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T o speed up the vaccination drive across the country, the Centre on Wednesday allowed Covid-19 vaccination at public and private work- places having about 100 eligi- ble beneficiaries from April 11. Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan in a letter to the chief secretaries said a substantial proportion of the population aged 45 years and above is in the organised sector of the economy and is involved in for- mal occupation in offices (Government and private) or manufacturing and services. “In order to increase the access of vaccine to these pop- ulations, Covid-19 vaccination sessions may be organised at workplaces (both public & pri- vate) which are having about 100 eligible and willing bene- ficiaries by tagging these work places with an existing Covid vaccination centre,” Bhushan said in the letter. However, the Government’s decision to allow vaccination to only 45 years of age and above has not gone down well with the health experts who said that co-mor- bidity, and not age should be the criteria for vaccination. Trying to bring home their point, the doctors pointed out that a large number of the below-45 population suffer from various comorbidity con- ditions and are more vulnera- ble to the infections than those who are at or above 45. Dr Rahul Bhargava, Director, Department of Clinical Hematology and Bone Marrow Transplant, Fortis Hospital in Gurugram, said that “I believe after covering 60 plus people, the Government should have made comorbidi- ty conditions irrespective of any age as the only criteria to receive a vaccine.” He argued that there are many youth below 45 suffering from serious ailments like pul- monary diseases such as tuber- culosis, asthma, etc. Depriving them the benefits of shots indi- cate ignorance on the part of the Government. Why to spare precious resources on a non- needy person, he asked. Dr Rajendra Prasad, Spine and Neurosurgeon at Indraprastha Apollo Hospital in Sarita Vihar in Delhi, echoed similar views saying, “I am dis- appointed that at this point the Government has not opened up vaccination for all those above 18 years of age, especially in the wake of the rapid second wave. “However, I do understand that because of the shortage of vaccines and the large popula- tion that needs to be vaccinat- ed there will be delay. But I strongly feel that the Government should spend on production of vaccines rather than spending huge amounts on elections where there is total disregard for social dis- tancing and I am sure we will see a bad effect of this shortly,” said Dr Prasad. W est Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has asked supporters to gherao CRPF on poll day and vote for the TMC. The BJP has gone to the Election Commission ask- ing it to censure her. “I have respect for the Central forces but not the one being guided by the BJP… they are stopping our voters from casting their votes… if this continues I will ask our supporters to unite against the Central forces… gherao them if they do not listen to you… The women should gherao them and the rest of the peo- ple go and cast your votes,” the Chief Minister said at a rally in Coochbehar. Alleging that the BJP had conspired to pull down the Trinamool Government by using the Central forces, Mamata said, “The CRPF is asking the voters to vote for the BJP… they are also stopping the TMC supporters from vot- ing… I will ask you to unite and gherao them wherever you find them.” Reminding that she was the same “Bengal tigress” who had not learnt to bend, Banerjee said, “They are using all tactic to win the elections … they are bringing goons from neighbouring States like Assam, they are splurging money… but they cannot do anything to me with their money and goons because I am Bengal tigress… I can break but I do not bend.” Claiming that if the BJP came to power in Bengal all hell would break loose. She said, “The BJP will do the same thing in Bengal like what they have done in Assam. There they have detained 14 lakh Bengalis in detention camps they will detain people here also … so it is the question of your existence … you will have to save Bengal and yourself if you do not want to see Bengal being run by Gujaratis,” Mamata said, adding “we will not let Gujaratis capture Bengal. Bengal will stay in Bengal, we will not let goons from Gujarat take over Bengal.” Continued on Page 11 I n a sensational allegation which the CBI will probe in its ongoing Preliminary Enquiry (PE) against Maharashtra’s former Home Minister Anil Deshmukh, sus- pended Mumbai Police Assistant Inspector Sachin Vaze on Wednesday made a written submission before the special NIA Court accusing Deshmukh and another Maharashtra Minister Anil Parab of asking him to indulge in extortion for them. On a day when the NIA recorded the statements of Param Bir Singh and encounter specialist Pradeep Sharma in the Antilia SUV recovery case, Vaze — a key accused in the explosive case — shot off a four-page hand-written letter to the Special Judge of the NIA court in which he made alle- gations of extortion against former Home Minister Deshmukh of the NCP and Transport Minister Anil Parab of the Shiv Sena. The NIA court extended the custody of Vaze till April 9 to facilitate his further inter- rogation in the twin SUV plant- ing and Manshukh Hiran alleged murder case. During the course of hearing, the pros- ecution told the special court that NIA was trying to ascer- tain the source of 36 lakh allegedly found in Vaze’s bank account and whether it was used to procure gelatine used in the SUV planting case. Two other accused— Vinayak Shinde, a convicted police constable (sentenced to life but currently on parole) and Naresh Gor, a cricket bookie — were sent to judicial custody. In a significant develop- ment, the CBI moved an appli- cation before the NIA seeking permission to question Vaze, which was allowed by the court. On its part, the CBI is expected to record the state- ment of Singh, who had alleged that State Home Minister Deshmukh had asked arrested Vaze to “collect” a staggering 100 crore per month from bars, restaurants and other sources. In the first of two serious allegations against Deshmukh in his letter dated April 3, 2021 submitted to the NIA court, Vaze claimed that the former Home Minister had asked him to pay 2 crore on the basis of an assurance he would convince Sharad Pawar to take Vaze into the force. Continued on Page 11 P rime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday exhorted students not to be scared of examinations and said social and family envi- ronment at times create unde- sirable pressure on students. Interacting with students virtually in his annual “Parikasha Pe Charcha” pro- gramme, he said they some- time become over-conscious regarding exams and asked them to take them as a small destination in their long lives. If external pressure is not created, then students will not feel pressure of exams and their confidence will also grow, he said. While acknowledging that one cannot be good in everything, Modi asked stu- dents not to run away from any difficult subject, and cited his example of taking up more complex work in morning when he feels fresh and leaving easier parts to late night. Continued on Page 11 N axalites have released a photograph of CRPF Cobra commando Rakeshwar Singh Manhas, who was cap- tured by Maoists after a fierce gun battle in Bastar region in Chhattisgarh on April 3 which left 22 security personnel dead. Manhas was part of a squad that had gone for an anti- Naxal operation in the jungles on the Bijapur and Sukma border on the night of April 2, hours before the ambush. The photo shows the com- mando, still in his battle fatigues, squatting on the ground inside an apparent hut, with no Naxalite seen in the frame. The photograph, being cir- culated on social media, is of Manhas, who was attached to the 210th CoBRA Battalion of the CRPF. “We are closely monitoring the situation. All best possible efforts are being made to secure the safe return of the jawan,” Inspector General of Police (Bastar) Sundarraj P said. On Tuesday, the outlawed CPI(Maoist) issued a state- ment in Hindi saying its cadres abducted Manhas from the site of the ambush and asked the Chhattisgarh Government to appoint interlocutors to ensure his safe release. The Government has not reacted to the demand. Police said the authenticity of the Maoist statement is being verified. Continued on Page 11 T he Reserve Bank on Wednesday projected that retail inflation will be well within control at 4.4-5.2 per cent in the current fiscal and that bumper food grains pro- duction will soften cereal prices even though there are “some underlying constituents” testing the upper tolerance level. The RBI also retained the economic growth projection for the current financial year at 10.5 per cent, while cautioning that the recent surge in Covid- 19 infections has created uncer- tainty over the economic growth recovery. In its last policy review, the RBI had projected a GDP growth rate of 10.5 per cent for FY 2021-22. Unveiling its first monetary policy review of 2021-22, the RBI left the repo rate unchanged at 4 per cent, keep- ing in mind the necessity to sustain growth on a durable basis and continue to mitigate the Covid impact on economy. The central bank has the mandate to maintain inflation at 4 per cent, with an upper and lower tolerance band of 2 per cent for the next five years. RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said that even as the head- line inflation at 5 per cent in February 2021 remains within the tolerance band, some underlying constituents are testing the upper tolerance level. The apex bank has pro- jected the Consumer Price Index (CPI) based retail infla- tion at 5.2 per cent for the first and second quarters of this fis- cal and then decline to 4.4 per cent in the third quarter. For the fourth quarter — January- March 2022 period — the apex bank has estimated retail infla- tion to be 5.1 per cent. Going forward, the food inflation trajectory will criti- cally depend on the temporal and spatial progress of the south-west monsoon in its 2021 season, Das said. Continued on Page 11 F earing another lockdown, small and medium entre- preneurs are offering freebies, incentives which include gold nose pin, hand blenders, free beer, foods, and tax rebate to encourage people to get vacci- nated amid the second surge of the coronavirus pandemic across India. They hope that their offers and discounts will encourage other businesses to ramp up freebies as well to boost the rate at which people are being vaccinated in India. Interestingly, the USA and European Unions are also offering free merchandise and other stuff to those who receive Covid vaccinations or encour- age vaccinations. The perks include free rides, doughnuts, money, arcade tokens and even marijuana. According to report, cor- porate such as Capgemini, Infosys, Accenture, Volvo, Reliance, IndiGo and upGrad have already announced they will absorb the vaccination costs for their employees in India. However, they aren’t offering up any freebies as a job well done. Leading home ser- vices marketplace Urban Company has said it will cover Covid-19 vaccination costs for the more than 30,000 service partners on its platform. Jewellers in Rajkot have joined hands with the State Government and are offering freebies to those who come to vaccination camps in the city for getting the coronavirus vaccine shot. These freebies include a gold nose pin for women and a hand blender for men who take the vaccine dose at Rajkot vaccination centres. Jaan Vision, an organ- isation in Rajkot, is providing free food to those who get vac- cinated. In Mehsana, a car workshop is forgoing labour charges on car serving and offering a 10 per cent discount on car accessories to vaccinat- ed individuals. All you have to do is show your vaccination certificate. A stationery shop in Vadodara is offering customers a 5 per cent to 10 per cent dis- count to help boost the rate of vaccination in the city. All they have to do is show up with their vaccination certificate. As per the data, Gujarat is now left with 17,348 active cases. Of the 17 fatalities, seven patients each died in Ahmedabad and Surat, while two succumbed to the infec- tion in Rajkot and one died in Vadodara district. With 2,167 people recovering in the last 24 hours, the count of recoveries in Gujarat went up to 3,02,932 on Tuesday. The snack producer in Maharashtra has joined hands with the Mahratta Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture (MCCIA) to dole out free bhakarwadi to those who can prove they have got- ten vaccinated. Continued on Page 11 W earing a mask while dri- ving alone in a private vehicle is compulsory as it is a public place in the context of Covid-19, the Delhi High Court held on Wednesday and described face covering as a ‘suraksha kavach’ or protective shield against the spread of the infection. Justice Prathiba M Singh refused to interfere with the Delhi Government’s decision to impose challans for not wear- ing a mask while driving a pri- vate car alone, saying a vehicle even if occupied by one person would constitute a public place. “There are several possi- bilities in which while sitting alone in the car one could be exposed to the outside world. Thus, it cannot be said that merely because the person is travelling alone in a car, the car would not be a public place. “Wearing of a mask there- in would be compulsory in the context of the Covid-19 pan- demic,” the court said. Masks are necessary irrespective of whether a person is vaccinat- ed or not, it added. Justice Singh’s ruling came while dismissing four petitions by lawyers who challenged the imposition of ‘challans’ for not wearing a mask while driving alone in a private vehicle. “The wearing of a mask is like a ‘suraksha kavach’ against Covid-19,” the court said, not- ing a mask protects the person wearing it and also those exposed to him or her. Continued on Page 11 P atients are at an estimated 44 per cent greater risk of neurological and mental health diagnoses after Covid-19 than after flu, and a 16 per cent greater risk than with other res- piratory tract infections, the largest study of its kind by the University of Oxford revealed on Wednesday. Overall, the estimated inci- dence of being diagnosed with a neurological disorder fol- lowing Covid-19 infection was 34 per cent, and for 13 per cent of these people, it was their first recorded neurological or psy- chiatric diagnosis. The most common diagnoses after Continued on Page 11 New Delhi: The Election Commission issued a notice to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday for her alleged appeal to Muslim voters while campaigning in Hooghly to not allow their votes get split among different parties. I n the wake of surge in COVID-19 cases in the state capital, the Lucknow police commissionerate has decided to impose night curfew from 9 pm to 6 am from Thursday. Confirming this, Commissioner of Police DK Thakur said the curfew would be imposed only in the munic- ipal area of Lucknow. The district administra- tion has ordered that all col- leges would remain closed till April 15. The night curfew will continue till April 16. However, there will be no restrictions in rural areas of the city and on transportation of essential commodities dur- ing the curfew period. The supply of fruits, vegetables, milk, LPG cylinders, medi- cines, petrol, diesel will con- tinue as per earlier arrange- ments. The government and semi-government employees working in night shifts and those in private establishments connected with essential com- modities or services will be allowed to work. People going to the railway and bus stations and airport will be allowed to go provided they show their journey tickets. There will be no restriction on plying of goods carriers. All educational institu- tions, barring paramedical, nursing and medical, will remain closed till April 15. The exams or practical exam being organised at recognised edu- cational institutions may be conducted while strictly adhering to Covid protocol. ■ Also see Page 3

Transcript of =^f EPiTSa^_b³Tgc^acX^]´ Q^\Q^]Tg 7< BT]P

Page 1: =^f EPiTSa^_b³Tgc^acX^]´ Q^\Q^]Tg 7< BT]P

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To speed up the vaccinationdrive across the country,

the Centre on Wednesdayallowed Covid-19 vaccinationat public and private work-places having about 100 eligi-ble beneficiaries from April 11.

Health Secretary RajeshBhushan in a letter to the chiefsecretaries said a substantialproportion of the populationaged 45 years and above is inthe organised sector of the

economy and is involved in for-mal occupation in offices(Government and private) ormanufacturing and services.

“In order to increase theaccess of vaccine to these pop-ulations, Covid-19 vaccinationsessions may be organised atworkplaces (both public & pri-vate) which are having about100 eligible and willing bene-ficiaries by tagging these workplaces with an existing Covidvaccination centre,” Bhushansaid in the letter.

However, theGovernment’s decision to allowvaccination to only 45 years ofage and above has not gonedown well with the healthexperts who said that co-mor-bidity, and not age should bethe criteria for vaccination.

Trying to bring home theirpoint, the doctors pointed outthat a large number of thebelow-45 population sufferfrom various comorbidity con-ditions and are more vulnera-ble to the infections than thosewho are at or above 45.

Dr Rahul Bhargava,Director, Department ofClinical Hematology and BoneMarrow Transplant, FortisHospital in Gurugram, saidthat “I believe after covering 60plus people, the Governmentshould have made comorbidi-ty conditions irrespective of anyage as the only criteria toreceive a vaccine.”

He argued that there aremany youth below 45 sufferingfrom serious ailments like pul-monary diseases such as tuber-culosis, asthma, etc. Deprivingthem the benefits of shots indi-cate ignorance on the part ofthe Government. Why to spareprecious resources on a non-

needy person, he asked. Dr Rajendra Prasad, Spine

and Neurosurgeon atIndraprastha Apollo Hospitalin Sarita Vihar in Delhi, echoedsimilar views saying, “I am dis-appointed that at this point theGovernment has not openedup vaccination for all thoseabove 18 years of age, especiallyin the wake of the rapid secondwave.

“However, I do understand

that because of the shortage ofvaccines and the large popula-tion that needs to be vaccinat-ed there will be delay. But Istrongly feel that theGovernment should spend onproduction of vaccines ratherthan spending huge amountson elections where there istotal disregard for social dis-tancing and I am sure we willsee a bad effect of this shortly,”said Dr Prasad.

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West Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee has

asked supporters to gheraoCRPF on poll day and vote forthe TMC. The BJP has gone tothe Election Commission ask-ing it to censure her.

“I have respect for theCentral forces but not the onebeing guided by the BJP…they are stopping our votersfrom casting their votes… ifthis continues I will ask oursupporters to unite against theCentral forces… gherao themif they do not listen to you…The women should gheraothem and the rest of the peo-ple go and cast your votes,” theChief Minister said at a rally inCoochbehar.

Alleging that the BJP hadconspired to pull down theTrinamool Government byusing the Central forces,Mamata said, “The CRPF isasking the voters to vote for theBJP… they are also stopping theTMC supporters from vot-ing… I will ask you to uniteand gherao them whereveryou find them.”

Reminding that she wasthe same “Bengal tigress” whohad not learnt to bend,Banerjee said, “They are usingall tactic to win the elections …they are bringing goons fromneighbouring States likeAssam, they are splurgingmoney… but they cannot doanything to me with theirmoney and goons because I amBengal tigress… I can break butI do not bend.”

Claiming that if the BJPcame to power in Bengal all hellwould break loose. She said,“The BJP will do the samething in Bengal like what theyhave done in Assam. Therethey have detained 14 lakhBengalis in detention campsthey will detain people herealso … so it is the question ofyour existence … you will have

to save Bengal and yourself ifyou do not want to see Bengalbeing run by Gujaratis,”Mamata said, adding “we willnot let Gujaratis captureBengal. Bengal will stay inBengal, we will not let goonsfrom Gujarat take over Bengal.”

Continued on Page 11

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In a sensational allegationwhich the CBI will probe in

its ongoing PreliminaryEnquiry (PE) againstMaharashtra’s former HomeMinister Anil Deshmukh, sus-pended Mumbai PoliceAssistant Inspector Sachin Vazeon Wednesday made a writtensubmission before the specialNIA Court accusingDeshmukh and anotherMaharashtra Minister AnilParab of asking him to indulgein extortion for them.

On a day when the NIArecorded the statements ofParam Bir Singh and encounterspecialist Pradeep Sharma inthe Antilia SUV recovery case,Vaze — a key accused in theexplosive case — shot off afour-page hand-written letter tothe Special Judge of the NIAcourt in which he made alle-gations of extortion againstformer Home MinisterDeshmukh of the NCP andTransport Minister Anil Parab

of the Shiv Sena.The NIA court extended

the custody of Vaze till April 9to facilitate his further inter-rogation in the twin SUV plant-ing and Manshukh Hiranalleged murder case. Duringthe course of hearing, the pros-ecution told the special courtthat NIA was trying to ascer-tain the source of �36 lakhallegedly found in Vaze’s bankaccount and whether it wasused to procure gelatine usedin the SUV planting case.

Two other accused—Vinayak Shinde, a convictedpolice constable (sentenced tolife but currently on parole) andNaresh Gor, a cricket bookie —were sent to judicial custody.

In a significant develop-ment, the CBI moved an appli-cation before the NIA seekingpermission to question Vaze,which was allowed by thecourt. On its part, the CBI isexpected to record the state-ment of Singh, who had allegedthat State Home MinisterDeshmukh had asked arrestedVaze to “collect” a staggering�100 crore per month frombars, restaurants and othersources.

In the first of two seriousallegations against Deshmukhin his letter dated April 3,2021 submitted to the NIAcourt, Vaze claimed that theformer Home Minister hadasked him to pay �2 crore onthe basis of an assurance hewould convince Sharad Pawarto take Vaze into the force.

Continued on Page 11

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Prime Minister NarendraModi on Wednesday

exhorted students not to bescared of examinations andsaid social and family envi-ronment at times create unde-sirable pressure on students.

Interacting with studentsvirtually in his annual“Parikasha Pe Charcha” pro-gramme, he said they some-time become over-consciousregarding exams and askedthem to take them as a smalldestination in their long lives.

If external pressure is notcreated, then students will notfeel pressure of exams andtheir confidence will also grow,he said. While acknowledgingthat one cannot be good ineverything, Modi asked stu-dents not to run away from anydifficult subject, and cited hisexample of taking up morecomplex work in morningwhen he feels fresh and leavingeasier parts to late night.

Continued on Page 11

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Naxalites have released aphotograph of CRPF

Cobra commando RakeshwarSingh Manhas, who was cap-tured by Maoists after a fiercegun battle in Bastar region inChhattisgarh on April 3 whichleft 22 security personnel dead.

Manhas was part of asquad that had gone for an anti-Naxal operation in the jungleson the Bijapur and Sukmaborder on the night of April 2,hours before the ambush.

The photo shows the com-mando, still in his battlefatigues, squatting on theground inside an apparent hut,with no Naxalite seen in theframe.

The photograph, being cir-culated on social media, is ofManhas, who was attached tothe 210th CoBRA Battalion ofthe CRPF.

“We are closely monitoringthe situation. All best possibleefforts are being made to securethe safe return of the jawan,”

Inspector General of Police(Bastar) Sundarraj P said.

On Tuesday, the outlawedCPI(Maoist) issued a state-ment in Hindi saying its cadresabducted Manhas from thesite of the ambush and askedthe Chhattisgarh Governmentto appoint interlocutors toensure his safe release.

The Government has notreacted to the demand. Policesaid the authenticity of theMaoist statement is being verified.

Continued on Page 11

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The Reserve Bank onWednesday projected that

retail inflation will be wellwithin control at 4.4-5.2 percent in the current fiscal andthat bumper food grains pro-duction will soften cereal priceseven though there are “someunderlying constituents” testingthe upper tolerance level.

The RBI also retained theeconomic growth projectionfor the current financial year at10.5 per cent, while cautioningthat the recent surge in Covid-19 infections has created uncer-tainty over the economicgrowth recovery. In its lastpolicy review, the RBI hadprojected a GDP growth rate of10.5 per cent for FY 2021-22.

Unveiling its first monetarypolicy review of 2021-22, theRBI left the repo rateunchanged at 4 per cent, keep-ing in mind the necessity tosustain growth on a durablebasis and continue to mitigatethe Covid impact on economy.

The central bank has themandate to maintain inflationat 4 per cent, with an upper andlower tolerance band of 2 percent for the next five years.

RBI Governor ShaktikantaDas said that even as the head-line inflation at 5 per cent inFebruary 2021 remains withinthe tolerance band, someunderlying constituents aretesting the upper tolerancelevel.

The apex bank has pro-jected the Consumer PriceIndex (CPI) based retail infla-tion at 5.2 per cent for the firstand second quarters of this fis-cal and then decline to 4.4 percent in the third quarter. Forthe fourth quarter — January-March 2022 period — the apexbank has estimated retail infla-tion to be 5.1 per cent.

Going forward, the foodinflation trajectory will criti-cally depend on the temporaland spatial progress of thesouth-west monsoon in its2021 season, Das said.

Continued on Page 11

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Fearing another lockdown,small and medium entre-

preneurs are offering freebies,incentives which include goldnose pin, hand blenders, freebeer, foods, and tax rebate toencourage people to get vacci-nated amid the second surge ofthe coronavirus pandemicacross India. They hope thattheir offers and discounts willencourage other businesses toramp up freebies as well toboost the rate at which peopleare being vaccinated in India.

Interestingly, the USA andEuropean Unions are alsooffering free merchandise andother stuff to those who receiveCovid vaccinations or encour-age vaccinations. The perksinclude free rides, doughnuts,money, arcade tokens and evenmarijuana.

According to report, cor-porate such as Capgemini,Infosys, Accenture, Volvo,Reliance, IndiGo and upGrad

have already announced theywill absorb the vaccinationcosts for their employees inIndia. However, they aren’toffering up any freebies as a jobwell done. Leading home ser-vices marketplace UrbanCompany has said it will coverCovid-19 vaccination costs forthe more than 30,000 servicepartners on its platform.

Jewellers in Rajkot havejoined hands with the StateGovernment and are offeringfreebies to those who come tovaccination camps in the cityfor getting the coronavirusvaccine shot. These freebiesinclude a gold nose pin forwomen and a hand blender formen who take the vaccinedose at Rajkot vaccinationcentres. Jaan Vision, an organ-isation in Rajkot, is providing

free food to those who get vac-cinated. In Mehsana, a carworkshop is forgoing labourcharges on car serving andoffering a 10 per cent discounton car accessories to vaccinat-ed individuals. All you have todo is show your vaccinationcertificate.

A stationery shop inVadodara is offering customersa 5 per cent to 10 per cent dis-count to help boost the rate ofvaccination in the city. Allthey have to do is show up withtheir vaccination certificate.

As per the data, Gujarat isnow left with 17,348 activecases. Of the 17 fatalities, sevenpatients each died inAhmedabad and Surat, whiletwo succumbed to the infec-tion in Rajkot and one died inVadodara district. With 2,167people recovering in the last 24hours, the count of recoveriesin Gujarat went up to 3,02,932on Tuesday.

The snack producer inMaharashtra has joined handswith the Mahratta Chamber ofCommerce, Industries andAgriculture (MCCIA) to doleout free bhakarwadi to thosewho can prove they have got-ten vaccinated.

Continued on Page 11

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Wearing a mask while dri-ving alone in a private

vehicle is compulsory as it is apublic place in the context ofCovid-19, the Delhi HighCourt held on Wednesday anddescribed face covering as a‘suraksha kavach’ or protectiveshield against the spread of theinfection.

Justice Prathiba M Singhrefused to interfere with theDelhi Government’s decision toimpose challans for not wear-ing a mask while driving a pri-vate car alone, saying a vehicleeven if occupied by one personwould constitute a public place.

“There are several possi-bilities in which while sittingalone in the car one could beexposed to the outside world.

Thus, it cannot be said thatmerely because the person istravelling alone in a car, the carwould not be a public place.

“Wearing of a mask there-in would be compulsory in thecontext of the Covid-19 pan-demic,” the court said. Masksare necessary irrespective ofwhether a person is vaccinat-ed or not, it added.

Justice Singh’s ruling camewhile dismissing four petitionsby lawyers who challenged theimposition of ‘challans’ for notwearing a mask while drivingalone in a private vehicle.

“The wearing of a mask islike a ‘suraksha kavach’ againstCovid-19,” the court said, not-ing a mask protects the personwearing it and also thoseexposed to him or her.

Continued on Page 11

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Patients are at an estimated44 per cent greater risk of

neurological and mental healthdiagnoses after Covid-19 thanafter flu, and a 16 per centgreater risk than with other res-piratory tract infections, thelargest study of its kind by theUniversity of Oxford revealedon Wednesday.

Overall, the estimated inci-dence of being diagnosed witha neurological disorder fol-lowing Covid-19 infection was34 per cent, and for 13 per centof these people, it was their firstrecorded neurological or psy-chiatric diagnosis. The mostcommon diagnoses after

Continued on Page 11

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New Delhi: The ElectionCommission issued a notice toWest Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee onWednesday for her allegedappeal to Muslim voters whilecampaigning in Hooghly tonot allow their votes get splitamong different parties.

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In the wake of surge inCOVID-19 cases in the state

capital, the Lucknow policecommissionerate has decidedto impose night curfew from9 pm to 6 am from Thursday.Confirming this,Commissioner of Police DKThakur said the curfew wouldbe imposed only in the munic-ipal area of Lucknow.

The district administra-tion has ordered that all col-leges would remain closed tillApril 15. The night curfew will

continue ti l l April 16.However, there will be norestrictions in rural areas ofthe city and on transportationof essential commodities dur-ing the curfew period. Thesupply of fruits, vegetables,milk, LPG cylinders, medi-cines, petrol, diesel will con-tinue as per earlier arrange-ments.

The government andsemi-government employeesworking in night shifts andthose in private establishmentsconnected with essential com-modities or services will be

allowed to work. People goingto the railway and bus stationsand airport will be allowed togo provided they show theirjourney tickets. There will beno restriction on plying ofgoods carriers.

All educational institu-tions, barring paramedical,nursing and medical, willremain closed till April 15. Theexams or practical exam beingorganised at recognised edu-cational institutions may beconducted while strictlyadhering to Covid protocol.

■ Also see Page 3

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Under the madrasa mod-ernisation plan, the Yogi

Adityanath government hasgiven a big gift to more thanthree lakh students studying inover 17,000 madrasas of thestate as they will now be enti-tled to pursue higher educationby enrolling in Central univer-sities.

Apart from this, they cannow also join the Indian Armyand serve the nation.

“As per the instructionsgiven by Chief Minister YogiAdityanath, the UP MadarsaBoard is going to register itselfwith the Council of Boards ofSchool Education (COBSE)soon. This step of the govern-ment will make it easier for theUP Madarsa Board students toenroll in Central universities,”said Zirgamuddin, a memberof the UP Madarsa Board.

In the current scenario,the Madarsa Boards are notregistered with COBSE andtherefore their students arenot eligible to enroll even in thestate universities.

Zirgamuddin said that theprevious governments didnothing in the interest of themadrasa students and werejust seeking votes in the nameof madrasas.

“Every year lakhs of stu-dents pass out from theMadarsa Boards. Since theMadarsa Boards are not regis-tered with the COBSE, their

students are not able to enrollin the Central universities,” hesaid.

Elaborating on it,Zirgamuddin said, “Studentshere do not even apply forCentral government jobs. Infact, their dream of joining thearmy and serving the nationremains unfulfilled. The Yogi

government has done com-mendable work for themadrasa students in his four-year tenure. The government'sbiggest decision is to registerthe Madarsa Board with theCOBSE.”

He said the Madarsa Boardhad started the registrationprocess at COBSE and the

work of preparing documentswas in progress. “A meeting hasbeen held with the officials ofthe government as well. It isexpected that the MadarsaBoard will be registered withthe COBSE by the start of thenew session. This will be amajor achievement for theMadarsa Board,"”Zirgamuddin

said.Earlier, the Yogi govern-

ment had introduced NCERTbooks in madrasas so thattheir students could connectwith modern education alongwith the traditional Dini Talim.

There are 558 governmentaided madrasas and about17,000 private ones in the state.

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NOTICE

I have change my nameHarminder Singh to HarminderSingh Jaspal, S/o DevenderJeet Singh Jaspal for futurepurpose. 8/2-1, Arya Nagar,Kanpur Nagar.

NOTICE

I have change my nameGagandeep to GagandeepWalia, W/o Harminder SinghJaspal for future purpose. 8/2-1, Arya Nagar, Kanpur Nagar.

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Imbibing Prime MinisterNarendra Modi's mantra of

‘Opportunities in disaster’, theUttar Pradesh government hasset another record and hasbecome number one in imple-mentation of the PMEmployment GenerationProgramme (PMEGP) duringthe year ended March 2021.

Uttar Pradesh Khadi andVillage Industries Board,District Industries Centres andKhadi and Village IndustriesCommission achieved the tar-get of 127 per cent in the year2020-21.

It received Rs 136 crorefrom the Government of India,exceeding the target by aboutRs 60 crore to be distributed asa grant to entrepreneurs.

Uttar Pradesh Khadi andVillage Industries Board hassecured the first position in thecountry in helping set upmicro industries in the state

under the Prime MinisterEmployment GenerationProgramme (PMEGP). Underthis, in the current financialyear 2020-2021, the UttarPradesh Khadi and VillageIndustries Board had set atarget of employing 20,576people by setting up 2,572

units with a margin money ofRs 7,716.10 lakh, againstwhich as many as 4,143 unitswere set up with a marginmoney of Rs 13,636.16 lakh,giving employment to 43,118people, which is 177 per centof the target.

Similarly, the DIC utilised

the margin money to the tuneof Rs 14,039.27 lakh against thetarget of Rs 10287 lakh, 136 percent of the target.

“Uttar Pradesh has goneahead in taking advantage ofthe scheme. In the year 2019-2020, around 2,363 units wereestablished using marginmoney of Rs 8,175.04 lakh.

At the same time, in 2020-2021, 4,139 units wereestablished from the marginmoney of Rs 13,626.26 lakh,which is 167 per cent moreinvestment compared to lastyear,” the governmentspokesman said.

In addition, a capitalinvestment of Rs 550 crore wasmade by Uttar Pradesh Khadiand Village Industries Boardthrough banks under thePMEGP in rural areas of UttarPradesh.

“This has benefited therural entrepreneurs and creat-ed a large number of jobslocally,” the official said.

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With stern action already takenagainst over a half-a-dozen police-

men of Pratapgarh for giving patronageto liquor mafia, now the Rae Bareli policecourted controversy after they alleged-ly released a local Congress leader andhis close associate held along with half-a-dozen others for running an illicitliquor factory under the jurisdiction ofShivgarh police station.

The Congress leader is currentlyblock president and said to be indulgingin supply of illicit liquor to influence thevoters in the ongoing panchayat elections.His wife and mother are contesting theelection of village head and panchayatmembers.

