Sena rebels get 14-day reprieve by SC on disqualification notice

PIONEER NEWS SERVICE nNEW DELHI

The disqualification pro-ceedings against Shiv Sena’s

rebel MLAs will be kept inabeyance till July 11, and therewill not be any stay on the floortest during this period, theSupreme Court ruled onMonday in what is seen as amajor setback for the embattledUddhav Thackeray -led allianceGovernment.

The top court said therebels may file replies to thedisqualification notices issuedby the Deputy Speaker of theMaharashtra Assembly till 5.30pm on July 12.

The court also soughtresponses to pleas by rebelMLAs questioning the legalityof notices seeking their dis-qualification.

A vacation bench ofJustices Surya Kant and JBPardiwala, however, refused topass any interim order on theplea by Senior advocateDevdutt Kamat, who appearedfor the MVA Government, thatthere should not be any floortest in the Assembly and saidthey can always approach it incase of illegality.

“We can’t pass an order onthe floor test as that would cre-ate unnecessary complications.If anything illegal happens,you can always move thiscourt,” said the SC while refus-ing to pass an interim order.

The court directed theMaharashtra Government toprotect the life, liberty, andproperty of 39 rebel Shiv SenaMLAs and their family members.

While issuing the notice tothe Maharashtra DeputySpeaker, the top court directedhim to put on affidavit therecords of no trust noticeserved upon him by the rebelMLAs who have relied upon onthe Nabam Rebia judgment todrive home the point that hecannot proceed with the dis-qualification proceedings whenthe resolution seeking his ownremoval is pending.

“Meanwhile as an interimmeasure, the time granted bythe Deputy Speaker of theAssembly to the petitioners orother similarly placed Membersof the Legislative Assembly tosubmit their written submis-sions up to today by 5.30 pm isextended till July 12, 2022,” theapex court said.

The top court, while post-

ing the matter for furtherhearing on July 11, said itwants the status quo to con-tinue till it balances compet-ing claims made by the rivalSena camps.

The top court also record-ed the statement ofMaharashtra’s counsel that ade-quate steps have been taken toprotect the life and property ofrebel MLAs.

Shinde and 15 other rebelShiv Sena MLAs have movedthe SC challenging the dis-qualification notices issued bythe Deputy Speaker under theTenth Schedule of Constitutionon grounds including defec-tion. Besides Shinde, the other15 MLAs are Bharat Gogawale,Prakash R Surve, TanhajiJaywant Savant, Mahesh SShinde, Abdul Sattar,Sandeepan A Bhumre, SanjayP Sirhsat, Yamini Y Jadhav, AnilK Babar, Latabai C Sonawane,Ramesh N Bornare, Sanjay BRaimulkar, Chimanrao R Patil,Balaji D Kalyankar and BalajiP Kinilkar.

At the outset, senior advo-cate Neeraj Kishan Kaul,appearing for Shinde and otherSena rebel MLAs, submittedthat the Deputy Speaker cannotproceed with the disqualifica-tion proceedings when the res-olution seeking his removal ispending.

Sena rebels get 14-day reprieveby SC on disqualification notice

PIONEER NEWSSERVICE/AGENCIES nNEW DELHI/ELMAU(GERMANY)

Prime Minister NarendraModi on Monday said

India’s contribution to pro-tecting climate is noteworthyand urged wealthy nations,including the G7, to invest inresearch in producing cleanenergy due to the huge marketin India.

Underlining various effortsmade by the country in pro-tecting climate, Modi also said17 per cent of the world’s pop-ulation resides in India. “But,our contribution to global car-bon emissions is only 5 percent. The main reason behindthis is our lifestyle, which isbased on the theory of coexis-tence with nature,” he said in aneffort to dispel the notion thatpoor people cause more dam-age to the environment.

Earlier, Modi met USPresident Joe Biden, CanadianPrime Minister Justin Trudeauand French PresidentEmmanuel Macron at the G7summit in Germany.

He arrived at the G7 annu-al summit, where he was wel-comed by German chancellorOlaf Scholz. The Group ofSeven comprises the US, theUK, France, Italy, Japan,Canada and the EuropeanUnion. The annual summitmay also discuss the ongoingconflict in Ukraine.

Addressing the session on

“Investing in a better Future:Climate, Energy, Health” at theG7 Summit, the PrimeMinister said India’s dedica-tion to climate commitmentsis evident from our perfor-mance.

“We have achieved the tar-get of 40 per cent energy-capacity from non-fossilsources 9 years before time.The target of 10 per centethanol-blending in petrol hasbeen achieved 5 months beforetime. India has the world’s firstfully solar power operated air-port. India’s huge railway sys-tem will become net zero inthis decade,” he said.

With India constantlyachieving its goals, the PrimeMinister said, “We hope thatthe rich countries of G7 willsupport India’s efforts. Today,

a huge market for clean ener-gy technologies is emerging inIndia. The G7 countries caninvest in research, innovation,and manufacturing in thisfield.”

He said the scale thatIndia can provide for every newtechnology can make thattechnology affordable for thewhole world. The core theoriesof the circular economy havebeen an integral part of Indianculture and lifestyle.

The Prime Ministerstressed on the need for equi-table access to energy and saidthis should not be the privilegeof the rich only — a poor fam-ily also has the same rights onenergy. He also said he calledfor a movement called LIFE —Lifestyle for Environment — inGlasgow last year.

Court asks MLAsto file reply to DySpeaker; rejectsMaha Govt plea for no floor test

ALT NEWS’ ZUBAIR HELDFOR RELIGIOUS HATRED New Delhi: Fact-checkingwebsite Alt News co-founder Mohammad Zubair was arrestedby the Delhi Police on Mondayin connection with one of hisrecent tweets that had aquestionable image with apurpose to deliberately insult the god of a particular religion,the Cyber Cell DCP said.

MALAYALAM ACTOR NDPRASAD FOUND HANGINGChennai: Popular Malayalamactor ND Prasad, aged 43, wasfound hanging from a treeoutside his house inKalamassery near Kochi onJune 25.

MONSOON AROUND THECORNER IN DELHI New Delhi: The monsoon isjust a few days away from Delhi and is expected to yieldgood rainfall in the first 10 days, weather experts said onMonday. Delhi has received just72.5 mm of rainfall since March1 this year against the normal of107.3 mm.

CAPSULE

Prime Minister Narendra Modi with USA President Joe Biden and Prime Ministerof Canada Justin Trudeau at G7 Summit in Germany on Monday PTI

India contributesjust 5% to globalcarbon emission,asserts Modi

94.2k aspirants viefor IAF Agnipath; 8days left for listing

Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut leaves from Shiv Sena Bhawan after a press conferenceat Dadar in Mumbai on Monday PTI

STAFF REPORTER n BHOPAL

Twenty one-year-oldLakshika Dagar fromMadhya Pradesh’s Ujjain,

created a record after winningthe three-tier panchayat elec-tions and becoming theyoungest Sarpanch (head of avillage) in Madhya Pradesh.Coincidentally, Lakshika wonthe title of being the youngestfemale sarpanch of MadhyaPradesh, a day ahead of herbirthday.

Dagar, who holds a PostGraduate Diploma in MassCommunication, has workedas a radio jockey in Ujjain.“After filing the nominationpapers, my aim was to workfor the development of the vil-lage,” said Dagar talking abouther motivation behind con-testing the election.

“It has been promised inthe manifesto that the problem

of drinking water, drain, andstreet light has to be solved inthe village. Along with this, thepromise of getting the benefitof a housing scheme for thehomeless families of the villagewill be fulfilled,” she added.

For the post of Sarpanch inChintaman Jawasia gram pan-chayat, eight women candi-dates from the village were infray. Lakshika was theyoungest among the candi-dates who defeated her near-est rival by 487 votes.

Youngest woman becomesSarpanch in Ujjain district

Invest in clean energy researchin big market India: PM to G7

PNS n NEW DELHI

The EnforcementDirectorate (ED) has sum-

moned Shiv Sena MP SanjayRaut on Tuesday for question-ing in a money launderingprobe linked to the re-devel-opment of a Mumbai chawland other related financialtransactions involving his wifeand associates.

The agency has asked theRajya Sabha member to deposebefore the ED’s office in southMumbai and record his state-ment under the Prevention ofMoney Laundering Act.

The development comes inthe wake of a group of ShivSena MLAs turning rebelagainst the party, putting aquestion mark on the future ofMaharashtra’s Maha VikasAghadi (MVA) Government.Rebel Shiv Sena legislators,who were first taken to Surat,are now camping in Guwahati.

In April, the ED had pro-visionally attached assets worthover `11.15 crore of SanjayRaut’s wife Varsha Raut and

two of his associates as part ofthis investigation.

The attached propertiesare in the form of land held byPravin M Raut, Sanjay Raut’saide and a former director ofGuru Ashish Construction PvtLtd, at Palghar, Saphale (townin Palghar) and Padgha (inThane district).

The attached propertiesalso include a flat in Mumbai’ssuburb Dadar held by VarshaRaut and eight plots at Kihimbeach in Alibaug jointly held byVarsha Raut and SwapnaPatkar, wife of Sujit Patkar, theED said in a statement.

According to the ED, Sujitis a close associate of SanjayRaut. The agency wants toquestion Sanjay Raut to knowabout his “business and otherlinks” with Pravin Raut andPatkar and also about theproperty deals involving hiswife.

After arresting Pravin Rautin February, the ED had said heappears to be “acting as afront” or in collusion withsome influential person(s).

Amid MVA Govt crisis,ED summon to Raut inmoney laundering case

Shinde cosies up to RajTN RAGHUNATHA n MUMBAI

In a new dimension to therebellion-triggered crisis

within the ruling Shiv Sena, theSena’s breakaway rebel factionleader Eknath Shinde hasestablished contact with MNSchief Raj Thackeray apparent-ly with an eye on the emergingpolitical situation in generaland forthcoming elections toBrihanmumbai, Thane, NaviMumbai and Aurangabad inparticular.

Informed sources withinthe MNS camp said that Shindetelephoned Raj twice duringthe last few days to enquireabout his health and also dis-cuss the political situation inthe State.

Raj — who was dischargedfrom Lilavati Hospital on June25 after a hip replacementsurgery and has been keenlyobserving the political devel-opments during the last oneweek — spoke to Shinde atlength on both the occasions.

Despite the fact that theMNS has just one MLA in theState Assembly, its importanceshould be seen in the light ofthe fact that it is an established

regional political party with anelection symbol (that of a rail-way engine) and a decent basein the urban areas of the State.

The telephonic interac-tions should be seen in the lightof the fact that it will take sometime before Shinde registers anew party and gets an electionsymbol of his own and at somestage, he might consider a pro-posal to merge his outfit withan established political party.

Going by the available indi-cations, the Shinde-led rebelSena faction — which claims toenjoy the support of 39 out ofthe total 55 Sena MLAs in theState — will eventually joinhands with the Opposition toform a government in theState.

Apart from sharing powerwith the BJP in the State, theShinde faction wants to expandits base in Mumbai, neigh-bouring Thane, Navi Mumbaiand other parts of the State. Inpursuit of expanding its base,the Shinde faction needs thehelp of the MNS which RajThackeray — an erstwhile ShivSena leader — founded onJune 9, 2006 after staging arebellion against his cousin

and Sena president UddhavThackeray, and resigning fromthe Shiv Sena.

The MNS won as many as13 out of the 288 seats in the2009 Assembly polls. The MNSwon won 28 seats in the 2012BMC polls, as against the 75seats won by the Sena and 32seats won by its ally, the BJP.

It may be recalled that theBMC polls held in 2017 hadthrown up a hung house. TheShiv Sena had emerged as thesingle largest party with 84seats in the 227-member BMC,followed by BJP- 82, Congress-31, NCP- 9, MNS- 7 and oth-ers-14. During the first two anda half years in power, the ShivSena increased its strength to94 by inducting among othersseven corporators from theMNS.

The MNS’ importanceshould be seen in the contextof the fact that the OppositionBJP has been cosying up to RajThackeray with an eye on theBMC polls scheduled to be heldin September-October 2022.

No wonder that even therebel Sena camp is gettingcloser to the MNS for its ownreasons.

Opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha files his nomination papers for presidential election in the presence of Congress leadersRahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge, and other Opposition leaders at Parliament House in New Delhi on Monday PTI

PNS n NEW DELHI

Within just four days of thestart of registration

process for Agnipath defencerecruitment scheme, the IndianAir Force (IAF) has received asmany as 94,281 applications forthe short-term military job.

“A total of 94,281 AgniveerVayu aspirants have registeredtill 10.30 am (Monday).Registration closes on July 5,”Defence MinistrySpokesperson A BharatBhushan Babu said on Twitter.

Till Sunday, the IAF hadreceived 56,960 applicationsunder the scheme.

After the scheme wasunveiled on June 14, violentprotests against the schemerocked several States for near-ly a week and several

Opposition parties demandedits rollback.

Under the scheme, theGovernment had announcedthat youths between the ages of17-and-a-half and 21 yearswould be inducted for a four-year tenure. Twenty-five percent of them will be subse-quently inducted for regularservice.

On June 16, theGovernment increased theupper age limit for recruit-ment under the scheme to 23years from 21 for the year2022, and subsequentlyannounced a slew of placato-ry steps like a preference forAgniveers in recruitment intothe Central paramilitaryforces and defence public sec-tor undertakings upon theirretirement.

MONIKA MALIK n CHANDIGARH

Delivering on its pre-pollpromises, the Aam

Aadmi Party (AAP)Government in Punjab onMonday announced a slew ofdecisions, including providing

300 units of free electricity tohouseholds from July 1, set-ting up of 117 MohallaClinics, launching much-talked-about Farishteyscheme to help the accidentvictims, introducing “PunjabYoung Entrepreneur

Programme” for Class XI stu-dents, and upgrading 100schools as “schools of emi-nence” in the State.

Presenting the State Budgetfor 2022-23, Punjab FinanceMinister Harpal Singh Cheemaon Monday also announcedinitiatives like setting up theChief Minister’s field offices inall districts, “Lok Milni”, annu-al awards for best districts andsub-divisions.

“Good governance modelhas eight major characteris-tics...participatory, consensus-oriented, accountable, trans-parent, responsive, effectiveand efficient, equitable andinclusive, and follows the ruleof law. I assure the people ofPunjab that the AAPGovernment would deliver onthese all eight characteristics,”said Cheema while presentingthe budget proposals.

Punjab Govt delivers on poll promises:Free power, Mohalla Clinics, Farishtey

Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema presents the state budget for theyear 2022-23 in Punjab Assembly in Chandigarh on Monday PTI

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Late City Vol.19 Issue 175*Air Surcharge Extra if Applicable

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Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan addressing the felicitation ceremony of the representatives who formed SamrasPanchayats through unopposed election at the Chief Minister’s residence premises in Bhopal on Monday. Pioneer photo

BHOPAL | TUESDAY | JUNE 28, 2022


Continuous action isbeing taken by theurban traffic police

against dangerous driving.Under this, the parents havebeen fined by the court fordriving the vehicle by theminors.

In one case the modifiedsilencer bullet was being dri-ven by a minor which wascausing noise pollution. Afine of Rs 26,000 was imposedby the traffic police for pre-senting the case before thecourt.

Similarly, in the secondcase, the minor who was dri-ving the motorcycle withthree passengers Rs 10,500has been fined by the courtfor presenting the matter inthe court.

Urban Traffic PoliceBhopal requests the parents tokeep a check on the unau-thorized driving of their pals.Allow them to drive the vehi-cle only after full safetyequipment and fulfillment of

statutory requirements.A special campaign is

being run by the UrbanTraffic Police, Bhopal fromApril 30, 2022 against thevehicles fitted with modifiedsilencers and the drivers dri-

ving under theinfluence of alco-hol.

In this cam-paign, 869 vehi-cles fitted withm o d i f i e dsilencers and 418drunken drivershave been pre-sented for redres-sal in the courtafter taking actionunder the MotorVehicle Act.

Under this, 26vehicles of modi-fied silencer and

28 vehicles have been confis-cated for driving under theinfluence of alcohol and forthe action taken on 25th and26th June 2022. whose casesare being presented in thecourt.

Urban traffic police taking actions on dangerousdriving, parents fined for minors driving vehicles


Chief Minister ShivrajSingh Chouhan has saidthat drug de-addiction

campaign should be launchedin Samras Panchayats. A spe-cial reward of Rs 2 lakh will begiven to a drug-free village.

To make the village drug-free, an environment should becreated through mutual dia-logue and various inspirationalactivities. We must ensure thatour Panchayats are ‘BetiFriendly’. In all Panchayatsincluding Samaras Panchayats,more respect, honor and dig-nity of daughters must beensured. Sons and daughtersmust be treated equally.

Anyone who casts an evileye on a mother, sister ordaughter will not be spared.Samras Panchayats have to setan example in the whole coun-try by their work. Public ser-

vice, development of the vil-lage, systematic and result-oriented operation of angan-wadi, school, panchayat, com-munity building should be ourpriority. Let us ensure that nochild remains malnourished inour Panchayat.

Chouhan was addressingthe felicitation ceremony of therepresentatives who formedSamras Panchayats throughunopposed election in theChief Minister’s residencepremises. Chouhan thankedthe villagers for electing thePanchayat representativesunopposed.

The Chief Minister inau-gurated the programme bylighting the lamp and per-forming Kanya Pujan with asong dedicated to womenempowerment. Chouhan wel-comed the Panchayat repre-sentatives who came to his res-idence with flower shower.

Panchayat and RuralDevelopment MinisterMahendra Singh Sisodia, MPRamakant Bhargava, formerMinister RamkrishnaKusmaria, MLA SitaramAdivasi and public represen-tatives were present. Chouhanwas felicitated by the sarpanch-es in the programme. SushriJagriti Singh Judev, unopposedelected Sarpanch of UmardhaGram Panchayat, BankhediTehsil of Narmadapuram dis-trict and Amit Chauhan, elect-ed unopposed Sarpanch ofChipri Gram Panchayat,Budhni Janpad Panchayat ofSehore district presented theirpriorities and action-planregarding their experience andvillage development.

The Chief Minister saidthat 630 Sarpanch, 157Janpad Panchayat membersand one District Panchayatmember have been elected

unopposed in the state. Anincentive of Rs 5 lakh will begiven if a Sarpanch is electedunopposed in any Panchayat,Rs 7 lakh for the post ofSarpanch if ??the current andprevious election is unop-posed, and Rs 7 lakh will beprovided if all the Panchesand Sarpanchs are electedunopposed. Similarly, anincentive of Rs 12 lakh will begiven to the Panchayat ifwomen are elected to all theposts of Sarpanch unopposedand R 15 lakh will be given tothe Panchayat if women areelected to all the posts ofPanch and Sarpanch in thePanchayat.

Chouhan said that for thefirst time in the country, 50percent reservation was madefor women in the Panchayatsin Madhya Pradesh itself.There is no dearth of hardwork or leadership quality in

women. Indore has set a recordin the country in the field ofcleanliness under the leader-ship of a woman mayor. Theelected women panchayat rep-resentatives in the village pan-chayats will set new records inthe service of the public anddevelopment of the village.

Chief Minister Chouhansaid that Samras Panchayatswill have to work by settingtheir own priorities. Let us vowthat there will be no fights ordispute in the village. If thereis any dispute, it will beresolved through dialogue, sothat we will not allow our timeand money to be wasted incourt.

At the same time, it shouldalso be our priority to ensurethat the benefits of all theschemes of the center and thestate will be made available toevery eligible person of thepanchayat.

Rs 2 lakh award will be given to drug-free village: CM


Micro, Small andMedium sizedEnterprise units

play a vital role in inclusiveand continuous develop-ment both locally and glob-ally. Minister of Micro,Small and MediumEnterprises OmprakashSakhlecha said this in hisfelicitation message on theoccasion of World MSMEDay. He has also greeted theentrepreneurs who aremaking Madhya Pradesh to

become self-reliant alongwith the country throughstartups and MSMEs.

June 27 across the globeis marked as world Microand Medium EnterprisesDay. The purpose of cele-brating this is to make peo-ple aware about MSME andits importance. The ideabehind the celebration is toappreciate the part MSMEplays for boosting the econ-omy and growth rate of thecountry.

Minister Sakhlecha saidthat under the leadership of

Prime Minister NarendraModi and Chief MinisterShivraj Singh Chouhan, weare set on the path of self-reliance through continu-ous strengthening of star-tups and MSME ecosystemof the state and the country.Sakhlecha expressed grati-tude to Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and ChiefMinister Chouhan for allthe innovations and activ-ities conducted by theMSME Departmenttowards making MadhyaPradesh self-reliant.


