DDC¶d dZdeVc WRTVd TYRcXV - Daily Pioneer

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I n a dramatic twist to the Sushant Singh Rajput death case, actress Rhea Chakraborty on Monday lodged a complaint against the actor’s sister Priyanka Singh and a New Delhi-based doctor for alleged forgery and violation of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 and Tele Medicine Practice Guidelines, 2020, even as she was grilled by the NCB officials for the second con- secutive days. Amid continued specula- tion in the media that she might be arrested by the end of her grilling for the second day, Rhea was questioned for eight-long hours on various drug-related issues involving her late live-in partner Sushant who she had publicly admitted used to smoke marijuana. Rhea -- who has been under the scanner of the CBI, Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in the Sushant death case -- sprang a surprise ahead of her questioning by the ED for the second consecutive day, by lodging a written com- plaint with the Bandra Police station, a complaint if pursued by the investigating agencies threatens to affect severely the ongoing investigations in the sensational case. In her complaint lodged with the Bandra police, Rhea charged Sushant’s New Delhi- based sister Priyanka Singh, Dr Tarun Kumar of Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital and others with forgery under Indian Penal Code, 1860, the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 and Tele Medicine Practice Guidelines, 2020. She has accused Priyanka, Dr Kumar and oth- ers for allegedly generating a bogus medical prescription depicting SSR as an Out Patient Department patient. Rhea has sent a copy of the complaint to Mumbai Police Commissioner Parambir Singh. Elaborating on the com- plaint filed by his client Rhea, her lawyer Satish Maneshinde said: “They have sent a bogus medical prescription depicting SSR as an Out Patient Department person when he was in Mumbai on 8 June 2020 prescribing Schedule Drugs which are listed in Schedule of NDPS Act listed at items 36 and 37 as Psychotropic Substances and Tele Medicines Practice Guidelines 3.7.4 deal- ing with Prohibited List, which prohibits prescribing of any narcotic or psychotropic substance listed in the NDPS Act”. I ndia has joined the elite club of nations after it successful- ly test-fired indigenously devel- oped hypersonic technology demonstration vehicle (HSTDV) on Monday. India can now develop hypersonic missiles travelling six times the speed of sound. The US, Russia, and China have such capability so far. The HSTDV, based on hypersonic propulsion tech- nologies and developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), will help India devel- op futuristic space assets like long-range missile systems and aerial platforms, officials said here after the successful test. Incidentally, an earlier test last year did not yield the desired results. “It’s a major technological breakthrough in the country. This testing paves the way for the development of more crit- ical technologies, materials and hypersonic vehicles. This puts India in a selected club of nations who have demonstrat- ed this technology,” said DRDO Chairman G Satheesh Reddy. A s India on Sunday claimed the second spot among the list of nations worst-affect- ed by coronavirus, its daily spike surpassed the total num- ber of cases recorded by as many as the top 13 countries during 24 hours. The list com- prises the USA, Brazil, Russia, Peru, Colombia, South Africa, Mexico, Spain, Argentina, Chile, Iran, the United Kingdom and Bangladesh. India’s huge spike on Sunday was a shade less than the double of the total number of cases recorded by as many as 190 countries which figured in the list behind 15 top worst- affected nations. India on Sunday recorded 91,723 cases, which is 42 per cent of the total cases (2,31,596) recorded in the world. In sim- ple terms, it means, four out of every 10 cases of infection come from India. The USA and Brazil recorded nearly 31,110 and 14,606 cases respectively, which make for one third and one- sixth of the Indian total. At the same time, Russia recorded 5,195 new cases, Peru (6,275), Colombia (8,065), South Africa (1,633), Mexico (6,319), Argentina (6,986), Chile (2,075), Iran (1992), United Kingdom (2,988), and Bangladesh (1,592). The total comes to 888,36, which is still behind India. Even in terms of mortali- ty, India’s tally of 1,010 was more than the total of the USA (432), Brazil (456), and Russian (61). The data is based on a daily update put out by Worldometer, a website that round-the-clock records the details of Covid-19 situation worldwide. No update was available in the case of Spain. In the second category of nations that follow the first 15 countries, the impact of coro- navirus is minimal. As many as 190 of these nations put together account- ed for only around 50,000 new cases on Sunday. European nations such as France have seen a second wave but the situation so far has remained under control. C hief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday launched the Janata Dal (U) campaign for the upcoming Assembly polls, but the news from Delhi was not encouraging for the NDA’s supreme leader in Bihar. NDA’s ally Lok Jantantrik Party (LJP) kept Nitish Kumar guessing about contesting the polls as the alliance partner. LJP’s Parliamentary board on Monday authorised party pres- ident Chirag Pawan to take a call on whether to contest the polls alongside the JD(U). At the meeting, several members claimed that Kumar was no more a popular Chief Minister and the LJP should not contest the poll under his leadership. The junior Paswan has repeatedly attacked Kumar on several issues, including han- dling of the migrant crisis and coronavirus pandemic as well as administrative corruption. Sources said the LJP may contest nearly 150 seats if it was not offered a respectable e number of seats in the alliance. The JD(U) is not ready to con- test less than 110 out of 240 seats and expects the BJP to share the remaining 130 seats with the LJP. This may not be a “happy” choice either for the BJP or the LJP. Sources said more than the seats it’s now a personal tussle between the junior Paswan and Kumar. Chirag has already indicated it was time for a new generation of leadership to take up the reins of Bihar. Kumar is clearly the biggest hurdle in his path. There was a buzz that if the alliance breaks then the LJP may put up candidates against the JD(U) but avoid any con- test against the BJP. This will suit the BJP as well. The Parliamentary board authorised Chirag to take a call on whether to go into the polls as part of the NDA or squarely take on the JD(U) outside the alliance. The board also empowered Chirag to prepare a list of candidates for 143 constituencies. As the LJP meeting went on, the JD(U) said any party which is a part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the State will have to accept Kumar’s leadership. JD(U) spokesperson KC Tyagi said top BJP leaders, including Home Minister Amit Shah and party president JP Nadda, have announced that the NDA will fight the upcom- ing Bihar Assembly polls under Kumar’s leadership. The JD(U), he said, has always had an alliance with the BJP in Bihar and at times in other states, but not with any other NDA member. “Whether it was in 2005, 2010 or 2015 assembly polls, we have never had any tie-up with the LJP,” Tyagi said, hint- ing that his party won’t enter into an alliance with the LJP. “When the JD(U) says that its tie-up is not with the LJP, then we should put up our can- didates against it,” a source said. I t was a day which many com- muters had been waiting for months. However, it is anoth- er story that the Delhi Metro which resumed services on the Yellow Line on Monday after being closed for over five months due to the Covid-19 pandemic didn’t see the mad rush, something a norm in pre- Covid days. If some commuters heaved a sigh of relief that at least a beginning has been made, there were many who were piqued as they had no idea that the services were resumed on the Yellow Line only on day one.Due to lack of awareness about the unavailability of the other Metro Lines on day 1, many commuters got confused and kept waiting for hours on the Blue Line and Magenta Line that will be restored on September 9 and September 11 respectively. All services will be restored from September 12.According to the DMRC, approximately 15,500 passen- gers availed services on Yellow line/Rapid Metro till 8pm on Monday. Shubham Singh, who works at a private firm, was among the one who was wait- ing for the train at Blue Line. New Delhi : The Supreme Court asked the Centre on Monday as to why it has not banned the use of tunnels for disinfecting people for Covid- 19 despite taking the stand that it is physically harmful. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta informed the SC that the Health Ministry has not issued any advisory or guideline on use of ultraviolet lights for dis- infection of humans for COVID-19 management. A ctress Kangana Ranaut’s outburst against Mumbai took a political turn on Monday, as Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh on Monday slammed the Centre for giving “Y-Plus” security cover to Kangana in view of “threaten- ing statements” by some politi- cians from the State, even as the controversial actress hit out at the Shiv Sena-run Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for its move to demolish her office at Khar in north-west Mumbai. On a day when the Ministry of Home Affairs’ decision to grant her “Y-Plus” security ahead of her much- publicised return on September 9, Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh said: “If the Centre gives “Y-Plus” security to a per- son who insults Mumbai and Maharashtra, the matter is very serious, surprising and sad. Maharashtra does not only belong to the NCP, Shiv Sena or Congress but also belongs to the BJP and the peo- ple in the State. People in all political parties should con- demn it if someone insults Maharashtra”. Kangana has come under fire from various quarters for controversial statements com- paring Mumbai to “Pak- Occupied Kashmir” and saying “it seems Mumbai is addicted to blood” and dubbing Bollywood as an ‘Islam-dom- inated’ film industry. There have also been protests erupt- ed in Mumbai and other cities against the actress. Shiv Sena activists burnt her effigy and pictures in Mumbai, Pune, Aurangabad, Thane, Palghar, Nashik and other cities. On its part, the BJP too has distanced from Kangana’s “anti-Mumbai” com- ments. T he number of Covid-19 positive cases in the State soared to 1,27,892 as 3,861 new ones were detected from all 30 districts on Monday. Of the new cases, 2,278 were detected from quarantine and 1,583 were local contacts. Khordha district recorded the highest 767 cases followed by Cuttack 386, Jajpur 285, Puri 200, Jharsuguda 199, Bargarh 176, Rayagada 153, Mayurbhanj 122, Angul 120, Sonepur 117, Baleswar 105, Sundargarh 96, Ganjam 91, Jagatsinghpur and Koraput 86, Kendrapada 83, Sambalpur 77, Balangir 75, Bhadrak and Dhenkanal 74, Keonjhar 66, Nayagarh 57, Nuapada 48, Nabarangpur 44, Malkangiri 33, Kalahandi 28, Kandhamal 25, Boudh 22, Gajapati 14 and Deogarh 12. And on the day, ten more patients succumbed to the dis- ease, pushing the State’s death toll to 556. Three deaths were reported from Ganjam while Rayagada, Nayagarh, Kalahandi, Baleswar, Koraput, Cuttack and Bhubaneswar in Khordha districts reported one each.The deceased of Ganjam included a 59-year-old man, a 32-year-old man and a 52 year- old man. The other deceased were a 56-year-old man of Baleswar, a 53-year-old man of Khordha (Bhubaneswar), a 70-year-old woman of Cuttack, a 55-year- old man of Kalahandi, a 70- yearold man of Koraput, a 55- year-old man of Nayagarh and a 60-year-old man of Rayagada .However, another 3,034 patients recovered in the State on the day, taking the total recoveries to at 99,398. The highest 892 recovered in Khordha followed by Mayurbhanj 242, Bargarh 168, Ganjam 154, Cuttack 150, Rayagada 139, Baleswar and Sundargarh 97 each, Keonjhar 95, Sambalpur 83, Kendrapada 80, Jajpur and Koraput 79 each, Jharsuguda 70, Malkangiri 68, Puri 58, Jagatsinghpur 57, Dhenkanal 56, Angul 49, Balangir 46, Bhadrak 42, Kandhamal and Subarnapur 40 each, Nabarangpur 35, Nayagarh 31, Gajapati 26, Kalahandi 23, Boudh 21, Nuapada 12 and Deogarh five. A s many as 394 new Covid- 19 positive cases were detected under Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) area on Monday, surging city’s total tally to of 13,689. Of fresh cases, 159 were from quarantine out of which 158 are linked with earlier positive cases and one has a travel history to Delhi. Besides, 235 were local contact cases. However, 308 persons recov- ered from disease, taking city’s total recoveries to 8,529. So far, a total of 13,689 positive cases were detected in city, out of which 5,099 are active cases while 8529 persons have recov- ered and 49 have succumbed to infection. Further contact trac- ing is still continuing. Primary contacts and nearby houses are being quarantined, senitised and they would be under active sur- veillance, Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) said. Meanwhile, 247 new posi- tive cases were detected in Cuttack city. T he State Government from Monday permitted counter sale of liquor outside the con- tainment zones in the State till 10:30 pm. As per a notification of the Excise Department, counter sale of FMFL/IMFL/wine/beer/RTD/ out-still liquor and ENA-based country liquor in the licensed IMFL ‘OFF’, ‘ON’, O.S, C.L. shops outside the containment zones has been allowed between 10.30 am and 10.30 pm. The previous time slot for the counter sale of liquor was between 7 am and 6 pm. I n a broad daylight robbery, a miscreant looted cash of around Rs 2.8 lakh from a bank under the Infocity police lim- its here on Monday afternoon. Following a complaint filed by the bank’s two women employees who were present at the spot, police reached the spot and investigated the incident with the CCTV footage. As per the complaint, a man wearing a helmet entered the India Overseas Bank, Kalarahanga branch. Brandishing a gun, the man looted cash. Fearing for their lives, the women remained mute spectators while the mis- creant decamped with the cash. W hile two different lower courts here on Monday adjourned the hearings of the two separate petitions of actress Varsha Priyadarshini to next month, the District Protection Officer (DPO) later in the day recorded the statements of Varsha as per the orders of the SDJM Court, where Varsha has filed a domestic violence case against her actor-husband Anubhav Mohanty, who is the Kendrapada BJD MP. Seeking a report of the Protection Officer, the SDJM Court on the day adjourned the hearing of Varsha’s petition filed under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act to October 12.Meanwhile, DPO Manjulata Nayak recorded the statements of Varsha later in the afternoon and told media that she would submit the domestic incident report (DIR) to the court very soon. Varsha’s other petition filed in the District Family Court under Section 9 of the Hindu Marriage Act, in which the actress has sought a decree of restitution of conjugal rights, was also adjourned to October 14 as she sought some more time to rectify the petition, informed her counsel Ram Krushna Rath.Rath further said Varsha is also likely to approach the Supreme Court for the transfer of the divorce suit filed by Anubhav in a family court at New Delhi to Cuttack. “We will move the apex court after receiving notices from the Delhi court pertain- ing to Anubhav Mohanty’s petition filed on July 7 under Section 13 (i) (a) of the Hindu Marriage Act,” he said. On the other hand, Anubhav told mediapersons near his house here on the day that his personal and domestic problems with his wife, which could not be settled at home, have now become lawsuits in the courts and he is confident of getting justice from the judi- ciary. He termed the ongoing turmoil as his personal prob- lem and it has nothing to do with his politics.

Transcript of DDC¶d dZdeVc WRTVd TYRcXV - Daily Pioneer

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In a dramatic twist to theSushant Singh Rajput death

case, actress Rhea Chakrabortyon Monday lodged a complaintagainst the actor’s sisterPriyanka Singh and a NewDelhi-based doctor for allegedforgery and violation ofNarcotic Drugs andPsychotropic Substances Act,1985 and Tele MedicinePractice Guidelines, 2020, evenas she was grilled by the NCBofficials for the second con-secutive days.

Amid continued specula-tion in the media that shemight be arrested by the end ofher grilling for the secondday, Rhea was questioned foreight-long hours on variousdrug-related issues involvingher late live-in partner Sushantwho she had publicly admittedused to smoke marijuana.

Rhea -- who has been

under the scanner of the CBI,Enforcement Directorate (ED)and Narcotics Control Bureau(NCB) in the Sushant deathcase -- sprang a surprise aheadof her questioning by the EDfor the second consecutiveday, by lodging a written com-plaint with the Bandra Policestation, a complaint if pursuedby the investigating agencies

threatens to affect severely theongoing investigations in thesensational case.

In her complaint lodgedwith the Bandra police, Rheacharged Sushant’s New Delhi-based sister Priyanka Singh, DrTarun Kumar of Ram ManoharLohia Hospital and others withforgery under Indian PenalCode, 1860, the Narcotic

Drugs and PsychotropicSubstances Act, 1985 and TeleMedicine Practice Guidelines,2020. She has accusedPriyanka, Dr Kumar and oth-ers for allegedly generating abogus medical prescriptiondepicting SSR as an OutPatient Department patient.

Rhea has sent a copy of thecomplaint to Mumbai PoliceCommissioner ParambirSingh.

Elaborating on the com-plaint filed by his client Rhea,her lawyer Satish Maneshindesaid: “They have sent a bogusmedical prescription depictingSSR as an Out PatientDepartment person when hewas in Mumbai on 8 June 2020prescribing Schedule Drugswhich are listed in Schedule ofNDPS Act listed at items 36and 37 as PsychotropicSubstances and Tele MedicinesPractice Guidelines 3.7.4 deal-ing with Prohibited List, whichprohibits prescribing of any narcotic or psychotropicsubstance listed in the NDPSAct”.

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India has joined the elite clubof nations after it successful-

ly test-fired indigenously devel-oped hypersonic technologydemonstration vehicle(HSTDV) on Monday.

India can now develophypersonic missiles travellingsix times the speed of sound.The US, Russia, and Chinahave such capability so far.

The HSTDV, based onhypersonic propulsion tech-nologies and developed by theDefence Research andDevelopment Organisation(DRDO), will help India devel-op futuristic space assets likelong-range missile systems andaerial platforms, officials saidhere after the successful test.Incidentally, an earlier test lastyear did not yield the desiredresults.

“It’s a major technologicalbreakthrough in the country.This testing paves the way forthe development of more crit-ical technologies, materials andhypersonic vehicles. This putsIndia in a selected club ofnations who have demonstrat-ed this technology,” said DRDOChairman G Satheesh Reddy.

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As India on Sunday claimedthe second spot among

the list of nations worst-affect-ed by coronavirus, its dailyspike surpassed the total num-ber of cases recorded by asmany as the top 13 countriesduring 24 hours. The list com-prises the USA, Brazil, Russia,Peru, Colombia, South Africa,Mexico, Spain, Argentina,Chile, Iran, the UnitedKingdom and Bangladesh.

India’s huge spike onSunday was a shade less thanthe double of the total numberof cases recorded by as many as190 countries which figured inthe list behind 15 top worst-affected nations.

India on Sunday recorded91,723 cases, which is 42 percent of the total cases (2,31,596)

recorded in the world. In sim-ple terms, it means, four out ofevery 10 cases of infectioncome from India.

The USA and Brazilrecorded nearly 31,110 and14,606 cases respectively, whichmake for one third and one-sixth of the Indian total.

At the same time, Russiarecorded 5,195 new cases, Peru(6,275), Colombia (8,065),South Africa (1,633), Mexico(6,319), Argentina (6,986),

Chile (2,075), Iran (1992),United Kingdom (2,988), andBangladesh (1,592). The totalcomes to 888,36, which is stillbehind India.

Even in terms of mortali-ty, India’s tally of 1,010 wasmore than the total of theUSA (432), Brazil (456), andRussian (61). The data is basedon a daily update put out byWorldometer, a website thatround-the-clock records thedetails of Covid-19 situation

worldwide. No update wasavailable in the case of Spain.

In the second category ofnations that follow the first 15countries, the impact of coro-navirus is minimal.

As many as 190 of thesenations put together account-ed for only around 50,000 newcases on Sunday.

European nations such asFrance have seen a secondwave but the situation so far hasremained under control.

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Chief Minister Nitish Kumaron Monday launched the

Janata Dal (U) campaign forthe upcoming Assembly polls,but the news from Delhi wasnot encouraging for the NDA’ssupreme leader in Bihar.

NDA’s ally Lok JantantrikParty (LJP) kept Nitish Kumarguessing about contesting thepolls as the alliance partner.LJP’s Parliamentary board onMonday authorised party pres-ident Chirag Pawan to take acall on whether to contest thepolls alongside the JD(U). Atthe meeting, several membersclaimed that Kumar was nomore a popular Chief Ministerand the LJP should not contestthe poll under his leadership.

The junior Paswan hasrepeatedly attacked Kumar onseveral issues, including han-dling of the migrant crisis andcoronavirus pandemic as wellas administrative corruption.

Sources said the LJP maycontest nearly 150 seats if it wasnot offered a respectable enumber of seats in the alliance.The JD(U) is not ready to con-

test less than 110 out of 240seats and expects the BJP toshare the remaining 130 seatswith the LJP. This may not bea “happy” choice either for theBJP or the LJP.

