?ReZ`_ eVcc`cZdVU ER]Vd `W Y`cc`c f_W`]U - Daily Pioneer

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I n a horrific incident, 12 Covid patients, including the head of gastroenterology department, died at Batra Hospital due to lack of oxygen on Saturday. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal expressed grief over the incident. Kejriwal tweeted in Hindi, “This news is very painful. Their lives could have been saved by giving them oxygen on time. Delhi should get its quota of oxygen. Can’t see our people dying like this. Delhi needs 976 tonnes of oxy- gen, but it received only 312 tonnes yesterday. How will Delhi breathe in such a less amount of oxygen?” The hospital had sent out an SOS message about oxygen shortage on Saturday. Sudhanshu Bankata, the Executive Director of Batra hospital said once a patient is pushed to the edge without the support of oxygen, it is very dif- ficult to revive him. “Unfortunately, we are expecting more fatalities,” said Bankata. SCL Gupta, the Medical Director of the hospital, said RK Himthani, head of depart- ment (HOD), gastroenterology department, was among those who died due to lack of oxygen. “Himthani had been admitted to the hospital for the last 15-20 days. The hospital had informed the authorities about lack of oxygen on Saturday morning when they had 2,500 litres of the life-sav- ing gas left,” Gupta said, adding, “It is a matter of shame that people are dying due to lack of oxygen in the national Capital.” Around 12.30 pm, the hos- pital authorities claimed they had run out of oxygen. The oxygen tanker arrived at 1.35 pm, said the hospital authori- ties, adding that they were without oxygen for 80 minutes. There are around 327 patients in the hospital out of which 48 are in the critical care unit. The hospital had been raising alarms since Saturday afternoon over depleting levels of oxygen supply. In a related development, Fortis Hospital in Vasant Kunj has stopped taking admissions due to oxygen shortage. The hospital has four hours of oxy- gen left, sources said. According to the Delhi corona mobile application, the hospital has 106 coronavirus patients. Meanwhile, Sehgal Neo hospital in Meera Bagh sent out an SOS message on Twitter about its depleting oxygen. “We request urgent assis- tance in getting #SOS oxygen. We are running out of our backup supply, and have been waiting for a supply since early morning. We have 90 patients on O2 & 13 in ICU,” the hos- pital tweeted around 12.40 pm. Hospitals across Delhi and its suburbs have been sending out desperate messages of help on social media and other platforms, flagging their dwin- dling stocks of oxygen. Sir Ganga Ram Hospital had last week reported the death of 25 of its “sickest” patients as the administration struggled with depleting oxy- gen supplies. Twenty people died at the Jaipur Golden Hospital last week amid shortage of oxygen. N orth India is having one type of Covid virus, which is completely different from that of the one spread- ing in the south. Similarly, the western parts of Maharashtra, Gujarat and Rajasthan are having another type of pathogen, while the areas of West Bengal and other eastern parts of the country are witnessing the spread of a different mutant variant of the deadly coronavirus. The observations by the scientists from the CSIR lab Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) in Hyderabad flagged this concern about the presence of four major variants of virus that are spreading widely in dif- ferent parts of the country. This comes at the time when India is witnessing record spike of Covid-19 cases this year when compared to previous year. The scientists said only one or two mutants variants were doing the rounds last year. The study conducted by the CSIR lab is part of the continuous research of genome sequencing of the prevailing lethal virus causing Covid-19 disease. Dr Rakesh Mishra, director of CCMB, said that the main reason that is caus- ing coronavirus spread widely in India is its different variants. “If the virus is of singular variant having no mutations, its spread can be curtailed by breaking its infection chain. However, in India we have iden- tified 4 different mutant variants of coronaviruses, which are spreading widely in different parts of the country,” said Mishra, while explaining the major cause of the huge spike in Covid cases in the country. As per the research study revealed by the CCMB scientists, it is understood that the northern parts of India such as Delhi, Haryana, UP, Punjab and other areas are witnessing the UK variant of Covid virus, apart from this, the B1.617 variant is also widely spreading. I ndia kicked off the third phase of the much-hyped vaccination drive covering those above the age of 18 years from Saturday at a dismal note as barring six, most States and Union Territories (UTs) deferred the drive due to short- age of vaccine. Even in these six States, the drive was “token”, limited to just a few districts, said an official from the Union Health Ministry. The exercise began at a time when many States are reporting shortage of vaccines on contrary to the Centre’s claim that more than 79 lakh Covid vaccine doses (79,13,518) are still available with the States and Union Territories to be administered. The Centre has so far claimed to have provided near- ly 16.37 crore vaccine doses (16,37,62,300) to States and UTs “free of cost” of which the total consumption, including wastages, is 15,58,48,782 doses. The Centre has promised to provide more than 17 lakh (17,31,110) vaccine doses to the States and UTs within the next three days. Some private hos- pitals too started the vaccine process for those in the age group of 18-44 years. Amid deadly Covid-19 sec- ond wave surge, the Centre had said all Indian adults will be eli- gible to receive the Covid-19 vaccine starting May 1. The inoculation process and docu- ments to be provided to get the jab to remain the same. The Government has made it mandatory for the 18-44 age group to register on CoWIN. A t least 18 persons, includ- ing 16 Covid-19 patients, died in a fire at a hospital at Bharuch in Gujarat in the early hours of Saturday, officials said. The State Government said a judicial enquiry will be con- ducted into the fire that destroyed the Intensive Care Unit of Patel Welfare Hospital, run by a charitable trust. “Sixteen coronavirus patients and two nursing staff were either charred to death or died due to suffocation inside a Covid-19 unit,” said Superintendent of Police Rajendrasinh Chudasama. As many as 50 patients were undergoing treatment at the Covid-19 facility on the ground floor when fire broke out in the ICU around 1 am, probably because of short cir- cuit, said a hospital official. The fire was doused with- in an hour. Local people and the kin of patients helped in the rescue operation during which dozens of patients were shift- ed to other facilities by ambu- lance. Some were brought out of the building on wheelchairs or on make-shift stretchers. The four-storey designated Covid-19 hospital stands on the Bharuch-Jambusar highway, 190 km from Ahmedabad. A 35-year-old woman died in her car outside a Government hospital due to Covid after waiting for hours for a bed in Greater Noida on Thursday. Her body remained inside the car for three hours. An eyewitness said the rel- atives of Jagriti Gupta were try- ing to find a hospital bed for her at the Government Institute of Medical Sciences (GIMS). Gupta, who worked as an engineer in Greater Noida, is survived by her husband and two children. The eyewitness said he reached GIMS around 12.15 pm and there he saw the woman patient in a serious condition in her car. He added she was with an attendant, who was running from pillar to post for a bed for her. W ith its presence at around 3 lakh panchayats across the country, the Centre’s digi- tal arm Common Service Centres (CSC) has come for- ward to assist rural India to reg- ister the population falling in the age bracket of 18-44 years for the mandatory Co-Win portal registration for the mass Covid vaccination programme that started on Saturday. This has come as relief for the authorities amid appre- hension as to how rural India will get themselves registered for vaccination in the absence of adequate internet access and smartphone mobility. On the first day of regis- tration after the Government of Indian opened the Covid vac- cination programme for the general people in the 18-44 years category, more than one lakh people from rural India reported through the CSC kiosks in less than 24 hours. There are more than 4 lakh CSC. Around 2.64 lakh of these are at panchayat level with each centre/kiosks facili- tated by an agent called Village Level Entrepreneur (VLE). T he Delhi Government extended lockdown by a week till May 10, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced on Saturday. The national Capital has been under lockdown since April 19, as the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) scrambles to contain a fresh wave of infections and a positivity rate that remains over 30 per cent. “Lockdown in Delhi is being extended by one week,” Kejriwal tweeted. This is the second exten- sion of the lockdown in the national Capital. Last Sunday, while announcing the first, Kejriwal had said, “Coronavirus still continues to wreak havoc in the city. Public opinion is that lock- downs should increase. So it is being extended for one week.” The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA), in its order on the extension of the lockdown, stated that a review of the pandemic situation showed that the numbers of positive cases, positivity rate as well as bed occupancy (oxygen-sup- ported or ICU beds) in the dedicated Covid-19 hospitals are very high. New Delhi: Inoculation of people in the 18-44 age group against Covid-19 will begin in Delhi from Monday, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced on Saturday, say- ing 4.5 lakh vaccine doses have been received by the city Government. T he Delhi High Court on Saturday came down heav- ily on the Centre and ordered that forthwith the Delhi Government must be given promised quota of 490 MT oxygen per day failing which the Centre would face con- tempt of court. Fuming with rage, the judges said “enough is enough” and observed that for the past 10 days, the State was getting only around 300 MT. Minutes after the slap from High Court, the Centre increased Delhi’s quota to 590MT per day. The order was passed by a Division Bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Rekha Palli in a batch of peti- tions raising issues relating to Covid-19 management. “We direct Centre to ensure that Delhi receives its 490 MT oxygen supply today by whatever means,” the court said, adding that the Centre must arrange tankers for the State. The court also noted that Delhi is not an industrial State and has no cryogenic tankers that could enable acquisition to facilitate the supply of oxygen. “It falls on the Central Government to arrange tankers ..(else) it only remains a paper allocation. The allocation to Delhi has been in force from April 20 and not for a single day Delhi has received allocat- ed supply,” said court fixing responsibility on Centre. The court also clarified that in case its present direction is not complied. Secretary of Industries has to remain pre- sent before it. We may even consider issuing contempt pro- ceedings, the court added. Even as Additional Solicitor General Chetan Sharma sought to inter- vene, the court remarked, “Water has gone above the head. Now we mean business. You will arrange everything now…You made an allocation. You fulfill it.” ASG Sharma urged the court not to say anything on the aspect of contempt and even requested that the order be deferred by half an hour to enable the officers to explain the position. However the judges did not entertain the requests of the ASG. New Delhi: The Government has allowed imports of oxygen concentrators for personal use through post, courier or e- commerce portals under the gift category amid increasing demand for oxygen due to ris- ing Covid-19 cases, the Commerce Ministry said on Saturday. C hief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has said corona is completely cured if treatment starts early, but the delay can be fatal. Therefore, if there are any symptoms then check up should be done immediately and at the same time give medical kit to the person so that treatment can start. Do not be careless at all, seek treatment as soon as some symp- toms are seen. Chouhan said that patients should be identified after con- ducting door-to-door survey and medical kit should be given and treatment started if symptoms like cold, cough, fever etc. are seen. By following the strategy of “early detection and cure”, we can cure every corona patient. According to a study, Madhya Pradesh is coming down from Corona peak. He was holding a meeting with members of the Corona Core Group through video con- ferencing from his residence on Saturday. The concerned minis- ters and officials were present in the meeting. There are now 88,511 active cases of Corona in the state. In the last 24 hours, there has been a decline of 2285 active cases, 12,379 new cases have come, while 14,562 patients have been cured. Our positivity rate has improved to 20.3% and weekly positivity rate is 22%. Additional Chief Secretary Health Mohammad Suleman said that according to the case pre- diction made by Mahendra Agarwal, Professor, IIT Kanpur, Madhya Pradesh has reached its Corona Peak. Now cases are decreasing. Chouhan directed that the doctors must call and advise the patients under treatment in home isolation at least once a day. Adequate supply of oxygen is being made in the state. The state is getting a quota of 589 MT of oxygen. 465 MT was received on 30 April, 489 MT oxygen supply received on May 1 and 503 MT supply is estimated for May 2. A total of 58 new oxygen plants are being set up in all dis- tricts of the state. Chouhan instructed to speed up the work. RNI Regn. No. MPENG/2004/13703, Regd. No. L-2/BPLON/41/2006-2008

Transcript of ?ReZ`_ eVcc`cZdVU ER]Vd `W Y`cc`c f_W`]U - Daily Pioneer

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In a horrific incident, 12Covid patients, including the

head of gastroenterologydepartment, died at BatraHospital due to lack of oxygenon Saturday.

Delhi Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal expressed griefover the incident. Kejriwaltweeted in Hindi, “This news isvery painful. Their lives couldhave been saved by giving themoxygen on time. Delhi shouldget its quota of oxygen. Can’t seeour people dying like this.Delhi needs 976 tonnes of oxy-gen, but it received only 312tonnes yesterday. How willDelhi breathe in such a lessamount of oxygen?”

The hospital had sent outan SOS message about oxygenshortage on Saturday.Sudhanshu Bankata, theExecutive Director of Batrahospital said once a patient ispushed to the edge without thesupport of oxygen, it is very dif-ficult to revive him.

“Unfortunately, we areexpecting more fatalities,” saidBankata.

SCL Gupta, the Medical

Director of the hospital, saidRK Himthani, head of depart-ment (HOD), gastroenterologydepartment, was among thosewho died due to lack of oxygen.

“Himthani had beenadmitted to the hospital for thelast 15-20 days. The hospitalhad informed the authoritiesabout lack of oxygen onSaturday morning when theyhad 2,500 litres of the life-sav-ing gas left,” Gupta said, adding,“It is a matter of shame thatpeople are dying due to lack ofoxygen in the national Capital.”

Around 12.30 pm, the hos-pital authorities claimed theyhad run out of oxygen. Theoxygen tanker arrived at 1.35pm, said the hospital authori-ties, adding that they werewithout oxygen for 80 minutes.

There are around 327patients in the hospital out ofwhich 48 are in the critical careunit. The hospital had beenraising alarms since Saturdayafternoon over depleting levelsof oxygen supply.

In a related development,Fortis Hospital in Vasant Kunj

has stopped taking admissionsdue to oxygen shortage. Thehospital has four hours of oxy-gen left, sources said.

According to the Delhicorona mobile application, thehospital has 106 coronaviruspatients.

Meanwhile, Sehgal Neohospital in Meera Bagh sent outan SOS message on Twitterabout its depleting oxygen.

“We request urgent assis-tance in getting #SOS oxygen.We are running out of ourbackup supply, and have beenwaiting for a supply since earlymorning. We have 90 patientson O2 & 13 in ICU,” the hos-pital tweeted around 12.40 pm.

Hospitals across Delhi andits suburbs have been sendingout desperate messages of helpon social media and otherplatforms, flagging their dwin-dling stocks of oxygen.

Sir Ganga Ram Hospitalhad last week reported thedeath of 25 of its “sickest”patients as the administrationstruggled with depleting oxy-gen supplies.

Twenty people died at theJaipur Golden Hospital lastweek amid shortage of oxygen.

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North India is having one type ofCovid virus, which is completely

different from that of the one spread-ing in the south. Similarly, the westernparts of Maharashtra, Gujarat andRajasthan are having another type ofpathogen, while the areas of WestBengal and other eastern parts of thecountry are witnessing the spread of adifferent mutant variant of the deadlycoronavirus.

The observations by the scientistsfrom the CSIR lab Centre for Cellularand Molecular Biology (CCMB) inHyderabad flagged this concern aboutthe presence of four major variants ofvirus that are spreading widely in dif-ferent parts of the country. This comesat the time when India is witnessingrecord spike of Covid-19 cases this yearwhen compared to previous year. Thescientists said only one or two mutantsvariants were doing the rounds last year.

The study conducted by the CSIRlab is part of the continuous research ofgenome sequencing of the prevailing

lethal virus causing Covid-19 disease.Dr Rakesh Mishra, director of CCMB,said that the main reason that is caus-ing coronavirus spread widely in Indiais its different variants.

“If the virus is of singular varianthaving no mutations, its spread can becurtailed by breaking its infectionchain. However, in India we have iden-tified 4 different mutant variants ofcoronaviruses, which are spreading

widely in different parts of the country,”said Mishra, while explaining the majorcause of the huge spike in Covid casesin the country.

As per the research study revealedby the CCMB scientists, it is understoodthat the northern parts of India such asDelhi, Haryana, UP, Punjab and otherareas are witnessing the UK variant ofCovid virus, apart from this, the B1.617variant is also widely spreading.

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India kicked off the thirdphase of the much-hyped

vaccination drive coveringthose above the age of 18 yearsfrom Saturday at a dismal noteas barring six, most States andUnion Territories (UTs)deferred the drive due to short-age of vaccine.

Even in these six States, thedrive was “token”, limited to justa few districts, said an officialfrom the Union HealthMinistry. The exercise began ata time when many States arereporting shortage of vaccineson contrary to the Centre’sclaim that more than 79 lakhCovid vaccine doses(79,13,518) are still availablewith the States and UnionTerritories to be administered.

The Centre has so farclaimed to have provided near-ly 16.37 crore vaccine doses(16,37,62,300) to States andUTs “free of cost” of which thetotal consumption, includingwastages, is 15,58,48,782 doses.

The Centre has promisedto provide more than 17 lakh(17,31,110) vaccine doses to theStates and UTs within the nextthree days. Some private hos-

pitals too started the vaccineprocess for those in the agegroup of 18-44 years.

Amid deadly Covid-19 sec-ond wave surge, the Centre hadsaid all Indian adults will be eli-gible to receive the Covid-19vaccine starting May 1. Theinoculation process and docu-ments to be provided to get thejab to remain the same. TheGovernment has made itmandatory for the 18-44 agegroup to register on CoWIN.

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At least 18 persons, includ-ing 16 Covid-19 patients,

died in a fire at a hospital atBharuch in Gujarat in the earlyhours of Saturday, officials said.

The State Government saida judicial enquiry will be con-ducted into the fire thatdestroyed the Intensive CareUnit of Patel Welfare Hospital,run by a charitable trust.

“Sixteen coronaviruspatients and two nursing staffwere either charred to death ordied due to suffocation insidea Covid-19 unit,” saidSuperintendent of PoliceRajendrasinh Chudasama.

As many as 50 patientswere undergoing treatment atthe Covid-19 facility on theground floor when fire brokeout in the ICU around 1 am,probably because of short cir-cuit, said a hospital official.

The fire was doused with-in an hour. Local people andthe kin of patients helped in therescue operation during whichdozens of patients were shift-ed to other facilities by ambu-lance. Some were brought outof the building on wheelchairsor on make-shift stretchers.

The four-storey designatedCovid-19 hospital stands on theBharuch-Jambusar highway,190 km from Ahmedabad.

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A35-year-old woman died inher car outside a

Government hospital due toCovid after waiting for hoursfor a bed in Greater Noida onThursday. Her body remainedinside the car for three hours.

An eyewitness said the rel-atives of Jagriti Gupta were try-ing to find a hospital bed forher at the Government Institute

of Medical Sciences (GIMS).Gupta, who worked as an

engineer in Greater Noida, issurvived by her husband andtwo children.

The eyewitness said hereached GIMS around 12.15pm and there he saw thewoman patient in a seriouscondition in her car.

He added she was with anattendant, who was runningfrom pillar to post for a bed forher.

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With its presence at around3 lakh panchayats across

the country, the Centre’s digi-tal arm Common ServiceCentres (CSC) has come for-ward to assist rural India to reg-ister the population falling inthe age bracket of 18-44 yearsfor the mandatory Co-Winportal registration for the massCovid vaccination programmethat started on Saturday.

This has come as relief forthe authorities amid appre-hension as to how rural Indiawill get themselves registeredfor vaccination in the absenceof adequate internet access andsmartphone mobility.

On the first day of regis-tration after the Government ofIndian opened the Covid vac-cination programme for thegeneral people in the 18-44years category, more than onelakh people from rural Indiareported through the CSCkiosks in less than 24 hours.

There are more than 4lakh CSC. Around 2.64 lakh ofthese are at panchayat levelwith each centre/kiosks facili-tated by an agent called VillageLevel Entrepreneur (VLE).

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The Delhi Governmentextended lockdown by a

week till May 10, ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwalannounced on Saturday. Thenational Capital has been underlockdown since April 19, as theruling Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) scrambles to contain afresh wave of infections and apositivity rate that remainsover 30 per cent.

“Lockdown in Delhi isbeing extended by one week,”Kejriwal tweeted.

This is the second exten-sion of the lockdown in thenational Capital. Last Sunday,while announcing the first,Kejriwal had said,“Coronavirus still continuesto wreak havoc in the city.Public opinion is that lock-downs should increase. So it isbeing extended for one week.”

