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Ahead of Sunday's no-trustmotion against him, Prime

Minister Imran Khan on Fridaysaid a “powerful country”,which is supporting India, isangry with Pakistan because ofhis recent visit to Russia tomeet President Vladimir Putin.

Addressing the IslamabadSecurity Dialogue, Khanemphasised that an indepen-dent foreign policy was crucialfor the country, and said thereason why Pakistan could nottouch its peak potential was itsdependency syndrome onother powerful nations.

“A county without an inde-pendent foreign policy remainsunable to secure the interests ofits people,” he said.

Khan said taking indepen-dent decisions while keepinghigh the interests of a nationwas extremely important ratherthan submitting to the will ofother countries in exchange forforeign aid.

Referring to the US, Khansaid a “powerful country” hadexpressed displeasure over hisrecent visit to Russia. “On theother hand, it is supporting itsally India which imports oilfrom Russia,” he rued.

Khan's comments came aday after Pakistan summonedthe acting US envoy inIslamabad over a “threatening”letter and an alleged “foreign-funded plot” against thePakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)Government led by Khan.

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Giving a boost to age-oldhistorical ties between the

two countries, Nepal PrimeMinister Sher Bahadur Deubaarrived here on Friday for athree-day visit.

He is accompanied by hiswife Arzu Deuba and a high-level delegation.

He will hold summit talkswith Prime Minister NarendraModi on Saturday to take stockof the relations between the twoneighbours. The two leaders

will also explore ways to furtherenhance cooperation in thefields of trade, connectivity, andelectricity besides people-to-people relations.

Modi and Deuba will “vir-tually” flag off the first pas-senger train service on thebroad-gauge line between Indiaand Nepal on Saturday. Thelaunch of the rail service wouldfurther boost the relationsbetween the two countries.The 35-km long rail line willconnect Jaynagar in Bihar andKurtha in Nepal.

It is the first visit abroad byPrime Minister Deuba since heassumed office in July last year.He is here at the invitation ofModi. “A fond welcome to aspecial friend. PM of Nepal@SherBDeuba arrives in Indiafor an official visit from 01-03April 2022,” Ministry ofExternal Affairs (MEA)spokesperson Arindam Bagchisaid in a tweet.

The summit with Modiwill take place on Saturday atthe Hyderabad House here.Besides official engagements inNew Delhi, the Nepalese PrimeMinister will visit Varanasi.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi on Friday asked stu-

dents not to get stressed as theyhave successfully overcomeexams earlier as well and urgedparents and teachers not toimpose their unfulfilled dreamsand aspirations on children.

Interacting with students in

the fifth edition of “Pariksha PeCharcha”, Modi said technolo-gy is not a bane and should beused effectively as he tookquestions from them as well asteachers on several issues.Students sought from him tipsto overcome distractions inthe form of WhatsApp andYouTube.

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GST collections soared to anall-time high of �1.42 lakh

crore in March as the fiscalyear-end frenzy to meet targetssaw strong sales and crackdownon evasions brought in moretaxes.

The Goods and ServicesTax (GST) collection rose 15per cent annually in March, thefinance ministry said on Friday.

With the record collec-tion, the Centre’s GST mop-uphas exceeded the revised bud-get target of �5.70 lakh crore setfor the previous fiscal endedMarch 31, 2022.

The previous high for col-lection of revenues from goodssold and services rendered wasin January 2022 at over �1.40lakh crore.

The average monthly grossGST collection in the last quar-ter (January-March) stood at�1.38 lakh crore.

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Visiting Russian ForeignMinister Sergey Lavrov

met Prime Minister NarendraModi on Friday evening andheld detailed talks about theUkraine situation.

A press release from thePrime Minister’s Office saidModi called for an end to vio-lence even as Lavrov briefedhim on the situation inUkraine, including peace nego-tiations. The meeting lasted for40 minutes.

The meeting came after theRussian Foreign Minister andhis Indian counterpart SJaishankar held a comprehen-sive discussion on the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Modi’s meeting with theRussian Foreign Minister issignificant. The Prime Ministerhas not met any other visiting

Ministers in the past two weeks,including those from the UK,China, Austria, Greece andMexico.

“Prime Minister reiteratedhis call for an early cessation ofviolence, and conveyed India’sreadiness to contribute in anyway to the peace efforts,” saidthe press statement.

Earlier, India called for

sustained dialogue and diplo-macy to end the Ukraine con-flict even as Russia praised it forfollowing an independent for-eign policy and promised tosupply whatever India wantedto buy from Russia.

Also, Russia favoured Indiafor playing the role of media-tor in resolving the Ukraine cri-sis. These points were the main

highlights of the talks betweenSergey Lavrov and SJaishankar.

India has so far abstainedfrom voting against Russia atthe United Nations SecurityCouncil (UNSC) and theUnited Nations GeneralAssembly (UNGA) on the issueof the Ukraine conflict.

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The Janata Dal (U) has vehe-mently denied reports that

Bihar Chief Minister NitishKumar has any intention tomove to the Rajya Sabha or takeup any other Constitutional postsand hand over the reins of powerto the BJP in Bihar.

“Kumar will complete hisfive-year-tenure and is not goinganywhere,” senior leaders of theJD(U) asserted on Friday.

The clarification came aftera section of media sought tointerpret Kumar’s casual remarksmade during an informal inter-action with journalists two daysback that he would not contestthe next Lok Sabha polls and theRajya Sabha was “the onlyHouse” he has not been a mem-ber of. His remarks gave grist tothe rumour mills that werechurning stories for several weeksthat Kumar would move to theRajay Sabha and then be put upas NDA vice-presidential candi-date.

“Oh dear! RespectableKumar has got the mandate toserve the people of Bihar for fiveyears. This means he is notgoing anywhere. He is the Chief

Minister and will continue in thecapacity,” tweeted UpendraKushwaha, the JD(U)’s parlia-mentary board chief. SanjayKumar Jha, the Minister for theInformation and Public RelationsDepartment who is also a nation-al general secretary of the party,saw the rumour surrounding theCM as a “propaganda” that will“yield little”.

“I'm intrigued at the rumourthat CM @NitishKumar is con-templating going to the RajyaSabha! This is mischievous, and

far from the truth. Kumar has thepeople's mandate to serve Biharand will continue to do so for thefull term as Chief Minister. He isnot going anywhere!,” Jha tweet-ed. “Kumar was the face of theNDA in the 2020 Bihar Assemblyelections, and people voted thisalliance to power. His unwaver-ing commitment to serve people& ability to transform #Bihar aresacrosanct. I urge all to desistfrom such propaganda, whichshall yield little,” he said in anoth-er tweet.

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Uttar Pradesh ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath

on Friday visited the templetown of Ayodhya and asked thecity’s municipal corporationnot to impose commercialtaxes on temples and other reli-gious shrines.

On his first visit toAyodhya after assuming chargeof the state for the secondterm, Adityanath also reviewedthe preparation for the upcom-ing Ram Navami Mela in thetemple town.

Around 10 lakhs devoteesare expected to participate inthe fair that would be held aftertwo years due to the Covidpandemic.

At Ayodhya, Adityanathalso offered prayers at theHanumangarhi temple andpaid a visit to the constructionsite of the Lord Ram temple.

The chief minister alsovisited the Balrampur districtlater and offered prayers inthree temples there. He willhave a night halt at the DeviPatan temple there and leavefor Siddharthnagar onSaturday.

A report from Gorakhpur,meanwhile, said CMAdityanath will observe a nine-day fast during “ChaitraNavratri” beginning Saturdayand will perform special pujathere for peace, prosperity,health and happiness in thestate and nation.

In the temple town,

Adityanath asked the AyodhyaMunicipal Corporation not totake commercial tax from tem-ples and other religious shrines.

The municipal corpora-tion must not charge house tax,water tax, sewer tax frommonasteries, temples,‘dharamshalas’ and charitableorganisations at commercialrates as all these institutions docharity work and public service,the CM said.

The chief minister askedthe civic body to take onlyfinancial cooperation from reli-gious shrines in the form oftoken monetary contributions.

The CM also directed theAyodhya MunicipalCorporation to make a pro-posal regarding this and get itapproved by the government.

After the foundation-layingof the Ram temple in August2020, this will be the first Ram

Navami Mela after the Covidpandemic and the CM askedofficials to organise this fairwith grandeur and make spe-cial efforts for bringingAyodhya on the world map.

While reviewing the prepa-rations for the Mela,Adityanath, in his address, saidthe construction of the Ramtemple has started and thou-sands of devotees will come toAyodhya every day from allover India.

Keeping this in view, createan enchanting atmosphere anddecorate Ayodhya in such away that the devotees find thewhole atmosphere full ofRamayana era, he said.

During his visit, the CMmet Shri Ram JanmabhoomiTeerth Kshetra Trust presi-dent Mahant Nritya Gopal Dasand senior seer of BhaktmaalMahant Kaushal Kishor.

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Chief Minister YogiAdityanath on Friday

directed the Home departmentto set priorities under the 100-day action plan and take actionexpeditiously.

Yogi Adityanath said thatfrom April 2, under MissionShakti Abhiyan, women’s safe-ty should be monitored moreeffectively and actively by con-ducting special campaigns inschools, colleges, markets andcrowded places.

The chief minister wasaddressing a high-level reviewmeeting convened in connec-tion with the 100 days actionplan of the Home departmentat his official residence here lateon Thursday night.

He said that security, lawand order and good gover-nance were the priority of thestate government.

As per the chief minister’sdirective, security arrange-ments should be furtherimproved at all the religiouscentres and important places ofthe state. Besides, in the com-ing one year, proper establish-ment of police lines should beensured in all the districts.

Police officers of all levelsshould do foot patrolling dailyand the patrolling of PRV-112should be conducted effective-ly on a regular basis and thetraffic system should be mademore efficient.

A clean environmentshould be created in the policestations and proper arrange-ment for seating and drinkingwater should be made for thegeneral public.

Public grievances shouldbe dealt with priority. Theimage of the police in the gen-eral public should be furtherimproved.

The chief minister saidthat taking strict action againstcriminals and mafia, demoli-tion and confiscation of illegalproperties should be ensured.He said no concession shouldbe made to mining, liquor, ani-mal, forest and land mafias,including professional crimi-nals.

Yogi said all senior officersshould make field visits. Hesaid that the work of setting upfire service at all tehsil head-quarters should be completedby including it among the pri-orities of 100 days. He said thataction should be taken by

effectively operating the func-tioning of the Anti CorruptionUnit and Vigilance Unit.

The chief minister saidthat the women beat police offi-cers posted at each gram pan-chayat and ward level shouldtake action for publicity ofwomen crime control anddevelopment schemes throughinter-departmental coordina-tion. He said crime should becontrolled by establishing dia-logue with village watchmen inrural areas.

He directed the officials tocomplete the constructionworks expeditiously for theestablishment of three PACWomen Battalions.

While directing that theproceedings of prosecution ofcrimes related to womenshould be expeditious andeffective, Yogi said that regularreviews should be done in thisregard in coordination with thedistrict monitoring committee.

He said that there shouldbe mutual coordination in theworking of Intelligence, SpecialTask Force and Anti-TerroristsSquad.

The chief minister saidthat accountability of policeofficers at every level should befixed. And work should bedone by adopting the policy ofzero tolerance towards crimeand criminals and corruption.

While identifying top 10criminals at each police stationand district level and directingpolice to take strict actionagainst them, Yogi said thatreviews should be done regard-ing the charge-sheets andaction should be ensured underthe UP Gangsters Act andGoonda Act.

The chief minister saidaction should be taken to con-trol crime by emphasising onthe use of technology. Toimprove the police image, heasked the officials to dissemi-

nate success stories by ensuringeffective operation of socialmedia. He also asked the offi-cials to ensure recruitment of

at least 10,000 police personnelin the police force in 100 days.

The meeting was attendedby Additional Chief Secretary

(Home) Awanish KumarAwasthi, Director General ofPolice Mukul Goyal, AdditionalChief Secretary to Chief

Minister, SP Goyal, PrincipalSecretary to Chief MinisterSanjay Prasad and other seniorofficers.

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In order to comply with the instructionsof Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, the

Home department has started givingapproval for new posts in the police forceto ensure availability of manpower as perthe requirement and to make the policeadministration better.

The move will make the law and orderof the state more efficient and help in con-trolling crimes more effectively.

Giving this information, AdditionalChief Secretary (Home) Awanish KumarAwasthi said that about 5,381 new postshad been approved by the government forvarious units of the police force like cybercrime, forensic science, social media, STF,ATS etc.

Awasthi said that out of these 5,381posts, there were 86 gazetted categoryposts and 5,295 non-gazetted posts.

In the gazetted category, three postsof ADG, three of IG, six of DIG, 32 ofsuperintendent of police, seven of addi-tional superintendent of police, one of

joint director prosecution and 35 posts ofdeputy superintendent of police areincluded. It is noteworthy that three postsof ADG and IG and six posts of DIG havebeen created for the districts havingpolice commissionerate.

Out of 32 posts of superintendent ofpolice, one post is for ATS, 17 for policecommissionerate system inLucknow/Gautam Buddha Nagar, 11 forpolice commissionerate inKanpur/Varanasi Nagar, one for cybercrime police station and two posts forstrengthening ATS.

Out of seven posts of additionalsuperintendent of police, two are for ATS,three for cyber crime police station, onefor Bijnor and one for Gorakhnath tem-ple security. Besides, one post of jointdirector, prosecution has been created forATS. Awasthi said that under the new 34posts of deputy superintendent of police,four were for ATS, one for STF unit inAyodhya, eight for regional connectivityscheme, one each for additional circleofficers in Chandauli, Lalitpur, Sambhal,

Gonda respectively, 16 posts for cybercrime police station, and one forGorakhnath temple security.

Besides, posts have been created for5,295 non-gazetted personnel for otherunits like ATS, STF, cyber crime station,finger print bureau, police station etc.

In the category of non-gazetted per-sonnel, 179 posts of inspector, 408 of sub-inspector (male), 79 of sub-inspector(female), 45 of inspector of armed police,2,999 of sub-inspectors, two of inspectorbigular, 18 sub-inspector bigular, one ofradio inspector, two of radio sub-inspec-tor, nine of head operator, 12 operator, 14assistant operator, 41 of computer oper-ator Grade-A, 695 of computer operatorGrade-B, 286 of computer operatorGrade-C, 103 of programmer Grade-2,one of inspector in MT section. 29 of sub-inspector (confidential assistant), 17 ofsub-inspector in armed police, 44 ofinspector-accounts, one of sub-inspector-accounts, 18 of sub-inspector-accounts inarmed police, 264 of Class IV and 10 oftradesmen have been created.

Lucknow (PNS): Eightmore people, including thealleged mastermind in the Class12 English exam question paperleak case, were held on Friday,taking the total number ofarrests to 34, the Uttar PradeshPolice said.

The UP Board's Englishlanguage exam paper was can-celled in 24 districts onWednesday after the paper wasleaked, prompting ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath toorder stringent action, includinginvoking the National SecurityAct, against the culprits.

Among the Friday arrests,the alleged mastermind,Mulayam Chauhan, and three ofhis accomplices were nabbed bythe police in Nagra and fourothers by a team in Sikandarpur.

Confirming the arrests,Deputy Superintendent of Policeat Rasra, Shivnarayan Vaishya,said, "A team of Nagra policehas arrested one MulayamChauhan, who is said to be themastermind behind the Englishquestion paper leak. A total ofseven other suspects have beenarrested by our teams. They willbe produced before a magis-trate." The police teams had ear-lier arrested 26 people, includ-ing Ballia's District Inspector of

Schools Brajesh Kumar Mishraand three journalists.

The DIoS and one of thearrested journalists, Ajit Ojha,were sent to judicial custody onWednesday after they were pro-duced before the chief judicialmagistrate. The remainingaccused were produced beforethe judicial magistrate onThursday and they wereremanded to 14 days' judicialcustody. Police have lodgedthree FIRs at the Ballia CityKotwali, Nagra and Sikandarpurpolice stations. The fresh examwill be held on April 13, accord-ing to an official statement.

Meanwhile, controversyalso arose over the arrest ofsome journalists in the paperleak case as some locals claimedthat the cops also held thewhistleblower.

The locals claimed thatDigvijay Singh and Ajit KumarOjha, the journalists workingwith a leading Hindi daily news-paper, had broken the news ofthe paper leak of the Englishsubject of Intermediate, forcingthe authorities to cancel thepaper. The local administration,however, arrested those journal-ists, accusing them of beinginvolved in the gang whichleaked the paper.

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The Union government hasreturned the proposal for

inclusion of ‘Koli/Hindu Julahacommunity’ in the ScheduledCastes list of Uttar Pradesh as asynonym of ‘Kori’.

The UP government hadsent the proposal over a year agoto the Centre. Official sourcessaid the Centre had returned theproposal for review by the stategovernment.

The Centre examined theproposal in accordance with thelaid down modalities and it wasnot supported by the registrargeneral of India (RGI).

Sources said the proposalhad been returned to the stategovernment with a request toreview or further justify the rec-ommendation in the light ofobservations of the RGI.

The RGI has laid downmodalities for deciding claimsfor modification - inclusion,exclusion, correction - in thelists of Scheduled Castes underwhich the state governmentconcerned has to initiate theproposal with full justifications.Only the Union government hasthe authority to include ordelete any caste and tribe fromthe list of Schedule Castes andScheduled Tribes.

Several numerically smallcastes included in OtherBackward Classes list have beendemanding their inclusion in SClist. Mulayam Singh Yadav-ledSamajwadi party government in2004 had included 17 OBCcastes in SC list. And then itmade the recommendation tothe Union Home ministry.

The then government had

also amended the UP PublicServices Act and included the 17castes in SC list. This law pro-vides for the reservation ofOBCs and SCs in governmentservices, educational institu-tions and other state supportedinstitutions and other bodies.The next government headed byMayawati's Bahujan Samaj Partyhad repealed the amendment inthe Act. The Union governmenthad rejected the proposal ofMulayam Singh Yadav govern-ment citing the data fromanthropological studies, sayingthese 17 castes do not qualifythe terms laid for determininguntouchability.

Several organisations repre-senting various castes listedunder OBC had alsoapproached the Allahabad HighCourt for their inclusion inScheduled Caste list. TheAllahabad High Court, in arecent order in March, haddirected the UP government todecide within four weeks aboutthe inclusion of Rajbhar and afew other castes in the SC list.

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To fulfill the promises madein the Bharatiya Janata

Party's Lok Kalyan SankalpPatra and to ensure welfare ofthe youth, the Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh governmenthas so far distributed over 2.45lakh tablets and smartphonesin the state.

To digitally empower theyouth of Uttar Pradesh, asmany as 97,740 tablets and over1,48,238 smart phones havebeen distributed. Out of these,16,936 tablets have been dis-

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Lucknow (PNS): Wheatprocurement on minimumsupport price (MSP) for the2022-23 marketing year start-ed from Friday in UttarPradesh.

The government has fixeda target to procure 60 lakh met-ric tons of wheat this year. TheCentral government has fixedthe minimum support price ofwheat at �2,015 per quintal,increasing it by Rs 40 from lastyear’s �1,975 per quintal.

UP Chief Minister YogiAdityanath on Friday directedthe Food and Civil Suppliesdepartment to transfer themoney for the procured wheatin the bank accounts of thefarmers within 72 hours of pro-curement.

“Officers should make allthe necessary arrangementsfor the procurement of wheatin their respective districts sothat the farmers do not face anyproblem,” the chief ministersaid.

According to the Food andCivil Supplies department, tillMarch 31, over 1,48,383 farm-ers have registered themselvesfor selling their produce on theportal of the department. Atotal of 4,593 wheat procure-ment centres have been set upacross the state for the conve-nience of farmers and wheatprocurement has commencedat 3,980 centres.

The chief minister alsodirected the officials to ensuretimely lifting of the wheat frommandis and to make all neces-sary arrangements for thefarmers in the mandi.

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Uttar Pradesh PowerCorporation Limited

(UPPCL) has raised �3,951crore through bonds matur-ing in 10 years at an interestrate of 9.7 per cent.

Official sources said thebonds, which were listed onWednesday, saw a strongresponse from a diverse classof investors, including banks,mutual funds, non-bankingfinancial companies(NBFCs), insurance compa-nies and infra finance compa-nies. As many as 22 entitieshave invested in the bonds,including Credit Suisse,Barclays, Nippon, AseemInfra, Star Health, Tipsons,Trust group, AK Capital, etc,"an official disclosed. TheUttar Pradesh governmenthas provided unconditionaland irrevocable guarantee forall payment obligations ofthese bonds, which offer acoupon rate of 9.7 per cent.According to sources, whilethe government had provid-ed a guarantee to raise �8,000crore to tide over its opera-tional expenses, it allowed theUPPCL to raise �4,000 croreonly. The proceeds are to beused for working capital

requirements, the chiefamong them being clearingthe dues of generation com-panies (gencos).

The UPPCL's accumulat-ed losses till 2020-21 were tothe tune of �70,454 crore,while its outstanding liabili-ties to gencos are around�25,000 crore, out of whichalmost �4,500 crore is due tothe central generating andtransmission companies,while another �6,500 crore isdue to independent powerproducers. The public sectorpower utility is deeply in thered and its accumulated loss-es till the end of 2021-22 areclose to �1 lakh crore. Thepower utility is pressing forthe tariff revision to tide overthe distressed financial con-dition. The tariff was lastraised in September 2019and the request for furtherhike in tariff was turneddown by the state governmentfirst due to outbreak of pan-demic in March 2020 andlater due to UP assemblyelections.

The UP government hasfurther aggravated the situa-tion by promising to give freeelectricity to farmers, thuscreating a fresh financial bur-den on the beleaguered PSU.

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In a virtual meeting withmayors, councilors and gram

pradhans, Chief Minister YogiAdityanath appealed to them toensure victory of BharatiyaJanata Party candidates in thecoming legislative council elec-tions to be held on April 9.

“We have got a huge major-ity in the state legislative assem-bly. Now victory in the legisla-tive council is also very impor-tant so that the benefit of thegovernment schemes reach thepoor. For this, I have come toyou,” the chief minister said inhis virtual dialogue that wasattended by more than 32,000people.

He said that most of theblock chiefs of the state weresupporters of BJP while 14 outof 17 mayors were from BJP. Hesaid many of the chairmenwere also BJP workers.

Elections to the legislativecouncil are to be held on 36seats. The BJP has won nine ofthese seats.

Yogi said that the BJPformed the government in2017 but as Samajwadi Partywas in majority in the legisla-tive council, it used to throwspanners in the developmentplans.

He said if BJP gainedmajority in the Upper House itwould smoothen the legislativepassage of bills.

“So we have to win all theseats. We have already wonone-fourth of the seats. You allknow that there are 58,000gram panchayats. In his vision,Prime Minister Narendra Modi

has made the village the pivotof development,” he said.

Yogi said that the BJP wasthe only party which had mademany councilors as MLAs."Even an ordinary workercan rise to a high position," hesaid.

Appealing to the people tomake BJP candidates win, hesaid that Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s vision of wel-fare of poor, public welfare andthe vision of new Uttar Pradesh

should be carried forward. Elaborating on his vision of

village development, the chiefminister said that his govern-ment had a plan to convertgram panchayats as smart vil-lages.