Reports said that the Congressleader and two of his henchmen weredetained by the Bachhrawan police inBaiti area (near Bade Baba Mandir) inShivgarh when they were carrying illic-it liquor to distribute it amongst the vot-ers.

The three were reportedly brought tothe police station from where two,including the Congress block president,were set free by the cops. The two are said

to have used their “connection” to go scotfree.

Sources said that the cops detainedone of their associates, Shailendra Jasiwalaka Bikku, and grilled him regarding thesource of liquor recovered from Congressleader.

Later the police claimed to have raid-ed a place in Niblapur Bhadrak under theShivgarh police station and recovered 189cartons of illicit liquor, items used tomake and seal the liquor bottles, all worthRs 15 lakh.

The cops said that the place was usedfor making illicit liquor and while somemembers managed to escape, half-a-dozen people were held and they hadnamed Shailendra Jaiswal, alreadydetained at the police station. The oth-ers arrested included Ravi Jaiswal,Deshraj Prajapati, Matasher Yadav, Hemaaka Lucky etc.

Three vehicles, which included aBolero and Scorpio, were also recovered.Interestingly, Station House Officer ofBachhrawan, Rakesh, claimed before themedia persons that the raids were con-ducted along with the officials of ExciseDepartment and denied that anyone wasreleased from the police station.

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Lucknow (PNS): With thenomination process for three-tier panchayat elections in thestate capital starting, the UttarPradesh Congress onWednesday announced thenames of its candidates. The listfor first phase elections wasalready announced by the partylast Saturday night. Accordingto an official communiquéreleased on Wednesday, UPCCpresident Ajay Kumar ‘Lallu’cleared the names of 25 candi-dates for panchayat membersseats in Chinhat, Bakshi KaTalab, Mall, Malihabad, Kakori,Sarojninagar, Mohanlalganjand Gosainganj in Lucknow.Earlier on Saturday, Congresshad released the first list ofparty candidates for panchay-at polls in Agra, Ayodhya,Bareilly, Bhadohi, Ghaziabad,Gorakhpur, Hardoi, Hathras,Jaunpur, Jhansi, Kanpur,Mahoba, Prayagraj, Rampur,Saharanpur, Sant Kabir Nagar,and Shravasti.

Lucknow (PNS): In thefirst phase of panchayat elec-tions, as many as 11,749 can-didates are in the fray in 779wards for the posts of districtpanchayat members and for19,313 posts of kshetra pan-chayat members 71,418 can-didates are in the fray.

The State ElectionCommission said here onWednesday that for the firstphase of elections in 18 dis-tricts, 12,517 nominationpapers were received for 779wards of district panchayatmembers. Of these 223 paperswere rejected and 175 with-drew their nominations leav-

ing 11,749 candidates in thefray. For 14,789 posts of villagepradhans, 1,14,954 candidateshad filed nomination papers ofwhich 1,401 were rejected and1,135 withdrew their papers.Now 1,08,562 candidates are inthe fray for 14,789 posts.

The districts going to pollsin the first phase are Ayodhya,Agra, Kanpur Nagar,Ghaziabad, Gorakhpur,Jaunpur, Jhansi, Prayagraj,Bareilly, Bhadohi, Mahoba,Rampur, Rae Bareli, Shravasti,Sant Kabir Nagar, Saharanpur,Hardoi and Hathras. Thepolling will be held on April15.

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Lucknow (PNS):Samajwadi Party suffered a set-back in panchayat elections asone member of the first familyof the party, Sandhya Yadav,defected to the Bharatiya JanataParty. Sandhya Yadav, niece ofMulayam Singh Yadav, is theformer chairman of Mainpuridistrict panchayat and has beenfielded for the post of districtpanchayat member from Ghirorseat in Mainpuri district. Theelected members of the districtpanchayat constitute the elec-toral college for the election ofchairman of zila panchayat.

Sandhya’s brotherDharmendra Yadav is a formerMP from Budaun. Mainpuri has30 wards of district panchayatmembers and the BJP hasreleased the list of candidates forall 30 wards. Sandhya Yadav iscandidate from ward number 18in Mainpuri district.

Samajwadi Party inMainpuri and neighbouringFirozabad district is gripped byinternecine factional fights. InMarch, SP chief Akhilesh Yadavhad expelled party MLA HariOm Yadav from Firozabad dis-trict, The MLA is also a relativeof Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Owing to bitter factionalfeud in the SP, no confidencemotion was brought againstSandhya Yadav, for dislodgingher from the post of chairmanof Mainpuri district panchayat.She however won the battle withthe help of the BJP and themotion was defeated.

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Lucknow (PNS): The first family of theSamajwadi Party headed by Mulayam SinghYadav is set to lose the post of villagepradhan of its native village Saifai in Etawahdistrict, as the seat has been reserved forSchedule Caste. The district goes topolls in the second phase of panchayat elec-tions.

Ramphal Valmiki has filed his nomina-tion for the post of Saifai's gram pradhan.He is said to be close to Samajwadi Partyfounder Mulayam Singh Yadav. He has beenassociated with Mulayam Singh Yadav since1967 and the former's wife has been the dis-trict panchayat member several times in thepast.

Ramphal Valmiki was given a green flagby SP chief and former Uttar PradeshChief Minister Akhilesh Yadav after the postof Saifai gram pradhan was reserved forScheduled Castes for the first time. Earlier,Mulayam Singh’s close associate DarshanSingh had been elected as the gram prad-han from 1972 till he died in October lastyear.

While filing his nomination, RamphalValmiki said that he HAD been associatedwith Netaji since 1967 and had been withNetaji in the Kranti Rath.

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Uttar Pradesh State ElectionCommission (SEC) on

Wednesday issued the notifica-tion for the second phase ofpanchayat polls to be held in20 districts, including thestate capital Lucknow, on April19.

Over 123 million voters areeligible to cast their votes in thefour-phase panchayat pollsthrough ballot papers to beheld on April 15, 19, 26 and 29with counting of votes beingtaken up on May 2.

The notification for thefirst phase of panchayat polls in18 districts was issued on April3 and Wednesday was the last

date for withdrawal of nomina-tions.

Nominations for the sec-ond phase poll in 20 districtswill continue for two days, tillThursday and scrutiny ofpapers will be gone on April9.

The last date of withdraw-al of nominations is April 11and the polling for the secondphase will be held on April19.

Candidates can file theirnominations for the posts ofgram pradhan, gram panchay-at, kshetra panchayat andzila panchayat members andeach voter will be eligible tocast four votes, one each for vil-lage panchayat member, gram

pradhan, kshetra panchayatmember and zila panchayatmember.

The nomination paperswill be filed between 8 am and5 pm at the office of the blockdevelopment officer in the dis-tricts on the two days.

Strict Covid protocol willbe enforced during the nomi-nation process.

UP Additional ElectionCommissioner Ved PrakashVerma said here on Wednesdaythat instructions had beenissued to all thedistrict magistrates that thecrowd of supporters of thecandidates coming to theblock office should be stoppedoutside a radius of 200 metre

on the nomination day andonly the candidate, his electionagent, proposer and onemore person should be allowedto enter the nominationroom.

In the second phase, thepanchayat polls will be held inMuzaffarnagar, Baghpat,Gautam Buddha Nagar, Bijnor,Amroha, Budaun, Etah,Mainpuri, Kannauj, Etawah,Lalitpur, Chitrakoot,Pratapgarh, Lucknow,Lakhimpur Kheri, Sultanpur,Gonda, Maharajganj, Varanasiand Azamgarh districts.

Meanwhile, in Lucknow,elaborate security arrange-ments have been made for thepanchayat polls.

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Dhiraj Ojha, a rulingBharatiya Janata Party

MLA from Pratapgarh district,has alleged assault by the dis-trict superintendent of policeafter an argument over discrep-ancy in voter lists for theupcoming panchayat elections.

Dramatic visuals showMLA Dhiraj Ojha walking outof the office of the district mag-istrate with a torn kurta in hishands. On camera, he accusesthe newly-appointedSuperintendent of Police AkashTomar of assaulting him.

“Ek vidhyak ko maaraakaptaan ne (the SP has assault-ed an MLA),” Ojha says in aviral video clip, as he lies downon the ground in protest. “I haddone nothing wrong. The SPwants to get me beaten. He isa dangerous man, he will getme killed,” the MLA said.

The IPS officer, however,said the MLA had levelledfalse allegations against himafter he asked him not to mis-behave at the district magis-trate's office.

Another video clip ofaround the same time showsthe SP leaving the district mag-istrate's office and the MLA andhis supporters following him.The officer and the MLA are

seen arguing in the clip later.“Faltu ki baat mat kariye”

(Don’t talk rubbish),” the offi-cer says.

“I am not talking rubbish,it is you who is talking rubbish,”MLA Ojha responds.

As the officer walkstowards his car, the MLAshouts, “Will you shoot me”.His supporters then repeattheir leader’s words.

None of the videos, nowviral on social media, show theofficer issuing threats or man-handling the politician.

The MLA later toldreporters that there were dis-crepancies in voter lists.

“Why does the administra-tion not want genuine voters tobe on the lists?” he said.

Pratapgarh goes to polls inthe second phase of panchay-at elections.

SP Akash Tomar later, in awritten statement, refuted thecharges levelled by the rulingparty MLA.

“The MLA, Mr DhirajOjha, had sat on a dharna at theresidence of the Pratapgarhdistrict magistrate. When Iasked him not to misbehave, heraised false allegations againstme. The DM was present withme at all times. The police hadnothing to do with theseevents,” he said.

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The Left parties have throwndown the gauntlet to the

Bharatiya Janata Party in thecoming panchayat elections.

The Communist Party ofIndia (CPI) will contest thepanchayat polls on a limitednumber of seats in these elec-tions with full vigour andvitality.

CPI leader Girish said theCPI would contest the electionstrategically on seats where itsorganisational structure wasstrong and where its workersactively struggled for the pub-lic.

“We shun caste and reli-gion politics. It is the electionof panchayat representativesand is of utmost importance in

view of development of the vil-lages. We fight for poor, land-less people, small and margin-al farmers, Dalits, minoritiesand on women issue,” the CPIleader said. He said the partyhad given its tickets to hardworking CPI workers who bet-ter understood the problems ofthe people of downtroddenclass.

“In this election we havefielded candidates for the postsof zila panchayat, kshetra pan-chayat members and grampradhans,” he added.

The CPI leader said theparty candidate had been alert-ed not to fall into the trap ofglamorous campaigning in theelection.

“The contestants havebeen asked to make door-to-

door public contacts by visit-ing the houses on bicycles ormotorcycles. The workers andthe contestants have beenasked to highlight the issuesrelated to farmers as the partyhas extended support to thefarmers' agitation,” he said.

He said the CPI workershad been asked to organisesmall meetings of villagersduring the campaign whileadhering strictly to the Covidprotocol. “Our contestantswill fight against the divisionof votes on caste and religionlines, use of money and mus-cle power in the panchayatelections,” he said.

The Communist Party ofIndia (Marxist-Leninist) has sofar finalised 25 candidatesincluding eight women as well

as 11 Scheduled Caste mem-bers in the first list for zila pan-chayat member poll in 21 dis-tricts mainly in east and cen-tral UP, and Bundelkhand. Itwill also contest on BDC, vil-lage pradhan and village pan-chayat member posts.

“The party's main plankwill be defeating money andmuscle power, fighting againstcorruption, developing thepanchayats into a platform ofstruggles on people’s issues,giving voice to downtroddenand poor people in the meet-ings of panchayats at its vari-ous levels. We emphasis trans-parency in development worksundertaken by the panchayatsand also bring it under people’smonitoring system, insistingon finalising plans and spend-

ing most of the budget for thewelfare of the poor and needy,fighting for bringing most ofthe developmental worksunder the umbrella of MNRE-GA scheme, struggling againstforceful displacement and evic-tion from ancestral lands, andfor the rights of SCs, STs andlocal population on forest andgram sabha lands and watersources, for repairing all faultyhand pumps, providing drink-ing water even in remote areas,and for garnering supportfrom local farmers against thethree black farm laws, agitationagainst which is already goingon in the country,” party leaderArun Kumar said. He said thecampaign of the party wouldfocus on defeating BJP and itsallies in the elections.

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The domestic help of adeputy chief engineer of

Northern Railway was killedover distribution of moneywhich his nephew and latter’saides had stolen from theengineer’s residence on March26. The police made thisclaim on Wednesday follow-ing the arrest of four accused,including a woman, andrecovery of Rs 70 lakh out ofRs 2.47 crore which had beenstolen.

Interestingly, the NRengineer, Puneet Kumar, hadnot informed police or lodgedany complaint regarding theft.

ADCP (East) Qasim Abdi

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Unidentified miscreants setfire to a car in the wee

hours of Wednesday inGudamba and fled the sceneunchallenged. As per reports,Chandra Prakash Verma, whoworks with an LPG agency andis a resident of Gaurabaghlocality, felt a foul smell around3 am on Wednesday and wentout of the house. To his sur-prise, he found that his car hadbeen reduced to ashes. I usedto park the car outside everynight,” he said.

Verma said he dialled thepolice control room and ateam reached the scene.“However, the cops opted forformality in the name of inves-tigation and left the place,” healleged. Verma said it was ahandiwork of anti-social ele-ments or those who mighthave nursed some grudgesagainst him. “The street lightwas switched off when I cameout of the house,” he said.

Verma said the police didnot contact him or visit thecrime scene again by evening.“I sought help from my neigh-bours and secured some CCTVfootage in which three suspects

were seen lurking in the areaand also around the car. I havegiven a footage to the police,”he added. Police spokesmanNitin Kumar said further inves-tigation was underway.

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A man who had gone tomeet his fiancée was founddead under mysterious cir-cumstances in Madiaon. Thedeceased was identified as RajKaran of Bakshi-Ka-Talaabpolice station area.

As per reports, Raj Karanleft his house around 7 pm onTuesday. “Around 10 pm, wegot a call from a girl who toldus that Raj Karan had taken ill.We reached there and foundRaj Karan lying in a fieldunconscious. We rushed himto KGMU Trauma Centrewhere he was declared broughtdead,” Raj Karan’s fatherRadhey Lal said. He suspectedfoul play and demanded athorough probe into the case.Madiaon police and BKTpolice sought to pass the buckover jurisdiction. However,case was registered in thisconnection and further probewas underway.

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In view of the spike in novelcoronavirus positive cases,

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanathhas authorised district magis-trates of districts having morethan 500 active cases or where100 or more cases are beingreported daily to restrict nightmovement. He has also orderedclosure of secondary schools.

“In districts where morethan 100 cases are being detect-ed daily or where the totalnumber of active cases is morethan 500, the district magistratesshould take a decision accord-ing to the local situation.Appropriate decision should betaken on controlling nightmovement in such districts,but in no circumstances shouldthe transport of essential mate-rials like medicine, food grains,be interrupted,” Yogi orderedafter a high level Covid reviewmeeting here on Tuesday.

He said migration of peoplefrom Maharashtra and somestates of South India, where thenovel coronavirus positive casesare high, was possible. “The

process of panchayat electionsis also going on. The comingdays will be challenging for us.We have to deal with it. Lastyear, all the districts of UttarPradesh had presented the bestexample of Covid management,this time also we will definite-ly win this battle with team-work,” he said.

The chief minister pointedout that the novel coronavirusinfection was increasing rapid-

ly in Lucknow, Prayagraj,Varanasi, Kanpur Nagar,Gorakhpur, Meerut, GautamBuddha Nagar, Jhansi, Bareilly,Ghaziabad, Agra, Saharanpurand Moradabad districts.

“The number of cases thereis high. The best part is that thepositivity rate has declined.Contact tracing should beincreased and infected peopleshould be traced and tested andgiven treatment according to

need,” he said. “The utility ofmonitoring committees andintegrated command and con-trol centres should be increased.Public address systems shouldbe used more and more. Peoplenot wearing masks should befined. Special secretary levelofficers should be deployed formonitoring these districts,” hesaid. The chief minister askedthe medical and health minis-ter and medical education min-

ister to visit these districts withofficials. "I myself will make sur-prise inspections of Prayagraj,Varanasi and Gorakhpur dis-tricts in the next few days,” hesaid.

Yogi also stressed on ade-quate arrangement of all neces-sary logistics, including PPE kit,pulse oximeter, infrared ther-mometer, sanitiser and antigenkits for tests in all districts.“There should not be any com-plaint of lack of logistics fromany district. If need be, imme-diately inform the governmentand full help will be given,” headded.

“In times of calamity, wehave to work unitedly.Ambulances of all governmentand private medical institu-tions should be used for ferry-ing COVID-19 patients. Theseambulances should be connect-ed to the Integrated Control andCommand Centre. The patientsshould get immediate response,"he said.

The chief minister said aspecial sanitation campaignshould be launched by theUrban DevelopmentDepartment in the cities. "Outof the total Covid tests, at least50 per cent should be done dailyby RT-PCR method. Rapid anti-gen testing at railway stations,airports and bus stations shouldbe made more effective,” he said.

Lucknow (PNS): The VibhutiKhand police on Wednesdaysubmitted the chargesheet incourt in connection with theformer block pramukh AjeetSingh murder case.

The police named KuntuSingh aka Dhruv, Akhand,Sandeep aka Baba, Mustafaaka Bunty, Shivendra akaAnkur, Bandhan, Rehan andothers for murder and criminal

conspiracy while stating that aninvestigation against othernamed accused was under-way. Ajeet was peppered withbullets on January 6 at Kathautacrossing in Vibhuti Khandwhile his friend Mohar Singhand a commuter had sufferedinjuries. The police had arrest-ed the above-named accusedwhile efforts are on to nab oth-ers involved in the case.

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Covid cases inched closer tothe 1,500-mark with 1,333

testing positive in Lucknow onWednesday. There has been asteady increase not only in thenumber of cases but also in thedeaths. Among those whotested positive included a spe-cial secretary from theAppointment department.

A BJP ministerannounced on Facebook thathe had tested positive alongwith his staff and that he wasopting for home isolation.

KGMU spokesperson DrSudhir Singh said that over 30doctors who had tested posi-tive were primarily residents.“Instructions have been given

to them to follow Covid-19guidelines and continuousscreening of other depart-ments is being carried out,” hesaid.

Deputy registrar,Lucknow University, VPKaushal also tested positive forcoronavirus infection. Sixpatients succumbed to thedisease on Wednesday even asactive cases went up to 8,852.

In the state capital, 73 peo-ple tested positive inIndiranagar, 72 inGomtinagar, 68 in Chowk, 52in Aliganj, 49 in Talkatora, 44in Alambagh, 41 inThakurganj, 37 in Mahanagar,28 in Rae Bareli road area, and26 in Jankipuram.

Across the state, 6,023

fresh cases were reported,including 811 from Prayagraj,593 from Varanasi, 188 fromJhansi, 159 from Gorakhpur,126 from Meerut and 125from Gautam Buddh Nagar,taking the case tally to6,34,033.

There were 40 deaths inthe state, including six inLucknow, five in Kanpur, foureach in Ballia & LakhimpurKheri, three each in Prayagraj& Varanasi, two each inMoradabad, Ghazipur,Amroha & Fatehpur, and oneeach in Gorakhpur, Rae Bareli,Etawah, Bulandshahr,Chandauli, Mainpuri, Shamli,Kannauj, Baghpat, Kaushambi& Bhadohi, taking the toll to 8,964.

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More teams have been activated inLucknow for effective contain-

ment of coronavirus infection. The jobof these teams is to collect samples, feedthe information on the portal and callpatients in home isolation.

Divisional Commissioner RanjanKumar said: “We are streamliningeverything and the teams have beenincreased because as both Covid andnon-Covid activities are being carriedout. We are also increasing the numberof beds and we hope to contain thesurge in the coming days.”

The basic challenge is to identify thesuspected cases, test and isolate themapart from providing them healthcareand other facilities required at theirdoorstep. “The surge is on across thecountry but the positivity rate isdecreasing because sampling has beenincreased. We are constantly reviewingthe situation and containment activi-ties,” Kumar said.

Asked if laxity and complacency onthe part of the people resulted in the sec-ond wave, the commissioner said the

surge is because of the gradual openingof economic activities. At the Covidhospitals, doctors said that the situationis grim and the severity of the diseaseshows that there could well be a mutantvirus. A senior doctor from Lok BandhuHospital said patients with moderatesymptoms are getting severe and criti-cal. “Our ICUs are full. The situation isturning it out to be very serious. Wehave seen some patients with moderate

symptoms turning serious. Their oxy-gen saturation level was 92 when theycame and it suddenly deteriorated tobelow 60. They were shifted to ICU andon non-invasive ventilator support butthey could not be saved. It had not notbeen seen in the first wave,” he point-ed out. “Out of 110 patients in the hos-pital, eight have died, and hence thedeath rate is almost eight per cent,which is too high. During the previous

wave, the death rate never increasedbeyond 2.4 per cent,” he said.

He pointed out that in the first wavewhen serious patients were put on oxy-gen or given plasma therapy, theywould respond but this time the patientsare turning from moderate to severe,from severe to critical and finally suc-cumbing. “We have tried to extrapolatethe causes and analyse why it is happen-ing and our scientific knowledge tellsus that it may well be because of mutantvirus. It is not the same virus,” he said.

Another doctor from RamManohar Lohia Institute of MedicalSciences said many patients only hadfever but they later developed severepneumonia. “We put them on highnasal flow oxygen and if they still do notrecover, we put them on ventilator butthey may still die,” he said. He addedthat moderate symptoms should betaken seriously as no one knows howthe disease will progress.

“All those patients with co-morbidi-ties have a high chance of developingsevere pneumonia. The situation is suchthat even young patients are develop-ing severe pneumonia,” he said.

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Barrack No. 15, BandaDistrict Jail, has once again

become the new address ofdreaded gangster-turned-MLAMukhtar Ansari. The UttarPradesh Police which tookMukhtar's custody fromPunjab Police, on Tuesday,lodged him in the Banda jail inthe wee hours of Wednesday.

However, unlike the earli-er time when Mukhtar used thejail boundary as a safe fort toward off any retaliation by hisrival gangs besides enjoying allluxuries of life, this time he willbe on round-the-clock closesurveillance of top officials tocheck any unlawful activity. Forstrict enforcement of the rulebook of the prison, the stategovernment, for the first time,has set up a centrally locatedcontrol room at the Prisonheadquarters which wouldmonitor each activity of thegangster through close circuittelevision installed on all cor-ners of Mukhtar's barrackbesides other entry and exitpoints of the prison.

The government is alsolikely to make a move to getMukhtar's membership fromthe State Assembly cancelled.

Interestingly, soon afterbeing lodged in Banda Jail,Mukhtar, who was on a wheel-chair, suddenly stood up on hisfeet and walked down toBarrack No. 16. When the jailofficials offered him tea, heclaimed to be tired and went totake a rest. The doctors' teamlater made his check-up andalso took his sample for Covidtesting at 10 am. After hisreport came negative, Mukhtar,who was kept in isolation inBarrack No. 16 was shifted toBarrack No. 15 in the evening.

An official communiquéreleased by the HomeDepartment on Wednesdaymorning claimed that soonafter reaching Banda Jail, all thebelongings of the don werethoroughly checked with thehelp of metal detectors, he wasexamined by a team of doctorsof Banda medical college whichfound him fully fit, the courtpapers were also checkedbefore lodging Mukhtar Ansariin barrack No. 16.

The release said that thebarrack was on surveillancethough video cameras from acommand centre at Jail head-quarter in Lucknow.

The government alsoappointed a city magistrate in

Banda as superintendent ofBanda Jail for administrativeand security purposes whiletwo more deputy jailers wereattached with the prison alongwith other security personnel.The chief medical officer(CMO) of Banda will monitorthe health of Mukhtar.

Meanwhile, trouble startedfor Ansari soon after hereached Banda as a specialMP-MLA court in Lucknowsummoned him for framingcharges on April 12 in a 21-year-old case in which jail offi-cials were allegedly assaultedinside the Lucknow Jail premis-es by the gangster-turned-politician and his associates.

Special Judge PK Rai willalso frame charges against co-accused Aalam, Yusuf Chisti,Kallu Pundit and Lalji Yadav.While Pandit and Yadav are outon bail, Chisti and Aalam arein judicial custody. Chargescould not be framed earlier asAnsari was not being pro-duced before the court.

Jailer SN Dwivedi hadlodged a first informationreport in the matter on April 3,2000 in which it was allegedthat Ansari's men had assault-ed one of the detainees. As theviolence broke out, Dwivedi,deputy jailer Baijnath RamChaurasia and others rushed torescue the man. However, theywere also assaulted in the ensu-ing chaos.

Earlier, after spending overtwo years in a Punjab prison,Mukhtar was brought back toBanda Jail early on Wednesdaymorning. He was ferried in anambulance guarded by a strongposse of gun-toting securitypersonnel throughout his 900-km journey from Ropar toBanda. Before the convoyentered Banda Jail at 4:30 am,

it slowed down near KanpurDehat as some stray animalsblocked the road along a patchof thick forest. Apart from theambulance, three police vehi-cles also entered the Banda Jailpremises.

At 1:30 am, the police con-voy in which Mukhtar Ansariwas moving, was stopped forsometime in Satti police stationarea. As anxious reporters ranto the policemen and soughtthe reason for the sudden stop-page, no response was given,and the policemen at the spottried to evade the questionsposed by reporters. Later, SO ofSatti police station, KapilDubey, told journalists,"Mukhtar used the toilet at theSatti police station to attendnature's call. He stayed insidethe police station for almostfive minutes."

Before this, around 1:10am, the convoy came to a halton the road betweenBhognipur and Ghatampurdue to some stray animals.Initially, the speed of the vehi-cles was reduced, then thevehicles were stopped and localpolice removed the stray ani-mals, after which the convoyresumed its journey.

Meanwhile, sources saidthat the state governmentwould seek legal opinion to getMukhtar's membership dis-qualified from the state assem-bly. Mukhtar has been MLAcontinuously for the last 24years since 1996. A senior cab-inet minister said that as perthe law, the membership of amember of Legislative Councilcould be cancelled if he\sheremained absent for more than60 days at a stretch. The gov-ernment is likely to use the provision to get Mukhtardisqualified.

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said the engineer did notmention theft at his house.“Had he told about the theft,the case would have beenworked out earlier,” he said.Those arrested were identifiedas Teerath Kumar akaManjeet, his wife Nisha,Mohan Singh and Udai Raj allof Mainpuri. A sum of Rs 40lakh was recovered fromTeerath, Rs 16 from Nisha,and Rs 7 lakh each fromMohan & Udai.

The ADCP said the huntwas on for Bahadur (nephewof the deceased, Brajmohan)of Firozabad, Ajay ofMainpuri, and Bahadur’s aide.

The police worked on thecal l detai l records ofBrajmohan and some of thenumbers in the phone bookwere marked as suspicious.“We also obtained a CCTVfootage in which some sus-pects were seen lurkingaround the crime scene,” hesaid. The accused confessedto their crime and disclosedthat Brajmohan was aware of

the money which Puneet hadkept in his house.

According to their confes-sion, Brajmohan roped inBahadur, who along with oth-ers, reached Railway OfficersColony near Somnath Dwarin Cantonment police sta-tion area, stole the money andreturned to Brajmohan’s quar-

ter. Brajmohan asked them totie him up to make it look likea case of loot.

Brajmohan demanded alion’s share but Bahadur andothers refused. Over the issue,Bahadur and others strangledBrajmohan to death with anelectric wire and also slit histhroat before decamping with

the money. On March 26,Brajmohan (32) was founddead in the servant quarter ofa bungalow in the RailwayOff icers Colony inCantonment. Brajmohan wasa class IV employee andworked as a domestic help ofPuneet. The police had sus-pected insider’s role in themurder from the beginning.A native of Firozabad,Brajmohan had been livingwith Puneet for the past sev-eral years.

Meanwhile, police willwrite to the Income Taxdepartment in connectionwith the money stolen fromthe house of NR’s deputychief engineer Puneet Kumar.“We will write to the IncomeTax department seekinginformation on how and fromwhere did Puneet get themoney. All legal options areopen and we may initiateaction against the engineer,”police said. The accused weresaid to be preparing for thetheft for the last one year.

“Brajmohan, who was themastermind himself, devel-oped greed for a lion’s shareand it led to a verbal spat. Hisnephew Bahadur and otherskilled Brajmohan,” police said.

Sources said the accusedreached the crime scene by ataxi which they booked inMainpuri. “They purchasedchilli powder spray in casetheir plan went awry. Mohanand Uday got Rs 7 lakh eachwhile Bahadur took Rs 1.5crore with him,” police said.They said the miscreantsreturned to Mainpuri by ataxi. After distributing themoney, all left for differentplaces. Manjeet and his wifeNisha were second in com-mand in the gang and theygot Rs 40 lakh and Rs 16lakh, respectively. “BothManjeet and Nisha dug apothole and stashed themoney in it. They hid somecash wads in flower pots attheir house,” the police said.Ajay is said to be a govern-ment employee.

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The High School and Intermediateexaminations to be conducted by

Madhyamik Shiksha Parishad havebeen rescheduled because of the pan-chayat elections. The exams which werescheduled to commence from April 24will now begin on May 8. High Schoolexams will be completed in 12 work-ing days while Intermediate exams in15 working days.

An official from MadhyamikShiksha Parishad said that for theyear 2021, 16,74,022 boys and13,20,290 girls have registered for theHigh School exams while 14,73,771boys and 11,35,730 girls for the Inter

exams. In the year 2020, as many as30,24,480 High School students and25,86,339 Intermediate students hadappeared for the exams. The officialinformed that a revised time table hasbeen released and all preparations toensure copying-free exams have beencompleted.

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<��2;� �%�� �������������'�� ��� ����%��,�))/Lucknow (PNS): KhwajaMoinuddin Chishti LanguageUniversity (KMCLU) submit-ted an ICSSR-sponsoredresearch project report titled‘Analysis of Access, Reach andCommunication Gaps of DeenDayal Upadhyaya GrameenKaushalya Yojana in the ruralperiphery of Lucknow.

This project was fundedto Tanu Dang, assistant profes-sor, department of Journalismand Mass Communication.Dang said it is the firstresearch project of the lan-guage university which hasbeen completed.

“Through this project, acomprehensive and factualanalysis of the reach andawareness of rural youthtowards the skill developmentscheme of the Government ofIndia has been done. Underthis project, 400 youth andtheir families from Ghaila,Mahipatmau, Juggaur andKurauni villages were inter-viewed. They gave clear detailsin context of the governmentscheme. Officers of UttarPradesh Skill DevelopmentMission were also interviewedin this study,” she said.

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Astudy carried out by aLucknow University pro-

fessor, in association with GSI,has thrown light for the firsttime on the disappearance ofthe Saraswati river. Prof AKKulshrestha, who has carriedout the study, said people arestill searching for the Saraswatiriver in Punjab even as theirstudy has shown that the riverdried because its tributaries gotdiverted to Yamuna river dueto the Himalayan area develop-ing mountains.

“Vedic Saraswati river dis-appeared due to eastwardreversal of Bata and Giri riversbecause of uplifting, faultingand block movement acrossHimalayan frontal thrust. Thetwo rivers were earlier flowingwestward, along withMarkanda river, and contribut-ing to the Saraswati river sys-tem. After reversal of the chan-nel, Bata and Giri rivers joinedYamuna river and discontinuedwater discharge to theSaraswati river system,” he said.

“In the Nadi-Stuti Sukta ofRig Veda, all the rivers ofnorthern India, starting fromGanga in the east to Kabul inthe west, are serially described.

The Vedic Saraswati river wasplaced between Yamuna andSutlej, draining the buffer areabetween the two rivers, about13,000 years ago. At present,Saraswati is originating fromAdh (Adi) Badri, located inAmbala district of Haryana,close to the Siwalik foot hills.A lot of research work has beencarried out ever since CFOldham of Geological Surveyof India (GSI) had reported a‘lost river’ in Indian desert in1874. However, not muchattention has been paid todelineate the course of this riverin the Himalayan area,” hesaid.

