protests continue in myanmar - OrissaPost

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cmyk cmyk 12 PAGES | ` 4.00 BHUBANESWAR | MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22 | 2021 Actor Alia Bhatt has recreated a popular scene from Highway as the movie completed seven years of its release UNIQUE CELEBRATION Novak Djokovic wins his record- extending ninth Australian Open crown at Melbourne TITLE FOR DJOKOVIC SPORTS | P12 LEISURE | P2 Protests gathered steam Sunday following the killing of 19-year-old girl who had gathered to protest against the junta INTERNATIONAL | P10 PROTESTS CONTINUE IN MYANMAR VOLUME 10, ISSUE 321 | www.orissapost.com IRREGULAR by MANJUL These are only for car owners. Only those who can afford petrol can buy my vegetables. SHORT TAKES Pondicherry: Two more MLAs of the Congress-DMK alliance in Pondicherry resigned Sunday, delivering yet another jolt to Chief Minister V Narayanasamy, a day before he is scheduled to face a floor test in the assembly to prove his majority. The resignation by Congress MLA K Lakshminarayanan and DMK legislator Venkatesan further reduced the strength of the ruling alliance to 11, while the Opposition has 14 MLAs in the 33-member Assembly, which has seven vacancies. P8 Two more ruling MLAs quit in Pondy Malkangiri: A BSF jawan was critically wounded Sunday after a landmine planted by Maoists exploded on the roadside near Kartanpalli under Mathili police limits in Malkangiri. The wounded jawan has been admitted to the district headquarters hospital and is currently undergoing treatment. According to reports, jawans of 160th Battalion stationed at Kartanpalli were returning to their camp after carrying out anti-Maoist operations in various parts of the district. BSF jawan injured in landmine blast Bhawanipatna: An elephant calf was found dead near a nullah at Ghusurigudi in Karlapat wildlife sanctuary taking the toll to seven within a gap of 20 days. The death was due to suspected haemorrhagic septicaemia, sources said. Earlier, six elephants-all pregnant, died of the bacteria infection. P5 Another jumbo found dead in Karlapat WEATHER BHUB 34.0° 33.4° CTK 15.5° MAX MIN TEMP Humidity 32% 39% Rainfall Nil Nil Forecast Dry weather likely 17.1° AGENCIES New Delhi, Feb 21: The February 11 agreement for disengagement on the north and south banks of Pangong Tso and the PLA Daily, for the first time, publicly claiming four Chinese casualties from the Galwan clash February 19 have once again made China-India border standoff a major talking point in China. Before the focus shifted to ‘na- tional mourning’ and the emotional outpour over the fallen soldiers, an interesting debate was seen on the Chinese Internet and social media circles on the efficacy of the disen- gagement agreement between China and India, particularly which side has compromised and by how much. While there was some satisfaction that a major crisis could be averted for the time being, there was much more disappointment in China over perceptions like “China has given away too much - a piece for peace”, that “the concession was inexpli- cable” and “the agreement unfair and unfavourable to China”. Many commentators in the Chinese Internet argued that the re- treat was far from “equidistant” - China retreated far more than India, demolished more structures than India and surrendered its key ad- vantages at the Northern Bank of Pangong Lake. That China can no longer sta- tion troops/patrol between the 4th and 8th finger as per the agree- ment, is seen by many as the real disadvantage for the Chinese side. “On the northern bank of the Pangong Lake, China was able to pa- trol till F2 in the 1990s. India built a stronghold at F3 as late as 2014 and according to its own admission, it can patrol till F4/F5 once every two months due to poor condition of infrastructure in the Indian side. India did occupy some heights in the F4 in September last year but was still not able to cross F4. In con- trast, the China had a “water base” in F8, a base in F5, and a decent road connecting F4-F8. It had ac- tual control of the region, was in a much stronger position and had much greater mobility as compared to India. But according to the new agreement China must dismantle all the fortifications, buildings, can- non, positions, tents etc., built be- tween F8-F4 and stop patrolling of the area as well. This is undoubtedly, India's victory on the Northern Bank”, argues an anonymous ac- count in a long thread on LAC dis- engagement at the online military forum, chaojidabenying.net. Others at the forum, however, tried to counter the gloom by argu- ing that this was not really a total con- cession from China, at most a ‘tie’ be- tween China and India. They argue that in the middle of last year, dur- ing the Sino-Indian military nego- tiations, China had already pro- posed that the two sides disengage from the F4 standoff site equidistantly. That is, China retreats from F4 to F8, and India retreats from F4 to F2-F3. But at that time, it was rejected by the Indian military on grounds that F4-F8 was previously an area where both sides patrolled, that it was newly occupied by China in April 2020, while F2-F3 was a territory occupied by India for a long time. “Equidistant”, according to the Indian side, meant that China re- treats to F8 and India does not move, so that ‘status quo ante’ or the state of the border before April 2020 can be restored. But in the ninth round of talk, India actually gave up its ear- lier demands and agreed to the same “equidistant” disengagement proposal, which is equivalent to ac- cepting China’s proposal last year. In a way, agreeing to China’s proposal also means India’s recog- nition of China’s actual control status of F4-F8, just like India’s actual control over F2-F3, which can also be interpreted as India’s dis- guised recognition of China’s sov- ereignty over F4-F8. PNN & AGENCIES Bhubaneswar, Feb 21: The Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) Sunday directed the district Collectors, Superintendents of Police and Municipal Commissioners to ensure strict implementation of Covid-19 safety guidelines in all public places includ- ing workplaces to avoid any chance of resurgence of the virus in the state. “It is observed that people at many places are showing complacency in observing the basic safety protocols such as mandatory wearing of mask or other face covering while in public place, frequent hand-washing or use of hand sanitizer, maintaining minimum one meter physical distance, avoiding congregation, etc,” the SRC said in its letter to the other state officials. It also added, “At this juncture, we need to be very careful and ensure strict en- forcement of the COVID-19 safety pro- tocols by all in public places including workplaces to avoid any chance of resur- gence of the disease in our state.” The department asked Collectors to take legal action against the defiant citizens and institutions if needed. “Strong penal action shall be taken against the persons violating the COVID- 19 Guidelines/ safety protocols. Shops and other commercial establishments found violating such norms may be sealed and action as per law be taken against such violators,” the instruc- tions from the SRC read. In view of this, the SRC directed the district and police authorities to check and ensure strict observance of COVID- 19 safety protocols such as mandatory wearing of mask, maintaining physi- cal distancing in all public places in- cluding workplaces and educational institutions. Concerned authorities of govern- ment and private offices/institutions including educational institutions shall be responsible for due compliance of the COVID-19 safety protocols in their re- spective establishments, the letter said. Large congregations must be avoided and wherever permission has been granted, compliance of the COVID-19 safety protocols and crowd size shall be strictly monitored. POST NEWS NETWORK Baliguda/Tumudibandha, Feb 21: A special team of Kandhamal Police arrested a person of Bissamkatak area in Rayagada district on charge of issuing death threats to Jaleshpatta Kanya Ashram chief Swami Jivanmuktananda Puri in Kandhamal district. The arrest comes within 24 hours of the twin death threats made by an anonymous caller to the ashram head in Kandhamal district. The Kandhamal Police formed a special team to probe the matter and during the course of investi- gation they nabbed one person, who is suspected to be the prime ac- cused, from Bariguda in Bisamcuttack area in Rayagada district. He was working at the Ashram in 2019. Reports said the arrested per- son Mahadev Maharaj is being brought to Tumudibandha police station where the Jaleshpatta Kanya Ashram chief had lodged a com- plaint after getting a death threat over on mobile phone Saturday. The accused will be taken for questioning to help the police elicit more information from him about the case, police said. The ashram chief got a threat call at around 5 pm Saturday and 9 am Sunday on his phone when the caller on the other side imperson- ating as Maoists threatened to blow up the ashram with bombs. Scared, Swami Jivanmuktananda lodged a complaint at the Tumudibandha police station demanding adequate security for his life. “A phone call was received and they threatened to blow up our Jaleshpatta Ashram within four days as well as kill me. The callers were speaking in Hindi,” Puri said. “How dare they resort to such a call issuing death threats? In 2008, five of our ashram mates were shot dead. We are into social welfare ac- tivities. I demand security,” he added. Police tightened security at the ashram after the complaint was filed. Kandhamal SP also visited Tumudibandha and reviewed the progress on the probe. Notably, Swami Laxmananda Saraswati, the then chief of the Jaleshpatta Ashram and four of his aides were killed August 23, 2008 evening. The incident sparked com- munal violence in the state wherein at least 38 people were killed. AGENCIES New Delhi/Kolkata, Feb 21: A CBI team Sunday went to the Kolkata residence of Abhishek Banerjee, TMC MP and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew, serv- ing a notice to his wife and sister- in-law to join the probe in the coal pilferage case, a development that has further raised the political tem- perature in poll-bound West Bengal. The team handed over the no- tice issued by Investigation Officer Umesh Kumar, Additional Superintendent of Police in the CBI, in connection with the case of theft of coal from the mines of Eastern Coalfields Ltd in West Bengal in which Anup Manjhi is the alleged mastermind, sources said. The notice issued Sunday asked Abhishek Banerjee’s wife Rujira Banerjee to remain present at her address on Harish Mukherjee Road on the same day “for the purpose of answering certain questions re- lating to the case”, they said. The CBI has also asked the TMC MP’s sister-in-law Menaka Gambhir to join the probe on Monday when she will be quizzed by the investi- gation team, the sources said. The Trinamool Congress and the BJP targeted each other over the CBI action. POST NEWS NETWORK Bhubaneswar, Feb 21: In their in- teraction with the media, different political parties Sunday said that the state Budget, to be tabled Monday, should be aligned such that it paves way for recovery from the damages caused by the pandemic. Leader of Opposition Pradipta Naik said that criticism of the government on the state of econ- omy would not be apt for the po- litical parties as the economy was in the doldrums across the globe. “It is not good for the Opposition to criticise the government as the pandemic has hit the different sectors of economy,” he said. However, he said that the gov- ernment needs to do better in funding the health sector. Naik said, “The government has ample money and it needs to take special care of health, drink- ing water and education. It will be a challenge for the govern- ment to provide jobs to the un- employed. Now things have started to be normal, the government needs to take care of the devel- opment of the state.” The Congress party, on the other hand, criticised the government for its poor economic records. Congress leader Taraprasad Bahinipati said, “The per capita income in the state has decreased and is a matter of concern. The government has also lost revenue from most of the sec- tors of the economy,” According to Bahinipati, only the liquor sector had seen some stablisation. The state govern- ment has only been beating its own trumpet about development, but is hollow from inside. The government has been creating new records in borrowing.” POST NEWS NETWORK Bhubaneswar, Feb 21: The Economic Survey of Odisha released Saturday hints to- wards a tax-deficit scenario where revenue from tax col- lections seems to have dwin- dled owing to the series of lockdowns and COVID-19 restrictions. Marred by the lower GST collections during the lock- downs and delay in release of GST compensation from the Centre, the state is strug- gling to get benefit from taxes levied on citizens for consumption of goods and services. The report claimed that the double whammy on the GST front may kill the tax net of the government and affect the overall collections. The report also opined that the remaining three months of the fiscal were unlikely to compensate the losses in GST and other taxes. “Only 49.06 per cent of the estimated receipts could be achieved indicating a shortfall of 50.94 per cent and the state has fallen 42.91 per cent short in GST col- lection as of December 2020 end. It may be very difficult to make up the shortfall within three months,” the re- port said. The report added, “The shortfall in GST revenue could have been neutralised by the GST compensation by the Central government. But here again, the re- quirement is 14 per cent growth in state GST rev- enue, which is next to im- possible this fiscal and the Union government may not have enough funds to com- pensate the states.” Jaleshpatta Ashram chief gets threat calls SRC alerts dists to tighten COVID rules Economic Survey talks about hiked tax deficit scenario Parties expect ‘growth-oriented’ Budget today CBI sends notice to quiz TMC MP Abhishek’s wife, in-law Chinese social media debates who is in control of Ladakh 7-day lockdown in Amravati MUMBAI: Seven-day total lockdown imposed in Maharashtra’s Amravati, Achalpur due to COVID spike A total lockdown of seven days has been imposed in Amravati City and Achalpur town in Maharashtra due to a large number of coronavirus patients. Mumbai: Aseven-day long total lockdown has been imposed in Amravati City as well as Achalpur town in Amravati district due to a large number of coronavirus patients. The announcement was made by Guardian Minister Yashomati Thakur in a press conference on Sunday afternoon. Centre warns states against spike in cases BEFORE THE FOCUS SHIFTED TO ‘NATIONAL MOURNING’, AN INTERESTING DEBATE WAS SEEN ON THE CHINESE SOCIAL MEDIA CIRCLES ON THE EFFICACY OF THE DISENGAGEMENT AGREEMENT BETWEEN CHINA AND INDIA BATTLE FOR BENGAL Double whammy on the GST front may kill the tax net of the govt & affect the overall collections NEW DELHI: Amid a spike in daily new cases of COVID-19 in some states including Maharashtra and Kerala, the Centre has advised them to in- crease the proportion of RT-PCR tests and regularly monitor mutant strains besides refocusing on strict surveil- lance and stringent containment in selected districts. In a letter to the states, the government has also stressed that all negative rapid anti- gen test results should be mandato- rily followed by RT-PCR test. India has been witnessing a rise in the COVID-19 active caseload over the past few days which is pegged at 1,45,634 as on date and now consists of 1.32 per cent of India's total in- fections. “More than 74 per cent of the active cases of the country are in Kerala and Maharashtra. Of late it is seen that there has been a spike in the daily cases in Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh also. Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir too are wit- nessing a surge in daily new cases,” the ministry said. In the last four weeks in Kerala, the average weekly cases have fluctuated between a high of 42,000 and a low of 34,800. INCREDIBLE Snow covers the town of Jezzine in southern Lebanon REUTERS PHOTO

Transcript of protests continue in myanmar - OrissaPost

Page 1: protests continue in myanmar - OrissaPost

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12 PAGES | `4.00BHUBANESWAR | MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22 | 2021

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Actor Alia Bhatt has recreated a popular scenefrom Highway as the movie completedseven years of its release

UNIQUE CELEBRATIONNovak Djokovic wins his record-extending ninth Australian Opencrown at Melbourne

TITLE FOR DJOKOVIC

SPORTS | P12LEISURE | P2

Protests gathered steam Sunday following the killing of19-year-old girl who had gathered to protestagainst the junta INTERNATIONAL | P10

PROTESTS CONTINUE IN MYANMAR

VOLUME 10, ISSUE 321 | www.orissapost.com

IRREGULAR by MANJUL

These are only for car owners.Only those who can afford petrol

can buy my vegetables.

SHORT TAKES

Pondicherry: Two more MLAs ofthe Congress-DMK alliance inPondicherry resigned Sunday,delivering yet another jolt toChief Minister V Narayanasamy,a day before he is scheduled toface a floor test in the assemblyto prove his majority. Theresignation by Congress MLA KLakshminarayanan and DMKlegislator Venkatesan furtherreduced the strength of theruling alliance to 11, while theOpposition has 14 MLAs in the33-member Assembly, whichhas seven vacancies. P8

Two more rulingMLAs quit in Pondy

Malkangiri: A BSF jawan wascritically wounded Sundayafter a landmine planted byMaoists exploded on theroadside near Kartanpalli underMathili police limits inMalkangiri. The woundedjawan has been admitted to thedistrict headquarters hospitaland is currently undergoingtreatment. According toreports, jawans of 160thBattalion stationed atKartanpalli were returning totheir camp after carrying outanti-Maoist operations invarious parts of the district.

BSF jawan injuredin landmine blast

Bhawanipatna: An elephantcalf was found dead near anullah at Ghusurigudi inKarlapat wildlife sanctuarytaking the toll to seven within agap of 20 days. The death wasdue to suspectedhaemorrhagic septicaemia,sources said. Earlier, sixelephants-all pregnant, died ofthe bacteria infection. P5

Another jumbo founddead in Karlapat

WEATHERBHUB

34.0° 33.4°CTK

15.5°MAX

MINTE

MP

Humidity 32% 39%Rainfall Nil Nil

Forecast

Dry weatherlikely

17.1°

AGENCIES

New Delhi, Feb 21: The February11 agreement for disengagement onthe north and south banks ofPangong Tso and the PLA Daily, forthe first time, publicly claiming fourChinese casualties from the Galwanclash February 19 have once againmade China-India border standoff amajor talking point in China.

Before the focus shifted to ‘na-tional mourning’ and the emotionaloutpour over the fallen soldiers, aninteresting debate was seen on theChinese Internet and social mediacircles on the efficacy of the disen-gagement agreement between Chinaand India, particularly which sidehas compromised and by how much.

While there was some satisfactionthat a major crisis could be averted

for the time being, there was muchmore disappointment in China overperceptions like “China has givenaway too much - a piece for peace”,that “the concession was inexpli-cable” and “the agreement unfairand unfavourable to China”.

Many commentators in theChinese Internet argued that the re-treat was far from “equidistant” -China retreated far more than India,demolished more structures thanIndia and surrendered its key ad-vantages at the Northern Bank ofPangong Lake.

That China can no longer sta-tion troops/patrol between the 4thand 8th finger as per the agree-ment, is seen by many as the realdisadvantage for the Chinese side.

“On the northern bank of thePangong Lake, China was able to pa-

trol till F2 in the 1990s. India builta stronghold at F3 as late as 2014 andaccording to its own admission, itcan patrol till F4/F5 once every twomonths due to poor condition ofinfrastructure in the Indian side.India did occupy some heights in theF4 in September last year but wasstill not able to cross F4. In con-trast, the China had a “water base”

in F8, a base in F5, and a decentroad connecting F4-F8. It had ac-tual control of the region, was in amuch stronger position and hadmuch greater mobility as comparedto India. But according to the newagreement China must dismantleall the fortifications, buildings, can-non, positions, tents etc., built be-tween F8-F4 and stop patrolling of

the area as well. This is undoubtedly,India's victory on the NorthernBank”, argues an anonymous ac-count in a long thread on LAC dis-engagement at the online militaryforum, chaojidabenying.net.

Others at the forum, however,tried to counter the gloom by argu-ing that this was not really a total con-cession from China, at most a ‘tie’ be-tween China and India. They arguethat in the middle of last year, dur-ing the Sino-Indian military nego-tiations, China had already pro-posed that the two sides disengagefrom the F4 standoff site equidistantly.

That is, China retreats from F4 toF8, and India retreats from F4 toF2-F3. But at that time, it was rejectedby the Indian military on groundsthat F4-F8 was previously an areawhere both sides patrolled, that it was

newly occupied by China in April2020, while F2-F3 was a territoryoccupied by India for a long time.

“Equidistant”, according to theIndian side, meant that China re-treats to F8 and India does not move,so that ‘status quo ante’ or the stateof the border before April 2020 canbe restored. But in the ninth roundof talk, India actually gave up its ear-lier demands and agreed to thesame “equidistant” disengagementproposal, which is equivalent to ac-cepting China’s proposal last year.

In a way, agreeing to China’sproposal also means India’s recog-nition of China’s actual controlstatus of F4-F8, just like India’sactual control over F2-F3, which canalso be interpreted as India’s dis-guised recognition of China’s sov-ereignty over F4-F8.

PNN & AGENCIES

Bhubaneswar, Feb 21: The SpecialRelief Commissioner (SRC) Sundaydirected the district Collectors,Superintendents of Police andMunicipal Commissioners to ensurestrict implementation of Covid-19 safetyguidelines in all public places includ-ing workplaces to avoid any chance ofresurgence of the virus in the state.

“It is observed that people at manyplaces are showing complacency inobserving the basic safety protocolssuch as mandatory wearing of mask orother face covering while in publicplace, frequent hand-washing or use ofhand sanitizer, maintaining minimumone meter physical distance, avoidingcongregation, etc,” the SRC said in itsletter to the other state officials.

It also added, “At this juncture, we needto be very careful and ensure strict en-forcement of the COVID-19 safety pro-tocols by all in public places includingworkplaces to avoid any chance of resur-gence of the disease in our state.”

The department asked Collectors totake legal action against the defiantcitizens and institutions if needed.“Strong penal action shall be takenagainst the persons violating the COVID-19 Guidelines/ safety protocols. Shopsand other commercial establishmentsfound violating such norms may besealed and action as per law be taken

against such violators,” the instruc-tions from the SRC read.

In view of this, the SRC directed thedistrict and police authorities to checkand ensure strict observance of COVID-19 safety protocols such as mandatorywearing of mask, maintaining physi-cal distancing in all public places in-cluding workplaces and educationalinstitutions.

Concerned authorities of govern-ment and private offices/institutionsincluding educational institutions shallbe responsible for due compliance of theCOVID-19 safety protocols in their re-spective establishments, the letter said.

Large congregations must be avoidedand wherever permission has beengranted, compliance of the COVID-19safety protocols and crowd size shall bestrictly monitored.

POST NEWS NETWORK

Baliguda/Tumudibandha, Feb 21:A special team of Kandhamal Policearrested a person of Bissamkatakarea in Rayagada district on chargeof issuing death threats toJaleshpatta Kanya Ashram chiefSwami Jivanmuktananda Puri inKandhamal district.

The arrest comes within 24 hoursof the twin death threats made byan anonymous caller to the ashramhead in Kandhamal district.

The Kandhamal Police formeda special team to probe the matterand during the course of investi-gation they nabbed one person,who is suspected to be the prime ac-cused, from Bariguda inBisamcuttack area in Rayagadadistrict. He was working at theAshram in 2019.

Reports said the arrested per-son Mahadev Maharaj is beingbrought to Tumudibandha policestation where the Jaleshpatta Kanya

Ashram chief had lodged a com-plaint after getting a death threatover on mobile phone Saturday.

The accused will be taken forquestioning to help the police elicitmore information from him aboutthe case, police said.

The ashram chief got a threat callat around 5 pm Saturday and 9 amSunday on his phone when thecaller on the other side imperson-ating as Maoists threatened to blowup the ashram with bombs. Scared,Swami Jivanmuktananda lodgeda complaint at the Tumudibandhapolice station demanding adequatesecurity for his life.

“A phone call was received andthey threatened to blow up ourJaleshpatta Ashram within fourdays as well as kill me. The callerswere speaking in Hindi,” Puri said.

“How dare they resort to such acall issuing death threats? In 2008,five of our ashram mates were shotdead. We are into social welfare ac-tivities. I demand security,” he added.

Police tightened security at theashram after the complaint wasfiled. Kandhamal SP also visitedTumudibandha and reviewed theprogress on the probe.

Notably, Swami LaxmanandaSaraswati, the then chief of theJaleshpatta Ashram and four of hisaides were killed August 23, 2008evening. The incident sparked com-munal violence in the state whereinat least 38 people were killed.

AGENCIES

New Delhi/Kolkata, Feb 21: A CBIteam Sunday went to the Kolkataresidence of Abhishek Banerjee,TMC MP and Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee’s nephew, serv-ing a notice to his wife and sister-in-law to join the probe in the coalpilferage case, a development thathas further raised the political tem-perature in poll-bound West Bengal.

The team handed over the no-tice issued by Investigation OfficerUmesh Kumar, AdditionalSuperintendent of Police in the

CBI, in connection with the case oftheft of coal from the mines ofEastern Coalfields Ltd in WestBengal in which Anup Manjhi is the

alleged mastermind, sources said.The notice issued Sunday asked

Abhishek Banerjee’s wife RujiraBanerjee to remain present at heraddress on Harish Mukherjee Roadon the same day “for the purposeof answering certain questions re-lating to the case”, they said.

The CBI has also asked the TMCMP’s sister-in-law Menaka Gambhirto join the probe on Monday whenshe will be quizzed by the investi-gation team, the sources said.

The Trinamool Congress andthe BJP targeted each other over theCBI action.

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Feb 21: In their in-teraction with the media, differentpolitical parties Sunday said that thestate Budget, to be tabled Monday,should be aligned such that it pavesway for recovery from the damagescaused by the pandemic.

Leader of Opposition PradiptaNaik said that criticism of thegovernment on the state of econ-omy would not be apt for the po-litical parties as the economy wasin the doldrums across the globe.