Sources said more than theseats it’s now a personal tusslebetween the junior Paswanand Kumar. Chirag has alreadyindicated it was time for a newgeneration of leadership totake up the reins of Bihar.

Kumar is clearly the biggesthurdle in his path.

There was a buzz that if thealliance breaks then the LJPmay put up candidates againstthe JD(U) but avoid any con-test against the BJP. This willsuit the BJP as well.

The Parliamentary boardauthorised Chirag to take a callon whether to go into thepolls as part of the NDA orsquarely take on the JD(U)

outside the alliance. The boardalso empowered Chirag toprepare a list of candidates for143 constituencies.

As the LJP meeting wenton, the JD(U) said any partywhich is a part of the NationalDemocratic Alliance (NDA) inthe State will have to acceptKumar’s leadership.

JD(U) spokesperson KCTyagi said top BJP leaders,including Home Minister AmitShah and party president JPNadda, have announced thatthe NDA will fight the upcom-ing Bihar Assembly polls underKumar’s leadership.

The JD(U), he said, hasalways had an alliance with theBJP in Bihar and at times inother states, but not with anyother NDA member.

“Whether it was in 2005,2010 or 2015 assembly polls,we have never had any tie-upwith the LJP,” Tyagi said, hint-ing that his party won’t enterinto an alliance with the LJP.

“When the JD(U) says thatits tie-up is not with the LJP,then we should put up our can-didates against it,” a sourcesaid.

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It was a day which many com-muters had been waiting for

months. However, it is anoth-er story that the Delhi Metrowhich resumed services on theYellow Line on Monday afterbeing closed for over fivemonths due to the Covid-19pandemic didn’t see the madrush, something a norm in pre-Covid days.

If some commuters heaveda sigh of relief that at least abeginning has been made,

there were many who werepiqued as they had no idea thatthe services were resumed onthe Yellow Line only on dayone.Due to lack of awarenessabout the unavailability of theother Metro Lines on day 1,many commuters got confusedand kept waiting for hours onthe Blue Line and MagentaLine that will be restored on

September 9 and September 11respectively. All services will berestored from September12.According to the DMRC,approximately 15,500 passen-gers availed services on Yellowline/Rapid Metro till 8pm onMonday. Shubham Singh, whoworks at a private firm, wasamong the one who was wait-ing for the train at Blue Line.

New Delhi: The SupremeCourt asked the Centre onMonday as to why it has notbanned the use of tunnels fordisinfecting people for Covid-19 despite taking the stand thatit is physically harmful.Solicitor General Tushar Mehtainformed the SC that theHealth Ministry has not issuedany advisory or guideline onuse of ultraviolet lights for dis-infection of humans forCOVID-19 management.

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Actress Kangana Ranaut’soutburst against Mumbai

took a political turn onMonday, as MaharashtraHome Minister AnilDeshmukh on Mondayslammed the Centre for giving“Y-Plus” security cover toKangana in view of “threaten-ing statements” by some politi-cians from the State, even asthe controversial actress hit outat the Shiv Sena-runBrihanmumbai MunicipalCorporation (BMC) for itsmove to demolish her office at

Khar in north-west Mumbai.On a day when the

Ministry of Home Affairs’decision to grant her “Y-Plus”security ahead of her much-publicised return onSeptember 9, MaharashtraHome Minister AnilDeshmukh said: “If the Centregives “Y-Plus” security to a per-son who insults Mumbai andMaharashtra, the matter isvery serious, surprising andsad. Maharashtra does notonly belong to the NCP, Shiv

Sena or Congress but alsobelongs to the BJP and the peo-ple in the State. People in allpolitical parties should con-demn it if someone insultsMaharashtra”.

Kangana has come underfire from various quarters forcontroversial statements com-paring Mumbai to “Pak-Occupied Kashmir” and saying“it seems Mumbai is addictedto blood” and dubbingBollywood as an ‘Islam-dom-inated’ film industry. Therehave also been protests erupt-ed in Mumbai and other citiesagainst the actress.

Shiv Sena activists burnther effigy and pictures inMumbai, Pune, Aurangabad,Thane, Palghar, Nashik andother cities. On its part, the BJPtoo has distanced fromKangana’s “anti-Mumbai” com-ments.

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The number of Covid-19positive cases in the State

soared to 1,27,892 as 3,861 newones were detected from all 30districts on Monday.

Of the new cases, 2,278were detected from quarantineand 1,583 were local contacts.

Khordha district recordedthe highest 767 cases followedby Cuttack 386, Jajpur 285, Puri200, Jharsuguda 199, Bargarh176, Rayagada 153,Mayurbhanj 122, Angul 120,Sonepur 117, Baleswar 105,Sundargarh 96, Ganjam 91,Jagatsinghpur and Koraput 86,Kendrapada 83, Sambalpur 77,Balangir 75, Bhadrak andDhenkanal 74, Keonjhar 66,Nayagarh 57, Nuapada 48,Nabarangpur 44, Malkangiri33, Kalahandi 28, Kandhamal25, Boudh 22, Gajapati 14 andDeogarh 12.

And on the day, ten morepatients succumbed to the dis-ease, pushing the State’s deathtoll to 556. Three deaths were

reported from Ganjam whileRayagada, Nayagarh,Kalahandi, Baleswar, Koraput,Cuttack and Bhubaneswar inKhordha districts reported oneeach.The deceased of Ganjamincluded a 59-year-old man, a32-year-old man and a 52 year-old man.

The other deceased were a56-year-old man of Baleswar, a53-year-old man of Khordha(Bhubaneswar), a 70-year-oldwoman of Cuttack, a 55-year-old man of Kalahandi, a 70-yearold man of Koraput, a 55-year-old man of Nayagarh anda 60-year-old man of Rayagada.However, another 3,034patients recovered in the Stateon the day, taking the totalrecoveries to at 99,398.

The highest 892 recoveredin Khordha followed byMayurbhanj 242, Bargarh 168,Ganjam 154, Cuttack 150,Rayagada 139, Baleswar andSundargarh 97 each, Keonjhar95, Sambalpur 83, Kendrapada80, Jajpur and Koraput 79each, Jharsuguda 70,Malkangiri 68, Puri 58,Jagatsinghpur 57, Dhenkanal56, Angul 49, Balangir 46,Bhadrak 42, Kandhamal andSubarnapur 40 each,Nabarangpur 35, Nayagarh 31,Gajapati 26, Kalahandi 23,Boudh 21, Nuapada 12 andDeogarh five.

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As many as 394 new Covid-19 positive cases were

detected under BhubaneswarMunicipal Corporation (BMC)area on Monday, surging city’stotal tally to of 13,689. Of freshcases, 159 were from quarantineout of which 158 are linked withearlier positive cases and one hasa travel history to Delhi. Besides,235 were local contact cases.

However, 308 persons recov-ered from disease, taking city’stotal recoveries to 8,529. So far,a total of 13,689 positive caseswere detected in city, out ofwhich 5,099 are active caseswhile 8529 persons have recov-ered and 49 have succumbed toinfection. Further contact trac-ing is still continuing. Primarycontacts and nearby houses arebeing quarantined, senitised andthey would be under active sur-veillance, BhubaneswarMunicipal Corporation (BMC)said. Meanwhile, 247 new posi-tive cases were detected inCuttack city.

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The State Government fromMonday permitted counter

sale of liquor outside the con-tainment zones in the State till10:30 pm.

As per a notification of theExcise Department, countersale ofFMFL/IMFL/wine/beer/RTD/out-still liquor and ENA-basedcountry liquor in the licensedIMFL ‘OFF’, ‘ON’, O.S, C.L.shops outside the containmentzones has been allowedbetween 10.30 am and 10.30pm.

The previous time slot forthe counter sale of liquor wasbetween 7 am and 6 pm.

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In a broad daylight robbery, amiscreant looted cash of

around Rs 2.8 lakh from a bankunder the Infocity police lim-its here on Monday afternoon.

Following a complaint filedby the bank’s two womenemployees who were present atthe spot, police reached the spotand investigated the incidentwith the CCTV footage. As perthe complaint, a man wearinga helmet entered the IndiaOverseas Bank, Kalarahangabranch. Brandishing a gun, theman looted cash. Fearing fortheir lives, the women remainedmute spectators while the mis-creant decamped with the cash.

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While two different lowercourts here on Monday

adjourned the hearings of thetwo separate petitions of actressVarsha Priyadarshini to nextmonth, the District ProtectionOfficer (DPO) later in the dayrecorded the statements ofVarsha as per the orders of theSDJM Court, where Varshahas filed a domestic violencecase against her actor-husbandAnubhav Mohanty, who is theKendrapada BJD MP.

Seeking a report of the

Protection Officer, the SDJMCourt on the day adjourned thehearing of Varsha’s petitionfiled under the Protection ofWomen from DomesticViolence Act to October12.Meanwhile, DPO ManjulataNayak recorded the statementsof Varsha later in the afternoonand told media that she wouldsubmit the domestic incidentreport (DIR) to the court verysoon.

Varsha’s other petition filedin the District Family Courtunder Section 9 of the HinduMarriage Act, in which theactress has sought a decree ofrestitution of conjugal rights,was also adjourned to October14 as she sought some moretime to rectify the petition,

informed her counsel RamKrushna Rath.Rath furthersaid Varsha is also likely toapproach the Supreme Courtfor the transfer of the divorcesuit filed by Anubhav in afamily court at New Delhi toCuttack.

“We will move the apexcourt after receiving noticesfrom the Delhi court pertain-ing to Anubhav Mohanty’spetition filed on July 7 underSection 13 (i) (a) of the HinduMarriage Act,” he said.

On the other hand,Anubhav told mediapersonsnear his house here on the daythat his personal and domesticproblems with his wife, whichcould not be settled at home,have now become lawsuits in

the courts and he is confidentof getting justice from the judi-ciary. He termed the ongoingturmoil as his personal prob-lem and it has nothing to dowith his politics.

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There are three levels ofresponse to Covid-19 --

how it affects us physically,mentally and spiritually. Thephysical response came first,and by now everyone knowsabout self-isolation, social dis-tancing and testing. The secondeffect, on our psyches, is beingexperienced personally.

The best advice for mentalhealth is meditation, yoga,exercise, relaxation techniquesand paying attention every dayto finding not just relaxationbut joy and comfort in smallthings of life.

The third area is the spir-itual effect of the outbreakthat evokes concern about theState of our souls. Spiritualwell-being is alien to manypeople’s daily lives, and with thedecline of organized religion,

millions of people experiencea sick soul like weariness ofheart, existential dread, a sink-ing feeling that nothing reallymatters without finding a wayout.

It has been taught in everyculture that inner peace and joyare available only through look-ing inward. Universal truthsdon’t matter until they are truefor one personally. The secretimparted by the world’s tradi-tions is that our sense of self isthe gateway to inner peaceand joy.

Meditation is nothingmore than being alone insilence with yourself and lettingyour awareness go to the placewhere peace and joy are eter-nal. That’s how we test an eter-

nal truth and make it true forus.Our soul is the most inti-mate part of us and it isn’tfound by running away. In atime of crisis, the impulse is togo into emergency mode, fear,concern and panic. Giving in tothose impulses will engenderan epidemic of soul sickness.

Let us practice this- writedown how you can perform anact of kindness today, showappreciation to someone, offerhelp to those in need, or bringcomfort to someone feelinglonely and anxious — the sim-ple human gestures we tend tooverlook.

(Dr Samanta is MP,Kandhamal, and founder, KIIT& KISS)

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The BJP State MahilaMorcha on Monday

demanded that BJDKendrapada MP AnubhavMohanty resign from his postof Member of Parliament forallegedly torturing his wifeVarsha Priyadarshini.

“Anti-women leaders andexploiters should not hold theimportant MP post. Being anMP and socially establishedperson, Mohanty has theresponsibility of protectingwomen.

However, he has allegedlytortured his own wife VarshaPriyadarshini. He should notcontinue in the democratic

post. Chief Minister NaveenPatnaik should oust him fromhis party BJD,” demandedMorcha president SmrutiPatnaik at a Press conferencehere. Patnaik threatened thather party would state protestsState-wide if the demands arenot met at the earliest.

Meanwhile, the Congressalleged that the MP has false-ly submitted his educational asPlus III Arts pass-out which isnot true at all. “Mohanty hadfailed Plus II Science exami-nations in the Christ College.

RTI information hasrevealed that he was pursuingdegree course in theKandarpur College from wherehe has not taken migration cer-tificate yet How he passedPlus III in a different collegethen,” wanted to knowCongress leader NishikantMishra at a Press conferencehere on Monday. He demand-ed that the Chief Ministertake appropriate action againstMohanty soon.

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The Crime Branch’sEconomic Offences Wing

(EOW) has arrested anotheraccused in connection withthe QNet chit fund scam.

This the fourth arrest byEOW in connection with thescam.The accused, identified asPrasant Kumar Mohanty, wasarrested from his residence inPatia here.

The Orissa High Courthad earlier rejected the antici-patory bail pleas of all accusedon January 20.In October 2019,the EOW had arrested threepersons in the case for alleged-ly duping investors of crores ofrupees on the pretext of pro-viding them hefty returns overinvestment.

The agency had conducteda probe over allegation ofinvolvement of the trio in ille-gal money circulation schemesin the guise of direct selling,multi-level marketing. Duringinvestigation, it was revealedthat the three entered into a

criminal conspiracy withDirectors of QNet Limitedthrough its Indian franchiseVihaan Direct Selling (India)Private Limited.

They induced gullibleinvestors to invest in the com-pany with a promise of highreturns to the tune of Rs 50crore on an investment of Rs 5lakh within a span of only fiveyears.

After the offence came tofore, EOW officials conductedsearches at the houses of theaccused, during which manyincriminating documents suchas brochures, money receipts,mobile phones, laptops and listof investors were seized.

Young and energetic, activeand enthusiastic Prasanta

Muduli, MLA, Jagatsinghpurbreathes an air of robust opti-mism and inspiring confidenceamong the citizenry of the dis-trict. He was president of SVMCollege Students’ Union andsubsequently chose a career inpublic life.

He was Chairman ofBalikuda Panchayat Samitifrom 2002 to 2007 and a ZillaParishad Member from 2007 to2009. He opened his innings tothe State Assembly in 2009 ona BJD ticket from Balikuda-Erasama. He staged a comebackfrom the constituency in 2014.He was elected to the Assemblyfrom the Jagatsinghpur con-stituency in 2019. A workaholicby temperament, he is hailed asa dynamic leader among hisparty rank and file and the pub-lic. In an interview to ThePioneer, Muduli spoke toSugyan Chodhury on manydevelopmental aspects ofJagatsinghpur district.

How do you think to gal-vanise the BJD organisation inthe district particularly whenBishnu Das is no more?

Our party leader and myleader BJD supremo NaveenPatnaik has given me theresponsibility as BJD presidentof Jagatsinghpur district.Jagatsinghpur is highly educat-ed district and has a glorioustradition of educational, cul-tural and intellectual excel-lence. It was also the battle-ground for the warriors of thefreedom struggle. Netaji SubhasChandra Bose launched hisprogramme from here. The

Alaka Ashram was the breed-ing ground of freedom fighterslike Nabakrushna Choudhry,Rama Devi, Malati Choudhury,Pranakrushna Padhiary,Gopabandhu Choudhury,Priyanath Dey, Sarala Devi,Kanduri Mallick. Intellectualslike Pranakrushna Parija, DrShreeram Chandra Dash andpresently Bibhuti Pattanaik,Pratibha Ray have representedthis district in the educationalscenario.

The district is highly polit-ically sensitive. The task aheadof me as the district BJD pres-ident is challenging. it is anadmitted fact that previously,the BJD organisation had suf-fered owing to internecinewrangling between two fac-tions led by Dr Damodar Routand late Bishnu Das. We nowhave to look forward. It is myjob to resolve all intrapartyrivalries up to the district level.We must strengthen our organ-isation at the grassroots level toface the 2024 elections.

Jagatsinghpur abounds inplaces of tourist and culturalimportance but not yet beenplaced in the State’s touristmap. How do you account forthe negligence in this regard?

It is indeed true that thedistrict is endowed with placesof great cultural and touristimportance like the SaralaPeetha, Gada Kujang Jagannathtemple, Gorakhnath temple,Yashobanta Peetha, AlakaAshram, etc. Adikavi SaralaDas wrote his SaralaMahabharata, for which theOdia language and literaturehas got the Classical tag. He islike the Chaucer of England.The Gada Kujang Jagannathtemple has a rich historical pastwhen Lord Jagannath had to bekept and worshipped hiddenthere owing to theMohammedan invasion at Puri.At that time, Bisara Mohantyhelped the lord to be Patali(incognito) and the lord was

worshipped at Gada Kujang.The Thanapodi spot at Erasamareminds us the struggle of free-dom fighters against the BritishRaj.

The Labana Satyagrahamovement at Guda at the callof Mahatma Gandhi is stillboasting its glory. The districtis sandwiched between theriverbeds of Mahanadi andDevi. It has also been endowedwith a 40-km sea beach. I hadtaken the lead to make Siali atErasama a tourist spot when Iwas the local MLA. Today,thousands of tourists are visit-ing this spot. Now, we must takeadequate steps for develop-ment of the tourist spots dur-ing my present tenure asJagatsinghpur MLA.

What are the plans onyour agenda for developmentof Paradip in the district?

The Paradip Port was estab-lished by legendary leader BijuPatnaik. It is contributing to theeconomic development of theState and the nation. We weretrying for a POSCO steel pro-ject there, but it never hap-pened. We are now trying forperipheral development ofParadip with establishment ofancillary industries.

A Jindal project is going tohappen shortly. The newHaridaspur-Paradip rail linewill facilitate industrial activi-ties. Basing on the IOCL, theState and Central Governmentsare making joint ventures forancillary industries. I havegiven a proposal for establish-ment of a barrage in Mahanadiat Rahama or at river Hansuaadjacent to Jatadhari Muhanthat would solve the problem ofwater supply relating to bothindustrial need and drinkingwater for of Paradip town.

What’s your concern fordevelopment of the district’spremier educational institu-tion SVM College?

There has been a noticeabledecline in the academic andadministrative spheres of thecollege that has sent shockwavesamong intellectuals. I mustlook towards its holistic devel-opment since it is my almamater. I look forward tostrengthening the college bytrying for a NAC accreditationand UGC grants.

What are the BJD’schances in the 2024 elections?

The BJD will again come topower under the leadership ofNaveen Patnaik. We are nowgoing to organise the party ina cadre-based manner. We havea regular membership driveunlike other parties and regu-lar elections of our office-bear-ers starting from the villagelevel to the State level.

What are the party’schances in the Tirtol bye-elec-tion?

We are getting ready withour cadres working hard at thegrassroots level. The chances ofthe BJD wining the bye-poll area foregone conclusion.

Political observers thinkthat the BJD is there as long asNaveen Patnaik is hale andhearty. What about its future?

Naveenbabu is fit as a fid-dle and he will continue toremain so owing to the bless-ings and benedictions of peo-ple of Odisha. We are not wor-ried about the future. The BJDshall cross bridge when it comesto it. Only opposition partiesfind a ghost everywhere.

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The Nayapalli police onMonday arrested six per-

sons for their alleged involve-ment in gambling, illegal liquortrade and possession of illegalfirearm at Salia here during araid.

The accused were identi-fied as Salu Patra Reddy, SibaSethi, Guru Murty Sahoo,Basant Kumar Sahoo, KrishnaReddy and Ratnakar Sethi.

The police team raided thehouse of one Salu Patra Reddyin Saliasahi. During the raidaround 15 to 20 people werepresent at the spot and weregambling. However, Patraobstructed the police team andthreatened them by brandish-ing a gun, a police officialsaid. A country-made gun,cash of Rs 17,500, playingcards, six mobile phones, 22bottles of beer and liquor, 11motorcycles and a Maruti SwiftDzire car were seized fromaccused.