ACampus Drive wasorganized by theTraining and

Placement Department ofRabindranath TagoreUniversity. The 'EicharTractor Mandideep (TepeMotors and Tractor Ltd.)'conducted this campus driveon Monday.

Diploma students ofMechanical and ElectricalEngineering participated inthe placement drive. In this,Group Discussion andPersonal Interview were orga-nized for the selectionprocess.

Finally 19 students wereselected in Eicher TractorMandideep (Tepe Motors and

Tractor Ltd.).University Vice

Chancellor Brahm PrakashPethia, Registrar Vijay Singhand Placement OfficerAbhishek Shroti congratulat-ed the selected students.

The selection was held inthree rounds. The first wasthe written test of the partic-ipants. The participants who

qualified the written test thenappeared for the technicalround.

The students were askedabout the technical upgradesin the market. The qualifiedstudents then appeared forthe HR interview. After theHR interview, the studentswere shortlisted for the com-pany.

Prior to the campus drive,the representatives from Byjusaddressed the students. Theyalso informed the studentsabout their company througha power-point presentation.During the powerpoint pre-sentation, an interaction ses-sion was also carried out. Thestudents asked about theirqueries to the experts fortheir future endeavours.

Eicher Company recruits severalstudents in campus drive at RNTU


On the occasion ofWorld MSME Daytoday, Meta said that

there has been an increasingtrend towards smallbusinesses from non-metrocities using its apps to grow.

There has also been anexplosive growth in direct-to-consumer (D2C) businessesfrom small towns using theMeta apps - Facebook,Instagram, and WhatsApp.Indore based Chef De Beaute,which is redefining thepersonal care category bycreating SuperFoods andFusionTech inspired andenriched products useddigital, and Instagram andFacebook to create awarenessfor its unique products and toreach new customers acrossIndia. Meta said that amongthe 100 most followedFacebook pages from 1million to 2 million followersin India, more than 50% ofthem are now from non-metro cities.

For Instagram, among the100 most followed Instagrambusinesses between 1 millionto 3 million followers in India,approximately 40% of themare based in non-metro cities.The company also said that

more than half-a-millionIndian small businesses onInstagram list a WhatsAppnumber or a phone numberor an email in their bio, andencourage potentialcustomers to contact themdirectly via DM indicatinghow small businesses areusing Meta apps to reachcustomers directly and growtheir business.

Said Saumya Gupta, Co-Founder and CEO, Chef DeBeaute, “We built the entireconcept of Chef De Beaute,hired technical teams, andlaunched the brand duringthe pandemic. Digital toolsmade this journey possible intimes of social distancing,and Facebook and Instagramare playing a key role intaking our products fromIndore to across India.

Meta has seen a significant increase insmall businesses from small towns


Under the latest and pop-ular online series ofIndira Gandhi

Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalayaentitled ‘Exhibit of the Week’the “Wangamba Pendong” (Atraditional rectangular wood-en bag) collected from 2006.The Community of KonyakNaga, Longwa Village, MonDistrict, Nagaland. It’sMeasurement 41cms Length,12 cms. width and 29 cms.height with top, displayed inthe audience as the fourthExhibit of the month of June,2022 through official website,Facebook, Instagram and twit-ter page of the IGRMS.

In this regard PraveenKumar Mishra, Director,IGRMS said that "WangambaPendong", a traditional rec-tangular wooden bag thatbelongs to the Konyak Nagatribe of Nagaland. It is madefrom a single piece of woodcovered by a detachable wood-en knobbed lid. The front partis decorated with three equalsizes of skull motifs and on theupper part of the skulls, twoconcave motifs are also shownin high relief form. Obliquelines are engraved all aroundthe front rectangular border.

The upper part of the lid isdecorated with geometrical

designs. There are three loops,two are on both sides and oneis below the middle skullmotifs. A cane-weaved strap isstringed within three loops forcarrying and supporting pur-poses. The cane strap is wovenin double style, half of the strappart stringed within the loopsis in twined pattern and thehanging part is in a criss-crosspattern.

Though the technology issimple, it is excellently done bythe Konyaks who expert arti-sans and skilled craftsmen are.The carved figures generallyhave their symbolic meaning.The tools used during the carv-ing are made locally such aschisel, axe, adze, dao etc. Theobject is used for keepingdomestic items and carryingimportant materials at the timeof shopping.

A traditional rectangular wooden bagcollected from 2006, exhibited at IGRMS

Poll officials count postal ballots ahead of the casting of votes through postal ballot for Government employees deployed in the local bodies elections, at postal ballotcontrol room, in Bhopal on Monday. Pioneer photo


Amovie showcasing thebravery of Air Forceduring the war of

1972 'This is no SabreRattling 1972' was screenedon Monday at ShauryaSmarak.

The film bring to thescreen glimpses of the role ofthe IAF duringthe recent 14-day Indo-Pak war. The Air-Force provided veryCloseSupport to both theArmy and the Navy andfought its own war withtheenemy Air Force.Throughout the war, our AirForce fought wisely andintelligently.

The movie is presentedby Film Division of India andwas directed by SNS Sartary.

The film was screened

under the regular filmscreenings held at ShauryaSmarak every day. Themovies screened here arebased on the Indian Army,Navy, and other armed forces.It is to be noted that the filmfeatured the brave hearts who

protect the country fromhigh-level regions. Theregular film screening isbeing organized as a tributeto their contributions andtheir sacrifices.

The Indian Air Force(IAF) is the air arm of theIndian armed forces. Itscomplement of personneland aircraft assets ranksfourth amongst the airforcesof the world.

The Indian Air Force hasbeen undergoing amodernization program toreplace and upgrade itsageing and outdatedequipment since the late 90’sto advanced standards. Forthat reason, it has startedprocuring and developingaircraft, weapons, associatedtechnologies, andinfrastructures.

Showcasing bravery of Airforces, movie‘There is no Sabre rattling 1972’ screened


Do you know, there are anestimated 3.1quadrillion gallons of

water in the atmosphere atany given time? Yes, that's afact. Our atmosphere doescontain such a mammoth massof water in the form of tinywater droplets and humiditythat it is more than enough totake care of the country's waterneeds.

"Using the technology, watervapor in the air is cooled belowits dew point condensing it intoliquid water. The atmosphericwater generators are usefulwhere clean drinking water isdifficult to obtain. Since there isalways a degree of water vaporfound in air, this water vapor canbe extracted and hence used fordrinking purposes in such areaswhere drinking water is scarce,"said Sanjay Kumar Garg, one ofthe founder of Aryav AWG.

In a country where womenoften have to walk miles to findand collect drinking water fortheir families, Aryav AWG, asubsidiary of Aryav is on a mis-sion to produce water from thinair is no less than magical.Gurugram-based Aryav AWG'sis attempting to produce fresh,potable water through its rangeof innovative AtmosphericWater Generators (AWG).

Only air is needed toproduce freshwater

Minister Omprakash Sakhlecha greets on World MSME Day

Goats are on display during a show organised by Aqsa Goat Farm ahead of the Eid-ul-Fitr, at Jahangirabad in Bhopal onSunday. Pineer photo

Diplomastudents ofMechanical andElectricalEngineeringparticipated inthe placementdrive


Bootstrapped Edtech ven-ture, Toprankers.com –India’s largest platform

for careers beyond engineer-ing and medical, has raised$4M in Series A funding fromleading consumer fund, SixthSense Ventures.Headquartered in Bhopal,Madhya Pradesh, Topranker,currently has an overallstrength of 225 employeeswhere 110 employees in theBhopal center.

Within India’s ed-tech sec-tor, the $12B online test-prepspace is the fastest growing ata 38% CAGR, set to quadru-ple to $4B by 2025 with over5M+ paid users. While thisspace has historically beendriven by engineering (JEE),and medical (NEET), engi-neering has ironically wit-nessed a 10-year low in stu-dent enrolment seats, signal-ing a clear shift in careers. Thestudents of modern India arelooking for careers beyondengineering and medicine.

Commenting on thefunds raised Karan Mehta,Chief Growth & ProductOfficer, Toprankers, said, “AtToprankers, our mission is togive students an experience ofa lifetime. For instance,Legaledge by Toprankers wasfounded to shape the careersof CLAT aspirants, apartfrom focusing on core stud-ies, we made it a point toensure a fun experience foreveryone associated with us.With time, it has emerged asthe largest center in the coun-try for CLAT preparationwith students coming fromeven states like Assam,Kashmir & Meghalayato study in Bhopal or attendour online classes. We havedeveloped a unique culture ofstudent engagement whereineverything has been closelyblended.”

Edtech Ventureraises $4M inSeries A funding

BHOPAL | TUESDAY | JUNE 28, 2022 nation 03

BJP mayoral candidate Malti Rai during an election campaign in Narela state assembly constituency ahead of the local bodieselection in Bhopal on Monday. Pioneer photo

Governor instructs officials of NHM, State Red Cross SocietySTAFF REPORTER n BHOPAL

Governor MangubhaiPatel has said that thescope of survey and

investigation of Sickle CellAnemia should be raised up to40 years. National HealthMission should take necessaryaction in this regard. He direct-ed the State Red Cross Societyto cooperate in expanding thereach, strengthening, serious-ly investigating and monitoringeven the minute details of sick-le cell anemia disease treatmentand management efforts.Governor Patel was holding adiscussion on sickle cell diseasetreatment and managementefforts with the officials ofNational Health Mission, StateRed Cross Society and RajBhavan at Raj Bhavan.

Patel appreciated the effortsof the state government for theone of its kind programme

organized in Madhya Pradeshalong with the country on June19 on World Sickle Cell Dayand congratulated the team ofHealth Department. He saidthat the programme is an idealform of Sabka Vikas, SabkeSaath, Sabka Vishwas andSabke Prayas. For the treatmentand effective management of

Sickle Cell Anemia, it is nec-essary to speed up survey andinvestigation. He told the offi-cials of the National HealthMission that after threemonths, he himself wouldinquire about the ground real-ity of the progress of the work.It should be clear to all the offi-cers and employees that the

work has to be completed in astipulated time. Work shouldbe done on a war footing in thenext 3 months, so that theground experiences of thisperiod can be included in theaction plan. This will make itpossible to achieve the targetahead of time. He said that theHealth Mission should coop-erate in the counseling servicesrelated to investigation andmarriage in universities andcolleges. The Red Cross com-mittees must guide in thetreatment and managementefforts in 89 disease-pronedevelopment blocks by prepar-ing protocols related to diseasetreatment management work.

The Governor said thatadequate amount has been pro-vided by Raj Bhavan to the stateand district level Red Crosscommittees for supplementaryefforts for management of thetreatment of Sickle Cell

Anaemia. The members of thecommittee, while performingthe duties as responsible citi-zens of the society, should getfinancial support from publicparticipation in disease treat-ment management. The allo-cated amount should be used tofill the vacant gaps in the effortsof State Government'sHemoglobinopathy Mission,walk-in facilities and availabil-ity of specialist registration ofpatients, and support in treat-ment efforts, guidance andtreatment supervision.

Principal Secretary toGovernor DP Ahuja, MemberSecretary Tribal Cell BS Jamod,Deputy Secretary DK Jain,State Red Cross SocietyChairman Gagan Kolhe,Deputy Director NationalHealth Mission Dr. Ruby Khan,members of Tribal Cell andofficials of Raj Bhavan werepresent.

Workshop held on environmental protectionand awareness at Seva Sadan, Tulsi NagarSTAFF REPORTER n BHOPAL

The Archdiocese ofBhopal in Collaborationwith YMCA, Bairagarh

organized a workshop onenvironmental protection andawareness at Seva Sadan,Tulsi Nagar, Bhopal.

Archbishop AAS Durairajin his inaugural address quot-ing Pope Francis said thatman and the nature are insep-arable friends and if manwants to survive then theenvironment should be helpedto survive. More Contributionshould be made to the con-servation of water, air and soilfor a better environment.

For this he asked the par-ticipants to create awarenessamong children and youthhe said. MP Brajesh Sharma,a member of the PollutionControl Board, inspired every-

one not to spread pollutionbut to protect the environmentso that world will be protect-ed he said. We are responsibleto protect the air with index atdifferent places he said furtherand advised all to stop usingplastics as the governmenthas banned the single use ofplastic and polythene fromJuly 1.

Father Maria Stephen,P.R.O. conveyed the message

of changing one's thoughtprocess to bring joy to thefamily, society and to thecountry. He assured the par-ticipants that this process willmotivate us to love and to pro-tect the environment as awhole.

Fr Alfred D'Souza, theassistant PRO welcomed thedignitaries with thunderapplause from the crowd.Boosi, the coordinator of theprogram briefed about YMCAactivities and invited all toparticipate in the workshopwith more vigour and zeal.

Akshay Dhanyabad, thePresident of YMCA Bairagarhand Sudhir Sharma,Coordinator of the PR Officeproposed the vote of thanks.Atthe end everyone took apledge to save the environ-ment followed by NationalAnthem.


Chief Minister ShivrajSingh Chouhan plantedsaplings of Peepal, Neem

and Kadamba in the SmartCity Park today. Along withCM Chouhan, Animal withHumanity organisation’s SushriIshika Kakade, Ayan Ali,Geetika Kakade, Shri AkshatMehta, Pranav Kukatkar,Sarthak Mahajan, MaitriBaghel and Devina Mishraplanted neem sapling. CMChouhan along with seniorjournalists Anurag Upadhyay,Shefali Gupta, Khyati Guptaand Fauzia planted Peepal andKadamba saplings.

Working in the field of ani-mal welfare, the organisationconducts many activities toprovide treatment to needyanimals, makes arrangementsfor their care, vaccination,food and water. Along withthis, work is also being done inthe direction of creating aware-ness among the general publicto take care of the voiceless ani-

mals.Peepal is considered a tree

that purifies the environment.It is also known as a shady tree.It also has religious andAyurvedic significance.


A22-year-old mental-ly distrubed youthwas mowed down

by a truck near NehruSchool under AshokaGarden police station areaon Sunday. According tothe police a man died afterhe was mowed down by atruck filled with gravel.

The locals informed thepolice and on the receipt ofthe information a policeteam reached the spot andstarted an investigation.The deceased was identifiedas Zafar Khan of DashmeshNagar. The truck wasseized, the errant truck dri-ver escaped the spot leavingand is still missing.

Police said that thedeceased was hit while hewas near the truck. The

deceased was mentally dis-turbed, he was married butit failed and he used toroam in the area.

After the preliminaryinvestigation the body wassent for the post mortemand the police have regis-tered a case under section174 of the CrPC and havestarted further investiga-tion.

Meanwhile a 45-year

old man con-sumed poiso-nous substanceat Raipur villageu n d e rEintkhedi policestation area;man consumedpoison afterhaving a fightwith the family.

Accordingto the police,

Prakash Ahirwar was foundin an unconscious state athis house and was rushed toa nearby hospital where hedied during treatment latein the night on Sunday.

After the preliminaryinvestigation the body wassent for the post mortem.The police have registereda case under section 174 ofthe CrPC and have startedfurther investigation.

22-year-old mentally challenged youthmowed down by speeding truck

Chouhan plants saplings ofPeepal, Neem and Kadamba

Congress mayoral candidate Vibha Patel during an election campaign at Anna Nagar ahead of the local bodies election inBhopal on Monday. Pioneer photo


Over half a dozen per-sons were injuredafter a fight between

children turned violentwhen parents attacked withwooden sticks and ironrods at Gareeb Nagar onSunday.

In the locality panicprevailed in the night onSunday after two familiesentered a fight which was aconsequence of a disputebetween children duringthe day and it was pacifiedby the locals.

According to the police,on Sunday there was a fightbetween children of JyoriKorpat and NirmalaSharma and which wassoon joined by the twowomen.

The locals intervenedand pacified the fight. In theevening at around 8 in theevening two families start-ed abusing and started tofight, this time it was violentas men of these two familiesentered with wooden sticksand iron rods.

Kapil, Shubham,Nirmala, Sapna, Tripti and

other entered Jyoti's houseand attacked them and inreturn Jyoti, Ayush,Akku,Rinku, Sagar, Vijay,Arun, Sidharth, Jay andVijay attacked the family.More than six persons areinjured and are undergoingtreatment at the hospital.The condition of the injuredpersons is stable.

Police have registered acase of assault and riotingagainst both the familiesand started an investigation.The families were engagedin verbal abuse at the policestation also.

Half a dozen injured in fight over trivial issue


On the occasion of WorldBlood Donation Day, ablood donation camp

was organized by AISECT withassociation of Noble MultiSpecialty Hospital, Misrod.

Public Relations OfficerPankaj Sood took a special ini-tiative. In this, the employeesassociated with AISECT donat-ed blood by participatingenthusiastically and wished fora healthy society. About 50employees participated anddonated blood on behalf ofAISECT and reiterated theircommitment to continuedonating blood in future also.

The day began with thehealth check up camp where-in the blood test, sugar wereconducted. During the medicalcamp a general medical check-

up was conducted by the doc-tors. The doctors minutelyexamined the health of peopleand gave them necessary pre-cautions.

It is to be noted that all theprecautionary measures weretaken during the camp. She saidthat the beds and sheets weresanitized before and after thedonor donates blood. Besides,

it was instructed to each donorto wear a mask for extra pre-cautions.

On this occasion,Siddharth Chaturvedi,Director, AISECT said that

there can be no greater chari-ty than blood donation becauseby donating blood a person getslife. AISECT continues to takeunique initiatives while fulfill-ing its social responsibility. Inthis episode, this is also animportant effort, which willinspire people to fulfill theirresponsibility and become rolemodels for the society.

The blood donation pro-gram was coordinated byAISECT Management andAISECT HR team consisting ofSumit Malhotra, Archana Jainfrom AISECT and CP fromRabindranath TagoreUniversity. Mishra's contribu-tion was remarkable.

On World Blood Donation Day, 50 employees of AISECTUniversity donate blood at a donation camp Bhopal: Chief Minister Shivraj

Singh Chouhan greeted the youthof state and the country onInternational MSME Day.Chouhan tweeted – ‘Not only arethe youth becoming self-reliantand entrepreneurs throughmicro, small and medium enter-prises, but they are also con-tributing in the building of a newIndia.’

Chief Minister Chouhan saidthat MSMEs are giving new impe-tus in achieving Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s goal of Make inIndia. Chief Minister Chouhanhas called upon youth of the stateto become entrepreneurs and togenerate jobs rather than seekingthem. I stand with you andextend my best wishes. Chouhansaid that the state government ismaking continous efforts toremove every hurdle th way of theyouth to accomplish their dreams.MSME Development Policy 2021is being effectively implementedin MP.

CM extends bestwishes on MSME Day

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Former Union MinisterYashwant Sinha filed hisnomination on Monday as

the common Opposition can-didate against the NDA nomi-nee Droupadi Murmu for theJuly 18 presidential election, acontest described by his sup-porters as a “battle of ideologies.”

The former BJP leader wasaccompanied by his wife Nilimaand flanked by leaders of at least15 Opposition parties includingRahul Gandhi, Sharad Pawar,Akhilesh Yadav, FarooqAbdullah and KT Rama Rao.

Telangana Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao announcedhis support to Sinha hoursbefore he filed the nomination.Rao’s son and senior MinisterKT Rama Rao led a delegationof party leaders to be by Sinha’sside in Parliament.

Others present wereRajasthan Chief Minister AshokGehlot, DMK leaders TiruchiSiva and A Raja, SitaramYechury, CPI’s D Raja, RashtriyaLok Dal’s Jayant Chaudhary,RJD’s Misa Bharti,Revolutionary Socialist Party’sNK Premchandran and IndianUnion Muslim League’sMohammed Bashir and theNCP’s Praful Patel.

There was no representativefrom the Jharkhand MuktiMorcha (JMM), which hadendorsed Sinha’s candidature.Leaders of the Shiv Sena, too,were not present as they werebusy with the political crisis inMaharashtra.

Addressing the media afterfiling four sets of nominationpapers, Sinha said he wouldreach out to his former col-leagues in the BJP seeking their

support. Sinha said he hadreached out to Prime MinisterModi and Defence MinisterRajnath Singh for support.

On the occasion, Sinha hitout at the BJP saying that thesaffron party under PrimeMinister Narendra Modi lackedinternal democracy. “The BJP Iwas part of had internal democ-racy, the current BJP lacks inter-nal democracy,” he said.

Addressing the media, for-mer Congress president RahulGandhi said all Opposition par-ties were united in supportingSinha’s candidature for the top

Constitutional post. “Of course,we support the individual, butthe real fight is between two ide-ologies. One is the ideology ofthe RSS, that of anger, hatred,and the other of compassion ofall the Opposition parties whoare standing together,” RahulGandhi said.