“It is not good for the Oppositionto criticise the government as thepandemic has hit the differentsectors of economy,” he said.However, he said that the gov-ernment needs to do better infunding the health sector.

Naik said, “The governmenthas ample money and it needs totake special care of health, drink-ing water and education. It willbe a challenge for the govern-ment to provide jobs to the un-employed. Now things have startedto be normal, the governmentneeds to take care of the devel-opment of the state.”

The Congress party, on the otherhand, criticised the government forits poor economic records. Congressleader Taraprasad Bahinipati said,“The per capita income in the statehas decreased and is a matter ofconcern. The government has alsolost revenue from most of the sec-tors of the economy,”

According to Bahinipati, onlythe liquor sector had seen somestablisation. The state govern-ment has only been beating itsown trumpet about development,but is hollow from inside. Thegovernment has been creatingnew records in borrowing.”

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Feb 21: TheEconomic Survey of Odishareleased Saturday hints to-wards a tax-deficit scenariowhere revenue from tax col-lections seems to have dwin-dled owing to the series oflockdowns and COVID-19restrictions.

Marred by the lower GSTcollections during the lock-downs and delay in releaseof GST compensation fromthe Centre, the state is strug-gling to get benefit fromtaxes levied on citizens for consumption of goodsand services.

The report claimed thatthe double whammy on theGST front may kill the taxnet of the government andaffect the overall collections.The report also opined thatthe remaining three months

of the fiscal were unlikelyto compensate the losses inGST and other taxes.

“Only 49.06 per cent ofthe estimated receipts couldbe achieved indicating ashortfall of 50.94 per centand the state has fallen 42.91per cent short in GST col-lection as of December 2020end. It may be very difficultto make up the shortfallwithin three months,” the re-port said.

The report added, “Theshortfall in GST revenuecould have been neutralisedby the GST compensation bythe Central government.But here again, the re-quirement is 14 per centgrowth in state GST rev-enue, which is next to im-possible this fiscal and theUnion government may nothave enough funds to com-pensate the states.”

Jaleshpatta Ashramchief gets threat calls

SRC alerts dists to tighten COVID rules

Economic Surveytalks about hikedtax deficit scenario

Parties expect‘growth-oriented’Budget today

CBI sends notice to quiz TMCMP Abhishek’s wife, in-law

Chinese social media debates who is in control of Ladakh

7-day lockdown in AmravatiMUMBAI: Seven-day total lockdownimposed in Maharashtra’s Amravati,Achalpur due to COVID spikeA total lockdown of seven days hasbeen imposed in Amravati City andAchalpur town in Maharashtra dueto a large number of coronaviruspatients. Mumbai: Aseven-day longtotal lockdown has been imposed inAmravati City as well as Achalpurtown in Amravati district due to alarge number of coronaviruspatients. The announcement wasmade by Guardian MinisterYashomati Thakur in a pressconference on Sunday afternoon.

Centre warns states against spike in cases

BEFORE THE FOCUS SHIFTED TO ‘NATIONAL MOURNING’, AN INTERESTING DEBATE WAS SEEN ON THE CHINESE SOCIAL MEDIA CIRCLES ON THE EFFICACY OF THE DISENGAGEMENT AGREEMENT BETWEEN CHINA AND INDIA

BATTLE FOR BENGAL

Double whammy on the GST front may kill thetax net of the govt & affect the overall collections

NEW DELHI: Amid a spike in dailynew cases of COVID-19 in some statesincluding Maharashtra and Kerala,the Centre has advised them to in-crease the proportion of RT-PCR testsand regularly monitor mutant strainsbesides refocusing on strict surveil-lance and stringent containment inselected districts. In a letter to thestates, the government has also

stressed that all negative rapid anti-gen test results should be mandato-rily followed by RT-PCR test.

India has been witnessing a rise inthe COVID-19 active caseload overthe past few days which is pegged at1,45,634 as on date and now consistsof 1.32 per cent of India's total in-fections. “More than 74 per cent of theactive cases of the country are in

Kerala and Maharashtra. Of late it isseen that there has been a spike in thedaily cases in Chhattisgarh andMadhya Pradesh also. Punjab andJammu and Kashmir too are wit-nessing a surge in daily new cases,”the ministry said. In the last fourweeks in Kerala, the average weeklycases have fluctuated between a highof 42,000 and a low of 34,800.

INCREDIBLE

Snow covers the town of Jezzine in southern Lebanon REUTERS PHOTO

Page 2: protests continue in myanmar - OrissaPost

Mumbai:Veteran actor KabirBedi is all set to launch his au-tobiography in April this year.

The 75-year-old actor tookto Instagram Sunday to in-form about the re-lease date ofhis bookand also ex-pressedthat he haswritten itwith rawemotionalhonesty.

Bedi’sbook is titledStories I musttell- The emo-

tional journey of an actor.“WE HAVE A DATE! My

#autobiography on April2021. Thrilled to be publishedby @westland_books. I’vepoured my heart into this

book and I’ve told it withraw emotional honesty.Stories of triumphs &tragedies, milestones& mistakes, remem-brances & regrets, love,longing and lingeringloss.#StoriesIMustTell,”

Kabir Bedi wrote in anInstagram post Sunday.

‘Have told my story withraw emotional honesty’

Mumbai: Actress Alia Bhatt took to social mediaSunday to celebrate her film Highway completingseven years of its release date. The movie had hittheatres February 21, 2014.

Alia recreated a popular scene from thesong Patakha Guddi of the Imtiaz Ali di-rectorial Highway featuring her.

She shared a video on Instagramwhere she could be seen waving herhand out of her speeding car’s win-dow and looking at her mobile phonewhile the song Patakha Guddi playsin the background. The actresssports a no make-up look in thevideo just like in the film whereshe wore minimal make-up.

“Celebrating seven yearsof ‘Highway’... on the high-way,” the actress cap-tioned her video.

She also shared a listof songs from the filmand asked herfans,”What isyourfavouriteHighwaysong?”

P2 BELLA FEELS UNCOMFORTABLE SHOOTING INTIMATE SCENES

leisure Actress Bella Thorne, who has previously directed herown adult film, claims she feels uncomfortable shootingintimate scenes. “When I'm on set doing these scenes,I'm very, very uncomfortable. But I do it if it’s importantfor the character,” Thorne said.

Supermodel Kate Moss, who was discovered at 14,recalls saying yes to all the work coming her wayinitially. “I didn't have a plan. I was always one ofthose young people who was just happy to beexposed to new things,” Moss told Reader's Digest.

MONDAY | FEBRUARY 22 | 2021 | BHUBANESWAR

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AQUARIUSTravelling is on the cardsfor you today. Ganeshaadvises you to travelalone, because if you takepeople with different tastes along withyou, their preferences may dampen yourmood and spoil the trips. But, once put insuch a situation, you will try to adjustyourself and find enjoyment in that, too.

PISCESFor those looking for apromotion at the work-place, now is the time toask for it. Freelancerscould find interesting projects falling intotheir laps. Businesses are likely to see asurge in profits. No conflicts in personallife are indicated.

SAGITTARIUSGet ready to rule heartstoday. Your thoughtfulinsights into other peo-ple's psyche might justhelp you write a book on it! In the battle-ground of love, you will win over yoursweetheart all over again, probably with anice, slow dance coupled with a fantasticcandlelit dinner.

LIBRAGanesha says that todayyou will get worried overpetty matters and betense. To get mentalpeace keep yourself occupied with reli-gious or spiritual activity. Along with thatif you go to some religious place you willgain mental peace, which will stay withyou for a long time.

SCORPIOYour account balance maysuffer suddenly as youdecide to loosen yourpurse strings. You are allset to splurge on your loved ones today,according to Ganesha. However, it isimportant to remember that the value ofmoney is precious, and once spent itnever returns; spend wisely.

LEOYou want to make yourpersonal relationshipsconflict free and hencewill attempt to resolvethe conflicts which are within you. Youwill need to adopt a compromising atti-tude in life. It is best to stay away fromrisky financial investments today.

VIRGOTake time off all byyourself and intro-spect today, saysGanesha. Office cubi-cle looks set to be a war front and pay dueattention there, lest things turn to be moredifficult, advises Ganesha. New love mayjust blossom today, and you may evenenjoy a nice quiet evening with friends.

GEMINIYou will feel physical andmental excitement andemotions today. You maytake part in some competition and willseek to improve your self-esteem by per-forming physically in it. Your intellectualcapacity will be on display in the work thatyou do, says Ganesha.

CANCERSentimentalism will behinder your path of suc-cess. So, says Ganesha,give up too much senti-mentalism. It can be quite a hazard inthe future. You will win over people withthe force of speech and polite approach.

ARIESToday will be a difficultday full of action. Youmay not agree with yourfriends about trifling matters, but youwill love it. You will complete all workthat has been pending, which will giveyou relief. Ganesha says it is an opti-mistic day.

FORTUNE FORECAST

TAURUSMoney matters are likelyto take up most of yourtime, this day. Ganeshasees that you will have quite a time han-dling the difficulties and complexities theypose. You may not find an easy way out ofyour financial problems and will find ithard to take firm decisions.

CAPRICORNYour lover is in for manypleasant surprises today.You'll be in a completelyromantic mood, makingevery wish of your sweetheart yourcommand. Both of you will go shop-ping, and have fun.

BREVITY

CALVIN AND HOBBES

PEANUTS CROSSWORDSUDOKU

SOLUTIONS

CRO

SSW

ORD

SUD

OKU

CHECK FOR SOLUTIONS OF THE PUZZLES TOMORROW

post To solve the Sudoku puzzle, each row, column and box must contain the numbers 0 to 9 and the letters A to E.

KATE MOSS DIDN’T HAVE A PLAN FOR CAREER INITIALLY

Alia recreates Highway scene after seven years

5-day multilingual theatre fest kicks off in cityPOST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar: The 23rd KalingaNatya Mahotsav, a five-day mul-tilingual drama festival beganat Rabindra Mandap here Sunday.

O r g a n i s e d by S at ab d i r aKalakar, one of the prominenttheatre troupes of Odisha, thefestival was inaugurated byAgriculture and Higher EducationMinister Arun Kumar Sahoo.

Nirman Kala Manch of Patnastaged Hindi play Gagan GhatGhahrani on the first day of the

festival. The play, written bySuman Kumar, came alive onstage under the direction ofSanjay Upadhyay.

The plot revolves around thedrama's main protagonist Kabir,a weaver, who raises his voiceagainst the misuse of powerand exploitation in the name ofreligion. Director Upadhyay,through this play, has madean attempt to promote broth-erhood and send a messageagainst greed.

Mukesh Kumar, Abhisek

Anand, Md. Zaffar Alam,Kumar Uday Singh, KrishnaKumar, Neha Niharika andSadhna Srivastava wereamong those who performedon the stage.

Satabdira Kalakara gen-eral secretary Dhira Mallicksaid, “Theatre ar tistesyearned to get back on stageand perform. So, the festi-val has created the perfectambience to do so. It is notjust about the artistes, the

smile has returned on the face

of the audience also. This hasmade us believe that the showwill go on despite the loomingthreat of Covid-19 across theglobe.”

Earlier, actress DharitriKhandual was conferred withSumitra Samman while actorRajkishore Nayak receivedSatabidira Kalakar Lifetimeachievement award. Similarly,actor Shankar Basumallik, play-wright Fakir Singh and jour-nalist Arunika Mohapatra werefelicitated on the occasion.

2 3 R D K A L I N G A N A T Y A M A H O T S A V

Dev DD 2 talksabout female foeticide, LGBTQMumbai: The just-released second season ofthe popular web series Dev DD touches uponsubjects like female foeticide and LGBTQ.

Lead actress Asheema Vardaan, whoreprises her role as Devika in the show’ssecond season, spilled the beans on the sub-ject. She said: “This time the show is majorlytaking about female foeticide and LGBTQ. Theshow talks about Queer Marriage which isan important topic to shine light on as queerpeople don’t enjoy marriage rights that as theirstraight counterparts do. It’s saddening to seethat our law don't see straight couple and Queercouple the same which leads to social stigmaand ostracisation.”

It is adapted from Sarat ChandraChattopadhyay’s epic novel Devdas with a fe-male perspective as Devika. The series givesan unconventional twist to the Devdas sto-ryline with gender reversals.

The second season is more intriguing withits storyline, feels the actress.

A scene from Hindi play Gagan Ghat Ghahrani OP PHOTO

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MONDAY | FEBRUARY 22 | 2021 | BHUBANESWARNOBLE DEED

Volunteers undertake acleanliness drive atAkhandala Mani temple inPuri, Sunday

INFECTED RECOVERED DEAD

World 11,17,29,153 8,68,99,828 24,73,747

India 1,09,63,272 1,06,65,813 1,56,147

Odisha 3,36,636 3,34,107 1,914

COVID-19 TRACKER

That Covid-19 has changedthe way we live is not newsanymore. The lethal virus

has led to tectonic shifts in almostevery aspect of our lives and we’restill grappling with the repercus-sions of these radical changes.What we’re also debating is whatthe new normal is in the educa-tional sector. Soon after it be-came clear that this wasno passing virus, ed-ucational institu-tions started onlineteaching – and stu-dents and teach-ers adapted ratherquickly to thechanging methodsof teaching, learn-ing, and grading. Thissuccess, however, hasled to widespread speculationthat the pandemic has sparked atransformative change.

The truth is that the future is notso black and white anymore –there’s a lot of grey in between.What we seem to be moving to-wards is a hybrid model of learn-ing – a mix of online and offline.While in-campus teaching willdefinitely return, there will alsobe a wealth of options available on-line, for those who prefer it. But,will one take precedence over theother? Not really – because bothhave their unique characteristicsthat make them worthwhile. Peoplewill learn to use the two together.However, the truth is that onlinelearning can never really replacean in-campus experience. Theteacher plays a crucial role in theprocess. You can’t transition anemotional or intellectual bond on-

line. Direct motiva-tion and feedback

are not to be re-placed any timesoon.

Learning sub-ject content is a

major purpose foronline teaching.

However, the studentsin the class experienced

feelings of success in learn-ing through online teaching and thishas to do with their confidence inutilizing technology. While mini-mizing the limitations of not beingable to meet in classrooms, we triedto maximize the benefits of onlineteaching and learning. Teacherspresented visual materials on thescreen more attractively throughdrawing on the whiteboard or show-ing picture stories on a PowerPoint.Online teaching and learning wassupported by appropriate in-structional strategies and collab-orations. The joy of learning hasbeen kept intact by conducting as-semblies, sports day, CCA activitiesand exhibitions online.

The state government has al-lowed opening of educational in-stitutions. The management ofMother’s Public School. Unit 1 de-cided to resume classes for Std X

& XII students from January 2021following the safety guidelines is-sued by the state government andafter attending a meeting con-ducted by BMC on January 6, 2021.The school premises, classrooms,and washrooms are sanitized at reg-ular intervals. An isolation roomhas been set up in case of anyemergency.

Covid-19 will shape the educa-tion landscape and the next decadesto come. As with the health impactof the pandemic, the educationalimpact will be mediated by how hu-mans respond, by the actions oromissions of students, parents,teachers and school and systemlevel leaders in anticipation andduring the pandemic.

As we rebuild and reinvent our-selves in response to Covid-19, thereis an opportunity to accelerate thethinking on how best to supportquality education for all. In themonths and years ahead, coalitionsof evidence-to-policy organizations,implementation partners, re-searchers, donors, and govern-ments should build on their expe-riences to develop education-for-all.

Poly Patnaik is the founder-cum-principal of

Mother’s Public School

We are headed for a mix of onlineand offline learning: Poly Patnaik

‘COVID-19 WILLSHAPE THE EDUCATION

LANDSCAPE OVERNEXT FEWDECADES’

POLITICKLE by MANJUL

AGENCIES

Kendrapara, Feb 21: The NationalHuman Rights Commission (NHRC)has asked the state Chief Secretaryto complete the rehabilitation andresettlement of five revenue vil-lages displaced due to tiger andwildlife conservation projects inAngul district’s Satkosia withinthree months.

The apex rights panel has passedthe order recently while adjudicatinga petition filed by human rights ac-tivist Radhakanta Tripathy January30, 2014. The commission, in its ear-lier orders, had sought a report fromthe Odisha Forest and EnvironmentSpecial Secretary, the PrincipalSecretary, and Director, NationalTiger Conservation Authority(NTCA), New Delhi on the issue.

The commission directed thestate to submit an additional/req-uisite report in the matter. The re-sponse is awaited and the matter ispending for want of some addi-tional information.

Being a seven-year-old case, thematter has been placed before the

commission for reconsideration ofits earlier proceedings.

The present case relates to the re-habilitation of forest dwellers,whose villages came under the tigerconservation project and the vil-lagers were forced to evict, but thestate government has not takenany resettlement and rehabilita-tion measures.

The report further stated that

as regards the relocation of villageMarada in Mahanadi (WL) Divisionis concerned, due to Left-WingExtremist problems, the progresshas been delayed.

Earlier, the commission asked theDirector, NTCA, to expedite the re-location and submit a report, butthe authority failed to respond. TheDFO, Mahanadi (WL) Division hasalso been asked to accelerate theprocess by a discussion with con-cerned persons so as to ensureachievement within the shortesttime. Considering the report, theNHRC sought a rejoinder from thestate over the report within six weeks.

“The admission of the state au-thorities regarding the delay in en-suring the basic amenities of life toone villager for the Left-wingExtremists is an abominable phe-nomenon in a democracy,” the statesaid. Earlier, NHRC was informedthat due to lack of funds from theNTCA and the existence of Left-Wing Extremism, the inhabitantsof affected villages Satkosia WildlifeDivision are facing problems due toman-animal conflict.

Rehabilitate oustees within 3 months: NHRC

Earlier, the Commission askedthe Director, NTCA, to

expedite the relocation andsubmit a report, but the authorityfailed to respond

The DFO, Mahanadi (WL)Division has also been asked to

accelerate the process after adiscussion with concerned personsso as to ensure achievementwithin the shortest time

SATKOSIA TIGER PROJECT

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Feb 21: The liti-gants as well as the advocates in thestate will soon make payment ofcourt fees through the online mode.The High Court’s Registrar General,Malaya Ranjan Dash, has recentlyinformed the state governmentabout the selection of ‘StockHolding Corporation of IndiaLimited’ as the service provider forthe rollout of e-payment servicesat various courts of the state in-cluding the High Court.

February 12, the Registrar in a let-ter to the state Chief Secretary alsorequested the state government tomake provisions for the establish-ment of a support service centre inthe premises of the Orissa HighCourt for the smooth functioningof the e-payment system.

“Necessary steps may kindly betaken to enable commencement of

online payment of court fees in theHigh Court of Orissa and Districtand Subordinate Courts by utilis-ing the services of Stock HoldingCorporation of India Limited incoordination with the honourablecourt,” wrote the Registrar General.

Subsequently, February 18, thestate Law department directed theRevenue, Finance departments andthe Directorate of Treasuries andInspection to take all the necessary

steps for the commencement of on-line payment of court fees acrossthe state.

Earlier, the state Assembly haspassed Cour t Fees (OdishaAmendment) Bill, 2020 to facilitateonline mode of payment of courtfees in October, 2020. Since the CourtFees Act, 1870 provides for paymentof court fees through physicalstamps only, amendment was re-quired to provide for payment and

refund of court fee through elec-tronic mode (e-payment). In view ofCOVID-19 pandemic, the OrissaHigh Court and other subordinatecourts adopted the virtual mode offunctioning. The HC has also per-mitted electronic filing of caseswhich necessitates electronicmethod for payment of court fees.

PNN & AGENCIES

Bhubaneswar, Feb 21: Odisha’sCovid-19 tally Sunday mounted to3,36,636 after 58 more people testedpositive for the virus, while threedistricts became coronavirus-free,a senior Health and Family Welfare(H&FW) department official said.

Of the new cases detected from18 districts, 34 were reported fromquarantine centres, while the re-maining 24 were local contact cases,the official said.

The 18 districts had new cases insingle digits. Gajapati, Kandhamaland Nabarangpur districts in thesouthern region of the coastal statebecame Covid-19 free, with no ac-tive cases left in the three districts,said the official. The state’s coro-

navirus death toll remained un-changed at 1,914 since Friday.

As many as 53 other Covid-19patients have also died due to co-morbidities. Odisha currently has616 active cases, while 3,34,053 pa-tients have recovered so far.

The state has so far conductedover 81.67 lakh sample tests forCovid-19. Odisha’s positivity ratestands at 4.12 per cent, the H&FWdepartment said.

AGENCIES

Bhubaneswar, Feb 21: After wit-nessing fluctuations in weatherconditions in the past one week,the minimum temperature (nighttemperature) across the state islikely to witness a further drop,predicted India MeteorologicalDepartment (IMD), Sunday.

Though weather is most likely toremain dry, the minimum tem-perature across the state is likelyto fall by two degree Celsius for

the next 48 hours, it said.“Minimum temperature (Night

temperature) is very likely to fallby about 2 C at many places over thedistricts of Odisha during the nexttwo days and no large change there-after,” read an IMD release.

As per IMD, the highest maxi-mum temperature of 33 degreeCelsius was recorded at Sundargarhand the lowest minimum temper-ature of 11 degree Celsius wasrecorded at Phulbani in the past24 hours.

Similarly, there has been an ap-preciable fall in the minimum tem-perature at a few places over the dis-tricts of Coastal Odisha and at oneor two places over the districts ofinterior Odisha.

“The trough in low levels east-erlies over west-central Bay ofBengal now lies over southwest &adjoining west-central Bay of Bengaland runs from south Sri Lankacoast to north Andhra Pradeshcoast across north Tamil Naducoast at 1.5 km above mean sealevel,” said IMD.

Soon, court fees can be paid onlineNecessary steps maykindly be taken toenable

commencement of onlinepayment of court fees in theHigh Court of Orissa andDistrict and SubordinateCourts by utilising theservices of Stock HoldingCorporation of India Limitedin coordination with thehonourable courtHIGH COURT

With 58 fresh cases, state’sCovid tally rises to 3,36,636

ODISHA’S CORONAVIRUS DEATH TOLLREMAINED UNCHANGED AT 1,914 SINCE FRIDAY

MIN TEMP TO DIP BY TWODEGREE C ACROSS STATE

THE HIGHEST MAXIMUMTEMPERATURE OF 33 DEGREECELSIUS WAS RECORDED AT

SUNDARGARH

THE LOWEST MINIMUMTEMPERATURE OF 11 DEGREECELSIUS WAS RECORDED AT

PHULBANI

POST NEWS NETWORK

Astaranga, Feb 21: The OdishaParyavaran Sanrakshan Abhiyanorganised its 5th State LevelCyclothon from Devi river moutharea, one of the prominent seaturtles’ nesting zones likeGahirmatha and Rushikulya,Sunday. The theme of the pro-gramme was ‘Preserve Coasts,Conserve Turtles’. With the supportof Dakshin Foundation and CleanBeach India, Odisha ParyavaranSanrakshan Abhiyan organisedthe event where more than 100students, youths, local fishermenand leaders took part .

Minister of Sports and YouthAffairs Tusharkanti Behera flaggedoff the event as Chief Guest. CleanBeach India founder SatyabratsanuRatho, Gilherio Founder SuryaMishra, Wildies Founder mem-ber Subhendu Bhattacharya,Astaranga block chair manSwadhin Kumar Nayak, social ac-tivist Ramakrushna Mohanty werethe other guests at the event.

Olly Mascot led the cycling eventfrom Jahania beach and spreadawareness on ways to protect theendangered species Olive Ridleysea turtles and their habitat.

STATE-LEVELCYCLOTHONORGANISED

Minister of Sports andYouth Affairs Tusharkanti

Behera flagged off theevent as Chief Guest

Fire brigade personnel douse flames that engulfed a portion of Balukhand sanctuary near Konark in Puri, Sunday

FOREST FIRE

OP PHOTO

AGENCIES

Dhenkanal, Feb 21: A major firebroke out at the grid substation ofOdisha Power TransmissionCorporation Ltd in Dhenkanaldistrict Sunday, officials said.

