`UZ ReeRT\d Uj_RdeZT a`]ZeZTd - Daily Pioneer

12
P rime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday once again unleashed a scathing attack on dynastic politics and said the “biggest threat” to the func- tioning of a healthy democra- cy is when a party is run by the same family generation after generation and the entire sys- tem of the party is controlled by it. Without naming anyone, Modi at a Constitution Day event in the Central Hall of Parliament hit out at family- based parties, describing them as “party for the family, party by the family” and added, “I don’t think I need to say any- thing more”. The event was skipped by 15 Opposition parties, on the call by the Congress, which have been alleging that the Government is “undermining Parliamentary democracy”. Besides the constituents of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), parties such as the Biju Janata Dal, the YSR Congress, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi, the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Telugu Desam Party attended the event. Addressing the gather- ing, Modi said, “This event was not that of any Government, or of any political party, or of any Prime Minister. The Speaker is the pride of the House. It is a dignified post. It is a matter of Babasaheb Ambedkar’s digni- ty, the dignity of the Constitution.” In an apparent reference to the Congress and some other Opposition parties, Modi said that in the form of family-based parties from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, India is heading towards a kind of a crisis, which is a matter of concern for the people devoted to the Constitution and those who believe in democracy. He said that more than one person from a family joining a party on the basis of merit and people’s blessings does not make a party dynastic, “but a party run by one family generation after generation and the family con- trolling the entire system of the party is the biggest threat to a healthy democracy”. A fter scientists in South Africa detected a new Covid-19 variant B.1.1.529 with as many as 50 mutations over- all, Covid-19-battered coun- tries were left in jitter with many of them announcing fresh travel curbs, quarantine and vaccination rules for pas- sengers travelling from and via these South African coun- tries. India has called for rig- orous screening of passengers from South Africa, Botswana, and Hong Kong. According to scientists, the new Covid-19 variant is main- ly affecting people in the under 25 age group, among whom the vaccination rate against the virus is only 26 per cent. Current vaccines are not an ideal match so might not work quite as well, experts said but added that “that doesn’t mean they’ll offer zero protection”. Over 100 cases have been detected in South Africa, where the new strain is slowly becom- ing the dominant one. Israel has identified a case of a Covid- 19 variant with a large number of mutations “in a person who returned from Malawi”. A case has surfaced in Belgium too. Two cases have been detected in Hong Kong. In a sign of the growing alarm, the European Union separately proposed prohibiting travel from Southern Africa. The United Kingdom was the first country to declare travel curbs from several south- ern African countries and stat- ed that passengers will have to undergo a mandatory quaran- tine. UK Health Secretary Sajid Javid said six countries would be added to the red list, with flights being temporarily banned. G ood news for travellers, students, corporate and tourism sectors as the Ministry of Civil Aviation on Friday announced to resume sched- uled international flights to and from India from December 15 with 99 countries. The resumption will not cover countries such as China, South Africa, Singapore, Israel, Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, countries in Europe, Brazil, Bangladesh, Botswana, Mauritius, New Zealand and Zimbabwe, where Covid-19 is still not under control. The decision was taken after consultation with the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ministry of External Affairs, and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Scheduled international flights have been on hold in India since March 23 last year due to the Covid- 19 pandemic. In an order, the Ministry stated, “The matter of resump- tion of scheduled commercial international passenger ser- vices to and from India has been examined in consultation with the Ministries of Home Affairs, External Affairs and Health and Family Welfare and it has been decided that scheduled commercial inter- national passenger services to and from India may be resumed from December 15, 2021.” The announcement comes two days after Civil Aviation Secretary Rajiv Bansal said international flight operations are expected to return to nor- malcy soon, “by the end of this year”. The Ministry wrote a letter to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) asking it to take “further necessary action” for the resumption of scheduled international flights. As per the order, the Ministry has divided coun- tries into three parts based on Health Ministry’s Covid analy- sis and accordingly allowed resumption of flights. E xpressing concern over the developments in Afghanistan, India on Friday said it supported an inclusive and representative Government there and urged countries in the region to coordinate respec- tive approaches to terrorism, radicalisation and drug traf- ficking. Making this point here at the 18th meeting of the Russia, India, China (RICS) trilateral dialogue at the External Ministers’ level, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar also said as a contiguous neigh- bour and long-standing partner of Afghanistan, India is con- cerned about the suffering of the Afghan people. Participating in the meet- ing in the virtual format along with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi and Russian Minister Sergey Lavrov, he also said India supports other provi- sions of UN Security Council Resolution 2593. India has offered a supply of 50,000 MT of wheat to Afghanistan to address the drought situation and said the RIC countries need to work together to ensure that human- itarian assistance reaches the Afghan people without hin- drance and without politicisa- tion, Jaishankar said. In his opening remarks, he said the agenda of the RIC meeting include the fight against Covid-19 pandemic, Reforms of the Multilateral System and International Hot- spot Issues. T he Congress and several Opposition parties on Friday boycotted the Constitution Day event in the Central Hall of Parliament to convey that the Constitution is being undermined during the current BJP regime. Besides the Congress, sev- eral other parties, including the Left, TMC, NCP, DMK, Shiv Sena, IUML, RSP, and the RJD, skipped the event. On the issue of not partic- ipating in the event of Constitution Day, Congress Rajya Sabha member Anand Sharma said the protest was against the “authoritarian” functioning of the BJP Government as laws are enact- ed bypassing Parliamentary scrutiny and Parliamentary democracy is insulted. “Our protest today is based on fundamental principles. We have protested to remind the country that the Constitution is not being respected, the Constitution is being under- mined, Parliamentary democ- racy is being undermined and insulted with the enactment of laws bypassing scrutiny which is creating enormous prob- lems because each law enacted by Parliament impacts the masses,” Sharma said at AICC Press conference. C hief Justice of India (CJI) NV Ramana on Friday asked lawyers to assist judges and protect the judicial insti- tution from “motivated and tar- geted attacks” besides lending a helping hand to those in need for becoming worthy of the confidence reposed in them by the citizens. “I want to tell all of you, that you must assist judges and the institution. We are all ulti- mately part of one large fami- ly. Protect the institution from motivated and targeted attacks. Do not shy away from stand- ing up for what is right, and against what is wrong,” said the CJI, who was speaking at the Constitution Day celebration organised by the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) in the apex court’s lawns here. The SCBA’s two-day event started on Friday to celebrate Constitution Day, also known as National Law Day. On the same day in 1949, the Constituent Assembly of India had adopted the Constitution which came into effect on January 26, 1950. Justice Ramana stressed the importance of “debate and discussion” and said that the Constitution is richer and a more complex document in comparison to when it was adopted because of the dia- logue which took place inside and outside the courtroom. Mumbai: The Sensex nose- dived 1,688 points while the Nifty slumped below the 17,100-level on Friday as a new and potentially vaccine- resistant coronavirus variant sent shockwaves through glob- al markets. The variant, detect- ed in South Africa, Botswana and Hong Kong so far, has an unusual combination of muta- tions, as per initial reports. Countries like Britain and Japan have already imposed travel restrictions, raising the spectre of a fresh wave of lock- downs. Detailed report on P9 O n the completion of one year on November 26 of the farmers’ agitation against the three farm laws, the farmer groups on Friday assembled in a large number at Delhi borders — Singhu, Tikri, Ghazipur and Shahjahanpur — to show sup- port for the protesters on the first anniversary of the begin- ning of the farm agitation. Farmers flaunting colour- ful turbans, sunshades, long beards and twirling moustach- es danced on tractors, distrib- uted sweets and hugged each other to mark the occasion that seemed like a festival and vowed to continue their agita- tion to fulfil other six demands, including legal guarantee of minimum support price, com- pensation to those who died during protests, memorial for them and the sacking and arrest of Union Minister Ajay Mishra. On the day of completion of one year of farm agitation, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Friday tweeted farmers have always been victorious in India and will always continue to win in the future as well. Priyanka lauded the movement and said that it would be known for the “unshakable ‘satyagraha’ of the farmers, the martyrdom of 700 farmers and the arrogance of the ruthless BJP Government and its atrocities towards the farmers,” in a tweet in Hindi. C hief Minister Hemant Soren on Friday gave many gifts to the residents of Garhwa district. The CM laid the foun- dation stone of the new Collectorate Building and Birsa Munda Memorial-cum- Helipad Development and Reception Building at Kalyanpur. Along with this, the newly built Indira Priyadarshini Clock tower at Ranka More and the life-size statue of former Prime Minister of the country late Indira Gandhi was unveiled. In a function organised on the occasion, the CM hand- ed over appointment letters to the newly recruited personnel and distributed assets among the beneficiaries. On this occa- sion, the CM said that districts like Palamu and Garhwa come under the shadow area. In such a situation, the govern- ment is preparing a special action plan to provide drinking water and irrigation facilities through door-to-door taps. The CM said that the gov- ernment has managed to con- trol Corona with people’s coop- eration and better manage- ment. However, the threat of corona is not over yet. But, in the midst of all this, the gov- ernment has started an initia- tive to normalize life and accel- erate the pace of development with full caution and vigilance. Soren said that on the occasion of State Foundation Day, from November 15, ‘Aapke Adhikar- Aapki Sarkar -Aapke Dwar’ programme is being run at village and pan- chayat level in the entire State. Through this, work is being done to solve people’s problems and connect them with devel- opment plans. He asked people to join this campaign and par- ticipate in the development of the State. He said that the development of the State will happen only when the hands of the people here are strong. The CM made people aware of the various welfare and development schemes being run by the gov- ernment and asked them to join. He said that 80 per cent of the population of Jharkhand lives in rural areas. Among them, tribals, Scheduled Castes, Minorities and Backward Classes have the highest number of people. The Government is mak- ing plans keeping in mind all the sections of the society. He said that many schemes like Chief Minister Employment Generation Scheme, Chief Minister Pashudhan Yojana, Dhoti Sari Yojana, Sukanya Yojana, Birsa Harit Gram Yojana, scheme for workers in the unorganized sector, loan waiver scheme for farmers, keeping in mind the expectations and needs of the people of the State. The CM said that the gov- ernment has started Palash brand to market the products manufactured by Sakhi Mandals. The government is working with a target to increase the turnover of prod- ucts through the Palash brand to Rs 15 hundred crore in the next 1 year. He also said that the govern- ment has decided to give eggs to children 6 days a week to make Jharkhand malnutrition free. He asked the people to produce eggs. The government will buy it. He said that by taking the resources of Jharkhand to another State, the products manufactured from there are brought here and sold. It is our endeavor that this is the only use of our resources. Products from these resources should be manufactured here, which will be promoted by the Government. The CM presented appointment letters to 89 graduate trained teachers on the occasion. At the same time, assets were distributed among the beneficiaries of Mukhyamantri Sukanya Yojana, Phoolo Jhano Ashirwad Yojana, Milk Cow Scheme, Universal Pension Scheme. He gave a check of Rs 6 crore to Sakhi Mandals under Cash Credit Linkage Scheme and Rs 5 crore 17 lakh 75 thou- sand under Community Investment Fund Scheme. Apart from this, Shailendra Pathak for outstanding work in the field of sports, Priyanka Kumari, Deepak Kumar and Anu Priyadarshi, who won gold medals in traditional wrestling competition, and Shri Hiraman Korwa, the author of Korba language dictionary, were honored. On this occasion, local MLA and Minister of Drinking Water and Sanitation Mithilesh Kumar Thakur, Agriculture Minister Badal, Deputy Inspector General of Police Rajkumar Lakra and Deputy Commissioner and Superintendent of Police of Garhwa district were present along with many officers of the district administration.

Transcript of `UZ ReeRT\d Uj_RdeZT a`]ZeZTd - Daily Pioneer

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Prime Minister NarendraModi on Friday once again

unleashed a scathing attackon dynastic politics and saidthe “biggest threat” to the func-tioning of a healthy democra-cy is when a party is run by thesame family generation aftergeneration and the entire sys-tem of the party is controlledby it.

Without naming anyone,Modi at a Constitution Dayevent in the Central Hall ofParliament hit out at family-based parties, describing themas “party for the family, partyby the family” and added, “Idon’t think I need to say any-thing more”.

The event was skipped by15 Opposition parties, on thecall by the Congress, whichhave been alleging that theGovernment is “underminingP a r l i a m e n t a r ydemocracy”.

Besides the constituents ofthe National DemocraticAlliance (NDA), parties such asthe Biju Janata Dal, the YSRCongress, the TelanganaRashtra Samithi, the BahujanSamaj Party and the Telugu

Desam Party attended theevent. Addressing the gather-ing, Modi said, “This event wasnot that of any Government, orof any political party, or of anyPrime Minister. The Speaker isthe pride of the House. It is adignified post. It is a matter ofBabasaheb Ambedkar’s digni-ty, the dignity of theConstitution.”

In an apparent reference tothe Congress and some otherOpposition parties, Modi saidthat in the form of family-basedparties from Kashmir toKanyakumari, India is headingtowards a kind of a crisis,which is a matter of concern forthe people devoted to theConstitution and those whobelieve in democracy. He saidthat more than one personfrom a family joining a party onthe basis of merit and people’sblessings does not make aparty dynastic, “but a party run

by one family generation aftergeneration and the family con-trolling the entire system of theparty is the biggest threat to ahealthy democracy”.

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After scientists in SouthAfrica detected a new

Covid-19 variant B.1.1.529 withas many as 50 mutations over-all, Covid-19-battered coun-tries were left in jitter withmany of them announcingfresh travel curbs, quarantineand vaccination rules for pas-sengers travelling from andvia these South African coun-tries. India has called for rig-orous screening of passengersfrom South Africa, Botswana,and Hong Kong.

According to scientists, thenew Covid-19 variant is main-ly affecting people in the under25 age group, among whom thevaccination rate against thevirus is only 26 per cent.Current vaccines are not anideal match so might not workquite as well, experts said butadded that “that doesn’t meanthey’ll offer zero protection”.

Over 100 cases have beendetected in South Africa, wherethe new strain is slowly becom-ing the dominant one. Israelhas identified a case of a Covid-19 variant with a large numberof mutations “in a person whoreturned from Malawi”. A casehas surfaced in Belgium too.

Two cases have beendetected in Hong Kong. In asign of the growing alarm, the

European Union separatelyproposed prohibiting travelfrom Southern Africa.

The United Kingdom wasthe first country to declaretravel curbs from several south-ern African countries and stat-ed that passengers will have toundergo a mandatory quaran-tine. UK Health Secretary SajidJavid said six countries wouldbe added to the red list, withflights being temporarilybanned.

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Good news for travellers,students, corporate and

tourism sectors as the Ministryof Civil Aviation on Fridayannounced to resume sched-uled international flights toand from India from December15 with 99 countries.

The resumption will notcover countries such as China,South Africa, Singapore, Israel,Hong Kong, the UnitedKingdom, countries in Europe,Brazil, Bangladesh, Botswana,Mauritius, New Zealand andZimbabwe, where Covid-19 isstill not under control.

The decision was takenafter consultation with theMinistry of Home Affairs, theMinistry of External Affairs,and the Ministry of Health andFamily Welfare. Scheduledinternational flights have been

on hold in India since March23 last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

In an order, the Ministrystated, “The matter of resump-tion of scheduled commercialinternational passenger ser-vices to and from India hasbeen examined in consultationwith the Ministries of HomeAffairs, External Affairs andHealth and Family Welfareand it has been decided thatscheduled commercial inter-national passenger services toand from India may beresumed from December 15,2021.”

