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I ndia and China will make all efforts to end the two-year- old stalemate at the border in Ladakh during the talks between External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi here on Friday. Wang Yi is also likely to meet National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval. The two leaders are also expected to discuss ways for the speedy return of Indian stu- dents to China. There are more than 15,000 Indian students studying in various universities there and forced to return home after the outbreak of the corona pandemic more than two years back, sources said here on Thursday. Yi arrived in India on Thursday evening. He flew into New Delhi from Kabul and is the first Chinese Minister to come to India since trouble erupted between forces of the two nations in May 2020 result- ing in a bloody brawl later in the Galwan valley. Moreover, he comes a day after India criticised him for his remarks on Jammu and Kashmir. New Delhi rejected the “uncalled reference” to Jammu and Kashmir in his speech in a function in Pakistan. “Matters related to the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir are entirely the inter- nal affairs of India. Other countries, including China have no locus standi to com- ment. They should note that India refrains from public judg- ment of their internal issues,” Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi had said on Thursday. Wang had made a refer- ence to Kashmir in his opening speech at the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation in Pakistan. “On Kashmir, we have heard again today the calls of many of our Islamic friends. And China shares the same hope,” he had said. As regards talks on the situation on the Line of Actual Control (LAC), the two leaders will review the progress made so far during 15 rounds of military-level talks besides several rounds of parleys at the diplomatic level. Wang and Jaishankar met twice after the incident — in Moscow in September 2020 and Dushanbe in September 2021. M aintaining a neutral stand, India abstained from vot- ing in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on a resolution moved by Russia on the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine. Twelve other coun- tries, including the US, too abstained from voting on it late on Wednesday. India had earlier abstained from voting in the UNSC and in the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on resolu- tions on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The draft resolution by Russia on Wednesday was co- sponsored by Syria, North Korea and Belarus. It failed to get adopted in the Council as it did not get the required nine “yes” votes to pass. Russia and China voted in favour of the resolution, but no countries voted against it. Russia, a permanent mem- ber having veto power, had called for a vote in the 15- nation Security Council on its draft resolution that “demands that civilians, including humanitarian personnel and persons in vulnerable situa- tions, including women and children are fully protected, calls for negotiated ceasefire for enabling safe, rapid, voluntary and unhindered evacuation of civilians, and underscores the need for the parties concerned to agree on humanitarian paus- es to this end.” The resolution called upon all parties concerned to allow safe and unhindered passage to destinations outside of Ukraine, including to for- eign nationals without dis- crimination, and facilitate safe and unhindered access of humanitarian assistance to those in need in and around Ukraine, taking into account the particular needs of women, girls, men and boys, older persons and persons with dis- abilities. While other Council members made statements after the vote on the resolution, India did not make any statement. US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield tweeted that “in a unified protest vote”, 13 members of the Security Council abstained from Russia’s farcical resolution deflecting blame for the humanitarian crisis it has cre- ated in Ukraine. In the Explanation of Vote, Thomas-Greenfield said it really is “unconscionable” that Russia would have the audacity to put forward a res- olution asking the interna- tional community to solve a humanitarian crisis that Russia alone created. “The United States intends to abstain on this text because, to state the obvious, Russia does not care about the dete- riorating humanitarian con- ditions, or the millions of lives and dreams the war has shat- tered. If they cared, they would stop fighting. U krainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for “military assistance without limitations” as he addressed an emergency NATO summit on Thursday, the first of three urgent meet- ings US President Joe Biden and world leaders are holding in response to the Russian invasion. Zelenskyy pleaded for anti-air and anti-ship weapons, asking “is it possible to survive in such a war without this?” “It feels like we’re in a gray area, between the West and Russia, defending our com- mon values,” Zelenskyy said in his video address to the sum- mit. “This is the scariest thing during a war — not to have clear answers to requests for help!” A Biden administration official, who requested anonymity, said Zelenskyy did not repeat his demand for a no- fly zone, a demand NATO already has rejected. S heikh Anarul Hussein, a Trinamool Congress dis- trict committee member — and the alleged mastermind behind the Birbhum mass killings — and 21 others were on Thursday arrested hours after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee visited Bagtui village in Birbhum district where 10 people, including six women and two children, were on Tuesday evening hacked and then burnt alive. Anarul orchestrated the carnage in retaliation of the murder of his close crony Bhadu Sheikh, a panchayat vice pradhan who was- bombed to death a couple of hours before the Bagtui car- nage. Mamata, who had on Wednesday advocated a “larg- er conspiracy” angle on Thursday, toned down the “conspiracy” rhetoric order- ing the arrest of Anarul after visiting Bagtui. “I could never have imagined that such a barbaric act can take place in modern day Bengal... where women, mothers and even children are burnt alive … this incident must not go unpunished and so I ask the police to immediately arrest the culprits,” Mamata said before ordering the arrest of Anarul, a mason-turned- TMC politician with a multi- million empire. In what the Opposition parties immediately saw “an attempt to suppress and dilute the real case,” Mamata said, “I hear that one of our block presidents is guilty of not send- ing in the police despite being repeatedly requested by the victims’ family members.” She also ordered the suspension of the Rampurhat officer in- charge of police. T he BJP legislature party in Uttar Pradesh on Thursday completed the formality of electing Yogi Adityanath as its leader, paving the way for his return as the Chief Minister. Yogi will take oath on Friday in a gala function. The meeting was attended by Union Home Minister Amit Shah as observer. Senior BJP leader and nine-time MLA Suresh Khanna proposed the name of Yogi as the leader while Surya Pratap Shahi, Baby Rani Maurya, Ram Naresh Agnohori, Sushil Shakyam, and Nand Gopal Nandi seconded his name. Yogi then called on the Governor Anandiben Patel and staked claim to form the next Government. He will be sworn in as the CM on Friday in a function at Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Stadium. “Today I have been elect- ed as the leader of the legisla- ture party. This is a matter of pride for us. But this also means we have to work with more vigour to ensure that benefits of the Government schemes should reach the tar- geted audience,” Yogi said while addressing the legislators after being elected as leader. Stressing on the impor- tance of the BJP’s victory in 2022 elections, Amit Shah said that this win has written a new chapter in UP’s history. In the last 35 years never a party has been re-elected after completing a tenure of five years. In both the times the BJP got two-thirds votes and this was possible because of Yogi, he added. A day after the BJP legislators demanded The Kashmir Files be made tax-free in Delhi, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday said the movie should be uploaded on YouTube and make it free for all. Speaking in the Assembly, Kejriwal accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of using the movie for political gains. Kejriwal said the BJP leaders were demanding to make The Kashmir Files movie tax-free when Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal was speaking in the House on Wednesday. “They (BJP) are demand- ing that the movie be declared tax-free in Delhi. Upload it on YouTube, the movie will become free and everyone will be able to watch it,” he said in the Assembly. Kejriwal slammed Modi, alleging that even after ruling the country for eight years he has to take the help of the movie for political gains. Kejriwal, who is also the AAP national convener, further alleged that the entire BJP machinery was busy sticking posters of the movie across the country. “Some people are earning crores in the name of Kashmiri Pandits and you (BJP) have been sticking posters of the film,” he said. Reacting to Kejriwal’s response to the BJP MLAs’ demand, the party’s Delhi unit chief Adesh Gupta said Kejriwal’s response showed his insensitivity towards the pain of Kashmiri Pandits. ‘The AAP had in the past supported the demand for a plebiscite by Kashmiri sepa- ratists. So, appreciation fo The Kashmir Files movie cannot be expected from him (Kejriwal),” he said. T he Supreme Court’s Pegasus probe panel on Thursday invited public response on alleged State sur- veillance through telephone tapping and suggestions on checks and balances and safe- guarding of privacy through legislation. Justice RV Raveendran headed the probe panel’s web- site has posted 11 questions seeking public response on the surveillance by the Governments and safeguarding the privacy of persons. The last day for response is March 31. “The existing boundaries of State surveillance of personal and private communications of citizens, for the purposes of national security, defence of India, maintenance of public order, and prevention and investigation of offences, are well defined and understood? Are there any other purpose for which State surveillance may be justifiable and necessary?” asked the panel. The second question sought response on the effec- tiveness of current Acts like the Telegraph Act of 1885 and Information Technology Act 2000 in checking the excessive use or misuse. The panel sought response on the need for further laws to strengthen privacy and changes if needed in the existing pre- scribed formats used by agen- cies in surveillance. “Should the State be oblig- ed to record or disclose sur- veillance’ technology/access that is procured by it, available with it or used by it for the pur- pose of national security or defence of India? To whom should such disclosure be made and in what form? Should these records be assessable under the RIT or otherwise made public once a certain amount of time has elapsed?” F armers’ income in some States — Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Nagaland and Odisha — has declined despite the monthly agricul- tural household income of the country having increased from 8,059 to 10,218. As per the data furnished to a Parliamentary Standing Committee on Agriculture, the Department of Agriculture has stated that farmers’ income in Jharkhand it has come down from 7,068 to 4,895, in Madhya Pradesh from 9,740 to 8,339, in Nagaland from 11,428 to 9,877, in Odisha from 5,274 to 5,112. This has been revealed in a reply by the Department of Agriculture before a parlia- mentary standing committee on Agriculture and Farmers Welfare. The report was tabled in Parliament on Thursday. Taking note of the depart- ment’s reply, the Committee headed by PC Gaddigoudar has said the department should formulate a special team to fig- ure out the reasons for falling farmers’ income in those States and take corrective measures so that the doubling of farmers’ income is not lost sight of. The report said the income of farmers has gone down when the monthly agricultur- al household income of the country has increased from 8,059 to 10,218. “During the course of evi- dence, when the department has asked to inform the steps taken by it to increase farmers income in the States of Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Nagaland, Odisha, the depart- ment’s Post Evidence Reply was lackadaisical in replying that the input in this regard will need to be sought from the concerned State Governments,” said the report. It is a fact that many departments, organisations and Ministries of Government of India are responsible for dou- bling the income of each and every farmer of this country within a fixed time frame. “But there is no denial that the major task for doubling of income of farmers lies with the department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare,” it added. Meanwhile, the Jharkhand Government is to request the Centre to extend the deadline for paddy procurement till April 30 this year, in case it fails to achieve the target by March 31, a senior Minister informed the State Assembly on Thursday. The target for 2021-22 is 80-lakh tonne, and the deadline for procurement is expiring on March 31. The State has achieved over 71 per cent of its paddy procurement target till March 23. State Food, Public Distribution and Consumer Affairs Minister Rameshwar Oraon told the House, “We have already achieved 71.33 per cent of the target till March 23 and there are seven more days to go. “We are hopeful of achieving the target by March end. In case we fail to do so, a request will be made to the Centre to extend the deadline till April 30.”Oraon was reply- ing to a question raised by BJP legislator Manish Jaiswal over poor paddy procurement in the State. New Delhi: Riled by the exces- sive barking of his octogenar- ian neighbour’s pet, a 17-year- old boy allegedly killed the 85- year-old man while he tried to rescue the animal, police said on Thursday. According to the wife of the deceased, the boy barged into their house and hit the man on his head with an iron road. The police said the teenag- er wanted to kill the dog, but as the old man came to its rescue, the boy ended up killing him. The police identified the deceased as Ashok Kumar, a resident of Najafagarh area here. Around 5.30 pm on Friday, Kumar’s son called up the local police station and complained to them about the incident. They arrived at the Rao Tula Ram Memorial Hospital and recorded the statement of Meena (65), the victim’s wife. Continued on Page 5

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India and China will make allefforts to end the two-year-

old stalemate at the border inLadakh during the talksbetween External AffairsMinister S Jaishankar and hisChinese counterpart Wang Yihere on Friday. Wang Yi is alsolikely to meet National SecurityAdviser (NSA) Ajit Doval.

The two leaders are alsoexpected to discuss ways for thespeedy return of Indian stu-dents to China. There are morethan 15,000 Indian studentsstudying in various universitiesthere and forced to returnhome after the outbreak of thecorona pandemic more thantwo years back, sources saidhere on Thursday.

Yi arrived in India onThursday evening. He flewinto New Delhi from Kabul andis the first Chinese Minister tocome to India since troubleerupted between forces of thetwo nations in May 2020 result-ing in a bloody brawl later inthe Galwan valley.

Moreover, he comes a day

after India criticised him for hisremarks on Jammu andKashmir. New Delhi rejectedthe “uncalled reference” toJammu and Kashmir in hisspeech in a function inPakistan.

“Matters related to theUnion Territory of Jammu andKashmir are entirely the inter-nal affairs of India. Othercountries, including Chinahave no locus standi to com-ment. They should note that

India refrains from public judg-ment of their internal issues,”Ministry spokespersonArindam Bagchi had said onThursday.

Wang had made a refer-ence to Kashmir in his openingspeech at the Organisation ofIs lamic Cooperat ion inPakistan. “On Kashmir, wehave heard again today thecalls of many of our Islamicfriends. And China shares thesame hope,” he had said.

As regards talks on thesituation on the Line ofActual Control (LAC), thetwo leaders will review theprogress made so far during15 rounds of military-leveltalks besides several roundsof parleys at the diplomaticlevel.

Wang and Jaishankar mettwice after the incident — inMoscow in September 2020and Dushanbe in September2021.

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Maintaining a neutral stand,India abstained from vot-

ing in the United NationsSecurity Council (UNSC) on aresolution moved by Russia onthe humanitarian crisis inUkraine. Twelve other coun-tries, including the US, tooabstained from voting on it lateon Wednesday.

India had earlier abstainedfrom voting in the UNSC andin the United Nations GeneralAssembly (UNGA) on resolu-tions on Russia’s invasion ofUkraine.

The draft resolution byRussia on Wednesday was co-sponsored by Syria, NorthKorea and Belarus. It failed toget adopted in the Council asit did not get the requirednine “yes” votes to pass. Russiaand China voted in favour ofthe resolution, but no countriesvoted against it.

Russia, a permanent mem-ber having veto power, hadcalled for a vote in the 15-nation Security Council on itsdraft resolution that “demandsthat civilians, includinghumanitarian personnel andpersons in vulnerable situa-tions, including women andchildren are fully protected,calls for negotiated ceasefire forenabling safe, rapid, voluntaryand unhindered evacuation ofcivilians, and underscores theneed for the parties concernedto agree on humanitarian paus-es to this end.”

The resolution called

upon all parties concerned toallow safe and unhinderedpassage to destinations outsideof Ukraine, including to for-eign nationals without dis-crimination, and facilitate safeand unhindered access ofhumanitarian assistance tothose in need in and aroundUkraine, taking into accountthe particular needs of women,girls, men and boys, olderpersons and persons with dis-abilities.

While other Councilmembers made statementsafter the vote on the resolution,India did not make any statement.

US Ambassador to theUN Linda Thomas-Greenfieldtweeted that “in a unifiedprotest vote”, 13 members ofthe Security Council abstainedfrom Russia’s farcical resolutiondeflecting blame for thehumanitarian crisis it has cre-ated in Ukraine.

In the Explanation ofVote, Thomas-Greenfield saidit really is “unconscionable”that Russia would have theaudacity to put forward a res-olution asking the interna-tional community to solve ahumanitarian crisis that Russiaalone created.

“The United States intendsto abstain on this text because,to state the obvious, Russiadoes not care about the dete-riorating humanitarian con-ditions, or the millions of livesand dreams the war has shat-tered. If they cared, they wouldstop fighting.

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Ukrainian PresidentVolodymyr Zelenskyy

called for “military assistancewithout limitations” as headdressed an emergencyNATO summit on Thursday,the first of three urgent meet-ings US President Joe Bidenand world leaders are holdingin response to the Russianinvasion.

Zelenskyy pleaded foranti-air and anti-ship weapons,asking “is it possible to survive

in such a war without this?”“It feels like we’re in a gray

area, between the West andRussia, defending our com-mon values,” Zelenskyy said inhis video address to the sum-mit. “This is the scariest thingduring a war — not to haveclear answers to requests forhelp!”

A Biden administrationofficial, who requestedanonymity, said Zelenskyy didnot repeat his demand for a no-fly zone, a demand NATOalready has rejected.

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Sheikh Anarul Hussein, aTrinamool Congress dis-

trict committee member —and the alleged mastermindbehind the Birbhum masskillings — and 21 others wereon Thursday arrested hoursafter Chief Minister MamataBanerjee visited Bagtui villagein Birbhum district where 10people, including six womenand two children, were onTuesday evening hacked andthen burnt alive.

Anarul orchestrated thecarnage in retaliation of themurder of his close cronyBhadu Sheikh, a panchayatvice pradhan who was-bombed to death a couple ofhours before the Bagtui car-nage.

Mamata, who had on

Wednesday advocated a “larg-er conspiracy” angle onThursday, toned down the“conspiracy” rhetoric order-ing the arrest of Anarul aftervisiting Bagtui. “I could neverhave imagined that such abarbaric act can take place inmodern day Bengal... wherewomen, mothers and evenchildren are burnt alive …this incident must not gounpunished and so I ask thepolice to immediately arrestthe culprits,” Mamata saidbefore ordering the arrest ofAnarul, a mason-turned-TMC politician with a multi-million empire.

In what the Oppositionparties immediately saw “anattempt to suppress and dilutethe real case,” Mamata said, “Ihear that one of our blockpresidents is guilty of not send-ing in the police despite beingrepeatedly requested by thevictims’ family members.” Shealso ordered the suspension ofthe Rampurhat officer in-charge of police.

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The BJP legislature party inUttar Pradesh on Thursday

completed the formality ofelecting Yogi Adityanath as itsleader, paving the way for hisreturn as the Chief Minister.Yogi will take oath on Friday ina gala function.

The meeting was attendedby Union Home Minister AmitShah as observer. Senior BJPleader and nine-time MLASuresh Khanna proposed thename of Yogi as the leaderwhile Surya Pratap Shahi, BabyRani Maurya, Ram NareshAgnohori, Sushil Shakyam, andNand Gopal Nandi secondedhis name.

Yogi then called on theGovernor Anandiben Patel andstaked claim to form the nextGovernment. He will be swornin as the CM on Friday in afunction at Atal BihariVajpayee Ekana Stadium.

“Today I have been elect-ed as the leader of the legisla-

ture party. This is a matter ofpride for us. But this alsomeans we have to work withmore vigour to ensure thatbenefits of the Governmentschemes should reach the tar-geted audience,” Yogi saidwhile addressing the legislatorsafter being elected as leader.

Stressing on the impor-tance of the BJP’s victory in2022 elections, Amit Shahsaid that this win has writtena new chapter in UP’s history.In the last 35 years never aparty has been re-elected aftercompleting a tenure of fiveyears. In both the times theBJP got two-thirds votes andthis was possible because ofYogi, he added.

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Aday after the BJP legislatorsdemanded The Kashmir

Files be made tax-free in Delhi,Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwalon Thursday said the movieshould be uploaded onYouTube and make it free forall.

Speaking in the Assembly,Kejriwal accused PrimeMinister Narendra Modi ofusing the movie for politicalgains. Kejriwal said the BJPleaders were demanding tomake The Kashmir Files movietax-free when LieutenantGovernor Anil Baijal wasspeaking in the House onWednesday.

“They (BJP) are demand-ing that the movie be declaredtax-free in Delhi. Upload it onYouTube, the movie willbecome free and everyone will

be able to watch it,” he said inthe Assembly.

Kejriwal slammed Modi,alleging that even after rulingthe country for eight years hehas to take the help of themovie for political gains.

Kejriwal, who is also theAAP national convener, furtheralleged that the entire BJPmachinery was busy stickingposters of the movie across thecountry.

“Some people are earningcrores in the name of KashmiriPandits and you (BJP) havebeen sticking posters of thefilm,” he said.

Reacting to Kejriwal’sresponse to the BJP MLAs’demand, the party’s Delhi unitchief Adesh Gupta saidKejriwal’s response showed hisinsensitivity towards the pain ofKashmiri Pandits.

‘The AAP had in the pastsupported the demand for aplebiscite by Kashmiri sepa-ratists. So, appreciation fo TheKashmir Files movie cannot beexpected from him (Kejriwal),”he said.

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The Supreme Court’sPegasus probe panel on

Thursday invited publicresponse on alleged State sur-veillance through telephonetapping and suggestions onchecks and balances and safe-guarding of privacy throughlegislation.

Justice RV Raveendranheaded the probe panel’s web-site has posted 11 questionsseeking public response on thesurveillance by theGovernments and safeguardingthe privacy of persons. The lastday for response is March 31.

“The existing boundariesof State surveillance of personaland private communications ofcitizens, for the purposes ofnational security, defence ofIndia, maintenance of publicorder, and prevention andinvestigation of offences, arewell defined and understood?Are there any other purpose for

which State surveillance may bejustifiable and necessary?”asked the panel.

The second questionsought response on the effec-tiveness of current Acts like theTelegraph Act of 1885 andInformation Technology Act2000 in checking the excessiveuse or misuse.

