier said in a

message to journalists in Afghanistan that the US strike targeted a suicide bomber as he drove a vehicle loaded with explosives.

Sunday’s drone strike was the second by the US since the twin blasts at the Kabul air-port that killed 169 Afghans and 13 Ameri-can soldiers. AGENCIES

SC to resume...All other matters, including those listed

on miscellaneous days shall continue to be heard through video/teleconferencing mode, it said.

The bench, hearing cases through physi-cal mode, may decide taking break during the hearings for a period of about 15 minutes, so that the courtroom may be sanitized, it said.

If the number of advocates for parties are more than 20, the average working capac-ity of the courtrooms as per Covid norms, the bench at any given time resort to virtual mode of hearing, the SOP said.

In a matter listed for physical hearing..., one AOR (or his nominee), one arguing counsel and one junior counsel per party will be allowed entry; one registered Clerk per party, as may be chosen by the AOR, shall be allowed entry to carry paper books/journals etc..., it said.

Lawyers will have to register on the apex court’s portal and submit their preferences for appearing before the bench within 24 hours of listing of the case for hearing, it said.

The entry of the counsels/parties into the HSZ (high security zone) to appear for physical hearing will be through daily ‘Special hearing passes’ which will be issued by the Registry, on the basis of authorization by the concerned Advocate-on-Record on the por-tal..., it said.

Multiple chair along with tables are being placed inside courtrooms and it shall be incumbent upon lawyers and litigants to maintain minimum prescribed physical dis-tancing norms , it said, adding every entrant will have to undergo thermal and such other scanning devices as may be installed for detecting body temperature, infection status, etc. The entry of parties in a matter will be permitted not earlier than ten minutes prior to the start of hearing, it said.

India logs...Meanwhile, the first commercial batch

of Covaxin was released on Sunday from the new plant of Bharat Biotech at Anklesh-war in Gujarat’s Bharuch district by Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya who described the development as a “landmark moment in the journey of India’s fight against COVID-19.”

Dedicating the release of the first batch of the anti-COVID 19 vaccine from Bharat Bio-tech’s Chiron Behring Vaccines facility to the nation, the health minister said the new plant has a manufacturing capacity of more than 1 crore doses per month starting Sunday, and products from the facility will be available for supplies starting September 2021, as per an official release.

“Vaccination is the most important thing to strengthen the country’s fight against coro-navirus. Released the first commercial batch of #COVAXIN from Bharat Biotech’s plant at Ankleshwar, Gujarat today. This will increase

the supply of vaccine in the country and will help the vaccine reach every Indian,” Manda-viya tweeted soon after the event.

Indian multinational biotechnology com-pany headquartered in Hyderabad, Bharat Biotech, has already deployed multiple pro-duction lines at its Hyderabad, Malur, Ben-galuru, and Pune campuses, and the addition of Chiron Behring, Ankleshwar will further augment its Covaxin production capacity, the company said.

Police lathicharge...If they had to protest, they should have

done it peacefully, no one would have any objection to that. They had earlier assured that they will hold peaceful protests. But if they hurl stones at police, block highways, the police have to take steps to maintain law and order, said Khattar.

Among the opposition leaders, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and Punjab Con-gress president Navjot Singh Sidhu also con-demned the police action in Karnal against the farmers, saying it was an attack on the fundamental rights of every Indian.

Deplorable assault on the protesting farm-ers is an attack on Fundamental Rights of every Indian earned after innumerable sacri-fices during the freedom struggle, It impinges and impedes on the spirit of the Constitution and Breaks the Backbone of India’s democ-racy !!, Sidhu tweeted.

Haryana BKU (Chaduni) chief Gurnam Singh Chaduni, meanwhile, claimed a farmer, Sushil, died of a heart attack after suffering injuries in the lathicharge in Karnal.

Karnal IGP Mamta Singh, however, refuted Chaduni’s allegations, saying the deceased farmer was not among the injured.

The farmer had his food at his home in the evening and went to sleep but was found dead in the morning, she said.

The family did not even lodge any com-plaint nor was any postmortem done. The cremation was done by the family, she added.

Chaduni, meanwhile, said a meeting of farmer leaders will be held in Karnal on Monday to discuss the future course of action in reply to the police lathicharge.

BKU leader Rakesh Tikait too met some of the injured protesters in a Karnal hospital on Monday.

NMP a ‘ploy to sell... She had sarcastically said: “One day, the

BJP will ask the people to sell their body organs like their eyes.” “From SAIL to Rail, the Centre is planning to sell the public prop-erties in India,” he added.

Sukhendu Sekhar Ray, Trinamool Con-gress MP, had earlier said that the Centre was going to give “perpetual lease to the assets” and the lease would be renewed every 25 years. He had raised the question as to how a government whose tenure would come to an end in 2024 could decide to lease out

the public properties in four phases. In the Hills, people have already started a move-ment against the selling of toy trains to pri-vate players.

Taking a dig at the Centre for harassing the opposition using the agencies, O’Brien also alleged that the Union home minister had drawn up a plan for remitting all cases through the Enforcement Directorate.

O’Brien’s comments on the Centre came a day after the ED summoned TMC’s Diamond Harbour MP and national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee and his wife for question-ing in a money laundering case linked to an alleged coal scam.

“A sparrow in Delhi tells me that new CBI chief may have directed a few top officials not to act too brazenly. Harassing the opposition only benefits one party. So HeMan (HM) has a new plan,” he stated.

Bhavinaben... Patel, a wheelchair-bound player with

an indomitable spirit, had suffered a loss to Zhou, one of the most decorated para-pad-dlers of China, in her first group stage match earlier in the week.

Patel hoped her success will help change the perception of people towards disability and create more opportunities.

“What I went through growing up, I don’t want the next generation of people with dis-ability to suffer,” she said.

“Accessibility is a major issue and so is jobs and other opportunities. If my medal can somehow make the right noise and get people at the helm of affairs to be heard, I will be more than happy.

The 21-year-old Nishad, who is a farm-er’s son in Himachal Pradesh’s Amb town, cleared 2.06m to win the silver in T47 class before 41-year-old BSF man Vinod, whose father fought in the 1971 Indo-Pakistan war, produced a best throw of 19.91m to clinch a bronze.

The 24-member Indian athletics team is hoping for a rich haul of medals -- at least 10 -- and the double success on Sunday gave the country enough reasons to smile on the National Sports Day.

Nishad, whose right hand got cut by a grass-cutting machine at his family’s farm when he was an eight-year-old boy, cleared the same height of 2.06m with American Dallas Wise who was also awarded a silver.

Another American, Roderick Townsend, won the gold with a world record jump of 2.15m. The second Indian in the fray, Ram Pal, finished fifth with a best jump of 1.94m.

In Vinod’s event, Piotr Kosewicz (20.02m) of Poland and Velimir Sandor (19.98m) of Croatia won the gold and silver respectively.

Vinod injured his legs while training after joining the BSF, falling off a cliff in Leh that left him bed-ridden for close to a decade dur-ing which he lost both his parents.

The medal rush is expected to continue on Monday with star javelin thrower Deven-dra Jhajharia, gunning for his third gold, leading the charge.

From Page 1

5millenniumpost Nation mpKOLKATA | MONDAY, 30 AUGUST, 2021

NEW DELHI: Facing flak from opposition parties for excluding Jawaharlal Nehru's image from a poster celebrating the 75th year of independence, the Indian Council of Histori-cal Research (ICHR) said the controversy over the issue is "unnecessary" as other posters being released in the coming days will feature the first prime minister. "We are not trying to undermine anyone's role in the movement," a top ICHR official said, dismissing criticism on the issue, and added the poster was one of the many released as part of the Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav celebrations.

The Congress, however, questioned the silence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the issue and demanded that he

rise above his prejudices and intervene. Opposition par-ties had said the omission was deliberate.

ICHR, an autonomous body under the Ministry of Education, has been running a series of lectures and semi-nars on the theme of the Inde-pendence struggle under the Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav' cel-ebration. "This is only one of the posters released as part of the Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav celebrations. There will be sev-eral others and Nehru will be featured in them... controversy around this is unnecessary," the ICHR official said.

As part of the lecture series, the council has invited various historians and academicians to speak on different topics related

to India's freedom movement.Arvind Jamkhedkar, whose

tenure as ICHR Chairman ended in March this year, said not mentioning Nehru could be inadvertent on part of the council.

"It could be inadvertent. Nobody can miss a person like Nehru when we talk about free-dom struggle. It could be due to carelessness but definitely not deliberate. No political motives should be seen behind it. I reit-

erate this must not be deliber-ate, he said.

The Ministry of Education has not appointed Jamkhed-kar's successor yet.

Opposition parties had tar-geted the government for the exclusion of the image of the country's first prime minister from the poster and suggested that it had been done deliber-ately. "Why is Prime Minister silent on omission of Nehru's picture from ICHR's celebra-tion of India@75. This goes against all facts and authentic history. We know PM wants to obliterate Nehru's legacy, but this is unconscionable! He must rise above his preju-dices and tell ICHR to fix it," said Congress leader Jairam Ramesh.

Party leader P Chidam-baram also hit out at ICHR over the controversy and said the explanation given is ludi-crous. He accused the member secretary of ICHR of bowing to hate and prejudice and asked him whether he would omit Henry Ford while celebrating the birth of the motor car or Wright brothers while celebrat-ing the birth of aviation.

Ford was the first to invent the motor car and the Wright brothers were credited for building and flying the world's first aircraft. "ICHR Member-Secretary's explanation for the omission of Jawaharlal Nehru from the first digital poster to celebrate 75 years of inde-pendence is ludicrous," he said on Twitter. AGENCIES

AGRA: AAP workers brought out a 'Tiranga Yatra' here on Sunday led by Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia who slammed the BJP govern-ment in Uttar Pradesh over the state's law-and-order, educa-tion, healthcare and employ-ment situation.

Ahead of the assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, the Aam Aadmi Party plans to take out Tiranga Yatras in Ayod-hya, Lucknow and Noida to mark the 75th year of India's Independence.

Sisodia said his party would carry out 'Tiranga Yatra' in the Ayodhya on September 14 and Later, it would be brought out in 403 assembly segments in Uttar Pradesh.

In Agra, the 'Tiranga Yatra' started from the GIC ground around 4 pm and ended at the Shaheed Smarak in Sanjay Place. Besides Sisodia, Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh and

other AAP leaders took part in the yatra.

Interacting with reporters at the circuit house in Agra, Sisodia said, "This government is failing to provide good edu-cation to the children of the poor, employment to the youth, and good amount of crop to farmers." "Because of unavail-ability of the beds in hospi-

tals, a pregnant woman had to deliver a baby on road in this state. They feed salt and roti in mid-day meal and act against the reporter if they try to raise the issue."

Sisodia was referring to a journalist booked in 2019 for allegedly doing the "despicable work" of maligning the image of the Uttar Pradesh govern-ment by recording a video of school children being served salt and roti in mid-day meal.

The journalist was, how-ever, later given clean chit in the case.

AAP MP leader Sanjay Singh said the 'Tiranga Yatra' would be held in Noida on Sep-tember 1. "We will provide 300 units of free electricity in UP and equip government schools of the state with swimming pool, air-conditioned rooms and hockey ground etc if AAP comes to power in the state," he said. MPOST

AAP workers bring out Tiranga Yatra in Agra

Sisodia slams UP govt over law-&-order, education

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: Upping the ante against the government over its asset monetisation pipeline scheme, the Congress plans to take the issue to the grassroots level with a series of press con-ferences by its leaders across the country. The opposition party alleged the Union Gov-ernment resorting to selling "family silver" proves the "gross incompetence" of the Modi Cabinet in effectively manag-ing the Indian economy.

"The country is talking about friend-monopoly," Con-gress leader Rahul Gandhi said with the hashtag "IndiaOn-Sale" on Twitter to attack the government.

Speaking in the same vein, Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala alleged that

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is committed to the welfare of his "crony friends".

"The aim is to profit crony friends. Modi ji is committed to welfare of his friends and the assets of the country are no more in safe hands," he said.

He also alleged that to rub salt on the wounds of com-mon people who are suffering amid a declining GDP growth, the prime minister has been extracting hard-earned money from their pockets and filling his own coffers.

"He has now decided to sell the country's valuable assets worth Rs 6 lakh crore -- roads, rail, mines, telecom, power, gas, airports, ports, sports stadium and whatnot," the Congress spokesperson alleged.

As part of its nationwide plan to take the issue to the

common people, Congress leader Mukul Wasnik will address the media in Guwa-hati in Assam on August 31 and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge on

September 1 in Hyderabad, party sources said,

The series of press confer-ences started with Rahul Gan-dhi holding the first in Delhi earlier this week.

Besides Wasnik, another prominent member of the 'Group of 23' leaders who wrote to Sonia Gandhi seeking a Con-gress overhaul - Shashi Tharoor - has also been roped in and he will address the media in Kash-mir. Another leader Sachin Pilot, who revolted against the party's own government in Raj-asthan, will address the media in Bangalore, while Milind Deora will hold a press confer-ence in Cochin.

Senior leader and former finance minister P Chidam-baram will hold a press con-ference on September 3 in Mumbai while Ajay Maken in Raipur on the same day.

A host of other Congress leaders will address the media including Bhupesh Baghel in Lucknow and Digivjaya Singh in Patna.

Congress plans to take asset monetisation issue to people

“The country is talking about friend-monopoly,” Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said with the hashtag “IndiaOnSale” on Twitter to attack the government

OUR CORRESPONDENT

RAIPUR: Health Minister TS Singh Deo, who returned to Raipur from Delhi, held a review meeting with senior officials of the Health Depart-ment at his residence in Civil Lines on Sunday. In this meeting, he got the informa-tion from the officials on the declining cases of Corona infection and the status of vaccination.

During the meeting, he discussed with the officials of the department about the preparations for the possible third wave of Corona.

He said that along with the availability of oxygen and ven-tilator, the department should also keep preparations on its management. Along with this, while reviewing the den-gue cases in the state, he gave guidelines on the availabil-ity of medicines, along with this, Health Minister Deo also urged for public awareness regarding water stagnation.

In the review meeting, Health Minister Singh Deo

discussed about the estab-lishment of Virology Lab and Hamar Lab and the status of Ayushman and Dr. Khub-chand Baghel Scheme and provided necessary guidelines for their proper implemen-tation. Along with this, the topic of new recruitment and promotion in the department was also discussed.

Regarding the lab and testing centre, he said that the government is working towards making the facility of blood test easily available in the sub-health centres in rural areas. Due to which, now the villagers will not need to go to the district hospital, but their samples will be sent to the lab and the results will also be made available online.

The department has been given a target of 6 months for this entire work, and the offi-cials have said they will com-plete the work within this period. In this meeting, the issue of infrastructure devel-opment and other facilities in 3 medical colleges were also discussed.

