:_UZR dVe e` ^R\V ^R[`c ]VRa Z_ 2^cZe `UZ Z_g ...

12
P rime Minister Narendra Modi’s Independence Day speech on Monday sought to aspire the country to make a major leap forward in the “Amrit Kaal” of the next 25 years even as he asserted that the world has realised “politi- cal stability, dynamism in poli- cies and speed in decision making” in India. In his 83-minute speech, delivered without the aid of teleprompter, the Prime Minister invoked the power of “nari shakti”, affirming that the next 25 years will belong to women, and sought to draw attention to “two big chal- lenges” of “ corruption and nepotism” and asked coun- trymen to support him in his “fight” against them. Addressing the country from the ramparts of Red fort, the Prime Minister said, “We started our journey with the mantra of Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, but gradually the coun- trymen have added more colours to it with Sabka Vishwas and Sabka Prayas. So, we have seen our collective power and collective potential.” Dressed in a traditional kurta and churidar pyjama paired with a blue jacket and a white “safa” with tricolour stripes, Modi unfurled the national flag amid a 21-gun salute by the indigenously- developed howitzer gun, ATAGS, which he noted with pride was the first from Red Fort in 75 years. Modi also recalled that in 2014 he was the “first Indian born in free India”, who got the privilege to “sing praises of glory to my dear countrymen from the ramparts of the his- torical Red Fort”. The Prime Minister said India has gained enormous confidence in the comity of nations with its 75 years of journey and is ready to make major leap forward in the “Amrit Kaal” of next 25 years. “One hundred and thirty crore countrymen after sever- al decades of experience have shown the world the impor- tance of a stable Government, the power of political stability, policies and how trust develops in the policies. The world too is now able to understand it. And now when there is politi- cal stability, dynamism in poli- cies, speed in decision making, ubiquity and universal trust, then everyone becomes a part- ner in development”, he said. “The nation should now only be setting big goals. That big goal is a developed India and nothing less,” Modi declared in his ninth consecu- tive address from the historic Fort as he also spoke about challenges of dynastic politics. India has entered a decisive era in its battle against corruption, which, he said, is eating the country like termites. “Corruption hollowing the country like a termite, we’ve to fight it. We’ve to raise aware- ness against ‘Parivaarwaad’ to realise the strength of our insti- tutions, to take the country for- ward on the basis of merit,” he said. Making it clear that the battle against twin evils is needed to move forward deci- sively, Modi said, “Those who looted India in the past Governments are paying for their sins now. We are confis- cating their ill-gotten gains. I need your support in this fight against corruption. We need to take on both corruption and the corrupt. Several institutions in India have been shackled by nepotism. It is not limited to just politics. This promotes corruption. We need to free the country from this nepotism as this is impeding the growth of the nation.” Continued on Page 2 A head of the scheduled docking of a Chinese spy ship at Hambantota port on Sri Lanka’s southern coast, India on Monday handed over a Dornier maritime surveillance aircraft to the Sri Lankan Navy in the presence of Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe. India is deeply concerned over a Chinese spy ship sched- uled to dock at the Lankan port for seven days from Tuesday. The Chinese ship is equipped with surveillance and recon- naissance systems and can track Indian defence installa- tions. Addressing the ceremony in Colombo, Indian High Commissioner Gopal Baglay said security of India and Sri Lanka is enhanced by mutual understanding, trust and coop- eration. Vice Chief of Indian Navy Vice Admiral SN Ghormade, who is on a two-day visit to the country, accompanied by the Indian High Commissioner, handed over the maritime sur- veillance aircraft to the Sri Lankan Navy at its airbase in Katunayake adjoining the Colombo international airport. “Security of #India and #Srilanka is enhanced by mutu- al understanding, mutual trust and cooperation. Gifting of Dornier 228 is #India’s latest contribution to this cause,” Baglay said. “Like fruits of other areas of cooperation with India, the gift of Dornier to @airforcelk is of relevance to and a step to meet its requirements for mar- itime safety and security. It is an example of India’s strength adding to the strength of its friends,” he said. The aircraft was provided to Sri Lanka from the invento- ry of the Indian Navy to help the country meet its immedi- ate security requirement. The Indian Navy has already provided extensive training to a team from Sri Lanka’s Navy and the Air Force to operate the maritime surveil- lance aircraft. Sri Lanka in 2018 had requested for two Dornier Reconnaissance Aircraft from India to enhance the maritime surveillance capabilities of the island nation. India will give two Dornier aircraft now being manufactured by the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). Once these two-HAL manufactured air- craft are handed over, the Dornier aircraft will return to the Indian Navy. Sri Lanka granted the per- mission two days back to Chinese ship “Yuan Wang 5” to dock at the Hambantota port on Tuesday. Sri Lanka has leased the deep water port, 250 kms from Colombo, to China on a 99 year lease. Continued on Page 2 T he Congress on Monday vowed to fight attempts to “distort’’ historical facts for political gains with party pres- ident Sonia Gandhi alleging that a “self-obsessed” Government is hell-bent on “trivialising” the sacrifices of freedom fighters. Sonia’s attack came a day after the BJP released a video narrating its version of events that led to India’s partition in 1947. The video was an indict- ment of the top Congress lead- ership at the time and showed pictures of Jawaharlal Nehru and Muhammad Ali Jinnah. The Congress also took a strong exception to the exclu- sion of India’s first Prime Minister Nehru in the Karnataka Government’s news- paper advertisement on free- dom fighters and termed the BJP action “pathetic”. The party hit out at the Prime Minister following his Independence Day address, saying he has let the country down by not discussing the promises made by him in the last eight years and by not giv- ing an account of his tenure. “Friends, we have achieved a great deal in the last 75 years, but today’s self-obsessed Government is bent on trivial- ising the great sacrifices of our freedom fighters and the glo- rious achievements of the country, which can never be accepted,” Sonia said in her message on India’s 76th Independence Day. “Congress will strongly oppose any misrepresentation of historical facts and every attempt to put great leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Abul Kalam Azad in the dock based on falsehood for “political gains”, she said. She said that in the last 75 years, India has left an indeli- ble mark on the international arena in all fields including sci- ence, education, health and information technology through the hard work of its talented people. Continued on Page 2 P rohibitory orders were clamped in Shivamogga city on Monday after two groups entered into a heated argument over the installation of a ban- ner with a picture of Hindutva icon VD Savarkar on the occa- sion of Independence Day, police said. Tense moments prevailed at Amir Ahmad Circle here, when one of the groups want- ed to tie a picture of Savarkar on a high mast light pole while the other planned to install a picture of 18th century Mysuru ruler Tipu Sultan. Meanwhile, a person named Prem Singh in his mid twenties was allegedly stabbed by unidentified miscreants here when he was on his way home after locking the shop, and probe was on to ascertain whether the incident has any links with the aforesaid incident, police sources said. He is currently undergoing treatment at McGann Hospital. Earlier, as part of the 76th Independence Day celebra- tions, one group had tried to tie Savarkar’s picture on the high mast light pole at the location, which was objected to by the other that wanted to install a picture of Tipu Sultan. Allegedly there was an attempt by some to replace or damage the picture, police sources said, adding this led to a tense situation with a large number of people from both sides gathering there. Police resorted to a mild lathicharge to bring the situa- tion under control and to dis- perse the crowd. BJP and Hindu groups staged a protest demanding that they be allowed to install Savarkar’s picture and wanted action against the other group for insulting their icon. Authorities deployed addi- tional forces in the area and clamped prohibitory orders under Section 144 of Criminal Procedure Code in the entire city. Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said police have taken all measures to maintain peace. “The incident should not have happened. I have ordered for strict action against miscreants and those trying to disturb peace,” he told reporters in Bengaluru. I n a fresh death threat received by billionaire indus- trialist Mukesh Ambani and his family, the Mumbai Police on Monday arrested a 56-year-old man — identified as one Vishnu Bhowmik — for allegedly making as many as eight calls to Sir HN Reliance Foundation Hospital to hand out deaths threats to Ambani and his family members. The hospital, managed by the Ambani family, received “eight to nine” threat calls — one after another — between 10.45 am and 12 noon, soon after the flag-hoisting ceremo- ny got over at the hospital. Confirming the develop- ment, hospital’s CEO Dr Tarang Gianchandani said, “As soon as the flag hoisting ceremony was over we received, 8 to 9 calls between 10.45 am and 12 noon, one after the other, from some unidentified person giving out death threats to our chairman Mukesh. We have lodged an FIR with the police. The police have initiated investigations. We have also beefed up our internal security.” Before long, the police traced the calls to one Vishnu Bhowmik, who is understood to have admitted to having made threat calls to Sir HN Reliance Foundation Hospital. Bhowmik was detained from Dahisar, a northern suburb of Mumbai. Continued on Page 2 A Rajasthan Congress MLA on Monday sent his resig- nation to Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, saying he did not have the right to stay as an MLA if he cannot protect the rights of his community. The develop- ment came two days after the death of a Dalit boy who was allegedly beaten by a school- teacher in Jalore for touching a drinking water pot. “When we fail to protect the rights of our communi- ty…we have no right to remain on the post. After listening to my inner voice, I resign from the post of the MLA so that I can serve the community with- out any position,” Pana Chand Meghwal, the MLA from Baran-Atru constituency, said. Meghwal said though the country is celebrating 76th Independence day, atrocities on Dalits and the other deprived classes continue. “I am hurt looking at the atrocities. I can- not express my pain in words, the way my community is being tortured,” he said. “Dalits are being killed for drinking water from a pot, sporting a moustache or riding a mare during a wedding. “The judicial process is stalled and case files are passed from one table to the other. Cases of atrocities against Dalits are on the rise in the last few years. It seems there is no one to protect the rights of Dalits... Many times, I have raised such cases in the Assembly but no action was taken by the police,” Meghwal rued. D elhi Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena on Monday dedicated to the peo- ple 16 parks bearing the names of several unsung heroes of the freedom struggle on the 76th Independence Day. At an Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav event, Saxena unveiled a plaque of ‘Lala Hardayal Park’ at Jasola and dedicated to the people the remaining parks located across the city. ‘Lala Hardayal Park’ was earlier known as “District Park, Jasola”, they said. DDA had sent a list of 16 parks to the Delhi Government a few months ago for renaming them after freedom fighters like Lala Hardayal, Colonel Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon, General Shah Nawaz Khan, Gobind Behari Lal, Colonel Prem Sahgal and Basanta Kumar Biswas among others. District Park, R-Block, Greater Kailash-I, has been renamed as “Asaf Ali Park”; District Park, Sector-B, Vasant Kunj, as “Avadh Behari Park”; Park at Sector-C, Vasant Kunj as “Master Amir Chand Park”; District Park, Lok Vihar, Pitampura, as “Colonel Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon Park”; District Park, Sandesh Vihar, Pitampura as “General Shah Nawaz Khan Park”; District Park, Vikas Puri, as “Gobind Behari Lal Park”; District Park, Janakpuri, as “Satya Vati Park”. Park and Nursery, Sector 11, Rohini, as “Colonel Prem Sahgal Park”; District Park, Part-1, Sector-29, Rohini, as “Basanta Kumar Biswas Park”, Green area, Sector-29, Rohini, as Bhai Balmukund Park”; District Park, Mayapuri, Phase II, as “Dr Shushila Nayyar Park”; Green area, Sector 28, Part I, Rohini, as “Hakim Ajmal Khan Park”; Park and Play Area, Sector B-4 Narela, as “Brij Krishna Chandiwala Bagh”; District Park, Sector-11, Dwarka, as “Swami Shraddhanand Park”; and Park no 27, Sector 11, Dwarka, as “Deenbandhu CF Andrews Park”. Saxena hoisted the nation- al flag at Raj Niwas on Monday, paying homage to the martyrs and freedom fighters on the 76th Independence Day. The LG felicitated freedom fighter Gobind Vashistha Narayan Pandey, a resident of Burari, who served in Azad Hind Fauj founded by Subhash Chandra Bose.

Transcript of :_UZR dVe e` ^R\V ^R[`c ]VRa Z_ 2^cZe `UZ Z_g ...

Page 1: :_UZR dVe e` ^R\V ^R[`c ]VRa Z_ 2^cZe `UZ Z_g ...

������������������������������

Prime Minister NarendraModi’s Independence Day

speech on Monday sought toaspire the country to make amajor leap forward in the“Amrit Kaal” of the next 25years even as he asserted thatthe world has realised “politi-cal stability, dynamism in poli-cies and speed in decisionmaking” in India.

In his 83-minute speech,delivered without the aid ofteleprompter, the PrimeMinister invoked the power of“nari shakti”, affirming thatthe next 25 years will belong towomen, and sought to drawattention to “two big chal-lenges” of “ corruption andnepotism” and asked coun-trymen to support him in his“fight” against them.

Addressing the countryfrom the ramparts of Red fort,the Prime Minister said, “Westarted our journey with themantra of Sabka Saath, SabkaVikas, but gradually the coun-trymen have added morecolours to it with SabkaVishwas and Sabka Prayas. So,we have seen our collectivepower and collective potential.”

Dressed in a traditionalkurta and churidar pyjamapaired with a blue jacket and awhite “safa” with tricolourstripes, Modi unfurled thenational flag amid a 21-gunsalute by the indigenously-developed howitzer gun,ATAGS, which he noted withpride was the first from RedFort in 75 years.

Modi also recalled that in2014 he was the “first Indianborn in free India”, who got theprivilege to “sing praises ofglory to my dear countrymenfrom the ramparts of the his-torical Red Fort”.

The Prime Minister saidIndia has gained enormousconfidence in the comity ofnations with its 75 years of

journey and is ready to makemajor leap forward in the“Amrit Kaal” of next 25 years.

“One hundred and thirtycrore countrymen after sever-al decades of experience haveshown the world the impor-tance of a stable Government,the power of political stability,policies and how trust developsin the policies. The world toois now able to understand it.And now when there is politi-cal stability, dynamism in poli-cies, speed in decision making,ubiquity and universal trust,then everyone becomes a part-ner in development”, he said.

“The nation should nowonly be setting big goals. Thatbig goal is a developed Indiaand nothing less,” Modideclared in his ninth consecu-tive address from the historicFort as he also spoke aboutchallenges of dynastic politics.India has entered a decisive erain its battle against corruption,which, he said, is eating the

country like termites.“Corruption hollowing thecountry like a termite, we’ve tofight it. We’ve to raise aware-ness against ‘Parivaarwaad’ torealise the strength of our insti-tutions, to take the country for-ward on the basis of merit,” hesaid.

Making it clear that thebattle against twin evils isneeded to move forward deci-sively, Modi said, “Those wholooted India in the pastGovernments are paying fortheir sins now. We are confis-cating their ill-gotten gains. Ineed your support in this fightagainst corruption. We need totake on both corruption andthe corrupt. Several institutionsin India have been shackled bynepotism. It is not limited tojust politics. This promotescorruption. We need to free thecountry from this nepotism asthis is impeding the growth ofthe nation.”

Continued on Page 2

������������ ��������������������������������������� ���������� �

�������������� ���� ������ ���������� ������������� �������������������������� ��� �������������������������������� �� ���

����������������� ��������� ������������ ��

Ahead of the scheduleddocking of a Chinese spy

ship at Hambantota port on SriLanka’s southern coast, Indiaon Monday handed over aDornier maritime surveillanceaircraft to the Sri Lankan Navyin the presence of LankanPresident RanilWickremesinghe.

India is deeply concernedover a Chinese spy ship sched-uled to dock at the Lankan portfor seven days from Tuesday.The Chinese ship is equippedwith surveillance and recon-naissance systems and cantrack Indian defence installa-tions.

Addressing the ceremonyin Colombo, Indian HighCommissioner Gopal Baglaysaid security of India and SriLanka is enhanced by mutualunderstanding, trust and coop-eration.

Vice Chief of Indian NavyVice Admiral SN Ghormade,who is on a two-day visit to thecountry, accompanied by theIndian High Commissioner,handed over the maritime sur-veillance aircraft to the SriLankan Navy at its airbase inKatunayake adjoining theColombo international airport.

“Security of #India and#Srilanka is enhanced by mutu-al understanding, mutual trustand cooperation. Gifting ofDornier 228 is #India’s latest

contribution to this cause,”Baglay said.

“Like fruits of other areasof cooperation with India, thegift of Dornier to @airforcelkis of relevance to and a step tomeet its requirements for mar-itime safety and security. It is anexample of India’s strengthadding to the strength of itsfriends,” he said.

The aircraft was providedto Sri Lanka from the invento-ry of the Indian Navy to helpthe country meet its immedi-ate security requirement. TheIndian Navy has already provided extensive training to a team from Sri Lanka’s Navy and the Air Force tooperate the maritime surveil-lance aircraft.

Sri Lanka in 2018 hadrequested for two DornierReconnaissance Aircraft fromIndia to enhance the maritimesurveillance capabilities of theisland nation. India will givetwo Dornier aircraft now beingmanufactured by theHindustan AeronauticsLimited (HAL). Once thesetwo-HAL manufactured air-craft are handed over, theDornier aircraft will return tothe Indian Navy.

Sri Lanka granted the per-mission two days back toChinese ship “Yuan Wang 5” todock at the Hambantota porton Tuesday. Sri Lanka hasleased the deep water port, 250kms from Colombo, to Chinaon a 99 year lease.

Continued on Page 2����������������� ���������

The Congress on Mondayvowed to fight attempts to

“distort’’ historical facts forpolitical gains with party pres-ident Sonia Gandhi allegingthat a “self-obsessed”Government is hell-bent on“trivialising” the sacrifices offreedom fighters.

Sonia’s attack came a dayafter the BJP released a videonarrating its version of eventsthat led to India’s partition in1947. The video was an indict-ment of the top Congress lead-ership at the time and showedpictures of Jawaharlal Nehruand Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

The Congress also took a

strong exception to the exclu-sion of India’s first PrimeMinister Nehru in theKarnataka Government’s news-paper advertisement on free-dom fighters and termed theBJP action “pathetic”.

The party hit out at thePrime Minister following hisIndependence Day address,saying he has let the countrydown by not discussing thepromises made by him in thelast eight years and by not giv-ing an account of his tenure.

“Friends, we have achieveda great deal in the last 75years, but today’s self-obsessedGovernment is bent on trivial-ising the great sacrifices of ourfreedom fighters and the glo-rious achievements of the

country, which can never beaccepted,” Sonia said in hermessage on India’s 76thIndependence Day.

“Congress will stronglyoppose any misrepresentationof historical facts and everyattempt to put great leaders likeMahatma Gandhi, JawaharlalNehru, Sardar VallabhbhaiPatel and Abul Kalam Azad inthe dock based on falsehoodfor “political gains”, she said.

She said that in the last 75years, India has left an indeli-ble mark on the internationalarena in all fields including sci-ence, education, health andinformation technologythrough the hard work of itstalented people.

Continued on Page 2

����������� ���� ������������������ �������� ��������� �����

����� ���� ����

Prohibitory orders wereclamped in Shivamogga city

on Monday after two groupsentered into a heated argumentover the installation of a ban-ner with a picture of Hindutvaicon VD Savarkar on the occa-sion of Independence Day,police said.

Tense moments prevailedat Amir Ahmad Circle here,when one of the groups want-ed to tie a picture of Savarkaron a high mast light pole whilethe other planned to install apicture of 18th century Mysururuler Tipu Sultan.

Meanwhile, a personnamed Prem Singh in his midtwenties was allegedly stabbedby unidentified miscreants herewhen he was on his way home

after locking the shop, andprobe was on to ascertainwhether the incident has anylinks with the aforesaid incident, police sources said.He is currently undergoingtreatment at McGann Hospital.

Earlier, as part of the 76thIndependence Day celebra-tions, one group had tried to tieSavarkar’s picture on the highmast light pole at the location,which was objected to by theother that wanted to install apicture of Tipu Sultan.

Allegedly there was anattempt by some to replace ordamage the picture, policesources said, adding this led toa tense situation with a largenumber of people from bothsides gathering there.

Police resorted to a mild

lathicharge to bring the situa-tion under control and to dis-perse the crowd.

BJP and Hindu groupsstaged a protest demandingthat they be allowed to installSavarkar’s picture and wantedaction against the other groupfor insulting their icon.

Authorities deployed addi-tional forces in the area andclamped prohibitory ordersunder Section 144 of CriminalProcedure Code in the entirecity.

Karnataka Chief MinisterBasavaraj Bommai said policehave taken all measures tomaintain peace. “The incidentshould not have happened. Ihave ordered for strict actionagainst miscreants and thosetrying to disturb peace,” he toldreporters in Bengaluru.

���� ���� �� ���������� ��������� ��������� �� ! ���� ��"

��� ������ ! ������ ���� ��� �� ��"�����#�� ����!��������

$��������%%&�� �������� �����$���� ���"����� �����'������(��� ! �� '��"�������� � )����������)���� �����������#����"������� ������� ���

��������������������������� �� ��� �� �������� ����� ����)���"�������������)���'����� ��������������*��)�' ����+��( ' �! �� ������,&������)�����)�)��)�������)�()�� � ��$����$�� ��#���������(��' ���� ������ �� ���

������������������������� !""��#���$�%����&�!���!'��(

���������������� ) ��

In a fresh death threatreceived by billionaire indus-

trialist Mukesh Ambani and hisfamily, the Mumbai Police onMonday arrested a 56-year-oldman — identified as oneVishnu Bhowmik — forallegedly making as many aseight calls to Sir HN RelianceFoundation Hospital to handout deaths threats to Ambaniand his family members.

The hospital, managed bythe Ambani family, received“eight to nine” threat calls —one after another — between10.45 am and 12 noon, soonafter the flag-hoisting ceremo-ny got over at the hospital.

Confirming the develop-ment, hospital’s CEO DrTarang Gianchandani said,“As soon as the flag hoistingceremony was over wereceived, 8 to 9 calls between10.45 am and 12 noon, one

after the other, from someunidentified person giving outdeath threats to our chairmanMukesh. We have lodged anFIR with the police. The policehave initiated investigations.We have also beefed up ourinternal security.”

Before long, the policetraced the calls to one VishnuBhowmik, who is understoodto have admitted to havingmade threat calls to Sir HNReliance Foundation Hospital.Bhowmik was detained fromDahisar, a northern suburb ofMumbai.

Continued on Page 2

#�� ������� ��� �� ���������� ������ �� $����

�������������������*�()+��������

ARajasthan Congress MLAon Monday sent his resig-

nation to Chief Minister AshokGehlot, saying he did not havethe right to stay as an MLA ifhe cannot protect the rights ofhis community. The develop-ment came two days after thedeath of a Dalit boy who wasallegedly beaten by a school-teacher in Jalore for touching adrinking water pot.