“Dr GS Srivastava fromGSI and I have attempted totrace the course of VedicSaraswati river in the sub-Himalayan region of HimachalPradesh. We studied topo-graphical maps, geologicalmaps and freely available satel-lite imageries for interpretingtectonic features and recognis-ing palaeo channels of Giririver and course of Proto-Saraswati river. This helped inunderstanding and buildingup their chronological devel-opment and subsequent dis-ruption in response to theneo-tectonic activity, resulting

in uplifting, faulting and blockmovement across Himalayanfrontal,” he elaborated.

He said that the presentstudy indicates that the VedicSaraswati river was once flow-ing along the Bata-Markandariver course in Sirmaur districtof Himachal Pradesh. Giririver was also contributing tothis river through a palaeochannel, west of GaribnathHill, near Paonta Sahib.

“Saraswati river contin-ued f lowing ti l l theMahabharata times. Evidenceindicates that uplifting alongGanga-Indus water divide,around 5,000 years BP, creat-ed Bata-Markanda waterdivide, resulting in impound-ing and later spilling ofSaraswati river through AdhBadri course. Further blockmovement associated with theYamuna tear fault resulted inreversal of Bata river to joinYamuna in the east. Inresponse to this mountainbuilding activity, Giri alsochanged its course and joinedYamuna east of GaribnathHill. Thus, the perennialsource of the Vedic Saraswatiriver was lost and its headwa-ters started contributing toYamuna,” he explained.

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The department ofPathology, King George’s

Medical University, celebrat-ed its 108th Foundation Dayon Wednesday. However, thegrand celebrations plannedearlier were shifted to virtualmode due to the secondCovid-19 wave. The com-bined department ofPathology and Bacteriologywas started in 1913 under thechairmanship of Lt Col HJWalton with the objective offostering and strengtheningthe healthcare system in theregion.

Head of the departmentProf Uma Shankar Singhshared with the guests the leg-endary history of the depart-ment and welcomed the guestsand dignitaries.

“During the last 10decades, the functioning ofthis department has acquirednewer dimensions and it hasemerged as a governmentinstitutional department car-rying out more than 20 lakhtests every year. The depart-ment of Pathology is well-equipped with all the latest

testing facilities, includingdigital laboratory, electronmicroscopy, fluorescence in-situ hybridisation and molec-ular techniques,” he said.

KGMU Vice-ChancellorDr Bipin Puri was the chiefguest. He congratulated thefaculty members, residentsand other staff members of thedepartment for their never-say-die spirit in these chal-lenging times. He said thatthis year will remind of thededication of doctors andhealth professionals who arefighting Covid-19 alongsidethat of policy-makers and allhealth healthcare workers.

Pro-VC Prof VineetSharma, dean of Faculty ofMedicine Prof Uma Singh,and dean of Faculty of DentalSciences Prof Anil Chandrawelcomed the guests andlauded the contribution ofthe department of Pathology.

The Foundation Day ora-tion was delivered by execu-tive director of AIIMS (RaeBareli) Prof Arvind Rajwanshifrom RMLIMS and ProfAmita Jain, head of KGMU’sMicrobiology, department.

Prof Rajwanshi spoke

about the role of ancillarytechniques in diagnosticpathology and how to applythese techniques in day-to-daywork for more specif ic diagnosis.

Prof Nuzhat Hussainaddressed the paradigm ofscreening the cancer of uter-ine cervix in India. She spokeabout the significance andchallenges faced in screeningof cervical cancer, which is thesecond most common canceraffecting women in India.Prof Amita Jain delivered atalk on the ongoing Covid-19pandemic. She explained indetail the present scenarioand the role of vaccines.

Dr Bipin Puri felicitatedthe speaker, orators with theFoundation Day OrationAward. Final year PG residentsPrachi Goel, Shalini Rawatand Damin Singh were alsoawarded certificates of honorfor their outstanding contribu-tion. The programme wasattended by around 500 partic-ipants online, including alum-ni, retired teachers and headsof departments, faculty mem-bers as well as other healthcareworkers of KGMU.

� ����� ���� �3�������� ����*���Lucknow (PNS): In a decisionthat can transform the farmsector of the state, the UttarPradesh government has decid-ed to involve Farmers ProducerOrganisations (FPO) in theprocurement of wheat, theprocess which commenced onApril 1.

The state government hasissued a directive in this regard,allowing FPOs to participate inthe wheat procurementprocess. The only condition isthat each FPO should have atleast 400 farmers as members.

"To start with, 150 FPOsare engaged in the process andthey may have their own wheatpurchase centres. The role ofFPO is to act as an aggregatorfor member farmers, includingfrom inputs and output, whichwill enhance the economy ofthe state and the bargainingpower of member farmers," asenior government official said.

The idea behind the FPOis to bring farmers, producergroups, traders and theAgriculture and allied depart-ments of the state governmenton one platform.

Meanwhile, the wheat pro-curement has gained momen-tum in the state with a total of14,544 metric tons of wheatpurchased at about 6,000 cen-tres at the minimum supportprice (MSP) of Rs 1,975 perquintal.

Incidentally, UP is the onlycountry to have launched theUP FPO Shakti portal as partof the Kisan Kalyan Mission.The portal, the first of its kindin the country, has been devel-oped by the AgricultureDepartment with the supportof the Bill and Melinda GatesFoundation (BMGF) and aimsat benefiting the farmers at thegrassroots level.

It may be noted that dur-ing its four-year rule, the YogiAdityanath government hasmade a record payment of Rs29,017.45 crore to more than 33lakh wheat farmers.

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#�� ���'����.#"�����/�Two CMS students have secured 100 per

cent marks in Science, getting top rank in theI n t e r n a t i o n a lBenchmark Test (IBT)organised by AustralianCouncil for EducationalResearch (ACER).Rudra Mishra andSrishti are class VIIIstudents of City Montessori School, RDSOCampus. From India, over 50,000 studentsappeared for IBT. The CMS students showcasedtheir talents and skills in observing and mea-suring, interpreting data, inferring, predicting,drawing conclusions, reasoning and problem-solving etc. IBT is an internationally adminis-tered programme of assessments to compare stu-dents' performance globally.

%/���Addressing a webinar on the theme ‘Digital

Uttar Pradesh 2021: Drive Augmentation of e-Governance’, managing director of Uttar PradeshMetro Rail Corporation Kumar Keshav empha-sised on the need for smarter and technologyadvanced mobility solutions along with multi-modal integration of transport systems. He alsohighlighted the importance of a common sin-gle payment platform which can be accessed formultiple payments. “For example, the GoSmartcard is being used to make payments for certainutilities like house tax, telephone bill as well asfor commuting via various modes of mass tran-sit like buses, autos and e-rickshaws,” he said.“We need to adopt and implement such optionswhich are cost-effective, sustainable and con-sumer-centric so as to enhance the travel expe-rience of commuters,” he added.

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Afive-year-old girl wasallegedly raped by a

labourer in Muzaffarnagar dis-trict, police said on Wednesday.

The girl, daughter of abrick kiln labourer, was rushedto a hospital in an injuredcondition on Tuesday, theysaid. According to a complaintfiled by her family, the accusedraped the minor at a place nearthe brick kiln. A case has beenregistered against the accusedand he has been arrested, thepolice said.

In a separate incident, thebody of an unidentified manwas found floating in theGanga canal near Jolly villageon Tuesday evening.

The local police fished out

the body and sent it for post-mortem.

A case was registered andefforts were on to ascertain theidentity of the victim.

Meanwhile, in a shockingincident in Maharajganj, a six-month pregnant woman wasraped at knifepoint.

The incident took place inPaniyara village of the district.Police have initiated a probeinto the incident after a com-plaint from the victim.

According to the victim,she was sleeping at her homeon Monday night when a manbarged into her house by scal-ing a wall and put a knife onher throat. He then threatenedto kill her if she raised an alarmand raped her, the victim toldthe police.

The accused is said to be aneighbour of the victim.

The victim said she was 6-month pregnant. The womanscreamed in pain when she wasraped by the accused. Hearingher cries, her mother-in-lawcame to the room and nabbedthe accused. Local residentsalso gathered at the house afterhearing the commotion andcalled the police.

In the meantime, theaccused fled from the clutchesof the woman after pushing herhard.

"We have received a com-plaint and are probing thematter. Strict action will betaken against the accused,"saidSO, Pinayara, Dilip Singh.

Meanwhile, in anotherincident in Meerut district, a

22-year-old pregnant womanwas allegedly beaten to deathby her in-laws for not bringingdowry. The incident took placein Nanglasahu village underBhawanipur police station.

The accused in-laws laterfled the spot.

The village head informedthe police about the murder.

Later, the victim's familyreached the village and con-ducted a search in the house ofsome villagers.

The girl, a resident of LisariGate in Meerut, was married toone Rashid around 10 monthsago. The girl's father said herin-laws used to harass her andwere demanding Rs 5 lakh asdowry and upset at not gettingthe money, they beat her todeath.

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Chennai: The much acclaimedvaccine for Covid-19 is noteffective to fight the pandemic,as it has been made out, accord-ing to a highly respected medicalphysician in Chennai.

Dr CV Krishnaswami, TamilNadu’s leading physician and areputed medical scientist withhundreds of research publica-tions in internationally peerreviewed scientific journals hascautioned the State and CentralGovernments, medical fraterni-ty and civil society against the“false euphoria” after the vacci-nation. Tamil Nadu has beendiagnosing more than 3000 newcases of Covid-19 on a daily basissince April 1 and doctors do notrule out the possibility of thedaily cases crossing the 4,000mark this week itself.

Dr Krishnaswami who isalso the editor for Indian sub-continent of the internationallypeer reviewed “Journal of theScience of Healing Outcomes”,has been monitoring the‘progress’ of this pandemic sinceit was reported from Wuhan inChina in early 2020. He alongwith Padma Vibhushan Prof B MHegde has been providing valu-able medical data and informa-tion about the characteristics ofCovid-19 to medical researchersand the civil society. PNS

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AMuslim League worker washacked to death and his

brother was grievously assault-ed allegedly by CPI(M) activistsin Kerala’s Kannur district with-in hours of the conclusion of theelections to the State Assembly.

Manzoor who was hackedby a group of persons around 8pm in front of his house lateTuesday night breathed his lastin the wee hours of Wednesdayat a corporate hospital inKozhikode. His brother Mohsinwho was injured in the attackhas been admitted to a hospi-tal in a critical stage.

R Ilango, superintendent ofpolice, Kannur, said the murderwas political in nature and aneighbor of Manzoor has beentaken into custody. He refusedto disclose more details as thepolice was into the process of

investigation. “We have enoughinformation that proves thatmore than ten persons wereinjured in this attack,” he said.

Muslim League leader P KKunhalikutty visited the resi-dence of the vistim and con-soled the parents. Elsewhere inthe State, the CPI(M) launchedattacks on Congress workersresulting in the hospitalizationof two workers belonging to theGrand Old Party getting seri-ously injured.

“The CPI(M) has becomea party of murderers and theyhave been taken over by a fearof losing the polls. TheMarxists become violent whenthey understand that they areabout to lose the polls. This hasbeen the precedence in Kerala,”said Chennithala while speak-ing to reporters. ThoughWednesday has been by andlarge peaceful, there was no

shortage of verbal duel by theleaders of Congress and theCPI(M). MullappalliRamachandran, KPCC presi-dent blamed the CPI(M) andBJP for transferring votes toeach other with the sole objec-tive of defeating the Congress.

He alleged that the CPI(M)voted in favor of the BJP atManjeswaram where theHindutwa party had fielded KSurendran as its candidatewhile the BJP is believed tohave voted in favor of theCongress.

But K Surendran allegedthat Ramachandran has lost hismental balance resulting inincoherent statements by thelatter. Charges and Countercharges were seen flying fromthe camps of Marxists and theBJP as the high pitch campaignhas given way to a period ofinactivity.

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Even as violence continued inBengal with reports of TMC-

BJP clashes coming from allsides, alleged Trinamool support-ers attacked the convoy of BengalBJP president Dilip Ghosh, atSitai in the same district inNorth Bengal.

The incident took placehours after Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee delivered analleged inflammatory speechasking the people of Coochbeharto gherao the central forces andblockade them. “We had justended our meeting and werepreparing to move back toCoochbehar when the TMCsupporters returning fromMamata Banerjee’s rally attackedus with bombs, bamboos andbricks. Many cars were damagedand the BJP leadership had to lit-erally run for safety… the policeleft us to our fate and our person-al security men somehow man-aged to drive us to Coochbehar.”

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For the convenience of pas-sengers, the railways have

decided to run special trains. Inthe same context, train no09421/09422 Ahmedabad-Patna-Ahmedabad WeeklyExpress special train will runfrom April 11. It will departfrom Ahmedabad everySunday night at 9:50. The nextday, it will reach PrayagrajJunction at 8:20 and thereafter,it will leave after 20 minutes.The third day, it will reachPatna at 3:50 am.

In return, every Tuesdayfrom April 13, it will leavePrayagraj at 10:15 am andreach Prayagraj at 6:40 pmand depart at 7 pm. The secondday, it will reach Ahmedabad at5:45 pm.

06359/06360 Ernaakulam-Patna-Ernakulam WeeklySuperfast Special will run fromErnakulam every Saturdayfrom May 1 at 11:55 pm. Thethird day, it will reach Prayagrajat 10:10 pm and depart after 25minutes.

It will reach Patna at 6:30in the morning. The returntrain will run from Patna onMay 4 at 4:30 pm on everyTuesday. It will reach Prayagrajat 12:10 pm and depart after30 minutes. The third day, itwill reach Ernakulam at 9:40pm.

01067/01068 LokmanyaTilak Terminal-Faizabad-Lokmanya Tilak TerminalSuperfast (two days a week)will depart LTT everyWednesday and Saturday fromApril 14 at 6:00 am. The next

day, it will reach Prayagraj at3:50 am and leave after 30 min-utes.

It will reach Faizabad at8:55. In return, every Thursdayand Sunday from April 15, itwill depart from Faizabad at1:30 pm and will reachPrayagraj at 6:25 in the eveningand depart after 25 minutes,thus the train will ariive at LTTat 4:05 pm.

Similarly, the train no.02937/02938 Gandhidham-Howrah-Gandhidham WeeklySuperfast special will run fromGandhidham every Saturdayfrom April 10 at 6:00 pm andreach Prayagraj at 10:05 pm thenext day and depart after fiveminutes. It will reach Howrahat 12:55 pm. In return, it willrun from Howrah everyMonday from April 12 at 11:00

pm. The next day, it will reachPrayagraj Junction at 11:30 amand depart five minutes later.The third day, it will reachGandhidham at 2:55 pm.

VISIT: Air MarshalShashiker Choudhary AVSMVSM Air Officer Commandingin Chief, MaintenanceCommand visited Air ForceStation Manauri for two daytour on April 6, 2021. The AirMarshal was accompanied byAnita Choudhary PresidentAir Force Wives WelfareAssociation (Regional).

On arrival at the Depot, theAir Marshal was received byAir Commodore SanyogMehta, Air OfficerCommanding, Air ForceStation Manauri and RichaMehta President AFWWA(Local).

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Anand Kumar from BanarasLocomotive Works (BLW),

who is currently posted inRailway Board, New Delhi,has been nominated as a physiotrainer for Indian women ten-nis team which is going to par-ticipate in the World GroupPlay-offs played for Billie JeanKing Cup scheduled to be heldat Indoor Hard Courts inJurmala, Latvia from April 16to 17. The Indian women ten-nis team is going to participatein the World group play-off forthe first time in tennis history.The current team includesSania Mirza and Ankita Rainaas well. Anand Kumar is play-ing a big role with both menand women Indian tennisteams. He has been workingwith the tennis teams for morethan 15 years. In this longcareer he has been a memberof the teams which won medalsin Asian Games, Davis Cup,Fed Cup, CommonwealthGames and many other tourna-ments. He is also working as apersonal trainer for many ten-nis stars like Leander Paes,Rohan Bopanna, Divij Sharan,Sania Mirza and many more.

ELECTED: SeniorHematologist Dr ManojKumar Srivastava has been

elected unopposed as theEditor of Journal of IndianMedical Association (JIMA).He was also honoured withthe Lakshman CancerAwareness & Research Award2019-2020 for generatingawareness andmaking research on cancer.

In the annual meeting ofIMA held at Greater Noida, DrManoj was elected unopposedas the editor of JIMA. He hadalso been the editor of thehealth magazine of IMA ApkaSwasthya. Besides, he had alsobeen the editor of Hemophilia

News Letter & Indian Collegeof Hematology Society. His 20books on medicine have so farbeen published. The chairmanof Varanasi Chapter of API DrHemant Gupta, secretary AlokSingh, Dr SK Singh, Dr ShipraDhar, Dr Shalini Khurana, DrVP Singh, Dr Monika Gupta,Dr AK Tripathi, Dr RPKhurana, Dr Ashok Rai, DrSharad Agrawal extended theircongratulations to Dr Manoj onhis election.

PROGRAMME: In viewof the outbreak of second waveof corona, a programme on

‘Corona Phase 2: AwarenessCampaign’ was organsed atShri Agrasen Girls PostGraduate College,Parmanandpur here onWednesday under the auspicesof Home Science Extensionand Communication depart-ment on the occasion of WorldHealth Day. In the programme,the teachers and staff of the col-lege were given a message ofprevention of corona attack.The students who participatedonline displayed their plac-ards appealing to all not toneglect one’s health and givetop priority to one’s health.

Manager of the collegeAnil Kumar Jain appealed to allto fight against COVID-19pandemic for establishment ofa healthy society. Principal DrKumkum Malaviya askedeveryone to be alert, realisingthe dangers of corona pandem-ic. Head of department DrArchana Srivastava, highlight-ing the importance of vaccina-tion, motivated everyone totake both the doses of thecorona vaccine timely. Teacherslike Dr Neelu Garg, DrBhavana Sharma, Dr VibhaSingh, Dr Suman, Madhuri,Saroj Bhaskar while studentsincluding Kiran Maurya, Ujala,Poonam, Shweta, Vaishali par-ticipated online.

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In an encounter, the jointteam of Special Task Force

(STF) and Ramnagar policearrested a hardcore criminalVirendra, carrying a cashreward of � 50000 on his head.The criminal sustained bulletinjury during the encounterand was admitted at TraumaCentre, SSH, BHU.

According to information,the local unit of STF got a tip-off about the presence of noto-rious criminal Virendra Singhnear Lanka ground, under theRamnagar police station.Acting on information, theSTF sleuths coordinated withthe cops of Ramnagar policestation and raided the place latenight on Tuesday.

Seeing the joint team ofSTF and police, the criminaltried to escape from the scene

while firing at police party. TheSTF sleuths also opened fire inretaliation in which he sus-tained bullet injury at his leg.The criminal was rushed todivisional government hospitalin Kabirchaura from where hewas referred to trauma centrewhere his condition was statedto be out of danger. The policedoubted that one aide of arrest-ed criminal managed to fleeaway from the scene during theencounter taking the advantageof darkness.

The arrested criminal, aresident of Chibhi village,under the Rasad police stationin Ballia, is wanted in manycases particularly at brick kilnsin Gorakhpur and Deoria. Thecriminal cases are pendingagainst him in Gorakhpur,Ballia, Deoria and Mau. Earlierin February 5 last, his aideChotak, a resident of Kesarua

village, under the Sukhpurapolice station in Ballia and car-ried a cash reward of � 25000,was arrested in an encounterbut Virendra had managed toescape from the scene at thattime.

FIRE BREAKS OUT INPACKAGING FACTORY: Abig fire broke out at a packag-ing factory in Chandpur-Maheshpur Industrial Estate,under the Manduadih policestation in the morning onWednesday reducing to ashesproperty worth crores but nocasualty or injury wad report-ed. The actual cause behind fireincident could not be ascer-tained. According to informa-tion, there is a factory of pack-aging in above-mentionedindustrial estate. It was said thatthe fire broke out in static sparkof factory and soon, it took theentire factory in its grip. Seeing

this, the labourers present onthe occasion informed the fac-tory in-charge Sunil Kumarwho reported to police controlroom. The police control roominformed the fire departmentabout this. On being informedabout the fire incident, thepolice personnel and fire fight-ing personnel reached the site.The fire fighting personnelused four fire tenders and tookabout an hour to douse the firebut the properties worth croreswere gutted in the fire by then.

The cause behind the fireincident could not be ascer-tained till the news last came in.Though the assessment of theloss was being made but Kumarclaimed that it could be worthin crores as nine machinesand raw materials were reducedto ashes. But no casualty orinjury was reported in theincident.

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Heavy rush of candidateswas seen at LT College

premises and other blockoffices on the first day of filingof nomination papers here onWednesday. The police had atough time to control the mobtrying to enter the nominationcentre at LT College, OrderlyBazar, here for filing nomina-tion papers for the posts of ZilaPanchayat members. As manypolitical parties had alreadyannounced contesting the pollsstrongly, enthusiasm was seenas long line of women candi-dates was also seen there. Thistime District Panchayat chair-man post is reserved for OBC

in the district.Besides, the nomination

process for gram pradhans andgram panchayat and kshetrapanchayat members in three-tier Panchayat poll was heldamidst tight security arrange-ments at all the blocks peace-fully. The polling will be heldon April 19, while the countingwill be held on May 2. In viewof rising cases of corona, nocandidates and their proposalswere allowed to enter the nom-ination places without wearingmasks. However, due to turn-ing of huge rush of candidateswilling to contest poll, socialdistancing could not be main-tained outside the nominationside.

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Three accused in the case ofDr. AK Bansal’s murder

are in jail. Of them, accused ofplotting murder, former blockpramukh Dilip Mishra inFatehgarh, shooter AkhtarKatra in Sonbhadra and MohdShoaib are lodged in Lucknowjail. In order to record theirstatement in the case, theKydganj police will now makea warrant B of the three. Thenafter getting the warrant served,they will be brought and pro-duced in the court of Prayagraj.The preparation of this hasbeen started by the Kydganjpolice.

At the same time, on get-ting information about thekiller shooter Mohd Shoaib’sarrest, Inspector KydganjRoshan Lal, who was investi-

gating the case on Monday, alsoreached Lucknow. He inquiredfrom the accused about thepeople involved in the incident.Subsequently, discussions weretaken with regard to theadvance action from the high-er authorities.

Police said that Shoaib willbe remanded from Lucknowcourt first, after which he willbe questioned in the police cus-tody regarding the murder sothat we can get some moreinformation about the inci-dent. Further action will betaken in the suit on the samebasis. However, it is also beingsaid that the trial of the casewill be expedited due to theexposure of the incident. Afterthe murder of Dr. AK Bansal,his younger brother PraveenKumar Bansal lodged an FIR atthe Kydganj police station.

Inspector Roshan Lal said thatthe warrant B of the accused inthe jail will be made soon.

Police and STF got a bighelp by CCTV footage toexpose the famous murdercase of laparoscopic surgeonand Director of Jeevan JyotiHospital, Dr. AK Bansal. Onthe basis of the footage, sever-al suspected miscreants werepicked up for questioning, butthey could not be identifiedcorrectly. After this, the policehad issued a sketch of the twoshooters and announced areward of ��50,000 each on thebasis of the appearance told bya guard present in the doctor’schamber.

Sketch posters were madeat all the places in the city, andan appeal was made that thosegiving information about theshooters would be given a

reward amount and their namewould be kept secret.

However, as the expecta-tions slowly faded, the investi-gation again intensified on thebasis of CCTV footage.Meanwhile, the face of a crim-inal from Pratapgarh was foundto be similar, who was pickedup for questioning. By that timeYasir had been murdered. STFDeputy SP Navendu Kumar,who played a key role in expos-ing the murder case, said thephotograph of MohammadShoaib and Yasir was capturedin the CCTV footage. Shoaibfled to Mumbai only afterlearning about this, while thesecond photo was of Yasir,who was murdered by hisfriend. The STF had been look-ing to nab Shoaib for a longtime and eventually he washauled up.

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General Manager NCR andNER Vinay Kumar

Tripathi reviewed status ofsafety, asset reliability, punctu-ality, loading and revenue onNorth Central Railway. Thismeeting organised throughvideo conference was attendedby AGM NCR Ranjan Yadav,PHODs of NCR and DRMs ofPrayagraj, Jhansi and Agradivisions and other officialsfrom HQ office and Divisions.

During safety review, pre-cautions to be taken to preventfire cases, protection to betaken at work site, proper roadlearning of track maintenancemachine operator etc. werediscussed. Reviewing positionof safety in train operation,General Manager VinayKumar Tripathi stressed thateach and every functionary ofRailway must remain focusedfor safe train operation.

North Central Railway hasprepared list of importantinfrastructure works targetedfor completion in FY 2021-22.GM Tripathi said that eachimportant work needs to bebifurcated and progress of eachmilestone be monitored so asall targeted works are complet-ed in time. After video confer-ence, 37 staff and supervisorsof North Central Railway weregiven General Manager Safetyawards. These staff and super-visors chosen from the threedivisions have done exemplaryworks in field of safety, avert-ing accident etc.

Owing to COVIDd-19protocol, 7 local staff ofPrayagraj division were givenawards by GM VK Tripathi inHQ office while other staff andsupervisors were given GMlevel safety award citation andcash award by respectiveDRMs. Those conferred withGM Safety award today include

Satyam Shivam Sundaram,Loco Pilot, Tundla, Shri Neeraj,Co. Loco Pilot, Tundla, SanjeevKumar, Station Master, Rura,Kamlesh Kumar Rajak,Pointsman, Malwa, AshrafAli, Loco Pilot, Kanpur, GaneshKumar, Assistant Loco Pilot,Kanpur, Kamal Singh,Pointsman, Ikdil, LokeshKumar Verma, Gateman,Kanpur, Krishna Prasad,Technician-II, Prayagraj,Narendra Kumar, ESM-II,Jigna, Sushen Kumar, Guard,Prayagraj , Anirudh Yadav,Loco Pilot, Prayagraj,Dharmendra Kumar Patel,Trackman, Unchdih, RamSewak, Pointsman-A, Jakhaura,Siyanand, Asst. Loco Pilot,Jhansi, Arjun Singh Rajput,Dy. Station Manager, Jakhaura,Arvind, Gateman, Karauda,Prabhat Kumar, Pointsman,Lalitpur, Govardhan, Gateman,Karauda, Munna, Keyman,Unit no. 33, Antri, Pawan

Kumar Yadav, Gateman, Gateno. 404, Antri, Krishna KumarMeena, Gateman, Gate no.399, Anantpeth, ShaileshKumar, Trackman, Unit no. 32,Ananthapeth , ShishramMeena, Loco Pilot / Goods,Mathura, Pawan Sharma, Sr.Assistant Loco Pilot, Mathura, Pana Shah Jain, Sr. Section.Engineer / USFD Agra, SureshChandrath Katara, Loco Pilot/ Goods, Agra, Satyapal Singh,Sr. Assistant Loco Pilot, Agra,Netram, Gateman, Gate no.545, Kosikalan, Dharm Singh,Trackman-4 (Gateman),Mathura, Bhuri Singh,Pointsman, Nadwai, VinodKumar, Pointsman, Jajau,Dinesh Tiwari, Loco Pilot,Mathura, Rajneesh Meena,Loco Pilot, Mathura, RamNaresh Meena, Assistant . LocoPilot, Mathura, Manoj Kumar,Sr. Goods Guard, Agra Cantt,Kashiram Meena, StationSuperintendent, Chickasana.

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The gross negligence on thepart of the denizens has led

the Prayagraj city in great dan-ger. The number of COVID-19infections is increasing everyday. As if the corona pandem-ic bomb exploded on Tuesday.In a single day, a total of 1,084new cases of COVID-19 werefound when three people losttheir lives.

If we look at the figures,around 45 infected are beingfound every hour. This is thehighest and shocking figureever. It is a matter of concernthat the death toll is alsoincreasing. Seeing the samedanger, other police officers,including IG range KP Singhand SSP Sarvshresth Tripathi,came down on the city road atnight and alerted the people aswell. It is clear that the policeofficers are also looking wor-ried. Police officers on footalerted people by walking alongwith business leaders in CivilLines.

The Chief Medical Officer,Dr. Prabhakar Rai said that notmany such infected personswere found in the district in asingle day before this. Now thedoor to door survey has beenintensified in the city. Apartfrom health workers, primaryteachers have also beenengaged. They will go fromhouse to house checking thecorona of people. Everyoneshould not panic or hide, make

sure to do their testing. This isvery important to prevent thespread of infection, added DrRai.

He also informed that 59patients are admitted in TejBahadur Sapru Hospital L2,202 patients in Swaroop RaniHospital L-3 Hospital. OnTuesday, samples of 8,363 peo-ple were taken for testing.However, 20 patients were dis-charged from Swaroop Rani L-3 Hospital, while 44 peoplecompleted home isolation.Everyone should wear a maskand use physical distance, sani-tiser.

In view of the increasingcases of Corona, the Covidcontrol room is operating 24hours. If anyone needs anyinformation, he/she can call0532 2641577, 0532 2641578,7458825340, 05322641581,05322641582.

The zonal magistrates ofPratappur area, who are doingduty in the panchayat elections,have also come under the gripof Corona. Apart from this, thereport of the Loco Pilot,Railway Assistant Loco Pilot,Assistant Commandant CRPF,PNB Manager based at CivilLines has been reported asCOVID-19 positive. Manyteachers and advocates, includ-ing ward boy of Dufferin,research student of MNNIT, labtechnicians of SRN, accoun-tants of the Income TaxDepartment, a staff of the rail-way hospital, have also testedCorona positive.

TRADERS URGED TODO BUSINESS WITH CARE:In a virtual meeting of the CivilLines Vyapar Mandal, presi-dent Sushil Kharbanda toldthe traders that the outbreak ofCorona is increasing rapidly.

‘We all have to do business andprotect ourselves as well. Insuch a situation, there is a needto do business with utmostcare’. He asked the traders tosanitise their establishmentsdaily, follow the two yards, urg-ing customers to come in withmasks. Traders aged 45 yearsand above must also get admin-istered the corona vaccine.General secretary ShivshankarSingh said that a corona vac-cine camp is being organised atVatsalya Hospital from 12 pmto 2 pm on Tuesday,Wednesday and Thursday.Traders like Subhash Yadav,Ashish Arora, Sheikh DaburRitesh Singh, Dinesh Singhetc. attended the meeting.

Meanwhile, the commer-cial tax commissioners are seri-ous about increasing cases oftax evasion. He directed theAdditional Commissioner of allzones to curb the cases of taxevasion. The SpecialInvestigation Branch (SIB) hasalso been asked to settle theissues by April 15. After hear-ing the cases of the concernedtraders and entrepreneurs bythe authorities, there is a min-imum time of three and max-imum six months for theirdisposal.

There are estimated to beabout a dozen cases pendingfor investigation in Prayagrajzone. All the cases have to bedisposed of by issuing noticesto traders and entrepreneurs byApril 15.

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As the district continuedseeing the serious impacts

of second wave, the COVID-19cases have crossed 25K-markon Wednesday. As many as 519more have tested positive by theevening, increasing the totalnumber to 25,373. The day alsosaw two more deaths, increas-ing the toll to 393. During thelast 24 hours, 72 patients havebeen recovered, 71 of them inhome isolation and one inhospital. The total number ofpatients cured in the district is22,159 including 19,151 inhome isolation and 3,008 inCovid hospitals. The number ofactive cases has jumped up to2,821. The recovery rate hasdeclined to 87.33 per cent,while mortality rate is 1.54 percent. In the first report of theday, 224 positive patients werefound out of 1,609 reportsreceived. Till then, the total testreports received were 8,01,115and the results of 3,008 areawaited. Out of them, 7,76,037were negative, while 25,078were positive. The total num-ber of samples collected was

8,31,366, informed ChiefMedical Officer (CMO) DrVB Singh.