The announcement comes

two days after Civil AviationSecretary Rajiv Bansal saidinternational flight operationsare expected to return to nor-malcy soon, “by the end of thisyear”.

The Ministry wrote a letterto the Directorate General ofCivil Aviation (DGCA) askingit to take “further necessaryaction” for the resumption ofscheduled international flights.

As per the order, theMinistry has divided coun-tries into three parts based onHealth Ministry’s Covid analy-sis and accordingly allowedresumption of flights.

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Expressing concern over thedevelopments in

Afghanistan, India on Fridaysaid it supported an inclusiveand representative Governmentthere and urged countries inthe region to coordinate respec-tive approaches to terrorism,radicalisation and drug traf-ficking.

Making this point here atthe 18th meeting of the Russia,India, China (RICS) trilateraldialogue at the ExternalMinisters’ level, ExternalAffairs Minister S Jaishankaralso said as a contiguous neigh-bour and long-standing partnerof Afghanistan, India is con-cerned about the suffering ofthe Afghan people.

Participating in the meet-ing in the virtual format along

with his Chinese counterpartWang Yi and Russian MinisterSergey Lavrov, he also saidIndia supports other provi-sions of UN Security CouncilResolution 2593.

India has offered a supplyof 50,000 MT of wheat toAfghanistan to address thedrought situation and said theRIC countries need to worktogether to ensure that human-

itarian assistance reaches theAfghan people without hin-drance and without politicisa-tion, Jaishankar said.

In his opening remarks, hesaid the agenda of the RICmeeting include the fightagainst Covid-19 pandemic,Reforms of the MultilateralSystem and International Hot-spot Issues.

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The Congress and severalOpposition parties on

Friday boycotted theConstitution Day event in theCentral Hall of Parliament toconvey that the Constitution isbeing undermined during thecurrent BJP regime.

Besides the Congress, sev-eral other parties, including theLeft, TMC, NCP, DMK, ShivSena, IUML, RSP, and the RJD, skipped the event.

On the issue of not partic-ipating in the event ofConstitution Day, CongressRajya Sabha member AnandSharma said the protest wasagainst the “authoritarian”functioning of the BJPGovernment as laws are enact-ed bypassing Parliamentaryscrutiny and Parliamentary

democracy is insulted.“Our protest today is based

on fundamental principles. Wehave protested to remind thecountry that the Constitutionis not being respected, theConstitution is being under-mined, Parliamentary democ-racy is being undermined andinsulted with the enactment oflaws bypassing scrutiny whichis creating enormous prob-lems because each law enactedby Parliament impacts themasses,” Sharma said at AICCPress conference.

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Chief Justice of India (CJI)NV Ramana on Friday

asked lawyers to assist judgesand protect the judicial insti-tution from “motivated and tar-geted attacks” besides lendinga helping hand to those in need

for becoming worthy of theconfidence reposed in them bythe citizens.

“I want to tell all of you,that you must assist judges andthe institution. We are all ulti-

mately part of one large fami-ly. Protect the institution frommotivated and targeted attacks.Do not shy away from stand-ing up for what is right, andagainst what is wrong,” said theCJI, who was speaking at theConstitution Day celebrationorganised by the SupremeCourt Bar Association (SCBA)in the apex court’s lawns here.

The SCBA’s two-day eventstarted on Friday to celebrateConstitution Day, also knownas National Law Day. On the

same day in 1949, theConstituent Assembly of Indiahad adopted the Constitutionwhich came into effect onJanuary 26, 1950.

Justice Ramana stressedthe importance of “debate anddiscussion” and said that theConstitution is richer and amore complex document incomparison to when it wasadopted because of the dia-logue which took place insideand outside the courtroom.

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�� ��"���������� �������� ��������������Mumbai: The Sensex nose-dived 1,688 points while theNifty slumped below the17,100-level on Friday as anew and potentially vaccine-resistant coronavirus variantsent shockwaves through glob-al markets. The variant, detect-ed in South Africa, Botswanaand Hong Kong so far, has anunusual combination of muta-tions, as per initial reports.Countries like Britain andJapan have already imposedtravel restrictions, raising thespectre of a fresh wave of lock-downs.

Detailed report on P9

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On the completion of oneyear on November 26 of

the farmers’ agitation againstthe three farm laws, the farmergroups on Friday assembled ina large number at Delhi borders— Singhu, Tikri, Ghazipur andShahjahanpur — to show sup-port for the protesters on thefirst anniversary of the begin-ning of the farm agitation.

Farmers flaunting colour-ful turbans, sunshades, longbeards and twirling moustach-es danced on tractors, distrib-uted sweets and hugged eachother to mark the occasion thatseemed like a festival andvowed to continue their agita-tion to fulfil other six demands,including legal guarantee ofminimum support price, com-pensation to those who diedduring protests, memorial forthem and the sacking andarrest of Union Minister AjayMishra.

On the day of completion

of one year of farm agitation,Congress general secretaryPriyanka Gandhi Vadra onFriday tweeted farmers havealways been victorious in Indiaand will always continue to winin the future as well. Priyankalauded the movement and saidthat it would be known for the“unshakable ‘satyagraha’ of thefarmers, the martyrdom of 700farmers and the arrogance ofthe ruthless BJP Governmentand its atrocities towards thefarmers,” in a tweet in Hindi.

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Chief Minister HemantSoren on Friday gave many

gifts to the residents of Garhwadistrict. The CM laid the foun-dation stone of the newCollectorate Building and BirsaMunda Memorial-cum-Helipad Development andReception Building atKalyanpur. Along with this, thenewly built IndiraPriyadarshini Clock tower atRanka More and the life-sizestatue of former Prime Ministerof the country late IndiraGandhi was unveiled.

In a function organisedon the occasion, the CM hand-ed over appointment letters tothe newly recruited personneland distributed assets amongthe beneficiaries. On this occa-sion, the CM said that districtslike Palamu and Garhwa comeunder the shadow area. Insuch a situation, the govern-ment is preparing a special

action plan to provide drinkingwater and irrigation facilitiesthrough door-to-door taps.

The CM said that the gov-ernment has managed to con-trol Corona with people’s coop-eration and better manage-ment. However, the threat ofcorona is not over yet. But, inthe midst of all this, the gov-ernment has started an initia-tive to normalize life and accel-erate the pace of developmentwith full caution and vigilance.

Soren said that on theoccasion of State FoundationDay, from November 15,‘Aapke Adhikar- Aapki Sarkar-Aapke Dwar’ programme isbeing run at village and pan-chayat level in the entire State.Through this, work is beingdone to solve people’s problemsand connect them with devel-opment plans. He asked peopleto join this campaign and par-ticipate in the development ofthe State. He said that thedevelopment of the State willhappen only when the hands of

the people here arestrong.

The CM madepeople aware of thevarious welfare anddevelopment schemesbeing run by the gov-ernment and askedthem to join. He saidthat 80 per cent of thepopulation ofJharkhand lives inrural areas. Amongthem, tribals,Scheduled Castes,Minorities andBackward Classes havethe highest number ofpeople. TheGovernment is mak-ing plans keeping inmind all the sections ofthe society. He saidthat many schemeslike Chief MinisterEmployment GenerationScheme, Chief MinisterPashudhan Yojana, Dhoti SariYojana, Sukanya Yojana, BirsaHarit Gram Yojana, scheme for

workers in the unorganizedsector, loan waiver scheme forfarmers, keeping in mind theexpectations and needs of thepeople of the State.

The CM said that the gov-

ernment has started Palashbrand to market the productsmanufactured by SakhiMandals. The government isworking with a target toincrease the turnover of prod-

ucts through the Palashbrand to Rs 15 hundredcrore in the next 1 year. Healso said that the govern-ment has decided to giveeggs to children 6 days aweek to make Jharkhandmalnutrition free. He askedthe people to produce eggs.The government will buy it.He said that by taking theresources of Jharkhand toanother State, the productsmanufactured from thereare brought here and sold. Itis our endeavor that this isthe only use of ourresources. Products fromthese resources should bemanufactured here, whichwill be promoted by theGovernment.

The CM presentedappointment letters to 89

graduate trained teachers onthe occasion. At the same time,assets were distributed amongthe beneficiaries ofMukhyamantri SukanyaYojana, Phoolo Jhano

Ashirwad Yojana, Milk CowScheme, Universal PensionScheme. He gave a check of Rs6 crore to Sakhi Mandals underCash Credit Linkage Schemeand Rs 5 crore 17 lakh 75 thou-sand under CommunityInvestment Fund Scheme.Apart from this, ShailendraPathak for outstanding work inthe field of sports, PriyankaKumari, Deepak Kumar andAnu Priyadarshi, who wongold medals in traditionalwrestling competition, and ShriHiraman Korwa, the author ofKorba language dictionary,were honored.

On this occasion, localMLA and Minister of DrinkingWater and Sanitation MithileshKumar Thakur, AgricultureMinister Badal, DeputyInspector General of PoliceRajkumar Lakra and DeputyCommissioner andSuperintendent of Police ofGarhwa district were presentalong with many officers of thedistrict administration.

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With the onset of winterseason, the footfall at the

Dalma Wildlife Sanctuary hasstarted witnessing a majorboost this year. The scenic

wildlife sanctuary, 30km fromJamshedpur, is abuzz withtourists spending quality timeamid natural surroundings.The forest department’s focuson infrastructure developmenthas played a key role in increas-

ing revenue as well as the foot-fall this time. The Dalma sanc-tuary, known for its scenicbeauty and large presence ofthe elephants has witnessed agradual improvement on theinfrastructure front with the

setting up of mud houses, cafe-teria, watch tower and restrooms.

Though the tourist flowhere had seen a rapid declineowing to the Maoist fear andspread of Covid-19, the pres-ence of over 150 elephantscoupled with favourable cli-matic conditions, are bringingback wildlife enthusiasts to thesanctuary.

The forest department’sfocus on infrastructure devel-opment has played a key role inincreasing revenue as well asthe footfall this time. The

Dalma sanctuary, known for itsscenic beauty and large pres-ence of the elephants has wit-nessed a gradual improvementon the infrastructure frontwith the setting up of mudhouses, cafeteria, watch towerand rest rooms.

“As per our initial calcula-tions, the footfall has increasedaround 25 percent in compar-ison to last year. The improve-ment in infrastructure has def-initely helped us to attracttourists from across the Stateand neighbouring places. Weare taking every step to

improve facilities at the sanc-tuary,” said an official. He saidthat facilities like Mud Houseand Cafeteria are proving amajor boost to attract tourists.

He informed that in asso-ciation with the EcoDevelopment Committees inthe villages, the cafeteria andmud houses are being operat-ed.

Dalma sprawls over anarea of 193 square kilometresand houses 85 villages insidethe enclave and 51 villages inits periphery. Dalma is fre-quently visited by people ofOdisha and Kolkata. In fact alarge number of foreigners alsovisited Dalma last year.

“We want people to staycloser to nature. We have guesthouses, thatched roofs made ofhay and bamboo to keep thehuts warm during winter andcool during summer. Guestsare served food prepared fromorganic vegetables grown in thefarm and organic milk, saidanother official.

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The 32nd tripartite meetingon Safety held at CCL was

organized at Darbhanga House,CCL HQ on Friday. The meet-ing was presided by seniortrade union leader RamendraKumar. The meeting wasattended by CMD, CCL PMPrasad Director along withTechnical (Operations) BholaSingh along with the membersof CCL safety board. DeputyDirector General Mines Safety,South Eastern Zone UjjwalTah, DMS Koderma AftabAhmed DMS Ranchi AjaySingh, DMS Dhanbad AnandAgarwal, DMS KodermaA.K.Mishra also graced theoccasion. General Managers,HoDs of various departmentsof CCL HQ also attended themeeting. General Managers ofvarious operational areas of thecompany joined the meetingvirtually through video con-ferencing.

GM (Safety) RK Sinha gavea Powerpoint presentation onthe various activities under-taken by the company for pro-moting safety of the employees.He also elaborated on theaction taken by CCL on thedecisions taken in the previous

meeting. A movie on safetyawareness in mines was alsoshown on the occasion.

Welcoming everybody onthe occasion CMD Prasad saidthat mines safety is paramountfor the company. He stated thatall the relevant safety parame-ters decided by DGMS are fol-lowed in the company. He fur-ther added that there is nopaucity of the funds in thecompany and Best Practicesacross the industry should beadopted.

Director Technical(Operations) Shri Bhola Singhsaid that Central CoalfieldsLimited is committed to ensurethat it follows the highest stan-dards of safety in the opera-tions. He stated that thereshould be no apprehension intaking tough decisions tostrengthen the safety measuresin the company.

The members of CCL safe-ty board expressed their opin-ions during the meeting andgave suggestions to augmentthe safety standards in mines.GM (Safety) R.K.Sinha andhis team played an importantrole in the success of the meet-ing. All the safety protocolsrelated to Covid pandemic wasadhered to.

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Three persons includingNaseeran Parveen mother

of gangster Prince Khan andtwo other persons were sent tojail after being produced incourt of CJM here by policeinconnection with Nanheemurder case that took place onTuesday in Washeeypur local-ity under Bank More police sta-tion.

Confirming the new devel-opment, Bank More police sta-tion in-charge Randhir Singhsaid that the three includingMD Aman and Brajesh Sharmawere produced before the CJMwho remanded them into judi-cial custody.

The Wife of Prince KhanSagufta Khatoon who too wasdetained for questioning wasreleased .

Its worth mentioning thatpolice have recovered twoDBBL, one rifle , 17 live car-tridges and six country madebombs during raids that fol-lowed after the murder.

Four luxury vehicles toohave been seized by policewhile three others that were onhire purchase agreement witha finance company were tootaken away by the companydue to non-payment of loaninstalments.

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DVC, BokaroThermalobserved Constitution Day

here on Friday to commemo-rate the adoption of theConstitution of India.

On the occasion RaviRanjan Sharma, Chief Engineer(O&M) and S.N. Prasad,Deputy Chief Engineer admin-istered the preamble of the con-stitution to the employees andemployees gathered to observethe special day by adheringCOVID -19 norms.

On the occasion, RaviRanjan Sharma, Chief Engineersaid that on this day i.e 26November 1949, theConstituent Assembly of Indiaadopted the Constitution ofIndia, and it came into effect on26 January 1950.

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Banned rebel outfit CPI(Maoist) on intervening

night of Thursday/Friday blewup an under-constructionpolice station in Kurumgarh inChainpur block of Gumla—40km from the district head-quarters protesting against thearrest of top Maoist leaderPrashant Bose alias Kishan Da,his wife Sheela Marandi andothers.

The rebel outfit protestingthe arrest of Kishan Da andother ultras had called a bandhcall from November 23 to 25 inJharkhand, Chhattisgarh andOdisha.

The Jharkhand police onNovember 16 arrested CPI(Maoist) politburo memberPrashant Bose alias Kishan Daalong with his wife SheelaMarandi under Kandra policestation of Saraikela-Kharsawandistrict in Jharkhand. PrashantBose, aged around 75 years, isa member of the banned CPIMaoist Central Committee,Politburo, Central MilitaryCommission (CMC) and sec-retary of the Eastern RegionalBureau (ERB) of the outfit.

Jharkhand Police hadannounced a cash prize of Rsone crore on his head for hiscatch. He was arrested on thebasis of intelligence inputs of

the Intelligence Bureau.As the rebel outfit had

called a bandh in Jharkhandand three other states, thesecurity agencies were on highalert with no serious incidentsreported in two days, but theMaoists action on Thursdaynight indicates Maoists pres-ence in State. The outlawedgroup even pasted posters tak-ing up responsibility for theincident.

