PM'sword:NetZero2070,clean&green2030 - Sosin Classes

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DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2021, NEW DELHI, LATE CITY, 20 PAGES `6.00 (`8 BIHAR & RAIPUR, `12 SRINAGAR) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SHUBHAJIT ROY NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 1 A PUBLIC SPAT between arch en- emies Israel and Iran is no sur- prise. But what was unusual this time was that the faceoff hap- pened between their represen- tatives in India. The trigger? Israeli Amba- ssador to India Naor Gilon’s de- scription last Thursday of Iran as “the biggest destabiliser in the re- gion”. A day later, the Iranian Embassy in Delhi responded by slamming the “childish re- marks” of Israel’s “evil-minded Zionist envoy”, even referring to what it alleged was the country’s “scandalous involvement in the current Pegasus espionage”. That night, the Israeli envoy responded that being called “childish” at the age of 57 was a “compliment” before signing off as “Yours proudly, the ‘evil minded Zionist envoy’." Not to be left behind, Gilon’s boss and Israel’s Foreign Secretary Alon Ushpiz, who had served as Israeli Ambassador to India earlier, tweeted Saturday: “We still vividly remember how in February 2012 an ‘evil minded’ Iranian death squad attempted to assassinate one of our diplo- mats in the heart of New Delhi.” Ushpiz also pointed out that “a fifth grandson has just been born to the ‘childish’ Ambassador Naor Gilon”. After a Sunday lull, the Iranians hit back Monday, refer- ring to the Pegasus scandal again and warning the Israelis to “end using the said childish tactics to evade from giving the right an- swers to the valid questions”. The controversy started after Ambassador Gilon, while ad- dressing his first media briefing in New Delhi last Thursday, re- sponded to questions on the re- cent meeting between India, Israel, UAE and US. Referring to the agreement reached between the US, UAE and Israel last year, he said: “The Abraham Accords have huge po- tential, and in a way, I believe Iran has a lot to do with this, with the fear and sentiment...and com- mon concerns in the region.” Gilon said: “One of the rea- sons why our relations with the Gulf countries came to the open was, among other things, the fear and shared concern from Iran. Iran is the biggest desta- biliser in the region...” On Friday, the Iranian Embassy, led by Ambassador Ali Chegeni, took to Twitter with a lengthy press release. “Certainly, great civilizations with great his- tory of peace and coexistence are smarter than falling into the traps of such (a) selfish and blood-thirsty regime with huge records of human rights abuses, killings of children, and the childish remarks of its evil- minded Zionist envoy,” it alleged. Calling Israel “a terror house”, it alleged that “its illegit- imate establishment has been rooted in bloodshed, assassina- tion and massacre of Palestinians and other nations in the Middle East”. Subsequently, Israeli envoy Gilon tweeted: “Thank you @Iran_in_India. When at 57 someone calls me ‘childish’ and ‘adventurous’, I take it as a com- pliment. Yours proudly the ‘evil minded Zionist envoy’.” Foreign Secretary Ushpiz then referred to the 2012 inci- dent. He was the Ambassador when a bomb blast targeted an Israeli diplomat’s car in New Delhi on February 13 that year, injuring the diplomat, a local employee and two passers-by. On Monday, the Iranian Embassy replied again to what it called “rhetoric and baseless al- legations of an adventurous & racist Zionist”. It claimed that the “Israeli regime is under tremendous pressure...due to its various crimes and wrongdoings includ- ing the recent disclosure of the Pegasus scandal in which an Israeli company linked and affil- iated to the notorious horrible se- cret apparatus of that regime is the main accused and sponsor”. It also said that the “best way to cover up such a disclosure and to divert the public opinion from these catastrophic cases of espi- onage and other crimes, is...ac- cusing and triggering a propa- ganda war against others, in particular Iran”. While accusing Israel of pos- sesssing “the biggest nuclear ar- senal with more than 200 Nukes in the Middle East”, the Iranians described their own country as a “great hero in fighting against international terrorism”. There was no response from the Israeli side till late Monday night. PAGE 1 ANCHOR BACK TO SCHOOL Schools in Delhi reopened for all classes on Monday, after more than 19 months of a Covid-induced shutdown. Kerala and Tamil Nadu also resumed on-campus classes, including for the primary grades. Praveen Khanna JOURNALISM OF COURAGE SINCE 1932 INSIDE CHANDRACHUD ON PULLING DOWN OF DABUR AD: ‘PUBLIC INTOLERANCE’ PAGE 6 SC SETS ASIDE CALCUTTA HC ORDER ON TOTAL BAN ON FIREWORKS PAGE 8 Ex-SBI chief Chaudhuri held in loan default case EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE MUMBAI, JAIPUR, NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 1 THE RAJASTHAN police Sunday arrested former State Bank of India (SBI) Chairman Pratip Chaudhuri in a case relating to a hotel project — Garh Rajwada – in Jaisalmer financed by SBI in 2007. According to police officials, the allegation against Chaudhuri was that SBI sold properties worth Rs 200 crore for Rs 25 crore to Alchemist Asset Reconstruction Company Ltd after the bank seized them for defaulting on a Rs 24-crore loan. Chaudhuri’s bail applica- tion was rejected by the Magistrate Court in Jaisalmer on Monday, which sent him to 14- day judicial custody. In a statement, SBI, however, said, “All due process were fol- lowed while making the said sale to the ARC.” The police CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ‘DEVELOPED WORLD MUST RAISE FINANCE GOALS’ PARIS SUMMIT WAS COMMITMENT, SENTIMENT: PM WILL NOT BE FORGIVEN IF GLASGOW FAILS: JOHNSON GST collection surges to Rs 1.30 lakh cr in Oct, 2nd highest ever Very much in line with trend in economic recovery: Finance Ministry AANCHAL MAGAZINE NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 1 GROSS GOODS and Services Tax (GST) revenue collections in October (for sales in September) rose 23.7 per cent year-on-year to Rs 1,30,127 crore, the second highest revenue collection un- der GST ever since its rollout in July 2017 and the fourth consec- utive month when collections crossed the Rs 1 lakh mark. This comes on the back of a pickup in economic activity, alongside the imposition of multiple compliance measures by tax authorities for curbing evasion. GST collections at Rs 1,41,384 crore in April this year, accounting for year-end sales, is the highest collection so far since the rollout of the indirect tax regime. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in a Twitter post Monday, said: “GST collec- tion for October 2021 registered the second highest since imple- mentation of GST Rs 1,30,127 crore gross GST revenue col- lected in October. Revenues… of October 2021 are 24% higher than the GST revenues in the same month last year & 36% over ‘19-20.” The Finance Ministry said this growth in collections is “very much in line with the trend in economic recovery” which is “evident from the trend in the e- way bills generated every month since the second wave”. The rev- enues, it said, would have been higher if the sales of cars and other products had not been af- fected on account of disruption CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 I-T moves against founders of Sterling Biotech named in Pandora Papers 1-bn-tonne emissions cut: Why it’s big leap forward AMITABH SINHA GLASGOW, NOVEMBER 1 WHILE THESE mark a significant step-up in India’s existing cli- mate targets, four of the five promises made by Prime Minister Naren- dra Modi Monday are relatively low- hanging fruit – with at least one in response to global pressure. The most substantive new commitment, however, relates to the 1-billion-tonne reduction in its total projected emissions from now until 2030. This is the first time that India has taken any climate target in terms of its absolute emissions. Though it’s not a di- rect emission reduction target, something that only developed coun- tries are expected to take, the reduction marks a major step to- wards bending India’s emissions trajectory. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 KANCHAN VASDEV CHANDIGARH, NOVEMBER 1 NAVJOT SINGH Sidhu attacked his own party’s government on Monday, a diatribe that seemed to provoke the Congress leader- ship and Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi to halt an ongoing process to create a vacancy for the state’s top law officer, a post for which Sidhu has his own candidate. Hours after he handed in his resignation to the Chief Minister in the afternoon, Advocate General (AG) for Punjab APS Deol made an extraordinary about-turn — and declared that despite the “pressure” from Sidhu, he remained in the post. The Congress leadership had asked Channi to replace the AG as a final concession to Sidhu, who is still to withdraw his September 28 resignation as the chief of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC). Accordingly, sources said, Deol was asked to resign on Sunday night — which he did on Monday afternoon. But Sidhu failed to adhere to the political ceasefire. Speaking at a function in Punjab Bhawan, he launched an attack on the Chief Minister — even as, sources said, the govern- ment was preparing the notifi- cation for the appointment of the new AG. “Do not give freebies to peo- ple, give them a roadmap,” he said at a programme of the Sanyukta Hindu Mahasabha or- ganised by former Congress MLA CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE PATNA, NOVEMBER 1 TERMING IT as a “rarest of rare” case, a Special NIA Court Monday sentenced four convicts to death and handed life terms to two others for their role in the October 2013 bomb blasts that killed six people at Gandhi Maidan in Patna during a rally by Narendra Modi, who was then the Gujarat CM and being pro- jected as the BJP’s PM candidate. Special Court judge Gurvinder Singh Malhotra also sentenced two others to 10 years rigorous imprisonment in the case while one person was handed seven years in jail. The four who have been sen- tenced to death are: Haider Ali alias Abdulla alias “Black Beauty”, Numan Ansari, Mujibullah Ansari and Imtiyaz Ansari. Umer Siddique and Azharuddin Qureshi were handed life terms. Ahmad Hussain and Firoz Aslam were given rigorous imprisonment, and Ifteqaar Alam a jail term of seven years. According to the NIA, all nine convicts are members of the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 HARISH DAMODARAN NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 1 STOCKS OF di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) and muriate of potash (MOP) have depleted to just about a third of levels from a year ago, even as the peak sea- son for planting of rabi crops has taken off. Data from the Department of Fertilisers shows DAP stocks at 14.63 lakh tonnes (lt) as on October 31, compared to 44.95 lt and 64 lt for the same day in 2020 and 2019. MOP stock avail- ability was, likewise, down to 7.82 lt, from the corresponding October-end levels of 21.70 lt in 2020 and 21.52 lt in 2019. The situation isn’t as bad in urea and complex fertilisers that contain different combinations of nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P), potash (K) and sulphur (S). October-closing stocks were lower for this year but not at near-crisis levels: 52.90 lt versus 79.76 lt (2020) and 78.95 lt (2019) in urea; and 30.98 lt ver- sus 38.40 lt and 52.13 lt for NPKS complexes. Farmers mainly plant mus- tard, potato, garlic, chana (chick- pea), masoor (red lentil), matar (green peas), jeera (cumin) and dhaniya (coriander) during October. The peak rabi demand forfertilisersisduringNovember- December, when sowing of wheat and onion happens. The current low stocks raise concerns on that front. On Monday, however, Union Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister Mansukh Mandaviya termed reports of a shortage as “rumours” and denied them. Appealing to farmers not to “hoard” fertilisers, he claimed that 18 lt of DAP will be supplied in November, as against a pro- jected demand of 17 lt. Supply of NPKS fertilisers, at 30 lt, will also surpass the demand of 15 lt for the month. Interestingly, meanwhile, the official data also reveal higher CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 KHUSHBOO NARAYAN MUMBAI, NOVEMBER 1 THE INCOME Tax (I-T) depart- ment has initiated prosecution against pharma company Sterling Biotech Ltd and its pro- moters, fugitive businessmen Nitin Sandesara and Chetan Sandesara, under the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015, tax officials told The Indian Express. Sources said the tax authority filed a case in a local court against Sterling Biotech and the Sandesaras on September 6, un- der sections 50 and 56 of the Black Money Act. The tax department has found about 50 undisclosed for- eign bank accounts and several assets of the Sterling Group and the Sandesaras in the United States, Panama, British Virgin Islands, Barbados, United Arab Emirates, Nigeria, and the Seychelles, said a source. As per section 50 of the Act, anyone who “wilfully fails to fur- nish...information relating to an asset (including financial inter- est in any entity) located outside India, held by him, as a beneficial owner or otherwise or in which he was a beneficiary, at any time during such previous year, or dis- close any income from a source outside India,... shall be punish- able with rigorous imprisonment for... (at least) six months... (and up to) seven years and with fine”. Under section 56 (“Offences by companies”), “every person who...was in charge of, and was responsible to, the company...as well as the company shall be deemed to be guilty of the of- fence”. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 INFUSING NEW energy in a cli- mate process desperately wait- ing for more ambitious actions, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced Monday that India would make a one billion-tonne reduction in projected emissions from now until 2030. Making five big-ticket an- nouncements at the climate change meeting in Glasgow — he called it ‘Panchamrit’ — Modi also acceptedglobaldemandstoagree toanet-zeroemissionstarget,set- tinga2070datetoachieveit.India was the largest emitter, and the only G20 country, not to have an- nounced a net-zero target until now, and there was increasing clamor for it to agree to one. That apart, the Prime Minister significantly increased India’s previous climate targets, mentioned in the promises made during the Paris Agreement. India’s target for in- stalled renewable energy capac- ity by 2030 has been enhanced from 450 GW to 500 GW. At the same time, the share of non-fos- sil fuel energy in India’s total en- ergy mix is now aimed to reach 50 per cent by 2030 instead of 40 per cent earlier. In addition, the country’s emissions intensity, or emissions per unit GDP, will be reduced by at least 45 per cent by the year 2030 from the 2005 levels. In its existing target, India had prom- ised to reduce its emissions in- tensity by 33 to 35 per cent by that date. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Modi at the opening ceremony of the COP26 conference in Glasgow on Monday. AP Israel vs Iran, both take gloves off: Evil, childish, Pegasus, Zionist... AMITABH SINHA GLASGOW, NOVEMBER 1 EXPRESSAT COP26 Modi makes 5 big announcements, steps up India’s climate-action targets Fertiliser stocks dip further, minister asks farmers not to hoard 4 get death for 2013 Patna blasts at Modi rally After the sentencing in Patna on Monday. PTI Chegeni (left) and his Israeli counterpart Naor Gilon Sidhu at Punjab Bhawan on Monday. PTI Sidhu turns down ‘last chance’, attacks Govt; Channi reacts by halting replacement of AG PM’s word: Net Zero 2070, clean & green 2030 E● EXPLAINED BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY MORE REPORTS PAGE 14 CM CHANNI ROLLS OUT MAJOR POWER RELIEF PAGE 6 1 TAKE NON-FOSSIL energy capacity to 500 GW by 2030 2 NET ZERO BY 2070: India rejected calls to announce a target so this is a give. Net zero means all man-made GHG emissions must be removed from atmosphere through absorption in processes like photosynthesis or physical removal 3 MEET 50% OF ENERGY requirements from renewables by 2030 4 REDUCE TOTAL projected carbon emissions by 1 bn tonnes from now to 2030 5 REDUCE ECONOMY’S carbon intensity to less than 45% by 2030 INDIA’S 5-POINT ROADMAP UNVEILED New Delhi

Transcript of PM'sword:NetZero2070,clean&green2030 - Sosin Classes

Page 1: PM'sword:NetZero2070,clean&green2030 - Sosin Classes

DA ILY FROM: AHMEDABAD , CHAND IGARH , DELH I , JA IPUR , KOLKATA , LUCKNOW, MUMBAI , NAGPUR , PUNE , VADODARA

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2021, NEW DELHI, LATE CITY, 20 PAGES `6.00 (`8 BIHAR & RAIPUR, `12 SRINAGAR) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

SHUBHAJITROYNEWDELHI,NOVEMBER1

APUBLICSPATbetweenarchen-emies Israel and Iran is no sur-prise.Butwhatwasunusualthistimewas that the faceoff hap-pened between their represen-tatives in India.The trigger? Israeli Amba-

ssador to India Naor Gilon’s de-scriptionlastThursdayof Iranas“thebiggestdestabiliserinthere-gion”.A day later, the Iranian

Embassy inDelhi respondedbyslamming the “childish re-marks” of Israel’s “evil-minded

Zionistenvoy”,evenreferringtowhatitallegedwasthecountry’s“scandalous involvement in thecurrentPegasusespionage”.That night, the Israeli envoy

responded that being called“childish” at the age of 57was a“compliment” before signingoffas “Yours proudly, the ‘evilmindedZionistenvoy’."Not to be left behind, Gilon’s

boss and Israel’s ForeignSecretaryAlonUshpiz,whohadserved as Israeli Ambassador toIndia earlier, tweeted Saturday:“Westill vividly rememberhowinFebruary2012an‘evilminded’Iranian death squad attemptedto assassinate one of our diplo-

mats intheheartofNewDelhi.”Ushpiz also pointed out that

“a fifth grandson has just beenborntothe‘childish’AmbassadorNaorGilon”.After a Sunday lull, the

IranianshitbackMonday, refer-ringtothePegasusscandalagainandwarning the Israelis to “endusing the said childish tactics toevade from giving the right an-swers to thevalidquestions”.Thecontroversystartedafter

Ambassador Gilon, while ad-dressinghis firstmediabriefingin NewDelhi last Thursday, re-sponded toquestionson the re-cent meeting between India,Israel,UAEandUS.

Referring to the agreementreached between the US, UAEandIsrael lastyear,hesaid:“TheAbrahamAccordshavehugepo-tential,andinaway,IbelieveIranhasalottodowiththis,withthefear and sentiment...and com-

monconcerns intheregion.”Gilon said: “One of the rea-

sonswhyour relationswith theGulf countriescametotheopenwas, among other things, thefear and shared concern fromIran. Iran is the biggest desta-biliser in the region...”On Friday, the Iranian

Embassy, ledbyAmbassadorAliChegeni, took to Twitter with alengthypressrelease.“Certainly,greatcivilizationswithgreathis-toryofpeaceandcoexistencearesmarter than falling into thetraps of such (a) selfish andblood-thirsty regimewithhugerecordsofhumanrightsabuses,killings of children, and the

childish remarks of its evil-mindedZionistenvoy,”italleged.Calling Israel “a terror

house”, itallegedthat“its illegit-imate establishment has beenrooted inbloodshed, assassina-tion and massacre ofPalestinians and other nationsin theMiddleEast”.Subsequently, Israeli envoy

Gilon tweeted: “Thank you@Iran_in_India. When at 57someone callsme ‘childish’ and‘adventurous’, I take itasacom-pliment. Yours proudly the ‘evilmindedZionistenvoy’.”Foreign Secretary Ushpiz

then referred to the 2012 inci-dent. He was the Ambassador

when a bomb blast targeted anIsraeli diplomat’s car in NewDelhi on February 13 that year,injuring the diplomat, a localemployeeandtwopassers-by.On Monday, the Iranian

Embassyrepliedagaintowhatitcalled “rhetoric andbaseless al-legations of an adventurous &racistZionist”.It claimed that the “Israeli

regime is under tremendouspressure...due to its variouscrimesandwrongdoingsinclud-ing the recent disclosure of thePegasus scandal in which anIsraelicompanylinkedandaffil-iatedtothenotorioushorriblese-cret apparatus of that regime is

themainaccusedandsponsor”.Italsosaidthatthe“bestway

tocoverupsuchadisclosureandtodivertthepublicopinionfromthesecatastrophiccasesofespi-onage and other crimes, is...ac-cusing and triggering a propa-ganda war against others, inparticular Iran”.WhileaccusingIsraelofpos-

sesssing“thebiggestnuclearar-senalwithmorethan200Nukesin theMiddleEast”, the Iraniansdescribed their own country asa “great hero in fighting againstinternational terrorism”.Therewasno response from

the Israeli side till lateMondaynight.

PAGE1ANCHOR

BACK TO SCHOOLSchools inDelhi reopenedforall classesonMonday,aftermorethan19monthsof aCovid-inducedshutdown.KeralaandTamilNadualsoresumedon-campusclasses, includingfor theprimarygrades. PraveenKhanna

JOURNALISM OF COURAGESINCE 1932

INSIDE

CHANDRACHUDONPULLINGDOWNOFDABURAD: ‘PUBLICINTOLERANCE’ PAGE 6SCSETSASIDECALCUTTAHCORDERONTOTALBANONFIREWORKS PAGE 8

Ex-SBI chiefChaudhuriheld in loandefault case

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEMUMBAI, JAIPUR,NEWDELHI,NOVEMBER1

THERAJASTHANpoliceSundayarrested former State Bank ofIndia (SBI) Chairman PratipChaudhuri in a case relating toahotelproject—GarhRajwada– in Jaisalmer financed by SBIin 2007.Accordingtopoliceofficials,

the allegation againstChaudhuri was that SBI soldproperties worth Rs 200 crorefor Rs 25 crore to AlchemistAssetReconstructionCompanyLtd after the bank seized themfor defaulting on a Rs 24-croreloan. Chaudhuri’s bail applica-tion was rejected by theMagistrateCourt inJaisalmeronMonday,which senthimto14-day judicial custody.Inastatement,SBI,however,

said, “All due process were fol-lowed while making the saidsale to theARC.”Thepolice

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

‘DEVELOPEDWORLDMUSTRAISEFINANCEGOALS’ PARISSUMMITWASCOMMITMENT,SENTIMENT:PM WILLNOTBEFORGIVENIFGLASGOWFAILS:JOHNSON

GST collection surgesto Rs 1.30 lakh cr inOct, 2nd highest everVerymuch in linewith trend ineconomicrecovery:FinanceMinistry

AANCHALMAGAZINENEWDELHI,NOVEMBER1

GROSSGOODSandServicesTax(GST) revenue collections inOctober(forsalesinSeptember)rose 23.7 per cent year-on-yearto Rs 1,30,127 crore, the secondhighest revenue collection un-der GST ever since its rollout inJuly2017andthefourthconsec-utive month when collectionscrossed theRs1 lakhmark.This comes on the back of a

pickup in economic activity,alongside the imposition ofmultiple compliancemeasuresby tax authorities for curbingevasion.GST collections at Rs

1,41,384crore inApril thisyear,accounting for year-end sales,is the highest collection so farsince the rolloutof the indirect

tax regime.Union Finance Minister

NirmalaSitharaman,inaTwitterpostMonday, said: “GST collec-tionforOctober2021registeredthesecondhighest since imple-mentation of GST Rs 1,30,127crore gross GST revenue col-lectedinOctober.Revenues…ofOctober 2021 are 24% higherthan the GST revenues in thesamemonthlastyear&36%over‘19-20.”The Finance Ministry said

thisgrowthincollectionsis“verymuch in line with the trend ineconomic recovery” which is“evidentfromthetrendinthee-waybillsgeneratedeverymonthsincethesecondwave”.Therev-enues, it said, would have beenhigher if the sales of cars andotherproductshadnotbeenaf-fected on account of disruption

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

I-T moves againstfounders of SterlingBiotech namedin Pandora Papers

1-bn-tonne emissions cut:Why it’s big leap forwardAMITABHSINHAGLASGOW,NOVEMBER1

WHILETHESEmarkasignificantstep-up in India’s existing cli-matetargets, fourof thefive promisesmade byPrimeMinister Naren-dra Modi Monday arerelatively low- hangingfruit –with at least onein response to globalpressure.The most substantive new

commitment, however, relates

tothe1-billion-tonnereductionin its total projected emissionsfromnowuntil 2030. This is thefirst time that India has takenanyclimatetarget intermsof itsabsoluteemissions.

Though it’s not a di-rectemissionreductiontarget, something thatonly developed coun-tries are expected totake, the reductionmarks amajor step to-

wardsbendingIndia’semissionstrajectory.

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

KANCHANVASDEVCHANDIGARH,NOVEMBER1

NAVJOT SINGH Sidhu attackedhis ownparty’s government onMonday,adiatribethatseemedtoprovoketheCongress leader-ship and Chief MinisterCharanjit Singh Channi to haltan ongoing process to create avacancy for the state’s top lawofficer, a post for which Sidhuhashis owncandidate.Hoursafterhehanded inhis

resignationtotheChiefMinister

in the afternoon, AdvocateGeneral (AG) for Punjab APSDeol made an extraordinaryabout-turn—anddeclared thatdespite the “pressure” fromSidhu,he remained in thepost.TheCongressleadershiphad

asked Channi to replace the AGas a final concession to Sidhu,who is still to withdraw hisSeptember28resignationasthechief of the Punjab PradeshCongressCommittee (PPCC).Accordingly, sources said,

Deol was asked to resign onSundaynight—whichhedidon

Monday afternoon. But Sidhufailed to adhere to the politicalceasefire.Speaking at a function in

PunjabBhawan,helaunchedanattack on the Chief Minister —evenas,sourcessaid,thegovern-mentwas preparing the notifi-cation for the appointment ofthenewAG.“Donotgive freebies topeo-

ple, give them a roadmap,” hesaid at a programme of theSanyuktaHinduMahasabhaor-ganisedbyformerCongressMLA

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEPATNA,NOVEMBER1

TERMING IT as a “rarest of rare”case, a Special NIA CourtMondaysentencedfourconvictsto death and handed life termstotwoothersfortheirroleintheOctober 2013 bomb blasts thatkilled six people at GandhiMaidaninPatnaduringarallyby

NarendraModi, whowas thenthe Gujarat CM and being pro-jectedastheBJP’sPMcandidate.Special Court judge

Gurvinder SinghMalhotra alsosentencedtwoothersto10yearsrigorous imprisonment in thecase while one person washandedsevenyears in jail.Thefourwhohavebeensen-

tenced to death are: Haider Alialias Abdulla alias “Black

Beauty”, Numan Ansari,Mujibullah Ansari and ImtiyazAnsari. Umer Siddique andAzharuddin Qureshi werehanded life terms. AhmadHussain and Firoz Aslamweregiven rigorous imprisonment,and Ifteqaar Alam a jail term ofsevenyears.AccordingtotheNIA,allnine

convicts are members of theCONTINUEDONPAGE2

HARISHDAMODARANNEWDELHI,NOVEMBER1

STOCKS OF di-ammoniumphosphate(DAP)andmuriateofpotash (MOP) have depleted tojustaboutathirdof levelsfromayear ago, even as the peak sea-sonforplantingofrabicropshastakenoff.DatafromtheDepartmentof

Fertilisers shows DAP stocks at14.63 lakh tonnes (lt) as onOctober31,comparedto44.95ltand 64 lt for the same day in2020and2019.MOPstockavail-ability was, likewise, down to7.82 lt, from the correspondingOctober-end levels of 21.70 lt in2020and21.52 lt in2019.The situation isn’t as bad in

ureaandcomplexfertilisersthatcontain different combinationsofnitrogen(N),phosphorous(P),potash (K) and sulphur (S).October-closing stocks werelower for this year but not atnear-crisislevels:52.90ltversus79.76 lt (2020) and 78.95 lt

(2019) inurea; and30.98 lt ver-sus38.40ltand52.13ltforNPKScomplexes.Farmersmainly plantmus-

tard,potato, garlic, chana (chick-pea),masoor (red lentil),matar(green peas), jeera (cumin) anddhaniya (coriander) duringOctober. The peak rabi demandforfertilisersisduringNovember-December, when sowing ofwheat and onion happens. Thecurrentlowstocksraiseconcernsonthatfront.OnMonday,however,Union

Chemicals and FertilisersMinister MansukhMandaviyatermed reports of a shortage as“rumours” and denied them.Appealing to farmers not to“hoard” fertilisers, he claimedthat18ltofDAPwillbesuppliedin November, as against a pro-jecteddemandof17lt.SupplyofNPKSfertilisers,at30lt,willalsosurpass the demand of 15 lt forthemonth.Interestingly,meanwhile,the

official data also reveal higherCONTINUEDONPAGE2

KHUSHBOONARAYANMUMBAI,NOVEMBER1

THE INCOME Tax (I-T) depart-ment has initiated prosecutionagainst pharma companySterling Biotech Ltd and its pro-moters, fugitive businessmenNitin Sandesara and ChetanSandesara, under the BlackMoney (Undisclosed ForeignIncome and Assets) andImposition of Tax Act, 2015, taxofficialstoldTheIndianExpress.Sourcessaidthetaxauthority

filed a case in a local courtagainst Sterling Biotech and theSandesarasonSeptember6,un-der sections 50 and 56 of theBlackMoneyAct.The tax department has

foundabout50undisclosedfor-eign bank accounts and severalassets of theSterlingGroupandthe Sandesaras in the United

States, Panama, British VirginIslands, Barbados, United ArabEmirates, Nigeria, and theSeychelles, saidasource.As per section 50 of the Act,

anyonewho“wilfullyfailstofur-nish...information relating to anasset (including financial inter-estinanyentity)locatedoutsideIndia,heldbyhim,asabeneficialowner or otherwise or inwhichhewasabeneficiary,atanytimeduringsuchpreviousyear,ordis-close any income froma sourceoutside India,... shall be punish-ablewithrigorousimprisonmentfor... (at least) sixmonths... (andupto)sevenyearsandwithfine”.Under section 56 (“Offences

by companies”), “every personwho...was in charge of, andwasresponsible to, thecompany...aswell as the company shall bedeemed to be guilty of the of-fence”.

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

INFUSINGNEWenergy in a cli-mate process desperatelywait-ing formore ambitious actions,PrimeMinister NarendraModiannouncedMonday that Indiawouldmakeaonebillion-tonnereductioninprojectedemissionsfromnowuntil 2030.

Making five big-ticket an-nouncements at the climatechangemeetinginGlasgow—hecalledit ‘Panchamrit’—Modialsoacceptedglobaldemandstoagreetoanet-zeroemissionstarget,set-tinga2070datetoachieveit.Indiawas the largest emitter, and theonlyG20country,nottohavean-nounced a net-zero target untilnow, and therewas increasingclamorforittoagreetoone.That apart, the Prime

Minister significantly increasedIndia’s previous climate targets,mentioned in the promisesmade during the ParisAgreement. India’s target for in-

stalledrenewableenergycapac-ity by 2030 has been enhancedfrom450GWto500GW.At thesametime,theshareofnon-fos-sil fuelenergyinIndia’stotalen-ergymix is nowaimed to reach50percentby2030insteadof40percentearlier.In addition, the country’s

emissionsintensity,oremissionsperunitGDP,willbereducedbyat least 45 per cent by the year2030fromthe2005levels. In itsexisting target, Indiahadprom-ised to reduce its emissions in-tensity by 33 to 35 per cent bythatdate.

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

Modiat theopeningceremonyof theCOP26conference inGlasgowonMonday.AP

Israel vs Iran, both take gloves off: Evil, childish, Pegasus, Zionist...

AMITABHSINHAGLASGOW,NOVEMBER1

EXPRESSATCOP26

Modimakes5bigannouncements,stepsupIndia’sclimate-actiontargets

Fertiliser stocks dipfurther, minister asksfarmers not to hoard

4 get death for 2013 Patna blasts at Modi rally

After thesentencing inPatnaonMonday.PTI

Chegeni (left)andhis IsraelicounterpartNaorGilon

SidhuatPunjabBhawanonMonday. PTI

Sidhu turns down ‘last chance’, attacks Govt;Channi reacts by halting replacement of AG

PM’sword:NetZero2070,clean& green2030

E●EXPLAINED

BUSINESS AS USUAL

BYUNNY

MOREREPORTSPAGE14

CM CHANNI ROLLSOUTMAJORPOWERRELIEFPAGE 6

1TAKENON-FOSSILenergycapacity to500GWby2030

2NETZEROBY2070:Indiarejectedcalls to

announceatargetsothis isagive.Netzeromeansallman-madeGHGemissionsmustberemovedfromatmospherethroughabsorption inprocesseslikephotosynthesisorphysical removal

3MEET50%OFENERGYrequirementsfrom

renewablesby2030

4REDUCETOTALprojectedcarbon

emissionsby1bntonnesfromnowto2030

5REDUCEECONOMY’Scarbonintensity to

less than45%by2030

INDIA’S 5-POINTROADMAPUNVEILED

New Delhi

Page 2: PM'sword:NetZero2070,clean&green2030 - Sosin Classes

THESECONDPAGE2 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY,NOVEMBER2,2021

Ex-SBI chiefheld in loandefault case,SBI says dueprocess followedactionalsodrewsharp reactionfrom bankers. Former SBIChairman Rajnish Kumar said,“The banking industry is upsetwiththearrestofMrChaudhuri.Thisisnottherightthing.There’sno corruption in this case.Everyone in thebanking indus-tryknows its correct.”As per Jaisalmer police, un-

derthedirectionof JaisalmerSPAjay Singh, a team arrestedChaudhuri from his Delhi resi-dence on Sunday. As per Singh,hewasanaccusedunderIndianPenalCodesections420(cheat-inganddishonestlyinducingde-livery of property), 409 (crimi-nal breach of trust by publicservant,orbybanker,merchant,or agent) and 120 B (criminalconspiracy)inthecaselodgedatSadarpolice station.Additional SP Narendra

Choudhary said, “There was afive star property in Jaisalmerworth around Rs 200 crore.Followingadefault(bytheprop-ertyowners)itwasdecided–bythehighest levelsof SBI– tosellit.Andthebanksoldit foraboutRs 25 crore. Thus, a particulargroup gained a profit of Rs 175crore. They followed the proce-dure, but the intention wasmalafide.”Garh Rajwada was a hotel

project promoted by theGodawan Group in Jaisalmer.The project remained incom-pleteover theyearsandthekeypromoter passed away in April2010.Chaudhuri,whoretiredasSBI Chairman after a two-yearterm in September 2013, hadjoined the board of AlchemistARC inOctober2014.AccordingtoSBI,theaccount

slipped into NPA in June 2010.“Variousstepstakenbythebankfor completionof theproject aswell as recovery of bank’s duesdidn’tyielddesiredresults,” thebank said. Hence as part ofbank’srecoveryefforts,thedueswere assigned to anARC for re-covery inMarch 2014. This saleto ARC by the bank was donethrough a laid downprocess asperthepolicyofthebank,itsaid.“Wefurtherunderstandthat

the borrowerwas subjected toIBCprocessby thesaidARCandthe asset has been acquired byan NBFC in December 2017,again through due process un-der theordersofNCLT,Delhi,” itsaid. As recovery efforts failed,approvals for sale to ARCweretaken in January 2014, the as-signmenttoARCwascompletedinMarch2014.“It transpires now that the

borrower had initially filed anFIRwiththeStatePoliceagainstthe sale of asset to ARC. It ap-pearsfromthecopiesofthepro-ceedings now accessed by usthat the Court do not appear tohave been briefed correctly onthe sequence of events. In asmuch as SBI was not a party tothis case, therewasnooccasionfor theviewsof SBIbeingheardaspart of this proceedings,” SBIsaid. The bank has already of-fered its cooperation to the lawenforcement and judicial au-thoritiesandwillprovidefurtherinformation, if any thatmay becalledforfromtheirside, itsaid.“Aggrieved against the neg-

ative closure report filed byPoliceauthorities, theborrowerhad filed a ‘Protest petition’ be-fore theCJMCourt. IncidentallySBIwasnotmadeapartytothiscase,” SBI said. All the directorsof theARCincludingChaudhuri,whojoined itsboard inOctober2014, have been named in thesaidcase.Another senior bankerwith

Punjab National Bank, who didnot wish to be named, said,“Howcanyousingleoutandar-

rest the Chairmanwhen thereare somany committees to as-certainfraud.Thejudicialactionisalarming.”Pratip Chaudhuri, whowas

the Chairman of SBI for twoyears, held several importantpostsinthelargeststate-ownedbank during his long tenure ofservice including the post ofDeputy Managing Director ofSBI’s International Division. Hehasabout40yearsofexperienceinthebankingsector.HewastheVice President in SBI (Canada)Torontoforclosetofiveyears.Hewas also the Chief InvestmentOfficer at SBI Mutual Fund,Mumbai.He held the position of

Independent Director on theboardsofvariouscompanieslikeCESC, Quess Corp Limited,CosmoFilmsLimited,IffcoKisanSanchar Limited, AlchemistAssetReconstruction,CompanyLimited and Spencer’s RetailLimitedandothers.

I-T movesagainst foundersof SterlingBiotech namedin PandoraPapersTheSterlingGroupandNitin

andChetanSandesaraarebeinginvestigatedbyseveralagenciesincluding the EnforcementDirectorate (ED) and CentralBureauof Investigation(CBI)foralleged bank fraud of over Rs16,000crore.The tax department has al-

leged the Sandesaras sup-pressed their income, inflatedtheexpensesoftheircompaniesin India, and routed unac-counted-for money throughshell companies.Ithasfoundover95offshore

entitiessetupbytheSandesaras,including Richmond Overseas,AtlanticBlueWaterServicesPvtLtd in the BVI, SEEPCONigeria,SAIB LLC, and Sunshine TrustCorporation.Investigationshaverevealed an alleged routing ofmoney through offshore ac-countingstructurestoNigeriatofinancetheSandesaras’oilbusi-ness.NitinSandesaraandhisfam-

ily fled India in 2017 after theirbusiness came under the scan-nerof investigatingagencies.In 2017-18, even as investi-

gators were probing NitinSandesara and Sterling Biotechfor alleged bank loan fraud,Sandesara collected charactercertificatesfromNigerianbanksand solicitors to float a string ofcompanies in the British VirginIslands to expand his oil busi-ness,PandoraPapersrecordsin-vestigatedbyTheIndianExpresshaveshown.In September 2020, a Delhi

court declared Nitin and hisbrother Chetan, Chetan’s wifeDipti Sandesara, andamemberofthefamily,HiteshkumarPatel,as“fugitiveeconomicoffenders”under The Fugitive EconomicOffendersAct, 2018.TheSandesarasarecurrently

living in the Balkan country ofAlbania,andhaveAlbanianciti-zenship.Investigators have claimed

Sterling Biotech used its bankloans for non-mandated pur-poses, and layered and laun-deredthemoneythroughawebof multiple domestic and off-shore entities. The ED has al-leged that the Sandesaras usednamesof theiremployeesto in-corporate 249domestic and96offshore shell companies. TheagencyhassofarattachedassetsworthRs14,521crorebelongingto Sterling Biotech and its pro-moters.Lastmonth,theCongressac-

cusedIndianPSUsofhavingpur-chased crude oil worth over Rs5,000 crore from SEEPCONigeria, a company associated

withSterlingBiotech,evenaftertheSandesarasfledIndiain2017.The Congress allegation

came after The Indian ExpresspublisheditsPandoraPapersin-vestigation.

4 get death for2013 Patna blastsat Modi rallybannedorganisationSIMI.Thecourtalsoimposedafine

of Rs 90,000 each on Haider,Numan and Mujibullah; Rs80,000 on Imtiaz; Rs 60,000eachonUmerandAzharuddin;and Rs 10,000 each on Ahmadand Ifteqaar.Special Public Prosecutor

Lalan Prasad Singh told re-porters: “We had a very strongcase against the fourwhoweregiven capital punishment. Thecourt tookaverystrongviewofthe serial blasts, aimed at caus-ingcasualtiesduringtheHunkarrally".Singh said the courthanded

life terms to Siddiqui andQureshi as they had “admittedtheir involvement during thetrial”.Five of the nine convicts --

Haider Ali, Mujibullah Ansari,Imtiyaz Ansari, Umer Siddiquiand Azharuddin Ansari -- had

beensentencedtolifebytheNIAcourtthreeyearsagointhesep-arateBodhgayaserialblastscaseof July7,2013.The NIA had filed

chargesheets against 11 peoplein connection with the PatnablaststhatoccurredwhenModiwasaddressingawell-attendedrally at GandhiMaidan. Calledthe Hunkar rally, it was heldsoon after Bihar CM NitishKumarhadbrokentieswiththeNDA.Oneof the11accused in the

case was aminor, and was re-ferred to the juvenile justiceboard. Another person,Fakkruddin, was acquitted forlackof evidence.