Meanwhile, in view of theincreasing COVID-19 cases, amassive public awarenesscampaign is being organisedin Banaras Locomotive Works(BLW) and in this directionon Wednesday, DeputyGeneral Manager Vijay, PublicRelations Officer RajeshKumar and other officers andemployees mobilised the peo-

ple towards COVID-19. Infront of Cinema hall, theshopkeepers and others wereasked to wear masks proper-ly apart from maintainingsocial distance. Besides, theBLW administration has shift-ed the Jalalipatti Sabzi Mandito the grounds of BLW InterCollege and during the dayDGM Vijay, Deputy ChiefElectrical Engineer(Maintenance) KM Singh,PRO Rajesh Kumar, and oth-

ers visited the grounds andasked the vegetable sellers toput marks in view to maintainphysical distance of cus-tomers. They also instructedthe concerned officers tomaintain proper lightingarrangements there.

Besides, in view to accel-erate the pace of ongoing vac-cination, District Magistrate(DM) Kaushal Raj Sharmahas nominated secretary ofRed Cross Society Dr SanjayRai as convenor to help vari-ous groups in vaccinationdrive. In this direction, thesociety members were vacci-nated at SVM HospitalBhelpur and the processwould also be continued onThursday. At the same placeon April 9, the vaccination ofmembers of Banaras Club andPNU Club will be held.However, these club memberswould be vaccinated atDistrict Women’s Hospital onApril10. Besides, the vaccina-tion of members of SinduVikas Samiti and MarwariYuva Manch will be held atSVM Hospital Bhelupur onApril 12 and 13 respectively.

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The railway administrationwill for the convenience of

passengers run the 05056Ramnagar-Agra Fort triweek-ly special train from April 11 toJune 29 on every Tuesday,Friday and Sunday and 05055Agra Fort-Ramnagar triweek-ly special train from April 12 toJune 30 on every Wednesday,Saturday and Monday. Besides,it will run the 01093/01094Chhatrapati Shivaji MaharajTerminus (CSMT)-Gorakhpur-Chatrapati Shivaji MaharajTerminus biweekly special trainApril 7, 12, 14 and 19 on everyWednesday and MondayChhatrapati Shivaji fromMaharaj Terminus and fromGorakhpur on April 9, 14, 16and 21 on every Wednesdayand Friday.

All coaches in them will beof reserved category and pas-sengers travelling in them willhave to follow the Covid-19prevention guidelines, ChiefPublic Relations Officer(CPRO) Pankaj Kumar Singhsaid.

R A M NAG A R- AG R AFORT TRIWEEKLY: The05056 Ramnagar-Agra Forttriweekly special train willfrom April 11 to June 29 onevery Tuesday, Friday andSunday depart from Ramnagarat 19.50 hrs, from Kashipur at20.25 hrs, from Bazpur at 20.43hrs, from Lal Kuan at 21.47 hrs,from Pantnagar at 22.05 hrs,from Kichha at 22.17 hrs, fromBaheri at 22.35 hrs, fromIzzatnagar at 23.25 hrs, fromBareilly City at 23.43 hrs, fromBareilly Jn at 23.58 hrs, on thesecond day from Badaun at00.40 hrs, from Ujhani at00.58 hrs, from Soron ShukarKshetra at 01.28 hrs, from

Kasganj at 02.02 hrs, fromSikandra Rao at 02.24 hrs,from Hathras City at 02.57 hrs,from Mathura Cantt at 04.00hrs, from Mathura Junction at04.10 hrs, from Achhnera at05.00 hrs, from Idgah Agra at05.50 hrs and will reach AgraFort at 06.55 hrs.

AGRA FORT-RAMNAGAR TRIWEEKLYSPL: In the return journey, the05055 Agra Fort-Ramnagartriweekly special train willfrom April 12 to June 30 onevery Wednesday, Saturdayand Monday depart from AgraFort at 20.40 hrs, from IdgahAgra at 20.56 hrs, fromAchhnera at 21.40 hrs, fromMathura Jn at 22.50 hrs, fromMathura Cantt at 23.05 hrs,from Hathras City at 23.45 hrs,from Sikandra Rao on the sec-ond day at 00.20 hrs, fromKasganj at 01.05 hrs, fromSoron Shukur Kshetra at 01.24hrs, from Ujhani at 01.52 hrs,from Badaun at 0205 hrs, fromBareilly Jn at 03.05 hrs, fromBareilly City at 03.20 hrs, fromIzzatnagar at 03.38 hrs, fromBahedi at 04.13 hrs, fromKichha at 04.34 hrs, fromPantnagar at 04.51 hrs, fromLalkuan at 05.20 hrs, fromBazpur at 06.10 hrs, fromKashipur at 06.35 hrs andreach Ramnagar at 07.20 hrs.A total of 16 coaches, includ-ing one each of air-condi-tioned (AC ) second and thirdclasses, six of sleeper, as manyof general second class and twoof SLRD will be attached in thisspecial train.

CSMT-GORAKHPURBIWEEKLY SPL: The 01093Chhatrapati Shivaji MaharajTerminus-Gorakhpur biweek-ly special train on April 7, 12,14 and 19 2021, everyWednesday and Monday, will

leave Chhatrapati ShivajiMaharaj Terminus at 23.30hrs, from Dadar at 23.40 hrs,the second day from Kalyan at00.35 hrs, from Igatpuri at02.25 hrs, from Nashik Road at03.10 hrs, from Manmad at04.10 hrs, from Jalgaon at 06.20hrs, from Bhusaval at 06.55 hrs,from Khandwa at 09.25 hrs,from Itarsi at 12.50 hrs, fromBhopal at 15.20 hrs, from Binaat 17.55 hrs, from Jhansi at20.30 hrs, on the third day frp,Kanpur Central at 04.25 hrs,from Lucknow at 06.20 hrs,from Gonda at 08.50 hrs, fromBasti at 10.10 hrs and willreach Gorakhpur at 11.40 hrs.

GORAKHPUR-CSMTBIWEEKLY SPL: The 01094Gorakhpur-Chhatrapati ShivajiMaharaj Terminus biweeklyspecial train on April 9, 14, 16and 21 on every Wednesdayand Friday depart fromGorakhpur at 17.25 hrs, fromBasti at 18.35 hrs, from Gondaat 20.00 hrs, from Lucknow at22.50 hrs, on the second dayfrom Kanpur Central at 00.35hrs, from Jhansi at 04.25 hrs,from Bina at 07.20 hrs, fromBhopal at 09.25 hrs, from Itarsiat 11.25 hrs, from Khandwa at14.25 hrs, from Bhusaval at16.40 hrs, from Jalgaon at 17.10hrs, from Manmad at 19.20 hrs,from Nashik Road at 20.20 hrs,from Igatpuri at 21.25 hrs,from Kalyan at 22.50 hrs, fromDadar at 23.40 hrs and willreach Chhatrapati ShivajiMaharaj Terminus at 00.05 hrson the third day.

A total of 20 coaches,including eight of sleeper class,two of general second class,three of general second classchair, four of of AC third class,one of AC second class and twoof SLRD, will be attached in thisspecial train.

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Divisional Commissioner(DC) Yogeshwar Ram

Mishra on Tuesday inspectedVindhyachal area along withDM Praveen Kumar Laxkarand SP Ajay Kumar Singh inconnection with ChaitraNavaratri Mela. During theinspection he directed the offi-cials concerned to postpone thedemolition of acquired build-ings till Navratri festival ended.He directed the officials con-cerned to ensure removal ofdebris without delay so that itdid not pose a problem todevotees. Regarding thearrangements he made it clearthat without sanitisation no onehad to be allowed to enter thepremises. Moreover, he saidthat Covid-19 preventionguidelines should be followedstrictly not only by by the per-sonnel on duty but by the vis-itors too. He also made itclear that no VIP will beallowed to bring the vehicle upto the temple premises. Hedirected the administrationto set up parking places andrates should be displayedthere clearly. He directed theworking agencies to com-plete works on time in viewof Navaratri. The Electricitydepartment was directed tomake arrangements timely toensure the unhindered sup-ply during Navaratri. TheCMO was directed to set upcentres at each importantpoint of mela area for pre-liminary test of Covid anddeploy adequate personnelfor it. In this connection theadministration was directed tofollow the norms of Covidstrictly as per the recommen-dation of the Health depart-ment. Holding a meeting at theadministrative office of mela,the DC directed the DM to geta register maintained in whichthe contact number of eachpersonnel deployed in the melashould be noted along withdetails of deployment placebesides the shift of duty.

During the inspection ADMUP Singh, city magistrateVinay Kumar Singh, ASP(City) Sanjay Kumar, CO Cityand SHO were also present alongwith the other officials.

BOY BURNT ALIVE: In atragic incident a boy was burntalive when a hut caught the firein Jarahaa village under Padaripolice station on Tuesday.

According to a report,Kailash, a resident of the village,lived in Gujarat while his fam-ily lived here. On the said dayhis wife, Sheela, had gonesomewhere for work while herchildren, Urmila (12), Shivam(10) and Shubham(8) wereplaying near the house. Inbetween Shivam entered thehut which suddenly caughtfire . On hearing the cries of thechildren villagers rushed tothe spot but the hut wasreduced to ashes within min-utes and Shivam died. On get-ting information about it thetehsildar reached the spot, con-soled the bereaved familymembers and assured all pos-sible help. An earlier report saidthat the body of a woman wasfound in a well in Kotwaan vil-lage under Padari police stationon Tuesday morning. On get-ting the information the areapolice reached on spot andtook the body into custody forcompleting the necessary legalformalities. The deceased wasidentified as Mithilesh (44),wife of Ganesh Dubey, a resi-dent of Kotawaan village underPadari police sation. The fam-ily members of the deceased

said that she was mentallyretarded.

ARRESTED: Padari policearrested a rape accused recent-ly. Reports received here saidthat a 22-year-old woman hadon February 1 lodged a firstinformation report (FIR) atthe Padari police station stat-ing that on finding her alone inher house her neighbourentered it and then raped her.Acting on the case, StationHouse Officer (SHO)Venkatesh Tiwari nabbed theaccused identified as KapildeoVishwakarma the resident ofMohanpur under PS Padarifrom Kapsaur village underPadari police station.

REMEMBERED: FormerMP Uma Kant Mishra wasremembered on his birthanniversary on Tuesday. At abrief programme organised atLalganj speakers said UmaKant Mishra, recalled histenure as MLC as well as MPand enumerated the works forwhich he did for the uplift ofthe most backward area likeUparaudh. They said his out-standing services will beremembered for years. Theysaid that Mishra had onces p oke n i n S ans k r i t i nParliament for hours forwhich he was praised by theleaders of not only his partybut opposition too. Earlierthe programme started withgarlanding of the portrait ofthe late leader. Prominentamong those who expressedtheir views were Hooblal Dubey,Lalbahadur and Mahendra Patel.

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District Magistrate PriyankaNiranjan inspected the

Government Medical College(GMC), Jalaun. She was wel-comed by principal DrDwijendra Nath. She theninspected the Corona helpdeskand appreciated medical stafffor maintaining social distanc-ing and ensuring sanitisationeverywhere. She instructed allthe doctors to take proper careof patients and then inaugurated the 60-bedICU centre. She also instructed to ensure prop-er oxygen facility to severely infected patients.She appreciated the efforts of Principal Medical

College for makingavailable better med-ical facilities.Meanwhile she alsoinstructed to maintainproper fire safetyequipment and hangthem on the wall. Sheappealed to medicalstaff to take proper careof Covid patients. Shespoke to few patientson telephone. Amongthose present were Dr

RN Kushwaha, Dr Manoj Verma, Dr JeetanMishra, Dr Nootan Agarwal, Dr RK Singh, DrKuldeep Chandel, Dr Sanjeev Gupta, Dr PrashantNiranjan and matron Suman.

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The Indian Institute ofTechnology, Kanpur has

appointed Hosmac, Asia’s lead-ing healthcare managementand planning consultancy, todesign the School of MedicalResearch and Technology(SMRT). Situated on the IITKanpur campus, SMRT will bea full-fledged medical schoolcomprising Centres ofExcellence (CoEs) and a first-of-a-kind super-specialtyteaching hospital.

Combining medicine withengineering and encouragingcross-disciplinary learning,SMRT will provide an ecosys-tem that promotes the devel-opment of technology-basedinterventions for diagnosis,surveillance, management,mitigation, and prevention ofdiseases.

The proposed hospitalwith a medical college willhave a built up area of morethan 1 million square feet. Itwill be India’s first-of-a-kindsuper-specialty teaching hos-pital with a medical collegecampus. The building forms,facade articulation, openspaces, vegetation strategy,water bodies and road net-

works have been designed toweave and merge into the1000 acres master plan of IITKanpur, conceptualised by latearchitect Padma Shri AchyutKanvinde. The Hosmac wasinitially appointed by TataTrusts to prepare a detailedbusiness plan for IIT Kanpurto assess the feasibility ofstarting a medical school with-in its campus. Hosmac is nowappointed for preparing themaster plan and to undertakedetailed architecture and engi-neering design of the campus.

In the first phase of theproject, the institute will offerpost-graduate courses in car-diology & cardiothoracicsurgery, urology & nephrolo-gy, medical & surgical gas-troenterology, neurology &neurosurgery and oncology.The idea is to encourage inno-vation and research develop-ment in these fields specifi-cally, and also address thedearth of super-specialists inthe country. It will be open forMBBS admissions in phase IIof the project.

“IIT Kanpur’s vision tomerge medicine and engi-neering will be achieved withthe School of Research andMedical Technology. This new

initiative will bring about a seachange in innovative researchthat addresses medical prob-lems through a robust R&Dfocus to develop need-drivenmedical devices and tech-nologies. The institute is envis-aged to be a one-of-its-kindmedical school that wouldoffer EnMed (Engineering inMedicine) programmeswherein medical graduateswill also be trained in engi-neering disciplines and viceversa to successfully bridge thetechnology gap and offer solu-tions to medical needs that areunique to India. We are surethat this path-breaking centrewould be a pioneer in terms ofthe manpower it would trainat the interface of engineeringand medicine,” IIT KanpurDirector Prof AbhayKarandikar said.

“The primary aim is toinnovate and develop medicaltechnology that can be adapt-ed to the needs of Indianpatients. Since India is a netimporter of med-tech (almost80 per cent), the initiativewill help make the countryself-sufficient and overcomedependency on imports. Thiswill reduce costs and maketreatment cheaper,” said Vivek

Desai, founder and managingdirector of Hosmac.

“The introduction of themedical division will provideadded impetus to the existingbiomedical engineeringdepartment at IIT Kanpur.This will further add value tothe research capabilities inboth medicine and engineer-ing,” said IIT Kanpur DeputyDirector Prof S Ganesh.

WORLD TABLETENNIS DAY CELEBRAT-ED: The World Table TennisDay was celebrated at theGreen Park multi-purpose halljointly by the Kanpur TableTennis Association and KridaBharti on Tuesday. All theoffice-bearers of Kanpur TableTennis Association, includinginternational table tennis play-ers Geeta Tandon Kapoor andSanjiv Pathak Bobby, AbhishekYadav, Sanjay Tandon, AshishKapoor, Sunil Singh, ArunDubey, Ashutosh Satyam Jha,Avinash Yadav, Dilip Sen,Devendra Pal and other TTplayers were present.

On the occasion of thebirthday of international TTplayer Geeta Tandon Kapoor,all the office-bearers and play-ers conveyed their greetings toher.

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In view of the sudden surge inCOVID-19 cases in the city,

Divisional Commissioner DrRaj Shekhar visited the Covidcare centre on GSVM MedicalCollege campus on Wednesdayto take stock of the arrange-ments and to review the facil-ities there.

The divisional commis-sioner was accompanied byGSVM Medical CollegePrincipal Dr RB Kamal, viceprincipal, chief medical super-intendent, and heads of medi-cine, neurosurgery and Covidcare departments.

The divisional commis-sioner visited the Covid sam-ple collection and testing cen-tre, control room, CCTV mon-itor room and also interactedwith doctors, paramedics andthe attendants of the admittedCOVID-19 patients. He wasinformed that COVID-19 casesin Kanpur were increasingrapidly and as of now, every dayaround 300 cases were beingreported while around 9,300Covid tests were being con-ducted by the district admin-istration.

Dr Kamal informed the

divisional commissioner that atpresent there were around 80COVID-19 patients in ICU ofthe medical college and someof them were on ventilators. Hesaid necessary arrangementswere being made to opera-tionalise 360 beds out of which200 beds will be in ICU andHDU. He said as on date,around 3,000 RT-PCR testswere being conducted inGSVM Medical College. Thedivisional commissioner askedDr Kamal to increase the RT-PCR test capacity to 5,000 inthe next one week.

During his interaction withthe doctors and paramedics,they told the divisional com-missioner that the GSVMMedical College Covid facilitiesneeded additional staff, a fewantiviral drugs and more PPEkits in the coming days if thecases kept increasing.

Dr Kamal said that therewas pending payment to bemade to the additional staffdeployed last year in handlingCOVID-19 patients and hehad requested the governmentfor providing a budget for thesame so that all dues could becleared as soon as possible.

At one Covid block of

maternity wing, some atten-dants complained about thebad maintenance and cleaningof Covid wards. They alsocomplained that there was noproper system of briefing by thehospital team to the atten-dants of the patients. At twoother facilities, the briefingwas properly done and therewas no problem. Looking intothis, the divisional commis-sioner directed the authoritiesthat there should be a particu-lar timing of briefing at leasttwo times a day at maternitywing also and to depute addi-tional cleaning staff at theCovid wards as per the proto-col.

The GSVM MedicalCollege principal briefed thedivisional commissioner aboutthe number of deaths and thereasons for the same and alsothe treatment given.

It is believed that COVID-19 patients are brought late tothe Level-2 and Level-3 facili-ties and also that the novelcoronavirus strain has becomemore lethal.

The divisional commis-sioner asked the GSVMMedical College principal toplan for best possible treatment

to save valuable lives.He also asked the principal

to install a few more publicaddress systems on the campusto make people aware of pre-cautionary measures againstthe novel coronavirus. Hedirected the principal to ensurethat all doctors, nurses andparamedics wore masks com-pulsorily when on duty.

He talked to the principalsecretary (medical education)to sanction the requirements ofadditional staff for GSVMMedical College Covid facilitiesas it was required immediate-ly to handle the increasingCOVID-19 cases effectively.

The divisional commis-sioner also spoke to the addi-tional chief secretary (health)and requested him to sanctionand release the pending pay-ments of around Rs 1.60 crorefrom NHM so that the pend-ing payments of additionalstaff deployed last year could becleared.

Looking into the rapidincrease in COVID-19 cases inthe last 15 days, the divisionalcommissioner appealed to peo-ple to wear masks compulsori-ly at all public places to save lifeand to respect others.

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District Magistrate AlokTewari, on Wednesday,

carried out surprise inspectionof contact tracing of novelcoronavirus positive cases bythe rapid response team (RRT)in the city. He visited theGwaltoli area and asked resi-dents if there was any problemto them and who informedthem that they did not have anyproblem. The district magis-trate also confirmed from them

if they were being asked for anypayment for Covid test.

The residents informed thedistrict magistrate that moneywas not demanded for Covidtests and the same was carriedout free of cost.

From there, the districtmagistrate visited Arya Nagar,Vikas Nagar, Gurdeo Palaceareas and took stock of the con-tact tracing works.

During the visit, he wasaccompanied by SDM (Sadar),ACM (V) and additional chiefmedical officer.

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Kamdhenu Ltd., a full-scaleone stop building materi-

als solutions company, unveileda new plant of MS pipe andsquare in Kanpur Nagar underthe structural steel segment.The production capacity ofthe plant is around 50,000metric tons per month. Withthe new plant, the company isplanning to strengthen its mar-ket share of the structural steelsegment in eastern and centralUttar Pradesh.

The new plant will produceclass leading quality productsof ¾ inch pipe to 2.5 inchround, rectangle and squarewith thickness of 70 mm to 3.8mm. Kamdhenu has made aname for itself as manufactur-er and supplier of high qualityconstruction supplies at anaffordable price for the con-sumers. The latest addition ofmanufacturing facility will fur-ther Kamdhenu’s brand imagein the market.

Apart from this, the com-pany is also planning to makeits dealer and distributor net-work stronger in the easternand central Uttar Pradesh byadding 200 more dealers anddistributors by this year.Currently, the company has anetwork of around 80 dealersand distributors for its struc-tural steel segment in the east-ern and central Uttar Pradesh.

Kamdhenu LimitedDirector Sunil Agarwal said,“Uttar Pradesh is a criticalmarket for the growth ofKamdhenu Group which offershuge potential for the devel-opment of infrastructure andconstruction industry.Kamdhenu structural steel seg-ment already has a strong pres-ence in the country and withthe launch of new plant inKanpur Nagar, we are expect-ing to capture a sizable marketshare in the eastern and centralUttar Pradesh. This is alignedwith our overall strategy toexpand our market share in thestructural steel segment”.

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/���� �� ����������������������' ����� ���������� � �KANPUR (PNS): The indus-trial sector in Uttar Pradesh haslately been bearing the brunt ofelectricity duty and cross-sub-sidy charges on electricity,which has hiked the cost ofproduction substantially forseveral manufacturing units.The imposition of cross-sub-sidy to the tune of Rs 1.56 perunit of the electricity procuredunder open access arrange-ment by industries in the statehas come as a severe blow whenthey are struggling from theimpact of COVID-19.

President of the MerchantsChamber of Uttar Pradesh,Mukul Tandon, and the presi-dent of the CooperativeIndustrial Estate, Dada Nagar,Malik Vijay Kapoor, said themove to impose such levieswould be detrimental to theindustry of UP.

“Such unnecessary multi-ple taxations would result inhampering free movement ofelectricity between the states,and therefore, would be preju-dicial to the freedom of tradeand commerce,” they said.

A cross-subsidy is a mech-anism in which one set ofconsumers are charged a high-er tariff so that another set ofconsumers may be given elec-tricity at a lower price. InIndia, the industrial units usu-ally pay the higher tariff, butthe National Tariff Policy, 2016,states that the chargesshould not be so onerous thatthey end up stifling industrialgrowth.

The electricity distributionsystem in UP has been under-going a reform ever since thenew government assumedoffice in 2017. In 2018, the stategovernment allowed industriesto purchase power throughthe open access mechanism, asper the guidelines of UPElectricity RegulatoryCommission (UPERC). Themove opened up greateroptions for consumers to pro-cure electricity from the mostcompetitive of the power com-panies.

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India and Kazakhstan willreview their bilateral defence

and strategic ties during talkshere on Thursday between vis-iting Defence Minister LtGeneral Nurlan Yermekbayevand his Indian counterpartRajnath Singh.

Giving details onWednesday, defence ministryofficials said the Kazakhstanminister is on an official visitto India from April 7-10. Hearrived in Jodhpur onWednesday and is expected totravel to Jaisalmer, New Delhiand Agra for meetings and visitto defence establishments.

Yermekbayev will hold abilateral meeting with Rajnathon Thursday. This will be thefirst meeting afterYermekbayev was re-appoint-ed as Defence Minister ofKazakhstan.

The two Ministers hadlast met in Moscow onSeptember five last year on thesidelines of ShanghaiCooperation Organisation(SCO) Defence Ministers’meeting. The Kazakh DefenceMinister is in India on theinvitation of the IndianDefence Minister, they said.

Relations between Indiaand Kazakhstan are ancientand historical going back to

more than 2,000 years. Therehas been a constant and reg-ular flow of trade in goodsand, more importantly,exchange of ideas and cultur-al influences. The flow ofBuddhism from India toCentral Asia and Sufi ideasfrom Central Asia to India aretwo such examples.

India was one of the firstcountries to recognise theindependence of Kazakhstan.Diplomatic relations wereestablished in February 1992.The first Prime Minister ofIndia Jawahar Lal Nehruaccompanied by daughterIndira Gandhi visited Almatyin 1955. Dr. Radhakrishnanvisited Kazakhstan in 1956 inhis capacity as Vice President.President NursultanNazarbayev visited India inFebruary 1992. Thereafter, he

has visited India in 1993 (tran-sit visit), 1996, 2002 and 2009.He was the Chief Guest at theRepublic Day parade in NewDelhi on January 26, 2009.

Prime Minister NarsimhaRao visited Kazakhstan in1993, Prime Minister AtalBihari Vajpayee in June 2002,Manmohan Singh in April2011 and Narendra Modi inJuly 2015 (bilateral visit) andJune 2017 (SCO summit).

Defence cooperation is anessential pillar of strategicpartnership with Kazakhstan(bilateral relations enhanced tostrategic partnership in 2009).The Indo-Kazakh DefenceCooperation is carried outunder the framework of anagreement on ‘Defence andMilitary TechnicalCooperation’ signed in July2015.

The new agreementincludes conduct of joint train-ing, exercises, military-tech-nical cooperation, UN peace-keeping and exchange of intel-ligence. Kazakh Armed ForcesUnit underwent training onpeacekeeping operations inIndia in April-May 2018 fordeployment under the com-mand of an Indian Battalion atUNIFIL, Lebanon, and anMOU in this regard wassigned in Astana in August2018.

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On the occasion of WorldHealth Day on

Wednesday, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi urged peopleto focus on fighting Covid-19by taking all precautions,including wearing a mask, reg-ularly washing hands and fol-lowing other protocols.

His appeal comes amid aspike in Covid-19 cases with1,15,736 new cases registeredin the last 24 hours, 80 percentof which were contributed byeight States includingMaharashtra, Chhattisgarh,Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh,Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, TamilNadu and Kerala.

To make the matter worse,12 States are displaying anupward trajectory in dailynew cases. At least, 630 deathswere reported in the last 24hours.

“#WorldHealthDay is aday to reaffirm our gratitudeand appreciation to all thosewho work day and night tokeep our planet healthy,” thePrime Minister tweeted.

It is also a day to reiterate

our commitment to support-ing research and innovation inhealthcare, Modi said.

“On #WorldHealthDay,let us keep the focus on fight-ing COVID-19 by taking allpossible precautions includingwearing a mask, regularlywashing hands and followingthe other protocols,” he said ina series of tweets. At the sametime, do take all possible stepsto boost immunity and stay fit,Modi added.

“The Government ofIndia is taking numerous mea-sures including AyushmanBharat and PM JanaushadhiYojana to ensure people getaccess to top quality and

affordable healthcare,” Modisaid.

India is also conductingthe world’s largest vaccinationdrive to strengthen the fightagainst COVID-19, he assert-ed.

India’s total active caseloadhas reached 8,43,473. It nowcomprises 6.59 per cent of thecountry’s total positive cases.A net incline of 55,250 casesrecorded from the total activecaseload in the last 24 hours.

M a h a r a s h t r a ,Chhattisgarh, Karnataka,Kerala and Uttar Pradeshcumulatively account for 74.5percent of India’s total activecases. Maharashtra alone

accounts for 56.17 percent ofthe total active caseload of thecountry. Of 630 deaths report-ed in the last 24 hours, eightStates account for 84.44 per-cent of the new deaths.Maharashtra saw the maxi-mum casualties (297) followedby Punjab (61).

However, amid worryingtrends, eleven States/UTs pro-vided relief as not Covid-19deaths were reported in thelast 24 hours. These areOdisha, Ladakh (UT), D&D,D&N, Nagaland, Meghalaya,Sikkim, Manipur,Lakshadweep, Mizoram, A&NIslands and ArunachalPradesh.

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US Special PresidentialEnvoy for Climate John

Kerry called on Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on Wednesdayand discussed issues relating toclimate, including a forthcom-ing summit of 40 world lead-ers.

Ministry of ExternalAffairs (MEA) spokespersonArindam Bagchi said the dis-cussions focussed on the cli-mate leaders’ summit as well asissues in the context of theupcoming United NationsClimate Change Conference(COP26) and the UNFramework Convention onClimate Change (UNFCC).

Kerry is currently on avisit to India.

“US Special PresidentialEnvoy for Climate John Kerry@ClimateEnvoy called on PM@narendramodi. Discussionscentred on forthcomingClimate Leaders’ Summit aswell as climate issues in thecontext of the @COP26 to the@UNFCCC which is to beheld later this year,” Bagchi saidin a tweet.

Kerry held separate meet-ings with External AffairsMinister S Jaishankar andEnvironment Minister PrakashJavadekar on Tuesday with afocus on issues relating toglobal climate action.

Following the meetings,Kerry, in a tweet, describedIndia as a “vital partner in ourfight against the climate crisis.We must raise ambition togeth-er, or we will fail together”.

Climate change has been amajor area of focus for USPresident Joe Biden. After tak-ing charge as the president,Biden, on January 20,announced the return of theUnited States to the Paris cli-mate accord.

Biden has invited 40 worldleaders, including Modi, to thevirtual summit on climate cri-sis later this month.

Chinese President XiJinping and his Russian coun-terpart Vladimir Putin areamong the key leaders invitedto the two-day conferencebeginning April 22.

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Underlining that the coun-try is facing multiple and

varied security threats, Chief ofDefence Staff (CDS) GeneralBipin Rawat said here onWednesday the leadership dis-played political will to upholdnational interests in the face of“unprovoked assault” on itssecurity and dignity.

This observation was inapparent reference to the near-ly ten month long tension at theLine of Actual Control(LAC) ineastern Ladakh last year. Theborder was face-offs and violentbrawl.

Incidentally, his remarkscame days ahead of the likely11th round of meeting of theCorps Commanders of Indiaand China to work out disen-gagement plan from the face-offsites in Ladakh. The meeting islikely to take place on Saturday.

Addressing a seminar here,Rawat said the country is facingmultiple and varied securitythreats and challenges across thefull spectrum of conflicts-- fromproxy war to hybrid to non-con-tact conventional war.

He asserted that India willhave to develop capabilities todeal with such challenges firm-ly and vigorously without cre-ating any insecurity among itsfriends.

In his address, the CDSalso referred to evolution ofIndia’s military, and said thecountry must come out of thetemptation of looking at thewestern world for security solu-tions, and instead, tell the worldto come and learn from its vastexperience in dealing withdiverse challenges.

Rawat said India’s externalthreats can be met with effectivediplomacy and adequate defencecapability but at the same timenoted that strong political insti-tutions, economic growth andsocial harmony are prerequisitefor internal stability.

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Union Health MinisterHarsh Vardhan on

Wednesday accused a bunchof States like Maharashtraand Chhattisgarh of playingvaccine politics and said somepolitical leaders were spread-ing panic among people todistract attention from theirfailures in dealing with theCovid-19 pandemic.

“Playing politics is easy,but improving governanceand health infrastructure isthe real test,” the Minister saidhighlighting the inability ofsome states to contain thecoronavirus transmission andincrease the vaccination.

Amid demand fromMaharashtra and AndhraPradesh who have sent anSOS alert to the Centre overCovid-19 vaccine scarcity, theMinister asserted that therewas no shortage of vaccines.

He also took exception tothe statements being made bya section of political leadersasking to open up vaccinationto everyone above the age of18, or to drastically lower theminimum age criteria for vac-cination eligibility.

“Primary aim of vaccina-tion is to reduce mortalityamong the most vulnerablepeople and enable society tobeat the pandemic. “So long

as the supply of vaccinesremains limited, there is nooption but to prioritize,” saidHarsh Vardhan.

When states ask to openup vaccine supplies to every-one over 18, we must presumethat they have done saturationcoverage of healthcare work-ers, frontline workers andsenior citizens. But the factsare altogether different, hetried to make his point.

Harsh Vardhan mincedno words as he said thatMaharashtra has vaccinatedjust only 86 percent of healthworkers with the first dose.The equivalent numbers forDelhi and Punjab are 72 per-cent and 64 percent.

On the other hand, 10Indian states/UTs have donemore than 90 percent.Further, Maharashtra has vac-cinated just 41 percent of

healthcare workers with asecond dose.

Equivalent numbers forDelhi and Punjab are 41 per-cent and 27 percent.

The Minister continuedwith his attack on the Sena-ruled State as he said, “Whenit comes to senior citizens,Maharashtra has vaccinatedjust 25%, Delhi has vaccinat-ed 30% & Punjab has vacci-nated only 13%. There are 4states/UTs that have alreadyvaccinated more than 50%”.

“Doesn’t it seem evidentthat these states are trying todivert attention from theirpoor vaccination efforts byjust continuously shifting thegoal-posts? Politicizing sucha public health issue is adamning indictment of cer-tain political leaders whoshould know better,” theMinister said.

“The lackadaisical atti-tude of the State Governmenthas singularly bogged downthe entire country’s efforts tofight the virus,” he said as healso ta lked aboutChhattisgarh and urged thestate government to focus onits energies on ramping uptheir health infrastructurerather than on petty politick-ing.

