@gVc # ]R\Y T`c`_R gV Z_ :_UZR - Daily Pioneer

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I ndia crossed another mile- stone in coronavirus count, crossing 2 lakh cases on Tuesday, ending the day at 2,07,135 with a death toll of 5,829. While India took around 55 days to jump from 500 cases to 1,00,000, the second 1 lakh cases came in just 15 days. On Tuesday while the reg- ular big contributors like Maharashtra, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, and Uttar Pradesh showed no sign of slowing down, States like West Bengal, Haryana, Karnataka, Odisha, and Bihar indicated that coronavirus was fast spreading their terrain. After a gap of three days, the deaths caused by Covid-19 touched a three-digit figure once again in Maharashtra on Tuesday, as an alarming 103 people succumbed to coron- avirus and 2,287 others tested positive for the pandemic in various parts of the State. With fresh deaths and infections, the total number of deaths in Maharashtra rose to 2,465, while the total infected cases jumped to 72,300. With as many 31,333 patients having already been discharged from hospitals after full recovery, the State health authorities pegged the number of “active cases” in the State at 38,493. The number of deaths in Maharashtra increased 99 on Saturday, 89 on Sunday, 76 on Monday to 103 on Tuesday. There had been a total of 694 deaths in Maharashtra during the previous six days. On May 26 (Tuesday) the State had witnessed 97 deaths, while there were 105 deaths on May 27, 85 deaths on May 28, 116 deaths on May 29 and 99 deaths on May 30, 89 deaths on May 31, 76 on June 1 and 103 on June 3. Of the total deaths report- ed on Tuesday, Mumbai accounted for 49, while there were 10 deaths each in Pune and Mira-Bhayandar, six deaths each in Raigad and Satara, four deaths each in Navi Mumbai, Panvel, three deaths each in Sangli and Akola and one death each in Thane, Nashik and Ahmednagar. Haryana reported more than 10 per cent jump in the number of cases on Tuesday. The State added 296 cases, which took its tally to 2,652 and 14 deaths. The State has seen a sharp rise in the number of cases during the last 10 days. Like Haryana, Odisha is witnessing big surge in the number of cases during the last three-four weeks ever since the migrant workers began to return to the State. On Tuesday, the State added 141 new cases, which took its overall count to 2,245. West Bengal reported 396 new Covid positive cases in the last 24 hours. Total positive cases in the State stand at 6,168 and death toll is at 263. As many as 1,091 persons tested positive for coronavirus in Tamil Nadu on Tuesday. The total number of persons tested for the pandemic in the State has reached 24,586 and 200 deaths. Taking into account the 536 persons discharged from various hospitals in the State on Tuesday and the number of samples tested negative, the total number of active cases in the State as on Tuesday evening is 10,680. Jammu & Kashmir saw the addition of 117 more cases on Tuesday — 77 from Kashmir division and 40 from Jammu division. Total positive cases in the Union Territory stand at 2,718 including 1,732 active cases. Continued on Page 10 A s stand-offs continue on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday hinted that the con- frontation may end after June 6 when senior commanders of both the armies will hold par- leys. So far, more than seven rounds of military-level talks have taken place but to no avail. Hoping for a peaceful res- olution of the tense situation prevailing at the LAC in Eastern Ladakh, the Minister also admitted that China has moved a large number of troops to the border during the ongoing face-offs. His observations came in the backdrop of at least four such eyeball to eyeball con- frontations currently on at four sites spread in a frontage of 25 to 30 km. Moreover, the Chinese troops have also intruded more than three kms into the Hot Springs area of the Galwan valley and built bunkers and barracks besides bolstering troop strength. Stressing that the focus was on bringing down the temperature on the LAC, Rajnath, in an interview to a private television channel, said Army Chief General MM Naravane had informed him that a meeting between the Indian and Chinese military commanders will be held on June 6. He expressed confi- dence the issue will be settled peacefully. He also referred to the 73-day face-off in Doklam in Sikkim plateau in 2017 and said “this has happened before too and a solution was found.” Continued on Page 10 C oronavirus spread could neither be checked by the scorching heat of the summer nor by the chill of the winter and decrease in humidity could add to the viciousness of the disease. A study published in the journal Transboundary and Emerging Diseases has found an association between lower humidity and an increase in locally acquired positive cases. “Covid-19 is likely to be a seasonal disease that recurs in periods of lower humidity. We need to be thinking if it’s win- tertime, it could be Covid-19 time,” said study author Michael Ward, Professor at the University of Sydney in Australia. According to the researchers, further studies — including during winter in the southern hemisphere — are needed to determine how this relationship works and the extent to which it drives Covid- 19 case notification rates. Previous research has iden- tified a link between climate and occurrence of SARS-CoV cases in Hong Kong and China and MERS-CoV cases in Saudi Arabia and a recent study on the Covid-19 outbreak in China found an association between transmission and daily temperature and relative humidity. “The pandemic in China, Europe and North America happened in winter so we were interested to see if the associ- ation between Covid-19 cases and the climate was different in Australia in late summer and early autumn,” Ward said. For the findings, the team matched the patients’ post- codes with the nearest weath- er observation station and stud- ied the rainfall, temperature and humidity for the period January to March 2020. The study found lower humidity was associated with increased case notifications; a reduction in relative humidity of one per cent was predicted to be asso- ciated with an increase of Covid-19 cases by six per cent. Continued on Page 10 A n app named “Delhi Corona” that will give information to patients about the availability of beds in pri- vate and Government hospitals was launched on Tuesday by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. The CM said if the patients are unable to get a bed despite the app showing availability at a hospital, they can call on helpline number 1031 and spe- cial secretary (health) will ensure they are given a bed. Kejriwal said the app will fill the information gap that exists regarding availability of facilities for novel coronavirus patients. “There are many places where coronavirus has spread in a big way. There were shortage of beds, ventilators and ICUs, leading to a large number of deaths,” he said in an online briefing. “In Delhi, cases are increas- ing, but we have made suffi- cient arrangements for venti- lators and beds in hospitals. We are several steps ahead of coro- navirus,” the CM said. Continued on Page 10 M anu Sharma, who was serving a life term in the sensational 1999 Jessica Lal Murder case, was released from Tihar Jail on Monday after Delhi Lt Governor Anil Baijal approved his premature release, Director General (Prisons) Sandeep Geol said on Tuesday. “Sharma walked out of jail on Monday. He spent 17 years behind bars. His actual period with remission is 23 years and four months,” Goel said. Women rights activists called the Delhi Government’s decision to prematurely release Manu Sharma “unfortunate”, saying it sets a wrong prece- dent. Activist-politician Brinda Karat said there is absolutely no ground for giving Sharma a lenient release and that it is sur- prising that a board headed by a Delhi minister should come forth with such a recommen- dation. Women rights activist Shamina Shafiq said the deci- sion to release Sharma is “shocking” and “bizarre”. Baijal approved the release of Sharma, son of former Union Minister Venod Sharma, on a recommendation by the Delhi Sentence Review Board, which is under the Delhi Government, said officials. Sharma was convicted in 2006 for shooting model Jessica Lal after she refused to serve him liquor at the Tamarind Court restaurant owned by socialite Bina Ramani at Qutub Colonnade in South Delhi’s Mehrauli area on the night of April 30, 1999. Continued on Page 10 T he BJP on Tuesday replaced actor-turned-politician Manoj Tiwari as the president of the Delhi unit of the party with Adesh Kumar Gupta, a former mayor of North Delhi Municipal Corporation. According to party insiders, the appointment of Gupta is being interpreted as a sign that the BJP is once again looking for its old core support of the Vaishya community. Gupta was born in Uttar Pradesh and has had a long association with the ABVP and BJP’s youth organisation BJYM. Tiwari had offered to quit after the BJP lost to the AAP in the Delhi Assembly polls and his three-year term was also over. In Chhattisgarh, the BJP appointed Vishnu Deo Sai — a tribal leader and former Union Minister who is a regional heavyweight with past tenure as the State party chief — as its State unit president, the party said in a statement. His appointment also underscores the party’s attempt to win over tribal votes which is seen to have drifted from it. In another appointment, the party made S Tikendra Singh its Manipur State BJP president. These are the first impor- tant organisational appoint- ments in the BJP after the coronavirus outbreak curbed political activities and the party primarily focussed on steering relief work for people affected by the lockdown. T ropical cyclone Nisarga is likely to convert into a ‘severe cyclonic storm’ which may make landfall close to Alibag, 94 km south of Mumbai, on the afternoon of June 3. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Tuesday said that the cyclone is headed towards the Maharashtra and Gujarat coasts. Mumbai, Palghar, Thane, Ratnagiri, South Gujarat and Saurashtra have been put on high alert. This will be the first-ever cyclonic storm in recorded history to hit Mumbai in June, which is already on the top in the list to add in the maximum number of coronavirus cases so far. The earlier one had hit Mumbai in November, 2009. It, however, did not cause major damage. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday took stock of the situation in the wake of cyclonic conditions in western India. “Took stock of the situ- ation in the wake of cyclone conditions in parts of India’s western coast. Praying for everyone’s well-being. I urge people to take all possible pre- cautions and safety measures,” PM Modi tweeted. The Governments of Maharashtra and Gujarat have held a high-level meeting to assess the preparations for the cyclone. According to the IMD, the storm may cause major dam- age to thatched houses, huts, power and communication lines and coastal crops. The storm is expected to have a wind speed of 100 km per hour, gusting up to 120 kmph. The storm is expected to cross north Maharashtra and adjoining south Gujarat coast between Harihareshwar (Raigad, Maharashtra) and Daman during the afternoon of June 3. The nearly 260 km patch between Raigad and Daman has one of the highest population densities in the country. Apart from Mumbai, it also has satellites cities like Thane, Navi-Mumbai, Panvel, Kalyan-Dombivli, Mira- Bhayander, Vasai-Virar, Ulhasnagar, Badlapur and Ambernath. When it crosses the coast on the evening of June 3, it will have a speed of 105-110 kmph, the IMD said. Heavy rains are also expected in south Gujarat, coastal Goa, coastal Karnataka and madhya Maharashtra on June 3 and 4. Storm surge of about 1-2 meters height above astronomical tide is very like- ly to inundate low lying areas in these regions. The IMD alert says Cyclone Nisarga will likely hit Navsari area in Gujarat by tonight or June 4 morning. Continued on Page 10 T orrential rain triggered massive landslides in three districts of Assam’s Barak val- ley on Tuesday, dumping mountains of mud, swamping homes and snuffing out at least 21 lives, officials said. Three families were almost entirely wiped out, while 17 people were injured in Hailakandi, Karimganj and Cachar districts. Eight people, including five of a family, died in Hailakandi district. Loosened by incessant rain, a hillside came crashing down on the tin-roofed house of Kuton Mia Laskar (40) early morning, killing him, his wife Jhumpa Begum (35), and three daughters Hazira (five), Nazira (four) and Tuli (three) in Mohanpur village, around 15 km from Hailakandi town. Two other landslides killed Rupchand Sarkar and Matiur Rahman Laskar in Chandipur grant area, while Chandmoni Maal (6) died in a separate mudslide in Mohanpur, offi- cials said. Seven members of a fami- ly were smothered under mounds of mud that flattened their home when they were asleep in Kolarpur village of neighbouring Cachar district. The deceased were identi- fied as Tamiz Mia Laskar (50), his wife Taimur Nesa Laskar (45), their two daughters Alia Begum Laskar(25), Sumona Begum (11) and their three sons Rehimuddin (18), Alom Hussain (20) and Arifuddin (17), district SP Monoranjan Debroy said. Continued on Page 10 T hirteen employees of the Delhi Lt Governor Anil Baijal’s office and six other Government officials here have tested positive for Covid-19, sources said on Tuesday. They said that junior assistants, dri- vers, peons are among the 13 people working at the Lt Governor Secretariat who have tested positive for the deadly virus. Recently, all officers and officials working at the Delhi LG office underwent the Covid-19 test after a junior assistant was found infected. Houston: Every day a city delays in implementing social distancing measures after the appearance of its first case of coronavirus infection may add as much as 2.4 days to the dura- tion of the outbreak, says an analysis of Covid-19 spread in 58 cities. According to the study, published in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases, places that take longer to imple- ment social distancing mea- sures may spend more time with the virus rapidly spread- ing than those that act more quickly. New Delhi: Battling the coro- navirus scare, wholesale mar- kets in the national Capital restarted full-fledged trading on Tuesday, but they face a labour shortage and stare at an uphill task of repairing the broken demand-supply chain. New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump on Tuesday discussed various issues, including the situation on the India-China border, the Covid-19 pandemic and need for reforms in the WHO, and the Floyd protests, an offi- cial statement said. During the telephonic conversation, Trump invited Modi to attend the next G-7 summit to be held in the United States. Modi expressed concern over the "ongoing civil disturbances in the US", and conveyed his best wishes for an early res- olution of the situation, the statement said.

Transcript of @gVc # ]R\Y T`c`_R gV Z_ :_UZR - Daily Pioneer

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India crossed another mile-stone in coronavirus count,

crossing 2 lakh cases onTuesday, ending the day at2,07,135 with a death toll of5,829.

While India took around55 days to jump from 500cases to 1,00,000, the second 1lakh cases came in just 15days.

On Tuesday while the reg-ular big contributors likeMaharashtra, Delhi, TamilNadu, Gujarat, and UttarPradesh showed no sign ofslowing down, States like WestBengal, Haryana, Karnataka,Odisha, and Bihar indicatedthat coronavirus was fastspreading their terrain.

After a gap of three days,the deaths caused by Covid-19touched a three-digit figureonce again in Maharashtra onTuesday, as an alarming 103people succumbed to coron-avirus and 2,287 others testedpositive for the pandemic invarious parts of the State.

With fresh deaths andinfections, the total number ofdeaths in Maharashtra rose to2,465, while the total infectedcases jumped to 72,300. Withas many 31,333 patients havingalready been discharged fromhospitals after full recovery, theState health authorities peggedthe number of “active cases” inthe State at 38,493.

The number of deaths in

Maharashtra increased 99 onSaturday, 89 on Sunday, 76 onMonday to 103 on Tuesday.There had been a total of 694deaths in Maharashtra duringthe previous six days. On May26 (Tuesday) the State hadwitnessed 97 deaths, whilethere were 105 deaths on May27, 85 deaths on May 28, 116deaths on May 29 and 99deaths on May 30, 89 deaths onMay 31, 76 on June 1 and 103on June 3.

Of the total deaths report-ed on Tuesday, Mumbaiaccounted for 49, while therewere 10 deaths each in Puneand Mira-Bhayandar, six deathseach in Raigad and Satara,four deaths each in NaviMumbai, Panvel, three deaths

each in Sangli and Akola andone death each in Thane,Nashik and Ahmednagar.

Haryana reported morethan 10 per cent jump in thenumber of cases on Tuesday.The State added 296 cases,which took its tally to 2,652 and14 deaths. The State has seen asharp rise in the number ofcases during the last 10 days.

Like Haryana, Odisha iswitnessing big surge in thenumber of cases during the lastthree-four weeks ever sincethe migrant workers began toreturn to the State. On Tuesday,the State added 141 new cases,which took its overall count to2,245.

West Bengal reported 396new Covid positive cases in the

last 24 hours. Total positivecases in the State stand at6,168 and death toll is at 263.

As many as 1,091 personstested positive for coronavirusin Tamil Nadu on Tuesday. Thetotal number of persons testedfor the pandemic in the Statehas reached 24,586 and 200deaths.

Taking into account the536 persons discharged fromvarious hospitals in the State onTuesday and the number ofsamples tested negative, thetotal number of active cases inthe State as on Tuesday eveningis 10,680.

Jammu & Kashmir sawthe addition of 117 more caseson Tuesday — 77 fromKashmir division and 40 fromJammu division. Total positivecases in the Union Territorystand at 2,718 including 1,732active cases.

Continued on Page 10

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As stand-offs continue onthe Line of Actual Control

(LAC) in Ladakh, DefenceMinister Rajnath Singh onTuesday hinted that the con-frontation may end after June6 when senior commanders ofboth the armies will hold par-leys. So far, more than sevenrounds of military-level talkshave taken place but to no avail.

Hoping for a peaceful res-olution of the tense situationprevailing at the LAC inEastern Ladakh, the Ministeralso admitted that China hasmoved a large number oftroops to the border during theongoing face-offs.

His observations came inthe backdrop of at least foursuch eyeball to eyeball con-frontations currently on at foursites spread in a frontage of 25to 30 km. Moreover, theChinese troops have alsointruded more than three kmsinto the Hot Springs area of theGalwan valley and builtbunkers and barracks besidesbolstering troop strength.

Stressing that the focus

was on bringing down thetemperature on the LAC,Rajnath, in an interview to aprivate television channel, saidArmy Chief General MMNaravane had informed himthat a meeting between theIndian and Chinese militarycommanders will be held onJune 6. He expressed confi-dence the issue will be settledpeacefully. He also referred tothe 73-day face-off in Doklamin Sikkim plateau in 2017 andsaid “this has happened beforetoo and a solution was found.”

Continued on Page 10

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Coronavirus spread couldneither be checked by the

scorching heat of the summernor by the chill of the winterand decrease in humidity couldadd to the viciousness of thedisease.

A study published in thejournal Transboundary andEmerging Diseases has foundan association between lowerhumidity and an increase inlocally acquired positive cases.

“Covid-19 is likely to be aseasonal disease that recurs inperiods of lower humidity. Weneed to be thinking if it’s win-tertime, it could be Covid-19time,” said study authorMichael Ward, Professor at the

University of Sydney inAustralia.

According to theresearchers, further studies —including during winter in thesouthern hemisphere — areneeded to determine how thisrelationship works and theextent to which it drives Covid-19 case notification rates.

Previous research has iden-tified a link between climateand occurrence of SARS-CoVcases in Hong Kong and Chinaand MERS-CoV cases in SaudiArabia and a recent study on

the Covid-19 outbreak inChina found an associationbetween transmission and dailytemperature and relativehumidity.

“The pandemic in China,Europe and North Americahappened in winter so we wereinterested to see if the associ-ation between Covid-19 casesand the climate was different inAustralia in late summer andearly autumn,” Ward said.

For the findings, the teammatched the patients’ post-codes with the nearest weath-er observation station and stud-ied the rainfall, temperatureand humidity for the periodJanuary to March 2020. Thestudy found lower humiditywas associated with increasedcase notifications; a reductionin relative humidity of one percent was predicted to be asso-ciated with an increase ofCovid-19 cases by six per cent.

Continued on Page 10

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An app named “DelhiCorona” that will give

information to patients aboutthe availability of beds in pri-vate and Government hospitalswas launched on Tuesday byChief Minister ArvindKejriwal.

The CM said if the patientsare unable to get a bed despitethe app showing availability ata hospital, they can call onhelpline number 1031 and spe-cial secretary (health) willensure they are given a bed.

Kejriwal said the app willfill the information gap thatexists regarding availability offacilities for novel coronaviruspatients. “There are manyplaces where coronavirus hasspread in a big way. There wereshortage of beds, ventilators

and ICUs, leading to a largenumber of deaths,” he said inan online briefing.

“In Delhi, cases are increas-ing, but we have made suffi-cient arrangements for venti-lators and beds in hospitals. Weare several steps ahead of coro-navirus,” the CM said.

Continued on Page 10

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Manu Sharma, who wasserving a life term in the

sensational 1999 Jessica LalMurder case, was released fromTihar Jail on Monday afterDelhi Lt Governor Anil Baijalapproved his premature release,Director General (Prisons)Sandeep Geol said on Tuesday.

“Sharma walked out of jailon Monday. He spent 17 yearsbehind bars. His actual periodwith remission is 23 years andfour months,” Goel said.

Women rights activistscalled the Delhi Government’sdecision to prematurely releaseManu Sharma “unfortunate”,saying it sets a wrong prece-dent. Activist-politician BrindaKarat said there is absolutely noground for giving Sharma alenient release and that it is sur-

prising that a board headed bya Delhi minister should comeforth with such a recommen-dation.

Women rights activistShamina Shafiq said the deci-sion to release Sharma is“shocking” and “bizarre”.

Baijal approved the releaseof Sharma, son of formerUnion Minister Venod Sharma,on a recommendation by theDelhi Sentence Review Board,which is under the DelhiGovernment, said officials.

Sharma was convicted in2006 for shooting model JessicaLal after she refused to servehim liquor at the TamarindCourt restaurant owned bysocialite Bina Ramani at QutubColonnade in South Delhi’sMehrauli area on the night ofApril 30, 1999.

Continued on Page 10

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The BJP on Tuesday replacedactor-turned-politician

Manoj Tiwari as the presidentof the Delhi unit of the partywith Adesh Kumar Gupta, aformer mayor of North DelhiMunicipal Corporation.According to party insiders, theappointment of Gupta is beinginterpreted as a sign that theBJP is once again looking for itsold core support of the Vaishyacommunity.

Gupta was born in UttarPradesh and has had a longassociation with the ABVPand BJP’s youth organisationBJYM. Tiwari had offered toquit after the BJP lost to theAAP in the Delhi Assemblypolls and his three-year termwas also over.

In Chhattisgarh, the BJPappointed Vishnu Deo Sai — atribal leader and former UnionMinister who is a regionalheavyweight with past tenure asthe State party chief — as itsState unit president, the party

said in a statement. Hisappointment also underscoresthe party’s attempt to win overtribal votes which is seen tohave drifted from it.

In another appointment,the party made S TikendraSingh its Manipur State BJPpresident.

These are the first impor-tant organisational appoint-ments in the BJP after thecoronavirus outbreak curbedpolitical activities and the partyprimarily focussed on steeringrelief work for people affectedby the lockdown.

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Tropical cyclone Nisarga islikely to convert into a

‘severe cyclonic storm’ whichmay make landfall close toAlibag, 94 km south ofMumbai, on the afternoon ofJune 3.

The India MeteorologicalDepartment (IMD) on Tuesdaysaid that the cyclone is headedtowards the Maharashtra andGujarat coasts. Mumbai,Palghar, Thane, Ratnagiri,South Gujarat and Saurashtrahave been put on high alert.

This will be the first-evercyclonic storm in recordedhistory to hit Mumbai in June,which is already on the top inthe list to add in the maximumnumber of coronavirus cases sofar. The earlier one had hitMumbai in November, 2009. It,however, did not cause majordamage.

Prime Minister NarendraModi on Tuesday took stock ofthe situation in the wake ofcyclonic conditions in westernIndia. “Took stock of the situ-ation in the wake of cycloneconditions in parts of India’s

western coast. Praying foreveryone’s well-being. I urgepeople to take all possible pre-cautions and safety measures,”PM Modi tweeted.

The Governments ofMaharashtra and Gujarat haveheld a high-level meeting toassess the preparations for the

cyclone.According to the IMD, the

storm may cause major dam-age to thatched houses, huts,power and communicationlines and coastal crops. Thestorm is expected to have awind speed of 100 km per hour,gusting up to 120 kmph.

The storm is expected tocross north Maharashtra andadjoining south Gujarat coastbetween Harihareshwar(Raigad, Maharashtra) andDaman during the afternoon ofJune 3. The nearly 260 kmpatch between Raigad andDaman has one of the highestpopulation densities in thecountry. Apart from Mumbai,it also has satellites cities likeThane, Navi-Mumbai, Panvel,Kalyan-Dombivli, Mira-Bhayander, Vasai-Virar,Ulhasnagar, Badlapur andAmbernath.

When it crosses the coaston the evening of June 3, it willhave a speed of 105-110 kmph,the IMD said. Heavy rains arealso expected in south Gujarat,coastal Goa, coastal Karnatakaand madhya Maharashtra onJune 3 and 4. Storm surge ofabout 1-2 meters height aboveastronomical tide is very like-ly to inundate low lying areasin these regions. The IMDalert says Cyclone Nisarga willlikely hit Navsari area inGujarat by tonight or June 4morning.

Continued on Page 10

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Torrential rain triggeredmassive landslides in three

districts of Assam’s Barak val-ley on Tuesday, dumpingmountains of mud, swampinghomes and snuffing out atleast 21 lives, officials said.

Three families were almostentirely wiped out, while 17people were injured inHailakandi, Karimganj andCachar districts. Eight people,including five of a family, diedin Hailakandi district.

Loosened by incessant rain,a hillside came crashing downon the tin-roofed house ofKuton Mia Laskar (40) earlymorning, killing him, his wifeJhumpa Begum (35), and threedaughters Hazira (five), Nazira(four) and Tuli (three) inMohanpur village, around 15km from Hailakandi town.

Two other landslides killedRupchand Sarkar and MatiurRahman Laskar in Chandipurgrant area, while ChandmoniMaal (6) died in a separate

mudslide in Mohanpur, offi-cials said.

Seven members of a fami-ly were smothered undermounds of mud that flattenedtheir home when they wereasleep in Kolarpur village ofneighbouring Cachar district.

