SIMONTINI BHATTACHARJEE

NEW DELHI: In a bid to invite global investment to the state, Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee met Nitin Gadkari, the Union Minister of Road and Transport, on Thursday after-noon at his residence in Delhi and discussed several infra-structure projects.

On the fourth day of her visit to the national Capital, Banerjee pushed for better manufacturing infrastructure and road connec-tivity in West Bengal.

“We discussed issues related to road and infrastructure proj-ects, including transport, road connectivity and manufactur-ing units with electric buses. We have also asked to build some flyovers in Kolkata,” Banerjee told media persons after the meeting.

The Bengal Chief Min-ister also submitted a report and brought up pending road and transport projects, includ-ing the deep-sea port at Taj-pur with the Union minister. The sea port, located nearly 200 km from Kolkata, is expected to draw an investment of Rs 15,000 crore and generate 25,000 jobs in the state.

Senior officials from differ-ent departments of the ministry and the Resident Commis-sioner of West Bengal in Delhi were also present in the hour-long meeting. “The meeting was very fruitful and our state

administrative officials will meet the officials of Gadkariji to prepare a report on how and when to start the develop-mental plans which were dis-cussed,” Banerjee mentioned.

She confirmed that Chief Sec-retary H K Dwivedi will also be meeting the Union minister at his convenience and will sub-mit a detailed report.

Continued on P4

RNI NO.: DELENG/2005/15351REGD. NO.: DL(S)-01/3420/2018-20

VOL.16, ISSUE 210 | Friday, 30 July, 2021 | New Delhi | Pages 12 | Rs 3.00PUBLISHED FROM DELHI | KOLKATA

MILLENNIUMPOST.IN

No Half Truths

India’s active Covid cases show increase for 2nd straight day

OUR CORRESPONDENT

PANAJI: Under pressure from the Opposition over the gang-rape of two minor girls on a beach, Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant is facing flak for remarking in the state Assembly that parents need to introspect on why their children were on the beach late at night.

“When 14-year-olds stay on the beach the whole night, the parents need to introspect. Just because children don’t listen, we cannot put the responsibility on the government and police,” Sawant had said on Wednes-

day, during a debate on a calling attention notice in the House.

Sawant, who also holds the home portfolio, had said parents have a responsibility to ensure the safety of their children and hinted that they should not let their children, particularly minors, out at night.

Goa Congress spokesperson Altone D’Costa on Thursday said the law and order situation in the coastal state has deteriorated. “Why should we fear while mov-ing around at night? Criminals should be in jail and law abid-ing citizens should be out freely moving around,” he said.

Goa Forward Party MLA Vijai Sardesai said it is disgust-ing that the Chief Minister is making such statements. “The safety of citizens is the respon-sibility of police and state gov-ernment. If they can’t provide it

to us, the CM has no right to sit in the post,” he added.

“It is shocking that @goacm is blaming parents for allowing their children to venture out in the night claiming that it is not safe. if State govt can’t assure us our security, who can give it? Goa has a history of being safe state for women, that tag is being lost in @BJP4Goa rule,” tweeted Independent MLA Rohan Khaunte.

“We directly blame police, but I want to point out that of the 10 youth who went to the beach for a party, four stayed on the beach the whole night and

the remaining six went home,” Sawant had said in the House.

“They were on the beach the whole night, two boys and two girls,” said Sawant. “Teens, particularly minors, should not be spending the nights on beaches,” he added.

Four men, one of them a government employee (a driver with the agriculture depart-ment), posed as policemen and raped the two girls after beat-ing up the boys who were with the girls on Benaulim beach, around 30 km south of Goa’s capital, on Sunday.

Continued on P4

‘On beach whole night’: Controversy over Goa CM’s remark in rape case

Comments trigger outcry from Opposition, who have demanded Pramod Sawant’s resignation & said Goa has become more dangerous for women under BJP rule

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: India logged 43,509 new Coronavirus infec-tions taking the total tally to 3,15,28,114, while the active cases registered an increase for the second consecutive day, according to the Union Health ministry data updated on Thursday.

The number of people who have recuperated from the dis-ease surged to 3,07,01,612, while the case fatality rate stands at 1.34 per cent, the data stated. The death toll climbed to 4,22,662 with 640 fresh fatalities.

The active cases have increased to 4,03,840 and com-prise 1.28 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 97.38 per cent, the data updated at 8 am showed.

The daily positivity rate was recorded at 2.52 per cent, the ministry said, adding the weekly positivity rate was recorded at 2.38 per cent.

An increase of 4,404 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.

Cumulative vaccine doses administered so far has reached 45.07 crore under the nationwide vaccination drive.

As many as 17,28,795 tests

were conducted on Wednes-day taking the total cumula-tive tests conducted so far for detection of COVID-19 in the country to 46,26,29,773.

The Union Health ministry will depute a six-member team to Kerala for effective Covid management as the state reports a spike in daily cases.

The team headed by National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) Director S K Singh will reach Kerala on Friday and visit some districts reporting a high case positiv-ity rate, the ministry said in a statement.

In a tweet, Union Health minister Mansukh Mandaviya said: “The Central government

is sending six-member team to Kerala headed by NCDC Director. As a large number of COVID cases are still being reported in Kerala, the team will aid state’s ongoing efforts in COVID-19 management.”

The ministry’s statement said the team will work closely with state health authorities, take a stock of the ground situation and recommend necessary public health inter-ventions to contain the spread of the virus.

With an active caseload of 1.54 lakh as of the latest update, Kerala accounts for 37.1 per cent of the total active cases in the country.

Average daily cases being

reported in the state are above 17,443. The state has also reported a high case positiv-ity of 12.93 per cent cumu-latively and 11.97 per cent weekly. Six districts are report-ing more than 10 per cent weekly positivity, the state-ment mentioned.

The Bengal government on Thursday extended the Covid-19 restrictions in the state till August 15. It also announced

some relaxation in the exist-ing norms, including organis-ing government programmes indoors with 50 per cent of the total seating capacity.

The new set of relaxations will become applicable from July 31. However, the restric-tions on outdoor activities apart from essential and emer-gency services will continue from 9 pm to 5 am every day.

Continued on P4

43,509 NEW INFECTIONS REPORTED; 37% OF COUNTRY’S ACTIVE CASES IN KERALA

NEW DELHI: Israeli govern-ment authorities have raided the offices of NSO Group fol-lowing revelations by a consor-tium of media organisations that the surveillance software vendor’s Pegasus spyware was used by multiple governments around the world to snoop on public figures and Opposition leaders among others.

The raids took place on Wednesday.

An NSO spokesperson confirmed to Israeli news web-site ‘The Record’ that “repre-

sentatives from the Israeli Ministry of Defence had vis-ited their offices”.

“The company is work-ing in full transparency with the Israeli authorities. We are confident that this inspec-tion will prove the facts are as declared repeatedly by the company against the false allegations made against us in the recent media attacks,” the spokesperson added.

Recently, a global collab-orative investigative project has revealed that the Pega-

sus spyware targeted over 300 mobile phone numbers in India, including that of min-isters in the Narendra Modi government, various Opposi-tion leaders, a constitutional authority, and several journal-ists and business persons.

The numbers of Union minister Prahlad Singh Patel and Railways & IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw also fea-tured in the list. Amid massive uproar over the issue by Oppo-sition parties, the government has denied allegations that the Pegasus spyware was being used to snoop on politicians, journalists and constitutional authority. It has also called the report “sensational”, and an attempt “to malign Indian democracy and its well-estab-lished institutions”. AGENCIES

Israel govt raids NSO offices

A health worker collects swab sample for Covid test, at Mumbai’s Dadar railway station, on Thursday PTI

Highlights » The active cases have increased to 4,03,840 and comprise 1.28 per cent of the total infec-tions, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 97.38 per cent, the data up-dated at 8 am showed » An increase of 4,404 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours » The Union Health ministry will depute a six-member team to Kerala for effec-tive Covid management as the state reports a spike in daily cases

» The Bengal government on Thursday extended the Covid-19 restrictions in the state till August 15 » The government on Thursday said travel restrictions are be-ing eased for Indian students by several countries including the US, Canada, the UK, and Germany and that more nations are ex-pected to do the same when the pandemic situation improves

Pramod Sawant

City: Pg 3‘Pained by changes to GNCTD Act, silence of opp MLAs on it’

Nation: Pg 6Modi: New NEP major factor in ‘mahayagna’ of nation building

Film: Pg 12Jennifer Garner inks overall film deal with Netflix

Mamata meets Gadkari, discusses road, infrastructure projects

Banerjee brings up pending road & transport projects, including Tajpur deep-sea port, in her discussions with the Union minister

PROJECT PEGASUS

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: The gov-ernment on Thursday announced a 27 per cent quota for OBCs and 10 per cent reservation for the Eco-nomically Weaker Section (EWS) category in the All-India Quota (AIQ) scheme for Under-Graduate and Post-Graduate medical and dental courses from the cur-rent academic year, 2021-22.

Hailing the “landmark decision” taken by his gov-ernment, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted: “This will immensely help thousands of our youth every year get better opportunities and create a new paradigm of social justice in our country.”

Union Health minis-ter Mansukh Mandaviya also lauded the “historic decision”.

“A historic decision has

been taken by the govern-ment in the field of medi-cal education in the country. Under All India Quota, 27 per cent reservation will be given to OBC students and 10 per cent to weaker income group (EWS) students in undergraduate/postgradu-ate, medical and dental edu-cation,” he said in a tweet.

The Prime Minister, at a meeting held on Monday, had directed the Union min-

istries concerned to facilitate an effective solution to this long-pending issue, a state-ment issued by the health ministry said.

“This decision would benefit nearly 1,500 OBC students in MBBS and 2,500 OBC students in postgrad-uation and also around 550 EWS students in MBBS and around 1,000 EWS students in postgraduation,” it added.

Continued on P4

Govt announces 27% reservation for OBCs, 10% quota for EWS in medical courses

Takeaways » “We discussed issues related to road and infrastructure projects, including transport, road connectivity and manu-facturing units with electric buses. We have also asked to build some flyovers in Kolkata,” Banerjee told media persons after the meeting. » The sea port, located nearly 200 km from Kolkata, is expected to draw an investment of Rs 15,000 crore and generate 25,000 jobs in the state » “The meeting was very fruitful and our state administrative officials will meet the officials of Gadkariji to prepare a report on how and when to start the developmental plans which were discussed,” Banerjee mentioned

HEARTBREAK

Six-time world champion M C Mary Kom’s (51 kg) pursuit of a second Olympic medal ended in the pre-quarterfinals of the Tokyo Games as she went down to 2016 edition’s bronze-medallist Ingrit Valencia in a fiercely-fought showdown on Thursday. The funny part, Mary Kom had actually won two of the three rounds. She apparently lost the match via split decision PTI

Mamata Banerjee meets actor and social activist Shabana Azmi in New Delhi

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee meets Union minister Nitin Gadkari in New Delhi on Thursday MPOST

WASHINGTON: Pulitzer Prize-winning Indian photojournalist Danish Siddiqui was not simply killed in a crossfire in Afghanistan, nor was he simply collateral damage, but was “brutally mur-dered” by the Taliban after verifying his identity, according to a report published in a US-based magazine on Thursday.

Siddiqui, 38, was on assignment in Afghani-stan when he died. The award-winning journal-ist was killed while covering clashes between Afghan troops and the Taliban in Spin Boldak district of Kandahar city.

According to the Washington Examiner report, Siddiqui travelled with an Afghan National Army team to the Spin Boldak region to cover fighting between Afghan forces and the Taliban to control the lucrative border crossing with Pakistan.

When they got to within one-third of a mile of the customs post, a Taliban attack split the team, with the commander and a few men sep-arated from Siddiqui, who remained with three other Afghan troops. Continued on P4

Photojournalist Danish Siddiqui was executed

by Taliban: Report

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: Lok Sabha on Thurs-day passed two Bills before the pro-ceedings were adjourned for the day amid continuous protests by Opposi-tion members over the Pegasus spying row and farmers’ issue.

The Airports Economic Regula-tory Authority of India (Amendment) Bill 2021 and The Inland Vessels Bill, 2021 were passed without debate.

When the House met at 2 pm, Kirit Premjibhai Solanki, who was chairing the proceedings, took up the two Bills. He urged the protest-ing members to go back to their seats.

Amid din, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia moved the Air-ports Economic Regulatory Author-ity of India (Amendment) Bill, 2021.

Similarly, Ports, Shipping and Waterways Minister Sarbananda Sonowal moved the Inland Vessels Bill, 2021, which seeks to provide safety of navigation, protection of life and cargo and prevention of pollution that may be caused.

Earlier in the day, Speaker Om Birla had expressed his displeasure over the unruly behaviour by some Opposition members and said he was “very hurt” over Wednesday’s incident.

On Wednesday, when papers were being laid in the House, Congress members Gurjeet Aujala, TN Pratha-pan, Hibi Eden and some others had thrown business papers of the day as well as torn pieces of paper and plac-ards at the Chair.

A piece of the torn placard landed in the press gallery just above the Speaker’s podium.

As the Opposition continued their protest on Pegasus snooping controversy and three farm bills, Birla adjourned the House till 11.30 am.

After the Question Hour ended at 12 noon, Rajendra Agrawal, who was chairing the proceedings of the House, asked protesting members to go back to their respective seats.

Continued on P4

Lok Sabha proceedings adjourned for the day

Speaker says ‘very hurt’ over unruly conduct of some Oppn MPs

BJP MP Rajendra Agrawal conducts proceedings in the Lok Sabha during the Monsoon Session of Parliament, in New Delhi, on Thursday PTI

WATER CRISIS

Water cannons being deployed to disperse DPCC protestors at Delhi Vidhan Sabha on Thursday PTI

‘Can’t go after good samaritans for helping when govts failed’

HC seeks Delhi Police reply on

bail plea of former AAP councillor

RAHUL SINGH

GHAZIABAD: During the Covid lockdown, when peo-ple were forced to stay inside their houses and had to rely on online sources for their daily needs, cybercrime went on rampantly in Ghaziabad with most of the crimes being reported in bank or credit/debit card frauds.

As per data, a hike of over 200 per cent was reported as compared to the past two years. Even in the first Covid wave, the cybercrime in Ghaziabad had increased by almost 75 per cent during the lockdown. In 2019, during a period of March and June, a total of 762 cases of cyber frauds were reported in Ghaziabad while the figures

were 940 in 2020 when the first Covid wave hit the nation, in the same period.

However, in 2021, the fig-ures rose to over 1,520, in the same period of time. Cops said that the gangs operat-ing from Jharkhand, eastern Uttar Pradesh and Nigeria are actively duping people in the Delhi-NCR region.

“The cyber criminals took advantage of people turn-ing to online even for getting items of basic need and some regional gangs also grew up. While police had been actively keeping track of all such gangs, complaints of people being duped online have been on the rise,” a senior officer from Gha-ziabad cybercrime said.

“Even we have issued advi-sory for people not to fall prey to any call who offer them lucrative benefits, people get easily conned by cybercrimi-nals. While the maximum of cases reported of debit/credit card frauds, people should not also click any ads on their email or don’t trust strangers who are talking to them on phone and asking about the insurance pol-icy,” the officer added.

Abhay Mishra, Circle offi-cer Indirapuram and in charge of Cyber cell said that cops are trying to nab the fraudsters and that the police have busted around 20 fake call centers with the arrest of 75 accused. “We are trying to trace the culprits and will nab more fraudsters soon,” he said.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court Thursday sought response from Delhi police on bail application moved by former AAP councillor Tahir Hussain in a case arising out of the northeast Delhi riots of 2020.

Justice Mukta Gupta issued notice and directed that the bail application be listed before Justice Yogesh Khanna, who is hearing bail applications moved by Hussain in other riots cases, on August 6.

Senior Advocate Mohit Mathur, appearing for Hus-sain, informed the court that apart from the FIR in ques-tion in the present case, other FIRs have also been registered against the accused by police station Dayalpur.

“Bail pleas under FIR 91/2020 and 92/2020 had gone to Justice Yogesh Khanna and notice was issued for August 6,” Mathur said who appeared along with advocate Rizwan Khan. He thus urged that this bail application be also tagged along with the pleas already pending before Justice Khanna.

The present FIR pertains to the alleged commission of offences of rioting and destruc-tion of public property by Tahir Hussain in the Dayalpur area.

The other two cases pertain to the injuries suffered by two people on account of a riotous mob pelting stones, throw-ing petrol bombs and firing gunshots from the terrace of Hussain’’s house and allege commission of offences of attempt to murder and riot-ing, and violation of Arms Act. Notice in one of two bail appli-cations was issued by Justice Khanna on July 13.

Significantly, Hussain’s bail plea in the main UAPA case against him for the riots is also pending in the Delhi High Court, after a lower court had earlier rejected it.

He had approached the high court after the historic bail orders in the case of Asif Tanha, Natasha Narwal and Devan-gan Kalita — co-accused in the same case.

The high court had ruled in these cases that applying UAPA in such a case was not correct as IPC sections already dealt with provisions for vio-lent protests. But this judgment has now been challenged in the Supreme Court.

Communal clashes had broken out in northeast Delhi on February 24 after violence between citizenship law sup-porters and protesters spiralled out of control leaving at least 53 people dead and around 700 injured.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: No death due to COVID-19 was recorded in Delhi on Thursday, while 51 fresh cases were reported with a positivity rate of 0.08 per cent, according to data shared by the city health department.

This is the third time, since the starting of the second wave of the pandemic in the national capital, that zero fatality has been logged in a day.

On July 18 and July 24 too, no death due to COVID-19 was recorded, according to official data, while 51 and 66 cases were reported, respectively.

On March 2 this year, the national capital had reported zero death due to the virus. On that day, the number of single-day infections stood at 217 and the positivity rate was 0.33 per cent.

The death toll in the city on Wednesday had stood at 25,049. The number of cumulative cases on Thursday stood at 14,36,144. Over 14.1 lakh patients have recovered from the virus. The number of active cases decreased to 554 on Thursday from 573 a day before, the bulletin said.

The number of people under home isolation slightly increased to 169 from 165 on Wednesday while the number of containment zones marginally increased to 299 from 292 a day before, it said.

Meanwhile, Delhi’s Indrapr-astha Apollo Hospital has seen a 100 per cent rise in complaints of hair loss among coronavi-rus patients, doctors said on Thursday.

Normally, according to a spokesperson, the private hospi-tal in South Delhi would record four to five complaints of hair loss a week.

However, hair loss cases “started increasing from mid-May and a consolidated report says we have been seeing double the number of cases since then”, the spokesperson said.

MAN KILLED IN ROAD ACCIDENT NEW DELHI: A 19-year-old man died after he was hit by a cluster bus in the Jaffarpur Kalan area. Police said on July 28, at 10.25 pm, they received a PCR call regarding an accident on Rawta Mod. The inves-tigating officer reached the spot, and the injured was taken to a nearby hospital where he was declared brought dead. On the spot cluster bus and damaged Passion Pro bike was lying. “Driver of the bus had absconded. It was a head-on collision. The bus was on its lane only. Later deceased was identified as Rahul (19), who lived in village Mitraun,” the official said.

WIRE-BOUND BODIES FOUND IN FLATNEW DELHI: Two bodies of man and woman were found inside a flat in the Shahbad Dairy area. Police said the incident came to light on Thursday when the neighbours complained about a foul smell coming out from the locked flat. A PCR call was made and the police team reached the spot. After entering the flat they found both the bodies. Reports were coming that the woman was a dance teacher. Police have started their probe in the case. The bodies were found to be bound with wires.

Zero deaths, third time since onset of 2nd wave

ARNABJIT SUR

NEW DELHI: Coming down heavily on the Delhi gov-ernment’s Drug Controller Authority for initiating a “witch hunt” against and consciously targetting a certain political party by taking legal action against its MLA for distributing medical oxygen to needy citi-zens during the virus’ second wave, the Delhi High Court has asked the body to clear its stand on the issue and observed that good samaritans can’t be tar-getted when both the Centre and state governments failed to provide oxygen to the citizenry.

The court was taking exception to the drug author-ity’s move to initiate prosecu-tion against Aam Aadmi Party MLAs Praveen Kumar and Imran Hussain for stocking

and distributing medical oxy-gen during the second wave through various public camps organised across the city.

Significantly, the drug authority has given a clean chit to BJP president Adesh Gupta and Leader of Opposition Ram-vir Singh Bidhuri in a private complaint lodged against them for illegally distributing medical oxygen. On July 8, the drug body had lodged a complaint against the Gautam Gambhir Founda-tion (GGF) and the two AAP MLAs before a Dwarka court.

The division bench of Jus-tices Vipin Sanghi and Jasmeet Singh rapped the drug body, rep-resented by Advocate Nandita Rao, and stated that if it were to target good samaritans distribut-ing oxygen, then it should initiate prosecution against Gurudwars, temples and other organisations

who were helping the citizens in the hour of need.

“How can you prosecute him (Kumar)? The state, both GNCTD and Union, failed in providing sufficient oxygen to people in Delhi. There were some Samaritans who provided oxy-gen. You can’t prosecute them,” the court orally remarked.

The bench, with regard to

action against Kumar and Hus-sain, said that in this way, half of Delhi should be prosecuted.

Further calling it an act of “very consciously targetting par-ticular leaders of a particular party”, the bench remarked: “We will certainly not permit this. It is so unfortunate that a human tragedy has been turned into a political battle, you are just try-

ing to make political capital out of it…,” the bench added.

Meanwhile, the drug body denied that the move was a witch hunt and that a hypertechnical view was taken with respect to prosecution against the licenses of Kumar and Hussain.

The court remarked that the reason Gambhir was prosecuted was because he “very irrespon-sibly, bought 10,000 tablets of Fabiflu in one go and then he is stocking that and distributing it to people in his constituency...so much so that at the end of it all he was still left with some 236 odd strips”.

Subsequently, the bench directed Rao to seek instruc-tions and take a clear stand with regard to initiation of prosecu-tion against the persons alleg-edly involved in hoarding of medical oxygen.

ON POLITICIANS ARRANGING OXYGEN FOR NEEDY

City Briefs

2 millenniumpostCitympFRIDAY, 30 JULY, 2021 | NEW DELHI

Although every possible care and caution has been taken to avoid errors or omissions, this publication is being sold on the condition and understanding that information given in this publication is merely for reference and must not be taken as having authority of or binding in any way on the writers, editors, publishers, and printers and sellers who do not owe any responsibility for any damage or loss to any person, a purchaser of this publication or not for the result of any action taken on the basis of this work. All disputes are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of competent court and forums in Delhi/New Delhi only

Printed and Published by Jaiyendra Kumar Sharma on behalf of Front Row Media Pvt. Ltd. and printed at The Indian Express Pvt. Ltd., A-8, Sector-7, Noida-201 301 (U.P.) and published from First Floor, Pratap Bhawan, 5 Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, New Delhi 110 002. Editor: Durbar Ganguly. Email: editor@millenniumpost.in, Tel. No. 011-47777500

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: The Delhi gov-ernment has begun the process of taking over the management of Bal Bharti School in Rohini area of the Capital after gain-ing approval from Lieutenant Governor Anil baijal, the state government said in a statement on Thursday.