“Chhattisgarh has seen adisproportionately highernumber of deaths in the last2-3 weeks. Their testingremains heavily dependenton rapid antigen tests whichis not a wise strategy. Thestate Government in factrefused to use Covaxindespite it being givenEmergency Use Authorisation(EUA) by the Drug Controllerof India.”

In fact, many other Statesalso need to bring theirhealthcare systems up to themark. For example, the qual-ity of testing needs to improvein Karnataka, Rajasthan andGujarat.

In Punjab, the high CaseFatality Rate needs to beimproved by early identifica-tion of those needing hospi-talization. Mask-wearing andsocial distancing complianceare slack in a large number ofStates, he said.

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The Election Commission(EC) on Wednesday issued

notice to West Bengal ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee forallegedly violating the modelcode of conduct over her com-ments in which seeking voteson communal grounds in aspeech on April 3 inTarakeshwar, Hooghly. Mamatahas urged Muslim voters not tolet their votes be split amongdifferent political parties. TheCommission has asked toexplain her stand within 48hours after receipt of the notice.

“Whereas the statementmade by Mamata Banerjee onApril 3, 2021 has been exam-ined in the Commission andthe same has been found to bein violation of the provisionscontained in Section 123 ( 3) ,3 ( A) of the Representation ofthe People Act 1951 and alsoclauses ( 2) , ( 3) and ( 4) of Part1 of General Conduct of ModelCode of Conduct for the guid-

ance of political parties andcandidates, the notice read.

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The Union Cabinet onWednesday approved a

production linked incentive(PLI) scheme for white goods- Air Conditioners and LEDLights - with a budgetary out-lay of �6,238 crore. Commerceand Industry Minister PiyushGoyal said the approval of thescheme for ACs and LEDswill give a boost to domesticmanufacturing.

The prime objective of thescheme is to make manufac-turing in India globally com-petitive by removing sectoraldisabilities, creating economiesof scale and ensuring efficien-cies.

It is designed to create acomplete component ecosys-tem in India and make Indiaan integral part of the globalsupply chains. The scheme isexpected to attract globalinvestments, generate large-scale employment opportuni-ties and enhance exports sub-stantially.

“The PLI scheme for whitegoods shall extend an incentiveof 4 percent to 6 percent onincremental sales of goodsmanufactured in India for aperiod of five years to compa-nies engaged in manufacturing

of Air Conditioners and LEDLights,” an official statementsaid.

Selection of companies forthe scheme will be done toincentivise manufacturing ofcomponents or sub-assem-blies, which are not manufac-tured in India presently withsufficient capacity. Mereassembly of finished goodswill not be incentivised, thestatement said.

Goyal said that the schemewould help in increasing valueaddition from 25 percent to 75percent in the AC segment and40-45 percent in LED lights.About �35 lakh crore worth ofadditional output is expectedfrom 13 sectors, which availPLI benefits in the next fiveyears, he added.

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The Election Commissionhas ordered the transfer of

district election officer ofDakshin Dinajpur NikhilNirmal; DEO of PurbaBardhaman Enaur Rahman;and DEO of PashchimBardhaman Purnendu KumarMaji; transferred officers not tobe given election-related post-ing. C Murgan, a 2007 batchIAS officer will replace Nirmal;Shilpa Gaurisaria will replaceEnaur Rahman and AnuragSrivastave will replacePurnendu Kumar Maji.

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The National Green Tribunalhas sought action taken

report (ATR) on a plea allegingaccumulation of garbage andsewage on the bank of Agracanal, resulting in damage to theenvironment.

A bench headed by NGTChairperson Justice A K Goelsaid that action must includediversion of sewage to STP,rejuvenating ponds includingtheir de-sludging/ removal ofwaste and preventing burning ofwaste.

“We direct that furtheraction be taken expeditiouslyand action taken report filedbefore the next date by e-mail,”the bench said.

The tribunal was hearing aplea filed by Faridabad residentsTulinder Katoch and othersstating that the piled-up garbageand flowing sewage is affectingthe health of the children study-ing in the nearby schools.

Apart from municipalgarbage, there is also plasticwaste, construction and demolition waste, bio-medicalwaste and e-waste, the pleasaid.

“There is pool of stagnantwater giving rise to mosquitoesand having potential for dis-eases. The applicant approachedthe concerned authorities but noaction has been taken. Theapplicant has filed photographsshowing the collected garbageand waste water,” the plea said.

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Congress leader RahulGandhi on Wednesday

batted for Covid-19 vaccinefor all, saying every Indian“deserves the chance to a safelife”.

The health ministry onTuesday said the vaccineneeds to be given to those whoneed it and not those whowant it. The COVID-19 vac-cine is currently available to allIndians above the age of 45years.

“It’s ridiculous to debateneeds and wants. Every Indiandeserves the chance to a safelife,” Gandhi said on Twitter,using the hashtag“#CovidVaccine”.

He later shared a video ofa person being beaten up bypolice in Indore for allegedviolation of COVID-19norms.

“Such type of shameful,inhuman behaviour in thename of enforcing Coronaguidelines is unacceptable tothe country. Where should thepublic go when policemenwho are supposed to protectpeople commit such atroci-ties,” he said in a tweet inHindi.

Gandhi also lauded thehealth warriors on WorldHealth Day and shared a pic-ture of his with them onInstagram.

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The Supreme Court onWednesday agreed to hear

on April 9 the Centre’s pleaseeking closure of cases againsttwo Italian marines accused ofkilling two Indian fishermenoff the Kerala coast in February2012.

The Centre told the topcourt that it has contacted thevictims’ family members anddue compensation has beenpaid to them.

A bench of Chief JusticeBobde and Justices ASBopanna and VRamasubramanian wasinformed by Solicitor GeneralTushar Mehta, who men-tioned the matter for urgentlisting, that on last occasionthe court had asked theCentre to contact the victim’sfamily.

“They were contacted.They have been paid the duecompensation. They are herealso,” Mehta said.

The bench then said thatit will take up the matter forfurther hearing in next week.

Mehta requested thebench to take up the matterfor hearing on Friday saying“there is some urgency since

it is between the Indian andItalian government”.

The bench then said “ok”and agreed to hear the plea onFriday.

On August 7 last year, thetop court had made it clear tothe Centre that it would notpass any order on the pleaseeking closure of casesagainst two Italian marines,accused of killing two Indianfishermen, without hearingthe victims’ families, whoshould be given adequatecompensation.

It had asked the Centre tomake the victims’ familymembers as parties to its pleaseeking closure of ItalianMarines case.

The Centre had told thetop court that Italy hasassured the Indian govern-ment that it would prosecutethe Marines there as per lawand that maximum compen-sation will be ensured to thevictims’ family members.

The apex court had said itappreciates the steps taken byItaly to prosecute thesemarines but the court wasconcerned with the adequatecompensation to victims’ kin.

While referring to thecase against the marinespending before the special

court, the top court had saidthat without applying forwithdrawal of prosecution ofcase how the Centre canapproach it and seek closureof the matter.

The Centre had referredto the last year’s ruling of thePermanent Court ofArbitration (PCA) at Haguewhich held that India wasentitled to get compensationin the case but can’t prosecutethe marines due to officialimmunity enjoyed by them.

On July 3 last year, theCentre had moved the topcourt seeking closure of judi-cial proceedings here againstthe Italian marines.

In February 2012, Indiahad accused two Italianmarines, Salvatore

Girone and MassimilianoLatorre, on board the MVEnrica Lexie — an Italianflagged oil tanker — of killingtwo Indian fishermen whowere on a fishing vessel inIndia’s Exclusive EconomicZone (EEZ).

The Centre had said thearbitration under UnitedNation Convention on theLaw of Sea (UNCLOS), whichwas instituted on a requestfrom Italy, has delivered itsAward on May 21, 2020.

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chose to identify themselves asunpartisan “independent”.However, in the Indian polit-ical context, nonpartisanship isnot plausible in governanceunless it pertains to an apolit-ical constitutional appoint-ment. This has led to politicalparties positing the veteranswithin their ranks to implynationalistic and muscularcredentials — these opticsthen transcend the parties toassume the mantle of defend-ers of the military and painttheir rival parties as enfeebled,compromised or even “anti-nationalists”.

Partisan preferences, bias-es and opinions asides, the vet-erans are a potential reservoirof trained constitutionalistsand patriots (not simply“nationalists”) who have led alife of unique experiences andperspectives. They come witha natural sense of service, dis-cipline and duty that could beutilised towards bettermentin a larger team, with otherdiversities of competence.There is no bipartisan “lobby”to champion the institutionalurgencies and concerns collec-tively and, instead, it remainsa domain of constant andpetty upmanship. If anything,even more participation from

the veteran community shouldbe welcomed – and it shouldbe embedded in all regionaland national parties, and not bethe exclusive preserve of anyone party, as that steers the“institution” towards the dan-gerous waters of politicisation.

Veterans in electoral fraymust shun any suggestion ofinstitutional endorsement, ashereinafter they must fightthe electoral battle, in theirpersonal and partisan capac-ity, and not on behalf of theirearlier identity from anavowedly apolitical institu-tion. Many illustrious veter-ans like BC Khanduri,Jaswant Singh and RajeshPilot earned their “politicalstripes” and accomplishmentsbased on their individualwork and contributions, andnot owing to any jingoisticinvocation or milking of emo-tions. Veterans must not allowthemselves to be debased asonly “show trophies” and,instead, demand their ownspace and relevance, basistheir abilities. To imply anelectoral contest to be belowthe dignity for a veteran tocontest is also misplaced arro-gance and uncharitable ontomany more from other fieldsof similar accomplishment.

The real challenge for theveterans entering the politicalspace is in walking the thinline of partisan anchoragewith the full know that theywill also be contextualised totheir former identity, andtherefore the need to maintainthe conduct, restraint andrectitude that is often missingamongst the unhinged politi-cians. Widespread presence ofveterans across the politicalaisles in various assembliesalso augurs well for the long-term security of the nation, asthe conversations, debatesand policy arguments becomeenriched with more informedparticipants. Usually theguardrails of propriety andsteadfastness in ensuring the“apolitical” moorings of theArmed Forces are best knownto the veterans themselves —it is incumbent on the veter-ans venturing into politics totread the path carefully andnot fall for the bogey trapsthat are often laid by recklesspoliticians. The journey fromolive green to khadi is nevera straight line.

(The writer, a military vet-eran, is a former Lt Governorof Andaman & NicobarIslands and Puducherry. Theviews expressed are personal.)

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The election to the WestBengal LegislativeAssembly bears an inter-esting candidate, a veter-

an combatant and former DeputyChief of Army Staff. Beyond hisdistinguished soldiering career,the said veteran has also tenuredas a member of the NationalSecurity Advisory Board. Yetthe news of his jumping into theelectoral fray was met with mixedreactions, even amongst the “uni-formed” fraternity. Beyond par-tisan considerations impactingviews about his candidature, thehistorical unease between thepolitical realm and the “apoliti-cal” barracks underlies the awk-ward relationship and reactions.

What is indisputable is theprinciple that in a participativedemocracy, the institution of theArmed Forces must remainpolitically neutral, visibly andperceptibly. Equally, what istrue is that the institution of theArmed Forces has witnessed acontinuous slide and diminish-ment for all practical purposes(condescending invocationsnotwithstanding), and the samehas been contributed by allpolitical parties, without anyexception. Put simply, the“voice” of the Armed Forces inthe corridors of power, unlikeother democracies such as theUS or UK, remains supremelyunderrepresented. Therefore,the ability to participate andcontribute meaningfully via theelectoral route for the veteranscannot only be beneficial forhis/her constituents, but also forthe institution of the ArmedForces, various political parties,as also the nation at large. Thechallenge, however, would be todisallow the appropriation andsubsuming of the Armed Forcesand the definitive imagery of the‘Indian Soldier’ under any par-tisan flag.

Many decorated US veteranshave chosen to serve partisangovernments, albeit under the tagof “independent”. Legendaryscholar-warrior Gen JamesMattis (Retd), who served theRepublican administration ofDonald Trump as the Def-Sec, oreven Democrat Joe Biden’s Def-Sec, Gen Lloyd Austin (Retd),

��������������������� ����Sir —Just what was feared has happened;the Coronavirus cases across the countryare up again. The efforts put in collective-ly have all but gone in vain. It seems like2020 has still not left us. The cases arereaching record highs; curfews and par-tial lockdowns are being reinforced. Thiscannot be happening again! Alas, it is! Wehave been nothing short of reckless; theface masks have now become chin guards,social distancing has gone for a toss andpeople are partying as if it were 2019.

We are averaging at about five personsper 100 people—this number is absolute-ly a disgrace since we are the ‘pharmacyof the world’. It’s beyond ridiculous that weare exporting vaccines all over the worldrather than vaccinating our people first.The Indian Medical Association (IMA)and the Chief Ministers of several Stateshave appealed to the Central Governmentto open vaccination for all people above18, but Union Health Secretary RajeshBhushan resorted to saying that “the aimis not to administer the vaccine to thosewho want it, but to those who need it”. TheHealth Secretary has no sense. A vaccineis not some beverage that people want; itis a tool that people need to protect them-selves from ailments. The impact of thesecond wave is far more severe than thefirst, thanks to the variants.

Focusing on the global good is whatmakes us part of a larger society but thatdoes not mean your own citizens are beingsacrificed. We are still bearing the bruntof the previous lockdown and we certain-ly cannot afford another one.

Sean Young |New Delhi

���������� ��� ���� � ������Sir — The problem of Naxalism has beenaround for more than six decades. Asmany as 22 soldiers were recently killed ina Naxal attack in Chhattisgarh. The men-ace was not brought under control till itspread to 22 States. Although some con-trol is now in place, the problem is not yetover. It may take a few more years to erad-

icate Naxalism. It can lead to the loss ofmany innocent lives. With that in mind,the help of the Air Force can be taken. ThatNaxals are getting arms from countries likeChina and Pakistan is an open secret.While it is clear that the Naxals cannotfight without weapons, it is also worth con-sidering why efforts have not been madeto ensure that Naxals do not get weaponsfrom across the border. The Naxals are saidto have used rocket launchers in the attackin Bijapur district. It is important to endthe problem of Naxalism as a whole. Forthis, the Government should show willpower and make efforts in the rightdirection and not just beat around thebush.

Nitesh Mandwariya | Neemuch

������ ������������������Sir — The six-member monetary policycommittee (MPC), headed by RBI

Governor Shaktikanta Das, retained reporate at 4 per cent and reverse repo rate at3.35 per cent. The Central bank also stuckto its accommodative stance amid con-cerns that rising COVID-19 infectionscould derail the country’s nascent eco-nomic recovery. The increase in theGovernment’s borrowings is likely to bepartially offset by RBI Open MarketOperations (OMOs) and secondary mar-ket purchases of Government securities.The inclusion of Government securitiesglobal bond indices will add to thedemand. Unless inflation expectationsstart increasing in the future, fixed incomeinvestors will do well to remain investedin Indian bonds.

CK Subramaniam |Mumbai

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The leaders of the Kashmir-centric politi-cal parties have gone overboard with theprospect of peace with our immediate

neighbour and the global hub of jihadi terror—Pakistan. Backing Pakistan Army Chief GeneralQamar Javed Bajwa’s call for Indo-Pak talks,Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chiefMehbooba Mufti has said that the IndianGovernment should initiate talks with Islamabad.

“The Government should understand thatthe way to peace talks goes through the Kashmirissue. We cannot reach peace without resolvingthe Kashmir issue,” said Mufti. Speaking in a sim-ilar vein, National Conference (NC) leader OmarAbdullah said, “We have always said that goodrelations between these two countries is not goodonly for Jammu and Kashmir but for the entiresouth Asia. It’s good that both countries, insteadof threatening each other, are talking.”

The reasons for their optimism are wellunderstood because their political survival forthe decades in past had depended on thePakistan bogey. There is a convergence in theviews of Pakistani and Kashmiri leadershipbecause soft-separatism and sub-nationalism hasalways been the ideological hall-mark of thesepolitical parties. But the moot point is canPakistan be trusted?

It all began in the last week of February whenthe Director General of Military Operations(DGMO) of the two Armies agreed to observeceasefire on the Line of Control (LoC) in tunewith the 2003 ceasefire agreement. Then the twostatements, one after another, made during thefirst edition of the Islamabad Security Dialogueorganised by Pakistan Security Division in col-laboration with the country’s leading think-tankson March 17-18 expressing explicit desire forpeace with India took many by surprise since thestatements came from none other than the PrimeMinister and the Chief of Army Staff of Pakistan.

Since then, endless debate has begun in themedia in both the countries with each claimingpeace to be compulsion of the other country.While the entire world knows the truth, it hasbecome necessary for Pakistan to beat the drumto satisfy the hardliners. Pakistan, for long, haspushed aside geo-economics in favour of exploit-ing its geo-strategic location.Its dwindling econ-omy and near-bankruptcy has forced its leader-ship, including military, albeit temporarily toresume trade with India which requires normal-cy of relations which had been brought to itsnadir by Pakistan post-abrogation of Article 370by unilaterally withdrawing its HighCommissioner and suspension of trade withIndia.

There was an inherent contradiction betweenthe statements of the Imran Khan and Bajwa.While Khan made a little variation to his earli-er stated position on March 5 while addressingthe Solidarity Day function at Muzaffarabad,wherein he said that Pakistan would not talk toIndia till the restoration of Article 370 inKashmir, he still stuck to resolution of Kashmirissue as a prerequisite for peace talks. “There isone issue that is stopping us [from improvingrelations] at this time. We will make our effortsbut India must take the first step because after

August 5, till they take the firststep, unfortunately we cannotmove forward,” Khan said. Thenext day, his Chief of Army Staffsaid, it was time for India andPakistan to “bury the past andmove forward” as he asserted thatthe peace between the two neigh-bours would help “unlock” thepotential of South and CentralAsia. He further added that the ini-tiative has to come from India.Though he also referred toKashmir, he did not mention it asa core issue and said that thepeaceful resolution of the issue canlead to lasting peace in the region.

Immediately, after theFebruary 25 ceasefire offer, Indiamade it very clear that the onus lieswith Pakistan to create a conduciveatmosphere for any peace talks byreiterating its well-known stand of“terror and talks can’t go togeth-er”. Qamar Bajwa did make a ref-erence to Pakistan changing itsstrategy from ‘geopolitics’ to ‘geo-economics’. But Pakistan yet has towalk the talk. From all availableinputs, there might have been achange in the thinking of thePakistani brass and leadership butthere are no visible indicators ofany change in its “anti-India strat-egy.”

On the occasion of the 70thNational Day of Pakistan, PMModi extended greetings to hiscounterpart Imran Khan and thepeople of Pakistan. He desired tohave “cordial relations” withPakistan but for it to happen, an

“environment of trust” that is“devoid of terror” is “imperative”,said Modi in a letter addressed toKhan. Post-August 5, 2019, Indiahas made its stand clear to theglobal community that the disputeregarding Kashmir is restricted tothe illegal occupation of the two-third territory of the erstwhile Stateof Jammu and Kashmir referred toas Azad Kashmir and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir(PoJK) by India.

But from the response ofKhan, it has become obvious thatthe offer of peace by Pakistan isa sheer façade and Pakistan is justbuying time to have a breathernecessitated due to compellingmilitary and economic reasons athome. He has tried to put the ballback in India’s court. Imran Khanhas written to Modi for creatingan “enabling environment” suit-ed for a constructive and result-oriented dialogue to resolve out-standing issues between the twoneighbours, including Jammuand Kashmir issue.

For a change, he has used thephrase “including Jammu &Kashmir” instead of it being thecore issue and no headway can bemade without its resolution first.Maybe Qamar Bajwa, for whomthe breather is mandatory, hasbeen able to prevail upon Khan sothat he can continue unabatedlyto refurbish and rebuild his Armyand its assets on the LoC whereit has received a thorough batter-ing from the Indian Army.

Another thing to remember isthat Pakistan has yet not given upterrorism as an instrument ofState policy. Through its proxies,it continues to support terror inKashmir and is reported to bespreading the network of sleepercells in our hinterland and theNorth East. The Pakistan Army isfeverishly using the ceasefire peri-od to upgrade its infrastructure onthe LoC, including establishingnew forward posts as well aspreparing gun areas and ammu-nition points/dumps in the vil-lages in depth in the close vicin-ity of the LoC.

It is also learnt that thePakistani Army with the help ofthe People’s Liberation Army(PLA) is constructing tunnels inthe posts for living shelters andammunition storage. It wouldalso provide them added protec-tion during a nuclear attack. Inaddition; it is also procuring fromChina modern military hardwareas well as force multipliers likedrones and surveillance systems.

Pakistani Army continues totreat India as an existential threat.In the past, similar ceasefire offersand peace overtures had beenmade by the Pakistani chiefs butthey lasted only as long asPakistan needed the peace.Unilateral abrogation and viola-tion of the ceasefire agreementshave been the hallmark of unsta-ble Indo-Pak relations. There isnothing different so far to trustPakistan.

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In the relentless pursuit topower the world oftomorrow, humanity is

tirelessly involved in its questto discover newer fuels thatare cleaner and more effi-cient. The express reductionof carbon content of theplanet by the year 2050 isnow the major focus area fornations across the globe. Inorder to achieve this, decar-bonising the production ofan element like hydrogen bygiving rise to GreenHydrogen (GH) is one of thekeys as this is currentlyresponsible for more than 2per cent of total global car-bon dioxide emissions.

An efficiently harnessedGH can not only help get agrip on the current level ofemissions, but also sustain-ably power the future. Theglobal population is growingat a robust rate of 1.1 percent per annum or increas-

ing by 83 million peopleevery year, this intensehuman proliferation has hada tremendous impact onenergy demand.

According to the latestestimates provided by theInternational Energy Agency(IEA), the increasingamount of watts required fora human will mean thatglobal energy demand willincrease by 25 per cent-30per cent by 2040. For almostall economies surviving onfossil fuels, this would meanthe generation of more car-bon dioxide which, in turn,will exacerbate climatechange. Unless clean fuelssuch as GH are developed assustainable alternatives, theefforts to limit the rise inglobal warming to under1.5°C would be untenable.

Hydrogen is a universal,light and very reactive fuelthat is generated through the

chemical process of elec-trolysis. Electrolysis utiliseselectric current to separatethe hydrogen from oxygenin water and if this electriccurrent is obtained fromrenewable sources, GH isproduced without emittingcarbon dioxide into theatmosphere. The IEA stud-ies show that this method ofobtaining GH would savethe 830 million tonnes ofcarbon dioxide that are emit-ted annually when this gas isproduced using fossil fuels.

The scale of interestbeing generated for GH canbe gauged by the fact that atraditionally fossil fuel dri-ven nation such as SaudiArabia has taken robust ini-tiative to adopt GH in itsenergy mix. The kingpin ofcrude oil-producing nationsin a surprisingly welcomedevelopment has announcedthe establishment of a mega

$5 billion GH manufactur-ing unit, the size of Belgium,in the north-western part ofthe country. Saudi Arabiawith average summer timetemperatures hovering near50°C is an energy guzzlingnation that uses oil to fuel itspower sector. A study by theRiyadh-based JointOrganisation’s Data Initiativeshowed that every year themonth of August peaks in

energy demand when thenation witnesses an averageconsumption of 7,26,000barrels of oil a day for ener-gy generation.

According to the BritishPetroleum PLC’s latest WorldEnergy Report, Saudi Arabiaconsumed 322 giga-joulesper person in 2019, morethan four times the globalaverage and almost triple thefigure for Europe. Thenation apparently realisesits dependence on fossil fuelsand hence its strategic movetowards GH. TheBloombergNEF estimatesthat GH is expected to com-mand a market value ofnearly $700 billion by 2050,but currently the cost ofproducing this energy ishigh.

According to theInternational RenewableEnergy Agency (IREA), theper kilogram production

cost currently of GH is $5.However, for nations such asSaudi with perpetual sun-shine and vast unused land,the per kg production costcan be brought down to$1.50 by 2030.

In addition to Saudi,other nations such asGermany, Spain, Britain andChina have increased thepace of developing GH pro-duction capacity.

In times such as these,India needs to take immedi-ate steps to catch up with theworld and do its bit to decar-bonise its economy byadopting GH in a large-scale manner. In November2020, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi proposed acomprehensive NationalHydrogen Energy Missionand building on the same,this year’s Budget saw a ref-erence to the proposal for aHydrogen Energy Mission

2021-22 to generate hydro-gen from green powersources.

As the Governmenttakes its own time to makeprogress, a beginning ofsorts has already been madein the private sector recent-ly with the collaborationbetween NASDAQ-listedFusion Fuel Green andChennai-based BGR EnergySystems. The tie-up willenable the use of proprietarytechnology of fusion fuel togenerate hydrogen usingsolar energy and undertakeGH energy projects acrossIndia.

GH is scalable, sustain-able and storable and withIndia’s target to generate450 gigawatts of its energyfrom renewable sources by2030, the nation needn’tlook any further as it pro-vides the apt solution toachieve the same.

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The author is a Jammu-based political commentator,

columnist, security andstrategic analyst. The views

expressed are personal.

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Script Open High Low LTPADANIPORTS 859.95 885.00 795.00 814.30ADANIENT 1234.00 1251.70 1106.10 1163.50UPL 662.75 673.85 652.90 653.95ADANIPOWER 103.30 103.30 95.50 99.95SBIN 351.00 363.20 347.90 358.45TATAMOTORS 307.25 310.75 305.00 307.80ICICIBANK 568.40 580.00 560.00 577.55GRAPHITE 587.35 689.70 575.25 653.20HEG 1850.00 2189.70 1825.30 2153.40AXISBANK 680.00 691.90 669.00 688.15TATASTEEL 869.00 884.85 863.00 874.75RELIANCE 1992.20 2046.10 1992.20 2002.80MOTHERSUMI 206.70 214.95 205.75 214.20HDFCBANK 1437.35 1456.50 1422.05 1447.35INFY 1409.50 1434.50 1406.50 1430.25ATGL 1204.00 1212.10 1083.95 1102.75IDEA 9.87 9.98 9.70 9.77JSWSTEEL 539.00 566.85 533.60 562.30GAIL 136.20 141.85 136.20 138.70LAURUSLABS 404.90 426.50 396.75 419.95ASIANPAINT 2612.00 2667.05 2600.00 2627.65BAJFINANCE 4989.95 5109.90 4942.00 5076.75BHARTIARTL 538.95 546.90 535.15 541.50TATACHEM 819.90 824.65 806.00 811.90PNB 36.95 38.10 36.80 37.60SAIL 91.75 92.30 89.30 89.80HDFC 2480.00 2507.00 2457.25 2479.50TITAN 1524.70 1561.00 1508.40 1513.95HCLTECH 1028.50 1045.00 1024.50 1037.10TCS 3262.00 3277.95 3235.10 3272.80NAUKRI 4488.00 4720.00 4425.00 4694.60MARUTI 6761.80 6885.05 6761.80 6865.00IDFCFIRSTB 55.30 58.05 55.05 57.80BANDHANBNK 338.00 351.45 334.10 349.80ASHOKLEY 113.40 117.10 112.45 116.75TATAPOWER 104.10 105.60 101.75 104.10PVR 1110.00 1154.95 1101.20 1141.10KOTAKBANK 1757.60 1810.00 1746.45 1791.55TECHM 992.00 1005.50 981.80 1003.05ADANITRANS 1117.00 1120.55 1054.45 1054.85SBICARD 945.00 982.60 936.05 977.40BAJAJ-AUTO 3616.00 3697.25 3600.00 3681.00BHEL 49.30 50.80 49.30 50.00INDUSINDBK 928.30 952.30 921.80 945.80JINDALSTEL 389.55 394.90 385.30 388.75BANKBARODA 73.25 75.55 72.20 74.10IBREALEST 81.80 87.00 81.80 84.55SRF 6130.00 6243.35 6037.25 6188.85HINDALCO 350.00 360.50 349.45 352.25NATIONALUM 59.50 60.75 58.70 59.10DRREDDY 4643.00 4734.45 4643.00 4684.00CIPLA 836.20 844.70 828.75 840.60WIPRO 425.90 440.00 423.05 438.00COROMANDEL 732.90 748.75 732.60 743.40PIIND 2335.00 2454.80 2314.60 2422.20DLF 281.40 285.50 278.85 282.95CADILAHC 460.35 464.50 454.15 461.25ADANIGREEN 1215.20 1225.00 1157.15 1194.75CHOLAFIN 541.00 588.00 538.40 577.95LUPIN 1042.50 1051.00 1032.00 1039.75IBULHSGFIN 196.00 198.30 194.45 195.70BAJAJFINSV 9545.00 9653.85 9466.60 9539.30CONCOR 582.00 608.45 573.95 582.85POWERGRID 211.00 216.15 209.55 210.80ULTRACEMCO 6745.00 6857.00 6720.00 6749.20RBLBANK 212.60 217.95 208.40 216.30HINDZINC 311.20 317.60 305.30 307.55VEDL 234.00 238.70 233.45 236.90CANBK 147.60 153.00 147.45 149.65SRTRANSFIN 1439.20 1501.80 1414.00 1486.40JUSTDIAL 868.00 927.40 861.70 885.70IRCTC 1685.00 1721.00 1673.80 1709.55ABCAPITAL 120.00 131.40 119.95 127.75DMART 2850.00 2898.45 2836.05 2889.20DIVISLAB 3700.00 3735.20 3690.95 3698.85ITC 212.95 215.25 212.80 213.80RAIN 152.50 165.50 151.95 161.55JUBLFOOD 2797.00 2878.55 2773.15 2867.25GLENMARK 508.00 514.00 499.35 503.70HEROMOTOCO 2899.95 2948.70 2876.00 2942.00IEX 357.00 363.45 349.00 354.60AFFLE 5498.00 5739.00 5470.00 5669.35FEDERALBNK 77.00 79.65 76.35 79.00TATACONSUM 676.40 676.40 659.30 665.15HINDCOPPER 142.00 145.15 138.70 145.15EICHERMOT 2491.20 2545.00 2490.00 2532.50VOLTAS 989.00 1018.35 975.90 999.20SHREECEM 30150.00 30554.95 30040.5030311.50VINATIORGA 1437.00 1624.00 1437.00 1568.75M&M 785.00 798.55 776.95 796.40KPITTECH 176.85 207.30 167.25 198.95IPCALAB 1945.00 2038.10 1945.00 2026.05SUNPHARMA 621.00 628.20 616.25 620.80NESTLEIND 17080.00 17863.85 17050.0017422.95TATAELXSI 2888.95 2970.90 2843.35 2946.65GODREJCP 729.00 744.70 727.75 739.45MINDTREE 2086.85 2182.40 2086.85 2173.00DIXON 3482.00 3651.80 3482.00 3628.10BPCL 427.00 431.30 427.00 428.20APOLLOHOSP 2990.00 3111.00 2990.00 3095.65LTTS 2776.55 2867.85 2721.10 2845.55STLTECH 211.00 232.00 210.10 227.20COALINDIA 130.50 131.70 129.50 131.25HDFCLIFE 702.00 704.95 695.15 699.90ESCORTS 1222.20 1249.95 1219.60 1239.25LT 1409.00 1417.00 1389.65 1403.90IOC 91.55 92.90 91.15 92.70LALPATHLAB 3098.00 3103.10 2972.15 2987.25