“Our government is work-ing on the construction of vil-lage secretariat in every grampanchayat. We have deployedone panchayat assistant inevery gram panchayat. Wi-Fifacility will be provided. A

system is also being madewithin the village panchayats toget a platform to solve theproblems of the people of thevillage under the leadership ofthe village head,” he said.

The meeting was alsoaddressed by UrbanDevelopment Minister AKSharma, Deputy Chief MinisterBrajesh Pathak, Deputy ChiefMinister Keshav PrasadMaurya and Jal Shakti MinisterSwatantra Dev Singh.

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To ensure a safe environment for patients,doctors and staff in all hospitals and med-

ical colleges in the state, Chief Minister YogiAdityanath has asked the officials to effective-ly implement fire safety and electrical safetymechanisms at all places.

While chairing a high-level review meet-ing with senior officials on Friday, the chiefminister asked them to conduct a detailed phys-ical review of fire safety and electrical safetymechanisms at all the hospitals and medical col-leges. He said wherever required, the systemshould be updated to avoid any kind ofmishappenings.

Furthermore, Yogi Adityanath also instruct-ed that regular cleanliness drives should alsobe carried out in all the hospitals and medicalcolleges to maintain hygiene.

“Patients in the emergency wards must getthe best facilities. In case of shortage ofmanpower, all the vacant posts should befilled at the earliest and old dilapidated ambu-lances should be replaced with new ones,” hesaid.

The Integrated Command Control Centres(ICCCs), which contributed significantlytowards COVID-19 management, have alsobeen asked to remain functional 24x7.

Strengthening its fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, the Uttar Pradesh government isproviding vaccination cover to all childrenbetween 12 to 17 years of age in a time-boundmanner. So far, over 2,06,00,963 children inthe age group of 15-17 and over 11,67,770children in the age group of 12-14 havebeen administered Covid vaccine doses in thestate.

In the age category of 15-17, over 93.20 percent of the teenagers have received at least onedose of the Covid vaccine.

Committed to providing additional protec-tion cover to the priority group, Uttar Pradeshstarted administering booster shots (precautiondose) to the frontline and healthcare workersas well as senior citizens from January 10. Over24.34 lakh 'precaution doses' have been admin-istered in the state so far.

Leading India’s vaccination drive, UttarPradesh has so far administered over 30.06 croredoses of the Covid vaccine.

tributed in Lucknow, 11,541 inGorakhpur, 8,518 inMoradabad, 7,617 inSaharanpur and 5,323 inPratapgarh.

Similarly, over 25,770smartphones have been distrib-uted in Lucknow, 24,620 inAmbedkarnagar, 12,990 inMoradabad, 10,776 inSaharanpur and over 10,346 inMuzaffarnagar.

Under the direct supervi-sion of Chief Minister YogiAdityanath, the distributionprocess is being carried outwith complete transparencyand without any discrimina-tion.

To ensure a hassle-free dis-tribution process, as many as7,20,000 tablets and over10,50,000 smartphones havebeen allocated to the districtsfor distribution.

As per the announcementmade by the government, freesmartphones and tablets will begiven to two crore youth inorder to make them technical-ly advanced. The first phase ofthe distribution started in the

state on December 25, 2021.The government is also

providing free digital access tothe youth along with the gad-gets, making online educationmore accessible.

The Yogi government ismaking all efforts to fulfill theexpectations of the youths inUttar Pradesh. The youths aimfor jobs, economic progress,equality, and freedom frompoverty. The UP government isworking in this direction. In thelast five years, five lakh youthshave been given jobs, and 2.5crore youth have been linkedwith self-employment.

As promised in the LokKalyan Sankalp Patra (mani-festo), the Yogi government isalso working on a series ofarrangements to provide jobsand employment to the unem-ployed.

Yogi Adityanath has alsoset a target of providing fivecrore employment opportuni-ties in UP over the next fiveyears, including a job to onemember of each family of UttarPradesh.

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NOTICE

NOTICE

My former name was EktaAgarwal. I have changed myname from Ekta Agarwal toMeghaa Agarwal. In future, Ishould be known MeghaaAgarwal D/o Late SanjivaKumar Agarwal R/o 7/160 B,Swaroop Nagar, Kanpur Mob:-9792822702

NOTICE

I Madhu Dlamia w/oPradeep Dalmia R/o 15/72,Green Park Stadium CivilLines, Kanpur have changedmy name to Madhu RaniDalmia for all future purposes.

NOTICE

I am Mrs. Renu devi ArmiNo. JC 281280A/ SubShamsher Singh w/oShamsher Singh verify that myname has been changed torenu by mistake in my husbandservice record which is the cor-rect name Renu Devi whicvh isin my all civil documents.Hence Renu and Renu Deviare one and the same.

Notice is hereby given to the public at large thatthe property MIG House No. 2/289,Admeasuring 74.20 Sq. Mtr. situated at RuchiKhan-II, Ward-Sharda Nagar, Raibarely RoadYojna, Lucknow is going to be mortgage inIndian Bank Aishbagh Branch, Lucknow andthe original Agreement to sell dated 11.09.2008Document No. 10421 executed by Mrs VimlaTrivedi in favour of Rajesh Sharma S/o lateSurendra Nath Sharma. The above said agree-ment to sell was lost by House owner Mr. AdityaPrakash Singh S/o Anil Kumar Singh. If thereis any interest/ objection in the above said prop-erty of any person/financial institution/bank. Hemay kindly contact to the branch Manager with-in 7 days to file his objection. Branch ManagerIndian Bank, Aishbagh Branch Lucknow.

NOTICE

My name is bhumica Guptain goverment documents myname is written bhumika Guptain passport in future I will beknown bhumica Gupta, bhumi-ca Gupta D/O Deepak Kumardengre B-183, K blockYashoda Nagar, Kidwai NagarKanpur Nagar (UP)

It is informed to the general public thatSushil Tiwari S/o Late SadashivTiwari R/o 46/79, Khoya Bazar, HalsiRoad, Kanpur Nagar, in all the doc-uments his name is mentioned as"Sushil Tiwari" whereas in the pass-port his name is printed as "SushilTewari" as well as names of SushilTiwari's parents are Ram Janki Tiwariand Sada Shiv Tiwari, which havebeen mistakenly printed as RamJanki Tewari and Sada Shiv Tewari inthe Sushil Tiwari's passport. the cor-rect names of Sushil Tewari, RamJanki Tewari and Sada Shiv Tewariare Sushil Tiwari, Ram Janki Tiwariand Sada Shiv Tiwari respectively.

PUBLIC NOTICEUnder the instruction of Fullerton India CreditCompany Limited, Lucknow, I hereby informedthe general public that Mohd. Jiyaul Ahmad &Mohd.Tufail both sons Late Zahoor Ahmad arethe absolute owner of Part of House No. 303/21,area 49.07sq.mtr./528 sq.ft., atSarayBich, Ward-Asharfabad, Tehsil & District- Lucknow throughsale deed dated 24/09/2009 vide Book No. 1, ZildNo. 5175, Pages on 395 to 424, at Sl. No. 8889,registered in the office of Sub-Registrar- V,Lucknow and areintended to buyShop(Basement) constructed on Plot, House No.303/20, area 139.405sq.mtr./1500 sq.ft., SarayBich, Ward- Asharfabad, Tehsil & District-Lucknow and Shop on Upper Ground Floor con-structed on Plot House No. 303/20, area118.494sq.mtr./1275 sq.ft.,SarayBich, Ward-Asharfabad, Tehsil & District- Lucknow formMohd. Ishaq son of Late Azeemullah,Mohd.Rehan son of Late Jahiruddin, Mohd.Shariq son of Mohd. Ismail, Mohd. Haseen sonof Mohd.Ibrahim (First Party) and Mohd.Atifsonof Late Rauf Ahmad Siddiqui, Smt.NuzhatBanowife of Mohd.Ishaq& Smt. BabyNazwife of Late Rauf Ahmad Siddiqui(Confirming Part/ Witness) who are the titleowner through Builder's Agreementvide bookNo. 1, Zild No. 14124, Pages on 145 to 190 atSl. No. 197, dated 09/01/2020 registered at theoffice of Sub-Registrar- V, Lucknow and want-ed to avail a loan against the aforesaid prop-erties from Fullerton India Credit CompanyLimited, Lucknow. Anybody having claim orclaiming any prior rights or interest in any man-ner in this property or has raised loan bydepositing the aforesaid Sale Deeds to any per-son/ bank/ corporation/ financial! Institution maysubmit objections in writings within 07 daysfrom the date of public notice. After the expiryof the period of this notice, no claim shall beentertained and such claim shall have no valuein the eyes of law, It shall also be deemed thatnobody has any objection for mortgaging theaforesaid property with Fullerton India CreditCompany Limited, Lucknow, Lucknow. VivekSrivastava (Advocate) Office/Resi-3/40, VastuKhand, Gomti Nagar, Lucknow-226010 Ph:9839485155, 0522-7963249

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‘INS Gomti’, the ship of theWestern Indian Navy’s

Naval Command to be adorn-ing the Gomti at the riverfronton the side of La MartiniereSchool, will be one of thebiggest and unique attractionsof Lucknow.

Regional tourism officialAnupam Srivastava said IndianNavy officials will be inLucknow for a meeting onApril 4 to discuss how the shipcan be transported to the statecapital. Srivastava said the ‘INSGomti’ officially retired fromthe Indian Navy on March 31this year. “A team of officialsfrom the Indian Navy is com-ing to assess the situation and

decide how the ship can bebrought to Lucknow fromMumbai. Since the ship is hugeand there is no sea nearby, it isimpossible to carry it by road orairlift it. If there was a sea near-by, it would have been an easyexercise. The team of IndianNavy Captains is coming todecide if it can be dismantledand then reassembled afterbeing brought here,” he said.

The official said this is thefirst time that such an activityis being done in Uttar Pradesh.

On whether people beallowed to enter and explorethe ship, he said it will be decid-ed after several meetings andrigorous interventions. Theship was named after Gomtiand its logo carries the pictureof Chhattar Manzil because it

is related to India’s freedomstruggle.

“Chhattar Manzil was theseat of revolutionaries, which isthe reason that it has beenincluded in the logo,” he said.

He said talks have beengoing on between the state gov-

ernment and the WesternNaval Command for the lastfew months. “The idea ofbringing in the ship was that ofthe state government whichhad approached the WesternNaval Command because theship is named after the Gomti

river and the symbol on it car-ries the picture of ChhattarManzil,” he said.

He said it may take 3-6months for the official processin procuring the ship from theWestern Naval Command.

Talking about the ship, hesaid it has been in active servicefor the past 34 years. “Theeffort here is to keep the her-itage alive within the river ofthe same name and to make itmemorable. It was decided ina meeting to place it in the pub-lic area of the Gomti riverfront,”he said. He added that officialsof the Indian Navy said that asimilar activity was carried outin Visakhapatnam and it alsohelped in highlighting the prideof the Indian Navy through theship.

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In view of the low-key Covidconditions in the city, people

are looking forward to celebrat-ing ‘Chaitra Navratri’ kickingoff on Saturday. Durga templesacross the city have beenspruced up and a huge turnoutof devotees is expected. Themarkets are dotted with shopsselling puja material even asrows of red chunris up for samecan be seen fluttering.

A majority of people fastthroughout the Navratri andhave only vegetarian food. Anumber of non-veg shops andeateries remain closed owing toa large number of peopleabstaining from eating meat.Hotels also serve Navratri thal-lis for guests. People also usethis period in organising

important ceremonies relatedto their families such as engage-ments, mundan etc, and alsopurchase land and jewellery.

A city resident said the tim-ing of Navratri this time is per-fect. “There are no Covid casesand we can celebrate the festi-val with enthusiasm. We canattend jagrans and other devo-tional programmes,” he said.

Meanwhile, Cheti ChandMahotsav, which is the Sindhinew year, will be celebratedwith fanfare after two years onSaturday. Gopal KrishnaLalchandani, spokesperson ofCheti Chand Mela Samiti, saidthat programmes as a precur-sor to the event are being helddaily and the culmination ofthe Mahotsav will take placewith a ‘shobha yatra’ onSaturday.

He said Cheti ChandMahotsav marks the celebra-tion of new year and the wor-ship of Jhulelal, the god ofwater. “The shobha yatra willstart from Shiv Shanti Ashramand then move towardsHazratganj, culminating atJhulelal Park on the banks ofthe Gomti river where cultur-al programmes will be organ-ised. We offer diyas made offlour so that fishes can devourthem and help in conservationof water. Water is given a lot ofimportance in the festivalbecause it is the basis of life,” headded. He further said that theshobha yatra will have a themeof world peace and end of ter-rorism. “Lord Jhulelal alsobrought about harmoniousrelations between Hindus andMuslims,” he said.

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Police arrested a 20-year-oldboy on the charges of raping

a class XI student of a college inGosainganj area on March 10.He was arrested from his housein Sadarpur Bazar in Sitapur. Hewas identified as Monu, a resi-dent of Sahalampur villageunder Kamalpur police stationin Sitapur. The police said thatthe girl went to her college toappear for exam at 8:30 am butdid not return home till 12:30pm. Her father went to theGosainganj police station tolodge a complaint in this regard.The police swung into actionand managed to trace the placewhere she was held captive. Thepolice raided the place but theyouth managed to escape evenas the girl was rescued. The girl

said she was raped by the boyseveral times. She was handedto her parents after a medicalexamination. Rape was con-formed in the medical test. Onthe basis of information provid-ed by the girl, the police raidedthe house of the accused onMarch 31 night and roundedhim up for interrogation duringwhich he owned up his crime.

Meanwhile, a youth wasarrested for brandishing acountry-made in Madiaon lateThursday evening. He wasidentified as Harshit Dixit, aresident of Purana Topkhana inBalaganj. Police claimed that hewas engaged in a dialogue witha group of people over land dis-pute. All of a sudden, hewhipped out a country-madepistol. Someone tipped off theMadiaon police and a team was

sent to the spot. The policeoverpowered the youth withthe help of locals. A live car-tridge was found in the maga-zine and another from hispocket.

Meanwhile, a cook whoworked at a roadside foodstall, was arrested for attempt-ing to murder his formeremployer on Thursdayevening. He was identified asAman Kumar, a resident ofNilgiri Apartment under PGIpolice station, and a native ofMoradabad. The roadside foodstall is owned by one Vipin,who was not satisfied withAman’s work and had firedhim. On Thursday evening,Kumar went to the shop witha sharp-edged weapon andattacked Vipin. He was pickedup from a friend’s house.

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Atotal of 12.65% beneficia-ries in the age groups of

12-14 years have been vaccinat-ed against Covid-19 in UttarPradesh. A total of 1,070,757children out of 8,464,000 havebeen administered the vaccinejab. State Immunisation OfficerDr Ajay Ghai said the vaccina-tion would start in schoolsshortly. The vaccination exer-cise for those aged 12-14 yearsis likely to pick up pace in a fewdays, he said.

“Schools can start vaccina-tions whenever they want tobecause BSAs have been direct-ed to coordinate with CMOs intheir respective districts and getthe students vaccinated,” Ghaisaid. He added that some of thedistricts have done well in thestate in the 12-14 years catego-ry. In Shahjahanpur where theestimated population of kids inthe age group of 12-14 years is1,27,356, as many as 76,902(60.38%) have been vaccinated.In Ballia, 55,153 out of 1,37,236beneficiaries (40.19%) havebeen vaccinated.

In Rae Bareli, 39,726 out ofout of 122,992 beneficiaries(32.30%) in this age grouphave been vaccinated.

In Gautam Buddha Nagarwhich has a population of69,814, as many as 21,397(30.65%) have been vaccinated.

In Lucknow where the esti-mated population of beneficia-ries in 12-14 years age group is194,424, as many as 12,018(6.18%) have been vaccinated.

In Siddharthnagar, the esti-mated population is 108,411out of which 31,277 have beenvaccinated and the populationcoverage is 28.85%.

In Banda with an estimat-ed population 76,223, nearly21,145 have been vaccinatedand the population coverage is27.74%.

In Ghaziabad, out of anestimated population of1,41,623, nearly 36,388 havebeen vaccinated, with a popu-lation coverage of 25.69%.

In Hamirpur, out of an esti-mated population of 46,777,nearly 12,512 have been vac-cinated with a population cov-erage of 26.75%.

In Ayodhya, the estimat-ed population is 104,671, out ofwhich 25,599 have been vacci-nated, with a population cov-erage of 24.46%.

In Pilibhit, the estimatedpopulation of those agedbetween 12-14 years is 86,033and 5,457 of them have beenvaccinated.

In Chandauli, the estimat-ed population is 82,718 and5,137 of them have been

jabbed. In Muzaffarnagar, outof an estimated population of117,555, as many as 27,017have been vaccinated.

In Hardoi, out of an esti-mated population of 1,73,372,as many as 30,972 have beenvaccinated. In Jaunpur, out ofan estimated population of190,373, as many as 34,144have been vaccinated.

In Aligarh, out of an esti-mated population of 1,55,625beneficiaries in this age group,29,538 have been vaccinated.

In Jalaun, out of an estimat-ed population of 71,587, asmany as 14,441 have been vac-cinated while in Fatehpur, outof an estimated population of111,522, as many as 22,946have been vaccinated.

In Sultanpur, out of102,997 beneficiaries, 21,521have been vaccinated while inShravasti, 10,065 out of out of47,331 beneficiaries have beenjabbed.

Lucknow (PNS): CentralInstitute of Medicinal andAromatic Plants (CIMAP) onFriday entered into a coopera-tive agreement with M/sPerkinElmer (India) PrivateLimited, a Mumbai-based com-pany, in the presence of directorDr Prabodh Kumar Trivedi andPKI representatives DhirajKumar Sinha, Pradeep Sharmaand Sanjeev Kumar Singh for thedevelopment of quality controlmethods for detection of adul-

terants in essential oils. CIMAP spokesperson said

the aromatic crops have a hugepotential in the world market fortheir use in perfumes, pharmaindustry, fragrances andflavours. “However, in India,adulteration in high-value essen-tial oils has been a major con-cern for the last two decades.Fraudulent and synthetic ingre-dients are intentionally added toproducts in order to reduce thecost of production or increase

the apparent value for the over-all purpose of economic gain.The absence of target-basedquality control methods andguidelines helps in flourishingthis menace with more promi-nence,” he said.

He said CSIR-CIMAP willwork with M/s PerkinElmer(India) Private Limited for theuse of scientific analytical instru-ments which have been provid-ed free of cost for the advance-ment of its research environ-

ment. “In particular, CIMAP willwork in the development ofcost-effective detection methodsfor determination of adulter-ations in high-value commercialessential oils using the analyticalinstruments supplied by M/sPerkinElmer (India) PrivateLimited,” he said. Dr PrabodhKumar Trivedi said that thisagreement would help the indus-try and farmers by developingcost-effective adulteration detec-tion methods in essential oils.

�"#��+"��+"#�+"‘Pariksha Pe Charcha’ by

Prime Minister Narendra Modiwas telecast live at BabasahebBhimrao Ambedkar Universityin Lucknow with the help of its‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’committee on Friday. The pro-gram was telecast simultane-ously at four places — BharatRatna Shri Atal Bihari VajpayeeAuditorium, Seminar Hall ofSchool of EnvironmentalSciences, Auditorium of

Ambedkar School of Studiesand Amethi campus. Studentsof the first semester currentlystudying online were directlyconnected to the programmeduring the class itself. A total of1,056 students in the auditori-um and about 150 in the otherthree auditoriums listened tothe programme. The discussionwith the prime minister aboutexaminations not only reducedexam stress but also solved theproblems of online education

for both teachers and students.The PM suggested that examsshould be celebrated as festivals.

��")"#�"-+�%"��NCC Directorate (UP),

Lucknow, launched the PuneetSagar Abhiyan on Friday aspart of a nationwide campaignfor cleanliness of rivers, lakes,water bodies and sea beachespan-India. The campaign willinclude sustainable conserva-tion activities such as collection

and recycling of plastic waste,environmental cleansing andawareness rallies for the citi-zens. The campaign will beconducted on rivers and waterbodies that include Ganga,Yamuna, Gomti, Sharda, Rapti,Ghagra, Son etc. Nearly 40,000NCC cadets and alumni willparticipate in the campaign.Apart from the cleanlinessdrive, the NCC cadets willalso undertake awareness ral-lies for the general public with

messages for keeping the waterbodies clean and recyclingplastic waste.

��The newly-constructed

doubling line in Amethi toAntu section (14.20 kms) ofLucknow division will beopened for electric train oper-ation shortly. High-speed trialof the section by special trainwill be conducted by the com-missioner of railway safety on

Saturday after trolley inspec-tion. Thereafter, double linetrain working will startbetween Amethi-Antu stations.A spokesman said the generalpublic has to stay away fromrailway lines in this section.“Tracks should be crossed atlevel crossing only. Crossing thetracks at any location otherthan level crossing is trespass-ing and is a punishable offenceand liable for prosecutionunder Railway Act,” he said.

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The Forest department isworking in the direction of

creating urban forests as carbonsinks in the state to see thatthere is some improvement inclimate change. Giving thisinformation, Principal ChiefConservator of Forest (PCCF)Mamta Dubey said lands havealready been identified thatfor the purpose.

“The department hasalready identified the land andsubmitted the project in thisregard and we can carry outforestation in any area between10-15 hectares. We are notlooking into huge areas becauseUP is densely populated whereland is a premium. Since we arelooking at rapid industrialisa-tion, we need to simultaneous-ly create oxygen and plants inthe shape of forests and urbansinks in the shape of forests.Carbon sequestration is theneed of the hour and if we donot, we are going to face thisterrible tragedy of climatechange,” she said. She said thatthe ‘Miyawaki’ form of foresta-tion is good for creating forests

in the industrial area, howev-er it will be very expensive forthe mainstream forestry.

“If you want to takeforestry in a big mannerthrough this technique, costbecomes an issue. We are goingto have dense plantations in theurban limits so that people getan area where there is goodenvironment, greenery andwhere massive urban sinks willbe created. We will be givingpeople a space where they cango and sit in the lap of nature.Once we have these forests, alot of biodiversity will comeback. We are hopeful that lotsof birds and butterflies willreturn,” she said. She added thatin the villages too, they aregoing to create food forestswhere trees will be plantedwhich give food items alongwith some shrubs giving food items.

“In sacred areas where peo-ple have some kind of attach-ment, we will be plantingsacred groves. There are pondsso that people can get attachedwith the biodiversity andnature after the creation of theurban forests,” she said.

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To learn about the progressof water projects, Jal Shakti

Minister Swatantra Dev Singhmade a quick visit to theunder-construction water pro-jects and labs in Mohanlalganjand Gosaiganj areas ofLucknow. While inspectingthe projects, Swatantra DevSingh questioned the officersabout the construction quali-ty and speed of water projectsas well as employment gener-ation in villages.

“Carry out the schemes forsupplying drinking water tothe villages at a better andfaster pace,” the ministerdirected the officials.

Singh, on Friday, startedthe tour by inspecting the labat Arjunganj. After reachingthe central yard of NCC com-pany working under Har GharNal scheme of Namami Gangeand Rural Water Supplydepartment, he checked thequality of pipes and construc-tion materials. He also testedthe quality standards by asking the operators to run themachines of the Central Yard Lab.

