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Sri Lanka's Prime MinisterMahinda Rajapaksa

resigned on Monday afterclinging on to power for weeks,following unprecedented anti-Government protests demand-ing his ouster as well as theadministration led by hisyounger brother and PresidentGotabaya Rajapaksa over thecountry's worst economic cri-sis that led to acute shortagesof staple food, fuel and power.

Mahinda's resignationcomes hours after his support-ers attacked anti-Governmentprotesters outside PresidentGotabaya's office, leaving atthree people killed and at least154 people injured, promptingauthorities to impose a nation-wide curfew and deploy Armytroops in the national Capital.

Meanwhile, the ancestralhome of the Rajapaksas inHambantota has been set onfire by a group of anti-Government protesters, hoursafter Mahinda, the patriarch ofthe powerful clan resigned inresponse to mounting demand

for his ouster as Sri Lanka'sPrime Minister.

A legislator from SriLanka’s ruling party shot deadan anti-Government protesterand then took his own life dur-ing a confrontation outside thecapital, police said Monday,reported AFP.

Video footage showed theentire house of Mahinda andhis younger brother andRajapaksa in Medamulana in

Hambantota city was burningaway as protesters hootedaway, the Daily Mirror report-ed.

Earlier, several propertiesof Ministers and lawmakers ofthe ruling coalition weredestroyed by the protesters. SriLankan media also reportedthat a fire has broke out nearthe back gate of Temple Trees,the official residence of the SriLankan Prime Minister here.

Police water cannons havebeen called but anti-Government protesters areattacking the vehicles, thereport said. Protesters havealso attacked the house ofBadulla District parliamentar-ian Tissa Kuttiarachch andlater set it on fire.

The house of PuttalamMP Santha Nishantha wascompletely destroyed due to anarson attack.

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Shaheen Bagh gained cen-trestage yet again on

Monday as hundreds of localsprotested and foiled a demoli-tion drive of the South DelhiMunicipal Corporation(SDMC). With hundreds oflocals besides the Congressand the AAP workers staginga protest, the SDMC had to calloff its drive to raze allegedencroached structures in thearea under its first phase ofdemolition drive.

An FIR was registeredagainst AAP MLAAamanatullah Khan and hissupporters for obstructing anti-encroachment drive in ShaheenBagh, Delhi Police said.

The bulldozer returnedwithout carrying out any exer-cise from Shaheen Bagh,famous for its anti-CAAprotests.

The matter also reachedthe Supreme Court whichrefused to entertain a plea filedby CPI(M) against the demo-lition drive in Shaheen Bagh.

The court said it cannot inter-fere with the anti-encroach-ment drive at the instance of apolitical party.

A bench of Justices LNageswara Rao and BR Gavaiasked the party to approachthe Delhi High Court.

"Why is CPI(M) filing apetition? What is the funda-mental right that is being vio-lated? Not at the behest ofpolitical parties. This is not

the platform. You go to theHigh Court," the bench said.

At the outset, senioradvocate P V Surendranath,appearing for the petitioner,submitted that the plea hasbeen filed in the public inter-est and there is no "partyinterest" involved in the mat-ter. He further submittedthat the second petitioner is ahawkers' union and they arebeing removed without notice.

The bench said if hawkersare encroaching they will beremoved and in case there isany violation of law by author-ities, the petitioner can go tothe High Court. The topcourt clarified that it inter-fered in the Jahangirpuridemolition case because struc-tures were being demolished.The senior lawyer said theauthorities are demolishingbuildings.

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The EnforcementDirectorate (ED) has sum-

moned Jharkhand MiningSecretary Pooja Singhal forquestioning on Tuesday at itsoffice in Ranchi in connectionwith a money-launderingprobe linked to embezzlementof MGNREGA funds duringher stints as district collector invarious districts of the State.

Singhal is a 2000-batchIAS officer. She has been askedto depose before the investiga-tion officer at the zonal officeof ED in Ranchi. The agencywill record her statement underthe Prevention of MoneyLaundering Act (PMLA), they said.

During the searchesagainst her, her businessmanhusband Abhishek Jha, andothers on May 6 in Jharkhandand at a few other locations,she was briefly questioned by

the ED officials. Her husbandwas also questioned by theagency.

The ED investigationrelates to a money launderingcase in which a former juniorengineer in the JharkhandGovernment, Ram BinodPrasad Sinha, was arrested bythe agency on June 17, 2020,from West Bengal after he wasbooked by the agency underthe PMLA in 2012. The EDcase was based on the FIRs ofthe State Vigilance Bureauagainst Sinha and others.

Sinha was booked by theVigilance Bureau under theIPC sections relating to cheat-ing, besides corruption underthe Prevention of CorruptionAct for allegedly defraudingpublic money and investing itin his own name as well as inthe name of his family mem-bers while working as a juniorengineer from April 1, 2008 toMarch 21, 2011.

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Two days after it stronglydefended the sedition law,

the Centre on Monday told theSupreme Court to defer hear-ing on the matter as theGovernment has decided toreconsider and re-examine theprovisions of the colonial law.

The Centre also said itwas cognizant of various views,and concerns about civil liber-ties while being committed toprotecting the "sovereignty andintegrity of this great nation".

The Ministry of HomeAffairs (MHA), in an affidavit,referred to the views of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi onshedding "colonial baggage"and said he has been in favourof the protection of civil liber-

ties and respect of humanrights, and in that spirit, over1,500 outdated laws and over25,000 compliance burdenshave been scrapped.

The MHA's affidavit saidthe PM has said India has towork even harder to shed colo-nial baggage that has passed itsutility which includes outdat-ed laws and practices.

The bench of Chief JusticeNV Ramana and Justices SuryaKant and Hima Kohli on May5 had said it would hear argu-ments on May 10 on the legalquestion of whether the pleaschallenging the colonial-erapenal law on sedition bereferred to a larger bench forreconsidering the 1962 verdictof a five-judge constitutionbench in the Kedar Nath Singhcase.

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An IIT-Kanpur professor,who has developed the

Sutra mathematical model toaccurately predict the trajecto-ry of the Covid pandemic, onMonday said that there may beno fourth wave in the country.Prof Maninder Agarwal hasbased his assessment on thefact that over 90 per cent ofIndia's population has acquirednatural immunity.

At the same time, he cau-tioned that the fourth wavecannot be ruled out if there isa new mutant that bypassesnatural immunity significant-ly. In an article, Agarwal, a pro-fessor in the department ofcomputer science engineering,said there are two major rea-sons for this conclusion.

The first reason is thelevel of natural immunity inthe country. Natural immu-nity is defined as the immu-nity acquired by a previousinfection. As per the SUTRAmodel for India, over 90 percent of India's population hasacquired natural immunity.This is also validated by datafrom ICMR surveys that haveconsistently found the actualnumber of infected people tobe more than 30 times the

reported numbers, he said.Natural immunity acts as

a strong protection againstinfection. In an extensivestudy done for 36 countriesacross the world covering allcontinents and more thanhalf of the world's population,it was found that the severi-ty of the Omicron wave inthese countries was inverselyproportional to the level ofnatural immunity present inthem.

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Extending its losses for a sec-ond day, the rupee on

Monday slumped by 54 paise toclose at a record low of 77.44against the US dollar, pressuredby the strength of the Americancurrency overseas and unabat-ed foreign fund outflows.

Forex traders said riskappetite has weakened amid ris-ing bond yields in the US andmounting concerns about infla-tion that may trigger moreaggressive rate hikes by globalcentral banks. At the inter-bank foreign exchange market,the rupee opened lower at77.17 against the greenback,and finally settled for the day at77.44, down 54 paise over itsprevious close. During the trad-ing session, the rupee touchedits lifetime low of 77.52.

On Friday, the rupee hadslumped 55 paise to close at76.90. In the last two tradingsessions, the rupee has lost 109paise against the greenback.

Detailed report on P10

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Further info: yssofindia.org

PNS JAMSHEDPUR

jharkhand 02RANCHI | TUESDAY | MAY 10, 2022

PARVINDER BHATIA JAMSHEDPUR

The piece of artwork created byyoung artist of Jamshedpur PrachiAdeshra stays with you long even af-ter they are out of your sight. On ahuge canvas, paintings of HinduGods and Goddess draw attentionalong with subjects ranging from en-vironment to rural life.Growing up in a jewellers’ family,Prachi had her professional life chart-ed out for her. After she studiedGemology from Gemological Instituteof America, India, she joined her fam-ily business in jewellery manufactur-ing.“I had worked for about some monthsand I enjoyed the work, but deepdown, it felt like something was lack-ing, something was amiss,” saidPrachi, who also studied Entrepre-neurship at B-school XLRI.Though she worked as a sales andpurchase executive in her jewellerystore, she decided to explore outsidethe business and turned to her hobbyof painting, and paved the way to be-come an artist.“I started painting at a very youngage, I drew on all the walls of thehouse. It wasn’t long when I foundmyself watching tutorials on the inter-net. That’s when it struck me that it’snot just a hobby anymore but it’s whatliberates me. Makes me whole. Ini-tially I painted with acrylics but once Istarted dabbing my hands with oilpaints, there was no going back. Ittaught me not only to trust my gut, butalso immense patience. It’s chal-lenging and satisfying. I started ex-perimenting with painting jewellery formy customers at work as well,” saidPrachi, with a twinkle in her eye.She said that as she started her jour-ney it boosted her confidence. “I start-ed painting once a week as a hobby.

But being connected to the canvasand the colours made me realise thatthis is where I was myself,” the artistsays, adding that the journey from itbeing a hobby to a profession was a‘soulful’ one” noted the young artist.Speaking on the theme that rules herart, she says, “My paintings are vi-brant, depicting happiness becausethe intention was to spread joy, theflow of life, and positivity through myart.” Interestingly, Prachi draws inspi-ration for most of her artwork frommeditation, which teaches her to fo-cus on inner goodness and mes-sages. “I meditate on the universe togive me guidance and messages,”she says. Walking the untravelled road, Prachihas earned measurable success andhas fulfilled her goal to deliver happi-ness – the intent that led her to pursueit. The road was not one without chal-lenges. “People don’t take you seri-ously, they are sceptical of you as anartist, and sceptical of picking up yourpieces. I am lucky to have a hugesupport in my family that keeps memoving,” noted the young talent.Prachi, whose favourite painter isBob Ross, also plans to organise asolo exhibition of her art soon. Sheadds that: “When I paint, it gives mepeace to know that whichever turnlife takes, this form of art will alwaysstick with me".

PNS BOKARO

RAHUL SHARMA BOKARO

PNS HAZARIBAG

The artist who follows her heart

PANKAJ KUMAR DHANBAD

PNS BOKARO

AVINASH ANJAN HAZARIBAG

SURESH NIKHAR BERMO

Bokaro police arrested two mem-bers of an interstate gang of goldrobbers, including its kingpinHrithik Roshan son of Anil Raiand other Raj Kumar Chaudharyon Monday. The gang members were in-volved in looting gold from theGanpati Jewellery near sector- 4market in Bokaro on Sunday. Bokaro SP Chandan Kumar Jhaon Monday said the gang hadearlier done recce of at differentlocations in other districts of Bi-har and Jharkhand for commit-ting crime.The startling revelation was

made by Hrithik Roshan, a nativeof Muzaffarpur in Bihar during in-terrogation.Over 5 earrings of gold, one 7.62country-made pistol, 3 live car-tridges, android mobile, 2 no ofbasic phone and one Hero Hon-da Splendor motorcycle seizedfrom their possession. The raid was carried out by ajoint team of the Bokaro andDhanbad district armed police,the SP said.

Gang of gold robbers busted, two heldDhullu Mahto plays religious card to defend himself

Celebrating Birth Anniversary of a spiritual master

The power of simplicity is often underestimated bymankind – by those who seek and strive to excel in

various fields of endeavour – but the saints of India knewand exemplified the virtues of excellence in simple ways

Free health checkup of children under CSR of BSL

DC flags off 'BankonWheels' vehicleSendra hunting festivalturns into a symbolic affair

PANKAJ KUMAR DHANBAD

The 24 hour band call of pri-vate nursing homes and clinicsgiven by IMA Dhanbad branchto protest extortion demandsby criminals from doctors wasa huge success here acrossthe district.Be it Jharia or Dhanbad or Nir-sa or Baghmara locality privatepractitioners didn't attendnursing homes and clinics onto protest rising crime againstdoctors in coal capital.Talking to media IMA districtsecretary Dr Sushil Kumarsaid, " the 24 hour band callwas historically successful. Itstarted at 6AM today andwould end on Tuesday morn-ing ".The IMA secretary alsothanked the doctors engagedin private practice for their co-operation against ongoing fightagainst criminals. We needsafety and security of not onlydoctors but patients and staffbesides family members too ,he added.Dr M Allam of Jharia MatraSadan said that the strike is to-tal as we all need security andsafety .It's worth mentioning that thestrike call was given to protestextortion demand of Rs onecrore from Dr Samir Kumarhaving a nursing home in Jo-rapokhar locality. Since the de-mand made earliest thismonth Dr. Samir has shutdown his nursing home and leftDhanbad .

Pvt nursing homesremain closed onIMA's band call

Nishant Kumar takes charge of Sr DCM, RRD

IRTS Officer of 2015 batch Nishant Kumar todaytook charge as Senior Divisional Commercial Man-ager, Ranchi Railway Division. Originally from Pat-na, Bihar, Nishant did his schooling from Ishan In-ternational Public School, Kankarbagh, Patna. Aftercompleting Intermediate from Patna Science Col-lege, he took B. Tech degree from VIT, Tamil Nadu.After working for three years in an IT company inPune, he cleared the UPSC exam in his first at-tempt in 2015. After being selected in the IndianRailway Traffic Service, his first posting was in Adraas Assistant Commercial Manager. Prior to his post-ing in Ranchi, he was working as Regional Manag-er in Bandamunda. He has so far received bothDRM and GM awards for his outstanding work dur-ing his service. His interest in sports has been crick-et and badminton. He has been involved in socialwork, especially in the work of teaching children.

Mother's Day celebrations at SBPS

Mother’s Day was celebrated in high spirit at SaralaBirla Public School, Ranchi. Keeping this Mother-Child bond in mind, the students had a special cel-ebration on this day through a myriad of competi-tions like Inter house rhymes competition, badgemaking, card making, fancy dress competition, cre-ative writing, poetry writing & recitation competi-tions. School Head Personnel & Admin Dr. PradipVarma extended his greetings to all mothers andeducators on this special day. Principal ParamjitKaur appreciated the efforts of the students andshed light on the pivotal role of a mother, who givesimmeasurable care and happiness to the child.

SCS celebrates Mother's Day, Rabindra Jayanti

Students of Nursery to class II at SurendranathCentenary School celebrated mother's day at homeenthusiastically under the guidance of their teach-ers on 8th May as well as on Monday in school.Children showed their gratitude towards their moth-ers by participating in various activities like deliver-ing speech, reciting poems, making beautiful cardsand paper bouquet for their mothers and present-ing them. Children helped their mothers in packingspecial lunch and posted photos in class groups.Children celebrated Mother's day and RabindraJayanti together reciting a poem by Rabindra NathTagore on his mother they also sang the melodiousand motivational song "Ekla Cholo Re" to honourthe Literature Laureate Rabindranath Tagore. Prin-cipal Samita Sinha said that it is important to cele-brate these days to inculcate values in our children

as they are the hope for the society.

Panchdevalaya Temple Foundation Day

Panchdevalaya temple, LIG colony will celebrate itsFoundation Day on June 10 in a grand manner. Thedecision to this was taken at a temple managementcommittee meeting held on Sunday. The meetingwas attended by management committee presidentPrem Kumar Sinha, general secretary RK Singhamong others. At the meeting it was decided thatduring the foundation day of the temple, priestsfrom across the country will be invited. Also, on theoccasion bhandara (community kitchen) will be or-ganized. Harmu based Sona Tent House proprietorand temple management committee general secre-tary RK Singh has announced to contribute gener-ously in the foundation ceremony of the temple.

PAS Bokaro celebrates Mother’s DayThe Pente-costal Assem-bly School cel-ebrated Moth-er's Day in thevirtual class-rooms of Prep- 5. It was anoccasion to ho-nour the moth-ers. The spe-cial assembly was organised to honour the contri-bution of mothers, acknowledge the efforts of ma-ternal bond and to give special emphasis to themotherly figures. The students prepared beautiful

cards for theirmothers andpresented tothem. Themother-childdance activitywas a wonderfulreflection of thestrong bond be-tween them.The enthusias-tic mothers ofthe PrimarySection alsoparticipated in aScavenger Hunt

that got everyone going. Principal Dr. KarunaPrasad greeted mothers on the occasion and ap-preciated students for their involvement.

AISECT University student Amar Kumar selected in Yuva SadanAmar Kumar, a final semester student of BSc IT ofAISECT University of Hazaribag, has been select-ed on the first position in the merit list for JharkhandYuva Sadan. Jharkhand Yuva Sadan 3.0 will be or-ganized in Jharkhand Technical University Auditori-um from May 14 to May 16, in which Amar will rep-resent Hazaribag Sadar Vidhan Sabha. Expressinghappiness over this, Dr. Munish Govind, Registrarof AISECT University said that it is a matter of pride

for the Universitythat Amar hasbeen selected atthe first position.He said thatAmar is a merito-rious studentand I wish him toscale moreheights in thecoming times.Amar's fatherGanesh Kumaralso expressedhappiness overthe selection of

his son and said that Amar has been able to touchtheseheights withthe help ofhis hardwork anddedication.He alsothanked allthe profes-sors includ-ing the ViceChancellor,Registrar, ofAISECT Uni-versity forthis.

jharkhand 03RANCHI | TUESDAY | MAY 10, 2022

PNS RANCHI

888 candidates in thefray in first phase

PNS RANCHI

PNS RANCHIJharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM)on Monday attacked BJP andsaid that it is wrong to questionthe Speaker of the Assembly.Addressing a press meet at theparty headquarters JMMSpokesperson, Supriyo Bhat-tacharya said that questioningthe Speaker is the start of awrong tradition. “For more thanfour and a half years, the matterwent on in the Court of the thenSpeaker of the Assembly, Dr Di-nesh Oraon. After this the deci-sion came, we also kept urgingus to take a quick decision butnever pointed fingers at theSpeaker of the Assembly be-cause we had no doubts abouthis impartiality,” he added.“The same Babulal Marandi hadgone to the High Court at that

time also. That's why Babulalshould be patient. Decisions willbe made on the basis of merit.Where is Babulal and his teamafter pointing fingers at theSpeaker? Information is beingreceived that his and his teammember's mobile is switched off.The location of the first ChiefMinister of the State is not beingtraced,” said Bhattacharya.The party Spokesperson said

that this is a very serious matterand they should tell where theyare at present; while digital me-dia is available everywhere andsocial media platforms are avail-able. Messages can be sent fromanywhere. After the ED episode,Babulal and Raghubar Das havegone missing, he added.Bhattacharya said that five MLAsof Babulal Marandi were includedby the BJP. At that time he used totalk about the Tenth Schedule buttoday he has gone to the sameparty again. “11 MLAs were re-jected in 2009 by the then Speak-er Alamgir Alam in defection. Atpresent the same rule when theAssembly is in adjudication. Evenafter this, the present speaker hasbeen under attack since then.This is a constitutionally wrongpractice,” he added.