GST collectionsurges toRs 1.30 lakhcrore in Octoberin supplyof semiconductors.GrossGSTrevenuecollected

inOctoberwasRs1,30,127crore,out of which CGST (the CentralGoodsandServicesTaxwhichislevied on Intra State supplies ofboth goods and services by theCentre) isRs23,861crore, SGST(tax levied on Intra State sup-pliesof bothgoodsandservices

bystates)isRs30,421crore,IGST(taxleviedonallInter-Statesup-pliesofgoodsandservices)isRs67,361 crore (including Rs32,998crorecollectedonimportof goods) and cess is Rs 8,484crore (including Rs 699 crorecollectedon importof goods).The government has settled

Rs 27,310 crore to CGST and Rs22,394 crore to SGST from IGSTas regular settlement. The totalrevenueofCentreandthestatesafter regular settlements inOctober 2021 is Rs 51,171 croreforCGSTandRs52,815croreforSGST.DatareleasedbytheFinance

Ministry also showed thattimely payment of taxes hasbeen increasing compared topreviousmonths.Outoftotalre-turns filed, the share of returnsforthecurrentperiodfiledeverymonthhasincreased. InJuly,1.5crore returnswere filed as tax-payers had filed returns of pastmonths due to deadline exten-sions inviewofCovid.StateandCentraltaxauthor-

ities have been taking steps toboostcomplianceandcurbeva-sion.Measureshavebeentakentoeasecompliancelikenil-filingthrough SMS, enablingQuarterly Return MonthlyPayment (QRMP) system andauto-population of return, the

FinanceMinistry said.Tax authorities have also

taken steps to block e-way billsfornon-filingofreturns,system-basedsuspensionofregistrationof taxpayerswhohave failed tofile six returns in a row, andblockingof credit for returnde-faulters.ForGSTrevenuescollectedin

the respective regions, statessuch asMaharashtra posted 23percentgrowthinGSTrevenuesin October, Tamil Nadu 11 percentgrowth,Gujarat25percentgrowth and Karnataka 18 percentgrowth.Taxexpertssaidtheuptrend

inGSTrevenues is likely tocon-tinue in comingmonths due tothe festive season.Abhishek Jain, Tax Partner,

EY India, said: “The robust GSTcollections are quite encourag-ingandaclearsignofeconomicrecovery.With theongoing fes-tive season,we canexpect sim-ilar or even higher GST collec-tions in thecomingmonths.”DevendraKumarPant,Chief

Economist, India Ratings andResearch, said: “GSTcollectionssince June 2021 are showing agradualimprovingtrend,whichis a good sign for the economy.GSTcollectionsforthemonthofOctober (reported) were col-lected in the month of

September and are affected bythe seasonality of pre-festiveseasonbuying.Nonetheless,thetrend isencouraging.”“TheUniongovernmenthas

budgetedforRs5.30trillionGSTcollections for FY22, and in thefirst half of FY22, it has alreadycollected Rs 2.66 trillion... Evena 10% growth in GST collectionin the remaining five months(November-March)will lead tothe Union government’s GSTcollections growing by 30%, Rs632.9 billion higher than FY22(budgeted target),”hesaid.WhilethehigherGSTcollec-

tions could help in meetingbudgettargets, thegovernmentmay introducemoremeasurestocurbevasion.MS Mani, Senior Director,

DeloitteIndia,said:“If therobustGST collections seen in the cur-rent fiscal continue on thebackof a sustained growth of theeconomy,itwouldbelikelythattheGSTcollectiontargetsfortheyear would be exceeded. Thiswouldprovidesomefiscalspaceto absorb the increased health-carecostsetc... inadditiontothevariousmeasures to streamlinereturn filings, e-way bill gener-ation etc, several restrictionsplaced on non-compliant tax-payerswouldalsohaveresultedinmanytaxpayersgraduallybe-coming more compliant andpaying GST and filing returnspromptly. Going forward, wemay seemore checks and bal-ances being introduced to en-couragefilersanddissuadenon-filers.”

Sidhu turnsdown ‘lastchance’, attacksGovt; Channireacts by haltingreplacementof AGAshwani Sekhri — questioningthe announcement of sops bythe government barely twomonths before Assembly elec-tions.“ThosewhosayPunjab’scof-

fersareoverflowingarewrong.Ifthatisindeedthesituation,whydotheynotresolvetheagitationby contractual employeeswhohave climbed atop watertanks?”Sidhu did not nameChanni,

butthereferencewasobvious—theChiefMinisterhadsaidafewdays ago that Punjab had nodearth of funds, and that itwascapable of rolling out people-friendlyschemes.Soon after Sidhu's speech,

Deol’s resignation was put onhold.“HewillcontinuetobetheAGfornow,”a sourcesaid.Deolhimself toldTheIndian

Express, “I have not resigned. Ihad gone tomeet the CM as hehad asked for some opinion onCabinetdecisionstobetakento-day.Themediastartedtospecu-late that Ihadresigned.There ispressure being exerted by thePPCC chief but I continue to betheAG.”A source said, “This was

Sidhu’s last chance. The partyhadaskedChannitoremovetheAG. Themedia had already re-portedthattheAGhadputinhispapers before he (Sidhu) wenttoPunjabBhawantoaddressthefunction. His (Sidhu's) wife DrNavjot Kaur Sidhu had alreadyreacted, saying that the AGhadto go because he was formerDGP Sumedh Singh Saini’slawyer. Still, Sidhu spoke outagainst the government at thefunction.”Thesourceaddedthatvideo

clipsofSidhu'sspeechhadbeencirculated widely and hadreached theparty leadership aswell.“Thehighcommandinter-vened, andaskedChanni not toaccepttheAG’sresignation,”thesourcesaid.

Whatwasalsoobjectionablefrom the party's point of view,sources said,was that Sidhuat-tacked Channi on the day hisgovernmenthadmadethe“his-toric” announcement to cutpower tariffs by up to 75 percent.Sidhu, in fact, spoke at a

stone'sthrowfromthecivilsec-retariat,where theCabinetwasmeeting to announce the deci-sion, through which theCongresshopestoputitself inanadvantageoverotherparties.In his speech, Sidhu said:

“Decisions will be taken in thecourtof thepeople.Ehnasochoke guru da insaf nahi hoe ya.Gurutaaapinsafkaranwalahai,parkhda hai, parakh parakh kesarkaaran ulta dittiyan. Ikk ulti,dooji bani, mukhmantri raajetohrunkhogya, ehossedapar-taphai.“Hewill find someone from

this struggle. He will choosewhoisgoldandwhoisdirt.Realpeople, real workers are likejewels in the sand.Make themthe jewels of the crown. In theend, I can only say ‘Mai hoonna’.”Sidhuexhortedpartywork-

ers to askwhere themoney forthe sops would come from. “Ifthetreasuryisoverflowing,whydo they not increase the salaryof teachers to Rs 50,000 permonth?”heasked.ThefactwasPunjabwasun-

der a debt of Rs 5 lakh crore,Sidhu said. “If people think thisdebt will be repaid by the gov-ernment, they are mistaken.Theywillhavetorepayit them-selves...”He asked the people

whether they would vote forthosewhowould pull the stateout of its crisis or for thosewhowould merely give them a“Diwali gift”. Channi hadtweeted on Sunday that hewould give a Diwali gift to thepeople.Late on Monday evening,

Sidhuwas learnt to have had ameetingwith CabinetministerPargat Singh and an aide ofRahul Gandhi's, KrishnaAllavaru, atPargat’s residence.Sources close to Sidhu said

hehadlostpatienceaftertheAGwas not changed even after amonthofhisresignationasPPCCchief. Efforts were now on to“handle the situation”, thesources said.

Fertiliser stocksdip further,minister asksfarmers notto hoardoverall sales of fertilisers inOctober. Themonthregisteredlower retail sales of DAP (13.9lt against 15.37 lt in October2020) and MOP (2.5 lt against2.84 lt). But thiswasmore thanoffsetby increasedsalesofurea(20.66 lt versus 17.55 lt), NPKS(13.07 lt versus 8.7 lt) and sin-gle super phosphate (7.93 ltversus 4.69 lt).The shortage of material

has seemingly forced farmerstoreplaceDAPandMOP,whichcontain 46% ‘P’ and 60% ‘K’,with fertilisers having less ofthese nutrients. The latter in-cludes single super phosphate(containing only 16% ‘P’ and11% ‘S’) and NPKS complexessuchas12:32:16:0,10:26:26:0and20:20:0:13.Towhatextenttheswitchto lownutrient-con-tent fertiliserswouldhelpmeetdemand in the comingweeks,however, remains to be seen.Fertiliser firmshavealready

hiked the retail prices of NPKScomplexes like10:26:26:0and12:32:16:0 fromRs1,175-1,185to Rs 1,450-1,500 per 50-kgbag. While they haven’t in-creased DAP rates (from Rs1,200/bag), there isn’t muchstock of this fertiliser in themarket.

FROMPAGEONEPM’s word: Net Zero 2070, clean & green 2030

1-bn-tonne emissions cut: Why it’s big leap forward

EmphasisingthatIndia’scli-mate targetswerenot just an-otherpromiseamongstseveralmadebyothercountries,ModisaidtheParisclimatemeeting,forhim,wasmorethanamere“summit”. Itwasa“sentiment,acommitment,”hesaid,refer-ringtothetargetsIndiahadsetfor itself at thatmeeting.India is currently the third

largest emitter of greenhousegases, releasing over 3 billiontonneeveryyear.AccordingtoWorld Resources Institutedatabase, India’s total green-house gas emissions in 2018wasabout3.3billiontonne,upfrom2.5billion tonne in2010.At this rate, India’s projectedemissions between now and2030 could be in the range of30-32billion tonne.But India's emissions are

rising, at about 4 to 5 per centevery year. So the total emis-sions between now and 2030isexpectedtobemuchhigher,intherangeofabout40billiontonne. It is inthisamount,thata one billion tonne reduction

hasbeenannounced.This is the first time India

hastakenanyclimatetargetinterms of absolute emissions.Before this, the closest refer-ence to altering its emissionstrajectory used to be in theform of emissions intensity.Thisisbecauseundertheinter-nationalclimatechangearchi-tecture, onlydevelopedcoun-tries are mandated, andexpected, tomake reductionsin their absoluteemissions.Incidentally,Modi did not

make any mention of theforestrytarget,theonlyonethatIndia isstrugglingtoachieve.Ofthethreepromisesithad

made under the ParisAgreement,onerelatedtocre-ationof2.5billiontothreebil-lion tonne of carbon sinkthrough afforestation efforts.Theothertworelatedtoreduc-tionincarbonintensity,andin-creasing the proportion ofnon-fossilfuelenergyintheto-tal energymix, both of whichhavenowbeenenhanced.India’s newtargets areex-

pectedtoprovideafreshthrustto the climate talkswhichhasbeenmaking extremely slowprogress for the last few daysfor the lackofmoreambitiousactionmainly from the devel-opedworld.Of particular concernwas

the failure of the developedworld to deliver on its decadeold promise of mobilizing atleastUS$100billioneveryyearfrom2020. That deadlinewaspushed back last week by atleast threeyears.Modi took the developed

countries to task on this, andsaid US $100 billion was noteven enough andmust be en-hancedsubstantially.“We all know that all the

promisesmade on climate fi-nance have proved hollow.Whenweareallincreasingourambition on climate actions,then the ambition on climatefinance cannot remain thesamethat itwasat the timeofthe Paris Agreement,” he said,askingthedevelopedworldtocommit one trillion dollars

everyyear.Earlier,Boris Johnson,who

as PrimeMinister of the hostcountryhasbeenpushinghardfor an outcome that couldprove decisive in the fightagainst climate change, saidthe impatience of young peo-plewouldbecomeunbearableif the world failed to makeGlasgow a turning point, and“a moment that we get realaboutclimatechange”.Borrowing a description

from climate activist GretaThunberg, Johnson even saidall the promises made at theprevious climate meetingswould become nothingmorethan “blah blah blah” ifGlasgowdidnotdeliversome-thingmoremeaningful.“Wemustnotfluffourlines

ormiss our cue because if wefail, they will not forgive us,theywill know that Glasgowwas the historic turning pointwhen history failed to turn,”Johnson said, invoking youngpeople, and those “not yetborn”.

According to the WorldResourcesInstitute, India’s to-tal greenhouse gas emissionswere about 3.3 billion tonnesin 2018. It’s projected to riseabove4billiontonnesperyearby2030.Thatwouldmeanbetween

nowand2030, India could beemitting anywhere between35 to 40 billion tonnes at thecurrent rates of growth.Cutting1billiontonneswould,therefore, represent a reduc-tion of 2.5 to 3 per cent in itsabsoluteemissionsinthebusi-ness-as-usual scenario in thenextnineyears.Thiswasalso themostun-

expected of the five new an-nouncements.The most anticipated

promise was about setting aNet Zero target, somethingthat the world had been de-mandingof India for long.NetZero isastate inwhich

acountry’stotalemissionsareoffsetbyabsorptionsofcarbondioxidefromtheatmosphere,like that done by trees andforests, and physical removalof carbondioxide through fu-turistic technologies.More than 70 countries

havepromisedtobecomeNet

Zerobythemiddleof thecen-tury, and this is being consid-eredvital formeetingtheParisAgreement goal of keepingglobal temperatures within 2degrees Celsius from pre-in-dustrial times.India’s Net Zero target of

2070 silences its critics but itisalongexpectedlines.Thebigthing here is not the target it-self but the fact that India fi-nally relented and decided totake up a target, something ithad been holding back on forquite some time.In its climate action plan

submitted under the ParisAgreement, India had prom-isedtoreduceitsemissionsin-tensity, or emissions per unitofGDP,by33to35percentbythe year 2030 compared to2005 levels.Even at that time, it was

considered a modest target,something that could beachieved in a business-as-usual scenario. In fact, someestimates suggest that Indiawould achieve this target by2022 itself, eight years in ad-vance.Theincreaseof thistar-getto45percentreductionis,therefore, in line with theprogressmade.

The same is true with theincrease in installed capacityof renewableenergy, andthatof theproportionofnon-fossilfuelenergy inthetotalenergymix.Two years ago, Modi,

speakingataclimatemeetingon the sidelines of the UNGeneral Assembly in NewYork,said Indiawouldtakeupitsinstalledcapacityof renew-able energy to 450 GW by2030.Atthattime,India’spub-liclystatedtargetwas175GWby theyear2022.The installed renewable

capacity has been growingrapidly in the last few years,and the enhancement from450 GW to 500 GW is notlikely tobevery challenging.Theincreaseinthepropor-

tion of non-fossil fuel energyin the energy mix, to 50 percent, is a natural corollary ofthis.Most of the new capacity

additions in theenergysectorare being done in the renew-ableandnon-fossil fuelspace.Infact, Indiahasalreadysaiditdoesnotplantostartanynewcoal power plants after 2022.As of now, India was alreadytargeting40per cent electric-

ity production through non-fossil fuel sourcesby2030.Put together, this compre-

hensivepackageismuchmorethan theworldwasexpectingof India and marks a signifi-cant commitment to climateaction.“Reducing1billion tonnes

of emissions by 2030 and ex-panding non-fossils capacityto 500GWare enormous andtransformative steps. 50 percent electricity generationfrom renewable energysourcesspeaksof India’s lead-ershipandcommitmenttocli-mate action,” said AjayMathur, headof InternationalSolar Alliance, and a formerclimatenegotiator for India.Arunabha Ghosh, CEO of

Council for Energy,Environment andWater, saidthat India had demonstratedclimate leadership and nowtheballwasinthecourtofde-velopedworld to raise its am-bition,particularly, inmattersof climate finance.“This isrealclimateaction.

NowIndiademandsUS$1tril-lioninclimatefinanceassoonas possible and will monitornotjustclimateactionbutalsoclimate finance,”Ghosh said.

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Dr. L. TomarDirector & Unit Head,Dept. of Orthopaedic &Joint Replacement Surgery,Max Super SpecialityHospital, Patparganj,New Delhi

Are you taking enough ofSunshine Vitamin ? – Vitamin D

Vitamin D – Also known as,Sunshine Vitamin is one of themost essential vitamin neededby body for overall goodhealth. The body produces itwhen skin is exposed tosunlight. It’s ironical thatsunlight is abundant in India,but still almost 94% Indiansare Vitamin D deficient.Absorbing sunlight is vitalstep in production of VitaminD. Reasons that may lead toVitamin D deficiency are usinga sunscreen, covering the skinwith clothes, staying indoors,non-exposure to sunlight etc. A30 min exposure to sunlightbetween 10 am to 2 pm willprovide you adequate VitaminD. Other sources of Vitamin Dare oily fish, red meat, eggyolk, fortified food and dietarysupplements.Traditionally Vitamin D hasbeen associated with bone &muscle health but in fact, it isalso required for immunity,cardiovascular & mental

health. Due to deficiency ofVitamin D, bones of Infants &children can become soft,break & may develop rickets.The American Academy ofPediatrics recommend that allbreastfed infants receive 400international units (IU) perday of oral Vitamin D. Mothersneed Vitamin D for bothherself and her developing orrecently born infant for havingan uncomplicated pregnancy,healthier full-term baby withdeveloped immune system.To sum up, adequate levels ofvitamin D in the blood hasnumerous benefits, whichincludes, prevention of variousforms of diabetes, heartattacks, strokes, high bloodpressure and cancer. Itfacilitates utilization ofcalcium and phosphorus. Thus,osteoporosis, muscle weaknessand falls are prevented. If onewishes to have strongimmunity, lose weight andremove fatigue & weaknessfrom one’s life, The SunshineVitamin D is one stop solution!Today (2nd Nov) on occasionof World Vitamin D Day, letsspread awareness aboutvitamin D & good health.

Issued in public interest by Alkem Laboratories Ltd.

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THECITY 3WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY,NOVEMBER2,2021

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI,NOVEMBER1

FIVE FRESHdenguedeaths, including ofasix-year-oldboy,havebeenreportedinDelhi, taking the total number of fatali-tiesduetothediseasetosix,accordingtoa report released by the South MCDMonday.This isthehighestnumberofdengue

deaths since2017,when10deathswerereported. Four deathswere reported in2018,twoin2019andonedeathin2020.Till October 30, the city had reported1,537denguecases.Forthefirsttime,over500 caseswere reported in just aweekthisyear.Apart from the six-year-old from Tri

NagarwhodiedonOctober15,theothervictims includea17-year-oldboyfromajhuggi in Pitampura and a 27-year-oldmanfromPunjabiBagh.ThetwodiedonOctober16and18respectively.Union Health Minister Mansukh

MandaviyaMonday directed the Unionhealth secretary to identify and send ateamofexpertstostateswithhighactivedengue cases, as he reviewed the situa-tioninDelhi.Chairingahigh-levelmeet-ingwiththeDelhigovernmenttoreviewpublichealthmeasurestakenforcontrolandmanagementofdengue,Mandaviyasaidinatweet,“Reviewedthedenguesit-uation in Delhi & assured Centre's fullsupport. On-ground initiatives likehotspotidentification,foggingandtimelytreatmentwillbecarriedouttocurbdis-ease.Centre isalsosendingateamofex-pertstostateswithrisingdenguecases.”The sudden spike in the past three

weeks has also led to several hospitals

struggling to tackle the crisis. Owing tothesurge,theDelhigovernmenthassaidhospitalsmayuse one-third of the bedsreserved for Covid-19 patients for thosesuffering from vector-borne diseases, iftheneedarises.Schools, unauthorised colonies, and

constructionsitesareamongthehotspotsformosquitobreedinginDelhi,saidsen-iorMCDofficials.SDMCMayor Mukesh Suryan said

thatfogginghasbeenintensifiedinallar-easandthesituationwillbebroughtun-dercontrol.

Pilot project to rehabilitate beggarsNewDelhi:TheDelhigovernmentMondaylaunchedapilotprojecttocreatelivelihoodopportunitiesforbeggarsthroughtrainingandskill-building in central Delhi,withtheaimofmakingthecapi-talbegging-free.Therearearound20,719per-

sonsengagedintheactofbegging(PEAB) in Delhi, according to asurvey conducted by the SocialWelfare Department and theInstitute for Human

DevelopmentinFebruary.Launching the project on

‘Livelihood Support’ at two cen-tres in the central district, SocialWelfareMinister Rajendra PalGautamsaid the aimof the gov-ernment is tomake Delhi beg-ging-freebyrehabilitatingPEABs.“TheDelhigovernmentwillpro-vide skill training topersons en-gagedinbeggingsotheycanfindeconomicopportunitiesinmain-streamsociety.Peopleareforced

intobeggingbecauseofsocialandeconomic circumstances.Theyare themost vulnerable sectionof society. Keeping this inmind,we conducted a survey to iden-tifysuchpersonsandformulateaplan throughwhich they canberehabilitated,” he said. Theproj-ectwill be conducted at AshrayGriha, Katra Maula Bux,Roshanara Road for men andAshray Griha , KhairiaMohalla,RoshanaraRoadforwomen.ENS

ENS&PTINEWDELHI,NOVEMBER1

DELHICONGRESSleaderand for-merUnionMinisterButaSingh’sson Arvinder Singh died onMonday following a cardiac ar-

rest.Hewas56. Heissurvivedbyhiswife and twochildren, said aDelhiCongressleader.“Hewillbecremated at the Lodhi Road cre-matoriumonTuesday,”hesaid.“Shocked to hear about the

untimelydemiseofmycolleagueand friend Arvinder Singh. He

worked tirelessly for his con-stituency,” said Congress leaderPawanKhera.DelhiCongressvice-presidentAbhishekDutt saidhewasadown-to-earthpolitician.SinghwaselectedasanMLA

fromDeolireservedconstituencyin2008onaCongress ticket.

Delhi Cong leader Arvinder Singh no more

FINAL TOUCHESDuringKeralaDaycelebrationsatKeralaHouse.PraveenKhanna

2021* 2020 2019 20186 1 2 4

*tillOct30

200015001000500

0

2021

1,537 1,595

612

1,069

2020 2019 2018

DENGUE CASES (TILL OCT30)

DEATHS (ENTIRE YEAR)

6-yr-old among5dengue deaths

New Delhi

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EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI,NOVEMBER1

ARECENTassessmentofbutter-flies across the seven biodiver-sity parks in Delhi revealed thepresenceof theBeavan’sswift,aspecies that has previously notbeenspotted in thecity.“TheBeavan’sswiftisdistrib-

utedthroughoutnorthernIndia,but it was never encounteredearlier in Delhi. Good rains thisyearmeant that the populationofgrasses,whicharetheBeavan’sswift’shostplant, increased.Theavailability of host plantsmightbe the reason for its presence

here. It might have come fromsurrounding areas,” saidMohammadFaisal,entomologistattheYamunaBiodiversityPark,whowaspartof thestudy.The six-day assessment, the

first suchsystematicone for thebiodiversity parks in Delhi, wascarried out fromOctober 25 to30.Scientistsat thesevenbiodi-versity parks (Yamuna, Aravalli,Tilpath Valley, Northern Ridge,Tughlaqabad, Neela Hauz andKalindi biodiversity parks), stu-dents fromHansraj College andMataSundriCollege,andvolun-teers, were part of the assess-mentthatwasstretchedfortwohourseverymorning.

A total of 15 nature trails atthesebiodiversityparksformed‘transects’,whicharepathsalongwhichacountorsurveyisdone,and each transect was moni-tored by a group of observerswhocountedandphotographedthebutterflies.Theassessment founda total

of 71 species at the parks. Theparks, however, are known tohave around 113 species, saidFaiyazKhudsar,scientistin-chargeattheYamunaBiodiversityPark.A study from 2017 showed

Delhi has around 115 species ofbutterflies, said Faisal. But theBeavan’sswiftwasnotonthelistof speciesprepared then.“TheBeavan’sswift layseggs

on grasses.We spotted eight ofthemintheYamunabiodiversityparkandtwointheAravallibio-diversitypark,”Khudsar said.“The biodiversity parks in

Delhi are spread over differentlandscapes— both the YamunaandtheAravalli.Datafromtheseparks can provide useful infor-mationontheenvironmentsincechangesintemperatureandpol-lution loadarealsoknowntoaf-fect butterflies. Since these bio-diversity parks are ecosystems

thatwere restored, andhabitatswerere-establishedinbarrenar-eas, these assessments canhelpgauge if we have reached any-whereclosetothehistoricalsta-tusof theecosystem,”headded.The Aravalli Biodiversity

Park, which houses a butterflyconservatory,recordedthemax-imumnumber of species — 63.Themaximumnumber of but-terflieswerealsocountedat theAravalli Biodiversity Park —5,262.Themost commonly found

butterflies were the CommonEmigrant, Mottled Emigrant,Striped Tiger, Plain Tigers, andCommonGrassYellow.

4THEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY,NOVEMBER2,2021

THECITYWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

10heldforexamfraudNoida: Noida Police ar-rested10persons,includ-ingthreeex-Armyperson-nel, for allegedly carryingout large-scale fraud ingovernmentexams.Policesaidthegangillegallypro-videdquestionpapersandplaced imposter candi-datesinvariousexamina-tionsacrossstates.

Electoral rollrevisionkicksoff inDelhiNew Delhi: The specialsummary revision of theelectoralrollcommencedin all 70 Assembly con-stituencies of DelhiMonday. Chief ElectoralOfficer Dr Ranbir Singhsaidtheprimaryobjectiveis to include newly eligi-blevoterswhohavecom-pletedtheageof18beforeJanuary1,2022,andthosewhowere leftout.ENS

BRIEFLY

SUKRITABARUAHNEWDELHI,NOVEMBER1

AFTERLININGup in little circlesoutsidetheirschoolstogettheirtemperatures checked andhands sanitised, primary andmiddle school children in Delhiwalked into their schools aftermore than19monthsMonday.Whilemost private schools

arewaitingtillafterDiwalitore-open for younger children, gov-ernment schools opened forthem onMonday tomoderateturnout. The neat organisationof theirentriesgavewaytolittlegroups as friends called out toeachothertomeetafterallthesemonths.For11year-oldSatyam,itwas

the first timehehadbeen tohisgovernment school at LajpatNagar and for him itwas anop-portunity tomakenewfriends.“Ididn’t like itathome, Idid-

n’thaveanyonetotalkto.Mypar-ents would go out towork andmyyoungerbrotherissmall,he’sin Class II. Imet some ofmy oldfriends after a long time onmybirthdaylastmonth. Ihadcalledthemhome.I’mhappythatIcanmakenewfriendsnow,”hesaid,pointing to a new friend he hadalreadymade,Shivam.A group of class VII boys in a

neighbouringclassroomlistedallthegamestheywanttoplaywiththeir friends now — football,cricket, pakdam-pakdai —whentheirteacherremindedthemthattheywouldnotbeallowedtoplaythese now during their break-timebecauseofCovidprotocol.“Okayma’am, thenwewill

playAtlas,” saidKartik.Likeotherchildren,forDipali,

a Class VIII student at a govern-ment school in Chirag Enclave,the primary attraction of com-ing back to school were herfriends.“Ihadmissedmyfriendsa lot. Therewere boys inmy lo-cality who would play in thegully but my friends and Iweren’t doing that. I was athome, attending my classes,

watchingTV,sleeping,andgoingfor tuitionclasses,” shesaid.“I picked up one new skill:

learninghowto type fast onmyphone,” giggled her friendMarukh.Somechildrenwere still get-

tingused tobeing in school afterthe extended closure. Ten-year-old Sabra in the Lajpat Nagarschool foundherselfmissinghermotherafterhavingbeenwithheralldayforone-and-a-halfyears.ForthechildrenoftheChirag

Enclaveschool, thefirstdaywasare-introductiontotheirschool.In an orientation in the audito-rium, each of their teachers in-troduced themselves to theirstudents, many of whom hadonlyeverseenthemonaphonescreen. Restlessness caught onquicklyamongthechildren,soagameof antakshariwasheld forthem. This was followed by atour of the school campus forthem in small groups, and thedaywoundupwith a screeningofTaareZameenPar.At a school in Ambedkar

Nagar, School ManagementCommitteemembers, who arealso mothers of boys in theschool,checkedinontheclassVIand VII students whowere at-tending the school for the firsttime. According to the school’shead,thiswassothat“theydon’tfeel like they’re being thrownintosomestrange jungle”.Ineveryclassroominschools,

theruleswerere-iteratedtostu-dents: keep yourmask on at alltimes,keepyourdistance,donotshareyour lunches.“Do you know how much

distance you need to keep?”asked Bijesh Sharma, principalof the Lajpat Nagar school to aclass of ‘Out of School Children’who were being taught in theSpecial TrainingCentre.“Do gaj ki doori,” replied

8-year-oldNishitaSuri.“Do you know how much

that is?” he asked, andwasmetwith embarrassed silence. “Justtryandkeepasmuchdistanceasyoucan,”he told theclass.

Schools to bridge learning gap with ‘100-day plan’SUKRITABARUAHNEWDELHI,NOVEMBER1

ASCHILDREN return to class af-teroverayear,schoolsareprepar-ingtotackletheimpactoftheex-tended closurewith a focus onfoundationalliteracyandnumer-acyandsocio-emotionallearning.ThiswasaddressedbyDeputy

ChiefMinisterManishSisodiaaf-ter his visits to schools. “I amhappy that after a longgapof 19months, today schools fromNursery to Class VIII have re-

opened. Due to the closure ofschools, education had sufferedtremendously.However, it is ex-pectedthatafterschoolsreopen-ing,ourteachersandparentswillworktogethertofightthis learn-inggapof thechildren,”hesaid.According to a senior educa-

tion department official, the de-partment is coming upwith a“100-day plan” to ease childreninto schoolwith a focus on thegovernment’s flagship pro-grammes—Mission Buniyaad,Happiness Curriculum, and thenewDeshbhaktiCurriculum.

MissionBuniyaadisafounda-tionliteracyandnumeracyinter-ventionaimedatchildrenintheseschools,whohadbeenidentifiedas strugglingwith reading,writ-ing and basic mathematics.HappinessCurriculumisaSocialEmotional and Ethical LearningProgramme run for students upto Class VIII and the newDeshbhakti Curriculum focusesonexploringcivic learning.At Kautilya Sarvodaya

Vidyalaya,uptillDiwali,everydaywill be dedicated only to activi-tiesandice-breakers.

“OnMonday,we had an ori-entation and amovie screening.Inthenextfewdays,wewillhavequizzes and drawing and otheractivitiestogetkidsexcitedaboutschool.Wewill ease into studiesandforthefirstthreemonths,thefocus will be on MissionBuniyaad.Thiswillbe forall stu-dentsuptoClassVIII,andnotjustthosewhoareweaker academi-cally,sinceallchildrenhavefacedalotofupheavalintheirlearning,”saidprincipalChitenderVerma.At Shaheed Hemu Kalani

SarvodayaBal Vidyalaya, the to-

tal enrolment up to class VIII is750,ofwhichhalfwerecalledonMondayand120attended.“At the beginning, our focus

willnotbeonteachingbutontry-ing to get as many children tocome to school as possible.Wehad intimatedparents of the re-openingovertheweekend,anditwilltakesometimetocollecttheconsent forms. I plan to call par-ents to school so that they cantake a look at the precautionswe’re taking and so thatwe canbuildtheirconfidence,”saidprin-cipalBijeshSharma.

Accordingtotheheadofgov-ernment school in AmbedkarNagar, another big challengeis socialisation of the youngerchildren.“Our students come from

roughneighbourhoodsandmostof themhavebothparentsgoingout forwork, so therearea lotofdifferent influences and a lot ofexperiences they might havebeenexposedtowithoutbeingatschool for one-and-a-half years.In thenext threemonths, I hopewe can address that as wellthroughourinteractions,”hesaid.

Govtschools reopenedfornursery toClassVIII after19months;most

privateschools towait till afterDiwali

With ‘do gaj ki doori’, schoolkids return to classrooms

Scenes fromschools inthecapital,whichresumedforall classesMonday. DeputyCMManishSisodiavisitedDelhigovernmentschoolsduringtheday. PraveenKhanna

ASSESSMENT CARRIED OUT ACROSS 7 BIODIVERSITY PARKS

Spotted: Butterfly species never seen before in Delhi

‘Assault’ case: Notice toCM, Sisodia on revisionplea by ex-chief Secy

Businessman shot dead in Vasant KunjNewDelhi:A 52-year-old busi-nessmanwasshotdeadnearthehotel he owned in southwestDelhi’s Vasant Kunj area late onSunday. The victim, Krishan PalSehrawat, lived inGurgaon andowned a hotel called Dolphin

International inMahipalpur.PolicesaidSehrawatgavehis

hotelonleasetoamanaround10months ago andwas having is-sueswithhimoverbillsandleasepayment.Themanandhisasso-ciatesareontherun,saidpolice.

Around11pm,policereceiveda call from Sehrawat’s brotherabout the incident. DCP(Southwest)GauravSharmasaid:“Hewas rushed to Indian SpinalInjuriesCentrewheredoctorsde-claredhimdeadonarrival.”ENS

Will donate Rs 5,100 forpuja at namaz site: MuslimEkta Manch chairman

AHEAD OF DIWALITheDelhigovernment isconstructingatemporarystructure,whichresembles theRamMandir inAyodhya,atThyagarajSportsComplex.ChiefMinisterArvindKejriwalwillvisit thestadiumforDiwalipujaonNovember4. PraveenKhanna

Can’t allow crackersale in capital even tooutsiders, says HC

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI,NOVEMBER1

FORMERDELHI chief secretaryAnshuPrakashhas challenged acourt order discharging CMArvind Kejriwal, Deputy CMManish Sisodia and9AAPMLAsinthecaserelatedtoanallegedas-saultonhimin2018.ExceptAAPMLAs Amanatullah Khan andPrakashJarwal,therestweredis-chargedofallchargesinAugust.A Special Judge of Rouse

Avenue District Court Mondayissued notice to Kejriwal andothersonPrakash’srevisionpleaand listedthematter for furtherproceedingsonNovember23.The alleged incident took

place at the CM’s residence inFebruary 2018 when the thenchief secretary was called for ameeting. Observing that “con-spiratorswouldprefertoexecutetheirunlawfuldesigninsecrecy”andnotcreatewitnessesagainstthemselves, Additional ChiefMetropolitanMagistrateSachin

Gupta had discharged the 11,sayingthepersonspresentatthemeetingwereelectedrepresen-tativesandnotcriminals.Prakash,inthepleabeforethe

sessionscourt,saidthetrialcourtconducted a fishing and rovingenquiryintothe“allegationsinthechargesheet”andhasdrawn“er-roneous inferences and conclu-sions”withouthavingthebenefitof examination of prosecutionwitnesses.Thetrialcourtfailedtoappreciate that the midnightmeetingwas very unusual andtherewas no emergencywhichwarrantedit,Prakashhasargued.Itwas alsonotdisclosed that the11MLAswould be present, hesaid, adding that a “pre-plannedconspiracy”was hatched at thebehestoftheCMandDeputyCM.“The Ld trial court has failed

to appreciate that the com-plainant/revisionist had earnedthe ire of the CM and his partyMLAs since he could not get orgive the requisite certificationsrequiredforreleaseofTVadver-tisements...,” reads theplea.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEGURGAON,NOVEMBER1

MEMBERSOF theMuslim EktaManchmet theGurgaondeputycommissionerMonday,demand-ing that the administration letthemusethe19Waqfboardprop-erties andmosques,whichhavebeenallegedly encroacheduponoraredisputed,sotheydon’thavetooffernamazinpublicplaces.Thiscomesaftermembersof

right-wing organisations, underthe umbrella of the SanyuktHindu Sangharsh Samiti, saidtheywould conductGovardhanPuja this Friday at Sector 12wherenamazisoffered.

ChairmanShehzadKhan,said,“Werequestedtheadministrationto either allot us land sowe canbuildmosques or let us use thecurrent ones sowecanoffer na-maz there. If the 19mosques inGurgaonare restored tous, thenwewill notpray in theopen. Forthepast fewmonths, someanti-social elements have disruptedprayers...Wewantharmonytoex-istamongcommunities.”He added, “Wewelcome the

decisiontoconductpujainSector12. If theyconductpujabypush-ingusfromthere,wearereadytorelocate.We’rewiththemandwilldonateRs5,100fortheprayer...”DC Yash Garg did not re-

spondtocalls andmessages.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI,NOVEMBER1

THEDELHIHigh CourtMondaysaid it cannot allow the sale offirecrackerswithinDelhieventothosewhomaywanttousethemoutside the capital,where theremaybenoprohibitiononitsuse.Meanwhile, the Delhi Police

has arrested at least 26 personsandseized4,000kg firecrackersbefore Diwali, officials saidMonday.Despitethestrictbanonalltypesoffirecrackersinthecity,policesaidtherearevendorsandsellers who have been caughtwith hundreds of units/packetsof illegal firecrackers.JusticeSanjeevSachdevasaid,

“If somebodywere to come, sayfrom an area ‘A’ where the airquality is excellent and there isnoprohibition,andweretocometo you in Delhi and purchase itfromyou, then the point of salewill beDelhiwhichwouldbe incontraventionoftheorderofthe

SupremeCourt.The‘saleanduse’means you can’t sell it in Delhiand you can’t use it in Delhi bybringing it fromoutside.”Thecourtmadetheobserva-

tionsduringthehearingofape-titionfiledbyagroupof traders,holding permanent licences forstorage and sale of firecrackersin Delhi-NCR, against the com-plete ban on storage and sale ofanykindof firecrackers inDelhi.The petitionwaswithdrawnbythecounselrepresentingthepe-titionersafterthecourtdeclinedto entertain the interfere withthedecisionof theauthorities.JusticeSachdevasaidthepeti-

tionerswill have to go toNGTorSupremeCourtforclarificationofordersonuseandsaleofcrackers.Thecourtsaiditisforthegovern-ment to take a view if tradersbasedinDelhiwanttoshipcrack-ersoutside:“ThereisnoquestionofthembreachingtheorderoftheSupremeCourtorNGTintermsofselling somewherewhere it iscompletelybanned.”

TheBeavan’s swift.MohanSingh,YamunaBiodiversityPark

Total VacantHOSPITAL BEDS 14,053 13,879ICU BEDS 2,891 2,854

Cases Recoveries Deaths TestsOct31 45 46 0 56,751Nov1 18 49 0 40,990Total 317* 14,14,480 25,091 2,94,68,743

CORONAVIRUSIN THECAPITAL *T

otalactivecases

TOTAL CASES

14,39,888VACCINATIONS INLAST24HOURS

24,219

Sisodia’s Twitteraccount

New Delhi

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New Delhi

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6THEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY,NOVEMBER2,2021

GOVT&POLITICSWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

DELHICONFIDENTIAL

FOR THE RECORDNAMAMIGANGE,theCentre’sprogrammeforcleaningoftheriver Ganga, onMonday entered into the Guinness Book ofWorld Records for most photos of handwritten notes up-loadedonFacebookinonehour.TheactivitywasorganisedaspartofGangaUtsav,athree-dayfestivalorganisedbyNationalMissionofCleanGangaandinauguratedbyJalShaktiMinisterGajendraSinghShekhawat.Duringtheactivity,peoplepostedtheir literarypiecesontheevent'sFacebookpage. “Themostphotos of handwritten notes uploaded to Facebook in onehour has been achieved by Namami Gange, India in Delhi,Indiaon1November2021,” said thecertificate issuedbytheGuinnessBookofWorldRecords.

SEARCH ONTHEMINISTRY of Education has started looking for a newchairperson for the University Grant Commission. The per-sonwillholdthepostforthenextfiveyears,oruntilattainingtheageof65,whichever isearlier. IncumbentUGCchairmanProfDPSingh,whotookchargeinJanuary2018, issettoturn65 soon. Incidentally, in March, AICTE chairman Prof AnilDattatreya Sahasrabudhe had announced that the govern-mentwillthisyearlaunchtheHigherEducationCommissionof India,whichwill subsumeexistingregulatorybodiessuchas theUGCandAICTE.

FRESH ASSIGNMENTSTHREE IMPORTANT ambassadorial appointments werecleared by South Block onMonday. Pawan Kapoor, a 1990-batch IFS officer who is currently envoy to UAE, has beennamedasambassadortoRussia.SunjaySudhir,a1993-batchIFS officer whowas envoy toMaldives, has beenmoved toUAE as the next ambassador. And, Dinesh K Patnaik, a1990-batch IFS officer, who is currently Director General, IndianCouncil forCulturalRelations,hasbeenappointedasthenextambassador toSpain.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICELUCKNOW,NOVEMBER1

SP CHIEF Akhilesh Yada’'s re-ported remarkMonday that hewould not be contesting theUPassemblyelectionscausedaflut-ter in his partywith its nationalspokespersondenyingthestate-mentandthenreleasingavideomessagethat“thefinaldecision”oncandidateswillbeannouncedsoon.“I will not be contesting the

Assembly election myself,”AkhileshwasquotedassayinginaninterviewbynewsagencyPTI.The agency’s report also said:“However, later Yadav said a fi-naldecisiononhiscontestingthepollswillbetakenbytheparty.”Akhileshhasnevercontested

anAssemblypollbefore.In2012,when his party came to powerand he became Chief Minister,he had taken the LegislativeCouncil route after vacating hisLokSabhaseatfromKannauj.Heis currently the Lok SabhaMPfromAzamgarh.However,withallkeyparties

ramping up their poll prepara-tions, andwith Akhikesh beingprojectedasaCMface,Monday'sremark appeared to havewrongfootedSP leaders.Speaking to The Indian

Express, SP national spokesper-sonRajendraChoudharydeniedthatAkhileshmadeastatementaboutnotcontesting.“Hedidn'tsaythistoanyone.

Thedecisionregardingwhetherhewill contest the electionwillbe taken by the party and it hasnot been made yet. The partywill contest the election underhis leadershipandweareconfi-dentof formingagovernmentinthestate,” saidChoudhary.In a separate video state-

ment,however,hestruckamorecautious note, saying the SPwould finalise all its candidatessoon.“The Samajwadi Party na-

tionalpresidentAkhileshYadavhas ensured preparations on alllevels, whether it is organisa-tionsofyouth,women,workers,farmers or traders.We are pre-pared from the booth level tostate level.Weare busymakingcontactwithpeopleatall levels,including in villages. This time,theSPwillnotletanyconspiracyby the BJP work,” Choudharysaid in thestatement.“The SP had decided that

whoever the candidates are fortheVidhanSabhaelections,theywillbeselected ina transparentmanner with the intention towin. Akhileshji has repeatedlysaid that whoever the candi-datesare,theywillbeselectedina transparent manner,”Choudharysaid.“We are going to the elec-

tions with our developmentworkandpolicies.As faras can-didate selection is concerned,whowillcontestandwherewillbe finally decidedat the level ofthe party. There are some con-versations about SP chiefAkhilesh Yadav's election...TheSPwill decide all its candidatesandthefinaldecisionwillbean-nounced soon,” the spokesper-sonsaid.As for theotherkeyUP lead-

ers,ChiefMinisterandBJPleaderYogi Adityanath also took theLegislative Council route afterbecomingChiefMinisterin2017.Similarly,BSP'sMayawatididnotcontest for the Vidhan Sabha inUP in her four terms as ChiefMinister.

