F\cRZ_V TcZdZd VdTR]ReVd, dR_TeZ`_d cVXZ^V SVXZ_d

$: F\cRZ_V TcZdZd VdTR]ReVd, dR_TeZ`_d cVXZ^V SVXZ_d$
�� ! �� "��#� ��# �� $�� %�� &�

�� '�� $� �� #�� % �� '��"��()�*�%��! �� '%��+�� ,�� #�� #�� -�� %��#&

��

�� .*/��0�'(1'(023")��

European Union sanctionsagainst Russia have come

into effect. They are the firststeps in a planned series ofretaliatory measures devised tobe cranked up if RussianPresident Vladimir Putinorders an attack or pushes histroops deeper into Ukraine.

The sanctions that tookeffect on Wednesday targetedsenior Russian Governmentofficials, several companiesand hundreds of lawmakerswho voted in favour of recog-nising the independence ofseparatist parts of Ukraine.

The sanctions are mostly afreeze on the assets of those list-ed and a ban on them travellingin the 27-nation EU. The mea-sures come on top of a slew ofeconomic and other sanctionsslapped on Russia since itannexed Ukraine’s CrimeanPeninsula in 2014.

Those sanctions alreadytargeted Russia’s financial, ener-gy and defence sectors, as wellas goods that can be used for

both civilian and military pur-poses.

However, Britain promisedto hit Russia with “powerful”sanctions over its military con-frontation with Ukraine. Butthe slim sheaf of measuresannounced by Prime MinisterBoris Johnson has disappoint-ed allies and critics alike.

The UK has slapped assetfreezes and travel bans onthree wealthy Russians andsanctioned five Russian banksin response to PresidentVladimir Putin’s decision torecognise two breakawayregions of eastern Ukraine.Johnson says there will bemore to come if there is a “full-scale” Russian invasion. Butmany say the current measuresare too little, and further sanc-tions will come too late.

Russia began evacuating itsembassy in Kyiv, and Ukraineurged its citizens to leave Russiaon Wednesday as the regionbraced for further confronta-tion after President VladimirPutin received authoridation touse military force outside hiscountry and the West respond-ed with sanctions.

Ukraine’s parliament hasalso voted to approve a draftlaw that gives permission toUkrainians to carry firearmsand act in self-defence.

Continued on Page 2

��

��

�� /�.�"

In a major development thatsparked instant protests from

the Nationalist Congress Party(NCP) which termed the moveas “misuse of power” by theCentre, the EnforcementDirectorate (ED) onWednesday arrestedMaharashtra Minister for

Minority Affairs and NCPleader Nawab Malik for hisalleged involvement in a moneylaundering case.

Malik, who is the secondMaharashtra Minister afterAnil Deshmukh (the then StateHome Minister who was arrest-

ed on November 2, 2021 in amoney laundering case) tohave come under its scannerwithin the last four months,was placed under formal arrestby the ED officials after eight-long hours of intense ques-tioning in connection with thepurchase of a huge plot of landat “a throwaway price” fromtwo henchmen of Karachi-based Dawood Ibrahim.

Malik was picked up fromhis house at 6 am by the EDofficials and taken to theiroffice for questioning

Continued on Page 2

��

�� 4(�

The Supreme Court onWednesday suggested the

makers of the Bollywoodmovie Gangubai Kathiawadi toconsider changing the name ofthe film in view of the pen-dency of several cases againstthe Alia Bhatt-starrer movie.

Produced by Sanjay LeelaBhansali’s Bhansali ProductionPrivate Ltd, the film is sched-uled for release this Friday.

A bench of Justices IndiraBanerjee and J K Maheswarisuggested the name change tothe respondents which includ-ed the production house.

Continued on Page 2

!��"��#�� $��%&��

�� !�� "#

�� /�2('!

In the fourth phase of elec-tions of the Uttar Pradesh

Assembly, a moderate 59.77 percent turnout was recorded onWednesday. During the 2017UP Assembly polls, the voterturnout was 62.55 per cent inthe fourth phase.

Soon after voting, DeputyCM Dinesh Sharma said, “Afterthe fourth phase, the BJP willhit a double century and willmarch ahead to break its pre-vious records.”

The Samajwadi Party madesimilar claims.

Polling was held in 59 con-stituencies in nine districts,including capital Lucknow.

Union Minister of StateHome Ajay Mishra Teni casthis vote amid tight security atBanbirpur polling booth atLakhimpur Kheri.

UP’s Chief ElectoralOfficer Ajay Kumar Shuklasaid till 5 pm 57.45 per centvoter turnout was recordedand the final figure of votingwas is being compiled.

Continued on Page 2

�� !��

Lucknow: BSP leaderMayawati on Wednesdayappreciated Union MinisterAmit Shah for acknowledgingthat her party will get Dalitvotes but added that Muslimsand other communities arealso voting for the BSP.

Detailed report P2

$�� !��%!�!�� &%#�� (�!�1��5"

Underlining the long-stand-ing and “time-tested” ties

with India, Russia onWednesday appreciated India’s“independent position” on theUkraine crisis and “balanced”approach to world affairs.

These remarks by RussianDeputy Chief of Mission

Roman Babushkin here cameagainst the backdrop of Indiaenunciating its position in theemergency session of the UNSecurity Council on Tuesday.

The Russian diplomat saidthe Indian position was reflec-tive of the special and privi-leged strategic partnershipbetween the two countries.

Continued on Page 2

!�� &� ��'� �(��&�

��)�� #�

67� 1��4�� 8�&�%0�� "��#��$ ��#��%&�%0�� 0

�� !�"#$ %%&� 9:;��# ��8�

4�8�� <�%��1��5"��/�2('! .5'4��.5/.�(��!�*

*�(�5"�*�"4/* �5�(1"=�*5�1�5*�1/( 531�*�.�1�)" �3!�1�

%'()��%��*�+,-.�� !��"#$��

�� / � ��$.��$0$$1��+$��#

%&'()*"(1"��*�7"(=��4�=��<3>>�=14

=*'!75��7�?&@�A�'(�1�7��*�)"�"'(

��+&,-./

."1�(��4/7"(��"=(��."==�*�'(<*'(7�7"'(��5��1�')�*�/2*�"(�

&�0'0&'�75��.��1'��(B7��"��'(�3�!"75�4/7"(

��

��

�� !"#�!$!! ��

�� !��"�� #�� $��%��&�� '�� "��(��

�� !�� "��#��$��!%��&''((()� ��*(''&+(''(+,,��-��*.&/'�"��-0%1� ��$�&)('/('�2��*(')(&+3453((6+3455((��7$��8��%&)'(�)''"��&�/��92��:�;<��=�;��*�=��2��10>"2>�?1> ;�� )�((;��*��*��@��*�� 61�� "��*��$��6��*��A��8��!-��*+��.��"��"��$��.�B �>��8��!&))�('��C��*(,))&)/+�++/�)/+�+++�)/+�++,�

Gurugram: Union Minister forroad Transport and Highways NitinGadkari will lay the foundationstone of projects worth about �1,000crore on the Delhi-Jaipur NationalHighway on March 8, according toa statement of the district adminis-tration.In these projects �23 crorewill be spent to built Bilaspur Chowkflyover, Manesar elevated flyover for�81 crore and Bawal Chowk flyoverfor �23 crore. Apart from this, theflyover at Kapriwas Chowk inRewari has also been included in thisproject.

Officials said a tender worth�459 crore for the repair of theDelhi-Jaipur Expressway and servicelane is also involved in this project.Along with this, flyovers and under-passes to be built in the part ofRajasthan have also been includedin this project.

According to the officials, afterthe completion of these projects, thetraffic pressure on Delhi-JaipurNational Highway will be reducedand the traffic management will beimproved.

After the lay foundation event,Gadkari would also address thepublic meeting.

Bengaluru: The KarnatakaHigh Court, hearing the hijabcase, on Wednesday sought toknow from the StateGovernment the role of theCampus Front of India (CFI).

On January one, six girlstudents of a college in Udupiattended a press conferenceheld by the CFI in the coastaltown protesting against thecollege authorities denyingthem entry into classroomswearing hijab.

This was four days afterthey requested the principalpermission to wear hijab inclasses which was not allowed.Till then, students used towear the headscarf to the cam-pus, but entered the classroomafter removing it, college prin-cipal Rudre Gowda had said.

"The institution did nothave any rule on hijab-wearingsince no one used to wear it tothe classroom in the last 35years. The students who camewith the demand had the back-ing of outside forces," Gowdahad said.

Senior counsel S SNaganand, representing theGovernment PU College forGirls, its principal and ateacher, on Wednesday told thefull bench, comprising ChiefJustice Ritu Raj Awasthi, JusticeJ M Khazi and Justice KrishnaS Dixit, that the hijab row wasstarted by some students owingallegiance to CFI.

To this, the Chief Justicesought to know what the CFIstood for and what its role was.

The senior counsel said theorganisation was coordinatingand organising protests in thestate. "It is also a voluntaryorganisation, which is spear-heading and drumbeating infavour of students (demandingwearing of hijab in class-rooms)".

Another lawyer said theCFI is a radical organisation,which is not recognised by thecolleges.

Then Chief Justice Awasthisought to know whether thestate was aware of it, to whichNaganand said the Intelligence

Bureau knows it. Then the CJ directed the

state government throughAdvocate General PrabhulingK Navadgi to find out. WhenNavadgi said there is someinformation, CJ Awasthi won-dered how all of a sudden thisorganisation's name hascropped up.

Naganand told the courtthat some teachers were threat-ened by CFI. "The teacherswere afraid of lodging a com-plaint but now they have fileda complaint with the police," hesaid.When Justice Dixit askedwhen the teachers were threat-ened, Naganand said a coupleof days ago.

Expressing his dis-pleasure, Justice Dixit asked theAG that he should haveinformed the court. The AGreplied saying that he was notaware of the incident.

Naganand also said theuniform-related regulation wasin force in the girls college since2004 and had been continuingtill now. PTI

"�� & *+� ��,��-��

12��3��2��4��"�� 5��#

Lucknow: Bahujan SamajParty leader Mayawati onWednesday appreciatedUnion Minister Amit Shahfor acknowledging that herparty will get Dalit votes butadded that Muslims andother communities are alsovoting for the BSP.

Shah had recently said ina television interview thatMayawati remained relevantin Uttar Pradesh, where thefourth round of polling forthe Assembly took place onWednesday.

“The BSP has maintainedits relevance. I believe it willget votes. I don't know howmuch of it will convert intoseats but it will get votes,” hehad said.

The senior BJP leader'sremark triggered some spec-ulation over the possibility ofa post-election tie-upbetween the two parties. In1995, 1997 and 2002,Mayawati was sworn in asCM with BJP's support.

Commenting on the min-ister's remark, Mayawati saidit was his “greatness” that he

accepted the truth. But sheadded that her BSP is gettingvotes of not only Dalits, butMuslims, Other BackwardClasses and upper castes aswell.

"When the results aredeclared on March 10, theBSP will form its governmentlike it did in 2007 with fullmajority," Mayawati toldreporters after casting hervote.

Asked about SamajwadiParty president AkhileshYadav's claim that his party isgetting the Muslim voters'support, she said the groundreality cannot be more dif-ferent and can be known byvisiting villages.

"Members of religiousminorities, the Muslims, havebeen unhappy with theSamajwadi Party's workingstyle. They believe that evenwhen they were with it for thelast five years, they weresidelined to make space forothers at the time of givingtickets,” the Dalit leader said.

She also dismissed Yadav'sclaim of making forays into

her core Jatav vote bank,calling the idea a distantdream and advised the SPleader to make sure that hegets the votes of his own castefirst.

She termed the formerchief minister "nakliAmbedkarvadi” (fakeAmbedkarite), saying he hadchanged the names of dis-tricts and schemes she hadnamed after Dalit icons dur-ing her government.

"The Samajwadi Party isdreaming of forming thegovernment and this dreamwill be shattered. You allknow whenever SP has beenin power, Dalits, backwards,the poor and Brahmins havebeen harassed the most," shesaid.

"People here have seen howthe ‘goonda' and mafia ele-ments called the shots andharassment was at its peakwhenever the SP was inpower," she said. Underthe SP government the statealso witnessed riots, she said,citing the Muzaffarnagar vio-lence. PTI

�� !"#��$#��#��%%#&�#'�(��"#)#*�$%#

�� /�.�"

ASpecial CBI court here onWednesday sentenced for-

mer Manager of Bank of India,Jacob Circle Branch, Mumbai,and three private persons torigorous imprisonment forperiods ranging from three tofive years and imposed variedamounts of fines on them forallegedly defrauding the bankto the tune of Rs 98.28 lakh.

While Abid Ali GulamVohra, then Manager, Bank ofIndia, Jacob Circle Branch,Mumbai was sentenced to fouryears Rigorous Imprisonmentwith fine of Rs. 3.5 lakh, oneAshok Leharchand Bhansali(private person) was handedout five years of RI with fine ofRs. 3.35 crore. Two other pri-vate persons -- Sadiq SayyadMir Patel and Rizwan SayyadSadiq Patel – were sentenced tothree years of rigorous impris-onment each and imposedfines of Rs.32.5 lakh andRs.1.5 lakh respectively in thebank fraud case.

The CBI had registered acase on 30.05.1998 against fouraccused including Manager,Bank of India, Jacob CircleBranch, Mumbai; private per-sons and others on complaintfrom Bank of India on the alle-gations of causing loss to thetune of Rs. 98.28 lakh (approx.)to Bank. The CBI’s contentionwas that the accused openedseveral accounts in the bank.Cheques were deposited inthese accounts and the samewere sent in clearing. In thenormal course, the customerwas permitted to draw theamount only after cheques sopresented were cleared. But inthe instant case, the branch waspermitted drawing againstuncleared effects immediatelyand thereafter the instrumentswere sent in clearing.

According to the CBi,Cheques deposited in theseaccounts were purely of accom-modative nature as invariably allthese cheques were returnedunpaid by the drawee bank. Thebranch was expected to debit theaccount when the cheques werereturned. To make provisionsfor posting of returned cheques,said customers deposited fur-ther cheques which again weresent in clearing.

�� ."�� .'"%��# ��*"�� #�8��

�� /�.�"

The daily Covid-19 infectionsin Maharashtra rose mar-

ginally from 1080 on Tuesdayto 1151 on Wednesday, even asthe daily cases in Mumbai wentup from 135 to 168.With 1151fresh infections recorded onMonday, the total number ofCovid-19 cases in the staterose from 78,60,317 to78,61,468

With 23 fresh deaths, thetotal number of deaths regis-tered in the state since the out-break of Covid-19 in the statein March 2020 went up from1,43,633 to 1,43,656.

With the fresh 168 cases,the total number of cases inMumbai mounted from10,55,792 to 10,55,960. Whilethe recovery rate stood static at98 per cent, the overall growthrate of Copvid-19 cases in themetropolis for a period from

February 16 and 22 remainedstatic at 0.02 per cent.

As 2,594Covid-19 patientswere discharged from the hos-pitals across the state after fullrecovery, the total number ofpeople discharged from thehospitals since the second weekof March 2020 increased from76,99,623 to 77,02,217. Therecovery rate in the state rosefrom 97.96 per cent to 97.97per cent.The number of “activecases” in the state droppedfrom 13,070 to 11,604. Thefatality rate in the state stoodstatic at 1.82 per cent.

The active cases in Punedropped from 4,169 to 3874 .The active cases in Mumbaidropped from 1314 to 1228,while the number of activecases in the neighbouringThane dropped from 914 to858 . The active cases inAhmednagar dropped from1,132 to 976, while the number

of active cases in Nagpur camedown from 1,192 to 1008.

Of the 7,74,84,141 samplessent to various laboratoriesacross the state so far, 78,61,468have tested positive (10.15 percent) for COVID-19 untilWednesday.Currently, 1,64,050people are in home quarantinewhile 922 people are in insti-tutional quarantine.

Meanwhile, no freshOmicron case was recorded inMaharashtra on Wednesday,resulting in the total number ofthe new Covid-19 variant casesremaining at 4,509. Of thesecases, 4,345 patients have beendischarged after they testednegative in the RT-PCR tests.

Till Friday evening, 8904samples had been sent forgenome sequencing, out ofwhich, results of 8,044 patientshave been received, while theresults of 860 samples areawaited.

� �� !

From Page 1Ukraine’s National Security

and Defence Council onWednesday said à state ofemergency will be introducedacross all parts of the countryexcept Donetsk and Luhansk.

European leaders plan anin-person emergency summiton Thursday evening inBrussels to discuss the tensionsbetween Russia and Ukraine.

European Union Councilpresident Charles Michel saidin his invitation letter to the 27leaders that the “use of forceand coercion to change bordershas no place in the 21st centu-ry.”

German Chancellor OlafScholz had already planned tohold a 90-minute virtual meet-ing of Group of Seven leaderson Thursday afternoon. Thatmeeting was announced lastweek.

Michel praised the heads ofstates and government for theunity shown by the bloc inrecent days to ensure the adop-tion of sanctions against Russiaand deter its suspected plans toinvade Ukraine.

��666

From Page 1“I have reason to believe

that Malik has been found tobe guilty of an offence pun-ishable under the provisions ofPMLA,” Assistant Director ofED Niraj Kumar stated in thearrest order.

Sixty-two-year-old Malik--- who hit national newsheadlines after he came outwith a series of revelationsabout former director ofNarcotics Control Bureau(NCB) Sameer Wankhede inrecent months in the wake ofthe arrest of Bollywood super-star Shah Rukh Khan’s sonAryan and others in connec-tion with the mid-sea drugbust case - remained unnervedby his arrest by the ED.

“We will fight, win andexpose all,” the NCP Ministersaid.

Later, Malik told a specialcourt designated to hear casesunder the Prevention ofMoney Laundering Act(PMLA), “The ED officialscame to my house early in themorning, took me to the EDoffice where they detainedme and later, recorded mystatement. At the ED office,the officials gave me a sum-mons copy at the ED officeand asked me to sign it.”

The ruling NCP and itstwo allies Shiv Sena andCongress in the Maha VikasAghadi (MVA) Governmentin the State came to the

staunch defence of Malik.Within hours after Malik’sarrest, NCP chief SharadPawar - who is considered thearchitect of the MVAGovernment -- confabulatedwith his senior party col-leagues at his south Mumbairesidence “Silver Oak” andlater met Chief MinisterUddhav Thackeray at the lat-ter’s official residence “Varsha”at Malabar Hill and discussedthe strategy to deal with thesituation arising out of Malik’sarrest.

Talking to media personslater in the evening, seniorNCP Minister ChhaganBhujbal said following thearrest, Malik would not resignfrom the State Cabinet. “TheED has arrested on flimsygrounds. Without any proof,the ED is trying to link Malikto the accused in the 1993Mumbai serial blasts. At nopoint in time, Malik’s nameever figured in the blasts case.Here was a Minister who wasfearlessly exposing the mis-deeds of the Narcotics ControlBureau, its director and theBJP. What the ED has done isan act of vendetta. We willfight Malik’s arrest both legal-ly and on streets,” Bhujbal said.

Bhujbal said the leaders ofthe MVA constituents - com-prising Shiv Sena, NCP andCongress - will stage a dhar-na at the Gandhi statue nearMantralaya (State Secretariat)in south Mumbai on Thursdaymorning in protest against the“misuse” of investigating agen-cies by the Centre against itspolitical rivals. “Thereafter,we will organise protestsagainst Malik’s arrest in vari-

ous parts of the state,” hesaid.

Coming down heavily onthe ED for arresting a Ministerwithout serving a notice tohim, State NCP president andsenior Minister Jayant Patilsaid, “The arrest is nothing butsheer misuse of power. TheED officials visit him early inthe morning, pick him up andtake him to their office wherethey arrest him some hourslater. The ED had not servedany notice to Malik. This ishow the ED is treating aresponsible minister in theState government. This goesagainst the letter and spirit ofthe Centre-state relations.”

While it is not formallyconfirmed by the ED as tonature of the offences forwhich he had been booked,official sources said Malikwas reportedly questioned bythe ED in connection with theallegations that he and hisfamily had purchased 2.80acre plot of land from the“front man” of Dawood’s sis-ter Haseena Parker --Mohammad Salim Patel --and 1993 blasts accused andBadshah Khan at a throwaway price in 2005.

It may be recalled that inthe second week of Novemberlast year, senior BJP leader andLeader of Opposition in theState Assembly DevendraFadnavis, had sought to linkhim to the underworld byalleging that he and his fam-ily had purchased a huge plotof land at “a throw-away price”from two henchmen ofK a r a c h i - b a s e d Dawood.

From Page 1The highest turnout of

62.42 per cent was recorded inLakhimpur while the turnouttill 5 pm at Lucknow was 54.98per cent.

The districts which votedon Wednesday are Pilibhit,Lakhimpur Kheri, Sitapur,Hardoi, Unnao, Lucknow, RaeBareli, Banda, and Fatehpurand fate of 624 candidates,including several CabinetMinisters, as well as Unnaorape victim’s mother AshaSingh will be sealed in thisround of polling.

As many as 800 companiesof paramilitary forces and over60,000 policemen weredeployed for security at 13,813polling stations and 24,580polling booths in 208 policestation areas.

Defence Minister and BJPleader Rajnath Singh cast hisvote at a polling booth inLucknow. After casting his votehe said, “The BJP will not onlyrepeat the history but it is alsoan undeniable possibility thatour number of seats willincrease.”

BJP leader SudhanshuTrivedi MP casts his vote at theSherwood Academy pollingbooth in Lucknow.

Uttar Pradesh is witness-ing a multi-cornered contestwith Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP), Samajwadi Party (SP)-Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD)alliance, and the Bahujan SamajParty (BSP) and Congress as

principal contenders.Uttar Pradesh Law

Minister Brajesh Pathak, whois facing Samajwadi Party can-didate and two-timeCorporator Surendra SinghGandhi in the LucknowCantonment seat, are amongthe prominent contender inthis phase.

In the high-profileRaebareli Sadar -- part ofCongress chief Sonia Gandhi’sparliamentary seat -- sittingparty MLA Aditi Singh (BJP) isfacing Congress’s ManishChauhan.

Aditi is the daughter of theconstituency’s five-time MLA,the late Akhilesh Singh. TheSamajwadi Party has fielded RPYadav.

Voting was disrupted fortwo hours Kadipur Sani areaof Lakhimpur Kheri at boothnumber 109 of Kadipur Saniafter adhesive was thrown atthe Electronic Voting Machine(EVM).

The voting resumed afterthe EVM was replaced.

The police have registeredan FIR against the unidentifiedaccused. The voters expressedtheir anger over the interrup-tion in the voting process.According to the voters, theywaited for casting their vote fortwo hours due to the interrup-tion. Voting for the remainingthree phases of the seven-phase UP elections will takeplace on February 27, March 3,and 7.