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Former Rajya Sabha BJDmember Narendra Kumar

Swain passed away on Monday.He was 81.Swain died whileundergoing treatment at a pri-vate Covid Hospital in Cuttack.

Chief Minister NaveenPatnaik, expressing grief overSwain’s demise, described himas a dedicated organiser andsaid he would be rememberedfor his service towards theworking community.

Union MinisterDharmendra Pradhan alsomourned Swain’s demise.Swainhad been elected unopposed tothe Upper House of Parliamenton December 7, 2015.

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Tourism Minister JyotiPrakash Panigrahi has test-

ed positive for Covid-19, heinformed in a tweet onMonday.

Panigrahi urged those whocame in contact with him dur-ing the last seven days to iso-late themselves.Earlier,Handlooms, Textiles &Handicrafts Minister PadminiDian, Higher Education and

Agriculture Minister ArunSahoo and Rural Developmentand Labour Minister SusantaSingh had also tested positivefor the virus.

Besides, internationalwoman cricketer from OdishaRasanara Parwin and hermother have tested positivefor Covid-19.The duo wasadmitted to the Balangir CovidHospital on Sunday. The crick-eter’s condition was stablethough she complained of mildheadache and fever.

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All MLAs and employees ofthe Odisha Legislative

Assembly would undergoCovid-19 tests before com-mencement of the monsoonsession of the Assembly thismonth.

A decision in this regardwas taken on Monday at ameeting chaired by AssemblySpeaker Surjya Narayan Patroto discuss the modalities andsafety protocols for the MLAsand employees ahead of thesession.

Parliamentary AffairsMinister Bikram KeshariArukha and Health MinisterNaba Kishore Das attendedthe meeting.As per the deci-sion, the MLAs and employ-

ees would undergo Covid-19tests two days before thebeginning of the session.

RT-PCR tests of theMLAs would be done andthose testing negative for thevirus would be allowed toparticipate in the proceedings.

Besides, special seat ingarrangements would be madefor the MLAs above 60 yearsof age. The tests would beconducted by theBhubaneswar MunicipalCorporation and the HealthDepartment.

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Though Odisha has beenblessed with diverse min-

eral reserves and presently theState has been aggressivelypushing mining and industri-al projects for economic ben-efit, it is happening at the costof environmental degradationand loss of ecosystem sustain-ability.

In such a scenario, thepresent decision of the State toundertake mining operationsin virgin forests and put ninegreenfield mineral blocks ofSundargarh and Keonjhar dis-tricts with iron and manganesereserves under auction wouldcertainly not be the best optionconsidering the long-termenvironmental and ecologicalsustainability.

Environment expertsopined this while participatingin a webinar on ‘Mining,Development and Ecology’organized by the OrissaEnvironmental Society (OES)

on Sunday.Organized underthe chairmanship of the pres-ident of OES, Dr SundarNarayan Patro, the chief speak-er of the event was Dr VirendraPratap Upadhyaya, formerAdvisor of MoEFCC.DrUpadhyaya stressed that theexisting mine leases of Odishahave the potential to meet thetargeted demand and instead ofleasing out virgin mineralblocks in greenfields, mineralproduction can be enhanced byrevamping these mines withthe aid of advanced technolo-gy.

This will maximize extrac-tion and help in beneficiationof sub-grade minerals that cre-ates huge waste-dump leadingto loss of minerals and pollu-tion. Equal emphasis needs tobe laid on ecorestoration mea-sures, and social security andeconomic upliftment of thelocal populace, Dr. Patro saidand urged the authorities not toact in haste unless cost benefitanalysis is done in terms of

ecosystem sustainability.It wasresolved to communicate therecommendations of the webi-nar to the Government forcorrective action.

At the beginning, OES sec-retary Dr Jaya KrushnaPanigrahi briefly presented theobjectives of the webinar andintroduced the guests. Theprogramme ended with vote ofthanks by vice president DrLala AK Singh.

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Agirl jumped into theKuakhai river here on

Sunday after reportedly beingupset over the marital discordbetween actors AnubhavMohanty and VarshaPriyadarshini.

The girl, a resident ofMacheswar who recentlypassed the +2 Arts examina-tions, was rescued by her elderbrother and admitted to a pri-vate hospital.

As per family sources, thegirl is a fan of Varsha. She hadlocked herself in a room andrefrained from having food.Then, she went towards theriver around noon and jumpedinto water. Her brother, whofollowed her to the riverbed,rescued her.

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The Bhubaneswar DistrictMahila Congress

Committee on Monday in a let-ter to the Bhubaneswar DCPdemanded the arrest of all theculprits involved in the gan-grape of a minor girl in the cap-ital city during the lockdown.

The organisation presidentGirtanjali Mohanty said theshameful incident has broughtbad name for Odisha as theprotectors of law have becomethe perpetrators of the heinouscrime.

Some policemen and anelectronic mediaperson areinvolved in the crime againstthe 13-year-old English medi-um school student.“If accusedare not apprehended within 48hours, we will launch a massiveprotest,” Mohanty warned.

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Areview meeting on theCovid-19 situation in

Khordha district was held inthe Collector’s office onMonday. Special ADM, Covid,Vishal Singh presided overthe meeting.

Measures to check spreadof the coronavirus acrossKhordha district, excludingthe Bhubaneswar MunicipalCorporation, were discussed.

Singh stressed on execu-tion of Covid guidelines. It wasdecided that fines would be

collected from people whowould not use masks, maintainsocial distancing and followother Covid guidelines.Tehsildars and BDOs wouldensure proper enforcement ofCovid guidelines.

It was also resolved tocreate more awareness onCovid precautions. Peoplehaving mild Covid symptomswould stay in home isola-tions.

Posters would be pastedon walls of houses of con-cerned patients. Contract trac-ing would be done.

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Acting on a directive of theState Transport Authority

(STA), the Regional TransportOffices (RTOs) carried out aspecial vehicle inspection drivefrom June 2 to 6 and collectedfines amounting to Rs 2.12crore from 1,480 buses, goodscarriages and taxis from otherStates.

The STA had instructedthe RTOs to inspect vehicles ofother States plying within theState without obtaining therequired permit and not pay-ing the tax to the OdishaGovernment.

As many as 658 vehicleswere found plying without per-mits whereas 70 vehicles wereseized for not paying the taxand penalty under the OdishaMotor Vehicle Taxation(OMVT) Act and MotorVehicle Act.

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*�+,* -� ����� ����� ���� ������������;Puri: A servitor of the Jaganath Temple died on Mondaydue to heart attack. Jhintu Panda (65) of Marnikarnika Sahiin the city had chest pain just after coming from the templein the morning and passed away. As per locals, the deceasedwas living in severe mental agony after the administrationhad brought his land at the Lokanath Road under itspossession.

9�������������� ���7 �������; ��������9�Sambalpur: The Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL)launched online bill tracking system for payment of bills tothe medium, small and micro enterprises (MSMEs) as astep which would ensure liquidity with the MSME units toboost their manufacturing operations during this Covid-19pandemic. CMD BN Shukla inaugurated the system inMCL’s CoalNet.

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The Prime Minister'srenewed call for

Atmanirbhar Bharat (first wason May 12 on the occasion ofreleasing stimulus package ofRs 20 lakh crore to revive the

economy) on theIndependence Day by raisingexport competitiveness is nowbecoming a topic for discussionamong the economists, socialscientists and social activists inthe country.

Particularly his rhetoricthat India should produce forthe global market rather thanfor the domestic market andthe bulk of India’s exportsshould be finished productsand not raw commodities orintermediate goods certainlyneeds to be acclaimed.

In the present contextwhen the country is in the gripof Covid-19 pandemic leadingto huge loss of life and liveli-hood, his assertion that Indiawould increasingly integrateinto the global value chainthrough enhancing competi-

tiveness speaks of his firmoptimism towards convertingthe present problems created bythe pandemic into opportuni-ties.It is well recognized thatIndia has vast untapped poten-tial to raise exports. The coun-try is a leading producer inmany agricultural commoditiessuch as rice, wheat, jute, sug-arcane, marine products, etc atthe global level.

More particularly, thecountry has the competitiveadvantage in producing threeimportant agricultural com-modities such as rice, cottonand sugarcane.

Yet what is seen is Indiaaccounts for less than 2 percentof the world agriculturalexports. More so, in the recentyears between 2013-14 and2016-17, the country’s agricul-

tural exports have shown a sig-nificant decline from $43.23billion to $33.87 billion in2016-17.

Here the question is why isthe Indian agricultural exportsare low and fluctuating over theyears ? Can the country riseabove its present level of poorexport performances in theagricultural commodities?

On the issue of our lowagricultural exports (in mone-tary terms), studies of thescholars reveal that India’s bulkof agricultural export itemsconsist of low-value, un-processed and raw commodi-ties and as such, these itemsfetch lower price in the inter-national market.

These commodities do notcater much to the demand ofthe people of the outside world.

As per the latest available data,compared to USA and China,the share of India’s high valueand value-added agriculturalproduce in its agriculturalexport basket comes to lessthan 15 percent while for theUSA it is 25 percent and forChina it is 49 percent.

Hence, to draw the atten-tion in this regard let us lookat the structure of our farmingsector and the crops they pro-duce.

As per latest available datafrom Agricultural Census,India’s farm sector is dominat-ed by marginal and small farm-ers (below 2 hectares of hold-ing).

These farmers constitutenearly 85 percent of total farmholdings and produce largelyfood-grains for home con-sumption. Their acreagesunder high-value crops likefruits and vegetables are verylimited. Moreover, value-addi-

tion to their agricultural pro-duce through processing isalso at a very low level. As it isestimated, hardly 7 percent ofthe total agricultural produc-tion in the country undergoessome processing and around 25percent has some value addi-tion.

No doubt over the yearsthere have been policy changesto encourage farmers to culti-vate high value crops like fruits,vegetables, spices and condi-ments etc. Besides, value-addi-tion to agricultural producesthrough processing is comingup in the country with theGovernment providing creditand marketing support.

Recently the Governmentof India has initiated a numberof market reforms such as abo-lition of Agricultural ProduceMarketing Committee(APMC) Act, doing away withinter-State trade barriers, pro-vision of e-trading facility so as

to free the farmers to produceand sell their produce. To dou-ble agricultural exports, theAgricultural Export Policy,2018 has been announced toraise the country’s export frompresent $30 billion to $60 bil-lion by 2022.

The extent of implementa-tion of all these marketingreforms is certainly of crucialimportance influencing thequality of our agricultural pro-duce to be produced andexport in future.

Thus, what is in this con-text pertinent to point out thatin order to boost agriculturalexports value- addition to ourfarm sector products needs tobe enhanced.

Since India has become afood surplus country, there isa need for a policy shift toencourage farmers to go forproducing high value crops.

The agro-processing sectorshould be promoted and sup-

ported in rural areas to increas-ingly go for processing farmproduce. Farm sector needs tobe free from Government pro-tection and regulations.

As suggested by ProfArvind Panagariya value addi-tion in the protected sector isan inefficient kind which can-not compete in the global mar-ket and thus shutting out thepossibility of export successunless underwritten by exportsubsidies.

To unshackle the farmersfrom Government regulation,as a first step the AgriculturalPrice Commission needs to beoverhauled if notabolished.https://ssl.gstatic.com/ui/v1/icons/mail/images/clear-dot.gif

(Dr Panda is a formerProfessor of Economics, UtkalUniversity and Drirector, NKCCentre for DevelopmentalStudies, Bhubaneswar)

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India successfully demon-strated its hypersonic air-

breathing scramjet technologywith the f light test ofHypersonic TechnologyDemonstration Vehicle(HSTDV) from the Dr APJAbdul Kalam Launch Complexat Wheeler Island, off theOdisha coast on Monday.

The Defence Research andDevelopment Organisation(DRDO) launched the vehicleusing a proven solid rocketmotor, which took it to an alti-tude of 30 km, where the aero-dynamic heat shields were sep-arated at hypersonic Machnumber.

The cruise vehicle separat-ed from the launch vehicleand the air intake opened as

planned. The hypersonic com-bustion sustained and thecruise vehicle continued on itsdesired flight path at a veloci-ty of six times the speed ofsound, i.e., nearly 02 km/sec-ond for more than 20 seconds.The critical events like fuelinjection and auto ignition ofscramjet demonstrated tech-nological maturity.

The parameters of launchand cruise vehicle, includingscramjet engine was moni-tored by multiple trackingradars, electro-optical systemsand telemetry stations.

A ship was also deployed inthe Bay of Bengal to monitorthe performance during thecruise phase of the vehicle.

Defence Minister RajnathSingh congratulated the DRDOon the landmark achievementtowards realising PrimeMinister Modi’s vision ofAtmanirbhar Bharat.

He also spoke to the sci-entists associated with the pro-ject and congratulated them.

Now, the country enters intothe hypersonic regime pavingway for advanced hypersonicvehicles.

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The State Government hasopposed the Business

Reforms Action Plan (BRAP)Rankings 2018 released by theDepartment for Promotion ofIndustry and Internal Trade(DPIIT) of the UnionGovernment recently.

There seems to be incon-gruity in the results as Statesand Union Territories whichhave implemented no/muchlower numbers of reformshave ranked higher thanStates which have imple-mented significant reforms,pointed out PrincipalSecretary Hemant Sharma.

While Odisha has com-pleted 180 out of 187 reforms

points in 2018-29, which wereaccepted by DPIIT, it hasbeen shown in a poor light inthe BRAP rankings, saidSharma.

It is a fact that someStates and Union Territorieswhich have implemented less-er numbers of reforms, one ofthem zero, are placed higherin ranking than Odisha.

Over past two years, sig-nificant numbers of reformshas been made by variousGovernment Departments inOdisha.

During April-September,2019, Odisha became the topinvestment destination in thecountry attracting the highest18 per cent of investment.

Even during CovidPandemic, the State receivedmore than 200 investmentproposals.

The IEMs data reportedby the DPIIT for 2019 alsoreflects highest quantum of

investment was grounded inOdisha.While AndhraPradesh (1) implemented34,696 IEMs, UttarPradesh(2) 6 ,162,Telengana(3), 7,364 MadhyaPradesh(4) 11m 335,Jharkhand(5) 44,199, Odishaimplemented 47,434 IEMSand is placed at 29th position.

Data for 2020 reported upto March by the DPIIT,Odisha also tops all the States.Furthermore, the Single win-dow Clearance System of theState i.e. GO SWIFT receivedthe National eGovernanceSilver Award for the year2020 in the Category of‘Government Process RE-Engineering for DigitalTransformation’ earlier thisyear.

In view of these, the StateGovernment would take upthe matter with the DPIITand lodge a protest over therankings soon.

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Inspired by the short film“Mask” produced by

Brahmapur SubdivisionDisaster Management OfficerDr Sweta Kumar Das, aprominent news channel ofthe USA, “The NRB”, inter-viewed the producer recent-ly.The Ganjam district admin-istration provided all sup-port for the interview, heldtrough online for about 20minutes.

“Both the Union andState Government have madeall efforts to control thespread of coronavirus. Whilethe President, the PrimeMinister and the ChiefMinister have urged peoplemany times to use mask, stillpeople have not given impor-tance. Keeping this in view, a

poor boy has come to thestreet and made efforts tomake people aware of theneed for use of masks inorder to remain safe fromcoronavirus,” Dr Dash said inthe interview. It may be notedthat Dr Dash has alreadybeen praised by the Governorand the Chief Minister for theshort film.

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Fulfilling the demands ofthe residents of Swabhiman

Anchal, the Malkangiri districtadministration on Mondaystarted mobile network con-nectivity in the area. As perMalkangiri district CollectorManish Agarwal, trial run ofthe network was completed inPipalapadar, Hantalguda andJantapai villages.

“Now people of these vil-lages will get voice call and 4GNetwork and will get connect-ed with the rest of the worldthrough active mobile net-work. With this connectivity allsurrounding villages will alsoget network and mobile con-nectivity,” he said. TheCollector urged Maoist cadresto shun violence and be part ofthe development process andget into social mainstream.

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Some employees like DeputyRange Officers, Foresters

and Forest Guards of AthagarhForest Division under bannerof Odisha Non Gazetted ForestService Association (ONGFSA)have brought serious allega-tions against DFO like her dic-tatorial regime in office man-agement deviating servicecodes and frequent changes ofofficers from their allottedduties who don't follow ordersto pay illegal share to DFOfrom different schemes.

Recently DFO has with-drawn financial transactionspower from two Range Officersnamely Bibhuranjan Ray ofNarsinghpur East Range andMaguni Behera of KhuntuniRange citing them as inca-pable, inefficient, irresponsible,poor performer of duty,

improper in performingdepartmental work in its OfficeOrder no-3489/dt.13.08.2020and 226/2.9.2020 respectively.

This apart, Governmentfunds of different schemes arenot released at the appropriatetime by DFO with an ill inten-tion behind it. Trained andqualified Foresters like SavitaRout, Sucharita Samantray,Manoj Das are not given anysection charge.

Even Foresters and ForestGuards doing round-the -clockduty, DFO threatens them inWhatsapp group to shift themto other divisions.

The association has allegedthat DFO claims at least fiftypercent of the total funds allot-ted under different schemes asher share from Range Officers.

In this regard, associationhas sent a memorandum toChief Minister Naveen Patnaik,5T Secretary VK Pandian, theForest Minister, Commissioner,PCCF Bhubaneswar, DG-Vigilance, RCCF of Angul fornecessary action against DFO.

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Police have arrested as manyas 36 persons over their

alleged involvement in killinga Home Guard in Malkangiridistrict on Saturday night.

The accused were arrestedfrom Nabarangpur and Kotpadareas while efforts were on bycops to trace and nab the oth-ers involved in the crime.

The deceased BanabasiMaharana was allegedly hackedto death by a group of ganjasmugglers near Chaulimendiunder Balimela police station inthe district on September 5night.“Most of the policemensuffered injuries in the scuffle.However, Home GuardBanabasi suffered severeinjuries and was rushed to thehospital,” said Malkangiri SPRishikesh Khilari.

The victim was rescuedand rushed to the MathiliHospital, where he succumbedto his injuries while undergo-ing treatment.

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Literary world has not beendeterred by Corona pan-

demic anymore. Recently,Corona Carols, a book byacclaimed Professor DurgaPrasad Acharya, who heads theDepartment of English ofSwami Vivekananda MemorialAutonomous College,Jagatsinghpur under the UtkalUniversity came out with a col-lection of poems written dur-ing the Covid-19 lockdownand self-isolation.

The book has got globalacclaim immediately after itspublication in a very limitedspan of time with thousands oflikes.

Several internationalEnglish writers and readershave praised the book whichembodies poems those reflectthe varying moods that thepoet underwent and hisresponses to the pandemic-induced situations and experi-ences. District CollectorSangram Keshari Mohapatrainaugurated the book.

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Abusinessman from Odishawas arrested by the

Chhattisgarh police fromGariaband district inChhattisgarh for allegedlysmuggling diamonds worthover Rs 25 lakh.

The accused was identifiedas Nutan Patel of Godal villagein Nuapada district.Acting ona tipoff about the diamondsmuggling, the police con-ducted raids in Mainpur areaand seized 171 pieces of dia-monds from the businessman’spossession.

“We have seized four bigpieces and 167 small pieces ofdiamonds from the business-man.

The approximate value ofthe seized diamonds will bemore than Rs 25 lakh,” said apolice officialFurther investi-gation into the matter is on andthe accused has been forward-ed to court, said police.

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A62-year-old scribe heresuccumbed to deadly

novel coronavirus on Sundaywhile undergoing treatmentin Covid hospital.

He was identified asSoloman Sahu who was work-ing for a vernacular.

Sahu was admitted onThursday and despite admin-istration of all available treat-ments he died on Sundaymorning.