The Delhi DisasterManagement Authority(DDMA), in its order on theextension of the lockdown,stated that a review of thepandemic situation showedthat the numbers of positivecases, positivity rate as well asbed occupancy (oxygen-sup-ported or ICU beds) in thededicated Covid-19 hospitalsare very high.

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New Delhi: Inoculation ofpeople in the 18-44 age groupagainst Covid-19 will begin inDelhi from Monday, ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwalannounced on Saturday, say-ing 4.5 lakh vaccine doseshave been received by the cityGovernment.

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The Delhi High Court onSaturday came down heav-

ily on the Centre and orderedthat forthwith the DelhiGovernment must be givenpromised quota of 490 MToxygen per day failing whichthe Centre would face con-tempt of court.

Fuming with rage, thejudges said “enough is enough”and observed that for the past10 days, the State was gettingonly around 300 MT.

Minutes after the slap fromHigh Court, the Centreincreased Delhi’s quota to590MT per day. The order waspassed by a Division Bench ofJustices Vipin Sanghi andRekha Palli in a batch of peti-tions raising issues relating toCovid-19 management.

“We direct Centre toensure that Delhi receives its490 MT oxygen supply todayby whatever means,” the courtsaid, adding that the Centremust arrange tankers for theState. The court also noted thatDelhi is not an industrial Stateand has no cryogenic tankersthat could enable acquisition tofacilitate the supply of oxygen.

“It falls on the CentralGovernment to arrange tankers..(else) it only remains a paper

allocation. The allocation toDelhi has been in force fromApril 20 and not for a singleday Delhi has received allocat-ed supply,” said court fixingresponsibility on Centre.

The court also clarifiedthat in case its present directionis not complied. Secretary ofIndustries has to remain pre-sent before it. We may evenconsider issuing contempt pro-ceedings, the court added. Evenas Additional Solicitor GeneralChetan Sharma sought to inter-vene, the court remarked,“Water has gone above thehead. Now we mean business.You will arrange everythingnow…You made an allocation.You fulfill it.”

ASG Sharma urged thecourt not to say anything on theaspect of contempt and even

requested that the order bedeferred by half an hour toenable the officers to explainthe position.

However the judges did notentertain the requests of theASG.

New Delhi: The Governmenthas allowed imports of oxygenconcentrators for personal usethrough post, courier or e-commerce portals under thegift category amid increasingdemand for oxygen due to ris-ing Covid-19 cases, theCommerce Ministry said onSaturday.

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Chief Minister Shivraj SinghChouhan has said corona is

completely cured if treatmentstarts early, but the delay can befatal. Therefore, if there are anysymptoms then check up shouldbe done immediately and at thesame time give medical kit to theperson so that treatment canstart. Do not be careless at all, seektreatment as soon as some symp-toms are seen.

Chouhan said that patientsshould be identified after con-

ducting door-to-door survey andmedical kit should be given andtreatment started if symptoms likecold, cough, fever etc. are seen. Byfollowing the strategy of “earlydetection and cure”, we can cureevery corona patient. Accordingto a study, Madhya Pradesh iscoming down from Corona peak.

He was holding a meetingwith members of the CoronaCore Group through video con-ferencing from his residence onSaturday. The concerned minis-ters and officials were present inthe meeting.

There are now 88,511 activecases of Corona in the state. In thelast 24 hours, there has been adecline of 2285 active cases,12,379 new cases have come,while 14,562 patients have beencured. Our positivity rate hasimproved to 20.3% and weekly

positivity rate is 22%.Additional Chief Secretary

Health Mohammad Suleman saidthat according to the case pre-diction made by MahendraAgarwal, Professor, IIT Kanpur,Madhya Pradesh has reached itsCorona Peak. Now cases aredecreasing.

Chouhan directed that thedoctors must call and advise thepatients under treatment in homeisolation at least once a day.

Adequate supply of oxygen isbeing made in the state. The stateis getting a quota of 589 MT ofoxygen. 465 MT was received on30 April, 489 MT oxygen supplyreceived on May 1 and 503 MTsupply is estimated for May 2.

A total of 58 new oxygenplants are being set up in all dis-tricts of the state. Chouhaninstructed to speed up the work.

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�What is your role about?The post-partition era saw our

country go through a drasticchange. Families were displaced andwere now refugees in their owncountry. For them to find theirground all over again and rebuildtheir lives was a challenge. Royalfamilies too had a fair share ofordeals to deal with then. Mycharacter is set against these verychallenges. Nalini Pratap Singh isthe Queen of a province with alegacy she’s proud of and would goto any lengths to safeguard it. Theonly heartache in her life is herstrained relationship with her onlyson and how his crazy shenanigansand bid to outwit her constantlykeep her on her toes. �How did you come on board theproject?

It’s sheer luck and faith of myproducers in my potential that I gotthis show. The way Shashi ma’amnarrated the character I knew I hadto do it. And I am. I feel Kyun UttheDil Chhod Aaye is an amazing andunique concept and this show isgoing to be a different experiencefor me. Other than that I wanted tobe a part of the show which standsout from all the other shows I havedone in past. I am overwhelmed towork with such a well-knownproduction house and wonderfulchannel. This is a great opportunityfor me. I am looking forward to anew journey of my life with theentire team.�What is the hardest part ofplaying Nalini Devi?

Playing Nalini Devi’s characterthough not easy is a very fulfillingexperience as an actor. Who doesn’twish to portray a larger than lifecharacter? It’s what every actordreams of. It’s very different from notjust all the characters that I playedbefore but it’s different from all theother characters on television per se.� Is there a lesson that you learntthe hard way in the industry?

The hardest lesson that I learnt

was that one must not get overlyattached to one character becauseonce the show ends, that voidhurts. �Having played so many variedroles, which one was thetoughest?

Every character is toughand challenging in the initialstages of a show. But onceyou completely embrace itand let it become yoursecond skin, it’s likehaving parallel lifealtogether. For me,Nalini is still achallenge. And I’mworking towardsowning hercompletely. Shejust might bethe toughestcharacter I’veever played.� You haveplayed bothpositive andn e g a t i v echaracters. Whichone do you prefer?

It’s not the shadeof a character thatmatters. It’s the depth,the weightage, the screenspace and above all theopportunity to performthat matters. I’ve playedevery shade, totally black,totally white and a bit ofboth, grey. Not to brag butmy conscious choices inchoosing a show have notstereotyped me as positiveor negative.� Is there anything in thepipeline?

It’s a conscious effort tobe a part of one show at atime. I don’t pursue anythingelse as it takes a toll on what’son hand. And in these tryingtimes, to be able to work in asafe and healthy environment,I feel blessed.

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An event Hamara Sambal Hamara Vishwas was organized byMahila Lekhika Sangh. In this programme, renowned psy-

chologist Jyoti Pandey addressed all the writers of Hindi WritersAssociation and especially the corona warriors. He taught thetricks to get out of depression.

Jyoti Pandey first narrated a story and asked all the womenquestions related to that story and then answered their curiosi-ties. After this, she gave everyone four incomplete sentences andasked them to complete those sentences in a minute. By choos-ing a few sentences from these sentences, and also wrote a poem.

She told all women that we must do what we want to do forourselves. We are our biggest critics and always see our short-comings, do not do this. Identify your strengths. Be your own bestfriend. Stop cursing yourself forever. Mistakes happen the most.Always remember the moments of happiness, add them, one dayyou will see that you have accumulated a treasure of happiness.

The president of the Writers Association, Anita Saxena, saidthat at this time every person is going through problems of body,mind, wealth and people. It is very important for a women, whois the piller of the family to be healthy and that is why this eventhas been organized to increase the morale of women.

In this programme Suman Oberoi, Vandana Mishra,Manorama Pant, Archana Nigam, Ayushi Saxena, Sudha Verma,Madhu Saxena, Shobha Bhise, Madhulika Saxena, Usha Jaiswal,Asha Sharma, Pushpa Sharma, Asha Kapoor, Kiran Khodke,Sandhya Sharma, Damini Khare , Mahima Verma, Navita Johri,Moni Mathur, Karuna Srivastava, Vijaya Raikwar, NiharikaRashmi, Baljit Saluja, Kusum Srivastava, Khanjan Sinha, MalatiBasant, Kalpana Vijayvargiya, Sadhana Gangarade, Uma Dubey,Vinita Rahurikar, Shefalika Shrivastar, Sheepalika ShrivastarSeveral sisters of the written association, including Ranjan,Kunkum Gupta, participated.

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Atal Bihari Vajpayee HindiUniversity's first Registrar

and present Registrar ofVikram University, Ujjain, Prof.Uday Narayan Shukla's onlinecondolence was organized inHindi University on hisuntimely demise.

The university officials,staff, teachers and studentsjoined online. University ViceChancellor Prof. RamdevBhardwaj described Prof.Shukla's death as extremelysad, unexpected and unimag-inable.

Vice Chancellor Prof.Bhardwaj said that Prof.Shukla's departure in this way

is an irreparable loss to the aca-demic world. He said that Prof.Shukla was a proffessional,skilled, capable and accom-plished personality in admin-istrative and academic sectors.Prof. Bhardwaj further saidthat Atal Bihari Vajpayee HindiUniversity pays its humbletribute on the death of anexperienced Educator withsuch a strong academic andadministrative capacity.

While offering a sinceretribute to Prof. Shukla, he saidthat the God should place himat his lotus feet, and empowerProf. Shukla's family andfriends to bear this profoundtrauma. University RegistrarYashwant Singh Patel read the

condolence message. At theend of the condolence meeting,the officers, staff, teachers andstudents of the university tooka two-minute silence and Paidtribute to Prof. Shukla.

It is worth mentioning thatpresently Prof. Shukla was ful-filling his duties as the Registrarat Vikram University, Ujjain.He was admitted to a privatehospital in Ujjain on the morn-ing of 30 April due to illness.He died in the hospital itself.He did not die due to COVID-19 infection. Due to Prof.Shukla's departure like this,there is mourning in variousUniversities and EducationalInstitutions of the state includ-ing Vikram University.

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Koh-e-Fiza police havecracked fake robbery fab-

ricated by two men at BhootBangla in the evening; �5.25lakh cash was never brought byaccused to the spot and wererecovered from a farmhouse.The woman KhansaNaaz lodged complaint thatmiscreants robbed of valuablesafter locking her mother-in-lawinside bathroom.

The accused Halke SinghLodhi (40) and his brotherMangal Singh Lodhi (28) werearrested.SP North declared acash reward of �10000 to thepolice team for solving thecase and arresting the accused.

The fake case was revealedafter the police team quizzedand visited the scene and con-

tinuously interrogated the peo-ple living in area during whichthe incident was revealed.

In the evening on FridayHalke Singh reported that hewas on his way to Koh-e-Fizato provide money toMohammad Raees who ownsfarms and Halke collected cashfrom Shabbir Khan but waslooted near MPSEB office.

During investigation it wasfound that he never broughtcash and with the help of hisbrother Mangal Singh Lodhikept the money at MohammadRaees’s farm house at NaktraChanderi Raisen and wasrecovered from the farm house.

Police have registered acase under section 408,182and 177 of the IPC and arrest-ed the two.

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IPS Puneet Gehalot joined asASP Mhow on Saturday. ASP

Puneet Gehalot is an IPS offi-cer of 2017 batch and he fin-ished the three months foun-dation course in Hyderabadrecently and joined as ASPMhow on Saturday.

Within hours of joining asASP Mhow Puneet Gehlotinspected Mhow police stationand Kishanganj police station.SDOP Mhow Vinod Sharmaaccompanied ASP PuneetGehalot during his inspectionto the police stations andinformed him about the pre-sent crime and Covid situationsof Mhow tehsil area.

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A49-year-old man died in aroad accident after his

motorbike skidded near SanchiDoodh Sangh under Habibganjpolice station area on Friday;deceased was posted with rail-ways at DRM office.

Police said that the injuredwas taken to hospital he wasdeclared dead he met accidentwhile he was returning fromhospital.The deceased wasidentified as Sanjeev Kumarwho was returning in the after-noon after visiting hospital. Heused to live at Saket Nagar.

The police have registereda case under section 174 of theCrPC registered and startedfurther investigation. The localsinformed the police and on thereceipt of the information,

police team rushed to the spotand started investigation.

Police said that Sanjeevsustained head injuries after hehit the road divider whichproved fatal.

Sanjeev was not feeling forthe past 3-4 days and had goneto hospital for check-up andwhile he was returning he lostbalance and hit road divider.

Meanwhile, a 40-year-oldman died during treatmentafter his bike skid atNeemkheda culvert underNazeerabad police station area;police have started investiga-tion.

The deceased, identifiedas Shrilal Silawat had gone forsome work and met accidentnear his village.

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With the efforts of the stategovernment, ‘Drive in

vaccination’ has been started inMadhya Pradesh’s first drive-incinema in Bhopal. The Drive inVaccination is being operatedin the premises of StateTourism Corporation’s HotelLake View at Shyamala Hills incollaboration with the HealthDepartment and UNICEF.

Medical EducationMinister Vishwas Sarangreached the drive in vaccina-tion center and reviewed thearrangements. Meanwhile, heenquired about the health ofthe people who came to getvaccinated and urged them tomotivate others also for thisnew experiment.

Sarang said that this vacci-nation programme is a safe andunique experiment especiallyfor the elderly and women.Such new experiments willalso be made in other parts ofMadhya Pradesh. Managing

Director of Madhya PradeshState Tourism DevelopmentCorporation S. Vishwanathanand Collector Avinash Lavaniawere also present on the occa-sion.

Principal SecretaryTourism and Culture SheoShekhar Shukla informed thatthis new experiment has beenstarted to provide safe andaccessible vaccination facility tothe people of Bhopal. Underthe drive in vaccination, pre-registered citizens above 45will be vaccinated from 5 pmto 8 pm daily. Citizens will beable to register for vaccinationthrough https://cowin.gov.inportal and Arogya Setu App fordate and time slots as per theirconvenience.

On registration throughthe app, a screen shot or printout of the date and time slot,along with photo identity card,from which the registration hasbeen done will have to bebrought to the centre. This willenable citizens to get vaccinat-

ed by reaching the centre at thescheduled date and time. TheGovernment of India guide-lines and the Covid-19 proto-col is being followed in the

drive in vaccination pro-gramme.

Managing Director ofMadhya Pradesh State TourismDevelopment Corporation, S.

Vishwanathan said that thosewho are vaccinated have to waitin the centre premises for halfan hour after vaccination, dur-ing this time interesting infor-

mation regarding precautionand prevention of Covid-19infection will be displayed onthe big screen in the premises.During the vaccination drive,paramedical and nursing staffincluding staff of the HealthDepartment will also be pre-sent to complete the process ofvaccination drive on a dailybasis. Besides, a medical vanwill also be available for thepeople’s convenience.

Vishwanathan informedthat pick and drop facility hasalso been started for safe vac-cination of people. Interestedpersons can contact theTransport Branch of theTourism Corporation at num-ber 90397 61097.

They will have to pay Rs400 for 10 kilometers, Rs 600for 20 kilometers and Rs 900for 35 kilometers. Such citizenswill be picked up from theirhome by the Transport branchof the Corporation anddropped back home after vac-cination.

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Chief Minister Shivraj SinghChouhan said that Kill-

corona Campaign-2 is beingconducted from village to vil-lage and house to house in allrural areas of the State for spe-cial fever screening.

The survey teams arereaching out and identifyingpotential patients on priorityespecially in areas where therate of infection is high. 15,308survey teams have been formedfor the Kill-Corona Campaign-2 started from April 24 last. Thesurvey of more than 2 crore 29lakh 51 thousand 135 peoplehas been completed by thesurvey teams so far. During thesurvey, samples of more than84,148 potential patients havebeen taken. The campaign willrun until May 9.

Out of 22,811 gram pan-chayats in the state, 21,584gram panchayats have pledgedto impose Janta corona curfew,which is about 94.62 percent ofthe total panchayats. All gov-ernment and private officesexcept essential services areoperating with a 10 percentpresence. The gathering ofpeople is prohibited for organ-ising social, political, cultural,sports, educational, publicevents and entertainment activ-ities.

Vaccination work is alsogoing on in the state. So far,

health workers, front line work-ers, senior citizens and morethan 80.69 lakh people above45 years of age have been vac-cinated. More than 3.22 crorecitizens of the state will get vac-cinated. The government willspend about Rs 2710 crore onthis work. The work orders of45 lakh doses of the Covishieldvaccine have been issued.

The number of CoronaVolunteers across the state hasnow exceeded 1 lakh 8 thou-sand 375. All the volunteers areworking shoulder to shoulderwith the government and aremaking significant contribu-tion in public awareness worksunder Covid control. 1616 vol-unteers have been registered inAlirajpur district. Volunteershave presented an all-purposeambulance vehicle to the citypeople in the district's devel-opment block Jobat. Recently,7 cylinders of oxygen could betransported by ambulance toJobat.

Under the Jeevan AmritYojana, 2 lakh 92 thousand 448people have been benefited bydistributing 1 lakh 16 thousand979 packets of decoction tofamilies since April 8, 2021.

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On the occasion ofInternational Labour Day

a webinar was organised byRabindranath TagoreUniversity on Saturday.

Prince Abhishek Agyani,director of Darshan JanSangathan and editor of thedaily Independent newspaper,

was the keynote speaker in theonline discussion organizedby the National ServicePlanning Unit RabindranathTagore University.

He called for volunteers ofthe National Service Scheme tohelp the laborers during theCorona epidemic. SocialistMudit Bhatnagar, the distin-guished speaker of the pro-

gram, threw light on the back-ground of Labor Day and saidthat we need to understand thedetailed definition of laborerstoday.

In fact, laborers are not justpeople working in fields, roadsor factories, but also thoseworking in banks, railways, ITcompanies etc. because intoday's time they are also final-

ly facing all the same problemsthat they are facing.

A common laborer strug-gles. When we can see thisdetailed definition of laborers,then we will also be able tomove towards an overallreform movement. In the pro-gram, Dr. Rekha Gupta spokeabout the help work done bythe volunteers of the National

Service Scheme for the labor-ers during the Corona period.

It is a matter of concernthat the same worker, despitebeing a producer, has beenstumbling rate after rate. It isnot that the condition of thelaborers was good earlier, theircondition was also bad before,but today their condition is

more pathetic in the era of epi-demic.

We saw thousands ofmigrant laborers barefootedand hungry on the streets in thescorching sun last year.

We have seen them die onthe railway tracks. But it is apity that the laborer who workshard for us day and night, wedo not even think for such

laborer in such a situation. Wecontinue to discuss big issuesand declare ourselves to be era-visionaries, but forget that wemay be era-wise, but the realera-maker is a laborer.

The programme was con-ducted by Swayamsevak YashKumar Jaiswal and the pro-gram officer of gratitudeGabbar Singh. Important pres-

ence was of Rahul SinghParihar, Usha Vaidya, HarshaSharma and Savitri SinghParihar.

Mayank Sahu, AvinashChauhan, Bornika Raut,Shivani Kumari, Manisha,Prabhat Singh, Kaluram, IshikaNamdev, Sonakshi, RahulTiwari were present on theoccasion.

Bhopal: Shahpura police havearrested 8 accused includingtwo women for killing a 22-year-old youth at EWS no. 12 in thenight on Friday.

The deceased Touseef alongwith his brother Asif was on hisway back after having dinner atfriend and when they reachednear Anganwadi they wereattacked by armed miscreants.

Asif told police that Dharu,Rohit Varadel, Raja Varadel,Shubham Giri, Akash aliasChinu, Suda alias Vijay Dhaksesuddenly stopped our car andattacked his brother Touseef, inwhich Rohit Varadel strangledTausif with a rope used forcatching pig and Raja attackedwith sharp edged weapon in hishead while Shubham GiriGoswami, Chinu aka Akash andSuda alias Vikash Dhakseattacked him. At the spot Sudha’s

mother Susheela Bai screamed tokill Touseef. Sudha hit Touseefwith a stone.

Sawan Dharu alias Sagarattacked with a sharp edgedweapon in his chest, neck andstomach multiple times. At thetime of incident Asif was withTouseef and claimed that heknew the killers as Touseef hada fight with them few days ago.

