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The Union Government willhold an all-party meeting

on the current Sri Lanka situ-ation after Tamil Nadu-basedDMK and AIADMK asked itto intervene in the neighbour-ing country and safeguard theinterest of the country's Tamilpopulation.

The meeting will bechaired by Union MinistersNirmala Sitharaman and SJaishankar, said UnionParliamentary Affairs MinisterPralhad Joshi.

During an all-party meet-ing convened on Sunday aheadof the Monsoon Session ofParliament, DMK andAIADMK demanded that Indiaintervene in Sri Lanka which is

facing a debilitating economiccrisis. Talking to reporters afterthe meeting, NDA constituentDMK leader M Thambiduraisaid India should intervene toresolve the crisis in Sri Lanka.Party leader TR Baalu alsodemanded India's interventionin addressing the situation

confronting the island nation.Sri Lanka is facing its worst

economic crisis in sevendecades, with a severe foreignexchange shortage hamperingthe import of essentials includ-ing food, fuel, and medicines.

The economic crisis alsosparked a political crisis in the

country after a popular upris-ing against the Government.

In response to the concernson the alarming situation in theisland nation, Joshi said theGovernment will hold an all-party meeting on the currentSri Lanka economic crisis onTuesday.

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It’s kisan vs woman in thevice-presidential contest.

After the BJP put up WestBengal Governor JagdeepDhankhar, hailed as a “kisanputra” by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, theOpposition on Sunday pittedformer Union MinisterMargaret Alva against him.

Incidentally, as an occu-pant of the Raj Bhavan inKolkata, Dhankhar has a run-ning feud with the Opposition’sbest-known woman face andWest Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee.

Alva (80) a, former UnionMinister and former Governorof Rajasthan and Uttarakhand,was on Sunday unanimouslychosen by leaders of 17Opposition parties to be thejoint Opposition candidate forthe Vice-President’s post whichwill fall vacant after incumbentthe Vice-President M VenkaiahNaidu ends his tenure.

"It is a privilege and anhonour to be nominated as the

candidate of the jointOpposition for the post of theVice-President of India. Iaccept this nomination withgreat humility and thank theleaders of the Opposition forthe faith they've put in me. JaiHind," Alva tweeted soon afterthe Opposition partiesannounced her name.

Alva has been a four-termRajya Sabha MP. She was alsoa Minister in the Governments

headed by Rajiv Gandhi andPV Narasimha Rao.

The leaders of variousOpposition parties had met atthe residence of NCP supremoSharad Pawar to decide on thecommon candidate for theVice-President's election. Thelast date for filing nominationsis July 19 for the August 6polls.

Announcing the decision,Pawar said that 17 Opposition

parties have unanimouslydecided on Margaret Alva’sname.

The meeting was attendedby all major Opposition par-ties including the Congress,Shiv Sena, Left Front con-stituents, the RJD, the SP, andothers. Among the attendeeswere Congress' MallikarjunKharge and Jairam Ramesh,CPI(M) leader SitaramYechury, CPI's D Raja and

Binoy Viswam, Shiv Sena'sSanjay Raut, DMK's TR Baaluand Tiruchi Siva, SP's RamGopal Yadav, MDMK's Vaikoand TRS' K Keshava Rao.

The IMUL's ETMohammed Basheer andKerala Congress (M)'s Jose K.Mani were also present.

The TMC and AAP werenot present in the meeting butsources said they offered sup-port to Alva.

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Air passengers continued toface mid-air scare due to

technical snags in aircraft.After SpiceJet flights were hitwith repeated snags in the lastthree weeks, passengers of sev-eral flights faced the sametrauma on Sunday.

A Sharjah-HyderabadIndiGo flight had to make anemergency landing at theKarachi international airport in

Pakistan as a precaution onSunday. This was the secondsuch instance in two weekswhere an Indian airline wasforced to make an emergencylanding in Karachi.

"The pilot of the Sharjah-Hyderabad flight observed atechnical defect in the aircraft,as a precaution, the aircraftwas diverted to Karachi,Pakistan," IndiGo airlinessaid in a statement. IndiGoairline has stated that anoth-er aircraft is being dispatched

to Karachi to ferry the strand-ed passengers to Hyderabad,the statement added. Lastweek, SpiceJet's Delhi-Dubaiflight had to be diverted toKarachi after the pi lotsnoticed an unusual fuelreduction in one of the fueltanks of the plane.

In the second incident,Air India Express (Calicut -Dubai) was diver ted toMuscat on Saturday nightafter a burning smell wasobserved in the cabin mid-airand the pilots observed adefect in one of the engines.

The burning smell wascoming from one of the ventsin the forward galley andthe pilots, therefore, divertedthe plane to Muscat and land-ed safely, the officials said.

The third incident isrelated to Air India ExpressBahrain-Kochi flight in whichan live bird was found in thecockpit on July 15.

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Delhi Lieutenant-GovernorVinai Kumar Saxena has

given the CBI sanction for theprosecution of AAP MLA andDelhi Waqf Board (DWB)chairman Amanatullah Khanand retired IPS off icerMehboob Alam under Section19 of the Prevention ofCorruption Act 1988 and sec-tion 197 of the Code ofCriminal Procedure 1973 inconnection with "illegal"appointments. The case wasregistered in 2016.

The prosecution sanctionhas also been granted foroffenses including "deliberateand criminal violation" ofrules, regulations, and lawand "misuse of position" andcausing financial losses to theexchequer. According to theofficial sources, the SDM

(HQ), Revenue Department ofthe Delhi Government inNovember 2016, filed a com-plaint alleging arbitrary andillegal appointments to variousexisting and non-existingposts by Amanatullah inDWB.

The CBI had undertakenthorough investigations thatrevealed sufficient prosecutableevidence of the commission ofcriminal offensesand hadsought prosecution sanction ofthe LG in May 2022.

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Amid a rise in Covid-19cases — over 20,528 in a

single day on Sunday, the high-est in five months — India hasachieved a major milestone inits Covid-19 vaccination pro-gramme with cumulative jabsadministered surpassing the200-crore mark '

Lauding the feat, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi said ithas strengthened the fightagainst the coronavirus.

India has been reportingabove 20,000 new Covid casesfor the past five days in a row.However, the increased vacci-nation pace has come as a reliefin the fight against Covid-19.

"India creates history again!

Congrats to all Indians oncrossing the special figure of200 crore vaccine doses. Proudof those who contributed tomaking India's vaccinationdrive unparalleled in scaleand speed. This has strength-ened the global fight againstCovid-19," Modi said in atweet.

Also, congratulating citi-zens on the achievement,Union Health MinisterMansukh Mandaviya said that

India has set a new record bycompleting the target of 200crore vaccinations in just 18months.

“Powered by the spirit ofJan-Bhagidari, India's vacci-nation journey under PM@NarendraModiJi's inspiringleadership has emerged as amighty epitome of SabkaPrayas.

“This extraordinaryachievement will be etched inhistory!" he said in a tweet.

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The Government andOpposition are set for bit-

ter sparring in the MonsoonSession of Parliament begin-ning Monday. TheGovernment is set to bringaround 32 important Bills inboth the Houses, whereas theOpposition is ready with itsown wish list to corner the rul-ing dispensation.

In an all-party meetingon Sunday, the Governmentsought the Opposition's help in"smooth conduct " of theSession, while the Oppositionsaid it would raise issues of"price-rise, inflation, the mil-itary recruitment scheme'Agnipath', rising intolerance,the attack on federalism andChinese incursion in Ladakh",in the upcoming session.

NDA floor leaders of thetwo Houses also met duringthe day and discussed thestrategy for the conduct of thesession where the Governmentwill bring in 32 Bills.

The first day of the

Monsoon Session will see vot-ing for the presidential elec-tion. Some of the Bills that areon the pending list include TheIndian Antarctica Bill, 2022.The Bill is pending in the LokSabha.

The Weapons of MassDestruction and their DeliverySystems (Prohibition ofUnlawful Activities)Amendment Bill, 2022 waspassed by the Lok Sabha andis yet to be passed by the RajyaSabha.

The Wild Life (Protection)Amendment Bill, 2021 is pend-ing in Lok Sabha, The Anti-Maritime Piracy Bill, 2019,and the National Anti-DopingBill, 2021 are also pending inthe Lok Sabha.

The Constitution(Scheduled Castes andScheduled Tribes) Orders(Second Amendment) Bill,2022 (in respect of State of UP- amendment regarding changeof district name to be approved

by Cabinet) was introduced inLok Sabha in March 2022.

New Bills to be introducedin the Parliament during theMonsoon session include TheCentral UniversitiesAmendment Bill, 2022.

In the all-party meeting,the Opposition questioned theabsence of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi which raisedtheir hackles.

Senior Congress leaderJairam Ramesh tweeted: "AllParty Meeting to discussforthcoming session ofParliament has just begunand the Prime Minister, asusual, is absent. Isn't this'unparliamentary'?"

The last time the PrimeMinister skipped the meetingahead of the Budget Session.

Union Parliamentar yAffairs Minister Pralhad Joshidefended the Government bysaying "former Prime MinisterManmohan Singh had given amiss to many such meets."

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After getting no responsefrom the Lieutenant

Governor's office, Delhi ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwal onSunday wrote to PrimeMinister Narendra Modi seek-ing permission to attend theWorld Cities Summit (WCS) inSingapore in the first week ofAugust.

High Commissioner ofSingapore Simon Wong had inJune invited Kejriwal to attendthe summit.

"With great sadness, I haveto say that I have not yetreceived permission to go toSingapore. It was nearly fiveweeks ago, on June 7, that I hadwritten a letter seeking per-mission to go to Singapore butI haven't received a reply. It isnot right to stop a ChiefMinister of any State from vis-iting such an important event

and it is against the interest ofthe country," Kejriwal wrote tothe PM.

The Kejriwal Governmentsees the invitation fromSingapore as an opportunity totake its "Delhi model" of gov-ernance to the global plat-form.

The Chief Minister high-lighted in the letter that formerUS president Donald Trump's

wife Melania Trump hadexpressed her admiration forDelhi's education model and,"Every Indian had felt proudthat day".

Previously, formerSecretary General of UnitedNations Ban Ki-moon and for-mer Norway Prime MinisterGro Harlem Brundtland, too,had visited the Mohalla Clinicshere.

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DEHRADUN | MONDAY | JULY 18, 2022 uttarakhand 02

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PNS BAGESHWAR

GUEST COLUMN

Need of the hour - quality healthcarefor all, everywhere

Health, education and nutri-tion are the fundamental

needs of every individual buthealthcare services have notbeen given the prime impor-tance they merit in our coun-try. The healthcare servicesgradually started deteriorat-ing in the last decade of the lastcentury and kept on deterio-rating till there was change inleadership of the central gov-ernment.The services at thesecentres should be improved-the sooner the better.

There is a concept of estab-lishment of at least a primaryhealth centre (PHC) in eachblock of the district coveringevery 20,000-30,000 of thepopulation.The first PHC wasestablished in 1952 and thereare 23,391 by 2021. The PHChas played a significant role inimproving the healthcare ser-vices significantly since inde-pendence, particularly in ear-lier times when there were notmany qualified doctors avail-able, especially in rural andremote areas. The maternalmortality rate (MMR) andinfant mortality rate (IMR)was quite high at the time ofindependence in 1947.MMRand IMR are good indicators ofthe healthcare services of anycountry. The system of PHChas also improved the deliveryof universal immunisation pro-gramme. In addition to themany other programmes relat-ed to public health like TB,malaria, leprosy, encephalitis

etc. Primary healthcare hasalso helped and propagatedthe concept of family planningprogramme to control the over-population in our country. Theauthor remembers manyinstances as a child when ahealth worker used to visitevery house during the smallpox immunisation programmeand as an adult for counsellingof family planning, methodsand distributing free contra-ceptive pills and condoms tothe reproductive age grouppeople.

It is not only my experiencebut I am sure it may be yourexperience as well, that inIndia, the health needs of mostof the people are competingwith the basic human needslike food, shelter and education.In India, we are still not real-ising the importance of goodhealth and the government isstill figuring out how to keepour fellow countrymen healthy.The WHO asserts, followingcountless studies, that nationswhich invest well in universalhealthcare makes a soundinvestment in their humanresource. Access to affordable

healthcare will not only trulyimprove someone’s health andlife expectancy, but also willreduce poverty, create jobs anddrive the economic growth ofthe nation. The current gov-ernment under the leadershipof Prime Minister NarendraModi has introduced Universal

Health Coverage which isshowing fruitful results whichI can say for sure for a numberof patients who were not get-ting free or subsidised health-care services in private hospi-tals and were coming to thegovernment healthcare ser-vices provider but after theintroduction of AyushmanBharat Yojana these people aregetting free healthcare, notonly in the government hospi-tals but in thousands of privatehospitals. The Government ofIndia has started AyushmanBharat Yojana, Pradhan MantriJan Arogya Yojana or NationalHealth Protection Schemewhich will cover 10 crore poorfamilies or approximately 50crore beneficiaries providingcoverage up to Rs five lakh perfamily per year for secondaryand tertiary care hospitalisa-tion. This scheme providescashless benefits from any pub-lic or private empanelled hos-pitals across the country. Thisis a great relief especially to thepoor and needy people.According to a governmentreport since the inception ofAyushman Bharat Yojana morethan three crore people have

been benefited and I am sure ifthe patients and doctors hon-estly take the advantage of thisscheme then it will really be aturning point in the improve-ment of healthcare services inIndia. After implementationof this scheme, the cost of treat-

ment which usually deprivesthe poor patients of goodaffordable healthcare will notbe a problem if the situationarises. This scheme is redis-tributing the pattern of health-care services in India and theresults are visible.

To achieve the goal of qual-ity healthcare for everyoneeverywhere, PM Modiannounced the schemes forestablishment of 17 new AIIMSand a medical college in everydistrict. The implementation ofthese schemes will also changethe scenario of current health-care services. It will augmentthe quality of healthcare ser-vices which are lacking inmany rural, remote and tribalareas significantly. Many ofmy colleagues have a differentview about this scheme. Theysay there are nearly six hundred(606) medical colleges andnearly one lakh (92,065) MBBSseats available as on March 16,2022 cumulatively both in theprivate and government med-ical colleges. They say there arealready so many doctors in theprivate sector, who are eitherhaving less work than their

expectation and many of themare having the apprehension ofunemployment even in theprivate sector. But, I have a verydifferent opinion about theestablishment of governmentmedical colleges in every dis-trict. These government col-leges will not only augment the

healthcare services in therespective areas but will alsoreduce the number of patientsin the tertiary care centresespecially from surroundingareas. Overall the qualityhealthcare services will be moreaccessible, better and cheaper.First, these government med-ical colleges will work as abenchmark in healthcare ser-vices and they will also work asa role model for the medicaland paramedical staff of thatarea. Second, the younger gen-eration doctors will not onlygain exposure and experiencefrom the senior and experi-enced doctors of these medicalcolleges but many of them willemulate these senior doc-tors.Thirdly many of the seniorand experienced doctors wouldlike to settle in those areaswhere they were living formany years. It will also changethe demography of the remoteand rural areas. In my opinion,the impact of these new med-ical colleges will be long lastingin terms of bringing thechanges socially, economically,geographically and demo-graphically.

When schemes likeAyushman Bharat Yojana 2018,Ayushman Bharat HealthInfrastructure Yojana 2021 andAtmanirbhar Swasth BharatYojana, will be implementedsincerely then the scenario ofhealthcare services in Indiawill be changed. Though ini-tially, it may not equal that ofdeveloped nations, it will be astep closer to them. Chinesephilosopher Lao Tzu said thata journey of a thousand milesbegins with one step. IndianNobel laureate RabindranathTagore rightly said that it isnever too late to be what youmight have been. I would liketo pray for all “Sarve bhawan-tu sukhinaha sarve santu nira-maya”meaning may everyonebe happy, may everyone be freefrom disease.

(A Padma Shri recipient, theauthor is an orthopaedic sur-geon. Views expressed are per-sonal)

Dr BKS Sanjay

PNS NAINITAL

PNS HARIDWAR

PNS DEHRADUN

PNS DEHRADUN

AIIMS-R director meetsUttarakhand speakerThe speaker of

U t t a r a k h a n dAssembly RituKhanduri has said thatthe patients comingfrom mountainousareas of the state to theAll India Institute ofMedical Sciences(AIIMS) Rishikeshshould be given promptmedical facility. She toldthis to the newlyappointed director ofAIIMS Rishikesh Dr MeenuSingh when the later met her ather residence on Sunday.

Khanduri congratulated DrMeenu Singh for taking overthe charge of the prestigiousinstitute. In the meeting the

duo discussed the med-ical facilities that areavailable in the AIIMSRishikesh. The speakertold the AIIMS directorthat it should be ensuredthat the general publicgets the benefit of thefacilties abailable in thepremier medical insti-tiute. She expressed con-fidence that Dr MeenuSingh would furtherstrengthen the medical

facilities and the administrationof the AIIMS- Rishikesh.

Yashpal Arya attacks Govtfor unscheduled power cutsTaking the State govern-

ment to task for unsched-uled power outages even dur-ing the ongoing monsoon sea-son, the leader of opposition(LoP) in the State AssemblyYashpal Arya has said that theUnion government should pro-vide electricity at cheap ratesand increase the quota of thestate from the central pool. Hesaid that the BJP governmenthad promised that it wouldprovide 24 hours of electricityin a day but it is able to providepower for only eight to ninehours a day even during therainy season when there is noshortage of water. He said thatthere is no shortage of water forthe hydro power projects but itis apparent that the govern-ment lacks proper policies andwork culture.

He said that the unscheduledand long power outages havemade things difficult for thepeople of the state. Arya alsoclaimed that the problem oflow voltage has also com-pounded the problem of thepeople. He said that the powercuts have also affected indus-

try and welders, saw machineoperators and carpenters. Theshopkeepers are forced tospend thousands of rupees ina day to buy diesel for the gen-erators. Arya said that he isreceiving complaints that theofficers and employees are notpicking up phone calls of thepublic representatives whichshows that the governmenthas no control over the officers.

The LoP alleged that theUttarakhand government isplanning to sell all the threepower corporations,Uttarakhand PowerCorporation Limited (UPCL),

UJVN Limited and PowerTransmission Corporation ofUttarakhand Limited(PTCUL). He said that adho-cism prevails in the operationof these corporations and mostof the posts of the directors arelying vacant. Apart from thetop posts, most of the posts ofjunior engineers are alsovacant.

He said that the state needsabout 55 MU of power in anormal day and the state meets65 per cent of this requirementfrom local generation and cen-tral quota. A shortfall of about10 MU which is 35 per cent ofits requirement always exists.The LoP claimed that the stategovernment compromised theinterest of the state in thepower purchase agreement(PPA) of 99 MW Singoli-Bhatwadi projects and two gasbased projects (450 and 250MW) in Udham Singh Nagar.

Arya demanded that thecentral government shouldincrease the state’s quota in thecentral pool and provide cheapelectricity to the state.

Nainital students passICSE with flying colours

Students of various schoolshere passed the ICSE X

exams with flying colours.According to the resultsreleased on Sunday, KushagraJoshi of Saint Joseph Collegetopped the city with 98.9 per

cent, All Saints’ College studentUjjwal Kaur came second with98.4 per cent and Saint MaryCollege students Vaishnavi Sahalong with Gunjan Bisht camethird with 98.2 per cent.

In Saint Joseph College, Rajat

Joshi came second with 96.8per cent, followed by SauravDhondiyal with 96.2 per cent.Seven students scored morethan 92 per cent. The schoolhad a cent per cent result. InSaint Mary College, Avika

Rawat came second with 96.2per cent followed by DorjiWangmo with 96 per cent.Thirty four students scoredmore than 90 per cent while theschool had a cent per centresult. In Sherwood College,Anmol Mahajan came first

with 97.8 per cent followed byRam Khandelwal with 97.6per cent and Parth Agrawalwith 97 per cent. More than 90per cent marks were scored by40 students with the schoolhaving a cent per cent result. In

All Saints' College, all of the 61students who appeared in theexam passed. The principals ofthese schools have congratu-lated their students on theirperformance.

10-year old electrocuted by broken power line

A10-year old was fatallyelectrocuted after he acci-

dentally touched a broken11,000 volts electricity linehere on Sunday. The incidentoccurred near Tibdi railwaycrossing under the Kotwalipolice station area ofHaridwar on Sunday evening.Ten year old Ayush was play-ing out in the open and had

gone towards the busheswhen he accidentally touchedthe broken electricity wire.Hearing the scream, twopolicemen on Kanwad Meladuty nearby rescued the childby using a stick to disconnectthe child from the wire.

He was taken by the localsto the district hospital where

the doctors declared himdead.

The police sent the bodyfor post-mortem. HaridwarKotwali SSI Vinod Thapliyalinformed that the police hadlearnt about a child beingelectrocuted fatally, addingthat the incident is beinginvestigated.