TS Singh Deo holds review meeting with Health dept officials

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: In a move towards affordable air-condi-tioned travel in trains, Rail-ways fixed the tariff of new AC 3-tier economy class coaches at 8 per cent less than AC 3-tier. According to a ministry source, such coaches will be fitted first by the Northern Railways in a special train in September. "The first such coaches will be fit-ted in 2403/04 Prayagraj-Jaipur Express," an official confirmed.

On Saturday, a ministry cir-cular mentioned that the pas-sengers opting to travel in the AC 3-tier economy class have to pay 2.4 times the base fare of the sleeper travel in Mail or

Express trains. The base fare for up to 300 km of travel will be Rs 440 and will go up as dis-tance increases. The base fare of the ticket varies every 100 km after the 300 km distance mark. The circular further stated that other charges such as reserva-tion fee, superfast charge, GST as applicable for these coaches will be levied separately. Up to 2000 km, the basic fare will cost around Rs 1757 and up to 5000 km, it will be Rs. 3065, ministry reports say.

The rail ministry also con-firmed that 50 AC 3-tier econ-omy class coaches have already been given to different Zonal Railways. Now since the fare is fixed, these coaches will

be attached to existing mail express trains. Meanwhile, in a twist, a ministry official informed Millennium Post that such coaches will be fitted with the Mail, or Express or special trains- length under the permissible range. If the length crosses the permissible range, then the sleeper class coaches will be replaced with these AC 3-tier economy class coaches.

The Rajdhani Express has 22 coaches and normal Mail or Express trains have 24 to 26 coaches. An ICF coach has a length of 22.28m (buffer to buffer) and an LHB coach has a length of 24.70m (buffer to buffer).

Normal Child fare rules

will apply as applicable for the existing AC 3-tier coaches in Mail or Express trains. The booking of tickets against passes issued to Members of Parliament and rail travel cou-pons (RTCs) issued to MLA/MLCs, fully reimbursable war-rants/vouchers shall be per-missible as per the existing provision of 3rd AC coach of Mail or Express trains. The normal cancellation and refund rules will be applica-ble here as well, according to the circular. These coaches are being manufactured at RCF, ICF and MCF and over 800 of them will be rolled out in the current financial year. The new coaches will have the speed

potential of 160 kmph.Meanwhile, the experts feel

that gradually these AC 3-tier economy class coaches will replace AC 3-tier coaches as there are 83 berths in such new coaches as against 72 berths in AC 3-tier. The 11 extra berths were added by moving the main electrical controls below the coach with advanced tech-nology. The regular AC 3-tier coaches have two side berths, which will be increased to three in the new coaches.

These new coaches further have personalised aircraft-style AC vents with each berth. Divyang-friendly and modular bio-toilets with touch-free fit-ting will be there.

New AC 3-tier economy coaches to run from Sept Fare for AC 3-tier economy class coaches will be 8% less than normal AC 3-tier

NEW DELHI: A Haryana IAS officer on Sunday drew widespread condemnation from leaders of various polit-ical parties and bureaucrats for allegedly ordering police to "break the heads" of protest-ing farmers.

Haryana Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala disapproved of the remarks of 2018-batch officer Ayush Sinha and promised strict action against him.

The officer, deputed as duty magistrate during the farmers' protest in Karnal, was caught on camera purportedly asking police to break farmers' heads. The video has gone viral.

An IAS officer using such a language is condemnable, said Chautala, who is a leader of the JJP, an ally of the ruling BJP in Haryana. What Sinha said clearly does not meet the ethical standards expected of officers, he said, adding the government will definitely take action it deems fit.

Leaders of various parties condemned the magistrate's remarks.

"The brutal lathi charge on farmers by the Haryana Police at Gharonda, in Karnal is abso-lutely unwarranted. Despite the peaceful protest by farmers, the police launched a lathi charge on them resulting into many farmers getting injured," NCP leader Sharad Pawar tweeted.

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and the state's Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu also con-demned the police action.

"Deplorable assault on the protesting farmers is an attack on Fundamental Rights of every Indian earned after innu-merable sacrifices during the freedom struggle, It impinges and impedes on the spirit of the Constitution and Breaks the Backbone of India's democ-racy !!," Sidhu tweeted.

TMC MP Mohua Moi-tra said the officer should be named and shamed.

"'Agar aaye toh sar foota hua hona chahiye uska. Clear hai aapko (Break their heads if they come. Is that clear?'- Kar-nal SDM Ayush Sinha, 2018-batch IAS Haryana cadre.

Name and shame these dis-gusting bootlickers. Remem-ber Nazi guards at Holocaust camps also claimed they were doing 'duty'," she said on Twitter.

Addressing a farmers' mahapanchayat in Nuh in Haryana, which was attended by several senior Samyukt Kisan Morcha members, senior SKM leader Yogen-dra Yadav said "officer Ayush Sinha should be immediately dismissed from the service".

Farmers' NGO Bharat Krishak Samaj chairman Ajay Vir Jakhar urged the Supreme Court and the Punjab and Haryana High Court to take up the case suo motu and dis-missed him from the service.

"To, Punjab and Haryana High Court. Supreme Court of India. Please take suo moto action," he said on Twitter, sharing the video of Karnal SDM Ayush Sinha.

"Book (him) for attempt to murder and dismiss (him) from service," he demanded.

Former diplomat and India's Ambassador K C Singh

tweeted, "Brutal police attack on farmers protesting near Karnal. Video of SDM urging police to break heads is shock-ing. Civil authority is meant to check police brutality not abet it. Reflects poorly on Haryana governor."

Congress spokesperson Shama Mohamed said farm-ers were brutally lathicharged by the Haryana Police while they were on the way to peace-fully protest against a meet-ing attended by Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar.

"Only a heartless gov-ernment will use lethal force against our defenceless Anna-datas. The people of India won't forget this," she tweeted.

Former Government of India secretary Anil Swarup said, Such civil servants put the entire service to shame. They overlook the fact that such a statement could, per-haps should, be used for a criminal case against them. He forgets that no one will come to protect him. Such over zeal could/should land him in trouble." AGENCIES

IAS officer draws ire for ordering police to ‘break heads’ of protesting farmers

‘Other posters will have Jawaharlal Nehru’s image’ Controversy over the issue is unnecessary, says ICHR official

Haryana Deputy CM disapproved of the remarks of officer Ayush Sinha

GUWAHATI: Over 1.8 kilo-gram of heroin worth Rs 14 crore in the international mar-ket have been seized from two different places by the Guwa-hati Police and at least eight alleged drug peddlers have been arrested, a senior police officer said.

The heroin was seized dur-ing operations on Saturday late night after the police received specific information from their sources, Guwahati Police Com-missioner Harmeet Singh said.

"During last night, we had two drug hauls in different parts of the city. In first case, we seized around 1.324 kg of heroin. In second operation, around 500 grams of heroin were seized," he added. AGENCIES

Heroin worth Rs 14 cr seized

HYDERABAD: A consignment of 3,400 kg of high grade ganja, arranged for by the kingpin in Maharashtra for multiple syn-dicates, was seized from a truck near here and three persons arrested in this connection, the NCB said on Sunday. Based on tip-off, a joint team of NCB Ben-galuru and Hyderabad seized a

truck with Maharashtra regis-tration plates near a toll booth on Hyderabad ring road on Sat-urday and found the narcotic concealed into the truck, the NCB said in a release. The ganja was packed in 141 gunny bags kept under tarpaulin sheets and covered by huge quantities of nursery saplings, it said. AGENCIES

3,400 kg ganja seized

LEADERS TO HOLD PRESSERS ACROSS COUNTRY

PREPARATIONS

Devotees carry an Idol of Lord Ganesh from Rajan Khatu Ganpati workshop to Colaba for upcoming Ganpati festival, in Mumbai on Sunday PIC/PTI

TWO KILLED AFTER BEING HIT BY TRUCK IN PUNJAB’S HOSHIARPUR HOSHIARPUR: Two men were killed after they were hit by a truck near Mukerian, about 70 kilometres from here, police said on Sunday. The accident took place near a timber shop on Gahlrian to Tagar Khurd road on Saturday night, they said. The truck first hit Nirmal Singh (62) who was on a motorbike and then rammed into a bicycle rider identified as Rohit, the police said. Both were taken to the civil hospital where they succumbed to injuries, police said, adding the truck driver has been booked under IPC.

WOMAN SI COMMITS SUICIDE IN AP AMARAVATI: A woman sub-inspector of police alleg-edly committed suicide under mysterious circumstances at the Police Training College in Vizianagaram of Andhra Pradesh. The SI K Bhavani (25) was a native of Krishna district and currently posted in the Sakhi-netipalli police station in East Godavari, police said. She attended a week-long training programme at the PTC, Vizianagaram, and was supposed to return on Sunday. However, her body was found hanging from a ceiling fan in one of the hostel rooms in the PTC. She called her brother in Visakhapatnam on Saturday and informed him that the training programme has been completed. We are yet to establish the reasons for her suicide, Vizianagaram Deputy Superintendent of Police P Anil Kumar said. The SI’s body was removed to the government hospital for post mortem. The One-Town police registered a case and launched an investigation.

DESHMUKH CASE

Nation Briefs

6 millenniumpostNationmpMONDAY, 30 AUGUST, 2021 | KOLKATA

OUR CORRESPONDENT

LUCKNOW/ AYODHYA: President Ram Nath Kov-ind Sunday offered prayers to Ram Lalla, visiting the site where a Ram temple is being constructed in Ayodhya, a city which he said was nothing without the deity.

"Without Ram, Ayodhya is not Ayodhya. Ayodhya exists where there is Ram. Lord Ram resides permanently in this city, and hence in the true sense, this place is Ayodhya," he said while inaugurating a Ramayan Conclave, shortly before visit-ing the temple construction site and offering his prayers.

The president was accom-panied by his family members, Uttar Pradesh Governor Anan-diben Patel, Union Minister of State for Railways and Textiles Darshana Vikram Jardosh, Chief Minister Yogi Aditya-nath, and his deputies Keshav Prasad Maurya and Dinesh Sharma.

They also offered their prayers to Ram Lalla amid chanting of slogans by priests at the makeshift temple. A shawl and a miniature replica of the upcoming Ram temple were also presented to Kovind who interacted with the priests briefly and planted a sapling.

Before he went there, Kov-ind, who is on his first visit to Ayodhya after the landmark 2019 Supreme Court verdict paved the way for the construc-

tion of the temple, also offered prayers at the Hanumangarhi shrine, about 2 km away.

The president was pre-sented with a pink-coloured turban at the Hanumangarhi temple.

Earlier in the day, the presi-dent reached Ayodhya by a spe-cial train from Lucknow on the last day of his four-day visit to Uttar Pradesh.

Speaking after opening the Ramayana Conclave and lay-

ing foundation stones of vari-ous projects of the Department of Culture and Tourism, the president said, "We should try to see Ram and Sita in every-one. Ram belongs to all, and Ram is in all."

Apparently referring to the word 'Ram' in his name, Kov-ind said, "I feel that when my family members named me (Ram NathKovind), they were possibly having the feeling of respect and affection towards Ram Katha and Lord Ram, which is seen in the common public."

Elaborating further on Ayodhya, the president said, "The literal meaning of Ayod-hya is the one who is impos-sible to wage a war against. Owing to the courage and power of Raghuvanshi kings Raghu, Dileep, Ajj, Dashrath and Ram, their capital was con-sidered unconquerable. There-fore, the name of this city as Ayodhya' will always remain relevant.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: The rainfall in August has been deficient by 26 per cent so far, with short-falls in two successive months triggering fear of a below nor-mal monsoon this year.

According to India Meteo-rological Department (IMD) data, the rainfall in July was seven per cent less than normal.

"August recorded 26 per cent deficiency till yesterday (August 28)," IMD Director General MrutunjayMohapatra said, adding that the shortfall has been recorded in north and central India. June recorded 10 per cent more rainfall.

The IMD will soon release a forecast for September, he said.

The shortfalls in two suc-cessive months in the four-month Southwest Monsoon season from June 1 to Septem-ber 30 have triggered fear of a

below normal monsoon this year.

The IMD had earlier pre-dicted a normal monsoon this year. Skymet Weather, a private weather forecasting agency, has downgraded their forecast to a below normal monsoon this year.

According to the IMD data, the country received 10 per cent less rainfall from June 1 to August 28. The IMD had predicted normal rainfall for August (94 to 106 per cent of Long Period Average or LPA), but it appears that the forecast will be off the mark.

Rainfall over the country as a whole during the second half (August to September) of the 2021 Southwest Monsoon season is most likely to be nor-mal with a tendency to be in the positive side of the normal, the IMD had said earlier this month.

Data released by the Agri-culture Ministry on Friday showed that the area of paddy cultivation was marginally down by 1.23 per cent to 388.56 lakh hectare so far in the 2021-22 kharif season due to deficit rains in some states.

The IMD has four meteoro-logical divisions covering dif-ferent parts of the country. The northwest India which covers the north Indian plains and the hill states has recorded 13 per cent less rainfall than normal.

The central India division which encompasses Gujarat, Goa, Madhya Pradesh, Chhat-tisgarh, Odisha and Maharash-tra has recorded 14 per cent deficiency.

The east and northeast India division that includes Bihar, Jharkhand, West Ben-gal and the northeastern states has recorded eight per cent deficiency.

BHOPAL/ UJJAIN: A Mus-lim scrap dealer was allegedly threatened and forced to chant 'Jai Shri Ram' by two men at a village in Madhya Pradesh's Ujjain district, following which the police have arrested the accused duo, an official said on Sunday. The incident occurred on Saturday and two purported videos of it have gone viral on social media.

Talking to reporters, R K Rai, Sub Divisional Officer of Police (SDOP), Mahidpur, said, "The incident happened on Sat-urday when scrap dealer Abdul Rasheed, a resident of Mahid-pur town who has been doing this business here for a long

time, went to Sikli village under Jharda police station area to collect some scrap in his mini truck."

However, Rasheed was forced to leave the village and also threatened against doing his scrap business in the area. When he left the village, two men intercepted him at Pipliya Dhuma, manhandled him and

forced him to chant 'Jai Shri Ram'. The man somehow got out from there after giving in to their demand, he said.

Jharda police station in-charge Vikram Singh Ivne said that an offence was registered against the two accused, iden-tified as Kamal Singh (22) and Ishwar Singh (27), for disturb-ing communal harmony, and they were arrested. The duo was booked under IPC sec-tions 153-A, 505 (2) (pub-lic mischief), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), among others. Meanwhile, two videos of this incident went viral on social media, which drew the ire of several netizens. AGENCIES

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NOIDA: Nargis (45, name changed) from Unnao district in Uttar Pradesh was living separately from her husband after several years of marriage, along with her two daughters and a son. Financially weak, the woman came across an opportunity to work as a domestic help in Oman that would help her earn Rs 25,000 per month.