The AAP-led government had sent several show-cause notices to the school direct-ing it to withdraw the fee hike which the school management failed to adhere to. The Direc-torate of Education (DoE) will now take over the management of Bal Bharti School. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had approved the proposal sent by

the DoE in the matter, which was then sent to the L-G for approval.

The DoE had conducted an inspection of the financial statements of Bal Bharti School for the financial years 2016-2017 to 2017-2018. During the detailed inspection of the records, the DoE found that the total funds with the school for the year 2017-2018 were 23,81,82,958 and out of which, Rs 20,94,38,802 was estimated as expense. Even after spend-ing Rs 20,94,38,802, the school management had a net surplus of about Rs 2,87,44,156, the government explained in the statement.

The DoE then came to the conclusion that there was no

need for the school manage-ment to increase the fees. The DoE therefore turned down the proposal to accept the fee hike for the academic session 2017-2018.

In the meantime, the Delhi Government received com-plaints from the parents that the school had increased the fees several times in 2018-19 and 2019-20, and further also asked to deposit arrears.

Therefore the DoE issued a notice to the school in May ask-ing for explanation on the rec-ognition of the school should not be canceled or why the Government should not take over the management of the school. The reply received by the DoE was not satisfactory.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: A Delhi Police constable beats a person so brutally that he died in the New Ashok Nagar area in East Delhi.

However, instead of helping the deceased’s family members, the station house officer (SHO) of Ashok Nagar police station delayed the probe by not regis-tering an FIR in the case.

Police said on June 13, a missing report was registered at New Ashok Nagar police station by one Ashok Kumar regarding the missing of his brother Ajeet Kumar (28), who lived in New Kondli.

Later on June 15, another complaint was filed by Kumar raising suspicion that his brother might have been abducted and killed.

“Efforts were made to trace the missing person and subse-

quently a case under sections 365, 34 of IPC was registered on July 27,” Deputy Commis-sioner of Police (East) Priyanka Kashyap said.

Police said during the initial investigation, it was revealed that after an altercation took place between Ajeet and his friend Atul with four people who were later identified as Monu Sirohi (constable) and his friends Vikas, Vineet and Harish.

“Both Ajeet and Atul were beaten up by the four people. Later Ajeet was abducted in a car,” the official said.

As per the preliminary investigation, Sirohi disclosed that Ajeet was killed and his body was disposed of by him with the help of his associ-ates. The body was yet to be traced.

As per official, preliminary findings, sections under sec-

tions 364, 302, 120-B IPC were added in the case.

“Sirohi is a constable in posted in Pandav Nagar police station. The car in which Ajeet Kumar was abducted has been recovered,” the official said.

Apart from Sirohi, police have also arrested one Har-ish. “The investigation is in progress and all-out efforts are being made to trace the body of deceased Ajeet,” the official said.

Inspector Parmod Kumar, SHO, (New Ashok Nagar) was placed under suspension for the delay in registration of the case on the complaint of Kumar.

“A departmental enquiry has also been initiated. Ct. Monu Sirohi has been dis-missed from the service of Delhi Police,” the official said.

Govt to take over management of Bal Bharti School over fee hike

Constable held for beating man to death, his SHO suspended

Delhi Sports University to enrol students from class 6 to 9 from April 2022: V-C

Hauz Khas: 5 held in molestation case of Darjeeling women

1 killed, another injured in building collapse

NEW DELHI: The Delhi Sports University is likely to start admit-ting students from classes 6 to 9 from April next year and will start operations at the Ludlow Sports Castle in the national capital’s Civil Lines area, its Vice Chan-cellor Karnam Malleswari said.

She said students who come in at a young age will be ready for the Olympics by the time they turn 18 or 19.

In an interview with PTI over phone, Malleswari, a former weightlifter and the first woman to bring home an Olympic medal said, teams from the university will be visiting sports belts of the country to identify talent.

She noted that the good thing about the university is that it will

have a school to enrol students at a young age and groom them for the Olympics.

“We will start admitting students from Class 6 onwards and that student will remain with us till the PhD level. The good thing will be that if an 11-year-old child comes to us, then by the time he reaches 18-19, he will be ready for the Olympics. We are planning to start admis-sions by April and will enrol students from classes 6-9,” she added. The admissions to the school are likely to start from April next year and the classes for the school will be starting at the Ludlow Sports Castle. Initially, 250 students will be enrolled, Malleswari said. PTI

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: The Delhi Police on Thursday said that it has arrested five persons in con-nection with the alleged moles-tation case of women hailing from Darjeeling in Southwest Delhi’s Hauz Khas area.

The police identified the men as one Dinesh Ram (34), Ashish Shivhare (39), Vikas Shivhare (38), Naven Shivhare (41) and Ankit Shivhare (29).

Earlier, police had registered a case after one of the victims approached them claiming that she along with her three friends, all residents of Darjeeling, were waiting for their cab outside a bar at Hauz Khas when a few men approached them allegedly asking them their “rate”.

Thereafter, the women made

a video while confronting the accused persons which quickly went viral on social media. How-ever, since the women didn’t lodge a complaint on the day of the incident, they subsequently approached police and a case under IPC section 509 (intend-ing to insult the modesty of any woman) was registered at the Safdarjung Police Station.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: A 40-year-old woman was killed and another was injured after a double sto-rey hut collapsed in the Navje-evan camp area of south-east Delhi on Thursday. Police said at 4.39 pm, they received a PCR call regarding some people being trapped inside a shanty in Navjeevan camp.

“Immediately the staff reached the spot and found that the roof of the first floor of shanty had fallen due to rain and two women were trapped inside it,” the official said.

One woman identified as Pooja (24) was rescued by the public. She sustained minor injuries.

“Later on, with the help of fire brigade, Pooja’s mother Urmila was also taken out from the debris,” the official said. She was unconscious and both of

them were rushed to hospital in a CATS ambulance. Urmila was declared dead in hospital.

“At the time of incidence, Urmila, her husband and daughter were inside but her husband managed to rush out. Two sons of the victim were not at their house,” the official said.

Cybercrime in Ghaziabad spiked under lockdown by 200%: Data

MOSTLY BANK OR CREDIT/DEBIT CARD FRAUDS

A case was registered when one of the victims informed cops about a few men approaching them allegedly asking their ‘rate’

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REPRESENTATIVE PIC

3millenniumpost City mpNEW DELHI | FRIDAY, 30 JULY, 2021

‘Pained by changes to GNCTD Act, silence of opp MLAs on it’

‘Pull up officers who sat through Vande Mataram’

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: Delhi Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel on Thursday asked the chief secre-tary to take action against officers for “disrespecting” the national song “Vande Mataram” by not standing in its honour when it was played during the first day of the Monsoon Session.

The speaker in a communi-cation to the chief secretary also said a report in this connection should be submitted to his office by August 6.

The Delhi Assembly’s two days Monsoon Session started on Thursday. The pro-ceedings began in the morn-ing after playing the national song.

While beginning the pro-ceedings, the Speaker observed that some officers in the officers’ gallery were sitting while the national song was being played in the Assembly, officials said.

The Assembly secretary sent a communique to the Delhi gov-ernment’s chief secretary on the aforesaid matter, recommend-ing action against those officers who were found sitting as the National Song played.

“I am directed by the hon-ourable Speaker to draw your attention to the fact that during the sitting of the house on July 29, 2021, officers in the Officers’ gallery did not stand up while the national song Vande Matram was being played thereby show-ing disrespect to it.

“Accordingly, the Speaker has decided that necessary action in the matter may be taken under intimation to this office by August 6, 2021,” the letter said.

During Thursday’s session, the Speaker also expressed deep disappointment that Opposi-tion MLAs had not publicly denounced the GNCTD Amend-ment Bill, which essentially took away the powers of the House.

HC NOTICE TO GOVT ON LIQUOR STORE EMPLOYEES’ UNION’S PLEANEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court Thursday sought response of the Delhi government on a plea by the employees of Delhi Consumer Cooperative Wholesale Store challenging a provision of the new Excise Policy that there shall be no government owned liquor vends for Indian made foreign liquor and foreign liquor. The petition submitted that if the licences for the Delhi Consumer Cooperative Wholesale Store (DCCWSL) are not renewed, employment of 350 people working there will be affected and that any policy depriv-ing livelihood as guaranteed under the Constitution is arbitrary.

32K REGISTER ON DU ADMISSION PORTAL; 4,462 FOR MPHIL, PHDNEW DELHI: Over 32,000 applicants have regis-tered on the Delhi University’s admission portal for postgraduate courses, while over 4,400 aspirants registered for MPhil and PhD courses. The registration process commenced on July 26 and will end on August 21. Meanwhile, students sought to know whether they would be eligible for merit-based or entrance-based admissions.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: “Pained” by the recent move to make amend-ments in the GNCTD Act, Delhi Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel on Thursday asserted that he would not allow BJP MLAs to speak even for a second beyond their 20-minute allotted time in the House, saying they did not oppose a move from the Centre that was aimed at snatching the rights of the House.

He said by adopting this sys-tem he was “merely doing what Lok Sabha does” in terms of time division for opposition and rul-ing party members.

Goel alleged that through amendments in the Government

of National Capital Territory of Delhi Act, the Centre is trying to “snatch away” the power of Delhi Assembly committees.

“I am deeply pained over depriving House Committees of their powers by the Centre. I am in pain because it happened during my period as Assembly’s Speaker. This has never happened in the history of the country. It is shameful,” the Speaker said on the first day of the Monsoon Session.

Goel gave a ruling that there are three hours for discussion after removing lunch time from the proceedings and out of this two hours of sitting of the House will be devoted to question hour and special mention under Rule

280.He stipulated that out of

180 minutes, the ruling party MLAs will get 160 minutes while opposition BJP legislators will be allowed 20 minutes to speak.

“I am dividing this session timing in correspondence with the ratio of the members in the House. I will not allow opposi-tion MLAs to speak for even one second extra than 20 min-utes as per the House Rule,” he said, adding that BJP legisla-tors did not oppose disinvest-ing of House Committees of their powers.

Goel said, “The centre snatched powers of the Assem-bly and I believe that the opposi-tion members had involvement

in this. They are members of the Delhi assembly and they must have acted against amendments to the GNCTD Bill, but they did nothing. The opposition kept quiet on the matter.”

The GNCTD Amendment Bill 2021 was passed by the Cen-tre in March this year which makes it clear that the “gov-ernment” in Delhi means the “Lieutenant Governor”.

The Bill makes it manda-tory for the Delhi government to take the opinion of the lieu-tenant governor (L-G) before any executive action.

The BJP has eight MLAs in the 70 member Assembly dominated by the ruling AAP that has 62 members in the

House.Instructing opposition

MLAs, Goel also said, “It’s up to you (BJP MLAs) whether you use these 20 minutes for debate or for disruption of the session. But, I won’t allow you (BJP) more than 20 minutes.”

Earlier in the day, the Speaker had suspended BJP legislator OP Sharma for using derogatory remarks against other MLAs and also marshalled out two BJP MLAs Vijender Gupta and Anil Bajpai for not letting the House function.

However, BJP MLA Gupta called it a “murder of democracy”. He said they were demanding action in the alleged scam of DTC bus purchase.

SPEAKER ADDS: WON’T GIVE OPP 1 SEC MORE THAN ALLOTTED

City Briefs

NEW DELHI: The Delhi Assem-bly unanimously passed a reso-lution on Thursday urging the Centre to posthumously con-fer the Bharat Ratna, the coun-try’s highest civilian honour, on noted environmentalist Sunder-lal Bahuguna. Participating in a debate on the resolution on the first day of the assembly’s Mon-soon session, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said although the House is passing this reso-lution, the entire country wants that the Bharat Ratna be con-ferred on Bahuguna.

“I think it will be an hon-our for the Bharat Ratna if the highest civilian award goes to Bahuguna,” he said.

Kejriwal noted that Bahu-guna not only protected the environment but also worked for many other social causes. Opposition BJP, too, supported the resolution.

In his address, the CM said, “Today we are talking about such a towering personality who was a visionary leader. Who used to talk about the environment in the 1960s-70s? No one! No one used to talk about trees or the environment. Back then, he gave a message not only to this country but the entire world that the world would head towards destruction if it did not care for the environment. He gave this vision when no one talked about it. Such was his wisdom and foresight.”

CM Kejriwal added that he was “delighted” that the House was passing this resolution unanimously. “I hope the cen-tral government will pay heed to the demand of the country and honour Bahuguna,” he said. Meanwhile, the Delhi Assembly on Thursday also congratulated Tokyo Silver medalist Saikhom Mirabai Chanu, who represented India in the 49kg weightlift-ing event.

Chanu ended India’s 21-year wait for a weightlifting medal at the Olympics.

“The assembly extends the heartiest congratulations to weightlifter Meerabai Chanu for winning a silver medal at the ongoing Tokyo Olympics. We hope that other players and athletes of the country will also win medals at the Olym-pics and bring laurels to the nation,” Speaker Ram Niwas Goel said. MPOST

All ayes for Bharat Ratna to

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OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: The ruling AAP on Thursday slammed the Centre over the appointment of Rakesh Asthana as the Commissioner of Delhi Police, alleging the move was aimed at “harassing” the party leaders, thereby passing a resolution terming his appoint-ment “unconstitutional”.

Raising the issue in a short duration discussion on the first day of the Monsoon session of the Delhi Assembly, AAP MLA Sanjiv Jha moved the resolution, arguing that the appointment went against a Supreme Court ruling by a bench of then Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, which said a Commissioner may be only appointed if they have 6 months left to retire.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind

Kejriwal termed the appointment as against the Supreme Court order and said the Union gov-ernment should make appoint-ments in accordance with rules.

Speaking to reporters, Kejri-wal noted, “I feel the appoint-ment of Rakesh Asthana is against the Supreme Court order. According to reports, he could not become the CBI director as he was ineligible for the post. He is also not eligible for this post (Delhi Police commissioner) for the same reason. The Centre should make the appointment as per rules,” he said.

The resolution passed by the House also directed the Delhi government to convey to the MHA that the appointment order of Rakesh Asthana must be “immediately withdrawn” and a fresh process for the appoint-

ment of Commissioner of Police for Delhi be initiated in accor-dance with proper rules and regulations.

The resolution expressed “disapproval” against the con-troversial Gujarat-cadre officer being “forced upon Delhi” as its police commissioner.

Jha also questioned Astha-na’s knowledge of Delhi and policing in the city as he was a Gujarat-cadre officer. Asthana, however, is not the first Delhi

Police Commissioner from out-side the AGMUT cadre.

Participating in the debate, AAP MLAs Gulab Singh, Akh-ilesh Pati Tripathi, Somnath Bharti and B S Joon, supported Jha’s resolution and alleged that Asthana was brought to Delhi to “muzzle and harass the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)”.

Tripathi asserted that AAP leaders and workers were not scared by Asthana’s appointment and added, “We are born out of revolution. We are not like the Congressmen in Gujarat.”

Meanwhile, Leader of Oppo-sition Ramvir Singh Bidhuri called Asthana an “honest and decorated” IPS officer who was awarded the President’s Police Medal twice.

“Rakesh Asthana success-fully investigated the Godhara

carnage and Purulia arms drop cases. He also investigated the land scam related to the son-in-law of a political party chief. The House should welcome his appointment,” he said.

In his reply over the debate in the House, Delhi Home Minister Satyendar Jain dared Bidhuri for action against the “son-in-law” he was not naming and added that the BJP and Congress are “two sides of the same coin”.

Jain supported the resolu-tion, saying the central govern-ment should not have defied the Supreme Court directions while making the appointment and if he was indeed suited for such an appointment, his name should have been chosen for CBI Director.

The resolution was accepted by the House with a voice vote.

‘Asthana’s appointment unconstitutional’: Resolution passedAutomated parking okayed for GK-II & Punjabi Bagh areas

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: In a meeting of the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) Standing Committee on Thursday, the civic body approved the construc-tion of two automated multi-level parking facilities at Punjabi Bagh Crematorium and M-Block market in Greater Kailash-II.

The Punjabi Bagh parking structure will include supply, installation, testing, commis-sioning, operation and mainte-nance for 125 ECS (equivalent car space)/Cars. The Punjabi Bagh Crematorium is one of the larg-est crematoriums in Delhi and is situated on Ring Road along Club Road Flyover. Being situated at a prime location, it is used by a large number of people from North and West Delhi.

The present surface park-ing at the venue has a capac-ity of 80-90 cars, leading to a long queue of vehicles outside the crematorium and caus-ing traffic congestion/jam on the Ring along the existing flyover.

During an inspection of the Punjabi Bagh Crematorium by SDMC officers, it was proposed that the existing surface parking can be developed into an auto-mated multilevel car parking facility to enhance its capacity. The contract has been given to VSK associates and has an esti-mated budget of Rs. 3388.57 Lakh.

The committee also passed a proposal for the design, draw-ing, supply, installation, testing and commissioning (including Operation and Maintenance) of

a Multilevel Car Puzzle Parking System for 238 ECS at M-Block Market, Greater Kailash-II in Ward No. 87-S, South Zone.

The M-Block Market, GK-II in South Zone is prone to traf-fic congestion being one of the affluent markets of South Zone, and sees heavy footfall and traffic congestion due to lack of ade-quate parking. SDMC expects that the demand for parking space is likely to exceed by nearly 200-250 vehicles on the weekends.

The current proposal is for 7 towers with parking space for 238 vehicles at an estimated cost upwards of Rs 52.8 crore.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: Heavy rains lashed several parts of the Delhi-NCR region on Thurs-day bringing the mercury down but bringing traffic in the Capi-tal to its knees, with many roads jammed in light of waterlogging and others due to lack of police personnel and faulty signals.

Commuters claimed that apart from waterlogging, in some areas, traffic lights were not working and traffic police personnel were not present due to which vehicles were moving at a snail’s pace.

According to traffic police, there was an obstruction in traf-fic in the carriageway from Sig-nature Bridge towards Yamuna Vihar due to waterlogging. In Mehrauli, Chhatarpur-Bara-pullah flyover, Khajuri flyover to Yamuna Vihar, heavy snarls

were reported.One Sonal Maheshwari said

his father was stuck for the last 2 hours at the same point at Barapullah flyover. Meanwhile, another commuter Jaganath said there was a heavy traffic jam between AIIMS and the Ashram Flyover. It took around three hours to reach DND.

Another traveller Radhey Shyam said there was again a heavy traffic jam at Gujjar Chowk, Bhalswa Dairy. “No traffic officer available on duty. No Red Light. Daily public-facing this issue,” he said. Meanwhile, one Sachin Kumar said the traf-fic signal was not working in the Yamuna Vihar area.

One Jitender Harsh said he started from Nehru Place around 5:10 pm and had just covered 10kms in 2.5 hrs.

One traffic official said, dur-ing the rainy season, PWD and

MCD pumps play an important role if they are working prop-erly then water can be easily drained out.

“Our personnel are deployed at that points to ensure that traffic runs smoothly,” the official said. In advance, the traffic depart-ment also informed civic agen-cies about waterlogging points. “As per situation we also provide diversions to vehicles for smooth

traffic,” the official said.The maximum temperature

settled at 27.6 degrees Celsius — seven notches below normal, the weather office said. The mini-mum temperature recorded at the Safdarjung observatory was 24 degrees Celsius, three notches below normal, the IMD said.

The weatherman has pre-dicted “generally cloudy sky with moderate rain” on Friday.

Traffic comes to a crawl as rains lash Delhi Govt blames MCD for clogged drains

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: As the Delhi Assembly on Thursday kicked off its Monsoon Session, while the opposition BJP MLAs tried to bring up the alleged scam in the DTC bus procurement, members from the Aam Aadmi Party took the chance to take aim at the BJP-run MCDs for not being able to maintain drainage systems, which was causing waterlogging.

AAP MLA from Kondli rose to say that in his area, all the drains on all the roads

are under the MCD’s jurisdic-tion, despite which they are not desilted and get clogged, result-ing in waterlogging.

PWD Minister Satyendar Jain also spoke on the issue and said that the Delhi government controls around 12,000 kms of roads in the city and that the PWD makes sure these are cleaned and drainage systems are kept clear with as many as 15,000 pumps.

Opposition MLAs went on to protest in the well over the Speaker’s remarks and eventu-ally walked out in protest.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: Women and Child Development Minister Rajendra Pal Gautam has now directed the District Child Protection units to work closely with Revenue Department to pro-vide financial assistance through the ‘Mukhyamantri COVID-19 Pariwar Arthik Sahayata Yojana’ to the chil-dren who have been orphaned due to COVID-19.

In a meeting on Thursday chaired by the Minister officials from the Delhi

State Child Protection Society Gov-erning Body, it was discussed that the District Child Protection Units have been looking into the safety, security and wellbeing of children impacted during the COVID - 19 pandemic.

The Minister encouraged the Child Protection team to continue the work and suggested the governing body for-mulate a system to reward the hard-working officers to further boost the morale of the department.

He further asked the department to work closely with the revenue depart-

ment to streamline the financial assis-tance that needs to be provided to the children who are orphaned by COVID-19.

The Secretary of WCD Madhu K Garg, and Director, Dr Rashmi Singh

presented the progress of work done through the child protection units set up at the state and district levels to which Gautam suggested that the governing body to introduce an appreciation sys-tem for recognizing officers for their performance during the pandemic

“The proactive role of the Delhi Child Protection team to reach out to children who need our support is much appreciated. Such officers need to be rewarded for their hard work,” the Minister said.

He also suggested that the Govern-

ing Body work closely with the Reve-nue Department in providing financial assistance to those children who were unfortunately orphaned due to COVID - 19 under ‘Mukhyamantri COVID-19 Parivar Arthik Sahayata Yojana’

The officials of the Department of Women and Child Development also apprised the minister of a new initiative called ‘Paalan’ which would encourage CSR Partners to contribute towards sponsoring the need of children in vulnerable conditions especially those affected by the COVID pandemic.