“When we fail to protectthe rights of our communi-ty…we have no right to remainon the post. After listening tomy inner voice, I resign fromthe post of the MLA so that Ican serve the community with-out any position,” Pana ChandMeghwal, the MLA fromBaran-Atru constituency, said.

Meghwal said though thecountry is celebrating 76thIndependence day, atrocities onDalits and the other deprivedclasses continue. “I am hurtlooking at the atrocities. I can-not express my pain in words,the way my community isbeing tortured,” he said.

“Dalits are being killed fordrinking water from a pot,sporting a moustache or ridinga mare during a wedding.

“The judicial process isstalled and case files are passedfrom one table to the other.Cases of atrocities againstDalits are on the rise in the lastfew years. It seems there is noone to protect the rights ofDalits... Many times, I haveraised such cases in theAssembly but no action wastaken by the police,” Meghwalrued.

���������� �������� ����������� ����� �������

����������������������������������������� �%����� ��,-� �&����&�����&!'���"�$�!������!���&��%%���!��%�""'����� �)�����.�������'��%�*!����!�&/!� ����&����#�� ��&!'�����������"!��� �&�����$!�0���$!�0�#���!&��!��!�0��������!#!��!�&�� �������!"/!� ����&���������%���&#!���"!������ ���1����#����� �� ������"������������"�!�&�������1�"�!������1�&���2��������� ��&!'3�!�"����!������!$"��� �� !&�#����2���������!����&!'����������������$�&���� ��&!'3�

������������������������������ ���. �����4���$����!$��������� !�����������#�� ��% ������������� �/��!��!�&� ��&����'�.�2!� ���(�!�!&�5!&!1���""�$���6�!�&�&����.���&!'� ���!$����78����$������""�$���&����&�%����&�%%�������������������%�� �9 ! !#!� $!�& !�:3

�������

,��� �!��������� ���� �����))���������������������� ��������

Delhi Lieutenant GovernorVinai Kumar Saxena on

Monday dedicated to the peo-ple 16 parks bearing the namesof several unsung heroes of thefreedom struggle on the 76thIndependence Day.

At an Azadi ka AmritMahotsav event, Saxenaunveiled a plaque of ‘LalaHardayal Park’ at Jasola anddedicated to the people theremaining parks located across

the city. ‘Lala Hardayal Park’was earlier known as “DistrictPark, Jasola”, they said.

DDA had sent a list of 16parks to the Delhi Governmenta few months ago for renamingthem after freedom fighters likeLala Hardayal, ColonelGurbaksh Singh Dhillon,General Shah Nawaz Khan,Gobind Behari Lal, ColonelPrem Sahgal and BasantaKumar Biswas among others.

District Park, R-Block,Greater Kailash-I, has been

renamed as “Asaf Ali Park”;District Park, Sector-B, VasantKunj, as “Avadh Behari Park”;Park at Sector-C, Vasant Kunjas “Master Amir Chand Park”;District Park, Lok Vihar,Pitampura, as “ColonelGurbaksh Singh Dhillon Park”;District Park, Sandesh Vihar,Pitampura as “General ShahNawaz Khan Park”; DistrictPark, Vikas Puri, as “GobindBehari Lal Park”; District Park,Janakpuri, as “Satya Vati Park”.Park and Nursery, Sector 11,

Rohini, as “Colonel PremSahgal Park”; District Park,Part-1, Sector-29, Rohini, as“Basanta Kumar Biswas Park”,Green area, Sector-29, Rohini,as Bhai Balmukund Park”;District Park, Mayapuri, PhaseII, as “Dr Shushila NayyarPark”; Green area, Sector 28,Part I, Rohini, as “Hakim AjmalKhan Park”; Park and PlayArea, Sector B-4 Narela, as “BrijKrishna Chandiwala Bagh”;District Park, Sector-11,Dwarka, as “Swami

Shraddhanand Park”; and Parkno 27, Sector 11, Dwarka, as“Deenbandhu CF AndrewsPark”.

Saxena hoisted the nation-al flag at Raj Niwas on Monday,paying homage to the martyrsand freedom fighters on the76th Independence Day. TheLG felicitated freedom fighterGobind Vashistha NarayanPandey, a resident of Burari,who served in Azad Hind Faujfounded by Subhash ChandraBose.

;. ��!�"'(������ %!��$��03���&!�"'�������������������� ����!#�!�3���&!�"'�������

�!������' �!"#$% �&&�' <<-=�������� !�#���6��!��%����"��!$"�

(�$"�� �&�>������������)�/��� ���(������)�������+

+�����+�()+ �������+�����+��)� �5��+������*�5����

�&��(")&*'+�,-./������������ ��������������� ���������� �������������������� !���"#$���

��������0��������������,.0�%1%%2������,%��$

���� �!"��)�.+5������( :�������.�

�/��������������(�����.��

��#������$

���?��� ����>>��.��>�5�������)+�@

������������� ���

��������� ������� ������������������� ����

%�&'(�)�����A�����.��+� ������

�.�+5��+�����+�)���.����

Page 2: :_UZR dVe e` ^R\V ^R[`c ]VRa Z_ 2^cZe `UZ Z_g ...

������������������� �������� � !�"#"" ���������

���������� �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� ������������������������������������� ��������������������������������������� ��������������� �� ���������������������������������������������������������� ������������ ����� ��������������� ��������������������������������������������������� ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� �������� �!����������������"���������� ���������������������������� �������������������� ���� ��������������������������������� �����������������������������#��������������������������� ���� ����$����%����&�������������������������� ��������������� �����������������������'����������������������������������� ���������������"��������������������(�����������������������������

����������� ������ ������������������ ���������������������������������� �� ��!�� �����"��#����$���!%����&''((()� �����*(''&+(''(+,,�������������-�����*.&/'�"��������-0%1� ��������$�&)('/('�2��������*(')(&+3453((6+3455((����������7$����8�������%&)'(�)''"�����&�/�����92���:�;<�����=�;�����*�=��2������10>"2>�?1> ;��� )�((;��*������������*���@���*��� �61���� �"����*��$����6�������������*��A��������8��!-�����*+��.�����"��"������$�������.�B �>������8��!&))�('��C���������*(,))&)/+�++/�)/+�+++�)/+�++,�

3�����4��������� *� )

After the 76th Independenceday celebrations passed off

peacefully in the UnionTerritory of Jammu andKashmir during the day ter-rorists launched two back toback grenade attacks inSrinagar and the centralKashmir district of Budgamlate in the evening in which onepolice personnel and one civil-ian received injuries onMonday.

Lieutenant Governor,Manoj Sinha hoisted theTricolour at Sher-e-KashmirCricket Stadium,Srinagar whileAdvisor Rajeev Rai Bhatnagarhoisted the tricolour at themain function held at M AStadium in Jammu.

According to a policespokesman, "Terrorists hurleda grenade at Police ControlRoom Kashmir, resulting inminor injuries to one policepersonnel. In the second inci-dent of grenade lobbing, " ter-rorists hurled grenade inGopalpora Chadoora area ofBudgam in which one civiliannamely Karan Kumar Singh gotinjured. He has been shifted toSrinagar hospital for treatmentwhere his condition is stated tobe stable. Area cordoned off.Further details shall follow".

Meanwhile, a police con-stable, who was injured duringa counter-terrorism operationin Srinagar on Sunday, suc-cumbed to his injuries onMonday. According to police,a “chance encounter” brokeout in Nowhatta area with ter-rorists Sunday late evening forwhich CRPF and police wereon the job. Constable SarfarazAhmad, a resident of Batotearea of Ramban district, got

injured during the operationbut succumbed to his injurieslater in the hospital. "We payrich tributes to the martyr forhis supreme sacrifice made inthe line of duty,” Kashmir ZonePolice tweeted.

Addressing the gatheringafter inspecting an impressiveparade, LG Manoj Sinha said,"A befitting reply is being givento those who are trying to mis-lead our youth with a nefariousproxy war. A final blow isbeing dealt to the terror ecosys-tem operating at the behest ofthe neighboring country".

"We will push the last nailin the coffin of terrorism.Strikes, stone pelting andprotests have become things ofthe past". "I appeal to the 1crore 30 lakh citizens of Jammuand Kashmir to speak with one

voice against terrorism andatrocities on the innocent".

Sounding a note of cautionSinha said, "India, the motherof democracy, wants peace andwelfare of the entire humanity,but we are also ready to defendour freedom, sovereignty andintegrity with full zeal".

On the auspicious occa-sion, LG Manoj Sinha alsothanked Prime MinisterNarendra Modi for his leader-ship in taking the country,and Jammu and Kashmir, for-ward on the path of develop-ment.

Referring to the abrogationof Article 370 in J&K, L-GSinha said that PM Modi hadlit a lamp of modern econom-ic and social development threeyears ago and added that theJ&K administration has

achieved notable accomplish-ments in the past years.“Despite various challenges,we have completed 50,726 pro-jects in the last financial yearwith a five times speed,” L-GSinha informed.

Calling it a “new dawn ofhopes and dreams”, the J&KLieutenant Governor assertedthat the UT is scripting histo-ry and is recording unprece-dented performance in everysector.

Making an importantannouncement on the occasionLG Manoj Sinha said, "Wehave decided that a GauravStambh shall be established inSrinagar in memory of thebrave soldiers who have sacri-ficed their lives defending ourbeloved motherland. Listingout welfare measures for the

next of kin of bravehearts, LGManoj Sinha said theGovernment has increased thecompensation amount for thefamilies of army personnel ofJammu and Kashmir martyredin the line of duty from Rs. 5lakh to Rs. 25 lakh. The admin-istration has decided to bearthe cost of Jammu and KashmirPolice’s martyr wards up toclass 12th. Agniveers after mil-itary service shall get 10 percentreservation in the recruitmentsto be conducted by the Jammuand Kashmir Police. On theoccasion of Independence Day,I also announce the reorgani-zation of Village DefenceCommittees.

LG Manoj Sinha said, "Iwant to call upon the people ofJammu and Kashmir that thisis a golden opportunity torestore the pride and excellenceof Jammu and Kashmir.

Let us build a self-reliantJammu and Kashmir for thecoming generations and realizethe dreams of our ancestors"Let us walk into the brightfuture of Jammu and Kashmir,he concluded.

*�������������+�, -�-+�, �.������, ���/���-(���,�+����������01�%�� #���& ��������� �������!��� ��������

�������� '�������������)������"� ������������������������ ��� ��-� � �-� �� ��#���!���(�� � ������� �� ���

����������������������������

The Government onMonday appointed 37

judges to various High Courts.As many as 11 Judges wereappointed in the Punjab andHaryana High Court.

“With the notification ofthe appointments of another 11High Court Judges in thePunjab & Haryana High Courtby the government this year i.e.2022, so far 138 appointmentsin various High Courts of thecountry has been made thussurpassing its earlier record of126 High Court appointmentsin 2016,” said Ministry of Lawand Justice in statement.

“ Last year i.e. 2021, theappointment tally in HighCourts was 120 in addition to9 appointments in the SupremeCourt. Thus, the entireappointment process in high-er judiciary has been put on afast track,” the statement added.

The 11 Judges appointed atPunjab and Haryana HighCourt are : Nidhi Gupta, SanjayVashisth, Tribhuvan Dahiya,Namit Kumar, HarkeshManuja, Aman Chaudhary,Naresh Singh, Harsh Bunger,Jagmohan Bansal, DeepakManchanda and Alok Jain. Allare advocates and appointed asAdditional Judges for a periodof two years.

2�����������34���.�����56��!!����#����+�15�������56�����

From Page 1Modi also rebutted the

Opposition’s charge that hisGovernment was using feder-al agencies like theEnforcement Directorate totarget its leaders over allegedcorruption while slamming“parivarvad and bhai-bhati-javad” (dynasty and nepotism).

“People saw that that somepersons do not have enoughspace to hide their illicit moneywhile many in the country donot have enough space to live,he said in an obvious pointer tothe recovery of the hugeamount of allegedly unac-counted cash and other assetsduring raids at the premises ofsome leaders of Oppositionparties,” he said.

Modi took on the efforts to“glorify” them, an apparentreference to the Oppositionparties defending thoseaccused of corruption.

“This mindset is not goingto end unless there is a feelingof “nafrat” (hatred) for cor-ruption and the corrupt andpeople are forced to look downupon them socially.”

Along with corruption,Prime Minister simultaneous-ly also strongly attacked dynas-tic politics. “In politics too, thedynasty has done the mostinjustice to the country’sstrength. Dynastic politics isaimed at a family’s welfare andhas no interest in the country’swelfare,” he said, asking peopleto join him in purifying Indianpolitics and institutions to ridthe country of this to take thecountry forward.

Otherwise, everybody feelsfrustrated because they believethey did not get their duebecause they had no relatives topromote them, he added. Thismindset is not good for anycountry, he said.

The Prime Minister saidunder his Government, he said,

over Rs two lakh crore whichwould have gone in wronghands earlier has now beeninvested in the the country’sdevelopment using direct ben-efits transfer.

“We are trying to bringback those who ran away afterlooting banks in the previousgovernments. We have seizedtheir assets. Many people havebeen forced to live in jails. Oureffort is that those who havelooted the country pay backand we are creating condi-tions for it.”

“Even the big people willnot be able to escape,” he said.

Modi said it was a historicday for India and the comple-tion of 75 years ofIndependence was a time tomove forward with a newresolve and also spoke strong-ly for cooperative federalism,celebrating the country’s diver-sity, unity among citizens, gen-der equality, and research andinnovation.

The Prime Minister cau-tioned the countrymen againstcomplacency over the country’sachievements in the last 75years, and said it has to nowfocus its strength on fulfillingthe “Panch Pran” in the next 25years in the run up to the cen-tenary of its independence.

He spelt out the fivepledges as a resolve for a devel-oped India; removing any traceof the colonial mindset; takingpride in our legacy; ourstrength of unity; and fulfillingthe duties of citizens, whichinclude Prime Minister andChief Ministers as well.

“We have to move for-ward with these five resolves inmind and take up the respon-sibility to fulfil the dreams ofour freedom fighters in thenext 25 years when we attain100 years of independence,”Modi said.

In his address, the Prime

Minister specifically soughtcountrymen to correct theirconduct towards women andtake a pledge to change it forthe better to not to lower theirdignity. Modi said respect forwomen is an important pillarfor India’s growth and stressedthe need to extend support to“Nari Shakti”.

“A distortion has crept inour conduct and we at timesinsult women,” he said, andasked, “Can we take a pledge toget rid of this from our behav-iour and values?”

It is important that inspeech and conduct “we donothing that lowers the digni-ty of women”, he said.

Speaking on the signifi-cance of a united nation, Modisaid India has much to teachthe world on the concept ofunity which begins with thefamily structure.

Gender equality is thekey to a united India, he said,adding that without equalimportance to sons and daugh-ters in family structures, theidea of unity will be lost.

“We should celebrate thediversity of India....At hometoo, the roots of unity aresowed when both the son andthe daughter are equal. If theyare not, the mantra of unitycannot reverberate. I hope wecan get rid of this attitude ofupper-lower or mine-others,”Modi said.

“Gender equality is a cru-cial parameter of unity,” theprime minister said. He furthersaid women power is present inall sectors of society and sig-nificant for the growth of thecountry. “If we look at ‘narishakti’ in law, education, sci-ence and police, our daughtersand mothers are making majorcontributions to India,” Modisaid.

He said citizens are proudof the strength of the women ofIndia like Rani Laxmibai,Jhalkari Bai, RaniChennamma, and BegumHazrat Mahal. Indian womensymbolise sacrifice and strug-gle, Modi added.

From Page 1“Under the leadership of its visionary lead-

ers, while on one hand, India established a free,fair and transparent election system, on theother, it strengthened democracy and consti-tutional institutions,” the Congress chief said.

Along with this, India has made its iden-tity as a leading country that has always livedup to pluralism in language, religion and sect,she added.

The party also took a swipe at Modi overhis remarks against nepotism, and said he wasactually talking about internal politics of theBJP and attacking his own ministers whosesons are occupying high positions in the fieldsof cricket and politics despite not having exper-tise.

Asked about Modi’s remarks about nepo-tism and dynasty in his Independence Dayspeech, former Congress chief Rahul Gandhisaid he would not make a comment on thesethings. Congress leaders also took out amarch from the party headquarters to GandhiSmriti on Tees January Road as part of its AzadiGaurav Yatra. Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka GandhiVadra, Ambika Soni, Ghulam Nabi Azad,Anand Sharma, and K C Venugopal amongothers attended the march.

At a Press conference, Congress spokesmanPawan Khera said the Prime Minister isbecoming a victim of his own words and thereis no enthusiasm or zest in his speech or heartas most of the promises made in the last eightyears remained unfulfilled. He also alleged thatthe BJP has made no contribution to the free-dom struggle and they are now trying to“whitewash” history.

Khera asked what happened to the promis-es of doubling farmers’ income, giving housesto all, bringing back black money, employmentand giving Rs 15 lakh in every bank account.All these promises are neither letting him speaknor sleep as he seems tired, Khera said.

���������������'''

From Page 1The ship was originally scheduled

to arrive at the port on August 11 butSri Lanka asked China to defer the visitamid India’s concerns over it.

China had then said the visit wasdeferred as India had exerted pressure.On Friday last, New Delhi rejectedChina’s “insinuations” but at the same

time asserted that it will take decisionsbased on its security concerns.

Meanwhile, in his IndependenceDay message, Baglay said India hasbeen an active partner in catalysing theeconomic recovery of Sri Lanka. Indianinvestments in Sri Lanka in mutuallybeneficial sectors such as ports, renew-able energy and infrastructure will beinstrumental in this through employ-ment generation and stepped up eco-nomic activities, he said.

The civilisational connect, sharedheritage and abiding bonds betweenthe people are the hallmark of India-Sri Lanka ties. Today, as we rapidlymove forward on the path laid out bygenerations from antiquity, we alsoseek to strengthen these age-old link-ages for posterity as well, he said.

��� ����� ! ������ ���� ��� �...

�������777

Malappuram: As India cele-brated its 76th IndependenceDay, the nine-year old daugh-ter of Malayali journalistSiddique Kappan — bookedand jailed under the UnlawfulActivities Prevention Act in theHathras conspiracy case— saidin her school speech that wentviral on social media that “ordi-nary citizens’ freedom be nottaken away.I am the daughterof a jailed journalist denied thebasic civil rights available to all”.

��&��!�'�����B���A%���&����!�����$��!0���!�!'?/!��!�A��&!�# ���

From Page 1Later in the day, the police

placed Bhowmik - said to be ajeweller from Dahisar -- underarrest and booked him undersection 506-2 (Punishment forcriminal intimidation) of theIndian Penal Code (IPC). Thepolice are ascertaining thecriminal records or otherwiseof Bhowmik.

“The suspect has beenarrested under section 506(2)for criminal intimidation andissuing threats. He had threat-ened Mukesh and abused him,“a senior police official said.

Though the police haveestablished the motive behindBhowmik’s multiple threat callsto the Reliance FoundationHospital, the police said thatarrested person appeared per sementally unstable.

Meanwhile, the city policehave beefed up security in andaround Mukesh residence“Antilia” in south Mumbai.

Last month, the SupremeCourt had ruled that Mukeshand his family in Mumbaicould continue to have securi-ty provided by the Centre,while dismissing a petitionchallenging the provision.

The Centre hadapproached the Supreme Courtafter the Tripura High Courthad accepted a Public InterestLitigation (PIL) against theGovernment security cover tothe Ambanis. Mukesh and hisfamily were given securitycover by the MaharashtraGovernment based on an eval-uation of threat perception bythe Union Government.

Monday’s was the thirdthreat received by the Mukeshfamily, after the recovery of aGelatin sticks’ laden Scorpioand a threatening letter insidea vehicle on Carmichael Road,near the industrialist’s resi-dence on February 25,2021.

Subsequently, a taxi driverhad sounded the police aboutthe possibility of a fresh threatto the industrialist and hisfamily.

It may be recalled that onFebruary 25 last year, a Gelatinsticks’ laden Scorpio and athreatening letter inside thevehicle, in the vicinity ofMukesh 27-storey residence“Antilia” on Carmichael Roadin south Mumbai.

The investigations into thesensational recovery of anexplosive-laden SUV nearMukesh residence and the sub-sequent suspected murder ofthe vehicle owner MansukhHiran led to the arrest of 11persons, including four policeofficers.

On September 3 2021, theNIA - in a voluminous charge-sheet filed in a Special NIASpecial Court here --chargedthe ten accused - including dis-missed Assistant Sub-Inspectors Sachin Waze,Riyazuddin Kazi, yester yearencounter-specialist PradeepSharma, convicted constableVinayak Shinde - with variousoffences under various sec-tions of Indian Penal Code formurder, cheating and conspir-acy.

���������������������������

Underlining the importancefor unity, Prime Minister

Narendra Modi in hisIndependence day speech saidpeople have to celebrate thediversity of a big country likeIndia as the country’s manyfaiths and traditions are itspride.

Addressing the countryfrom the ramparts of Red fort,Prime Minister said genderequality is the first conditionfor unity, he said, adding thatwomen are now doing verywell in different sectors, includ-ing science and people’s repre-sentation.

“Our nation has provedthat we have an inherentstrength from our diversityand the common thread ofpatriotism makes Indiaunshakeable,” Modi said, as hetermed India the “mother ofdemocracy”.

As against the oppositioncharge of eight years of theModi-government “weaken-ing” country’s federalism,Modi underlined his faith in

cooperative federalism and thespirit of “team India”, sayingthis is what he practised whenhe was Gujarat chief ministerand a different party(Congress) was in power at theCentre.

“We may have differentprogrammes and workingstyles but our dreams for thenation are not different,” he saidin an apparent appeal to oppo-sition parties to work togetherto develop the country.

“The need of the hourtoday is cooperative competi-tive federalism along withcooperative federalism. Weneed competition in develop-ment,” he said, adding thatmany states are doing goodwork.

Recalling freedom struggle,Prime Minister said manyindulged in scare-mongeringby saying India will be “ruined”and go into the “dark age” if theBritish left, but the country sur-vived and kept growing due toits inherent strength, he said.

The people made effortsand proved that India hasimmense capacity to survive allodds even as “hundreds of

years of slavery” had inflicted“deep wounds” on it, he added.

The prime minister saidIndia’s growth story continueddespite terrorism and proxywars, natural calamities andeven as success and failures andhopes and disappointmentskept showing up.

The Prime Minister point-ed out a tendency to under-mine freedom fighters whowere not highlighted for severaldecades and recalled triballeaders who sacrificed theirlives for the country.

“When we talk about thefreedom struggle, we cannotforget to take pride of our trib-al society living in forests.There are countless names likeBhagwan Birsa Munda, Sidhu-Kanhu, Alluri Sitarama Raju,Govind Guru, who becamethe voice of freedom move-ment and inspired my tribalbrothers and sisters, mothersand youth in the remotest jun-gles to live and die for themotherland. It has been thegood fortune of the countrythat there have been manyaspects of the freedom struggle’,Modi said.