Police have registered a caseunder sections 147,148,149, 341and 302 of the IPC. During theinvestigation teams were madeand accused were nabbed andsharp edged weapons used to killwere arrested.Touseef had a dis-pute with Sudha's brother andSawan Dharu just a few days ago,but no one had reported to thepolice after mutual agreementand to settle score they attackedTouseef which lead to his mur-der. SR

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The Union Territory of Jammu& Kashmir on Saturday record-

ed the highest ever death tally of 47in one single day while the totalactive positive cases crossed the bar-rier of 30,000 with 3,832 fresh casesgetting detected during screeningacross the region.

Out of these 47 deaths, 30 werereported from Jammu division and17 across Kashmir division.Out ofa total of 3832 fresh cases, the twincapital cities of Srinagar and Jammureported highest number 1084 and504 cases respectively.

The UT administration afterreviewing the rapid growth of coro-navirus cases late evening alsodecided to extend the 'CoronaCurfew' till May 6 across four mostaffected districts of Srinagar,Baramulla, Budgam and Jammu.

However, the Corona curfew atnight shall continue in all Municipal/ urban local body limits of all 20districts of Jammu and Kashmir,including the above 4 districts.Night curfew will be in force from

8 pm to 7 am.On the other hand, the third

phase of the vaccination drivemeant for persons between 18-45years of age was launched in aphased manner in Jammu andSrinagar districts only.

According to the media bulletinissued by the Department ofInformation and Public Relations,"Out of 30 deaths reported acrossJammu region, 13 were reportedfrom GMC, Jammu, four fromAcharya Shri Chander College ofMedical Sciences and Hospital (ASCOMS), three from GMC,Rajouri, two from GMC Kathua".

As the number of deaths piledup across Jammu region allegationsof lack of oxygen supply available insome of the private hospitals alsosurfaced.

One of the hospital premises inJammu saturday witnessed chaosafter family members raised hue andcry soon after their patient suc-cumbed. Aggrieved family membersalleged the patient died in theabsence of uninterrupted oxygensupply. Responding to the allega-

tions Director Principal, AcharyaShri Chander College of MedicalSciences and Hospital (ASCOMS),Dr Pavan Malhotra said a patientnamely Bita Kumari Kher aged 59years was admitted on 14.04.2021 asCoVID positive and turned nega-tive on 28.04.2021. She howevercould not support herself on theatmospheric oxygen and had to con-tinue with High Flow oxygen evenafter getting negative.

The patient was treated as perprotocol of CoVID and she becamenegative after receiving the treat-ment. She had a massive CardiacPulmonary arrest today morning ataround 9.30 A.M and passed awaydue to acute CoVID pneumonia.The reports in the media that thepatient died due to the non avail-ability of oxygen is totally incorrect.

Dr Malhotra also claimed “Theoxygen supply to the hospital is ade-quate and the hospital is not admit-ting any non CoVID patient so thatthe care of CoVID patients is notaffected. Normal and Emergencysurgeries have been temporarilysuspended” the Principal said.

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Jaipur: Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has saidthat the time has come to provide comprehen-sive social security to the needy, helpless anddeprived people like developed countries to facil-itate healthy and dignified living and to bridgethe gap of richness and poverty.

The Chief Minister Chiranjeevi HealthInsurance Scheme is a historic step of theRajasthan government in this direction, whichwill free the people of the state from worryingabout the huge expense of treatment.

Gehlot was inaugurating the Chief MinisterChiranjeevi Health Insurance Scheme and freevaccination for the age group of 18 to 45 yearsfrom the video conference on Saturday. TheChief Minister launched the website of thescheme chiranjiv.rajasthan.gov.in.

During this time, he interacted with theyouth in the age group of 18 and above, whowere vaccinated in Jaipur, Ajmer and Jodhpur.On this occasion, policy documents ofChiranjeevi Yojana were also distributed toselectedbeneficiaries of these three districts.

Others should also consider such a schemeThe Chief Minister said that Rajasthan is theleading state in the country providing univer-

sal health insurance with the aim of providinghealth protection to every state after free med-icine and screening scheme.

He said that during the UPA government,a rights-based era was started to promotesocial security in the country under the lead-ership of the then Prime Minister Dr.Manmohan Singh and UPA Chairperson Smt.Sonia Gandhi.

At that time, the countrymen were givenright to programs like Right to Information,Right to Education, Food Security and MahatmaGandhi NREGA. A program like MNREGA hasproved to be a boon for the poorer class in theCovid crisis.

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Four teachers of differentdepartments of Aligarh

Muslim University (AMU)died due to corona virus infec-tion. Vice Chancellor Prof.Tariq Mansoor has expressedgrief over the demise of allthese teachers.

Prof. Kunwar Sajid AliKhan, Chairman, Departmentof Psychology, died in a hospi-tal in Delhi. He was 63.Professor Muhammad AliKhan, senior teacher in AMU'sPost Harvest Engineering andTechnology Department,passed away. Vice ChancellorProf. Tariq Mansoor said thatwe have lost the leading acad-emician and scientist, who wasinstrumental in the develop-ment of the post harvest engi-neering field.

In addition, Dr. Jibrail ofthe Department of Historypassed away.

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As the number of Covid-19 patients inthe State showing no signs of any

abatement, Kerala is being fortified fromwithin as well as outside according toChief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

The districts of Kozhikode andMalappuram have been brought underprohibitory orders for the next one weekin view of the counting of assembly votesscheduled for Sunday and the surgingcases of Covid-19.

Vijayan in his daily press briefing onSaturday evening said that 48 persons losttheir lives and the number of newCovid-19 patients shot up to 35, 636 dur-ing the last 24 hours. The Test PositivityRatio in the State stood at 24.33 per cent,said Vijayan.

The Chief Minister alleged that theCentre was not at all cooperating with theState in issuing the vaccines and this hasforced the Kerala Government to call offthe programme to vaccinate thosebetween the 18-45 age group indefinite-ly.

“The Centre is showing total disre-gard to the relevant Supreme Court ver-dict and this has out us un trouble,” saidthe chief minister.

He disclosed that there were morethan 3.23 lakh Covid patients in the State.Many Government run hospitals inKerala has ran out of beds. The TalukHospital at Thiroorangadi was forced tosend back patients who were brought tothe hospital on Saturday as there were nobeds.

There are persons like Rejith Kumarof Idukki who had opted out from get-ting admitted to the hospital taking a cuefrom Narayana Dabhalkar of Nagpur. Kumar, a Samskar Bharati office-bearer is undergoing treatment in hisown house in Kerala’s High Range region.

Kozhikode district diagnosed 5,554new patients while Ernakulam districtaccounted for 5,002 new cases.

With 48 persons succumbing to thepandemic on Saturday, death toll reached5,356 .

Kerala Private Hospitals Associationon Saturday rejected the diktat by thedepartment of health to unify the treat-ment costs with that of government hos-pitals. “Let them come with practical sug-gestions. You see for yourself the condi-tions in Government and Private hospitals and take a decision,” saidan office bearer of the association.

CHENNAI: Despite stringent measures in force sincelast week, there is no respite in the spread of Covid-19 in Tamil Nadu. On Saturday, the directorate of healthand preventive medicine disclosed that 19, 588 new per-sons were diagnosed with Covid-19 till Saturdayevening. The fatalities too reached a new high as 147deaths were reported from across the State tillSaturday evening, said the release.

The number of Covid-19 patients in Chennaireached 31,475 on Saturday as 5,829 persons were test-ed positive till evening. Chengalpattu (1,445),Coimbatore (1,257) and Tirunelveli (812) are the otherdistricts which were causing concern across the State.

The Tamil Nadu Government’s Unified CommandCentre for Covid-19 management commissioned onFriday has started helping patients across the State byproviding information about hospital bed availabilityand ICU facilities in areas closer to their places of res-idence. Till Thursday, this facility was available onlyin Chennai and neighbouring districts.

Meanwhile the Tamil Nadu Police on late Fridayevening arrested Dr Mohammed Imran Khan, a MBBSgraduate and his accomplices who were involved inhoarding and black-marketing of Remdesivir, a drugfor Covid-19.

Thiruvannamalai based Dr Imran Khan wasprocuring Remdesivir from Government GeneralHospital for Rs 8,000 and selling the same at Rs 20,000, said S Santhi, SP, Civil Supplies Department. PNS

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Refuting a report preparedby M/s. Arsenal

Consultancy suggesting that“fake evidences” were plantedinto the laptop of Rona J.Wilson, a human rightsactivists and one of primeaccused in the sensitive Bhima-Koregaon case, the NIA hastold the Bombay High Courtthat the US digital forensicsfirm has no locus-standi to givesuch opinion without thecourt’s permission.

In an affidavit filed in thehigh court, the NIA contestedthe report prepared by the M/s.Arsenal Consultancy, in whichthe US digital forensics firm hadclaimed that Wilson’s laptop washacked and 10 “incriminating”letters planted in it ahead of hisarrest on April 17, 2018.

The letters, recovered pur-portedly from Wilson’s laptop,had among other things allegedthat a conspiracy had beenhatched to kill the PrimeMinister of India and over-throw the government.

Opposing an interim reliefto Wilson, the NIA stated in itsaffidavit filed before theBombay High Court that theapplication filed by Wilson

before the Bombay High Courtin February this year on thebasis of M/s. ArsenalConsultancy’s claims, was notmaintainable.

In an application onFebruary 10 this year, Wilsonhad urged the high court to aSpecial Investigation Team(SIT) to look into the “fake evi-dences” planted into his com-puter ahead of his arrest in thecase, and sought dismissal ofthe case against him.

Citing the report preparedby M/s. Arsenal Consultancy tosuggest that his laptop hadbeen hacked and 10 lettersplanted in it ahead of his arrest,Wilson had alleged that theNIA had used to make out acase against him other activistsarrested in the famous Bhima-Koregaon case.

Among other things,Arsenal Consulting – which thehuman rights activist hadcited to seek an interim relief-- had claimed in its report thatnot only Wilson’s computerwas ‘attacked and compro-mised’ from June 13, 2016 forover 22 months, but similarmalware attacks were madeon even other accused in otherhigh-profile Indian cases.

On the basis of M/s

Arsenal Consulting’s report,Wilson had sought a stay onthe proceedings in the case andhis immediate release as aninterim relief.

In its affidavit filed beforethe high court, the NIA claimedthat M/s Arsenal Consultinghad no locus to give any opin-ion in the case at a time whenWilson and 15 other civil rightsactivists and academics werebeing tried for charges underthe stringent UnlawfulActivities (Prevention) Act,1967 (UAPA).

“When the trial is pendingand is sub-judiced before thiscourt M/s. ArsenalConsultancy have no locus-standi to give such an opinionwithout permission of thisHon'ble Court," NIA’sSuperintendent of PoliceVikram Khalate stated in hisaffidavit.

The NIA told the highcourt that it was for Wilson toexplain how his laptop came tobe allegedly hacked, when it wasunder his control and that thelatter could not blame theinvestigating agencies that cameinto the picture much later.

Terming Wilson's petitionis "vague", the NIA stated thatthe petition did not mention

the name of the cyber attack-er's name, who might haveplanted evidence on his laptop.

The high court will nowhear Wilson’s plea seekinginterim relief on May 4.

It may be recalled that thescanned copies of 10 “incrim-inating” letters were among thevirtual and physical documentsrecovered by the investigatorsduring their simultaneous raidsconducted by the investigatorson April 17 2018 ahead of thearrest of Wilson and otheraccused in the case.

Apart from Wilson, anoth-er 15 persons were arrested in2018. The arrested personsincluded P Varavara Rao,Sudhir Dhawale, SurendraGadling, Anand Teltumbde,Gautam Navlakha, Jyoti Jagtap,Ramesh Gaichor, Shona Sen,Arun Ferreira, Sagar Gorkhe,Mahesh Raut, SudhaBharadwaj, Vernon Gonsalves,Fr. Stan Swamy and Hany Babu.They are being tried under thedreaded UAPA Act, 1967.

On the basis of one of theallegedly incriminating lettersseized from Wilson’s comput-er, the Pune police had claimedthat the CPI (Maoist) hadhatched a “conspiracy" to “over-throw” the Government and

“target” the country’s highestpolitical functionary.

The letter, written by “R”(which the investigators sus-pected might be Rona Jacobhimself) and addressed to onecomrade Prakash, stated: “Weare thinking along the lines ofanother Rajiv Gandhi-typeincident. It sounds suicidaland there is a good chance wemight fail but we feel the partymust deliberate over our pro-posal. Targeting his road showscould be an effective strategy.We collectively believe thatsurvival of the party is supremeto all sacrifices”.

The letter also talks aboutthe requirement of Rs 8 croreto procure M-4 rifles as anannual supply and four lakhrounds of ammunition.

Among other things, theletter stated: “Modi-led Hindufascist regime is bulldozing itsway into the lives of indigenousadivasis, in spite of big defeatslike Bihar and West Bengal.Modi has successfully estab-lished BJP govt in more than 15states. If this pace continuesthen it would mean immensetrouble for the party on allfronts. Greater suppression ofdissent and more brutal formof Mission 2016 (OGH).

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The Nashik police onSaturday registered a non-

cognisable offence against fivepersons for allegedly creatingand circulating an objection-able video on Facebook andother social media platformsabout former Chief Ministerand senior BJP leaderDevendra Fadnavis.

Acting on a complaint filedby the BJP’s local unit presidentHemant Gaikwad, the NashikRoad police registered a caseagainst five persons for alleged-ly trying to defame Fadnavisduring his visit to Nashsik onFriday.

According to the com-plaint, one unidentified person

prepared an objectionablevideo against Fadnavis andtried to defame the formerchief minister.

The five persons, againstwhom the police have regis-tered a case, were identified asSanket Bhosale, Ratan Khalkar, Pramod Khonkhade,Rahul Joshi and Bunty Thakre.

They had allegedly usedtheir Facebook accounts tocirculate the objectionablevideo.

In his complaint, Gaikwadhas alleged that the person whohad video had threatened toattack Fadnavis and heapedabuses on the former chiefminister and former State min-ister Girish Mahajan.

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Panaji: Goa recorded 2,303 new coronavirus infections onSaturday which took its caseload to 93,355, a health depart-ment official said.With 54 persons succumbing to the infec-tion, the death toll reached 1,222.

The number of recovered persons rose to 68,249 with1,310 patients getting discharged from hospitals on Saturday.

The number of active cases in the state is 23,884, the offi-cial said."With 5,897 new tests, the total of samples testedfor coronavirus went up to 6,58,713," he added.

With the coastal state, a popular tourist hotspot, report-ing an extremely high test positivity rate of over 50 per centon Thursday, authorities have imposed a four-day lockdowntill 6 am on May 3.

The state government has said all essential services wouldbe allowed to function during the period.

Goa's COVID-19 figures are as follows: Positive cases93,355, new cases 2,303, death toll 1,222, recovered 68,249,active cases 23,884, samples tested to date 6,58,713. PTI

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With hardly any let up in the con-tinued spurt in the infections and

fatalities in Maharashtra, as many as802 died of Covid-19 and 63,282 moretested positive for the pandemic in var-ious parts of the state on Saturday.

A day after the pandemic claimed828 lives and left 62,919 infected in thestate, Maharashtra logged 802 deathsand 63,282 new infections.

With 802 new deaths, the totalnumber of deaths in the state climbedfrom 68813 to 69615. Similarly, with63,282 infections, the total number ofcases rose from 46,02,472 to 46,65,754.

As 61,326 patients were dischargedfrom the hospitals across the state afterfull recovery, the total number of peo-ple discharged from the hospitals sincethe second week of March last year wentup to 39,30,302. The recovery rate in thestate for the first time in several daysrose from 84.06 per cent to 84.24 percent.

The total “active cases” in the state

rose from 6,62,640 cases to 6,63,658cases. The fatality rate in the statedropped from 1.50 per cent tpo 1.49 percent. With fresh deaths, the Covid-19toll in Mumbai remained static at13,215, while the infected cases went upby 3897 to trigger a jump in the infec-tions from 6,48,471 to 6,52,368.

While Pune accounted for a maxi-mum 1,04,849 “active cases” in the state,Nagpur stood second 76,291 followedby Mumbai with 63,325, Thane(49,981), Nashik (49,255), Chandrapur(27,409), Ahmednagar (21,754), Satara(18,858), Solapur (18,780), Latur(14,677), Aurangabad (13503), Jalgaon(12784), Beed (13296), Parbhani(11,912), Bhandara (11,127), Buldhana( 10,031), Osmanabad (8965)Nanded(8577), Nandurbar (6936) and Gondia(8293).

Of the 2,73,95,288 samples sent tolaboratories, 46,65,754 have tested pos-itive (17.03 per cent) for COVID-19until Saturday.Currently, 40,43,899 peo-ple are in home quarantine while 26,420people are in institutional quarantine.

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Amaravati: A record numberof 98,214 test turned out a newhigh of 19,412 positive cases ofcoronavirus in AndhraPradesh in 24 hours ending 9am on Saturday.

The state also reported11,579 recoveries and 61 freshfatalities in a day, a healthdepartment bulletin said Thegross positive cases has climbedto 11,21,102, recoveries to9,82,297 and toll 8,053.

The state now has1,30,752 active cases, the bul-letin said. Ten out of 13 dis-tricts reported fresh cases inexcess of 1,000 each and theremaining less than 800 each.State Principal Secretary(Health) Anil Kumar Singhaltold a press conference onSaturday evening that results of1.30 lakh samples were overdueand they were trying to clearthe backlog in the next twodays.

"From Monday, we willhopefully deliver the resultswithout any delay," Anil said.

He said out of the 43,491beds available in 551 COVID-19 hospitals, 32,301 were nowoccupied.

"We have started a dis-charge drive in hospitals wherethe load is high.

It started in Vijayawada,Guntur, Chittoor,Anantapuramu and otherplaces.

The more the beds thevacated, the more new patientscan be accommodated," thePrincipal Secretary said.

Anil said 75,898 patientswere now in home isolation.

"We are advising patients

(with mild symptoms) to firstget admitted in Covid CareCentres, he added.

On the Oxygen supplyposition, Anil said 443 tonnesof liquid medical oxygen wasdelivered to the state onSaturday.

Meanwhile, the state gov-ernment airlifted, by IAFs C-17Globemaster, two emptytankers to Angul in neigh-bouring Odisha for bringingoxygen from Tata Steel's plant.

Covid Special Officer M TKrishna Babu said the state wascurrently getting 170 tonnes ofoxygen from theVisakhapatnam Steel Plant andanother 200 tonnes from dif-ferent sources within AP.

The balance 100 tonneshas been allotted from Angul,Bellary and Chennai, he said.

Another two tankerswould be airlifted to Angultomorrow. PTI

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He does not have a politicaloutfit with presence any-

where outside his hometown ofPoonjar in Kottayam district. Butwhen Plathottam ChackochanGeorge (70), PC to his friends,followers and even rivals, speaks,they all liaten with rapt attention.He does not care a damn aboutthe stature of any politicians

whether it is Pinarayi Vijayan orOommen Chandi or even late KM Mani, his one-time mentor.Even Archbishops and Cardinalshold him in high esteem becauseGeorge speaks the truth.

He is an enigma to conven-tional politicians because hecannot stand to non-sense.George gas been elected seventimes to the legislative assemblyand the 2021 outing is his eighth

attempt. He won both the lastelections without the support ofany major political outfits and issure to make it to the LegislativeAssembly this time too.

According to George, whotreads a lone furrow in Keralapolitics for the last decade, theState is in for a hung assembly.“Do not give any attention tothese opinion polls or exitpolls.

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With the objective to addmuscle to the ongoing

fight against the corona pan-demic, the armed forces havemobilised more than 600retired doctors besides deploy-ing 300 National Cadet Corps(NCC) cadets to assist thelocal administration in variousparts of the country. Also, thearmy has provided 720 beds forcivilians suffering from corona.

Moreover, seven navalships are currently ferryingthe much-needed oxygen fromvarious parts of the world.The IAF on Saturday broughtcryogenic containers fromSingapore and off leaded themat the Panagarh airbase in WestBengal.

The IAF has carried outmore than 160 sorties in the lasttwo to three days rushing med-ical equipment to various partsof the country apart from air-lifting oxygen cylinders fromcountries including Singapore,United ArabEmirates(UAE)and Thailand.