Chief Minister Em-ployment GenerationScheme has been re-launched after 2020

PNS RANCHI

Mines Secretary Pooja Singhal’s Husband Ab-hishek Jha reaches ED office in Ranchi on Mon-day. PNS

Pooja Singhal

Threefold increase in self-employment assistance to youth

NEWS IN PIX: CONGRATULATIONS

Chief Minister Hemant Soren attendsmarriage ceremony of ShivamAnand,son of Justice SN Pathak of Jharkhand High Court. On this occasion, hecongratulated, bestowed and blessed Shivam for a happymarried life. PNS

ED summons Mines Secy in money laundering caseIndiGo went into dam-age control exerciseissues an apology

ROSHAN KUMAR RANCHI

A view of BirsaMundaAirport, (Inset) the divyangchild on a wheelchair. PNS

Ranchi DC Chhavi Ranjan, SSP Surendra KumarJha and other officials during a press conferencein Ranchi on Monday. Pix by Vinay Murmu

PNS RANCHI

The India Meteorological Depart-ment, Ranchi Center (IMD) onMonday informed that the effectof cyclonic storm Asani will alsobe seen in many districts ofJharkhand. Regarding this, a yel-low alert has been issued by theMeteorological Center on May 11and May 12 regarding rain andthunderstorms, the IMD added.IMD Ranchi Center, Director, Ab-hisek Anand informed that ac-cording to the latest data re-ceived by the department, the se-vere cyclonic storm is locatedaround 450 km and 500 km southof Visakhapatnam and Puri."This system is a severe cyclonicstorm at the moment. It is movingin a northwest direction with aspeed of around 21 km to 25 kmin the last 12 hours. This will con-tinue to move further. It is movingtowards north coastal AndhraPradesh and Odisha, saidAnand. He also said that fromTuesday evening onwards, it willrecurve.

The Senior Scientist also in-formed that the severe cyclonicstorm ‘Asani’ is likely to recurover the sea away from thecoast, and would not crossAndhra Pradesh, Odisha andWest Bengal.According to theforecast, there may be light rainwith thunder, thunder and light-ning in the southern, north-east-ern and central parts of Jhark-hand from evening of May 10.During this period, light to moder-ate rain is likely in East Singhb-hum, West Singhbhum,Seraikela-Kharswan as well assome parts of Deoghar, Dhan-bad, Dumka, Giridih, Godda,Jamtara, Pakur, Sahibganj,Simdega, Ranchi, Khunti, Ram-garh, Bokaro, Hazaribagh andGumla districts.A yellow alert has been issued bythe Meteorological Center onMay 11 and May 12 regardingrain and thunderstorms. Lightrain with thunder, thunder andlightning may occur in the south-ern, north-eastern and centralparts of the region.

Wrong to question Assembly Speaker: JMM Light to medium rainfall likelydue to Cyclone Asani in State

Amar Kumar

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Aday after it came to lightthat IndiGo barred a spe-

cially-abled child from board-ing a flight at the Ranchi air-port as he was in "a state ofpanic", the Directorate Generalof Civil Aviation has formed athree-member team to conducta "fact-finding enquiry" intoIndiGo incident.

"They will visit Ranchiand Hyderabad (place of stay ofthe family concerned) and col-lect appropriate evidence with-in one week from Monday.Based on the outcome of thesaid enquiry, further actionshall entail," the DGCA notedin a statement.

The National Commissionfor Protection of Child Rights(NCPCR) has asked theJharkhand police on Mondayto lodge an FIR against IndiGoin this matter and also askedDGCA to initiate an inquiry inthe matter and take necessaryaction against the airline and its

manager.Earlier, Union Civil

Aviation minister JyotiradityaScindia on Monday said that hewill investigate allegations ofIndiGo’s discrimination againsta special needs child. The min-ister added that no humanbeing should go through this.IndiGo CEO on Mondayoffered his regrets on the inci-dent that happened at theRanchi airport on Saturday.

The minister’s commentcomes after DGCA sought areport from IndiGo over theincident. Scindia said that no

human being should have to gothrough this and he himself isinvestigating the incident.Asthe boy was prohibited fromboarding the airline's Ranchi-Hyderabad flight on Saturday,his parents -- who were withhim -- also decided to not enterthe plane.

Saturday's incident came tolight after other passengersposted about this incident onsocial media on Sunday.Commenting on one suchsocial media post regarding thisincident, Scindia on Mondaysaid on Twitter, "There is zero

tolerance towards such behav-iour. No human being shouldhave to go through this!Investigating the matter bymyself, post which appropriateaction will be taken."

Regretting the incident,IndiGo CEO Ronojoy Duttasaid in a statement that havingreviewed all aspects of thisincident, we as an organizationare of the view that we madethe best possible decision underdifficult circumstances.Throughout the check-in andboarding process our intent ofcourse was to carry the family,however, at the boarding areathe teenager was visibly inpanic, he mentioned.

“We offer our sincereregrets to the affected family forthe unfortunate experience andas a small token of our appre-ciation of their lifelong dedi-cation would like to offer topurchase an electric wheel-chair for their son,” he added.

A passenger namedManisha Gupta had detailedthis incident on LinkedIn.

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The India MeteorologicalDepartment (IMD) on

Monday said severe cyclonicstorm Asani packing gale-forcewinds up to 120 kmph whichis moving towards the eastcoast bringing along heavyrain, is likely to recurve in anorth-northeastward directionon reaching near the shore andweaken gradually into acyclonic storm. Coming closeto North Andhra Pradesh-Odisha coasts, it is likely to turninto a cyclonic storm byTuesday night.

Under the influence of thecyclone, coastal Odisha andadjoining areas of north coastalAndhra Pradesh and coastalWest Bengal witnessed heavyrainfall .

The IMD said that veryhigh sea conditions were like-ly to prevail over west-centraland adjoining south Bay of

Bengal and asked fishermennot to venture out in the regionfrom Tuesday for at least twodays. It also advised thattourism activities in coastalareas and sea beaches be sus-pended till May 13.

In Odisha, two to threespells of rain occurred in dis-tricts such as Khurda, Ganjam,Puri, Cuttack and Bhadrak.The Odisha government onMonday planned evacuation ofpeople residing in four coastaldistricts.

Distant warning signal 2(asking ships not to come nearthe coast) has been hoisted inall ports in Odisha in view ofthe approaching severe cyclone.According to Dr IMD DirectorGeneral Mrutunjay Mohapatra,the cyclone will not makelandfall either in Odisha orAndhra Pradesh but will moveparallel to the east coast andcause rainfall.

The cyclone is likely tocause heavy rain in the south-

ern part of West Bengal includ-ing Kolkata, Howrah, PurbaMedinipur, North and South 24Parganas and Nadia districtsbetween Monday andThursday, the weathermansaid.

Kolkata and its adjoiningareas received a spell of down-pour on Monday morning,leading to waterlogging of thor-oughfares and causing trafficsnarls in various parts of thecity.

The weather office inRanchi said that Jharkhand

will experience light to mod-erate rainfall, besides light-ning and thunderstorm, in itssouthern, central and northeastparts from May 11 to 13. Gustywinds at speed of 30 to 40kmph are also expected insome pockets.

“Since the system isunlikely to make landfall oneither Odisha or AndhraPradesh, it will not make anylarge impact in Jharkhand. Thestate will experience a changein weather due to the system'sexpanded cloud band and theincursion of moisture fromthe Bay of Bengal,” Ranchimeteorological centre in chargeAbhishek Anand said.

The system is expected toprovide further respite from thehot weather condition.Jharkhand's maximum tem-perature has already droppedby one to two degrees Celsiusfrom the normal due to inter-mittent rains in parts of thestate for the past few days.

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ACovid-19 vaccine,designed to be taken oral-

ly, not only protects against thedisease but also decreases theairborne spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus to other closecontacts, according to a studyconducted on animals.

The research, published inthe journal ‘ScienceTranslational Medicine’,demonstrates the potential ofthe vaccine to work throughthe mucosal tissue to neu-tralise SARS-CoV-2, limitinginfections and the spread ofactive virus in airborne parti-cles.

"Considering most of theworld is under-immunised --and this is especially true ofchildren -- the possibility thata vaccinated person with abreakthrough infection canspread Covid-19 to unimmu-nised family or community

members poses a public healthrisk," said Stephanie N Langelfrom Duke University MedicalCenter in the US.

"There would be a sub-stantial benefit to develop vac-cines that not only protectagainst disease, but also reducetransmission to unvaccinatedpeople," Langel said in astatement.

The researchers -- includ-ing teams from the US vaccine

developer, Vaxart, and clinicalresearch non-profit, LovelaceBiomedical Research Institute-- tested the vaccine that usesan adenovirus as a vector toexpress the spike protein of thevirus.

The spike protein is usedby SARS-CoV-2 to enter andinfect the human cells.

The human vaccine isdesigned to be taken as a pill,they said.

In studies using hamsters,the vaccine elicited a robustantibody response in bloodand the lungs.

When the animals wereexposed to the SARS-CoV-2virus at high levels, promptingbreakthrough infections, theywere less symptomatic thannon-vaccinated hamsters, andhad lower amounts of infec-tious virus in the nose andlungs.

Because of this, they didnot shed as much virusthrough normal airborne

exposures, according to theresearchers. Unlike vaccinesthat are injected into the mus-cle, they said, mucosal immu-nisations increase productionof immunoglobulin A (IgA) -- the immune system's firstline of defence againstpathogens -- in the nose andlungs.

These mucosal ports ofentry are then protected, mak-ing it less likely that those whoare vaccinated will transmitinfectious virus during asneeze or cough, theresearchers said.

"Our data demonstratethat mucosal immunisationis a viable strategy to decreasethe spread of Covid-19through airborne transmis-sion," Langel said.

The researchers noted thatthe study focused on the orig-inal SARS-CoV-2 virus, andnew studies will be designed totest the vaccine againstOmicron variants.

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The Supreme Court onMonday stayed further pro-

ceedings in all High Courtschallenging the InformationTechnology (IntermediaryGuidelines and Digital MediaEthics Code) Rules 2021 or theCable Television Networks(Amendment) Rules 2021.

A bench of Justices AMKhanwilkar and A S Okapassed the order while hearinga batch of petitions, includingthose raising the issue of hatespeech and seeking regulationsfor OTT (over-the-top) plat-forms.

“We direct stay of furtherproceedings pending beforethe High Courts in the respec-tive cases or to be filed hereafteruntil the next date of hearinginvolving a challenge to the ITRules or Cable TV(Amendment) Rules, which arethe subject matter of proceed-ings in these cases,” the bench

said and posted the matter forhearing on May 19. SolicitorGeneral Tushar Mehta, appear-ing for the Centre, told thebench that there are severalpetitions in the matter pendingbefore the apex court.

He said some High Courtshave stayed the statutory regu-lations and the Centre has filedspecial leave petitions (SLPs)against those orders.

“Can your lordships con-sider granting stay so far astransfer petitions are concernedso that no further orders arepassed,” Mehta said. The benchalso issued notices on the peti-tions before it in which noticeswere not yet issued.

After the apex court stayedfurther proceedings before theHCs in these matters, one of theadvocates appearing in the mat-ter said they had filed a petitionbefore the Kerala High Courtwhich had passed an interimorder. “We are not interferingwith those interim orders as ofnow,” the bench observed.

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Video conference fatigue, commonlyknown as ‘Zoom fatigue’, is more com-

mon among young and introvert womenthan others, according to a study publishedin International Journal of EnvironmentalResearch and Public Health. Theresearchers have also found a number offactors that they believe contribute to‘Zoom fatigue’.

Covid-19 pandemic induced a boomin both private and professional video-conferencing in the early 2020s that elicit-ed controversial public and academicdebates about its pros and cons.

One main concern has been the phe-nomenon of videoconference fatigue.

A group of researchers at BlekingeInstitute of Technology in Sweden studiedthe phenomenon of video conferencefatigue and concluded that age, gender andpersonality play a role in how tired you get.

"We have found direct evidence thatage, gender and personality affect. Forexample, young introvert women areaffected more than others. But Zoomfatigue depends on many factors, rangingfrom personal circumstances via the meet-ing's organisation and technology, to theenvironment in which the video confer-ence takes place," said Markus Fiedler,researcher at the Institute.

However, the researchers believe thatdoing some simple things can reduceZoom fatigue. These include not sched-

uling meetings one after the other; usingsimple technology; raising your hand if youwant to speak during meetings and turn-ing off the microphone and camera whenit is not needed.

"Most likely, we are heading to a hybridfuture with daily face-to-face and video-conference meetings that both shouldspare us from fatigue but save and even fuelour physical and mental energy," Fiedlersaid.

The researchers state that moreresearch and evidence is needed when itcomes to the contributing factors behindZoom fatigue. They also mean thatresearch is needed on other ways of com-municating, for example, immersive expe-riences and technology.

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The Delhi High Court onMonday expressed its con-

cern over the scene showingthe sex determination of a foe-tus in the trailer of RanveerSingh-starrer JayeshbhaiJordaar' and told the makers ofthe film that the illegal prac-tice can't be trivialised orshown to be done in a routinemanner.

The bench, headed byActing Chief Justice VipinSanghi, which was hearing aPIL seeking deletion of thescene from the movie, askedYash Raj Films to show it therelevant portions of the movieand said that the “overall mes-sage” may be good but it can-not be projected that pregnantwoman can be taken to anyclinic with a sonogrammachine to find the sex of thefoetus.

“You take instructions

otherwise we will have to stay,”said the bench, also compris-ing Navin Chawla, after watch-ing the trailer of the filmscheduled to be released onMay 13. You see there is noth-ing to show that the lady istaken clandestinely or thatthis is not legal or actors areaware (in the scene) that it isan offence. What is comingout is that any pregnantwoman can be taken to a cen-tre with a sonogram machineand this can be done in a rou-tine manner,” said the court.

“Don't trivialise it to showthat anybody can walk intoany clinic and get it done. Thedramatization should be thatthey are aware (that it is ille-gal) but it is still being done,”it further stated. Senior advo-cate Jayant Mehta, appearingfor the filmmakers, said thatthe “movie is about somethingillegal” and carries a disclaimerconcerning the illegality ofthe act in question.

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The Delhi High Court onMonday directed the

Centre to complete within sixweeks the process of appoint-ment of Chairman and aMember for the PrincipalBench of the Customs, CentralExcise and Service TaxSettlement Commission.

The HC further said thatthe process of appointment ofVice-Chairman and one mem-ber for the additional bench ofthe Commission at Mumbai becompleted within six weeks.HC also directed the centralgovernment to examine theaspect of appointment of Vice-Chairman and other mem-bers for the benches of theSettlement Commission atChennai and Kolkata.

“We firstly direct that theprocess of appointment ofChairman and one Memberfor the Principal Bench atDelhi and appointment of

Vice-Chairman and oneMember for the AdditionalBench at Mumbai be complet-ed within six weeks. We furtherdirect the respondents toexamine the aspect of appoint-ment of Vice-Chairman andother Members for theBenches at Chennai andKolkata,” a bench of ActingChief Justice Vipin Sanghi andJustice Navin Chawla said.

The bench said that ithopes and expects theGovernment to act in time sothat, at the end of one year,“We are not faced with thesame situation again, whenthe tenure of the newappointees expires in terms ofthe decision communicatedvide letter dated April 29, 2022taken note of hereinabove”. Itasked the authorities to file a

further status report on theaspect before the next date ofhearing, that is, July 20.

The court was hearing apetition by Yashpal Singh alleg-ing that the Centre has failedto appoint members asrequired by law in theSettlement Commissionsestablished under CentralExcise Act, which is giving riseto pendency of applications.

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The CBI has filed a corruption caseagainst Sushanta Mallick, a former

staffer of the then Minister of State forHeavy Industries and Public EnterprisesBabul Supriyo, who quit BJP and joinedTrinamool Congress a few months back.

Supriyo was the Heavy IndustriesMinister from July 2016 to May 2019.

Executives of Engineering ProjectsIndia Limited (EPIL), under the Ministryof Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises,were involved in corruption along with thethen staffer of Supriyo, according to theFIR.

The then executives of EPIL conspiredand demanded Rs 50 lakh from AshutoshBandhopadhayay, for providing favour for

the tenders awarded and being awarded byEPIL during the period 2016-2017.

“Verification has revealed that out ofRs 50 lakh, Rs 40 lakh were to be given toSPS Bakshi, the then CMD, EPIL and Rs10 lakh were to be given to Harcharan Pal,the then Executive Director (Contracts)and Paritosh Kumar Praveen, the thenManager (Grade II), EPIL.

Verification has revealed that SPSBakshi had got conveyed to AshutoshBandhopadhayay through RS Tyagi, thethen DGM (contractual basis) that out ofthe bribe amount of Rs 40 lakh, Rs 5 lakhbe transferred into the bank account ofSushanta Mallick, staff of the then Ministerof State for Heavy Industries and PublicEnterprises,” reads the FIR.

The accused have been booked underIndian Penal Code section relating to crim-

inal conspiracy besides provisions of thePrevention of Corruption Act. The agencyregistered the case on Saturday evening.