‘Reward officials for excellent work with kids amid pandemic’WCD MIN REVIEWS OUTREACH TO KIDS ORPHANED BY VIRUS

NEW DELHI: The water level in the Yamuna in Delhi on Thursday rose to 203.37 metres, close to the warning mark of 204.50 metres after heavy rains in the upper catch-ment areas of the river, officials said. The administration had sounded an alert in the low-lying areas close to the river floodplains on Tuesday and the situation is being monitored round the clock, they said. “The water level was recorded at 203.37 metres at the Old Railway Bridge at 10:30 am,” an official of the Irrigation and Flood Control Department said. He said more water is being released from the Hath-

nikund barrage into the river in Haryana’’s Yamunanagar dis-trict. “The flow rate peaked to 1.60 lakh cusecs in the last 24 hours, the highest so far this year,” the official said. Water was being released into the Yamuna at the rate of 85,879 cusecs at 10 am on Thurs-day. Normally, the flow rate at the Hathnikund barrage is 352 cusec, but the discharge is increased after heavy rainfall in the catchment areas. One cusec is equivalent to 28.32 litres per second. The water level may rise further as there is a prediction of rains in the catchment areas, the official said. MPOST

Yamuna nearing warning mark

Highlights » Delhi Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel alleged that through amendments in the GNCTD Act, the Centre is trying to ‘snatch away’ the power of Delhi Assembly committees » Goel gave a ruling that there are three hours for discussion after removing lunch time from the proceedings and out of this two hours of sitting of the House will be devoted to question hour and special mention under Rule 280 » He stipulated that out of 180 minutes, the ruling party MLAs will get 160 minutes while opposition BJP legislators will be allowed 20 minutes to speak

HERITAGE SITE RENTAL

» The South Delhi Municipal Corporation will rent out heritage buildings, which are cur-rently being maintained by the civic body, for commercial use such as opening of restaurants, guest houses, banks, and retail shopping centres, officials said. The decision was taken in a meeting of the SDMC’s standing committee on Thursday. SDMC officials said the move is aimed at bringing more revenue to the cash-strapped civic body

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4 millenniumpostNationmpFRIDAY, 30 JULY, 2021 | NEW DELHI

Mamata meets Gadkari

She also presented a report on the construction of rural roads in the state under the third phase of the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) and requested a bridge at Ganga Sagar in South 24-Parganas during the meeting.

Further, she discussed over widening and repairing of vari-ous important roads — from Digha (East Midnapore) to Barasat (North 24-Parganas), from Barasat to Bon-gaon in North 24-Parganas district. Also, she pushed for a three-tier transportation system due to the state’s population density, which will enable vehicles to travel under the ground, on the surface and over a fly-over simultaneously in a congested area.

For the convenience of people, she requested the Union minister to upgrade road connectivity in North Bengal — from Siliguri to Sevoke (in North Bengal) and from Sevoke to Rangpo in Sikkim. The state shares borders with Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and the north-eastern states.

Further, the widening of NH35, which connects Bongaon to Barasat was also discussed during the meet-ing. In September 2012, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) scrapped the four-lane proposal due to the unavailability of land. The NH35 stretch leads to the India-Ban-gladesh border at Petrapole, which is the largest trade gateway between India and Bangladesh and accounts for 60 per cent of the business vol-ume of around Rs 8,000 crore.

“I discussed the matter (widen-ing of NH35) because it will be bet-ter for both India and Bangladesh as far trade is concerned. To renew the project, we will chalk out some solution for them, as we cannot encroach,” Banerjee said.

Later, Gadkari’s office said in a tweet: “Chief Minister of West Ben-gal Sushri @MamataOfficial called on Union Minister Shri @nitin_gad-kari Ji today. In the presence of offi-cials, they reviewed various road projects being undertaken in the state.”

DMK MP Kanimozhi and actor Shabana Azmi and her husband, lyricist Javed Akhtar also called on

Banerjee on Thursday.

India’s active Covid cases show increase

The government on Thursday said travel restrictions are being eased for Indian students by several countries including the US, Can-ada, the UK, and Germany and that more nations are expected to do the same when the pandemic situation improves.

Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan said in the Rajya Sabha that the government has been making efforts for easing travel restrictions for Indian students enrolled in foreign universities.

A number of countries imposed travel restrictions for Indians after India was hit by a devastating second wave of the pandemic.

“The ministry (MEA) has been making efforts for easing travel restrictions, wherever in place, for Indian students enrolled in foreign universities to make their travel to respective countries possible,” he said in reply to a question.

“Our missions abroad have been actively taking up these issues with the respective governments and have been impressing upon those govern-ments to ease the travel restrictions,” the minister said.

He said the issue of travel restric-tions has been taken up at the minis-terial level with several countries.

“Consequently, travel restrictions are being eased for Indian students to travel to many countries, including the USA, Canada, the UK, Ireland, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Georgia, etc; more countries are expected to open up when the Covid situation improves,” he said.

27% reservation for OBCs

“The present government is com-mitted to providing due reservation both to the backward category as well as the EWS category. The Union government has now taken a his-toric decision to provide for 27 per cent reservation for OBCs and 10 per cent reservation for EWS in the AIQ scheme,” the ministry stated.

OBC students from across the

country shall now be able to take the benefit of this reservation in the AIQ scheme to compete for seats in any state. Being a central scheme, the Central List of OBCs shall be used for the purpose.

The AIQ scheme was introduced in 1986 under the Supreme Court’s directions to provide for domicile-free merit-based opportunities to students from any state aspiring to study in a good medical college in another state.

The all-India quota consists of 15 per cent of the total available UG seats and 50 per cent of the total available PG seats in government medical colleges.

Initially, there was no reservation in the AIQ scheme up to 2007.

In 2007, the Supreme Court introduced 15 per cent reservation for the Scheduled Castes (SCs) and a 7.5-per cent quota for the Scheduled Tribes (STs) in the scheme.

When the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admis-sion) Act became effective in 2007, providing for a uniform 27 per cent reservation to the Other Backward Classes (OBCs), the same was imple-mented in all the central educational institutions such as the Safdarjung Hospital, the Lady Hardinge Medical College, the Aligarh Muslim Univer-sity and the Banaras Hindu Univer-sity. However, it was not extended to the AIQ seats of the state medical and dental colleges.

In order to provide benefits to students belonging to the EWS cat-egory in admission to higher educa-tional institutions, a constitutional amendment was made in 2019, which enabled the provision of 10 per cent reservation for the category, the statement said.

Accordingly, the number of seats in the medical and dental colleges was increased over the next two years (2019-20 and 2020-21) to accommo-date this additional 10 per cent EWS reservation so that the total number of seats available for the unreserved category does not reduce.

Goa CM’s remark

All the four accused have been arrested, Sawant told the Assembly. During the discussion in the House on Wednesday, an MLA had claimed that an influential person was trying to protect the accused, while another Opposition member had alleged that a minister was calling the police

and trying to influence the inves-tigation. Speaker Rajesh Patnekar had expunged the remarks from the proceedings.

WITH AGENCY INPUTS

LS proceedings adjourned

“We are starting Zero Hour, please go back to your seats,” he appealed to the members. Soon after he adjourned the House till 12:30 pm. Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha, said the Opposition has not been able to put forth its point due to the stubborn attitude of the govern-ment. Parliamentary Affairs minister Pralhad Joshi said the members, who resorted to tearing papers, don’t even want to apologise. The Rajya Sabha proceedings were adjourned till Fri-day amid continuous protests by Opposition parties over the Pegasus snooping controversy, farm laws and price rise. After the House resumed after lunch at 2 pm, the government introduced the Factoring Regulation (Amendment) Bill, 2021..

Photojournalist Danish Siddiqui

During this assault, shrapnel hit Siddiqui, and so he and his team went to a local mosque where he received first aid. As word spread, however, that a journalist was in the mosque, the Taliban attacked. The local investigation suggests the Taliban attacked the mosque only because of Siddiqui’s presence there, the report said.

“Siddiqui was alive when the Taliban captured him. The Tali-ban verified Siddiqui’s identity and then executed him, as well as those with him. The commander and the remainder of his team died as they tried to rescue him,” it said.

“While a widely circulated pub-lic photograph shows Siddiqui’s face recognizable, I reviewed other pho-tographs and a video of Siddiqui’s body provided to me by a source in the Indian government that show the Taliban beat Siddiqui around the head and then riddled his body with bullets,” wrote the writer Micheal Rubin, who is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. AGENCIES

From Page 1THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala reported over 22,000 coronavirus cases for the third day in a row on Thursday, even as a Central team will be rushing to the state to aid it in effective management of the situation.

Meanwhile, researchers said that due to Kerala's steady R-factor growth, the state will remain in the top spot for the next couple of weeks vis-a-vis new infections.

The R-factor indicates the

speed at which the viral infec-tion is spreading in the country and an analysis by researchers at the Institute of Mathematical Sciences in Chennai suggests Kerala has more worries in store.

The smaller the value of R is, the faster the disease is on the decline. Conversely, if R is greater than 1, the number of infected people is increasing in each round-- technically, this is what is called the epidemic phase. AGENCIES

NEW DELHI: Over 500 indi-viduals and groups have written to Chief Justice of India (CJI) N V Ramana seeking immediate intervention of the Supreme Court in the alleged Pegasus snooping matter and declare a moratorium on the export, sale, transfer and use of Pegasus spy-ware in the country.

The letter urged the top court to direct the Centre and the Israeli firm NSO to provide a time-bound answers to the several questions regarding the state-sponsored cyber-warfare that has been waged against Indian citizens, given the rev-elations of the Pegasus Project, an international collaborative investigation being conducted by several international media and research organisations.

They have expressed shock over media reports that the spy-ware was used for surveillance of women students, academ-ics, journalists, human rights defenders, lawyers and victims of sexual violence, it said.

Above all, we look to the Supreme Court to declare a moratorium on the export,

sale, transfer and use of Pega-sus in India. said the signato-ries to the letter. Besides, they have requested the top court to adopt a gender-just sexual harassment, data protection and privacy policy.

The Pegasus spyware inves-tigation has unveiled how its military grade malware installed on the phones of those targeted converts the device for use by a consumer to an object that spies on the individual, steals data and transmits data to unknown persons/databases. This has been defined as cyber warfare by experts in the field and it is nothing less than an act of state sponsored cyber ter-rorism against individuals, the letter said. It also referred to the issue of alleged snooping on the apex court official who had raised allegations of sexual harassment against then Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi.

For women, the Pegasus scandal is deeply concerning, for speaking out against the state and men in positions of state power has meant that their lives are wrecked by such surveillance

permanently. Human rights defenders have been impris-oned, and victims of sexual harassment have also not been spared such shocking forms of state sponsored cyber-crimes, which are analogous to digi-tal forms of state terror, it said.

The letter said the Pegasus software is sold only to govern-ments, ostensibly for national security' and counter-terrorism purposes.

The Indian list of targets indicates that the software was used, not to counter terror-ism, but to gather information on, and perhaps thereby seek to control, opposition politi-cians, the judiciary, the Press, as well as activists and others in civil society, it said. The let-ter has been signed by various activists including Aruna Roy, Anjali Bhardwaj, Harsh Mander; scholars and eminent lawyers like Vrinda Grover, Jhuma Sen among others. An international media consortium has reported that over 300 verified Indian mobile phone numbers were on a list of potential targets for surveillance. AGENCIES

NEW DELHI: The govern-ment has so far spent Rs 238 crore and Rs 63 crore for the construction of a new Parlia-ment building and the rede-velopment of Centre Vista Avenue, respectively, Lok Sabha was informed on Thursday.

In a written reply to a ques-tion, Minister of State for Hous-ing and Urban Affairs Kaushal Kishore said that construction of a new Parliament building at an estimated cost of Rs 971 crore is being undertaken and is targeted to be completed by October next year.

Also, the redevelopment of Central Vista Avenue stretch-ing from Rashtrapati Bha-van to India Gate will cost Rs 608 crore and the project is expected to be completed by November this year, he said.

According to the govern-ment, the estimated costs to be incurred on these two projects for the financial year 2021-22 is Rs 1,289 crore. AGENCIES

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: Intense rainfall is likely over eastern, western, and central India till August 1 even as 175 tourists were stranded in Himachal Pradesh's Lahaul-Spiti following a cloud-burst and landslides triggered by heavy showers, while two people died in separate rain-related incidents in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh.

Rescue operations were underway on Thursday to trace 20 people missing after a cloudburst hit Kishtwar dis-trict of Jammu and Kashmir with authorities pressing more teams into action.

Heavy rains lashed several parts of Delhi-NCR on Thurs-day bringing the mercury down. However, two people lost their lives in rain-related incidents.

The weatherman has pre-dicted "generally cloudy sky with moderate rain" on Friday.

As many as 175 tourists are stranded in Himachal Pradesh's Lahaul-Spiti following a cloud-burst and landslides triggered by heavy rainfall, a senior disaster management official said.

Deputy Commissioner Neeraj Kumar has sought helicopter support from the state government for their evacuation.

Meanwhile, the Meteoro-logical department issued red and orange alerts for heavy rains in several districts of Rajasthan on Friday.

The active southwest mon-soon will gain more intensity in the coming days due to which heavy to very heavy rain (115 to 204 mm) in Nagaur, Sikar and Ajmer districts is likely and a red alert has been issued for these places, the Met department said.

Heavy rain is also expected in Jaipur, Jhunjhunu, Tonk, Kota, Bhilwara, Baran, Churu and Jhalawar districts for which the department has issued an orange alert.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued an orange alert of heavy rainfall for 15 districts of Madhya Pradesh.

According to the forecast, heavy rains coupled with thun-dershowers and lightning, are likely to lash isolated places in the districts and the rainfall is likely to range from 64.5 mm to 115.5 mm.

An upper air circulation over east Uttar Pradesh was bringing forth moisture to north-east Madhya Pradesh, causing rain in areas situated close to the border of that state.

Heavy overnight rain owing to a well-marked low pressure over Bangladesh and West Ben-gal affected normal life in Kolk-ata and some southern districts in the state, inundating low-lying areas.

The weatherman has fore-cast heavy to very heavy rain in Kolkata till Friday morning.

The incessant rain caused the mud under the tracks to slide at Kharagpur yard of South Eastern Railway, slightly affect-ing the movement of goods trains.

Rainwater flowing above the rails was reported from Haldia and Tikiapara yard in West Ben-gal, and at Bhadrak in Odisha.

Kharagpur town received the maximum rainfall in the last 24 hours till 8.30 am on Thursday at 260 mm, followed by Medinipur (230 mm), the headquarters of Paschim Medi-nipur district.

Kolkata recorded 76 mm rainfall during the period while adjoining Salt Lake received 50 mm.

In Maharashtra, rain contin-ued to wreak havoc as a bridge on the Vaitarna river in Thane district was washed away due to the downpour, disrupting traffic between Wada and Saha-pur talukas, while the Mumbra bypass road in the district also suffered severe damages.

A four-five feet deep crater was formed on the road, follow-ing which it was closed for traf-fic as a precautionary measure, an official said.

In Jammu and Kashmir, seven people were found dead and 17 others were rescued in an injured condition following the

cloudburst in Honzar village in the early hours of Wednesday.

The officials said the joint rescue operation by police, Army and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) is going on in full swing to locate the missing people, including nine women.

Most parts of Jammu region have been receiving incessant rains for the past few days and the Meteorological department has predicted widespread inter-mittent rain across Jammu and Kashmir till July 30.

Light to moderate rain occurred at most places in west-ern and eastern Uttar Pradesh in the last 24 hours.

Rainfall was recorded in Fatehpur, Chitrakoot, Kheri, Budaun, Agra, Saharanpur and Muzaffarnagar districts and the showers are likely to continue till August 1. Up north, the max-imum temperatures hovered below normal limits at most places in Haryana and Punjab.

Rain lashed some parts of Haryana including Ambala, Hisar, Narnaul, Rohtak, Gur-gaon and Bhiwani.

Heavy rain likely over east, west, central parts175 tourists stuck in Lahaul-Spiti following a cloudburst

Visitors carry umbrellas during rain at Taj Mahal in Agra, on Thursday PTI

Pegasus: 500 people, groups write to CJI seeking SC intervention

NEW DELHI: Lyricist-writer Javed Akhtar and actor Shabana Azmi met West Bengal Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee here on Thursday and spoke about a need for 'parivartan' (change), saying Bengal has always led "revolutionary movements".

They met Banerjee to "thank" her for supporting a bill that assures royalty for artistes.

The lyricist said histori-cally, Bengal has always been a step ahead with revolution-ary movements and this is why artistes and intellectuals in the state stood with Banerjee.

Asked whether there was a need for change, Akhtar said, "I can't say for everyone but per-sonally, I feel there should be 'parivartan'. There are many tensions in the country right now, there is the issue of polar-

isation, many give aggressive statements... there are inci-dents of violence. It's a shame that Delhi witnessed commu-nal riots. These things should not happen."

Replying to a question whether Banerjee should lead the opposition against the BJP, Akhtar said that during his dis-cussions with her, she never said that she had the ambition

to be the leader of an opposi-tion front.

"However, she believes in parivartan. She fought for Ben-gal earlier, now she wants to fight for India.

"The important question is not who will lead and who won't. The important ques-tion is what kind of India do you want and the kind of tra-dition, atmosphere, freedom and democracy do you want. We are proud that we have a democracy but we should strive to make it better... Democracy is a constant process. It is not static, it's dynamic," he said.

Asked to comment on the now-viral slogan of "Khela Hobe (game is on)", Akhtar said that the slogan did not need any endorsement anymore. MPOST

New Parl: `238 cr spent

so far on construction

Javed Akhtar, Shabana meet Mamata; lyricist says there should be change

West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee meets Javed Akhtar and Shabana Azmi in New Delhi MPOST

MPOST BUREAU

GUWAHATI: Assam gov-ernment on Thursday issued a travel advisory asking peo-ple not to travel to Mizoram and asked people from the state working or staying there to exercise utmost caution.

The travel advisory, which is perhaps a first of its kind issued by any state government, issued by Assam Home Secretary M S Manivannan said "given the prevailing situation, the peo-ple of Assam are advised not to travel to Mizoram as any threat to personal safety of people of Assam cannot be accepted." The advisory pointed out that there had been several cases of violent skirmishes in the bor-der area between Assam and Mizoram.

It added these including a recent incident on July 26, where "indiscriminate firing on police personnel as well as civilians in Cachar district (caused) six policemen losing their lives. The advisory also claimed "certain members of Mizo civil society, students and youth organisations are constantly issuing provocative statements against Assam and its people".

It also said that it had been reliably learnt from video footage available with Assam police, that many Mizoram civilians remain deployed armed with automatic weapons at the border. The Assam Home Department also ordered the checking of all vehicles com-ing in from Mizoram, claim-ing drugs were making their way from Mizoram which bor-ders Myanmar. In a separate order the Assam government directed the Deputy Commis-sioners of Kamrup Metro and Cachar, Guwahati Police Com-missioner and Cachar Super-intendent of Police to ensure the safety and security of all persons from Mizoram as well as those staying at Mizoram Houses at Guwahati and Silchar.

SEXUAL HARASSMENT AT WORKPLACE

NEW DELHI: A total of 391 complaints have been received from various central ministries on SHe-Box, an online plat-form for registering complaints related to sexual harassment of women at workplace, the Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) said on Thursday.

Out of these 391 complaints, about 150 were received since January 1, 2020, Union Minister for Women and Child Develop-ment Smriti Irani said in a writ-ten reply in the Rajya Sabha.

An analysis of the 36 com-plaints lodged at SHe-Box (Sex-ual Harassment Electronic Box) and shown against the MWCD shows that amongst them, there were only two cases of sexual harassment of women at work-place while three entries pertain to complaints from the same person against the same individ-ual, she said. The other 32 cases are in the nature of public griev-ances on various matters relat-ing to violence against women, dowry harassment, misbehav-iour, suggestions etc, she added.

Further, neither of the two cases of sexual harassment of women at workplace appearing in the portal against the MWCD pertain to a workplace of the ministry, Irani said.

Once a complaint is regis-tered on SHe-Box, it directly reaches the concerned author-ity having jurisdiction to take action in the matter.

The responsibility to take action on such complaints and ensure updating of status in that regard on SHe-Box is that of the concerned central ministries and departments.

In a separate reply, Irani said 733 One-Stop Centres (OSCs) have been sanctioned across the country, out of which 704 have been operationalised in 35 states and union territories.

OSCs provide a range of integrated services under one roof including police facili-tation, medical aid, legal aid and counselling, psycho-social counselling and temporary shel-ter to women affected by vio-lence or distress.

So far, 3,05,896 cases have been handled by OSCs, accord-ing to official data. MPOST

‘MWCD received 391 complaints from central ministries’

Smriti Irani

Assam issues advisory

against travel to Mizoram

Covid: Kerala records 22K cases for 3rd day

5millenniumpost Nation mpNEW DELHI | FRIDAY, 30 JULY, 2021

TWO FORMER BUREAUCRATS JOIN CONGRESS IN JAMMU JAMMU: Two retired bureaucrats on Thursday joined the Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Commit-tee (JKPCC) here, a party spokesperson said. Former deputy director animal husbandry A C Bhagat and former deputy director information M R Sangra, who are both prominent social activists, joined the Con-gress in presence of JKPCC chief G A Mir and other senior party leaders, the spokesperson said. Welcom-ing them, Mir expressed hope that they would work to strengthen the party. Attacking the BJP-led govern-ment at the centre, the JKPCC chief alleged that the Centre has failed to fulfil even a single commitment made to the people of Jammu and Kashmir and instead brought miseries for the common man due to its wrong policies .

ONE MORE EXTORTION COMPLAINT FILED AGAINST PARAM BIR SINGH THANE: A complaint of extortion was filed against IPS officer and former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh here on Thursday, police sources said. The process of registering a First Information Report (FIR) was underway at the Thane Nagar police station, said an official. The complaint, filed by alleged cricket bookie Sonu Jalan and businessman Ketan Tanna, also names former ‘encounter specialist’ police officer Pradeep Sharma, he said.

Nation Briefs

EAM: India, US stand united in addressing scourge of terrorism

Govt responsible for Parliament

logjam as it has a lot to ‘hide’: Cong

‘INDIA-US PARTNERSHIP IS ONE OF MAJOR RELATIONSHIPS IN WORLD’

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: India and the US stand united in addressing the scourge of terrorism and supporting regional economic connectivity through transpar-ent development of infrastruc-ture, while ensuring respect for sovereignty and territo-rial integrity, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Thursday in a veiled jibe at Pak-istan and China.

He said the two sides are together in opposing terrorist safe havens, countering terror-financing and strengthening cooperation against terrorist threats from groups, includ-ing those in India’s immediate neighbourhood.

In a written reply to a ques-tion in the Rajya Sabha, Jais-hankar said the India-US partnership is one of the major relationships in the world and the cooperation between the two countries is evident in the common commitment to address contemporary issues such as terrorism, climate

change and pandemics.The external affairs min-

ister’s comments came a day after he held wide-ranging talks with US Secretary of State Ant-ony Blinken with a focus on the Indo-Pacific engagement, COVID-19 response and eco-nomic recovery and the situa-tion in Afghanistan.

In his written response, Jaishankar said India and the United States have a compre-hensive, strategic and global partnership based on shared democratic values and conver-gence of interests on regional and global matters and the rela-tions have seen a steady growth and development after 2014.

“Relations between India and the US have seen steady growth and development after 2014. This has extended over three administrations in the US. The India-US relationship is today one of the major rela-tionships of the world and there is widespread appreciation of the significance of this relation-ship and the fundamental con-vergences therein,” he said.

Jaishankar also referred to a joint strategic vision of the two countries for the Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean regions that calls upon all parties to avoid the threat or use of force and pursue resolution of territorial and maritime disputes through peaceful means and in accor-dance with international laws, including the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

“To this end, India and the US are committed to respecting freedom of navigation, over-

flight and commerce through-out the region and the need to resolve territorial and mar-itime disputes peacefully and in accordance with international laws,” he said in comments seen as directed at China.