Sinha served as FinanceMinister and External AffairsMinister in the Government ledby Atal Bihari Vajpayee. He hadresigned from the BJP in 2018and joined the TrinamoolCongress in 2021. He quit theTrinamool Congress before hiscandidature was announced onJune 21.

Sinha described the candi-dature of his rival NDA nomi-nee Droupadi Murmu, a tribal,as part of “politics of symbol-ism” and insisted that he wouldcontest the poll on the trackrecord of the Modi Governmentwith regard to the welfare ofbackward communities and theScheduled Castes andScheduled Tribes. “The currentPresident also belongs to a par-ticular community. Does itmean that the community hasbenefited,” Sinha asked. Sinhasaid the presidential electionwas a battle between the ideol-ogy of absolute power and thatof freedom.

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The effectiveness of antibiotics totreat typhoid infections is threat-

ened by the emergence of the resistantS Typhi strains.

According to a study published inThe Lancet Microbe journal, thelargest-ever genome analysis ofSalmonella enterica serovarTyphimurium (S Typhi), shows thatresistant strains – almost all origi-nating in South Asia – have spread toother countries nearly 200 timessince 1990.

Calling the finding of the study asa cause for worry, a scientist fromAIIMS, Delhi said, “The bacteriacausing typhoid has become a “smartbacteria” which has been able to find

mechanisms to evade the usual antibi-otics. It’s worrying, and the currentantibiotic regimen needs to bereviewed urgently.”

The Lancet study noted thattyphoid fever is a global public healthconcern, causing 11 million infectionsand more than 1,00,000 deaths peryear.

While it is most prevalent inSouth Asia, which accounts for 70 percent of the global disease burden, italso has significant impacts in sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia, andOceania, highlighting the need for aglobal response, they said.

“The speed at which highly-resis-tant strains of S Typhi have emergedand spread in recent years is a realcause for concern, and highlights the

need to urgently expand preventionmeasures, particularly in countries atgreatest risk,” said the study’s leadauthor, Jason Andrews, from StanfordUniversity.

“At the same time, the fact thatresistant strains of S Typhi havespread internationally so many timesalso underscores the need to view

typhoid control, and antibiotic resis-tance more generally, as a globalrather than local problem,” Andrewssaid.

In the new study, the researchersperformed whole-genome sequencingon 3,489 S Typhi isolates obtainedfrom blood samples collected between2014-2019 from people in Bangladesh,

India, Nepal, and Pakistan with con-firmed cases of typhoid fever.

A collection of 4,169 S Typhi sam-ples isolated from more than 70countries between 1905 and 2018 wasalso sequenced and included in theanalysis. Resistance-conferring genesin the 7,658 sequenced genomes wereidentified using genetic databases.

Strains were classified as mul-tidrug-resistant (MDR) if they con-tained genes giving resistance to clas-sical front-line antibiotics ampicillin,chloramphenicol, and trimetho-prim/sulfamethoxazole.

The authors also traced the pres-ence of genes conferring resistance tomacrolides and quinolones, which areamong the most critically importantantibiotics for human health.

Since 2000, MDR S Typhi hasdeclined steadily in Bangladesh andIndia, and remained low in Nepal,though it has increased slightly inPakistan.

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Amid the possible threat ofthe fourth wave of the

coronavirus pandemic, Indiaon Monday logged 17,073 newinfections, a 45 per cent jumpfrom Sunday when 11,739 peo-ple tested positive for Covid.

The death toll climbed to5,25,020 with 21 fresh fatalities,data updated at 8 A.M. by theMinistry stated.

There were — six fromKerala, five from Maharashtra,four from Delhi, two eachfrom Goa and Punjab and oneeach from Jammu and Kashmir(J&K) and Uttar Pradesh.

The active cases in thecountry stood at 94,420. Thedaily positivity rate was record-ed at 5.62 per cent, while theweekly positivity rate wasrecorded at 3.39 per cent, itstated. The daily positivitycrossed 5 per cent after a gapof 139 days.

In the last 24 hours, a totalof five patients infected withCovid-19 in Mumbai lost theirlives. This is the highest single-day deaths reported sinceFebruary 7, when the city wit-nessed five deaths out of 356registered cases. Of the fivedeceased, four were above theage of 70 years with comor-bidities. Delhi saw yet anotherjump in cases with 1,891 casesrecorded on Sunday as com-pared to 666 infections record-ed a day before. Kerala, too, has

been another State where therise in cases has been worrying.

The active cases increasedto 94,420, comprising 0.22 percent of the total infections. Thenational Covid recovery ratewas recorded at 98.57 per cent,the Ministry said.

An increase of 1,844 caseswas recorded in the activeCovid case count in a span of24 hours, as per the data.

The number of people whohave recuperated from the dis-ease surged to 4,27,87,606,while the case fatality rate wasrecorded at 1.21 per cent.

According to the Ministry,197.11 crore doses of vaccinehave been administered in the

country so far under thenationwide Covid-19 inocula-tion drive.

India’s Covid tally hadcrossed the 20-lakh mark onAugust 7 in 2020, 30 lakh onAugust 23, 40 lakh onSeptember 5 and 50 lakh onSeptember 16. It went past 60lakh on September 28, 70 lakhon October 11, crossed 80 lakhon October 29, 90 lakh onNovember 20 and surpassedthe one-crore mark onDecember 19. The countrycrossed the grim milestone oftwo crore cases on May 4,2021, three crore on June 23and four crore cases on January25 this year.

PREZ POLL FIGHT BETWEEN IDEOLOGY OFABSOLUTE POWER & FREEDOM: SINHA

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The Congress on Mondaytermed as “deeply disap-

pointing” the Supreme Courtruling upholding the SIT’sclean chit to the then GujaratChief Minister Narendra Modiand 63 others in the 2002communal riots, and askedwhether Modi and the StateGovernment will ever be heldaccountable.

The Opposition party saidit stands by party leader, the lateEhsan Jafri, and his family andasserted that what happened tohim in a most tragic mannerwas the result of a “funda-mental lapse on the part of theState Government”. Ehsan Jafri,a former Congress MP, wasamong the 68 people killed atAhmedabad’s Gulberg Societyduring the violence onFebruary 28, 2002, a day afterthe Godhra train burning thatclaimed 59 lives.

The party’s detailed reac-tion to the Supreme Courtruling came after the top courtalso dismissed a plea by Jafri’swife Zakia, terming it as“devoid of merits”.

In a statement on the courtruling, Congress general sec-retary Jairam Ramesh said theSupreme Court judgment inthe Zakia Jafri case is “deeplydisappointing”. Despite thejudgment dated June 24, 2022,certain fundamental questionsstill remain unanswered,Ramesh said.

“What is the constitution-al and moral responsibility ofthe Chief Minister and theState Government in cases oflarge-scale communal riots,”Ramesh said. “Is the responsi-bility in such cases only everthat of the Collector & DeputyCommissioner of Police andnot of political executive? Willthe Chief Minister, Cabinetand State Government never beheld accountable, even if aState is thrown into a circle ofviolence and riots?” he said.

While the Supreme Courthas pronounced its judgment,there are some questions thatwill continue to haunt PrimeMinister Modi, including washe not the Gujarat ChiefMinister when the horrificriots took place in 2002,Ramesh said. He listed the fol-lowing questions:

� Why was PM Vajpayeeso affected by his lack of actionthat he had to publicly remindhim to do his duty, to follow his‘Rajdharma?”

� Was it not the SupremeCourt which called out theconduct of the ModiGovernment in Gujarat as thatof “modern day Nero’s (who)were looking elsewhere wheninnocent children and helplesswomen were burning, and wereprobably deliberating how theperpetrators of the crime canbe saved or protected?

� ’Why did sections of theBJP, including now member of

the Modi Cabinet Smriti Iraniprotest and call for his dismissalas CM if he was not guilty ofany wrongdoing?

� What about all thenumerous convictions thathave been carried out on thebasis of the evidence collectedby the SIT relating to theGujarat riots? Can the BJPclaim that those also standinvalidated?

Ramesh asserted that noamount of “propaganda’’ by theBJP can ever erase these facts.

The Supreme Court had onFriday observed that inactionor failure of some officials ofone section of the administra-tion cannot be the basis toreadily infer a pre-plannedcriminal conspiracy by theauthorities or to term it as aState-sponsored crime againstthe minority community.

The Communist Party ofIndia also condemned thearrest and subsequent deten-tion of Teesta Setalvad and R BSreekumar, ex-DGP whofought for bringing justice tothe families of the victims of the2002 Gujarat massacre. “TeestaSetalvad is an acknowledgedrenowned fighter for the rightsof the citizens and her activi-ties as an ardent fighter againstcommunalism and for thedemocratic rights of people hasbeen appreciated by even theUN.

“Her arrest along with oth-ers is a hard blow to the demo-cratic polity of the country andthe right of the people to ques-tion the role of the Governmentwhen such inhuman riots, tar-geting one section of the pop-ulation, resulting in the killingsof hundreds takes place.

“The Party reiterates itsstand that all those responsiblefor the massacre must bebrought to book,” the party saidin a statement.

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India and Malaysia onMonday agreed to further

boost their Defence andstrategic ties during the talksbetween Defence MinisterRajnath Singh and SeniorDefence Minister YB Dato‘Seri HishammuddinTunHussein

The two Ministers heldthe meeting through videoconference and also discusseda wide range of issues con-cerning bilateral, regional andDefence industrial coopera-tion, Defence Ministry offi-cials said here.

Rajnath congratulatedDato ‘Seri HishammuddinTunHussein for assuming theoffice of the Senior DefenceMinister in August, 2021.Both Ministers expressed theintent to further boost thealready strong India-MalaysiaDefence cooperation.

The two Ministers dis-cussed the existing Defencecooperation activities andframework, and ways to fur-ther enhance them under the

existing Malaysia IndiaDefence Cooperation Meeting(MIDCOM) framework.

The next MIDCOM isscheduled to be held in July2022, and it was decided touse this platform for a deep-er engagement in defence.

Rajnath highlighted theareas in which Indian defenceindustries could assistMalaysia. He suggested a visitof senior off icers fromMalaysia to India to get first-hand experience of the facil-ities and products of theIndian defence industry.

The Malaysian SeniorDefence Minister expressedthe need for inducting womenpersonnel in peacekeepingmissions. Both sides agreed toengage each other on thisissue. It was also agreed toupgrade capabil ity forHumanitarian Assistance andDisaster Relief (HADR) oper-ations. Rajnath also invitedthe Senior Defence Minister ofMalaysia to visit India at anearly convenient date to dis-cuss closer and strategicdefence ties.

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The Supreme Court onMonday agreed to hear on

June 28, a plea by the Centreagainst the Tripura HighCourt orders on a PIL chal-lenging the grant of securitycover to industrialist MukeshAmbani and his family.

Solicitor General TusharMehta told a vacation Benchof Justices Surya Kant and JBPardiwala that the High Courthas no jurisdiction to enter-tain the PIL as the StateGovernment has nothing todo with the security cover

provided to the Ambanis bythe Centre on the recom-mendation of the MaharashtraGovernment.

Mehta said he wants theappeal to be heard urgently asthe High Court has askedUnion Home Ministry offi-cials to appear before it onTuesday with original records

concerning the threat per-ception to the Ambanis, andstated no more adjournmentwill be granted.

The Tripura High Courthad on a PIL filed by oneBikash Saha had passed twointerim orders on May 31 andJune 21 and had directed theCentral Government to placethe original file maintained bythe Ministry of Home Affairs(MHA) regarding threat per-ception and assessment reportof Ambani, his wife and chil-dren based on which securi-ty has been granted to them.

The Centre said that vide

the said orders, the HighCourt has also directed theCentral Government todepute a responsible officer toappear before the Court withthe original record, in a sealedcover, on the next date ofhearing on June 28, 2022, forconsideration of the Court.The Centre said that whileentertaining the PIL petitionthe High Court had failed toappreciate that MukeshAmbani and his families wereneither residents of Tripuranor any part of the cause ofaction remotely arising fromTripura existed.

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The Researchers fromAmity University inHaryana and University of

Nebraska, USA have jointlydeveloped a reusable, odourlessand anti-microbial N95 mask byusing 3D printing technology.The four-layer mask whose outerlayer is made up of silicon witha shelf life of more than five yearscan also be used by workerswhere they are exposed to highvolumes of dust, cement andpaint fumes.

It can be modified by chang-ing the filter configurationaccording to the place in whichit will be used and can help pre-

vent severe lung diseases such asSilicosis, said a statement here.

A trademark and a patenthave also been filed for themask called Nano Breath.

A 4-layer filtration mecha-nism has been provided in themask wherein the outer and firstlayer of the filter is coated withnanoparticles. The second layeris a high-efficiency particulateabsorbing (HEPA) filter, thethird layer is a 100 μm filter andthe fourth layer is a moistureabsorbent filter. The mask hasbeen developed under the pro-ject funded by the Departmentof Science & Technology (DST),Union Ministry of Science andTechnology.

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Former Congress presidentRahul Gandhi on Monday

alleged that Prime MinisterNarendra Modi is making hisfriends “daulatveer” by handingairports to them for 50 yearswhile making youths“Agniveers” on a four-year con-tract.

Rahul’s attack came on a daythe party’s leaders and activistsobserved a “peaceful satyagraha”

in all Assembly constituencies todemand a withdrawal of the newmilitary recruitment scheme.

“The Prime Minister ismaking his friends ‘daulatveer’(rich) by handing them coun-try’s airports for 50 years whilemaking youths ‘Agniveers’ on afour-year contract,” RahulGandhi said in a tweet in Hindi.“The Congress party is doing#SatyagrahaForYouth againstAgnipath across the countrytoday. This satyagraha will not

stop until the youth get justice,”he said.

Several States witnessedprotests, including unbridledviolence, after the Agnipathrecruitment scheme for thearmed forces was announced onJune 14. It envisages recruitingyouths in the age bracket of 17-and-half to 21 years for fouryears with a provision to retain25 per cent of them for 15 moreyears. For 2022, the upper agelimit has been extended to 23

years. The Congress hadobserved a peaceful satyagrahaat Jantar Mantar in New Delhias well as in various states on theissue on June 20. Congress MPshad also taken out a peacefulmarch from Parliament. A del-egation of senior leaders sub-mitted a memorandum toPresident Ram Nath Kovindrequesting him to withdraw thecontroversial scheme. The pres-ident is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces

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The Education Ministry on Mondayreleased the Performance GradingIndex for Districts (PGI-D) for 2018-

19 and 2019-20 prepared by the Departmentof School Education and Literacy (DoSE&L),to assess the performance of the school edu-cation system at the district level. Accordingto the Education Ministry, the IndianEducation System is one of the world’slargest with 15 lakh schools, 97 lakh teach-ers, and nearly 26 crore students. TheDoSE&L devised the Performance GradingIndex (PGI) for States and released reports

for the reference years 2017-18 to 2019-20.Based on the success of State PGI, 83-indi-cator-based PGI-D has been designed tograde the performance of all 733 districts. Thedata is filled by districts via an online portal.The PGI-D is expected to help the State edu-cation departments identify gaps at the dis-trict level and improve their performance ina decentralised manner. The indicator-wisePGI score shows where a district needs toimprove. The PGI-D will reflect relative per-formance of districts in a uniform scale.

The PGI-D’s structure comprises totalweightage of 600 points across 83 indicators,which are grouped under six categories viz.,

Outcomes, Effective Classroom Transaction,Infrastructure Facilities & Student’sEntitlements, School Safety & ChildProtection, Digital Learning and GovernanceProcess. These categories are further divid-ed into 12 domains, viz., Learning Outcomesand Quality, Access Outcomes, TeacherAvailability and Professional DevelopmentOutcomes, Learning Management, LearningEnrichment Activities, Infrastructure,Facilities, Student Entitlements, School Safetyand Child Protection, Digital Learning,Funds convergence and utilisation, EnhancingCRCs Performance, Attendance MonitoringSystems and School Leadership Development.

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The nation paid rich tributesto Filed Marshal SHFJ

Manekshaw, former Chief ofArmy Staff and IndependentIndia’s first Field Marshal, onMonday. It was on June 27,2008, the Field Marshalbreathed his last at the MilitaryHospital in Wellington.

Wreaths were laid at thefinal resting place of the reveredsoldier at Parsi ZoroastrianCemetery in Udhagamandalamon behalf of the three ServicesChiefs, Southern ArmyCommander and GeneralOfficer Commanding, DakshinBharat Area.

The senior most GeneralOfficer of the WellingtonStation Lieutenant GeneralS Mohan, CommandantDefence Service Staff College,Wellington and StationCommander Wellington alsolaid wreaths and paid theirrespect.

A release by MadrasRegimental Centre,Wellington,said that Field MarshalManekshaw had settled down atWellington after active service.

“His association with the stationgoes back to the time when hewas Commandant of DefenceService Staff College. He shareda special bond with the Nilgirisand was equally endearing tothe local population. A manwith unflinching moral courage

and exemplary leadership qual-ities, his life would alwaysremain a source of inspirationto the armed forces and theNation,” said the release.

Nilgiris residents stillremember Sam Manekshawdriving around the hill station

in his Sun Beam Rapier car tillmonths before his demise. “Itwas a treat to watch him drivingaround. He never had the auraof a VVIP and always used towave at us when we greetedhim,” said Selvaraj, a Nilgirisshopkeeper.

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Nanjappa Chattram, a remote andquiet village in Nilgiris district of

Tamil Nadu comes alive once in a monthas the vehicles of Madras RegimentalCentre, Wellington, roar in through thedilapidated roads with medicine andfood. It is not for the soldiers who are ona mission but for the villagers themselves.Doctors and para-medical staff fromMilitary Hospital, Wellington, accompa-nied by a group of soldiers attend to themedical needs of the villagers. If thepatients need specialized treatment ordiagnosis, they are referred to theGovernment Hospital with notes issuedby the Army doctors.

Sunday turned out to be an importantday for the village women folk as gyne-cologists and obstetricians from MHWellington made it a ‘Mother and ChildDay’, a new experience to the villagers.They were briefed in their own local lan-guage about the importance of pregnan-cy and childcare by the doctors. All thepregnant women were diagnosed by thespecialists and prescribed medicines.The doctors and nurses of StateGovernment's Health Department are yetto reach the villages.

While the lady doctors were explain-ing the significance of pregnancy, the chil-dren in the village were entertained by the

soldiers with toys, learn through fun andstory telling sessions. “They gave aspaints, paper and brush to tone up ourpainting and writing skills, The Armyuncles had brought lot of chocolates withthem and this was cherished by all of us,”said Jamuna, a village girl.

The medical camp is Indian Army’sway of thanking the villagers for the helprendered by them during the rescueoperations of the December 8, 2021helicopter crash in which General BipinRawat and 13 others perished. It was thevillagers of Nanjappa Chattram villagers

who reached the spot first and tried to res-cue the passengers.

As a mark of gratitude, the DakhsinBharat Area of Indian Army adopted thevillage and is conducting once-in-a-month free medical aid to the villagers.MRC Wellington, one of the oldest Armyestablishments, is no stranger to villagersin the district as they had provided freefood and ration to them during theCovid-19 pandemic proving again thatthe Army was not only for guarding theborders but helping the civilians in hoursof emergency.

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Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee on

Monday said that the Centrehad launched the Agniveerscheme with an eye on the2024 general elections andasked New Delhi to extendthe retirement age of the newAgniveer recruits to 65 years.

“The BJP is concernedabout its own electoral gameplans … its eyes are on the2024 elections … so it has cre-ated a half-baked scheme likeAgniveer where young peoplewill be recruited for only fouryears … has anyone heard

about a service tenure asshort as that?” Banerjee saidadding “In the name of theArmy recruits the BJP is try-ing to create its own armedcadre base.”

“We in our State alwayskeep the concern of the youthin mind while taking suchschemes … this is because mymotto is to create moreemployment for the youth …but here what the young peo-ple who will retire --- evenbefore they grow up --- afterfour years do … they willagain be jobless trained inarms,” the Chief Minister tolda meeting in Burdwan.

Saying that it was not

advisable to leave unem-ployed youth trained in armsto fend for themselves,Banerjee said instead of “giv-ing arms into the hands of theyouth,” the “Governmentshould consider extendingthe retirement age of theAgniveers to 65 years… it isnot fare to train the youth forfour months and then retirethem after four years.”

Banerjee’s remarks camedays after widespread protestsbroke out all over the coun-tr y in the wake of theGovernment’s declaration ofAgniveer scheme.

In an apparent referenceto the Maharashtra political

turmoil the Chief Ministerattacked the BJP for using thecentral agencies against theOpposition parties. “They(BJP) want to devour every-thing … they do not and can-

not tolerate opposition whichis why they are sending theED and CBI to the houses ofthe Opposition leaders whodare speak against them …this vendetta politics is being

resorted to only against theopposition parties whereastheir own leaders are left off.”