Jharkhand police were onhigh alert during Maoist bandhcall, but the rebel outfit trig-gered the explosion damagingan upcoming Kurumgarhpolice station building locatedin the heavily rebel infestedregion only after the bandhperiod ended i.e Thursdaymidnight. Owing to securityreasons, the district police dis-patched teams to the blast siteonly on Friday morning, saidpolice sources.

Gumla SP EhteshamWaquarib said, “The blastoccurred at around 1 am. Thereare no casualties, but the newpolice station building hasbeen blown up. We are evalu-ating the situation and further

probe is on.”The incident occurred

when several labourers werecamped at the upcoming build-ing. Sources said that theMaoist numbering 50 reachedthe site on Thursday night. Therebel group asked the labour-ers to vacate the police stationbuilding immediately. As soonas the workers left from the site,they blew up the police stationbuilding by planting a canbomb.

Police sources said thatthe Gumla incident revealsthe frustration of the rebelgroup after Prashant Bose wasarrested by police. Sources saidthat Bose was one of the thinktanks of the CPI (Maoist) andinvolved in all major decision-making of the banned rebeloutfit. His wife was also awanted Maoist rebel and theonly woman member of theCPI (Maoist) central commit-tee. Earlier, on November 20’sday-long bandh, rebels engi-neered blasts on railway tracksin Latehar and WestSinghbhum district affectingtrain services for several hoursbut no casualty was reported.

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Under the National HealthMission, free antenatal

check-up and institutionaldelivery facility is provided toall pregnant women ofJharkhand. Under JananiSuraksha Yojana, an incentiveof Rs. 1400 is payable in ruralareas and Rs. 1000 in urbanareas for institutional deliveryin government health institu-tions. Under the Janani ShishuSuraksha program, free medi-

cine, free food, free test, freeblood and free transportationare provided.

In the first quarter of theregistration year 2015-16, thefigures of NFHS 4 were 52 percent. But in the year 2020-21,according to the figures ofNFHS 5, it has increased to 68per cent.

Four prenatal tests are veryimportant to identify the dan-ger signs in pregnant women.This test is provided at allcommunity health centers and

health institutions. The fig-ures for the year 2015-16 were30 per cent as per NFHS 4, butin the year 2020-21, accordingto the figures of NFHS -5, it hasincreased 38.6 per cent.

Maternal and infant mor-tality can be reduced throughinstitutional delivery. The fig-ures for the year 2015-16 as perNFHS 4 were 61.9 per cent.But, in the year 2020-21,according to the figures ofNFHS 5, it has increased to 75.8per cent.

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People are very fond of flutesand traditional musical

instruments like Banam.Banam is like a violin, in theJharkhand Pavilion of the IndiaInternational Trade Fair. It isbeing sold at the stall of KalaMandir Saksham SHGFederation.

Durga Prasad is teachingthe people who come to thestall by playing Hansda Banam.According to Prasad, Banam issuch a musical instrument ofJharkhand, which is oftenplayed by the tribals of Santhal.

“This is a very old andsacred musical instrument. Italso has religious significanceamong the tribals. On MaghaPurnima, Banam is worshipedas the goddess of learning. It ismade using wood, leather andhorse hair. Both traditionaland classical melodies can beextracted from it. In the fair,small Banam is being sold forRs 1500 and big Banam for Rs2500 per piece. At the sametime, the flute of Jharkhand isalso being liked a lot in the fair,per flute being sold for Rs 250,”said Prasad.

Talking about other prod-ucts of this stall, Prasadinformed that Jharkhand's art,Dokra Art, Terracotta productsand Payatkar's painting areenticing people. “Dokra Art isa special metal craft ofJharkhand, decorative itemsare made in it. It also includesidols of deities. Dokra Art ismade by Brass using traditionaltechniques. It is an age-old cus-tom of the Malhor nomads andthe Ranas of Bendh (OBC) inEast Singhbhum, Jharkhandwho have kept this classicalcraft alive. This is the only

means of livelihood for theseartisans,” he added.

The Artist cum Teachersaid that the entire communi-ty is involved in various levelsof the production system tocreate an ethnic style andexquisite designs of artworks.It takes 21 days to make a prod-uct. “The sale of this tribal crafthelps in preserving the heritageand enhancing the livelihood ofthe artisans. The price of DokraArt sculptures and decorativeitems in the fair ranges from Rs450 to Rs 3000. While talkingabout terracotta products, itsnecklace, water bottle, handiand others are being sold,” headded.

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Sixty Fifth Annual Rail NationalAward Ceremony was organized at

Vaishali Auditorium, East CentralRailway Headquarters, Hajipur onFriday. The function was inaugurat-ed by the General Manager. AnupamSharma by lighting the lamp. PrincipalChief Personnel Officer JKP Singhalong with senior officials ofHeadquarters and all divisions andrailway personnel were present on thisoccasion. President of East CentralRailway Women's WelfareOrganization Bharti Sharma andother members of the organizationwere also present in the function.

Sharma in his welcome addresssaid that eight officers/employees wereselected to be honoured at the RailwayMinister level. But due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 65th Rail WeekNational Awards ceremony could notbe organized. Now it has been decid-ed by the Railway Board that the select-ed railway workers for the 65th RailWeek National Award should be hon-

oured at the regional level.“ECR has made a special contri-

bution in the unimaginable develop-ment journey of Indian Railways. Thisgolden age is the result of the jointefforts of all of us. Indian Railways hasbecome the lifeline of the countrytoday. Providing accessible, easy andsafe transport means in a country witha large and extremely dense popula-tion like India is a challenge in itself.Facing this challenge well, IndianRailways has been making importantcontribution by helping the countryon the path of progress in every pos-sible way to achieve its social and eco-nomic goals. The increase in thepopularity and importance of IndianRailways is possible only because ofthe discipline, dedication and servicespirit of our efficient and conscien-tious railway workers,” he said.

“All our achievements are theresult of hard work, dedication andefficiency of all railwaymen. With thepassage of time, new changes andchallenges keep emerging. But everynew challenge brings with it new pos-

sibilities. We are confident that all therailway workers will continue to makeexcellent contribution in the field ofrail productivity while successfully fac-ing the challenges of the future,”added Sharma.

The ECR GM further said, “Wehave been getting full cooperationfrom recognised unions and associa-tions and together we will be able tomove forward on the path of pro-gressive progress in the coming days.We have also been getting full supportof voluntary organizations such asBharat Scout Guide, East CentralRailway Women's WelfareOrganization.” Describing the role ofRailway Unions and Associations asimportant in the working of theRailways, the GM said that we allmove forward shoulder to shoulder,maintaining the attitude of workingwith a positive attitude.

Principal Chief Personnel OfficerJKP Singh, welcoming all the railwayemployees and railway officers,described it as a very important dayfor the railway workers. On this occa-

sion welcome anthem, folk songs,soulful dance etc. were presented bythe artists of ECR.

On this occasion, the DivisionalRailway Manager of Sonpur Division,Nilamani, the Head Office and senior

officials from all the five divisions,members of the Women's WelfareOrganization, officers and membersof recognized unions of ECR and alarge number of railway workers andtheir family members were present.

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The Jharkhand BJP unit onFriday took out ‘Samvidhan

Gaurav Yatra’ despite Ranchidistrict administration can-celling the Yatra at the lastmoment. The BJP had plannedthe Yatra from Shaheed Chowkto Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar stat-ue at Jharkhand High Court,but it was shortened at the lasthour. The BJP yatra and the72nd Constitution Day wascelebrated by offering garlandsto the statue of Dr. BhimraoAmbedkar near the HighCourt roundabout.

BJP Scheduled Caste mor-cha state president-cum-Chandankiyari MLA, AmarKumar Bauri, said that thegovernment has cancelled the‘Yatra’ at the last moment witha well-planned conspiracy. Thisgovernment cancelling theyatra only shows how muchrespect the JMM/Congressgovernment in State has for the

architect of Indian ConstitutionBabasaheb Dr BhimraoAmbedkar. He further said,“On one hand religious yatrashave been given permission butthe state government has notime to remember DrAmbedkar.”

Echoing the views of Bauri,Ranchi BJP MP Sanjay Sethsaid that it is a proud momentfor the entire Country as DrBhimrao Ambedkar gave theConstitution to World’s largestdemocracy. Seth also attackedthe state government for short-ening the yatra of BJP sayingthe present government has norespect for the architect ofIndian Constitution.

“Though the governmentin power has cancelled themarch, we all respect the deci-sion and a solution has beenmade to shorten the route,”Seth said.

Blaming the current gov-ernment of Jharkhand, MLACP Singh said that the entire

India is celebrating theConstitution Day but theJharkhand government is leastbothered about it.

The first ‘SamvidhanGaurav Yatra’ was organised inSurendranagar, Gujarat in2010, to mark 60 years of theConstitution by the then CMNarendra Modi.

As part of the ConstitutionDay celebrations on Friday,

President Ram Nath Kovindled the celebration withPreamble reading in theCentral Hall of Parliamentwhere Prime MinisterNarendra Modi addressed adistinguished gathering.

PM Modi also inauguratedthe two-day Constitution Daycelebrations in New Delhi'sVigyan Bhawan and partici-pated in related programmes.

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Under the ‘Apke Adhikar,Apki Sarkar, Apke Dwar’

programme in Ranchi District,camps were organized in dif-ferent panchayats of nine dif-ferent blocks on Friday. Out oftotal 56138 applicationsreceived so far 39190 havebeen executed.

According to the reports sofar, a total of 2856 applicationshave been received and 2172applications have been exe-cuted in the Namkum block.

Total 3468 applications

received in Anagada, 2881 exe-cutions Ormanjhi total 3283applications received, 1979 exe-cutions, Kanke total 6984 appli-cations received, 5050 execu-tions Ratu total 3768 applica-tions received, 2315 execu-tions Mandar total 2124 appli-cations received, 1827Execution, Chanho total 4018applications received, 2313 exe-cution Khalari total 2655 appli-cations received, 2487 execu-tions, Budhmu total 1685 appli-cations, 1506 executions Itkitotal 1966 applications received,1816 executions Bedo total

2834 applications received ,2501 execution 2097 applica-tions received in Lapung, 1900executions, Silli 3427 applica-tions received, 2570 execu-tions, Bundu total 2293 appli-cations, 1312 executions Rahetotal 1504 applications received,1271 executions Tamad total4518 applications Applicationsreceived, 1414 executions, 3402applications received inSonahatu, 1507 executions and2067 applications received inNagdi block and 1616 applica-tions were executed.

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Jharkhand State CooperativeMilk Producers Federation

(JSCMPF) and Indian DairyAssociation (IDA) – East Zone(Jharkhand Chapter) celebrat-ed the centenary birthday thefather of white revolution of DrVerghese Kurien with greatenthusiasm in the plant premis-es of Medha Dairy at Hotwar.

Minister, Agriculture,Animal Husbandry andCooperation Department,Badal unveiled the statue of DrVerghese Kurien. He discussedabout the contribution of DrKurien on his birth centenaryand how White Revolutionwas started by him, which

encouraged milk productionand helped our marginal milkproducing farmers to becomeself-sufficient and self-reliant.

“At present it is the result ofDr Kurien's thinking andefforts that today milk pro-duction has emerged as thebiggest business and employ-ment in rural areas and hasbecome the source of one-third of the income of ruralarea,” said Badal.

Addressing the milk pro-ducers at the function, theMinister said that Jharkhandhas a bright future for milkbusiness and this is a goldenopportunity for our milk pro-ducers, due to which the peo-ple of the State will get a source

of income in their own state.Along with this, he appreciat-ed the working system andprogress of the milk federationand assured the StateGovernment to provide allpossible help to the federation.

On the birth centenary ofDr. Verghese Kurien, about Rs86 lakh bonus was distributedby the Secretary, Agriculture,Animal Husbandry andCooperation Department, AbuBaqr Siddiqui and the regis-tration letter was handed overto 9 milk cooperative societies.On this occasion, JharkhandMilk Federation had organizeda blood donation camp in themonth of September, in which33 employees donated blood.

All those employees werepraised for this great donationand they were given a citation.

Making the event evenmore special, JSCMPFlaunched its new productMedha Special in the categoryof sweets under its brandMedha. It will be available in 80gm cup from today at allMedha affiliated retail outletsat Rs 20 per cup. ManagingDirector of Jharkhand StateMilk Federation Sudhir KumarSingh, welcomed the Ministerby providing flowers andshawls and in his welcomeaddress, thanked him on behalfof Jharkhand Milk Federationand told how he in his earlyprofessional days.

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State BJP spokesperson Pratul Shahdeo said that the state gov-ernment is completely ignoring the interests of the students. Thepost of Chairman, Vice President of Jharkhand Academic Councilhas been vacant for a long time but the state government is nottaking any step in making appointments in these two posts.

Pratul said that due to the vacancy of these posts, the datesof matriculation and inter examinations are not being declared,due to which there is a situation of doubt among lakhs of stu-dents of the state. If the exam dates are announced late, the resultwill also be delayed. Due to this, the dates of admission in otheruniversities will also be over, due to which the students ofJharkhand will have to suffer.

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Srinagar: Majority of the shopsand business establishmentsin downtown Srinagar wereshut on the second consecutiveday on Friday while mobileinternet remained suspendedin many parts of the city fol-lowing the killing of three mil-itants, officials said.

The shutdown wasobserved mainly in interiorareas such as Nowhatta,Gojwara, Khanyar, S a f a k a d a l ,Nawakadal, Rajouri Kadal andMR Gunj, they said.

Traffic, however, was ply-ing as usual, the officials said.

Police on Wednesdaygunned down Mehran Shalla,a self-styled commander ofThe Resistance Front (TRF)and a resident of Jamalata areain Nawakadal, and ManzoorAhmad Mir and Arafat Sheikh,both from Pulwama, in a briefencounter in Rambagh area ofthe city.

Police said Mir andSheikh, too, were affiliatedwith TRF, an offshoot ofLashkar-e-Taiba.

Shalla was wanted by secu-rity forces in connection withseveral civilian killings, includ-ing those of two teachersbelonging to minority com-munities inside a school inEidgah area of the city lastmonth, they said. PTI

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Youth, women and minorities constitutea sizeable part of the ruling Trinamool

Congress and Left Front’s candidates’ list forthe upcoming Kolkata MunicipalCorporation elections which would take placeon December 19 about two years behindschedule.

Incidentally both the TMC and the Left,left principal opposition BJP behind inannouncing their respective lists with a mori-bund Left on Friday coming out quite sur-prisingly with its own list beating the rulingoutfit by several hours.

In an apparent bid to recognize the riseof women electorate that played a decisive rolein this year’s Assembly elections both theTMC and the Left Front have fielded a size-able number of women candidates.

While senior TMC leader ParthoChatterjee emerging from a core committeemeeting presided by Chief Minister MamataBanerjee announced that “we are fielding 80male and 64 female candidates --- making ita 55%-45% percent affair --- the Marxistshave nominated 56 female and 58 male can-didates out of the 127 seats they are con-testing.

TMC will contest from all the 144 seatsthe Left Front have left 17 seats for the

“Congress, ISF or any other party that candefeat the Trinamool and the BJP.” The Leftwhich announced the names of 114 candi-dates will publish the names of 13 nomineesin a day or two, its leader Kallol Majumdarsaid.