On Saturday, a 56-year-oldpolice Constable affected withCovid -19 also died whileundergoing treatment in KIMSHospital ,Bhubaneswar.Deceased Ajay Kumar Majhi,a resident of Barabati ofBaleswar town, was performingvarious duties ever since lock-down was enforced fromMarch third week.

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Police arrested six persons inconnection two separate

incidents of ganja smugglingunder the Mohana and Adabapolice station areas in Gajapatidistrict on Sunday.

The cops also seized ahuge cache of contrabandworth Rs 1 crore and confis-cated three vehicles which wereused for transporting the ganja.In the first incident, a team led

by Mohana PS IIC Sujit Nayakintercepted a truck on theLuhagudi-Chandiput road andrecovered 19 plastic bagsstuffed with ganja. The value ofthe contraband is about Rs 40lakh. A car which was escort-ing the truck was also seized.Four natives of Agra in UttarPradesh were arrested.

In another incident, theAdaba police intercepted aBolero at Chudungapur-Keshariguda Chhack andseized 1,629 kg of ganja worthRs 60 lakh. Two persons werealso arrested, said Adaba PS IICAlok Gajdal.

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Continuing its effort to makeGanjam district Covid-19

infection-free, the districtadministration would under-take a week-long campaignfrom September 8 (Tuesday) to14 to check oxygen level of allpeople.District Collector VijayAmruta Kulange announcedthis on Monday. “Teams wouldmove to all households andcheck oxygen level of eachperson so that people havingsymptoms can be traced earlyand provided treatment at right

time,’ tweeted the Collector. Hesaid vulnerable people such aspregnant women, senior citi-zens and others having chron-ic diseases can be protected.

He further informed thatso far 3, 02,434 corona testshave been done out of which18,652 have tested positive.While 93.9% of them (17,522)have recovered, 204 have suc-cumbed, he said.

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People have already lost theirlivelihood due to the pan-

demic Covid-19. At this phaseof economic crisis, the recentflood in different rivers ofOdisha multiplied the painand sufferings of the costal dis-tricts during this pandemicsituation.

Marooned and water-logged people are facing somany problems. They have nofood for survival, no portablewater to drink and no mos-quito nets to protect themfrom the diseases carried bymosquitoes. At this emer-

gency situation Dr NeushreePani and Lecturer NinineeTripathy extended their helpinghands to the flood affected peo-ple.

They sent food packets forthe affected people of villageslike Tikhiri , KhursiaPatalipanga and NaladiaPalanda of Kendrapara district.Under the guidance of Maj DrKalpna Das, social workerLaxman Swain , Arun KumarDas, Lions Club presidentDeepak Choudhury, SushantaKumar Sahu , Prakas Parida,Deepak Ranjan Pradhan ,Himansu Sekhar Behera, theydistributed the food items.

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Manav Adhikar SurakshyaManch (MASM) conven-

er Abani Kumar Gaya hasdemanded immediate rollbackof the holding tax hike by theBerhamapur MunicipalCorporation (BeMC).

Gaya described theincrease as an arbitrary step notbased on any uniform princi-ple. The tax rate as of FY2019-20 is already higher thanthat of many other States, hepointed out.

When the households arepassing through fiscal traumaand disorder due to countrywide Covid-19 lockdown sinceMarch this year, the decision ofthe BeMC to hike holding taxis not only unjust but also anti-people and done in haste, helamented.

If the BeMC fails to roll

back its decision and maintainsstatus quo, the Manch willlaunch its agitation, he warned.Gaya also made the local lead-ers and elected representativesincluding MP, MLA ofBrahmapur responsible forsuch frequent and arbitraryincrease in holding tax.

Earlier, leaders of differentsocial and political outfits,including former president ofGanjam Bar AssociationBhagaban Sahu, Bharat BikashParishad State presidentSurendra Panigrahi, Ganjamdistrict unit secretary ofONSU-TUCI and AIKKSShankar Sahu and senior BJPleader Kanhu Charan Pati hadstrongly protested the hike inthe holding tax.

The Ganjam BarAssociation too had given amemorandum to the RDCprotesting the tax hike.

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With an aim to provide all-round relief and support

to people suffering from men-tal health problems, which haveonly aggravated during theCovid-19-induced lockdown,the Centre on Mondaylaunched a 24X7 multi-lingualdedicated toll-free helpline ser-vice named ‘Kiran’

As per latest statistics, men-tal illness is prevalent amongnearly 11 percent of adults andover 7 percent of adolescents inIndia.

During the launch of thehelpline no 18005990019, UnionMinister for Social Justice andEmpowerment (MSJE),Thaawarchand Gehlot explainedthat the tele-service will cater topeople in distress, mental healthemergency and pandemicinduced psychological issuesamid ongoing Covid-19 out-break which has impacted men-tal health of many people in thecountry.

“People will be able to availcounseling for their mentalhealth related problems by sit-ting at the home itself and thattoo in their mother tongue,” the

Minister said.Available in Hindi,

Assamese, Tamil, Marathi,Odia, Telugu, Malayalam,Gujarati, Punjabi, Kannada,Bengali, Urdu and English, thehelpline is backed by a batteryof clinical/rehabilitation psy-chologists and psychiatristswho will be answering thequeries of the person in distressor his/her family members.

They will be counselingabout availability of mentalhealth rehabilitation serviceslike early screening, first-aid,psychological support, distressmanagement, mental wellbeing,promoting positive behaviours,psychological crisis manage-ment etc, Gehlot said hopingthat the helpline will be equal-ly useful for family members ofpersons with mental illness.

A wide range of mental ill-ness related issues such asstress, anxiety, depression, panicattacks, adjustment disorders,post-traumatic stress disorders,substance abuse, suicidalthoughts, pandemic induced psychological issues aswell as mental health emer-gencies will also be taken uponline, said Secretary,Department of People withDisability (DEPwD) ShakuntalaGamlin.

Joint Secretary (Disability)Prabodh Seth in his presenta-tion talked about the mentalhealth status in the countrypointing out that as per anational survey, mental illnessis prevalent among 10.6 percentand 7.3 per cent of the adultsand adolescents respectively inthe country while treatment gap

ranges between 70 per cent to92 per cent.

With such dismal scenario,the launch of the much-await-ed tele-consultation service has come in the back-drop of the disturbing data

released by National CrimesRecord Bureau (NCRB) recent-ly which noted that more than1.39 lakh Indians died by sui-cide in the year 2019, 67 percent of which were young adults(18-45 years).

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Five States continue con-tribute to 60 per cent of the

total Covid-19 cases withMaharashtra topping the listwith 21.6 per cent cases, fol-lowed by Andhra Pradesh with11.8 per cent, Tamil Nadu 11per cent, Karnataka 9.5 percent and Uttar Pradesh 6.3 percent.

Maharashtra also con-tributed 26.76 per cent of theactive cases in the country, fol-lowed by Andhra Pradesh 11.30per cent, Karnataka 11.25 percent, Uttar Pradesh 6.98 per centand Tamil Nadu 5.83 per cent,said the Union Health Ministryin a statement here.

Meanwhile, it said, theCovid-19 recovery rate in Indiahas risen to 77.31 per cent with69,564 patients recuperatingfrom the disease in 24 hourspushing the total number ofrecoveries to 32.5 lakh. The casefatality rate has further droppedto 1.7 per cent, it said. Nearlyfive crore COVID-19 tests havebeen conducted till date with 7.2lakh of them carried out in thelast 24 hours, the Ministry said.

“On a continuous upwardtrajectory, India’s total recoveredcases have crossed 32.5 lakhtoday, with 69,564 patientsbeing discharged in the last 24hours. This has resulted in the

recovery rate touching 77.31 percent,” it said in a statement.

In the last 24 hours, AndhraPradesh recorded the highestrecoveries at 11,915. Karnatakaand Maharashtra saw 9,575 and7,826 recoveries respectively.Tamil Nadu witnessed 5,820people recuperating from thedisease and Uttar Pradesh 4,779recoveries during the same peri-od, it said.

India’s Covid-19 tally ofcases went past 42 lakh OnMonday with a record 90,802people being infected in a day,according to the Union HealthMinistry data.

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Parliamentarians may beruing the fact that their

“r ight” to Quest ion theGovernment on the floor ofthe Lok Sabha and the RajyaSabha has been suspended bythe Centre, with the doingaway of the Question Hour inthe forthcoming MonsoonSession, but it has certainlybrought a huge sigh of reliefto the babus who haveescaped the grind of prepar-ing answers to the MPs’ ques-tions.

All questions forQuestion Hour — the firsthour of business every daywhen Parliament is in session— have to be tabled 15 daysbefore the session and prepa-ration for this involves a verytiring process at various min-istry and departments of theGovernment.

“Yes, indeed. We are a bitrelaxed this time. More often

than not, most of our timeused to get consumed inframing answers to questionsfor which we had to leave allother important work of theMinistry. One answer hadthe involvement right fromSecretariat staf f t i l l theSecretary of the departmentand then briefing the con-cerned Minister. While we arealready undergoing hugeamount of stress in our dailyof f ice routine due toCoronavirus, the foregoingof Question Hour this timecan be termed as a blessing indisguise,” said a top officer ina Ministry.

MPs are required to sub-mit questions for QuestionHour in Parliament 15 days inadvance. The MonsoonSession is scheduled fromSeptember 14 and for thefirst time in the history ofParliament, there will not beany Question Hour keeping inview safeguards related to thecoronavirus pandemic.

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The Supreme Court onMonday granted another

four weeks time to states,which have not yet filed affi-davits on a plea seeking direc-tions to provide masks andsanitisers to the elderly amidthe COVID-19 pandemic, tofile their responses.

The matter came up forhearing before a bench head-ed by Justice Ashok Bhushanwhich had on August 4 direct-ed that all eligible old age per-sons should be regularly paidpension and states should pro-vide them necessary medi-cines, masks, sanitisers andother essential goods in wake

of the pandemic.The bench, also compris-

ing Justices R S Reddy and MR Shah, was hearing a plea filedby former union minister andsenior advocate AshwaniKumar who has sought direc-tions with regard to the elder-ly, saying they need more careand protection in this time ofpandemic.

During the hearing con-ducted through video-confer-encing, Kumar told the benchthat only some states includingOdisha and Punjab haveresponded to the petition sofar.

Priority should be grantedto elderly people who are beingtreated at hospitals, Kumarsaid.

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President Ram Nath Kovindand Prime Minister

Narendra Modi on Mondaysaid the National EducationPolicy (NEP) 2020 has beenformulated after an unprece-dented and lengthy process ofconsultations, involving thesuggestions from more thantwo lakh gram panchayats,local bodies and about 675 dis-tricts and the NEP is in a way,without pressure and withoutinfluence to learn democraticvalues.

Speaking at the‘Governors’ Conference onNEP 2020’ via video-confer-encing, both the President andthe PM said that the policy willbe able to take the youth for-ward, in accordance with theneeds and aspirations of the21st century.

The conference wasattended by Governors,Education Minister RameshPokhriyal Nishank and Vice-Chancellors of universities, aswell as education ministers ofall states.

Kovind encouraged all theGovernors and Education

Ministers who play an effectiverole in making India a ‘knowl-edge-hub’, to contribute inimplementing NEP across thecountry.

“The success of theNational Education Policy willdepend on the effective con-tribution of both the Centreand the State. Education is thesubject of the concurrent listunder the Indian Constitution.Therefore, it requires joint andcoordinated action by theCentre and the States,” Kovindstated.

President Kovind said thatthe field of higher educationrequires highly qualified per-sons on the vacancies of ViceChancellors and Teachers ofUniversities to ensure timebound adherence to the rec-ommendations of thisEducation Policy.

“The use and integrationof technology will acceleratelearning process improvementand yield better results. Forthis, the National EducationalTechnology Forum - NETF.Will be established. NETF TheState government agencies willalso provide consultation,” hesaid.

New Delhi: The Governmenthas sought �18.31 crore fromthe Asian Development Bankfor technical assistance toupdate the ‘Covid war room’ inthe Union Health Ministryand has also asked the Bank tohelp select other organisationswith technical expertise thatcan help in analysis and datavisualisation on coronavirus.

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Congress president SoniaGandhi will formulate the

party’s Parliament plan onTuesday at a meeting of thestrategy group she has calledahead of the Monsoon Sessionstarting from September 14.The meeting will also beattended by former PMManmohan Singh andCongress leader Rahul Gandhi.

The Congress parliamen-tary strategy group consists ofseniors from both Houses.“The Congress strategists willdiscuss the line to be adoptedon government ordinances.Around 11 Bills replacing ordi-nances are expected to betabled in the session and theparty will formulate its view oneach. Besides, there will be dis-cussions on priority issues,including the LAC standoffwith China, non-payment ofGST compensation to states,the rising Covid-19 burdenand a failed lockdown and thecontinued insistence of thegovernment on conductingcompetitive and universityexams,” said an AICC func-tionary.

After the Tuesday meetingof the Congress, leaders of thelarger opposition, includingthe TMC, Left parties, ShivSena and the NCP, are expect-ed to meet later this week to

articulate a joint floor strategyfor the Parliament session.

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Union EnvironmentMinister

P r a k a s hJavadekar onM o n d a yexhorted theStates to usecleaner fuels,bui ld goodroads to easetraf f ic andensure thatbrick ki lnsuse zigzagtechnology tohelp the envi-ronment freeof pollution.

“It is alsothe states’responsibili-ty,” Javadekarsaid whileaddressing awebinar onthe f irst e v e rInternationalDay of CleanAir for BlueSkies here.He added,“We did nothave to cele-brate blueskies day ear-lier, but with industrialisa-tion and hugeincrease inpopulation,number ofv e h i c l e s ,waste anddust, pollu-tion has goneup.”

T h eCentre has

upgraded the fuel standard toBS-VI to fight pollution, he said urging people to shift to

electric vehicles.

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Former Prime MinisterManmohan Singh on

Monday conferred the IndiraGandhi Peace Prize on Britishbroadcaster DavidAttenborough at a virtualevent. While Singh said therecan be no more deservingrecipient of the award than SirDavid at this time when theworld is gripped by growinganxiety over the state of ourenvironment and our planet,Congress President SoniaGandhi described him as oneof Nature’s “most staunch con-science keepers” for over halfa century. David is also thebrother of actor RichardAttenborough, who had direct-ed and produced the acclaimedfilm ‘Gandhi’.

Accepting the award forthe year 2019, David said, “Wehave to change from beingnationalists to being interna-tional”.

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Director General of CISFRajesh Ranjan on Monday

reviewed the operational pre-paredness of the Delhi MetroRail network that began opera-tions after a gap of 169 days dueto the Covid-19 lockdown.

Ranjan visited Delhi MetroRail network and took stock ofthe situation and arrangementsmade from CISF perspective tomeet the challenge of Covid-19pandemic, a CISF spokespersonsaid in a statement. The DGalong-with Additional Director(Headquarters) Sudhir KumarSaxena, Inspector General(NCR) Dayal Gangwar, DeputyInspector General (DMRC)Jitender Rana, and other seniorofficers boarded the Metro trainfrom Central Secretariat stationand travelled to Rajiv Chowk andthen to Jor Bagh metro station,the official said.

The CISF chief interactedwith the paramilitary personneland advised them to maintainminimum close proximity inter-action with passengers withoutcompromising on security pro-cedures.

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In a bizarre incident of itskind, a 19-year-old woman

who was quarantined for sus-pected Covid-19 was brutallyraped by a health inspector atThiruvananthapuram lastThursday. The woman hailingfrom Kollam district was sum-moned by Pradeep Kumar, thehealth worker, to his home toissue a medical certificate sothat she could rejoin for dutyon Monday.

When the woman reachedthe house of the health inspec-tor, he reportedly ushered herto the ‘office room’ where hetried to misbehave with her.When the victim resisted hisovertures, Pradeep Kumar tiedher to a cot in the room, tiedboth her hands and legs, stuffedclothes into her mouth andraped her, says the FIR.

Once she was allowed to gohome, she told her parentswhat happened and they tookher to the nearest hospitalwhere the physicians con-firmed that rape has indeedtaken place. The victim’s fam-ily complained to the policeand a First Information Reporthas been registered. Kumar

has been arrested since then.This is the second rape

involving Covid-19 victimshappening in the State in twodays. On Saturday night, aCovid-19 patient who wasbeing shifted to a hospital wasraped by the ambulance driver,an accused in a murder case. Hehas been arrested and the policeprobe found out on Mondaythat he was the main accused inkidnapping an engineeringgraduate and raping her.

While police is investigat-ing the case, the OppositionBJP and the Congress declaredan indefinite agitation demand-ing the resignation of healthminister KK Shylaja owning upmoral responsibility for theincidents.

The Kerala unit of theMahila Morchha staged a mas-sive demonstration atThiruvananthapuram demand-ing the resignation of the healthminister. Youth Congress work-ers too held demonstrations invarious places in the State.

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Thomas Isaac, FinanceMinister of Kerala, was

diagnosed with Covid-19 onMonday and this resulted inChief Minister PinarayiVijayan, Health Minister KKShylaja and CPI(M) secretaryKodiyeri Balakrishnan optingto be under observation.

Isaac had interacted withVijayan, Shylaja andBalakrishnan during a partyconclave held on Friday whichnecessitated them to go under observation. This result-ed in the cancellation ofMonday’s press briefing byChief Minister Vijayan.

Elsewhere in Kerala, 1,648new persons were diagnosed

with Covid-19 on Monday. 12more persons succumbed tothe pandemic on Monday tak-ing the fatalities till date to 359.

Out of the total cases diag-nosed positive on Monday,1,495 persons contracted thepandemic through local trans-mission. A release by the healthdepartment said as on Mondayevening, there were 22,066

active patients under treatmentin various hospitals in the State.

The day also saw morethan 150 patients admitted tothe First Line Treatment Centre at Chenganoor observ-ing fast to highlight their griev-ances like indifference of themedical team in the hospitalincluding doctors and lack ofmedicine.

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The Bengal Government hasraised its voice against what it

called “heavily centralised” and“anti-federal” new economic pol-icy proposed by the Centre.

Coming down heavily on theCentre for “trying to impose” aNew Economic Policy which wentagainst the grains of federalism andwould only lead to corporatisationof education, State EducationMinister Partho Chatterjee onMonday said that “the NEP is aproduct of Centre’s unilateralismas it did not heed the proposals andobjections of the States which putforward their views.”

Claiming that the NEP wouldonly promote corporatisation ofeducation he said, “Bengal hadalready conveyed its views in a vir-tual meeting with the central rep-resentatives … we had raised cer-tain points and had expressed ourobjection against a number ofclauses but that was not taken careof by the Centre while drafting itsnew education policy.” Apart fromundermining the federal structureof the country the NEP would also

promote corporatisation of edu-cation which was the last thing hisparty the Trinamool Congresswanted, he said.

“All the Opposition partiesshould have been consulted andtheir views taken before draftingthe NEP. But instead of doing thatthey are now imposing the newpolicy on the State Governmentsshowing utter disregard for the factthat India is a country of diversecultures and traits … contrary towhat they claimed the oppositionwas not consulted before bringingthis new education policy … theStates should have been takeninto consideration before adoptingthe NEP. This shows that theCentre is trying to curb the State’srole in education despite the factthat education comes under theconcurrent list,” he said.

Chief Minister MamataBanerjee too had earlier expressedher opposition saying the Stateswere not discussed before declar-ing the NEP. She had in fact con-stituted a committee comprisingnoted intellectuals like PabitraSarkar, Nrisingha Prasad Bhaduriand others to evaluate the NEP.

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Jammu — popularly knownas “City of Temples” is wit-

nessing a “tug of war” betweenthree senior women officersover an alleged attempt to“unsurp” prime property ofone of the oldest temples in thecity for a 35 crore multilevelmechanised car parking and acommercial complex.

The temple in question isknown as Panjvakhtar temple.

Ever since the revelation hascome to light the local residentsand devotees are up in armsagainst the concerned authori-ties while blame game has start-ed among the senior func-tionaries to save their own skin.