In February, with the help of a travel agent based in Kanpur, she reached the Gulf country, only to realise that she had fallen into the trap of a human-trafficking nexus.

"As soon as I reached Oman, my phone was taken away and I was subjected

to physical and mental tor-ture. Ayesha, a Sri Lankan woman, was handling me. I begged her to let me return to India, but she demanded Rs 4 lakh for my release," Nargis told the news agency over the phone.

Her daughter Sophia (name changed) said, "Ammi somehow informed us about her ordeal over the phone, after which I reported the matter to the Kanpur police, along with details of the travel agent."

On August 15, as the coun-try marked its 75th Indepen-dence Day, Nargis returned home, along with two more women, courtesy the Kanpur police and the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).

During investigation, the police found a larger human-trafficking nexus spread across several countries and targeting women aged between 24 and 50 years on the pretext of get-ting them employed as domes-tic helps for a good salary in Gulf countries such as Oman, Qatar, Kuwait and Saudi Ara-bia, officials said.

The victims are not only from Uttar Pradesh, but also from other parts of India like Punjab, Goa, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, while the nexus has also trapped women from neighbouring countries such as Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangla-desh, Pakistan as well as from some African nations, they claimed.

Kanpur's Deputy Com-

missioner of Police (Crime) Salman Taj Patil said the lid blew off the human-traffick-ing racket when they started investigating a complaint in April from a city resident, who alleged that his wife was "trapped" in Oman, only to uncover the larger interna-tional nexus.

"When we extended the scope of the investigation, the officers soon understood that the matter was related to human trafficking. Police Commissioner AsimA-run engaged Kanpur's Anti-Human Trafficking Unit to go deeper in the case, while central agencies like the MEA were also alerted and their help was sought in rescuing the victims.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

MUMBAI: Touching cheeks of a child without sexual intent would not attract the offence of sexual assault, the Bombay High Court said while grant-ing bail to a 46-year-old man accused of sexually abusing an eight-year-old girl.

A single bench of Justice Sandeep Shinde on August 27 granted bail to the accused Mohammad Ahmed Ulla arrested on July 2020 by the Rabodi police in the neigh-bouring Thane district.

"In my view, touching the cheeks without a sexual intent would not attract the offence of 'sexual assault', as defined under Section 7 of the Protec-tion of Children from Sexual Offences Act," the high court said.

"Primary evaluation of the material on record does not suggest that the applicant alleg-edly touched the cheeks of the victim with a sexual intent," it added.

Justice Shinde, however, clarified in the order that the

observations made by him should be construed as the opinion only for bail in this matter and the same shall not in any way influence the trials in other matters.

According to the prosecu-tion, Ulla allegedly called the girl inside his meat shop where he touched her cheek, opened his shirt, and was about to open his pant.

A woman, who had seen the accused taking the girl to his shop, went to the spot after growing suspicious.

An FIR was registered and Ulla was arrested. He is presently lodged at the Taloja prison in Navi Mumbai. He was booked under various sec-tions of the Indian Penal Code and the Protection of Chil-dren from Sexual Offences Act (PPCSOA).

Ulla in his bail plea said he was falsely implicated in the case by his rivals in busi-ness. He claimed that he had no criminal antecedents and was running the meat shop and living in that area for since long.

GOALPARA (ASSAM): Two suspected dacoits were killed and another was injured in a police encounter in Assam’s Goalpara district, an officer said on Sunday. The incident took place near Goalpara town late on Saturday night when five armed robbers opened fire on a team of policemen and tried to escape from there, he said.

Since the second BJP-led government assumed power three months ago, at least 23 suspected militants and crimi-nals were killed and 35 others injured in police encounters in the state as they allegedly tried to snatch service weapons or attempted to escape from custody. Acting on a tip-off, the group of police personnel started chasing a car carrying the armed robbers from Rong-sai area but the dacoits fired on the police vehicle and moved towards Goalpara town, the officer said. They got off their vehicle in Gobindapur-1 area and tried to flee the spot after the policemen fired at their four-wheeler to stop them.

“They again opened fire and we retaliated. Two were shot dead in the encounter and one suffered bullet injuries. Two others managed to escape from the spot,” the officer said.

The injured person, who initially fled the encounter site, was caught by the local people and handed over to the police, he said. The accused is currently undergoing treat-ment at Goalpara Civil Hospi-tal, the officer said, adding that one died on the spot, and the body of the other deceased was found this morning at a nearby place. A rising number of police encounters, which have seen several suspected insur-gents and criminals being shot dead as they “tried to escape” from custody since May, has whipped up a political furore in Assam. MPOST

OUR CORRESPONDENT

CHHINDWARA (MP): The Madhya Pradesh govern-ment has ordered a probe after money was allegedly with-drawn under a state scheme for construction workers using fake death certificates of at least 23 villagers in Chhindwara district, Agriculture Minister Kamal Patel said.

The government has taken the matter seriously in which death certificates of 23 persons, who are still alive, were issued in Chhindwara's Bohnakhedi village and money was with-drawn in their name under a scheme, Patel said in a statement.

Patel, who is the minister in-charge of Chhindwara, said the district administration has

been directed to register FIRs against erring employees and others after conducting an inquiry.

It is a serious matter. I have told the district collector to investigate all such cases in the entire district and take action against the people involved in it, he said.

Citing news reports, offi-cials said an amount of Rs two lakh each was withdrawn using fake death certificates of 23 people in Bohnakhedi village under the Building and Other Construction Workers (Reg-ulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Rules. All these people are allegedly alive.

In the case of normal deaths, an ex gratia of Rs two lakh is paid to the depen-

dents of the deceased con-struction worker under these rules.

Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Atul Singh said a tehsil-dar (Revenue department offi-cial) is conducting an inquiry and action will be taken if any official of Panchayat or Jan-pad Panchayat is found to be involved.

Janpad Panchayat CEO CL Maravi said, This matter has come to my notice. It is being investigated. If anyone is found guilty after investi-gation, then strict action will be taken against them. Vinod Pal, one of the beneficiaries of the scheme, said he is still alive but he came to know that Rs two lakh was withdrawn in his name through his "death" certificate.

Assam: Two dacoits killed

in police encounter

IMD: After July, August too set to record less than normal rainfall

Muslim man forced to chant 'Jai Shri Ram', cops arrest two

President visits Ayodhya temple construction site, offers prayers

MP: Money withdrawn using fake death certificates, probe ordered

UP cops bust int’l human-trafficking racket, 12 women brought back to India since April

‘Touching cheeks of child without sexual intent not offence’

As per IMD data, the country received 10% less rainfall from June 1 to August 28

NEW DELHI/ MUMBAI: The Enforcement Director-ate (ED) has summoned Shiv Sena leader and Maharashtra Transport Minister Anil Parab for questioning in the money laundering case registered against former state minister Anil Deshmukh and others, officials said on Sunday.

Parab, 56, is also a minis-ter of parliamentary affairs in the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government led by Chief Min-ister Uddhav Thackeray and is a three-term member of the Maharashtra Legislative Council.

Officials said he has been asked by the ED to depose before the investigating offi-cer of the case at the agen-cy’s office in south Mumbai on Tuesday.

They said Parab is to be questioned in the money laundering case being inves-tigated against former Maha-rashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh after certain “dis-closures” have been made by other accused and those involved in the case.

Reacting to the summon, Shiv Sena MP and spokesper-son Sanjay Raut said the ED notice to Parab was “expected” and the party would fight it legally.

“Well done. As soon as the Jan Ashirwad Yatra concluded, Anil Parab has been served ED notice as expected.,” Raut tweeted.

ED summons Sena leader

and Maha Min Parab in money laundering case

GUWAHATI: The flood situa-tion in Assam worsened on Sun-day with over 2.58 lakh people affected across 14 districts, an official bulletin said.

According to the daily flood report of the Assam State Disas-ter Management Authority (ASDMA), more than 2,58,100 persons were affected by floods in Barpeta, Biswanath, Bongaig-aon, Chirang, Dhemaji, Dibru-garh, Golaghat, Jorhat, Kamrup, Lakhimpur, Majuli, Nagaon, Sivasagar and Tinsukia districts.

Lakhimpur is the worst hit with more than 1.05 lakh peo-ple affected, followed by Majuli with over 57,200 persons and Dhemaji with around 35,500 people. At present, 732 villages are under water and 24,704.86 hectares of farmland have been damaged across Assam, ASDMA said. The bulletin said the state government is running 91 relief camps and distribution centres in 10 districts, where 6,218 people, including 2,180 children, are sheltering.

District authorities have dis-tributed 2,841.07 quintals of rice, dal and salt, 11,711.42 litres

of mustard oil, 831.82 quintals of cattle feed and other flood relief items. Massive erosions have been witnessed in Baksa, Barpeta, Biswanath, Dhubri, Dibrugarh, Goalpara, Kokra-jhar, Morigaon, Nalbari and Siv-asagar district, the bulletin said.

Embankments, roads and other infrastructure have been damaged by flood waters in Nagaon, Barpeta, Biswanath, Golaghat, Jorhat, Nagaon, Siva-sagar, Dibrugarh and Lakhim-pur. A total of 2,39,723 domestic animals and poultry have been affected in the deluge across seven districts.

According to the Daily Flood Situation Report cum Advisories issued by the Central Water Commission, the Brah-maputra is flowing at “above normal to severe flood situa-tions” in Dibrugarh, Jorhat, Son-itpur, Goalpara, Kamrup and Dhubri districts due to past one week of rainfall. MPOST

Earlier in the day, the president reached Ayodhya by a special train from Lucknow on the last day of his four-day visit to Uttar Pradesh

Flood condition worsens in Assam

Girls row a makeshift raft in flood-water caused by heavy rain and overflowing of Brahmaputra river at Lawhowa village in Nagaon District on Sunday PIC/PTI

President Ram Nath Kovind offers prayers at Ram temple in Ayodhya on Sunday PIC/PTI

Over 2.58 lakh people affected

The incident occurred on Saturday and two purported videos of it have gone viral on social media

7millenniumpost Editorial mpKOLKATA | MONDAY, 30 AUGUST, 2021

Tread with caution

Opportunistic pivoting

The stated objectives of NMEO-OP are reasonable but the additional cultivation of oil palm has to be done in a sustainable and responsible manner

China has come to assume a significant role in the follow-up to the Taliban’s resurgence in Afghanistan, securing its own strategic and economic interests

The Government of India on August 18 announced the National Mission

on Edible Oils and Oil Palm (NMEO-OP). This mission proposes additional cultivation of 6.5 lakh hectares of oil palm by 2025-26, bringing the total area under oil palm cultivation to 10 lakh hectares. A total sum of Rs 11,040 crore has been earmarked for the scheme. This decision has generated a lot of controversy because of the likely ecological fallouts in terms of massive deforesta-tion and loss of biodiversity. It thus becomes important to evaluate the various aspects of this policy and its intended as well as unintended consequences.

India is a net importer of edible oils with palm oil being the principal import. The annual consumption of edi-ble oils in India is 25 million tonnes while the domestic pro-duction is 10.5 million tonnes. 58 per cent of the require-ment is imported. The import bill in 2019-20 was USD 9.6 billion which is a significant amount. This mission proposes to reduce our dependence on imports to 38 per cent by 2025-26, though our consumption is likely to go up to 29 million tonnes. Obviously, the intent of the mission is to reduce the import bill and make India self-sufficient in edible oils to a large extent. Nobody can argue against this objective.

Even though concerns are being raised today, this ini-tiative is not exactly a new one. To reduce dependence on imported edible oil, India began encouraging oil palm cultivation in 1991-92 under the oil palm development pro-gramme. Incidentally, oil palm gives four times more oil than other edible oils and so appears to be a viable proposition. In 1995, a national research cen-tre for oil palm was set up. In 2004-05, 12 states took up oil palm cultivation as part of an integrated scheme of oil-seeds, pulses, oil palm and maize. During the 11th five-year plan, a committee was set up under KC Chadha to reassess the potential of palm oil cultivation. This commit-tee identified 10 lakh hectares as a potential area for the cul-

tivation of oil palm. In 2011-12, oil palm cultivation and expansion was included in the prestigious Rashtriya Krishi Vishisht Yojna (RKVY) of the Ministry of Agriculture, Gov-ernment of India. In 2014-15, a national mission on oilseeds and oil palm was launched. In 2015, 100 per cent FDI in palm oil production was allowed. The cooperation of the State was also elicited in the pro-gramme, and oil palm was declared a plantation crop to attract private sector invest-ment. It is thus clear that the decision taken last week is merely a continuation of the thinking that has been taking shape for almost the last three decades.

To counter the criticism regarding the adverse impact on the environment, the Gov-ernment of India claims that no forest will be destroyed for oil palm cultivation which would be done mostly in the fields of the farmers and assures that the programme will be kept farmer-centric. The scheme envisages assistance to farm-ers for planting materials in the range of Rs 12,000 to Rs 29,000 per hectare. Special assistance of Rs 250 per plant is to be given if old gardens are replanted. Oil palm takes four years to fructify. However, in the first three years, farmers can grow other crops (except paddy) like ground nuts, soya bean etc. which would ensure that the farmer does not suffer losses on going for oil palm cultivation. The Govern-ment of India has also given

the farmers a price assurance through a mechanism of via-bility price to counter price volatility.

Oil palm grows in tropi-cal climate, especially near the equator. The Indian govern-ment has identified the North-east and Andaman & Nicobar Islands as the areas where this plantation would be taken up. Incidentally, both these areas are ecologically sensitive. Northeast is recognized as a home to around 850 bird spe-cies along with citrus fruits, medicinal plants, and a host of other rare plants and herbs. Similarly, Andaman & Nicobar has rich biodiversity in flora and fauna and experts have opined that no new flora or fauna species should be intro-duced in these Islands. There is thus a very valid apprehension of the destruction of valuable biodiversity due to the intro-duction of oil palm in these areas. It is likely that primary forest will be replaced by oil palm as the greed for profits by the palm oil industry would soon create political pressure for expanding the cultiva-tion beyond the fields of the farmers.

Historically, palm oil has led to the deforestation of three per cent in West Africa and 50 per cent in Malaysia and Borneo as well as Indonesia. In fact, the entire low land in Malaysia has been lost to oil palm. It has driven the orang-utans, gibbons, tiger, Suma-tran rhino and elephants to the verge of extinction. To preserve biodiversity, Indonesia and Sri

Lanka have already started controlling oil palm cultivation and, as pointed out by Sudhir Suthar in an article in Indian Express, the Indonesian gov-ernment put a three-year mor-atorium on licenses on palm oil production and Sri Lanka has even ordered the uprooting of oil palm plants.