The Jal Shakti ministerlater reached Daud Nagar vil-lage and inspected the con-struction of bore wells andtanks for water supply in thevillages. He also inquiredabout the time limit for com-pletion of construction worksand plans from NCC compa-ny general manager M Satish.

After the inspection, theJal Shakti minister appreciat-

ed the officers for the qualityand timeliness of the projects.

It is worth mentioningthat along with the Minister,Executive Director AkhandPratap Singh was also present.

Later, the minister reachedthe Rambaksh Kheda villagealong with the officers andinspected the work of pipelinesbeing laid for water supplyinside the village.

While interacting with thevillagers, Singh inquired aboutthe works of the scheme andassured to start water supply toevery household very soon. Hesaid, “Roadside taps should beinstalled inside the houses orat safer places.” He alsoinspected the local canals andreprimanded the engineers ofthe Irrigation department forlack of cleanliness.

Taking forward ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath's‘Mission Rojgar’, the Jal Shaktiminister directed officials tocarry forward the scheme incoordination with the poly-technic management to con-nect polytechnic students withpipelines and other technicalservices.

Taking stock of theemployment of the locals inthe project works, the minis-ter said, "Officers must involvepolytechnic students in tech-nical works related to the pro-ject and provide employmentopportunities."

He also directed the offi-cers to provide employment toat least two people from eachvillage for plumbing andmechanical work.

Lucknow (PNS): After main-taining silence after the worstdefeat of her party in the lastassembly elections, Congressgeneral secretary PriyankaGandhi Vadra, on Friday, tooka dig at Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s ‘Pariksha PeCharcha’ programme. She saidthat the Bharatiya Janata Partyshould instead make “paperleak par charcha”.

Priyanka Vadra also didnot spare Chief Minister YogiAdityanath, who has becomefamous as ‘Bulldozer Baba’ in thelast election. Taking a jibe at him,Vadra said Yogi Adityanath'sbulldozer did not turn towardsthe education mafia involved in

the paper leakage. Referring tothe question paper leak of UPBoard's English exam paperleak, Priyanka Gandhi Vadratweeted on Friday, that the BJPgovernment should “discusspaper leaks” in UP. “Last year,on November 28, lakhs of youthsuffered a blow due to theUPTET examination paper leak.In the name of action, nothinghappened except pretentioussteps,” Priyanka Gandhi Vadrasaid. Last Wednesday, the UPBoard's English paper for Class12 was cancelled in 24 districtsafter the paper leak and it willnow be held on April 13. So far32 people have been arrested inthe case.

Lucknow (PNS): The BahujanSamaj Party has expelled itsthree leaders, including a for-mer legislator, for indulging inindiscipline, a party leader saidon Friday. BSP's Mathura dis-trict president Yogesh Kumarsaid two-time MLA RajkumarRawat and two other BSP lead-ers, SK Sharma and Sonpal,were expelled from the party onThursday. Kumar, however, didnot mention the period of theexpulsion of the three leaders.Kumar said these leaders didnot even attend the party's

recent meeting in Lucknow,convened to examine the rea-sons for electoral losses.

He said Rawat was electedfrom the Gokul assembly con-stituency in 2007 and theGovardhan assembly con-stituency in 2012. Sharma hadjoined BSP just before electionsand had contested the recentassembly poll from the Mathuraconstituency while Sonpal hadcontested from Chhata con-stituency. Sharma claimed hehad resigned from the BSPmembership on March 11 itself.

Lucknow (PNS): In a shocking incident in Agra, a woman wascritically injured after she was shot at by a lovelorn man.

The incident took place in Etmaddaula police station areaof Agra on Thursday and the victim was admitted to a local hos-pital. Senior officers also visited the scene of crime andlaunched a hunt for the assailant after registering a case againsthim. According to reports, the victim was shot at by a man whowas in love with her. The accused was identified as Dev Gurjar.The incident took place when Dev reached the woman's housethrough the neighbour's terrace and opened fire on the victim,Uma. The accused also hit her on the head with the butt of thegun and fled the spot. Hearing the screams of the woman, herfamily members went to her and rushed her to a hospital for treat-ment. During the investigation, it came to light that the accusedwas madly in love with Uma but she did not like him. In orderto take revenge, the accused shot at the woman.

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Kanpur DivisionalCommissioner warned all

government officials and thestaff to be punctual and be ontheir seats exactly on time. Hesaid it had also come to lightthat most of the time theofficials came very late and arenot found in their seatsputting the people in great dif-ficulty. He said as part of thedrive a sudden raid was car-ried out at 10.10 am at theL a b o u rCommissionerate/DirectorFactories on Friday. He said atotal of 27 employees wereabsent from the variousdepartments. He said between10.00 am and 10.30 am onlytwo officials were found pre-sent. He said 23 departmentswere inspected in the time-frame and out of 215 employ-ees only 188 were presentand the remaining were absentand there was no prior sanc-tion for their absence.

He said the officials con-cerned had been directed toissue show cause notice andtill further orders their salariesneed to be stopped. He saidentry had been made in theregister. He said it was alsoobserved that at the respectiveseats there was no name plate

and the ALC was directed thatat every seat there should be aname plate. He said it was alsodirected that this should beproperly implemented fromApril 8 onwards.

He said it was also foundthat the officials were notserious about public griev-ances and thus directiveswere issued to ensure furthermomentum and also to makeworking more transparent.

The DC said at the entrythere must be a COVID-19help desk and proper entry ofthe people had to be main-tained. He said there should

be thermal scanning and pulseoximeter and hand sanitisershould also be arranged.

He said a special registershould be maintained whereall the letters should be doc-umented.

He said apart from thisholiday and leave registershould also be maintained.

He said at the entry pointand inside there should beproper and regular cleaningand twice a week thoroughcleaning of the entire officeshould be done.

He said a similar raid wascarried out at the Kanpur

Development Authority where77 officials and employeeswere found absent. He saidthere were six employees whohad not reported to the officefor the past three days with-out any sanction. He saidshow cause notice will beserved on them and their oneday salary will be stopped tillfurther orders.

He said similarly inKanpur Nagar Nigam 20 offi-cials and employees werefound absent and thus showcause notices were issued andtheir one day wages had beenstopped till further orders.

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General Manager ofOrdnance Parachute

Factory, (Gliders India Ltd)Sushil Sinha while flagging offthe consignment of SDParachute to COD on Fridaysaid for the new financialyear a special road map hadbeen prepared and it willtake off from April 1, 2022,itself. The consignment wasflagged off from P 6 Factoryafter a traditional puja. Hesaid OPF had maintainedquality in its production andhas successfully managed togive further momentum toproduction as well. He said inthe changing times OPF hadmanaged to keep pace withthe rapid changes. He saidOPF on account of its quali-ty work had carved a niche foritself in the quality market.

He said the achievementsof OPF are in fact a combined

effort of the officials and thestaff and workers and con-gratulated the entire team forit. He appealed to the staff andofficials to continue to workwith dedication and trans-parency so that OPF can con-tribute towards making the

nation strong and indepen-dent and assured that thefactory will continue to workwith dedication in the timesto come.

OPF is the unit of GlidersIndia Limited which was aGovernment of India under-

taking incorporated in 2021as Government-ownedDefence Public SectorUndertaking. Earlier it wasunder OFB known asOrdnance Parachute Factory,a Defence Production Unit ofGovernment of India.

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District Magistrate NehaSharma while addressing

a meeting at the Collectorateon Friday said massive irreg-ularities have been unearthedin Marriage Grants Schemeand thus directives have beenissued to authorities con-cerned to ensure answerabil-ity and take strictest actionagainst all those whoindulged in financial irregu-larity.

She said the onus hasbeen placed on district socialwelfare officer (DSWO) toconduct an inquiry and can-cel all such false applications.She said three applicationsfrom urban area and onefrom rural area were found tobe false after inquiry.

She said unless strictestaction was taken it would notprevent more such frauds.She said three applicationsfrom Sadar tehsil and onefrom Narwal was also foundto be false.

She said action will alsobe taken against the officials

concerned. They should alsoensure that they do not repeatthe mistake, she said.

The DM said as per thedirectives of the UPGovernment strict actionneeds to be taken against theland sharks and encroachersand a special drive should becarried out in tehsils to iden-tify such illegal encroach-ments. She said be it ponds,granary or any governmentland those who hadencroached the land will bedealt with strictly. She saiddirectives have been issued toget the land vacated and if aconstruction has been madethen it should be demolishedon priority.

She said officials con-cerned have been issueddirectives to identify suchencroachments on top prior-ity and ensure that the gov-ernment lands were protect-ed and that in future alsothere was no encroachment.She said under the specialdrive carried out in Narwal0.2300 hectares of land hadbeen freed from land sharks.

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The Kendriya Vidyalaya,Armapore on Friday made

elaborate arrangements in theschool to ensure the students andteachers heard ‘Pariksha PeCharcha’ by the Prime Minister,Mr Narendra Modi. A specialLED huge screen was set up andstudents, principal, head mistressand teachers all took active partand heard the PM with raptattention. The school had madestandby arrangement for powerbackup as well so that the lectureof the PM was uninterrupted.

The Prime Minister interact-ed with the children who weregoing to write exams. He advisedthe students that if they wantedto benefit themselves with theonline studies they need to alsofocus on offline studies as well sothat they were able to acquireknowledge. He said exams werepart of human life and everyonewas part of examination at onepoint of time. Once the ‘ParikshaPe Charcha’ ended the principal,staff and students together helddiscussions and the childrenwere explained the synopsis ofthe speech of the PM.

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In line with the ‘Go Clean andGreen Mission’ launched by

the National Sugar Institute(NSI), Kanpur, for sugar indus-try, on Friday the Institute hadtaken up various measures tomake its campus more clean andgreen and this included instal-lation of solar power and rain-water harvesting system.Besides to beat plastic pollution,NSI had taken up various mea-sures and now the departmen-tal canteen will no more useplastic or thermocol based prod-ucts. This step was taken up tominimise plastic pollution and

to encourage utilisation ofbyproducts of sugar industry.

Director, NSI, ProfNarendra Mohan, said crockerymade from sugarcane bagassewas biodegradable and was con-verted to compost within 45days.

He said crockery made outof bagasse has good thermalproperties besides being leak-proof and sturdy. He said con-sumption of plastic and thermo-col based crockery was report-ed to be around 3.0 lakh metrictonnes per annum and thereforesuch products had a sizeable andassured market.He said thus it

had been decided in principlethat crockery made of sugarcanebagasse shall be used in thedepartmental canteen and as perthe new arrangements effectivefrom Friday while the foodproducts shall be served in theutensils made of sugarcanebagasse, the beverages shall beserved in the earthen pots (‘kul-hads’).

He said the institute has alsoorganised various workshopsat various places involvingMSME institutes for creatingawareness for use of such crock-ery in restaurants and for take-away food. He said use of such

products while being in theinterest of human health andenvironment can also be asource of additional income tothe sugar factories.

It may be mentioned herethat bagasse can be made intotableware using either wet pulpor dry pulp board. He said aftersugarcane was harvested thecane juice was extracted to berefined into sugar and what allis left behind was raw sugarcanefibre or bagasse.

He said this technology willcounter the plastic use andthrow mainly used in canteensand food joints.

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Scientist, Oilseeds, CSAUniversity of Agriculture and

Technology, Dr Mahek Singh whileaddressing research students of thevarsity at one of its sunflower farmson Friday said annual global pro-duction of sunflower oil was about18 million tonnes (MT). He saidIndia’s sunflower production hadbeen stagnant for the past fewyears at around 60,000 tonneswhich was grown on around 2.40lakh hectares. He said sunflowerwas produced mostly for its oil.

He said when sunflowers hadaccess to optimal water and nutri-ent requirements, temperature andexposure to sunlight it played keyroles in determining yield compo-nents and grain quality. He saidgrain oil concentration was deter-mined mainly by the amount ofphotosynthetically active radiationintercepted per plant during thegrain-filling. He said the optimal

planting date was crucial as itensured good seed germination aswell as the timely appearance ofseedlings and good root develop-ment. He said effects of environ-mental factors on oil content var-ied according to the crop growthstages as oil yield components andgrain quality were defined in differ-ent phenological stages.

He said it was also evident thatsunflower seedlings can surviveand develop at 40 degree C butseedling emergence and develop-ment were inhibited at temperaturesin excess of this. He said the criti-cal period for seed number deter-mination was between 24 and 30days after anthesis (flowering),while grain weight and grain oilconcentration were determinedduring grain filling. He said envi-ronmental conditions during thisperiod therefore had a highly sig-nificant effect on yield.

Dr Mahek Singh said althoughsunflower oil concentration had

been reported to be a conservativegenetic component, some studieshad highlighted differentialresponses of sunflower genotypes indifferent cropping conditions,greater variability of oil concentra-tion which was either linked tomanagement and environmentalconditions or to genotypic andenvironmental interactions.

He said however late plantingreduced the oil content of sunflowerin both seasons.

He said oil yield was affected bya delay in planting dates for bothseasons. He said over two seasonsand different planting dates showedthat the highest yields were achievedin the first week of December andthe lowest yields in the last week ofJanuary.

He said yield reduction wasabout 50 per cent between theoptimal and late planting date overboth growing seasons. Over onedozen research students took part in thepractical sessions held on CSA farms.

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About 41 percent of children in the agegroup of 15-17 years are fully vacci-

nated in Sangam city. While around 94.41percent of children (3,94,272) in the agegroup of 15 - 17 years have taken their firstdose of vaccination, about 41 percent chil-dren ( 1,71,229) in the same age groupwere also administered a second dose ofcovid vaccine.

The health authorities have set a tar-get to administer jabs to a total of 4,17,616children in the age group of 15 and 17 yearsin the Prayagraj district.The state has

achieved 92.93 % first dose and 51.74 %second dose vaccination among childrenof the same group, as 1,30.22,748 and72,50,307 children have had their first andsecond dose vaccines so far.

The state health authorities have to seta target to administer vaccines to1,40,14,000 children in 75 districts.

Muzaffarnagar district has toppedthe chart in vaccination in terms of reg-istering the highest number of children andadministering the first and second dose.Muzaffarnagar is closely followed byGhazipur, Etawah, Sultanpur andRaebareli. District immunization officer

(DIO) and Additional chief medical offi-cer (Prayagraj), Dr Teerath Lal told thenewspersons that Sangam city has set thehighest target or number of children(4,17,616 ) in the state to be covered forvaccination drive.

Around 94.41 % of them have beengiven their first dose till March 28. He fur-ther added, about 41 % of children in thesame age group are fully vaccinated.

Officials of the health departmentclaimed that sincere efforts have yieldedfruitful results to administer the first andsecond dose among children in the agegroup of 15- 17 years in the district.

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Acase has been registered against30 workers including Aam

Aadmi Party's (AAP) PrayagrajCity Unit General Secretary SarveshYadav at the Civil Lines police sta-tion. The FIR has been written onthe complaint being given by theoutpost in-charge RK Sharma.Cases have been registered against

all for violation of Covid-19,obstruction in government workand other sections. This action hasbeen taken in Prayagraj for demon-stration, effigy burning and clash-ing with the police.

It is noteworthy that AAPworkers had demonstrated inPrayagraj against the incident thattook place outside the residence ofDelhi Chief Minister Arvind

Kejriwal. Aam Aadmi Party workers, who

had gathered near the All Saints’Cathedral Church in Civil Lines,protested in a show of anger. Alongwith this, the effigy of the state gov-ernment was also burnt. Policeallege that Aam Aadmi Party work-ers protested without permission andburnt effigies. Due to this the com-mon people had to suffer.

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Police on Friday claimed tohave busted a gang of

auto-lifters and arrested itsfour members while theywere plotting a crime nearAhmadpur Pawan area.

The police also seized anSUV, a car, three bikes andother equipment from theirpossession. The arrested per-sons were identified as MohdAmil, Tufail Ahmad, AshishKumar and Taufiq Ahmad, allresidents of Kaushambi.

Police said, Tufail Ahmadwas the kingpin of the gangand all the auto-lifters had acriminal sketch. They used tooperate in city areas and latersell the stolen vehicles withforged documents at nominalprices.

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Office of the SuperintendingEngineer ElectricityTransmission Circle 132 KVS/S Andhau Ghazipur. U.P.

POWER TRANSMISSION CORPORA-TION LIMITED E-Tender Notice 1.SHORT TERM E-TENDER NO: 108ETC(GZP)2021-22- Online e-Bis are invit-ed for the shifting and stacking of stock mat-erals from one place to other place in400KV Store Robertsganj for constructionof store room, guard room, road, bound-ary wall etc under ETD-Ghazipur. E-enderuploaded up to 01/04/2022htpp://etender.up.nic.in. Time period: 04Month, E.M.D. cost Rs. 2,000.00 Last Dateof tender: 16/04/2022 at 16: Hrs. 2.SHORT TERM E-TENDER NO: 109ETC(GZP)2021-22- Online e-Bids are invit-ed for the Work of rewinding/replacementof winding, servicing and overhauling ofdamaged 630KVA 33/0.4KV sationTransformer at 400KV S/S. Kasara-Mau.E-tender uploaded up to 01/04/2022htpp://etender.up.nic.in. Time period: 03Month, E.M.D. cost Rs. 2,000.00 Last Dateof tender: 16/04/2022 at 16: Hrs. 3. E-TENDER NO: 110 ETC(GZP)2021-22-Online e-Bids are invited for the Work ofstrengthening of tower leg of 40KV S/CAnpara-Obra (L-2) & 400KV S/C Anpara-Sarnath (L-3) Transmission line under ETD-Ghazipur. E-tender uploaded up to01/04/2022 htpp://etender.up.nic.in. Timeperiod: 04 Month, E.M.D. cost Rs. 2,000.00Last Date of tender: 02/05/2022 at 16: Hrs.4. E-TENDER NO: 111 ETC(GZP)2021-22- Online e-Bid are invited for the Workof shifting, loading, carriage, unloading anderection of 100 MVA "TELK" make T/Fat220 KV S/S Bhadaura Under ETD-Ghazipur. E-tender uploaded up to01/04/2022 htpp://etender.up.nic.in. Timeperiod: 04 Month, E.M.D. cost Rs.17,000.00 Last Date of tender: 02/05/2022at 16: Hrs.*Total, Quality of work, tenderspecification and other terms & conditionis as per tender document available on thee-tender” portal, Undersigned reserves theright to cancel any all the e-Bids withoutassigning any reason. *Corrigendum.Addendum, Extension if any shall beuploaded only on the above website.Bidders are advised to visit the website reg-ularly for updated information from time totime. SUPERINTENDING ENGINEERETC GHAZIPUR No. 586 Date 31.03.2022"Save electricity in the interest of Nation."

IN THE FAMILY COURT AT CALCUTTA

3, BANKSHALL STREET, KOLKATA-700001

Mat Suit No. - 7 of 2020In the matter of Khushal ChoudharyS/o Late Raj Kumar Choudhary,residing at 14, Kalakar Street, PostOffice-Kalakar Street Police StationPosta, Kolkata-700001.

....Petitioner-Versus

Neha Choudhary (Kheria) W/oKhushal Choudhary and D/o SajanKumar Kheria, residing at House No.15/58, Friends Enclave, Civil Lines,Police Station-Kotwali Kanpur Nagar,Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh Pin-208001.

....RespondentWHEREAS the above petition hasfiled an application under Section 9of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 forRestitution of Conjugal Rights. You are hereby required to appearin this Court, in person, within 1month from the date of publication ofthis Summon/ Notice.WHEREAS the Ld. Court has fixedon 05.05.2022 at 10:30 A.M. forappearance of the parties and to fileshow- cause/ written statement bythe respondent.If the respondent fails to appear onthe date and time fixed above, thecase will be heard ex-parte.By Order of the LD. Court,Sheristadar, Family Court, Calcutta.

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Under the joint operation ofSTF field unit Prayagraj

and Ahraura police four drugsmugglers were arrested andone quintal ganja was recov-ered on Wednesday. STF’s fieldunit Prayagraj came to the dis-trict and sought the help ofAhraura police. While check-ing vehicles at ChitvishramTiraha under Ahraura policestation the team spotted twosuspicious vehicles. On search-ing them police recovered onequintal of ganja along with fivemobile phones from them andarrested four persons, includ-ing Ganesh Chaubey, a residentof Chakdhanva underKaptanganj police station inAzamgarh, Ajay Yadav ofChaklalganj under Jeeyanpurpolice station in Azamgarh,Krishna Kumar Sahu, a resi-

dent of Ward No 9 KireetparaKirara under Masturi policestation in Bilaspur,Chhattisgarh, and a resident ofIndralok Colony underAkbarpur police station inAmbedkarnagar. After regis-tering the case, the policeseized the vehicles and sent theaccused to jail.

SUICIDE: A youngwoman committed suicide byhanging herself in an areaunder Katra Kotwali policestation on Wednesday night.Ram Lakhan, a resident ofNaua Tola under Kotwali Katra,informed the police that hisdaughter Sapna (24), hangedherself from the ceiling fan inthe house due to family dispute.On getting information policereached the spot, took thebody into custody for com-pleting the legal formalities.

A R R E S T E D : D e h a t

Kotwali police arrested anaccused of rape on Thursday. Ina first information report (FIR)lodged on March 29 one per-son had alleged that theaccused had raped his daugh-ter. Taking action police arrest-ed the accused from RajkumarMaurya from Samogara bypasson Thursday.

Meanwhile Adalhat policearrested two accused of assault-ing a person on Thursday.Ekhlak, a resident of Shahpurvillage had lodged the FIR onWednesday alleging that theaccused had assaulted him. Aafter investigation a case wasregistered under Section 308 ofIPC. Acting on the case thepolice arrested the accusedpersons on Thursday and sentthem to jail.

Meanwhile, in anotherincident a teenager, AnkushPrajapati(16), a resident of

Baghaura village, who was onhis way to a field was run overby a train while crossing therailway track in an area underJigna police station onThursday. On getting infor-mation about the matter thepolice reached the spot, tookthe body into custody andcompleted the legal formalities.

RECOVERED: As manyas 24 head of cattle were recov-ered by Padari police onThursday. S-I Naseem Khanduring routine patrolling wastipped off by an informer aboutthe presence of smugglers alongwith cattle near the railwaytrack in Dhanahi village.Thereafter police raided theplace and recovered the cattle.However, no arrest could bemade. Police registered a caseunder relevant sections of lawand completed the necessarylegal formalities.

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Shubham Kumar Seth hasbeen appointed as the state

co-secretary of Akhil BhartiyaVidyarthi Parishad (ABVP),student wing of Bhartiya JanataParty (BJP), for the third con-secutive time. Seth assured theleadership to continue his sin-cere efforts for strengtheningthe organisation.

In the 61st convention ofKashi Prant of ABVP, newexecutive was declared by theelection officer Dr RajendraTiwari. In it Dr Suchita tripathiwas elected as the president ofKashi Prant of organisation,Atendra Singh as its secretarywhile Sudhanshu Yadav as costate secretary.