Supriyo promptly reacted to the devel-opment he knew that something of thistype would come to him and asking whya case dating back to 2016-17 had to be dugup now. “I knew something of this type wascoming for me because I had left the BJP… besides I have no idea as to why a caseof 2016 was dug upnow … an FIR waslodged in 2021 and proceedings started in2022,” the former Union Minister said.

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As stand-offs persist at the Line ofActual Control(LAC) in Ladakh for

the last more than two years, Army ChiefGeneral Manoj Pande said here onMonday the basic issue is to resolve theboundary question but China is “keep-ing it alive.”

Assuring the nation that adequatenumber of troops are deployed to meetany threat, Pande, who assumed chargeof the top job on May one, said India isfirm on the point that status quo anteprior to April 2020 be restored.

He said the basic issue with Chinaremains the resolution of the boundaryquestion but Beijing's intent has been tokeep it "alive." Making this assertionwhile interacting with media, the ArmyChief said instructions to the troops onthe ground are clear. They have toremain firm and resolute in their tasks.

Pande said the Indian troops con-tinue to hold "important positions" alongthe LAC and the Army has a "robust pos-ture" to confront any situation.

"What we need as a country is a'whole of nation' approach and in the mil-itary domain, this is to prevent andcounter any attempt to alter the statusquo at the LAC," he added.

Given this back-drop, the parleys atdiplomatic and mili-tary talks betweenthe two sides result-ed in the disengage-ment of troops onthe north and southbanks of PangongTso, Gogra andPatrolling Point 14 inGalwan, the ArmyChief said. He alsosaid "We hope to findresolution throughdialogue in remain-ing areas."

The aim is to establish trust and tran-quility on both sides but it cannot be a"one-way affair", he said.

As regards the fall-out of the ongo-ing Ukraine conflict, Pande said fore-most is that relevance of conventionalwars still remains and they need not nec-essarily be short and swift. He also saidthe Army’s supply chains were impact-ed to “some extent” but they have suffi-cient stocks to last for a “reasonable” peri-od of time.He also said the conflict hastaught a lesson and that is to be selfreliant in terms of weapons, armaments,equipment and spares from outside.

“We are dependent on certainweapon systems specially in the area ofair defence, rockets, missiles and certaintanks from Russia and Ukraine,” hesaid.Admitting that the supply chain ofcertain spares and ammunition wasimpacted to some extent, Pane, howev-er, assured the army has adequate stocksto last for a reasonable period of time.

In order to address this issue, Indiais looking at certain alternate ways andidentifying alternate sources from friend-ly foreign countries while in the longterm, this is also an opportunity for theprivate industry to step up productionand meet the requirements, he said.

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ASpecial Court in Mumbaiissued a notice to

Independent MP fromAmravati Naveent Rana andher MLA-husband Ravi Ranafor allegedly violating one ofthe bail conditions in the caseinvolving their arrest overthreat to recite “HanumanChalisa” in front of chief min-ister Uddhav Thackeray’s pri-vate residence “Matoshri” atBandra in north-west Mumbai.

After hearing an applica-tion filed by the Mumbai policeseeking cancellation of bail ofthe Rana couple for violating abail condition, Special judgeRN Rokade for MPs and MLAscases issued to Navneet andRavi Rana and directed thecouple to remain present inCourt on May 18.

Ranas were arrested onApril 23 for offences registeredinitially against them undersections 153A (causing enmi-

ty between different groups), 34(common intention) and laterunder section 124A (sedition)of IPC for challenging the gov-ernment machinery and mak-ing remarks againstMaharashtra Chief MinisterUddhav Thackeray in a con-troversy arising out of theirthreat to recite “HanumanChalisa” in front ofMaharashtra chief ministerUddhav Thackeray’s Bandraresidence.

On April 24, a holidaycourt remanded the Ranas injudicial custody for 14 days.Special Judge Rokade grantedthem bail on May 4

In their application filedbefore the Special Court, theMumbai police said that one ofthe bail conditions imposed onthe Ranas was that they wouldnot talk to the press on the sub-ject. In one of the conditionsimposed on the Ranas whilegranting bail on May 4, thecourt had said: “The applicants

shall not address the press,print or visual media on any ofthe subjects which relate to thiscase". The police told the courtthat this condition was violat-ed by the politician couple onSunday.

In their application, theMumbai police referred to thestatement made by Navneet tothe media after her dischargefrom the Lila Hospital onSunday. “If reading of"Hanuman chalisa" is anoffence I am ready to remainbehind the bars for 14 years.…The Ram Bhaktas andHanuman Bhaktas all overIndia will teach you a lesson forputting me behind the bars.You have committed atrocityon me in the name of Ram andHanuman. the people will showyou as to what happens to thepersons who oppose Ram andHanuman,” the Mumbai policesaid in their application quot-ing Navenet’s statement to themedia.

Navneet’s MLA-husbandRavi Rana – while interactingwith the media – had chargedthat the MVA government tookforcible action against his MP-wife as chief minister UddhavThackeray was “scared of her”.He alleged that the police treat-ed Navneet and him badlydenying them basic facilities atthe police lockup on the firstday of their arrest.

The police urged the courtfor issuance of non-bailablewarrants of arrest against thecouple.

Special Police ProsecutorPradip Gharat argued that thattheir application was not forcancellation of bail but forissuance of non-bailable war-rant against the Rana couple, asthe bail order stipulated thatviolation of condition wouldentail cancellation of bail forth-with.

Alluding to a statementmade by Navneet on Sundaydaring Maharashtra chief min-

ister Uddhav Thackeray tocontest and win against herfrom any constituency in thestate, Gharat said: “She

(Navneet) has given open chal-lenge after coming out and thisis a challenge to the order of thecourt. It is like them saying you

do whatever you want”.After hearing from the

Special Public Prosecutor for awhile, the Special Judge issued

notice to Navneet and RaviRana and directed them toremain present in the court onMay 18.

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Seeking to corner on theclaims of ill-health made by

Independent MP NavneetRana, a team of senior ShivSena leaders visited LilavatiHospital — where she wasadmitted after she was grantedbail in the “Hanuman Chalisa”case — and questioned thedoctors about the nature oftreatment that she underwentat the hospital.

Immediately after the Senateam’s visit to the hospital, theH-West Ward Office of theBrihanmumbai MunicipalCorporation (BMC) issued anotice to the Lilavati Hospitalseeking an explanation on sev-

eral alleged violations of med-ical norms that have come tolight during the team’s visit tothe hospital.

During the questioning ofthe doctors at the hospital, theSena team — comprising

Dr. Manisha Kayande, for-mer Mayor Kishori Pednekarwho is a professional nurse ,Rahul N Kanal and Anil SKokil — sought details of theMRI scanning done onNavneet at the hospital andsought explanation for the‘wrongdoings’ as seen in pho-tos/videos circulated on socialmedia in the past few days.

“How was ‘shooting’ ofphotographs and videos per-mitted inside the MRI room,

under what circumstances andwho authorised it,”Dr. Kayandeasked.

“Why were mobiles, cam-eras with metallic, electric orelectronic devices allowed inthe MRI room when it isbanned as per the hospitalrules for such sensitive loca-tions,” Pednekar wanted toknow. Kanal and Kokil wantedto know how certain ‘unau-thorised persons’ were alleged-ly allowed entry to the VVIPpatients' room and even posingfor selfies with the MP.

Dr. Kayande and Pednekarwondered how the lady MP –who had complained of severeback pain and spondylosis – wasmade to lie on her back, how she

lifted her head when beingrolled inside the MRI machine.

“When she was rushed tothe hospital, she appeared ingreat distress… then all thesepictures/videos came out andon Sunday she was discharged,she looked hale and hearty. Shelooked absolutely fit and fine,quite contrary to her earliersevere medical condition.That’s why we have raised ourdoubts,” Dr. Kayande said.

During its visit, the Senaleaders handed over a letter tothe Hospital COO & SeniorConsultant, Lt.Gen.(retd) Dr. V.Ravishankar seeking replies tothe purported irregularitiesperpetrated during Navneet’shospitalisation.

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On a day Bengal ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee

lamented the failure of theCentral Bureau of Investigationto track the Nobel medallion ofPoet Laureate RabindranathTagore, senior Bengal BJPleader Rahul Sinha on Mondayalleged it was her TrinamoolCongress that had links withthe Nobel theft.

Sinha, a former State BJPpresident, recalled how theChief Minister once asked theCBI to transfer the case to theState police which would in notime track down the medallionthat was stolen fromShantiniketan about 15 yearsago.

“The Chief Minister onceclaimed that “if CBI cannotrecover the Nobel medallionthen the case should be givento the State police which wouldtrack it down in no time …Truth to be told TMC had con-nections with the Nobel theft… they are involved in allkinds of illegal activities … thisis proved by the TMC

Government’s non-coopera-tion with CBI in tracking theNobel medallion,” Sinha saidinviting immediate responsefrom Trinamool Congressspokesperson Kunal Ghoshwho reminded “when Nobelprize was stolen TMC was notin power.

Sinha’s comment came ona day when the Chief Ministerwhile addressing the intelli-gentsia on the occasion ofTagore’s 161st birth anniversaryexpressed her displeasure athow the central investigatingagency failed to track down“Asia’s Nobel Medallion.”

Tagore was the first Asianto win a Nobel Prize in the year1913. He won it for his contri-

bution to literature.She said “it hurts me to

recall how the Nobel Prizewhich was stolen during theLeft Front rule could not berecovered … the CBI whichwas responsible for crackingthe case could not do so afterso many years … it is the firstNobel Prize that came to Asia… It is really shameful to recallhow the medallion was stolenand how it continues not to befound.”

Earlier TMC mouthpieceJago Bangla gave out a strongmessage to the central agencydemanding immediate recov-ery of the Nobel medallion.The article read “Listen CBI.We want the Nobel Prize back.”

Incidentally the CBI hasbeen investigating about adozen cases of corruption andviolence related to theTrinamool Congress func-tionaries. Much to the chagrinof the Bengal ruling outfit theCalcutta High Court lastmonth transferred at least fivecases of violence and corrup-tion — involving a seniorBengal minister — to the CBI.

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The NationalInvestigation Agency

(NIA) on Monday carriedout raids at 24 places inMumbai and five places inthe adjoining Mira-Bhayandar in a case filedagainst D (Dawood)-companyfor various criminal activities,including arms smuggling,narco-terrorism, money laun-dering, allegedly indulged in byLashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) andthree other international ter-rorist organisations.

During the raids conduct-ed on premises belonging tosuspected associates of DawoodIbrahim, the NIA seizwed var-ious incriminating materialsincluding electronic devices,documents of investments inreal estate, cash and firearms.

The raids were conductedas part of the investigations intoa case pertaining to terror/criminal activities of the inter-national terrorist network of D-Company involving Dawood

Ibrahim Kaskar and his asso-ciates including Haji Aneesalias Anees Ibrahim Shaikh,Shakeel Shaikh alias ChhotaShakeel, Javed Patel @ JavedChikna and Ibrahim MushtaqAbdul Razzaq Memon aliasTiger Memon.

The NIA said that theDawoods and his associateswere indulging in arms smug-gling, narco-terrorism, moneylaundering, circulation of FakeIndian Currency Notes (FICN)and were in unauthorised pos-session/involved in acquisitionof key assets for raising terrorfunds and working in activecollaboration with interna-tional terrorist organizationIncluding Lashkar-e-Taiba(LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammad(JeM) and Al Qaeda (AQ).

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In the Aligarh district ofUttar Pradesh, a case of

an AMU assistant pro-fessor has come to thefore of giving triple talaqto his wife. The case hasbeen registered againstAsad, assistant professorof Aligarh MuslimUniversity (AMU) atQwarsi police station fordowry harassment andgiving triple talaq to hiswife. It is alleged that beforemarriage, it was decided to gether M.Tech done, but aftermarriage instead of getting hereducated, they started harass-ing her for dowry. The policehave started investigation byregistering a case against theprofessor husband and otherin-laws and efforts are on toarrest him.

According to the lawsuitfiled by Farheen Izhar, a resi-dent of Iqra Colony PoolHouse, she was married onNovember 9, 2021, with AsadMohammad, Assistant

Professor in the Faculty ofComputer Engineering, AMU.Before marriage, it was decid-ed to do M.Tech, but after mar-riage, the in-laws retracted andstarted asking for ten lakhrupees in dowry, land or flatfrom her. During this, thenthey started harassing her bymaking various allegations andleft her at the maternal homeon 14 February. Under com-pulsion, the woman took refugein the court and filed a domes-tic violence and cost suit, whosenotice reached the in-laws'house. Due to this the in-laws

got upset. It is alleged that on the

morning of May 6, she wasgoing from Nizami Pulia withher sister-in-law. Then the hus-band left her on the way aftergiivng her triple talaq. In thiscase, apart from the husband,a case has been registeredagainst brother in law Alam,Anas, mother-in-law, in whichthere is also an allegation ofthreatening over the phone.Inspector Qwarsi said that acase has been registered undersections of Dowry, Harassmentand Muslim Marriage Act.

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What makes the by-electionin the Thrikkakara

assembly constituency nearErnakulam scheduled for May31 is the presence of 63-year-old K Padmarajan in the arena.This is the 229th election beingfought by this small-time busi-nessman from Mettur in Salemdistrict. While Uma Thomas(Congress) and Dr Joe Joseph(CPI-M), the main candidatesare fighting it out to be victo-rious, Padmarajan has no suchintentions. He is on a missionto create a world record andenter the Guinness Book ofWorld Record as the candidatewho has contested the highestnumber of elections and lostthem all.

Padmarajan was the firstcandidate to submit the nom-ination papers when thereturning officer began accept-ing the same last Monday.After filing the nominationpapers he returned to Mettur,his native village in Salemwhere he has a mini tyre ser-

vicing shop. “Mynomination papers arefaultless and the offi-cials would not rejectit,” he told ThePioneer. But hisattempts to contest thepresidential electionsand Rajya Sabha elec-tions failed as thepapers were rejectedfor insufficient num-ber of nominators.

“My father wantsto tell the world thatdemocracy is func-tional and kicking inIndia. His message isthat anyone in thecountry could contest the LokSabha or Legislative Assembly.I always support him in thisventure which he started in1988,” said Sreejesh, his son.Padmarajan has spent Rs 50lakh since 1988 to file thenominations. Except when hispapers were rejected during thepresidential and Rajya Sabhapolls, he had to forfeit thesecurity deposits.

The name of Padmarajan

figures in India Book ofRecords as well as Limca Bookof Records whih have hon-oured the man with the title AllIndia Election King. But do notbe under the impression that hehas not polled any votes inthese bouts. When he contest-ed the 2019 Lok Sabha electionfrom Wynadu in Kerala wherethe Congress chief RahulGandhi was the principal can-didate, Padmarajan polled, hold

your breath, 1850 votes andthat too without any cam-paigning.

Padmarajan is an inspira-tion for A N Radhakrishnan,the BJP candidate atThrikkakkara. Radhakrishnanis contesting his 7th election,having lost in all the six previ-ous hustings. But the BJP can-didate is optimistic despite himbiting the dust in all the six out-ings.

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Samajwadi Party is unlikely tosupport the candidature of

its ally and Rashtriya Lok Dalpresident Jayant Chaudharyfor the Rajya Sabha.

The terms and conditionsagreed upon between the twoparties for the pre-poll alliancefor UP assembly electionsincluded a seat in Rajya Sabhafor Jayant Chaudhary.

“The Samajwadi Partyleadership may rescind its offerof Rajya Sabha seat to JayantChaudhary. Jayant Chaudharyis not indispensable for us. TheSP has many Jat leaders andgiving Rajya Sabha seat toJayant Chaudhary will bring noadditional benefits for us, a SPleader said.

However, a former MLC ofthe Samajwadi Party said, “Ifthe SP fails to support thecandidature of JayantChaudhary then its alliance

with the RLD will end and theparty will suffer a huge setbackin western UP.”

Sources in the SamajwadiParty said the visit of JayantChaudhary to Rampur wherehe met the family members ofjailed SP MLA MohammadAzam Khan and his visits toother places along with Bhimarmy chief Chandrasekhar hadnot gone down well with SPchief Akhilesh Yadav.

“Jayant Chaudhary, aftermeeting the wife and son ofAzam Khan in Rampur, hadsaid the family was in troubleand that was why he visitedthem in Rampur. This is a clearinstance of interference in theinternal affairs of theSamajwadi Party and this isunacceptable,” a SP MLA saidand added, “This is clearly a redsignal to the Samajwadi Party.”

Moreover, the MLA saidthe action of Jayant Chaudharyclearly demonstrated that he

could join hands with ShivpalSingh Yadav and Azam Khanand pose a big challenge to theleadership of Akhilesh Yadav.

“If Akhilesh Yadav deniesRajya Sabha seat to JayantChaudhary, then he will scoutfor new partners. If this hap-pens then the Samajwadi Partywill lose support in western UPand also face difficulty in keep-ing together the flock of 34Muslim MLAs who won the2022 UP assembly elections,” headded.

The sources said, “AkhileshYadav has the immediate taskof healing the widening schismwith the allies otherwise theymay go for better options. TheRajya Sabha elections and pres-idential elections in July willreveal whether Akhilesh Yadavis a shrewd politician or hasfailed in the quicksand of UPpolitics.

After losing four elections

in the last eight years (2014 and2019 Lok Sabha polls and 2017and 2022 UP assembly elec-tions), Akhilesh Yadav is strug-gling to strengthen his controlover the party and thwartattempts by his estranged uncleShivpal Yadav to sabotage thepolitical interests of theSamajwadi Party. AkhileshYadav also wants to contain thedissent by accommodating theallies in Rajya Sabha, for whichelections are to be held in July.As many as 11 Rajya Sabhamembers from Uttar Pradeshare retiring in July.

Samajwadi Party and itsallies have 125 members in theUP assembly — 111 membersof the SP, six of SuheldevBhartiya Samaj Party and eightof Rashtriya Lok Dal. If the SP-led alliance contests the RajyaSabha elections unitedly, itsthree candidates can be elect-ed to the Rajya Sabha.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi will inaugurate the

third groundbreaking ceremo-ny to be held in Lucknow onJune 3.