Even in India, where oil palm plantation has been taken up, the experience shows that particularly in Arunachal the farmers have been going in for oil palm cultivation in a big way and this is leading to an adverse impact on forest land. I read a study by YR Shankar Raman and Jaidev Mandal (2017) about oil palm cultiva-tion in Mizoram. It says that in the same area, where teak cultivation supports about 38 species of birds and rain for-ests sustain 58 species, oil palm supports only 10 species. Inci-dentally, there is no environ-mental impact assessment (EIA) required for conversion of land to oil palm cultivation because it is designated as a plantation. Further, oil palm cultivation gets encouraged due to the ambiguous defi-nition of forest cover which states that all lands more than one hectare in area with a tree canopy density of 10 per cent, irrespective of ownership and legal status, are covered under the definition of forests. Such lands may not necessarily be recorded as forest areas. It also includes orchards, bamboo and palm. Thus, supporters of oil palm can argue that plant-ing oil palm leads to enhance-ment of forest cover which would be a fallacy.

We cannot argue that there should be no effort towards producing palm oil within the country as we need to min-imize the import bill due to palm oil imports. Also, the gov-ernment and the consumers would be interested in keeping the prices of edible oil under control. However, we cannot allow the destruction of the biodiversity and degradation of the environment. The solution then lies in the sustainable and responsible production of oil palm. It should be insisted that this cultivation takes place only in the fields of the farmers, and industrial large-scale planta-tion by the corporates should

be prohibited in ecologically sensitive areas. Also, palm oil production should only be for edible purposes and not for non-edible uses like cos-metics etc. This would keep the demand in check. Already in 12 states, oil palm planta-tion has begun and the eco-logical impact on this needs to be studied. The government should focus on increasing the area under oil palm cultiva-tion in these 12 states where it has not led to adverse impact on ecology, rather than mov-ing to new areas like North-east or A & N which are highly sensitive and where it could lead to widespread rain forest destruction, wildlife loss and bring about climate change. Even in the fields of the farm-ers, it has been found that the growth of oil palm leads to soil erosion and air and water pol-lution. It is thus desirable that any extension of oil palm cul-tivation should not be done without an environmental impact assessment.

Companies producing palm oil should be incentiv-ised to produce it in a sustain-able manner. Illegal plantations will need to be severely dealt with. No conversion of for-est land to oil palm should be permitted as this leads to pov-erty amongst the communi-ties dependent upon forest for their way of life and has the potential of leading to mutu-ally destructive man-animal conflict. These days there is a movement in the West, and in India also, to encourage those companies which invest in ESG (environment, social, governance) issues. Banks pro-vide credit to such companies and the investors are putting in their money in these ventures. Palm oil production should be done in a manner to address these ESG concerns. In fact, there could be a system where palm oil would need to be cer-tified as having been produced ecologically just like you have in the case of organic plants. Oil palm production does not have to be destructive to the environment. It has to be done responsibly with great concern for the ecology and biodiversity.

The writer is an ex-Chief Sec-retary, Govt of Uttar Pradesh. Views expressed are personal

ALOK RANJAN

SHANTANU MUKHARJI

Log on to write letters to the editor or send them to letter2editor.mp@gmail.com. You can also send your comments to The Editor,

Millennium Post, Pratap Bhawan, 5 Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, New Delhi 110 002

DearEditor

The Centre’s recent decision to allocate two crore coronavirus vaccine doses for all teaching and non-teaching staff in schools by Teachers’ Day, September 5, is welcome. It adds a measure of confidence that resumption of offline classes from September is not fraught with high risk. Several states are preparing to reopen schools, mostly for Class IX and higher, next month. Some states, including Haryana, Telangana and Gujarat, have announced that they will allow offline classes even for younger children. It is encouraging that half of the 97 lakh teachers in the country have already been immunised, by official estimates, making it feasible to reach the rest by September 5. The risk of infection to children in schools remains. It must be addressed with utmost seriousness, particularly with fast-transmitting virus variants present in all states. This calls for a coherent response that incorporates the best learnings from epidemiology and decentralises decision-making to the districts, based on local circumstances. Vaccination of children over 12 years of age has been allowed in some countries, but the pandemic’s course has remained unpredictable. This cautionary tale serves to emphasise the importance of priority vaccination of children, starting with those who may have other health conditions, maintaining safety protocols, and adopting low-cost non-pharmaceutical interventions such as good classroom ventilation and open-air instruction wherever feasible. An empirical approach will enable organisations such as the National Institute of Disaster Management to collate useful insights. Parents must be convinced by transparent official measures that the health and education prospects of their children are in safe hands.

China has been evincing extraordi-nary interest in the rapidly changing

developments following the Taliban’s conquest of major territories in Afghanistan. An all-weather ally of Pakistan, China has been hand in glove with Pakistan and its intelli-gence unit, the ISI, in guid-ing the Taliban on its military advances to defeat the Afghan security forces. China is also believed to be in close touch with the Pakistan-based ter-ror groups including Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), who are strongly suspected to have played a decisive role in partic-ipating in combat operations, fighting alongside the Taliban. The experts safely assume that China’s tacit endorsement has always been there for such misadventures. Here, it might also be pertinent to point out that China has all along opposed the various UN res-olutions and pleas by several global powers to designate the JeM as a global terrorist organization. By implication, therefore, it can be said that China has been supportive of terror groups patronized by Pakistan for cross-border terrorism, targeting India in particular.

It is equally imperative to highlight the facts that a group of top Taliban leadership had visited China before the cap-ture of power in Afghani-stan, and they were hosted by none other than China’s For-

eign Minister Wang Yi. Secu-rity analysts, in the meantime, assess that the meeting preced-ing the Taliban victory must have been used to discuss a concrete roadmap for the Tal-iban and the Chinese political leadership must have given tips as to how to counter the US and Indian moves to deal with the happenings after the take-over. It would also be pertinent to mention here that China has always been wary about the role of its own separat-ist group, the Uighurs, whom it always labels as terrorists, keeping them under ruthless surveillance like the Tibetan. The Uighurs are Muslims but the Chinese oppressions have never been criticized by Pak-istan due to the warm Sino-

Pakistan relationship.Above factors apart, China

is keeping a hawkish eye on the mineral resources in Afghani-stan, especially on lithium and copper. Also, China wants to ensure the security of 60,000 Chinese present in Pakistan for the project linked to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Only last month, nine Chinese engi-neers were killed and, as early as August 13, the port city of Karachi witnessed a terror attack injuring several Chi-nese engineers. In the light of the resurgence of the Taliban, China would like to appropri-ate the Taliban and its Paki-stan-based affiliates to check these terror groups targeting the Chinese technical person-

nel. In sum, China wants to leverage its stranglehold over the Taliban leadership and control Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) to remain a prime mover in the Afghani-stan scheme of things.

Meanwhile, there is no let-up in the ongoing Chi-nese criticism of the US for being the major perpetrator for the Afghan crisis. China has been pressing for US exit from Afghanistan only after the war-ravaged Afghanistan saw a reconstruction under-taken by the departing US forces. This anti-US tirade apart, China continues its dip-lomatic mission in Kabul and is regularly meeting the Tali-ban and Pakistan’s JeM oper-ational commanders to wrest complete support of the Tali-ban in order to forge a stronger relationship for geopolitical and security reasons.

Against this backdrop, Chi-nese investment, in a big way, maybe afoot for a firm footing on the Afghan soil for future operations. Here, Pakistan is on board with China in the latter’s planning and execu-tion. Such developments are apparently a clear indication of a China-Pakistan gang-up to try and marginalize Indian plans to make its presence felt in Afghanistan. Joint efforts by China and Pakistan in this regard seem more pronounced in view of part of northeast-ern Afghanistan (Panjshir Val-ley) which has rebelled against the Taliban and poses a new threat to the Taliban military

as the late Ahmed Shah Mas-soud continues to inspire the Tajik-led forces to defy the Tal-iban. China will try its best to capitalize maximum by further befriending the ‘victorious’ Taliban as things are racing up rather speedily, to put a so-called ‘government’ in place and start functioning from the word ‘go’.

Along with its ambitions to stay afloat in Afghanistan to express solidarity with Taliban, China will also play a positive role in helping the country in capacity building, peace, reconstruction and improve-ment of peoples’ livelihoods, as claimed by its political and diplomatic leadership. They further claim that China’s position on the Afghan issue is consistent and clear cut. The Chinese are expecting that Afghanistan could form an inclusive and broad-based government, adopting a for-eign and domestic policy that is prudent and moderate so as to echo and meet the aspi-ration and shared will of the international community and its own people. Independent analysts, however, feel that such claims on part of China are mere rhetoric to keep the Taliban and Pakistan in good humour. In reality, Chinese plans are unpredictable and diabolical.

The writer is a retired IPS officer, a security analyst and a former

National Security Advisor to the PM of Mauritius. Views

expressed are personal

Oil palm cultivation in ecologically sensitive areas could hamper the biodiversity

— KHOKAN DAS, KOLKATA via email

Hosting of Taliban leaders by Chinese Foreign Minister reflects the importance accorded to the group

EDITORIALThe fight must go on

The United States President flagged the chances of more attacks by terror groups as the deadline for the US troops withdrawal inches closer. Western nations — the US in particular — view the Kabul

bombing as an attempt to hinder their evacuation process, but they will not be stopped by such misadventures. Amid all this, there appears to be a shaping of narrative that the war is on — and the Western front is not willing to give in. This narrative of being in a war and leading the fight is too tempting to part away with, however bleak it may seem. The real adversaries, the Taliban, seem to be missing in this new picture of war as the focus is shifting towards other terror groups. The Taliban are putting forth their point for acceptance at the global stage; they have come to under-stand the importance of recognition in geopolitics. Also, it is clear to the West and the rest of the world that the Tali-ban are the real power centre in Afghanistan. The West and the Taliban, in good or bad terms, now seem to under-stand each other’s needs. Taliban control has now become the reality and that has to be accepted in any case. The West and the world appear to be articulating the render-ing of acceptance in a way that would save grace for them. For the US president — who has suffered much humilia-tion and criticism for the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan — the new enemy is the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) that has claimed the Kabul bombings. The ISKP terror group has been already pushed to the fringes by the Taliban and the Afghanistan government. The group’s hold was reduced to mere two territories in Kunar valley towards the beginning of the year 2020. It is true that fall-outs of the Kabul airport bombing have been grave — kill-ing more than a hundred people including over a dozen from the US troops. As a nation, the least and the most the US could have done was to vow an act of revenge. The fact however remains that the ISKP is a less formidable threat than the Taliban. The humiliation brought out by the Tali-ban is far greater in magnitude than by the ISKP — the group which is nothing but a disaffected small fragment of the Taliban itself. Taliban’s efforts to safeguard the air-ports from such terror attacks have made global headlines. Does this put the Taliban in a good light? It appears so. The ISKP is at odds with both the Taliban and the US gov-ernment. The US president has resolved to take revenge on the group and the Taliban is already eager to evict the ISKP from Afghanistan. This may bring the two fronts closer to the common enemy. Neither the Taliban’s usur-pation of the country nor the imminent threats of human rights violations deserve to be ignored at any cost. Flee-ing Afghans — through whichever mode they find — bear testimony to this conviction. Irrespective of what is being spoken and promised by the Taliban, downgrading of the ethical, moral and democratic values is as clear as crystal in Afghanistan. But still, a bonhomie between the propo-nents of the same values and the Taliban is not completely out of the box prediction. The fact remains that geopoli-tics is driven more by national interests than values, and power is the language in which it is communicated. It is the newly gained power of the Taliban that speaks it all. Will the Taliban’s emergence as a strong regional player in the geopolitics shut the mouths of many who should speak out loud against them. Behind the Taliban’s titbit efforts to gain recognition lies a firm assertion which is clumsy for geopolitical players — they are finding it hard to either accept or reject it. This reluctant acceptance of the Taliban is discouraging as it comes at the cost of possible tram-pling of rights and liberties of Afghans and security threats to the neighbouring nations. Support from countries like China, Russia and Pakistan has further added fuel to the race of rendering acceptance to the Taliban. There is a word of caution though. If the Taliban is to be accepted at the global stage, the negotiations must be rigorous and the bargain more leaned towards positivity. Being submissive, or in the rush, could be harmful and decide the course of developments in the years to come. The military war may be over for the stakeholders who had been involved in Afghanistan for decades. Now is the time for the diplo-matic war to ensure that the limits are set for the Taliban. Alongside avenging upon the casualties faced in the Kabul bombing, the world must keep bargaining in toughest terms with the Taliban, and not be submissive.

No environmental impact assessment (EIA) is required for using land for oil palm cultivation as it is designated as a plantation

Current developments in Afghanistan are a clear indication of the China-Pakistan gang-up trying to marginalize Indian plans to make its presence felt in Afghanistan

millenniumpost.in

VACCINATE CHILDREN

8 millenniumpostWorldmpMONDAY, 30 AUGUST, 2021 | KOLKATA

UK ends 20-year military campaign in Afghanistan as troops fly back

LONDON: The last remain-ing UK troops began landing back from Kabul in Britain on Sunday, ending the country's 20-year military campaign in Afghanistan where the Taliban have seized power.

The Taliban insurgents stormed across the country on August 15, capturing all major cities in a matter of days, two weeks before the US was set to complete its troop withdrawal after a costly two-decade war.

A Royal Air Force (RAF) plane left Kabul airport on Sat-urday night and arrived at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, including with British ambas-sador to Afghanistan Sir Laurie Bristow who had been assisting the evacuation process.

Vice-Admiral Sir Ben Key, who ran the UK's evacuation dubbed Operation Pitting, said there was a "sense of sadness that we haven't done all we would have wished".

In a video posted on Twit-ter on Sunday morning, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the end of Operation Pitting was the "culmination of a mission unlike anything we've seen in our lifetimes", and that Brit-

ish troops and officials had "worked around the clock to a remorseless deadline in har-rowing conditions".

"They have expended all the patience and care and thought they possess to help people in fear for their lives, said John-son. "They've seen at first hand barbaric terrorist attacks on the queues of people they were try-ing to comfort, as well as on our American friends. They didn't

flinch. They kept calm. They got on with the job," he said.

In a letter to the armed forces community, Johnson acknowledged the fall of Kabul to the Taliban would have been hard for them to watch and "an especially difficult time for the friends and loved ones of the 457 service personnel who laid down their lives" during the war.

He noted that the UK's involvement in Afghanistan

"kept Al Qaeda from our door for two decades and we are all safer as a result". Paying tribute to the efforts of UK forces since 2001, he added: "Though we would not have wished to leave in this way, we have to recognise that we came in with the United States, in defence and support of the US and the US military did the overwhelming bulk of the fighting.

"Together with our allies

in America and Europe and around the world, we will engage with the Taliban not on the basis of what they say but what they do, Johnson said.

Describing the conclusion of the military campaign launched by former British prime min-ister Tony Blair as a time for reflection, Johnson reiterated a previous statement that if the new regime in Kabul wanted diplomatic recognition, or to unlock the billions that are cur-rently frozen, they will have to ensure safe passage for those who wish to leave the country, to respect the rights of women and girls and to prevent Afghanistan from becoming an incubator for global terror .