The deceased were identi-fied as Tamiz Mia Laskar (50),his wife Taimur Nesa Laskar(45), their two daughters AliaBegum Laskar(25), SumonaBegum (11) and their threesons Rehimuddin (18), AlomHussain (20) and Arifuddin(17), district SP MonoranjanDebroy said.

Continued on Page 10

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Thirteen employees of theDelhi Lt Governor Anil

Baijal’s office and six otherGovernment officials here havetested positive for Covid-19,sources said on Tuesday. Theysaid that junior assistants, dri-vers, peons are among the 13people working at the LtGovernor Secretariat who havetested positive for the deadlyvirus.

Recently, all officers andofficials working at the DelhiLG office underwent theCovid-19 test after a juniorassistant was found infected.

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Houston: Every day a citydelays in implementing socialdistancing measures after theappearance of its first case ofcoronavirus infection may addas much as 2.4 days to the dura-tion of the outbreak, says ananalysis of Covid-19 spread in58 cities.

According to the study,published in the journalEmerging Infectious Diseases,places that take longer to imple-ment social distancing mea-sures may spend more timewith the virus rapidly spread-ing than those that act morequickly.

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New Delhi: Battling the coro-navirus scare, wholesale mar-kets in the national Capitalrestarted full-fledged tradingon Tuesday, but they face alabour shortage and stare at anuphill task of repairing thebroken demand-supply chain.

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New Delhi: Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and USPresident Donald Trump onTuesday discussed variousissues, including the situationon the India-China border,the Covid-19 pandemic andneed for reforms in the WHO,and the Floyd protests, an offi-cial statement said.

During the telephonicconversation, Trump invitedModi to attend the next G-7summit to be held in theUnited States. Modiexpressed concern over the"ongoing civil disturbances inthe US", and conveyed hisbest wishes for an early res-olution of the situation, thestatement said.

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Lucknow (PNS): Narcotics Control Bureau(NCB) sleuths cracked major opium traffick-ing networks during lockdown betweenJharkhand and north Indian states.

A common modus operandi that surfacedduring the operation was that most traffickersused trucks carrying essential commodities totraffic the contraband across state borders.

As per a NCB communiqué released onTuesday, the sleuths were tipped off that traf-fickers were using trucks carrying essentials tocart contraband. The input also said that theopium trafficking network had links in Naxal-affected Jharkhand, which was the focal pointin the pan India operations.

The release said that after co-ordinatedefforts last month, a total of 355 kg opium wasseized in six raids across the country, includ-ing two places in Uttar Pradesh.

In UP, a NCB team supervised bySurveillance Assistant Manish Kumar workedon an input and subsequently seized 31 kgopium in May and arrested three persons whiletransporting opium by truck from Jharkhandto Haryana.

With the arrest of syndicate kingpin ManojDangi of Chatra (Jharkhand), another recoveryof 60 kg of opium was made by NCB, LucknowZonal Unit.

Besides, on May 29, NCB’s Lucknow unitseized around 124 kg of opium being traffickedfrom Jharkhand to Kaithal (Haryana) in a truck.The contraband was concealed in spare tyres ofthe truck and three persons were arrested.

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Lucknow (PNS): Close on heels of thesensational daylight loot of Rs 22.70 lakhcash from a LIC cashier in Aligarh, aseries of heinous crimes were reportedfrom across the state during the last 24hours. They included lynching of twoassailants after they shot dead a BharatiyaJanata Party leader’s son in Baghpat, ayouth being burnt alive in Pratapgarhleading to torching of police vehicles, apradhan’s kin being sprayed with bulletsin Hardoi and teenaged lovers beingfound dead in Kanpur Dehat.

In Baghpat, district BJP vice-presi-dent Kashyap of Basoli hamlet of Ramalahad a dispute with locals who came to getwheat at his shop. Later, Kashyap and his

aides assaulted and chased away thelocals. However on Monday night, thelocals struck at the BJP leader’s house andopened fire, killing his 14-year-old son.Soon, the BJP leader’s men rushed andnabbed the two shooters whom they bat-tered to death. A heavy police force wasdeployed in the area and efforts wereunderway to nab the accused.

In Pratapgarh, Ambika Patel (26) ofBagujaini hamlet in Fatanpur area was ina love with a neighbour working as apolice constable in Kanpur but her kinopposed the liaison. After the girl start-ed distancing herself from him, Pateluploaded some objectionable videosafter which her family lodged a report

and the accused was sent to jail. He wasreleased on bail last week. Late Mondaynight, some people forcibly took Patelfrom his home, tied him to a tree andtorched him alive. The victim’s familyalleged that the girl’s family had appre-hension that Patel had some lover lettersand documents, so they kidnapped andkilled him. The agitated kin and friendslater staged a demonstration and torchedvehicles of the local police station. Thesituation could be defused afterSuperintendent of Police of Pratapgarh,Abhishek Singh, reached there with aheavy police force. ADG (Prayagraj),Prem Prakash and other senior officersalso visited the spot and detained sever-

al villagers for quizzing.In Hardoi, former Karaundh village

pradhan Asha Singh’s close kin Raju (45)was shot dead on Tuesday morning andhis body was recovered in Atauralipolice station area. The matter is beingprobed. In Kanpur Dehat, the bodies ofDilwar (20) of Mangalpur and his 18-year-old female neighbour were foundlying near railway tracks on Tuesdaymorning. It surfaced that they were inlove but their families were opposed totheir affair. The girl was pursuing a BSccourse while the youth was engaged infarming. While the youth’s family sus-pected honour killing, the cops said thatthe duo probably committed suicide.

��� 5+�'!24

Observing growing num-ber of conflicts in rural

areas after the return ofmigrant workers, ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath askedDGP HC Awasthi to streamlinethe chowkidari system andsuggested that surveillancecommittees could be helpful inpreventing revenue-related dis-putes in rural areas.

“The surveillance commit-tees are helping in containingthe (coronavirus) infectionacross the state. the principalsecretary (Rural and UrbanDevelopment) should monitorthese committees regularly.They may also be helpful inpreventing revenue-related dis-putes in rural areas,” Yogi saidwhile presiding over a reviewmeeting of Unlock 1.0 at LokBhawan on Tuesday.

The chief minister said,“Effective police patrolling isthe need of the hour to checkgatherings and ensure socialdistancing. Regular footpatrolling be carried out inmarkets, intensive patrolling byPRV 112 be done on highwaysand expressways and people be

made aware about coronavirusprevention over public addresssystem.”

Of late, there have beenreports of a spike in property-related disputes with the returnof nearly 30 lakh migrant work-ers to their native villagesacross the state.

Yogi also said that allmigrant returnees should bescreened at quarantine centresand those found healthy shouldbe home quarantined and given15 days’ ration kits along withRs 1,000. He also directed offi-cials to ensure that the rationcards of migrant returneeswere made so that they couldget foodgrains.

The chief minister askednodal officers in districts toassist district magistrates andensure regular inspection ofquarantine centres and com-munity kitchens.

Issuing directive to nodalofficers of health department invarious districts, Yogi askedthem to inspect Covid andnon-Covid hospitals. He askedthem to get direct feedback ofarrangements and send factu-al report to the government.

Yogi asked the health min-

ister to communicate withadditional director and jointdirectors of the department to

be abreast of all health relatedworks.

On this occasion, Chief

Secretary RK Tiwari informedthe chief minister that commu-nication with all divisionalcommissioners and districtmagistrates was being main-tained to get feedback onarrangements for health relat-ed services.

The chief secretary alsodirected officials to makeefforts to prevent personnel ofUP Police, PAC, Fire Serviceand Railway Police from gettinginfected and hat medical per-sonnel be imparted trained ofpreventive measures.

Additional Chief Secretary(Home) Awanish KumarAwasthi informed the chiefminister that handbills givingtips on coronavirus preventionwere being distributed to peo-ple at railway and bus stationsand select trains to make themaware. With foodgrain distri-bution drive being started fromJune 1, Yogi asked the districtmagistrates to ensure allarrangements from godown toration shops and prevent mal-practice of under-weighing.He also advised that whilestarting UP Roadways bus ser-vices, prevention protocol befollowed in letter and spirit.

��� 5+�'!24

Ruling out communityspread of coronavirus in

Uttar Pradesh, Health MinisterJai Pratap Singh said that thenumber of positive cases sug-gested that the infection wasunder control and the curvewould begin to flatten by June-end or early July.

“We can say it with convic-tion that there is no communi-ty spread of the viral infectionin UP. The number of positivecases has spiked of late but it isdue to migrant labourers whocame from other states and car-ried the infection to their nativeplaces,” Singh told ‘ThePioneer’ in Lucknow onTuesday.

The minister said that thegovernment had details ofmigrant workers like theirnativity and whether they wereinfected.

“The monitoring commit-tee is keeping an eye and if any-one falls sick, he/she is imme-diately hospitalised,” Singh said.

“Till date, every case in thestate is documented andproven. Our paramedics andother staff have done factchecks on all infected per-sons,” the minister said.

There were talks aboutcommunity spread of coron-avirus after some healthexperts, including eminentdoctors from AIIMS, NewDelhi and ICMR, claimed com-munity transmission stage ofcoronavirus.

Experts from Indian PublicHealth Association (IPHA),Indian Association ofPreventive and Social Medicine(IAPSM) and IndianAssociation of Epidemiologists(IAE) compiled a report andsubmitted it to the PrimeMinister’s Office. The report

came at a time whenMaharashtra, Delhi, UttarPradesh, Madhya Pradesh,Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, AndhraPradesh, Haryana and Biharshowed a spike in coronaviruspositive cases.

The health minister saidthat he could not speak forother states but in UP, thenumber of cases was not thathigh to prove a communityspread. “UP has the best recov-ery percentage, almost 60, inIndia while mortality rate is lessthat 2.5 per cent. ASHA work-ers screened over 11 lakhmigrant workers and of them,1,027 were found with theinfection. This also shows thatthe spike in cases is not thathigh keeping in mind the pop-ulation of the state,” the min-ister said.

The recovery percentagepan India has been 48.07points.

Lucknow (PNS): ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanaththanked the Union cabinet forincreasing the minimum sup-port price (MSP) of Rabi-sown crop and giving a spe-cial package to the micro,small and medium enterpris-es (MSME) sector, saying thatthese benefits would helpUttar Pradesh the most.

“Uttar Pradesh standsbenefited from the announce-ments made by the Uniongovernment in the cabinetmeeting presided over byPrime Minister NarendraModi. Be it the increase inMSP for farmers or the finan-cial package for MSME sector,UP will benefit the most,” Yogisaid in a statement issuedhere on Tuesday.

He said 14 crore farmerswould stand benefited by the

Union government decisionwhile the MSME package willstrengthen the One DistrictOne Product (ODOP) schemeof the Uttar Pradesh.

“Prime MinisterNarendra Modi has alwaysthought about the welfare offarmers. He has a vision todouble the income of farmersby 2020 and to achieve this theUnion government has takenmany decisions,” the chiefminister said. He said thedecision to provide loan of Rs20,000 crore to MSME besidesRs 50,000 crore equity invest-ment in this sector wouldinfuse new life in the sector asthis decision would help theunits to tide over financial cri-sis. “As the maximum numberof MSME units are in UP, sothe state stands benefitedfrom this decision,” he said.

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Suspended IAS officer Amaranth Upadhyay hasbeen reinstated by the state government.

Upadhyay was district magistrate ofMaharajganj district and was suspended inOctober last year following complaints of negli-gence in the upkeep of stray cows at the cow shedsin the district. Along with the district magistrate,the sub-district magistrate and chief veterinary offi-cer were also suspended for negligence in cow pro-tection. The state government while announcingthe suspension of Upadhyay had said, “It wasfound that on the pretext of fodder and mainte-nance of cattle, the number of cattle was deliber-ately increased on paper to misuse governmentfunds, which also amounts to financial irregular-ities.” An inquiry found that a cow shelter home,which had claimed to have 2,500 cows, had only954 cows. It also found that 328 acres of the ani-mal husbandry department meant for the cow shel-ter was instead leased out to private individualsillegally. The government also directed that an FIRbe registered in the matter and that further auditbe done into the anomalies in the operation of thecow shelter. However the FIR was never lodgedand now the officer accused of negligence has beenreinstated. The district magistrate is chairman ofthe working committee of the cow shelter whilethe chief veterinary officer of the district is mem-ber-secretary of the committee. Chief secretaryRK Tiwari had said it was the responsibility of theseofficers to stop such anomalies from happening.He had said the government had given top prior-ity to cows and its progeny and clean administra-tion was also a top priority.

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I Army No-299600 X-HAV.Sukhvir Singh R/O plot No-7Neelmatha Lucknow. In MyService Record My DaughterName Inadvertently Mention AsShiriya Singh and D.O.B is30.07.2008, Her correct Nameis Shreya Singh and D.O.B. is30.06.2007

OBITUARY

LANCE NAIK DINESH KUMAR15 JUL 1985 - 21 MAY 2020

ALL RANKS OF ARMY MEDICALCORPS SOLEMNLY PRAY TO THEALMIGHTY TO BESTOW PEACE TOTHE DEPARTED SOUL AND GRANTSTRENGTH TO THE BEREAVEDFAMILY TO BEAR THE GREAT LOSSOF LANCE NAIK DINESH KUMAR WHODIED WHILE SERVING WITH 359 FDHOSP.

FROM: LT GEN NAVDEEP SINGH LAMBAAND ALL RANKS OF ARMY MEDICAL CORPS

OBITUARY

OBITUARY

NAIK SEEVALA PANDI K08 JUN 1992 - 26 MAY 2020

ALL RANKS OF ARMY MEDICALCORPS SOLEMNLY PRAY TO THEALMIGHTY TO BESTOW PEACE TOTHE DEPARTED SOUL AND GRANTSTRENGTH TO THE BEREAVEDFAMILY TO BEAR THE GREAT LOSSOF NAIK SEEVALA PANDI K WHO DIEDWHILE SERVING WITH 18 JAK RIF.

FROM: LT GEN NAVDEEP SINGH LAMBAAND ALL RANKS OF ARMY MEDICAL CORPS

OBITUARY

OBITUARY

NAIK ANIL KUMAR GUPTA07 AUG 1988 - 28 MAY 2020

ALL RANKS OF ARMY MEDICALCORPS SOLEMNLY PRAY TO THEALMIGHTY TO BESTOW PEACE TOTHE DEPARTED SOUL AND GRANTSTRENGTH TO THE BEREAVEDFAMILY TO BEAR THE GREAT LOSSOF NAIK ANIL KUMAR GUPTA WHODIED WHILE SERVING WITH MHNASIRABAD.

FROM: LT GEN NAVDEEP SINGH LAMBAAND ALL RANKS OF ARMY MEDICAL CORPS

OBITUARY

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Preparations are afoot inshopping malls with an

optimistic outlook ahead of there-opening on June 8. Most ofthe malls are still awaiting adetailed advisory by the stategovernment to make the prepa-rations more effective.However, the concern remainsover social distancing becausemall culture has been completeantithesis of the precautionsneeded in view of the coron-avirus pandemic. Shoppingmall managers feel that owingto the manner in which theywill be implementing precau-tions, they will manage to pullthrough.

Manager of a shoppingmall in Gomti Nagar said theywere waiting for the advisoryby the government in terms ofwhat kind of standard operat-ing procedures they should befollowing. “As of now, the sce-nario is that shops are experi-encing limited footfall and thesame is expected for malls.People will come out of theirhouses gradually as their fearsease and they need not feargoing to the malls since therewill be adequate security andsafety measures,” he said. Headded that extra arrangementswould have a bearing on thecost of operations. On strate-gies to get the visitors back, hesaid all would depend on theinitial feedback. “Once peoplestart coming in and we get

some feedback, all our strate-gies and plans will depend onthat. We cannot plan before-hand because there are somany things which will unfoldin due course of time,” he said.

He said the situation wasthe same across the globe aspeople were apprehensive

everywhere, except for someplaces. “We are optimistic andhoping for the best. This maytake time,” he said.

On whether the coron-avirus has dealt a blow to themall culture which has grownin the past few years in city, hepointed out that it was a gen-

eral perception that malls couldbe potential hotspots, but it wasnot the case. “In terms of safe-ty, we will be having betterarrangements. I have been vis-iting shopping areas wherearrangements are not adequatebut it won’t be the case inmalls,” he said. Manager of

another shopping mall opinedthat the hustle and bustle wouldbe back after a vaccine wasavailable. “Everybody is opti-mistic because the malls willopen on June 8 and revenuewill start coming in. The mallshave been shut for close to twomonths now. Initially, the foot-fall will be less but the numberswill rise eventually,” he said.

“There will be hiccups butpeople will come out for leisureand also for purchase of products of internationalbrands not available anywhereelse. One of the issues is thatmalls are opening and not themultiplexes, which would makea difference in terms of thefootfall,” he added.

Incidentally, youngsters arewaiting for the malls to open.“It has been a long time sittingat home and we would like togo out and spend some time inmalls,” a youth said.

President of AkhilBharatiya Udyog VyaparMandal Sandeep Bansal saidthat initially, customers wouldvisit shops in their respectiveareas instead of malls. “Saleswill be less in the malls, as isthe case across the city. Thesales have been negligible aftershops were open,” he said.However, he added that withthe manner in which peoplewere moving towards localshops, local brands were get-ting the advantage in compar-ison to the internationalbrands.

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Two person, including apregnant woman, tested

positive for coronavirus in thestate capital on Tuesday. Theother patient is a migrantlabourer who has returnedfrom Mumbai.

Chief medical officerNarendra Agarwal said theheavily pregnant woman is aresident of Basmandi and shewas admitted to Silver JubileeGovernment Hospital. TheCMO issued instructions forsanitisation of the hospital andsought a list of those who hadbeen in contact with thewoman for testing of samples.

Meanwhile, a resident ofGonda who had come toLucknow for treatment alsotested positive. As many as 46CMO teams with 14 supervi-sors carried out sanitisationand awareness drives in ChikMandi, Maulviganj,Baroodkhana, MaqbaraGolaganj, Peer Jalil etc. Samplesof 243 people were collectedand sent to KGMU for testingunder contact surveillance pro-gramme. Six people recoveredand were discharged from cityhospitals.

District MagistrateAbhishek Prakash inspectedthree hotspots in the city on

Tuesday — Valmiki Vihar inCantonment, Takiya Azambegin Aminabad andBaroodkhana in Golaganj. TheDM also held a separate meet-ing with senior officials ofNagar Nigam, administration,police and CMO, regardingthe containment of coron-avirus. He said residents in thehotspot areas should be toldthrough loudspeakers to stayindoors. The medical teamswere directed to carry outintensive contact tracing in thehotspots and house-to-housesurveillance. He appointed fivenodal officers for the ninehotspots in the city. He direct-ed them to visit the hotspots in

the morning and night and givereport to the control room.

The CMO said that 20medical teams had beenformed for the treatment ofCovid-19. The DM also gavedirections that meetings ofmandis to be held at the thanalevels should be attended by therepresentatives of trade organ-isations.

In the state, a total of 369patients tested positive, takingthe count to 8,729. The statewitnessed seven deaths, includ-ing four in Agra, two in Kanpurand one in Ghaziabad, takingthe toll to 229. As many as 146patients recovered, taking thefigure to 5,176.

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In a major consumer-cen-tric reform, the tariff dif-

ferentiation between elec-tricity consumers by charg-ing them as per their con-sumption rather than on thebasis of the end use of power,is proposed to be abolished.This will be implementedwith the amendment toIndian Electricity Act 2003,and the amendment bill islikely to be introduced in themonsoon session ofParliament. The Centre hadsought the consent of thestate government for theamendment to the ElectricityAct. The UP governmenthas given its consent.

Official sources said thatthe Centre feels that theamendment to the ElectricityAct will be the biggest con-sumer-centric reform.

Domestic power tariffsare low in India, while theindustrial tariffs are amongthe highest in the world dueto cross subsidisation. Thetariff policy proposes sixcategories of consumers onvoltage basis against the pre-sent 50-60 categories andsub-categories, a senior gov-ernment official disclosed.

The tariff policy alsoproposes direct benefit trans-fers to agricultural and ruralconsumers and reduction ofcross-subsidies on large openaccess consumers to 20 percent within four years.

The policy proposes tosimplify categorisation ofelectricity consumers by fix-ing tariff on the basis ofquantity consumed againstthe present system of differ-entiating on the basis ofland use and end use ofpower. “We propose to moveto tariff categories on voltagebasis, not on the basis of landuse. The latter is subject tointerpretation. Agriculturewill be dealt with separately

for which the tariff policyproposes giving direct ben-efit transfer,” said an official.He pointed out that therewere many residential build-ings with mixed land use.

For example, people runIT companies, coaching cen-tres, grocery stores andsalons from home. Theircategorisation is subject tointerpretation and leads toconsumer harassment andcorruption. “The proposedpolicy aims at eliminatingthis /inspector raj’,” the offi-cial said. “We don’t distin-guish between a commercialtaxi and a private vehicle onthe basis fuel. Why shouldthe cost of power be differ-ent? Higher the load, thehigher you pay,” he said,and added, “The voltage-based tariff fixation would beon technical basis, which ismeasurable.”

Meanwhile, the All IndiaPower Engineers Federation(AIPEF) has opposed thenew tariff saying, “This pro-vision is an attempt of theUnion government to dom-inate and dictate to the stateelectricity regulatory com-missions and CentralElectricity RegulatoryCommission regarding tariffstructure and therebyencroachment upon the juris-diction of the regulatory com-missions.”

The AIPEF said the exist-ing statute — the ElectricityAct, 2003 — was alreadybased on the fundamentalprinciple that the govern-ment must be distanced fromtariff determination sincetariff determination is thepurview of regulatory com-missions. “Therefore, in for-mulating the amendmentsto Electricity Act, 2003, theUnion government must pre-serve and abide by the exist-ing principle for distancing ofgovernment from tariff deter-mination,” it said.

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Lucknow (PNS): KingGeorge’s Medical Universitywill be carrying out clinical tri-als for a drug developed byDRDO’s Institute of NuclearMedicine and Allied Sciences,Delhi. Vice-Chancellor DrMLB Bhatt said they haveapproached the ethical com-mittee, seeking permissionfor the trials. The drug wouldbe useful for the treatment ofCovid-19, he said.

The KGMU Vice-Chancellor said that recom-mendations for the conduct oftrials came from the Ministryof Atomic Energy. “The min-istry sent it to the state govern-ment which forwarded it to us.KGMU has developed a mol-ecule and the results seem tobe very promising for the

treatment of Covid-19,” headded. Apart from KGMU,two more institutes have beenselected for the trials, includ-ing GSVM (Kanpur) andBHU. The drug has been usedin the treatment of cancerpatients alongside radiother-apy. “The mechanism ofaction of the drug is good andfor coronavirus too, the initiallab results have been found tobe promising since it stopsfurther proliferation of virus.There will phase-2 clinicaltrials to be conducted atKGMU,” Dr Bhatt said. Headded that as soon as the eth-ical committee gave recom-mendation, the clinical trialsof the drug would be startedbecause the process had to befast-tracked.

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Taking a serious note ofprogress not as per expec-

tation in the work regarding theconstruction of toilets in ruralareas, the Chief DevelopmentOfficer (CDO) MadhusudanHulgi has ordered for the com-pulsory retirement of AssistantDevelopment Officer (ADO-Panchayat), Harahua.

Hulgi reviewed theprogress in the construction oftoilets in all blocks with ADOs-Panchayat and Secretaries-Panchayat at Vikash Bhavan onMonday last. He informed thatthe district has a target of18,905 in No One Left Behind(NOLB) under Swachh BharatMission Gramin but theprogress is 9,122 against thetarget till date and the construc-tion of remaining 9,783 toiletsis to be completed.

The CDO directed ADOs

and Secretaries to ascertainthe completion of constructionof remaining toilets by June andcautioned that if the construc-tion work is not completed inany block within stipulateddate, the salary of concernedADO would be withheld. Hulgitook a serious note of slowprogress in the construction oftoilets in Harahua Blockand ordered of compulsoryretirement for the concernedADO.

The CDO also ordered ofissuing adverse entry againstSecretaries of as many as 42Gram Panchayats and makingsalary of Secretaries of as manyas 30 Gram Panchayats for theslow progress regarding this.

Meanwhile, the ProjectOfficer of District UrbanDevelopment Agency (DUDA)Jaya Singh informed that thelist of total 1955 ineligible ben-eficiaries of Pradhanmantri

Awas Yojana, Urban has beenposted at zonal offices ofmunicipal corporation. Of total1955 ineligible beneficiaries,1074 belong to trans-VarunaZone, 123 belong to Adampurzone, 74 from Kotwali Zona,279 from Sahsaswamedh and405 belong to Bhelupur Zone.The list of ineligible beneficia-ries has been posted at respec-tively zonal offices.