There was no report of any ca-sualty in the incident in which a315-MVA transformer caught fire.

At least 10 fire tenders werepressed into service to douse theflames.

“About 6,000 litres of foam and1 lakh litres of water were used todouse the blaze,” they said.

The cause of the fire is yet to beascertained.

Fire breaks out atOPTCL substation

Olly Mascot led thecycling event fromJahania beach

Page 4: protests continue in myanmar - OrissaPost

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Feb 21:The SpecialTask Force (STF) of the state CrimeBranch has arrested two personsfrom Ankula area under Athagarhpolice limits in Cuttack after re-

covering around 164 gram of brownsugar from their possession, an of-ficial said Sunday.

The accused were identified asBikash Swain and Prasant Kumar

Sahoo of Athagarh.The officials were tipped off about

the peddling following which a STFteam carried out a raid at a roadsideeatery along the Ankula-Athagarh

Road Saturday and managed to re-cover the contraband and make thearrest. A case (34/21) has been reg-istered at the Athagarh police sta-tion in this regard. “The duo wasbeing interrogated to find out theinvolvement of others in the racketand the origin of the seized brownsugar,” added the official.

According to sources, the STFteams have conducted six raids atvarious places during the last month.As many as six drug peddlers werearrested, while 2.976 gram of brownsugar has been recovered from theirpossession.

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POST NEWS NETWORK

Nimapara, Feb 21:Hundreds of il-legal brick kilns have come up atseveral villages of Nimapara blockhere posing threat to the environ-ment, locals said.

This apart, quitea few brick kilnsare operating ille-gally at variousplaces underNimapara NotifiedArea Council(NAC), sourcessaid.

Though the stategovernment hasput restrictions onbrick kilns in res-idential areas, atleast 600 brick kilnshave come up at 32gram panchayatsof Nimapara blockand several locali-ties of NimaparaNAC, said a few lo-cals.

According to the locals, one canfind hundreds of illegal brick kilnsat Denua, Miteipur, Viligram,Salang, Bamnal, Haripur, Tamalo,Tulasipur, Baharena, Podar,Kalapanchana, Chhanijang andother g ram panchayats ofNimapara block. Besides, thereare also plenty of brick kilns op-erating illegally at Patapur,Hatasahi, Nuarakiri, Dipisena,Alaka, Kiakanta, Bhubanpur,Talaandia and Andiasahi area ofNimapara NAC, they said.

“The officials of the Revenuedepartment have turned a blindeye to the illegal brick kilns. As aresult, the state government is los-ing huge amount of revenue. Thisapart, the illegal kilns are caus-

ing air pollution,”said a social ac-tivist. Many vil-lagers, meanwhile,alleged that someunscrupulous of-f icials of theRevenue depart-ment are receivinghuge sums asbribes from theowners of illegalbrick kilns.

“These officialsare indirectly en-couraging peopleto set up brickkilns ille gally.Nimapara areawill witness severeair pollution if im-mediate steps are

not taken on the illegal brick kilnissue. We would be forced to hitthe street if the authorities con-cerned do not act on the issue,”said a villager.

The villagers have urged PuriCollector, Revenue Minister,Revenue department secretaryand 5T Secretary to look intot h e i s s u e a t t h e e a rl i e s t .Nimapara Tehsi ldar RamaChandra Jena said they wouldsoon undertake raids on illegalbrick ki lns and take ster n action against their owners.

The problem with 600 illegal brick kilns in NimaparaThe area will witness severe air pollution if immediate

steps are not taken on the illegal brick kiln issue

The officials of theRevenue

department haveturned a blind eye to theillegal brick kilns. As a

result, the stategovernment is losing

huge amount of revenue.This apart, the illegalkilns are causing air

pollutionSOCIAL ACTIVIST

We would soon undertakeraids on illegal brick kilns

and take stern actionagainst their owners

RAMA CHANDRA JENA | TEHSILDAR, NIMAPARA

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Feb 21: A person hassought the help of state crime branchfollowing repeated threats from anunknown person who has been re-portedly trying to extort moneyfrom the victim. The cyber fraud-ster threatened the victim throughsocial media and over phone.

According to sources, the vic-tim identified as Dr Manoj Kumar

Mansingh has received several ob-scene phone calls and messages onhis personal WhatsApp accountfrom various phone numbers sinceApril 25, 2020. The accused alsoasked Mansingh to pay a heftyamount else the former would kid-nap the latter’s son.

Meanwhile, the victim received acall from a journalist from Balasorewho informed Mansingh that a ladyhas sent an email to the scribe accusing

the victim of sending obscene mes-sages to the lady on social media. Onscrutiny, Mansingh found that theaccused person has created a fakeFacebook account in his name andsending obscene videos and picturesfrom the social media account withhis morphed photos. He later lodgeda case with the state Crime Branchin Cuttack. Sources also revealedthat the CID team has succeeded intracing out the accused person.

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Feb 21: A train-ing programme on ‘Seed Productionand Modern Aquaculture practices’was organised by ICAR-CentralInstitute of Freshwater Aquaculture,Kausalyaganga, Bhubaneswar atthe Odisha Special Armed Police 7thBattalion Campus.

The training programme wasorganised under the STC pro-gramme of the ICAR-CIFA, Saturday.A total of 202 people participated inthe programme. Bijay Kumar Sahu,DCP (Armed) welcomed all the dig-nitaries and participants to the pro-gramme and to the 7th BattalionCampus.

Sudhansu Sekhar Sarangi,Commissioner of Police, BBSR wasthe Chief Guest on this occasion.He appreciated the role of Odishapolice personnel showing theirkeen interest towards scientific

aquaculture practices. He appre-ciated the sincere efforts of the sci-entists of the premier researchInstitute ICAR-CIFA. He empha-sised the need for greater linkageamong the Odisha Police personneland ICAR-CIFA for informationsharing in freshwater aquacultureand more collaboration in future.

Saroj Kumar Swain, Director,ICAR-CIFA, Kausalyaganga, high-lighted the role of ICAR-CIFA for

dissemination of freshwater aqua-culture technologies to the tribalareas of the country including NEHstates. He encouraged the partici-pants to acquire as much knowledgeabout fish culture from ICAR-CIFAand use it not only for their liveli-hood development but as an addi-tional source of income.

P. Routray, Principal Scientist,APED and Chair man, STCProgramme of ICAR-CIFA informed

the gathering regarding the roleof the institute for disseminationof aquaculture technologies to thetribal communities of India throughSTC schemes. In the afternoon ses-sion, he also narrated the variousaquaculture concepts and practicesto the participants. He stressed thatthe need of quality seed, waterquality, and feed are vital for the fishculture.

K.C. Das. Principal scientist,FNPD, ICAR-CIFA delivered a lec-ture on feed and feeding manage-ment on aquaculture. He explainedthe requirement for the differentfeeds for fish culture. He also men-tioned the nutrient requirement ofthe fish at their various life stages.He also proposed the vote of thanks.

On this occasion 12,000 carp seedswere released into the fish pond lo-cated in the campus of the 7thBattalion by the dignitaries and afish seed leaflet was also released.

Brainstorming on seed production, aquacultureThe training programme, attended by 202 people, was organised under the STC programme of the ICAR-CIFA

Man approaches CB against cyber harassment, extortion

MOTHER LANGUAGE DAY

2 DRUG PEDDLERS HELD IN CUTTACK

POST NEWS NETWORK

Baliguda, Feb 21: A passengerwas killed on the spot Saturdaynight and eight others sustainedinjuries after a bus in which theywere travelling fell off a steepghat at Petarabadi village ofPartamaha panchayat underDaringbadi police limits inKandhamal district.

The identity of the deceased per-son is yet to be established.According to sources, passengerDekara Pradhan (70) was griev-ously injured in the mishap. Hewas admitted to MKCG MedicalCollege and Hospital (MKCGMCH)Berhampur for treatment. Theother injured passengers are:

Sunapa Pradhan (20), SwarnaPradhan (60), Nakul Pradhan (23),Sarita Pradhan (20), MayankiPradhan (74), Ignesh Pradhan (18)and Hirapa Pradhan (27).

The bus was on its way toRanipanga from Daringbadi areain Kandhamal district. The driverof the bus lost control over the ve-hicle which skidded off the ghat,an eyewitness said.

“I was trying to stop the vehicle,but failed due to sudden failure ofthe brakes. It led to the accident,”driver of the bus Ignesh Pradhansaid.

On being informed by locals,Daringbadi police rushed to theaccident site and launched a probeinto the incident.

One dead, 8 hurt in busmishap in Kandhamal

I was tryingto stop thevehicle, butfailed due tosuddenfailure of thebrakes. It ledto theaccidentIGNESH PRADHAN |DRIVER

THE ACCUSED WEREIDENTIFIED AS

BIKASH SWAIN ANDPRASANT KUMAR

SAHOO OF ATHAGARH

AGENCIES

Kendrapara, Feb 21: Nearly 100people fell sick due to food poi-soning after eating at a marriagefeast in Kendrapara district, policesaid.

Residents of Matia village hadattended the marriage functionSaturday night.

They complained of vomiting,stomachache and nausea in theearly hours of Sunday, a districthealth official said.

“It is a case of food poisoning asnearly 100 people had the samesymptoms,” health officials said.

At least 12 of them were un-dergoing treatment at thePattamundai sub divisional hos-pital here.

“They are out of dangerand their condition is beingmonitored,” the district healthofficial said.

100 fall ill aftermarriage feast

Dignitaries including Linguist Debi Prasanna Pattanayak, Minister of State for Home Dibya Shankar Mishra, Odia Language Literature & Culture departmentSecretary Bishnupada Sethi and novelist Pratibha Ray release a book on vocabulary during the celebration of International Mother Language Day by OdiaBhasa Pratisthan at Sanskruti Bhawan in Bhubaneswar, Sunday OP PHOTO

Girls learn boxing at a camp at Bholanath Vidyapeeth in Puri, Sunday OP PHOTO

BOXING CAMP

AGENCIES

Begunia, Feb 21: Concerned overthe surge of COVID-19 cases inother states, the district adminis-tration of Khurdha Saturday nightclosed down a theatre group forstaging shows without permissionat Begunia.

As per reports, a theatre groupnamed Ranga Mahal was per-forming at Begunia when the police,after getting a complaint, playedspoilsport and shut it down.

Sources said, the troupe arrivedat Begunia February 19, 2021 andstaged its first show on the samenight. However, following a freshorder by the state government to en-force strict implementation ofCOVID guidelines, a team led by theTehsildar of Begunia and accom-panied by the police shut it downon the second day, February 20,2021.

It was also found that the troupewas performing without permis-sion from the administration.

Speaking about the clamp down,district Collector of Khurdha, SanatKumar Mohanty, said, “After gettinga complaint about a theatre groupoperating without permission, I

directed the IIC of police station tointervene. After reaching there, wefound that it was operating withoutpermission indeed and no socialdistancing was being maintainedthere.”

“They can be allowed to performthe show if they apply for the same

following due process. However,they will have to adhere to COVIDguidelines laid out by the govern-ment of Odisha,” said Mohanty.

In addition to this, Mohanty hasalso directed all the field officers tokeep a close vigil on social gather-ings and enforce the COVID guide-lines strictly.

It is worthwhile to mention herethat the theatre artistes Saturdaythreatened to launch ‘fast on todeath’ agitation near OdishaAssembly from February 22 seek-ing permission from the state gov-ernment to allow them to organiseopera with 2,000 spectators.

Though the state governmenthas allowed staging of theatreshows with 500 audience members,the artistes claim that it is notenough to run shows and earn a de-cent living with such crowd.

Police clampdown on theatre showrunning sans permission in Begunia

THE STATE GOVT HAS ALLOWEDMAX 500 AUDIENCE MEMBERS

THE THEATRE ARTISTES SEEK THENUMBER TO BE INCREASED TO

2,000 SO AS TO HAVE MEANINGFULCOMMERCIAL GAINS

THE THEATRE ARTISTESSATURDAY THREATENED TO

LAUNCH ‘FAST ON TO DEATH’AGITATION NEAR ODISHA

ASSEMBLY FROM FEBRUARY 22SEEKING PERMISSION ON THE

SAME DEMAND

After getting a complaint about a theatre groupoperating without permission, I directed the IIC ofpolice station to intervene. After reaching there,we found that it was operating without permissionindeed and no social distancing was beingmaintained thereSANAT KUMAR MOHANTY | COLLECTOR, KHURDA

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stateMONDAY | FEBRUARY 22 | 2021 | BHUBANESWARP5

cmyk

cmyk

POST NEWS NETWORK

Kamakhyanagar Feb 21: At atime when incidents of conjugallife being torn apart due to severalreasons are rife, Bijaylaxmi andPrithviraj, a couple from Dhenkanaldistrict, have set an example for others.

Bijaylaxmi, a 30-year-old resi-dent from Kamakhyanagar area,has donated 40 per cent of her liverto her husband Prithviraj, who suf-fers from an incurable disease.

Bijaylaxmi married Prithviraj -- son of Dhrubacharan Behera -- aresident of Jamunakote villageunder Bhuban block in 2012. ThenPrithviraj used to earn enough tomanage family expenses. They leda comfortable life with son-PrinceBiswajit.

Destiny played a cruel joke onthem in 2019 when Prithviraj wasfirst diagnosed with jaundice. Thefamily spent over `10 lakh andPrithviraj underwent treatmentfor close to one year but it yielded

no result. A test at a Bhubaneswar-based hospital confirmed that he issuffering from a critical liver dis-ease. As subsequent treatment didnot yield good results, the doctorsadvised for liver transplantationat Institute of Liver and BiologicalScience in New Delhi.

As the family was contemplatingto go to New Delhi, the pandemic cutshort their plans. Lockdown was im-plemented for a lengthy period pre-venting the couple from travellingto Delhi. After the restrictions were

lifted, Bijaylaxmi took her husbandto Delhi September 7, 2020. She do-nated 40 per cent of her liver andthe same was transplanted onPrithviraj successfully December 21.

After Prithviraj’s discharge fromthe hospital, the couple returned toOdisha. They reached their houseFebruary 14 -Valentine’s Day, the daythat stands for love.

The couple’s love for each other,particularly Bijaylaxmi’s sacrifice,recently came to the fore and hassince been the talk of the town.

Orissa POST correspondent metthe couple at their house and dur-ing the interaction Bijaylaxmi saidthey have spent over ̀ 30 lakh for thetreatment of her husband. The hos-pital fee alone was close to ̀ 15 lakh.“However, all’s well that ends well.My husband is cured now. I amthankful to god," she said.

Prithviraj said that his wife hasgiven him a new lease of life. “If Iam breathing today it is only becauseof my wife her. She has given me anew lease of life. I can never thankher enough,” he said.

Woman donates liver to critically ill husband LOVE TO THE FORE

PRITHVIRAJBIJAYLAXMI

ANTI-LIQUOR BRIGADE

AWARENESS DRIVE

Women of Nelung panchayat in Keonjhar district stage protests alleging bootlegging in villages. They seek ban onliquor sale OP PHOTO

POST NEWS NETWORK

Sambalpur, Feb 21:The Kerejangarailway station in Angul districtwhich is under the administrativecontrol of Sambalpur railway di-vision has been shifted to the KhurdaRoad railway division, following adecision by the Union RailwayMinistry, a report said.

The decision has drawn sharpreactions from various quarters asthe shifting will result in annual rev-enue loss of `250 crore for theSambalpur railway division. The de-cision by the Union and the Odishagovernment to give their consent tosuch a move has sparked concernamong the denizens. Earlier, theUnion government had similarlyshifted the Masir Hasaud railwaystation in Chhattisgarh under theadministrative control of Sambalpurrailway division to the Raipur di-vision in 2011.

The development was confirmedby KK Khadanga, the Chief PublicRelation of ficer (CPRO) ofSambalpur railway division. Theshifting of the Kerejanga railwaystation follows a decision by the

Railway Board for which a finaldecision was taken February 15.

According to available reports, theSambalpur railway division earnsan annual profit of ̀ 1,000 crore an-nually out of which the contribu-tion of Kerejanga railway stationis 25 per cent. This is because largeindustrial firms like Jindal Power

& Steel and others use the Kerejangastation for transportation of theirgoods. Moreover, the industrialfirms have also built their stockyardsin the railway station for whichthey pay rent to the Railways. As aresult, the department earns sub-stantial profits from the station.Moreover, goods and passenger

trains making halts at the stationhelps in earning more revenue.The distance of the Kerejanga rail-way station from the headquartersof Sambalpur railway division isonly 130 km while the distance ofKhurda Road division from it is200 km.

Senior citizen Deepak Pandaquestioned the wisdom behind thedecision which will result in loss ofrevenue and in maligning the imageof the Sambalpur railway division.He alleged that the decision hasbeen taken to boost the importanceand development of Khurda Roadsector. For mer MP BhabaniShankar Hota termed it as meanmindedness and part of a con-spiracy. The decision has been takento boost the revenue collection ofKhurda Road railway division at thecost of Sambalpur railway divi-sion. He said that the Sambalpur rail-way division has its own identity forwhich more division and railway sta-tions should be included into it tohelp it grow and prosper. He de-manded a cancellation of the de-cision failing which he warned ofa mass movement in coming days.

Sambalpur section to incur `250 cr annual lossKEREJANGA RLY STATION SHIFTED TO KHURDA ROAD DIVISION

POST NEWS NETWORK

Baripada, Feb 21: Aimed at boost-ing the farming sector through ir-rigation, construction of a mega-project was started in Mayurbhanjdistrict six years ago. The projecthad then sparked hopes amongfarmers of being able to producegood crops with water availablethroughout the year. However, thehopes have taken a nosedive withthe project getting delayed.

Locals have blamed the con-struction agency for delaying inimplementing the irrigation proj-ect. Farmers are unsure of the ex-ecution of the project as they havebeen facing water shortage to savecrops every year.

According to the report, theOdisha government decided to pro-vide water through irrigation inBadasahi, Bangiriposi, Kaptipada,Rairangpur and Karanjia blocksin 2016. The cost of the project wasestimated at `517 crore.

The mega project was split into13 components/sub- projects. Four

irrigation projects are being set upat Balabhadrapur, Khuntapal,Kudimunda and Damodarpur underBadasahi block; three projects atBangiriposi, Hinjala and Kanspalaunder Bangirippsi block; one proj-ect at Jamudiha under Kaptipadablock; five projects under Karanjiaand Rairangpur blocks.

Construction of all these proj-ects is at different stages. Works ofintake wells near different rivers,pump houses, staff quarters and

electricity supply of the minor sub-division and underground pipe-laying is going on.

It was learnt that the work ismoving at a snail’s pace since fiveyears. Not even 25 percent work of12 projects has been completed.

KVPR, a construction agencywas awarded with the work of im-plementing the project. It was man-dated to complete the work by June2019. The project has missed thedeadline. The agency had sought ex-

tension of nine more months tocomplete the work. Still, it has notbeen able to finish the work.

On the other hand, farmers al-leged that over 50,000 hectares ofland are awaiting irrigation in theproject areas.

“We have been facing acute watershortage in summer while the proj-ect remains dysfunctional,”lamented farmers like Basant Swain,Jagdish Rath, Suresh Chandra Patiand Hrushikesh Nayak.

They alleged that the agency isgetting the work done by petty con-tractors. Petty contractors are de-laying the work as the construc-tion agency is not clearing theirdues in time.

Executive engineer of the irri-gation department Sunil KumarRout said that due to COVID-19 re-strictions, the pace of the work hasbeen affected. However, work willresume at full pace soon, he in-formed. However, farmers’ outfitshave been demanding steps to ex-pedite the project work as soon aspossible.

Mega irrigation project hangs fire POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhadrak,Feb 21: The Bhadraktown police Saturday evening busteda sex racket operating from a rentedaccommodation in Dagamundaarea and arrested two persons in thisconnection. The cops also rescuedfour women.

According to a source, four womenwere staying in a rented house inDagamunda locality. Local resi-dents had been suspecting some-thing unusual to be going on at thehouse. People had been visiting thehouse, more frequently during thenight hours.

After learning about a well-or-ganised sex racket operating fromthe house; locals tipped-off the po-lice following which a team ofBhadrak town police station con-ducted a raid at the house. Theyrescued the four women and ar-rested two customers. The arrestedcustomers were produced in a localcourt Sunday, it was learnt. Theyhave been sent to police custody.

It was also learnt that a detailedinvestigation is underway to find outinvolvement of others in runningthe sex racket. Efforts are on to findout who is the owner of the houseor whether it had been rented out.

POST NEWS NETWORK

Dhenkanal, Feb 21: In a shockingincident, a newly-wed woman al-legedly died by suicide four daysafter her marriage under myste-rious circumstances. The incidenttook place at Bidabandh villageunder Sadar police limits inDhenkanal district.

Jharana, daughter of HariharNayak of Kalanda village underHindol police limits, marriedMadanmohan, elder son ofMuralidhar Nayak of Bidabandhvillage February 17. She was foundhanging from the ceiling fan withher saree Saturday. The incident hassent shockwaves through the village.Family members were busy fin-

ishing the rituals of the fourth daySaturday. Some of the family mem-bers knocked on the door of theroom in which Jharana was stay-ing, but received no answer.

Madanmohan and his other fam-ily members broke open the dooronly to receive the shock of theirlives. They found her hanging fromthe ceiling fan. She was immediatelybrought down and rushed to theDhenkanal district headquartershospital where the doctors declaredher dead on arrival.

Police sent the body for post-mortem. Registering a case (CaseNo-9/21), they have launched aninvestigation into the incident.

Her father says, his daughterhad neurological disorder.

POST NEWS NETWORK

Kesinga, Feb 21: A three-memberexpert team has attributed highstress level in elephants’ bodies asthe reason behind the death of thepachyderms in Karlapat wildlifesanctuary that led to the outbreakof septicaemia resulting in deathof seven female elephants within aspan of two weeks, a report said.

The team members said this afterconducting a probe at the elephantdeath sites of Tentulipadar andGhusurigudi villages in KarlapatWildlife Sanctuary in Kalahandi dis-trict from where the carcasses of theelephants had been recovered Sunday.

Meanwhile, the decomposed car-cass of an elephant calf was foundSunday morning inside KarlapatWildlife Sanctuary in Kalahandidistrict. The carcass of the calf was

sighted at Ghusurigudi village in-side the wildlife sanctuary. Withthis new fatality, the death toll ofjumbos owing to hemorrhagic sep-ticemia reached seven in the last 20days, an official source informed.

Prajna P Panda, national coor-dinator of Elephant, who was apart of the Central team said “Allthe deceased elephants were preg-nant who were infected with sep-

ticaemia. As they were pregnant,stress level in their body was highwhich was very sensitive to infection.”

“The team members visited fivesites and collected some samplesfrom five places which will be sentto the Indian Veterinary ResearchInstitute. A detailed report will besubmitted to the state governmentonce the testing gets over,” she

added. The team members joineda meeting with Collector GavaliParag Harshad and apprised himabout the reason of the death.

“The Central team analysed thesample and confirmed the deathsas cases of hemorrhagic septi-caemia. The team also appreci-ated our precautionary measureslike disinfection and vaccinationto cattle. These activities will becontinued for a month,” said theCollector Parag Harshad.AshokKumar, divisional forest officerand veterinary officials werepresent in the meeting. Centre forWildlife (ICAR-IVRI Bareilly)scientist Karikalan Mathesh,h e a d o f d e p a r t m e n t o fEpidemiology and PreventiveMedicine at OUAT Prof NiranjanSahoo accompanied the expertteam.

POST NEWS NETWORK

Dhenkanal,Feb 21:A devastatingfire broke out at the grid sub-sta-tion of Odisha Power TransmissionCorporation Limited (OPTCL) inDhenkanal district Sunday morn-ing damaging property worthlakhs of rupees, an official sourceinformed.

The mishap took place at about7:00am. At least 10 fire-fightingteams have been engaged to dousethe flames at the power grid nearMeramundali area in Dhenkanaldistrict.

No casualties have been re-ported in the incident so far.

Even though the exact causebehind the fire mishap is yet to beascertained, a blast in the feederdue to overheating might havelead to the incident, an OPTCLofficial said.