�� 666

From Page 1“List on February 24, on top of the Board,” the bench ordered while deciding to hear the

plea of Babuji Rawji Shah, who claims to be the adoptive son of Gangubai, against the BombayHigh Court’s order declining him various reliefs such as interim stay on the release of the movie.

Shah had earlier moved the high court seeking an order restraining the writers/publish-ers of the novel from creating any third-party rights or writing any other story on the life ofhis mother (Gangubai Kathiawadi).

!��"��#�� $��...

��)�� ...

From Page 1The diplomat added India

has been playing a vital role as aresponsible global power and ittakes an “independent and bal-anced” approach to global affairs.

“We welcome the inde-pendent position of Indiawhich it took twice at the UNSecurity Council,” he said at anonline media briefing.

“The Indian activities at theUN Security Council are fullyreflecting the merit of our spe-cial and privileged strategicpartnership,” he added.

Amid escalating tensionbetween Moscow and the Westafter Russian PresidentVladimir Putin recognised twobreakaway Ukrainian regionsas independent States, India atthe meeting of the UN SecurityCouncil called for “restraint onall sides”. It stressed that theimmediate priority is “de-esca-lation of tensions” taking intoaccount the legitimate securi-ty interests of all countries andaimed towards securing long-term peace and stability in theregion and beyond.

“Russian India partnershipis based on a strong and solidfoundation. It is based onmutual trust,” Babushkin said.

“Our cooperation does notrepresent any threat to anyoneand at the same time we keepmoving shoulder-to-shoulderto establish a just and equalmulti-polar world,” he added,

hoping that the intensity ofIndia-Russia ties will continueat the same level.

He also claimed theWestern powers are trying todestabilise the region and saidsanctions against Russia wouldresult in instability to the glob-al economy as it will lead to anatmosphere of distrust.

Minister of State forExternal Affairs MeenakshiLekhi, meanwhile, said Indiabelieves in rule-based orderand all stakeholders must com-municate with each other.

“India believes in rule-based order. We pray for har-mony and peace all around. Weseek all the stakeholders mustcommunicate with each other,”she told a news agency here.

The Government wasdoing its best regarding theevacuation of its citizensincluding students fromUkraine as in the past like “Beit the Covid-19 situation, emer-gency in Libya or other exi-gencies. India stands by itspeople. We urge the citizens toremain in touch with theEmbassy,” she said.

There are more than 20,000Indian students studying invarious universities in Ukraineand the Indian Embassy onTuesday asked them to leave thecountry as soon as possible.They were also informed theEmbassy was arranging special flights.

!�� &� ��'� �(��...

��"��#�� !"#�!$!!

��//��(�!�1��5"

With the aim to provide aone-stop solution to all

Government-related informa-tion and services offered by itsdepartments, the DelhiGovernment is planning torevamp its websites.

The sites will have all newfeatures and will be faster,dynamic and more user-friendly. Officials said that thenew websites will also be com-patible with all types of devices,including desktops, tablets andsmartphones.

In a review meeting con-vened by Delhi’s InformationTechnology Minister KailashGahlot on Wednesday, thenew vendors presented theirproposal for the revampeddesign along with all new fea-tures that the Governmentsites would be hosting.

“The development of thenew website is being done bytaking into account variousfeedback received from itsusers through the existing sitesand social media channels.The current interface occa-sionally shows errors and theserver crashes when there is aheavy influx, especially in theevent where a new scheme isbeing launched,” said an offi-cial.

“The new website will alsosee more interactive featureslike IoT (Internet of Things)and chatbot integration,

enhanced security features forin-house and external links,better and advanced searchoptions, visitor’s grievancesand suggestions portals.

Social media integrationwith all relevant handles willensure that all policies,announcements, press publi-cations, reports with partnerorganisations are available forpublic access,” said the official.

Last year, the IT depart-ment had floated a tender fordesign, development, host,operation and maintenance ofDelhi State Portal and associ-ated websites of the DelhiGovernment.

“The new vendors havealready started work on thesame. The templates anddesign has been finalised andthe first phase of launch ofrevamped websites is expectedto go live by April.

The remaining departmentwebsites are expected to becompleted in phases and willbe live in a few months,” saidthe official.“DelhiGovernment, under the lead-

ership of our Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal has changedpublic service delivery in theCapital and with many of ourdepartments going faceless,there is need for a user-friend-ly website. Government web-sites are considered to be out-dated and difficult to manoeu-vre and we are about to changethat,” said Gahlot.

“These websites are beingdesigned with state–of-the-art, more robust, secure andfaster systems which willenable the system to switchautomatically to a secondaryhosting server in case of hightraffic to ensure a smoothexperience to all users.

Linking the websites toour social media and commu-nication channels will not justmake it more interactive for theuser but also increase trans-parency and accountability inthe way the Government func-tions.

We are also trying to incor-porate features that will aid thedifferently-abled through voicesupport, soon,” Gahlot added.

.��7�� 4� �#��

��//�� (�!�1��5"

To treat sewage water local-ly and use it for gardening

purposes, the DelhiGovernment will constructD e c e n t r a l i s e d - S e w a g eTreatment Plant (STPs) in5,000 parks of the nationalCapital. Water Minister andDelhi Jal Board (DJB)Chairman, Satyendar KumarJain visited an under con-struction D-STP in a park inModel Town and inspectedthe ongoing work. He instruct-ed officials to make use of theexisting space of the park. Thetreated water will act as fer-tiliser for plants.

Jain said, “The D-STP mustbe aesthetically pleasing andlandscaping should be part ofthe system. This will be a hugestep towards creating a natur-al ecosystem and to help theflora and fauna to grow in thearea. A proper mechanismshould be placed to ensurepublic convenience is not com-promised.”

Currently, the Governmentis building D-STPs at fivemajor locations of Delhi, i.e.Sheikh Sarai-I, Sheikh Sarai- II,Sandesh Vihar, Ashok Vihar,and Model Town. These D-STPs can be considered as asustainable and cost-effectivealternative for the treatment ofwastewater.

“In these 5,000 parks ofDelhi, the old method of irri-gation will be changed. The

new D-STPs will provide thesolution to this water contam-ination problem. The recycledwater, after the treatment, couldbe easily reused for the irriga-tion practices in the parkswhich will save preciousgroundwater and will not needany additional pipeline to sup-ply,” a Government officialsaid. Apart from this, D-STPswill save the amount of fundsbeing spent on the procure-ment of fertiliser because thetreated water will have all theessential nutrients and thusno additional fertiliser will berequired, he said.

Currently, the water that isneeded for gardening is extract-ed from tube wells that couldotherwise be used for drinkingwater purposes. By construct-ing the D-STPs, the treatedwater will be used for garden-ing purposes and dependencyon groundwater will bereduced. Hence, the ground-water levels that are graduallydecreasing will be conserved.

D-STP is a mechanism ofplacing wastewater treatment atthe site of origin of wastewater.The official said that current-ly STPs are installed at distantgeographical locations of thecity and water is collected fromdifferent sources and treated forfurther use by laying an expen-sive conveyance system.

“This will not only resolvethe complex problem of sewagetransportation but will alsohelp rejuvenate the local waterbodies and increase ground-water levels by allowing thetreated water to flow into them.D-STPs are sustainable alter-natives to large treatment plantsthat require miles of costlysupply, effort and delivery ofinfrastructure,” he said.

/�� #�� *$0��3 �� #� ��.�� #�� 4�� #� ��

��//�� (�!�1��5"

With the municipal elec-tions round the corner,

the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)has announced the start of‘Booth Samvaad’ and ‘MCDBadlaav Yatra’ campaigns fromThursday to expand its reach toevery household of the nation-al Capital.

AAP Delhi Convenor andCabinet Minister Gopal Raialong with senior leader andMunicipal Corporation ofDelhi (MCD) in-chargeDurgesh Pathak announcedthat the party leaders will holddialogue with the people ofDelhi at 13,000 booths throughthe ‘Booth Samvaad’ campaignfrom February 24 to March 10.

According to Rai, all ofAAP’s top brass, MLAs andparty workers will take outmassive ‘MCD Badlaav Yatras’in all 70 constituencies of Delhion 12th and 13th March.

“Booth Samvaad campaignwill involve all old and newparty members who will helpchalk out a plan for throwingthe BJP out of power andbringing change in the MCD.A 20 member committee willbe formed at each booth toaccomplish the ‘Booth Vijay’initiative.

At the same time, DurgeshPathak stated, “No matterwhere you come from, themoment you enter Delhi allyou see is mountains of garbageleft behind by the BJP-ruledMCD. Almost 99 per cent of

Delhiites want to bring a rev-olutionary change in the MCD;the Kejriwal Model will soonbring MCD back on track.“The BJP has been in power forthe last 15 years in the MCD.Their rule has been punctuat-ed by all sorts of corruption,misgovernance and agonyimposed on innocent residents.

The AAP has taken aresolve to bring a revolutionarychange and provide relief to thewhole of Delhi by ending thetyranny of the BJP. In thisvein, we had earlier kicked offthe MCD Badlaav Campaign.Under this campaign, about 20lakh new members joined theAAP. We had issued a missed-call number for this purposealong with a door-to-doorcampaign,” said Rai.

“All of these new and oldmembers of the AAP, as well asall of those who wish to active-ly campaign for change inMCD, will begin the dialogueat party booths throughoutDelhi's 13,000 booths,” saidRai.

Hitting hard at the BJP,Pathak said that since the lastAssembly election, the AAPhas continuously exposed scamafter scam in the BJP's 15 yearlong rule of the MCD.

“We took out door to doorcampaigns and about 2,500mandal sabhas as well as arobust membership campaign.Under our campaign we wentto the public to ask whetherthey want change and want toget rid of the BJP's garbagemountains in Delhi.

We all know how Delhiwas once known because ofQutub Minar and Red Fort buttoday MCD's landfills over-shadow every monument andbring shame to Delhi,” saidPathak.

%��&�$��)� �%��1��# ��

��$�% �� &��

��//�� (�!�1��5"

The Indira GandhiInternational Airport

(IGIA) is all set to receive pas-sengers at the newly-con-structed state-of-the-art“Arrival Terminal” of T1 fromThursday. The terminal willbecome operational with thearrival of IndiGo flight (6E6532) from Goa at 3.20 AM onThursday.

“With the opening of thenew arrival terminal, the entirearrivals operations of T1(IndiGo and SpiceJet) will shiftfrom the existing facility to thenew one. Departure opera-tions will continue from theexisting terminal, and willeventually be integrated with

the new arrivals hall post com-pletion of the expansionworks,” said a spokesperson ofthe Delhi International AirportLimited (DIAL) According toofficials, DIAL, a GMRInfrastructure-led consortium,has built the new T1 Arrivalsas part of Delhi Airport’s ongo-ing phase-3A Expansion pro-ject“The new arrival terminalwould also offer a distinctiveexperience to people with acontemporary meet and greet

zone, plush forecourt area,including landscaping andkiosks for food and beverage(F&B), retail and expandedparking area for cars, andmore,” said the spokesperson.

“On the city side, the pick-up lanes outside the arrivalterminal have been realignedand widened with three addi-tional lanes, taking the totalnumber of lanes to 11. This willease vehicle traffic congestionand significantly improve pas-senger experience and conve-nience during pickup,” thespokesperson added. “T1 atDelhi airport will now offer adistinctive experience to arriv-ing passengers and also tothose coming in to meet andgreet the arriving passengers.

'('�)��$�!��*��+��

��=/*/=*��

After chairing a meetingwith officials regarding the

security of housing complexesof Gurugram, Union Minister,Rao Inderjeet Singh onWednesday said that theChintels Paradiso incident hasincreased the distrust inbuilders and the HaryanaDevelopment and Regulationof Urban Areas Act, 1975 willbe amended.

On February 10, at leasttwo persons were killed inGurugram after a portion ofthe sixth floor of an apartmentcollapsed.

The Minister said if neces-sary steps are not put in placethen the interest of builders andbuyers in Gurugram could behurt.

He said at present a struc-tural engineer appointed by thebuilders provides a structuralaudit certificate and on this, theDistrict Town and CountryPlanning Department (DTCP)has to issue the relevant per-mission to develop a housingsociety.

“To avoid such incidents infuture the law will be amend-ed and the Government needsto prepare a mechanism so thatapart from the structural engi-neers appointed by thebuilders, the DTCP will alsoconduct a structural auditthrough reputed Governmentinstitutions or structural engi-neers empanelled by thembefore giving the occupationcertificate," he said.

The Minister also informedthat a meeting in this regardhas already taken placebetween the Government anddepartment officials to avoidsuch incidents in future.

$�� '(��!�� )�!��

��//�� (�!�1��5"

In line with the Governmentof India’s ‘Digital India’ ini-

tiative, the Delhi Metro RailCorporation (DMRC)launched its revamped officialwebsite and mobile applicationwith many advanced featuressuch as interactive route maps,advanced station searchoptions, real time first and lasttrain time calculator, next andnearest station alert on the appetc.The new look official web-site as well as a state-of-the-artmobile application of DMRCwas launched at Metro Bhawanfor the greater convenience ofpassengers by ManagingDirector Dr Mangu Singh inthe presence of other senior

officials. The website has beendesigned as a bilingual platformwith all features being availableboth in Hindi and English. Forthe first time, DMRC has alsointegrated its website and themobile application which willensure faster updates and flowof information on both theplatforms. “The passengershave been provided with theInteractive Map feature on theWebsite and Mobile App toplan their journey quickly andefficiently. Passengers usingthe Interactive Map are able to

view the complete route fortheir journey along with infor-mation of stations and inter-changes on their selectedroute,” the DMRC said in astatement.“It also has the pro-vision for the passengers toview the complete details ofeach station in the DMRC net-work. The various detailsshown include station locationon map, station details, gatedetails, lift/ escalator availabil-ity with location, key nearbyplaces and station facilities,” itadded. On the DMRC MobileApp, passengers using this fea-ture while making their jour-ney on Metro trains will bealerted prior to reaching theirdestination station via pushnotifications on their mobilephone, it said.

��//�� (�!�1��5"

Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) on Wednesday sealed

a liquor shop functioning nearAyurvedic Hospital atHaidarpur-Shalimar road in thepresence of party workers andlocals.

Delhi BJP president AdeshGupta said “We will not allowthe Kejriwal's dictatorship to runthese shops in residential areas,main markets, hospitals, schoolsand temples.

“Party leaders and workerswill get all illegally openedliquor shops in capital sealed,including those near schools andtemples. Hitting out at DelhiGovernment, he said that everyperson in national capital is

questioning Kejriwal govern-ment move of “distributing”liquor instead of ensuring cleanwater, building schools, hospitalsand flyovers.

“The long queue near liquorshops is posing threat to resi-dents and risking safety ofwomen, youth and children.Delhi Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal has tried to destabilizelaw and order situation in Delhi.Together with liquor mafia ofDelhi, they are working to makeDelhi a liquor city,” he added.

�� (�!�1��5"

Atwo-member committeeheaded by a retired high

court judge has been consti-tuted to investigate the allegedfinancial discrepancies in allaccounts of the DelhiUniversity's College ofVocational Studies, officialssaid on Wednesday.

The decision was takenduring a meeting of the col-lege's governing body onWednesday. The enquiry com-mittee will be headed by Justice(retired) Sunil Gaur.

During the meeting, anaudit report into the allegedfinancial irregularities by thecollege administration between2010 and 2013 was presented togoverning body, headed byChairman Rajan Chopra.

The audit report high-lighted many "irregularities inoperational processes, docu-mentation, compliance andinternal controls that exposethe college to a very high levelof financial risk", as per theminutes of the meeting.

"Financial discrepancies inseveral accounts were reported.The governing body discussedrecommendations made byauditor and accepted part of 1report," the minutes read.

It was noted that severaldocuments were not madeavailable to the auditor by theaccounts, admin, the librarianand the coordinator of theIGNOU Centre running fromthe college.The audit wasordered by the governing bodylast November to investigate

the alleged corruption in all theaccounts of the college. Theaudit was initiated after irreg-ularities in the purchase oflibrary books surfaced, theofficials said.

Principal Inderjeet Dagarhad been accused of financialirregularities when 180 bookspurchased for a lakh didn'treach the college, officials said.

There have been com-plaints of financial and admin-istrative irregularities againsthim, according to the officials."The GB (governing body)decided to set up a two-mem-ber enquiry committee com-prising Justice (Retd,) SunilGaur (Chairman) and CAArun Vasistha as members toinvestigate the financial defi-ciencies in all the accounts(including 1GNOU) of the col-lege,” the minutes read.

The governing body hasalso decided to extend theinternal audit for another fouryears.

Last month, the DUadministration accepted thereport by retired Delhi HighCourt judge Justice S NDhingra, which found irregu-larities in the purchase oflibrary books for the collegeand asked principal Dagar toproceed on leave till furtherorders so that further inquirycould be conducted.

"The principal has mis-used his position and has beenindulged in many irregularitiesincluding related to UGCexams," said Kumar Ashutosh,Secretary of CVS teachers'association.

#�� *�+��,�� %��

& ,��$�!�� %%��+��-�� +��

��//�� (�!�1��5"

The New Delhi MunicipalCouncil (NDMC) on

Wednesday approved propos-al for smart roads, sewer treat-ment plant and green energy inNational Capital. Accordingto a senior NDMC official, theredevelopment of roads into'smart roads' will not only beaesthetically evolved, but alsodesigned to ensure user-con-venience and experience with-out compromising safety ofthe users. The roads which willbe resurfaced include TilakMarg, KG Marg, Dr ZakirHussain Marg, Pandara Road,Tolstoy Marg, Hailey Road,Tansen Marg and Babar Road.The total cost of project is Rs7.25 crore.“The New DelhiMunicipal Council (NDMC) is

developing Smart Roads thatare not only aestheticallyevolved, but also designed toensure user-convenience andexperience without compro-mising their safety. TheCouncil has approved two pro-jects for resurfacing of roads,”said the senior NDMC official.“It been observed that condi-tion of some avenue roads hasdeteriorated and completedfive-year period, and it hasbeen decided that strengthen-ing and resurfacing of theseavenue roads is required withcold milling process forimproving their riding qualityand for maintaining existinglevel of road,” he said. TheNDMC has also approveddetailed estimate amounting toRs 50.79 lakh with 5 per centcontingencies for supplying.

&-#�� .��!� �� !� ��/� �� 0%!��

��//�� =/*/=*��

AJoint team of Haryana’sChief Minister Flying wing,

district Drug Controller andHealth Department on Tuesdaybusted an illegal private hospi-tal being operated inGurugram. Police said thatthey have booked a doctor andtwo others who were runninghospital without requisite doc-uments or license from districthealth department.The doctorhas been identified as DrDharmender. His accomplices

who were nabbed are BittuYadav, the operator of hospitaland Sonu. According to police,the culprits were allegedly run-ning 14/15 beds hospital inname of Shri Balaji Hospital ina rented building in villageFalijwas Market on Pachgaon-Taurau road Road. It is allegedthat Yadav was running a pri-vate hospital and used to treatpatients and even normal andcesarean deliveries were beingconducted without female doc-tors and surgeons illegally.Based on reliable information ajoint team of chief minister fly-

ing squad, district drug con-troller and health departmentconducted raid at illegal hos-pital and found Bittu Yadav,Sonu and 10 other nursing andcleaning staff on spot. "Sonywas failed to produce anydegree. He informed the policethat hospitalized patients arebeing treated by DrDharmender, Dr Dharmenderwas called to hospital for anenquiry, he said that he isworking in Shri Balaji Hospitalon a salary/sharing basis sinceAugust 21 but for last twomonths he is not coming to this

hospital and his name stamp isbeing misused on patients'files," said Inderjeet DSP, (CMflying squad). The raiding teamhave also recovered multiplefake medical certificates, med-icines of expired date, 4 stampsof 2 doctors which were print-ed respectively on name of DrSamit Bansal, Dr Dharmenderand Dr Abhendra Shekhar anda stamp in name of Shri BalajiHospital. The raiding team alsosealed a large number of med-icines which hospital operatorcould not provide any bills/doc-uments about whose buy & sale.

��//��(�!�1��5"

With the arrest of five men,the Delhi Police on

Wednesday busted a gang ofrobbers involved in multiplerobbery cases across theNational Capital. Police saidthat the robbers were nabbedafter an encounter in NorthDelhi’s Wazirabad area. Theaccused have been identified asJitendra Kumar Maurya (26),Rakesh Kumar Maurya (29),and Ravinder (26), Atul (28),all residents of Gonda districtin Uttar Pradesh (UP), andNaresh Kumar Mandal (27), aresident of Jharkhand.

Police said that Atul wasnabbed by the police team onFebruary 16 and during inter-rogation, he revealed hisinvolvement in committingthe robberies along with hisassociates.

“At his instance raids wereconducted at possible hideoutsof his associates, but they werefound absconding,” said police.According to Sagar Singh Kalsi,the Deputy Commissioner ofPolice (DCP), North district,the other gang members werenabbed on Tuesday when a tip-off told police that Jitender andNaresh Mandal, involved inseveral robbery cases in Delhiand NCR, would come toWazirabad along with others in

a car. “On the basis of theinformation, police laid a trapat RCC Nala Road inWazirabad and intercepted thesuspect vehicle around 10.40PM. As police made the bid tointercept the car, four mencame out and started runningand one of them opened fire,”said the DCP. “Police alsoretaliated and shot Jitender inleft leg.

After a brief exchange ofgunfire, all four persons wereapprehended,” said DCP. “Twocountry-made pistols, five livecartridges, one empty car-tridge, and one car have beenrecovered from their posses-sion. Jitender has been shiftedto Aruna Asaf Ali Hospital fortreatment,” the DCP added.

Explaining the modusoperandi of the gang, the DCPsaid that the gang memberAtul is the School friend ofNaresh and he used to arrangeaccommodation for the stay ofhis associates in Delhi and itsperipherals.

“He used to recce in mar-ket area to identify their tar-gets. After setting targets,Jitender used to call two asso-ciates, who are experts inweapon handling, to executerobbery. While Jitender andNaresh used to remain presentin crowds on two wheelers forany assistance, if needed,” saidDCP.