The ceremony will be heldat Indira Gandhi Pratishthan.

With this ceremony, workon industrial projects worth Rs70,000 crore would commence.This would be the thirdgroundbreaking ceremonyunder the Yogi Adityanathgovernment in the last fiveyears.

Top personalities of Indiancorporate world are likely to bepresent in the ceremony.

Chief Minister YogiAdityanath on Mondayreviewed the preparations forthe ceremony and issued nec-essary instructions to the offi-cials.

In the proposed ceremony

scheduled in the first week ofJune, chairmen, chief executiveofficers and directors of Adanigroup, Microsoft India,Reliance Industries,Hiranandani Group, Birla’s,ITC Group along with manyother prominent corporatehouses would be present.

In the programme, workwould begin on more than1,500 industrial projects worthRs 70,000 crore. Among theprominent projects that wouldtake off in the ceremony are Rs4,900-crore and Rs 9,100-croredata centres of Adani andHiranandani groups respec-tively along with Rs 2,100-crore software developmentcentres of Microsoft.

Besides, the work oncement manufacturing plant ofRs 600 crore by Dalmia Groupin Mirzapur and detergentplant of Hindustan UnileverLimited would also begin.

According to the officials ofthe Industrial Developmentdepartment of UP, of the pro-jects beginning in the ceremo-ny Rs 21,000 crore investmentis in the information technol-ogy (IT) and electronic sectoronly. Besides, many other pro-jects of micro, small and medi-um enterprises (MSME), tex-tile, tourism, energy, food pro-cessing and pharma wouldalso begin.

It may be mentioned thatduring the previous tenure ofChief Minister YogiAdityanath, an Investors’Summit was held in Lucknowon February 21 and 22 in 2018in which 1,065 memorandumsof understanding worth Rs4.65 lakh crore were signed. Inthe presence of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, a large num-ber of MoUs were signed forbig infrastructure projects ofUP.

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Suheldev Bhartiya SamajParty (SBSP) president Om

Prakash Rajbhar, an ally ofSamajwadi Party, has struck adiscordant note. Though hisparty is part of the SamajwadiParty led alliance, Rajbhar isclaiming to lead from the frontfor forging a coalition of par-ties against the Bharatiya Janata Party, for 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Rajbhar, however, said theSamajwadi Party-led alliancethat contested the 2022 assem-bly election in Uttar Pradeshwould remain. “The alliancewith Akhilesh Yadav, SanjayChauhan and Jayant

Chaudhary will continue,” hesaid. Rajbhar, the former BJPally in Uttar Pradesh, walkedout of the alliance over thereservation issue and joined theopposition led by SamajwadiParty chief Akhilesh Yadavand contested the recently concluded assemblyelections in alliance with the SP.

Rajbhar said he recentlymet Trinamool Congress chiefand West Bengal ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee,Nationalist Congress Partychief Sharad Pawar, Shiv Senapresident and MaharashtraChief Minister UddhavThackeray and Rashtriya JanataDal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav.

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The Station HouseOfficer (SHO) of an

all-women police stationand a lady Sub-Inspectorin Meerut district havebeen suspended oncharges of demanding abribe of Rs 1 lakh toremove the name of an accusedin a case, officials disclosed.

A case of corruption hasbeen registered against the twoat the Civil Lines police stationand departmental inquiry hasalso been ordered against them,according to the officials.

Meerut’s Superintendentof Police (City) VineetBhatnagar said that investi-gating officer, Sub-InspectorRitu Kajla, and Monika Jindal,the SHO of the all-womenpolice station, had demandedRs 1 lakh from an Army jawan,to remove his name from the

list of accused in a case.He added that Senior

Superintendent of PolicePrabhakar Chaudhary hadasked the SP (Rural) to probethe matter, and in the inquiryJindal and Ritu Kajla werefound to be guilty. He saidbased on the probe report, acase had been registered againstboth the officers.

Both the female police per-sonnel were suspended on theorders of the SSP, Bhatnagarsaid. The incident came tolight when the Army jawanmade a video of the two police

officers demanding money andcomplained against them to theSSP.

Meanwhile in Khwajgipurvillage under Pachdevra policestation of Hardoi district, twochildren drowned in the river.

Four children, Titu (8) sonof Hukum Singh of Khwajgipurvillage in Pachdevra police sta-tion area, his friends Pappu(12), Maruti (9) and Prem (7),were grazing cattle on thebanks of river Garra on Sundayevening. After some time theywent to bathe in the river andstarted drowning.

While two children wererescued in time by the villagers,the other two drowned in theriver. The divers recovered thebodies of both the childrenfrom the river. The deceasedwere identified as Titu andPappu. The police registered acase and sent the bodies forpost-mortem.

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However, the case of India is dif-ferent from the rest of theworld as the LFPR here is notonly lower, but, falling. Thisaffects the UER because theLFPR is the base, i.e. the denom-inator on which the UER is cal-culated. The LFPR is around 60per cent the world over, but, inIndia, it has been sliding overthe last decade and shrunkfrom 47 per cent in 2016 to 40per cent in 2021.

The interpretation of dataon employment shows that thejobs are available, but, thesalaries are so low that they don’tattract young people. So, theyeither prefer to remain unem-ployed or to altogether get outof the workforce. This is truerin the case of graduates andpostgraduates because there isa total mismatch between edu-cation and job industry. Thisleads to a frustrating situationbecause, initially, they areoffered jobs which are belowtheir qualification and dignitywhich they decline, but, later onhaving no choice they are forcedto accept the same jobs. Lookingat the global employment work-force data, we find that in richcountries, the LFPR is about 60per cent; in poor countries, it isabout 65 per cent; and in lowermiddle income countries likeIndia, about 53 per cent of thosein the working age populationare in the labour force.

According to CMIE data,five years ago, India’s LFPR was48 per cent which consisted of

not just those who were work-ing or were looking for work,but, also of those who wantedto work, but were not activelyseeking it. An additional 60 mil-lion people should have joinedthe labour force by 2021-22 ifour LFPR had stayed at thatlevel. Instead, our labour forcehas dropped by 22 million andthe LFPR has come down to 42per cent. Some 575 million peo-ple should have been eitherworking or looking for jobs ifthe LFPR had been similar tothat of other lower-middleincome countries.

Instead, our labour forceconsists of just 452 millionwhich means about 120 millionpeople who should participatehave withdrawn from it. Forclarity, let us assume that thereare 100 people in the workingage group, but only 60 ask forjobs, i.e. the LFPR is 60 per cent.Out of them, 6 don’t get the job.This would imply a UER of 10per cent. Now, let us consider adifferent situation, when theLFPR has fallen to 40 per centand, as such, only 40 people aredemanding work. Out of them,only 2 people fail to get a job.The UER would have fallen to5 per cent and it would haveappeared that the economy isdoing better on the jobs front.But, in reality, beyond the 2 whoare unemployed, a total of 20people have stopped demand-ing work. Typically, this happenswhen people in the working ageget disheartened by not finding

quality work of their choice.Something similar has hap-pened in the case of India. Everytime when the LFPR falls, theUER also falls because fewerpeople are now demandingjobs — giving an incorrectimpression to policymakersthat the situation has improved.

Several reasons are attrib-uted to such a dismal situation.The official government versionis that a large number of youngpeople of 15-19 age group areenrolled in schools and collegesand are not inclined towardstaking jobs. Another reasongiven is that the emergence ofaffluent middle class familieshas made the demands of jobsirrelevant which seems unlike-ly. Yet another reason is thatmany young people have shift-ed to their villages during thepandemic and have startedtheir own businesses or takenjobs under MNERGA.Distribution of free ration hasmade the workforce idle isquoted as one of the reasons.However, the most convincinganswer is women leaving theworkforce in large numbersand pushing down the overalllabour force participation.According to CMIE data, inDecember 2021, while the maleLFPR was 67.4 per cent, thefemale LFPR was as low as 9.4per cent. In 2021, the overallunemployment rate for menwas about 9 per cent, whereasfor women it was 27 per cent,the situation being worse inurban areas where womenunemployment rate is 36 percent, three times that of men.Main reasons being adverse andinsecure working conditions,discrimination at work andsocietal norms, low wages, vio-lence against women, etc. Thisgender imbalance in employ-ment and opportunities of earn-ing livelihood needs immediatecorrection. Undoubtedly, theunemployment situation is seri-ous and demands immediateattention of the government andpolicy makers.

(The writer is a seniorjournalist and Chairman,Panwar Group of Institutions,Solan, Himachal Pradesh. Theviews expressed are personal.)

�� Sir — According to a report, the MumbaiPolice has filed an application in a spe-cial court for cancellation of the bailgiven to Independent MP Navneet Ranaand her MLA-husband Ravi Rana,accused in a sedition case following a rowover the recitation of Hanuman Chalisa.

The police want the couple’s bail tobe cancelled as it violated one of the con-ditions imposed by the special courtwhile granting them bail last week.Navneet, the Lok Sabha member fromAmravati in Maharashtra, and her hus-band Ravi, the legislator from Badnerain Amravati, were arrested by theMumbai police on April 23 after theyannounced that they would recite theHanuman Chalisa outside Chief MinisterUddhav Thackeray’s private residence‘Matoshree’ in Bandra area. They werebooked on charges of sedition andprompting enmity between differentgroups. The special court had on May 4granted bail to the couple and imposedsome conditions on them, including notto indulge in a similar offence and notto speak to the media. On Monday May9, the Khar police filed an applicationthrough a special public prosecutor, seek-ing that the court cancel the couple’s bailas they had allegedly violated the con-dition of not speaking to the media. Withthis development there is more troublefor the couple duo.

Bhagwan Thadani | Mumbai

�� Sir — The Constitution (Eighty-SixthAmendment) Act, 2002 incorporatedArticle 21-A in the Constitution ofIndia to provide free and compulsoryeducation to all children in the age of sixto fourteen years as a fundamentalright. The development has come at atime when effort is on to privatise edu-cation, setting aside the Eighty-SixthAmendment.

Data between September 2018 andSeptember 2019 shows that the numberof government schools in the country hasreduced by 51 thousand. The number of

private schools has increased from 11thousand 7 hundred in the same period.Putting education in the hands of busi-nessmen is not a good sign as the poorwill find it hard to get education. On onehand, there is talk of bringing revolutionin the field of education with the neweducation policy and on the other hand,by handing it over to the merchants, onlythe wealthy are being ensured access toit. What is the contradiction?

Jang Bahadur Singh | Jamshedpur

�� Sir — The ongoing debate that bothonline and offline mode of education isgood for students is highly appreciated.

For the most effective result, education-al experts should discuss the subjectthreadbare.

Projector and screen classes and ani-mation classes should be termed asonline classes as they reduce time ofdrawing big figures on the board (forsubjects such as Biology, Physics,Chemistry and others). This hybridclassification can greatly help studentswith better understanding of the subject.Online education saves time of writingand drawing.

Rishi Nivriti Ridhi | Secunderabad

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India is a society of “youngpeople’’. With a demographicprofile of 65 per cent of thepopulation below 35 years of

age, obviously, the country has alot of advantages. Youths are gen-erally upbeat, vibrant, motivated,more enthusiastic, having moreenergy, ready to work for longhours, take lesser days of leave andare willing to work for a lower pay.Unfortunately, the situation is justthe opposite in India. The datafrom the Centre for MonitoringIndian Economy (CMIE) indicatesthat India’s Labour ForceParticipation Rate (LFPR) hasfallen to 40 per cent from 47 percent in 2016. It is a clear indicationthat more than half of India’s pop-ulation in the working age groupis deciding to opt out of the jobmarket. To be more specific, feweryouth in the 20-24 age group areworking or looking for employ-ment. In 2017, about 49 per centof them were part of the labourforce which dropped to 38 per centin 2021-22. This should havecaused a sharp decline in theiremployment rate. Yet, despite thatsharp 11 percentage point declinein their LFPR, the unemploymentrate in the 20-24 age group rosefrom 32 per cent in 2016-17 to 48per cent in 2021-22, which showsthat nearly half of those in theirearly 20s,who wanted to work, areunemployed.

Before going further, let ushave a basic understanding aboutcertain important terminologies.We need to define the LabourForce (LF) which, according toCMIE, consists of persons who areof 15 years of age and older andbelong to the two categories: firstemployed, and second unem-ployed who are willing to work andare actively looking for a job. LFPRis the percentage of the workingage group, i.e. 15 years or olderpopulation that is seeking jobs; itrepresents the “demand” for jobsin an economy and includes boththose who are employed andthose who are unemployed. TheUnemployment Rate (UER) isthe number of unemployed (cat-egory 2) as a proportion of thelabour force. We, generally, expectthat the LFPR will, by and large,remain stable. So, any analysis ofunemployment in an economy canbe done just by looking at the UER.

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crore higher than budget allocation (BE).

Subsidy payment on urea was�105,000 crore - �46,000 crorehigherthan BE (courtesy, increasein price of imported urea and priceof natural gas). Overall, during2021-22, the Government spent�162,000 crore on fertilizer sub-sidy.

For 2022-23, in the hope thatprices would decline, the FinanceMinister, Nirmala Sitharamanreduced allocation for fertilizersubsidy to �105,000 crore includ-ing �60,000 crore on urea and�45,000 crore on non-urea fertil-izers. But thanks to the Ukrainecrisis, these numbers have gonehaywire. Given the profoundimplications of war, the prices areexpected to further increase fromthe 2021-22 level and stay high forthe whole year.

In this backdrop, the govern-ment has further hikedsubsidyon DAP to �50,000 per ton(like-wise on other P&K). As a result,the spendduring Kharif (April -September) 2022 alone would be�61,000 crore. For the whole year,it may touch �100,000 crore. Withsubsidy on urea also expected tobe much higher than the BE, thetotal outgo on fertilizer subsidywould be over �200,000 crore.

ndia is impacted because noeffort was made in the past toreduce dependence on importswhich currently is - Phosphate: 90percent; Potash: 100 percent; Urea:33 percent; Gas: 50 percent. Effortsto reduce this dependence can payoff only in the long-term.

Meanwhile, the Governmentneeds to address voids in otherareas namely large-scale diver-sion of subsidized fertilizers espe-

cially urea; excessive use by farm-ers; large/rich undeserving farm-ers getting access to subsidizedmaterial; inflated paymentsmadetomanufacturers under a cost-plus regime,etc.

Look at diversion of ureawhich could be as high as 30 per-cent or around 10.2 million ton intotal consumption of 34 milliontons (2021-22). Eliminating itcanyield saving of about �32,000crore (10.2x31,000/-being the aver-age subsidy per ton). Additionally,even if urea use efficiencyimproves by 10 percent, this willyield further savings of about Rs7,500 crore [(34-10.2)x0.1x31,000].

Likewise, significant savingsare possible if subsidy is denied tomedium and large farmers (landholding > 2 hectare). Taking theirconsumption to be about 25 per-cent or 6 million tons, excludingthem from the scheme will savearound �19,000 crore (6x31,000).All these savings add up to �58,500crore.

Rationalizing payment to man-ufacturers by encouraging low-costfirms to supply more and at thesame time, discouraging high-cost firms will also help in gener-ating more savings. There is alsoample scope for improving effi-ciency and reducing cost at vari-ous levels in the supply and distri-bution chain.

All of the above things aredoable. But this will require amajor overhaul of the pricing andsubsidy regime. The Governmentshould stop routing subsidythrough manufacturers; instead, itmay be given as direct benefittransfer (DBT) to the farmers onper hectare basis (albeit to margin-al and small farmers). The manu-

facturers/importers should be freeto sell at market determinedprice.Urea import should be freed evenas import of non-urea fertilizers isalready free.

This will ensure adequate com-petition amongst suppliers andsurvival of the fittest, i.e., thosewho can supply at low cost.Withno subsidized fertilizer in themarket (as subsidy goes to farmer’saccount), diversion will be com-pletely eliminated. Moreover, inview of MRP reflecting fertilizer’strue cost, farmers will use judi-ciously - taking into accountsoil/crop requirement - leading toimproved efficiency of use andreduction of imbalance in fertiliz-er use.

The Government also needs tolook into the extant taxation struc-ture. Currently, all fertilizers attractGST (Goods and Services Tax) @5 percent. Phosphoric acid andammonia (raw materials used formaking P&K fertilizers) attractGST @ 12 percent and 18 percentrespectively. Natural gas (it is out-side GST) attracts VAT which cango up to a high of 21 percent sayin Uttar Pradesh.

It makes no sense to imposetax on fertilizers only to be reim-bursed as additional subsidy. Gasshould be brought under GST andput under 5 percent slab. GST onphos acid and ammonia should belowered from existing 12 per-cent/18 percent to 5 percent each.

The DBT regime can help indrastically reducing subsidy evenin the face of high internationalprices of fertilizers. But, kickingthese reforms will require takingthe bull (read: all those who areunfairly benefiting from the exist-ing dispensation) by the horns.

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expressed are personal.)

We were talking recent-ly about how cleverthe Ukrainians had

been to call the invadingRussian troops ‘Orcs’ evenbefore all the atrocities in theRussian-occupied towns aroundKyiv came to light. Then Tinasaid: “If Putin’s troops are Orcs,then he must be Sauron.”

You can guess what hap-pened next. We started trying tolink other characters in thecurrent drama with other char-acters from ‘The Lord of theRings’, which many have begunto see as a tract for our times.Frodo was easy: that’s Ukraine’spresident Volodymyr Zelensky,diminutive, vulnerable, but alsovery brave.

We couldn’t figure out whoplays Aragorn, but France’snewly re-elected president,Emmanuel Macron, is a dead

ringer for Legolas. Britain’sPrime Minister Boris Johnson isone of the more boastful andself-serving dwarves, not Gimlibut maybe Bombur.

Alexander Dugin, alsoknown as ‘Putin’s Brain’, is theobvious candidate for the role ofSaruman. He’s the Christianfascist philosopher who advis-es Sauron/Putin on how todestroy the West, ‘the kingdomof the antichrist’ that seeks tosubmerge Russia in ‘the abyss ofchaos and corruption.’ But I’mgetting too technical here.