SBILIFE 898.00 921.00 898.00 917.90HINDUNILVR 2410.55 2434.55 2387.65 2404.10DEEPAKNI 1687.50 1712.05 1660.20 1700.00MEGH 130.00 138.40 130.00 133.55ACC 1915.50 1954.00 1902.75 1913.35ICICIPRULI 449.95 457.25 448.45 456.50ZEEL 200.50 204.25 199.80 200.45APOLLOTYRE 224.40 226.20 220.95 225.65ONGC 103.60 105.40 103.50 104.65BRITANNIA 3714.85 3819.80 3714.85 3808.60FSL 118.25 125.50 116.70 122.30COFORGE 2997.00 3140.75 2975.00 3100.30BIOCON 417.80 418.45 412.70 414.20M&MFIN 198.60 200.50 196.50 197.75RVNL 30.05 30.60 29.85 30.30TATAMETALI 854.95 910.00 854.55 868.80NAVINFLUOR 2932.05 3005.00 2911.00 2997.25MRF 82000.00 84075.85 81550.0083451.30DABUR 546.90 557.50 546.90 552.30ICICIGI 1432.25 1455.00 1423.05 1455.00L&TFH 96.20 99.45 95.70 98.30SUPREMEIND 1985.75 1990.00 1970.15 1988.00IDBI 38.00 38.50 37.75 37.85BEML 1260.00 1313.00 1246.00 1276.00SOBHA 499.00 519.80 490.55 496.00PFC 114.00 117.15 114.00 116.55LICHSGFIN 419.00 426.45 415.85 418.95NMDC 139.50 141.60 139.15 139.55TATACOFFEE 125.00 130.45 125.00 127.45MUTHOOTFIN 1204.30 1218.00 1198.25 1200.90UNIONBANK 35.30 37.25 35.20 36.75PHILIPCARB 205.50 211.60 204.45 206.70PEL 1753.90 1800.00 1753.90 1785.00MANAPPURAM 154.05 157.75 153.25 156.75RADICO 548.65 553.95 540.00 544.80BALKRISIND 1662.00 1694.20 1651.60 1685.10JSWENERGY 86.30 90.00 85.65 89.35DEEPAKFERT 228.00 242.75 225.90 239.65ALKYLAMINE 5900.00 6213.85 5841.00 6130.00SWSOLAR 278.00 289.80 267.80 286.30HAVELLS 1052.10 1065.85 1045.30 1056.45BOSCHLTD 14117.95 14758.00 14073.5514587.95MGL 1099.00 1130.00 1098.30 1124.50AUROPHARMA 897.95 910.50 893.55 903.00GNFC 313.40 330.00 313.40 326.95LTI 4240.00 4322.05 4181.80 4296.25

AUBANK 1225.00 1256.45 1201.00 1230.00DBL 567.05 584.00 567.05 572.95SPICEJET 69.05 72.35 68.75 71.90SUNTV 478.05 480.95 472.65 476.95AMBER 3170.00 3310.00 3160.50 3190.00WABAG 250.00 263.55 242.85 262.50BALRAMCHIN 214.95 215.55 208.00 214.65HDFCAMC 2865.00 2930.00 2859.40 2900.30INDIGO 1595.00 1611.25 1587.45 1595.50POLYCAB 1374.75 1420.00 1366.80 1408.75BEL 132.50 134.45 130.55 131.35ASTRAL 1572.90 1608.40 1549.45 1580.00WELCORP 142.90 150.00 142.50 149.25MOIL 148.65 162.55 148.65 160.30MPHASIS 1744.00 1749.55 1715.30 1728.40INDIACEM 176.10 178.00 170.15 171.10BATAINDIA 1402.95 1407.60 1384.20 1388.05NCC 79.20 79.60 78.20 79.00PIDILITIND 1873.50 1896.90 1862.00 1888.65ATUL 7522.00 7999.95 7514.00 7888.75INDIAMART 7953.05 8215.60 7785.35 8038.25CUB 158.00 167.40 157.15 165.75THYROCARE 1020.00 1048.50 979.20 988.00NTPC 107.50 107.70 105.25 105.45NBCC 44.90 45.40 44.70 44.80SUZLON 5.19 5.20 5.00 5.07TRENT 703.85 733.35 694.80 722.35CENTRALBK 16.30 17.05 16.15 16.65AARTIIND 1369.65 1425.00 1343.60 1407.75GMM 4275.00 4440.00 4244.10 4263.05AMBUJACEM 305.45 311.30 305.05 308.60ORIENTREF 261.00 276.25 260.60 270.15PAGEIND 29367.85 29957.90 29363.9529755.90AVANTI 450.00 489.10 443.95 479.50IGL 507.90 509.00 501.70 505.25SONATSOFTW 548.00 578.65 536.15 570.95CARERATING 418.00 478.70 418.00 457.50RAYMOND 341.25 367.00 341.25 362.75

IRCON 91.20 91.40 89.80 90.10ADVENZYMES 370.20 392.35 369.00 382.15CUMMINSIND 875.10 901.45 875.10 886.70DELTACORP 160.00 160.80 157.10 157.10SCI 116.95 117.90 114.80 115.20GUJGAS 538.00 548.20 530.35 537.25GRASIM 1432.50 1443.85 1429.50 1434.25BHARATFORG 625.50 625.50 608.70 612.00GRANULES 335.60 338.10 330.00 331.05MFSL 892.75 903.50 885.00 889.85METROPOLIS 2195.10 2287.00 2195.10 2269.95PTC 83.30 88.40 83.30 87.75QUESS 639.70 671.00 631.05 654.70NOCIL 178.95 187.00 177.80 184.55JKPAPER 145.70 150.70 145.50 149.85MCX 1479.00 1501.10 1470.60 1485.10SYNGENE 557.80 571.70 550.00 551.00UBL 1130.00 1143.70 1111.00 1134.75PETRONET 228.90 232.50 228.15 231.20BANKINDIA 66.55 69.75 66.55 68.75RAJESHEXPO 481.90 503.05 478.00 480.10CENTURYTEX 444.00 454.00 441.90 451.45STAR 831.20 846.00 826.30 828.45RECLTD 131.35 134.60 131.35 133.95GMRINFRA 24.20 24.50 23.90 24.30UJJIVAN 222.90 222.90 211.00 216.05WOCKPHARMA 463.90 471.50 453.95 460.00SUMICHEM 290.00 297.80 285.65 293.70FORTIS 217.30 219.50 212.45 213.50INOXLEISUR 272.00 279.95 266.90 278.70RCF 75.40 77.30 74.60 75.65TVSMOTOR 570.55 578.65 567.20 572.00TRIDENT 13.90 14.00 13.80 13.87ABFRL 189.90 195.00 189.00 191.70ISEC 387.40 395.80 379.30 392.30MARICO 402.90 413.20 402.00 407.20CESC 601.50 625.00 600.45 625.00INDHOTEL 110.00 112.10 109.70 111.20GODREJPROP 1361.00 1392.75 1360.95 1369.30BSOFT 271.95 277.00 266.45 270.00JAICORPLTD 84.85 91.35 84.85 88.40CRISIL 1750.05 1877.30 1750.05 1834.50CAPPL 463.00 478.55 460.75 470.00MAHABANK 21.30 21.70 20.55 21.25APLAPOLLO 1218.95 1273.10 1218.95 1250.00BOMDYEING 72.00 73.15 71.40 72.35OFSS 3262.00 3382.75 3262.00 3340.00FINOLEXIND 679.90 685.10 674.50 678.60SUDARSCHEM 535.00 553.50 535.00 545.20PERSISTENT 1925.00 1965.00 1908.30 1960.30CREDITACC 615.00 633.10 615.00 620.75GREAVESCOT 130.45 135.80 128.90 134.60GSPL 267.50 277.85 266.15 275.00ORIENTELEC 297.35 309.00 297.35 300.00PNCINFRA 256.00 259.80 251.00 251.45GODREJAGRO 508.95 510.20 503.00 506.70HUDCO 44.20 46.85 44.20 45.70TORNTPHARM 2589.00 2595.00 2563.25 2580.25IOB 16.20 16.40 16.00 16.15HINDPETRO* 236.00 238.70 235.00 236.05CROMPTON 383.00 395.45 377.10 389.00AMARAJABAT 845.50 855.00 834.00 834.00MMTC 43.90 45.05 43.70 44.15EXIDEIND 183.85 186.30 183.75 185.60HSCL 44.90 45.75 44.15 44.65INTELLECT 742.15 748.70 730.10 733.90GSFC 90.40 92.20 90.05 91.40SOUTHBANK 8.50 8.68 8.30 8.47KNRCON 212.00 220.00 210.45 215.40INFIBEAM 45.00 45.60 44.15 44.35RAMCOCEM 1050.00 1058.75 1034.85 1043.30DCBBANK 99.20 100.80 99.00 100.00HAL 1007.00 1019.90 1003.35 1005.35COLPAL 1569.00 1575.35 1548.50 1551.60SIEMENS 1812.00 1812.00 1782.45 1790.25NAM-INDIA 336.15 345.00 331.60 340.00CSBBANK 247.00 260.50 241.95 254.05HFCL 25.80 26.35 25.50 25.70HONAUT 44880.05 45449.95 43807.0043807.00UCOBANK 11.18 11.50 11.13 11.37BERGEPAINT 747.50 763.30 747.50 753.30FCONSUMER 7.40 7.56 7.12 7.25JKTYRE 115.70 118.65 114.75 117.40ENGINERSIN 76.10 77.45 75.90 76.30FINEORG 2352.00 2429.05 2352.00 2390.00WHIRLPOOL 2181.00 2200.00 2175.10 2190.00IFBIND 1070.75 1180.55 1065.50 1149.30IFCI 11.55 12.09 11.55 11.81JBCHEPHARM 1271.95 1290.00 1249.00 1255.10INDUSTOWER 250.10 255.00 250.10 255.00RALLIS 260.80 272.55 259.75 271.65INDIANB 113.00 116.55 113.00 115.35ASTRAZEN 3310.00 3380.00 3297.00 3352.00CEATLTD 1540.45 1563.00 1540.45 1555.00SIS 402.00 406.00 399.00 402.55TAKE 51.00 53.65 51.00 52.15RELAXO 956.20 974.15 941.00 949.80UJJIVANSFB 30.95 31.50 30.75 30.95CGCL 394.60 396.85 390.00 390.50THERMAX 1270.00 1445.00 1270.00 1402.65KRBL 195.00 200.00 178.80 189.90EQUITAS 83.80 84.35 82.05 82.25VIPIND 346.00 347.00 341.50 342.55TV18BRDCST 28.35 29.25 28.25 28.85NATCOPHARM 837.45 856.40 836.20 847.00CHAMBLFERT 220.75 228.70 220.75 223.95SUNTECK 288.00 290.80 281.45 284.05SWANENERGY 135.75 137.95 134.45 134.65SJVN 26.00 26.00 24.95 25.05

WELSPUNIND 82.90 82.90 79.50 80.15BALMLAWRIE 130.10 132.45 129.20 130.00JAMNAAUTO 70.80 73.25 70.15 70.30TORNTPOWER 418.25 424.65 418.15 421.40CASTROLIND 124.00 124.80 123.15 123.70SYMPHONY 1277.95 1318.45 1254.00 1302.00IDFC 50.50 50.95 49.25 50.00CYIENT 678.45 701.00 678.45 688.00PRESTIGE 307.00 318.45 306.25 311.00KEC 440.45 442.00 430.65 436.60DCAL 118.20 123.30 117.90 121.00TIMETECHNO 69.75 70.00 67.30 67.60KTKBANK 62.70 63.50 60.90 62.15FLUOROCHEM 616.50 640.00 605.95 618.00LEMONTREE 35.05 35.90 33.25 35.45SPARC 162.50 166.60 160.90 164.45EDELWEISS 68.90 72.00 68.80 71.45FRETAIL 51.80 51.80 51.80 51.803MINDIA 27670.00 28500.00 27027.0027737.00JMFINANCIL 85.85 86.50 85.05 85.75POWERINDIA 1439.80 1500.00 1433.05 1481.00ASHOKA 96.90 97.40 94.00 96.45TATACOMM 1119.20 1124.90 1109.00 1111.50DCMSHRIRAM 522.00 524.00 514.50 517.00JINDALSAW 74.30 75.80 74.00 75.15FORCEMOT 1174.80 1232.00 1174.80 1197.00SHK 111.15 120.00 111.15 118.95AJANTPHARM 1734.00 1734.00 1713.75 1720.75BASF 2117.65 2138.75 2071.80 2075.00OIL 122.70 125.15 122.70 123.90LINDEINDIA 1836.00 1900.00 1832.00 1840.00KAJARIACER 987.00 987.00 956.10 976.20RATNAMANI 2060.00 2074.75 2007.00 2015.80PNBHOUSING 384.70 388.65 381.00 385.25HEIDELBERG 242.00 248.30 239.20 246.35NIACL 152.20 157.70 152.20 155.00APLLTD 980.00 986.10 970.00 975.85BLUESTARCO 920.00 927.45 908.85 911.00MAHLOG 540.00 564.40 532.10 550.00BAJAJCON 271.00 275.90 269.50 270.10RITES 245.70 246.80 242.20 243.00ITDC 376.15 384.60 374.00 378.00SANOFI 7973.00 8076.45 7943.00 8035.00ABB 1377.00 1390.00 1367.70 1390.00ECLERX 1142.00 1163.05 1112.00 1139.55ENDURANCE 1370.00 1395.10 1365.35 1378.75SUPRAJIT 294.00 294.00 276.00 282.05PHOENIXLTD 726.20 758.00 714.45 747.00NLCINDIA 49.90 49.90 49.30 49.50VBL 982.50 1010.65 982.50 1006.90EIDPARRY 316.50 326.90 316.50 324.70J&KBANK 26.10 26.30 25.70 25.95UFLEX 375.00 382.15 375.00 377.00TATAMTRDVR 131.30 133.90 131.30 133.60ALKEM 2770.00 2777.40 2719.25 2735.20DISHTV 10.25 10.47 10.09 10.22CANFINHOME 574.10 577.00 564.65 567.00GMDCLTD 57.70 57.70 56.05 56.60GALAXYSURF 2640.00 2640.00 2480.00 2513.65ZENSARTECH 273.50 275.55 271.80 274.70ORIENTCEM 101.95 101.95 98.10 100.50CHENNPETRO 98.00 102.15 98.00 100.05MAHINDCIE 163.80 166.75 163.75 166.00NHPC 24.45 24.60 24.30 24.40PARAGMILK 116.00 118.00 114.15 115.05OBEROIRLTY 564.30 578.70 562.20 571.90CENTURYPLY 309.00 317.00 309.00 314.00SHANKARA 423.40 453.60 421.75 445.95ITI 116.90 117.70 115.00 115.90GICRE 200.65 208.90 200.65 204.05PGHH 12584.45 12900.00 12555.0012900.00EMAMILTD 496.90 510.80 496.90 505.00KANSAINER 590.75 595.00 585.65 594.35SCHNEIDER 94.05 94.20 91.55 92.45BDL 336.00 345.00 335.95 340.80BAJAJELEC 1016.95 1029.00 1000.45 1019.00CCL 243.30 245.00 238.25 242.40PFIZER 4610.00 4665.10 4589.25 4627.55IRB 109.00 110.00 108.65 108.95BIRLACORPN 970.20 983.10 954.10 968.00BLUEDART 5419.95 5455.00 5240.80 5341.40GODREJIND 534.35 544.05 532.60 541.00NBVENTURES* 73.00 74.40 72.45 72.90VGUARD 247.00 248.00 239.10 241.60MRPL 39.45 39.75 39.10 39.20COCHINSHIP 373.80 373.80 360.00 369.45KSB 899.00 912.15 887.00 892.00AEGISLOG 281.95 293.95 281.95 291.45HAWKINCOOK 5380.00 5483.15 5316.15 5380.00PCJEWELLER 27.05 27.50 26.55 26.75WESTLIFE 420.00 427.00 418.55 421.90AIAENG 1972.25 1974.05 1953.90 1963.95NH 423.55 430.55 422.55 425.50AAVAS 2399.95 2440.00 2350.00 2378.75HERITGFOOD 326.70 328.15 317.50 320.05ZYDUSWELL 2075.15 2108.90 2066.30 2086.00BAYERCROP 5258.60 5258.60 5171.10 5193.00MIDHANI 188.45 191.00 186.55 186.95DHANUKA 738.60 752.75 736.10 736.35HATHWAY 23.60 24.40 23.60 24.15DALBHARAT 1564.00 1564.00 1542.00 1548.90HIMATSEIDE 142.95 146.35 141.80 143.60JSLHISAR 133.45 135.00 131.25 131.90BAJAJHLDNG 3324.20 3382.00 3307.80 3367.90VAIBHAVGBL 3959.40 4020.80 3956.00 3963.00TIMKEN 1290.30 1361.75 1280.00 1343.95MINDACORP 101.05 103.30 100.10 100.65TTKPRESTIG 7316.95 7370.05 7284.15 7370.00PGHL 6240.90 6240.90 6185.05 6211.00

SHOPERSTOP 202.75 207.90 198.95 201.60ABBOTINDIA 15216.00 15339.25 15174.2515301.55VENKYS 1563.70 1590.50 1563.10 1563.10ERIS 588.70 599.50 577.35 580.20JAGRAN* 60.00 60.00 58.05 59.00JUBLPHARMA 693.95 703.15 688.50 690.00GPPL 106.00 106.40 103.50 104.45LUXIND 1815.45 1840.00 1791.30 1803.70BBTC 1191.55 1212.40 1186.45 1208.00GESHIP 307.00 307.75 300.65 301.00GUJALKALI 346.50 354.15 343.95 345.00SUNDRMFAST 746.00 752.55 734.50 748.40MASFIN 830.00 830.00 787.00 806.00GHCL 231.90 235.85 228.00 229.05REDINGTON 179.15 179.15 173.40 173.80JKLAKSHMI 419.45 428.65 418.85 425.55CARBORUNIV 500.00 509.00 493.80 503.45JSL 71.35 71.65 69.55 70.90NILKAMAL 1986.85 2025.00 1971.20 2012.00LAOPALA 220.90 225.25 212.05 219.95TASTYBIT 14162.00 14840.00 14105.0014648.00GLAXO 1432.45 1440.00 1421.05 1430.70JKCEMENT 2880.00 2920.00 2872.20 2917.15GODFRYPHLP 907.95 915.00 901.35 903.40MINDAIND 529.50 540.00 523.30 538.70JYOTHYLAB 142.50 143.40 142.00 142.85MOTILALOFS 633.00 648.70 631.00 631.00TVTODAY 289.35 305.00 285.70 288.85ARVINDFASN 140.50 142.75 140.50 140.95NAVNETEDUL 80.05 82.25 80.05 81.50TNPL 147.05 148.70 144.50 144.50NESCO 523.00 528.50 506.50 519.50LAXMIMACH 6719.05 6760.00 6637.00 6637.00VMART 2783.65 2807.90 2780.00 2783.00MAHLIFE 534.50 547.05 531.65 535.45CHOLAHLDNG 562.75 594.00 562.75 589.85PRSMJOHNSN 126.45 129.10 125.45 126.35AKZOINDIA 2438.00 2447.15 2380.50 2387.45EPL 226.75 229.95 224.60 225.45IIFL 285.60 286.80 281.10 282.10SFL 2146.90 2200.00 2104.80 2115.00KALPATPOWR 377.60 378.70 371.80 374.60FDC 286.10 289.95 284.10 287.25INDOCO 292.00 297.65 291.10 294.55GARFIBRES 2553.05 2619.00 2544.15 2570.85WABCOINDIA 6223.60 6319.90 6171.30 6187.05GRSE 186.70 188.05 184.55 185.50BLISSGVS 100.25 102.65 100.25 101.30CERA 3702.20 3820.80 3695.60 3780.00JCHAC 2624.95 2641.50 2605.00 2618.45MAHSEAMLES 279.35 282.80 277.05 279.95VRLLOG 227.00 228.30 225.05 227.20TCIEXP 880.00 891.80 868.00 871.25TATAINVEST 1012.05 1030.10 1012.05 1027.45EIHOTEL 92.80 94.20 92.00 93.45GDL 174.00 183.00 174.00 183.00TEAMLEASE 3690.45 3755.00 3662.50 3695.00BRIGADE 263.60 274.10 261.50 265.10VARROC 380.65 384.20 378.50 378.50KEI 515.10 520.00 506.20 507.00GRINDWELL 946.00 946.00 931.70 931.70JTEKTINDIA 84.90 87.35 83.75 86.25REPCOHOME 316.10 324.35 316.10 321.05SPANDANA 608.00 617.75 608.00 608.00SHRIRAMCIT 1465.75 1482.40 1436.95 1447.20ASTERDM 140.70 140.70 134.85 135.65STARCEMENT 97.95 99.85 96.90 99.00SOMANYCERA 414.00 418.00 412.00 415.45GEPIL 294.50 294.50 275.00 275.40VTL 1218.05 1265.30 1201.20 1258.00TIINDIA 1164.10 1177.95 1152.35 1166.00GILLETTE 5680.00 5700.00 5567.70 5590.00GET&D 120.55 122.35 117.50 120.45SOLARINDS 1268.40 1279.55 1261.05 1270.25SKFINDIA 2184.00 2186.15 2170.00 2175.00FINCABLES 372.50 381.00 372.50 377.60SCHAEFFLER 5336.05 5352.85 5300.00 5300.00KPRMILL 1069.80 1084.35 1063.40 1071.90DBCORP 98.80 98.80 94.20 95.00ESABINDIA 1809.55 1830.35 1790.50 1795.00TCNSBRANDS 505.40 505.40 494.65 495.05TVSSRICHAK 1770.00 1828.50 1770.00 1823.65INDOSTAR 316.10 328.00 315.10 326.90VSTIND 3380.00 3384.00 3360.10 3375.65ALLCARGO 129.00 129.00 127.65 128.70IIFLWAM 1294.00 1297.15 1261.00 1268.45MHRIL 223.20 225.35 221.70 222.50GULFOILLUB 738.40 738.40 719.00 722.00MAHSCOOTER 3569.95 3605.50 3569.95 3605.50OMAXE 67.30 69.00 66.00 67.80

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY 50 14716.45 14879.80 14649.85 14819.05 135.55JSWSTEEL 539.25 566.45 533.20 566.10 28.65WIPRO 425.00 439.00 423.40 437.25 10.10SBIN 351.25 363.20 347.60 358.20 7.65INDUSINDBK 931.00 952.45 921.15 947.00 19.75SBILIFE 901.00 921.00 898.25 916.50 18.95M&M 781.30 798.60 775.40 797.20 16.10NESTLEIND 17100.00 17865.95 17025.00 17416.95 335.25EICHERMOT 2500.00 2547.20 2490.00 2535.00 48.40ICICIBANK 566.55 580.00 559.40 576.75 10.85HEROMOTOCO 2880.00 2948.90 2875.05 2942.00 54.05BRITANNIA 3732.00 3820.00 3711.55 3795.00 64.40BAJAJ-AUTO 3605.00 3693.45 3596.25 3677.00 61.50MARUTI 6790.00 6885.00 6775.05 6865.20 113.90BHARTIARTL 537.00 546.90 535.25 541.00 8.80TATASTEEL 869.50 885.00 864.65 876.35 13.50IOC 91.15 92.90 91.15 92.55 1.40BAJFINANCE 4980.00 5109.00 4940.00 5069.10 76.00AXISBANK 680.50 691.90 668.40 686.95 9.05INFY 1410.25 1434.95 1406.60 1430.00 18.95DRREDDY 4662.30 4734.00 4641.00 4680.00 60.75KOTAKBANK 1766.05 1810.70 1745.60 1790.10 21.80TECHM 992.00 1005.65 982.10 1000.20 8.85RELIANCE 2000.00 2046.90 1993.30 2001.55 17.25HCLTECH 1031.00 1045.00 1024.70 1037.00 8.60POWERGRID 210.90 216.20 209.55 210.90 1.70COALINDIA 130.30 131.70 129.75 131.20 0.90ONGC 103.90 105.35 103.45 104.65 0.70HDFCBANK 1439.30 1456.70 1421.55 1447.25 7.00ITC 212.70 215.20 212.45 213.65 1.00SHREECEM 30140.00 30580.70 29953.00 30251.40 137.30HINDALCO 350.40 360.70 349.00 351.95 1.50ASIANPAINT 2605.00 2668.05 2600.10 2621.60 10.00LT 1402.00 1417.20 1389.25 1405.05 4.05HDFC 2489.00 2507.80 2457.00 2478.80 6.50GRASIM 1427.80 1444.50 1427.80 1436.00 3.45ULTRACEMCO 6745.00 6860.00 6713.35 6752.15 15.50CIPLA 836.15 844.90 830.25 838.00 1.85DIVISLAB 3701.00 3734.00 3691.60 3696.20 8.10BAJAJFINSV 9519.50 9658.40 9466.35 9539.00 19.50TCS 3259.00 3277.55 3234.80 3271.00 6.30HDFCLIFE 704.45 705.00 695.20 698.00 0.85BPCL 429.00 431.50 427.50 428.25 0.15SUNPHARMA 621.00 628.40 616.15 620.55 0.10TATAMOTORS 306.75 310.65 305.10 307.65 -0.10HINDUNILVR 2417.00 2435.00 2387.35 2399.50 -8.80NTPC 106.90 107.35 105.25 105.50 -0.55TITAN 1522.10 1561.45 1508.00 1517.50 -8.00UPL 660.00 673.95 652.40 653.00 -8.35TATACONSUM 674.95 674.95 659.15 664.85 -9.70ADANIPORTS 857.00 885.00 795.00 812.45 -23.10

SE 500B

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY NEXT 50 34793.00 35090.55 34754.40 35057.25 343.20NAUKRI 4475.00 4714.20 4434.15 4685.00 185.00APOLLOHOSP 2999.00 3115.00 2998.75 3103.65 120.10MOTHERSUMI 207.00 215.00 205.50 215.00 8.30BANDHANBNK 337.60 351.75 334.10 348.90 11.30SBICARD 946.00 982.80 935.75 981.90 31.00BOSCHLTD 14101.25 14750.00 14026.05 14580.00 452.85GAIL 136.30 141.85 136.30 138.55 4.00PGHH 12619.95 12930.00 12537.65 12930.00 310.05JUBLFOOD 2800.25 2880.00 2772.20 2862.00 65.10ICICIGI 1426.95 1456.95 1422.30 1454.00 27.05PEL 1751.50 1800.00 1750.85 1782.10 31.90UBL 1118.00 1144.70 1110.15 1129.90 19.95MRF 81770.00 83950.00 81684.75 83649.00 1403.45VEDL 234.00 238.85 233.30 237.45 3.90ICICIPRULI 448.90 457.50 448.10 455.95 7.45GODREJCP 729.20 744.80 727.00 738.55 10.80PNB 37.05 38.10 36.85 37.60 0.55DMART 2855.00 2900.00 2835.00 2880.00 36.35PETRONET 228.80 232.50 228.15 231.05 2.90INDIGO 1590.00 1612.00 1581.60 1596.70 19.10DLF 279.95 285.50 278.55 282.00 3.20AUROPHARMA 897.45 911.45 893.00 903.05 10.25CADILAHC 460.10 464.70 454.15 461.20 4.70MARICO 402.95 413.50 401.90 407.10 4.10DABUR 548.00 557.50 547.35 552.45 5.50LTI 4225.50 4325.00 4184.05 4300.00 42.45AMBUJACEM 305.70 311.30 305.50 308.30 2.80BAJAJHLDNG 3326.00 3385.00 3322.50 3351.10 28.60ABBOTINDIA 15216.05 15325.00 15180.00 15320.00 104.00PIDILITIND 1870.00 1897.00 1859.00 1886.10 11.70BERGEPAINT 750.00 763.90 747.90 752.95 4.45TORNTPHARM 2569.00 2596.00 2562.90 2576.65 13.75INDUSTOWER 251.25 254.75 250.55 252.20 1.20ALKEM 2740.00 2780.20 2716.50 2736.00 13.15HDFCAMC 2870.00 2930.35 2857.10 2895.00 12.10HINDPETRO 234.45 238.90 234.40 236.40 1.00ACC 1919.50 1954.50 1901.90 1913.00 4.55HAVELLS 1052.00 1065.80 1045.50 1054.10 2.15NMDC 139.00 141.65 139.00 139.40 0.25MCDOWELL-N 543.95 547.95 538.30 542.00 1.00IGL 504.00 509.00 501.70 504.90 0.65SIEMENS 1791.00 1806.30 1781.05 1787.05 1.10ADANIGREEN 1215.00 1223.50 1164.00 1195.00 0.55YESBANK 15.60 15.70 15.40 15.60 0.00BIOCON 415.95 418.50 412.45 413.40 -0.85MUTHOOTFIN 1211.00 1219.00 1198.00 1200.00 -4.30LUPIN 1045.00 1051.05 1032.00 1034.00 -7.90COLPAL 1570.00 1575.00 1547.05 1551.00 -17.60ADANITRANS 1114.50 1120.70 1055.15 1055.15 -55.50ADANIENT 1233.40 1251.60 1108.00 1157.90 -67.50

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RBI's decision to keep reporate unchanged for the fifth

time in a row is in line with theeconomic need to encouragegrowth, financial market play-ers and experts said onWednesday.

In its first monetary poli-cy announcement for this fis-cal, the Reserve Bank under-lined the need to support theeconomy given the current sit-uation amidst resurgence ofCovid cases in the country.

The six-member MonetaryPolicy Committee (MPC)unanimously decided to con-tinue with the accommodativestance as long as necessary tosustain growth on a durablebasis and continue to mitigatethe impact of COVID-19 onthe economy.

Rajiv Sabharwal, MD andCEO, Tata Capital, said: "Thegrowth forecasts appear to beencouraging and the econom-ic activity momentum will befurther consolidated."

The apex bank has pro-jected the Indian economy togrow at 10.5 per cent in the cur-rent fiscal year.

Measures announced areintended to lower borrowingcosts, ease financial conditionsand keep liquidity supportivefor credit offtake, Sabharwalsaid adding thatt he announce-ment ebbed worries of anyearly liquidity withdrawal.

On the inflation front, theRBI has projected the retailinflation to be in the range of4.4-5.2 per cent during thecourse of this year, with the firsthalf falling in the upper bandof over 5 per cent.

Rumki Majumdar,Economist, Deloitte India, said,"As expected, the RBI has keptthe policy rates stable and willlikely continue holding therates steady as there are signif-icant risks to inflation movingup. Intermittent supply-sidedisruptions and gradualdemand revival will keep thepressure on prices."

The RBI has pushed more

liquidity to MFIs to encouragelending to rural and SME sec-tors, Majumdar said, addingthat credit growth has to take offrapidly to ensure sustainablecapital expenditure and spend-ing across all segments of theeconomy. To nurture the stillnascent growth impulses, theRBI has felt necessary to supportcontinued flow of credit to thereal economy. Thus, liquiditysupport of Rs 50,000 crore forfresh lending during 2021-22will be provided to All IndiaFinancial Institutions (AIFIs).

The RBI will also provideRs 25,000 crore to NABARD,Rs 10,000 crore to NHB and Rs15,000 crore to SIDBI. Notably,special refinance facilities of Rs75,000 crore were provided toAIFIs during April-August2020.

Additionally, the RBI alsoannounced Rs 1 lakh crore gov-ernment securities (G-sec)acquisition programme, namedG-SAP 1.0, under which itwill commit upfront to a spe-cific amount of open market

purchases of G-sec as a liquid-ity measure.

The announcement of themuch awaited GSAP 1.0 shouldgo a long way in quelling thebond market's anxieties regard-ing the size of the central andstate government borrowingprogramme for FY2022, NSivaraman, MD and GroupCEO, ICRA Ltd, said.

"Regardless, global factorssuch as US treasury yields andcommodity prices, and theimpact of the latter on domes-tic inflation, will influenceyields. We expect the 10 yearG-sec yield to range between6.05 and 6.15 per cent in thenext two months," he said.

The ratings firm also sug-gested that the CPI inflationforecast round 5 per cent inFY22 seems to be ruling outrate cuts, unless economicactivity is severely disrupted bythe ongoing wave of Covid-19.

Anshuman Panwar, Co-Founder, Creditas Solutions,said the first bi-monthly poli-cy for FY22 has been on

expected lines with the RBIkeeping repo rate unchangedbut re-affirming its commit-ment to maintain an accom-modative stance.

"Further, RBI will now setup a committee for a compre-hensive review of AssetReconstruction CompaniesARCs. I think this is a muchneeded step to harness the fullpotential of ARCs so that thekey issue of sizeable bad loansis addressed in a sustainedand holistic manner. This isalso crucial as economicgrowth revives and banks needthe confidence to lend aggres-sively," he added.