(�� �� ���� �� ��������)����� ��������� �� (#

$�����

Page 3: :_UZR dVe e` ^R\V ^R[`c ]VRa Z_ 2^cZe `UZ Z_g ...

������������������� �������� � !�"#"" ����������

�����������������������

Delhi Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal on Monday

asserted that free education andhealthcare are not freebies andsaid if people are given accessto them, India can become thetop country in the world. Hewas speaking on the occasionof the country’s IndependenceDay at the national Capital’sChhatrasal stadium.

Kejriwal stated that educa-tion and access to healthcareare not freebies or ‘free kirevdi’ and poverty can be erad-icated from country if we areable to provide quality educa-tion to all.

“With folded hands, I wantto underline that education isnot a freebie. Parents, if theyhave to, may skip one meal butthey would provide good edu-cation for their child. Parentsdon’t give a freebie to the childbut to secure their future.These 27crore kids are ourkids, all of us Indians can eatless but we should resolve togive quality education to chil-dren. More than 39 developedcountries became rich because

they provided good educationto their children. We too canremove poverty from ourcountry if we are able to pro-vide free quality education toall,” he added.

There has been politicalacrimony over the issue offreebies with the BJP accusingKejriwal of using it as a "bait"to trap people for power. Lastmonth, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, after inaugu-rating the BundelkhandExpressway in Uttar Pradesh,cautioned people against whathe called the "revdi culture" ofoffering freebies for garnering

votes and said it is "very dan-gerous" for the development ofthe country.

Modi had used 'revdi' as ametaphor for freebies beingpromised by some parties towoo voters and said the people,especially the youth, shouldguard against it.

"On average, we are spend-ing �2,000 for the healthcare ofevery Delhiite. We can arrangefor good healthcare facilities in�2.5 lakh crore for 130 croreIndians. We can open world-class mohalla clinics and hos-pitals in five years," he added.

Kejriwal said the country's

130 crore people need to cometogether and resolve to makeIndia the number one countryin the world. "We came togeth-er and chased the Britishersout. Today, if we come togeth-er, we can make India the topcountry in the world," he said.

Explaining his vision forIndia of the future, the chiefminister laid stress on educa-tion and health, citing the twowords 50 and 30 times, respec-tively, in his 40-minute speech.At the event where thousandsof children were invited,Kejriwal said the country's 130crore people need to cometogether and resolve to makeIndia the number one countryin the world.

"We came together andchased the Britishers out.Today, if we come together, wecan make India the top coun-try in the world," he said.Lamenting that many nationslike Singapore that got inde-pendence after India or weredestroyed during SecondWorld War have surpassed it,the Delhi chief minister reiter-ated that education and health-care are key to becoming a richcountry.

�����,����������,�����/�+����������������

�����������������������

Delhi Lieutenant GovernorVinai Kumar Saxena

launched a training pro-gramme for 50 women cab dri-vers here on Monday, a moveaimed at increasing the ratio offemale drivers in the Capital'spublic transport sector. The LGalso flagged off 40 electriccabs with women drivers onwheels.

East Delhi BJP MPGautam Gambhir, ChiefSecretary Naresh Kumar andother senior officials were pre-sent at the event held at theInstitute of Driving and TrafficResearch (IDTR) at Sarai KaleKhan.

According to a statementissued by Raj Niwas, the moveis aimed at increasing the ratioof women drivers in Delhi'spublic transport sector andensuring safety of women pas-sengers.

Saxena also administeredPrime Minister NarendraModi's five pledges (PanchPran) for 2047 — making adeveloped India, removing anysign of servility, pride in ourrich heritage, unity in uplift-

ment of the nation and fulfill-ing our duties as citizens, itsaid. Saxena said this skill(driving) training of womendrivers was in tune with theprime minister's call forwomen empowerment whichalso found mention in hisIndependence Day address.

Saxena said the meaning ofindependence would remainincomplete without the "eco-nomic freedom" of women --their self-dependence. "Thisdriving skill training pro-gramme for women driverswould open up new employ-

ment avenues for women andmake them self-reliant. I amhopeful that the public trans-port sector in Delhi will have50 percent of women drivers incoming years," Saxena said.

Lauding electric car fleetaggregator Blu Smart for rop-ing in women drivers, the LGsaid while these cars wouldcontribute to environment pro-tection, the women cab driverswill ensure the safety of femalepassengers.

The women, under thisscheme, can register directlywith the transport department

or they can be roped in by pri-vate cab aggregators. Allwomen drivers are providedfree of cost training by IDTRand the cost of the training willbe borne by the TransportDepartment and theAggregators (50-50%), thestatement said.

The trained women dri-vers will be taken in the fleetof the aggregators who havesponsored them. Under thisinitiative, 1,000 women will begiven training and assuredemployment in the next oneyear, it added.

�������� �������� ��� *+"���� �� ������ ��!�����

�����������������������

The iconic Red Fort in thenational Capital was all

decked up in tricolours, flow-ers and murals showcasingthe key events that led up toIndia's freedom on Monday. Tomark the celebration, flowerpetals were showered by MI-17helicopters for the first time atthe Red Fort just ahead ofPrime Minister NarendraModi’s speech.

The entrance of the RedFort was guarded by twomechanised elephants — oper-ated by a man sitting insideeach of them — which becamea big draw for people who wereseen clicking selfies with themafter the programme ended.

A bunch of tricolour bal-loons were also released in theair from the Red Fort, after thePrime Minister's speech ended.For the first time in 75 years,an indigenously developed

howitzer gun, ATAGS wereused during the 21-gun saluteat the Red Fort. Decorativescrolls depicting portraits ofseveral freedom fighters fromacross India and the country'scultural and natural heritagewere displayed on the walls ofthe Red Fort

The spectators were filledwith enthusiasm when thePrime minister Narendra Modiarrived at the Red Fort andunfurled the national flag atthe Red Fort. PM Modi stayedconsistent with a white safawith tricolour stripes and along trail as his headgear.Donning a traditional kurtaand churidar paired with a bluejacket and black shoes Beforehe arrived at Red Fort, PMpaid tributes to MahatmaGandhi at Rajghat.

Prime Minister examinedthe inter-services and policeGuard of Honour as he arrivedat the Red Fort on Monday todeliver his ninth consecutive

Independence Day speechfrom the ramparts of the icon-ic monument.

He was received byDefence Minister RajnathSingh and Minister of State forDefence Ajay Bhatt. The Guardof Honour contingent for thePM consisted of one officerand 20 men each from theArmy, Navy, Air Force andDelhi Police. Indian Air Forceis the coordinating service.

The Guard of Honour wascommanded by WingCommander Kunal Khanna.The Air Force Contingent inthe Prime Minister’s Guardwas commanded by SquadronLeader Lokendra Singh, theArmy contingent by MajorVikas Sangwan and the Navalcontingent by Lt CommanderAvinash Kumar. The DelhiPolice contingent was com-manded by Additional DCP(East Delhi) Achin Garg.

After unfurling the nation-al flag, PM Modi delivered his

ninth consecutive speech,which lasted for nearly 83

minutes (1 hour and 23 min-utes).

�����������������������

On the Independence Daythere were multi-layered

security cover, robust arrange-ments and facial recognitionsystem cameras, amid heavypolice presence at the historicRed Fort from where PrimeMinister Narendra Modiaddressed the nation.

Since morning, NationalSecurity Guard (NSG) snipers,elite Special Weapons andTactics (SWAT) commandos,400 kite catchers, canine unitsand sharpshooters on build-ings were part of the airtightsecurity arrangements in placein view of the terror attackthreats ahead of theIndependence Day celebra-tions. Further, a five-kilome-tre area around the Red Fortwas marked as a "no kite fly-ing zone" till the tricolour

was hoisted.With Covid cases on the

rise in the national Capital,special measures were taken atthe Red Fort to ensure that the7,000 invitees followed Covid-19 protocols.

Body temperature of everyattendee was checked at theentry point and a two-feet dis-tance of between seats wasmaintained. Masks and sani-tisers were also distributedamong the attendees.

Forces continue to remainon high alert to thwart anyuntoward incident as policehave intensified patrolling anddeployed extra pickets at vitalinstallations based on intelli-gence inputs received fromcentral agencies, a seniorpolice officer said.

Borders were sealed toensure no untoward incidenttook place in the nationalcapital even as police warned

of strict action against anyonetrying to disrupt the law andorder situation.

Dependra Pathak, SpecialCommissioner of Police (Lawand Order) had on Fridaysaid provisions of Section 144were instituted in the capi-tal.Anti-drone systems fromDefence Research andDevelopment Organisationand other security agenciesremain installed, he said.

During Modi'sIndependence Day address in2017, a kite had landed justbelow the podium. The primeminister had, however, con-tinued with his addressunfazed.

The police had on July 22issued an order prohibiting theflying of aerial objects such asparagliders, hang gliders andhot air balloons, and this willremain in force till August 16,police said.

������������!���)�����������)���������� ���)� � ��"��������!0�������������,�888���1�����%�""�����1�&4CD��������"�!��+�&�>���

��������������� ��������

The Delhi InternationalAirport Limited (DIAL),

the airport operator at Delhi’sIndira Gandhi International(IGI) airport on Mondayannounced the soft launch ofthe ‘DigiYatra’ application,which passengers can now usefor faster e-boarding throughthe airport.

The application will storeall valid documents for thepassenger, including the board-ing pass for each journey anda vaccine certificate, with pas-sengers boarding domesticjourneys only required to showtheir face in front of a facialrecognition system (FRS) at allcheckpoints at Terminal-3.Once the passenger down-loads the app, he or she isrequired to register his or herphone number and Aadharcard details, then, take a self-ie, add vaccination details andscan the boarding pass,

Under the Digi Yatra pro-ject, a passenger will passthrough various checkpoints atthe airport through paperlessand contactless processing,using facial features to estab-lish the identity which wouldbe linked to the boarding pass.

"DIAL had installed therequired facility at Terminal 3of Delhi Airport and alreadyconducted its DigiYatra trials.Nearly 20,000 passengers hadthe seamless and secured trav-el experience after using thefacility during the trials," itsstatement noted.

These 20,000-odd passen-gers then submitted their bio-metric and other detailsthrough kiosks at Terminal 3for their specific flights.

Now, passengers will sub-mit their biometrics and otherdetails through this app and itwill remain stored for all theflights he or she will take at theDelhi airport's Terminal 3. A

passenger need not submit thebiometric details at Terminal 3before each flight.

The beta version of theDigiYatra app is available onthe Andriod platform and willbe available on the IOS plat-form in a few weeks, the DIALsaid, adding the app will beused by the passengers to dotheir entire biometric regis-tration.

After downloading theapp, the passenger will have toregister his or her phone num-ber and Aadhar card details.Then, the passenger has to takea selfie, add vaccination detailsand scan the boarding pass, itsaid.

��$ �� )��������/ �� � ����� ���

�����������������������

Delhi Deputy ChiefMinister, Manish Sisodia

on Monday said PrimeMinister Narendra Modi pre-sented the vision of makingIndia a developed nation andan aspirational society andKejriwal Model is the onlyproven blueprint that can makeIndia a world leader.

Sisodia remarks comesafter Prime Minister NarendraModi in his address to nationon Independence Day from the

Red Fort mentioned that hewants to make India an aspi-rational society and a devel-oped nation.

“I would like to say that anaspirational society cannot be

developed without makingquality education available forevery child. If children do notget good education, parentswill keep struggling to providegood education to their chil-dren, people will run aroundhospitals to avail health treat-ment and if the government willbe a bystander, then the coun-try will not develop,” saidSisodia.

Sisodia said that the foun-dation of a developed countryin the next five years can be laidby ensuring excellent educationand healthcare services for all.

/�2���!"���&�"���"'�$"��������� !��!���!0���&�!����"&�"�!&��?�����&�! ���������������

��������

On the occasion ofIndependence Day, Prime

Minister Narendra Modi onMonday interacted with NCCcadets dressed in traditionalattire and seated in the geo-graphical formation of the mapof India in front of Red Fort'sramparts.

The cadets were seated at'Gyan Path' in front of the RedFort's ramparts in the geo-graphical formation of the mapof India. They were wearingclothes of the regions theywere representing, symbolising

India's cultural diversity.After his speech on the

75th anniversary of India'sindependence, Prime Minister,Narendra Modi walked into theGyan Path enclosure. He wavedat and greeted the cadets. Theprime minister encouraged thecadets from Punjab andGujarat to perform their folkdances -- Bhangra and Garba-- as he cheered for them.

He also shook hands withsome cadets, striking briefinteractions. A total of 792NCC cadets (Army, Navy andAir Force) from differentschools across the country tookpart in the festival of national

fervour.Khushi Panday (20),

Bhavana (20), SmrutiranjaMallica (19) and AbhinashParida (20) were among 30NCC cadets representingOdissa.

All of them have come toDelhi for the first time. "It feelsso proud to represent the state.All the hard work we have putin has given fruits," Khushisaid.

On interacting with PMModi, Bhavana said: "It feltunreal and we never thoughtwe will get the chance to meetand greet the prime minister ofthe country."

����������� ���� �!�����"�� ���#�"����"�������$

�����������������������

The Delhi Police has arrest-ed a 48-year-old shop-

keeper for allegedly storingand selling the illegal 'Chinesemanjha' in west Delhi's NihalVihar area. The accused hasbeen identified as AshokKumar, a resident of Shiv RamPark, Nihal Vihar.

According to SameerSharma, the DeputyCommissioner of Police(DCP), Outer district, onSunday around 4 pm duringpatrol in Shiv Ram Park, NihalVihar, police noticed illegalChinese manjha kept in a shop.

“A total of 170 bundles ofillegal Chinese Manjha wererecovered from his shop. A caseunder relevant sections of theIndian Penal Code andEnvironment Protection Actwas registered in Nihal ViharPolice Station and the accusedwas arrested, the DCP said.

Kumar revealed that heruns a tea shop and in order toearn money, he was selling theillegal Chinese manjha, policesaid.

Earlier, another man, 43years old, was arrested fromnorthwest Delhi's MahendraPark area with over 200 cartonsof Chinese manjha in his pos-session.

������������� !!�!�"��!�#!�$���!��%&'(��%&!�!)"&*�"+

��������������� �)+)�+�

In yet another case, an army man and his twobrothers were allegedly thrashed by four

bouncers of a club in Sector 29 in Gurugram.All three were injured badly in the incident thathappened Sunday night, police said. Reportedly,the bouncers did not stop beating the threebrothers even after a police team reached thereafter someone called the 112 helpline.

Police had to call for reinforcement, but bythe time it arrived, the assailants had fled.

On August 9, an MNC manager and hisfriends were thrashed by some private bounc-ers and managers of Casa Denza club in UdyogVihar. Police had arrested seven accused includ-ing a manager the next day

According to the complaint filed by NaikSunil Kumar, a native of Rohtak in Haryana, healong with his two brothers, Khajan Singh andAnil Kumar, had gone to Friction club Sundaylate night to celebrate a party.

“It was around 11.20pm when we enteredthe Friction club. We were dancing and enjoy-ing ourselves. Around 20 minutes later, the musicin the club stopped. My brother Anil made arequest to play a song, but two bouncers cameand denied the request,” Naik said in his com-plaint, according to the police.

“They then started an argument with us andwere joined by two others, and took us outsidethe bar where they thrashed us with sticks,” hesaid.

“They threatened to kill us if we visited theclub again,” the army man added.

Following the complaint, an FIR has beenregistered against four unidentified bouncers ofFriction club under sections 323 (causing hurt),506 (criminal intimidation), and 34 (commonintention) of the IPC at Sector 29 PoliceStation.

“An FIR has been registered. We are veri-fying the facts and action will be taken as perthe law," said Dr Kavita, ACP, DLF.

This has been the second incident in theCyber City area in a week, where bouncers ofsome club have beaten the patrons.

�����������������������

A43-year-old domestichelp at a south Delhi

farmhouse attempted suicideafter she was allegedly humil-iated by her employer, whoalso stripped and thrashed herbefore locking her up in aroom without clothes after anoccultist brought by the fam-ily concluded that she stolevaluables from the villa near-ly 10 months ago.

According to Benita MaryJaiker, the DeputyCommissioner of Police(DCP), South district, onAugust 10, a police controlroom (PCR) call was receivedat Maidangarhi police sta-tion regarding a woman whohad consumed poison and shehad been taken to hospital.

“The police team alsoreached the Hospital atChhatarpur.

Subsequently, the state-ment of the woman wasrecorded wherein she allegedthat she works as a servantand she was physical ly

assaulted and beaten by herowner and other members ofher owner’s family for extort-ing confession of a theft inci-dent that occurred at herowner’s house 10 monthsago,” said the DCP.

“She further told policethat due to torture humilia-tion caused by her ownerand her family members sheconsumed some poison.

A case under sections330/323/341/506/34 of theIndian Penal Code (IPC) wasregistered at Maidan Garhipolice station and investiga-tion was taken up,” said theDCP.

“During investigation, onAugust12, other appropriatesections of law including328/354/354(B)/355/348/109/120B IPC were also added,”said the DCP.

“On August 15, one of theaccused identified as SeemaKhatoon (28), a resident ofAnsal Villa, Satbari has beenarrested. Efforts are beingmade to arrest the remainingaccused persons,” said theDCP.

,������ ��� ���� �� ���������� ����� ���� ����������� �� ���� ����� ������

$����� ��%�"���������� ���"����)��"�)������-0�� ����)"

Page 4: :_UZR dVe e` ^R\V ^R[`c ]VRa Z_ 2^cZe `UZ Z_g ...

������������������� �������� � !�"#"" ��������%

������������������� ��������

Opposition parties on Monday calledout Prime Minister Narendra Modi

after he hailed 'nari shakti' in hisIndependence Day speech, asking himto look inwards and at his party's atti-tude towards women.

Addressing the nation from theramparts of the Red Fort, Modi urgedpeople to pledge not to do anything thatlowers the dignity of women, saying amentality to insult them in speech andbehaviour has crept in.

TMC MP Derek O' Brien remind-ed the Prime Minister of the "Didi oDidi" comment made by him on WestBengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjeeduring an election rally in the State.

"Let's pledge to wipe out misogyny'said Prime Minister @narendramoditoday. Completely agree, Sir. Should westart with you, leading by example,"wrote O'Brien on Twitter, attaching avideo of Modi making the reference toMamata in his speech.

Congress leader Pawan Khera tooposted a video compilation of the

Prime Minister's remarks on women,including comments made on the floorof the House, on Congress MP RenukaChowdhury in the Rajya Sabha over herlaughter which was condemned asbeing "sexist", his comment on Mamataand the "50-crore girlfriend" remarkabout Congress leader Shashi Tharoor'swife, Sunanda Pushkar.

"If anyone needs the most to takea pledge to respect women, then it is thisperson," wrote Khera referring to thevideo. Shiv Sena leader and RajyaSabha MP Priyanka Chaturvedi saidModi's words did not match the actionson the ground. "If we look atMaharashtra not having any woman incabinet with even the women and

child portfolios being handed by maleministers. Even the labour force par-ticipation is rapidly decreasing and thegovernment is not able to addressthem, she said. There is also the mat-ter of 33 per cent reservation beingchampioned by the BJP, and despite hav-ing a full majority, it has not been imple-mented. So, those are the issues that weare looking at in 25 years from now. Wealso have to look at how policies haveimpacted the women on ground,"Chaturvedi said. She also referred to the'Sulli and Bulli deals' incident in whichwomen were berated and auctioned onsocial media.

CPI general secretary D Raja urgedthe PM to examine the attitude of hisown party men with regards to women."It is not just about women. All humansshould be treated with respect in soci-ety. This is not happening because themindset is being controlled by a partywhich believes in the Manusmriti,patriarchy and caste system. This gov-ernment has the numbers in both theHouses of Parliament, yet they have notpassed the women reservation bill.

���� ��������

Hailing Prime MinisterNarendra Modi 's

Independence Day speech as"invigorating", UnionMinisters and BJP leaders onMonday said he set the visionfor a "Param Vaibhav Bharat"and reiterated his commit-ment towards womenempowerment and f ightagainst corruption.

Union Home Ministerand senior BJP leader AmitShah said it inspires everyIndian to contribute towardsmaking the country prosper-ous."

“PM Shri @narendramo-di gave a wonderful speechfrom the Red Fort. It inspiresevery Indian to contributetowards making a prosperousIndia," Shah tweeted.

Shah said the PrimeMinister reiterated his com-mitment towards womenempowerment and asserted

that it is woman power thatwill take the pride of thenation to new heights in thenext 25 years.

Another senior partyleader and Defence MinisterRajanth Singh, in a series oftweets , said the PrimeMinister has put forth theresolve to build a developedIndia. "A self-reliant Indiathat can lead the world withfull potential," Modi said,adding that to fulfil thisresolve, all need to be unitedwith their full energy.

"The biggest things that

Prime Minister NarendraModi said from the Red Fortare: respect for women andpeople's campaign againstcorruption in the country.Every Indian has to comeforward for an effective fightagainst corruption," Singhsaid.

Union Minister PiyushGoyal described Modi 'sspeech as "invigorating". Itwill galvanise us for the 25years of 'Amrit Kaal'.

"As we markIndependence Day, an aspi-rational India dreams big.

It is at the cusp of arenaissance helping us realiseour glorious destiny and roleas a fountainhead of hope forthe world," Goyal added.

BJP Yuva Morcha presi-dent Tejasvi Surya said it wasa different Modi during thespeech.

And he was "more auda-cious, more hopeful and moreaggressive."

������ ��#������� ����������/����������������� ������-(�����,�

#��� �� ����� ��� (���������� -������ �� ����

���������������������������

Chief Justice of India NVRamana on Monday said

the executive, legislature andthe judiciary are "equal repos-itories" of constitutional trust,and the Constitution dispelsthe notion that delivery of jus-tice is the responsibility ofcourts only. The CJI, whohoisted the national flag at theSupreme Court premises hereon the 76th Independence Day,referred to Article 38 of theConstitution on the DirectivePrinciples of State Policy andsaid it was the responsibility ofthe State to secure a social orderin which "justice, social, eco-nomic and political," are ren-dered.

"Under the constitutionalframework, each organ hasbeen given a unique obligation.The notion that justice is onlythe responsibility of the court

is dispelled by Article 38 of theIndian Constitution whichmandates the State to securejustice: social, economic andpolitical. Every deed of eachorgan of the State has to be inthe spirit of the Constitution. Imust note that all the threeorgans of the State, i.E., theexecutive, legislature and thejudiciary, are equal repositoriesof constitutional trust,” he said.