While both the TMC and the LF havepreferred the youth in deciding their candi-dates the average age of the Front candidatesis about 48 years. For the Trinamool Congressit is a tad lower.

Out of the 144 nominations the rulingoutfit has retained 87 councilors and dropped39. “Those who have not been given ticketswould be used in the organizational work,”said Chatterjee. Six MLAs --- all sitting coun-cilors --- figure in the TMC list. Among themare outgoing Mayor Firhad Hakim who is alsoa State minister, Deputy Mayor Atin Ghosh,Mayors-in-council Debashis Kumar andDebabrata Biswas.

Out of the total candidates the TMC hasfielded 19 SCs and 23 minorities, Chatterjeesaid adding out of the minority candidatestwo are from the Christian community.

The West Bengal State ElectionCommission had on Thursday announcedthe date of elections amid rising demand fromthe Opposition parties to hold simultaneouselections to all the 118 municipal boards andcorporations in the State.

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Indigenously manufactured drones byIndian scientists will be launched from

Saturday for delivering medicines in theinaccessible and tough terrain of Jammuand surrounding areas with a focus onvaccine delivery initially.

"This is going to be a pilot projectfor the area. The drone is developed andmanufactured entirely by our scientists,"Union Minister for Science &Technology, Dr Jitendra Singh toldreporters here. The use of drones hasgained popularity in the last two years,beginning with the World EconomicForum’s “Medicine from the Sky” pro-ject in India. Several States are pilotingsimilar solutions for better access tomedical care among rural communities.

Singh said he himself will be launch-ing the project at Jammu.

The drone is developed by the sci-entists at Bengaluru's NationalAerospace Laboratories (NAL), a con-stituent of Council of Scientific andIndustrial Research (CSIR), anautonomous Society that is headed bythe Prime Minister.

For now, the delivery would be lim-ited to Covid vaccines and once suc-cessful, it would be expanded to be usedfor regular delivery of medicines in theremote, hilly areas. Used for surveillance

and in humanitarian aid delivery, dronesare being increasingly developed totransport medical samples and supplies.

Jammu and surrounding areas aresensitive in terms of their strategicimportance. Some months ago, therewas an attack on an Army installationusing drones.

An official from the Science andTechnology Ministry said, "The droneswould be deployed by authorised agen-cies such as hospitals, not anybody canuse it, nor would any random person bepermitted to use it."

NAL has called the drone an'Octacopter'. It can fly at an operationalaltitude of 500 m AGL and at maximumflying speed of 36 kmph. It can be usedfor a variety of BVLOS applications forlast mile delivery like medicines, vac-cines, food, postal packets, Humanorgans (such as heart for heart trans-plantation) etc.

In an article published inElsevierConnect in 2016, researchers from theJohns Hopkins Bloomberg School ofPublic Health and the PittsburghSupercomputing Center had noted thatthe cost savings would come fromdrones being able to deliver vaccinesmore quickly and cheaply than land-based methods, which are limited byroad conditions and the need for cost-ly fuel and maintenance.

Ballia (UP): A 27-year-oldman has been arrested herefor allegedly raping a minoron pretext of marriage,police said on Friday.

The arrest came onThursday on complaint of a22-year-old woman, who alleged thatthe accused raped her for two yearsbeginning in 2014 promising herthat he will marry her, they said.

She alleged she was 15 when theaccused first raped her and he con-tinued to do so for the next two years.

She approached the police afterhe allegedly broke his promise and

married anotherwoman, Gadwar policestation in-chargeDurgeshwar Mishrasaid.

The woman alsoalleged that the accused

not only abused and assaulted her butalso threatened to kill her.

A case has been registered underthe Protection of Children fromSexual Offences (POCSO) Act andrelevant sections of the Indian PenalCode, and the woman has been sentto the district hospital for medicalexamination, Mishra said. PTI

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AParliamentary Standing Committeeon Information Technology headed

by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor hasasked Facebook India officials to appearon November 29 to hear on the safe-guarding citizens’ rights and preventionof misuse of social/online news media platforms including special empha-sis on women security in the digital space.

The committee is also expected totake view point of Facebook India on areport shared by whistle blower SophieZhang, a former employee of the com-pany. The committee has earlier calledFacebook India in June this year to takeview

According to the agenda of the meet-ing, the Parliamentary StandingCommittee on IT will “hear the views ofthe representatives of Facebook India on

the subject ‘Safeguarding citizens’ rightsand prevention of misuse of social/onlinenews media platforms including specialemphasis on women security in the dig-ital space’. The committee will also hearrepresentatives of the Ministry ofElectronics and Information Technologyon the same.

The Congress leader has earlier stat-ed that the the committee would look intoreports that Facebook did nothing to cen-sor hate posts by some Bharatiya JanataParty leaders in the run-up to the LokSabha elections and ask the social mediagiant to respond to the accusations.

The committee has earlier calledFacebook India in June this year to takeview on new the Information Technology(Intermediary Guidelines and DigitalMedia Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 onFebruary 25, 2021. The Rules have comeinto effect from May 26, 2021.

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In a development that wouldaffect 24 lakh consumers in

the metropolis, the MahanagarGas Ltd (MGL) increased theprices of Compressed NaturalGas (CNG) and Piped Naturalgas (PNG) with effect frommidnight of Friday.

This is the third hike inCNG and PNG prices carriedout by the MGL since October14. The hike will hit the domes-tic budgets of 16 lakh peopleliving in the metropolis andneighbouring areas, eight lakhconsumers using gas-poweredvehicles will have to spendmore because of the hike.

The MGL has increased thebasic prices of CNG by

�3.06/kg and domestic PNG by�2.26 per Standard CubicMeter (SCM) for the MumbaiMetropolitan Region (MMR).

As a consequence, therevised all-inclusive prices ofCNG used by vehicles will goup from �57.54 per kg to �61.50 per kg, while the domes-tic PNG will be �36.50 perSCM, in a single slab hence-forth.

Earlier, the MGL had hikedrates twice in the first week ofOctober ahead of the festiveseason. It went in for one morehike on October 14.

On its part, the MGL hasattributed the price increase tothe shortfall in domestic gasallocation for which it is buy-ing higher priced PNG

(imported RLNG) to cater tothe growing numbers of CNGand domestic customers.

“In addition, owing to thesubstantial increase in naturalgas prices in the internationalmarket, the MGL’s input gascost has also gone up. To par-tially offset the increase in theinput costs of gas, we have gonein for the latest price hikes,” anMGL spokesperson said.

However, the MGL saidthat despite the revised rates, itsCNG would help the con-sumers save around 62 percentand 35 per cent respectively incomparison with petrol anddiesel, while the PNG userswere able to save 27 percentcompared with the prices ofdomestic LPG.

Mumbai: IPS officer Param Bir Singh willappear before the one-member commissionprobing corruption allegations against for-mer Maharashtra Home Minister AnilDeshmukh on Monday, his lawyer said. TheJustice K U Chandiwal commission wasformed in March this year to probe the alle-gations levelled by Singh, a former Mumbaipolice chief, against Deshmukh, an NCPleader. On Thursday, the commission hadwarned that if Singh did not remain present,he would face the execution of the bailablewarrant issued against him.

On Friday, Singh's lawyer told thecommission that the senior IPS officer won'tbe able to appear during the day as he wasvisiting Thane in connection with a caseagainst him. Singh was ready to appear onSaturday or any other day, he said. The com-mission said it doesn't sit on Saturday andasked Singh to appear on Monday(November 29).

The commission had fined Singh onmany occasions earlier for failing to appear.A bailable warrant had also been issuedagainst him. Singh, transferred from thepost of Mumbai police commissioner in

March in the aftermath of the Antilia bombscare episode, alleged that Deshmukh,then home minister, had asked police offi-cers to collect Rs 100 crore a month frombars and restaurants in Mumbai. Declaredabsconding by a Mumbai court in anextortion case, Singh surfaced in public onThursday after six months, and appearedbefore the Mumbai crime branch to recordhis statement. Meanwhile, a man, claimingto be a social worker, on Friday approachedthe Justice Chandiwal commission with anintervention application, seeking inquiryagainst Singh for his "misdeeds" during histenure as Thane police commissioner.Singh implicated many builders, business-men and common citizens in false cases, theplea alleged.

The commission took the applicationon record.

Incidentally, Singh appeared beforeThane police on Friday in connectionwith an extortion case filed against him andsome other police officials on the complaintof a local builder. The IPS officer is facingat least five extortion cases inMaharashtra.

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An ex-serviceman of thePakistan Army and well

known terrorist guide, working inclose coordination with Pakistanbased terrorist outfits Lashkar-e-Tayyeba and Jaish-e-Mohammadsince early 1990’s, was gunneddown by the alert Indian Armytroops while foiling an infiltrationbid along the line of control inBhimbergali area of Poonch lateThursday night.

The terrorist guide has beenidentified as Mohd Arif alias HajiArif, resident of village Matrian,Khuiratta, PoJK.

According to reports, HajiArif 's house was located close tothe line of control and was used bythe terrorist outfits as launchingpads to push terrorists inside theIndian territory.

He was on the radar of theIndian army for a long time.LateThursday night he ran out of hisluck while leading a group of infil-trators inside the Indian territory.

According to the dossier pre-pared by the security agencies,Haji Arif was well versed with the

topography of the regionand was regularly ferryingsmall groups of terroristsinside the Indian territory.

According to thedossier, his name also sur-faced during investigationsafter several operations,IED blasts and even BATattacks by the Pakistanarmy regulars targetingIndian soldiers. He most-ly operated in Tarkundibowl along the line of con-trol. In February 2018when different agencieswere investigating the roleof different players behindthe BAT attack his nametoo had surfaced and sub-stantiated by multipleagencies.

His two sons, identi-fied as Naseer Khan andBilal Khan, are both work-ing as labourers in SaudiArabia and UAE respec-tively while one of his

younger brothers is also workingas a guide of LeT.

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Maharashtra Governor Bhagat SinghKoshyari on Friday joined senior police

officials, family members of the victims andbrave hearts in paying homage to the mar-tyrs of the 26/11 attack on Mumbai on its13th anniversary at the Martyrs' Memorialerected inside the Mumbai PoliceCommissionerate premises near CrawfordMarket in south Mumbai.

Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, whois recuperating at the HN Reliance Hospitalin Mumbai after a cervical spine surgery thathe underwent on November 12, paid homagethose who lost their lives during the terrorstrikes and expressed his gratitude to thosewho fought the terrorists.

Uddhav described the November 26-29,2008 attack on Mumbai as "a cowardly act".He recalled the services of the police andsecurity forces and the people of Mumbai forwarding off the assault on the country's com-mercial capital and recovering from itseffects.

Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, HomeMinister Dilip Walse-Patil, Tourism Minister,Director-General of Police Sanjay Pandey,Police Commissioner Hemant Nagrale andother dignitaries also paid their respects atthe Martyrs' Memorial.

A large number of Police personnelturned up to pay homage to their colleagues

who were killed while fighting the terroristsat key locations in south Mumbai.

The 26/11 attack had claimed 166 livesand left more than 300 others injured. Thesites targeted during the mayhem were theworld heritage building Chhatrapati ShivajiMaharaj Terminus (CSMT), Hotel Taj MahalPalace & Tower, Hotel Trident, NarimanHouse, Leopold Café and Cama Hospital,Wadi Bunder.

While Abdul Rehman, Abu Ali and AbuSoheb marched to the Leopold Café inColaba and then laid siege at Taj MahalPalace Hotel, Abdul Rehman Chota andFahad Ullah headed to the Trident-OberoiHotel.

Nasir Abu Umar and Babar Imran aliasAbu Aakasha targeted Nariman Househousing the Jewish Chabad House, and trio- Isamal Khan, Abu Ismail and Ajmal Amir

Kasab unleashed terror at CSMT, CamaHospital and its precincts, before proceed-ing towards Chowpatty.

All the targets were within a radius ofaround 4-5 km area in south Mumbai, wherethe state secretariat, business and commer-cial hubs, deluxe hotels, residences of min-isters, bureaucrats, diplomats, scientists andbusiness bigwigs are located.

Assistant sub-Inspector Tukaram Omblewas instrumental in catching Kasab alive atGairgaum-Chowpatty in south Mumbai onthe night of November 26,2008. Omble, itmay be recalled, had held onto Kasab evenafter he had been grievously injured by bul-lets pumped into him by the latter. Ombledied before he could be rushed to the hos-pital.

While nine of the ten terrorists werekilled by the security forces during the attack,the remaining one- --Mohammed AjmalKasab – was caught alive by the police atGirgaum Chowpatty on the intervening nightof November 26-27, 2008.

Kasab was sentenced to death by a trialcourt on May 6, 2010. Later on February 21this year, the Bombay High Court confirmedKasab’s death sentence. After the high court’sverdict, Kasab wrote to the Supreme Courton July 28, challenging his conviction anddeath sentence in the 26/11 case. The apexcourt is likely to hear his case in the com-ing months.

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Jaipur: Six people were detainedafter they pelted stones at a Dalitman's marriage procession after herode a mare against their wish,police said on Friday.

Nearly a dozen people wereinjured in the incident that tookplace in Jaipur's Kotputli town lateon Thursday, police said.

"Some people from a certaincommunity had objected to Dalitsriding a mare during marriageceremonies," Pragpura StationHouse Officer Shiv Shankar said.

"Anticipating trouble, theDalit groom's family membershad given a police complaintprior to the marriage. Accordingly,a police team was deployed toensure smooth conduct of the cer-emony. However, some peoplemanaged to pelt stones at the pro-cession," the offices said.

The accused have beenbooked under Scheduled Casteand Scheduled Tribe (Preventionof Atrocities) Act, 1989, and theIndian Penal Code, Shankar said.

He said another person fromthe victim's family is slated to getmarried a few days later, and ade-quate protection will be providedto them. PTI

Palakkad: The death of a three-day oldinfant at a tribal hamlet at nearby Attapadyon Friday, the third such in the last fourdays, prompted the Kerala government toorder a multi-departmental enquiry intothe incident. The deaths occurred atAgali and Puthur regions in the area.

Health Minister Veena George direct-ed the Directorate of Health Services(DHS) to investigate the incident.

Minister for Welfare of ScheduledCastes, Scheduled Tribes and BackwardClasses, K Radhakrishnan, will visit thebackward hamlet in the district on Saturdayto take stock of the situation.

T V Anupama, the Director of theScheduled Tribes DevelopmentDepartment, has been entrusted to enquireinto the matter and submit a report soon.

The Minister will also take part in ameeting in the morning at Agali in the dis-trict.

The infant died at Mannarcaud hos-pital in the district on Friday, PalakkadDMO Ramadevi told PTI, adding that thiswas the third such incident in the last fourdays. "The post-mortem will be con-ducted at the District Hospital in Palakkad,"the DMO said, adding that this was the sev-enth infant death in the tribal hamlet thisyear. Medical officers said some wereIntrauterine Deaths (IUD) and other chil-dren died due to sickle cell anemia. PTI

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Lucknow: Asserting that both the Centraland the Uttar Pradesh Governments had noright to celebrate Constitution Day, BahujanSamaj Party chief Mayawati hit out at theSamajwadi Party, asking the people to becautious of the party as it “tore the bill onreservation of SCs and STs in Parliament”.

"People should be cautious of partieslike Samajwadi Party which tore the bill onreservation of SCs and STs in Parliament.They did not allow the passage of the bill.This means, parties like SP can never workfor the development of these communities,"Mayawati said at a press conference inLucknow on Friday.