Duo swept away inSarayu after womanjumps in to save niece

Awoman and hermentally challenged

niece were swept away inthe Sarayu river here onSunday after the womanjumped in to save herniece. The police andfire service personnelwere at the scene butcould not trace the duo.

On Sunday afternoon,Jeevanti Pandey was going tothe Chaurasi area along withher mentally challenged nieceJyoti Pathak. The niece sud-denly jumped into the Sarayunear Vikas Bhawan. Her auntalso jumped in to save the niecebut both were carried away by

the strong current of the river.The local people informed thepolice about the incident. Thepolice said that the search forthe two women was underway.However, they could not befound till the time of thisreport being filed in theevening.

Kasiga celebrates 15th founders’ dayPNS DEHRADUN

The Kasiga School celebrat-ed its 15th founders’ day

and investiture ceremony onthe weekend. The event waspresided over by the chiefguest Brigadier Anirban Dattawith his wife Jyoti Datta, schoolchairman Ramesh Batta andothers.

The students who took oathas office bearers spoke of act-ing in the best interests of thestudent and teaching commu-

nity while staying true to them-selves. The chief guest andchairman congratulated themand urged them to be impar-tial and honest in dischargingtheir duties.

Rajesh Sethi appointed PRO of CM DhamiPNS DEHRADUN

Chief Minister PushkarSingh Dhami has again

appointed Rajesh Sethi ashis Public Relations Officer(PRO). He had held thisposition in the first stint ofDhami as chief minister.Simple and soft spokenSethi has a rich adminis-trative experience of work-ing with many CMs andunion ministers. He has

worked with first CM ofUttarakhand NityanandSwami, former CMs BhagatSingh Koshyari, MajorGeneral ( Retd) B CKhanduri and RameshPokhriyal ‘ Nishank’. A per-son with RSS backgroundSethi has also worked withunion ministers MahendraNath Pandey and MukhtarAbbas Naqvi.

DEHRADUN | MONDAY | JULY 18, 2022 uttarakhand 03

PNS DEHRADUN

PNS DEHRADUN

PNS RAMNAGAR

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Heavy rain forecast onJuly 19 & 20, CM directsofficials to remain alertWith vigorous monsoon

conditions forecast bythe meteorological centre in theState from July 18 to 22, peak-ing on July 19 and 20, chiefminister Pushkar Singh Dhamihas directed all the districtmagistrates to remain alert.The meteorological centre hasforecast that heavy to veryheavy rainfall is likely on July19 in the districts of Kumaonand adjoining districts ofKumaon with extremely heavyrainfall also likely at someplaces in Champawat, Nainital,Udham Singh Nagar and Pauridistricts. Heavy to very heavyrainfall is also forecast on July20 with Dehradun, Tehri andHaridwar districts also likely toexperience considerable activ-ity.

On Sunday, Dhami directedthe two commissioners and alldistrict magistrates to remainalert for dealing with any dis-aster related challenge. He saidthat alertness should beobserved at every level, addingthat all departments shouldwork in coordination.

He said tha geo-taggedmechanical excavators shouldbe deployed and ready at alltimes in places vulnerable todisasters. He said that teams ofthe State Disaster ResponseForce (SDRF) and National

Disaster Response Force(NDRF) have been deployed,adding that rescue and reliefefforts should be undertakenwith minimum response timein case of any disaster.Disruption in road connectiv-ity and supply of electricity andwater caused by rain or land-slide should be restored asearly as possible. The CM alsoappealed to the tourists andgeneral public to stay awayfrom rivers and seasonal

streams in view of the heavyrain forecast. According toofficials, a total of 396 mechan-ical excavators and othermachinery have been deployedby the Public WorksDepartment on various routes.The Irrigation department isconsistently monitoring thewater level in rivers at 23 loca-tions and in barrages and damsat 14 sites. Flood control roomsare operating in all districts inaddition to the central flood

control centre inDehradun.The Uttarakhand JalSansthan and UttarakhandPower Corporation Limitedhave also made arrangementsfor water supply and powersupply respectively consideringthe possibility of inclementweather. The officials furthersaid that the Health depart-ment has made arrangementsin all the 13 districts to provide24x7 medical treatment.

Tiger kills & eats pillion rider near RamnagarVillagers block NH seeking action to trap big cat

Aman riding pillion on amotorcycle was killed by a

tiger on national highway 309near Mohaan in the Ramnagararea near the Corbett tigerreserve on Saturday night. Thehands of the man were recov-ered from the jungle onSunday. Meanwhile, local vil-lagers blocked the highway inprotest and were also met bysenior Congress leader HarishRawat.

Afsarul (25) and Anas fromAmroha in Uttar Pradesh werecoming back from Almora ona motorcycle after visiting theKumaon region on a recre-ational visit. On Saturday night,a tiger attacked the riders andcarried Afsarul who was ridingpillion, into the jungle. A ter-rified Anas ran away from thespot and informed personnel ata nearby forest post about theincident. Personnel of Corbetttiger reserve, Forest depart-ment and police conducted asearch operation in the jungleon Saturday night but wereunable to find the missingyouth. The search was resumedon Sunday after clearing thebushes in the jungle after whichAfsarul’s hands and a portionof his body was found whilemost of his body was missing.Ramnagar forest division Kosiranger Shekhar Tiwari con-firmed that parts of the man’s

body had been found and thatthe search operation had con-tinued on Sunday. He appealedto the villagers to avoid goingto the jungle alone and remainalert. Meanwhile, the villagerscomplained that they havebeen living in fear of a tiger forquite some time in the area.They claimed that people hadseen four tigers in the area and

that the big cats had so farkilled a number of domesti-cated animals apart from

attacking some villagers.Stating that they don’t feel safesending their children toschool, the villagers blocked thenational highway while protest-ing against the Forest depart-ment. They have demandedthat the tigers reportedly roam-ing in the village area be caught.Meanwhile, former chief min-ister and Congress leader

Harish Rawat also reached thesite and also talked to the dis-trict magistrate and other offi-

cials regarding the situation.Rawat said that people in thisarea have been living in fear ofa tiger for months now but thepublic representatives ofRamnagar are not pressuringthe Forest department to catchthe big cat. Talking to the DMand Forest officials on thephone, he asked them to placecages to trap the tiger. He also

said that he will talk to seniorForest officials regarding thesituation.

Tricolour to be hoisted in20 lakh homes in U’khand

The national flag will behoisted in 20 lakh homes in

Uttarakhand from August 13 to15 as part of the ‘Har GharTiranga’ campaign launchedby the Central governmentunder the Azadi Ka AmritMahotsav. Chief ministerPushkar Singh Dhami attend-ed a video conference chairedby Union Home minister AmitShah regarding the campaign

on Sunday. Shah said that pub-lic participation is most impor-tant in the campaign for whichwidespread publicity shouldbe undertaken to motivate cit-izens, especially the youth.

It was stated in the meetingthat some amendments havebeen made in the flag code toenable enthusiastic participa-tion of the citizens. The Stateswill be informed in detail about

this.

After the video conference,Dhami directed officials toaccord top priority to prepara-tions for the ‘Har Ghar Tiranga’campaign. He said thatUttarakhand will also involveits gallantry award winners inthe campaign which will see thenational flag being put up in 20lakh homes by the people

themselves. He stressed onelaborate publicity for this pur-pose especially on social media.Dhami directed officials toprepare a detailed outline forthe campaign and begin prepa-rations without delay. Freedomfighters, their family mem-bers, voluntary organisationsand intelligentsia should also belinked to the programme, hesaid.

The Pioneer & MAD plant fruit& other trees to mark Harela

Trees of various fruit andother species were planted

by volunteers to mark theongoing Harela celebration

here on Sunday. The treesaplings were planted as part ofan activity organised by ThePioneer in association with

student activist group Makinga Difference by Being theDifference (MAD). The activ-ity saw enthusiastic participa-

tion from the young volunteerswho gathered at the plantationsite at Tarla Nagal near theSahastradhara helipad early on

Sunday morning. The volun-teers and members of ThePioneer team planted saplingsof guava, Amla, mango,

Amaltas, bottle-brush, Tejpat,bamboo and other varieties onthe occasion. It was also decid-ed that the saplings will be peri-

odically checked to ascertaintheir survival.

The MAD volunteers whoparticipated in the eventincluded Aryan Koli, DarishMalik, Akriti Rawat, Vishaka,Simranjit Singh, AaryavartJoshi, Yashraj Negi, HridyaeshShahi, Archie Bisht, AmoghNegi

Yash Singhal, Shreyas Lama,Priyanshu Gupta,

Ravinder Karmarkar,Shaurya Kapoor, SanskritiMalik, Chetna Bhatt, VikrantUniyal, Hemant Chauhan,Parth Pant, Mukul Vasudev,Nikhil Narula, Prachi Bishtand Swati Tiwari.

The tree plantation activitywas supported by theMussoorie DehradunDevelopment Authority(MDDA), Food Safety andDrug Administration (FDA)and the Horticulture depart-ment.

Vaccination feat- CMcongratulates PMModi, Covid warriors

Terming the achievement ofadministering 200 crore

doses of Covid-19 vaccine byIndia as a historic feat, theUttarakhand chief ministerPushkar Singh Dhami has saidthat the vaccination is our onlymajor weapon we have in thewar against Covid-19 pan-demic.

He said thatthe vaccinefeat is theresult of effi-cient leader-ship of PrimeM i n i s t e rN a r e n d r aModi and theu n t i r i n gefforts andhardships ofthe Covidwarriors of thecountry.

He saidthat the gov-ernment ofIndia has now started the ‘Amrit Mahotsava of the Covidvaccination' under which afree precaution dose is beingadministered to all the benefi-ciaries between 18 to 59 yearsof age. Terming the vaccinationessential for protection againstCovid-19, the CM said that thestate government has made

necessary arrangements for thevaccination campaign.

He appealed that all the res-idents of the state who areabove 18 years of age should getthem inoculated with the vac-cine of Covid-19 and alsoencourage others to get vacci-nated. Dhami said that all thecountrymen have valiantly

combated against the pan-demic of Covid-19 in the lasttwo years under the leadershipof PM Modi. He said thatunder Modi’s leadership a megacampaign of vaccination wasundertaken and the countryalso supplied vaccines to othercountries also in the period asa humanitarian gesture.

AAP opposes Roadways fare hikePNS DEHRADUN

The Uttarakhand unit of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) hastermed the recent hike in the fare of roadways buses as a

major burden on the general public already reeling under acuteprice rise. The media in charge of Garhwal region of the partyRavindra Singh Anand said that the people of low and mid-dle income categories travel mostly in the roadways buses andthe hike in the roadways fare has broken the back of the poor.He reminded that the BJP had given the slogan ‘ Bahut Hui

Mehangai Ki Maar, Abki Bar BJP Sarkar’ but now after cor-nering the votes of the people it is moving in the opposite direc-tion as prices of everything have skyrocketed.

He said that lakhs of the poor people in the state who workhard to meet ends but the increase in the roadways fares haveloaded additional burden on their shoulders.

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India and China on Sundayreaffirmed their resolve to

sustain the momentum of dia-logue for early resolution ofcontinuing stand-offs betweenthe two armies in EasternLadakh. The two sides alsoagreed to have another roundof military-level talks at the ear-liest.

It was the main takeawayfrom the 16th round of CorpsCommander-level talksbetween the two armies at theChushul-Moldo border meet-ing point at the Line of ActualControl(LAC)in Ladakh onthe Indian side.

Leh-based 14 Corps chiefLt General Anindya Senguptaled the Indian delegation whileMajor General Yang Lin led theChinese team. The meetingstarted at about 9.30 am. Thelast round of military dialoguetook place on March 11 and itlasted for around 13 hours.

As regards the latest par-leys, the two sides reviewed thepresent situation prevailing onthe ground at the frictionpoints in Eastern Ladakh and

agreed to maintain peace andtranquility and avoid escalatingtension, sources said here. TheIndian delegation also broughtup the issue of Chinese fight-er jets transgressing the no flyzone close to the LAC inLadakh which may lead tomore tension, they said. Themost recent case was reportedin June when a Chinese jetcame close to the LAC on itsside.

The two countries have apact that no jets can fly with-in ten kms of the border oneither side Besides this issue,the talks focused on firming upa process for disengagement

from friction points at DepsangValley, Demchok, and HotSprings, they said.

India has all along stressedthat the complete withdrawal ofChinese troops from the stand-off sites and status quo ante asprevailing prior to May 2020are the prerequisites for restor-ing normal ties between thetwo countries.

At present, more than50,000 troops each from boththe sides are facing each otherat the LAC thereby leading totension in the border areas.

The latest round of talkswas held days after ExternalAffairs Minister S Jaishankar

and Chinese Foreign MinisterWang Yi reviewed the situationat the LAC in Bali, Indonesia.

The talks took place on thesidelines of a meeting of theforeign ministers of G-20 coun-tries on July 7. It was learnedthat the eastern Ladakh borderrow figured in the discussions.

Jaishankar called for anearly resolution of all the out-standing issues along the LACin Eastern Ladakh, the ministryof external affairs had said.Recalling the disengagementachieved in some friction areas,Jaishankar reiterated the needto sustain the momentum tocomplete disengagement fromall the remaining areas torestore peace and tranquillity inthe border areas, the ministrysaid.

The two Ministers agreedthat they should continue reg-ular contact at military anddiplomatic meetings, andlooked ahead to the next (16th)round of Senior Commandersmeeting at the Chushul-Moldoborder point at an early date,the statement said.

Incidentally, Wang Yi wasthe first Chinese minister tovisit India in March this year

since trouble erupted on theLAC in eastern Ladakh morethan two years back. At pre-sent, more than 50,000 troopseach from both sides are in astand-off at some frictionpoints.

The two ministers are like-ly to take stock of the situationat the LAC when they meetagain on July 28 and 29 inTashkent for ShanghaiCooperation Organisation(SCO) Foreign Ministers’ con-clave.

The takeaway from theCorps Commander talks islikely to figure prominently inthe talks between Jaishankarand Wang Yi, sources said.

The eastern Ladakh borderstandoff erupted on May 5,2020, following a violent clashin the Pangong lake areas.Both sides gradually enhancedtheir deployment by rushing intens of thousands of soldiers aswell as heavy weaponry.

As a result of a series ofmilitary and diplomatic talks,the two sides completed thedisengagement process lastyear in the north and southbanks of the Pangong lake andin the Gogra area.

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The CPI(M) Polit Bureau onSunday condemned the

“unsubstantiated and base-less" allegations levelled byBJP on former Vice PresidentHamid Ansari.

“The Polit Bureau strong-ly condemned the unsubstan-tiated and baseless allegationslevelled by the ruling BJP onHamid Ansari, former VicePresident of India.

Ansari is a globallyrespected diplomat, and schol-ar and served with distinctionin every responsibility given tohim by the Union governmentwith an unimpeachable trackrecord of patriotism.

“Targeting Ansari becauseof his identity and steadfastcommitment to the IndianConstitution and to the secu-lar democratic Republic isunacceptable,” said CPI(M)in a statement.

The polit bureau in itscommuniqué also blamed theCentre for collapsing economyand an increase in unemploy-

ment. World Bank data shows

that the annual growth of theIndian economy over 2020-22was a mere 0.8 percent andunemployment is at a stag-gering rate of 42 percent, saidthe party.

“According to the CMIEReport for the January-April2022, the number of unem-ployed in the age group of 20-24 years was over 2 crore – astaggering unemployment rateof 42 percent. In the 25-29 agegroup, this was over sixty lac- an unemployment rate of12.72 percent.

Together unemploymentin 20-29 age group is nearly 80percent of the over 3 croreunemployed Indians above 15years who are actively lookingfor jobs.

“India’s working age pop-ulation is 36 percent of thetotal. Of these 61.2 percenthave simply stopped lookingfor employment as there areno jobs. The LabourParticipation Rate has droppedto an all-time low of 38.8 percent,” said CPI(M).

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The National InvestigationAgency (NIA) is likely to

question Khadim of AjmerDargah Gauhar Chisti whowas arrested by Rajasthanpolice for hateful speech. Theagency will quiz him about hislikely linkages with PFI andUdaipur killers.

Chisti was recently nabbedby the Rajasthan police fromHyderabad where he was hid-ing at his friend Amanullah’sresidence. Amanullah has alsobeen arrested by the Rajasthanpolice.

The Rajasthan police probehas revealed that there hadbeen a transaction of over Rs20 lakh in his bank account inthe run up to the beheadingincident in Udaipur on June 28.The probe has revealed thatChisti was in touch with thetwo prime accused, RiyazAkhtari and GhouseMohammad, in the beheadingof tailor Kanhaiya Lal Teli inUdaipur. He even met thembefore the ghastly incident.

The Rajasthan police isalso said to be probing the link-ages between the Khadim and

radical outfit Popular Front ofIndia. Sources said the NIA islikely to soon take custody ofChisti as part of the probe intothe beheading of Kanhaiya LalTeli. Last week, the NIAsearched certain areas aroundthe Ajmer Dargah in connec-tion with the probe into theUdaipur killing case.

Earlier, Chisti had given acall for the beheading of thoseindulging in blasphemy andhad subsequently fled toHyderabad. His father SarwarChisti is also accused of hate-ful speech. A video of hisnephew Adil Chisti denigratingHindu Gods had also goneviral.

The NIA has so far arrest-ed seven persons in connectionwith the Udaipur killing caseand the investigation hasrevealed that the two primeaccused in the case were intouch with at least 18 Pakistanisand around 300 radicals acrossthe country.

A preliminary NIA probeinto the Udaipur killing casehas revealed that the beheadingincident could be part of a larg-er plot being aided by Pakistanihandlers.

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The Philippines is looking atprocuring a batch of

advanced light helicopters fromIndia to crank up its combatcapability, months after sealinga USD 375 million deal toacquire three batteries of theBrahMos cruise missile.

The Southeast Asiannation has been focusing onmodernising its military in theface of myriad security chal-lenges as well as decades-longterritorial disputes with Chinain the South China Sea.

Top officials in the securi-ty and defence establishmenttold PTI on Sunday that thePhilippines has shown keeninterest in procurement of asignificant number of advancedlight helicopters (ALH) toreplace its ageing chopper fleet.

It is learnt both sides areholding talks on the proposedacquisition and there has been"positive" movement in thenegotiations.

The indigenously devel-oped ALH helicopter is a twinengine, multi-role, multi-mis-sion new generation helicopterin the 5.5 ton weight class andis considered to be an effectiveplatform for various militaryoperations.

The officials said thePhilippines has also beenimpressed by the performanceof India's indigenously-devel-oped Tejas light combat aircraftand could consider procuringit as the country continues itshunt for a fleet of fighter jets.

The Philippines is a keystrategic partner of India in theSoutheast Asian region andthe bilateral defence and secu-rity ties have been on anupswing in the last few years,especially in the maritimedomain.

The Philippines is also akey member of the 10-nationAssociation of Southeast AsianNations (ASEAN), an influen-

tial bloc with whom India's tieshave witnessed major expan-sion in the last one decade. InJanuary, the Philippines con-cluded a USD 375 million dealwith India for procurement ofthree batteries of the BrahMoscruise missile.

BrahMos Aerospace, anIndia-Russian joint venture,produces supersonic cruisemissiles that can be launchedfrom submarines, ships, air-craft, or land platforms.

In a related development,India signed a frameworkagreement with the Philippinesin March that provided for gov-ernment-to-government dealsfor supply of defence hardwareand equipment.

India has been looking atsupplying critical militaryhardware and platforms tocountries with whom it hasstrong strategic ties and con-vergence of interests. The Tejasaircraft has already emerged asthe top choice for Malaysia asthe country is looking at replac-ing its ageing fleet of fighterjets.

Malaysia has already nar-rowed down on the Indian air-craft notwithstanding stiffcompetition from China's JF-17 jet, South Korea's FA-50 andRussia's Mig-35 as well as Yak-130.

Tejas, manufactured byHindustan Aeronautics Ltd, isa single-engine and highly agilemulti-role supersonic fighteraircraft capable of operating inhigh-threat air environments.

In February last year, thedefence ministry sealed a Rs48,000 crore deal with HAL forthe procurement of 83 Tejasfighter aircraft for the IndianAir Force (IAF).

India has already startedwork on the MK 2 version ofthe Tejas as well as on anambitious USD 5 billion projectto develop a fifth-generationAdvanced Medium CombatAircraft (AMCA).

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Customers will have to pay5 per cent GST on pre-

packed, labelled food itemslike atta, paneer and curd,besides hospital rooms withrent above Rs 5,000 fromMonday with the GSTCouncil's decision coming intoforce.

In addition, hotel roomswith tariff of up to Rs1,000/day, maps and charts,including atlases, will attract a12 per cent Goods and ServicesTax (GST), while 18 per centGST will be levied on tetrapacks and fees charged bybanks for the issue of cheques(loose or in book form).