Writing in The Sunday Tele-graph', Foreign Secretary Domi-nic Raab said the UK was ready to consider sanctions against the militants but this would "depend on the choices the Tali-ban make on key issues" includ-ing on enabling safe passage out of the country. The UK govern-ment has said it intends to re-establish a diplomatic presence in Kabul "as soon as the secu-rity and political situation in the country allows". AGENCIES

‘Together with our allies in America and Europe and across world, we will engage with Taliban not on basis of what they say but what they do’

Biden: Another terrorist attack on Kabul airport is 'highly likely'

WASHINGTON DC: Another terrorist attack on the Kabul airport is highly likely in the next 24 to 36 hours, Presi-dent Joe Biden has warned, as the US rushed to evacuate the few remaining Americans and Afghan allies ahead of the August 31 deadline to withdraw from Afghanistan.

The State Department also urged all US citizens to leave the area near the airport because of a "specific, credible threat".

The situation on the ground continues to be extremely dan-gerous, and the threat of ter-rorist attacks on the airport remains high. Our command-ers informed me that an attack is highly likely in the next 24-36 hours, Biden said on Saturday.

Biden directed them to take every possible measure to pri-oritise force protection. He ensured that they have all the authorities, resources and plans to protect US men and women on the ground.

Biden also wowed to keep up retaliatory strikes against the terrorists responsible for Thursday's suicide bombing at the airport that killed 13 US service members and at least 170 Afghans.

A local branch of the Islamic State group - Islamic State in Khorasan Province (IS-K) - claimed the attack.

In retaliation, the US car-ried out a drone strike on east-ern Afghanistan late on Friday. The Pentagon said two "high profile" ISIS targets were killed and another was injured in the drone strike.

We discussed the strike that US forces took last night against the terrorist group ISIS-K in Afghanistan. I said we would go after the group responsible for the attack on our troops and innocent civilians in Kabul, and we have. This strike was not the last," Biden said.

"We will continue to hunt down any person involved in that heinous attack and make them pay, he said.

Whenever anyone seeks to harm the United States or attack our troops, we will respond,

he added.As the mission winds down,

Biden said US military person-nel were continuing to evacuate civilians "despite the treacher-ous situation in Kabul".

While roughly 350 Amer-icans are left in Afghanistan who wish to leave, thousands of Afghans who worked with the US during the 20-year war and are still trying to get a flight out of the country.

Yesterday, we brought out another 6,800 people, including hundreds of Americans. And today, we discussed the ongo-ing preparations to help people continue to leave Afghanistan after our military departs, Biden said.

The US has evacuated approximately 2,000 people from the Kabul airport in the last 24 hours, the White House has said, as the countdown for the end of America’s lon-gest military mission begins in Afghanistan.

Since August 14, the US has evacuated and facilitated the evacuation of approximately 113,500 people. Since the end of July, it has re-located approxi-mately 119,000 people, it said.

From August 28 at 3:00 AM EDT to August 28 at 3:00 PM EDT, a total of approximately 2,000 people were evacuated from Kabul. AGENCIES

US evacuates about 2K people from Kabul in last 24 hrs

Israel strikes Hamas targets in GazaJERUSALEM: Israeli planes struck Hamas militant targets in the Gaza Strip early Sun-day, hours after violent clashes between Palestinian protesters and troops along the border.

The Israeli military said in a statement that planes bombed a Hamas militant facility in the Gaza Strip in response to the launching of incendiary bal-

loons into southern Israel and violent protests staged for a sec-ond consecutive week.

Israeli Prime Minister Naf-tali Bennett spoke to reporters in Washington before he boarded a flight to Israel, wrapping up a state visit that culminated with a face-to-face meeting with Presi-dent Joe Biden. It was the first since Bennett took office in June.

We will operate in Gaza according to our interests," he said in Hebrew on the tarmac.

Bennett said he achieved all the objectives for the trip" to Washington, including strate-gic cooperation in preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. On Saturday, hun-dreds of Hamas-backed activ-ists staged a nighttime protest

along the Israeli border, throw-ing explosives toward Israeli forces who responded with live fire. Gaza health officials said three people were injured by Israeli fire. Additional protests were planned through the week.

Organizers said the protests are meant to increase pressure on Israel to lift its blockade of the Palestinian territory. AGENCIES

Japan aims for full

vaccinations by this fall

TOKYO: Taro Kono, the Jap-anese minister in charge of the vaccine rollout, promised Sunday a timely administering of booster shots for the Coro-navirus, as the nation aims to fully vaccinate its population by October or November.

He said Pfizer and Mod-erna booster shots will arrive early next year, in time for medical workers and the elderly, who were prioritised and mostly got their second shots by July.

Japan is aiming for 80% vaccination levels, Kono said on a nationally broadcast Fuji TV show. A digital system for proof of vaccination will be available later this year, he added. AGENCIES

AFTER BORDER PROTESTS

Official: Missile, drone attack on Yemeni air base kills 30

SANAA: A missile and drone attack on a key military base in Yemen's south on Sun-day killed at least 30 troops, a Yemeni military spokesman said. It was one of the deadli-est attacks in the country's civil war in recent years.

Mohammed al-Naqib, spokesman for Yemen's south-ern forces, told The Associated Press the attack on Al-Anad Air Base in the province of Lahj wounded at least 65. He said the casualty toll could rise since rescue teams were still clearing the site.

Graphic footage from the scene showed several charred bodies on the ground with ambulance sirens blaring in the background.

Yemeni officials said at least three explosions took place at the air base, which is held by the internationally recognized government. No one immedi-ately claimed responsibility for the attack.

Yemen has been embroiled in a civil war since 2014, when Houthi rebels swept across

much of the north and seized the capital, Sanaa, forcing the internationally recognized government into exile. The Saudi-led coalition entered the war the following year on the side of the government.

A ballistic missile landed in the base's training area, where dozens of troops were doing morning exercises, the officials said. Medics described a cha-otic scene following the explo-sions, with soldiers carrying their wounded colleagues to safety, fearing another attack.

Solider Nasser Saeed sur-vived that attack. He was taken along with other wounded to the Naqib hospital in Aden. He said a barracks that housed

over 50 troops had been hit by missiles, then explosives-laden drones.

We were able to shoot down one (drone), he said. Many were killed and wounded.

Most of the wounded were taken to the nearby Ibn Khal-dun hospital, where health offi-cials said many of the wounded were in critical condition and suffer third degree burns.

The officials blamed the Houthis for the attack on the base, once the site of U.S. intelligence operations against al-Qaida's powerful Yemeni affiliate. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not autho-rized to brief media. AGENCIES

France, UK to propose ‘safe zone’ in KabulPARIS: President Emmanuel Macron says that France and Britain plan to propose at the U.N. on Monday the creation of a safe zone in Kabul that would allowed for continued humani-tarian operations.

The French leader, currently in Iraq, said Sunday that Paris and London would propose at a Security Council meeting on the crisis in Afghanistan a

resolution aimed at defining a safe zone in Kabul under U.N. control.

This would keep pres-sure on the Taliban and hold the international community accountable, he said in an exclusive interview with the weekly Le Journal du Diman-che published Sunday.

It was unclear if the pro-tection zone France and Brit-

ain envisage would be linked to eventual targeted evacua-tions that Macron spoke of on Saturday.

He said at a news confer-ence in Baghdad that France is talking with the Taliban and Qatar about continuing evac-uations after the Americans pull out on Tuesday to bring out Afghans on France's list of potential evacuees that never

made it out of the country.One possibility would be

to evacuate via Kabul's civil-ian airport or a neighbour-ing country, he told the newspaper.

France ended its evacuation flights out of Kabul on Friday night after bringing out 2,834 people, mostly Afghans at risk. Britain ended its operations on Saturday. AGENCIES

SpaceX launches avocados, ants, robot to space station

CAPE CANAVERAL: A SpaceX shipment of ants, avocados and a human-sized robotic arm rocketed toward the International Space Station on Sunday.

The delivery due to arrive Monday is the company's 23rd for NASA in just under a decade.

A recycled Falcon rocket blasted into the predawn sky from NASA's Kennedy Space Center. After hoisting the Dragon capsule, the first-stage booster landed upright on SpaceX's newest ocean plat-form, named A Shortfall of Gravitas. SpaceX founder Elon Musk continued his tradition

of naming the booster-recov-ery vessels in tribute to the late

science fiction writer Iain Banks and his Culture series. AGENCIES

The delivery due to arrive Monday is the company's 23rd for NASA in just under a decade

This long exposure photo shows the launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on a resupply mission for NASA to the International Space Station, seen from Merritt Island, Florida, Sunday PTI

President Joe Biden PTI

Photo issued by Britain's Ministry of Defence (MoD) showing UK military personnel boarding a A400M aircraft departing Kabul, Afghanistan PTI

Hurricane Ida rapidly

intensifies into dangerous Category 4

NEW ORLEANS: Hurricane Ida was rapidly intensifying early Sunday, becoming a dan-gerous Category 4 hurricane on track for a potentially dev-astating landfall on the Loui-siana coast while emergency officials in the region grappled with opening shelters for dis-placed evacuees despite the risks of spreading the Coronavirus.

The National Hurricane Center predicted Ida would become an extremely danger-ous Category 4 hurricane with 130 mph (209 kph) winds that happened early Sunday ahead of an expected afternoon landfall.

The storm arrived on the exact date Hurricane Katrina ravaged Louisiana and Missis-sippi 16 years earlier.

Ida rapidly intensified as it moved into the northern Gulf, going from top winds of 115 mph (185 kph) in a 1 am update to 140 mph (220 kph) a few hours later. AGENCIES

Yemeni officials said at least three explosions took place at the air base, which is held by the internationally recognized government. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack

9millenniumpost Business mpKOLKATA | MONDAY, 30 AUGUST, 2021

NEW DELHI: The government has shortlisted 10 merchant bankers, including Goldman Sachs Group Inc., J P Morgan Chase & Co, and ICICI Secu-rities, to manage the mega ini-tial public offering (IPO) of the country’s largest life insurer LIC.

As many as 16 domestic and international firms had made presentations before the Depart-ment of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) on August 26 to act as book run-ning lead managers (BRLMs) for the IPO -- touted to be the biggest share sale in the coun-try’s history.

“Goldman Sachs Group Inc, JPMorgan Chase & Co, ICICI Securities Ltd, Kotak Mahin-dra Capital Co, JM Financial Ltd, Citigroup Inc and Nomura Holdings Inc are among the 10

BRLMs that have been short-listed,” an official said.

With the merchant bankers in place, once the embedded valuation of LIC is arrived at, the government will go ahead and file draft IPO papers with market regulator Sebi.

Actuarial firm Milliman Advisors LLP India is work-ing out the embedded value of LIC, while Deloitte and SBI Caps have been appointed as pre-IPO transaction advisors.

The government aims to come out with the IPO and sub-

sequent listing of Life Insur-ance Corporation (LIC) on the bourses in the January-March quarter of 2022.

The government is also mull-ing allowing foreign investors to pick up stakes in the country’s largest insurer LIC. As per Sebi rules, foreign portfolio inves-tors (FPI) are permitted to buy shares in a public offer.

However, since the LIC Act has no provision for foreign investments, there is a need to align the proposed LIC IPO with Sebi norms regarding foreign investor participation.

The DIPAM on July 15 had invited applications for appoint-ment of up to 10 merchant bankers for LIC IPO. The last date for bidding was August 5.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs last month

cleared the initial public offer-ing proposal of Life Insurance Corp of India.

The ministerial panel known as the Alternative Mechanism on strategic disinvestment will now decide on the quantum of stake to be divested by the government.

“The potential size of the IPO is expected to be far larger than any precedent in Indian markets,” the department had said.

The listing of LIC will be crucial for the government in meeting its disinvestment target of Rs 1.75 lakh crore for 2021-22 (April-March).

So far this fiscal, Rs 8,368 crore has been mopped up through minority stake sales in PSU and sale of SUUTI stake in Axis Bank. PTI

NEW DELHI: SBI Funds Man-agement (SBI MF) will distrib-ute the sixth tranche of over Rs 2,918 crore to unitholders of Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund’s six shuttered schemes from September 1.

After the payout, the total disbursement will reach Rs 23,999 crore, amounting to 95.18 per cent of assets under management (AUM) as on April 23, 2020, when the fund house announced to shut the schemes, a Franklin Temple-ton MF spokesperson said on Sunday.

Under the first disbursement in February, investors received Rs 9,122 crore, while Rs 2,962

crore were paid to investors in April, Rs 2,489 crore in May, Rs 3,205 crore in June and Rs 3,303 crore in July.

“SBI Funds Management Pvt Ltd (SBI MF) would be dis-tributing the next tranche of Rs 2,918.5 crore to unithold-ers across all six schemes,” the spokesperson said.

The payment to all investors whose accounts are KYC com-pliant with all details available will commence from September 1, 2021, he said.

The amount to be distrib-uted to unitholders will be paid by extinguishing proportionate units at the net asset value dated August 27 this year, he added.

The payment will be made electronically to all eligible uni-tholders by SBI MF, which has been appointed as the liquidator for the schemes under winding up by the Supreme Court.

In case the unitholders’ bank account is not eligible for an electronic payment, a cheque or demand draft will be issued and sent to their registered address by SBI MF.

In March, the Supreme Court accepted the standard operating procedure (SOP) finalised by SBI MF to mon-etise assets and distribute the proceeds to unitholders of the six debt schemes of Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund. PTI

NEW DELHI: The proposed free trade agreement (FTA) with the UAE can result in enhanced exports of several sec-tors, including gem and jewel-lery, engineering, leather goods and chemicals to the Emirates as the pact would enhance com-petitiveness of domestic traders, according to exporters.

India has started negotia-tions for the agreement with the UAE, which is the third largest trading partner of New Delhi.

Under a free trade agree-ment, two trading partners reduce or eliminate customs duties on the maximum number of goods traded between them. Besides, they liberalise norms to

enhance trade in services and boost investments.

Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) Chairman Colin Shah said that the proposed FTA with the UAE can result in enhanced exports of gem and jewellery products to the Emirates which is really required presently as the exports from the sector to the UAE have declined significantly to USD 2.77 billion in 2020-2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic situ-ation. “The UAE is India’s one of the top three major export markets for gem and jewellery products,” he said.

He said the council has sug-gested the government to seek

abolition of import duty in the UAE on the exports of gold, silver and platinum jewellery from India; besides reduction of import duty from 7.5 per cent to 4 per cent in India on the

imports of gold bars/silver bars/platinum bars from the UAE.

Council for Leather Exports (CLE) Chairman Sanjay Leekha said that there is a lot of poten-tial for Indian exporters in the

UAE, which has a huge Indian diaspora.