Dhruv Agarwala, GroupCEO, Housing.Com,Makaan.Com andProptiger.Com, said the RBImove to hold key ratesunchanged is on expected lineand hoped the regulator willcarefully monitor how theCOVID-19 situation evolvesand change its stance later inthe financial year as the needarises.

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Stating that "growth is ofparamount importance

now", the Reserve Bank onWednesday said it will dowhatever it takes to sustain thefledgling recovery by ensuringample and assured liquidityand cheaper funds to oil thewheels of the economy.

Addressing the mediaonline, Governor ShaktikantaDas said "as of now growth isof paramount importance...And we'll do whatever it takesto help sustain the recovery."

But he was quick to addthat "inflation targeting is alsoimportant."

"More importantly, the gov-ernment reiterating the plus-minus 2 per cent of 4 per centinflation targeting gives us

enough policy space to supportgrowth as there are more down-side risks to growth on the hori-zon now than in recent pastwhich make growth...Of para-mount importance," he added.

The central bank chose toretain its last forecast of 10.5per cent GDP growth this fis-cal, saying it is "too early torevise its own forecast done twomonths ago as we have justentered the new fiscal year."

Asked why the thrust was ongrowth despite pencilling in anupward inflation trajectory (5.2per cent for the first half and 4.4per cent for the second), and offer-ing an indefinite period of accom-modative policy stance, Das said,"We'll continue to be accom-modative till growth becomes sus-tainable and we will do whateverit takes to achieve that."

Das continued to explainthat "inflation is already in awell-entrenched and well-anchored framework now andso is inflation expectation, that'salso well-anchored. This is veryclear from the fact that the gov-ernment notification has reit-erated the plus-minus 2 per centof 4 per cent inflation targeting."

"This framework gives RBIenough leeway gives enoughpolicy tools to manage anyextraordinary situations likethe current pandemic.

"For the time being and atthe current juncture, growth isof paramount importance,while of course keeping inmind inflation targeting is alsoimportant. After all, the the pri-mary goal of the monetary pol-icy is to maintain a certain levelof inflation," he said.

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Equity indices darted up onWednesday, propelled by

banking, auto and IT stocks,after the RBI expectedly leftinterest rates unchanged andmaintained its accommoda-tive stance to boost growthamid a resurgence in coron-avirus cases.

The 30-share BSE Sensex

jumped 460.37 points or 0.94per cent to finish at 49,661.76.The broader NSE Niftyadvanced 135.55 points or 0.92per cent to 14,819.05.

Interest-rate sensitive bankand auto stocks led the gainers'chart on the Sensex.

SBI was the top performer,spurting 2.25 per cent, fol-lowed by ICICI Bank, NestleIndia, IndusInd Bank, M&M,Bajaj Auto, Bharti Airtel andMaruti. IT counters also post-ed robust gains after the rupeetanked 105 paise against the US

dollar. A weak rupee is seen asa positive for export-orientedIndian IT firms. On the otherhand, Titan, NTPC and HULwere the laggards, shedding upto 0.78 per cent.

The Reserve Bank of India(RBI) on Wednesday kept key

interest rates unchanged atrecord lows while pledging tobuy Rs 1 lakh crore of govern-ment bonds this quarter to capborrowing costs in a bid to sup-port an economy facing aresurgence of the pandemic.

In the first monetary pol-

icy of the 2021-22 fiscal, thecentral bank stuck to its accom-modative stance amid con-cerns of rising infections thatcould derail the nascent eco-nomic recovery.

The central bank alsoretained the economic growth

projection for the currentfinancial year at 10.5 per cent.

"In line with expectations,RBI has maintained status quoon policy rates and reassuredthe financial markets on itscommitment to retain accom-modative policy stance till the

prospects of sustained eco-nomic recovery is secured,"said Gaurav Dua, SVP, Head -Capital Market Strategy,Sharekhan by BNP Paribas.

Even on liquidity front thesignals are dovish, he said,adding the bond market hasreacted positively with the 10-year bond yield easing by 6-8bps during the day.

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Dubai: An Iranian shipbelieved to be a base for theparamilitary RevolutionaryGuard and anchored for yearsin the Red Sea off Yemen hasbeen attacked, Tehran acknowl-edged Wednesday.

Iran's Foreign Ministryconfirmed the attack on theMV Saviz, suspected to havebeen carried out by Israel —though Tehran did not imme-diately blamed its regionalarchenemy.

The assault came as Iranand world powers sat down inVienna for the first talks aboutthe US potentially rejoining thetattered deal aimed at curbingIran's nuclear programme,showing events outside thenegotiations could derail those

efforts.The ship's long presence in

the region, repeatedly criti-cized by Saudi Arabia, hascome as the West and UnitedNations experts say Iran hasprovided arms and support toYemen's Houthi rebels in thatcountry's yearslong war. Irandenies arming the Houthis,though components found inthe rebels' weaponry link backto Tehran.

Iran previously describedthe Saviz as aiding in “anti-pira-cy” efforts in the Red Sea andthe Bab el-Mandeb strait, a cru-cial chokepoint in internation-al shipping. A statement attrib-uted to Foreign Ministryspokesman Saeed Khatibzadehdescribed the ship as a com-

mercial vessel. “Fortunately, no casualties

were reported ... And technicalinvestigations are underway,"Khatibzadeh said. "Our coun-try will take all necessary mea-sures through internationalauthorities.”

In an earlier state TV state-ment, an anchor cited a NewYork Times story, which quot-ed an anonymous US officialtelling the newspaper that Israelinformed America it carriedout an attack Tuesday morningon the vessel. Israeli officialsdeclined to comment about theassault when reached by TheAssociated Press, as did theSaviz's owner.

Israeli Defence MinisterBenny Gantz, while refusing to

say if his country launched theattack, described Iran and itsregional allies as a major threat.

“Israel must continue todefend itself,” Gantz told jour-nalists. “Any place we find anoperational challenge andnecessity, we will continue toact.”

Iranian President HassanRouhani called the Viennatalks a “success” while speakingto his Cabinet on Wednesday.

“Today, one united state-ment is being heard that allsides of the nuclear deal haveconcluded that there is no bet-ter solution than the deal,” hesaid.

Iran's semiofficial Tasnimnews agency, believed to beclose to the Guard, reported

that a limpet mine planted onSaviz's hull caused the blast.

A limpet mine is a type ofnaval mine that is attached tothe side of a ship, usually by adiver. It later explodes, and can

significantly damage a vessel.Iran did not blame anyone forthe attack and said Iranianofficials likely would offer moreinformation in the comingdays. AP

Yangon: Security forces onWednesday stormed a town innorthwestern Myanmar wheresome residents had usedhomemade hunting rifles toresist the military's Februaryseizure of power, killing atleast seven civilians and injur-ing many others, local newsreports said.

The online news siteKhonumthung Burmese saidthe attack on Kalay beganbefore dawn. Videos on the siteincluded what appeared to besounds of rifle fire, high-caliberweapons and grenade explo-sions. Posts on social mediasaid rocket-propelled grenadeswere used in the attack, butprovided no evidence.

The news site said that inaddition to the seven fatalities,many people were woundedand arrested in the town, alsoknown as Kalemyo.

Over half the town's pop-ulation are members of theChin ethnic minority.

Security forces have killedat least 581 protesters andbystanders in their crackdownon protests against the Feb. 1coup that ousted the electedgovernment of Aung San SuuKyi, according to the Assistance

Association for PoliticalPrisoners, which monitorscasualties and arrests.

Nearly all of the protestshave been nonviolent, but aspolice and soldiers haveincreased their use of lethalforce, some participants havearmed themselves with home-made weapons such as gasolinebombs for self-defense. InKalay, some residents took upsimple but deadly homemadehunting rifles.

Myanmar Now, anotheronline news site, reportedTuesday that protesters in Kalayhad set up neighborhoodstrongholds and inflicted casu-alties on the security forces.

It said that on March 28,when the army sought to attackKalay, protesters in the townand nearby villages put upfierce resistance.

The attack took place a dayafter the junta's forces killedmore than 110 people aroundthe country, the highest single-day death toll since the coup.

The report said protesters“more than held their own.Four of them died that night,but so did an equal number ofthe enemy, including an officeror two”. AP

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Riders for the app-basedmeal delivery platform

Deliveroo held a strike inLondon Wednesday over payand working conditions, part ofa broader backlash against oneof the U.K.'s biggest gig econ-omy companies.

Scooter and bicycle deliv-

ery riders waving flags and redsmoke flares rode through thestreets of Central London.Socially distanced protests werealso planned in York, Reading,Sheffield and Wolverhamptonto demand fair pay, safety pro-tections and basic workers'rights.

The Independent Workers'Union of Great Britain, which

represents migrant and gigworkers, expected hundredsof riders to take part.

Deliveroo said that “thissmall self-appointed uniondoes not represent the vastmajority of riders who tell usthey value the total flexibilitythey enjoy." Rider surveysfound most are happy with thecompany and flexibility was

their priority, the companysaid in a statement.

The strike coincides withthe first day of unconditionalshare trading for Deliveroo, which went publiclast week in a multibillionpound stock offering that wasone of Europe's most hotly anticipated IPOs thisyear.

Hong Kong: Three veteranHong Kong pro-democracyactivists, including well-knownpublisher Jimmy Lai, havepleaded guilty to taking partyin an unauthorised rally thatresulted in violence betweenpolice and participants, mediareported on Wednesday.

Lai is already being held incustody on other charges relat-ed to his outspoken oppositionto China's crackdown on civilliberties in the former Britishcolony.

Last Thursday, seven ofHong Kong's leading pro-democracy advocates, includ-ing Lai and an 82-year-oldveteran of the movement, wereconvicted for organising andparticipating in a march duringmassive anti-governmentprotests in 2019 that triggeredBeijing's crackdown.

While Lai will be returned to

jail, ex-legislator Lee Cheuk-yanand Yeng Sum, a former chair-man of the Democratic Party, arebelieved to be negotiating bailterms. The charges carry prisonterms of up to five years.

The court was shownfootage of the three at theAug. 31, 2019, event that led toclashes in various parts of thecramped city of more than 7million that was hovering at theedge of chaos at the time.

Official Radio TelevisionHong Kong quoted Lee astelling the court that althoughhe pleaded guilty, “I haven'tdone anything wrong. Historywill absolve me."

The governments in HongKong and Beijing have beenrelentlessly pursuing opposi-tion figures in order to exertgreater control over the semi-autonomous Chinese territory. AP

Washington: US President JoeBiden announced that allAmerican adults will be eligi-ble for a Covid-19 vaccine byApril 19. On Tuesday,Bidenannounced the new timetableafter his visit to a vaccinationsite in Alexandria, Virginia,moving up his original deadlineof May 1 by nearly two weeks,reports Xinhua news agency.

Biden said that 150 milliondoses have been administeredwithin his first 75 days inoffice, in line with a stated goalof 200 million shots by his100th day in office.

He urged Americans tocontinue to practice pandem-ic safety measures, saying thecountry is not "at the finish lineyet" and may experience more"disease and misery" beforeJuly 4.

A few weeks ago, Bidencalled on states, tribes and ter-ritories to make all American

adults eligible for vaccinationno later than May 1.

Biden has stressed thatwhile the country is now vac-cinating a record number ofAmericans, the battle againstCovid-19 is "far from won" ascases are once again on the rise.

The country has witnesseda resurgence in 27 states,including cases from new andemerging Covid-19 variants.

Currently, the seven-dayaverage of new cases is about

61,000 a day, a 10 per centincrease over the previous peri-od, according to the latest dataof the US Centers for DiseaseControl and Prevention.

Biden has called on everyGovernor, Mayor and localleader to maintain, and insome cases reinstate, maskmandates.

Some states have liftedrequirements for masks andallowed businesses to reopen tofull capacity against warnings

from public health experts.Highly contagious variants

are rapidly spreading in the US,threatening to outpace the vac-cination efforts.

Last week, CDC DirectorRochelle Walensky said theB.1.1.7, the variant first identi-fied in Britain, is starting tobecome the predominant strainin many regions of the US,accounting for 26 per cent ofCovid-19 cases circulatingacross the nation. AP

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Washington: The UnitedStates is still in a "life-and-death race" against coron-avirus, President Joe Bidensaid as his administrationraced through a record 150million vaccine shots in just 75days.

The new record is againsthis initial target of 100 millionshots in 100 days. Biden hasnow set the goal of getting 200million vaccines to his fellowcountrymen in the first 100days of his administration.

"But let me be deadlyearnest with you: We aren't atthe finish line. We still have alot of work to do. We're still ina life-and-death race againstthis virus. Until we get morepeople vaccinated, we needeveryone to wash their hands,

socially distance, and mask upin a recommended mask fromthe CDC," Biden said at a vac-cination site in a Virginia suburb of Washington DC.

"Think about it this way:Better times are ahead. And, asI've said before, we can have a

safe, happy fourth of July withyour family and friends, insmall groups in your backyard.The real question is: Howmuch death, disease, and mis-ery are we going to seebetween now and then?" heasked. AP

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Santiago: Chilean PresidentSebastian Pinera announcedthat this week's landmark pollsto elect for councillors, mayorsand, for the first time ever,regional governors and mem-bers of a constituent assemblyto draft a new Constitution, willbe postponed till May 15-16due to a Covid-19 resurgence.

In a speech at the govern-

ment palace, Pinera on Tuesdaysaid the decision prioritisesthe health of both the country'sdemocracy and its people,reports Xinhua news agency.

"Given the strong re-emer-gence of the coronavirus pan-demic and the appearance ofnew variants, not only in Chile,but throughout the world, andconsidering the high demand

our health system is facing itdid not seem prudent or advis-able to hold elections this com-

ing weekend," he said.The much-anticipated elec-

tions are set to elect 155 con-stituents to draw up a newConstitution as a political solu-tion to the social unrest thaterupted in October 2019.

Similarly, the Governors ofeach of the country's 16 regions will be elected for thefirst time. IANS

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/��"�����$"�#(���Further, he noted that some

respite from the incidence ofdomestic taxes on petroleumproducts through coordinatedaction by the Centre and statescould provide relief on top of therecent easing of internationalcrude prices. Also, Das saidthat a combination of highinternational commodity pricesand logistics costs may push upinput price pressures acrossmanufacturing and services.“Taking into consideration allthese factors, the projection forCPI inflation has been revised to5 per cent in Q4:2020-21; 5.2 percent in Q1:2021-22; 5.2 percent in Q2; 4.4 per cent in Q3;and 5.1 per cent in Q4, with risksbroadly balanced,” he said.Earlier, the central bank pro-jected a retail inflation at 5.2 percent for the 2021 March quar-ter, which now has been reviseddown to 5 per cent. Hoping thatcereal prices should softenbecause of bumper foodgrainsproduction in 2020-21, he saidmitigation of price pressures onkey food items such as protein-based components and edibleoils would also depend on sup-ply-side measures and easing ofinternational prices. TheMonetary Policy Committee(MPC) noted that underlyinginflation pressures emanate fromhigh international commodityprices and logistics costs, accord-ing to Das. “The softening incrude prices seen in recentweeks, if it sustains, can assuageinput cost pressures.”

“An inflation rate of 4 percent over the medium term hasnow been successfullyentrenched in the economiclandscape,” Das said. Accordingto RBI, since the MonetaryPolicy Committee (MPC) wasconstituted in September 2016,average CPI inflation duringOctober 2016 to February 2020-- prior to the onset of theCOVID-19 pandemic -- was 3.8per cent, down from the averageof 7.3 per cent during January2012 to September 2016. “Ourresearch suggests that trendinflation has moderated duringthe flexible inflation targetingperiod to around 4 per cent inrecent times. The experienceduring the COVID-19 periodhas testified to the flexibility ofthe framework to respond tosharp growth-inflationtrade-offs

and extreme supply-side shocksover the course of the businesscycle,” Das said. He also said thatmonetary policy over the nextfive years would aim at consol-idating and building upon thecredibility gains of the first fiveyears of flexible inflation tar-geting.

���$�#�:���Later, the BJP leadership

said they had complained to theCommission about the ChiefMinister’s provocative speeches.“There is a clear tactic in utter-ing such provocative words …She is expecting a defeat as hermercenaries have failed to rig theelections due to the presence ofthe central forces … this is thereason she has become nervousand agitated and is trying toincite the general public againstthe central forces,” said BJPleader Sisir Bajoria.

The BJP leader said thatthey wanted the Commission tocensure the Chief Minister “oth-erwise she will continue to playthis dirty game to create anuntoward situation from whereshe can draw sympathy votes.”Bengal has witnessed sporadicviolence and several deaths dur-ing the elections. On the BJP’sperformance in the initial threerounds, he said the saffron partywould win “63 to 68 seats” in thefirst three phases of polls.

Attacking the ChiefMinister for failing Bengal in allfronts Home Minister AmitShah said, “In the past ten yearsBengal has only seen syndicates,extortion, flight of capital andloss of employment … but BJPwill pursue politics of develop-ment, dialogue and cooperation,instead of confrontation.”Congratulating Banerjee forinvoking Hindu gods and god-desses, and reciting Chandi Path(hymns to Goddess Durga) atpublic meetings, Shah howeverquipped “it is too late for Didi… she has already faulted.”

Earlier she had attacked theBJP saying “BJP is peddling liesabout me that I do not allowDurga Pujas in Bengal” andreminding that she was thedaughter of a Brahmin and hadalways patronized clubs with lib-eral funding for the Pujas.”

In Singur, Shah said that likeNandigram people of Singur hadreposed faith on Banerjee butshe left them midway. He added

“we will not get restricted to theNano (car factory that the Tatasbuilt at Singur but was forced outfrom Bengal thanks to a move-ment by the TMC) only. We willthink bigger.., we will developthe region by setting up indus-tries and an Rs 500 crore inter-vention fund has beenannounced for potatoes.”

The BJP would concentrateon small scale, medium scaleand bigger industries in Bengal,he said. “Just wait and see howwe revive Bengal … the BJP hasgrand plans for this State.” Shahon Wednesday conducted fourroad shows at Singur inHooghly, Domjur in Howrah,central Howrah and then atBehala East in South Kolkata.

�$%&���<�'$�����Vaze was reinstated in ser-

vice on June 6, 2020, 16 yearsafter he had been suspended onMarch 3, 2004, along with 14other policemen for the allegedcustodial death of KhwajaYunus, a suspect in theDecember 2, 2002 Ghatkoparbomb blast case.

Vaze claimed in his letterthat soon after his reinstate-ment, there were efforts toreverse his reinstatement report-edly at the behest of NCP chiefSharad Pawar. “Apparently then,it was ordered by Sharad Pawarto again place me under sus-pension. This was told to me byHome Minister Anil Deshmukhover phone from Nagpur,” Vazestated in his letter. “The HomeMinister told me at that timethat he will convince Pawarsaheb and for that purpose, heasked me to pay Rs 2 crore. Ihad expressed my inability topay such a huge amount. Onthis the Home Minister askedme to pay it in a later course,”Sachin Vaze wrote.

In a reiteration of the alle-gation made by Mumbai’s for-mer Police Commissioneragainst Deshmukh, Vaze allegedthat in January 2021, Deshmukhhad called him to his officialbungalow “Dnyaeshvari” wherethe Minister’s PA Kundan wasalso present. “The Minister sirtold me that there are 1650 barsand restaurants in Mumbai tocollect Rs 3 to 3.5 lakh from

each of these (establishments)for him”.

“Then I told him that therewould be about 200 bars andnot 1650 bars as he was antici-pating. I told him that I wouldnot be in a position to collectany such amount from such baras it was beyond the scope of mycapabilities. Immediately aftercoming out, his PA Kundanadvised me that I must complywith the instructions of theMinister if I am to keep my joband post intact. I still refused,”Vaze stated in his letter. Vaze,who was on March 13 sus-pended from the service overhis alleged involvement in theexplosive laden SUV plantingcase, said that “immediatelyafter this meeting, I narrated thehappenings to the CP Sir(Param Bir Singh). I expressedmy apprehension that sometime in near future, I would beembroiled in a false controver-sy. Then the CP encouraged menot to involve in any illegal col-lection of money from any onefor any one”.

In his allegation againstShiv Sena Minister Anil Parab,Vaze claimed that in July-August, 2020, Vaze claimedParab had called him to his offi-cial bungalow and told him tolook into a complaint concern-ing the Saifee BurhaniUpliftment Trust (SBUT),which was under preliminaryenquiry and asked him to bringthe SBUT trustees to him fornegotiations about the enquiry.

“He (Parab) also insisted toinitiate primary talks to get Rs50 crore from the SBUT in orderto close the said enquiry. I hadexpressed my inability to do anysuch things as I do not knowanyone from the SBUT and alsoI did not have any control overthe enquiry,” Vaze contended inhis statement.

Vaze also claimed thatParab again called him inJanuary 2021, asked him toprobe some fraudulent con-tractors listed in theBrihanMumbai MunicipalCorporation and asked him tocollect Rs 2 crore each from 50such contractors. “The saidenquiry is going under prelim-inary enquiry and till my trans-

fer from the CIU nothingincriminating was found,” Vazewrote.

#$��'��������������Covid-19 were anxiety dis-

orders (occurring in 17 percent of patients), mood disorders(14 per cent), substance misusedisorders (7 per cent), andinsomnia (5 per cent). The inci-dence of neurological outcomeswas lower, including 0.6 per centfor brain haemorrhage, 2.1 percent for ischaemic stroke, and0.7 per cent for dementia.

“These are real-world datafrom a large number of patients.They confirm the high rates ofpsychiatric diagnoses afterCovid-19, and show that seriousdisorders affecting the nervoussystem (such as stroke anddementia) occur too. While thelatter are much rarer, they aresignificant, in those with severeCovid-19,” said Professor PaulHarrison, lead author of thestudy, from the Department ofPsychiatry at Oxford University.

“Although the individualrisks for most disorders aresmall, the effect across the wholepopulation may be substantialfor health and social care sys-tems due to the scale of the pan-demic and that many of theseconditions are chronic”.

As a result, health care sys-tems need to be resourced todeal with the anticipated need,both within primary and sec-ondary care services,” he said.This latest study analysed datafrom the electronic healthrecords of 236,379 COVID-19patients from the US-basedTriNetX network, whichincludes more than 81 millionpeople. This group was com-pared with 105,579 patientsdiagnosed with influenza and236,038 patients diagnosed withany respiratory tract infection(including influenza).

“Our results indicate thatbrain diseases and psychiatricdisorders are more commonafter COVID-19 than after flu or other respiratoryinfections, even when patientsare matched for other risk fac-tors,” Dr Max Taquet, a co-author of the study from OxfordUniversity.

%�������� ���The wearing of a face mask

was “one measure which savedmillions of lives” during the pan-demic, it pointed out.

The court further noted inits verdict that upon the out-break of the pandemic, global-ly as well as nationally, scientists,researchers, international orga-nizations and governmentsemphasised the importance ofwearing facial masks to controlthe spread of the disease. “In theabsence of a complete definitivecure, the world continues towrestle with the pandemic. Thechallenge of the pandemic wasenormous at the outbreak of thesame and even with the intro-duction of a few vaccines, theemphasis continues to be laid onwearing face masks. The wear-ing of masks is necessary irre-spective of whether a person isvaccinated or not,” it said.

The lawyers, in their pleas,had contended that the DistrictMagistrates who were vestedwith the powers to impose finescould not have sub-delegated thepowers to others. Disagreeingwith the contention, JusticeSingh said that the definition of‘authorised persons’ being inclu-sive and expansive in nature,District Magistrates were alsovested with powers to furtherauthorise any officers to issuechallans. “The list of officers,who were authorised is broadand in the opinion of this courtit has to be interpreted expan-sively and not restrictively....Thechallans have been issued byduly authorised officers. Theprayer for quashing of thechallans is thus not sustainable,”the court said. It further said thatbeing lawyers and advocates, thepetitioners “ought to recogniseand assist in the implementationof the measures for curtailing thespread of the pandemic, insteadof questioning the legality of thesame”.

Compliance of the mea-sures by lawyers would encour-age the general public to alsocomply with the same. Duringthe proceedings, the Ministry ofHealth and Family Welfare, rep-resented by advocate Farman AliMagray, had told the court thatit has not issued any directionasking people to wear masks ina car when they are alone. Theministry said health is a statesubject and the Delhi govern-

ment has to take a decision onit. The Delhi government hadtold the court that wearingmasks while driving an officialor personal vehicle was madecompulsory through an officeorder in April last year and itremained in force. It also said aprivate vehicle was held to be apublic place by the SupremeCourt. PTI

/���������"����Each person is eligible to

pick up a 50 gram pack ofbhakarwadi after each shot. InEast Delhi, a restaurant owner isgiving a 30 per cent discount onbiryani and 25 per cent discounton chicken dishes to customerswho can verify that they havebeen vaccinated against Covid-19. Restaurants and hotels in OldDelhi too are giving out specialdiscounts of 20 per cent to 30 percent to those carrying a vaccinecard. A restaurant in Gurgaon iseven giving out free beer if youshow up with your vaccinationcard. The North DelhiMunicipal Corporation(NDMC) also offers a 15 percent tax rebate on filing propertytax returns before June.

��$������$�����$�$���In a bid to obtain leads on

the whereabouts of Manhas,police are carrying out search-es and contacting villagers, socialorganisations, public represen-tatives and journalists, an offi-cer said on Tuesday. Meanwhile,tribal activist Soni Sori left forthe encounter site onWednesday to appeal to theNaxalites to release the trooper.

“The Government shouldhave taken some steps by nowto secure his release. I cannotwait. I want that jawan should befreed safely for which I amgoing to the incident site,” Soritold reporters. In the statement,which was issued in the name ofVikalp, spokesperson of theDandakaranya Special ZonalCommittee (DKSZC) ofMaoists, Naxals had also saidthat Manhas will be releasedafter the Government namesmediators. “He will remain safein our captivity till then,” it hadsaid. The Maoists, however, hadnot raised any formal demandsfor the release of the comman-do. On Saturday, the gunfightbroke out between securityforces and ultras between

Tekalguda and Jonaguda villagesin which 22 troopers were killedand 31 others injured.

Out of the 22, the CentralReserve Police Force (CRPF) losteight personnel, including sevenCoBRA commandos and onejawan of its ‘Bastariya’ battalion,eight from the DRG and sixfrom the Special Task Force.

'$�-��/��#�'�He asked teachers to guide

students and told parents tonever create fear in the mindsof their children as it instills neg-ativity in them. Parents shouldinstead reinforce positive moti-vation, he said.

Parents unwittingly at timemake children “instruments” offulfilling their dreams and goals,he said, advising them againstthis, he said.

In February, it wasannounced that Modi’s annualinteraction with students wouldbe held online this year in viewof the Covid-19 pandemic. Thefirst edition of the prime min-ister’s interaction programmewith school and college students“Pariksha Pe Charcha 1.0” washeld at the Talkatora Stadium onFebruary 16, 2018.

Student who wanted tounderstand how free time canbe utilized, PM Modi answered,“Free time is a treasure, itshould not be wasted. It isimportant to have some freetime otherwise your lifebecomes robotic. Help yourfamily members and spendtime in recreational activitiesthat give you happiness. Dostory writing, painting etc.”

Answering parents whoasked how to raise kids inchanging times and how toensure that they are given goodvalues, PM Modi suggested tonot burden the children withtheir values. “Students must begiven values by their parents andfamily but sometimes we needto self-evaluate the situation.Children don’t need to followthe same value as their parents,”he said. He also talked aboutfood habits of students andsaid nowadays kids eat a lot ofjunk food, this has reallybecome a concern for the par-ents. “Start giving traditionalfood using modern methods.Moreover, several healthyoptions are available in themarket online,” he said.

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Do you miss the hearth, thebond and the relaxing feelingyou get when you visit your

grandparents’ farmhouse? This respiteand solace from the hustle bustle ofcountry living is the best gift we cangive ourselves while staying safe amidthe comfort of home. And what bet-ter than the coziest decor trend — cot-tagecore? Here is a sophisticated takeon the trending cottagecore décor tobring in its aesthetic without a majorhome makeover.

��$#�'$���While opting for a floral theme

it might sound like a conventionalidea, but modern spaces look charm-ing with a little touch of fresh blockprints or flower patterns. So, howabout doodling your walls on chalkgrade laminates? One can tryAvocado Green laminate decor byNewMika from the house ofGreenlam Industries Ltd that ensuresdurability, elegance and perfect con-tinuity in chalk marks for hassle freeand readable writing. Throw some

pastels shades and place some suc-culents over your wooden rackinspired from mother nature. Lastly,remember to keep the space unclut-tered and every element soft yet

enveloping for a perfect cottagecoredecor.

��"�����Your bedroom is an important

place where you start and unwindyour days. Here, adding cottagecorevibes to your room can help soothestress, inspire your creativity that willallow you to feel calmer. Start with

placing vintage quilts and bright geo-metric patterned cushions to yourbedding. For a contrasting theme, herego for a light-coloured laminate. It willeffortlessly balance the other coloursin your room. Further, having aceramic flower vase and a rockingarmchair gives your bedroom a chicand close to nature feel.

���#$�#�Highly finished laminate walls,

with a tinch of pattern, contrastingagainst an old stone wall adds a char-acter and urban flavour to your livingarea. To give your space a sprinkle oftimeless charm, try out hot neutralshades of gray to complement yourbrick wall. For instance, you can trySheer Concrete laminate décor fromGreenlam. It makes vibrant coloursstand out while providing resistanceto scratch, steam, crack, heat and sur-face wear. With embroidered cushionsand rug, give an edge to your other-wise plain sofa set. Finish this lookwith macramé wall hangings as it willadd an oomph to your walls.

Actor, producer, UNEPGoodwill Ambassador and

UN Secretary-General’sAdvocate for SDGs, Dia Mirzahas frequently tweeted, bloggedand talked about environmen-tal degradation. She has repeat-edly tried to bring attention tothe fact that climate change isa clear and present reality as isevident from the frequent nat-ural disasters unfolding aroundthe world ranging from flashfloods, raging fires, snowstorms and extreme weatherchanges.

Closer home, Uttarakhandis currently battling 40 activeforest fires with brave workerstrying to curtail their spread.The fire has already impactedforests across the Garhwal andKumaon regions and is said tobe the worst since 2016.

Pained by the devastation,Dia tweeted, “Since Januarythis year, there have been 983incidents of forest fire in thestate affecting 1,292 hectares ofland. #Uttarakhand battles 40active forest fires, IAF sendshelp. Hope the state receivesadequate help.”

She added, “I once quotedBaba Dioum, a Senegaleseforestry engineer in a blog, thegist of which was that in theend we will conserve onlywhat we love. Do we love ourforests enough to protect themis a question that niggles at meevery time such devastationtakes place in Uttarakhand.Uttarakhand is the birthplaceof the Ganga and its forests feedmany important river systemsthat are the life source of mil-lions. This is a state with 71 percent forest cover, over 743 birdspecies (this represents about60 per cent of India’s avian bio-diversity), 102 mammals, 72species of reptiles and 439

species of butterflies. This isalso the home of an estimated340 wild tigers in two natureparks, Rajaji National Parkand Corbett. So, this state lit-erally cradles our future. Andto see it go up in flames like thisrepeatedly is very painfulbecause I have been to theseforests and have absorbed theirserenity and majesty.”

She also reminded thatevery single fire poses a mas-sive risk to flora and fauna, firefighters and forest rangers, oneof whom told her of the rolethat the timber mafia oftenplays in causing such tragedies.She said, “There is also neglectand a lack of awareness thatprecipitates the intensity ofsuch a crisis. Our naturalresource management needs tobe better. As every person Ispoke to in Uttarakhand toldme that we need to be moreaware of the reasons that causedeforestation, pollution of therivers, illegal mining and soilerosion. We have to understandhow interdependent thehuman existence and mothernature are. Rivers will dry upif the forests that feed them arenot protected. It will take theactive participation of publicand private partnership tosecure our natural resources.”

The actor has been rou-tinely talking about environ-mental issues that don’t getmainstreamed and is also pro-ducing a series of short filmsthat will expand the signifi-cance of the 17 SDGs(Sustainable DevelopmentGoals) with compelling narra-tives. These films aim to high-light the importance of inter-linked SDG goals which havebeen designed to achieve amore sustainable future and ahealthier planet for all.