Last month, the GSTCouncil, chaired by UnionFinance Minister NirmalaSitharaman and comprisingher state counterparts, hadpruned the exemption list andimposed tax on a host of goodsand services.

The Council, based on an

interim report of the Group ofMinisters (GoM) on rate ratio-nalisation, had also removedduty inversion for goods wherethe taxes on inputs were high-er than those on the output.

Tax rates on products suchas printing, writing or drawingink; knives with cutting blades,paper knives and pencil sharp-eners; LED lamps; drawingand marking out instrumentswill be hiked to 18 per cent onMonday, from 12 per cent cur-rently, to correct the invertedduty anomaly. Also, solar waterheater will now attract 12 percent GST as compared to 5 percent earlier. Some services suchas work contracts for roads,bridges, railways, metro, efflu-ent treatment plants and cre-matoriums too will see taxgoing up to 18 per cent fromthe current 12 per cent.

Besides, taxes will be cut onon ostomy appliances and ontransport of goods and pas-sengers by ropeways to 5 percent from July 18, from 12 per

cent. Renting of truck, goodscarriage where the cost of fuelis included will now attract alower 12 per cent rate as against18 per cent.

GST exemption on thetransport of passengers by airto and from northeastern statesand Bagdogra will be restrict-ed to economy class only.

Services rendered by regu-lators such as RBI, IRDA andSEBI will be taxed at 18 percent and so will be renting ofa residential dwelling to busi-ness entities.

Bio-medical waste treat-ment facilities shall attract 12per cent GST, while non-ICUhospital rooms exceeding Rs5,000/day will be levied 5 percent GST, without input taxcredit, to the extent of theamount charged for the room.

Besides, individuals willonly be able to claim GSTexemption for training orcoaching in recreational activ-ities relating to arts or cultureor sports.

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The Indian exchequer isincurring huge losses due

to restricted global trade in therosewood (Dalbergia sissoo)from 2016 onward after it waslisted under Appendix II of theConvention on InternationalTrade in Endangered Species ofWild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

According to theGovernment data, exports offurniture and handicrafts madeof the species have fallen byalmost 50 percent from anestimated Rs 1000 crore (USD129 million) since the restric-tion imposed in 2016.

India has once again sub-mitted its proposal before theCITES, a multilateral treaty toprotect endangered plants andanimals, seeking its exclusionfrom Appendix II. UnderAppendix II the species are notnecessarily threatened withextinction, but in which trademust be controlled to avoid uti-lization incompatible with theirsurvival. India has been oppos-ing the move to include rose-

wood under a controlled tradeambit. The proposal has beensent to the CITES ahead of thenineteenth meeting of theConference of the Parties to beheld in Panama City (Republicof Panama) in November. “Thedecrease in exports of rose-wood products has affected thelivelihoods of around 50,000artisans who work with thespecies.

It has also had a knock-oneffect on the livelihoods ofother stakeholders who aredirectly or indirectly connect-ed with the trade of the species,in particular farmers who havebeen growing the species aspart of agroforestry activities togenerate additional income,”said India which has got thesupport from Nepal in thematter.

“The species has a very fastgrowth rate and capacity tobecome naturalized outside ofits native range and is eveninvasive in some parts of theworld. The regulation of tradein the species is not necessaryto avoid it becoming eligible for

inclusion in Appendix I in thenear future and the harvest ofspecimens from the wild is notreducing the wild population toa level at which its survivalmight be threatened by con-tinued harvesting or otherinfluences.”

The species is sustainablyutilized for its timber, fuel-wood, fodder, medicines, etc.The species is native toAfghanistan, Bangladesh,Bhutan, India, Islamic Republicof Iran, Iraq, Myanmar, Nepal,Pakistan, Philippines, andSouth Africa; and has alsobeen widely introduced, espe-cially in Africa and Asia.

“It is even treated as inva-sive in Florida, USA and theNorthern Territories, The wildpopulation of D. sissoo doesnot fall under any Threatenedcategories.” To substantiate itsclaim, India has also quotedvarious studies like the NDFwhich “revealed that the har-vest of D. sissoo is conductedmostly from planted/cultivatedtrees outside the locations of itswild occurrence.” According to

‘State Forest Report 2021’ (FSI,2021), the total estimated num-ber of trees of D. sissoo outsidethe forests in India is7,57,62,000, India has said in itsproposal document.

According to an officialfrom the Union EnvironmentMinistry, it was in the 17thCOP, in Johannesburg in 2016,several African and LatinAmerican countries hadexpressed concerns that therewas a “rise in interest in woodof Dalbergia in internationalmarkets, primarily in China”which was fuelling an illegaltrade at the cost of Dalbergiapopulations. “Although CITESfocuses on protection of indi-

vidual species, COP 17 put theentire genus under AppendixII, which regulates trade inspecies. Though most of the182 member countries agreedto the proposal, India, for thefirst time, strongly expressed itsreservation concerning theinclusion of all rosewood inAppendix II.

“The entire genus ofDalbergia was put in theappendix based on the “looka-like” criterion. This criterion isnot based on the level of threatthe species face, but on the dif-ficulty of distinguishing thespecies from other threatenedspecies of the genus”, as per theofficial.

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Maoist Center Chairmanand top Nepalese leader

Pushpa Kamal Dahal‘Prachanda’ on Sunday metBJP president JP Nadda anddiscussed ways of "deepeningrelations" between the twocountries and their parties.

The Nepalese leader is ona three-day visit to India at theinvitation of the BJP chiefunder the saffron party's"Know BJP' programme. India’sForeign Minister S. Jaishankarand BJP Foreign AffairsDepartment in-Charge VijayChathaiwale were also present

during the Nadda-Prachandainteraction at the BJP head-quarters.

After the meeting, Naddasaid, "We had fruitful discus-sions over strengthening anddeepening ties between India &Nepal, especially our age-oldcultural and people-to-peoplebond.

We also discussed ways tofurther party-to-party cooper-ation."Nadda has been meetingdiplomats and party heads ofdifferent countries in the lastfew months. In the seriesrecently he interacted with thecommunist party leader ofVietnam, too.

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Rajya Sabha Chairman MVenkaiah sought a ‘farewell

gift’ in the form of a mean-ingful and productive sessionin the Upper House during theMonsoon Session ofParliament beginning Monday.

Naidu said this during themeeting of leaders of all theparties attended by the highestever of 41 leaders and minis-ters. While nostalgically recall-ing the functioning of theHouse during the last 13 fullsessions that he presided over,Naidu said that he was makingone last request for upholdingthe dignity and decorum of theHouse of Elders.

Leader of the OppositionMallikarjun Kharge and othersplaced on record their appre-ciation of the efforts of Naidufor the effective functioning ofthe House during the last fiveyears. Some leaders particu-larly referred to Naidu’s con-cern for orderly conduct anddiscipline in the House.

Noting that ‘the discipli-nary actions taken includingsuspension of some memberswere all part and parcel of thefunctioning of the House butthe leaders and memberswould remember for long thepersonal affection shown tothem by Naidu’.

The leaders also recalledthe efforts made by Naidu togive more and more opportu-nities to members by stream-lining the conduct of QuestionHour, Zero Hour and SpecialMentions and debates and hiscommitment to promoting theuse of ‘mother tongue.

As the all-party meetingwas turning into a farewell toNaidu, Leader of the HousePiyush Goyal said that it wasa bit premature to do so asNaidu is to preside over onefull session and a formalfarewell would be held in theHouse with all the leaders and

members sharing their expe-riences in detail in the House.He further said as mentionedby some other leaders, ‘’all sec-tions of the House would worktogether to present a befittingfarewell to the ChairmanNaidu in the form of a pro-ductive monsoon session”.

Congress leader JairamRamesh said, “ After this ses-sion your absence will benoticed. At times you wereangry with us and irritated usbut at the end of you are a goodperson.

It is difficult to prove to bea good person and you provedto be one such a good personand will be missed. Hope yourspirit of personal affection andhumour will continue to ani-mate the House’’. He furthersaid that as a token of acknowl-edgement of your contribu-tions, it is appropriate for thegovernment to create a post of‘Chairman Emeritus’.

On behalf of the opposi-tion, Kharge listed 16 issues fordiscussion during the mon-soon session. These include;Federalism coming understrain; Agnipath scheme;Rising prices and uncontrolledinflation; Declining labourforce participation rate; EPFOinterest rates; Declining cred-ibility of organizations likethe Election Commission, CBI,CVC; External threats tonational security; hate speech-es; undemocratic actionsagainst opposition leaders;Increasing crime in Jammu &Kashmir and attacks onKashmiri pundits andReservations in the promotionand in private sector.

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India and Bangladesh will review the entirespectrum of bilateral military ties and secu-

rity situations in the neighborhood during ArmyChief General Manoj Pande’s interaction withhis Bangla counterparts. He is on a two-day visitstarting Monday. This is his first foreign visitafter assuming charge in May.

Giving details of Pande’s visit, army officialssaid here on Sunday continuing with the excel-lent bilateral defence ties between India andBangladesh, the Army Chief will commence hisvisit by paying tributes to the bravehearts whomade the supreme sacrifice during theLiberation War of 1971 by laying a wreath at theShikha Anirban on Monday.

During the day, Pande will take part in mul-tiple meetings with senior officials of the secu-rity establishment and exchange views on var-ious defence-related issues. He will also pay trib-utes to the Father of the Nation BangabandhuSheikh Mujibur Rahman Memorial Museum inDhanmondi.

On the second day of his visit, the ArmyChief will address the students and faculty of

Defence Services Command and Staff College,Mirpur. He will thereafter visit and interact withthe members of the Bangladesh Institute of PeaceSupport and Operation Training (BIPSOT), apremier institute of Bangladesh that trains peace-keepers for employment in various UN PeaceOperations.

This will be followed by a visit to theBangabandhu Military Museum at Mirpur.The visit of the Army Chief will further deep-en the bilateral relationships between the twoArmies and act as a catalyst for closer coordi-nation and cooperation between the two coun-tries on a host of strategic issues.

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Aday after "body parts of ananimal" were found at the

entrance of a temple inRasoolabad village of Kannauj,leading to communal tension,the Superintendent of Policeand District Magistrate wereremoved and the station houseofficer of Talgram police sta-tion was suspended.

The police said that theywere making efforts to arrestthe accused. "Our teams areworking and very soon we willbe making the arrests," KanpurRange Inspector General ofPolice, Prashant Kumar (II),said. "The situation is undercontrol now and the area isunder police surveillance," said

a senior officer. Taking a seri-ous note of the mishandling ofthe situation leading to com-munal tension in Kannauj,Chief Minister Yogi Adityanathremoved the district magistrateand the superintendent ofpolice.

Kannauj DM RakeshMishra was shunted out andput on wait list a few hoursafter Superintendent of PoliceRajesh Srivastava wasremoved.

Chitrakoot's DistrictMagistrate Shubhransh Shuklahas been posted as the new dis-trict magistrate of Kannaujand Kunwar Anupam Singh asthe new district police chief,confirmed an official com-muniqué released on Sunday.

The station house officerof Talgram has been suspend-ed and Jitendra Pratap Singhposted in his place.

It may be recalled thatcommunal clashes took placein Kannauj district after someunidentified miscreantsallegedly threw pieces of meatin the compound of a villagetemple and desecrated idols attwo places, which led toprotests during which severalshops were set on fire, policesaid.

The police added that thegate of a graveyard was alsodamaged in the violence thatensued. According to police,the incident took place inRasoolabad village in Talgrampolice station limits.

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The flood situation in Assamimproved further as no

major river was flowing abovethe danger mark on Sunday,though a little over 90,000 peo-ple continued to be affected dueto the deluge, an official bulletinsaid

There was no report of anyfresh fatality, as the number ofpeople losing lives in this year'sflood and landslides in the stateremained at 195.

Altogether 90,875 people inBiswanath, Cachar, DimaHasao, Morigaon and Tamulpurdistricts were still reeling under

the impact of the deluge, thebulletin issued by the AssamState Disaster ManagementAuthority (ASDMA) said.

The affected population hascome down from 1,48,645 theprevious day.

Seven revenue circles and

99 villages were still impacted bythe flood, the ASDMA said.

Morigaon was the worst hitwith over 57,000 people underdistress, followed by Cachar(28,000). More than 6,000 peo-ple have been sheltered in 26relief camps, the report added.

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At least 104 people have diedin rain-related incidents in

Maharashtra since the onset ofmonsoon on June 1, the Statedisaster management authoritysaid in a report on Sunday.

The fatalities occurredbetween June 1 and July 16, andtwo of the deaths were record-ed in the last 24 hours - one eachin Jalgaon and Amravati dis-tricts, it said.

The deaths were caused byfloods, lightning strikes, land-slides, falling of trees and col-lapse of structures, among otherreasons, the report said.

As per the latest data, twovillages in the state were affect-ed by heavy rains and three peo-

ple have been reported missing.However, no one was evacuat-ed anywhere in the state due toflooding in the last 24 hours, thereport said.

Several parts of the state,including Mumbai and itsadjoining areas, have been wit-nessing moderate rainfall, itsaid. After heavy showersfor more than a week, rains haveabated in the state, including inMumbai.

It was a sunny day in thestate capital on Sunday.

The Colaba observatory insouth Mumbai recorded 12.8mm rainfall while the Santacruzobservatory in the western sub-urbs registered 23.3 mm show-ers in the last 24 hours, thereport said.

Ratnagiri district receivedan average 20.1 mm rainfall inthe last 24 hours, it said, addingthat the Parshuram Ghat on theMumbai-Goa highway was shutfor traffic.

Traffic on the Mumbai-Goa highway was earlier thismonth diverted following alandslide in the ParshuramGhat section near Chiplun.Besides, Gadchiroli district wit-nessed 20 mm average rainfallin the last 24 hours.

The Godavari and Indravatirivers in the state were flowingabove the danger mark, whilethree other rivers were flowingclose to the danger level, thereport said.According to thereport, as many as 10,600 peo-ple have been shifted to safer

locations in Gadchiroli districtso far. Teams from the National

Disaster Response Force and theState Disaster Response Force

have been deployed in the dis-trict, the report added.

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Chief Minister YogiAdityanath stressed on

conservation of water, main-tenance of its quality and bet-ter usage, saying that it wasessential for survival as well asprogress of the state.

Yogi Adityanath said thatpreserving water was the mostfocused area of his govern-ment. He said that in its effortto realise this objective, thegovernment not only ensuredthe completion and operationof several projects pending fordecades but also workedtowards saving every drop ofwater through constructionof farm ponds, multi-purposeponds on the banks of rivers,check-dams and more.

The chief minister saidthat due to the sustainedefforts of the government inthe span of the last five years,as many as 25 developmentblocks of the state had beenpulled out of the ‘dark zone’slot signifying depletinggroundwater levels they hadwitnessed and a remarkableimprovement in terms ofavailability of groundwater.

He said to improve thequality and presence ofgroundwater, the governmentnot only worked to ensure theeffective implementation ofAtal Bhujal and Catch theRain schemes but also simul-

taneously made elaboratearrangements for rain waterharvesting at various institu-tions, including state govern-ment buildings.

The chief minister wasexpressing his views whilef lagging off the 'DigitalGroundwater Rath' developedfor publicity of various publicawareness programmes underthe Atal Bhujal Yojana on theoccasion of GroundwaterWeek at his official residencehere on Sunday.

Earlier, the chief ministerstarted the programme bylighting the lamp and flaggedoff the Digital GroundwaterRath.

The Groundwater Week isbeing organised from July 16to 22.

The chief minister saidthat Prime Minister NarendraModi had started the 'Catchthe Rain' programme twoyears ago and under thisscheme, the GroundwaterWeek was being organised inthe state for creating publicawareness regarding ground-water conservation.

“This is a very importantweek for the country and thestate. Under this, digitalgroundwater raths will go to10 districts of the state andmake their contribution inmaking every citizen awareabout the safety of drinkingwater and groundwater,” hesaid.

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Tilka Manjhi, ThalakkalChanthu, Budhu Bhagat

would have remained unheardof to the old and new genera-tions of Indians alike but forthe efforts of two youngauthors by name Tuhin ASinha and Ambalika.

An effort has been madeby this duo to bring the livesand times of these tribal war-riors and commanders to thepublic domain, hopefully forthe first time in the history ofmodern India. A 166 pagebook “The Great TribalWarriors of Bharat” encom-passing the life sketches of 17

proud sons and daughters ofIndia is the tribute by Sinhaand Ambalika to these hith-erto unsung souls on the occa-sion of the 75th anniversary ofIndian Independence.

Though history books inschools and universities inthe country are full of paeansto white-skinned GeorgeWashington, NapoleonBonaparte, Winston Churchill,the curriculum is silent aboutthe gallant and brave fightersin the sub-continent whostaged the country’s first warsof independence. The tribalswho were the inhabitants ofthe country’s dense junglesand worshipped nature were

the first ones who sae throughthe evil designs of the occu-piers to subjugate this greatnation. While the natives werestruggling to get into theadministrative and militaryservices of the Moghuls andthe Britishers, the tribal war-riors were the ones who chal-lenged the mighty Moghulsand the Europeans who suc-ceeded them.

The tribals who were theresidents of dense junglesspread across the length andbreadth of the sub-continentwere the first ones who stagedarmed struggles against theBritish East India Company.Their feats in these battles

fought with bows and arrowspowered by indigenous intel-ligence would put the 1857armed uprising labeled asSepoy Mutiny into pale. Itseems there were people inpost-independent India whowanted to black out the greatsacrifices made by these trib-al warriors in their efforts todrive out the white masters.There is no justification in nottelling the new generationabout the unparallel achieve-ments made by these tribalwarriors,” says Prof P GHaridas, eminent historian,Mahatma Gandhi University,Kerala.

Tilka Manjhi (1750-1785),

the chief of the Santhal tribewas known as the Robinhoodof Jungle Terry (modern dayBhagalpur). Story of Tilka’sfight against the white oppres-sors who were exploiting thetribals to the hilt should be aneye-opener to the Indian pub-lic. All he stood for was free-dom, dignity, and equality. Itwas the denial of these rightsthat made him took the tradi-tional hunting weapons toteach the uninvited andexploiting guests a lesson.Thalakkal Chanthu, the tigerfrom Wayanad’d Kurichiyatribals, is a name that electri-fy the local residents eventoday. Though he lived up to

only 25, Chanthu left behinda series of victories against theBritish East India Company injungle warfare. He was thecommander of EdachenaKunkan,, the commander inchief of Kerala Varma PazhassiRaja and made the supremesacrifice to save his boss as wellas the King from the maraud-ing army and preying eyes oftheir spies.

In days of yore, junglewarfare was not the preroga-tive of the male. If the numberof women warriors featured inthe book is any indication, ourtribal ladies were no way infe-rior to men in fighting quali-ties. Helen Lepcha (1902-

1980), Rani Gaidinliu (1915-1993), Dashriben Chaudhury(1918-2013) PutalimayaDevi(1920- 1984) are thenames which would reverber-ate across campuses in India indays to come. As the saying

goes, better late than never.According to Kiren Rijiju,

the union minister for law andjustice who penned the fore-word, the volume marks theevolution of the Adivasi con-tribution to the country.

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In another targeted attack onthe security forces, an

Assistant Sub Inspector ofCentral Reserve Police Force(CRPF) was martyred in theSouth Kashmir district ofPulwama on Sunday.

The martyred CRPF officerhas been identified as VinodKumar, a resident ofFarukkabad area of UttarPradesh.

According to a tweet ofKashmir Zone police, " terror-ists fired upon Naka party atGangoo Crossing, Pulwamafrom nearby Apple orchard. Inthis terror incident 01 CRPFpersonnel ASI Vinod Kumar

got seriously injured. He wasshifted to hospital for treatmentwhere he attained martyrdom".Soon after the attack took placethe entire area was cordonedoff and searches were launchedin the nearby orchards to trackdown the foot prints of the ter-rorists.

This is the second majorstrike on a senior cop in the lastsix days in the Kashmir valley.

Earlier, an ASI of Jammuand Kashmir police attainedmartyrdom on July 12 in theLal Bazaar area of Srinagarwhile two other jawansreceived injuries.

The attack took place a dayafter the EID festivities werestill going on in the Kashmir

valley. Since January 1, 2022

around two dozen securitypersonnel which included 12JKP personnel have been killedin various operations, inci-dents of terrorist violence in theKashmir valley. Out of thesetwo dozen security personnel11 belonged to other centralpara military forces ,jawans ofthe Indian army.

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The IkkJutt Jammu Party(IJP) on Sunday launched

a movement across Jammuprovince for 'Separate JammuState'. A large number of partysupporters led by its presidentAnkur Sharma held a massivedemonstration in Jammu whilesimilar marches were takenout at other places in theprovince in support of theirdemand seeking separation ofJammu province fromKashmir.

Addressing the party work-ers outside Press Club Jammu,IJP President Advocate AnkurSharma said the only rational,national and constitutionalsolution to the 75-year-oldJammu’s political problem isFull State status for the

province.He said the historic

reforms of August 5, 2019 havemiserably failed to producethe desired results and thepeople of Jammu continue tosuffer.