In the last two days, threedifferent letters have surfacedin the public domain.Each oneis written by these three womenofficers to shift the blame onthe other.

Meanwhile, to contain thegrowing anger among thedevotees, Lt-Governor ManojSinha on Monday visited thetemple complex to cool downthe tempers, a day after the saidtender was withdrawn by theconcerned agency.

Trouble erupted last weekwhen a High Court appointedcaretaker of the temple com-plex Retired Sessions JudgeSuresh Sharma went publicand alleged the Jammu

Municipal Corporation andJammu DevelopmentAuthority in collaboration withthe National Highways andInfrastructure DevelopmentCorporation Limited had float-ed a tender to construct amulti level parking in the tem-ple premises at a total cost ofover 35 crore.

The caretaker of the his-toric temple also alleged in thetender document it has beenclaimed that the JMC is theabsolute owner of the plot ofland measuring 3285 squaremeters situated at PanjvakhtarTemple and proposes to devel-op and implement the project on Public PrivatePartnership mode.

As the public anger spilledon to the streets and severalsocio political organisationsjoined hands together to cornerthe Government, the first letterwritten by the Commissioner ofJammu Municipal CorporationAvny Lavasa surfaced in thepublic domain.

Setting the record straight,in her communication to thePrincipal Secretary to theGovernment, Housing andUrban DevelopmentDepartment JMC commis-sioner wrote, “JMC has neitherstaked any claim to this landnor been involved in any park-ing project that is to be madeon this land. The controversy

may be put to rest by gettingthe matter clarified from theJammu DevelopmentAuthority or any other depart-ment/organisation that maybe involved in the proposedproject”.

Moving swiftly, Vice-Chairperson of JammuDevelopment Authority, BabilaRakwal wrote a second letteraddressed to Suresh Sharma,Retd Sessions Judge andCaretaker of Panjvakhtar tem-ple. In her letter she mademention of the fact that theJMC Commissioner has clari-fied that the parcel of land onwhich the proposed projectwill come up is not owned bythe Corporation.

“The mention of the JMCas the owner of the land in theNotice Inviting Tender (NIT)for the project was an inad-vertent error and is regretted.The said NIT has been with-drawn”, VC JDA mentioned inthe letter, adding “the saidparking was being developedearlier under the Smart CityMission by the DeputyCommissioner Jammu”.

In the communication, shehas revealed that DivisionalCommissioner Jammu hasbeen requested to verify thetitle of land expeditiously andany development by theGovernment, for public good,will only be undertaken there-

after after following dueprocess.

On Monday, it was theturn of the DeputyCommissioner,Jammu SushmaChauhan to respond to the twoprevious letters written by hercolleagues heading two differ-ent departments.

In her official communi-cation addressed to the officeof Vice Chairman, JammuDevelopment Authority, shewrote, “it is a matter of recordthat the board of Jammu Smart

City Ltd, which is headed bythe Divisional Commissioner,Jammu in its 6th meeting of theBoard of Directors, held onJune 20, 2020, deliberated onthe agenda item pertaining tothe development of a parkingproject near Panjvakhtar tem-ple on land bearing Khasra no351, measuring 19 kanals 8marla, khasna no 355 measur-ing 17 Marlas, in village JammuKhas, Tehsil Jammu, title ofwhich belongs to thePanjvakhtar temple”.

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The fierce turf war going between the TrinamoolCongress and BJP saw yet another saffron worker, this

time a woman, getting shot by alleged ruling party goonsat Vishnupur in South 24 Parganas, sources said.

The victim, Radharani Naskar had been admittedto the Calcutta Medical College Hospital in a serious con-dition, State BJP women’s wing president Agnimitra Paulsaid. The men of Debashis Naskar, a local TMC tough shotat the victim and fled, Barun Naskar her husband said.One person had been arrested in connection of the inci-dent, police said.

This is the third such incident in the past two dayswhen saffron workers were attacked with fire arms lead-ing State BJP president Dilip Ghosh to warn the policethat they would be adequately taken care of after his partycame to power in the next year’s elections. While a BJPbooth president was shot dead at Kalna town in EastBurdwan district on Sunday another BJP worker was shotand grievously wounded at Ichapore in Noth 24 Parganas.

Reacting to the situation senior TMC leader andEducation Minister Partho Chatterjee said “culprits will notbe spared he or she being member of any party… it is alwaysnot that whatever the BJP or the Centre does is good andwhatever the TMC and Bengal Government do is bad.”

Meanwhile, in an unrelated incident a timely action ofthe Kolkata Police on Monday saved 21 children from beingsmuggled out to distant places for forced labour. Followinga tip off the cops rescued the children aged between 10 and17 years who were brought by an overnight bus fromBegusarai and Samastipur in Bihar, sources said.

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An honest attempt by 23senior leaders of theCongress to assess thereasons for the party’s

steady decline over the last sixyears, and to present a plan for itsrevival, has been rebuffed by theGandhis and the coterie surround-ing them. This does not augur wellfor the party.

While it has faced many inter-nal dissensions and conflicts overpersonalities and policies, this iscertainly the biggest existentialcrisis that it has faced in a long timebecause it has become rudderlessand a sense of hopelessness hascrept into the rank and file.

Looking at the manner inwhich these voices were drownedin the last Congress WorkingCommittee (CWC) meeting, it isclear that the Gandhis, who run theparty as a private limited compa-ny, and their sycophants, will notallow honest introspection.

There is a set pattern toresponses to calls for inner-partydebate when a member of theNehru-Gandhi family is at thehelm. Such moves are seen as arevolt and any talk of collectiveleadership and inner-party elec-tions is regarded as blasphemy.Then there are demands that arebandied about with the blessingsof the family, when a member ofthe family is not the head of theparty. These slogans were raised byfamily loyalists when PVNarasimha Rao, Sitaram Kesariand others were party presidents.

Going by this yardstick, thesignatories to the letter to theCongress president have reallydone something that is sacrilegiousbecause they seek internal debateand democracy when a Gandhi isat the helm. These senior leadersdecided to abandon the Congresstradition of beating around thebush. Instead they did somestraight talking, however bitterthis may sound to the party pres-ident. Referring to the majorreverses suffered by the party, thesignatories said they had wit-nessed “a steady decline” of theCongress Party “reflected in suc-cessive electoral verdicts” in Stateand general elections in 2014 and2019. They said “the reasons aremanifold and need to be immedi-ately identified. Otherwise, theCongress Party will find itselfmarginalised, both in the States,which is already apparent, as wellas at the national level.”

Even more significant isthe readiness of these signato-ries to do honest diagnosis andto search for answers and solu-tions. The letter bluntly tells theparty president the truth aboutthe worrying erosion of theparty’s support base, speciallyamong the youth. Analysing theparty’s electoral performancesince 2014, these leaders pointout that over the last six years,India had added 187 millionfirst-time voters. However, theCongress Party did not attractthese voters because “the youthvoted overwhelmingly for Modiand the BJP.” They pointed outthat the voteshare of the BJP,which had slumped to just78.40 million in 2009, rosesharply to 176 million in 2014and 229 million in 2019. Thiswas in sharp contrast to the per-formance of the Congress Party,which bagged 123 million votesin 2009 and was around this fig-ure (119.40 million) in 2019.

However, despite this disas-trous performance by the party,the signatories lament that theCongress Party “has not under-taken any honest introspectionto analyse the reasons for thecontinued decline.” In otherwords, these leaders are sayingthat the lack of introspectionbodes ill for the future of theparty.

The leaders have made aseries of suggestions. They wanta vigorous nation-wide mem-bership drive and elections at alllevels. Further, in view of thegravity of the challenges facingthe party, it is “imperative” tourgently establish “an institu-tional leadership mechanismto collectively guide the party’srevival”. In other words, there is

need for a collective leadershipat this juncture. Just domi-nance of a single family will notdo.

These are suggestions thatare coming from well-meaningleaders of the party and there isno malice. How can the partytake exception to the sugges-tions made in this letter? Also,they have not said this becausethey are pro-BJP as alleged ini-tially. None of these leaders havein the past shown any fascina-tion for Narendra Modi or theBJP.

But the Nehru-Gandhishave always shunned internaldebate. On May 15, 1999,Purno Sangma, Sharad Pawarand Tariq Anwar raised someimportant questions at a meet-ing of the CWC. There was araging debate about Ms SoniaGandhi’s citizenship status atthat time and that was the cen-tral issue in the Lok Sabha elec-tion. Mr Sangma directly askedher to clarify as to whether shehad dual citizenship of Indiaand Italy. He said he was puttingthis question to her in order toknow the facts so that partyworkers across the countrycould quash the rumours beingspread by the party’s opponents.Ms Gandhi refused to answerthe question. Instead sheresigned as party president,forcing the party to dismissPawar, Sangma and Anwarfrom the party. The NationalDemocratic Alliance (NDA)led by Atal Bihari Vajpayeewon that election comfortably.The Congress Party’s vote sharein that election was 28.30 percent. In 2019, this dropped to19.50 per cent.

Coming back to the pre-

sent, if these 23 leaders are mar-ginalised, what will theCongress be left with? Amongthose who have been identifiedby the media as signatories tothis letter are Ghulam NabiAzad, Veerappa Moily, PJKurien, Anand Sharma,Bhupinder Singh Hooda, KapilSibal and Prithviraj Chavan.

PJ Kurien joined theCongress in his student days in1959 and can claim 60 years ofassociation with the party. Hehas been in Parliament since1980. Veerappa Moily became aCongress MLA in Karnataka in1972 and has been a staunchCongressman for 50 years.Ghulam Nabi Azad’s associationwith the Congress is of similarvintage, having become secre-tary of a block Congress com-mittee in 1973.

It is sad to see the intentionsof individuals like Moily, Azadand Kurien, to name a few, whohave spent a lifetime in theparty, being doubted. At thisrate, their attempts to revive theparty will just be a cry in thewilderness and the Congresswill continue to shrink and loseits relevance.

The response of SoniaGandhi, Rahul and Priyanka tothese developments does notaugur well for the Congress.The signatories to the letterconstitute sane, sincere, credi-ble voices. By rebuffing them,the Gandhis are taking theparty further into the mire. Thiswill have tragic consequencesfor the Congress and, moreimportantly, for Indian democ-racy.

(The writer is an author spe-cialising in democracy studies.Views expressed are personal)

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Sir — At a meeting of theShanghai CooperationOrganisation (SCO), DefenceMinister Rajnath Singh told hisChinese counterpart that Indiawould not cede an inch of land.He stressed that India is deter-mined to protect the integrity andsovereignty of the country at allcosts. Chinese Defence MinisterWei Fenghe told Singh that rela-tions between the two countrieshad been seriously affected by theborder issue and the responsibil-ity for the border standoff layentirely with the Indian side.

The latest conflict betweenIndian and Chinese troops on thesouthern bank of Pangong Tsoraises concerns over escalation atthe Line of Actual Control. Chinaassumes that India is working atthe behest of the US. It even thinksthat if it fights a war with India,the US may join in and both ofthem may jointly counter it.Leaving China stunned, Indiashowed the audacity to carry outa pre-emptive strike against it. Infact, neither of the countrieswants a military conflict. Butboth are prepared for a large-scalemilitary conflict. The militarybuild-up and aggressive posturing

by both sides have raised the spec-tre of an armed conflict thatcould prove to be mutuallydestructive. Both the troops mustavoid ranting about battle-readi-

ness and inflicting heavy losses onthe enemy. The continuing stale-mate makes diplomatic interven-tions critical. Both the countrieshave the ability to resolve their

border disputes bilaterally, sothey must take the border disputesto the negotiation table.

Venu GSKollam

���������� ��������Sir — This refers to the news item,India replaces Brazil for 2nd Covidspot, The Pioneer, September 7.India has crossed four millionCoronavirus cases and overtakenBrazil to become the world’s sec-ond worst-hit country. But this isno surprise. India has beenrecording the most daily cases inthe world since August and hashad the world’s worst-recordedcase trajectory since August-end.The most important figurethrough any pandemic, however,is the number of lives lost to it.India’s case fatality rate of 1.7 percent is significantly better than theglobal average of 3.2 per cent. Ahard lockdown was one of the fewconcepts that had unanimousscientific backing. The Centre saysthat it bought us time to strength-en our healthcare infrastructure.This claim, though, will be put tothe test in coming weeks. Savinglives from this point will gettougher by the day, and how theGovernment handles this willdetermine how well India hasfared against the virus.

N Sadhasiva ReddyBengaluru

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Faced with a dwindling tax revenue since thelast financial year of 2019-20, the issue of“full” and “timely” compensation for the

shortfall in States’ tax revenue (their own collec-tion plus the amount received as their share inindirect tax collected by the Centre as per theFinance Commission’s devolution formula) vis-à-vis a given benchmark, has been a bone of con-tention between the Centre and the States. It hasacquired gargantuan dimensions during the cur-rent year with the Coronavirus pandemic forc-ing a collapse of businesses, cutting across almostall sectors (barring essential items) and in turn,leading to a steep fall in tax collection of boththe Centre and States. During 2020-21, the gapbetween what can be arranged from a tax pooland compensation requirement of the States isestimated to be �2,35,000 crore (during 2019-20,this was �70,000 crore). The compensation toStates is intertwined with the Goods and ServicesTax (GST) in vogue since July 1, 2017. The GSTCompensation Act, 2017 provides for compen-sation to the States for five years (2017-18 to2021-22) for the loss of revenue to be calculat-ed as the difference between their actual collec-tion (including transfer of their share in indirecttax collected by the Centre) and the amount theywould have got with annual growth at 14 per centover the 2015-16 level under the erstwhile dis-pensation (Central Excise Duty (CED)/servicetax/sales tax/Value Added Tax (VAT) plus otherlocal taxes).

To ensure this, the Union Government hadalso passed an amendment to the GSTCompensation Act (2018) to levy a cess on thesupply of certain goods and services. The cessis levied on demerit goods (those which fall inthe highest tax slab of 28 per cent — other slabsbeing five per cent, 12 per cent and 18 per centbesides the exempt category) such as automobiles,tobacco, drinks and so on with a proviso to usethe proceeds for compensating States. The cesswas to remain in force for five years in sync withthe Centre’s obligation to compensate States forthat period. The rationale behind keeping thesearrangements in place for five years was that atthe end of this transition i.e. 2021-22, the GSTdispensation would have acquired the much-needed “vitality” and “resilience” to yield suffi-cient resources for the States to meet their bud-getary requirements within a prudential limit setunder the Fiscal Responsibility and BudgetManagement Act (FRBM) thereby obviating theneed for any extra support beyond 2021-22.

During the first two years, viz. 2017-18/2018-19, collection from the cess was high-er than the shortfall in tax revenue faced by States.As a result, there was surplus of about �47,000crore in the cess pool as on March 31, 2019. Thishelped the Centre meet the impending challengeduring 2019-20 when cess proceeds were only�95,000 crore against compensation requirementof �1,65,000 crore.

During the current year, against compensa-tion requirement of �3,00,000 crore, cess proceedsare estimated to be about �65,000 crore leadingto a shortfall of �2,35,000 crore. In this backdropand with the States unwilling to relent on theirclaim for compensation in full, the Centre is talk-ing of what in legal jargon is termed as forcemajeure (unexpected circumstances). Put sim-ply, the latter has expressed its inability to payinvoking an event beyond control or what theFinance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, hasdescribed as an “act of God” (the Coronavirus).

The issue was discussed during a marathonmeeting of the GST Council on August 27, 2020.

Ruling out a hike in tax rates or theCentre making good the shortfall fromeither the Consolidated Fund of India(CFI) or borrowing against its balancesheet, Sitharaman presented twooptions for consideration by the States.

Under option one the Centre, inconsultation with the Reserve Bank ofIndia (RBI), will provide a specialwindow to the States to borrow �97,000crore (this is the amount attributable toimplementation of the GST, while therest is apportioned to the pandemic —as informed by the Revenue Secretary,Ajay Bhushan Pandey) at a “reasonable”rate of interest. The loan won’t be treat-ed as debt in the books of the StateGovernments and will be amortised(both principal and interest) from thecess collection. An additional FRBMlimit of 0.5 per cent of State GrossDomestic Product (SGDP) will beallowed.

Under option two, the States willborrow the entire GST compensationgap of �2,35,000 crore (includingCOVID-19 impact portion) from themarket. The collection from the cesswill only pay for the principal amount.As regards the borrowing treatment,only an amount up to �97,000 crorewon’t be treated as debt. No addition-al FRBM limit is allowed under thisoption.

The GST Council also decided thatthe above borrowing arrangementwould be for the current fiscal and areview would be done at the beginningof the next financial year.

By putting the above options, theUnion Government has made fourthings abundantly clear. One, it is notlegally bound to pay the compensationwhen there is no money in the cesspool; second, it won’t borrow on its bal-ance sheet but is willing to help Statesraise a loan; third it does not want thetax pool to fully cover the cost of ser-vicing the loan and fourth, the cess ondemerit products will continue beyond

2021-22. On option one, it can’t be fault-ed. The two provisions in law, namelyone relating to compensation and theother levy of cess (and collection there-of) have to be viewed in conjunctionwith each other. In other words, the dis-charge of the constitutional obligationto compensate States for the loss of rev-enue would be possible only when thereare enough funds available in the cesspool. Since the pool is denuded, theCentre is under no obligation to pay(this position is even confirmed by theAttorney-General). By the same logic,there is no case for it to borrow on itsbalance sheet and pay to the States.

Even so, going for it will have a cat-astrophic impact on its budgetaryposition. Already, the Centre hasincreased its borrowing programmefrom the budgeted level of around�8,00,000 crore by 50 per cent to�12,00,000 crore. This does not include�90,000 crore towards additional allo-cation for MGNREGA and employ-ment schemes for migrant labourers.Now, if it has to borrow �2,35,000 croreto cover deficit in the cess pool, its totalborrowings will gallop to �15,25,000crore or eight per cent of the GDP —more than twice the budgeted 3.5 percent.

Apart from casting a shadow onIndia’s ability to protect its macro-eco-nomic fundamentals and inviting thewrath of rating agencies by way ofdowngrade, borrowing by the Centreon such a mammoth scale will crowdthe market, harden yield and increasethe cost of borrowing by States even fortheir normal borrowing programme(apart from making things difficult forthe private sector).

In this backdrop, the proposal putforward by Sitharaman to help Statesraise loans at reasonable rates makessense. However, disingenuous bureau-crats in the Finance Ministry havedesigned the borrowing options in amanner so as to make it unviable for the

States. Under option one, the loan willbe available at low interest rate andthere won’t be any burden of servicingon them but this covers only 40 per centof the shortfall. So, they will be forcedto think of option two.

Under this option, States can raisea loan for the full amount of the deficiti.e. �2,35,000 crore but the Centre won’tfacilitate this. They will have to borrowfrom the market at a higher rate. Noadditional FRBM limits for these bor-rowings will make them less credible,thereby adding to the cost of raisingthem. Adding salt to injury, States willhave to bear interest cost from theirown resources as the cess pool will onlypay for the principal amount.

The Centre should stop this skull-duggery. It makes no sense to make adistinction between a shortfall arisingfrom the GST implementation or thepandemic. Whatever may be the cause,the fact remains, there will be deficit of�2,35,000 crore in the cess pool and allof it needs to be addressed. The Statesshould get to borrow this amountfrom the “special window” at a lowinterest rate and the cost of amortisingit (principal plus interest) must be fund-ed from the cess pool.

The cess on demerit products willhave to continue beyond 2021-22 tillsuch time the loan-related liabilities arefully cleared. However, this will requirethat States refrain from pursuing theirdemand — made before the 15thFinance Commission — for continuingwith compensation for three moreyears (beyond 2021-22) as that willjeopardise the chances of servicing thisloan. Meanwhile, both the Centre andStates should endeavour to remove allvoid in GST implementation to achievethe desired buoyancy in tax revenue,thereby obviating the need for contin-uing with the compensation mecha-nism.