Joe Biden is Treebeard, theeldest of the Ents, and I’ll leaveit to you to flesh out the rest ofthe characters in this low-bud-get remake of LOTR. But do letme know if you figure outwhere the hell Gandalf is whenwe need him. Probably late, asusual. But here’s the thing.

Comparing the war in Ukraineto the Lord of the Rings is aharmless after-dinner game,but it’s a very poor guide to pol-icy. Yet many Western leadersare starting to sound like J.R.R.Tolkien is their speech-writer.That’s clear evidence that they’relosing the plot.

It’s perfectly normal for waraims to expand after an earlysuccess, but it’s usually a mis-take. Ukraine didn’t collapse in

the face of the Russian invasion,which was what both Putin andeverybody in Western leader-ship positions expected it to do.

So Western pundits (andeven Western politicians) arenow predicting that Ukrainewill reconquer not just the landRussia conquered sinceFebruary, but also the territorythat it seized in 2014. That maybe possible despite Russia’sthree-time-bigger population

and tenfold bigger economy,though I doubt it.

But are the Ukrainians surethey want to push a nuclear-armed enemy who has shownhimself to be irrational andunstable into such a humiliatingcorner? Are they sure theirWestern supporters would stillback them if that leads to anuclear showdown (as it prob-ably would)?

Moreover, are theUkrainians sure they reallywant the lost provinces of 2014back? The people who remainin them now are not onlyRussian-speakers, but mostlypeople who actually identify asRussian. If Kyiv tried to forciblyreintegrate them into a victori-ous Ukrainian state, it wouldguarantee that state at least ageneration of instability.

We will probably be spared

all these awkward questions,because such a decisiveUkrainian victory is unlikely.What is of greater concern is theway that Western leaders haveslipped so easily into aTolkienesque mindset that letsthem see themselves as theembattled defenders of a Westthat faces mortal peril from agreat evil in the east.

Tolkien had an excellentexcuse for writing that sort ofbooks, because he wrote his‘Lord of the Rings’ trilogybetween 1937 and 1949, whenthe West did indeed face a greatthreat, first from Nazi Germanyand then from the SovietUnion. It was a fitting fable forhis times. It is not relevant to ours.

How is it possible to seeRussia one moment as a powerso weak that it could be pushed

out of all former Ukrainian ter-ritory by force, and the nextmoment as a mighty threat toall of Europe or ‘freedom’ or‘democracy’ or whatever?

If ‘the test of a first-rateintelligence is the ability tohold two opposed ideas inmind at the same time andstill retain the ability to func-tion’, then the current leader-ship class of the West are allgeniuses.

Russia is not Mordor. It isa second-rate great power thatmust be respected because ithas a lot of nuclear weapons,but it poses no serious threat tothe security of the rest ofEurope or to democracy. Itsinvasion of Ukraine was asqualid smash-and-grab raidthat is being repelled with thehelp of Ukraine’s friends andneighbours, and that’s all.

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(Gwynne Dyer’s new book is ‘The Shortest History

of War’. The views expressed are personal.)

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8�8�/�0.+5 Fertilizer subsidy or payments madeto manufacturers or importers tocover the excess of the cost of pro-duction/import and distribution

over a low maximum retail price (MRP)- they are asked by the Union Governmentto charge from the farmers -has increasedby leaps and bounds during the last threeyears. From an already high of �83,000crore during 2019-20, it increased to�138,000 crore during 2020-21, �162,000crore during 2021-22 and could cross�200,000 crore mark during 2022-23.

Is there a way this escalating trendcould be reined in?

Subsidy payments are made under twobroad categories of fertilizers viz. (i)urea; (ii)phosphate or ‘P’ and potash or ‘K’fertilizers - also branded as non-urea fer-tilizers. For determining how much pay-ment is made, apart from the quantum ofuse, we need to focus on two overarchingfactors: (i) MRP and (ii) cost of supply.

In case of urea, the Governmentexercises ‘mandatory’ control on MRP andreimburses the manufacturers for theexcess of cost over it as subsidy on a ‘unit-specific’ basis under the New PricingScheme (NPS). As for non-urea fertiliz-ers, it fixes ‘uniform’ subsidy on per nutri-ent basis for all manufacturers andimporters under the Nutrient BasedScheme (NBS).

There is a fundamental difference inthe policy for the two categories. In caseof urea, farmers are assured of a fixed(albeit low )MRP even asthe manufactur-ers or importers get reimbursement forallincreases in the cost of supply as highersubsidy. In case of non-urea fertilizers how-ever, the producers/importers get a fixedsubsidy while, they are free to increaseMRP to reflect increase in the cost.

This has led to sharp increase in theprices of P&K fertilizers even as the MRPof urea remained unchanged. Resultingimbalance in price ratio (during 2020-21,the price of di-ammonium phosphate orDAP -a widely used ‘P’ fertilizer - was 4.5times that of urea)has contributed toincreasingimbalance in fertilizer use andadverse effect on crop yield, soil health,environment etc.

The government started 2021-22 withthis policy bias against non-urea fertiliz-ers which received an allocation of�21,000 crore against �59,000 crore forurea. But, steep increase in internationalprices of P&K fertilizers(price of DAPmore than doubled over the previous yearwhile, price of urea and muriate of potashor MOP went up three times each) forcedModi to change its stance.

To maintain MRP at same level as dur-ing 2020-21, in May, 2021, the governmentincreased subsidy on DAP from �10,000per ton to �24,000 per ton. In October,2021, it was further increased to �32,760per ton (subsidy on three other common-ly used P&K fertilizers - was also increasedby �2000 per ton each). As a result, theactual subsidy payment on non-urea fer-tilizers was about �57,000 crore - �36,000

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Sri Lanka's embattled Rajapaksabrothers, President Gotabaya andPrime Minister Mahinda (who

later resigned), appealed to the peopleon Monday to exercise restraint andremember that violence only begets vio-lence, saying the economic crisis needsan economic solution which his gov-ernment is committed to resolving.

Their statement came amidst vio-lence in the country in which at least23 people were injured as supporters ofMahinda attacked anti-Governmentdemonstrators gathered at a protest sitenear his official residence, promptingthe police to enforce a curfew in the cap-ital.

"Strongly condemn the violent actstaking place by those inciting & par-ticipating, irrespective of political alle-giances. Violence won't solve the cur-rent problems. I request all citizens toremain calm & exercise restraint. I urgeeveryone to work together in solvingthis crisis," the President said in a tweet.

Mahinda also urged the people toexercise restraint.

"While emotions are running highin #lka, I urge our general public toexercise restraint & remember thatviolence only begets violence.

“The economic crisis we're in needsan economic solution which this admin-

istration is committed to resolving,"Mahinda said on Twitter.

Mahinda, 76, who was underintense pressure from within his own SriLanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP)ranks to resign, was gathering his sup-porters to apply counterpressure not tostand down but he resigned later in theday.

Earlier in the day, a tense situationprevailed as a group of supporters of

Mahinda attacked the protesters outsidethe 'MainaGoGama', a protest site nearTemple Trees, the official residence ofthe Prime Minister, Daily Mirror, anonline news platform, reported.

The police used water cannons todisperse the unruly SLPP protestorswho are at the Galle Face green protestsite, Hiru News website reported.

The tents opposite Temple Treeswere dismantled by a mob, Lanka

First, a leading news network, report-ed. The 'MainaGoGama' protest site wasset up demanding the resignation ofMahinda.

Hundreds of supporters of Mahindahave been brought in buses while someothers marched to the Temple Trees toshow support to the premier against thecall for his resignation, the ColomboPage newspaper reported.

In a special Cabinet meeting onFriday, Rajapaksa declared a state ofemergency with effect from Fridaymidnight. This is the second time thatan emergency was declared in SriLanka in just over a month as the islandnation was in the grip of the worst eco-nomic crisis.

Sri Lanka is currently in the throesof unprecedented economic turmoilsince its independence from Britain in1948.

The crisis is caused in part by a lackof foreign currency, which has meantthat the country cannot afford to pay forimports of staple foods and fuel, lead-ing to acute shortages and very highprices.

Thousands of demonstrators havehit the streets across Sri Lanka sinceApril 9, as the Government ran out ofmoney for vital imports; prices ofessential commodities have skyrocket-ed and there are acute shortages in fuel,medicines and electricity supply.

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Sri Lanka's top human rightsbody has summoned the

country's top brass, includingthe Secretary to the Presidentand the Secretary to theMinistry of Defence, to appearbefore it on Monday to clari-fy the reasons for the imposi-tion of the state of emergency.

In a special Cabinet meet-ing on Friday, PresidentGotabaya Rajapaksa declareda state of emergency witheffect from Friday midnight.This is the second time that anemergency was declared in SriLanka in just over a month asthe island nation was in thegrip of the worst economic cri-sis.

The announcement cameamid weeks of protestsdemanding the resignation ofthe President and the govern-ment, blaming the powerfulRajapaksa clan for the mis-handling of the island nation'seconomy, which is alreadyupended by the pandemic.

Rohini Marasinghe, (Rtd)Supreme Court Judge who isChairperson of the HumanRights Commission of Sri

Lanka (HRCSL), said that thesummons were issued to thetop brass to clarify the reasonsfor the imposition of the stateof emergency.

She also said that waterand tear gas attacks on pro-testers near the Parliamentwould be raised during theinquiry.

The Secretary to thePresident, the Secretary to theMinistry of Defence, and theInspector General of Police arescheduled to appear before theHRCSL on Monday.

The HRCSL on Saturdayrequested the government toexplain to the public the rea-sons for declaring a state ofemergency as the protests werelargely peaceful and withinnormal police operations.

President GotabayaRajapaksa has faced flak fromthe Opposition and foreignenvoys for his decision, whichgives security forces sweepingpowers to arbitrarily arrestand detain people.

Sri Lanka is currently inthe throes of unprecedentedeconomic turmoil since itsindependence from Britain in1948.

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Australia's prime minister said onMonday he was aware of China's

ambitions in the southwest Pacific after anewspaper reported plans by Beijing tobuild wharves, shipyards and underwatercables in the Solomon Islands.

The Australian newspaper publisheda leaked four-page draft maritime coop-eration agreement between China and theSolomon Islands dated this year. That fol-lows the recent confirmation by China andthe Pacific island nation that they havesigned a separate security agreement thatthe United States and its allies fear couldlead to a Chinese naval base less than 2,000kilometers (1,200 miles) from theAustralian coast.

Security experts suspect that maritimeinfrastructure built under the latest draft

memorandum of understanding would beused by the Chinese military.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison saidhis government was not surprised by thereported draft agreement to develop“port wharves, submarine optical cableconstruction, shipbuilding and shiprepair.” “We're very aware of what theChinese government's ambitions are in thePacific, whether it be in relation to facil-ities such as that or naval bases or otherpresence of their military in the Pacific,”Morrison told reporters.

“I am very concerned, as many otherPacific leaders are, about the interferenceand intrusion of the Chinese governmentinto these types of arrangements and whatthat can mean for the peace, stability andsecurity of the southwest Pacific,”Morrison added.

Solomon Islands opposition law-

maker Peter Kenilorea Jr. Said his father,Peter Kenilorea, the independent country'sfirst prime minister from 1978 until1981, would be “upset” by current PrimeMinister Manasseh Sogavare's use ofChina to “leverage” more from othercountries.

“The Solomon Islands is never goingto become part of that kind of diploma-cy,” Kenilorea told Australia's Ten Networktelevision.

“We have cordial relations with ourfriends. They know our needs and wework through them rather than using eachother as leverage against each other,” headded.

The United States has said it wouldtake unspecified action against theSolomon Islands should the securityagreement with China pose a threat to U.S.Or allied interests.

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Asenior British official willmeet with rival Northern

Ireland party leaders Monday topress them to re-establish apower-sharing government amiduncertainty after Irish national-ist party Sinn Fein scored a his-toric victory in local elections.Northern Ireland SecretaryBrandon Lewis will meet theleaders of the five parties thatformed the last Executive, ordevolved government, before itcollapsed in February.

“The people of NorthernIreland deserve a stable andaccountable devolved govern-ment and I will continue to urgethe leaders of Northern Irelandpolitical parties to fulfil theirresponsibilities and form anExecutive as soon as possible,”Lewis said. “I will remain in closecontact with the party leaders butit is for the parties to agree on away forward," he added.

Sinn Fein, which seeksunion with Ireland, overtook therival Democratic Unionist Partyin last week's Northern IrelandAssembly elections to becomethe first Irish nationalist party totop the voting in NorthernIreland's history.

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Israeli police arrested onMonday a 65-year-old

woman suspected of sendingdeath threats with bullets toPrime Minister NaftaliBennett's family last month.

A statement from thepolice only identified thewoman as a resident of south-ern Israel; police said furtherdetails of the case remainedunder a court-issued gag order.

Bennett's family receivedtwo death threats in the mail,along with the bullets. Inresponse, security around thepremier and his family wastightened and police and the

Shin Bet internal securityagency opened an investigation.

Bennett, who leads a smallnationalist party, has comeunder intense criticism fromIsraeli hard-liners who accusehim of abandoning his ideolo-gy. In 1995, Prime MinisterYitzhak Rabin was assassinat-ed by a Jewish ultranationalistopposed to his peacemakingattempts with the Palestinians.

Bennett leads a narrowcoalition of eight parties rang-ing from a small Islamist partyto Jewish ultra-nationalists thathave little in common beyondtheir opposition to formerPrime Minister BenjaminNetanyahu.

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Former top prosecutor YoonSuk Yeol takes office as

South Korea's president onTuesday, facing a tougher mixof foreign policy and domesticchallenges than other recentSouth Korean leaders encoun-tered at the start of their pres-idencies.

Yoon's single, five-yearterm begins at midnight onMonday before he takes theoath of office on Tuesdaymorning at a formal ceremonyin Seoul. Since winning elec-tion in March, Yoon, a conser-vative who advocates a morehard-line approach towardNorth Korea, has been denieda honeymoon period. Surveysshow less than 60 per cent ofrespondents expect he will dowell in his presidency, anunusually low figure comparedto his predecessors, who most-ly received about 80-90 per centbefore they entered office.

His approval rating as apresident-elect was 41 per cent,according to a survey by GallupKorea released last week thatput outgoing liberal PresidentMoon Jae-in's rating at 45 percent. Yoon's low popularity isblamed in part on an acutedivide between conservativesand liberals and on contentiouspolicies and Cabinet picks.

Some experts say Yoon, aforeign policy novice, also has-n't shown a clear vision for howto navigate the world's 10thlargest economy amid chal-lenges such as North Korea'sadvancing nuclear arsenal, anintensifying US-China rivalryand pandemic-hit livelihoods.

“Our foreign policy,national security and economyare all in trouble. Yoon shouldhave presented some visions,hopes or leadership to showhow he can pull the publictogether in these difficult times.But I don't think he has shownsuch things," said ProfessorChung Jin-young, a formerdean of the Graduate School ofPan-Pacific International

Studies at Kyung HeeUniversity.

With US-led nuclear dis-armament talks deadlocked,North Korean leader Kim JongUn recently threatened to usenuclear weapons against hisrivals and reportedly is prepar-ing to conduct his first nucleartest in nearly five years.

The US-China confronta-tion is posing a separate secu-rity dilemma for South Koreaas it struggles to strike a balancebetween Washington, its chiefmilitary ally, and Beijing, itsbiggest trading partner.

During his campaign, Yoonaccused Moon of tilting toomuch toward North Korea andChina and away fromWashington while exploitingties with Japan, Korea's formercolonial ruler, for domesticpolitical purposes. He hasvowed to abandon Moon'sappeasement policy towardNorth Korea, reinforce SouthKorea's alliance with the UnitedStates and improve ties withJapan.

Critics say Yoon's policeswill create friction with NorthKorea and China, although heis likely to strengthen trilater-al South Korea-US-Japan secu-rity cooperation.

Chung, the professor, saidSouth Korea must accept thatit cannot force North Korea todenuclearise or ease the US-China standoff.

He said South Korea mustinstead focus on strengtheningits defence capability and theUS alliance to “make NorthKorea never dare to think

about a nuclear attack on us”.He said South Korea must

also prevent ties with Beijingfrom worsening.

Domestically, some ofYoon's major policies may facean impasse in parliament,which remains controlled byliberal lawmakers until gener-al elections in 2024.

Liberals recently flexedtheir legislative muscles bypassing contentious bills aimedat significantly reducing theinvestigative rights of stateprosecutors.

Critics say the bills aremeant to prevent Yoon frominvestigating possible wrong-doing by the Moon adminis-tration. Yoon must also rebuildSouth Korea's pandemicresponse, shaken by a massiveomicron surge in recentmonths.

The COVID-19 crisis hasbattered an economy alreadyhit by a bleak job market andgrowing personal debt. Yoonalso inherits Moon's econom-ic policy failures that critics sayallowed home prices to sky-rocket and widen what is oneof the worst rich-poor gapsamong developed nations.

“The challenges that Yoonhas at the start of his presidencyare the toughest and the mostunfavourable ones” amongSouth Korean presidents elect-ed since the late 1980s, a peri-od viewed as the start of thecountry's genuine democracyafter decades of dictatorship,said Choi Jin, director of theSeoul-based Institute ofPresidential Leadership.

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The House committee inves-tigating the January 6

insurrection has interviewednearly 1,000 people. But thenine-member panel has yet totalk to the two most prominentplayers in that day's events —former President DonaldTrump and former VicePresident Mike Pence.

As the investigation windsdown and the panel plans aseries of hearings in June,members of the committee aredebating whether to call thetwo men, whose conflict overwhether to certify Joe Biden's2020 presidential election winwas at the centre of the attack.

Trump pressured Pencefor days, if not weeks, to use hisceremonial role presiding over

the January 6 count to try toblock or delay Biden's certifi-cation. Pence refused to do so,and rioters who broke into thebuilding that day called for hishanging.

There are reasons to calleither or both of them. Thecommittee wants to be as thor-ough as possible, and critics aresure to pounce if they don'teven try. But some lawmakerson the panel have argued thatthey've obtained all the infor-mation they need withoutTrump and Pence.

Nearly a year into theirwide-ranging investigation intothe worst attack on the Capitolin more than two centuries, theHouse committee has inter-viewed hundreds of witnessesand received more than 100,000pages of documents.