Leading the protest march,Ankur Sharma repeatedly said,"IJP only wants Statehood forJammu. “Statehood for Jammuis our motto, our battle-cry, ourwatchword, the gospel ofJammu’s political redemption".

“Separate Jammu state isthe only panacea available tomeet the national requirement,empower the people of theprovince to manage their ownaffairs themselves, defeat theenemies working day and nightto change Jammu’s demogra-phy and create Kashmir-likesituation in this strategicregion,” asserted the IJP presi-

dent. “The people of Jammuprovince will rise in revoltsooner than later if the powers-

that-be in New Delhi contin-ued to treat Jammu asKashmir’s colony in its des-

perate bid to appease, pleaseand pamper the 'Jihadists' inKashmir,” he warned.

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Five MLAs of Uttar PradeshAssembly will cast their

vote outside Lucknow onMonday in the presidentialelection.

Out of these five MLAs ofUP who will vote outside thestate, four will cast their votesin Delhi and one in Kerala statecapital Thiruvananthapuram.

The five MLAs are MukeshChoudhary of Bharatiya JanataParty from Nakur inSaharanpur district, ZiaurRahman of Samajwadi Partyfrom Kundarki in Moradabaddistrict, Pradeep Kumar Singhof Rashtriya Lok Dal fromSadabad in Hathras,Brijbhushan Rajput of BJPfrom Charkhari in Mahobaand Neel Ratan Patel of BJP

from Sevapuri in Varanasi.With the highest vote value

of 208 for each of the total 403MLAs, Uttar Pradesh will be animportant state to watch out forin Monday’s presidential elec-tion in which NationalDemocratic Alliance candi-date Droupadi Murmu willtake on joint opposition can-didate Yashwant Sinha.

Brij Bhushan Dubey, thereturning officer for the pres-idential election in UttarPradesh, said five MLAs of thestate would cast their votes out-side the state due to personalreasons.

Elaborating on the instruc-tions issued for the poll, he said,“All MLAs have been informedabout the precautions theyhave to take. The MLAs willhave to use a special pen to be

provided by the ElectionCommission of India to votefor the candidate of theirchoice.”

“Voting will take placethrough ballot paper at TilakHall of Vidhan Bhawan from 10am to 5 pm,” Dubey said, andadded that three polling boothshad been set up for two ballotboxes which had come fromDelhi and would be sent back tothe national capital after votingwas completed on July 18 itself.Counting of votes will be takenup in Delhi on July 21.

According to the ElectionCommission of India, thevalue of vote of an MP thistime is 700. The value of voteof each MLA varies in differ-ent states. In Uttar Pradesh,the value of vote of each MLAstands at 208.

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With Samajwadi Party fac-ing anger from party

MLAs over the statement ofYashwant Sinha callingMulayam Singh Yadav an “ISIagent, party chief AkhileshYadav resorted to dinner diplo-macy on the eve of the pollingfor the Presidential election.

Mohammed Tahir, SPMLA from Isauli-Sultanpur,hosted the dinner and all 111MLAs of the party were direct-ed to attend the dinner.

Yashwant Sinha is theopposition candidate in thepresidential election. The din-ner is an attempt to win overthe SP MLAs not happy withthe party’s decision to supportthe joint opposition candidate

Yashwant Sinha.SP MLAs, particularly

Muslim MLAs are unhappywith Yashwant Sinha for hisstatement calling SP founderMulayam Singh Yadav “an ISIagent”’. SP ally SuheldevBhartiya Samajwadi Party(SBSP) has already brokenranks with the opposition andits chief Om Prakash Rajbhar

has announced to vote forNational Democratic Alliancecandidate Droupadi Murmu.

Shivpal Yadav, SP MLAand uncle of Akhilesh Yadav,has also announced to supportDroupadi Murmu. OnSaturday, he had shot off a let-ter to Akhilesh Yadav, askinghim to reconsider SP’s supportto Yashwant Sinha as the oppo-sition presidential candidatehad called Mulayam SinghYadav an ISI agent.

The statement of YashwantSinha about Mulayam SinghYadav threatened to snowballinto a major controversy on theeve of the polling for the pres-idential elections, thus forcingthe SP chief to resort to dinnerdiplomacy to pacify his partyMLAs.

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Former member ofLegislative Council,

Mahmood Ali, was arrestedfrom Mumbai by Saharanpurpolice, officials said on Sunday.

According to the police,Mahmood Ali was arrested inMumbai late on Saturday night.He is the brother of formerMLC Haji Iqbal, allegedly amember of a mining mafia.

A senior police official saidthat Mahmood was presentedin a court in Mumbai, andefforts were on to bring him toSaharanpur on remand.

Senior Superintendent ofPolice Vipin Tada said that twodays ago the police hadannounced a reward of Rs25,000 each on Haji Iqbal andhis brother Mahmood Ali, whowere wanted in different cases.

He added that efforts wereon to search out Haji Iqbal.Three sons of Haji Iqbal havealready been arrested in dif-ferent cases.The SSP also saidthat cases were registeredagainst Haji Iqbal, his brotherand family members in differ-ent FIRs and efforts were on toarrest them.

Both the brothers havebeen BSP MLCs. Haji Iqbal wasan MLC from 2010 to 2016,while Mahmood Ali was anMLC from 2016 to 2022.

It may be mentioned thatmining mafia Haji Iqbal hadbecome close to the then ChiefMinister and BSP supremoMayawati due to his immensewealth. Haji Iqbal became MLCin 2010 on a BSP ticket onmoney power to make astronghold in the ministry andsecretariat.

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�� Sir — As the medium of mass communi-cation, radio is always fascinating and hasits hold on people even in the face of stiffcompetition from other mass communica-tion channels, such as television. Thoughradio is largely a commercial broadcastingservice across the country, communityradios still hold their forte in rural India.

The importance of community radiohas been predominantly felt during theCovid-19 pandemic. Radio networks playeda crucial role in disseminating credible infor-mation about the deadly virus. (“Roping inradio to enhance immunity”, July 15).

In fact, for millions of rural India radiois the only window to the outside world, andnaturally, community radio stations haveemerged as a vital channel, especially dur-ing the last two years when the country wentinto frequent lockdowns. Reportedly, untilthe end of 2021, India had little over 300community radio stations, which is a sig-nificant increase compared to previous years,and reflected a rising trend that had devel-oped over the past decade. These commu-nity radios are well managed, controlled, andowned by the communities they serve. Forthose who may not know, when Kerala gotIndia’s first Covid-19 case, communityradios were first pressed into action acrossrural areas in the State to broadcast infor-mation about the pandemic for more thanseven hours a day.

Ranganathan Sivakumar | Chennai

�� Sir — Virat Kohli's form is being debatedheavily. Virat, who missed the first ODI dueto muscle soreness, was unable to perform.Everything about Virat is under the scan-ner. After all, he is Virat.

It has been decided to withdraw himfrom the West Indies tour to give him rest.The question has been raised as to why for-mer Indian captain Kapil Dev does notremove Virat from the team. Captain RohitSharma is seen strongly supporting ViratKohli. England's T20 captain Jos Buttler alsosaid that Virat Kohli needs big innings. How

fair is it to question the career of a playerlike Virat because of his low runs in a fewmatches? Sportsmen are always sufferingfrom physical problems. Sportsmen are alsoindividual and can have mental problemstoo. Even the best player like Virat faces crit-ics. Virat Kohli has a long way to go.

Dattaprasad Shirodkar | Mumbai

�� Sir — Sir, The ‘deep field’ virgin imagesfrom NASA’s James Webb space telescope,described as ‘a window on the unknown’were stunningly and indescribably beau-tiful. The pictures of SMACS 0723 galaxycluster, WASP-96 b planet, the SouthernRing Nebula, Stephan’s Quintet and theCarina Nebula were tremendously excit-ing to behold; these ‘cosmic beauty shots’gave us a sense of the incomprehensiblevastness of space and time.

Seeing the infrared images of hither-to invisible places in the cosmic backyardis a unique and wonderful experience. TheWebb telescope is state-of-the-art; it is so

sophisticated that it can peer through cos-mic dust and clouds and detect the feebleglimmer of some of the oldest and mostdistant stars. Space exploration, as isbeing done by the Webb space observato-ry, is evidence that scientists continue topush the boundaries of human knowledge.

Science has now put us in a positionto look back to the dawn of time, probethe deep structure of the universe andpeek inside the atmospheres of exoplan-ets to detect signs of life or conditions ripefor life. We eagerly await more picturesand findings; we are excited at theprospect of more new discoveries.Reaching out for an infinite universe isgood for life on earth; it reshapes ourunderstanding of the universe, its origins,evolution and composition. It is wondrousthat the human brain is unravelling themysteries of the universe.

G. David Milton | Tamil Nadu

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in the short term, it hardlybodes well for the society atlarge. Unfortunately, this into-lerance is not just reflected inthe conflict between those ofdiffering faiths, but alsobetween extremists and libe-rals within their religions aswell, with extremists invariablywinning out.

The prevailing socialmilieu is such that even theaverage citizen, even if hebelongs to the majority com-munity, prefers to keep his orher head down, mouth shutand nose clean to avoid anyconfrontation with thoseespousing differing ideologicalleanings as they are unsure ofthe repercussions. They arefully aware that the wheels ofjustice grind at a snail’s pacehere and that the judiciary can-not be fully trusted as manywithin it, even at the highestlevels, are perceived as havingbeen compromised. The Policetoo are no better, seemingly interminal decline having dege-nerated into local militias andhandmaidens owing fidelity topoliticians in power.

The issue has been furthercomplicated by the accusa-tions, true or not, thatGovernments both at theCentre and in some of theStates are complicit in this vio-lence. A problem that will getaccentuated in the comingyears as youth, with basic

weapons and a modicum oftactical training, find them-selves jobless thanks to thatnonsensical initiative formu-lated by the Modi Govern-ment, the Agnipath Scheme,and are drawn towards radicalgroups. The United States is aliving example of this as can beseen from the fact that whitesupremacist paramilitaries, likethe Proud Boys and the OathKeepers, are filled with militaryveterans.

Moreover, in the face ofmajoritarian bulldozing, inthe literal sense, that we havewitnessed in the past fewyears, and the psycho-socialstresses that it has createdwithin minority communi-ties, there will be thoseamong them who will sufferan amygdala hijack, whereinemotions involving either aflight or fight response willtake over.

Undoubtedly, in mostcases, the response will be torun, but there will be those,who may be just a fraction ofthe community, who willfight. Given our demograph-ics, even that fraction will bean extremely large number.We would do well to remem-ber that despite a populationof around two million, theUnion Government has notbeen able to resolve the Nagaproblem through force in thepast seventy-five years.

The results are alreadythere for all to see. Sectarianviolence can hardly be theway forward and will adverse-ly impact internal cohesionand development. Once weenter the downward spiral, itwill assume a life of its ownand cannot be controlled.Pakistan is an example of thisas, despite their best efforts,neither politicians nor reli-gious leaders nor the militaryhas complete control overradical groups that terrorizecitizens. This is not the pathwe wish to tread, thoughthings continue the way theyare, we may well be giftingourselves a civil war.

Why then are our politi-cians, across the board, soengrossed with religion? ThePandemic and the UkrainianWar have left many of us indire straits, unable to makeends meet. Isn’t that whereour focus should be? Doesour middle- class have thespine to step forward, as onlytheir intervention will bringabout change, or are we des-tined to follow in the foot-steps of our neighbors?

(The writer is a militaryveteran and Visiting Fellowwith the Observer ResearchFoundation and a SeniorVisiting Fellow with thePeninsula Foundation,Chennai. Views expressed arepersonal)

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It just took a couple of rathercoarse and maladroitremarks by the BJP’s nation-al spokesperson, Nupur

Sharma, on a mainstream televi-sion channel to jeopardize Mr.Modi’s carefully crafted foreignpolicy towards the Middle Eastand other Muslim majoritystates. Whether they were madein the heat of the moment orpremediated and aimed to pro-voke, we will never know.Whatever the case, despite theparty high command’s subse-quent action of having thrownthem under the bus, the govern-ment continues to find itselfamid a self- created maelstromthat just refuses to die down.

Initially, its silence on thematter was perceived as condo-nation and acted as a catalyst forglobal outrage that was furtheraggravated, by the MEA’s ratherill-conceived attempt to pass it offas the handiwork of "fringe ele-ments". Some deft footwork andeating of humble pie allowed theModi Government a modicum ofcontrol to contain the adverseinternational fallout, but, asthings stand domestically, thesituation seems to have taken aturn for the worse.

In uncharacteristic plainspeak, a two-judge bench of theHon’ble Supreme Court, thatruled on a plea by Nupur Sharmafor FIRs against her to be conso-lidated, observed that her "loosetongue has set the entire countryon fire and that she is single-handedly responsible for what ishappening in the country". Theseobservations were made regard-ing the retaliatory attacks at thehands of Muslim radical ele-ments, resulting in gruesomeand premeditated murders, of twoindividuals who wrote in supportof Nupur Sharma on socialmedia. These observations, madedespite Nupur Sharma and herfamily facing death threats fromradicals, have been seen by someas going well beyond the remit ofthe Hon’ble Bench.

Whatever one’s view on theissue, it is undeniable thatincreasing religious intoleranceand polarisation are setting thestreets on fire leading to violentcommunal clashes. While thismay be of help politically to some

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Here's an interesting fact.Only 14 per cent ofpeople in England and

Wales are 'Black, Asian, Mixedor Other' (i.e. non-white). Yethalf the candidates vying to takethe place of disgraced Britishprime minister Boris Johnsonas leader of the ConservativeParty-and therefore the newprime minister-are non-white.Four out of eight.

In case you're worried, thisarticle is not about the internalstruggle in Britain's Conser-vative Party. Not only do I notknow who will win the race; Ican't bring myself to care muchabout it either. The Conser-vatives are probably politicaltoast in 2024 no matter whomthey choose.

Only eight candidates wereleft by Tuesday evening, asthree of the other hopefuls

failed to win the support ofenough Conservative mem-bers of parliament (MPs) tomake the first cut. But all threewho fell by the wayside werealso technically 'visible minori-ties': Sajid Javid, Rehman Chisti,and Priti Patel.

The eight who remainedwere: Kemi Badenoch(Nigerian descent, born inEngland), Suella Braverman(Indian descent, born inEngland), Jeremy Hunt (Englishdescent, born in England);Penny Mordaunt (ditto); RishiSunak (Indian descent, born inEngland); Liz Truss (Englishdescent, born in England), TomTugendhat (ditto), and NadhimZahawi (Kurdish descent, bornin Iraq).

Most of the candidates areprobably non-believers, buteven in Britain there's still a

minor political price to be paidfor saying so publicly. So threeare at least nominallyProtestant, two are Catholic,two are Hindu and one isMuslim. And half of them arefemale. Hurrah for diversity, butwhat does this tell us about a)the United Kingdom, b) theWest), and c) the world?

It says less about diversityin British politics than it seemsto, for in fact the 65 Membersof Parliament who are 'non-white' are exactly 10 per cent ofMPs, whereas 14 per cent of thegeneral population are. But theproportion has been risingsince at every general electionsince 1988, and will probablysoon accurately reflect the eth-nic makeup of the population.

But fully HALF the con-tenders for next British primeminister are 'non-white? Really?

How does one explain that,especially when theConservative Party, despite hav-ing more than half the seats inparliament, has only one-thirdof the 'non-white' MPs?

It's probably down to theold story of recent immigrantsworking extra hard not just tofit in but to rise, since the hos-tility of some of the native-bornmakes them feel insecure. Andthose who do manage to rise,like most people who are finan-cially and professionally suc-cessful in any society, tend tobelieve that their success ismainly due to their own efforts.

That's a belief that will nat-urally draw them towards con-servative political parties, andto strive harder to rise withinthem, so no mystery here, andno miracle either.

What is remarkable is that

the white British majority,which was still clearly racist justa generation ago, is now quitecontent with a slate of primeministerial candidates of whomhalf are non-white. None ofthem are token candidates,either, and the likeliest winneris Rishi Sunak. And nobodyeven notices that half of themare women.

Is this transformationoccurring in the rest of the'West' too? Yes, but at differentspeeds.

Australia, Canada and NewZealand all run around one-quarter 'visible minorities' (24per cent, 25 per cent and 30 percent, respectively), but onlyNew Zealand has a similarproportion of MPs. Canadastalls out at 15 per cent visibleminorities in Parliament, andAustralia crashes with only 7

per cent. They do better withwomen MPs: 30 per cent inCanada, 39 per cent inAustralia, 49 per cent in NewZealand.

Germany is about the sameas Britain: 14 per cent visibleminorities in the country, butonly 11 per cent of the seats inthe Bundestag. France is muchworse: only nine members outof 577 deputies in the NationalAssembly are 'non-whites',although 15 per cent of the pop-ulation are. They're not doingwell with women in parliamenteither: only 25 per cent inGermany and 27 per cent inFrance.

So far the United States isthe only 'Western' country tohave had a non-white head ofgovernment (Barack Obama),although Britain may soonhave one too. In other respects,

however, the US lags: only 23per cent non-whites inCongress, although they arealmost 40 per cent of the pop-ulation-and only 27 per cent ofthe members of Congress arewomen.

And the show stops there.Apart from Western Europeand its daughter countries over-seas, hardly anybody is runningthis kind of experiment withcreating genuinely multi-cultur-al democracies driven by large-scale voluntary migration.

We can already concludethat these emerging societiesare a great deal less turbulentand unequal than the pes-simists feared (with the possi-ble exception of the UnitedStates). It remains to be seenwhat advantages they mightconfer in the long run, but sofar, so good.

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The author's new book is TheShortest History of War

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/ �%��40�5�0/3 Life forms on Earth have muchdiversity, ranging from bacteria toplants and animals. No life formcan survive on Earth without the

direct or indirect support of other organ-isms. Each of these species and organismsworks together in an ecosystem to main-tain balance and sustain life. Biodiversitythus includes not only the variety of dif-ferent species but also the variationswithin and among them and betweenecosystems such as different habitats andecological processes.

Biodiversity provides humans with avariety of essential resources and ecosys-tem services, including food production,pollination of plants, air and water purifi-cation and climate stabilization. It can alsobe instrumental in achieving sustainabledevelopment goals (zero hunger, improve-ment of land and soil quality), halting landdegradation, building food security, pre-venting future pandemics and providingjobs in agriculture, fisheries, forestry, etc.

However, the world is currently expe-riencing an unprecedented biodiversityloss. Over one million species are at a riskof extinction and we are in the midst of asixth mass die-off ?— the largest since theextinction of dinosaurs. The most notabledrivers behind this crisis are habitat loss,overexploitation, invasive species, fragmen-tation, pollution and climate change.Recent climate changes such as rising tem-peratures, changing precipitation patternsand more extreme weather events have dis-rupted species' tolerance limits and nutri-ent cycling processes.

It is possible that these changes maycreate opportunities for invasive specieswhich could further add to the stress onspecies already struggling to adapt tochanging environmental conditions.Fragmented ecosystem is often less resilientthan a contiguous one, because areascleared for farms and roads provide path-ways for invasion of non-native species,which further contribute to the decline ofnative species. The genetic loss also threat-ens species' survival over time, mainlybecause the number of mates becomesscarce and the chances of inbreeding riskrises. So, the best way to conserve biodi-versity is to save habitats and ecosystems,because no organism can exist in isolation.Hence, a diverse pool of data from all pos-sible domains that are directly or indirect-ly related to biodiversity is required formonitoring and assessing these multiplepressures on species and formulating con-servation strategies.

Although, it requires a more coordi-nated, coherent and strategic approach byall stakeholders such as scientists, biolo-gists, ecologists, government, private sec-tor, forest sector, civil society and individ-uals. Historically, bio-geographical surveysfor conservation usually involved manyhours of field work performed by profes-sional researchers, rangers, which certain-ly could not scale up to meet today's con-

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The author is formerPrincipal Chief

Conservator of Forests,Uttar Pradesh

servation goals.Surveillance, especially in trop-

ical and inaccessible terrains, is alsochallenging and complex. It wasimplausible to predict the globalconsequences of human activitiesfrom these locally collected data.However, recent technologicaladvances have facilitated biodiver-sity conservation on many fronts,notably for collecting field data andanalyzing large datasets, which isexpanding human understandingof ecosystems. The increased avail-ability of satellite imagery forinstance has revolutionized datacollection for ecological surveyand monitoring. Similarly, applica-tion of Artificial Intelligence (AI)can also change the dynamics of thefield in favour of threatened species.Varieties of algorithms can bedeveloped to harness AI for surveil-lance, capturing picture, security,animal counting, poaching man-agement, research, etc.

Today, satellites are being usedworldwide to collect data of tem-perature, location, moisture, etc.These environmental informationalong with geo-location data areessential for understanding thescope of threat to a given species.