(The writer is a New Delhi-basedpolicy analyst)

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Water is the fundamentalrequirement for sustaininglife, agriculture and the over-

all economy. With an exponential risein the world population and diversi-fied use of water, coupled with defor-estation and increasing climacticvagaries, fresh water sources are undertremendous pressure globally. Duringthe last 100 years, there has been a sixto seven-fold increase in the demandfor fresh water.

However, at the macro level,though the availability of fresh water

is constant, at the micro level, due tooverexploitation and indiscriminateuse, lopsided planning in human set-tlements, changes in the hydrologicalcycle and pollution, water resources aredwindling very fast. Though we haveplenty of rainfall in India to rechargethe aquifers, it is unevenly distributedand unsustainably used to meet thedemand for agriculture and industry.According to the Central GroundWater Board, more than 70 per centdistricts are water-stressed and manycities and towns are critical from thepoint of view of availability of safedrinking water. And on top of this, 70per cent of the agriculture sector usesgroundwater for irrigation. In a nut-shell, “blue” as well as “green” watermanagement has been suffering a lot.

Many experts have been raisingred flags about the impending watercrisis for the last many years but var-ious Government bodies have made

fragmentary attempts which did notbring much relief on the ground. Oneclassic case of failure was the watershedscheme which succeeded in verysmall patches and that, too, with thehelp of people in villages, who werefeeling the pinch of scarcity. One suchexample was in Hiware bazaar in theAhmednagar district of Maharashtrawhere community-based water man-agement tremendously boosted agri-culture and milk production, drawingback the people who migrated toMumbai after recurrent drought.

Now, the Centre has created theJal Shakti Ministry to tackle the issueof water scarcity in the country in afocussed and planned manner. ThePrime Minister announced the launch-ing of the Jal Jeevan Mission with aprojected expenditure of more than�3.5 lakh crore. For the first time, theJal Shakti Ministry is dealing with mostmatters relating to water in different

Ministries in an integrated manner.The first priority of the Ministry wasto ensure potable water to 15.70 crorehouseholds as out of 18.93 crorehomes in the country, only 3.23 crorehad tap water in 2019. It was startedas a peoples’ programme and involvedcitizens in water resources manage-ment at every level, right from supply,to reuse, to recharge.

The guidelines issued under the JalJeevan Mission stressed on servicedelivery and involved the people atevery step of its execution. The GramPanchayats, Self Help Groups (SHGs),NGOs and Village Water andSanitation Committees were involvedin planning, implementing, managing,operating and maintaining their ownwater supply systems.

This bottom-up approach hasstarted paying dividends and 84.84lakh households were given tap waterconnections. The programme is pick-

ing up fast as now one lakh families arebeing covered daily. The Ministry, dur-ing 2019-2020, provided safe drinkingwater to 71 lakh people in arsenic-con-taminated areas and 5.35 lakh peoplein fluoride-contaminated areas. Oneof the innovative technologies tomonitor water supply and use was theuse of “sensor-based Internet of Thingssolution” in which a smart watermeter tracks the quality, regularity ofwater supply, quantity and quality ofwater. It also tracks flow across distri-bution channels and thus helps inchecking leakage and minimisingwater wastage.

According to Water MinisterGajendra Singh Shekhawat, in thepost-lockdown period, 32 lakh house-holds were provided with piped waterby July 28 under the Jal Jeevan Mission,which also helped in creating employ-ment for over 42,000 people in sixStates. Under the Jal Shakti Abhiyan,

the Ministry has started a massivewater conservation movement with thehelp of communities in 1,592 water-stressed blocks in 256 districts. Itfocussed on water conservationthrough rain water harvesting, reno-vation of traditional water bodies, ren-ovating and maintaining bore wellsand watershed management andafforestation activities.

The experts on groundwater areworking in most of the water-stresseddistricts of the country. One of themost outstanding achievements ofthe Modi Government was the SwachhBharat Mission (SBM). More than sixlakh villages were declared open defe-cation free and 60 crore people werehelped, with more than 10 crore toi-lets constructed.

In phase two, the objective is toconsolidate and perpetuate the gainsof the SBM, including waste manage-ment. Under the PM’s Krishi Sinchai

Scheme, more than 21.7 lakh hectareswere irrigated during the last threeyears.

Apart from this, innovations andinternational cooperation on watermanagement need to be pursued vig-orously. However, a major shift is nec-essary to revamp forest managementwith water management in order toensure water in our aquifers, dams andrivers. Without integrating forestrywith water management, the goals ofclimate change cannot be achieved.The additional benefit will be in theform of regeneration of minor forestproduce primarily animal foods andmedicinal plants. There is no bettertime to focus on changing the objec-tives in COVID-19 times. Will theEnvironment Minister, PrakashJavadekar, take the initiative in thisdirection? One hopes so.

(The writer is a former civil ser-vant)

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London: Wikileaks co-founderJulian Assange, who facescharges of computer hackingand espionage in the US, onMonday returned to a UK courtto fight his extradition to the US.

The 49-year-old Australiannational, who has been inBelmarsh Prison for 16 months,is wanted over the publicationof classified documents in 2010and 2011 and faces a possible

penalty of 175 years in jail ifconvicted on being extradited tothe US.

He appeared before the OldBailey court in London wherethe court was informed of hisformal re-arrest on a new indict-ment issued in June, during thecoronavirus lockdown, by theUS government.

The fresh indictment con-tains 18 charges, including plot-ting to hack computers and con-spiring to obtain and disclosenational defence information.

Wearing a dark suit, tie andwhite shirt, Assange sat behinda glass security screen at theback of the court and spoke onlyto say that he did not consent tohis extradition. James Lewis, thebarrister acting for the USauthorities, accuses Assange’slawyers of conducting a defenceconsisting of “an attack upon thePresident of the United States(which) ignores the institu-tional competencies of the agen-cies relevant to this case, theConstitution of the UnitedStates and the independence ofits courts”. PTI

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ASaudi court issued finalverdicts on Monday in the

case of slain Washington Postcolumnist and Saudi criticJamal Khashoggi after his fam-ily announced pardons thatspared five of the convictedindividuals from execution.

Saudi Arabia’s state televi-sion aired few details about thefinal verdicts issued by theRiyadh Criminal Court againstthe eight Saudi nationals.

Their names were notmade public.

The court ordered a max-imum sentence of 20 years inprison for five. Anotherreceived a 10-year sentence,and two others were ordered toserve seven years in prison.

The trial was widely criti-cised by rights groups and anindependent UN investigator,who noted that no senior offi-cials nor anyone suspected ofordering the killing was foundguilty. The independence of thecourt was also brought intoquestion.

Prior to his killing,Khashoggi had written criti-cally of Saudi Arabia’s Crown

Prince Mohammed bin Salmanin columns for the WashingtonPost. He’d been living in exilein the United States for abouta year as Prince Mohammedoversaw a crackdown in SaudiArabia on human rightsactivists, writers and critics ofthe kingdom’s devastating warin Yemen.

Khashoggi was killed inlate 2018 inside the Saudi con-sulate in Turkey.

Among those ensnared inthe killing are a forensic doc-tor, intelligence and securityofficers and individuals whoworked for the crown prince’soffice. The crown prince hasdenied any knowledge of theoperation.

Berlin: Poisoned Russianopposition leader AlexeiNavalny’s condition hasimproved, allowing doctors totake him out of an inducedcoma, the German hospitaltreating him said Monday.

Navalny, a fierce, high-profile critic of RussianPresident Vladimir Putin, wasflown to Germany last monthafter falling ill on Aug. 20 on adomestic flight in Russia.

German chemical weaponsexperts say tests show the 44-year-old was poisoned with aSoviet-era nerve agent, prompt-ing the German governmentlast week to demand thatRussia investigate the case.

“The patient has beenremoved from his medicallyinduced coma and is beingweaned off mechanical venti-lation,” Berlin’s Charite hospi-

tal said in a statement. “He isresponding to verbal stimuli.

It remains too early togauge the potential long-termeffects of his severe poisoning.”

It added that the decisionto publicly release details of hiscondition was made in con-sultation with Navalny’s wife.Navalny had been in aninduced coma in the Berlinhospital since he was flown toGermany on Aug. 22 for treat-ment.

News of his gradual recov-ery came as GermanChancellor Angela Merkel’soffice indicated that she mightbe willing to rethink the fate ofa controversial German-Russian gas pipeline project —a sign of Berlin’s growing frus-tration over Moscow’sstonewalling about the case.

German authorities said

last week that tests showed“proof without doubt” thatNavalny was poisoned with achemical nerve agent from theNovichok group. Britishauthorities identified theSoviet-era Novichok as thepoison used on former Russianspy Sergei Skripal and hisdaughter in England in 2018.

Russia has denied that theKremlin was involved in poi-soning Navalny and accusedGermany failing to provideevidence about the poisoningthat it requested in late August.

German Foreign MinisterHeiko Maas said Sunday thatthe Russian reaction coulddetermine whether Germanychanges its long-standing back-ing for the Nord Stream 2pipeline, which brings Russiangas to Germany under the BalticSea, bypassing Ukraine. AP

Washington: The US has twosystems of justice for Black andWhite Americans, Democraticvice presidential nomineeKamala Harris has said, as theIndian-origin Senator rebukedPresident Donald Trump andhis Attorney General for deny-ing there is systemic racism inthe country’s justice system.

The strong criticism fromHarris, the first Black andIndian-American woman on amajor party vice presidentialticket came less than twomonths before the US presi-dential election.

Democratic Party’s presi-dential candidate Joe Bidenand his running mate Harrisare challenging incumbentPresident Donald Trump andVice President Mike Pence ofthe Republican Party in theNovember 3 election.

Harris, 55, strongly criti-cised President Trump andAttorney General William Barrfor denying there is systemicracism in the US justice system,saying they are “spending fulltime in a different reality.”

“The reality of Americatoday is what we have seen overgenerations and, frankly, sinceour inception, which is, we dohave two systems of justice in

America,” Harris told CNN inan interview.

But she said she was opti-mistic that as a nation,Americans hold dear to anideal that is inscribed in mar-ble on the Supreme Court,which is that ideal of equal jus-tice under law.

“And so, while we have twosystems of justice, we also fightfor equal justice under law. Andthat means doing what JoeBiden and I are proposing,which is having a criminaljustice system that, yes, banschoke holds and carotid holds,make sure that we’re going torequire accountability for policeofficers who break the rulesand break the law.”

Harris said their adminis-tration would invest in com-munities and the economicstrength of those communities,but doing it all recognising thatthere are huge disparities in the

country based on race.“And it does us no good if

we want to solve those dispar-ities to pretend they don’t exist,”she said.

Harris also suggested thatPresident Trump was not a“real leader” on racial justiceand was trying to “pretend thathe has been a leader” on thecoronavirus pandemic.

“I don’t think that mostreasonable people who are pay-ing attention to the facts woulddispute that there are racial dis-parities and a system that hasengaged in racism in terms ofhow the laws have beenenforced,” said Harris, aCalifornia senator and formerstate attorney general.

“It does us no good todeny that. Let’s just deal with it.Let’s be honest. These might bedifficult conversations forsome, but they’re not difficultconversations for leaders, notfor real leaders.”

Barr, America’s top lawenforcement official, dismissedthe idea of “two justice systems”told CNN on Wednesday. “Ithink we have to be a little care-ful about throwing the idea ofracism around,” he said. “Idon’t think it is as common aspeople suggest.” PTI

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Athens: Greece will be bol-stering its military with newarmament programmes, aboost to military personneland the development of thecountry’s defence industry, thegovernment spokesman saidMonday, as a tense stand-offwith neighbouring Turkey hasled to concerns of open conflictbetween the two NATO allies.

Ankara is currently facingoff against Greece and Cyprusover oil and gas explorationrights in the easternMediterranean. Greece andTurkey have deployed navaland air forces to assert theircompeting claims in the region.

“The Turkish leadership isunleashing, on a near daily

basis, threats of war and makesprovocative statements againstGreece,” Greek governmentspokesman Stelios Petsas said.

“We respond with political,diplomatic and operationalreadiness, determined to dowhatever is necessary to protectour sovereign rights.” Petsassaid Prime Minister KyriakosMitsotakis would be announc-ing details of plans to upgradethe country’s military, duringhis annual state of the econo-my speech on Saturday.

“We are in contact withfriendly countries in order toreinforce the equipment of ourarmed forces,” Petsas said. Lastweek, Greece raised 2.5 billioneuros (USD 2.96 billion) in a

bond auction as the countryseeks to increase militaryspending and raise funds forbusinesses affected by the coro-navirus pandemic.

Greek media have report-ed the purchases may includeFrench-made Rafale fighter jetsand at least one French frigate.Petsas said Mitsotakis would bemeeting with Macron onThursday on the sidelines of ameeting in Corsica of EuropeanUnion Mediterranean coun-tries. Last Saturday, TurkishPresident Recep TayyipErdogan warned Greece toenter talks over disputed east-ern Mediterranean territorialclaims or face the conse-quences. AP

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Kyiv: A leading oppositionactivist and several other mem-bers of an opposition council inBelarus went missing Mondayand their colleagues fearedthey were detained as part ofthe authorities’ efforts tosquelch nearly a month ofprotests against the re-elec-tion of the country’s authori-tarian leader.

Maria Kolesnikova, a mem-ber of the Coordination Councilcreated by the opposition tofacilitate talks with PresidentAlexander Lukashenko on atransition of power, was report-edly put on a minibus in thecapital, Minsk, and driven awayby unidentified people.

Her disappearance follows

a massive rally Sunday thatdrew an estimated 100,000protesters pushing for the res-ignation of Lukashenko, whoextended his 26-year rule in theAug. 9 election that the oppo-sition sees as rigged.

A council member, MaximZnak, said Kolesnikova’s col-leagues fear she was detained.Two other members of thecouncil also couldn’t be reachedon Monday, according to Znak.

Lithuanian ForeignMinister Linas Linkeviciustweeted that Kolesnikova’s dis-appearance is part of theBelarusian authorities’ effort to“cynically eliminate one byone” and called for her imme-diate release. AP

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BJP leader SubramanianSwamy on Monday urged

Prime Minister Narendra Modito give directions to ReserveBank of India (RBI) to includeagriculture and farm loans inthe recent ResolutionFramework for restructuringloan moratoriums.

In his letter Swamy pointedout that the recent circular

issued by RBI directed theexclusion of agricultural andfarm loans from the moratori-um restructuring packages.This circular dated August 6was presented to Supreme

Court on the ongoing case onloan moratoriums by theGovernment of India. Swamyalso urged Modi to take actionagainst the officers who draft-ed these kinds of circularswhich are against the interest ofthe farmers.

RBI’s Resolution Frameworkfor Covid-19 on moratorium

of loans says specially thatloans to farmers and agricul-ture filed will not cover themoratorium package. In theongoing case in SupremeCourt, Government of India asRespondent has produced thisbacking the RBI to defenditself.

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Markets broke their two-session losing run to end

with slim gains on Monday asinvestors made a cautiousreturn to equities amid mixedglobal cues.

A depreciating rupee andconcerns over economic recov-ery contributed to the risk-offsentiment, traders said.

After fluctuating betweenmild gains and losses duringthe session, the 30-share BSESensex finally settled 60.05points or 0.16 per cent higherat 38,417.23.

Similarly, the NSE Niftyadvanced 21.20 points or 0.19per cent to close at 11,355.05.

HUL was the top gainer inthe Sensex pack, spurting 1.77per cent, followed by TCS,ITC, Asian Paints, HDFC, HCLTech and Nestle India.

On the other hand, M&M,Bajaj Finance, NTPC,UltraTech Cement, ONGC andBharti Airtel were among themajor laggards, dropping up to3.46 per cent. “Indian marketstraded with volatility and final-ly ended the day with a positivebias. Virus infections continuedto rise unabated and this fearcombined with a selloff seen inthe US markets in the previoustrading session served to bringin doubts regarding the con-tinuation of the momentumseen in recent times in the mar-ket.

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With COVID-19 still dom-inating major develop-

ments globally, the world econ-omy is not likely to re-attainpre-pandemic output levelsbefore 2022, says a report.

According to Dun &Bradstreet Country Risk andthe Global Outlook, “nothingabout the pandemic can beclassified as over, despite recov-eries in activity levels in someeconomies in Q3, as evident inPMIs (Purchasing ManagersIndices), Google Mobility dataand monthly economic data”.Unemployment will keep risingabove the pre-pandemic base-line as Government pro-grammes are phased out and

cease to protect workers, whilethe pace of what recovery thereis may yet weaken in Q4, saidArun Singh, Global ChiefEconomist, Dun & Bradstreet.

Singh further said “we donot expect the world economyto re-attain pre-pandemic out-put levels before 2022. Thebiggest question mark is notover the depth of the recentshock but over its persistence.”

According to Singh, “inIndia, the pace of economicrevival will depend on howquickly the health concernsabate as India is yet to witnessa peak, economic activityrestarts with ‘Unlock 4’ andimportantly the psychologicalimpact of the COVID-19 ebbsaway.” The steady rise in

case-loads, even as Indiademonstrates one of the high-est recovery rates, and thespillover effects of the strictlockdown measures under-mines the growth impulses inQ2 and Q3 of the fiscal year, headded.

India’s economy sufferedits worst slump on record inApril-June, with the grossdomestic product (GDP) con-tracting by 23.9 per cent as thecoronavirus-related lockdownsweighed on the already-declin-ing consumer demand andinvestment. On the employ-ment front, all countries thatDun & Bradstreet covers (withthe exception of Serbia) areshowing year-on-year declines,the report said.

New Delhi:Vodafone Idea Ltdon Monday unveiled a newbrand identity, as the strugglingtelco looked to rediscover itselfpost the apex court’s ruling onpast statutory dues.

VIL, which had about 280million subscribers as of June,said that Vodafone and Ideabrands will now be called ‘Vi’.

“A brand with its eyes seton the future, it is built for andaround customers...

The integration of twobrands is a culmination of thelargest telecom integration inthe world,” VIL said in a state-ment .

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Former RBI GovernorRaghuram Rajan has said

that as the payment moratori-um allowed by the centralbank, along with other repay-ment relaxations, comes to anend and several entities areexpected to default, the gov-ernment should come up witha “well-thought-out” whole-some plan to deal with theupcoming financial stress,rather than going for “piece-meal” solutions.

In a note on LinkedIn, thenoted economist said that avariety of structures should bein place to help debtors andclaimants, such as landlordsand banks, reach agreements torestructure the obligations,

including writing off unpayableamounts.

“As the various paymentmoratoria come to an end, anumber of entities will beunable to repay. Instead ofreacting in a piece-meal way,the government should have awell-thought-out plan to dealwith the coming financial dis-tress,” he said.

Rajan said that a number ofarbitration forums should beset up to renegotiate claims ofvarious sizes. Civil courts, debtrecovery tribunals, and theNCLT should be beefed up toprovide rapid back-up judg-ments.

Talking of stimulusrequired from the government,he said that given the depth ofthe contraction in the GDP, a

stimulus will also be needed,especially investment in infra-structure construction whichcreates jobs and increasesdemand for all manner ofinputs like cement and steel.

The Centre should replen-ish the coffers of the state gov-ernments, which typicallyspend more on infrastructure.This can be accounted for aspart of the GST dues the Centreowes the states, he said.

In addition, according tohim, the Centre should notifyshelf-ready projects that are inthe National InfrastructurePipeline for implementation.

New Delhi:On a missionmode, Dedicated FreightCorridor (DFC) of IndianRailways is gathering speed.Constant weekly monitoringand meetings with all stakeholders lead to acquisition ofpatches and sections of landwhich were long delayed.Indian Railways even deployedits experts to assist the con-tractors to tide over operationaldifficulties at ground levelimplementation.