China’s military assertive-ness in the South China Sea as well as in the larger Indo-Pacific region has been a mat-ter of considerable concern for leading global powers.

Jaishankar said India and the US support bolstering

regional economic connectivity through transparent develop-ment of infrastructure and the use of responsible “debt-financ-ing practices”, while ensuring respect for sovereignty and ter-ritorial integrity, the rule of law and the environment.

There has been grow-ing global criticism of Chi-na’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) as Chinese financing has resulted in rising debt in several countries where infra-structure projects under the mega programme are being implemented.

“India and the US stand united in addressing the global scourge of terrorism, inter alia by opposing terrorist safe havens, countering terror financing and strengthening cooperation against terrorist threats from groups, includ-ing those in our immediate neighbourhood,” the minister said.

“There are regular consul-tations on domestic and inter-national terrorist designations listing proposals,” he added.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in the Rajya Sabha during the Monsoon Session of Parliament, in New Delhi, on Thursday

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: Holding the BJP government responsible for the logjam in Parliament, the Congress on Thursday said that the government was “avoiding” discussion on the Pegasus snooping issue in both the Houses as it has “much to hide”.

It also accused the BJP MPs of “collectively insulting” Par-liament by their behaviour in the meeting of the Standing Committee on Information and Technology which was postponed on Wednesday due to lack of quorum.

Referring to the govern-ment’s proposal of working out a solution for the smooth run-ning of Parliament, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Sing-hvi said, “I am making a proc-lamation here, you start the discussion in Parliament today and by tomorrow we will dis-cuss everything else. Why are you avoiding Pegasus?”

Singhvi further said, “The government was not answering the simple question whether it had bought Israeli Pegasus spyware to snoop upon Indi-ans or not.”

“The government is not only hiding, they have much to hide, they have no answers, they have no basis for not even having a discussion inside Par-liament,” Singhvi said, adding that the government is avoid-ing a discussion in Parliament as it knows that we will pin them down.

The Congress spokesper-son claimed that he does not understand how the opposi-tion is being blamed for the logjam as it is clearly the gov-ernment that is avoiding a dis-cussion on the Pegasus issue

inside Parliament whereas many countries have ordered investigations into the matter.

Parliament has failed to transact any business due to opposition uproar over the Pegasus and farmers issues ever since the Monsoon Ses-sion started on July 19.

Singhvi further alleged that the government is “feeding the media blaming the oppo-sition on the current impasse in Parliament because it wants to avoid the real answer on whether it has acquired Peg-asus and whether it uses it against any person”.

“Please consider who is hiding, who is running, who is filibustering. The govern-ment has done all of this. Hav-ing done all of this, they are blaming us. You did something wrong because of which you are hiding,” Singhvi alleged.

“Did you acquire Pegasus software and did you use it against anyone? If yes, please disclose their names. This question can be answered by yes or no,” he said, adding the government has instead given 10 answers alleging that this is a conspiracy and a hoax.

NEW DELHI: There were around 8.72 lakh vacant posts in different central gov-ernment departments as on March 1, 2020, Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh said on Thursday. The sanctioned strength of all cen-tral government departments was 40,04,941 (as on March 1, 2020), of which 31,32,698 employees were in position then, he said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.

The total number of vacant

posts as on March 1, 2020 was 8,72,243, the minister noted.

Giving details of the recruitments done by the three major recruiting agencies for the last five years, he said the Union Public Service Com-mission (UPSC) recruited 25,267 candidates, the Staff Selection Commission 2,14,601 candidates and the Railway Recruitment Boards (RRBs) recruited 2,04,945 candidates, from 2016-17 to 2020-21. AGENCIES

‘8.72 lakh vacant posts in central govt depts’

NEW DELHI: India on Thursday said it has a stead-fast policy to support a sover-eign, democratic and peaceful Afghanistan and it is in touch with various stakeholders within and outside Afghani-stan including regional and international partners.

The comments by the Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan in Rajya Sabha came a day after India and the US strongly pitched for an immediate

intra-Afghan peace process to end the violence in Afghan-istan and find a political set-tlement. Muraleedharan said India supports all peace initia-tives leading towards a lasting political settlement through an inclusive Afghan-led, Afghan-owned and Afghan-controlled process.

The Taliban has been mak-ing rapid advances across Afghanistan by resorting to widespread violence since the US began withdrawing its

troops on May 1.The US has already pulled

back the majority of its forces and is looking to complete the drawdown by August 31.

"As a contiguous neigh-bour and strategic partner, India has a steadfast policy to support sovereign, demo-cratic and peaceful Afghani-stan, where the interest of all sections of Afghan society including women, children and minorities are protected," he said.

"India supports all peace initiatives leading towards a lasting political settle-ment through an inclusive Afghan-led, Afghan-owned and Afghan controlled pro-cess which would lead to peace and stability in the region," the minister said. He also referred to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar's online participa-tion in September last year in the inaugural session of the intra-Afghan negotiations in Doha. AGENCIES

We support all peace initiatives aimed at lasting political settlement: India on Afghanistan

DHIRENDRA KUMAR

NEW DELHI: As the log-jam over the alleged Pegasus snooping issue continued on the eighth day in both Houses of the Parliament, the ruling benches managed to get passed two important bills –the Air-ports Economic Regulatory Authority of India (Amend-ment) Bill, 2021 and the Inland Vessels Bill, 2021 –without discussion.

Notably, it’s for the sec-ond time in this week that Lok Sabha passed another two key bills without discussion as Opposition members con-tinued their protest against the alleged snooping by the government through Pegasus spyware.

Earlier on July 26, the Lok Sabha had passed the Factor-ing Regulation (Amendment) Bill, 2020, and the National Institutes of Food Technology, Entrepreneurship and Man-agement Bill, 2021 by voice

vote. After repeated adjourn-

ments, when the House resumed at 2 pm, Opposition members Mahua Moitra, Jas-bir Singh Gill, Hibi Eden, and some others were standing near the table while the Air-ports Economic Regulatory Authority of India (Amend-ment) Bill, 2021 was taken up for discussion.

Soon after Aviation Minis-ter Jyotiraditya Scindia’s pre-sentation, the Bill was passed in the Lok Sabha.

In cases of the Inland Ves-sels Bill, Shipping Minister Sarbananda Sonowal intro-duced the bill for discussion. However, after the minister’s speech, Opposition member NK Premachandran opposed the bill by raising questions

over the way the bill is being passed. “I strongly oppose the way the Bill is being passed. I am not moving the amend-ments because the House is not in order. When the House is not in order, the Bills so passed have no value at all,” Premach-andran said.

Though, disruptions con-tinued in the House, the Bill was passed prior to adjourn-ment of Lok Sabha for the day at 2.23 pm on Thursday.

The Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India (Amendment) Bill 2021 is aimed at amending the defi-nition of 'major airport' under the AERA Act, 2008.

The purpose of Airports Economic Regulatory Author-ity of India (Amendment), Bill 2021 is to club the smaller non-profitable airports with prof-itable airports and make it a package for bidders to make it a viable combination for investment under public-pri-vate partnership mode.

Lok Sabha passes two key Bills again without any ‘discussion’

CHANDIGARH: Former Mayor of Hoshiarpur and former MP Kamal Chaud-hary's cousin, Babbi Chaud-hary on Thursday joined the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) along with hundreds of his associ-ates. At the same time, Chair-man of Desh Bhagat College, Balwinder Singh also joined the party.

AAP's senior leader and Leader of Opposition (LoP) Harpal Singh Cheema, par-ty’s state general secretary Harchand Singh Barsat and party's Hoshiarpur constitu-ency incharge Brahm Shan-kar Jimpa, formally welcomed the Doaba leaders at the party headquarters here.

Welcoming the leaders to the party, Harpal Singh Cheema said that sincere peo-

ple have been joining the AAP to save Punjab. Babbi Chaud-hary's family is a respected family in the Doaba region. He has been the Mayor of Hoshi-arpur Municipal Corporation and two time councilor. His cousin Kamal Chaudhary has been a Member of Lok Sabha for four times and his uncle

Balbir Singh has been a MLA and a Member of Parliament.

On the occasion, Babbi Chaudhary said that he was very impressed with the pro-people policies and work of the Arvind Kejriwal government in Delhi; that is why he decided to join the AAP along with his associates. MPOST

Leaving BJP, ex-Hoshiarpur mayor Babbi Chaudhary joins AAP

VARANASI: General Man-ager, Banaras Locomo-tive Works, Anjali Goyal inspected BLW Central Hos-pital on Thursday. Working of PSA Oxygen Generation Plant with capacity of 610 liters per minute, installed at BLW Cen-tral Hospital, was shown. This Oxygen Generation plant was inaugurated by the PM on July 15, 2021. The plant has been set up through Corporate Social Responsibility funds arranged by District Administration. This will help increase Beds with oxygen from 40 to 100 at Central Hospital BLW, add-ing significantly to COVID preparedness.

The GM also reviewed the preparations for the special pediatric ward for potential COVID affected children. On advice of the District Authori-ties, BLW has made arrange-

ments for 18 Oxygen beds, 6 ICU beds, 7 BiPAP machines and 3 High Flow Nasal Can-nula for children. Procure-ment of additional medicines and other necessary equipment required has been done. These facilities are a critical infra-structure given that pediatric population is more than 3600 under BLW hospital care.

BLW has scaled new heights, in the concerted efforts to overcome the virulent sec-ond wave in coordination with District Administration of Varanasi. Besides this ambu-lance services and steady sup-ply of medicines and oxygen has ensured safe recovery of patients admitted at BLW Hos-pital. On request of the District Administration, BLW gave five ventilators to Homi Bhabha Cancer Hospital for COVID emergencies. MPOST

NEW DELHI: Former Con-gress president Rahul Gandhi brainstormed with senior party leaders recently on the pros and cons of poll strategist Prashant Kishor joining the party, sources said on Thursday.

Senior Congress leaders A K Antony, Mallikarjun Kharge, Kamal Nath, Ambika Soni, Harish Rawat, K C Venugo-pal and some others attended the meeting held at Gandhi's residence here on July 22, they added.

The main agenda of the meeting convened by Gandhi was to discuss the pros and cons of having the poll strate-gist in the party and what role should be assigned to him if he joins the Congress, the sources

said.Most of the leaders who

attended the meeting agreed that Kishor joining the Con-gress would be beneficial for the party, they added.

Prior to this meeting, Kishor met Gandhi on July 13. Congress general secretary Pri-yanka Gandhi Vadra was also present at that meeting. Since

then, there has been specula-tion about the poll strategist joining the Congress.

There has been no official word on it from the party or from Kishor.

After the West Bengal Assembly polls earlier this year, Kishor had said he would quit working as an election strategist. He had joined the Janata Dal (United) a few years ago, but had parted ways with the Nitish Kumar-led party subsequently.

Meanwhile, Rahul Gandhi on Thursday asked the govern-ment not to waste more time of Parliament and let the opposi-tion raise issues of inflation, farmers and Pegasus in the House. AGENCIES

OUR CORRESPONDENT

BAGHPAT (UP): Five police-men who were earlier booked on charges of abetting the suicide of a 22-year-old son of an RSS office-bearer here have been suspended, a police spokesperson said on Thursday.

Orders for departmen-tal action against all the sus-pended policemen have also been issued, he said.

Akshay (22), the son of the RSS office-bearer, allegedly committed suicide on Mon-day after police raided his house following an altercation between them at an inocula-tion centre in Ranchhad village under Binauli police station area where he had taken his mother, Madhu (62), for vac-cination, according to his fam-ily members.

Later, police took Madhu, her sister-in-law and a village resident into custody and filed a case against Akshay. Upset over this, Akshay allegedly committed suicide, the family members have claimed.

UP: Five cops suspended for abetting

suicide of RSS worker’s son

Protest continues over alleged snooping by govt through Pegasus spyware

Parliamentarians in the Lok Sabha during the Monsoon Session of Parliament, in New Delhi, on Thursday

GM inspects BLW Central Hospital

‘Rahul discussed pros and cons of Prashant Kishor joining party’

Abhishek Singhvi, Congress spokesperson

Most leaders agreed Kishor would be beneficial for party

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REPERCUSSIONS

The Manali-Leh road being cleared a day after cloudburst, in Manali, Thursday PIC/PTI

PRIEST COMMITS SUICIDE INSIDE TEMPLE COMPLEX IN JAMMU JAMMU: A priest allegedly hanged himself to death inside his room at a temple complex here on Thursday, police said. The deceased has been identified as Brij Mohan, a resident of MP. His body was found hanging with a rope inside his room at the temple complex at Akhnoor in the outskirts of the city at around 2.30 pm, they said. Mohan was living at Kameshwar temple for the last 20 years and was presently performing the duties of a priest in the temple. The reason behind his taking such step was not known immediately, a police official said, adding that the body was handed over to his relatives after completion of legal and medi-cal formalities. Meanwhile, body of an unidentified elderly person was found from the roadside at Jewel chowk area of the city in a separate incident.

WOMAN, TEEN DAUGHTER KILLED AS PICKUP TRUCK SKIDS OFF INTO HOUSE GONDA (UP): A woman and her teenage daughter were killed while three others sustained injuries after a pickup truck lost control and entered a house by the road in Chhapia area here, police said on Thursday. The incident took place in Babhanjotia village on Wednesday night that left Poonam Devi (48) and her daughter Khushi (14) dead, police added. The mother-daughter duo were travelling as passengers in the pickup truck. The three injured persons, includ-ing the vehicle’s driver, were rushed to hospital where their condition was said to be stable.

INT’L TIGER DAY

DHANBAD JUDGE DEATH

Nation Briefs

6 millenniumpostNationmpFRIDAY, 30 JULY, 2021 | NEW DELHI

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: The new National Education Policy (NEP) is one of the major fac-tors in the grand exercise of nation-building and assures the youth that the country supports their aspirations, Prime Min-ister Narendra Modi said on Thursday.

Addressing a programme on the completion of one year of the NEP, the prime minis-ter said what new heights “we will achieve in the future will depend on what kind of educa-tion we are giving to our youth at present”.

“India’s new National Edu-cation Policy is one of the major factors in the ‘mahay-agna’ (grand exercise) of nation-

building,” he said.Modi said in the last one

year, teachers, principals and policymakers of the country have worked very hard in imple-menting the National Education Policy on the ground.

“Today’s youth wants to decide their systems and their world on their own terms. They need exposure and freedom from shackles and restrictions. The New Education Policy, assures our youth that the coun-try is fully with them and their aspirations. The Artificial Intel-ligence programme which was launched today will make the student future-oriented and will pave the way for an AI-driven economy.

“Similarly, National Digi-tal Education Architecture

(NDEAR) and National Educa-tion Technology Forum (NETF) will go a long way in providing a digital and technological frame-work to the entire country,” the prime minister said.

Highlighting that the NEP also gives importance to mother tongue and local languages, Modi said he was happy that 14 engineering colleges in eight states are going to start stud-ies in five Indian languages -- Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi and Bangla.

“A tool has been developed for translating engineering courses in 11 languages. This emphasis on mother tongue as the medium of instruction will instil confidence in the stu-dents from poor, rural and tribal backgrounds. Even in elemen-tary education mother tongue is being promoted and the Vidya Pravesh programme, launched today, will play a big role in that.

“Indian sign language, for the first time, has been accorded

the status of language subject. Students will be able to study it as a language also. There are more than three lakh students who need sign language for their education. This will give a boost to Indian sign language and will help the divyang peo-ple,” said the prime minister.

He highlighted the openness and absence of pressure in the New Education Policy.

“There is openness at pol-icy level and this is also visible in the options available to the students. Options like multiple entry and exit will free students from the restriction of staying in one class and one course. Sim-ilarly, the modern technology-based Academic Bank of Credit system will bring in a revolu-tionary change.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: Army Chief General MM Naravane held talks with Commander of US Special Operations Command General Richard D Clarke on Thursday, focussing on various key aspects of bilateral defence and security cooperation.

General Clarke is on a three-day visit to India. "General Richard D. Clarke, Commander United States Special Operations Command #USSOCOM called on General MM Naravane #COAS and dis-cussed issues of mutual inter-est," the Army said in a tweet.

Officials said various dimensions of bilateral defence cooperation, including ways to further deepen it, figured in the talks.

It is understood that Gen-eral Naravane and General Clarke also briefly deliberated on the evolving situation in Afghanistan.

Before meeting Gen-eral Naravane, the US official laid a wreath at the National War Memorial. "The visit will enhance defence cooperation and military ties between the two nations," the Army said.

Separately, General Nara-vane also held a telephonic conversation with Lieutenant General Charalampos Lalousis, Chief of Hellenic Army Gen-eral Staff, focussing on defence cooperation between India and Greece.

The Indo-US defence ties have been on an upswing in the last few years.

In October last year, India

and the United States sealed the Basic Exchange and Coop-eration Agreement (BECA) to further boost the bilateral defence ties. The pact provides for sharing of high-end mili-tary technology, logistics and geospatial maps between the two countries.

The firming up of the BECA came two years after the two countries signed another pact called COMCASA (Commu-nications Compatibility and Security Agreement) that provides for interoperability between the two militaries and the sale of high-end technology by the US to India.

In June 2016, the US desig-nated India as a "Major Defence Partner", intending to elevate defence trade and technology sharing with the country to a level commensurate with that of its closest allies and partners.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: The Centre on Thursday gave CA|TS accreditation to 14 tiger reserves in the country on the occasion of the International Tiger Day.

CA|TS or Conservation Assured|Tiger Standards is a globally accepted conservation tool that sets best practices and standards to manage tigers and encourages assessments to benchmark progress.

The 14 tiger reserves which have attained the accreditation are Manas Tiger Reserve, Kaziranga Tiger Reserve and Orang Tiger Reserve in Assam, Satpura Tiger Reserve, Kanha Tiger Reserve and Panna Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh.

Pench Tiger Reserve in Maharashtra, Valmiki Tiger Reserve in Bihar, Dudhwa Tiger Reserve in Uttar Pradesh, Parambikulam Tiger Reserve in Kerala, Mudumalai Tiger Reserve and Anamalai

Tiger Reserve in Tamil Nadu, Bandipur Tiger Reserve in Karnataka and Sundarbans Tiger Reserve in West Bengal also received the honour.

Speaking on the occasion, Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav said, Population of tigers is an indicator of a well-balanced ecosystem. On this occasion of Tiger Day, we are not just protecting our tigers, but we are saving the ecosystem and our forests.

Other than these 14 tiger reserves, there are three more for which we want to achieve the CA|TS accreditation. We want all 51 of our tiger reserves to get the accreditation and stay protected, he said.

CA|TS is being implemented across 125 sites in seven tiger range countries, and India has the biggest number with 94 sites, out of which, assessment was completed for 20 tiger reserves this year, according to WWF India.

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court Thursday directed that no coercive action be taken by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) against Newsclick founder and editor-in-chief in connection with a money laundering case subject to his joining the investi-gation. Justice Mukta Gupta said the interim protection granted to PrabirPurkayastha will be in force till the next date of hear-ing, September 2.

Till the next date of hear-ing, no coercive action be taken (against the applicant) in bail application... subject to him joining the investigation, the judge ordered. Hearing in Pur-kayastha's plea for anticipatory bail in money laundering case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) was adjourned on the request made by ED's counsel.

The court recorded that the ED was yet to supply a copy of its ECIR to the parties concerned.

The high court had on June 21 directed the ED not to take coercive action against the news

portal as well as its editor-in-chief in connection with the case. It had also issued notice to the ED on the news portal's plea seeking a copy of the ECIR lodged by it in the case.

The interim protection was subsequently extended on July 5 till July 29.

The money laundering case arises out of a Delhi Police FIR alleging that PPK Newsclick Studio Pvt Ltd received For-eign Direct Investment (FDI) of Rs 9.59 crore from Worldwide Media Holdings LLC USA dur-ing the financial year 2018-19.

The FIR claimed that the investment was made by greatly overvaluing the shares of the petitioner company to avoid the alleged cap of 26 per cent of FDI in a digital news web-site. It further alleged that over 45 per cent of this invest-ment was diverted/siphoned off for the payment of salary/consultancy, rent and other expenses, which are alleged to have been made for ulterior motives. AGENCIES

OUR CORRESPONDENT

AHMEDABAD: A man alleg-edly involved in smuggling 530 kg of heroin worth around Rs 2,500 crore into the coun-try via sea route from Paki-stan on different occasions was arrested by the Gujarat ATS at the Delhi airport on Thursday, officials said.

ShahidKasamSumra (35), a resident of Man-

dvi in Kutch district, was also allegedly involved in "narco-terrorism", as he funded terror activities with the money acquired from the illegal drug trade, they said.

The accused was nabbed by a team of Anti-Terrorist Squad as soon as he landed at the airport in the national capital from abroad, the ATS said in a release.

Four cases were lodged against him between 2018 and 2021 in Gujarat and Punjab, following the seizure of 530 kg of heroin worth around Rs 2,500 crore during that period from different parts of the two states.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) had taken over the probe into three of those cases, while one case is with the Gujarat ATS.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: The intensity of severe cyclonic storms in the North Indian Ocean region has shown an increasing trend in the past four decades, accord-ing to a recent study by Indian scientists.

The increasing intensity of severe cyclonic storms with major socioeconomic implica-tions was due to atmospheric parameters like higher relative humidity, especially at mid-atmospheric level, weak verti-cal wind shear as well as warm sea surface temperature (SST).

This indicates the role of global warming in bringing about this increasing trend, the study suggests.

A team of scientists, includ-ing Jiya Albert, Athira Krish-nan, and Prasad K Bhaskaran from the Department of Ocean Engineering and Naval Architecture, IIT Kharagpur, jointly with K S Singh, Cen-tre for Disaster Mitigation and Management, VIT Univer-

sity, Vellore, studied the role and influence of critical atmo-spheric parameters in large-scale environmental flow and El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) on tropical cyclone activity in the North Indian Ocean.

They were supported by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) under the Climate Change Programme (CCP).

In particular, the tropical cyclones that formed during the pre-monsoon season exhib-ited an increasing trend. In the

recent decade (2000 onwards), the trend was found to be quite substantial in both Bay of Ben-gal and the Arabian Sea basins.

Findings from the study indicated that strong mid-level relative humidity (RH), posi-tive low-level relative vortic-ity (RV), weak vertical wind shear (VWS), warm sea sur-face temperature (SST), and suppressed outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) are respon-sible for the increased tropical cyclone activity in the North Indian Ocean.

It was found that RH, RV,

VWS are distinct during pre-monsoon seasons of La Nina, and that favours the genesis of severe cyclone formation over this region.

Environmental variables such as SST, wind streamlines, vertical velocity, and specific humidity exhibited comparable contributions towards cyclo-genesis during both El Nino and La Nina phases.

Investigation of the role of additional parameters such as water vapour and zonal sea-level pressure gradients revealed the possible linkage of La Nina years on increased severity of tropical cyclones.

The study reported an increased amount of water vapour content in the tropo-sphere, and during the past 38 years at 1.93 times as compared to the base year 1979.