Habitat maps or land cover dataare usually the most commonlyderived product from satelliteimagery which can be used todetermine species' presence andabsence with vegetation types andhabitat components.

Even regions that are experi-encing rapid change, such as trop-ical environments, can be closelysurveyed through these means.Remote sensing enables faster andmore frequent analysis of terrestri-al and aquatic landscapes, includ-ing chemical and geological para-meters and biological processes,

which are crucial for taking time-ly action. It can also help conser-vation biologists in assessing bio-diversity hotspots, maintaininghealthy habitats and protectingthe life they harbor by detectingfailing food webs and excessivehuman interference.

By conventional means, thiskind of surveillance was unfeasible,exhaustive and the territories need-ed to be monitored by the rangerswere humongous when comparedwith the number of rangers.Fortunately, there are a variety ofwildlife tracking systems now thatallow us to identify protection pri-ority areas and track animals'movements, assess critically endan-gered species and protect themfrom natural calamities and illicitactivities. Data gathered from thesetracking systems generates massivehigh-resolution datasets that reflectthe ecological context in which ani-mals perceive, interact with andrespond to their surroundings.

The AI-enabled robots ordrones image datasets are becom-ing increasingly useful for identi-fying species, determining ani-mals' social groups, population,location, migration patterns, theirdaily activities, habitat, repeatedbehaviors – reproduction patterns,foraging routes, hunting habits, etc.Researchers are using floatingrobots equipped with image clas-sification algorithms to locate anderadicate invasive species of marinealgae before they become well-established. Also, drones can alsobe used to select ideal seeding sitesby assessing site conditions like soiltypes, gradients and competingvegetation.

AI-powered acoustic sensorsare helping conservationists inunderstanding the underwater

ecosystem health by observingspecies behavior and their presencein a specific region or islandthrough their sounds. Acousticsensors can also be used to detectchainsaws, vehicles and gunshotssounds and alert authorities in realtime about illegal poaching, min-ing or logging. Similarly, cameratraps are facilitating conservation-ists to non-invasively monitor andtrack both vulnerable species andhuman presence in largely inacces-sible areas and quickly spot anom-alies or warning signs. Using envi-ronmental DNA, conservationistsare quickly and easily collectingtraces of animal DNA by scanningwater and soil samples which canreveal the presence of unobservedspecies and make the case forgreater protection of an area.

These conservation technolo-gies are rapidly expanding scientif-ic frontiers, improving conservationopportunities and assisting scien-tists, ecologists, foresters, policy-makers and others in better under-standing the complex natural envi-ronment at national, regional andspecies level. However, humantechnology cannot fully replacenature's technology, which hasevolved over millions of years toprovide essential services to sustainlife on Earth. It is challenging toconserve the biosphere with stan-dard economic practices that ignoresustainability issues in relation toresources or excessive stress on theenvironment. The success of ourcivilization has been largely depen-dent on a diverse, productive nat-ural world and a stable climate.Thus, more sustainable productionand consumption practices along-with national and sector policies arerequired to address climate and bio-diversity change together.

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Russian missiles hit industrialfacilities at a strategic city insouthern Ukraine on Sunday as

a funeral was held for a four-year-oldgirl killed in an earlier deadly strikeelsewhere in the country.

Liza, who had Down syndrome,was en route to see a speech therapistwith her mother when a Russian mis-sile struck the city of Vinnytsia in cen-tral Ukraine on Thursday.

At least 24 people were killed,including Liza and two boys aged 7and 8. More than 200 others werewounded, including Liza's mother,who remains in an intensive care unitin grave condition.

"I didn't know Liza, but no per-son can go through this with calm,"priest Vitalii Holoskevych said, burst-ing into tears as Liza's body lay in acoffin with flowers and teddy bears inthe 18th century TransfigurationCathedral in Vinnytsia.

'We know that evil cannot win,' hesaid, his voice trembling.

On Sunday, more Russian missilesstruck industrial facilities in thestrategic southern city of Mykolaiv, akey shipbuilding center in the estuaryof the Southern Bug river. There wasno immediate information aboutcasualties.

Mykolaiv has faced regularRussian missile strikes in recent weeksas the Russians have sought to softenUkrainian defences.

The Russian military has declareda goal to cut off Ukraine's entire BlackSea coast all the way to the Romanianborder.

If successful, such an effort would

deal a crushing blow to the Ukrainianeconomy and trade and allow Moscowto secure a land bridge to Moldova'sseparatist region of Transnistria,which hosts a Russian military base.

Early in the campaign, theUkrainian forces fended off Russianattempts to capture Mykolaiv, whichsits near the Black Sea Coast betweenRussia-occupied Crimea and the mainUkrainian port of Odesa.

Since then, the Russian troopshave halted their attempts to advancein the city but have continued to pum-mel both Mykolaiv and Odesa with

regular missile strikes.Russian Defence Ministry

spokesman Lt. Gen. IgorKonashenkov said on Sunday thatRussian missiles destroyed a depot foranti-ship Harpoon missiles deliveredto Ukraine by NATO allies, a claimthat couldn't be independently con-firmed.

The Russians also sought to rein-force their positions in the Khersonregion near Crimea and part of thenorthern Zaporizhzhia region thatthey seized in the opening stage of theconflict, fearing a Ukrainian coun-

teroffensive. The British DefenceMinistry said on Sunday that Russiais moving manpower and equipmentbetween Kherson, Mariupol andZaporizhzhia. It said the Russians alsoare increasing their security measuresaround Melitopol.

It added: "Given the pressures onRussian manpower, the reinforce-ment of the south whilst the fight forthe Donbas continues indicates theseriousness with which Russian com-manders view the threat."

For now, the Russian military hasfocused its efforts on trying to take

control of Ukraine's eastern industri-al heartland of Donbas, where themost capable and well-equippedUkrainian forces are located.

Ukraine says its forces still retaincontrol of two small villages in theLuhansk region, one of the twoprovinces that make up the Donbas,and are successfully fending offRussian attempts to advance deeperinto the second one, the Donetskregion.

The Ukrainian military's GeneralStaff said on Sunday that Ukrainiantroops thwarted Russian attempts toadvance toward Sloviansk, the keyUkrainian stronghold in Donetsk, andother attacks elsewhere in the region.

During a visit to the front lines onSaturday, Russian Defence MinisterSergei Shoigu issued an order "to fur-ther intensify the actions of units inall operational areas".

The Russian military said it hasstruck Ukrainian troops and artillerypositions in Donbas in the latestseries of strikes, including a US-sup-plied HIMARS multiple rocketlauncher. The Russian claims could-n't be independently verified.

Dmitry Medvedev, the deputyhead of Russia's Security Councilchaired by President Vladimir Putin,responded to Ukrainian officials'statements that Kyiv may strike thebridge linking Crimea and Russia,warning that that would trigger dev-astating consequences for theUkrainian leadership."

"If that happens, the consequenceswill be obvious: They will momen-tarily face the Doomsday," Medvedevsaid on Sunday. "It would be very hardfor them to hide."

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An Antonov cargo planeoperated by a Ukrainian

airline crashed Saturday nearthe city of Kavala in northernGreece, authorities said. Localresidents reported seeing afireball and hearing explosionsfor two hours after the crash.

Greek Civil Aviationauthorities said the flight washeading from Serbia to Jordan.The An-12, a Soviet-built tur-boprop aircraft, was operatedby cargo carrier Meridian.

Greek media reportedthere were eight people on theplane and that it was carrying12 tons of "dangerous materi-als," mostly explosives. Butlocal officials said they had nospecific information on thecargo and provided varyingnumbers of people on board.

As a precaution because ofa strong smell emanating fromthe crash site, a coordinatingcommittee made up of munic-ipal, police and fire service offi-cials told inhabitants of the twolocalities closest to the crashsite to keep their windows shutall night, to not leave theirhomes and to wear masks.Authorities say they do notknow if there were dangerouschemicals on the plane, includ-ing those contained in batter-ies.

Greece's Civil Aviationauthority said the pilot man-aged to alert authorities abouta problem in one of the plane's

engines and he was given thechoice of landing in either theThessaloniki or Kavala air-ports, and he opted for Kavala,which was closer, saying that hehad to make an emergencylanding.

Communication with theplane ceased almost immedi-ately afterwards. The planecrashed about 40 kilometerswest of the airport.

"We were hearing explo-sions until a few minutes ago,"Filippos Anastassiadis, mayorof the municipality of Paggaio,told the Associated Press a lit-tle over an hour after the acci-dent. "I am about 300 metresfrom the site of the crash."

One of Anastassiadis'deputies told state broadcasterERT that explosions were heardfor two hours following thecrash.

Locals reported seeing afireball and a plume of smokebefore the crash.

ERT reported that armyand explosive experts were enroute to the site, located onfarmland close to two villagesthat are part of the Paggaiomunicipality. But they are notexpected to start workingbefore dawn. Experts fromGreece's Atomic EnergyCommission will join them.

The fire service has cor-doned off the area at a radiusof about 400 metres. The cor-doned-off area will be expand-ed at dawn, fire service officialssaid.

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Diplomatic tensions soared onSunday between Balkan rivals

Serbia and Croatia after Croatiarefused to allow a private visit bySerbia's populist president to the siteof a World War II concentration campwhere tens of thousands of Serbswere killed by pro-Nazi authorities inCroatia.

Croatia's authorities said theylearned about the planned visit to theJasenovac camp by Serbian PresidentAleksandar Vucic through "unofficialchannels".

Foreign Minister Gordan GrlicRadman told reporters that the factthat the Croatian government had notbeen formally notified of the visit was"unacceptable".

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairswould like to stress that in the plan-ning of any visit by foreign officials thetime, nature and programme of thevisit should be subject of official com-munication and agreement by bothsides," said Grlic Radman.

"This was not a trip to the seaside.The president of a country is a pro-tected individual."

Croatia's decision sparked outragein neighbouring Serbia, where officialsdescribed it as "scandalous".

Serbia's hardline Interior MinisterAleksandar Vulin said all Croatian offi-cials from now on would have toannounce any transit or visit to Serbia,and would be placed under "special

regime of control". He did not elaborate."This was an anti-European and

anti-civilisation decision and brutalviolation of the freedom of movement,"Serbian Prime Minister Ana Branabictold the pro-government Pink televi-sion. "I don't know what our relationswill look like in the future ... This issending a frightening message."

Relations between Serbia andCroatia have remained tense since thebreakup of the former Yugoslavia andthe 1991-95 war in Croatia that erupt-ed when its Serb minority, backed bySerbia, rebelled against Croatia's inde-pendence. More than 10,000 peoplewere killed in the war.

Although the two nations havepledged to work to resolve remainingproblems from the conflict - such asfinding those still missing - occasion-al diplomatic spats have marred thepostwar efforts.

Serbia's populist authorities haveinsisted that Croatia's governmenthas not done enough to acknowledgeits World War II past, while Zagrebaccuses Serbia of using the issue forinternal politics and refusing to dealwith own role in the 1990s' war.

"We see this as a provocation,"Grlic Radman said. He added "such avisit is not sincere, it is not about hon-ouring the victims" of the Jasenovaccamp, where tens of thousands ofCroatia's Serbs, Jews and Roma per-ished in brutal executions during theWWII rule of the pro-Nazi authorities.

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Family by family, house by house,French police rounded up

13,000 people on two terrifyingdays in July 1942, dispatchingthem to Nazi death camps simplybecause they were Jewish. Eightyyears later, France is honouring thevictims, and trying to keep theirmemory alive.

For the dwindling number ofsurvivors of France's wartimecrimes, commemoration cere-monies Sunday are especiallyimportant. At a time of risingantisemitism and far-right dis-course sugarcoating France's role inthe Holocaust, they worry that his-tory's lessons are being forgotten.

A week of ceremonies marking80 years since the Vel d'Hiv policeroundup on July 16-17, 1942, cul-minates Sunday with an event ledby President Emmanuel Macron.

The raids were among themost shameful acts undertaken byFrance during World War II, andamong the darkest moments in itshistory.

Over those two days, policeherded 13,152 people - including4,115 children - into the WinterVelodrome of Paris, known as theVel d'Hiv, before they were sent onto Nazi camps. It was the biggest

such roundup in western Europe.The children were separated fromtheir families; very few survived.

In public testimonies over thepast week, survivor Rachel Jedinakdescribed a middle-of-the-nightknock on the door, and beingmarched through the streets ofParis and herded into the velo-drome, in the shadow of the EiffelTower.

She recalled her desperatemother shouting at police. Someneighbours informed on Jews, oth-ers wept as they watched them cor-ralled like livestock.

Chantal Blaszka's aunts anduncle were among the childrenrounded up: 6-year-old Simon, 9-year-old Berthe, 15-year-oldSuzanne. Their names are now

engraved on a monument at a gar-den where the velodrome oncestood, along with some 4,000 otherchildren targeted in the raids.Photos of the children hang fromtree trunks, the result of years ofpainstaking research to identifyand honor the long-anonymousvictims. Of the children deportedfrom the Vel d'Hiv 80 years ago,only six survived.

"Can you imagine?" Blaszkaasked, pointing at the names andshaking her head. "Can you imag-ine?" Serge Klarsfeld, a renownedNazi hunter whose father wasdeported to Auschwitz, spokeSaturday in the garden, calling it an"earth-shaking testimony to thehorrors lived byJewish families."

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An off-duty police officer shot andkilled a man armed with a semi-

automatic handgun in the area of aSouthwest Washington entertain-ment district Saturday night, theMetropolitan Police Departmentsaid.

The encounter took place short-ly after 9 pm EDT in the area of TheWharf, a district of restaurants,shops and entertainment venuesalong the Potomac River.

At least one shot was fired by the

officer, who was with a second off-duty officer at the time, Police ChiefRobert J. Contee III said.

A person who may have beenwith the gunman was being treatedat a hospital for a graze wound,Contee said.

The officers had observed theman pointing a handgun while on apier just outside of a restaurant and"engaged" the man, Contee said in astatement to reporters. He said thesuspect was "a very brazen individ-ual" and that the investigation wascontinuing.

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Firefighters struggled on Sundayto contain wildfires raging out

of control in France and Spain asEurope wilts under an unusuallyextreme heat wave that authoritiesin Madrid link to a rise in excessmortality.

Two huge blazes that havebeen consuming pine forests for sixdays just south of the city ofBordeaux in southwest Francehave forced the evacuation ofsome 14,000 people, includingmany who were set to spend theirvacation at campsites.

In Spain, firefighters support-ed by the armed forces' emergencybrigades are trying to stamp outover 30 fires consuming forestsspread across the country.

Spain's National DefenceDepartment said that "the major-ity" of its fire-fighting aircrafthave been deployed. Many areasare rugged, hilly terrain that makesit difficult for ground crews toaccess.

Drought conditions in theIberian Peninsula have made itparticularly susceptible to wild-fires, some caused by lightning,others by accident, and even someintentionally set, after a mass of hotair was blown up from Africa lastweek.

So far, there have been no fire-related deaths in France or Spain.In Portugal, a pilot of a firefight-ing plane died when his aircraftcrashed on Friday.

But as temperatures remainunusually high, heat-related deathshave soared amid a heat wave thatthe EU considers the work of cli-mate change.

In Spain the second heat waveof the summer has kept highsabove 40 degrees Celsius in manyareas, hitting peaks of 43 degreesCelsius regularly.

According to Spain's Carlos IIIInstitute, which records tempera-ture-related fatalities daily, 360deaths were attributed to hightemperatures from July 10-15.That was compared with 27 tem-

perature-related deaths the previoussix days.

The death of a street cleaner afterhe suffered heat stroke while work-

ing has led to the town hall of Spain'scapital giving the option for its streetcleaners to work in the evenings toavoid the worst spells of the day.

In France, the fire in La Teste-de-Buch near the Atlantic coast hasforced 10,000 people to flee thearea popular for the Arcachonseaside resort.

The Gironde regional govern-ment said on Sunday that "the sit-uation remains unfavourable" dueto gusting winds that, combinedwith hot and dry conditions, havefanned more flare-ups overnight.That led to a protracted struggle toprotect campgrounds.

A second fire near the town ofLandiras, south of a valley ofBordeaux vineyards, has forcedauthorities to evacuate 4,100 peo-ple this week, including some1,900 on Saturday.

Authorities said that one flankhas been brought under control bythe dumping of white sand alonga two-kilometer (1.2-mile) stretch.Another flank, however, remainsunchecked.

Overall more than 10,300(25,400) hectares of land haveburned in the two fires.

Emergency officials warned

that high temperatures and windson Sunday and Monday wouldcomplicate efforts to stop the firesfrom spreading further.

"We have to stay very prudentand very humble, because the daywill be very hot. We have nofavourable weather window. Thesite is very, very hot and veryactive," regional fire official EricFlorensan said on Sunday on localradio France-Bleu.

Temperatures are forecast up to40 degrees Celsius in the area, withMonday expected to be the hottestday in a stretch of extreme Julyweather.

Some of the most worrisomeblazes in Spain are concentrated inthe western regions ofExtremadura and Castilla y León.

Interior Minister FernandoGrande-Marlaska announced ajoint command that will take overcoordinating the efforts to battlethe fires that are active in theadjoining regions.

Firefighters have been unableto stop the advance of a fire that

broke out near the city of Cáceresthat is threatening the MonfragüeNational Park and has kept 200people from returning to theirhomes.

Another fire in southern Spainnear the city of Malaga has forcedthe evacuation of a further 2,500people. There are more fires nearthe central city of Ávila, in north-west Galicia, among other areas.

Hungary, Croatia and theGreek island of Crete have alsofought wildfires this week, as haveMorocco and California.

The scorching temperatureshave reached as far north asBritain, where its weather agencyhas issued its first-ever "red warn-ing" of extreme heat for Mondayand Tuesday, when temperatures insouthern England may reach 40degrees Celsius for the first time.

That will still be relativelybearable compared with the 47degrees Celsius recorded inPortugal's northern town of Pinhaoon Wednesday, establishing a newnational record.

Russia strikes south Ukraine city, presses attacks in east

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The foreign ministers ofBulgaria and North

Macedonia met in Sofia onSunday to discuss the next stepsof North Macedonia's path to EUmembership talks, a day after theparliament in Skopje voted in sup-port of a French proposal thatshould lift Bulgari's veto of NorthMacedonia joining the bloc.

EU member Bulgaria haduntil recently held up any progressfor those accession talks, accus-ing North Macedonia's govern-ment of disrespecting sharedcultural, linguistic and historicties.

Both countries agreed on“extremely ambitious short-termand long-term measures, which inpractice aim to solve many of theopen issues”, Bulgarian ForeignMinister Teodora Genchovskatold reporters.

“Bulgaria is the country thatmost strongly supports theEuropean integration of theRepublic of North Macedonia andAlbania; hence we wish them suc-cess on the path they have longwanted to take. With joint effortsand with our support, they will

reach what the citizens of theRepublic of North Macedoniamost want to reach — member-ship in the EU,” Genchovska said.

Her counterpart, BujarOsmani, said his country is count-ing on Bulgaria's support andexpressed hope that bilateral tiesare entering a new phase.

“It is a historic opportunityfor us that after 17 years with thestatus of a candidate country formembership, the Republic ofNorth Macedonia gets the oppor-tunity to start negotiations withthe EU,” said Osmani.

North Macedonia will startaccession talks with EU on July19, its prime minister announcedon Saturday.

Bulgaria's National Assemblyalready has approved the Frenchproposal, but legislators set addi-tional conditions for agreeing toNorth Macedonia's EU mem-bership.

They included protection forBulgarians living in NorthMacedonia by including them inits constitution on an equal basisand no assumption that Bulgariawould recognise Macedonian asa separate language fromBulgarian.

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What started as a smallprotest by a handful ofindividuals demanding

basic necessities turned into atsunami that uprooted the once-powerful Rajapaksa family in whatwas Sri Lanka's 'Arab Spring'moment, but the road to recoveryfrom the country's worst econom-ic crisis in decades looks distant andpainful.

Sri Lanka is facing its worst eco-nomic crisis since independencefrom British rule in 1948, with asevere foreign exchange shortagehampering the import of essentialsincluding food, fuel and medicines.Its foreign debt is over USD 50 bil-lion with repayments this yearfalling to the tune of USD 7 billion.

As the crisis emerged in March,a handful of individuals gathered ina small group holding placards todemand basic necessities like milkpowder and a regular power supply.

Within days, Sri Lankans wereforced to wait in miles-long queuesto get fuel and cooking gas and suf-fered from multiple hours of poweroutages. Some 20 people even died

while waiting for their turn in theserpentine queues in scorchingheat.

Enough was enough for thepeople having waited each passingday for the government to respond,respond positively. But theRajapaksa government did not offerany solutions and there was no endto the people's suffering.

The government declared bank-ruptcy in mid-April by refusing tohonour its international debt. Thesituation created a thriving blackmarket where people paid to securea place in the queue and fuel wassold 4 times higher than the legalretail price.