Similarly, a total of 844ineligible beneficiaries belongto Nagar Paila ParishadRamnagar and 28 belong toNagar Panchayat, Gangapur.The list will remain posted byJune 15. Singh informed that ifthe name of any eligible enlist-ed in this list by mistake, canlodge objection by visitingoffice and added that if one failsin registering objection in officewithin stipulated time, thename would be deleted fromthe list of scheme by supposing

as ineligible.Meanwhile, the UP

Minister for Backward Welfareand Divyangjan EmpowermentAnil Rajbhar visited the houseof national level basketballplayer Anushka Singh inChuppepur area and mournedher death. He expressed hiscondolence and assured ofbeing with family members inthe days of sorrow.

It may be noted here thatAnushka, a first year student ofShree Agrasen Girls PGCollege, ParamanandpurBranch and a member of bas-ketball team of MahatmaGandhi Kashi Vidyapeeth(MGKV) and also nationallevel basketball player, haddied after a heavy branch ofmango tree had fallen upon herhead when she was in a gardennear her house during heavyrains and hailstorm on June 30last.

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Though there is no sign ofany decline in corona cases,

the life has started limpingback to normal slowly on daytwo of Unlock 1.0. After depar-ture of Special Shiv Ganga toNew Delhi from Manduadihstation a day ago, SpecialMahanagari Express train leftVaranasi Junction (Cantt. rail-way station) for ChatrapatiShivaji Terminal (CST) onTuesday. Though enthusiasmwas seen among the passengersgoing to national capital, thefaces of people themselves toldthe story of fear they were feel-ing while going to business cap-ital as just around 620 passen-gers boarded in the train incomparison to 867 who went toDelhi. Besides, many passen-gers of Special Mahanagariwere not going to Mumbai butthey have to drop the train atmidway stations as it was theircompulsions to go there assince long they were strandedhere waiting to return to theirjobs.

Mahanagari is one of thetrains generally sees heavy rushof passengers but in the man-ner a large number of migrantsreturned from Mumbai werefound COVID-19, it showsthe panic among passengers togo there, which has emerged asepicentre of corona in thecountry. More than two-thirdscorona patients amongmigrants returned home invarious districts of Purvanchal(eastern UP) from Mumbai.Though it was not a regularMahanagari but this special(01094) was almost the same.Last time Mahanagari left fromthis station on March 24 last.Like Special Shiv Ganga, thepassengers of this SpecialMahanagari were also thermalscanned and their all luggagewere sanitised before theyboarded in the train. Earlier,Special Tapti-Ganga, Pawanand Shramjivi Express trains

also passed through Cantt. sta-tion carrying some passen-gers. However, surprisingly noSpecial Shiv Ganga arrivedhere on Tuesday from NewDelhi as it is said that the trainwhich went from here a dayago would depart from NewDelhi and then the same willarrive here only on Wednesdaymorning.

Meanwhile, third interna-tional flight under VandeBharat Mission came at LalBahadur Shastri InternationalAirport, Babatpur here fromDhaka (Bangladesh) with 68passengers. ADM (Protocol)Atul Kumar said that threebuses were arrangemed to sendthe passengers to their homeson three routes includingAmbedkarnagar, Basti,Gorakhpur, Kushinagar andDeoria; Gonda, Bahraich,Pilibhit and Aligarh; andGhazipur, Ballia and Chhapra.Earlier, two flights broughtstranded Indians from abroadcoming from London and

Dubai. Now the rush of passen-gers at the airport has startedincreasing after almost oneweek as on the first day ofUnlock 1.0, as 3022 passengerstravelled by 14 flights includ-ing arrival of 1966 passengersand departure of 1056.

It was the second consec-utive day when heavy policeforce was deployed at variousghats includingDashaswamedh Ghat to checkthe devotees from taking holybath on the auspicious occasionof Nirjala Ekadeshi. On theoccasion, no group was allowedto offer jalabhishek at KashiVishwanath temple. Accordingto information, earlier a groupof 11 was given permission butlater on, it was withdrawn.Most of the devotees offeredprayers indoors. However,across the river Ganga, somedevotees took holy dip in riverGanga in Chandauli district.Overall, in the markets theactivities has started limpingback to normalcy amidst the

fear of spreading coronaviruspandemic. The working in var-ious central and state govern-ment offices has also startedand rush was seen at somebank branches.

District Magistrate (DM)Kaushal Raj Sharma hasinformed that from differentstations as many as sevenShramik Special trains wererunning which would passthrough Varanasi Cantt. orsome adjoining stations forcarrying migrants and strand-ed people to different parts ofthe country and the passengersof those trains which werescheduled to come to Varanasiwere carried to nearby stationsby buses. It was the biggest rushof passengers since the startingof domestic flights from May25. Besides, from differentstates and districts across UP,as many as 437 people reachedKIT Mrza Murad for healthcheck-up and among the 237came here in 13 buses and 230in their private vehicles.

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From June 1 operation ofadditional 200 special pas-

senger trains commenced onIndian Railway network ofwhich 100 trains are stoppingat different stations of NorthCentral Railway (NCR).

These 100 trains includestwo primary trains of NorthCentral Railway betweenPrayagraj Jn to New Delhi andKanpur Central to New Delhi.These additionally introducedspecial trains with already run-ning AC specials are catering topassengers for different desti-nations across the countryfrom following important sta-tions of North Central Railway.

North Central Railway hasmade elaborate arrangementsfor train and stations to ensuresafe and comfortable journeyexperience to passengers inthis new normal era when

essential journey has to beperformed while taking allprecautions from COVID-19.Provision of separate entryand exits with demarcations,signages etc are made at all sta-tions to avoid crowd built upand mixing of passengers.Platforms, concourse and otherpassenger area are being fre-quently cleaned and sanitised.Arrangements for social dis-tancing have been madethrough, markings on floor,barricades etc. Foot paddleoperated washbasins, automat-ic sanitiser dispenser etc. areprovided at stations to reducetouch points. Arrangementsfor thermal scanning of passen-gers has been made at all sta-tions.

Besides these standardarrangements, innovative con-cepts are also being tried out forefficient handling of passengerswith proper social distancing

and minimal physical contact.One such system for automat-ic QR code based ticket scan-ning is being tried out onPrayagraj Jn. of North CentralRailway. Under the pilotscheme each of 1153 reservedpassengers travelling in 02417special train from Prayagraj Jnon June 1 were sent a uniqueQR code through message ontheir mobile phone and data-base of all QR codes was main-tained in computer locally atPrayagraj station.

After thermal scanning atPrayagraj Jn.passengers had tojust show the QR code whichwas scanned by QR code scan-ner from a distance and passen-ger boarding was automatical-ly confirmed in the system.

This ensured that passen-ger do not have to physicallyproduce ticket to anyone andchecking onboard by TTE isalso avoided as boarding of

passenger is already confirmedin the system. Chart availablewith TTE had prior confirma-tion on passengers boardedthus minimising need ofonboard checking inside thecoach. Despite being the firstday of introduction as many as807 passenger of total 1153could be checked in throughthis system introduced byPrayagraj division on pilotbasis.

Anshoo Pandey, SeniorDCM of Prayagraj divisionwho has got this system devel-oped under the overall guid-ance from General ManagerRajiv Chaudhry informed thatIRCTC have been approachedto make available unique QRcode to each reserved catego-ry passenger on their mobilephones directly from IRCTCserver which will facilitateimplementation of this systemacross all stations in each train.

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Four new cases of COVID-19have been found in

Prayagraj district here onTuesday. With this, the numberof patients in the district hasincreased to 96. Of them, thecity has 29 active cases. Thenumber of patients infectedwith the coronavirus inPrayagraj district is continu-ously increasing.

The four patients had comefrom other cities and werequarantined in their homes. Allhave been admitted to theCOVID L1 Hospital, KotwaCHC after their reports ofcoronavirus came positive hereon Tuesday afternoon. Also,people who come in contactwith them have also beeninstructed to be extra alert.

Among the four new foundpatients today, a 23-year-oldyouth is from Amva KalaPratappur. The second patientis a 46-year-old and is a resi-dent of Muhammadampur,Sarayamumerej area. The thirdpatient is a 43-year-old manfrom Shukrana Bazar in

Bharatganj of Manda area. Thefourth patient is a 22-year-oldyouth from Kona village ofMeja.

After getting four newpatients in the district, thenumber of patients hasincreased to 96. There havebeen 29 active cases. While 62patients have been dischargedfrom the hospital after combat-ing the deadly virus. So far,three patients infected withthe coronavirus have died inthe district.

Meanwhile, Motilal NehruNational Institute ofTechnology (MNNIT) haslaunched a programme on‘Teenage Management andCOVID-19’ for its students.The main objective of the pro-gramme is to create an onlineplatform for future technocratsof the institute.

The Director of the insti-tute Prof Rajiv Tripathi, Dr VKMishra, psychologist DrRakesh Paswan, Dr BhavanaRaj as a team explained to thefuture technocrats about mea-sures and modes to contain thespread the coronavirus. Theprogramme was also attended

by Prof KN Pandey, DrAnimesh Ojha, Dr VibhutiTripathi among others.

HC DIRECTIVE TO UPGOVT: The Allahabad HighCourt directed the state gov-ernment to constitute a three-member committee in everydistrict to ensure that personswho have completed theirQuarantine period and havetested Covid-negative arereleased forthwith.

The Bench comprisingJustice SK Gupta and Justice SSShamshery passed the orderwhile disposing of a PIL filedby lawyer Shaad Anwar whohad alleged that the membersof Tablighi Jamaat, who hadcompleted their quarantineperiod, were not being releasedby the state government.

The bench observed, ‘wedirect the State Government toensure that the persons, whohave completed their quaran-tine period be released forth-with from the quarantine cen-tres provided they have testednegative and there is no legalimpediment in releasing them.We, further direct the ChiefSecretary, state of Uttar Pradesh

to set up a three members com-mittee in every district toensure smoother, greater andmore effective functioning ofthe Quarantine Centres.’

The court had clarifiedthat the committee will notonly supervise the functioningof the quarantine centres butwill ensure also that such cen-tres are properly maintainedand administered.

It will also be responsible toprovide help, assistance, guid-ance in the wake of difficultiesand problems faced by thepersons, who are quarantinedand further ensure that the per-sons, who have completedquarantine period, are releasedforthwith provided they havetested negative after complet-ing quarantine period andthere is no legal impediment inreleasing them.

As regards detention ofmembers of the TablighiJamaat, the state governmenthad informed the court that allthe 3001 Indians, who were themembers of the Tablighi Jamaatand were quarantined, hadbeen released after completingthe quarantine period.

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Three new corona patientshave been found in the dis-

trict here on Tuesday. With this,the total number of positivepatients in the district hasincreased to 190 and out ofthem, 123 have been dis-charged and four have died.There are 63 active patients.According to DistrictMagistrate (DM), 153 reportshave been received fromMicrobiology Lab of BHU and150 of them were negativewhile three positive. The neg-ative reports included follow-up of two patients being treat-ed at ESIC Hospital. Later,both these patients have beendischarged. They belong toSujabad and Hiramanpur.

Among the three patients,one youth (22) hails fromBhikhampur under Sewapuriblock (Kapsatti) who works ashelper at a hotel in Mumbaifrom where he returned recent-ly by a train. The second patient(45) is from Shooltankeshwar(Rohania). He works as wardRMO at Popular Hospital hereand the third patient (27) is aconstable of Traffic Police wholives at Barrack No. 6 andcame into contact of earlierfound positive cops.

Earlier, in the last eveninghours on Monday, two morecorona positive patients havebeen found in Varanasi. A

pregnant woman (28) who wasstaying at her maternal houseat Hanuman Phatak(Adampura) since March, hasbeen found positive. Her in-laws family lives in Panchloshiarea in the city. She is a house-wife and her father works atzari unit at Nati Imli. Herfather claimed that he did notattend his work site since theimposition of lockdown. Thesecond positive patient is amigrant (58) from Gharsona(Cholapur). He came here by atrain from Mumbai where hedrives an auto. He has beenadmitted to BHU Hospital.

The number of hotspotshas increased to 98 in the dis-trict with two new ones includ-ing Shooltankeshwar (Rohania)and Bhikhampur (Kapsatti)).Two more which were declaredhotspots earlier are Gharsona(Cholapur) and Hanuman

Phatak (Adampura). Out ofwhich 30 have become greenzones, while among the 68active hotspots, 31 are inorange zones, while 37 are inred zones.

In the district, as many asnew 156 samples were collect-ed during the day. Out of total6048 samples, the reports of5564 have been received, whileof 484 are awaited. Out ofreceived reports, 5374 werenegative and 190 positive.

Meanwhile, in this belt ofPurvanchal (eastern UP) com-prising 10 districts of threedivisions, five new patientshave been detected from Mauand with this, the number ofpatients in Mau has increasedto 39 with 28 active and out ofthem, 10 have been recoveredwhile one has died. InChandauli, two more newpatients have been found,

increasing the total number to24 with nine active as 14 havebeen discharged from the hos-pital, while one has died. In all,as many as 42 patients havebeen found in this region onMonday which included fivefrom Varanasi, 25 fromAzamgarh, five from Mau, twofrom Chandauli, three fromBallia and one each fromGhazipur and Jaunpur. InAzamgarh, the number ofpatients has increased to 119with 105 active as 12 have beenrecovered and two have died. InBallia, three new patients havebeen detected, increasing thenumber to 52 with 26 activeand 26 have been recovered.After finding of a new patientin Ghazipur, the number hasincreased to 123 with 55 activeand 68 have been recovered.

Earlier, in view to strength-en the police administration inthe district, a new police stationLalpur-Pandeypur was inaugu-rated by ADG (Zone) BrijBhushan.

The function was alsoattended by several other seniorpolice officers. The police sta-tion will work temporarily inthe building of Mandi Samiti,Pahadia and four outpostsincluding Pahadia, Pandeypur,Lalpur and District Jail will bepart of this police station.Dhananjya Pandey has beenappointed its first police stationincharge by the SSP.

KANPUR (PNS): Kanpur Development Authority will issue allot-ment letters of plots in its Mahavir Nagar Extension Scheme soon.OSD Alok Verma said the allotment letters would soon bedespatched to 877 allottees at their addresses. It may be recalledthat for the allotment of 1,091 plots at Mahavir Nagar, Jahnvi andBhagirathi Enclave Schemes, the KDA had drawn lottery in Marchlast. While the allotment letters for 214 plots in Bhagirathi andJahnvi Schemes were issued about a month ago, these could notbe sent to the allottees of Mahavir Nagar Extension Scheme.

Now, on the orders of KDA Secretary SP Singh, Joint SecretaryKK Singh has started preparing the allotment letter for allotteesof plots in the Mahavir Nagar Scheme. Verma said the allotteeswould be required to deposit the cost of the plot within 90 days.

During this period, if the entire cost of the plot is deposit-ed, the allottee will get a rebate of five per cent on the amount,exclusive of registry fee. The OSD said that the despatch of allot-ment letters for the plots in Bhagirathi and Jahnvi Schemes hadstarted after the district administration allowed KDA to resumework with 33 per cent staff. Meanwhile, the KDA will developGanga Vatika on 70 bigha land near the newly built Atal Ghatat the Ganga Barrage. It will be developed as a picnic and recre-ation spot. A proposal in this regard will be placed before themembers of the KDA Board for their approval in the board meet-ing which is likely to be held in the last week of this month.

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The row between LLRHospital and GSVM

Medical College took an uglyturn with the government seek-ing a report from KanpurNagar district administrationon a video clip of medical col-lege principal Dr AratiLalchandani that has goneviral.

District Magistrate BRTiwari is conducting andinquiry on the issue.

While Dr Lalchandaniclaimed that the video wasaround two months old, thecity’s chief cleric andSamajwadi Party MLA IrfanSolanki demanded arrest of themedical college principal andtermination of her services.

A delegation of Muslimclerics and intellectuals met thedistrict magistrate and pre-sented facts and the video andasked him to get it verified by

forensic and software experts.The Muslim intellectuals

from the medical college andmedical profession alsoexpressed concern over thestatements of the principal.They said even if the video wastwo months old, a principal ofa medical college did not havethe right to dub Tablighi Jamaatmembers as terrorist.

The principal is seen in thevideo saying that “theseJamaatis should be dumped injails and allowed to starve” andalso levelled charges of Muslimappeasement on the govern-ment.

A big segment of the med-ical college professionals havetermed the new controversy asa well planned move to makethe principal a scapegoat. Somealleged that the move to replacethe principal had already begunwith the posting of an assistantprincipal in the medical collegeand it was a row between the

medical college and LLRHospital and the video was atool used against her by a sec-tion of media.

Meanwhile, the Muslimcommunity along with the SPMLA have launched a cam-paign against the principal,demanding not only her termi-nation but also arrest forspreading communal hatredin society.

A prominent lawyer, NasirKhan, asked the DIG to lodgean FIR immediately against theprincipal. He said if this wasnot done, they would be forcedto seek justice from the judicia-ry.

With pressure being builtfrom both the sides, the gov-ernment is also under pressure.Ironically, despite severalrequests made to the principalto tender her unconditionalapology, she has refused toapologise and this has put thedistrict administration in a fix.

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Sixteen more persons testedpositive for coronavirus

infection in the district onTuesday.

Chief Medical Officer DrAK Shukla said on Tuesday that16 new coronavirus positivecases were detected inAnwarganj, Patara, Bilhaur,Shivrajpur, Sujatganj, DeputyKa Parao, Dufferin Hospital,Kakwan and Babupurwa, tak-ing the tally to 388.

He said two more COVID-19 deaths were also reported.

At present, there are 70active cases in the district.

The CMO said 127 teamsscanned 7,643 houses inMakhania Bazaar, Dalelpurwa,Jhandewali Gali Anwarganj,M Bloc of Kakadev, GovindNagar, Gopal Nagar and a fewmore city areas.

He said 424 swab sampleswere taken on Tuesday out ofwhich 120 were of migrantworkers and 67 of frontlineworkers.

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KANPUR (PNS): Doctors ofLLR Hospital (formerly HalletHospital) and JK CancerHospital were felicitated with‘Corona Yoddha’ title by SportFoundation and VishwasWelfare Association onTuesday.

The doctors honouredincluded GSVM MedicalCollege Principal, Dr ArtiLalchandani, JK CancerHospital Director Dr SNPrasad, Dr Pramod KumarSingh (JKCH), Dr VinayKatiyar (EMO, LLRH), DrSubodh Kumar Singh, DrMayank, Prof JS Kushwaha,

Prof Mahendra Singh, and ProfNeeraj Kumar of CardiologyHospital.

Office-bearers of both theorganisations, including JyotiShukla, Lakhan Shukla,Ambrish Gupta, Ritesh Tewari,Manu Bajpai and Anshi Shuklawere present.

LIU officer Sanjeev Dixitsaid these senior doctors con-tinued to discharge their dutieswithout caring for the threat totheir lives by the deadly coro-navirus. Patients of JK CancerHospital also praised the effortsof hospital medical staff, hesaid.

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In a daring incident threemotorcycle-borne riders

looted cash and ornamentsfrom a couple going on amotorcycle between Ghutaiand Pimpri under theMahobkanth police station on

Monday. The miscreantsthrashed the couple when theyprotested. According to areport received here, VasudevRajput, a resident of ParaRangoli village in Harpalpur,Madhya Pradesh, was going tohis village along with his wife,Parvati, from her parents’ place

in Majhgwa village inHamirpur. Around 1 pm whenthey near reached a culvert onthe Ghutai-Pimpri Marg underthe Mahobkant police stationthree motorcycle-borne youthsintercepted them and beforethey could understand any-thing, the miscreants snatched

the gold earrings, necklace and�4,000 from them at pistolpoint. CO Kulpahar and thepolice station inchargeMahobkanth reached the spot.Superintendent of PoliceManilal Patidar said that a teamhas been constituted and theculprits would be arrested soon.

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District Magistrate BandaAmit Singh Bansal said

that the Integrated ChildDevelopment Services (ICDS)had taken an initiative toenhance the immunity of chil-dren to fight Covid-19 andreduce malnutrition rateamong them. The DM told‘The Pioneer’ on Monday thatICDS had issued instructions toall nutrition agencies andorganisations to create unique plans to achieve the aim. DM

Bansal said that ICDS had alsoinstructed them not to distrib-ute packed child food and payspecial attention to the healthof newborn babies. DM saidthat instructions have also beenissued to women doctors toencourage breastfeeding by themothers to children up to firstsix months and give food alongwith mother’s milk after sixmonths. DM said that DirectorICDS Shatrughan Singh hadasked the health authorities toensure implementation of IMS

Act, 2003, strictly. DM said thatmother’s milk was essentialfor the development of childrenas it increased their resistancepower and kept them safe fromdiseases.

Bansal said that he haddirected CMO Dr SantoshKumar to issue instructions towomen doctors and child spe-cialists of the district to encour-age mothers to feed their ownmilk to the newborns to makethem physically and mentallystrong.

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Wheat purchase agenciesshould speed up the

work of wheat purchase fromthe farmers and ensure timelypayment to them. Theseinstructions were given to theauthorities concerned byCommissioner ChitrakootDham division Gaurav Dayal.at a meeting organised toreview the progress of wheatpurchase in Mayur Bhawan onMonday. Commissioner Dayalexpressed resentment overdelay in making payment to thefarmers by PCF. Dayal direct-ed regional manager PCF toensure timely payment to thefarmers against wheat pur-chase from them.Commissioner found duringthe review meeting that fooddepartment had purchased95007.176 metric tonne (MT)

of wheat in the entireChitrakootdham division.Commissioner expressed dis-satisfaction over non func-tional pulse purchase centre inHamirpur district and direct-ed PCF officials to start pulse

purchase centres at Rath andMaudaha within three days.Commissioner observed dur-ing this review meeting thatwheat was not delivered asper expectation in Mahobaand Banda districts.

Dayal instructed the pur-chase agencies to speed up thework of wheat delivery to FCI,particularly in Banda andMahoba, in order to ensure 90per cent delivery.Commissioner asked the divi-sional food commissioner toensure the availability of sackson the demand of farmers.

Commissioner directedpurchase authorities to inspectthe wheat purchase centresand ensure social distancingthere. Prominent among thosepresent during this reviewmeeting were AdditionalC o m m i s s i o n e r(Administration) ChandraShekhar, Divisional FoodController Sanjeev Kumar,Joint DevelopmentCommissioner RameshChandra Pandey and DeputyDirector, Information,Bhupendra Singh Yadav.

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Police apprehended threeaccused in connection with

a murder case on Tuesdaymorning.

The culprits were identifiedas Shalu, son of Kallu, Naim,son of Faiju Mohammad, andMalik, son of Pappu fromKalindri dhaba under Kalpikotwali, all natives ofBhattipura locality under Kalpipolice station. Police confis-cated a sword, three mobilephones etc which from the pos-session of the accused. A firstinformation report (FIR) underSections 302 and 201 of theIndian Penal Code (IPC) andSection 4/25 Arms Act.

Additional Superintendentof Police (ASP) Dr AwadheshSingh said that on September

15 last year they had receivedan application from the plain-

tiff, Amir, son of Aneesh,claiming that his elder broth-

er, Javed, was murdered by thenamed accused. He said thatthey had constituted two teamsunder the guidance of CircleOfficer (CO) Kalpi RahulPandey to investigate the case.One team was lead by S-IKamlesh Kumar (incharge sur-veillance) and other was led byinspector Manik Chandra Patel(incharge Kalpi police station).Both the teams came to thesame conclusion that thenamed accused were the cul-prits. On Tuesday they weretipped off by an informer thatthe accused were seen atKalindri Dhaba, Kalpi. Both theteams reached the spot andarrested the accused. He alsosaid that it was a planned mur-der which was committed dueto a dispute related to cash.

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Keeping in mind the Covid-19 infection the North

Eastern Railway (NER) admin-istration several effective effortsare being made to prevent andensure protection from it inwhich its employees areengaged wholeheartedly.Besides goods and parcel trains,Shramik Special trains are alsobeing operated for the past fewdays to take the migrant work-ers to their home place. Apartfrom it face masks and reliefmaterials are being distributedamong the needy people by therailwaymen in this situation.Railway workers who havedone commendable work arebeing honoured by beingdeclared ‘Corona warriors ofthe day’ every day by the NERadministration for boostingtheir morale. In the samesequence such railwaymen

were honoured on the NER onMay 31, Chief Public RelationsOfficer (CPRO) Pankaj KumarSingh said. Dr DinendraNarayan, working as the chiefhealth inspector at VaranasiCity station under AdditionalChief Medical Superintendent,

Varanasi, was ensuring con-tinuous sanitisation at VaranasiCity railway station and colonykeeping in mind the Covid-19pandemic. Apart from it he wasmaking commendable contri-bution in sending materials forsanitation to other stations and

colonies of the division. DrDinendra Narayan wasdeclared the ‘Corona Warriorof the day’ of Varanasi Divisionfor these commendable works.