During the past two decades (2000-2020), the La Nina years experienced almost double the number of intense cyclones compared to the El Nino years.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

SRINAGAR: The Hurri-yat Conference on Thurs-day demanded the release of its chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, saying his fundamental rights and civil liberties stand completely curbed for the last two years.

The demand for the release of Mirwaiz was made follow-ing a meeting of the execu-tive committee of the Hurriyat Conference held at the resi-dence of Bilal Lone. "Hurriyat Conference executive members seek his (Mirwaiz) immediate release from illegal arbitrary house detention by the state authorities," the amalgam said in a statement.

They appealed to all rights activists, organisations, and democracies of the world to ensure the Mirwaiz's release and "restoration of his human rights".

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: The ED has arrested Raj Singh Gehlot, pro-moter of the Ambience group, in a money-laundering case linked to an alleged bank loan fraud of Rs 800 crore, officials said on Thursday.

They said Gehlot is expected to be produced before a court here after he was arrested under the provisions of the Preven-tion of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The central probe agency had raided Gehlot, his company Aman Hospitality Private Lim-ited (AHPL), some other firms of the Ambience group, direc-tor in the company Dayanand Singh, Mohan Singh Gehlot and their associates in July last year.

The ED case against Gehlot, who is also a promoter of the Ambience Mall in Gurugram, is based on a 2019 FIR of the Anti-Corruption Bureau of Jammu against AHPL and its directors for alleged money laundering

in the construction and devel-opment of the five-star Leela Ambience Convention Hotel located at 1, CBD, MaharajSura-jmal Road, near the Yamuna Sports Complex in Delhi.

The ED probe found that "a huge part of the loan amount of more than Rs 800 crore, which was sanctioned by a consortium of banks for the hotel project, was siphoned off by AHPL, Raj Singh Gehlot and his associ-ates through a web of compa-nies owned and controlled by them". "A substantial part of the loan money was transferred by AHPL to several companies and individuals on the pretext of payment of running bills and advance for supply of material and work executed," the agency had alleged.

The employees of the Ambi-ence group and Gehlot's asso-ciates were made directors and proprietors in these companies and Gehlot was the "authorised signatory" in many of these enti-ties, it had said.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

RANCHI: The Jharkhand High Court on Thursday ordered an SIT probe into the death of Dhanbad judge Utta-mAnand the day before when he was out for a morning jog.

CCTV footages showed that Anand, a district and sessions judge of Dhan-bad court, was jogging on one side of a fairly wide road at RandhirVermaChowk early on Wednesday when a heavy auto-rickshaw veered towards him, hit him from behind and fled the scene.

Another auto-rickshaw driver found him lying in a pool of blood and took to him to a nearby hospital, where the doctors declared him dead on arrival.

Two persons have been arrested in this connection so far, according to Dhanbad SSP Sanjiv Kumar.

Modi: New NEP major factor in 'mahayagna' of nation building

Money-laundering: ED arrests Ambience

group promoter

Naravane holds talks with senior US commander

Hurriyat demands Farooq's release

J’khand HC orders SIT

probe

Guj ATS nabs man wanted in seizure of drugs worth `2,500 cr

‘No coercive action against Newsclick founder subject to joining probe’

Study: Intensity of severe cyclonic storms increasing in North Indian Ocean region Govt gives CA|TS

accreditation to 14 tiger reserves in India

In particular, the tropical cyclones that formed during the pre-monsoon season exhibited an increasing trend

Chief of Army Staff of the Indian Army, General MM Naravane with Commander of United States Special Operations Command, General Richard D. Clarke during their meeting in New Delhi on Thursday PIC/PTI

What new heights we will achieve in the future will depend on what kind of education we are giving to our youth at present, says the PM

PM Modi during his address on completion of one year of transformative reforms under National Education Policy, 2020, New Delhi, Thursday PIC/PTI

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: The Central Board of Secondary Educa-tion (CBSE) Thursday told the Delhi High Court that the evaluation policy for this year's Class 10th board examination has been pre-pared keeping in mind that no school should be able to do injustice with the students and marks be awarded based on the learning.

The board said responsibil-ity has been given to the result committee' to ensure just, fair and reliable result and a simi-lar policy with extended liberty has been prepared in Class-12th policy which has already been approved by the Supreme Court.

Due to the COVID-19 pan-demic, class 10th exams were cancelled by the board and an evaluation policy was formu-lated to evaluate students this

year.The CBSE's counsel sub-

mitted before a bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh that there was no illegality in taking reference of previous year's result of class 10th of a school in order to maintain standard-ization in the result.

I submit that, while for-mulating Evaluation Policy for Class X, there is neither any abuse of power by the answer-ing respondent (CBSE) nor there is failure of governance as the said Evaluation Policy has been formulated having holistic approach and ensuring that no student is prejudiced by ratio-nalising internal assessment performance of students and bringing semblance of parity amongst the assessment of dif-ferent schools, the board said in its affidavit filed under the name of Controller of Examination, CBSE, Sanyam Bhardwaj.

‘Class 10th evaluation policy ensures no

injustice to students’NEW DELHI: Union Edu-cation Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Thursday called for reiterating the resolve to make education holistic, affordable, accessible and equitable.

On the first anniversary of the new National Education Policy (NEP), Pradhan said, “As we celebrate Amrit Mahot-sav, the NEP will be a guiding philosophy in nurturing and grooming future leaders who are in the age group of 5-15 years. This category will be in their peak productive age when India will mark 100 years of Independence.” The Educa-tion Minister further said, “The NEP will help prepare global citizens who will merge the best of tradition with the most modern and global outlook.”

“The progressive NEP will have a far-reaching impact on re-shaping the resilience, des-tiny and global standings of an Aatmanirbhar Bharat. The NEP reflects the resolve of our leadership to situate India at the top of the knowledge econ-omy,” Pradhan added. MPOST

Pradhan calls for making edu affordable

7millenniumpost Editorial mpNEW DELHI | FRIDAY, 30 JULY, 2021

Log on to write letters to the editor or send them to letter2editor.mp@gmail.com. You can also send your comments to The Editor,

Millennium Post, Pratap Bhawan, 5 Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, New Delhi 110 002

DearEditorThe unexpected withdrawal of the US gymnast Simone Biles from the women’s team final on account of her mental health has shocked and surprised everyone. While some criticised the gymnast for taking such a sudden decision, many have welcomed her open-mindedness and the priority that she gave to her health and wellbeing. The episode shows how much anxiety and mental tension sports personalities have to undergo. High expectations from talented sportspersons pressurise them, causing a lot of tension. This only creates hurdles for them and their natural way of facing any challenge is affected, resulting in failures or withdrawals from the sports field or any other field of interest. This episode also brings in a lesson for youngsters and those who teach and train them — be it parents, teachers or coaches. The youth will have to be inculcated with the attitude of sportsperson spirit and be made mentally prepared to take successes and failures in the same way. The fear of failure is ingrained in today’s youngsters in such a manner that when they are not able to achieve what they want, they are not able to bear it, accept it, and thus, end up facing mental turmoil. The words of the four-time Olympic champion — ‘At the end of the day, I have to do what’s right for me and focus on my mental health and not jeopardize my health and wellbeing’ — suggest how much an athlete has to go through. Let us not forget that they are also humans.

— M PRADYU, KANNUR via email

EDITORIALWill history repeat itself?

Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai has sprung into action after he took over as Chief Minister, replacing the Veteran political figure, BS Yediy-urappa. He has initiated some policy measures

and is likely to meet Delhi high command very soon. His promotion to the post will certainly answer many of the questions that were being floated regarding the possible shift of crucial Lingayat votes away from the BJP, given the towering presence Yediurappa enjoys among the com-munity. It has also, to an extent, put to rest the specula-tions that suggested a repeat of history that unfolded in the 1990s for the Congress. One observable fact has been that in recent years, specifically after 2014, there have been rare incidents when the BJP decided to remove a Chief Minister in the middle of the term. So, there was some-thing that tormented the Central leadership, good enough to provoke it to make an apparent shift from its trend in a state that could be called BJP’s gateway to the south. The tensions between Yediyurappa and the Centre had been there right since the beginning of his term — pushing the state on the back foot, and preventing the administration from taking major decisions on the development front. One theory that has been floated in this regard, talks of the BJP’s apprehension around shifting of Lingayat vote base on dynastic lines. Many times, the Central leadership had pointed out interference from Yediyurappa’s sons in gov-ernance matters. The theory holds weight given the long-term approach the BJP is known to pursue to strengthen and consolidate its electoral support. So, was Yediyurappa’s stature growing too big to be accommodated in the Cen-tral view of the state’s politics? Another important factor could age. The party, for some practical reasons, remains very obsessed with the age factor. But the critical ques-tion was how to retain the Lingayat votes without Yediy-urappa? Basavaraj Bommai — who comes from the same community and is the son of former CM SR Bommai — seems to be a good answer. Bommai holds a legacy among the community and could safely be called not as luminous a figure as Yediyurappa. Then there is one more impor-tant parameter that his appointment satisfies — and that is Ydiurappa’s consent. Basavaraj Bommai has the experience of holding a crucial home portfolio under Yediyurappa’s leadership. It could be better left upon time to figure out if these moves by BJP could prevent history from repeat-ing itself. The Lingayat community is known to keep a very strong emotional bond with their leaders. The 1994 assembly elections is a textbook example of the existence of this bond. The Congress had risen to power on the backs of Veerendra Patil who mobilised the Lingayat votes to ensure a landslide victory for the party in the state. Patil subsequently had a paralysis stroke which prompted Rajiv Gandhi to make the last-minute decision to remove him from the CM post before returning back from the state. The political sympathy worked out in favour of Patil and backfired against the Congress which has been since then finding its lost strength in the state. In the current case, the Bharatiya Janata Party has got rid of ageing Yediy-urappa, but after making certain arrangements. BJP is well aware of Yediyurappa’s influence. The party had already paid a heavy price back in 2013 after drifting away from the leader. Yediyurappa had formed a new party after his 2011 expulsion from CM’s post at the hands of Lal Krishna Advani. This prevented the BJP from securing victory in the 2013 assembly polls. The BJP then tasted victory again in the 2018 assembly polls but only after taking Yediy-urappa within its fold. A political stalwart of Yediyurappa’s stature cannot be expected to lose his influence as an out-come of a single decision of the Central leadership. In fact, it will be most interesting to see how he shapes himself in the new political landscape. Yediyurappa’s ambitions and aspirations apart, one must not forget his two sons — BY Raghavendra and BY Vijayendra — whom he might want to place in some comfortable position during his lifetime. It should not surprise anyone if Yediyurappa continues to be a figure of influence in the new scenario. Yediyurappa resigned from the CM post-midterm but with significant reluctance, and perhaps also with a hidden call for sym-pathy! There are three important aspects that need to be watched for in the new administration — how BJP sails through without Yediyurappa, where does Yediurappa establishes himself in the new system and, most impor-tantly, to what extent will the citizens be relieved from the partial impasse on the progression of development poli-cies. The BJP has apparently tried to make a safe transition from Yediyurappa before the next assembly elections. How safe it turns out will have to be answered with time. The bet is important as it might have a significant impact down south — positive or negative, it is not known.

millenniumpost.in

LESSONS TO LEARN

Renaissance for reform

How it can play out?

Introducing Vedic study methods into modern subjects could enrich students’ learning experience and instil existential confidence within them

The Bill is a rehashed version of one the Central government has been trying to pass in Parliament since 2014; writes Binit Das

There is considerable talk of having an edu-cation board blend-ing Vedic studies

with modern subjects, lead-ing to innovation in the cur-riculum and teaching-learning practices. The Ministry of Education has also referred to possible moves in this direc-tion. Given the contemporary environment, simulating the gurukul may not hold popular appeal, but there are numerous lessons that modern educa-tion systems can borrow from Vedic teachers.

This rich tradition holds an intellectual charm for aca-demics to blend the ancient and the modern. Indeed, there is talk of a blended cur-riculum, although this is not new. Present-day gurukuls, while imparting education in Vedic texts, and teaching arts and sciences in Vedic tra-dition, also tend to bring in courses of study under pres-ent school boards. Some nota-ble examples of institutions preserving the Vedic legacy are Dayanand Anglo-Vedic Public Schools and Universi-ties, Aurobindo Institutions, Rishi Valley School in Andhra Pradesh, Swaminarayan Guru-kul in Rajkot, Maharshi San-dipani Rashtriya Ved Vidya Pratishthan (MSRVVP) in Ujjain (having 450 organiza-tions affiliated with it), Om Shantidhama’s Vedic Gurukul in Kanakapura (Karnataka), Hemachandra Sanskrit Path-shala in Ahmedabad and guru-kuls run by religious trusts in Maharashtra’s Kaneri district and Rajasthan’s Jodhpur.

Education in Vedic times

was characterised by the divin-ity underlying the learning tra-dition. This divinity was the core of Vedic studies, accen-tuating the importance of the subject of study, invoked through learning methods and mantra chanting, conveying reverence for the discipline and the teacher. Very often, this less understood concept of divin-ity in the ancient tradition is mistakenly labelled as religious education. The defining feature of the period was the centrality of learning to life, as the first 25 years of human life were dedi-cated to learning, leading to an all-round development: He who does not have knowledge, application, is lacking in gen-erosity, wisdom, good behav-iour, positive attributes, and is devoid of concept of righ-teousness, remains a primitive life form.

The Vedic credentials are well known and its contribu-tion to the modern curriculum is well-established. But in prac-tice, there is much value that is yet to be mined. The trinity of science, segueing through various disciplines, under-stood through applied prac-tice, with the scientific method intrinsic to learning, were part of the ancient tradition. The pedagogy plumbed the inter-connectedness between disci-plines, was interactive, driven by inquiry, and application-oriented. Shastrarth or intel-lectual debate involved critical analysis, reflection, interpreta-tion, group discussion, ques-tioning; and those having the most convincing argument prevailed in public debates. Rote learning was given a prominent place in the verbal tradition of Shruti-Smriti, lay-

ing emphasis on training in speech and memorisation. All very useful and desirable skills in today’s world of work. The six schools of Indian philoso-phy propounding logic, episte-mology, cosmic consciousness, yogic practice, philology, meta-physics and scriptural exposi-tions represented prominent competencies of an intellect refined through education. Ayurveda (straddling both allopathy and homoeopathy) and other ancient treatises on metallurgy, mathematics, architecture, sutras or theo-rems, astronomy, astrology etc were closely reflected in components of daily life like weather forecasts, nutrition, medicine, agriculture, town planning etc.

Rediscovering the greats through a blended curriculum would help in modern appre-

ciation of our ancient legacy, and not without relevance. The works of Charak and Sushruta —practitioners of medicine and surgery, Patanjali’s Yoga, Panani’s Ashtadhyayi on San-skrit grammar, while couched in ‘religious language’ are not only relevant but also form frame of reference for the mod-ern-day syllabi. The concept of infinity finds eloquent expres-sion in the Upanishads: From wholeness comes wholeness. Aryabhata was the first to give approximate value to Pi which was incommensurable, correct to four decimal places, much before the western world. Another verse from the treatise SulabhSutras translates: praise of Lord Shiva, Lord Indra gives the value of Pi up to 32 places after the decimal, which is the same when digitally calculated. This value was used by Vara-hamihira, the ancient Indian Astrologer! Even the Srimad Bhagawad Gita is a frequently quoted book on management, by management gurus. And there are interesting conver-sations around Sanskrit being deemed as a suitable language for computer applications.

While there can be no last word on this ancient tradition, a closing note will not be amiss — a sensibility steeped in Vedic spirituality, fostered over years through intellectual discipline, yoga and meditation holds the promise to not only provide life’s most valuable lessons but will help students manage competitive stress and to deal with existential anxieties.

The writer is MD and Co-founder of Primus Partners.

Views expressed are personal

CHARU MALHOTRA

The Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2021 will be intro-duced and is likely to

be pushed for passage in the monsoon session of Parlia-ment that concludes on August 13, 2021. This is being consid-ered as a panacea for the power sector by many.

Electricity distribution is at the cutting edge of the power sector. Despite the last 25 years of power sector reforms, the electricity distribution com-panies are unable to pay the generation and transmission companies as well as banks / financial institutions due to poor financial health. In this situation, patchwork may not turn around the power sector and a holistic approach is the need of the hour.

The provisions of the pro-posed amendment bill have to be seen in this context.Good features

Electricity distribution is delicensed, at least in the let-ter, giving consumers a choice to choose a distribution com-pany in their area. There is the provision of a universal service obligation fund, which shall be managed by a government company.

This fund shall be uti-lised to meet any deficits in cross-subsidy. In case of sup-ply through pre-paid meters, the security deposit will not be required.

The Appellate Tribunal for Electricity (APTEL) is being strengthened by an increas-ing number of members. The domains from where the chairperson and members of Central Electricity Regu-latory Commission (CERC) and State Electricity Regula-tory Commissions (SERC) will come have been described.

Keeping in view the national climate change goals, the responsibility of fixing renewable power obligations (RPO) is shifted from state commissions to the central government.

The role of load despatch centres is gaining importance

as the interconnected power system is getting more com-plex with the addition of renewable generators.

At the same time, dis-putes related to the despatch of power are increasing, adju-dication of load despatch cen-tres related disputes have been included in the functions of regulatory commissions.

The regulatory com-missions were earlier called ‘toothless tigers’ by some. Their orders will now be executable as decree including attachment of property, arrest and deten-tion in prison.

With member (law) in the commission, these pow-ers will be exercised appro-priately, resulting in better enforcement.

The penalty for contraven-tion of the provisions of the Act has been increased up to Rs 1 crore. Non-fulfilment of RPO will attract stringent penalties as per the proposed amendments.Issues not addressed

Discoms collect revenue from the consumers and feed the supply chain upstream. They are, however, unable to recover their costs, out of

which nearly 75-80 per cent are power purchase costs.

Recently, the Forum of Regulators came out with a report on cost elements of tar-iff and suggested measures to reduce the same. But there is no regulatory intervention to fix coal costs and railway freight.

These costs have increased much more than the weighted average increase of the whole-sale price index and retail price index. No win-win solution (to power distribution and gener-ation companies) are offered to reduce the fixed cost of unutilised power through the amendment bill.

The Aggregate Technical & Commercial (AT&C) losses of 12 states were more than 25 per cent and of six states between 15 and 25 per cent, according to a report released by the distribution utility forum based on the Uday dashboard in 2020.

AT&C losses may be made a key performance indica-tor by a provision in the Act for evaluation of the status of governance of the states. This indicator combines per capita income/paying capac-

ity of consumers, enforce-ment of laws and status of finance of the state in terms of timely release of subsidy to discoms.

This subsidy is not a grant but given instead of a reduc-tion of tariff ordered by the state government for cer-tain consumer categories like domestic and agricultural, and sometimes to industries.

A broad guideline to reduce tariffs could have been part of the proposed amend-ment bill.Some provisions may backfire

Power distribution is pro-posed to be delicensed. How-ever, the eligibility criteria shall be prescribed by the central government and the condi-tions for registration by the SERC.

There is a provision for amendment and cancellation of registration as well. In case these provisions are imple-mented similar to a license, the purpose shall be defeated.

The newly registered com-panies are given the facility to use the power allocation as well as the network of existing discom, which may be dilap-idated in many cases due to paucity of funds. With such a network, the quality of supply to the electricity consumers will be seriously affected.

Financial penalty on dis-com may not fully compensate and satisfy the consumers in such cased. By way of amend-ment, a fourth member is added to CERC and SERC, who should have qualifications and experience in the field of economics, commerce, public policy/public administration or management.

Setting power sector eco-nomics right is key to power sector reforms. Such back-ground and experience in the field of economics/finance may have been made mandatory for this post to avoid the reha-bilitation of favourite retired officers.

Securing consumer choice through directions / guidelines / regulations is left to SERCs. It

will be interesting to see how this provision will be used.

Two new but rather vague clauses are used for the removal of members of CERC / SERC. Let us hope that these new clauses will not be misused.

Provisions for power mar-ket development, market-based economic despatch and gross bidding in the amend-ment bill could have paved the way for next-generation reforms.

Provisions to avoid an increase in discom viability gap and at the same time to prevent an abnormal increase in tariff may have been included in the amendment bill, at least as a lighthouse to guide navigation for reforms.

Given the vast supply chain, the electricity amendment bill maybe something like the spe-cial economic zone (SEZ) act, which may even amend some other acts, if needed.

Some of the issues that may be considered for holistic power sector reforms:

The provision of coal and railway freight regulators Linkage of AT&C losses as a key performance indicator for release of central funds to states by any ministry Provision of a risk manage-ment committee and cor-porate governance within discoms, irrespective of being listed company14 years after the last

amendment to the Electricity Act, currently, the focus of the amendment is on competition and compliance. Electricity regulatory commissions hold the key to take this forward.

The commissions should be built as strong institutions and their autonomy should be respected and maintained. After providing a robust framework for fair competi-tion, the government should minimise its frequent inter-ventions in the sector. The gov-ernment interventions often distort the market and maybe resorted to only in case of mar-ket failure. DTE

Views expressed are personal

In practice, there is much to be mined from the practices of ancient Vedic education

Education in Vedic times was characterised by the divinity underlying the learning tradition. Very often this less understood concept of divinity from the ancient tradition is mistakenly labelled as religious education

14 years after the last amendment to the Electricity Act, currently, the focus of the amendment is on competition and compliance

ELECTRICITY (AMENDMENT) BILL, 2021

DUES OF DISCOMS TO GENERATION COMPANIES (IN RS CRORE)

8 millenniumpostWorldmpFRIDAY, 30 JULY, 2021 | NEW DELHI

China sends new ambassador to US amid strained ties

BEIJING: China's new ambas-sador to the United States out-lined the challenges the two countries face in what has become an increasingly com-petitive and contentious rela-tionship, while refraining from any criticism in short remarks after arriving to take up his new post.

China and the United States are entering a new round of mutual exploration, understanding and adapta-tion, trying to find a way to get along with each other in the new era," Qin Gang said in remarks posted by the Chinese Embassy in Washington after his arrival Wednesday.

Qin's arrival comes as rela-tions with the US have plunged to their worst level in decades with no sign of bottoming out. The two sides remain sharply at odds over a host of issues, including trade, technology, cybersecurity, human rights and China's increasingly asser-

tive foreign policy under Presi-dent Xi Jinping.

Qin, 55, most recently was one of China's nine vice for-eign ministers and has been ministry spokesperson twice, gaining a reputation for tart responses that have now become standard fare among those in that position.

His open remarks towards the West and the U.S. are

tougher than Chinese ambas-sadors of previous terms, said Shi Yinhong, professor of international relations at Ren-min University in Beijing.

The US currently has no ambassador in Beijing, although President Joe Biden is expected to nominate Nicholas Burns, a former ambassador to NATO and State Department spokesperson. AGENCIES

Qin Gang

Huge 8.2-magnitude quake hits AlaskaPERRYVILLE (US): A pow-erful earthquake which struck just off Alaska's southern coast caused prolonged shaking and prompted tsunami warnings that sent people scrambling for shelters.