SP chiefAkhileshYadav

Akhilesh says not contesting,rattled SP denies statement

UPCMYogiAdityanath inFaridabadonMonday.PTI

KANCHANVASDEVCHANDIGARH,NOVEMBER1

IN Amajor relief for domesticpower consumers, the Punjabgovernment Monday slashedthepriceof aunitbyRs3acrossthree slabs for thosewith loadsof upto 7 KW. Chief MinisterCharanjitSinghChannisaidthatthemove, which is expected tolead to tariff cuts of upto 75percent, will cover 95 per cent ofhouseholds in thestate.Channi, however, said that

therewill be no relief for thosehavinga loadof over7KW.“Wethought that the rich and thelandlords, who run 20 ACs intheir houses, do not need thisbenefit,”hesaid.“Theminimumpriceofaunit

atRs1.19(inthelowestslab)isthecheapestinthecountry.Nootherstate isproviding it at sucha lowrate. Our BPL families, having aload of upto 1 KW, are gettingpower free of cost,” said AVenuPrasad, chairmanandmanagingdirector, Punjab State PowerCorporationLimited(PSPCL).Officials said that a detailed

break-up, including savings foran average household, will bemadeavailable soon.Monday’s decision is ex-

pectedtoaddaburdenofRs3,316croreonthestateexchequer.Thesubsidybillhasnowgone

up to Rs 14,000 crore. “The sub-sidy bill of Punjab is now seventimes that of Delhi, which pro-videsasubsidyofRs2,000crore,”Channi said, inan indirect refer-ence to AAP which is a strongcontenderatthenextstatepolls.Channisaidhisgovernment's

latestmovewill benefit 69 lakhout of 71.75 lakh domestic con-sumers inPunjab.According to the new tariff

structure,consumerswithaloadof up to 2 KWwill now pay Rs1.19 per unit up to 100 units —down fromRs4.19perunit ear-lier. From101units to300units,theywill pay Rs 4.01 per unit—

down from Rs 7.01. And above300units,everyunitwillcostRs5.76—downfromRs8.76.Forconsumerswithapower

load between 2 KW to 7 KW,everyunit inthethreeslabswillcostRs1.49,Rs4.01andRs4.76,respectively.With state elections coming

up next year, themove is beingseen as a key step by theCongress government to regainits political image that wasdentedseverelywiththeinfight-ingthatledtoAmarinderSingh'souster as CM and Navjot SinghSidhu's appointment as theparty's statechief.Channialsosaidthatthegov-

ernment is planning to bring aBill in the upcoming VidhanSabha session to terminate theexisting power purchase agree-ments reachedwith three pri-vate thermalplants.HesaidPSPCLhaspickedtwo

solarcompaniestosupplypowerupto250MWata“recordlowestrate”ofRs2.33perunit.Similarly,PSPCLhasallotted150MWofso-larplantstobeestablishedwithineightmonths inPunjab thatwillofferpoweratRs2.69perunit.

BOOSTING TIES, BOLSTERING FRIENDSHIPPrimeMinisterNarendraModiwithhisBritishcounterpartBoris JohnsonandUnitedNationsSecretary-GeneralAntonioGuterres inGlasgowonMonday.AP

Only Congressfights Modiacross India:Chidambaram

BYREDUCINGthepowertariff, theCongressgov-ernment inPunjabhassoughttotakethewindoutofArvindKejriwal'ssailsaheadof2022Assemblypolls.TheAAPconvenor,on linesof200units freepower inDelhi,hadannounced300unitstoallhouseholds if votedin,apromisethatwascopiedbySADtoo.Bygranting immediaterelieftoconsumers,CMChannihasensuredCongresshasanedgeat thehustings.

Punjab’spowerpoliticsE●EX

PLAINED

MAULSHREESETHLUCKNOW,NOVEMBER1

IN CONGRESS’Swomen specialmanifesto announced onMonday,partygeneralsecretaryPriyanka Gandhi Vadra prom-ised free travel on governmentbuses, threefreeLPGcylindersayear, an increase in Ashawork-ers’ honorarium and widowpension,and40%reservationsingovernment jobs for women ifthe party won the 2022AssemblypollsinUttarPradesh.The Congress’s earlier

pledges to set aside 40% of itsseatsforwomencandidates,andgivefreesmartphonetoClass10girl students and e-scooters tocollegestudentswerealsolistedin theeight-pointmanifesto.Priyanka said the govern-

ment job quota for womenwouldbeprovidedinaccordancewith“reservationprovisions”.

ShesaidAshaandAnganwariworkers, who have been de-mandingaraiseintheirhonorar-ium,wouldbegivenRs10,000amonthwhileoldagewidowpen-sion would be Rs 1,000 if theCongressformsthegovernment.TheCongressalsopromisedto

establish75DakshataVidyalayas,which would be named afterwomenpersonalities.Lastweek,Ashaworkershad

written to Chief Minister YogiAdityanath, asking him for amonthlypayofRs10,000andRs10 lakh health insurance. Theyhave been protesting outsidechiefmedicalofficers’officesandhavethreatenedtoboycottworktheirdemandswerenotmet.

Channi rolls outpower relief, cutsrate by Rs 3 per unit

MAYURAJANWALKARPANAJI,NOVEMBER1

Afterhis‘guarantees’offreeelec-tricityupto300unitsandjobsforeveryone in Goa, AAP nationalconvenor and Delhi ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwal onMondayannouncedfreepilgrim-agesforpeoplefromthestatede-pending on their faiths, if AAP isvoted to power in theAssemblypollsscheduledfor2022.Kejriwalannouncedfreepil-

grimage tours of the RamMandir in Ayodhya, VelankanniChurch in Tamil Nadu, AjmerSharif inRajasthanandShirdi inMaharashtra.“I recentlywent toAyodhya. I

wenttothetempleandsawRamLalla.After comingout, I thoughtthat everyone should have thegoodfortuneIhad.IdecidedIwilltake asmany people as I can toAyodhya and give them the op-portunity to see Lord Shri Ram.Today, IwanttoannounceinGoa

that if ourgovernment is formedhere,thenwewillmakethefacil-ity for the people of Goa to visitAyodhyaforfree.Wewillgivefreetravel to Velankanni to ourChristianbrothersandsisters.OurMuslimbrothers and sisters,wewilltaketoAjmerSharif.Therearemany such people in Goa,whohave faith in Shirdi,wewill takethemtoShirdi,”heannounced.He said that people will be

able to choose their preferredplaceof pilgrimage fromamongthefourdestinationsandthegov-ernmentwillmakefreetravelandstay arrangements.More desti-nationswill be added to the list,hesaid,basedonthepreferencesof thepeople. “We take thembyACtrainandputthemupatanAChotel,”Kejriwalsaid.

DelhiCMArvindKejriwal

PriyankaGandhiVadra

In Goa push, Kejriwalannounces ‘guarantee’of free pilgrimage

Panaji: Two days after WestBengal Chief MinisterMamataBanerjee said Prime MinisterNarendraModi was becomingstronger because the Congresswas not serious about politics,senior Congress leader PChidambaram said the TMCchiefwaslookingatthecountrythroughthe“Bengal lens”.“Congress is the only party

fightingMrNarendraModi andhisgovernmentall over India... Idonot dispute thatMsMamataBanerjee foughtandwonaverytoughfightinBengal.Butwhoisfighting Mr Narendra Modi inPunjab, Haryana, Maharashtra,Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Kerala,Karnataka, Assam? It is theCongressparty.Sheis lookingatit from the Bengal lens...” saidChidambaram.Asked if the presence of the

Banerjee-ledTMCwoulddenttheCongress'sprospects in thestate,hesaid,“...IamsurethepeopleofGoaknowthattheCongressalonecanprovideachangeinGoa.”ENS

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI,NOVEMBER1

“PUBLIC INTOLERANCE” led topulling down of the Dabur ad-vertisement that showed a les-bian couple celebrating KarwaChauth, Supreme Court judgeDYChandrachudhassaid.Hewas speakingat anevent

organised by theNational LegalServices Authority on'Empowerment of womenthrough legal awareness' onOctober31.“Just twodaysago, all of you

would know of the advertise-

ment that a company was re-quired to pull down…itwas anadvertisementforkarwachauthof asame-sexcouple…ithadtobewithdrawnon the ground ofpublic intolerance,” JusticeChandrachudsaid.Hespokeabouttheadvertise-

mentwhiletalkingaboutwhyitisimportanttoensurelegalaware-nessontherightsofwomen.“Our Constitution is a trans-

formativedocumentthatsoughtto remedy the structural in-equalitiesrootedinpatriarchy.Ithas become a powerful tool tosecure material entitlementsandprovidepublic affirmations

of dignity and equality ofwomen,”Chandrachudsaid.The advertisement, of a fair-

ness bleach brand owned by

Dabur, was withdrawn by thefirmafteritfacedbacklashonso-cial media and from MadhyaPradesh Home MinisterNarottamMishra,amongothers.OnOctober 25,Mishra had saidthat he had asked the state po-licechieftoreviewtheadvertise-ment, saying its portrayal of alesbian couple performing theritualwas“objectionable”.On Sunday, speaking at the

event, JusticeChandrachudsaid,“TheSupremeCourthasrecentlyopened thedoors forwomentojoin the armed forces. But howdoesawomanaccessthearmedforces?Howdoesshebecomea

member of the armed forces?Howdoesshebecomeajudicialofficer? So legal awareness hastobespreadabouttheseavenuesfor women to enter the work-place,”hesaid.JusticeChandrachudheaded

thebench thatdelivereda land-markverdictinFebruarythatdi-rectedthatwomenofficersintheArmy be granted permanentcommission on a parwith theirmalecounterparts.InOctober,anotherbenchled

byJusticeChandrachuddirectedthe Centre to grant permanentcommissionto39womenArmyofficers.

SupremeCourt judgeDYChandrachud

‘Public intolerance’ led to Dabur ad being pulled: SC judge

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICELUCKNOW,GURGAON,NOVEMBER1

UTTARPRADESHChiefMinisterYogi Adityanath on MondayslammedSPpresidentAkhileshYadav’s remark in which hespoke of Mahatma Gandhi,Sardar Vallabhai Patel, PanditJawaharlal Nehru andMuhammad Ali Jinnah in thesame breath, equating it with“Talibani mindset”. BSP chiefMayawati,ontheotherhand,al-leged that Yadav’s remark andBJP's quick reactionwas a “partof awell-thought-out strategy”to vitiate the atmosphere oncommunal lines ahead of theAssemblypolls in thestate.Speaking inHardoionSardar

Patel’s 146th birth anniversarySunday, Akhilesh said: “...SardarPatelji, Mahatma Gandhi,JawaharlalNehruand Jinnahbe-camebarristers after studyingatthe same institute... They got usIndependence.”PnMonday,Adityanath,atan

event inMoradabad, said: “Hewas comparing desh-todak (na-tion-divider) JinnahwithSardarVallabhbhai Patel, who unitedthecountry.Thatstatementisex-tremely shameful... This is theTalibanimindsetthatalwaysbe-lieves inbreakingthecountry.”Later,ataneventinFaridabad,

Adityanath referred to the firingonkarsevaksinAyodhyain1990,when SPwas in power in UttarPradesh.“TheseJinnahfollowershad opened fire on Rambhaktsand whenever they will be inpower, they will fire onRambhaktsagain.”Meanwhile,Mayawatialleged

collusionbetweenSPandBJP.Inatweet in Hindi, Mayawati said,“ThepoliticsoftheSPandtheBJPhave been complementary toeachother. Since thethinkingofthese twoparties is casteist andcommunal, their existence hasbeenbasedoneachother...”AIMIM chief Asaduddin

OwaisialsocriticisedAkhilesh’sremarks, saying that MuslimswhostayedinIndiahadrejectedJinnah's two-nation theory.

Yogi calls Akhilesh’sJinnah remark ‘Talibani’;Maya sees SP-BJP ploy

KHUSHBOONARAYANMUMBAI,NOVEMBER1

FORMERMAHARASHTRAhomeminister Anil Deshmukh onMonday appeared before theEnforcement Directorate (ED)for questioning in connectionwith a money laundering andcorruptioncaseagainsthim.Hewas questioned by the agencyforabout11hours.AteamofEDofficialsinclud-

ingitsadditionaldirectorflewinfrom Delhi to recordDeshmukh’s statement.Deshmukh had earlier

skipped at least five summonsby the agency and alsomovedtheBombayHighCourt seekingtoquash thesesummons.Aheadofappearingbeforethe

ED, Deshmukh in a videomes-sagesaidthathehasextendedhiscooperation intheprobe. “Ihavereceived ED summons and themediahaswronglyreportedthatIamnotcooperatingwiththein-vestigation.Aftereverysummon,I informed the ED thatmypeti-tion ispendingbefore thecourtsandthatIwillproducemyselfbe-fore theEDafter theiroutcomes.My staff andmy family have al-ways cooperated with the EDduring the searches. I have alsorecordedmystatementswiththeCBI.TodayIamappearingbeforetheED,”hesaid.“Onaccountof awitch-hunt

campaign launched at the in-stanceofcertainvestedinimical

interests,someblatantlyfalseal-legations have been levelled bythosepersons...Theseunscrupu-lous persons are themselvesknee-deep involved in severalrackets of extortion and evenmurder. The principal personwhoheldthehighofficeofcom-missioner of police is now awanted absconding criminal,”saidDeshmukh.On October 29, the HC re-

fusedtoquashtheEDsummonsagainstDeshmukhanddirectedhimtoappearbeforetheagency.The ED has alleged that

Deshmukh, while acting as thehomeminister, “received illegalgratificationofapproximatelyRs4.7croreincashfromvariousor-chestrabarowners”throughdis-missedcopSachinWaze.According to the ED, of this

aboutRs4.18crorewasdepositedincashwithfourDelhi-basedshellcompanies. These firms subse-quentlydonatedtheentiremoneyto a charitable trust headed byDeshmukhandhisfamily.

FormerMaharashtrahomeministerAnilDeshmukh

Panaji: Goa Chief MinisterPramodSawantonMondaysaidlike-minded parties shouldcome together on one platformfor the upcoming Assemblypolls,andindicatedthatatie-upwith the MaharashtrawadiGomantakParty (MGP), a tradi-tionalallyof theBJP,maybeun-derconsideration.“The kind of anarchywe are

seeing in Goan politics for thefirst time, it would need like-

minded parties to come to oneforum. They (the MGP) werewithusearliertoo,”Sawantsaid.MGPleaderRamkrishnaalias

SudinDhavalikarsaid,“Wehavealready said that any party thatis willing to give us 12 seats tocontest,wewill consider...”BJP Goa election in-charge

Devendra Fadnavis is expectedtoarrive inthestateonTuesday.Dhavalikarmaymeet Fadnavis,sources said. ENS

Goa CM hints BJP may belooking at tie-up with MGP

UP polls: Cong releasesmanifesto for women

No Partition ifJinnah was madefirst PM: ChariJaipur:Muhammad Ali Jinnahcould have beenmade the firstPrimeMinister of India to avoidPartition, formerOrganiser edi-torSeshadriChari saidMonday.Speaking at the launch of

InformationCommissionerUdayMahurkar’s bookVeer Savarkar:The Man Who Could HavePreventedPartitioninJaipur,Charisaid,“Unfortunately,our leadersthendidnotthinkaboutthis.Hadhe (Jinnah)beenoffered thePMpost – andwhobecame the PMafterhimwasadifferent issue–at least Partitionwouldn’t havetakenplace.”Chari repeatedly said that

therewereseveral“ifsandbuts”towhathewassaying.Headded,“Ifwedidn’t agree to Partition andchosetofightforindependenceforanother tenyears... the chitr (pic-ture)ofthisnationmayhavebeendifferent.TheremaynothavebeenPakistanprobably.” ENS

Parrikar’s soneyes Panaji seatPanaji:Utpal Parrikar, the sonofformerGoachiefministerthelateManohar Parrikar, onMondaysaid he wants to contest hismaiden election from PanajiAssemblyseat,whichwasrepre-sentedbyhisfather,asaBJPnom-inee.When askedwhether hewouldcontestasanIndependentcandidateintheeventofBJPdeny-ing hima ticket for the polls, hesaid,“Iamconfidentthatthepartywillgivemeaticket. Iamholdingtalkswiththem....” PTI

Former Maharashtraminister appears beforeED, questioned for 11 hrs

New Delhi

Page 7: PM'sword:NetZero2070,clean&green2030 - Sosin Classes

7THEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY,NOVEMBER2,2021

WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

EXPRESSNETWORK

ARUNJANARDHANANCHENNAI,NOVEMBER1

THE MADRAS High Court onMonday quashed the 10.5 percent special internal reservationprovidedbytheTamilNadugov-ernment for Vanniyars, amostbackward caste (MBC) commu-nity,statingthat it isultravirestotheConstitution.The Madurai bench of the

HighCourt,comprisingJusticesMDuraiswamy and K MuraliShankar, issued an order ques-tioningthestategovernment’sde-cision toprovide special reserva-tions to a particular MBCcommunitywithout thebackingofacaste-basedcensus.Initsorder,theHighCourtsaid

the state had passed the Act bywithoutany“quantifiabledataonpopulation,socio-educationalsta-tus and representation of thebackward classes in the servicesandthesub-classificationdonebyvirtueoftheimpugnedActsolely

basedonpopulationdata, in theabsenceofanyobjectivecriteria”,addingthatthiswas“illegalintheeyeof lawand inviolationof theConstitutionof India”.Thecourtsaid,“Inmostofthe

Districts in the state of TamilNadu, theVanniyar communitypopulation is very less and insuchacase,if10.5%reservationisgiven to the Vanniyar caste allover the state, it would preventtheotherMBCsingettingadmis-sions in the EducationalInstitutions and posts in theGovernment employments. Inotherwards,thecandidatesfromVanniyarswould automaticallyget selected in the educationalinstitutions or in the govern-ment employments withouttherebeinganycompetition.Ontheotherhand,thecandidatesofotherMBCswould find it diffi-cult to get admission in theEducational Institutions and inthe Government employmentforthereasonthattheirreserva-tion would be decreased

from20%to9.5%.”Vanniyars are one of the

largest andmost consolidatedbackward communities inTamilNadu and the largest backwardcommunity after the ScheduledCastecommunity.The demand for a special

quota for the community wasraisedbythePattaliMakkalKatchi

(PMK),apoliticalpartybackedbyasignificantnumberofVanniyarswhichwasajuniorpartnerintheprevious AIADMK-led govern-ment. TheAIADMKsawapoliti-cal advantage in promisingVanniyars special reservationahead of the Assembly polls inAprilandmanagedtopassanActprovidingthesameinFebruary—justbeforethemodelcodeofcon-ductcameintoeffect.Afterformingthenewgovern-

ment, theActwas implementedbythecurrentDMKgovernment,even as several legal expertswarned that it was likely to bequashedincourt.However, the Actwas chal-

lenged in the High Court byaround20petitions—mostlybyother MBC communities whoweren’tconsideredfor thereser-vation.Acommonargumentwasthata10.5percentreservationforVanniyarsalonewillhaveahugeimpact on some 25 otherMBCcommunities as well as 65DenotifiedCommunities (DNC).

Thepetitions also argued that itwill affect the harmony amongtheMBCcommunities.AdvocateKBaalu,aprominent

lawyer attached to the PMK, re-questedthecourttodelaytheor-der for oneweek to ensure timefor them to file an appeal in theSupremeCourt. Baalu said that aquashing order would affectmany students and candidatesfrom the Vanniyar communitywhohaveenrolled foreducationandemploymentasperthereser-vation.Thebenchhowevercategori-

cally stated that admissions andappointmentsbasedon the spe-cial quota are subject to theout-comeofthewritpetitions.Afterthecourt'sorder,govern-

ment counsel said theywill ap-proach the SupremeCourtwithanappeal andhave takenaposi-tion that the reservation forVanniyars has been providedbasedonthesurveyconductedbytheTamilNaduBackwardClassesCommissionin1983.

THEAIADMKhadset theball rollingwith respectto thespecial reservationforVanniyars,while theDMKimplemented it.Bothpartiesnowseemsafe fromapoliticalblowback to thereserva-tionbeingquashed, asanyblamethatwill beaccorded is likely tobedirectedat the judiciary.

AIADMK,DMKsafefrompoliticalfalloutE●EX

PLAINED

HCquashes 10.5%quota for Vanniyars

Troopsandequipmentbeingair-droppedaspartof theexercise.Courtesy: IndianArmy

Army conducts airborne exercisealong border in eastern Ladakh

SHAJUPHILIPTHIRUVANANTHAPURAM,NOVEMBER1

ASWORLDleadersnegotiateacli-mate action plan at COP26 inGlasgow, farmers, adivasis andcommonpeople are getting to-gether in rural and semi-urbanpartsofKerala todiscuss the fall-outofclimatechangeontheirlives—overcupsof tea.These gatherings, called

Climate cafés, were initiated inKerala by a publication,‘Padhabhedam’, ledbywriterandsocialactivist“Civic”Chandran.“Wedon’twant to leave the

debatesonclimatechangetoex-pertsandpoliticiansalone.Keralahasbeenfrequentlyfacingfloodsandlandslidesintherecentyears.Thissituationcallsformicro-levelconversations,inwhichcommon

men can freely air their views.Everyonehassomethingtosayonclimate and in fact this is a topicwherewecanopena talkwithastranger,”saidChandran.TheClimateCaféconceptwas

startedin2018byRebeccaNestorof the UK-based ClimatePsychologyAlliance,anorganisa-

tionthatexploresthepsycholog-ical impactofclimatecrisis.Chandran said so far 30 cli-

mate cafémeets havebeen con-ductedandanother30wouldbeheld till November 12, whenCOP26 ends. “We haven’t fixedany topic to be debated.Padhabhedamhostedonly a few

initial sessions,mostly attendedby15 to60people.Now, citizensare coming together sponta-neouslytodebateclimatechange,astheyarenowconvincedabouttheimportance...”hesaid.Thesecafémeetsareattended

byacross-sectionof peoplewhoare not experts. In a café inWayanad,tribalpeopleairedtheirconcern about landslides. InAlappuzha,participantsdiscussedthefloodinginKuttanadregion.AjithKumar,oneofthepartic-

ipants at the Climate Café inAlappuzha, said: “Wehave dis-cussed preparing a room forfloodwater in paddy fields andwetlands so that floodingof vastareas could beminimised. Ourdiscussion also highlighted theneedforrestrictionsonconstruct-inghouses...OurClimateCaféwillconductmoresessionsformicro-levelplanning...”

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEMUMBAI,NOVEMBER1

AWAROFwords broke out be-tweenMaharashtracabinetmin-ister NawabMalik and formerMaharashtra Chief MinisterDevendra Fadnavis after the for-mer tweeted a photo of allegeddrugpeddler JaydeepRanawithFadnavis and alleged that theOpposition leaderhadlinkswithpeopleoperating thedrugsbusi-nessinthestate.Fadnavisrespondedbystating

thathewouldexposethe“under-worldlinks”ofNCPministerMalikafter Diwaliwith documentaryevidence.Earlier on Monday, Malik

tweetedaphotoofamanwhoheclaimedwasanallegeddrugped-dler who is presently in jail,JaydeepRana,withFadnavisandhiswifeAmrutaFadnavis.Thepic-tures are from 2018 and weretaken during a video shoot of asongon river conservation sungbyAmruta.Ranawaslistedasthefinanceheadof thevideoshoot.“One JaydeepRana currently

in jail in connectionwith a drugtraffickingcasehasrelationswithformerCMDevendraFadnavis.Hewas the financial headof the fa-mous river song sungby formerCM’s wife Amruta Fadnavis.Fadnavisshouldcomecleanoverhis associationwith suchpeopleand itwasduringhis tenure that

the state saw a proliferation ofdrugactivity,”Maliksaid.Fadnavis claimedthathehad

no connection with Rana.“Personally neitherme normywifehaveanyconnectionwiththeindividualinquestion(Rana).”Fadnavis said that hewould

expose Malik’s “underworldlinks”.“NawabMalik hasmischie-

vouslydraggedmeandmywife’snamewithanindividualtoshowdrug linkswhich are absolutelybaseless. Now that Malik hasstartedthegame,Iwillensureitistakentoitslogicalend.IwillbreakabombpostDiwali."The BJP rallied behind

Fadnavis,withstateBJPpresidentChandrakantPatilstatingthattheMVAgovernmenthasfailedtoof-fersolacetofarmers,womenandtransportworkers and is usingMaliktohideitsfailures.“Malikwill have to face seri-

ousramificationsfordraggingthenameofFadnavis.AllthechargeslevelledbyMalikarebaseless.TheBJPstronglycondemnssuchwildallegations,”Patilsaid.

War of words betweenMalik and Fadnavisover drug link claims

Malik;Fadnavis

SHAJUPHILIPTHIRUVANANTHAPURAM,NOVEMBER1

ACTINGONacourtdirective,thepoliceinKeralaMondaybookedCatholic Bishop JosephKallarangatt for his “narcotic ji-had”statement.AmagistratecourtinPaladi-

rectedthelocalpolicetoregisterthecaseagainsttheBishopafterthe Kottayamdistrict presidentof the All India Imams Council,Abdul Azeez Moulavi, ap-proached it.TheKottayamPolicehave in-

vokedcharges,includingpromo-tionofenmity,againsttheBishop.Twomonths ago, while ad-

dressingpeopleatapilgrimcen-tre under the Pala diocese, theBishop had controversiallyclaimed the existenceof a “nar-coticsjihad”,besides“lovejihad”,to trapnon-Muslims.The bishop had alleged that

drugs are being used in softdrinks and juices tomake non-Muslims addicts. Governmentandmainstreampoliticalparties,except BJP, have deplored thecomments.MultipleMuslimor-ganizations had demandedapology fromtheBishop.

‘Narco jihad’remark: Bishopbooked in Kerala

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEPANAJI,NOVEMBER1

LITIGATION BY environmental-ists is amajor hurdle in the de-velopment of Goa, UnionMinister forRoadTransportandHighwaysNitinGadkari saidonMonday.Speakingaftertheinaugura-

tionoftheNationalHighwaylinkbetweenLoutolim and anindustrial estateatVernainsouthGoa,theministersaid: “Here, a lotof people go tocourt in thename of envi-ronment, stallwork. That stopsdevelopment in Goa. Ecology,environment and developmentshould go hand in hand. And Iamastaunchsupporterof ecol-ogyandenvironment…Iuseanelectric car in Nagpur and in amonth, Iwill be using a car thatrunsongreenhydrogeninDelhi.Wewant toswitch togreen fuelmadebyour farmers.”Askedaboutthetimelinefor

the completion of the the Zuaribridge – connecting Panaji andMargao,Gadkarisaid:“Youdon’tallowustowork,thencomeandaskmewhen itwill bedone.”He said that he hoped to

open at least one lane of thebridgebeforetheModelCodeofConduct kicks in ahead of theAssemblypolls, slated for2022.

Gadkari in Goa:Litigation in nameof environmentstalls development

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI,NOVEMBER1

THEARMY is conducting aerialexercises close to the border ineasternLadakhtoinducttroopsinhigh-altitude zones andvalidateitsrapidresponsecapabilities.This comes in the backdrop

of India'smilitary standoffwithChina in the region for nearly18months.Sources said the Army’s

ShatrujeetBrigadeisconducting“anairborneinsertionalongthenorthern borders in easternLadakh to validate its RapidResponseCapabilities,aspartofanairborneexerciseandcombatmanoeuvres”.

On Monday, the airbornetroops were inserted at a dropzoneatanaltitudeofmorethan14,000 feet, it is learnt.Sources said the troops had

beenpre-acclimatised.Theysaidthe troops, "alongwithspecialistvehiclesandmissiledetachments,were transported via C-130 andAN32aircraft fromfivedifferentmountingbasestovalidateinter-theatremove,precisionstand-offdrops,rapidgroupingandcaptureof designated objectives withspeedandsurprise".Thedropat suchanaltitude,

andwithwinter setting in, was"particularly challengingdue tothe low temperatures" — themercurydippedtominus20de-grees Celsius — and the atmos-

phere is rarefied at super-high-altitude terrain.“The exercise also involves

conductofOxygenCombatFreeFall jumpsand integratedbattledrillsbyairborneforces,mecha-nised columns and attack heli-copters, validating capabilitiesand seamless integration,”sources said.India and China are both

rampingupinfrastructurealongtheentireLineofActualControl(LAC) across all sectors. Even asthe standoff in eastern Ladakhcontinues, China has increasedpatrolling, includingareadomi-nationpatrolsintheeasternsec-toraswell, since2020. Indiahasalso raised itsdefencealong theentireLAC.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI,NOVEMBER1

PERMISSIONHAS been soughtfrom Lok Sabha Speaker OmBirla to call a Facebookwhistle-blower to depose before theParliamentary StandingCommittee on InformationTechnology,panelchairmanandCongressMPShashiTharoorsaidonMonday.“With its agendaofficial, the

Committee will hold its firstmeetings of thenewsession onNov 16 & 17. Under our proce-dures videoconferencing is notpermitted. Testimony inpersonby witnesses from abroad re-quires the Speaker’s consent.That is being sought,” he said ina tweet.Frances Haugen, a former

Facebookdatascientist-turned-whistleblower,hasreleasedase-riesof documents that revealedthat the products of the socialnetwork giant harmedmentalhealth of teenage girls, and thatit resisted changes that couldmake its platform less divisivebecause it “put itsprofitsbeforepeople”.Haugenhastestifiedbe-fore theUSSenateCommittee.Tharoor was responding to

allegations that neither the

Indian Parliament nor the gov-ernment has expressed any de-sire to hear from the Facebookwhistleblowersyet.He pointed out that the IT

parliamentarypaneldidnotex-ist between September 12 andOctober 12. It was officially re-constituted in the secondweekof October.When it firstmetonOctober 21, the committeeadopteditsagenda.Ithadtothenadoptitsagenda,submitittotheSpeakerandhaveitbulletinisedbefore it could convene anymeeting,hesaid.Sourcessaidtherulesofpro-

cedures for the standing com-mittees say it requires theSpeaker’sconsentforanyforeignwitness to be invitedbefore thepanels.

Tharoor: House panelhas sought nod to callFB whistleblower

CongressMPShashiTharooris thechairmanof theParliamentaryStandingCommitteeonIT

SADAFMODAKMUMBAI,NOVEMBER1

ASESSIONScourtrejectedthean-ticipatory bail plea of a doctorwhilerelyingonWhatsAppchatswithhiswife,whoallegedlyhasaforgedmedical degree butwasbeing given instructions byhimonhowtotreatpatients.“The WhatsApp chats be-

tweentheaccusedandtheappli-cant(doctor)revealthattheappli-cantusedtotelltheaccusedwhattreatmentistobegiven.Itappears

thateverydetailwasaskedbytheaccusedandrepliedtobytheap-plicant. Even in respect of sensi-tive patients like a pregnantwomanof sevenmonths, theac-cused acted as a doctor and theapplicant sent her WhatsAppchats as to the treatment to begiven,”thecourtsaidwhilereject-ing thepre-arrestbail pleaof the37-year-olddoctor.The chatswere submittedby

policewhile opposing the bailplea.PolicehadfiledanFIRundervarioussections,includingcheat-ing, forgery of theMaharashtra

MedicalPractitionersAct follow-ing a search at a clinic inGhatkoparwhere three peoplewerefoundtobepractisingwith-outanymedicaldegree.Policeopposedthepre-arrest

bailpleaofthe37-year-olddoctorstating that he had allowed hiswife, oneof the accusedwith anallegedly forgedmedical degree,topractice at his clinic. Police re-lied on theWhatsApp chats be-tweenthecoupleclaimingthathehad assisted her in treating pa-tientsdespitetheknowledgethathercertificatewasforged.

Thedoctor,inhisplea,saidthathewasaregisteredmedicalprac-titionerandadvisingontreatmentwasnotacrime.Thecourtsaidthedocuments

showedthatthedoctor’swifehadobtained a fakedegree. “Still theapplicantallowedher topracticeinhis clinic.... It is not acceptablethat the applicantmaynot haveknowledgethattheaccuseddoesnotholdavaliddegreecertificateor license,” the court said. It heldthat these facts showed thedoc-tor’sinvolvementandsaidthathisinterrogationwasnecessary.

Court relies on chats, denies doctor bail

Climate cafés spark debate in ruralKerala on environmental issues

Aclimatecafe inAlappuzha. Express

BishopJosephKallarangatt

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI,NOVEMBER1

ATOTAL of 8,70,074 candidateshaveclearedNEET-UG2021examfor admission to undergraduatemedical courses, withwomenmakingup56.8percentsuccess-fulcandidates,theresultsdeclaredMondayby theNational TestingAgency(NTA)show.Three students — Mrinal

Kutteri (Telangana), TanmayGupta(Delhi)andKarthikaGNair(Maharashtra)—securedthetoprank,scoring720markseach.Therearetwowomenamong

the top 20 candidates from 11statesandoneUnionTerritory.Inastatement,NEET(UG)sen-

ior directorDr SadhanaParasharsaidoutof 15,44,275 candidates,8,70,074have cleared the exam,heldonSeptember12.Thisshowsan improvement over last year,when13,66,945candidates tooktheexamand7,71,500clearedit.Lastyear,55.46percentqual-

ifyingcandidateswerewomen.The top-20 candidates this

year include three from UttarPradesh, and two each fromTelangana, Andhra Pradesh,KarnatakaandDelhi.Theexami-nationwasheld in 13 languages

across3,858centres, includinginKuwaitandDubai.Asmanyas883foreigncandidatesqualified.Thecategory-wisebreak-upof

thequalifying candidates showsthat 13.12 per cent are fromScheduledCaste(SC)background,45.6 per cent from OBC, and4.61per cent STs, as against lastyear’s12.8percent,46.59percentand4.38percent,respectively.Cut-offscoresingeneralcate-

goryis138thisyear,comparedto147in2020.InST,SCandOBCcat-egories, the cut-off is 108, asagainstlastyear’s113.TheNTA statement said the

DGHSwillconductcounsellingfor15per cent all-India quota seats,deemeduniversities,centraluni-versities, and seats of BHU andAMU,amongothers.“The details and schedule of

counsellingwill be available onwebsites of the Ministry ofHealth and FamilyWelfare andMedical EducationDirectoratesof States,” it said.Incaseofstatequotaseats,and

other seats under the ambit ofstates, candidates “mayapply totheirdomicilestatesandmeritlistasperStaterules...Thecounsellingfor PrivateMedical Collegeswillalso be conducted by.. StateCounsellingAuthority,” itsaid.

NEET: 3 share top rank;women more successful

NAVEEDIQBALSRINAGAR,NOVEMBER1

THEJAMMUandKashmiradmin-istration onMonday accordedsanctionforthecreationofaspe-cialised investigating agency,whichwill primarily investigatecasespertainingtoterrorismandrelatedoffences.TheStateInvestigationAgency

(SIA)willalsobethenodalagencyfor “coordinating with theNational Investigation Agency(NIA) andother central agenciesand shall take such othermeas-uresasmaybenecessaryspeedyand effective investigation andprosecutionof terrorism relatedcases”, according to officialsources.Theagencywillfunctionapart from the CID and otheragenciesworkingintheUT.Sourcesintheadministration

told The Indian Express that theneedforsettingupanewagencywasfelt“forspecialisedinvestiga-tion”intoterrorcasesthatarenotreferredtotheNIA.AnSIADirectoratewill be set

upinJ&KwiththeheadoftheCIDwing as its ex-officio Director.OfficerstotheDirectoratewillbedeputedby the government. Alltheofficersin-chargeofpolicesta-tionswillhavetomandatorilyin-timate the SIA immediately onregistrationof terrorism-relatedcases, and also about such cases

whereanyterrorismlinksurfacesduringtheinvestigation.Offencespertainingtovarious

anti-terrorlawsandprovisionsoftheIPChavebeenincludedinthepurviewof theagency, includingThe Unlawful Activities(Prevention) Act, The ExplosiveSubstances Act, the SAARCConvention (Suppression ofTerrorism)Act,WeaponsofMassDestruction and their DeliverySystems(ProhibitionofUnlawfulActivities)Act.Itwill probe offenceswhich

have terrorism links; all terroristacts,includingterroristfinancing,andcirculationofhighqualityfakecurrencynotes.Terrorismrelatedlargerconspiracycasesand“casesrelatingtoterrorism-linkedprop-aganda,falsenarrative,largescaleincitement,spreadingofdisaffec-tion, enmity against the IndianUnion”,will alsocomeunder thepurviewofthenewagency.In caseswhere the investiga-

tionisnottakenupbytheNIA,theDGPof J&K,“havingregardtothegravityof theoffence,progressofinvestigation andother relevantfactors”,willdetermineinconsul-tationwith the SIAwhether thecaseisfittobeinvestigatedbySIA.The SIA will also be the

agencyforinvestigationandtrialof offences in cases which aretransferred to theUT in termsofSection 7 of the NationalInvestigationAct,2008.

J&K admin to set upspecialised agencyto probe terror cases

NitinGadkari

BRIEFLY

MAHARASHTRA

Chain-snatcherchanges3shirtsinrobberyspreeMumbai:TheMahimpolicearresteda28-year-oldchainsnatcher for allegedly rob-bing gold ornaments fromtwowomenwithinanhour.Policesaidtheaccused,iden-tifiedasMaheshKale, usedauniquemethodtomisleadthem. He allegedly worethreedifferentshirts,oneun-der theother, immediatelyafter targeting awomanatDilipGupteRoadinMahim.Theaccused,whowaswear-ing a green colour shirt,changed his attire due towhich the police failed totracehiminstantly.Anhourlater, he targeted anotherwoman. ENS

WESTBENGAL

Gariahatdoublemurder:Primeaccused,aideheldKolkata:Theprimeaccusedin the Gariahat murdercaseandanaideofhishavebeen arrested fromMumbai,theKolkataPolicesaid on Monday. Policeidentified the accused asBiki Haldar alias VickyHaldar (26) of Kumar ParaLane, Kasba, andSubhankarMondal (35) ofBasantiSouth24Parganas.The twowere nabbed onSaturday night from aparking lot at St Xavier’sStreet inMumbai. ENS

J&K

With5of7members,BJPlosesraceforcivicbodypostJammu: The BJP’s candi-datelosttheracefortheof-ficeofvice-chairpersoninGho Manasa MunicipalCommittee by one votedespite the fact that fivemembers in the seven-member body belong totheparty.SourcessaidthatCongress’s RamPal Bittusecuredfourvotesandwaselected vice-chairpersonof themunicipalcommit-tee. BJP’sManohar Lal gotonly three votes. TheCongress only had twomembers in the commit-tee.Sourcesattributedtheresult to cross voting bytwo BJPmembers amidfactionalismwithin thepartyinthearea. ENS

New Delhi

Page 8: PM'sword:NetZero2070,clean&green2030 - Sosin Classes

EXPRESSNETWORK8 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY,NOVEMBER2,2021

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICESRINAGAR,NOVEMBER1

THE PEOPLE'S Democratic Party (PDP)Monday accusedtheCentreof fosteringnewfaultlinesbetweentheJammuand Kashmir regions. In a statement released after itsPolitical Affairs Committeemeet, the party said itwouldstepupefforts to “foil” thesedesigns.“ThePoliticalAffairsCommitteeobservedthatresort-

ing to naked communalism and pitting people againsteachotheron thebasis of religion, caste, sect andethnic-ity are the only tools of the BJP to cover-up its failure ingovernance. Hence divisive policies are gaining freshgroundandarebeingpromotedunabashedly.“This is being done to further divide the people so as

toaccomplishtheagendaof ‘completedisempowerment’of thepeopleof J&K...Thepeopleshouldremaincautionedandnot fallpreyandgive in tosuchplans,” thestatementsaid.Thepartyaskedthepeopleof J&Kto“collectivelyrisein unison to defeat such plans”. The PDP also expressedconcernovertherecentarrestof J&Kstudents inandout-sidetheUnionTerritoryforallegedlymakingpro-Pakistancommentsafter India’sdefeat in theT20WorldCup.