UNFAIR TREATMENT Sambalpur railway division earns

an annual profit of `1,000 croreout of which the contribution of

Kerejanga railway station is 25per cent. This is because large

industrial firms like Jindal Power& Steel and others use the

Kerejanga station fortransportation of their goods

Former MP Bhabani Shankar Hotatermed it as mean mindedness andpart of a conspiracy. The decision hasbeen taken to boost the revenuecollection of Khurda Road railwaydivision at the cost of Sambalpurrailway division. He demanded to scrapthe decision failing which he warned ofa mass movement in coming days

4 days after marriage woman commits suicide

Fire breaks out at OPTCL grid

POST NEWS NETWORK

Jeypore, Feb 21: In a gruesomeincident, a youth was bludgeonedto death Sunday with a stone inJeypore town of Koraput district.The deceased was identified asChandra Paraja, a resident ofMalisahi.

According to reports, Chandrahad come Saturday night toKumbharsahi. Then he returnedhome with a friend. However, hisblood-stained body was found neara dairy farm Sunday morning.

On being informed, policestarted an investigation with aforensic team. Preliminary in-vestigation found that the headof the youth was smashed with astone, which was recovered at thecrime scene. His friend is ab-sconding. Bhagwan Paraja, fa-ther of the deceased said that hisson working in a hotel had notcome home since last two years.

Youth bludgeonedto death with stone

Sex racket busted in Bhadrak; 4 women rescued, 2 arrested

TWO BIKERS KILLED IN ROAD ACCIDENT Baripada: Two persons riding a two-wheeler were killed on the spotfollowing a head-on collision with a car in Mayurbhanj district Saturdaynight. The vehicle they were riding on was gutted in the fire that broke outfollowing the mishap. The mishap took place on NH-61 along the Chitrada-Amarada road near Jhinkiria under Morada police limits. The car was on itsway to Balasore town from Baripada. The ill-fated two-wheeler was comingfrom Rasagobindapur in Mayurbhanj district when it met with an accident,a police official said. Police recovered the bodies for post mortem.

Family members spentover `10 lakh inPrithviraj’s treatment butit yielded no result. A testat a Bhubaneswar-basedhospital confirmed thathe is suffering from acritical liver disease

A mobile team creating awareness on Covid-19 and precautionary measures among people in Tikiri area of Rayagadadistrict, Sunday OP PHOTO

Central team: Septicaemia causing jumbo deaths 7TH ELEPHANT SUCCUMBS IN KARLAPAT

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power post P6

T he farmers’ agitation against the farm laws that put the governmentin a bad light both nationally and internationally is now pushed outof the main media headlines. Instead, a sideshow - the arrest of pro-

farmer environment activist, Disha Ravi and proceedings in the court - isgaining front page prominence. Whatever the outcome of the legal process,the government has succeeded, at least for the time being, in achievingwhat it has become quite adept in, namely managing headlines.

Be it demonetization, passing of GST, collapse of the economy pushingthe unemployment rate to 45-year high or killing of 46 CRPF personnel inPulwama by terrorists, the government has time and again deflected pub-lic scrutiny of its performance. More than governance, it seems to have de-veloped expertise in burying burning issues of the day under media head-lines of its own choosing.

It has happened once again in the case of the farmers’ agitation as well.The plight of the farmers camping at the borders of Delhi and their demandfor repealing the three laws were getting traction throughout the countryand abroad. Hardly any other news was getting greater media attention. Thesituation was going out of hand with international figures joining ranks withthe agitating farmers and social media activists campaigning against gov-ernment highhandedness in suppressing the farmers’ unrest. No amountof calumny against the farmers’ agitation and conspiracy theories spun bythe government were of any help.

It was at this stage that the government realized that the social media tidewas turning and so it wanted to create fear in the minds of its critics. The‘toolkit’ edited and sent to Greta Thunberg by Disha and two others camehandy for the government. The 22-year-old Disha was arrested to send themessage across that campaign on social media platforms for the farmers couldinvite government crackdown. Reading the court proceedings would makeit obvious to anyone that Disha’s actions in no way could amount to seditionor treason. Although, incarceration - with or without substance - of collu-sion with terrorists such as Khalistani operatives outside India is made outas a charge. Interestingly, the government could think only of Khalistani ter-rorists and no other outfit since the farmers’ agitation has drawn bulk of itssupporters from Punjab.

Additional Sessions Judge Dharmender Rana of a Delhi court hearing thecase was not convinced by the prosecution’s arguments that Disha was inleague with Khalistanis hatching a plot against the government. After thepolice counsel could not come up with a satisfactory answer to the judge’stough questioning on whether there is any direct link between Disha andthe Khalistanis, the judge observed unless he could satisfy his conscience,he won’t move ahead.

The judge’s observation appears to be a welcome departure from some ofthe recent judicial pronouncements which look government-directed. Sucha behavior of this judge could imply that chinks are showing in the armour.

In a queer development, several former judges and retired police officers,including CBI ex-chief Nageswara Rao, have written to President Ram NathKovind on Disha’s arrest saying it was surprising that her age was being high-lighted to prove innocence. They argued that age is immaterial and what mat-ters is a series of actions that are “naturally anti-national.” So much so thatmany are equating Disha with Ajmal Kasab and the Nirbhaya juvenile of-fender to prove that age is no criteria for judging a crime. The signatoriesinclude three former Chief Justices of High Courts, 17 former judges, 18 for-mer Directors General of Police, a former Delhi Police Commissioner, a for-mer member of the Central Vigilance Commission and a former special DirectorGeneral of Central Reserve Police Force. What a galaxy indeed rallying be-hind the government.

Admittedly, while law should be equal for all those citizens who havereached the age of being a major, yet, comparing Disha with murderers isstupidity. By labeling farmers from Punjab as Khalistanis, the country is beingsubdivided once more. Earlier, we were told Moslems are traitors, Kashmirisare terrorists, JNU is ‘Tuke Tukde’ gang, Liberals or ‘Libtards’ are communists,communists are anti-national, dissent is sedition, ‘thinking’ people areurban naxals and mediapersons were labeled ‘Prestitutes’.

Such sub dividing of society can grievously hurt the fundamental idea ofIndia. If religion could be the sole binder to create a nation, then Europe,as a catholic continent, would have been one country. While Hindooismmay be the single big religion of this country, still, it does not contain a uni-fied central theme. The Hindoo God Ayyappa could be completely unknownin Bihar. Similarly, the Bihari Hindoos’ Bol Bom religious practice may becompletely unknown in Maharashtra. If Rajasthan and Bengali Hindoos prac-ticed Sati in the old days, that practice did not exist in Orissa. There are mil-lions of differences within the framework called Hindooism. Those differ-ences are the beauty and strength of this thought process. To label Hindooismas a religion is to demean its essence.

One is tempted to conjecture whether the siding with farmers can belabeled as an act against the nation. India of today could probably bethe only country in the world which considers its farmers, whatever betheir numbers, as enemies.

I ndia is committed to achievingthe Sustainable DevelopmentGoals (SDGs) by 2030. As a large

portion of India’s population de-pends on public provisioning for es-sential services such as health-care, education, nutrition, andemployment, adequate public spend-ing on social sectors and efficiencyin the delivery system are critical.

Prioritising and fast-tracking ac-tions for the last mile are crucial ifthe goal of “no one is left behind”is to be realised. Yet, there existsignificant disparities in the achieve-ment of some of the vital humandevelopment components. Thedeficits in human development, toa large part, are a reflection of lowlevels of public provisioning forsocial sectors over the decades.

The disastrous effect of the pan-demic has resulted in huge loss inemployment and livelihood, in-creased hunger and malnutrition,increased destitution and poverty.The impact has been dispropor-tionately borne by economicallyand socially disadvantaged sec-tions. Simultaneously, the need forbudget allocation in the areas of so-cial sector such as health, education,WASH and food and nutrition se-curity including agriculture have

emerged as priority areas thanever before.

As per the SDG Index by NITIAayog, Odisha ranks 16th among thestates. The state needs to improveits performance on key areas suchas SDG–1; No Poverty, SDG–2; ZeroHunger, SDG–3; Good Health andWellbeing, SDG–4; QualityEducation, SDG–6 ; Clean Waterand Sanitation, SDG–8 Decent Workand Economic Growth. Therefore,there are a lot of expectations thatthe State Budget for the year 2021-22 would address the multiple socialsector deficit areas which havebeen further affected by the pan-demic. Further, the 15th FinanceCommission has recommendedthat health spending by states shouldbe increased to more than eightper cent of their Budget by 2022.

Though the overall magnitude ofthe Union Budget has registered in-crease in absolute terms from ̀ 30.50lakh crore in 2020-21 to ̀ 34.83 lakhcrore in 2021-22, allocations for so-cial sectors present a mixed bagat best.

Except a substantial increase inbudget provision for drinking waterand sanitation schemes, predomi-nantly for the Jal Jeevan Mission,budget provisions for school edu-

cation, nutrition related schemes,rural employment, housing andagriculture have seen a reductioncompared to the budget estimatesfor those for the year 2020-21. Forsome of the schemes, the budget pro-vision for 2021-22 is lower than theactual expenditure incurred in2019-20. The reduction in alloca-tion in major schemes and pro-grammes has an adverse bearingon the State Budget.

The 15th Finance Commissionhas submitted two reports. Thefirst report consists of recom-mendations for the financial year2020-21, and the final report hasrecommendations for 2021-26. TheCommission has recommended 41per cent of the net proceeds ofUnion taxes to states. Odisha’sshare in the net proceeds of Centraltaxes and duties seems to havebeen sliced from 4.629 per cent infirst report to 4.528 per cent in sec-ond report. As a result, the state willbe losing `760 crore as share inCentral taxes for the 2021-22. Thisapart, being a revenue surplusstate, Odisha will not get any postdevolution revenue deficit grant.

As reported in the EconomicSurvey 2020-21, India, the combinedpublic spending on social sectors by

the Union government and the statesremained below seven per cent ofGDP until 2018-19; though this fig-ure had risen to 8.8 per cent of GDPin the Budget Estimates for 2020-21.We may note here that even at closeto nine per cent of GDP, combinedpublic spending on social sectors inthe country is way below the levelof budgetary support for social sec-tors not just in most of the developedcountries but also in a number oflarge developing countries.

As per the report State Finances:A Study of Budgets by ReserveBank of India, Odisha’s social sec-tor expenditure to total disburse-ment in 2020-21 (up to Oct 27, 2020)is 45.3 per cent, which is low com-pared to states like Andhra Pradesh– 52.5 per cent, Bihar – 56.7 percent, Jharkhand – 50.6 per cent,and Chhattisgarh – 46.2 per cent. Theexpenditure on social sector shouldbe increased to at least 50 per centof total Budget 2021-22 to take careof emerging social sector needs -healthcare, education, food & nu-trition security and livelihoods.

The writer is anAssociate Director,

Programme, Centre for Youthand Social Development.

Views are personal.

Need of the hour: A Budget for SDGs

HIMALAYAN BLUNDERT here is a huge tectonic plate

below the land mass of Indiaknown as the “Indian Plate.”

The rotation of the earth is caus-ing this plate to continually movenorthward just like any mattermoves to the top in a centrifugalmachine. The Indian Plate crashesinto the Tibetan Plate as it movesto the north. The pressure betweenthese two plates is leading to thecontinual rise of the Himalayas andalso earthquakes in Uttarakhandin particular. Thus, Uttarakhandhas been having an earthquakeevery ten years leaving aside thelast 20 years. A possible reasonfor earthquake not taking place inthe recent period could be thatthe load of water in the TehriReservoir is acting like a cushionbetween the two plates just as twoboxers stop for a moment if asmall child stands between them.However, the Indian Plate con-tinues to push against the TibetanPlate despite this cushion.Consequently, a bigger earthquakemay take place in the coming time.Landslides take place due to the tec-tonic disturbances and these havebeen putting large amounts of ma-terial into the river for thousandsof years. This material has beencarried to the plains by the Ganga.The entire land mass of Indiafrom Haridwar to Ganga Sagarhas been made by such material.Therefore, we should not be underan illusion that such landslidescan be prevented. The presenttragedy at Rishi Ganga could havebeen precipitated due to the minutevibrations created by the north-ward movement of the IndianPlate combined with weakening ofthe glaciers due to global warming.

The blasting done for making thetunnel of the Tapovan Vishnugadhydropower project did not help.Scientists say that the vibrationsfrom the explosions do not travelvery far. However, the minute vi-brations may have added to thedisaster just as minute doses ofhomoeopathic medicines have astrong effect.

The abovementioned naturalwork of Ganga carrying the ma-terial requires that the river beallowed to flow freely just as an ele-phant requires an open road. Thehydropower projects make a bar-rage on the rivers that creates an

obstruction to this free flow. TheMinistry of Environment had con-stituted a Committee under theChair of Ravi Chopra under the or-ders of the Supreme Court after the2013 disaster. The Committee saidthat the damage in the 2013 disastertook place only above and belowthe hydropower projects. TheCommittee said that the landslideat Kedarnath turned into a dis-aster not because the rains wereexceptional but because the flowof the Mandakini and AlaknandaRivers was obstructed by a num-ber of under-construction andcommissioned hydropower proj-ects. The present landslide haslikewise become a disaster be-cause the Rishi Ganga and TapovanVishnugad projects had obstructedthe flow of the Rishi Ganga andDhauli Ganga Rivers. These riverswould have carried the material ofthe landslide to the sea smoothlyhad there been no obstruction totheir flow.

Curiosity is that the govern-ment is building these projectseven though they have becomeeconomically unviable. The cost ofelectricity made from greenfieldhydropower projects is about ̀ 7 to`10 per unit at present. Then thereare environmental costs of hy-dropower projects. The NationalEnvironment Engineering

Research Institute, Nagpur hasfound that the Ganga has about 200types of ‘phages’ that can kill 17types of disease-creating bacte-ria. Yamuna and Narmada, incomparison, have less than 30types of phages. The Ganga alsohas more copper and radioactivethorium that kill bacteria. Theseunique qualities of the Gangaarise when her water absorbs thevegetations and rubs against thestones while flowing rapidly. Fishlike Mahseer migrate from theplains to the high Himalayas andclean the water of pollutants. Thehydropower projects create eithera tunnel in which the water of theriver is diverted; or they create areservoir in which the water flowsat a very slow speed. In both casesthe rubbing action of the water isended and also the migration of fishis obstructed. I have assessed thatthe cost of electricity generatedfrom hydropower will become ̀ 18per unit from the proposedKotlibhel-1B project if the cost ofenvironmental damage is added tothe cost of electricity.

Lo! solar power is available atabout ̀ 3 per unit against ̀ 7 to ̀ 18from hydropower projects. A prob-lem is that solar power is pro-duced in the daytime while thedemand is more in the morningand evening which are called ‘peak’

times. However, daytime electric-ity can be converted into peakingpower at a cost of mere 50 paise perunit. Therefore, solar peakingpower is available to us a less than`4 per unit. The UttarakhandPower Corporation has purchasedpeaking power from the IndiaEnergy Exchange at a price ofabout `3.50, `4.30 and `2.60 perunit in the last three years. Yet, thegovernment of Uttarakhand con-tinues to make these projects de-spite such huge cost. The argu-ment is that hydropower projectsbring ‘development.’ The alter-native is that Uttarakhand devel-ops the service sectors. A sanato-rium for tuberculosis patients wasestablished at Bhowali nearNainital about a century ago. Ideawas that the patients will gainhealth in the clear and naturalsurroundings. The alternative be-fore Uttarakhand is to make soft-ware parks, universities, hospi-tals and computer centers on thebanks of the Ganga in the hillsso that humankind makes use ofthe higher psychological quali-ties of the Ganga and the naturalbeauty in which she flows. This ap-proach will lead to less environ-mental burden on the Himalayasand also beget more economicpro g ress. The youth ofUttarakhand will get permanentjobs as nurses, doctors, teachers andprogrammers in these activities.At present they get low-paid jobsduring the construction of theseprojects. Curiosity is that the gov-ernment is bent upon promotinghydropower and disinterested inpromoting the service sectors. Thereason appears to be that hy-dropower projects require envi-ronment clearance, forest diversion,electricity license and land ac-quisition in which the govern-ment officials have a huge role.The development of services sec-tor is ignored because softwaregiants would not fall on their kneesto get environment clearances likehydropower proponents would do.Uttarakhand must give up its mis-placed objective of building hy-dropower, obstructing rivers andinviting disasters.

The writer is a former Professor of

Economics at IIM Bangalore.Views are personal.

LOL

FOCUS

SPECTRUM

The present landslide has become a disasterbecause the Rishi Ganga and TapovanVishnugad projects had obstructed the flow of the Rishi Ganga and Dhauli Ganga Rivers.These rivers would have carried the material of the landslide to the sea smoothly had there been no obstruction to their flow

Managing Headlines

You should learn to be more politeOne day, Bill and Tom went to a

restaurant for dinner. As soon asthe waiter took out two steaks, Billquickly picked out the bigger steakfor himself. Tom wasn’t happy about

that: “Whenare you going

to learn to bepolite?” Bill: “If you had

the chance to pick first, which onewould you pick?” Tom: “The smallerpiece, of course.” Bill: “What are youwhining about then? The smallerpiece is what you want, right?”

MONDAY | FEBRUARY 22 | 2021 | BHUBANESWAR

Each new dawn brings thepossibility of a newprogress.

THE MOTHER

ODISHA

UTTARAKHANDMUST GIVE UP

ITS MISPLACEDOBJECTIVE OF

BUILDINGHYDROPOWER,OBSTRUCTING

RIVERS ANDINVITING

DISASTERS

BharatJhunjhunwala

WISDOM CORNERGenerosity is giving more than you can, and pride is taking less thanyou need.

KAHLIL GIBRAN

Two roads diverged in a wood and I - I took the one less travelled by,and that has made all the difference.

ROBERT FROST

Prejudice is a burden that confuses the past, threatens the futureand renders the present inaccessible.

MAYA ANGELOU

UTTARAKHAND

Readers of Orissa POSTare most welcome to contribute letters(200 words), articles andcolumns (between 750-1250words). Contributors arerequested to send theircontact numbers and fullpostal address/email ID. They may alsosend in their valuable comments, opinionand suggestions, preferably by email, to: [email protected]

B-15, Rasulgarh Industrial Estate,Bhubaneswar-751010

LettersTO THE EDITOR

PRIORITISING ANDFAST-TRACKING

ACTIONS FOR THELAST MILE ARE

CRUCIAL IF THEGOAL OF “NO ONE

IS LEFT BEHIND” ISTO BE REALISED

Basanta KumarNayak

Incredulous act

Sir, Petrol prices surgingnorth rapidly of late haveput the common man onedge. The steep rise in thefuel costs has had a cas-cading effect on the priceof essentials and othercommodities, making ithard to eke out a living.With the cost of petrolper litre inching towardsthe three-figure mark (Rs100), it is incredulous thatthe government has failedto take the bull by thehorns.

NJ Ravi Chander,BANGALORE

cmyk

cmyk

Manicule

Not to be confused with manacle or manicure, this is a much rarerword that also derives from Latin manus for a hand, in this case

from the diminutive manicula, a little hand, which Romans also usedfor a plough-handle. It has popped up through a discussion about it ina book on typography by Keith Houston, Shady Characters: The SecretLife of Punctuation, Symbols, and Other Typographical Marks. Amanicule is a hand with its first finger pointing, once used in themargins of manuscripts and books to draw the reader’s attention topassages of particular importance. We often encounter it as adirection pointer in old-fashioned public signs, though these days wenotice it most often as the vertical-pointing shape your computer’scursor changes to when you pass it over a web link. Printers havegiven it a number of names, including fist and index. This last one isthe official name, echoing the Latin word for a sign or pointer, as inindex finger. The history of manicule in English is a bit of a mystery. Itisn’t recorded in the recent review of the letter M in the Oxford EnglishDictionary, nor is it in any other dictionary.

Resident foreigners

Sir, The recent army coup in Myanmar has impacted India and Bangladesh in entirely different ways. As forIndia, it is a wait and watch situation. There has been a close cooperation between the Indian and Myanmararmies on insurgency-related issues troubling the two countries. Hence, the relations between the two countriesare likely to be normal. The impact of the coup on Bangladesh is profound compared with that on India. Myanmarauthorities had agreed to rehabilitate over 40,000 refugees removed out of a list of 800,000 people by Bangladesh.When the newly elected NLD (National League for Democracy) government headed by Aung San Suu Kyi wasousted, it had aroused hopes that the 40,000 people could be repatriated to the Rakhine province in a short while.Now around 11,00,000 Rohingyas are sheltered in different parts of Bangladesh. Now that the military is in com-plete control of Myanmar after the coup, Rohingya refugees are even more afraid. The coup could make it morechallenging for the Rohingyas to return home. The coup has taken place at a time when the two countries agreedto start the repatriation. The new military regime is unlikely to prioritise return of Rohingyas. As per the newcitizenship law announced by Myanmar authorities, Rohingya Muslims are “resident foreigners” and not cit-izens. Over the years, many ethnic cleansing raids have been carried out to drive out the community. Accordingto the Burmese law, while the Rohingyas can stay in Rakhine, their children are not supposed to study beyondthe primary level. They won’t get official jobs or medical help either. The government also has the right to seizeRohingya property. A great deal was expected from Aung San Suu Kyi. However, she took a tough stand on theissue. The world was shocked at how she treated the hapless Rohingyas. She approved the decision to margin-alise the community and defended the army raids. There have been reports of genocide of the Rohingyas.

Venu GS, KOLLAM

Page 7: protests continue in myanmar - OrissaPost

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JAMMU &KASHMIR

MONDAY | FEBRUARY 22 | 2021 | BHUBANESWARP7

ASSAM

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

New Delhi, Feb 21: Sidelined bythe Gandhi family, senior Congressleader Ghulam Nabi Azad was seentaking one more step in a direc-tion that will bring him much closerto the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.In what appeared to be a rare oc-casion, the Modi governmentSaturday rolled out the red carpetfor Azad while inviting him to agala cultural event organised bythe Union Ministry of MinorityAffairs.

Colourful posters and banners ofthe Congress stalwart were put upall around the AmbedkarInternational Centre, the venue ofthe event, where Union ministerMukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Ministerof State (Independent Charge)Jitendra Singh welcomed the vet-eran Congressman, who was re-cently praised for his statesman-ship by Prime Minister NarendraModi at the farewell speech for theoutgoing MPs in the Rajya Sabha.

Saturday's event was the secondsuch incident in a series when theModi government showered praiseson Azad, who up till now is seen asa dissenter by the Rahul Gandhicamp. Once a diehard Rajiv Gandhiloyalist, Azad was not given an-other term in the Upper House. Afew days back, Mallikarjun Kharge,considered to be close to the Gandhi

family, was appointed as the Leaderof Opposition in the Rajya Sabhain place of Azad.

Posters of a Congress leader atan event organised by the Modigovernment were seen for the firsttime in the national capital. Theaudience at the Ambedkar Centrewere surprised to see Azad seatedalongside Jitendra Singh andMukhtar Abbas Naqvi in the VVIPfront row. Incidentally, Singh and

Azad both hail from Jammu andKashmir. The event titled "EkBharat, Shresth Bharat" , a'Mushaira' (Urdu poetry recital) or-ganised by the government, offi-cially acknowledged Azad as a guestof honour. Most of the Urdu poets,including Waseem Barelvi, a well-known personality in the Urdu lit-erary world, also praised theCongress leader. Several other poetsalso mentioned Azad's name from

the dais and addressed their poeticrecitals to him.

While the Congress has not givenany important responsibility toAzad since he retired from the RajyaSabha, Saturday's Mushaira is nowbeing seen as an event which seemsto have brought Azad closer to-wards the BJP.

“Azad sahab is a real statesman,he could be the face of the BJP inthe Valley in near future. A personlike him commands respect acrossparty lines,” said a BJP functionarypresent at the auditorium.

Earlier February 9, PrimeMinister Modi bid a tearful farewellto the Congress veteran, sayingthat he respected Azadji as a "truefriend" and will not let him retire,and will continue taking his ad-vice. Modi said it would be diffi-cult for Azad's successor in theRajya Sabha to match him as hehas set very high standards as anMP and as the Leader of theOpposition.