Residents reported only minor damage, but officials said that could change after sunrise and people get a bet-ter look.

The National Tsunami Warning Center canceled the warnings early Thursday when the biggest wave, of just over a half foot, was recorded in Old Harbor.

A tsunami warning that had

also been issued for Hawaii was also cancelled, and officials said there was no threat to Guam, American Samoa or the Com-monwealth of Northern Mari-ana Islands.

The warning for Alaska covered nearly a 1,000-mile (1,600-kilometer) stretch from Prince William Sound to Samalga Island, Alaska, near the end of the Aleutian Islands.

The U.S. Geological Sur-vey said the quake was mag-nitude 8.2 and hit 56 miles (91 kilometers) east south-east of Perryville, Alaska at about 8:15 p.m. Wednesday. The quake was about 29 miles

(46 kilometers) below the sur-face of the ocean, according to USGS.

Patrick Mayer, the superin-tendent of schools for the Aleu-tians East Borough, was sitting in his kitchen in the commu-nity of Sand Point when shak-ing from the quake started.

It started to go and just didn't stop, Mayer told the Anchorage Daily News. It went on for a long time and there were several aftershocks, too. The pantry is empty all over the floor, the fridge is empty all over the floor.

On the Kenai Peninsula, a steady stream of cars were seen

evacuating the Homer Spit, a jut of land extending nearly 5 miles (8 kilometers) into Kachemak Bay that is a draw for tourists and fishermen.

In King Cove, up to 400 people took shelter in the school gym.

We're used to this. This is pretty normal for this area to get these kind of quakes, and when the tsunami sirens go off, it's just something we do, school principal Paul Barker told the Anchorage newspaper. It's not something you ever get used to, but it's part of the job living here and being part of the community. AGENCIES

Wildfire rages for 2nd day in Lebanon

QOBAYAT (Lebanon): Leba-nese firefighters are struggling for the second day to contain wildfires in the country's north that have spread across the bor-der into Syria, civil defense officials in both countries said Thursday.

The fires killed at least one person, a 15-year-old boy, who was helping firefighting efforts in Lebanon.

Lebanon's civil defense said it deployed 25 fire trucks, sup-ported by four air force heli-copters and military units, to put out the blaze.

But the fires continued to rage, spreading east, and have already affected large swathes of forest in the mountainous north.

Residents posted videos and images of scorched for-ests, blackened trees and fires on mountaintops, as the blaze closes in on the village of Qobayat. AGENCIES

150 killed, many more missing in Afghanistan flash floods

KABUL: Flash flooding killed 150 people in a remote area in Afghanistan's mountainous northeastern Nuristan prov-ince controlled by the Taliban, a spokesman for the insurgents said Thursday. The provincial government appealed to the Taliban to allow rescue teams into the area to help.

Taliban spokesman Zabihul-lah Mujahed said heavy rains late Wednesday caused the flash flooding.

In a statement, Mujahid said the insurgents ordered their own rescue crews to the affected area. He also said the Taliban have also ordered that 5 mil-lion Afghanis or about 62,000 be spent aiding the clean up and the villagers affected by the flooding. However, it is unclear how equipped the Taliban are to deal with emergencies in areas under their control, which are mostly rural areas.

We re calling on the public to offer as much help as they can to the affected people of Merdesh village, Mujahid said in the statement, adding that charitable organizations are also being asked to assist. Reports reaching Parun, the Nuristan

provincial capital, said water had inundated Merdesh. The village is located in Nuristan's Kamdesh district, not far from the border with neighboring Pakistan. The provincial gover-nor's spokesman, Mohammad Sayed Mohmand, said the flood-ing destroyed at least 100 homes.

Mohmand said he had received reports of 60 dead but that the death toll is likely much higher. Nuristan is a mountain-ous region and the Taliban con-trol large swaths of the province. Mohmand said dozens of fam-ilies fled the flooding to the neighbouring Kunar region.

In the Afghan capital of

Kabul, Ahmad Samim Azimi, spokesman for the disaster man-agement ministry, said they have reports of at least 100 dead. The Nuristan government appealed to the Taliban to allow rescue teams into their area to offer help, he added. For the past year, a resurgent Taliban have held sway over roughly half of Afghanistan. But since the announced withdrawal of U.S. and NATO troops from the country, the insurgents have swept through dozens of dis-tricts, seizing more land and even taking control of key bor-der crossings with neighboring countries. AGENCIES

Bangladesh: Floods make many Rohingyas homelessDHAKA: Days of heavy rain-fall have pelted Rohingya refugee camps in southern Bangladesh, destroying dwell-ings and sending thousands of people to live with extended family or in communal shelters.

Just in the 24 hours to Wednesday alone, more than 30 centimeters (11.8 inches) of rain fell on the camps in Cox's Bazar district hosting more than 800,000 Rohingya, the U.N. refugee agency said. That's nearly half the average July rainfall in one day while more heavy downpours are expected in the next few days and the monsoon season stretches over the next three months.

The situation is further compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic. There is currently a strict national lockdown in response to rising cases across the country, the agency said.

The agency said it was sad-dened by the deaths of six peo-ple at the camps earlier this week, five in a landslide caused by the rains and a child swept away by floodwaters.

Citing initial reports, the UN High Commissioner

for Refugees said more than 12,000 refugees were affected by the heavy rainfall while an estimated 2,500 shelters have been damaged or destroyed. More than 5,000 refugees have temporarily been relocated to other family member's shel-ters or communal facilities, the agency said in a statement.

Refugees said they were struggling to eat or drink properly.

Due to the continuous rain-fall for the last four days, today my house is full of water, says Khatija Begum, who has five children. We are not even able to eat. Begum says she fears her children will drown and die in their sleep. AGENCIES

The provincial govt appealed to the Taliban to allow rescue teams into the area to help

Rohingya refugee children play in flood waters at the Rohingya refugee camp in Kutupalong, Bangladesh PTI

Covid: Europe on vacation, but vaccinations not taking a break

CARRY-LE-ROUET (France): Europe’s famed summer hol-iday season is in full swing, but efforts to inoculate people against the Coronavirus are not taking a break.

Instead, with lockdowns easing despite concerns about variants and nations looking to breathe new life into their ailing tourism industries, vaccinations are being taken to vacation-ers. It’s all part of an effort to maintain momentum in cam-paigns to protect against the pandemic that has killed more than 1 million across the conti-nent, including in the European Union, the United Kingdom and Russia.

From France’s sun-kissed Mediterranean coast to the azure waters of Italy’s Adriatic beaches and Russian Black Sea resorts, health authorities are trying to make a COVID-19 shot as much part of this sum-mer as sunscreen and shades for those who are not yet fully vaccinated.

The new drive to take shots to tourists is a way of adapt-ing to Europe’s annual summer migration, when it seems whole cities empty of their residents for weeks. Those long absences from home pose a particular challenge for many nations European, where public health systems often focus on deliver-ing vaccines to people based on where they live.

In Britain, where 70% of adults already are fully vacci-

nated, campaigns now are aimed at the younger generations with walk-in pop-up clinics in parks, a recent event complete with DJ at the Tate Modern museum and shots on offer to music lovers at the Latitude Festival.

Mickael Bomard, from Le Plessis-Robinson in the Paris region, recently took his 15-year-old son Nolan to a squat building just meters (yards) from the gently lapping waves of the Mediterranean at Carry-le-Rouet, a popular holiday spot near the port city of Marseille.

Given the measures that are being taken now and the obligations when school starts again in September, we have decided to get him vaccinated, Bomard said.

The vaccination center is giving shots to about 200 people each day vacationers and locals says Agnes Gatto, a nurse who runs the facility.

In France, where resistance to the vaccine has been particu-

larly stubborn, a new rule came into effect last week that forces those who want to visit public sites ranging from cinemas to casinos to the Eiffel Tower to get a pass that shows they are either fully vaccinated, have tested negative for the Coronavirus or recovered from COVID-19. The measure will be extended to restaurants and cafes from next month. That’s part of the reason more people are leaving the sand for a shot in the arm.

It was enough to push Bomard to take Nolan: Not being able to go out for dinner together with the family, go to restaurants, and maybe hav-ing to find at the last minute an appointment in a packed vaccination center in Septem-ber in order for him to go to middle school.

After a slow start to vacci-nations, 57% of adults in the European Union are now fully vaccinated against COVID-19, the bloc’s executive says. AGENCIES

millenniumpost NO H ALF TR U THS

millenniumpost.in

I, Vinod Kumar Upadhyay S/o Moti Ram Upadhyay R/o Flat No. 6, Khasra No 721, 2nd Floor, Behind Allahabad Bank, Burari, Delhi - 110084 have changed the name of my minor daughter from Chitra Upadhyay to Ayushi Upadhyay for all future purposes.

CHANGE OF NAME

On line bid on item rate basis are invited by the Executive Engineer Jal Shakti Vibhag Division Dharampur Bharari on behalf of Governor of Himachal Pradesh. In electronic tendering system in two covers for the under mentioned works from the contractors/ firms of appropriate class enlisted with Himachal Pradesh Jal Shakti Vibhag. Sr.No.1. Name of Work:- Construction of Junior Engineer Residence & store at Tihra in Tehsil Dharampur District Mandi (HP) (SH:- Construction of JE Residence & Sectional store i/c Sanitary & Electrical installations, Septic tank) Estimated Cost:- 32,06,569/- Earnest Money:-55,599/- Cost of Tender Form :-Rs.400/- Time limit:-Nine months.1. KEY DATES:- I. Date of online publication. 29.07.2021at 5.00 P.M.II. Downloading of e-tender documents. 29.07.2021 at 5.00 P.M.III. Last date of submission of e-tender. 04.08.2021 upto 5.00 P.M.IV. Last date for Physical submission of Earnest Money and cost of tender documents etc. 05.08.2021 upto 11:00 A.M.V. Date of opening online bids 05.08.2021 at 11:30 A.M.The tender forms and other detailed conditions can be obtained from the website www.hptenders.gov.in

Executive Engineer Jal Shakti Division Dharampur

No 2840/2021-2022 Bharari

HIMACHAL PRADESH JAL SHAKTI VIBHAG

NOTICE INVITING E-TENDER

9millenniumpost Business mpNEW DELHI | FRIDAY, 30 JULY, 2021

JAMSHEDPUR: Celebrat-ing Jehangir Ratanji Dadab-hoy (JRD) Tata’s vision for a developed and happy country on his 117th Birth Anniversary, Tata Steel today organised mul-tiple events and programmes across its operating locations. Observing social distancing guidelines owing to the pre-vailing COVID-19 pandemic, most of these engagement ini-tiatives were carried out using digital platforms.

Recognising JRD Tata’s pas-sion for fitness and sports, the day started with 320+ employ-ees of Tata Steel participating in a Virtual Walkathon.

This was followed by a digital homage where the Company’s Senior Leader-ship and employees together paid tribute to the pioneering icon who steered the growth of the Tata group for over half a century.

In his tribute, TV Nar-endran, CEO & Managing Director, Tata Steel, said: “JRD epitomised the spirit and the values of the Tata group and shaped the destiny of the group and of Tata Steel for multiple

decades. His letters reveal the concern he had for peo-ple and his passion for excel-lence. Every time we celebrate his birthday, it is an opportu-nity for us to pledge to carry forward his legacy.”

The day also saw an inspir-ing session with Infosys Foun-dation Chairperson Sudha Murthy. She, who began her career with TELCO (now Tata Motors), was joined by Koushik Chatterjee, Execu-tive Director & Chief Finan-cial Officer, Tata Steel, for an engaging ‘Window On the World’ (WOW) session on the

importance of ethical prac-tices in the corporate world. The Padma Shri awardee, who had interacted with JRD Tata before leaving the Tata group in 1982, said: “What I learnt from JRD and from my experience working with the Tatas will always remain with me. The value placed on being magnanimous, as well as the importance of taking care of your employees, espe-cially female employees. The way JRD lived his life showed me the significance of leading a simple life, irrespective of your position.” MPOST

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: The govern-ment on Thursday permitted 100 per cent foreign investment under the automatic route in oil and gas PSUs which have received in-principle approval for strategic disinvestment.

The move would facilitate privatisation of India’s second biggest oil refiner Bharat Petro-leum Corp Ltd (BPCL).

The government is pri-vatising BPCL and selling its entire 52.98 per cent stake in the company.

According to a press note of the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), a new clause has been added to the FDI policy for oil and natural gas sector.

“Foreign investment up to 100 per cent under the auto-matic route is allowed in case an ‘in-principle’ approval for strategic disinvestment of a PSU has been granted by the government,” it said.

The decision regarding this was taken by the Union Cabi-net last week.

Two out of the three com-panies that have put in an initial

expression of interest (EoI) for buying out the government’s entire 52.98 per cent stake in BPCL are foreign entities.

The FDI limit in PSU-pro-

moted oil refineries will con-tinue at 49 per cent — a limit that was set in March 2008.

As of now, the government is selling the stake in only

BPCL. Indian Oil Corpora-tion (IOC), the nation’s larg-est, is the only other oil refining and marketing company under direct government control.

Hindustan Petroleum Cor-poration Ltd (HPCL) is now a subsidiary of state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC).

The government had in March 2008 raised the FDI limit in oil refineries pro-moted by public sector com-panies from 26 per cent to 49 per cent.

The firm acquiring the government’s 52.98 per cent stake in BPCL will also have to make an open offer to buy an additional 26 per cent stake from other stakeholders at the same price, as per the takeover rules. Mining-to-oil conglomerate Vedanta and US-based private equity firms Apollo Global and I Squared Capital’s arm Think Gas are in the race to buy the govern-ment’s stake in BPCL.

MUMBAI: India’s gold demand increased by 19.2 per cent to 76.1 tonne during the April-June quarter this year, largely due to low base effect, owing to the nationwide lockdown that hit economic activity last year, the World Gold Council (WGC) said in a report.

The overall gold demand during the second quarter of 2020 calendar year stood at 63.8 tonnes, according to the WGC’s ‘Gold Demand Trends Q2 2021’ report.

In value terms, India’s gold demand witnessed 23 per cent growth during April-June quar-ter at Rs 32,810 crore, compared to Rs 26,600 crore during the corresponding period of 2020.

However, demand plunged 46 per cent quarter-on quarter as the second wave of COVID-19 hit the nation, according to the report. “Demand in H1 totalled 157.6 tonnes, which was 46 per cent below H1 2019, and 39 per cent lower than the H1 average from 2015-2019,” the WGC data stated.

“The second quarter of 2021 was marked by widespread regional lockdowns following a rise in COVID infections. Unlike the previous year when a national lockdown took busi-nesses by surprise, this quarter was relatively better as busi-nesses were more prepared.

“Demand in Q2 2021, showed a 19.2 per cent year-on-year increase on a very low base of Q2’ 2020, the impact was, however, severe as it muted demand during Akshaya Tritiya and wedding season in Q2,” WGC Regional CEO, India, Somasundaram PR said.

Total jewellery demand dur-ing the second quarter was up by 25 per cent at 55.1 tonne, com-pared to 44 tonnes in the same quarter last year, the report said.

In value terms jewellery demand was up by 29 per cent at Rs 23,750 crores compared to Rs 18,350 crore in the corre-sponding period last year.

Total investment demand during the second quarter increased by 6 per cent in the country at 21 tonnes in com-parison with 19.8 tonnes dur-ing April-June 2020.

Gold Investment demand in value terms went up by 10 per cent at Rs 9,060 crore, against Rs 8,250 crore in the same quarter of 2020. Total gold recycled in India during the second quar-ter was 19.7 tonnes compared to 13.8 tonnes in April-June 2020, an increase of 43 per cent.

Gold imports in India surged to 120.4 tonnes during April-June quarter, as com-pared to 10.9 tonnes in Q2 2020, according to the WGC data.

Somasundaram further noted that the digital solutions and pause in restrictions in some pockets helped a growth of 25 per cent in jewellery demand, to 55.1 tonnes.

“Investment demand grew 6 per cent to 21 tonnes as prices softened. Interestingly, as imports surged to 120.4 tonnes

in anticipation of pick up in fab-rication. Overall, gold demand in India in H1 2021 was 216.1 tonnes, up 30 per cent versus H1 2020,” he added.

Going forward, he said, demand is expected to come back in a big way, however, the consumer confidence and busi-ness response are subject to the impact of a looming threat of third wave of COVID and the pace of economic recovery.

“One view, most comforting, is that given the pace of vaccina-tion and the sero survey results, as a society, we may learn to live with COVID and its vari-ants, ensuring businesses and sales become more resilient,” he pointed out. Dhanteras and the upcoming season, which has more auspicious wedding days in Q4 2021, compared to the previous year appear positive for demand, said Somasundaram.

Moreover, even as there was a strong recovery in consumer demand, global gold demand was flat with a 1 per cent dip during the April-June quarter at 955.1 tonne compared to the same period in 2020, following modest inflows into ETFs, the World Gold Council (WGC) said. Overall gold demand stood at 960.5 tonne during April-June quarter in 2020, according to the WGC’s ‘Gold Demand Trends Q2 2021’ report.

The report revealed that between April and June, most consumer gold purchases were positive as jewellery demand grew by 60 per cent at 390.7 tonne compared to 244.5 tonne in the same quarter last year, mainly driven by China and India. PTI

Govt allows 100% FDI in oil PSUs approved for divestmentThe move would facilitate privatisation of Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd

Highlights » The government is privatising BPCL and selling its entire 52.98 per cent stake in the company » Two out of the three companies that have put in an initial expression of interest (EoI) for buying out the government’s entire 52.98 per cent stake in BPCL are foreign entities » The FDI limit in PSU-promoted oil refineries will continue at 49 per cent — a limit that was set in March 2008

Mining-to-oil conglomerate Vedanta and US-based private equity firms Apollo Global and I Squared Capital’s arm Think Gas are in the race to buy the government’s stake in BPCL

India’s gold demand up 19% to 76 tonne in Q1: WGC

Global gold demand was flat with a 1% dip during Q1 FY22 at 955.1 tonne compared to same period in 2020

RAHUL SINGH

NOIDA: In order to boost investment in the region and create employment opportu-nities, the Noida authority has allotted land to Adani enter-prises limited in sector 62 of Noida which will attract an invest worth Rs 2,400 crores and will generate employment for nearly 1350 people.

A total of 34,275 square meters of land has been allot-ted where the company is planning to set up one of its largest data centres. Through allotment the Noida authority will generate a revenue of Rs

103.41 crores. Besides Adani, the Noida

Authority has also allotted another 16,350 sqm land in sector 145 to MAQ India to set up a IT facility. The company will invest Rs 250 crores in the region creating job opportunities for nearly 2500 people while a revenue

worth Rs 33.90 crores will be generated to Noida authority against the allotment.

In these two allotments, Noida authority will get rev-enues of Rs 137.31 crore, with an investment potential of Rs2,650 crore and employ-ment for 3,850 persons.

A senior Noida author-ity officer informed that the authority focuses on encour-aging industrialisation in the city with keeping priority to boost up IT/ITES schemes so as to create new job opportu-nities and revenue generation under their scheme launched in 2020.

NOIDA allots land to Adani for data centreThrough allotment the Noida authority will generate a revenue of Rs 103.41 crores

Tata Steel celebrates JRD Tata’s vision on his 117th birth anniversary

NEW DELHI: The Union Cabinet has approved amend-ments to the General Insurance Business (Nationalisation) Act (GIBNA) to facilitate privati-sation of public sector general insurance firms, sources said.

The Bill is likely to be tabled in Parliament in the ongoing monsoon session itself, they added.

The amendment to GIBNA was approved by the Union Cabinet on Wednesday, the sources said, adding the Bill seeks to enable greater private participation in the public sec-tor insurance companies.

The Act, which came into force in 1972, provided for the acquisition and transfer of shares of Indian insurance companies and undertakings of other existing insurers in order to serve better the needs of the economy by securing the devel-opment of general insurance business.

Finance Minister Nir-mala Sitharaman in her Bud-get 2021-22 had announced a big-ticket privatisation agenda, including privatisation of two public sector banks and one general insurance company.

As part of the divestment strategy for the financial sector, the government has decided to go for a mega initial public offering (IPO) of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) and residual stake sale in IDBI Bank during this financial year.

The government has bud-geted Rs 1.75 lakh crore from stake sale in public sector com-panies and financial institu-tions during 2021-22.

Govt clears amendments to GIBNA for privatisation of general insurance PSUs

The Niti Aayog was entrusted with the task of rec-ommending names for the pri-vatisation of two public sector banks and one general insur-ance company.

The government think-tank is believed to have sug-gested the name of United India Insurance to the Core Group of Secretaries on Disin-vestment, headed by the Cabi-net Secretary.

Aside from this, the gov-ernment is gearing up to table amendments to the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, to enable privatisation of two public sec-tor banks.

Amendments would be required in the Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act, 1970, and the Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act, 1980, for privatisation, the sources said. PTI

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court Thursday reserved ver-dict on e-commerce giant Amazon’s pleas against the merger of Future Retail Ltd (FRL) with Reliance Retail and would rule whether Sin-gapore’s Emergency Arbitra-tor (EA) award, restraining the Rs 24,731 crore deal, was valid under Indian law and can be enforced.

Amazon.com NV Invest-ment Holdings LLC and FRL are embroiled in a bitter legal fight over the deal and the US-based firm has sought in the apex court that the EA award was valid and enforceable.

So we close the case now. The judgement is reserved, a bench of justices R F Nari-man and B R Gavai said after senior advocates Har-ish Salve and Gopal Subra-manium, appearing for FRL and Amazon respectively, con-cluded their submissions in the case.

The top court, which had earlier asked the National Com-pany Law Tribunal (NCLT) not

to pass the final order related to regulatory approvals for the FRL-RRL amalgamation, com-menced hearing the final argu-ments on July 20.

We will decide whether EA award falls under section 17 (1) (which deals with interim award by arbitral tribunal) of the Arbitration and Con-ciliation Act. And if yes, then whether it can be enforced under section 17 (2) (of the Act), the bench said.

The provisions of the Act deal with the interim measures ordered by an arbitral tribunal and section 17 (1) says: Unless otherwise agreed by the parties, the arbitral tribunal may, at the request of a party, order a party to take any interim measure of protection as the arbitral tribu-nal may consider necessary in respect of the subject-matter of the dispute.

Section 17 (2) provides that the arbitral tribunal may require a party to provide appropriate security in con-nection with an interim mea-sure ordered. PTI

SC reserves verdict on Amazon’s pleas against

FRL-Reliance deal

NEW DELHI: Coal supply to power plants dipped dur-ing the last three years, but declined more in 2020-21 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Parliament was informed on Thursday.

Coal supplies to power plants stood at 643.7 million tonnes in 2018-19, 638.7 mil-lion tonnes in 2019-20 and 596.3 million tonnes in 2020-21.

It was 171.7 million tonnes during April to June in 2021.

“The receipt of coal has reg-istered a slight decline during the last three years. However, during 2020-21 the decline was more due to the effect of COVID-19 pandemic prevail-ing in the country,” Power Min-ister R K Singh said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.