The CJI said the apexcourt gives strength to pursuedisputes to the citizens and theyknow that it would stand withthem when things go wrong.He said the judicial system goesby the commitment to thewritten Constitution and enjoysimmense faith reposed by thepeople. “The legislature maynot be able to foresee the issueswhich might come up duringthe implementation. By inter-pretation of statutes, the courtshave given effect to the trueintent of the legislature. The

courts have breathed life intothe statutes, by making themrelevant to contemporarytimes,” CJI Ramana said.

Our judicial system isunique not only because of itscommitment to the writtenConstitution and its spirit butalso because of the immensefaith reposed by the people inthe system, he said. “People areconfident that they will getrelief and justice from the judi-ciary. It gives them the strengthto pursue a dispute. They knowthat when things go wrong, thejudiciary will stand by them.The Indian Supreme Court isthe guardian of theConstitution in the world'slargest democracy,” he said.

The CJI referred to theConstitution and its schemesincluding Article 142 and saidthey give wide-ranging powersand jurisdiction to the SupremeCourt to do complete justice.The Indian judiciary, since its

inception, has strived to fulfillthe constitutional aspirationsand, through interpretativeexercise, has also strengthenedvarious independent institu-tions, be it the ElectionCommission, CVC, CAG andso on, he said.

The CJI referred to con-stitutional schemes, rules, reg-ulations and judgments inresponding to the statement ofSupreme Court BarAssociation president VikasSingh that the collegiums, espe-cially the high court collegiums,did not consider the "best"candidates for the judgeship inhigher judiciary. The SCBA hasbeen seeking the appointmentof Supreme Court lawyers ashigh court judges.

"We all know. You all areconstitutional lawyers and youknow the procedures of theappointment of judges. Youknow the rules, regulations, thejudgements, everything and

on several occasions he (SCBApresident) has raised the issue.I do not want to elaborate," theCJI said.

He highlighted the con-tributions of lawyers in fram-ing the Constitution and layingthe foundation of indepen-dent India whose citizens areshaping the global future byoccupying key positions acrossthe world. Union Law MinisterKiren Rijiju and bar leaders ledby SCBA president Vikas Singhand Solicitor General TusharMehta attended the event.

���������������������������

An Indian-designed-and-manufactured howitzer

was for the first time used forthe customary 21-gun salute atRed Fort before Prime MinisterNarendra Modi commencedhis address to the nation onMonday. The PM mentionedthis achievement in his speechand saluted the armed forcesfor supporting his vision for aself-reliant India.

"The sound that we alwayswanted to hear, we are hearingit after 75 years. It is after 75years that the tricolour has gotthe ceremonial salute at the RedFort for the first time from amade-in-India gun," Modi saidin his address to the nation.

The Prime Minister alsospoke about the indigenouslymanufactured Brahmos super-sonic missile. In January, Indiainked the first export orderwith the Philippines for themissile system. The order is

worth over 375 million dollars. BrahMos Aerospace, an

India-Russian joint venture,produces supersonic cruisemissiles that can be launchedfrom submarines, ships, air-craft, or land platforms. Someother countries have alsoshown interest in procuring theBrahmos missiles.

As regards the ‘desi gun,’ sofar, British guns have beenused for the ceremonial salute.Also, for the first time, MI-17helicopters showered flowers atthe Red Fort duringIndependence Day celebra-tions.Modi said all Indians willget inspired and feel empow-ered on hearing this made-in-India gun roar. The DefenceResearch and DevelopmentOrganisat ion(DRDO)hasdesigned the howitzer or theAdvanced Towed Artillery GunSystem (ATAGS)under thegovernment's 'Make in India'initiative.

"For the first time after 75years, the Made-in-India can-

non has saluted the Tricolourfrom the Red Fort. Will therebe any Indian who will not beinspired by this sound? Mydear brothers and sisters, todayI want to congratulate the sol-diers of the army of my coun-try from my heart," Modi said.

"I salute the way the armyjawans have shouldered thisresponsibility of self-reliance inan organised way and withcourage....He stands firmly inthe middle when there is nogap between death and life," hesaid.

The Prime Minister alsotalked about the decision of thearmedforces to not importaround 300 items. "The reso-lution of our country is notsmall when the armed forcesmake a list and decide not toimport 300 defence products,"he said."In this resolution, I cansee the seed of a bright futureof 'Atmanirbhar Bharat' thatwill convert this dream into abanyan tr ee. Salute! Salute!Salute to my army officers!"

Modi said.The prime minister said

India is becoming a manufac-turing hub and that peoplefrom around the world arecoming to the country to trytheir luck.

"Which Indian wouldn'tbe proud when our Brahmos isexported to the world? Todaythe Vande Bharat train and ourmetro coaches arebecomingobjects of attraction for theworld," he said.

The government has initi-ated a series of measures in thelast few years to boost domes-tic defence manufacturing.

The government in August2020 came out with the first"positive indigenisation" list of101 items including towedartillery guns, cruise missilesand offshore patrol vessels,which were put under importrestrictions under a staggeredtimeline.

In May last year, the gov-ernment approved restrictionson the import of an addition-al 108 military weapons andsystems such as next-genera-tion corvettes, airborne earlywarning systems, tank enginesand radars under a timeline offour-and-half years.

����� ��������

The Indian tricolour wasunfurled at the edge of

space at an altitude of nearly 30km by a BalloonSAT launchedby an organisation promotingawareness about space sciencesin the country.

SpaceKidz, the Chennai-based organisation, shared avideo on its social media plat-forms of the Indian tricolourfluttering away to gloryattached to a helium balloonthat reached to the edge ofspace. "We released theBalloonSat on January 27 thisyear from Chennai. It unfurledthe Indian tricolour at an alti-tude of nearly 30 km," SrimathyKesan, founder and ChiefExecutive Officer of Space KidzIndia told PTI.

The video was released onMonday to mark the comple-tion of 75 years of

Independence, she said.Kesan said a GoPro camera

attached to the BalloonSat cap-tured the video of the tri-colour fluttering in space.

The payload sent into theupper reaches of the atmos-phere were recovered after itsplashed into the sea.

Space Kidz had encouraged750 girl students from govern-ment schools across the coun-try to develop AzaadiSat, which

was set for launch on August 7onboard the maiden flight ofthe Small Satellite LaunchVehicle (SSLV)-D1.

The SSLV-D1 failed to putthe AzaadiSat and EarthObservation Satellite-02 in thedesired orbit. The missionfailed because the SSLV-D1placed the satellites in an ellip-tical orbit rather than a circu-lar one, leaving them "unus-able."

�!�%��,%#-!�.�!�$��/��'.&�"�.#! #�"�������������&����� ����"����&� ����

���������������������������

Bharat Biotech on Mondaysaid its intranasal coron-

avirus vaccine (BBV154) hasproven to be safe, well-tolerat-ed and immunogenic in thePhase-3 clinical trials.

In a statement here, theHyderabad pharma firm saidthat the vaccine, designatedBBV154, was tested on 3,100subjects across 14 locations inIndia. The booster jab ofBBV154 was tested on 875subjects who had received thetwo doses of Covid-19 vaccinesused in India. The trials wereconducted in 9 trial sites acrossIndia.

The vaccine candidate wasevaluated earlier in phase I andII clinical trials with successfulresults.

BBV154 has been specifi-cally formulated to allowintranasal delivery. In addition,the nasal delivery system hasbeen designed and developedto be cost-effective in low andmiddle-income countries, apress release from the vaccinemaker said.

BBV154 was developed inpartnership with WashingtonUniversity St Louis, which haddesigned and developed therecombinant adenoviral vec-tored constructs and evaluatedthem in preclinical studies forefficacy.

Product development relat-ed to pre-clinical safety evalu-ation, large-scale manufactur-ing scale-up, formulation, anddelivery device development,including human clinical trials,was conducted by BharatBiotech, the statement added.

The Centre partially fund-ed product development andclinical trials through theDepartment of Biotechnology’s,COVID Suraksha programme.

Two separate and simulta-neous clinical trials were con-ducted to evaluate BBV154 asa primary dose (2-dose) sched-

ule and a heterologous boost-er dose for subjects who havepreviously received 2 doses ofthe two commonly adminis-tered Covid vaccines in India.

Suchitra K Ella, JointManaging Director, BharatBiotech, said, “On thisIndependence Day, we areproud to announce successfulcompletion of clinical trialsfor BBV154 intranasal vac-cine. We stay committed andfocused on innovation andproduct development; this isyet another achievement for themultidisciplinary teams atBharat Biotech.” If approved,the intranasal vaccine willmake it easier to deploy in massimmunisation campaigns withan easy to administer formu-lation and delivery device, shefurther said.

Heterologous booster dosestudies were conducted forsafety and immunogenicity inapproximately 875 subjects,where a booster dose (3rddose) of BBV154 intranasalvaccine was administered tostudy participants who werepreviously vaccinated withlicensed COVID vaccines.

.��������! ��������� ������� ����� ���� -����� -������

��4���4������� ��������

With the Tahreek-e-TalibanPakistan (TTP) recap-

turing areas in Swat district ofKhyber Pakhtunkhwa andabducting scores of Pak armypersonnel post the killing of AlQaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri, the Pakistan army isplanning to carry out air raidson the Balochs to check rebel-lion in its ranks.

The TTP, dominated by theAfghan origin Pashtuns, haslaunched Operation Al Badr totarget the Pakistani securityforces and reoccupy territory inSwat in the restive KhyberPakhtunkhwa region ofPakistan.

The issue of the possibleairstrike was discussed byPakistan Army Chief GeneralQamar Javed Bajwa with theBritish authorities during hisvisit for the passing out paradeof the British army, said promi-nent security analysts.

The issue of carrying outair raids on the Baloch libera-tion fighters has gained cur-rency following the killing of a

Lt Gen Sarfaraj Ali when theBaloch fighters hit a militaryhelicopter in which he wastravelling, reports said.

Since the air raids on theBalochs invite criticism fromthe Western world, thePakistani establishment is seek-ing to preempt such moves bytaking up the issue with theBritish authorities, the ana-lysts said.

Earlier, the US had reliedon the Pakistan army for its warn terror but Islamabad hadsheltered then Al Qaeda chiefOsama bin Laden for over adecade after he mastermindedin the twin tower attacks in NeyYork that took a toll of 3,000 in2001.

��������������� ��������

To ensure that education of an adolescent girldoes not get hampered due to the sudden

transfer of her handicapped father, the officeof the Chief Commissioner for Persons withDisabilities (CCPD) has directed the Bureau ofIndian Standards (BIS) to not transfer itsChennai-based senior scientist, a locomotordisabled, to Mumbai till his ward completes herClass 12th exams next year.

Court Commissioner Upma Srivastava inher order issued on June 28, 2022 alsowarned the BIS that failing to comply with itscourt order will result in referring the case toParliament. The Office of the CCPD was set upunder Section 57 of The Persons withDisabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protectionof Rights & Full Participation) Act, 1995, passedby Parliament.

The BIS is a statutory body working underthe aegis of the Union Ministry of ConsumerAffairs, Food and Public distribution. TheCourt has been constituted following theParliament

Suffering with locomotor disability, com-plainant Balakrishnan, E-grade Scientist withthe BIS had approached the Court against the‘sudden transfer’ order by the BIS, stating thatthe move would cause him hardship as hisdaughter was at the prime phase of her edu-cation career.

As his daughter is in Class 12th, he wantsto remain in Chennai or can be shifted near-

er to his hometown, the senior scientist, a sin-gle parent, said, adding that his 93-year-oldfather is also totally dependent on him, said thecomplainant. In response, SachidanandaKumar, Scientist C, Deputy Director on behalfof the BIS had submitted that the decision fortransfer of the complainant along with 85 otherofficers was taken by the placement commit-tee constituted by the competent authority ofthe Bureau.

“Transfer of the complainant was affectedduring the annual rotational transfer exerciseonly, considering the volume of work beingdealt by the Bureau which has increased man-ifold and optimum utilization of manpowerbeing the primary requirement,” he added.

Kumar also submitted that the com-plainant has been posted at his hometown ornear his hometown almost throughout hisentire career with the Bureau till date after con-sidering his physical condition.

To this, Balakrishnan argued that his is “notin the sensitive post…. As per transfer policy,he is not due for transfer as his daughter isstudying in 12th Class.”

However, disposing off the case in favourof Balakrishnan, the Court said the “respon-dent (BIS) shall also file the Implementationreport of this recommendation order within 3months of the date of this recommendation fail-ing which, this Court shall presume that therespondent has not implemented thisRecommendation and the matter shall bereported to the Parliament.”

''���������� ����� ��������"� �����(���)���*$����������������"

�� ��%�!0#�1��&�##�#�"&�$!��0%!&#%�##%��,"��0�)��!#!��/#�

12��)��'�������� �)����3)���� ����4) ����������������#����)��� ����)�5�#6�

���� ��������

The Ministry of Culture onMonday said more than

five crore selfies with the Indianflag have been uploaded on the'Har Ghar Tiranga' campaignwebsite so far and termed it a"stupendous achievement".

"In a stupendous achieve-ment, more than five crore'Tiranga' selfies have beenuploaded on the 'Har GharTiranga' website," the ministrysaid in a statement.

As India embarks on its76th year of Independence,wrapping up the 75 weekcountdown to August 15, 2022was the 'Har Ghar Tiranga' ini-tiative of the government dri-ven by the nodal ministry for'Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav' --

the Ministry of Culture, thestatement said.

The achievement of fivecrore 'Tiranga' selfies has beenachieved this afternoon ataround 4 pm, thanks to theparticipation of everyoneacross India and the worldcelebrating this special momentin India's history, it said.

Grand celebrations wereheld at the Red Fort by the gov-ernment to mark the 76thIndependence Day as part ofthe 'Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav'with Prime Minister NarendraModi sharing the roadmap forthe next 25 years -- 'AmritKaal', it said.

The prime minister hadgiven a call on July 22 to jointhe 'Har Ghar Tiranga' move-ment by hoisting or displaying

the national flag at homes.The Culture Ministry, thenodal agency for the 'Azadi kaAmrit Mahotsav', had alsoappealed to people upload self-ies or photographs with'Tiranga' on the campaign'swebsite.

The commemoration of75 years of India'sIndependence started onMarch 12, 2021 as a 75-weekcountdown to August 15, 2022and will continue till August 15,2023, it said.

E������"%������� �.��!�#!������&�����1����$�������!'�� ������'

Page 5: :_UZR dVe e` ^R\V ^R[`c ]VRa Z_ 2^cZe `UZ Z_g ...

������������������� �������� � !�"#""��������+

��������������� /��/�.�

Days after her seniorCabinet colleague Partha

Chatterjee and his close aideAripta Mukherjee were arrest-ed for keeping unexplained�50 crore in cash and hersenior party leader and nation-al executive member AnubrataMondal was picked up by theCBI for his alleged role in cat-tle smuggling case, BengalChief Minister MamataBanerjee on Monday said shehas dream of an India which isfree from hunger, wherewomen could live without fearand children could see thelight of education.

Taking to the Twitter onthe occasion of 75th anniver-sary of India’s IndependenceBanerjee wrote, “I have a dreamfor India! For the people, Iwant to builda nation where noone goes hungry, where nowoman feels unsafe, whereevery child sees the light ofeducation, where all are treat-ed equally, where no oppressive

forces divide the people & har-mony defines the day,” addingit was her “promise “it is mypromise to the people of thisgreat nation that I shall striveeveryday for our dream India.”

In a statement that onceagain tended to speak about herpan Indian plans Banerjee whohad suddenly withdrawn intoa shell following the arrests oftwo of her senior party mem-b e r s — C h a t t e r j e eTMCstrongman Mondal— onMonday sounded moreassertive writing about her panIndian design plans.

While a senior Left politi-cian said her latest tweet “isaimed at the national opposi-

tion parties — asking them notto write her off in the race ofleadership when it comes toopposition unity — but she haslost that chance after ParthaChatterjee’s arrest and more soafter she openly supportedAnubrata Mondal who isnamed in cattle smuggling.”

The BJP leadership went astep ahead asking her first to“fend off EnforcementDirectorate and Central Bureauof Investigation and thendream for India.” Senior saffronleader Dilip Ghosh said how“the CM herself appealed to hersupporters from a public meet-ing in Behala to remain by herside if she were to be arrested.

Ahmedabad: Rajasthan ChiefMinister Ashok Gehlot will beon a three-day visit to Gujaratfrom Tuesday and will meetCongress leaders ahead ofAssembly polls expected totake place here later this year.

This will be Gehlot’s firstvisit to Gujarat after he wasappointed senior observer forthe state Assembly elections byAll India Congress Committeeon July 12.

He will visit Surat, Rajkot,Vadodara and Ahmedabad andwill meet leaders at zonal lev-els, state Congress chiefspokesperson Manish Doshisaid.

The Rajasthan CM willstart his visit from Surat, wherehe will meet leaders from thesouth zone of the state, beforeholding discussions with lead-ers from Saurashtra zone inRajkot, Doshi informed.

“On the next day, he willhold meetings with centralzone leaders in Vadodara. Laterin the day, he will meet northzone leaders.

On August 18, he is sched-uled to address a press confer-ence in Ahmedabad,” Doshiadded. PTI

&���6��������2������/���3���������������.�����6��.�������

Godhra: All the eleven con-victs sentenced to life impris-onment in the 2002 post-Godhra Bilkis Bano gang rapecase on Monday walked out ofthe Godhra sub-jail after theGujarat government allowedtheir release under its remissionpolicy, an official said.

A special CBI court inMumbai on January 21, 2008,sentenced the eleven accused tolife imprisonment on thecharge of gang rape and mur-der of seven members of BilkisBano’s family. Their convictionwas later upheld by the BombayHigh Court.

These convicts had servedmore than 15 years in jail after

which one of them approachedthe Supreme Court with a pleafor his premature release.

The apex court had direct-ed the Gujarat government tolook into the issue of remissionof his sentence following whichthe government formed a com-mittee, said PanchmahalsCollector Sujal Mayatra, whoheaded the panel.

“A committee formed afew months back took a unan-imous decision in favour ofremission of all the 11 convictsin the case. The recommen-dation was sent to the state gov-ernment, and yesterday wereceived the orders for theirrelease,” said Mayatra. PTI

7��!��7 ��� �5�$���,,������������'�������� ���)���-)3�-�'�0��������������

����� �5��+����

Two persons sufferedinjuries when a clash broke

out between the supporters ofthe ruling TRS and the BJPduring state BJP president andMP Bandi Sanjay Kumar’songoing ‘padayatra’ in Jangaondistrict of Telangana onMonday.

The clash, including stone-pelting, occurred atDevaruppala in the districtand two persons sufferedminor injuries, police said.

Both sides are expected tolodge complain with the policeon the incident, they said.

Kumar, who resumed his

‘padayatra’ after the incident,alleged that “TRS goons” pelt-ed stones leaving two BJPactivists injured.

“TRS goons pelted stonesleaving 2 @BJP4Telanganakaryakartas injured during#PrajaSangramaYatra3 atDevaruppala on#IndependenceDay. “Is thisGandhian politics preached byTRS?,” he tweeted.

Though BJP is peacefullycarrying out the ‘padayatra’, theTRS is creating unrest, he said.

Alleging that “policebehaved like TRS karyakartas”,the State BJP president said hespoke to DGP M Mahendar

Reddy and sought immediateaction on the incident.

Meanwhile, StatePanchayat Raj MinisterErrabelli Dayakar Rao, whospoke to reporters at Jangaon,said the BJP should say as towhat it has done for people.

Observing that a lot ofdevelopment has taken placeduring the TRS regime, hesaid Sanjay Kumar should firstunderstand the welfare anddevelopment that took place onthe ground.

Kumar began the thirdphase of his ‘padayatra’ onAugust 2 from the temple townof Yadadri.

%��)������� ��"��������(�76��� �����)����8� � � �� 0

����� ����+��(�.��

Six police personnel in anorth Bihar district were on

Monday suspended in con-nection with an embarrassingincident involving controversialpolitician Anand Mohan whowas taken to the State capital injudicial custody and allegedlyallowed to visit his residencethere.

According to a statementissued by the district police, thesuspensions have been orderedby Lipi Singh, the Saharsasuperintendent of police, whowas directed by the PoliceHeadquarters to inquire into aphotograph of Anand Mohanthat had gone viral on socialmedia.

Mohan, who is serving lifesentence for the murder ofIAS officer G Krishnaiah, wasbrought to Patna last week tobe produced before a court,said the Saharsa police, addingthat departmental action hasbeen ordered against all thesuspended policemen.

A photograph in which hecan be seen flanked on eitherside by wife Lovely Anand andson Chetan Anand, who is anRJD MLA, went viral two daysafter the visit, drawing sharpreactions from the BJP whichdeclared it as “return of jungleraj”. “The convicted father of aruling party MLA is roamingfreely.

��6��� !������������&�&�%��!""����#���!�& � !�� �����1����

Bengaluru: The KarnatakaCongress on Monday took outa mega ‘Freedom March’ in thecity to commemorate 75 yearsof independence with thou-sands of people participatingfrom various parts of the state.

The march is being led bysenior party leaders, includingformer chief ministerSiddaramaiah, All IndiaCongress Committee generalsecretary and Karnataka in-charge Randeep SinghSurjewala, party state chief D KShivakumar, his brother andMP D K Suresh, and formerstate unit president DineshGundu Rao.

It would pass through

important routes includingAnand Rao Circle, FreedomPark, Corporation, Town Hall,Minerva Circle, VV Puramand from there to the NationalCollege Ground, a party work-er said.

National flags were placedall across the way as peoplewalked from Sangolli Rayanna’sstatue near the Bengaluru CityRailway Station and the marchwould culminate in a publicmeeting at the National CollegeGround in Basavanagudi. Theevent is seen as a show ofstrength by the Congress aheadof state Assembly electionsn e x tyear. PTI

2"�&"#" "��&'#" !��.#)!'"(3�!!��)�"�0�+%&1!&'"�.�.

Kanker: A couple and theirthree children were killed onMonday after a wall of theirhouse collapsed inChhattisgarh’s Kanker districtwhich has been witnessingincessant rains since the lasttwo days, officials said.

The incident took place inthe morning at Irpanar villagein Pakhanjore area whenParimal Malik, his wife andtheir three children were sleep-ing in their mud house, KankerCollector Priyanka Shukla said.

As per preliminary infor-

mation, a wall of the housecrashed on them. All the fivefamily members died on thespot, she said.

After being alerted, a teamof the district administrationand police officials went to thespot on a boat as the area hasbeen cut off from the mainroad due to the overflowingKorenar river, the official said.

Chief Minister BhupeshBaghel expressed grief overthe incident and directedKanker district administrationto provide compensation to the

victims’ family under provi-sions of Revenue Book Circular(RBC), a government state-ment said.