Shubham Kumar Seth wasalso elected as co-state secre-tary of ABVP for the third timein a row. On his election Seth

extended his gratitude to thenational general secretary oforganisation Nidhi Tripathi,regional organising secretary ofeastern UP region GhanshyamShahi and other senior leaders.He assured that he would con-tinue his sincere efforts forstrengthening the organisationin the state.

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The activists associatedwith the campaign for Right toHealth on Friday staged aprotest at district headquartershere against the hike in theprices of essential medicinesand demanded its roll back inthe larger interest of commonpeople. The activists who areassociated with the campaignfor Right to Health gathered atdistrict headquarter and raisedtheir voice against the hike in

the prices of essential medi-cines and submitted a memo-randum to the district admin-istration to be forwarded to thePrime Minister demanding theimmediate withdrawal of theprice hike.

The NationalPharmaceutical PricingAuthority (NPPA) has recent-ly recommended an increaseof around 11 per cent in theprice of about 800 essentialmedicines of the diseases suchas diabetes, blood pressure,allergy, anaemia, tuberculosis,migraine, asthma, infection,etc from the new financialyear which will cause a majorfinancial burden on commonpeople. At the time when thepeople are already facingfinancial crisis due to thepandemic and rising inflation,the increase in prices of med-icines is an inhuman and

impractical decision, they saidand added that it is morepainful for common peopleand the increase will alsohave an adverse impact on thesenior citizens. Earlier, theprice of medicines wasincreased hardly from one totwo per cent, for example, theincrease in the price of med-icines in the year of 2019 wastwo per cent while the same in2020 was merely 0.5 per centbut this time, it reached 11 percent which is highly con-demnable, they said and urgedthe Prime Minister to makethe Right to Health a law,make health services better,affordable and accessible.They also demanded theimmediate roll back of pricehike and submitted a memo-randum of demands to the dis-trict administration to be for-warded to the Prime Minister.

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After two year long restric-tions due to coronavirus

pandemic this year it is expect-ed that a heavy rush of devo-tees will throng various templesof goddesses during the nextnine days of Vasantik (alsoknown as Chaitra) Navratri,starting from Saturday. Thoughas per the tradition, on the firstday of this Navratri, the devo-tees offer prayers atMukhnirmalika Gauri temple(Hanuman temple of Gaighat)but generally heavy rush is alsoseen at Shailputri temple(Alaipura) apart from DurgaMandir (Durgakund).

This religious city has sep-arate temples of all the nineDevis and nine Gauris wherethe devotees offer prayers ondifferent days of Shardiya andVasantik Navratra respectively.Preparations have already start-ed at all these temples of Gauriswhich are expected to see arush of devotees during thenext nine days, despite scorch-ing heat ranging around 40degree Celsius. On the secondday of this Navratri, the devo-tees offer prayers at JyesthGauri temple at Saptasagar(Karnaghanta) while on thethird day at Saubhagya Gauri

(Satyanarayan temple,Gyanvapi which is now a partof Vishwanath Corridor),fourth day at Shringar Gauri(adjacent to GyanvapiMosque), fifth day atVishalakshi Gauri(Dharmakoop, Meerghat),sixth day at Lalita Gauri (LalitaGhat), seventh day at BhavaniGauri (Shri Ram temple,Annapurna temple), eighthday at Mangala Gauri(Panchganga Ghat) and ninthday at Mahalaxmi Gauri(Laxmi Kund).

Meanwhile, heavy rush ofdevotees was seen in various

markets where the people whoinstall kalash at their homesduring the Navratra purchasedvarious puja and vrat (fasting)related articles. Besides, prepa-rations are also going on at dif-ferent places where pro-grammes will be organised towelcome the new year as perHindi Calendar (Navsavatsar).Like the previous years, theNavsavatsar programme will beheld at 5.49 am at Kedar Ghatin which Chief Medical Officerof Banaras Hindu University(BHU) Dr Vijay Nath Mishrawill be the chief guest whileMahant of Maha Mrityunjaya

Mahadev temple Pt KishanDixit will be guest of honour.The function will be presidedover by SwamiA v i m u k t e s h w a r a n a n dSaraswati. Apart from GaneshVandana and Surya Namaskar,the release of SanataniPanchang andShankaracharya Digdarsikawill also be done.

As during the Navratra, itis expected that a large num-ber of devotees will also visitVindhyachal in Mirzapur dis-trict, about 65 kilometres fromhere, Roadways has made allpreparations running its busesfrequently from Cantt depot.

Besides, Indian Railwayshave also decided to stopmany long running trains atMaihar Devi during the peri-od. Not only this, IndiGo air-lines started its direct flightfrom Varanasi to Jammu forthree days a week, and on thevery first day on Thursday,about 43 passengers used theflight and majority of themwere willing to offer prayers atMaa Vaishno Devi during theVasantik Navratra. Besides,two day cultural programmeunder Chaitra Mahotsav will beorganised from Saturdayevening at Nagari NatakMandali.

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Banaras Locomotive Works(BLW) created a history by

setting a new record manufac-turing the highest number oflocomotives till date during afinancial year in 2021-22. Atotal of 367 locomotives weremanufactured during thefinancial year, including thefour which were exported toMozambique. These 367 loco-motives include 31 passengerlocomotives WAP7, 332freight locomotives WAG9and four exported toMozambique.

During the financial year,BLW received �60.68 crorefrom exported locos and atotal of �704 crore since 2011.Besides, it earned �1,837 crorefrom non-railway customerstill date since 2011. In the year2021-22, BLW generated rev-enue of �6.09 crore fromexported locomotive parts asagainst �1.08 crore in theprevious year 2020-21, whichis an increase of 464 per cent.Similarly, the revenuereceived from non-railwaycustomers from the supply of

locomotive parts was �16.4crore as compared to �8.29crore in the previous year,which was an increase of 98.6per cent.

During the year BLW alsocontinued making its pres-ence in Africa by exportingdiesel locomotives toMozambique. For these capegauge diesel locomotives, thecrank-case assembly, which ismost important item of theengine, is made in-house atBLW. These locomotives arecurrently successfully beingoperated as multiple units tohaul coal from coal mines andthese locomotives were for-mally inaugurated by thePresident of Mozambique inthe presence of the Presidentof Zimbabwe at Beira onFebruary 11.

This threw the spotlighton BLW and catapulted it asa trustworthy partner andlocomotive manufacturingbrand. As a result, a five-mem-ber high-level delegation ofNational Railways ofZimbabwe along with the offi-cials of RITES visited the BLWrecently.

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Continuing their non-coop-eration movement on

Friday against alleged corrup-tion at the top level of man-agement in power corpora-tions, dictatorship of the man-agement and their exploitation,the engineers and junior engi-neers of the Power depart-ment reiterated their decisionto go on mass leave for threedays i.e. on April 4, 5 and 6.They cautioned that if themanagement exploits any engi-neer and employee because oftheir movement, they will beforced to take direct action andthe management will beresponsible for it. The engi-neers and junior engineerscontinued their ongoing non-

cooperation movement for twohours between 3.00 and 5.00pm. The engineers and juniorengineers reiterated their alle-gation that there was rampantcorruption at top level of man-agement in power corpora-tions of the state. They allegedthat the management is show-ing dictatorial attitude and alsoexploiting the engineers andemployees. Regional secretaryof UP Rajya Vidyut ParishadAbhiyanta Sangh Jagdish Patelalleged that the Power depart-ment suffered a loss of about�350 crore in the financialyear 2021-2022 and added thatthe generation loss in the pre-sent time is major financial losson the people of the state andthis is a matter of serious con-cern. On the other hand, cen-

tral deputy general secretary ofRajya Vidyut Parishad JuniorEngineers Sangathan, UttarPradesh, Neeraj Bind allegedthat there is an acute crisis ofmeters in DISCOM because ofthe mismanagement of topmanagement of corporationsand about 6,000 applicationsfor the new connection arepending on Jhatpat portal ofDISCOM of PVVNL and ofthem, about 2,000 applicationsfor new connections are pend-ing for more than one monthdue to unavailability of metre.

Vice-president of SanghChandra Shekhar Chaurasiaalleged that the management ofstate power corporationsindulged in rampant corrup-tion in the procurement of soft-ware for ERP system and pur-

chasing of electricity. The engi-neers and junior engineersurged the new Energy Ministerof the state Arvind KumarSharma to intervene in thematter to develop a healthfunctioning in the department.If their grievances are notaddressed at the earliest, theengineers and junior engineerswould be forced to go on massleave on April 4, 5 and 6 as theassociation is receiving appli-cations for leave on a large scaleand they would be submitted tothe management soon, theysaid. Among those joined themovement at the office of MDof PVVNL situated inBhikharipur here were RatneshBharti, Sunil Kumar Yadav,Gulab, Manoj Kumar, Sunil,and Chandresh Upadhyaya.

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Anticipating that volume ofdevotees would be increas-

ing manifold at city-basedprominent temples dedicatedto Goddess Durga during thisNavratri season, the templesmanagement committees havefocussed on crowd manage-ment amidst strict following ofcovid-19 protocol. Assumingthat thousands of devotees ofall age groups would be visit-ing prominent temples includ-ing Maa Kalyanai Devi, MaaAlopi Devi and Maa LalitaDevi this year after a gap of twoyears, temples managementcommittees have chalked outadequate security and crowdmanagement plans. For thepast two years, the strength ofdevotees was limited due tocovid-19 pandemic. Apart fromcrowd management, templemanagements have alsodevised plans for the properdisposal of waste when the

temples generate tonnes offlower waste during the festivaland sending the consignmentto turn it into compost with thehelp of natural substances.Chief priest of Maa KalyaniDevi temple, Pt Shyam JiPathak said that the volume ofdevotees would surely beincreasing manifold duringNavratri compared to past two

years. Temple authorities wouldalso be coordinating with localpolice authorities and assigningduties to volunteers so thatcovid-19 protocol is followedstrictly.“We have appealed todevotees to wear masks whilevisiting temples and maintainsocial distancing,” he added.Pathak also said that taking acue from the volume of crowd

during Sheetla Ashtami cele-brated on March 25 whenthousands of devotees visitedtemples, temple managementhave started their preparationto deal with the influx of devo-tees”. Management authoritieshave decided that there wouldbe separate entry and exitpoints for devotees and volun-teers with the help of policewould be regulating the flow ofcrowd on the campus of promi-nent temples. However, templesare making elaborate arrange-ments to celebrate the Navratrifestival beginning from April 2.A series of special puja,anusthan , yajna, keerta\ bha-jan and other religious activi-ties would be performed dur-ing the Navratri period. Priestof another temple said,“Management committee withthe help of local police havemade special arrangements forregulation of devotees andcovid-19 protocol.”

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In a shocking incident, twoyouths were drowned while

they were plucking Mahuaunder a tree on the banks of thepond and in the meantime theyslipped and fell in the pond inthe Handia police station areaof Gangapar. The major acci-dent happened when they werenot found here for a long time,their family members becameapprehensive. When a searchwas launched in the pond, thebodies of both the boys wererecovered. After this accident,a gloomy atmosphere pre-vailed in the village alongwith the relatives of the chil-dren. With the help of Handiapolice and divers who reachedthe spot, the bodies of both theboys were pulled out from thepond. The Police are investi-

gating the matter. 11-year-oldson Ansh Tiwari of GulabShankar Tiwari, and 10-year-old son Yas of Kripa ShankarTiwari, residents of MataPrasad Ka Pura village, wardnumber one of Baraut town ofHandia Kotwali area, werepicking up and plucking the

Mahua on the banks of thepond on Friday. Suddenlyboth of their feet slipped dueto which they fell into the deepwater of the pond. On theother hand, when Ansh Tiwariand Yash Tiwari did notappear even after a long time,the family members got upset.

They started looking for them.The people around had seenthem near the pond, so it wasfeared that both of them haddrowned in the pond.Meanwhile, the police reachedthe spot on getting the infor-mation and asked the divers tofind them in the pond. Diverstook out the bodies of AnshTiwari and Yash Tiwari fromthe pond. The family memberswere shocked to see Ansh andYash's dead body. When thepolice tried to take the deadbody, the family members andthe villagers refused. On gettinginformation, police and admin-istrative officers also reachedalong with the force of manypolice stations. The officerssomehow pacified the peopleafter persuading them.Currently, the police are prob-ing the matter.

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The Allahabad University(AU) administration has

decided to open the CentralLibrary, located on the Artscampus of the varsity, as a read-ing library even on Sundaysand holidays for the benefit ofthe students.

However, the facility ofusing the library as a lendinglibrary (wherein books areissued and returned) would befunctional only from Mondaysto Fridays.

“The decision has beentaken to keep the library open

for students from 8am to 9pmfrom Monday to Saturday andalso keep it accessible to stu-dents from 10am to 6pm onSundays and holidays. A noti-fication in this regard has beenissued and the new system hascome into effect,” informedAU librarian BK Singh.

Notably, the library wasclosed during the entire coro-na period. The students werecontinuously demanding theopening of the library. On thedemand of the students, vice-chancellor Prof SangitaSrivastava finally took the deci-sion that would impact over

23,000 students of the univer-sity. The decision has come asthe students yet again demon-strated in front of the library inthis regard on Monday andsubmitted a memorandum tothe librarian, demanding thatthe library be kept open 24hours a day as being done inmost top higher and techni-cal educational institutionsof the country for the benefitof the students.Universitysources said that though theprotest was held at the libraryon Monday, the l ibrar yauthorities had sent a pro-posal to this effect early this

month for approval by theVC. As the VC granted herapproval, the same has beenimplemented.

The librarian said thelibrary would be open for stu-dents from 8 am to 9pm fromMonday to Saturday and evenremain open on most holi-days and Sundays from 10 amto 6 pm.“However, the librarywill remain completely closedon Republic Day,Independence Day, MahatmaGandhi’s birth anniversarybesides festivals of Holi, Eid-ul-Fitr, Vijayadashami, Diwaliand Christmas,” said Singh.

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United College ofEngineering and Research

(UCER), Naini, Prayagraj willnow work in five villages oftrans-Yamuna region for theirgrowth and development.These villages have been adopt-ed under Unnat BharatAbhiyaan (UBA), the flagshipprogram of Ministry ofEducation (MOE),Government of India, aiming atenriching the rural India.

These villages includeMugari, Karchhana, Mavaiya,Manaiya Kacchar and Kacchar

Parasa. Dean, Student Welfare,UCER of United Group ofInstitutions (UGI) Prof NanditaPradhan said that a proposal inthis regard was sent by theElectronics andCommunication Engineering(ECE) Department of UCER,following a notification issuedby MOE in January 2022 inwhich it had invited highereducational institutions (bothcentral and state, public andprivate) from across the coun-try. She said that in the notifi-cation, the MOE has askedhigher educational institutionsto understand and work in

rural areas customizing theavailable technologies as perthe local needs and also theimplementation of existinggovernment programs in aproper way. After goingthrough the proposal in whichthe names of five villages hadalso been mentioned, the MOEapproved the same and sent anapproval letter in this regard inthe last week of March, 2022,she said.

According to her, manyactivities including householdsurvey, identification of majorproblems and preparation of aplan of action with the help of

village development officersand representatives of villages,and ensuring public participa-tion in the government pro-grams among others will haveto be completed and imple-mented in a set period of time.

Program coordinator,UCER Dr Venktesh Mishrasaid that this will be the firsttime when UCER, in associa-tion with local administration,will be working for the flagshipprogram of MOE providing theinstitution an opportunity toexperience, understand andenhance the rural lives underthe UBA program.

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Showing their outstandingperformances in the 86th

All India Railway AthleticsChampionship held inKolkata from March 29-31under the aegis of EasternRailway Sports Federation,both male and female athletesof Banaras LocomotiveWorks (BLW) team per-formed excellently. Jyobatiand Rekha Singh won goldand silver medals respective-ly in hammer throw whileDaya Shankar Patel got silvermedal in 20 kilometres walkand Ajay Kumar Bindclaimed silver medal in 1,500metres race.

Not only these athletes,but the wrestlers of BLWalso performed well in the62nd All India RailwayWrestling Championship heldin Gorakhpur (on March 26-27) and in Jabalpur (March30-31). As many as threewrestlers of BLW claimed

bronze medals and they are –Jagdish Prasad in 60 kgweight category, Deepak (57kg) and Kishan Kumar (120kg).

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violence on a massive scalethat shook Bangladesh.

The United States andother western countries,which had become extreme-ly uneasy since the late 1990sover the medieval, retrogres-sive polices of the TalibanGovernment in Afghanistan,and the al-Qaeda’s terroriststrikes against the US andother western countries,pressed hard on Begum Zia’sGovernment to act. More seri-ous efforts followed the ascentto power of the second AwamiLeague-led Government, withSheikh Hasina as PrimeMinister, in 2009. The resul-tant measures caused somesubsidence in lawlessness,and the terrorist organisationsto go underground.

Two terrorist organisa-tions that rose to salience intheir place and made theirexistence known are Ansar-alIslam, earlier known asAnsarullah Bangla Team,affiliated to Al Qaeda in theIndian Subcontinent (AQIS),and Daesh affiliated to theparent Islamic State in Iraqand Syria (ISIS). They haveplayed a major role in themurder of bloggers, whichbegan with the killing ofAhmed Rajib Haider inDhaka on February 15, 2013.

The attacks on bloggers

followed a series of develop-ments that began with anamendment of theInternational Crimes(Tribunals) Act of 1973 enact-ed for investigation into theactivities — and prosecution of— persons guilty of genocide,crimes against humanity, warcrimes and crimes under inter-national law, during theLiberation War. The Act wasamended in 2009 and twoInternational Crimes Tribunalswere established in 2010 and2012 respectively to try warcriminals and collaborators.Jama’at and allied organisa-tions, whose leaders had col-laborated with the Pakistanisand perpetrated unspeakableatrocities themselves, spranginto violent opposition whichgrew in spread and intensity assentences were announced.

Others, however, felt thatthe sentences were not harshenough. Matters came to ahead when Abdul QuaderMollah, assistant secretary,Jama’at, was sentenced to lifeimprisonment on February 5,2013, on six counts of crimesagainst humanity. While theJama’at reacted violently, large-scale protests broke outdemanding the death sentenceto Mollah and others convict-ed of war crimes. Raising thesedemands, thousands of people,

a majority of them studentsand youth, began collecting atDhaka’s Shahbag intersection.The gathering became massiveand the movement spread toother parts of Bangladesh.Finally, Bangladesh’s SupremeCourt overturned the verdictand sentenced Mollah to death.He was hanged in a Dhaka jailon December 12, 2013.

Opponents of the warcrimes trials responded withmurder. As seen above,machete-wielding activists ofthe Ansarullah Bangla Team(subsequently Ansar-al Islam),killed blogger Ahmed RajibHaider, who had been activein the Shahbag gathering, inDhaka on February 15, 2013.Other killings followed. Thosemurdered included not onlybloggers but LGBT activists,Shias, Hindus academics —indeed, all opposed to reli-gious bigotry and supportiveof humanism, secularism andrationalism. Professor Ali Riazwrote in ‘Bangladesh: IslamistMilitancy, Democracy Deficitand Where to Next?’ in AlJazeera (June 28, 2016), “Atleast 49 people have beenkilled in the last 17 months.”The objective was simple — tocreate a climate of terror inwhich nobody would speakout against the warped world-view of fundamentalist terror-ists and allied organisations.

Resolute counter-terroristoperations, galvanised by thedastardly attack on the HoleyArtisan Bakery in Dhaka onJuly 1, 2016, in which 20 per-sons, including 18 foreignersand women, were savagelykilled along with five terroristskilled by Bangladeshi Armycommandos, have caused theviolence to ebb. Nevertheless,it continues — the anti-Hinduriots from October 13 to 19last year, during which atleast 11 persons, includingseven Hindus, were killed, wasclearly the work of Islamistterrorist organisations. SheikhHasina’s Government, whichtook stern action, needs to bevigilant.

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

�� Sir — This has reference to ‘The goldenjubilee pangs of AIADMK’ (March 31).Thecharismatic and yet ruthless bonded sub-servience enforced relentlessly byJayalalithaa over her cadre during herundisputed reign had left a torn legacy.Amma had controlled the party’s funds,every single MLA /office bearer, executivepower as well as the public sentiment. Sansa demarcation between party and the exec-utive and in a bid to usurp the sceptre, thethree emergent heirs Sasikala, EPS andOPS had fallen out among themselves. Theabsence of the dynasty of Amma is nowseen to underscore its much-debatedutility in Indian politics.

And the current goings-on in theAIADMK have been posing a Catch-22situation for its three factions. Sasikala’sincarceration did provide the party anopportunity to bifurcate the party andexecutive functions for a while. But thisdétente ended with the return of Sasikalato active politics. And all this time, the rivalDMK marshalled its resources,smoothened its own internal rifts andswept away the State in the last electionand its subsequent triumph in local bodyelections has left the AIADMK dispirited.

R Narayanan | Navi Mumbai

�� Sir — It’s good news for the North-Eastwhen the Government announced reduc-tion of disturbed areas under the con-tentious AFSPA in Assam, Nagaland andManipur from April 1, a decision wel-comed by the political leadership of thethree States but greeted with cautious opti-mism by others, who wanted the dracon-ian law to be repealed in entirety. It is tobe noted that reduction in areas underAFSPA is the result of the improved secu-rity situation and fast-tracked developmentand also several agreements were signedwith militant groups to end insurgency.

As we are aware, AFSPA has been inforce for decades in the three northeast-ern States to assist the armed forces oper-ating there to tackle insurgency as the Actempowers security forces to conduct

operations and arrest anyone without awarrant besides giving immunity fromarrest and prosecution to the security per-sonnel even if they shoot someone dead.Manipur’s human rights activist IromChanu Sharmila waged the most remark-able fight against the law with her 16-yearhunger strike before giving up her peace-ful resistance on August 9, 2016. The dis-turbed area notification under AFSPA wascompletely removed from Tripura in2015 and Meghalaya in 2018.

Yash Pal Ralhan | Jalandhar

� �� Sir —The convention on Rights of Personswith Disabilities has specially looked intomany crippling human disabilities anddeformities so that our brothers and sis-ters can integrate themselves into themainstream and pro-actively participatein deliberations. In addition to technolo-gy, education and employment play majorparts in securing the people with physi-cal and mental disabilities. A developmen-tal disorder that it is, a person with autism

tends to withdraw into a shell due toimpaired ability to communicate with thesurroundings. Also termed AutismSpectrum Disorder (ASD), speech andnon-verbal interaction is seriously ham-pered in autism, compelling the affectedperson to go through repetitive behaviour.

Diagnosable as early as one year, prop-er scientific intervention can mitigate thedevelopmental problems to a large extent.The wide spectrum of autism also meansan individual can live with the twoextremes — seriously challenged or per-fectly normal. The puzzling ways ofautism, which often goes undetected tilllater life, have made the disorder a pro-fessional challenge. There are specific mile-stones in a child’s developmental curve,and parents should know what to expectof their little ones at the appropriate stages.The aim of professionals is to improve thechild’s quality of life.