Baner jee’s commentscame at a time when hun-dreds of Trinamool Congressworkers led by leaders likeBabul Supriyo, Kunal Ghoshand Sayani Ghosh staged sit-in agitation in front of theCGO complex in Kolkata.

They demanded arrest ofBengal Opposition LeaderSuvendu Adhikari for hisalleged involvement in theSharada chit fund and Naradapayoff scams where he wasseen accepting cash on cam-era.

“I left the BJP … and I

dare the Centre to touch mewith the agencies … theycannot but my hands areclean … but what aboutSuvendu Adhikari who wascaught on camera acceptingcash … though his name fig-ures in the FIR he has beenleft alone because he hasjoined the washing machinecalled BJP.”

The TMC staged a num-ber of rallies in Bengal aftera letter from Sudipto Sen —the prime accused in theSharada scam — was leaked.The letter a l leged howAdhikari repeatedly black-mailed him and extortedmoney from him in the name

of saving him from the SEBIand ED. Adhikari, then aBengal minister, was a pow-erful TMC leader. He joinedthe BJP just ahead of the2021 Assembly elections inwhich the BJP suffered ahumiliating defeat.

The TMC’s protests inten-sified days after the ED andCBI questioned Rujira NarulaBanerjee — the wife of TMCMP and national secretaryand Mamata Banerjee’snephew Abhishek Banerjee —regarding a money launderingcase. Several crores had beenfound in a bank accountallegedly related to her in aThailand bank.

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Ahead of the beginning of the 42-daylong Amarnath yatra from June 30,

two more terrorists were gunned downby the joint team of the security forcesin Trubji area of South Kashmir'sKulgam district while a Pakistaniintruder was shot dead by BSF per-sonnel in R S Pura sector while he wastrying to sneak inside the Indian ter-ritory on Monday.

On the other hand, Doda policealso arrested one terrorist and recov-ered 01 Chinese pistol, 02 Magazine,14live cartridges and one mobile phonefrom his possession.

The entire security grid acrossJammu and Kashmir is already in astate of high alert to ensure peacefulconduct of the yatra. Inspector Generalof Police Kashmir range, Vijay Kumarchaired the final security review meet-ing related to Amarnath Yatra in SouthKashmir’s Anantnag.

GOC Victor Force, IG CRPF, DIGsof BSF, ITBP, CRPF & JKP besidesSouth Kashmir district SSPs &Commanding Officers attended themeeting. Real threats & countermea-sures being taken by police and secu-rity forces were reviewed to ensure inci-dent free yatra this year.

Official sources in Jammuclaimed, the Pakistani intruder must

have been sent on a path finding mis-sion or to look for possible infiltrationroutes to push fresh batch of infiltra-tors to execute a terror plot during theyatra period. In the recent weeks sev-eral attempts have been made byPakistan based agencies to smugglearms consignment using drones todeliver arms and ammunition or dropmagnetic improvised explosive device(IEDs) or sticky bombs to sabotage

peace in Jammu region. Keeping in view the threat, special

security checkpoints have been acti-vated along the entire yatra routewhile quick reaction teams have beendeployed near the yatri base camps atdifferent locations to ensure safety ofthe pilgrims. The base camps andother vital transit points includingrefreshment counters, resting placeshave been kept under close watch

with the help of drone cameras torecord any suspected movement of mis-creants.

Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha,who is chairman of the Shri AmarnathjiShrine Board (SASB) Monday visitedYatri Niwas at Bhagwati Nagar andreviewed arrangements for ShriAmarnath Ji Yatra pilgrims. The secu-rity forces are alert and have made ade-quate arrangements for the smoothconduct of Yatra, besides it has been ourendeavor to make the best arrange-ments this year, the Governor added.

The Lt Governor directed the con-cerned officials to ensure health facil-ities, adequate number of Doctors,nursing staff, sanitation staff, dutyofficers on the Yatra routes. Earlier, theLt Governor was briefed by concernedofficers regarding the facilities along theYatra route, besides the arrangementsin regard to water, power supply,sewage disposal, food and RFID coun-ters at the Yatri Niwas. Speaking tomedia persons on the sidelines of thevisit, the Lt Governor said, lakhs of fam-ilies had to face financial hardship sinceShri Amarnath Ji Yatra could not beheld for the last two years due to Covidpandemic. There is a lot of enthusiasmin the people of Jammu region and inKashmir too this year and I see the localpeople are also ready to welcome thevisiting pilgrims.

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Hailing the performance ofher party candidate in the

recent Azamgarh parliamen-tary bypoll, Bahujan SamajParty president Mayawati, onMonday, asked party workersto keep the momentum andprevent Muslims from beingmisled in the 2024 generalelections.

“The determination andcourage with which all theBSP workers, office-bearersand party candidate Shah Alamalias Guddu Jamali have foughtthe Azamgarh Lok Sabhabypoll needs to be maintainedtill 2024 Lok Sabha elections aspart of the resolve while main-taining election readiness,”Mayawati said in a tweet in

Hindi. In another tweet, shesaid, not only in Azamgarh,BSP’s struggle and efforts hadto be continued in the entireUP to convert the ground-work into votes.

"In this sequence, it is alsoimportant to protect a partic-ular community from beingmisled in the upcoming elec-tions,” she said, in an apparentreference to Muslim voters.

Mayawati had on Sundaysaid that the outcome of thebypoll had proved that onlyBSP had the “ground force” todefeat the Bharatiya JanataParty in the state.

"The UP bypoll result hasonce again proved that onlyBSP has the ‘ground force’ todefeat BJP here. The party’seffort to prove this to the entire

community will continue sothat the much awaited politicalchange can take place in thestate,” the BSP chief said.

She tweeted, "The rulingparty wins most of the bypollsyet the tough fight the BahujanSamaj Party has given to the

r u l i n gB h a r a t i y aJanata Partyand theS a m a j w a d iParty inAzamgarh iscommendable.All party work-ers have tomove forwardwith morestrength."

The BSPcontested only

the Azamgarh bypoll. Party’scandidate Shah Alam aliasGuddu Jamali stood third with29.27 per cent votes there. TheBJP candidates won both theAzamgarh and Rampur seats inthe bypolls, the counting forwhich were held on Sunday.

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Dedicating the victory ofBharatiya Janata Party to

its Shakti Kendras in Azamgarhand Rampur parliamentary by-elections, the state unit of theparty has decided to strength-en these centres across thestate.

“The bye-election resultsare a clear indication of the suc-cess of the Shakti centres. Theparty workers were able tomeet people and convincethem about the programmes ofthe Central and the state gov-ernments,” BJP vice-presidentVijay Bahadur Pathak said.

He said that these centreswere the focal point of the partyat the ground level where theleaders apprised the votersabout the policies of the gov-

ernment and motivated themto cast their votes.

“During this election, theworkers went to over one lakhShakti Kendras each inAzamgarh and Rampur con-stituencies,” he said and addedthat the Shakti Kendras wouldbe strengthened for the 2024general election.

Pathak said it was time forintrospection for AkhileshYadav because it was the fourthelection the party had lostunder his leadership.

“The SP has reached itslowest number in Lok Sabhaafter this result. It now hasthree members in the lowerHouse of Parliament,” the BJPleader said.

BJP’s Dinesh Lal Yadav‘Nirahua’ won the parliamen-tary bypoll from Azamgarh

and Ghanshyam Singh Lodhifrom Rampur, defeatingSamajwadi Party’s candidatesDharmendra Yadav and AsimRaja by margins of 8,679 and42,192 votes, respectively.

Lodhi, an Other BackwardClass candidate, is a former SPMLC. He had started his polit-ical career with the BJP but heswitched sides later. He hadcontested the Lok Sabha elec-tion from Rampur as a BahujanSamaj Party candidate in 2009but finished third. He waselected to UP LegislativeCouncil from the Rampur-Bareilly local bodies con-stituency in 2016 as an SP can-didate. His term ended inMarch this year.

The Azamgarh seat saw atriangular contest betweenBJP's Dinesh Lal Yadav

'Nirahua', SP's DharmendraYadav and BSP's Shah Alamwhile in Rampur, the contestwas between BJP and SPbecause the BSP had not field-ed a candidate from there.

Azamgarh was the SP bas-tion as Mulayam Singh Yadavwon the Lok Sabha electionsfrom Azamgarh in 2014 and in2019 also Akhilesh won com-fortably from there. In the by-election the SP had fieldedAkhilesh’s cousin DharmendraYadav.

Mohammad Azam Khanhad won from Rampur in theLok Sabha election in 2019when the SP had an alliancewith the BSP and the RashtriyaLok Dal. In 2014, BJP’s NepalSingh, a Lodhi, had won theRampur seat but with a thinmargin.

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�� Sir — The political crisis in Maharashtraholds a mirror up to the kind of politicsbeing pursued in our country. It is symp-tomatic of a degenerate political culture.Thanks to MLAs herded to resorts as partof political power play, the phrase ‘resortpolitics’ now has wide currency. One wouldhave expected the dissident Shiv SenaMLAs to go to their respective con-stituencies and acquaint their electors withwhy they intend to revolt against the lead-ership of Uddhav Thackeray. Instead,they are holed up in faraway Guwahati tocarry out their pre-planned revolt and dis-lodge their party’s own Government.

The visuals of MLAs staying in five-star hotels and making themselves merrymock the people of Assam struggling tocope with the floods. Nobody thinks thatthe internecine revolt has anything evenremotely to do with public service whichthe elected representatives are supposed toperform. It is a fond wish that the money,time and effort expended on politicalmachinations and intrigues could havebeen channelled into tackling issues affect-ing the lives of people. Whatever grievancesthe rebel MLAs had, they could have raisedthem in party forums. Instead, they choseto hobnob with the BJP for a change ofGovernment.

G David Milton | Tamil Nadu

�� Sir — Politics is like a game of chess andeach and every move counts and that tooin bypolls for parliamentary seats seek aphenomenal power game to win presti-gious seats. Both Azamgarh and Rampurwere considered bastions of the SamajwadiParty in its own right. Moreover, Rampuris the stronghold of Azam Khan and so itis of prime importance to pocket the seat.The BJP did good spadework under YogiAdityanath and that resulted in a winningspree for the ruling party. It was revealedtime and again and the margin of victoryrevealed the real story. The UP CM attrib-uted the win to the public welfare schemes

of his ‘double engine’ Government.In a setback to the Samajwadi Party but

a bigger personal jolt for senior party leaderAzam Khan, BJP candidate GhanshyamSingh Lodhi won the Rampur Lok Sabhabyelection by defeating SP nominee andKhan’s long-time associate Asim Raja bya margin of over 42,000 votes. In Tripura,the BJP won three out of four seats withChief Minister Manik Saha emerging vic-torious in his first-ever direct electoral bat-tle from the Town Bardowali constituen-cy. The BJP alsowon the Jubarajnagar and Surma seats inthe Tripura bypolls.

CK Subramaniam | Navi Mumbai

�� Sir — The National Doctor’s Day in Indiais celebrated on July 1 every year. The dayhonours doctors for their relentless servicethroughout the year. In India, Doctors' Dayis celebrated to honour the legendary DrBidhan Chandra Roy, who was also the sec-ond Chief Minister of West Bengal. This

day serves to show gratitude to all thosewho have selflessly aided us in our time ofneed and tirelessly worked for the healthof their patients. With the number ofinfected people on the rise every day andhospitals teeming with hundreds ofpatients, it has never been more importantto appreciate the efforts that doctors maketo ensure that we recover from whatevermay be ailing us and continue to remainhealthy.

Doctors’ Day is an opportunity tothank all the heroes in the medical frater-nity for their selfless contribution. They areworking round the clock to cure peoplefrom whatever sickness they may be suf-fering from. Instead of thinking about theirown safety and their family’s, they choseto serve the nation. Kudos to their spiritand dedication that they continued to workuntiringly in the hours of crisis!

Jubel D’Cruz | Mumbai

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alists. It is believed that onaccount of its religious charac-teristic, civil society couldmerge as an effective actor inPakistan, as against the west-ern model, to influence civiclife and State. Nonetheless,from a functional perspectivebased on traditional model ofregulating civic life, communi-ty action and counter-balancethe Sate’s excess, civil society inPakistan has shown someeffectiveness.

Civil society’s activismin the past: Despite the com-plexities, spurts of civil society’sactivism have been discernible,particularly in terms of effect-ing a democratic transitionprocess and to bring aboutregime changes — bothauthoritarian and democratic.Civil society’s role in the anti-Ayub and anti-Musharraf agi-tation as well as during theGovernment of Zulfikar AliBhutto is noteworthy. Themost vibrant role and activismof civil society was seen dur-ing lawyers’ movement(‘Adliya Bachao Tehreek’ orSave Judiciary Movement) in2007 when they stood againstthe dictatorship of Musharrafto restore autonomy of thejudiciary and democracy.

Civil society and ‘tepid’activism: Today, on account ofthe political reality in Pakistan

marked by continued militarycontrol, the civil society hasbeen forced to shy away frompro-activism displayed episod-ically in the past in terms ofraising awareness among itscitizens and promoting demo-cratic participation.

While Pakistan’s peoplecontinue to be perturbed aboutimportant issues like corrup-tion and unemployment, thecivil society seems to be lack-ing any constructive debateand meaningful pro-activism.Does such tepid activism rein-force the perception that thecivil society is driven either byvested interests or is political-ly partisan acting under theinfluence of the military, polit-ical parties and other interestgroups? Or, is it a reflection ofthe absence of ‘free space’ forcivil society to thrive inPakistan? The answers to allthese questions continue toperplex everyone, sometimesraising questions on the sus-tainability of democracy in thecountry.

Breaking the silence:Although civil society inPakistan displayed ’sporadicpresence’ through demonstra-tions and rallies, majorly spear-headed by the Opposition,against the Imran KhanGovernment, such activismhas lost the earlier vigour. In

order to sustain and consoli-date democracy in its true spir-it, it will not be sufficient forcivil society to break the silenceby simply demonstrating onthe streets but independentlyspearheading and steeringsuch rallies per se to promotethe real purpose of its existenceand responsibilities like in thepast, and adopting a more pro-active approach to effect mean-ingful changes. It has to act asthe prime conduit for thedemands of the people,restrain the misuse of power ofState and serve as a citadel ofdemocracy. At the same time,the Government should alsorefrain from suppressing thediverse voices and interestsexpressed though the civilsociety. In any healthy democ-racy, a positive Oppositionand a culture of debate and dis-sent is necessary for civil soci-ety to flourish and democra-cy to nurture.

It is only when bothPakistan Government and civilsociety understand theirresponsibilities and collaboratepositively that democracy willsustain and consolidate itselfand prevent the country’sdescent into a failed State.

(The author is SeniorConsultant, Indian Councilfor Cultural Relations. The

views expressed are personal.)

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Astrong and durable demo-cratic Government is pos-sible only when it and the

civil society play a collaborativerole in upholding the spirit ofdemocratic ethos and spreadingawareness about the value ofdemocratic participation. In fact,civil society has a major role toplay to promote and consolidatedemocracy by acting as a linkbetween the people and theGovernment. Therefore, it is con-sidered the ‘third space’ betweenpeople and the State, incorporat-ing the dimension of pluralismand diversity.

The civil society’s activism inPakistan, however, appears to beat times erratic and compro-mised. It is also argued that thefundamental obstacle in the pathof development and democrati-sation of civil society there is dueto the confluence of ‘military rule’and ‘religion’.

Pakistan’s civil society — Acomplex matrix: Civil society inPakistan appears to be complex,assuming a sui generis characterover the years. This complexitymust be viewed in the context ofrepeated military interventionsand influence of religion. In fact,civil society in Pakistan compris-es muti-stakeholders includingnon-governmental organisations(NGOs), community-basedorganisations, think tanks, tradeunions, cultural groups, religiousgroups and informal citizenorganisations.

Pakistani scholarMohammad Qadeer aptly cate-gorises its sui generis nature intotwo tracks. One is the modernsecular track and the other is thetraditional ideological track. Thefirst track constitutes the urban,modern, liberal/secular and edu-cated section which includesNGO, civil society organisationsand professionals advocatinghuman rights through confer-ences, seminars and protestmarches. The traditional is con-stituted by primordial ties and tra-ditional base of religious civil soci-ety and is protected from State’sintrusion. This segment compris-es mosques, seminaries,Islamic/ethnic/territorial seg-ments of students and labourunions, rural groups, bazaartraders and small-town industri-

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Is the ongoing Maharashtrapolitical crisis an ideologicalbattle within the Shiv Sena or

the inability of MaharashtraChief Minister UddhavThackeray to convince hisSainiks about his soft Hindutva?Or is it the BJP's ambition toeliminate all non-BJP govern-ments? Or is it for the realign-ment of political forces? It is per-haps a combination of all.

When Uddhav headed theMVA coalition Government in2019, doubting Thomases werebusy speculating how long hisgovernment would last. It wasbecause of the heterogeneousnature of the coalition. True totheir prediction, Uddhav hasbeen facing crisis after crisissince then. Now it has come toa head.

The party faces a verticalsplit in a fast-developing drama,

unless there is a realignment ofpolitical forces or the two war-ring factions come together.There is also the danger of theMVA coalition Governmentcollapsing.

Uddhav woke up on June 21to hear about the brewing revoltwithin his party, led by hisCabinet colleague EknathShinde. Also, Shinde was notalone as he had mobilised some30-odd rebel legislators.

In the past three years,Uddhav has grown as one of theprominent Opposition leaders,rubbing shoulders with power-ful chief ministers like MamataBanerjee (West Bengal) andM.K. Stalin (DMK).

Ironically, the present prob-lem is not from the allies butfrom within Shiv Sena. In anemotional speech, he recentlysaid, "The sad part for me is that

my people (Shiv Sainiks) havelost trust in me."

Ignoring the rebellion with-in the party that has been brew-ing for some time, Uddhav kepthimself in splendid isolation,attending to Covid relief andOpposition politics at thenational level. He did not realisethat his priority should havebeen keeping his flock together.

The Shiv Sena and its long-term partner Bharatiya JanataParty fought the 2019 pollstogether. The BJP won 106 seats;the Shiv Sena bagged only 56.Together, they would have com-fortably formed the govern-ment in the 288-memberAssembly. But then theSena wanted the post of ChiefMinister to be shared as dis-cussed before the polls betweenthe partners, but the BJP reject-ed it. Sena had become the

junior partner in the pastdecade.

It was not the first time theSena faced rebellion, as threerevolts happened under thewatch of its charismatic founderBalasaheb Thackeray. He was amesmerising personality—auda-cious, smoking pipes, wearingsunglasses and saffron clothes,and even drinking his favouritedrink, beer. He was respected bya few but feared by all. Even thePop King, Michael Jackson,posed with Thackeray and gotclearance for his solo concert inIndia.

Balasaheb Thackeray’s abil-ity to create mass hysteria gavehim a larger-than-life persona,though he himself never contest-ed elections or held power. Amaster orator, he got his party topower in 1995 and aligned withthe BJP in the 1990s, which last-ed for decades. He anointed hisson Uddhav as working presi-dent in 2003 against his nephewRaj Thackeray. Uddhav is seeingthe fourth revolt now.

But Uddhav’s primary mis-calculation was taking hisSainiks for granted. He failed tosell his brand of soft Hindutvaor the controversial nature of hiscoalition or alliance withCongress. He also should havebeen careful about projecting hisson Aditya at the cost of somesenior leaders. Instead heremained inaccessible to evenhis senior ministers.

Thirdly, the Sainiks couldnot be comfortable with thecoalition partners as they hadgrown for decades fighting theCongress. Some sections of theSena felt that the alliance wasdamaging the party's growth.

Fourthly, the rebels appre-hend scrutiny from theEnforcement Directorate, theCentral Bureau of Investigation,and income tax officials. Theysee returning to the BJP-ledNational Democratic Alliance asa way out of this unnecessaryharassment.

To escape the rigors of theanti-defection law, the Shindegroup has to satisfy the test oftwo-thirds of elected members.NCP chief Sharad Pawar hasrightly said the real test wouldbe the floor test. Hence Hobson'sChoice before Eknath Shindeand his supporters.

Uddhav cannot fight ontwo fronts—the might of the BJPand the growing number ofrebels. He may have to compro-mise or lose both his party andthe government. Since Shindehas invoked Balasaheb's nameand ideology in his demands toUddhav, the Thackeray clanmust also ensure keepingBalasaheb's legacy.

While the legal battles maygo on for months, the ongoingdrama has to end sooner or later.In all probability, there is likelyto be a realignment of politicalforces.