All these measures werereviewed by Defence MinisterRajnath Singh here on Saturdayalong with the three Serviceschiefs and Chief of DefenceStaff General Bipin Rawat in avirtual meeting, defence min-istry officials said.

Mobilisation of additionalhealth professionals, logisticsupport to facilitate supply ofoxygen and setting up new oxy-gen plants are top priorities, thedefence minister said in themeeting.

Giving details of the high-level meeting, they said Rajnathwas apprised that approxi-

mately 600 additional doctorsare mobilised through specialmeasures such as calling toduty those who had retired inthe last few years.

The Indian Navy hasdeployed 200 Battle FieldNursing Assistants to assist invarious hospitals. The NCC hasdeployed 300 cadets and staffat various locations inMaharashtra, Uttarakhand andHaryana. Moreover, a tele med-icine service, to be operated byhealth veterans, will begin soonto provide consultation to thosepatients who remain at home.

Also, the Army has madeavailable more than 720 bedsfor civilians in various states.The minister directed theArmy to share the details withlocal administration at the stateand district levels. Rawat sug-gested that local military com-mands have to be activelyengaged in assisting the civiladministration.

Rajnath was briefed thatthe 500-bed hospital being setup the Defence Research andD e v e l o p m e n t

Organisation(DRDO) inLucknow will start functioningin the next two to three days.Another hospital is also beingset up in Varanasi which isscheduled to be completed byMay five, DRDO chief S Reddyinformed the minister. Also,the first four out of 380 OxygenPSA (Pressure SwingAdsorption) plants being man-ufactured under PM CARESfund will be deployed in hos-pitals in New Delhi by nextweek, he said.

The minister appreciatedthe logistics support being pro-vided by the Armed Forces intransporting oxygen containersfrom abroad as well as withinthe country between places ofconsumption and production.

While transport aircraft ofthe IAF carried out several sor-ties from Singapore, Bangkok,Dubai and within the country,Indian Navy dispatched fourships – two to Middle east andtwo to South East Asia – totransport filled oxygen con-tainers to India.Part ofOperation ‘Samudra Setu II,’

overall seven ships includingKolkata, Kochi, Talwar, Tabar,Trikand, Jalashwa and Airavatare deployed for shipment ofliquid medical oxygen-filledcryogenic containers from var-ious countries.

Kolkata and Talwar weremission deployed in the PersianGulf and were the first batch ofships that were immediatelydiverted for ferrying oxygen.They entered port of Manama,Bahrain on Friday and Talwarwith 40 MT Liquid MedicalOxygen (LMO) is headed backhome.

INS Kolkata has proceed-ed to Doha, Qatar for embark-ing medical supplies and willsubsequently head to Kuwaitfor embarking Liquid Oxygentanks.

Similarly, on the Easternseaboard, Airavat too has beendiverted for the task, whileJalashwa was pulled out ofmaintenance and sailed out toaugment the effort. Airavat isscheduled to enter Singaporefor embarking Liquid oxygentanks and Jalashwa is standingby in the region to embark medical stores at shortnotice.

The second batch of shipscomprising Kochi, Trikand andTabar mission deployed inArabian sea have also beendiverted to join the nationaleffort. From the SouthernNaval Command, the LandingShip Tank Shardul is beingreadied to join the Operationwithin 48 hours.

As regards the air effort, ason Saturday, carried out 28 sor-ties from abroad, airlifting 47oxygen containers with 830MT of capacity, while fromwithin the country, it carriedout 158 sorties, airlifting 109containers with 2,271 MTcapacity.

The Navy and the AirForce have also supplied near-ly 500 portable oxygen cylin-ders from their stores to vari-ous civilian hospitals.

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Union Road Transport andHighways Minister Nitin

Gadkari on Saturday said thatthe Government is givingutmost priority to the devel-opment of infrastructure andhas set a target of road con-struction of worth �15 lakhcrore in next two years.

He said that theGovernment is permitting 100percent FDI in the road sector.The Minister said that in India,projects like the NationalInfrastructure pipeline (NIP)for 2019-2025 is the first of itskind and the government iscommitted to provide world-class infra to its citizens andimproving the quality of theirlives.

He said that under the NIP,there are over 7,300 projects tobe implemented at a total out-lay of ?111 lakh crore by theyear 2025.

He said that the NIP aimsat improving project prepara-tion, and attract investmentinto infrastructures like high-ways, railways, ports, airports,mobility, energy and agricul-ture and rural industry.

Addressing the Indo-USPartnership Vision Summitthrough video conferencingon Friday, Gadkari said that inthe new era of bilateral rela-tions, the national interests ofIndia and the United States areconverging and there is grow-ing confidence between boththe administrations that alloutstanding trade issues will beresolved and major trade agree-ments will be signed soon.

The Minister also invitedthe US companies to invest ininfrastructure and MSME sec-tors in India.

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Congress president SoniaGandhi on Saturday called

for a nationwide strategy tofight the surge in Covid casesin India after discussion with allpolitical parties. In a video mes-sage, she further asserted thatthe Centre and StateGovernments “should wake upand fulfil their responsibilities”.

“It’s high time that theCentre and State Governmentswake up and fulfil theirresponsibilities. Migration ofthe labourers should bestopped. A minimum of �6,000should be added to theiraccounts till the crisis is over,”Sonia said in a message sharedon the official Congress Twitterhandle.

Former party chief RahulGandhi launched a medicaladvisory helpline to help thosebattling Covid-19 at a timewhen the country has beenravaged by the second wave ofthe deadly virus. He has alsoappealed to doctors to join the

battle against Covid-19Sonia further insisted on

her earlier demand that freevaccines should be given to allthe citizens. “Testing should beincreased across the countryand medical oxygen and otherresources should be arrangedon a war footing. Free vacci-nation should be arranged forall the citizens so that peoplecan be saved. Mandatory vac-cine license should be given toincrease the vaccine coverage.Black-marketing of life-sav-ing medicines should bestopped,” Sonia added.

Pointing out the shortageof crucial resources, whichhas worsened the battle against

the pandemic, she said: “Lakhsof people are getting affectedamid the pandemic everyday,lakhs have died so far. Theseare testing times and we haveto support each other. Moststates continue to grapple withshortage of medical oxygen,hospital beds and medicines.”

She said that a nationwidestrategy should be prepared tofight Covid after discussionwith all parties. “I bow downto all the doctors and healthworkers who are serving Covidpatients while putting them-selves at risk. We have to gobeyond the differences. Ourcountry has overcome manyhuge struggles in the past.Congress will support the cen-tre in this battle.”

Rahul Gandhi went toappeal to doctors and medicalprofessionals to join the battleagainst Covid-19 and helpthose in need of medicaladvice. The party alsolaunched a plasma helplinefor the requirement of Covidpatients.

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Counting of votes will beheld on Sunday in the

high-stakes Assam, WestBengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu andPuducherry Assembly elec-tions, overshadowed by theraging Covid pandemic. Therewill be 2,364 counting centresin 822 Assembly constituenciesin five States/UT and for count-ing for the bypolls held in 4 PCsand 13ACs across 13 States, ascompared to 1,002 halls in2016 in 822 Assembly con-stituencies, a more than 200percent increase, in view of theCovid guidelines.

According to the ElectionCommission officials, at least15 rounds of sanitisation will becarried out at each pollingcentre, besides social distanc-ing and other precautions,including a ban on gatherings,will be strictly followed. Theysaid counting of votes willbegin at 8 AM and continuelate into the night.

At a review meeting per-taining to the countingarrangements, Chief ElectionCommissioner Sushil Chandraon Saturday directed that alllaid down instructions of theCommission must be adheredto. He also directed that allcounting halls must be fullyCOVID guidelines compliant.The Commission has madeelaborate arrangements forcounting of votes across the fivestates and deputed around95,000 counting officialsincluding micro observers forthis purpose.

The poll body has desig-nated 822 returning officersand more than 7,000 assistant

returning officers for countingacross the four states-WestBengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu,Assam and union territory ofPuducherry. Besides,1100counting observers have beendeputed to watch countingprocess.

According to the EC, postalballots this time are four timeshigher, having risen to 13.16lakh from 2.97 lakh in 2016. Asmany as 1.5 lakh countingagents whose details were pro-vided by candidates have beenfacilitated for RT-PCR/RAT infive states/UTs. EC has alsodirected acceptance of testreports issued by any autho-rized laboratories.

The poll results in the fourstates and the UT are alsolikely to reflect how the han-dling of the COVID pandem-ic has played on the voters’mind. Exit polls have forecasta tight contest between theincumbent Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress andthe BJP in the crucial WestBengal assembly polls and putthe ruling saffron combineahead in Assam while project-ing that the Left alliance willretain Kerala, a feat unseen infour decades. For the Congress,

the exit polls predicted that itmay fall short in Assam andKerala and lose in Puducherryto the opposition alliance ofAINRC-BJP-AIADMK. Theonly good news for theCongress was from TamilNadu, where the exit polls pre-dicted that the DMK-led oppo-sition alliance, of which it is apart, will trounce theAIADMK-BJP coalition.

According to officials, athree-tier security apparatushas also been placed in thesefive states. Considering thefact that coronavirus infectionis raging in the state, steps havebeen taken to ensure thatCOVID guidelines are strictlyfollowed during the counting.Arrangements have been madefor sanitizing the countingvenues frequently during theprocess. Wearing of face masksand use of sanitizers have beenmade mandatory for enteringthe counting halls. EVMs andVVPATs at the well-ventilatedcounting venues will be sani-tised before the commence-ment of the process. Tables willbe placed in the counting hallsin such a way so that social dis-tancing norms are maintained.

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The five Left parties onSaturday blamed Modi

Government for “doing noth-ing” for the past one year totackle the Covid crisis and“not listening to any one”. In ajoint statement general secre-taries of CPI(M, CPI, CPI(ML), RSP and Forward Blocsaid that the CentralGovernment has lost completemoral authority to continue inoffice, if they can’t deliver theneed of the suffering people inthe pandemic.

“One whole year has beenwasted by this Government

which did not heed any of oursuggestions. Instead theGovernment promoted megasuper spreader events. Now,India cannot afford to lose anymore time. As the least min-imum Government mustimmediately deliver on theabove. Otherwise, the CentralGovernment completely losesits moral authority to contin-ue to remain in office,” saidSitaram Yechury, D.Raja,Dipankar Bhattachar ya,Debabrata Biswas, ManojBhattacharya.

The Left leaders reiterat-ed that the Government mustfully uti l ise the budged

�35,000 crore and full moneyfrom PM Cares Fund for totackle the pandemic crisisand must stop the CentralVista project costing �20,000crore.

They also said the Centremust invoke CompulsoryLicensing to produce bothvaccines and life saving drugsand must strictly controlprices of essential drugs.“Direct transfer of � 7,500 toall families in the non-incometax paying bracket and freedistribution of foodgrains toall needy must be delivered toface the crisis,” said the Leftleaders.

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The Centre has identified 30nitrogen generation plants

for production of medical oxy-gen considering Covid-19 pan-demic situation and to furtheraugment availability of oxygenfor medical purposes in thecountry.

“About 30 industries havebeen identified, and efforts havebegun to modify nitrogen plantsfor the production of medicaloxygen,” said Ministry ofEnvironment, Forest andClimate Change.

“Some of these plants can beshifted to nearby hospitals forsupplying oxygen and someplants, where it is not feasible toshift the plants, can produceoxygen on-site.”

UPL Ltd converted one 50Nm3 per hour capacity Nitrogenplant to produce oxygen usingZeolite Molecular Sieve, andinstalled it at L.G. RotaryHospital, Vapi (Gujarat). Thisplant is producing 0.5 ton perday oxygen and is operationalsince April 27.

UPL Ltd is also underprocess of conversion of threemore plants. On conversion tooxygen plants, these plants willbe installed at hospitals in Suratand Ankaleshwar.In the existingnitrogen plants, replacingCarbon Molecular Sieve (CMS)with Zeolite Molecular Sieve(ZMS) and few other changessuch as installation of oxygenanalyzer, change in control panelsystem, flow valve etc., oxygenfor medical use can be pro-duced.With the availability ofZMS, such modified plant canbe set-up in 4-5 days whileinstallation of new oxygen plant

may take minimum 3-4 weeks.Oxygen produced in on-site

plants has to be compressed andfilled in cylinders or specialvessels using high pressure com-pressor for transporting to hos-pitals.

Facilitation is being provid-ed to these industries for com-pletion of work at the earliest.

The Centre had earlierasked the Central PollutionControl Board (CPCB), whichhas comprehensive data base ofindustrial units, to identify theindustries having spare nitrogenplants and explore the feasibil-ity of converting of existingnitrogen plants to produce oxy-gen.

The CPCB with the help ofState Pollution Control Boards(SPCBs) have identified suchpotential industries, whereinexisting nitrogen generationplants may be spared for pro-duction of oxygen.

In this regard, consultationhave been held with potentialindustrial units and experts.

The Centre’s step comes asIndia has been hit by a devas-tating wave of Covid infections- daily new cases crossed thefour-lakh mark this morning fora record global high. The surgein cases has left hospitals over-worked, doctors traumatised,and resources like beds, medi-cines and oxygen in perilouslyshort supply.

The scale of the crisis hasprompted the global communi-ty to step in, with oxygen con-centrators, tankers and otherequipment being flown in by theUnited States, the UnitedKingdom, Singapore, theEuropean Union and othercountries.

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Anew study using data fromIndia and five other coun-

tries finds that using domes-tic travel bans to controlCovid-19 infections may beinadvisable.

Depending on their dura-tion, these restrictions canlead to more rather than fewerinfections overall, especiallywhen there is a large urban-rural migrant population, itindicated.

As India battles a severe

second wave of Covid-19, stategovernments are once againfaced with the question:Should they use travel bans tocontrol disease transmission?

In the first wave of Covid-19, most states chose thisoption.

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Ahurriedly ordered moveby the CRPF to put in place

a common dress code for offi-cers and jawans has led toresentment among the offi-cers of the force.

In a recent order issued onWednesday, Inspector GeneralRakesh Kumar Yadav hasdirected a uniform dress codefor physical training andgames for Gazzetted officers,subordinate officers and juniorofficers and the constables.

For ranks of the Force, thedress code for physical train-ing and sports will be blackshorts, blue round neck TShirt for summer. For womenpersonnel, blue track pant andblue round neck T shirt will beapplicable for summer.

Likewise, for winters, thedress code will be blue tracksuit, blue cap covering headand ears in case of extremecold will be allowed. Also, bluejackets and wind cheaters willbe required for extreme cold.Fabric will be of polyester/cot-ton as suitable to local weath-

er conditions and shoes will beof sports variety with anyvariation of blue or blackcolour.

Earlier, for Gazetted offi-cers, the dress code was whiteshorts and shirt with sleevesrolled up and white T shirtwith white canvas shoes andwhite socks.

For subordinate officers,it was white shorts twill ( halfsleeves), white canvas shoesand white socks.

For other ranks, it wasregimental mufti for gamesand athletics, white pant,shirt of white colour andcanvas shoes.

On ground, they weresupposed to wear khakhipants or shorts and white Tshirt and cotton vest.

As per the CRPF uniformrules, any officer (includingthe IPS officers) while beingon deputation to CRPF can-not wear the IPS insignia asshoulder badges as part ofthe rank badges. As per therules, this is required to dis-tinguish themselves as mem-ber of the CRPF.

However IPS officers on

deputation to CRPF havenever followed this neither inletter nor in spirit. Not wear-ing CRPF insignia on shoul-der badges and caps is also incontravention of the CentralG o v t e r n m e n tdecisions/instructions issuedin connection with IPS uni-form rules 1954 that mandatewearing the same uniform asthat to be worn by cadre offi-cers of CRPF while they areon to the deputation to theparamilitary.

“The guiding philosophybehind any uniform rulesprescribed for any Armed orParamilitary Forces is thatirrespective of his parent ser-vices, all the members bytheir appearances shouldlook like and distinguishthemselves as member of theForce in which they are amember wether permanentor temporary. Instead of fol-lowing the laid down uni-form rules, the IPS lobby inthe CRPF is tweaking theuniform rules of CRPF whichis likely to lead to indisciplinein the ranks,” a senior cadreofficial said.

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Even as the latest wave ofCovid-19 is surging at an

alarming pace to spread intoTier 2 and Tier 3 cities andtowns and surrounding areas,the Union Health Ministryseems to be taking its own timeto train the healthcare workersincluding doctors in theseregions on how to manage thepandemic efficiently and cutdown fatalities given that virusis more infectious and lethal thistime.

It is only on Friday that theMinistry at a press conferenceshared that it will soon come outwith a module to train the

healthcare workers working inthe Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities so thatthe Covid-19 cases are handledas per protocol.

Delhi AIIMS DirectorRandeep Guleria said: Doctorsof Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities are notmuch aware of how to tackle thedisease as the virus has been sofar contained in the urban areas.However, now the virus isspreading fast in small townsalso.

“We have identified 14Centres of Excellence like AIIMSand PGIMER in Chandigarhwith whom the Ministry officialswill develop programmes forCovid management which willthen be shared with doctors

including those in districts or vil-lages including in private andpublic sector.

“We will reach out to all thedoctors from these areas,” saidDr Guleria. However, while thevirus is fast spreading, alreadyhitting various cities as seen bysharp spurt in cases in theseregions, the Ministry seems tobe moving too slow in thisregard.

A few weeks ago PrimeMinister Narendra Modi too ata meeting had expressed hisconcern saying that Covid-19 isspreading rapidly in Tier 2 andTier 3 cities as well. He urgeddoctors to connect with theircolleagues working in Tier 2 and

Tier 3 cities and give themonline consultations to ensurethat all protocols are followedcorrectly.

Moreover, the Ministry isalready grappling with issueslike mismanagement of theCovid-19 crisis given hugemisuse of drugs likeRemdesivir and Tocilizumabwhich are being prescribed bythe doctors to their patientseven those in the home setting.

Time and again the Ministryhas been warning that thesemedicines are not to be usedfor patients in home isolationbut those admitted in the hos-pital. Also, experts warn thatoxygen demand from theseTier1 and Tier 2 cities will alsoincrease, putting pressure onthe health infrastructure.

However, some of the offi-cials at the district level are nottaking chances. DM YashMeena from Nawada districtin Bihar said, “We are antic-ipating a surge in the cases inthe near future. We have beenholding awareness camps withthe healthcare workers as wellas panchyatas and communi-ty against improper use ofmedicines while people arebeing educated against sever-al rumours on Covid treat-ment and prevention so thatthey do not become a victimof panic.”

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New Delhi:Essar on Saturdaysaid it has set up a 100-bedCovid care centre in Gujarat’sDwarka district.Accordingly, the centre is dulyequipped with oxygen supportand will be operated by theKhambaliya Civil Hospital.The

centre is equipped with oxygensupport which will has becomecritical during the secondCovid wave across the country.It houses 40 rooms with dou-ble occupancy and 20 rooms ofsingle occupancy

IANS

Taipei:Taiwanese chip-makercompany MediaTek is expect-ing to post another sequentialincrease of 10-18 per cent inrevenues for the second quar-ter of 2021.

The company has alsoraised its internal revenuegrowth and gross margin pro-jections for 2021 to 40 per centand 44-46 per cent, respec-tively, DigiTimes reported, cit-ing industry sources.

The company has alreadybegun talks with its upstreamsupply chain partners aboutcapacity support for 2022 andhas achieved satisfactory resultsso far, the sources said. IANS

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India’s gross GST revenuecollection reached a new

record high of over Rs 1.41 lakhcrore in April 2021, beating allexpectations of lower collec-tions in wake disruptions claus-es by fresh wave of Covid-19.

Accordingly, the GST rev-enues during April 2021 are thehighest since the introductionof the tax. The same feat wasachieved even in March whencollections at over Rs 1.23 lakhcrore was the highest sinceintroduction of GST in 2017.

“In line with the trend ofrecovery in the GST revenuesover past six months, the rev-enues for the month of April2021 are 14% higher than theGST revenues in the last monthof March’2021,” the FinanceMinistry said in a statement.

“During the month, therevenues from domestic trans-action (including import ofservices) are 21 per cent high-er than the revenues fromthese sources during the lastmonth.”