Pradeep Kumar, whoworks as pointsman at Lalkuanstation, maintained four rakesof Covid-19 coaches during thelockdown period and got theplacement and withdrawals onthe pit done in a protectedmanner. He sent SharmikSpecial trains for pit test with-in the stipulated time. Apartfrom it he sent IOH/POHcoaches were cut and sent todesignated places. Even in thesecircumstances Pradeep Kumarperformed his duties in anexcellent manner keeping safe-ty in mind and was honouredby being declared the ‘Coronawarrior of the day’ ofIzzatnagar division. The railwayadministration was proud ofsuch railway personnel.

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Principal, GovernmentMedical College, Jalaun, Dr

Dwijendra Nath said that twowomen had recovered hadfrom Covid-19. He told ‘ThePioneer’ on Tuesday that onMay 20 they had sent the sam-ple of the patients. On May 21they had received the samplereport and two women hadtested positive. He also addedthat the families of both the

women were quarantined inmedical college campus inLevel-1 hospital and womenwere in the isolation ward.The women were aged 55 and30 years.

Both the women and theirfamily members appreciatedthe staff of the Medical Collegefor taking care of them.

Principal Medical CollegeDr Dwijendra Nath also gaveprescription to women andinstructed them to remain in

quarantine for two more weeksas per the guidelines by thestate government. Their fam-ily members thanked the prin-cipal of Medical College forproviding them proper treat-ment.

Meanwhile MedicalCollege staff garlanded both thewomen. Dr Manoj Verma, DrRavindra Rajpoot, Dr JitendraMishra, Dr Shailendra PratapSingh, matrons, Suman andAnita, and others were present.

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A59-year-old woman died ofelectric shock when she

came in contact with a table fanaround 10 am on Monday in ahouse located near ChadiBhatha trifurcation under theGola police station on Monday.The villagers immediatelyinformed the police about theincident. On getting the infor-mation, the personnel attachedto the Gola police stationreached the spot, took thebody of the deceased into cus-

tody and sent it for the post-mortem examination.According to informationreceived here, Revrati Devi(59), wife of late Khoob Lal, aresident of Bedoli gram sabhatouched the table fan in whichcurrent was flowing. As a resultshe died on the spot. On get-ting information about it peo-ple belonging to the nearbyareas rushed there but by thenshe had died. The villagersreported the matter to theGola police. On beinginformed S-Is Rajesh Yadav

and Alok Kumar Rai reachedthe spot. After completing allthe formalities the body of thevictim had sent for the post-mortem examination. On theother hand, the body of youthwith deep wounds near his faceand nose was found in Raptiriver near KalesarMokshadham under the Gidapolice station. Police tried toidentify the victim but when itsefforts ended in vain they sentit for an autopsy. Police suspectthat the body was thrown intothe river after the murder.

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The Chunar police arrestedan accused in a murder

case who carried a reward of�15,000 on his head. As per thereports received here, a casewas registered by Sahabuddinagainst Kutubuddin and twoothers, residents of Chunartown, for the murder of his wifelodged in the police station inMarch this year. Two accusedhad already had been sent to jailbut Kutubuddin was still at large.On being tipped off by an informerStation House Officer (SHO)Rajeev Mishra and his teamarrested the accused on Monday.

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A girl drowned in thereservoir of Sirsi Dam underthe Madihan police station.As per the reports receivedhere, Sangeeta (12), a residentof Ghori village, had gone tothe reservoir of Sirsi dam alongwith her friends when sheslipped and went into the areawhere the water was deep.When her friends raised analarm the locals gathered at thespot but she could not besaved. On the information thepolice reached the spot andcompleted the legal formalities.

Meanwhile a teenaged boy,Laxman Raidas (16), a residentof Mahamalpur village, wasfeared drowned in the Ganga

while bathing here. On gettinginformation the Kachhawanpolice reached the spot forcompleting the legal formali-ties.

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The Nagar Palika Parishad(NPP) shifted it’s head officefrom Ghantaghar to Laldiggiamidst the chanting of Vedicshlokas by scholars. It may bepointed out here that headoffice of Nagar Palika wasbeing run from the historicalbuilding of Ghantaghar tillnow. Keeping in mind the his-torical importance of the build-ing NPP chairman ManojJaiswal vacated it to pave theway for declaring it as histori-

cal monument. During thebrief inaugural function of thenew office rituals were per-formed by Dr Ram Lal Tripathiin the presence of ExecutiveOfficer (EO) Om Prakashalong with some members ofNagar Palika Parishad. Social

distancing was followed strict-ly on the occasion.

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A man was attacked by hiscousin in Kakarad village underthe Madihan police station.As per the reports, Ramji (35),a resident of Kakarad villagehad a quarrel with his wife onMonday and their cousin,Govind (30), went to pacifythem. Ramji said Govind hadattacked him with an axe andfled from the spot. The policeof Patehra outpost brought theinjured to the PHC situated inPatehra from where he wasreferred to district hospital fortreatment. Till filing of thereport no case had been regis-tered at the police station.

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In order to help the needypeople the Police-PublicAnnapoorna Bank provided300 lunch packets, 23 kgwheat/flour and 23 kg rice tothem on Monday. During thelockdown it helped 8,26,207people through 1,57,052 lunchpackets, 28,145 kg wheat/flour,40,389 kg. rice, 4,892 kg pulse,14,876 kg potato, 52 kg sugar,1,268 litres of edible oil, 2,287 kgsalt and 4,009 kg fruits and veg-etables. The bank earned appre-ciation from every section of thesociety.

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The Bhira police arrested acriminal following an

encounter in the forest ofHasimtanda village under theBhira police station here. Thecriminal, Vishal alias Chaman,son of Bhojraj, a resident ofMaksoodpur village under theJalesar police station in Etahdistrict on whose head a rewardof �15,000, had beenannounced by Mathura police,opened fire on the police dur-ing the encounter. However, themen in khaki had a narrowescape. The police recovered apistol of 315 bore from his pos-session. Station Officer saidthat case under the Arms Actwas pending against Vishal inEtah district, case of loot in anarea under the Vrindavan policestation in Mathura and severalcriminal cases in Kheri.BhiraStation Officer Pradeep KumarSingh said that the miscreanthad been sent to jail.

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A woman who was going

to market was bitten by a snakewhile on the way.

According to a reportreceived here, Gomti Devi (50),a resident of Bankeyganj town,was going to the market fromher house when the snake bither. When her family memberscame to know about the mat-ter they took her to the com-munity health centre inBankeyganj and Gola fromhwere the doctors on dutyreferred her to the district hos-pital for treatment in view ofher critical condition. However,she died before she could reachthere.

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The body of villager hang-ing from a tree in Padri villageunder the MohammadiKotwlai here recently. On get-ting information the policerushed to the spot, took thebody of the victim into custodyand sent it for the post-mortemexamination.According to areport received here,Ramsevak, a resident of Padrivillage, in his application given

to the men in khaki stated thathis father, Basant (68) wasmentally stressed and wentout of the house. When he didnot return home till late atnight they all became anxiousand launched a hectic searchfor tracing his whereaboutsbut all their efforts ended invain. Late at night they gotinformation from someonethat a body was found hangingin the forest situated close toImlia Ghat.

When he reached there heidentified the body as that ofhis father, Basant, a resident ofPadri village, Ramsevak said.On getting information thepolice station incharge, ManishPathak, reached the spot, gotthe body of the deceased downand sent it for the post-mortemexamination after the panch-nama.

Inspector MohammdiSanjay Tyagi said that the bodywas found hanging in the for-est from a tree and it had beensent for the post-mortemexamination. He said that legalaction would be taken after get-ting a medical report.

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One person was killed whenhe was knocked down by

an unidentified vehicle onShahjahanpur-MohammdiRoad near Machcheha villageunder the Pasgawan Kotwalihere recently. According to areport received here, ReshamPal Singh (50), who was goingon a bicycle was knocked downby an unidentified vehicle as a

result of which he was seriouslyinjured. On getting informationhe was rushed to the commu-nity health centre (CHC) situ-ated in Mohammadi on a 108ambulance where he suc-cumbed to his injuries duringtreatment. The kotwali policesent the body of the deceasedfor the post-mortem examina-tion after a panchnama.Pasgawan inspector inchargeAdarsh Kumar Singh said that

the deceased Resham Singhwas a resident of Khurja inBulandshar and a former mil-itary man. He had gone to hisrelative’s place but the areawas not clear.

On the other hand, phar-macist deployed in PHC atChandan Chowki RaeesAhmad had gone toLakhimpur on his car for get-ting some medicines. While hewas returning home from there

around 5 pm his vehicle wentout of control on the Raptabridge and then rammed intoa tractor trolley coming fromthe opposite direction. Thepharmacist was seriouslyinjured in the incident. His cartoo was badly damaged in thecollision. He was admitted tothe CHC. Owing to the acci-dent the movement of traffic onthe road was disrupted for along time.

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Twenty quintals of food-grains sent by

Superintendent of PoliceHemant Kutiyal was 20 dis-tributed among the poor andhelpless persons by the Baluapolice station incharge SanjayKumar Singh on Monday. Incollaboration with AnnapurnaBank as many as 200 poor andhelpless people were given food-grains in dozens of villages,including Balua, Kaithi, Sonhulapond, Mathela, Jagarnathpur,Marufpur, Ramgan, Nadi,Nidhaura and Sahepur. Thepolice station incharge made anappeal to people to wear masksand use sanitiser.

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As many as 12 personswere injured when two groupsattacked one another inBikapur village under theChakia Kotwali on Mondayafternoon in which sticks wereused. The injured were treatedat the joint hospital. On theother hand, the police have reg-istered a case following com-plaints lodged by both thegroups and was engaged in fur-ther action. Narad Maurya andRamchal Maurya, residents ofBikapur village in the thedevelopment block, had a long-standing dispute over land.On Monday they was an argu-ment over it. The matter soontook an ugly turn, and a fightensued between both the sides.

The injured from both thegroups included Mahanand,Rajnath, Premi, Rohit, Mohit,Narad, Deepak, Chandrabhanand others. On getting infor-mation the Kotwali policereached the spot and rushedthe injured to the district jointhospital and got them treated.Chakia inspector RahmatullahKhan said that a case has beenfiled against six people fromboth sides and further actionwas being taken.

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The Jayant area of NorthernCoalfields Limited (NCL)

handed over 335 kits of ration,1,500 masks and 200 sanitisersto Singrauli administration,which will be distributedamong the needy people resid-ing in the district.

It may be pointed out herethat under Corporate SocialResponsibility (CSR) the Jayantarea has distributed a total of2000 kits of ration, 6,000 masksand 135 sanitisers so far.

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One person was killed whena tractor suddenly went

out of control and overturnedinto a roadside ditch under theSisolar police station.According to the police,Devavrat alias Sunil (32), a res-ident of Sisolar village, diedwhen his tractor was sudden-ly overturned on Budhai turnroad and he died after he wasburied under it. The incidentwas reported to the Sisolarpolice and took out his body.

Meanwhile due to familyfeud more than half-a-dozenpeople tried to commit suicideby gulping some poisonoussubstance. Reports said Ruby(27), a resident of Bangra vil-lage under the Chikasi policestation, Raja Bharti (27), son ofMunna, a resident of Ramlila inRath, Chandwati (40), a resi-dent of Kushmilya village,Saurabh (22), resident of Rath,Bandana (25), a resident Pabaivillage under Jariya police sta-tion and others tried to com-mit suicide by gulping sometoxic substance due to familyfeud. When their conditionworsened their families admit-ted them to the Rath CHCwhere they were given prima-ry treatment.

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Arobber, involved in a case ofloot of 73 kg silver in Chowk

in September 2017 and wanted inGangster Act since 2019, wasnabbed on Tuesday. He was bear-ing a cash reward of Rs 25,000 onhis arrest. The accused, identifiedas JK Rana aka Jitendra ofRajasthan, was arrested on a tip-off from his home village inRajasthan by a team of Chowkpolice. ADCP (West) VikasTripathi said the accused and hisaides had looted the silver froman Agra-based jeweller RiteshKumar Soni on September 5,2017. A case of dacoity was reg-istered on the complaint of Soniand the police had arrested threeof Rana’s aides — HarishchandraSharma, Rajesh Sharma and

Sooraj Sharma (all three ofRajasthan) — in the past.Harishchandra worked as jew-eller’s manager.

Ritesh, along with his driverChandra Prakash and managerHarishchandra, had visitedChowk Sarrafa market for pur-chase of silver ornaments. He pur-chased 73.48 kg silver and was onway to his hometown when hewas robbed at the gun-point.Probe revealed the involvement ofHarishchandra and the policenabbed him and recovered thebooty. During interrogation, theaccused had disclosed the nameof Rana and a team had conduct-ed raids but Rana absconded as hegot a whiff of police action. Hewas later arrested and released onbail. The police later booked himunder Gangster Act.

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Police on Tuesday arrestedan accused who was want-

ed for about two years in con-nection with a gangrape case.Seven accused were named inthe case and the police hadarrested six of them earlier.The accused, identified asArjun Pasi of Thakurganj,was the last accused named inthe gangrape which took placein 2018 and the case was reg-istered on May 15, 2018.

An investigation of thecase exposed the name ofArjun and the evidence cor-roborated his involvement inthe crime. The police arrest-ed six of the accused one afteranother but Arjun remainedelusive. “Arjun went into ahiding after he came to knowthat his name had figured inthe crime and was abscondingsince then,” the ThakurganjSHO said, adding that Arjunwas booked under sections364/366/376 D/506 of IPCand also under POCSO Act.

Meanwhile, thieves madeoff with cash and ornamentsworth lakhs of rupees from ahouse in Indira Nagar. Theincident came to light after thehouse owner returned onMonday and found the locks

on the gate broken. As perreports, Suraj Singh of IndiraNagar (sector 10) left for hishome town in Azamgarh onApril 29. His family is inAzamgarh since March 23and all of them are still stay-ing there. On Monday, Surajreturned home and foundthe locks broken and hishouse burgled.

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A constable deployed insecurity of a political partyleader thrashed a rickshaw-puller in full public view inHazratganj. Police said theywere searching for the victimand would take action againstthe accused. A video of thevictim lying on ground withblood oozing out from hismouth went viral on socialmedia. Hazratganj SHOSantosh Singh said the teamswere searching for the victim.Sources said the the rickshawrammed into an SUV as thedriver erred. “The gunnergot down from the SUV andthrashed rickshaw-puller.Someone made a video andshared in it social mediagroups. The police found outthe registration number of theSUV,” the sources said.

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With state leaders dividedover taking to the streets

and press for the release ofincarcerated UP Congress chiefAjay Kumar ‘Lallu’, CongressLegislative Party leaderAradhana Mishra ̀ Mona, whileterming Lallu’s arrest as illegal,announced that the partywould soon launch a cam-paign to expose the anti-poormindset of the Yogi Adityanathgovernment.

Interestingly, Congress gen-eral secretary Priyanka GandhiVadra’s personal secretarySandeep Singh, who did all cor-respondence with UP govern-ment on providing 1,000 busesthat later led to registration ofa case, has been nowhere in thepicture after Lallu’s arrest. Thegovernment too did not seeminterested in arresting Singhafter Lallu. Even as Singh wasattending office at UPCC head-quarters in Lucknow, barely akilometre from Hazratganjpolice station, no efforts were

made by Lucknow Police toarrest him. However the samepolice rushed to Agra to takeLallu into custody. Addressingmedia persons, flanked by for-mer minister NaseemuddinSiddiqui, in Lucknow onTuesday, Mona said thatCongress would organise a‘Maha Abhiyan’ to highlight theillegal way adopted to jail Lallu.

Although his bail plea wasdismissed by sessions court, theCongress reposed full faith inthe judiciary and hoped that thestate party chief would get jus-tice. Attacking the Yogi govern-ment, Mona asked what was thecrime of Lallu, who maderation and food available tolakhs of needy and helpedthousands of workers in return-ing to their homes.

“Buses were arranged sothat the migrant workers’ agonycould be minimised,” theCongress leader said.“Frustrated by this act of help,the Yogi government madefalse cases against over 90 lead-ers of Congress, including

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s per-sonal secretary Sandeep Singh.Fake cases and jail will not beable to stop acts of help,” sheaverred. “We are playing the roleof a responsible opposition butthe Yogi government is showingan anti-poor mindset and polit-ical malice. Congress will launcha ‘Maha Abhiyan’ against jailingLallu illegally. We will take ourmessage to every village andhelp people,” the Congressleader asserted. Meanwhile,party sources claimed thatCongress leaders were notannouncing to take to the streetsto protest the arrest as a largesection of them were unhappywith Lallu and Priyanka as theyignored them while selecting theUPCC and district level office-bearers. During previous stirsled by Lallu, only a handful ofCongress leaders turned upunder him and now that Lalluneeds support to pressure thegovernment for his release,leaders are avoiding a big agita-tion as they are not sure of itssuccess.

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Lucknow (PNS): The secondphase of e-lottery for theallotment of shops sellingdesi liquor, IMFL, beer andbhang in retail will be heldon June 6. The last date foronline submission of applica-tions will be up to 5 pm inLucknow on June 4. In a let-

ter issued to district magis-trates by the excise commis-sioner office, it was statedthat since people were facinga lot of problems in submit-ting the applications due tolockdown, the last date wasextended.

President of Liquor

Sellers Welfare AssociationKL Maurya welcomed thedecision and said the appli-cants would get enough timefor the formalities for onlineapplication. He said the deci-sion would help those whocould not submit the applications.

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���������������'�����;����������Lucknow (PNS): Deputy CMDinesh Sharma said onTuesday that the evaluationwork of the UP Board had

been completed and the resultswould be declared in the lastweek of June. The exams wereconducted from February 18 toMarch 3 and the evaluationwork started on March 16.

9��� ���$��� +������Lucknow (PNS): A woman constable hanged herself to death,reportedly due to depression, at her rented house in Auraiyaon Tuesday. As per reports, Shalu Giri (22) joined the UP Policeas a constable in 2019 and was posted at Vidhuna police sta-tion in Auraiya and used to live in a rented house in Kishoreganjarea. She got married in December and her sister Shalu alsoworks as a police constable and is posted in Lucknow. OnTuesday morning, constable Swati called up Superintendentof Police Auraiya, Suniti, expressing apprehension that some-thing might have happened to her sister as she was not respond-ing on her phone. A team was rushed to Shalu’s house whichfound her hanging from the ceiling. A suicide note was alsofound which said that no one was to be blamed for her move.

Lucknow (PNS): AKTUwill take disciplinaryaction against studentsposting abusive and vulgarcomments on its officialsocial media platforms. Itwas resolved in the 61stmeeting of AKTU acade-mic council, which washeld through video-con-ferencing on Tuesdayunder the chairmanship ofVice-Chancellor VKPathak.

“If students makeobscene and vulgar com-ments on the official socialmedia platforms of thetechnical university, theymust compulsorily takeup a 15-day course inhuman values. Also, dur-ing summer and winterholidays, they will have togo to rural areas and helpin social work for amonth,” AKTU mediaspokesperson AsheeshMishra said.

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MADHYANCHALVIDYUT VITRANNIGAM LIMITEDHEAD OFFICE 4-

A, GOKHLE MARG LUC-KNOW. DATE EXTENSIONNOTICE The date of Tendersubmission and Technical Bid(Part-I) opening for supply of LTAluminium Cable 1x240 Sq.mm, 1x400 Sq.mm & 1x630Sq.mm. against T.S. No.MEDCO/ 2499/2020 is beingextended as per details givenbelow:- Sl. No. 1, T.S. No.MEDCO/2499/2020 Last Date& Time for Bid Submission10.06.2020 till 13:00 hrs.,Technical Bid opening Date &Time (Part-I) 11.06.2020 after14:00 hrs. Please visit websitehttps://etender.up.nic.in for fur-ther details, Corrigendum/Amendment and further up todate details before submissionand date of opening of bids. Allother terms and conditions shallremain unchaged. Super-intending Engineer (MM-I)No.: 113, Date 2.6.20, "SaveElectricity & Use LED Bulbsin place of Bulbs in nationinterest, Helpline No. 1800-1800-440/1912

MADHYANCHALVIDYUT VITRANNIGAM LIMITEDHEAD OFFICE 4-

A, GOKHLE MARG LUC-KNOW. DATE EXTENSIONNOTICE The date of Tendersubmission and Technical Bid(Part-I) opening for supply of 33KV 3x120 Sq. MM XLPE cableagainst T.S. No. MEDCO/2488/2020 is being extended asper details given below:- Sl. No.1, T.S. No. MEDCO/2488/2020Last Date & Time for BidSubmission 10.06.2020 till13:00 hrs., Technical Bid open-ing Date & Time (Part-I)11.06.2020 after 14:00 hrs.Please visit websitehttps://etender.up.nic.in for fur-ther details, Corrigendum/Amendment and further up todate details before submissionand date of opening of bids. Allother terms and conditions shallremain unchaged. Super-intending Engineer (MM-I)No.: 114, Date 2.6.20, "SaveElectricity & Use LED Bulbsin place of Bulbs in nationinterest, Helpline No. 1800-1800-440/1912

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Nearly 200 migrant work-ers lost their lives in road

accidents in the country dur-ing the two-and-a-halfmonths of COVID-19 lock-down. Uttar Pradesh report-ed the highest number of vic-tims at 94 followed by 38 roadfatalities in Madhya Pradeshand 16 in Bihar.

While Telangana report-ed 11 deaths, Maharashtrareported nine migrants losingtheir lives on road or high-ways. The migrant workerslost their lives while walkingor cycling back home amongothers.

The 200 migrants’ deathson roads are part of the total750 people killed in roadcrashes across the countrybetween March 25 and May31, 2020. As many as 1,390persons were reported injuredin the crashes.

The data compiled usingmedia-tracking and multi-source verification by a road

safety organisation and sub-mitted to Road Ministry hasalso listed 1,390 peopleinjured in road crashes.

Even in the total roadfatality of lockdown period,Uttar Pradesh accounts forover 30 percent (245) of thetotal deaths followed byTelangana (56), Madhya

Pradesh (56), Bihar (43),Punjab (38) and Maharashtra(36).

Further analysis by SaveLife Foundation, a non-profit stakeholders work-ing towards saving lives onroads in India, reveals thataround 27 percent of the vic-tims were migrant workers

whereas 5 percent were essen-tial workers like Police, doc-tors, and others. 68 percent ofthe overall deaths involvedpedestrians, two-wheelers andthree-wheelers – categorisedas Vulnerable Road Users(VRUs).

“One of the recurring rea-sons for mass casualties in

most of the incidents wasspeeding and driver fatiguedue to continuous driving ontenuous routes.

Fatigue among bus andtruck drivers hired to trans-port migrants combined withover speeding and poor engi-neering of roads top reasonfor road crash deaths,”

explained a senior RoadMinistry official.

Founder and CEO of SaveLife Foundation, PiyushTewari, said the data suggeststhat there has been a surge inroad crashes with lifting of therestrictions across the Statesin Phase III and Phase IV.

Out of the four phases of

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Notwithstanding the eco-nomic slowdown in the

wake of outbreak of coron-avirus, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on Tuesdaysaid India would get its growthback, which, he asserted, “is notdifficult after all”.

“Getting growth back isour motto too as we reopen theeconomy. India will get itsgrowth back,” said Modi in avideo address to theConfederation of IndianIndustry's (CII) 125th annualsession.

Stating that the revival ofeconomy is one of the top pri-orities for the Government, thePrime Minister sought to pointout that his Government wastaking key decisions with focuson inclusiveness, investment,innovation and widening ofinfrastructure in the country.All sectors are future-readyand India is “ready for a bigflight”, Modi maintained.

“There are so many sectorswhere we can do phenome-nally well on the world stage,”Modi said while speaking of an“Atmanirbhar Bharat”—hiscampaign to reduce India’sdependence on foreign goods.“Atmanirbhar Bharat meanswe will be fully integratedwith the world and fully sup-portive. However, alwaysremember, we do not want tobe dependent on others.”

“Coronavirus may haveimpeded our speed, but thereality today is that we haveleft the lockdown phasebehind and now are in theUnlock 1.0 phase. Trust me,getting growth back is not sodifficult after all,” he said.

The Modi Governmenthad on Saturday said rules toease the lockdown had an“economic focus” and wouldallow places of worship, hotels,restaurants and malls toresume business from June 8.

The Prime Minister saidafter a successful lockdown,India is opening major sectorsof economy and after June 8more areas would be re-opened.

Indian economy whichwas already in a slowdownmood with high unemploy-ment rate has been hit hardfollowing March 24 announce-ment of the lockdown withalmost all sectors of economyforced to shut themselves.Unemployment rate is reported to be over 20 per centafter the outbreak ofCoronavirus with several sec-

tors resorting to retrenchmentand job cuts.

Prime Minister said thegovernment has taken toughsteps to fight the coronaviruspandemic and has also takencare of the economy

“On the one hand we haveto save lives of our people andon the other hand we have tostabilise and speed up theeconomy," he said.