Shukla said officials havebeen directed to provide com-pensation to the kin of thedeceased under the RBC pro-visions.

The collector and KankerSuperintendent of PoliceShalabh Sinha also went toPakhanjore, which witnessedheavy downpour in the last twodays affecting normal life, toassess the situation. PTI

� !����#!� ?�E��%�%!��"'�0�""�&���� �����!""���""!�������/!�0���!%���� �!1'��!��

)�!����� �� ����"������ ������ ������� /.0

Jodhpur: Five pilgrims diedand four were injured as a truckran over them during their‘padayatra’ in Rajasthan’s Palidistrict early on Monday, policesaid.

The pilgrims were walkingfrom Bhilwara to a temple inJaisalmer’s Ramdevra. The acci-dent took place at around 1 amwhen they were crossing theroad to get some food in Rohatpolice station limits, the policesaid.

Lok Sabha Speaker OmBirla expressed grief over theincident. “The death of people

going from Bhilwara’s Raipurarea to Ramdevra is very sad,”he said.

Birla, MP from the state’sKota-Bundi seat, also wished aspeedy recovery of thoseinjured. Rohat police stationSHO Uday Singh said whilethree pilgrims Pappu, Girdhariand Pawan died on the spot,two others Sushila and Parassuccumbed to injuries at thehospital in Jodhpur, he said.

The four injured —Narayan, Jagdish, Balu andMukesh — are under treat-ment, he said. PTI

����&��#�����0�0�""��%�1��9�!&!'!�����"#����A����2�����%�������(!"�����+!2

Baghpat: A man in his 20skilled his father and two sistersover a property dispute inUttar Pradesh’s Baghpat dis-trict, police said on Monday.

The accused was identi-fied as Amar alias Lakshay, theysaid. Superintendent of PoliceNeeraj Jadaun said a few daysago Amar’s father Brijpal (60),a resident of Chaudharan Pattiin the Baraut police stationarea, dispossessed his son fromhis property owing to hiswrong activities.

Angry over this, Amarkilled his father and sistersAnuradha (17) and Jyoti (24)using a sharp-edged weapon onSunday night, he said.

Amar’s mother informedpolice about the incident onMonday morning, the SP said.

The bodies have been sentfor post-mortem, he said.

A case has been registeredagainst the accused who is onthe run, the SP said, addingefforts are on to nab him. PTI

(�� ���� �� !��� #������ ������� �"� ����

����� ���()+�

Rashtriya SwayamsevakSangh (RSS) chief Mohan

Bhagwat on Monday said Indiagot freedom after a lot of strug-gle and it needs to be self-reliant.

Addressing a gathering atthe RSS headquarters inMaharashtra’s Nagpur city afterhoisting the national flag onIndia’s 76th Independence Day,Bhagwat said the country willgive the message of peace to theworld. He also said peo-ple should think what they cangive to the country rather thanask what the country or soci-ety is giving them. “Todayis the day of pride and resolu-tion. The country got freedomafter a lot of struggle, it needsto be self-reliant. Those whowant to be independent need tobecome self-reliant in every-thing,” he said. Bhagwatsaid the RSS has worked forcreating an awareness about“desh bhakti” (patriotism) andimbibing it in the people of thecountry. “You need tomaintain relations with theworld but on your own terms,and for it you need to becomethat capable. Those who want

to be independent should alsobecome capable in respect oftheir security,” he said.Bhagwat said the tricolour tellsus how the country should beand how it will be when itbecomes big in the world.“That country will not rule overothers, it will spread love acrossthe world and sacrifice for theinterest of the world,” he said.In the coming times, till sucha nation is built, people shouldnot ask what the country andsociety gives them, but shouldthink what they are giving tothe country. “You shouldleave this question and askyourself what I am giving to mycountry and society. Amid ourown progress, we should liveour lives thinking about theprogress of the country andsociety, this is what is needed,”he said.

)���� ���� ��� ������������#���� -���"�� ����� (�.��

Bihar Chief Minister NitishKumar on Monday assert-

ed that his new Governmentwas not only committed to ful-filling the promise of 10 lakhjobs, made by his deputyTejashwi Prasad Yadav, butwould like to exceed theemployment generation targettwice over.

The “historic announce-ment, made on a historic day”,was applauded by Yadav, whohas returned as the deputyCM after five years and wasamong those present at theIndependence Day function.

Delivering an extemporespeech, Kumar turned towardsYadav and said, “We are togeth-er and we have this concept of10 lakh jobs. We will do it. Iwould say, we shall be aimingfor 20 lakh jobs. We will makeefforts to achieve this targetthrough both government andprivate sectors.”

The young deputy CM toldreporters afterwards exulting-ly, “It is a historic decision madeby the chief minister on a his-toric occasion. There can be nobigger issue today than jobcreation. It should silence thosewho were questioning whathappened to my promise.”

The RJD leader hadpromised 10 lakh jobs during

the assembly polls of 2020.Kumar, who last week

dumped BJP in a stunningpolitical manoeuvre, also tooka veiled dig at his former ally,speaking about the futility of apopulation law and the effica-cy of better education ofwomen for achieving animproved fertility rate.

“What was the experienceof China after it introducedpopulation law? It has sincebeen always revising the num-

ber of children it will allow itscitizens to have.

We had statistical data tosuggest fertility rates declinedin women with a high level ofeducation. We worked in thatdirection and we are close toachieving our target,” he said.The need for population con-trol through legislation wasone of the many issues onwhich Kumar’s JD(U) foughtwith the BJP until the two par-ties parted ways. PTI

��������/����������������.������.���������1��� ���� ����,� .-) ������� ����� ���)����� �� -2(

#�������������)�����������������%9 �3�"�� ��������:)� �

7�� ��#������������������:)� ����������)���#��������������3 ����/ � '�)���� ����������������� ���)��������� � ������ �� ���

;���7�� ��#������������� � � �7 ��3������������ ��� ���� ���)������������������� ������"� ����� �������� ����:��! � ������ �� ���

Hyderabad: Telangana ChiefMinister K Chandrasekhar Raoon Monday tore into the rulingBJP at the Centre over the free-bies debate, alleging it was“insulting” to dub welfareschemes as freebies.

Rao, the ruling TelanganaRashtra Samiti (TRS) supremo,also launched a broadsideagainst the NDA governmentat the Centre, alleging it washurting federal values, weak-ening states financially andalso centralising powers.

KCR, as Rao is known,charged the Centre with impos-ing enormous burden on thepoor and middle classes byimposing taxes on variousproducts, including milk andconstruction of graveyards.

Wading into the row overfreebies, the Chief Ministersaid, “people’s welfare is the pri-mary responsibility of the gov-ernments.” “It is blame-worthythat the Centre, without prop-erly fulfilling that responsibil-ity, is insulting by calling wel-fare schemes as freebies,” Rao

said.Prime Minister Narednra

Modi had recently said freebiesare a spoke in India’s effort tobecome self-reliant and also aburden on taxpayer and criti-cised some opposition partiesfor engaging in the politics offreebies.

Further, Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman had hitout at Delhi Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal for giving a“perverse twist” to the debateon freebies, saying the AAPleader putting education andhealth in that category is anattempt to create fear in theminds of the poor.

In his Independence Dayaddress after hoisting thenational flag at the historicGolconda Fort here, Rao saidthe makers of the nation’sConstitution put in place a fed-eral structure as they wantedthe Centre and states togetherto lead the march of progress.

“The present Central gov-ernment in Delhi is hurtingfederal values. PTI

������������ ��� �� ��� ���� ��������<9��� �����������%9=��� ����"�� ���� ��<�99�4>��� � �� �������$��!�#� !� ��������� �������������������������� �����:�� ������� �� ���

���� ������.�����+�

Brigadier Sunil Kumar Yadav,the athletic commandant of

MRC Wellington led the AzadiKa Amrit Mahotsav celebrationson Monday by felicitating ex-soldiers and organising a minimarathon for the Army per-sonnel to promote nationalintegration along with spirit ofhealthy life style. More than 500participants including womenand children took part in themarathon covering varied dis-

tances of 5 km to 10 km.Winners were issued certifi-cates and souvenirs.

The event turned out to bea memorable day for the retiredand serving personnel andtheir family members as theWellington establishment is amajor hub of peacetime Armyoperations and the bondamong the Thambis remain asunique and strong despite theyears, according to BrigadierYadav, who himself took part inthe marathon.

3��� *++ ������ ��� �� �������� �� )�,�� �� 4������

Bhubaneswar: The Odishagovernment is gearing up itspreparation to deal with a"medium flood" in theMahanadi river basin even asseveral areas across districtshave been inundated due toheavy rain over the last fewdays, officials said on Monday.

Chief Secretary SCMohapatra held a meeting dur-ing the day to review the pre-paredness of the districtadministrations to tackle thesituation, they said.

The water level in the riveris gradually rising due to down-pour in the upper catchmentareas in Chhattisgarh after adepression moved in the north-west direction, the CS said.

The situation has beenaggravated by heavy rainfall inthe western districts of thestate, he said.

“We are expecting that10.5 lakh cusec water will flowthrough Mundali barrage nearCuttack by Monday evening,which may cause a mediumflood in the delta region," thechief secretary said. Collectorsof districts concerned havebeen asked to remain on alertand monitor the situation. PTI

�&�� !�#�!���������!�!���������&�!"��� �9��&����%"��&A��� ! !�!&��$!���

Bhubaneswar: Odisha’s Covid-19 tally rose to 13,23,052 onMonday as 381 more people,including 84 children, testedpositive for the infection, ahealth bulletin said.

The Covid-19 death tollrose to 9,156 as a 55-year-oldwoman died in Rayagada.Fifty-three other patients havedied due to comorbidities sofar, the health department said.

The state had logged 488infections and a fatality onMonday. PTI

�&�� !��������7FC�������1�&�!�����C�&�!�

Page 6: :_UZR dVe e` ^R\V ^R[`c ]VRa Z_ 2^cZe `UZ Z_g ...

. ��)����&���!���2������ ������"���%�&�!���� ��������&�����!����2�����'�#��&�&�$'� ! !��!�!�& �G����&����#

����!#���%����� �!�&����41��"����3

��56'&)+' �H*�����&��

)�����������������*�������&������������������������������*����� ���� � ���� ����� �� ���� ��� �� ������ ���� �������+����� ��������������������������%����������������������

��������������� �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������+�� ����������������������������� ��������������������������������������+������������������������������������,-�����%�������������./..���*�����+��������0��������������,�123����������������(���������������� ������������� ���� 4��� *� ��� ����� .�25/ ���� ���������� � ���������������./.,�#��������������������������� ��������������������������������������������(�����������������������������������(

� ����6�����6�����7����������������#��������7�������� �������������������������������� ������������������������������������������������ ����.3�������./,1��,/�������././�

*� �� ���� ������ �� �� 89 %�������&��������������������*��������������#��(.������ �� ./..� #��� ������ ��� ���������������&���������������������������������� ��� 1-������������:�������&���������� ����� �� ���� ��������� ������ *�����#����� �� %������� ��� ���� ���� ��� ������ �� �� ������ �� ������� ��������������������������������������������������

������� ����������������������������������������� ������������(�����������������������������������������#�%���������*������� ����� ��� ������� ���� �� �������� ��� �� ������� ������������������������������������������������&������������;�� ����� � ��������� �� ��� � �������������� ��������� �������)�� ���� �� �������� �� ����������� �������� �������������������� ����� ����#��������������������������������������������������(��� ��� �� *������ #������ $������� ���� ,5-1� ��� �� <������� =��>�������?����./,2�$��������������������9�����23/���23/>�?����*�����$���<����������������������������6����������������������������������������"����������

$���+������ ������+���&�*��������� ����������������������������������������@������*������������������ ./A3�)���������(������(�������������������������������������������� �

���������������������.- ����)���������������������./A3@���(���������*�������������� ������������� ������������������ �������(����������������#�������������������������������:���������������������������9������� ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� �����:���� ���������� �������������������������������(�������������������������������������������� �����"����� ��������(�B���*�������(����������������������������������������� C������������������������������B����� ������������������������:�� ������

������������������������*����������������������� ������� �������������������������� ���&������������������#������������������������*����������������������� ����������� ��<������ ��89� ��80��������������������������������*������������������������������������������������������� ��������������������� ��������(�������������������

$���������������� �����������������(������� ������ �������������������������(�� ����������������������������$++�����������������������������������������������

����������������������������������� �������� ����#�� ������������������������������������������������ ������������������*��������(����������#������������������������������������C����� ������������������6������ �4�����$��� ������������������������������������D7�������� �������������#�<�����%������������������������ �������������������������������������� �������������:������������������������������ ����������������������� 8����6������������������������ ������������������������������E�������������������&F�� ���������������������������������������������(� �#�+���%���������������������������+��������������������(����������������������������������������� ��� ����(64$���(���������� ����<���+������������0�������6�������������� ����64$���(�������������������������������������������������������������:����������������������������������������*�������������������*���������������������+��������������������������������������(�����&������� ������������

���������������������

��������������� �����������������Sir — Maharashtra Chief Minister EknathShinde distributed portfolios, with theBharatiya Janata Party (BJP) getting sev-eral key ministries, including the Homeand Finance that will be handled byDeputy CM Devendra Fadnavis. Shindekept Urban Development and 11 otherministries with himself. had taken oath asthe chief minister on June 30 with the sup-port of the BJP. Fadnavis was sworn in ashis deputy.

In addition to Home and Finance andPlanning, Fadnavis will also handle Lawand Judiciary, Water Resources, Housing,Energy and Protocol portfolios.Anotherimportant portfolio — the RevenueDepartment — has been given to BJPleader Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, who hadquit the Congress a few months before the2019 Assembly elections to join the saffronparty.Apart from the Urban DevelopmentDepartment, CM Shinde has kept withhimself General Administration Depart-ment, Public Works Department (publicsector undertakings), Information andPublic Relations, Transport, Marketing,Social Justice, Disaster Management,Relief and Rehabilitation, Soil and WaterConservation, Environment and ClimateChange and Minority Development.Withthis it has to be seen that how it works incoming months for the benefit of theMaharashtra and its people.

Bhagwan Thadani | Mumbai

�������������������Sir — This refers to 'Spirits run high but'Chinese manjha' threat cuts deep' ( Aug14). Chinese manjha is famous for cuttingkites but this manjha is menance to birds,animals and human lives. Notwithstandingbeing banned by the government peopleyoungsters and children don't drag theirfeet and desist from buying this Chinesemanjha. They are in high spirits on theoccasion of Sankranti and some particu-lar occasions as 15 August and 26thJanuary etc. There are great and stupendouskite flying competitions and festival all over

India. They take delight and indulge in fly-ing kites with Chinese manjha imperilingthe lives of birds, animals and humans.They are not mindful of this Chinesemenance.

They dump pieces of manjha on theroads endangering the lives of birds, ani-mals and humans. Birds, animals andhumans get entangled and succumb toinjuries. Mostly birds fall prey to this man-jah menance. People and children must bemindful and thoughtful of birds , animalsand humans while flying kites. They musttake an account of their actions whetherthey are detrimental to others or not. Onemust never use ' Chinese manjha '. And alsochildren and adults must bear in mind andbe wary that they must not fly kites on theterrace or roof of the buildings withoutparapet walls.

Zubair Khan | Hyderabad

���������Sir - In India debate is seen as a law andorder problem and hence censorship isenforced to control the controversy. Theattempt to ban books stems from the clas-sificatory sense in which certain objectsand opinions does not fit in the logic ofthe order. Ideas which are considered asthreatening to the very root of the coun-try are banned on the labels being erot-ic, threatening ethncity and publicmotives. The ban on books culture threat-ens the democracy and diversity of Indiaalongwith their freedom of expression.Hence now there is a contradictionbetween correctness on one side and cre-ativity on the other.

Ashwani Tomar | Ujjain

# � # � & � % � * 5 � # � 8 8 � � �

,,,4�"%���%�&!!�40�)%!��$��03���&!�"'���������I ;. ��!�"'(��������I ����!#�!�3���&!�"'�������

������������������� �������� � !�"#""

�,

(������)�������" �!����5"'��'6&�!5)! ''678��)"#9!��

*�����,��/���//�, ��.,� ��� ������ ���!��� �!��� ����������� ��� �� !������' )� �!� � ��� ����� ������� �� ����� ��� ���!���� �����

�#����2

(�)�������$3)� ��� ��#�������� !�� ����������� �!��������������������� � ���

��''��� '-�''.����#'-�

)� )�,�� ����� (# ������ ��!� ���� �����' (�� ����� ����!� ���� ������ !� ��� ��������� ���5

�1���!�������"�$�!��� � � ���B!&��/!������ � ���!1��� �����#��!�&�� !�!�!��H � !� !&�!�#"�������$!�0#����&��%�����%���&��

��1�������������!"�����%��#��������&!'3. ��# �� ���!����%�� ��#��!����1�"����!�&

��������!�0���� !�&�!�� !����!& '!'�������""����� !������ �����&���%�� ������"���%��'�����$���������&�%%���"������!'�� !�� ������ �� �����4�����#����!����� !����������0���� ��3����!'$�����������#���� �!��$���������!���%!���� !����&!'�1��� !%���� ,E� '�!��� �%� ��&����&������ �!�&� !�!�!�����#����������""�!������!��&�$'�� ���������#����!����3�. �� �����'��%��&�!:��%���4&�������##"�����$'�%!���������&�$'��!�&�� !�!�!����#3�. ��# �� �����#��!���������&����CF,E���CF,-�!�&��!����$"�� �&����!����� "'���$"�4

�!��������CFFC3�. �����#� !�����!��&�!�#��!���� ���!��� � ���# ���� � �� ������'3� !�''���#�����"���!���%���&�� ����"�1���$'����#��#� ������#3� !��'�&����%�/ �&��!����������� �%������� �6!��"�3� . �� "'����� �%� � �� ���#��������&�����&�1�+!$��&�!�!� �.!#���� ����� �� !�������""�&� ��������������!��������� �����#3�.!#�����!�#�� ����������������!����%�������!���!"����!����CD8E3�)�%����!��"�'+�� �� �!�0���� !�&�!�� !����2����!�� ��1��#�1���&����������3�. �������!���!&��!""�&��!�0��� !����2�������������� �� �!����%�� ��/�"0!�!�$��� !�:�� ��3���� ���$��� � !�&�&�!� � !���1���!�'� ��%� �������� !�!�!��!���2��������������� ������ �!���� �!'��#� ���$���� ��� ��3� (���� �������� �&�� �!"0�&� !$���+!1��&�!� �!� .!#����!�&����!2����$ !� �� !�&�!������&��4��#�� ��!����$"'��"����������������#!"���$��� � !&���� ��#� ��� �!'� !$����+�� ���!�0���!�&�!�&�� !�!�!�3�

)�%�����!��"'�!��!������� ���� ��������'�����"�$�!���#�����,E� ���&����&�����&!'��� ������!"�#�1�������� !�������!0��������!��1������������� ��#"��'��%��!�&�� !�!�!�3��

�'(��6�&�+��*!&*�:���������

����������������������� �

SOUNDBITE

talent in Racquet sports suchas Badminton, Squash, andTable Tennis. The sports-persons from this region dis-tinguished themselves byachieving recent successes.Badminton stars PV Sindhuand Kidambi Srikanth comefrom Telangana and at leastseven squash players and fivetable tennis players come fromTamil Nadu. In North-East,Assam, having the 15th high-est population in India andalmost negligent resources incomparison to Haryana andTamil Nadu, sent seven ath-letes to Birmingham. Anda-man & Nicobar Islands witha population of four lakhs hasdone remarkably well incycling by giving Esow Alben,the first Indian cyclist to reachthe top 10 of the world rank-ings. Analysing the sports sce-nario and the performance ofathletes, it is clear that most ofthe star athletes who per-formed well come from hum-ble family backgrounds, and ifbetter facilities are provided toour youth their performancecan be improved. Reacting toa report submitted by theamicus curiae, senior advocateGopal Sankaranaryanan sug-gested that the ‘narrow’ phase‘sport’ be replaced by ‘physi-cal literacy’ which is a term“firmly established as right in

the leading sporting nations ofthe world”, the Supreme Courthas asked the Centre andStates to respond to a reportrecommending sports to beexpressly made a fundamen-tal right under Article 21 ofthe Constitution. A bench ledby Justice L. Nageshwar Raohad directed the Centre torespond to the report’s view toestablishing a ‘NationalPhysical Literacy Mission’ to“give effect to the right byestablishing and implement-ing a responsibilities matrixthat includes curriculumdesign, compliance monitor-ing and review, grievancesredress and self-correctionmechanisms” . “All schoolboards, including CBSE, ICSE,State Boards, IB, IGCSE,should be directed to ensurethat from the academic year,at least 90 minutes of everyschool day will be dedicated tofree play and games”, MrSankaranayanan’s report inthe apex court recommended.He suggested that the Stategovernment ought to ensurethat from the current acade-mic year, “all non-residentialcolleges and schools shouldcompulsorily allow access dur-ing non-working hours toneighbourhood children touse sports facilities for free,subject to basic norms of

identification, security, andcare”. The report furtheremphasized that 180 days’time should be given to edu-cational institutions to publisha ‘Physical Literacy Policy’and create a committee toaddress cases where there is afailure in responsibilities todeliver the right to physical lit-eracy of students.

Moreover, the NationalEducation Policy (NEP,2020)emphasized on sports to begiven due importance in thenewly introduced inter-disci-plinary pattern of education.Sports should be integral andmade a compulsory part ofeducation because it helps indeveloping good health, disci-pline, team spirit, and charac-ter building. A module includ-ing credits on Entrepreneur-ship, sports, life coping andcommunication skills shouldbe worked out and should bemade mandatory for all stu-dents right from high schoolonwards. The central and stategovernments should investmore and more in sports.Haryana is a living example tofollow.

(The writer is a senior journalist and Chairman,

Panwar Group ofInstitutions, Solan, HimachalPradesh. The views expressed

are personal.)

�&�!���������������� !1��&����� ���!���������&���� �� ����6�������!"����%���!�������������# !����������!"� ��!���

��.��>�.���.�+��.���.��

����(�+>�+ ��������� ��>+� �) ����>� �5���/�+�)��������>���..�+>���.����+�(+������.��)+�5�).��

.��+(�+>�+ ����

������ (+����

1��5��������6��!/��

.6�� .����� ���"��� ������ ����!�7

Indian athletes performedwell in the recently conclu-ded Birmingham Common-wealth Games (CWG) by

securing a tally of 22 gold, 16 sil-ver, and 23 bronze medals andfourth position after Australia,England and Canada. TheErnakulam-born Navyman, 25-year-old Eldhose Paul won a his-toric triple jump gold and becamethe sixth Indian to win a CWGgold since legendary MilkhaSingh won it in 1958 in 440 yards.India bagged four medals on theconcluding day of the athleticscompetition coming within 30minutes and the medal tallyfrom Athletics swelled to eight -1 gold, 4 silver, and 3 bronzewhich is the best in the CWG his-tory outside the country and onlysecond to the haul at the 2010edition in Delhi.