The panel sought responseon the need for further laws tostrengthen privacy and changesif needed in the existing pre-scribed formats used by agen-cies in surveillance.

“Should the State be oblig-ed to record or disclose sur-veillance’ technology/accessthat is procured by it, availablewith it or used by it for the pur-pose of national security ordefence of India? To whomshould such disclosure be madeand in what form? Shouldthese records be assessableunder the RIT or otherwisemade public once a certainamount of time has elapsed?”

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Farmers’ income in someStates — Jharkhand,

Madhya Pradesh and Nagalandand Odisha — has declineddespite the monthly agricul-tural household income of thecountry having increased from�8,059 to �10,218.

As per the data furnishedto a Parliamentary StandingCommittee on Agriculture, theDepartment of Agriculture hasstated that farmers’ income inJharkhand it has come downfrom �7,068 to �4,895, inMadhya Pradesh from �9,740to �8,339, in Nagaland from�11,428 to �9,877, in Odishafrom �5,274 to �5,112.

This has been revealed ina reply by the Department ofAgriculture before a parlia-mentary standing committeeon Agriculture and FarmersWelfare. The report was tabledin Parliament on Thursday.

Taking note of the depart-ment’s reply, the Committeeheaded by PC Gaddigoudar has

said the department shouldformulate a special team to fig-ure out the reasons for fallingfarmers’ income in those Statesand take corrective measures sothat the doubling of farmers’income is not lost sight of.

The report said the incomeof farmers has gone downwhen the monthly agricultur-al household income of thecountry has increased from�8,059 to �10,218.

“During the course of evi-dence, when the departmenthas asked to inform the stepstaken by it to increase farmersincome in the States ofJharkhand, Madhya Pradesh,Nagaland, Odisha, the depart-ment’s Post Evidence Replywas lackadaisical in replyingthat the input in this regard willneed to be sought from theconcerned State Governments,”said the report.

It is a fact that manydepartments, organisations andMinistries of Government ofIndia are responsible for dou-bling the income of each and

every farmer of this countrywithin a fixed time frame. “Butthere is no denial that the

major task for doubling ofincome of farmers lies with thedepartment of Agriculture and

Farmers Welfare,” it added.Meanwhile, the Jharkhand

Government is to request the

Centre to extend the deadlinefor paddy procurement tillApril 30 this year, in case it failsto achieve the target by March31, a senior Minister informedthe State Assembly onThursday.

The target for 2021-22 is80-lakh tonne, and the deadlinefor procurement is expiring onMarch 31. The State hasachieved over 71 per cent of itspaddy procurement target tillMarch 23.

State Food, PublicDistribution and ConsumerAffairs Minister RameshwarOraon told the House, “Wehave already achieved 71.33 percent of the target till March 23and there are seven more daysto go. “We are hopeful ofachieving the target by Marchend. In case we fail to do so, arequest will be made to theCentre to extend the deadlinetill April 30.”Oraon was reply-ing to a question raised by BJPlegislator Manish Jaiswal overpoor paddy procurement in theState.

New Delhi: Riled by the exces-sive barking of his octogenar-ian neighbour’s pet, a 17-year-old boy allegedly killed the 85-year-old man while he tried torescue the animal, police saidon Thursday.

According to the wife ofthe deceased, the boy bargedinto their house and hit theman on his head with an ironroad.

The police said the teenag-er wanted to kill the dog, but asthe old man came to its rescue,the boy ended up killing him.

The police identified thedeceased as Ashok Kumar, aresident of Najafagarh areahere.

Around 5.30 pm on Friday,Kumar’s son called up the localpolice station and complainedto them about the incident.They arrived at the Rao TulaRam Memorial Hospital andrecorded the statement ofMeena (65), the victim’s wife.

Continued on Page 5

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jharkhand 02RANCHI | FRIDAY | MARCH 25, 2022

PNS HAZARIBAG

M FAIYAZ AHMAD DALTONGANJ

SURESH NIKHARBERMO

PNS JAMSHEDPUR

PNS JAMSHEDPUR

PNS JAMSHEDPUR

XLRI joins hands with Coal India for HR Training Programme

PNS RANCHI

PNS BOKARO

Madhubani painting products at Patna Railway Station

RAHUL SHARMABOKARO

Bokaro Admin at work to issue 100% UDID by 31 March

Naman pays tribute to Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, RajguruMACE inaugurated in venture with ESL

PNS BOKARO

PANKAJ KUMARDHANBAD

Case filed in studentkilling after 24 hours

PTR alert for water, surface fire

RPF under ECR seizes huge quantity of liquor

PNS BOKARO

Meeting held between BSL and Railways

CTPS to hold Inter-Departmental Cricket Tournament

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jharkhand 03RANCHI | FRIDAY | MARCH 25, 2022

PNS RANCHI

PNS RANCHI

Technology and Machinery Demonstration Programme held at BAU

PNS RANCHI

Campaign to secure and organize government schoolsPNS RANCHI

CM, Education Minister launch cleanliness campaign in schools

CASCADE-2022 at XISS

Cascade 2022, Day 4 events began with the fi-nal match of cricket and knockout matches ofbasketball and badminton on Wednesday. In to-day’s Cricket match in a thrilling series of eventswhich kept the audience on the edge of theirseats, Team RM became tournament winners bybeating Team Finance in super over. The bas-ketball match (Girls) started amidst deafeningcheers from both sides edging their respectiveteams to success. The spirit of good sports“womanship” was evident in the game in whichTeam --HRM defeated Team RM. In Table Tennis(Faculties-Staff) Match A, Dr. Amar E. Tigga de-feated Pankaj Tirkey in Match B Aditya Raj de-feated Himanshu Mohanta. In badminton match-es held on day 3, (Men’s doubles) Team Financedefeated Team HRM, whereas in (Women’sDoubles), Team Marketing defeated Team HRM.On the other hand, the badminton match (Mix)was won by Team HRM. The students enthusi-astically cheered their departmental wins andcommiserated their losses in a dignified mannerupholding a united front filled with nothing butpride in their institute.

German Ambassador visits DPS Ranchi

German Ambassador Walter J- Lindner alongwith his delegates visited Delhi Public School,

Ranchi on Thursday marking the revitalisation ofmore than 60 years long Indo- German Cooper-ation for sustainable development and energyconservation. The delegates also included Con-

sul General Manfred Auster and his spouse ,Christiane Hieronymus, Head of developmentCooperation, Miriam Stroebel, Senior PoliticalOfficer (Bo Delhi), and Isha Malhotra , Press of-ficer from German Consulate, Calcutta. The daywas marked with the rhythmic welcome chorusby the students , walk-in painting exhibition anda booklet release. Lindner applauded DPS's ini-tiative and venture towards accomplishment ofSustainable Development Goals and creatingsuch teaching- learning ecosystem which is notonly environment friendly but also creates the fu-ture resident of this planet environmentally sen-sitive and ready. Principal Dr. Ram Singh alsoconveyed extreme delight for partnering withGIZ in nurturing global citizens who are not onlyaware of sustainable development but also equipto make the planet a better place than what it istoday.

Korea-India Friendship Quiz Contest

Registration for “7th Korea-India Friendship QuizContest” organized by Korean Cultural CentreIndia is now open for pan India students. To par-ticipate students need to register at www.kore-aindiaquiz2022.com , April 15th is the last date ofregistration. First winner will be awarded a cashprize of Rs 2,00,000, runner-up with Rs 1,50,000and second runner-up with Rs 1,00,000. Abovethis all 10 zonal champions will win Rs 10,000each along with Certificates of Honor and KCCIMembership for 2 years. This contest aims tospread awareness about Korea and its diversefacets among school students, leading to greaterunderstanding of the nation, its people and its in-teraction with India over the years.

Spl Bank account opening campaign

Under the special bank camp campaign startedon the instructions of Bokaro Deputy Commis-sioner Kuldeep Chaudhary, a special bank camp

was organized in various schoolsof the district Bokaro. In the camp,bank accounts of hundreds of stu-dents studying in different schoolswere opened. Special bank campswere organized at various govern-ment schools. A large number ofstudents along with their parentswere present in the camp. DeputyDevelopment Commissioner(DDC) Kirtishree was monitoringthe progress of the campaign. It isnoteworthy that the district admin-istration has set a target of openingbank accounts of about 66,000 stu-

dents who have been left out in the district. To ful-fill this goal, work is being done to open bank ac-counts by organizing special bank camps inidentified clusters (schools) every day till April 30.

PNS RANCHI

PNS RANCHI

Police crack Ashok Nagar murder case, 3 held

NEWS IN PIX

No plan to change mandatory schooling for general students: Alam

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The Supreme Court onThursday refused an

urgent hearing on the pleaschallenging the KarnatakaHigh Court verdict on Hijabban in class rooms.

A bench comprising ChiefJustice NV Ramana and JusticeKrishna Murari denied therequest of senior advocateDevadatt Kamat who men-tioned the matter seekingurgent listing saying that exam-inations are going on. "Examshave nothing to do with theissue," the bench said.

Solicitor General TusharMehta submitted that they arerepeatedly mentioning thematter. "Mr SG, can you wait,"the apex court said, while ask-ing Kamat not to sensitise theissue.

"These are girls...Theexams are from 28th. They arebeing prevented from entering

the schools. One year will go,"Kamat said. The apex court,however, did not accede to therequest.

On March 16, the apexcourt had agreed to list forhearing after Holi vacationthe pleas challenging theKarnataka High Court verdictwhich dismissed the petitionsseeking permission to wearhijab inside the classroom say-ing it is not a part of the essen-tial religious practice in theIslamic faith.

The high court had dis-missed the petitions filed by asection of Muslim studentsfrom the Government Pre-University Girls College inUdupi, seeking permission towear hijab inside the class-room. The prescription ofschool uniform is only a rea-sonable restriction, constitu-tionally permissible which thestudents cannot object to, thehigh court had said.

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The National InvestigationAgency (NIA) on Thursday

conducted searches at multiplelocations in Gujarat andMaharashtra in the espionagecase of Andhra Pradesh.

The case relates to involve-ment of Pakistani agents in espi-onage activities in India.Investigation revealed that theyhad conspired with otheraccused persons based inVisakhapatnam, Mumbai andGujarat for gathering sensitiveinformation for conducting ter-ror acts in India, the NIA said ina statement here.

The NIA conducted thesearches at four locations inGujarat and Maharashtra. Thecase was initially registered asFIR No. 1/2020 dated January 10,2020 at Police Station CounterIntelligence Cell, AndhraPradesh, Vijayawada and waslater re-registered by NIA onDecember 23 last year.

“Indian SIM cards werefraudulently procured and onetime passwords (OTPs) werereceived through their Indian

associates for activation ofWhatsApp by Pakistan-basedhandlers which was then used toestablish contact with defencepersonnel to elicit sensitive infor-mation related to vital installa-tions,” it said.

The searches were conduct-ed in Godhra, Gujarat andBuldana, Maharashtra at thepremises of suspects. During thesearches, digital devices, suspi-cious SIM cards and incrimi-nating documents have beenseized. Further investigation inthe case is continuing, it said..

In a separate case, the NIAfiled a supplementarychargesheet against an accusedShahid Kasam Sumra of Kutch,Gujarat, in NIA Special Court,Ahmedabad in a drugs smug-gling case.The case was initiallyregistered by Anti-TerrorismSquad (ATS)/Gujarat on August12, 2018 pertaining to a crimi-nal conspiracy hatched byaccused based in Dubai andPakistan for smuggling and dis-tribution of 500 kg of illegal nar-cotic drugs (heroin) fromPakistan to Gujarat by sea route,the NIA said in a statement.

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Expressing disappointmentover the delay of a new

Scheme “Augmentation of CityBus Services includingAssociated Infrastructure andGreen Urban MobilityInitiatives, a ParliamentaryStanding Committee onHousing and Urban Affairsrecommended that schememay be implemented in mis-sion mode with no furtherdelay and the necessaryapproval from the ExpenditureFinance Committee (EFC)may be taken without furtherloss of time.

In another observation,the committee has recom-mended to involve local elect-ed representatives from localbodies, Legislative Assembliesand Members of Parliament informulating a project and theyshould also be informed aboutdetails of third party inspec-tions of the project.

The Modi government hasannounced a Rs 18,000 crorescheme to augment publictransport in urban areas in itsbudget last year and the scheme

has not been approved in theExpenditure FinanceCommittee so far. The schemewas announced to facilitatedeployment of innovative pub-lic private partnership (PPP)models to enable private sectorplayers to finance, acquire,operate and maintain over20,000 buses.

The Committee, headedby MP Jagdambika Pal, tabledits report in Parliament onThursday, said that theMinistry’s reply is silent on thesuggestion for taking up thescheme under Mission mode;and, (ii) even after the passageof one year, the said Scheme isyet to have the approval of EFC.

“The Committee find fromthe reply of the Ministry thatthe delay in launching theScheme was due to (i) advise ofthe EFC for structural changein the Scheme; and, (ii) the var-ious stakeholder meetings heldwith the officials of StateGovernments, City Officials,Bus Manufacturers and BusOperators to receive their feed-back/inputs," the Committeesaid .

The report further said

that the Ministry has informedthat the proposal is at advancestage of approval in MoHUAand is only being consideredfor posing it to Department ofExpenditure for appraisal byEFC in the month of March,2022. “While acknowledgingthe need for taking all thestakeholders on Board andcomplete the processes beforeactual implementation, takingone year even to place finalproposal for approval of EFCmay not be desirable,” thereport said adding that theCommittee may also be briefedregarding the modalities.

In its another observa-tions, the Committee recom-mended that elected represen-tatives from local bodies,Legislative Assemblies andMembers of Parliament of theconcerned ward/constituencymay be involved from the stageof project formulation to imple-mentation and may also beinformed of the details of thethird party inspection such asthe details of the inspectingagency and the time of inspec-tion well in time to ensure thesmooth conduct of the same.

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South Korea is reeling under amassive Covid-19 wave. But

with the situation in India hav-ing vastly improved, the KoreanCultural Centre (KCCC, India)here has decided to resume itsdifferent programmes in offlinemode.

Classes for Samulnori, K-Pop, Korean language,Taekwondo besides special exhi-bitions of exchanges betweenKorean and Indian artists,Korean traditional culture expe-rience rooms and librariesamong others will be run offline.

Hwang Il-yong, Director ofKorean Cultural Centre India,Adwaita Gadanayak, DG,National Gallery of Modern Art(NGMA), and Saurabh Wasson,Head of Exhibitors relations ,India Art Fair were among manydistinguished guests besides fanspresent at the ‘KCCI Reboot’event held to mark the occasionon Wednesday.

The director said, “TheCentre (Situated at Lajpat Nagarin the national capital) returnsto our Indian friends.

“The registrations of alloffline classes will be resumed.Korean culture, which has beenfirmly rooted and expandedduring the pandemic, is about toexplode like dynamite, KCCI willplay the role of its fuse.”

Chang Jae-bok, Ambassadorof the Republic of Korea toIndia, said, “The Korean enter-tainment business- the K-Popand K-Drama can have the cre-ativity to please the world com-munity and young people in theworld.”

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Permitting the Centre toconduct an inquiry into

fake claims for ex-gratia meantfor family members of thosewho have lost their lives due toCovid-19, the Supreme Courton Thursday directed theGovernment to verify 5 percent of claims in four States —Maharashtra, Kerala, Gujaratand Andhra Pradesh — wherethe gap between number ofclaims and recorded deathswas wide.

A bench of Justices M RShah and B V Nagarathna said,"Nobody can be permitted toavail the compensation bymaking a false claim or sub-mitting the false certificate.We permit the NationalDisaster ManagementAuthority/Union of India,through the Ministry of Healthand Family Welfare, to carryout the random scrutiny," thebench said.

If it is found that anybodyhas made a fake claim, the sameshall be considered underSection 52 of the DisasterManagement Act, 2005 andliable to be punished accord-ingly, the bench said.

The apex court also set a

period of 60 days which wouldbe given to all such personswho are eligible as on date toapply for the ex-gratia com-pensation and 90 days shall begiven to the future claimants.

"We deem it appropriate tofix the outer limit of 60 daysfrom today to file the claims forcompensation in case the deathoccurred due to COVID-19prior to 20.03.2022. For futuredeaths, 90 days' time is pro-vided from the date of deathdue to COVID-19 to file theclaim for compensation.

"The earlier order toprocess the claims and to makethe actual payment of com-pensation within a period ofthirty days from the date ofreceipt of claim is ordered to becontinued," the bench said.

The top court directed theconcerned States to assist incarrying out the scrutiny of theclaim applications.

It also directed the states tosubmit all the necessary par-ticulars of the respective claimsthat have beenattended/processed to theMinistry of Health and FamilyWelfare, who shall carry out thescrutiny within a period ofthree months from today andsubmit the report before thisCourt.

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The Government onThursday said in

Parliament that India follows aforeign policy to safeguard itsinterests and wants the worldto abide by international rulesupholding sovereignty and ter-ritorial integrity of nations.

Giving this assurance in theRajya Sabha in the backdrop ofongoing conflict in Ukraine,External Affairs Minister SJaishankar also said New Delhifavours dialogue to end the war.Prime Minister Narendra Modiheld three rounds of talks withRussian President VladimirPutin and Ukraine President inthis regard, he said. Modi waspresent in the house whenJaishankar gave this informa-tion. Elaborating upon thecountry’s foreign policy, hesaid India's position onUkraine is based on six prin-ciples. Firstly, India calls for animmediate cessation of violenceand hostilities. India standsfor peace.

Secondly, India believesthat there is no other way thanthe return through the path ofdialogue and diplomacy.

Thirdly, India recognisedthat global order is anchored onlaw, UN Charter and respectfor territorial integrity andsovereignty of all states.

Fourthly, India calls forhumanitarian access to a con-flict situation.

Fifth, India is for human-itarian access and has given 90tonnes of humanitarian assis-tance so far. Sixth, India is intouch with Russia and Ukraine,he said.

On India's stand on theconflict, the minister said "Our

position is not that, this is notour problem. Our position isthat we are for peace.

When the Prime Ministerspoke to Presidents (of Russiaand Ukraine), the intent obvi-ously at that time was theevacuation of students..Butthere was a larger conversationon what we could do whichlead to the cessation of hostil-ities and return of dialogue anddiplomacy. I think today thatsentiment is widely shared bymany countries. We have artic-ulated it very strongly".

He also informed theHouse that India takes note ofall international developments,including Russia-Ukraine (con-flict), and India monitors it inits own national perspectiveand fashion strategy in accor-dance with those develop-ments.

Regarding the impact ofthe conflict on trade, he saidthe government is examiningvarious trade-related aspects,including those related to pay-ments. He also said the crudeoil import from Russia is lessthan one per cent. In fact, sev-eral other countries importten or 20 times more thanIndia’s import from Russia, he

added.Replying to a supplemen-

tary during question hour inthe Rajya Sabha, Jaishankarsaid the government is exam-ining various aspects, includingthe payment aspect. There isa group within the governmentcomposed of different min-istries led by the finance min-istry to examine these matters.

On trade amid the Russia-Ukraine crisis, he said, "Indianforeign policy decisions aremade in Indian national inter-est and we are guided by ourthinking, views and interests.So, there is no question of link-ing Ukraine situation to issuesof trade". Meanwhile, the gov-ernment had also informedParliament on WednesdayIndia's relations with both theUnited States and Russia standon their merit despite theUkraine conflict.

"We have friendly relationswith both the nations,"Minister of State (MoS) forExternal Affairs MeenakashiLekhi said. Earlier this week,US president Joe Biden saidIndia was the only one of theQuad group of nations that was"somewhat shaky" in actingagainst Russia.

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People indulging in wrong-doing will be punished and

the Modi Government does nothesitate to take action if some bigpeople indulge in wrong prac-tices, Commerce and IndustryMinister Piyush Goyal toldParliament on Thursday whileresponding to the debate on thedemands for grants of theCommerce and IndustryMinistry.

Goyal said in the LokSabha that Prime MinisterNarendra Modi got a hugemandate from people as hedoes not hesitate to take actionsif some big people indulge inwrong practices.

The minister said that amember in the House has stat-ed that several raids are takingplace in the country and onaccount of which industry is notinvesting.

"I am amazed...I do notunderstand the relation betweenraids and investments...Is thereany provision or law in the coun-try that if you are a big politicianor a big industrialist, actionwould not be taken for theirwrongdoings...Action will be

taken....Jo galat kaam karegawo saja bhugtega uske liye (Onewho does wrong will be pun-ished for that)," he said.

A day before NCP leaderSupriya Sule had hit-out at thegovernment over the raids byinvestigating agencies on indus-trialists and claimed that sever-al restrain themselves fromspeaking openly about issuesbothering them.