Modi said his confidenceof getting India’s growth backemanates from the high spir-it and courage of farmers,small businesses and entre-preneurs and their talents.

He said along with thedecisions for immediategrowth major reforms havebeen set for the future devel-opment.

“For us, reforms are notany random or scattered deci-sions. For us reforms are sys-temic, planned, integrated,inter-connected and futuristicprocess," he said.

“For us reforms meancourage to take decisions andtaking them to logical con-clusion”, Prime Ministersought to add.

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Horticulture crops such asfruits and vegetables are at

risk of a washout in the wakeof locusts’ attack in six States.Fruits and vegetables accountfor nearly 90 per cent of totalhorticulture production in thecountry.

Rajasthan, Maharashtra,Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradeshand Gujarat, cumulatively con-tribute 38 per cent to India's 310million tonnes of horticultureproduction in 2018-19.Vegetables, on the other hand,constitute 59 per cent of the hor-ticulture and these five statestogether had a share of 39 percent in the production.

However, as per theMinistry of Agriculture's secondadvance estimates released onTuesday, horticulture produc-tion in 2019-20 is still expectedto be 3.13 percent higher than2018-19. Horticulture has anumber of advantages com-pared with agriculture crops.For one, it’s more remunerative.Unlike large-scale cereal crops,horticulture farms can be muchsmaller, allowing marginalfarmers to boost their earningsfrom their small landholdings.While horticulture crops requiremore inputs in the form of fer-

tilisers and so on, farmers oftenplant two or three crops simul-taneously to maximise yieldfrom each acre.

The Total HorticultureProduction of the country isestimated to be 320.48 milliontonnes as compared to 310.74Million Tonne in 2018-19.

Increase in Vegetables,Fruits, Aromatic and MedicinalPlants and Flowers, whiledecrease in Plantation Cropsand Spices, over previous year,has been observed. Onion,Tomato and Potato’s productionis also expected to increase thisyear. This will help to keepprices under control across

India. As per theestimates, thetotal fruits pro-duction is esti-mated to be99.07 milliontonne comparedto 97.97 milliontonnes produc-tion in 2018-19.It is mainly dueto increase inproduction ofBanana, Apple,Citrus andWatermelon.

The produc-tion ofVegetables in

2019-20 is estimated to be191.77 million tonne, com-pared to 183.17 Million Tonnein 2018-19. Increase is mainlydue to increased production ofOnion, Tomato, Okra, Peas andPotato.

The onion production isestimated to be 26.74 milliontonne, as compared to 22.82million tonnes in 2018-19.Tomato production is estimat-ed to be 20.57 million tonne(increase of 8.2%) as comparedto 19.01 million tonnes in 2018-19. Mango production is esti-mated to decline to 20444 mil-lion tonnes as compared to21285 million tonnes last year.

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lockdown, phase IV was thedeadliest overall, whereasphase III was the deadliest inpart icular for migrant workers which reported 60percent of all migrant deathsin road crashes during lock-down followed by phase IVwith 19 percent of totalmigrant deaths reported inthe media. “It is critical that

States enhance enforcementto prevent road crashes andthe citizens inculcate essential safety habits for the road likethey did for personal hygieneduring the lockdown.

There is now an urgentneed for design changes tosegregate pedestrian trafficfrom fast moving vehicles"Tewari said.

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As migrant workers reach theirhomes in rural and urban areas,

the Government is now using prima-ry health centres too as platforms forconducting Covid-19 tests with theIndian Council of Medical Research(ICMR) saying that on an average 1.20-lakh tests are being conducted daily.This even as the ICMR denied that thecountry has started witnessing com-munity transmission as alleged bysome health groups in the country.

Senior scientist at the ICMRNivedita Gupta said that "indigenous

platforms" are being used too for"ramping up Covid-19 testing capaci-ty”. “Truenat screening and confirma-tory tests have now been validated.Outreach of testing has hence beenincreased since this is available in pri-mary health centres and districts," shesaid.

Gupta added that, "Indian RNAextraction kits are now available ingood number, RT-PCR kits by 11-12indigenous vendors are now beingused, we are now in a comfortable posi-tion with respect to ttesting, due toidentification and hand-holding ofdomestic players.”

She also pointed out that 681 labsare conducting tests currently. “Atleast , 681 laboratories have beenapproved for conducting COVID-19tests. Of these, 476 are in the gov-ernment sector and 205 in privatesector, as of 1 June 2020. Today, weare conducting 1 lakh 20 thousandtests every day," she added.

Commenting on whether Indiahas entered the community trans-mission phase, Gupta said, "Insteadof using the word community trans-mission, it is important to understandthe extent of spread of the disease andwhere do we stand in comparison

with other countries.""We are very far away from the

peak. Our preventive measures tocurtail the disease are very effectiveand we are better positioned in com-parison with other countries. You will get to see the datain a week," she asserted.

Recently, a group of healthexperts had in their report submit-ted to Prime Minister NarendraModi had said that India is witness-ing community transmission in fewareas and if not contained in timecan result in vast spread of the dis-ease.

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The CBI has booked a pri-vate company based here

and its directors for hostingcontents online relating tochild sex abuse. Searches bythe agency against the accusedfirm yielded electronic devicesand other incriminating mate-rials. The agency conuctedsearches after it registered acase against a private compa-ny based at Paschim Vihar inthe national capital and its

Directors and unknown per-sons under the InformationTechnology Act, 2000 and rel-evant provisions of Protectionof Children from SexualOffences (POCSO) Act, 2012.

“It has been alleged thatthe said company hosted web-sites of Russian domain con-taining objectionable materi-al pertaining to child sexualabuse. The case involves thealleged jurisdiction of India,Netherlands and RussianFederation as of now vis-à-vis

the location of servers, facilitationof hosting of objectionablematerial and owner of the objec-tionable contents,” the agencysaid in a statement. Searches wereconducted at the residence-cum-office premises of the accusedincluding a private company andits Directors in Delhi which ledto recovery of electronic devicesand incriminating documents/material, the spokespersonadded.

As the Narendra ModiGovernment 2.0 completed itsfirst year in office after his spec-tacular return to power in the2019 Lok Sabha election, there

has been much debate about its balancesheet since it first assumed office in 2014.While Prime Minister Narendra Modi’spolitical enemies relentlessly bombard thesocial media with criticism of hisGovernment’s performance, recent surveyshave shown that they have not been ableto make a dent in his public image.Instead, his popularity is soaring with hisapproval ratings crossing 80 per cent afterthe lockdown steps he took to tackle theCOVID-19 pandemic.

Some nations, including the mostdeveloped, fumbled and stumbled as theywaded through the human tragedy unfold-ing in their communities. Others likeBrazil, Sweden and the US (initially) madeterrible choices that led to a huge loss oflife and lack of preparedness with regardto healthcare. On the other hand, India, theworld’s second-most populous nation,decided to confront the problem head-on.Prime Minister Modi took the lead andenforced a nation-wide lockdown fromMarch 25, persisted with this mode of“treatment” for nine weeks and extendedit by another four weeks. Meanwhile, hehad a hands-on approach towards energis-ing the healthcare system, tackling phar-ma-related issues and coordinating withvarious Chief Ministers through fort-nightly meetings.

For those of us who grew up in an Indiawhose leaders lacked the nerve to call aspade a spade (slogans such as Hindi ChiniBhai Bhai in 1962 even as the Chinese weremarching in), Modi’s resoluteness is in con-trast to the vacillation of the Nehru era.This has indeed been the running themeduring his six years in office and has result-ed in a sea change in the way the worldviews India. It has also resulted in majorinitiatives with respect to domestic policies.For example, former Prime Minister IndiraGandhi had raised the slogan of GaribiHatao (banish poverty) at public meetingsduring the 1970s. But concrete stepstowards poverty alleviation — for exam-ple the Jan Dhan Yojana (JDY) enablingdirect cash transfer; a scheme to issue freecooking gas connections to the poorest ofthe poor; and the construction of toiletsand electrification of their homes — werevisible only after Modi took charge. Withina year of the launch, 330 million new bankaccounts (the current population of the US)were opened under the JDY in the coun-try. Similarly, the Government providedfree gas connections to 80 million poorhouseholds in a strictly monitored time-bound programme. These are mind-bog-gling numbers which Western minds finddifficult to comprehend.

Two other big-ticket issues, which have

had a major social and econom-ic impact, are the banning oftriple talaq and the introductionof the Goods and Services Tax(GST). With 42 political partiesgoverning 28 States, few leaderswould have contemplated GST,the single tax regime, and fewerstill would have had the gump-tion to pull it off. As regardsnational security, the surgicalstrikes and the no-nonsenseapproach to the Kashmir issueare further examples of tough-ness. After COVID-19 disrupt-ed our lives, the Prime Ministerannounced a �20 lakh crorepackage to provide some reliefto those in great distress. Thecentral idea of this package is tomake India self-reliant(Atmanirbhar Bharat).

Over the last six years, frus-tration has, therefore, beengrowing in “The Establishment”in New Delhi, comprisingNehruvians, with the Marxistsriding piggy-back on them.Together, they constitute a cosyclub which spreads its wingsacross politics, bureaucracy,media, academia and all nation-al institutions. In fact, the stran-glehold of the Marxists over ournational affairs is wholly illegit-imate because people nevergave them the mandate to do so(in the 2019 Lok Sabha poll, thetwo main communist parties —the CPI and the CPM — gar-nered just 2.36 per cent of thevote).

The fate of the Congress issimilar. Its voteshare has

slumped from 45 per cent inthe 1970s to 19.70 per cent lastyear. Therefore, 2014 waswatershed because it put an endto the illegitimate hold of theNehruvians and the Marxistson the nation’s administration.The Lutyens’ club, which hadhollowed out the Indian Statewith its doublespeak and pusil-lanimity, suddenly found itselfdisplaced. Members of thisclub were aghast when thefinal tally of the 2014 electionemerged, giving Modi’s BJP aclear majority in the Lok Sabha.

They live in an echo cham-ber and as the 2019 Lok Sabhapoll drew nearer, they were allperked up as they shared opin-ions among themselves, givingModi just 160-180 seats in thenew House. In view of thedefeat of the BJP in theAssembly polls in Rajasthan,Madhya Pradesh andChhattisgarh, they believedthat he would not be able torecover ground, forgetting thatover the last three decades,there is substantial evidence toshow that the voters think dif-ferently in State and nationalelections.

When the results startedpouring in on May 23, 2019,and the BJP on its own crossedthe 300 mark, there was deafen-ing silence in this echo cham-ber. One could have heard a pindrop. As is his wont, Modidecided to carry forward hisagenda without any loss of timeand within months of his return,

he decided to undo Nehru’sdecision of according a specialstatus to Jammu & Kashmir.Then came the Supreme Court’sverdict in the RamJanmabhoomi case, whichended a controversy that wasallowed to fester for politicalgains but the consequence ofwhich had long been inter-nalised by all parties concerned.

Modi’s opponents may nothave seen merit in anything hehas done so far. Theirs is just alitany of complaints and, there-fore, they suffer from a majorcredibility deficit. They standguilty of consistent unreason-ableness and that is why theyare unable to sell their wares.The reason: Their intentionsare suspected.

As far as Modi is con-cerned, the only explanation isthat for the large mass of peo-ple, his intentions (neeyat)seem unquestionable and suc-cesses are many. As everyoneknows, no one is infallible.Modi himself drew the peoples’attention to this truism in hisopen letter the other day whenhe said, “I may have some defi-ciency but the country does nothave any.” In other words, theverdict of the majority is neey-at saaf hai (his intentions aregood). So long as this is thecase, there is nothing his oppo-nents can do to unsettle him.

(The writer is an authorspecialising in democracy studies. Views expressed are personal.)

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Sir — Many children keep devel-oping irreversible back deformi-ties because of the weight oftheir school bags which theycarry to their classes every day.Despite the Children’s SchoolbagAct, 2006, which states thatsatchels should not weigh morethan 10 per cent of the bodyweight of the student, many stu-dents regularly carry heavy bagsto school. Experts say these cancause muscle soreness as well asback and neck pain.

Children gradually lose inter-est in going to school due to thestress caused and their attentionspan also gets reduced. As text-books constitute a major propor-tion of the weight of the bag andthe teachers take up only a partof the textbook in a month, thepublishers could separate the bigtextbook into thin booklets,which will make the load lighterfor the children. Schools canprovide lockers where the stu-dents can keep their books so thatthey don’t have to carry themhome daily and bring them backthe next day.

Jubel D’CruzMumbai

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Sir — Mahatma Gandhi had oncesaid, “The best way to find your-self is to lose yourself in the ser-vice of others.” Employers andworkers often work hand-in-hand

to accomplish greater results. Inview of this, it is sad that rational-ising labour laws has been on pol-icy agenda for decades. Yet, labourreforms haven’t taken off even dur-ing the pandemic. A number ofStates have now embarked on thispolitically contentious course

again. Such reforms, coming at atime of acute economic distressand labour insecurity, must striveto build adequate safety nets forthem and provide them withfixed-term employment.

Kashish MulaniUjjain

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Sir — In his letter to the nation tomark his first year of the secondterm in office, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi wrote: “This day(May 30) last year began a gold-en chapter in the history of Indiandemocracy. It was after severaldecades that the people of thecountry voted back a full-termGovernment with a full majority.”Undoubtedly, among those whovoted for the Modi Government,many are innocent and not soeducated people, who look toother crooked politicians for guid-ance with false hope.

This is a fact. The most glar-ing example of this was whenPrime Minister Modi said about70 days back, “Mahabharata waswon in 18 days we shall winCorona war in 21 days”. But onthe 67th day of the country’s lock-down, not only has India’sCoronavirus death toll overtakenthat of China but the country nowranks seventh in the global tallyof COVID-19 cases.

Bidyut Kumar ChatterjeeFaridabad

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After the extended lockdown necessitatedby the need to contain the spread of thedeadly Coronavirus in the country, the

process of kick-starting the economy has nowcommenced in a phased manner. As it is theIndian economy was in the doldrums even beforethe pandemic hit the nation, making the lock-down that commenced from March 25 a hardchoice for the Narendra Modi-led BJPGovernment at the Centre, which was caughtbetween a rock and a hard place. Now, as vari-ous sectors of the economy are slowly opened upto save livelihoods, the logistics supply chain,which was in a suspended state for most of thecommodities for more than 60 days, needs to gearup to function again.

However, given the fact that we have beenunable to flatten the COVID curve as yet andinstead have seen a surge in Coronavirus casesand deaths across the country, which has corre-sponded with the opening up of the economy,we have to rethink our operating processes.

The mode of operation of the supply chainsmay need to be tweaked now as cargo trans-porters may have to bypass normal or the short-est routes they usually take as they may be outof bound due to their location in containmentzones, a place where all activities are disallowed.Moreover, the entire logistics operation now hasto be undertaken while adhering to the newnorms of social distancing.

As it is, the logistics sector in India is not toowell-developed. Inefficiencies have grown overthe years from a combination factors, like a non-conducive policy environment, extensive indus-try fragmentation and lack of good basic infra-structure. India’s indirect tax regime discouragedlarge centralised warehouses and over a periodof time this has led to the fragmentation of thewarehousing sector.

Of course with the introduction of the Goodsand Services Tax (GST), there has been a movetowards a centralised warehouse hub. Howeverthe pace has been slow as modern warehousescost much more and the logistics stakeholdersare yet to recover their investment from the scat-tered warehouses across the country. However,in the present scenario caused by the pandem-ic, this is indeed a boon to the logistics sector.

Fragmented warehouse distribution impliesthat logistic operations will be affected only ina region where the storehouses fall in a contain-ment area. It may be possible to move cargo fromother regions to the desired destinations. Thus,a fragmented warehouse regime is probably morecost-effective in this situation than a centralisedwarehouse. While one can find a way to bypassdistribution hurdles when finished goods are instock, the issue is more serious in respect of pro-duction activities as a modern production unitsources inputs from different parts of the coun-try and the world.

As the COVID-19 map of India shows, theprincipal industrial States of the country, name-ly Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu,Andhra Pradesh, the National Capital Region(NCR) and so on, where most of the industrialclusters are located, are also the States most affect-ed by the Coronavirus. The majority of contain-ment zones, a place where all activities are non-operational, are also located there.

In this scenario, even though the unlockingof economic activity is commencing, relaxationin non-containment zones continues to be a hin-

drance to supply chains, transportationand logistics.

A firm may have to close operationsif right inputs/raw materials cannot besourced if suppliers are located in a con-tainment zone. In India, industrialclusters have developed around bigindustries in the metros, both of whichnow happen to be located inCoronavirus-hit regions. North-eastIndia, which is practically unaffected bythe Corona, does not figure in theindustrial map of the country. There isno way that inputs can be sourced fromthere to carry out production. Thus,unless the entire supply chain isunlocked (or the number of contain-ment zones declines), the impact ofimproved economic activity will be sub-dued.

A lockdown effectively increases thelogistic cost of transporting goods inmultiple ways. The shortage of labourat the point of origin and destinationand new norms of social distancing maylead to increased time inloading/unloading activities, causing ineffect lower efficiency and higher cost.

Though the inter-State movementof goods has now been allowed (barringcontainment zones) putting up of traf-fic barricades along the highways,diversions to avoid containment zonesand multiple checkpoints put up by lawenforcement agencies would invariablylead to increased fuel consumption,costly delays and more time on the road.

Even in normal circumstances, theproblem of harassment faced by thetruck drivers at the hands of theRegional Transport Office personneland policemen is a serious issue acrossevery route. With multiple barricadesand officials on the road during the pan-demic, harassment of drivers will sure-ly rise manifold. All these factorsamount to a fall in transportation effi-ciency and thereby higher transporta-tion costs.

In effect, the economy will have tolive with higher logistics costs now,which will have major economic reper-cussions. As per the NCAER’s recent-ly-released Quarterly Review of theEconomy, a five per cent fall in efficien-cy in shipping in India translates to a1.3 per cent loss in the Gross DomesticProduct.

Thankfully, unlike transportationby road, freightage by rail is less hin-dered as there are no barricades on therailway lines. Moreover, in the absenceof normal train services, there is lesscongestion on railway lines too. This isthe time that the logistics supply chainscould shift majorly towards freighttransport by rail. As it is, the movementof cargo by rail turns out to be cheap-er for distances over 500 kilometres.

However, if we compare cargomovement across major trunk routes(NCR-Mumbai, NCR-Guwahati, NCR-Chennai, NCR- Kolkata) where bothmodes — rail and road — operate,everywhere we see that the share of roadtransport is more than that of rail. Thisis the time to reverse the trend by ensur-ing timely delivery of consignment bythe Railways.

However, Indian Railways needs amajor policy correction in respect offreight. With the fall in economicgrowth, the overall demand for cargomovement will be low. Thus theRailways’ policy of operating a fulllength (52 wagon) cargo train does notsync with the current low demand. Itmakes sense to operate shorter cargotrains. But, most importantly, theRailways needs to stick to timely deliv-ery to attract customers. There is noother reason why a consignment ofpharmaceutical exports fromHyderabad via the Jawaharlal NehruPort, for a distance of about 700 km,would be moved by road and not by rail.

According to the NCAER’s study onIndia’s Logistics Costs, more than 90 per

cent of the cargo is moved by road onthis route. A key message that is cur-rently being played is go local to makean Atma Nirbhar Bharat.

This does not augur well for thelogistics sector as it is highly capitalintensive. If all entrepreneurs go local,the logistics investment will unlikelyflow in as it would take a long time togenerate the return from the invest-ment. This sector has developed local-ly without following global standards.Most players agree that setting stan-dards and their voluntary adoption arethe only way for reducing costs.

This encompasses the following:Standardisation of truck bodies andloading/unloading docks for increasingoperational efficiencies.

Second, standardisation of palletsizes for achieving faster turnaroundtimes. Third, standardisation of ware-house design and layout and a commonstandard across India in respect of otherlogistics facilities at airports, river-boats, sea ports, Inland ContainerDepots, Container Freight Stations,Multi-Modal Logistics Hubs and ware-housing clusters.

In the absence of a national blue-print on logistics infrastructure andstandards, we observe no uniformityacross India in these facilities. This isessential to reduce India’s logistics cost.Of late, a move has been made to mod-ernise our logistics facilities by bench-marking them against internationalstandards. One can only hope that ourplan to go local does not hamper thatprocess. If we are short of funds to adoptinternational norms of logistics facili-ties, it is best to go for a synergy in stan-dard within India. The Governmentmay interact with logistics stakehold-ers on this front. Else, it will cost Indiain the long run in terms of competitive-ness.

(The writer is a Professor at theNCAER)

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COVID-19 has changed thedynamics of almost every-thing in the world, includ-

ing politics, and poses challengesfor all walks of life and all kindsof institutions. This is true ofdemocracy, civil liberties andpolitical parties, too.

Now that health experts saythat we have to learn to live withthe virus, how will the politicalsystem in India change and willit be for the better? Since theCoronavirus outbreak, most

political activities have taken aback seat and the pandemic hasbecome the only focus of peopleand politicians alike. There maybe fundamental change in thesubstance of politics and how itwill cope with the new normalnow that it is clear that some ofthe measures like social distanc-ing, wearing of masks, washingand sanitising hands often, avoid-ing crowded places and congre-gating in large numbers, are like-ly to continue. Gone are the daysof party supporters boasting oflakhs of people coming to listento their netas.

So how are political partiesstrategising for the future? Theyhave already found some newinterfaces like digital platforms,videoconferencing and so on.Ever since the pandemic beganthey have swiftly moved awayfrom traditional methods of

communication like putting upposters, distributing pamphletsand flyers, holding door-to-doorcampaigns and have shifted theirpolitical wars to cyber space.Virtual platforms have replacedactual meetings in most of theparties and in Governmentoffices, too.

The BJP is already adept inusing the digital platform and hasbeen using it since 2014. Even the2019 elections were fought morein the digital world. PrimeMinister Narendra Modi hadused videoconferencing facili-ties and 3D holographic projec-tions to address the public inlarge numbers during the polls.The party has used the newmedium to its advantage and hasprepared digital files of voters andtheir mobile numbers and so on,that makes it easier to reach outto them. The party has data on all

the 543 Lok Sabha seats. In the changed circum-

stances, the BJP is planning forsmaller meetings and digitalinteraction with the voters. Biharelections are scheduled forNovember and next summer,State elections are due in TamilNadu, Kerala, West Bengal andAssam. BJP chief JP Nadda toldthis columnist that the partywas getting ready to face the newsituation. “We are already usingthe digital platform. In view of thepandemic we have to think ofnew ideas for our campaigns andwe will hold virtual rallies.”

The Congress Party, too, isnot lagging behind and is catch-ing up with the BJP where digi-tal reach is concerned. Accordingto the Congress media headRandeep Surjewala, the party hadthe biggest-ever virtual contact ofalmost 10 crore in one day dur-

ing the May 28 ‘Speak Up India’campaign led by Sonia Gandhiand Rahul Gandhi to raise pub-lic support for people suffering asa result of the lockdown. “This isindeed a world record. We haveadapted ourselves to the new sit-uation,” he claims.

The party has involved itsleaders, functionaries, AICCoffice-bearers, district and booth-level workers numbering around50 lakh. The Congress is using theZoom app for holding virtualpress conferences and Rahul’sconversations with economists.He admits that social media anddigital platforms will play a bigrole in the forthcoming polls.

Other parties, too, agree thatdigital interaction is the future ofpolitics now. CPI-M GeneralSecretary Sitaram Yechuri pointsout that today almost every partyhas a firm online presence. The

Left is also reaching out to thepeople through their cadres andmass organisations. TrinamoolCongress leader Dinesh Trivedi,too, thinks that future campaignswill largely be on social mediaand digital platforms.

Former External AffairsMinister Yashwant Sinha notesthat “politically there will be a lotmore reliance on digital commu-nication.” Most parties now havepolitical strategists and IT unitsthat are responsible for theirdigital strategy.

The Election Commission(EC), which has announced pollsfor 24 Rajya Sabha seats on June19, seems ready to deal with thenew normal. However, the realtest for the EC will be the Biharpolls. CEC Sunil Arora whileadmitting that it is too early tothink about the timing of theBihar polls, points out that even

during the 2019 Lok Sabha pollsthe EC had made arrangementsfor those above 80 and the armedforces to vote through postal bal-lot.

However, the immediatechallenge for all political partiesis to convince the people that theyare concerned about their welfare.This is where the good old GramPanchayats and booth-level com-mittees come in.

Parties could go back to thebasics and use their block andbooth committees to spread themessage through the digital plat-form, particularly as India isexpected to reach 859 millionmobile users by 2022. In short,politics was already movingtowards a virtual world and thepandemic has only hastened thattransition.

(The writer is a senior journalist)

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Moody’s Investor Serviceshas downgraded the

long-term local and foreigncurrency deposit ratings ofState Bank of India, HDFC Bank to Baa3 fromBaa2, maintaining their out-look as negative.