The Indian women’s hockeyteam overcame the stopwatchcontroversy to beat New Zealand2-1 and win the bronze medal.PV Sindhu and Lakshya Senachieved gold in women’s andmen’s singles in Badminton. Atotal of 215 athletes representedIndia in 15 disciplines. Almost allstates and Union territories wererepresented, among whichHaryana with 39 athletes had thehighest representation followedby Punjab (26), Tamil Nadu(17), and Maharashtra and Delhi(14 each).

India has its own geographyof sports. The medal prospectscome in a wide range of sports,each of which enjoys popularityin a different region. The north-ern states of Haryana and Delhihad a representation in contactsports like Judo, Wrestling, andBoxing. Haryana has excelled byproducing some of the bestIndian athletes across eventssuch as Boxing, Track & Fieldevents, and Cycling. In thewomen’s hockey team whichnarrowly missed out on anOlympic medal, eight women inthe squad of 18 were fromHaryana. Several boxers andwrestlers like Vinesh Phogat,Sakshi Malik, and JasmineLamnoriya have many medals.The southern states of Telangana,Tamil Nadu, and Kerala have a

�������#������ ��1��'������!"�&����&������!'3*!�����&@

�6)�'�3) )&�'6H�!���&�!� �&���

.���&�!�������� 4"�1�&���� 4��"!�&��� ��!�������� �������!"�!�&�� ��1��4���������!'������1����� ��!#��!�&����$��&������"1��!%��� ���� ������1���3�!��'�&����&������!'@�*!�����&3

�! 86'&&�"'�+'6�H+! �"��!�& �

��"� ����� �.���!�#!�� !��(!�� ��.��!�#!@

�6)9;'�'6H�!� ���.��&�"0!�

������#�� ��%"!# �����&�$'�� ��"���"������!&�����!"">����� �����&���"�1�!�&� !�����������!��"'3

�9�!6H� ! �+�0 �/ !�

Page 7: :_UZR dVe e` ^R\V ^R[`c ]VRa Z_ 2^cZe `UZ Z_g ...

������ ���������!��� "��� ,-�

�����0�����<�������������������3�3����������=0���������3�������������������������������������������������0�������������������������������������������������#>���3��3���������������3���

��������������������3����3��4�����,/��<�������������������3�3����������=������������3�������3�������������������

�������������������������������#>��������������

�����3���3��

C����������� *����������� ������������ ����������������,-�,5A3�������������������������������(��������������������*���������������������

���� ���������������������������������������������� �������� (���������������������+����*�����+�� ������������������������ ���������������������

*������������������������������������������������ ����������� ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������(�������� ��������������������������������� ������������������������� ��������������������������������������������������������� ���������������������������(���������(�������

���������������������������������������� �����������������*�������������������������������������������������������������������������������� ����������8������� ���������������������������*�����������������������������������,-�,5A3����������������������������������������������������������������"�������(��������������(���������������� ���������

)�����������������������������(���������� ������������������������������������!��!�� ��6������������� ����������� ���6���%������������������������������������!��!�� �������������� � ����������&�������)�������������������������������:�� ����������������������������� ������ �����������(���� �������6���%���������������������������������!��!�� ��

����� �� ������� ��������� �������� ������� �� ������<���������������� ������������������������ ������������������������������ ����������������������������� ������� ������ �������������������������6������������������ ���������������������������������������������������"��������&������������������ ����������� �#� ���������� �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������

��� �� ������ �� ������� ���� &��������� �� ������� ������������������������ ���������������� �������������������������������(���������������������������������������������������������������������6������� ��������(������������ �����������������������������������(�� ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������� �������� �����������(�������������������������������

9����� ���������������������"�����������������������������(�������������������������#����� �������������������������������*�������������������������������������������������� �������������������� ������G���������������������������������������������������������� ���������������������������������������� ��� (�������������H

)�����������������������������������������(������������������� ���������������������������

����������� ��� ����������������

������������������� �������� � !�"#""

�0,,,4�"%���%�&!!�40�) %!��$��03���&!�"'���������I ;. ��!�"'(��������I ����!#�!�3���&!�"'�������

FIRSTCOLUMN2��'����&���&�0 ���98*�:���9'��''�(

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

7����1��'��

8����������������� ��!��!�� �

��<88F48D�>�+.���+

�)���5�����+������C88�888

�+�+�� �+/3�)+���

<8<84<C����<8<C4<<��.

�����C7F�888�+�+������

�C-<�888�+�+��

+��(��.���53�)+���

<8<<4<7��.���J(��.���.�.�)���.���

�<E8�888�+�+�� �+/

How has democracyworked in India@75?By and large, it has done

well with power getting trans-ferred 17 times smoothly. So wecan pat ourselves that we havedone well as the world's largestdemocracy.

But where it could havebeen better is the status ofOpposition, which is a goodhallmark of democracy. As wecelebrate the Diamond Jubilee,it is time to look back and lookahead about the status of theOpposition, which has had itsups and downs.

When the first general elec-tions were held in 1952, theCongress swept polls at theCentre and in states. But by the1962 elections, the Communists,socialists, the Swatantra Party,and the Bharatiya Jana Sanghhad started making dents. There

were times when it played a suc-cessful campaign againstNehru's failure on Chineseaggression, Indira Gandhi'sEmergency, Rajiv Gandhi'sBofor's scam, the Mandal agita-tion, the Mandir movement, theCitizenship (Amendment) Act2019, the farmers' agitation, etc.

Currently, we have a weakand divided opposition. Somefeel that the secret of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi's suc-cess is the divided Opposition.

Since the Opposition lacksa bold plan, a new narrative,and leadership, it has no answerfor Modi versus who.Moreover, emerging regionalsatraps like Mamata Banerjee,Mayawati, and KChandrasekhar Rao disagreewith names other than theirs.

The Congress has beensteadily losing states since Modi

entered the national scene in2014. Today, a weakened Con-gress is the main Oppositionparty. It got just 52 seats to matchthe BJP's 300-plus in the 2019Lok Sabha polls. Sticking to theGandhis, the party suffers froma lack of leadership, cadre, ade-quate funding, and strategy tocheck the BJP.

The Communist Party ofIndia (CPI) was the mainOpposition party in the post-independence period. TheCommunist movement wasstrong in the erstwhile Madraspresidency and later in the lin-guistically carved out AndhraPradesh.

Even after a split in 1964, theLeft parties played a significantrole over the decades.

The Left supported the VPSingh government in 1989. Theyplayed kingmaker roles for the

two United Front governmentsduring 1996-98 and theCongress-led United ProgressiveAlliance (UPA) between 2004and 2008. The decline beganwith the 2009 elections andcontinues till now. Registering itsworst ever poll performance inover six decades, the Left Frontmanaged just five seats in the2019 polls.

At another level, Jaya-prakash Narain, Ram ManoharLohia, and others ran a social-ist stream since the mid-1970s.Their Janata movement pavedthe way for the emergence ofsome present-day leaders likeLalu Prasad Yadav (RashtriyaJanata Dal), Mulayam SinghYadav (Samajwadi Party), DeveGowda (Janata Dal-Secular),and Naveen Patnaik (BJD).

The rise of so-called lowercastes, religious identities, lin-

guistic groups, the emergence ofthe backward classes, theHindutva identity politics ofthe BJP, insurgency and auton-omy movements, and regionalparties have taken centre-stagesince the eighties.

After the 1990s, the Con-gress had to ride piggyback onregional parties as it lost the so-called upper caste votes to theBJP and the backward and Dalitcastes to the Samajwadi Partyand the BSP. It helplessly wit-nessed 'Mandal' and 'Kamandal'movements in the Hindi belt.

The Dravidian parties haddug in their heels in TamilNadu since 1967. The DMK andthe AIADMK have alternatelybeen ruling Tamil Nadu since1967. Left and Congress alter-nate in Kerala. Telangana andAndhra Pradesh have newregional satraps.

The Congress has come along way from Nehru's days.Indira Gandhi faced a strongOpposition after she imposed anEmergency in 1975. Despite alack of numbers, half a dozenOpposition leaders, includingIndrajit Gupta, Somnath Chat-terjee, and Madhu Dandavate,managed to unseat Rajiv Gandhiin the Bofors scam. PVNarasimimha Rao (PM during1991-96) was bold enough todismantle the command econ-omy and make a 360-degreeturn toward a Rightwing econ-omy despite the strong opposi-tion from within his party andOpposition parties.

Vajpayee ran his coalitiongovernment well from 1998 to2004. Still, the 2004 electionswere a battle between the BJP-led National Democratic Alli-ance (NDA) and the Congress-

led UPA. Nominating Man-mohan Singh as prime minister,Sonia Gandhi ran the govern-ment supported by Left partiesby remote control. Since Modientered the national scene, theBJP has been winning stateafter state. He represents anauthoritarian leadership as wellas a hard-line Hindu ideology.He promised change and heldout hope to the electorate.However, the South, except inKarnataka, is eluding the BJP.The superior organisationalcapacity of these regional lin-guistic parties has made themresistant to the BJP’s inroads.

At the end of 75 years, theOpposition needs a good leader,a good narrative, and cohesion.There is still time to get organ-ised and put up a spirited fight.The 2024 polls will be betweenthe BJP and the regional parties.

%#�&��$����$""��$'��(�&��#��)**��$�$�+����,����&,�+$�����%#������*�""��-$""�.��.��-��+��#��/0� �+���#��&�,$�+�"�*�&�$��

3 � ���� ���� ������� ���� ���������� �������

(The author is a senior journalist.)

2��8����.�!2��

��58�6�1����27���!#2�!3�3# Splurge in fertiliser subsidy in the lastthree years is giving jitters to poli-cy makers, especially the Unionfinance ministry, which has to foot

the bills. Fertiliser subsidy amounts to pay-ments made to manufacturers or importersto cover the excess of the cost of produc-tion/import and distribution over a lowmaximum retail price (MRP, the priceasked by the Union Government to chargefrom the farmers).

These payments are under two broadcategories viz. (i) urea, main source ofnitrogen or ‘N’ supply; (ii) phosphate or‘P’ and potash or ‘K’ fertilizers – common-ly known as non-urea fertilizers – popu-lar fertilizer in this category being di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) and muri-ate of potash (MOP).

In the case of urea, the Governmentexercises ‘mandatory’ control on MRP andreimburses the manufacturers/importersfor the excess of the cost of production(C&F landed cost in case of imports) anddistribution or ‘cost of supply’ in short overthe MRP as subsidy on a ‘unit-specific’basis under the New Pricing Scheme(NPS) in vogue since 2003. As for non-urea fertilizers, it fixes ‘uniform’ subsidieson a per nutrient basis for all manufactur-ers and importers under another schemecalled the Nutrient Based Scheme (NBS)introduced in 2010.

The two most crucial factors imping-ing on subsidy are: (i) the cost of supplyand (ii) MRP, as subsidy on each ton offertilizer produced (or imported) andsold is nothing but the difference betweenthe two.

The total quantity of fertilizer sold isthe third important factor which whenmultiplied with subsidy on each ton givesaggregate subsidy payments, as reflectedin the budget.

India is overwhelmingly dependent onimports for meeting its fertilizer require-ments, the extent of dependence in eachfertilizer segment being Phosphate (90 percent), Potash (100 per cent), Urea (33 percent), Gas (50 per cent). Their landed coston Indian shores is determined by an inter-play of global demand and supply forces.

Then, there are add-ons such as cus-toms duty (CD), port handling and inter-nal transportation cost in case of fertiliz-er import in finished form and ‘process-ing cost’ (a catch all phrase for raw mate-rial or RM cost , interest, depreciation,return on equity; overheads, includingwages and salaries, packaging, etc.,) in casewhere fertilizer is produced in Indiausing imported RM. Then, there are taxesand duties.

Apart from CD on imports of non-urea fertilizers and RMs @5 per cent(except rock phosphate and sulphurwhich attract 2.5 per cent), all fertilizersattract GST (Goods and Services Tax) @5 per cent.

Phosphoric acid and ammonia (RMsused for making non-urea fertilizers)

��� ���������� ��!�� �� ��!���� !���� ����!�����!����!��� ��� ���� ���� � ������ ������ �������

(The author is a policy analyst.)

attract GST @ 12 per cent and 18per cent respectively. Natural gas (itis outside GST) attracts VAT whichcan go up to a high of 21 per cent,say in Uttar Pradesh.

In view of the above, the costof supply is largely beyond the con-trol of manufacturers andimporters. As for MRP, here again,given the political fallout of anyhike, particularly urea, no govern-ment dares touch it. How crucialits role is, may be gauged from thefollowing:

In his budget speech for 1998-99, Yashwant Sinha, finance min-ister under the VajpayeeGovernment, had proposed anincrease of Rs 1,000 per ton in theMRP of urea. However, in a bid toavoid giving an impression that thehike was big, he presented theincrease as Re 1 per kg instead ofexpressing it on a per ton basis,which is the normal practice. Butthe trick didn’t work. Sinha wasforced to roll back 50 per cent ofthe hike on the very next day andbalance in less than two weeks.

Believe it or not, for almosttwo decades since 2002, therehas been no increase in ureaMRP (sans a marginal 10 per centhike in 2010). Even for non-ureafertilizers, although the NBSallows for an increase in their sell-ing prices, the Modi Governmenthas de facto put a freeze on themas well since April 2021.

Hamstrung by the above fac-tors, successive governments havehelplessly watched fertilizer subsi-dies rising continuously which hasacquired alarming proportions inrecent years. Only in 2008-09, ithad crossed �100,000 crore mark.Now, we see this happening for

three consecutive years. During2020-21 and 2021-22, the subsidyoutgo was �138,000 crore and �162,000 crore, respectively.During 2022-23, it is expected totouch the �250,000 crore mark.

What is the road ahead? Theanswer is hidden in an analysis bythe chief economic advisor (CEA)in the Economic Survey FY 2015-16. According to it, as much as 24per cent of the subsidy is spent oninefficient producers, 41 per centis diverted to non-agriculturaluses, including smuggling toneighboring countries, and 24 percent is consumed by larger, pre-sumably richer farmers. Thatleaves a tiny 11 per cent for smalland marginal farmers who shouldbe getting the maximum benefit ofthe subsidy.

Look at diversion of urea whichcould be as high as 30 per cent cur-rently notwithstanding the muchtrumpeted neem coating (since2015-16, all manufacturers/importers are required to do it).Out of total annual sales of 35 mil-lion tons, the quantity that getsdiverted hence, doesn’t deservesubsidy works out to around 10.5million ton. Taking the averagesubsidy per ton of �71,400/-(250,000/3.5), eliminating diversioncan yield savings of about Rs75,000 crore.

From total sales, deduct thequantity diverted, we get the quan-tum of urea actually used by thefarmers. This works out to 24.5million tons (35 – 10.5). Of this,consumption by medium and largefarmers (land holding over 2hectare) is about 25 per cent or 6.1million tons. If they are excludedfrom the subsidy scheme, this will

result in savings of about �44,000crore (0.61×71,400).

There is tremendous scope forimproving efficiency of fertilizeruse. A 10 per cent increase in ureause efficiency translates to savingsof 2.45 million tons (24.5x0.1).Taking subsidy of �71,400/- oneach ton, this will yield savings ofabout �17,500 crore(0.245x71,400).

All put together, it is possibleto garner savings of �136,500 crore(75,000 + 44,000 + 17,500). But, toget there, the government willrequire to embrace far reachingpricing and subsidy reforms.

The Government should stoprouting subsidies through manu-facturers; instead, it may be givenas direct benefit transfer (DBT)only to the small and marginalfarmers. All suppliers should befree to sell fertilizers at marketdetermined prices. Urea importshould be freed even as import ofnon-urea fertilizers is already free.

This will ensure competitionamongst suppliers and survival ofthe fittest, i.e., those who can sup-ply at low cost. With no subsidizedfertilizer in the market (as subsidygoes to farmer’s account), diversionwill be completely eliminated.Moreover, in view of MRP reflect-ing fertilizer’s true cost, farmers willuse them efficiently.

The Government also needsto review the taxes and duties. Itmakes no sense to impose tax onfertilisers only to be reimbursedas an additional subsidy. Customsduty on all fertiliser importsand RMs used in their makingshould go. Gas should be broughtunder GST and put under fiveper cent slab.

Page 8: :_UZR dVe e` ^R\V ^R[`c ]VRa Z_ 2^cZe `UZ Z_g ...

������������������� �������� � !�"#"" ����"��4

���� �������/�K)/+���L

Anastasiia Aleksandrova does-n't even look up from herphone when the thunder of

nearby artillery booms through themodest home the 12-year-old shareswith her grandparents on the out-skirts of Sloviansk in easternUkraine.

With no one her age left in herneighborhood and classes only onlinesince Russia's invasion, video gamesand social media have taken the placeof the walks and bike rides she onceenjoyed with friends who have sincefled.

“She communicates less and goesout walking less. She usually stays athome playing games on her phone,”Anastasiia's grandmother, OlenaAleksandrova, 57, said of the shy,lanky girl who likes to paint and hasa picture of a Siberian tiger hangingon the wall of her bedroom.

Anastasiia's retreat into digitaltechnology to cope with the isolationand stress of war that rages on thefront line just seven miles (12 kilo-meters) away is increasingly commonamong young people in Ukraine'sembattled Donetsk region.

With cities largely emptied afterhundreds of thousands have evacu-ated to safety, the young people whoremain face loneliness and boredomas painful counterpoints to the fearand violence Moscow has unleashedon Ukraine.

“I don't have anyone to hang outwith. I sit with the phone all day,”Anastasiia said from the bank of alake where she sometimes swims with

her grandparents. “My friends left andmy life has changed. It became worsedue to this war.”

More than 6 million Ukrainians,overwhelmingly women and chil-dren, have fled the country and mil-lions more are internally displaced,according to the U.N. Refugee agency.

The mass displacement hasupended countless childhoods, notonly for those having to start a newlife after seeking safety elsewhere, butalso for the thousands who stayedbehind.

In the industrial city of Krama-torsk, seven miles (12 kilometers)south of Sloviansk, the friendship bet-ween 19-year-old Roman Kovalenkoand 18-year-old Oleksandr Pruzhynahas become closer as all of their otherfriends have left the city.

The two teenagers walk togeth-er through the mostly deserted city,sitting to talk on park benches. Bothdescribed being cut off from the sociallives they enjoyed before the war.

“It's a completely different feelingwhen you go outside. There is almostno one on the streets, I have the feel-ing of being in an apocalypse,” saidPruzhyna, who lost his job at a bar-ber shop after the invasion and nowspends most of his time at home play-ing computer games.

"I feel like everything I wasgoing to do became impossible,everything collapsed in an instant.”

Of the roughly 275,000 childrenage 17 or younger in the Donetskregion before Russia's invasion, just40,000 remain, the province's region-al governor Pavlo Kyrylenko told TheAssociated Press last week.

According to official figures, 361children have been killed in Ukrainesince Russia launched its war on Feb.24, and 711 others have been injured.

Authorities are urging all remain-ing families in Donetsk, but especiallythose with children, to evacuateimmediately as Russian forces con-

tinue to bombard civilian areas asthey press for control of the region.

A special police force has beentasked with individually contactinghouseholds with children and urgingthem to flee to safer areas, Kyrylenkosaid.

“As a father, I feel that children

should not be in the Donetsk region,”he said. “This is an active war zone.”

In Kramatorsk, 16-year-old SofiaMariia Bondar spends most days sit-ting in the shoe section of a clothingshop where her mother works.

A pianist and singer who wantsto study art at university after she fin-

ishes her final year of high school,Sofia Mariia said there is “nowhere togo and nothing to do” now that herfriends have left.

“I wish I could go back in timeand make everything like it wasbefore. I understand that most of myfriends who left will never come back,no matter what happens in thefuture," she said. “Of course it's verysad that I can't have all the fun likeother teenagers do, but I can't do any-thing about it, only cope with it.”

Her mother, Viktoriia, said thatsince the city has mostly emptied out,she manages to sell only one or twoitems per week.

But with the danger of shellingand soldiers plying the streets, herdaughter is no longer allowed to goout alone and spends most of her timeby her mother's side in the store orat their home on the outskirts ofKramatorsk where the threat of rock-et strikes is lower.

“I keep her near me all the time so that in case somethinghappens, at least we will be together,”she said.

Of the roughly 18,000 school-agechildren in Kramatorsk beforeRussia's invasion, only around 3,200remain, including 600 preschoolers,said the city's head of military admin-istration, Oleksandr Goncharenko.

While officials continue to pushresidents to evacuate and provideinformation on transportation andaccommodation, “parents cannot beforced to leave with their children,”Goncharenko said. When the schoolsemester begins on Sept. 1, he saidlessons will be offered online for those

who stay. In Kramatorsk's verdant but

nearly empty Pushkin Park, RodionKucherian, 14, performed tricks onhis scooter on an otherwise desert-ed set of ramps, quarter pipes andgrind rails.

Before the war, he said, he and hisfriends would do tricks in the bustlingpark alongside many other children.But now his only connection to hisfriends — who have fled to countrieslike Poland and Germany — is onsocial media.

He's taken up other solitaryactivities just to keep himself busy, hesaid.

“It's very sad not to see myfriends. I haven't seen my best friendfor more than four months," he said.“I started cycling at home so I don'tmiss them as much."

In Sloviansk, 12-year-oldAnastasiia said she can't rememberthe last time she played with some-one her own age, but she's made somenew friends through the games sheplays online.

“It's not the same. It's way betterto go outside to play with yourfriends than just talking online,” shesaid.

Her best friend, Yeva, used to liveon her street, but has evacuatedwith her family to Lviv in westernUkraine.

Anastasiia wears a silver pendantaround her neck — half of a brokenheart with the word “Love” engravedon the front — and Yeva, she said,wears the other half.

“I never take it off, and Yeva does-n't either,” she said.

:�������������������.��9 �����������������/�������

���� ���)�

South Korean President YoonSuk Yeol on Monday offered

“audacious” economic assis-tance to North Korea if it aban-dons its nuclear weapons pro-gramme while avoiding harshcriticism of the North days afterit threatened “deadly” retaliationover the COVID-19 outbreak itblames on the South.

In a speech celebrating theend of Japan's colonisation ofthe Korean Peninsula, Yoonalso called for better ties withJapan, calling the two countriespartners in navigating chal-lenges to freedom and sayingtheir shared values will helpthem overcome historical griev-ances linked to Japan's brutalcolonial rule before the end ofWorld War II.