Ganapathi Bhat | Akola

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The Sylhet Anti-Terrorism SpecialTribunal sentenced fourpersons to death for

killing writer-blogger AnantaBijoy Das, in Sylhet, Bangladesh,on May 12, 2015. Of the four —Abul Khaer Rashid Ahmed,Abul Hossain alias AbulHussain, Haranur Rashid andFaisal Ahmed — Abul Khaer isin custody. The rest are abscond-ing. The judgment is significant.It focuses on the violent chal-lenge that extremist Islamistterrorist organisations pose toBangladesh and its secular,democratic humanist civil soci-ety, including bloggers who areoften atheists decrying religion.

Militant fundamentalistIslamist parties like the Jama’at-e-Islami Bangladesh (Jama’at)and associated organisations likeRazakars, al-Badr and al-Shams,which collaborated with, andparticipated in, the horrific atroc-ities perpetrated by the PakistaniArmy during the 1971 LiberationWar, crawled into the woodwork,as some of their leaders fledabroad, after Bangladesh’s liber-ation on December 16, 1971.They resurfaced following SheikhMujibur Rahman’s assassinationon August 15, 1975, and wereactively promoted by the regimesof the two military dictators,Generals-turned-President Zia-ur Rahman and HM Ershad, andthe pseudo-civilian Governmentswhich wielded power periodical-ly, that followed. The supportcontinued under the twoGovernments headed by PrimeMinister Khaleda Zia (1991-96and 2001-06) — the second incoalition with the Jama’at.

The elements clusteredaround the Jama’at and alliedorganisations received a boostfrom the Mujahideen’s victoryover Soviet forces occupyingAfghanistan (December 27,1979 to February 15, 1989) andthe victory of the Taliban, whichwas formed in 1994 and came torule almost the whole ofAfghanistan from September1997. Organisations like theHarkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami-Bangladesh (HUJIB), Jama’at-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB)and Jagrata Muslim JanataBangladesh (JMJB) unleashed

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ed in the BJP manifesto and target-ted at fostering socioeconomicgrowth across the regions and to gen-erate job and self-employmentopportunities.

The estimated financial outgo ofover �50,000 crore, although spreadover coming financial years, has tobe seen in the context of the UP bud-get size and the plethora of financiallimitations and constraints thereon.

On December 16, 2021, theYogi Government 1.0 had tabled anInterim Budget for UP of more than�5.45 trillion for 2022-23 financialyear since UP polls were thenapproaching. An Interim Budget ismeant to ensure that ongoing devel-opment projects as also sundry gov-ernment expenditure are adequate-ly met during elections - when themodel code of conduct is in force -and also during later days, when anew government is taking shape.

Now, Yogi cabinet 2.0 will pre-sent a Full Budget in the comingmonths. The full-fledged annualfinancial statement would include theroadmap of raising the financialresources to translate the manifestovision on the ground. In the UPInterim Budget, the Yogi government1.0 had sought grants, through voteon account, for just �1.68 trillioneffective for the first four months(Apr-July) of 2022-23. This wasestimated to garner sufficient fundsfrom the consolidation funds for thenew Government before a FullBudget could be tabled in the house.

According to the InterimBudget, the capital and revenueexpenditure were pegged at near-ly �1.31 trillion and �4.14 trillionrespectively. The Budget had esti-mated total receipts of a little lessthan Rs 5.45 trillion, including cap-ital and revenue receipts.

The projected revenue receiptsof �4.53 trillion included more than

�2 trillion of the State’s own tax col-lection apart from �1.26 trillion as itsshare in central taxes. Besides, non-tax revenue and central schemesupport kitty was calculated at morethan �23,400 crore and �95,000crore respectively. Although, onpaper, the State appears to be in a fair-ly comfortable financial position, yetthe government has already beenrunning a slew of flagship infra pro-jects, including expressways, as wellas public welfare schemes, includingfree ration etc that eats away amajor portion of the revenues.

The UP Interim Budget had esti-

mated almost �90,000 crore of cred-it line from different sources during2022-23. The public debt has to bekept under check apart from provi-sioning for current debt servicing.

The surging oil prices followingthe Russia-Ukraine war and the pan-demic hit economic recovery are twomajor areas of concerns for anyGovernment. Hence, theGovernment would need a dexter-ous planning on the budgetary frontwith adequate provisions put inplace to swiftly adjust its receipts andexpenditure equation in unforeseenexigent situations.

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Russian President VladimirPutin may not be able tosave himself, but he may

already have saved anotherdespot, Hungary’s PrimeMinister Viktor Orbán. There’san election in Hungary nextSunday, and it looks like Orbánmay actually win it. A monthago he was trailing the opposi-tion badly, but then Russiainvaded Ukraine.

Hungary is one of the new-model ‘soft’ dictatorships thatlook like democracies to theaverage passer-by. After all,there are no secret police, youcan criticise the governmentpublicly, and they actually countall the votes in the elections.Sometimes they find a few extravotes as well, but Orbán reallyhas won three more or less fairelections in a row.

Yet he actually is a dictator

(‘The Viktator’, some peoplecall him) despite the free elec-tions. They don’t need to berigged in advance, becauseOrbán controls almost all themedia that the voters get theirinformation from. And he does-n’t even need to win a majorityof the votes, because the electiondistricts are gerrymandered inhis favour.

He eliminated the ‘liberal’media by making them unprof-itable (no government advertis-ing, expensive lawsuits, etc.), andthen getting rich friends to buythem up at bargain prices andsing his praises in them. Over90% of the Hungarian media arepro-Orbán, although there is noformal censorship.

Orbán’s greatest success wasextending citizenship to over amillion ethnic Hungarians wholive as minorities in surround-

ing countries - and also givingthem access to generousHungarian social benefits. Theymay never have been toHungary, but they make upone-tenth of the electorate, theytake the money - and 95% ofthem vote for Fidesz.

In the media, there is aceaseless torrent of hate propa-ganda against minorities (Jews,Roma, and gays) and especiallyimmigrants. For a dozen yearsthe country has been told that

Fidesz is their only defenceagainst an Islamised Hungarywhere real Hungarians would bean oppressed minority, althoughno sane Muslim would ever vol-untarily choose to live there.

A depressingly large num-ber of Hungarians, mostly older,poorly educated or rural,believed the whole package, butOrbán’s victories also dependedon the fact that the oppositionparties were chronically at warwith one another. This time he

was in serious trouble, becauseall six of them had managed tocome together and back thesame candidate.

They couldn’t agree onmuch else, so the challenger theychose was a rather colourlesscentre-right politician calledPéter Márki-Zay. Nevertheless,enough people were fed up withthe cronyism and the lies that bya month ago Fidesz and theopposition alliance were run-ning neck-and-neck. And thenRussia invaded Ukraine.

That should have been a dis-aster for Orbán, who rivalsDonald Trump in his fanboyadulation of Putin. He evenhad to slam into reverse gear andlet 450,000 Ukrainian refugeesinto the country. That’s only afifth as many as Poland hastaken, but it’s thirty times asmany as the United Kingdom

has accepted so he’s safely in themiddle of the European pack.

He was just as quick inswitching his foreign policynarrative. Instead of holdingoff the Muslim hordes, now hewas keeping Hungary out of thewar in Ukraine. “The oppositionhas lost its mind,” he said in rallyon 15 March.

“They would walk into acruel, bloody and protracted warand they want to sendHungarian troops and guns tothe front-line. We can’t let thishappen. Not a single Hungariancan get caught between theUkrainian anvil and the Russianhammer.”

It’s all nonsense, of course.The opposition coalition neversaid any such thing, andHungary is a member of theNATO alliance, which constant-ly declares that under no cir-

cumstances will it get directlyinvolved in the war in Ukraine.Hungary couldn’t send troopsinto Ukraine even if it wanted to.

But it worked. By mid-March Fidesz was leading theopposition alliance by a clear 8%,although more recent polls haveshown Orbán’s lead narrowing.For a people with a reputationfor being clever, even cunning -‘ the only people who can go intoa revolving door behind you,and come out of it in front ofyou’ - Hungarians are embar-rassingly naive.

Could this be a clue to whysome countries get seduced bythese manipulative would-beautocrats while others do not?Are Americans more naive thanthe Canadians? Are Russiansmore easily fooled thanUkrainians? Food for thought,but I’ve said enough.

�� !""�#$�$��%�$� �$��$& ��' ( ��)$*��+�!+,��-<)�.��"��/�6��.��=

(Gwynne Dyer’s new book is ‘The Shortest History

of War’. The views expressed are personal.)

5/��,2*�

�� 3+�"1"�,2� Populism is a global phenomenon,especially in democratic countries;and it gets disproportionately ampli-fied during elections. By definition,

populism could be summed up as cateringto the basic needs and aspirations of thecommon people. It is characterised withpublic announcements even if it means giv-ing scant attention to the underlying fiscalprudence or economic viability. Nonetheless,populism entails a cost. The schemes andprojects drafted in populist rhetoric couldbe made possible only through adequatefunding and planning.

The 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly elec-tions were no different with regards to thetime-tested populism template. In India,populist announcements are known tohave played a key role in determining pollingoutcomes. The electorate are believed togravitate to a political party which makessuperlative and fancy pre-poll promises.

Now that Yogi Adityanath 2.0Government has re-taken the reins of UP, thetough task of walking the tightrope betweenfiscal mathematics and populist waitlist hasbefallen the monk chief minister.

By doing simple calculations based onthe 2022 UP manifesto of the rulingBharatiya Janata Party (BJP) or ‘Lok KalyanSankalp Patra’, it is evident that the newGovernment would require a substantialbudgetary allocation of more than �50,000crore to fulfill its string of populist announce-ments and sops. Interestingly, the opposi-tion parties especially the Samajwadi Party(SP) and Congress had also promised themoon to the UP voters. However, their defeatat the hustings saved them from the com-plexities of drawing up an action plan to ful-fill the respective election plank.

Meanwhile, the schemes included in theBJP manifesto pertained to all key sectorsviz. agriculture, social security, dairy, sug-arcane, infrastructure, skill development,employment etc. The estimated expenditureon these heads would be in addition to thecommon public welfare programmes beingrun by the state Government.

Sample this: The BJP, in its manifesto,had promised to pump in Rs 25,000 crorein developing a robust network of cold chainand warehouses for the grading of majorhorticultural crops so that farmers getremunerative prices. The scheme would beknown as Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Agri-infrastructure Mission. Similarly, �10,000crore will be spent on another mega infrascheme, while nearly �5,000 crore would bespent on facilitating farm irrigation.

To further sweeten the deal, the saffronoutfit had promised to undertake a massive�5,000 crore modernisation scheme toupgrade the state sugar mills. This is aimedat enriching the UP sugar value chain giventhe fact that more than 4 million farm house-holds are directly associated with the sug-arcane farming and allied activities. Since,the manifesto was hammered out in thebackdrop of the farm stir, the documentreflected an evident agricultural footprint.

Moreover, budgetary allocations wouldalso be required for other schemes includ-

Farmers:(1) Free electricity for farmers

for agriculture in the next five years.(2) ?25,000 crore ‘Sardar

Vallabhbhai Patel Agri-Infrastructure Mission’ to set upcold chain centres, godowns, pro-cessing units across the State.

(3) Formulation of MinimumSupport Price (MSP) for wheat andrice.

(4) ?5000 crore to be spent onmodernisation of sugarcane mills.Payment to sugarcane farmerswithin 14 days and, in case of delay,payment to be done with interest.

(5) As many as 6 ‘Mega FoodParks’ to be developed in the State.

Women empowerment: (1) Under ‘Mukhya Mantri

Kanya Sumangala Yojana,’ financialaid will be hiked from ?15,000 to?20,000.

(2) Financial assistance of upto?1 lakh for marriage of girlsbelonging to poor families.

(3) Two free LPG cylinders forwomen under ‘Pradhan MantriUjjwala Yojana’ every Holi andDiwali.

(4) In public transport, freecommute for women passengersabove 60.

(5) ?1000 crore to be used for‘Mission Pink Toilet,’ while month-ly stipend for widows to be hikedto ?1500.

(6) CCTV cameras to beinstalled at public places and neareducational institutes. 3000 PinkPolice booths to be set up.

(7) Under UPPSC, number ofwomen in Government jobs to bedoubled.

Education: (1) ‘Mission Kayakalp’ to be

launched to make furniture such astable and benches in primaryschools.

(2) Modernisation of 30,000secondary schools, as well as col-leges, of the State.

(3) With modern infrastruc-ture and world-class facilities,universities, including Aligarh’sRaja Mahendra Pratap Universityand Maharaja Suheldev Universityin Azamgarh.

(4) Digital research institutes willbe set up in Lucknow and Noida.

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Rising prices of essentialmedicines and fuel figured

prominently in the Rajya Sabhaon Friday. Members, whoflagged these issues, urged theGovernment to immediatelyintervene and provide succor tothe poor.

Raising the issue of highprices of medicines, two RajyaSabha members also claimedthe government was insensitivetowards the common people.

John Brittas (CPM) saidprices of more than 800 med-icines are being increased by 11per cent effective April 1 whichwill adversely impact the com-mon man, and urged the gov-ernment to withdraw the hike.

Priyanka Chaturvedi (ShivSena) too joined the issue and

urged the central governmentto provide relief on the front."I'm sad because the life of thecommon man is becomingtough and much more difficult.Today's April 1 and already thepeople are reeling under theprice rise and every day petro-leum price is going up.

"But today...Another unfor-tunate thing is going to happen.The wholesale price of drugs ofmore than 800 items, which areessential for our survival, isbeing increased by 11 per cent,"Brittas said.

Terming the hike asunprecedented, the CPMmember pointed out that therehas never been such a steepincrease in the prices of drugsin the past.

Emphasising that people'shealth budget has already goneup, Brittas said an increase inprices of common illnesses, likefever, infections, heart disease,

and anaemia, would furtherimpact them.

The member told theHouse that he too was ill andavailed medical care because ofthe CGHS facility. "But thinkabout the vast chunk of thepopulation who doesn't haveany social security or healthinsurance. What is theirplight?" he wondered andurged the government to rollback the steep hike.

Chaturvedi pointed outthat while petrol, diesel, cook-ing fuel and even food arealready costly, medicines toohave become dearer. She saidthe cost of living is increasingevery day.

In a circular dated March25, the NationalPharmaceutical PricingAuthority had said based onthe wholesale price index, theannual change in the WPIworks out as 10.76607 per cent

during the calendar year 2021over the preceding year.

Among other issues,Shanta Chhetri (TMC)demanded minority status forHindus in Meghalaya. Shecited the Centre's assertion inthe Supreme Court that statescan consider granting Hindusminority status if they deem so.

Raising the issue during theZero Hour in the House,Chhetri said the Centre hastold the Supreme Court thatstates can consider grantingHindus the minority status ifthe community is not in amajority within their jurisdic-tion.

If Hindus are in minorityin a particular state they shouldbe able to establish and admin-ister educational institutions oftheir choice in keeping with therights granted to the minorityby the Constitution as per theCentre, she said.

��

Many schools under theEklavya Model

Residential Schools (EMRS)scheme, which was started in1997-98, are yet to be com-pleted even after more than twodecades, a Parliamentary panelhas pointed out.

The project was launchedto impart quality education toScheduled Tribes (ST) childrenin remote areas to enable themavail of opportunities in highand professional educationalcourses and get employment invarious sectors.

Of the 288 schools sanc-tioned in 1997-98, only 244schools could be made func-tional. A data furnished by theMinistry of Social Justice andEmpowerment showed that theconstruction work of only 202schools has been completed tilldate and the construction workof 20 schools is yet to begin,whereas construction work of66 schools is targeted to be com-pleted by October, 2024.

The data showed that theoriginal target, which aimed

that 452 new Eklavya ModelResidential Schools (EMRSs)including 12 Eklavya ModelDay Boarding School(EMDBS) would be set up inthe remaining 462 sub-dis-tricts by the year 2022 isnowhere near completion andthe target year stands revised as2025 now.

“Out of 452 schools pro-posed to be sanctioned as perthe phasing plan between2018-2019 to 2021-2022, only350 schools could be sanc-tioned and the remaining 102schools are remaining to besanctioned as the location forthese schools is yet to befinalised. The constructionwork of only 100 schools couldbegin till date whereas theconstruction work of 332schools is to begin by March2022, which has just passed",the data showed.

The ParliamentaryStanding Committee on SocialJustice and Empowerment,headed by Rama Devi, tabledits report on Friday, it is dis-appointing that very fewschools have their own build-

ings as only 20 schools havebeen made functional fromown buildings. 103 schools arefunctioning from alternatebuildings since 2018-19 till2021-22.

The report said that theCommittee was quite appre-hensive with regard to theachievement of target even byMarch 2025 as construction of252 schools is yet to begin. TheCommittee have been made tobelieve by the Ministry thatafter establishment of NationalEducational Society for TribalStudents (NESTS) on revamp-ing of the Scheme.

“The Committee are sur-prised to note that 3 Statesnamely Bihar, Tamil Nadu andWest Bengal have still notsigned MoU and are reluctantto shift to CBSE Board and areinsisting on continuation ofState Board Curriculum in theschools set up in their Stateswhereas the norms stipulatethat all the EMRSs set up are tobe affiliated with CBSE inorder to grant better sum perchild studying in these schools,”the report said.

��

The Directorate of Estate(DOE) has asked former

Education Minister RameshPokhriyal Nishank to vacate 27,Safdarjung Road, a bungalowthat was officially allotted toUnion Aviation MinisterJyotiraditya Scindia last year.Since Pokhriyal is no longer aminister, he is not entitled fora Type VIII bungalow.

This would be the fourtheviction in the past few days bythe DoE that saw Lok JanshaktiParty president and Lok SabhaMP Chirag Paswan removedfrom 12 Janpath bungalow,BJP Lok Sabha MP RamShankar Katheria removedfrom 7 Moti Lal Nehru and BJPminister P C Sarangi from 10Pandit Pant Marg.

Sources in the Ministry ofHousing and Urban Affairssaid that former educationminister ‘Nishank’ has been

served thrice show causenotice for refusing tovacate a bungalow allot-ted to him when he wasminister.

According to theguidelines of the DoE —the department underthe housing ministryresponsible for allocatinggovernment houses — aformer minister mustvacate the official bun-galow allotted to himwhen he was ministerafter a month of leavingoffice. But despiterepeated reminders, the sourcesalleged, Pokhriyal continued tocite various reasons for notvacating the bungalow, forcingthe housing ministry to issuethe show cause notices.

Nishank had earlier citedhealth reasons for not vacatingthe house. “We have shownother alternative bungalowsearmarked for MPs under the

general pool but he did not likethem,” added the official, whodid not want to be named.

The corner bungalow nearSafdarjung’s Tomb was home tothe Scindias for years. It wasearlier allotted to Scindia’s latefather, Madhavrao Scindia,when he was a Union minister.Jyotiraditya Scindia occupiedthe bungalow till 2019.

��

Winning four Rajya Sabhaseats out of 13 for which

polls were held on Thursdaythe BJP has for the first timecrossed the 100-mark in theupper house.

The BJP won four RajyaSabha seats from threeNortheastern states — Assam,Tripura and Nagaland and alsobecame the first party toachieve the feat after 1988.

After the recent round ofelection the BJP’s tally nowstands at 101.

The BJP achieved this featafter winning four seats out of13 for which polls were held onThursday. The saffron partyalliance partner United People'sParty Liberal (UPPL) won oneRajya Sabha seat from Assamat the expense of Congress,which fell victim to alleged

cross voting.The BJP has also increased

its members' tally in the UpperHouse from the region.

The Congresss' strengthhas reduced by five seats in therecent round of the Rajya Sabhapolls.

With the BJP crossing the100-mark in the Rajya Sabha,the opposition has been put outof the race for the VicePresident election in Augustthis year. The elections for thetwo Rajya Sabha seats in Assamand one in Tripura were heldon Thursday.

BJP candidate and itswomen wing state president S.Phangnon Konyak was electedunopposed to the lone RajyaSabha seat in Nagaland, mak-ing her the first woman fromthe state to get a berth in theParliament's Upper House.

��

The Lok Sabha was onFriday informed that only

10 States have come forwardto set up courts in rural areasunder the Gram NyayalayaAct to provide access to justiceto people at their doorsteps.

Giving this information,Union Minister S P SinghBaghel regretted that 15 stateshad considered the schemebut only 10 have so far optedfor it.

He was replying to a ques-tion from BJP MP AparajitaSarangi who had said 4.5 crorecases are pending in differentcourts and of them over 87 percent pendency cases are in thelower courts and there is needto expand the role of GramNyayalaya to deliver quick jus-tice.

At present, a total of 258Gram Nyayalayas (rural courts)are functioning even as notifi-cations had been issued for thesetting up of 476 GramNyayalayas, he added.

The Gram Nyayalaya Act2008 stipulates for establish-ment of courts at intermediatepanchayat level to provideaccess to justice to people attheir door steps.

The minister said it is notmandatory for the states toimplement the Act.

"It (implementation of theAct) is advisory," he said.

Sarangi had sought toknow from the governmentabout the steps being taken toset up Gram Nyayalayas in thecountry, stressing that there isan "urgent need" to increase thecapability of the country's jus-tice delivery system.

��

With almost two weeks togo for the remaining part

of the Budget Session inParliament, Congress presi-dent Sonia Gandhi has con-vened a meeting of theParliamentary Party onTuesday to discuss the currentpolitical situation, strategy inboth Houses of Parliament andthe way forward to corner thegovernment on range of issuesincluding price rise and diplo-matic relations.

Congress has been seekingto corner the Government onthe issue of rising inflation andhike in prices of petrol, dieseland LPG gas, besides the eco-nomic situation in the wake of

the Russia-Ukraine war.All Congress parliamen-

tarians in the Lok Sabha as wellas the Rajya Sabha will attendthe meeting in the central hallof Parliament scheduled onApril 5. While Sonia is beingnoticed as being vocal andraising issues herself frequent-ly after facing the heat of partycolleagues over massive assem-bly poll debacle recently, this isthe first meeting of theCongress Parliamentary Partyafter the assembly electionsresults.

Earlier she had convened ameeting of Congress WorkingCommittee to discuss on thepoll debacle and to own up theresponsibility for the humiliat-ing defeat. While anotherround of CWC is to be heldanytime this month, a ChintanShivir has also been proposedlater this month or early nextmonth. In between a meetingof the State Congress chiefs andgeneral secretaries were con-ducted last week to developstrategy to strengthen the partyand to do a series of protest on

price rise across the country. The CWC had unani-

mously decided that party pres-ident Sonia Gandhi shouldcontinue in the post till organ-isational polls after sheexpressed readiness to "makeany and every sacrifice" in theparty's interest.

Meanwhile the party hasextended the March 31 dead-line for its nationwide mem-bership drive to April 15. Themembership drive that startedon November 1 last year is bothin online and physical modeand was to continue till March31. The membership hascrossed 1.2 crore, according toa party source.

"The Congress presidenthas approved the proposal ofthe AICC GSs and Inchargesfor extension of the specialmembership drive for 15 days.The drive will now close onApril 15, 2022, without affect-ing the schedule ofOrganisational Electionsapproved by the CWC," AICCgeneral secretary, organisation,KC Venugopal said.

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Chief Justice of India JusticeNV Ramana on Friday said

there is an immediate require-ment for the creation of anindependent umbrella institu-tion, so as to bring variousagencies like the CBI, SFIO andED among others under oneroof,

“Unfortunately, our inves-tigative agencies still do nothave the benefit of being guid-ed by a comprehensive law.Need of the hour is the creationof an independent andautonomous investigativeagency,” the CJI said.