“We have lots of com-monalities. Huge potential for exports in areas like footwear, and leather goods. The FTA will help us in enhancing competi-tiveness,” Leekha said adding the export of leather, leather products and footwear from India to the UAE was USD 169.86 million during 2019-20.

He added that UAE entre-preneurs can be requested to invest in the leather, leather products and footwear indus-try, or enter into JVs/ collabo-rations with Indian companies, considering the huge opportu-nities in the domestic market

and exports.Sharing similar views, lead-

ing exporter and former Presi-dent of Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) S K Saraf said that the UAE is a key trading partner of India and it is a main hub for re-exports.

“FTA with the UAE will benefit Indian exporters a lot. This pact is most important and that will certainly help domes-tic exports. FTA with the UAE is a great idea,” Saraf said, add-ing the government should put some strong safeguard mecha-nism in the pact so that nobody can misuse it.

Hand Tools Association President S C Ralhan said that

the engineering sector holds huge potential for exports there.

He added that the reduction in import duty on gold from the UAE would help the domestic gems and jewellery sector and also cut smuggling of the yellow metal in the country.

FIEO Vice-President Kha-lid Khan stated that the UAE is a key export destination for Indian exporters and the UAE is a gateway for countries like Iran, Iraq and African nations.

Bilateral trade between India and the UAE stood at USD 43.3 billion in 2020-21. Exports were USD 16.7 billion and imports aggregated at USD 26.7 billion in 2020-21. PTI

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday that the start-up culture has become very vibrant in India with youngsters in even smaller cities embracing it, and asserted that it is a sign of India’s bright future.

In his monthly ‘Mann ki Baat’ radio broadcast, Modi also noted that space sector reforms in the country have caught the people’s imagination and expressed confidence that a large number of satellites in the coming days will be developed by youngsters from universities, labs and other sectors.

The prime minister touched upon a host of topics, includ-ing India’s rich spiritual tradi-tion and the boost the sporting culture has received after the performance in the Tokyo Olympics, in the address and also paid glowing tributes to hockey legend Dhyan Chand, saying he conquered the world of hockey for the country.

The National Sports Day is celebrated every year on August 29 to mark Dhyan Chand’s birthday.

Noting that India won an Olympic medal in men’s hockey after over four decades, he said youths are now drawn towards sports and their parents are

happy to back them. This itself is a great tribute to Dhyan Chand, Modi said.

Asserting that the young population’s mindset has under-gone a sweeping change, he said it is now keen on “new destina-tions and new goals by taking new paths and having new aspi-rations”. The momentum the sporting culture has received must be further advanced, he said, calling for sports competi-tions at the village level. “Let us all countrymen strive to further

this momentum as much as we can, contributing whatever we can. Let us transform the man-tra of ‘Sabka Prayas’ (everyone’s effort) into reality,” he said.

Modi said the Tokyo Olym-pics have created a major impact, and India’s achieve-ments may not be a lot com-pared to some countries but are enough to bolster the people’s belief. “Today, it is not that the youth is just watching sports. The youth is also looking at pos-sibilities associated with sports...

They now want to surpass con-ventional ways and adopt new disciplines,” he said.

Similarly, young persons are moving away from family tra-ditions, expressing the wish to launch or join a start-up and are willing to take risks.

He said, “Today, the startup culture is expanding even to smaller cities and I am seeing it as an indication of a bright future. Just a few days ago, toys in our country were being dis-cussed. Within no time this caught the attention of our youth and they too resolutely decided to work towards posi-tioning Indian toys in the world with a distinct identity.”

Acceptance of mediocrity had crept into people’s mind-set earlier but the young minds are now focusing on excellence, he said. Noting that the world has been paying heed to Indian spiritual traditions and philos-ophy, the prime minister said people also have a responsibil-ity to carry forward these great traditions.

“Whatever was temporary and perished has to be left behind, but what is timeless has to be carried forward. Let us celebrate our festivals, under-stand their scientific meaning, and the connotation behind them. There is an underlying message in every festival,” he

said, wishing people a happy Janmashtami, which falls on Monday. Noting that the Vish-wakarma Puja will be observed in the coming days, he said the festival is essentially an ancient Indian practice of paying trib-utes to different skills

Modi also mentioned an FM radio station in Gujarat’s Kevadiya through which radio jockeys are working to promote Sanskrit. He said the ancient language, through its thoughts and medium of literary texts, nurtures knowledge and also strengthens national unity.

The prime minister also urged people to continue to maintain COVID-19 precau-tions. “More than 62 crore vaccine doses have been admin-istered in the country, but still we have to be careful, be vigi-lant,” he said. In the broadcast, he also played his conversation with an American woman, Jadu-rani Dasi, who is connected to ISKCON and specialises in Bhakti Arts.

The prime minister also mentioned the ‘Water Plus City’ campaign going on in Indore, which has consistently topped the ranking in the Swachh Bharat campaign. ‘Water Plus City’ means a city where no sew-age is dumped into any public water source without treatment, he noted.

NEW DELHI: The government on Sunday extended the dead-line for various compliances under the income tax law and availing relief under the GST law to help taxpayers tide over difficulties in filing such forms.

While the income tax com-pliances, including filing of statement for equalisation levy and remittances, reporting by multinational enterprises etc, have been extended mainly due to difficulties in electronic filing on the new I-T portal, the deadline for GST amnesty scheme and also filing of GST return electronic verification code (EVC) have been extended until November 30 and Octo-ber 31 respectively to assist tax-payers in the time of Covid-19 pandemic.

The deadline for filing the Equalisation Levy statement in Form-1 for the Financial Year 2020-21 has been extended till December 31, against the orig-inal due date of June 30, the income tax department said in a statement.

The quarterly statement in Form 15CC to be furnished by dealers in respect of remit-tances made for June and Sep-tember quarter, can now be filed by November 30 and December 31, respectively. The original due date for filing this state-ment was July 15 and October 15, respectively.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said on consid-eration of difficulties reported by the taxpayers and other stakeholders in electronic filing of certain forms it has been decided to further extend the due dates for e-filing of

these forms.In a separate statement, the

CBDT announced extending the deadline for making pay-ments under the direct tax dis-pute resolution scheme Vivad Se Vishwas (VsV) by a month till September 30. However, tax-payers have the option to make payments till October 31, with an additional amount of interest.

Also, the due dates for elec-tronic filing of forms related to intimation by pension funds and sovereign wealth funds too have been extended.

Intimation to be made by Pension Fund and sovereign wealth fund in respect of invest-ment made in India for the June and September quarter, which is required to be furnished by July 31 and October 31, would now have to be furnished by November 30 and December 31 respectively.

The CBDT also extended the due date for uploading of declarations received in Form 15G/15Hfor the June and Sep-tember quarter till November 30 and December 31 respec-tively. The original due dates were July 15 and October 15 respectively.

Nangia & Co LLP Partner Shailesh Kumar said consid-ering the technical glitches in the new Income tax portal, tax-payers have been facing a lot of problems in meeting com-pliance timelines under var-ious provisions, be it filing of Equalization Levy return, making application for regis-tration of charitable trusts and other institutions for income tax exemption, quarterly state-ments by Authorized dealers in respect of foreign remittances, filing of necessary intimation by Sovereign wealth funds, CbCR reporting by multina-tional enterprises etc.

“Thus, the due dates for all such compliances have been extended by the Government. The extension has been made not only to address immedi-ate filing requirements due within August/ September 2021, but also a medium term relief has been given to tax-payers for some compliances, which were due in the month of November/ December 2021,” Kumar said.

The extension will provide much-needed relief to taxpay-ers and will also save them from penal consequences for not being able to comply with the earlier timelines due to tech-nical glitches in the IT portal, he added. PTI

Start-up culture now vibrant in India: Prime Minister Modi

Prime Minister says, today, the startup culture is expanding even to smaller cities and I am seeing it as an indication of a bright future

Prime Minister Narendra Modi

‘Just a few days ago, toys in our country were being discussed. Within no time this caught the attention of our youth and they too resolutely decided to work towards positioning Indian toys in the world with a distinct identity’

Govt extends deadlines for many tax compliances, relief

CBDT also announced extending the deadline for making payments under Vivad Se Vishwas scheme by a month till September 30

Goldman Sachs, J P Morgan Chase among ten merchant bankers to manage LIC IPO

NEW DELHI: India’s coal import rose 50 per cent to 18.77 million tonnes (MT) in June this year, when compared to the shipments arrived in the same month of 2020. The country had imported 12.51 MT of coal in the corresponding month a year ago, according to (revised) data compiled by mjunction services.

mjunction — a joint ven-ture between Tata Steel and SAIL — is a B2B e-commerce company and also publishes research reports on coal and steel verticals.

“Imports in June 2021 stood at around 18.77 million tonnes (MT)...However, coal imports in June 2021 were up by 50.05 per cent over June 2020 when imports plunged to 12.51 MT,” it said. Coal import during June

through the major and non-major ports decreased by 5.76 per cent over May this fiscal, it said.

“There was a modest decline in import volumes in June which was on the expected lines. This trend is likely to continue dur-ing monsoon as the seaborne prices remain at multi-year high levels. Meanwhile, some buyers shifted preference from imports to domestic coal. It is to be seen if they hold on to it when sea-

borne prices stabilise,” Vinaya Varma, MD & CEO mjunction services said.

Of the total imports in June, non-coking coal was at 13.05 MT, against 8.28 MT imported in June last fiscal. Coking coal import was at 4.06 MT, up against 2.46 MT imported in June last financial year.

During April-June 2021, total coal import stood at 60.97 MT, about 32.13 per cent higher than 46.14 MT imported dur-ing April-June of the last fiscal.

During the June quarter, non-coking coal import was at 42.01 MT, against 31.09 MT imported during April-June last fiscal. Coking coal import was recorded at 13.21 MT, against 8.87 MT imported during the same quarter a year ago. PTI

NEW DELHI: Foreign portfo-lio investors (FPIs) pumped in a net of just Rs 986 crore in Indian equities during August, as cau-tiousness continued to persist among overseas investors.

According to data from depositories, FPIs bought equities worth Rs 986 crore and invested Rs 13,494 crore in the debt segment between August 2-27.

This translated into a total net investment of Rs 14,480 crore. In July, they were net sellers at Rs 7,273 crore.

“The trend of foreign flows into the Indian equity markets have not been encouraging ever since US Fed indicated tight-ening of its monetary policy stance earlier than what was initially projected,” said Himan-shu Srivastava, associate director (manager research), Morning-star India.

There is cautiousness among FPIs towards investing in Indian equity markets despite signs of economic recovery, relaxations in lockdowns across various states, opening up of businesses, pick-up in vaccination drive, market touching all-time highs and regulatory clampdowns in China denting its growth out-look, he added.

Other than India, all other emerging markets witnessed positive inflows, noted Shrikant Chouhan, executive vice-presi-dent (equity technical research) at Kotak Securities. PTI

India’s coal import rises 50% to 19 million tonnes in June

FPIs net buyers in Aug, invest ̀ 986 cr

in equities

NEW DELHI: Domestic steel giant Tata Steel will invest Rs 8,000 crore in capital expen-diture on its India operations during the current financial year, the company’s CEO and Managing Director T V Nar-endran said.

The amount will be spent mainly towards completion of the expansion of the Kalinga-nagar plant, and expansion of mining operations and recycling business, he told PTI replying to a question related to Tata Steel’s plans for India business in the financial year 2022.

This is in addition to the Rs 3,000 crore the company

will spend on its European operations to make the busi-ness strong, sustainable and enhance product mix.

“Our capex will be broadly Rs 8,000 crore for India. We stand by that guidance.

“A lot of it will be going towards Kalinganagar expan-sion. We will also be spending

on our raw material because we continue to expand our iron ore mining capabilities to support the Kalainganagar expansion. So, in raw material and Kalin-ganagar...we will cover this Rs 8,000 crore,” Narendran said.

Tata Steel is in the process to expand the capacity of its plant in Kalinganagar, Odisha, by five million tonne per annum (MTPA) to eight MTPA.

Recently, the CEO informed that Tata Steel has outlaid a capi-tal expenditure of Rs 3,000 crore for its operations in Europe.

When asked if Tata Steel will explore markets to set up recycling plants and part of the

Rs 8,000-crore capex will be utilised for the same, he said the company follows a different business model in scrap.

It is in partnership, he added.

“Whatever we need to spend, it will be part of that; but we also have a different model operating in scrap. There are partners dealing to set up the facilities. They will set up, we will manage the quality and sell the steel. It will be a partnership model,” he said.

Narendran also said Tata Steel is looking at western and southern regions as more scrap is available there. PTI

Franklin Templeton MF unitholders to get `2,918 crore in sixth tranche

Tata Steel to invest `8K cr in capex on India operations during FY22: CEO Narendran

‘Proposed FTA with UAE to boost jewellery, chemicals, engineering exports’India has started negotiations for the agreement with the UAE, which is the third largest trading partner of New Delhi

ICA- T10719(3)/2021

ICA- T10722(3)/2021

10 millenniumpostBusinessmpMONDAY, 30 AUGUST, 2021 | KOLKATA

NEW DELHI: Making the National Pension System (NPS) more attractive for subscrib-ers joining it after 65 years of age, the PFRDA has permit-ted them to allocate up to 50 per cent of the funds in equity, besides easing the exit norms.

The Pension Fund Regula-tory and Development Author-ity (PFRDA) has revised the guidelines on entry and exit following an increase in the maximum age for joining the NPS from 65 year to 70 years of age. The entry age for NPS has been revised to 18-70 years from 18-65 years.

Any Indian citizen and Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) in the age group of 65-70 years can also join NPS and con-tinue up to the age of 75 years, according to a PFRDA circular on the revised guidelines.

It added that those sub-scribers who have closed

their NPS accounts have also been permitted to open a new account as per increased age eligibility norms.

The maximum equity expo-sure, however, will be only 15 per cent if subscribers join-ing NPS beyond the age of 65 years decide to invest under the default ‘Auto Choice’.

“The subscriber, joining NPS beyond the age of 65 years, can exercise the choice of PF (pension fund) and asset allocation with the maximum equity exposure of 15 per cent and 50 per cent under Auto and Active Choice, respectively,” it said.

An NPS subscriber has the freedom to allocate his/her contributions to different asset classes through ‘Active Choice’ or ‘Auto Choice’. Under ‘Active Choice’, a subscriber has more say on allocation of funds across asset classes, while in

‘Auto Choice’ the funds gets invested in pre-determined proportion as per the age of the subscribers.

The contributions of sub-scribers are invested by the PFs (chosen by subscribers) in compliance with the invest-ment guidelines for each asset class — equity, corporate bonds, government securities and alternate assets.

Subscribers joining the social security scheme beyond the age of 65 years can allocate only 5 per cent of the funds to alternate assets under ‘Active Choice’. This asset class is not available under the ‘Auto Choice’ option.