Another member BSPmember Danish Ali has said thatan atmosphere of fear was pre-vailing in the country and indus-try leaders refrain from speak-ing out freely about their con-cerns.

Goyal also said that thehigh level of foreign directinvestments (FDI) coming intothe country reflects the growing

confidence of global investors forIndia.

"India is the destination," hesaid, adding there is no betterdestination than India to invest.

FDI into the country isrecording high growth year afteryear and that is helping in fur-ther strengthening the country'sforex reserves and economy, hesaid.

On the point raised by somemembers that exports areincreasing due to high com-modity prices, Goyal said thatseveral commodities like auto,gems and jewellery, rice, meat,and carpets are recordinggrowth in both value and vol-ume terms.

Petroleum prices are high,so obviously it would have animpact on exports, he said.

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Sustaining its drive to achieveself-reliance in defence pro-

duction, the Government onThursday banned import of107 strategically importantLine replacement Units (LRUs)and sub-systems. Earlier, theGovernment had bannedimport of nearly 2,800 subsystems covering all the threeServices.

In the latest order, theitems can only be procuredfrom the Indian industry, espe-cially Defence Public SectorUndertakings(DPSU), officialssaid here. The sub systemscover the entire gamut ofweaponry including heli-copters, tanks, guns, ships andsubmarines, radars, drones andelectronic warfare systems.

Indigenisation of theseitems will be taken up by theDPSUs under ‘Make’ category.‘Make’ Category aims toachieve self-reliance by involv-ing greater participation ofIndian industry. Projectsinvolving design and develop-

ment of equipment, systems,major platforms or upgradesthereof by the industry can betaken up under this category.

The DPSUs will offer theseidentified LRUs and Sub-sys-tems for industry led designand development. This will bea great opportunity for theIndian industry to get inte-grated in the supply chains ofmanufacturing major defenceplatforms. The indigenousdevelopment of these systemsprojects will bolster economyand reduce the import depen-dence of DPSUs. In addition, itwill help harness the designcapabilities of domestic defenceindustry and position India asa design leader in these tech-nologies.

This list is in continuationto the Positive IndigenisationList of 2,851 sub-systems,assemblies, sub-assemblies andcomponents which had beenearlier notified by theDepartment of DefenceProduction, Ministry ofDefence on December 27,2021.

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Diversion of healthresources to contain

Covid-19 pandemic and relat-ed restricted activities haveseverely hindered the tuber-culosis management plan inthe country with the numberof infections increasing by 19per cent to 1.93 million in2021. But the Government ishopeful to achieve its target ofeliminating the deadly infec-tious disease by 2025.

On World TuberculosisDay on Thursday, UnionHealth Minister MansukhMandaviya tweeted,"Tuberculosis is a preventable& treatable disease. On WorldTB Day, we reaffirm commit-ment to make India TB-free by2025 by ensuring access toquality healthcare & advancedtreatment. Together we canand we will eliminate TB andwork towards a healthy anddisease-free environment.”

"Spreading awareness onTB through sand art! OnWorld TB Day 2022, let us allpledge to 'Step Up To End TB',"

he said, adding that this will beachieved by ensuring access toquality healthcare andadvanced treatment.

According to data availablefrom the Union HealthMinistry, there has been a 19per cent increase in tubercu-losis patients in 2021, up from1.62 million cases in the yearbefore.

In 2020, TB cases hadcome down by nearly a thirdfrom the 2.4 million casesreported in 2019.

As per the Ministry,Covid-19 had a major impacton the National TBElimination Programme(NTEP) because patientsstopped visiting or couldn’tvisit hospitals due to the pan-demic and lockdown restric-tions.

These statistics wererevealed in the AnnualTuberculosis Report 2022released by Mandaviya on theoccasion of the D Day.

In 2021, 34 states/unionterritories conducted activecase finding (ACF) campaignsat the state and district level

which led to the screening of22.3 million people, out ofwhich 1.75 million sampleswere tested for TB, and 73,772additional TB patients wereidentified, said the report.More than 200,000 people liv-ing with HIV (PLHIV) onactive care and 120,000 house-hold contacts (HHC) of con-firmed TB patients were initi-ated on TB PreventiveTreatment (TPT).

As per the national TBprevalence survey (2019-2021)aimed to know the actual dis-ease burden in India at thenational level, Delhi has 534cases per lakh population fol-lowed by Rajasthan (484),Uttar Pradesh (481), Haryana(465), Chhattisgarh (454).

Among the diagnosed TBcases, 12 per cent were alreadyon treatment and 23.3 percent had a history of TB treat-ment.

Approximately Rs 1488crore have been paid to 5.7million TB patients (Rs 500each patient) under NikshayPoshan Yojana (NPY) fromApril 2018 to February 2022.

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Secondhand smoke (SHS) inthe country is not only con-

suming nearly 1.2 million lives,particularly women and chil-dren but also resulting in a lossof Rs 568 billion, being spent ashealthcare costs annually,accounting for 8 per cent oftotal annual health care expen-ditures in the country.

This is on top of the stag-gering Rs 1773.4 billion inannual economic burden fromtobacco use, according to afirst-of-its-kind study by theIndian researchers and pub-lished in the Journal ofNicotine and TobaccoResearch.

In fact, the Rs 568 billionrepresents only one part of thetotal economic costs of SHSexposure, said the study as itpainted a grim picture of thetoll the SHS was taking on theindividuals who were silentlyaffected by the smoker’s habit.

All those people who donot smoke breathe in SHS andthey take in nicotine and toxicchemicals the same way smok-ers do. The more the exposure,the higher the levels of theseharmful chemicals in the body.

“The monetary burdendoes not include the addition-al indirect economic costs dueto lost productivity, morbidity,and mortality caused by illnessand early deaths arising fromSHS exposure, that wouldfurther increase the final fig-ure,” warned the team ofauthors led by Dr Rijo M john,an economist and researcherfrom the Rajagiri College ofSocial Sciences.

The study has quantifiedthe tremendous economic bur-den of SHS exposure in India,using public data sources anda prevalence-based attribut-able risk approach to quantifythe healthcare cost of contin-ued exposure to SHS amongnon-smokers aged 15 andolder.

“In fact, increasing tobac-co taxes is one of the mosteffective ways to reduce smok-ing, yet India has not had anysignificant tax increase on anytobacco products for the pastfour years. The current tobac-co tax collected in India fromall tobacco products combinedis less than the Rs 567 billionin health care costs caused byexposure to SHS,” Dr Johnlamented.

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The EnforcementDirectorate (ED) has issued

a fresh summons to TrinamoolCongress MP AbhishekBanerjee, asking him to appearbefore it for questioning onMarch 29 in a money-laun-dering case linked to a coalscam of West Bengal.

The TMC national gener-al secretary and nephew ofWest Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee was ques-tioned by the agency for abouteight hours on Monday. Thiswas the second time he wasquestioned by the ED in thecase. He was first grilled inSeptember last year and his roleand links with other accused inthe case are being investigated.

The last ED summonsagainst Banerjee and his wifeRujira was issued after theDelhi High Court, on March11, dismissed a plea moved bythe couple, challenging thenotices asking them to appearbefore the agency in Delhiinstead of Kolkata. The EDlodged the money launderingcase on the basis of a November2020 FIR.

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The Indian NationalCongress will intensify its

agitation against the contro-versial Semi High Speed SilverLine Project of the KeralaGovernment from Friday.“This is the most anti-people,anti-environment and anti-ecology project which has beenundertaken by a ruling dis-pensation in this State.

There is conspiracy by theCPI(M), Sangh Parivar andcertain corporates to get thisproject implemented irrespec-tive of the concerns of the peo-ple,” said V D Satheeshan,Leader of the Opposition inKerala.

Speaking to media per-sons within minutes of ChiefMinister Pinarayi Vijayan’spress meet at New Delhi afterthe latter’s meeting with PrimeMinister Narendra Modi,Satheeshan said the chief min-ister has not said anythingnew about the project. “Hisclaim that the project would beexecuted at a cost of Rs 64,000crore is simply nonsense. TheNITI Aayog in its report hassaid that the project would costRs 2.5 lakh crore. How Vijayanreached the figure of Rs 64,000

crore is anybody’s guess,” saidSatheeshan who looked upsetand annoyed over the state-ments made by the chief min-ister.

He said that the KeralaGovernment is slapping fakeand baseless cases against thosewho oppose the Silver Lineproject that linksThiruvananthapuram andKasaragod in less than fourhours. “The chief ministeraccuses the opposition partiesof hand in glove with terroristorganisations and communal-ists in sabotaging the project. Itis because of his lack of confi-dence in himself that Vijayan isresorting to this kind of pro-paganda,” said Satheeshan.

The Chief Minister whilebriefing the media after his 30minutes long meeting withPrime Minister Narendra Modihad blamed the oppositionparties for undermining thedevelopment activities inKerala. “This is a project for theCPI(M) and its leaders toamass wealth. The technologythey are using to import is lit-erally scrap and is not usedanywhere in the world. A pro-ject of this magnitude shouldundergo environmental andsociological impact.

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United Democratic Front (UDF)MPs from Kerala on Thursday

complained to Speaker Om Birla onthe alleged “ attack and manhandling”of them by the Delhi Police when theywere leading a protest march from‘Vijay Chowk’ to the Parliament.against the proposed semi-high-speedK-Rail-Silverline Project in the state.

Raising the issue in Lok Sabhasoon after the Question Hour,Congress member K Suresh said a totalof 12 MPs, including women parlia-mentarians, had started their protestmarch from Vijay Chowk on Thursdaymorning when Delhi police personnelcame and "blocked them without anyprovocation" and did not allow themto enter the parliament compex.

"We told them we were MPs.They (police) said you (protestingMPs) are shouting slogans. We said itis our right to shout slogans. Theyassaulted us, manhandled us, pushed

us without any provocation," Sureshtold Lok Sabha Speaker.

Speaker asked them to give thedetails on writing and would do theneedful on the issue after hearing fromthe concerned officers.

The SilverLine project of theCPI(M)-led government in Keralahas been facing massive protests overthe survey and marking of the corri-dor boundary, and is embroiled in apolitical controversy. Kerala ChiefMinister Pinarayi Vijayan called onPrime Minister Narendra Modi in thenational capital on Thursday.

RSP member N K Premchandrancalled the incident "unfortunate" andsaid the police personnel were wellaware that all those participating in theprotest were MPs, but still did not alowthem to enter the Parliament complex.

"This is a question of our privilege.They even came to the precincts ofParliament and prevented us," he saidand asked, "What is the authority ofDelhi police to forcibly prevent theMPs from entering Parliament."

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The EnforcementDirectorate probing money

a laundering case related to themulti-crore coal and cattlescam has once again askedTrinamool Congress secondin command AbhishekBanerjee to appear before itsofficers in Delhi.

Banerjee has been asked toappear at the ED office inDelhi on March 29, sourcessaid, adding he had not fullycooperated in the earlier ses-sions. The information pro-vided by the TMC leader wasnot complete and so he wasbeing summoned once again,sources said. Banerjee wassummoned in a money laun-dering case pertaining to someforeign accounts linked tosome members of his family.

Abhishek Banerjee is theTMC general secretary andDiamond Harbour MP.

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In a big relief to former MumbaiPolice Commissioner Param Bir

Singh, the Supreme Court onThursday transferred probe on allcases against him to CBI, registeredby Maharashtra Police. A verymurky affair is going on amid ech-elons of power on who shouldinvestigate the matter, a bench ofJustices S K Kaul and M M Sundreshsaid, while transferring the probe tothe central investigative agency.

"The exigencies in the advance-ment of principles of justice requirethe investigation to be transferredto CBI. We are not saying appellant(Singh) is a whistle-blower or any-one involved in this case is washedwith milk,” the bench noted. Thebench also refused to revoke the sus-pension of Singh and said all futureFIRs, too, will be transferred to CBI.The apex court said a thorough

investigation is required to regainthe faith of people in the state police.

"We are unable to accept thecontention that an FIR is registeredby those who had complaintsagainst the petitioner. We are of theview that state itself should haveallowed CBI to carry the investiga-tion. We are of the prima facie viewthat there is some concerted effortwhich needs the investigation byCBI. What is the truth, who is atfault how does such scenario cometo prevail is something which inves-tigation must get into. CBI musthold an impartial inquiry into allthese aspects," the court said.

The bench, however, noted itwas not commenting on the mer-its of the allegations as it does notwant the investigation to be influ-enced in any manner.

"We do not want the investiga-tion to be influenced by the obser-vation of this court. The HighCourt (Bombay) has treated this as

a service dispute which it is not andthus we set aside the HC verdict.

We allow the appeal and directthe probe into 5 FIRs and three PEsbe transferred to CBI with allrecords. Such transfer to be com-pleted within one week and all offi-cials to extend full cooperation toCBI to try arrive at the truth," thebench said.

After falling apart withMaharashtra Government, Singh isfacing multiple cases of extortion,corruption and misconduct, andwas removed from the post ofMumbai police chief over his allegedmishandling of the Antilia bombscare case.

The Maharashtra police hadearlier told the apex court that Singhcannot be considered a "whistle-blower" under the law as he choseto speak out against alleged cor-ruption involving former state homeminister Anil Deshmukh only afterhe was transferred.

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Amajor policy initiative, theShiv Sena-led MVA

Government on Thursdayannounced that it would name thethree major BombayDevelopment Department (BDD)chawls’ redevelopment projects inMumbai after late Shiv Sena chiefBal Thackeray, NCP presidentSharad Pawar and late PrimeMinister Rajiv Gandhi.

Replying to a debate in theState Assembly, MaharashtraHousing Minister Jitendra Awhadsaid that the BDD chawls rede-velopment project involving sev-eral chawls at Worli would benamed after late Bal Thackeray,the project at Naigaon would benamed as the Sharad Pawar Nagarand the project at NM JoshiMarg would be christened asRajiv Gandhi Nagar.

The decision to name threemajor BDD redevelopment pro-jects has been taken keeping inview that the Shiv Sena, NCP andCongress are the three alliancepartners in the Maha VikasAghadi (MVA) Government inthe state.

“Similarly, we intend to name

the Patrachawl after redevelop-ment as Sidharth Nagar. Thework on a chawl redevelopmentwould begin at Kamathipura inthe next three months,” Awhadsaid.

The Bombay DevelopmentDepartment, set up by the Britishin 1920, constructed BDD chawlsto provide more housingareas/units to be used as tene-ments. Currently, at the BDDchawls, there are 207 ground-plus-three-storied buildings inan area spread over 93 acres --each with identical 160-sq.feet‘face-to-face' tenements with a 20-feet wide centre passage, commonwater supply, bathing and toiletareas. These chawls are located atWorli, N M Joshi Marg (Parel),and Naigaon.

The three major erstwhileBDD chawls complexes –com-prising one of the chawls whereMahatma Gandhi spent a nightamong the sweepers’ communi-ty members in 1937 – are comingup in Mumbai as part of what isbilled as Asia’s biggest redevel-opment project worth Rs. 20,000crore.

The project got underway inAugust. 2021.

Awhad said that the work onthe complexes was progressingwell and all the residents wouldget their new homes over the nextfive years in the upcoming 32swanky towers with 500-sq.feet 2-BHK ultra-modern flats and othertop amenities.

Being developed by Tatas,

L&T and Shapoorji Pallonji, thewell-planned new complexes willhave 32 tall towers -- some of 40-storied ones and 22 storied oneswith floors for parking, wideroads, at least 4 four schools, wel-fare centres, mini-hospitals, gar-dens, playgrounds, markets andshopping plazas.

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Congress president Sonia Gandhi hasconvened a meeting of party general

secretaries and State in-charges onSaturday to discuss organisational elec-tions, the party's membership drive and thecurrent political situation besides planningagitational programmes. Congress gener-al secretary (organisation) K C Venugopalwill chair the meeting at the AICC partyheadquarters and all general secretariesand state in-charges states have beenasked to attend.

Sonia Gandhi, who is likely to attendthe meeting, will review the progress ofmembership drive so far as well as theparty's future agitational programmes.The meeting comes in the wake of theparty's massive loss in the recent assem-bly elections in five states. "A meeting ofAICC general secretaries/ in-charges isbeing scheduled to be held on March 26,2022 at at AICC Office New Delhi. Theagenda for the meeting is special mem-bership drive and organisational elections,besides planning agitational programmes,"a note by Venugopal said.

It also comes in the backdrop ofSonia Gandhi meeting some of the lead-

ers of the G-23 grouping, which has beencritical of the party leadership and havebeen demanding an organisational over-haul for a long time.

Sonia Gandhi has so far held consul-tations and deliberations with some of theG23 leaders including Ghulam Nabi Azad,Anand Sharma, Manish Tewari and VivekTankha.

Ever since the poll results wereannounced on March 10, several partyleaders, other than the G23, have beenexpressing their concerns for the fate of thegrand old party and what has to be donefor revival and issues were taken just twodays later at the Sonia chaired CongressWorking Committee meeting duringwhich she offered to resign from the post.The party in its CWC had already sched-uled September 2022 for the election of anew party president the process of whichwill begin in June towards complete orga-nizational overhaul.

AICC sources said after Saturday’smeeting another round of CWC will bescheduled in a weeks time which will befollowed by a Chintan Shivir either inJaipur in Rajasthan or Raipur inChhattisgarh, the only two State whereCongress is in power on its own.

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Sending out a tough message tothe sympathisers of terrorist

outfits across Kashmir valley theJammu & Kashmir police onThursday warned the immovableproperties used to provide shelterto terrorist commanders will beattached under the UnlawfulActivities (Prevention) Act(UAPA).

The twitter handle of Srinagarpolice also warned local residentsagainst providing shelter or har-bouring terrorists/terror associ-ates who assemble at one place toexecute terror plots targeting secu-rity personnel.

To begin with, the process ofattachment of properties has beenstarted from Srinagar district.

"Process has started for attach-ment of some immovable proper-ties which have been used for thepurpose of militancy as per section

2(g) & 25 of ULP Act. Don’t giveshelter or harbour militants / asso-ciates. Legal action will be supple-mented by property attachments asper law,” tweeted Srinagar police.

SSP Srinagar Rakesh Balwalsaid “Houses where encounterstook place, houses where terroriststook shelter and planned attacks onsecurity forces and civilians will beattached".

In the recent months the cen-tral kashmir district has witnessedseries of terror strikes involving'hybrid' terrorists.

These terrorists, according tolocal policemen, were using safehouses in residential colonies fortheir regular meetings and tookshelter after targeting the securitypersonnel.In the recent weeks thepolice teams have exposed sever-al terror modules and arrestedOver ground workers operatingfrom their safe hideouts to keep theterror pot boiling.

Aligarh: The candidature of SPcandidate Jaswant Singh Yadavfor the Legislative Councilfrom Aligarh-Hathras wasrejected.

After the objection to thename of the proposers in thenomination paper, he could notpresent the third proposer.Although the lawyers present-ed all the arguments, stronglydefending them, but in thepresence of observer RajendraPratap, District Election Officerand DM Selva Kumari J reject-ed the nomination papers ofthe SP candidate.

The time for withdrawal ofnomination papers was fixedon Thursday, after which BJPcandidate Ch. Rishipal Singhwas announced the unopposedMLC. But there is greatresentment among the SPworkers regarding this deci-sion.

BJP candidate forLegislative Council fromAligarh-Hathras local body,Ch. Rishipal Singh and SPcandidate Jaswant Singh Yadavhad filed their nominations.During the scrutiny of nomi-nation papers, BJP candidate

Ch. Rishipal Singh, through hislawyer, objected to the namesof three proposers Sarbati Devi,Guddi Devi and PramodKumar out of ten proposers ofSP candidate Jaswant SinghYadav.

It is alleged that the signa-tures and thumb impressions ofthe three proposers are nottheirs.

These are fake. On this,DM and District ElectionOfficer Selva Kumari J gavenotice to SP candidate JaswantSingh Yadav and asked him tofile a reply to the objection. Onthis, the SP candidate present-ed Sarbati Devi and Guddi andgot their statement, signatureand thumb impressionmatched, but fail to present thethird proposer Pramod Kumarson Badan Singh resident SaraiMahamai, Sikandrau, Hathras.

The DM had given per-mission to the SP candidateafter talks with observerRajendra Pratap and theElection Commission.

SP candidate Jaswant SinghYadav was given time tillWednesday to present the thirdproposer.

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From PAge 1India has all along maintained that peace and tran-

quility at the border is a prerequisite for normalisingties between the two countries. China, however, insiststhat the border row should be separated from otherrelations. At present, more than 50,000 troops eachof India and China are facing each other at some fric-tion points at the LAC in eastern Ladakh.

While the situation at the LAC will obviously topthe agenda, the two countries may also hold parleyson Quad. China has all along protested against thisgrouping comprising India, the US, Japan, andAustralia to ensure peace and stability in the strategi-cally important Indo-Pacific region, they said.