Talking about the reservations for theScheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe com-munities in educational institutions andGovernment jobs, the BSP chief said thatthe Centre and State Government had nottaken any steps to empower these com-munities.

"The quotas are yet to be filled in manyseats reserved for the SC, ST and OtherBackward Classes communities. No stepshave been taken to provide reservation tothese communities in the private sector. TheCentre and State Government are not readyto make a law regarding this. Is this howthe Centre and states are protecting theConstitution?" the BSP chief sought toknow.

"Today, on the occasion of ConstitutionDay, the Central and State Governments

should go for a thorough review whetherthe Government is following the IndianConstitution with full honesty and integri-ty or not. But unfortunately it is well knownthat the Central and State Governments arenot following the Constitutional norms atall. Therefore, the Bahujan Samaj Party hasdecided not to participate in this pro-gramme of the Central and StateGovernments on the occasion ofConstitution Day," she claimed.

Mayawati alleged that the provisionmade in the Constitution by Dr BhimraoAmbedkar for the weaker and neglectedsections had been ignored and these class-es of people were not getting its full bene-fit. She also asked the Governments to apol-ogise to the backward communities.

Speaking on the first anniversary offarmers' agitation against the three farmlaws, Mayawati said that there were otherimportant demands of the farmers whichthe Government should accept at the ear-liest.

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pens. Afghanistan has a vibranttradition in music, influencedby Indian and Iranian classicalmusic. Besides, it has had athriving pop music scenariomarked by the syncing of elec-tronic instrumental and dancebeats with more traditionalrhythms.

The justice system alsoappears to be set to return towhat it was under the Taliban’sfirst innings. On September 25,2021, corpses of four men,alleged kidnappers killed in ashootout with policemen, werehung in public areas at sever-al places in the city of Herat toconvey, in the words of theprovince’s deputy governor,Mawlawi Shir AhmadMujahir, the “message” thatkidnappers would not be tol-erated. That this was not anaberration is clear from the factthat it happened just afterMullah Noroddin Turabi, oneof the founders of the Talibanand the head of the dreadedDepartment for the Promotionof Virtue and the Preventionof Vice, which had savagelyenforced the draconian rulesand laws prevailing duringthe Taliban’s earlier rule, hadtold the AP’s Kathy Gannonduring an interview that thepunishments administeredthen will return, though thesemay not be carried out in pub-

lic. “Cutting off hands is verynecessary for security”, he hadsaid, adding that it had adeterrent effect.

The media is under severepressure. The 11-point guide-lines announced by QariMuhmmad Yusuf Ahmed, theinterim director of theGovernment Media andInformation Centre, onSeptember 19, 2021, includedirectives against publishingmatters in conflict with Islamor insulting to national person-alities and instruct journaliststo produce news reports incoordination with theGovernment media office. Theannouncement, a requiem formedia freedom, comes in thewake of sustained attacks onjournalists and other forms ofpressures on them, which havesent many into hiding andeffectively closed down 153media outlets since the Talibancame to power.

The plight of women, itincreasingly seems, may be thesame as during the firstTaliban regime. Not one ofthem was included either inthe first set of 33 ministers inthe caretaker Governmentannounced on September 7,2021; nor in the second one of44, announced on September21, 2021. The Talibanspokesman Zabiullah Mujahid

held out the possibility ofwomen being included laterbut suggested no time frame.The Taliban’s record during itspresent incarnation in powerdoes not hold out much hope,The order not to telecast IPLmatches because of the pres-ence of women in the audi-ence, the Kabul Mayor’s order-ing of women — with theexception of those whose jobscould not be done by men —to stay at home, the reopeningof secondary schools withboys and not girls, the orderby the Taliban-appointed vice-chancellor of the KabulUniversity barring womenfrom the campus as long as “areal Islamic environment isnot provided for”, are instanceswhich reflect an attitudetowards women which doesnot augur well for the futureof their rights under the pre-sent dispensation.

Nothing, however, makesthe Taliban Government’s atti-tude towards women moreominously clear than the shut-ting down of the Ministry ofWomen’s Affairs and the rein-carnation of the Ministry forthe Promotion of Virtue andPrevention of Vice, in thebuilding it had occupied.

(The author is ConsultingEditor, The Pioneer. The viewsexpressed are personal.)

��������������� ���������Sir — Last week, the Prime Minister inhis address to the nation had politely andapologetically said that the Governmentcould not make the farmers understandthe benefits of the contentious threefarm laws which were passed last yearand as a result, these laws were beingrepealed. In over seventy years ofParliamentary history, no PrimeMinister has ever apologised in such ahumble way as PM Modi did. ManyOpposition leaders have been claimingit as their victory as their concerted andpersistent efforts have borne fruits.

My personal opinion is that theGovernment should not have with-drawn these laws as the farmers wouldfurther up the ante with their neodemands, and it has come true. Thefarmers, without applauding PM Modifor his bold and magnanimous stand,have added five more demands to theirlone remaining demand of MSP guaran-tee. Almost all the Opposition parties arebacktracking from their main demandof rescinding the three farm laws, towhich they had said, “if these bills are notwithdrawn, no going back to home.” Notonly this, the recalling of these bills hasopened a pandora’s box for the withdraw-al of other bills such as the Article 370and the CAA. The Government shoulddeal with troublemakers by not accept-ing any more demands.

Sagar Singh | Muzaffarnagar

��������������������������������Sir —Recently, Union Minister DrJitendra Singh launched India's first vir-tual science lab for children under theCouncil of Scientific and IndustrialResearch (CSIR) Jigyasa program. Thetarget audience of the lab will be studentsfrom class 6-12. The primary vision ofthe lab is to provide quality researchexposure to school students to drive theirscientific curiosity. It will enable curios-ity-driven research-based concepts,encourage higher-order thinking skillsand promote entrepreneurship.

In this inspirational science lab, stu-dents will have fun and carry out exper-

iments. It will help connect students withscientists across the country. It is also intune with the National Education Policy(NEP), where students are allowed tochoose any subject of their choice. It isan open source platform and studentswill be able to access content in region-al languages. Science and research webi-nars will be performed to connect withmore students across the country. Thiswill enable students to learn theoreticalconcepts with practical experimentsand presentations.

Vishal Patidar | Ujjain

�������������������������������Sir — The Coronavirus pandemic hasgiven rise to a vicious cycle of loss of jobsand decreased income. Professionallyindependent men and women were onthe backfoot when the pandemic was atits zenith. Their woes have spilled over.Reduction in income and increasedexpenses pushed families to a corner. Anexponential increase in child labour hap-

pened during the pandemic. Even asschools are opening doors, children arebeing “protected” by their parents in adifferent way — through disguised childlabour.

The youngsters “employed” in theirown family enterprises are being pres-sured to stay put by their parents. Forcedlabour is being disguised as “training andassisting” by parents. Almost two yearsand counting, following the pandemic,“well trained” children are being seen asassets by parents for their occupation.This is not to say that it was the pandem-ic that solely bred pressure labour.COVID-19 may have augmented parents'proclivity for forcing their children intofamily businesses. It may not appear asexploitation in the literal sense but thedamage it does to the overall personali-ty of the child is indescribable.

Ganapathi Bhat | Akola

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It increasingly seems that theTaliban’s second innings inpower is headed to being aclone of its first (1996-2001).

Women had been shorn of allbasic human rights — to work,education and even healthcare,during the Taliban’s previoustenure. They could also notappear in public unescorted by a“close” male relative — husband,father, son or brother — andwrapped from head to foot in aburqa. Men were deprived of allsources of entertainment andamusement and imprisoned in alife full of taboos. A savage crim-inal justice system was in placewith public executions and pun-ishments like amputation fortheft.

Indications that it will be thesame this time as well are emerg-ing gradually as restrictions areimposed. The latest, according tothe AFP and BBC, are the new“religious guidelines” issued bythe Ministry for the Promotionof Virtue and Prevention of Vice.These direct Afghanistan’s televi-sion channels to, among otherthings, stop showing plays andsoap operas featuring womenactors. Women journalists andpresenters have been ordered towear Islamic hijab on the screen.Films showing ProphetMohammad or other reveredfigures are not to be shown, norshould films considered againstthe principles of Sharia — orIslamic law — and Afghan values.Comedy and entertainmentshows that insult religion or maybe considered offensive toAfghans are also forbidden frombeing shown.

The restrictions are vaguelyworded and vulnerable to vary-ing interpretations, which wouldgive the Taliban enforcers ampleopportunity to crack down onanyone they consider to be anoffender. This has already beenhappening with musicians.While, unlike during Taliban’sfirst innings, music has not beenbanned, musicians are beingharassed. Their establishmentsare being raided and instru-ments broken. They live in fear.Many of them are trying to leavethe country. There is a growingfeeling that music is set to disap-pear from the lives of Afghans. Itwould be a tragedy if this hap-

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India conceived a plan to provideabout 97 km of mass rapid transit net-work (metro rail) on two north-southand one east-west routes in Kolkata

sometime in the late sixties. This was thefirst major planned urban mass rapid tran-sit system under Ministry of Railways.

In the next decade, a bold step to startconstruction work on the predominantlyunderground North-South (N-S) linebegan with Cut and Cover technology atconsiderable inconvenience to surfacetraffic in a city. The era of metro rail beganin India in 1984 with the commissioningof a three-kilometre stretch.

The next planned MRT system camealmost 25 years later in New Delhi. The firstline went into operation in 2002. With thisthe era of participation of central and stategovernments in setting up of the Metro railsystem began and subsequently MRT ser-vices were planned for Bengaluru andChennai.Since then, the Metro has expand-ed to several cities.

Today in India, around 760 km. ofMetro Rail system is in operation and near-ly 580km. is under construction. Of the fivemost populous states, UP, Maharashtra andMadhya Pradesh have a much larger shareof Metro system in multiple cities. OnlyKolkata features in the Metro map WestBengal. Populous states like Bihar lagbehind with the Metro project only recent-ly taking off in Patna. States like Telangana,Karnataka and Gujarat having lesser pop-ulations have larger route kms. per capita.The development of Metro rail system hasbeen mostly concentrated in Western andSouthern states besides Delhi-NCR.Eastern states like Bihar, West Bengal,Assam, Odisha have lagged behind.

Transportation has long been viewedas a means of energizing and sustainingeconomic growth, generating employ-ment, and fostering holistic development.Unlike other sectors, the demand-supplygap cannot be bridged by increasingimports, but only through capacity-build-ing. It is this unique feature which makestransportation the backbone of a nation’sdevelopment and improved quality of life.However, with the ever-increasing popu-lation and growing urbanization, the stresson transportation is increasing, which isadversely affecting the environment, seam-less travel of people, and asset life deteri-oration. A balance needs to be maintainedfor inclusive and environmentally sustain-able growth to ensure a better livelihoodand right to life, a constitutional right.

Rail-based mass transit system is by farmore efficient and climate friendly. Itreduces transport congestion on road andassociated pollution. Any congested citywith large transport volume is ideal for theprovision of Metro.

Though Kolkata was the first city tohave metro rail, no further metro projectwas sanctioned for any eastern states tillrecently when metro rail was sanctionedfor Patna and Guwahati.

Kolkata with high population density

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and only six-eight per cent of roadspace deserves Metro rail as ameans of Mass Raid transit.Congested roads not conducive tobuilding the Metro along roadsposes a great challenge to planners.

Kolkata Metro was set up beforeany guidelines or policy on MRTSwas issued by the Ministry of UrbanDevelopment and is the only systemthat is under direct control of theMinistry of Railways.

There has been no proper tech-no-economic and socio-economicstudy for planned expansion ofMetro rail in Kolkata to overcometravel issues of citizens in the twincities of Kolkata and Howrah. In 75years since independence only tworoad bridges have been addedacross the river Ganges which aremiles apart unlike cities like London,Paris, Moscow, et cetera, that haveextensive underground rail androad networks criss-crossing therivers that pass through the cities.

It is unfortunate that no plan-ning of rail-based transport systemfor urban conglomerates likeAsansol — Durgapur, Siliguri-Jalpaiguri, which have proximity tofairly busy airports like Bagdograand Andal has been conceived.

Metro rail projects in Kolkatahave always suffered for one reasonor the other and 36 years after thefirst Metro started in Kolkata, only32.25 km of one N-S line and sevenkm of East-West line is commis-sioned. Around 28 km of routes canbe added in next two-three yearswith the likely commissioning ofPhoolbagan-Howrah Maidan (9.34km), Noapara-NSCBI airport(6.87km), Joka-Majerhat (7 km) andNew Garia-Ruby(5 km) sections.

This will leave around 36 km moreto be completed on the Joka-Esplanade and New Garia-NSCBIairport lines which may take four orfive years. Another about 25 km.route where the Metro was sanc-tioned a decade ago for expansionon the northern fringes of the cityis yet to take off with no funds sanc-tion.

Kolkata and Howrah needmetro systems with increased fre-quency and faster travel to reducedependency on road transport toprovide seamless travel to citizens.The suburbs of Kolkata need to bebrought into the Metro map toreduce dependence on suburban railand road.

Apart from routes under con-struction or planned, Kolkata needsmore east-west and north-southroutes with interchange facility anda ring route on its outer periphery.Some of the routes that could ben-efit a large population with metroconnectivity can be: Extension of E-W metro to Uluberia; New East -West route from Shalimar toJadavpur covering west and southkolkata

Extension of N-S route tosonarpur; New North south routefrom Bally to Garia-IIM/Joka insouth; Extension of Joka-Esplanaderoute to Diamond harbour.

The feasibility of the variousoptions needs to be explored criti-cally.

Two important projects sanc-tioned a decade back, Baranagar-Barrackpur and NSCBI Airport-Barasat, which can serve a largepopulation, are presently on holddue to civic issues. These need to berevived using modern technology.

We need to rope in top-class tech-nical expertise wherever available tofind ways and means to overcomethe constraints.

Project delays lead to cost andtime overrun and citizens are deniedthe benefits. These projects will con-siderably ease pressure on landroutes and as such, a final decisionby stakeholders cannot be delayed.

Besides, the Metro rail systemin places like Siliguri-Jalpaiguriarea including Bagdogra Airport,Durgapur-Asansol area includingAndal Airport, Kalyani-Krishnanagar-Shantipur-awadiparea need to be planned now toaddress the congestion due to sec-toral urbanization and developingindustrial conglomerates.

It takes at least 8-10 years for aproject from planning stage till itsees the light of the day if all goeswell at every stage. The state mustidentify routes and areas to beserved and quality DPRs need to beprepared identifying possible routesthrough established agencies likeRITEs, DMRC with clear Right OfWay. Duly approved DPRs can bebasis for generating demand at thecentre with prioritizing projects.

The stake holders need toremove bottlenecks for expeditiouscompletion of sanctioned works. Itis the common man who will reapthe benefits of such state of art infra-structure.

Metro rail contributes tremen-dously on environment front, gen-erates carbon credits, reduces green-house gas emissions. It has hugepotential to generate solar powerand contribute towards India’sdream of fulfilling its target for alter-nate energy.

(The writer is a retiredrailway professional and an independent consultant on Metro railway. The views

expressed are personal.)

There is a saying, “out ofsight out of mind”, thatmeans we forget about

things we don’t see. It’s thesame thing with sanitationand hygiene. As long as thefilth or faeces is visible to oureyes, we are concerned aboutit, but as soon as it’s flushed,we stop thinking about whathappened to it faeces,whether it was properly dis-posed of or covered up osten-tatiously. It happens becauseeither we are careless or welack correct information.