Minister of Railways andCommerce & Industry ShriPiyush Goyal held a reviewmeeting with Chief Secretariesof State Government to expe-dite the progress & resolvecritical issues of DedicatedFreight Corridor (DFC). TheMinister also wrote letters toChief Ministers of UttarPradesh, West Bengal, Bihar,Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan,Gujarat and Maharashtra inthis regard.

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The Ghaziabad MunicipalCorporation has found a

permanent solution to themetropolis waste problem. TheMunicipal Corporation is goingto set up ten garbage factoriesfor disposal of garbage in fivezones of the city.

This information was givenby Municipal CommissionerMahendra Singh Tanwar heretoday. He told that thesegarbage factories will be com-pletely state-of-the-art and afterthe establishment of them,there will be no problem ofgarbage disposal for the next 20years.

New Delhi: Rajiv Chaudhry,General Manager, NorthernRailway and North CentralRailway has informed that,Northern Railway has set fivenew records of loading of foodgrain in a row during themonth of August,2020.

Northern Railway achievedhighest single day loading on29th of August, 2020 by load-ing of 59 rakes, breaking theprevious four records in recentpast (24th July, 20 of 55 rakes22nd April of 54 rakes, 17thApril 53 Rakes &9th April of 51Rakes respectively).

He further explained thatNorthern Railway has regis-tered best ever originatingloading of 6.00 MT during the

month of Aug 2020 i .e.improvement of 43.12% overLast year and Best everOriginating loading of 25.43MT achieved during the peri-od of Apr-Aug. i.e. improve-ment of 29.41% over Lastyear. Further he added, that today

400th Annapoorna Train (5000tonne) Long lead-Long haulgrain train run by NorthernRailway.

New Delhi: The Reserve Bankof India (RBI) is in the processof setting up an innovation hubwhich will focus on futuretechnology in the financialservices space, an RBI officialsaid on Monday.

Detailed guidelines in thisrespect are expected to bereleased soon. “Innovation Hubis one of the things that we aretrying out where we are look-ing at actually creating ideation,creating ideas to evolve tech-nologies... RBI is in the processof setting up an InnovationHub,” RBI executive director TRabi Sankar said while virtuallyparticipating in a conferenceorganised by FICCI. Moredetails will come out once it isfinalised, he added.

“We would expect tech-nology firms, financial entities,

academic entities, even fundingagencies, all of them to inter-act on this hub and start theentire process from ideation tocreation to piloting of solu-tions,” he said. Sankar alsosaid the RBI has released aframework for setting upumbrella entities for operatingpan-India retail payments sys-tems. It has invited applicationsfrom eligible companies byFebruary 26, 2021.

As per the framework, thecompanies with a net worth ofover �500 crore will be eligibleto set up an umbrella entitywhich among other things willbe permitted to set up, manageand operate new payment sys-tems in the retail space com-prising ATMs, White LabelPoS, Aadhaar-based paymentsand remittance services.

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Aweek after India report-ed a significant con-

traction in its GDP duringthe April-June quarter of2020-21 fiscal, formerReserve Bank Governor andnoted economist RaghuramRajan has said that the neg-ative GDP growth numbersshould alarm everyone.

Emphasising on theimportance of Governmentrelief or support in the givenscenario, he pointed outthat it is “meagre” so far.

In a note published onLinkedIn, he also opinedthat the 23.9 per cent con-traction in the GDP duringthe Q1 would be “evenworse if the damage to theinformal sector is taken intoaccount”.

“The recently releasedquarterly GDP growthnumbers for the first quar-ter of FY2020-21 shouldalarm us all. The 23.9%contraction in India (andthe numbers will probablybe worse when we get esti-mates of the damage in theinformal sector) compareswith a drop of 12.4 % in Italyand 9.5% in the UnitedStates, two of the mostCovid-affected advancedcountries,” Rajan said.

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The rupee slid 21 paise tosettle at 73.35 against

the US dollar on Monday,tracking subdued equitiesand stronger greenbackagainst its key rival curren-cies.

At the interbank forexmarket, the Indian unitopened at 73.17 and lost fur-ther ground as the tradeprogressed.

During the session, thelocal unit witnessed an intra-day high of 73.03 and a lowof 73.44 against the green-back.

It finally closed at 73.35,down 21 paise over its pre-vious close.

Meanwhile, the dollarindex, which gauges thegreenback’s strength againsta basket of six currencies,rose 0.15 per cent to 92.85.

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Spine, the backbone of our life, astructure that sets us standingtall. It is due to this beautifully

engineered structure that we standstraight and our body gets its stabil-ity along with flexibility. Our spine ismade of multiple segments of bones(vertebrae) stacked one over otherand held together by the interveningdiscs and ligaments. Within thisstructure the spinal cord is placed andas a whole the spinal column is thensupported by the surrounding mus-cles. However, with this intricatedesign and complex functions to per-form, the spine is also susceptible toinjuries easily, making back pain thesecond commonest cause of day today disability. Hence, it is importantto maintain health of each of thesestructures in order to keep thatspinal injury away.

Broadly, spinal injuries can be oftwo types, minor injuries (due to wearand tear) and major injuries (causedby accidental trauma). While themajor injuries are accidental and sud-den and therefore mostly beyond ourcontrol, the minor injuries can becompletely taken care of by smallmodifications in our life. Also whenwe make our spine stronger to pro-tect it from minor injuries, we pro-vide more robust structure against themajor injuries thus reducing itsimpact.

Minor injuries of the spineAs described earlier, with daily

wear and tear, minor injuries occurin the spine. It is often these minorinjuries that give us warning signs ofincreasing trouble when it starts pre-senting as back pain. Back pain is thesecond most common cause forleave from work. Although most ofthese backaches recover easily, what’sinteresting is that simple strategies canbe very effective in preventing recur-rence of these backaches.

Here are a few curated tips to pro-tect the spine from minor injuries � Be active: The most simplest wayto keep the minor injuries away is tobe active. Regular physical activityhelps not only in keeping the weightin check, but also strengthens the coreand the muscles which support thespine. Long hours of sitting at work,stiffen the muscles and joints; hence

taking break at regular intervals isessential to keep your system active.Simple stretching in between workcan be of great help to strengthen thecore and back.� Healthy diet: Belly fat causes a shiftin the alignment of spine puttingexcessive strain on the back. In mostcases this is the starting point of backpain. Eating healthy not only keepsthe extra kilos in check but having abalanced diet gives appropriate nutri-tion to maintain the muscle and bonestrength. A diet rich in proteins, vit-amins and minerals is the key to pro-long the health of your spine.� Correct postures: For standing tallappropriate alignment of the spine ismost essential. Maintaining appropri-ate postures during daily activitieshelps to avoiding undue strain overyour back. Often we forget to payattention to our postures. Consciouseffort to maintain correct posture,slowly and steadily become a habit.Some of the key correction in posturesare avoid protruding your belly whilestanding, bend from your kneeswhile picking objects from theground, sleeping on sides, maintain-ing appropriate eye screen height dur-ing working on the computer/mobile. � Choosing fashion appropriately:We all like to be fashionable, but itshould not be at the cost of your back.Wearing high heels is a very common

cause of back pain. Similarly SkinnyJeans or extremely tight clothinginterferes with movements of yourjoint and back, thus causing harm tothem. Handbags or purses withadjustable strap length are essential toavoid straining of your back and neck.Backpacks help in even distributionof weight while carrying heavyobjects. However, if one has to carrya heavy bag single handed, one musttry to shift hands while lifting weightsso as to avoid strain on one side of thebody.� Avoid the excess: Overdoing thingsare often harmful. Excessive work-outs involving heavyweights often do

more harm to your back than bene-fit. Light exercises and cardio are bestsuited for anybody and especially soif one is suffering from back pain.Similarly, excessive smoking anddrinking are unhealthy. These restrict nutrient entry to majorparts of the body and the spine mak-ing it more vulnerable to injuries.People often use braces to supporttheir back during painful spells butone must be aware that excessive useof braces actually weakens your mus-cles, thus weakening your spine. Soavoid the excess to keep your spinehealthy.

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Gastroenteritis is a highly-contagious infection of the stom-ach and intestines common in monsoon. It is caused by bac-

teria such as Salmonella, E. coli, Campylobacter or a virus likeNorovirus. Nearly 10 million cases of gastroenteritis are record-ed per year in India.The disease-causing agents, medically knownas pathogens, are usually transmitted by contaminated drinkingwater, consuming raw or undercooked food and improper handwashing practices. This infection is also called foodpoisoning.Visit a doctor if the symptoms do not improve afterfive days (in case of children, two days).

The pathogens causing the disease can live in feces and vomitand when an infected person vomits, the particles often becomeairborne during or after, and may infect people. The pathogenscan also transmit through a sneeze and patients can spread thevirus up to 48 hours after their symptoms have ceased.

Symptoms of stomach flu: The inflammation caused by thepathogens in the gut of a human being is also known as stom-ach flu. The disease has symptoms but that may vary depend-ing on the type of bacteria. Common symptoms of stomach infec-tion may include:� Loss of appetite� Fever� Blood in your stools� Diarrhea� Abdominal cramps and pains� Vomiting and nausea

Following are the peoplewho are more susceptible togetting infected:� Children may be more sus-ceptible than adults as theirimmune system are immatureand not completely ready tofight infections.� Elderly people have a lowerimmunity than their childrendue to chronic diseases andage-related ailments. � Anyone who is immuno-compromised is at risk of get-ting the infection, includingthose who are receivingchemotherapy or sufferingfrom autoimmune diseases.

Preventing stomach fluConsume fluids through-

out the day, especially after diarrhea and bouts. Eat regularly butless in quantity. Eat food and drinks that have potassium, suchas bananas and fruit juice. Some ingredients available at homecan help you keeping electrolytes balanced and cure diarrhea.One such ingredient is ginger that can help in combating infec-tion and reduce the severity of stomach and abdominal pain.Apple cider vinegar and basil would help in soothing stomachand strengthening it against future infections. Right precautions,as listed below, may help you prevent a bout of stomach flu:� Also known as bacterial gastroenteritis, it can transmit throughcontaminated food or objects by touching these with infectedhands. It can even transmit from one part of the body to the otherif someone touches eyes, nose or mouth with contaminated hands.Washing hands frequently with soap and water is a must. Onecan also use hand sanitizer with more than 60 per cent alcoholto sanitize hands and high-traffic surfaces such as cell phones,tabletops, counters and door knobs. Do not prepare food for oth-ers until symptoms subside.� Avoid eating high risk foods, especially raw fish, oysters, under-cooked meat, raw or undercooked shellfish and other seafoodvarieties, unpasteurised milk or juice, cheese made from unpas-teurised milk and raw or lightly cooked eggs and sprouts. � It is important to keep yourself well hydrated to prevent otherailments. Ensure the water you drink is clean and safe.� While traveling in confined places such as planes and cruiseships, chances of getting an infection is higher. Make sure youtake adequate precautions during this time.

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8��������������The waterchestnut, also known assinghara is a sweet fruit whichoffers many health benefits. Itacts as a coolant, curesjaundice, has antioxidantproperties and treats urineinfection. It also curesindigestion and nausea,relieves a cough,helps combathypertension,i m p r o v e sblood countand isbeneficial forthe hair too.

It hasenough amounts ofpotassium to help counter theeffect of sodium and is consid-ered good for lowering bloodpressure as well as for your heart.

Five raw water chestnuts

daily are recommended for ahealthy potassium intake. Thenuts can be eaten raw or boiled.When they are dried, they canbe milled into a flour (singharaatta) which is used to make rotis,poories and paranthas. Thisflour is used to prepare foods forreligious festivals, including

Navaratri. The flour is

also added tomilk to makethe milkcreamier and

it can be usedto make a bat-

ter for deep-fry-ing.

Water chestnuts are a greatsource of fibre and provide 12per cent of the daily fibre recom-mended for women and eightper cent for men.

Eyes are windows toour soul and dark cir-cles make us look tired

and our skin dull and pale.But this doesn’t mean thatthere is no way one can getrid of them. A few simpleingredients found inour kitchen canhelp.

One of thebest cures fortired eyes isc u c u m b e r .Cucumbers haveastringent proper-ties, are skin-lighten-ers and can help with thedark under-eye circles. Cuttwo thick cucumber slicesand let them chill in therefrigerator for 30 minutes.Put the slices on over theeyes for 10 minutes, thenrinse the area with water. Dothis twice daily for at least aweek.

Make an eye pack usingground fresh coconut, acouple of drops of lemonjuice, two teaspoons of grat-ed cucumber, one teaspoonfresh cream and three tea-spoons of china clay. Mix all

these together andrefrigerate. Cover

the eyes with acotton gaugeand apply themask over ittaking care that

the pack doesnot drip into the

eyes. Lie down in acool place and relax. Leaveit for 20 minutes and washwith milk and then water.

Use tomatoes. Mixequal parts tomato juicewith lemon juice and usinga cotton ball apply it under-eye area. Leave it for 10minutes, you can wash it offwith warm water.

Although dark circles arecaused mainly due to fatigue,

there are other reasons too,like sleep deprivation. A fewsimple ingredients found in

the kitchen can work wonders,says ROSHANI DEVI

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It’s no joke that turmeric, a super spice,is suitable for drinks to snacks, due to its

rich natural properties. It is also known as‘The Healthiest Spice in the World’. Thistropical plant has a long tradition of use inIndian cuisine.

Turmeric is a tropical ginger-relatedherb native to South East Asia. The planthas big, waxy green leaves that grow aboutfive feet tall as the plant matures.

Turmeric is most widely used as a dryspice consisting of dried and ground rhi-zomes. This orange powder is the mainingredient in curry powder mixtures andis often used to add a natural color to anumber of dishes.

The spice was linked to the improve-ment of a gene that could reduce the riskof depression, asthma, and cancer. It alsohas properties that can reduce inflamma-tion.

Turmeric has been used in Ayurvedicmedicine for thousands of years to helpcure inflammation and bacterial associat-ed disorders, including irritable bowelsyndrome and arthritis. Here are some ofthe reasons why turmeric is considered tobe a super spice:

Fights inflammationInflammation is the reaction of the

body to injury and infection. This alerts theimmune system to respond either by heal-ing or restoring damage or by preparing forwar against threats, such as bacteria orviruses. This is also marketed as an antiox-idant. Turmeric can also been applied to theskin for discomfort or inflammation, andthe natural oil can be used in perfumes.

May prevent and treat Alzheimer’sdisease

Inflammation and oxidative disruptionare the two main contributors to the pro-gression of Alzheimer’s disease. In additionto its anti-inflammatory properties, thework also indicates that curcumin can pre-vent the formation and even breakup ofamyloid-beta plaques associated withAlzheimer’s disease.

Good for arthritisAs described earlier, turmeric is a nat-

ural anti-inflammatory agent, it containsa compound called curcumin, which hasanti-inflammatory effects that can helppeople with rheumatoid arthritis, and thisherb has been used in ayurvedica to treatarthritis.

A powerful cancer fighterWhen it comes to other forms of can-

cer, curcumin can do everything frominhibiting cancer cell death to reducing can-cer growth and even stopping cancerspread.

Helps with PMS If you have menstrual cramps or other

signs of PMS, such as back pain andheadache, turmeric will offer some much-needed relief.

Good for skinTurmeric may also enhance the skin’s

glow. Turmeric will also restore the skin bytaking out its natural glow.

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After being announced as an internation-al sensation, the World’s No 1 HairSerum is finally launching in India.

L'Oréal Paris brings you Extraordinary OilSerum, a one-of-its-kind iconic haircare andstyle solution for all your hair needs.

Enriched with a luxurious blend of six pre-cious floral oils — Lotus, Tiare, Rose, Flax,Chamomile and Sunflower, this sumptuous,lightweight and non-greasy formula trans-forms the hair texture from the very first use,delivering extraordinary nourishment.

Specially curated for hair of all texturesand types, the utility of this serum ranges rightfrom using it as a part of your pre-shampoorituals or an overnight treatment to a finish-ing & styling aid.

Brought to you in an ultra-luxe 100mlglass bottle, this complete haircare routine isavailable for just �499.

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Heat protectant: Known to be one of thebest heat protectants when applying heat upto 230 °C, it reduces breakage and helps sealspilt ends.

All hair types: The Extraordinary OilSerum can also be used on colored, chemical-ly treated or textured hair to get a vibrantglossy look and enhance those curls and beachwaves! This global success is a perfect solu-tion for all those curly haired lasses who wantto amp up their curls a notch.

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�*��� Nasal congestion due to mucus secretion

is a common issue among infants.However, despite the great advances madein medical technology, in majority ofcases, the mucus formed is removed man-ually by parents, causing great discomfortto the child.

Omron Healthcare India, the globalleader in the field of clinically proven &innovative medical equipment for homehealth monitoring and therapy, backs theutility of nasal aspirator to help parentseffectively manage such situations. “Anasal aspirator is gentle, more efficient, lessinvasive, and easier to use in comparisonto manual methods including bulb syringeor saline drops. It’s very helpful in makingthe nasal tract clean for the baby whichplays an important role in improving theeating and sleeping habits thus reducing therisk of developing other infections,” saysRohit Saini, GM-Sales and Marketing,

Omron Healthcare India.The company has recently unveiled

DuoBaby, a nebuliser cum nasal aspiratordesigned especially for new-born babies.The 2-in-1 device is India’s first-of-its-kinddrug delivery device exclusively designedfor treating respiratory ailments in babiesaged between 0-5 years.

Accompanied with a full suite ofaccessories, the DuoBaby eases baby’scough and nasal blockages, while treatingupper and lower airway respiratory condi-tions. It is a path-breaking offering in thefield of drug delivery devices for treatmentof respiratory ailments (ranging fromminor flus to asthmas and bronchitis) inbabies.

As per Rohit, “Along with the key valueproposition, we have tried to bring inutmost convenience and utility so that theparents can reduce their visits to clinicsdecrease the chances of Covid exposure.”

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��,&�$���2%22(2&�32�Major injuries of the spine or

accidental injuries often havesevere consequences. Althoughthey can happen to anyone at any-time men are more frequentlyaffected with these kind of injuries.These can range from simple sprainto major fractures. Patients with preexisting medical conditions likearthritis, fibromyalgia, and othersare more prone to major injuries.Although majorly beyond our con-trol there are certain safety mea-sures that one can take to avoidinjuries to the spine.

�Safety tips: Most spinalinjuries occur during driving orsports related activities. One mustfollow the dictum of safety firstwhile engaging in such activities toprotect from spinal injuries.Wearing appropriate protectivegear when playing contact sports,avoiding diving into shallow waters,following safety instructions beforeengaging in sports are some pro-tective measures which one canadapt to avoid spinal injury.Similarly, fastening your seat beltwhile driving a car and wearing ahelmet while riding a bike are sim-ple measures which have beenhighlighted over and over as the areeffective in avoiding that spinalinjury.

�Stay steady: Once spinalinjury has occurred, stay steady till

appropriate help is available. Tryingto manoeuvre self without appro-priate support causes more harmthen help. Stabilising the spine inthe patients who are injured isutmost essential before they aretransferred to the hospital. Tryingto lift these patients unsupported,with dangling neck, arms and flex-ing of spine or trying to pull themout can cause more damaginginjuries. Seeking expert help at theright time will help one to avoidfurther damage.

�Don’t forget your medi-cines: In spite of taking utmostcare, ageing is a process one can-not stop. As you grow older bonesbecome weak and brittle.Osteoporosis makes even a smallaccidents cause big injuries, like atrivial fall can cause vertebral frac-tures in these patients.Supplementing calcium andVitamin D appropriately is impor-tant in this sub group of patientsto maintain bone health.

Patients with pre existingarthritis or other bone related dis-eases should keep appropriatemedical follow up and take theirmedicines regularly.

Prevention is always betterthan cure. We can only try to pre-vent spinal injuries, however if theydo occur take appropriate expertguidance.

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Actor AyushmannKhurrana has hailed

the decision of The BerlinInternational Fi lmFestival. They declaredthat performance awardswill be gender-neutralfrom next year’sedition. The festi-val, instead ofawards for thebest actor andactress, wil lonly recognisebest leadingperformanceand best sup-porting perfor-mance.