According to the state-ment, the gross GST revenuecollected in the month of April

2021 is at a record of Rs1,41,384 crore of which CGSTis Rs 27,837 crore, SGST is Rs35,621, IGST is Rs 68,481 crore(including Rs 29,599 crore col-lected on import of goods) andCess is Rs 9,445 crore (includ-ing Rs 981 crore collected onimport of goods).

“During this month thegovernment has settled Rs29,185 crore to CGST and Rs22,756 crore to SGST fromIGST as regular settlement.The total revenue of Centre andthe States after regular and ad-hoc settlements in the monthof April’ 2021 is Rs 57,022 crorefor CGST and Rs 58,377 crorefor the SGST.”

Despite the second wave ofCovid-19 pandemic affectingseveral parts of the country,Indian businesses have onceagain shown remarkableresilience by not only comply-ing with the return filingrequirements but also payingtheir GST dues in a timelymanner during the month, theFinance Ministry statementsaid.

“The all-time high collec-tions which relates to suppliesmade in March 21 could nowgive way to muted collectionsin the coming months due tothe lower economic activities inApril. The continuing focus onimproving compliance and the

steps taken to curb evasionappears to be significantlyimproving the GST collec-tions,” said M. S. Mani, SeniorDirector, Deloitte India.

GST revenues have notonly crossed the Rs 1 lakh croremark during successively forthe last seven months but havealso shown a steady increase.These are indicators of sus-tained economic recovery dur-ing this period, FinanceMinistry said.

Closer monitoring againstfake-billing, deep data analyt-ics using data from multiplesources including GST,Income-tax and Customs ITsystems and effective taxadministration have also con-tributed to the steady increasein tax revenue, it added.

Quarterly return andmonthly payment scheme hasbeen successfully implementedbringing relief to the smalltaxpayers as they now file onlyone return every three months.Providing IT support to tax-payers in the form of pre-filled GSTR 2A and 3B returnsand ramped up System capac-ity have also eased the returnfiling process.

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In view of the severe Covid-19 pandemic and requests

put forward by taxpayers, taxconsultants and other stake-holders, the Government hasdecided to provide furtherrelief to taxpayers by extendingvarious time limits of compli-ances.

Accordingly, the CentralBoard of Direct Taxes (CBDT)has now extended the timelimit for filing of belated returnand revised return forAssessment Year 2020-21, bytwo months from March 31,2021 to May 31, 2021.

Also, Income-tax returnin response to notice underSection 148 of the Income TaxAct, for which the last date offiling of return of incomeunder the said notice is April1, 2021 or thereafter, may nowbe filed within the time allowedunder that notice or by May 31,2021, whichever is later.

The CBDT has also grant-ed extension for filing ofappeals before Commissioner(Appeals) to May 31, 2021.Similar extension has also beengiven for filing of objections to

Dispute Resolution Panel(DRP) under Section 144C ofthe Act.

The compliance deadlinehas also been eased by twomonths till May 31, 2021 forPayment of tax deducted underSection 194-IA, Section 194-IBand Section 194M of the Act,and filing of challan-cum-statement for such tax deduct-ed. These are are currentlyrequired to be paid and fur-nished by 30 April, 2021(respectively).

Also, Statement in FormNo. 61, containing particularsof declarations received inForm No. 60, which is due tobe furnished on or before 30April, 2021, can now be be fur-nished on or before 31 May,2021.

The relaxations are the lat-est among the recent initiativestaken by the government toease compliances to be made bythe taxpayers with the aim togrant respite during these dif-ficult times, a Finance Ministrystatement said.

The government had alsorelaxed few tax compliancerelated issues last week onSaturday.

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Country’s largest steel makerSteel Authority of India

Limited (SAIL) is planning toset up jumbo medical facilitiesof about 2,500 beds withgaseous oxygen (GOX) forCovid treatment.

This will be in addition tothe facilities currently availableat SAIL’s five integrated steelplants at Bhilai (Chattisgarh),Bokaro (Jharkhand), Rourkela(Odisha), Durgapur andBurnpur (West Bengal).

These jumbo facilities arebeing planned outside theexisting hospital facilities andshall have oxygen supportthrough a dedicated gas linedrawn directly from the steelplants instead of extracting

gaseous oxygen from liquidmedical oxygen as is beingdone in the own hospitals ofSAIL currently.

At the suggestion of thegovernment, SAIL shall usegaseous oxygen directly as anadditional source of oxygen asthe demand for liquid medicaloxygen is high currently, thecompany said in a statement.

These 2,500 bed facilitywill be developed in phasedmanner in collaboration withthe respective state govts. In thefirst phase, the company will setup about 700 beds which will bescaled up to 2,500 beds acrossall the five locations. Currently,there are around 3,000 beds inthe five SAIL hospitals andabout 45%of beds have beenearmarked for Covid patients.

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As India grapples with anunprecedented new wave

of the Covid Pandemic,Reliance Industries has scaledup production of medical gradeliquid oxygen, becoming coun-try’s largest producer of thislife-saving resource from a sin-gle location in just over a year’stime.

Traditionally, Reliance isnot a manufacturer of medicalgrade liquid oxygen. Yet, start-ing from Nil before the pan-demic, the company is itslargest producer in the countryfrom a single location. At itsrefinery-cum-petrochemical

complex in Jamnagar and otherfacilities, RIL now producesover 1000 MT per day - or 11per cent of India’s total production - meeting the needsof nearly every one in tenpatients.

A company statement saidthat under personal supervisionof Mukesh Ambani, Chairmanand Managing Director, atJamnagar, Reliance has adopt-ed a two-pronged approach tostrengthen the availability ofmedical oxygen in India: thecompany is refocusing severalindustrial processes at Reliance’sJamnagar and other facilities forrapid scale-up in production ofmedical grade liquid oxygen.

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The eastern states in thecountry are witnessing high

levels of digital frauds or UPIscams (41 per cent) via pay-ment apps and online market-places, a report has revealed.

According to TrustCheckr,a fraud data insights and ana-lytics startup, West Bengal,Odisha, Bihar, Assam, Kashmir,Arunachal Pradesh,Meghalaya, Tripura, Nagaland,Mizoram, Manipur, HimachalPradesh and Sikkim are facingtop frauds in KYC, fake cash-back, frauds through digitalwallets, fake-selling, QR codes,UPI phishing, lottery scamsand financial fraud on socialmedia.

The top scamsters are fromPatna, Chandigarh, Kolkataand Meerut for one of the toppayment apps (at 15 per cent)and most QR Code scamsoriginate from Assam, account-ing for 20 per cent of the totaldistribution.

“Top cities where fraudstersyndicates are active areKolkata, Delhi, Jaipur,Guwahati, Patna, Chandigarh,Meerut,” the report mentioned.

In QR code frauds, mostfraudsters posed themselves

as army men selling somethingon marketplaces.

“Digital scams can trickusers as they may appear aslegitimate by revealing a fewauthentic details about them inorder to earn their trust andmove money. If it sounds toogood to be true, one should becareful about such transac-tions. Our score parameters cangive a go-ahead or early warn-ing signs of fraud,” said ShivrajHarsha, Co-founder,TrustCheckr.

TrustCheckr identifiedover 1 million frauds togetherin B2B and B2C in the last 15months — 25 per cent scams inKYC and 20 per cent in QRcodes, while B2B scams werelargely done with 30 per centfake identities and 25 per centsynthetic identity frauds.

“The common thread ofdigital payment frauds is phonenumber and email address.We check fraud signals withphone/email, validate the cus-tomer authenticity using his-torical fraud trends, fraud datasets, history and provide sim-ple REST APIs with phonenumbers as input, integrationin less than 48 hours,” saidAdhip Ramesh, Founder,TrustCheckr.

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Fuel prices in the countryremained unchanged on

Saturday as oil marketing com-panies decided to wait andwatch the situation prevailingin global oil markets beforebefore restarting daily revi-sion of petrol and diesel prices.

Sources indicated that pricerevisions may begin anytimenext week after results to stateelections are declared.However, whether price ofpetrol and diesel would moveup or down then would dependon actual average global pricein the last fortnight of March.

OMCs benchmark retailfuel prices to a 15-day rollingaverage of global refined prod-ucts’ prices and dollar exchangerate.With no price change onSaturday, pump price of petroland diesel remained at Rs 90.40a litre and Rs 80.73 a litrerespective in Delhi. This is 16consecutive day when fuel priceshave not been revised. The priceof the two auto fuels had fallenby 16 paisa and 14 paisa per litrerespectively on April 15 after a15 day break when OMCs keptits prices static.

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The Finance Ministry hasreleased an amount of

�8,873.6 crore in advancetowards central share of theState Disaster Response Fund(SDRF) for FY22 to help statesin their fight against Covid-19.

The advance release of 1stinstalment of central sharetowards SDRF has beenreleased as a special dispensa-tion on the recommendationsof the home ministry.

Normally, the first instal-ment of SDRF is released in themonth of June as per the rec-ommendations of the FinanceCommission.

However, in relaxation ofnormal procedure, not only hasthe release of SDRF beenadvanced, the amount has alsobeen released without waitingfor the utilization certificate ofthe amount provided to the

States in the last financial year.Up to 50 per cent of the

amount released i.e. Rs 4,436.8crore can be used by the Statesfor COVID-19 containmentmeasures. The funds fromSDRF may be used by theStates for various measuresrelated to containment ofCOVID-19 including meetingthe cost of oxygen generationand storage plants in hospitals,ventilators, air purifiers,strengthening ambulance ser-vices, COVID-19 hospitals,Covid Care Centres, consum-ables, thermal scanners, per-sonal protective equipment,testing laboratories, testing kits,containment zones, etc.

New Delhi:SpiceHealth onSaturday said it has set up walk-in RT-PCR testing laboratoriesin Delhi, Haryana andMaharashtra. According to thehealthcare company launchedby the promoters of SpiceJet,SpiceHealth’s RT-PCR testinglabs have been conducting thecountry’s “fastest and cheapest”RT-PCR tests. “As the countryreels under spike in Covid cases,labs struggle to keep up with thedemand and home collection ofsamples becoming a huge chal-lenge, SpiceHealth’s walk-in RT-PCR testing facility at multiplelocations across Delhi, Haryanaand Maharashtra aims toaddress these issues,” said AvaniSingh, CEO, SpiceHealth.IANS

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Major automobile manu-facturers Maruti Suzuki,

Hyundai Motor, Tata Motorsand Kia on Saturday reporteda decline in passenger vehiclesales in April compared toMarch this year as the secondwave of the coronavirus pan-demic hit dispatches.

However, Mahindra &Mahindra along with HondaCars India posted sequentialgrowth in their passenger vehi-cle sales last month.

Sales in April this year arenot comparable with that of thecorresponding month a yearago as companies had report-ed zero sales due to the nation-wide lockdown imposed tocurb the outbreak of theCOVID-19 pandemic in thecountry.

The country’s largest car-maker Maruti Suzuki India(MSI) reported a 4 per centdecline in total sales to 1,59,691units in April as compared to1,67,014 units in March thisyear.

Similarly, Hyundai Motor

India Ltd (HMIL) posted totalsales of 59,203 units in April2021, a decline of 8 per centfrom 64,621 units it had sold inMarch this year.

HMIL Director (Sales,Marketing and Service) TarunGarg said, “In these challeng-ing times, we stand in solidar-ity with the nation and are con-tinuing all efforts to support theaffected... While our effortspresently focus primarily onsupporting the lives and liveli-hood of people, we have alsoreceived positive sales results inApril 2021”.

Likewise, homegrown automajor Tata Motors said its pas-senger vehicle sales in thedomestic market stood at25,095 units in April, down 15per cent from 29,654 units inMarch this year.

However, compatriotMahindra & Mahindra said itspassenger vehicles sales in thedomestic market stood at18,285 units last month, up 9per cent from 16,700 units inMarch 2021.

“With the increase in lock-down restrictions in many

parts of the country, we foreseecontinuing supply chain-relat-ed production challenges.While demand remains good,there would be some impact inthe first quarter as a result oflow customer movement anddealership activity due to thelockdown restrictions,” M&MChief Executive OfficerAutomotive Division VeejayNakra said.

In times like these, thecompany’s focus is the well-being and safety of all its asso-ciates and dealers, he added.

Honda Cars India alsoreported a 28 per cent increasein its domestic sales to 9,072units last month as comparedto 7,103 units in March thisyear.

“The current healthcalamity has struck the entirenation and at this time nothingis more important than thehealth and well-being of ourcountrymen.

Of course, it has had animpact on the business anddeliveries in the marketplace,”Honda Cars India Senior VicePresident and Director

(Marketing & Sales) RajeshGoel said.

Toyota Kirloskar Motor(TKM) said its dispatches tothe dealers last month stood at9,622 units.

“Despite the challenges,we continue to witness gooddemand owing to personalmobility needs and the samehas helped us clock 9,622 unitsof wholesales in the month ofApril 2021,” TKM Senior VicePresident Naveen Soni said.

Kia India reported a 16 per

cent decline in dispatches todealers to 16,111 units in Aprilcompared to 19,100 units inMarch this year, while MGMotor India said its retailsales last month stood at 2,565units.

MG Motor said its pro-duction and vehicle dispatch-es to dealers last month wassignificantly higher than retailsales although it currently hasan order backlog of over threemonths across its productlines.

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State Bank of India (SBI)Saturday said it has reduced

home loan interest rate to 6.70per cent.

The lender said home loaninterest rates are now startingfrom 6.70 per cent for loans upto Rs 30 lakh and 6.95 per centfor loans above Rs 30 lakh to Rs75 lakh.

The interest rate on homeloans above Rs 75 lakh is 7.05per cent, the bank said in arelease.

“The affordability for theconsumer increases immense-ly with the present home loaninterest rate offerings whichreduce the EMI (equatedmonthly instalment) amountssubstantially,” its managingdirector (retail and digitalbanking) C S Setty said.

To women borrowers, thebank is offering a special fivebasis points (bps) concessionon home loan interest rates.

Customers also apply fora loan through YONO app andget an additional interest con-cession of 5 basis points, therelease said.

The bank was offeringhome loans at an interest ratestarting from 6.70 per cent tillMarch 31, 2021. From April 1,2021, it restored the originalinterest rates starting from 6.95per cent.The lender commandsover 34 per cent market sharein home loans. Its home loanportfolio has crossed the mile-stone of Rs 5 lakh crore.

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Power consumption in thecountry grew 41 per cent in

April 2021 to 119.27 billionunits (BU) over the samemonth last year, showing robustrecovery in industrial and com-mercial demand of electricity,according to power ministrydata. Power consumption inApril last year was recorded at84.55 BU. On the other hand,peak power demand met,which is the highest supply ina day, during the first half ofthis month remained wellabove the highest record of132.20 GW in April2020.During April this year,peak power demand met or thehighest supply in a day touchedthe highest level of 182.55 GWand recorded a growth of near-ly 38 per cent over 132.73 GWrecorded in the same month in2020.

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Automobile major MarutiSuzuki India on Saturday

reported a total sales of159,691 units in April 2021.

According to the compa-ny, total sales in the monthinclude domestic sales of137,151 units, sales to otherOEMs at 5,303 units and

exports of 17,237 units.The company had sold

632 vehicles during April2020 and 143,245 units in2019.

“Since April 2020 hadlockdown due to Covid-19and almost zero sales, a com-parison with April 2020 does-n’t have any meaning,” thecompany said in a statement.

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Jet fuel price on Saturday washiked by steep 6.7 per cent,

reversing price cuts of lastmonth, while an increase inpetrol and diesel prices may beon the anvil as internationalprices firmed up.

Aviation turbine fuel (ATF)price was increased by �3,885per kilolitre (kl), or 6.7 per cent,to �61,690.28 per kl in thenational capital, according to aprice notification of state-owned fuel retailers. Rates varyfrom state to state dependingon incidence of local taxes.Theincrease in price comes aftertwo rounds of reduction lastmonth. Prices were cut by 3 percent on April 1 and then againby �568.88 per kl (1 per cent)

on April 16. Meanwhile, petroland diesel prices remainedunchanged for the 16th day onSaturday but oil company offi-cials indicated an increase inrates in near term. Despite theconcerns about rising Covid-19cases in India denting demand,crude oil prices in the interna-tional market continue to riseon account of strong USdemand recovery and a weakdollar.

“Prices have been on acontinuous uptrend for last 4days (since April 27),” an offi-cial said adding Dubai crude oilprice has risen USD 2.91 perbarrel. It is expected that thecrude oil prices in the interna-tional market will remain firmin the near future, exertingupward pressure, officials said.

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VIENNA: High-ranking diplo-mats from China, Germany,France, Russia and Britainresumed talks Saturday focusedon bringing the United Statesback into their landmarknuclear deal with Iran.

The U.S. will not have arepresentative at the table whenthe diplomats meet in Viennabecause former PresidentDonald Trump unilaterallypulled the country out of thedeal, known as the JointComprehensive Plan of Action,in 2018. Trump also restoredand augmented sanctions to try

to force Iran into renegotiatingthe pact with more concessions.

U.S. President Joe Bidenwants to rejoin the deal, how-ever, and a U.S. delegation inVienna is taking part in indi-rect talks with Iran, with diplo-mats from the other worldpowers acting as go-betweens.

The Biden administrationis considering a rollback ofsome of the most stringentTrump-era sanctions in a bid toget Iran to come back intocompliance with the terms ofthe nuclear agreement, accord-ing to information from cur-

rent and former U.S. officialsand others familiar with thematter earlier this week.

Ahead of the main talks,Russia’s top representativeMikhail Ulyanov said JCPOAmembers met on the side withofficials from the U.S. delega-tion but that the Iranian dele-gation was not ready to meetwith U.S. diplomats.

“JCPOA participants heldtoday informal consultationswith the U.S. delegation at theVienna talks on full restorationof the nuclear deal,” Ulyanovtweeted. “Without Iran who is

still not ready to meet with U.S.diplomats.”

The Joint ComprehensivePlan of Action, or JCPOA,promised Iran economic incen-tives in exchange for curbs onits nuclear program. The reim-position of U.S. sanctions hasleft the Islamic Republic’s econ-omy reeling. Tehran hasresponded by steadily increas-ing its violations of the restric-tions of the deal, such asincreasing the purity of urani-um it enriches and its stock-piles, in a thus-far unsuccess-ful effort to pressure the other

countries to provide relief.The ultimate goal of the

deal is to prevent Iran fromdeveloping a nuclear bomb,something it insists it doesn’twant to do. Iran now hasenough enriched uranium tomake a bomb, but nowhere near the amount ithad before the nuclear deal wassigned.

The Vienna talks began inearly April and have includedseveral rounds of high-leveldiscussions. Expert groups alsohave been working on propos-als on how to resolve the issues

around American sanctionsand Iranian compliance, aswell as the “possible sequenc-ing” of the U.S. return.

Outside the talks inVienna, other challengesremain.

An attack suspected tohave been carried out by Israelrecently struck Iran’s Natanznuclear site, causing anunknown amount of damage.Tehran retaliated by begin-ning to enrich a small amountof uranium up to 60% purity,its highest level ever.

AP

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KABUL, Afghanistan: —Afghanistan’s chief peace nego-tiator said Saturday the oftenfractured Afghan political lead-ership must unify in its peacetalks with the Taliban or riskthe withdrawal of U.S. andNATO troops bringing morebitter fighting.

Abdullah Abdullah, headof Afghanistan’s NationalReconciliation Council, saidthe time is now forAfghanistan’s political leadersto stand united in the talks. Butsome of them are former war-lords with fierce reputations,heavily armed militias anddeep seated grudges.

In an interview with TheAssociated Press in the Afghancapital, Abdullah warned thathistory and millions of Afghans— already frustrated by whatthey see as government inepti-tude and runaway corruption— will judge them harshly ifunity eludes the powerful lead-ers now in Kabul. In the early1990s bitter fighting betweenmany of the same leaders killedthousands of mostly civilians inthe capital and gave rise to theTaliban, who took power in1996.

Abdullah said the with-drawal that officially beganSaturday of the remaining2,500 to 3,500 U.S. troops andabout 7,000 NATO allied forceswill present “huge challenges.”