New Delhi: The Centre has de-cidedtoresumebiometricatten-dance for all employees fromNovember8, a circular fromthePersonnelMinistrysaidMonday.It shall be the responsibility

of department heads to ensurethatsanitisersareplacedbesidebiometricmachinesandallem-ployees sanitise their handsbe-foreandaftermarkingtheatten-dance, it said.Mandatory biometric atten-

dancewasdiscontinuedlastyearfollowingtheCovid-19outbreak.“Physical distancing of six

feetmust bemaintained by allemployeeswhilemarking theirattendance. If required, addi-tionalbiometricattendancema-chinesmaybe installedtoavoidovercrowding,”thecirculartoallministriesanddepartmentssaid.All employees shall be re-

quiredtowearmasksorfacecov-ers at all times, includingwhilewaitingtomarktheirattendance.“Meetings,asfaraspossible,shallcontinue to be conducted onvideoconferencingandpersonalmeetings with visitors, unlessnecessary in public interest, aretobeavoided,” it said. ENS

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI,NOVEMBER1

AUSTRALIA’S REGULATOR, theTherapeutic GoodsAdministration (TGA), said onMonday that India's Covaxinwould be “recognised for thepurpose of establishing a trav-eller’s vaccinationstatus”.The decision came on a day

that the country reopened itsborderforthefirsttimeinnearly20months.AustraliahasalreadyrecognisedCovishield.“Today, the Therapeutic

GoodsAdministration (TGA)de-terminedthatCovaxin(manufac-tured by Bharat Biotech, India)andBBIBP-CorV (manufacturedby Sinopharm, China) vaccineswouldbe‘recognised’forthepur-pose of establishing a traveller’svaccinationstatus,”theTGAsaid.“This recognition is for trav-

ellersaged12andoverwhohavebeen vaccinatedwith Covaxin,and those 18 to 60 who havebeen vaccinated with BBIBP-CorV,” it said.“Importantly, recognition of

Covaxin and BBIBP-CorV, alongwith the previously announcedrecognition of Coronavac (man-

ufacturedbySinovac,China)andCovishield (manufactured byAstraZeneca,India),meansmanycitizensofChinaandIndiaaswellas other countries in our regionwhere these vaccineshavebeenwidelydeployedwillnowbecon-sideredfullyvaccinatedonentryto Australia,” it said. “This willhave significant impacts for thereturn of international students,andtravelofskilledandunskilledworkerstoAustralia,” itsaid.TheTGAsaid it tookthedeci-

sion after obtaining "additionalinformation"demonstratingthatthesetwovaccines"providepro-tectionandpotentiallyreducethelikelihoodthatanincomingtrav-ellerwouldtransmitCovid-19in-fection to others while inAustralia or becomeacutely un-well due to Covid-19... The sup-porting information has beenprovidedtotheTGAfromthevac-cine sponsor and/or theWorldHealthOrganisation," itsaid.PMNarendraModi tweeted:

“I thank my dear friend@ScottMorrisonMPforAustralia’srecognitionofIndia’sCovaxin.Itisan importantstepforward inthepost-CovidpartnershipbetweenIndiaandAustralia.”

-WITHPTIINPUTS

Australia ‘recognises’Covaxin for travellers

ARUNSHARMAJAMMU,NOVEMBER1

THOSEWHOcheeredPakistan’scricketwinagainstIndiashouldbebeatenup, skinnedandstrippedof their Indiancitizenship, seniorJ&KBJPleaderandex-MLCVikramRandhawawasheardpurportedlysayinginavideosharedwidelyonsocialmedia.Inthevideo,healsoallegedly

asksMuslims tooffernamazonWhatsApp insteadof roads.With his remarks evoking

strong protests in theMuslimcommunity, andmany promi-nent people approaching policeforactionagainsthim,Randhawatold The Indian Express that thevideowasdoctoredtoprojecthisremarks inawrongcontext.BJP spokespersonSunil Sethi

saidRandhawamusthavemadetheremarksinapersonalcapacity.Randhawapurportedlysays:

“These 22- or 23-year-old girls,who roam around in Jammu inveils,wereinKashmirthrowingtheir jackets in the air and rais-ingpro-Pakistanslogans.”“Allthoseinvolvedinthiskind

of activity should be beaten upand skinned. They should betreated such that their cominggenerations too remember theresult of raising anti-India slo-gans,”hesays.“Sincetheverybe-ginning,wehavedemandedthattheir degrees be cancelled.Wealso demand that their citizen-shipshouldalsobecancelled.”“Earlier, theyusedtogive ta-

laqonmobilephone.SowhynotoffernamazonWhatsApp,whydoyoupeopleoccupyroads.”

Jammu BJPleader: Cancelcitizenship ofthose whocheered Pak

SC sets aside ‘extreme’ CalcuttaHC order on total firecracker banEXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI,NOVEMBER1

THESUPREMECourtonMondaysetasidetheCalcuttaHighCourtorder imposing a total ban onuse of firecrackers during festi-vals such as Kali Puja, Diwali,Chhath Puja, Jagadhatri Puja,Gurpurab, Christmas Eve andNewYear’sEvethisyear,termingit an“extremeorder”.A bench of Justices A M

KhanwilkarandAjayRastogisetaside the order after being toldthattheHChadproceededonthe“unfounded apprehension thatthereisnosufficientmechanisminplacetoascertainwhetherthecrackersusedaregreen”.The top court said it had

taken a consistent view in thematter since 2018, and thiswasalso reflected in its latest orderonOctober29,2021.The court said, “We do not

deemitnecessarytodilateonthisaspect,asweareof theviewthatif theHigh Courtwanted to im-pose a complete ban, it shouldhavecalleduponthepartiestoof-

ferexplanationabouttheaspectswhichwereweighingwithit(notspecificallypleadedorargued)re-quiring such extremeorder anddeparturefromtheconsistentdi-rectionsgivenbythiscourt…”In October 2018, the SC had

banned production and sale ofallcrackers,except 'greencrack-ers' and those with reducedemissions (improved crackers).Ithadalsobannedmanufactureandsaleof 'joinedcrackers',pro-hibitedtheuseofbariumsaltsinfireworks, and said their noiselevels shouldbewithinpermis-sible limits. The court alsobannedtheironlinesalesanddi-rectedthattheycanbesoldonlythroughlicensedtradersandlaiddown the time schedule forburstingonvariousoccasions.The court reiterated this in

the October 29 order, whilemaking it “clear that there is nototalbanonuseof firecrackers”,andthat“onlythosefirecrackersare banned, as directed...whichare found to be injurious tohealth and affecting the healthof citizens, more particularlysenior citizensandchildren”.

The HC order came on thesameday.A division bench of Justices

Sabyasachi Bhattacharya andAniruddhaRoyof CalcuttaHighCourt ordered a blanket ban onuse and sale of firecrackers, in-cluding green crackers, up toDecember31thisyear.Hearing the challenge to the

HC order by an association offirecrackerdealers,theSCbenchmade its displeasure clear overdifferenthighcourtspronounc-ing different orders in themat-ter despite its 2018 directionsandsaid, “Ithas tobeconsistenteverywhere. You cannot havedifferentmodalitiesfordifferentareas. If required, it has to bedonebyexecutive.”Appearing for the associa-

tion, senior advocate SiddharthBhatnagarsaidtheHChadgoneahead and banned even greencrackersdespitethreeSCordersandtwoNGTordersonthesub-ject. Hepointedout that SChadin one of the orders upheld theban inareaswhereair quality is"poor",whilealsostatingthat inotherareas,authoritiesmayper-

mit theuseof greencrackers.Justice Khanwilkar pointed

out that theHChadmerely saidaboutpracticaldifficultiesinen-suring if the crackers sold aregreen but not explained whatthepractical difficulty is. “Whatarethepracticaldifficultiesisforthe executive to decide,” JusticeRastogiobserved.Senior advocate Gopal

Shankaranarayanan, who ap-peared for original petitionerArjunGopal inSC, sought tode-fend the HC order. He pointedout that the October 29 orderhadunderlinedthataCBIinquiryhadfoundthatcrackersthatuseharmfulchemicalswerestillbe-ingsoldusingfakegreencrackerlabelsandfakeQRcodes.Hesaidthat Petroleum and ExplosivesSafety Organisation had onlycleared fourbrands.Appearing for the state, sen-

ior advocate AnandGrover saidthe order came on an “un-founded apprehension on partof Calcutta HC...that there is nosufficientmechanisminplacetoascertainwhether the crackersusedaregreen”.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI,NOVEMBER1

NARCOTICS CONTROL BureauMumbai zone head SameerWankhede,whois fightingalle-gations thathe forgedhisdocu-ments, met the ChairpersonNational Commission forScheduled Castes (NCSC), VijaySampla on Monday, and pre-sented his caste papers.Maharashtra minister NawabMalik has alleged thatWankhede forgedhis caste cer-tificate andother documents tosecurea jobasan IRSofficerun-der the SC quota after clearingtheUPSCexamination.Malik has also alleged that

Wankhede isaMuslimbybirth.Wankhedehadcomplainedto

theNCSCagainstMalik's allega-tions. “SameerWankhede haspresentedhis case before us.Hehas submitted all relevantdocu-ments,includinghisSCcertificatewhichhereceivedin1995,hisdi-vorce papers and hismarriageregistration, which has takenplaceundertheSpecialMarriagesActwhichisspecificallyfor inter-faithmarriages,aswellashisbirthcertificate which says he is aHindu.Wewillnowinitiateveri-ficationof all thedocuments.HehastoldusthathebelongstotheMaharcaste,”Samplasaid.HesaidtheCommissionhadthepowertoverifydocumentsrelatingtocasteinanycomplaintorcase.Wankhede is leading the

probe in the cruisedrugs case inwhich Shah Rukh Khan’s sonAryanwas arrested.NCBhas or-deredavigilanceinquiryintotheallegationsmadebyawitnessofanextortionbidofRs25crorebysomeagency officials, includingWankhede,forlettingoffKhan.

Govt to resumebiometricattendance forstaff from Nov 8

Wankhedepresentscaste papersto SC panel

Centre creating faultlinesin Jammu, Kashmir: PDP

AVANEESHMISHRADEHRADUN,NOVEMBER1

FORMERUTTARAKHAND chiefminister TrivendraSinghRawatonMonday faced protests frompriests in Kedarnath, whoshowed him black flags andraisedslogans,forcinghimtore-turnfromthetemplewithoutof-feringprayers.The priests of Kedarnath,

Badrinath, Gangotri andYamnotri dham are agitatedagainst theDevasthanamBoardAct, whichwas enacted duringRawat's tenure last year. WiththeAct, a total of 51 temples as-sociated with the four shrinesare now governed under theDevasthanamBoard,whichwasformedthrougha legislation.The priests have been de-

manding rollback of the board,claiming that it has ended theirtraditionalrightsonthetemples.OnMonday, Rawatwas vis-

itingKedarnathtotakethestockof the preparations for PrimeMinister NarendraModi’s pro-posed visit to the temple onFriday.Soonafterhisarrival, thepriests began shouting slogans,askinghimtoreturn.Facedwiththe protests, Rawat decided toleavewithoutofferingprayers.Besides Kedarnath,markets

in Yamnotri and Gangotri werealso closed to express solidaritywith the priests. Earlier in theday, BJP state presidentMadanKaushik and minister DhanSingh Rawat also faced protestsfromthe teerthpurohit.The protests had led Chief

Minister Pushkar Singh Dhamito constitute a committee tohear all stakeholders and find asolution. Thepanel has submit-teditsinterimreporttothestategovernment.TeerthpurohitRajeshSemwal

saidMonday that onSeptember11, the priests held a discussionwithDhami,whopromisedthemthat the boardwill be dissolvedbyOctober 30. But that has nothappened,hesaid.“Wehadmade it clear that if

thegovernmentdidnotdissolvethe board, a protest will beginfrom November 1 in all fourdhams. So, we appealed for abandh and all shopswere shut.If the government still does notdissolve the board, an evenbig-geragitationwillbegin,”hesaid.

Dehradun: Congress leaderHarish RawatMonday accusedthe BJP of disrespecting theKedarnathshrinebycarryingoutrenovationsthatrancontrarytoits original design “conceptu-alised as per Hindu traditions”by the 8th-century spiritualleaderAdiShankaracharya.The former chief minister’s

comments came twodays afterHomeMinister Amit Shah re-ferred to the renovation of theKedarnathshrineasanexampleof the BJP government’s re-sponse to the Congress’s “ap-peasementpolitics”.The Congress’s campaign

head in Uttarakhand said:“Therewas a temple courtyarddecided by Shankaracharya asper the pauranik system…andthathasbeenchanged.Ourshas-tras have been ignored.Why isno one saying that they disre-spectedKedarnath?” ENS

SameerWankhedeat theSCCommissionoffice inNewDelhi,Monday. PraveenKhanna

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Dadra & Nagar Haveli: Sena defeatsBJP in two gram panchayat bypollsSurat:Inafirst,theShivSenahaswonboththebypollstogrampanchayatsinDadraandNagarHaveli (DNH).While Raghubhai Dhodiyawon

by amargin of 82 votes fromKochagram panchayat, Vijaybhai Kinarywonby117 votes from theGalondaseat,showedtheresultsonMonday.The results comeadayaheadof the

result of the bypoll to theDNHLokSabhaseat.ThisisthefirsttimeShiv

Senacontested thesepolls.Afterpartingwayswith

theJD(U)andaligningwiththe Shiv Sena, the camp of

theformerDNHMP,thelateMohanDelkar, fielded Dhodiya fromwardno. 6 of the Kocha gram panchayatand Kinary fromward no. 3 in theGalonda gram panchayat againstarch-rival BJP.Hence, itwas adirectcontest between the Shiv Sena andthe BJP as the Congress had notfieldedanycandidates.Thegrampanchayatby-elections

werenecessitatedafter thedeathoftwo sitting JD(U)members RamanDhodiya from Kocha and ShaileshPatelfromGalondagrampanchayat.Bothof themweresupportedby

Delkarandhis camp. ENS

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Kedarnath priests protestagainst ex-CM, force himto return from shrine

AGITATIONOVERDEVASTHANAMBOARD

TrivendraSinghRawat

TORAAGARWALAGUWAHATI,NOVEMBER1

THREEDAYSaftertheMeghalayagovernmenttooklegalpossessionof the disputed Punjabi Lane inShillong’s Them lewMawlongarea,thelocalDalitSikhcommu-nity onMonday responded, say-ingtheywould“ratherdieintheirhomes,thanbeforciblyevicted”.In a statement, Gurjit Singh,

president of Harijan PanchayatCommittee (HPC),which repre-sents the Sikh community inShillong,termedthegovernment’smove“illegal”andsaidtheywould“socially,legally,religiouslyandpo-litically” challenge the state gov-ernment. “Let it be known to allconcernedthatthisisafightforoursurvival andhabitat andwewillsparenoefforttowinthisbattleofhonour, dignity and legitimaterights,”thestatementsaid.OnFriday,followinguponthe

ConradSangma-ledCabinet’s re-location decision earlier thismonth, the Urban Affairs

Department took possession ofthe landonpaper, amidprotestsfromthecommunity.AletterfromJointSecretaryGKharmawphlangto theAdditionalChief Secretarysaidthatfollowingatripartiteleasesignedby theSyiemofMylliem,ShillongMunicipalBoardandstategovernment, the landmeasuring12,444.13 squares metres hadbeen“handedover” to theUrbanAffairsDepartment.Chief Minister Sangma on

Mondaytoldreportersthattheis-suewouldberesolved“amicably”ina “phase-wisemanner”. “Theyareemotionally chargedandgiv-

ingstatementsbutwearereadytotalk to themamicably,” Sangmasaid,addingthiswasthefirsttimeinthehistoryof thestatethatanygovernmentwas taking strong,concrete steps towards resolvingalong-pendingissue.“Itisnoteasybutwearecommittedtothis,andwewilltalktothepeople,”hesaid.Deputy Chief Minister

PrestoneTynsong told reportersonFridaythatthenextstepwouldbe done “legally” with “dueprocess”. He said once the issuewas resolved, there would be“beautification”inthearea.TheSikhs,whohavebeenliv-

ingintheareaforabout200years,havetermedthetripartiteagree-ment“patentlyillegal”.Thedecadesolddisputestems

fromadisagreementoverowner-ship of land.While the govern-mentclaimstheland,whichislo-cated next to Shillong’scommercial hub IewduhorBaraBazaar, belongs to the UrbanAffairsDepartment,theSikhscon-siderittobea“gift”tothembytheSyiemofMyllieminthe1850s.

Meghalaya takes over disputedland, Sikhs to challenge move

PunjabiLane inShillong. File

AMILBHATNAGARNEWDELHI,NOVEMBER1

A LAWYER inMathura, who ispart of the defence team in thecaserelatedtothearrestof jour-nalist SiddiqueKappan, is likelyto take up the case of threeKashmiri students arrested foralleged sedition, after lawyers'associations in Agra refused torepresent them.The three Kashmiri youths,

studying at anAgra engineeringcollege under the PrimeMinister’s Special ScholarshipSchemeforJ&Kstudents,werear-restedonOctober27forallegedlysharinganti-IndiamessagesafterPakistan’swinoverIndiaataT20WorldCupmatchlastmonth.Followingthearrest, lawyers

in Agra said representing thethree accused would go"against" the interest of thecountry.Theaccusedhavebeenidentified as Arsheed Yusuf,InayatAltafSheikhandShowkatAhmed Ganai, students of RajaBalwant Singh (RBS)EngineeringTechnicalCollege."If you raise slogans against

Indiawhilelivinginthecountry,it isnotacceptable. Itwasadeci-sionof theentirebarassociationthat no one will represent theyouths.Asacitizenof thiscoun-try, onemust follow its policies.And if the same does not hap-pen, it must be criticised," saidPramod Sharma, chairman of

theAgraBarAssociation.Dharmendra Kumar Verma,

statehead,AdvocateCouncilUP,said: "At all times we have towork for the interest of the na-tion.Whatthesepeopledidwasanti-national and against thesentimentwithwhichwefunc-tion. The lawyers in the city up-hold theviewof theBar andwereached a consensus that nosupport will come from us.Wecannotpartake inaprocess thatundermines thenation."The students' families have

approached Madhuvan Dutt,part of the defence team in thecase related to the arrests ofKerala-basedjournalistSiddiqueKappan,twoPFImembersandadriver,bytheMathuraPolicelastyear while on their way toHathras, where a Dalit womanwasrapedandkilled."I am in touch with family

membersoftheaccusedandtheyhavemyconsent.Ithasbeenprin-cipally agreed that Iwill take upthecaseandthelegalformalitiesare yet to bedone. These youthsdeserveafairtrial.Asalawyer,mypatriotismisnotaboutraisingslo-gans or holding a flag, it is abouthelpingeachpersongetafairandfree trial,"MadhuvanDutt toldTheIndianExpress.Besides the sedition charge

under IPC Section 124-A, thethree students have beenbookedunder IPCSections153-A (promoting enmity betweendifferentgroups)and505(1)(B)

(withintenttocause,orwhichislikely to cause, fear or alarm tothe public, or to any section ofthe public), and 66-F of theInformation Technology Act forallegedly sending WhatsAppmessages “against the country”after the India-Pakistanmatch.The case was lodged atJagdishpura police station lastweekafterprotestswereheldbyHinduoutfitsoutsidethecollegedemanding their arrest."There was a refusal from

lawyers who did not want totake up the case of these threepersons. It isuntruethattheydonot have legal representation.Wehavebeen in touchwithMrDutt and the legal aid will bewaivedoffthroughACPR.Wearealso incontactwith the familiesand further legal matters willalso be resolved," said NasirKhuehami of the J&K Students'Association.For the families of the stu-

dents, the ordeal is taking a toll."One of the students has no fa-ther and hismotherworks as alaborer. He is the only hope forthe family, and for themthis isahuge task.Weare trying to savemoney from whatever littleearningswehavetoensurethatthere is no barrier in the legalprocess. They come from poorbackgrounds and the familiesare already suffering.We hopethelawwill takeitsduecourse,"said Khurshid Ahmad, uncle ofArsheedYusuf.

Lawyers in Agra refuse torepresent three Kashmiristudents charged with seditionMathura lawyerpartofKappandefencemaytakeupcase

New Delhi

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9WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY,NOVEMBER2,2021

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,rn~ }kjk loZlk/kkj.k dks lwfpr fd;k tkrk gS fd ;equk ,Dlizslos vkS|ksfxdfodkl izkf/kdj.k {ks= ds vUrxZr eS0,0Vh0,l0 fj;yVh izk0 fy0 ds Hkw[k.M la[;kih&07@Vh0,l0&02,0] lsDVj&22Mh0] ;equk ,Dlizslos ij Hkou ekufp=ksa dhLohd`fr iznku dh x;h FkhA rnksijkUr fcYMj }kjk fMTkkbZu o vU; dfri;la”kks/kuksa ds lkFk vf/kHkksx izek.k i= gsrq fnukad 28-01-2021 dks vkosnu fd;k x;kgSA vr% izR;sd vkoafV; }kjk viuh Consent nh x;h gS ;k ugha ds lEcU/k esavikVZesUV vksuj dks dksbZ vkifRRk gks rks oks viuh vkifRr ntZ djok ldrs gSaA bllEcU/k esa fcYMj }kjk izLrqr la”kksf/kr Declarations ,oa ekufp=ksa dk ijh{k.kfdlh Hkh dk;Zfnol esa lqcg 9-30 ls lka; 6-00 cts ds e/; izkf/kdj.k ds fu;kstufoHkkx ds Display esa uD”ks esa fd;k tk ldrk gSA ekufp=ksa esa m0iz0 vikVZesUV,DV&2010 ds izkfo/kkuksa ds vUrxZr mDRk izLrkfor la”kks/ku dh ?kks"k.kk ds lEcU/kesa vikVZesUV Lokfe;ksa@la?k dks uksfVl tkjh djus ds lkFk 30 fnu ds vUnjvkifRr;ka vkeaf=r dh tkrh gSA

vr% mijksDr ds fugrkFkZ viuh vkifRr;ka fyf[kr :i ls viusvkoaVu i=] uke] irk ,oa nwjHkk"k uEcj ds lkFk dk;kZy; le; o dk;Zfnol esa;equk ,Dlizslos vkS|ksfxd fodkl izkf/kdj.k ds eq[; iz”kklfuddk;kZy;]dkWef”kZ;y dkWEiysDl] CykWd ih&02] lSDVj vksesxk&01] xzsVj uks,MkflVh 201308 ftyk xkSrecq) uxj] mRrj izns”k esa fLFkr egkizca/kd¼okLrqfon@fu;kstu½ foHkkx esa fu/kkZfjr vof/k vFkkZr lwpuk izdkf”kr gksus ds 30fnolksa esa izkIr djk;h tk ldrh gSaA

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DELHI JAL BOARDDELHI JAL BOARD, ROOM NO. 211, VARUNALAYA

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"WASH YOUR HAND” “WEAR MASK" "MAINTAIN SOCIAL DISTANCING"Subject: - Engagement of Media Advisor (Print), on contractual basis in Public

Relations Department of DJB for one year.Applications are invited for the above post on contractual basis in Delhi Jai Board for aperiod of one year. The complete details of remuneration. required experience andqualification of the candidate alongwith the application proforma can he downloadedfrom DJB website i.e. www.delhijalboard.nic.in. The applications must reach this officeon or before 05.12.2021.

Sd/-ISSUED BY P.R.O. (WATER) (VIRENDER SINGH)Advt. No. J.S.V. 544 (2021-22) ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER (D)

Directorate of Information & PublicityGovernment of NCT of Delhi

Block-IX, Old Secretariat, Delhi-110054NOTICE

No.F.S(63)/DIP/Estt/Misc/2021-22/ 7342 Dated- 01/11/2021In compliance of the directions of Hon'ble Supreme Court, in Writ Petition (Civil) No. 13 of 2003with Writ Petition (Civil) No. 302 of 2012, to constitute a Three Member Body for ironing out thecreases that are bound to show from time to time in implementation of the Supreme CourtGuidelines on Content Regulation of Government advertising, the GNCT of Delhi hadappointed a Three Member Committee comprising the following vide Order No. Dy.CM/2019/525/-5259 dated 09.08.2019:-

1. Sh. Neeraj Kumar Gupta, District & Sessions Judge (Retd.). - Chairman2. Ms. Shivangi Singh, Advocate - Member3. Sh. R. K. Gaur, (Retd. DANICS) - Member

Further, as per Para (VI) of the Guidelines of the Three Member Committee, the tenure of allthe three members was initially for a period of two years, which is extendable by one year at atime. Accordingly, the Ccmpetent Authority extended the tenure of all the three members of theCommittee for a period of one year i.e. upto 08.08.2022.The Three Member Committee would address complaints from the general public of violationof the implementation of the guidelines of Hon'ble Supreme Court. The Committee may takesuo-moto cognizance of any violation of the guidelines of Hon'ble Supreme Court andrecommend corrective action to the DIP.The Committee is functioning from the office of Directorate of Information & Publicity, Block-9,Old Secretariat, Delhi-110054 and can be contacted at e-mail [email protected]

Sd/-(Manoj Kumar Dwivedi)

DIP/Shabdarth/0391/21-22 Director (I&P)

EXPRESSNETWORK

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICECHENNAI,NOVEMBER1

ASPECIALTaskForceconstitutedby the DMK government hasidentified Rs 1,946.31 crorefunds as unutilised by variousgovernment departments andagencies that can be remittedbacktothegovernmentaccount.Thetaskforcewasconstitutedtoreconcile,identifyandaccessthefunds kept outside the treasuryby the government depart-ments,societies, statutoryinsti-tutions, localbodies.State Finance Minister P

Thiaga Rajan said on Mondaythat the state government wasputting in place a State LevelPublic Financial ManagementSystem (PFMS) mechanism toensurethatfundsdonotremainidle, and to track their flow tillthey reach beneficiaries of gov-ernment schemes.The PFMS will ensure that

funds are released only afterthosealreadyreleasedhavebeenutilised. “In case funds are notutilised within the stipulatedtime,theywillbereturnedtothegovernment,”Thiagarajansaid.Rajan said the economic ad-

visory council helping ChiefMinisterMKStalinalsosupportsa data-centric governance ofbeneficiaries of larger govern-mentwelfare schemes, such asPublic Distribution System andOldAgePension.

Thiruvananthapuram:MissKerala2019AnsiKabeer,andMissKerala2019 runner-up Anjana ShajandiedwhentheircarhitatreeattheNHbypass inKochiSundaymid-night.KabeerwasalsoMissSouthIndia2021andthewomenwerereturning fromamodelling as-signment. Police saidKabeer, 25,fromThiruvananthapuram, and

Shajan, 26,were travelling to thelatter'snativeplaceThrissurwithtwofriends.Oneofthefriendswascriticallyinjured,whiletheother,whowasdrivingthecar,sustainedminorinjuries. OnhearingaboutKabeer's death, her motherRaseenaallegedlyattemptedsui-cide by consuming poison. Shewasadmittedtoahospital. ENS

Miss Kerala 2019, runner-up die inroad accident; 2 others injured

Rs 1,946 cr fundslying unutilised,finds TN specialtask force

New Delhi

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FISCAL CUSHIONImprovedfinancesgivesCentre leewaytoslash fuelexciseduties,butarenewedspendingspree isavoidable

T HECENTRE’SGROSStaxrevenueshavegrown64.2percentyear-on-yeardur-ingApril-September.Withnet taxaswellasnon-taxrevenuereceiptsup96.3per cent and total expenditures risingonly9.9per cent, the fiscal deficit of Rs526,851crore for thefirsthalf of2021-22is just35percentof thebudgetesti-

mateforthewholeyear.Thatratio,accordingtotheSwissinvestmentbankCreditSuisse, isthelowestsince2007-08andwaybelowthe10-year-averageof74percent.Simplyput,gov-ernmentfinances—atleasttheCentre’s—aremuchbetterthanprojectedinthebudgetthatwaspresentedbeforethesecondwaveofCovid.Thus,notonlyhasthepandemichadverylittleimpactonrevenuecollectionsthisfiscal,theCentreisinapositionwhereitcanactuallyspendinthesecondhalf.Thisisunlikepreviousyears,whenthefinanceministrywouldforcearbitrarylast-quarterexpenditurecutsbyalldepartmentsinordertomeetfiscaldeficittar-gets.There are twoprobable reasons for the above turnaround; the fact that gross tax rev-

enuesareup28.7percentevenoverApril-September2019suggests it isn’t justdueto lastyear’s lowbase. The first has to dowith the increasing formalisation of the economy.Demonetisation,GST(goodsandservicestax)andthelockdownhaveledtoorganisedsec-tor firmsgainingmarket share frominformalenterprises. That, alongwithe-waybills andothersystemsnowfortrackingtransactionsandpluggingleakages,hastranslatedintoover-all improvedtaxcompliance.Thisagain isborneoutbycorporationandincometaxcollec-tionsduringApril-September2021being23.8percentand28.7percenthigher thantheircorrespondingrespectivelevelsforApril-September2019.Thesecondfactorhasbeenpetrolanddiesel taxes. TheCentre’s revenues fromexciseduties (mainlyon fuels), at Rs171,684croreduringApril-September,havegrown79percentovertheRs95,930croreforthesameperiodtwoyearsago.What shouldbe theway forward?TheCentre should, for starters, consolidate its fiscal

gains.Thatisimportantinthecurrentscenariowhereyieldsonits10-yearbondshavealreadyhardenedtonearly6.4percent,fromthesub-6percentlevelstillearlyJune.Withmostcen-tralbankssignallingtheirintenttosuckoutexcessliquidityinresponsetoinflationconcerns,thepressureonyieldsmayonlygoup.TheIndianeconomyneedsnodemandstimulusto-day, but cannot also afford interest ratehikes derailing anongoing recovery. Improved fi-nancesgivestheCentreenoughleewaytoslashfuelexciseduties(necessarytocurbinflationexpectations)andclearGSTcompensationduestostates(whichithasalreadydone).Butarenewedspendingspreeissomethingwhollyavoidable.

LANKA’S BURDENPanelheadedbycontroversialmonkraisesspectreofSinhala

Buddhistmajoritarianism

ONTHEFACEof it Sri LankanPresidentGotabayaRajapaksa’s project of “OneCountryOneLaw”soundsunexceptionable.Butinanationwithmultipleeth-nicminorities,threesystemsofpersonallaw,andaheightenedSinhalaBuddhistmajoritarianism,thisisafraughtenterprise.Especiallyifthepersonappointed

toheadapresidentialtaskforcethathasbeenaskedtotostudy“theconcept”andhowtoim-plement it, is a knownMuslimbaiter, believesBuddhism is indanger, and that SinhaleseBuddhistmust riseupagainstminority “appeasement” toprotect their religion.GalagodaAththeGnanasaraThero,the46-year-oldfounderofBoduBalaSena(BuddhistPowerForce),hasbeenheldresponsiblefortheanti-MuslimviolencethathasshakenSriLankaperiodicallyoverthelastdecade.ApresidentialenquirycommissionintotheIslamicStateclaimedco-or-dinated suicide attacks onEaster day in2019 that killedhundredshas reportedly recom-mended that themonk shouldbe chargedwith inciting communal tensions.Noneof therecommendationsof the commissionhavebeen implemented. Themonk,whowas con-victedforcontemptofcourtduetohisattemptstointimidatethecourtduringhearingsinacaseofdisappearanceof agovernmentcriticandwas jailed fora fewmonths,nowhasthelastlaugh.ThatGnanasarareceivedapardonbythenpresident,MaithripalaSirisena, is testimony

tothepowerofmajoritarianism.HisappointmenthascomeatatimewhenRajapaksaisfac-ingcriticismforthecountry’seconomicdirestraitscausedbyasevereforeignexchangecri-sis.Pricesofessentialgoodshavesoaredafterthegovernmentliftedcapstopreventhoard-ingoffoodandotheritems.Amisguided“organiconly”policytooffsettheinabilitytoimportfertilisers has led to amassive farmcrisis. Sri Lanka is in ferment, forcingRajapaksa to ac-knowledgelastmonththatheandhisgovernmenthadfailedtomeetthepeople’sexpecta-tions.TheRajapaksabrothers,GotabayaandMahinda,theprimeminister,hadfirstinvokedthe“OneCountry,OneLaw”sloganduringtheirrespectiveelections.Thereislittleclarityonwhatthisactuallymeans,butthepoliticalrepresentativesofethnicminoritiesalreadysensethedangersahead.SriLankaisnottheonlycountry intheregiontohaveaninsecuremajorityandapop-

ulist strongman leaderwho panders to it. Gnanasara’s buddy is the evenmore virulentBuddhistmonkofMyanmar,AshinWiranthu.WhatseparatesSriLankaisitsrecentemer-gencefromathree-decadelongcivilwar,fromwhich,itwasreasonabletoexpectthecoun-trywould have learnt some lessons about nation-building and national reconciliation.Sadly, ithasnot.

Saugata Bhattacharya

Rekha Sharma

India’seconomyandpolicymatrixarewellpositionedtomanagemultiplerisks

STANDING WITH THE CITIZENOrderforPegasusproberestores faith inSupremeCourt

THECURRENTECONOMICcycle isarareone,inducedbyaonce-in-a-centurypublichealthshock.Wearenowat that point in the cyclewhereallcentralbanks—theRBI, theUSFed,theEuropeanCentral Bank, Bankof Englandandothers—havebeguntosignal, invariousstagesof intensity,aprocessofnormalisationfromtheunprecedentedloosemonetarypol-icystimulusposttheonsetofthepandemicinearly2020.However,surveysanddataprintsarenow

signallingthattherecoverymomentuminthefirsthalfof2021isdeceleratinginmanycoun-tries, althoughthedirectionandmomentummay vary. In India, theminutes of the lastMonetaryPolicyCommitteemeetingprovideinsightsintothethinkingontheeconomicen-vironment. TheRBIGovernornotes that “theexternal environment,whichhadbeen sup-portiveofaggregatedemandoverthepastfewmonths,maylosemomentumforavarietyofreasons”. The spillover channels are exports,financial markets volatility and importedinflation.China— its policy and economy— is the

mostsalientrisk forasustainedglobal recov-ery.GDPgrowth inthe July-Septemberquar-terprintedat4.9percent,lowerthanpreviousquarter’s 7.9 per cent, and is expected to bearound3.5 per cent for the ongoingquarter.The authorities’ seeming determination topush aheadwith structural reforms, de-car-bonising initiatives, and curbs on real estateappeardesignedtosacrificesomeshort-termgrowthformedium-termefficiencies,andre-ducefinancialrisksandinequality.Atthesametime, if growthwere to slow too sharply, itwouldrequireafurtherroundofstimulus.Inflation in almost allmajor economies

continues to remain high. TheUS PersonalConsumptionExpenditure(PCE)surveymeas-ureofcoreinflation—theFed’spreferredgauge—isrunningover4percent.Thestoryissim-ilar inEurope. Crudeoil prices, fromourper-spective,remainthebiggestconcern,withthebenchmarkBrentpriceshootingupto$85perbarrel recently. A spike is also seen innaturalgas,metals,minerals, ores, and select foods.This persistence is nowprompting centralbankerswhohadearlierconsistentlyempha-sisedthe“transitory”natureofthispriceshock,tore-evaluatetheirviews.USFederalReservechairmandescribedlastmonththescopeand

persistenceof thesupply-sidedislocationsas“frustrating”andasurprise.Hence, in assessing India’s growth recov-

ery,istherereallyariskoftheglobaleconomygoing into “stagflation”? Stagflation (growthstagnationplusinflation)isaneconomiccon-structdevelopedpostthefirstoilshockof theearlySeventies,whenUSinflationhadsoaredto 11.5 per cent, even as theunemploymentratespikedto9percent.Theanswer,goingbyUSsignalsseemstobethatifatall,itislikelytobemild.Inflationisalreadybeginningtocomeoff,with lumber (housingmaterial) and ironore (steel) prices sliding. On growth, labourmarketsremaintight,demandremainsstrong,balancesheetsofcompaniesarehealthier,andhouseholdsavingsareelevated.India’sgrowth–inflationdynamicsarealso

becoming favourable, but are still subject tomultiple risks. The recoveryof economic ac-tivitycontinues,althoughthehighfrequencyindicatorswetracksuggest that themomen-tumobserved in JulyandAugusthasmoder-ated.Itisdifficulttoseparatehowmuchofthisisduetosupplyconstraintsandhowmuchtodemandscarring.Forinstance,althoughsalesof passenger vehicles have slowed inSeptember,reportsof longwaittimesatdeal-ershipssuggestthatdemandforatleastsomesegments remains robust, with continuingchip shortages disrupting production lines.Electricity consumptiongrowth isalsodownfromAugust levels,butpartof thiscanbeex-plainedbybothcooler, rainyweather, aswellascoalshortagerelatedcutbacksinmanyelec-tricityintensivemanufacturing.Thesedisrup-tionsarenowabating.Conversationswithretailcompaniesindi-

catethatbothconsumernon-durables(FMCG)anddurablesaredoingwell.RuraldemandforFMCGhasremainedrobust,posttherabihar-vestandcontinuinggovernmentsubventions,which are likely to continuewith the largelynormal ongoing kharif crop season. There isalsoa reportedchange inconsumerdemandfordiscretionaryFMCGitems,awayfromhy-gieneproducts. Urbandemand is also reviv-ing.Feedbackfromfinancingcompaniessug-gestthatfestiveseasondemandforconsumerloansisstrong.Astheeconomyopensup,withriskofathirdwavereceding,pentupdemandfor“contact”servicesintravel,tourism,enter-tainment,etc, isalreadyevident.

Theresidentialrealestateisreportedlydo-ingexceptionallywell,withlowinterestratesonhomeloans, cuts instampdutyandregis-trationcharges,andindeedbehaviouralshiftstowardsownhomeownershipswithhybridandworkfromhomeshifts.Eventhecommer-cialrealestatesectorisreviving,withdemandfromIT,tech,datacentres,andcitycentreware-housing for e-commerce companies. TheUniongovernmentalsohaslargeunspentcashbalances,which canbe judiciouslydeployedtoboostbothcapexandconsumption.This brings us to the issueof demand re-

covery andpricepressures. CPI inflationwashighevenbeforethestartofthepandemicre-latedlockdownsanddisruptionsinsupply.At7.4per cent inDecember2019, inflationhadremainedaboveorcloseto6percent(theup-perthresholdoftheMPC’sinflationtarget)formostof2020.ThelastprintofSeptember2021came down to 4.35 per centmostly due tolowerfoodprices.OurassessmentofthepathofinflationgoingforwardisverysimilartotheRBI’s forecasts—dipping lower in the thirdquarter, pickingup thereafter. However, theoveralltrajectorysuggestsagradualglidepathtowardsthe4percenttargetbyMarch2023orabitbeyond.There are risks of overshooting this fore-

cast trajectory, despite a benign outlook onfoodprices.Thisemanatesfromglobalmetals,minerals,crudeoilprices,andfromsupplybot-tleneckspersistingtillwellinto2022.ThegoodnewsisthattheresponsestoRBI’shouseholdinflationsurveysuggeststhatthehigherpricesare still not embedded into expectations,which often influences consumer and pro-ducer behaviour towards higher prices andwages.Atthesametime,anecdotalevidenceoflabourmarket tightness in IT, tech, financialservices, etc, is reportedlypushingupwagesinthesesegments.Insummary, thegrowth–inflationsignals

remainmixed.Multiple episodes of globalspillovers in thepast couple of decadeshavetaught us that imminent normalisationwillhave implications for all emergingmarkets.Fortunately,India’seconomyanditspolicyma-trixarenowwellpositionedtomanagearangeofplausibleoutcomes.

Thewriterisexecutivevicepresidentandchiefeconomist,AxisBank.Viewsarepersonal

DANIELWEBSTERsaid,“Justiceisthegreatin-terestofmanonearth.Itistheligamentwhichholdscivilisedbeingsandcivilisednationsto-gether.”When thebenchof theChief JusticeofIndiapassedanorderappointingacommit-teeinthePegasusmatter,itnotonlyredeemedthe imageof the SupremeCourt,whichhadtakenahitduringthetimeofthepreviousfourChief Justices, but also served the interest ofeveryIndian. Inthepast, thegovernmenthasgot awaydespite having violated the funda-mental rightsof citizens, notably, the right tolifeandpersonallibertybytakingseveralpeo-ple intocustodyunder thepreventivedeten-tionlaworthedraconianUAPAActorthelawof sedition— in thewakeof protests againstthe abrogation of Article 370 of theConstitution, enactment of CitizenshipAmendmentAct,andthefarmers’protests,cit-ing security of the state as a ground for theircontinuousincarceration.TheSupremeCourt,atthetime,insteadofprotectingpeople’scon-stitutional right to life and personal libertyturnedablindeyetotheirplight.Itrarelyques-tionedoraskedtheauthoritiestoplacemate-rialonrecordtolendsupporttotheirdefencethatthoseheldincustodywereadangertona-tionalsecurity.Ifitdidask,theinformationwasgiven and received in a sealed cover for thecourt’s eyes only. In this background, the ar-rival of JusticeNVRamanawas like abreathof fresh air. In an earlier article (‘RekindlingHope’,IE,July22,2021),whilelaudingtheChief

Justice forhispro-citizen statements, Iwrotethat it is hoped that hewouldwalk the talk.TheCJIhas indeedwalkedthetalk.Theorderin thePegasusspywarecasebears testimonytothisfact.Pegasus, aswe learned from themedia,

andnowfromtheorderoftheSupremeCourt,isasoftwareproducedbyanIsraelitechnologyfirm,theNSOGroup,whichallegedlycanin-filtrate the digital devices of an individualwithouttheirknowledge,andonceinfiltrated,itcanaccessalldatastoredinit,andcontinueto remotely control the device. This has al-legedlybeenusedagainstpoliticiansand in-dividuals across the globe, including againstpoliticians,journalistsandotherprivateindi-vidualsinIndia.TheissuerockedParliament,but thegovernmentwasnotwillingtoshareanyinformationpertainingtothesoftwareorits use, citing national security as a reason.Resultantly, theentireMonsoonSessionwaswashedaway.Theallegedvictimsofthesoft-ware turned to the Supreme Court, andprayed for setting upof an independent en-quiry toexamine thevarious facetsof the is-sue.Thegovernment,onbeingcalleduponbytheSupremeCourt,againraisedthebogeyofnational security, contending that any infor-mation it let outwould become amatter ofpublicdebate,whichcouldbeusedbyterrorgroups to hamper national security. Itstonewalledallattemptsbythecourttoseekany information even though the court had

madeitclear that itwasnotseekingsuch in-formation thatmayaffect thenational secu-rity concernsof thecountry.But thegovern-mentdidnotbudge.Itsunrelentingstandleftthecourtwithnooptionbut to takeacall onwhether to blindly accept the government’srefusal to share no informationwhatsoever,orleaninfavourofacitizen’srighttoprivacy,a fundamental right guaranteed under theConstitution. The SupremeCourt chose thelattercourse.Whileitinnowayside-steppedthe concerns of the state regarding nationalsecurity,itwasalsonotwillingtosacrificetheindividual’s right to a life of dignity andpri-vacyfreefromthepryingeyesofthestate.TheSupremeCourt has observed that “the statecannotgeta freepassevery timethespectreofnationalsecurityisraised”.Itgoesontosaythatnationalsecurity“cannotbethebugbearthatthejudiciaryshiesawayfrom,byvirtueofits merementioning. Although this courtshould be circumspect in encroachinguponthedomainofnational security,noomnibusprohibition canbe called for against judicialreview”.Thesewordsaremusictotheearsofallthosewhobelieveinconstitutionalvaluesandruleof law.It ishopedthat thecommitteeappointed

bytheSCwillunearththetruthofPegasus,andthegovernmentwillcooperate.