It has also downgradedIndusInd’s long-term local andforeign currency deposit rat-ings to Ba1 from Baa3 and itsBCA to ba2 from ba1 and therating outlook is negative.

The downgrade comes a day after the rating agencydowngraded India’s sovereignrating.

Moody’s has primarilyattributed the downgrade to theeconomic disruption causedby the coronavirus outbreakand the downgrade of the sov-ereign rating.

The ratings agency hasalso downgraded the long-term issuer rating of EXIMIndia to Baa3 from Baa2, keep-ing its outlook negative, said aMoody’s statement.

Consequently, Moody’s hasdowngraded HDFC Bank’sBaseline Credit Assessment(BCA) to baa3 from baa2.

The deposit ratings of thesebanks are at the same level asIndia’s Baa3 sovereign rating.

Moody’s has placed theBaa3 long-term local and for-eign currency deposit ratings of Bank of Baroda,Bank of India, Canara Bankand Union Bank of India andtheir ba3 BCAs under reviewfor downgrade.

It has affirmed PunjabNational Bank’s long-term localand foreign currency depositratings at Ba1 and its BCA atb1. The rating outlook of PNB

has been changed to stablefrom positive.

In the case of Central Bankof India and Indian OverseasBank, Moody’s has affirmedtheir long-term local and for-eign currency deposit ratings atBa2 and their BCAs at b2. Therating outlook of these issuersis maintained as stable.

“The rapid and wideningspread of the coronavirus out-break, deteriorating global eco-

nomic outlook, volatile oil prices,and asset price declines are cre-ating a severe and extensivecredit shock across many sectors,regions and markets,” it said.

According to the ratingagency, the Indian bankingsector has been affected giventhe disruption to India’s eco-nomic activity from the coro-navirus outbreak, which isweakening borrowers’ creditprofiles.

New Delhi: In what may bringfurther relief to businessesimpacted by Covid-19 pan-demic, the GST Council hasagreed to discuss the issue of latefee over delayed filing of returnsat its next meeting slated laterthis month.

Businesses have sought awaiver from payment of late feeon GST returns filed for the ear-lier period between August 2017(start of GST) and January 2020.This, they have said, was impor-tant considering the currentbusiness environment wheremost of the trade is losingmoney and do not have enoughresources to even pay the taxes.

It may be noted that forhelping the small businesses

having turnover less than Rs 5crore in the current situationarising out of Covid-19, FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharamanhad already announced exten-sion of GST returns of February,March, April and May 2020 tillJune 2020. No late fee will becharged for this period.

“While the extension for fil-ing GST returns is welcome,government should also waivelate fee for past delays to help thebusinesses facing acute liquidi-ty problems,” said a Delhi basedtrader asking not to be named.

Sources in the FinanceMinistry said that the late fee isimposed to ensure that the tax-payers file returns (GSTR 3B) intime and pay taxes on the

amount collected from buyersand due to the government. Thisis a step to ensure that a certaindiscipline is maintained regard-ing compliance. Honest andcompliant taxpayers would bediscriminated negatively in theabsence of such a provision.

“In GST, all decisions aretaken by the Centre and thestates with the approval of theGST Council. It would not bepossible or desirable for theCentral Government to uni-laterally take a view on thisissue and therefore, the trade isinformed that the issue of latefee would be taken up for dis-cussion in the next GSTCouncil meeting,” said thesource. IANS

Mumbai: Even as there aresigns that the nationwide lock-down to curb Covid-19 has ledmost urban Indians to seeonline shopping as the norm,a survey has revealed that thisshift is restricted to only spe-cific categories, including gad-gets, beauty and personal careamong others.

Close to half (44 per cent)of urban Indians said they aremore likely to shop onlineonce the lockdown is over,while 21 per cent said they areless likely than before to shopin physical retail stores, accord-ing to a survey by global mar-

ket research and data compa-ny YouGov.

“The current Covid crisisand the subsequent lockdownshave helped accelerate themomentum for e-commerce. Afew categories will see a moresignificant and permanent shifttowards online sales channelswhile for others consumerswill revert to traditional buyingbehaviours,” YouGov IndiaGeneral Manager Deepa Bhatiasaid. The survey was doneonline by YouGov Omnibusamong 1,011 adult respon-dents in India between May 23-27. PTI

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Benchmark indices contin-ued their winning run for

the fifth straight session onTuesday as staggered openingof the economy and the primeminister assuring of more sup-port to the industry restoredinvestor confidence.

Shrugging off ratingsdowngrade by Moody’s, the 30-share BSE Sensex soared 522.01points or 1.57 per cent to set-tle at 33,825.53. Likewise, theNSE Nifty jumped 152.95points or 1.56 per cent to9,979.10. Indian stocks alsotracked positive Asian peers tostrengthen gains.

Analysts, however, said lin-gering US-China tensions andprotests in America remaineda concern going ahead.

On the Sensex chart, BajajFinance was the top gainer,soaring over 8 per cent, fol-lowed by Kotak Bank, IndusIndBank, HDFC, PowerGrid, AxisBank, ICICI Bank and L&T.

On the other hand, Maruti,ITC, NTPC, Nestle India, HeroMotocorp and Bharti airtelended as losers on the 30-shareindex.

Sectorally, BSE realty wasthe top gainer, rallying 4.57 percent, followed by bankex,finance, consumer durables,utilities and industrials indices.While FMCG was the sole loser.

Broader midcap andsmallcap surged up to 1.83 percent. A day after Moody’sdowngraded India’s credit rat-ing to a notch above junk sta-tus on growth concerns, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi

asserted that the country willdefinitely get back its econom-ic growth and said reformsundertaken during the lock-down will help the economy inthe long-run.

“Indian markets shruggedoff news regarding Moody’scredit rating downgrade, whichwas trumped by the expecta-tion of the economy openingup. The Government has again

reiterated its commitment tocontinued reforms to strength-en the economy,” Vinod Nair,Head of Research at GeojitFinancial Services, said.

In spite of many possiblenegative triggers, positive sen-timent still drives the marketsand would advise to stick toquality stocks, he added.

Globally, bourses inShanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyoand Seoul ended on a positivenote, and exchanges in Europebegan trade with significantgains. International oil bench-mark Brent crude futures weretrading 2.95 per cent higher atUSD 39.45 per barrel.

On the currency front, therupee rebounded from theday’s low to close 18 paisehigher against the US dollar at75.36.

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The downgrade of India’ssovereign rating by

Moody’s has not come as a sur-prise as global rating agencieshave lowered ratings and out-look of about 21 emergingeconomies following Covid-19outbreak, SBI said in a reporton Tuesday.

“...It seems that the down-grade was not completely unex-pected. This is clearly visible inthe data that market is not yetimpacted by the rating down-grade. BSE Sensex and NSENifty rose and even Rupeeappreciated against the USDollar.

“...India has not been aloneto witness rating downgrade.So far around 21 emerging anddeveloping countries have reg-istered either a rating and/ oroutlook downgrade by theagency. This does not come asa total surprise as emergingmarkets are always more sus-ceptible to rating downgradescompared to developedeconomies in times of stress

even if some of them have verylow debt to GDP ratio,” SBI inits research report ‘Ecowrap’said.

The rating action, thereport said, was no reflectionon the ability of the IndianGovernment to service its debtobligations.

“The sovereign externaldebt comprises around 20 percent of the total external debt.The current level of foreignexchange reserves are sufficient to meet any debt obligations,” the reportadded.

The downgrade wasunlikely to result in any imme-diate repercussions onexchange rates and bondspreads immediately on Indiaoffshore bonds, the report said,adding “...We need to be care-ful that we remain in invest-ment grade and continue togive growth a big push throughpolicy measures”.

It added in the current sit-uation in India both the keyinterest rate and GDP areexpected to fall further.

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Kerala on Tuesday reported 86 new casestaking its total count to 774. With the death ofa 77-year-old patient on Tuesday, the toll stoodat 12.

41 Covid-19 cases were reported in Punjab,which took the overall tally to 2,342.Thirty-sevennew positive cases reported in Jharkhand onTuesday, taking the total to 712.

The Uttarakhand’s coronavirus tally crossedthe 1000-mark on Tuesday with 85 more peo-ple testing positive for the infection. Accordingto a health bulletin, the fresh cases have pushedthe State’s infection count to 1,043.So far, sevenpatients have died in the State. The authoritiesclaim that they died of other ailments and notdue to the virus.

The Goa health department said that six newcases were reported in the State on Tuesday, tak-ing the total number of cases to 79, including22 active cases and 57 recovered.

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Hectic talks at the highest diplomatic andpolitical level then were undertaken to enablethe soldiers from both sides to back off. On theChinese aggressiveness on the LAC now whenthe coronavirus pandemic is raging, the DefenceMinister refrained from attributing any motives.

He said it would be wrong to speculate orexpress doubts when talks are already underway.Rajnath also said he would have definitely saidsomething were talks not being held. “They (theChinese leadership) have also said they want tosolve the dispute through dialogue,” he said.

The Indian and Chinese troops are involvedin a face-off at three points in the Galwan val-ley and at one point at Pangong Tso in Ladakh.Two days back, the Minister had also said the“Chinese soldiers had come in a little furtherthan they used to earlier” at the LAC to “makethe situation different this time.” While the ArmyChief had reviewed the situation in a visit to Lehabout a fortnight back, Northern Commandchief Lt General YK Joshi is now in Ladakh totake stock.

Without going into details about prepared-ness to counter the Chinese enhanced troopsstrength, Rajnath said India has also sent a largenumber of troops to match the Chinese deploy-ment, and assured that the Government wouldnot let anyone hurt India’s self-respect. He didnot answer or confirm when asked if China’sPeople’s Liberation Army (PLA) has enteredIndian territory.

The Minister also refrained from termingChina as an enemy and said he considers it justto be India’s neighbour. “We don’t consider any-

one to be an enemy. Even Pakistan is just a neigh-bour. But we reserve the right to respond strong-ly if anyone tries to hurt us,” he said.

On US President Donald Trump’s offer thathe would be willing to mediate to solve the bor-der dispute, Rajnath said India and China havea well-developed mechanism to solve such issuesand ruled out third party intervention. He addedthat China’s President Xi Jinping, too, has saidhe would like to solve the issue through dialogue.

Q#"5�3�272!L�����According to Kejriwal, 6,731 beds are avail-

able in private and Government hospitals, outof which 4,100 are vacant. “People are not awareabout it,” he said, adding, “we are launching anapp today and it has details of all the beds, ven-tilators and ICUs available at private and gov-ernment hospitals.”

It will be updated updated twice during theday at 10 am and 6 pm, he added.

Kejriwal said if the app showed that a bedwas available at a hospital but the facility refus-es admission, the patient could call theGovernment helpline number 1031 and regis-ter a complaint. The Health DepartmentSpecial Secretary will ensure that the person getsa bed, Kejriwal said. “Only 2,600 people need-ed to be admitted at hospital out of more than20,000 patients,” he said. “If the hospital tells afterexamination that you that can be treated athome, please listen to them.”

The Government has deployed a team thatwill be in touch with the patients during homeisolation and, if they become serious, it willensure that they get a bed.

In an online briefing last week, Kejriwal hadannounced that the Government will be launch-ing an app to inform people about the status andavailability of beds and ventilators in hospitals.

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According to the researchers, there are bio-logical reasons why humidity matters in thetransmission of airborne viruses. “When thehumidity is lower, the air is drier and it makesthe aerosols smaller. When you sneeze andcough those smaller infectious aerosols can staysuspended in the air for longer,” Ward said.

“That increases the exposure for other peo-ple. When the air is humid and the aerosols arelarger and heavier, they fall and hit surfacesquicker,” he explained.

“This means we need to be careful cominginto a dry winter. Ongoing testing and surveil-lance remain critical as we enter the wintermonths, when conditions may favour coron-avirus spread,” Ward noted.

Just a day before, yet another study publishedin the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases

revealed that while the rate of Covid-19 inci-dence does decrease with warmer temperaturesup until 52 degrees F, further warmer temper-atures do not decrease disease transmission sig-nificantly. Precipitation patterns did not appearto have any effect on virus transmission, said theresearchers at Mount Auburn Hospital wholooked at the impact of temperature, precipita-tion, and UV index on Covid-19 case rates inthe United States during the spring months of2020.

Temperature and latitude are not associat-ed with the spread of Covid-19, said researchers,adding that they found a weak associationbetween humidity and reduced transmission.

The results - that hotter weather had noeffect on the pandemic’s progression - surprisedthe authors. “Our study provides important newevidence, using global data from the Covid-19epidemic, that these public health interventionshave reduced epidemic growth,” said studyresearcher Dr Peter Juni from the University ofToronto, and St Michael’s Hospital in Canada.

The study, published in the CanadianMedical Association Journal, looked at 144geopolitical areas - states and provinces inAustralia, the US, and Canada as well as vari-ous countries around the world - and a total ofmore than 3,75,600 confirmed Covid-19 cases.China, Italy, Iran and South Korea were exclud-ed because the virus was either waning in thecase of China or in full disease outbreak at thetime of the analysis in others.

“While the rate of virus transmission mayslow down as the maximum daily temperaturerises to around 50 degrees, the effects of tem-perature rise beyond that don’t seem to be sig-nificant,” said first author Shiv T Sehra, MD,Director of the Internal Medicine ResidencyProgram at Mount Auburn Hospital andAssistant Professor of Medicine at HarvardMedical School. “Based on our analysis, themodest association suggests that it is unlikelythat disease transmission will slow dramatical-ly in the summer months from the increase intemperature alone.”

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Two others seriously injured were rescuedby police and locals who dug through the debriswith shovels and bare hands, as people wailedin despair and the village lay in a welter.

A pre-dawn tragedy struck Karimpur inKarimganj district, when another hillside col-lapsed on the house of Ajiruddin (57), buryinghim and four members of his family around 3:30a.M. Others who died with Ajiruddin were hiswife Razia Begam (40), their two sons AftarHussian (10), Anwaruddin(7) and daughterTahera Begam(5), said district Superintendentof Police Kumar Sanjit Krishna.

A girl, Jaynal Bibi (15), died in another housein the same area, he said. Ten people were res-cued by police and state disaster departmentpersonnel, and rushed to a hospital.

Chaos prevailed everywhere as people fran-tically searched for friends

and relatives, removing the rubble withhands and buckets before police and SDRF teamsmoved in with excavators and other heavymachinery.

Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal con-doled the deaths and asked the district admin-istrations to undertake quick relief and reha-bilitation measures for those affected. He alsoasked them to ensure proper treatment to thosehospitalised. “Deeply anguished at the loss oflives due to landslides triggered

by incessant rain in Barak valley. I havedirected Cachar, Hailakandi & Karimganj dis-trict administrations and SDRF to step up res-cue, relief operations and facilitate all possiblehelp needed to those affected.”

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“Depression over east-central Arabian sealay near latitude 14.4 deg N and longitude 71.2deg E about 300 km west-southwest of Panjim,550 km south-southwest of Mumbai and 770 kmsouth-southwest of Surat,” the IMD added.According to IMD, very heavy to extremelyheavy rainfall is predicted in Coastal Karnataka,madhya Maharashtra and Marathwada duringnext 24 hours. However, it could be less intensethan the recent Cyclone Amphan. Categorisedas an extremely severe cyclonic storm, it had rav-aged parts of West Bengal 10 days ago.

The Sea condition is rough to very roughover east central Arabian sea. The sea conditionis very likely to be very rough to high over north-east Arabian sea along and off south Gujarat,Maharahstra and Goa coast from Tuesdayevening to June 3.

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A trial court had acquitted Sharma of themurder, but the high court, which undertook thecase amid nationwide outrage and protests,reversed the trial court decision and sentencedhim to a life term. The Supreme Court in 2010upheld the life sentence.

“Manu Sharma was on parole since the firstweek of April. He was released from Tihar Jailon Monday,” his lawyer Amit Sahni said.

According to the DSRB, Manu Sharma hadavailed parole 12 times and furlough 24 times.

Sahni said Sharma’’s conduct has beengood throughout the jail period, and claimedthat he was eligible for premature release.

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Renewable power isincreasingly cheaper than

any new electricity capacitybased on fossil fuels, a newreport by the InternationalRenewable Energy Agency(IRENA) published onTuesday said.

Competitive power gen-eration costs make invest-ment in renewables highlyattractive as countries targeteconomic recovery from

Covid-19.The report, ‘Renewable

Power Generation Costs in2019’, shows that more thanhalf of the renewable capac-ity added in 2019 achievedlower power costs than thecheapest new coal plants.

The report highlights thatnew renewable power generation projects nowincreasingly undercut exist-ing coal-fired plants.

On an average, new solarphotovoltaic (PV) and

onshore wind power cost lessthan keeping many existingcoal plants in operation, andauction results show thistrend accelerating -- rein-forcing the case to phase outcoal entirely.

Next year, up to 1,200gigawatts (GW) of existingcoal capacity could cost moreto operate than the cost ofnew utility-scale solar PV,the report shows. Replacingthe costliest 500 GW of coalwith solar PV and onshore

wind next year would cutpower system costs by up to$23 billion every year andreduce annual emissions byaround 1.8 gigatons (GT) ofcarbon dioxide (CO2), equiv-alent to five per cent of totalglobal CO2 emissions in2019. It would also yield aninvestment st imulus of $940 billion, which is equalto around one per cent ofglobal GDP.

“We have reached animportant turning point in

the energy transition. Thecase for new and much of theexisting coal power genera-tion is both environmentallyand economically unjustifi-able,” said Francesco LaCamera, Director-General ofIRENA.

“Renewable energy isincreasingly the cheapestsource of new electricity,offering tremendous poten-tial to stimulate the globaleconomy and get people backto work.”

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Reliance Industries Limited(RIL) rights issue oversub-

scription reached 129.8 percent with one day still to go. Asper data, applications for 8.8crore plus shares were receivedon Tuesday.

Dealogic has put together alist of USD 7 billion plus rightsissues globally since the finan-cial crisis of 2008. It shows thatthe RIL rights issue emerges asthe world’s largest by any non-financial company in last 10years. RIL’s Rs 53,124 crorerights issue, oversubscribed onMonday itself, received bids foranother 8.8 crore shares onTuesday taking cumulativedemand to nearly 54.9 croreshares - an oversubscription of130 per cent, according to stockexchange data.

The issue subscription dataon stock exchanges showedthat at 5 pm on June 2, 2020,total bids received for RIL’srights shares stood at 54.9

crore overshooting the 42.26crore shares on offer by 29.8 percent. Tuesday’s large subscrip-tion addition goes in line withthe well-observed phenome-non that various investor class-es apply towards the end. Theoversubscription figure sug-gests that shareholders areapplying for many more sharesthan their entitlements.

This means, the final over-subscription number can poten-tially rise to 1.6 — 1.8 times.Those subscribing to the rightsshares by June 3 can expect allot-ment of partly paid RIL sharesby Thursday, June 11 2020, intheir demat accounts. Thesepartly paid shares will be sepa-rately listed on stock exchangesand their trading will beginfrom Friday, June 12, 2020,according to the issue schedulegiven in the Letter of Offer.

RIL has come out with arights issue first time in threedecades to enable all share-holders participate in its growthconsumer/technology busi-

nesses, where new strategicinvestors have started joining.Under the issue, shareholderswill get fresh shares of the com-pany at a price of Rs 1,257 eachand need to pay the amount over18 months in three instalments— 25 per cent on application byJune 3, 2020, 25 per cent in May2021 and 50 per cent inNovember 2021, making theissue most investor-friendly.

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The possibility of a vaccinebecoming a reality to

counter the coronavirus pan-demic appears bleak at leastfor the time being, accordingto seasoned medical practi-tioners in India and abroad.Dr Venugopal Reddy, Kansas-USA based physicianwho keeps track of theprogress of the researchers indeveloping a vaccine forcovid has some unpleasantquestions to ask.

“They have been tryingfor the last four decades todevelop a vaccine for AIDS,a disease caused by anothervirus. Have they succeededin it? What about the public-ity regarding the vaccinesdeveloped for swine flu, birdsflu and SARS? They havenot reached anywhere. Whatis the guarantee that theywould succeed this time?”asked Dr Reddy while speak-ing to The Pioneer fromKansas.

Even if pharma compa-nies succeed in developing avaccine for covid pandemic,it takes years for this drug toget the trust of general prac-titioners, pointed out Dr C VKrishnaswamy, Chennaibased diabetologist andphysician. He said there wasstrong objection from med-ical doctors in Britain when

they were asked to prescribeoseltamivir (Tamiflu) for theswine flu pandemic in 2015.

“Don’t be bullied intoprescr ibing Tamif lu,” demanded Dr MargaretMcCartney, a Glasgow basedgeneral practitioner in a com-municat ion to Brit ishMedical Journal.

“Now we have guidelines,hundreds of them. Goodguidelines would distil evi-dence cautiously, makingclear what we know and where the gaps are. Theywould say how many peoplewould get what benefit froma treatment while identifyingthe cost in terms of harm. But guidelines are not alwaysapplicable to our patientsand they are meant to guidepractice; rarely should theydictate it,” Dr McCartneywrote in the message whichw a spublished by the BMJ as acoup de grace.

She took strong objectionto the communique issued bythe National Health Service,the publicly funded healthcare system in England, inwhich the authorities hadstated that “there is an expec-tation defined in the GeneralMedical Council’s GoodMedical Practice that a doc-tor wi l l respond to an organization advising onpublic health”.

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US President Donald Trumphas threatened that he

would deploy the military if thestates fail to take necessaryactions to quell the violentprotests that have spread acrossthe country over the custodialkilling of African-AmericanGeorge Floyd.

During a hurriedly-con-vened address to the nationfrom the Rose Garden of theWhite House, Trumpannounced on Monday that hewas dispatching “thousandsand thousands” of heavilyarmed soldiers, military per-sonnel, and law enforcementofficers to stop the rioting,looting, vandalism, assaults,and the wanton destruction ofproperty.

For about a week now,properties worth billions ofdollars have been destroyed inthe US, and rioters have dam-aged commercial centers, andpublic places and looted from

shops and malls, in angryresponse to the killing of Floyd,a 46-year-old man who waspinned to the ground inMinneapolis last week by awhite police officer whokneeled on his neck as hegasped for breath.

“Today I have strongly rec-ommended to every governorto deploy the National Guardin sufficient numbers that wedominate the streets. Mayorsand governors must establishan overwhelming law enforce-ment presence until the vio-lence has been quelled,” Trumpsaid. “If a city or state refusesto take the actions that are nec-essary to defend the life andproper of their residents, thenI will deploy the US militaryand quickly solve the problemfor them,” he threatened.

Trump said the country, inthe recent days, has beengripped by “professional anar-chists, violent mobs, arsonists,looters, criminals, rioters,Antifa and others”.

But at the same time, in hisaddress to the nation, Trumpalso said all Americans were“rightly sickened and revoltedby the brutal death” of Floyd,and asserted that justice will beserved.

He assured the nation thathe was taking actions to stopthe violence and restore secu-rity and safety in America.

The president said he hadmobilised all available federalresources, civilian and military,to stop the rioting and looting,to end the destruction andarson, and to protect the rightsof law-abiding Americans,including the SecondAmendment rights.

A number of state andlocal governments have failedto take necessary action tosafeguard their residents, hesaid. “Innocent people havebeen savagely beaten, like theyoung man in Dallas, Texaswho was left dying on thestreet, or the woman in upstateNew York viciously attacked bydangerous thugs. Small busi-ness owners have seen theirdreams utterly destroyed. NewYork’s finest have been hit inthe face with bricks,” he said.

“Brave nurses who havebattled the coronavirus areafraid to leave their homes. Apolice precinct has been over-run. Here in the nation’s capi-tal, the Lincoln Memorial andthe World War II Memorialhave been vandalized. One ofour most historic churches wasset ablaze. A federal officer inCalifornia, an African-American enforcement hero,was shot and killed,” he said.

These are not acts of peace-ful protest, but acts of “domes-tic terror”, Trump said, addingthat the destruction of innocent

life and the spilling of innocentblood were an offense tohumanity and a “crime againstGod”. “I swore an oath to upholdthe laws of our nation and thatis exactly what I will do. Myadministration is fully commit-ted that, for George and his fam-ily, justice will be served. He willnot have died in vain,” he said .

Considered to be the worstever civil unrest in the US indecades, the violent protestshave engulfed at least 140 citiesacross America in the days fol-lowing the death of Floyd.

In Washington DC, the

national capital, protestors burnta historic church and damagedsome of the prime propertiesand historic place like nationalmonument and LincolnMemorial. Trump describingthe violence in Washington DCas “total disgrace”.

Thousands of protestorscontinued with their demon-strations across cities in the US,in civic-disobeyance of the cur-few that has been imposed inmore than 150 cities in the

country including the nationalcapital. State of emergencieshave been declared in as manyas six states and at least 13major cities when reports lastcame in. As many as 67,000National Guard troops havebeen deployed across the coun-try. The Wall Street Journal saidthat this was the largest numberever activated in the US.