“I wouldn’t call it the endof of the world for our people.I would say that it will be verychallenging and that’s why I amof the opinion that the whole

focus has to be on achievingpeace, that does not only takeus, it takes the other side,” hesaid.

Still, Abdullah said he isunconvinced the Taliban wantpeace. He said the NationalReconciliation Council, ofwhich he is the chairman, hasput out countless calls for theTaliban to put all theirdemands on the table.

Messages go back and forthbetween a variety of Taliban tosenior negotiators, includinghimself, said Abdullah. Henoted that he has receivedcountless messages fromTaliban officials, some written,some as voice messages.Sometimes they are detailed,and other times terse and brief.But he said he has yet to see acommitment to peace fromthe insurgent group on whichhe can rely.

Abdullah said his responseto the Taliban has been con-sistent: “Put everything thatyou want on the negotiatingtable. We are ready to discussit. We are ready to find waysthat it works for both sides.”

He said the withdrawaladds pressure on both sides tofind a peace deal.

The Taliban cannot winmilitarily, he said, and evenregional powers — includingPakistan with its influence overthe insurgent group — havesteadfastly rejected a militarytakeover in Afghanistan.Taliban leaders are headquar-tered in Pakistani cities.

AP

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WASHINGTON: President JoeBiden has asked his adminis-tration to provide all assistanceto India, which is battling oneof the worst outbreaks ofCOVID-19, and has assuredthat the US would stand shoul-der-to-shoulder with the coun-try, top officials from the twonations have said.

Biden sent two of his topofficials to the Dulles Airporthere on Friday evening fromwhere another flight withUSAID assistance materialsincluding oxygen cylinders,N95 masks and filters to beused in the production of vac-cines were dispatched to NewsDelhi.

The first two flights arrivedin New Delhi a day earlier.

“He (Biden) said great.Stay with it. Stay with it!,” vet-eran diplomat Kurt Campbell,who is leading Biden’s AsiaPolicy at the White House toldreporters at the airport onFriday evening.

Campbell travelled with

Biden on Air Force One dur-ing his trip to Georgia.

On his way back, Campbellbriefed the president of theadministration’s COVID-19relief efforts for India.

“I was able to give a senseof what USAID (United StatesAgency for InternationalDevelopment) is doing, what ithopes to accomplish,” he said inresponse to a question.

India’s Ambassador to theUS Taranjit Singh Sandhu toldreporters at the Dulles Airport:?The administration, startingright from the top, PresidentBiden reached out and in fact,to quote him, the United Stateswill stand shoulder-to-shoulderwith India.

We very much appreciatethat.

“Sandhu also applaudedthe bipartisan support thatIndia has received fromAmerican congressmen andsenators. The US businesseshave come forward in anunprecedented way.

“Finally, the people of theUnited States, their solidaritywith the people of India is verymuch recognised and appreci-ated. And also the IndianAmerican community. I’msure, with the support offriends and partners like theUnited States, we will face thischallenge and with God’s grace,we will come out of it,” Sandhusaid.

Campbell said he and hisNational Security Council col-league Sumona Guha, who issenior director for South Asiathere, were sent by the presi-dent to the airport before theCOVID-19 relief material leftfor India.

“The President asked us tocome out today to well wishthis supply going to India,?Campbell said, as he applaud-ed the tireless efforts ofAmbassador Sandhu for help-ing in every way he can.

Campbell said during hiscall with Prime MinisterNarendra Modi last week,

Biden made clear that Indiawas one of the first countriesthat came to the rescue of theUS in May last year whenAmericans were suffering fromthe pandemic.

“They stepped up for us.This time, we in the UnitedStates, our people in the gov-ernment, but also in the privatesector -- I’ve never seen such anoutpouring of support fromour corporate friends, andpartners, as we’ve seen over thelast several days,” he said.

“What we are coordinatingis the most significant out-pouring of support for peoplethat I’ve never seen from thecorporate community. We’retrying to be there for India,now as they were with usbefore. We know that this is going to be a long haul,”he said.

“This is only the first cou-ple of days. We have to bedetermined. We have to workin partnership... we have to dothis together. And we’re com-

mitted to doing that,” he said.Guha told reporters that

the Biden administration wasworking to provide India withsupplies that they’ve asked for:oxygen, testing equipment, andPPE kits.

Jeremy Konyndyk, senioradvisor coordinating agency-wide COVID efforts at USAID told reporters that theplane headed for India fromDulles airport sent oxygencylinders, N95 respirators andothers.

?These are materials thatwill help to sustain people sickwith COVID-19 in India.

Oxygen treatment is one ofthe most effective ways to treatSevere COVID-19,” he said.

“Everything behind ushere, everything on this flightwill be saving lives in India inthe coming days in partnershipand support of our partners inthe Indian government and insupport of the Indian people,?he added.

PTI

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HOUSTON: In a suspectedhuman smuggling case, 91people, including five coron-avirus-infected persons, havebeen found crammed togetherin a two-storey building here inthe US state of Texas, policesaid.

Based on a tip-off, a spe-cial-tactics team of the policeraided the home in south-westHouston on Friday. A searchwarrant was served before theraid. No children were foundinside the home. The youngerlot of residents were at least 20years and above. In total, therewere five women and the restwere men.

The police referred to theboarders at the house as

“migrants” as their nationalitywas yet to be confirmed.

The migrants told policethey were hungry, while someshowed signs of COVID-19,including fever, loss of smelland taste.

The Houston HealthDepartment conducted rapidCOVID-19 tests and five of theboarders tested positive. Themigrants would temporarilycontinue to stay in the house,police said.

The Houston FireDepartment has provided med-ical care, food and water to themigrants. No serious injurieswere found on any of themigrants.

“When we got into thehouse, we realised there wereover 90 people inside and so weimmediately began to assessany kind of a special threat,”said Houston Police assistant

chief Daryn Edwards.He said the people were

found “huddled together” inthe two-storey home, but theywere not tied up. No firearmswere found at the scene.

“It was a big surprise whenwe got in the house and sawwhat we saw,” Edwards said.

“I don’t know if they (theones who lodged the migrants)were going to parcel them (themigrants) off into doing somework or labour, but it is defi-nitely more of a smugglingthing than a trafficking thing,”he said. The police are investi-gating who the victims are, andwho brought them here.“Anytime you see people beingmistreated, it doesn’t matterwhat race, culture, where youcome from... there’s no excusefor people to be mistreated likethat,” said Assistant HPD ChiefPatricia Cantu. PTI

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MOSCOW: Russia’s state sta-tistical service says the numberof deaths nationwide in thefirst three months of 2021 wasmore than 25% higher than thesame period a year ago, and itreported thousands moredeaths due to COVID-19 inMarch than tallied by thecountry’s coronavirus taskforce.

More than 583,000 peopledied in January-March of thisyear in Russia, compared with460,000 for those months in2020, the Rosstat agency said

in a report issued Friday.The agency did not pro-

vide an explanation for thesharply higher death toll, butcritics have suggested thatRussian officials underplay theseverity of the pandemic in thecountry.

The national coronavirustask force counted more than12,300 deaths from COVID-19in March, but Rosstat gave asubstantially higher number.The agency said there were15,003 deaths that month inwhich coronavirus was the

leading cause, along with 2,454cases in which COVID-19 wasbelieved to be the leadingcause and 1,401 deaths inwhich COVID-19 influencedother diseases and accelerateddeath.

According to the taskforce, throughout the pan-demic 110,502 people havedied in Russia of COVID-19 asof Saturday — 392 of them inthe past day. The country hasrecorded more than 4.8 millionconfirmed cases.

Although Russia has boast-

ed of being the first country toauthorize a coronavirus vac-cine — the Russian-madeSputnik V — the pace of itsvaccination program is laggingwell behind many other coun-tries.

Only about 8% of Russianshave gotten at least one vaccineshot, while 5% have been fullyvaccinated. That puts Russia farbehind Britain, where 50% ofthe population has gotten atleast one shot; the UnitedStates at 43% and the EuropeanUnion with nearly 27%. AP

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Geneva: The World HealthOrganisation has given the go-ahead for the emergency use ofModerna’s Covid-19 vaccine.

The mRNA vaccine fromthe US manufacturer joins vac-cines from AstraZeneca, Pfizer-BioNTech, and Johnson &Johnson in receiving theWHO’s emergency use listing.

Similar approvals forChina’s Sinopharm and Sinovacvaccines are expected in thecoming days, WHO has said.

The greenlight forModerna’s vaccine, announcedlate Friday, took many months

because of delays that WHOfaced in getting data from themanufacturer.

Many countries withouttheir own advanced medicalregulatory and assessmentoffices rely on the WHO listingto decide whether to use vac-cines. UN children’s agencyUNICEF also uses the listing todeploy vaccines in an emer-gency like the pandemic.

The announcement, how-ever, wasn’t likely to have animmediate impact on the sup-plies of Moderna’s vaccine forthe developing world. AP

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Workers and union leadersdusted off bullhorns and

flags that had stayed furled dur-ing coronavirus lockdowns forslimmed down but still bois-terous May Day marches onSaturday, demanding morelabour protections amid a pan-

demic that has turnedeconomies and workplacesupside down. In countries thatmark May 1 as InternationalLabour Day, the annual cele-bration of workers’ rights pro-duced a rare sight during thepandemic: large and closelypacked crowds, with marchersstriding shoulder-to-shoulderwith clenched fists behind ban-ners. But in Turkey and thePhilippines, police preventedthe May Day protests, enforc-ing virus lockdowns.

Toronto:Ontario, Canada’sworst-hit province which isbattling the third wave of thecoronavirus, has sought a banon the arrival of internation-al students.

Currently, students fromIndia make up the majority ofinternational students study-ing in Ontario.

Making this announce-ment on Friday, OntarioPremier Doug Ford said thatsince 94 per cent of all newcases in Ontario are of newvariant of the virus and arecoming from outside. IANS

Washington: About 35 percent of all Americans havebeen infected with Covid-19over the past year, according toa new study of the US Centersfor Disease Control andPrevention (CDC). CDC esti-mates that from February 2020to March 2021, 114.6 millionAmericans were infected withCovid-19, 97.1 million hadsymptomatic illnesses and 5.6million were hospitalised withCovid-19, the Xinhua newsagency reported on Saturday.

IANS

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Washington: As the US gov-ernment steps up assistance toIndia in its battle against adeadly wave of the COVID-19,an Indian public healthcareexpert has pointed out thetremendous scope for India-UScooperation in the sectors ofhealth technology and phar-maceuticals.

‘After we emerge out of thecrisis, two areas where there istremendous scope for cooper-ation between India and the USare health technology andpharmaceuticals,’ Indian civilservant Dr Mrinalini Darswal,currently pursuing doctoralstudies in public health withfocus on COVID-19 atHarvard University, told PTI.

A 2002-batch Odisha-cadre IAS officer, Darswal saidIndia has proved its compe-tence in the health sector, espe-cially in speed of innovation,manufacture, and cost-effec-tiveness.

It is beneficial to the US toutilise India’s technical com-

petence and installed capacityin drug manufacturing tosource health equipment,drugs, personal protectiveequipment, and vaccines atcompetitive rates even now, shesaid.

‘This shall also lower USdependence on China, whichhas proved a treacherous part-ner, besides being non-repen-tant of its hiding of the originof COVID-19 and conse-quently throwing the planet inthe current predicament,’Darswal said.

Observing that globalisa-tion and interconnectednesshastened the spread of thecoronavirus in a matter ofweeks in November 2019,Darswal said the same forces ofinterdependence and mutual-ity would help the world tideover the crisis. “The USA andIndia -- the largest democraciesin the world -- are capable ofsetting the path to the normalfor the entire planet,” Darswalsaid. PTI

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Dublin: Five countries including India have beenadded to Ireland’s mandatory quarantine list, accord-ing to a statement released by the Irish government.The five countries are India, Iran, Mongolia, Georgiaand Costa Rica. India’s federal health ministry saidon Friday morning that 386,452 new cases and 3,498related deaths were registered in the past 24 hoursacross the country, the Xinhua news agency report-ed. IANS

Washington: The overall globalCovid-19 caseload has topped 150.9million, while the deaths havesurged to more than 3.17 million,according to the Johns HopkinsUniversity. In its latest update onSaturday morning, the University’sCenter for Systems Science andEngineering (CSSE) revealed that

the current global caseload anddeath toll stood at 150,972,476 and3,176,054, respectively.

The US continues to be theworst-hit country with the world’shighest number of cases and deathsat 32,345,038 and 575,921, respec-tively, according to the CSSE.

IANS

Tripoli: The United NationsHigh Commissioner forRefugees (UNHCR) on Fridaysaid that some 340 illegalmigrants have been rescued offthe coast of Libya.

“Some 340 refugees andmigrants have been returnedtoday to Tripoli by LibyanCoast Guard,” UNHCR tweet-ed.

“UNHCR and IRC(International RescueCommittee) provided urgentmedical and humanitarianassistance to all survivorsbefore being taken to deten-tion,” UNHCR said.

Libya has become a pre-ferred point of departure forthousands of immigrants whoattempt to cross theMediterranean Sea to reachEuropean shores, the Xinhuanews agency reported. IANS

Washington: The US willexplore diplomacy with NorthKorea and adopt a “practicalapproach,” the White Housesaid on Friday.

White House PressSecretary Jen Psaki toldreporters aboard Air ForceOne that the Biden adminis-tration had completed its pol-icy review on North Korea,Xinhua news agency reported.

“Our policy will not focuson achieving a grand bargain,nor will it rely on strategicpatience,” she said.

“Our policy calls for a cal-ibrated practical approach thatis open to and will explorediplomacy with North Koreaand to make practical progressthat increases the security ofthe United States, our allies,

and deployed forces.”The term “strategic

patience” and “grand bargain”refer to US policies towardNorth Korea under the admin-istrations of Barack Obamaand Donald Trump.

Psaki reaffirmed that thecomplete denuclearization ofthe Korean Peninsula remainsthe policy goal, noting “theefforts of the past four admin-istrations have not achievedthis objective.”

She added that the UnitedStates would continue to con-sult with South Korea, Japan,and other allies and partners onthis issue.

President Joe Biden lastmonth told reporters thatNorth Korea ranked the topforeign policy issue for his

administration. The WhiteHouse said the Biden admin-istration had reached out toPyongyang through severalchannels but had not yetreceived any response.

North Korea First ViceForeign Minister Choe SonHui said in March thatPyongyang would ignore USoutreach until Washington“rolls back its hostile policy.”

Denuclearization talksbetween Pyongyang andWashington have been stalledsince the summit talks betweentop North Korea leader KimJong Un and former USPresident Donald Trump ended without agree-ment in February 2019 at theVietnamese capital of Hanoi.

IANS

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Colombo: Sri Lanka is looking at sources otherthan India to purchase the Oxford/AstraZenecavaccine in view of delay in securing the vaccinesfrom the Serum Institute of India, health author-ities said on Saturday. “The supply is beingdelayed from India. We have to understand thatIndia has to look after their own country beforesupplying to us. It is not that they have told noto us,” Gen Shavendra Silva, the chief of theCovid prevention operations said. PTI

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In a desperate attempt to arrest their slide,SunRisers Hyderabad have thrust Kane

Williamson into the leadership role by removingDavid Warner as they prepare to take on RajasthanRoyals, who are also struggling like them, here onSunday.

In a surprise move, SRH removed strugglingAustralian batsman Warner from the captaincy onSaturday as the side has lost five of the six match-es under him this season.

The Royals are not faring any better as theyhave managed to win only two matches out of thesix they have played. No wonder, the Royals areplaced seventh just above SRH.

SRH are coming into Sunday’s match after los-ing their last two matches including the Super Overdefeat against Delhi Capitals.

SRH rely heavily on their top-order — Warner,Jonny Bairstow, Manish Pandey andWilliamson — but they did not fire together.Their middle order is without a solid batsman.

There is a possibility that Warner who hashas scored 3, 54, 36, 37, 6 and 57 could bedropped from the playing XI.

Englishman Jonny Bairstow has alsostruggled while Williamson has played in justthree matches with 66 not out as his high-est.

The Kiwi batsman and Pandey, whohas two half centuries in four matches, holdthe key for SRH if their openers fail to givegood starts.

The poor quality of Indian talenthas also been SunRisers’ bane.

In the bowling department, alot depends of Afghan spinnerRashid Khan and he has beendoing a decent job if not excellent,with nine wickets from six matches.But he is not getting enough supportfrom his bowling colleagues.

Senior India pacer BhuvneshwarKumar struggled with just threewickets from four matches. He didnot play in SRH’s last two matches.

The Sanju Samson-led RR lackconsistency. They notched up their firstwin in their second game and lost theirnext two matches before winning again— against a struggling Kolkata KnightRiders.

In their last match against MumbaiIndians, the top-order did a decent job to

put up 171 for 4 but their bowling letthem down. They let MI batsmenscore freely to lose by seven wicketswith nine balls to spare.

RR have a lot of issues to sortout, particularly in the absenceof key foreign players like JofraArcher and Ben Stokes.

Their batting depends heav-ily on skipper Samson but theinconsistent captain has notfired since the 119 in the open-

ing match. The knock of 42 washis best after that. Opener JosButtler is yet to score a half centu-ry in six matches.

The middle-order is strugglingwith David Miller having scored justone half century in five games whileRiyan Parag is out-of-form with 25 ashis highest.

In the bowling department, milliondollar recruit Chris Morris has beendoing a great job with 11 wickets from

six matches but he cannot single-handed-ly carry the team on his shoulders.

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Young Punjab Kings spinners Harpreet Brarand Ravi Bishnoi wouldn’t mind another

dream day in office against a menacing DelhiCapitals here on Sunday, aiming to take a giantleap forward in their bid for an IPL play-offberth.

Brar’s match-winning 3/19 was wonderful-ly complemented by Bishnoi’s 2/19 as their com-bined haul of 5/36 in 8 overs decimated a star-studded Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Come Sunday, the duo will face a toughertask against the Delhi team which has a slight-ly better record against spin attacks with open-ers Shikhar Dhawan and Prithvi Shaw in impe-rious form.

Dhawan (311 runs) and Shaw (269 runs)have provided flying starts with five half-cen-turies between them along with 71 fours and 15sixes.

For any bowling unit, facing the Dhawan-Shaw duo is a scary proposition.

Even Steve Smith and Rishabh Pant are fan-tastic players when it comes to tackling the slowbowlers.

In fact, Bishnoi, who primarily bowls thegoogly, will like to challenge the DC skipper, whohas a knack of hitting against the spinover deep mid-wicket region.

The Narendra Modi Stadiumtrack has shown that balls tend togrip and batting becomes difficultas the game progresses.

It won’t be therefore surprising ifthe in-form KL Rahul wants to bat firstagain and replicate his smashing 57-ball-91 not out against RCB the otherday.

For Capitals, there is a chanceof veteran leg-spinner AmitMishra making a comeback intothe playing XI after DC watchedBishnoi get so much success inthe past few games.

In case Mishra gets the nod,Lalit Yadav will have to make wayfor him although he was impressivewith his off-breaks against KKRduring their last game.

Axar Patel’s all-round presencegives much-needed stability as hecould prove to be a handful on theslower tracks.

It will be a battle of top orderswhere Rahul’s finesse will be coun-

tered by Prithvi Shaw’s exuberance while ChirsGayle will try to overpower Pant’s pyrotechnicswith his own marauding style of batsmanship.

However, one area where DC is slightlyahead will be the pace bowling department,comprising the troika of Avesh Khan, Kagiso

Rabada and Ishant Sharma.While Avesh has had a stand-

out season so far with 13 scalpsat less than 7.5 run economy

rate, Rabada has got somekind of rhythm in the

past two games that wasabsent during some ofthe earlier games. For

Punjab also, the problemhas been consistency save skipper

Rahul, who has scored 331 runs so far.In the bowling department,

Mohammed Shami has only eightwickets from seven games while premi-um buys like Jhye Richardson and RileyMeredith have been very expensive.

Chris Jordan has been just aboutokay in a couple of games which hasmade KL Rahul’s job of identifying theperfect pace combination infinitely

difficult.

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The swashbuckling Ambati Rayudublazed away to a 27-ball 72 asChennai Super Kings amassed 82

runs in the last five overs to post animposing 218 for four against MumbaiIndians here on Saturday.