Vice-president M. Venkaiah Naidualso described Azad as a "voice ofsanity in the nation's public life", andsomeone who "speaks softly butconveys his point of view effec-tively". Modi's emotional speechfor Azad had led to speculation thatthe veteran Congress leader, side-lined by his party high command,might join the ruling party in daysto come.

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Srinagar, Feb 21: The delimita-tion of Assembly constituenciesin Jammu and Kashmir is a part ofthe BJP's "larger plan to divide andpit" regions, religions and com-munities against each other, PDPpresident Mehbooba Mufti alleged.

Taking to Twitter, MehboobaSunday said the Centre was "rail-roading" delimitation in Jammuand Kashmir with a "tearing hurry",raising serious apprehensions aboutthe motives of the exercise.

"The tearing hurry with whichGOI (the Government of India) israilroading delimitation in J&Khas raised genuine & serious ap-prehensions about the motives ofthis exercise. It's a part of BJP'slarger plan to divide & pit regions,religions & communities againsteach other,” she said.

The Delimitation Commissionfor Jammu and Kashmir was con-stituted by the Centre March 6 lastyear. The commission held its firstmeeting Thursday to seek sugges-tion/views on the process of de-limitation in respect of the unionterritory.

The meeting of the commissionwas attended by two of the five as-sociated members - Union Minister

Jitendra Singh and BJP leader andMP from Jammu, Jugal KishoreSharma. The other three associ-ated members of the commission- National Conference MPs FarooqAbdullah, Mohammad Akbar Loneand Hasnain Masoodi – did not at-tend the meeting.

The NC MPs informed the com-mission that they would not be par-ticipating in its proceedings as theabro g ation of Jammu andKashmir's special status was pend-ing adjudication before the SupremeCourt. In a letter to ChairpersonDelimitation Commission Justice(Retd) Ranjana Prakash Desai, theyexpressed their inability to associatewith the commission.

They also urged the chairper-son not to go ahead with the de-limitation process as the J-KReorganisation Act, 2019 is underjudicial scrutiny in the SupremeCourt. "In our view, the Jammuand Kashmir Reorganisation Act,2019 is palpably unconstitutional andhas been enacted in disregard andviolation of mandate and spirit ofthe Constitution of India and there-fore not to be acted upon," the MPssaid. "We have thrown challengeto constitutional validity of theJammu and KashmirReorganisation Act, 2019, exerciseof powers where-under the meetingin question is proposed to be held,"they said.

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

Guwahati, Feb 21: Ahead of theAssam polls, the Congress Sundaylaunched agitations in all the 34districts of the state to protestagainst the rising fuel prices.

Senior Congress leaders includingformer Union Minister and AICCGeneral Secretary Mukul Wasnikled the agitations, which has alsobecome as a major agenda for theopposition parties before theAssembly elections slated for April-May.

While presenting the vote-on-ac-

count in the state Assembly, AssamFinance and Health MinisterHimanta Biswa Sarma February 12announced to remove the addi-tional cess of Rs 5 levied on thepetrol and diesel last year, whenCovid-19 pandemic was at its peak.

Assam Pradesh Congress pres-ident Ripun Bora while address-ing a protest rally in Hojai saidthat the base price of petrol is Rs33.46 per litre and that of diesel isRs 31.82 per litre in the state.

"However, the common man isforced to pay Rs 87 per litre and Rs82 per litre for petrol and diesel re-

spectively. The BJP is simply loot-ing the people in the name of taxes,"Bora said.

"I would simply like to ask the BJPgovernment on what basis it de-cides the petroleum prices everyday? What is the explanation for sub-jecting the people of Assam to thiscruelty," state Congress CampaignCommittee Chairman PradyutBordoloi said.

Congress' Deputy leader in theLok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi said thatthe BJP government is looting thepublic by raising the fuel prices,amid the raging pandemic.

Congress Legislature Party leaderDebabrata Saikia said that the com-mon man is burdened with theprice rise, so will the BJP govern-ment clarify whom it is busy levy-ing tax for?

"Who are those being favoured bythe government at the expense ofmaking people suffer so much."

All India Mahila Congress pres-ident Sushmita Dev, who is leadingthe protests in different districts, saidthat the "so called 'double engine'BJP governments at the Centreand the state are fooling the people".

"Reducing Rs 5 on petrol-dieselahead of the state elections is ahoax! Reality is the Modi govern-ment at the Centre has increased taxto favour their corporate friends,"alleged Dev, a former Lok SabhaMember and daughter of late UnionMinister Santosh Mohan Dev.

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Guwahati, Feb 21: Ahead of theAssembly elections in Assam, theBJP-led state government Saturdayincreased the daily wages of scoresof tea garden workers from Rs 167to Rs 217 per day, officials said.

The officials said that the Cabinetmeeting chaired by Chief MinisterSarbananda Sonowal has decidedto increase the daily wages of teagarden workers from Rs 167 to Rs217 per day.

The meeting also decided thatto recommend equal wage for smalltea workers, a one-man committeeunder Principal Secretary J.B. Ekkawould be formed.

Increase in daily wages of teaworkers is an election issue inAssam with opposition parties, in-cluding the Congress, criticisingthe BJP-led government for delib-erately delaying wage revision forthe last several years.

The main opposition Congressclaimed that Prime MinisterNarendra Modi had promised torevise the daily wages of tea work-ers in Assam to Rs 350 prior to the2014 Lok Sabha polls.

While the tea garden workers insouthern Assam are getting dailywages of Rs 145 per day, the work-ers in the remaining areas of the

state are getting Rs 167 per day.February 6, Union Finance

Minister Nirmala Sitharaman haddistributed Rs 3,000 each to 7,46,667tea garden workers in Assam underthe 'Chah Bagicha Dhan PuraskarMela' scheme. In the third trancheof the scheme, a total amount of Rs224 crore was disbursed with Rs3,000 getting transferred directlyto 7,46,667 bank accounts of teagarden workers across the state.

The scheme was started by theAssam government in 2017-18 andthat year Rs 2,500 each was pro-vided to 6,33,411 tea garden work-ers, while a similar amount wasdeposited in 7,15,979 bank accounts

the next year.Assam has over 10 lakh tea gar-

den workers in the organised sec-tor working in 850 tea estates. Thestate roughly produces 55 per centof India's total tea production of1389.70 million kg. Tea tribe com-munities determine the votes in30 to 35 of the 126 Assembly seatsin the state.

Saturday's cabinet meeting alsodecided to allot 10 bighas of land tothe World Renewal Spiritual Trustin Kamrup, besides approving thepurchase of 8,000 wheelchairs forthe ensuing Assembly elections,which are likely to be held in April-May this year.

‘Party’s face in Valley’: Azad moves closer to BJP Delimitation part of BJP’s plan todivide communities: Mehbooba

The tearing hurry withwhich GOI (theGovernment of India) israilroading delimitationin J&K has raisedgenuine & seriousapprehensions about themotives of this exercise.It's a part of BJP's largerplan to divide & pitregions, religions &communities againsteach other

MEHBOOBA MUFTI I PDP CHIEF

Cong says BJP looting in nameof taxes, launches stir in Assam

Ahead of polls, BJP hikes daily wages of tea garden workers

AGENCIES

Guwahati, Feb 21: All AssamStudents Union (AASU) has an-nounced that it will hold agitationsduring Prime Minister NarendraModi's visit to the state February 22to protest against his government'salleged failure to implement Clause6 of the Assam Accord.

Member of the students' organ-isation will wave black flags andwear black badges at all districtand sub-divisional headquarters,AASU President Dipanka KumarNath and General SecretaryShankarjyoti Barua said in a re-lease Saturday.

The BJP-led government at theCentre has failed the people ofAssam by not implementing Clause6 of the Assam Accord, failing to de-clare floods and erosion as nationalproblems and not stopping con-struction of all big dams in the re-gion, including the Lower SubansiriHydroelectric Project.

Nath and Barua that duringfloods, the prime minister did not

bother to visit Assam and hadmerely reviewed the situation overphone. "But now that state electionis round the corner, he has comethrice within a month to seek votes,"they said. The AASU leaders saidthat before the 2016 Lok Sabha elec-tion, the prime minister had saidthat all illegal immigrants will haveto pack their bags and leave."But theCentre is now conspiring to im-

pose the burden of additional for-eigners on Assam by enacting theCitizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

The prime minister during histwo earlier visits did not make a sin-gle mention of the implementationof Clause 6 of the Assam Accord,they added.

The Centre had promised that itwill implement the recommenda-tions of the High Level Committee

to the last comma and full stop. Itis now nearly a year that the re-port was submitted to the state gov-ernment but it is yet to be sent tothe Centre for its implementation,they said.

"We demand that the prime min-ister announces February 22 whenthe recommendations of theCommittee will be implemented asconstitutional safeguards are a le-gitimate rights of the people of thestate", the leaders said.

AASU had organised protestsagainst Modi's visit January 23 de-manding repeal of the CitizenshipAmendment Act that seeks to grantIndian citizenship to non-Muslimreligious minorities fromBangladesh, Pakistan andAfghanistan and implementation ofClause 6 of the Assam Accord.

As per the clause constitutional,legislative and administrative safe-guards, as may be appropriate, shallbe provided to protect, preserveand promote the culture, social,linguistic identity and heritage ofthe Assamese people.

AASU announces protest during PM’s visit

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Guwahati, Feb 21: The bannedULFA(I) Sunday said, the outfit has"deferred" the decision to take anystep on the fate of two abductedemployees of an oil firm and willcontinue to hold discussions withauthorities concerned for a positiveoutcome.

United Liberation Front ofAssam-Independent (ULFA-I) chiefParesh Barua informed generalsecretary of Gauhati Press Club(GPC) Sanjoy Ray over phone thatdiscussions on the release of the twoemployees were continuing and"We hope that there will be a posi-tive outcome soon".

However, Barua said, there hasto be a "definite time-frame to resolvethe issue and negotiations for theirrelease cannot go on endlessly".

Two employees of Quippo Oiland Gas Infrastructure Ltd wereabducted by the insurgentsDecember 21 last year fromKumchaikha hydrocarbon drillingsite in Changlang district ofArunachal Pradesh.

Initially, the ULFA(I) chief hadcalled the GPC president ManojKumar Nath asking him to pro-vide a platform to him for clarifi-cation of certain facts allegedly'misinterpreted in a certain sec-tion of the media' on the outfit'sstand on the fate of the two ab-ducted persons.

Accordingly, mediapersons gath-ered at the GPC where Barua wasexpected to brief the media over tele-phone which was put on ampli-fiers, but he could not contact theparticular number on which hewas supposed to brief journalists.

Barua subsequently called an-other journalist who was present

at the GPC, who connected him tothe club's general secretary SanjoyRay and he was briefed by theULFA(I) leader.

According to Ray, the ULFA(I)chief also said that he welcomes andrespects the role of the civil societyand their constructive suggestionsto resolve the issue.

Barua said that a section of themedia had misinterpreted the out-fit's earlier statement about "thestep" to decide the fate of the twoabducted persons.

The two abducted men areDrilling Superintendent PranabKumar Gogoi and Radio OperatorRam Kumar. While Gogoi is fromAssam's Sivasagar district, RamKumar hails from Bihar.

The outfit had reportedly de-manded a ransom of Rs 20 crore forthe release of the two employees andhad set February 16 as the deadline.

The ULFA(I) in an email Fridayhad said that talks with the Quippo

authorities held from February 16to 19 have "failed to reach anyfavourable conclusion and as suchan ultimate step on the duo will betaken next week".

The email, signed by Rumel Asomof the outfit's Publicity depart-ment, said that it had "banned thecompany from operating in SouthEast Asia".

The family members of the em-ployees had recently called uponBarua's brother who also appealedto the ULFA(I) leader to release theduo.

Following the ULFA(I)'s state-ment Friday, there was an appealfrom several organisations, intel-lectuals and even Barua's formercomrade Anup Chetia, who hasjoined the peace talks, not to harmthe two persons.

Assam Minister Himanta BiswaSarma had also appealed to theoutfit to release the two men un-harmed.

ULFA(I) defers decision onfate of abducted oil firm staff

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

Srinagar, Feb 21: A large quan-tity of arms and ammunition wasrecovered after police and securityforces in a joint operation busteda terrorist hideout in SouthKashmir's Anantnag district, of-ficials said Sunday.

Police said the hideout wasbusted after the arrest of a con-spirator of Krishna Dhaba attackin Srinagar.

A large quantity of arms andammunition including three AK56 rifles and two Chinese pistolswere recovered from the hideout.

"Hideout busted in forest areaof Anantnag by the police and se-curity forces after the arrest ofthe conspirator of Krishna Dhabaattack. Arms and ammunition in-cluding three AK 56 rifles, twoChinese pistols, two grenades, tel-escope, AK/Pistol magazines andother incriminating material wererecovered," police said.

Pertinently on Wednesday whena delegation of foreign envoyswas on Kashmir visit terrorists hadattacked famous food outletKrishna Dhaba in Srinagar and in-jured the son of its owner. Thepolice later said Krishna Dhaba ter-rorist attack was worked out within48 hours and three terrorists ofthe Muslim Jaanbaz Force, whichis an offshoot of Lashkar-e-Taibawere arrested.

Terrorist hideout busted, weaponsrecovered in J&K

Page 8: protests continue in myanmar - OrissaPost

These anti-farmer lawsare death warrants to

the farmers. With theimplementation of these laws thecrops will go to the hands of a fewindustrialists and the farmers ofIndia will become labourers intheir own land.ARVIND KEJRIWAL | DELHI CHIEF MINISTER

P8

nationalMONDAY | FEBRUARY 22 | 2021 | BHUBANESWAR

yy

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Primaryeducation inmother

tongue can boostchildrens self-esteem andcreativity and itshould be made the primarymedium of instruction at least untilclass 5

M VENKAIAH NAIDU | VICE PRESIDENT

of theday uote

Love Jihad' is aterm used byright wing

activists to refer toan alleged campaignof Muslims forcingHindu girls toconvert in the guise of love

YOGI ADITYANATH | UTTAR PRADESH CHIEF

MINISTER

Greetings onthe occasionof the

InternationalMother LanguageDay. This dayinspires us to stayconnected with our culturalheritage

AMIT SHAH | UNION HOME MINISTER

3 held over Congleader killingNew Delhi: Three personshave been arrested in Delhiin connection with thekilling of a 34-year-old YouthCongress leader in Punjab'sFaridkot on February 18, theDelhi Police said Sunday.The Punjab Police has beeninformed about the arrest ofFaridkot-residents GurvinderPal (the 32-year-old keyaccused), Sukhwinder Singh(23) and Saurabh Verma (21)in the killing of Gurlal SinghBhalwan, a Delhi Policeofficer said. DeputyCommissioner of Police(Special Cell) ManishiChandra also said two otherassociates of the arrestedaccused are still at largeand efforts are underway tonab them. They all areallegedly members of the Lawrence Vishnoi Gang. Vishnoi is presently inAjmer prison.

Couple, 3 kidsdrown Pune: A couple and theirthree daughters drowned in astream in Pune's Mulshitehsil on Sunday morning,police said. The incident tookplace near Kolwan village,some 40 kilometres from thedistrict headquarters, underPaud police station limits, anofficial said. The deceasedhave been identified asShankar Laygude (38) hiswife Pornima (38), anddaughters Arpita (20), Ankita(13) and Rajashree (12).

Tiger captured Madikeri: A tiger that killedtwo people in Kodagu districtwas captured by the forestdepartment Sunday. Thetiger captured in Manchallivillage was found withinjuries and agedapproximately seven to nineyears, an official said. "Itwas tranquilised by aveterinarian alongside helpfrom tamed elephantsAbhimanyu and Gopal fromMathigodu Elephant Camp".The tiger was later shifted toMysuru Zoo.

11 boys rescued New Delhi: Eleven boys,including an eight-year-old,working as bondedlabourers were rescuedfrom several places in northDelhi's Samaypur Badliarea, a child rights bodysaid on Sunday. Raids wereconducted in seven placesunder the Samaypur Badlipolice station area onFriday following reports ofchildren working aslabourers in hazardousconditions, the DelhiCommission for Protectionof Child Rights (DCPCR)said. Eleven children wererescued during theoperation, it added.

SHORT TAKES

The West Bengal governmentSunday announced a reduction oftax by Re 1 per litre on petrol anddiesel effective from midnight ofFebruary 22

WB GOVT REDUCES TAX ON PETROL, DIESEL

AGENCIES

New Delhi, Feb 21: From 'PagadiSambhal Diwas' to 'Daman VirodhiDiwas, protesting farmers Sundayannounced a series of events fromFebruary 23-27 to further inten-sify their agitation against thethree new agricultural laws asthey accused the government ofadopting "repressive" measuresagainst them.

They also said they will soondevise a strategy to keep the protestgoing for long and will make theirplans public February 28.

The Samyukt Kisan Morcha(SKM), which is spearheadingthe protests, told a press confer-ence here that under their pro-posed escalation programme,February 23 will be observed as'Pagadi Sambhal Diwas' andFebruary 24 as 'Daman VirodhiDiwas', essentially to underlinethat farmers must be respectedand no "repressive measures"should be taken against them.

"The 'Pagdi Sambhal Diwas' willbe celebrated February 23. Thisday will be celebrated in memoryof Chacha Ajit Singh and SwamiSahajanand Saraswati. On this day,farmers will be wearing their re-gional turbans.

"On February 24, 'Daman VirodhiDiwas' is announced in which thefarmers and citizens will protestagainst overall suppression against

the farmers' movement. On thisday, memoranda will be given to thePresident of India via Tehsil anddistrict headquarters," said DarshanPal, a farmer leader The Morchasaid February 26 will be observedas 'Yuva Kisan Diwas' (youth farm-ers day) and February 27 as'Mazdoor Kisan Ekta Divws'(farmer-labourer unity day). "OnFebruary 26, honouring the con-tribution of youth in this move-ment, a 'Yuva Kisan Diwas' will beorganised. On this day all the stagesof SKM will be operated by theyouth. Youth from various states arerequested to join the protesters atDelhi Borders.

"On January 27, on Guru RavidasJayanti and martyrdom day ofShaheed Chandrasekhar Azad,'Kisan Majdoor Ekta Diwas' willbe celebrated. All the citizens areappealed to strengthen this move-ment by joining the protestersDelhi borders," Pal said.

A long-term plan for movementwill be discussed in view of theParliament session from March 8,and the strategy will be shared inthe next meeting of SKM, he said.Darshan Pal, also alleged "re-

pression" by the government.He said around 32 people have gotbail out of 122 arrested by the DelhiPolice in connection with the vio-lence and vandalism in the na-tional capital during a farmers'tractor rally on Republic Day.

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Pondicherry, Feb 21: Two moreMLAs of the Congress- DMK al-liance in Puducherry resigned onSunday, delivering yet another joltto Chief Minister V Narayanasamy,a day before he is scheduled to facea floor test in the assembly to provehis majority.

The resignation by CongressMLA K Lakshminarayanan andDMK legislator Venkatesan fur-ther reduced the strength of theruling alliance to 11, while the op-position has 14 MLAs in the 33-member assembly, which has sevenvacancies. Lakshminarayanan andVenkatesan submitted their res-

ignation letters separately toAssembly Speaker V PSivakolundhu at his residence here,the both said. Speaking to reporters,Lakshminarayanan said, "this gov-ernment led by Narayanasamy haslost majority."

He said he has also resigned fromthe party membership. Later,Venkatesan told the media that hehad quit the post of MLA only andcontinued to be in the DMK.

“I was not able to meet the needsof the people in my constituencysince there was no allocation offunds under the MLA Local AreaDevelopment fund,” he said. FourCongress MLAs--including ex-min-isters A Namassivayam (now in

BJP) and Malladi Krishna Rao hadquit, while another party legislatorwas earlier disqualified.Narayanasamy's confidante A JohnKumar had resigned this week.

Telangana Governor TamilisaiSoundararajan, who was handedover the additional charge ofPuducherry, had Thursday di-rected Narayanasamy to prove hismajority by ordering a floor testFebruary 22.

The resignation of two MLAs'comes on a day when the rulingparty members are slated to meet CM to discuss the futurecourse of action, though similar discussions on February 18 yieldedno results.

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Shahdol (MP), Feb 21: A 20-year-old woman was gang-raped al-legedly by four persons in MadhyaPradesh's Shahdol district, policesaid Sunday.

She was abducted in a four-wheeler, forced to drink liquor ina farmhouse in Gadaghat areaunder Jaitpur police station lim-its and then gang-raped onFebruary 18 and 19, said ShahdolAdditional Superintendent ofPolice (ASP) Mukesh Vaish. "OnFebruary 20, the four accuseddumped her in front of her house.She filed a police complaint onSunday.

The victim was first taken toJaitpur health centre and thenshifted to the district hospital fortreatment," he added.

The four were booked on Sunday,and police are verifying if one ofthem is the functionary of a po-litical party, the Additional SPsaid. Efforts are underway to nabthe four accused, he added.

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

Varanasi (UP), Feb 21: Social or-ganisations and even individu-als, performing 'Ganga Aarti' atvarious ghats will now have to getregistered with the VaranasiMunicipal Corporation (VMC).

The decision has been taken bythe district administration tocheck encroachments on the river-front, which is a public property.

The municipal authorities havealso been asked to prepare therecords of the 'Ganga Aarti'.District magistrate Kaushal RajSharma has asked the munici-pal authorities to prepare therecords of the Ganga aarti andcomplete the registration processby March end.

Thereafter, no such activitieswould be allowed on the ghatswithout the registration and priorpermission of the VMC. "Theriverfront is a public propertyowned by the state governmentand being looked after by theVaranasi Municipal Corporation,"

said the district magistrate in aletter to VMC.

"It has been noticed that quiteoften that some people indulgein disputes over holding GangaAarti. The municipal corpora-tion should make a specific reg-ulation for organising the GangaAarti along the ghats. The VMCshould register the aarti organ-isers with the allotment of space,which should be renewed everyyear. Besides, it should also beensured that no aarti is organisedby any individual or organisa-tion without the VMC's permis-sion," he said. The VMC has alsobeen directed to nominate a nodalofficer to look after the wholeprocess.

PONDICHERRY GOVT IN TROUBLE

WOMAN FORCED TO DRINK LIQUOR,GANGRAPED

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

Lucknow, Feb 21: Death row con-vict Shabnam, who was awarded thedeath sentence for killing sevenmembers of her family in April2008, has filed a fresh mercy petitionto Uttar Pradesh Gover norAnandiben Patel and President ofIndia Ram Nath Kovind.

According to Anand Kumar,Director General (prison depart-ment and reform services), Shabnamhad also approached the UttarPradesh Governor earlier for pardon,but Patel had rejected her petition.

"A copy of mercy appeal to theUP governor by death-row convictprisoner Shabnam through herlawyer regarding Supreme Courtorder dated May 25, 2015, was madeavailable to our office to be for-warded," said Rampur jail super-intendent.

Sources said that two lawyershad met Shabnam in Rampur jailon Friday and convinced her tosend a mercy petition to theGovernor of Uttar Pradesh.

Confirming that a second mercypetition has been sent to theGovernor and the President of

India, Shabnam's lawyer ShreyaRastogi, in a press release, claimedthat 'news reports should correct thefactual and legal positions regardingthe remaining remedies availableto Shabnam.'

She said in the release, "Shabnamhas several constitutional reme-dies that remain to be exercised.These include the right to challengethe rejection of her mercy petitionbefore the Allahabad HC and theSupreme Court on various grounds.She also has the right to file a cur-ative petition in the SC."

The development comes a dayafter 12-year-old son of Shabnam Aliappealed to the President of India

on social media to consider hismother's mercy plea again.

"President uncle ji, please for-give my mother Shabnam," read aplacard that he was seen holding ina viral video.

Shabnam, now 38, has been con-victed for killing seven members ofher family -- her mother, father,two brothers, sister-in-law, cousinand 10-month-old nephew -- afterthey opposed her relationship withSalim, also a resident of the sameAmroha village.

The two slit the throats of allthe seven persons after servingthem sedative-spiked milk. Shabnamwas pregnant at that time.