The two Ministers may also take stock of the sit-uation arising from the ongoing Ukraine conflict.

The talks at various levels have seen the withdrawalof troops from the north and east banks of the PangongTso (lake) in Ladakh in February last year. Since then,the parleys failed to yield any tangible results and thetwo leaders are likely to focus on it, sources said.

India wants a quick disengagement on remainingfriction points such as Patrolling Point 15 (Hot Springs),Depsang Bulge, and Demchok.

Incidentally, days before the announcement of the15th round of talks, the Chinese Foreign Minister hadadmitted in Beijing early last week that the ties betweenIndia and China have seen some setbacks.

Jaishankar last month had said India-China tieswere going through a “very difficult phase” after Beijingviolated agreements that were signed not to bring mil-itary forces to the border and maintain peace and tran-quility along the LAC.

Wang had said differences over the disputedboundary and “recent setbacks” in relations should notimpact overall ties between the two countries. “China,India relations have encountered some setbacks inrecent years which don’t serve the fundamental inter-ests of two countries and the two peoples,” Wang said.

From PAge 1The Chief Minister also

announced Rs 2 lakh compensationfor rebuilding the burnt houses.She also announced a compensationof Rs 5 lakh each to the next of thekin of the victims, and Rs 50,000each to those injured besides promis-ing jobs to ten families affected bythe violence from the ChiefMinister’s quota.

Notwithstanding the ChiefMinister’s swift orders CPI(M) Statesecretary Md Salim pointed outhow she was “trying to dilute thecharges against Anarul who is direct-ly involved in the attack … byallegedly sending in the goons …and who actively stopped the policefrom rescuing the victims … it is notan act of omission but commission,”he said wondering “ whther a Bbockpresident is responsible for sending

in police…”BJP State president Sukanto

Majumdar who also visited the placealong with a BJP central fact findingteam also wondered whether it wasthe duty of the Chief Minister toorder dally procedural works of thepolice.

“Is it a child’s play that the CMis ordering the arrest of the culpritapparently to show the crowd thatshe was a benevolent ruler … it is theroutine job of the police brass …today she is ordering the police toarrest Anarul … tomorrow she willsecretly tell the SP to release him andhe will be released … there is nocredibility of her government.”

Earlier the BJP delegation andthe one led by Congress Lok Sabhaleader Adhir Chowdhury wasstopped from visiting the area lead-ing to a brief commotion. Howeversubsequently the administrationallowed them reach Bagtui.

From PAge 1The police said based on the

complaint, they apprehended the17-year-old, but was later released

by the juvenile justice board.

Kumar died in the hospital acouple of days later on Sunday.Following this, the statement of hiswife was recorded again.

From PAge 1Western officials fear such a step would lead to direct conflict between

NATO and Russia, which Biden described as a potential World War III.However, in brief opening remarks as the NATO summit began,

Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance must boost itsdefences and “respond to a new security reality in Europe”.

“We gather at a critical time for our security,” he told the leaders seat-ed at a large round table. “We are united in condemning the Kremlin’sunprovoked aggression and in our support for Ukraine’s sovereignty andterritorial integrity.” Stoltenberg said the alliance is “determined to con-tinue to impose costs on Russia to bring about the end of this brutal war.”

Over the course of Thursday, the European diplomatic capital is host-ing the NATO summit, a gathering of the Group of Seven industrial-ized nations and a summit of the European Union. Biden will attend allthree meetings and hold a news conference afterward.

From PAge 1“Russia is the aggressor, the attacker, the invader --

the sole party in Ukraine engaged in a campaign of bru-tality against the people of Ukraine -- and they want usto pass a resolution that does not acknowledge their cul-pability,” she said.

UK Ambassador Barbara Woodward said that hercountry will not vote for any resolution, either in theSecurity Council or in the General Assembly, that doesnot recognise that Russia is the sole cause of this unfold-ing humanitarian catastrophe -- and therefore key to end-ing it. “Russia’s draft called for all parties to respect inter-national humanitarian law. It ignored that Russia is com-mitting war crimes. Russia’s draft called for the protec-tion of civilians, including women and children. But itomitted that Russia is bombing maternity hospitals,schools and homes,” Woodward said.

The Russian resolution in the Security Council wasone of the three resolutions on the humanitarian situa-tion in Ukraine that were put up before the UN GeneralAssembly and the Security Council Wednesday.

The UN General Assembly resumed its 11thEmergency Special Session on Ukraine Wednesday andhad two resolutions for consideration before it. The 193-member General Assembly is expected to vote on the res-olutions Thursday.

From PAge 1Yogi said when he was

elected leader of the legislatureparty for the first time in 2017he did not have administrativeexperience. “I was just aMember of Parliament andhad earlier never been aMinister even. I worked underthe guidance of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and HomeMinister Shah. They taughtme the nuances of administra-tion. It was their guidanceunder which I was able to pullthe State out of morose ofmisrule and transformed it toa performing State in just fiveyears,” Yogi said.

In his around 20-minutespeech Yogi elaborated on theachievements of theGovernment which rangedfrom free distribution of rationto effective control of pan-demic, from improving law

and order situation to invitinginvestments in the State.

“In 2017 I learnt the dif-ference between MP and ChiefMinister. As a Member ofParliament I was responsiblefor the development of a con-stituency while as a CM I amanswerable to each and everyperson of the State. People’swelfare is my responsibility, andthis lesson I learnt from Modiji and Amit Shah ji,” the ChiefMinister-designate said.

He even recounted howShah had asked him to increasethe State’s budget size if ourGovernment wanted to meetthe aspirations of the people.“Under his (Shah’s) guidancethe budget size was increasedfrom Rs 2 lakh corer to Rs 6lakh crore in just five years. Theper capita income has beendoubled while there is a sharpincrease in the SGDP too,” hesaid.

He said every word written

in the election manifesto need-ed to be implemented. “We willfulfill all the promises we havemade during election cam-paign,” he said.

Setting a clear agenda forthe Yogi 2.0 Government, Shahasked the leaders to strength-en the base of good-governancebuilt during the last tenure ofYogi so that Uttar Pradeshcould become Number 1 Stateof India.

“Uttar Pradesh has seentransformation in the last fiveyears. The work done by Yogias Chief Minister has infuseda new hope among people thattransformation can be broughtabout in UP through su-raj(good governance). In the nextfive years we need to strength-en the base of this good gov-ernance so that UP can becomethe best governed state of thecountry,” Shah told legislatorsduring the meeting..

“Good investment will

bring more revenue which inturn will help in implementa-tion of the welfare schemes forthe poor and downtrodden.More we work for the poor, themore we will be acclaimed,”said the union minister.

He said that UP had beenthe centre of political instabil-ity since its inception. Afterindependence political valuesdeclined with the result the par-ties that bred on caste-basedand dynastic politics flour-ished. “This led to politicalinstability. In the 2014 generalelections when Modi, who wasthen Chief Minister of Gujarat,was projected as the PM can-didate there was jubilationamong masses. That time wewon 73 out of 80 seats in UP.This result gave us a belief thatif the BJP can win 73 seats in2014, we can win over 300 seatsin the Assembly election. Andthis proved correct in 2017,”Shah said.

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journey from cradle to thegrave lasted only a few hours.

Islam prohibits violenceand promotes peace and jus-tice. The Quran says: “ProphetMohammad was sent to theworld as a mercy to mankind(21:107).” It categoricallystates: “Allah abhors any dis-turbance of peace (2:205).”When there is no permissionof violence in Islam, why isthere worldwide terrorism inits name? The answer to thiscrucial question is that 50years after the death ofProphet Mohammad in 632AD, the true faith of Islam washijacked by self-proclaimedcaliphs to use the religion asa platform for establishingtheir empire with the supportof the growing influence ofIslam in Arabia. As a result,the true religion started get-ting defaced by virulent polit-ical power wielders throughthe might of the sword.

This devastating processmainly began by the immoraland hardcore terrorist Yazid-ibn-Muawia who, after sub-scribing to Islam outwardlywith the criminal intention tocapture political power, pro-claimed himself as “falsecaliph of Islam” and leader ofthe “faithful” by terrorisingand killing Muslims throughhis gang of thugs to silence theopposing voices. The realsuccessor of the Hon’ble seat

of Caliphate was Hazrat ImamHusain, the grandson of theProphet, whose rightful suc-cession was usurped byMuawia. He demanded alle-giance from Hazrat ImamHusain to acknowledge himas leader of the faithful. ImamHusain refused to pledge alle-giance to the criminal/mur-derer as the caliph. Muawiathen assassinated HazratImam Husain and 72 of hisfamily members and compan-ions mercilessly in the desertof Karbala (Iraq) in 680 AD.Muawia defaced the trueteachings of religion andpseudo-Islam emerged. Thiswas the beginning of terror-ism in the cloak of Islam.

However, the current sce-nario of terrorism is the revivalof Muawia’s model of terrorismin the form of Wahabi/Salafiideology, an offshoot of theSunni Muslim sect. Wahabismcan best be explained throughthe words of British historianCharles Allen, who in hisbook God’s Terrorists — TheWahabi Cult and the HiddenRoots of Modern Jihad, writes:“Wahabi is the guiding ideol-ogy behind modern Islamistterrorism. In the late 18th cen-tury, a violently intolerant re-interpretation of Islam tookroot in the Arabian desert. Itsfollowers became known aftertheir founder (SheikhMuhammad Najdi ibn Abd-

al-Wahab) as Wahabis.”Wahabi ideology is enshrinedin Kitab-al Tawhid (book ofunity), which prescribes force-ful conversion of Muslimsand others to his Wahabi ide-ology wherein he manifestlysays: “Follow my ideology,else get ready to be killed.”

His ideology was stronglyopposed by Muslim masses,especially the Shia Muslims.However, when the oppositionmounted against his ideology,Najdi was shrewd enough tofind a patron in Muhammad-ibn-Saud, a Bedouin tribalchief. Ibn Saud belonged to theZionist tribe of Anza BenWael. Islam is not the originalreligion of Saudi Arab rulers.Sheikh Najdi, too, belonging toZionist ancestry, not onlymade an alliance with IbnSaud but also got his daugh-ter married to Ibn Saud’s sonAbd-Al-Aziz Ibn Saud.Thereafter, the faith was ofSheikh Najdi and the swordwas of Ibn Saud. A dynasticGovernment was establishedas a result of this partnership,which is still continuing in thename of Saudi Arabia.

Again the question arisesas to why Wahabi terroristskill Shia Muslims? The answeris that Shia Muslims are total-ly against Wahabi terrorism.

(The writer is a legal journalist and author. Theviews expressed are personal.)

������������� ������Sir — Recently, the UGC and theGovernment have decided that only themarks of the Common UniversityEntrance Test (CUET) will be consideredfor admission to the undergraduatecourses in colleges under Central univer-sities, which is really a welcome step. Itwill prove to be a milestone in increas-ing the quality of higher education.During the pandemic, there were sever-al possibilities of discrepancies in theprocess of admission to colleges on thebasis of marks obtained in Class XII,based on the different methods and pro-cedures of evaluation used by differenteducation boards. This effort to eliminatethem through the CUET is a commend-able step.

No student should have an objectionto this. Through this entrance test, all stu-dents will get equal rights of admission,and the admission process will be com-pletely transparent. If part of the ClassXII marks percentage is included in themerit list on the basis of CUET, it willalso maintain the usefulness of the classmarks. But this percentage should notexceed 20. The Government shouldmake provision for entrance examina-tions for admission to all undergradu-ate and postgraduate courses in the country so that admission rigging can beprevented and quality included in theeducation system.

Rajendra Kumar Sharma | Rewari

���������������������������������Sir — The way US President Joe Bidencalled the Indian response “shaky” withrespect to Russia’s invasion of Ukraineis not right. Yes, it is true that India choseto be neutral despite VolodymyrZelenskiy’s personal request to NarendraModi for urging Russia to halt thisaggression. But the view from India isthat we can’t question Russia as historyknows how much we are grateful to theiraid ever since gaining Independence.Even our forefathers took inspirationfrom Russia and Stalin to invoke simi-lar nationalism and revolution back in

India against the foreign masters.The US must understand the position

of India vis-a-vis Russia, just like Australiaand Japan respect the same for India inthis matter. We had a “shaky” response inthis matter considering our own interestsand history, which is deeply tied toRussia. The US must understand this,long-lasting ties can't be broken in a jiffy,but that doesn’t mean that we don’t under-stand Ukraine’s misery. We need globalunity; together we must lead these coun-tries at war to a position to be able to set-tle their issues bilaterally. No singlecountry can bring them to hold a dia-logue; global cooperation is needed for it.

Kirti Wadhawan | Kanpur

���������������������������Sir — Mindless urban planning has ledto an increase in the stray dog popula-tion in India. Choked, overflowinggarbage has provided street dogs anexcellent opportunity to survive andthrive. Dog bites and rabies are very com-mon in our country. On an average, Indiaaccounts for 35 per cent of rabies deaths

in the world. Mass neutralisation is aneffective way of dog control wherein dogsare neutered and returned to their ter-ritories. But this clause has ruffled thefeathers of quite a few citizens who wantthe animals to be removed from the areaaltogether.

Nonetheless, neutralisation is not apanacea for stemming the street dogpopulation. It is important not to feedstray dogs near residential areas becausethey may start guarding the area theywere fed at. Some areas away fromhuman dwellings should be marked tospecifically feed these dogs so that theydo not form clusters around homes. Atthe same time, since well-fed dogs havethe ability to produce an abundance ofoffspring, they can be caught and sent forneutralisation. Rehabilitation of dogs is an issue that cannot be sidetracked. Even the courts have not ruled unambiguously on the issue.

Ganapathi Bhat | Akola

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The hardcore terroristgroup (un-)IslamicState’s affiliate in theregion, known as (un-

)Islamic State in Khorasan (ISIS-K) and headquartered inAfghanistan, claimed responsi-bility for the devastating attackon a mosque/Imambargah inKucha Risaldar, a predominant-ly Shia Muslim neighbourhoodin Peshawar. The ISIS-K terror-ists on March 4, 2022, attackeda crowded Shia congregationwith a powerful suicide bomb inQissa Khwani Bazar in ‘Wahabi’Pakistan, when the victims wereoffering Friday prayers. Thedeath toll was an instant 68,while around 300 were critical-ly injured.

Earlier, on August 19, 2021,Pakistani terrorists by ripping apowerful bomb in a Moharramprocession had killed three Shiasand wounded over 50 people inBahawalnagar of Pakistan. OnOctober 8 the same year, (un)-Islamic State (Daesh) terroristsstruck at a mosque packed withShia worshippers during a Fridayprayer in northern Afghanistan.The United Nations mission inAfghanistan said in a tweet:“Initial information indicatesmore than 100 Shia Muslimskilled and injured in a suicideblast inside the mosque.” (InJune 2015, then British PM DavidCameron told BBC and othermedia houses: “I wish you wouldstop calling it ISIS (Islamic Stateof Iraq and Syria; now only IS)because it is not an Islamic State.It is a poisonous death cult thatis seducing youth to fight for it.”

ISIS terrorists again onOctober 16, 2021, in a deadlysuicide attack on a Shia mosquein southern Afghanistan, killed63 people and wounded scoresmore. After the October 8 attack,the IS-K thugs said in a state-ment that Shias will be targetedin their homes and strongholdsby its network, whenever possi-ble. Al-Naba, the IS group’sweekly, had published this warn-ing on October 17, reportedKhaama Press. Earlier, the ISISbeasts on May 12, 2020, attackeda maternity hospital in theDashte-e-Barche area of Kabul,killing 13 people including twonewborn babies, for whom the

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Russia, the deposits of IndianRupees with Russia will increase.In such a situation, Russia can payin rupees for imports comingfrom other countries that acceptpayment in rupees. Apart fromthis, another option is that of pay-ment through digital currency ofthe central bank,

Central banks of differentcountries keep foreign exchange inother countries. For example, theReserve Bank of India keeps its for-eign currency in the Central Bankof America (Federal Reserve),similarly other countries also keepreserves of dollars in the FederalReserve, which includes Russia.Russia’s access to their foreignexchange reserves has now beenblocked due to US and Europeancountries blocking Russian banksin SWIFT. In such a situation,while Russia has definitely lostconfidence in the US FederalReserve; other countries of theworld are also now thinking thattheir deposits in central banks ofother countries are not safe.

No doubt, Russia is in troubledue to economic and other sanc-tions imposed by US and its allies,though there is no immediatethreat, such sanctions may also beimposed on India, on one or theother pretext. India had been thevictim of such sanctions in the pastas well. We would need to dealwith such an eventuality. Recently,the Reserve Bank governor hasalso said that even if there is noreason for economic sanctions onIndia, we still think that all coun-tries must now rethink about their

foreign exchange reserves. Indiahas already started diversifying itsforeign exchange reserves andtoday we are keeping our reservesin many other currencies includ-ing gold, dollars, euros etc.

Since the world’s trade is dom-inated by dollars and dollars arekept only in American banks,because the sovereign currency ofany country can be kept only inthe banks of that country. Forinstance, euros can be kept inEuropean banks, dollars inAmerican banks, yuan in Chinesebanks and Indian rupees in Indianbanks only. Nostro account isopened for mutual transactions,owned by residents of anothercountry. It would be useful forIndia that India should have itsown payment system which isbased on Rupee.

Countries on which econom-ic sanctions have been imposed,finding it difficult to sell theirgoods, are ready to sell goodscheaper than the market to India.Due to the war, oil prices in theinternational market haveincreased significantly, but notonly Russia but also Iran is readyto sell oil at cheaper prices and onour terms (in exchange for pay-ment in rupees). For importsfrom such countries, we can makepayments in our currency underthe barter system. But we havetrade deficit with many countries,so barter is not always practical.

For a more viable paymentsystem, we can create linkagebetween our payment system(UPI) and payment systems of dif-

ferent countries, and can circum-vent SWIFT system under theinfluence of USA and Europeancountries. For example, India canestablish self-reliance in interna-tional payments by establishing alinkage with the payment systemsof other countries includingRussia’s Mir payment system andChina’s payment system.

Not only this, nowadays thetrend of digital currency has alsoincreased. However, due to thehuge fluctuation in the value of pri-vate cryptocurrencies, it would notbe advisable to use them for pay-ments. India has recently decidedto launch its own digital currencythrough our central bank, that is,the Reserve Bank of India. This iscalled Central Bank DigitalCurrency (CBDC). Experts believethat international payments canalso be possible through use of thisdigital currency.

Today, when India is movingforward towards the goal of self-reliance in all spheres of the econ-omy including defence goods,electronics, telecom, chemicals,consumer goods, etc., with regardto international payments, weshould not be subject to thewhims of countries like the USand Europe in payments also.Forthis it is necessary to achieve self-reliance in international paymentsas well. This we will have toachieve by any means. Whateverthe process, whether barter orlinking of different payment sys-tems or use of digital currency, wewill have to achieve self-reliancein payments.

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(The writer is aProfessor at PGDAVCollege, University of

Delhi. The viewsexpressed are personal.)

After independence, dueto inadequate irrigationinfrastructure, there was

consistent shortage of foodgrain that used to aggravate indrought years. In the 1960s,green revolution was pursued.In 1965, Food Corporation ofIndia (FCI) was incorporatedfor storing buffer stocks. Toincentivise higher production,in 1965-66, Minimum SupportPrice (MSP) was introduced.As a result, India became sur-plus inwheat and rice produc-tion. Thereafter, open marketprices couldnot keep pace withother industrial products. Foodgrain exports were highlyrestricted. Low sale price atfarm gate and the inflation inthe farm inputs impactedfarmer's incomes.Agro inputsubsidies couldnot compen-sate such losses. This caused

perennial distress, suicides andagitations among farmers.Therefore, ways and meansmust be designed to ensureMSPto all farmers for all pro-duce except perishable pro-duce. The moot questionis,how to make it feasible forthe Government?

In FY-2020,under MSP, theGovernment had procured23eligible crops at barely 26 percent of its value.Despite this,the unsold stock with FCI isabout 32 million tonsand 24million tons withthe States.The debt of FCI has alsoexceeded Rs. 4 lakh crore,incurringhuge interest andstorage costs. Therefore, it isnot feasible for theGovernment to buy the entireproduction at MSP.

Unlike industrial products,the production cycle of food

grain is too long. Hence, it istobe procured and stored duringcrop arrival season b and thensold to ultimate consumers asper demand. India must devel-op food processing industriesand trade channels for sharingthe procurement burden dur-ing crop arrival season. But pri-vate trade channels mightexploit farmers. Consideringthe complexity, India needs anew regime of MSP surmount-ing past legacy which will

enable the farmers to get MSPwhile the fiscal and debt bur-den of the Government andFCI also reduces except duringthe initial years.