Moeen Ali (58) and Faf du Plessis(50), too, struck blistering half-cen-turies after being asked to bat first.

CSK lost opener Ruturaj Gaikwad (4)early but South African du Plessis andEngland’s Moeen plundered runs at willduring their 108-run second-wicketpartnership.

Rayudu, who notched up his fifty injust 20 balls, went hammer and tongswith seven sixes and four fours duringhis stay in the middle.

To start with, du Plessis smashed

Dhawal Kulkarni for a four and maxi-mum, as CSK grabbed 11 runs in the sec-ond over.

Moeen also opened up his arms inthe third over, hammering Trent Boult(1/42) for a maximum over backwardsquare-leg and a boundary, as Chennaifetched 12 runs off it.

Moeen was the more aggressive ofthe two as CSK cantered to 49/1 afterpowerplay.

The southpaw kept playing his shotsat will. Moeen, who used the pull shotto perfection and du Plessis, were bru-tal on leg-spinner Rahul Chahar (0/32),striking a six each in the ninth over, asCSK amassed 16 runs and raced to 77/1.

There was no stopping Moeen, whothen smashed a six and two boundariesoff James Neesham (0/26) in the 10thover, while Du Plessis hit two successive

sixes and a boundary off Jasprit Bumrah(1/56) in the next. This was Bumrah’smost expensive spell in the IPL.

But Mumbai pegged back CSK bytaking three quick wickets — firstBumrah dismissed Moeen in the 11thover and then Kieron Pollard removed duPlessis and Suresh Raina (2) in succes-sive balls in the 12th over, as CSKslipped to 116/4.

Then the show belonged to Rayudu,who, along with Ravindra Jadeja (22 notout), added 102 runs for an unbrokenfifth wicket in very little time. CSK scored92 runs in the last six overs as all theMumbai Indians bowlers experienced anoff day in the field.

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Tucked into the folds of theAravalli Hills, about thirtymiles north-east of Udaipur,is the bustling pilgrimagecentre of Nathdwara, home

to Shrinathji, the living image (svarup)of Krishna raising Mount Govardhan.The establishment of the deity’s haveli(mansion/temple), in Mewar in the sev-enteenth century, gave rise to a townthat completely revolved aroundShrinathji and the activities at his pala-tial shrine. The haveli brought togethera myriad of diverse social groups suchas masons, potters, tailors, silversmiths,embroiderers, brocade weavers, enamel(meenakari) workers, cooks and car-penters, all performing divine service(seva) for the child-god Krishna. Mostimportantly it fostered the growth of apainting community, drawn from vari-ous towns in Rajasthan, that came toserve the needs of the haveli and the pil-grims.

Nathdwara became a unique centre,its rituals and traditions remaining vir-tually unchanged for over 300 years.Until recently it was in a time capsule,maintaining artistic traditions that hadvanished from the Rajput courts. It wasthe archive for the styles and techniquesof the courtly painting studios ofRajasthan as well as the home to its ownunbroken artistic tradition for overthree centuries. There were hundreds ofartists from the Jangir and Adi Gaurcastes dedicated to serving the templeand providing painted icons for the pil-grimage trade. It is sad to learn fromMadhuvanti Ghose that all this is nowbeing threatened, eroded by the growthof the town and the encroachment ofthe twenty-first century.

Over the last forty yearsNathdwara’s uniqueness has garneredthe attention of scholars and producedan explosion of research on the pilgrim-age centre. When we first worked onthe Calico Collection of Nathdwarapichhavais (Indian Pigment Paintings onCloth) in the early seventies there werevery few publications about Nathdwara.Most notable were Robert Skelton’sRajasthani Temple Hangings of the

Krishna Cult (1973), Renaldo Maduro’sArtistic Creativity in a Brahmin PainterCommunity (1976) and RajendraJindel’s Culture of a Sacred Town (1976).Since then outstanding art historianssuch as Tryna Lyons, B.N. Goswamy,Amit Ambalal and Madhuvanti Ghosehave made significant contributions tothe understanding and preservation ofthe history of Nathdwara’s artistic com-munity. In addition to the art historicalaspect of the sacred town, there hasbeen an avalanche of material publishedon the literary, political, socio-economicand anthropological facets ofNathdwara. The plethora of online textsand translations as well as the new pub-lications bowing the library shelvesattest to Nathdwara’s continuing appealas a research subject.

��������Until the seventeenth century

Nathdwara (Door to the Lord) was onlya remote dusty village called Sinhar inthe state of Mewar. It soared to famewhen Shrinathji and his followers,threatened by the rise to power of theiconoclastic Mughal EmperorAurangzeb, fled Krishna’s sacred home-land of Braj and sought refuge inRajasthan. It is said that the Maharanaof Mewar with a retinue of 100,000 war-riors went out to escort Shrinathji per-sonally to his capital of Sesodias butthat the bullock cart carrying Krishnabecame bogged down in the mud in thesmall village of Sinhar. It was taken as asign that Shrinathji had selected thisspot along the Banas River as a haven.

This is the most commonly accept-ed version of the move and one that wesubscribed to in our 1979 publication,but it is debatable whether theVallabhacharis, so named for their guruVallabhacharya (VS 1535-1587; 1478-1530 CE), fled the area out of fear ofpersecution or whether they made ajudicious decision to resettle inRajasthan. It is possible that the uncer-tainty caused by Aurangzeb’s threatsreduced the pilgrimage trade and affect-ed the temple revenue. The Shrinathji kiPrakatya Varta records that Aurangzeb’s

messenger delivered an ultimatum toVallabha’s grandsons that ‘either thefakir of Gokul show some miracle orleave the Mughal Empire’. This rudewarning must have come as a shock.Prior to Aurangzeb’s reign theVallabhacharis had enjoyed Mughalfavours and were protected by severalfirmans issued by Akbar and ShahJahan that gave them grazing rightsover the land stretching from Gokul tothe whole district of Mahaban. In addi-tion, they enjoyed the privilege of beingexempt from taxation. It is debatablewhether they fled or simply decided toreestablish the sect in the land ofwealthy Rajasthani maharajas whomthey had cultivated as devotees. E. AllenRichardson argues that Maharana RajSingh of Udaipur, beginning in 1665,with the gift of the village of Asotiya inMewar to two goswamis, was preparinga place for the Vallabha Sampraday andthat Maharana Raj Singh foresaw theeconomic and social benefits of bring-ing the popular sect to Mewar.

Among the Vallabhacharis there is astory that explains the situation withouttarnishing their relationship with theMughals. On one of his missions,Vitthalnathji (VS 1572-1642; 1515-1585CE), the son of Vallabhacharya, had vis-ited Sinhar where he initiated into thesect one Ajabkunvar, the sister-in-law ofthe legendary Bhakti poetess Mirabai.Ajabkunvar became so passionatelyattached to Shrinathji that she askedhim to visit her every night. Shrinathjigranted her wish and came everyevening, traversing hundreds of milesfrom Braj, to play with her his favouriteparcheesi-like game of chaupar. Finally,seeing him red-eyed and exhaustedfrom his travels, Ajabkunvar requestedShrinathji to settle in Mewar perma-nently. Shrinathji replied that it was notpossible for him to do so now but thathe would in the future after the time ofVallabhacharya and Vitthalnathji. In1669 when the persecution grew acute,Vitthalnathji and Vallabhacharya hadboth passed away. It was time for thepromise to be fulfilled. The bullockchariot carrying Shrinathji reached

Sinhar in VS 1728 (1671 CE) and itcame to rest beneath a pipal tree whereAjabkunvar’s house had been located. Itwas to be Shrinathji’s new home.Tradition holds that Shrinathji’s shrineis the only one in the sect with a tiledroof in imitation of Ajabkunvar’s house.

Interestingly the account of themove in the Shrinathji ki Prakatya Vartarecords none of the pomp that JamesTod describes in his Annals ofRajasthan. According to Harirai(b.1590), author of the Shrinathji kiPrakatya Varta, and a member of one ofthe thirty-six families that accompaniedShrinathji to Rajasthan, the move wasdone as quietly as possible. Perhaps itwas the Maharana of Mewar who want-ed to make a great show of Shrinathji’sarrival whereas the Vallabhachariswanted only safety for their svarup.

No doubt the flight was a major dis-ruption for the VallabhacharyaSampraday. When the upheavaloccurred in 1669, the sect had beenestablished well over 150 years onMount Govardhan, the location whereShrinathji first appeared. It was a shiftnot taken easily for this was Krishna’sbirthplace, the playground for his lilas(sports) and most importantly the siteof Shrinathji raising Mount Govardhanas an umbrella to protect his peoplefrom the punishing deluge sent by thestorm god Indra. Even though theteenaged Tilakayat Damodarji (VS1711-1760; 1654 -1703 CE) was sup-ported by his uncles, Gopinathji andBalakrishnaji, it must have been anemotionally trying decision for him tomake. The sect had strong roots in Braj.

Yet the Vallabhacharya Sampradaywas an immensely popular sect withmany adherents. Both Vallabhacharyaand Vitthalnathji had made extensivepilgrimages throughout Gujarat andRajasthan recruiting new followers.Besides Shrinathji’s appeal to the com-mon people, almost every royal houseof Rajasthan could be counted amongShrinathji’s devotees.

After Shrinathji’s arrival in Sinhar ashrine was erected in VS 1728 (1671CE) which was purposefully designed

as a haveli (mansion) instead of the tra-ditional shikara-style (towered) temple.The architect of the new temple built onthe pattern of an aristocrat’s mansionwas Gopaldas Ustad under the supervi-sion of Hariraiji, the author of theShrinathji ki Prakatya Varta. Every partof the new structure was to recall thesacred topography of Braj, Krishna’shomeland.

Today pilgrims throng the halls ofthe haveli for every ceremony, jostlingeach other to reach the Nij Mandirwhere Shrinathji resides. The viewingperiods are short, and thousands seekhis darshan (viewing). Although theseva (service) is done with the utmostrespect the crush of pilgrims tries thepatience of those attempting to feel atone with their Lord. Outside in thestreets there is almost a carnival-likeatmosphere. Entire lanes are dedicatedto outfitting the private shrines of pil-grims. There are shops filled withembroidered fabrics to embellish thesacred chambers and glittery brocadedresses fashioned for every size andshape of image as well as a profusion ofpainted, printed and sculpted images ofShrinathji. Prasad, which is made in thehaveli kitchens in great quantities, isavailable for purchase. There are piles ofghee-laden laddus, pots of thick sweetrabri and mounds of savoury besan sev— all Krishna’s favourites. Nathdwarafosters an entire industry dedicated tothe worship of Shrinathji.

Since the founding of Nathdwara,artists have been drawn to this sacredplace to fulfil the needs of the haveliand to provide pilgrims with painteddevotional images for their shrines.While the other schools of Rajasthanipainting have died out for lack of royalpatronage, Nathdwara has continued,fed by the passionate desire of devoteesto serve Shrinathji and to be one withtheir Lord.

Excerpted with permission fromNathdwara Paintings from the Anil

Relia Collection: The Portal toShrinathji by Kalyan Krishna & Kay

Talwar by Niyogi Books, �3,500

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People are talking again, same people, same things. Weare as clueless as we were during the previous surge ofCorona. Masks, social distancing, sanitisers and lock-

down are our mainstay. As to the medicines no one knowswhich one is working and for whom. Admittedly we havenot grown any wiser despite spending billions. Vaccinationsof course have come as a big source of sustenance but thereare doubting Thomases also to see the darker side. Amid allthis, we need to settle down for something more authentic.As the kerfuffle continues, two things seem to be our bestrefuge. Faith and hope. They are our powerful antidotes todayto inoculate against Corona. Highly scientific brains may havereasons to raise questions about the efficacy of these two con-structs. But there is ample scientific evidence to suggest thatfaith healing works and even die-hard medical practition-ers will agree to this. Faith drives hope, and hope drives life.True, evidence-based research may not be readily availableto prove this, but there is need to understand that absenceof proof is no proof of absence. Moreover, copious anecdo-tal evidences can be cited to establish that faith and hope dowork. The fact of the matter is that even the best of the med-icines works only if the patient believes they can work. Amplepsychological studies are there to corroborate that placeboeffects are a reality. Call it miracle or call it will power, butit works. As a deluge of data is being dished out to show howdeadly the coronavirus is and how helpless humanity is, thereare rays of hope in this otherwise sombre atmosphere. Whilecase fatality rates are being boldly displayed to point out howlife threatening is the coronavirus, recovery rates are notshown as prominently. If only this data is displayed honest-ly, we would realise how unfounded our angst is about thepossibility of dying, or the entire humanity coming to an end.A simple recapitulation of the catastrophic incidents of thepast century will show how the present challenges match withthose. The first world war was responsible for killing 22 mil-lion people. Then followed the Spanish flu, a close cousinof the present variant, which had killed 50 million people.15 million in India alone. Remember, antibiotics were notdiscovered then. Then came the great depression that ruinedeconomies like a House of cards. This was followed by thesecond World war, killing over 60 million people. Then theKorean war, the Vietnam war and what not. Humanity sur-vived all that and grew around three times since then. Wecertainly are far better off but for the fact that we are high-ly ill-informed. No, there is no dearth of information. Quitethe contrary. But there is plenty of negative information thathas struck a bloody blow to our faith and hope and boggedus down with forces of Thanatos, the death urges. Look atthe figures of April 25. Total number of confirmed cases is147,096,661 and total number of deaths 3,223,558, that isaround 2%. Ironically, one estimate says that around 9 mil-lion people die every year of hunger and hunger related dis-eases. Not that we don’t do anything about Corona. But weneed not lose hope. More people are dying out of fear ofCorona rather than the actual infection. Time to rekindlehope and faith by tweaking the headlines. Headline man-agement can go a long way in arresting the present surge.

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Lord Krishna says that faith isaccording to one’s nature. Humanspecies is endowed with faith.

Whatever faith he has, he is that only(Bhagawad Gita 17.3) The Lord haslinked our faith to our nature. Therefore,let us understand our nature in essence.

What does our nature comprise? Tocarry out this exercise, we must havebasic knowledge of the three factors —goodness, passion and darkness. Ournatures consist of these three mode invarious proportions. The mode ofgoodness is illuminating and free fromdiseases on account of purity. (14.6) Themode of passion, which suffers from thefault of attachment, know that to becaused by desire and attachment. (14.7)And the mode of darkness, which caus-es delusion to all living entities, knowthat to be born of ignorance, whichbinds with carelessness and laziness.(14.8) Generally, the percentage of themode of passion is the highest in mostpeople, therefore, we can take it as thebase mode. This mode is given direc-tion either by the mode of goodness orthe mode of darkness, i.e., whichever isin preponderance at a particular time.

Besides the modes, our nature isalso influenced by our consciousness,i.e. whether that is material or spiritu-al. In the earlier type of consciousness,one considers the self as a material body.In the later consciousness, a rare one,one knows oneself to be a soul.‘Sanskars’ brought from the previouslives and given by parents and others inthis life also make a huge difference towhat our natures will be like. Similarly,habits both good and bad influence ournatures greatly. Ego is not far behind.Rather this has an undue influence overthe nature of some.

All these factors determine what

kind of faith or in whom one will haveat a particular time or generally. Natureis internal, whereas faith is external. Thenature determines the kind of faith onewill have. Those, whose nature is dom-inated by the mode of goodness, andwho have spiritual consciousness, andwho are endowed with good sanskarswill have faith in God and scriptures.This is wonderful because one becomeshappy with brightness in all gates(senses) of the body. (14.9 and 11) Suchfaith is highly desirable. Saints have suchfaith. It does not exclude occasionallower behaviour when the other modesare in ascendence. This is when theymake mistakes like all do.

Those, who have mode in passionin preponderance, have faith in moneyand material objects. These they love toshow off also, besides accumulating asmuch of it is possible. Sense enjoymentsare not far behind; the more the better.They are also likely to have a lot of faithin their own abilities. Faith in God andscriptures is mostly casual.

Those, who have mode of darknessin ascendance are generally in trouble.They are mostly atheists, i.e. no faith inGod or in scriptures. Such faithdegrades and one regresses than pro-gresses. It has severe consequences; onemay have many bad qualities. One mayalso suffer from anxiety, fear, depression,and so on. When this mode is overpow-ering, one commits crimes and mayeven kill the self.

In order to avoid these eventuali-ties, one must work consciously to tryto reduce this mode’s presence in one’snature. The first thing to do is to beginhonouring all the ‘maryadas’ put inplace for the human species. Oneshould try to follow ‘dharma’ — theguidelines for our proper existence.Faith in God, which is the ultimate sav-ior will come gradually as the othermodes, especially the mode of goodnessgets in ascendance. Therefore, let us tryto develop faith in God..������������������� ��������������������

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Asoul is sent to a life in thehuman body for a certainperiod of time. When thesoul inhabits a body, thesoul is still a part of God

and is still one with God. The soul,however, is now overpowered bypowerful forces, such as the mind, thebody and the outer world, whichcause the soul, over time, to forgetitself. The soul slowly begins to iden-tify itself with the body and mind andworld outside. It suddenly begins tothink that it can only receive infor-mation from the outer world throughthe senses. Thus the soul has becomeattuned to only one channel — thechannel of the world.

If we think about our life aswatching a television programme, wehave multiple choices as to what towatch. Just as there are a dozen net-work stations and then dozens if nothundreds of cable stations fromwhich to choose, so, too, there aremany activities in this world that wecan engage in.

Now, let us take a look at theother choices available to us. Thisphysical planet is not a separate off-shoot from all of creation and God.

Most religions believe that there arehigher regions or existence to whichthe soul goes after it dies. Scientistsand doctors have tried to verify thisby documenting accounts of peoplewho were declared clinically dead buthad near-death experiences anddescribed something beyond thisworld. The question is, where arethese realms? They are not zones inouter space delineated by borders. Allthese realms exist concurrently withthis one. The reason we are not awareof them is because they operate on adifferent frequency or vibration.

The saints and mystics tell us thatwe have the choice to either staytuned to this physical world, or totune into the channels of God. Godwants us to watch God’s program-ming. God is available twenty-fourhours of the day, three hundred sixtyfive days of a year. God’s program-ming does not turn off at three amlike some networks do. It is a free sta-tion broadcasting all the time with-out any cable fees. We only need toknow how to tune into God’s station.

The connection to God is nothard. It is just a matter of making thechoice that this is what we want to do.

The steps to do this are simple. � Step one is to stop identifying withthe body, mind, and world outside,and identify with the soul. � Step two requires that when weidentify with our soul that we shiftour attention to the frequency or thehigher realms and ultimately to God.

That is all we have to do. God didnot make it hard for us to becomeaware of our true Home. It is we whohave made it complicated.

So how do we accomplish stepone and step two? To accomplish stepone, we must withdraw our attentionfrom our body, mind, and the worldoutside. We must decide to turn offthe outer programming. When thatprogramming is in the off mode, thenin the silence we will experience our-selves as soul. That is the step that wecall self-knowledge.

Once we identify with the soul,we will be able to pick up frequenciesthat the soul is capable of receiving.We can do a gradual shift in which wego from the consciousness of oneregion to consciousness of the spiri-tual realms.

In this process we are not goinganywhere physically; we are merely

shifting our attention from one stateof consciousness to the other. Theother state of consciousness does notexist in time or space. They areoperating concurrently. We are simul-taneously in the other realms and inGod at the same time but we are notaware of it because our attention isonly focused on one region — thephysical.

So, for step one, if we meditateaccurately we will experience our-selves as soul. Once we identify withthe soul, then we will also be awareof the inner Light and Sound that isthe radiance and vibratory sound ofGod within us. If we absorb ourselvesin the Light and Sound within, we canthen attain step two. We can shift ourattention into the Light and Sound,which attracts our soul to higher lev-els of vibration.

It is simply a matter of choosingwhere we want to put our attention.This is the simplicity of spirituality.God did not make things complicat-ed. It is simple, we just have to chooseto transplant the flower of our atten-tion from the world into God’s gar-den.