It will be challenging forUddhav to unite the party. If hedoes so, he will emerge as astrong leader. He has the advan-tage because the party is withhim, though some of the legis-lators are not. Above all, he hasthe Thackeray surname.

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(The writer is a seniorjournalist. The views

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&"'�"-!�8;G<>1B>9 The Supreme Court’s verdict dismiss-ing the appeal filed by Zakia Jafriand Teesta Setalvad challenging theSpecial Investigative Team’s (SIT’s)

clean chit to Narendra Modi in the 2002Gujarat riots should settle the issue for onceand all. But, alas, that is not likely to hap-pen, what with the aandolanjeevis’ obstina-cy with maligning the Prime Minister whowas Gujarat chief minister in 2002.

The Bench headed by Justices A.M.Khanwilkar was clear in its ruling: “The SIThas not found any conspiracy, linking sep-arate and disparate acts of arson and loot-ing or outrageous claims made in sting oper-ations or individual utterances/publicationsof purported hate speech, to any singularlarger conspiracy or planned event.”

The Bench went on to say: “The mate-rials gathered during the investigation in noway link any ‘meeting of the minds’ in anyof the nine cases investigated by the SIT orfor that matter, other incidents alleged inthe complaint or the protest petition. Theriots across the state had taken place spon-taneously, immediately after the Godhratrain carnage.”

Further, it said that no material was dis-covered “pointing towards any meeting ofminds/conspiracy in the higher echelons ofthe administration or [that] the politicalestablishment conspired with other personsto cause such riots or [it] turned a Nelson’seye when the riots had triggered and con-tinued.”

Not only was there no conspiracyinvolving the top ruling politicians but therewere also “disgruntled officials” in Gujaratat that time who wanted “to create sensa-tion by making revelations which werefalse.” The apex court said the SIT investi-gation has “fully exposed” the “falsity ofclaims” of such officials.

Representing the anti-Modi litigants,senior advocate and former Union minis-ter Kapil Sibal argued that the SupremeCourt-appointed SIT did not conductinvestigation on the crucial aspects of thematter, which was essential to establish alarger conspiracy.

Countering Sibal, senior advocate andformer attorney-general Mukul Rohatgi saidthat the SIT not only did its job but oftenexceeded the remit set out by the SupremeCourt. All in its pursuit of justice. Hestressed that Zakia’s charges mainly point-ed towards the dereliction of duty and didnot hint at any criminality.

Rohatgi also said that he suspected thatthe petition was being driven not by Zakia,the aggrieved party, but by Petitioner No.2, i.e. social activist Teesta Setalvad who hasulterior motives in pursuing the same.

In this context, it would be instructiveto scrutinize the chronology for the SCorder. In 2006, Jafri urged the Gujarat Policeto file an FIR against some officials andpoliticians, including Modi, who was thenchief minister. She alleged that the state gov-ernment had not done enough to preventthe riots and save people, including her hus-

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(The author is anadvocate in the Supreme

Court of India)

band.In 2008, the apex court appoint-

ed an SIT to submit a report on theriots trials and also probe Jafri’scomplaint.

In 2012, the SIT gave a cleanchit to Modi and others, citing “noprosecutable evidence” and submit-ted its closure report to theMagistrate.

In 2013, Jafri filed a petitionopposing the closure report. TheMagistrate upheld the SIT’s closurereport and dismissed her plea.

In response, Jafri moved theGujarat High Court which upheld,in 2017, the Magistrate’s decision.

In 2018, Jafri and activist TeestaSetalvad approached the SupremeCourt, saying the SIT did notexamine all the material available,its investigation was biased, andinvestigators themselves shouldface a probe.

The allegations against Modiwere based on former Gujaratpolice officer Sanjiv Bhat’s submis-sions. He had claimed to be presentat a crucial government meeting.The SIT later found and conclud-ed that Bhatt was not present at themeeting and hence, there was noother way to confirm the charges.

Three points need to be madehere. First, Narendra Modi’s namehas been cleared by experiencedcops (comprising the SIT) as well asby the various levels of judiciary.One has to be a conspiracy theorybuff to believe that so many copsand judicial officers, including threeSupreme Court judges, could bemanipulated.

Second, the Gujarat Police wasunder Modi, as he was chief min-ister till 2014, but not the SIT or thejudiciary. Till that time, theCongress-led United ProgressiveAlliance was in power at the Centre;

and it was in this period that Modiwas exonerated of all charges notjust by the SIT but also the localmagistrate.

It is an open secret that theCongress has never been fond ofNarendra Modi; in fact, the grandold party hates him the most. It hasdone everything possible to demeanand demonize him. We should notlose sight of the fact that the UPAwas in office for 10 long years (2004-14)—very long from the perspectiveof Modi, for he was the constant tar-get of calumny, character assassina-tion, and innuendo. The assaultswere relentless—direct (fromCongress leaders) and indirect(from pro-Congress activists likeSetalvad), legal and political.

In that period, the Congressheld every lever of power; as the rul-ing party, it also had access to theresources of the Indian State. Andyet, it could not find anythingagainst Narendra Modi.

Instead of acknowledging thetruth or at least giving some cre-dence to the possibility of his inno-cence and going slow against him(‘Maybe the person is innocent,maybe we got is all wrong’), theCongress and its privateer-free-booters like Setalvad consistentlyand persistently worked to malignNarendra Modi.

As the SC Bench pointed out,“allegations regarding larger con-spiracy at the highest level… isfounded on the alleged utterancesmade by the then Chief Minister inan official meeting (on February 27,2002, in Gandhinagar) whileaddressing the DGP, the then ChiefSecretary and other senior officialsof the state to allow to vent to theHindu anger on the minority in thewake of Godhra incident.”

The petitioner relied on the

statements of police officers SanjivBhatt, who claimed to have attend-ed the meeting, and R.B. Sreekumar,and former Minister Haren Pandya,but the SIT concluded “that theclaim of concerned persons is falseand figment of imagination,” the SCsaid.

“The SIT after thorough inves-tigation has recorded its opinionthat neither Mr Sanjiv Bhatt nor MrHaren Pandya was present in thestated meeting. Similarly, even MrR.B. Sreekumar had no personalknowledge as he did not attend thesaid meeting. Besides, Mr R.B.Sreekumar was a disgruntled offi-cer,” said the top court.

In a way, the apex court’s rulingvalidates the SIT’s findings, whichhad given a clean chit to NarendraModi way back in 2013, when theUPA was in office. On April 25,2013, SIT lawyer R.S. Jamuar said,“Modi has never said that go and killpeople.”

Also, he said, “Teesta Setalvadand others have falsified the com-plaint targeting the chief ministerwho had never said that ‘go and killpeople’.”

Investigating something againand again doesn’t change the resultif it has been done properly. But theaandolanjeevis like Setalvad can’tbelieve in any finding unless it is inaccordance with their own preju-dices and dogmas. She is not both-ered how her stubbornness hurtsothers. She and others of her ilk mayface the consequences for malign-ing others.

The trials and tribulations theaandolanjeevis subjected NarendraModi didn’t shatter him, showingthat he is made of sterner stuff. Theyhounded him for almost twodecades, but he continues to striveto take India to greater heights.

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Russia was mounting an all-outassault on the last Ukrainianstronghold in the eastern Luhansk

region, "pouring fire" on the city ofLysychansk from the ground and air, thelocal governor said Monday, as Westernleaders met to discuss ways of bolster-ing support for Kyiv.

Luhansk Gov. Serhiy Haidai saidRussian forces were pummelingLysychansk after capturing the neigh-boring city of Sievierodonetsk in recentdays. It's part of a stepped-up Russianoffensive to wrest the broader Donbasregion from Ukrainian governmentcontrol in what Western experts say hasbecome the new main goal of PresidentVladimir Putin's war in Ukraine, nowin its fifth month.

"They're pouring fire on the cityboth from the air and from the ground.After the takeover of Sievierodonetsk,the enemy army has concentrated all itsforces on capturing (our) last strongholdin the Luhansk region: Lysychansk,"Haidai told The Associated Press.

The Russians were trying to block-ade the city from the south, "destroy-ing everything that their artillery andmultiple rocket launchers can reach,"Haidai said.

Over the past week, the Russianarmy has captured several villages andtowns southeast of Lysychansk, now astaging area for airstrikes and shellingattacks.

The office of President VolodymyrZelenskyy said at least six civilians werekilled and 31 others injured as part ofintense Russian shelling against variouscities over the past 24 hours - includ-

ing Kyiv and major cities in the coun-try's south and east.

It said Russian rocket attacks killedtwo and injured five overnight inKharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city,and its surrounding area. Russian forcesalso continued to target the key south-ern port of Odesa, with a missile attackdestroying residential buildings andinjuring six, including a child, it said.

The southern city of Mykolaiv like-wise saw Russian shells hit civilian infra-structure, including a kindergarten,the president's press office said. It didnot give details of any casualties.

In Lysychansk, at least five high-risebuildings in the city and the last roadbridge were damaged over the past day,Haidai said. A crucial highway linkingthe city to government-held territoryfurther south was rendered impassablebecause of shelling - but it hasn't beencaptured, he said.

Such shelling is also making theevacuation of civilians increasingly dif-ficult, Haidai said. The city had a pre-war population of around 100,000,approximately half of whom remain.

Analysts say that Lysychansk's loca-tion high on the banks of the Siverskiy

Donets river, as well as its large area dot-ted with hills, give a major advantageto the city's Ukrainian defenders.

"It's a very hard nut to crack. TheRussians could spend many months andmuch effort storming Lysychansk,"military analyst Oleh Zhdanov told theAP.

The Siverskiy Donets river enclos-es Lysychansk from the north andeast, while the Ukrainian army contin-ues to hold territory west of the city,which it uses to supply arms andhumanitarian aid. Moscow has nowmoved to attempt to block Lysychanskfrom the south.

To the west, in the government-controlled city of Sloviansk, localauthorities accused Russian forces of fir-ing a cluster bomb, saying it hit a resi-dential neighborhood after dawn onMonday. Authorities say the number ofdead and injured are still to be con-firmed; the AP saw one fatality. A man'sbody lay hunched over a car door frame,his blood pooling onto the ground fromscattered chest and head wounds. Awoman, bandaged and covered inblood, sat shocked by the roadside, wait-ing for medics to arrive.

The shockwave from the explosionblew out most of the windows in thesurrounding apartment blocks and thecars parked below, littering the groundwith broken glass.

"In the last week we have seen anincrease in the use of these clusterbombs" said Sloviansk Mayor VadimLyakh, who was helping coordinate theemergency response. "As you can see,there is no military base here. This wasa residential area where there were onlycivilians."

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Leading economic powersconferred by video link

with Ukrainian PresidentVolodymyr Zelenskyy onMonday as they underscoredtheir commitment to Ukrainefor the long haul with plans topursue a price cap on Russianoil, raise tariffs on Russiangoods and impose other newsanctions.

In addition, the US waspreparing to announce the pur-chase of an advanced surface-to-air missile system for Kyiv tohelp Ukraine fight back againstVladimir Putin's aggression.The US was also preparing toannounce the purchase of anadvanced surface-to-air missilesystem for Kyiv.

The new aid and efforts toexact punishment on Moscowfrom the Group of 7 leaderscome as a Zelenskyy has open-ly worried that the West has

become fatigued by the cost ofa war that is contributing tosoaring energy costs and pricehikes on essential goods aroundthe globe.

Leaders were finalising thedeal to seek a price cap duringtheir three-day G-7 summit inthe German Alps. The details ofhow a price cap would work, aswell as its impact on the Russianeconomy, were to be resolved bythe G-7 finance ministers in thecoming weeks and months,according to a senior adminis-tration official spoke on thecondition of anonymity to pre-view the announcements fromthe summit.

The largest democraticeconomies will also commit toraising tariffs on Russianimports to their countries, withthe US announcing new tariffson 570 categories of goods, aswell as use of sanctions to tar-get Russia's defense supplychains that support its effort to

rearm during the war.Biden is expected to

announce the US, is purchas-ing NASAMS, a Norwegian-developed anti-aircraft system,to provide medium- to long-range defence, according to theperson familiar with the mat-ter, who spoke on the conditionof anonymity. NASAMS is thesame system used by the US toprotect the sensitive airspacearound the White House andUS Capitol in Washington.

Additional aid includesmore ammunition forUkrainian artillery, as well ascounter-battery radars, to sup-port its efforts against theRussian assault in the Donbas,the person said. Biden is alsoannouncing a $7.5 billion com-mitment to help Ukraine's gov-ernment meet its expenses, aspart of a drawdown of the $40billion military and economicaid package he signed into lawlast month.

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President Joe Biden is set to announce thatthe U.S. Is providing advanced an surface-

to-air missile system to Ukraine, as well asadditional artillery support, according to aperson familiar with the matter, in the latestassistance meant to help the country defendagainst Russia's four-month invasion.

The U.S. Is purchasing NASAMS, aNorwegian-developed anti-aircraft system, toprovide medium- to long-range defence,according to the person, who spoke on thecondition of anonymity. NASAMS is the samesystem used by the U.S. To protect the sen-sitive airspace around the White House andU.S. Capitol in Washington.

Additional aid includes more ammuni-tion for Ukrainian artillery, as well ascounter-battery radars, to support its effortsagainst the Russian assault in the Donbas, theperson said.

The announcement comes as Biden ishuddling with allies this week on supportingUkraine in meetings at the Group of Sevenadvanced economies summit in Germanyand NATO leaders' annual gathering inMadrid.

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Leaders of the Group of Seven eco-nomic powers are set to commit

themselves to the long haul in support-ing Ukraine as they meet in the GermanAlps and confer by video link withUkrainian President VolodymyrZelenskyy.

The G-7 leaders will begin Monday'ssession of their three-day summit with afocus on Ukraine. Later, they will bejoined by the leaders of five democraticemerging economies - India, Indonesia,South Africa, Senegal and Argentina - fora discussion on climate change, energyand other issues.

The war in Ukraine was already at theforefront of the G-7 leaders' minds as theyopened their summit at the secludedSchloss Elmau luxury hotel on Sunday -just as Russian missiles hit the Ukrainiancapital of Kyiv for the first time in weeks.

US President Joe Biden said RussianPresident Vladimir Putin "has beencounting on, from the beginning, thatsomehow NATO and the G-7 wouldsplinter, but we haven't and we're notgoing to." Britain's Boris Johnson warnedthe leaders not to give in to "fatigue."

On Monday, they have the opportu-nity to demonstrate that unity toZelenskyy and reaffirm their commit-ment to supporting Kyiv financially andotherwise. Biden hopes to use his trip toEurope to proclaim the unity of the coali-tion pressing to punish Russia for its inva-sion of Ukraine as much as he is urgingallies to do even more - seeking to counterdoubts about its endurance as the wargrinds into its fifth month.

The summit's host, GermanChancellor Olaf Scholz, said last week thathe wants to discuss the outlines of a

"Marshall plan for Ukraine" with his G-7 counterparts, referring to the U.S.-spon-sored plan that helped revive Europeaneconomies after World War II.

With the war still in progress anddestruction mounting by the day, it'sunlikely to be a detailed plan at this stage.Scholz has said that "rebuilding Ukrainewill be a task for generations."

The G-7 already is committed to helpfinance Ukraine's immediate needs.Finance ministers from the group lastmonth agreed to provide $19.8 billion ineconomic aid to help Kyiv keep basic ser-vices functioning and prevent tightfinances from hindering its defenseagainst Russian forces.

A senior US administration official,speaking on condition of anonymity todiscuss private conversations between theG-7 leaders, said the US and Europe arealigned in their aims for a negotiated endto the conflict, even if their roles some-times appear different.

Scholz and French President

Emmanuel Macron have tried to facili-tate that through active conversationswith Russian President Vladimir Putinand Zelenskyy, while also supplyingweapons to Ukraine. The U.S. Has large-ly cut off significant talks with Russia andaims to bolster Ukraine's battlefieldcapacity as much as possible so that itseventual position at the negotiating tableis stronger.

The endurance of the tough sanctionson Russia may ultimately come down towhether the G-7 and other leaders canidentify ways to ease energy supplyissues and skyrocketing prices once win-ter hits, as they seek to disengage fromRussian sources of fuel.

The G-7 meeting is sandwichedbetween a European Union summit lastweek that agreed to give Ukraine the sta-tus of a candidate for membership - kick-ing off a process that is likely to take yearsand whose success isn't guaranteed - anda summit of NATO leaders startingTuesday in Madrid.

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Ukrainian President VolodymyrZelenksyy has joined the Group of

Seven leaders by video link at their summitin the Bavarian Alps.

Zelenskyy could be seen on a televisionscreen next to the round table where theleaders sat Monday at the secluded SchlossElmau luxury hotel. His address wasn't beingshown to the public.

The G-7 leaders are committing them-selves to supporting Ukraine for the longhaul at their summit, with both immediatehelp and long-term rebuilding on the agen-da.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz saysahead of a session with Ukrainian PresidentVolodymyr Zelenskyy that the G-7 countries'policies on Ukraine are "very much aligned,"and that they see the need to be both toughand cautions.

Scholz said after meeting CanadianPrime Minister Justin Trudeau on Mondaythat "we are taking tough decisions, that weare also cautious, that we will help ...Ukraine as much as possible but that we alsoavoid that there will be a big conflictbetween Russia and NATO."

He added that "this is what is of essence-- to be tough and thinking about the neces-sities of the time we are living in."

The G-7 leaders are to confer by videolink Monday morning with Zelenskyy.

The Group of Seven economic powersare set to announce an agreement to pur-sue a price cap on Russian oil, aiming to curbMoscow's energy revenues, a US official saidMonday. The move is part of a joint effortof support for Ukraine that includes raisingtariffs on Russian goods and imposing newsanctions on hundreds of Russian officialsand entities supporting the four month longwar.

Leaders were finalising the deal to seeka price cap during their three-day summit

in the German Alps. The details of how aprice cap would work, as well as its impacton the Russian economy, were to be resolvedby the G-7 finance ministers in the comingweeks and months.

The largest democratic economies willalso commit to raising tariffs on Russianimports to their countries, with the USannouncing new tariffs on 570 categories ofgoods, as well as use of sanctions to targetRussia's defence supply chains that supportits effort to rearm during the war.

The senior administration official spokeon the condition of anonymity to previewthe announcements from the G-7 leaders'summit, where they are set to confer byvideo link with Ukrainian PresidentVolodymyr Zelenskyy.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz says theWest has no intention to "torpedo" theGroup of 20 - the group of major economiesthat also includes Russia.

This year's G-20 summit is due to takeplace in Indonesia in November. There arequestions over whether Western leaders willsit down with Russian President VladimirPutin.

Scholz, who is hosting this week's sum-mit of the smaller Group of Seven industrialpowers, on Monday also is hosting leadersfrom five major emerging democraticeconomies - India, Indonesia, Senegal,South Africa and Argentina.

supplies to several EU coun-tries, including heavy importersGermany and Italy, and cut offdeliveries to other members,such as Poland and Finland.

The EU Council adoptedthe gas storage regulationMonday after the EuropeanCommission made a proposalin March. The regulation alsosays underground gas storageon EU soil will need to be filledto 90% capacity before the2023-24 winter.

Heads of state and govern-ment agreed last week during

a summit in Brussels to step uppreparations for further gascuts from Russia and to keepsearching for other suppliers.The EU already has increaseddeliveries from the UnitedStates, Norway, Algeria andAzerbaijan.

Some EU members don'thave storage facilities, so theregulation provides that theyshould store 15% of their annu-al national gas consumption inother member countries, allow-ing them access to reserves inother EU nations.

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European Union countriesagreed Monday that all nat-

ural gas storage in the 27-nation bloc should be toppedup to at least 80% capacity fornext winter as they prepare forthe possibility of Russia furtherreducing deliveries.

The EU is trying to slash itsuse of Russian energy amid theKremlin's war in Ukraine andfind other sources. A ban onimports of Russian coal willstart in August, and an embar-go on most oil from Russia willbe phased in over the comingeight months.

Meanwhile, Moscow is dis-

rupting natural gas deliveries,a fuel used to power factoriesand generate electricity that theEU didn't include in its ownsanctions for fear of seriouslyharming the European econo-my. Before the war, the bloc gotabout 40% of its natural gasfrom Russia.

Moscow has reduced gas

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Adisplay of war-damagedRussian weapons in down-

town Warsaw serves as areminder of the horrors of thewar in Ukraine but also thatRussia's aggression can bedefeated, officials said Monday.

Ukraine's Deputy DefenceMinister Hanna Maliar and thehead of Poland's prime minis-ter's office, Michal Dworczyk,inaugurated the exhibit inWarsaw's Castle Square thatwas painstakingly rebuilt afterit's destruction during WorldWar II.