The FCImust assist farm-ers in selling food grainthroughauction to private channelsunder its supervision. The floorprice must be kept about 93-95per cent of MSP. FCI should fixquality standards and providetesting facility to avoid anyarbitrary deduction by pur-

chaser on the quality ground.Unsold stocks must be essen-tially stored by FCI and thecheap loan may be extended tofarmer up to 90 per cent ofstock value at MSP price. Samecan be refinanced by banks toFCI at SLR rate. In the absenceof such stocking facility, thefarmer is compelled to sell theproduce at distress prices totrade channels.

AGoods Receipt(GR) maybe issued to farmersagainststocks mentioning the quanti-ty, quality and loan amount.The validity period of such GRsmay be 5-6 months. They mustbe tradable in the open market,e-NAM and Commodityexchanges. The FCI mustassi-stand chargea nominal fee of0.5 per cent of sale value.Interest and storage chargesmay be levied at 9 per cent per

annum onthe stock value.Thatmay be recovered from theultimate buyer during deliveryof goods. The balance moneymay be remitted tofarmers.This will eliminateinterest and storage cost of FCI.

If the stock is not sold byfarmers within validity periodof GR, they shall lose sellingrights and it shall be deemedsale to FCI at MSP. After theexpiry of validity of GR, FCIshall remit balance money afteradjusting debt, interest andstorage charges.

With above arrangements,the farmers might get about 95per cent of MSP. Hence, MSPmay be increased by 5-7 percent. After stabilizing the sys-tem, there are fair chances forgetting higher price to farmers.The FCI shall also be benefit-ed since; its debt burden and

storage costshall reduce.Rather, it might earn grossprofit in future years from ser-vice fee and storage charges. Inthe meantime, FCI shouldincrease the network of Mandisand storage capacity. It should also buildmarketinginfrastructures.

In this process, the stockwith FCI might increasedue toexcess production or poor mar-ket demand. In such situa-tions, the FCI must quicklyexport directly or throughtrade channels. TheGovernment must encourageexport and giveexport incen-tives to compensate for the lossto the FCI and trade channelsand processing industries. Bythis, the debt of the FCI shallreduce and the storage capac-ity shall be available for thearrival of the fresh crop.

����������� ������� ����������������������� ���������� ������������� ����� �������������������������.�����������."�����������&������������'!

(The writer is an economicsanalyst and author. The views expressed

are personal.)

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�',�������$��)�%)) Prime Minister Narendra Modi hasrecently said that self-reliance isthe best-suited strategy to dealwith situations arising out of the

Russia-Ukraine war. With regard to theongoing war between Russia andUkraine, some people believe that if thiswar goes on like this and Ukraine’sfriends, such as the United States ofAmerica and European countries jointhis war, then this war may head towardsthe World War III. But apart from thisconcern, there are many other concernsin India and the rest of the world. Giventhese apprehensions, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi has called for self-reliance as a strategy.

It is noteworthy that Russia is thethird-largest producer of crude oil of theworld; and if supply of crude oil isblocked by way of sanctions, the pricesof crude oil in the world may increasefurther. Currently, amidst fluctuating oilprices, Russia has offered to supply oil toIndia at 25 percent discount. India hasalso accepted this proposal and importof crude oil has already started. But theroad to importing oil from Russia is noteasy. Though the US has said for the timebeing that this import of crude oil byIndia, doesn’t violate sanctions, the issueof payments continues to be an area ofconcern. In this context we need toensure that nothing comes in way ofcheaper import of oil by India, to keepaway oil price inflation in the country.

The US and European countrieshave blocked Russian banks from theinternational payment gateway, SWIFT,used in global financial transactions.Finding a solution to this problem, Indiaand Russia have decided that they willsettle their transactions in Rupees andRubbles, that is, India will not only buyoil 25 percent cheaper, but payment forthat oil will be made in rupees.

The question is, what will be theimpact of blocking of SWIFT on Indiaand the world? With the blockade ofSWIFT, India and the world will have tocreate alternative payment systems.Payment can also be made throughChina’s payment system called the CrossBorder Interbank Payment System(CIPS). However, India and Russia havedecided to exchange in Rupee-Rouble.On the other hand, Indian banks can dobusiness with Russia by registering withChina’s payment system CIPS, but sinceCIPS uses the RMB as currency, itwould be good for India to create analternative payment system which isbased on Indian Rupee.

One of the options for India is to inte-grate its UPI payment system withRussia’s MIR system to make paymentseasier. Russian banks can open theiraccounts with the Reserve Bank of Indiaand where Russian banks can keepdeposits of Indian rupees. But here thedifficulty may come that since India hasa trade deficit in the trade of India and

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Russia’s war in Ukraine sinceFebruary 24 has killed

thousands of people, reducedentire cities to rubble andforced millions to flee theirhomes.

The largest military con-flict in Europe since World WarII has also upset the interna-tional security order and sentdangerous ripples through theglobal economy.

A look at pivotal momentsof the conflict, a month later:

THE ROAD TO WARA buildup of Russian

troops near Ukraine in early2021 raised fears of an offen-sive.

Moscow withdrew some ofthe forces in April, paving theway for a June summit betweenPresident Joe Biden andRussian President VladimirPutin. Their meeting, howev-er, failed to meaningfully easeRussia-US tensions.

A renewed buildup ofRussian troops along Ukrainianborders began in late Octoberand reached an estimated150,000 troops by the year’send.

From the beginning of thetroop surge, Moscow deniedany plans to attack Ukraine,calling such Western concernspart of a campaign to discred-it Russia.

At the same time, it urgedthe US and its allies to keepUkraine from joining NATO

and roll back the alliance forcesfrom Eastern Europe, demandsthe West rejected as non-starters.

Putin on February 21 thisyear abruptly upped the ante,recognising the independenceof pro-Russia rebel regions ineastern Ukraine.

Insurgents have been fight-ing Ukrainian forces theresince 2014, when Ukraine’sMoscow-friendly president wasdriven from office by massprotests and Russia respondedby annexing the CrimeanPeninsula.

INVASION BEGINSIn a televised address on

February 24, Putin announcedthe launch of a “special militaryoperation” intended to demil-itarise Ukraine and uprootalleged “neo-Nazi nationalists”.

As he spoke, the Russianmilitary unleashed a series ofair raids and missile strikes onUkraine’s military facilities andkey infrastructure.

Russian troops rolled intoUkraine from Crimea in thesouth, all along the eastern bor-der and from Moscow’s allyBelarus, which borders Ukrainefrom the north.

Putin argued that Russiahad no choice but to act afterWashington and its alliesignored its demand for securi-ty guarantees. Western leadersdismissed the claims as a falsepretext for the attack.

The Russian militaryadvanced on the Ukrainian

capital Kyiv, located just 75kilometres south of the borderwith Belarus, closed in onUkraine’s second-largest city ofKharkiv in the east and pushedalong the Sea of Azov andBlack Sea coasts in the south.

While Russia claimed itwas only targeting militaryfacilities, air raids and artillerystrikes hit residential areas,schools and hospitals acrossUkraine.The assault turnedparticularly deadly in March,with a Russian rocket hittingthe regional administrationbuilding in Kharkiv on March1, killing 24 people.

On March 9, a Russianairstrike devastated a materni-ty hospital in the besieged portof Mariupol, killing at leastthree and injuring 17.

A Russian bomb on March16 flattened a historic theatre in

Mariupol, even afterUkrainians had scrawled theword “children” in huge whiteletters on the pavement next toit to indicate that civilians weresheltering inside.

Officials said hundreds ofpeople who were hiding in thebasement survived.

At least eight people werekilled in a Russian airstrike ona shopping mall in Kyiv onMonday.

Russia’s top objective in thesouth is Mariupol, a strategicport on the Sea of Azov that hasbeen under siege for weeks.

Relentless bombardmentby the Russians has reducedentire neighbourhoods to rub-ble and killed thousands, turn-ing the city into an emblem ofcivilian suffering.

Thousands have fled thecity, part of a wave of refugeesfleeing the country that UnitedNations officials estimate atmore than 3.5 million.

RUSSIA STUNG BY WEST-ERN SANCTIONS

Western allies quicklyresponded to the invasion withunprecedented economic andfinancial sanctions.

Several waves of cripplingpenalties froze an estimatedhalf of Russia’s USD640 billionhard-currency reserves, cutkey Russian banks out of theSWIFT financial messagingsystem, barred Moscow fromgetting cash in dollars andeuros and targeted broad sec-tors of the Russian economy

with rigid trade restrictions.Major international com-

panies moved quickly to leavethe Russian market.

The severe measures - of amagnitude previously onlylevied against such countries asIran and North Korea - sent theruble into a nosedive, pro-voked a run on deposits andtriggered consumer panic.

Russian authoritiesresponded by introducing tightrestrictions on hard-currencytransactions and stock markets.

UKRAINE PLEADS FORMORE WEAPONS, NO-FLYZONE

While hailing Westernsanctions and weapons sup-plies, Ukrainian PresidentVolodymyr Zelenskyy has chal-lenged the US and otherWestern allies to take evenstronger measures to stopRussia. He has continuouslyurged the US and NATO todeclare a no-fly zone overUkraine, a demand the alliesrejected for fear that it couldresult in a direct confrontationwith Russia and even spark aglobal conflict.

Zelenskyy has also plead-ed with Western allies to pro-vide Ukraine with warplanesand long-range air defence sys-tems.Russia has sternly warnedthe West against such a move,and discussions on possibledeliveries of Soviet-era fighterjets and air defence weaponsfrom Eastern Europe toUkraine have stalled as theWest seeks to avoid a danger-ous escalation.

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The UN Security Council onWednesday overwhelmingly

defeated a Russian resolution thatacknowledged Ukraine’s growinghumanitarian needs -- but didn’tmention the Russian invasion thatcaused the escalating crisis whichhas left millions of Ukrainians indesperate need of food, water andshelter.

To be adopted, Russia neededa minimum of nine “yes” votes inthe 15-member Security Counciland no veto by one of the fourother permanent members - theU.S., Britain, France and China.

But Russia got support only

from its ally China, with the 13other council members abstaining,reflecting Moscow’s failure to getwidespread backing for its war inUkraine, which marks its one-month anniversary Thursday.

The Russian defeat came onthe same day the General Assemblystarted considering a resolutiondrafted by Ukraine and two dozenother countries and co-sponsoredby nearly 100 nations which clear-ly states that Russia’s aggression isresponsible for the growinghumanitarian emergency.

The assembly was also to con-sider a rival South African resolu-tion that doesn’t mention Russiaand is similar to Moscow’s defeat-

ed council resolution. Action onthose resolutions was delayed untilThursday because of the hugenumber of speakers.

Russia’s U.N. Ambassador,Vassily Nebenzia, told the councilbefore the vote that its resolution“is not politicized,” just like otherSecurity Council humanitarianresolutions, and he categoricallyrejected a U.S. Claim that hiscountry had no right to submitsuch a resolution.

U.S. Ambassador LindaThomas-Greenfield countered thatRussia was “attempting to use thiscouncil to provide cover for its bru-tal actions.” “It really isunconscionable that Russia would

have the audacity to put forward aresolution asking the internation-al community to solve a humani-tarian crisis that Russia alone cre-ated,” she said.

“Russia does not care aboutthe deteriorating humanitarianconditions. ... If they cared, theywould stop fighting. Russia is theaggressor, the attacker, the invad-er, the sole party in Ukraineengaged in a campaign of brutal-ity against the people of Ukraine,and they want us to pass a resolu-tion that does not acknowledgetheir culpability.”

Nebenzia took the floor againafter the vote saying it exposed allcountries “for whom politicisation

of the humanitarian dossier” ismore important than helping to getaid to Ukrainians. If diplomats goon to lament the lack of a ceasefireand provisions for evacuations, “wewill remind you that they werebefore you, but you refused to votein favor of them for political rea-sons,” he said.

Chinese Ambassador ZhangJun, explaining his country’s votein favor of the Russian resolution,said council members should focuson humanitarian issues, “tran-scend the political differences’’and try to reach consensus and“respond to the humanitarian cri-sis in a positive, pragmatic andconstructive manner.”

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US President Joe Biden and worldleaders opened a trio of emergency

summits on Thursday with a soberwarning from NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg that thealliance must boost its defences tocounter Russia’s invasion of Ukraineand “respond to a new security reali-ty in Europe.”

Stoltenberg commented as hecalled to order a NATO summitfocused on increasing pressure onRussian President Vladimir Putin overthe assault on Ukraine while tendingto the economic and security falloutspreading across Europe and the world.

“We gather at a critical time for oursecurity,” Stolenberg said, addressingthe leaders seated at a large round table.“We are united in condemning theKremlin’s unprovoked aggression andin our support for Ukraine’s sovereigntyand territorial integrity.”

He said the alliance is “determinedto continue to impose costs on Russiato bring about the end of this brutalwar.”

Over the course of Thursday, theEuropean diplomatic capital is hostingthe emergency NATO summit, a gath-ering of the Group of Seven industri-alized nations and a summit of theEuropean Union. Biden will attend allthree meetings and hold a news con-ference afterward.

The schedule left Brussels inter-laced with multiple police checkpointsand road closures to help motorcadescrisscross the city as the leaders go fromone meeting to the next.

Biden arrived late Wednesday withthe hopes of nudging allies to enactnew sanctions on Russia, which hasseen its economy crippled by severalweeks of bans, boycotts and penalties.

While the West has been largelyunified in confronting Russia after itinvaded Ukraine, there’s wide acknowl-edgement that unity will be tested asthe costs of war chip at the global econ-omy.The bolstering of forces alongNATO’s eastern flank, almost certain-ly for at least the next five to 10 yearsif Russia is to be effectively dissuaded,will also put pressure on nationalbudgets.

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AUS official says theUnited States will wel-

come up to 100,000 refugeesfrom Ukraine as 3.5 millionflee Russia’s invasion. Theofficial spoke on the condi-tion of anonymity ahead ofthe announcement laterThursday.

The White House hasbeen saying for weeks thatthe US would acceptrefugees from Ukraine, butofficials had expected mostwould want to remain inEurope to stay close to their

homeland or to familymembers around EasternEurope.

Refugee agencies hadurged the Biden adminis-tration to do more, sayingthe US could expedite theentry of Ukrainians whohad already been in theprocess of applying to enterthe United States throughthe country’s refugee pro-gramme or expanding thetotal number of Ukrainianswho could come into thecountry under the cap thatthe administration sets inconsultation with Congress.

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China is rejecting accusa-tions of helping Russia

spread disinformation overWashington’s involvementin Ukraine, while repeatingMoscow’s baseless claimsabout secret American bio-logical warfare labs inUkraine.

“Accusing China ofspreading disinformation onUkraine is disinformationin itself,” Foreign Ministryspokesperson Wang Wenbinsaid at a daily

Briefing Thursday. Hesaid China has acted in “an objective and just manner.”

Wang claimed the inter-national community con-tinues to have “grave con-cerns” about US biolabs inUkraine, despite rebuttalsfrom independent scientists.

“The US cannot muddlethrough with silence orclaiming that as disinfor-mation.

The US should makeserious clarifications onwhether that is disinforma-tion or not,” Wang said.

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As Russia launched its war inUkraine last month,

exhausted and frightenedrefugees arrived in neighboringcountries. They carried what-ever they could grab in a hurry.Many cried. They still do.

The United Nations saysthat more than 3.6 million peo-ple have fled Ukraine since thewar started exactly one monthago Thursday in what is thebiggest movement of people inEurope since World War II.Unprepared, most refugeesbelieved they would soon beback home. That hope is wan-ing now.“At the beginning, wethought that this would endpretty soon,” Olha Homienko, a50-year-old woman fromKharkiv said. “First of all,nobody could believe Russiawould attack us, and we thoughtthat it would end quickly.”Now,Homienko said, “as we can see,there is nothing to look forwardto.” Homienko’s hometown ofKharkiv is among severalUkrainian cities and towns thathave been encircled and shelledheavily by the Russians.

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Ukrainian President VolodymrZelenskyy called on people worldwide

to gather in public Thursday to show sup-port for his embattled country as USPresident Joe Biden and other world lead-ers met for talks focused on pressuringRussia to end the invasion that is enteringits second month.

“Come to your squares, your streets.Make yourselves visible and heard,”Zelenskyy said in English during an emo-tional video address late Wednesday thatwas recorded in the dark near the presi-dential offices in Kyiv. “Say that people mat-ter. Freedom matters. Peace matters.Ukraine matters.” “This is a month now,” Zelenskyy saidThursday in an address to Sweden’s parlia-ment, the latest of many to whom theUkrainian leader has pleaded for help. “Wehave not seen a destruction of this scalesince World War II.”

After a month of fighting, Western ana-lysts say Ukrainian forces need stocking upagain with the weapons that have helpedthem slow and repel Russian advances. Bothsides claimed Thursday to have inflictedmore blows. Ukraine’s navy said it sank aship that had been used to resupply theRussian campaign with armored vehicles.Russia claimed to have taken a town,Izyum, in eastern Ukraine after heavy fight-ing.

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NATO leaders are refusing to ruleout retaliation against Russia

should it launch a chemical weaponsattack on Ukraine - but British PrimeMinister Boris Johnson thinks Moscowhas already gone too far.

“The reality is that (President)Vladimir Putin has already crossed thered line into barbarism,” Johnson toldreporters Thursday as he arrived forsummit of NATO leaders.

Johnson says that “it’s now up toNATO to consider together the

appalling crisis in Ukraine, theappalling suffering of the people ofUkraine, and to see what more we cando to help the people of Ukraine toprotect themselves.” As an organiza-tion, NATO is not providing weaponsto Ukraine. The 30-nation alliancerefuses to send troops to Ukraine,either for combat or peacekeeping, andhas said it will not deploy aircraft toprotect civilians or police any no-flyzone.

But member countries are pro-viding weapons and other assistance,individually or in groups.

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Local, state and federal offi-cials must do more to ensure

Native Americans facing persis-tent, longstanding and deep-rooted barriers to voting haveequal access to ballots, said aWhite House report released onThursday.

Native Americans andAlaska Natives vote at lowerrates than the national averagebut have been a key constituen-cy in tight races and states withlarge Native populations.

A surge in voter turnoutamong tribal members inArizona, for example, helpedlead Joe Biden to victory in the

state that had not supported aDemocrat in a White Housecontest since 1996.

The Biden administration'sreport comes a year after heissued an executive order pro-moting voting rights and estab-lishing a steering committee tolook into particular barriers to

voting in Indigenous communi-ties.

Those include state lawsand local practices that disen-franchise Indigenous voters,unequal access to early votingand reliance on a mail systemthat is unreliable, the report stat-ed.

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Aprosecutor who had beenleading a criminal investiga-

tion into Donald Trump beforequitting last month said in hisresignation letter that he believesthe former president is "guilty ofnumerous felony violations" andhe disagreed with the Manhattandistrict attorney's decision not toseek an indictment.

In the letter, publishedWednesday by The New YorkTimes, Mark Pomerantz toldDistrict Attorney Alvin Braggthere was "evidence sufficient toestablish Mr. Trump's guiltbeyond a reasonable doubt" ofallegations he falsified financialstatements to secure loans and

burnish his image as a wealthybusinessman.

"The team that has beeninvestigating Mr. Trump harborsno doubt about whether hecommitted crimes - he did,"Pomerantz wrote.

Pomerantz and his formerco-leader on the Trump probe,Carey Dunne, resigned on Feb.23 after clashing with Bragg overthe future of the case.

Both were top deputiestasked with running the inves-tigation on a day-to-day basis.Both started on the probe underformer District Attorney CyrusVance Jr., and Bragg asked themto stay when he took office inJanuary. Both Vance and Braggare Democrats.

In his resignation letter,Pomerantz wrote that Vancehad directed his deputies topresent evidence to a grand juryand seek an indictment ofTrump and other defendants "assoon as reasonably possible." Noformer president has ever beencharged with a crime. "I believethat your decision not to pros-ecute Donald Trump now, andon the existing record, is mis-guided and completely contraryto the public interest," Pomerantzwrote.

Danielle Filson, a spokesper-son for Bragg, said in a statementWednesday night that the inves-tigation into Trump is continu-ing and that a "team of experi-enced prosecutors is working.