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Shanghai tightenslockdown despitefalling Covid cases�� 5 �2

Authorities in Shanghaihave again tightened

anti-virus restrictions, just asthe city was emerging froma month of strict lockdowndue to a COVID-19 out-break.

Notices issued in sever-al districts said residentswere ordered to stay homeand are barred from receiv-ing nonessential deliveriesas part of a “quiet period”lasting at least untilWednesday. The tightenedmeasures could be extendeddepending on the results ofmass testing, the notices said.

“Thank you for yourunderstanding and coopera-tion. Together we can lift thelockdown at an early date,"said one notice issued in thecity's Huangpu district andposted online. It wasn't clearwhat prompted the renewedtightening, with numbers ofnew COVID-19 cases in thecity continuing to fall.

Shanghai on Mondayreported 3,947 cases overthe previous 24 hours, almostall of them asymptomatic,along with 11 deaths.Authorities have been grad-ually lifting isolation rules onthe city's 25 million resi-dents, but the new ordersappear to be returning toconditions at the early stageof the outbreak.

Shanghai originallyordered mass testing alongwith a limited lockdown, butextended that as case num-bers rose. Thousands of res-idents have been forced intocentralized quarantine cen-ters for showing a positivetest result or merely havingbeen in contact with aninfected person.

Two Shanghai residentsreached through social mediasaid they'd had no priornotice of the new restrictions,which they were told couldlast for up to a week.

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Russian forces pushed for-ward Monday in their

assault on Ukraine, seeking tocapture the crucial southernport city of Mariupol asMoscow celebrated its VictoryDay holiday.

Determined to show suc-cess in a war now in its 11thweek, Russian troops pum-meled a seaside steel mill wherean estimated 2,000 Ukrainianfighters are making their laststand in the port city ofMariupol.

The mill is the only part ofthe city not overtaken by theinvaders. Its defeat woulddeprive Ukraine of a vital portand allow Russia to establish aland corridor to the CrimeanPeninsula, which it seized fromUkraine in 2014.

The Ukrainian military'sGeneral Staff warned of a highprobability of missile strikesand said that Russian troops

were seizing "personal docu-ments from the local popula-tion without good reason" inRussian-controlled areas ofZaporizhzhia - the city wheremany fleeing Mariupol havegathered. The military allegedRussian troops were seizingdocuments to force residents tojoin in Victory Day commem-orations.

Ukrainian PresidentVolodymyr Zelenskyy warnedthe anniversary, which marksthe Soviet Union's triumphover Nazi Germany in 1945,could bring a renewedonslaught.

"They have nothing to cel-ebrate," Linda Thomas-Greenfield, US ambassador tothe United Nations, said of theRussians, speaking on CNN.

"They have not succeededin defeating the Ukrainians.They have not succeeded individing the world or dividingNATO. And they have onlysucceeded in isolating them-

selves internationally andbecoming a pariah state aroundthe globe."

Speaking Monday at a mil-itary parade marking the hol-iday, Russian PresidentVladimir Putin sought to jus-tify his invasion, by claimingthat it was necessary to ward offwhat he described "an absolute-ly unacceptable threat just nextto our borders." He has repeat-edly alleged that Ukraine wasplanning to attack Russia -which Kyiv has flatly denied.

"The danger was rising byday," he claimed, adding that"Russia has preemptivelyrepulsed an aggression."

Putin again scolded theWest for failing to heed theRussian demands for securityguarantees and a rollback toNATO's expansion, arguingthat it also left Moscow noother choice but to invade.

But he did not - at least sofar - give any signal as to thenext phase of the conflict nor

did he claim the complete cap-ture of Mariupol, which hisforces have bombarded andbesieged for weeks.

Ukrainian fighters in thesteel mill in the port city have

rejected Russian-set deadlinesfor laying down their arms,even as attacks continued bywarplanes, artillery and tanks.

"We are under constantshelling," said Capt. Sviatoslav

Palamar, deputy commander ofthe Ukrainian Azov Regiment,a unit holding the steel mill.

Lt. Illya Samoilenko,another Azov Regiment mem-ber, said a couple hundred

wounded soldiers were in theplant. He declined to say howmany able-bodied fightersremained. Fighters lack life-saving equipment and are hav-ing to dig by hand to free peo-ple from bunkers that col-lapsed undershelling."Surrender for us isunacceptable because we can-not grant such a gift to theenemy," Samoilenko said.

The last of the civilianswho had taken shelter withfighters at the plant were evac-uated Saturday. They arrivedSunday night in Zaporizhzhia,the first major Ukrainian citybeyond the frontlines, andspoke of constant shelling,dwindling food, ubiquitousmold - and using hand sanitizerfor cooking fuel.

Britain's Defense Ministrywarned in a daily intelligencereport on Twitter that Russiawas running short of precision-guided munitions and increas-ingly is using inaccurate rock-

ets and bombs, subjectingUkrainian towns and cities to"intense and indiscriminatebombardments with little or noregard for civilian casualties."

More than 60 people werefeared dead after a Russianbomb flattened a Ukrainianschool being used as a shelterin Bilohorivka, an eastern vil-lage, Ukrainian officials said.

About 90 people were shel-tering in the school's basementwhen it was attacked Saturday.Emergency crews found twobodies and rescued 30 people,but "most likely all 60 peoplewho remain under the rubbleare now dead," Serhiy Haidai,governor of Luhansk province,wrote on the Telegram mes-saging app. Russian shellingkilled two boys, ages 11 and 14,in the nearby town of Pryvillia,Haidai said. Luhansk is part ofthe Donbas, the industrialheartland in the east thatRussia's forces are working tocapture.

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Italian Premier Mario Draghimeets with US President Joe

Biden this week in Washingtonas Europe faces another "what-ever it takes" moment withRussia's war in Ukraine ragingon its eastern flank.

Both Rome andWashington will emphasisetheir historic friendship andshared desire to help Ukrainedefend itself from Russia'stwo-month-old invasion whenthe leaders meet on Tuesday.Energy, climate change andpromoting global economicprosperity also are on theagenda.

Still, there are differencesin tone over the war, and pub-lic sentiment in Italy againstsending arms to Ukraine is

growing.Draghi is pushing for even

a limited truce to allow talks toresume, mindful also of theimpact on Italy should thewar spill over Ukraine's bor-ders.

Statements by Biden andhis emissaries have been moreaggressive, suggesting bothregime change and the goal of

weakening Russia.These differences reflect

not only Italy's geographiccloseness to the fighting, butalso its historic political andeconomic ties with Russia.

Italy gets 40 per cent of itsnatural gas from Russia, andeconomic trade last yearamounted to 20 billion euros.

"There are two currents

regarding Russia," SergioRomano, a Cold War-eraItalian ambassador to Moscow,told The Associated Press.

"There is the position ofthe countries that see in thewar in Ukraine the possibility,or the hope, of the diminish-ment of Russian power. I thinkthis current is strong in the US.

"I don't think this is theposition of the Italian govern-ment, which in the past hashad cordial and positive rela-tions with Russia."

Draghi, a former centralbanker skilled at measuring hiswords, is one of the onlyEuropean Union leaders tovisit Washington since the warbroke out, and can be expect-ed to represent not only Italy'sperspective, but also that ofEurope.

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Pale and drawn, the lastcivilians sheltering in

bunkers beneath a sprawlingsteel mill in the decimatedUkrainian port city ofMariupol arrived late Sundaynight in Zaporizhzhia, thefirst major Ukrainian citybeyond the frontlines.

The shattered survivorsspoke of constant shelling,dwindling food, ubiquitousmold - and using hand sani-tiser for cooking fuel.

Ten buses slowly pulledinto Zaporizhzhia's desertedstreets under darkness, carry-ing 174 evacuees from theMariupol area.

They included more than30 of the 51 civilians evacu-ated in the last day from theAzovstal steel mill, where an

estimated 2,000 Ukrainianfighters are making whatappears to be their last stand.

Both Ukrainian andRussian officials have saidthese civilians are the lastnon-combatants from theindustrial complex.

"It was terrible in thebunkers," said 69-year-oldLyubov Andropova, who hadbeen in Azovstal since March10. "Water would run downfrom the ceilings. There wasmold everywhere. We wereworried for the children, for

their lungs."The shelling wasconstant, and there was fear"that our bunker would col-lapse," she said. "Everythingshook, we didn't go out."

The seaside steel mill isthe only part of Mariupol notunder Russian control.Thanks to its warren of tun-nels and bunkers deep under-ground, many civilians hadchosen it as the safest place totake cover from the relentlessshelling of the formerly thriv-ing port city that has nowbeen largely destroyed.

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Extending its losses for a sec-ond day, the rupee on

Monday slumped by 54 paise toclose at a record low of 77.44against the US dollar, pressuredby the strength of the Americancurrency overseas and unabat-ed foreign fund outflows.

Forex traders said riskappetite has weakened amidrising bond yields in the USand mounting concerns aboutinflation that may trigger moreaggressive rate hikes by globalcentral banks. At the interbankforeign exchange market, therupee opened lower at 77.17against the greenback, andfinally settled for the day at77.44, down 54 paise over its

previous close. During thetrading session, the rupeetouched its lifetime low of77.52. On Friday, the rupee hadslumped 55 paise to close at76.90. In the last two tradingsessions, the rupee has lost 109paise against the greenback.

"Indian Rupee spotplunged to record lows, track-ing weakness in Asian peersamid a stronger dollar indexand surging treasury yields inthe US," Royce VargheeseJoseph - Research Analyst -Currency and Energy, AnandRathi Shares and Stock Brokerssaid. Equity markets witnesseda sharp sell off as real rates inthe US turned positive andinvestors turned risk averseevaluating the need for a high-

er rate hike to tame inflationgoing forward, Joseph said.

Joseph further said "ele-vated crude prices and risingdomestic inflation, well aboveRBI's upper band, mightprompt further FII selling fromdomestic securities.Meanwhile, RBI's off cyclemeeting on 4th May did littleto strengthen the Rupee. Goingforward, we might see therupee spot weakening towards77.8 levels."

The dollar index, whichgauges the greenback's strengthagainst a basket of six curren-cies, was trading 0.33 per centhigher at 104, tracking risingUS yields amid fears abouthigher interest rates.

"Rupee fell to fresh all timelows on Monday as the dollarrose broadly against its majorcrosses. Last week's centralbank policy action led toheightened volatility in most ofthe currencies.

Stronger dollar and sus-tained up move in global crudeoil price is weighing on theoverall market sentiment," saidGaurang Somaiya, Forex &Bullion Analyst, Motilal OswalFinancial Services. Somaiyafurther said that this week,focus will be on inflation dataof India and the US. "We expect

the USDINR (Spot) to tradewith a positive bias and quotein the range of 77.20 and77.80."

According to JateenTrivedi, Senior ResearchAnalyst at LKP Securities,"Dollar staying above USD 104indicates FII's aggressively exit-ing from emerging markets,higher Vix indicate no trend issustainable and due to higherinflation, aggressive liquiditysqueeze from central bankspressures rupee altogether.Crude prices have also been ris-ing for a month now makingthe rupee even weaker."

"I look at the rupee con-tinuing its downward journeyas the dollar rise is a major riskto prices. A relief on the rupeefront can only be seen if thedollar index cools off," Trivedisaid. Global oil benchmarkBrent crude futures fell 1.68 percent to USD 110.50 per barrel.

The 30-share BSE Sensexended 364.91 points or 0.67 percent lower at 54,470.67, whilethe broader NSE Nifty fell109.40 points or 0.67 per centto 16,301.85. Foreign institu-tional investors remained netsellers in the capital market onMonday, as they offloadedshares worth Rs 3,361.80 crore,as per stock exchange data.

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Equity benchmarks beganthe week on a downbeat

note on Monday, weighed byheavy selling in market heavy-weight Reliance Industries andpersisting weakness in globalbourses.

The rupee plunged to itslifetime low against the US dol-lar amid unabated foreign fundoutflows, underscoring therisk-off sentiment prevailingglobally as central banksembark on policy tightening totame soaring inflation.

Slipping for the secondstraight session, the 30-shareBSE Sensex shed 364.91 pointsor 0.67 per cent to close at

54,470.67. During the day, ittanked over 900 points to53,918.02.

Similarly, the NSE Niftytumbled 109.40 points or 0.67per cent to end at 16,301.85.

Reliance Industries was thetop drag on the Sensex pack,dropping 3.97 per cent, afterthe company's March quarterearnings failed to cheerinvestors. The oil-to-telecomconglomerate had on Fridayreported a 22.5 per cent annu-al rise in net profit for theMarch quarter at Rs 16,203crore. Net profit, however, fell12.6 per cent sequentially --breaking a six-quarter chain ofquarter-on-quarter improve-ment.

IndusInd Bank, NestleIndia, Tata Steel, TechMahindra, SBI, HUL and ITCwere among the other majorlaggards, losing as much as 2.97per cent.

In contrast, PowerGrid,HCL Technologies, Infosys,Maruti, Bajaj Finserv andHDFC featured among thegainers, climbing up to 2.83 percent. "The market continued itsdownward rally amid lingeringconcerns over weakeningrupee, global interest rate hikesand tightening lockdowns inChina.

"The relentless rise in theUS dollar index owing to inter-est rate hikes and rising UStreasury yield hammeredinvestor's risk appetite. StrongUS jobs data indicated possi-bilities of faster rate hikes

forcing investors to opt forsafe-haven assets," said VinodNair, Head of Research atGeojit Financial Services. Inthe broader market, the BSEsmallcap gauge declined 1.67per cent and the midcap indexdipped 1.89 per cent. As manyas 2,416 stocks declined, 1,052advanced and 146 remainedunchanged.

Most BSE sectoral indicesended lower, with power falling2.47 per cent, followed by util-ities (2.46 per cent), energy(2.27 per cent), oil and gas (2.03per cent) and metal (1.98 per

cent). Only telecom, teck andIT ended with gains.

"Benchmark indices endedthe day's session on a negativenote. Asian stocks declined oninvestor worries that a tight-ening COVID lockdown inShanghai could hit global eco-nomic growth," said MohitNigam, Head - PMS, HemSecurities.

World stocks remainedunder pressure on growingconcerns about interest ratehikes by central banks amidstubborn inflation.

Elsewhere in Asia, marketsin Tokyo and Seoul settledlower, while Shanghai endedhigher. Markets were closed inHong Kong for a holiday.

Bourses in Europe werealso quoting lower in the after-noon session. Meanwhile,international oil benchmarkBrent crude declined 1.17 percent to USD 111 per barrel.

The rupee extended itslosses and slumped 60 paise toclose at a record low of 77.50(provisional) against the USdollar on Monday, pressured bythe strength of the Americancurrency overseas and unabat-ed foreign fund outflows.

Foreign institutionalinvestors continued their sell-ing spree, offloading sharesworth a net Rs 5,517.08 croreon Friday, according to stockexchange data.

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Life Insurance Corporation'sIPO, the country's biggest

public offer, was subscribed2.95 times on the last day ofoffer period on Monday, help-ing the government mobiliseabout Rs 21,000 crore. Against16,20,78,067 shares on offer,47,83,25,760 bids werereceived, according to dataposted on stock exchanges at 7pm.

The Qualified InstitutionalBuyers (QIBs) category wassubscribed 2.83 times. As manyas 11.20 crore bids werereceived for the 3.95 croreshares earmarked for the seg-ment.

With regard to non-insti-tutional investors (NIIs), a totalof 8,61,93,060 bids werereceived for 2,96,48,427 sharesreserved for the category,reflecting a subscription of2.91 times.

Retail individual investorsbid for 13.77 crore shares asagainst 6.9 crore shares onoffer for the segment, translat-ing into an over-subscription of1.99 times. The policyholders'portion was subscribed a littleover 6 times, while that foremployees was subscribed 4.4

times. LIC had fixed the priceband at Rs 902-949 per equityshare for the issue.

The offer includes a reser-vation for eligible employeesand policyholders. The retailinvestors and eligible employ-ees will get a discount of Rs 45per equity share, while policy-holders will get a discount ofRs 60 per share.

The government has dilut-ed 3.5 per cent stake in theinsurance behemoth throughthe Offer for Sale (OFS). LICreduced its IPO size to 3.5 percent from 5 per cent decidedearlier due to prevailing chop-py market conditions. Evenafter the reduced size of aboutRs 20,557 crore, LIC IPO is the

biggest initial public offeringever in the country. So far, theamount mobilised from IPO ofPaytm in 2021 was largest everat Rs 18,300 crore, followed byCoal India (2010) at nearly Rs15,500 crore and ReliancePower (2008) at �11,700 crore.

LIC was formed by merg-ing and nationalising 245 pri-vate life insurance companieson September 1, 1956, with aninitial capital of �5 crore.

Its product portfolio com-prises 32 individual plans (16participating and 16 non-par-ticipating) and seven individ-ual optional rider benefits.Theinsurer's group product port-folio comprises 11 group prod-ucts.

�� 5 �2

China on Mondayexpressed hope that India

will provide a "fair, just andnon-discriminatory environ-ment" to its companies as itreacted guardedly to reports oftop executives of Chinesesmartphone maker Xiaomifaced a probe by theEnforcement Directorateregarding its remittancesabroad.

"China is closely follow-ing the situation," ChineseForeign Ministry spokesmanZhao Lijian told a media brief-ing here, responding to a ques-tion on top Xiaomi executives'allegation of "physical vio-lence and coercion" by theEnforcement Directorate (ED)in its investigations into itsremittances.

"We hope India will pro-vide a fair, just, and non-dis-criminatory business envi-ronment for Chinese compa-nies, conduct investigation,and law enforcement in accor-dance with laws and regula-tions so as to increase the con-fidence of global investors,"Zhao said. He said the Chinesegovernment always asks its

companies to abide by lawsand regulations while doingbusiness overseas. "But at thesame time it firmly supportsthe Chinese companies inupholding their lawful rightsand interests," he said. Xiaomiis accused of making illegalremittances abroad "in theguise of royalty" payments.

The ED on Saturdayrejected as "baseless" the alle-gations that the statements ofXiaomi India officials, thewholly-owned subsidiary ofChinese mobile manufactur-ing company Xiaomi, wererecorded "under coercion",saying the charges were anafterthought.