ThewriterisaformerjudgeoftheDelhiHighCourt

India’s growth-inflationdynamics are also becomingfavourable, but are stillsubject to multiple risks. Therecovery of economic activitycontinues, although the highfrequency indicators wetrack suggest that themomentum observed in Julyand August has moderated.It is difficult to separate howmuch of this is due to supplyconstraints and how muchto demand scarring. Forinstance, although sales ofpassenger vehicles haveslowed in September, reportsof long wait times atdealerships suggest thatdemand for at least somesegments remains robust,with continuing chipshortages disruptingproduction lines.

The government stonewalledall attempts by the court toseek any information eventhough the court had made itclear that it was not seekingsuch information that mayaffect the national securityconcerns of the country. Butthe government did notbudge. Its unrelenting standleft the court with no optionbut to take a call on whetherto blindly accept thegovernment’s refusal or leanin favour of a citizen’s rightto privacy.

FOUNDED BY

RAMNATH GOENKA

B E C A U S E T H E T R U T H I N V O L V E S U S A L L

§ §

THEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY,NOVEMBER2,2021WORDLYWISE

I love sleep.My life has the tendency to fallapartwhen I’m awake, you know?

—ErnestHemingwayTHEEDITORIALPAGE

Stable and steady

GUJARAT CYCLONEOVER 1,400 FISHERMEN fromGujarat andMaharashtra have been reportedmissing intheArabianSea,a fishermen’scolonyofover100hutsinRajapurporttownhasbeensweptawayandfourpersonswerefeareddrownedastheSaurashtracoastreeledunderaseverecyclonicstorm.Atleasttwocargovesselssank,several boats capsized and the communica-tionnetworkwascrippled.Thestormwasex-pectedtocrossthecoastbetweenVeravalandPorbandar bymidnight onNovember 1 andre-emergeasacycloneintheGulfofKutchonNovember2.Earlierintheday,abauxite-ladenshipsanknearVeraval.

ANTULAY IN DELHIMAHARASHTRACHIEFMINISTERARAntulayarrived inDelhi onNovember 1, reportedlywith proposals for the long-awaited expan-sion and reshuffle of his cabinet. His trip as-sumessignificancebecauseofthemeetingofthe Congress (I) Parliamentary Board. Themeeting is to select candidates for one LokSabhaseat fromMaharashtraand16assem-blyseatsintheNovember29byelections.TheCPBisalsolikelytodiscusstheAntulay.

JAILERS JAILEDTHE STRIKING JAIL employees in Uttar

Pradeshcontinuedtoignorethegovernment’sultimatumandhelddemonstrationsatvari-ousplacestoprotestagainstthearrestoftheircolleagues andpress their demands for par-ityofpaywiththepolice.About450employ-eeshavebeenarrested so far. Theyarebeinglodged inLucknow,GorakhpurandVaranasiCentralprisons.

POLES PROTESTSOLIDARITYUNIONLEADERSvowedtocon-tinueprotests, idlingsome2,50,000workersdespite a call by thePolish Parliament for animmediate end to the strikes. The currentprotestsaretheworstsincethe1980protests.

NOVEMBER 2, 1981, FORTYYEARSAGO

NAP TIMEHongKongnowhasabusservice fornapping.Therestof uswillhavetomakedowithdozingoff asandwhenwecan

F ORWEARY,SLEEP-DEPRIVEDcitydwellersanywhereintheworld,oneof thefewthingsguaranteedtohaveasoporificeffect is therhythmicmovementofatrainorbuscommute.InHongKong,onebuscompanyhascapitalisedonthisphenomenonbyoffering five-hour longnaprides inanair-conditioneddou-

ble-decker bus to its customers. This should be awelcome service in a citywhere thesight of tired commuters dozing off in public transport is so common that there’s anInstagramaccountdedicatedtoit.Publichealthofficialsinthecity-statehavebeenwarn-ingaboutanepidemicofsleepdeprivationthathasonlyintensifiedsinceCovid-19struck.Clearly,HongKong’s residents, their sleepdisruptedbytheusual stressofworkand life,politicalunrest,climateemergencyandthepandemic,arebadlyinneedofasmanygood,refreshingnapsas theycanget.But that’s probably trueof the rest of us, too. The fact is thatneverhas theworld run

onas littlesleepas itdoesnow. Inanolder, slower-movingage, themiddayorafternoonnapwas a cherished practice, celebrated by philosophers, poets, political leaders andartists for its restorative powers. As theworld speeded up, caffeine became its fuel ofchoiceandproductivity itsmostpopularreligion.Withthat, thedaytimenapdevelopeda reputation problem, nevermind that decades of research has consistently upheld itsvalue for cognitive function, creativity,moodregulationandoverallwell-being.Ideally, of course,weshouldall beable togetour full 8or9hoursof deep, unbroken

sleepat night. But this is a far-less-than-idealworld; and the fewcomforts that it offers—includingsleep—comeinscraps.Sowe’ll justhavetotakeournapsasandwhentheycome,even if onlyonour regularbushome.

New Delhi

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11THEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY,NOVEMBER2,2021 WHATTHEOTHERSSAY

‘‘China has announced the ‘no first use’ nuclear policy at a very early phase. It hasadhered to this policy since the first day it owned nuclear weapons. US alliesshould think this way: If China walks away from this policy, how much pressurewill it add to regional security?’’ —GLOBALTIMES,CHINATHE IDEASPAGE

WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

Instrumentalising religiousgroups for political ends athome and abroad has longbeen a convenient strategyfor the Pakistani state. Athome, it has used Islam tomarginalise the moderateand secular political forces.Abroad, it has nurtured anddeployed militant Islamicforces to destabilise itsneighbours, especiallyAfghanistan and India. Buttoday, Pakistan finds thereligious took-kit difficult tocontrol. The religious forceshave acquired the power tochallenge their creator — thePakistani state.

FOLLOWINGTHE fall of Kabul, the interna-tional communitywas forced to turn to theTaliban for cooperation in the evacuationprocessuptoAugust31andbeyond.Theco-operationand initial “mildmanners” of theTaliban in dealingwithAfghans suggestedthat the international communityhad suc-ceededin“shaping”theTalibanandthattheDohaTaliban(Taliban2.0)presentedfortheAfghanpeaceprocessbyPakistanwasincon-trolof cadresandpolicies.TheDohaTalibandid deliver on the agreement by ensuringzero attacks on foreign forces till their exit.The international powerswere “pragmati-cally” optimistic that Taliban2.0would runaninclusivegovernmentbasedonmoderatepolicies.However,Taliban3.0hassurfacedasan interim government with a hardlineapproach.Recent events showthat theapparently

sidelinedTaliban2.0 is againbeingused fordiplomaticoutreach.Mysteriouskillings,nu-merous attacksonTaliban soldiers and sui-cide attacks onmosques inKabul, KunduzandKandaharhaveshatteredthemyththatTalibanrulecouldensurepeaceandsecurity.Coupledwithopaquenessandahumanitar-iancrisis,AfghanistanposesagraverdangertotheworldthanitdidinAugust.To decode the Taliban, it is crucial to go

back to the first Afghan jihad against “god-less”Soviets,whenPakistan,SaudiArabiaandtheUS created Afghan and Pakistanimu-jahideeninPakistanimadrassas.ThePakistanArmy, already flirtingwithhardline Islamicentitiestoweakendemocracy,presentedit-selfasanIslamic,nationalistforcesuperiortothedemocratic,corruptpoliticalclass.With the exit of theUSSR andUS from

Afghanistan in1989,Pakistanacquired firmcontrol over Afghan and Pakistan PashtunmujahideenandPunjabigroupssuchastheLeTand JeM—initially raised for the first ji-had.However, for theAfghanproject, the ji-had had to be re-defined. In 1994, at aKandaharmosque, Pakistan ISI officers gotTalibansupremeleader,MullahOmar,tode-clare himself as the Amir-ul-Momineen(AuM),whoby “divine design”was the defacto religious and temporal headof all be-lieversinAfghanistan.AuM’sfollowerswererebrandedastheTaliban,whohadtofighttoestablishruleoverAfghanistan.ThealQaeda(AQ)playedakey role in settingup theme-chanicsofkeepingajihadaliveunderalocalAuM,butnotaglobalCaliphfortheummah.TheTalibanwasbornasajointprojectofthePakistanarmyandAQforAfghanistanandasamodel for larger jihad. Theprojecthasnotchanged in its objectives to date. Pakistan,meanwhile, invented a shamdoctrine ofbuildingstrategicdepthagainstIndiabypre-sentingits“legitimate”stakeinAfghanaffairs.The civilwar led to Taliban rule in 1996

andMullahOmarprovided a safe haven toAQ and Pakistani proxies. The AQ alignedcloselywiththemosttrustedPakistanproxy— theHaqqani network under JalaluddinHaqqani,withanArab link throughhis sec-ondwife. FollowingAQ’s attacksonUSem-bassiesinKenyaandTanzaniain1998,theUSlaunchedcruisemissile strikes onAQ train-ingcampsinHaqqani’sareaofKhost.Itwasonlyafter9/11thattheUSremoved

the Taliban frompower,whowent back totheirsafehavens inPakistan.Withthepres-ence of foreign forces in Afghanistan, thePakistan-Taliban combinewentback to thenarrativeforthesecondjihadagainsttheUSanditsalliestorestoreAuMrule.Theradical-isation,recruitmentandfightagainstforeignforcesandAfghanforceshavebeensustainedbythispowerfulnarrative.Despitebeingpartof theUS“waronter-

ror”, Pakistan continued to fully back theTaliban. In the end, it succeeded indestroy-ingAfghanforcesandputtinginplaceTalibanrule. Pakistan has also ensured that theTalibanleadershipremainscontrollable.Thus,with anunassumingPM, theDohaTalibanreduced instatureandpower, thePakistan-backed Haqqani network and MullahYaqoob,MullahOmar’sson,raisedbyandinPakistan, have taken control of all keyposi-tions.TheAuM,HaibatullahAkhunzada,hasnot surfaced fromhis last-seen locationataQuettamosque.UnderDonaldTrump,Pakistanwasper-

suaded todeliver theTalibandelegation forUS-Taliban talks. In 2018, Pakistan releasedMullahBaradar from its custodyafter eightyears, followinghis arrestdue tohisTrack IItalkswithPresidentHamidKarzai.TheDohaTalibansoonbecamethediplomaticface.TheworldstartedcallingontheDohaTaliban,be-lievingtheTalibanwasbeingshapedtobeapart of an interimgovernment—a key in-tendedoutcomeof IntraAfghanTalks.Taliban3.0hasdistanced itself fromas-

surancesgivenbytheDohaTalibanthroughits actions—non-inclusivity,women's dis-empowerment,paradingsuicidebombersaslegitimateweapons,publicfelicitationoffam-iliesofsuicidebombersbySirajuddin,andat-tacks onHazaras. Pakistan has come outopenlytosupportTaliban3.0withairstrikesin Panjshir, its “fund Taliban or face chaos”rhetoric in international fora anddoing itsbesttoropeinChinatofilltheTaliban’scoffers.Pakistan'sAfghanproject,peggedonAQ’s

behind-the-scenes support, would openAfghanistantotheworldonitsowntermsandwon’t allowtheTaliban real independence.Taliban3.0isacalibratedfacethatbodesillnotjustfortheAf-Pakregion,butbeyond.Talibanactorsaresurelynotincontrolofthesecuritysituation. Cleverly, insteadof theAQ’s foot-prints,the“quick-fix”publicdiscourseisbeingdiverted to Islamic StateKhosranProvince(ISKP)astheprincipal threatemergingfromAfghanistan. It is likely that a fewmajor at-tacksoutsideAfghanistanmaybeclaimedbyISKPtolenditgreatervisibility,whileAQgoesintoundercovermode.TrustingTaliban3.0orPakistanasapartnerinunderstandingorad-dressing threats emerging inAfghanistanwouldbecounterproductive.

ThewriterisanIPSofficer.Viewsarepersonal

“THEWRITOFthestatemustrun”hasbeentherefrainthatradiatedoutofIslamabadlastweekasPrimeMinister ImranKhanconfrontedtheradical Islamicmovement called Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan thatwasmarching towardsIslamabadwithanimpossiblesetofdemands,including the expulsion of the FrenchAmbassador. Aftermuchwringing of hands,the Pakistan government threatened to useforceagainst theTLPandorderedthedeploy-mentof theparamilitaryforcestopreventthemarch into Islamabad. It alsohurled thatulti-mate charge that canbe levelled against anypolitical opponent inPakistan—accusing theTLP of working for the Indian intelligenceagency,theResearchandAnalysisWing.Pakistan's national security adviser,

Moeed Yusuf, thundered in a tweet that noforce in Pakistan can challenge the power ofthe state. Yusuf insisted that the “TLP hascrossedtheredlineandexhaustedthestate’spatience.Theyhavemartyredpolicemen,de-stroyedpublicproperty,andcontinuetocausemassivepublicdisruption”.Headdedthatthe“lawwill take itscourse foreachoneof themand terrorists will be treated like terroristswithnoleniency.”Allthatbravado,however, lastedbarely48

hours. On Sunday, Islamabad apparentlybought peacewith the TLP. As in its frequentmobilisationsover the last fewyears, theTLPhasonceagain forcedthePakistani stateontothe backfoot and enhanced its ownpoliticalclout.Arelativelynewphenomenon,theTLP,was

founded in 2015byKhadimHussainRizvi, afirebrandclericwhodied inNovember2020.ItnowhasastrongfollowingamongPakistan'sBarelvisect.AttheheartofTLP’sideologyistheprotectionof theProphet’s honour andavig-orousdefenceofPakistan'scontroversialblas-phemy laws. In Pakistan, anyonedeemed tohaveinsultedIslamortheProphetMuhammadcan face thedeathpenalty under blasphemylaws.ThefierceideologyoftheTLPwasmobilised

by theestablishment forpoliticalpurposes toweakentheNawazSharifgovernmentin2017.ImranKhan, then inopposition, actively sup-ported theTLP’sprotestsagainstSharif. SomeinPakistansuspectthattheTLPhasbeenmo-bilisedagaintobring ImranKhandownapegortwo.TheTLPwonenoughvotesinthe2018gen-

eral election, especially in Punjab, to preventSharif’sMuslimLeaguefromwinningitstradi-tional stronghold. Having ousted Sharif, thedeep state stitched together amajority forImranKhaninboththePunjabprovinceaswellastheNationalAssembly.The TLPhadnodesire to spare the Imran

Khangovernment either. It continued its re-peated onslaughts against the government,mountingmassiveprotestsinAprilagainstthearrestofitsleaderSaadHussainRizvi,whosuc-ceededhisfatherastheheadoftheTLP.TheTLPthensetadeadlineofApril20fortheexpulsionof the French ambassador over its outrageaboutanincidentofblasphemyinFrance.In October 2020, Samuel Paty, a French

school teacherwho had shown cartoons of

ProphetMuhammadinaclasswasbeheadedby a young Islamic zealot. French PresidentEmmanuelMacroncriticisedtheIslamistsanddefended the traditional Frenchprinciples ofsecularism. PM Imran Khan denouncedMacron’s commentswhile theTLPorganisedmassivecountrywideprotests.The Imran government, caught in a cleft

stick,couldneithersaynototheTLPnoracceptits demands. After all, Francewas amajor aiddonortoPakistan,Europe’sleadingpower,anda permanent member of the UN SecurityCouncil.ImranKhan’sgovernmentfoundawayto fudge the issue, and kick the ball into thecourtof theNationalAssembly.AstheTLPre-turned to the streets lastmonth, ImranKhanfoundhimself inapickleagain.Evenasitsignalledgreatresolvetoputthe

TLPinitsplace,thePakistanigovernmentovertheweekendquicklyturnedtothemorefamil-iarstrategyofaccommodation.SaadRizviandother leaders of the TLPwere brought out ofprisontosafehousesinIslamabadandthegov-ernmentturnedtoseniorBarelviclericstone-gotiatewiththem.The terms of the agreement between

IslamabadandTLPhavenotbeen revealed tothepublic.Mediareportssuggestthatthegov-ernmenthasagreed to releaseSaadRizvi andother leaders,withdrawall cases against theTLPcadre,andunfreezetheirbankaccounts.Itisnotclear if theTLPhasagreedtogiveupthedemandtoexpeltheFrenchambassador.Afterdecadesofpromotingandpandering

toreligiousgroupsofonekindoranother, thePakistanistatenowfindsthatitsroomforma-noeuvrehasdramaticallyshrunkinrelationtoIslamistgroups.Butwhilethestatehasrepeat-edlybowedtothepressurefromright-wingre-ligiousgroups,ithasactedruthlesslyagainstasecularmovement called Pashtun TahafuzMovement.WhiletheTLPhasbeenaviolentforce,the

PTM,demandingself-respectforPashtuns,hasbeenutterly peaceful. If SaadRizvi,whohasbeen convicted of violence by the courts istreatedwith political deference, AliWazir,leader of the PTM and a member of theNational Assembly has been jailed just for aspeech.Instrumentalisingreligiousgroups forpo-

liticalendsathomeandabroadhaslongbeenaconvenientstrategyforthePakistanistate.Athome, it has used Islam tomarginalise the

moderateandsecularpolitical forces.Abroad,ithasnurturedanddeployedmilitant Islamicforces todestabilise itsneighbours, especiallyAfghanistanandIndia.Buttoday,Pakistanfindsthereligioustook-kitdifficulttocontrol.There-ligiousforceshaveacquiredthepowertochal-lengetheircreator—thePakistanistate.Although Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the

founderofthestate,visualisedasecularfutureforPakistan,hissuccessorssteadilymovedto-wardsleveragingreligionforpoliticalends.Anoccasionalcallforthe“modernisationofIslam”byGeneral AyubKhanor “enlightenedmod-eration”byPervezMusharrafhasnotbeenableto stop thediminutionof the state in relationtoreligiousforces.Pakistan’smeeksurrenderyetagaintothe

TLPunderlineshowharditisforastatetoregainthe authority that it has ceded to religiousforces.Giventhepowerofreligion,moststatesfindaway to livewith it. Butgiving toomuchspacetoreligiousorotherextra-constitutionalforcesinevitablyweakensthestate.Forone,thereisnoendtoaccommodating

suchforces.Eachconcessioncompelsthenext.Thepowerofreligiousgroupsunderminesthemuchneeded social andeconomicmoderni-sation thatmost developing societies badlyneed.Italsocomplicatesthestate’spursuitofitsnationalinterestsontheglobalstage.Pakistan's support to the Taliban in

Afghanistan and various jihadi groups inKashmirhave longbeenviewedassuccessfuluseof religion for foreignpolicy ends. Yet thepermissive environment Islamabadhas cre-ated for terror has also spawnedviolent reli-gious groups thatwant to fight the Pakistanistate.Ontopof itall, thesegroupshavebegunto

weakenPakistan’s ties to long-standingpart-ners intheWest—suchastheUSandEurope—anditsneighbours.Thedeploymentof reli-gious extremismas a policy tool has also in-vitedinternationalsanctionsandfinancialcon-straints. Islamabad’s trajectory is aself-defeatingonethatisbestnottakenbyoth-ers. Sacrificing the state is toohighaprice forany political formation thatwants to rule anation.

Thewriterisdirector, InstituteofSouthAsianStudies,NationalUniversityofSingaporeandcontributingeditoroninternationalaffairsfor

TheIndianExpress

AnjuGupta

Islamabad’saccommodationofTehreek-e-LabbaikunderlinesthatdecadesofpromotingandpanderinghasdramaticallyshrunkitsroomformanoeuvreinrelationtoIslamistgroups

Diminished State of Pakistan DecodingTaliban 3.0

Thecurrentavatarof theTaliban—backedbythePakistanArmy,supportedbyalQaeda—bodesillfor

theregionandtheworld

CR Sasikumar

KHAJURAHO BECKONSTHISREFERSTOthereport, ‘PrakashJhato Dabur tomangalsutra:MP’s HomeMinister gets them to fall in linewithhishardline’(IE,November1).MadhyaPradesh Home Minister NarottamMishra's sensitiveness and timely in-terventionagainst Prakash Jha regard-ing naming hisweb series, a Dabur adshowing lesbian couple celebratingKarwa Chauth, and the obscene por-trayalof themangalsutra,hasofficiallyprevented Hindu traditional cultureand sentiments from being offended.The twoadsarenotMP-specific– thusMishra seems to have scored over theUnionMinisters G Kishan Reddy,MoSArjun RamMeghwal andMeenakshiLekhi. It would be interesting to seewhere he stands vis-a-vis theKhajuraho Temple complex located inhis state, which is globally famous forits erotic sculptures and has been de-claredaUNESCOWorldHeritageSite.

LRMurmu,Delhi

ENERGY SILOSTHISREFERSTOthearticle, ‘Caseforanenergy ministry’ (IE, November 1).India's power, newand renewable en-ergy portfolio has been entrusted to asinglecabinetminister.Indiatechnicallyhas aminister in charge of the entireelectricityportfolio,which is in chargeof all major sources of electricity gen-erationexceptnuclearenergy.Indiahasembarked on an ambitious journey oftransitiontoacleanenergyfuture.Coalandpetroleumhaveasignificantshare

inourenergymix,butkeepingtheminaseparateministryisaconsciousdeci-sion,aswearemovingahead intoa fu-ture that ismoreenergy-efficient.

SudipKumarDey,Barasat

CAPTAIN’S LEADTHIS REFERS TO the editorial, ‘TheCaptain’s knock’ (IE, November 1).Stingingcriticismofreligiousbigotshitsits mark better when the nationalcricket teamiswilling tostandup,as ithas. In a diverse democracy that hasbeen going through divisive times re-cently,suchthingsasaplayer’sreligionmight make a cricketer a target ofabuse. And Virat Kohli has every rightto describe such doubters as “pathetichuman being(s)” as he represents asportthatpridesitselfonitssecularism.

SSPaul,Nadia

PATEL’S FORESIGHTTHISREFERSTOthearticle, ‘WhySardarPatel supported Partition’ (IE, October30). Even 73 years after Partition, thequestion is often asked about the rea-sons for this step. A section of societywasnotinfavourofthedivision.ButthefactremainsthatSardarPatel’sforesightnotonlyhelpedIndiahaveaviablecen-tral government but also clippedMuslimLeague'swings.Nowonder,theBJP had no hesitation to appropriateSardarPatel tousethissituationtofur-ther its own political ends despite theCongress’s taunts.

TarsemSingh,Mahilpur

LETTERS TO THEEDITOR

SIR SYEDAhmadKhan (1817-98), popularlyknown as Sir Syed, the founder ofMuhammadanAngloOriental(MAO)College,whichwent on to becomeAligarhMuslimUniversity,isregardedbyPakistanasitsideo-logical progenitor for propounding the poli-tics of separatism that crystallised into thetwo-nation theory. This not only lead toPartition but continues to haunt the politicsofthethreecountriesthatemergedfromthisdismemberment.Yet, intheofficialnarrativeof India,he is celebratedasoneof thenationbuilders. In1967, thePublicationsDivisionoftheMinistryofInformationandBroadcastingbrought out a Khaliq Ahmad Nizami-au-thoredmonographonhimunderthe‘BuildersofModernIndia’series.Further,in1973,Indiareleasedapostalstampinhishonour,andan-other in 1998 to commemorate his deathcentenary.Sir Syed lived in a period of tumultuous

transitionwhentheoldwasdeadbutthenewwas not yet born. Negotiating one’s waythroughitsuncertaintieswouldentailmanyacontradictionthatremainedunresolved.Are-centbiographerofhis,ShafeyKidwai,writes,“His books and articles simultaneously dis-cusscontradictoryviews,andanyattempttodrawthemintoasinglenarrative isdestinedtofail.”The Pakistani narrative is about howhis

legacyactuallyunfolded,andtheIndianoneisaboutwhat could have been. A conciliatorySirSyedwouldsay,"HindusandMuslimsare

the two eyes of the beautiful bride that isHindustan.Weaknessofanyoneofthemwillspoil the beauty of the bride". But, his com-bativepersonawouldfulminate,“Isitpossiblethatunderthesecircumstancestwonations—theMohammedansandtheHindus—couldsit on the same throne and remain equal inpower?Mostcertainlynot.Itisnecessarythatoneof themshouldconquertheother." If theSirSyedof“thetwoeyesofthebride…”camerunnersup to theoneof “It is necessary thatoneofthemshouldconquertheother”,itwasbecause of his obsessive passion for thepreservationoftheinterestsoftheformerrul-ingclasstowhichhebelonged.SirSyedwasprimarilyarationalistthinker

whotriedtoupdatereligiousthoughtinIslamper the scientificmode of thinking. He alsotried to find unity between Islam andChristianity—thereligionoftheBritishrulers— as an antidote to the religious animus hispeopleboretowardsthem.Thistwo-prongedendeavour, however, was aimed at therestorationoftheprivilegedstatusofhisclass,the ashraf— thedescendants of theMuslimconquerorswhoderived social prestige andentitlementtopoliticalsupremacyfromtheirmuch-flaunted foreign origin. Despite theircenturies-olddomicileinIndia,theyshunnedassimilationasa religiouscreed,maintainedastranger’sindifferencetothehistoryandcul-tureoftheland,andformulatedtheirrelation-shipwiththecountryinstrictlypoliticalterms.They described themselves as ashraf and

translated theword aristocracy as ashrafiyatoreflecttheirsenseoftheself.Aslandedgen-try, theywere spreadall over India butweremainly concentrated in the areas adjoiningDelhi,particularlythewesternUttarPradesh.Thougheveryonehadsufferedinthewakeoftherebellionof1857astheBritishunleashedareignof terror, thesufferingscaused to thisclassdistressedSirSyedthemost.Everythingthat he said anddid, henceforth,was aimedat therehabilitationof ashraf as “thearistoc-racyof thecountryas inBritishas inMughaltimes” (PeterHardy, 1972,Muslims of BritishIndia).Thislandedbureaucraticgentry,thosesea-

soned in what David Lelyveld calls theKachehrimilieu inhismasterlyAligarh’s FirstGeneration(1977),neededmoderneducationto reinvent themselves as the ruling elite. Amodern collegewas the proposedpanacea.Butmoderneducation seemed tooChristiantothem.So,Islamhadtobeinterpretedinsuchamanner as tomake it congruent tomoder-nity. But the ashraf rightlyperceivedmoder-nitytobeantitheticaltotheirtraditionalinter-ests.Therefore,SirSyed’sreligiousideasweretobekeptout,andreligiousinstructionwastobehandedovertomaulvisfromDeoband.SirSyed agreed to this since the enlightenmentthatheenvisionedwasinstrumentalist,aimedat readyinghis class for re-powerment. If re-powerment could comewithout enlighten-ment, itwasstill agooddeal.However,an in-strumental, apologetic and guilt-ridden

modernitywouldhaveitsownconsequences.MAOCollegewas an unabashedly politicalproject—butnotagainst theBritish. Sir Syedpreachedquietismvis-a-visthem.ThereisalotinSirSyed’scorpustoenable

agoodapologiaforhim.Butdisingenuousar-guments like India not yet being a nationwhenSirSyedburstintoavituperativetiradeagainstthefledglingIndianNationalCongressare forwardedbythosewhosecretlycling tothetwo-nationtheory. Indiahasbeenacivil-isational entity, with a craving for politicalunity, fromtimeimmemorial.Aprerequisitefornationalismisloveforthehistoryandcul-ture of a country. The ashraf religiouslyguarded itself against such sentiments.Democracyisinherentinnationalism.Apriv-ilegedclasscouldn’tbeitsbestproponent.Athinkerislentrelevancebyhisdisciples.

Sir Syed’s successors chose dogmatismoverrationality,politicsovereducation,andsepa-ratismover nationalism. The deft narrativemakers that theywere, their class interestswere articulated as the religious concern ofthe Muslim masses. Today, Sir Syed, thethinker, needs to be partly rejected, partlytranscended,andpartlyrehabilitatedbyfore-groundinghis rational andsecular thoughts.There are two imperatives for that: TheMuslimnarrativemakers secularise them-selves, and theMuslimmasses emancipatetheirmindsfromthebondageofashraf.

Thewriter isanIPSofficer.Viewsarepersonal

NajmulHoda

The mixed legacy of Sir SyedHisfeudalmooringsmustberejectedwhilehisrationalismmustbeaffirmed

RAJA MANDALAby CRajaMohan

New Delhi

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INSTITUTEOF LIFESCIENCES (ILS), BHUBANESWAR(An Autonomous Institution of Department of Biotechnology,

Ministry of Science & Technology, Government of India)

Institute of Life Sciences (ILS), Bhubaneswar is an autonomous organisation under the Department of Biotechnology, Min-istry of Science & Technology, Government of India. Applications are invited from Indian Citizens for the post of Director, Instituteof Life Sciences (ILS), Bhubaneswar. As a Chief Executive, the Director is expected to offer leadership and mentorship to youngscientists towards achieving the goal of developing ILS into a globally competitive institution.

Method of recruitment : On Deputation (including short term contract)/ Absorption.Scale of pay: Pay Level 14 `1,44,200 - 2,18,200/- plus allowances and other benefits.

Essential Qualification and Experience : Ph.D. in any Life Science / M.D. / M.Tech/M.V. Sc. or equivalent; Minimum 10 year’sresearch experience in the area of specialization; and Excellent track record in publications,

generation of patents and awards, etc.Last date for receipt of nominations / applications in Department of Biotechnology is 30 days from the date of publication

of this advertisement in Employment News for Local candidates and 45 days for the candidates residing in Andaman & Nicobarand Lakshadweep Islands, States / Union Territories in the North-Eastern region, Sikkim, Union Territory of Ladakh, Sub Lahauland Spiti districts of Himachal Pradesh, Pangi Sub-division of Chamba District of Himachal Pradesh.

Details of advertisement and application format are available at : www.dbtindia.nic.in and www.ils.res.in

Applications / Nominations are invited for the post ofDIRECTOR

INSTITUTE OF LIFE SCIENCES (ILS), BHUBANESWAR

GOVERNMENT OF RAJASTHANDEPARTMENT OF MINES AND GEOLOGY

Email: [email protected]

NOTICE INVITING TENDER (NTT)In exercise of the powers conferred by Section 10B of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957. its subsequent amendments and inaccordance with the Mineral (Auction) Rules, 2015 as amended from time to time notified there under. the Government of Rajasthan has notified the following mineralblock for the purpose of grant of Mining Lease for mineral limestone and hereby invites bids in digital format only from eligible bidders through electronic auction.The details of mineral block and last date of submission of bid is as summarized below:-

The block is being put up for second attempt of auction. The interested and eligible bidders, upon registration on MSTC website<http.www.mstcecommerce.com/auctionhome/mIcl/index.jsp> will obtain login ID and Password. After successful registration. the eligible bidder can purchasethe Tender Document online on payment of the tender fee of INR 2. 00,000/- (Indian Rupees Two lakh only) and can participate in the e-auction process.If a bidder had already purchased the tender document in first attempt of auction of a block, then in second attempt of auction of that block, the particular bidder canpurchase the Tender Document online on payment of non-refundable tender fees of INR 25,000/- (Indian Rupees Twenty Five Thousand Only) and can participatein the e-auction process.The GST at the rate of 18% is applicable on the purchase of tender document. The GST applicable is to be submitted by the prospective bidder itself and the copyof receipt is to be attached with the technical bid. The prospective bidder shall be solely responsible for remitting the GST as per applicable law and statutory liabilityin this regard will be responsibility of prospective bidder and no liability whatsoever shall be borne by the DMGR/MSTC.Detailed terms and condition, deadlines etc. for participation in the electronic auction are provided in the Tender Document. The Model Tender Document and theMineral Block Summary is available free of cost in electronic form and can be downloaded from the website of MSTC Ltd,<http.www.mstcecommerce.com/auctionhome/mIcl/index.jsp>, and Department of Mines & Geology < www.mines.rajasthan.gov.in> for the purpose ofinfomiation only. Timelines, notifications, updates and other details for the e-auction process are available on the website of website of<http.www.mstcecommerce.com/auctionhome/mIcl/index.jsp>Any revision. clarifications. addendum, corrigendum, time extensions, etc. to the above tender documents will be hosted on websites<http.www.mstcecommerce.com/auctionhome/mIcl/index.jsp> and < www.mines.rajasthan.gov.in> only and no separate notifications shall be issued in thepress.

Sd/-Director

Department of Mines & GeologyDIPR/C/10778/2021 Rajasthan, Udaipur

SNo

Block Lease Start Date of Sale of TenderDocument on MSTC website

Last Date of Sale of TenderDocument on MSTC website

Bid Due date and time

1. 3D2 Block n/v Harima-lithasar Tehsil &District Nagpur.

Mining Lease 25-10-2021 09-11-2021 upto2400 Hrs (IST)

29-11-2021 upto1300 Hrs (IST)

IYf¹ffÊ»f¹f A²feÃf¯f Ad·f¹f³°ff Àff½fʪfd³fIY d³f¸ffʯf d½f·ff¦f, ½fÈ°f-ßfe¦fa¦ff³f¦fSX

BÊX d³fd½fQf Àfc¨f³ff Àfaa£¹ff 01 ½f¿fÊ 2021-22NIB Code: PWD2122A1840

SfªfÀ±ff³f IZ Sfª¹f´ff»f ¸fWfZQ¹f I e AûS ÀfZ Àff½fʪfd³fI d³f¸ffʯf d½f·ff¦f SfªfÀ±ff³f ¸faZ C´f¹fb¢°f ßfZ¯fe ¸fZÔ ´faªfeIÈ °fÀfa½fZQI fZ E½fa A³¹f Sfª¹f ÀfSI fS/IZ ³Qi ÀfSI fS IZ Ad²fIÈ °f Àfa¦fN³ffaZ/IZ ³Qie¹f »fûI d³f¸ffʯf d½f·ff¦f/OfI E½faQcS Àfa¨ffS d½f·ff¦f/Sm»f½fZ B°¹ffdQ ¸fZÔ C´f¹fb¢°f ßfZ¯fe ¸fZÔ ´faªfeIÈ °f Àfa½fZQI û, ªfû dI SfªfÀ±ff³f ÀfSI fS IZ kEEl,kEl ßfZ¯fe IZ Àfa½fZQI û IZ Àf¸fI Ãf Wûa, ÀfZ d³f²ffÊdS°f ´fi´fÂf ¸fZÔ BÊ-MZ³OdSa¦f ´fidIi ¹ff õfSf Afg³f»ffBʳf d³fd½fQf¹fZaAf¸fadÂf°f I e ªff°fe W`Ü dªfÀf¸fZÔ I f¹ffÊZÔ I e Àfa£¹ff 8 W`Ü I f¹fÊ I f Qû¿f d³f½ffS¯f E½fa C³fIZ Àfb²ffS (dORZ ¢M»ffBÊd¶fd»fMe ´fedS¹fO) I f CØfSQfd¹f°½f I f¹fÊ ´fc¯fÊ°ff IZ ´fV¨ff°f 5 ½f¿fÊ SWZ¦ffÜ C¢°f d³fd½fQf ¸faZ AfS.´fe.O¶»¹fc.E.100 E½fa AfSMe´fe´fe d³f¹f¸f -2013 I e Vf°fZÊ »ff¦fc ,Wû¦feÜ d³fd½fQf ÀfZ Àf¸¶fd³²f°f d½f½fS¯f ½fZ¶fÀffBÊMhttp://dipronline.org, E½fa d½f·ff¦fe¹f ½fZ¶f ÀffBÊM http://eporc.rajasthan.gov.in,http://sppp.raj.nic.in E½fa http://www.pwd.rajsthan.gov.in ´fS QZ£ff ªff ÀfI °ff W` ÜC¢°f I f¹fÊ IZ d³fd½fQf ´fi´fÂf d³fd½fQf Af½fZQ³f, OfC³f»fûO I S³fZ I e dQ³ffaI 27 A¢Mc¶fS 2021 ´fif°f: 9.30¶fªfZ ÀfZ 16 ³f½f¸¶fS 2021 Àff¹fa 6.00 ¶fªfZ °fI SWZ¦ffÜ

UBN No:- PWD2122WSOB08967 UBN No:- PWD2122WSOB08968

UBN No:- PWD2122WSOB08969 UBN No:- PWD2122WSOB08970

UBN No:- PWD2122WSOB08971 UBN No:- PWD2122WSOB08972

UBN No:- PWD2122WSOB08976 UBN No:- PWD2122WSOB08979

DIPR/C/10801/2021

WXÀ°ff/-(Àfb¸f³f ¸f³fû¨ff)

A²feÃf¯f Ad·f¹f³°ffÀffd³fd½f ½fÈ°f ßfe¦fa¦ff³f¦fSX

WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY,NOVEMBER2,2021EXPRESSNETWORK12

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI,NOVEMBER1

THE CENTRAL Bureau ofInvestigation(CBI)hasregisteredan FIR in connectionwith a Rs15,000 crore fraud case relatingto investment inbike taxis inUP.Addingthatthenseniorsuperin-tendentofPolice(SSP)andsuper-intendentofpoliceofstatecrimebranch pressured complainantsto take back their complaintsagainstthecompany,theagencyhas suggested inaction on thepartofNoidaauthoritiesdespitebeingawareof theallegedfraud.The alleged fraudpertains to

amulti-levelmarketing schemelaunched by Garvit InnovativePromotersLtd(GIPL)anditspro-moter Sanjay Bhati in August2017which invitedpeople to in-vest in bike taxis and earn rev-enue apart fromEMI paymentsand commission for bringing inmoreinvestors.Theschemewentbustin2019,followingwhichtheUPPolice registered FIRs andar-restedmany, includingBhati.

InitsFIR,theCBIsaid,“...respondent SanjayBhati andhis associateshave cheated investorsand have collected atleast Rs 15,000 crore inthenameof businessof'BIKE BOT - THE BIKETAXIPOWEREDBYGIPL'and misappropriatedthe same." It added,"...fraudulent activity ofthecompanywasintheknowledgeoftheNoidadistrict authority's (sic)aswellaspoliceauthor-ities who did not takeanyaction...”

Bike taxi project:CBI files FIR inUP’s Rs 15k-crinvestment scam

CHANDANHAYGUNDEPUNE,NOVEMBER1

THE KOREGAON BhimaCommissionof Inquiryhas sus-pendedall itsfuturehearingstillthe Maharashtra governmentprovides them a suitable loca-tion to conduct the hearings inMumbai.The two-member commis-

sion, headed by retired Justice JNPatel,wasformedtoprobeintothecauseoftheKoregaonBhimaviolence on January 1, 2018, inwhichonepersonwaskilledandseveralotherswere injured.During its recent hearing in

Pune, the Commission issuedsummons to IPS officers ParamBir Singh and Rashmi Shukla toappear aswitnesses. Bothwererequiredtorespondtothesum-monsbyNovember8.Commission Secretary V V

Palnitkar said, “The place cur-rently available for holding thehearings inMumbai is...notsuffi-cient for carrying outwork at atimewhenCovid-19normsareinplace.TheCommissionhadwrit-tentothegovernmenteveninthepast seeking bigger places like..Yeshwantrao ChavanAuditorium...Butnosuitableplacewasprovided. So it is decided tosuspend hearings till a properplace is made available inMumbai.”TheCommissionwasinitially

given fourmonths to submit itsreport, but its tenure had to berepeatedlyextended. Ithadalsopostponed its hearings till fur-thernoticeduetothepandemic.But the period of extension

expired on April 8, so theCommissionthensoughtfurtherextensionof at least sixmonthssayingthat it intendedtoexam-ine 40 to 50 more witnesses.Accordingly, the state govern-ment granted it extension tillDecember31,2021.

Seeking bettervenue, KoregaonBhima panelsuspends hearing

New Delhi

Page 13: PM'sword:NetZero2070,clean&green2030 - Sosin Classes

ONTUESDAY,PrimeMinisterNarendraModiwill launchanewprogrammeto secure andstrengthen critical infrastructure in small is-land states against disasters induced by cli-matechange.InfrastructureforResilientIslandStatesorIRISisthefirstmajorinitiativebytheCoalition forDisasterResilient Infrastructure(CDRI)startedbyIndia in2019.