'��!��

��//�� (�!�1��5"

Women and ChildDevelopment Minister

Rajendra Pal Gautam con-ducted a surprise inspection ofgovernment's child protectionhome and correctional homeon Wednesday and directedofficials to remove all short-comings to improve facilitiesfor children. During the inspec-tion, he also interacted with allchildren. The children sharedtheir future plans with minis-ter. The Minister encouragedthe children to move ahead andfulfil their dreams and alsobecome good citizens of soci-ety. Principal SecretarySandeep Kumar was advised toensure a continuous dialoguewith children and staff in whichminister himself and

IAS/administrative officerswould be present. “This willhelp in establishing direct com-munication with children andraise their self-confidence andstandard of living. It will alsoensure that all problems ininstitution such as improve-ment, maintenance or provid-ing any facilities etc can beresolved and addressed quick-ly,” the statement issued by theoffice of Women and ChildDevelopment Minister.Gautam said “Our aim is thatall ashrams of Delhi govern-ment should be world-classlike its government schools.”

'��#�� &�� "(#��

1*$��

�� $��$�� %�( ��.��!�� ! ��

2!�� 0�� '��0�� 3�� !'�!��

�� /�� !"#�!$!!

�� (�!�1��5"

In a move aimed to fight air-pollution, the Government

has made it mandatory for theexisting brick-kilns to convertto the eco-friendly zigzag tech-nology or vertical shaft withinnext two years. Henceforth,only those new structures willbe approved which follow sucha technique.

A notification in thisregard has been issued by theUnion Environment Ministryon February 22, 2022.

Also, as per the notifica-tion, new brick kilns have beenmandated to use piped natur-al gas (PNG) as fuel in thebrick-making process whilethe existing one shall use onlyapproved fuel such as coal, firewood and/or agriculturalresidues besides PNG. Use ofpet coke, tyres, plastic, haz-ardous waste shall not beallowed in brick kilns, as perthe notification which comesinto force with immediateeffect.

Presently, the majority ofbrick kilns are using fixedChimney Bulls Trench Kiln(FCBTK) that emits black soot,causing heavy air pollution.According to experts, the realdifference between the FCBTKand the zig-zag technologydriven brick kiln is that in theformer the placement of bricks

is done in a straight pattern,whereas in the latter the bricksare placed in a zig-zag pattern.The zig-zag pattern allows effi-cient manoeuvre of the air forheating purposes.

As per the rules whichwill be called the Environment(Protection) AmendmentRules, 2022, brick kilns shouldbe established at a minimumdistance of 0.8 kilometre fromhabitation and fruit orchards.“State Pollution ControlBoards/Pollution ControlCommittees may make existingcriteria stringent consideringproximity to habitation, popu-lation density, water bodies,sensitive receptors, etc,” said thenotification signed by UnionEnvironment MinistryAdditional Secretary NareshPal Gangawar.

It states that brick kilnsshould be established at a min-imum distance of one kilome-tre from an existing brick kilnto avoid clustering of kilns in

an area and will follow processemission/fugitive dust emissioncontrol existing guidelines.

The ash generated in thebrick kilns shall be fully utilizedin-house in brick making. Also,necessary approvals have to betaken from the concernedauthorities for extracting thesoil to be used for brick mak-ing.

A research by theInternational Centre forIntegrated MountainDevelopment (ICIMOD), aregional intergovernmentalorganisation working in theHindu Kush Himalayas as partof the UN's Climate and CleanAir Coalition (CCAC) initiativehas found that “there is also astrong business case for con-verting to zig-zag technology.It reduces coal consumption by20 per cent, carbon emissionsby 40-60pc, produces more A-grade bricks, and brick pro-duction can be enhanced aswell.”

��(�!�1��5"

Relations between India andFrance are unaffected by

the vagaries of circumstances asthe ties are based on trust,External Affairs Minister SJaishankar said on Wednesday.He also said the two countriesintend to create better optionsfor countries in the Indo-Pacific region.

He made these remarks inrelation to the Indo-Pacific inthe backdrop of China flexingits muscle in the strategicallyimportant region. The minis-ter, however, refrained fromnaming China.

India's ties with France arebased on a great sense of trustand it is a relationship that hasbeen free from sudden shiftsand surprises seen in othercases, Jaishankar said.

In an address at a think-tank in Paris, Jaishankar saidIndia and France intend to cre-ate better options for countriesin the Indo-Pacific region andenable them to make sovereignand free choices as they shouldneither be subjected to domi-nation nor caught in a binarypower rivalry.

The minister said NewDelhi is specifically looking for-ward to France as a key part-ner in the defence and indus-trial sectors and "ambitious

ideas" for collaborative defenceventures in India are beingexplored that will support com-mon interests in the IndoPacific as well.

He said India sees Franceas a trusted collaborator incountering security challengesfrom the seabed to space andfrom cyber to oceans.

"Through the tumult ofour times, India's relationswith France have continued tomove forward on a steady andclear course. It is a relationshipthat has been free from suddenshifts and surprises that wesometimes see in other cases,"Jaishankar said at the French

Institute of InternationalRelations.

"In India, there is a greatsense of trust and confidence inthe relationship. It is deeplyinstitutionalised and benefitsfrom a strong political con-sensus on its importance. Ibelieve that we have seen thesame here in France," he said.

Elaborating upon the fineraspects of the ties, Jaishankarsaid France has never hesitat-ed to voice its own positions onkey issues and its lack of dog-matism contributed to buildinga strong partnership with a ris-ing power like India. "We sawthat, for example, when it cameto a complex issue like accom-modating India in the globalnuclear order," he said.

��(�!�1��5"

As stand-offs persist at theLine of Actual

Control(LAC)in Ladakh forthe last two years, ExternalAffairs Minister S Jaishankarsaid on Wednesday India willnot agree to any change in thestatus quo or attempt to uni-laterally alter the LAC.

Reiterating the country’sstand, he also said India isengaged in talks with China onthe eastern Ladakh borderstandoff with absolute claritythat it will not agree to anychange in the status quo. Morethan 50,000 troops each fromboth the sides are nowdeployed in front line positionson the LAC in Ladakh.

In an interactive session ata think-tank in Paris,Jaishankar said he was opti-mistic about resolving the issuethrough dialogue and that sig-nificant headway was made inmany of the friction points fol-lowing talks between militarycommanders of the two sides.

"We are absolutely clearthat we will not agree to anychange in the status quo. Anyattempt to change the LAC uni-laterally by one side. So, how-ever, complex it is, howeverlong it takes, however difficultit is, I think that clarity is whatguides us," he said.

Jaishankar said achievingdisengagement is the goal rightnow and that he was optimisticabout the resolution of theissues. "I would say other

than optimism,it is very impor-tant to haveperseverance.

Believe me,I have got thosequalities in rea-sonable mea-sure and mysystem has it inthe reasonablemeasure whichis more impor-tant," he said.

"We willcarry on withthis and disen-gagement is right now the goal.

Because it is only when dis-engagement happens we canthen start talking about de-escalation," the minister said.

He arrived in Paris onSunday on a three-day trip afterpaying a two-day visit toGermany. The external affairsminister said both sides heldseveral rounds of talks betweenmilitary commanders with afocus on disengagement.

"As a result of that, we havemade significant headway inmany of the friction points.There are some frictions pointsthat still remained to beresolved. It has its complexitybecause these are areas wherethere are claims and then thereare various military consider-ations which become the sub-ject of the conversation," hesaid.

The 14th round of militarytalks had taken place lastmonth during which Indiapressed for an early disen-

gagement of troops in theremaining friction points.

Jaishankar asserted thatIndia is approaching the mat-ter with clarity.

"I am optimistic. I am opti-mistic temperamentallybecause if you are into diplo-macy and negotiations, it iscompletely necessary that youare optimistic," he said.

The border standoff ineastern Ladakh erupted in May,2020, following a violent clashin the Pangong lake area. Theface-off escalated after theGalwan Valley clashes on June15, 2020.

Following the clashes, bothsides gradually enhanced theirdeploymentby rushing in tensof thousands of soldiers aswell as heavy weaponry. As aresult of a series of military anddiplomatic talks, the two sidescompleted the disengagementprocess in Gogra as well as inthe north and south banks ofthe Pangong lake last year.

�� (�!�1��5"

As it seeks to expand its'Shakaas' to one lakh before

it completes 100 years of itsfoundation, the RashtriyaSwayamsevak Sangh (RSS) willhold meeting of the AkhilBharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha(ABPS), its highest decision-making body, at Karnavati inAhmedabad, from March 11-13 to work-out future activities.

The top RSS body will dis-cuss in Gujarat the currentpolitical situation in the coun-try and may also take up con-troversies revolving around'hijab' and views on UniformCivil Code, according tosources.

As the organisation pro-gresses to its 100th year, itwould, among other issues,focus on its further "geo-graphical expansion" reachingthe target of one lakh 'Sakhas'from the present strength of55,000, they said.

RSS was established inNagpur on September 27, 1925.

There are 6 lakh villageswith RSS having only 55,000and thus would attempt at vil-lage,

'Basti' and ' border villagesexpansion', sources said.

They said RSS has "suc-cessfully" conducted

"highway shakhas" inSouthern Tamil Nadu thathelped accident victims as also"reduction' in road mishaps.

In 2021, ABPS took placein Bengaluru where only ahandful of top functionariesmet. The rest joined virtually.

This meeting will be takingplace a date after electionresults to five state assembliesare to be announced.

The RSS, described as themother organisation of theruling BJP, is also engaged incollecting details of 'forgottenheroes' of freedom struggle asit had a book released onManipur "freedom fighters"which, according to their esti-mate, explains the role of 23people who were jailed inAndaman.

�� (�!�1��5"�

The Centre informed theSupreme Court on

Wednesday that 4,700 cases arebeing investigated by theEnforcement Directorate (ED)as on date, and only 313 peo-ple have been arrested for thealleged offences since theenactment of the Prevention ofMoney Laundering Act(PMLA) in 2002.

The total amount coveredby interim orders of no coerciveaction passed by the courts insuch matters is approximatelyRs 67,000 crore, the govern-ment told a bench headed byJustice A M Khanwilkar.

Solicitor General TusharMehta told the bench, alsocomprising Justices DineshMaheshwari and C TRavikumar, that in moneylaundering cases relating toVijay Mallya, Mehul Choksiand Nirav Modi, the ED hasconfiscated around Rs 18,000crore by the orders of thecourts following due proce-

dure. The apex court is dealingwith a batch of petitions con-cerning the interpretation ofcertain provisions of thePMLA.

“As on date, 4,700 cases arebeing investigated, right fromthe inception, by theDirectorate of Enforcement.The number of cases taken upfor investigation each year inlast five years varies from 111cases in 2015-16 to 981 in2020-21. This is the averagenumber of cases,” Mehta toldthe bench.

He said the top court isdealing with a statute which isnot just penal but a preventiveand regulatory statute provid-ing for investigation and finalprosecution.

“I can tell you at the outset,right from 2002, the year inwhich the PMLA Act wasenacted, till date, there areonly 313 arrests. From 2002 tilldate, in 20 years, 313 arrests,”he said, adding, “And the rea-son is, very strict statutorysafeguards.”

��(�!�1��5"

Indigenously designed andmanufactured Tejas light

combat aircraft will fly along-side front line fighter jets ofseveral countries in a multi-nation exercise named 'ExCobra Warrior 22' atWaddington, United Kingdomfrom March 6 to 27.

The exercise is aimed atproviding operational expo-sure and share best practicesamongst the participating AirForces, thereby enhancingcombat capability and forgingbonds of friendship. This willbe a platform for Tejas todemonstrate its manoeuvra-bility and operational capabil-ity.

Five Tejas aircraft will fly tothe United Kingdom. IAF C-17aircraft will provide the neces-sary transport support forinduction and de-induction,officials said here onWednesday.

The participation of theTejas in UK drills come daysafter the aircraft displayed itscapabilities at the prestigious

Singapore Air Show earlierthis month. It was an effort toshowcase growing defencemanufacturing capabilities ofIndia. Singapore Air Show isa biennial event which providesa platform for the global avia-tion industry to showcase theirproducts.

The Tejas aerobatic displaythere took place weeks afterIndia and the Philippines inkedthe biggest and first ever exportdeal for Brahmos supersoniccruise missiles. The deal isworth over 337 million dollars.

India is aiming at export-ing defence equipment worthover five billion dollars by2024.

In the past, IAF had par-ticipated in similar Air Showslike LIMA-2019 in Malaysiaand Dubai Air Show-2021 toexhibit indigenous aircraft andformation aerobatic teams.

Giving a push to the exportendeavour, the Union Cabinetin 2020 gave its go-ahead to thesale of Akash missile systems tofriendly foreign countries andcreated a high-powered panelfor swifter approval to exportof military hardware.

The committee to speed upexports has the defence minis-ter, external affairs minister andthe national security advisor onboard. Several foreign countrieshave shown interest in the

Akash missile system duringinternational and local defenceexhibitions.

Apart from authorising theexport of defence platforms, themandate of the committee is toexplore opportunities for thegovernment-to-governmentsale of military hardware to for-eign countries.

The defence ministryawarded a Rs. 48,000-crorecontract to the HindustanAeronautics Limited(HAL)lastyear for 83 LCA Mk-1A jets forIAF. The first Mk-1A aircraftwill be delivered to the air forceby March 2024, with the restslated to join its combat fleet by2029.

��(�!�1��5"�

The Supreme Court onWednesday rapped States

and Union Territories for delayin appointing nodal officers forutilisation of funds allocated forinfrastructure in ConsumerCommissions and said theywill have to bear consequencesfor non-compliance of theorder. A bench of Justices SKKaul and M M Sundresh saidthe States and UTs are notunderstanding the severity ofthe situation and we have to dosomething more to make themunderstand.

"We will have to be merci-less to make you understand,"the apex court said whileimposing a cost of Rs 1 lakh onthe states and the UTs which

have not filed an affidavit men-tioning compliance of its order."Once again the states havedone it ! They seem just not toappreciate the significance ofthe time schedule laid down bythe court. We expected that,after the order dated December1, 2021 where we had clearlymentioned the significance ofthe time period, things willchange. They have not. Statesmust bear the consequences ofnot complying with the orderof this court within the stipu-lated time," the bench said.

The top court granted fourweeks to the states and UTs tofile compliance and warnedthat in case of failure, the con-cerned Secretaries will have toremain present. The matter islisted for next hearing on April12.

�� (�� $�

��(�!�1��5"

Congress on Wednesdayalleged a coal scam of Rs

6,000 crore in Gujarat wherebycoal meant for small and medi-um industry was diverted toindustries in other states anddemanded a time-bound inves-tigation by a sitting judge of theSupreme Court. The oppositionparty said the probe shouldinvestigate the role of all thefour chief ministers of Gujaratin the last 14 years when thealleged scam happened.

Former Congress presidentRahul Gandhi demandedanswers from Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on the "missing"60 lakh tonnes of coal. "60 lakhtonnes of coal 'missing'! Will thePrime 'Friend' Minister say any-

thing on this coal scam," RahulGandhi asked in a tweet inHindi. He cited a news reportalleging that 60 lakh tonnes ofcoal was missing in Gujarat,terming it a Rs 6000 crore scam.

"We demand that a timebound investigation should beconstituted under the sittingjudge of Supreme Court. Thisinvestigation should investi-gate involvement of all the 4chief ministers of Gujarat from2008 till date (Narendra Modi,Anandiben Patel, Vijay Rupaniand BhupendraBhai Patel) inthis Rs 6,000 crore scam,"Congress spokesperson GouravVallabh said AICC spokesman.

He alleged that a coal scamof Rs 6,000 crore has come tolight in Gujarat, whereby in thelast 14 years, instead of giving coalto the small and medium level

industries of the state, agencies ofthe Gujarat government havesold it to the industries of otherstates at a higher price. He allegedthat coal extracted from variousmines of Coal India did not reachthe industries for which it wasextracted.

Vallabh said it is interestingto note that Narendra Modi(Chief Minister of Gujarat from2001 to 2014) was also holdingthe charge of Industry, Minesand Minerals Department ofGovernment of Gujarat(December 2007 to December2012) after which Vijay Rupani(August 2016 to September2021) and Bhupendra Patel(Sept 2021 till date) also keptthe Industry, Mines andMinerals Department ofGovernment of Gujarat withthem.

��(�!�1��5"�

The Supreme Court onWednesday dismissed a

plea seeking cancellation ofoffline board examinations forclasses 10 and 12 to be con-ducted by the CBSE and severalother boards this year, sayingsuch petitions give “false hope”and create “confusion” amongstudents who are going toappear in these exams.

The apex court observedthat the petition is “ill-advised”and “premature” and theauthorities are yet to takeappropriate decision withregard to conducting exams ofthe various boards.

“Such petitions give falsehope to the persons who aregoing to appear in the exami-nations. Those students will bemisled by this petition. Let theauthorities take decision. If

the decision is wrong, challengethat decision. Here, you want topre-empt everything,” a benchheaded by Justice A MKhanwilkar told the lawyerappearing for the petitioners.

“This creates not only falsehopes, it creates confusion allover to students who arepreparing,” said the bench, alsocomprising Justices DineshMaheshwari and C TRavikumar. The counselappearing for the petitionerssaid that most of the stateboards have not yet declaredthe dates for examinations.“Whenever examination is due,they will declare those dates,what is the problem,” the benchobserved.

At the outset, the counselappearing for the petitioners, AS Sahai and others, referred tothe order passed by the apexcourt last year in the matterpertaining to board exams

amid the COVID-19 pandem-ic. The bench said what hadhappened in the past cannot bethe basis to pass order now.“Entertaining such petitions iscreating more confusion inthe system. Let the authoritiestake decision,” the bench said.

“What kind of petitions arebeing filed,” the top court said,adding, “It is not that becausethey were entertained last yearbecause of the peculiar cir-cumstances and situation, wewill go on and this will becomea norm.” The top courtobserved that such kind of peti-tion misleads and in the pastthree days, it has seen there arenews items everywhere on this.

“What kind of petitions arebeing filed and what kind ofpublicity is given to this issue,”it said, adding, “This has tostop”. “Let the students do theirjob and let the authorities dotheir job,” the bench observed.

�� (�!�1��5"

The EnforcementDirectorate (ED) has pro-

visionally attached fourimmovable properties and fourMutual Funds worth Rs 2.87crore in the name of TanyaSanyal (wife of Satish Kumar,Commandant BSF) and hisson Bhaskar Bhuvan under thePrevention Of MoneyLaundering Act (PMLA), in anillegal cattle smuggling case.

The ED had initiated

money laundering investiga-tion on the basis of an FIR reg-istered by CBI against SatishKumar, the then Commandantof Border Security Force (BSF),Md. Enamul Haque and othersfor illegal cattle smuggling intoBangladesh from India, theED said in a statement.

“Investigation by the EDrevealed that bribe to the tuneof Rs 12.8 crore was depositedby Manoj Sana, associate ofEnamul Haque in the bankaccounts of Tanya Sanyal and

Badal Krishna Sanyal ( fatherof Tanya Sanyal),” it said in astatement.

Later on, the said ‘Proceedsof Crime’ were invested in thenow attached immovable prop-erties and Mutual Funds.Haque was also arrested by EDon February 18, 2021 and cur-rently he is in ED custody.Proceeds of Crime to the tuneof Rs 179 crore till now havebeen identified by ED, it said.

Meanwhile, the ED, in a

separate case provisionallyattached two immovable prop-erties including plant andmachinery worth Rs 3.81 crorebelonging to SLO IndustriesLimited under PMLA in abank fraud case.

In this case, the ED had ini-tiated money laundering inves-tigation on the basis of an FIRregistered by CBI, BS&FC,Bengaluru against SLOIndustries Limited and itsDirector Anil Kumar Ojha andothers.

��(�!�1��5"�

The Supreme Court onWednesday agreed to hear

on March 9 BJP leaderSubramanian Swamy's pleaseeking a direction to theCentre to declare the 'RamSethu' a national heritagemonument. The bench com-prising Chief Justice NVRamana and Justices ASBopanna and Hima Kohli wastold by Swamy that the pleahas not come up for hearing

for the last many months andthat it should not be deletedfrom the cause list. “We willlist for hearing on March 9,”the bench said.

Swamy had mentioned hisplea for urgent hearing onApril 8 last year as well.Before that, on January 23,2020, the apex court had saidit will consider Swamy's pleaafter three months. The BJPleader had submitted he hadalready won the first round ofthe litigation in which theCentre accepted the existence

of Ram Sethu. He further saidthe Union Minister concernedhad called a meeting in 2017to consider his demand butnothing happened subse-quently.

The BJP leader had raisedthe issue of declaring the RamSethu a national monument inhis PIL against the controver-sial Sethusamudram ShipChannel project, initiated bythe UPA-I government. Thematter reached the apex court,which in 2007 had stayedwork for the project on the

Ram Sethu. The Centre latersaid it had considered the"socio-economic disadvan-tages" of the project and waswilling to explore anotherroute to the shipping channelproject without damaging theRam Sethu.

The apex court had onNovember 13, 2019 grantedsix weeks to the Centre to clar-ify its stand on the Ram Sethu.It had also granted liberty toSwamy to approach the courtif the response of the Centrewas not filed.

��8�� 83�� $'��+�,"�$%#�-$�..#%�#'�/�

*�!�"�#��0.�%�"%-1��$%#�2

�%% ��!�� !"&#%��

4�566�� *��787�� #$9" �:66:��%�

%�.��!� �� ) �� &��)�� 0$!"#��))#!#��3+��%"0"#�%0�)��%�1��$�4-5�"��

��%�#��&"0&#"��#��0.(�,��011�$'�$�2��6�$

2�� #��#��!��&�3�$��&��$�� $��4��

2�;�� )�� $��!

��(��!�� .��9"�3-� !��

�� 0�� !"#�!$!!

KOCHI: Chief MinisterPinarayi Vijayan’s efforts tomake Kerala an investor friend-ly destination took a turn forthe worse on Wednesday as theCentre for Indian Trade Union(CITU), the trade union wingof the party, making it knownthat it would not allow theentrepreneurs to hire theemployees of their choice towork in the industrial/businessestablishments.

Anathalavattam Anandan,the Kerala boss of the CITU,the leading militant tradeunion in the State that controlsthe entire head load workers inthe State said at the capital citythat his union would not acceptany kind of agreement thatdenied the workers the right towork, which is a fundamentalright enshrined in theConstitution.

Anandan’s statement camea day after a tripartite agree-ment between the KeralaGovernment, the CITU andmanagement of SR Associates,a Kannur based business housesigned a contract by which thehead load workers owing alle-giance to the trade unionwould have the exclusive rightto load and unload heavy mate-rials reaching the businesshouse.

The employees appointed

by the management of thecompany would be allowed toload only small materials whichare sold from the establish-ment.

Rabeeh Mohammed, theowner of SR Associates hadtold after the signing of thecontract that he was pressur-ized to sign on the dotted line.“I had toiled in West Asiandeserts for almost two decadesand invested the entire savingsof Rs 70 lakh in this business.I was left with only two options;either shut down the businessand go back to West Asia or totoe the CPI(M) line. I chose toobey the party diktat,”Mohammed told The Pioneerfrom Mathamangalam, a partyvillage. He had recruited tenworkers offering reasonablyfair salary and allowances.