Ayushmannsaid, “I whole-heartedly laud theBerlin Film Festival’sdecision to award gen-der-neutral recogni-tions and I hope allfilm festivals across theworld and India followsuit. We are all actors atthe end of the day andgender divisions onlyhighlight the longprevalent divisivenature of soci-eties.”

He added,“Thus, it is impor-tant that gender-neutral awards

should become the normwhen it comes to adjudi-cating the best work in ayear.”

Ayushmann feels filmsand stars can do their bit to

keep such conversa-tions alive and helpachieve genderparity in society.“Gender divisionsare too deeproot-ed and the filmindustr y canreally do its bit toc h a m p i o nc h a n g e .G e n d e r e dawards, accord-ing to me, aretotally outdated

and should bescrapped,” said he.

The actor hopesthat all award func-tions in India to seri-ously look at thisinevitable trend. “Iseriously hope all

award functions inIndia take a step in the

right direction and do whatis the most obvious thingtowards having a more pro-gressive society. For me,good performances are goodperformances and theyshould be seen without thegender lens,” he added.

Wellness has become thebuzzword and an essen-tial concern this year,

which, for everyone, includingfashion players, has been anawakening one. Designers arestriving to come to terms with thenew paradigm shifts. Brands andlabels are trying to adapt to thenewer trends. Ready-to-wear isbeating the custom-made. Off therack clothing is emerging as thenew style. And it’s all becausewellness is the new buzzword.Well, who knew a pandemicwould transform even the mostsought-after and creative indus-tries like fashion?

Ready for the goDesigner Payal Jain believes

that ready-to-wear is going to bethe next big thing. Says she,“People prefer to stay in the safe-ty and comfort of their homesand buy what they can online.Custom-made ensembles alwaysneed multiple fittings and trials.However, with offices shifted towork from home patterns, ready-to-wear has to be the new nor-mal.”

Well, the Coronavirus hascome as a fear in our lives, leav-ing no space for social interac-tions or gatherings. Those whoare moving back to normalcy aretrying hard to maintain safetyprotocols and distancing, keepingtheir exposure level to a bare min-imum. Given this mindset, Payaladds, “Couture or made-to-mea-sure would take a back seat assome may get replaced by videocalls.”

On the contrary, designerGautam Gupta of label AshaGautam, feels that ready-to-wear

will surely be more in demand butcouture or custom-made willalso have its own market. “I don’tsee them competing as they areserving different needs. Withtime being of paramount impor-tance, consumers prefer moreready-to-wear than ordering butat the same time there is equalurge to wear something different,which comes only from custom-made,” says he.

Designer Reynu Taandon, abridal wear and couture expert,says, “Ready-to-wear will beatcustom-made till a certain extentbut definitely not the couture.Even today, people want to cometo the store, give the measure-ments and get that perfect look.The pandemic has made themost important event in a bride’slife seem so unpredictable. Butthey still look forward to findingtheir dream lehenga. And theyalways will.”

Athleisure on the rise Lockdown has caused people

to become cognisant to theirhealth and understand the impor-tance of fitness and good health.The feel good and wellness factorwould mean a surge in personaltraining for fitness. More peoplehave turned to yoga, meditation,therapies and home workouts.And the hesitancy to step out togym for workout, the trend cer-tainly point towards a rise indemand for athleisure, whichcan be used at home.

Payal agrees and says, “Thefitness industry has been rein-venting itself with online sessions,and in turn, boosting the need forfitness gear and clothing.Comfort, ease of maintenance,

durability and breathability areprime concerns for leisure and fit-ness wear. It’s a fast-growing seg-ment and will continue to do sonow that most people have dis-covered fitness at home as a newway to adapt to the changing

lifestyles.”Manjula adds that training at

home digitally is here to stay.“This would spell out a height-ened trend of athleisure and fit-ness clothing that is comfortableand stylish,” she says.

Designer Monisha Jaisingsays, “People want to wear cloth-ing that looks good, feels goodand that they can workout/loungein. So athleisure will be huge inthe coming years purely becauseof its functionality, practicality

and comfort. Designers will bedesigning their athleisure collec-tion with a very high fashion quo-tient.”

The market for athleisure isgrowing rapidly and with COVIDteaching us a lot of things, fitnesswill be one of those markets thatwill reinvent itself. “In fact, we cannow only see a lot of innovationin this segment with internation-al trends also pointing towardsnewer textiles and techniques,”says Gautam.

Reinvention is keyFashion’s only constant is

reinvention. And now, more thanever, it has become imperative forbrands to rethink, reinvent, reuseand recycle. Payal says, “Themethodologies and processes fol-lowed through the years are fast-changing and everyone is restruc-turing and recreating their brandsas well as businesses to get in syncwith the new normal.”

Having said that, we may alsowitness a surge in demand fordurable and useful products,essential and seasonless apparel,serving multiple purposes. SaysManjula, “We will be able to seeamplified consumer prioritiestowards wellness, protection andminimalism. There will be apreference for work-inspired wearand essentials for post-pandem-ic living, offering comfort and ele-vated with smart and minimalis-tic edge. Apparel that could servemultiple occasions and transitionbetween lounging, working out aswell as WFH, is going to be herefor long.”

Fast fashionWith a heightened aware-

ness around hygiene, health andwellness, apparel with protectivefinishes like anti-microbial, anti-viral will be preferred. Fabricswith better performance featureslike power stretches,wicking/moisture management,anti-odour properties will surelyadd an additional appeal for cus-tomers.”

Reynu feels that though thepandemic brought along a lot ofnegativity but it has provided uswith the opportunity to reflect onour work and accomplish the tar-gets whilst maintaining andensuring the safety of every teammember.

“Fashion is going digital at arapid pace and one will see morebrands adapting to it. Fast fash-ion will prove to be a huge hitgiven that unnecessary movementis curtailed. Handmade textileswill be preferred more than theinternational brands,” saysGautam.

For Monisha, it’s time whenpeople will want to kill two birdswith one stone, which will alsogive rise to sustainable buying.Before buying any product, theywill think twice about whetherthe garment will be able to “per-form” in more than one situationor aspect.

Well, above all, the concernfor environment has gainedmomentum among consumers,who have begun to realise itsimportance due to the pandem-ic. Hence, responsible apparelwith recycled, repurposed andeco-friendly material andprocesses will enjoy consumers’attention in the post-COVIDtimes.

There was a time when stand-up comedians struggled to

make their mark among theaudience. However, now is thetime when comedians from everylanguage are diving into the fieldwithout any underlying fears ofnot finding the right platform.

Comicstaan Semma ComedyPa is a Tamil adaptation of audi-ences’ favourite Amazon PrimeOriginal Series Comicstaan. Thelaunch of the series marks thechannel’s foray into original con-tent in Tamil language. In the all-new series, we will see Tamilindustry’s top three comediansPraveen Kumar, Karthik Kumarand Rajmohan Arumugam,experts in their respective genresof comedy, mentor-selected con-testants who will compete tobecome the king or queen ofcomedy in the Tamil stand-upscene.

Created by Only Much

Louder (OML) Entertainment,the eight-episode series will bethe first of its kind on a videostreaming service in Tamil lan-guage. Adding to the localflavour, the show will be hostedby the dynamic duo ofVidyullekha Raman and MervynRozario.

While comedy as a genre isnot new to the Tamil audience,the format of the show is freshand engaging. It’s the first timeever that a ‘competition’ is beingintroduced, in a genre like stand-up comedy for the audience toengage with. Comicstaan SemmaComedy Pa is expected to bringforth the local flavour — borrow-ing from the unique nuances ofTamil culture, with exclusive setsperformed by each of the partic-ipants. The trailer gives a sneakpeek into an all-new editionwhere six of Tamil comedy’s bestcontestants will compete for the

winning title.Aparna Purohit, Head of

India Originals, said, “Locally-relevant content has always beenappreciated by our customers,whether it’s a scripted orunscripted series or films thatwe’ve released on the channel. Weare therefore delighted to launchour first unscripted originalseries in Tamil language. We havealways looked to create new andingenious content for its viewers,and Comicstaan is one suchseries, where comedians battle itout to win the title. The first twoseasons of Comicstaan receivedimmense love from the audience,in fact, it made stand-up come-dy aspirational for the youth. Itnot only launched the winners,but also became a spring boardof success for many talentedcontestants! We are now excitedto bring to the audience a recre-ation of the series, produced

exclusively in Tamil — borrow-ing from the local culturalnuances to appeal to our Tamilaudience.”

Dhruv Sheth, chief operatingofficer, OML Entertainment PvtLtd, said, “We are glad to be apart of a project like ComicstaanSemma Comedy Pa, which aimsto provide a global platform tolocal talent. Leveraging ourrobust collaboration with theOTT channel with multiplestand-up comedy specials,Comicstaan was our collectiveeffort to find and groom fresh,new voices in comedy. Withthis Tamil show, it is our endeav-our to continue the samemomentum and bring to theforefront more creative, relatableand interesting comedy formatsto viewers.”

(The series streams onAmazon Prime Video fromSeptember 11.)

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9��� �� Ansu Fati became theyoungest goalscorer in the his-tory of the Spanish nationalteam on Sunday by scoring inSpain’s 4-0 win over Ukraine.

Aged 17 years and 311 days,Fati scored in the 32nd minuteat the Alfredo di StefanoStadium, when he cut in fromthe left and curled into the bot-tom corner.

It came after a spell-bindingopening half an hour from theyoungster, whose driving runhad already earned a penalty forSergio Ramos to convert.

Ramos then headed in tomake it two before Fati madehistory on his first start forSpain, beating the country’s pre-vious youngest scorer, JuanErrazquin, who scored threegoals aged 18 againstSwitzerland in 1925.

Manchester City’s new sign-ing Ferran Torres made it fourlate on as Spain registered theirfirst victory in this season’sNations League to go top ofLeague A’s Group 4.

Fati is now the youngestplayer to score for Spain, forBarca in La Liga and theyoungest to score in theChampions League as well.

In Basel, Germany’s wait fora win in the Nations League con-tinued with a 1-1 draw againstSwitzerland. Germany looked incontrol after Ilkay Gundogan’s14th-minute goal but slowlyallowed Switzerland back intothe game before Silvan Widmerleveled for the hosts. Since 2018,Germany has played six gamesin the first two editions of theNations League and won noneof them, despite scoring theopening goal in its last fourmatches in the competition.

� �� ��<*-'

The way Novak Djokovicwas playing on the ten-nis court in 2020 —

before and after (even during)the shutdown caused by apandemic — something extra-ordinary had to happen forhim to lose a match.

And it did.On Sunday at the 2020 US

Open, already being played ineerie circumstances in NewYork, the world No 1 wasknocked out of the tourna-ment. The reason? Not himplaying bad tennis. Not hisopponent having an incredibleday. Djokovic was disqualifiedwithout even a set being com-plete because he hit the ball ata line judge.

The Serbian tennis starseemingly accidentally struckone of the line judges with aball in frustration during hislast-16 match against Spain’sPablo Carreno Busta.

Against the unseededCarreno Busta, Djokovic wasdoing what he does best in thefirst set: play efficient tenniswithout over-exerting himselfand waiting to pounce onmistakes from his opponent.At 4-5, on the Spaniard’s serve,it seemed as if that momenthad arrived. Djokovic hadthree set points and CarrenoBusta was on the brink of los-ing the first set without havingactually played all that badly.The set would have been overbut for an incredible challenge.Down 0-40, Carreno Busta hita forehand that was calledout, but Hawkeye showed itwas a hair’s breadth inside thebaseline.

Carreno Busta foughtthrough that game to keep theset on serve. The frustrations

were starting to show forDjokovic as he angrilysmashed the ball into the sideof the court.

In the 11th game of theset, Djokovic was down 0-30when he slipped and fell on thecourt while landing on his leftshoulder. He slumped to thecourt on his knees in pain, anda trainer had to come out toattend the injury mid-game.

After receiving treatment,Djokovic was striking the ballalright but 0-30 soon ended upbecoming a break of serve.The Spaniard had a chance toclose out the first set but as theplayers started to make theirways to their chairs, themoment that will be talkedabout for a long time unfold-ed.

THE MOMENTDjokovic appeared to be

looking the other way when hepulled the ball from his pock-et and smacked it in the direc-tion of the official, it hittingher full toss in the throat.

The official cried out andbegan gasping for air as shecollapsed to the ground. Herstruggle to breathe properlywas clearly heard on thebroadcast.

Djokovic and officialsrushed over to her to check ifshe was okay and placed hishand on her back as she strug-

gled to breathe. After a fewminutes she got up and walkedoff the court looking dazed.

Around ten minutes ofdiscussions then ensuedbetween Djokovic and the

tournament referee SoerenFriemel along side other offi-cials, during which the top

seed pleaded his case. He washeard saying “game penalty, setpenalty, (there are) manyoptions.”

The umpire then declaredthat Carreno Busta had wonby default. Djokovic shookhands with his opponentbefore leaving the court.

WHAT DO THE RULES SAY?Usually in a tennis match,

abuse of rackets or balls orunsportsmanlike conductresult in a point penalty sched-ule being invoked. There aremultiple sections in the officialrulebook that spell out suchbehaviour apart from a PointPenalty Schedule.

“The first code violation isa warning, the second comeswith a point penalty, and thethird comes with a gamepenalty-with the offendingplayer subject to default at thereferee’s discretion at any timeshould the code be violatedagain thereafter. However,when a situation such asSunday’s arises in a match, thePoint Penalty Schedule may bebypassed in favor of an imme-diate default,” the US Opentournament website stated in areport.

The call to defaultDjokovic from the tourna-ment was taken by US OpenReferee Soeren Friemel whomade it clear that the Serb had

no intention to hurt but therules made the decisionunavoidable based on sectionT which states:

Section T of Article III,“On-Site Player Offenses,” ofthe ITF Grand Slam rule-book:

The Referee in consultationwith the Grand Slam Chief ofSupervisors may declare adefault for either a single viola-tion of this Code or pursuant tothe Point Penalty Schedule setout above (section S). In allcases of default, the decision ofthe Referee in consultation withthe Grand Slam Chief ofSupervisors shall be final andunappealable. Any player whois defaulted as herein providedshall lose all ranking pointsearned for that event at thattournament and may be finedup to the prize money won atthe tournament in addition toany or all other fines levied withrespect to the offending incident.

“Based on the facts that theball was hit angrily, recklessly;that it went straight at the lineumpire’s throat; that the lineumpire was clearly hurt and inpain, the decision was madethat Novak had to be default-ed,” Friemel said.

“The facts were discussedand explained by the chairumpire and the Grand SlamSupervisor,” Friemel said. “Inthis situation, it is especiallyimportant that we are 100 per-cent sure what exactly hap-pened. The facts were estab-lished, and then I had to speakto Novak Djokovic, (to) givehim the chance to state hispoint of view.

“His point was that hedidn’t hit the line umpire inten-tionally... We all agree that hedidn’t do it on purpose, but thefacts are still that he hit the line

umpire and that the lineumpire was clearly hurt.”

DJOKOVIC'S REEACTIONChoosing not to do a press

conference, Djokovic wentdirectly to his car and left theFlushing Meadows site in NewYork. The 33-year-old laterposted an apology onInstagram saying he was “sosorry.”

“This whole situation hasleft me really sad and empty. Ichecked on the lines personand the tournament told methat thank God she is feelingok. I’m extremely sorry tohave caused her such stress. Sounintended. So wrong. I’mnot disclosing her name torespect her privacy. As for thedisqualification, I need to goback within and work on mydisappointment and turn thisall into a lesson for my growthand evolution as a player andhuman being. I apologize tothe @usopen tournament andeveryone associated for mybehavior. I’m very grateful tomy team and family for beingmy rock support, and my fansfor always being there with me.Thank you and I’m so sorry.”

- via Instagram / NovakDjokovic

DRAW WIDE OPENThe Serbian star is one of

only a handful of players to bedisqualified from a men’s sin-gles tournament at a GrandSlam since John McEnroe wasinfamously tossed from theAustralian Open in 1990.

Djokovic had been theoverwhelming favorite to cap-ture a fourth US Open title.

His disqualification blowsthe men’s draw wide open andmeans it will crown a first-timeGrand Slam winner nextSunday.

� � �*��*�

England players Phil Fodenand Mason Greenwood were

sent home and dropped forTuesday’s game against Denmarkafter breaching coronavirus rulesin Iceland.

Foden and Greenwood bothmade their England debuts in the1-0 victory over Iceland in theNations League on Saturday.

But they will return toEngland from Reykjavik ratherthan traveling to Copenhagen onMonday after social media videowas published in Iceland purport-ing to show the players meetingwomen from outside the teambubble.

“Unfortunately this morn-ing it was brought to my attentionthat two of the boys have brokenthe Covid-19 guidelines in termsof our secure bubble,” Englandcoach Gareth Southgate said.

“So we had to decide veryquickly that they couldn’t have anyinteraction with the rest of theteam and and wouldn’t be able totravel to training.”

Southgate said the players didalso not join the rest of the squadfor breakfast on Monday.

“They have been naive,” saidSouthgate, who was unable toconfirm if the 18-year-oldGreenwood and 20-year-oldFoden had left the team hotel inIceland.

“We are very clear that noother members of our party havebeen in contact with those twoplayers. That’s why they couldn’tgo to breakfast this morning orjoin us for training. We are veryclear we have followed all theguidelines in that regard.”

The England traveling group,which is regularly tested forCovid-19, was exempt from theIcelandic requirements to quaran-tine for five days on arrival.

“Given the procedures wehave to follow now they willhave to travel back to England,”Southgate said.

Both players will now returnto their clubs in Manchester.

Manchester United said it was“disappointed” by Greenwood’sconduct. Foden’s conduct wasbranded “totally inappropriate” byhis club, Manchester City.

The need for players to limitthe risk of being infected washighlightedon Monday by Cityalso announcing that two players— Riyad Mahrez and AymericLaporte — had tested positive forthe coronavirus.

The players have not dis-played any symptoms and are inself-isolation two weeks beforeCity starts its season againstWolverhampton Wanderers onSept 21.

� �� �����

Virat Kohli has been able to“disconnect” from the

underwhelming seasons that heand Royal Challengers Bangalorehave endured in the IPL andthere is a welcome “sense ofcalm” as he prepares to lead theside this year, something he lastfelt in 2016.

“The 2016 IPL, we all lovedto be a part of (it). Since then,this is the most balanced I havefelt about (the) squad,” theIndian skipper said on RCB’sYoutube show Bold Diaries, shar-ing his thoughts on the upcom-ing edition starting September19.

Kohli said that both he andAB de Villiers feel that thiscould be the “breakthrough sea-son” when tables will turn for thefranchise which has flattered todeceive on many occasions.

“I (have) never felt so calmgoing into a season before. He(ABD) is coming from a verydifferent space and he is enjoy-

ing his life and is very relaxedand fit as ever. I feel I am in amuch better space, much morebalanced, when it comes toenvironment of (the) IPL,” thestraight speaking RCB skippersaid.

This is the first time he feelsthat he isn’t carrying any bag-

gage.“Disconnecting with things

that have happened in the pastand not taking that baggage, aswe have done that way toomany times,” he responded to aquery on what has changed forhim this season.

“Just because we have abunch of players that are soskilled, people like seeing themplay is the reason people havehad so much expectation aswell.”

Kohli said adding to hisconfidence is the presence ofSouth African pacer ChrisMorris, Australian white-ballskipper Aaron Finch and hisunknown compatriot JoshPhilippe, a 23-year-old wicket-keeper-batsman.

“Morris brings in a lot ofbalance. Aaron Finch is someonewho has experience of playinginternational cricket for a while.Some of the youngsters we havepicked this time are quite excit-ing too like Josh Philippe, a veryexciting player,” the skipper said.

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