He suggested the creationof an overarching umbrella

body to also avoid multiplici-ty of procedures and streamlinefunctioning of police agenciesas also regaining public trust.

Justice Ramana articulatedthis in an address at the 19thDP Kohli Memorial Lecture“Democracy : Role andResponsibility of investigativeagencies” and also backedmodernization as well asaccountability of the inves-tigative agencies.

Kohli was the founderdirector of CBI.

Underscoring reform andmodernization of the policeapparatus, Justice Ramana said,“Reform of the police system islong overdue in our country.The Ministry of Home Affairshas itself recognized the glar-ing need of the same in the“Status Note on Police Reformsin India.”,

“Police reforms have beenon the agenda of Governmentsalmost since independence buteven after more than 50 years,the police is seen as selective-ly efficient, unsympathetic to

the under-privileged. It is fur-ther accused of politicizationand criminalization. In thisregard, one needs to note thatthe basic framework for polic-ing in India was made way backin 1861, with little changesthereafter, whereas the societyhas undergone dramaticchanges, especially in the postindependence times,” he quot-ed from the Home Ministry’sstatus report.

This body, he said, isrequired to be created under astatute, clearly defining itspowers, functions and juris-dictions. Such a law will alsolead to much needed legislativeoversight.

It is imperative for the

organization to be headed byan independent and impartialauthority, to be appointed by acommittee akin to the onewhich appoints the Director ofthe CBI. The head of the organ-isation can be assisted bydeputies who are specialists indifferent domains. Thisumbrella organisation will endmultiplicity of proceedings, hesaid.

A single incident thesedays gets investigated by mul-tiple agencies, often leading todilution of evidence, contra-diction in depositions, pro-longed incarceration of inno-cents. It will also save the insti-tution from being blamed as atool of harassment. Once anincident is reported, the organ-isation should decide as towhich specialised wing shouldtake up investigation.

“One additional safeguardthat needs to be built into thescheme, is to have separate andautonomous wings for prose-cution and investigation, inorder to ensure total indepen-

dence. A provision in the pro-posed law for annual audit ofthe performance of the insti-tution by the appointing com-mittee will be a reasonablecheck and balance, the ChiefJustice said, highlighting theneed for police bodies toreclaim social legitimacy andpublic trust. “The first step togain the same is to break thenexus with the political exec-utive,” he added.

“When the Director, CBI,Subodh Kumar Jaiswal came toinvite me for this Lecture, I toldhim very frankly that I mayhave to express some criticalopinions about the functioningof the police in India. Hope hehas not invited trouble by invit-ing me,” CJI Ramana said in hisbeginning remarks at the event.

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The Unified DistrictInformation System for

Education Plus (UDISE+) 2020-21 latest annual report has men-tioned dropout rate for sec-ondary level education to 14.6 percent. At the peak of the covidpandemic with school closures,247 million children were affect-ed in India.

Besides there has also beena rise in School Dropout Rates ofgirls in India which pose analarming situation as per a reportby UNICEF. “With the currentsituation, we might be risking alost generation of children whomay never return to school. Theimpact on girls is dispropor-tionately worse,” said YasumasaKimura, UNICEF IndiaRepresentative. It further said atleast 38 per cent of respondents

of a poll conducted onInternational Women’s Days saidthey knew of a girl who haddropped out of school. While 33per cent youth respondents saidthat the girls who had droppedout were engaged in domesticwork, 25 per cent reported thatthe dropouts had got married.

“This is indeed a matter ofgrave concern. It is critical that wework towards transitioning allchildren back into learning.UNICEF is supporting theGovernment of India in back-to-school campaigns, awareness andoutreach initiatives and learningrecovery programmes at schoolsand in the communities. Wemust not only bring children backto school but also focus onputting strong remedial learninginitiatives in place to ensureretention and continuity of learn-ing,” said Kimura.

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In what could be called as theimpact of climate change

and is a cause of concern for theauthorities, the number ofStates in the country reportingextreme floods have increasedin just the last three years.

More worrying is that evenStates from Southern India arebecoming prone to this weath-er unpredictability induced byglobal warming.

The data tabled inParliament by the UnionMinistry of Jal Shakti recentlyreveals that in addition toexisting flood prone StatesAssam, Bihar and UttarPradesh, extreme floods (waterlevel above previous HighestFlood Level) were witnessed inKerala, Karnataka, Tamilnadu,Andhra Pradesh, Telangana,Odisha, Maharashtra,Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradeshand Rajasthan due to excess tolarge excess rainfall in thesestates combined with extreme-ly heavy rainfall in short dura-

tion.Sharing these disturbing

facts, Minister of State for JalShakti, Bishweswar Tudu in awritten reply in Lok Sabha saidthat floods are natural calami-ties that the country facesalmost every year, in varyingdegrees of magnitude.

“The occurrence of floodscan be attributed to various fac-tors, including wide variationsin rainfall both in time andspace with frequent departuresfrom the normal pattern, inad-equate carrying capacities ofrivers, river bank erosion andsilting of river beds, landslides,poor natural drainage in floodprone areas, snowmelt andglacial lake out-bursts, etc.”

The Central WaterCommission (CWC), which isthe nodal agency entrustedwith the task of flood forecast-ing and early flood warnings,has issued flood forecasts for331 forecasting stations (199river level forecast stations &132 dam/ barrage inflow fore-cast stations).

“These stations cover 20major river basins in 23 States& 2 Union Territories,” said theMinister According to experts,climate change has alreadystarted worsening the frequen-cy, intensity, and impacts ofsome types of extreme weath-er events. For example, sealevel rise increases the impactsof coastal storms and warming

can place more stress on watersupplies during droughts.

A report from the WorldMeteorological Organization(WMO) in last August said adisaster related to a weather, cli-mate or water hazard occurredevery day on average over thepast 50 years – killing 115 peo-ple and causing USD 202 mil-lion in losses daily.

It pointed out that thenumber of disasters hasincreased by a factor of fiveover the 50-year period, drivenby climate change, moreextreme weather and improvedreporting. But, thanks toimproved early warnings anddisaster management, the num-ber of deaths decreased almostthree-fold.

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The Government on Friday ruled outteaching regional languages in Army

Public Schools as it will put an unnecessaryburden on students as they have to frequentlychange cities because of the nature of the ser-vice of their parents.

Giving this information in the LokSabha, Minister of state for Defence Ajay Bhattsaid Army Public Schools (APS)were estab-lished to cater to education requirements forthe wards of Indian Army Personnel who hailfrom diverse backgrounds and regions of thecountry.

"Unlike other schools with students from theimmediate and extended

locality, all 136 Army Public Schools areenrolled primarily with wards of Indian Armypersonnel, who have been transferred-in fromanother location," he explained in a writtenreply.

Due to the nature of service, Indian Armypersonnel are transferred frequently, at shortnotice, and mostly in the middle of the acade-mic calendar and at times in field locations awayfrom their families, the minister noted.

"The relatively limited period of stay of fam-ilies with serving personnel in station and fre-quent transfer necessitated standardisationof thelanguages i.E. English, Hindi and Sanskrit whichwas undertaken since the inception of theschools in 1950," he mentioned.

The change of regional language in the mid-dle of an academic session will place an unnec-essary educational burden, in addition to emo-tional turmoil due to academic instability thatArmy wards have to endure when transferredinto a new environment every few years, Bhattsaid.

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The top brass of the Indian Army and officers ofJammu and Kashmir police on Friday flagged the

issue of terrorists taking refuge in masjids andmadrassas prior or after the act of committing ter-ror activities in an attempt to create communal dis-turbance during a joint security conference atAwantipore.

The recent terror attacks on civilians and secu-rity forces personnel were also discussed in detail dur-ing the crucial security meeting.

According to a Srinagar based Defencespokesman, "the alarming trend of the terrorists tak-ing refuge in Masjids and Madrassas prior or afterthe act of committing terror activities in an attemptto create communal disturbance was discussed dur-ing the conference".

The security Conference was chaired by theCorps Commander, Chinar Corps to discuss secu-rity related issues in the Valley. It was attended by allsenior Army including GOCs, Sector Commandersand COs as well as senior police officers in KashmirDivision including the IGP, DIGs North, Central andSouth Kashmir, SSPs and SPs of all districts.

According to the Defence spokesman, "theforces also voiced concern on children of young agebeing manipulated by people with nefarious designswith drugs and false narratives. The CorpsCommander and the IGP urged the parents to reachout to their children and help arrest this regressiveevil.

During the high level conference a detailed dis-cussion was also held on the smooth conduct of theAmarnath yatra beginning June 30. Defencespokesman said, "The yatra this year is expected todraw a large number of pilgrims as it is being resumedafter a gap of two years due to the COVID restric-tions. The agencies deliberated on the safety measuresto be put in place and synergised efforts at ensuringa smooth flow of traffic of yatris and provision ofadministrative and medical assistance from availableresources".

Meanwhile, a joint team of security forcesFriday also neutralised a Lashkar-e-Tayyeba terror-ist in Turkwangam area of Shopian.

According to a defence spokesman, "the Securityforces established an initial cordon around the hous-es in the village where the terrorist was suspected tohave been hiding. At around 10:30 pm, the terroristopened fire on the cordon parties from one of thehouses. The security forces reacted immediately byreturning fire and tightening the cordon around thehouse where the terrorist was hiding. While the cor-don was being tightened, the terrorist lobbed agrenade on the security forces causing injuries to twosoldiers of the Indian Army, who were subsequent-ly evacuated to 92 Base Hospital, Srinagar".

"Fire continued to be exchanged throughout thenight into the intervening morning of 01 Apr 22. Theterrorist was subsequently neutralized. A thoroughsearch of the house was conducted in the morningand on finding no other terrorists, the operation wascalled off. Warlike stores have been recovered from

the encounter area", Defence spokesman added.The slain terrroist has been identified as Muneeb

Ahmad Sheikh son of Shah Mohd Sheikh residentof Tak Mohalla Shopian, affiliated with proscribedterror outfit LeT.

As per police records the killed terrorist was acategorized terrorist and part of groups involved inseveral terror crime cases including attacks onPolice/SFs and civilian atrocities.Meanwhile, securityforces also busted a terror module of proscribed ter-ror outfit JeM by arresting 03 terrorist associates inPulwama.According to a police spokesman the ter-rorist associates have been identified as Owais Altafson of Altaf Hussain Ganai resident of Jandwal, AqibManzoor son of Manzoor Ahmad Mir resident ofGudoora and Waseem Ahmad Pandit son of GhMohammad Pandit resident of Karimabad Pulwama.

Preliminary investigation revealed that thearrested trio was involved in providing logistics andtransportation to terrorists in the district, policespokesman added.

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Two special courts here on Friday granted CBIthe custody of former Maharashtra Home

Minister Anil Deshmukh, his two aides and dis-missed police officer Sachin Waze for investi-gation in a corruption case registered againstthem.

NCP leader Deshmukh (71) and his aidesSanjeev Palande and Kundan Shinde are cur-rently in judicial custody in a money launder-ing case being probed by the EnforcementDirectorate (ED). They are lodged in theArthtur Road jail in the city.

The Central Bureau of Investigation hadfiled an application before additional sessionsjudge D P Singhade for their custody.

The judge on Thursday issued a letter ofrequest to the special Prevention of MoneyLaundering Act court, which hears ED cases, totransfer Deshmukh and the other two to the cus-tody of the CBI.

The CBI had also sought the custody ofSachin Waze. Waze was arrested in March 2021by the National Investigation Agency in theAntilia bomb scare-Mansukh Hiran murdercase. Following which, judge D P Singhade hadsent a similar letter of request to the special NIAcourt.

Waze is currently in judicial custody atTaloja Jail in neighbouring Navi Mumbai.The special PMLA and NIA courts on Fridaydirected, in separate orders, the superintendentsof respective jails to hand over the custody ofthe four accused -- Deshmukh, Palande, Shindeand Waze -- to the CBI.

Former Mumbai police commissioner

Param Bir Singh had alleged that Deshmukh,then home minister, had given a target to policeofficers to collect Rs 100 crore per month fromrestaurants and bars in the city.

Deshmukh denied the allegations butstepped down from his post after the BombayHigh Court directed the CBI to register a caseagainst him.

Incidentally, the Supreme Court on Fridayrejected a plea by the Maharashtra governmentchallenging an order of the Bombay High Courtdismissing its petition seeking an SIT to probethe corruption case against Deshmukh.

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The High Court of Karnatakaon Friday refused out-of-

turn expeditious hearing of apetition seeking Governmentaction against BJP leaders,including Union Minister ofState for Agriculture ShobhaKarandlaje and KarnatakaRural Development andPanchayat Raj Minister K SEshwarappa and others foralleged hate speech. The courtsaid the petition would beheard on its turn.

Mohammed Khaleelulla,the petitioner, has claimed inthe petition that there "beingcapricious and eccentricspeeches spewing abhor, invit-ing hate against Muslim com-munity in particular within thesociety by patriarchs and lead-ers holding authorities in theState and CentralGovernments," action should

be initiated againstEshwarappa, party leaders C TRavi, former minister M PRenukacharya, Prathap Simhaand Rishikumara Swamy (KaliSwamy), Pramod Mutalik,Basanagouda Patil Yatnal,Shobha Karandlaje, TejasviSurya, Sulibele Chakravarthyand others.

The petitioner fromMandya, claims that thesepolitical leaders and privatepersons were making inflam-matory anti-Muslim speechescreating disparity within thesociety and developing bitter-ness between communities.

The petition lists dozens ofmedia reports and videos of thealleged hate speeches.

Apart from the Karnatakagovernment law and homedepartments, the UnionMinistry of Minority Affairshas also been named as respon-dent in the petition

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The Bengal police have start-ed departmental proceed-

ings against Rampurhat Sub-divisional Police Officer SayanAhmed days after he droppedhints before the Central Bureauof Investigation officials aboutalleged lack of diligence on thepart of his senior officers inhandling the Bagtui burningand mass murder case.

At least nine people includ-ing 7 women and two childrenhad died on March 21 whentheir houses were set ablaze bythe rival gangs of rulingTrinamool Congress launchinga retaliatory attack within hoursof — Bhadu Sheikh — a deputypradhan of the Bagtui village inBirbhum district being bombedto death.

The police administrationon Friday suspended the SDPOand started departmentalinquiry against him, insidesources said adding the officerhad earlier told the CBI sleuthsthat his senior officers ---including the districtSuperintendant of Police ---had summoned him at a stateguest house and directed himto concentrate on a differentcase at the time when houseswere being set ablaze by themiscreants.

The inspector in-charge ofthe Rampurhat police stationhad already been suspended aday after the incident. The

CBI had questioned him earli-er. According to sourcesAhmed had advised his seniorofficers about the gravity of thesituation but was told to followthe orders of his superiors thatincluded scanning of someCCTV footages of the murderof a local village deputy prad-han Bhadu Sheikh hours beforethe mass burning of the hous-es.

Hours after his murder theangry supporters of BhaduSheikh had allegedly set thehouses afire and murdered thenine victims.

The decision of the Statepolice to start departmentalproceedings the suspendedofficers comes at a time whenthe CBI had decided to sendthe samples of those killed for

DNA testing, sources said.Meanwhile, there was

nightlong bombing at Sashanin North 24 Parganas in thenorthern suburbs of Kolkata,sources said adding bombswere hurled and several hous-es were attacked by the rivalgroups of the TMC. No onewas however injured sourcessaid.

The police immediatelyswung into action and recov-ered huge quantity of arms andammunition including bombsand bullets from Sashan andHabra area of the districtsources added. In the past oneweek the police have recoveredabout 500 bombs after ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjeedirected the men in uniform torecover arms and bombs.

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The Supreme Court Fridaypul led up the

Enforcement Directorate(ED) for proceeding to sealsome properties and taking its“symbolic possession” despitethe matter being listed forhearing today and asked theprobe agency to take correc-tive action to “undo that mis-chief ”.

The top court noted thatpursuant to its March 28order, the petitioners hadserved the copy of petition onthe central agency on March30 and it was clearly men-tioned in the order that thematter would be heard onApril 1.A bench of Justices AM Khanwilkar and A S Okawas informed by the counselappearing for the petitionersthat they had served the copyof petition to the centralagency and on March 31, the

ED went across the propertiesand tried to seal them andthey have also taken the“notional possession”.

“That order (of March28) clearly records that thematter will be taken on April1, 2022. Despite that, the offi-cials of the respondent (ED)proceeded to seal the proper-ties in question and take sym-bolic possession on March31,” the bench observed.

The top court, which washearing a petition against aMarch order passed by theBombay High Court, notedthat the basic questioninvolved in the matter iswhether the provisionalattachment order of June 3,2021 ceases to be in force onexpiry of 180 days.

It said if that issue isanswered in favour of thepetitioners, then no actioncould be taken by the author-ity on the basis of such order.

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In a major fillip to CoastGuard operations in the vast

coastline of Tamil Nadu andPuducherry, interceptor boatICGS C-436 was on Friday 're-based' at Karaikal in a welcomeceremony.

The interceptor boat, fittedwith state-of-the-art naviga-tion and communicationequipment, has sensors andmachineries capable of oper-ating in tropical sea conditionsand carrying out close coastalsurveillance, a defence releasesaid.

The ship would give amajor fillip to Coast Guardoperations and shall bedeployed in the Area ofResponsibility (AoR) of IndianCoast Guard Station Karaikal.

The sustenance and reach,coupled with the latest andmodern equipment and sys-tem, provides it the capabilityto perform the role of an eagleeye on nefarious activities.

On the boat's maiden entryto the base port in Karaikal, awelcome ceremony was held inwhich District Collector,Nagapattinam (Tamil Nadu),Arun Thambiraj and officers ofthe Coast Guard participated.

The commanding officer ofICGS Karaikal, Coast Guardships, officers and EnrolledPersonnel (EPs) of CoastGuard, representatives fromstakeholders of CoastalSecurity and Marine Pollutionwere present in the welcomeceremony.

Indian Coast Guard ShipC-436, Interceptor Boat (IB) isthe 36th boat of its series andwas commissioned at its baseport Krishnapatnam in AndhraPradesh in 2018.

The boat is 27.63 metres inlength and has been designedand built indigenously. It isdesigned to carry a high-speedinflatable boat for boardingoperations, search and rescue,law enforcement and maritimepatrol.

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Investment of over Rs 87,500crore has come to the state

as a result of the "AdvantageAssam" summit organised bythe government in February2018, Industries andCommerce Minister ChandraMohan Patowary said in theassembly on Friday. Of this,projects worth over Rs 9,700crore have been commis-sioned, while projects ofanother Rs 59,000 crore are"ongoing", he said.

Making a statement inthe House on the benefitsreaped from the businessevent, Patowary said, "Moststates of the country hostsuch investment summits andare praised for it. Assam tooorganised such an investmentmeet and we also were able toattract much investment dueto it.". Patowary said projectsworth Rs 87,512.39 crore havecome to the State.

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In his opening remarks at the talks,Jaishankar said the meeting was taking place ina “difficult international environment quite apartfrom the pandemic”.

He also said India has always been in favourof resolving differences and disputes throughdialogue and diplomacy.

On his part, Lavrov said the ties betweenIndia and Russia were “very sustainable” dur-ing many “difficult times” in the past and thathe did not have the slightest of doubts about con-tinued cooperation.

He said the strengthening of ties with Indiahas been a key priority of the Russian foreignpolicy.

With India emerging as a prominent play-er in the context of the Ukraine war, Lavrov saidhe is all for New Delhi stepping in to resolve theconflict.

“India is an important country. If India seesto play that role which provides resolution ofproblems...If India is with its position of just andrational approach to international problems, itcan support such a process,” he said on the pos-sibility of India becoming a mediator betweenMoscow and Kyiv.

Lavrov also took exception to the use of theword “war” and termed it as a “special opera-tion targeting military infrastructure in Ukraine”.“The aim is to deprive the Kyiv regime frombuilding the capacity to present any threat toRussia,” he said.

In an apparent reference to the US and itsallies, he said, "We are interested in having a bal-anced world order which makes it sustainable.”

“These days our western colleagues wouldlike to reduce any meaningful international issueto the crisis in Ukraine...We do not fight any-thing and we appreciate that India is taking thissituation in the entirety of effect and not just ina one-sided way,” he added.

“I believe that Indian foreign policies arecharacterised by independence and the con-centration on real national legitimate interests.The same policy is based in the RussianFederation and this makes us, as big countries,good friends and loyal partners,” Lavrov said.

His remarks came in the backdrop of the UScautioning about consequences over attempts to“circumvent” American sanctions againstMoscow.

“I have no doubt no pressure will affect ourpartnership... They (US) are forcing others to fol-low their politics,” the Russian minister saidwhen asked if US pressure on India will affectIndia-Russian ties.

With sanctions imposed against Russiaand its impact on trade and defence on India,Lavrov said Russia has developed a system toengage in trade in national currencies with coun-tries like India and efforts to move away fromthe dollar-based payment system will intensi-fy.

He said Russia is exploring ways to bypassimpediments for bilateral trade with its allies andpartners. Lavrov said a Rupee-Rouble paymentsystem for trade with India was put into placeearlier and it could be strengthened further.“More and more transactions will be done usingnational currencies and bypassing the dollar-based system,” he told reporters.

Asked about India’s plan to buy discount-ed Russian oil, Lavrov said Moscow is ready toprovide anything that New Delhi wants to buy.

He said Russia is committed to continuingwith India its cooperation in the defence sec-tor.

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This is his fifth tenure as the Prime Ministerof Nepal. He had met Prime Minister Modi onNovember 2, 2021, on the sidelines of COP 26in Glasgow.

The Ministry of External Affairs said India

and Nepal enjoy age-old special ties of friend-ship and cooperation. The last Head of State visitfrom Nepal was in May 2019, when then PrimeMinister K P Oli participated in the swearing-in ceremony of Modi and the Union Council ofMinisters.

Before that Modi had visited Nepal inAugust 2018 for the 4th BIMSTEC Summit inKathmandu, which was preceded by a State visitto Nepal in May 2018.

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“It is not the medium but the mind that isthe problem,” he said, adding that whether it isonline or offline when the mind is involved instudies distractions won't bother students. Newmodes of learning should be taken as anopportunity, not as a challenge. Online can aug-ment your offline learning,” the Prime Ministersaid.

Students can use the “online” medium togain knowledge and execute it offline, headded. Modi also stressed going “inline”(stay-ing with one's own self) and staying away frombeing “online” or “offline”. He advised studentsto celebrate exams as festivals and without anystress.

“You are not giving exams for the first time.In a way, you are exam-proof. Thus, do not bestressed. Remember that you have successfullyovercome exams before.” He suggested studentsstay relaxed and natural in their daily routine.“There is no point in trying to copy others.”

The Prime Minister said he feels 50 yearsyounger when he is interacting with young stu-dents. “I try to learn from you by associating withyour generation. As I connect with you I get aglimpse of your aspirations and dreams and tryto mould my life accordingly. This programmeis helping me grow. I thank you all for givingme time to help myself and grow,” Modi said.