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Taking exception toremarks on Kashmir in a

meeting of the Organisation ofIslamic Cooperation (OIC)onWednesday, India onThursday said they were basedon "falsehoods and misrepre-sentation". The criticism ofIndian policy on Kashmirwas made in the ForeignMinisters’ meet of the OIC inIslamabad. The ministry ofexternal affairs said here "thestatements and resolutionsadopted at the meetingdemonstrate both the irrele-vance of the Organisation ofIslamic Cooperation as a bodyand the role of Pakistan as itsmanipulator." Making thisassertion, the ministryspokesperson ArindamBagchi also said "Referenceshave been made to India thatare based on falsehoods andmisrepresentation. The absur-dity of this body commentingon the treatment of minorities,that too at the instance of aserial violator of human rightslike Pakistan, is so evident." Hemade these observations fol-lowing media queries on theissue and said "Nations andgovernments that associatethemselves with such exercis-es should realise the impact ithas on their reputation." OnWednesday, the governmentrejected the "uncalled refer-ence" to Jammu and Kashmirby Chinese Foreign MinisterWang Yi during his speech atthe opening ceremony of theOIC and said matters relatedto the union territory "are

entirely the internal affairs ofIndia". Foreign Office ofPakistan in a statement saidon Thursday the ForeignMinisters of the Organisationof Islamic Cooperation (OIC)supported Pakistan's call for ajoint probe to accurately estab-lish the facts surrounding theaccidental firing of a projec-tile into the country fromIndia earlier this month. TheForeign Office said in a state-ment that a resolution wasadopted at the 48th session ofthe OIC Council of ForeignMinisters in Islamabad onWednesday. The resolutionurged India to "work con-structively with Pakistan forenhancing regional securityand stability through the set-tlement of outstanding dis-putes and positively respond-ing to Pakistan's proposal fora Strategic Restraint Regime,including measures for armscontrol, restraint and confi-dence building. " The OIC for-eign ministers expressed seri-ous concern over the incidentwhich "constituted multipleviolations of internationallaw", besides "posing a gravethreat to regional and interna-tional peace, security and sta-bility. The resolution furthercalls on the UN Secretary-General and relevant interna-tional bodies, including UNSecurity Council andInternational Civil AviationAuthority (ICAO), to pursuethe matter with India, in linewith their mandated duties, toaccurately establish the facts toprevent such occurrences inthe future. The OIC compris-es 57 countries.

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Hundreds of searcherswearing rubber boots

and full rain gear headedinto muddy, forested hills insouthern China on Thursdayto try to find the secondblack box from a ChinaEastern passenger jet thatcrashed in southern Chinawith 132 people on boardearlier this week.

Three days after thecrash, larger pieces of debriswere reported found for thefirst time, including enginecomponents and a whitewing section with the redand blue China Eastern logo

on it, state broadcasterCCTV said.

One of the black boxes,believed to be the cockpitvoice recorder, had beenfound Wednesday.

Its outer casing wasdamaged but the orangecylinder was relatively intact,investigators said.

Pumps were being usedto drain a water pond as anoff-and-on light rain ham-pered the search effort for asecond straight day.

More than 300 searcherswere taking part, said HuangShangwu, a deputy chief inthe Guangxi Fire and RescueDepartment.

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Legal experts and interest groups will weigh in onKetanji Brown Jackson as the Senate Judiciary

Committee wraps up four days of hearings on her his-toric nomination to become the first Black woman onthe Supreme Court. Jackson faced down a barrage ofRepublican questioning over two days about her sentenc-ing of criminal defendants, her bid to join the SupremeCourt veering from lofty constitutional questions toattacks on her motivations on the bench.

On Thursday, the last day of hearings, interest groupsincluding the American Bar Association and civilrights organizations will testify about Jackson's suitabil-ity for the court. Witnesses chosen by Republican sen-ators will also speak.The American Bar Association,which evaluates judicial nominees, last week gaveJackson its highest rating, unanimously "well qualified."

On Wednesday, her final day of Senate questioning,Jackson declared she would rule "without any agendas"as the high court's first Black female justice.

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Aprominent Somali womanlawmaker is among at least

15 people killed in a suicidebombing that hit a polling sta-tion in rural central Somalia,police said Thursday.

The attack took place lateWednesday in the town ofBeledweyne, the capital ofSomalia's Hiran region.

Among its victims wasopposition lawmaker AminaMohamed Abdi, an outspokengovernment critic who wascampaigning to retain her seatin the National Assembly.

Al-Shabab, Somalia'sIslamic extremist rebel group,claimed responsibility for theattack. The 15 people killedwere "mostly civilians" and theattack wounded "an unspecif-ic number" of people, policeofficer Ahmed Hassan told APby phone.

"I was at a walking distanceto the polling station when asuicide bomber rushed towardsthe member of parliamentAmina and embraced her and

blew himself up," eyewitnessDhaqane Hassan said. "Shotswere fired in the air by the sol-diers who seemed shocked,but unfortunately she instant-ly died at the scene."

Abdi, the legislator killedat a polling station, was inBeledweyne campaigning forre-election in a vote expectedto take place this week.

"Somalia has lost a promis-ing giant leader, an activist, afearless advocate who finallypaid the ultimate price forseeking justice for IkramTahlil," said lawmakerAbdirizak Mohamed, speakingof a female intelligence officerwhose killing Abdi had beentrying to investigate.

President MohamedAbdullahi Mohamed andPrime Minister MohamedHussein Roble condemned theattack. Two other extremistattacks occurred in BeledweyneWednesday, killing former law-maker Hassan Dhuhul, a tradi-tional elder and civilians sittingoutside a busy restaurant,police said.

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Swiss police say three adultsand a child have died and a

teenager was seriously injuredafter falling from a seven-story residential buildingThursday in the lakeside townof Montreux.

Police said the victimswere all French citizens andmembers of the same family.Officers had tried to execute awarrant in connection with thehome-schooling of a childshortly before the incident,police said.

In a statement, police iden-tified the people killed as a 40-year-old man, his 41-year-oldwife, her twin sister and thecouple's 8-year-old daughter.They said the couples 15-year-old son was seriously injured.

Authorities have openedan investigation "to determinethe exact circumstances andreasons for this tragedy," police said.

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Foreign Secretary HarshVardhan Shringla met UNSecretary General Antonio

Guterres here and discussedissues on the UN SecurityCouncil's agenda, includingevolving situation in Ukraine,Afghanistan and Myanmar.

Shringla arrived in NewYork on Tuesday and participat-ed in the UN Security Councilbriefing on cooperationbetween the UN and the Leagueof Arab States held under theCouncil Presidency of UAE onWednesday. The UNSC briefingwas chaired by UAE Minister ofState Khalifa Shaheen Almarar.

After the UNSC briefing,Shringla met Guterres at the UNheadquarters.

"Foreign Secretary@harshvshringla met UNSecretary General @anto-nioguterres at the UNHQs,

New York. Discussed issues onthe UN Security Council's agen-da, including Ukraine,Afghanistan and Myanmar,"Ministry of External AffairsSpokesperson Arindam Bagchitweeted.

Sources said that Shringla'smeeting with Guterres lasted forabout an hour and the two dis-cussed the situation in Ukraine.

It is understood thatGuterres said that a country likeIndia has a very major role toplay given that India is one ofthe few countries that com-manded respect across theboard and was able to reach outto both the sides over the cur-rent situation, which needscountries and leaders who canplay a role in helping resolve theissue.

Prime Minister NarendraModi has held several phoneconversations with RussianPresident Vladimir Putin and

Ukrainian President VolodymyrZelensky and called for imme-diate cessation of violence aswell as concerted efforts from allsides to return to the path ofdiplomatic negotiations anddialogue.

Last week, Guterres hadsaid that he was in close contactwith a number of countries,including China, France,Germany, India, Israel andTurkey, on mediation efforts to"bring an end to this war."

Sources added that the UNSecretary General was also con-cerned about the impact of thewar on oil prices and foodsecurity as there will be coun-tries who face serious chal-lenges if the crisis continues.

They said Guterres felt thatthe UN could play a role to meetthese challenges and India couldalso play a prominent role.

On the situation inAfghanistan, it is learnt that the

UN chief was told that India wasamong the first countries tocome forward and offer human-itarian assistance for the peopleof the war-torn country andprovide medicines and otheressential supplies, using UNagencies for distribution.Sourcessaid it was also underlined thatinternational benchmarks hadto be met, whether it was equalrights for women or issuesrelated to terrorism and morerepresentative and inclusivegovernment. Guterresis learnt to have voiced disap-pointment over the announce-ment by the Taliban authoritiesin Afghanistan that girls' educa-tion from the sixth grade hasbeen suspended until furthernotice. Sources said that onMyanmar, which shares a bor-der with India, it was pointedout that anything that happensin the country impacts India aswell.

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North Korea test-fired pos-sibly its biggest-yet inter-

continental ballistic missiletoward the sea Thursday,according to its neighbours,raising the ante in a pressurecampaign aimed at forcing theUnited States and other rivalsto accept it as a nuclear powerand remove crippling sanc-tions.

The launch, which extend-ed North Korea's barrage ofweapons tests this year, cameafter the US and South Koreanmilitaries said the country waspreparing a flight of a new largeICBM it first unveiled inOctober 2020.

South Korea's militaryresponded with live-fire drillsof its own missiles launchedfrom land vehicles, a ship andaircraft.

It said it confirmed readi-ness to execute precision strikesagainst North Korea's missilelaunch points as well as itscommand and support facili-

ties. The South's reactionunderscored a resumption ofinter-Korean tensions asnuclear negotiations remainfrozen.

South Korea's Joint Chiefsof Staff and Defense Ministrysaid the ICBM missile firedfrom the Sunan area near cap-ital Pyongyang travelled 1,080kilometers while reaching amaximum altitude of over6,200 kilometers.

This indicated the missilewas fired on a higher-than-usual angle to avoid reachingthe territorial waters of Japan.

Japan's Deputy DefenseMinister Makoto Oniki alsosaid the flight details suggest-ed a new type of ICBM.

After arriving in Belgiumfor the Group of Seven summitmeetings, Prime MinisterFumio Kishida told reportersthe missile possibly landednear Japanese territorial watersoff the northern island ofHokkaido.

"It's an unforgivable reck-lessness. We resolutely con-

demn the act," Kishida said.Tokyo's Chief Cabinet

Secretary Hirokazu Matsunosaid the missile flew for 71 min-utes and that Japan may searchfor debris inside its exclusiveeconomic zone to analyse theNorth's weapons technology.

Japan's coast guard issueda warning to vessels in nearbywaters, but there were noimmediate reports of damageto boats or aircraft.

South Korean PresidentMoon Jae-in called an emer-gency National SecurityCouncil meeting where he crit-icised North Korean leaderKim Jong Un for breaking aself-imposed moratorium onICBM tests and posing a "seri-ous threat" to the region andthe broader international com-munity.

Moon instructed officialsto pursue "all possible responsemeasures" based on its alliancewith the United States andcooperation with other interna-tional partners, his office said.

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The Germany governmenton Thursday announced a

package of measures to helpcushion the blow of high ener-gy prices to consumers, withfuel subsidies, discounted pub-lic transport, tax benefits andadditional support for thepoorest.

Senior lawmakers unveiledthe measures after lengthyhaggling between the threeparties that make up the gov-erning coalition.

Rising energy costs due tothe war in Ukraine and sanc-tions imposed on Russia havecaused significant price painfor companies and consumersacross Europe in recentmonths.

The measures announcedinclude temporary tax cuts ongasoline, a 300 euro (USD330)refund for taxpayers, 100 eurosper child and a further 100euros for people on benefits.

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Mumbai: Benchmark stockindices Sensex and Nifty closedlower in highly volatile trade onThursday due to selling inbanking, auto and FMCGstocks amid a weak trend inglobal equity markets.

Extending losses for a sec-ond day, the 30-share BSESensex ended down by 89.14points or 0.15 per cent at57,595.68. During the day, ittouched a low of 57,138.51 anda high of 57,827.99.

The broader NSE Niftydipped 22.90 points or 0.13 percent to settle at 17,222.75 as 27of its components declinedand 22 advanced.

"The market now lacksdirection and is moving up ordown on a daily basis respond-ing to news regarding crudeprice, FPI flows and specula-tion on what the Fed might doin the coming policy meets,"said VK Vijayakumar, ChiefInvestment Strategist at GeojitFinancial Services.

"Sensex and Nifty ended avolatile session with lossesamid heightening volatility dueto surge in global crude oilprices and prospects of the USFed raising interest rate," MohitNigam, Head - PMS, HemSecurities, said.

From the 30-share pack,Kotak Mahindra Bank fell themost by 3.09 per cent, followed

by Titan which declined 2.63per cent.

HDFC Bank dropped 2.23per cent, ICICI Bank by 1.94per cent, and HDFC by 1.5 percent. Mahindra & Mahindrafell by 1.31 per cent and MarutiSuzuki India by 1.17 per cent.

IndusInd Bank, HindustanUnilever Limited, Nestle, AxisBank and State Bank of Indiawere also among the losers.

In contrast, Dr Reddy'sLaboratories rose the most by4.9 per cent, UltraTech Cementby 1.77 per cent, and TechMahindra by 1.75 per cent.

Gains in RelianceIndustries, Tata Steel, NTPC,ITC, TCS and HCLTechnologies Limited limitedthe losses in the benchmarkindex.

In the previous trade, theBSE barometer declined 304.48points or 0.53 per cent whileNifty dipped 69.85 points or 0.4per cent.

"Markets traded dull andended marginally lower amidmixed global cues. After theinitial dip, the benchmarkoscillated in a narrow range,"Ajit Mishra, VP - Research,Religare Broking Ltd, said.

"All eyes are on the out-come of the NATO summit asit could provide the directionto the lingering Russia-Ukrainetension. Indications are in the

favour of further consolidationin the index however the pre-vailing underperformancefrom the banking pack is dent-ing sentiment," Mishra said.

US President Joe Bidenand world leaders opened thefirst in a trio of summits inBrussels focused on pressuringRussia to end its war inUkraine.

In the broader market, theBSE midcap index gained 0.34per cent, while smallcap gaugewent higher by 0.16 per cent.

Among BSE sectoralindices, banking (down 1.69per cent), consumer durables(1.58 per cent), finance (1.30per cent) and auto (0.54 percent) were the major drags.

"Markets lingered in neg-ative territory for major part ofthe trading session buttrimmed losses at the end, aspositive European marketsopening aided partial recovery.Global markets trend will con-tinue to dictate sentiment asinvestors would not want totake bullish bets given thefragile situation globally,"Shrikant Chouhan, Head ofEquity Research (Retail), KotakSecurities Ltd said.

Asian markets were mixedafter losses in Wall Street asinvestors weighed concernsabout rising inflation and slow-er economic growth.

Tokyo's Nikkei 25 declinedby 0.3 per cent, Seoul's Kospidropped 0.5 per cent while theShanghai Composite index fell0.5 per cent. The Hang Seng inHong Kong rose by 0.2 percent. PTI

New Delhi: India's top fuelretailers IOC, BPCL and HPCLhave together lost around USD2.25 billion (Rs 19,000 crore) inrevenue between Novemberand March by keeping petroland diesel prices unchangeddespite a sharp rise in crude oilprices, Moody's InvestorsService said on Thursday.

Petrol and diesel pricesremained unchanged betweenNovember 4, 2021, and March21 despite prices of crude oil(raw material for producingfuel) averaging around USD111 per barrel in the first threeweeks of March compared toaround USD 82 in earlyNovember.

State-owned Indian OilCorporation (IOC), BharatPetroleum Corporation andHindustan PetroleumCorporation (HPCL) on March22 and 23 raised petrol anddiesel prices by 80 paise perlitre each but paused theincrease on Thursday.

"Based on current marketprices, the oil marketing com-panies are currently incurringa revenue loss of around USD25 (over Rs 1,900) per barreland USD 24 per barrel on saleof petrol and diesel, respec-tively," Moody's said in a report.

If crude oil prices contin-

ue to average around USD 111a barrel, the three rated entities- IOC, BPCL and HPCL - willincur a combined daily loss ofaround USD 65-70 million onthe sale of petrol and dieselunless fuel prices are increasedto cover the rising crude oilprices, it said.

"Based on our estimates ofaverage sales volume betweenNovember and first three weeksof March, the state-ownedrefining and marketing com-panies together have lostaround USD 2.25 billion in rev-enue on petrol and diesel sales,"Moody's said.

This equates to around 20per cent of the combinedFY2021 EBITDA for the threeentities.

The rating agency estimat-ed that IOC's revenue loss to bearound USD 1-1.1 billion whilethat of BPCL and HPCL to beabout USD 550-650 millioneach over the same period.

"This loss in revenue willadd to the short term borrow-ings, funded with working cap-ital lines, of the refiners untilsuch time that crude oil pricesstay at elevated levels."Overtime, the companies might beable to make up for some ofthese losses if oil prices comedown," it added. PTI

Mumbai: The rupee appreci-ated 6 paise to close at 76.33against the US dollar in arestricted trade on Thursday, asinvestors assess the global eco-nomic impact of the Russia-Ukraine conflict amid elevatedglobal crude oil prices to finda decisive direction.

A weak trend in domesticequities and strengthening USdollar in the overseas marketcapped the gains in the domes-tic unit, forex traders said.

At the interbank forex mar-ket, the local unit openedslightly up at 76.37 against thegreenback. During the session,it moved in a tight range of76.24 and 76.41.

The rupee finally settled at76.33, a rise of 6 paise over itsprevious close. PTI

New Delhi: Telecom operatorBharti Airtel on Monday show-cased the possibilities of 5G era,as it harnessed immersive videotechnology using the next gen-eration network, to recreate in-stadia experience of Kapil Dev'slegendary 175-run inning fromthe 1983 cricket World Cup.

Airtel also demonstrated alive 5G-powered hologram asthe legendary cricketer's virtu-al avatar interacted with theaudience in real-time from aremote location.

"Using cutting-edgeimmersive video technologiesover its high-speed 5G test net-work, Airtel recreated the in-stadia experience of Kapil Dev'sfamous 175 not-out vsZimbabwe during the 1983cricket World Cup," Airtel saidin a release.

The demo brought to lifekey moments from the matchwhich had no actual videofootage due to a strike at thattime by TV technicians.

With over 1 Gbps of inter-net speed, more than 50 con-current users had a highly per-sonalised 4K video experienceof the match on 5G smart-phones with real-time access tomultiple camera angles, 360-degree in-stadia view, shotanalysis and statistics.

Airtel carried out thedemonstration at its NetworkExperience Center in Manesar(Gurugram) using Ericsson5G gear over 3,500 MHz bandtest spectrum allotted by theDepartment of Telecom.

During the demo, a 5G-powered virtual avatar of KapilDev appeared on the stage andinteracted with the audienceand walked them through thekey moments of his inning.

Randeep Sekhon, CTO,Bharti Airtel, said that gigabitspeeds and millisecond laten-cy of 5G is set to transform theway entertainment is con-sumed. PTI

Mumbai: India (NewsVoir) State Bank of India's Chairman, DineshKhara flagged off "SBI Sanjeevani-Clinic on Wheels", a mobile med-ical unit project at State Bank Bhavan, Mumbai. A batch of 5 suchMobile Medical Units were flagged off to provide primary health-care services in the States of Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana,Madhya Pradesh & Uttarakhand. SBI Sanjeevani provides pri-mary, preventive, diagnostic, and referral health services at thedoorstep of the people in the remote areas. The Mobile MedicalUnit will be equipped with state-of-the-art diagnostic facilitiesand accompanied by a dedicated medical team consisting of adoctor, lab technician and pharmacist.

These units will provide services throughout the year, whichwill help rural communities for availing healthcare facilities attheir doorsteps, thus saving their valuable time for daily liveli-hood activities.

Along with the clinical facilities, the unit will also run spe-cialized health and awareness camps in these remote villages. Theproject also leverages collaborations with local health depart-ments/medical colleges for support. As on date, such facility hasbeen sanctioned for 18 States and 2 Union Territories. SBIFoundation, the CSR arm of the Bank has partnered with vari-ous NGOs for implementation of the initiative that aims to pro-vide primary healthcare facilities in rural areas. SBI GeneralInsurance Company Limited has provided the funding supportfor purchase of Mobile Medical Units to implement the project,in the above five States. PTI

New Delhi: PKH Ventures, aconstruction and hospitalityfirm, has filed preliminarypapers with capital marketsregulator Sebi to raise fundsthrough an Initial PublicOffering (IPO). The publicissue comprises fresh issuanceof 1.826 crore equity shares andan Offer For Sale (OFS) of0.983 crore shares by its pro-moter, according to the DraftRed Herring Prospectus(DRHP).

The company may alsoconsider a pre-IPO placementof 15 lakh equity shares.Proceeds of the issue will beused to invest in subsidiaries,funding long-term workingcapital requirements. PTI

Chennai: Veranda Learning Solutions on Thursday said it hasfixed price band of Rs 130-137 per equity share of face value ofRs 10 each for its forthcoming initial public offering scheduledto begin from March 29.The offer consists of equity shares offace value of Rs 10 each of the issuer aggregating up to Rs 2,000million (Rs 200 crore). The offer to remain open from March29 to March 31,2022 and bids can be made for a minimum of100 equity shares and in multiples of 100 equity shares there-after, the company said.Veranda Learning said, "...Not less than75 per cent of the net offer shall be available for allocation on aproportionate basis to Qualified Institutional Buyers (QIB)".