Shabnam files fresh mercy petition

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

New Delhi, Feb 21: Just reducedto one seat from the state in the 2019Lok Sabha elections, the Congressis looking to gain ground in UttarPradesh with party GeneralSecretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra'scampaigns for various sectionsseeking to change equations and make the party emerge asmain challenger to the ruling BJPon the streets.

She is trying hard to makeCongress a serious challenger tothe BJP, by seeking to woo mar-ginalised sections of society. Havingraised the issue of farmers in west-ern UP, she is now championingthe cause of fishermen in easternUP. Her target is a big chunk of the

OBC Nishad community, which hasstood by the Samajwadi Party, theBahujan Samaj Party, and is now

with the Bharatiya Janata Party.Priyanka Gandhi had recently

taken a holy dip at the Triveni

Sangam in Prayagraj on 'MauniAmavasya' and had travelled inboatman Sujit Nishad's boat who in-formed her of the "atrocities" beingcommitted on local boatmen.

She had assured that the Congresswould fight legally for the rightsof the boatmen and when the partycomes to power, boatmen would begiven land holdings.

After her Prayagraj visit,Congress leader Acharya PramodKrishnam said: "Only Congress un-derstands the pain of poor."

Priyanka Gandhi has to startfrom scratch, be it the panchayat polls or the local body elections andthe Assembly elections next year. The Congress leader is workinghard to make inroads in the most populous state, which it has been out

of power for three decades now.The farmers' agitation has given

a boost but sustaining it till electionsis difficult task and countering theBJP's aggressive Hindutva is alsoa major challenge for the party. But,Priyanka Gandhi is fighting on,and hitting out at the BJP.

In a speech Saturday, she hadsaid: "In our old stories, kings andqueens became arrogant after theywon power. After becoming PrimeMinister twice, the PM is also show-ing arrogance."

"The Central government shouldrespect the farmers. Why is Modijinot talking to the farmers whoelected him as Prime Minister?Dialogue should be initiated withthe farmers and their problemsmust be solved," she had said.

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Feb 21: Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on Sunday askedBJP workers to strengthen andexpand the party with the mottoof 'nation first' and said its missionis to work for the country.

Modi was addressing the firstmeeting of the BJP's new set of na-tional office-bearers, during whichthe party also passed a resolutionthanking him for reforms in theagriculture sector and for his ableleadership in effective handling ofthe COVID-19 situation. PrimeMinister Modi at the meeting saidthe party's mission is to work forthe country and its development,BJP general secretary BhupenderYadav said at a press conference.

He also asked BJP workers tostrengthen and expand the or-ganisation with the motto of "na-tion first", Yadav said. During themeeting, which was chaired byBJP chief J P Nadda, PrimeMinister Modi told party leadersto take the benefits of the newfarm laws to the people.

The meeting was inauguratedby Modi and it started by payingtributes to those who lost theirlives due to the coronavirus. Thepolitical resolution was passedthanking the prime minister forthe reforms in the agriculturesector and his able leadership ineffective handling of the pan-demic, BJP vice president RamanSingh said.

He said the resolution also high-lights the Garib Kalyan Yojanaduring the pandemic, compre-hensive budget and diligent han-dling of the situation on the Lineof Actual Control with China.

Earlier, BJP general secretaryArun Singh had informed thatduring the course of the meet,discussions will be held on farmlaws, Aatmanirbhar Bharat and up-coming state polls. The meeting,which was also being attended byBJP state unit presidents, assumessignificance as it came amid fierceprotests by a section of farmers inPunjab, Haryana and westernUttar Pradesh against the threenew farm laws.

PM addresses BJP’s nationaloffice bearers meet

NO ‘GANGA AARTI’ WITHOUTPERMISSION NOW

Priyanka’s campaigns in UP may bolster Cong position

The developmentcomes a day after 12-year-old son ofShabnam Ali appealedto the President ofIndia on social mediato consider his mother’smercy plea again

PRIYANKA GANDHI HAD RECENTLY TAKEN A HOLY DIP AT THE TRIVENI SANGAM IN PRAYAGRAJ ON 'MAUNI AMAVASYA' AND HADTRAVELLED IN BOATMAN SUJIT NISHAD'S BOAT WHO INFORMED HER OF THE "ATROCITIES" BEING COMMITTED ON LOCAL BOATMEN

Congress MLA Lakshminarayanangives his resignation to AssemblySpeaker VP Sivakozhundu, a day beforethe floor test in the Assembly PTI

Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan, who was handed over the additional charge of Pondicherry, had Thursday directed Narayanasamy to prove his majority by ordering a floor test February 22

Farmers announceseries of events to escalate stir

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Mumbai, Feb 21: MaharashtraChief Minister Uddhav Thackerayon Sunday said that in view of therising COVID-19 cases, religious, so-cial and political gatherings will beprohibited in the state from Monday.

Asking people to follow "COVID-appropriate" behaviour and safetynorms, he said he would observe fora week to 15 days and then decidewhether to impose another lock-down. "Wear masks, observe disciplineand maintain social distancing toavoid another lockdown," Thackeraytold the people of the state.

In his televised address againstthe backdrop of the sudden surgein coronavirus cases, he said thenumber of daily infection caseshas risen from 2,500 to 7,000 within15 days. "The pandemic is raising itshead in the state again, but whetherthis is a second wave will be knownin eight to 15 days," he said.

Till a few days ago, the dailyspike of cases was between 2,000 and2,500, he said. There are 53,000 ac-tive cases in the state. Even in cities

like Amravati, the spike being wit-nessed now was not so high whenthe state saw a peak in COVID-19cases earlier, he said, adding, "Thisis alarming."

"We felt that the pandemic isunder control and a lot of hardwork had gone into bringing itunder control," the chief ministersaid. "Religious, social and politicalgatherings will be prohibited in thestate from tomorrow. Political agi-tations with crowd will have to bestopped for some time...All of usneedto expand and spread our politicalbase including myself, my alliesand the opposition parties," he said.

People should follow 'Mi zabab-dar' (I am responsible) campaign,he said. "In the war against thevirus there is no sword as yet but

face mask is the only shield.Vaccination has begun. Trials oftwo more vaccines are on. It is onlyafter that common citizens will getdoses," he said.

So far, nine lakh frontline COVID-19 warriors have been vaccinatedand no serious side effects havebeen noticed, he said, and urgedall the frontline and health careworkers to get themselves inocu-lated. People who have become neg-ligent should not let the sacrificesof the coronavirus warriors go inwaste. If you can't be a COVID war-rior, don't become a COVID "doot"(carrier), he said.

"The second wave is knockingat our doors. It is upto us to decidewhether to allow it in our livesagain. Wear a face mask, use sani-tiser and maintain social distanc-ing. I will observe for a week to 15days to take a decision if it is thepeople who want a lockdown," hesaid. He asked the people to followwork from home practice andreschedule their work hours sothat there is no crowding in publicplaces.

FIGHT RESUMES

MAHA BANS GATHERINGS

Page 9: protests continue in myanmar - OrissaPost

P10MONDAY | FEBRUARY 22 | 2021 | BHUBANESWAR

internationalOur first goalis protection

and that is what wesee is with both theinitial vaccines: Pfizerand the AstraZenecavaccineSCOTT MORRISON | PRIME MINISTER, AUSTRALIA

Russia has confirmed the firstcase of human infection withthe avian influenza A(H5N8)virus in the world, a Russiansanitary official announced

1st CASE OF BIRD FLUINFECTION IN HUMAN

cmyk

cmyk

It’s a usefulexchange onour defence

cooperation. Indiawill always be areliable securitypartner for theMaldives

S JAISHANKAR | INDIAN EXTERNAL AFFAIRS

MINISTER

of theday uote

We’ve comeback to theearly part of

2020 where againIran is a potentiallybig threat

CHARLES FORRESTER |SENIOR ANALYST, JANES

As thegovernmenthas taken

responsibility inverifying theirsafety and efficacy,we ask that youtrust them and fully participate inreceiving inoculation of thevaccines

CHUNG SYE-KYUN | PRIME MINISTER, SOUTH KOREA

Oz begins vax driveCanberra: Prime MinisterScott Morrison has becomeone of the first Australians toreceive a coronavirusvaccine. Morrison Sundaymorning received his firstdose of the Pfizer Covid-19vaccine alongside ChiefMedical Officer Paul Kellyand a small group of agedcare residents and staff andfrontline pandemic workers,the Xinhua news reported.Jane Malysiak, an 84-year-oldWorld War II survivor, wasthe first Australian to receivea vaccine, according to amedia report.

Sudan floats currencyCairo: Sudan took theunprecedented but expectedstep of floating its currencySunday, meeting a majordemand by internationalfinancial institutions to helptransitional authoritiesoverhaul the batteredeconomy. The floatation isthe boldest economicmeasure taken by thetransitional government thathas ruled Sudan after apopular uprising led to themilitary's overthrow ofautocrat Omar al-Bashir inApril 2019. Sudan's currencywill now fluctuate accordingto supply and demand,according to a statement bythe Central Bank.

Israel reopenseconomyJerusalem: Israel lifted manyof its coronavirusrestrictions and startedreopening its economySunday as the country'svaccination drive and thirdnationwide lockdown havestarted to bring downinfections. Most gradeschool and high schoolclasses have reopened aftera nearly two-month closure,along with museums,libraries, malls and markets.Some restrictions on thenumber of people inattendance remain in place.

UK hastens vax driveLondon: The Britishgovernment announcedSunday that it aims to giveevery adult in the country afirst dose of coronavirusvaccine by July 31, a monthearlier than its previoustarget. The new target alsoaims for everyone over 50 orwith an underlying healthcondition to get a vaccineshot by April 15, rather thanthe previous target of May 1.The makers of the twovaccines that Britain isusing, Pfizer andAstraZeneca, have bothexperienced supplyproblems in Europe.

SHORT TAKES

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Yangon, Feb 21: Crowds inMyanmar’s capital attended a fu-neral Sunday for the young womanwho was the first person confirmedto have been killed in protestsagainst the military’s takeover,just one day after security forcesshot dead two more demonstra-tors.

Mya Thwet Thwet Khine wasshot in the head by police Feb 9, twodays before her 20th birthday, at aprotest in the capital, Naypyitaw,and died Friday.

Mourners lined the entrance toa cemetery in the city as the hearsecarrying her body arrived and wastaken to a crematorium where morepeople had gathered. They silentlyraised their hands in three-fingeredsalutes — a sign of defiance and re-sistance adopted from neighbor-ing Thailand — as the black and goldvehicle rolled slowly past.

Inside the crematorium hall, thelid on Mya Thwet Thwet Khine’s cof-fin was partially removed to allowa last glimpse of her head restingon a bed of red and white rosesbefore she was cremated. Membersof the crowd outside chanted “Ouruprising must succeed!”

Protesters elsewhere in Myanmargathered again Sunday for streetdemonstrations that have beengoing on for more than two weeks.

In Yangon, Myanmar’s biggestcity, about 1,000 demonstratorsbegan the day by honoring MyaThwet Thwet Khine at a ceremonyunder an elevated roadway.

“I want to say through the mediato the dictator and his associates,we are peaceful demonstrators,”said protester Min Htet Naing.“Stop the genocide! Stop usinglethal weapons!”

There were also protests inMyawaddy, on the border withThailand, and at Inle Lake, a pop-ular scenic tourist attraction, wheredozens of its famous long tailedwooden boats were moored nearshore and those aboard chantedanti-coup slogans.

Demonstrators turned out inforce in Mandalay, the country’ssecond-biggest city, where secu-rity forces shot dead two peopleon Saturday near a dockyard wherethe authorities had been trying toforce workers to load a boat. Theworkers, like railway workers andtruckers and many civil servants,have joined a civil disobediencecampaign against the junta.

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Islamabad, Feb 21: Pakistan isunlikely to exit the 'grey list' of theFATF as some European countrieshave taken the stand that Islamabadhas not fully implemented all thepoints of a plan of action set by it,a media report said Sunday, on theeve of the plenary meeting of theglobal watchdog for money laun-dering and terror financing.

The Paris-based Financial ActionTask Force had placed Pakistan onthe grey list June 2018 and askedIslamabad to implement a plan ofaction to curb money laundering andterror financing by the end of 2019but the deadline was extended lateron due to COVID-19 pandemic.

The virtual FATF plenary will be

held in Paris from February 22 to25 to consider cases of variouscountries on the grey list, includ-ing Pakistan, and a decision will bemade at the conclusion of the meet-ings, Dawn newspaper reported.

In the last plenary held October2020, the FATF concluded that

Pakistan will continue in its “greylist” till February 2021 as it hasfailed to fulfill six out of 27 obliga-tions of the global money laun-dering and terrorist financingwatchdog that include failure totake action against two of India'smost wanted terrorists – Jaish-e

Mohammad chief Maulana MasoodAzhar and Jamaat-ud-Dawah headHafiz Saeed.

Azhar and Saeed are most wantedterrorists in India for their in-volvement in numerous terroristacts, including 26 11 Mumbai terrorattacks and bombing of a CRPFbus at Pulwama in Jammu andKashmir last year.

An official source close to thesedevelopments told the paper onSaturday that Pakistan had compliedwith the six recommendations andalso submitted details to the FATFsecretariat. The members wouldnow evaluate Pakistan's responsesduring the meeting, the source said,adding that the decision would betaken after a consensus among themembers.

AGENCIES

Beijing, Feb 21: China has ap-proved 16 domestically made Covid-19 vaccines for clinical trials, sixof which have entered phase 3,according to the latest data fromthe National Medical ProductsAdministration.

Two inactivated Covid-19 vac-cines from China have hit the mar-ket on a conditional basis: a vac-cine from China National BiotecGroup affiliated with Sinopharm,and the CoronaVac vaccine de-veloped by Sinovac Biotech. Theyreceived their respective approvalsfrom the administration December30, 2020, and February 5 this year.In addition to inactivated vac-cines, China has adopted four tech-nological approaches to Covid-19vaccines: recombinant proteinvaccines, adenovirus vector vac-cines, nucleic acid vaccines andvaccines using attenuated in-fluenza viruses as vectors. As ofFebruary 9, China has adminis-tered 40.52 million Covid-19 vaccinedoses to key groups, said NationalHealth Commission spokesper-son Mi Feng at a press conference.

REUTERS

Yangon, Feb 21: FacebookSunday deleted the main page ofthe Myanmar military under itstandards prohibiting the in-citement of violence, the com-pany said, a day after two pro-testers were killed when policeopened fire at a demonstrationagainst the Feb 1 coup.

“In line with our global policies,we’ve removed the TatmadawTrue News Information TeamPage from Facebook for repeatedviolations of our CommunityStandards prohibiting incitementof violence and coordinatingharm,” a Facebook representativesaid in a statement.

The Myanmar military isknown as the Tatmadaw. Its TrueNews page was not availableSunday.

The military spokesman didnot respond to a Reuters phone callseeking comment.

Facebook in recent years hasengaged with civil rights activistsand democratic political parties

in Myanmar and pushed backagainst the military after comingunder heavy international criti-cism for failing to contain onlinehate campaigns.

In 2018, it banned army chiefMin Aung Hlaing - now the mil-itary ruler - and 19 other seniorofficers and organisations, andtook down hundreds of pagesand accounts run by militarymembers for coordinated inau-thentic behaviour.

Ahead of November elections,Facebook announced it had takendown a network of 70 fake ac-counts and pages operated bymembers of the military that hadposted either positive contentabout the army or criticism ofSuu Kyi and her party.

SERAPHIC SMILE

An internally displaced Syrian girl looks out of a tent as she poses for a picture in northern Aleppo near the Syrian-Turkish border,Syria REUTERS PHOTO

Pakistan unlikely to exit ‘grey list’

China okays clinicaltrials of 16 vaccines

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Barcelona, Feb 21: A fifth nightof peaceful protests to denouncethe imprisonment of a Spanish rapartist once more devolved intoclashes between police and themembers of fringe groups who setup street barricades and smashedstorefront windows Saturday nightin downtown Barcelona.

Small groups made up mostlyof young people began their nightlycat-and-mouse game with officersan hour after several thousand pro-testers gathered in the capital ofSpain’s Catalonia region, whichalso was where the worst violencetook place during earlier demon-strations this week over rapperPablo Hasél’s detention.

Police were also pelted by rocksafter a march in the Catalan townof Lleida, where Hasél spent 24hours barricaded a university build-ing before police took him away toserve a 9-month prison sentencefor insulting the Spanish monarchyand praising terrorist violence in

his music. Catalonia’s regional po-lice force said there also was defi-ance in the city of Tarragona, wheregroups threw glass bottles at po-lice lines and smashed store win-dows. Police reported at least 11 ar-rests from Saturday, including threeminors. The worst of the riotingoccurred on Barcelona’s Passeigde Gràcia, the city’s most fashion-able shopping boulevard home to art-deco apartment buildings consideredarchitectural treasures.

The mob worked its way up thestreet, smashing store front win-dows, toppling motorbikes, andmounting barricades with metalstreet barriers and burning trashcontainers to slow the police pur-

suit. Some even took the fight to po-lice lines, forcing officers to useshields to protect them from hurledrocks. Police said that they hadidentified one “youth” for targetinga police helicopter with a laser fortwo hours. After pouring out of ar-mored vans, police wielded batonsand fired foam bullets to dispersethe groups.

The disorder appears to havecome from a fringe group of mainlyyounger people who constituted asmall share of the thousands ofparticipants who joined in marchesto support Hasél and to oppose theSpanish laws used to prosecutehim. Around 90 people have beenarrested and more than 100 peopleinjured since Hasél’s arrest Tuesday.

Barcelona Mayor Ada Colaumade an appeal for calm.

“Defending the freedom of ex-pression doesn’t justify in any casethe destruction of property, fright-ening our fellow citizens, and hurt-ing businesses already hurt by thecrisis caused by the pandemic,”the mayor said.

Peaceful protests for jailedrapper see more clashes

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Miami, Feb 21: You’re fully vac-cinated against the coronavirus —now what? Don’t expect to shedyour mask and get back to normalactivities right away. That’s goingto be a disappointment, if not ashock, to many people.

But the Centers for DiseaseControl and Prevention hasn’t yetchanged its guidelines: At least fornow, people should follow the samerules as everybody else about wear-ing a mask, keeping a 6-foot dis-tance and avoiding crowds — evenafter they’ve gotten their secondvaccine dose. Vaccines in use sofar require two doses, and expertssay especially don’t let your guarddown after the first dose.

“You’re asking a very logicalquestion,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, the

top U.S. infectious disease expert,responded when a 91-year-oldCalifornia woman recently asked ifshe and her vaccinated friendscould resume their mah-jongggames. In that webcast exchange,Fauci only could point to the CDC’srecommendations, which so far aremum about exceptions for vacci-

nated people getting together. “Hangon,” he told the woman, saying heexpected updates to the guidelinesas more people get the coveted shots.

What experts also need to learn:The vaccines are highly effective atpreventing symptomatic COVID-19, especially severe illness anddeath — but no one yet knows how

well they block spread of the coronavirus.

It’s great if the vaccine meanssomeone who otherwise would havebeen hospitalized instead just hasthe sniffles, or even no symptoms.But “the looming question,” Faucisaid during a White House coron-avirus response briefing last week,is whether a person infected de-spite vaccination can still, unwit-tingly, infect someone else.

Studies are underway to find out,and hints are starting to emerge.Fauci pointed to recent researchfrom Spain showing the more coro-navirus an infected person harbors— what’s called the viral load —the more infectious they are. That’snot surprising, as it’s true withother illnesses.

Some preliminary findings fromIsrael have suggested people in-

fected after the first vaccine dose,when they’re only partially pro-tected, had smaller viral loads thanunvaccinated people who got in-fected. That’s encouraging if thefindings hold up. Israel has vacci-nated a large fraction of its popu-lation and scientists worldwide arewatching how the outbreak re-sponds as those inoculations increase.

Also critical is tracking whetherthe vaccines protect against new, mu-tated versions of the virus that arespreading rapidly in some coun-tries. But most people should feel“more confident about going shop-ping, for example, or going to seeyour grandkids, or giving yourdaughter a hug”.

That’s because the chances of afully vaccinated person getting se-riously ill, while not zero, are low.

AGENCIES

United Nations, Feb 21: UN chiefAntonio Guterres has voiced ap-preciation for India's leadership inthe global fight against the coro-navirus pandemic and its effortsto bring a “much-needed supply”of the COVID-19 vaccines to theworld market.

India 's Per manentRe presentative to the UNAmbassador T S Tirumurti tweetedon Saturday that Guterres, in aletter dated February 17, “extendshis personal gratitude” to ExternalAffairs Minister S Jaishankar for“India's offer of 200,000 doses" ofCOVID-19 vaccines for UN peace-keepers.

The Secretary-General says“India has been a global leader inpandemic response efforts”,Tirumurti tweeted, expressinghis gratitude to the UN Chief.

In an excerpt of the lettertweeted by Tirumurti, Guterressays, “Indeed, India has been aglobal leader in pandemic responseefforts having provided criticalmedicines, diagnostic kits, venti-lators and personal protectiveequipment to more than 150 coun-tries.

“Efforts by India in developingand manufacturing one of the twovaccines currently grantedEmergency Use Listing by theWorld Health Organization bringsa much-needed supply to the globalvaccine market. I also appreciateyour continued efforts to supportand strengthen the COVAX Facilityto ensure more equitable access.”

COVAX is a global initiativeaimed at equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines. Wednesday, India,which has been hailed as the phar-macy of the world, announced thegift of 200,000 COVID-19 doses forUN peacekeepers.

UN chief appreciatesIndia's leadership infight against COVID

Facebook takes down mainpage of Myanmar military

Funeral and moreprotests follow deadly shootings in Myanmar

What’s safe after COVID-19 jab? Don’t shed masks yet

Page 10: protests continue in myanmar - OrissaPost

The strategic importance of

aluminium for India toachieve the vision of be-coming a $5 trillion econ-

omy cannot be overstated.Aluminium finds critical usage incore sectors like defence, aerospace,transportation, energy security,building & construction many more.It gives all that contemporary timedemands: speed, saving & sustain-ability. As India emerges from theglobal public health crisis, it con-tinues to be the third largest pro-ducer of aluminium globally, withdomestic aluminium demand ex-pected to double in next five yearsfrom the current 4 million tonnesto 8 million tonnes per annum.

To keep up with this fast-surg-ing domestic demand, production ofbauxite – the ore from which alu-

minium is produced, needs togrow from the current levelsof 22 million tonnes to 50 mil-lion tonnes per year @ 6T onbauxite per 1 ton aluminium.Growth of bauxite miningand aluminium is estimatedto attract fresh investment ofover `2 lakh crore.

Already, sizeableinvestments ofover ̀ 1.5 lakhcrore in thebauxitemining andaluminiumsector havecreatedover 20lakh liveli-hood op-portu-

nities. This has alsodeveloped over 4,000MSMEs in the hin-terland where therewere limited op-portunities therebyconnecting them tothe economic main-stream of the coun-

try. This indus-try has

potential tocreate ad-ditional

employ-ment

opportunities for 1million people.India possesses world’s fifth

largest reserve of bauxite. Despitethis, there has been not a singles u c c e s s f u l a u c t i o n o f a nyMetallurgical Grade Bauxite Minein last five years by the state gov-ernments, since inception of auc-tion regime. This has led to asurge in import of bauxite, one ofIndia’s most abundant ores, tofeed the rapidly increasing do-mestic consumption and hascaused a loss of $400 million to theIndian exchequer.

This has also severely impactedthe opportunity to generate mass

scale employment and socio-eco-nomic development in aspira-tional districts of the country.

The opening of a single bauxitemine has the potential to generateover 10,000 livelihood opportuni-ties leading to poverty alleviationin these far-flung areas, as wellas contributing an additional ̀ 5,000crore to the state revenue.

Bringing India’s 3.8 billion tonsof bauxite reserves into auctionand increasing the capacity of ex-isting mines by at least 50% willbe key to moving India towards be-coming ‘Atma Nirbhar’ by im-proving the global competitive-ness of country’s aluminiumindustry.