The federal agency wasresponding to certain newsreports that said Xiaomialleged in a recent filing beforethe Karnataka High Courtthat its top executives werethreatened with "physical vio-lence and coercion" duringtheir questioning by ED inves-tigators in Bengaluru.

The ED issued a statementsaying it was "a professionalagency with strong work ethicsand there was no coercion orthreat to officers of the com-pany at any point of time".

��

State-owned power giantNTPC has invited bids to

procure imported 4.53 mil-lion tonnes (MT) coal mainlyfor blending with the domesticdry fuel in thermal plants.

The NTPC tender for theimport of coal assumes signif-icance in view of the ongoingdry fuel shortage at powerplants.

Earlier this month, thepower ministry had directed allthe states and gencos (electric-ity-generating firms) to importat least 10 per cent of theirrequirement of coal for blend-ing amid shortages at thermalplants.

The tender documentsshowed that NTPC has floatedthree separate tenders forprocuring 4.53 MT -- 1.5 MT,1.6MT and 1.43 MT -- ofimported coal on May 7, 2022.

The company had invitedbids to procure 4.93 MT ofimported coal last month. It hasbeen mandated to procure 20MT of imported coal in 2022-23 for blending with thedomestic dry fuel at its thermalplants because of the ongoing

shortage.The NTPC has invited bids

for procurement of 1.43 MT ofimported coal on FOR (FreightOn-Road) power station basisfor NTPC plants atVindhyachal, Rihand,Singrauli, Khargone, Dadri,Tanda and Unchahar.

The bids are also invited forthe procurement of 1.60 MT ofimported coal on a power sta-tion basis for NTPC plants atTalcher Kaniha, Farakka,Kahalgaon, Barh, Barauni,Bongaigaon, Simhadri andRamagundam.

The bids were invited forthe procurement of 1.50 MT ofimported coal to supply the dryfuel at thermal plants located atKudgi, Solapur, Sipat, Mouda,Gadarwara, Lara and KorbaPower plants.

The successful bidder willsupply the imported steamcoal sourced from identifiedmines as declared by the firmto NTPC power stations.

The bidder will alsoarrange vessels, stevedoring,handling, storage, port clear-ances, arranging railway rakes,loading, transportation anddelivery at the power stations.

��

IDBI Bank on Monday said itsboard has approved the

appointment of T NManoharan as the part-timechairman for a period of threeyears.

The bank also announcedthat M R Kumar has ceased tobe the non-executive non-whole time chairman of thebank with effect from May 8,2022, after completion of theRBI approved term of threeyears.

"Board of directors ofbankhave approved appointment ofT N Manoharan, independentdirector as part time chairmanof IDBI Bank, for a period of3 years with effect from May 9,2022, as approved by ReserveBank of India vide their letterdated May 6, 2022," IDBI Banksaid in a regulatory filing.

In terms of the Articles ofAssociation of the bank, LifeInsurance Corporation of India(LIC) vide their communica-tion dated May 7, 2022, nom-inated Raj Kumar, ManagingDirector of LIC as LIC nomi-nee director on board of bank,said lender.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi will on May 13 virtu-

ally launch the Madhya Pradeshgovernment's new startup poli-cy aimed at encouraging bud-ding entrepreneurs in the state,an official said on Monday.

A host of incentives will begiven to eligible early stage com-panies under the MadhyaPradesh government's StartupPolicy and Implementation Plan-2022, he said. The officialinformed that under the policy,monetary assistance will be givenfor paying rent for a startup'sworkplace, salaries of employees,

besides having a provision forfinancial assistance for productpatent and also reservation ingovernment purchases. "If astartup is working from a rent-ed place, then under the new pol-icy Rs 5,000 assistance per monthwill be paid under the head rentand Rs 5,000 a month salary eachfor 25 employees," the state'sMicro, Small and MediumEnterprises (MSME) secretary, PNarhari, told reporters here.

Besides, early stage ventureswill be given allowances fortraining their employees, Narharisaid. For product patents, theywill be paid an assistance of upto Rs five lakh, the senior

bureaucrat said. He clarifiedthat all financial assistance envis-aged under the new policy is inform of grants which are notrequired to be paid back to thegovernment.

"As per rules, we can pay amaximum of Rs 15 lakh asgrant to each startup recog-nized by the Centre and if theentrepreneur is a woman, thenthis amount goes up to Rs 18lakh," Narhari said. The state'sMSME minister, Om PrakashSaklecha, said the state govern-ment has prepared the newstartup policy in three monthsafter holding discussions with allstakeholders.

��

HCL Technologies UK, asubsidiary of IT services

company HCL Technologies,has signed a definitive pact foracquisition of Switzerland-based Confinale, a digital bank-ing and wealth managementconsulting specialist.

With this strategic acqui-sition, HCL will expand itsfootprint in the global wealthmanagement market withemphasis on Avaloq consulting,implementation and manage-ment capabilities, it said in astatement on Monday.Confinale, founded in 2012,focuses on IT consulting in key

areas in the banking and wealthmanagement sector. Withoffices in Switzerland, includ-ing Zurich, Zug and Geneva,and also in Düsseldorf andLondon, Confinale works witha slew of leading banks andwealth advisors.

Confinale has one of thelargest independent pools ofAvaloq-certified specialists inEurope and its in-house devel-oped products and solutionsaccelerate the implementationof the Avaloq platform. Thedigital banking and wealthmanagement specialist is one ofonly four companies to beawarded the title of AvaloqPremium Implementation

��

Gold in the national capitalon Monday dipped Rs 43

to Rs 51,227 per 10 grams andsilver also went lower by Rs 62to Rs 62,393 per kg, accordingto HDFC Securities.

In the previous trade, theprecious metal settled at Rs51,270 per 10 grams. Silverdeclined by Rs 62 to Rs 62,393per kg from Rs 62,455 per kgin the previous trade.

In the international mar-ket, gold was trading higher atUSD 1,871 per ounce and sil-ver was flat at USD 22.24 perounce. "Gold prices tradedfirm with spot gold prices atCOMEX trading 0.35 per cent

up at USD 1,871 per ounce onMonday. Gold prices heldsteady as the stronger dollarand firm US bond yields con-tinued to weigh on gold prices

keeping it in tight range belowUSD 1,900 per ounce," saidTapan Patel, Senior Analyst(Commodities), HDFCSecurities.

��

Reliance Brands Ltd (RBL)on Monday said it has

entered into a long-term fran-chise agreement with Tod'sSpA to become the officialretailer of the Italian luxurylifestyle brand for the Indianmarket.

As per the agreement, RBLis the official retailer of thebrand across all categories,including footwear, handbagsand accessories in the Indianmarket, said a joint statement.Moreover, RBL would also takeover the management of Tod'sexisting stores in India, whichis present in the country since2008 with mono-brand stores

in DLF Emporio, New Delhiand Palladium, Mumbai andmulti-brand e-commerce plat-form Ajio Luxe. "The manage-ment of existing channels willbe taken over by RBL and thefocus will be on enhancing thebrand's potential in the marketand strengthening their digitalpresence," the statement said.

Commenting on the devel-opment RBL MD DarshanMehta said Tod's has crafted aunique space for itself on theglobal luxury front. "A namethat conjures images of luxeleathers and soigne materials,we are thrilled to partner withthe brand to uphold its corevalues of exceptional quality,craftsmanship and effortless

elegance in the Indian market,"he said.

Tod's General BrandManager Carlo Alberto Berettasaid: "We are very pleased topartner with the country's lead-ing luxury retailer as we believethat our common passion forquality and a modern andsophisticated lifestyle will allowus fully to express the potentialof this important partnership".

RBL is a subsidiary ofReliance Retail Ventures Ltd,the retail arm of RelianceIndustries Ltd (RIL). It startedoperations in 2007 with a man-date to launch and build glob-al brands in luxury to premi-um segments across fashionand lifestyle.

��

The National Company LawTribunal (NCLT) has

ordered the initiation of insol-vency proceedings against BirlaTyres Ltd in a case filed bymulti-business chemicals firmSRF Ltd, an operational credi-tor of the BK Birla group firm.

A two-member Kolkatabench of the NCLT has alsoappointed Seikh Abdul Salamas Interim ResolutionProfessional (IRP) to run theoperations of the companyafter suspending the boardand also declared a moratori-um as per the procedures of theInsolvency & BankruptcyBoard (IBC). SRF had claimeda default in payment of Rs15.84 crore, which includes a

principal of Rs 10.06 croreand interest of 5.78 crore, forthe supply of Tyre Cord Fabricas of July 8, 2021.

The tribunal said it was"satisfied upon the basis of doc-uments", including pleadingsof parties as "default hasoccurred" and observed thereis no payment of the unpaidoperational debt and also thereis an admission of this by BirlaTyres, the corporate debtor."The application bearing... Filed

by SRF Ltd, the OperationalCreditor, under section 9 of theInsolvency & BankruptcyRules, 2016 for initiating CIRPagainst Birla Tyres Ltd, theCorporate Debtor, is admitted,"said an NCLT bench in itsorder passed on May 5,2022.Besides, the NCLT benchcomprising - Member(Technical) Harish Chanderand Member (Judicial) SuriRohit Kapoor - also slammedBK Birla group firm for takinga "very casual attempt" to seekadjournments in the matter.

In this matter, the NCLThad issued notice to Biral Tyreson October 20, 2021, overSRF's plea. On December 22,2021, Birla Tyres sought sometime to file a reply and soughtadjournment.

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World champion MaxVerstappen roared to anauthoritative victory forRed Bull on Sunday

when he beat Ferrari's CharlesLeclerc in sweltering conditions at acelebrity-packed inaugural MiamiGrand Prix.

The 24-year-old Dutchman tookthe lead from the pole-sittingMonegasque driver on the openinglap and remained in control through-out a largely processional contest.

He came home 3.78 secondsahead of Leclerc for his third GrandPrix win this year and the 23rd of hiscareer.

Carlos Sainz finished third in thesecond Ferrari after holding off a latecharge from Sergio Perez, on freshtyres in the second Red Bull, andGeorge Russell came home fifthahead of Mercedes team-mate seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton.

"What a race," said Verstappen,who had missed most of Friday'spractice sessions when he had a gear-box replaced after an early brush withthe barriers.

"It was nice, but it was a toughone, but really good. The team didan outstanding job - a good recov-ery we can be proud of… I think Ineed a drink and I think you need adrink!"

Valtteri Bottas finished seventh

for Alfa Romeo ahead of EstebanOcon and his Alpine team-mateFernando Alonso, with Alex Albontaking an excellent tenth forWilliams.

Leclerc made a good start to leadfrom his third pole position of theyear, but behind him Sainz struggledto resist Verstappen who forced hisway past on the outside of Turn Oneto split the Ferraris.

Hamilton locked up at Turn One,dropping to eighth after a wheel-banging clash with Alonso, but

regained a place when he passed theSpaniard at Turn 11 on lap three.

It remained close and tensethrough the opening laps, withHamilton passing Gasly for sixthbefore Verstappen passed Leclercwith ease to lead into Turn One at thestart of lap nine.

The Ferraris were strugglingwith early tyre wear and Leclerc fell2.7 seconds adrift of the Dutchmanon lap 13.

Yuki Tsunoda was the first manto pit, switching to hard tyres on lap

11, soon followed by Magnussen andSchumacher as the heat took its tollon the unforgiving surface.

Verstappen built his lead tomore than 3sec by lap18 with team-mate Perez fourth, behind the twoFerraris, ahead of Bottas and his erst-while Mercedes team-mateHamilton.

After a slow start, Russell recov-ered from 15th as his tyres came aliveand he rose to seventh by lap 20, 14seconds off Hamilton. The frontthree had pulled clear of Perez, who

grumbled his Red Bull had lostpower, as the field stretched out. Atthe end of lap 22, Hamilton pitted for'hards' and re-joined seventh, Russelltaking sixth. Bottas, still fifth, was 20seconds ahead.

Leclerc came in after 24 laps,switching to hard tyres and droppingto fourth, a move that madeVerstappen do the same, giftingSainz a lap in the lead before normalorder was restored.

The Dutchman extended hislead to eight seconds by lap 34.

$�&��.�� Russell, still on his original

medium tyres, remained fifth, awarethat a Safety Car might give him a'free' pit stop.

"Why don't we just keep going?"he asked the team as rain cloudsloomed, promising rain to enliven alargely processional affair.

His question was answered withan explosion of drama on lap 41when Norris collided with Gasly, hisMcLaren clipping the Alpha Tauri'srear right wheel and spinning into thebarriers.

He lost a wheel, but he wasunhurt and Russell pitted as a VirtualSafety Car was deployed before the

actual Safety Car intervened.Perez also pitted for fresh medi-

ums but stayed fourth whileMercedes elected not to bring inHamilton for a late charge on softsonce the racing resumed.

The final 10 laps produced muchwelcome action with Bottas, runningtoo deep into Turn 17, being passedby both Mercedes before Russellpassed Hamilton for fifth and Perez,pushing hard, trying to overtakeSainz.

Leclerc moved close toVerstappen, but was unable to passhim while Russell, told to give posi-tion back to Hamilton, was soon rac-ing past him to stay fifth.

�� 1 �

Teenager Carlos Alcaraz continued his blaz-ing rise by demolishing Alexander Zverev in

the Madrid final on Sunday and then said "I real-ly want to prove my level in a Grand Slam".

Two weeks before the start of the FrenchOpen, the young Spaniard brushed aside histhird-ranked foe 6-3, 6-1 in 62 minutes to con-tinue a run that signals tennis has a new power.

"I really want to go to Paris to win a GrandSlam, to show my level in a Grand Slam," saidAlcaraz at a press conference after winning thesecond Masters 1000 of his career.

"People are going to take me as a favourite,but I take that as motivation," added Alcaraz.

He said he will miss the Rome claycourttournament this week after injuring an ankle inbeating Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals onFriday. "This morning, because of the fallagainst Rafa, I woke up with a more swollenankle and I also had a blister that had become

infected," he said."It was a little difficult to walk, but... we were

able to do a few things to be at 100 percent forthe match."

Before the Madrid tournament last year,Alcaraz was ranked 120th in the world. OnMonday he will reach number six.

"I have five more to go to be the best in theworld," he said.

He became the youngest US Open quarter-finalist of the Open era last September, then wonhis first Masters 1000 title in Miami in earlyApril.

Victory on Sunday brought a second Masters1000 title. The only younger player to reach thatmilestone was Nadal, who won in Monte Carloand Rome when he was 18.

Alcaraz turned 19 on Thursday and over thenext two days battled past Nadal in two hoursand 28 minutes and Novak Djokovic in 3hr36min.

"I am 19 years old, which I think is the keyto be able to play long and tough matches in arow. I am feeling great physically," he said

"It feels great to be able to beat these play-ers. To beat two of the best players in history andthen Zverev, the world No 3. He is a great play-er. I would say this is the best week of my life,"he said.

Zverev had no doubt where the teenager'strajectory is heading.

"It's great to see for tennis that we have sucha new superstar who is going to win so manyGrand Slams and is going to be world no. 1," saidthe German.

The atmosphere on Sunday did not reachthe fervour of the day before, as Alcarazgrabbed control early and cruised to his quick-est victory of the week.

Even so, "it was a spectacular atmosphere,"he told the crowd at the end.

"This tournament is special for me becauseit's the first tournament I watched when I wasseven or eight," said Alcaraz.

"Watching Rafa lift this trophy so often, gaveme a lot of power to work hard for thismoment."

�� 1��

Naomi Osaka has withdrawn fromthe Italian Open in Rome to rest an

Achilles injury ahead of the FrenchOpen, the WTA said on Monday.

The four-time Grand Slam cham-pion suffered the injury in her openingmatch in Madrid earlier this month,before struggling in a second-round lossto Sara Sorribes Tormo.

"Unfortunately I'm going to have to

withdraw from Rome as the injurywhich I picked up last week in Madridhasn't healed yet," the Japanese star saidin a statement.

"It's an Achilles injury so I need tobe careful, especially in advance ofRoland Garros."

The former world number one hasnever reached the final of a clay-courttournament, but will be hoping to putthat record straight at the French Openwhich starts on May 22.

Osaka, currently ranked 38th, hasshown signs of a return to form thisyear.

The 24-year-old reached the Miami

Open final, where she lost to worldnumber one Iga Swiatek, in April.

She has been replaced in the Romedraw by Spain's Nuria Parrizas Dias.

�� 1��

World number one Iga Swiatek saidon Monday she is feeling refreshed

"mentally and physically" after missinglast week's Madrid Open to rest a soreright arm.

The Polish star is returning toaction at this week's Italian Open, hop-ing to extend her 23-match unbeatenrun.

"I just had five or six days off, with-out a racquet, which was pretty cool,"said defending Rome champion Swiatek.

"It was pretty good to have theopportunity to do something like thatbetween tournaments during the sea-son."

The 20-year-old has won her lastfour tournaments, including lifting

WTA 1000 titles at Indian Wells andMiami.

"I feel fresher. Mentally and physi-cally I was able to rest," she added.

The former French Open winnerwill open her campaign in Italy againsteither Shelby Rogers or her fellowAmerican Alison Riske in the secondround.

Swiatek is bidding to become thefirst woman to win three of the IndianWells, Miami, Madrid and Rome titlesin the same season since SerenaWilliams in 2013.

She also congratulated Tunisia'sOns Jabeur on winning the biggest titleof her career in Madrid at the weekend.

"It's really deserved. I'm really happyfor her that she managed to win a bigtitle."

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�� 1 �

Atletico Madrid won a La Liga derbyagainst Real Madrid for the first

time in six years on Sunday as a 1-0 vic-tory left Diego Simeone's side on thecusp of securing Champions Leaguequalification.

Yannick Carrasco's first-half penal-ty proved enough at the WandaMetropolitano against a heavily weak-ened Real Madrid, who took the chanceto rotate after their incredibleChampions League comeback againstManchester City on Wednesday.

With Karim Benzema, Luka Modricand Thibaut Courtois among those onthe bench for the already-crownedchampions, Atletico took advantage,even if they missed a string of chancesthat made the contest far more uncom-fortable than it needed to be.