Moreover, he said the share of power generation from non-fossil fuels (renewable energy) has also been increasing consis-tently over the years, leading to reduction in plant load factor (PLF or capacity utilisation) of coal-based power plants.

The gas consumption by gas-based power plants was con-sistent at about 30 MMSCMD (million metric standard cubic metre per day), the minister told the House. PTI

Coal supply to power plants dipped in past 3 years: Govt

GOVERNMENT OF WEST BENGAL NOTICE INVITING e- TENDER

E- Tenders for construction of Community Tank with all necessary arrangements at Karnagarh NIT ID- 2021_DMPMM_338060_1. Bid submission closing date for the tender is 11 Aug-2021 11.00 AM. For details see website. https://wbtenders.gov.in & https://www.paschimmedinipur.gov.in

Sd/- District Magistrate Paschim Medinipur

Memo No.843(3)/ICA/Pas.Mid Dated:29.07.2021

GOVERNMENT OF WEST BENGAL NOTICE INVITING e- TENDER

E- Tenders for beautification by gardening at Midnapore Medical College Hospital. The NIT No.is DMPMM/Development & Planning Section /e- NIT- 20/2021-22 & NIT ID is2021_ DMPMM _338035_1. Bid submission closing date for the tender is 6.8.2021 till 5.30PM. For details see website. https://wbtenders.gov.in & https://www.paschimmedinipur.gov.in

Sd/- District Magistrate (Dev) Paschim Medinipur

Memo No.842(2)/ICA/Pas.Mid Dated:29.07.2021

GOVERNMENT OF WEST BENGAL North 24 Parganas Zilla Parishad Tender

Additional Executive Officer, North 24 Parganas Zilla Parishad invites online tender as follows – NIT NO N - 04 / 21 - 22 (Eng) (Online) dt: 27/07/2021. Details may be obtained from the website https://wbtenders.gov.in.

Sd/- Additional Executive Officer,North 24 Parganas Zilla Parishad.

1179(4)/DICO/N24Pgs, dt. 29.07.2021

ICA- 1047(2)/2021

ICA- T9103(4)/2021

ICA- T9106(5)/2021

ICA- T9110(3)/2021

ICA- T9123(2)/2021

ICA- T9127(3)/2021

ICA- T9134(2)/2021

ICA- T9136(3)/2021ICA- T9139(2)/2021ICA- T9141(2)/2021

ICA- T9146(2)/2021

GOVERNMENT OF WEST BENGAL DISTRICT HEALTH & FAMILY WELFARE SAMITI

PURBA MEDINIPUR E-tenders are invited from reputed agencies forEI Works at Basulia RH. NIT No- ENGG/Electrical/DH&FWS/01 (2nd call). Starting Date- 29.07.2021 and Closing Date 06.08.2021 for more details visit to www.purbamedinipur.gov.in, www.wbhealth.gov.in and https://wbtenders.gov.in/or office of the undersigned.

Sd/- CMOH & Secretary

DH&FWS,PurbaMedinipur

ICA- T9148(3)/2021

ICA- T9150(3)/2021

ICA- T9152(3)/2021

ICA- T9114(2)/2021

10 millenniumpostBusinessmp FRIDAY, 30 JULY, 2021 | NEW DELHI

NEW DELHI: Air India has sold its 115 properties for Rs 738 crore since 2015 to offset its debt, Minister of State for Civil Aviation V K Singh said on Thursday.

According to the decision of Air India Specific Alternative Mechanism (AISAM) in 2018, disinvestment-bound Air India has been monetising its immov-able assets to offset its debt. The carrier had a debt of around Rs 60,000 crore as on March 2019.

In his written reply to a ques-tion in Lok Sabha, Singh said on

Thursday, “Air India has iden-tified 111 parcels of properties for monetization; out of which 106 parcels of properties are in India and the rest five are over-seas properties.”

The 111 parcels of properties consist of 211 units, which are under monetization, he added.

Singh said, “Air India has so far received Rs 738 crore from sale of 115 units from 2015 to 12th July, 2021. Air India also realises about Rs 100 crore per annum from lease rental income.”

The Centre is currently in the process of selling Air India.

Financial bids for the carrier are likely to be received from qualified interested bidders by September 15. PTI

NEW DELHI: The Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways has set up a committee to firm up a comprehensive plan to start ferry service between Karaikal Port, India and Kankesanthurai Port, Sri Lanka, Parliament was informed on Thursday.

Replying to a question in the Lok Sabha, Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sar-bananda Sonowal said the Puducherry government has informed that King Lear Ltd has submitted a proposal regarding

starting of ferry service between Karaikal Port and KKS Port.

The Puducherry govern-ment has been directed to obtain necessary clearances from the Ministry of Home Affairs and other relevant central govern-ment organisations, wherever applicable, he added.

The Union government has received a proposal from the Puducherry government and the government of Sri Lanka on the commencement of passen-ger shipping between Karaikal,

Puducherry, and Kankesanthu-rai (KKS Port) Jaffna, Sri Lanka under the provisions of the memorandum of understand-ing (MoU) signed between the two countries in 2011.

Replying to a separate ques-tion, Sonowal said to promote Inland Waterways in the coun-try, 11 waterways have been declared as National Waterways under the National Waterways Act 2016, spread over 24 states in the country, which came into effect from April 12, 2016.

Replying to another ques-tion, the minister said India has the potential to become the leader of the global ship recy-cling business. This is proposed to be achieved by augment-ing the existing ship recycling capacity in the country, he added. In reply to a question, Sonowal said the total expen-diture incurred under capacity augmentation of the National Waterway-1 (Jal Marg Vikas) Project as of June 30, 2021, is Rs 1,885.98 crore. PTI

NEW DELHI: The new Income Tax Department web-site, which has been marred by glitches, has successfully received over 25 lakh returns, more than 3.57 crore unique logins and has allocated over 7.90 lakh e-PANs, according to latest official data on Thursday.

The portal has been launched on June 7 with the new domain name www.inco-metax.gov.in, but it hit rough weather as a number of its functionalities did not func-tion properly.

Official sources in the tax department, however, say that the e-filing 2.0 website is now “gathering pace and processes are getting smooth”.

According to official data, the e-filing website has seen 25,82,175 Income Tax Returns (ITRs) being filed successfully, has registered 4,57,55,091 log-ins and 3,57,47,303 unique log-ins by taxpayers over the last over two weeks time.

A total of 80,23,266 ITRs have been drafted, over 6.07 lakh forms have been drafted out of which 5,51,150 were filed at the portal, the data stated.

The website also received 69,45,539 successful requests for linking of the Permanent Account Number (PAN) with Aadhaar, while it allocated 7,90,404 e-PANs over the platform.

A total of 2,92,601 digital

signature certificates or DSC have also been received at the portal during the last over two weeks time period, it said.

The functionalities are get-

ting smoothened now and they are activated one after the other as is evident by the figures that the new portal is processing, official sources said.

We hope that the website will be absolutely normal to use sooner than later, a senior tax department officer said.

Officials said over 1.5 lakh ITRs every day are being filed at the portal since the last few days.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday had said that she wished that the Infosys-developed website did not have such a launch and she hoped that the issues will be sorted out soon.

“I wish it (technical issues) hadn’t happened this way. But we are correcting the course and sooner the portal will be as is planned, easy to use,” she told reporters.

“Infosys is quite closely working with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) and the ministry and rapidly, at least from what I hear from chartered accoun-tants and income tax profes-sionals, there is definitely a lot of improvement,” Sitharaman said. The government has so far paid Rs 164.5 crore to Infosys between January 2019 to June 2021 for developing the portal.

Sitharaman had on June 22 called a meeting with key offi-cials of Infosys to review the issues on the portal in which the ICAI representatives high-lighted the issues faced by tax-payers and tax professionals on the portal. PTI

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: Chief Economic Adviser (CEA) K V Subrama-nian on Thursday said that ratio-nalisation of GST rate structure is on the government’s agenda and it is definitely going to happen.

Further, he said that a three-rate structure is very important and there is also a need to fix inverted duty structure as far as the GST is concerned.

The Goods and Services Tax (GST), which amalgam-ates more than a dozen central and state levies like excise duty, service tax and VAT, was intro-duced in July 2017. GST cur-rently has five rate structures — 0.25 per cent, 5 per cent, 12 per cent, 18 per cent and 28 per cent.

To a question if rate struc-ture rationalisation under GST needed, Subramanian said, “I think that’s something definitely going to happen. The original plan was to have a three-rate structure. But I think what we have to be very cognizant about is that oftentimes with policy-making you don’t want perfect to actually become the enemy of the excellent.”

A majority of common use items have been exempted from GST, while 28 per cent tax is levied on luxury, demerit and ‘sin goods’.

“The GST, the way it got cre-ated with actually five rates was basically excellent because now we are seeing the impact on GST’s amounts that are com-ing in...the policymakers then must be given credit for actu-ally being practical enough to say, let’s get it going first,” he said

at a virtual event organised by industry body Assocham.

“The three-rate structure is something... definitely impor-tant and even the inverted duty structure (is) also equally important to actually fix. I think the government is definitely seized of the matter. So we should hopefully see traction on that soon,” he said.

GST collection slipped below Rs 1 lakh crore in June for the first time in eight months as the second wave of the Covid pandemic and the resultant lockdowns hit businesses and the economy.

At Rs 92,849 crore, GST collection was the lowest in 10 months since August 2020, when it was Rs 86,449 crore. The GST collections in June 2021 are primarily for supplies made in May -- a month when most states were under differ-ent levels of lockdown, reduc-ing business activity.

Highlighting the importance of the financial sector in the

growth of the economy, Subra-manian said India needs more global size banks.

India is the fifth largest econ-omy of the world but the bank-ing system is still has a lot of catching up to do, he said adding that domestically some could be large but not large enough to be included in global top 50 list.

State Bank of India (SBI) at the 55th position is the only bank in the global top 100 list. China has 18 banks while the US has 12 in the list.

Speaking on the occasion, Sebi’s Whole Time Member G Mahalingam said developing a credit default swap (CDS) mar-ket could help in deepening cor-porate debt market.

“We have been trying our level best, but there have been a lot of constraining features as far as CDS is concerned. This is one area where we need to work which will be completely and completely sector agnos-tic,” he said.

Mahalingam suggested the

infrastructure sector deserves at least some kind of a partial credit enhancement kind of facilities and there is a need to have a look at this.

“I would still repeat a CDS is something which we need to really work through all the pol-icymakers, putting their heads together to deepen the corporate bond market,” he said.

He also said there are regu-latory restrictions on insurance and pension funds for invest-ment in corporate bonds and there is to examine the issue.

Sebi and the government has taken a number of steps to deepen the corporate bond market, he added.

Moreover, K V Subramanian said headline inflation will come down under the 6 per cent mark in July itself but will stay at an elevated level of over 5 per cent for some time.

Such an outcome will get the price rise back into the upper-end of the target band given to RBI, he said, adding that consumer price inflation had breached the mark for three consecutive quarters last fiscal because of supply side issues like challenges in movement of goods.

“With reasonable proba-bility, I expect this month the (inflation) print to come less than 6 per cent,” Subramanian told a conference organised by industry lobby Ficci.

Right after data for May showing inflation at 6.4 per cent had come out, Subrama-nian said he had predicted it will cool down in internal meetings and also during “deliberations with the regulator”.

The sequential momentum

in the number is range-bound despite the challenges posed by factors like commodity price rises, he added.

The CEA said in FY21, infla-tion was impacted because of the first wave of the pandemic which lasted longer, while the second wave saw distributed lockdowns and did not have a deep impact on inflation.

The RBI has been holding rates to aid growth despite the surge in inflation. However, after the recent data prints, concerns have been expressed over the price rise. The next monetary policy meeting of the central bank will be held during August 4 - 6.

On the growth front, Subra-manian said the FY22 number should be within the ballpark of 10.5 per cent as estimated by the finance ministry earlier. It can be noted that the RBI had revised down its estimate to 9.5 per cent given the reverses of the second wave.

Subramanian added that the second wave lasted only for 6-8 weeks, and hence its impact on growth will not be as stark as the first wave of the pandemic which was on for 6 months, and led to a 7.3 per cent contraction in the GDP in FY21.

Subramanian insisted that when we compare the eco-nomic performance in FY21 with the one in the first quarter of this fiscal, the economy did achieve a V-shaped recovery at the macro level. However, some segments like the urban poor and small businesses did not achieve the same success as large firms, leading some to call it a K-shaped recovery which is inequitable, he said.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

MUMBAI: Equity indi-ces found firmer ground on Thursday after three sessions of losses, buoyed by metal and IT counters, in tandem with a positive trend overseas after the US Federal Reserve reiterated its dovish policy stance.

A strengthening rupee and short-covering in select heavy-weights added to the momen-tum, traders said.

The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 209.36 points or 0.40 per cent to close at 52,653.07, while the broader NSE Nifty advanced 69.05 points or 0.44 per cent to 15,778.45.

Tata Steel hogged the lime-light in the Sensex pack, rally-ing 6.87 per cent, followed by Bajaj Finserv, SBI, HCL Tech, Sun Pharma, Bajaj Finance and Reliance Industries.

On the other hand, Maruti, PowerGrid, Bajaj Auto, ITC, Dr Reddy’s and HUL were among the laggards, shedding up to 2.21 per cent.

Sectorally, BSE metal, basic materials, realty and IT indices rallied as much as 5.54 per cent, while FMCG, telecom, power, oil and gas, auto and healthcare ended in the red.

Broader BSE midcap and smallcap indices rose up to 0.90 per cent.

World stocks advanced after the Federal Reserve kept rates at near-zero and said it is in no hurry to taper its asset purchase program.

Meanwhile, Chinese authorities met with banks to ease concerns about the recent regulatory crackdown on inter-net companies.

In Asia, bourses in Shang-hai, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Seoul ended with gains. Equi-ties in Europe were also trading on a positive note in mid-ses-sion deals.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude rose 0.43 per cent to $74.19 per barrel.

Foreign institutional inves-tors were net sellers in the capital market on Wednes-

day as they offloaded shares worth Rs 2,274.77 crore, as per exchange data.

‘GST structure rationalisation definitely going to happen’

CEA K V Subramanian says headline inflation will come down under 6% in July itself but will stay at an elevated level of over 5% for some time

Chief Economic Adviser (CEA) K V Subramanian

Markets snap 3-days loss aided by metal & IT stocks

KBK graphicsInfo

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NSE NIFTYIntra-day on July 29, 2021

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MUMBAI: The Indian rupee gained 9 paise and settled for the day at 74.29 (provi-sional) against the US dol-lar on Thursday, supported by a firm trend in domestic equities and weak American currency.

At the interbank forex market, the local unit opened at 74.32 against the green-back and witnessed an intra-day high of 74.22 and a low of 74.34. It finally ended at 74.29 against the American currency, registering a rise of 9 paise over its previous close.

On Wednesday, the rupee had settled at 74.38 against the US dollar.

“Indian rupee appreci-ated as global risk sentiments rebounded, while safe haven dollar declined reacting to the dovish Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC),” Dilip Parmar, Research Analyst, HDFC Securities said, add-ing that FOMC outcomes favoured the risk sentiments as they are not in rush to scale

back asset purchases at-least for next two meetings.

“Spot USDINR is expected to trade with neg-ative bias following weaker dollar index, risk sentiment and strong dollar inflows from initial public offer-ing. The pair is expected to hold support at 74.15 and get resisted around 74.60,” he noted. Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six cur-rencies, dipped 0.30 per cent to 92.04. MPOST

Rupee rises 9 paise to 74.29 against dollar

Air India sold its 115 properties for `738 crore since 2015: Govt

NEW DELHI: The work prog-ress of expressway projects is being monitored by the Road Transport Ministry and the National Highways Authority of India at top level, Parliament was informed on Thursday.

In response to a question in the Lok Sabha, Road Trans-port Minister Nitin Gadkari said that regional offices of NHAI and project implemen-tation units are also monitoring these projects to ensure timely completion.

All expressway projects

are targeted for completion by 2024-25, the minister said.

As per the minister’s written reply, Delhi-Mumbai Express-way (1,291 km), Delhi-Amrit-sar-Katra Expressway (672 km), Bengaluru-Chennai Expressway (262 km), Ahmed-abad-Dholera Expressway (109 km), Kanpur-Lucknow Expressway (63 km), Dwarka Expressway (28 km) and Delhi-Meerut Expressway (82 km) are targeted for completion by the year 2024-25.

“The implementation and

timely completion of projects are monitored by Ministry and National Highways Authority of India at headquarters level as well as regional offices and project implementation units level through periodic review meetings,” Gadkari said.

He informed that as of now, three foreign agencies -- Dhaya Maju Infrastructure (Asia) Sdn. Berhad (DMI), JiangXi Construction Engineering (Group) Corporation Limited & OJSC Euro-Asian Construc-tion Corporation Evrascon are

involved in the construction of Delhi Mumbai Express-way and Delhi Amritsar Katra Expressway through joint ven-tures with Indian infrastruc-ture companies.

Replying to a separate question with regard to vehi-cle scrappage policy, Gada-kri said the ministry does not have any data on the amount being given by scrap compa-nies in lieu of old two-wheelers and four-wheelers and other vehicles under the new vehicle scrappage policy. PTI

Expressway projects being monitored by road Ministry, NHAI at headquarters level: Gadkari

Shipping Ministry sets up panel to firm up plan to start Karaikal-Kankesanthurai ferry NEW DELHI: Markets regu-

lator Sebi has levied a fine of Rs 10 lakh on Karvy Financial Services Ltd for delay in making public announcement to acquire shares of Regaliaa Reality Ltd.

“...by not making the man-datory public announcement within the stipulated time period the Noticee has vio-lated the statutory require-ments of law and accordingly, the Noticee has to be penalised for the same,” Sebi said.

Karvy Financial made pub-lic announcement for open offer with a delay of 81 days, in vio-lation of Substantial Acquisi-

tion of Shares and Takeovers (SAST) norms.

The probe found that Karvy had extended a loan amount of Rs 7 crore to Regaliaa whose promoters had pledged 55.56 per cent of the paid-up share capital in favour of Karvy, in addition to the securities for availing the loan.

Karvy invoked the pledge

as the firm defaulted on pay-ment of instalments. This took its shareholding in the com-pany to 55.56 per cent, thereby breaching the threshold of 25 per cent as stipulated under SAST norms.

Sebi then directed Karvy in October 2016 to make the pub-lic announcement to acquire shares of the target company within 45 days.

However, aggrieved by the regulator’s order, Karvy filed an appeal before the Securities Appellate Tribunal which was dismissed in April 2018, thereby reaffirming Sebi’s decision. PTI

Sebi imposes `10 lakh fine on Karvy

NEW DELHI: Around 1.09 crore MSME borrowers have been provided with guarantee support of Rs 1.65 lakh crore under Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS), Parliament was informed on Thursday.

ECLGS was announced as part of the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Package 2020 with an aim to help MSMEs/small businesses meet their operational liabili-ties and resume businesses in view of the distress caused by the pandemic.

Under the scheme, MLIs (Member Lending Institutions) are provided 100 per cent guar-antee against any losses suf-

fered due to non-repayment of ECLGS funding by borrowers.

The overall cap of admissible guarantee of ECLGS was raised from Rs 3 lakh crore to Rs 4.5 lakh crore on June 28, 2021.

“Under the ECLGS, around 1.09 crore MSME borrow-ers have been provided with guarantee support amount-ing to Rs 1.65 lakh crore as on 02.07.2021,” MSME Minister Narayan Rane said in a writ-ten reply to the Lok Sabha. In a separate reply, he said the gov-ernment has announced that MSME dues should be cleared by government agencies and central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) within 45 days. PTI

1 crore MSME borrowers given Rs 1.65 lakh cr

support under ECLGS

Over 25.82L ITRs filed, 7.90L e-PANs allocated at new IT portalOfficial sources in tax dept say that e-filing 2.0 website is now ‘gathering pace & processes are getting smooth’

NEW DELHI: Global steel giant ArcelorMittal on Thursday posted a net income of $4,005 million for the second quarter ended June 30, 2021. The world’s largest steelmaker had clocked a net loss of $559 million in the year-ago quarter, the company said in a statement.

The Luxembourg-head-quartered integrated steel and mining company follows the January-December fiscal year.

Sales in April-June quarter of 2021 were at $19.3 billion, as compared to $11.0 billion in the second quarter in 2020.

The company said that total steel shipments in the second quarter of 2021 were 30.6 per cent higher at 16.1 million tonne (MT), compared to 14.8 MT in the corresponding quarter of the preceding year. According to the company, its gross debt was at $9.2 billion as of June 30, 2021.

Aditya Mittal, ArcelorMittal Chief Executive Officer, said: “The quarter has seen a con-tinued strong recovery back-drop alongside a sustained lean inventory environment. Our performance is very welcome after the unprecedented dis-ruption the business and our people faced in 2020.” PTI

ArcelorMittal posts Q1 net income of $4,005 mn

11millenniumpost Sport mpNEW DELHI | FRIDAY, 30 JULY, 2021

Djokovic dominates Nishikori, reaches Olympics medal rounds

TOKYO: Kei Nishikori thought he was playing well. Then he played Novak Djokovic.

The top-ranked Serb never gave Nishikori a chance in a 6-2, 6-0 rout of the home favor-ite from Japan to reach the semifinals of the tennis tour-nament at the Tokyo Olympics on Thursday.

"He was defending amaz-ing today everything deep and I was trying to stay with him but I couldn't," Nishikori said.

"I thought I was playing OK but my serving was bad today and he was attacking every (time)."

The dominant performance advanced Djokovic into the medal rounds and more impor-tantly moved him one step closer to finishing off this seg-ment of his Golden Slam bid.

In the women's tourna-ment, 12th-ranked Belinda Bencic of Switzerland beat Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan 7-6 (2), 4-6, 6-3 to reach the

gold-medal match. Djokovic will next face either Alexan-der Zverev of Germany or Jer-emy Chardy of France. The other semifinal match will fea-ture Karen Khachanov of ROC against Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain. Khachanov beat Ugo Humbert of France 7-6 (4), 4-6, 6-3 and Carreno Busta defeated

second-seeded Daniil Medve-dev of ROC 6-2, 7-6 (5).

Djokovic, who has already won the Australian Open, French Open and Wim-bledon this year, needs the Tokyo Games title and the U.S. Open trophy to become the first man to achieve the Golden Slam. AGENCIES

Novak Djokovic, of Serbia, celebrates after defeating Kei Nishikori, of Japan, during the quarterfinals of the tennis competition at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Thursday, in Tokyo, Japan PTI

Lanka expose India's young batsmen's struggles against spin, claim series 2-1COLOMBO: Exposing India's young batsmen's inability to tackle spin, Sri Lanka conjured up a seven-wicket victory in the deciding third Twenty20 to hand the fancied Asian neigh-bours a 2-1 series defeat, here on Thursday.

Leg-spinner Wanindu Hasaranga (4/9) made the Indi-ans dance to his tunes on his 24th birthday, playing a crucial role in restricting them to a pal-try 81 for eight, which is their lowest against the Lankans.