Asserting that his admin-istration has not allowed therighteous cries and peaceful

protesters to be drowned out byan angry mob, Trump said thebiggest victims of the riotingwere peace-loving citizens inthe poorest communities.

“And as their president, Iwill fight to keep them safe. Iwill fight to protect you. I amyour president of law and orderand an ally of all peaceful pro-testers,” Trump said trying tocalm down the situation.

“America needs creation,not destruction; cooperation,not contempt; security, notanarchy; healing, not hatred;justice, not chaos. This is ourmission and we will succeed100 per cent. We will succeed.Our country always wins,” hesaid. “We are putting every-body on warning our 7 pm cur-few will be strictly enforced.Those who threaten innocentlife and property will be arrest-ed, detained, and prosecuted tothe fullest extent of the law,”Trump said.

The nationwide protestssparked by the killing of Floydhave left at least five peopledead.

Over 4,000 people havebeen arrested and curfewsimposed in at least 40 cities.

��� 82��24

President Vladimir Putin onTuesday endorsed Russia’s

nuclear deterrent policy whichallows him to use atomicweapons in response to a conventional strike targetingthe nation’s critical Government and militaryinfrastructure.

By including a non-nuclearattack as a possible trigger forRussian nuclear retaliation, thedocument appears to send awarning signal to the US.

The new expanded word-ing reflects Russian concernsabout the development ofprospective weapons that couldgive Washington the capabili-ty to knock out key militaryassets and government facilities

without resorting to atomicweapons.

In line with Russian mili-tary doctrine, the new docu-ment reaffirms that the coun-try could use nuclear weaponsin response to a nuclear attackor an aggression involving con-ventional weapons that “threatens the very existence ofthe state.”

But the policy documentnow also offers a detaileddescription of situations thatcould trigger the use of nuclearweapons.

They include the use ofnuclear weapons or otherweapons of mass destructionagainst Russia or its allies andan enemy attack with conven-tional weapons that threatensthe country’s existence.

London: The UK Governmenton Tuesday asked China to stepback from the brink andrespect Hong Kong’s autonomyas it reiterated its plan to offerBritish National Overseas(BNO) passport holders in theregion a path to citizenship ifa controversial security lawgoes ahead.

UK Foreign SecretaryDominic Raab made a state-ment in the House ofCommons, which resumed itsphysical sittings under thecoronavirus social distancenorms, to stress that Britainwould not look the other wayas the freedoms of the peoplefrom its former colony areunder threat.

“There is time for China toreconsider, there is a momentfor China to step back from thebrink and respect Hong Kong’sautonomy and respect China’sown international obligations,”Raab told the Commons.

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Pakistan-based terror outfitsJaish-e-Mohammad and

Lashkar-e-Tayyeba are engagedin trafficking fighters intoAfghanistan who train andspecialise in improvised explo-sive devices, threatening toderail the peace process in thewar-torn country, accordingto a UN report.

Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM)and Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT) have masterminded sev-eral terror attacks against India,including the 2008 Mumbaiattack and the 2019 Pulwamaattack.

The 25th report of theAnalytical Support andSanctions Monitoring Teamconcerning ISIL (Da’esh), Al-Qaida and associated individ-uals and entities, submitted tothe Security Council, saidAfghan officials have noted

that there were several groupsthat, based on their opera-tional activities and permanentpresence in Afghanistan,“posed a security threat”.

“Those groups were alsodeemed capable of presentinga future threat to peace andsecurity should theGovernment of Afghanistanand the Taliban reach a cease-fire,” it said.

The report said amongthose groups posing a securi-ty threat, Afghan officials highlighted Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, JeM and LeTon which the Monitoring Team has writtenin previous reports.

The presence of thesegroups is centred in the easternprovinces of Kunar, Nangarharand Nuristan, where they operate under the umbrel-la of the Afghan Taliban, itadded.

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Washington: At least a quarterof the Covid-19 deaths in theUnited States were among nurs-ing home residents, a new reportsaid, a disclosure that came ascoronavirus restrictions easedMonday even as US protestsagainst police brutality sparkedfears of new outbreaks.

The Florida Keys welcomedvisitors for the first time in twomonths, the Colosseum openedits ancient doors in Rome, fer-ries restarted in Bangladesh andgolfers played in Greece. But astourist destinations worldwidereopened for business, new ruleswere in place to guard againstthe virus’ spread. “Bring facialcoverings, gloves, hand sanitiz-

er, reef-safe sunscreen and per-sonal essential medicines. Ifyou’re feeling unwell, please stayhome,” the Monroe CountyTourist Development Council,which includes the tourist-dependent Keys, said.

Electronic signs warnedtravelers to two of world’s largestcasinos about Covid-19 on thefirst day they partially reopenedover Connecticut Gov. NedLamont’s objections. “AvoidLarge Crowds, Don’t GambleWith Covid” flashed the signsnear Foxwoods Resort Casinoand Mohegan Sun as cars —many with Massachusetts,Rhode Island and New Yorklicense plates — passed by. AP

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Throughout January, theWorld Health Organization

publicly praised China for whatit called a speedy response tothe new coronavirus. It repeat-edly thanked the ChineseGovernment for sharing thegenetic map of the virus“immediately,” and said itswork and commitment totransparency were “veryimpressive, and beyond words.”

But behind the scenes, itwas a much different story, oneof significant delays by Chinaand considerable frustrationamong WHO officials overnot getting the informationthey needed to fight the spreadof the deadly virus, TheAssociated Press has found.

Despite the plaudits, Chinain fact sat on releasing thegenetic map, or genome, of thevirus for more than a week afterthree different government labshad fully decoded the infor-mation. Tight controls oninformation and competitionwithin the Chinese publichealth system were to blame,according to dozens of inter-views and internal documents.

Chinese government labsonly released the genome afteranother lab published it aheadof authorities on a virologistwebsite on Jan. 11. Even then,China stalled for at least twoweeks more on providingWHO with detailed data onpatients and cases, according torecordings of internal meetingsheld by the U.N. health agencythrough January — all at a timewhen the outbreak arguablymight have been dramaticallyslowed.

WHO officials were laud-ing China in public becausethey wanted to coax moreinformation out of the gov-

ernment, the recordingsobtained by the AP suggest.Privately, they complained inmeetings the week of Jan. 6 thatChina was not sharing enoughdata to assess how effectivelythe virus spread between peo-ple or what risk it posed to therest of the world, costing valu-able time.

“We’re going on very min-imal information,” saidAmerican epidemiologistMaria Van Kerkhove, nowWHO’s technical lead forCOVID-19, in one internalmeeting. “It’s clearly notenough for you to do properplanning.”

“We’re currently at thestage where yes, they’re givingit to us 15 minutes before itappears on CCTV,” said WHO’stop official in China, Dr.Gauden Galea, referring to thestate-owned China CentralTelevision, in another meeting.

The story behind the earlyresponse to the virus comes ata time when the U.N. healthagency is under siege, and hasagreed to an independentprobe of how the pandemicwas handled globally. Afterrepeatedly praising the Chineseresponse early on, U.S.President Donald Trump hasblasted WHO in recent weeksfor allegedly colluding withChina to hide the extent of thecoronavirus crisis. He cut tieswith the organization onFriday, jeopardizing theapproximately $450 millionthe U.S. gives every year asWHO’s biggest single donor.

In the meantime, ChinesePresident Xi Jinping has vowedto pitch in $2 billion over thenext two years to fight the coro-navirus, saying China hasalways provided information toWHO and the world “in a mosttimely fashion.”

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China’s aggressive testing ofabout 10 million people for

coronavirus in Wuhan, thefirst epicentre of the virus out-break, has not revealed newconfirmed Covid-19 cases but300 asymptomatic carriers,officials said.

A total of 300 asympto-matic patients were found after9.89 million people were test-ed in China’s worst-hit cityWuhan with no confirmedCovid-19 cases, the city gov-ernment said on Tuesday.

The mass testing was car-

ried out at a cost 900 millionyuan ($126 million), it said.

Asymptomatic cases alsoknown as silent spreaders posea problem as the patients aretested Covid-19 positive butdevelop no symptoms such asfever, cough or sore throat.However, they pose a risk ofspreading the disease to others.

The results not onlywhisked off foreign media’sbaseless accusation that therewere massive numbers ofasymptomatic virus carriers inWuhan, but also served as anunquestionable milestone toChina’s virus battle, and

cemented the country’s phasedvictory over the horrifyingvirus, a report in the state-runGlobal Times said.

Since the coronavirus out-break in December last year inWuhan, China has vehement-ly denied allegations of under-reporting cases anddeaths by US President DonaldTrump.

Wuhan, where the virusfirst emerged, so far had 50,340confirmed coronavirus casessince January of which 3,869people have died, according tothe local health commissionreport.

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While the rate of Covid-19incidence may decrease

with increasing temperaturesup until 11 degrees Celsius, fur-ther warmer temperatures donot decrease diseasetransmission significantly,according to a study conduct-ed in the US.

The study, published inthe journal Clinical InfectiousDiseases, found that a higherultraviolet (UV) index also assists in slowing the growth rate of new cases,but the overall impact remainsmodest.

Precipitation patterns didnot appear to have any effect onvirus transmission, accordingto the researchers.

The researchers at MountAuburn Hospital analysed dailyreported cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection across the US fromJanuary 20 through April 3, astracked by John HopkinsUniversity’s Covid-19Dashboard.

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The global race for a Covid-19 vaccine boils down to

some critical questions: Howmuch must the shots rev upsomeone’s immune system toreally work? And could revvingit the wrong way cause harm?

Even as companies recruittens of thousands of people forlarger vaccine studies this sum-mer, behind the scenes scien-tists still are testing ferrets,monkeys and other animals inhopes of clues to those basicquestions — steps that in a pre-pandemic era would have beenfinished first.

“We are in essence doing agreat experiment,” said RalphBaric, a coronavirus expert atthe University of North

Carolina, Chapel Hill, whoselab is testing several vaccinecandidates in animals.

The speed-up is necessaryto try to stop a virus that hastriggered a pandemic, killingmore than 3,60,000 worldwideand shuttering economies. But“there’s no question there ismore risk in the current strat-egy than what has ever beendone before,” Baric said.

The animal testing lets sci-entists see how the body reactsto vaccines in ways studies inpeople never can, said KateBroderick, research chief atInovio Pharmaceuticals.

With animals, “we’re ableto perform autopsies and lookspecifically at their lung tissueand get a really deep dive inlooking at how their lungs

have reacted,” Broderick said. She’s awaiting results from

mice, ferrets and monkeys thatare being exposed to the coro-navirus after receiving Inovio’svaccine. Since no species per-fectly mimics human infection,testing a trio broadens thelook at safety.

And there’s some goodnews on the safety front as thefirst animal data from variousresearch teams starts to trick-le out. So far, there are no signsof a worrisome side effectcalled disease enhancement,which Dr. Anthony Fauci of theUS National Institutes ofHealth calls reassuring.

Enhancement is just whatthe name implies: Very rarely,a vaccine doesn’t stimulate theimmune system in quite the

right way, producing antibod-ies that not only can’t fullyblock infection but that makeany resulting disease worse.

That first happened in the1960s with failure of a vaccinefor respiratory syncytial virus,RSV, an infection dangerous toyoung children. More recently,it has complicated efforts atvaccines against mosquito-spread dengue fever.

And some attempted vac-cines for SARS, a cousin ofCovid-19, seemed to causeenhancement in animal testing.

Fast forward to the pan-demic. Three recently report-ed studies in monkeys testeddifferent Covid-19 vaccineapproaches, including shotsmade by Oxford Universityand China’s Sinovac.

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The BML Munjal University(BMU), a Hero Group ini-

tiative, has commenced onlineexaminations for all students ofthe School of Law & School ofManagement, starting May 182020, till May 29, 2020. Theexams are being conductedusing existing technical plat-forms of BMU and using facil-ities from Mercer Mettl. BMUcompletely transitioned thelearning process online, priorto the lockdown beingannounced. All academic activ-ities are being conducted

online, from classes to sub-mitting assignments and host-ing guest lectures by renownedexperts

Talking about this innova-tive methodology for con-ducting examinations, Dr.Manoj K Arora, ViceChancellor, BMU said: “This isa unique way of conductingassessments and BMU is one ofthe first few universities to doso. All our students and facul-ty were adequately preparedbefore the exams began, givenBMU’s tech orientation andfamiliarity with online teach-ing, thus ensuring a smooth

conduct of the examinations.This sets a precedent for otherinstitutions conducting exam-inations, thereby reducing theuse of pen and paper andmigrating to newer technolo-gies.”

The technologies ensurethat there are absolutely no hin-drances in the conduction ofexams. Students must installthe recommended browser ontheir laptops before the examfor enhanced security. Thisprohibits running of any soft-ware in the background andbars the student from using anyother applications.

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The RabindranathTagore University

(RNTU), which is underthe aegis of the prestigiousAISECT Group ofUniversities, hasannounced admissionsopen for the 2020 session.Owing to the COVID-19lockdown, the admissionprocess for the year hasgone 100% online where-in students are providedwith the facilities of onlineadmissions and onlinefee payment.

The counsellors willconnect with the stu-

dents through variousapps and the universitywill also arrange freecareer counseling ses-sions for students whohave appeared for ClassXII exams.

Free online classeson personality develop-ment, english communi-cation and soft skills arealso being provided.Students can visit thewebsite www.rntu.ac.into check the eligibilitycriteria.

Imparting right knowledge andskill to the youth, paves the way

for a country’s progressive future.Providing a comprehensive learningexperience is imperative to ensurethey can choose a direction thathelps them succeed. Not only with-in the country but also in the inter-national arena. Education institu-tions and the Government haverealised this vision over the years.Hence, they have been activelyinvolved in promoting reformsthrough various policies and pro-jects to create educational oppor-tunities that prepare Indian studentsto match international standards,until the lockdown happened.

AICTE (All India Council forTechnical Education) and UGC(University Grants Commission)issued guidelines in 2016 to increasesynergies between Indian andForeign Universities. Since then, theeducation sector has seen a sub-stantial rise in collaborations withcoveted foreign universities fromcountries such as Canada, England,Australia, Netherlands, USA, etc.

To further assess the phenom-enal positive impact, let us look athow these foreign collaborationswith Indian institutes are empow-ering the education sector:

Twinning programmes for aninnovative curriculum: This takes

place when an Indian student enrollsfor a course at an Indian educationalinstitute, and the study is dividedbetween both the Indian instituteand its foreign collaborator.However, to begin twinning pro-grammes in India, both the Indianand international institutions arerequired to sign an MoU(Memorandum of Understanding).Which, many institutes in India haveactively gotten into.

The collaboration enables stu-dents to learn from a curriculumaligned with international pedagogy,thereby students acquire skills thatmatch with their global peers. Theyalso get a chance to experience thebest of both worlds in terms of aca-demic and cultural diversity.

Affordable foreign educationthrough distance programmes:Not all students can travel abroad toaccess foreign education. For thosewho have the talent and aspire foran overseas education but are heldback due to various constraints, ben-efit immensely from such collabo-rations. Many foreign universitiesoffer distance programmes to Indianstudents through e-learning teach-ing methodologies, MOOCs andwebinars. They cost comparativelyless as the students do not have tospend money on travelling andaccommodation. Also, they have theoption of pursuing their dream ofcompleting their degree while man-aging other obligations.

Global exposure for both stu-

dents and faculties: Numerouseducational institutes offer studentexchange programmes and facultyexchange programmes. They pro-vide cross-cultural exposure to boththe students and the faculty. The stu-dents gain a global perspectivewhile the teaching faculty get anopportunity to exchange ideas in theentire process. Thereby, augmentingthe overall learning experience.

Indian institutes collaboratingwith foreign universities, also pavesthe way for investment opportuni-ties into the country. A rise in invest-ment in the education sector meansimproved infrastructure, betteramenities, higher salaries, greaterscholarships and ultimately, anincrease in the overall quality of edu-cation. Also, due to numerous rea-sons, students move abroad to pur-sue higher education which causesa brain drain in the country.However, giving them similaropportunities where they haveaccess to the same quality of edu-cation with lucrative careerprospects will provide them with anincentive to stay in India. Thus, theirknowledge and skills will contributeto their own country’s growth andprosperity.

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The IIT JEE is one of the toughestexaminations worldwide andevery year lakhs of students put

in their best efforts to secure a seat inone of the coveted campuses of IndianInstitute of Technology and NationalInstitute of Technology. The battle to getinto IITs and NITs is fought on manyfronts — mental ability, endurance andperseverance. Students are preparedfrom an early age to excel on thesefronts but this time the challenge isunprecedented.

The entire world is fighting aninvisible enemy i.e. COVID-19. Whowould have imagined that a country aslarge and diverse like India will beforced to go for strict lockdown? It hasdefinitely created a unique situation forstudents in particular because all of asudden they have to adjust to newsocio-economic realities while keepingpace with their exam preparations to getinto their dream institutions.

Thousands of students all over thecountry preparing for IIT JEE mainsexamination is one such group whichis now finding novel ways to ensure thattheir preparations do not get derailedbecause of this catastrophe. The April2020 session of JEE mains exam was allset to be held in April, which has nowbeen rescheduled for July this year.While the examination conductingbody National Testing Agency (NTA)is busy giving final touches to the plan,many students are worried that theirsession may get delayed but there areplenty of those who are taking this upas a blessing in disguise. The post-ponement of exam has given themsome extra time to work on their weak-er areas and get better prepared for theexamination.

There are many students who havereached out to their respective facultiesto clear their doubts on many chapterswhich are parts of a vast senior sec-ondary curriculum. They are alsorevising their class notes and redoingstudy materials provided at their insti-tutes.

Mock tests help mapping the speedand accuracy while familiarising stu-dents with the possible pattern of theexam. These tests are effective tools forself-evaluation. In addition to this, stu-dents are also utilising this extra timeto attempt previous years’ questionpapers to identify and strengthen theirweak areas. All of it is making studentscomfortable and prepare for the exam

with better skills and more confi-dence.

Many students have opted foronline mode to attempt these testsbecause of restriction in mobilityimposed due to lockdown. NationalTesting Agency(NTA) too has come upwith National Test Abhyaas app for thestudents preparing for engineeringand medical entrance tests. The appoffers immediate scores with the expla-nations of the answer and the completeanalysis of how student attempted thepaper including time spent by the stu-dent on each section. Students fromacross the country can take full mocktests in order to hone their skills aheadof the mains examinations.

A lot of students have opted forsubject videos freely available onYouTube, which may never substitutethe essence of actual classroom learn-ing but they have come as a great learn-ing tool in these testing times. There isa large repository of free educationalvideos made by good teachers onYouTube. Many teachers have uploadedfull syllabus subject course on it. Many

have uploaded even revision video lec-tures for the chapters in which they dis-cussed important points, formulae andconcepts from that chapter andexplained some relevant numericalquestions.

There are many teachers who areconducting online live revision classesthrough live streaming at very nomi-nal fee and sometime absolutely free-of-cost just to help students.

COVID-19 has definitely openedup plenty of new avenues for learningas well as teaching.

Students will now be more flexi-ble in their approach to learn breakingaway from the usual offline mode andembracing as much online modes aspossible. This is also going to workmajorly in favour of students from ruralarea and second and third tier cities,where good coaching institutes are aluxury.

During this lockdown, when stu-dents and teachers can’t meet in real foracademic discussions, teachers areavailable on phones. Students can asktheir doubts on WhatsApp or even on

call to teachers. Many online interac-tion/meeting apps like Zoom, Microsoftteams and Google classroom are alsoavailable which offer a very smooth liveinteraction with advantages of screensharing, whiteboard and cameraoptions. Students are taking onlineclasses, doubt discussions and coun-selling frequently through these apps.The whole process of digital learningand teaching has been fast forwarded.COVID-19 has actually encouragedstudents increase their adapting abili-ty with new situations, self-reliance andbetter preparations.

COVID-19 is a health issue that isgoing to stay around us. While exam-inations are very important, studentsshould first take care of their health,take good nutrition, ensure uninter-rupted sleep patterns and maintain apositive mental attitude. It always helpsto practice meditation and yoga toensure their mental and physical beingis in sync. It is heartening to see thatmost of the students have successfullyfound solution to this problem.

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The education sector has seen rapidchanges in the wake of the pan-

demic, with schools and colleges find-ing different ways to adapt to the newsituation. It has resulted in educationalinstitutions across the world beingcompelled to suddenly harness andutilise the suite of available techno-logical tools to create content forremote learning for students. Educatorsare experiencing new possibilities to dothings differently with greater flexi-bility. This has resulted in potentialbenefits in accessibility to education forstudents. It has made all the educa-tional institutions across the worldadopt online teaching. These are newmodes of instruction that have earli-er been largely untapped particularlyin the kindergarten to Class XII.

We have been talking about vir-tual classrooms and various onlinetools that allow us to make theengagement between the teacherand students as close to a real, inclassroom type experience, which hasbecome a reality now. In order to sup-port this revolution, there will be aboom in creative ed-tech solutionsand learning options for students andteachers alike in the coming years.The onus is on the education sectorto investigate ways to make learningmore student and teacher friendly.Students will have access to differentplatforms or modes of learning,enhanced by technology and sup-ported by an increased focus on life

skills. The key to successful onlinelearning is not the choice of tools, butthe quality of the learning activitiesthat students engage in using thosetools. These steps will definitely helpstrengthen the country’s digital learn-ing infrastructure in the long run.

There is no doubt that the coro-navirus is going to be with us for awhile and certain precautionary mea-sures are a must to support our wayinto the new future. As institutionsare awaiting government policies tohelp academia function during thistime, certain practices like social dis-tancing within the buses and classes,maintaining one student per seat inthe bus and conducting classes at 50

per cent strength while alternatingwith online classes, an increasedfocus on hygiene and sanitisationwithin the college premises are nec-essary.

In a way the pandemic hasrevealed the ability of society toquickly evolve to challenges and hastriggered a much-needed digital rev-olution that will change the way stu-dents receive education in India andwill result in a more integrated learn-ing model. Post COVID-19 is anopportunity to transform the educa-tion system and this opportunityshould be utilised to the fullest tobring the required change.

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The AGS TransactT e c h n o l o g i e s

Limited (AGSTTL), oneof India’s leadingproviders of end-to-endcash and digital pay-ment solutions &automation technologyannounced the com-mencement of CampusConnect 2.0, a flagshipbrainstorming compe-tition with a webinaron May 30, 2020.Campus Connect is a

platform for students touse their innovativemindset and get achance to bootstraptheir career with AGSTransact.

Campus Connect isa platform under the ini-tiative, Horizon, where-in students with greatminds across the countryare invited and workwith the ingenious teamthereby gaining an expo-sure to the paymentsindustry and makingcontributions to it. At the

same time, AGS is alsoworking towards trans-forming their hiringprocess as they are nowrecruiting all the internsand managementtrainees throughCampus Connect only.

Sunil Khosla, ChiefMarketing Officer, AGSTransact Technologies &President — DigitalBusiness and Capt.Partha Samai, GroupHead — HumanResources, AGS TransactTechnologies were

speakers of the webinartitled “Innovations inPayment”.

They talked aboutdigital payments in thecurrent scenario, postCovid-19 business out-look and hiring plans,wherein, the focus willshift more from IQ toEQ, adaptability andpreparedness. Studentsalso participated in aquiz after the webinarsession and winners wererewarded with vouch-ers.

Ten students of SRMInstitute of Science and

Technology (Kattankulathurand Modi Nagar campus) arenow part of Amazon CampusMentorship Series (ACMS)internship linked placement.

These students will under-go four classroom sessionsover a course of 24 weeks.Each session is of four-sixhours. These students startedtheir mentorship on March 27virtually and will be asked tovisit the Amazon centre a fewtimes during the series.SRMIST is few educationinstitutions in the country tosend it’s students for this men-torship.

The BTech pre-final stu-dents who are part of thisseries are Shaili Shah, RheaChandok, Anushka Svara,Lekha K, Akanksha Sonkar,Deepanwita Mukherjee,Nikita Gupta, IshitaMandvakar, Sreya Goswamiand Niharika Raj.

ACMS encourages womento work at corporate officesthrough a series of work-shops, training, and businesscommunication. This followsthe model of classroom-basedlearning. Along with thesesessions, students are groupedand assigned a small project togive them an opportunity toapply the learning. Studentswho clear final interviews willreceive a six-month internshipwith Amazon. Others will beawarded with participationcertificates.

According to Sriram SPadmanabhan, DirectorCareer Centre, SRMIST, thesestudents were selectedthrough two rounds of onlinetests (a combination of apti-tude and coding), each beingan elimination round.Amazon has selected the mostnumber of students from

SRMIST. A note fromAmazon’s HR desk stated thatthe most number of studentsin the Tamil Nadu regionhave been selected fromSRMIST.