WhatisCDRI?Theeffortistoclimate-proofcriticalinfra-

structure inmember countries. Twenty-sixcountries, including the US, Germany, UK,Australia, Brazil, Bangladesh, Afghanistan,Nepal,Bhutan,SriLanka,andJapanarealreadypartof thecoalition.The coalitionwill not create anynew in-

frastructure—rather,itwillserveasa‘knowl-edge centre’ formember countries to share

andlearnbestpracticeswithrespecttodisas-ter-proofingofinfra.Itwillworktowardsmak-ing existing andupcoming infrastructure inmembercountriesmorerobustandresilientagainstclimatedisasterssuchasfloods,heat,cyclones, forest fires,andrain.According to CDRI estimates, every one

dollarinvestedinmakinginfrastructuremoreresilientinlow-andmiddle-incomecountriescanpotentially save lossesof over$4whenadisasterstrikes.Thereiswidespreadacknowledgmentthat

despitetheactionsbycountriestofightclimatechange,thefrequencyandintensityofextremeweather events anddisasterswill likely onlyincreaseinthecomingyears.Countriesareal-readyexperiencingmoreintenseflooding,heatwaves,andforestfireseveryyear,andtheyre-alisetheurgencyof theproblem.India’s east coast, especially Odisha and

AndhraPradesh,hasforexamplebeenexperi-encingmorepowerfulandfrequentcycloneseveryyear.Thanks to thesignificantprogressinadvancewarningandtrackingsystems,andtimely evacuationof people, the loss of liveshas beengreatly reducedover theyears. Butthe threat to infrastructurehaspersisted. So,powerplants stop functioning, communica-tiontowersaredamagedandstreetlightsup-

rooted, and trains and flights have to bestopped.Allthishascascadingeffects,andthemonetarycostsofthedamageanddisruptionrunsintobillionsofdollarseveryyear.TheaimofCDRIistominimisethedamage

anddisruptions.

HasIndiatakensuchaglobalclimateinititiativebeforeCDRI?CDRI is India’s second international cli-

mateinitiative;thefirstwastheInternationalSolarAlliance(ISA),launchedatthe2015Parisclimatechangeconference.ISA’s main objective is to promote

largescaleharnessingandexploitationof so-larenergy.Equatorialandtropicalregionsgetverygoodsunlightformostoftheyear,whichis sufficient tomeet the energy demands ofmanycountries inthisbelt.ISAisworkingtowardsboostingtheuseof

solarpowerintheregion,mainlybybringingdown the cost of technology and finance,whichcanfacilitaterapid,massdeploymentofsolarenergy. Ithopestodosobyaggregatingthedemandfromalargenumberofcountries,standardising equipment and grid, andpro-motingresearchanddevelopment.Totakethisideaforward,theOneSunOne

WorldOneGrid(OSOWOG)proposesacom-mongrid throughmore than 100 countries.The idea is to stabilise energy supply, over-come local and natural fluctuations in theavailability of sunlight, and tomaintain reli-ablebaseloadcapacitiesatall times.ISA and CDRI are an attempt by India to

claimclimatemissionleadershipatthegloballevel. Bothhave receivedwide support fromdevelopingaswellasdevelopedcountries.Thesolaralliancewillresultinthemitiga-

tion of greenhouse gas emissions through alargescaleswitchfromfossilfuelstosolaren-ergy,while also addressing issues of energyaccessandenergysecurity.CDRIisaimedtowardsachievingtheadap-

tation goal. Together, they form the bases ofIndia’svisionforglobalclimateactionthatalsotakes into account issues of equity, develop-ment,andthespecialneedsofdevelopingandleastdevelopedcountries.

WhatisIRIS?AsOSOWOGisaspecificworkprogramme

torealize theobjectivesof the ISA, IRIS seekstooperationalisetheCDRI initiative.Smallislandstatesarethemostvulnerable

totheimpactsofclimatechange.Assealevelsrise, they facea threatof beingwipedoff themap.According toCDRI, several small islandstateshavelost9percentoftheirGDPsinsin-gledisastersduringthelast fewyears.Kamal Kishore, co-chair of the executive

council of CDRI, pointed out that infrastruc-ture in these smaller countries ismore criti-calsimplybecausethereissolittleof it.“A larger countrymay have several air-

ports, for example, so even if one or two aredamagedinclimatedisasters,thecountrycandivert their operations elsewhere. Butmanysmall island states have a single airstrip thatistheironlyconnectiontotheworld,andtheironlysupplyline,”hesaid.Unsurprisingly,severalsmall islandstates

have joined the IRIS platform, anddrawnupplansforimplementation.Thebulkoftheworkwouldinvolvemobilisinganddirectingfinan-cialresourcestowardsbuildingresilientinfra-structure, retrofitting existing infrastructure,development of earlywarning systems, anddevelopmentandsharingofbestpractices.

13WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

AANCHALMAGAZINENEWDELHI,NOVEMBER1

GROSSREVENUEcollectionsof Goods andServices Tax (GST) in October (for sales inSeptember)rose23.7percentyear-on-yeartoRs1,30,127crore.Thisisthesecond-high-estrevenuecollectionunderGSTeversinceits rollout in July 2017, comingon thebackofapickupineconomicactivityandseveralcompliancemeasurestakenbytaxauthor-ities tocurbevasion.AtRs1,41,384croreinAprilthisyear,ac-

countingforyear-endsales,GSTcollectionsare the highest so far in the indirect taxregime.

HowhavethedifferentGSTcomponentsdone?OftheRs1,30,127crorecollectedingross

GST revenue in October, Central GST is Rs23,861 crore, State GST is Rs 30,421 crore,IntegratedGSTisRs67,361crore(includingRs 32,998 crore collected on import ofgoods)andcessisRs8,484crore(including

Rs699crorecollectedonimportof goods).The government has settled Rs 27,310

crore toCGST, andRs22,394 crore to SGSTfrom IGST as regular settlement. The totalrevenue of the Centre and the states afterregular settlements inOctober is Rs 51,171croreforCGSTandRs52,815croreforSGST.FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharaman

said inatweet: “GSTcollectionforOctober2021 registered the second-highest sincetheimplementationofGSTRs1,30,127croregross GST revenue collected in October.Revenues…ofOctober2021are24%higherthan theGST revenues in the samemonthlastyear&36%over ’19-20.”

Whatdoesthetrendindicate?Chart 1 shows the trends inGST collec-

tionsduringthecurrentcalendaryear.GSTrevenueshavepickedpace,with a24-per-centyear-on-yeargrowthanda36-per-centgrowth over the pre-pandemic period of2019-20. The Finance Ministry said thisgrowth in collections is “verymuch in linewith the trend ineconomic recovery”.“The GST revenues for October have

been thesecond-highestever since the in-troduction of GST, second only to that inApril 2021, which related to year-end rev-enues. This is verymuch in line with thetrendineconomicrecovery.This isalsoev-identfromthetrendinthee-waybillsgen-eratedeverymonthsincethesecondwave.

The revenueswouldhave still beenhigherif the sales of cars and other products hadnotbeenaffectedonaccountof disruptioninsupplyof semiconductors,” it said.Data released by the FinanceMinistry

also showed that timely payment of taxeshasbeen increasingcomparedwithprevi-

ousmonths (Chart2).Out of the total returns filed, the share

of returns for the current period filed ineverymonthhasincreased.InJuly,1.5crorereturnswerefiledastaxpayershadfiledre-turnsofpastmonthsduetodeadlineexten-sionsgivendue toCovid.

Whatarethemeasuresbeingtakentoensurehighercompliance?State and Central tax authorities have

been takenmeasures to ease compliance,such as nil filing through SMS, enabling aQuarterly Return Monthly Payment(QRMP)systemandauto-populationofre-turn, theMinistry said. The tax authoritieshave also taken steps to block e-way billsfornon-filingofreturns,system-basedsus-pension of registration of taxpayers whohave failed to file six returns in a row andblockingof credit for returndefaulters.For GST revenues collected in the re-

spectiveregions,Maharashtraposteda23-per-centgrowthinGSTrevenuesinOctober,TamilNadu11percent,Gujarat25percent,andKarnataka18percent.Tax experts said the uptrend is likely to

continue in comingmonthsdue to the fes-tive season. Abhishek Jain, Tax Partner, EYIndia, said, “The robust GST collections arequite encouraging and a clear sign of eco-nomic recovery.With the ongoing festiveseason,wecanexpectsimilarorevenhigherGSTcollections inthecomingmonths.”

SIMPLYPUTQUESTION&ANSWER

UDITMISRANEWDELHI,NOVEMBER1

ONOCTOBER 29, two organisations— thePeople’s Action for EmploymentGuarantee(or PAEG) and LibTech India— that track theimplementation of theMahatma GandhiNational Rural Employment Guarantee Act(MGNREGA) brought out a report, calledMGNREGA Tracker, based on the govern-ment’s Management Information System(MIS)data.

Thekey takeawaysINADEQUATEALLOCATION,DELAYED

PAYMENT:According to the PAEG, the totalBudgetallocationforMGNREGAthisyearwas34percent less thanintherevisedBudgetof2020-21. As a result, by September=end, thegovernmenthadalreadyspent90percentofitsMGNREGAbudget.Thishashappenedde-spite the demand for rural jobs being down25percentfromlastyear(Chart1); it isnote-worthy, however, that the demand is stillhigherthanduringthepre-Covidperiod.RajendranNarayanan of LibTech India—

he also teaches at AzimPremji University—saidinadequateBudgetallocationisanannualoccurrence and it leads to payment delays.Eachyear’sBudgetallocationalsohastocon-tendwith the previous year’s arrears or un-paiddues. Inthecurrentyear, forexample,ofthetotalallocationofRs73,000crore,overRs17,000 crorewill be used just to pay off thepaymentstoruralpoorfortheworktheydidinthelast financialyear.AccordingtoPAEG, fundsremainingasof

September-endcancover atmost13daysofemployment per household until the finan-cialyearendsinMarch.In fact, there aremany states— such as

WestBengal,AndhraPradesh,andTamilNadu—thathaveanegativenetbalanceoffundsre-maining. This places a questionmark on thepossibility of effective implementation ofNREGAinthesestatesfortherestof theyear.DEMANDSUPPRESSION:Therearetwo

importantlegislativeprovisionsofMGNREGA.One,workshouldbeprovidedwithin15daysofdemandingit,failingwhichtheworkersareentitledtoanunemploymentallowance.Two,workers should be paidwithin 15 days of

completionofwork,failingwhichtheyareen-titledtocompensationforthedelays.If,duetoinadequateBudgetallocationand

resultantdelays, theruralworkersdonotgettheirdues intime, itdiscouragesthemtotheextentthat theydonotaskforasmuchwork

astheywouldwantto.Successivegovernments—bothUPAand

NDA—havearguedthatMGNREGAisa“de-mand-driven” scheme. As such, if there isgreater demand, a higher allocation can bemadeintime.Butresearchersonthegroundsay that the initial allocation is of critical im-portance. If it is low, it delays payments andeventuallysuppressesdemand.CASTE-BASEDPAYMENTDELAYS: In

March2021,theCentrecameoutwithacircu-lar asking state governments to send threebills,officiallycalledFundsTransferOrdersorFTOs, insteadof just one forMGNREGApay-ments.So,insteadofasingleFTOstatingthat,say these 100 people have completed theworkandthattheyshouldbepaidtheirwages,theUniongovernmenthasaskedstatestogive3FTOs—oneeachforMGNREGAworkersbe-longingtoSC,STand“Others”categories.It is still unclear why the government

chose todo so. ButwhenLibTechdid a fairlyrepresentativesamplestudy—ofover1.8mil-lion FTOs over 10 states betweenApril andSeptemberthisyear—it foundthat,afterthecaste-basedcircular,workersbelongingtothe“Others” categories ended up facingmuchlonger delays in payments (Chart 2). The“Others”categoryaccountsforover87%ofallMGNREGAworkers.

The implicationsJayati Ghosh, Professor of Economics,

University ofMassachusetts, Amherst, said“India's economycannot really recover untildomestic demand recovers, and that in turnrequires a recovery inmass consumption,whichhadbeen languishingevenbefore thepandemicandsincethenhasbeendevastated.TheNREGAcanplayacritical role inrevivingthis for rural India— andweknow that thisfeedsintourbandemandaswellovertime”.Shesaidthepaymentdelaysareaveryse-

riousissue.“Wenowknowthroughtheworkof LibTech thatmuchof it is because of cen-tral government delays.” The caste-basedwage paymentsmake no sense, she said.“They go against the universal nature of theprogramme, leadtomorebureaucraticworkatthelowerlevelsanddelays,andcreateun-necessarygrievances.”Manyground-levelre-searchers havenoted that these delays haveresultedincaste-basedtensionsatworksites.

NREGA: low funds, caste-based paymentdelays, and implications for the economy

@ieExplained#ExpressExplainedIf there are questions of current or contemporary relevance that youwould likeexplained, pleasewrite to [email protected] EXPLAINED

THEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY,NOVEMBER2,2021

CHART 1

TRENDS IN GROSSGSTCOLLECTIONCHART2

FILINGOF RETURNS (%OFALL ELIGIBLE TO FILE)

GST

collection(in

`lakhcrore)

Jan

1.50 90%

80%

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

1.20

1.13

1.24

1.40

0.980.93

1.16

1.121.17

1.301.40

1.30

1.20

1.10

1.00

0.90

0.80Feb FebMar MarApr AprMay MayJun JunJul JulAug AugSep SepOct

73%

79% 78%84% 84% 85%83%

31%

40%

HowGST collections have surged, andwhat the trend indicates

CORONAVIRUSDASHBOARD

TOTALVACCINATED IN INDIA (at least one dose)

73,23,71,508

DOSESONOCT3112,77,542OCT30:68,04,806 (1st dose: 25,33,860; 2nd: 42,70,946)

■Firstdose ■Seconddose

COVISHIELD88.6%

COVAXIN11.3%

TOTALDOSES106,31,24,205(SputnikV’s10.82 lakhdosesnot represented inpie)

Note:TheOctober31figuresinthesegraphsarebasedonthegovernmentupdatesonNovember1Source:MinistryofHealth&FamilyWelfare,updatedat11pmonNovember1

Oct22 Oct31

50lakh

25 lakh

0LAST 10 DAYS (daily)

5,65,474

40,97,279

2,00,000

1,00,000

01,73,728

Oct22 Oct31LAST 10 DAYS

1,58,817

INDIAACTIVECOVIDCASES 1,58,817

30,26,552

7,12,068

A schememuch criticised,yet one that govt relies onTHEMGNREGAwas enacted in 2005 bytheUPAgovernment. But it faceda lot ofoppositionwithintherulingcoalition,es-peciallywithin theCongress. Eventually,however, itwasseenasaresponsetothedeep economic distress in rural Indiawherefarmingwasprovingtobeincreas-inglyunremunerative,evenascitiesfailedtocreateadequate jobopportunities.MGNREGA provided 100 days of

“guaranteed”employmentinayeartoanyruralhouseholdatminimumwages.Soon,MGNREGA’s “performance” became themost visiblemeasure of the economy’shealth. It continued to gain in popularityamong rural Indians during the time thecountrywitnesseditsfastestGDPgrowth.

PrimeMinisterNarendraModicameto power in 2014 after beratingMGN-REGA (as well as the National FoodSecurityAct,orNFSA);hedescribedthemasthe“politicsofdole”. InFebruary2015,hemocked the Congress: “My politicalacumen has told me to keep it (MGN-REGA) alive as amonument to your fail-uressince Independence.After60years,youarestillmakingpeopledigholes.”ThePM’sstatementnotonlycaptured

the harsh reality of India’s economicgrowth but also explained the rationalefor MGNREGA. In fact, MGNREGA andNFSA continue to be the go-to schemesevery time the BJP government senseseconomicdistress.

Jan

100

75

50

25

0

100

75

50

25

0Jun Jul Aug SepMayApr

%Transactionscompletedin15days

%TRANSACTIO

NS

DELAYS, BY COMMUNITYPERSONDAYSOFWORKGENERATED

—ST —SC —Others

200

100

0

(ApriltoSeptemberinafiscalyear)

All figures in crores

2016-17

2017-18

2018-19

2019-20

2020-21

2021-22

144.84

137.39

133.79

144.81

266.7

198.33

%Transactionscompletedin7days

Source:PAEG, LibTech India

Source:Ministryof Finance

AMITABHSINHAGLASGOW,NOVEMBER1

EXPRESSATCOP26

Infra and solar alliance: India’s climate vision

PrimeMinisterModiat theCOP26venue inGlasgowonMonday.PIB

New Delhi

Page 14: PM'sword:NetZero2070,clean&green2030 - Sosin Classes

REUTERS&NYTGLASGOW,NOVEMBER1

AUNconferencecriticaltoavert-ingthemostdisastrouseffectsofclimate change opened onMonday,withworldleaders,en-vironmental experts and ac-tivists pleading for decisive ac-tion tohalt globalwarming.Thetaskof theCOP26confer-

enceintheScottishcityofGlasgowwasmadeevenmoredauntingbythefailureof theGroupof20ma-jorindustrialnationstoagreeam-bitious new commitments at aweekendsummitinRome.The G20 is responsible for

around80percentofemissionsofcarbondioxide—thegasproducedbyburning fossil fuels that is themain cause of the heatwaves,floodsandstorms that aregrow-inginintensityworldwide.“Humanity has long since

run down the clock on climatechange. It’s oneminute tomid-night on that Doomsday clockandweneedtoactnow,”BritishPrimeMinister Boris Johnsontold theopeningceremony.Underscoringtheurgencyof

the moment, with leaders ofmore than 120 countries gath-ered for the summit, theUnitedNations secretary general,António Guterres, said that theeffectsofawarmingplanetwerebeing felt “from the oceandepths to themountaintops.”“Sea level rise has doubled

from30yearsago,”hesaid.Oceansarehotter thanever, parts of theAmazonrainforestemitmorecar-bon than theyabsorb, and in thelastdecadeaboutfourbillionpeo-plewereaffectedbyeventsrelatedtothechangingclimate.“Enough of burning and

drilling and mining our waydeeper,” Guterres said. “We arediggingourowngraves.”

“Climate change is alreadyravagingtheworld,”USPresidentJoe Biden said in a speech at thesummit. “We are standing at aninflectionpointinworldhistory,”hesaid,callingclimatechangean“existential threat to humanex-istenceasweknowit.”ChinesePresidentXiJinping,

whowas not present in personinGlasgow,releasedastatementcalling on all countries on allcountries to take “stronger ac-tions” to jointly tackle the cli-matechallenge.“Whenitcomesto global challenges such as cli-mate change,multilateralism istherightprescription,”Xiadded.Theconference’saimistopre-

venttheaverageglobaltempera-turefromrisingmorethan1.5de-greesCelsiuscomparedwithlev-els before the IndustrialRevolution. That is the thresholdbeyondwhich scientists say thedangersofglobalwarming—suchasdeadlyheatwaves,watershort-ages,cropfailuresandecosystemcollapse—growimmensely.Guterrescalledoncountriesto

return to the summit every yeartonudgeoneanother “untilkeep-ingto1.5degreesisassured,untilsubsidies to fossil fuels end,untilthereisapriceoncarbonandun-tilcoalisphasedout.”Many countries will press

against such specificmeasures,

andtheabsenceof leaders fromRussiaandChinafromthemeet-ing cast doubts on how unitedtheworldcanbeinthestruggle.China, the world’s largest

greenhousegasemitter,proposeda new emissions target that islargelyindistinguishablefromoneitmadesixyearsago.TheUS, thelargesthistoricemitter,hasanam-bitiousemissionsgoalbuthasnotyetpassedlegislationtoachieveit.Meanwhile, only a few

wealthy countries have allo-cated money to help poor andvulnerable nations cope withthe effects of climate disastersthat those countries have donelittle to cause.

14THEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY,NOVEMBER2,2021

THEWORLDWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

MYANMAR

CLOSEDTRIALOFSUUKYICONTINUESOustedMyanmarleaderAungSanSuuKyitestifiedincourtforasecondtimeMonday,addressingchargesthatsheviolatedCovidrestrictionsduringthe2020electioncampaign.Apersonwithknowledgeoftheproceedingssaidshedeniedbreakingtherestrictions.Allherdefencelawyershavebeenbarredbyagagorderfromprovidingdetailsofthecourtproceedings.

PHILIPPINES

Keycommunistrebel leaderfordecadeskilledPHILIPPINEFORCEShavekilled a key communistrebel commander in oneofAsia’s longest-runninginsurgencies, inwhatthemilitary described as adaring raid in the coun-try’sremotesouthernre-gion, but what guerrillaleaders said was an am-bush. JorgeMadlos, whoused the nom de guerreKa Oris, was for manydecades a leading figureand spokesman for thecommunistfightersinthesouthern Philippines’mountainous hinter-lands. Defence SecretaryDelfin Lorenzana onMondaysaidgovernmentforces killed Madlos inBukidnon province onSaturday. He describedtherebel’sdeathasama-jor blow to the already-battered New People’sArmyguerrillagroup.AP

JorgeMadlos

TOPOFTHEWORLD

USA

SupremeCourttakesupTexasabortionbanTHEUSSupremeCourt istaking up challenges to aTexas law that has virtu-allyendedabortioninthenation’s second-largeststate after six weeks ofpregnancy. The justicesare hearing argumentsMondayintwocasesoverwhether abortionproviders or the JusticeDepartment canmountfederalcourtchallengestothe law,whichhasanun-usual enforcementscheme its defenders ar-gueshieldsitfromfederalcourt review. AP

NORWAY

NobelPeacePrizeceremonytogoaheadTHENOBELPeacePrizelau-reateswill be able collecttheir awards in Oslo inDecember, theNorwegianNobelCommitteesaid,un-likeinStockholmwheretheother Nobel ceremonieshavebeencancelledduetothepandemic for the sec-ond year running.JournalistsMariaRessaandDmitry Muratov, whobraved the wrath of theleaders of the PhilippinesandRussia to expose cor-ruption andmisrule,wontheNobel PeacePrize thisyear, inanendorsementoffree speech under fireworldwide. All but oneofthe Nobel Prizes areawardedinStockholm.ThePeacePrize is theonlyoneawardedinOslo.REUTERS

SAMYAKULLAB&BRAMJANSSENKABUL,NOVEMBER1

THETALIBAN-APPOINTEDsuper-visor of a small district hospitaloutsidetheAfghancapitalhasbigplansfortheplace—tothedismayof thedoctorswhoworkthere.Mohammed Javid Ahmadi,

22, was asked by his superiors,freshoff thefieldsofbattle fromawar that has spannedmost ofhis life, what kind of jobs hecoulddo.Onofferwerepositionsin an array ofministries and in-stitutions now under theTaliban’s power following theirAugusttakeoverandthecollapse

of the formergovernment.ItwasAhmadi’sdreamtobea

doctor;povertyhadkepthimfromgaining admission to medicalschool,hesaid.Hechosethehealthsector.Soonafter,theMirbachaKotdistrict hospital just outside ofKabulbecamehisresponsibility.“Ifsomeonewithmoreexperi-

encecantakethispositionitwouldbe better, but unfortunately ifsomeone(likethat)getsthisposi-tion,aftersometimeyou’llseethathemightbeathieforcorrupt,”hesaid,highlightingaperennialprob-lemoftheformergovernment.It’sajobAhmaditakesveryse-

riously, but he and the otherhealthworkersinthe20-bedhos-pitalrarelyseeeye-to-eye.Doctors

are demanding overdue salarypaymentsamidcriticalshortages

of medicine, fuel and food.Ahmadi’sfirstpriorityistobuilda

mosqueinsidethehospitalquar-ters,segregatestaffbygenderandencouragethemtopray.TherestwillfollowaccordingtothewillofGod,hetellsthem.ThedramainMirbachaKotis

playingoutacrossAfghanistan’shealth sector since the Talibantakeover.With power changinghandsovernight,healthworkershavehadtocontendwithadiffi-cult adjustment. The host ofproblems that preceded theTaliban’s risewereexacerbated.TheUSfrozeAfghanassetsin

Americanaccountsshortlyafterthe takeover, in linewith inter-national sanctions, cripplingAfghanistan’s banking sector.Internationalmonetary organi-

sations that once funded75%ofstate expenditures paused dis-bursements, precipitating aneconomic crisis in the aid-de-pendentnation.Health is acutely affected.

World Bank allocations funded2,330outofAfghanistan’s3,800medical facilities, including thesalaries of healthworkers, saidthe Taliban’s Deputy HealthMinisterAbdulbariUmer.Wages had been unpaid for

months before the governmentcollapsed.“Thisisthebiggestchallenge

forus.Whenwecameheretherewas nomoney left,” said Umer.“There is no salary for staff, nofood,nofuelforambulancesand

other machines. There is nomedicineforhospitals;wetriedtofindsomefromQatar,Bahrain,Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, but it’snotenough.”In Mirbacha Kot, doctors

have not been paid in fivemonths.Disheartenedstaffcontinueto

attendtoupto400patientsaday,whocomefromtheneighbouringsix districts. Somehave generalcomplaints or aheart condition.Othersbringsickbabies.“What can we do? If we

don’twanttocomeherethere’sno other job for us. If therewasanother job,nobodycanpayus.It’s better to stay here,” saidDrGulNazar. AP

HOST OF PROBLEMS THAT PRECEDED TALIBAN’S RISE TO POWER ARE BEING EXACERBATED

In Afghan hospital, unpaid doctors and rigid Taliban clash

ATalibanmemberwithadoctor in thehospital inMirbachaKot,Afghanistan.AP

Travellersarrivingonthefirstquarantine free internationalflightsareembracedbyfamilyataSydneyairport.Reuters

ROBERTBURNSWASHINGTON,NOVEMBER1

CHINA’S GROWING militarymuscle and its drive to endAmerican predominance in theAsia-PacificisrattlingtheUSde-fence establishment. Americanofficials see trouble quickly ac-cumulatingonmultiplefronts—Beijing’s expanding nuclear ar-senal, its advances in space, cy-ber and missile technologies,and threats toTaiwan.“The pace atwhich China is

movingisstunning,”saysGenJohnHyten, theNo2-rankingUSmili-taryofficer,whohascommandedUSnuclearforcesandoversawAirForcespaceoperations.At stake is apotential shift in

theglobal balanceof power thathasfavouredtheUSfordecades.Arealignmentmore favourable toChinadoesnotposeadirectthreattotheUSbutcouldcomplicateUSalliancesinAsia.NewsignsofhowthePentagonintendstodealwiththeChinachallengemayemergeincomingweeks fromBidenad-ministrationpolicyreviewsonnu-clearweapons, global troopbas-ingandoveralldefencestrategy.For now, officialsmarvel at

howBeijingismarshalingthere-sources, technologyandpoliticalwilltomakerapidgains—sorapidthat the Biden administration isattemptingtoreorientallaspectsofUSforeignanddefencepolicy.The latest example of sur-

prisingspeedwasChina’stestofahypersonicweaponcapableof

partiallyorbitingEarthbeforere-entering the atmosphere andglidingonamaneuverablepathto its target. The weapon sys-tem’s design ismeant to evadeUS missile defences, and al-though Beijing insisted it wastestingareusable spacevehicle,not amissile, the test appearedtohavestartledUSofficials.GenMarkMilley, chairman

of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, saidthe testwas “very close” to be-ing a Sputnik moment, akin tothe 1957 launching by theSovietUnionof theworld’s firstspace satellite, which caughtthe world by surprise and fedfears the US had fallen behindtechnologically.“That’s justoneweaponsys-

tem,” he said in a BloombergTelevision interview. “TheChinesemilitarycapabilitiesaremuchgreater than that. They’reexpanding rapidly in space, incyberandtheninthetraditionaldomainsof land, seaandair.”On thenuclear front, private

satelliteimageryinrecentmonthshas revealed large additions oflaunchsilosthatsuggestthepos-sibilitythatChinaplanstoincreaseits fleetof land-based interconti-nentalballisticmissiles. AP

ASSOCIATEDPRESSLONDON,NOVEMBER1

THE CHIEF executive of Britishbank Barclays stepped downMonday following a report byUnited Kingdom regulatorsinto his past linkswith the latefinancier and sex offenderJeffrey Epstein.JesStaleyhaspreviouslysaid

he“deeply regrets”his relation-shipwith Epstein, who died bysuicide at a federal jail in NewYorkinAugust2019whileawait-ingasextraffickingtrial.Thereisno suggestion that the 64-year-old StaleyknewanythingaboutEpstein’s allegedcrimes.Staleysaidhewillcontestreg-

ulators’preliminaryconclusions,whichweresharedwithhimandthebankFriday.ThereportbytheFinancialConductAuthorityandthe Prudential RegulationAuthority examined the wayStaleycharacterizedhisrelation-ship with Epstein to Barclayswhen hewas Epstein’s privatebanker in his previous job at USinvestmentbankJ.P.Morgan.

Detailsof thereporthavenotbeen released, andboth regula-torshaverefused tocomment.Barclays said in a statement

MondaythatthebankandStaleyagreedhewouldresigninlightofregulators’ preliminary findingsandStaley’sdecisiontofightthem.The bank noted that the in-

vestigation“makesnofindings”that Staley saw or knew aboutany of Epstein’s alleged crimes,which it said was “the centralquestion” behind its decision toback its chief executive afterEpsteinwas arrested in 2019. Itwouldn’t comment further.Staleysaidhislastcontactwith

Epsteinwas in fall2015,whenheandhiswifesailedtoEpstein’spri-vateislandforlunch.

REUTERSNAIROBI,NOVEMBER1

ETHIOPIA’SGOVERNMENTsaidon Monday that rebelliousTigrayan forces had killed 100youths in Kombolcha, one oftwotowns that the rebelgrouphad said it captured overtheweekend.“The terrorist group TPLF

has summarily executedmorethan 100 youth residents ofKombolcha inareas it has infil-trated. The international com-munity shouldnot turnablindeye to such atrocities,” theGovernment CommunicationService said on Twitter.The government’s state-

ment did not include detailsandgovernmentspokespersonLegesse Tulu did not immedi-ately answer phone calls seek-ing comment.Tigray People’s Liberation

Front (TPLF) spokespersonGetachewReda did not imme-diately respond to phone callsseeking comment on this alle-gation and other issues onMondaymorning.

GUYFAULCONBRIDGE&ALISTAIRSMOUTLONDON,NOVEMBER1

BRITAINGAVE France 48hourson Monday to back down in afishing row that threatens tospiral intoawidertradedisputebetween two of Europe’sbiggest economies or face tor-tuous legal action under theBrexit tradedeal.Post-Brexit bickering over

fishculminatedlastWednesdayintheFrenchseizureof aBritishscallopdredger,theCornelisGertJan, in French waters near LeHavre. Paris has threatenedsanctions fromNov2thatcouldsnarl cross-Channel trade.Themeasures could include

increased border and sanitarychecks on goods from BritainandbanningBritishvesselsfromsomeFrenchports.“TheFrenchhavemadecom-

pletelyunreasonablethreats, in-cluding to the Channel Islandsand to our fishing industry, andthey need to withdraw thosethreats or else wewill use themechanismsofourtradeagree-mentwiththeEUtotakeaction,”British Foreign Secretary LizTruss toldSkyNews.“The French have behaved

unfairly. It’s not within theterms of the trade deal. And ifsomebody behaves unfairly ina trade deal, you’re entitled totake action against them andseek some compensatorymeasures. And that iswhatwewill do if the Frenchdon’t backdown,” Truss said. REUTERS

Thailand, Israel,Australia easetravel restrictionsBangkok, Sydney: Thailand,AustraliaandIsraeleasedinterna-tional border restrictions signifi-cantlyonMondayforthefirsttimein18months,offeringabroadtestof demand for travelworldwideamidthecoronaviruspandemic.Therelaxationcontrastswith

tightening lockdowns else-where,notablyineasternEuropewhereinfectionshavehitrecordnumbers, and in parts of China,whichhastakenazero-toleranceapproach to thepandemic.Hundreds of vaccinated for-

eign tourists arrived in the Thaicapitalforquarantine-freetravelafter the nation approved visi-tors frommore than 60 coun-tries,includingChinaandtheUS.InSydney,hundredsofcitizens

weregreetedbylovedonesastheybecame the first to arrive fromabroadwithout a permit or theneed to quarantine since April2020.“(It’sa)littlebitscaryandex-citing,”saidEthanCarter,whoflewin fromLosAngeles. “I’ve comehome to seemymumbecauseshe’snotwell.”Israelalsorelaxedtravelrules,

but tourists should read the fineprint before booking. Individualtouristsareallowediniftheyhavereceivedvaccineboosters—butnot ifmorethansixmonthshavelapsed since their last dose,withsomeexceptions. REUTERS

Barclays CEO quitsover Epstein reportby UK regulators

JesStaley

Ethiopia govt:Tigray forceskilled 100 youthsin Kombolcha

AFrenchpatrolboatprepareto leaveasaBritishtrawler isseenmoored intheportofLeHavre,France.Reuters

UK to France:Back down in48 hours orwe get tough

BREXITFISHINGROW

‘We have run down the clock’ saysJohnson as climate summit kicks off

COP26: LEADERSCALLFORURGENTACTION

Climatechangealreadyravagingworld, saysBiden;Wearediggingourowngraves,warnsUNchief

Bidenattendstheopeningsessionof theCOP26UNClimateSummit inGlasgow,Monday.AP

UKPMBoris JohnsonatCOP26.AP

THE BIDEN administrationramped up its criticism ofChinaonMonday,callingontheChineseto increasetheiremissions-cuttingambitions.The critique sought to por-tray China and its leader, XiJinping—whoisnotablyab-sent fromCOP26—as large-economylaggardsintheraceto limit rising temperatures.USNationalSecurityAdviserJake Sullivan called theChinese“significantoutliers”among countries that havemadecommitmentsinanat-tempttolimitwarmingto1.5degrees. Sullivan said thatChina had “an obligation tostep up to greater ambitionaswegoforward.” NYT

EVERYCORNERof theworldwill feel the effects of globalwarming, but they will bemostdrastic for small islandnations that could be swal-lowedbyrising seas. Leadersofislandnationsmadeimpas-sionedappealsattheclimatesummit,arguingthattherestoftheworldhasanobligationtothem.“Theexistenceofourlow-lyingneighbours is notnegotiable,” said FrankBainimarama, thePMof Fiji.“All that’smissing is couragetoact,”hesaid.Severalleaderscalled for the conference todiscuss the ideaofmorepol-luting nations paying dam-agestopooreronesthatsufferdisproportionately fromtheeffectsofclimatechange.NYT

TINY ISLANDNATIONSREBUKEBIGEMITTERS

ASCHINAmakesmajortech-nologicaladvances,particu-larlyinthedefencesector,ex-pertshaveraisedfearsoverthepossibilityoftheUSgettingintoaspirallingarmsracewithBeijing.WiththeBidenadmin-istrationpositioningChinaastheUS’biggestrival,thereisarenewedpushinWashingtontorebuildtheUSnucleararse-nal,andallocatefundstoarmguided-missilesubmarineswithhypersonicweapons.TheUSCongressisalsolookingtoboostspendingonspaceandhypersonictechnologiestokeepupwithChina.

Fears overUS-Chinaarms raceE●EX

PLAINED

Pentagon rattled by Chinesemilitary push on multiple fronts

ClimateactivistGretaThunbergataprotestinGlasgowonMonday.Reuters

U.S. OFFICIALS SLAMANABSENTCHINA

CARLAKJOHNSONNOVEMBER1

THE GLOBAL death toll fromCovid-19 topped 5 million onMonday,lessthantwoyearsintoa crisis that has not only devas-tated poor countries but alsohumbled wealthy ones withfirst-ratehealthcaresystems.Together,theUS,theEuropean

Union,BritainandBrazil—allup-per-middle-orhigh-incomecoun-tries—account forone-eighthoftheworld’spopulationbutnearlyhalfofallreporteddeaths.TheUShas recordedover 745,000 liveslost,morethananyothernation.“Thisisadefiningmomentin

our lifetime,” saidDr. Albert Ko,aninfectiousdiseasespecialistattheYaleSchoolofPublicHealth.“What dowehave to do to pro-tectourselves sowedon’t get toanother5million?”The death toll, as tallied by

Johns Hopkins University, isabout equal to the populationsofLosAngelesandSanFranciscocombined. It rivals the numberofpeoplekilledinbattlesamongnationssince1950,accordingtoestimates from the PeaceResearchInstituteOslo.Globally,Covid-19 is now the third lead-ing cause of death, after heartdiseaseandstroke.Thestaggeringfigureisalmost

certainlyanundercountbecauseof limitedtestingandpeopledy-ingathomewithoutmedicalat-tention, especially in poor partsof theworld. AP

Covid-19’s globaldeath toll tops 5 mn

New Delhi

Page 15: PM'sword:NetZero2070,clean&green2030 - Sosin Classes

15SENSEX: 60,138.46 ▲ 831.53 (1.40%) NIFTY: 17,929.65 ▲ 258.00 (1.46%) NIKKEI: 29,647.08▲ 754.39 HANG SENG: 25,154.32▼ 222.92 FTSE: 7,263.07 ▲ 25.50 DAX: 15,807.46 ▲ 118.69

THEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY,NOVEMBER2,2021

ECONOMYWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

Internationalmarketdatatill1900IST

GOLD`46,673

RUPEE`74.87

OIL$82.81

SILVER`63,014

Note:Gold,silverratesatDelhispotmarket,goldper10g,silverper1kg;Crudeoil (Indianbasket)asofOctober29

KARUNJITSINGHNEWDELHI,NOVEMBER1

THEPETROLEUMMinistryhasasked state-owned Oil andNatural Gas Corporation(ONGC) to consider offeringup to a60per cent stake andoperating rights overparts ofkeyMumbaiHighandBasseinandSatellites(B&S)oilandgasproducing fields to foreigncompanies to boost produc-tion. The Centre had previ-ouslydirectedONGCtobidoutsmall andmarginal fields toboost domestic production,and has consistently beennudgingONGCtoseekoutfor-eign players as partners toboost production from do-mesticoilandgasfields.Aseniorgovernmentoffi-

cialtoldTheIndianExpressthatAmarNath,AdditionalSecret-ary in charge of ExplorationDivision at the PetroleumMinistry,hadwrittentoONGCasking it to consider biddingoutpartsoftheMumbaiHighand B&S oil and gas fields,whicharethelargestcrudeoiland natural gas fields in thecountry,respectively.Theproposalaimstoboost

crude oil andnatural gas re-covery form the maturingfields. ONGC’s consolidatedcrudeoil outputhas fallen fr-om25.5millionmetrictonnes(MMT)inFY17to22.5MMTinFY21,whileitsnaturalgaspro-ductionhas fallen to22.8bil-lioncubicmetres(BCM)fromapeakof25.8BCMinFY19.“Therearealotofareasin-

cluding in those fieldswhereyoumay find good reservesbut they are difficult (to ex-tract),” said a senior govern-ment official, noting that for-eignplayerswiththerequisitetechnology and expertise to

extract oil andgas fromsuchfields could help boost pro-duction and recoveries fromsuchfields.Theofficialaddedthatthe

governmentwasof the viewthat the total area under ex-plorationwithONGC shouldbe increased and that thecompanyshouldpartnerwithforeigncompaniesthatcanof-fer technology to increase re-coveryfromIndianfields.The official noted, how-

ever,thattheletterfromNath—who is also a governmentnominateddirector of ONGC—wasnotadirectivefromthegovernment but part of dis-cussionstoboostproduction.Governmentofficialshave

said that bothmature fieldssuchasMumbaiHighandma-jor newdiscoveries such asONGC’s KG-DWN-98/2 fieldoff the coast of AndhraPradeshcouldbenefitfromex-pertiseoflargeprivateplayersinrecoveringreservesinultradeepwaterfields.The official said that the

governmenthadalsodirectedto improvebidding terms forpotential investors interestedin bidding for its small andmarginalfields.ONGChad, in August, in-

vited bids for 43 small fieldswithtotalreservesof160mil-lion tonnes of oil equivalent,buthas receivedbids foronly12-13fieldsthusfar,accordingtotheofficial.

SECTORWATCHOIL&NATURALGAS

BRIEFLYI-TfeedbackNewDelhi: The income taxdepartmentrolledoutanewannual information state-ment(AIS)onitsportalthatgives comprehensive viewoftaxpayerinformationandoptiontosubmitfeedback.

SpaceXarmNewDelhi:SpaceXincorpo-rateditswholly-ownedsub-sidiary in India tostart localbroadbandoperations,Star-link country director IndiaSanjayBhargavasaid.

SifydatacentresNewDelhi:Adistressed as-setsfocusedfundbyaKotakMahindra Bank armsaid itwill investRs1,000crore indata centrebusiness of SifyTechnologies.

UnitySFBNew Delhi: Unity SmallFinanceBank,ajointventurebetween CentrumGroupandBharatpe, commencedoperationsasasmallfinancebankfromMonday. PTI

MDLofficialNewDelhi:MazagonDockShipbuilders Ltd (MDL) ap-pointed Biju George asDirector(Shipbuilding).

HeroschemesNewDelhi:HeroMotoCorpisofferingfinancialproductstocustomersthroughawiderange of partners, such asNo-Hypothecation,NocostEMIs,andCashEMI.