With no end to their sufferings,people across Sri Lanka took to thestreets calling for resignations ofPresident Gotabaya Rajapaksa andhis elder brother Prime MinisterMahinda Rajapaksa. TheRajapaksas, a powerful dynasty thatruled Sri Lanka for nearly twodecades, has been blamed for thecountry's economic ruin.

It was the dawn of the 'ArabSpring' moment, a series of anti-government protests, uprisings, andarmed rebellions that spread across

much of the Arab world in the early2010s.

Unfazed by the power that theRajapaksa family wielded, the peo-ple gathered at the Galle Face Greenin the heart of Colombo, raising theslogan "GoGotaGama" in a peace-ful protest.

These protesters have been atthe forefront of the popular'Aragalaya' movement - named afterthe Sinhalese word for "struggle" -calling for the resignation ofPresident Gotabaya and his elderbrother Mahinda.

The slogan attracted students,

activists, youths and the peoplefrom all walks of life, who joined theprotest overcoming the deep ethnicand religious divide in the country.

Under mounting pressure,President Gotabaya first dropped hisolder brother Chamal and the eldestnephew Namal from the Cabinet in

mid-April.In May, Prime Minister

Mahinda also resigned after his sup-porters attacked anti-governmentprotesters, triggering violenceagainst the Rajapaksa family loyal-ists in many parts of the country.

Gotabaya tried to tackle the cri-sis for a few weeks along with thenewly-appointed Prime MinisterRanil Wickremesinghe before thePresident was forced to flee his offi-cial residence in the face of massivepublic protests in July.

"We are tired of the situation inthe country. They have no solution,"says Ananda Arunajith, a tuk-tukoperator. While he languished in thepetrol queue, his wife Sumali wait-ed in the cooking gas line.

Some mothers had to take theirtoddlers to the queues as they wait-ed overnight to hear the news ofstocks arriving.

Shehan Perera, an IT industrymiddle-level executive, says thejobs have come under threat due tothe fuel crisis.

"The employees now seem tolook for running businesses withminimum manpower resources.This has made us work a lot hard-

er to perform and show results," hesays while keeping his car in a longqueue in the city.

"Our generation has beenalmost rendered useless by this fuelcrisis. I take a rest break at night inthe fuel queue to get the limited fuelsupply for my scooty," says YohanPerera, a young hospitality industrytrainee.

He has waited in the queue forover hours many times, only to betold that the pumps had run drywhen he was within striking dis-tance of the pumping station.

"Who takes responsibility forthe deaths of nearly 20 people whohave died in the waiting queues?"asked Walter Peiris, a retired official.

He said his wife was sendingfood and water to the fuel queue ashe waited. The government hassaid the situation would get worsebefore it gets better.

"This is sheer incompetence.They just don't know how to man-age the economy," says ShamalJayaratne, a self-employed man.

He says he closes his motorcy-cle battery and tyre selling businessto join the queue at least three daysof the week.

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The candidates to become the next British primeminister burnished their right-wing credentials

on Sunday, as they looked to remain in the race tosucceed Boris Johnson.

Many of the five remaining hopefuls highlight-ed issues linked to Brexit and immigration as theyattempted to woo fellow Conservative lawmakersahead of a third round of voting on Monday, whenanother contender will drop out.

Even though the eventual winner will automat-ically become prime minister, the contenders mustappeal to a narrow constituency of party members,who tend to be whiter, older and more right-wingthan the general public. The candidates face a seriesof votes from lawmakers next week, who will nar-row down the field to two, before facing a runoffamong an estimated 180,000 Conservative Partymembers.

Writing in Britain's Sunday Telegraph newspa-per, the former Treasury chief Rishi Sunak, who isthe frontrunner among Conservative lawmakers,pledged to tear up European Union laws as Britainbeds down its position outside the bloc.

Appealing to the pro-Brexit party vote, Sunakwrote that he will have "scrapped or reformed all ofthe EU law, red tape and bureaucracy that is still onour statute book and slowing economic growth" bythe time of the next election if he becomes the nextprime minister.

Meanwhile, Trade Minister Penny Mordaunt,who became a surprise frontrunner and bookmak-er favorite last week, was forced to challenge accu-sations that she had pushed through a policy to endthe requirement for trans people to obtain a med-ical diagnosis of gender dysphoria before they couldlegally change gender when she was equalities min-ister in Theresa May's government.

She told the BBC's Sunday Morning pro-gramme that she had managed a consultation withhealth care professionals but no policy had beendeveloped while she was in the job.

Despite the demographics of the members, therace to succeed Johnson has been called the mostdiverse for a British prime minister. Sunak and KemiBadenoch, a former equalities minister, are both non-white, while three of the remaining five contendersare women. Badenoch, whose parents are fromNigeria, remains little known. But she has seen herstar rise after her public showing in a televisiondebate Friday, and led a poll of party members bythe ConservativeHome website on Sunday.

She would be the first Black prime minister and,at 42, the youngest in more than 250 years.

Despite her background, she has made immi-gration control a key pillar of her political pitch,pledging Sunday to "do whatever it takes to deal withthe small boats issue."

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Almost half of the voters for theUK's governing Conservative

Party believe Rishi Sunak will make agood Prime Minister, according to theresults of a new opinion poll onSunday.

'The Sunday Telegraph' reportsthat the JL Partners poll of more than4,400 people found that 48 per cent ofthose who backed the Tories in the2019 general election felt the BritishIndian former Chancellor would be agood Prime Minister.

This is also the first poll that putsForeign Secretary Liz Truss in secondplace, with 39 per cent backing her forPrime Minister and 33 per cent infavour of Trade Minister PennyMordaunt.

The survey comes as the race toelect Boris Johnson's successor as thenext Conservative Party leader isnarrowing down to these three maincontenders, with former equalitiesminister Kemi Badenoch andParl iament 's Foreign Affairs

Committee Chair Tom Tugendhat infourth and fifth place, respectively.

"Among those who have heard ofMordaunt, the overwhelming view isone of neutrality," James Johnson, co-founder of JL Partners and a formerDowning Street pollster, told thenewspaper.

"Sunak invites strong opinions.One-third of voters think he would begood in the top job, one third do not.But in an unpopular field whereevery other candidate is in net-nega-tive territory, this score draw makeshim the public's favourite. He is par-ticularly popular with the all-impor-tant 2019 Conservative voter, as theonly candidate to have half approve ofhim," he said.

Among all voters, the most pop-ular policy priority was to "turn theeconomy around", with addressing theNational Health Service (NHS) back-log and restoring trust and integrityin public life coming second and thirdrespectively.

Cutting taxes, which has emergedas a central focus of all the debates so

far, was the fourth priority, selected by38 per cent of voters overall and 40 percent of Conservative voters.

The JL Partners poll, which alsodelved into the characteristics votersare seeking from a new leader, foundthat 19 per cent of Conservative sup-porters and 24 per cent of voters over-all most wanted a leader who is"truthful".

The survey, carried out last week,puts the Opposition Labour Party 11points ahead of the Conservatives, on42 points to the Tories' 31.

"While the public chew over theeconomy, the NHS and public trust,Conservative MPs may have a muchsimpler question: who is the best can-didate to hold their seat? On this evi-dence, the answer is Mr Sunak,"added James Johnson.

An MRP model, which maps sur-vey results onto every seat in thecountry, found that, among all voters,Sunak had the highest net approvalscore in 76 per cent of the seats wonby the Tories in the last general elec-tion over two years ago, compared to

19 per cent in which Tugendhat cameout on top and five per cent in whichMordaunt had the best score.

Sunak, 42, has topped the first tworounds of voting among Tory MPs lastweek and the next few rounds of vot-ing in the coming week are set to nar-row down the field further, with onlytwo left in the race by Thursday.

While Sunak is a clear favouriteamong the Tory MPs, some pollingamong the Conservative Party mem-bers who will have the final say hashad Mordaunt in the lead.

However, a survey overnight forthe Conservative Home website of 850Tory members put Badenoch in thelead on 31 per cent, with Truss sec-ond on 20 per cent, Mordaunt thirdon 18 per cent, Sunak fourth on 17 percent and Tugendhat fifth on 10 percent.

Postal votes will be sent out toaround 160,000 Tory party memberswho are eligible to vote and they willdecide the eventual winner and newPrime Minister to be announced onSeptember 5.

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On restoring access to abor-tion, President Joe Biden

says his hands are tied withoutmore Democratic senators.Declaring a public health emer-gency on the matter has down-sides, his aides say. And as for gunviolence, Biden has been clearabout the limits of what he can doon his own.

"There's a Constitution,"Biden said from the South Lawnin late May. "I can't dictate thisstuff." Throughout this century,presidents have often pushedaggressively to extend the bound-aries of executive power. Bidentalks more about its limits.

When it comes to the thorni-est issues confronting his admin-istration, the instinct from Bidenand his White House is often tospeak about what he cannot do,citing constraints imposed bythe courts or insufficient supportin a Congress controlled by hisown party - though barely.

He injects a heavy dose of

reality in speaking to an increas-ingly restive Democratic base,which has demanded action onissues such as abortion and vot-ing rights before the theNovember elections. WhiteHouse officials and the president'sallies say that approach typifies aleader who has always promisedto be honest with Americans,including about how expansive

his powers really are.But Biden's realpolitik ten-

dencies are colliding with anactivist base agitating for a moreaggressive party leader - both intone and substance. Althoughcandidate Biden sold himself asthe person who best knew theways of Washington, he nonethe-less is hamstrung by the sameobstacles that have bedeviled his

predecessors."I think that if you hesitate

from important actions like thisjust because of a legal challenge,then you would do nothing," saidRep. Judy Chu, D-Calif., who hasbeen pressing for more adminis-trative actions on abortion."People all across the country areexpecting us - the leaders - to dosomething."

Biden's cautionary approachcould be to protect himself if theWhite House falls short - likeDemocrats did in negotiating aparty-line spending package cen-tered on the social safety net andclimate provisions. That sweep-ing effort had been steadilythwarted due to resistance fromtwo moderate Democrats, one ofthem West Virginia Sen. JoeManchin, who on Thursday scut-tled for the time being a scaled-back effort that focused on cli-mate and taxes.

That development promptedcalls from Democratic senatorsfor Biden to unilaterally declarea climate emergency. In a state-

ment Friday while in Jeddah,Saudi Arabia, Biden pledged totake "strong executive action tomeet this moment" on climate.But in recent weeks, that gapbetween "yes, we can" and "no, wecan't" has been most glaring onabortion.

Since the Supreme Courtlast month overturned the land-mark Roe v. Wade ruling from1973 with its constitutional pro-tections for abortion, the WhiteHouse has come under consid-erable pressure to try to maintainaccess to abortion in conservativestates that are set to outlaw theprocedure.

For instance, advocates haveimplored Biden to look intoestablishing abortion clinics onfederal lands. They have asked theadministration to help transportwomen seeking abortions to astate that offers the procedure.And Democratic lawmakers arepressing the White House todeclare a public health emer-gency.

Without rejecting the ideas

completely, White House aideshave expressed skepticism aboutsuch requests. And even as hesigned an executive order lastweek to begin addressing theissue, Biden had one clear, con-sistent message: that he could notdo this on his own, shiftingattention to the other end ofPennsylvania Avenue.

"The only way we can securea woman's right to choose and thebalance that existed is forCongress to restore the protec-tions of Roe v. Wade as federallaw," Biden said shortly after thecourt struck down Roe. "Noexecutive action from the presi-dent can do that."

Shortly after declaring thatthe filibuster - a Senate rule thatrequires 60 votes for most legis-lation to advance - should notapply for abortion and privacymeasures, Biden acknowledgedduring a meeting withDemocratic governors that hisnewfound position would notmake a difference, at least notright away.

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South Africa's veteran free-dom fighter and Deputy

Secretary General of theAfrican National Congress(ANC), Yasmin "Jessie" Duartepassed away on Sunday after along battle with cancer. She was68.

The ANC confirmed thatDuarte passed away in theearly hours of Sunday morning.

She was the longest servingmember of the ruling party'snational executive council(NEC), after first being elect-ed to the body in 1999 underthe leadership of then presidentThabo Mbeki.

Sharing its condolences,the ANC said Duarte had been"a tower of strength to theorganisation as well as a matri-arch and pillar of her family. "

"The passing of ComradeJessie is a great loss, not only tothe family but to the democ-ratic movement and the coun-try as a whole," ANC nationalspokesperson Pule Mabe saidin a statement.

"She dedicated her entirelife to the struggle for a united,non-racial, non-sexist, demo-cratic, prosperous, and justSouth Africa. A committedgender activist, she relentless-ly championed the emancipa-tion and empowerment ofwomen. Her life and workreflected a consistent commit-ment to advancing the rights ofthe poor and marginalised,"Mabe added.

A management accoun-tant by profession, Duartejoined the freedom struggle atan early age and was involvedin setting up women's struc-tures throughout South Africawhile the ANC remainedbanned in the country underthe white minority govern-ment. Duarte served as the per-sonal assistant to NelsonMandela, who was releasedafter 27 years of imprison-ment as a political prisoner tobecome South Africa's firstdemocratically elected presi-dent.Duarte's funeral byMuslim rites was scheduled forSunday afternoon.

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Atemple, shops and several hous-es of the Hindu community have

been vandalised in southwesternBangladesh by some unidentifiedpersons over a Facebook post alleged-ly belittling Islam, in the latest spateof violence targeting the religiousminority in the country, according tomedia reports on Sunday.

Police fired warning shots to dis-perse a mob that vandalised severalhomes and torched one of them inSahapara village in Narail district onFriday evening, bdnews24.Com, anonline newspaper quoted Haran

Chandra Paul, an inspector at thelocal police station, as saying.

The attackers also threw bricks ata temple in the village during theattack around 7:30pm, he said.

They also broke the furnitureinside the temple.

Several shops were also van-dalised, The Daily Star newspaperreported.

Haran said a young man postedsomething offensive on Facebook,triggering anger among Muslims.Police took his father to the police sta-tion after a search for the young man failed to trace him.

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An Indian woman's long-cher-ished dream of visiting her

ancestral home in Rawalpindimaterialised when Pakistan grant-ed 90-year-old Reena ChhibberVarma a visa and she arrived hereon Saturday via the Wagah-Attariborder, 75 years after leaving thecountry at the time of Partition.

Moist-eyed Varma, immedi-ately after her arrival in Pakistan,left for her hometown Rawalpindi,where she will visit her ancestraldwelling Prem Niwas, her school,and childhood friends.

In a video she uploaded onsocial media, Varma, who is fromPune, said her family was living onthe Devi College Road inRawalpindi when the Partition

took place."I studied at the Modern

School. My four siblings had alsogone to the same school. Mybrother and a sister also studiedat the Gorden College located nearthe Modern School," she recalled.

"My elder siblings had Muslimfriends who would come to ourhome as my father was a man ofprogressive ideas and had no

issue in meetings with boys andgirls. Before the Partition, therewas no such issue of Hindus andMuslims. This happened afterthe Partition," she said.

"Although the Partition ofIndia was wrong, now that it hashappened, both the countriesshould work together to ease visarestrictions for all of us," shesaid.

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Ahistory-making team ofZimbabwean high school stu-

dents that became world andEuropean moot court competitionchampions has been widely praised ina country where the education systemis beset by poor funding, lack of mate-rials and teachers' strikes.

The 11-member Zimbabweanteam of nine girls and two boys agedbetween 14 and 18 and drawn fromdifferent schools was crowned worldchampions last month after winningthe International High School MootCourt competition held online at theend of May.

A team from New York City camesecond in the competition where par-

ticipants used fictional cases to sim-ulate proceedings in the InternationalCriminal Court pre-trial chambers.

Zimbabwe now has also beencrowned champions of Europe afterbeating The Netherlands in the finalsof the European Moot Competition for

high school students on July 3. It wasZimbabwe's first time competing inboth prestigious events.

Organizers of the European com-petition were so impressed withZimbabwe's performance at theInternational High School Moot Courtcompetition that they invited theteam to be the first-ever Africancountry to enter their competition,said team captain Ruvimbo Simbi.

"It is surreal and extraordinary,"said Simbi after returning fromRomania, where the European com-petition was held. "When we were atthe European Moot Court, many peo-ple didn't even know Zimbabwe. Weput Zimbabwe on the map, letting theworld know of the amazing talentfound in this country," said Simbi.

Lanka's own 'Arab Spring' uproots Rajapaksa clan, but eco recovery still uncertain

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The income of farmers hasgrown in the range of 1.3-1.7

times in FY22 from the FY18levels on average while grainexports soared to over USD 50billion, says an SBI Researchreport.

For certain crops in somestates (like soyabean inMaharashtra and cotton inKarnataka) farmers' incomemore than doubled in FY22from FY18 levels, while in allother cases it rose in the rangeof 1.3-1.7 times.

The increase in the incomeof farmers engaged in cashcrops has been more prominent

compared to farmers growingnon-cash crops, SBI chief econ-omist Soumyakanti Ghosh saidin an elaborate report onSunday.

This also has led to anincrease in the share of agricul-ture in the GDP to 18.8 per centfrom 14.2 per cent, the reportsaid. This rise was also due to theshrinkage of the industrial andservices contribution to theeconomy due to the deadly sec-ond wave of the pandemic.

But the report is silent onthe massive fall in the prices ofspices like black pepper, car-damom, clove, and cinnamonamong others as also naturalrubber.

Also, the report, based onkey farming states likeMaharashtra, Rajasthan, MP,UP, Karnataka, and Gujaratamong others, notes thatallied/non-farm income showeda significant increase of 1.4-1.8times in the majority of states intandem with farm income dur-ing this period, substantiatingthe trend in the 77th NationalSample Survey that said sourceof farmers income has becomeincreasingly diverse apart fromcrops.

Significantly, this alsoensured that there have been noyawning gaps in incomeinequalities in the hinterlandduring this period.

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The share of inward remittances fromGulf nations dipped sharply during

2020-21 on account of the economic stresscreated by the COVID-19 pandemic, saidan RBI article.

On the other hand, advancedeconomies like the US, the UK andSingapore emerged as important sourcesfor the country for remittances, account-ing for 36 per cent of the total paymentsin 2020-21, the article said citing an RBIsurvey.

To analyse the factors contributing tothe resilience of remittances and to under-stand to what extent the pandemic haschanged the underlying dynamics of remit-tances flow, the Reserve Bank of India con-ducted the fifth round of the Survey onRemittances for the year 2020-21.

"...The share of remittances from theGCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) regionin India's inward remittances is estimatedto have declined from more than 50 percent in 2016-17 (last surveyed period) toabout 30 per cent in 2020-21," said the arti-cle prepared by the officials in theDepartment of Economic and PolicyResearch, RBI.

The central bank, however, said theviews expressed in the article are those ofthe authors and do not represent the viewsof the Reserve Bank of India.

Overall, notwithstanding headwinds ofCOVID-19, India's inward remittanceshave proven to be a resilient source of cur-rent account receipts, the article publishedin the RBI's July bulletin said.

The decline in remittances from theGulf countries during 2020-21 reflects aslower pace of migration and a larger pres-ence of Indian diaspora in informal sectorswhich was hit the most during the pan-demic period. As a result, the proportionof small size transactions in total remit-tances increased in 2020-21.

The US surpassed the UAE as the topsource country, accounting for 23 per centof total remittances in 2020-21.

This corroborates with the WorldBank report (2021) citing an economicrecovery in the US as one of the importantdrivers of India's remittances growth as itaccounts for almost 20 per cent of totalremittances, the article said.

The share of the traditional remittancerecipient states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu andKarnataka, which had strong dominancein the GCC region, has almost halved in2020-21, accounting for only 25 per centof total remittances since 2016-17, whileMaharashtra has emerged as the top recip-ient state surpassing Kerala.

"Apart from the host country dynam-ics, reducing wage differentials, changingoccupational patterns in these states withincreasing white collar migrant workers toGCC region and entry of low-wage semi-skilled workers from other states andAsian countries may have led to this com-positional shift," it said.

By contrast, migration from UttarPradesh, Bihar, Orissa and West Bengal tothe Gulf countries has increased in recentyears. According to the Ministry of ExternalAffairs data, more than 50 per cent of theapproved emigration clearances for theGCC region in 2020 were for these states.

With the dominance of low-wageunskilled labourers, however, their share inremittances has remained significantly

low while the share of Maharashtra andDelhi has increased significantly in 2020-21, it said.

The article also concludes that themajority of the remittances continue to berouted through private sector banks, fol-lowed by public sector banks although for-eign banks have witnessed a marginalincrease in remittances transactions, par-ticularly from Singapore.

It also noted that stressed income con-ditions are discernible from small sizetransactions gaining a share in total remit-tances during the pandemic period.

"Notwithstanding, India is the secondcheapest remittance receiving market in theG20 group after Mexico, the cost for cer-tain remittance corridors has been con-sistently higher than others," it said.