The PF can be changed once per year, whereas the asset allo-cation can be changed twice.

On the exit conditions for subscribers joining NPS beyond the age of 65 years, the circular said “normal exit shall

be after 3 years”.“The subscriber will be

required to utilise at least 40 per cent of the corpus for purchase of annuity and the remaining amount can be withdrawn as lump sum,” it said.

However, if the corpus is equal to or less than Rs 5 lakh, the subscriber may opt to with-draw the entire accumulated pension wealth in lump sum, it said. The PFRDA further said exit before the completion of three years will be treated as ‘premature exit’. Under pre-mature exit, the “subscriber is required to utilise at least 80 per cent of the corpus for purchase of annuity and the remaining can be withdrawn in lump sum”.

In the case of premature exit, if the corpus is less than Rs 2.5 lakh, the subscriber may opt to withdraw the entire accumu-lated amount in one go. PTI

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: Air India has asked a New York court to dis-miss a petition filed by Brit-ain’s Cairn Energy for seizure of its assets to enforce $1.2 bil-lion arbitral awards against the Indian government, saying the litigation was premature as an appeal against the arbitration award was still pending.

The petition by the airline, which is separate to Indian gov-ernment’s plea in a Washing-ton court seeking dismissal of Cairn’s lawsuit to seek confir-mation of the arbitral award, said the New York district court lacks jurisdiction to adjudicate a “mere hypothetical question” or one that depends upon con-tingent future events that may or may not occur.

Cairn first moved a court in the US District Court for the District of Columbia seeking confirmation of the arbitration award and then filed a petition in the New York court to seek declaration of Air India as “alter ego” of the Indian government and so it should be made liable to pay the $1.26 billion arbi-tral award.

An international arbitra-tion tribunal in December last year set aside the levy of capital gains tax, using a 2012 retro-spective legislation, on a 2006 reorganization of India business

that Cairn carried before list-ing it on local stock exchanges. It ordered India to return the value of shares seized and sold, dividend confiscated and tax refund withheld to enforce levy.

With India refusing to pay, Cairn moved courts in the US.

“Cairn’s petition to confirm the Award is pending in the District Court for the District of Columbia,” Air India said in the August 23 petition.

It went on to state that the Indian government has filed before a court in The Hague — the seat of the international arbitration tribunal — a Motion to Stay and a Motion to Dismiss the arbitral award.

“In effect, the Complaint (by Cairn Energy) is a prema-ture enforcement action dressed up as a declaratory judgment action, invoking this Court’s federal jurisdiction to get a head start on executing the Award

before the D.D.C. has had the opportunity to address the Republic of India’s immunity defenses and its claims that the Award is not subject to enforce-ment under the New York Con-vention,” Air India said.

“Such an attempt is improper, and the Complaint should be dismissed.”

It sought dismissal on three counts - first because the court lacks jurisdiction “to issue a declaratory judgment because the alleged controversy is not ripe”, second “Air India is immune from suit because none of the exceptions to sov-ereign immunity under the For-eign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) applies to a premature collection proceeding of a hypo-thetical judgment, and third “the Complaint, which presup-poses an enforceable judgment that does not exist, fails to allege a cognizable cause of action.”

The Indian government had earlier this month asked the US District Court for the District of Columbia (DDC) to dismiss the case, arguing that it lacks juris-diction since the country never agreed to arbitrate tax disputes. Meanwhile, litigation filed by New Delhi in the Netherlands to have the award set aside also remains pending.

“Cairn asks this court to issue a declaration that Air India, as alleged alter ego of [India], will be liable on a judg-ment that does not, and may never, exist,” the airline said in the August 23 petition.

“Unless and until the court in the Cairn confirmation action determines the thresh-old question of the enforceabil-ity of the award against (India), whether Cairn can then enforce that judgment against Air India under an alter ego theory is purely academic and not ripe for adjudication.”

This comes within weeks of the government enacting a legislation to scrap the tax rule that gave the tax department power to go 50 years back and slap capital gains levies wher-ever ownership had changed hands overseas, but business assets were in India.

That rule had been used to levy a cumulative of Rs 1.10 lakh crore of tax on 17 enti-ties, including Rs 10,247 crore

on Cairn.The Indian government and

Air India are defending their positions as rules for withdrawal of such tax demands are in the process of being framed.

“One of the requirements for the dropping of the retro-spective tax demands is that the parties concerned have to give an undertaking for withdrawal of all cases against the govern-ment/tax department. So, while all this is in process, the govern-ment is obligated to respond in any legal matter where there is a time bar for doing so,” an offi-cial explained.

The government in the dis-missal motion filed on August 13 before DCC, cited protec-tions afforded by the US For-eign Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976. India in the filing said the court “lacks subject-mat-ter jurisdiction under the FSIA because India never waived its sovereign immunity and, like-wise, never offered - let alone agreed - to arbitrate the present dispute with Petitioners”.

“India also never “clearly and unmistakably” excluded judicial review or delegated exclusive competence to decide these questions to an arbitral tribunal”, implying that Cairn couldn’t satisfy any exception to sovereign immu-nity under the US law, the filing said.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: Forget the leg-acy of the past where the lead-ership’s microscopic vision was restricted to ‘mines and minerals’ as it is a changed Jharkhand now with a futur-istic approach and a road map for 15 years that offers pleth-ora of untapped opportunities for investors, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren said on Sunday.

At the same time, the plans to push for more jobs to Sched-uled Castes (SCs) and Schedule Tribes (STs) under the state’s employment reservation plans would never prove to be a deter-rent for industries, Soren said.

“My government is mov-ing ahead with a futuristic approach. I have said this time and again, the results of what my government is doing will be visible in 10-15 years. I believe in long-term sustainable impact which will benefit my people not just for my term but for eter-nity...the past leadership could never think beyond mines and mineral based industries. The state could not showcase a con-crete policy,” Soren added.

He said, In neighbouring states, many industries are thriving on resources from Jharkhand; be it, mines and mineral-based industries, agro-food or meat processing, auto assembling units or textile for that matter, Soren said. “You may not know that we are the largest producer of Tasar Silk in India. We are the second largest

producer of horticulture crops in India, almost 40 per cent of the mineral wealth is in our state but the silk city of India is in Bihar. We are nowhere in the agro-food and meat processing industry because of the micro-scopic vision of the leadership.”

For future investors, he said they could be sure that a sub-stantial part of the state is still untouched where a plethora of opportunities are waiting to be tapped. “We rank 5th in ease of doing business in the country and we provide investors with a robust single window facil-ity. If they come and invest in Jharkhand, I will stand with them and get industry estab-lished. I want to move forward with (a motto of) ‘Come, Let’s Walk Together, Grow Together’,” he said.

Asked that some see the res-ervation policy for employment in private sector industries as a deterrent, Soren said contrary to the perception it would be beneficial for the industries as Jharkhand houses honest and committed manpower.

“Reservation was not meant to discriminate some and ben-efit others. Whatever is good

for the people of Jharkhand, we will do that. Talking about the new investors, would this affect them? No. If at any point in time, they find it difficult to fulfil their workforce require-ment from locals they can claim exemption. There are provi-sions,” he said.

All potential investors who would commit to engage 35 per cent of their workforce from Scheduled Tribes / Scheduled Castes communities will be incentivised over and above the existing provisions of the new Jharkhand Industrial and Investment Promotion Policy (JIIPP) 2021. A large number of migrant workers from the state have suffered during the pan-demic and Jharkhand evacuated them from different areas real-ising their pain and hardships and if investors absorb them it would be a great job, he said.

More jobs to SCs and STs come against a backdrop of the Jharkhand State Employment of Local Candidates Bill to ensure about 70 per cent job reserva-tion for locals in private sector jobs having a salary ceiling of up to Rs 30,000. “if someone wants to invest, they won’t find a better place and a better sup-port system. We are in conver-sation with multiple investors. Our EMC (Electronic Manufac-turing Cluster) at Adityapur is ready and operationalised. This is eastern India’s largest EMC and an ideal hub for investments in ESDM (Electronic System Design and Manufacturing) sector,” he said.

AI asks US Court to dismiss Cairn plea, calls it prematureIndian government & Air India are defending their positions as rules

for withdrawal of such tax demands are in the process of being framed

‘Jharkhand employment policy not deterrent for industry’

Chief Minister Hemant Soren said state is still untouched & offers plethora of untapped opportunities for investors

Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren

Subscribers joining NPS after 65 years of age can take up to 50% equity exposure

NEW DELHI: Cumbersome ease of doing business at the grass-root level and high cost of doing business is affecting the animal spirits of the private sector, according to a survey by industry chamber CII released on Sunday.

However, it said that signifi-cant recovery in corporate per-formance is expected in 2021-22 as the government’s pro-growth initiatives and announcements have helped nurture the animal spirits of the sector, according to a CII survey.

“Responding to the ques-tion on what is affecting the animal spirits of the private sec-tor, majority of the CEOs (51 per cent) indicated that ease of doing business was still cumber-some at the grass roots, followed by cost of doing business (other than capital cost) being high, as indicated by 32 per cent of the CEOs,” CII said in a statement.

About one-third of the CEOs indicated that the cur-rent capacity is still in excess of demand, it added. The survey also said about 46 per cent of the 117 CEOs, who participated in the survey, expected more than 10 per cent revenue growth of their respective company in the first half of the current fiscal as compared to the first half of pre-pandemic year 2019-20.

“The CEOs’ poll clearly indi-cates significant recovery in cor-porate performance with both

topline (revenue) and bottom-line (profit) growth expectations to be better than the pre-pan-demic levels.

“The government’s pro-growth initiatives and announcements have helped nurture the animal spirits of the corporate sector which has seen the worst economic shock of our lifetime,” it added.

On exports, it said the majority of the CEOs polled indicated that countries includ-ing the US and Canada will post significant growth in the first half of the current fiscal year, followed by Europe, Middle East and Africa and Asia-Pacific.

“About 70 per cent of the CEOs polled expected inflation to be up to six per cent dur-ing the year 2021-22, which is within RBI’s inflation range and should help RBI retain low interest rates to promote growth,” it said. PTI

NEW DELHI: Eight of the top-10 most valued companies together added Rs 1,90,032.06 crore in market valuation last week, with Tata Consultancy Services and Reliance Indus-tries Limited being the promi-nent gainers.

Last week, the BSE bench-mark Sensex gained 795.40 points or 1.43 per cent.

Equity gauges — BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty — hit new closing highs on Friday.

On the top ten chart, among the gainers were Reli-ance Industries (RIL), Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), HDFC Bank, Hindustan Uni-lever Ltd (HUL), ICICI Bank, Bajaj Finance, State Bank of India (SBI) and Wipro. On the other hand, Infosys and HDFC were the two laggards.

The market valuation of TCS zoomed by Rs 60,183.57 crore to reach Rs 13,76,102.60 crore, becoming the biggest gainer among the top-10 firms.

RIL added Rs 51,064.22 crore taking its valuation to Rs 14,11,635.50 crore.

HDFC Bank’s valuation jumped Rs 19,651.18 crore to Rs 8,57,407.68 crore and Bajaj Finance gained Rs 18,518.27 crore to settle at Rs 4,20,300.85 crore.

The market capitalisation of HUL climbed Rs 14,215.01 crore to Rs 6,29,231.64 crore and that of ICICI Bank went higher by Rs 13,361.63 crore to Rs 4,84,858.91 crore.

Wipro’s valuation ral-lied Rs 8,218.89 crore to Rs 3,47,851 crore and SBI jumped Rs 4,819.29 crore to reach Rs 3,68,006.36 crore. PTI

Ease of doing biz still cumbersome at grass-root level: CII CEOs Poll

‘Government’s pro-growth initiatives & announcements have helped nurture the animal spirits of the corporate sector,’ the CEOs’ poll said

Mcap of 8 of top-10 cos up over ̀ 1.90L cr

NEW DELHI: The IPO rush will continue in September with two more companies Vijaya Diagnostic Centre and Ami Organics launching their ini-tial share-sales on Wednesday to raise a total of Rs 2,465 crore.

This comes after eight companies including Devy-ani International, Nuvoco Vis-tas Corporation and CarTrade Tech floated their initial share-sales last month to mobilise Rs 18,243 crore.

So far in the current fis-cal, a total of 20 companies have mopped up more than Rs 45,000 crore through IPOs. This is much higher than Rs 31,277 crore raised by 30 firms in the

entire 2020-21.Going forward, market ana-

lysts expect the IPO environ-ment to remain buzzing during the entire financial year 2021-22.

The initial public offer (IPO) of healthcare chain Vijaya Diag-nostic Centre and specilalty chemicals maker Ami Organ-ics will open for subscription on September 1 and conclude on September 3.

Vijaya Diagnostic’s IPO is entirely an offer for sale of 35,688,064 equity shares by the promoter, S Surendranath Reddy, and investors Kara-koram Ltd and Kedaara Capital Alternative Investment Fund-Kedaara Capital AIF I.

As a part of the offer for sale, Reddy will sell 50.98 lakh equity shares, Karakoram will offload 2.95 crore equity shares and Kedaara Capital will divest 11.02 lakh shares.

The initial share-sale will see stake dilution of 35 per cent by the promoter and existing share-holders. At present, promoter and promoter group own 59.78

per cent shareholding in the company. This included Reddy’s 37.78 per cent stake.

Karakoram and Kedaara Capital hold 38.56 per cent and 1.44 per cent stake, respectively, in Vijaya Diagnostic.

The company has fixed a price band of Rs 522-531 a share for its IPO. At the upper end of the price band, the initial share-sale is expected to fetch about Rs 1,895 crore.

Vijaya Diagnostic Centre offers a one-stop solution for pathology and radiology testing services to customers through its extensive network, which consists of 80 diagnostic centres and 11 reference laboratories

across 13 cities and towns in the states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, and the National Capi-tal Region and Kolkata.

The IPO of Ami Organics comprises fresh issue of equity shares worth Rs 200 crore and an offer for sale of up to 6,059,600 equity shares by exist-ing shareholders.

The company has reduced its fresh issue size to Rs 200 crore from Rs 300 crore after raising Rs 100 crore in a pre-IPO place-ment. The price band has been set at Rs 603-610 a share for the public issue. At the upper end of the price band, the initial share-sale is expected to fetch Rs 569.63 crore.

Proceeds from the fresh issue will be used towards repayment of certain debt and funding working capital requirements.

Ami Organics is one of the leading R&D driven manufac-turers of specialty chemicals with varied end usage, focussed towards the development and manufacturing of pharma inter-mediates for regulated and generic APIs (active pharma-ceutical ingredients) and NCE (new chemical entity) and key starting material for agrochemi-cal and fine chemicals.

The equity shares of both companies will be listed on BSE and NSE. PTI

IPO frenzy continues; 2 issues on Sept 1 to garner `2,465 crMarket analysts expect the IPO environment to remain buzzing during the entire financial year 2021-22

NEW DELHI: Domestic equi-ties will be guided by macro-economic data, auto sales numbers and global trends this week, analysts said.