Nabard,TataNewDelhi:NabardandTataCommunityInitiativestrustinked apact to impart skilldevelopmenttrainingtoupto5,000 rural unemployedyouthover5years. ENS

KARUNJITSINGHNEWDELHI,NOVEMBER1

THENATION’S diesel consump-tion inOctober rose above pre-Covid levels for the first time inayear on the back of festive de-mand.Diesel consumption rose1.3per cent to 5,863.9 thousandmetric tonnes (TMT), comparedto 5,790.2 TMT inOctober 2019,butwas down5.1 per cent fromOctober 2020, according todatacompiled from state-owned oilmarketingcompanies.Petrol consumption rose to

2,485.2TMTinOctober,up8.2percent fromthecorrespondingpe-riod in 2019.Diesel accounts forabout40percentofIndia’spetro-leumproduct consumption andis considered a key indicator ofeconomicactivity.Theriseindieselconsumption

wasdue to increasedmovementofgoodsduringthefestiveperiod,accordingtoofficialsatoilmarket-ingcompanies.Diesel consump-tion hadpreviously grownoverpre-CovidlevelsinOctober2020,buoyedbybothpent-updemandafterlocalandnationallevellock-downsaswellasfestivedemand.The current growth in con-

sumption comesdespite a sharpincrease in thepriceof auto fuels

thatareatrecordhighsacrossthecountry as a result of high inter-national crudeoil pricesandele-vatedtaxesonpetrolanddiesel.Petrolconsumptionhasbeen

showing consistent growthoverpre-CovidlevelssinceSeptemberlastyear,withanincreasingnum-ber of people preferring to usepersonal vehicles over publictransportation.Theconsumptionof aviation turbine fuel (ATF), orjet fuel, however, remained34.2percentbelowpre-Covidlevelsat434.5TMT,asinternationalflightshavestillnotresumedfullopera-tionspostthepandemic.ConsumptionofLPG,usedasa

cooking fuel,wasat2,505.3TMTinOctober,registeringagrowthof6.6percentabovepre-pandemiclevels and 2.6 per cent aboveOctober2020levels.

PETROL,DIESELSALES INOCTOBER

Juniorandseniormanagementworkforceundertheageof25andabove40years,areeagertoreturntoofficesascomparedtomiddlemanagement

Femaleemployeesarealsoexcitedaboutreturningtoofficesandadaptingtonewerworkingmodels,asperthe‘NASSCOMReturntoWorkplaceSurvey’

>81%oforganisationsexpressedthat

employeehealthandsafetyremainskeyconsideration

72%oforganisationsarelookingatoperating

atamaximumof50%employeecapacitystartingnextyearitself

~57% oforganisationssaidtheywill

reachreadinesstore-openofficespaceswithinthreemonths

40%ofemployeesexpecttoworkfrom

officepremisesup-to3daysaweekSource:Nasscom&Indeed/PTI

Focused on tech employees: The NasscomReturn toWorkplace report was developed based on the return toworkplace surveys by the IT industry body, focusing on both tech employees and tech employers

IT industryworkersmay return to theworkplace inahybridsetup,with50%of theworkforce likely to go tooffice forup to3daysaweek from January, aNasscom-Indeed report said

‘Over 50% of techworkforcemay return to offices by Jan’

Dieselconsumptionrose1.3%to5,863.9TMT,over5,790.2TMTinOctober2019. File

Festivities drive fuelconsumption abovepre-Covid levels

ENSECONOMICBUREAUNEWDELHI,NOVEMBER1

THERE IS aneed to look into thealgorithmsof socialmedia inter-mediaries if these go against thelaworareinbreachofArticles14,19, and 21 of the Constitution,Minister of State for ElectronicsandInformationTechnologyRaj-eevChandrasekharsaidMonday.“Theseareallareasweneedto

discusspublicly. Algorithms thatinfringeonArticles14,19,and21ofanycitizenarestillaninfringe-ment. Ourmain job is to protectthe right to free speech, privacy,and the right tonon-discrimina-tiononlinejustasthegovernmentdoesoffline,”Chandrasekharsaidat the launch of the frequentlyaskedquestions(FAQ)onparttwoof the Intermediary GuidelinesandDigitalMedia Ethics Code,also known as the InformationTechnologyRules,2021.He added, “If algorithms or

anyotherconductofanyinterme-diarycomesinthewayofthat,itisamatterforthelawtodealwith,ifnot today then in the future.”Articles 14, 19, and21guaranteeequality before law, freedomofspeechandexpression, andpro-

tectionoflifeandpersonalliberty.TheIndianExpresshad,onOct-

ober27,reportedthattheMinistryof Electronics and InformationTechnology (MeitY)wasprepar-ingareportonthekeyfindingsre-lated to India in the internaldoc-uments collected by Facebookwhistleblower FrancesHaugen,includingallegeddiscrepanciesinalgorithmic recommendationsthatincreasedvisibilityofdivisivecontent andmisinformation tonewIndianusers.Adaylater, theMeitYwrote to Facebook IndiaheadAjitMohan, seekingdetailsof thekey findings related to thewhistleblower’s testimony, andthealgorithmicdiscrepancies.OnMonday, Chandrasekhar

saidthatthedetailedstandardop-eratingprocedures(SOPs)onthe

IT Rules would be released “atsomepoint”.“Thereareissuesre-lated towho is the designatedcompetent authority forwhichministry. Therewill be at somepoint an SOPwhich the govern-mentwill comeupwithand theMinistrywillfacilitatethat,whichwilldesignatewhichagencieswillbethecompetentauthority.Thatwillbeapartofthenaturalevolu-tionof theserules,”hesaid.TheFAQs,releasednearlyeig-

htmonthsaftertheITRuleswerepublishedbytheMeitY,comeaf-terseveralrequestsbytheindus-try for clarifications on aspectssuchaswhichagencieshadtheju-risdiction to send takedownno-ticestosocialmediacompanies.Socialmedia intermediaries

have repeatedly raised theneed

for an SOPafter several agenciessentthemtake-downnotices,al-legedlywithoutjurisdiction.Theyconveyed their concerns to theMeitY after the controversy ear-lier this year regardingCongressleaderRahulGandhi’spostonso-cialmedia, showing theparentsof a nine-year-oldDalit girlwhohadbeenallegedlyraped.TheNationalCommissionfor

ProtectionofChildRights(NCPCR)sent notices to bothGandhi andthe social media platforms.Facebook,Instagram,andTwittertookdown thepost, but claimedtheyhadactedonthebasisoftheirinternalguidelinesonpostingandnottheNCPCRnotice.Anexecutiveatasocialmedia

company had told The IndianExpressatthetimethataspertheSupremeCourt judgment in theShreyaSinghalcase,whereinSect-ion 66Aof the IT Actwas struckdown,thedirectiontoremoveanysocialmediacontentcouldcomeonly through a court order, orfromacompetentauthorityofthecentralgovernmentunderSection69Aof the IT Act. The executivehadsaidthatneitherSection69Anor theblocking rules under theITActauthorisedNCPCRtodirectintermediariestoremovecontent.

ITMoSRAJEEVCHANDRASEKHARATLAUNCHOFFAQsOFITRULES

ENSECONOMICBUREAUMUMBAI,NOVEMBER1

DOMESTIC STOCK indices onMondaybouncedbackonaposi-tive footing fromthe recent sell-off, due to strongmomentum inglobalmarkets, favourable do-mestic economic data andgoodGST collection. The benchmarkSensex shot by 831.53 points tocross 60,000 again and end at60,138.46andtheNSENiftyIndexroseby258pointsto17,929.65.Sensexhadfallen1,837points

largelyduetoforeignportfolioin-vestors(FPI)sellinginthelasttwotrading sessions. Encouragingdata alsoboosted the sentiment.WhileGSTcollectioncameclosertotherecordhigh,theIHSMarkitIndiaManufacturingPurchasingManagers’ Index stoodat 55.9 in

October against 53.7 inSeptember, rising for the fourthstraightmonth.GSTcollectionsforOctober came in at Rs 1.30 lakhcrore as comparedwith Rs 1.17lakhcrore inSeptember, indicat-ing strengthening economic re-

coveryinthesecondhalfofthefis-cal year 2021-22. Itwas the sec-ond highest monthly numbersincetheintroductionofGST.VinodNair,headofresearchat

Geojit Financial Services, said,“Indicesbouncedbackonaposi-tive footing fromthe recent sell-off, due to strongmomentum inglobalmarkets, favourable do-mestic economic data and goodQ2resultsannouncement..”Marketswitnessedarebound

andgainednearly oneandahalfper cent, taking a breather aftertherecentfall.Upbeatglobalcuestriggered a firm start but profittakingatthehigherlevelscappedtheupside.However,thenewsofGST collection reaching closer torecordhighfuelledfreshmomen-tum in the latter half,which fur-ther strengthenedwith recoveryinselect indexmajors.

ENSECONOMICBUREAUNEWDELHI,NOVEMBER1

INDIA’SMANUFACTURINGactiv-itygrewatitsfastestpaceineightmonthsinOctober,asfirmsscaledupoutputinsyncwithasubstan-tial upturn in newwork intakesaheadof thepeakfestiveseason.The Nikkei Manufacturing

purchasing managers’ index(PMI)roseto55.9inOctoberfrom53.7inSeptember.Anindexread-ingof50orabovesuggestsexpan-sion andbelow it points at con-traction.ManufacturingPMIhasnowgrown for a fourth straightmonthafter the first contractionin11monthsinJune.Freshorders and factoryout-

put inOctober expanded at thestrongestpacesinceMarch.Newexport orders, too,movedup atthe fastest rate in threemonths.Companies resorted tomassiveinputpurchasestobuildinventoryinanticipationoffurtherimprove-ment indemand,whilebusinessoptimismhit a six-month high.Thisledtoinputcostsrisingatthesharpest rate in92months, rais-ingconcernsaboutsustainabilityofsoaringcorporateprofits.PollyannaDe Lima, econom-

icsassociatedirectoratIHSMarkitthat releases the PMI data, said:“With companies gearingup forfurtherimprovementsindemandbybuildinguptheirstocks,itlookslikemanufacturing activitywillcontinue to expand throughoutthe third quarter of 2021-22shouldthepandemicremainun-dercontrol.Upbeatbusinesscon-fidence and projects in thepipelineshouldalsosupportpro-ductioninthecomingmonths.”Togetherwithsomehigh-fre-

quency indicators, themanufac-turingsurgehas lentcredence tothe ideathataneconomicrecov-erymaybe taking roots after thesecondCovidwave. FE

‘ManufacturingPMI rises inOct on upturnin new intakes,production’

ENCOURAGINGDATAboostedthesentiment.WhileGSTcollectioncameclosertotherecordhigh, theManufacturingPMIstoodat55.9inOctoberagainst53.7inSeptember, risingforthefourthstraightmonth.

FavourabledatahelpssentimentE●EX

PLAINED

Sensex reclaims 60K-mark onbetter GST mop-up, global cues

“Theseareallareasweneedtodiscusspublicly.Algorithmsthat infringeonArticles14,19,and21ofanycitizenarestillan infringement”

RAJEEVCHANDRASEKHARMoS,ELECTRONICS& IT

‘Algos, if infringingonrightsofcitizens,mustbedealtwith’

■MumbaiHighandB&Soilandgasfieldsarethe largestcrudeoilandnaturalgasfields in India,respectively

LARGEST FIELDS

Seek foreign partnersto raise output fromMumbai High, B&Sfields: Govt to ONGC

ENSECONOMICBUREAUMUMBAI,NOVEMBER1

TATAMOTORSLtdonMondayre-ported a consolidatednet loss ofRs4,441croreforthesecondquar-terendingSeptemberasagainstanetlossofRs314croreintheyear-agoperiod(Q2FY21)andRs4,451croreinthepreviousJunequarter(Q1FY22),respectively.Revenuefromoperationsrose

14per cent toRs 61,378 crore inQ2FY22asagainstRs53,530croreinthelastyearperiod.JaguarLandRover (JLR)wholesales todealersin thequarterwereat64,032ve-hicles,down12.8percentyear-on-year,reflectingthesemiconductorshortageandlowerretailerinven-tories. India operations showedsignificant improvement against

Q2ayearago.However, the sup-ply chain issues andcommodityinflation impacted themargins.Electric vehicle (EV) businessrecordednearlythree-foldgrowthandrecordedhighestmonthlyandquarterly salesof 1,078units and2,704units,respectively.

Mumbai:HousingDevelopmentFinanceCorp(HDFC)onMondayposted a standalonenetprofit ofRs 3,780 crore for the quarterendedSeptember2021, a 32percentrisefromRs2,870croreintheyear-agoperiod.Thedividendin-come for the Septemberquartercame in at Rs 1,171 crore, up by263percentoverlastyearperiod.HDFC’s revenue fromopera-

tionswasatRs12,216croreinthesecondquarter, an increase of 4per cent over the correspondingperiod last year. Net interest in-comeforthefirsthalfof thefiscalstoodatRs8,255crorecomparedtoRs 7,039 crore in thepreviousyear,agrowthof17percent. ENS

Dublin: US Treasury SecretaryJanetYellenonMonday said shedoesnotthinktheUSeconomyisoverheatingand thatwhile infla-tionishigherthaninrecentyears,itisrelatedtodisruptionfromtheCOVID-19pandemic.DatalastweekshowedthatUS

consumer spending increasedsolidlyinSeptember.Whileinfla-tionpressuresarebroadeningout,Yellenreiteratedshebelievedpricerisesaretransitory. REUTERS

HDFC Q2 net up32% at `3,780 cr

ENSECONOMICBUREAUNEWDELHI,NOVEMBER1

MERCHANDISE EXPORTS hit arecord $35.5 billion in October,registering a 42.3 per cent risefroma year before and 35.2 percent from the pre-Covid (samemonthinFY20)level.Theexportswere supportedby strong orderflowfromkeymarketssuchastheUS and China in thewake of aneconomic resurgence there andelevatedglobalcommodityprices.But at $55.4 billion, imports

surgedatafasterpaceof62.5percentinOctoberfromayearbeforeand 45.8 per cent from the pre-pandemic level. This kept tradedeficitatanelevatedlevelof$19.9billioninOctober,althoughitwaslower than the record $22.6 bil-lionwitnessed inSeptember, ac-cording to the preliminary esti-matesreleasedbythecommerce

ministryonMonday.Of course, domestic demand

has been improving in recentmonthsafterCovid-inducedcom-pressionlastfiscal.Butimportbillwas greatly inflated by elevatedglobal crudeoilprices,whicharehovering around 3-year highs,andmassivepurchasesofgold inthebuild-uptothefestivalseason.Imports of petroleumprod-

ucts jumped over 141 per centyear-on-year to $14.4 billion,while goldpurchases fromover-seasclimbed104percentto$5.1billion aheadof Dhanteras. Coalimports surged119per cent andedible oil imports shot upby60percent.Ofcourse,baseeffect,too,remainedunfavourable.However,policy-makersmay

seekcomfortinthefactthattraderecovery has taken roots, withmerchandise exports having ex-ceededthepre-pandemiclevelforeightmonthsinarow. FE

■JLRwholesalestodealersinthequarterwereat64,032vehicles,down12.8%YoY

JLRSALESDOWN

SECONDQUARTERENDINGSEPTEMBER

ENSECONOMICBUREAUCHENNAI,NOVEMBER1

WHOLESALE DESPATCHES ofpassenger vehicles (PVs) by au-tomakers like Maruti SuzukiIndia, Hyundai Motors, andMahindraandMahindra(M&M)were once again hit in Octoberdue to theongoingglobal short-ageof semiconductors.The lowdespatches are also

theresultofoutputcutsbycom-panies, which began in August.In fact,Maruti said the produc-tion cut will continue inNovember also when it is ex-pected to be 85 per cent of thenormalproduction.Hyundai, said on Monday

that the global semiconductorsupplyconstraintcontinuestobea challenge resulting in lowerproductionacross the industry.Though the two-wheeler in-

dustry does not get that heavilyimpactedbythechipsshortagesas electronic items aremostlyused in their high-endmodels,buttheirdomesticdemandcon-tinuestobesubdued.During September, Maruti

registereda steep fall inpassen-gervehiclesales inthedomesticmarket,which fell 32.4 per cent

on a year-on-year basis to112,788 units. Hyundai MotorIndia,whichwasabletopostlowsingle digit growth till August,slipped into the negative inSeptember and the same hap-penedinOctoberalso.Itsdomes-tic sales sawa 35per cent y-o-ydeclineat37,021units.TataMotors totalwholesales

increased by 30 per cent to67,829 units. The company’s to-tal dispatches stood at 52,132unitsand itsdomestic sales rose31 per cent to 65,151 units. Thecompany’s domestic PV saleswas at 33,925 units in October,up 44 per cent. Commercial ve-hicle sales in domesticmarketstood at 31,226 units, up 20 percenty-o-y.M&Msawan8.5percentfall

in total salesat38,734units.Sales of Toyota Kirloskar re-

mained flat at 12,440 units, agrowthof0.5percent. FE

Tata Motors loss at `4,441 crore oncommodity inflation, supply issues

Yellen: USeconomy notoverheating

Exports rise over 42%to $35.5 billion in Oct

JanetYellen,USTreasurySecretary. Reuters ■LowPVdespatchesare

alsotheresultofoutputcutsbycompanies,whichbeganinAugust

OUTPUTCUTS

Chip shortage dents sales for mostPV makers; Tata Motors an outlier

ENSECONOMICBUREAUNEWDELHI,NOVEMBER1

THE GOVERNMENT has an-nounced the constitution of anEmpoweredGroupofSecretaries(EGoS)tooverseetheimplemen-tationof infrastructuredevelop-mentworthRs100lakhcroreun-der the PMGati ShaktiNationalMasterPlan(NMP).The EGoS, headed by the

Cabinet Secretary, also includessecretariesfrom17ministriesandwill reviewandmonitor the im-plementationoftheNMP.ThePMGati ShaktiNMPaims toputkey

infrastructureprojectsontheGatiShakti digital platformallowingvariousdepartments to track, inrealtime,theprogressofprojects,especially thosewithmulti-sec-toralandmulti-regionalimpact.TheEGoSwillbeempowered

to “set out aprocedureandade-finitive timeframe for synchroni-sationofvariousactivitiesforcon-

structionof roads, rail, etc. alongwithallutilityservicesinanarea-basedapproachfordevelopmentofinfrastructureonpilotbasis,”ac-cordingtoagovernmentnotifica-tion.TheEGoSwillalsobeabletoreview,monitorandamendproj-ectsincludedintheNMP,accord-ing to thenotification.Themem-bers include secretaries of keyministries, including roads, ship-ping, civil aviation, telecom, coal,andminesaswellastheChairmanoftheRailwayBoard.Amajor objective of theGati

ShaktiNMP is to reduce logisticscostinthecountryto7-8percentofgrossdomesticproduct.

Empowered panel of secretariesformed to monitor Gati Shakti

TheEGoS,headedbytheCabinetSecretary,alsoincludessecretariesfrom17ministries

New Delhi

Page 16: PM'sword:NetZero2070,clean&green2030 - Sosin Classes

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ClassifiedsPPEERRSSOONNAALL

''IMPORTANT''Whilst care is taken prior toacceptance of advertisingcopy, it isnotpossible toverifyits contents. The IndianExpress (P) Limited cannot beheld responsible for suchcontents, nor for any loss ordamageincurredasaresultoftransactions with companies,associations or individualsadvertising in its newspapersor Publications. We thereforerecommend that readersmake necessary inquiriesbefore sending any monies orentering into any agreementswith advertisers or otherwiseacting on an advertisement inany manner whatsoever.

LLOOSSTT&&FFOOUUNNDD

II,,ddhhaarrmmeennddrraa Sharma,S/osuresh chandsharma,Add-Rz-68/271,hansparkWest sagarpur,newdelhi-110046,Changedmyname todharmenderSharma.

0040590252-3

II,,VViippiinn KrGupta,VKGupta,VipinKumarS/o-KrishanKumarR/oRZF-99/148Gali No.41BSadhNagar-2 PalamColonyDelhi-45,changemyname toVipinKumarGupta.

0040590252-7

II,,VViijjaayyKumarR/o-K-1004,RoyalGardenEstate,Sector-61,GautamBuddhNagar-201301up,havechangedmy,daughter’s name,fromSiyato SiyaKumar for all,futurepurpose.

0040590234-3

II,,UUsshhaaRani SharmaW/oNo.6817769 ExHAVKrishanLalR/o.E2/A,IndraGandhiMarg,East VinodNagar,Delhi-91,have changedmyname toUshaRani.

0040590234-2

II,,SSuurreesshhKumar,S/oKesherDevRastogi R/o.RZG-119,Raj Nagar-2,Palam-Colony, Delhi-110077,have changedmynametoSureshKumarRustogi.

0040590234-7

II,,SSuunniill Kumar S/ORadheyShyamR/O,D-5/78, Sector-15,Rohini Delhi-110089,havechangedmyname toSunilKumar Sharma.

0040590234-5

II,,SSiittaarraaW/oNaeemAhmad D/oMohamadHussainR/oB-41-G/F, DDA-Colony,New Jafrabad,Delhi-110032, Have changedmyname toSitaraBegum.

0040590217-2

II,,SShhookkeeeenn Shah,S/o FarmoodShah,R/oC-191,Old SeemaPuri,Delhi-110095,havechangedmyname,fromShabbir Shah to ShokeenShah,for all,futurepurposes.

0040590284-10

II,,SSaawwaann Lal S/oBalamSinghNegi R/o 36/77, Block-36,Trilokpuri,Delhi-110091,havechangedmyname toBobbySinghNegi.

0040590284-2

II,,SSUURREENNDDEERRSINGH,S/OLate.Rajinder Singh,R/OC-2/12,MalkaGanj,Delhi-110007,have changedmynametoSURENDERBHALLA.ThatSURENDERSINGH&SURENDERBHALLA is one&SamePerson.

0040590284-8

II,,RRaahhiiss Ahmed,S/oGafurAhmad,R/oC-275 j.j.Colonyoldseelampuri,Delhi-95 infromthat nameofRaisAhmed inoldpassport-documents passportno-F6891171 the correctmyname isRahisAhmad,forall,futurepurposes etc.

0040590234-6

II,,PPRRIIYYAAGARG,W/o AKASHSAHANI,R/oB-4, SECOND-FLOOR,HARINAGAR, SOUTHWESTDELHI-110064,haschangedmyname toPRIYAGARGSAHANI.

0040590284-4

II,,NNoo..1133776655551133PP L/HAVRajeshKumar,S/oKamal Raj 22 JAKRIFR/oVill.Ghumarwin,P.O LagManwin, Teh.Bhoranj,Distt.Hamirpur,(H.P)declares that inmyArmyrecordsmyson’s namewrongly enteredasAryanKumar. VideAffidavit.No.05AA826092issuedbyHPstate,his correct-name isAryan.

0040590265-7

II,,NNaarreennddrraaKumar,S/o JiledarSingh,R/o 148-A,Block-R,Extn,MohanGarden, Uttam-Nagar,NewDelhi-110059,havechangedmynameNarenderKumar.

0040590284-1

II,,NNaarreennddeerr Kumar,S/oShri.HemChandR/o.House.no.115,Chilla-Village, Tanchwa-Mauhalla,Near-ShivMandir,Chilla SarodaKhadar,Delhi-110091,have changedmynametoNarender Singh,for all,futurepurposes.

0040590252-6

I,DEVENDERGUPTA,S/O.LAXMINARAIN,ADD-G-824,ARJUN-NAGARKOTLAMUBARAKPURDELHI-110003,changedmyname toDEVENDERKUMAR,permanently.

0040590252-4

II,,MMoohhaammmmaaddTabishZia,S/o-Naseeruddin, R/o-2138,MPStreet,Near LalMasjid PataudiHouse,Daryaganj, Delhi-110002,have changedmynametoTabishNaseer

0040590234-8

II,,MMaannoojj KumarMishra,S/oPremRaj KrishanMishra, R/o.D-3-704,EcoVillage-ll, NoidaExtn.,Greater-Noida-201301,have changemyNametoManuraaj, permanently.

0040590252-1

II,,KKhhuusshhbbuu Jain,W/OGauravGupta,R/O,A-63,UpperGround-Floor Pushpanjali,EnclavePitampura,Delhi-110034,havechangedmyname toKhushbooGupta.

0040590234-4

II,,JJyyoottii Bhalla,W/OSurenderBhalla,R/OC-2/12,MalkaGanj,Delhi-110007,BeforeMarriagemynamewasRosy,D/OLate.Inderjeet Singh,Nowmyname is Jyoti Bhalla forall futurePurposes.

0040590284-6

II,,GGoovveerrddhhaann,,RR//oo--AA--5577,,HHaarrsswwaarrooooppColony,FatehpurBeri,NewDelhi-110074,inform that inmydaughter’s (Priti)schoolrecordsher date of birth haswronglymentionedas09.06.2003 insteadof20.12.2006.

0040590290-11

II,,AAsshhllyy AlexanderThekkumvilaputhenveedu/AshlyATD/oAlexanderGeorgeR/o 16/331F 1st-Floor, StreetNo.12, Joshi Road, Karol Bagh,Delhi-110005, India havechangedmyname toAshlyAlexander for all purposes.

0040590209-1

II,,AAsshhbbaannii Chadha,D/o JasmeetSinghChadhaR/o-Q-23,Rajouri-Garden,New-Delhi-110027have changedmynametoAshbani KaurChadha,permanently.

0040590284-3

II,,AAjjaayyKumar,S/O-Hari OmMaheshwari,R/o-WZ-19A,Om-vihar,Phase-1,UttamNagar,NewDelhi,have changedmyname toAjayKumarMaheshwari,for all purposes.

0040590265-6

II,,AARRAATTII KAK,D/ORAJENDERKAK,R/oB-1202A, 14TH-Floor,UninavHeights,Raj NagarExtension, Ghaziabad, UPhavechangedmyname toARTI KAK.

0040590284-9

II,,AAAAKKAASSHHSAHANI S/oKAMALKUMARSAHANIR/o-B-4,SECOND-FLOOR,HARINAGAR,SOUTHWEST,DELHI-110064haschangedmyname toAKASHSAHANI.

0040590284-5

II,, VivekanandSrivastavaS/oDharamNathPrasad, R/oC-75,Gali No.05, PremNagar-3,GauravNagar-2, KirariSulemanNagar, Delhi-06, inmyoffice recordsmynamehaswronglymentionedasVivekaNand insteadofVivekanandSrivastava.

0040590295-1

II,, VijayKumar S/oRameshLal,R/o 28A, PktA-12, VaishaliApartment, Kalka Ji Extension,Kalkaji, Delhi-110019, declarethat nameofmine,mywife andmysonhasbeenwronglywrittenasVijayKumarBhandula, Preeti Bhandula andKunal Bhandula respectively inmyminor sonKunal aged16years in his School Record. Theactual nameofmine,mywifeandmyson isVijayKumar,Preeti Rani andKunalrespectively

0070759695-1

II,, SonyaAroraD/oNarenderKumar Sharma, R/o EmaarPalmGardensTower8/604,Sector-83,Gurgaon-122004,changedmyname toSonyaSharma.

0040590252-9

II,, LalitaChauhanwife ofPradeepChauhanResident ofGD-11, Pul Pehladpur, NewDelhi–44, doherebydeclarethat LalitaChauhan&Pooja isnameof oneand the sameperson.

0040590213-1

II,, SindhuShree, D/oof Late Sh.Mahipal SinghNayak , R/oR116, Greater KailashPart-I, NewDelhi-110048, hereby changemyname from“SindhuShreeNayak” to “SindhuShree” forall the futurepurposes.

0040590201-1

II,, Raman Jeet SinghGambhirAliasRamanjeet SinghGambhir AliasRamanjit SinghGambhir S/oRajinder SinghGambhir R/o 15/23A, Second-Floor, Tilak-Nagar, Delhi-110018, have changedmynameRaman Jeet SinghGambhir.

0040590265-1

II,, PritamBhengraS/oSh. LatePrabhuSahayBhengra, R/oVill.- Bunumda, Po.-Raikera,Panchayat Jharbera,Ps.Anandpur,West Singhbhum,Jharkhand- 833104 havechangedmyname JohanBhengra toPritamBhengra forall futurepurpose.

0040590178-1

II,, No- 9112877W,NKMohdRafi,S/OLiyaqetAli , R/0-Chitterkote,Tehsil- Karnah,District- Kupwara. Inmyservice records the (DoB) ofmywardnamely Umair RafiKhanhasbeenwronglymentionedas 14-08-2018insteadof 02-06-2020. It needscorrection.Objectionsbe filedto concernedauthoritieswithin sevendays.

0020428867-1

II,, NaeemS/oMustkeemR/oB-41-G/F, DDA-Colony, NewJafrabad, Delhi-110032, Havechangedmyname toNaeemAhmad.

0040590217-1

II,,MANSI, D/O.AMITKUMARGUPTA,ADD-75, GALIMEMWALIKATRABARIYANBALLIMARANCHANDNICHOWKDELHI-110006,Changedmyname toMANSIGUPTA, permanently.

0040590234-1

II,, Komila RaniW/o late ShriRavinder SinghDalal R/oWZ-120, gali no.2, SadhNagar,Palamcolony, NewDelhihereto knownasKomilaRaniand I have changedmynameandshall hereinafter knownasKomalDalal.

0040590164-1

II,, Inderpal SinghS/o-HarjinderSingh, R/o-BE-85, Gali No-2,VishnuGarden, TilakNagar,Delhi-110018, have changedmyname to Inderpal SinghPanesar.

0040590252-10

II,, GianoDeviM/oNo.14337380WExHAVRajpal SinghR/oPlot.no.106, Kh.No.906,A-Block,Galino.-3,FriendsEnclave,Mundka,Delhi-41 havechangedmyname toGyanoDevi.

0040590252-5

II,, BhavnaAggarwalD/OAmitAggarwal R/OA-35, BrijVihar,Pushpanjali-Enclave,PitamPura,Delhi-110034,have changedmynametoRIYAAGGARWAL.

0040590252-8

II,, AshokKumarYadavS/o-KapleshwarYadav, R/o-E-116C,RajeevNagar , BegumpurDelhi-110086, have changedmyname toAshokKumar.

0040590252-11

II,, AshaRaniw/o JaswantRaiWadhwa J5/5, Ist floor, rajourigarden, NewDelhi, have lostproperty leasedeadwithotherrelevant documents of sameproperty allotted to sh. AnantRamS/oGangaRamof shopNo- 357, AzadMarket, Delhi-110006. founder contact at7011022881

0040590273-1

II,, AshaRani Kumar,W/oLt. HariomKumar, R/oA-44, KendriyaVihar, Sector-51, Noida,changedmyname toAshaRani

0070759684-1

II VarunAroraS/OMaheshAroraR/o JB-14, First Floor, GuptaColony, Khirki Ext, Delhi-110017, have changedmynameandshall hereafter be knownasVarunMaheshArora.

0070759692-1

II Tariq Zia,S/o-Naseeruddin,R/o-2138MPStreet,Near LalMasjid PataudiHouse,Daryaganj Delhi-110002,have changedmynametoTariqNaseer

0040590234-9

II SushrutaPratapSinghS/oRamDutta SinghR/o J-6C, EastVinodNagar, Delhi-110091,have changedmyname toSushruta

0070759696-1

II Sonia alias SoniaDevi D/oSh.DevenderKumarW/oSh.Neeraj KumarR/oRZ-48A/3A,Gali No.1,MainSagar Pur,SouthWestDelhi, Delhi-110046have changedmyname toSonia Suryavanshi for allpurposes.

0040590158-1

II SitaDevi D/o Late Sh.ManiW/oSh. SureshChandKashiwal R/o76,Masjid Lane, JangpuraBhogal, NewDelhi-110014havechangedmynameaftermarriage to ShwetaKashiwalfor all purposes.

0040590158-3

II SharadRatra, r/o E17 top floorphase1AshokViharDelhi110052, herebydeclare that Ihave changedmyminor son’sname fromZIANKUMAR toZIANRATRA for all purposes.

0040590237-1

II PoojaKumarimother of YogiSinghR/oK-1 Ext 108EGurudwaraRoadMohanGardenUttamNagarDelhiinformeveryone that earliermyson’s namewasYashKumar. Now it has changed toYogi singh (affidavit no IN-DL38106072981692T

0050186207-1

II NityanandS/oMunni RamR/oB3-403, Tulip Purple, SohanaRoad, Sector-69, Badshahpur,Gurgaon, 122101have changedmyname toNityanandDangwal

0040590307-1

II Kanwer SainGupta,S/OMurariLal Gupta,R/O, E-36,Phase-1,BudhViharDelhi-110086,havechangedmyname toKanwarSainGupta.

0040590284-7

II DimpleW/O-VikasGuptaR/O,D-10, Ashoka-RoadAdarsh-NagarDelhi-110033,have changedmynametoDimpalGupta. 0040590252-2

II DhanSinghBisht S/oSh. PanSinghBisht R/oD-II/52, KidwaiNagarWest, NewDelhi-110023have changed thenameofmyminor son fromVidhanBishtalias BidhanBisht aliasVidhantoVidhanBisht for allpurposes.

0040590158-2

I, ASHOKKUMARAGGARWALS/OLATEUGGARSAINAGARWALR/OA-359SECTOR-31NOIDAU.P. IHAVECHANGEDMYNAMEASHOKAGARWALFORALLPURPOSES.

IRahulS/oVinodR/oPipariyaPost -BhitiharwaAshram,Thana-Gaunaha,PipariyaWest,Champaran,BiharhavechangedmyNamefromRahul toRahulKhojwar forall futurepurposes.

IANURADHAAGGARWALW/OASHOKAGARWALR/OA-359SEC-TOR-31NOIDAU.P. IHAVECHANGEDMYNAMEANURADHAAGARWALFORALLPURPOSES.

I, KailashYadavS/oRamdulareYadav residence-Rawatpar, Thunni,RawatPaar,Bansgaon,Gorakhpur,U.P.DateofBirthofmydaughterSnehaYadav01-12-2006 isvalid forall purposesasper thebirthcertificate.

My father'sname ismen-tionedasTridevSingh inmyedu-cational certificateswhich iswrong.Hiscorrectname isTridevKumar. In future Iwill knownasSagarSinghS/oTridevKumarR/oflatno. SK-61B,Sector-66,Noida,GautamBuddhaNagar.

LLoossttmyoriginal sale deeddocumentVasika.no-64 dated-05/04/2003,ofH.No.-759/28,Gali.no.13,New JyotiPark, Gurugram,Haryana.Findercontact:JagdishChanderDureja,R/o-HNo-759/28,gali.no13,New JyotiPark,Gurugram,Haryana.

0040590265-10

is notified for the informationthatmyoriginal-qualifyingExamination-Certificate andMarksheet ofMain-Secondaryexaminationof Year-1992, andIndex.No.T299/053,issuedbyICSEhasbeenactually lost.ShomeShankar BasuThakur(ShomeBasu),S/oLate.AnimeshBasuThakur,R/o.N-1205, Homes-121,Noida,Sec-121,U.P-201301Mob-No.9810088869.

0040590265-9

II,,BBaallrraajj KrishanSethi,S/oDeshRaj Sethi R/o-B-68,AkashGangaCGHSLTD.PlotNo-17,Sector-6,Dwarka,Delhi-110075,have lostmyOriginalshareCertificate,if any foundplease.ContactMo.9810205828.

0040590265-8

LLoosstt Original EducationDocument-10th,12th,andGraduation certificate,and fewmoredocuments.KakoliSharmaR/O-B-704AjnaraGrandHeritege,sector-74,Noida findder call-9818451032

0040590166-1

PUBLIC NOTICEGeneral Public is hereby informed that myclients namely Namely Sh. Shambu DayalKulthia S/o Sh. Vidyadhar Kulthia and Smt.Kanchan Kulthia W/o Sh. Shambu DayalKulthia Both Resident of: PP-119 Pitam Pura,Delhi-110034 on account of undesirable actsof their daughter namely Ms. Pooja Kulthiadisinherits their daughter namely Ms. PoojaKulthia and her husband namely Mr. NareshPratap Singh from all their movable andimmovable assets and further severed theirrelations with both of them. Henceforth theyshall not be held responsible for their anyacts, omissions and commissions and anyperson dealing with their daughter and herhusband shall do so at his own risk, costs andresponsibility.

Sd/-Manish Malik

(Advocate)Ch. No. 23, Western Wing,Tis Hazari Courts, Delhi-54

PUBLIC NOTICEThis is for information of all concernedthat Mrs. Kamal Bhagi, W/o Late K.D.Bhagi, R/o C-4 D/14B Janakpuri, NewDelhi-110058 expired on 05.03.2021& had executed her last and final 'Will'on 14.08.2018. By virtue of this ‘will’,she has bequeathed immovableproperty bearing DDA Flat No. C-4D/14B Janakpuri, New Delhi-110058in favour of her sister, Usha Sharmaand her sister's husband Gur ParshadSharma, S/o Late Shankar DassSharma, both R/o B-3/77B,Keshavpuram (Lawrence Rd.), Delhi-110035. In case of any objection w.r.t.the said the same can be filed within30 days of publication of this Notice.

Sd/-Adv. RAHUL MEHTACh. No.-105, 1st Flr.,

Western Wing, Tis Hazari Court,Delhi-110054

PUBLIC NOTICELet it be known to all concerned thatconsequent upon the death of bothparents (K.D. Bhagi on 20.01.2015and Mrs. Kamal Bhagi, W/o LateK.D. Bhagi on 05.03.2021), both R/oC-4 D/14B Janakpuri, New Delhi-110058, their son Dheeraj Bhagi(Aadhaar Card No. 645072890871)who is “mentally unstable” as permedical certificates issued bydoctors of AIIMS, New Delhi, hasbeen living with Gur ParshadSharma, S/o Late Shankar DassSharma, R/o B-3/77B,Keshavpuram (Lawrence Rd.),Delhi-110035 since 05.03.2021under his ‘legal guardianship’. Incase of any objection from anyoneincluding close and distant relativesof Dheeraj Bhagi w.r.t. the said ‘legalguardianship’, the same can be filedwithin 30 days of publication of thisNotice.

Sd/-Rahul Mehta (Advocate)

Ch. No. 105 1st Flr.,Western Wing,

Tis Hazar Court, Delhi-110054

PUBLIC NOTICEMy Clients Mohd. Shafat Khan S/o Badhullahand Smt. Nisha W/o Mohd. Shafat Khan R/o159, Inder Lok, Shahzada Bagh, Phase-2,Onkar Nagar, S.O. North-West, Delhi-110035,has severed all relations with his son namelyShamshuddin and his wife Smt. Nikahatdisinherited/ diswoned/ debarred them from allhis moveable and immoveable propertieshenceforth. My clients have no concern withthem. Anybody dealing with them inconnection of any property/matters/ issues orany transation otherwise may do so at his/herown risk and peril and my clients and his familymembers shall in no way be responsible for thesame in any manner whatsoever.

Sd/-MOHAMMAD SUAIB

ADVOCATEChamber No. 386, Western Wing,

Tis Hazari Courts, Delhi -54.

This is to inform that generalpublic that my client Shri O.P.Arora (age 82), S/o Late ShriMehar Chand Arora, R/o L-49A,Saket, New Delhi-110017d o h e r e b y i r r e v o c a b l y,unconditionally and irreversiblydeclare and state that my clientShri O.P. Arora has completelyDisowned and Disinherited hisson Mr. Charanjit Arora(age 50) along with his wifeMrs. Meenu Arora and his twoson’s, Mr. Rushil Arora &Mr. Samarth Arora from hisproperty(s) either movable orimmovable.

PUBLIC NOTICE

Sameer Aggarwal (Advocate)Delhi High Court

8860851581

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PUBLIC NOTICEI, Sandeep Kaushik advocate on behalfof my client Smt. Savita W/o Lt. Ramchander R/o H. no-923, Chabbu Pana,pooth Khurd, Delhi- 110039, caused thisnotice to general public that my abovenamed clients have debarred anddisowned their son namely Sunil Dabasfrom her all movable and immovableproperties for his conduct and nowonwards my clients would have noconcern from their son and his wifenamely Bhavna Aswal. Anybodytransacting any business with them isdoing that in his/her own risk.

Sd/- SANDEEP KAUSHIK (Advocate)Ch. No. 332, 3rd Floor Lawyer’s

Chamber Block, District Court, Rohini,Delhi-110085

PUBLIC NOTICEIt is for general information thatI, LEELAARCHANA KACHHAPW/O SHRI DEEPAK KACHHAPR/O B-200, NANAKPURA,SOUTH MOTI BAGH, NEWDELHI-110021 declare thatname of mine has been wronglywritten as LEELA ARCHNAKACHHAP in my ServiceRecords. The actual name ofmine is LEELA ARCHANAKACHHAP, which may beamended accordingly.