Policy measures need to be undertak-en that expand the scope of the MoneyTransfer Service Scheme (MTSS) in high-cost corridors, it said, and added that remit-tance service providers need to adapt to thechanging times by investing heavily in dig-ital technologies.

�� >��%

By front-loading rate hikes, the RBI cancement the credibility of its monetary pol-

icy intent and action when it fights supply-sidedriven inflation on one hand and also containsthe negative impact on growth, as per an arti-cle. The paper has been authored by three RBIanalysts, including Deputy Governor MichaelDebabrata Patra who is a member of the ratingsetting panel Monetary Policy Committee(MPC) and also heads the key monetary poli-cy department at the central bank.

The article has been published in themonthly RBI bulletin for July but does not offi-cially represent the views of the monetaryauthority. Underlining that the current inflationpain is global and supply-side driven and canbetter tackled by fiscal measures and not mon-etary policy actions like rate hikes, the articlenotes that the ongoing supply shocks are larg-er and unrelenting, carrying the risk of "unan-choring inflation expectations".

They are also accompanied by a rebound inpandemic related revenge spending, leading toa gradual closing of the output gap underway.

Therefore, coordinated monetary and fiscalpolicy responses are needed to tackle thisbecause "given the limited policy space, front-loading of monetary policy actions can keepinflation expectations firmly anchored thusmaintaining the credibility of the central bank,re-align inflation with the target and reduce themedium-term growth sacrifice," says the arti-cle penned by Patra, Joice John and DeepakKumar. The article squarely pins the blame forthe ravaging global inflation pressures on crudeoil prices and the resultant ripple effect on ratesof other commodities following the Russianinvasion of Ukraine.

Using crude prices as an exemplar of sup-ply shocks, simulations from the RBI's quarterlyprojection model show that when the shock istransitory, inflation returns to equilibriumwithout the need for any monetary policy action.

On the other hand, repeated supply shockstrigger second round effects through cost-push,inflationary expectations, exchange rate volatil-ities and demand channels, warranting pre-emp-tive monetary policy action. "Lack of credibil-ity can reduce the monetary policy response evenand therefore by frontloading monetary policyactions, credibility is demonstrated by showingcommitment to the inflation target.

"The required monetary policy response islower when there is a fiscal policy response tosupply-side shocks, but the latter entails macro-economic costs, including potentially a slowingdown of medium-term growth," says the arti-

cle. If the central bank is seen credible with itsintent, words, and actions, then timely mone-tary action can prune the long-term impact ongrowth, it added. The article also quoted theWorld Bank which has pegged global medianinflation at its highest level since 2008. Foradvanced economies, it is at its highest level since1982 and in the US it is at a 41-year high.

This inflation surge draws its origins froma series of supply shocks---pandemic lockdowns,supply chain disruptions, elevated commodityprices and the war in Ukraine.

The energy component of global consumerprice inflation is at its highest level since early1980s. For over 40 per cent of emerging mar-kets and most low-income countries, con-sumer price index and food inflation is expect-ed to remain in double-digits through 2022.

Consequently, the global inflation crisis isjust the face of one of the most severe food andenergy crises in recent history that now threat-ens the most vulnerable across the globe, itadded. In a world wherein elevated inflation isglobalised, "it is the direction of the change thatmatters, not the height" and central to that exer-cise is the "role of credibility of the monetary pol-icy and anchoring of inflation expectations."

Higher crude price increases other inter-national commodity prices, feed into globalinflation and weaken global demand andgrowth.

The direct impact of higher crude price oninflation occurs due to the pass-through todomestic petroleum product prices. Secondround effects occur through cost-push —petroleum rates increase prices of intermediategoods and services which, in turn, push up pricesof final goods and services.

There is also a demand channel of trans-mission to domestic inflation at work — high-er fuel prices reduce consumption of other itemsand profit margins of firms, leading to lower cashflows and investment.

�� >��%

India's first shopping mall-cum-coworking facility adja-

cent to an airport is expectedto be launched in Pune inmid-October, according toAnarock Retail.

Situated adjacent to thePune Airport, the AeroMall,being developed by PebblesInfra-Tech under the PPPmodel with AAI, is spreadover 4,45,000 sq ft, including1,30,000 sq ft of leasable spacefor retail.

As sole advisors to the

facility, Anarock Retail hasdesigned the complex, man-aged its development, andcrafted its tenant mix, AnarockRetail, the retail services divi-sion of the home-grown realestate consultant Anarock, said.

Pune airport is the only air-

port in India within the cityand the only instance of a co-working and shopping facilitydirectly adjoining an airportwith a multi-level car park,Anarock Retail said.

The post-pandemic revivalin air travel has brought airportretail back centre-stage. How-ever, there continues to be adeficit of quality retail spaces atIndian airports for the best-suited retailers dealing inapparel and fashion, wellness,electronics and travel acces-sories, F&B, and beauty prod-ucts, the company said.

Airport retail is attractivefor retailers due to the relativelyhigher ROI compared to otherlocations. However, a well-researched tenant mix is criti-cal in airports, it said.

Stating that AeroMall is setto be launched on October 15,Anarock Retail said it expectsto complete leasing out PuneAirport's standalone mixed-use centre encompassing shop-ping, office and coworking, afood court and multi-level carpark (MLCP), spread in2,50.000 sq ft, by the end of thethird quarter of 2022.

��

Drone startup GeneralAeronautics on Sunday said

it has begun commercial pro-duction of agricultural dronesand aims monthly production of100 units.General Aeronautics isinto delivering advanced aerialtechnologies for agriculture,healthcare and unmanned aeri-al vehicle design.

"We have started commer-cial production this month afterconducting trials for the lastthree years," Srikanth Srinivasan,Head of Sales and Marketing atGeneral Aeronautics, told PTI.

The trials were conducted in10,000 acres in 45 crops in 14states in experimental plots ofagrichemical companies. Thetrial results have been validatedby 15 agricultural institutes, hesaid. With brand name 'Krishak',the drone manufactured byGeneral Aeronautics has 16 kgpayload with 25 minutes flighttime and has a coverage of up tosix acres per battery charge withartificial intelligence assistednavigation, he said.

Srinivasan said nozzles usedin Krishak are different as spray-ing happens in mist form with-out posing any hazard andincreasing coverage.

"The battery used now hasa capacity of 600 cycles. Thecompany is working on a newbattery of 6,000 cycles," he said.Currently, the Bengaluru-basedstartup has priced its drones atRs 25 lakh each with three bat-teries. Its main clients at presentare agro-chemical companieslike Syngenta, Bayer Cropscienceand others. It is mainly focusingon B2B sales.

Last year, the governmentissued standard operating pro-cedures for use of drones in thefarm sector. The Union Budgettoo gave a push.come up with ascheme to fund drones to coop-eratives, entrepreneurs andfarmer produce organisations.

��

Rupee depreciation has impactedthe current account deficit andfuelled inflationary pressures but

at the same time it has made Indianexports more competitive, according toexperts.

The Indian rupee has been depre-ciating against the USD dollar and isnearing the psychologically key mark of80, making imports expensive.

"The depreciation of the rupee hasmultiple impacts on the economy.Given we have a negative trade balance,though a depreciation of the rupeemakes our exports more competitive,our import bills go up significantly.

"It has an impact on the currentaccount deficit thus further puttingpressure on the rupee as well as importsinflation too as the price of imports inrupee terms is higher," said RanenBanerjee, Leader, Economic AdvisoryServices, PwC India.

A recent report by the finance min-istry cautioned that India's currentaccount deficit (CAD) is expected todeteriorate in the current fiscal onaccount of costlier imports and tepidmerchandise exports.

Primarily driven by an increase inthe trade deficit, the CAD stood at 1.2per cent of GDP in 2021-22.

Rumki Majumdar, Economist,Deloitte India, said the US dollar hasstrengthened amid economic uncer-tainties marked by rising global infla-tion and commodity prices, rapidlytightening monetary policy in advancednations, rising geopolitical tensions,fears of a global economic slowdown,and even a possible recession in the USand a few major European nations.

However, not always does curren-

cy depreciation hurt an economy, sheadded.

"The opportunity to boost servicesexports revenue on the back of the glob-al digitisation wave is promising. Aweaker domestic currency also is anopportunity for FPIs to enter the equi-ty market to earn handsome returns inthe medium to long term," she opined.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs)were net sellers in the Indian equitymarket for the ninth consecutive monthin June, with an outflow of Rs 49,469crore -- the highest since March 2020.The sell-off has continued this month,with net outflows to the tune of Rs 7,432crore during July 1-15.

Overall, FPIs have withdrawn Rs 1.2

lakh crore from the Indian equity mar-ket in 2022-23 so far, but the sell-off hasbeen absorbed by domestic institutionalinvestors (DIIs).

Aditi Nayar, Chief Economist,ICRA Limited, was of the opinion thata weaker rupee will partly counteractthe slide in commodity prices, lessen-ing the fall in the wholesale (WPI) andretail (CPI) inflation expected over thenext few months.

"Similarly, the beneficial impact ofthe fall in input costs on corporate mar-gins will be tempered. The weaker INRwill help to protect some export com-petitiveness, given the sharper fallrecorded by many emerging market(EM) currencies than the INR in the

recent period," she added.Khalid Khan, vice-chairman of

exporters' body FIEO, said while adepreciating rupee will help exporters,exporting goods which have importcontent in terms of raw materials willnot be benefited that much.

An article published in its recentbulletin said that amid a hostile inter-national environment, close and con-tinuous monitoring of the wideningtrade deficit and portfolio outflows iswarranted, strong reserve buffersnotwithstanding.

As per the latest data, the country'simports expanded by 57.55 per cent toUSD 66.31 billion in June compared tothe year-ago month.

The merchandise trade deficit inJune 2022 was estimated at USD 26.18billion as against USD 9.60 billion inJune 2021, which is an increase of172.72 per cent.

Crude oil imports in June almostdoubled to USD 21.3 billion.

Coal and coke imports more thandoubled to USD 6.76 billion in themonth as against USD 1.88 billion inJune 2021.

It is widely expected that theReserve Bank of India (RBI) may go forthe third consecutive hike in the keyinterest rate next month as retail infla-tion continues to rule above 7 per cent— higher than its upper tolerancelimit of 6 per cent.

Banerjee further said the matchingrate hikes by the RBI in response to theUS Federal Reserve actions will alsoprovide support to the rupee.

These counterbalancing forces havehelped the rupee in the past few monthswherein it has not depreciated to theextent of other emerging market cur-rencies, he added.

��

The Indian luxury car mar-ket has huge growth poten-

tial but remains suppresseddue to high taxation on luxu-ry cars and unfavourable reg-ulatory environment, as per asenior executive of Germanluxury carmaker Audi.

Luxury car volumesaccount for less than 2 per centof the overall passenger vehiclesales annually and the sectorhas been more or less at thesame level for the past decade.

��

India's demand for petroland diesel fell in the first half

of July over the previousmonth as the onset of mon-soon chipped away consump-tion in some sectors andrestricted mobility, prelimi-nary industry data showed onSunday.

Diesel, the most widelyused fuel in the country, sawconsumption drop 13.7 percent during July 1-15 to 3.16million tonnes from 3.67 mil-lion tonnes demand in thesame period of the previousmonth.

The arrival and intensity ofmonsoon weighs heavily ondiesel demand in the countryand consumption traditional-ly is lower in July-Septemberthan in April-June. Floodsrestrict mobility and demandfrom the farm sector, whichuses diesel in irrigation pumpsand trucking, also drops withthe onset of rains.

Diesel demand was how-ever almost 27 per cent high-er year-on-year, supported bystrong economic growth and arelatively low baseline for thesame period in 2021 when asecond wave of COVID-19had impacted the economy.

Consumption of diesel was43.6 per cent higher than the2.2 million tonnes demandduring July 1 to 15 of 2020. Itwas 13.7 per cent more thanpre-COVID July 2019, thedata showed.

��

Six of the 10 most valuedfirms suffered a combined

erosion of Rs 1,68,260.37 crorefrom their market valuation lastweek, mainly dragged down byIT major TCS amid an overallweak trend in the equity mar-ket.

The 30-share BSE bench-mark Sensex fell 721.06 pointsor 1.32 per cent last week.

From the laggards, TataConsultancy Services (TCS)took the biggest hit as its mar-ket valuation tumbled Rs99,270.07 crore to reach Rs10,95,355.32 crore. Shares ofTCS dropped last week afterthe company's June quarterearnings failed to meet marketexpectations.

Another IT behemothInfosys also suffered an erosionof Rs 35,133.64 crore, taking itsvaluation to Rs 6,01,900.14crore.

HDFC Bank's market val-uation fell by Rs 18,172.43crore to Rs 7,57,659.72 crore

and that of State Bank of India(SBI) declined by Rs 8,433.76crore to Rs 4,27,488.90 crore.

The market capitalisation(m-cap) of HDFC dipped by Rs4,091.62 crore to reach Rs4,02,121.99 crore and that ofICICI Bank went lower by Rs3,158.85 crore to Rs 5,22,498.11crore.

In contrast, the valuation ofHindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL)jumped Rs 17,128.52 crore toRs 6,03,551.26 crore.

Reliance Industries addedRs 6,801.72 crore, taking itsmarket valuation to Rs16,24,681.08 crore.

ITC's m-cap climbed Rs1,318.81 crore to Rs 3,62,327.81crore and that of Life InsuranceCorporation of India (LIC)went higher by Rs 316.25 croreto Rs 4,48,157.71 crore.

In the ranking of top-10firms, Reliance Industries con-tinued to remain the most val-ued domestic company, fol-lowed by TCS, HDFC Bank,HUL, Infosys, ICICI Bank,LIC, SBI, HDFC and ITC.

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Double Olympic medallist PV Sindhu lifted theSingapore Open Super 500

trophy after outwitting China'sWang Zhi Yi in an intense women'ssingles final here on Sunday.

In a mistake-filled title clash,Sindhu managed to stay strong inthe key moments to come uptrumps against the 22-year-oldWang, the reigning AsianChampionships Gold medallist.The final scoreline read 21-9, 11-21, 21-15 in the Indian's favour.

The 27-year-old fromHyderabad came into the matchwith a 1-0 lead over Wang, havingbeaten the Chinese player in theironly meeting at the All EnglandChampionships this year.

Sindhu produced another finedisplay to grab her third world tourtitle of the season.

Toss played a major role in thematch with drift in the hall mak-ing life difficult for the shuttlers.Wang's decision to choose the sideput her in an advantageous positionas she played against the drift afterthe final change of ends.

However, Sindhu managed tolimit the errors and keep her nerves

to emerge victorious in the end.After losing the first two points,

Sindhu used her reach to get theshuttle early, played some superbangled returns, and produced onewinner after another to stay aheadall the way in the opening game.

The second game, however,turned into a forgettable affair forSindhu as Wang, now on the bet-ter side of the court, displayed herprowess.

Sindhu tried to use the spin-ning net shot and use the gaps onthe court to make a comeback butpoints were too few to come by asWang continued to move ahead.

The match came alive in thedecider as the duo played somelong rallies.

While Wang seemed chargedup initially, Sindhu was patient andafter an initial duel of 5-5, playeda superb smash and then finisheda long rally with a delectable dropshot to leave her opponent on thefloor.

The Indian grabbed a five-point advantage at the intervalafter producing another superbcross-court smash from a deepforehand corner.

Back to the better side after thefinal change in ends, Wang reduced

the deficit to 11-12 with Sindhucommitting errors.

The Indian, however, man-aged to establish a four-pointadvantage with a good follow-upshot.

Just two points away, Sindhu hitlong before unleashing a smash tofinish an intense rally and grab fivematch points.

Wang hit wide as Sindhu threwher arms to the air in celebration.

The title run will be a big boostfor Sindhu, who will be leadingthe India's charge at theCommonwealth Games, start-ing July 28 in Birmingham.

This was her third title ofthe season -- having won twoSuper 300 crowns in SyedModi International and SwissOpen -- and an addition to herbrimming cabinet which has aGold, two Silver, and as manyBronze medals from the WorldChampionships besides twoOlympic medals.

�� 4��Indonesia 's Anthony

Ginting ended his two-yeartitle drought by beatingJapan's Kodai

Naraoka 23-21, 21-17 in the men'ssingles final.

After taking down worldchampion Loh Kean Yew in thesemi-final, Ginting, the worldnumber six, continued to displaythe same attacking style to end thegiant-slaying run of Naraoka.

The world number 43's pas-sage to the final saw him stunworld number eight JonathanChristie, India's HS Prannoy andChina's Zhao Jun Peng, who wereall ranked higher than him.

Thailand's DechapolPuavaranukroh and SapsireeTaerattanachai retained theirmixed doubles title after theybeat China's Wang Yi Lyu andHuang Dong Ping in straightgames 21-12, 21-17.

Indonesia, meanwhile, wonboth the doubles competitionwith Apriyani Rahayu and SitiFadia Silva Ramadhanti clinchingthe women's doubles.

While Daniel Marthin andLeo Rolly Carnando claimed themen's doubles title.

��■ ��@%'?)�

A'relieved' P V Sindhu hopes tocontinue her rich vein of form

in the upcoming events, includingthe Birmingham CommonwealthGames, after winning the SingaporeOpen title here on Sunday.

"In the last couple of tourna-ments, there were hard-foughtmatches, and losing in the quarter-finals and semifinals was a bitupsetting but each match mat-tered and finally I could get this,"Sindhu told reporters after thewin.

"I am very happy because aftera long time coming here toSingapore and winning this, meansa lot to me.

"I have finally crossed thatlevel, I have got the win now andI hope the same tempo continuesfor the rest of the tournaments andI do well in the upcoming event."

Living out of a suitcase is thenorm for international athletesand Sindhu admitted there is notime to celebrate as she shifts focuson the Commonwealth Gamesstarting July 28.

"I just have a week after thatagain we leave for CommonwealthGames. Maybe I can take a day off,and spend time with my family,"she said.

"It has been a long tour for me,there was Indonesia, Malaysia fortwo weeks, and now Singapore. Soit is time to go back home and justrelax for a bit and then get back totraining but definitely, I am goingto enjoy this win, it means a lot.

Asked if the Singapore opentit le augurs well for theCommonwealth Games and WorldChampionships, Sindhu said: "Ya itis. I wanted to be more successful(laughs). Right now it is time to justgo and relax and then focus on theCommonwealth Games and hopeI get a medal in that.

"Followed by that we have theworld championships and JapanOpen, of course, hope for a medalin that too. I have to be physicallyand mentally fit. My strength andconditioning coach Srikanth isthere with me, so it should be okay."

Sindhu, who already has aSilver and a Bronze apart from theteam Gold from theCommonwealth Games, will befavourite to win the Gold thistime.

Talking about the Birminghamevent, Sindhu said: "It is going tobe a team event. We have to give100 percent and be in 100 percentform. As a team, we need to work(towards it) and after that, there isan individual event.

"I hope I give my best, it is notgoing to be easy, there are somegood players. So hoping for asmany medals as we can."

��

Prime Minister NarendraModi on Sunday congratu-

lated ace shuttler P V Sindhuon winning her first everSingapore Open Super 500title, saying it is a proudmoment for the country andher victory will inspire upcom-ing players.

Modi tweeted, "I congratu-late P V Sindhu on winning herfirst ever Singapore Open title.

She has yet again demonstrated her exceptional sporting tal-ent and achieved success. It is a proud moment for the coun-try and will also give inspiration to upcoming players."

��■ �%�@�?�

India's Anjum Moudgil won a Bronzemedal in the women's 50m rifle 3 posi-

tions event at the ISSF Shooting World Cuphere on Sunday.

Anjum shot 402.9 in the final round tofinish third behind Germany's AnnaJanssen (407.7) and Italy's BarbaraGambaro (403.4), who won theGold and Silver medals respec-tively.

Sanjeev Rajput, ChainSingh, and Aishwary PratapSingh Tomar clinched theSilver medal in the men's 3Pteam event.

The Indian trio, whichhad finished second in thequalification stage, faced astrong Czech Republic team in theGold medal match.

But despite putting up a goodfight, the Indians went down 12-16 to the trio of Petr Nymbursky,Filip Nepejchal, and Jiri Privratsky.

Anjum, a world championshipSilver medallist, had qualified forthe finals after finishing sixth inthe ranking round on Saturday.

This is the 28-year-old shooter's

second individual medal in consecutiveWorld Cup stages. She had won Silverin the same event at the Baku WorldCup held last month.

While Anjum was off the radarand slipped to sixth position after thesecond prone series, she recovered

steadily in the final standing position.By the time the fifth and

sixth place shooters wereeliminated after the 15thstanding position shot,Anjum was 0.2 points aheadof 4th placed RebeccaKoeck of Austria.

However, a slip up inthe initial stages meant,she was 1.5 points behindGambaro, and despitegaining a full point in thefourth and final five-shotstanding position series,Anjum had to remaincontented with a bronze.