Now take the example ofseptic tanks built in cities,how many of us know aboutthe ‘sanitation value chain’?How many of us know how tomake the correct septic tank,what is the right design andmeasurement? How many ofus are aware that to keep the

septic tank working smooth-ly and effectively, the septictank should be cleaned every3 to 5 years? How many of usknow that due to the lack ofregular cleaning of the septictank, the sewage treatmentprocess in the septic tankstops and untreated septagecauses health problems? Howmany of us know thatuntreated septage from theseptic tank goes into smalland big rivers through drainsand contaminates rivers?

All we know is that weflushed the toilets and theexcreta was out of sight, nowwhether it has gone to theseptic tank, went to the drainor river, what difference doesit make to us? In many citiessewer treatment plants orfaecal sludge treatment plantsare in the process of being

built, and in cities wherethey exist, they are insuffi-cient. So, the question ariseswhether we are even aware ofthis issue, the environmentalproblems it causes, and if wewant to understand and playa part in this.

Generally, in urban areasor even in villages nowadays,the septic tank is nothing buta container without any prop-er process or method forsewage treatment and it is safein the long run. Local buildersand contractors are also not

concerned with how the struc-ture should be. The ownersunderstand it as a big-roomlike structure under theground built as a septic tankfor which they do not have toworry for 30-50 years.

Cleanliness cannot beachieved by making rules andregulations. We can definite-ly control it temporarily but‘behaviour change’ is the solu-tion. It should become a massmovement.

When talking about san-itation, there is a need to gobeyond just the constructionof toilets. Faecal SludgeManagement has been calledthe missing and ignored com-ponent of the sanitation as safemanagement of faecal sludgerequires more than just accessto a toilet and use of a mereseptic tank. Improving city-

wide urban sanitation is com-plex as it must consider bothon- and off-site systems,encompass the entire servicechain, serve different cus-tomers and be acceptable to abroad range of stakeholders.

As much as it is theresponsibility of the govern-ment and the governmentmachinery, it is our responsi-bility also to understand theproblem. The population is yetto be fully persuaded tochange the age-old practice ofdefecating in the open, con-struct proper septic tanks, getinto the habit of scheduleddesludging and not neglectbasic sanitation practices. Wealso have to be aware of thecorrect structure and design ofthe septic tank, in how manydays it is necessary to emptythe septic tank, who is the con-

cerned authority to contact toget the septic tank emptied.We also have to monitor thatsolid waste from the septictank is disposed of properlyand not put in the drain oropen ground. Single houseswhich do not have anydrainage channels should havea soak-pit system unless thelocal panchayat or municipal-ity makes some other concretearrangement. Every effort hasto be made to avoid waterlog-ging, whether through pit orby planting trees that absorbwater or by applying otherenvironmentally friendlymethods.

We have to make efforts toensure environmental cleanli-ness so that when we lookaround we see and feel clean-liness in both visible andinvisible things.

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(The writer is ProgrammeCoordinator, WaterAid India. The

views expressed are personal.)

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Brussels: A slew of nationsmoved to stop air travel fromsouthern Africa on Friday, andstocks plunged in Asia andEurope in reaction to news ofa new, potentially more trans-missible Covid-19 variant.

“The last thing we needis to bring in a new variant thatwill cause even more prob-lems,” said German HealthMinister Jens Spahn, amid amassive spike in cases in the27-nation European Union,which is recommending a banon flights from southernAfrican nations.

Within a few days of thediscovery of the new variant, ithas already impacted on a jit-tery world that is sensitive tobad COVID-19 news, withdeaths around the globe stand-ing at well over 5 million.

Medical experts, includ-ing the World HealthOrganization, warned againstany overreaction before all ele-ments were clear but nationswho acted said their concernswere justified.

“Early indications showthis variant may be more trans-missable than the delta variantand current vaccines may beless effective against it,” BritishHealth Secretary Sajid Javidtold lawmakers. "We must

move quickly and at the earli-est possible moment,” he said.

Belgium became the firstEuropean Union country toannounce a case of the variant.

“We have one case of thisvariant that is confirmed. It'ssomeone who came fromabroad,” said Health MinisterFrank Vandenbroucke. “It's asuspicious variant. We don'tknow if it's a very dangerousvariant.”

Israel, one of the world'smost vaccinated countries,announced Friday that it hasalso detected the country's firstcase of the new variant, in atraveler who returned fromMalawi. The traveler and twoother suspected cases havebeen placed in isolation. Itsaid all three are vaccinated butthat it is currently looking intotheir exact vaccination status.

The new variant imme-diately infected stock marketsaround the world. Major index-es fell in Europe and Asia andDow Jones futures dipped 800points ahead of the marketopening in the U.S.

“Investors are likely toshoot first and ask questionslater until more is known,” saidJeffrey Halley of foreignexchange broker Oanda.

AP

Brussels— The EuropeanUnion said Friday it is planningto stop air travel from southernAfrica to counter the spread ofa new COVID-19 variant as the27-nation bloc is battling amassive spike in cases.

"The last thing we need isto bring in a new variant thatwill cause even more prob-lems," said German HealthMinister Jens Spahn.

EU Commission PresidentUrsula von der Leyen said in astatement that she "proposes, inclose coordination with themember states, to activate theemergency brake to stop airtravel from the southernAfrican region."

A new coronavirus varianthas been detected in SouthAfrica that scientists say is aconcern because of its high

number of mutations and rapidspread among young people inGauteng, the country's mostpopulous province.

Germany said von derLeyen's proposal could beenacted as soon as Friday night.Spahn said airlines comingback from South Africa willonly be able to transportGerman citizens home, andtravelers will need to go into

quarantine for 14 days whetherthey are vaccinated or not.

Germany has seen newrecord daily case numbers inrecent days and passed themark of 100,000 deaths fromCOVID-19 on Thursday.

The WHO says Covid-19cases in Europe have risen steadily over the past 5weeks.

AP

Geneva: Advisers to the WorldHealth Organisation are hold-ing a special session in Genevato flesh out information abouta worrying new variant of thecoronavirus that has emergedin South Africa, though a topexpert says its impact onCovid-19 vaccines may not beknown for weeks.

The technical advisorygroup on the evolution ofCOVID-19 was meeting virtu-ally to discuss the so-calledB.1.1.529 variant that hascaused stock markets to swoonand led the European Union torecommend a pause in flightsto southern Africa.

The group could decide ifit's a "variant of concern" — themost worrying type, like thewell-known delta variant — or

a "variant of interest", andwhether to use a Greek letter toclassify it.

"We don't know very muchabout this, yet. What we doknow is that this variant has alarge number of mutations,and the concern is that whenyou have so many mutations itcan have an impact on how thevirus behaves," Maria VanKerkhove, WHO's technicallead on COVID-19 Maria VanKerkhove said in a social-media chat on Thursday (localtime). Fewer than 100 fullgenome sequences of the vari-ant are so far available, she said.

"It will take a few weeks forus to understand what impactthis variant has on any poten-tial vaccines, for example," MsVan Kerkhove said. AP

Jerusalem: Prime MinisterNaftali Bennett said on Fridaythat Israel is "on the thresholdof an emergency situation”after authorities detected thecountry’s first case of a newcoronavirus variant and barredtravel to and from most Africancountries.

The Health Ministry said itdetected the new strain in atraveler who had returned fromMalawi and was investigatingtwo other suspected cases. Thethree individuals, who had allbeen vaccinated, were placed inisolation.

A new coronavirus varianthas been detected in SouthAfrica that scientists say is aconcern because of its highnumber of mutations and rapidspread among young people inGauteng, the country’s mostpopulous province.

At a Cabinet meeting con-vened Friday to discuss the newvariant, Bennett said it is morecontagious and spreads morerapidly than the delta variant.He said authorities were stillgathering information on

whether it evades vaccines or isdeadlier.

“We are currently at thethreshold of an emergency sit-uation,” he said. "I ask everyoneto be prepared and to fully joinin the work around the clock.”

government later said thatall countries in sub-SaharanAfrica would be considered“red countries” from whichforeign nationals are barredfrom traveling to Israel. Israelisare prohibited from visitingthose countries and thosereturning from them mustundergo a period of isolation.

The Israeli military willwork to locate all individualswho have been to red countrieswithin the past week andinstruct them to go into isola-tion while testing is carried out,it said. Israel launched one ofthe world's first and most suc-cessful vaccination campaignslate last year, and nearly half thepopulation has received abooster shot. Israel recentlyexpanded the campaign toinclude children as young as 5.

AP

Calais (France): French fishingcrews are threatening to blockFrench ports and traffic underthe English Channel on Fridayto disrupt the flow of goods tothe U.K., in a dispute over post-Brexit fishing licenses.

It’s the latest tension pointbetween the neighboring coun-tries, who are also tradingblame for not doing enough toprevent the deaths of at least 27migrants whose boat sankWednesday off Calais, in thechoppy waters of the world’sbusiest shipping route.

French fishermen areangry at the British govern-ment for not granting morelicenses to fish in U.K. waters— and angry at their owngovernment for not doing moreto defend them.

The fishing industry iseconomically tiny but sym-bolically important for both

Britain and France.Friday’s threatened block-

ades are “a warning shot,”Olivier Lepretre, president ofthe regional fishing committee,told reporters.

Fishing crews are expectedto use their boats to block portsin Calais, Saint-Malo andOuistreham, and to use cars toblock the highway leading tothe tunnel beneath theChannel.

The fishers are protestingto “respond to the derisiveand humiliating attitude of theEnglish,” Gerard Romiti, pres-ident of the national fishingcommittee, told reporters.

A spokesman for PrimeMinister Boris Johnson said theU.K. was “disappointed bythreats of protest activity.”

Before Brexit, French fish-ermen could fish deep insideBritish waters. AP

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MOSCOW: Russian PresidentVladimir Putin is hosting theleaders of Armenia andAzerbaijan for talks on Friday,during which the three areexpected to discuss ways toresolve the tensions over theseparatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

In the southern city ofSochi, Putin held a bilateralmeeting with Azerbaijan'sPresident Ilham Aliyev,Kremlin spokesman DmitryPeskov told reporters on Friday.After that, the Russian presi-dent is to sit down with Aliyevand Armenia's Prime MinisterNikol Pashinyan together, andthen have a separate bilateralmeeting with Pashinyan.

Armenia and Azerbaijanhave been locked in a decades-old dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh, a region that lieswithin Azerbaijan but wasunder the control of ethnicArmenian forces backed byArmenia since a separatist warthere ended in 1994.

The Azerbaijani militaryrouted the Armenian forces in44 days of fierce fighting in thefall of 2020, which ended witha Russia-brokered peace dealthat saw Azerbaijan gain con-trol of a significant part ofNagorno-Karabakh andreclaim all the regions con-trolled by Armenian forcesoutside the separatist region.

AP

TAIPEI, Taiwan: Five U.S. lawmakers met with TaiwanPresident Tsai Ing-wen Friday morning in a surprise one-day visitintended to reaffirm the United States' "rock solid" support forthe self-governing island.

The bi-partisan group of lawmakers from the U.S. House ofRepresentatives arrived in Taiwan on Thursday night and wereplanning to meet with senior leaders including Tsai, said theAmerican Institute in Taiwan, the de facto embassy. No furtherdetails were provided about their itinerary.

The visit comes as tensions between Taiwan and China haverisen to their highest level in decades. Taiwan has been self-ruledsince the two sides split during a civil war in 1949, but Chinaconsiders the island part of its own territory.

"When news of our trip broke yesterday, my office receiveda blunt message from the Chinese Embassy, telling me to call offthe trip," Representative Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., who is part ofthe delegation, wrote on Twitter.

Representatives Mark Takano, D-Calif., Colin Allred, D-Texas., Sara Jacobs, D-Calif., and Nancy Mace, R-S.C., are alsopart of the visiting delegation. AP

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CAIRO: The deal struck inSudan to reinstate the primeminister following a militarycoup is imperfect but has savedthe country from sliding intocivil strife, the U.N. envoy toSudan said on Friday.

Special Envoy VolkerPerthes was speaking of theagreement between Sudan'smilitary leaders and PrimeMinister Abdallah Hamdok,who was deposed and putunder house arrest followingthe coup last month that stirredan international outcry.

The military takeoverthreatened to thwart theprocess of democratic transi-tion that the country hadembarked on since the ousterof longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir.

The deal, signed onSunday, was seen as the biggestconcession made by the coun-try's top military leader, AbdelFattah al-Burhan, since the

coup. However, the country'spro-democracy groups havedismissed it as illegitimate andaccused Hamdok of allowinghimself to serve as a fig leaf forcontinued military rule."Theagreement of course is notperfect," Perthes told TheAssociated Press.

"But it is better than nothaving an agreement and con-tinuing on a path where themilitary in the end will be thesole ruler."Both signatories feltcompelled to make "bitter con-cessions" in order to spare thecountry the risk of more vio-lence, chaos and internationalisolation, he added.

"It would not have beenpossible to exclude a scenariowhich would have broughtSudan to something close towhat we have seen in Yemen,Libya or Syria," Perthes said.

He spoke to the AP viavideoconference fromKhartoum. AP

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TOKYO: Japan's Cabinet on Friday approved a 770 billion yen($6.8 billion) request for an extra defense budget through Marchto expedite the purchase of missiles, anti-submarine rockets andother weapons amid rising concern over the escalation of mil-itary activities by China, Russia and North Korea.

The request, still pending parliamentary approval, bringsJapan's military spending for the current year to a new high ofmore than 6.1 trillion yen ($53.2 billion), up 15% from 5.31 tril-lion yen in 2020.

The Defense Ministry says its "defense power reinforcementand acceleration package" is designed to speed up deploymentof some of the key equipment from the 2022 budget request.

AP

CAIRO: The U.N. mission in Libya con-demned on Friday an attack by armed men onan appeals court as it was set to re-examine anearlier decision that disqualified the son oflongtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi fromrunning for president.

On Thursday, armed men surrounded thecourt in the southern town of Sabha and pre-vented judges from convening to look into Seifal-Islam Gadhafi's appeal.

Earlier, the country's electoral body haddeemed Seif al-Islam ineligible to take part inthe presidential race set for next month, cit-ing his previous convictions.

"Attacks against judicial or election facil-ities or judicial or elections personnel are notonly criminal acts, punishable under Libyanlaw, but also undermine Libyans' right to par-ticipate in the political process," tweeted theU.N. mission, known as UNSMIL.

Libya is to hold the first round of presi-dential elections on Dec. 24, after years of U.N.-led attempts to usher in a more democraticfuture and end the country's civil war. However,the upcoming vote faces many challenges,including unresolved issues over laws gov-erning the elections and occasional infightingamong armed groups. Other obstacles includethe deep rift that remains between the coun-try's east and west and the presence of thou-sands of foreign fighters and troops.

The oil-rich North African county is cur-rently governed by an interim government thatwas elected by Libyan delegates after U.N.-ledtalks in Geneva in February.

Interim Interior Minister Khaled Mazenvowed to hunt down and prosecute theassailants in Thursday's attack.