Dworczyk said the dam-aged T-72 tank, a self-pro-pelled howitzer and elements ofRussian missile systems showthat Russia's army, once con-sidered invincible, can bedefeated. The equipment fellinto the hands of Ukrainianforces early in the war thatstarted when Russia invased onFeb 24.

The tank was destroyedMarch 31 in fighting near thevillage of Dmytrivka, west of

Kyiv.Maliar said the equipment

also demonstrate the effective-ness of Ukraine's defense sys-tems - some of which havebeen provided by Europeancountries - and underscoreneed for more such support.

The display, called "ForOur Freedom and Yours,"opened on the eve of a NATOsummit in Madrid that aims toboost the strength of the mili-tary alliance's rapid reactionforce and military support forUkraine.

Maliar said Russia's

artillery is 10 times more pow-erful than Ukraine's. Ukrainehas been urging its westernallies to provide more militaryequipment and munitions tosupport its defense againstsevere Russian attacks in theeast of the country.

There are plans to take theweapons display to the CzechRepublic and elsewhere inEurope, Maliar said.

Ukraine's neighbourPoland has been a staunchsupporter of Kyiv, seeingUkraine's resistance as defend-ing all of Europe.

RUSSIA 'POURING FIRE' ON UKRAINIANCITY AS OFFENSIVE MOUNTS

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EU countries adopt mandatory gas storage amid Russia's cuts

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Ahigh-level US delega-tion on Monday met SriLankan President

Gotabaya Rajapaksa and dis-cussed measures to help theisland nation cope with anunprecedented economic crisisand severe shortages of essen-tial supplies.

US Ambassador KellyKeiderling, Deputy AssistantSecretary of the USDepartment of State, andRobert Kaproth, DeputyAssistant Secretary of the USTreasury accompanied byAmbassador to Sri Lanka JulieJ Chung met the President todiscuss Sri Lanka's economiccrisis.

"It's a challenging time,but we continue to deliverassistance and long-term part-nership to help Sri Lankaachieve a prosperous, secure &democratic future," tweetedthe US Ambassador.

The US delegation's meet-ing with the President came as

Power and Energy MinisterKanchana Wijesekera said twoministers are scheduled to leavefor Russia on Monday to holdtalks with Russian authoritiesto directly purchase fuel anddiscuss other diplomatic-relat-ed matters.

During their four-day offi-cial stay, the top officials fromthe US Treasury and the StateDepartment, who arrived hereon Sunday, will meet a widerange of political representa-tives, economists, and interna-tional organisations to "explorethe most effective ways for theUS to support Sri Lankans inneed, Sri Lankans working toresolve the current economiccrisis, and Sri Lankans plan-ning for a sustainable andinclusive economy for thefuture," the US Embassy hadsaid in a statement.

Over the past two weeks,the US has announced USD120 million in new financingfor Sri Lankan small and medi-um-sized businesses, a USD 27million contribution to Sri

Lanka's dairy industry andUSD 5.75 million in humani-tarian assistance to help thosehit hardest by the economic cri-sis.

The United States alsocommitted USD 6 million innew grants to provide liveli-hood assistance to vulnerablepopulations, and technical

assistance on financial reformthat will help stabilise the econ-omy.

Crisis-hit Sri Lanka, whichhas remained neutral on theUkraine war, is exploringoptions to purchase oil fromRussia, as the island nation des-perately looks to replenish itsdwindling fuel stocks amid an

unprecedented economic crisisdue to a crippling shortage offoreign exchange reserves.

On Sunday, petrol pricewas hiked by LKR 50 anddiesel by LKR 60 respectively,the third price revision in justover two months.

The move was necessitatedafter state-owned refineryCeylon Petroleum Corporationinformed the Sri Lankan gov-ernment on Saturday that therewould be a delay in the arrivalof fuel shipments due to bank-ing and logistical reasons.

Since Russia's invasion ofUkraine in late February, glob-al oil prices have skyrocketed.While the US and its allies aretrying to cut financial flowssupporting Moscow's wareffort, Russia is offering itscrude at a steep discount.

Sri Lanka is facing theworst economic crisis sinceindependence in 1948 whichhas led to an acute shortage ofessential items like food, med-icine, cooking gas and fuelacross the country.

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Atop South Korean officialsaid Monday that North

Korea is increasingly targetingthe South with its nuclear armsprogramme, and urged Chinaand Russia to persuade theNorth not to conduct a wide-ly expected nuclear test.

Unification Minster KwonYoungse's comments cameafter North Korean leader KimJong Un re-emphasised hisnuclear ambitions in a keymilitary meeting last week andapproved unspecified newoperational duties for front-linearmy units.

Experts say North Koreacould be planning to deploybattlefield nuclear weaponsalong its tense border withSouth Korea. During a pro-longed stalemate in nucleardiplomacy, North Korea hasspent much of the past threeyears expanding its arsenal ofshort-range solid-fuel missilesthat are potentially capable ofevading missile defences andstriking targets throughoutSouth Korea, including USbases there.

US and South Korean offi-cials say that North Korea has

all but finished preparations forits first nuclear test sinceSeptember 2017, when itclaimed to have detonated athermonuclear warheaddesigned for intercontinentalballistic missiles.

North Korea may use itsnext nuclear test to claim thatit has acquired the ability tobuild small nuclear warheadsthat can be placed on short-range missiles or other newweapons systems it has demon-strated in recent months, ana-lysts say.

Kwon, who oversees SouthKorea's relations with NorthKorea, said at a news confer-ence that the North is exploit-ing a favourable environmentto push ahead with weaponsdevelopment and overturn theregional status quo as the US-

led West remains distractedover Russia's invasion ofUkraine.

He said North Korea'snuclear ambitions pose a "veryserious and fundamentalthreat" to South Korea and thatSeoul is preparing stern coun-termeasures in response to apossible North Korean nucleartest. He didn't elaborate.

"North Korea's transitionin weapons development fromlong-range ballistic missiles toshort-range ballistic missiles,from strategic nuclear weaponsto tactical nuclear weapons, isobviously targeted towardSouth Korea," Kwon said.

"It seems clear that NorthKorea is simultaneously pur-suing an ability to attack theUnited States and to attackSouth Korea," he said.

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Spain's Cabinet approved onMonday a new draft of a LGBTQ

rights bill that if backed by parlia-ment will allow people as young as16 to change their gender freely, andthose as young as 12 to do so witha judge's authorization.

This version of the bill is very sim-ilar to the one that was initially pre-sented by the government a year agobut was held up due to debates with-in Spain's left-wing ruling coalition.

The bill was promoted by theleft-wing United We Can party, thegovernment's junior partner. Butthere was some initial pushbackfrom the Socialist Party of Prime

Minister Pedro Sanchez represent-ing feminist criticism of self-deter-mination on the grounds that it canlead to women being disfavoured insome areas such as sports. Thatdebate appeared to conclude whenSanchez removed a vice-presidentwho was most strident in her criti-cism of the bill when he remodeledhis Cabinet.

"We want to send a very clearmessage that the lives of LGBTQpersons matter," said EqualityMinister Irene Montero. "Today we

again place ourselves in the van-guard of LGBTQ rights."

If the bill is approved by law-makers as drafted, all Spanishnationals above 16 will be able tochange their gender and name bysimply stating their desire to do sotwice within a period of fourmonths. Previously, applicants need-ed a diagnosis by several doctors ofgender dysphoria, which is the psy-chological condition of feeling a mis-match between one's biological sexand gender identity.

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A31-year-old Indian-originman was shot dead while sit-

ting in a parked SUV down thestreet from his home in NewYork, according to media reports,days after an Indian national waskilled after sustaining an appar-ent gunshot wound to his headin Maryland.

Satnam Singh was found sit-ting in the car at around 3:46 pmon Saturday in the South OzonePark section of Queens withgunshot wounds in his neckand torso, the New York Post

newspaper reported quotingNew York Police Department assaying.

Singh was sitting in the blackJeep Wrangler Sahara borrowedfrom a friend when a gunmanapproached and started shooting,New York Daily News reported.

Singh was rushed from the

scene to Jamaica Hospital, wheredoctors pronounced him dead.

Although police said thegunman approached Singh onfoot, neighbours said the shotscame from a silver-colouredsedan with a black trunk as itpassed the Jeep.

"(Singh) was walking up129th St. Going to the car and theother car with the perp in it cameup," said neighbour JoanCappellani.

"[It] made a U-turn, cameback and then 'Pow! Pow! Pow!'and then went down 129th St,"she said.

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Nigeria's highest judicial officer hasresigned, an aide said Monday, a week

after the country's Supreme Court justicesaccused the top-ranking judge of cor-ruption. Justice Tanko Muhammad deniesthe allegations.

Justice Muhammad resigned as theChief Justice of Nigeria on Sunday night,his spokesperson told The AssociatedPress. But he didn't provide an explana-tion for his decision, though localChannels Television cited health reasons,quoting unnamed sources.

The 68-year-old was appointedNigeria's chief justice in July 2019, replac-ing Walter Onnoghen who was prosecut-ed on corruption charges.

Muhammad's resignation comes aweek after 14 Supreme Court judgesdrafted a rare letter accusing him of graft.

The letter claimed that judges "werenot accorded the privilege of travellingwith accompanying persons as was thepractice." It also said the chief justice "total-ly ignored" the judges' demand but trav-elled with his "spouse, children, and per-sonal staff."

The judges said that although thecountry's National Assembly approved abudget increase for the Court, "we find itstrange" that the "Court cannot cater forour legitimate entitlements. This is unac-ceptable!"

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Six police officers were killedand four others wounded

Sunday in the northern Mexicoborder state of Nuevo Leon afterthey were ambushed by a pre-sumed drug gang equippedwith 10 home-made armoredcars and heavy weaponry.

Nuevo Leon state policesaid the patrol was outnum-bered in the pre-dawn attack on

a highway leading to theColombia border crossing. Theforce said the officers per-formed "heroically" in theattack.

State prosecutors said thedead included one female offi-cer. There was no immediateinformation on the identity ofthe attackers. But the nearby cityof Nuevo Laredo has long beendominated by the violentNortheast cartel.

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Pakistan on Monday alleged that "one mem-ber" of the BRICS grouping blocked its par-

ticipation in a virtual meeting held on the side-lines of the bloc's recent summit hosted byChina.

The Foreign Office (FO) said Pakistan hasnoted that this year a high-level dialogue onglobal development was held as a side event atthe 14th summit of BRICS nations -- Brazil,Russia, India, China and South Africa. A num-ber of developing/emerging economies wereinvited to the side event. It said China being thehost country engaged with Pakistan before theBRICS meetings, where decisions are taken afterconsultations with all BRICS members, includ-ing extending invitations to non-members.

"Regrettably one member blocked Pakistan'sparticipation," the FO said. Though the FOdid not name any country, it was apparentlyreferring to India, given the history of the rela-tionship between the two nations.

The bilateral relations deteriorated afterIndia announced withdrawing the special pow-

ers of Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcation ofthe state into two union territories in August,2019.

Pakistan expressed its hope that future deci-sions of the group would be based on "inclu-sivity". "However, we do hope that futureengagement of the organisation would be basedon the principles of inclusivity keeping in viewthe overall interests of the developing world andin a manner that is devoid of narrow geo-polit-ical considerations," it said. When asked aboutPakistan's participation in the event, ChineseForeign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijia inBeijing said: "The decision to hold the high-leveldialogue on global development was based onconsultation among BRICS countries."

"China and Pakistan are all-weather strate-gic cooperative partners. Pakistan is an impor-tant member of the group of friends of a glob-al development initiative. China highly valuesthe important role of Pakistan in promotingglobal development and advancing the imple-mentation of the UN 2030 agenda for a sus-tainable development and boating regionalcooperation," he said.

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Abullet train collided with an engine in atrain station in northeastern Czech

Republic Monday, killing one person andinjuring five.

Czech Railways said the accident tookplace early in the morning in the town of

Bohumin, shortly after the departure of thePendolino train for Prague.

The driver of the bullet train was killed,while four Czech Railways employees on theengine and one on the train wereinjured.

It was unclear whether the engine wasmoving at the time of the head-on crash.Rescuers said no passengers were injured.

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Chinese President Xi Jinpingkept Hong Kong guessing

on Monday about his possibleappearance at the 25th anniver-sary of the former Britishcolony's return to Chinese rule.

The government has yet tosay whether he will be physi-cally present for the events,which include the inaugurationof the city's new chief executive.

The event is hugely sym-bolic for Xi, who wants to beseen as propelling a "nationalrejuvenation" as he prepares foran expected third five-yearterm as head of the rulingCommunist Party. Part of that

is erasing the legacy of colo-nialism and what Chinaregards as unequal treatiesgranting rights to foreignnations imposed during thewaning years of the QingDynasty, which ended in 1911.

Asked about Xi's atten-dance plans at a daily briefingMonday, Foreign Ministryspokesperson Zhao Lijian saidhe had no additional informa-tion and that the reporter

should ask the "departmentresponsible", without givingfurther details.

Xi hasn't left mainlandChina since the start of thecoronavirus pandemic 2 1/2years ago, and his exchangeswith foreign leaders have beenmainly limited to video calls.

Hong Kong, meanwhile,faces a renewed rise inCOVID-19 infections after anavalanche of cases this yearthreatened to overwhelm itshospitals.

China's official media havesaid only that Xi will participatein the July 1 commemora-tions, without describing anytravel plans.

US DELEGATION MEETS LANKAN PREZRAJAPAKSA, DISCUSSES ECO CRISIS

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Czech bullet train collides withengine; 1 dead, 5 injured

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The GST Council in its two-day meeting starting on

Tuesday is slated to discuss anarray of issues, including amechanism for compensatingstates for revenue loss, tax ratetweaks in some items andrelaxed registration norms forsmall online suppliers.

Further, the Council,chaired by the Union FinanceMinister and comprising statecounterparts, will also clearlevying the highest tax of 28 percent on online games, casinosand horse racing, besides, dis-cussing a report of a GoM onhigh-risk taxpayers under GSTto curb evasion.

The GST Council wouldalso consider a report of thepanel of state ministers onmaking e-way bill mandatoryfor intra-state movement ofgold/ precious stones worth Rs2 lakh and above and e-invoic-ing mandatory for all taxpay-ers supplying gold/preciousstones and having annualaggregate turnover above Rs 20crore. Besides, an interimreport of a group of ministerson rate rationalisation,

which is likely to suggestcorrecting the inverted dutystructure and removing someitems from exempted list,would also be taken up for con-sideration.

Separately, the report of thecommittee of state and central

officers, commonly referred toas the Fitment Committeewhich suggested tweaking ratesin a handful of items and issu-ing clarification in case ofmajority of items would also bedeliberated at the meeting to beheld at Chandigarh June 28-29.The officers' committee hasalso suggested defering a deci-sion on taxability of cryp-tocurrency and other virtualdigital assets, pending a law onregulation of cryptocurrencyand classification on whether itis goods or services.

The Council may see astormy discussion around com-pensation payout to states withopposition-ruled states aggres-sively pushing for its continu-ation beyond the five-year peri-od which ends in June.

The Centre, last week,notified extension of the com-

pensation cess, levied on lux-ury and demerit goods, tillMarch 2026 to repay borrow-ing that were done in 2020-21and 2021-22 to compensatestates for GST revenue loss.

GST was introduced fromJuly 1, 2017, and states wereassured of compensation forthe revenue loss, till June 2022,arising on account of GST rollout.

Though states' protectedrevenue has been growing at 14per cent compounded growth,the cess collection did notincrease in the same propor-tion, COVID-19 furtherincreased the gap between pro-tected revenue and the actualrevenue receipt includingreduction in cess collection. Inorder to meet the resource gapof the states due to short release

of compensation, the

Centre borrowed and releasedRs 1.1 lakh crore in 2020-21and Rs 1.59 lakh crore in 2021-22 as back-to-back loans tomeet a part of the shortfall incess collection.

The Council is also likelyto relax compulsory registra-tion norms for small business-es with annual turnover up toRs 40 lakh and Rs 20 lakh forgoods and services respective-ly, using e-commerce platformsto sell products.

Currently, suppliers sup-plying through e-commerceare required to take compul-sory Goods and Services Tax(GST) registration.

Also, businesses with aturnover of up to Rs 1.5 croreand making e-commerce sup-plies would be allowed to optfor the composition scheme,which offers a lower rate of taxand simplercompliance.Currently, busi-nesses supplying through e-commerce cannot avail thecomposition scheme.

The changes would bringin parity between entities whoare doing businesses througheither online and offline modeunder GST.

The report of a panel ofstate finance ministers has sug-gested verification after regis-tration for high-risk taxpayersunder GST, besides using ver-ification of electricity bill detailsand bank accounts for identi-fying such taxpapyers.

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The country's economy isseeing early signs of sus-

tainable revival amid a volatileglobal environment, veteranbanker Deepak Parekh said onMonday.

Addressing the sharehold-ers of HDFC Life at the 22ndAnnual General Meeting, hesaid there is a pick-up indomestic economic activitydue to an increase in privateconsumption.

"We remain optimisticabout the resilience of India'seconomy despite the highvolatility in the global envi-ronment. We are now wit-nessing early signs of a sus-tainable economic revival,"Parekh, who is the Chairmanof the private life insurer, said.

He said high growth innon-oil and non-gold importsreflects the pick-up in domes-tic demand and the domesticeconomic activity is fueled byprivate consumption and risingdiscretionary spending.According to him, the expect-ed normal south-west mon-soon this year is likely to sup-port rural consumption.

"We remain vigilant of theimplications of current geopo-litical tensions, elevated com-modity prices, growing exter-nal demand-supply disrup-tions, capital outflows, higherinflation in emergingeconomies and withdrawal ofmonetary accommodation indeveloped countries," Parekhsaid. Speaking on the life insur-ance industry, he said despitethe pandemic, life insurancecompanies' new business pre-mium grew by 16 per cent in

FY22. However, the insurancepenetration and density levelsin the country still remainmuch lower than the globalaverage, he said, adding thatwith the increase in per capitaGDP, there is immense poten-tial for continued sectoralgrowth.

The Covid-19 pandemichas amplified awareness aboutlife and health protection cov-ers, providing the life insurersopportunity to look forward tocontinued growth in the sectorand increase insurance pene-tration in the country, he said.

Talking about HDFC Life'sperformance, Parekh said theinsurer achieved a strong busi-ness performance by success-fully balancing growth, prof-itability and business quality.

It maintained a new busi-ness market share of 21 percent and 7.7 per cent in the pri-vate and overall insurance mar-ket respectively in the previousfiscal, he said.

In previous fiscal, the com-pany got impacted due to high-er Covid-related claims whichhiked to �5,800 crore, com-pared to �1,037 crore in FY21.The individual death claimsettlement ratio in FY22 was98.7 per cent, he said.

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Benchmark stock indicesSensex and Nifty rallied

nearly 1 per cent to close at overtwo-week high levels onMonday, posting gains for athird straight day as globalequities advanced on easinginflation concerns.

The 30-share BSE Sensexjumped 433.30 points or 0.82per cent to settle at 53,161.28,a level not seen since June 10.During the day, the barometerrallied 781.52 points or 1.48 percent to 53,509.50.

The NSE Nifty also gained132.80 points or 0.85 per centto close above the 15,800 levelat 15,832.05, the highest clos-ing level since June 10. In thethree-day winning run, Sensexjumped by 2.56 per cent or1,378 points while Nifty rallied2.73 per cent or 418 points tomore than two-week high.

"Declining commodityprices have been lifting theexhausted domestic equitymarket during the recent ses-sions," Vinod Nair, Head ofResearch at Geojit Financial

Services said. Analysts saidthat investors expect oil pricesto decline further followingeasing demand from Europe,China and the US due to theslowdown in the economy.

Larsen & Toubro was thebiggest gainer among Sensexshares, rising by 2.69 per cent.Tech Mahindra spurted 2.67per cent, HCL Tech by 2.61 percent, IndusInd Bank by 2.27per cent and Infosys by 2.25 percent.

Asian Paints jumped 2.19per cent, Bharti Airtel by 2 percent , Tata Steel by 1.75 percent, UltraTech Cement by1.74 per cent, SBI by 1.51 percent, ITC by 1.5 per cent andSun Pharma by 1.44 per cent.

On the other hand,Reliance Industries, KotakBank and Titan declined."Markets started the week on astrong note and gained nearlya per cent.

Upbeat global cues trig-gered a firm start in benchmarkindices, followed by range-bound move till the end," AjitMishra, VP - Research, ReligareBroking Ltd, said.

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IRS officer Nitin Gupta hasbeen appointed as the new

CBDT chairman, a recentGovernment order said. Gupta,an Indian Revenue Service(IRS) officer of the 1986 batchof the Income Tax cadre, isserving as the Member (inves-tigation) in the Board and isscheduled to retire inSeptember next year.