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Actor-producer Priyanka Chopra Jonas is understandablyon cloud nine with The White Tiger making an impact

in the awards circuit this season. The film, co-starring andexecutive-produced by Priyanka, is in contention for an Oscarand two BAFTAS.

“It means a lot to me, I am so proud of the whole team.We believed in the story collectively and, importantly, thestory needed to be translated into a film that would connectwith a wider audience,” Priyanka says.

At the forthcoming Oscars, The White Tiger, based onArvind Adiga’s book of the same name, has a nominationin the Best Adapted Screenplay category for writer-directorRamin Bahrani. At the BAFTAS, actor Adarsh Gourav isnominated alongside Anthony Hopkins and the lateChadwick Boseman, among others, in the Leading Actor cat-egory, while Bahrani is in the race for a Best AdaptedScreenplay trophy.

As soon as nominations for sundry awards cere-monies were announced this year, a section of socialmedia began comparing it with Danny Boyle’s SlumdogMillionaire, which belongs to the same genre asBahrani’s film. Boyle’s film won eight Oscars and sixBAFTAs in 2009, and turned its lead duo Dev Patel andFreida Pinto into overnight global stars.

At 38, Priyanka had achieved international famelong before she got down with making and acting inThe While Tiger'. Her lead actor Adarsh Gourav standsto gain tremendously of course, if he manages to scorea win at the BAFTAs, though that could be a challengein a year when the late Boseman has been winninghearts with his role in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.

While the nominations are an honour, Priyankasays her involvement with the project is not necessar-ily about the awards.

“We had already done the hard work by the timethe awards rolled by, so I don’t think it affected my roleas an actor or producer in any way for this film. Forme, as an actor and a producer, the audience has alwaysbeen my end goal. Nominations and wins — especial-ly awards like the Oscars and Baftas — are truly amaz-ing but it’s not why I pick projects,” she asserts.

Priyanka lists “content stories, ones that resonate,ones that need to be told, ones that entertain a wideglobal audience” as her primary intent when it comes

to filmmaking.“You will never be true to content if you make it to win

at the awards,” she says.For her, the biggest boost that such nominations bring

is that they push India, Indian cinema and Indian artistestowards the right direction when it comes to the conversa-tion of inclusivity and diversity.

“I think the nominations are another step towards whatwe have all been working so hard for — equal opportunityand a seat at every table. We deserve it, not because of somequota that needs to be filled but because we prove every daythat we can deliver what is needed. This applies to everyindustry and not just entertainment,” she says.

“I’m just proud to be in such august company, withwomen (from) across the world, working hard, breaking bar-riers, driving innovation, every day,” she signs off.

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Western Railway Women’sWelfare Organisation

(WRWWO) has always comeforward to provide help andcare to railwaymen and theirfamilies. It has continued towork relentlessly and has dedicat-ed itself towards multifariouswelfare activities. This organisa-tion has always held aloft thebanner of such benevolent ges-tures with Tanuja Kansal, thePresident of WRWWO, leadingit from the forefront whole heart-edly and with great devotion.

In continuation to this,recently, Kansal paid annual vis-its to the Divisional Units ofWRWWO at Rajkot, Bhavnagar,Ahmedabad and Ratlam divi-sions to encourage variousaspects of women empower-ment and social welfare. She

interacted with the members ofthe divisional units and listenedto their requirements for the ben-efit of women staff at these divi-sions.

During her visit to the RajkotDivision, she inaugurated aChildren’s Park at KothiCompound Colony. Along withthis, she also declared cash awardof �50,000/- each for Rajkot,Bhavnagar and Ahmedabad divi-sions. It is worth mentioning thatduring her earlier visits toVadodara and Mumbai Centraldivisions, cash award of �50,000/-each were also given. At RatlamDivision, Kansal donated 43 inchtelevision screen for thePhysiotherapy Room at theDivisional Hospital, Ratlam,which was inaugurated by herduring her recent visit.

NFL has once againrecorded highest-ever

total fertiliser sale of 59.36lakh MT in 2020-21, beatingits previous best of 57.04lakh MT achieved during2019-20. This includes saleof company’s own Urea,imported Urea and otherP&K fertilisers.

On the production front,the company produced37.99 lakh MT of urea in itsplants recording a capacityutilisation of 117.6 per centdespite severe restrictionsof COVID-19 and otherdespatch related challenges

due to farmers’ agitation inPunjab. In the plants,Panipat unit has set a newproduction record of Ureaand Bentonite Sulphur and

Vijaipur Unit producedhighest-ever volume ofbiofertilisers.

Other than fertilisers,the company registered steep

growth in sale of seeds andagrochemicals. While sale ofseeds grew by 35 per centthan CPLY at 1,85,550 quin-tal, the agrochemicals seg-ment indicated a growth of95 per cent than the previ-ous year.

Even the sale ofBentonite Sulphur, producedat NFL’s Panipat plant, hasrecorded huge growth of150 per cent at 19,958 MTagainst 7,974 MT in CPLY.Also the industrial prod-ucts segment performedexceedingly well during theyear.

The life values of our father of the nation —Mahatma Gandhi — are inspiring for the

whole world. He did what he said, ‘In a gentleway, you can shake the world’,” said RajasthanChief Minister, Ashok Gehlot. “His life is sucha treasure of principles that can guide us in everyfield. His views have become more relevant intoday’s circumstances. Mahatma Gandhi Instituteof Governance and Social Sciences would beestablished in the state with the aim of assimi-lating the teachings of Bapu and playing a rolein governance and social work,” said he.

Gehlot was addressing the unveiling ceremo-ny of Gandhiji’s statue at Hanumangarh DistrictElectorate campus and state level conference ofGandhian and voluntary organisations througha video conference. He thanked the sculptorRamkishan Adig for the construction of the stat-ue.

“The younger generation should play a con-structive role in society by adopting Gandhiji’slife values, principles and ideals. For this, inno-vations like creating Youth Peace Army can bedone in the state so that more and more youthcan be associated with his philosophy of life. Itis our endeavour that Rajasthan should becomethe focal point of the country in the direction offurthering Bapu’s ideas and philosophy of life,”shared he.

Gehlot said that peace and non-violence cellhas been formed in the state to bring Gandhiji’slife philosophy to the people. “Mahatma GandhiInstitute and Mahatma Gandhi Darshan Museumin Jaipur’s Central Park will be built,” he shared.

The Minister of Autonomous Governance,Shanti Dhariwal, said that many countriesgained independence, inspired by Gandhiji’s non-violent movement. “The programmes beingorganised by the state government on the 450thbirth anniversary of Gandhiji will inspire theyounger generation to assimilate his teachings,”added he.

Art and Culture Minister, Dr BD Kalla, said,“Gandhiji’s historic Dandi March inspires theachievement of goals through the non-violentmovement. The millennials should follow hispath given and give a new direction to the soci-ety.”

The Minister of State for Social Justice andEmpowerment, Rajendra Yadav, shared, “Someevents have historical significance for the nation.The Dandi March is one such incident, whichpaved the way for non-violently raising voiceagainst injustice.”

The President of Gandhi Peace Foundationand prominent Gandhian thinker, KumarPrashant, added, “When Gandhiji did DandiMarch, he inspired many on the way to end socialinequality and adopt Khadi.”

“The main objective of Dandi Yatra was toestablish a dialogue. Today we need to givedirection to the youth because, I feel, there isno lack of energy and strength in them. Theyjust need a right direction,” said he.

Former Chairman of Rajasthan PublicService Commission, Dr BM Sharma, said thatGandhi’s experiments like civil disobedienceand satyagraha are as relevant today as theywere during the freedom movement. “Thewhole world has accepted his principles,” headded. The patron of the Bhagwan MahavirDisabled Assistance Committee, Dr DR Mehta,emphasized, “Special efforts are needed to moti-vate the youth towards Gandhism. Betterwork can be done in this direction throughsocial media.”

Vinod Kumar, MLA attached to VC fromHanumangarh District Collectorate, CityCouncil President Ganesh Raj Bansal andDistrict Collector Zakir Hussain also addressed.

Principal Secretary, Social Justice andEmpowerment, Gayatri Rathore, threw light onGandhiji’s personality and work at the begin-ning of the seminar.

Sanjeev Kumar, an IAS officer of1993 batch, Maharashtra Cadre,

took over as Chairman of AirportsAuthority of India. Prior to this,Kumar was working as StateCommissioner-GST, Governmentof Maharashtra.

With rich experience in the fieldof Infrastructure and Finance,Kumar has served in various min-istries and departments of theGovernment of Maharashtra viz.Water Supply & SanitationDepartment, Energy and IndustriesDepartment. He has worked as JointCEO of Maharashtra IndustrialDevelopment Corporation (MIDC)and has also been MD ofMaharashtra Agro IndustriesDevelopment Corporation.

He was the CMD of largest elec-

tricity distributor company of India,Maharashtra State ElectricityDistribution Company Ltd for morethan four years and brought it to

profit for continuous four years. Heimplemented large number of pub-lic-friendly measures in MSEDCL,while improving operational andfinancial efficiency. Kumar has spentmore than five years in State GoodsTaxation Department in variouscapacities at the crucial time ofintroduction of Value Added Tax(VAT) in 2005 and now in GST.

He also has experience of work-ing in Government of India and hasworked as Director in Ministry ofPower for two years. In addition tothis, Sanjeev Kumar worked inMinistry of Housing & UrbanPoverty Alleviation as Joint Secretary& Mission Director for Housing forall projects. During his tenure as theMission director for Prime MinisterAawas Yojna (PMAY), he designed

and launched the prestigious schemein that capacity.

Kumar holds a degree inElectronics & CommunicationEngineering from University ofRoorkee (now known as IITRoorkee) and M Tech inCommunication Engineering fromIIT, Kanpur. He also holds a degreein Financial Management fromJamnalal Bajaj Institution ofManagement Studies, MumbaiUniversity.

In his new assignment as theChairman of the Airports Authorityof India, Kumar will lead efforts toachieve AAI’s organisational goals ofproviding world-class airport infra-structure, top-of-the-line facilitiesand leading air navigation servicesin the world.

National Book Trust, India(NBT) has organised a pan-

India essay writing competitionfor students on the occasion ofPrakash Parv which marks the400th birth anniversary of GuruTegh Bahadurji.

NBT is inviting studentsfrom various schools, colleges andeducational institutions to write500-700 word essays on any oneof the topics: Teachings from thelife of Guru Tegh Bahadurji andrelevance of Guru TeghBahadurji’s teachings in the cur-rent times.

The essay can be written inEnglish or in any other Indianlanguage. It has to be submittedby April 20, 2021. The best threeentries from each institution shallbe awarded. More details can befound on www.nbtindia.gov.inand NBT’s social media pages.

RITES Ltd, the transport infra-structure consultancy and

engineering company, in consor-tium with SMEC International PtyLimited, signed a contract withHaryana Rail InfrastructureDevelopment Corporation(HRIDC), a joint venture ofGovernment of Haryana andMinistry of Railways, for provid-ing general consultancy servicesfor Haryana Orbital Rail Corridor(HORC) from Palwal to Sonepatvis Sohna, Manesar andKharkhoda. The contract value isabout �72 crore.

The contract was signed byPiyush Kansal, Executive Director,Unban Infrastructure, RITES Ltd(on behalf of RITES-SMEC), andNarinder D Chumber, Director(Project & Planning), HRIDC, inthe presence of Dinesh ChandDeshwal, IRSE, MD, HRIDC,

Rajeev Mehrotra, Chairman &Managing Director, RITES Ltd,VG Suresh Kumar, DirectorProjects, RITES Ltd, and AndrewMcKune, Executive Director,SMEC.

The Haryana Orbital RailCorridor (HORC) connectingPalwal to Sonepat via Sohna,Manesar and Kharkhoda is anelectrified broad gauge double

railway line for passenger andfreight traffic. About 122 routekm corridor will provide seam-less connectivity to DedicatedFreight Corridor (DFC) atPrithala station and to IndianRailways at Palwal, Patl i ,Sultanpur, Asaudha and HarsanaKalan stations. The project isbeing funded by AsianInfrastructure Investment Bank

(AIIB) and shall be completed infive years.

The project would helpdecongest Delhi by divertinggoods and passenger trains notoriginated/destined for Delhi. Itwould also be beneficial to indus-trial and logistic hubs ofKharkhoda, Manesar and Sohnaand would help develop addition-al hubs in the region.

Guru Gobind Singh IndraprasthaUniversity has started University

Grievance Monitoring system. Its link isavailable on the university website.

It is an online web-enabled systemdeveloped by NIC to redress and monitor-ing public grievances. On the launch cere-mony, the Vice Chancellor of the University,professor Mahesh Verma, said that it will behelpful in the improvement of the adminis-trative as well as academic performance ofthe university.

The salient features of this portal are —maintenance of public grievances, prioritisa-tion of grievances, forwarding and movementto multiple departments, tracking of griev-ance till redressal and online status check.

A training programme was also organ-ised by NIC in this regard.

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�What will be the effects ofthe coming up of Jewar air-port?

The coming up of an air-port has a multiplier effect onany economy. Studies showthat wherever airports havecome up, the economy hasincreased seven-fold. And thatis the kind of effect we hopethat it will have on the area.Moreover, in conjunction withprojects like the Film Citywhich has been planned, it willmean that people coming downto shoot will have easy access.

�What about the connectiv-ity to the airport, which is nat-urally important for it to takeoff?

The multi modal connec-tivity of Jewar Airport is uniquein the country. The Film Cityon the Expressway is 3.5 kmaway from the Airport. So, any-one flying in can go directly tothe Film City.

The Eastern Peripheralpasses close to the Expresswayand the Film City. We aredeveloping it as an interchange.Through this, one can gotowards Haryana and Meerut.Moreover, the EasternPeripheral is connected to theWestern Peripheral, so Sohna,Manesar too will be connect-ed with it. Additionally, citieslike Faridabad too can be con-nected with by developing acorridor.

The National High SpeedRail Corporation which isdeveloping the corridor forthe bullet train from NewDelhi to Varanasi has designat-ed Jewar as a stop. It will take21 minutes from New DelhiStation to reach Jewar. Adetailed project report (DPR)for the same is being prepared.

There is also the MumbaiDelhi Expressway that will

pass through Ballabgarh whichis 31 km from Jewar. Of this,seven km lies in UP and 34 kmin Haryana. There will beanother Expressway spreadover these 31 km which willconnect the Mumbai DelhiExpressway to Jewar and FilmCity.

So, the airport will be well-connected in the north, westand east directions. Except forthe South, the three directionswill have roads leading to it.

The Dedicated FreightCorridor (DFC) is at a distanceof 16 km and the area from theFilm City to Chola will bedeveloped as a logistic andwarehousing. So air, road andrail cargo comes together here.The biggest advantage of con-necting the Chola rail head isthat it will be developed cen-trally.

There are plans to havemetro connectivity as well andthe approval has been given toDMRC for the same.

�What will be the infrastruc-ture like at the airport?

The initial plan was tohave two runways at the NoidaGreenfield InternationalAirport being developed bySwiss-developer ZurichInternational Airport AG. Nowthe plan is to have five runways.The remaining three runwayswill have Maintenance, Repair,Operations (MRO) and fieldrunways making it the secondbiggest airport in NCR and theworld’s fourth or fifth biggestairport. Without an MRO, theaircraft have to go to Boeing orAirbus Headquarters for repairor maintenance. This will be abig step.

�What are the schemes toensure connectivity withinYEIDA especially for the pop-

ulation working within theareas?

The bus service, ‘YamunaSarthi’, connects Noida, GreaterNoida and the YamunaExpressway IndustrialDevelopment Authority(YEIDA). This enables peoplewho work in the area. Thesebuses run on designated routesat half hour intervals.Additionally, the central gov-ernment agency, Indian PortRail and Ropeway CorporationLimited (IPRCL) has beenroped in to work on a �300crore pod taxi project that will

connect the Film City with theairport.

�The residential schemes areaimed at which sections of thesociety?

We are primarily targetingthe lower and lower middleclass who will live and workhere. Majority of the plots areof small sizes which are 60, 90and 120 sqm.

�What about the infrastruc-ture to cater to the area?Things like electricity andwater.

We have plans to supplythe area with Ganga water justlike in Noida. There will bemore than adequate supply ofelectricity. There is a proposed765 KVA Substation of 3000MW capacity as well as a com-missioned 220kV substation atJewar which is expected to beupgraded by UPPTCL to400kV capacity.

�The Film City is an impor-tant part of the plan. How isit different from the onealready there in Noida?

It is close to the JewarAirport and has been plannedover 1,000 acres of land.

The earlier one in Noidawas very small. In Mumbai,there were already big studios sothis did not become importantas there was no infrastructure.Till the time there is an integrat-ed infrastructure people wouldhave to go to different places forcamera, visual effects etc. Youneed to have everything at oneplace. That is the reason thisFilm City, which is also beingcalled Infotainment city, wouldhave everything in one place.

Incidentally, 70 per cent ofthe technicians in the Hindi oreven the South Indian filmindustries are from UttarPradesh. Since this Film Citywould have these facilities, itwould be a source of employ-ment generation too.

�What are the parks that havealready been developed atYEIDA?

We have made an MSMEPark, an Apparel Park, aHandicraft Park and Toys Parkwhere national and interna-tional companies have set upoperations. This will generateemployment opportunities forat least 3.5 lakh people.

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Vinicius Junior scoredtwice as Real Madridmade Liverpool pay for

more defensive errors onTuesday, a 3-1 victory puttingthem in sight of the ChampionsLeague semi-finals.

Vinicius and MarcoAsensio both profited in thefirst half after darting behindLiverpool’s makeshift back-line before a simple move froma throw-in gave Vinicius asimple finish in the second.

Mohamed Salah’s strikeshortly after the interval brieflymade it a contest at Valdebebas,with an away goal certainly asignificant consolation forLiverpool to take into the sec-ond leg at Anfield next week.

But without fans and witha miserable recent record athome, Jurgen Klopp will knowhis side have it all to do to avoidhis team’s season becomingsolely about scraping into thePremier League’s top four.

“We didn’t play wellenough, that’s my first con-cern,” said Klopp. “We didn’tdeserve to win tonight, but thegood news is that there isanother match.

“We are going to fight, 3-1is not good, but we have achance.”

Except for two spells after

half-time and at the finish,when their opponents wereholding on to what they had,Liverpool were overpowered byReal Madrid, whose only dis-appointment might be missingout on a clearer margin aheadof the return in eight days’ time.

Before then, they go upagainst Barcelona on Saturdayand this result, their fifth con-secutive victory, should beanother huge boost to moralegoing into what will be a cru-cial fixture in La Liga’s titlerace.

“Nothing is close, nothingis won,” Madrid coachZinedine Zidane said. “We arealive in two competitions andwe will keep fighting. We willstart the second leg like it’s 0-0 because it will be anothervery difficult game.”

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Pep Guardiola saidManchester City “felt the

pressure” of expectancy in theChampions League as theyneeded Phil Foden’s 90th minutewinner to take a slender 2-1 leadfrom the first leg of their quar-ter-final tie against BorussiaDortmund on Tuesday.

“We felt the pressure today,in this competition, at home, notknowing how we would react,”said Guardiola. “It’s better to winthan draw but even at 1-1 wehad 90 minutes to do it.”

The sides will meet again inGermany on April 14 with thewinners facing Bayern Munichor Paris Saint-Germain in thelast four.

Dortmund are at seriousrisk of missing out on theChampions League next seasonafter slipping seven points adriftof the top four in the Bundesliga.

However, the visitors start-ed brightly until Emre Can gift-ed the ball away to RiyadMahrez and City launched aruthless counter-attack. DeBruyne, Foden and Mahrezexchanged passes before theBelgian tapped home from closerange.

City thought they had agreat chance to double theiradvantage moments later whenRodrigo went down under Can’schallenge inside the area and ref-

eree Ovidiu Hategan pointed tothe penalty spot.

Hategan, though, rightlyoverturned his call on a VARreview in the first of a numberof dubious decisions from theRomanian official.

His next big call ruled out aDortmund goal when headjudged Jude Bellingham to

have fouled Ederson as he dis-possessed the Brazilian andtapped into an empty net justbefore half-time.

This time VAR could notintervene as Hategan had blownbefore Bellingham rolled the ballhome.

Erling Haaland was thefocus of much of the pre-matchhype with City one of a numberof clubs interested in theNorwegian wonder kid.

The 20-year-old had failedto score in just two of his previ-ous 14 Champions Leagueappearances, but he spurned hisone big chance to net early in thesecond-half.

Haaland showed greatstrength and pace to outmuscleand outsprint Ruben Dias, butcould not lift the ball over theadvancing Ederson.

However, City were hit witha sucker punch as Haalandshowed he is more than just agoalscorer.

His brilliant reverse ballreleased Marco Reus to firebeyond Ederson in what seemeda sting in the tale six minutesfrom time. But Dortmund couldnot hold out in the closingstages as City pushed for a win-ner.

De Bruyne was the creatoragain as his cross found IlkayGundogan at the back post andhis cut-back was swept home bya relieved Foden.

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Jurgen Klopp says it will betough for Liverpool to turn

around their ChampionsLeague fortunes against RealMadrid at an empty Anfielddespite their reputation as“comeback kings”.

Liverpool famously over-turned a 3-0 first-leg deficitagainst Barcelona in the 2019semi-final, winning 4-0 at afrenzied Anfield on their wayto being crowned Europeanchampions for a sixth time.

And next Wednesday

they must do something sim-ilar. An away goal gives thema lifeline but they will be play-ing behind closed doors dueto coronavirus regulations.

“Of course, it is com-pletely different,” said Klopp.

“If you want to have someemotional memories, thenyou watch the Barcelonagame back and 80 percent ofthis game was the atmos-phere in the stadium, so yes,we have to do it without that.

“But it is not that I sit hereand think, ‘Comebacks areour thing, we do it all the

time’. We did from time totime but we always had sup-porters in the stadium.

“We don’t have that thistime so I don’t know if we cando it, but I can promise youwe will give it a proper try.”

The other factor countingagainst Klopp’s men is theirshocking recent home form,which has torpedoed theirPremier League title defence.

Liverpool have not won atAnfield since mid-December,losing six of their eight match-es at their former fortress andscoring a paltry two goals.

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ICC’s interim CEO GeoffAllardice on Wednesday said

the body has backup plans inplace for the T20 World Cup inIndia later this year but is current-ly not entertaining any thoughts ofmoving it out of the countrydespite a surge in Covid-19 cases.

The tournament is scheduledto be held in October-November inIndia, which is reporting over onelakh daily cases for the past fewdays. Amid the Covid surge, theIPL is due to start on Friday inChennai behind closed doors.

“We are certainly proceeding

on the assumption that the eventis going ahead as planned,”Allardice said during a virtualmedia round-table.

“Plan B we have, but we haven’tactivated those plans yet. We areworking with the BCCI, we dohave backup plans that can be acti-vated if the time comes.

“We’re not oblivious to what isgoing on around the world and wecontinue to take updates on allaspects of how sporting events arebeing run and the situation in eachcountry.

“Cricket is being played in anumber of countries around theworld, we’re taking lessons from all

of those and proceeding asplanned.

“We do have back-up plansthat can be activated when the timeis right. We’re not anywhere nearthat timeline yet. We’ve got anumber of months to be able to seehow the situation is and howcricket events are being run.”

The 53-year-old Australian,who has played domestic cricket inhis country, said the ICC is also intouch with other sports bodies tounderstand how they are manag-ing in the Covid era.

“Cricket is being played in anumber of countries at themoment and we are learning from

all of them.“We have been talking to oth-

ers sports bodies about what theyare doing, we are in a reasonablygood shape at the moment butacknowledge that the world ischanging at a rapid rate.

“We have also got the WorldTest Championship final comingup in two months’ time, but we areproceeding with both as planned,”he said.

The UAE, which hosted theIPL last year, could be one of thebackup venues for the shortest for-mat’s biggest international eventshould the situation demand ashift.

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The Indian men’s hockey team madea good start to its Argentina tour,

beating the reigning Olympic champi-ons 4-3 in the first practice match inBuenos Aires on Tuesday night.

Nilakanta Sharma (16th minute),Harmanpreet Singh (28th), RupinderPal Singh (33rd) and Varun Kumar(47th) were the goal scorers for India.

Dragflicker Leandro Tolini (35th,53rd) and Maico Casella (41st) scoredfor the home team.

“It was a very good practice match,intensely fought by both teams. It isalways nice to come up with a winagainst a team like Olympic ChampionsArgentina as it amplifies our confidencelevels,” India coach Graham Reid saidof the win.

“We were able to create opportuni-

ties in the circle and also convertthem. This was one of the areas wereally put our minds to in thenational camp,” Reid said.

“But we allowed Argentina tocome back into the game particular-ly in the third quarter where theyscored twice. When you play a strongteam like them, we need to be consis-tent in all the quarters,” he added.

“Each match we play is a learningexperience and I feel we have scope todo better.

“These matches will surely help uswhen we take on the home team in thedouble header Pro League matches,”Reid said.

The Indian team is scheduled toplay six matches against Argentinaduring its 16-day tour including thedouble-header FIH Hockey Pro leaguematches on April 11 and 12.

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Pakistan havebecome the second

team after Australia towin two bilateralODI series in SouthAfrica after suc-

cessfully defend-ing 321 in thedecider in thethird ODI at

SuperSport Park.They earned 20points in theWorld CupSuper Leagueand move tothe top of thetable, level withEngland and

Australia.In a match that

tested both teams’

depth with 11 changes acrossthe two teams - SA madeseven and Pakistan four - oneplayer’s touch remainedexactly the same. FakharZaman scored his secondsuccessive hundred, and onthe way, became the firstPakistan batsman to scoremore than one ODI centuryin SA and score the mostruns by a batsman in a three-match series against SA to setup the victory.

Between him and Babar,who notched up 94, theyasked their hosts to pull offthe highest successful chaseat this ground, as KyleVerreynne and AndilePhehlukwayo almost pulledoff a coup. Their 99-ball108-run sixth-wicket part-nership steadied South

Africa from 141 for 5 and putthem 73 runs away from awin. But in the end, the tailwas left with too much to doafter most of the rest of thetop six were undone by spin,with Mohammad Nawaz andUsman Qadir taking fourwickets between them.

While SA will once againhave cause to examine theirapproach against the turningball, they also missed theirfrontline attack, all of whomhave departed for the IPL.With Kagiso Rabada, AnrichNortje and Lungi Ngidiabsent, Daryn Dupvaillon,Lutho Sipamla and BeuranHendricks bowled 18 oversfor 118 runs without takinga single wicket. Instead, it wasKeshav Maharaj, brought infor Tabraiz Shamsi, who

enjoyed the most success,supported by allrounder Jon-Jon Smuts and part-timeoffspinner Aiden Markram.In total, SA bowled 28 oversof spin - the most in a homeODI - and they collectivelypicked up six wickets.

Markram and SouthAfrica began well with theball and Pakistan only gotone boundary away in thefirst six overs, but that wasthe calm before the storm.When Zaman hit the first sixof the innings - off a Sipamlashort ball that he muscledover midwicket - the open-ers seemed to find rhythm.Imam-ul-Haq, meanwhile,took on Dupavillon's shortball with his trademark pulland brought up his half-century off 60 balls.

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Phil Foden says ManchesterCity remain fresh and ready

to fight for the quadruple afterthe scored late to give them theedge against BorussiaDortmund. “It is really hardsometimes, mentally and inyour legs as well, after comingback from internationals, butwe have a lot of players in thesquad that are fresh and readyto play,” said 20-year-old mid-fielder Foden.

“The manager is rotatingand so we are ready and I thinkas a team we are doing bril-

liantly. We are fighting foreverything we can and aregoing to fight until the end.”

City have now won 27 oftheir past 28 games in all com-petitions and remain on coursefor a historic sweep of theChampions League, PremierLeague, FA Cup and LeagueCup.

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Royal ChallengersBangalore’s Australian all-

rounder Daniel Sams onWednesday tested positive forCovid-19 ahead of the IPLstarting on April 9, but open-er Devdutt Padikkal recov-ered from the dreaded infec-tion to join the side.

According to a statementissued by RCB on its Twitterhandle, the 28-year-old all-rounder arrived in India onApril 3 and had a negativeCovid-19 test report at thattime.

“His (Sams’) report fromthe 2nd test on 7th April camepositive. Sams is currentlyasymptomatic and he is cur-rently in isolation at a designat-ed medical facility,” the RCBsaid.

“Royal ChallengersBangalore medical team is inconstant touch with DanielSams and continue to monitorhis health and abide by theBCCI protocols.”

Sams was traded to theRCB this season from DelhiCapitals. He became the sec-ond RCB player to test positivefor the infection after left-

handed opening batsmanPadikkal.

Padikkal, however, cameout negative in the latest roundof testing. The 20-year-oldhad been in home quarantinesince March 22 after beinginfected. He was RCB’s highestscorer last season with 473runs from 15 matches.

“Devdutt Padikkal, hasjoined the team on 7th April2021 with negative reports forCovid-19 as per BCCI proto-cols. RCB medical team was inconstant touch with Devdutt toensure his safety and well-being,” the franchise said.

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New Delhi: A 15-memberIndian judo team was forced towithdraw from the ongoingAsia-Oceania Olympic qualifiersin Bishkek after two judokas —Ajay Yadav and Ritu — testedpositive for Covid-19 just beforethe start of the tourney. Yadav,a 73kg class judoka, and Ritu(52kg) tested positive in the sec-ond test conducted after landingin Kyrgyzstan and both areasymptomatic. It became thefirst instance of an Indian con-tingent’s campaign beingderailed at an Olympic qualifi-er because of the dreaded virus.

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Club by 75 runs to lift the 2nd Gaurav MehtaMemorial Cricket Trophy at Chowk Stadium onWednesday. Opting to bat, Youth Club scored129 runs in 31 overs with skipper SatyamAwasthi slamming 52 runs. In reply, CentralClub were bundled out for 54 runs in 20.2 overs.Shivam Jaiswal claiming four wickets. YashSahani was adjudged man of the tournamentwhile Varun Singh and Satyam Awasthi walkedaway with best batsman and best bowler trophy.BRIEF SCORES:YCC: 129 (Satyam 52, Shaurya 20, Vinayak 16;Naman 20/3, Pintu 26/2, Yash 28/2, Satyam 31/2)CCC: 54 (Naman 14; Shivam 14/4, Saurabh 4/2,Kratagya 10/2)

�$��'����������:���"Sound Images Cricket Club defeated Akhil

Infra Cricket Club by eight wickets to enter thefinal of the 16th Timber Trophy at CSD Saharaground on Wednesday.BRIEF SCORES:AICC: 203 (Amit 72, Abhinav 39, Sufiyan 24,Subhansh 24; Anshuman 23/3, Abhinav 31/2)SICC: 206 (Faiz 66, Himanshu 51, Mritunjay 33,Siddharth 28; Deepak 27/1)

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Cricket Club beat Bharat Cricket Club by 56 runsin the quarter-final match of the 1st MumtazBegum Khan Memorial Cricket Tournament atKD Singh ‘Babu’ Stadium on Wednesday.BRIEF SCORES:SCC: 160 (Lalit 33, Prajjwal 30, Arjun 28; Alok14/5, Himanshu 28/2, Vikas 41/2)BCC: 104 (Vikas 22, Akash 18, Himanshu 18;Surya 11/4).

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TG/112/4 Corr. - UPOV

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Crossing Jordan TG

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GIO TTO BT A 30-60S U GIO TTO BT A 30-60 U - logo Security ...

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Farmer Interests in Biotechnology in India Bt cotton to Bt brinjal

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Dimensionnement BT LST GE

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ROFISAH BT MOHD SADRI DL1310644

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Bt ifrs consolidat ro 2013 finale

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BT-SM 1800

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NFRC “TG Diffuse Glazing” INTER-LABORATORY ...

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C.2.11. Avian Reproduction Test (OECD TG 206)

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PP Giai BT Nhom

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GSM BT Application Note - Quectel

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TG KAREN11

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BT HOA HUU CO 12

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2014 BT Compatibility List_20140626_to christine

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ESI Feature Phone User's Guide | TG Communications

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3 TG series HMI - prom.st

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