"Further not more than 15 per cent of the Net Offer shall beavailable for allocation on a proportionate basis to Non-Institutional Bidders and not more than 10 per cent shall be avail-able for allocation to retail individual bidders", the company said.

The company said five per cent of the Net QIB shall be avail-able for allocation on a proportionate basis to mutual funds onlyand the remainder of the Net QIB portion shall be available forallocation on a proportionate basis to all QIBs, mutual funds,subject to valid bids being received at or above the offer price,the company said. PTI

New Delhi: Home textilesmajor Welspun India onThursday announced its forayinto the mattress catgory underits home linen brand SPACES.

The company said it haslaunched 'SPACES Matchress'with a variety of offerings onthe back of extensive marketresearch as an extension of itshome wellness offerings.

Manjari Upadhye, CEO ofWelspun India Ltd, DomesticBusiness, said the company'sdeep understanding of statedand unstated consumerrequirements provides it withthe insights to innovate andoffer the most relevant prod-ucts and solutions to the coun-try's diverse and fast-growingconsumer base.

"The launch of 'SPACESMatchress' is another step inthis direction, backed by mar-ket research with a pure intentto address the gaps in the seg-ment and offer a product thatour customers want," Upadhyeadded.

The brand offers cus-tomisable, orthopedic, firmand fab mattress ranges for dif-ferent consumer preferences.The mattress comes with thebenefits of an in-built mattressprotector, odor-free and anti-pilling, 12 years warranty, amongothers, the company said.

Welspun India said itsmove to enter the mattresscategory underscores SPACES'aggressive focus on the domes-tic market and its aim to capi-talise on emerging opportuni-ties in this high-potential seg-ment with innovative offerings. PTI

New Delhi: IIFL Home Fin hasentered into a strategic co-lending partnership with StateBank of India to accelerateeffective and affordable creditto small home buyers in thecountry.

IIFL HFL, a digital-firsthome finance company, hassigned an agreement with SBIfor co-lending of priority-sec-tor home loans.

"This is SBI's first co-lend-ing agreement with a homefinance company. The loansourcing and servicing will bemanaged by IIFL HFL. Underthe arrangement, 80 per cent ofthe loan will be provided bySBI," it said in a release onThursday.

IIFL HFL will service the

customers throughout theirentire loan cycle, from sourc-ing, documentation, disbursalto collection.

This will help the compa-ny to penetrate further into theaffordable home loan segment.This arrangement will alsohelp the company in offeringattractive interest rates to itscustomers.

"This collaboration willenhance our distribution net-work, as we aim to extend ourcredit reach to more homeloan borrowers in unservedand underserved segments.Such partnerships align withour commitment to accelerateeffective and affordable creditto small home buyers in Indiaand contribute to the vision of

Housing for All by 2024,"Dinesh Kumar Khara, SBIChairman said.

Earlier this year, IIFL HFLsigned agreements with UnionBank for extending homeloans, Central Bank of India forLIG and MIG sector loans andPunjab National Bank forextending home loans andMSME loans.

It also partnered with for-eign-based Standard CharteredBank for extending credit toMSME loans.

"We are looking forward tofurther strengthening ourfoothold in the affordable homespace with co-lending. Withthis association, we target toalign our goals with the gov-ernment's agenda of improving

the flow of credit and makefunds available to the ultimatebeneficiary at an affordablecost," Monu Ratra, CEO &ED, IIFL HFL said.

The company has dis-bursed loans totaling Rs 1,500crore till February 28, 2022under the existing co-lendingarrangements.

In November 2020, theReserve Bank of India (RBI)came out with the Co-LendingModel (CLM) scheme underwhich banks can provide loansalong with NBFCs to prioritysector borrowers based on aprior agreement.The CLM, isan improvement over the co-origination of loan schemesannounced by RBI inSeptember 2018. PTI

New Delhi: Food robotics andautomation firm MukundaFoods on Thursday said it hasraised USD 5 million (over Rs35 crore) in a funding roundled by Zomato.

The fresh round of fundingtakes the company's post-money valuation to USD 30million, Mukunda Foods saidin a statement.

The company further saidit plans to utilise funds toexpand its reach across QSRs,cloud kitchens and fine dinesegment, besides using a part ofthe raised capital to introducemultiple models to help thefood and beverages (F&B) busi-nesses scale up.

The brand had previous-ly raised funds from NcubateCapital, Singapore AngelNetwork, and Indian AngelNetwork.

So far, the brand has raiseda total of around USD 8 mil-lion, including the currentfundraising.

Commenting on thefundraise, Mukunda FoodsCEO, and Co-Founder EshwarK Vikas said, "Zomato andMukunda Foods share thevision of reaching every restau-rant and helping them grow.

"While Zomato does it byhelping restaurants reach morecustomers and increasing theirrevenues, we help the F&B

brands increase their prof-itability and grow fast with ourkitchen technologies. Thiscommon interest will help theF&B industry greatly."

A Zomato spokespersonsaid the company's investmentwill help Mukunda Foods scalefaster, help reduce restaurantfood prices, expand marginsand enhance customer satis-faction.

Last week, in a regulatoryfiling Zomato had said itsboard has also approved acqui-sition of 16.66 per cent stake inMukunda Foods for an aggre-gate cash consideration ofrupee equivalent of USD 5million. PTI

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Petroleum Minister HardeepSingh Puri on Thursday

sought to defend theGovernment over the steeprise in the fuel prices sayingit is due to the increase in itsprices in the international mar-ket. On another issue, theMinistry of MinorityAffairsinformed the Lok Sabhathat the government was wait-ing for Saudi Arabia’s signal for‘Haj’ to happen this year.

On the matter of price rise, Congress MP Sashi Tharoorpointed out to the governmentthat it has not reduced tax onoil to bring down the fuelprices.

Puri assured that effortsare being made to make fuelavailable to people at "afford-able prices".

Replying to a question inLok Sabha, the minister saidthe prices of LNG in the inter-national market has gone up by"more than 37 per cent" ifcompared from April 2021 toFebruary 2022, because of "anunsettled condition and mili-tary action in one part of theworld following the Covid cri-sis".

"Whereas, our increase at

the bunk has been only five percent," he told the House duringQuestion Hour.

As for the LPG price,which is based on Saudi CP(Contract Price), the hike hasbeen 37 percent in the last sixmonths alone, he said.

"So, I just want to placethese facts before the membersand this august House, so thatthey understand what the inter-national situation today is," hesaid.

The government is making"every effort to make sure thatthe consumer at the point ofconsumption gets fuel at anaffordable price", he sought tosay.

On another issue, UnionMinority Affairs MinisterMukhtar Abbas Naqviinformed the Lok Sabha thatgovernment was waiting forSaudi Arabia's decision onhosting the annual Haj pil-grimage, but has started prepa-rations to send pilgrims from10 embarking points, UnionMinorities Affairs MinisterMukhtar Abbas Naqvi said inLok Sabha on Thursday.

Naqvi said there has beenno Haj pilgrimage for the lasttwo years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Aprogramme was held inNew Delhi on Thursday,

marking the culmination oflandmark Golden Jubilee cele-brations of Indianoil R&D.Union Minister for Petroleumand Natural Gas & Housingand Urban Affairs ShriHardeep S Puri was the ChiefGuest on the occasion. Theevent was also graced byMinister of State for Petroleum& Natural Gas & Labour andEmployment, Rameshwar Teli,Padma Vibhushan Dr. R.AMashelkar, Padma VibhushanDr. Anil Kakodkar, Secretary,MoPNG Pankaj Jain, IndianOil Chairman S.M.Vaidya,IndianOil's Director (R&D)Dr. SSV Ramakumar, ManjuKumar, CPMG, and captains ofIndian industry.

On the occasion, a special

commemorative postalMyStamp was released. Aninnovative solar cooktop -Surya Nutan - was alsolaunched on the occasion.Citation of 1501 patents ofIOC R&D, was unveiled. TheMinister also spoke to the ben-eficiaries of solar cooktop abouttheir experiences of the newproduct. The Minister gaveaway prizes to the winners ofIndianoil R&D Golden JubileeNational Essay Competitionin which over 1500 entrieswere received.

Speaking on the occasion,Shri Hardeep S Puri said that50 years of pioneering researchto make energy secure andaccessible in India is truly anenormous achievement. Hesaid that recognised as theapex organisation for researchand innovation in the sector,IOC R&D has transcended tothe gold standard for industryinnovation.

The Minister said thatIOCL R&D has had glitteringsuccess in developing con-sumer-focused products such as

high-performance fuel, mini-LPG cylinders, world-classautomobile lubricants, automa-tion of retail outlets, and LPGdistributorships. It is also devel-oping innovative technologiesfor the mass rollout of Biofuels,EVs, FCEVs and GreenHydrogen - the future of India'senergy security paradigm.

Talking about the solarcooktop launched today, ShriPuri said that it could be apath-breaking innovation forthe average Indian consumer.Urging the IOCL to popularizeit on a large scale in reasonableperiod of time, he said that thiscould bring empowerment tomillions of households, espe-cially to women.

Lauding the IOCL R&Dfor developing and commer-cialising 53 indigenous tech-nologies and new products, andfiling more than 1,500 patentsin that process in the last tenyears alone, the Minister won-dered how many Fortune 500companies-or for that matter,even research institutions-pro-duce such high-quality output

in their field. He said that this Golden

Jubilee is not just a celebrationof the sustained success ofIOCL R&D, but also of itsincreasing relevance in theIndian innovation ecosystem.

Puri said that India todayis considered a global hub ofscientific research.

"However, we need to bedoing much more to achieveour national and global targets.We need to continue to rampup our scientific research toaccomplish a technologicalbreakthrough that could fast-track our economic growth. Ibelieve that cutting-edge R&D-which aims to produce equi-table, sustainable and large-scale innovations-will be atthe forefront of change in thecoming years, particularly indynamic areas such as theenergy sector."

Puri said that India isundergoing a period of transi-tion in the energy sector whereIndia is trying to become ener-gy-secure even as it movestowards renewable energy.

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New Delhi: Shares of Zee Entertainment Enterprises onThursday rallied nearly 17 per cent after Invesco DevelopingMarkets Fund, the largest shareholder in the company, said it willsupport the Zee-Sony merger deal and has decided not to pur-sue the call for ZEEL EGM to remove Managing Director andCEO Punit Goenka and two independent directors.

The stock jumped 16.83 per cent to settle at Rs 299.15 onBSE. During the day, it zoomed 19.99 per cent to Rs 307.25.

On NSE, it rallied 16.89 per cent to close at Rs 299.30. Itsmarket valuation jumped Rs 4,139.83 crore to Rs 28,733.83 croreon BSE. In volume terms, 41.16 lakh shares were traded on BSEand over 8.67 crore on NSE. Invesco Developing Markets Fundsaid it will support the merger of Zee and Sony, contending the"deal in its current form has great potential for Zee sharehold-ers" but added if it is not completed as currently proposed, Invescoretains the right to requisition a fresh EGM. Two days after theBombay High Court ruled that Invesco's call for EGM was legal-ly valid, the investment firm in a statement said, "Since weannounced our intention to requisition an EGM and add six inde-pendent directors to Zee's Board of Directors, Zee has enteredinto a merger agreement with Sony. PTI

Expands its network foot-print by adding the 19th

Tata Motors' dealership inTamil Nadu Chennai, TamilNadu, India (NewsVoir)TataMotors, in partnership withPPS Motors has inaugurated anew state-of-the-art dealershipat Pallikarnai - in the city ofChennai.

With this new facility, thecompany aims to extend itspresence and build a strongfoothold in the city. The newdealership facility with pres-ence in Pallikarnai and ECR,Chennai will provide access toworld-class Tata MotorsPassenger & Electric Vehicles tocustomers in the region. Theshowroom has been designedand built as per the

Company's Dealership

Standards and is strategicallylocated to provide a convenientaccess to the visitors and cus-tomers. The dealership employ-ees have been trained under thesupervision of Tata Motorsexperts and will provide aquality customer experienceto the visitors. Speaking on theoccasion, Mr. RameshDorairajan, Senior GeneralManager - NetworkManagement & EV Sales, TataMotors Passenger Vehicles Ltd.Said, "We are extremely happyto embark on this journeywith PPS Motors as our autho-rised dealer in Chennai. This isthe first Tata Motors showroomfrom PPS Motors in Chennai,which will help us penetratedeeper into the market with thesupport of their reach. PTI

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Ashleigh Barty was coy about herfuture on Thursday, tellingmedia "you'll have to wait and

see" as speculation mounts aboutwhat comes next after her shockretirement from tennis.

The world number one and three-time Grand Slam champion stunnedthe tennis world on Wednesday byquitting aged just 25, saying she hadfulfilled her dreams and was "spentphysically".

It sparked an outpouring of praisefor the down-to-earth Australian, ledby Serena Williams.

Barty spoke publicly for the firsttime on Thursday since herannouncement but repeatedly deflect-ed questions on her future plans.

"You'll have to wait and see, I'mnot giving you everything right now.It's alright, you can be patient. Patienceis a virtue," she told reporters inBrisbane. "We'll see."

Barty previously walked awayfrom tennis to play in cricket's BigBash League, with local media spec-ulating a return to the crease could beon the cards, or even becoming a pro-fessional golfer or playing AustralianRules.

"I have seen some brilliant pho-toshops as a jockey, lawn bowls," themulti-talented Barty joked.

"I love sport, I'm a sport nut likea lot of Australians are. I'll be lured toit. I have always been an athlete in thesense of trying different things, butwe'll see how we go."

She did confirm she wanted towork more with IndigenousAustralians and spend time with her

mum and dad, calling herself "ahomebody". "I have always wanted tohave the time to contribute more inother ways," Barty said.

"And I think now I have got thatopportunity and I've been fortunateenough to have so many opportuni-

ties given to me from tennis, and nowI'm ready to really give back in waysthat I'm passionate about."

Marriage is on the horizon tolong-term boyfriend Garry Kissick. Adate has been set, but Barty would notsay when. In a social media message

on Wednesday, Barty said achievingher life-time dream of winningWimbledon last year changed her per-spective and sparked retirementthoughts.

But her coach Craig Tyzzer admit-ted she had been thinking about it asfar back as her breakthrough GrandSlam success at the French Open in

2019. "The first thing she said to mewas, 'Can I retire now?'. I sort of went,'Hang on, I'm not ready for that,'" hesaid alongside Barty.

"It's not a shock to me. Ash doesher own thing and when we startedtogether she wanted to do it the wayshe wanted to do it. I think it's theright time."

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Ashleigh Barty on Thursday saidthat she will remove herself from

the WTA rankings after announcingher retirement, opening the door forPoland's Iga Swiatek to become worldnumber one.

The three-time GrandSlam-winning Australianhas held top spot for morethan two years butstunned the sports worldon Wednesday by quit-ting at just 25.

The 20-year-oldSwiatek is a massive2,204 rankingpoints behindBarty, but couldbe elevated tonumber oned e p e n d i ngon whathappens atthe ongo-ing MiamiOpen.

"My name will be taken off the listin the next ranking," Barty said at apress conference in Brisbane, the firsttime she has spoken publicly since herretirement announcement.

"It's going to be an exciting timefor the WTA Tour with a new num-ber one and it's going to be a reallycool period for them now.

"But we have done everythingthat we needed to on our sidewith them. We have worked

with the WTA Tour and theyhave made my journey so enjoy-able and made it really comfort-

able."Swiatek is current-

ly 691 points ahead ofthird-ranked MariaSakkari of Greeceafter winning atIndian Wells lastweek, her secondtitle in as manytournamentsafter her tri-umph inDoha inFebruary.

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Substitute Kaoru Mitomascored twice in the dying

minutes as Japan beat Australia2-0 on Thursday to book theirplace at a seventh straight WorldCup and in doing so also helpedSaudi Arabia qualify.

It was a crushing blow foran understrength Soccerooswho now face a perilous play-off to keep alive their hopes ofmaking Qatar.

The game in a wet Sydneylooked destined for a drawbefore Mitoma converted fromclose range on 89 minutes, andthen again after a mazy run ininjury time to spark joyous cel-ebrations from the visitors.

"I knew it was going to bea close match so when I was onthe bench all I was thinking was,when I got on the field of playI just had to do my job and scorea goal," said Mitoma, 24, whoplays for Belgium's Union SG on

loan from Premier LeagueBrighton.

"I feel really happy for theplayers and people back inJapan, and everyone who is aJapanese fan."

Victory pushed the BlueSamurai to the top of AsianGroup B qualifying on 21points, six clear of Australia withonly one more game to play.

The Saudis, on 19 points,face China in Sharjah laterThursday but are assured oftheir place in Qatar courtesy ofJapan's win.

Australia now cannot finishhigher than third, forcing aplay-off against the third-placedteam in Asian Group A. Thewinner will then meet a teamfrom South America for theright to play in Qatar later thisyear.

Japan started their qualify-ing campaign with two lossesfrom their first three games, buthave now won six in a row.

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The Indian men's hockey teamwill begin the new season ofFIH Hockey Pro League

against New Zealand and Spain, theworld governing body (FIH) said onThursday, announcing the scheduleof the fourth edition of its ambitioustournament.

India will host New Zealand andSpain in the tournament openerbetween October 28 and November6 later this year.

India will play New Zealand inthe first match on October 28, fol-lowed by the second game againstSpain on October 30.

The Indians will play their return

leg matches against New Zealandand Spain on October 4 and 6respectively.

In between, both New Zealandand Spain will also play a double-header against each other onOctober 29 and November 5.

"Interesting to see the 2022-23Pro League schedule released today.As far as our draw is concerned, itis well spaced out and provides uswith practice opportunity beforethe 2023 World Cup," Indian men'shockey team chief coach GrahamReid said.

In March next year, India willplay Germany and Australia at home.

India will face off againstGermany on March 10 and after a

day's break will take on Australia intheir first match of the two-leggedtie.

The second-leg matches againstboth Germany and Australia will beplayed on March 13 and 15 respec-tively.

Germany and Australia too willplay their FIH Pro League tie againsteach other in India.

In what appears to be an action-paced Olympic cycle, India will nextembark on a tour to Europe for theiraway matches against reigningOlympic Champions Belgium (May26 and June 2), Great Britain (May 27 and June 3), Netherlands(June 7 and 10) and Argentina (June8 and 11).

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India will take on Bangladesh in their finalgame to decide the winner of the SAFF U-18

Women's Championship here on Friday.It will be a "real battle", India head coach

Thomas Dennerby said on the eve of the match.India have played three games in the tour-

nament which is being hosted in Jamshedpur,and have won all those matches -- two againstNepal and one against Bangladesh -- scoring 13goals, while conceding just one.

However, Dennerby remained cautiousahead of the Bangladesh game, in which a drawwould be enough for India to seal the champi-onship.

"It was a tight game last time, and I think itwill be the same in this one as well. We have seenthe games between Nepal and Bangladesh, andthey have been a little slower, but they are stilla very good side," said Dennerby.

"Of course, it's the last game of the cham-pionship, and everything depends on it. This willbe a real battle, so we have to stay 100 per cent

focussed."The 'Young Tigresses', who have nine points

on the board, will be looking to end the cham-pionship with another win at the JRD Tata SportsComplex.

"We are here to win all the games, there hasnot been anything that would prompt us tochange anything about that. We will look for-ward to another great game and hope for anoth-er three points.

"We want to end the tournament with a per-fect record, which will help in the future as well,"said the head coach.

India captain Shilky Devi echoed Dennerby'ssentiments, saying she is looking forward to hav-ing a good game against Bangladesh.

"Coach has told us from the start that nomatter what, we want to win all the four games,and that remains our target. We have allworked hard for the last few months and wewould love to see the results on the pitch as well,"Shilky said.

"We not only want to win, but also want tohave a good game against Bangladesh."

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Sending out a stern messagethat indiscipline will not be

tolerated, the WrestlingFederation of India has barred10 women wrestlers, includingU-23 World ChampionshipBronze medallist Nisha Dahiyaand a few youngsters, fromcompeting in the trials for theupcoming Asia Championship.

The barred wrestlers eitherdid not report for the nationalcamp in Lucknow or left afterjust two days, making excuses.The camp began on February 9.

The Asian Championship isscheduled to be held inMongolia from April 19-24 andthe trials for women wrestlersare scheduled for Friday at theSAI Centre in Lucknow.

The wrestlers in question,including Nisha, who competesin 65kg category, requested to belet off but the WFI did notbudge. Nisha was in the newsrecently when the report of hermurder in Haryana emerged,which turned out to be fake.

Other wrestlers who havebeen kicked out of the nationalcamp are Honey Kumari (50kg),Ankush (53kg), Anju (55kg),Raman (55kg), Geeta (59kg),Bhateri (65kg), Priyanka (65kg),Naina (68kg) and Pooja (76kg).

Bhateri, Anju and Honeyalso sought permission from theWFI to compete in trials but the

federation put its foot down.The celebrated Geeta

Phogat, who recently made acomeback during the NationalChampionship in Gonda, hasreported an injury.