The order issued on June25 said the "AppointmentsCommittee of the Cabinet hasapproved the appointment ofNitin Gupta, IRS (IT:86),Member Central Board ofDirect Taxes (CBDT) as chair-man, Central Board of Direct

Taxes from the date of assump-tion of the post." The post ofthe CBDT chief was beingheld in an additional capacityby Board member and 1986-batch IRS officer SangeetaSingh after J B Mohapatraretired on April 30.

The CBDT is headed by aChairman and can have sixmembers who are in the rankof special secretary. It is theadministrative body for theIncome Tax department.Thereare five members in the Boardat present with 1985-batch IRSofficer Anuja Sarangi beingthe senior most. The othermembers are Pragya SahaySaksena and SubashreeAnantkrishnan, both from the1987 batch of IRS.

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India and the EuropeanUnion (EU) on Monday

resumed negotiations, after agap of over eight years, for acomprehensive free tradeagreement, a move aimed atstrengthening economic tiesbetween the two regions.

Senior officials from boththe sides will hold discussionstill July 1. India and the EU"today kick-start 1st round of

trade negotiations in#NewDelhi," Ugo Astuto,Ambassador of the EuropeanUnion to India and Bhutan,said in a tweet. India and the27-nation bloc on June 17 for-mally resumed negotiations onthe proposed agreements ontrade, investments andGeographical Indications (GI).

India had started negoti-ations for a trade pact with theEU in 2007, but the talks stalledin 2013 as both sides failed to

reach an agreement on keyissues, including customs dutieson automobiles and spirits,and the movement of profes-sionals. Commerce and indus-try minister Piyush Goyal inBrussels on June 18 had saidIndia wishes to engage with theworld on modern productsand look at areas where it cangain in terms of new technol-ogy and investments.

"All cards are on the tableand we are coming with anopen heart and an open mind...Agreements do not have toalways be about gain ordemands, I think agreementsalso have to be which is goodfor both negotiating teams andfor the people," he had said.

India's merchandiseexports to EU member coun-tries stood at about USD 65 bil-lion in 2021-22, while importsaggregated to USD 51.4 billion.

A GI is primarily an agri-cultural, natural or a manufac-

tured product (handicrafts andindustrial goods) originatingfrom a definite geographicalterritory. Typically, such a nameconveys an assurance of qual-ity and distinctiveness, whichis essentially attributable tothe place of its origin. Thefamous goods which carry thistag include Basmati rice,Darjeeling tea, Chanderi fabric,Mysore silk, Kullu shawl,Kangra tea, Thanjavur

paintings, Allahabadsurkha, Farrukhabad prints,Lucknow zardozi and Kashmirwalnut wood carving.Commenting on pact,Federation of Indian ExportOrganisations (FIEO) vicepresident Khalid Khan saidthat agreement would help insignificantly promotingexports. "Sectors like apparel,leather and engineering wouldget a major boost if we get zero-duty access in the EU," Khansaid.

New Delhi: E-commerce hasenabled micro, small and medi-um enterprises to increaseprofits, reduce marketingexpenses and extend theirreach to new markets, Ministerof State for MSME BhanuPratap Singh Verma said onMonday.

While speaking at the CIIIndian MSME growth summit,Verma said that MSMEs playan important role in job cre-ation and expansion of manu-facturing base in the country,and there is a need to enhancefocus on them to achieve aUSD 5 trillion economy.

"Small businesses need toimprove their managementskills and make their technol-ogy base smart. In recent yearsonline markets have devel-oped through e-commercewhich has had a positiveimpact on MSMEs. "MSME

can generate higher profitsthrough e-commerce. It willincrease revenue and margin,extend reach to new markets,help them save marketingexpenses and customers willget a better experience," Vermasaid.He said that after the pan-demic wave, the MSME sectorhas been standing firmly.

"There is development hap-pening in MSME space and itcan be seen across the country.Main reason for this is pro-gressing changes in our publicpolicies," the minister said. Hesaid that there were neithermasks nor sanitizers when thecorona period started in India.

He said that some MSMEunits became sick, some wereunable to pay their labour anddue to some other reasonsthey were on the verge of shut-ting down. The minister saidthat the Prime Minister

Narendra Modi had contem-plated about the situation inadvance and ECLGS(Emergency Credit LineGuarantee Scheme) waslaunched to help them.

MSME secretary BB Swainsaid that the ministry has beenworking to ease credit accessfor MSME through variousschemes.

"Total loan guaranteedunder ECLGS is Rs 3.47 lakhcrore out of which amount ear-marked to MSME is Rs 3.1 lakhcrore. The performance of thecredit guarantee scheme hasachieved a milestone with guar-antee coverage of Rs 56,000crore. This is the highest eversince its inception," Swain said.The minister at the event alsolaunched a report on the IndiaD2C market compiled byPraxis in association withShiprocket and CII. PTI

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The Haryana Governmenton Monday approved the

State Electric Vehicle (EV)Policy 2022 offering severalfinancial incentives to EV man-ufacturers.

A decision in this regardwas taken at a meeting of thestatecabinet which met hereunder the chairmanship ofChief Minister Manohar LalKhattar.

The EV policy offers var-ious financial incentives to EVmanufacturers by giving incen-tives on fixed capital invest-ment (FCI), net SGST, stampduty, employment generation,etc, an official statement said.

There is 100 per cent reim-bursement of stamp duty alongwith exemption in electricityduty for a period of 20 years.The SGST reimbursement shallbe 50 per cent of the applica-ble net SGST for a period of 10

years. Companies manufac-turing electric vehicles, com-ponents of electric vehicle, EVbattery, charging infrastruc-ture etc. Shall be incentivizedwith capital subsidy.

Mega industry shall getcapital subsidy at 20 per cent ofFCI or Rs 20 crore whicheveris lower; large industry will getsubsidy of 10 per cent of FCI upto INR 10 crores, for mediumindustry 20 per cent of FCI

upto Rs 50 lakh, for smallindustry 20 per cent of FCI upto Rs 40 lakh and for microindustry 25 per cent of FCI upto Rs 15 lakh.

Under this policy, unitssetting up batteries disposalunits will get 15 per cent of FCIup to Rs 1 crore.The policy pro-vides for employment genera-tion subsidy of Rs 48,000 peremployee per annum for 10years in lieu of Haryana domi-

ciled manpower beingemployed with EV companies.Efforts shall be made to convert100 per cent of the bus fleetowned by Haryana StateTransport Undertakings intoelectric buses or Fuel CellVehicles or other non- fossil-fuel-based technologies by2030.

The cities of Gurugram &Faridabad will be declared asmodel Electric Mobility (EM)cities with phase-wise goals toadopt Electric Vehicles (EVs),charging infrastructure toachieve 100 percent e-mobili-ty.

In addition to this, theDepartment of Town andCountry Planning (TCP) shallmandatorily include the pro-visions for charging of electricvehicles in places such asGroup Residential buildings,commercial buildings, institu-tional buildings, Malls, MetroStation etc., for enabling the

overall ecosystem for uptake ofElectric Vehicles.The year 2022will be declared as “Year of theElectric Vehicles” in Haryana.

The EV Policy aims toprotect the environment,reduce carbon footprint, makeHaryana an EV manufacturinghub, ensure skill developmentin EV field, encourage uptakeof EV vehicles, provide EVcharging infrastructure andencourage R&D in EV tech-nology.

The policy provides onetime support to facilitate con-version of existing manufac-turers units completely into EVmanufacturing of 25 per cent ofbook value up to Rs 2 crore forMicro, Small, Medium andLarge units.

The cost of an electricvehicle is comparatively high-er than conventional-fuel-based vehicles which is a majordeterrent to buyers in switch-ing to EV, said the statement.

The policy offers incentives tobuyers that would reduce theeffective upfront cost and moti-vate individuals to take upelectric vehicles as their pri-mary mode for transportation.

The policy will provideearly bird direct benefit trans-fer up to Rs 10 lakh on pur-chase of Electric Vehicles orHybrid electric Vehicles in thestate. Buyers will also be eligi-ble for relaxation in registrationfee and discount on MotorVehicle Tax.

The policy encouragesR&D in educational or researchinstitutes if they setup R&Dcenters.

The policy will promoteResearch & Development inthe field of EVs by granting 50per cent of project cost up to Rs1 crore for developing newelectric charging technologyand up to Rs 5 crore for devel-oping new electric vehicle tech-nology.

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The ICICI Bank will main-tain its strong market posi-

tion and market capitalisationover the next 12-18 months,S&P Global Ratings said onMonday, and affirmed its long-term issuer credit rating 'BBB-' with a stable outlook.

The global ratings firmsaid the private sector lender islikely to sustain improvementsin asset quality, supported byIndia's economic recovery andimproved risk management.

S&P Global Ratings todayaffirmed its 'BBB-' long-termand 'A-3' short-term issuercredit ratings on ICICI, it saidin a release.

"At the same time, weaffirmed our 'BBB-' long-termissue rating on the bank'ssenior unsecured notes," S&PGlobal Ratings said.

On the stable outlook, itsaid ICICI will maintain astrong market position in theIndian banking sector."Weexpect the bank's asset quali-ty to remain better than theIndian sector average and com-parable to that of similarlyrated international peers.

The bank should maintaingood capitalisation over thenext 12-18 months, supportedby healthy earnings. The rat-ings firm said that the bank hasadequate capital buffers tosupport its above-averagegrowth. It also estimated that

the Risk-Adjusted Capital(RAC) ratio of ICICI Bank willdip marginally below 10 percent due to strong creditgrowth from 10.4 per cent asof March 31, 2022.

"Despite the decline, itscapitalisation is likely toremain better than most Indianpeers. The decline will reflectcredit growth of 17-20 percent that we expect amid astrong economic recovery.

Although returns on assetsare likely to be healthy at 1.8-1.9 per cent, they would not besufficient to sustain a RACratio above 10 per cent.

"ICICI's earnings can getsome uplift from stake sales insubsidiaries. That said, thetiming and quantity of profitsfrom such sales are uncer-tain," S&P Global Ratings said.

On asset quality front, itsaid bank's asset quality islikely to improve despite anuneven economic recovery inIndia and macroeconomicchallenges.

"In our base case, thebank's weak loans, defined asNon-Performing Loans (NPLs)and restructured loans, willdecline to 3.0-3.5 per cent oftotal loans over the next 12months, from about 4.6 percent as of March 31, 2022.Broadly stable credit condi-tions will support this. Creditcosts should remain at about 1per cent over the next 12-18months," it said.

New Delhi: Bajaj Auto Ltd onMonday said its board hasapproved a share buyback pro-gramme for an aggregateamount of up to Rs 2,500crore. The board of directors ofthe company, at its meetingheld on Monday, approved theproposal for buyback of thefully paid up equity shares ofthe company with a face valueof Rs 10 each from existingshareholders, except promoters

and promoter group, fromopen market on the stockexchanges, Bajaj Auto said in aregulatory filing.

The buyback will be car-ried out at a price not exceed-ing Rs 4,600 per equity shareand for an aggregate amount ofup to Rs 2,500 crore, repre-senting 9.61 per cent of theaggregate of the total paid-upshare capital of the company, itadded. (PTI)

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New Delhi: India's rupee is like-ly to remain under pressure dueto high prices of crude oil andother commodities, and maystabilise at around 79-80 againstthe US dollar in the near term,say experts amid limited head-room available with the ReserveBank to check the weakening ofthe domestic currency. Thecurrency has slumped over 5per cent this year after Russia'sinvasion of Ukraine sent inter-national crude oil prices soar-ing to a decade high. OnMonday, rupee ended at a freshall-time low of 78.34 (provi-sional) against the US dollar.The previous all-time low wasat the 78.32 level recorded onThursday.For a nation that is 85per cent dependent on importsto meet its oil needs and 50 per

cent for gas requirements, soar-ing international energy andcommodity prices have wors-ened its external finances.

India's crude oil importsbill had more than doubled inMay to USD 19.19 billion.

Also, the continuing FPI(Foreign Portfolio Investments)outflows has put the ReserveBank of India (RBI) in a situa-tion where it cannot go all outto strengthen the rupee as itneeds to hold on to forexreserves to meet the importrequirements. An article pub-lished in the RBI's latest bulletinhas cautioned that in case of anadverse global scenario, poten-tial portfolio outflows can aver-age up to 3.2 per cent of GDPor USD 100 billion (Rs 7.8 lakhcrore) in a year.

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x��$��"��z{New Delhi: Shares of ZomatoLtd fell by over 6 per cent onMonday after announcementthat online food delivery plat-form will acquire BlinkCommerce Pvt Ltd (formerlyknown as Grofers) for �4,447.48crore. The stock declined 6.40per cent to settle at �65.85 onBSE. During day, it fell 7.53 percent to �65.05. At NSE, it wentlower by 6.59 per cent to settleat �65.85 apiece.

Zomato Ltd on Friday saidit will acquire Blink CommercePvt Ltd for �4,447.48 crore in ashare swap deal as part of itsstrategy of investing in quickcommerce business. The com-pany's board at a meeting heldon Friday approved acquisi-tion of up to 33,018 equityshares of Blink Commerce PvtLtd from its shareholders for atotal purchase consideration of�4,447.48 crore at a price of�13.45 lakh per equity share.

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Petr Cech became the latest member of Chelsea'ssenior management team to leave the club on

Monday following a change in ownership.Long-serving chairman Bruce Buck and director

Marina Granovskaia also departed Stamford Bridge lastweek in the wake of a takeover from American ToddBoehly's consortium.

Cech, who won 13major honours withChelsea during his play-ing career as a goal-keeper, became theclub's technical and per-formance advisor whenhe retired in 2019.

"It has been a hugeprivilege to perform thisrole at Chelsea for thepast three years," Cechsaid in a club statement.

"With the clubunder new ownership, Ifeel now is the righttime for me to step aside.

"I am pleased thatthe club is now in an excellent position with the newowners, and I am confident of its future success bothon and off the pitch."

Boehly has been installed as Chelsea's new chair-man and taken over as interim sporting director.

"Petr is an important member of the Chelsea fam-ily," said Boehly.

"We understand his decision to step away and thankhim for his contributions as an advisor and his com-mitment to the club and to our community."

Cech's departure puts Boehly under even morescrutiny during what is expected to be a hectic trans-fer window for the Blues.

Chelsea, who finished third in the Premier Leaguelast season, have been linked with moves for Juventusdefender Matthijs de Ligt, Manchester City's RaheemSterling and Barcelona forward Ousmane Dembele.

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PV Sindhu will look toquickly recover from her

first-round exit at Indonesia,while HS Prannoy will eyeanother consistent show as theduo spearhead the Indian chal-lenge at the Malaysia OpenSuper 750 tournament startinghere on Tuesday.

Sindhu, a two-timeOlympic medallist, was shownthe door in the opening roundby China's He Bing Jiao at theIndonesia Open Super 1000earlier this month and shewill have to put behind thatdefeat when she begins hercampaign against a formidablePornpawee Chochuwong ofThailand.

While Sindhu enjoys a 5-3head-to-head count againstChochuwong, the Indian haslost to the Thai world number10 three times in their last fivemeetings, making their clash amouth-watering prospect.

If she can cross the open-ing hurdle and hit a consistentrun, Sindhu might come acrossOlympic champion Chen YuFei of China.

London Olympics Bronzemedallist Saina Nehwal alsostars in the same half of thedraw and will open againstUSA's Iris Wang. A win willput her face-to-face withJapanese sixth seed NozomiOkuhara, a former worldchampion.

Saina had skipped the

Indonesia leg to manage work-load and will look to put up agood show against Wang,whom she had defeated inthree games the only time theymet last year at OrleansMasters.

In men's singles, Prannoyhas been on a consistent runwith a series of quarterfinals

since the world championshipslast year. He played a pivotalrole in India's epic ThomasCup win and then dished outsome superlative performancesin Jakarta to reach the semifi-nals.

The 29-year-old was crest-fallen after a series of unforcederrors led to his ouster from

Indonesia.Prannoy, who is desperate

to end his five year titledrought, will be pitted againstMalaysian veteran Daren Liew,who had defeated him at theThailand Open in May thisyear.

Among others, TokyoOlympian B Sai Praneeth will

be up against sixth seededIndonesian Anthony SinisukaGinting, while Sameer Vermatakes on another IndonesianJonata Christie, seeded sev-enth.

Former CommonwealthGames gold medallist ParupalliKashyap, also returning afterrecovering from an injury, willmeet Korea's Heo Kwang Heein the opening round.

World number 8 pairing ofSatwiksairaj Rankireddy andChirag Shetty will also be backin action after skipping the lasttwo events due to fitness issues.The duo will open Malaysia'sMan Wei Chong and Kai WunTee.

In mixed doubles, AshwiniPonnappa and B SumeethReddy, who are part of India'sCommonwealth Games squad,will take on the Netherland'sRobin Tabeling and SelenaPiek.

Venkat Gaurav Prasad andJuhi Dewangan will square offagainst Korea's Kim Won Hoand Jeong Na Eun.

��

These days, Novak Djokovicmakes history just about everytime he wins another match. On

Monday, the top-ranked Serb did justthat at Wimbledon.

Djokovic, a six-time champion atthe All England Club, beat KwonSoon-woo 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 on CentreCourt, his 80th victory at the grass-court major. With it, he became thefirst man or woman to win that manymatches at each of the four GrandSlam tennis tournaments.

Djokovic was playing for the firsttime since losing to Rafael Nadal last

month in the French Open quarterfi-nals.

It didn't all go his way on Monday,however.

With the roof closed because ofsporadic rain, Kwon was able to pickhis spots with his booming forehand.It all came together in the second set,and even continued into the third, butDjokovic stepped it up and played likehe usually plays in southwest London— unbeatable.

Djokovic has won the last threeWimbledon titles and is going for hisseventh overall. That would put himin a tie for the second most with PeteSampras and William Renshaw. Only

Roger Federer, with eight, has more.Another major title would also

give him 21 for his career. Nadal has22, and Federer has 20.

Most of Djokovic's Grand Slamsingles championships have come atthe Australian Open, where he is anine-time champion. But he wasunable to defend his title in Melbournethis year after being deported becauseof Australia's vaccination protocols.

The first player to reach the sec-ond round was Alison Riske. The 28th-seeded American defeated Ylena In-Albon of Switzerland 6-2, 6-4.

Other seeded women whoadvanced were No. 3 Ons Jabeur ofTunisia and No. 29 Anhelina Kalininaof Ukraine. Kalinina will face anoth-er Ukrainian, Lesia Tsurenko, in thesecond round.

Tsurenko's match was halted forabout 10 minutes when her opponent,British wild-card entry Jodie Burrage,stopped to help a ballboy who was feel-ing faint.

Burrage gave the boy a sportsdrink and a nutritional gel beforesomeone in the crowd passed her somechewy candy. The boy was soonhelped off court.

French Open finalist Casper Ruudwon his opening match on Court 12.The third-seeded Norwegian defeat-ed Albert Ramos-Vinolas 7-6 (1), 7-6(9), 6-2.

Also in the men's draw, No. 9 CamNorrie of Britain, No. 22 NikolozBasilashvili of Georgia, No. 23 FrancesTiafoe of the United States and No. 30Tommy Paul of the United Statesadvanced.

��

Former Borussia Dortmund coachLucien Favre was appointed manag-

er of Ligue 1 club Nice on Monday,replacing Christophe Galtier who is intalks with Paris Saint-Germain.

"Christophe Galtier is no longer incharge of OGC Nice's first team," Nicesaid in a statement.

Favre, the 64-year-old Swiss who hasbeen without a club since he was releasedby Dortmund in December 2020, super-vised training as the Nice squad returnedfrom a summer break.

PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaificonfirmed last week the Qatari-ownedclub were in discussions with Galtierabout taking over from MauricioPochettino.

Al-Khelaifi denied the club hadbeen in touch with Zinedine Zidane.

Galtier won the French league titlewith Lille in 2021 before leaving for Nice,leading the south coast club to fifth placelast season.

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Sri Lankans will stand to attention in afitting salute to all-time cricketing

great Australian spin wizard Shane Warnewhen the first Test between Sri Lanka andAustralia gets underway on June 29 at theGalle International Stadium.

Sri Lanka Cricket's (SLC's) noble ges-ture to dedicate the first Test to the mem-ory of Warne, will indeed be a movingsolemn occasion that will kindle stirringmemories of Warne who died premature-ly at the age of 53 of a heart attack onMarch 4 this year while holidaying inThailand. "The Sri Lankan cricket estab-lishment's gesture is one of recognisingWarne as a true friend of Sri Lanka whocame to the country's aid during the 2004Tsunami devastation by personally flyingover and visiting affected areas and mak-ing generous donations especially tohomeless cricketers families. This writerhad the privilege of having a word with thelegend on that occasion when he visitedthe Moratuwa Cricket Stadium where sev-eral teenage cricketers were lined up in aguard of honour. He did voice that he wasconcerned about the welfare of Sri Lankansaffected and as much saddened by the dev-astation of the Galle Stadium," SLC in astatement said.