With one Bronze andSilver apiece, India con-

solidated its position atthe top of medal tallywith a total of 11 medals(four Gold, five Silver and

two Bronze).

��■ �>@��

Long jumper MuraliSreeshankar failed to live

up to the expectations as hefinished seventh in the finalswith his best effort of 7.96mon day two of the WorldAthletics Championships hereon Sunday.

Having become the firstIndian male athlete to quali-fy for the long jump finals inthe World Championships,Sreeshankar had raised hopesof a historic medal in theshowpiece. But his perfor-mance in the final was waybelow his season's and person-al best of 8.36m.

He had three legal jumps-- the opening jump of 7.96m,fourth round effort of 7.89mand last attempt of 7.83m. Theother three tries were fouls.

The 23-year-old must bedisappointed as he could notcross the 8m mark in sixattempts. He has been a con-sistent performer this seasonhaving jumped 8.17m, 8.36m,8.31m and 8.23m since Marchand going into the WorldChampionships.

He had qualified for thefinals with a best jump ofexactly 8m in the qualificationround on Saturday, finishingsecond in Group B and sev-

enth overall.Sreeshankar had gone into

the championships in the jointsecond spot in the season's toplist on the basis of his nation-al record 8.36m jump.

China's Jianan Wang wonthe Gold with a sensationalfinal round jump of 8.36mwhile Olympic championMiltiadis Tentoglou of Greece,who was leading till the penul-

timate round, won the Silverwith a best effort of 8.30m.Season leader SimonEhammer (8.16m) ofSwitzerland took the Bronze.

His father and coach SMurali said it was sheer badluck that Sreeshankar couldnot at least jump more than8.16m, which would havegiven him a Bronze.

"Sreeshankar was confi-dent to do well today but itwas sheer bad luck. Jumpingmore than 8.16m was withinhis reach and he has donemany times this season,"Murali said.

"The third jump turnedout to be a foul by just 3mmand had it been a legal one,Sreeshankar would havecrossed at least 8.16m andwon a medal. But we have tolook ahead with this WorldChampionships experienceand do well in theCommonwealth Games."

In other events involvingIndians, Parul Chaudhary ranher personal best of 9:38.09 in

women's 3000m steeplechaseto finish 12th in heat numbertwo to miss out on the finals.She finished 31st overall.

The top three finishersand the next six fastest acrossthe three heats qualify forthe finals.

Chaudhary's earlier per-sonal best was the 9:38.29 shehad clocked during the IndianGrand Prix series inThiruvanthapuram in March.

In men's 400m hurdles,Madari Palliyalil Jabir alsofailed to advance to the semi-finals after finishing seventhand last in heat number twowith a time of 50.76s.

He finished 31st overallacross five heats.

The top four finishers andthe next four fastest across thefive heats qualify for the semi-finals.

He recorded a season'sbest of 49.76s while winningthe gold at the National Inter-State Championships lastmonth. He has a personalbest of 49.13s.

��■ ��'?)!

Lleyton Hewitt, a two-timeGrand Slam champion and

former world number one, wasinducted into the InternationalTennis Hall of Fame onSaturday, a ceremony delayedfrom 2021 by Covid-19.

Hewitt won the 2001 USOpen and 2002 Wimbledontitles among 30 career ATP tri-umphs and helped Australiacapture the Davis Cup in 1999and 2003.

The 41-year-old fromAdelaide was unable to travelto the Hall of Fame last yearfrom Australia so his inductionwas postponed for a year andstaged after Saturday's ATPHall of Fame Open semi-finals.

The ceremony was stagedon the court where Hewittwon his first ATP grass courtmatch as a teen in 1998.

Hewitt was a year-endworld number one in 2001 and2002 and his intense emotioncombined with speed andskilled shotmaking made hima threat on any surface, greatshots usually followed by thescream, "Come on."

Hewitt finished with acareer record of 616-262 inATP singles play. The Aussieicon won his first ATP title inAdelaide in 1998 and his lastin 2014 at the Hall of FameOpen, defeating Ivo Karlovic.

"I feel fortunate I was ableto play across generations,"Hewitt said, "to play againstmy heroes like Andre Agassiand Pete Sampras" as well asagainst legends Rafael Nadal,Roger Federer and NovakDjokovic.

��■ �>��

Bayern Munich confirmedon Saturday they have agreed

a deal with Barcelona for the saleof Poland star RobertLewandowski to Spanish club.

"We have a verbal agree-ment from Barcelona. It's goodfor both sides that we haveclarity," Bayern presidentHerbert Hainer said on theclub's Twitter account.

"Robert is a very deservingplayer, he has won everythingwith us. We are incredibly grate-ful to him."

Bayern did not give detailsbut Spanish and German mediareported the two-time FIFAmen's player of the year hadagreed a four-year deal worth 50million euros, including fivemillion in potential add-ons.

Later, the Catalans con-firmed the move for the 2020Champions League winner.

"Barcelona and BayernMunich have reached an agree-ment in principle for the trans-fer of Robert Lewandowski,dependent on the player passinga medical and contracts beingsigned," they said in a statement.

Lewandowski told Germantelevision he would be joining

the Barcelona squad on theirtour of the US from July 18-31.

Media reported he wouldundergo his medical in Miami.

The agreement between thetwo teams closes the standoff

with the 33-year-old who said atthe end of May "it is certain thatmy story with Bayern has cometo an end."

Bayern had only offeredLewandowski a one-year exten-

sion to his contract, whichexpires in the summer of 2023.

He was also unhappy withthe salary offered and hadclashed with the Bavarian club'scoach Julian Nagelsmann overtactical choices.

Although he resumed train-ing with Bayern a few days ago,Lewandowski arrived late eachtime, except this Saturday, whenhe took the opportunity to bidfarewell to his teammates.

With his imminent arrival,Barcelona continue to strength-en with the ambition of return-

ing to the forefront of theEuropean scene.

He is the club's fourth sum-mer transfer after Ivory Coastmidfielder Franck Kessie fromAC Milan and Chelsea defend-er Andreas Christensen on a freetransfer, and Brazil wingerRaphinha, recruited for 70 mil-lion euro from Leeds.

Double European top scor-er, Lewandowski, who turns 34next month, can bring experi-ence to supervise a very younggroup, carried by Ansu Fati,Pedri, Gavi and Ferran Torres.

Lewandowski joined Bayernin 2014, scoring 344 goals in 375competitive matches and brokethe Bundesliga single-seasonscoring record.

He won the Bundesliga ineach of his eight seasons with theclub as well as the ChampionsLeague, the Club World Cupand three German Cups.

Last season, "Lewy" scored42 goals in 50 matches in allcompetitions, including 35 goalsin 34 league matches and 13goals in 10 Champions Leaguegames.

��■ �>��

Bayern Munich are hopeful of luring defend-er Matthijs de Ligt away from Juventus, with

club CEO Oliver Kahn saying on Saturday thatthe Dutch international is eager to join theBundesliga giants.

"We have had talks for Matthijs de Ligt, Ican confirm that the player wants to come toFC Bayern," Kahn said, according to TheGuardian's Fabrizio Romano. "We'll have moretalks and then we'll see how it goes."

It's understood that Bayern are preparingto submit an offer, with Romano reporting that

Juventus could demand a fee worth up to �100million.

Last week, Bayer Munich board memberHasan Salihamidzic was in Italy to meet withJuventus officials and discuss signing the 22-year-old center-back.

"You all know that we had a conversationin Italy, you saw that. There will definitely bemore talks," he told German outlet Bild onFriday.

De Ligt is three years into the five-year con-tract he signed after joining the Bianconeri fromAjax for �75 million. He appeared in 31 SerieA games last season.

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South African pacer LungiNgidi has acknowledged his

Chennai Super Kings skipperMS Dhoni's contribution to hiscareer, saying "for someone ofhis calibre to put his trust in meto win him games at a young agewas massive for me."

Nigidi was picked up by theCSK in 2018. The right-armpacer grabbed 11 wickets inseven matches at an average of14.18 that season, helping theDhoni-led side to win the title.He was also part of the title-win-ning side in 2021.

"Having someone ofDhoni's calibre put his trust inme to win him games when Iwas 22 was massive for me,"Ngidi told 'The Guardian'.

The 26-year-old creditedthe IPL for teaching him how todeal with massive crowds.

"The IPL also taught mehow to handle a big crowd. I'dnever played in front of 60,000people and that was a bit over-whelming at the start. But onceyou get going it's a breeze," headded.

After the high of 2020,

which saw him win SouthAfrica's T20 and ODI player ofthe year awards, Nigidi has hadto deal with selection issues andlost his place in South Africa'sattack this year.

At the IPL auctions this year,Ngidi was picked up by theDelhi Capitals and although hedid not play for his new side, thepacer feels being around andbowling to the prodigiousRishabh Pant has helped himgrow as a player.

"When I talk to KagisoRabada, if I am a little down he'llremind me: 'You're an IPL win-ner, twice, and you've won manof the match awards. So why areyou sitting here denouncingyourself?"

"Even this year, in Delhi,Rishabh Pant has been so good.He's young but he already has somuch influence within the gameand being able to bowl to himin the nets and run ideas pasthim helps you grow as a crick-eter."

Ngidi made a comeback toSouth Africa T20I team duringthe five-match series againstIndia recently and he's hopefulof securing his place.

��

The Asia Cup is "likely" to bemoved out of Sri Lanka in the

wake of political unrest in the islandnation, SLC secretary Mohan de Silvasaid on Sunday, adding that the tour-nament could be played in the UAE.

Sri Lanka, which has been battlingan economic crisis, has witnessedwidespread protests against the gov-ernment for weeks.

However, the situation worsenedwith president Gotabaya Rajapaksafleeing the country on a military jet.

"The Asia Cup is very likely thatit will be held in the UAE," Sri LankaCricket secretary de Silva told PTIwhen asked about a possible change inthe venue of the T20 tournament.

The dates for the six-team tourna-ment are expected to remain thesame as scheduled earlier from August

26 to September 11.A qualifier will also take place

before the main event with HongKong, Singapore, Kuwait and UAE bat-tling out for the one qualification spot.

Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Pakistan,India and Bangladesh will be the fivefull member teams.

With Australia tour of Sri Lankagoing off smoothly and Pakistan cur-rently playing Test cricket in SriLanka, there were hopes that the SLCmight be able to host the continentalevent.

The tournament serves as goodpreparation for the Asian teams aheadof the T20 World Cup in Australia inOctober-November.

An official announcement fromthe Asian Cricket Council (ACC) onthe change in tournament venue isexpected soon. The ACC is headed byBCCI secretary Jay Shah.

Pakistan Cricket Board onSaturday said that it wanted Asia Cupto be played in Sri Lanka.

"Our first preference is to supportSri Lanka and play the Asia Cup there.If this tournament does not take placein Sri Lanka, it will be a huge cricket-ing and financial loss for them.Australia's recent tour of Sri Lankawent off without any problems," saidPCB chief executive Faisal Hasnain ina statement.

"Similarly, there have been noissues with the ongoing Pakistan tourof Sri Lanka as we are constantly intouch with Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC)and our embassy in the country.

"Our discussions with the ACCrepresentatives have suggested that thetournament is on track at the momentas they are monitoring the situationvery carefully and we will support theirdecision."

�� @>A%�%

Bangladesh swept the ODIseries in the Caribbean by

winning the third match againsta depleted West Indies bowlingattack by four wickets.

Bangladesh was favored towin an 11th consecutive ODIagainst the West Indies, espe-cially after bowling out thehome side in the 49th over for178, its best total of the series.

The West Indies was hand-icapped further when all-rounder Keemo Paul pulled ahamstring and didn't bowl, andpart-time medium-pacerRovman Powell suffered a sidestrain after delivering 11 balls onSaturday.

The West Indies used sevenbowlers, but after spinnerGudakesh Motie-Kanhai usedup his 10 overs for a team-best

4-23, Bangladesh strolled tothe win at 179-6 with nineballs to spare.

While Bangladesh respect-ed Motie-Kanhai, who claimedcaptain Tamim Iqbal, caughtand bowled Liton Das, bowledAfif Hossain and MosaddekHossain, the batters comfortablytook runs off everyone else.

Tamim got 34 before mis-

cuing a sweep to fine leg andLiton pushed the scoring with50 off 65 balls.

Mosaddek charged Motie-Kanhai and hit straight to thelong off fielder to leaveBangladesh on a worrying 116-5. But Motie-Kanhai was fin-ished, and Mahmudullah, 26,and Mehidy Hasan Miraz, 16not out, stayed calm and collect-

ed the runs.Bangladesh made one

inspired change from the sec-ond ODI, giving spinner TaijulIslam his first internationalmatch on the tour ahead ofpacer Shoriful Islam. Taijul tooka career-best 5-28 in 10 overs.

He bowled Brandon Kingwith his third ball and got ShaiHope stumped with his 11th.

Shamarh Brooks wastrapped by lone pacerMustafizur Rahman in the nextover and West Indies was 16-3.

Mosaddek and NasumAhmed returned and Mehidywas introduced and West Indiescrawled to 23-3 after 12 overs.

Captain Nicholas Pooranand Keacy Carty, in for KyleMayers, spread the ball aroundfor 33 off the next six overs butCarty fell to Nasum and the runrate dropped back.

Pooran's ninth fifty was hisslowest, in 93 balls, and he waseighth man out to Taijul for 73off 109 balls.

Taijul, Mustafizur andMosaddek strangled the homeside by bowling a combined 29overs at less than three per over.

The ODI series was conso-lation for Bangladesh after los-ing the Test and T20I series.

�� @%��

Pakistan captain Babar Azampulled his side back from the

brink with a century that helpedthe touring side dig themselvesout of trouble on day two of thefirst Test against Sri Lanka onSunday.

With Pakistan on 148-9, thewriting appeared to be on thewall as they appeared set to con-cede a huge lead to the homeside on a turning track. But arecord partnership for the lastwicket between Babar andNaseem Shah put Pakistan backin contention as they concededjust a four-run deficit in the firstinnings.

The 70-run stand betweenBabar and Naseem is a newrecord in Galle in Tests with theprevious best being the 63-runpartnership between DimuthKarunaratne and LakshanSandman against South Africain 2018.

Sri Lanka were 36-1 atstumps on day two for a lead of40. Oshada Fernando wasunbeaten on 17 while night-watchman Kasun Rajitha wason 3.

Pakistan were struggling intheir reply after Sri Lanka hadposted 222 in their first inningsbefore Babar played a captain'sknock.

On a track where mostPakistan batsmen struggled toplay spin, Babar was solid.Often playing on the front footwith soft hands negating theturn, he left well and cashed inwhen there were opportunitiesto score.

The last wicket partner-

ship lasted for more than twohours and frustrated Sri Lanka,which had to take the secondnew ball to break the stand. Bythat time Babar, who was play-ing his first Test match in SriLanka had posted his seventhhundred. His knock lasted morethan five hours in which hefaced 244 deliveries, hit 11 foursand two sixes.

Babar also dominated thestrike from the No. 11 withNaseem Shah contributing justfive runs during the partnership.

Prabath Jayasuriya, mean-while, continued his impressiverun in Tests. Playing his secondTest match, the left-arm spinnerclaimed his third five-wickethaul to finish with five for 82.

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Hardik Pandya grabbed a career-best 4/24 as a disciplined Indiabowled out England for 259 with

more than four overs to spare in theseries-deciding third and final ODI hereon Sunday.

Skipper Jos Buttler top-scored forEngland with an 80-ball 60, but it was theflamboyant all-rounder from Gujarat,who dominated the first half of the matchwith his excellent bowling, sending outa warning to the opponents in the yearof the T20 World Cup.

Playing in place of injured JaspritBumrah, Mohammed Siraj got a massiveconfidence boost early on, when he dis-missed Jonny Bairstow with his third ballof the day. As the England openershaped up to play it on the leg-side, thebat turned in his hand and the ball bal-looned to Shreyas Iyer at mid-off follow-ing a leading edge.

His tails up, Siraj then ran in to bowlto the prolific Joe Root, got the ball tomove away, and the outside edge wasnicely taken by skipper Rohit Sharma atsecond slip. Siraj, in fact, squared Rootup with his late movement.

With two of their in-from battersback in the hut for ducks, England werein trouble at 12 for two.

This was after Jason Roy (41) collect-ed three boundaries off MohammedShami, including a four through mid offin the very first delivery of the match.

Rohit made a bold move to field firstgiven that eight of the last nine games atOld Trafford have been won by teamsbatting first.

His English counterpart Buttler washappy to bat first and Bumrah notaround was comforting for the hosts. Butlittle did he know that the world-classbowler's replacement for the day wouldrock their boat so early into their innings,that too on a batting-friendly wicket.

Ben Stokes showed what a good pitchit was to bat on when he offered the faceof the blade to push the ball through theoff-side for a four.

Roy and Stokes steadied the inningsbut when their counterattacking partner-ship reached 54 runs, Hardik had the for-

mer caught behind after tying him downby bowling to a tight line and length.

The ball was on the shorter side butthere was hardly any room for Roy to freehis arms, and the result was England los-

ing their third wicket with 66 runs on theboard.

In the middle of a fine spell, Hardiksustained the pressure from his end andsoon he had the English Test captain

caught and bowled. It was a reward forsome brilliant bowling by Hardik whodropped the ball short after he saw a frus-trated Stokes stepping out, the all-rounder getting his second wicket maid-

en.India's bowling was tight, so much so

that England could score just 16 runs inseven overs since Roy's departure.

Returning to the attack, Siraj hit

Buttler on the helmet twice in the spaceof three balls. On both occasions, thephysio took a look at him as per the con-cussion protocol, but the batter seemedokay.

The English captain meanwhilesmashed Yujvendra Chahal (3/60) for asix over long-on, Moeen Ali (34) got amaximum against Siraj, before the twoagain hit a six each in that order.

Having got his eye in, Moeen was outcaught down the leg side off RavidraJadeja, who also pulled off a brilliantcatch running a long way from deepsquare leg.

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Former Australia captainIan Chappell has asked for

captains in Test cricket to besuspended if their teams aren'table to bowl 90 overs in a day.

As per the current playingconditions, a minimum of 90overs have to be bowled in aday of Test match action.

Earlier this month, afterlosing the rescheduled fifthTest to England at Edgbastonby seven wickets, India havebeen fined 40 per cent of theirmatch fees and penalised twoICC World Test Championshippoints for maintaining a slow

over-rate during the match.India, led by pace spearheadJasprit Bumrah, were found tobe two overs short of the tar-get after time allowances weretaken into consideration.

"While England haverecently done much to improvethe image of Test batting, theworrisome DRS, and over ratesthat continue to be glacial,need urgent attention. Umpiresdon't enforce on-field protocolin this regard, probablybecause they lack the backingof the administrators. This isunfair on patrons, who areshort-changed."

"The administrators could

make some compromises anddemand that players bowl 90overs in six hours with nodeductions accepted. A cap-tain should be suspendedwithout question if this aimisn't achieved," wrote Chappellin his column forESPNCricinfo on Sunday.

Chappell further delvedinto the causes behind overrates being constantly abysmalin Test cricket. "Over rateshave been declining fordecades and yet they are vir-tually ignored as the focus ison the money-making capabil-ities of T20. The reason 90overs in a day were originally

recommended is because it'svery much possible for a teamto bowl that many in thattime."

"Under Clive Lloyd, WestIndies promoted the notionthat over rates don't matterwhen matches are being wonin less than the allotted time.That argument is flawed. Thebatting team should receive areasonable number of deliver-ies in a six-hour day, whilefront-line bowlers tire at anacceptable rate. These days,overs are rarely completedeven with extra time allowed- and those extensions are ablight on the game."

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India pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrahwas on Sunday ruled out of the

series-deciding third ODI againstEngland due to a back spasm.

The 28-year-old fast bowler wasreplaced by Mohammed Siraj in theplaying XI.

The team management didn'tconsider young fast bowler ArshdeepSingh as he is yet to regain his full fit-ness following an abdominal strain.

"Jasprit Bumrah wasruled out of this gameowing to backspasms. Arshdeep

was not considered forselection as he is yet

to fully recoverfrom righta b d o m i n a lstrain," theBCCI said in astatement.

B u m r a hhad claimed acareer-best sixfor 19 topower India toa 10-wicketwin in theopening ODI.

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Dhoni supported me to win gamesfor CSK when I was 22, says Ngidi

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Bangladesh ODI captainTamim Iqbal has

announced his retirementfrom T20 Internationals fol-lowing his side's 50-over serieswin against the West Indies.

"Please consider meretired from T20Is from today.Thank you everyone," Tamimwrote on his official Facebookpage. He played his last T20Iin March 2020. The 33-year-old has played 78 T20Is, scor-ing 1758 runs at 24.08.

In January, Tamim hadtaken a six month break fromthe shortest format but he didfeature in a domestic tourna-ment during that period.

Tamim is one of the bestopeners to have come out ofBangladesh, having scored5082 runs in Tests and 7943runs in ODIs.

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