In Kannur district, villagesand small towns which are fullycontrolled by the CPI(M) areknown as party villages andthere are hundreds of suchparty villages in the district.

The dilemma faced byMohammed made anotherentrepreneur leave the districtand return to UAE. AfzalKuzhikkad, an expatriate hadreturned to Mathamangalamand launched a software com-pany AJ Tech IT Solutions

which could have grown into alead software industry in theState. But he was manhandledwhen he came for shopping atSR Associates and was drivenaway by the head load workers.

He shut down the enter-prises and returned to UAE onTuesday after informing hisrelations and friends that it wassafe to be in the oil-rich king-dom than in Kerala.

When it was pointed out toAnandan that the Kerala HighCourt had ruled that the tradeunions and employees wereviolating all norms of business,he said that his union was notinterested in knowing whatthe court was telling. “Ourpriority is the rights of work-ers.

The Court may tell a lot ofthings because the judges donot understand the pain of theworkers,” said Anandan.

Mohammed’s businesshouse remained shut down forweeks because of the agitationlaunched against it by theworkers. Kerala has been see-ing exodus of entrepreneursfrom the State towards TamilNadu, Karnataka andTelangana of late. Industriesminister P Rajeeve haddescribed the situation in theState a cause of concern.

�� 2'�2�7�

The police on Wednesdayarrested two policemen in

connection with the allegedmurder of Anis Khan a studentleader even as the Left back-student groups continued totake out rallies in all parts ofKolkata jamming streets sup-porting the demand of thevictim's family for acourt-mon-itored CBI investigation intothe case.

This, even as ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjeeasked the protesters not topoliticize the incident won-dering, “how many peoplewere arrested in Unnao orHathras … but here the policehave arrested their own men…though one wonderswhether these arrested per-sons are genuine culprits ornot.”

Khan a maverick studentleader who had incurred thewrath of the local TrinamoolCongress leaders from Amta inHowrah district was allegedly-bumped off on Saturday mid-night by four persons in policefatigue who came to his housein connection of some policecase.

“The family is perhaps

under pressure from some peo-ple and is not cooperating withthe police … it has refused tohand over the mobile phone ofthe victim to the SIT which isa criminal offence in itself,” theChief Minister said adding“here in Bengal the police aredoing their job and have arrest-ed two persons … but howmany people were arrested inUnnao and Hathras,” Banerjee--- who had herself demandedCBI investigation after theRizwanur Rehman death casein 2007 deriving allegedly max-imum political points fromthe month-longagitation ---said.

Khan had been a popularleader who was gradually gain-ing publicity among the minor-ity youth through his socialmedia posts.

He had allegedly receivedthreats from the TMC leadersand had also written applica-tions seeking security fromState administration and eventhe Human RightsCommission.

Meanwhile, the Left wingstudents groups from Jadavpur,Calcutta andAliya Universitiescontinued to stage protest ral-lies on Wednesdayblockadingroads throughout Kolkata.

5��&��(�� 6%

209��4��:�� 6��(�� & ��&� ��&� ��3 �'0�

�� 2'�2�7�

Hearing a petition demandingdeployment of central forces

in the February 27 elections to 108municipal boards, the CalcuttaHigh Court on Wednesday left iton the State Election Commissionto decide if it required centralforces. The Court directed theSEC to take a decision in 24 hourson whether it wanted to deployCAPF. The SEC has been askedto hold a meetingwith the HomeSecretary and Inspector General

of Police to decide whether thereis a need to deploy central forces,advocate Sabyasachi Sarkar said. A similar order was given bythe High Court for February 12electionsto four municipal cor-porations of Siliguri, Asansol,Bidhannagar and Chandannagar.

However the SEC decided togo with the State police. The

Trinamool Congress swept theelections often polling more than90percent votes.

Though there was no imme-diate response from the opposi-tion BJP inside sources said thatthe saffron party was planning tomove the Supreme Court in sup-port of its demand for centralforces.

�� /

The Administrative Council(AC) which met here under

the chairmanship of theLieutenant Governor, ManojSinha, Wednesday approvedthe Policy for Promotion ofForeign Investment in theindustrial sector in Jammu andKashmir- 2022.

Farooq Khan and RajeevRai Bhatnagar, Advisors to theLieutenant Governor, Dr ArunKumar Mehta, Chief Secretary,J&K, and Nitishwar Kumar,Principal Secretary to theLieutenant Governor attendedthe meeting.

According to a statementissued by the Department ofInformation and PublicRelations, "The new policy is

based on the guiding frame-work on FDI issued by theGovernment of India throughthe RBI and DPIIT and will bevalid for the next 10 years". "Itaims to facilitate large foreigninvestments greater thanRs.100 crore with a minimumof 51% foreign stakes", thestatement read.

The policy also providesfor identifying parcels of landin various industrial estates tobe given exclusively to indus-tries with foreign investmentsincluding vertical rise premis-es in the form of multi-purposebuildings/complexes, with plugand play facilities.

According to a govern-ment spokesman, "the landallotment process will be reg-ulated by the J&K Industrial

Land Allotment Policy, 2021-30, whilst such units will alsobe eligible for benefits, incen-tives, and support under theJammu and Kashmir IndustrialPolicy 2021-30 and NewCentral Sector Scheme for theindustrial development ofJammu and Kashmir".

For optimal utilization ofland resources and to provideintegrated services to multipleplayers, the policy also envisagesthe establishment of multipur-pose complexes for foreigninvestment by developing ITtower projects through privateplayers in Sempora, Pamporeand Exhibition Ground, Jammu.These towers will house differ-ent business activities and willform a part of the ‘IndustrialComplex for Foreign Investment’.

-<�=�( �� 2

&��/�! $��%�" $��1�% �� 2�3��

KOCHI: The Kerala HighCourt on Wednesday quasheda non-bailable warrant issuedagainst Subramanian Swamy,MP, by the Thrissur ConsumerDispute Redressal Forum andalso quashed all the proceed-ings before the Forum againstSwamy.

Justice P V Kunhikrishnan,who heard the petition movedby Swamy said that theimpugned order was ‘passedbehind his back’ and withoutgiving an opportunity of hear-ing the petitioner and hence thewarrant as well as the pro-ceedings were unsustainable.

Swamy was the chairmanof Express (Malayalam) PvtLtd, the company that pub-lished Express, a popularMalayalam daily in the districtof Thrissur. It was always saidthat Thrissur was known forLord Guruvayurappan Temple,Thrissur Pooram and Expressnewspaper. Since the companyran into financial losses, thedaily was wound up in 2003after liquidation proceedings.

One of the investors hadapproached the TCDRF againstthe company alleging non-

payment of the amount he hadinvested in the company.Swamy came to know about thenon-bailable warrant againsthim through news reports andhe had to collect the detailsunder Right To InformationAct which showed that hisname was included in the com-plaint as chairman of the com-pany and not in his personalcapacity.

Though the court recordsshowed that a lawyer had rep-resented Swamy in the courtand had filed a vakalatnama,the latter told the court that hehad not authorised anybody torepresent him. Appearing onhis own behalf, Swamy told thecourt that he has not receivedany information about the pro-ceedings at TCDRF.

Justice Kunhikrishnan saidthat the petitioner was a formerminister of law and justice ofthe Union of India. “It is a wellknow fact that he is a politicianand a member of parliament.The Court need not disbelievethe version of the petitionerthat he has not received anynotice from the CDRF,” said thejudge.

7#"�)��8-��#�$0$9/��)�/)#��""�$��!��$��1�

Kolkata: West Bengal ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee andBangladesh State Minister forCultural Affairs, K M Khalidwill be present at the inaugur-al function of the InternationalKolkata Book Fair (IKBF) 2022beginning on February 28.

This being the 50th year ofLiberation War of Bangladesh,the Publishers and BooksellersGuild, the organisers of the fair,have decided to give specialfocus on Bangladesh duringthis edition of the book fair,Guild general secretary TridibChatterjee said on Wednesday.

Famous Bangladeshi writerSelina Hossain will also bepresent at the inaugurationand participate in the literarydiscourse during the book fair.

The 13-day book fairwould be held at Central Parkground in Salt Lake.

He said three gates of thebook fair will be the replica ofthree books penned byBangabandhu Sheikh MujiburRahman, the founding father ofBangladesh.

Among the other gates,there will be a Satyajit Ray Gatein tribute to the maestro on his100th birth anniversary andAbanindranath Gate which isa tribute to writer, artistAbanindranath Tagore.

Twenty countries will par-ticipate at the InternationalKolkata Book Fair 2022. PTI

Srinagar: Jammu & Kashmiradministration on Wednesdaysaid all the essential services,affected by heavy snowfall,were being restored on warfooting for the convenience ofgeneral public.

Plains of South Kashmirreceived two to three feet snow,while Central Kashmir receivedone to 1.5 feet snow and NorthKashmir six inches to one foot.Besides, hilly areas received twoto four feet snow which affect-ed normal life and services.

"All the essential servicesare being restored on war foot-ing in Kashmir valley followingheavy snowfall since Tuesday," Divisional CommissionerKashmir P K Pole said. He alsoappealed general people tokeep patience and support theadministration to restore affect-ed services. "The MechanicalEngineering Department com-pleted 70 per cent snow clear-ance under Priority Phase-Iwhile PWD cleared snowfrom all the roads falling underits jurisdiction," he said.

Pole said apart from five tosix per cent water supply lineswhich have been affected, allother Water Supply Schemesare functional. He said that theaffected water supply schemeswill be restored soon for whichmen and machinery have beenput on work. PTI

�� -�� 8��8 ��#� �� C� D2 Shivamogga: Two more persons

were arrested in the Bajrang Dalactivist murder case inShivamogga, where districtauthorities have extended theprohibitory orders till Friday.

Home Minister AragaJnanendra said on Wednesdaythat he has ordered an inquiryagainst the policemen posted intwo police stations in this districtheadquarters town, in the back-drop of the incident.

Underlining the need toaudit the performance of Koteand Doddapete police stations inShivamogga, he said, "We needto ascertain how many policeofficers and personnel werethere in these two police stationsin the past five years and howthey monitored these accused(those eight arrested) who havea huge criminal past." Hewarned that "irresponsible"police officers will not be spared,which led to "the incidents".

Shivamogga Superintendentof Police B M Laxmi Prasad saidon Tuesday six people havebeen booked in connection withthe murder of the 28-year-oldHarsha, who was stabbed withlethal weapons by a group ofpeople here on Sunday night.

"Eight people have beenarrested so far officially whileinterrogation of others is on,"Jnanendra, who hails from theShivamogga district, toldreporters. PTI

7��%� �� .�E��#�1��-��%�� F��

'�)��4 ��5 ��1��%� ��1�+��6

"� ��!�� !��!�� !�� 0�� %� ��#2>

Estonia, three former Sovietrepublics, are part of Nato;so are many more WarsawPact countries. There arecombat units in Poland andthe Baltic republics whilemissiles are deployed incountries such as Polandand Romania. Now Ukrainetoo desires to join Nato.

Western powers seek toprotect Ukraine’s right toseek membership in Nato,which must have an “opendoor” to any country thatwishes to join. However, thisever-encroaching Americanstrategy to encircle Russiawith hostile Governmentshas serious concerns forRussia’s security. With theWarsaw Pact long dead, it isnot out of place to ask,‘What is the sine qua non forNato?’

Russia has long beenuncomfortable withUkraine’s approach towardsEuropean institutions, bothNato and the EuropeanUnion. It is a fair demand forthe West to guarantee thatUkraine will not join NATO.For Russia, it is a make-or-break situation and it can’t

help intervening lest it losesUkraine permanently. Thatwill be one more fromamongst the former SovietUnion republics.

Russia is seeking animmediate resolution to itsconcerns but the West isfocused on discussions andnegotiations which couldpotentially drag on for yearswhile more countries arepried from Russia’s immedi-ate sphere of influence andenhancing its security con-cerns. Additionally, givenRussia’s self-image and astrong sense of indepen-dence, it does realise that itspartnership with China isonly tactical and is unlikelyto be an alliance of equals.Both Russia and China arehappy using each other onlyto meet their immediategeopolitical goals. Russiawill look to maintain itsstrategic elbowroom and itwants to avoid getting intotoo tight an embrace withChina; hence the need toachieve its goals on prioritywith the current supportfrom the Chinese.

Therefore, it is unfair to

blame Putin for the currentcrisis that confronts Europeand the rest of the world. Itis time that the West madea note of the big picture —the real threat to the US-ledworld order comes fromChina, and not Russia.Fortunately, there is recogni-tion of this view amongstlarge sections of theEuropean leadership — itwas not long ago that theGerman Navy Chiefresigned for his remarksabout Russia and China.

Russia, quite like India,will always want to exercisestrategic autonomy. It isunlikely to kowtow to anyother power however largerit might be. For the West, itis time to get over the ‘Putinthe bully’ f ixation andreassess its actions. The Westshould make a genuine effortto address Russia’s concerns.

Maybe it is time to abol-ish Nato altogether and lookto create an Indo- PacificTreaty Organisation, withRussia at its vanguard.

(The writer works as apublic policy consultant. Theviews expressed are personal.)

�� Sir — This refers to ‘Eyeball to eyeball’(February 23). The Russian invasion ofUkraine started as President VladimirPutin ordered forces into two separatistregions of eastern Ukraine. But it appearedto dash the slim hopes of averting a majorconflict in Europe that could cause mas-sive casualties, energy shortages on thecontinent and economic chaos around theglobe. The move paved the way to providethem military support, antagonising west-ern leaders who regard such a move as abreach of world order, and set off a fren-zied scramble by the US and others torespond. Putin has justified his decisionin a far-reaching, pre-recorded speechblaming Nato for the current crisis andcalling the US-led alliance an existentialthreat to Russia.

Sweeping through more than a cen-tury of history, he painted today’s Ukraineas a modern construct that is inextricablylinked to Russia. The Russian State mediareleased images of people in Donetsklaunching fireworks, waving large Russianflags and playing Russia’s national anthem.Over 14,000 people have been killed sincethe conflict erupted in the eastern indus-trial heartland in 2014, shortly afterMoscow annexed Ukraine’s Crimeanpeninsula. With this Russian invasion ofUkraine, the matters are leading to a dis-astrous situation.

Bhagwan Thadani | Mumbai

�� Sir — A shocking 11,160 children underthe age of 14 died in road accidents in2019. Motor vehicle accidents were the topreason. On an average, 31 children werekilled due to road mishaps in 2020.These numbers point to the vulnerabili-ty of children to road accidents. TheCentre, by amending Rule 138 of theCentral Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989, hastaken the right step towards securing thelives of children. By this amendment, theRoad Ministry has made it mandatory forall children between nine months and fouryears of age to sport helmets and safetyharnesses on two-wheelers.

Violating the rule will attract a fine of

�1000 and cancellation of driving licencefor three months. To be operationalisedin one year, this time modification has thepotential to be a game changer if proper-ly enforced. Children riding pillion withtheir parents, sandwiched in between orstanding in front of either parent at thewheel, is disturbing as well as dangerous.By the new rule, it is possible that therewill only be two people on the two wheel-ers thereby adding additional safety, andcomfort, mechanism. It is another matterthat pothole-filled roads and drunk dri-vers equally endanger the lives of children.Rash driving near schools is another mat-ter of concern.

Ganapathi Bhat | Akola

�� Sir — This refers to ‘Manual scavengers fallprey to unscrupulous contractors’ (February22). Four manual scavengers dying ofasphyxiation while on duty in Saidabad,Kondapur and Manikonda in Hyderabadis most deplorable and distressing.Incidents of death of manual scavengers are

rampant and on the rise. Gullible and naivemanual scavengers are falling prey to fraud-ulent and unscrupulous contractors andaccepting tenders. They are losing theirlives while cleaning human faeces fromunder the manholes. It is not fair and jus-tified to know that due to fund crunch, theTelangana Government has not yet provid-ed compensation to manual scavengers vic-tims of many bereaved families.

The State must cut down on sanction-ing crores of funds on the eve of festivalsin order to avoid fund crunch. Sewers-cleaning machines have already beenlaunched and introduced in Telangana.The State Government must providescavenging cleaning sewers machines tothe GHMC authority to replace and mit-igate the manual scavengers and speed upthe process to provide compensation tothe rest of manual scavengers victims ofthe bereaved families.

Zubair Khan | Hyderabad

� ; � ( , + 0 9 1 � ; � � 0 & '

��:'��)�&�0$##":%01�� 8�&�%0�� G 67� 1��4�� G ��#��%&�%0�� 0

�� !"#�!$!!

�7

%��3��''�2%'!3�!4��2567(��"8!7�

*�� H��- � �#��B�� /��

75��!��74*'�"��1�.��2�"(

75��IJJK��75�7(�7'�!'/�1

�L4�(1�H('7��("(�5�7'�75��7B

./7�1"1��'�(3!�3&��7)"��"75/�("��(1��7'("��75*��<'*��*��')"�7*�4/.�"��*�

4�*7�'<�(�7'F��'�*��(3��'*�

!�*��!�4��7�'/(7*"��

��**�,� *8�**3��&'*8,

�� ;� ��,��&

!�� #� �� %�� %� %�� =- ��% �� % ��# ��

� � �� #�H��B&�.�� - �� < 8��I:�� %8��-��#�� % �� %% �� &� 7� � � �-�� % �� %� �- �� 8�� -�� 8 �� %��#�� %��%��%�� 8��#��#��

�� # � �� &� !�� 8 �% �� % ��%�� %� ��#� � �� %� �� #�� %�� %�� -�� - �� % ��%��# ��%�� =- ��% �� 8 ��#��8��&

(��8 �� %��#�� =- ��% ��#��#�� %�� % �� #��8�� -�� #�� %� �� &�"�� %�� B��- �H��# ��B�� -�� &� �� H ��# �� B�� # � �� -��=- ��% ��# �� % �� F��-��#�� % ��8�� -�� -�� % �� %�� &

�(8�&��4!4�| ��

�� !�� "�#$%&�%

0&��(�� &��

The end of a conflictoften sows the seeds ofthe next one. If thecause of World War II

in a large part can be attributedto the terms of the settlementof the First World War, one ofthe causes of the Cold War canbe traced to the settlement ofWorld War II. The geopoliticalchanges as a result of the endof the Cold War have led tomany other conflicts in the lastthree decades. The unravellingof communism across theglobe, as well as the collapse ofYugoslavia, to the current cri-sis in Ukraine are apt examples.

We have yet anotherUkraine crisis at hand. Thewestern media, which tends todominate global narratives,has painted Russia the intran-sigent bully. The health ofRussia’s democracy and Putin’sgrip on power has buttressedthis image. With the Chinesebacking the Russian volubly,this perspective has got shriller.However, it is important tounderstand why Russia isthreatening Ukraine, and whathas forced its hand.

Ukraine’s sovereignty issuspect; historically, it hasrarely been an independentnation. Ukraine literally means,in Slavic, borderland — a geo-graphical area. It has been ‘theukraine’ for Russia for all of itsknown history. Russia andUkraine both trace their rootsback to the first East SlavicState, Kievan Rus, whichstretched from the Baltic to theBlack Sea. With deep social andcultural ties with Russia, forRussians, it is also about undo-ing the injustices of the collapseof the Soviet Union — largeparts of the Russian territoryand many Russians under thecontrol of an untrustworthyUkrainian Government.Russia’s ancient connectionswith Ukraine make it a specialrelationship. For Russiannationalists, Ukraine is animmutable component of thegreater Russian empire.

In Russia’s eyes, the Westpromised back in the 1990sthat Nato would expand “notan inch to the east” but did soanyway. Latvia, Lithuania and

)��*��+�� #�� ,-,,� #��

%��&��(��./��/��+��&��.��&�$��+�� +��0��(��1%��&��2��3�,-,,4#�5��,-,,��6--�� #��

��7�� (��(�� 3��+�� 7��+�� 8��5��&�� *��0��(��1%��9��)�� :��+��5��3��+��3��8/$��(��;��*�� 5��

*��7�� ;� �� 7��%��&�0��1��

��7��+��3��5��+�� 0*&��%��#� �� 6<�=��(��1��(��7��+��#��(��(�� (��+�� (��> "�� > �� +��)�� ,?��+��<��;�� (�� 7�� #��&�� $��0=��=��1��$�� &��@

5��%��&��77#A��%��(��#��*��7��%��&��*��

��%��@#�� 7�� #�� #��3�� B��#�� 3��=��%�� *��%��(� �� @!��! ��3��5��%��,-6C@��( ��(��(��*��#��&�77#A��#�� *�� (

��*�� (�� (�� 3�,-,-��6D( ��(��(��8��

#��77#A��(��:��5��E��+�� ?-�� (��(� ��7�� (

��(��3��:F��"�� %�� #�77#A� �� #�� #�� *�� #��(��#� �� =�� (��

��<

1�44��4��)�� &��#��&�� *��*�� #

�'��7

,�! ��0�� %� �� #2>

'�� #��07�� &��&�� #�� &��&�� & ��

7� ��%�� . 4�� %�� F�� 8�## �� 8�## �� &

��32�%�*�4'M �� 3��-

"B%�� #�� E��B��% ��&�.�� "��8��&

4*�(4�82�89�'�2M!��%��

SOUNDBITE

"B- �� %- % ��/�� #�� .�� &

��2�%�*�4'M �.��

�� #�� 8�� &

�2�7��4�%'�2M (��

"B%�� %�N�� &

�8'!2M (��%�

%+�� "��(��& -��

�� /��$0+:�� "; ��/��

�� /�� "��"

; ��

'��&��)�� &��3�� #�� #��&� ��# ��

#�� (��#� ��(

��#�� #��9��3��%�� G��E��7��8 �� 3��E�� +� �� 9� ��3�� 5�� (��#��"��> ��#�� 3��

��*�� *��(��8�� #��"��H��H�� 3� �� #�� "�� 3��

#��(��3��(��"�� (��(��#�� ;��9��"�� =�� #�� 3�� E��( ��(�� #�� (��#�� 3�� =�� (��@7�� 9�� *��(��#�� (��#��(��#�� 5��5��5�� E�� #��(��"��

��

�� !"#�!$!!