AP

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Aslew of nations moved tostop air travel from south-

ern Africa on Friday, and stocksplunged in Asia and Europe inreaction to news of a new,potentially more transmissibleCovid-19 variant.“The lastthing we need is to bring in anew variant that will causeeven more problems,” saidGerman Health Minister JensSpahn, amid a massive spike incases in the 27-nationEuropean Union, which is rec-ommending a ban on flightsfrom southern Africannations.Within a few days ofthe discovery of the new vari-

ant, it has already impacted ona jittery world that is sensitiveto bad Covid-19 news, withdeaths around the globe stand-ing at well over 5 million.Medical experts, including theWorld Health Organization,warned against any overreac-tion before all elements wereclear but nations who actedsaid their concerns were justi-fied. “Early indications showthis variant may be more trans-missable than the delta variantand current vaccines may beless effective against it,” BritishHealth Secretary Sajid Javidtold lawmakers. "We mustmove quickly and at the earli-est possible moment,” he said.

Mumbai:The Reserve Bank onFriday accepted most of therecommendations of its work-ing group on corporate own-ership of private sector banks,by allowing unrestrained pro-moter shareholding in the firstfive years of operations andhiking the same to 26 per centafter 15 years from the extant15 per cent and also the newcapital requirements.

The move will benefit lead-ing banks like Kotak Mahindra

Bank and IndusInd Bank,among others, which have beenseeking more time from theregulator to divest their stakesfor many years now.

Accepting 21 of the 33recommendations of the inter-nal working group, the centralbank said the remaining sug-gestions are under its consid-eration. The RBI constitutedthe working group on June 12,2020, and the panel submittedthe report on November 20,

2020, inviting comments ofstakeholders and members ofthe public by January 15, 2021.

The RBI accepted the rec-ommendation that no changesbe made to the extant instruc-tions related to the initial lock-in requirements of holding aminimum 40 per cent of thepaid-up voting equity sharecapital of the bank for the firstfive years but said no cap on thepromoters holding during thesame period. PTI

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The Sensex nosedived 1,688points while the Nifty

slumped below the 17,100-level on Friday as a new andpotentially vaccine-resistantcoronavirus variant sent shock-waves through global markets.

The variant, detected inSouth Africa, Botswana andHong Kong so far, has anunusual combination of muta-tions, as per initial reports.

Countries like Britain andJapan have already imposedtravel restrictions, raising thespectre of a fresh wave of lock-downs.

The 30-share BSE Sensexplummeted 1,687.94 points or2.87 per cent to close at57,107.15 following an across-the-board selloff. Similarly, theNSE Nifty plunged 509.80points or 2.91 per cent to17,026.45. Currency marketstoo were not spared, with therupee sinking 37 paise versusthe US dollar, in tandem with

other emerging market cur-rencies.

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Mumbai:The rupee on Fridayplunged by 37 paise or 0.50per cent against the US dol-lar to close at a nearly month'slow as investors turned cau-tious in view of massive sell-offs in domestic equities andworries over a new variant ofCovid-19.The rupee erased allof its gains in the monthwhile suffering its worst week-ly loss of 59 paise sinceOctober 8 due to month-enddollar demand and on antic-ipation that the US Fed willaccelerate asset tapering andhike interest rates aroundmid-2022, analysts said. PTI

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The Department of AnimalHusbandry & Dairying,

Union Ministry of Fisheries,Animal Husbandry &Dairying; National DairyDevelopment Board (NDDB)and other institutions -GCMMF Ltd, Kaira MilkUnion (Amul Dairy), NCDFILtd, IRMA, Mother Dairy Fruit& Vegetable Pvt Ltd.

IDMC Ltd, IndianImmunologicals Ltd, NDDB

Dairy Services and Anandalayajointly celebrated (NDDB)“National Milk Day” to com-

memorate the birth centenaryof Dr Verghese Kurien onNovember 26, 2021 at NDDB’sTK Patel Auditorium.

During the ceremony,Parshottam Rupala, UnionMinister of Animal Husbandry& Dairying conferred theGopal Ratna Award to thewinners of the Best DairyFarmer rearing indigenous cat-tle/buffalo breeds, BestArtificial InseminationTechnician and Best DairyCooperative Society (DCS)/Milk Producer Company/Dairy Farmer ProducerOrganisation in the country.

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Unlu, a learning platform in cre-ative education, has onboard-

ed India’s popular lyricist SameerAnjaan to teach lyrics-writing ontheir platform. This lyrics-writingclass will help aspiring content cre-ators learn the art of lyrics writingfrom an industry veteran and willopen avenues to commercialisetheir content to build a sustainablecareer in songwriting.

Anjaan moved to Mumbai in1980 to pursue his career. In a shortspan of time, he became one of themost sought-after lyricists in theBollywood industry. He is an award-winning songwriter and a GuinnessWorld Record holder for writing themost songs. With his immenseknowledge and experience, Anjaanwill help the aspirants learn theprocess of lyrics writing in his Unluclass.

Commenting on his exclusiveclass, Anjaan said, “It has alwaysbeen my dream to teach people tobecome songwriters so when Unlucame to me, asking to take thisopportunity, it was really a no-brain-er. When you write lyrics there are

many nuances one needs to takecare of, but if you know how toapproach all the challenges that aregoing to come your way, you canreally excel.”

He continued, “So, here’s theopportunity that will help aspi-rants’ inner songwriters to stepinto the sunlight and show them theway forward to express their ideasand emotions.”

In this class, Anjaan will sharewhat it took for him to become asuccessful songwriter and how onecan use his methodology/process tobecome a songwriter in their ownright. Beginning from his journeyas an artist to helping them in dis-covering themselves, he will take thelearners through the completeprocess of making it as a lyricist. Thecourse will help the students becomefamiliar with the structure of lyrics,language and its process. Apartfrom this, they will be taught aboutthe types of lyrics writing, genresand how to make a mark in theindustry. On the completion of thecourse, students will receive a cer-tificate of completion.

Ace Bollywood director GopiPuthran has been vocal about

rights of women which camethrough in Yash Raj Films’Mardaani and Mardaani 2, forwhich he wrote the script too.Gopi wants society to be openabout admitting that violenceagainst women is an epidemic andhopes that people engage witheach other immediately on how totackle this menace.

Gopi says, “Violence againstwomen keeps breeding because ofa toxic, stagnant culture that refus-es to acknowledge the equal exis-tence and independent agency ofwomen in the fabric of society.And this culture has little to dowith the socio-economic strataand has to do with the patriarchalvalues which have seeped into ourday to day behaviour, cuttingacross economic and social con-

ditions.”He adds, “But cultures don’t

change overnight and they defi-nitely don’t change by shovingglaring issues under the carpet.The more we talk about the extentand impact that violence has onwomen’s lives and the permanenttrauma that it causes, the more wecan hope to bring about somebehavioural change.”

He further states, “As someone

who’s been raised and influencedby strong, independent women Ifeel deeply that one of the waysthat crime against women can becurbed is by talking about suchcrimes openly and without attach-ing ‘shame’ and ‘guilt’ to thewomen who go through it. Theyare not ‘victims’ that need rescu-ing, they are ‘humans’ who seekjustice for the wrongs they’vefaced.”

Drummond William ThomasMoney-Coutts, also lovingly knownas DMC, is one English magician

and card shark specialist you ordinarily willnot find but, at the same time, a personwhose friendliness and tricks (magictricks, duh) you’d fall for instantly.

The heir apparent to the LatymerBarony, DMC decided to take the roadleast travelled and make a name for him-self. Somebody was right, when you lovewhat you do, you’ve already won at life.

I recently had the opportunity to con-verse with one of the most eminent magi-cians in the world, where he opened upabout how magic was a choice that madeitself. Read on for excerpts from the inter-view:

You have many successfully runningshows, The Card Shark, Beyond Magicwith DMC, Death By Magic and so on.

Tell us about your journey. My journey started as a child. I was

one of the strange children who was alwaysobsessed with unusual things, magic andmysteries. When I was eight, my fathertook me to a magic show. Now, my fathercomes from a very old banking family,called Money-Coutts. It originally used tobe a part of the family, it’s is a private bankin UK. Underneath the bank was the old-est magic shop in UK. He took me thereand that’s when I learnt that magic wassomething that could be learnt and thatcould give other people that incredible feel-ing that magic has always given me. I, veryquickly, decided that that’s what I will givemy life to, and I never looked back.

You've risked your own life duringthe stunts. What is it like?

It’s a crazy thing, you know. Becausepart of it is making a show like Death ByMagic. There's never enough time. Therewere six episodes back-to-back and sixcities that we had to cover across four dif-ferent continents. So, we almost never haveenough rehearsal time or prep-time. Ofcourse, when you’re dealing with very dan-gerous stunts, things go wrong. And,unfortunately, things did go wrong. I hadto see a medical team thrice in the courseof eight stunts, so almost half the showwent badly south. It was ironical that wewere creating a show that was a eulogy tovery incredible magicians who had giventheir lives in pursuit of magic.

On those lines, how real is Death ByMagic? What type of illusions do you cre-ate around it?

I’ve always thought of myself as theforger of the impossible. So, I create whatlook like forgeries of impossible momentsand, of course, in order to do that, we, asmagicians, use very many different tech-

niques — some are more psychological,some are the tricks of hand. Many differ-ent elements are at play and, of course, weuse all manners of different techniques. Butfor me, the secret is a very small part ofthe entire experience. Many people seemto be fascinated by the secret of how it isworking. For me, it is not so much aboutthat but more is about the journey and theexperience that is created out of it.

We know a magician never revealshis tricks, but one always wonders...What are your thoughts about shows likeMagic's Greatest Secrets Revealed?

To me, it feels like one of the thingsthat when a person learns makes him dis-appointed. It is rare that a person learnsthe mystery behind a trick and they areblown away. Usually, it’s something veryclever but more often than not, something

extremely simple. I believe it is like a snake.If a magician stops running away from it,it’ll stop chasing him. If a child is holdingon to a toy fiercely, then other childrenwant it even more but as soon as the toyis left on the ground, people lose interest.

I can vouch for it, the secrets behindmagic are absolutely not the most fascinat-ing part of what we do. It’s just, magiciansmake a big fuss about guarding the secret.So, of course, in doing so, they encouragepeople to come and chase after them. So,if they gave less importance to it, our audi-ences would do the same.

You travel around the world andentrance people with magic tricks. Whatdoes magic mean to you? Is it an escapeor a world where the surreal seems real?

It’s one of those beautiful questions,what magic is, and I’ve thought about it a

lot over the years. As a child, it was verymuch an escape. It was a happy place thatI would dissolve into. I would read aboutmy heroes and great stories from the past.

Now, for me, magic is equivalentwith love on some level. What magicmeans to you or me, to a monk or let’s saya young girl, will all mean very differentthings. Everyone will have their uniqueinterpretations of magic based on theirexperiences. For everyone, their experi-ences dictate their judgment. Someonemight have seen a brilliant magicianwhen they were a kid, while others mighthave experienced a terrible magic show ata party. That will inform, of course, theirunderstanding and definition of magic.

What is it that keeps calling you backto India?

Magic can be so much richer, deeper.

We can find magic in almost anything inlife. That is one reason why I keep return-ing to India.

There's an energy here. There's a senseof magic that I get from India — and itsculture, history, people — which is veryhard to capture, define or explain in words.But I put it on a very similar level of magic.

In India, you have this beautifultapestry of magic in many forms, this canbe a mere belief in the magic, but also youhave a very long history of people perform-ing magic.

I've travelled to parts of the worldwhere magic is something darker and seenas something much more sinister and canbe associated with witchcraft and blackmagic and voodoo. People are scared of it,generally. Because there's no history of per-forming magic.

So, for me, India is very unique.There's a wide interpretation of magic here,a real appetite of magic that I can feel.

You've performed a lot of publicstunts like public treasure quests. Whatis your objective behind these?

You know, that was just an idea. I thinkwhen I started my professional career, I wasbeginning to make money and I havealways loved the thrill of treasure hunts.I put it at an equal level with the exhila-ration of magic.

I had an idea one day. I bought little

envelopes and stuck into them what mustbe lakhs of rupees. I hid them then andwalked around, watching people findthem. They'd be overjoyed and confused,both. It was very special, wasn't particu-larly magical but it made me very happyto watch.

You come from a royal background.And are an heir to Baron Latimer.When and how did you decide to driftaway from the lineage and become a self-made magician?

I don't know if that was a particularmoment. That realisation was somethingalways there. As soon as I found magic, Iknew it would be my life. I attempted moreconventional/professional careers for awhile, worked at banks, but none of thesethings touched. The strength of magic wassomething else. I couldn't bring myself tosit if I knew I could bring magic into otherpeople's lives. In many ways, it was a choicethat made itself.

I was 18 and my father and I wereclimbing a mountain in Africa, I don'tremember this but he tells me that he askedme what my plan A was. I answered,'magic'. He then asked what plan B was andI responded, 'to make plan A work.'

Magic was everything for me.

You've a tattoo on your left ear thatsays 'Hausla Pyaar Wishwas', if I'm notwrong. Could you elaborate what thatmeans to you?

Yes (smiles). When I came to India, itwas my second time, and I had commit-ted to be coming a magician. I was inRajasthan and was inside a book shop. Iwas reading books that spoke of mantrasand guiding principles in life. I decided Iwanted three foundational mantras formyself, things I would hold on to, andwrote these three phrases.

When I landed in London, I wrote tomy friend in Udaipur and asked what theseprinciples in Hindi would be captured as.He said they'd be 'hausla, pyaar, wishwas'.

It is my little piece of India. No mat-ter what happens in my life, I return tothese mantras and my guiding principles.

What do you prefer more: Live per-formances or recorded shows?

I far prefer live performances becauseit's uniquely my own work. And I love thechallenges of television, it's different,many dozens of people making dozens ofcreative choices, but not all of which you'regonna agree with.

With Netflix, we had 100s of peoplein the crew. So not everything would gomy way. It is big and cumbersome. I loveit for many reasons but it is slower.

There's immediacy with live magic, itis right there. I can do it every day.

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Last month, Zee TVreturned with its

longest-running singingreality show, Sa Re Ga MaPa 2021. With a legacy ofover 25 years, Sa Re Ga MaPa has been successful indiscovering some gems ofmusic fraternity. Theshow's contestants havemanaged to impress theaudience. However, viewersare in for a treat this week-end...

The upcoming episodeof Sa Re Ga Ma Pa will seeSalman Khan as the specialguest. During the shoot, hewill not only be seen shar-ing some memories fromhis career, but also sharescreen time with the threejudges, host and contes-tants from the show. In fact,during the shoot, Salmanshared a never heard before

anecdote about Sa Re GaMa Pa host AdityaNarayan.

Salman revealed, "I hadworked with Aditya whenhe was just three or four

years old. We shot for JabPyaar Kisise Hota Hai. Iused to wipe his nose whenhe was a kid." Narayanalso added, "I always had arunny nose, and he came to

my rescue. But look howI've grown up, but SalmanBhai is still the same young,dashing man."

While Salman Khan'srevelations will leave yousurprised, Sanjana andNeelanjana's soulful rendi-tion of songs like KaheToh Se Sajna and TereNaam Humne Kiya Haicannot be missed!

(Tune into Sa Re GaMa Pa this Saturday andSunday at 9 pm, only on

Zee TV.)

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The expanse of sand spreadendlessly, interspersed withscrub, a few high rises, and carsthat were moving at a speed

that is possible only when viewed fromthe air. But as the plane circled andswooped to land, like the desert falcon,the high-rises that Dubai is known forsuddenly came into view. The spectac-ular buildings are just one of the manythings that add up to create anunmatched aura of the foremost of theseven Emirates, which exercises anunimaginable pull over blue- andwhite-collar workers, holidaymakersand shoppers alike. Dubai is nothingshort of a man-made mirage, whereevery flight of fancy, howsoever muchbizarre, finds a ready-to-take-off run-way.