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Day in and out we witness how ouractions, emotions and decisionsshape us as a whole and where it

takes us. While we may have achieved someor the other goal in the past, our willingnessto keep going somehow feels lost at times,and a feeling of non-belongingness erupts.We keep procrastinating certain things andeven end up feeling gloomy with no actionsdirected to keep moving in that direction.This is when you must start engaging inmindfulness and focussing on self-improve-ment by measuring yourself and your deci-sions diligently.

Personal development and self-improvement are subjective. Each one hastheir willingness to achieve something as agoal. You have a certain goal and you havefailures in achieving the same. This stemsthe thought of self-improvement to betterhandle the situation at hand. When it comesto self-improvisation, it doesn’t have a dead-end wherein we feel we have achieved it alland attained self-actualisation, but it keepspushing us to explore our actions, decisionsfurthermore for better results out of themany upcoming challenging situations.

Self-improvement is an unending pur-suit to better yourself, be it whatever thatyou are eyeing to achieve. It’s a long-termgame and we’re here for a marathon, notjust for a sprint. With self-improvement,you may not see the changes tomorrow butcan see things moving in the directionmaybe a few weeks, months, and most defi-nitely a year from the first time you start.This is the most effective method ofimprovement because the only one whoknows your thoughts to the dot is you. Andyour actions are a reflection of yourthoughts, therefore, you can change youractions by understanding your thoughts andchannelling your thought process.

Link to knowledge: Personal develop-ment through self-improvement is tied to

knowledge and as we are aware that knowl-edge is endless. As much we seek, there’sroom for more to imbibe the ocean ofknowledge that the world possesses. Theknowledge of various aspects guides us tofind various ways to achieve a certain thingthat we desire. It also induces a feeling thatif it could be achieved in a certain way, howabout exploring another way too? And weleap to find it!

Moreover, our pursuit for self-improve-ment never reaches the epitome becauseour brain is conditioned to be pessimisticand has the hunger to achieve more. Wethink we are not perfect at a certain thingand always feel there is still a lot of room tolearn and excel in the same. Measuringefforts when we do it is something that weas humans don’t engage in. This leads to thehunger of trying more ways to achieve acertain thing at its full potential.

Self-improvement is more to do withintrospection as we know the best and nomatter what solutions that we have sought

earlier or seek moving forward from theoutside world, we will only be able to find itfrom inside, speaking to ourselves. Whatdoes the mind need? A good job, highgrades at school, that dream car, wanting tobe at the helm in your workplace, etc.,thoughts are aplenty, it is we who find ourown ways to try and channelise ourthoughts and efforts in a certain way in abid to break through what we look forwardto having. And how do we achieve it?

A simple success mantra that anyonecan follow in their pursuit of self-improve-ment is adopting mindfulness. It is the wayyou condition your mind to fully dedicateyour attention to the present without lettingthe past or the future influence yourthought process. Self-improvement certain-ly is immortal and cannot be limited to acertain achievement, but can be with us fora lifetime, if we do not give up on learning.Hence, self-improvement cannot only go sofar but can go all the way!

The writer is an author

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-�1 ����� ���� #�-�%� �����������1 ������� On April 24, the Armenian geno-

cide completed its 106thanniversary. As the parties involvedin the conflict are restless, the mud-slinging game is on. Joe Biden is thefirst American President to recognisethe Armenian killing as genocide.And this has sparked a new war ofwords between Washington andAnkara. The diplomatic spat betweenthe two countries have now involvedsenior functionaries in the adminis-tration of both the countries.

Although Biden’s historic recog-nition is not laced with any economicsanction or diplomatic isolation, hisexplosive statement will certainlyrock the already tense relationsbetween the two nations. In fact,President Biden called up his Turkishcounterpart the day before he madethe announcement. Earlier AmericanPresidents did not take the risk ofinfuriating Turkey, a key NATO allyand a strategically critical country,straddling West Asia and Europe.

Though the US’ new position issymbolic, it equates the Armenianmassacre with the genocide underHitler, and the Cambodian genocideby the Khmer Rouge under Pol Potfrom 1975-79 and finally theRawandan genocide against theTutsis in April 1994.

Elated at President Biden’s dec-laration, Armenian Prime MinisterNikol Pashinyan has reacted by say-ing that is a “…powerful step on theway to acknowledging the truth, his-torical justice and an invaluablesupport for the descendants of thevictims of Armenian genocide”.

However, moments after therelease of Biden’s statement onArmenian genocide, Turkish ForeignMinister Mevlut Cavusoglu said,“The words cannot change or rewritehistory. We have nothing to learnfrom anybody on our own past.Political opportunism is the greatestbetrayal to peace and justice. Weentirely reject this statement basedsolely on populism.”

This hints at Turkey’s sharpdenial of the Armenian genocide. ForTurkey, this massacre is an unfound-ed slander and the current Americanpronouncement is emerging simplyfrom the country’s internal politicalcalculations.

Thus, the Turkey’s Governmentsays there was no policy of extermi-nation to deal with the Armeniansubjects under the Ottoman Empire.Key officials of President RecepTayyip Erdogan claim that the cur-rent American stand on theArmenian genocide is simply to

malign the global image of Turkey.The Turkish Ministry of ForeignAffairs says the demographic stud-ies show that fewer than 1.5 millionArmenians lived in the entireOttoman Empire before the FirstWorld War. Hence, there is no ques-tion of the death of 1.5 millionArmenians only in Eastern Anatolia.Again, alongside the loss of theArmenians, more than 2.5 millionMuslims died in the Anatolian regionin the same period, they claim.Finally, the Ministry says,“Documents of the time list inter-communal violence, forced migrationof all ethnic group, disease and star-vation as causes of death.” Therefore,Turkey officially does not recognisethe killings as genocide.

For a fact, the killing of morethan 1.5 million Armenians andother Christian minorities between1915 and 1917 by the Young Turkadministration in AnatolianPeninsula is widely labelled as “geno-cide”. These Armenian Ottomanswere killed while they were beingdeported from Anatolia to the Syrian

desert in the peak of the First WorldWar. The Young Turks also knownas Jon Turkler (in Turkish language)were the proponents of a politicalreform movement that took place inthe early 20th century. The YoungTurks wanted to replace the absolutemonarch in the Ottoman Empire inthose days.

The principal aim of this move-ment was to establish a constitutionalform of government. They led amovement known as Young TurkRevolution against the OttomanSultan Abdul Hamid II in 1908which culminated in the foundationof a constitutional government inTurkey. And by January 1913, themost militant members of the YoungTurks like Talat Pasa and Enver Pasatook over the regime from their lib-eral colleagues in a coup d’état. Itmust be noted here that these youngrevolutionaries belonged to a smallgroup called Committee of Unionand Progress (CUP), an organisationbelonging to the greater Young TurksRevolution. And only during the ruleof these radicals, the mass killing of

the Armenians took place during theFirst World War.

The history, legacy and tragedyaround this mass murder is shroud-ed in controversies and contestednarratives. However historicalrecords of the later part of the 19thcentury show that even Sultan AbdulHamid advocated pan-Islamic idealsfor his empire. The year 1894 wit-nessed brutal killing of Armeniansin the Ottoman Empire. The sameyear, rising agitations by theArmenians demanded politicalreform which forced the Sultan touse brutal forces to normalise the lawand order situation. Contemporaryhistorical records indicate the mas-sacre of 80,000 to 300,000 Armeniansand 25,000 Assyrians in a period ofthree years. Subsequently, the NewYork Times referred to the masskillings under Sultan Hamid as“Armenian Holocaust” in the year1895 and popularly termed it as“Hamidian massacre”.

Therefore, it is not the onlyregime during the First World Warbut also the earlier that Sultans car-

ried out atrocities against theArmenians and other smaller ethnicand religious groups in the OttomanEmpire.

One can possibly read what wasthere in the mind of Talat Pasa whenhe once said: “What on earth do youwant? The question is settled. Thereare no more Armenians.”

An attempt to create a pan-Islamic and a pan-Turkic State final-ly led to the killing of all theseArmenians. It was the hatred towardsthe Christians when the OttomanEmpire suffered a humiliating defeatin the historic Balkan War between1912 and 1913. The young Turkishrulers were always suspicious of theChristian Armenians. The hardlin-ers of the CUP strongly felt that theArmenians were collaborating withthe foreign powers to harm theOttoman Empire. After the humili-ating defeat in the First Balkan War,when the Empire lost almost all theirpossession in Europe, the Europeanleaders imposed a major set ofreforms over the Ottomans, askingthem to allow the supervision of theinspectors in eastern part of it. Thisdirectly resulted into a pure mis-conception among the Ottomanrulers thinking that only theArmenians were there behind thisconspiracy. Thus, a sense of insecu-rity grew in the ruling elite that theArmenians could be workingtowards undermining the sover-eignty of the Ottoman Empire. Andall these above reasons and probablya growing movement of self-asser-tion among the Armenians led to theextermination of them by the YoungTurk regime.

It is hard to access the exactnumber of Armenians lived in theOttoman Empire during the FirstWorld War. But the EncyclopediaBritannica sources quote that therewere around 2.5 million Armeniansin the beginning of the 20th centu-ry in the Ottoman Empire. Buttoday the modern Turkey has an esti-mated population of 70,000 of themonly. The Armenians initially livedin the six provinces in the EasternAnatolia, what is today known asEastern Turkey.

However, these ChristianArmenians never used to dominateone single area or zone. They alsoshared various parts of EasternAnatolia with the Kurds populationin those days. Records in Ancient his-tory and in Middle Ages clearly saythese areas were controlled by suc-cessive Armenian dynasties for longtime although they used to face

incursions from outsiders. Unfortunately, by the 11th cen-

tury, invasions and large migrationsof Turkic population flooded the area,gradually overpowering the localArmenians. But then the worst wasyet to come. By the 16th and 17th cen-turies, the Eastern Anatolia wasincorporated into the great OttomanEmpire by the Turks, but the dis-tinctive identity of the Armenians hadremained intact. Another interestingfact was that the Armenians couldalways find a broader communityconnect with the other Armenians liv-ing beyond the Ottoman Empire inthe neighbouring Russia.

For centuries, the multi-faithOttoman Empire adopted a uniqueadministrative mechanism called“Millet System” for its minorities.Under this system, the minorities,including the Armenians, enjoyed aconsiderable degree of self-gover-nance to run their affairs. However,gradually, the Millet System declined.By the beginning of the 19th centu-ry, the rulers of the Ottoman Empireinitiated a slew of administrativereforms to modernise its society andpolity. On the way to modernise andsecularise its institutions, the rela-tionship between the Empire and itsminorities changed.

These changes led to centralisa-tion of power in the Ottoman stateand as a result tensions rose betweenthe majority Muslims and diversegroup of minorities living within itsterritory.

In the past, the recognition ofthis tragedy as genocide has alwaysbeen shaped by geopolitical games.On record, the UK, Israel andAzerbaijan have flatly refused torecognise this killing as genocide asthey have been the allies of Turkey.

Whereas Lebanon, Greece andFrance, having large populations ofArmenian descent and traditionallyhostile to Turkey, have largely claimed this horrendouskilling as genocide.

The reality is that truth finallyprevails. And to speak no one needsto think at all. It’s time for Turkey tocome up with a credible answer. Theglobal blame game and taking polit-ical stands for saving one’s skin nei-ther help the descendants of the vic-tims nor the international commu-nity. However, the very use of theterm genocide by Biden at this hourcan rightly be called a moral slap onErdogan.

(The writer is an expert on inter-national affairs)

��������������� ���������������4����The loss of twenty-two secu-

rity officials in a Maoistattack in Chhattisgarh has onceagain raised concerns over theprotracted Maoist violence.The concerns following theincident have raised criticalquestions, especially over thenature and effectiveness of thecounter-insurgency operations.Such questions are valid con-sidering the identical pattern inwhich the security forces havebeen trapped by the Maoists, beit in the case of Gadchiroli inMaharashtra in 2019 or thecases in the Bijapur-Sukmaregion in Chhattisgarh in 2020-21. The identical pattern inwhich many security forceshave lost their lives to theMaoists invites criticism on thepreparedness, tactical capabil-ities, and intelligence-gatheringaspects of the former.

Following the latestepisode of Maoist violence,the Chief Minister ofChhattisgarh was quick toreject any chances of intelli-gence failure which would havebeen the major factor leadingto the casualties. While therehave been questions on the tac-tical capabilities of the securi-ty forces, certain importantdevelopments related to theMaoists have been completelyoverlooked.

An important episode thathas gone unnoticed is the con-ditional “peace talks” offer bythe Maoists. In a press state-ment dated March 12, thespokesperson of theDandakaranya Special ZonalCommittee offered a condi-tional peace dialogue with theChhattisgarh Government pro-

vided three conditions — with-drawal of the security forces;removal of a ban on theMaoists; and the release of theMaoists cadre arrested by thegovernment — were fulfilled.Such a conditional offer fromthe Maoists came as a reactionto one “Dandi March 2.0”which was organised by civilsociety organisations, endorsedby the Chief Minister ofChhattisgarh, for peace in theMaoist-affected areas.

Coming down heavily onthe peace march, calling it ahoax, the Maoists invited theGovernment for peace talks.While such conditional peacetalks offer coming from theMaoists is not unprecedented,the timing of the offer needs tobe merited. It is safe to arguethat such peace dialogue offerwas the first of its kind after theMaoist organisation had wit-nessed a change in the leader-ship. The new leadership of theMaoists (Nambala Kesav Raoalias Basavraj as the GeneralSecretary and Madvi Hidma asthe chief of the military), asmany believe, has got very lit-tle to do with the romanticnotion of “revolutionary” ide-ology. Rather, they want toscotch the understanding thatthe Maoists are on their last legs.

The militant posturing ofthe new leadership of theMaoists is a testimony of itsdwindling support base andshrinking territory limited onlyto some pockets ofChhattisgarh. The violentepisodes targeting the securi-ty forces are acts of desperationwith motives to keep the armedcadre motivated and to make

the state machinery acknowl-edge their presence. Against thebackdrop of militant posturingand peace talks offers by theMaoists, the responses from thesecurity forces merit a criticalexamination. It is important tomention that while the militaryapproach has been a robuststrategy in bringing down theviolence level in the Maoistsaffected areas, the tactical fail-ures in certain cases have costthe security forces heavily. Asthe Maoist movement underthe new leadership would makeall attempts to revive the organ-

isational strength, the securityforces need to tweak their tac-tical capabilities.

A major focus in this direc-tion should be in terms ofstrengthening credible humanintelligence network. It is onlypossible when the local peoplehave more trust in the securi-ty forces and other statemachinery than the Maoists.The recent incident does notnecessarily reflect on lack ofintelligence, but the credibili-ty of the complete intelligencecan be questioned. The intelli-gence input about Madvi

Hidma’s presence that prompt-ed the operation of 2,000 secu-rity forces turned out to be atrap which reflects on lack ofcomplete information. Large-scale operations with partialintelligence input are bound toface such fate.

Secondly, there is a need torethink the “grab the kingpin”approach. Apprehending andneutralising the leaders of theMaoists have been a critical tac-tical policy to minimise the riskof violence. While the merit ofthis policy should not beunfairly questioned, it needs to

be revisited depending on thespecificities of the situation. Itis important to mention thatthe present leadership of theMaoists which largely believesin violent activities to revive themovement would be on theback foot if a greater numberof armed cadres are targeted.

A third critical issue is onthe morale of the security forces.On one hand, the security forceshave been able to contain theMaoist violence to a great extent,on the other hand, in the pock-ets of Chhattisgarh the CentralArmed Police Forces (CAPF)

have also suffered major casu-alties. The large-scale killing ofthe security forces by theMaoists would hurt the moraleof the CAPF. The experience offighting the outlawed Maoistssuggests that specialised forcesdrawn from the State police likethe Grey Hounds have beenmore effective than the CAPF.Better understanding of thelocal areas and language andeasy access to the local popula-tion are some of the importantadvantages of the State policeover the CAPF. Consideringthe local support base of theMaoists, better coordinationbetween the State police forcesand the CAPFs would boost themorale of the latter.

Apart from the role of thesecurity forces, theGovernments at the State andCentral level need to serious-ly think of going for peace talkswith the Maoists. As men-tioned before, the Maoists havetaken a step forward, thoughconditional, towards peacetalks. The least Governmentscan do is to start engaging theMaoists in negotiation processthrough multiple channels. Wemust understand that theMaoist conflict in its close to sixdecades of existence has pro-duced a host of loot-ableresources that have benefittedthe elites across the spectrum.In this process, the underpriv-ileged population has been atthe receiving end while thesecurity forces have laid theirlives.

(The writer is an AssociateProfessor, National Institute ofAdvanced Studies, Bengaluru)

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Let us now have a look at the attrib-utes reflected by the form in whichMother Goddess Saraswati is per-

ceived. She is visualised clad in spotlesswhite apparel. She is mounted on aSwan, which is white in colour.Remember, transparent white is thecolour of purity, Buddhi (discriminateintelligence) and Akasa (the space filledwith the eternal element of conscious-ness). It hints out at the pure and unsul-lied truths as laid down with nature.Such truths can be accessed and under-stood only when approached with a pureand simple mind, free from any egotisti-cal preconditioning.

Otherwise, with our minds drivenby a sense of relative perception, it willbe difficult to identify the thin dividingline between truth and untruth. It issomething like milk diluted with water,which looks no different from its purefrom. However, when served to a Swan,it consumes the pure milk, leaving asidethe adulterated water. Her mount, thus,gains its relevance in practical terms. Tosum up, realisation of truth calls for apure uncorrupted mind, when it will beavailable in its wholesome form.

The Mother carries a Veena (a

stringed musical instrument). In animplied sense, She remains the beholderof all Sabdas — the spoken as well aswritten words carrying meaning. Andthe word carries meaning only when theletters are placed in an orderly fashion. Italso points to the fact that pleasing man-nerism alone could help relate well withall and be in harmony, but for which lifemay not have a smooth run. Here, it isworth recalling the verse appearing inthe Veda, which reflects upon the originof the words with name and meaning:“Prajapatiravaiidamasit,Tasyavagdwitiyaasit, VagvaiparamamBrahman”. Literally it means that in thebeginning was the Prajapati (anothername of creative matrix) with whom wasVak (She is spoken of as second to Him,because She is first potentially in, andthen issues forth as Sakti); and the wordis Brahmana.

The same concept resonates in the4th Gospel: “In the beginning was theWord, and the Word was with God, andthe Word was God”. Vak, thus, is a Saktior Power of the creator. Going by theancient India’s perception, with the firstmotion at the Primal-Source — pranava— the primal-sound Om got excited,

which when gravitated further, energystreams got excited out of the seeds ofcreation. Thus emerged differentiatedsounds. Out of them, the ones that wereaudible to human ears, are termed asroot syllables (described as Bija mantrain Indian sense). 50/51 alphabets ofDevnagari script are nothing but theroot syllables. The harmony and sym-phony of these root syllables led to themaking of the words with name andform. All these words inherently rest inAkasa (the space filled with eternal ele-ment of consciousness).

Akasa, as per ancient India’s percep-tion was the first to emerge in theprocess of creation of the Universe. Evenscience believes that following the BigBang, the first to emerge was spacewhich provided the ground for furtherevolution of the energy chain excited inthe process. Akasa is supposed to holdin its womb the supra-sensual power ofsound, which flowing through the aircomes in touch with the vocal-chord tomanifest words audible to human ears.Veena, the musical instrument ofMother Goddess Saraswati, thusmetaphorically symbolises being thebeholder of words.

The mother is shown holding a book(the Veda) in one of her hands. It impliesthat Mother is beholder of eternal truth— self-revealed design parameters inlaidwith nature that drives the existentialorder. And that remains beyond thescope of individual judgment.

In this context Rumi’s sayingbecomes imperative: “Somewhere beyondright or wrong, there is a garden.” Onewould need to explore truth only withthis mind-set, which calls for movingbeyond all limitations of mind. It impliesthat true knowledge and wisdom can beacquired only by a pure uncorruptedmind, free from any limitation whatso-ever.

The Mother is shown having arosary in another hand. It implies thatrepeated reflection over knowledgeacquired would be needed for realisationof the true import of the subject matterof learning. So runs the verse: “Sastrasunishcit puni-puni dekhi”. It implies thatrepeated reflection of a subject matterfirms up our insight.

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