The primary reason for vari-ous state governments not beingable to auction the bauxite min-

eral blocks is due to the presentpricing structure which links theselling price of the end product tothe back calculated method of de-termination of the Average SalePrice (ASP) of metallurgical gradebauxite without factoring trans-portation cost; thus eroding costadvantage of Indian bauxite andrendering aluminium productionunviable in the country. This hasalso led to a pause in additionalinvestment of over ̀ 50,000 croresin the aluminium sector due to thefutility of the current bauxiteASP determination methodology.

With our tremendous wealthof natural resources, it is timefor the government to find a so-lution to reduce the import de-pendency of bauxite by enhanc-ing domestic production.

P11

businessMONDAY | FEBRUARY 22 | 2021 | BHUBANESWAR

We expect the domestic marketto continue following the global

markets in the coming week due to lackof any major domestic events. The GDPdata for Q3 which is expected to showsigns of economic recovery addingpositive momentum in Indian marketVINOD NAIR | HEAD OF RESEARCH,GEOJIT FINANCIAL SERVICES

Railway Minister Piyush Goyal hasdirected all zonal railways to come upwith "sustainable" ideas for reducingrailway expenses and rationalisingcosts, to cope up with the impact ofthe Covid-19 pandemic

‘ZONAL RAILWAYS MUSTADOPT SUSTAINABLE IDEAS’

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Climatechange isalready upon

us as is evident byextreme weatherevents beingwitnessed acrossthe world, be it the freeze in Texas,the deadly glacier-break inUttarakhand or the changing winterpattern in Munnar

SUYASH GUPTA | DG, INDIAN

AUTO LPG COALITION

of theday uote

Technology isbecoming thelifeline for us

as individuals andalso businesses. Ifthere was anydoubt, the year 2020showed how fundamental it hasbecome. Technology played animportant role in ensuring that thegovernment's social schemes andassistance programmes in reachingout to the masses

AZIM PREMJI | IT CZAR

At the end of 9months of thisfiscal, we have

grown at about 11%.And, we hope thatthe number will getaccelerated further.We are expected to grow higherthan 11% (by the end of March 2021)

PRASHANT TRIPATHY | MD & CEO, MAX LIFE

Amara Raja setsup research hubMumbai: Amara RajaBatteries, the country'ssecond-largest automotivebattery maker, has openedthe country's maidentechnology hub to developlithium-ion cells, at itsTirupati facility in AndhraPradesh. The advancedlithium-ion technologyresearch hub, the pilotproject located in Tirupati,will become the country'sfirst lithium-ion cellmanufacturing facility in theprivate sector, Amara RajaBatteries CEO S Vijayanand said.

RBI ropes inPunjabi rapperNew Delhi: Amidst anunprecedented rise in cyberfrauds and manifold jump inonline financial transactions,the RBI, in a quirky bid todrive its public awarenesscampaigns, has roped inPunjabi singer-rapper Virussto drive home its points thistime. Launched officially overthe weekend on its twitterhandle, the campaignfeatures Viruss, whose 2017Indie hit ‘Bam Bhole wasrecreated recently.

Hopeful of reachingsolution: CairnNew Delhi: After three daysof talks with top financeministry officials, UK's CairnEnergy plc Sunday said it ishopeful of reaching anamicable resolution on $1.4billion that an arbitrationaward has ordered India toreturn, but insisted it willcontinue to take steps toprotect shareholder interest.Cairn CEO Simon Thomsonheld discussions withFinance Secretary AjayBhushan Pandey and overhalf a dozen other seniorofficials between February 18 and 20.

Govt may considerprivatisation moveNew Delhi: The governmentmay consider privatisingOriental Insurance or theUnited India Insurance Co astheir financial health hasimproved after a series ofcapital infusions, peopleaware of the developmentsaid. To further strengthentheir financial health, thegovernment is expected toinfuse `3,000 crore in thepublic sector generalinsurance companiesduring the current quarter.

SHORT TAKES

‘India imports bauxite despite vast reserves’Leveraging abundant domestic bauxite reserves is crucial for self-reliance & global competitiveness of Indian aluminium industry

IN FOCUS

(Dr Tapan Kumar Chand is the Ex-CMD of NALCO & author of the book

– “Aluminium: The Strategic Metal”)

Sunak plans newTech Visas to boostUK fintech: ReportPRESS TRUST OF INDIA

London, Feb 21: Chancellor ofthe Exchequer Rishi Sunak isplanning to lay out details of newfast-track “Tech Visas” in hisBudget statement next month aspart of efforts to boost the UK's fi-nancial technology industry, ac-cording to a UK media report.

The senior Cabinet ministerhas drawn up details for the schemeto attract global talent to UK start-ups and its GBP 7-billion fintechsector, proposals which are said tohave the backing of his boss -- UKPrime Minister Boris Johnson.

‘The Daily Telegraph' quotedWhitehall sources with knowl-edge of the plans to say that the newvisas are likely to be approved byTech Nation, Britain's nationalnetwork representing tech entre-preneurs.

“The final details are still beingdrawn up, but insiders expect itwill be similar to the Global TalentVisa announced last year to attractthe world's leading scientists toBritaint,” the newspaper claims.

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Feb 21: The Centreplans to permit sale of 50 per centof coal/lignite produced by captiveblocks, a move aimed at augment-ing the production and increasingthe availability of dry fuel.

The government plans to do sothrough incorporation of a provi-sion in the Mines and Minerals(Development and Regulation) Act,1957 (MMDR).

"In the note for consultation ofMinistry of Mines, it is proposed toincorporate a provision in the Actto allow sale of 50 per cent of coal/lig-nite produced by captive mines onan annual basis. Further, an addi-tional amount will be charged on themerchant sales of coal/lignite by thecaptive miners," the coal ministrysaid in brief note.

The ministry said that it has in-vited comments from the state gov-ernments of coal-bearing states

and stakeholders/general publicon the said proposals.

The Ministry of Mines has alsoinvited comments of the state gov-ernments, among others, on theproposals for additional amend-ments being considered in theMMDR Act.

"The ministry of mines has alsosought comments of Ministry ofCoal on the said draft proposal.Some of the said draft proposals

are applicable in the case of coal/lig-nite also....Before sending the finalcomments/response to the Ministryof Mines, it is considered appro-priate to seek comments of state gov-ernments of coal bearing states...onissues relating to coal/lignite," thecoal ministry said.

In India, the import of coal isincreasing on year on year basis. In2015-16, the country imported 203.95million tonnes (MT) of coal which

was increased to 248.54 MT in 2019-20 and consequent spending ofaround 1.58 lakh crore in foreign ex-change.

Coal being an important input forvarious core sector industries, in-creasing availability of coal willlead to Aatmanirbhar Bharat.

Allowing sale of coal from cap-tive mines will help in increase inproduction of fossil-fuel from cap-tive mines and increase availabil-ity of dry fuel in the market, lead-ing to reduction in import of coal.

It is further proposed to specifythe additional amount payable onsuch sale in the Act itself insteadof leaving it to be specified underthe rules framed under the Act inthe same manner as will be speci-fied for the other minerals.

The additional amount to becharged has been deliberated inthe coal ministry, it said.

Centre to permitsale of 50 pc coal

from captive blocks

Private sector key driverof economic growth: FM

BUDGET 2021

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Bangalore, Feb 21: FinanceMinister Nirmala SitharamanSunday said the Union Budget 2021-22 is about the role of governmentas a facilitator and the private sec-tor as a key driver of economicgrowth, without which the countrywould be losing a big opportunity.

The most important componentor input required here is the par-ticipation of the private sector.Unless the private sector is energisedenough, unless the private sector isfacilitated enough, India is just los-ing a very big opportunity, she saidhere during an interactive sessionorganised by the BangaloreChamber of Industry andCommerce.

Sitharaman underlined that trhenation's growing and aspiring needsand demands across the varioussectors cannot be served just bythe state government and centralgovernments put together.

According to the FinanceMinister, the coronavirus vaccinewas a big example of government-private partnership.

To be a world leader with that spe-cific India touch, which is morehumane, which is more about bring-

ing everybody together, which ispeaceful, which actually wishesthat the world progresses for every-body’s good," she told the gathering.

"If that is the way India ap-proaches its responsibility, thatwill be incomplete unless the gov-ernment plays the role, it is ex-pected to play the facilitator and un-less the private sector plays therole of a key driver. So thats the mes-sage this budget has talked about,the Finance Minister said.

Sitharaman said the Budget wasabout setting the path for the decade.

She pointed out that the stimu-lus package, which largely dependedon government’s borrowing, was

aimed at sectors which provided themultiplying effect such as infra-structure, the budget funding, wherepublic expenditure was going tobe undertaken.

She said the government hasclearly funded stimulus with the bor-rowed money, and was aware offiscal management.

Debt to GDP, another indicatorwhich is important for a healthyeconomy, has to be carefully man-aged in such a way that sooner ina sense, in a reasonable timeframe,the fiscal deficit will also be keptunder the healthy level and not letunattended for decades together,Sitharaman said.

AGENCIES

New Delhi, Feb 21: India-UK bi-lateral relations will touch a newhigh in the post-COVID world, asIndia is likely to be a priority coun-try for the UK, leading to an en-hanced economic partnership, ac-cording to a report.

According to the Britain MeetsIndia report, developed by CII andGrant Thornton Bharat, FDI inflowfrom the UK to India for a particu-lar year increased from $898 millionin 2015-16 to $1,422 million in 2019-20.

Sandeep Chakravorty, JointSecretary (Western Europe),Ministry of External Affairs, said,“Besides a free trade agreement, mo-bility and an interim trade deal, weare working on a 10-year 360 de-gree roadmap to strengthen ourrelationship with the UK. Goingforward, we see investments inIndia's clean energy sector com-ing from the UK.”

Pallavi Joshi Bakhru, Partnerand India-UK Corridor Leader, GrantThornton Bharat LLP said, “Our re-search identified 572 UK compa-nies in India with a combinedturnover of around `3,390 billion,tax payment of around ̀ 173 billionand employing 416,121 people di-rectly. This reflects the important con-tribution made by the UK companiesto the Indian economy as a key allyin India's growth story.”

The list of 'fastest growing UK

companies in India' includes DysonTechnology, Aviva Life Insurance,Diageo Business Services, RMDKwikform and FMC Technologies,among others, says the report.

The list of 'top 20 UK companiesby revenue' includes Vedanta,Vodafone, Hindustan Unilever,United Spirits India, etc. Also, G4SGroup, Vedanta Resources andHSBC Holdings feature in 'top UKemployers in India'. Among thestates, Maharashtra tops as theleading investment destination forUK companies followed by Haryana,Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Telangana andKarnataka. Moreover, industrialand business services are top sec-tors being eyed by UK firms.

‘Indo-UK ties to touchnew high post Covid’

Jalan-Kalrock expectsto restart Jet Airways in 4 to 6 monthsAGENCIES

Mumbai, Feb 21: Jalan KalrockConsortium, the winning bidderfor Jet Airways, expects to restartoperations of the defunct airlinein four to six months after re-ceiving approval from the NCLTfor its resolution plan.

Jet Airways, the once-storiedfull-service carrier was groundedin early 2019 and subsequently isundergoing proceedings underthe Insolvency and BankruptcyCode (IBC). Against the backdropof the National Company LawTribunal (NCLT) likely to take afinal call on the resolution plan forthe airline, the winning consortium'slead member Murari Lala Jalan toldPTI that "everything is on track" asfar as the revival efforts for the car-rier are concerned.

Stressing that he is very positiveabout the Indian aviation sector,which is recovering from the im-pact of the coronavirus pandemic,Jalan said that initially Jet Airwayswill resume flying with around25 aircraft.

"After NCLT decision, we willbe able to start the airline withinfour to six months. I am very pos-itive about Indian aviation andthe future is bright, " Jalan said dur-ing a telephonic interaction.

The governments of bothIndia and the UK arecommitted to an enhancedtrade partnership. We aredeveloping a roadmap to afree trade agreement with an ambitious target of 100billion pounds by 2030GAITRI ISSAR KUMAR I HIGH COMMISSIONEROF INDIA TO UK

POST NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar, Feb 21: The muchawaited ideal SUV Tata Safari waslaunched Sunday in City at DionAutomotives. Tata Motors had ear-lier unveiled the new model. Thenew Safari was launched in thepresence of Odia actress ArchitaSahu and Dion Automotives GMBiswanath Begoray.

The New model is based on theold Land Rover D8 architecturethat is called the OMEGARC byTata Motors. It has more in commonwith the Harrier.

Tata Safari is powered by thesame Fiat-sourced Multi Jet II 2.0-litre turbo-diesel mill mated to a 6-speed manual. Also, the Hyundai

sourced 6-speed automatic has alsobeen equipped on the new Safari.New Safari is offering good per-formance with 170 hp and 350 Nmof torque. It is expected that TataSafari may take on MG Hector Plus,

Mahindra XUV 500.Tata Motors is offering the new

Safari in six trims (XE, XM, XT,XT+, XZ, and XZ+), of course withthe option of a diesel manual orautomatic, but no petrol model or4x4 option. The base XE variantoffers dual airbags, all-disc brakes,and electronic stability programalong with hill hold control androllover mitigation.

XM variant provides the multidrive modes and touch screen musicsystem. iRA connectivity, fully au-tomatic climate control and apanoramic sunroof is availablefrom XT variant. On other hand, XZvariant is equipped with xenonHID projector headlamps, terrainresponse modes.

ALL-NEW TATA SAFARI SUV ROLLED OUT IN CITY

Sitharaman pointed out thatthe stimulus package was

aimed at sectors which provided multiplying effect

like infra, budget funding,where public

expenditure was going to be undertaken

AGENCIES

New Delhi, Feb 21: MuthootHomefin India Ltd (MHIL) Sundaysaid it aims to disburse ̀ 700-croreloans in the next financial year tocater to the affordable housingsegment.

MHIL has disbursed over ̀ 2,600crore over the past five years sinceits inception, the company said ina release.

"For the coming year, in addi-tion to further penetration intothe existing geographies, MuthootHomefin also plans to expand its op-erations in the southern states ofIndia and aims to disburse up to ̀ 700crore of home loans in FY 2021-22," it said.

MHIL, which started its opera-tions in 2016 to fulfil the needs of

aspiring Indian homeowers, said ithas successfully transferred over`300 crore of loan subsidy under thePradhan Mantri Awas Yojana's credit-linked subsidy scheme from NHB.

The company has also received`225 crore of refinance from theNational Housing Bank (NHB).

"Muthoot Homefin is aiming todisburse ̀ 700 crore of home loansin 2021-22.

Muthoot Homefin aims to disburse ̀ 700cr loans in FY22

Page 11: protests continue in myanmar - OrissaPost

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Melbourne, Feb 21: NovakDjokovic’s Australian Open domi-nance remained intact as he won hisninth title here Sunday. It was ex-pected to be a tough match for theNo. 1 seen as Daniil Medvedev hadbeen playing very well till the final.But in the end it turned out to be acakewalk for Djokovic as he steam-rolled past Medvedev 7-5, 6-2, 6-2. Itwas his third title win in a row.The victory means that Djokovic isslowly catching up with Rafa Nadaland Roger Federer both of whohave 20 Grand Slam titles apiece.Djokovic’s tally went up to 18 withSunday’s victory.

Djokovic used superb servingspeed and angles and his usual re-lentless returning and baseline ex-cellence to grab 11 of 13 games inone stretch.The 33-year-old Serbianimproved to 18-0 combined in semi-finals and finals on the hard courtsof the Australian Open.

The No. 4-ranked Medvedev wasappearing in his second GrandSlam final – he was the runner-upto Nadal at the 2019 US Open – butis still left trying collect his first suchchampionship.

Djokovic ended the 25-year-oldRussian’s 20-match winning streak.Medvedev also had won his previ-ous 12 matches against top 10 op-

ponents. By the third set, he keptlooking up at his coach with palmsup as if to ask, “What can I possi-bly do here?”

Medvedev’s flat, wrap-the-racket-around-his-neck forehand was iffyat first, missing wide, long and intothe net in the initial 10 minutes.Djokovic grabbed 13 of the match’sinitial 16 points and a quick 3-0 leadand the tone of the final was set.Medvedev broke back to make it

three-all, but then Djokovic justsimply raised his level.

From five-all, Djokovic steppedup, and Medvedev stepped back.Djokovic held at love, then broke toclaim the set when Medvedevslapped a forehand into the net justafter someone in the crowd calledout during the point.

Medvedev broke early to lead 1-0 in the second set. But that dom-inace faded away in a j i f fy.

Medvedev immediately gave backthat early break in the second setby relinquishing two of his ownservice games back-to-back. Therewas no stopping Djokovic afterthat. He won most of the baselinerallies and picked up 73% of thepoints on his first half. A near-desperate Medvedev could onlysmash his racquet on the court asthe Djokovic brilliance simplyswept him away.

Printed and published by Tathagata Satpathy on behalf of Navajat Printers and Media Pvt. Ltd. and printed at Navajat Printers, B-15 Industrial Estate, Rasulgarh, Bhubaneswar -751010, Odisha;Phone:7894447142(Marketing). Editor: Tathagata Satpathy, RNI No. ORIENG/2011/371591

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sportsMONDAY | FEBRUARY 22 | 2021 | BHUBANESWARP12

Tragedy strikes Chennai: Aloysius Clement, aformer under-18 player of ISLteam Chennaiyin FC, died in aroad accident in Kerala, theclub announced Sunday. The18-year old Aloysius was killedSaturday in a collisioninvolving two motorcycles atAvanakuzhi in Kerala, familysources informed. “We aredeeply saddened at theuntimely demise of our formerU-18 player Aloysius Clement.May his soul rest in peace. Allof us at Chennaiyin FC sendour heartfelt condolences toAloysius’ family and friends,and hope they find strengthduring this incredibly difficulttime,” Chennaiyin FC posted amessage on its twitter feed.

Pugilists shine New Delhi: Vinka (60kg) and TSanamacha Chanu (75kg)clinched gold medals asIndian youth boxers continuedtheir outstanding showSaturday at the 30th AdriaticPearl Tournament in Budva,Montenegro. Apart from thetwo gold medals, the Indiansadded two silver and threemore bronze to their tally onthe penultimate day of thecompetition. Earlier, AlfiyaPathan (+81kg) securedIndia’s first gold in the on-going tournament. Vinkablanked her opponent KristinaKriper from Moldova 5-0 in thefinal, while in an all-Indianclash in the 75kg category,Manipuri girl Sanamacha,outpunched Raj Sahiba 5-0.India bagged their secondsilver of the day when Gitika(48kg) lost to Farzona Fozilovaof Uzbekistan in the final.

Bayern stunned Berlin: Bundesliga championsBayern Munich were stunned1-2 by Eintracht Frankfurt hereSaturday. The loss meant thatthe league leaders are justfive ppoints ahead of theirnearest rivals Leipzig. Theyhad drawn 3-3 in theirprevious game. Amin Youneswas the star for Frankfurtscoring a goal and setting oneup. Frankfurt took the lead inthe 12th minute when Younesset up Daichi Kamada to scorethe first goal. The providerthen turned scorer in the 31stminute with a powerful strike.Robert Lewandowski pulledone back in the 53rd minutefor Bayern. AGENCIES

SHORT TAKES

SERBIAN CLAIMS RECORD-EXTENDING NINTH AUSTRALIAN OPEN CROWN

Djokovic dismantles Daniil

CONCENTRATION PERSONIFIED: Novak Djokovic’s eyes say it all as he hits a backhand during his Australian Open finalat the Melbourne Park, Sunday; (Inset) With the men’s singles winner’s trophy PTI PHOTO

ROLL OF HONOUR Year Opponent 2008 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga2011 Andy Murray2012 Rafael Nadal2013 Andy Murray2015 Andy Murray2016 Andy Murray2019 Rafael Nadal2020 Dominic Thiem2021 Daniil Medvedev

AGENCIES

London, Feb 21: Twelve monthsago Liverpool were ripping up therecord books on the way to their firstEnglish top-flight title in 30 years.However, a loss Saturday to Evertonleft them mulling a host of far lessflattering statistics. Their 0-2 defeatat Anfield was their first loss athome to city rivals Everton since1999. It was their fourth homeleague defeat in succession – some-thing they have not experiencedsince 1924.

Manager Juergen Klopp’s hopesof retaining their Premier Leaguecrown were already effectively overafter a spectacular drop in formsince defeat by Burnley ended a68-match run without a home leagueloss. But Everton’s win – courtesyof a third-minute goal byRicharlison and a controversialpenalty scored by Gylfi Sigurdsson– means Liverpool are now in ascrap to even finish the season inthe top four and qualify for the

Champions LeagueEverton’s first win of any de-

scription over Liverpool since 2010– after a run of 23 games withouta victory – lifted Carlo Ancelotti’sseventh-placed side level with thechampions on 40 points althoughthe latter have played a game less.

Liverpool remained in sixth spotbut are three points behind fourth-placed Chelsea who drew 1-1 atSouthampton. Chelsea trailed toa goal by Takumi Minamino butMason Mount levelled with apenalty after the break.

Few could imagine Liverpool’s fallfrom grace after their title-winningseason featured a plethora of Englishtop-flight records such as 24 suc-cessive home league wins and thebest-ever start to a season in Europe’sfive top leagues – 26 wins and adraw from their first 27 games.

“We stand here having lost 2-0.I know how important it is. We feelit deep inside,” Klopp said. “Butfrom tomorrow, I have to use allthe good stuff,” he added.

LIVERPOOL’S TITLE HOPES DISAPPEAR

Everton break22-year-old jinx

MOMENT TO CHERISH: Everton players celebrate Saturday their win over Liverpool

Messi’s record goes to wasteASSOCIATED PRESS

Barcelona, Feb 21:Cádiz snatcheda late penalty Sunday to draw 1-1at Camp Nou and deal Barcelonaan unexpected setback in theirbid for the Spanish league titlehere. Five days after being beaten1-4 by Paris Saint-Germain (PSG)in the Champions League, RonaldKoeman’s side saw two points slipaway when substitute ÁlexFernández converted an 88th-minute penalty conceded byClement Lenglet.

Lionel Messi appeared to putBarcelona on their way to an easywin in his club record 506th leagueappearance in Spain. However,after Messi scored from the penaltyspot in the 32nd minute, Barcelonawere unable to finish off manyscoring chances.

The draw leaves Barcelona inthird place at eight points be-hind leader Atlético Madrid, wholost 0-2 to Levante, Saturday. RealMadrid were the biggest benefi-ciary of the round, moving threepoints behind Atlético after win-ning 1-0 at Valladolid alsoSaturday. Real have played onemore match than Atlético andBarcelona.

“These are two hard blows thisweek,” Barcelona defender GerardPique said after the slip to Cádiz.“There is a long way to go in theleague, but we didn’t count onthis. If we can get on a good runof play and get good results, we canstill have a shot. It is going to bedifficult though,” Pique said.

Earlier Saturday, it was the turnof Real to mount their title chal-lenge beating Valladolid. Casemiroscored with a 65th-minute headeroff a cross by Toni Kroos to giveReal the win two rounds beforethey visit Atlético at the WandaMetropolitano Stadium.

On the other hand, José LuisMorales scored in the 30th minuteand Jorge de Frutos added an-other goal in stoppage time forLevante at the Metropolitano,handing Atlético their first leagueloss since December. It was in-deed a stunning loss.

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Ahmedabad, Feb 21:Captain ViratKohli led a vigorous training ses-sion as the Indian team Sundaylooked to get used to the swingingpink ball and a swanky arena inMotera ahead of the Day/NightTest against England startingWednesday. The four-match seriesis currently tied at 1-1 with thevisitors winning the first Test inChennai by 227 runs, and Indiacoming back strongly with a 317-run triumph in the second game atthe same venue. This Test is crucialfor India’s fortunes at the WorldTest Championships (WTC). Ifthey have to make it to the final,they cannot to lose another gamein the series.

The big guns – skipper Kohli,his deputy Ajinkya Rahane, theflamboyant Rohit Sharma andthe swashbuckling wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant – battedin the nets as the likes of JaspritBumrah and Mohammed Sirajran in and tested themselvesunder the blazing sun.