�9��:'��)�&�0$##":%01 �� 8�&�%0�� G 67� 1��4�� G ��#��%&�%0�� 0

FIRSTCOLUMN%&=0'79&+;,.�;9(21(=&-�90&'

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

;� �<��(��*�

�� ':3�

3��

The BJP’s top leadership needs toreview whether the way theirKarnataka leaders have han-dled the hijab row is working in

or against the party interest. At the firstglance, it seems the party has lost someof the goodwill it had earned amongMuslim women by passing the MuslimWomen (Protection of Rights) onMarriage Act, popularly known as thetriple talaq law, two and a half years ago.Even the Bharatiya Muslim MahilaAndolan, the organisation of Muslimwomen that had collaborated with theModi government on the drafting of thelaw and full-throatedly supported it—ignoring the ridicule of the liberals andleftists for not seeing the party’s realdesign which was not to protect theMuslim woman from the tyranny ofinstant divorce but to pull down a partof the fort of the Muslim PersonalLaw—has expressed opposition to theKarnataka government’s decision to barhijab-wearing girls from classrooms.

With what tremendous enthusiasmhad the BJP rushed the triple talaq lawthrough Parliament! It did it, it claimed,for the empowerment of the Muslimwoman!! Prime Minister Modi tweeted:“Parliament abolishes Triple Talaq…Thisis a victory for gender justice…It willcontribute to women empowerment…India rejoices today!”

And truly, after the law was passed,the number of complaints from Muslimwomen about instant divorce amazing-ly dropped. But the BJP’s Muslimwomen’s empowerment juggernautstopped there. It needed to go beyond.The abolition of triple talaq deterred theMuslim husband from divorcing his wifeby uttering ‘Talaq’ thrice, but it did notstop him from getting rid of her by utter-ing ‘Talaq’ once and not revoking it overa waiting period of three menstrualcycles or three lunar months. The manwas still on top. The woman could donothing. She would be out of his homeand out of his life after 90 days. He wouldpay her the sum of ‘mahr’ (dower heagreed to pay her at the time of marriage)and the maintenance for 90 days. Thatwas all he needed to do under the lawand say goodbye.

The BJP should have taken onemore step after abolishing triple talaq:they should have scrapped the MuslimWomen (Protection of Rights OnDivorce) Act 1986 which was passed bythe Rajiv Gandhi government to over-ride the Supreme Court judgement in theShah Bano case entitling the divorcedMuslim wife to maintenance from herhusband not only for the waiting peri-od but for life. The BJP had alleged thatRajiv Gandhi had succumbed to thepressures of the mullahs. It stirred upHindu passions to build up a huge sup-port for itself on the issue. But eventhough it has been in power at the Centrefor eight years it has not done away with

�/��"��/�7.��(�'/*�=�1

7'��")��"(�*��75�7

5�)��"L�14'4/��7"'(&

75"��(5�44�(�'(�3

!5�(�4'�"7"��4�*7"��(1

=')�*(��(7�1'�('7��'!

�'��/(��)"'��(��(1

1"��*"�"(�7"'(�=�"(�7

�/��"��7'7�2��4��"(

75��</7/*�

the law. It must do it, so thatdivorced Muslim women can beentitled to a lifelong mainte-nance.

And if the BJP really wants toempower Muslim women, it hasto do much more. For, a lifelongmaintenance would not beenough for the empowerment ofthe Muslim woman. Even if shegets an alimony she would have tolive as a dependant of someone asthe money would never be ade-quate. This is the scenario thatdiscourages even Hindu womenfrom getting out of an oppressivemarriage though they are entitledto an alimony under law. In eithercase—whether the husbanddivorces her or she divorces herhusband—the woman should beindependent to live with dignityand honour.

Recent trends among youngergenerations have shown that free-dom of choice is propelled by eco-nomic independence. The wife isnot willing to live in an oppressivemarital relationship because sheearns a livelihood for herself.Female employment is the key tofemale empowerment. Andfemale employment will not hap-pen without female education.And female education will nothappen without females going toschools and colleges. So if the BJPis truly for the empowerment ofMuslim women it should notstop hijab-wearing Muslim girlsentering classrooms.

Hijab is a matter of choice.Some Muslim girls wear it, othersdo not. Even if the BJP sees it asregressive and forced upon girlsby their parents or the Wahabists,it should allow it. The party mustrealize that by barring hijab-wearing girls it would be drivingthem deeper into the clutches ofthe forces of orthodoxy. The BJP’saim should be to help more andmore Muslim women get an edu-cation. Education will lead toemployment. Employment willtake them to workplaces.Exposure to a dynamic multicul-tural environment will make themthink anew about orthodox cul-tural practices. It could lead tomore Muslim women marryingmen from other faiths—some-thing that is not happening inIndia—adding to the growingnumber of religion-neutral or bi-religious couples and contributingto making of a culturally healthyIndia, as it happened in the US.

The BJP must realize that theaverage Muslim girl lives in anenvironment of fear and insecu-rity. Rape of Muslim women hasbeen common in riots.Communal violence and preju-dices have driven large numbersof Muslims to live in ghettos. Inthe ghettos, patriarchy and ortho-doxy rule. Men, deriving powerfrom the responsibility to protectthe women of their families, forcethem to wear a burqa and hijabwhen going out so as to not

attract attention towards them-selves. They are not very keen togive girls higher education, forthat would mean going far fromthe ghetto and more risks totheir security, leaving aside therisk of their ‘corruption’ with‘modern, western’ education.

The Muslim ghettos mustmelt. Muslims must be encour-aged to live in mixed neighbour-hoods. This can happen onlywhen political parties and govern-ments do not allow communalviolence and discriminationagainst Muslims to take place inthe future.

If that happens, Muslim girlswill feel more secure, and moreand more of them will come toschools and colleges. Even theirparents would have no ground todeny them education. Even ifthey want their girls to go to theirclasses in hijab, so be it. At leastthe girls will be getting an educa-tion. That will open new doors forthem. That will take them to dif-ferent worlds.

Will the BJP ensure there is noviolence and discriminationagainst Muslims? Will it give fullattention to the education ofMuslim girls and leave the futureof hijab to the future? Or does itwant people to believe that itsresponsibility for Muslim women’sempowerment ended with thetriple talaq law? Are we asking toomuch of the Great Saviour ofMuslim women?

(The writer is an independent journalistand author. The views

expressed are personal.)

With four phases over,elections in UttarPradesh go east,

including to Amethi, Ayodhyaand Gorakhpur. Here, thenumber of migrant workerswho were subject to ill-treat-ment during the first Covid-19lockdown is the highest. Themood here is influenced by ris-ing prices in the region whichalready has high poverty lev-els. They have been hit hardperiodically, since afterdemonetisation.

Stray cattle are a big issue.In the east like in the west, theydevastate farm produce andthere is no way to resolve theproblem. The “gomata”approach of the BJP after com-ing to power has swelled thenumber of its adherents.Linguistic minorities likeBengalis and Punjabis are

largely with BJP.Efforts of Congress leaders

Priyanka Vadra and RahulGandhi to activate the partyand a possible tacit tie-up withSamajwadi Party can makesome difference to oppositionnumbers. BSP has committedJatav votes but other Dalitsmay split among various par-ties. The Hathras gang-rapemay realign Valmikis who pre-viously voted BJP. So may theUnnao incident in central UP.

Since 1985, UP has not re-elected an incumbent govern-ment. If Yogi succeeds, hewould establish a record. TheBJP is not leaving it to chance.Even during the 2017 poll, thestate did not see so many topBJP leaders campaigning.Home Minister Amit Shah iscontinuously visiting and issaid to be the organising mas-

termind. Prime MinisterNarendra Modi addressed over11 large rallies till the begin-ning of poll process attackingcommunal “samajwadis”: Thelatter say that is keeping SP inthe reckoning.

Deputy chief ministerKeshav Prasad Maurya con-testing from Sirathu nearAllahabad faces hostile crowdslike many ministers likeShrikant Sharma, Suresh Rana,Sangeet Som did in the west.Sharma was jeered all over inMathura. Former central min-

ister Mahesh Sharma wasshooed away from his homevillage in Bulandhshahr for notvisiting the area. In all theseincidents, the BJP workersremained silent spectators. TheSP-RLD had interestingly pit-ted Pallavi Patel, a good oratorand sister of central ministerAnupriya Patel of Apna Dalagainst Maurya cornering himin the constituency.

Would it change the votingpattern that was overwhelm-ingly for BJP in 2017? Not easyto say. The state government'sreported diktat to governmentemployees to coerce postalballot voters has reportedlycaused consternation. There isa SP-RLD push back onaccount of this while the pollstaff have now distanced them-selves from parties.

The BJP is surprised the

way SP leader Akhilesh Yadavhas done his social engineer-ing. This has led the SP pene-trate hitherto impregnableareas like Agra and Mathura inthe west and as well as manyother seats in the east. The dili-gent home work of Akhileshhelps SP by having a wideralliance with caste groupsbeyond the Yadavs and hisfamily members. Similarly,Jayant Chaudhury had spreadhis wings and emerged asmore than a Jat leader in theaftermath of the year-longkisan agitation. The kisan,Gujar, Pal, Baghel, Prajapatiand similar smaller castegroups have moved to SP-RLD.

There is also a conflictbetween who takes the creditfor welfare programmes. TheSP-RLD combine accuses BJP

of grabbing credit for pro-grammes introduced by SPand other governments.

Even Chief Minister YogiAdityanath himself is said tobe roughing it up inGorakhpur as his discipleSunil Singh on SP ticket faceshim and alleged erstwhile areastrongman, Hari ShankarTiwari's family opposes.

But there is a differentaspect to it all. The minorityvotes lining up for SP-RLDhave fuelled a counter-pas-sion for BJP's Hindutva,Ayodhya, Vindhyavasini tem-ples and Krishna temple inMathura. An Aligarh profes-sor Sajjad saidbefore the pollsin western UP that overtly theminorities, Jats and farmergroups appear to be togetherbut they may not be as cohe-sive as they appear. The voting

may not reflect the overtmood.

RSS leader Indresh Kumarhas activated his RashtriyaMuslim Manch to woo theChristians and Muslim minori-ties groups in Lucknow,Amroha, Moradabad and noweven in Goa, Uttarakhand andManipur to help BJP. Kumarhas had separate meetings withMuslim women and his mediacoordinator Shahid Sayeed saysthe women who benefited bytriple talaq annulment are withBJP. Many also have receivedPM Awas houses.

The BJP in its run up to the2024 Lok Sabha electionsshould not be taken lightly. Ithas organizational and officialstrength to bounce back. Itsleaders say that even with less-er seats than 325 now it wouldhave enough to be in power.

%#��&'� $(�$��)*(�*+��#��,�!�-#��"�.�$�(��#�*"��(��-��,�(�"$/#�"0��#��)/�($��$�(�"��(��11$.$�"��)�(/�#��-�*(.��-�.,��3��$��5859��:

��;�=��,4�,

(The writer is a senior journalist. The views

expressed are personal.)

� ��6�� !"#�!$!!

��

The East-West faceoff overUkraine escalated dramati-

cally Tuesday, with Russianlawmakers authorisingPresident Vladimir Putin touse military force outside hiscountry and US President JoeBiden and European leadersresponding by slapping sanc-tions on Russian oligarchs andbanks. Both leaders signaledthat an even bigger confronta-tion could lie ahead. Putin hasyet to unleash force of 150,000troops massed on three sides ofUkraine, while Biden held backon even tougher sanctions thatcould cause economic turmoilfor Russia but said they wouldgo ahead if there is furtheraggression.

The measures, accompa-nied by repositioning of addi-tional US troops to Balticnations on NATO's easternflank bordering Russia, came asRussian forces rolled into rebel-held areas in eastern Ukraineafter Putin said he was recog-nising independence of sepa-ratist regions in defiance of USand European demands.Speaking at White House, Bidensaid the Kremlin flagrantly vio-lated international law in whathe called "beginning of aRussian invasion of Ukraine."

He warned of more sanctions ifPutin went further. "We areunited in our support ofUkraine," Biden said. "We areunited in our opposition toRussian aggression." When itcomes to Russian claims of a jus-tification or pretext for an inva-sion, Biden said, "None of usshould be fooled. None of uswill be fooled. There is no jus-tification."

Hopes for a diplomatic res-olution to threat of invasion,which US officials have forweeks portrayed as all butinevitable, appeared to evapo-rate.

US Secretary of StateAntony Blinken cancelled plansfor a Thursday meeting inGeneva with his Russian coun-terpart, saying it would not beproductive and that Russia'sactions indicated Moscow wasnot serious about a peacefulpath to resolving crisis.

Western nations sought topresent a united front, withmore than two dozen EuropeanUnion members unanimouslyagreeing to levy their own ini-tial set of sanctions againstRussian officials. Germany alsosaid it was halting process of cer-tifying Nord Stream 2 gaspipeline from Russia - a lucra-tive deal long sought by Moscowbut criticised by US for increas-

ing Europe's reliance on Russianenergy. The US, meanwhile,moved to cut off Russia's gov-ernment from Western finance,sanctioning two of its banks andblocking it from trading in itsdebt on American andEuropean markets. The admin-istration's actions hit civilianleaders in Russia's leadershiphierarchy and two Russianbanks considered especiallyclose to Kremlin and Russia'smilitary, with more than $80 bil-lion in assets. That includes

freezing all of those banks'assets under U.S. Jurisdictions.Biden, though, did hold backsome of broadest and toughestof financial penalties contem-plated by U.S., including sanc-tions that would reinforce holdthat Germany put on any start-up of Nord Stream 2 pipeline; anexport ban that would denyRussia U.S. High-tech for itsindustries and military; andsweeping bans that could crip-ple Russia's ability to do businesswith the rest of the world.

�� 3��

�� .�" "(=�

China is accusing the UnitedStates of creating "fear and

panic" over the crisis inUkraine. Foreign Ministryspokesperson Hua Chunyingsaid Wednesday that Chinaopposes new sanctions onRussia, reiterating a long-standing Chinese position.Shesaid the U.S. Was fueling ten-sions by providing weapons toKyiv in response to Russia'slarge troop deployment aroundUkraine's borders and fears ofan invasion.China-Russia tieshave grown closer underChinese leader Xi Jinping, whohosted Russian PresidentVladimir Putin at talks inBeijing earlier this month. Thetwo sides issued a joint state-ment backing Moscow's oppo-sition to a NATO expansion informer Soviet republics andbuttressing China's claim to theself-governing island of Taiwan- key foreign policy issues forBeijing and Moscow.

�& ��;�� &��

United Nations: The United Nations chief says the worldis facing "the biggest global peace and security crisis in recentyears" and is calling Russia's declaration of the "so-called `inde-pendence'" of separatist areas in eastern Ukraine a violation ofits territorial integrity and accusing Moscow of "the perversionof the concept of peacekeeping." Secretary-General AntonioGuterres told reporters Tuesday he is proud of the achievementsof the UN's far-flung peacekeepers, but when troops of one coun-try enter the territory of another country without its consent,as Russian forces have done, "they are not impartial peacekeep-ers -- they are not peacekeepers at all" as Moscow has called them.Guterres said Russia's unilateral actions also "conflict" with theUN Charter and are "a death blow to the Minsk Agreements"aimed at restoring peace to eastern Ukraine.He called "at this crit-ical moment" for an immediate cease-fire, de-escalation,"restraint and reason," and a halt to actions or statements "thatwould take this dangerous situation over the brink. AP

�� '��'!�

Ukraine's president onTuesday night announced

he was calling up some of thecountry's military reservists asthe threat of a Russian invasiongrew, but he added there wasno need for a full militarymobilisation.

President VolodymyrZelenskyy said in a videoaddress to the nation his decreeapplies only to those assignedto the so-called operationalreserve, which is typically acti-vated during ongoing hostili-ties, and covers "a special peri-od of time," without clarifyingwhat that means. He said:"Today there is no need for afull mobilisation. We need toquickly add additional staff tothe Ukrainian army and othermilitary formations."There areabout 250,000 troops inUkraine's armed forces, andsome 140,000 reservists.

��23")

Europe braced for further confrontation on Wednesday andUkraine urged its citizens to leave Russia after tensions escalat-

ed dramatically when Russia's leader got the OK to use military forceoutside his country and the West responded with a raft of sanctions.Hopes for a diplomatic way out of a new devastating war appearedall but sunk as the U.S. And key European allies accused Moscow

on Tuesday of crossing a red line in rolling over Ukraine's borderinto separatist regions - with several calling it an invasion. The topU.S. Diplomat canceled a meeting with his Russian counterpart; Kyivrecalled its ambassador and considered breaking all diplomatic tieswith Moscow; dozens of nations further squeezed Russian oligarchsand banks out of international markets; Germany halted a lucra-tive pipeline deal; and the U.S. Repositioned additional troops toNATO's eastern flank bordering Russia.

After weeks of trying to project calm,Ukrainian authorities signaled increasing concernon Wednesday. The Foreign Ministry advisedagainst travel to Russia and recommended anyonethere leave immediately, saying Moscow's "aggres-sion" could lead to a significant reduction in con-sular services. The head of Ukraine's NationalSecurity and Defense Council called for a nation-wide state of emergency - subject to parliamen-tary approval.

Oleksiy Danilov said it will be up to regionalauthorities to determine which measures to apply,but they could include additional protection forpublic facilities, restrictions on traffic, and addi-tional transport and document checks. Already,the threat of war has shredded Ukraine's econo-my and raised the specter of massive casualties,energy shortages across Europe and global eco-nomic chaos. Even as conflict took a new, dan-gerous turn, leaders warned it could still get worse.Russian President Vladimir Putin has yet to unleashthe force of 150,000 troops massed on three sidesof Ukraine, while U.S. President Joe Biden heldback on even tougher sanctions that could causeeconomic turmoil for Russia but said they wouldgo ahead if there is further aggression.

�� '(1'(�

The UK Government onWednesday warned that it

stands ready to escalate sanc-tions on Russia in the event ofan invasion of Ukraine andcan "keep turning up the heat"by targeting more banks,wealthy individuals and keycompanies if PresidentVladimir Putin refuses to pullback troops from easternUkraine.

Foreign Secretary LizTruss said the sanctionsannounced in Parliament byBritish Prime Minister BorisJohnson on Tuesday againstfive Russian banks and threeRussian billionaires linkedwith President Putin were"severe" but that further mea-sures are being kept "in thelocker". Britain has joinedinternational allies to takeaction after Putin orderedtroops to be sent into twoUkrainian regions held byRussian-backed separatists.

"The sanctions we're putting inplace are coordinated withthe United States, they're coor-dinated with Europe, to makesure that Vladimir Putin can-not play divide and ruleamongst the allies," said Truss.

"We've shown we areunited and we will escalatethose sanctions in the event ofa full invasion into Ukraine,"she said.

German Chancellor OlafScholz has announced thedecision to halt approval of theNord Stream 2 gas pipelineunder the Baltic Sea, a megaEURO 10 billion projectwhich had been expected toallow Russia to sell more nat-ural gas directly to Europe.

Besides, other EuropeanUnion (EU) countries and UShave also imposed a range ofsanctions, including restrictingthe Russian state from financ-ing its debt from their banksand banning their own com-panies from trading with thetwo rebel-held regions.

�'��3$�� 4��

�� (��

�� ,$��;��!�� .-��4

�� !��

�� 7�5*�(

Oman's Foreign Ministerarrived in Tehran on

Wednesday for talks with hisIranian counterpart, statemedia reported, as nucleartalks between Iran and worldpowers continue in Vienna.Iranian Foreign MinisterHossein Amirabdollahianwelcomed Sayyid BadrAlbusaidi upon his arrival,with the visit scheduled tofocus on bilateral and inter-national affairs, the IRNAnews agency said. Oman hasoften acted as a go-between tohelp facilitate back-doordiplomacy between the USand Iran, sometimes involvingthe release of prisoners.

=�� ?$ �2�!�� , ��

�� .�*�"(

Climate activists on Wednesday blockedroads leading to Germany's three biggest

airports, gluing themselves to the groundbefore police arrived.Members of the groupUprising of the Last Generation said they want-ed to disrupt cargo and passenger traffic at theairports in Frankfurt, Munich and Berlin.Thegroup has demanded that the government takemeasures to end food waste. It argues thatthrowing away vast amounts of usable food con-tributes to hunger and climate change. Pastprotests involving the blocking of roads andports have drawn criticism from officialsacross the political spectrum."Blocking high-ways or even airports isn't helpful, it's wrong,"Environment Minister Steffi Lemke told week-ly Die Zeit. It quoted Lemke saying that angerover Germany's failure to meet its emissions tar-gets didn't justify such protests.

�� '/�

As South Korea enters a bit-ter presidential race, Hong

Hee-jin is one of the manyyoung women who feel thatcountry's politics has becomedominated by discriminationagainst women, even outrightmisogyny."Women are beingtreated like they don't evenhave voting rights," the 27-year-old office worker in capi-tal, Seoul, said.

For years, South Koreanwomen have made slow butsteady progress in the workplaceas they confronted anentrenched culture of malechauvinism and harassment.

But this extremely tightpresidential race, which culmi-nates March 9, has exposedfragility of what's been won. Topconservative candidate YoonSuk Yeol and his liberal rival LeeJae-myung - both men above 55- are fighting for what they seeas a "male" vote crucial for vic-tory. They have increasingly

focused their messages onyoung men who decry genderequality policies and loss of tra-ditional privileges in a hyper-competitive jobmarket."Politicians are takingeasy path," Hong said. "Insteadof coming up with real policiesto solve problems facing youngpeople, they are fanning genderconflicts, telling men in their 20sthat their difficulties stem fromwomen receiving too manybenefits."

The tensions can be seenon streets. Hundreds of womenhave marched in protest againstthe "election of misogyny." Smallbut vocal groups of anti-feministmen have staged rallies inresponse. Divisive gender pol-itics has grown as South Koreadeals with a fast-aging popula-tion, a plummeting birth rate,soaring personal debt, a decay-ing job market and starkinequality. There's also growingnuclear threat from NorthKorea and fears of beingsqueezed in confrontation

� $�!�4 ��.��$�� ""�� !�

�� 1/.�"(

Mounting marine pollutionis choking the world's

oceans and rivers, especially inSoutheast Asia - and it'll only getworse unless somethingchanges. Countries alongMekong River have becomeworld's dumping ground forwaste. Rubbish is finding its wayinto water - killing marine ani-mals and clogging up animalswith plastic that are later eatenby humans. And it only gotworse during the pandemic.COVID-19 has caused plasticwaste to surge in SoutheastAsia, particularly with wide-spread disposal of single-use facemasks, takeaway food contain-ers, and packaging from onlineshopping. In April 2020,Bangkok's daily average of 2,115

tonnes of single-use plasticswaste per day grew to more than3,400 tonnes a day. Lockdownshalted more than 80 per cent ofrecycling value chain inSoutheast Asian countries suchas Philippines and Vietnam.Even before pandemic-drivenwaste, only nine percent of allplastic packaging was recycledand about 12 percent is incin-erated. The remaining 79 percent accumulates in landfills,dumps and natural environ-ment. A lot of this waste, par-ticularly plastic, finds its way intoour oceans. As much as 13 mil-lion tonnes of plastic enters ouroceans annually, according to a2018 study by UN Environment.Marine plastic pollution is amajor transboundary problem,costing an estimated USD 2.5trillion per year.