Atletico sit fourth, six points clearof Real Betis in fifth, with three gamesleft to play. Their better head-to-headrecord over Betis means they will beguaranteed to finish in the top four ifBetis fail to win away at Valencia onTuesday. If Betis beat Valencia, Atleticocan make sure of their spot themselves

by winning away at Elche on Wednesday.Sevilla's place also looks almost

sealed after a 1-1 draw away at Villarrealearlier on Sunday gave them a seven-point cushion over Betis.

Atletico had not beaten Real Madridin La Liga since 2016 and not at homesince 2015, while their last eight gamesin all competitions against their cityrivals had brought two goals and no vic-

tories.Ending that run will certainly bring

much satisfaction to Atletico's fans andplayers but the bigger relief will beChampions League qualification, whichhas been in doubt for the duration ofwhat has been an inconsistent and dis-appointing campaign.

Atletico's greater intensity showedin the first half as Angel Correa drovean early shot wide after a poor pass fromCamavinga allowed Geoffrey Kondogbiato rob Kroos before Carrasco weavedthrough but flashed wide.

The opening goal came from anoth-er misplaced pass, this time from MarcoAsensio in midfield, and as MatheusCunha bore down on goal, he wassqueezed out between Vallejo andMilitao.

Atletico wanted a penalty and whilethe referee initially waved away appeals,he changed his mind after consulting thereplay, with Vallejo deemed culpable.Carrasco slammed in the spot-kick.

Atletico missed chances to kill thegame as Carrasco fired over after NachoFernandez gave the ball away and thenanother Camavinga error gave Cunha achance but his effort was saved.

�� 4�1��

Sandro Tonali fired AC Milancloser to the Serie A title with

a brace in Sunday's 3-1 win atVerona which maintained theirtwo-point lead over Inter Milanat the top of the league.

Italy midfielder Tonalistruck with almost identicalgoals created by Rafael Leaoeither side of half-time beforeAlessandro Florenzi completedthe scoring near the end to leaveMilan needing four points fromtheir final two games to claim afirst Scudetto since 2011.

Their superior record inthis season's Milan derbies givesthe seven-time European cham-pions an advantage which wouldkeep them ahead of championsInter should the two local rivalsend the season level on points.

"I'm in love with my play-ers," said coach Stefano Pioli toDAZN. "I see the effort they putin every day and I know thejourney we've been on... we'vegot to keep this concentration,determination and belief in thefinal two games."

Milan overcame the tough-est test of their run-in againstninth-placed Verona and nowhost Europe-chasing Atalantanext weekend before travellingto Sassuolo on the closing week-end of what has been anenthralling campaign.

Inter meanwhile are inSardinia on Sunday against aCagliari team fighting for itsSerie A life, with their finalopponents Sampdoria and thesmall matter of the Italian Cupfinal against Juventus onWednesday further complicatingmatters.

Tonali's double was the sec-ond time in three matches he hasbeen crucial to Milan's titlecharge after also netting a latewinner at Lazio a fortnight ago.

The 22-year-old thought hehad opened the scoring in the15th minute when he racedonto a long ball from goalkeep-er Mike Maignan and slottedpast Lorenzo Montipo, only forthe wild celebrations amongthe large contingent of away fansto be cut short by a tight offsideruling via VAR.

After also going closethrough Davide Calabria Milanfans started thinking about aStadio Bentedgodi hoodoo --they have thrown away twoleague titles at Verona in the past-- six minutes before the breakwhen Davide Faraoni finishedoff a beautiful Verona move bynodding home Darko Lazovic'sfloated cross.

However Tonali had adeserved goal deep into first-halfstoppage time when after Leaoburst into the box he met thePortugal attacker's pass andpushed in the equaliser.

It galvanised Milan whowere in front shortly after therestart thanks to a carbon copyeffort, the only real differencebeing that Leao's low pass forTonali's second was with his leftfoot. From then on Milan werein almost complete control andFlorenzi made sure Milan con-tinued their charge for a firstleague crown since 2011 whenhe exchanged passes withJunior Messias before riflinghome his second Serie A goalof the season.

��,��1

Manchester City managerPep Guardiola doesn't

expect Ruben Dias to be availablefor the rest of the season after amuscular injury forced thedefender's halftime withdrawalfrom Sunday's 5-0 win overNewcastle United. If Guardiola iscorrect, Dias will join fellowdefenders John Stones and Kyle

Walker in missing the final threematches of City's title bid.

"Three more points. Threegames left and one competitionto play. And big problems behindbecause we have just threedefenders for these three games,"Guardiola said after City movedthree points clear atop thePremier League table. MidfielderFernandinho, 37, entered as Dias'replacement at center-back.

��

Afrustrated Lewis Hamiltonquestioned his Mercedes

team's strategy on Sunday after hefinished sixth behind team-mateGeorge Russell at the MiamiGrand Prix.

After the fifth race of theyear, Hamilton is sixth in the dri-vers' standings on 36 points, withfellow Briton fourth on 59.

The seven-time world cham-pion said he was surprised to beasked if he wanted to pit for freshtyres during a Safety Car periodafter 41 laps of the inaugural 67-lap race at the Miami InternationalAutodrome, won by MaxVerstappen.

"I really don't know, in thatscenario I have no clue where

everyone is," he explained whenasked about the incident.

"When the team say 'it's yourchoice' -- I don't have the informa-tion to make the decision.

"That's what your job is! Makethe decision for me. You've got allthe details right there in front ofyou. I don't.

"That's what you rely on theguys for, but today they gave it tome and I didn't understand it."

The team decided not to pitHamilton.

"It's just a bit unfortunate onthe Safety Car, but at least we gotpoints today," he said.

"We're finishing and reliabili-ty is good. We just have to keeptrying. I'm excited to, at one stage,take a step forward, which wehaven't yet."

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On a slippery slope afterback-to-back losses,

Gujarat Titans will need theirbatters to fire when they takeon high-flying Lucknow SuperGiants as both teams look toseal IPL play-offs berth here onTuesday. The two new entrantsare having a dream run in theirmaiden season. While Gujaratled the points table for mostpart of the league, Lucknowmoved ahead of them to takethe top spot. The HardikPandya-led Gujarat side's win-ning streak came to an endwith back-to-back lossesagainst Punjab Kings andMumbai Indians last week.

Both teams have 16 pointseach from 11 outings and a winfor either of them will confirmthe passage to the next stage.

LSG, who have won theirlast four games, would be brim-ming with confidence as theyhead to the fixture with amorale-boosting 75-run winover Kolkata Knight Riders.

KL Rahul has led from thefront and the opener is the sec-ond highest run scorer in thetournament, collecting 451runs from 11 games with twohundreds and as many fifties.

The team has relied heav-ily on him to get the job donewith the bat. But the likes ofQuinton de Kock and DeepakHooda have taken moreresponsibility in the recentgames which will definitely

take the pressure off Rahul.Their bowling unit has

been right on mark. While LSGwere able to defend 153 againstPunjab Kings, they polished offKKR for just 101, with pacersAvesh Khan and Jason Holderproving to be too hot to han-dle for the former champions.

Pacers Mohsin Khan (5.35)and Sri Lanka's DushmanthaChameera (7.90) have bowledeconomically as has KrunalPandya (6.64), while Ravi

Bishnoi (8.23) and Avesh (8.14)have been a tad expensive. Butthe bowling unit has oftenfound a way to get over the line.

Gujarat's stellar run in theIPL can be attributed to theirability to come back fromtough situations. They had dif-ferent players winning gamesfor them but that was not thecase against MI when theyfailed to get nine runs off thelast over in what should havebeen an easy run chase.

The batting departmentneeds to be more consistent.The top order batters havefailed to take their inningsdeep.

�� 4 ��

Rishabh Pant's on-field deci-sions as Delhi Capitals cap-

tain in the ongoing IPL mighthave come under the scanner offormer players but the wicket-keeper has got the "full backing"of head coach Ricky Ponting,who says "it's easy to make judg-ment from outside".

Under Pant, DC have wonjust five of the 11 matches theyhave played so far. They suffereda 91-run thrashing at the handsof Chennai Super Kings onSunday.

Pant's bowling changes andselection of bowlers to bowl atcrucial periods of matches havebeen criticised by former play-ers like Virender Sehwag.

But Ponting, a formerAustralia and Mumbai Indianscaptain, said he fully backsevery decision Pant takes on thefield.

"I fully back every decisionhe (Pant) takes on the field. Ibeing a T20 captain before, Iknow you don't have a lot oftime to think about especiallyunder extreme pressure,"Ponting said at the post-matchpress conference after DC's 91-run loss to CSK.

"It is easy to make judg-ments from outside but trust mewhen you are in the middle it isnot an easy thing to do."

Elaborating on the decision-making process of a captain, thelegendary batter said, "A captainmakes decisions in a very shorttime and the decision he takeshe thinks is the best for the teamat that given time of the match.

"He takes things like bound-ary size and batsmen at thecrease into account when hetakes those decisions."

He, however, admitted thathis side fared poorly in alldepartments of the game in the

loss against CSK."Our bowling was not up to

the mark, similarly our battingwas very very poor. There werenot many positives to take fromthe match. The only positivewas Khaleel Ahmed, he wasoutstanding with the ball again,"Ponting said. "To lose by 91runs, it will put a huge dent inour net run-rate. It means weneed to bounce back reallystrongly in our next game."Ponting said DC can still makethe play-offs with wins in all theremaining three matches.

"We would think we canmake the play-offs with three

wins. Eight wins might beenough to get in and one bigwin might help our net run rate.Who knows we can be in thefinal.

"That is what we can thinkof, what happened has hap-pened and we would want tolook to the future and look fora rebound from a bad perfor-mance."

DC have been facing issuesrelated to COVID-19 with a netbowler testing positive for thevirus just before the CSK matchon Sunday. Some of their play-ers and support staff, as well asPonting's family member, hadalso contracted the virus lastmonth.

"That's not an excuse for us.It's not the first time that we'vehad to deal with it on game day.In one of the earlier gamesagainst Punjab Kings we had todeal with the same thing andended up winning that gamereally comfortably," he said.

"We are going to makeexcuses and we are going to findsolutions for the problems weare facing. Although it wasn'tideal preparation, we shouldhave played better cricket. At theend of the day, we let ourselvesdown."

�� 4 ��

Coming down the trackand hitting spinners over

the ropes was not his biggeststrength but CSK openerDevon Conway tried it withgreat success on captain

Mahendra Singh Dhoni'sadvice in the win against DCin the IPL.

After helping CSK to91-run win with a 49-ball 87,laced with seven fours andfive sixes, Conway revealedthat Dhoni's advice on han-

��

Reigning national championsSharath Kamal and Sreeja

Akula were on Monday namedin the 16-member probableslist for the BirminghamCommonwealth Games, sched-uled to be held in July-August.

SD Mudgil, member of theDelhi High Court-appointedCommittee of Administratorsrunning the suspended TableTennis Federation of India(TTFI), said that the finalsquad will be announced aftercompletion of the trainingcamp from May 23 to May 30.

In a first, the training campwill be held at Padukone-Dravid Centre for SportsExcellence in Bengaluru.

"After their meetings onApril 25, May 1 and May 2, theselectors shortlisted the prob-ables for the upcomingCommonwealth Games.

"The list was finalised afterwatching the players at thenational championships inShillong, detailed deliberationsand discussions on past perfor-mance and medal prospects,"said Mudgil, who is a former

athlete himself."We want to take the game

to every nook and corner of thecountry. Our focus is also onmaking the administrationtransparent. The CoA, headedby retired Justice Gital Mittalhas been very proactive on thatfront. "The performance ofour athletes have also beenencouraging of late. They giveus a lot of hope going into theCWG and Asian Games (nowpostponed) and Olympics2024," said Mudgil.

Earlier this month, Indianplayers including star womanpaddler Manika Batra mademassive gains in the ITTFworld rankings after the sport'sgoverning body approvedchanges to the points system.

Manika attained a career-high singles ranking of 38 witha jump of 10 spots while GSathiyan was the best placedIndian male at 34.

Veteran Sharath, who wonhis 10th national title inShillong, also gained a place tobe world no 37 while SreejaAkula, who won her maidennational title, gained as manyas 39 places to be ranked 68th.

�� 20�0

The Indian men's badmintonteam notched its second

successive win with a 5-0thrashing of Canada in a grouptie to qualify for the knock-outround of the Thomas Cup hereon Monday.

With its second impressiveresult, the Indian team, whichdefeated Germany 5-0 onSunday, is certain to finish inthe top-2 in Group C and thusqualify for the knock-outround.

World ChampionshipsSilver medallist KidambiSrikanth fought back from agame down to beat Brian Yang20-22, 21-11, 21-15 in 52 min-utes to give India the lead.

The doubles pair ofSatwiksairaj Rankireddy andChirag Shetty then needed just29 minutes to beat JasonAnthony Ho-Shue and KevinLee before world number 23 HS Prannoy easily won his sin-gles match against B RSankeerth 21-15, 21-12 tomake it 3-0 and clinch the tiefor India.

The second doubles pair ofKrishna Prasad Garaga andVishnuvardhan Goud Panjala

was also too good for the duoof Dong Adam and Nyl Yakurain the match that the Indianswon 21-15, 21-11 in 34 min-utes.

The route was completedwhen Priyanshu Rajawat beatVictor Lal in three games, 21-13, 20-22, 21-14 in the thirdmen's singles which lasted 52minutes. The Indian men'steam is searching for its maid-en medal at the tournament.

No Indian men's team has everreached the semifinals of theThomas Cup.

The Indian team will playits final group C match againstChinese Taipei on Wednesday.

The Indian women's teamhad also begun its Uber Cupcampaign on a resoundingnote with a 4-1 win againstCanada on Sunday. It will faceUSA on Tuesday and Korea onWednesday.

��

Veteran dragflickerRupinder Pal Singh, who

recently came out of retire-ment, will lead a second-stringIndian men's hockey team inthe Asia Cup, scheduled to beheld in Jakarta from May 23 toJune 1.

The 20-member Indianteam will have vice-captain inBirendra Lakra, who too hasreturned from retirement.

Part of India's Bronzemedal-winning team at theTokyo Games, both Rupinderand Lakra had announced theirretirements after the Olympicsbut made themselves availablefor selection later on.

Asia Cup is a World Cupqualifier but India, being thehosts, have a confirmed entryin the big-ticket event, whichwill be held in January nextyear. The top-3 teams in AsiaCup will qualify for the WorldCup. Defending championsIndia have been clubbed alongside Japan, arch-rivals Pakistanand hosts Indonesia in Pool A,while Malaysia, Korea, Omanand Bangladesh have beengrouped in Pool B.

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Lead Mumbai Indianspacer Jasprit Bumrahpicked up his maiden

five-wicket haul in IPL histo-ry to restrict Kolkata KnightRiders to 165/9 despite fineknocks from Venkatesh Iyerand Nitish Rana here onMonday.

KKR openers VenkateshIyer (43 off 24 balls) andAjinkya Rahane (25 off 24balls) added 60 runs in just 5.4overs after they were put intobat their team failed to capi-talise on that promising start.

Nitish Rana blazed hisway to a 26-ball 43, withthree boundaries and foursixes, but it was Bumrah(5/10), who took five wicketsin two overs, to put the brakeson KKR, who suffered a mid-dle-order collapse.

In the 15th over, Bumrahremoved Andre Russell (9)and Rana and then clinchedthree wickets -- SheldonJackson (5), Pat Cummins (0)and Sunil Narine (0), in the18th over, a maiden, to bringMI back into the game.

Iyer smashed threeboundaries and four sixes,but perished in the sixth over,giving a sitter to Daniel Samsat point, with spinner KumarKartikeya Singh (2/32) gettinghis first wicket.

Iyer was brutal on spinnerMurugan Ashwin (1/35), hit-ting him for his first maxi-mum, a pull shot and thenhammered a boundary.

The southpaw then wal-

loped his second six overdeep mid-wicket, off DanielSams (1/26), as KKR raced to

26/0 after three overs. Hethen targeted Riley Meredith(0/35), hammering him for

boundary and a six, a scoopshot, in the fifth over whereKKR amassed 17 runs.

Mumbai bowlers conced-ed only 23 runs from overs 7-10.

Kartikeya cleaned upRahane, with a full deliverythat turned in as the openerwas beaten while attempting areverse-sweep.

After Rahane's dismissal,Rana upped the ante andlaunched into Kartikeya, hit-ting him for two successivesixes, one over long-on. Hethen tore into Kieron Pollard,hammering two sixes and aboundary, in the 13th over,where the side got 17 runs.

But then it was Bumrah,who wreaked havoc with theball and firmly brought MIback into the contest.

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BUMRAH HOLDS KKR TO 165-9

dling spinners helped himscore his third straight half-century this season.

"I have got to give credit toMS actually," Conway said afterthe match.

"In the last game, I sweptquite a lot, and I unfortunate-ly got out playing the sweep.But he (Dhoni) told me 'Ithink the guys are going to tryto bowl fuller to you tonight. Somaybe come out and try to hitthem straight.'

"He sort of gave me theguideline to try to executethat," the New Zealander said.

Conway, who has scored anunbeaten 85 and 56 in earliergames, usually plays the sweepshot against spin but was dis-missed when he attempted oneagainst leg-spinner WaninduHasaranga in CSK's last gameagainst Royal ChallengersBangalore.

Against DC, he not onlyswept and reverse-swept butalso charged at the DC bowlersto hit them down the ground.In all, he stepped down to hitfour balls from spinners AxarPatel and Kuldeep Yadav and

all went for sixes.Another CSK stalwart who

has been helping Conway isassistant coach and formerAustralia batter Mike Husseywith whom the Kiwi chatsbefore matches.

"I think I've heard that afew times now, which is quitegood," Conway said at thepost-match conference on peo-ple comparing him withHussey.

"To get compared to one ofthe greats, Mike Hussey... It'spretty special to be possibly inthat bracket. "He's got so muchknowledge, so much experi-ence. Not only in the IPL, butthroughout the world. It's justvery important for me as aplayer to continue talking tohim and learning from him andjust getting some guidelineswhen I need it." The 30-year-old right-handed batter, whohas played seven Tests, threeODIs and 20 T20Is since mak-ing his debut in 2021, said hewants to keep things simple."For me, the key is to keep verysimple, and authentic myself asa player"

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