The match was reduced to a no-contest after India's dis-appointing batting display as off-spinner Akila Danajaya too troubled the batsmen though he did not take any wicket.

The COVID-19 related iso-lation of nine players affected the team balance adversely with the rookie Indian bats-men looked miserable with the ball not coming on to the bat.

The small target gave the hosts the luxury to adopt a cautious approach. They too struggled against the Indian spinners before overhauling the target with 5.3 overs to spare. It is Sri Lanka's first ever T20 series win over India.

India had won the preced-ing ODI series 2-1.

Rahul Chahar dismissed both the openers -- Avishka Fernando (12) and Minod

Bhanuka (18) -- and Sadeera Samarawickrama (6) but such a small total did not give India any chance to script a comeback.

Sri Lanka's top batsman Dhananjaya de Silva (23 not out), though, nudged the ball around nicely for singles and doubles to take the side past the finish line.

De Silva showed when scor-ing boundaries is not possible, working the ball around is the best way, something the Indian batsmen failed to do. After shining with ball in his hand, Hasaranga also scored 14 runs.

The footwork of the Indi-ans against the spinners did not inspire any confidence, looking

into future, as they remained doubtful whether to play on front-foot or the back-foot.

Perhaps, they are used to playing on placid IPL tracks where the ball comes on to the bat nicely.

Hasaranga returned excep-tional figures as he took four wickets and conceded only nine runs in his four overs. Dananjaya gave away just 11 runs in his four overs.

Only three Indian batsmen could manage the double-digit score with number seven Kul-deep Yadav being the best with his 23-run unbeaten knock.

Such was the dominance of the home bowlers that India hit only four boundaries in entire

20-over innings.The Sri Lankans threw

themselves on the field, pluck-ing some sensational catches and stopping runs as well with agile efforts.

The pitch was much better than the one used for the sec-ond match and it helped the bowlers as well as in stroke-play, making it an even contest.

There was bounce avail-able and pacer Dushmantha Chameera hit the deck hard to get one to fly, which Shi-khar Dhawan (0) could not connect properly, just man-aging an edge that was taken in slips.

Devdutt Padikkal, who looked in sublime touch, and Ruturaj Gaikwad, played some fluent shots before the hosts suddenly turned the heat on the Indians.

First Padikkal (9) was run out and and then wrist spin-ner Hasaranga caused a flutter by dismissing Sanju Samson (0) and Gaikwad (14) in a space of three balls.

Samson went on back foot to miss the line when he should have been defending on the front foot while Gaik-wad offered the front foot but was hoodwinked by a googly and was adjudged leg-before. It left India reeling at 25 for four inside the Power-play. AGENCIES

Sri Lankan team members congratulate bowler Dushmantha Chameera, second right, for the dismissal of India's captain Shikhar Dhawan during the third Twenty20 cricket match between Sri Lanka and India in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Thursday PTI

Olympic: India face must-

win situation against IrelandTOKYO: Staring at an early exit after three consecutive losses, the Indian women's hockey team can't settle for anything less than a victory against Ireland in its penul-timate pool match here on Friday to keep its quarterfi-nal hopes alive in the Olym-pic Games.

But after three morale-shattering defeats, it would be a Herculean task for the Indi-ans to lift their confidence and outplay a higher ranked side like world no.7 Ireland.

India are currently placed fifth in the six-team Pool A, just below Ireland who have registered just one win and two losses from their three games. India and South Africa are yet to open their accounts. The top four teams from each pool will qualify for the knockout stage.

The road ahead is tough for India as they would need to win both their remaining two games -- against Ireland and South Africa (on Satur-day) -- and improve their goal difference to be on the safe side. They would also need favourable results from other games and hope for a Great Britain victory over Ireland on Saturday. AGENCIES

Mary Kom bows out of OlympicsWINS 2 OUT OF 3 ROUNDS BUT STILL LOSES BOUT

TOKYO: How does one end up losing despite winning?

Sounds odd? This is what happened to one of India's great-est sportspersons in her final Olympic outing.

Six-time world champion M C Mary Kom's (51kg) pur-suit of a second Olympic medal ended in the pre-quarterfinals of the Tokyo Games as she went down to 2016 edition's bronze-medallist Ingrit Valencia in a fiercely-fought showdown here on Thursday.

The funny part, Mary Kom had actually won two of the three rounds.

"I don't know what hap-pened, I thought in the first round, we were both trying to figure out our strategies and I won the next two," said the perplexed legend after the bout.

The Indian trailed 4-1 in the opening round with four of the five judges scoring it 10-9 in favour of Valencia.

In the next two rounds, Mary Kom got three of the five judges to rule in her favour but the overall scoreline was still in favour of Valencia.

The Manipuri clinched the third round too but once again, it was 3-2 and not 4-1 which is what she needed to swing the final score in her favour.

The 38-year-old, who is a multiple-time Asian champion and a bronze-winner from the 2012 London olympics, lost 2-3 to the Colombian, giving it her

all in what would now be her final Olympic bout.

Mary Kom had tears in her eyes and a wide smile on her face when the referee raised Valen-cia's hand at the end of the bout, exhausted after the intense clash.

Despite the heartbreak, Mary Kom said she has no desire to call it quits just yet.

"I can still fight, I am still strong enough. If you have will power (you can fight), of course training is also important along with discipline. I have been fighting for 20 years," she said.

"Manipuri people have fight-ing spirit both men and women. But women have extra," laughed

the mother of four who is also a Rajya Sabha MP.

The way Valencia rushed in when the first bell rang, it was quite obvious that the bout would be high voltage and it was exactly how it turned out to be.

The two were attacking each other from word go and Valencia seemed determined to avenge her previous two losses to the icon.

The Manipuri veteran fought back to claim the second and the third round, landing her trademark right hooks to per-fection. She also deserves credit for keeping the intensity consis-tently high despite the drain-

ing fight."I don't understand this

scoring system, how did she lose the first round 1-4 when there was hardly anything separating these two," national assistant coach and Mary Kom's per-sonal trainer Chhote Lal Yadav told PTI.

"It is a disappointment but that's luck I guess," he added.

The Indian had ear-lier beaten Valencia in the 2019 world championship quarterfinals.

Like Mary Kom, the 32-year-old Valencia is a trailblazer for her country.

There was mutual respect on

display though with Mary Kom offering a warm hug to Valen-cia, who proceeded to raise the Indian's hand to show her admiration.

Meanwhile, M C Mary Kom on Thursday slammed the International Olympic Com-mittee’s Boxing Task Force for “poor judging” in her flyweight (51kg) pre-quarterfinal at the Tokyo Games which she lost despite winning two of the three rounds. The Task Force is conducting the boxing com-petition in Tokyo after the Inter-national Boxing Association (AIBA) was suspended by the IOC for alleged misgovernance and financial wrongdoing.

“I don’t know and under-stand this decision, what’s wrong with the Task Force? What’s wrong with the IOC?” she asked in a telephonic interview to PTI after the 2-3 loss to Colombian Ingrit Valencia in the pre-quar-ters in Tokyo.

“I was also a member of the Task Force. I was even giving them suggestions and support-ing them in ensuring a clean competition. But what have they done with me?” she said. “I was happy inside the ring, when I came out, I was happy because in my mind I knew I had won. When they took me for doping, I was still happy. Only when I saw the social media and my coach (Chhote Lal Yadav repeated it to me), it sunk in that I have lost,” she said. AGENCIES

Six-time world champion slams IOC Boxing Task Force for ‘poor judging’

Victors through the day: Men's hockey team, Sindhu in quartersTOKYO: There were no medals to trigger a frenzy but definitely some top-notch performances that India raised a toast to on day 6 of the Olympic Games, the highlight being the men's hockey team's march into the quarters.

The Manpreet Singh-led men's team hammered defend-ing champion Argentina 4-1 in its penultimate group match to storm into the quarterfinals.

This was after badminton ace P V Sindhu set the tone for the day by advancing to the quarterfinals with a 21-15 21-13 win over Denmark's Mia Blichfeldt, expectedly topping her group in the process.

In the boxing ring, India's first super heavyweight (+91kg) to compete in the Olympics, Satish Kumar, eased into the quarterfinals of his debut Games, defeating Jamaica's Ricardo Brown in his opening bout. In the battle of the debu-tants, the 32-year-old Satish pre-vailed 4-1, a comfortable win for him despite the split verdict.

However, he did end up sus-taining two cuts -- one on his forehead and the other on his chin -- during the bout and is due to take on reigning world champion Bakhodir Jalolov of Uzebkistan.

India started strongly in the golf competition as well with Anirban Lahiri, playing in his second Olympics, off to a solid start, carding a 4-under 67 in the first round to be placed tied 8th at the lightning storm-struck Kasumigaseki Country Club.

The former Asian Tour

No.1 had six birdies against two bogeys and shared the 8th spot with Paul Casey (Great Britain) Alex Noren (Sweden) and Sebastian Munoz (Mexico) at the end of the day.

The other Indian in fray, Udayan Mane, who made the field of 60 at a late stage, had a fine start at 2-under after eight holes. But he finished at 5-over 76 and was last on the leader-board.

There was some decent news from the shooting range too after continuous disappoint-ment. Manu Bhaker and Rahi Sarnobat were placed 5th and 25th respectively in the women's 25m pistol qualification (pre-cision). In a field of 44 shoot-ers, Bhaker scored 292 after 30 shots on target in the precision round while compatriot Sarno-bat aggregated 287 in the quali-fications at the Asaka Shooting

Range. The second stage of the qualification -- the rapid round -- will take place on Friday. The top-8 shooters in the qualifica-tion will enter the final.

Indian rowers Arjun Lal Jat and Arvind Singh ended their campaign in 11th position in the men's lightweight double sculls event, the best ever result for the country in the Olympics.

The pair clocked 6:29.66 to finish fifth in the Final B, which was not a medal round, and end at 11th overall at the Sea Forest Waterway.

The country's swimming challenge also drew to a close with Sajan Prakash failing to make the semifinals of the 100m butterfly event. He finished sec-ond in his Heat but that was not enough to advance as he attained that position in the sec-ond-slowest heat with a time of 53.45s. AGENCIES

India's Mary Kom (R) during her bout against Ingrit Valencia of Columbia in women's Fly (48-51kg) boxing Round of 16, at the Summer Olympics 2020 in Tokyo, Thursday PTI

India's Pusarla Venkata Sindhu plays against Denmark's Mia Blichfeldt in the women’s singles badminton match, at the Summer Olympics 2020 in Tokyo, Thursday PTI

Novak Djokovic will next face either Zverev or Chardy

Das knocks out Olympic champTOKYO: Indian archer Atanu Das on Thursday proved a point by knocking out two-time Olympic champion Oh Jin Hyek to join his wife Deepika Kumari in individual pre-quarterfinals of the Tokyo Olympics.

Das, who had lost his place to rookie Pravin Jadhav in the fancied mixed team event after slipping to 35th place in

the ranking round on Friday, showed nerves of steel to edge out the legendary Korean in a one-arrow shoot-off.

The individual Olympic champion from London 2012 and a team gold medallist here, Oh started the shoot-off with a 9 as Das delivered a perfect 10, hitting the bull's eye to seal the issue 6-5 (10-9) in an extraordi-

nary fashion. Earlier in the day, Das saw off a tough challenge from Chinese Taipei's Deng Yu-Cheng to win 6-4 from being locked 4-4. Chasing India's first ever Olympic medal in archery, Deepika and Das, who are the first Indian couple to take part in the same discipline in the Games, are the only two Indi-ans left in fray. AGENCIES

DELHI JAL BOARD GOVT OF NCT OF DELHIEXECUTIVE ENGINEER (NORTH EAST) I

2142 JANATA FLATS G.T.B. ENCLAVE DELHI-110093

STOP CORONA-WEAR MASK, FOLLOW PHYSICAL DISTANCING, MAINTAIN HAND HYGIENE PRESS NIT No.-23 (2021-22)

(1) Detail of work

S.No

Name of work Amount put to tender

Date of releasing of tender in e- procurement solution

Last date/time of receipt of receipt of tenderthrough e-procurement solution

1 Re-constructions of damaged UGR at A and B Pocket, Dilshad Garden in AC-63 in NE-I

70,36,919.00 28.07.2021 2021_DJB_206313_1

10/08/2021 02.10PAM

Further details in this regard can be seen at http : //delhi.govtprocurement.comISSUED BY P.R.O. (WATER) Sd/- Advt. No. J.S.V./2021-22/223 Executive Engineer(NORTH EAST) -I

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I ARMY NO. JC733077P rank sub Uday Pal S/o Shadi Ram R/o V. Aswata Teh. Palwal, Distt. Palwal that my service record my daughter name written Kumari Pooja that my daughter real name is Pooja Arya.

I ARMY NO. JC733077P rank sub Uday Pal S/o Shadi Ram R/o V. Aswata Teh. Palwal, Distt. Palwal that my service record my daughter name written Kumari Kushum that my daughter real name is Kushum Arya.

I ARMY NO. JC733077P rank sub Uday Pal S/o Shadi Ram R/o V. Aswata Teh. Palwal, Distt. Palwal, that my service record my son name written Yash Pal that my son real name is Yashpal Arya.

CHANGE OF NAME

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FRIDAY, 30 JULY, 2021 | NEW DELHI

Netflix India has received a complaint against a particular scene in

Anurag Kashyap‘s short film in Ghost Stories.

The complaint, filed on Tuesday, is among the first grievances to be registered after the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in Febru-ary formulated the Informa-tion Technology (Guidelines for Intermediaries and Digi-tal Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021. The rules state that social media platforms and streaming services need to set up redressal mechanisms to address view-ers’ grievances. Many con-demned the rules as an attack against artistic freedom and freedom of expression.

The scene in question had Sobhita Dhulipala’s character

consuming a foetus after suf-fering a miscarriage.

According to Mid-Day, the complainant said, “The scene is not required for the story, and if the creators wished to add such a scene, there should have been a trigger warning for women who have gone through

the trauma of miscarriages.”Netflix’s spokesperson told

a leading daily, “As this was a partner-managed produc-tion [RSVP Movies and Fly-ing Unicorn Entertainment], we reached out to the produc-tion company to share the com-plaint.” AGENCIES

Debutante filmmaker Nithin Lukose’s feature film ‘Paka’ and Ritwik Pareek’s ‘Dug

Dug’ are the two Indian films to have been selected for the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival.

‘Paka’, titled ‘River of Blood’ in English, will be screened in the Dis-covery section, which showcases the first or second feature films of directors worldwide.

Set in Wayanad, Kerala, the movie presents a tale of a river that swells with the blood of two feud-ing families and a young couple that tries to overcome this hatred with their love.

Pareek’s ‘Dug Dug’, touted as a “musically infectious satire”, will also be screened in the Discovery section.

“In this striking and musically infectious satire, mysterious events in the wake of a freak motorcycle accident sow the seeds of a new religion,” the official logline, posted on the festival’s website, read.

Lukose, an FTII alumni who previously worked as the sound designer on critically-acclaimed

movies ‘Thithi’ and ‘Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar’, said he is delighted and honoured that his first feature film has been selected for TIFF programme.

“I was fascinated by the sto-

ries and myths my grandmother told me when I was young. ‘Paka’ is a manifestation of that fascina-tion. The idea was to tell a universal story that can appeal to the global audience while keeping the film

rooted in the cultural attributes of the remote village I grew up in and the people I love,” the film-maker said.

“It’s a matter of pride that a regional film like our’s is getting a platform through a globally renowned festival like TIFF,” he added.

Kashyap, who boarded the proj-ect as a producer during its post-production stage, hailed the quality of movies coming out of Malay-alam cinema.

“Malayalam cinema is at the moment leading India on the world stage and I am so grateful to be associated with it in a small way. ‘Paka’ is yet another powerful debut from a rooted new voice,” he added. PTI

OUR CORRESPONDENT

India International Centre (IIC) has organized an online exhi-bition of photographs by Mala

Mukerjee from Kolkata. Titled ‘Fleeting Footprints of Light’, exhi-bition is on view till August 8, 2021.

In her work, the photogra-pher presents a mix of colour and abstract compositions-a play with light, exploring the limits of form, colour and texture.

Throwing more light on the same, she says, “Those of you who

are familiar with my work will know that my quest has always been to capture the fleeting footprints of light on objects, no matter how ordi-nary they may be. The works on dis-play on this show are a continuation of that search.”

“If I were to look back on my long innings as a photographer, I will admit I am most comfortable when I am in a position to let my imagi-nation ramble free and take me to wherever they will. I enjoy playing with light and exploring the limits of form, colour and texture. The end-product sometimes surprises me, for light is a master painter. Objects get transformed by its magical touch. I try to capture those moments for you.”

She added, “This exhibition has a mix of colour and abstract com-positions. Every work has a special place in my memory, an associa-tion of joy and happiness, if you will. It is this joy that I want to share with you.”

A graduate in Applied Art & Design Studies in Photography

from the London Guildhall Uni-versity, Mala Mukerjee’s work has been exhibited in all major cities of India as well as in Bangladesh, Belgium, China, Greece, Indonesia and in London, Oxford and Cam-bridge (UK).

In 1993, Mala was amongst the prize winners in ‘Our Big City’ Com-petition organised by ‘The Evening Standard’ and ‘Carlton Television’, London. In 1997 she was nominated for the Leopold Godowsky Jr. colour photography award.

She has received awards for

excellence from the Owen Row-ley Art Foundation in London, the Academy of Visual Medium in New Delhi, the 2nd China International Digital Photography exhibition in Beijing, and Honorary Fellowship of the Bangladesh Photographic Soci-ety. BLINK, an art publication by the Phaidon Press, London, featured her in 2002 among the top 100 Photog-raphers of the world.

As the Chairperson of the Inter-national Photography Museum and Gallery Alliance (IPMGA), head-quartered in China, she organized a major International photographic festival and workshop in Kolkata in 2014.

Mala’s work has been featured in many books and periodicals in India, China, Germany, Australia, the UK and the USA. She has jointly authored three books on Kolkata’s heritage titled ‘Colonial Calcutta’ (Bloomsbury, 2012), ‘Where God’s Reside: Sacred Places of Kolkata’ (Niogi Books, 2018) and ‘Adda : the College Street Coffee House’(Notion Press, 2020).

Jennifer Garner inks overall film deal with Netflix

Actor Jennifer Gar-ner has cemented her partnership

with Netflix through a multi-film agreement under which she will star in and produce movies for the streaming platform.

Under the deal, Garner will produce the sequel to her Netflix family film ‘Yes Day’, based on Amy Krouse Rosenthal’s book of the same name.

According to ‘The Hol-lywood Reporter’, she will also reprise her role as Allison Torres, a mother who gives her children 24 hours to make the rules.

Garner said she had the most gratifying, cre-ative, experience bringing ‘Yes Day’ to life

“Seeing Netflix’s global reach as the Torres family wreaked havoc in homes all over the world makes me eager to dive in with another Day of Yes; I can’t wait,” she said.

Scott Stuber, Netflix’s

head of global film, said Garner is a valuable addi-tion to the streamer.

“As an actor, she’s proven herself to be incredibly versatile in unforgettable roles span-ning fast-paced action, heartfelt comedies and thought-provoking dra-mas. She approaches every aspect of her work with such detail and prepara-tion, which makes her an extremely valuable part-ner and producer,” Stuber, who first worked with the actor on the 2007 Univer-sal film ‘The Kingdom’, said.

Outside of this deal, Garner will next star in the Netflix sci-fi film ‘The Adam Project’, also featur-ing Ryan Reynolds, Zoe Saldana and Mark Ruffalo.

She is also set to star in and produce the com-edy feature ‘Family Leave’, inspired by author Rosenthal’s ‘Bedtime for Mommy’. PTI

Under the deal, Garner will produce the sequel to ‘Yes Day’

Complaint filed against Kashyap’s Netflix film

Objection was raised over a particular scene in ‘Ghost Stories’

The scene in question had Sobhita Dhulipala’s character consuming a foetus after suffering a miscarriage

‘Stranger Things opened my heart in different ways’

Stranger Things’ star David Har-bour has credited his role in the show for inspiring him in real life

life, especially his character Jim Hop-per’s story arc of becoming a father figure to Millie Bobby Brown’s Eleven.

Reflecting on his family life with wife Lily Allen and her two daughters Marnie Rose, 8, and Ethel Mary, 9 - whom the singer shares with ex Sam Cooper - Harbour said that “TV defi-nitely helped me in my life”, reported ‘People magazine’.

“I’m very much a New York sort of city rat. I liked my freedom, my inde-pendence. And then it was really this part that did change a lot of that per-spective. The show sort of opened my heart in a lot of different ways, and one of the ways that it did was it started to make me realize how thin my existence was without a family,” the 46-year-old actor said on ‘That Scene with Dan Patrick’ podcast on Amazon Music.

Harbour said his character “matur-ing into a father” on-screen was also

“something clearly my subconscious was crying out to do.”

“I think that’s partially why things are so successful because there’s some unique alchemy between the per-former and the role. I feel like there was something in Hopper that had a deep need for family, and there was something in me that had it too but that I wasn’t even aware of.”

“As I began to explore this role, the role allowed me to do that in my real life,” he said. PTI

Shilpa Shetty’s sister Sham-ita has shared a rather poi-gnant note on Instagram

about surviving hardships even as the actor’s husband is being investigated for allegedly cre-ating and distributing porno-graphic content via mobile apps. In her post, Shamita mentioned that one ‘needs to keep doing their own thing with as much love and integrity as possible’.

Shamita’s post comes dur-ing a rather harrowing time for her family, as her brother-in-law Raj Kundra is in judicial cus-tody after he was arrested on charges of being associated with an alleged porn racket. Shilpa herself, is under scrutiny by authorities. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI)

on Wednesday also imposed a penalty of Rs 3 lakh on Shilpa, Raj and their company Viaan Industries for violation of its Insider Trading rules.

Shamita shared a photo of herself and wrote, “”Sometimes the strength within you is not a big fiery flame for all to see.. it is just a tiny spark that whis-pers ever so softy.. ‘You got this .. keep going’. You can’t control how other people receive your energy. Anything you say or do gets filtered through the lens of whatever personal issues they are going through at that moment… which is not about you. Just keep doing your thing with as much integrity and love as possible.” Mouni Roy sent much love on the post. AGENCIES

Shamita shares poignant post amid Raj Kundra porn apps case

Titled ‘Fleeting Footprints of Light’, the exhibition by Mala Mukherjee is on view till August 8, 2021, at IIC

Harbour said his character “maturing into a father” on-screen was also “something clearly my subconscious was crying out to do”

Mukerjee is a popular artist whose work has been exhibited in all major cities of India as well as in countries like Bangladesh, Belgium, China, Greece, Indonesia

Outside of this deal, Garner will

next star in the Netflix sci-fi film ‘The Adam

Project’, also featuring Ryan Reynolds, Zoe Saldana and Mark

Ruffalo

Exploring the limits of form, colour and texture

‘Paka’, ‘Dug Dug’ to debut at Toronto International Film Fest

The 46th edition of the festival will be held from September 9-18 this year