“This is my favourite programme but dueto Covid, I couldn't meet you. This gives me spe-cial happiness as I am meeting you after a longtime,” Modi told the audience at the TalkatoraStadium drawing a round of applause.

To a question, he noted that the NationalEducation Policy (NEP) announced by hisGovernment has been wholeheartedly wel-comed by every section of the country andstressed that the consultative process for it wasexhaustive.

Outdated ideas and policies from the 20thcentury can't guide India's development trajec-tory in the 21st century, he said, adding changehas to come with times. “Consultation forNational Education Policy has been exhaustive.People across India were consulted on this,” hesaid.

Modi noted that the policy was not madeby the Government but by the citizens, the stu-dents, and teachers for the development of thecountry. Earlier, physical education and train-ing were extracurricular activities. “But nowthese have been made a part of education andare gaining new prestige”, the Prime Ministersaid.

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The US diplomat was summoned hours afterthe country's top decision-making body onnational security voiced concern over the issueduring a meeting chaired by Khan on Thursday.

Prime Minister Khan met President Putinin the Kremlin on February 24, the day theRussian President ordered a “special militaryoperation” against Ukraine.

Pakistan's ties with Russia have moved pastthe bitter Cold War hostilities in recent years andthe chill in the relations between Pakistan andthe US has further pushed the country towardsRussia and China.

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Emergency relief and evacu-ation convoys for the

besieged Ukrainian city ofMariupol remained in doubtFriday following reports ofRussian interference, whileRussian officials accusedUkraine of flying helicoptergunships across a borderbetween the two countries andstriking an oil depot.

The governor of Russia'sBelgorod region said thealleged airstrike caused multi-ple fires and two people wereinjured. A Kremlin spokesmansaid the incident on Russia'sterritory could underminenegotiations between Russianand Ukrainian representativesthat resumed by video linkFriday. “Certainly, this is notsomething that can be per-ceived as creating comfortableconditions for the continuationof the talks,” Kremlinspokesman Dmitry Peskovreplied when asked if the strikecould be viewed as an escala-tion of the war in Ukraine.

It was not immediatelypossible to verify the claim thatUkrainian helicopters targetedthe oil depot or several nearbybusinesses in Belgorod alsoreported hit. Russia has report-ed shelling from Ukrainebefore, including an incidentlast week that killed a militarychaplain, but not an incursionof its airspace.

The negotiations follow ameeting of Russian andUkrainian delegations in

Turkey on Tuesday whereUkraine reiterated its willing-ness to abandon a bid to joinNATO and offered proposals tohave its neutral military statusguaranteed by a range of for-eign countries.

The head of the Russiandelegation, Vladimir Medinsky,wrote on social media thatMoscow's positions on retain-ing control of the CrimeanPeninsula and expanding theterritory in eastern Ukraineheld by Russia-backed sepa-ratists “are unchanged.”

The InternationalCommittee for the Red Crosssaid complex logistics werestill being worked out for theoperation to get emergencyaid into Mariupol and civiliansout of the city, which has suf-fered weeks of heavy fightingwith dwindling water, foodand medical supplies.

“We are running out ofadjectives to describe the hor-rors that residents in Mariupolhave suffered,” ICRCspokesperson Ewan Watsonsaid Friday during a U.N.Briefing in Geneva.

“The situation is horren-dous and deteriorating, and it'snow a humanitarian imperativethat people be allowed to leaveand aid supplies be allowed in.”

He said the group sentthree vehicles toward Mariupoland a frontline betweenUkrainian and Russian forcesbut two trucks carrying sup-plies were not accompanyingthem. Dozens of buses organ-ised by Ukrainian authorities to

bring people out of the city hadnot started approaching thedividing line, Watson said.

On Thursday, Russianforces blocked a 45-bus convoyattempting to evacuate peoplefrom Mariupol after theRussian military agreed to alimited cease-fire in the area,and only 631 people were able

to leave in private cars, theUkrainian government said.

Russian forces also seized14 tons of food and medicalsupplies trying to make it toMariupol, Deputy PrimeMinister Iryna Vereshchuksaid.

The city has been the sceneof some of the worst suffering

of the war. Tens of thousandsof residents managed to leavein the past few weeks throughhumanitarian corridors, reduc-ing the population from a pre-war 430,000 to an estimated100,000 by last week. But con-tinued Russian attacks haverepeatedly thwarted aid andevacuation missions.

“We do not see a real desireon the part of the Russians andtheir satellites to provide anopportunity for Mariupol res-idents to evacuate to territorycontrolled by Ukraine,” PetroAndryushchenko, an adviser tothe mayor of Mariupol, wroteFriday on the Telegram mes-saging app. In the past few days,

the Kremlin, in a seeming shiftin its war aims, said that its“main goal” now is gainingcomplete control of theDonbas, where Mariupol islocated. The Donbas is thepredominantly Russian-speak-ing industrial region of easternUkraine where Moscow-backed separatists have beenbattling Ukrainian forces since2014 and have declared twoareas as independent republics.

Western officials said therewere growing indicationsRussia was using its talk of de-escalation in Ukraine as coverto regroup, resupply and rede-ploy its forces for a stepped-upoffensive in the east.

Russian forces have sub-jected both Chernihiv, abesieged and blockaded city innorthern Ukraine, and the cap-ital of Kyiv to continued air andground-launched missilestrikes despite Moscow sayingTuesday it planned to reducemilitary activity in those areas.

Elsewhere, Ukrainianforces have retaken the vil-lages of Sloboda andLukashivka, which are south ofthe besieged northern city ofChernihiv and located alongone of the main supply routesbetween the city and Ukraine'scapital, Kyiv, according toBritain's Defense Ministry.

Ukraine has also continuedto make successful but limitedcounterattacks to the east andnortheast of Kyiv, the ministrysaid. Ukrainian PresidentVolodymyr Zelenskyy warnedthat Russian withdrawals in the

country's north and centerwere just a military tactic tobuild up strength for newattacks in the southeast.

“We know their intentions,”Zelenskyy said in his nightlyvideo address to the nation.“We know that they are mov-ing away from those areaswhere we hit them in order tofocus on other, very importantones where it may be difficultfor us.”

Hours later, Belgorod gov-ernor Vyacheslav Gladkovwrote on Telegram early Fridaythat the fire at the oil depot“occurred as a result of anairstrike from two helicoptersof the armed forces of Ukraine,which entered the territory ofRussia at a low altitude.” Thedepot run by Russian energygiant Rosneft is located about35 kilometers (21 miles) northof the Ukraine-Russia border.

Separately, Ukraine's statepower company, Energoatom,said Russian troops pulled outof the heavily contaminatedChernobyl nuclear site innorthern Ukraine early Fridayafter receiving “significantdoses” of radiation from dig-ging trenches in the exclusionzone around the closed plant.

The International AtomicEnergy Agency said it couldnot independently confirm theexposure claim. Energoatomgave no details on the conditionof the soldiers it said wereexposed to radiation, and it didnot say how many were affect-ed. There was no immediatecomment from the Kremlin.

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China on Friday renewed itscriticism of Western sanc-

tions against Russia, as topEuropean Union officialssought assurances from Beijingthat it would not help Moscowcircumvent the economic mea-sures imposed in response tothe invasion of Ukraine.

The Chinese ForeignMinistry also laid blame for thewar in Ukraine at least partial-ly on the United States forpushing to expand the NATOmilitary alliance closer toRussia's borders. Twenty-one ofthe EU's 27 countries are alsoNATO member states.

At a virtual summit,European Council PresidentCharles Michel, CommissionPresident Ursula von der Leyenand EU foreign policy chiefJosep Borrell were seekingsigns from Chinese Presidentand Communist Party leaderXi Jinping and Premier LiKeqiang that Beijing wouldhelp to end the war.

"China disapproves of solv-ing problems through sanc-tions, and we are even moreopposed to unilateral sanc-tions and long-arm jurisdictionthat have no basis in interna-tional law," Foreign Ministryspokesperson Zhao Lijian saidat a daily briefing as they met.

Zhao said when it came toUkraine, Beijing would not beforced to "choose a side oradopt a simplistic friend-or-foeapproach. We should, in par-ticular, resist the Cold Warthinking and bloc confronta-tion".

"As the culprit and leadinginstigator of the Ukraine crisis,the US has led NATO to engage

in five rounds of eastwardexpansion in the last twodecades after 1999," he said,adding that NATO member-ship almost doubled from 16 to30 countries, and pushed"Russia to the wall step by step".

China says it is not takingsides in the conflict but it hasdeclared a "no limits" partner-ship with Russia and refuses tocondemn the invasion. Beijingroutinely amplifies Russian dis-information about the con-flict, and does not refer to it asan invasion or a war in keep-ing with Russian practice.

Prior to the summit, EUofficials said they would lookfor signs Beijing is willing tocooperate on bringing an endto the war. The meeting takesplace amid rising negative sen-timent within the bloc fuelledby China's aggressive foreignpolicies and trade practices.

Underlying the EU's expec-tations for China is the possi-

bility of penalties againstChinese companies that under-mine measures taken againstRussia. EU officials point outthat 13.7% of China's totaltrade is done with the 27-nation bloc, and 12% with theUnited States, compared withjust 2.4% with Russia.

Officials said they alsowish to emphasise the impactthe war is having on the avail-ability of fertiliser and globalenergy and food prices, whichare hitting the poorest coun-tries in Africa and the MiddleEast hardest.

Other topics includeChina's travel ban on membersof the European Parliament;Beijing's economic boycott ofEU member Lithuania over itsTaiwan relations; the fate of astalled investment agreement;and civil and political rightsunder China's authoritarianCommunist Party regime.

Beijing has dismissed

European criticisms as biasedand driven by an anti-Chinaagenda being pursued by itschief global rival, the UnitedStates.

Beijing also sanctionedsome European Union law-makers last year after the EU,Britain, Canada and the UnitedStates launched coordinatedsanctions against officials inChina over human rights abus-es in the far western Xinjiangregion.The EuropeanParliament responded by say-ing it will not ratify a long-awaited business investmentdeal as long as the sanctionsremain in place.Rights groupshave also urged the EU to takea more assertive stand withChina over repression inXinjiang, Tibet, Hong Kongand elsewhere and the perse-cution of Chinese dissidentsincluding Sakharov Prize win-ner Ilham Tohti and Chinese-Swedish publisher Gui Minhai.

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The head of theInternational Atomic

Energy Agency says Russianforces' departure from thedecommissioned Chernobylpower plant is “a step in theright direction” and the UNnuclear watchdog plans to bethere “very, very soon”.

IAEA director-generalRafael Mariano Grossi says hewill head a support mission toChernobyl, the site of the 1986nuclear disaster, and that fur-ther nuclear safety missions toUkraine will follow.

Grossi spoke Friday aftervisits to Ukraine and Russia. Hesaid Russian nuclear and for-eign ministry officials didn'tdiscuss with him why Russianforces left Chernobyl.

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In his speech to the Australianparliament on Thursday

evening, Ukrainian presidentVolodymyr Zelenskyy madean emotional appeal.

He also appealed toAustralia's own interest in con-taining Russian aggression.

The appeals had a purpose:to persuade Australia to domore to support Ukraineagainst the Russian invasion.

One of Zelenskyy's tech-niques was what the classicalphilosophers called "pathos":awakening emotions in thehearts of his audience to pre-pare them to form the desiredopinion.

He spoke about cities beingshelled, children being killed,and the destruction of an air-craft evocatively called Mriya("dream").

What matters, he said, is"the dream of bringing back apeaceful life".

For first-generationAustralians who have fled warsin other countries, the imagesmight be viscerally familiar. Butthey are beyond the experienceof most people in Canberra orelsewhere in Australia.

Zelenskyy was asking hisaudience to see the Russianinvasion of Ukraine throughthe eyes of Ukrainians and tofeel (rather than intellectu-alise) the urgency of acting.

In speeches to other par-liaments, Zelenskyy has gonefurther. He has tailored hisappeal to their particular his-tory. To the parliament ofJapan, a country with its ownexperience of a nuclear acci-dent, he spoke about Russia'sseizure of Chernobyl.

To the Israeli Knesset, he

quoted former prime ministerGolda Meir, who was born inKyiv: "We intend to remainalive".

With Australia, Zelenskyydid not need to reach far backinto history. He reminded hisaudience about a recentepisode. In 2014, Russian-backed rebels in easternUkraine shot down MalaysiaAirlines flight MH17.

They killed almost 300people, including 38Australians.

The reminder aboutMH17 was an appeal not onlyto the emotions of Australians,but also to their interests. Itreinforced Zelenskyy's mes-sage that if a great power likeRussia starts to use violence toachieve goals - instead ofpeaceful means like law, diplo-macy, and trade - then no oneis safe.

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At least 45 people werearrested and a curfewbriefly imposed in most

parts of Colombo city afterhundreds of protesters gath-ered outside the residence of SriLankan President GotabayaRajapaksa demanding his res-ignation for failing to address theworst economic crisis in theisland nation.

A foreign exchange crunchin Sri Lanka has led to a short-age of essential goods such asfuel. Cooking gas, and powercuts that last up to 13 hours aday. On Thursday protestersshouted slogans, directing theirire against what they perceive asthe Rajapaksa regime's grossmismanagement that has exac-erbated Sri Lanka's foreign-exchange woes.

They also demandedPresident Rajapaksa's resigna-tion. According to the police, inthe protest several, including fivepolicemen, were injured whilevehicles were set on fire as aspontaneous expression of pub-lic anger over the current eco-

nomic crisis turned violent."As of now 45 people have

been arrested. Five policemenwere injured while a police bus,a Jeep and two motorcycleswere burnt. The protesters hadalso caused damage to a policewater cannon truck," a senior

police official said.A curfew was imposed at

midnight on Thursday coveringmost parts of the Colombo dis-trict and the suburban policedivision of Kelaniya but was lift-ed at 5 am on Friday morning.

In the Kelaniya area, pro-testers had blocked the mainColombo-Kandy road.

Sri Lanka is currently expe-riencing its worst economic cri-sis in history. With long lines forfuel, cooking gas, essentials inshort supply and long hours ofpower cuts the public has beensuffering for weeks.

Rajapaksa has defended hisgovernment's actions, sayingthe foreign exchange crisis wasnot his making and the eco-nomic downturn was largelypandemic driven where theisland's tourism revenue andinward remittances waning.

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Pakistan's InformationMinister Fawad Chaudhry

on Friday claimed that a plot toassassinate Prime MinisterImran Khan has been reportedby the country's security agen-cies, ahead of Sunday's no-trust motion against the pre-mier. Khan's security has beenbeefed up as per the govern-ment's decision after thesereports, the Dawn newspaperquoted Chaudhry as saying.

His statement came a weekafter similar claims were made

by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf(PTI) leader Faisal Vawda whohad said that a conspiracy wasbeing hatched to assassinateKhan over his refusal to "sell thecountry". Vawda had made theremarks on ARY News showover a letter Prime MinisterKhan had brandished at thePTI's March 27 show ofstrength here, claiming that itcontained "evidence" of a "for-eign conspiracy" to topple hisgovernment.

Vawda said that there wasa threat to Khan's life.

He, however, did not reveal

if the purported conspiracy toassassinate the premier wasmentioned in the letter.

Vawda also said that Khanwas told multiple times thatbulletproof glass needed to beinstalled before his dais at theMarch 27 rally but he refused.

Information MinisterChaudhry's claims also come aday after Khan, during hisaddress to the nation, vowed tofoil "an international conspira-cy" hatched against his gov-ernment by the Oppositionleaders and their alleged han-dlers ahead of the no-confi-

dence vote in the NationalAssembly. In a live address tothe nation, 69-year-old Khandiscussed a 'threat letter' andtermed it as part of a foreignconspiracy to remove him as hewas not acceptable for follow-ing an independent foreignpolicy. He named the US as thecountry behind the threat let-ter in what appeared to be a slipof tongue.

Prime Minister Khanlinked the letter with the no-confidence motion against himby the Opposition in theNational Assembly.

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Seeking to counter interna-tional fears over its new

security alliance with China,the Solomon Islands saidFriday it won't allow China tobuild a military base there.

But that insistence will dolittle to ease concerns aboutthe pact from the nation's tra-ditional partners that includeNew Zealand, Australia andthe United States.

The leader of neighbour-ing Micronesia added hisvoice to those expressing trep-idation by invoking the bloodybattles of World War II andwarning that the pact couldagain see the South Pacificregion become a battlegroundfor much larger powers.

The Solomon Islands gov-ernment said Thursday a draftagreement of the new securi-ty pact had been initialed byrepresentatives from the

Solomons and China andwould be "cleaned up" andsigned.

In a statement Friday, theSolomon Islands governmentsaid that "contrary to the mis-information promoted byanti-government commenta-tors" the agreement did notinvite China to establish a mil-itary base.

"Government is consciousof the security ramification ofhosting a military base, and itwill not be careless to allowsuch initiative to take placeunder its watch," the state-ment said.

The statement seemed tomore emphatically rule outthe possibility of a base afterPrime Minister ManassehSogavare had earlier told par-liament it had no intention ofasking China to build a base.

Sogavare said his nationsought only peace and pros-perity, citing its foreign poli-

cy mantra: "We are friends toall and enemies to none." Hesaid it wasn't a secret deal buta sovereign issue.

Under the terms of thedraft agreement, China couldsend police, military person-nel and other armed forces tothe Solomon Islands "to assistin maintaining social order"and for a variety of other rea-sons.

It could also send warshipsto the islands for stopovers andto replenish supplies, whichhad led to speculation aboutthe possibility of China estab-lishing a naval base on theSouth Pacific islands.

Micronesia PresidentDavid Panuelo wrote a letter toSogavare saying Micronesiahad "grave security concerns"about the "novel and unprece-dented" arrangement.

He said the two smallnations had become battlegrounds during World War II

and that it could happen againas China, the US and Australiaasserted themselves in theregion.

"And is it plausible that,once the spheres have beencarved out, that our concernsabout climate change - today'sproblem - would manifestinto all-too-real concernsabout a war in our backyards,with our people, our islands,as the playground for childrenplaying as adults?" Panuelowrote to Sogavare.

Australian DefenceMinister Peter Dutton saidFriday while it respected theSolomons' sovereignty, thedeal showed that China wasacting aggressively in theregion. "We need to be verycautious here because theChinese are incredibly aggres-sive, the tactics that they'redeploying into small islandnations are quite remarkable,"he told Sky News.

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Liverpool's push for a his-toric quadruple has beengiven a boost by the

return of Trent Alexander-Arnold after the influentialright-back missed England'sfriendlies with a hamstringinjury.

It had been fearedAlexander-Arnold's injurycould keep him out of nextweekend's crucial PremierLeague visit to ManchesterCity, as well as the FA Cupsemi-final against City and theChampions League quarter-final with Benfica.

However, Liverpool bossJurgen Klopp confirmed the23-year-old could return assoon as struggling Watford'strip to Anfield on Saturday.

Liverpool trail City byjust a point at the top of thePremier League and havealready lifted one trophy thisseason with the League Cup inFebruary.

Alexander-Arnold hasbeen key to that success,already registering a career-high 17 assists this season.

Klopp also dismissed thesuggestion he had deliberate-ly held the player back fromEngland's recent matchesagainst Switzerland and IvoryCoast to keep him fresh forthe final two months of theseason.

"Trent wanted to go to thenational team, just to makesure that everybody (is aware)but he couldn't," said Klopptold reporters on Friday.

"You can see the scans,with these pictures you cannotgo anywhere. But sometimesinjuries, thank God, are not

that serious that you are outfor five or six weeks; some-times it's two weeks and that's

the case with Trent."It will be tight for tomor-

row but it's possible after all I

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The draws forbadminton's

Thomas and UberCup took place inthe host city ofBangkok, Thailandon Friday.

Defending Thomas Cup men's championsIndonesia were drawn in Group A with SouthKorea, hosts Thailand and Singapore.

Denmark top Group B with China, Franceand Algeria while Group C is led by ChineseTaipei, followed by India, Germany and Canada.

Group D will feature Japan, Malaysia,England and New Zealand.

In the women's Uber Cup draw, defendingchampions China were drawn into Group B withrivals Chinese Taipei, Spain and Australia.

Group A is 2018 champions Japan, Indonesia,France and Germany.

In Group C are hosts Thailand, Denmark,Malaysia and Egypt.

Group D is topped by 2010 champions SouthKorea, followed by India, Canada and the UnitedStates.

The 2022 Thomas and Uber Cup will takefrom May 8th-15th in Bangkok.

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Fairly well-placed aftereight games, the Indian

men's hockey team wouldlook to annexe the topposition in the standingswhen it takes on England ina double-leg FIH ProLeague tie, starting here onSaturday.

The second match ofthe tie will be played onSunday.

Tokyo Olympic Bronzemedallists India have so farplayed eight matches thisseason and are placed sec-ond in the standings,behind Germany (17points), with 16 points.

The Indian teamdefeated South Africa 10-2,10-2 before winning a gameand losing one againstFrance (5-0, 2-5) and Spain(5-4, 3-5).

Recently againstArgentina, the Indians lost2-2 (1-3 in shoot-out)before registering a thrilling4-3 win in the secondmatch.

Going into tie against

England, defence remains amajor concern for theIndians as the backlinewilted under pressure inevery match.

On the contrary, India'sforward line has beenimpressive, scoring as manyas 42 goals in the eightgames.

Mandeep Singh, in par-

ticular, has been at his bestinside the opposition circle,scoring some importantgoals, including the last-minute match-winneragainst Argentina in theirprevious game.

Captain of the OlympicBronze-medal winningside, Manpreet Singh is thebackbone of India's mid-

field alongside HardikSingh, Vivek Sagar Prasad,Nilkanta Sharma andSumit.

The presence of fourworld-class dragflickingoptions -- Harmanpreet,skipper Amit Rohidas,Varun Kumar and youngJugraj Singh -- hand Indiaa clear edge over theiropponents.

Jugraj has been a reve-lation since making hissenior team debut, strikinga brace in the second gameagainst Argentina beforeproviding the assist toMandeep for the winner.

In their last meeting,India defeated England 3-1 in the quarterfinals of theTokyo Olympics last year.

On paper and in worldrankings too, India hold anedge over England. Whilethe Indians are rankedfourth, the Englishmenoccupy the seventh spot.

England, on the otherhand, are placed seventh inthe Pro League standingswith six points from twowins and as many defeats.

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Japan's former Worldnumber one Naomi

Osaka advanced to theWTA Miami Open final byrallying to defeat Olympicchampion Belinda Bencicof Switzerland 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 on Thursday.

Bencic had won threeof her four prior matchesagainst the four-timeGrand Slam champion, butOsaka fought back to reachher first final on the Miamihardcourts.

Neither player haddropped a set before thematch but Bencic wasimpressive in openingexchanges to quickly putOsaka on the backfoot.

"I didn't feel like I fig-

ured her out at all andsomehow I managed towin," Osaka said. "She's anamazing player. I wish Ihad her return."

Osaka, 24, will faceeither American JessicaPegula or new world num-ber one Iga Swiatek ofPoland.

Osaka, who left IndianWells in tears after beingheckled by a fan, was sim-ilarly emotional at the endon Thursday, but in a hap-pier way.