CLASSIFIEDS&TENDERS16 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY,NOVEMBER2,2021

New Delhi

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Junior teammaynothavequalified for theU-23AsianCup,but investmentandattention ispayingoff

MIHIRVASAVDANOVEMBER 1

BETWEENMID-2015andmid-2017, Indianfootball’s Class of 2000 crisscrossed 18countries in four continents, accumulatedmore than 2,00,000 airmiles, played 100-plus matches and more than Rs 15 crorewasspentontheirexposure for theunder-17 World Cup. It was the first time suchcommitment had been shown for an age-group football team in the country.Lastweekwassomesortof reassurance

that the investment hasn’t gone towaste.The core of that team got together for

thequalifiersof theunder-23AsianCup inFujairah, UAE, which concluded over theweekend. India U-23 upset Oman (2-1),frustratedthehostsbeforeconcedinga lategoal and losing 1-0, and got away with agoalless draw against the Kyrgyz Republicto finish second in their group.This wasn’t enough for India to qualify

for the 16-team U-23 Asian Cup. But it’shardly surprising that India’s best-everqualifyingcampaign,eventhoughthey fellshort,wasorchestratedbythesamebunchof playerswhowerealso the first toplay inaWorld Cup.“This justproves that theprojectwhich

started years ago with Indian Arrows andtheFIFAU-17WorldCupwas theright stepin developing a newgeneration of playerswho will have more confidence on thepitch and not hesitate to face anyone,”coach Igor Stimac said.There is enough evidence that India’s

best-prepared age-group team is comingof age. Goalkeeper Dheeraj Moirangthemisturning intoabeast.DefensivemidfielderLalengmawia, or Apuia to his teammates,standsoutwithhisability towriggleoutoftight spaces and willingness to stay withthe ball. Suresh SinghWangjam is show-ing leadership qualities that belie his age.The blonde-haired Rahul KP is making agenuinecase tobe includedamong India’sbest wingers. And Vikram Pratap Singh,one batch junior, is already turning headswith his twists, turns and sprints.“Theydidn’t look intimidatedor fazed,”

saysFloydPinto, thecoachof I-LeagueclubRoundGlass Punjab. Pinto, who oversawthe development of these players duringhis time as India’s youth teamandArrowscoach from 2016-2020, says he is im-pressed with the team’s ‘very progressiveandpositive’ approach–building fromtheback, comfortable on the ball even underpressure andan ‘organisedandaggressivepress’.“With the senior team, and I know it’s

different, there isavast contrast in thewaywe approach say Nepal or Qatar.With theU-23side, itwasn't thecase,”hesays. “This

tournament could be a sign of things tocome for future U-23 tournaments andplayers who will eventually make theirsenior team debuts and take this confi-dence andpositivitywith them.”

Change for the betterWhen India was awarded the U-17

World Cup, in 2013, they were playingcatch-upwiththerestof theworld. InApril2015, when Germany’s Nicolai Adamwasappointed the youth team’s coach, he ex-plicitly said exposure trips were the onlywaytoget Indianplayers to the levelwheretheywill be in a position to compete.The communication between the AIFF

management and coaches got better afterformer India internationalAbhishekYadavgot involved on the administrative side,Pintosays. “Together, theyhavedevelopeda long-termplan for theage-groupteams.”Theresultwas that theU-17WorldCup

team, comprising players born in the year2000, ended up becoming themost-trav-elled bunch at an age when most would

otherwise be playing on dusty fields innondescript parts of the country.Playing against teams with varying

styles fromdifferentcontinents,Pintoadds,improved the players’ game sense and, inturn, theirability toadapt. “Igordidn’thavethatmuch time to prepare theU-23 team.But the education they’ve been given intheir formativeyearshashelpedthempickup that information andexecute it even ina short span,” he says.

Playing catch-upIt is an indicationof howcut-throat in-

ternational football is thatevenafterall theinvestment, India’syouthteamsareunableto break into Asia’s elite.There is a school of thought that the

country’s top-down approach – hosting abig-ticket event to have a trickle-downef-fectonthegrassroots–has failed; thenum-berofmatchesayouthplayergetsdomes-tically remains much lower than what isstandard practice globally. It is argued,however, that the toursabroadare tocom-

pensate for the lack of quality games athomefor thecreamof India’syouthplayersin the absence of a fool-proof structure.Mandar Tamhane, the chief executive

officer of Bengaluru FC, says continuity inyouth programmes will be essential forIndia to meet what should the country’sfirst target – to be among the top eight inthe continent.“Youthprogrammesareaboutcontinu-

ity,” says Tamhane. “We prepared for the2017 U-17 World Cup by playing a lot ofgames against varied and quality oppo-nentsknowing thatwearegoing toplay inone. So, why can’t we prepare the samewaywith the thought to qualify for one?”The batch that followed the one that

competed in the 2017 edition playedroughly 35 international games in thebuild-upto theirU-17WorldCupqualifier.Yet, thatwasn’t enough. In thequarterfinalof the AFC U-16 Championship in 2018,India lost to South Korea 1-0, underliningthe gap that is yet to be bridged.Thepandemic scuttled similar trips for

the groups that followed but plans are al-ready afoot for the upcoming batches,which will be put into motion early nextyear.

Tough road aheadStill, there is no guarantee that these

small steps at junior levels will translateintosomethingbigwith theseniorsidebe-causeof lackof gametimeat theclub level.Most of the current under-23 players

have secured contracts with Indian SuperLeaguesides. Some, likeDheerajorSuresh,are regular starters for their clubs,GoaandBengaluru respectively.But if thepreviousseasonsareanything

to go by, a majority of them will end upwarming thebench formore thanhalf theseason.Tamhane says the “clubs will play an

important role in the transition process ofthese players because apart from theleague, there’snocompetitionwhere theycan get regularmatches.”“Ultimately, it’sprettystraightforward:

if the player has the quality and intent,everymanagerwillwant him,” he says.“Forexample,wenever thoughtSuresh

would be a regular starter for the club justafter two years. But credit to the boy be-cause hehas playedunder three coaches –two at Bengaluru (former manager CarlesCuadrat and current manager MarcoPezzaiuoli) and Igor at the national team–whohaveanalysedhimandfeelheisanau-tomatic starter in each team. So if a playershows intent, that’s half the battlewon.”Intentwaswhatbrought India’s juniors

closer thanever toU-23AsianCupqualifi-cation. Their best, however, still wasn’tenough.

SPORT/CALENDAR 17WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY,NOVEMBER2,2021

CROSSWORD4576

ACROSS1Theanswer toachargeagainstprotection?(7)5Alice isout together (5)8Certainlyconfident (7,1,5)9Recordmembership (5)10Cutsonchestneedtreatment (7)11 I’mgivenanappointmentasaduty (6)12Nopegsrequired- it’sapieceof cake(6)15Defenceraisedwhenthingsget toohot (7)17Startwhere filmisshot(5)19Aneager travellermaybebuttobeavoidedbydrivers(3,3,3,4)20Crackup?(5)21They indicate thehourbutstopthehands(7)

DOWN1Useadivinegift to findwater(5)2 It’s tensebutwhat’saheadcouldn’tbebetter (6,7)3Foolish fellowssoon ledastray(7)4Holdout longer? (6)5Traineeactedbadly (5)6Thecomedian’s repertoire?It’sabsurd(8,5)7Thisperformermaygive itarest (7)11 Iamshortly to turnoutbetter (7)13 Initiatorof enterpriseneedsone insupport (7)14Possibly they’restaple itemsmade inpotteries (6)16Supportwithoutbacking(5)18Varieddiets forvariousseasons(5)

ARIES(Mar21-Apr20)Youmaysooncometotheconclusionthatsomeof yourplansarea trifle

unrealisticbut,quitehonestly,youmustaskyourselfwhetheritmatters.Theanswer isprobablynot. In fact,bystrivingforaimsbeyondyourcapacityyouwilldefineyour limitswithexcellentconsequences forthe future.

TAURUS(Apr21-May21)TheTaureanBullnowseemstohavereachedapointofnoreturnatworkand in

activities involvingpublicresponsibilitiesandduties.MayIofferawordof advice toallambitiousTaureans?Likeagoodgeneralyoumustonlyfightbattlesyouknowyoucanwin.

GEMINI (May22- June21)Youhavebeenthroughsomefascinatingpersonalperiodsrecently,yet

somewherealongthe lineyouwillbegin toappreciate thatyourrealblessings in lifearemuchmorevaluableand lastingthanfame, fortuneandadulation.Yourgreatesttreasure isyour friends, thepeoplewhohavestoodbyyouthroughthickandthin.

CANCER(June22- July23)Passionsrunhightoday.Manypeoplewillbe involvedindirect

confrontations,yet there isnoreasonwhyyoushouldnot turntoughplanetaryenergies toyouradvantage.You'ddowelltoavoid financial speculation,andtry togetotherpeople tobeclearabout their intentions.

LEO(July24-Aug23)Somepartnersandcloseassociatesstillappear tobeoutofsortsalthough, if I

mightventureanopinion, itdoesseemthat thesepeoplearesingularly failing tomakethemostof theirpotential.Rather than listeningto theirmoans,whydon'tyoutryandoffer themsomepracticalencouragement?

VIRGO(Aug24-Sept23)You'requiteaworrier, but trytakingadeepbreathandcounting to ten

wheneveryour security isthreatened.Your romantic starsare likely tobring intrigue,mysteryandpossiblyanelementof confusion, aswell asfondmemoriesof thepast.

LIBRA(Sept24-Oct23)Youhave somedelicate choices tomake. You aremorethanusually aware

whoyoumay trust andwhomust be kept in their place.Don't let people influenceyour judgment over public orprofessionalmatters unlessthey are fully familiarwith all the circumstances,otherwise youmaygetmisleading advice.

SCORPIO(Oct24-Nov22)Ashake-uporshowdownisaboutto takeplace,mainlybecauseMars is

settingupagreatdealof frictionwithPluto.However, itwillnodoubtbeagoodmovetocleartheair, allowingeveryonetogetcomplaintsoff their chests, andperhaps tosee that theyweremistaken.

SAGITTARIUS(Nov23-Dec22)Wipetheslatecleannowandputdomestic irritationstooneside.Youare

enteringaphasewhichmayincludea fewdowns,but isgenerally likely tobemuchmoreenjoyable thanusual.Youmust trynot tobesoreserved, for if youdon't letpeopleknowwhatyou'refeeling,howcantheyeverunderstandyou?

CAPRICORN(Dec23- Jan20)If youcouldever findthebalancebetweenyourpersonalinterestsandthose

of your friendsandassociates,you'dbeahappyperson.At leastyoushouldnowbeable toachieveabetterbalancewith lovers, spousesandanyonewithwhomyou'reintimately involved.

AQUARIUS(Jan21-Feb19)Acelestialadventureisbeginning, thoughyoumayrequiresomethingof akick-

start topushyouintoaction.Keepaneagleeyeopenforstormcloudsatwork.Forsomereasoncertainpeople inauthorityseemtobeinasingularlybadmood.

PISCES(Feb20-Mar20)Today'splanetaryalignmentbringsoutasideof yourcharacter that is

deep, intenseandbrooding.Youmaychannelyourenergies inapositivedirectionandbeawareof theimportanceof yourspiritualvalues.Give thehighestpriority to thetruth.

SUDOKU4643

DifficultyLevel5sInstructionsTosolveaSudokupuzzle,everydigitfrom1to9mustappear ineachofthenineverticalcolumns, ineachoftheninehorizontalrowsandineachofthenineboxes.

DifficultyLevel1s=Veryeasy;2s=Easy;3s=Medium;4s=Hard;5s=VeryHard;6s=Genius S

OLU

TIONSUDOKU4642

Givenbelowarefour jumbledwords.Solvethejumblestomakeproperwordsandmovethemtotherespectivesquaresbelow.Selecttheletters intheshadedsquaresandjumblethemtogettheanswerforthegivenquip.Without___nothingprospers.-Sophocles(6)

SOLUTION:FRANC,LORRY,CERIUM,BEATENAnswer:Withoutlabournothingprospers.-Sophocles

CFNAR CEIMRU

RRYLO AEENTB

SolutionsCrossword4575:Across:1Melon,8Outweigh,9Nutty,10Studious,11Astir,12Era,16Honest,17Laylow,18Awe,23Staff,24Inaflash,25Agony,26Molasses,27Aside.Down:2Emulsion,3Outsider,4Hunter,5Swede,6Nixon,7Phase,12Eta,13Ale,14Bystages,15Confined,19Washer,20Firms,21Hails,22Class.

JUMBLEDWORDS

OVERTHEHEDGE byMichael Fry&TLewis

CALVIN&HOBBES byBillWatterson

MARVIN byTomArmstrong

DAYTODAY BYPETERVIDAL

Atwalfinishestied-71statBermudaChampionshipFlorida:IndiangolferArjunAtwalfinishedTied71st at the Butterfield BermudaChampionshipafter returningacardof71 inthefinalround.AnirbanLahirihadmissedthecut along with Daniel Chopra. Indian-AmericanSahithTheegalashot80inthefinalround andwas 74th. Kiradech Aphibarnrat(70)wasT-34asthebestAsian.The25-year-oldAustralianHerbert,whoatone timewas200th in theworldandplayingon theAsianTour fewyears ago,wononhis20th start onthePGATourafter shootingshot2-under69inthefinalround.Hehadtwobirdieson12thand14thduringthetoughbackninewiththewind blowing at the Port Royal. Herbertclosedwith four pars to hold off Danny Lee(71)andPatrickReed,whofinishedwithfourbirdiesoverhis lastsixholesfora65. PTI

London: Tottenham Hotspur have sackedmanagerNuno Espirito Santo, the PremierLeagueclubannouncedonMonday,aftera3-0home loss toManchesterUnitedat theweekend left theLondonsideeighth in thetable.SpurshadtoppedthePremierLeaguestandings in August after winning theiropening three games but lost for the fifthtime in the league to now sit 10 points be-hind leaders Chelsea.Nuno’s coaching staff have also been re-lievedof theirduties. Theclubhavenotyetannounced a replacement.“I knowhowmuchNuno andhis coachingstaffwantedtosucceedandIregret thatwehavehadtotakethisdecision,”Spurs’man-agingdirectorof footballFabioParatici saidin a statement. “Nuno is a true gentlemanand will always be welcome here. Weshould like to thank him and his coachingstaff andwish themwell for the future.”Nuno was appointed as Jose Mourinho’spermanentreplacementonatwo-yeardealin thecloseseasonafter impressingduring

his four campaigns at WolverhamptonWanderers. He had a bright start, beatingchampions Manchester City on the open-ing day, but their season unravelled afterdefeats in four Londonderbies. REUTERS

BoxingWorld Championship:Nishant, Sanjeet inquartersBelgrade:IndianboxersNishantDev(71kg)andSanjeet(92kg)madethequarterfinalsfollow-ing impressive victories but three othersbowed out of the AIBA Men's WorldChampionshipsafterlosingtheirlast-16stagebouts. Nishant defeated Mexico's MarcoAlvarez Verde 3-2 in a late night bout onSunday to setupa clashwithRussia'sVadimMusaev.Sanjeet,aquarterfinalistfromthepre-viousedition,gotthebetterofGeorgia'sGiorgiTchigladze4-1toenterthelasteightstagefora second successive time.Hewill face Italy'sAzizAbbesMouhiidine.However, RohitMor(57kg) went down to Kazakhstan's SerikTemirzhanov1-4.AkashSangwan(67kg)toolost0-5 toCuba's formerworldyouthcham-pionKevin BrownBazain in a fight that leftboththeboxerswithbloodiedfaces. PTI

2020NationalSportsAwardswinnersreceivetrophiesNewDelhi:SportsMinisterAnuragThakuronMonday physically handed over trophies tothewinnersofNationalSportsAwards2020after theawardceremonywasheldvirtuallylast year due to the COVID-19pandemic. Allthewinners of theNational Sports Awards2020hadalreadyreceivedtheircashawardsbutwerenotabletocollecttheirtrophiesandcitationbecauseof thepandemic.OnAugust29 last, theSportsMinistryhadconferred74National Sports Awards, including five RajivGandhi Khel Ratna (now renamed asMajorDhyan Chand Khel Ratna) and 27 Arjunaawards.Thenotableawardeeswhoattendedatacityhotelherewerewomen'shockeycap-tainRaniRampal,starwrestlerVineshPhogatand 2016 Paralympics gold winnerThangaveluMariyappan. PTI

Harika drawswith Pogonina,Deshmukh postswinRiga (Latvia): Indian star Dronavalli Harikadrew her fifth round game against NatalijaPogonina to be placed joint second withthreeotherson3.5points intheFIDEGrandSwisschesstournamentforwomenhere. Inthe Open event, experienced GrandmasterK Sasikiran took down 10th-seed VladimirFedoseev of Russia in 53moves in a FrenchAlekhinevariationgametoimprovehistallyto 3.5 points. Harika took on the two-timeRussian champion Pogonina on the thirdboard in an Italian Game. The Indian no.2now has two wins and three draws. TheyoungDivya Deshmukhwas the onlywin-neramongthe Indianwomenasshescoredover local favourite Madara Golsta in 49moves in a Nimzo-Indian game to take hertally to twopoints. PTI

NunoEspiritoSantowassackedafterTottenhamHotspur lost toManchesterUnitedonSunday.Reuters

India colts up for the long haulTottenhamsackNunoEspiritoSanto after 17matches in charge

Theplayerswhowereapartof the2017U-17WorldCupcampaignformedthecoreof India’sU-23AsianCupqualifierssquad. (Below) GoalkeeperDheerajSinghwasoneof India’s starperformers.AIFF

This just proves that theprojectwhich started years agowithIndianArrowsand theFIFAU-17WorldCupwas the right step indeveloping anewgeneration ofplayerswhowill havemoreconfidenceon thepitch andnothesitate to face anyone.”

IGORSTIMACCOACH, INDIA

New Delhi

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VolLXXXIXNo.305Regd.No.DL-21046/03-05R.N.I.No.506/57. PrintedandPublishedbyR.C.MalhotraonbehalfofTheIndianExpress(P)LimitedandPrintedatTheIndianExpress(P)LimitedPress,A-8,Sector-7,Noida-201301andDBCorpLtd,DainikBhaskarVillageUnanTola,NearDanapurCantt,ShivylyaRoad,PostKhagaul,Shahpur,Patna(Bihar)andPublishedatTheIndianExpress(P)Limited,MezzanineFloor,ExpressBuilding,9&10,BahadurShahZafarMarg,NewDelhi110002.Editorialoffice:TheIndianExpress(P)Limited,MezzanineFloor,ExpressBuilding,9&10,BahadurShahZafarMarg,NewDelhi-110002.Phone:0120-6651500.Advertisingoffice:TheIndianExpress(P)Limited,B1/B,Sector-10,Noida-201301.Phone:01206651291.ChairmanoftheBoard:ViveckGoenka,ChiefEditor:RajKamalJha,Editor:UnniRajenShanker,Editor(Delhi):RakeshSinha****ResponsibleforselectionofNewsunderthe

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18THEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY,NOVEMBER2,2021

SPORT ICCT20WorldCup

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PLAYINGTODAYSouthAfricavsBangladeshat3:30pmPakistanvsNamibiaat7:30pm

Live on Star Sports Network

How the cookie crumbledLackofclarityandreluctancetotakeinitiativebehindIndia’swoefulperformanceagainstNZ

WHATISittobebraveonacricketfield,espe-ciallyintheT20version,whenoneisn’ttalkingabout facing bouncers on a hostile pitch?Adashofinitiativetoseizethegamebythescruffofitsneckandbendityourway.Notdesperatesloggingafterdawdlingaround,andcertainlynotmeanderingalonghopingtheoppositionwould muck up, both of which India didagainstNewZealand.SkipperViratKohlicertainlydidn’tseethat

quality inhis teamonSunday.Usuallyafteraloss, the Indian skipper speaks about intent,this timeheput the side’s courageunder thescanner.“Idon’t thinkwewerebraveenoughwith

batorball…Everytimewefeltlikewewanttotakeachance[whilebatting],welostawicket,”Kohli said after the defeat. “That happens inT20cricket, but that’smostprobablyormostoften the result of that little bit of hesitationwiththebat,whenyoufeellike‘shouldyougofortheshotornot’.”Should that lack of braveness beblamed

onageorateamthatnowsupposedlyneedsatotal overhaul?AsChennai SuperKingshavejustproved, andother countless examples inthepast, agehasnothingtodowith it. It’s theabilityafewhavetomakedecisions(readshot

selection)withsomeclarity.The Indiansdid-n’tshowit.India’sbattingapproachreekedofdesper-

ation, slogging to get out of a self-inducedchoke,leadingtopoorshotselection.Thisteamdoesn’t have power-hitters top down a laEngland.WhentheKiwisstoppedthemfromrotatingstrike,theylackedaPlanB.

Panic andconfusionHardikPandyahasmany talentsbuthe is

yet to showheart under pressure.Whenhehasovers at his disposal todrag the teamto-wardsrespectability.Neitherinthe2019WorldCup semifinal nor onSunday. Inbothgames,hispatternwasthesame:plodalongandthenperish.Heisstillathisbestinthelastfewovers.India’s stubbornnesswith his selection issomewhatpuzzling,when–forgetnotbowl-ing–hehasn’tevenbeeninthebestofbattingformintheIndianPremierLeague.Notafaultofagebutwhimsicalstubbornness,whichalsoshowed in theNo.4 fiasco at the2019WorldCup.Ofthepersonnelathand,onebatsmanhas

shownsuchfiretothrowacounterpunchatadominantopposition.SuryakumarYadavhasdisplayedinthepast thathehastheability totrusthimself,buthewasinjured.RevisitIndia’sopening gameagainst Pakistan andYadav’sflicked six off ShaheenShahAfridiwhen thelatter hadhis tail up.Orhis 75not out off 42balls against Royal Challengers Bangalore intheIPLlastyear,filledwithsparklingshotsanda long stare down at the RCB skipper, Kohlihimself.IshanKishan is tooyoung for any label to

bethrustuponhim,butsendinghimaheadofRohit Sharma in amatch like thiswasn’t ex-

actlywise. Butwhen you have a coterie ofheads in the teammanagement – fromMSDhoni to Ravi Shastri, fromKohli to Sharmahimself–ahalf-bakedtheorycanslipthroughthechaos.ItwasobviousthatIndiawerepunishedfor

their timidity, both in their batting approachandthoughtprocess.Andthecaptaincan’tab-solvehimself of theblame.He too tradedhisboldnessforacautiously-pragmaticapproach.Kohlibeganwithfiveconsecutivedotballs

beforehegotoffthemarkwithasingle.Hewasclearly struggling for rhythm. Sample this: alengthballfromAdamMilnenippedbackfromoutsideoff, Kohli tried toclip it throughmid-wicket but could onlymanage a thick insideedge.Hebecamecagey,especiallyafterRohit’sdismissal, looking to survive rather than takethe attack to the opposition. Kohli, in prime,wouldhavetriedtowresttheinitiative,targeta bowler. But he has been going through anelongatedformslumpacrossformatsandget-ting stuckagainstNewZealand’s spinwasn’tacaseinisolation.Overthelastone-and-a-halfyears, his strike rate against slowbowlers is102. Andwhen a tossed-up leg-break camewell outsideoff, Kohli chose todrag it acrossthe line insteadof tonking itovercover, asheusuallywouldhavedone.RishabhPant’sapparentfearoffailuredid-

n’t help his captain either. Considered theteam’sX-factor,PantseemstobecarryingtheexcessbaggageofatorridsummerinEngland,whereOllie Robinson and company suckedtheconfidenceoutofhisbatting,albeit inthelongest format.WithKohli struggling to getinto thegroove, itwas imperative for Pant toimpose himself onNewZealand’s bowling,something thatDhoni did in the2011World

Cup final against Sri Lanka. But he ploddedalongand itwasn’t surprising thathemissedtoconnectwithaswipeacrosstheline.Also,nobody,unlikeFafduPlessis’batting

in the IPL final abouta fortnightago,daredtotakeagame-changingapproach.

From Faf’s playbookMemoryisstillfreshoftheIPLfinalandthe

way du Plessis dismantled Kolkata KnightRiders’ spinners.When thegamewashang-ing in thebalance, theSouthAfricangrabbeditbythelapels.Afteragoodstart,CSKhadafal-low phase, when Sunil Narine and VarunChakravarthywerepullingthingsbackforKKR.Ruturaj Gaikwad, too, got out during thatphase.DuPlessis couldhaveembracedprag-matismbyseeingout thenext fewovers,butheattackedShakibAlHasaninstead,hittingasix to regain the initiative. That’swhenCSKwrestedcontrolof thegame.ShoaibMalikdidsomethingsimilaragainst

Afghanistanat theT20WorldCuponlya fewdays ago.WithRashidKhanmaking inroadsandharassingBabarAzam,Maliktooktheat-tack to the leg-spinnerwith a six at a timewhenhis teamwas going at less than sevenrunsperoverandsearchedforaspark.Clarity of thoughthasbeenmissing from

India’s camp.FromKohli talkingaboutopen-ingwithRohitattheICCevent–heexpressedhis desire todo soafter thehomeT20I seriesagainst England earlier this year – toKishaneventually partnering KL Rahul at the top,India’sWorldCupplanningrodeoninconsis-tency. Captain andcoach serving their noticeperiodduringaglobaleventdidn’thelpmat-ters either. In the end, they succumbed totimidity.

In the2019WorldCupsemifinalandonSundayagainstNewZealand,HardikPandya'spatternwasthesame:plodalongandthenperish.AP

Buttler, England’sMVP, fires again inwin vs Sri LankaSHAMIKCHAKRABARTYNOVEMBER 1

IN THE end, England’s winning mentalitycametothe fore.Withthegameonanevenkeel and a specialist bowler, Tymal Mills,back in the dressing-room after sufferingan injury, EoinMorganhad to turn toLiamLivingstone to bowl the 17th over.Sri Lanka needed 41 runs off 24 balls,

and Wanindu Hasaranga and DasunShanakawere in themiddle of an excitingpartnership.ButMorgan’s fieldplacementswere superb and substitute Sam Billingspulledoff a stunner in thedeepvia a JasonRoy assist to dismiss the dangerous-look-ingHasaranga. Sri Lanka fizzled quickly tolose by 26 runs. England made it four onthespin, this timeafterbeingstretchedandlosing the toss. They are the team to beatat this T20World Cup.Before Jos Buttler, England had three

other centurions in T20Is – Alex Hales,Dawid Malan and Liam Livingstone. Butthis innings was special, from a specialplayerwhoonMonday inSharjahbecamethe first England cricketer to score hun-dreds in all three formats. Buttler was re-splendent inhis judiciousness followedbycultured destruction of the Sri Lankanbowlers.Batting firstonasluggishSharjahpitch

wasn’t easy. Sri Lanka,Hasaranga (3/21) tobe precise, bowled beautifully upfront tocreatepressure.ButEnglandeventuallygotto 163/4, Buttler scoring 101 of thoseruns in 67 balls.BeyondIndiaandPakistan,andtosome

extent Afghanistan, cricket doesn’t woofans in this part of theworld. Sharjahwasnoisy but half-empty. Thosewho cared toturn up were privileged to witnessButtler’s batting.Very fewbatsman inwhite-ball cricket

hashisrange.Mahela Jayawardenesawitata pretty developing stage of Buttler’s ca-reerandpromotedhimtoopenthe inningsforMumbai Indians.Theplayer isnowalotmore cerebral,with theability tooutthinkthe bowlers for fun.

At the forefrontForsuchasmartcricketerwithsuchex-

hilarating shot-making range, why has hefailed to crack the Test code, consistency-wise, remains a mystery. But at the mo-ment, it’s about a World Cup and Buttlerhas been at the forefront of his team’s for-wardmarch.No teamhaswonthe50-overand the T20World titles in the same cycleyet. Englandwouldbedisappointednot toachieve the special feat.Scoop isoneofButtler’s signatureshots

and he plays it sowell because of his abil-ity topre-empt. Sample this:DushmanthaChameera bowled a full-toss on off, theEngland opener shimmied his left leg to-wards leg-side, completely opened hisstance and scooped it over the wicket-keeper’s head for a four. On air, MichaelAtherton drew a goalkeeping analogy, theway a goalkeeper studies a penalty-takerfrom the line.Against Australia in the last game, he

wasquick tohit topgear, first throughasixoff Ashton Agar followed by the completedismantling ofMitchell Starc. The Sharjahpitch demanded more circumspection,more so because England lost three early

wickets. Buttlerhad toanchor the innings.For an explosive batting line-up likeEngland, 61/3 after 12 overs was prettyslow going. Morgan’s decision to not pro-mote Moeen Ali ahead of him at No. 5looked to be hurting his side. But his teamwasplaying to aplan. Theyhada target onmind and acceleration started from the13th over onwards. By then, Hasaranga’sfirst spell was done and mystery spinnerMaheesh Theekshana had finishedhis quota.

Morgan’s contributionFrom13 to16overs, England scored49

runswithout losingawicket. That’swherethe game changed. As forMorgan, a placein thesemifinalsalreadysecured, theskip-per took the opportunity to spend time inthe middle and return to form. It was acrawl initially and serious discomfortagainst spin – just nine runs off 19 ballsfrom thebowlers of that variety. But grad-ually Morgan got better, scoring 40 off 36balls.More importantly, during the fallowphasehedidn’t throwhiswicket away, re-sorting to poor shot selection. The fourthwicket partnership stitched 112 runs.Coming back to Buttler, he copped flak

during the home Test series against Indiathis summer.SkippedaTest,whenhiswifewas expecting their second child. Optedoutof thesecondphaseof the IPLandcameto the T20World Cup after recharging hisbatteries. So far, he has scored 214 runsfrom four games at a strike-rate of 153.95.England have been ticking the other

boxes as well. Their spinners, Moeen andAdil Rashid, returned with figures of 2/15and2/19 respectively, braving theeveningdew.Ahandful of England fans,whocametotheground, returnedhomecarryingrealoptimism.

BRIEFSCORES: England163 for4 (Buttler101*,Morgan40,Hasaranga3-21) beat SriLanka 137 (Hasaranga 34, Moeen 2-15,Rashid 2-19) by 26 runs

SHAMIKCHAKRABARTYNOVEMBER1

EXPRESSATT20WORLDCUP

In focus:MissingAshwin, demotedRohitFrombody language, teamselection tobattingorder, cricket fraternitydissected India’s eight-wicketdefeat toNewZealand

Ashwin’s exclusionamatterofinvestigation:VengsarkarFormerchiefselectorDilipVengsarkar

sayshehasnotseentheIndianteamas"offcoloured"asitwasagainstNewZealandinalongtimeandcalledforaninvestigationintoRAshwin'srepeatedexclusionfromtheplayingeleven."Theteamlookedoffcolouredandplayerslookedjaded.Idon'tknowif itisthebiobubblefatigueorsomethingelse,Ihavenotseensuchbodylanguageintheplayersinalongtime,VengsarkartoldPTIadayafterIndia'seight-wicketlosstoNewZealand.Inthefirsttwogames,IndiapickedVarunChakravarthyandRavindraJadejaasthetwospinners,leavingoutAshwinwhohasmadethewhiteballteamafterfouryears."WhyisAshwinbeingdroppedforso

long?Itisamatterof investigation.Acrossformatsheisyourbestspinnerwithmorethan600internationalwickets.Heisyourseniormostspinnerandyoudon'tpickhim.Ifailtounderstand.Hedidn'tplayasinglegameintheEnglandTestseriesalso.Whydoyoupickhimthen?Itisamysterytome."

Kishan hit-or-miss, should’vewalked in at 4 or 5: GavaskarRohitSharmabeingpusheddownto

numberwasanindicationthat the Indianteammanagementdidnot trust thestar

openertoeffectivelycounter the inswingofTrentBoult, feels formercaptainSunilGavaskar."IshanKishanisahit-or-missplayer

andit isbetter if abatsmanlikehimwalks inNo.4orNo.5.Hecouldthenplayaccordingtothesituationof thegame.Nowwhathashappenedis thatRohitSharmahasbeentoldthatwedon't trustyoutofacethe left-armfastbowlingofTrentBoult,"Gavaskar told IndiaToday."If youdothat toaplayerwhohas

beenplayingatapositionforsomanyyears,hehimselfwill thinkthatmaybehedoesn'thavetheability. If IshanKishanhadmade70-oddrunswewouldhaveapplauded.Butwhentheploydoesn'twork,youaregoingtobecriticised,"headded.

Unfortunate thatChahalnotplaying: TahirVeteranSouthAfricaspinnerImran

TahirissurprisedbytheomissionofYuzvendraChahalfromtheongoingT20WorldCup,sayingtheleg-spinnerswiththeirvariationscanchangeagameinmatterofminutes."Heisawonderfulbowler.Ipersonally

wantedtoseehimplayingintheT20WorldCup.Butunfortunatelyhedidn'tgetpicked,"TahirsaidinavirtualmediainteractionarrangedbyAbuDhabiT10League."Alltheleg-spinnershavegotdifferentvariations.It'snotjustaboutgooglyandlegbreak.Top-spinner,flipper,slider(arethere).Legspinnersareplayingabigrole.Batsmennowcan'tplayliketheyusedtoplay10yearsago.Creditgoestoallthespinnersandthefieldplanning."

Players arenot robots, theyneed support: PietersenFormerEnglandbatterKevinPietersen

backedtheIndianteam,sayingtheplayersarenotrobotsandneedfans'supportallthetime."Insport,onewinsandoneloses.Noplayerstakesfieldtolose.Representingyourcountryisthebiggesthonour.Pleaseunderstandthatsportspersonsarenotrobotsandtheyneedsupportallthetime,"Pietersen,whorepresentedEnglandin104Testsand136ODIs,tweetedinHindi. PTI

HIGHONconfidenceaftertwoconsecutivevic-tories,SouthAfricawillnowlooktostrengthentheirsemi-finalhopeswhentheymeetastrug-glingBangladeshinaGroup1Super12matchof theT20WorldCuphereonTuesday.SouthAfrica tickedmost of their boxes in

the four-wicketvictoryagainstSriLanka.Thebowlingunit, that covers all bases includinggood spin options andworld class pacers, isputtingpressureontheopposition.TabraizShamsishowedwhyheisthetop-

rankedT20Ibowler,while the likesof AnrichNortje andDwaine Pretorius also delivered.The Proteaswere then able to stitch a solidpartnershipbetweenskipperTembaBavumaandAidenMarkram.Big-hittingDavidMillertoofoundhismojobackwitha13-ball23runs.Meanwhile, the down and out Bangla

Tigerswill notonlyhave to regroupsoonbutwillalsohavetoplaytheremainderofthetour-namentwithouttheirstarall-rounderShakibAl Hasan,who has been ruled out due to ahamstringinjury.

Pakistan faceNamibiaPakistanwillaimtomaintaintheirremark-

ableconsistencyagainstaspiritedNamibiaandseal a semifinal spot. After a chaotic buildupto theWorld Cup with England and NewZealandpullingoutofPakistantours,theBabarAzam-ledsidehasdefiedtheoddsandhasbe-come the teamtobeat. FollowingawinoverIndia, Pakistan showeda fewchinks in theirarmouragainstNewZealandandAfghanistanbut that couldnot stop themfromrecordingresoundingwins. PTI

GROUP 1M W L NRR Pts

England 4 4 0 +3.183 8S.Africa 3 2 1 +0.210 4Australia 3 2 1 -0.627 4SriLanka 4 1 3 -0.590 2WestIndies 3 1 2 -1.598 2Bangladesh 3 0 3 -1.069 0

GROUP2M W L NRR Pts

Pakistan 3 3 0 +0.638 6Afghanistan 3 2 1 +3.097 4NZ 2 1 1 +0.765 2Namibia 2 1 1 -1.287 2India 2 0 2 -1.609 0Scotland 2 0 2 -3.562 0

H O W I T S T A N D S

ENGLANDThesemifinalspotisallbutsealed.EvenifSouthAfricaorAustraliatiewiththemonpoints,England'ssuperiorrunrate(+3.183)shouldseethemthrough.

SOUTHAFRICADependentonotherresultsif theybeatBangladeshandthenlosetoEngland.

AUSTRALIATheyhaveachanceofadvancingif theybeatBangladeshandWestIndies.

SRILANKATheywillhavetobeatWestIndiesintheirlastgameandhopethatAustralia&SouthAfricalosetheirlasttwogames.

WESTINDIES&BANGLADESHWestIndieshavetobeatSriLankaandAustralia.IfBangladeshbeatAustraliaandSouthAfricaloseboththeirgames,WestIndiescangothrough.B’deshneedtowinbig andhopeotherresultsgotheirway.

PAKISTANPakistanfaceNamibia&Scotlandintheirremainingtwogames.Theywillbeonlybeintroubleiftheylosebothgamesandotherresultsdon'tgotheirway.

INDIAIndiahavetowintheirremainingthreegames,againstAfghanistan,NamibiaandScotlandandthenhopeNewZealandandAfghanistanloseatleastoneoftheirremaininggames.Buttheywillneedtoimprovetheirnetrunrate.

NEWZEALANDTheyhavetowintheirremainingthreegames,Afghanistan,Namibia&Scotland,tobeguaranteedofadvancing.

AFGHANISTANAfghanistanwillqualifyif theycanpullofwinsagainstNewZealandandIndia.Scotland&Namibiaeachplaythethreebigteams,Pakistan,NewZealandandIndiaintheirremaininggames.

Rejuvenated SAtake on B’desh

Withhisunbeaten101, JosButtlerbecamethefirstEnglishbatsmantoscorecenturies inall three formats.AP

New Delhi

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A celebration of prosperityDhanteras is seen as an auspicious occasion to buy jewellery, gold, silver,

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DHANTERAS OR Dhantrayodashimarks the onset of the Diwali fes-tival and it is observed on the 13th

day (Krishna paksha) of the Kartik monthof the Hindu calendar.The word dhan lit-erally means wealth in Hindi. The festi-val is a celebration of prosperity. It iswidely believed that it was on this daythat the much-revered Goddess Lakshmihad emerged from an ocean of milk. It isalso said that it was on the occasion ofDhantrayodashi that the Hindu deitieshad performed a mythological phenom-enon which came to be known assamundramanthan, a churn of powerplay between Gods and demons, posi-tive and negative forces. Goddess Lak-shmi is believed to have blessed thosewho stayed with the fight for justice anddharma. Devotees pray to Goddess Lak-shmi so that she visits their homes onDhanteras and fulfils their wishes. Peo-ple, therefore, light diyas and keep theirflame burning all through the night inhonour of Lakshmi and Dhanvantari.

Myth has it that the ritual was startedby one king Hima. It had been prophe-sied that his son would die on the fourthday of his marriage.Resolute to save herhusband’s life, Hima’s daughter-in-lawlit up diyas and decorated the housewith mounds of dazzling gold jewellery.Lord Yama (the Hindu God of Death)showed up at their doorstep disguisedas a serpent on the fateful night.Blindedby the glitter of the gold, he could notenter the house, eventually gave in andwent away.

It is said that Dhanwantari is the Godof medicine. It was hence announced bythe Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga andNaturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Home-opathy in the year 2016 that the Na-tional Ayurveda Day would also be ob-

served every year on the day ofDhanteras. In keeping with the times ofthe pandemic, the theme for this yearhas been aptly decided to be “Ayurvedafor Covid.”A webinar pertaining to thetopic is slated to be organised on thesame day.

Dhanteras is celebrated across thecountry with much fervour.As the festiveseason approaches, the houses are dec-orated with lights. The celebrations aremarked by an exchange of gifts amongfriends and relatives, worship of God-dess Lakshmi, shopping for new prod-ucts, lighting up incense sticks and diyasinside the house. It is particularly consid-ered to be an auspicious occasion forpurchasing jewellery, appliances, gad-gets, vehicles, clothes, kitchenware, sil-ver and gold,among others.

In Tamil Nadu, women preparemarundhu, which literally means medi-cine. In some communities, the recipe formarundhu is passed down from elderwomen to young girls in the clan. It is atime-honoured tradition. After manylong months of stasis, this season of fes-

tivities also comes as a respite for retail-ers and small-scale business owners,who had been feeling the pinch of thelockdown. Sales are finally kicking upand hypermarkets and restaurants arenow operating with full capacity.Even apandemic could not dampen the festivespirit.And we too can enjoy by adoptingCOVID-appropriate behaviour.

In some parts of India, the arrival ofDiwali marks the beginning of a newyear. In many parts, Diwali is celebratedfor five consecutive days. On Day One,people clean their homes and shop forgold or kitchenware to usher in good for-tune.On DayTwo,people give in to theircreative side,decorate their homes withclay lamps and create design patternscalled rangoli on the floor using flowers,coloured powder, rice paste or sand. OnDay Three, the main day of the festival,families gather together for Lakshmipuja, followed by mouth-watering feastsand fireworks. On Day Four, friends andrelatives visit with gifts and best wishesfor the season.On Day Five,brothers visittheir married sisters,who welcome them

with a lavish meal.Clearly, it is a season of indulgence,

especially when it comes to food. Someof the traditional recipes include gulabjamun, sooji halwa, rice kheer, moongdal ka halwa, gajar ka halwa, rasgulla,gujjias, desi ghee laddoos and samosasamong others.Not to mention that theseluscious delicacies are a quintessentialpart of our culinary culture and are hotfavourites when it comes to celebratingDiwali.

As the festive fervour picks up pace,the demand for shopping of festive es-sentials increases. The Indian businesscommunity and corporate majors knowthis and come out with a whole range ofoffers, deals and discounts on variouscategories,such as electronics,home ap-pliances, automobiles and many more.Even though COVID-19 has dented thebuying potential of people, some recov-ery means that demand is slowly pick-ing up and people are ready to spend ontheir long postponed must-buy list.

Of course, the buying behaviour indi-cates that people have responded toPrime Minister Narendra Modi’s clarioncall for Atmanirbhar Bharat as themantra now is to manufacture locally,buy locally and stay in tune with the ‘Vo-cal for Local’ initiative.People are clearlymoving away from buying Chinese prod-ucts to provide stimulus to our home-grown brands, and this certainly pre-sents a great opportunity for our localbusiness community to manufacture fes-tival-related products, such as fancylights, home decoration goods, kitchen-ware and appliances, idols of IndianGods, toys, wall hangings, lamps, homefurnishing items, footwear, garmentsand apparel, gifting sets, electrical gad-gets and so on.

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