For Galle was the venue where theAustralian great became the first bowlerin Test cricket history to take 500 wickets.Therein, this June 29 will surely evokemoving memories of Shane Warne, theunrelenting cricketing warrior in the mid-dle who gave no quarter nor asked for any,but who proved to be a true friend to hisadversaries off the field in time of distress.

Indeed Warne, by his magnanimousact did signify that the game of crickettranscended beyond the boundaries ofcompetition. It has been recognised by SriLanka Cricket by its decision to pay trib-ute to Warne posthumously by dedicatingthe Galle Test in memory of the great.

Born Shane Keith Warne onSeptember 13, 1969, the Australian wenton to turn the art of spin bowling on its

head by taking it to a new level. Amonghis most famous wicket taking deliverieswas the arm ball that stood him out. Heclaimed a record 708 Test wickets from 145appearances and 293 ODI wickets from194 games.

Warne is also remembered as perhapsthe most colourful personality the gamehas produced by his outgoing approachand his endearing chuckle and a big grin.

��

Novak Djokovic repeated his hardline refusal to get aCovid-19 vaccination as he resigned himself to sitting

out the season's last Grand Slam at the US Open.Djokovic was deported from Melbourne in January over

his single-minded but controversial stance, forcing him toabandon an assault on a 10th Australian Open title.

With no sign of the US authorities relaxing their rulerequiring all visitors to be vaccinated, the 35-year-oldDjokovic admitted that Wimbledon will be his last Slam of2022.

When asked if he had completely closed his mind to get-ting vaccinated, he was unequivocal.

"Yes," he said.Djokovic was US Open champion in 2011, 2015 and 2018.He has 20 Slams to his name, two fewer than old rival

Rafael Nadal.Last year, defeat in the New York final to Daniil Medvedev

robbed him of the opportunity to become the first man since1969 to clinch a calendar Grand Slam.

His inability to travel to the United States - he alreadymissed the Indian Wells and Miami Masters - will serve asa key driver as he sets his sights on a seventh Wimbledontitle.

"As of today I'm not allowed to enter the States underthese circumstances. That is an extra motivation to do wellhere. Hopefully I can have a very good tournament," saidDjokovic.

"I would love to go to States. But as of today, that's notpossible. There is not much I can do any more."

"It's really up to the US government to make a decisionwhether or not they allow unvaccinated people to go intothe country."

Also adding fuel to the Djokovic fire is the chance to wina fourth successive Wimbledon title and join a select group.

In the Open era, only Bjorn Borg, Pete Sampras andRoger Federer have managed to complete such a streak ofdominance at the All England Club.

"As a seven, eight-year-old boy I've dreamt of winningWimbledon and becoming No. 1.," he added.

"Pete Sampras winning his first Wimbledon, was the firsttennis match I ever saw on the TV."

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Following his triumph at theMallorca Championships, Stefanos

Tsitsipas has moved back into the Top5 in the ATP Rankings, while MaximeCressy jumps to a career-high No. 45after reaching the final at theEastbourne International.

Tsitsipas climbed back to No 5 inthe ATP Rankings after he capturedhis first grass-court title and ninthtour-level crown overall at theMallorca Championships. The 23-year-old, who was making his debutat the ATP 250 event, defeatedSpaniard Roberto Bautista Agut in thechampionship match. StefanosTsitsipas showed few signs of nervesin his maiden ATP Tour grass-courtfinal at the Mallorca Championships,where the second seed downedRoberto Bautista Agut to claim hisfirst tour-level title on the surface.

The 25-year-old Maxime Cressyjumped 15 spots to a career-high No45 after he reached his second tour-level final of the season in Eastbourne.

The American downed Reilly Opelka,Daniel Evans, Cameron Norrie andJack Draper before falling to country-man Taylor Fritz.

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The emergence of a number of penal-ty corner specialists in the national

team gives India an edge over the othersides, according to former hockey captainSandeep Singh, who knows the "difficultart" of drag-flicking like the back of hishands.

The Birmingham CommonwealthGames-bound Indian team has as manyas three specialist drag-flickers inHarmanpreet Singh, Varun Kumar andAmit Rohidas.

And with junior players like Sanjay,Araijeet Singh Hundal and SudeepChirmako waiting in the wings, India arewell placed as far as the penalty cornerdepartment is concerned.

"Drag-flick is a difficult art whichtakes years of practice to master. It is avery technical thing, where besides brutepower, you need fast hands and quickbodyweight transfer," said Sandeep.

"Having options in drag-flick givesany team an advantage and we are luckythat we have many penalty corner special-ists in the team now. It adds variety.Harmanpreet is a world-class flicker,"added Sandeep, who is nicknamed 'FlickerSingh' for his exploits with the goal-scor-ing technique during his playing days.

Sandeep, a fiery drag-flicker in hisheydays, said the current national teamunder Manpreet Singh has the wherewith-

al to break its Gold medal jinx at theBirmingham Games, starting next month.

Since hockey's introduction in theCWG schedule in 1998 Kuala Lumpuredition, Australia has swept all the sixGold medals. India's best results are twoSilver medals in the 2010 edition at homeand 2014 Games in Glasgow, Scotland.

"Indian hockey has made tremendousprogress. The Bronze medal in Tokyo wasjust the fillip the game needed to revive

its past glory," Sandeep said."If you ask me I firmly believe we can

win a Gold in this CommonwealthGames.

"In today's hockey there is hardly anygap between the top 5 world teams. If weplay to our potential and plan, we can stopAustralia's dominance in the CWG thistime," added the player-turned-politician,who was part of the 2010 CWG Silvermedal-winning squad.

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Skipper Chamari Athapaththustruck a counter-attacking

48-ball 80 as Sri Lanka outplayedIndia by seven wickets in thethird and final T20I to avoid awhitewash here on Monday.

The 32-year-old Chamarismashed 14 boundaries andone six and in the processbecame the only cricketer fromthe island nation to get to the2000-run mark in T20Is.Tillakaratne Dilshan (1889) isthe highest run-scorer amongthe male cricketers from SriLanka.

Chasing a modest 139 toavoid a clean sweep by theIndians, Sri Lankan battingfinally came good as the hostshunt down the target with threeovers to spare to claim a conso-lation win.

The three-match T20I seriesthus ended 2-1 in favour ofIndia, who stuttered after optingto bat before skipperHarmanpreet Kaur's resilient39 not out (33b; 3x4, 1x6)propped up their total to 138 forfive.

In reply, Sri Lanka lostVishmi Gunaratne (5) in the firstover, but HarshithaSamarawickrama (13) gave afine support to Chamari in thepowerplay before being dis-missed by Radha Yadav in thefifth over.

Thereafter, Nilakshi de Silva(30 off 28 balls) joined handswith Chamari as the skippercruised to a 29-ball fifty — thefastest fifty for Sri Lankawomen's T20I.

Luck also was on her side asChamari got a reprieve on 42when Jemimah Rodriguesmissed a running catch in themidwicket boundary. She soonslammed back-to-back fours enroute to her fifth T20I fifty.

With Chamari looking furi-ous, Sri Lanka just needed 18runs in the final five overs andthe hosts it without much ado toseal their first T20 win againstIndia at home.

India were sloppy on thefield and missed a slew of run-outs and signed off the T20Iseries on a disappointing note.

Earlier, India stuttered in themiddle overs after SmritiMandhana (22 from 21b) andSabbhineni Meghana (22 from26b) departed in successiveovers to leave the visitors reelingat 51 for three.

The duo looked well incontrol in their 41-run secondwicket partnership after the tal-ented Shafali Verma (5) fell inthe opening over but run-ratedried up as the hosts bouncedback aided by some fine fielding.

There was a lull in the mid-dle when India failed to get aboundary in 38 deliveries withHarmanpreet and JemimahRodrigues struggling to getgoing.

The duo finally broke theshackles in the 13th over asJemimah showed her attackingintent in her 30-ball 33 (3x4),while the skipper was a classapart.

Jemimah fell in the penul-timate over but Harmanpreetlooked in firm control and dis-played her array of shots during

her 33-ball knock, which wasstudded with three fours andone six.

After Jemimah's departure,Harmanpreet took charge andalong with Pooja Vastrakarscored 49 runs in the final fiveovers to prop up the total.

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come a cropper in the finalwomen's T20I against Sri Lankabut chief coach Ramesh Powarsaid they are on the "right track"ahead of next month'sCommonwealth Games, wherecricket will make its debut.

"We touched upon all thebases. Honestly, the wicketswere slow, so we were notexpecting too many high-scor-ing games, but the way Harman,Shafali, Jemimah and Smritibatted, we are on the right trackas far as batting is concerned,"Powar said at the press confer-ence.

"Today Chamari put usunder the pump and we shouldlearn from this game and moveforward and plan accordingly,"Powar said.

The senior pace duo ofJhulan Goswami and ShikhaPandey was dropped for the tourof Sri Lanka, while spinnersPoonam Yadav and RajeshwariGayakwad were rested.

"The idea behind the bowl-ing unit for this series was to givechances, opening up options.Our frontline bowlers PoonamYadav, Rajeshwari Gayakwadwere rested for that purpose. Wewanted to see how our bowlershandle pressure," Powar said.

�� _��

India ticked all the requiredboxes during the four-daypractice match against

Leicestershire and will look tohit the ground running whenthey face England in therescheduled one-off Testbeginning Friday, said headcoach Rahul Dravid.

Shreyas Iyer, Virat Kohli,Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pantand Ravindra Jadeja — allstruck fifties during the drawnwarm-up game.

"I think whatever we need-ed to achieve and whateverboxes we needed to tick interms of our preparation lead-ing into the Test match onFriday, I think we are very sat-isfied and happy, we havebeen able to do that this week,"Dravid said in a video postedby Leicestershire Foxes onTwitter.

Asked about the chal-lenges of playing in Englishconditions, Dravid said:"When you have got just onegame or one-off game in aseries, its not really a lot oftime, you've got to hit theground running hard andyou've got to be able to hope-fully get your act togetherright from the first day of theTest match.

"There is not lot of roomto maneuver or things to gowrong. So having said that ithas been a good week. Ithought the match wicket waschallenging on first couple ofdays and settle down in the lasttwo so, it was good, it was agreat week."

The former India batter

also gave a thumbs up to thefacilities and atmosphere here.

"I thought you knoweveryone's really looked after

us really well. It's been greatcrowds you know, it's reallylovely to see so many peoplecome to watch the game like

this and just the atmosphereand the vibe have been excel-lent," he said.

India were leading the

series 2-1 last year before thefinal Test was abandonedowing to a COVID-19 out-break in the visitors' camp.

� � ��

Jonny Bairstow led England to awhitewash of Test world champions

New Zealand with a stunning fifty onhis Headingley home ground onMonday.

Bairstow made a blistering 71 notout, England's second quickest Test fiftyof all time, to follow a majestic 162 thathelped revive the hosts from a first-innings collapse after they had slumpedto 55-6.

Former captain Joe Root, largelyreduced to the role of a spectator byBairstow, was 86 not out after sharinga partnership of 111 with his Yorkshireteam-mate, having started the dayunbeaten on 55.

England reached their target of 296with just three wickets down to com-plete a 3-0 series clean sweep in a firstcampaign under their new leadershipduo of captain Ben Stokes and red-ballhead coach Brendon McCullum, a for-mer New Zealand skipper.

"To walk away with a 3-0 win overthe best team in the world is very spe-cial," said Stokes at the presentation cer-emony.

"The team has been phenomenal.For me when I took over this job it wasabout more than results, it was aboutchanging mindsets towards Test crick-et. "I wanted them to have fun and enjoyrepresenting their country."

New Zealand captain KaneWilliamson added: "It's been an incred-

ible series."In all three matches we had our

opportunities and we were ahead of thegame at times in each one but credit toEngland, they chose to counter-attackwhen they were under pressure andthey did it well, especially in thismatch."

�� ?��

Kemar Roach reached thelandmark of 250 test wick-

ets as West Indies dominatedthe third day of the second testwith Bangladesh fighting toavoid an innings defeat.

Bangladesh was reducedto 132-6 in its second inningsat stumps on Sunday and stilltrailed the hosts by 42 runs atDaren Sammy Stadium.

Roach took the first threewickets to finish the day on 3-32 in 10 overs and move to 252wickets in his 73rd test forWest Indies. Bangladesh open-er Tamim Iqbal (4) was caughtbehind to give the pacer his250th wicket.

Roach is now the sixth-highest test wicket-taker forWest Indies. Another quick,Courtney Walsh, tops that listwith 519 wickets in 132 match-es.

Roach went on to dismissopener Mahmudul Hasan Joy(13) and Anamul Haque (4) toleave Bangladesh struggling on32-3.

Najmul Hossain Shanto isthe top scorer so far forBangladesh in its innings witha 91-ball 42. He was alsocaught behind off AlzarriJoseph (2-31).

West Indies earlierresumed on 340-5 - thanks toa chanceless and unbeaten126 from allrounder Kyle

Mayers — and extended itsovernight lead of 106 to 174after being dismissed for 408in the first innings.

Mayers was dismissed byKhaled Ahmed after movingon to 146, caught by ShorifulIslam. Mayers' innings includ-ed 18 fours and two sixes.Ahmed took 5-106.

Play was called off for theday at 5:30 p.M. Local timeafter heavy rain.

Bangladesh scored a sub-par 234 in the first innings.

West Indies won the firsttest in Antigua in just overthree days, by seven wickets.

Three T20 games and athree-match ODI series arealso scheduled.

��

Ireland put up a spirted fight but Indiaproved too strong for the home

team to win the rain-hit opening T20Iby seven wickets here on Sunday.

Harry Tector's counter-attacking 64not out off 33 balls took Ireland to 108for four after the rain reduced the gameto 12 overs a side.

India were always ahead of the runrate in the chase and with contributionsfrom Ishan Kishan (26 off 11), DeepakHooda (47 not out off 29) and skipperHardik Pandya (24 off 12), cruised tovictory in 9.2 overs.

Kishan continued his good form toget India off to a quick start. The firstover of the innings went for 15 runs asKishan collected couple of fours and asix off Joshua Little.

In a rather surprising move,Deepak Hooda came to open alongsideKishan in place of Ruturaj Gaikwad. Hefound his rhythm after a scratchy startand put up a match winning 64-runstand with Hardik.

Just when it seemed Indian wererunning away with the contest, CraigYoung got rid of Kishan andSuryakumar Yadav (0) in successivedeliveries to raise hopes for his team.

Kishan's stumps were rattled inanother attempt to get a full ball out ofthe park.

Returning to the side after aninjury break, Suryakumar got a beau-ty first up that seamed back to trap himin front of the stumps.

However, Hardik and Hooda keptgoing for their strokes and a 21-run overfrom Andy Mcbrine put India back incontrol.

While Hardik departed after hittingthree sixes, Hooda stayed till the endto hit the winning four. His inningscomprised two sixes and half a dozenboundaries.

Earlier, India opted to bowl in over-

cast conditions but soon after the rainarrived, delaying the start of play bymore than two hours and 20 minutes.

The conditions were ripe forBhuvneshwar Kumar to make the balltalk and he did just that in the open-ing over of the match.

The wily operator got the ball toswing both ways before an inswingerbreached the defence of Ireland skip-per Andrew Balbirnie.

Skipper Hardik Pandya got himselfinto the attack in the second over andtook two balls to dismiss the danger-ous Paul Stirling.

Avesh Khan then had GarethDelany caught behind in his first overto leave Ireland at 22 for three.

India were expected to run throughthe opposition but Ireland staged a spir-ited recovery through Tector, whowent for the offensive against theIndian pacers, including debutantUmran Malik.

��

Former India opener VirenderSehwag reckons that skipper

Rohit Sharma could be relievedfrom captaincy duties in the T20format which would allow himto manage his workload better.

Rohit has not been able tofeature in all of India's matchessince taking over as captain dueto injuries and workload man-agement.

"If the Indian team manage-ment has someone else in mindas captain in the T20 format,then I think, Rohit (Sharma)could be relieved and the follow-ing can be taken into consider-ation going forward," Sehwagsaid.

"One, that would allowRohit to manage his workloadand mental fatigue, given his age.

"Two, once someone new is

appointed as captain in T20s, itwould also allow Rohit to takebreaks and rejuvenate himself tolead India in both Tests andODIs," he said.

However, Sehwag main-tained that if the team manage-ment sticks with its currentpolicy of having one captain tolead India across the three for-mats, then Sharma is still anideal choice.

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Opener Mayank Agarwalhas been called up to join

the Indian squad in the UK ascover for skipper Rohit Sharma,who has been rendered doubt-ful for the Edgbaston Testagainst England after testingpositive for COVID-19.

Rohit competed on thefirst day of the drawn warm-upgame against Leicestershirebefore being placed under iso-lation. He had tested positive in

a Rapid Antigen Test (RAT).The 31-year-old Agarwal

had missed out on making the15-man squad for the game,starting July 1, but an opportu-nity has come his way as KLRahul got injured just ahead ofthe South Africa series and nowRohit has contracted infec-tion.

"The All-India SeniorSelection Committee has addedMayank Agarwal to India'sTest squad for the rescheduledfifth Test as cover for captain

Rohit Sharma, who tested pos-itive for COVID-19. Mayankhas left for the UK and will linkup with the squad inBirmingham," said the BCCI ina statement.

A BCCI source added: "Ifneeded he be will be availablefor the Test match as UK Covidprotocols don't require anyquarantine period on landingif RT PCR test is negative."

Agarwal has featured in 21Tests so far, scoring 1488 runsat an average of 41.33.

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India skipper Hardik Pandyarevealed that he didn't want to risk

sending out Ruturaj Gaikwad toopen the innings in the first T20against Ireland as he picked up a calfniggle in the first half of the game.

India chased down a 109-run tar-get with relative ease in the rain-cur-tailed T20 against hosts Ireland onSunday night. But at the halfway stageinstead of regular opener Gaikwad,Deepak Hooda walked out to openthe innings alongside Ishan Kishan.

"Rutu had a niggle in his calf,"Pandya said. "We had the choice oftaking a risk and sending him in (toopen), but I was not okay with it. Aplayer's well-being is more important,and (I thought) we'll be able tomanage what happens in the match."

Hooda, who was playing hisfourth T20I for India, ended up top-scoring for the visitors as he remainedunbeaten on 47 off 29.

"It was quite simple after that,there wasn't much of a decision tomake; whatever our (batting-order)numbers were, we all went up one

spot, and it wasn't a big headache. Wewanted to make sure we weren't tak-ing any chances with Rutu."

Pace sensation Umran Malikwas handed a much-anticipateddebut after spending time on thebench in the home series againstSouth Africa earlier this month.

However, the 22-year-old justbowled one over in which he gaveaway 14 runs, including a four andsix.

"Umran was kept back after I hada chat with him, he's more comfort-able with the older ball and they bat-

ted fantastically. So, hope he gets anopportunity. "When you play forIndia for the first time, and the jour-ney he has taken, it's important togive such a bowler and such a talenttime.

Malik was named in the Indiansquad after a breakthrough IPL sea-son with the Sunrisers Hyderabad.

"Whether it was a good day or abad day is irrelevant. For him, just toplay for India is itself a very big thing,and that is something which I'm veryhappy for, (irrespective) of how theresult went, good or bad, it's okay.

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England's World Cup-winningcaptain Eoin Morgan is set to

retire from international cricket,with an official announcementexpected as soon as Tuesday,according to the BBC.

Under Morgan, England wonthe 2019 50-over World Cup —their first major global limitedovers title — and reached the topof the one-day and T20 rankings.

But the 35-year-old Dublin-born batter has been strugglingwith form and fitness issues thisyear.

He was twice out for noughtduring the recent ODI series awayto the Netherlands in Amstelveenand withdrew from the third match

with a groin issue.England face India in a three-

match T20I series starting on July7, while the T20 World Cup inAustralia begins in October.

If Morgan does indeed stepdown ahead of the 2023 50-overWorld Cup in India, vice-captainJos Buttler would appear to be thefavourite to replace him asEngland's white-ball skipper.

Morgan is England's leadingrun-scorer of all time in ODI andT20 cricket with 6,957 and 2,458runs respectively. His tally of 225ODIs and 115 T20Is is also anEngland record.

But he has made just two fiftiesfrom his past 28 internationalinnings across the two white-ballformats.

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