�� 1��/�

Israel fired several surface-to-surface missiles toward

Syrian military positions inthe country's south earlyWednesday causing materialdamage, state media report-ed.State TV quoted anunnamed Syrian military offi-cial as saying that the missileswere fired from Syria's Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, andstruck areas around the near-by town of Quneitra. It addedthat the attack that occurredshortly after midnight causedmaterial damage but no casu-alties.The attack came nearly aweek after Syrian state mediareported a similar Israeli mis-sile attack on an area south ofthe capital Damascus that alsocaused no casualties.

�� /("7�1�(�7"'(�

The UN Security Councilvoted unanimously on

Tuesday to end Iraq's require-ment to compensate victims ofits 1990 invasion of Kuwait,with Baghdad having paid outmore than USD 50 billion to 1.5million claimants.MichaelGaffey, Ireland's ambassador toUN in Geneva and president ofgoverning board of UNCompensation Commission,whose fund decided on claims,told council after vote thatbody's work was historic "forUnited Nations and for effectivemultilateralism. ""Ultimately, 2.7million claims were submitted tocommission seeking $352 billionin compensation," he said, and$52.4 billion awarded to 1.5 mil-lion claimants "represents

approximately 15% of totalclaims."Under a SecurityCouncil resolution adopted inApril 1991 after a US-led coali-tion routed Saddam Hussein'sforces and liberated Kuwait infirst Gulf War, Iraq was requiredto set aside a percentage of pro-ceeds from its oil exports forfund to compensate victims ofconflict. That share was 5% in2013, when council voted to endthe possible military enforce-ment of several requirementsimposed on Iraq after invasionin recognition of improved rela-tions with Kuwait. The levelstood at 3% for Iraq's final pay-ment on Jan. 13.Gaffey saidgoverning council adopted itsfinal decision Saturday declaringthat Iraq's government fulfilledits international obligations tocompensate for losses.

�1��>��.+��.� ��

�� 5'('�/�/

The US Navy said Tuesday four people havedied in the crash of a contractor's heli-

copter on the Hawaii island of Kauai.ThePacific Missile Range Facility said the aircraftcrashed on the north side of the installationshortly after 10 a.M. There were no survivors.The names of those killed were not yet avail-able, it said.

The helicopter was being flown by CromanCorp. In support of a training operation, themissile range facility said in a news release. TheNational Transportation Safety Board said ina tweet the agency is investigating the crashof the Sikorsky S-61N helicopter.

The Sikorsky S-61N was built between1959 and 1980 by Sikorsky Aircraft, which isnow part of Lockheed Martin. It was designedto carry a substantial freight or passenger pay-load. One version was built to carry up to 30passengers, according to the Igor I. SikorskyHistorical Archives website.The helicopterswere optimized for use over water, for exam-ple to support oil rig operations. Versions werealso used by all branches of the U.S. Military.

�� (�!�3'*2

Alawyer for a woman whoaccused former President

Donald Trump of raping her inthe mid-1990s and then fileda defamation lawsuit againsthim said Tuesday she will notseek to depose Trump prior totrial because it would causeunnecessary delay, but sheadded that a DNA sample wasstill being sought.

Attorney Roberta Kaplanfirst made the revelation inManhattan federal court dur-ing a pretrial hearing beforeexplaining the decision toreporters outside court as herclient, E. Jean Carroll, stood byher side.A deposition, Kaplansaid, would "inevitably result inan inordinate amount of delay.""We want case to go forward,"she said. Attorney AlinaHabba. who representedTrump at hearing, said outsidecourt that she had not heardbefore that Carroll's lawyers

did not want a deposition, aproceeding in which lawyers incivil cases question likely wit-nesses under oath prior totrial."It's surprising," Habbasaid. As for a DNA sample,Habba said: "None has beendemanded."Kaplan,

though, said the DNAsample had been requestedafter the case was first filed instate court and the demand stillexists after it was moved tofederal court.

The Associated Press gen-erally does not identify peoplealleging sexual assault, butCarroll has consented to beingnamed in the media.She toldreporters outside court that shewas looking forward to

the trial on behalf of allwomen "who have beengrabbed and groped, assaultedand raped by men in powerand are silenced.""And we arelooking to bring justice, atleast in this one case, againsta powerful man," she said.

�� <"��

�� "��.�1

Prime Minister Imran Khanon Wednesday left for Russia

on a two-day visit - the first bya Pakistani premier in over twodecades – during which he willhold talks with PresidentVladimir Putin to reset bilater-al ties and expand cooperationin energy sector.

Khan's visit to Moscow willtake place hours after USPresident Joe Biden and otherWestern governments imposedtough economic sanctions onRussia for sending its militaryinto parts of eastern Ukraine.Khan is accompanied by a high-level delegation comprisingForeign

Minister Shah MahmoodQureshi, Information MinisterFawad Chaudhry, Planning andDevelopment Minister AsadUmar, Commerce AdviserAbdul Razak Dawood andNational Security Adviser DrMoeed Yusuf.

According to Foreign Office,the bilateral summit betweenPrime Minister Khan andPresident Putin will be highlightof visit. "During Summit meet-ing, the two leaders will reviewentire array of bilateral relationsincluding energy cooperation.

They will also have a wide-ranging exchange of views onmajor regional and internation-al issues, including Islamophobiaand situation in Afghanistan,” theFO said.

It said visit of Prime Ministerwill contribute to further deep-ening of multifaceted Pakistan-Russia bilateral relationship andenhancement of mutual coop-eration in diverse fields. In atweet, the Russian Foreign Officesaid that President Putin andPrime Minister Khan will holdtalks in Moscow on Thursday.

#��#$>��!��

��0��4�� ;�� #&��

"�� 1��34� � �/�� !��+!�� $��

� �� %�� >�� '��/� �!�

�� !"#�!$!!� �"��

�� /�.�"

India Ratings has revised downwards itsGDP growth forecast for 2021-22 to 8.6

per cent from the consensus 9.2 per centprojected earlier.

The National Statistical Organisation(NSO), which has forecast 9.2 per cent realGDP growth for the year, will release thesecond advance estimate of nationalincome on Monday.

According to an India Ratings analy-sis, NSO is likely to peg the FY22 real grossdomestic product growth at Rs 147.2 lakhcrore. This translates into a GDP growthrate of 8.6 per cent, down from 9.2 per centforecast in the first advance estimatereleased on January 7, 2022.

The major reason for the likely down-ward revision is the upward revision ofFY21 GDP to Rs 135.6 lakh crore in thefirst revised estimate of national incomefor FY21, which was released on January31, 2022, the agency said.

As a result, GDP for FY21 is improvedto (-) 6.6 per cent from the provisionalestimate of (-)7.3 per cent released on May31, 2021. Besides this, the second revisedestimate of national income for FY20 stoodat 3.7 per cent compared to 4 per cent pro-jected earlier while the third estimateretained FY19 growth at 6.5 per cent.

The growth rates of GDP drivers fromthe demand side namely private final con-sumption expenditure, government's finalconsumption expenditure, gross fixedcapital formation have undergone a change

due to these revisions, and quarterly GDPgrowth numbers are also expected toundergo a change this year.

As FY20 growth has been reviseddownwards, the agency now expects GDPgrowth of all the four quarters of FY20 tobe lower than present estimates. Thiswould mean a likely upward revision ofFY21 and downward revision of FY22quarterly GDP numbers.

Accordingly, the agency estimates Q1and Q2 of FY22 may decline by 90-110basis points than estimated earlier and theQ3 nd Q4 may come in at 5.6 per cent and5.1 per cent, respectively, down from 6 percent and 5.7 per cent estimated earlier.

It takes about three years to finalise thefinal GDP data for a year. It starts with the

first advance estimate and then is followedup with the second advance estimate, thenprovisional estimate, the first revised esti-mate , second revised estimate and final-ly the third revised estimate, Sunil KumarSinha of the agency said.

A glance at the revision of GDP datafrom the initial to the final estimate for fis-cal years 2015 to 2020 suggests that themagnitude of the revisions has been gen-erally low.

The direction in revisions though sug-gests that generally during the years of sta-ble/upswing in GDP growth, advance esti-mate tends to underestimate the actualGDP growth rate and it does just the oppo-site during the years of downswing, Sinhasays.

�� 2'�2�7�

Representatives of the bidi indus-try and labour organisations

have called for an immediate reduc-tion of tax on the indigenous smoke,contending that high taxes threat-ened the survival of the sector.

During a virtual round tableorganised by the All India BidiIndustry Federation, they also delib-erated upon the need for alternativejob opportunities for the workersengaged in production of bidi, smallhand-rolled cigarettes made of tobac-co wrapped in leaves.

"The bidi industry has beenplaying a big role in generating rev-enue and employment in some of theremotest regions of India. However,the existing exorbitant rate of 28 percent GST due to beedis being deemeda demerit good, is having a majornegative impact on the lives of theworkers, especially women fromrural and tribal areas," said ArjunKhanna, joint secretary of the fed-eration.

"The government should alsounderstand that continuing to tax theindustry at this rate may put one of

India's oldest indigenous industriesat the risk of being wiped out. Thiswill result in massive unemploymentand socio-economic ramifications,which will push millions below thepoverty line," he said.

The steep tax rate has led to asurge in manufacturing moving fromthe organised to the unorganised sec-tor, the representatives said, adding,the GST Council had rationalised taxon handmade products to 5 per centand that can be extended to the bidiindustry as well.

"The production of bidis in Indiaprovides employment to nearly onecrore people. A majority of theworkers are women who live inNaxalite areas, where no alternativejob opportunities exist.

"This is why it is becoming crit-ical to reduce the tax on bidi or elsethe industry will face the risk of beingcounter-productive to the govern-ment's 'Make in India' initiative.This is because it may lead to an infil-tration and dependency on cheapChinese cigarettes," added DrAshwani Mahajan, NationalConvenor, Swadeshi Jagran Manch.

�� /�.�"

Market gauges Sensex andNifty extended their los-

ing streak to the sixth sessionon Wednesday as lingeringUkraine crisis continued todent investor sentiment.

The Sensex closed 68.62points or 0.12 per cent lower at57,232.06 and the Nifty ended28.95 points or 0.12 per centdown at 17,063.25.

For better part of session,both indices traded in the pos-itive territory tracking mostlyhigher Asian peers as investorshoped that Western sanctionson Russia after Moscow's troopmovements near Ukraine bor-der might soften VladimirPutin defiant tone and leavesome room to avoid war.

The Sensex breadth wasequally divided between gainsand losses.

NTPC, L&T, Nestle andICICI Bank shares dropped themost on the index.

"As global markets turnedpositive, domestic indicesopened the day on a positivenote, however, witnessed highvolatility and succumbed toselling pressure to close the dayin favour of bears. The impactof geopolitical uncertaintiesand soaring fuel costs will con-

tinue to keep markets acrossthe globe highly volatile.Broader markets outperformedbenchmark indices while onthe sectoral front, realty stocksattracted buyers," Vinod Nair,Head of Research at GeojitFinancial Services said.

Sectorally, BSE energy, cap-ital goods and oil&gas fell asmuch as 0.54 per cent. Of the19 sectoral indices, five closedin the red.

Broader largecap indexclosed with losses, while small-cap and midcap indices regis-tered gains.

On the forex market front,the rupee closed 23 paise high-er at 74.61 against the US dol-lar. Elsewhere in Asia, boursesclosed mostly higher, hopingthat war in Ukraine can beavoided after the US, Japan andEuropean powers imposedsanctions on Russia.

Stocks closed lower on

Wall Street on Tuesday afterRussia sent forces intoUkraine's eastern regions, esca-lating tensions.

Russian President VladimirPutin recognised the indepen-dence of two rebel-held regionsof Ukraine, raising fears of animminent full-scale invasion.

US Secretary of State TonyBlinken on Tuesday cancelledhis scheduled meeting withhis Russian counterpart SergeiLavrov later this week in protestagainst what he said was thebeginning of Russia's invasionof Ukraine.

Brent crude futures werelast steady at USD 96.74 a bar-rel, having eased off Tuesday'stop of USD 99.50.

Foreign institutionalinvestors continued their sell-ing spree in Indian markets asthey offloaded shares worth Rs3,245.52 crore on a net basis onTuesday, as per exchange data.

�� 5�((�"

Provider of solutions to infor-mation and communication

technology Sify TechnologiesLimited has a plan to tap over 400MW of renewable energy for itsdata centre business over the nextfour years, according to an officialof the company.

The Chennai-based Nasdaq-listed company on Wednesdayannounced its partnership withVibrant Energy Holdings Ltd, a sub-sidiary of Blue Leaf Energy Asia PteLtd, and a portfolio company ofMacquarie's Green InvestmentGroup (GIG).

According to Chief FinancialOfficer of Sify M P Vijay Kumar, thepartnership with Vibrant Energywas to set up a 231 MW of solar and

wind energy capacity to powerSify unit in Mumbai.

Recently, Sify signed powerpurchase agreements (PPAs) withVibrant Energy Holdings. The PPAsare for a total of 231 MW of solarand wind energy capacity to powerlatest data centres of Sify. Of the 231MW, PPA for 67 MW was recent-ly implemented.

The partnership is the firststep in a clear roadmap for the com-

pany to minimise its dependence onfossil fuels to power the data cen-tre business. At the same time, Sifyis investing in solar and wind ener-gy to deliver most of the powerrequired for its flagship data centresin Mumbai.

"In Mumbai, we have data cen-tres in three locations," he toldreporters.

On the partnership withVibrant Energy, he said,"As far asthe nature of partnership is con-cerned, it is on a captive power pur-chase model where the entire facil-ity will be set up by Macquarie GIG-sponsored Vibrant Energy."

Vibrant Energy would be set-ting up the facility, design, constructand operate the facility and makeavailable the power for SifyTechnologies for use, he said.

To a query whether the part-nership was specific to the data cen-tre in Mumbai, Kumar clarified thatdiscussions were on with theVibrant Energy for other data cen-tres.

"We are scheduled to createabout 200 MW of capacity of datacentres in the next four years.Some projects are underway withconstruction

already having commencedwhile some are scheduled to com-mence," Kumar said.

According to him, the expo-sure of Sify to data centre businessis spread across six cities with 11centres. "We are on track to addanother 200 MW capacity in thenext four years and spread acrossmultiple cities and beyond," hesaid.

Chairman of Sify Raju Vegesnasaid, "With the constantly expand-ing need for world-class data cen-tre facilities to meet the burgeon-ing data-centric transformation ofbusinesses, we believe that invest-ing in clean energy sources to fuelthis transformation is imperative.""Sify is proud to be doing its partto help our customers become apart of this clean energy future", hesaid.

CEO of Vibrant Energy SriniViswanathan said, "Vibrant is hon-oured to partner with Sify on theirjourney to build sustainable datacentre solutions in the market".

"Vibrant is looking forward tocontinuing its work with Sify to sup-port them in their 100 per centrenewable energy goal," he said.

�� 1�7*'"7�

Ford is recalling more than330,000 Mustangs in the US

to fix backup camera displaysthat go blank or become dis-torted.

The recall covers cars fromthe 2015 to 2017 model years.

Documents postedWednesday by the US NationalHighway Traffic SafetyAdministration say the rearview camera wiring canbecome loose or damaged,causing the problem.

Ford said in documentsthat it knows of two minorcrashes and no injuries due tothe problem.

Dealers will repair the decklid wiring harness possiblyreplace the camera. Notices willbe mailed to owners startingMarch 7.

They'll get another letterwhen parts are ready.

�� (�!�1��5"

TVS Motor Company onWednesday said it has crossed

the 10-lakh two-wheeler exportmilestone in the current financialyear.

The company said it has achievedthis significant export milestone ina financial year for the first time.

The key exports include theApache series, HLX series, Raiderand Neo series, it added.

"The one million export mark isa significant milestone for TVSMotor Company. This further under-scores our path towards being a glob-al player in personal mobility solu-tions," TVS Motor Company JointManaging Director Sudarshan Venusaid.

The company is excited to con-tinue building on this positivemomentum as it expands into newergeographies with attractive productsand new first in segment, technolo-gy offerings, he added.

$��,�� =�&�� #�� #��

$�� #��& �#��,3�$��&��

"�� >>��%�� 3�?��4��

07$�)��>8?��*�&��,��

�� /�.�"

MakeMyTrip onWednesday said its fin-

tech arm TripMoney has joinedhands with SBM Bank India tolaunch a rupee-denominatedsecure credit card, TripMoneyGlobal Card.

This value-loaded creditcard offers various advancedmoney management featuresrelieving overseas travellers frompaying mark-up on forex (for-eign exchange) conversions,MakeMyTrip said in a statement.

The TripMoney GlobalCard, powered by Visa, can be

used across 150 countries andis targeted at international trav-ellers, including students, itadded.

MakeMyTrip co-founderand Group CEO Rajesh Magowsaid, "We continue to activelyinvest in building productsand solutions to elevate theoverall travelling experienceof our customers."

He added that TripMoney'sGlobal Card empowers Indiantravellers with a safe, trans-parent and swift money man-agement solution that can beaccessed anytime and fromanywhere.

�� (�!�1��5"

British telecom giantVodafone is in discussions

to sell around five per centstake in Indus Towers to BhartiAirtel, according to industrysources.

When contacted, Vodafonerefused to comment on thematter. Vodafone currentlyholds about 28 per cent inIndus Towers.

The industry sources saidthat Vodafone is in talks to sellits about five per cent stake inIndus Towers, valued at over Rs3,300 crore, to Bharti Airtel.The proceeds will be pumpedinto the Indian entity VodafoneIdea, they added.

Indus Towers Limited, for-merly Bharti Infratel Limited,provides passive telecom infra-structure. It deploys, owns andmanages telecom towers andcommunication structures forvarious mobile operators.

The company's portfolio ofover 1,84,748 telecom towersmakes it one of the largesttower infrastructure providersin the country with presence inall 22 telecom circles. IndusTowers caters to all wirelesstelecommunication serviceproviders in India.

�� (�!�1��5"

BharatPe has sacked its head of controlsMadhuri Jain Grover - wife of embat-

tled co-founder Ashneer Grover - foralleged financial irregularities rangingfrom producing fake invoices to billing thecompany for personal beauty treatmentand trips abroad.

While a company spokesperson con-firmed the termination, sources withdirect knowledge of the matter saidBharatPe has cancelled all the 244 unvest-ed and 56 vested employee stock options(ESOPs).

Madhuri Grover did not immediate-ly respond to an email sent seeking hercomments.

She was last month sent on leavewithin days of her husband announcinga three-month leave of absence followingallegations of using abusive languageagainst Kotak Mahindra Bank staff andfraudulent practices. Ashneer Groverhas denied all allegations.

BharatPe engaged risk advisory firmAlvarez and Marsal to conduct a gover-nance review.

Sources said that review found thatMadhuri Grover allegedly shared confi-dential information that was used by herfather and brother to create and raiseinvoices on the company under the camouf lage of certain third parties.

She is alleged to have billed the com-pany for personal expenses includingthose towards 'laser genesis and clearlift'face treatment in April 2021 as well astelevisions (a LED TV and a SonyBravia 65-inch) and a fridge for her res-idence.

Other allegations against her includeUS and Dubai trip for family membersbeing charged back to the company,inflated purchases of marketing andbranding products, fake quotes procuredfrom friendly parties and salary of mainand personal staff being paid from thecompany.

&!��#��0��(� ��$��!�� -� �'��

,�� @A�� >��2��&!�� " ��3%��

0� ��,� ��4��")!!7.��# �� /6��

$��$�2� +� ��!��2� $�� !%&$&��>�� !��

% ��2��!��

�� !"#�!$!!

��%&&'())�� )*�*��&�)

$��

The Ministry of Personnel, PG & Pensions — under theleadership of the Hon’ble Minister of State for

Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Dr JitendraSingh — has taken concrete steps to ensure ease of livingfor Pensioners. The Department has been leveraging tech-nology and has been conducting online Pension Adalats,using end-to-end digital portal Bhavishya to generate elec-tronic Pension Payment Orders now being made avail-able to pensioners in their Digi Locker, a series of sim-plified options for giving Digital Life Certificate byPensioners have also been brought, in the latest being FaceAuthentication technique of LC from an android phone.

The Department, earlier on January 5 and 25, had con-ducted a Pensioners’ outreach programme and today con-ducted its third such programme under the chairmanshipof secretary Pension & Pensioners’ Welfare, Shri V. Srinivasalong with registered Pensioners’ Associations and pen-sioners. The webinar was a knowledge dissemination exer-cise for pensioners aged 75 years and above in South India.The presentations covered topics such as Family Pension,eligibility, additional pension on achieving age-relatedmilestones, issues about the commutation of pension andgetting a Digital Life Certificate from an Android phone.

In the question-answer session, the pensionersrequested secretary Pensions to enhance the amount ofFixed Medical Allowance, to facilitate a greater numberof CGHS dispensaries, to restore commuted pension after12 years instead of 15 years, grant additional pension fromage 65 years onward instead of 80 years. Among those whointeracted were Shri N. Shanmughom from Trivandrum,Dr Selvanayagam from Kanyakumari, Professor GRamallingam and Shri Vishwanatha from Puducherry, ShriGirish Kanagotagi from Bangalore among others. The pen-sioners expressed their happiness with the newly launchedFace Authentication App for giving Digital Life Certificate.

Secretary Pension Shri V Srinivas took note of thedemands and stated that the Department would regular-ly have such interactive sessions for pensioners and fam-ily pensioners. He appreciated the feedback of the pen-sioners that the recent reforms made by the DoPPW wereworking well on the ground level especially the face authen-tication app launched recently. Joint secretary Pension, ShriSanjiv Narain Mathur informed that DoPPW had ropedin the IPPB (India Post & Payment Bank) and that door-step service for life certificate is also available for givingJeevan Pramaan. A similar facility has been extended in100 cities through the consortium of 12 Public SectorBanks. This was in addition to the Video KYC-enabledmethod of Life Certification which has been started.

The Assam Rifles organisedthe inaugural HalfMarathon as part of ‘Azadi

ka Amrit Mahotsav’ celebrationson February 20 at the headquar-ters of Directorate General AssamRifles, Laitkor Garrison, Shillong.The Half Marathon commemo-rates 75 years of India and the glo-rious history of its people, culture,achievements and also promotesthe ‘Fit India Movement’.