Missing out on this oppor-tunity is a huge loss for Anju,who is coming up nicely andopening up an option in the cat-egory of star wrestler VineshPhogat.

Since Sonam Malik is stillunfit and Bhateri and Priyankaare barred from trials, the roadhas become easier for strugglingSakshi Malik to book her slot inthe Indian team in 65kg.

"We will ask for an explana-tion from the wrestlers why arethey not taking national campseriously. Missing out on achance to compete in a tourna-ment like Asian Championshipwill certainly teach them a les-son," WFI President BrijBhushan Sharan Singh told PTIon the sidelines of the men's tri-als at the IG stadium here.

"Our second line is prettystrong, so we can take thesetough steps to ensure disciplineat the national camp. We don'twant to hurt chances of goodwrestlers but they need tounderstand that they can't takethings for granted," he added.

The federation believes thatmore than the wrestlers, theirpersonal coaches are responsi-ble for the mess.

����� � ��

World Championships Silver medallistKidambi Srikanth staved off aspirited

challenge from France's Christo Popov toprogress to the men's singles quarterfinalsof the Swiss Open Super 300 tournamenthere on Thursday.

World no 12 Srikanth ekedout a fighting 13-21, 25-23,21-11 win over Popov, in asecond-round match thatlasted an hour and 13 min-utes.

The seventh seeded Indian willface second seeded Dane AndersAntonsen next.

Former CommonwealthGames Gold medallist ParupalliKashyap too entered the quarter-finals after top seed and Olympicchampion Viktor Axelsen gave a

walkover.Third seeds

Satwiksairaj Rankireddyand Chirag Shetty, however,

lost 19-21, 20-22 to PramudyaKusumawardana and Yeremia

Erich Yoche Yacob Rambitan in themen's doubles.

In the women's singles, AshmitaChaliha put up a tough fight beforegoing down 18-21, 20-22 to eighthseeded Scot Kirsty Gilmour in the sec-

ond round. On Wednesday night,Sindhu had entered the second roundwith a 21-14, 21-12 win over Denmark'sLine Hojmark Kjaersfeldt here.

Also progressing was the women'sdoubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa

and N Sikki Reddy, who got thebetter of local pair Aline Mullerand Jenjira Stadelmann 21-15,

21-16 in straight games.

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Taking the mat for the firsttime since winning a Bronze

medal at the Tokyo Olympics,star Indian wrestler BajrangPunia was far from his domi-nant best as he just about man-aged to prevail 4-2 against afighting Rohit to secure hisplace in the Indian team for theAsian Championships.

The national federation putBajrang, Tokyo Olympic Silvermedallist Ravi Dahiya andDeepak Punia directly in thefinals, a move which did notamuse other competingwrestlers and their coaches.

Eventually all three madethe Indian team for theChampionships, starting April19 in Mongolia, with Ravi(57kg) getting a walkover fromhard-working Aman, who likeRavi trains at Chhatrasal stadi-um.

Aman chose not to competeafter developing stiff back fol-lowing four tough bouts and

Deepak (86kg) beat Vinod 6-0in an ill-tempered final, whichended when the latter was givena third caution.

Bajrang, who had plannedto compete in a couple ofRanking Series event to start hisseason but could not do so dueto a left-knee issue, was notsharp and perhaps surprised bythe aggression of his opponent.

"This was my first boutafter Olympics. It takes time to

����� ����

India paddlers finished the WTT ContenderDoha 2022 with two medals, including a sin-

gles Bronze won by Achanta Sharath Kamal, asseniors showed the way on the concluding dayof the competition.

As expected, G Sathiyan and Manika Batrasettled for the Silver, capitulating in the final ofthe mixed doubles against the top-seededChinese Taipei pair of Lin Yun-Ju and ChengI-Ching. The Indians lost 4-11, 5-11, 3-11.

Sharath Kamal, on the other hand, failed toup the ante from an advantageous position inthe sixth game and went down fighting 3-4 (5-11, 11-8, 6-11, 11-7, 11-5, 10-12, 9-11 in thesemifinals of the men's singles against YuanLicen of China.

This was the first medal for Sharath in twoyears. The Indian veteran had won a Gold in theOman Open in 2020.

The No 7 Indian mixed pair found the goingtough against the Taipei combine right from thestart. Their troubles only multiplied whenSathiyan and Manika failed to comprehend theleft-right combination that went about the taskclinically.

Yet, it was creditable for the Indians to resistas much as they could before eventually surren-dering to the Taipei paddlers.

But Sharath will rue his missed opportuni-ty on a day when he had the rhythm and formon his side. Trailing 1-2, the higher-rankedIndian (No 41) came back strongly to go 3-2 upagainst the Chinese, ranked 264.

In the sixth game, Sharath was up 9-7 butfrittered away his chances and let Licen off thehook. The Chinese not only reduced the mar-gin but was on game-point. Sharath managedto deuce but failed to hold his serve, allowinghis opponent to level the score.

In the decider, Sharath once again led 6-4.But he could not maintain it and the Chinese,gaining confidence, kept the lead before com-pleting the task without giving any opportuni-ty to his rival.

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Indian girls face B’desh in SAFF U-18 C’ship

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get that sharpness when you goto mat after so many months.After my injury I did my rehabon my own, I did not have a per-sonal physio with me, otherwiseI could have recovered early,"Bajrang said.

"Overall I am happy withmy performance consideringthat I competed after eightmonths. I felt good."

The 28-year-old had injuredhis left knee during the Nationalcamp at Sonepat, late in January.He had trained in Iran beforereturning to country.

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Defending champions Englandcontinued their Women's Cricket

World Cup resurgence with anemphatic nine-wicket win overPakistan on Thursday to stand on thebrink of the semi-finals.

England pace bowler KatherineBrunt roared back into form after anindifferent tournament, taking 3-17as she and Sophie Ecclestone helpedbundle Pakistan out for 105 inChristchurch.

Brunt had taken only one wicketin five previous matches at this year'sone-day showcase but formed apotent attack with Ecclestone, whotook 3-18.

Danni Wyatt then shook off herown tentative start to the tournament,smashing an unbeaten 76 to seeEngland home.

The result moves England intothe top four at the expense of Indiaon a better net run rate and they can

confirm a place in the semi-finalswith victory over Bangladesh onSunday.

Captain Heather Knight said the

2017 champions were buildingmomentum after making a disastrousstart to the tournament with threestraight losses.

"It's about reminding the girls thatit's not how you start, it's how you fin-ish," she said.

"We're not there yet and we've gota big game coming up againstBangladesh."

England made the perfect startafter putting Pakistan into bat whenBrunt dismissed opener Nahida Khanwith the first ball of the innings, coax-ing an outside edge that went straightto first slip.

Pakistan captain Bismah Maroofthen threw away her wicket when shewas run out for nine trying to sneaka second run to square leg.

The run rate slowed to a crawland Pakistan were 33-3 whenOmaima Sohail was also run out on11 with a direct hit from TammyBeaumont.

Sidra Ameen tried to rebuild butwas bowled for 32 and Sidra Nawazwas the only other batter to offerresistance, making 23 as Pakistanwere bowled out for 105 in 41.3 overs.

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South Africa reached the semi-finals of theWomen's Cricket World Cup on Thursday

when rain washed out their crunch matchagainst the West Indies in Wellington.

Both teams received a point from theabandoned fixture, putting South Africa second

in the table to Australia and beyond the reachof their rivals for the playoff spots.

The West Indies can still make the top fourbut need results involving India and England togo their way.

A downpour delayed the start of the matchin the New Zealand capital for more than fourhours, then officials attempted to proceed withinnings of 26 overs apiece.

But that was scrapped after 10.5 overs withSouth Africa 61-4 and looking to rebuild withMignon du Preez unbeaten on 38 from 31 balls.

Chinelle Henry took 3-19 and West Indiescaptain Stafanie Taylor felt they were on topwhen play was called off.

"It's not the way we'd like (the match to end)but you can't do much about God's plan, it'ssomething we can't control," she said.

South Africa captain Sune Luus said herplayers were "pumped" at having the chance tomake the final for the first time after semiappearances in 2000 and 2017. "Everyone'sextremely excited and obviously very happy tobe in the semi-finals," she said.

����� 1�1�

Twelve seasons, four titletriumphs and five run-ner-up finishes later, the

iconic Mahendra Singh Dhonihas decided to hand over thecaptaincy of Chennai SuperKings to his trusted lieutenant,Ravindra Jadeja.

However, in a brief state-ment, CSK said the 40-year-oldwill continue to represent thefranchise for the "season andbeyond", having led one of themost successful IPL sides sincethe tournament's inception in2008 -- barring the two seasonswhen the team was suspendedin the wake of the spot-fixingscandal.

"MS Dhoni has decided tohand over the leadership ofChennai Super Kings andpicked Ravindra Jadeja to leadthe team. Jadeja, who has beenan integral part of ChennaiSuper Kings since 2012, willonly be the third player to leadCSK," said CSK in a statementon Thursday.

"Dhoni will continue torepresent Chennai Super Kingsthis season and beyond," thefranchise added.

Dhoni, 40, who hadannounced his internationalretirement on August 15, 2020,had led CSK to their fourthtitle last season.

CSK play KKR in the IPL2022 opener here on Saturday.

The World Cup-winningcaptain has always been his

own man when it comes toleaving captaincy or announc-ing his retirement.

He quit Test captaincy andalso the five-day game in themiddle of a series in Australiain 2014. And when he was sureVirat Kohli was ready to leadIndia across formats, Dhonimade way for him in 2017.

Though the inspirationalleader carried on to play theIPL after announcing his inter-national retirement in hisinimitable style, his decision tohand over the CSK leadershipto Jadeja was not entirely sur-prising.

Dhoni knew that he can'tgo on forever and the 33-year-old Jadeja, who is at the peakof his prowess, is ready for thechallenge. The southpaw wasCSK's number one retentionbefore the auction ahead ofDhoni, Moeen Ali and RuturajGaekwad.

The announcement stilltook CSK CEO KasiViswanathan by surprise buthe said "if Dhoni takes a deci-sion, it has to be in the bestinterest of the team".

"See whatever decision MStakes it is in the best interest ofthe team. So there is nothingto worry for us. We respect hisdecision. He is always there toguide us," Viswanthan said.

"He has always been theguiding force and will contin-ue to be the guiding force."

Asked if the 2022 editioncan be his last season, the CEO

added: "I don't think it will behis last season. As long as he isfit, we want him to play. Thatis my wish, I don't know abouthim (what he thinks)."

On Jadeja's ascension ascaptain, Viswanathan said theall-rounder is primed to dowell.

"See Jaddu will do well. Heis probably in the best form ofhis career. He will definitely dowell under MS' guidance.Jaddu has been with us for 10years and he very well knowsthe team culture," he added.

It can be safely said thatCSK couldn't have becomethe brand it became withoutthe charismatic Dhoni, whodeveloped a special bond withthe team and its fanatical fans.

Even when representingPune Supergiant, when CSKwas suspended for two seasonsin 2016 and 2017, Dhoni'sheart remained with Chennai.

"I will be lying if I say thatI have moved on. I cannot sud-denly say that I am very excit-ed to play for a new team andit will be wrong if I don't givecredit to CSK and the peopleof Chennai for the last eightyears of love and affection thatthey have given to the teamand me," Dhoni had saidahead of the 2016 edition.

His stature grew as hescripted CSK's fairytale come-back after a two-year suspen-sion, leading the team to itsthird title in 2018.

Mumbai Indians are the

most successful IPL franchisewith five titles but they havenot been able to match CSK'sconsistency in reaching theplay-offs.

Branded the Dad's Armydue to an ageing squad in2020, when CSK failed toreach the play-offs for thevery first time, Dhoni and Comade a remarkable comebacklast season to win their fourthtitle. He may not have been thefinisher he was in his heydaysbut the skipper was able to gal-vanise the team and take it tothe distance in the presence ofemerging stars.

Under his leadership, CSKhave registered a record 121wins in 204 matches in theIPL.

����� ��������

Newly appointed Chennai Super Kingsskipper Ravindra Jadeja says that he is

feeling good to get the chance to lead the sidein the upcoming edition of the IPL that startsin two days' time.

Jadeja, who has been part of a CSK out-fit for almost a decade now, joined the fran-chise in 2012 and has represented them ineight seasons, playing 132 matches. The all-rounder was the team's first retention as wellahead of the mega auctions this year and willearn Rs 16 crore. In a video released by the

Super Kings Twitter handle shortly after thebig announcement, Jadeja said that he has bigboots to fill and carry forward MS Dhoni'slegacy.

"Feeling good at the same time, I alsoneed to fill in big boots. Like, Mahi bhaialready set a big legacy, so I need to carry for-ward. So hopefully, I don't need to worry toomuch because he is here, so whatever I havea question to ask, I will definitely go to him.He will be my go-to person. He was and stillis today. So, I am not too worried. Thank youfor all your wishes and love. Cheers. Keepsupporting us. Thank you, "Jadeja said."

����� 1�1�

Rajasthan Royals all-rounder DarylMitchell feels adapting to the pitches

will be key for all teams in the upcomingIPL as the surfaces will get slower as thetournament progresses.

"I feel the pitches will definitely getslower as the league stage goes on. For usas a team, it's about adapting and beingin the right frame of mind on a particu-lar surface," said Mitchell, who is lookingto make an impression in his maiden IPLseason.

Mitchell was bought by RR for �75lakh in the mega auction earlier this year,and the 30-year-old just wants to con-tribute to the team's cause in whatever waypossible.

"My goal is to play the game with a

smile on my face. I'm proud to representRajasthan Royals here and will do what-ever it takes to help the team on the fieldor off the bench," he said.

"It feels good to be a part of a massivetournament such as the IPL. Boasting ofsome of the best players in the world, Ithink it's a great learning school and I'mhappy to have that opportunity for myselfto learn from the best here."

Mitchell's trans-Tasman rival turnedIPL teammate, Nathan Coulter-Nile islooking forward to working with SriLankan legend Lasith Malinga, who hasjoined RR as the team's fast bowling coach.

"He's unbelievable, it was amazing see-ing him go about his work during my timewith Mumbai and now at the Royals," saidCoulter-Nile about his former MumbaiIndians teammate Malinga.

����� ��������

Former India coach RaviShastri thinks Virat Kohli

has taken a "smart decision" bygiving up captaincy from allforms of cricket, paving theway to express himself betterin the upcoming IndianPremier League.

Shastri, who witnessedKohli's leadership from closequarters during his stint asIndia coach, however, alsofeels the 33-year-old star bat-ter could have continued as thecaptain in Test cricket.

"I think this (giving upcaptaincy) could be a blessingin disguise, to be honest. Thepressures of captaincy off hisshoulders, the expectationsthat come with being captainno longer there, he can go out,express himself, play freely,and I think he'll look to do justthat," Shastri said.

"I think he has taken asmart decision of relinquish-ing captaincy. I would havestill preferred if he stayed onas India's red-ball captain butthat's his personal choice,"Shastri was quoted as sayingby ESPNcricinfo.Com.

Kohli left many in shockwhen he stepped down asRoyal Challengers Bangalorecaptain after 2021 IPL.

Subsequently, Kohli quitTest captaincy followingIndia's 1-2 series loss to SouthAfrica. He had earlier relin-quished T20 captaincy afterthe World Cup last year, adecision which led the BCCIto remove him as ODI skipperalso.

"I think the most impor-tant thing is not to worryabout his own performances,because he's done enough inworld cricket for people toknow where he stands.

"It's about him wanting toenjoy himself out there. Ithink that is the key. It's mindover matter, it's a case oftelling yourself, 'I want to gothere, express myself, andenjoy myself '."

The former all-roundersaid captaining the Indiancricket team has its own chal-lenges.

"It (captaincy) certainlydoes (have a shelf life). It's noteasy to be captain of a team inall three formats of the game,more so India because it is themost demanding job in theworld.

"No other team captainfaces the kind of pressure thanthe Indian team captain facesand that is simply because ofthe expectations of the billionpeople. Expectations are huge.

"And especially as a cap-tain if you set standards likeVirat Kohli has, people expectyou to win every game butthat's never going to happen.Even the greatest of team willhave an off season, will have aperiod where nothing firesand the pressure will built,"Shastri said.

����� ��������

Chennai Super Kings' starall-rounder Moeen Ali

has secured his India visaand will be available for selec-tion from the second game ofthe upcoming IPL, the fran-chise's CEO Kasi Viswanathansaid on Thursday.

Though the England play-er is arriving in Mumbai onThursday, the defendingchampions will miss the ser-vices of Moeen for Saturday'sIPL-15 opener against KolkataKnight Riders, as he will haveto complete a three-day quar-antine before joining the team.

"Moeen has got his visaand is landing in Mumbai inthe afternoon. He will beavailable for the second gameafter completing a three-dayquarantine," Viswanathan toldPTI.

There was a delay inprocuring the visa as a set pro-cedure is followed for playersof Pakistan descent.

Moeen's grandfathermigrated to England fromPakistan Occupied Kashmirbut Moeen is born in Englandand is a frequent visitor toIndia.

Four-time IPL champi-ons CSK will take on last edi-tion's runner-up side KKR inthe opening match of the thisyear's tournament at the

Wankhede Stadium.CSK are scheduled to play

Lucknow Super Giants in theirsecond match on March 31.

Because of his fine all-round show which helped theteam lift its fourth IPL title,Moeen was retained by CSKalong side inspirational cap-tain Mahendra Singh Dhoni,Ravindra Jadeja and RuturajGaikwad.

Moeen scored 357 runsfrom 15 innings for CSK inthe IPL last year, while alsotaking six wickets from 15 games with his off-spinbowling.

���� ������

Pakistan survived anintriguing last session to

reach 73-0 on day four aftera bold declaration byAustralia set a tricky target of351 runs in the series-decidingthird Test on Thursday.

Opening batters Imam-ul-Haq,42 not out, and Abdullah Shafique,27 not out, survived televisionreferrals against offspinner NathanLyon to leave the home team stillneeding 278 runs in a minimum 90overs on the last day on Friday.

Shafique had a close escapewhen Steve Smith's poor run in theslips continued as the Australia vice-captain couldn't hold onto a sharpchance off Marnus Labuschagne'spenultimate ball of theday.

Captain Pat Cumminsdeclared Australia's sec-ond innings at 227-3shortly after tea, UsmanKhawaja having achieved anunbeaten 104, his second successive centuryto round off a brilliant tour to the country ofhis birth.

It gave Australia nearly four sessions tohave a crack at Pakistan, after missing outin the second Test at Karachi wherePakistan batted for 171.4 overs and forcedan epic draw.

Khawaja featured in three half-cen-tury stands and raised his hundred at

the stroke of tea as Australia bluntedthe reverse swing of Naseem Shah(1-23) and Shaheen Shah Afridi (1-45) while scoring freely against

spinners Nauman Ali and SajidKhan.

Khawaja made 97 in thedrawn first Test at Rawalpindi

and followed with 160 and44 not out at Karachi.Despite being ill on the

opening day of this Test,Khawaja scored 91 in the first innings. The left-hander has an impressive 496 runs at a seriesaverage of 165.33.

Khawaja combined in a 96-run openingstand with David Warner, who was cleanbowled on 51 by Afridi in the penultimateover before lunch.

Labuschagne, with 36, then sharedanother brisk 65-run stand with Khawaja

before he swept hard at left-arm spinnerNauman and was caught at deep mid-wicket in the second session.

���� ������

Steve Smith's legacy as a Testgreat continues to grow.

When Australia's numberfour reached seven in the secondinnings of the third Test againstPakistan, Smith became thefastest man to 8,000 runs, reach-ing the milestone in his 151stinnings.

Smith eclipsed Sri Lankalegend Kumar Sangakkara, whoreached the mark in his 152nd

innings.All-time great Sachin

Tendulkar rounds out the podi-um, after the 'Little Master'brought up 8,000 Test runs in his154th innings in 2002.

Boasting an overall Testbatting average of over 60 with27 centuries, the 32-year-oldSmith will have plenty morerecords in his sight.

In 2019, Smith became thefastest to 7,000 Test runs in ahome Test match against

Pakistan. The latest milestone forSmith comes despite a recentlean period, by his lofty stan-dards. Since the 2019 Ashesseries, Smith has scored just onecentury in his 29 innings priorto the current match in Lahore.

Among the otherAustralians to pass 8,000 Testruns, Smith soared pastMatthew Hayden (164 innings),Ricky Ponting (165), MichaelClarke (172), Allan Border (184)and Steve Waugh (194).

�����1�1�

Mumbai Police is geared up toensure full security for the

IPL which will kick off this week-end. Adequate security arrange-ments will be made at the two sta-diums in the city (Wankhede andBrabourne) where matches willbe played as well as the hotelswhere the players and supportstaff will be staying, police said.

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