Yoon's televised speech onthe liberation holiday came daysafter North Korea claimed awidely disputed victory overCOVID-19 but also blamedSeoul for the outbreak. TheNorth insists leaflets and otherobjects flown across the borderby activists spread the virus, anunscientific claim Seouldescribes as “ridiculous.”

North Korea has a history ofdialing up pressure on the Southwhen it doesn't get what itwants from the United States,and there are concerns thatNorth Korea's threat portends aprovocation, which could pos-sibly be a nuclear or major mis-sile test or even border skir-mishes. Some experts say theNorth may stir up tensionsaround joint military exercisesthe United States and SouthKorea start next week.

Yoon, a conservative whotook office in May, said NorthKorea's denuclearisation wouldbe key for peace in the regionand the world. If North Koreahalts its nuclear weapons devel-opment and genuinely com-mits to a process of denucleari-

sation, the South will respondwith huge economic rewardsthat would be provided in phas-es, Yoon said.

Yoon's proposal wasn'tmeaningfully different from pre-vious South Korean offers thathave already been rejected byNorth Korea, which has beenaccelerating its efforts to expandits nuclear weapons and ballis-tic missiles programme leaderKim Jong Un sees as hisstrongest guarantee of survival.

“We will implement a large-scale programme to providefood, providing assistance forestablishing infrastructure forthe production, transmissionand distribution of electricalpower, and carry out projects tomodernize ports and airports tofacilitate trade,” Yoon said.

“We will also help improveNorth Korea's agricultural pro-duction, provide assistance tomodernize its hospitals andmedical infrastructure, and carryout initiatives to allow for inter-national investment and finan-cial support,” he added, insistingthat such programmes would“significantly” improve North

Korean lives.Inter-Korean ties have dete-

riorated amid a stalemate in larg-er nuclear negotiations betweenWashington and Pyongyang,which derailed in early 2019 overdisagreements in exchanging arelease of crippling U.S.-ledsanctions against the North andthe North's disarmament steps.

North Korea has ramped upits testing activity in 2022,launching more than 30 ballis-tic missiles so far, including itsfirst demonstrations of inter-continental ballistic missilessince 2017. Experts say Kim isintent on exploiting a favourableenvironment to push forwardhis weapons programme, withthe UN Security Council divid-ed and effectively paralysedover Russia's war on Ukraine.

North Korea's unusuallyfast pace in weapons demon-strations also underscorebrinkmanship aimed at forcingWashington to accept the idea ofNorth Korea as a nuclear powerand negotiating badly econom-ic benefits and security conces-sions from a position of strength,experts say. The US and South

Korean governments have alsosaid the North is gearing up toconduct its first nuclear test sinceSeptember 2017, when itclaimed to have detonated anuclear warhead designed for itsICBMs.

In face of growing NorthKorean threats, Yoon has vowedto bolster South Korea's defensein conjunction with its alliancewith the United States and alsostrengthen security ties withJapan, which is also alarmed bythe North's nuclear and ballis-tic weapons programme.

South Korea's relations withJapan declined to post-war lowsover the past several years as thecountries allowed their griev-ances over history to extend toother areas including trade andmilitary cooperation.

While Yoon has called forfuture-oriented cooperationwith Japan, history may contin-ue to pose an obstacle to rela-tions. The countries have strug-gled to negotiate a solution afterJapanese companies rejectedSouth Korean court rulings inrecent years to compensateSouth Koreans who were subject

to wartime industrial slavery, anissue that could cause furtherdiplomatic rupture if it results inthe forced sales of the compa-nies' local assets.

“In the past, we had tounshackle ourselves fromImperial Japan's political controland defend our freedom. Today,Japan is our partner as we facecommon threats that challengethe freedom of global citizens,”Yoon said. “When South Koreaand Japan move toward a com-mon future and when the mis-sion of our times align, based onour shared universal values, itwill also help us solve the his-torical problems that existbetween our two countries.”

While Washington has saidit would push for additionalsanctions if North Korea con-ducts another nuclear test, theprospects for meaningful puni-tive measures are unclear. Chinaand Russia recently vetoed US-sponsored resolutions at theUN Security Council that wouldhave increased sanctions on theNorth over its ballistic missiletesting this year.

North Korea's state mediasaid Monday that Kimexchanged messages withRussian President VladimirPutin and celebrated theirstrengthening ties.

Kim said the countries' rela-tions were forged by the Sovietcontributions in Japan's WorldWar II defeat and that they werestrengthening their “strategicand tactical cooperation andsupport and solidarity” in theface of enemies' military threats.Putin said closer ties between thecountries would help bring sta-bility to the region, the North'sofficial Korean Central NewsAgency said.

North Korea has repeated-ly blamed the United States forthe crisis in Ukraine, claimingthe West's “hegemonic policy”justified Russia's offensive inUkraine to protect itself.

���� ����

Philippine officials are con-sidering a US offer to provide

heavy-lift helicopters like itswidely used Chinooks afterManila scrapped a deal to buymilitary choppers from Russiadue to fears of Western sanc-tions, the Philippine ambas-sador to Washington said onMonday.

Then-President RodrigoDuterte approved the cancella-tion of the signed deal to buy 16Russian Mi-17 helicopters due toconcerns over possible Westernsanctions, which could hamperfast bank transfers of the incomeFilipino workers send homefrom the US and other Westerncountries, Ambassador JoseRomualdez said.

Romualdez said Washing-

ton did not pressure thePhilippines to drop the 12.7-bil-lion-peso (USD 227 million)deal with the Russians.

But following Russia's inva-sion of Ukraine in February,countries that would purchaseRussian equipment could faceWestern sanctions, he said.

“I think it was really prudentspecially for President Duterte toapprove the cancellation of thatcontract because it can save usa lot of trouble,” Romualdez toldan online news conferenceorganised by Manila-based for-

eign correspondents.The US offer to sell Boeing

CH-47 Chinooks was discussedas early as last year by formerPhilippine Defense SecretaryDelfin Lorenzana and hisAmerican counterpart, LloydAustin, in Washington evenbefore Duterte was persuaded bykey Cabinet members to cancelthe deal, Romualdez said.

One of Duterte's Cabinetmembers, Finance SecretarySonny Dominguez, warnedDuterte then that Western coun-tries may withhold assistancethat could help the Philippinesdeal with and recover fromcoronavirus outbreaks, twoPhilippine officials told TheAssociated Press on condition ofanonymity because of a lack ofauthority to discuss the issuepublicly.

���� .������)�

Verdicts in the Dutch trial inabsentia of three Russians

and a Ukrainian charged withinvolvement in the downing ofMalaysia Airlines flight MH17are expected to be delivered onNov. 17, the court announcedMonday.

The court said the date is“provisional” and that readingthe verdict will likely take halfa day.

The marathon trial openedon March 9, 2020, at a top-security courtroom nearAmsterdam's Schiphol, the air-port the doomed KualaLumpur-bound flight set offfrom on July 17, 2014. It wasshot down over war-torn east-ern Ukraine hours later, killingall 298 passengers and crew.

An international team ofinvestigators and prosecutorsnamed four suspects in thedowning: Russians Igor Girkin,Sergey Dubinskiy and OlegPulatov as well as UkrainianLeonid Kharchenko. They arecharged with murdering allthose who died.

None of the suspects hasbeen arrested or sent to theNetherlands, so their trial wentahead in their absence. OnlyPulatov is represented by ateam of defense lawyers, whosay he insists he is innocent.

Prosecutors in Decemberurged the judges to sentence allfour men to life imprison-ment.

The trial is being held inthe Netherlands because abouttwo-thirds of those killed wereDutch.

���� *)���)�K����/�L

They hail from their states'most prominent Republican

families. They have been amongthe GOP's sharpest critics of for-mer President Donald Trump.And after the Jan. 6 insurrec-tion, they supported hisimpeachment.

But for all their similarities,the political fortunes of U.S. Sen.Lisa Murkowski of Alaska andU.S. Rep. Liz Cheney ofWyoming are poised to divergeon Tuesday when they're eachon the ballot in closely watchedprimary elections.

Cheney faces dauntingprospects in her effort to fendoff the Trump-backed HarrietHageman, increasingly look-ing at a life beyond Capitol Hillthat could include a possiblepresidential campaign.Murkowski, however, is expect-ed to advance from her prima-ry and is already planning tocompete in the November gen-eral election.

The anticipated outcomes atleast partially stem from thenuanced politics of each state.Wyoming is a Republicanstronghold, delivering Trumphis strongest victory of anystate in the 2020 campaign.Alaska, meanwhile, has a historyof rewarding candidates with anindependent streak.

But Murkowski enjoys anadditional advantage in the wayelections are being conducted inAlaska this year. Winner-take-all party primaries, like the oneCheney is facing, have beenreplaced by a voter-approvedprocess in which all candidatesare listed together. The four whoget the most votes, regardless ofparty affiliation, advance to thegeneral election in whichranked voting will be used.

Murkowski benefits fromavoiding a Republican primary,“which she would have had a

zero percent — I mean zero per-cent — chance of winning,” saidAlaska pollster Ivan Moore.

Murkowski has 18 chal-lengers in her primary, themost prominent beingRepublican Kelly Tshibaka,whom Trump has endorsed.

The Alaska DemocraticParty, meanwhile, has endorsedPat Chesbro, a retired educator.

In an interview, Murkowskiinsisted she would be among thecandidates advancing from theprimary and said her successrequires, in part, coalition build-ing. "That's kind of my strongsuit, that's what I do," she said.

For his part, Trump hasbeen harsh in his assessment ofMurkowski. At a rally inAnchorage last month withTshibaka and Sarah Palin,whom he's endorsed forAlaska's only House seat, hecalled Murkowski “the worst. Irate her No. 1 bad."

Trump participated in atelerally for Tshibaka onThursday while Murkowskimingled with supporters at acampaign office opening inJuneau, which boasted a spreadthat included moose chili andsmoked salmon dip. Murkowskisaid Trump isn't a factor in thecampaign she's running.

He is going to do what he'sgoing to do,” she said. But shetold supporters the campaignwill be challenging.

Murkowski was censuredby Alaska Republican Partyleaders last year over numerousgrievances, including theimpeachment vote and speak-ing critically of Trump and hersupport of Interior SecretaryDeb Haaland's nomination.

Tuckerman Babcock, a for-mer state Republican Partychair who is running for stateSenate, said Murkowski haslost the support of many AlaskaRepublicans, which he called a“political reality over a record ofmany years.”

� /���� ����� 4���� �������������� ��� ���!�����������

�)������)���2�������''����������*,���������� �

����� ��*��

China on Monday said Sri Lanka hasallowed its satellite and missile track-

ing ship to berth at the Hambantota porton Tuesday, but declined to reveal detailsof talks with Colombo leading to thebankrupt island's government reversingits earlier stand to defer the high-tech ves-sel's entry.

“As you said, Sri Lanka has given YuanWang-5 the permission to berth at itsport," Chinese Foreign Ministryspokesman Wang Wenbin told a mediabriefing here, responding to a questionabout Colombo giving its nod for the shipto berth at Hambantota Port days afterasking it to defer the visit following report-ed concerns expressed by India and theUS. Wang, however, declined to go intodetails of Beijing's talks with Colombo inrelation to the berthing of the ship.

“As for the specific questions that you

raised, we have mentioned China's posi-tion quite a few times," Wang said whenasked about what were the “consultations”that were held and the “concerns”addressed.

After Sri Lanka asked it to defer theentry of the ship, China on August 8 react-ing angrily said it was "completely unjus-tified" for certain countries to cite the so-called “security concerns” to pressureColombo and "grossly interfere" in itsinternal affairs.

Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry state-ment on August 13 said that Colomboheld extensive consultations about “cer-tain concerns”. The Sri Lankan ForeignMinistry in its statement explained thatit had on August 5 requested the Chineseembassy that the visit of the Chinese shipscheduled between August 11 and 17 toHambantota port be deferred "in light ofcertain concerns raised with the ministry"until the conduct of further "consultationson the matter." “The government has since

engaged in extensive consultations at ahigh level through diplomatic channelswith all parties concerned, with a view toresolving the matter in a spirit of friend-ship, mutual trust, and constructive dia-logue, taking into account the interests ofall parties concerned, and in line with theprinciple of sovereign equality of states,"the statement said.

The Chinese embassy on August 12applied for clearance of the new dates —from August 16 to 22 — "for replenish-ment purposes of the vessel".

"Having considered all material inplace", the clearance to the Chineseembassy "was conveyed for the deferredarrival of the vessel between August 16and 22", the Sri Lankan statement said.

The ship with some 2,000 sailors onboard with facilities to track satellites andintercontinental missiles will berth at theHambantota Port which China has takenfor a 99-year lease as a debt swap.

��%&"�%�!&#�&�!#"%���$#"� �,%#��"& ""�%#��%'��#!0���%��!##���0 "#")9"&#�#"���#

( �"���������'���)�� �"��������!%�������!����#�+����!��&�!"

��!&!�:�.� �,� %;��.)�0�%#%0�$"0%&'�%<!�'!&#$.#.�!�

Page 9: :_UZR dVe e` ^R\V ^R[`c ]VRa Z_ 2^cZe `UZ Z_g ...

������������������� �������� � !�"#"" ����"��5

�����������)�K����M������L

The Whanganui river is surg-ing into the ocean, fattened

from days of winter rain andyellowed from the earth and claythat has collapsed into its sides.Logs and debris hurtle past asdusk looms.

Sixty-one-year-old TahiNepia is calmly paddling hisoutrigger canoe, called a wakaama in his Indigenous Maorilanguage, as it is buffeted fromside to side.

Before venturing out, hefirst asks permission from hisancestors in a prayer. He says hisancestors inhabit the river andeach time he dips his paddleinto the water he touches them.

“You are giving them amassage,” Nepia says. “That'show we see that river. It's a partof us.”

In 2017, New Zealandpassed a groundbreaking lawgranting personhood status tothe Whanganui River.

The law declares that theriver is a living whole, from themountains to the sea, incorpo-rating all its physical and meta-physical elements.

The law was part of a set-tlement with the WhanganuiIwi, comprising Maori from anumber of tribes who havelong viewed the river as a livingforce.

Five years after the law waspassed, The Associated Pressfollowed the 290-kilometre riverupstream to find out what itsstatus means to those whoselives are entwined with itswaters.

For many, its enhancedstanding has come to reflect awider rebirth of Maori culture

and a chance to reverse gener-ations of discrimination againstMaori and degradation of theriver.

Whanganui Maori have asaying: Ko au te awa, ko te awako au: I am the river, and theriver is me.

Nepia, a caretaker at aMaori immersion school, isamong a group of expert wakaama paddlers who have beentraining for the World SprintChamps in Britain.

He learned to swim whenhis uncle threw him in the riverat age 8. He first paddled on theriver in a traditional Maorilong canoe in 1979, when heand about 20 co-workers at aslaughterhouse got together fora regatta on Waitangi Day, com-memorating the 1840 treatysigned between the British andMaori.

Considered New Zealand'sfounding document, the Treatyof Waitangi has long been asource of contention.

For 30 years, New Zealand'sgovernment has been negotiat-ing with tribes that broughtgrievances under the treaty,which guaranteed sovereigntyover their traditional lands andfisheries.

The Whanganui River dealis among dozens of settlementsforged in recent years.

At its mouth in the town ofWhanganui, the river is per-manently discoloured from theerosion that has come fromturning what was once forestalong the banks into farmland.The excessive sediment suffo-cates fish and plant life.

“We need to grow treesinstead of chopping themdown,” Nepia says. “The watershouldn't be like that.”

������ ��+��

After last-minute chaos that could fore-shadow a court challenge, Kenya's electoral

commission chairman on Monday declaredDeputy President William Ruto the winner ofthe close presidential election over five-timecontender Raila Odinga, a triumph for the manwho shook up politics by appealing to strug-gling Kenyans on economic terms and not ontraditional ethnic ones.

Ruto received 50.49% of the votes with morethan 7.1 million, the chairman said, whileOdinga received 48.85% with more than 6.9 mil-lion in last Tuesday's peaceful election. But justbefore the declaration, four of the seven elec-toral commissioners told journalists they couldnot support the “opaque nature” of the finalphase of the vote-verification process.

“We cannot take ownership of the result thatis going to be announced,” vice chair JulianaCherera said, without giving details. At the dec-laration venue, police surged to impose calmamid shouting and scuffles before electoral com-mission chair Wafula Chebukati announced theofficial results — and said the two commis-sioners still with him had been injured.

The bizarre scene played out as a choir atthe venue continued to sing.

The sudden split in the commission came

minutes after Odinga's chief agent said theycould not verify the results and made allegationsof “electoral offenses” without giving details orevidence. Odinga didn't come to the venue.Now Kenyans wait to see whether Odinga willagain go to court to contest the election resultsin a country crucial to regional stability. Thisis likely the final try for the 77-year-old long-time opposition figure backed this time by for-mer rival and outgoing President UhuruKenyatta, who fell out with his deputy, Ruto,years ago.

“ANY results IEBC Chairman WafukaChebukati announces are INVALID because hehad no quorum of commissioners to hold a ple-nary and make such a weighty decision. Theongoing process at Bomas is now ILLEGAL,”Odinga spokesman Makau Mutua asserted ina tweet. “It is not over until it is over,” Odinga'srunning mate Martha Karua, a former justiceminister, tweeted.

Candidates or others have seven days to fileany challenge over the election results. TheSupreme Court will have 14 days to rule.

Streets across Kenya that were alreadycrowded with expectant supporters exploded,in places with jubilation, in others with anger.Shouting “No Raila, no peace,” Odinga sup-porters burned tires in the crowded Nairobineighborhood of Kibera as night fell.

����� ��*��.�(�

China resorted to more high-inten-sity military drills around Taiwanon Monday as one more Ameri-

can Congressional delegation visited theself-ruled Island claimed by Beijing,challenging its 'one China' policy.

The new drills come less than a fort-night after Beijing launched unprece-dented war games in retaliation to USHouse Speaker Pelosi's visit to Taiwan,sparking fears of a Chinese invasion ofthe breakaway island.

The US Congressional delegation ledby Massachusetts Democratic Senator EdMarkey arrived in Taipei on an unan-nounced two-day visit on Sunday, closeon the heels of Pelosi's visit on August 2,the highest-level visit by US official in 25years, which riled Beijing.

The five-member delegation is vis-iting the self-governing island to "reaffirmthe United States' support for Taiwan" and"will encourage stability and peace acrossthe Taiwan Strait," a spokesperson forMarkey said in a statement.

The delegation includes DemocraticRepresentative John Garamendi, AlanLowenthal and Don Beyer, andRepublican Representatives AumuaAmata Coleman Radewagen, CNNreported.

In response to Pelosi's visit, Chinaheld its biggest military drills in the busyTaiwan Strait from August 4 to 10.

On Monday, China announced yetanother round of military drills in retal-iation to the visit by another US delega-tion.

Senior Colonel Shi Yi, the spokes-person for the Eastern Theater Com-mand of the Chinese People's LiberationArmy (PLA), said that his Command hasorganised joint combat-readiness secu-rity patrol and combat training exercis-es involving troops of multiple servicesand arms in waters and airspace aroundTaiwan Island on Monday.

According to Shi, this is a solemndeterrent to the United States and theTaiwan authorities, which have repeatedlyplayed political tricks and underminedpeace and stability in the Taiwan Straits,

a PLA press release said.The troops' Command will take all

necessary measures to firmly safeguardChina's national sovereignty and thepeace and stability in the Taiwan Straits,it said.

The group led by Markey met withTaiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen onMonday.

Reacting to the US Congressionaldelegation, Chinese Foreign Ministryspokesman Wang Wenbin told a mediabriefing that it is a gross violation of the'one China' policy.

A handful of US politicians are “col-luding” with Taiwan separatist forces andattempting to challenge the 'one China'principle.

“They are overestimating them-selves and doomed to fail,” he said.

The US delegation members will alsomeet Foreign Minister Joseph Wu dur-ing the visit, and will also hold discussionswith the Taiwanese parliament's ForeignAffairs and National Defense committeeon security and trade issues, Taiwan'sMinistry of Foreign Affairs said.

The Taiwanese foreign ministryadded that it sincerely welcomed the del-egation, and thanked them for demon-strating the US' strong support towardTaiwan despite escalating tensions withBeijing.

"Authoritarian #China can't dictatehow democratic #Taiwan makes friends,wins support, stays resilient & shines likea beacon of freedom," Wu wrote in a poston the ministry's Twitter account.

Markey's spokesperson said the del-egation "will meet with elected leadersand members of the private sector to dis-cuss shared interests including reducingtensions in the Taiwan Strait and expand-ing economic cooperation, includinginvestments in semiconductors."

On Sunday, the Taiwanese DefenceMinistry tweeted that 6 People'sLiberation Army Navy (PLAN) vesselsand 22 PLA aircraft around Taiwan's sur-rounding region were detected and itsarmed forces have monitored the situa-tion and responded to these activities withaircraft, naval vessels, and land-basedmissile systems.

���� ����/�/

Acourt in military-ruledMyanmar convicted the

country's ousted leader, AungSan Suu Kyi, on more corruptioncharges on Monday, adding sixyears to her earlier 11-yearprison sentence, a legal officialsaid.

The trial was held behindclosed doors, with no access formedia or the public, and herlawyers were forbidden by a gagorder from revealing informa-tion about the proceedings.

In the four corruption casesdecided Monday, Suu Kyi wasalleged to have abused her posi-tion to rent public land at belowmarket prices and to have builta residence with donationsmeant for charitable purposes.She received sentences of threeyears for each of the four counts,but the sentences for three ofthem will be served concur-rently, giving her a total of sixmore years in prison.

She denied all the charges,and her lawyers are expected toappeal.

She already had been sen-tenced to 11 years in prison onsedition, corruption and othercharges at earlier trials after themilitary ousted her elected gov-ernment and detained her inFebruary 2021.

Analysts say the numerouscharges against her and herallies are an attempt to legitimizethe military's seizure of powerwhile eliminating her from pol-itics before the military holds anelection it has promised fornext year.

Suu Kyi and her co-defen-dants have denied all the alle-gations and their lawyers areexpected to file appeals in thecoming days, said the legal offi-cial, who asked not to be iden-tified because he was not autho-rized to release information andfeared punishment by theauthorities.

Other top members of SuuKyi's National League forDemocracy party and her gov-ernment have also been arrest-

ed and imprisoned, and theauthorities have suggested theymight dissolve the party beforethe next election.

The army seized power anddetained Suu Kyi on Feb. 1, 2021,the day when her party wouldhave started a second-five yearterm in office after it won a land-slide victory in a November 2020general election. The army saidit acted because there had beenmassive voting fraud, but inde-pendent election observers didnot find any major irregularities.