But then, all of these thoughtscrossed my mind much after I had beenthrough a gruelling 10 hours before hit-ting the tarmac in the ‘Promised Land’of shopaholics. I say, ‘gruelling’ asinternational travel post-pandemic is abeast that is unrecognisable from itspredecessor. Despite that, having beenhemmed in within the boundaries thatanswer to the political description ofIndia — for almost two years now —the break was welcome. What wasn’tmet with equal enthusiasm was themandatory arrival at the airport sixhours before the flight for a RT-PCRtest. For people like me, who even ear-lier found the long check-in hours bur-densome, this was excruciating, to saythe least. So for a seven o’clock flight, Ihad to reach no later than 1 in themorning! The sight that greeted me wasunlike any that I had seen at any airportbefore. Queues of people — who wereawaiting results — sleeping on parapets,rows of cubicles where their details werenoted and bills generated as well as testsconducted while the luggage lay in a bitof disarray while the owners ran helter-skelter.

With the tests done, the reportsfinally filtered in two hours later. Andanother queue to pick it up followed byyet one more to confirm whether thetwo reports and visas were in order.And finally, check-in! However, onething hadn’t changed at the T3 airportin Delhi. If you wanted to catch a wink,all the sleeperettes were sure to be occu-pied.

It was only when the flight landedthat we

were ushered into more cubicleswhere yet another test was conducted.But post that, it was business as usual...

...Except for the heat. It seemed tohave been channelled straight from ablast furnace... that is if you had thebravado to step outside the air condi-tioning. I quickly took shelter in the

waiting car at the airport. Makingmy way to Atlantis, The Palm — whichwas to be my abode for three days — Isped past chrome and glass buildings,cars in every imaginable colour thatcould put a woman’s wardrobe toshame, malls on roads that were sosmooth that would have you steppingon the accelerator with glee.

We were headed towards PalmIsland, the largest man-made islandwhich is referred to as the ‘eighth won-

der of the world’. The Palm’s shape wasselected to ensure all buildings on theisland would have a sea view and beachaccess. The finished island covers anarea equivalent to 600 football pitchesand is four times as big as London’sHyde Park. Today, the 17 fronds arehome to around 1,500 beachfront man-sions, with a further 6,000 apartmentson the trunk.

Soon enough, the car was runningparallel with the beach and a turn ledit to the hotel. And since Dubai does notdo anything which is less than grand,Atlantis is spread over 46 hectares or —to make a layperson understand its scale— is the size of 64 Wembley footballpitches. Atlantis was the first resort toopen its doors on The Palm. With 1,548rooms, seven signature suites and 22storeys, it has played host to citizens of227 different countries. Its signatureRoyal Bridge Suite, measuring 924 sqm costs US$27,000 per night, is anattraction — especially for Indians —as actor Shah Rukh Khan has stayedhere. Another, the Underwater Suite —at 165 sq m, has a master bedroom withdirect views of The AmbassadorLagoon aquarium, creating an illusionof being beneath the sea — is anotherpopular option. The hotel is a micro-cosm of the Emirate which does notbelieve in living life which is not kingsize.

Checking in, I couldn’t help butadmire the handblown glass installationin a myriad of colours and kept steal-ing looks as the Russian lady at the frontdesk completed the formalities. Thepriceless Dale Chihuly sculpture wascreated using 3,000 hand-blown piecesthat were individually placed to buildthe 10-metre-high entry centerpiece.Even in Dubai where everything com-petes for attention — by being evenmore mammoth than larger than lifeand opulent — this is a showstopper.

Ushered in my room, I immediate-ly raced to the balcony as views froma hotel room have often been behind

my impulsive decisions to stay or leavea place since childhood. The vista thatgreeted me, despite the heat, had metongue-tied (a rare occurrence) forsome time. From the 13th floor, theview that spread out till the horizon hadthe deep blue sea with several yachtsskimming on the surface (rememberhabibi, money CAN buy you happinessin Dubai), the Burj Khalifa shimmer-ing in the heat, a stretch of greenerybefore it was interrupted bythe new Atlantis, The Royalslated to open sometimenext year, a monorailspeeding past and alsoa teeny weeny glimpseof the famous Palmwith its fronds thathouses the whos who(including our very ShahRukh Khan who is also thebrand ambassador of Dubai).Peeking down, I saw another waterbody just below. I wondered what it wasbut couldn’t ponder over it for too longas I had to leave for lunch.

It was the descent from the lobbyto the ground level which brought usface to face with a glass wall with a myr-iad of sea animals — stingrays, sharks,eels and 65,000 others — swimming (itseemed without care) in what could beclosest to viewing them in their natur-al habitat without getting wet. I watchedon mesmerised as realisation dawnedthat this was the water body I saw fromabove. This aquarium recreates Atlantis,the fictional island mentioned in anallegory on the hubris of nations inPlato's works Timaeus and Critias.Since the hotel is named after it, it is notsurprising that floor-to-ceiling unbreak-able glass practically brings in thewater world at every turn. I would havestared on, lost in thought, had not mystomach let out a low growl complain-ing about the hours of neglect and inanticipation of the feast that I knew wasin store.

We were headed towards Gordon

Ramsay’s (yes, THE Multi-Michelinstarred British chef and star of the smallscreen known equally well for his foodand his temper) Bread Street Kitchen& Bar. This is just one of the 29 restau-rants including three outlets

by celebrity chefs, Nobu Matsuhisa,Giorgio Locatelli and

Gordon Ramsay.Done up in wood, with a profusion

of lights in different shapes and sizes,the restaurant had an eclectic

appeal that was tough tomiss despite me being

consumed by a state ofsleep deprivation.While one mightassume that it wouldbe meats that dominate

the menu, sinceRamsay has often

expressed his dislike for veg-etarianism, the vegan trend has

made inroads into his restaurant — cer-tainly as unlikely a place as can be. Andsurprisingly, it was the Rigatoni withhandpicked mushrooms — withouteven so much as a hint of animal pro-tein — that was the star of the tabledespite an array of treats that werecooked and plated to perfection. But theside-effects of stuffing oneself with adish of creamy carbohydrates soonbecame apparent. The four people at thetable begin to nod off... especiallysince the night before had been less thanrestful. However, since no meal iscomplete without a dessert, an assort-ed platter followed. The Medjool date& banana sticky toffee pudding had usnodding in approval (and digging inseveral spoonfuls immediately afterloud proclamations of being stuffed tothe gills).

An afternoon siesta was called forafter such an immensely satiating meal.Waking up refreshed, I was raring tohead out for the Fish Tales Tour at TheLost Chambers Aquarium. For a hotelin the centre of a desert, the abundanceof water, even if it is saline, is certain-

ly a feat. And if you add the upkeep of a whop-ping 65,000 marine animals of 250 species, itcertainly becomes even more mind-boggling.The Ambassador Lagoon at Atlantis is an 11million litre marine habitat and one of the top10 largest aquariums in the world. Its viewingpane is 10 meters long and 70 cm thick and ifall its water was drained it would fill 4.5Olympic-sized swimming pools!

While I, along with three others, exploredthe site on my own, it was the behind-the-scenesduring the guided tour that had us holding onto every word. A fish hospital (my, my, did youknow that existed?), a kitchen to prepare theirfood

(400 kg of the same quality as is served tothe hotel’s guests), a water filtration plant, a test-ing centre, several fish tanks where the youngare kept and more were oohed and aahed over.

We wandered around before ending witha dinner at Hakkasan. While we were still quitefull from the lunch, the hostess’ recommenda-tion of Stir-fry vegetable and pine nut lettucewrap was certainly a revelation and was quick-ly wrapped up (pun intended). However, wecould not do justice to the main course as ourstomachs collectively groaned under theonslaught of a constant barrage of delicacies.Practically collapsing into bed, we were soonoff to la-la land,

Post a delicious spread of South-EastAsian, local and international offerings at thebreakfast buffet at the Saffron, we were up forsome activities that were a little more adven-turous than eating and walking about to takein the sights. We headed towards the WhiteBeach, the seafront of the eponymously-namedrestaurant, which is exclusively used by the hotelguests. The sun beating down in all its inten-sity did not flag our spirits as we bravely ven-tured where we had never gone before — a ses-sion of paddleboarding. Donning the life jack-ets ensured that our courage was boosted man-ifold and we weren’t daunted by the open seathat stretched out till the horizon. If we werebeing marked, the first person to take off fromthe start point would have scored a perfect 10.Paddling gently on both sides, she stood up withperfect poise without losing balance and aftera carefully executed pirouette, she headed backto safe shores exultant to have done it in one

perfect sweep. I was up next and I have alwaysbeen pretty confident –— that balance issomething I always take time to achieve whileperseverance is my strong point. And yet again,my hunch was not off the mark. Within min-utes (or was it seconds?) of standing up, a loudsplash followed and I was floating on my back.While the instructor was telling me not to panic,I promptly responded

by standing up in the neck-deep (okay, okay for a 5’1” me) water and wading back to the shore to attempt it yet again. And yes, this

time I was successful.But I was not yet done with the water

(blame it on me being a water sign) and draggedout a kayak along with a companion. The 20minutes we paddled around were frequentlyinterrupted by peels of laughter as we tried tomanoeuvre the kayak without bumping intoobstacles. Deeply tanned but exuberant, wemade our way back...

Lunch was at White, the beachfront restau-rant which specialises in Mediterranean cuisine.An all-white decor, fresh ingredients and a mealthat was light were just what we needed. But itwas the dessert, with its seemingly incongru-ous nomenclature of ‘bread’ that had everyonefloored. Called the Monkey bread, with a hintof cinnamon and coffee, we eyed its large sizewhen it arrived at the table and thought wewould never finish it. We could not have erredmore. And that was just another incorrectassumption about the dish. We sliced off a smallbite and then another, and one more... till theplate was almost empty. And yes, even now, Ican almost taste its delicious gorgeousness. Sigh.

However, there was more to come. On thelast day of our stay, we were lined up for a dol-phin and sea lion tour where we learnt the intri-cacies. The Dolphin Bay, spread over 4.5hectares, is home to Indo-Pacific Bottlenose dol-phins that eat between five and seven kg of fishper day. The Sea Lion Point is the only one ofits kind in the region. Its residents are SouthAfrican Fur Seals and are cared for by experi-enced Marine Mammal Specialists.

The trainer explained that diet regulation,regular health check-ups, exercise and morewere some of the things that ensured that boththe physical and emotional well-being of thesemarine animals were well looked after. With thedolphin parks having come in for increased crit-icism from animal rights activists, we watchedthe marine animals from afar.

From there we headed straight toAquaventure, the water playground of more

than 18 million litres of water. With 79 ridesspread across three towers 26 marine and water-sport experiences, anyone who loves water parksthis is a dream destination. While I debatedwhether I should take the Leap of

Faith — a sheer drop of 98-feet mega whichplummets in a near-vertical fashion at fright-ening speed of 60 km/h in three seconds, shoot-ing you through a clear acrylic tube surround-ed by sharks and cownose rays —

I took some of the relatively tamer rides. SoI went on a safari of a different kind in SharkAttack, where the fibreglass gives a 360° viewof the shark-filled lagoon. Then, there were theRapids, a 1.6-kilometre river and theAquaconda, a 210 metres long and 25 metreshigh six-person waterslide tube.

Certainly, impossible is not a word thatexists in Dubai’s dictionary.

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Tim Southee bowled an incisivemorning spell to take five wicketswhich was then brilliantly comple-

mented by openers Will Young and TomLatham as New Zealand dominated Indiato reach 129 for no loss on the second dayof the opening Test here on Friday. Theonly highlight for India in an otherwisedisappointing day was Shreyas Iyer’s (105off 171 balls) debut hundred.

Playing his 80th Test match, Southee(5/69) took his 13th five-wicket haul onan unresponsive track to send Indiapacking for 345 after they started the dayat 258 for 4.

Young then held centre-stage in hisfourth Test appearance as he lookedcomposed and unperturbed during hisunbeaten knock of 75 off 180 balls.

Latham (50 batting off 165 balls), theseasoned campaigner, survived three on-field decisions (two leg before and onecaught behind), negated by DRS, anddecided to frustrate the two Indian spin-

ners with a gritty defensive game. TheGreen Park track became better for bat-ting on the second day and the turn thatwas on offer was minimal. The variablebounce wasn’t also there for the better partof the 57 overs that they batted.

Since it was slow turn, the Black Capsduo mostly plonked their front-foot andneutralised the turn. And when theyplayed on the back-foot, there was enoughtime to manoeuvre on both sides of thewicket. Both were able to adjust on the

back-foot against Ravindra Jadeja (14-4-28-0) and Ravichandran Ashwin (17-5-38-0), both of whom didn’t look threateningon the day. Also what made it worse forIndia was that hardly any delivery keptdangerously low, which could havebrought the leg-before into the equation.

The most disappointing of all wasAxar Patel (10-1-26-0), whose accuracy onthe leg stump line was of little or no valueand it was once again proved that with-out assistance from the track, he is not evenhalf the bowler that he is with some helpfrom surface.

Young, in particular, got as many as12 boundaries while Latham helped him-self to four hits to the fence.

While Indian spinners can comeback on the third day if the pitch consid-erably deteriorates but New Zealandwould like to take the game deep by get-ting somewhere close to India’s firstinnings total and take it from there.

In the morning, Iyer became the 16thIndian cricketer to score a hundred on Testdebut but the home side’s lower-middle

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Shreyas Iyer on Fridaybecame the 16th

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Amarnath, GundappaViswanath, and BCCI president Sourav Gangulyamong others.

The elegant right-hander,who hails from Mumbai’sWorli area, achieved the featin the ongoing first Testagainst New Zealand on thesecond day of the match at theGreen Park Stadium here.Iyer scored 105 off 171 balls,striking 13 fours and a coupleof sixes during his brillianteffort.

He was dismissed by TimSouthee. He became the sec-ond batter after Viswanath to

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score a hundred on his Testdebut at Kanpur.

The 26-year-old is also thethird Indian to score a hundred on debut against New Zealand. Arjan Kripal

Singh, who achieved the featin 1955, and SurinderAmarnath, who scored a hun-dred against the Black Caps onhis debut in 1976, are theother two Indians to have

achieved the same. Iyer is also the third

Mumbai player after RohitSharma and Prithvi Shaw to slam a hundred onTest debut.

order caved in meekly saveAshwin (38 off 56 balls), whosecounter-attacking effort tookthem close to 350. The cred-it for that went primarily toSouthee (27.4-6-69-5), whowas tirelessly bowling anextended spell of more than 10overs from one end, causingextensive damage. The sea-soned campaigner’s 13th five-wicket haul came in his 80thTest.

Resuming on hisovernight score of 75, Iyer fol-lowed the great GundappaVishwanath in reaching themilestone at this ground.

Ashwin did the bulk ofscoring in the morning sessionas India added only 87 runs,losing six wickets in the

process. Southee was on targetwith the second new ball firstup as he sent back RavindraJadeja (50) on his overnightscore.

He used the width of thecrease cleverly to trouble Jadejaand got the ball to move fromlength which was too much forthe lower-order players tonegotiate. Wriddhiman Sahaand Axar Patel nicked at thosedeliveries that moved away atdrivable lengths.Sensing thathe is now batting with the tailas Saha (1 off 12 balls) is nolonger a batter on whom onecan repose his faith, Iyer hit aflurry of boundaries but thebest shot was a cover drive offKyle Jamieson (22.2-6-85-3)which took him to 96.