Sharing her excitement isSreya Goswami, a third-yearBTech student. “I am gratefulfor the opportunity given.The ACMS programme hasstarted, teams and mentorshave been allotted and projecttopics have been assigned. Itis a great learning opportuni-ty at this early stage and get-ting to learn a lot about cor-porate requirements,” says thisyoung techie.

Sharing this excitementis Ishita Mandvakar, who isalso one of the 10 students.“The sessions for the same aretaking place every Friday andwe have also started our pro-ject work. The ACMS is agreat initiative by Amazonand has given a lot of confi-dence to people like me.Getting an opportunity towork with the best minds andunderstanding industry wayof working which is preparingme better for future careers,”says Ishita Mandvakar.

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Social media is a very vibrantand visual medium. It is con-sidered as the new norm that

can be optimised to your advantageto source good projects and to getnoticed especially during theCOVID-19 lockdown and socialdistancing. You want to make sureyou present yourself such that youcome across as a seasoned profes-sional would in order to. Here aresome pointers:

Enhance visibility quotient: Asa designer in any discipline, be itgraphic, interior, communication,product, web, or fashion youronline portfolio is the summary ofyour capabilities and offers theprospective client a window intoyour mind, your imagination andyour worldview. Make sure they getto see it from the best possible angle.How can you do that? Ensure thatyou have your portfolio on a goodplatform like Deviant Art, Behance,Adobe Creative Space and Issuu.Showcase your creativity by usinghashtags and labelling your workunder several category heads toenhance visibility.

Focus on displaying versatil-ity: Your portfolio should be a cura-tion of your best work, but you alsoneed to showcase the breadth andrange of your versatility as a design-er. You may have done a brilliant

piece of designing for a smallerbrand name. Go right ahead andinclude such projects that displayyour versatility and breadth as adesigner.

Also, do walk the viewerthrough the process of creation withthe work in progress(WIP) pictures.A good portfolio is a visual treat andmust take the viewer through all thedifferent aspects of your repertoire.They would love to know how theidea germinated in your mind,what worked for your project,'what didn’t work and how you final-ly fixed it.Designers are known tobe problem solvers and an innova-tive way of addressing the situationis always an eye catcher.

Follow favourite brands andbe updated with the latest trends:Keep abreast with the latest devel-opments and trends and incorpo-rate them in your designing ele-ments. Follow your favourite brandsand designers to know what are thecurrent trends and latest innova-tions. This will help you thinkbeyond confining parameters anddiscover something new to add toyour work. Improve your networklinks to external sources by taggingdesigner-friends who have a lot offollowing, so that your work getsnoticed by more and more people.There are niche networking sites for

every segment and style of design-ing. Use the social media platformsto draw inspiration from differentsources. Expose yourself to whatstudents from different parts of theworld are ideating and creating. Itwill influence the individualisticinterpretation of your work. Pitchfor originality. Unconventional ideasare the buzzword in the currentdesign landscape and community.

Learn new skills and get feed-back from experts in the area:Solicit feedback from veterans andestablished designers in your disci-pline of designing. You can use thechallenges set out by the manydesign firms on Facebook andLinkedIn to compete and startmaking a name for yourselves. Youcan also pick up projects online andgain work experience which you canthen display in your portfolio.Inject life-blood into your onlinewebsite by introducing a blog. Theongoing pandemic has placed timein your hands.

The lock down period can bechannelised wonderfully byenrolling in online sessions as peryour own schedule. You have theflexibility of attending as many oras few classes as you can assimilatefrom the comfort of your home.There is a plethora of possibilitiesfor a design student if only he

chooses to focus on possibilities andinculcates a 'can do' attitude.

Your portfolio is your callingcard: Your portfolio must reflectyour personality, your worldview,your thought process, experimen-tations, interpretations and inno-vations. One look at your portfolioand the viewer starts to subcon-sciously conceptualise the kind ofwork he/she can expect from you.You need to be able to visually con-vey the value adds that you willbring to the project. An in-depthportfolio with a range of differentprojects, creatively depicted, will goa long way to make you stand outas a designer. Your portfolio mustbe kept updated always. You neverknow when an opportunity willcome your way.

You need to focus on not onlythe content of the portfolio but alsoon the manner in which you aregoing to exhibit your portfolio onsocial media. Social media hascompletely replaced traditionalforms of marketing and it is theplace where business is being doneand promoted. Make sure youleverage this medium to the utmostto connect with key clients to eithersource projects or procure anemployment opportunity.

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&2 44.&�6

What is an Executive MBA (E-MBA)?

It is a generalist management qual-ification which has the goal to developstrong all-round managerial capability.Its purpose is to provide a platform ofknowledge, skills and competencies tohelp craft future leaders. Intertwinedwith all this is both career accelerationand career adaption. Typically, an E-MBA is for mid-career working profes-sionals with at least three-five years man-agement experience. However, manybring 10-plus year experience into theclassroom. An E-MBA provides a hugeand rich learning opportunity for shar-ing and learning with like-mindedworking professionals. Also, the net-working impact might prove to beenormously beneficial.

The course offered by us is a struc-tured sequence of courses organised instages. This includes: Basics (the essen-tials) of management like ManagementAccounting, Corporate Finance andMarketing Management; Cross-func-tional management including coursessuch as Strategic Innovation andBusiness Strategy; Electives including theopportunity to specialise in areas limeFinance, Marketing and Operationsand doing an Applied Business Project,typically towards the end. This structureenables a student to wear many hats.

The E-MBA courses have increas-ing realised that building soft skills arecritically important for effective man-agers and future leaders. Softer skillsincludes everything from listening moreattentively, emotional intelligence, build-ing resilience and grit, to making aneffective sales presentation. Soft skills arebuilt into an E-MBA through a courselike Personal Effectiveness or throughoffering specialist workshops.

What is the duration?It usually takes 18-24 month to com-

plete and can cost approximately �15-16 lakh per annum. It is a part-time qual-ification with students still working full-time. It is offered in a face-to-face modewithin a traditional classroom learningenvironment, via online and or a com-bination of the two in some sort of a

mixed blended learning format. As tech-nology continues to improve a virtualclassroom has increasingly and moreefficiently been brought into a person’shome or workspace.

Who are the people/sectors thatcan benefit from this course?

The batch is usually very diverse interms of the people attending includingwork experience. An E-MBA appeals topersons who have an engineering back-ground and want to move to a moregeneralist position.

The goal of doing an E-MBA is tohelp both career acceleration and careeradaption. This includes the ability tospeed up a manager’s career trajectoryas well as seize transforming careeropportunities as they come along.

Over a longer period of time, per-sons armed with an E-MBA havereached CEO positions. It has alsobeen noted that doing an E-MBA givesconfidence to people start their own ven-ture and subsequently growing theminto a substantial size through buildinga scalable business model. Therefore, ithas be concluded that calculating thereturn on investment on the initial feeand time spent studying could well proveto be infinite! It’s not the cost that isimportant but the return.

5� �?�.'���� �����������������72�������� ��2D3#��>� � � *����������)����&��������� ����� �� ������)� �������������������������� & � ������������������-�������8%��������*�)� �*���$��)�#7 97C ��2�'�27�

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The VIBGYOR Groupof Schools has rolledout a first-of-its-kind

scholarship programme —VIBGYOR EduBridgeScholarship Programme, forthe benefit of the parentswho have been affected bythe ongoing COVID-19 pan-demic. The aim is to providefinancial support to the par-ents who have been affecteddue to the lockdown.

The programme has beendesigned by a team of expertswho have rolled-out thescholarship in the last sevendays and offered support andassistance to parents. Thescholarship is aimed atensuring that continuity ofeducation is maintained andall stakeholders includingteachers, students and par-ents’ needs have been suit-ably addressed.

The scholarship will beawarded after evaluation ofthe financial situation of theparents impacted by COVID-19 and the results will beannounced by mid-June.Parents across all schoolshave already been communi-cated about the scholarshiproll-out and have been urgedto apply for it to access thebenefits of the programme.

The programme isavailalbe across all 38 schools

in 14 cities, for the benefit ofthe parents whose earningshave been impacted by thepandemic and we are whole-heartedly encouraging par-ents to opt for this pro-gramme.

The University ofStrathclyde invites applica-tions for Dean’sInternational ExcellenceAward from internationalstudents on merit-basedscholarship.

Number: 50Value up to: £4,000Subject: Education,

English, History, Law,Modern languages, Physicalactivity for health, Politics,Psychology, Social work andsocial policy, Speech and lan-guage therapy, Journalism,Creative writing

Duration: One yearEligibility: Candidates

must: Be available to com-mence their academic studiesin the UK by the start of theacademic year inSeptember/October 2020.Have an offer of study for afull time, PG, Humanitiesand Social Sciences pro-gramme at the university.

For more information:https://www.strath.ac.uk/studywithus/scholarships/humani-tiessocialsciences/deansinter-nationalexcellenceaward-post-graduatetaught/ or [email protected]

Application deadline: Itis May 31, 2020.

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RB Leipzig returned to thirdplace in the Bundesliga with anentertaining 4-2 victory at

Köln on Monday.Jhon Cordoba claimed the early

advantage for the home side butLeipzig scored four in 37 minutes,including Timo Werner’s 31st in allcompetitions, to climb back aboveBorussia Moenchengladbach andBayer Leverkusen in the hunt for aChampions League place.

“We wanted the three points, wesucceeded. But it is annoying that wefell behind early and wasted a fewchances,” Leipzig’s managing direc-tor Oliver Mintzlaff told broadcast-er DAZN.

“We are back on course for theChampions League which is ourgoal, but the pressure is great.Everyone has to go all in, be totallyfocused and focused,” he added.

The hosts’ boss Markus Gisdolmade four changes fromWednesday’s loss at Hoffenheim,starting Rafael Czichos in place ofsuspended Sebastian Bournaauw,red carded in the defeat.

Leipzig’s Julian Nagelsmannswitched both his wing-backs fromWednesday’s draw to Hertha Berlinas Angelino, on loan fromManchester City, and French youthinternational Nordi Mukiele started.

The home side took the earlylead as Cordoba poached for his 10thhome goal of the campaign.

Midfielder Elvis Rexhbecaj’s

effort deflected onto the far post andthe Colombian finishedfrom the rebound afterseven minutes.

The sides were level 13minutes later as Schickheaded home Angelino’scross to start the flutter ofgoals.

Things went from badto worse for Gisdol’s men four min-utes later as Cordoba was forced offwith an injury and replaced byAnthony Modeste.

Leipzig’s took the lead eightminutes from the break as

Christopher Nkunku claimed hisfirst goal since January.

Austria midfielderKonrad Laimer played aclever ball into the boxand former Paris Saint-Germain attackerNkunku dinked his finishover the onrushing TimoHorn.

����������������Leipzig went further ahead three

minutes into the second-half asWerner, who has been linked with amove to Premier League leaders

�'��� :�������������������� �������� �!"!"

���� 52!#2!

The curtailed Formula Oneseason will start with two

races behind closed doors inAustria on July 5 and July 12followed by six other GrandsPrix in Europe, the organiserssaid on Tuesday.

Formula One said it hopedto have between 15 and 18races in total, with the seasonbeing completed in December.

The Hungarian Grand Prixwill be brought forward toJuly 19 before a two-weekbreak, followed by consecutiveraces in Britain and events inSpain, Italy and Belgium. Allwill likely be run without spec-tators while participants mustadhere to strict safety protocols.

Regular health tests will beconducted with the number ofteam members and race staff atthe venue also reduced.

“While we currently expectthe season to commence with-out fans at our races we hopethat over the coming monthsthe situation will allow us towelcome them back once it is

safe to do,” said F1 chief exec-utive Chase Carey.

“But we know the return ofFormula 1 will be a welcomeboost to sports fans around theworld.”

Silverstone will host tworaces in Britain on August 2and 9, with the Spanish GrandPrix set for Barcelona onAugust 16.

The Belgian and ItalianGrands Prix will take place ontheir original dates of August30 and September 6, complet-ing the European part of the

season. Each event will alsoinclude the Formula 2 andFormula 3 categories.

The blueprint for therehashed season features fur-ther races in Asia and theAmericas in September,October and November beforefinishing in the Gulf in Bahrainand Abu Dhabi in December.

The 2020 season was tohave featured a record 22 races,now it is set to be the shortestcampaign since 2009 with racesin Australia, Monaco, Franceand the Netherlands cancelled.

�� � 728"

Serie A will return after athree-month coronavirus-

enforced absence on June 20with Torino hosting Parma inthe first of four postponedmatches on the opening week-end, the Italian league con-firmed.

The championship willresume with fixtures which werecalled off when Italian sports wassuspended on March 9 becauseof the coronavirus.

The first match will be15th-placed Torino versusninth-ranked Parma at 7.30 pm(1730GMT) on June 20 followedby Hellas Verona, in eighth, ver-sus Cagliari, in 12th, at 9.45pm.

The following day fourth-placed Atalanta will host mid-table Sassuolo at 7.30 pm whileInter Milan, in third, will be athome against relegation-threat-ened Sampdoria at 9.45 pm.

Most teams have 12 gamesleft to play with 124 matchesremaining, to be played in 43days from June 20 to August 2.

After the four catch-upgames, the 27th round of actionwill be played with matchesscheduled from Monday, June22 through to Wednesday, June24.

Maurizio Sarri’s Juventuswho are bidding for a ninth con-secutive title, travel to Bolognafor their first game back onMonday with second-placeLazio at Atalanta on Wednesday.

Juventus will host Lazio onJuly 20 at 9.45pm.

The league has not yet con-firmed the dates for the ItalianCup, which is expected to becompleted the week beforeSerie A restarts, with thefinal on June 17.

The return legs of thesemi-finals remain to beplayed with Juventus facingAC Milan and Napoli playingInter Milan.

Most of the matches will beplayed at 7.30pm and 9.45pm,because of the summer heat inItaly, with only ten games sched-uled earlier at 5.15pm, in thenorth of the country.

Games will be playedbehind closed doors and adher-ing to a strict health protocol,whereby the entire group mustgo into a training camp retreat

for two weeks in the case of apositive test for Covid-19.

Italian football federationpresident Gabriele Gravina saidhe hoped that a small number of

fans will be able to attendmatches before the seasonfinishes.

“It is my heartfelt wishto be able to see a smallpresence in stadium for

the end of the championship,”said Gravina.

“It seems unthinkable thatin a stadium with 60,000 seats,there is no space for a minimalpercentage of spectators who canattend the match with all neces-sary precautions.

“Certainly it is prematuretoday but with the resumptionof the championship, there couldbe a new little signal of hope forour country.”

���� 52!#2!

England will play three Testsat home to the West Indies

in July, subject to BritishGovernment clearance to returnbehind closed doors, theEngland and Wales CricketBoard announced on Tuesday.

The first Test will take placeat Hampshire’s Ageas Bowlground from July 8-12, with thesecond and third Tests at OldTrafford in Manchester on July16-20 and July 24-28.

The West Indies, whoagreed in principle to take partin the series last week, are dueto arrive in England on June 9and will then be based at OldTrafford for a three-week peri-od of quarantine and trainingbefore travelling down toSouthampton.

ECB director of events SteveElworthy said: “Our main objec-tive is to deliver a safe environ-ment for all stakeholders includ-ing players, match officials,operational staff, essential venuestaff, broadcasters and media.

“We are in daily dialoguewith Government and our med-ical team, who have been incred-ibly supportive during this peri-od. These are our proposeddates and they remain subject toUK Government approval.

“We would like to thankCricket West Indies for their co-operation and dedication inmaking this tour a reality, and weall look forward to the prospectof cricket returning in the com-ing weeks.”

The series should have start-ed at The Oval in south Londonon Thursday, with the secondand third Tests originally sched-uled for Edgbaston and Lord’s.

But the fixtures — nowbehind closed doors matches —were moved to the Ageas Bowland Old Trafford for reasons ofbio-security, with both groundshaving on-site hotels whereplayers and officials can beclosely monitored.

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India’s fielding coach R Sridhar says a four-phased training module is being prepared

for the country’s elite cricketers, who canattain peak match fitness with four to sixweeks of training once the camp gets the go-ahead to start.

“I think if you have a camp for 4-6weeks, we can bring them to peak matchreadiness...Fast bowler needs around 6weeks, batsmen might take a bit less time,”Sridhar said.

“Once we get a date (on start of nation-al camp) from the BCCI and approved bythe Government, we can start working back-wards (starting from scratch). The challengeis to proceed in right phases as players canget excited when they play after 14 or 15weeks.

“It’s pertinent that we move in rightmanner forward. Don’t want to look toomuch ahead,” he explained.

Sridhar stressed on workload manage-ment and warned that pushing too hardwould only cause injuries.

“Initially, we have to give them progres-sive workload. You can’t have a sudden spikein workload which could lead to injuries,”said the former Hyderabad left-arm spin-ner.

The coach then explained how they cango about it.

“First phase, it will be ‘low volume-lowintensity’, followed by ‘moderate volume-lowintensity’, ‘high volume-moderate intensity’and then starts ‘high volume-high intensi-ty’ training. This is how we will go,” he said.

And what will constitute low-volume-low intensity training? Sridhar said it wouldvary.

“May be the fast bowlers will bowl twoovers from half or quarter run-up. The deliv-eries will be bowled at 20 or 30 percentintensity. For a fielder, it will be at the max-imum, six throws over 10 metres or 6 throwsover 20 metres at 40 to 50 per cent intensi-ty.

“For a batsman, it will start with five tosix minutes of batting against moderate pacebowling,” he explained.

“For catchers, it will start with semi-softballs, intensity will be slow and volumes willbe less. Then we can slowly pick it up as we

cross one phase after another,” he said.It will be around the fourth week that

match-intensity training will start and then

slowly, the players will enter the zonewhere they get match ready.

“We can’t do same training every day aswe start with low volume-low intensity train-ing. Once we get to the fourth week whenhigh volume-high intensity training starts,the hands will get used to hard balls com-ing at 140km an hour, 130km an hour, that’swhen match-training will start.

“The sharpest minds will take sixweeks to get into Test match mode,” the 49-year-old opined.

He agreed that duration of getting intopeak match readiness physically and men-tally will vary from player to player but theaim for the coaches will be to have every-one on the same page when the camp ends.

“Definitely, there would be differentintensity level, (it will vary) from player toplayer. That’s what the sport is all about. Eachplayer has to be different. We understandthat. Each one will take slightly different timeto get into the peak readiness.

“Someone will do it 4 weeks and someone will take 3 to 4 days more or there maybe someone who may take 3-4 sessionsmore. We respect that. As coaches, our jobis to get everybody on the same page at theend of the camp.”

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Hockey India on Tuesdaynominated national

women’s team captain Ranifor the prestigious RajivGandhi Khel Ratna Awardwhile Vandana Kataria,Monika and HarmanpreetSingh were recommendedfor the Arjuna Award.

The period of consider-ation for the Rajiv GandhiKhel Ratna Award, India’shighest sporting honour, isbetween January 1, 2016 toDecember 31, 2019.

During this period, Raniled the team to historic vic-tories in the Women’s AsiaCup in 2017, Silver at the2018 Asian Games andplayed a critical role in the

FIH Olympic Qualifiers in2019 by scoring the decidinggoal that helped India qual-ify for the Tokyo Olympics.

The team also climbedto a career-best ninth theFIH world rankings.

Also joining Ranifor top honour isstar wrestler VineshPhogat, while herfellow colleaguesW o r l dChampionshipm e d a l l i s t sRahul Awareand Olympic-bound DeepakPunia werenominated for theArjuna award along-side Sakshi Malik andtwo others by the

wrestling federation.Meanwhile, TTFI rec-

ommended star paddlerManika Batra name for thesame.

Manika, who missedout on India’s highest sport-ing honour last year, is the

first woman paddlerfrom her countryto win a singlesGold medal at theCommonwealthGames. Sheachieved the feat inthe 2018 edition in

which she won asmany four medals

including two Goldmedal.

The federation hasrecommended veteranMadhurika Patkar,

Manav Thakkar andSuthirtha Mukherjee forthe Arjuna Award.

Mukherjee recentlybroke into the top-100 ofthe ITTF world rankings.

A panel formed by theSports Ministry will short-list the nominationsreceived from variousnational federations withthe awards to be presentedon National Sports Day,August 29.

India’s top men’s dou-bles pair of SatwiksairajRankireddy and ChiragShetty and men’s singlesplayer Sameer Verma pro-file was also put forward forthe Arjuna award by theBadminton Association ofIndia (BAI).

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Catalan radio station RAC1reported on Tuesday that

five players from FC Barcelonaand two members of the coach-ing staff tested positive for theCovid-19 in tests carried out bythe Spanish football league(LaLiga) at the start of May.

The radio station, whichhas close linksto the club,did not nameany of theplayers or staffwho couldhave beeninfected, buthighlights that they have allovercome the virus and gener-ated antibodies.

The news comes the dayafter Spain’s football clubs werefinally allowed to begin train-ing with their full squads asthey put the finishing touchesto return to action next week asthe Liga Santander and LigaSmartBank (first and seconddivisions) come back after abreak of over 3 months.

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Out of favour batsman SureshRaina has revealed that

unlike previous editions, formerIndia captain MS Dhoni waspreparing in a different way forthis year’s edition of the IndianPremier League which current-ly stands indefinitely postponed.

Dhoni and Raina had start-ed their preparations for IPL 13from March 3 for the tourna-ment earlier slated to standfrom March 29.

“The first few days he tookit lightly and just focused ongoing to the gym but he wasplaying the shots beautifullyand his fitness level was greatand he was not getting tired,”Raina said while speaking onStar Sports show CricketConnected .

“His preparations were dif-ferent this time, I have playedwith him over the years with thenational side and IPL gettingready but it was different thistime, so I just hope the match-es can start quickly then every-one can see how well preparedhe is and see what I saw myselfLIVE in the two months of campthat we had,” he added.

The 2020 IPL is supposed tosee return of Dhoni to cricket-ing action as the wicket-keeperis on a break since playing in thesemi-final of the 2019 World

Cup where India lost to NewZealand.

“When someone workshard, then the prayers and bless-ings find their way to them,” saidRaina.

“The best thing was,(Ambati) Rayudu, myself, Mahibhai and Murali (Vijay) werebatting in a group and Mahi bhaibats for long hours when he isin Chennai for about 2-4 hours.

“But this time he was justnot getting tired of batting. Hewas doing his gym in the morn-ing, followed by batting forthree hours in the evening,” headded.

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Liverpool, raced clear ina rapid counter-attackand beat Horn with aside-footed finish.

Köln hit back fourminutes later as Leipzigfailed to clear outsidetheir area and Modestecurled home a shot.

Leipzig’s two-goallead was re-establishedless than two minuteslater as Spain midfield-er Dani Olmo scoredhis first goal since join-ing Leipzig in Januarywith a curling shot of

his own from the edgeof the box.

Substitute Modesteseemed to have wonthe chance to reduce theadvantage with 18 min-utes left but was denieda penalty by VAR afterLucas Klostermann’stackle.

With two minutesremaining Modestethen wasted a one-on-one with Peter Gulasciand Nagelsmann’sLeipzig held on for threepoints.

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��+#(0�(""#"�+�"�%( +�&#"����#�&*���!�+0+��'$*(.� �8�(�#���-��������Senior cricketerTamim Iqbal has noqualms in admitting thatBangladesh closely fol-lowed Indian cricket, andsaid the Tigers’ change inattitude towards fitness wasinfluenced by Virat Kohliand his men.

“I think because Indiais our neighbour country,we follow a lot of thingsabout what’s happening inIndia. Indian cricket’schange in approachtowards fitness influencedBangladesh cricket themost,” the left-handedopener said in a

ESPNcricinfo podcast.The 31-year-old said

he was in awe of Kohli’sfocus towards fitnessdespite both cricketersbeing on the same side of

age. “I have no shame to tellyou this. I think this shouldbe out. 2-3 years back,when I sometimes used tosee Virat Kohli doing allthose gym things, runningaround, I honestly used tofeel ashamed myself.

“The guy of my age istraining so much despiteattaining success whereas Iam not even doing half ofwhat he is doing,” he said.

“I, maybe, not doinghalf of what he is doing. Atleast, if I can’t match hislevel, try to follow his path.Maybe I can reach 50-60per cent.” PTI

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� ����%���� $��� � � �&�!������4�*����� ���������Veteran England fastbowler James Anderson reck-ons the coronavirus enforcedbreak from the game couldextend his career “by a year ortwo”. English record Test wick-et taker, who is in the twilightof his career, said the breakcould lead to something goodfor him.

“It (the break) could justadd on a year or two at the endof my career,” Anderson saidon the BBC podcast Tailenders.

The 37-year-old, who lastplayed in January before suffer-ing an injury, is part of the 55-member group that has beenasked by the England CricketBoard (ECB) to return totraining, ahead of the WestIndies Test series.

“I’ve really enjoyed beingback and as odd as it is justbowling into a net, with notmany people around, it’s stillnice to be back and playingcricket,” Anderson said. PTI

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