Pace spearhead Bumrah isbracing for a comeback aftermissing the second match atChepauk and the seasoned IshantSharma, who is standing on the

cusp of playing in his 100th Test,was also seen in action. The BCCIreleased a small clip of the train-ing session while the local body

– Gujarat Cricket Association(GCA) – captured the moments asthe players went though the drills.

President Ram Nath Kovind is

scheduled to watch the upcom-ing Test match with Union HomeMinister Amit Shah after inau-gurating the new stadium. Thes t a d i u m h a s a c a p a c i t y o f1,10,000, the largest in the world.

CRUCIAL GAME FOR MEN IN BLUE AT WORLD’S LARGEST CRICKET STADIUM

India prepare for pink ball challenge

MUSCLING UP: India skipper Virat Kohli goes through some stretchingdrills during India’s training session at the Motera Stadium, Sunday

Rohit ‘extra cautious’Ahmedabad: Set to play in onlyhis second pink ball Test, Indiaopener Rohit Sharma saidSunday he will be ‘extra cautiousand focussed’ while battingduring the twilight phase of theday-night match against Englandhere. “So far I have only heardfrom fellow teammates that itplays on mind. I played just onepink ball Test againstBangladesh, but didn’t get to batat that (twilight) time when sunwas about to set,” he said. “It’sobviously a little challenging, theweather and light suddenlychange. You have to be extracautious and focussed, you needto talk to yourself. All batters areaware of these challenges. Wejust need to be mindful of thesituation and play accordingly,”he added.

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Feb 21: On the side-lines of a Ranji Trophy game in 2019,Ishant Sharma had called himself‘the last flicker in a lamp’ whilepolitely making his reluctanceknown to three scribes, who had ap-proached the self-effacing bean-pole for an interaction.

Ishant was then standing at 96Tests. Nearly 14 months later, dur-ing which he missed five Tests dueto an injury, Indian cricket’s mostadorable ‘lambu’ (tall) is shiningbright. He is on course to becomeonly the second Indian fast bowler,after the great Kapil Dev, to complete100 Tests for the country.

“Arre yaar mera interview karkekya karogey? Main toh bujhta huyadiya hoon (Why do you want to in-terview me? I am like the last flickerin a lamp),” Ishant had then saidat the Kotla. But now he contin-ues to glow brightly.

In terms of sheer talent andcraft, Ishant wouldn’t be in thesame league as Zaheer Khan,Mohammed Shami or JavagalSrinath but with his longevity, hehas proved that ‘workhorse’ isn’t ex-actly an abused word, which isused to sum up the veteran pacer.

“I think I will say this with cer-

tainty. Ishant will be the last Indianfast bowler to play 100 Test matches.I don’t see anyone playing 100 Tests.With majority of the fast bowlerspreserving themselves for IPL andwhite ball games, it will be in-creasingly difficult to play 100 Testsfor India,” former India wicket-keeper and Ishant’s ex-Delhi team-mate and coach Vijay Dahiya said.

Ishant’s mate for the last 16 years,current Delhi captain PradeepSangwan said that the pace bowleris a ‘perfect’ captain’s man. “Hebowls what his captain wants,”Sangwan said.

New target awaits‘workhorse’ Ishant

Air India refutesManu’s complaintINDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

New Delhi, Feb 21: Two daysafter 19-year-old shooter ManuBhaker demanded action againstAir India (AI) officials at the cap-ital’s IGI Airport for alleged ha-rassment and seeking of bribes,the national carrier denied theallegations against its employees.In a statement Sunday, the airlinesaid that CCTV footage nullifies theclaims of Bhaker over allegedseeking of bribes and snatchingof her mobile phone.

“Our employee Manoj Guptawas at the counter throughoutand had, at no point, communicateddirectly with Bhaker. This is alsocorroborated by the CCTV footage.Hence, the allegation of misbe-haviour by him simply does notarise,” Air India said in a statement.

“The moment she furnishedthe required document to the AirIndia check-in and security per-sonnel, her baggage, includingthe arms were accepted,” it added.

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Mumbai, Feb 21: Finally rewardedfor his consistency, prolific Mumbaibatsman Suryakumar Yadav de-scribed his feeling as ‘surreal’, aday after he earned a maiden Indiacall-up for the upcoming T20International series against England.

Suryakumar was overlooked forthe limited overs matches inAustralia late last year despite afine IPL, leaving many in the Indiancricket fraternity surprised. “Thefeeling is surreal,” tweeted Suryaalong with his picture at the DYPatil Stadium here.

The 30-year-old Mumbai bats-man has been a constant performerin the IPL for his franchise MumbaiIndians (MI) and also in the do-mestic circuit. He was rewardedfor his performances Saturday.

Suryakumar has captainedMumbai in Ranji Trophy and otherdomestic tournaments. He hasplayed 77 first-class matches andamassed 5,326 runs.

Some former India cricketersalso took to Twitter to express theirsatisfaction at the right-handed bats-man’s selection in the national team.

“So good to f inally@surya_14kumar in Team India.Good Luck,” wrote veteran off-spin-ner Harbhajan Singh. “Finally thewait is over for @surya_14kumarcongratulations buddy. Goodluck@ishankishan51 @rahultewatia02for your debut guys," said former

India seamer Irfan Pathan. India are scheduled to play

England in five T20s after the con-clusion of the ongoing four-matchTest series.

Suryakumar said that he hadapprehensions he may miss thebus once again. “I was keeping myfingers crossed this time also. I didnot know what to expect. I washowever, determined that I wouldcontinue to work hard,” he stated.

‘Surreal’ for SuryakumarAGENCIES

Margao, Feb 21: FC Goa equalledanother ISL record by extendingtheir unbeaten streak to 12 gamesthanks to a 2-1 win over BengaluruFC (BFC) here Sunday at JawaharlalNehru Stadium. The crucial winover BFC – the Gaurs’ first at theeighth time of asking – helpedJuan Ferrando’s men reclaim thethird position on the table, takingthem an inch closer to securingtheir place in the playoffs.

Igor Angulo’s 13th strike of theseason put the Gaurs ahead early inthe game before Redeem Tlangscored his first in FC Goa colourswithin a few minutes to double theirlead. BFC made it interesting asSuraj Wangjam struck in the firsthalf to reduce the margin. However,Goa, kept a tight leash on the pro-ceedings in the second half to securethe all-important win.

FC Goa dealt the first blow in the20th minute as Angulo came uptrumps for the Gaurs. Glan Martinswas quick on his feet to steal the ballfrom Erik Paartalu in an advancedarea before playing in Angulo. TheSpaniard needed no second invita-tion to tuck it low and past GurpreetSingh Sandhu in the BFC goal.

Three minutes later Goa were twoup as Tlang scored his first goal forGoa. The spadeowrk for the goal wasdone by Seriton Fernandes whofloated a lovely box into the boxfor Tlang to score.

GAURS INCH TOWARDS PLAYOFFS

FC Goa end BFC aspirations

Redeem Tlang wheels away in celebration after scoring FC Goa’s2nd goal against BFC PHOTO: ISL

100-Test featSachin Tendulkar 200

Rahul Dravid 164

VVS Laxman 134

*Anil Kumble 132

*Kapil Dev 131

Sunil Gavaskar 125

Dilip Vengsarkar 116

Sourav Ganguly 113

Virender Sehwag 104

*Harbhajan Singh 103

* Denotes bowlers who have played100 Tests or more. Kapil Dev, however is an all-rounder

Page 12: protests continue in myanmar - OrissaPost

Saints do not belong to anycaste, sect or region. They takesteps which are for the welfareof the entire humanityRAM NATH KOVIND | PRESIDENT

P9

nationalMONDAY | FEBRUARY 22 | 2021 | BHUBANESWAR

One more body was recovered froma tunnel at the NTPC's flood-ravagedTapovan-Vishnugad project siteSunday, taking the toll in thedisaster that struck Chamoli district a fortnight ago to 68

U’KHAND TRAGEDY: ONEMORE BODY RECOVERED

yy

cmyk

cmyk

The great soilof WestBengal has

nurturedextraordinaryindividuals whohave contributedtowards national progress. It's ourvision and effort to ensure WestBengal gets top qualitydevelopment

NARENDRA MODI | PRIME MINISTER

of theday uote

Hunar Haatwill seeindigenous

handmade rareproducts from everynook and corner ofthe country underone roof

MUKHTAR ABBAS NAQVI | UNION MINISTER

The increasein additionaltaxes,

especially on petroland diesel, by theCentre and states isresulting in sky-rocketing prices, and the burden isincreasing almost everyday oncrores of poor and unemployedpeople. Has the Constitutionensured such a welfare stateprinciple

MAYAWATI | BAHUJAN SAMAJ PARTY CHIEF

One more held inIED recovery caseJammu: An over groundworker (OGW) of Al-Badroutfit has been arrested inconnection with the recentrecovery of a powerfulimprovised explosive device(IED) here, an official saidSunday. Nearly sevenkilogram IED was recoveredfrom the possession of anursing student in the Jammubus stand area on February13, foiling a major terroristplan to set off an explosion ata crowded place on thesecond anniversary of the2019 Pulwama terror attackin the winter capital.

Man held forspitting on doughMeerut: A man was arrestedin Uttar Pradesh's Meerutafter he was caught on acamera ,spitting on the doughwhile preparing 'rotis' at awedding function. The accusedwas identified as Naushad. Ina police complaint by HinduJagran Manch Meerut chiefSachin Sirohi, Naushad hasbeen accused of spreadingthe coronavirus.

Security beefed upat Singhu borderNew Delhi: In order to avoidany untoward incident at theprotest site, farmersprotesting against the threefarm laws enacted by theCentre government at Singhuborder have beefed up thesecurity at Singhu border andadjoining areas. Around 100CCTV cameras at both thestages and many locationsincluding the areas outsiderestrooms earmarked forwomen protestors have beeninstalled along with heavydeployment of policepersonnel near the barricadesclose to the protest site.

Drug seizedMumbai: Mumbai police haveseized mephedrone drugworth over `12.50 crore fromthe city and arrested threepersons in this connection,an official said. A Dongripolice team, led by AssistantInspector Prakash Linge, hadnabbed Iqbal Hussain Sayyed(38) early Thursday andrecovered mephedrone worth`60,000 from him, he said.

One killed in fire Thane: A labourer was killedand another one injured aftera fire broke out in the quartersof construction workers at ahousing complex in Dombivlitownship here inMaharashtra Sundaymorning, a fire official said.

SHORT TAKES

Shah VS Rahul in Pondicherry

Kiran Bedi’s unprecedentedremoval as Lieutenant Governor

of Pondicherry when she was in themidst of reviewing the COVID-19vaccination drive was part of a well-crafted strategy by Union HomeMinister Amit Shah. Highly placedsources say the Centre's action wasnot abrupt. When the BJP highcommand was confident of itsnumbers to pull the plug from underthe feet of Congress Chief MinisterV Narayanasamy, it decided to send

Bedi packing. The CM whosegovernment is on the brink of acollapse, has been robbed of amajor poll issue; turning his fightbetween a duly elected south Indiangovernment versus north Indianpolice officer. The selection ofBedi’s successor was also a part ofa well-crafted strategy. The jolt toCongress comes at a time whenRahul Gandhi has been overseeingits affairs and appointed his keyman Dinesh Gundu Rao as in-chargeof Pondicherry.

Rahul proposes,Piyush disposes

If Rahul Gandhi had thought ofstumping the Modi government

by seeking details of contractsobtained by the Ambanis andAdanis from FCI and BJP-ruled stategovernments for construction ofgodowns since 2014, the objectiveended in total disappointment.Reason: Piyush Goyal, Consumer

Affairs & Food Ministry, gave RahulGandhi a 14-page written reply inLok Sabha listing every detail of 93contracts given to private playersfor augmenting storage of foodgrains capability. It clearly emergedafter scrutiny of documents placedon the floor of the Lok Sabha thatthe Ambanis did not obtain a singlecontract. However, the Adanissecured nine out of 93 across India.In fact, the biggest beneficiary ofPrivate Entrepreneurs Guarantee(PEG) Scheme to attract privateinvestments was Canada’s PremWatsa, who owns Fairfax India,which in turn, owns NationalCollateral Management ServicesLimited (NCML). Watsa secured 15contracts from the FCI and nonefrom the state governments.Incidentally, it’s the Canadian PMwho ran into controversy overfarmers' demanding scrapping ofthree farm laws. Though the PEGscheme was launched by theManmohan Singh government in2008 to ramp up modern storage

capacity, Rahul Gandhi had askedPiyush Goyal details of contractsgiven only after Modi became PMin 2014. Under the PEG scheme, theprivate players can opt for any ofthe two models; Build – Operate &Own (BOO) and Build, Operate &Transfer (BOT).

Modi’s olive branch to Azad

Whether it was an emotionalgesture or deep politics, no

one can vouch safe. But it wasrarest of the rare moment in RajyaSabha Tuesday last when PM Moditold Congress leader Ghulam NabiAazad, “I would not let you retire, Iwill continue taking your advice.My doors are always open for you.”Azad is bidding adieu to a 41-year-long parliamentary career. Ittranspires that the Gandhis wereupset with him for something and,hence, he was not re-nominated tothe Rajya Sabha and left high &

dry. On his part, Ghulam Nabi Azadmade no secret of his chemistrywith Modi saying, “Two peoplealways greeted me during festivalsand my birthday for many years -Congress president Sonia Gandhiand PM Modi.” This was the PrimeMinister’s second compliment forAzad in a week. “Ghulam Nabi jialways speaks decently; neveruses foul language. Azad haspraised elections held in J&K localbodies, but I am concerned. Ibelieve your party will take it in theright spirit and not make themistake of doing the opposite bytaking it as the view of the G-23,”the PM had said earlier.

Discontent betweenCongress and NCP

There is a long history of love andhate relationship between the

Congress and NCP since 1999. Butthey joined hands again afterburying the hatchet to form the

MVA government and it wasbusiness as usual. But the Congresshigh command in Delhi has alwaysbeen suspicious of Sharad Pawar’spower games. Pawar is unhappybecause the Congress torpedoed hisplans to emerge as a leader of theOpposition parties at a nationallevel replacing Sonia Gandhi. Pawaris now on his own trip and NCP,TMC, SP, BSP, YSR-Congress, TRS,BJD and others do business withhim. Rahul Gandhi keeps thecompany of DMK, Left, IUML etc. Itis also surprising that RJD is keepinga safe distance from Congress. TheOpposition parties say that RahulGandhi is not consistent andCongress is facing huge internalissues. It goes one way in RajyaSabha and another way in LokSabha. The appointment of NanaPatole as PCC Chief turned out to bethe last straw in the camel's back asPawar feels it is part of Congressmove to destabilise the Maharashtragovernment. What's in the store inMaharashtra, no one knows.

KuruKolumn

‘Disengagement process along LAC complete’AGENCIES

Salem (TN), Feb 21: The disen-gagement process by India andChina in eastern Ladakh is 'com-plete' after nine rounds of diplo-matic and military level talks be-tween the two neighbours, DefenceMinister Rajnath Singh said hereSunday as he hit out at Congress for'doubting' Indian soldiers' bravery.

He also lashed out at the Congressand its southern ally DMK for 'cre-ating a controversy' over the Indo-French Rafale fighter jet deal andsaid the CAG among others hadgiven 'clean chit'. It had blunted theopposition criticism that "chowki-dar chor hai" (the watchman isthief), a barb aimed at PrimeMinister Narendra Modi, and ratherproved "chowkidar is pure hai," heasserted.

Addressing a state conference ofthe Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morchain this town in western Tamil Naduahead of the assembly polls likelyin the next two months,, he pitchedstrongly for the BJP-AIADMK al-liance. The pair of "lotus and twoleaves" alone can bring prosperity

to the state, he said, alluding to therespective poll symbols of the BJPand the AIADMK.

Speaking about the borderstand-off, the Defence Minister saidafter nine rounds of diplomaticand military level talks betweenIndia and China, a solution hadbeen found, referring to the mutu-ally agreed disengagement processin eastern Ladakh.

"After nine rounds of military anddiplomatic dialogue, the disen-gagement process is complete. Butunfortunately the Congress is doubt-ing Indian army's bravery.... Isn't it

insulting to the soldiers who do thesupreme sacrifice," he said.

Twenty Indian army person-nel were killed in the Galwan clashwith the Chinese troops last yearduring the face-off. India will notallow any country to take "unilat-eral action" on its border and itwill pay any cost to thwart suchattempts, Singh asserted.

However, the Congress claimedthat India had lost territory to itseastern neighbour and tried "de-fame us", he said. "Till there isblood and life in this body, nobodycan capture an inch of India's land,"

the Defence minister said. Thegovernment under the leadershipof Prime Minister Narendra Modi"has never compromised with coun-try's unity, territorial integrity andsovereignty" and it shall never doso, he declared.

On the Rafale deal, he saidCongress and DMK tried to stir upa controversy, apparently referringto the pricing, but said the CAGand courts gave clean chit to the gov-ernment.

FOR A CAUSE

A member of Panchamshali community during a Panchamasali convention to demand for inclusion in the 2A reservation category, in Bangalore PTI PHOTO

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Feb 21: Herd im-munity is "very difficult" to achieveand one should not think of it in"practical terms" in India, espe-cially in the times of "variantstrains" of COVID-19 and "waningimmunity", claimed AIIMS di-rector Randeep Guleria on Sunday.

Guleria was speaking at theongoing edition of JaipurLiterature Festival (JLF) in a ses-sion on his book "Till We Win:India's Fight Against The Covid-19 Pandemic" -- co-authored bypublic policy and health systemsexpert Chandrakant Lahariya andrenowned vaccine researcher andvirologist Gagandeep Kang.

"Herd immunity is somethingthat is going to be very, very difficultto achieve and it is something oneshould not really think of in prac-tical terms... Because the variantstrains and varying immunitywith times can lead to a chancewhere people may have reinfectionor get infection again," the AllIndia Institute of Medical Sciences

(AIIMS) director said. "And oneshould also remember that largenumber of people have had mildinfections and we do know thatthose with mild infection tend tohave less antibodies production,their antibodies tend to wane overa period of time," he added.

Experts say herd immunity issaid to have been developed in apopulation segment if at least 50-60 per cent of those are found tohave the presence of antibodies ina sero-prevalence survey.

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

New Delhi, Feb 21: Mercury islikely to rise by four to five degreesto settle at 32 degree celsius (C)over most parts of northwestIndia in the next three to fourdays given an increase in mois-ture and variable wind direction,the Indian MeteorologicalDepartment said Sunday.

The maximum temperaturerecorded in Delhi on Saturday was27.3 degree C, three degrees abovenormal while the city recordedminimum temperature on Sundayat 10.1, over one degree C below nor-mal. Meanwhile, the temperaturein the day is forecasted to reach 28degree C in the national capital. Thedepartment said that two westerndisturbances are prevailing theweather condition which maybring rain and thunderstorms tothe western Himalayas.

"Normally temperatures go upwhen there is a Wester n

Disturbance," said KuldeepShrivastava, head, regionalweather forecasting centre.

The weather department also in-formed that the first western dis-turbance (WD) started approach-ing on Friday while the secondone is likely to approach onMonday. However, the departmentsaid that its impact is likely to beconcentrated around the hills only.

"The impact of the WDs will belimited to the hills mainly inJammu and Kashmir, HimachalPradesh and upper tranches ofUttarakhand. Light rain is alsolikely over Punjab, but over therest of northwest India, temper-atures will rise due to increase inmoisture and variable wind di-rection," Shrivastava explained.

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Feb 21: With ESreedharan throwing his hat in thepolitical ring by deciding to jointhe BJP, senior Congress leaderShashi Tharoor Sunday said thetechnocrat is likely to have a "min-imal" impact on the upcoming KeralaAssembly polls, and asserted that theBJP is not a serious contender ex-cept in a few seats in the state.

In an interview with PTI, Tharoorsaid he was surprised at the an-nouncement that Sreedharan wasgoing to enter the political frayand join the BJP. India’s ‘MetroMan’ E Sreedharan will have nomajor impact on the upcomingKerala Assembly elections,Congress leader Shashi Tharoorsaid adding that the BJP is not a se-rious contender in the state.

He said Sreedharan's entry cameas a surprise to him because thetechnocrat had a long innings ex-ecuting engineering projects, notmaking or implementing policiesin a fractious democracy. "It's avery different world," he added.Asked what kind of impactSreedharan could have on theKerala Assembly polls, the MPfrom Thiruvananthapuram said,"Since he has no political back-ground or experience, I think hisimpact is likely to be minimal."

"When I joined politics at 53, Ithought I had left it too late to makethe kind of impact I felt I was ca-pable of. What can I say about some-one who is 88?" Tharoor said. Onwhether Sreedharan's entry willmake the Kerala polls a three-waycontest and the BJP will emerge asa serious contender alongside theLeft Democratic Front (LDF) andthe United Democratic Front (UDF),he said the BJP is not a seriouscontender at all except in a hand-

ful of seats, and it will be very dif-ficult for the party to improve uponthe one seat it won last time.

Known as the 'Metroman' and forcompleting big infrastructure proj-ects, the 88-year-old technocrat hasalso said his main aim is to helpthe BJP come to power in Kerala.

BJP NOT SERIOUSCONTENDER IN KERALA: THAROOR

Herd immunitydifficult toachieve: Guleria

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Feb 21: Chandrayaan-3, India's third mission to Moon, islikely to be launched in 2022, ISROchief K Sivan has said.

The COVID-19 lockdown has hitseveral projects of the Indian SpaceResearch Organisation (ISRO) in-cluding Chandrayaan-3, which wasscheduled to be launched in late2020, and Gaganyaan, the country'sfirst manned space mission. Unlikeits predecessor, Chandrayaan-3 willnot have an orbiter.

“We are working on it. It is thesame configuration likeChandrayaan-2 but it will not havean orbiter. The orbiter launchedduring Chandrayaan-2 will be usedfor Chandrayaan-3. With that we areworking on a system and mostly thelaunch will be next year in 2022,”Sivan told PTI. Chandrayaan-2,aimed at landing a rover on un-chartered Lunar South Pole, was

launched on July 22, 2019 on boardthe country's most powerful geo-synchronous launch vehicle.

However, the lander Vikram hard-landed on September 7, 2019, crash-ing India's dream to become thefirst nation to successfully land on

the lunar surface in its maiden at-tempt. Chandrayaan-3 is criticalfor ISRO as it will demonstrateIndia's capabilities to make landingfor further interplanetary missions.

He said ISRO is targetingDecember to launch the first un-manned mission under theGaganyaan project. The missionwas originally scheduled to launchin December last year. It will be fol-lowed by another unmanned mis-sion and the third leg is the mainmodule, he said.

Gaganyaan envisages to sendthree Indians to space by 2022. Thefour test pilots selected for the mis-sion are currently undergoing train-ing in Russia. When asked aboutthe launch of the third module ofGaganyaan -- the manned mission-- Sivan said, “A lot of technologyneeds to be demonstrated. We willdecide on the time (of the mannedmission) after checking whetherall the technology is perfect.”

Mercury likely to soar by5°C in northwest India: IMD

Chandrayaan-3 launchdelayed further to 2022

Tharoor claimed that the BJP will find it difficult tomake any inroads in Kerala during the upcoming

Assembly elections

BIG MOVEIndia and China held extensive

deliberations on expanding thedisengagement process ineastern Ladakh at the 10th roundof the military talks that lastedfor around 16 hours

Troops and weapons have beenwithdrawn from the north and

south banks of Pangong lake inthat area

Twenty Indian army personnelwere killed in the Galwan

clash with the Chinese troopslast year during the face-off

Reduce fuel prices:Sonia to PM ModiAccusing the government of

"profiteering" off "people'smisery", Congress chief SoniaGandhi on Sunday wrote toPrime Minister Narendra Modiover "spiralling" fuel prices,urging him to follow ‘RajDharma' and reduce the pricesby partially rolling back exciseduty. In a three-page letter toModi, she said the truth is thatas GDP "nosedives", the pricesof gas, diesel and petrolcontinue to rise unchecked.Gandhi also said governmentsare elected to ease the burdenof people and at the very least,not work directly contrary totheir interests.

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