The Half Marathon wasflagged off by Lt Gen KCPanchanathan, AVSM, GOC 101Area and saw enthusiastic partic-ipation of more than 678 servingpersonnel and families of AssamRifles, 101 Area, 58 GTC, ARC,Eastern Air Command andCRPF. The run was divided intothree categories of 21 km, 10 kmand 2.5 km each having its agegroup. 97 people participated inthe 21 km half Marathon, 245 inthe 10 km run and 332 in the 2.5km Run for Fun.

Gp Capt Saikat stood first inthe over 51 years, 21 km catego-ry while Col EJ Simeon stood sec-ond and Lt Gen PC Nair, AVSM,YSM, DG Assam Rifles won thejoint third prize withCommander Venkatesh (retd).The other winners of the 21 kmcategory as per age group includ-ed rifleman Bharat Bhushan,rifleman Devender and sub/SKTBishan Singh winning the first,second and second prizes in the41 to 50 age category. RiflemanSU Visle, rifleman Kosting Dharand rifleman Francis Zimik won

the first, second and third prizesin the 31 to 40 age group.Rifleman Marvin, riflemanRajesh Singh and Rifleman AnilGurung stood first, second andthird in the 18 to 30 age groupcategory of 21 km.

The fervour and spirit of themarathon were boosted furtherwith the participation of ladiesand children in all categories.Children barely five-years-old

participated and completed the2.5 km category showing theirenthusiasm and resolve.

The Assam Rifles are popu-larly known as the ‘Sentinels ofthe North East’ has committeditself towards peace and develop-ment of the North East. It has car-ried out numerous activities pro-moting ‘Azadi ka AmritMahotsav’ and ‘Fit IndiaMovement’ in the past. This notonly brings cohesiveness in theregion but also plays a pivotal roletowards Nation Building andUnity, thereby making it a “Forcethat Binds the North East”.

Assam Rifles also thankedthe sponsors of the event includ-ing SBI Bank, YES Bank and theevent organisers Cyruns Sportsand Wellness.

NTPC has been felicitated at the‘New Frontiers: A Programme

on Renewable Energy’ event whichwas organised by the Ministry ofNew and Renewable Energy,Government of India today atVigyan Bhawan, New Delhi.

Shri Gurdeep Singh, CMD

NTPC received the award fromShri R K Singh, Hon’ble CabinetMinister of Power and New &Renewable Energy and ShriBhagwanth Khuba, UnionMinister of State of New andRenewable Energy, and Chemicals& Fertilisers.

National Institute of Ayurveda, Jaipuris organising AYUSH Expo and

Aahar Mela between March 11 and 13at Shilpgram, Jawahar Kala Kendra. Thefair will be inaugurated by the UnionMinister of AYUSH. This informationwas shared by Prof-Sanjeev Sharma,vice-chancellor at the unveiling ofAyush Expo and Food Festival.

The purpose of this programme isto make the public aware of the prop-erties of food, methods of preparing

food and how to prepare food, what isthe right way to eat. People would bemade aware of improving their health,diet method, improving immunity. Thebrochure of the AYUSH EXPO & FoodFestival was unveiled by ProfessorSharma. The poster of the dialogue pro-gramme on March 8, Women’s Day, wasalso released. The themes in the pro-gram to be organised at Jawahar KalaKendra will be:

To reach the innovations in AYUSHto the general public.

“To tell about the food and diet ofthe general public through live lecture,talk show by Ayurveda and AYUSHexperts.

“In this, it will be told that at whattime to eat which type of food, its max-imum qualities can be a friend to us.Which fruit should be eaten whole/raw,the juice of which fruit should be used.Which food cannot be eaten with milkor curd? Such doubts will be resolved bythe well known Ayurveda dieticians ofthe country.

Delicious food prepared byAyurveda dieticians will be available tothe general public for three days and themethods of preparing them will also betaught by the experts to the housewivesand the public.

Cultural programmes and streetplays will also be organized for threedays.

Various competitions for the gener-al public and lucky draws will be organ-ised daily.

In this AYUSH EXPO 50 stalls onAyush’s Startup, Ayush Pharmaceuticalcompanies will be able to showcase theirproducts for one sale.

Manufacture and sale of live food by50 stalls will be available daily, which willbe manufactured by Ayush dieticians.

Shri A K Mishra, ExecutiveDirector, Power Grid Corporation

of India Limited, (Northern Region-I) handed over Medical Equipment toDr Harish Arya, Dy. CMO, DistrictHospital, Faridabad on February 18under the Corporate SocialResponsibility (CSR) initiative.

This will augment the overallhealth infrastructure of the district.Protection from Covid-19 and gen-eral well-being along with the safetyand health of the citizens are the toppriority of the Government. ABGportable machines help in rapidanalysis of blood parameters of crit-ical patients both in Intensive Care

Units and Trauma Centres facilitat-ing attending doctors to quicklyascertain the condition of patients andprescribe a course of treatment.

Speaking on the occasion, Sh.Mishra apprised the Haryana State

officials about the various CSR assis-tance provided to district authoritiesduring the Covid-19 pandemic.Haryana State officials appreciated theefforts of POWER-GRID in thesetimes of need.

On behalf of District Hospital,Faridabad Dr Harish Arya, Dy. CMO,Faridabad and Sh. Gaurav Singh,Additional CEO from Haryana StateCSR Trust were handed over the firstphase of equipment. Shri R P Sinha,Sr GM (HR), Shri Vinayak Chauhan,Sr GM (CSR), Shri Vinod PrakashBaxla, Sr DGM (HR) from POWER-GRID and other senior officials werealso present at the event.

NTPC has recorded a generation of314.89 billion units up to February 18,

surpassing the maximum annual genera-tion of 314 BU achieved in 2020-21. Lastyear, the generation was 270.0 BU tillFebruary 18.

NTPC Korba (2600 MW) inChattisgarh is the top-performing thermalpower plant in India with a 94.32 per centPlant Load Factor between April ‘21 toJanuary ‘22, as per the data published byCentral Electricity Authority. The totalinstalled capacity of NTPC is 67,832.30MW having 23 coal-based, seven gas-based, one Hydro, 19 renewable energyprojects.

Power Grid Corporation ofIndia Limited (POWER-

GRID), a ‘Maharatna’Company under the Ministryof Power, Government ofIndia, signed an MoU with theNational Foundation forCommunal Harmony (NFCH)for providing financial assis-tance for the education of1,632 violence-affected stu-dents from Assam, Manipurand Chhattisgarh under CSR.The MoU was signed by ShriV K Singh, Director(Personnel), POWERGRIDand Shri Manoj Pant,Secretary, NFCH.

The NFCH is anautonomous organisationunder the Ministry of HomeAffairs. Under ‘Assist’, POWER-GRID is providing financialassistance of �2.55 crore for oneyear during 2021-22, for theeducation of students renderedorphan or destitute due to

death or permanent incapaci-tation of either or both the par-ents or the main bread-earnerduring communal, caste, ethnicor terrorist violence.

POWERGRID has sup-ported NFCH from 2014-15for the education of children.Last year, 1,260 children weresupported out of which 1,048children are studying in class-es up to class 12th, 185 are pur-suing their Graduation andPost-graduation courses and27 children are pursuing pro-fessional courses likeMBBS/MD, B. Tech, MBA,BCA, B. Ed., BALLB and more.

#��;��, ��0�!��#��;�� !�� !!�� #��%��! ��*� �� %�� 0$�� 0* � � ��!��*��!�#��;�� !�� !�#��%��! �� !�� !�� >�� 9 ��%�� 9 ��>�� 9 �� 2�� 2�� %�� !��!��B6��! �� ! �� ?��! �� !�� 9 ��!��!� �� & ��?�� ?��! �� !�� 9��'��>�� ! ��$��!�"�� *�&�"��>��

In line with the Government ofIndia’s aim to provide affordable

housing to the urban poor by theyear 2022, the Delhi DevelopmentAuthority has conducted a draw oflots to allot 679 flats under PradhanMantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) infavour of eligible JJ dwellers ofBhumiheen Camp.

Out of 2,700 households ofBhumiheen Camp, eligibility inrespect of 679 households has beendecided in respect of JJ dwellerswhose documents were complete.The draw of lots was conducted onFebruary 17 for the allotment.Allotment-cum-demand letters tosuccessful/eligible households ofBhumiheen Camp shall be issuedshortly.

For the remaining households,deficiency letters have been issuedrequesting them to submit the req-uisite documents. As and when the

documents are submitted, a draw intheir favour will also be conducted.

All eligible JJ dwellers are to beshifted to built-up EWS flats atPocket A-14, Kalkaji Extensionconstructed by DDA on In-houseDesign and build a model on pay-ment of �1,42,000 (including�30,000/- as maintenance chargesfor five years).

The 89th Regional Board Meetingof ESIC Gujarat was held on

February 16 under the chairmanshipof Shri Brijeshkumar Merja, Hon’bleMinister, Labour, Skill Development &Employment at Saraswati Hall,Swarnim Sankul-2, Sachivalay,Gandhinagar. While addressing theRegional Board Meeting, Shri Merja,appreciated that the second meeting ofRegional Board has been conductedwithin four months. He informed thegathering that he met Shri BhupendraYadav, Minister of Labour &Employment, Govt of India andapprised him about the recommenda-tions of the Regional Board during thelast meeting and assured to take pos-itive decisions.

Shri Ghishulal B Kalal, Member ofESI Corporation & Regional Board, DrNitin Vora, Member of ESICorporation & Regional Board, Smt.Anju Sharma, I A S (PrincipalSecretary, Department of Labour &Employment, Govt. of Gujarat, Smt. P.Bharathi, IAS, Labour Commissioner,

Gujarat, Shri Ratnesh Kumar Gautam,Additional Commissioner & RegionalDirector, ESIC Gujarat attended themeeting.

The board recommended openinga new hospital at Sanand (District-Ahmedabad) to provide effective med-ical care to the workers. It was also rec-ommended to upgrade ESIS HospitalRajkot and ESIC Hospital Vapi to 100bedded Superspeciality Hospitals.

Shri Ratnesh Kumar Gautam,Additional Commissioner & RegionalDirector, Gujarat informed that ESIChas taken several steps toenhance/improve the medical facilitiesand medical infrastructure in consul-tation with ESIC HQ and with activesupport from Govt. of Gujarat.

SRM University-AP’s Computer Science Engineeringstudent Koneru Saiprasad won the ‘Super Randonneur’

title for his outstanding talent in cycling. Saiprasad recent-ly set a new record for the longest distance cycling orga-nized by Adaxi Club India with its headquarters inGuntur, shortly after reaching the target.

Saiprasad elab-orated his questwith a beamingnote, “OnNovember 6, wecycled fromVijayawada toNallajerla for 13hours and thenback to Vijayawada(200 km). Similarly,on November 27,he cycled fromVijayawada toSuryapeta on theHyderabad routefor 20 hours andthen back toVijayawada (300km). He cycledfrom Vijayawada to Nakrekal for 27 hours on December18 and back to Vijayawada (400 km). A week ago, hecycled from Guntur to Ramoji Film City and back toGuntur (600 km) in 40 hours, setting a record.”

Saiprasad won the ‘Super Randonneur’ title reservedfor those who complete these four events. Saiprasadinformed that he has loved cycling since he was a childand focused on long-distance cycling during lockdowns.He dedicated his achievement to his parents and uni-versity professors for their support and encouragementin all possible ways.

Zunheboto Battalion of Assam Riflesconducted a training and coaching

session for local youth aspiring for govtjobs at Zunheboto town, Zunheboto dis-trict, Nagaland from January 25 toFebruary 19 under OP Sadbhavana.

The training aimed to guide theyouth aspiring to join govt jobs specif-ically the Indian Armed Forces and givethem insight into selection proceduresand its preparation. Before the com-mencement of training, ZunhebotoBattalion reached out to remote villageswith paucity of resources and identifiedthe 40 potential candidates, both girlsand boys, who needed coaching andguidance. During the three weeks oftraining, the candidates were providedwith free stationery, competition studymaterial and accommodation.

The training was focused onimparting practical knowledge of var-ious aspects of competitive examsincluding documentation, written examand personal interview. Civil adminis-trative, students and their parentsexpressed gratitude and appreciated theefforts of Assam Rifles for guiding andchannelising youth energy in a positivemanner.

New Delhi Municipal Council(NDMC) in its Council

Meeting presided over by ShriDharmendra in the presence ofvice-chairperson-NDMC, ShriSatish Upadhyay, MLA & MemberNDMC, Shri Virender SinghKadiyan apart from other NDMCMembers Shri Kuljeet SinghChahal, Shri Girish Sachdeva &Smt Vishakha Sailanim, Shri VikasAnand, commissioner-EDMC andMs Isha Khosla, secretary-NDMC,considered and approved the cit-izen-centric and employee welfareproposals in the agenda itemsplaced before it:-1. GREEN ENERGY FOR GREENPALIKA

NDMC intends to make itselfa complete Green Energy con-sumer. It has embarked upon anambitious journey of shifting to a100 per cent renewable energymunicipal body of the Country.NDMC has decided to not renewits power purchase agreementwith thermal power generating sta-tions and is taking up fresh pur-chase agreements with only renew-able power providers.

Accordingly, Councilapproved the procurement of 142MW hydropower from Teesta-IIIon a medium-term basis i.e. forthree years and further extendableup to two years through M/s PTCIndia Ltd. @ �5.03/kWh (inclusive

transmission charges and losses).2. SMART ROADS

NDMC is developing Smartroads that are aesthetically evolvedand designed to ensure user con-venience and experience withoutcompromising their safety. Councilhas approved the two projects forresurfacing of roads.

The condition of some avenueroads has deteriorated and com-pleted five year period, and it hasbeen decided that strengtheningand resurfacing of these avenueroads has to be done with the coldmilling process for improving thequality of avenue roads and main-taining the existing level of road.

Details of these roads are asunder:-1. Tilak Marg, 2. KG Marg,3. Dr Zakir Hussain Marg, 4.

Pandara Road, 5. Tolstoy Marg,6.Hailey Road, 7. Tansen Marg,8.Babar Road. The total cost of theproject is �7,25,80,900. 3. 120 TYPE-II FLATS FOREMPLOYEES AT SECTOR-VII,PUSHP VIHAR, SAKET, NEWDELHI required the SewageTreatment Plant with the capaci-ty of 100 KLD (MBBR based). Forproper commissioning of STPvarious mechanical and filter partsare needed. This STP is based onMBBR technology.

Council has approved thedetailed estimate amounting to�50,79,900/- with 5 per cent con-tingencies for supplying, installa-tion, testing and commissioning ofall mechanical & filter parts ofSewage Treatment Plant for the

capacity 100 KLD (MBBR Based)with two years running and main-tenance cost. 4. AZAADI KA AMRITMAHOTSAV

NDMC has organised 27events in a series. It has alsoplanned 12 events to be organised:

1. AKAM Logo is routinelydisplayed on the NDMC websitein NDMC communications &social media posts and will contin-ue, 2. A Sculpture Camp to carveout 12 black stone sculptures inassociation with Sahitya KalaParishad in February/March, 3.Art exhibition in Janpath subwayin March/April, 4. Patriotic pro-grammes like band display ofArmed Forces at Central Park, 5.Programmes on Shahidi Diwas inMarch 6. A large size logo of Azadika Amrit Mahotsav to be installedat various markets/prominentbuildings in February 7. WallPaintings in NDMC Area depict-ing messages on the theme ofAKAM, 8. Programme onAmbedkar Jayanti in April, 2022,9. Regular programme on AKAMby schools (Debate, drawing on thetheme of AKAM); Till August 1510. Yoga Day in June 11. RegularSwachhta drive in NDMC underthe true spirit of AKAM 12.Musical concerts on freedomstruggle in Central Park-March/April.

ASSAM RIFLES CONDUCTSINAUGURAL HALF MARATHON 12#��! ��!��

�� !�! �!��

��++��%&�� &��

� �� <��< ��-��

#=��'�>* ��$�� !1?�/��!�� 0��! ��

:*�� 1��'�'*�*�&

6�� @/��#��

��4��+� �9��$'#'�0*#"��#'�%�)�8-�&1#$��0��"�%��0�&��)+�,�"�'�/�'�

;$$;)�!'A?�$��B� ��0$�0!;'�'�"BA�1B�02�'��;";?;� �

1*$�� C"�� "�� $�!��( H�� *�� B�� *��4��

,�� %�� 3(�027�5��

�� !"#�!$!!

�� )"��**��

Dusan Vlahovic lived up tothe hype by scoring 31 sec-onds into his Champions

League debut on Tuesday butJuventus have work to do tomake the last 16 after being heldto a 1-1 draw by Villarreal in thefirst leg.

Vlahovic found the cornerwith just his second touch of the

game at La Ceramica but a sen-sational start for Juve and theSerb's Champions League careerwas not enough for victory.

Instead, Villarreal's DaniParejo steered in a deservedequaliser midway through thesecond half to leave a compellingcontest in the balance ahead thereturn leg in Turin.

At 22 years and 25 days old,Vlahovic is the second youngest

player to score on theirChampions League debut forJuventus after Alessandro DelPiero made his mark aged 20.

Vlahovic was signed for aninitial 70 million euros fromFiorentina in January and to hugeexcitement, with Juve toasting thearrival of one of the world's mostcoveted young talents.

Juventus coach Max Allegrihad tried to reduce expectations

on Monday by insisting the strik-er would have to adapt psycholog-ically and technically to the inten-sity of the Champions League -but Vlahovic needed less than aminute to find his feet.

It was his second goal in fiveappearances for Juve after hescored 12 minutes into his debutagainst Verona earlier this month,following a blistering 25 goals in31 games for Fiorentina.

Juventus are realistically Italy'slast hope of a representative in thequarter-finals after Inter Milanwere beaten 2-0 at the San Siro byLiverpool on Wednesday.

Juventus will be favourites tofinish the job at home next monthbut a well-organised and disci-plined Villarreal, who won theEuropa League last season,showed enough to suggest anupset is far from impossible.

McKennie could be out for 8-12 weeks

Juventus and United Statesinternational midfielder WestonMcKennie fractured the secondand third metatarsals in his leftfoot during Tuesday's ChampionsLeague match against Villarreal.

The club initially expects himto miss 8-12 weeks, Tenorio adds.

The 23-year-old needed assis-tance to leave the pitch after atackle from Pervis Estupinan,and McKennie was substituted inthe 81st minute of the eventual 1-1 draw. He limped off with thehelp of the medical staff, unableto put any weight on his left foot,which got caught under the kneeof a sliding Estupinan on the play.

McKennie had been amongJuventus' brightest players in thematch until that point.

The injury comes at an inop-portune time for both McKennie'sclub and country. Juventus,

already without several keysquad members due to a varietyof ailments, are still competingon three fronts and are in anintense battle to finish top fourin Serie A.

The US men's national team,meanwhile, will resume WorldCup qualifying on March 24.The Americans sit second in the"Octagonal" going into their finalthree matches - the top threeteams automatically clinch berthsin Qatar for this year's World Cup.

�� =��='!

Barcelona's Europa Leaguetie against Napoli is finely

poised heading into the returnin Italy on Thursday as Rangerslook to finish the job againstBorussia Dortmund followingtheir stunning 4-2 win in thefirst leg last week.

Barca needed a FerranTorres penalty to draw at hometo Napoli in the first leg of theirknockout round play-off tieafter Piotr Zielinski put theSerie A side in front at theCamp Nou.

However, with the awaygoals rule having been dis-pensed with this season byUEFA, the heavyweight tieremains very much in the bal-ance going to the Stadio DiegoArmando Maradona.

They won 4-1 at Valenciain La Liga at the weekend withPierre-Emerick Aubameyangscoring a hat-trick, whileNapoli are third in Serie A afterdrawing 1-1 with Cagliari onMonday.

Scottish championsRangers are hoping to secure aspot in the last 16 as they wel-come Dortmund to Ibrox fol-lowing their stunning 4-2 winin Germany.

It would go down as one of

the best results in their histo-ry in Europe if they could seeoff the Bundesliga giants, butthe outcome of the tie couldhinge on whether ErlingHaaland plays any part.

Barcelona are one of four

Spanish teams aiming toadvance to the last 16, withReal Sociedad hosting RBLeipzig and Real Betis leading3-2 against Zenit SaintPetersburg after the first leg inRussia.

Sevilla, the record six-timewinners of the second-tierEuropean competition andwho will host this season'sfinal, lead 3-1 as they go toDinamo Zagreb.

�� 4/��'

German Olympic tennischampion Alexander

Zverev has been expelled fromthe Mexican Open inAcapulco after smashing hisracket on the umpire's chairseveral times and directing afoul-mouthed rant at the offi-cial, the ATP announced onWednesday.

"Due to unsportsmanlikeconduct at the conclusion ofhis doubles match on Tuesdaynight, Alexander Zverev hasbeen withdrawn from thetournament in Acapulco," thegoverning body for men's ten-nis tweeted.

Zverev - ranked numberthree in the world - lost hiscool when he and doublespartner Marcelo Melo of Brazilwere beaten 6-2, 4-6, 10-6 byBritain's Lloyd Glasspool andHarri Heliövaara of Finland.

The 24-year-old defending

champion smashed his racketthree times just below umpireAlessandro Germani's feetbefore taking his seat andthen rising again to verbally

abuse the official and smashthe chair one last time.

He had apparently beenirked by a line call during thematch.

�� 4/��'

Rafael Nadal made a tri-umphant return to the

ATP Tour on Tuesday, win-ning his first tournamentmatch since capturing theAustralian Open title to reachthe second round of theMexican Open.

The 35-year-old Spanishleft-hander defeated US luckyloser Dennis Kudla 6-3, 6-2 tobook a date with anotherAmerican who advanced insimilar fashion, Nadal practicepartner Stefan Kozlov, in thelast 16.

Russian top seed DaniilMedvedev, the reigning US

Open champion whom Nadalrallied to beat in five sets inthe Australian Open final,

began his Acapulco run witha 6-3, 6-4 victory overFrenchman Benoit Paire.

�� (�!�1��5"

Indian badminton stars PVSindhu and Saina Nehwal

were pitted in the same quar-ter as reigning women's singlesworld champion AkaneYamaguchi as the draws for theAll England Championships2022 were published onTuesday.

The tournament will beheld from 16 to 20 March inBirmingham.

Sindhu was drawn againsta tricky opponent in world No17 Wang Zhi Yi for the firstround, while Nehwal will faceworld No 10 PornpaweeChochuwong in her opener inwhat is set to be a massive chal-lenge for the former world No1 against a Thai shuttler whohas been enjoying great resultsin recent times contrary to theIndian.

For Sindhu, even before apotential quarterfinal against afamiliar foe in Yamaguchi (whoshe defeated at the last AllEngland), she will need toovercome either SayakaTakahashi / SupanidaKatethong in the second round,two left-handers who couldtrouble the two-time Olympicmedallist.