Equity benchmark indi-ces scaled new closing highs on Friday, with the 30-share BSE index closing above the 56,000-mark for the first time. The market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies jumped to an all-time high of Rs 2,43,73,800.36 crore on Friday.

“Markets could be impacted by an eventful economic calen-dar which begins with quarterly

GDP growth rate numbers, fol-lowed by auto sales numbers and manufacturing PMI data,” according to a note by Samco Securities Research.

Markets would also con-tinue to watch COVID-19 trends and pace of vaccination.

During the last week, the BSE benchmark gained 795.40 points or 1.43 per cent.

“Domestically, the result season is over with better-than-expected delivery and now with vaccination drive going on in full swing, economic recovery is expected to gain pace. How-

ever, sharp outperformance in the past 18 months had led to concerns on valuation front.

“From the long term per-spective, the overall trend of the market remains positive led by opening up of the econ-

omy, improving economic data points and pickup in vaccina-tions,” Siddhartha Khemka, Head - Retail Research, Broking & Distribution, Moti-lal Oswal Financial Services Ltd said.

Movement in equities will also depend on trends in the rupee and Brent crude. Markets may also react to the outcome of the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium.

Wall Street rallied to record highs on Friday after the US Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell said that the central

bank was still far from pulling interest rates off the record low.

Powell, however, men-tioned that the US economy has met one big milestone the central bank had set to slow the $120 billion in bond purchases it’s making each month.

Investors, who were keenly awaiting the US Fed chief ’s speech at Jackson Hole Sympo-sium for further cues, termed his comments as ‘dovish’ and expressed hope that the Fed will keep supporting the mar-ket with low interest rates. PTI

‘Macro data, global trends to dictate markets this week’

NEW DELHI: Telecom opera-tor Bharti Airtel’s board on Sun-day approved raising up to Rs 21,000 crore by way of rights issue, at a price of Rs 535 per share, according to a regula-tory filing.

The mega fundraising is bound to give more firepower to Airtel, as the company takes on rivals in the fiercely-com-petitive Indian telecom market.

India, which is the world’s second-largest telecom mar-ket and the biggest data con-sumer, is now gearing up for 5G that will significantly scale up connectivity pipes, enabling ultra-high-speeds and new-age applications for users, and new revenue streams for players.

Airtel’s board, which met to consider the company’s capital raising plans, cleared rights issue price of Rs 535 per fully paid-up equity share, including pre-mium of Rs 530 per equity share.

In a BSE filing, Airtel said that the “...board approved the issuance of equity shares of face value of Rs 5 each of the com-pany on rights basis to eligible equity shareholders of the com-pany as on the record date (to be notified later), of an issue size of up to Rs 21,000 crore”.

The rights entitlement ratio entails one equity share for every 14 equity shares held by eligible shareholders as on the

record date.The terms of payment of

issue price, envisage 25 per cent on application and balance in two more additional calls as may be decided by the board or its committee based on the company’s requirements within an overall time-horizon of 36 months, Airtel said.

“The promoter and pro-moter group of the company would collectively subscribe to the full extent of their aggre-gate rights entitlement,” it said.

The company added that “they will also subscribe to any unsubscribed shares in the issue”.

Promoter holding in the company stands at about 55.8 per cent, while public holds 44.09 per cent.

The board of Airtel has con-stituted a ‘Special Committee of Directors’ to decide the other terms and conditions of the issue including issue period and the record date. PTI

Airtel board approves fundraising up to

`21K cr via rights issue

According to Biennale’s official website, the panel discussion will take place on September 4

12 Leisure

Sidharth Malhotra-starrer ‘Shershaah’ is receiving praise from all quarters.

Even weeks after the film’s pre-miere on ‘Amazon Prime Video’, people have not stopped talk-ing about it. The latest word of praise for the Vikram Batra biopic has come from Chief of Army Staff, General MM Nara-vane, who has lauded the mak-ers for the realistic portrayal of the 1999 Kargil war.

General Naravane wrote a letter of appreciation for the film’s team, which co-producer Shabbir Boxwala shared on his ‘Instagram’ page.

“I appreciate the genu-ine effort made by the entire crew in depicting realistic battle scenes of the Kargil war and the espirit-de-corps of the Indian Army. This movie like other war movies in the past will motivate us all,” read an excerpt from the letter.

Alongside the photo of the letter, Shabbir Boxwala wrote, “Humbled and beyond delighted to have received such

high praise for ‘Shershaah’ from our Chief of the Army Staff, General Naravane. Our years of hard work have paid off. Long live Vikram Batra. Long live the Indian Army!”

‘Shershaah’, directed by Vishnu Varadhan, has been co-produced by Karan Johar’s

‘Dharma Productions’. The film charts the life of Captain Vikram Batra, who laid down his life during the 1999 Kar-gil War. Besides the war, ‘Sher-shaah’ also focuses on Vikram Batra’s journey, focusing on his relationship with fiancee Dim-ple Cheema. AGENCIES

MUMBAI: The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has arrested actor Armaan Kohli in connection with a drugs case after questioning him at its office in south Mumbai for a few hours following the recovery of cocaine at his residence here, an official said on Sunday.

An NCB team raided Kohli’s house in Juhu on Saturday evening and later took him to the agen-cy’s office. He was arrested after a few hours of questioning and booked under the provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psycho-tropic Substances (NDPS) Act, the official said.

After his arrest, Kohli was pro-duced before a holiday court here, which remanded him in the NCB custody till Monday for further probe into the matter.

The NCB official said that a small quantity of cocaine was found at Kohli’s residence on Sat-urday, following which a case was registered against him and he was arrested.

The action against Kohli fol-lowed the arrest of TV actor

Gaurav Dixit by the central anti-drugs agency here on Friday.

The official said that the NCB decided to question Kohli after certain “disclosures” were made by Ajay Raju Singh, the main drug peddler detained for inter-rogation on Saturday, during his interrogation.

Singh was also arrested under the NDPS Act.

He was intercepted near Haji Ali and 25 grams of MD was recov-ered from him on Saturday, the official said.

“After interrogating Singh, we launched a follow-up operation on Saturday afternoon. Subse-quently, a team of NCB officials raided Armaan Kohli’s houses and recovered a small quantity of cocaine from him. Later, a case was registered against him and he was shown arrested,” the official said.

As per the preliminary inves-tigation, the seized cocaine is of South American origin.

“The NCB is probing the route and links through which the seized cocaine found its way to Mum-bai. We are also checking the involvement of other traffickers,” he added.

Seeking Kohli’s custody, the NCB told the court on Sunday that prima facie there is evidence against him about his involvement in an international drug syndicate.

Cocaine was recovered from his house and there is incriminating mate-rial against him, the NCB told the court, which remanded him in the anti-drug agency’s custody till August 30. AGENCIES

General MM Naravane wrote a letter of appreciation

Chief of Army Staff lauds ‘Shershaah’

NCB arrests Armaan after recovery of cocaine

Weekend means fun in any city. Kolkata, the city of joy

oozes a unique charm every Saturday and Sunday. How-ever, the Mondays’ are full of inertia of rest and the urban monotony. No more!

The leading American-Mexican food joint in the city is offering a ‘Monday Special Menu’ to ensure that your week starts on a happy note. You get a ‘Buy 1 Get 1’ on a specially curated, yet limited Monday menu.

Many times, after a busy

Monday, my husband and I just drop by here for a mush-room soup. All within Rs 100, we are able to taste divine light appetizer before heading home for dinner. I am talking about none other than ‘Chili’s’.

‘Chili’s Grill & Bar’ located at Quest Mall, Kolkata (they have branches at South City Mall and Acropolis Mall) is an American casual dining restaurant chain. The com-pany was founded by Larry Lavine in Texas in 1975 and has since spread to 1600 res-taurants in 35 countries. The place serves American food and dishes influenced by Mex-ican cuisine.

THE ORDERMushroom soup (Rs 95),

Smoked wings (Rs 395), Nacho veg (Rs 385), Ancho basa (Rs 465), Grilled chicken burger (Rs 445). As I dined on a Monday, I got a Buy 1 Get 1 offer so technically I paid for

just Smoked wings (Nachos was free), Ancho basa (grilled chicken burger was free) and I got 1 extra mushroom soup which my photographer hap-pily gulped.

FIRST IMPRESSIONThe place is a snazzy,

typical US-style diner. The portions are big and service is a little slow.

AFTER TASTEThe veg mushroom

soup was North America inspired thick concoction of roux, cream and mushroom broth with sliced mushrooms served with a slice of roasted garlic bread dripping in but-ter. The soup was just out of this world.

For starters, I had a veg and non-veg dish. The Ameri-can style smoked wings were bone-in wings that had been slowly smoked in-house over pecan wood and garnished

with cilantro. It was served with in house classic BBQ sauce and carrot wedges.

The Mexican veg nachos

consisted of fried corn tor-tilla chips covered with a thick layer of melted cheese and sliced jalapeno pep-pers and was finished with a dusting of spicy mix. It was served with house-made pico de gallo and sour cream. Pico de Gallo is a type of salsa con-sisting of a mixture of finely

chopped tomatoes, onions, cilantro, fresh chillies and lime juice. While traditional salsa has a thinner consis-

tency with more liquid, pico de gallo is chunky.

In the Mexican main course, I tried the Ancho

Basa. Ancho is a large aro-matic chilli pepper which

is used in its dried form in Mexican dishes which lends a unique smoky flavour. The dish consisted of ancho rubbed basa fillet which had been seared and then drizzled with citrus chilli sauce and garnished with chopped cilan-

tro. It was served with spicy Mexican rice, sauteed vege-tables (carrot, French beans, baby corn and mushrooms), a wedge of lemon and Mexican sour cream. The Mexican rice had a distinct red colour from the tomatoes. It is prepared by sautéing cooked white rice

with tomato paste, onion, garlic etc.

For the American main course, I had the grilled chicken burger.

The burger contained marinated grilled chicken

breast, lettuce, tomato, cheddar cheese and honey mustard dressing. It also had smoked bacon, but I do not prefer bacon and so asked for the burger without bacon while ordering. It was served with piping hot perfectly sea-soned french fries and Heinz tomato sauce and American Garden US mustard on the side. I was impressed to see that the chain is only using American brand sauces to go along with the Ameri-

can spread. The burger was simple but phenomenal. The juicy thick chicken breast along with the dressings was very tasty.

WHAT I LOVEDThe place gives you

authentic American experi-ence: US-style cutlery, music, even sauces and big portions that are common in North American cuisine. Soup, nachos and smoked wings stole the show!

VERDICTWhenever you are facing

Monday blues, head to Chili’s and order from their Monday special menu to make your stomach and pocket very happy, the American Style!

(The columnist is a food connoisseur who loves

experimenting with culinary delights and a

career bureaucrat in the IRS Income Tax)

Beat the blues with American-Mexican cuisineAUTHOR

PRIYANKA DHAR KAPUR

Chili’s Grill and Bar at Quest Mall, Kolkata is offering a ‘Monday Special Menu’ to kill your blues

The place gives

you authentic American

experience - US-style cutlery, music, even

sauces and big portions

The action against him followed the arrest of TV actor Gaurav Dixit

RAJPAL YADAV ON OTT PLATFORMS

Bollywood actor Rajpal Yadav said that he does not see himself fitting

into the OTT space, which he feels relies too heavily on swear-ing. His last couple of films – ‘Coolie No 1’ and ‘Hungama 2’ – had both released on stream-ing platforms.

In an interview, Yadav said that even with-

out ‘gaa-lis’ (swear words) he has earned ‘taalis’

(accolades). He thanked

his fans for

sticking by him throughout his career.

“The trend of OTT has caught on but I do not see myself fitting into that space. The kind of web series that are being churned out in the past few years, I cannot relate to it. I do not like giving ‘gaalis’ (abusing) on screen, which has become

quite common in the web series nowadays. I have

fetched the accolades even without mouth-ing cuss words,” said Rajpal.

He added, “I do not wish to do some-

thing that I do not appre-ciate in real life. I did not want to earn my living by

bad-mouthing on screen and thankfully, I did not have to. I am very lucky that even after two decades people are not bored of watching me. I entirely credit my fans for keeping the actor in me alive.” Rajpal Yadav is known for his performances in several comedy films AGENCIES

NEW DELHI: The ‘Venice Inter-national Film Festival’ has invited Afghan filmmakers Sahraa Karimi and Sahra Mani to talk about the Taliban takeover of Afghani-stan with ‘particular attention to the situation of filmmakers and artists’ since the hard-line reli-gious group seized control of the country.

The 78th edition of the movie gala, also called ‘La Biennale di Venezia’, will be held on the Lido from Sep-tember 1 to September 11, 2021.

According to Biennale’s official website, the panel will take place September

4 at 3 pm at the Palazzo del Casino (Lido of Venice), in the ‘Press Conference Room’.

The topic of the panel is ‘the dramatic situation of Afghan filmmakers and artists in gen-eral, the need for the creation of humanitarian corridors and the guarantee of the granting of politi-cal refugee status, as well as con-cern for their future and the need to provide for their accommoda-tion once they arrive in Europe’.

Since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan on August 15, several

Afghans fled the country, many of whom said they had been threat-ened by the Taliban.

Karimi, who is the first female president of the ‘Afghan Film Organisation’, wrote an open let-ter requesting the film community of the world to be the voice of the people of Afghanistan which went viral ahead of the Taliban take-over. Her feature ‘Hava, Maryam, Ayesha’ was screened in Venice’s Horizons (Orizzonti) sidebar in 2019.

The panel will be mod-erated by Italian journal-ist Giuliano Battiston, who since 2007 has dedicated himself to Afghanistan with travel, research and essays.

The initiative will also fea-ture the members of the board of the ‘International Coalition for Filmmakers at Risk’ (ICFR); Vanja Kaludjercic (Artistic Direc-tor, ‘International Film Festival of Rotterdam’); Orwa Nyrabia (Artistic Director, ‘International Documentary Film Festival of Amsterdam’); Mike Downey (President; ‘European Film Acad-emy’) and Matthijs Wouter Knol (Executive Director, ‘European Film Academy’). PTI

‘I do not see myself fitting into that space’

The kind of web series that are being churned out in the past few years, I cannot relate to it. I do not like giving ‘gaalis’ (abusing) on screen, he added

The topic of the panel is ‘the dramatic situation of Afghan filmmakers and artists in general, the need for the creation of humanitarian corridors and more’

Afghan directors to discuss Taliban takeover

11millenniumpost Leisure mpKOLKATA | MONDAY, 30 AUGUST, 2021

VENICE FILM FESTIVAL UPDATE

12 mp millenniumpostMONDAY, 30 AUGUST, 2021 | KOLKATA