"I just wanted to saythanks to everyone. Theatmosphere was reallygood," Osaka told specta-tors after the match.

"Damn, I'm alwayscrying, but this tourna-ment means a lot to me."

��

Five-time World Chess cham-pion Viswanathan Anand

on Friday confirmed that he willbe actively supporting currentFIDE president ArkadyDvorkovich's re-election bid,an indication of his growinginterest in being a part of game'sadministration in near future.

The FIDE Congress will beheld in Chennai on the sidelinesof the Chess Olympiad to be

held from July 28 to August 10.Anand will not be contest-

ing for any FIDE office-bearer'spost but with India being award-ed the hosting rights of 44thChess Olympiad by the currentdispensation, the Indian legend'spublic support is seen as a sig-nificant move.

"We have had a good discus-sion but we haven't decided yetin what role or capacity I will beinvolved," Anand respondedwhile replying query.

The World ChessOlympiad, organised since 1927,will be held in India for the firsttime and in Asia after 30 years.Around 2000 participants fromover 180 nations will fight it outfor the top prize in the event tobe held from July 28 to August10. Anand said that he will beworking closely withDvorkovich's team.

"I am willing and decided towork with this team. It is won-derful team led by Dvorkovich

and they have done a lot for thesport. As and when a decision istaken, I will let you know," headded.

"It's not about politics, it'sabout protecting the interest ofplayers. As FIDE chief, I had totake some difficult decisionsbut all those were taken keepingplayers interests in mind,"Dvorkovich said.

"Yes, I am committed to runfor a re-election and Anand willbe a huge part of our team."

��

She captained India to aBronze medal finish in

the 2013 Women's JuniorHockey World Cup and vet-eran Sushila Chanu feels theSalima Tete-led side has thepotential to go two steps fur-ther and claim a maidenGold in the edition thatbegins on Friday.

The Indian team willbegin its campaign in Pool Dagainst Wales on Saturday inPotchefstroom, South Africabefore taking on formidableGermany on Sunday.

The Indians will thentake on Malaysia in theirfinal pool match before thequarterfinal round whichstarts on April 8.

"This is a really tight-knitgroup with excellent under-standing between each otheron the field, and off field aswell. They have trainedtogether as a group for a longtime, and even played practicematches against the senior

women's team in the nation-al camp at SAI Bengaluru andBhubaneswar in which theyhave contested well," Sushilasaid.

"The group also consistsof players who have repre-sented the senior team on thebig stage like the Olympics.These reasons lead me to

believe that the Indian juniorteam is a strong contender forthe Gold medal."

Sushila was referring tothe trio of skipper Tete, mid-fielder Sharmila Devi andstriker Lalremsiami, whowere part of the senior teamthat finished fourth at theTokyo Olympics.

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Bruno Fernandes extended his contractat Manchester United till 2026 on

Friday in a deal expected to make thePortuguese midfielder one of the club'shighest earners.

Fernandes has been a key player forthe Red Devils since joining fromSporting Lisbon in January 2020, scor-ing 49 goals and providing 39 assists in117 appearances.

However, United need him toimprove on his indifferent form this sea-son if the club are to improve on theircurrent sixth position in the PremierLeague and make a strong finish to theseason to qualify for the ChampionsLeague.

United also have an option to extendthe deal by a further year to 2027.

"From the moment that I joinedManchester United, I have had a specialrelationship with the club and our amaz-ing fans," said Fernandes.

"I grew up watching this team,dreaming of getting the chance to playhere one day. That dream is now a real-ity and an honour."

Fernandes still had over three yearsto run on his previous contract, but hasreportedly been given a pay rise toreflect his status at the club.

Despite the 27-year-old's best efforts,United have failed to win a trophy for the

past five years.But Fernandes believes "the best is yet

to come" from his time at Old Trafford."There is so much more that I want

to achieve here, and I know that is thesame for the rest of the squad and staff,"he added.

"More than anything, we want to givethe fans the success that they deserve.

"We have shared some great momentsover the last years, but the best is yet tocome from myself and this team."

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hear. Physically, he should be fine, nowI have to make the decision about rhythmand these kinds of things."

Fears of injuries due to the demandson top players fuelled Klopp's campaignfor the Premier League to fall in line withEurope's other major leagues and allowfive substitutions per side.

Two years later, England's top-flightclubs belatedly agreed to that rule change

on Thursday, which will come into forcefor the 2022/23 season.

"It is top news for football and topnews for the players," added Klopp.

"We have all spoken about it, that thegames won't get less.

"With all the things we know, we tryto help the players as much as we can butthe games are always the most intense andeverything we could do we should do."

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Tottenham managerAntonio Conte believes it

will be a "miracle" if his sidequalify for next season'sChampions League.

Spurs are three pointsbehind fourth-placedArsenal after battling backinto the race to finish in thetop four.

Manchester United sitone point adrift of Conte'smen in fifth, with both teamshaving played a game morethan the Gunners.

Tottenham can tem-porarily climb above Arsenalif they beat Newcastle by twogoals on Sunday before theirnorth London rivals visitCrystal Palace on Monday.

But Conte still believes itwould be a miraculous featfor Tottenham to reach theChampions League after aninconsistent season that sawthe Italian hired to replacethe sacked Nuno EspiritoSanto in November.

"Before it's right tounderline that this target isvery, very difficult. We arenot the only team that wantsto try to do this miracle,"Conte told reporters onFriday.

"There's also Arsenal,that in this moment has an

advantage, and then there isUnited. United is the teamthat in this season are strug-gling a lot.

"There are a top four,who at this moment arestronger clubs than the oth-ers, for many reasons.Chelsea, Liverpool, City andUnited. Last seasonLiverpool struggled to reacha Champions League place.

"Then Liverpool havetaken this place. And thisseason it depends on United.At the moment we areamong the teams that have totry to stay very close andexploit if someone fails thisseason."

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Daniil Medvedevmissed a chance to

reclaim the world numberone ranking on Fridayafter falling to HubertHurkacz 7-6 (9/7), 6-3 atthe Miami Open.

Medvedev fell fromthe top with a third-roundloss to Gael Monfils atIndian Wells but wouldhave taken back the spotfrom Novak Djokovic hadhe defeated Hurkacz, thedefending Miami Openchampion.

Instead, 10th-ranked

Hurkacz advanced to thesemi-finals by ousting thereigning US Open cham-pion and 20-time GrandSlam champion Djokovicstays number one.

Hurkacz, now 2-2 all-time against the Russian,faces either Carlos Alcarazor Miomir Kecmanovicfor a berth in Sunday'sfinal.

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Flicker Brothers decimated Naval TataAcademy 12-0 to enter the quarter-finals of the32nd All-India KD Singh ‘Babu’ Sub-junior Boy’sPrizemoney hockey tournament at MohdShahid stadium on Friday.

Shubhdeep Singh scored four goals whileNeeraj and Manav sounded the board thrice andtwice respectively. Penalty corner specialistGurshaan Singh converted the penalty cornerin the 29th, 39th and 42nd minute.

Guru Hockey Academy also booked thequarters berth defeating Tamil Nadu HockeyAcademy 3-1. Naval Tata Academy, TamilNadu Hockey Academy, UP Grace, Har HockeyAcademy, Hockey Haryana and Royal HockeyAcademy also made it to the quarter-finals.

��$��,")��#�9��"�A fine ton by Faiz Ahmed and five-for by

Mufish Ahmed help Sound Images Club enterthe final of the 17th Babu Banarasi Das ‘A’Division Cricket League, beating REPLCrusader’s Club by 68 runs at CSD Saharaground on Friday.BRIEF SCORES:SIC: 268 (Faiz 104, Adeel Baqar 58, SiddharthDas 56; Shashwat Pandey 53/6)

RCC: 200 (Abhay 46, Shubham 29, Rajkumar26; Mufish 42/5)

+��9#�,�"�#�� Sports directorate has decided to reopen all

the sports hostels in various cities of the statefrom April 5. “With a substantial decrease in thenumber of Covid-19 infection, all the hostelinmates are asked to be present on April 5 at theirrespective hostels,” said, director (sports) RPSingh.

�#�"��The swimming and volleyball trials for

admission in sports hostels will be held inLucknow. The trials for under-12 boys will beheld on April 11 whereas trials for girls will beconducted on April 12. Volleyball trials forunder-15 boys and girls will be held on April 13and 15 respectively.

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Uttar Pradesh bagged 14 medals, including2 gold, four silver and eight bronze, to finish sec-ond in the 21st National Sub-Junior WushuChampionship held from March 25-31atKanyakumari. Haryana stood first while Assamsettled for third spot.Medal winners: (Gold) Mayank Rosha, PayalSolanki; (Silver) Saransh Mishra, Tapish Punia,Shreya Bhati, Anushka Kumari; (Bronze) AyushSaini, Shaurya Kumar, Priyank Kumar, AnuragPanwar, Preet Nagar, Khushi Kashyap, ShivanjaliSharma, Aryash Kumar.

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Rashid Khan has a fastbowler's mindset in a spin-

ner's body with an uncompro-mising attitude when it comesto ripping his googlies and leg-breaks off the surface at near-ly 100 kmph.

At 23, the Afghan spinneris the most sought-after T20freelancer on the global leaguecircuit with 436 wickets in 312games.

Having started the seasonwith an impressive 1/27 forGujarat Titans, Rashid isextremely hopeful that he canreplicate his SunrisersHyderabad form for the HardikPandya-led franchise.

So is Rashid an aggressive

fast bowler or 'scientist' readyto pull off new tricks?

"I am a spin-fast bowlerbecause of the pace at which Ibowl. It is very hard to spin theball at that pace and for that Ithink that it requires a differ-ent kind of skill-set," Rashidsaid.

"The speed at which I bowlis somewhere between 96kmph to 100 kmph. It is hardto generate turn at that pace butI would rather bowl at thatspeed than bring it down to 70to 75 kmph.

"I have always been a bigfan of bowling quick leg spin.I have just been trying differ-ent experiments with my bowl-ing in the nets and it's reallyhelping," he added.

‘MYSTERY' IS IN CON-SISTENCY

The term 'mystery spinner'is a loosely used jargon todescribe any slow bowler thatbatters find difficult to read overa consistent period of time.

"I don't always considermyself a leg-spinner because,spinners use a lot of wrists andI don't use my wrists that much.I just use top of my fingers andso I am a finger spinner as wellin that sense," he said.

The 'mystery' comes fromconsistency of being able to hitthe right length which can sowseeds of doubts in a batter'sminds.

"It's all about, being moreconsistent with line and lengthand whatever you are bowling

-- be it flipper or leg-break. Aslong as you have the good con-trol over your skills and canbowl in right areas, it doesn'tmatter, if there is an element ofmystery or not.

"If you hit the perfect lengthtime and again, anyone canbecome a mystery bowler. Mylength on which I have workedhard makes me different fromother leg-spinners."

For Rashid what has stoodout for him is having that mind-set where he is ready to deliverfor the team in any given situ-ation.

"Consistency is in havingthat kind of mindset. Yes, thatI am capable of delivering it inevery stage and hardwork andbelief in skill sets is something

"� � �,/��

Off-spinner Simon Harmerended an absence of more

than six years by taking fourwickets and putting SouthAfrica in charge on the secondday of the first Test againstBangladesh at Kingsmead onFriday.

Bangladesh were 98 forfour at the close in reply toSouth Africa's 367 all out.Harmer took four for 42 in 20overs.

Harmer, 32, had notplayed in a Test match sinceNovember 2015.

He signed a Kolpak con-tract with English countyEssex in 2017, making himineligible to play for SouthAfrica before the system cameto an end in 2020.

Now classified as an over-seas player for the countyand again becoming availablefor his country, Harmer took491 First-Class wickets duringhis time away from interna-tional cricket.

Harmer made the firstbreakthrough in the last overbefore tea when he bowledShadman Islam for nine withthe third ball of his secondover.

He ended a 55-run standbetween Mahmudul Hasanand Najmul Hossain by bowl-ing Najmul for 38 with asuperb delivery which driftedin and spun past the bat.

Bangladesh captainMominul Haque fell withoutscoring in Harmer's next over,caught off bat and pad by adiving Keegan Petersen atsilly point.

The experiencedMushfiqur Rahim wasHarmer's fourth wicket, glov-ing a ball down the leg side towicketkeeper Kyle Verreynne.

Mahmudal, playing in histhird Test, survived until theclose, scoring 44 not out.

Temba Bavuma top-scored for South Africa with93, while fast bowler KhaledAhmed took four for 92 forBangladesh.

��

The ones with deep pockets are expected to bid for IPLmedia rights but treasurer Arun Dhumal on Friday said

the introduction of a non-exclusive package will also encour-age smaller players to be part of the bidding process.

The BCCI has set a combined base price of approximate-ly Rs 33,000 crore for the media rights for 2023-2027, thedouble of what Star India paid for the existing rights.

The base price of Package A (India sub-continent TVrights) stands at Rs 49 crore per game and 33 crore per gamefor Package B (India sub-continent digital rights).

For Package C (non-exclusive digital rights) the base priceis Rs 16 crore per game. Package C will have only 18 games,including Play-offs and Final.

For Package D (Rest Of the World TV and digital rights),the base price has been set at Rs 3 crore per game.

"We don't speculate or set target for price. It is the mar-ket that decides the price. Our objective and job is to ensurea fair, transparent and inclusive ITT," Dhumal told PTI whenasked about his expectations.

The cost to buy the bid document -- Invitation to Tender(ITT) -- is Rs 25 lakh.

"This is the property that entire sporting world is look-ing at eagerly. Whatever the markets feel is the right value,should come."

The likes of Britain-based investment company CVC andManchester United owners had come to the bidding tablefor the two new teams in the IPL.

CVC eventually made the winning bid for Ahmedabadfranchise and India's RPSG Group for Lucknow.

"The bidding for two new teams showed that IPL hasbecome a global brand and is only going to grow in the future.I expect more interest from global players for media rights,"he said.

Streaming giant Amazon is expected to pick up the ITTdocument.

"IPL is a global league, the idea is to make it more par-ticipatory from small to big players. There are few playersfor whom cricket may not be main the sport as of now butin their future plans, so they may not wan't to eat the wholecake but start with a small pie.

"This ITT ensures their participation either in a non-exclusive bundle or for international territories.

��,��

IPL's ticketing partner BookMyShow on Fridaysaid that audience capacity for the current sea-

son has been increased to 50 per cent from April6.

The Maharashtra government had initiallyallowed 25 per cent crowds at all the four venues- Wankhede stadium, Brabourne stadium inMumbai, DY Patil stadium in Navi Mumbai andMaharashtra Cricket Association stadium inGahunje in Pune.

"Ticket sales for the next set of matches arelive even as the BCCI has announced an increasein stadium occupancy to 50%, which was earli-er capped at 25% thereby extending the oppor-tunity for many more fans across India andbeyond to experience the IPL action live in thestadia," BookMyShow claimed in a mediarelease.

The Maharashtra government had onThursday decided to do away with all the COVIDrestrictions, from April 2 in the entire state.

�� 2��,��

Mumbai Indians will have the return-ing Suryakumar Yadav's flamboy-

ance in the middle-order as they lookto bounce back against a confidentRajasthan Royals unit in the IPL hereon Saturday.

The two teams head into thegame at the DY Patil Stadiumon the back of contrastingstarts to the 15th edition ofthe tournament.

While f ive-timechampions MI suffereda four-wicket defeatagainst Delhi Capitals intheir lung-opener despiteposting 177, Rajasthanmauled SunrisersHyderabad by 61 runs in adominantshow.

So farin this IPL,there hasbeen atrend of winning the toss andbowling first and it is likely to con-tinue.

Mumbai have two of the bestopeners in captain Rohit Sharma andIshan Kishan, who blazed his way toan unbeaten 81 against DC, justifyinghis heavy price tag.

With a wide range of shots at theirdisposal, the duo can give the hostsa strong start, so vital in the schemeof things.

Suryakumar, who has joined theteam after his recovery at the NCA, willlikely bat at number three and has theability to play match-winning knocks atany positions. He will be keen to get goingquickly and justify the faith shown in himby the owners.

Mumbai's middle-order crumbled in thegame against DC and one among

Anmolpreet Singh, Tilak Verma and TimDavid would have to make way for

Suryakumar.Veteran all-rounder Kieron Pollard,

who has a knack of hitting huge sixes, alsoperished cheaply against DC and he wouldbe eager to get going against Royals.

More than their batters, theMumbai bowlers are the ones

who would need to step up asthey were unable to defend 177,

and considering Rajasthan'spower-packed line-up, theywould need to hit the right

lengths.The team would

bank on pace spearheadJasprit Bumrah to deliv-

er, but he also needs supportfrom the others like of Basil Thampiand Daniel Sams.

The role of Murugan Ashwin,who picked up two wickets on hisMI debut, too would be crucial ashe can effect breakthroughs and alsoput the brakes on the scoring rate.

Meanwhile, Rajasthan tickedalmost all the boxes in their game

against Sunrisers and were ahead inboth bowling and batting, even as

fielding remains a cause for concern,having dropped catches.

The onus will be again on skipperSanju Samson to lead from the front after

he made a scintillating 55 in his team'sopener.The RR openers -- Yashashvi Jaiswal and

Jos Buttler -- got starts against SRH but theywill need to convert them into substantialscores.

The other batters including DevduttPadikkal and Shimron Hetmyer also clickedand they would hope to repeat the show.

The Rajasthan bowlers, led by PrasidhKrishna, were on target against SRH. Theyhave a lethal attack in pacer Trent Boult andspinners Ravichandran Ashwin andYuzvendra Chahal.

�� ,

They came out on top inthe battle of newcom-

ers but it will be a differ-ent ball game altogether forGujarat Titans when theylock horns with DelhiCapitals in the IPL here onSaturday.

Both Gujarat and DCstarted their campaign in the15th edition of the lucrativeleague with wins and theywould look to continue inthe same vein at theMaharashtra CricketAssociation Stadium.

Injury-plagued DC willgain strength further in both

bowlingand batting, with the likelyinclusion of Lungi Ngidi,Mustafizur Rahman andSarfaraz Khan, who havecompleted their three-dayquarantine.

The trio's return willbolster the Delhi outfitagainst an opponent thatgave enough indications ofits ability to not just competewith the best but also pull offthe result it desires. In theirfive-wicket defeat, K L

Rahul's Lucknow SuperGiants came to know whatthe Titans are capable of.

So irrespective of thefour-wicket victory over

f ive-time championsMumbai Indians in theirtournament opener, DCknow it too well that theyjust cannot afford to take thefoot off the pedal.

The win against LSGfirst up is definitely a hugeconfidence booster, but inDelhi Capitals, Titans face amore seasoned opponents,who have established them-selves as one of the top sidesin recent years.

With a strong top-order

batting, besides a well-bal-anced bowling unit, theCapitals have all the toolsrequired to embark on awinning run early on in thecompetition, so they cer-tainly start as favouritesagainst Titans.

Besides, the fact that DCmanaged to overcome theMumbai challenge without afew key players, includingflamboyant Australian all-rounder David Warner andMitchell Marsh and SouthAfrican duo of Ngidi andAnrich Nortje, only adds totheir confidence and makesthe win more praiseworthy.

While DC are going to

strengthen their playing XIby making useful additions,the Titans on the other handmay not like to tinker withthe combination that gavethem their maiden win intheir very first appearance.

Australian recruitMatthew Wade, who wastasked with opening the bat-ting alongside Shubman Gill,is eyeing a big one after fail-ing to convert his 30 in theprevious game into a moresubstantial contribution.

In the absence of theirtop pacers, Delhi's bowlingleft a lot to be desired in theopener and it will look to domuch better against Gujarat.

�� & /��& ,/&

Tournament's leadingwicket-taker Sophie

Ecclestone has said thatEngland are capable ofbeating the mightyAustralia on their day,warning that her sideentered the ongoingWorld Cup final withoutplaying its best cricket.The final will be played atthe Hagley Oval onSunday.

"Beating the Aussiesin the final, I can't reallyput it into words after theAshes we had," she said.

"I really believe in thisgroup and on our day wecan definitely beat theAussies - we've got a great

chance."England have had a

poor tune-up to the show-piece, losing the Ashes totheir traditional rivalsbefore suffering a defeat tothe Aussies in their open-ing game of the WorldCup. "I know if we playour best cricket and ourbatters bat the way theycan and the bowlers bowlthe way they can, we'vegot such a great unit as ateam, so we'll just focus onourselves and do the bestwe can," she said.

After losing threematches in a disastrousstart to the tournament,England prevailed in fivemust-win games to reachfinal.

�� ,��

Umesh Yadav continued his dreamrun with a four-wicket haul

before Andre Russell returned to hisbrutal best to fire Kolkata KnightRiders to an easy six-wicket win overPunjab Kings here on Friday.

Umesh (4/23), coming into theseason with just two games over twoIPL seasons and going unsold initial-ly at the auction, produced career-bestT20 figures to help KKR dismissPunjab for a below par 137 in 18.2overs.

It was supposed to be a straightforward chase but Rahul Chaharraised Punjab's hopes with a doublewicket maiden to reduced KKR to 51for four.

However, Russell (70 not out off31 balls) came out in the middle and

changed the game with his barrage ofsixes, eight in total, to make it a cake-walk in just 14.3 overs. He smashedthree sixes off Odean Smith in an overthat went for 30 runs.

No rope is long enough whenRussell is going all guns blazing andhe was in that kind of zone on Fridaynight. The Jamaican dasher fittinglyended the game with a couple of sixesoff Liam Livingtsone's friendly leg-breaks.

It was KKR's second win in threegames while Punjab suffered theirfirst loss of the season after the winover RCB.

Earlier, KKR bowlers stifled apower-laden Punjab Kings battingline-up.

With heavy dew setting in laterhalf of the games, fielding first hasbecome a no-brainer this IPL and

KKR skipper Shreyas Iyer called itright at the toss.

Punjab, which had successfullychased 200 plus in their openinggame, enjoyed a good powerplay thatyielded 62 for 3 in six overs.

Veteran pacer Umesh, who hasbeen proving his critics wrong thisseason., once again provided thebreakthrough early in the game,removing opposition skipper MayankAgarwal, who was found plumb infront after missing a rather straightand full delivery in the first over ofthe match.

Sri Lankan Bhanuka Rajapaksa(31 off 9) who had produced amatch-winning knock in the firstgame, looked in sensational touch atthe Wankhede Stadium.

In his brief stay in the middle, thetop-order batter hammered three

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fours and as many sixes, mostly towards themid-wicket region, leaving the spectators inawe.

His breathtaking effort was perhaps thelone bright in an otherwise underwhelminginnings.

Iyer impressed with his leadership. Hebrought back Umesh in the middle overs toensure there was no fightback from Punjab. Healso employed a slip in the 15th over and wasrewarded for that with the wicket of RahulChahar.

His new ball partner Tim Southee andKKR's retained spinners Varun Chakaravarthyand Sunil Narine were also too good for thePunjab batters.

Livingstone (19 off 16) could convert hisstart while India U-19 star Raj Angad Bawafound the going tough for the second game ina row.

Kagisa Rabada (25 off 16), playing his firstgame of the seasons, saved Punjab the blush-es by getting much needed boundaries to takethe total close to 140.

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