The men's singles drawalso threw up some fascinatingearly matchups. World No 3Anders Antonsen and worldNo 9 and world champion LohKean Yew are set for a mouth-watering first round clash in arepeat of the clash in Huelvalast year that prompted theDane to call the Singaporean

"superman". The winner ofthat match will face the winnerof an all-Indian openerbetween Lakshya Sen andSourabh Verma. Either way, itpromises to be a tough earlytest for Sen, the worlds bronzemedallist.

Srikanth Kidambi, mean-while, was drawn in the samequarter as World No 1 ViktorAxelsen, who will face 2019Basel worlds bronze medallistB Sai Praneeth in the opener.Axelsen could face SameerVerma in the second round,while Srikanth takes on thewinner of Anthony SinisukaGinting and Parupalli Kashyap.

In men's doubles, ChiragShetty and SatwiksairajRankireddy will face Scotland'sAlexander Dunn and AdamHall in the first round. TheIndian duo could face theworld No 1 Kevin Sukamuljo

and Marcus Gideon in thequarterfinals. We could have anall-Indian second round clashif Krishna Prasad Garaga andVishunvardhan Goud Panjalawin their opening round.

Dhruv Kapila and MRArjun, the third Indian men'sdoubles pair competing, weredrawn against the world No 2pair of Mohammad Ahsan andHendra Setiawan in the firstround.

In women's doubles, India'sAshwini Ponnappa and N SikkiReddy will face Japan's KieNakanishi and Rin Iwanaga inthe first round.

India's mixed doubles pairof Ishaan Bhatnagar andTanisha Crasto is also set to facea stern test in the openinground. They were drawnagainst the Indonesian worldNo 5 pair of Praveen Jordanand Melati Oktavianti.

�� (�!�1��5"

Back in the top-50 of worldrankings after three years,

star table tennis player ManikaBatra wants to break the top-30 barrier in the near futureand she knows she will have towork harder than ever to getthere. It is an important year forthe 26-year-old who willdefend her CommonwealthGames singles crown inBirmingham before travellingto Hangzhou to create morehistory at the Asian Gamesafter winning a mixed doublesGold with Sharath Kamal inJakarta in 2018.

The 2018 CommonwealthGames in Gold Coast was acareer defining moment forManika who exceeded all

expectations by winning asmany as four medals, includinggold in singles and team.

She beat London OlympicsBronze medallist Feng Tianwei

twice in the competition to etchher name in history books.

Four years later, she feelsshe is a much improved play-er.

"A lot changed for me afterCWG. I have improved fitnesswise and game wise significant-ly, especially in my move-ments, but this is not the endand need to keep workingharder. Since I am tall, I had towork a lot on my strength andagility support my back andknees."

"This year, we have CWGand Asian Games. In my mindit is there I have to win butfocus is on training," said theworld number 49.

Ahead of the WTTContender in Muscat nextmonth, Manika recentlytrained with mixed doublespartner G Sathiyan in Chennai.The duo is aiming to win anOlympic medal in Paris in2024.

A medal could not come inTokyo Games last year butback with Sathiyan, Manikafeels it is a possibility. The twowon a WTT event soon afterreuniting for their Olympicambitions.

"Sathiyan and I make agood pair. We have improvedour rankings. We worked a loton combination and under-standing (recently).Techniques, we can improveeven while training on ourown. If we are doing well in sin-gles, we can also support ourdoubles partner better," shesaid. "2024 Paris is reallyimportant for me. I want to wina medal or reach at least thequarterfinals. For that, I needto work really hard and I amdoing that."

�� '(1'(

Chelsea showed they can thrive with-out Romelu Lukaku as Kai Havertz

scored after replacing the axed Belgiumstriker for the 2-0 Champions Leaguelast-16, first-leg win against Lille onTuesday.

Thomas Tuchel's side took controlof the tie thanks to Havertz's first-halfheader and Christian Pulisic's clinicalfinish after the break at StamfordBridge.

The holders will expect to completetheir progress to the quarter-finalswhen they travel to France for the sec-ond leg on March 16.

But Chelsea's sixth successive winin all competitions was more a referen-dum on their Lukaku conundrum thanan indication of their chances of retain-ing the trophy.

Lukaku has scored just 10 goalssince a club record £97 million ($131million) move from Inter Milan last year

that was expected to launch a period ofsustained dominance for Chelsea.

He touched the ball just seventimes in Saturday's 1-0 win at CrystalPalace, the lowest total by a PremierLeague player since 2003-04.

Despite being infuriated inDecember by Lukaku's public question-ing of the way he was being used, Tuchelhad appeared to back him on Monday,insisting his problems were no laugh-ing matter.

Asked about his decision to dropLukaku, Tuchel said: "He looked a lit-tle exhausted and you have to consid-er that he's played a lot."

But, tellingly, Chelsea were morepotent in Lukaku's absence and itremains to be seen if Tuchel will trusthis beleaguered star in the League Cupfinal against Liverpool on Sunday.

At least Tuchel knows Chelsea havethe ammunition to damage opponentswhile their supposed leading manlabours.

�� (�!�1��5"

Hosts India have been handed a huge advantage going intotheir Davis Cup World Group Playoff I tie against

Denmark next week, as the World No 90 and the visiting side'stop-ranked player, Holger Rune, has confirmed his unavailabil-ity for the two-day rubber on the grass courts of the DelhiGymkhana Club (DGC) here.

Rune, the winner of the 2019 French Open boys' singles title,was expected to spearhead the Danish challenge against India- no other player from Denmark is ranked inside the Top-200of the ATP world rankings. The presence of the ITF Junior cham-pion (2019) would have spiced up the proceedings at the DavisCup, with some exciting contest expected between India's sin-gles players Prajnesh Gunneswaran, Ramkumar Ramanathanand Yuki Bhambri. In the absence of Rune, who holds the dis-tinction of being the second youngest male player afterSpaniard Carlos Alcaraz to have featured in the Top-100, theDanish campaign will be led by seasoned doubles player.

=�� @� ��

5�� 8 ��

��$!#"��)006��0�.�$��50/��!��$��0"�1-$' A�� #�� 3;�4�� 3 ��

�� ;��$��&)��#"��-$#�&-))�0-��0.��*��-&��#

;��#��B��3�$ �&� ��C��1��#��&

��$�6��#�#��-%%#��4�>��'

51�� )��-�� >>� � �� >9�� # ��

��%�� #� � � 8�� - �� 1 �� 4� ��>K�� OK?��&

>5�� P�� OQ� �� 8�� 7��#� ��-�� I>� ��% �

��#�� #�� %�� P� - �� %�� #� %�� #�� J:�� %� ��&

>9R�� I:��I?�� /�<�

��%�� #� � �Q?A�� #� �� #�� 9S� �� %� ��P��&

/�� #�� %� �� 0��%��

� �#� ��- �� - ��% %�� #��#��&

9�� - �� %� �#��-�� /�<��%�� #� � ��

�� :�&

KEYSTATS

�� T/��(�7'!(

India will be desperate to gainsome momentum heading into

the World Cup but for that, theirbowlers will have to raise their gameas they seek to stop New Zealandfrom completing a 5-0 whitewash inthe fifth women's ODI here onThursday.

Having lost all matches playedhere so far, including the lone T20I,the Mithali Raj-led side is finding itdifficult to stem the rot and faces theignominy of a one-sided seriesdefeat days ahead of the World Cup.

The series defeat is India'sfourth in the last one year, havinglost to South Africa, England andAustralia earlier.

While the batters did raise theirgame in the second and third ODIswith a much-improved perfor-mance, the bowling unit has let theteam down throughout the series,something that Mithali admittedwas a concern heading into theWorld Cup.

"Definitely have been trying a

few combinations with the seam andspin attack. Bowling attack is a con-cern going into the World Cup,"Mithali said.

"We are adapting to the condi-tions and to the open ground andthe breeze. We have not been veryconsistent in our bowling spells."

The Indian team hasn't per-formed as a cohesive unit. While thebowlers failed to defend 270 plustargets in two games, the batterswere unable to chase 276 and 192 in20 overs in the fourth ODI. Thefielding has also been sub-standard.

With as many as three playersin extended Managed Isolation andQuarantine (MIQ) for the first halfof the tour, India continued toexperiment with their line up.

With pressure building up onHarmanpreet Kaur, who has man-aged just 33 runs in the three ODIsand was also expensive with the ball,the visitors left out the vice-captain

from the playing XI in the fourthODI.

Shafali Verma is also yet to fire.The youngster has only struck onefifty in the series and was out onnought in the last game.

The spin department, saveDeepti Sharma, has been inconsis-tent while the pace attack has lackedteeth to trouble the opposition bat-ters. Overall, the Indian bowlershave struggled to adapt to the con-

ditions.The positives for India include

teenage wicketkeeper Richa Ghosh'sgood form. The 18-year-old scoredback-to-back half centuries in thesecond and fourth ODI and isIndia's second highest run-getter inthe tournament behind Mithali.

With Richa and the reliableTaniya Bhatia, India have two solidwicketkeeping options heading intothe World Cup.

In the absence of SmritiMandhana, who missed the one-offT20 and three ODIs because ofextended MIQ, SabbhineniMeghana performed well at the top.

Deepti is the series' leadingwicket-taker with eight scalps, whileveteran pacer Jhulan Goswami (5),who has played only two games, alsofigures in the top four.

With the World Cup around thecorner and just two warm-upmatches against South Africa and

the West Indies after the gameon Thursday, India will badlyneed some momentum headinginto the marquee event.

New Zealand, on theother hand, will bedelighted withhow the serieshas panned out.

Their topbatters havebeen impres-sive, withAmelia Kerrand SuzieBates hittinga hundredeach whileA m ySatterthwaitehas scored twofifties.

The lower-order has also shownit can finish games,snatching victoryfrom the jaws ofdefeat in the third ODI.

�� /�2('!

With the number ofclaimants increasingheading into T20World Cup, there will

be no let-up in India's willingnessto experiment or their intensity inthe three-match T20 series againstSri Lanka, beginning here onThursday.

Coming off a 3-0 whitewash ofthe West Indies, the in-form Indianswill look to do an encore against thevisiting Sri Lankans, and the RohitSharma-led squad has a realisticchance of achieving that.

But the endeavour to completeanother clean sweep will not meana climb-down from their keennessto give enough game time to asmany players as possible in the lead-up to the World Cup, which will beheld in Australia in October-November.

The absence of the team's estab-lished players, such as Virat Kohliand Rishbah Pant as well as KLRahul, in the upcoming three T20Internationals will definitely trans-late into more opportunities for thelikes of Ishan Kishan, RuturajGaikwad and Sanju Samson.

Kohli not there means ShreyasIyer will get a chance to settle down,play more overs, score some usefulruns and stake a claim for one of themiddle-order slots, though the for-

mer India captain will come back toclaim his number three spot head-ing into the World Cup.

The duo of Gaikwad and Iyerfailed in the third T20Is against theWest Indies and they would hopethat they impress against Sri Lanka.

One of the highlights over thelast week was Venkatesh Iyer's abil-ity to finish off matches and if he isable to continue in the same veinagainst the islanders, while manag-ing to improve his bowling, theIndian team management will have

a world-class all-rounder at its dis-posal going into the showpieceDown Under.

Now that Suryakumar Yadavhas been ruled out of the seriesalongside Deepak Chahar due toinjuries, Venkatesh will assumeadded responsibility when it comesto batting in the back 10.

Sanju Samson has also beendrafted into the squad and it wouldbe interesting to see whether themanagement gives him a go in theplaying XI.

Spinner Ravi Bishnoi alsoimpressed in his maiden T20I seriesand he will look to march aheadwith the same momentum.

Pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrahhas come back into the team to bol-ster the bowling attack and, alongwith Bhuvneshwar Kumar andMohammed Siraj, will comprise aformidable pace bowling unit.

Bhuvneshwar will take confi-dence from his fine showing againstthe West Indies, especially in thedeath overs.

Recently, head coach RahulDravid had said that he and Rohitare pretty clear about the team forthe marquee tournament inAustralia in less than eight months'time.

"I think we have got a fair ideabetween Rohit and myself and theselectors and the management,"Dravid had said after the 3-0 cleansweep over the West Indies.

"I don't think there's a set for-mula to it. But we're pretty clearabout the balance and the combi-nation (for the T20 World Cup). Weare just structuring a little bit of theteam around it and also balancingindividual workloads as well.

"We have got a pretty fair ideaof the kind of skills we're looking forin Australia, with the kind of guyswho are in running. Not everythingis set in stone but we want to giveeveryone a fair chance to stake theirclaim for those spots," Dravid hadsaid.

As far as Sri Lanka are con-cerned, the side suffered a 1-4defeat at the hands of Australia andwas let down by batting time andagain.

Skipper Dasun Shanaka wouldhope that their batting gets its acttogether against India.

The bowling will need to recov-er fast as star leg-spinner WaninduHasaranga has been ruled out of theseries after failing to recover from

his COVID-19 infection.TeamsIndia: Rohit Sharma (Captain),

Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shreyas Iyer,Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan (wick-et-keeper), Venkatesh Iyer, DeepakHooda, Ravindra Jadeja, YuzvendraChahal, Ravi Bishnoi, KuldeepYadav, Mohd. Siraj, BhuvneshwarKumar, Harshal Patel, JaspritBumrah (vice-captain), AveshKhan.

Sri Lanka: Dasun Shanaka(Captain), Pathum Nissanka, KusalMendis, Charith Asalanka (Vice-Captain), Dinesh Chandimal,Danushka Gunathilaka, KamilMishara, Janith Liyanage, ChamikaKarunaratne, DushmanthaChameera, Lahiru Kumara, BinuraFernando, Shiran Fernando,Maheesh Theekshana, JeffreyVandersay, Praveen Jayawickrama,Ashian Daniel.

�� !"#�!$!!

�� (�!�1��5"

Former India pacer Ajit Agarkarwas on Wednesday officialy

appointed as the assistant coach ofIPL franchise Delhi Capitals.

As reported by PTI on Tuesday,Agarkar will join the team after hiscompleting his commentatingduties for India's home seriesagainst Sri Lanka beginning onThursday.

"I am very excited to be part ofDelhi Capitals squad for this sea-son," Agarkar said, on the develop-ment in a team statement.

He is looking forward to workwith captain Rishabh Pant andhead coach Ricky Ponting.

"I have been lucky enough to bea player and to be returning in a dif-

ferent capacity. It's obvious-ly very exciting. We havea young and terrific squad

led by one of the mosttalented players in the

world - Rishabh Pant."And the coach Ricky

Ponting has been a legendof the game. Looking for-

ward to working withthem, can't wait to

get started andcreating somespecial memo-ries."

The 44-year-old, with288 ODI and58 Testwickets tohis name,has repre-s e n t e d

K o l k a t aKnight Riders and

Delhi Daredevils inthe IPL. He joins theDelhi Capitals coach-ing staff of Ponting,Pravin Amre(Assistant Coach)and James Hopes(Bowling Coach).

�� /�2('!

Rohit Sharma on Wednesdaysaid he was happy to help

train possible successors followinghis recent appointment as India'scricket captain across all formats inplace of Virat Kohli.

The star batsman was namedTest captain on Saturday -- he wasalready white-ball skipper -- butsince he will turn 35 in April pun-dits do not expect his tenure to bea long one.

India's cricket board has iden-tified three possible candidates allin their 20s to follow him eventu-ally -- Jasprit Bumrah, KL Rahuland Rishabh Pant.

"I won't have that much of arole of telling them each andeverything, obviously they are allmature cricketers but someone

needs to be around them to helpand guide them in difficult situa-tions and (I am) more than happyto do that," Rohit told his first pressconference after taking over theTest job. "We were groomed by

someone else, so it's a naturalprocess. If you talk of Bumrah, KL,Pant, they have a big role to play inIndia's success at the same timethey are looked upon as leadersas well."

�� (�!�1��5"

After a splendid performance with the batagainst New Zealand and South Africa,

Mayank Agarwal was named in the 18-mansquad for the upcoming Test series against SriLanka.

Speaking ahead of the first Test, whichbegins from March 4 at the Punjab CricketAssociation IS Bindra Stadium, Mohali,Mayank Agarwal highlighted the importanceof the series and explained why the team'smentality is to win every Test match.

"I am very excited to be part of the squadand part of the Indian Test team. I am reallylooking forward to contributing to the team'ssuccess," Mayank said.

"Every Test series is of utmost importancebecause of the World Test Championship. EachTest carries points. The collective thinking ofour team is to pick up a win in every matchthat we play and try to get the maximum pointswe can from all the Test matches," the 31-year-

old added. Mayank went on to explain why heenjoys opening the batting, but also added thathe is open to bat lower down the order, ifand when the team requires him to do so.

"The role of an opener is key inTest cricket because, in a five-day game, it is the openerswho set up the day for the bat-ters to follow. It's somethingthat I have done all my life.I really enjoy doing that.With that being said, Idon't just always want toopen the batting. I am alsocomfortable batting at anyposition the team wantsme to bat, at any given sit-uation," Mayank said.

Sri Lanka, over the past couple ofdecades, have garnered a reputationof possessing a solid spin-bowlingattack, especially in the longestformat.

�� 5*"�7�5/*�5

New Zealand go into the secondTest against South Africa on

Friday on the cusp of clinching theseries and reclaiming the mantle ofnumber one in the world.

A draw in Christchurch wouldgive New Zealand a historic firstseries win against South Africa in17 attempts, while victory wouldnot only complete a 2-0 seriessweep but it would see them dis-

lodge Australia at the top of theworld rankings.

The notorious bowl-first greenwicket at Hagley Oval has been ahappy hunting ground for NewZealand with eight wins from 10Tests

But Kyle Jamieson -- who hastaken 24 wickets in four Tests at theground -- said winning the toss wasnot necessarily an advantage.

"When we've batted first we'vebeen able to see through tough

periods and come outside theother side, so while it's a bit impor-tant I don't think it necessarilydetermines the outcome," he said.

New Zealand won the toss inthe first Test and rolled SouthAfrica for 95 and 111, while scor-ing 482 in their one turn at bat.

While they downplayed theimportance of the toss, HenryNicholls, who scored 105 in NewZealand's colossal innings-and-276-run victory, said familiarity

with the ground was important."From a batting point of view,

we know it's tough but when youhave that experience that's theperk of having home advantage," hesaid.

New Zealand have maintainedthe same squad for the second Testwhich meant no room for TrentBoult, who missed the first Test forthe birth of his third child, and pro-vided another opportunity forMatt Henry.

Henry produced the third-best bowling figures in NewZealand Test history with seven for23 in the first innings, took twomore in the second innings and hitan unbeaten 58 with the bat.

Rather than hang their headsafter the first Test, South Africahave wound back the clock to theirNew Year series against Indiawhere they lost the first Test andbounced back to win the remain-ing two.

"It's about reminding the guysthat as a team, we've overcome alot," said Temba Bavuma.

"We know how it is to comeback, how it is to come frombehind when our backs are againstthe wall. We do have what it takesfrom a character perspective to dowhat we need to do."

�� 5"77�='(=

Afif Hossain and Mehidy Hasanshared a record 174-run sev-

enth-wicket stand as Bangladeshrecovered from a top-order collapse tobeat Afghanistan by four wickets in thefirst one-day international of a three-

match series in Chittagong onWednesday.

Afif hit an unbeaten 93 off 115 ballswhile Mehidy added 81 not out, help-ing Bangladesh reach 219-6 in 48.5overs, after Afghanistan left-arm pacebowler Fazalhaq Farooqi's opening-spell burst reduced the hosts to 18-4

inside five overs.Spinners Mujeeb Ur Rahman and

Rashid Khan took one wicket apiece toleave Bangladesh struggling at 45-6before Afif and Mehidy turned the tide.

Earlier Mustafizur Rahman took3-35 with Shoriful Islam (2-38), ShakibAl Hasan (2-50) and Taskin Ahmed(2-55) all making an impact asBangladesh bowled out Afghanistanfor 215 runs.

Despite the modest target,Bangladesh were in all sorts of trou-ble when Farooqi dismissed openersTamim Iqbal (eight) and Liton Das(one) in the third over before nabbingMushfiqur Rahim (three) and debu-tant Yasir Ali (zero) in the next.

Things turned worse forBangladesh after Shakib Al Hasandragged onto his stumps off MujeebUr Rahman to depart for 10 andRashid dismissed Mahmudullah foreight to leave Bangladesh in a precar-ious situation.

But Afif, who hit 11 fours and asix in his career-best knock, andMehidy ensured there was no furtherdamage.

Mehidy struck nine fours in histhird ODI fifty, also his personal bestinnings, which came off 120 balls.

Their partnership surpassed ImrulKayes and Mohammad Saifuddin's127 seventh-wicket record forBangladesh, set against Zimbabwe in2018.

�� /�2('!

In-form India batter SuryakumarYadav was on Wednesday ruled

out of the three-match T20International series against Sri Lankaowing to a hairline fracture on hishand. The series starts here onThursday and Yadav's injury wasconfirmed to PTI by a BCCI sourcebefore the Board issued an officialstatement.

Yadav, who was adjudged Playerof the Series in the preceding T20Isagainst the West Indies, is the sec-ond Indian player to be forced outof the Sri Lanka series after pacerDeepak Chahar.

Chahar was ruled out of thegames in Lucknow and Dharamsalaafter picking up a hamstring injury.

"Deepak sustained a rightquadriceps injury during bowling

while Suryakumar suffered a hair-line fracture during a fieldingattempt in the third and final T20Iagainst the West Indies in Kolkataon Sunday," BCCI secretary JayShah said in the statement.

"They will now head to theNational Cricket Academy inBengaluru for further managementof their injuries," he added.

Sri Lanka all-rounder WaninduHasaranga will miss the upcomingT20I series against India after test-ing positive for COVID-19.

"Wanindu Hasaranga, who wasin isolation after contractingCOVID-19, has once again,returned a positive result when aRapid Antigen Test (RAT) was con-ducted on the player yesterday(February 22). A PCR test too con-firmed the result," SLC said in anofficial statement.

+9!�� #� ��-�� $��$� �?��058'��

��2��! � ��!��2� � ��3$��"��

1 ��%��#��P��% ��

�� .P� ��#�� ! �� :��%"2��

'� �� & ��&

�� !�& ��&��#��'� �4��

�$'��*� �"��$6��*#�."01�?��&1��9;,��&,9�@'(9+&,:

�$'��*� #��@#�)�$'��*#�."01�A�A��1��9;,��&,9�@'(9+&,:

F\cRZ_V TcZdZd VdTR]ReVd, dR_TeZ`_d cVXZ^V SVXZ_d

Documents

Transcript of F\cRZ_V TcZdZd VdTR]ReVd, dR_TeZ`_d cVXZ^V SVXZ_d