The army's takeover sparkedpeaceful nationwide streetprotests that security forcesquashed with lethal force, trig-gering armed resistance thatsome U.N. Experts now char-acterize as civil war. The militarygovernment has been accused ofhuman rights abuses includingarbitrary arrests and killings, tor-ture, and military sweeps thatinclude air attacks on civiliansand the burning of entire vil-lages.

Suu Kyi, 77, has been theface of opposition to militaryrule in Myanmar for more thanthree decades. She won the1991 Nobel Peace Prize whileunder house arrest.

Her five years as its civiliangovernment leader were markedby repression and military dom-inance even though it wasMyanmar's most democraticperiod since a 1962 coup.

Suu Kyi has been chargedwith a total of 11 counts underthe Anti-Corruption Act, witheach count punishable by up to15 years in prison and a fine.

In Monday's verdicts, the

legal official said Suu Kyireceived a three-year prisonsentence for building a residencefor herself in Naypyitaw, alleged-ly with money donated for acharitable foundation namedafter her mother that shechaired.

She received a three-yearsentence for allegedly takingadvantage of her position to rentproperty in Yangon, the coun-try's biggest city, for the samefoundation, the official said.

The two other cases decid-ed Monday involved parcels ofland in Naypyitaw for which sheallegedly abused her authority torent at below market prices forthe foundation. She received asentence of three years for eachof those cases.

The three cases pertainingto offenses in Naypyitaw are tobe served concurrently.

The former mayor ofNaypyitaw, Myo Aung, was a co-defendant in both cases relatingto granting permits to rent theland. Ye Min Oo, the former vicemayor, is a co-defendant in onecase and Min Thu, a formermember of the NaypyitawDevelopment Committee, inthe other. Each received sen-tences of three years.

The government Anti-Corruption Commission, whichfiled the case, had alleged thatthe rental fees agreed upon bythe Naypyitaw DevelopmentCommittee were lower than therate fixed by the Ministry ofPlanning and Finance, so thatthe rental agreement deprivedthe state of revenue it shouldhave received.

�������

Polish officials were markingtheir nation's Armed Forces

Day holiday on Monday along-side the US army commanderin Europe and regular Americantroops, a symbolic underliningof NATO support for memberson the eastern front as Russiawages war nearby in Ukraine.

Gen. Darryl Williams, thenew commanding general of USArmy Europe and Africa, was inWarsaw to attend the ceremo-ny in front of the Tomb of theUnknown Solider. NearbyAmerican, as well as Britishtroops, stood alongside dis-plays of military equipment.

The national holiday com-memorates Poland's victory in1920 over Soviet Russia in a keybattle credited with stopping theBolshevik army's westwardadvance.

“Years pass, but one thing isconstant — when Russia tries torebuild its empire, it is always an

evil empire. It always commitswar crimes,” Polish DefenceMinister Mariusz Blaszczak toldreporters ahead of the ceremo-ny, adding that it didn't matterwhether Russia was underimperial rule, or being led bycommunists or today'sPresident Vladimir Putin.

American troops havetaken part before in the August15 celebration before but it is thefirst one since President Joe

Biden announced at a NATOsummit in late June thatWashington was establishingits first permanent US base inPoland.

The newly named CampKosciuszko in Poznan, westernPoland, is a shared Polish-USbase that becomes the perma-nent headquarters in Poland forthe US Army's V Corps, and theeasternmost US Army base inEurope.

���� /��)�

The Taliban on Monday marked ayear since they seized the Afghan

capital of Kabul, a rapid takeover thattriggered a hasty escape of the nation'sWestern-backed leaders, sent theeconomy into a tailspin and funda-mentally transformed the country.

Bearded Taliban fighters, somehoisting rifles or the white banners oftheir movement, staged small victo-ry parades on foot, bicycles andmotor cycles in the streets of the cap-ital. One small group marched past theformer U.S. Embassy, chanting “Longlive Islam” and “Death to America.”

A year after the dramatic day,much has changed in Afghanistan.The former insurgents struggle to gov-ern and remain internationally iso-lated. The economic downturn hasdriven millions more Afghans intopoverty and even hunger, as the flowof foreign aid slowed to a trickle.

Meanwhile, hard-liners appearto hold sway in the Taliban-led gov-ernment, which imposed severerestrictions on access to education andjobs for girls and women, despite ini-

tial promises to the contrary. A yearon, teenage girls are still barred fromschool and women are required tocover themselves head-to-toe in pub-lic, with only the eyes showing.

Some are trying to find ways tokeep education from stalling for a gen-eration of young women and under-ground schools in homes have springup.

A year ago, thousands of Afghanshad rushed to Kabul InternationalAirport to flee the Taliban amid theU.S. Military's chaotic withdrawalfrom Kabul after 20 years of war —America's longest conflict.

Some flights resumed relativelyquickly after those chaotic days. OnMonday, a handful of commercialflights were scheduled to land and takeoff from a runway that last summersaw Afghan men clinging to thewheels of planes taking off, somefalling to their death.

Schoolyards stood empty Mondayas the Taliban announced a public hol-iday to mark the day, which they referto as “The Proud Day of Aug. 15" andthe “First Anniversary of the Returnto Power.”

“Reliance on God and the supportof the people brought this great vic-tory and freedom to the country,”wrote Abdul Wahid Rayan, the headof the Taliban-run Bakhtar NewsAgency. “Today, Aug. 15, marks the

victory of Islamic Emirate ofAfghanistan against America and itsallies occupation of Afghanistan.”

On the eve of the anniversary, for-mer Afghan President Ashraf Ghanidefended what he said was a split-sec-

ond decision to flee, saying he want-ed to avoid the humiliation of sur-render to the insurgents. He told CNNthat on the morning of Aug. 15, 2021,with the Taliban at the gates of Kabul,he was the last one at the presidentialpalace after his guards had disap-peared.

Tomas Niklasson, the EuropeanUnion's special envoy to Afghanistan,said the bloc of nations remains com-mitted to the Afghan people and to"stability, prosperity and sustainablepeace in Afghanistan and the region.”

“This will require an inclusivepolitical process with full, equal andmeaningful participation of all Afghanmen and women and respect forhuman rights,” Niklasson wrote.

German Foreign MinisterAnnalena Baerbock said an interna-tional responsibility towardAfghanistan remains after the NATOwithdrawal.

“A regime that tramples on humanrights cannot under any circum-stances be recognized,” she said in astatement. “But we must not forget thepeople in Afghanistan, even a yearafter the Taliban takeover.”

#������ ��!�� ��������!! /�� �� ��������! ���� ������

�!,=!"�"&��%<!�>��!���&�����#"#.��$$!�����!#��"��%

2!&�">��.#��!0�"�!� �!-"$#!��"�#�)%&.#!0�"��

$��� �!�,��� ������� ��" ���?)��� �������)�

$�@(�#������ ������� ����'����� ����

6����������������������������������������������*�����

;����� ��� �"���@(�����)������������ ���� ��������� �

Page 10: :_UZR dVe e` ^R\V ^R[`c ]VRa Z_ 2^cZe `UZ Z_g ...

������������������� �������� � !�"#"" *���$�6�

����� ��������

State Bank of India (SBI)has said it expects to sus-tain credit growth of about

15 per cent in the current fis-cal with rising demand fromretail and corporate borrowersdespite hardening of lendingrate.

The country's largestlender reported a 14.93 per centrise in advances to Rs 29,00,636crore in the first quarter endedJune 30, 2022 as compared toRs 25,23,793 crore during thesame period a year ago.

Of this, retail loan regis-tered a growth rate of 18.58 percent while corporate advancesimproved by 10.57 per cent

year-on-year at the end of Junequarter.

SBI chairman DineshKumar Khara also said that thebank will soon come out withonly YONO which is YONO2.0 with many more advancedfeatures and functionalities.

"The digital leadershipjourney of the bank is contin-uing. More than 96.6 per centof the transactions are nowrouted through alternate chan-nels. The registered users onYONO have already crossed5.25 crore, a big milestone andwhich has created a significantvalue for the bank. Sixty-fiveper cent of the new savingsaccounts are opened throughYONO," he said at an analyst

call recently.On maintaining 15per cent credit growth, he said,"I am quite hopeful the reasonbehind is kind of a term loanand also the underutilisation ofthe working capital, which is allaggregating to almost Rs 5lakh crore, and the pipeline isalmost Rs 1.2 lakh crore. So, I'mquite hopeful that we should bein a position to sustain this inthe subsequent quarters."

Corporate book shouldgrow to the extent of about Rs2.5-3 lakh crore during theyear, he said, adding, even inSME (Small and MediumEnterprises) there are tractionand pipeline is getting created.

With the latest rate hike byRBI, the repo rate (short termlending rate at which banksborrow from the central bank)increased to 5.40 per cent, anincrease of 140 basis pointssince May this year. On the pre-vailing economic situation,Khara said the effect of theCovid pandemic has subduedto a large extent, thanks to thegovernments' massive vacci-nation programme. The econ-omy is almost on track with theresumption of air travel andremoval of other containmentmeasures by most of the coun-tries, he said.

����� ��������

State Bank of India (SBI) onMonday raised its bench-

mark lending rates by up to50 basis points (or 0.5 percent), a move that will lead toan increase in EMIs for bor-rowers.

The increase in lendingrate comes days after theReserve Bank of India hikedits benchmark lending rate by50 basis points to tame infla-tion.

External Benchmarkbased Lending Rate (EBLR)and Repo-Linked LendingRate (RLLR) have been raisedby 50 basis points while thehike in Marginal Cost offunds-based Lending Rate(MCLR) is 20 basis pointsacross all tenure.

The revised rates are effec-tive from August 15, as per theinformation posted on SBIwebsite.

SBI's EBLR rose to 8.05per cent and RLLR increased

by similar 50 basis points to7.65 per cent.

Banks add Credit RiskPremium (CRP) over theEBLR and RLLR while givingany kind of loan, includinghousing and auto loans.

With the revision, one-year MCLR has increased to7.70 per cent, from the earli-er 7.50 per cent, while for twoyears it rose to 7.90 per centand for three years to 8 percent. Most of the loans arelinked to the one-year MCLRrate.

With the increase in lend-ing rate, EMIs will go up forthose borrowers who haveavailed loans on MCLR, EBLRor RLLR.

From October 1, 2019, allbanks including SBI havemigrated to an interest ratelinked to an external bench-mark such as RBI's repo rateor Treasury Bill yield. As aresult, monetary policy trans-mission by banks has gainedtraction.

8:� ��������������.������/�!;<���,�����/��,���������6�������

(7��� ���"���� �!������� ���"��)�����=9�" ������

����� ��������

Prime Minister NarendraModi's call for turning India

into a developed nation by2047 is inspirational and emi-nently doable, industry bodiessaid on Monday.

Industry chambers alsohighlighted the key role to beplayed by India Inc in realisingthe prime minister's vision ofan Atmanirbhar Bharat or self-reliant India.

Prime Minister NarendraModi on Monday set an ambi-tious target of making India adeveloped nation by 2047 andmade a renewed pitch for cut-ting import dependence andboosting domestic manufac-turing.

Addressing the nationfrom the ramparts of the RedFort on the 76th IndependenceDay, Modi coined 'Panch Pran'or lifeblood resolves for thenation when it celebrates its100th year of independence in2047.

The first of them is tomake India a developed nation.

"When the prime ministergives a call to the nation thatnothing short of achieving astatus of a developed nation forIndia would suffice, that is agreat inspiration for all of us,"Assocham Secretary GeneralDeepak Sood said, adding, "thecountry is committed tobecome self-sufficient in most

of the critical areas, includingrenewable energy, as reiteratedemphatically by the prime min-ister."

He said it is up to Indianindustry to rise up to the callgiven by the prime ministerthat India would not lagbehind in fulfilling require-ments of the global market,adding that the PM's call formaking India a developednation is eminently doable.

CII Director GeneralChandrajit Banerjee said thatthe prime minister's inspiringvision of a developed India by2047 invokes the collectivespirit of 130 crore Indians tobring about change.

"Prime minister's visionsets the template for the agen-da for India@100 that CII isin the process of developing.India's youth can be animportant supplier of skilled

manpower to the world, andeducation and healthcare willbe central areas of focus forthe years ahead," Banerjeestated.

Ficci President SanjivMehta welcomed the direc-tion shown by the prime min-ister by announcing the 5pledges for India's vision for2047.

"The hon'ble prime min-ister has also called upon theprivate sector to play a keyrole in the AtmanirbharBharat initiative. The Indianindustry will continue to playa key role in achieving thisvision," he added.

India, which is the world'ssixth largest economy with aGDP of USD 2.7 trillion, iscurrently classified as a devel-oping nation.

A developed country istypically characterised by arelatively high level of eco-nomic growth, a general stan-dard of living, and higher percapita income as well as per-forming well on the HumanDevelopment Index (HDI)that includes education, lit-eracy and health.

India was classified as a'third-world' country at thetime of independence fromBritish rule in 1947. But overthe past seven decades, itsGDP has grown from just Rs2.7 lakh crore to Rs 150 lakhcrore.

����� ��������

The safety and security of the country's civil avi-ation space is "paramount" and all occurrences,

including minor issues, are reported, according toUnion minister Jyotiraditya Scindia.

Against the backdrop of various incidentsinvolving SpiceJet and other carriers in recent times,the civil aviation minister also said the DirectorateGeneral of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has set a tar-get of carrying out 3,709 checks this year as partof its annual surveillance plan.

Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, the targetwas around 2,775 checks.

Responding to a query about safety during arecent interview with PTI, Scindia said the civil avi-ation sector is the one where the occurrence report-ing rate is 100 per cent.

"We make sure that every occurrence isreported, whether it is a very minor issue or anyother thing. The safety and security for us as a civilaviation ministry is paramount. It is the primaryresponsibility of airlines. For both safety and secu-rity, we have the regulators in place that monitorcompliance on those parameters. BCAS (Bureauof Civil Aviation Security) for security and DGCAfor safety," he said.

In the last few months, there have beeninstances of Indian carriers facing technical snags,especially in the case of SpiceJet. On July 27, DGCAdirected SpiceJet to operate only 50 per cent of itsflights for eight weeks and decided to keep the air-line under enhanced surveillance in the wake of aspate of technical snags suffered by the carrier'splanes.

DGCA has an annual surveillance plan and adetailed roster is put out in this regard every year.

Airlines, flight training organisations anddrone school organisations, among other entities,are covered under the surveillance plan.

"DGCA has kept a stiff target of 3,709 checksin their annual surveillance plan... I am confidentthat they will reach the target of 3,709 checks thisyear. They are very clear in terms of ensuring a safeenvironment. Safety for us is paramount," Scindiasaid.

According to the aviation regulator, animproved version of the Annual SurveillanceProgramme (ASP) has been prepared based onexperiences gained during 2009-2021 and com-prises all directorates under DGCA.

����� ��������

Leading luxury carmakers expect2022 to turn out to be the best

ever in terms of sales, bettering the2019 volumes, as the demandremains robust for high-end mod-els.

The companies also expect theongoing festive season to be robustin terms of dispatches despite thechip shortage woes continuing.

The domestic luxury car vol-umes stood at around 40,000 unitsin 2019, the best ever dispatchesrecorded by the industry in a yearso far.

"The industry has become moreresilient and with the third wave ofCovid not being so severe, there hasbeen a steady revival," Lexus IndiaPresident Naveen Soni told PTI inan interaction.

The luxury car market is on V-shaped recovery path with strongdemand from the luxury consumersmainly attributed to change in con-sumer behaviour, more successful

start-ups, younger affluent con-sumers and local production lead-ing to a higher sense of value, headded.

Soni noted that the current yearhas started well, both for the indus-try and for Lexus India.

"We are hoping that thedemand for luxury cars will exceedthe pre-pandemic level of 2019,which was the highest ever while thedemand for Lexus in India hascrossed our highest ever demandthis July since the launch of oper-ations in 2017," he added.

When asked about festive sea-

son sales Soni stated: "We are look-ing at demand for Lexus cars to bethree times of the best demand wehave seen since the brand launch in2017." Lexus cars being hybrids arehigh on technology with higherdependence on semiconductoravailability, however, the brand istrying its best to deliver cars to cus-tomers on time, he added.

Mercedes-Benz India MD &CEO Martin Schwenk said thecompany expects the strong salesmomentum from the second quar-ter to continue in the coming fes-tive period, as the customer senti-ment remains very positive.

"The challenges, however, con-tinue to be on the supply side, as weexpect the semiconductor shortageto sustain during the festive period,"he added.

The company's product launch-es however remain unchanged andit will bring in the much awaitedEQS luxury sedan this festive peri-od both in its AMG and series ver-sions, Schwenk noted.

����� ��������

Insurance regulator IRDAIhas invited entities to devel-

op technology-driven innova-tive solutions for automateddeath claim settlement, curtailmiss-selling, and other areas ofthe insurance ecosystem, withan aim to protect the interest ofpolicyholders.

Applications have beeninvited by the InsuranceRegulatory and DevelopmentAuthority of India (IRDAI) aspart of its first hackathon --Bima Manthan 2022 -- with thetheme 'Innovation inInsurance'.

"The hackathon invitesparticipants to identify anddevelop solutions that havethe potential to make the insur-ance available to every indi-vidual in a seamless and swiftmanner with the use of tech-nology and protecting theinterests of the policyholders,"the regulator said in a state-

ment.IRDAI has sought innova-

tive ideas/solutions for auto-mated death claim settlementusing technology and tech-based solution to curtail miss-selling of insurance products

The regulator is also look-ing for technology-enabledsolutions to identify uninsuredmotor vehicles and ensureissuance of mandatory motorthird party insurance, and tech-nology-based distribution ofinsurance products, includingmicro insurance in "difficultterrains and less penetrableareas".

Fraud mitigation/ preven-tion in motor insurance byusing technology is anotherarea identified for BimaManthan 2022.

IRDAI said the partici-pants of Bima Manthan 2022will get an opportunity toexhibit their innovative solu-tions before an eminent juryand win exciting prizes.

����� ) ��

Suzlon Group feels the finan-cial difficulties that afflicted

the wind turbine maker arebehind it, with the over Rs3,000-crore debt refinance ledby REC.

The Pune-based company,which once struggled to pay itsover Rs 6,500 crore debt, feelsits order book, pipeline ofpotential business and gov-ernment policies are other tail-winds that will offer support, asenior official has said.

It is looking to raise up toRs 1,200 crore through a rightsissue of shares by the fiscal-endto pare the refinanced debt ofRs 3,000 crore, its ChiefFinancial Officer HimanshuMody told PTI.

He said the recent devel-opments on debt side, whichsaw Rural ElectrificationCorporation (REC) and Iredataking over Rs 3,000 crore ofdebt through a refinance andan SBI-led 16-bank consortiumsettling for a 5 per cent equity

in the company for the remain-ing Rs 3,500-crore exposure,will help strengthen its balancesheet.

"The financial woes arebehind us. We have a healthybalance sheet, good order bookand a strong pipeline," Modysaid.

He said having two lenderswho have better understandingof the sector it operates in willhelp it reduce the bureaucrat-ic challenges posed while beingin a consortium of lenders andtake advantage of businessgrowth opportunities timely.

Right now, the debt tooperating profit ratio stands at

3:1, and the same may go up asit borrows more for workingcapital needs, but overall, thetrajectory on the debt profile istowards improvement, henoted.

Mody said scheduled debtrepayments will get the debtlevels down to Rs 2,500 crorebut the company wants to trimit further.

With this in mind, itsboard has approved raising upto Rs 1,200 crore through arights issue of shares, whichMody said will happen inFY23, and also monetisation ofnon-core assets.

Mody declined to provideany further details on the non-core assets which it plans to sell,but exuded confidence that itwill be able to realise sizeableamount through the divest-ment.

The debt owed to REC andIreda is long term in nature, butthe tenor is significantly lesserthan the earlier 20 years for theterm loans from the banks'consortium, he said.

����� ��������

Ola Electric on Monday said itwill foray into the electric car

segment with plans to launch itsfirst model by 2024.

The company, which strug-gled with deliveries for its electricscooters after it announced entryinto the segment exactly a yearago, has set an ambitious target ofselling 10 lakh electric cars by2026-2027.

In a press conference, Olafounder and CEO BhavishAggarwal said Ola Electric aimsto provide a range of electric two-wheelers to electric cars which arepriced in the range of Rs 1 lakh to

Rs 50 lakh. "We definitely have afull roadmap in the works in thecar space... We will definitelyhave cars at the entry price mar-ket. We're starting with a premi-um car and that comes out in 18to 24 months," he said whenasked about the company's plansfor electric cars.

He further said, "We are envi-

sioning acrossall the products(that) we willlaunch, maybeby 2026 or 2027we will target amillion cars ayear by vol-ume."

Aggarwal, however, did notelaborate how many electric carmodels the company would haveby 2026-2027.

Ola's first electric car willhave the capability to acceleratefrom 0-100 kmph in four secondsand will have a range of more than500 kilometers per charge, heclaimed.

���� ����/�/

World shares were mostlyhigher early on Monday

after China's central bank cuta key interest rate and Japanreported its economy picked upmomentum in the last quarter.

US futures edged lowerand oil prices fell more thanUSD 2. Paris, Frankfurt, Tokyoand Sydney advanced whileHong Kong and Shanghai fell.

The People's Bank of Chinacut its rate on a one-year loanto 2.75 per cent from 2.85 percent and injected an extra 400billion yuan (USD 60 billion)in lending markets after gov-ernment data showed July fac-tory output and retail salesweakened.Beijing is aiming toshore up sagging growth in theworld's second largest economyat a politically sensitive timewhen President Xi Jinping isbelieved to be trying to extendhis hold on power.

The ruling CommunistParty effectively acknowledgedlast month it can't hit thisyear's official 5.5 per centgrowth target after anti-viruscurbs disrupted trade, manu-facturing and consumer spend-ing. A crackdown on corporatedebt has caused activity in thevast real estate industry toplunge.In early European trad-ing, Germany's DAX edgedup 0.1 per cent to 13,813.54 andthe CAC 40 in Paris added 0.3per cent to 6,574.58. Britain'sFTSE 100 gained 0.2 per centto 7,513.09. The future for theS and P 500 lost 0.4 per centand that for the Dow industri-als was down 0.3 per cent.InAsia, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 indexrose 1.1 per cent to 28,871.78after the government reportedthe economy, the world's thirdlargest, expanded at a 2.2 percent rate in April-June from ayear earlier.

����� ������)+)

The income tax e-filing andGST Network portals are

working "pretty well" and thesystems are running effective-ly, Infosys CEO Salil Parekh hassaid. Infosys has developedboth the portals and is also thebackend technology supportprovider.

In an interview to PTI,Parekh highlighted the highGST collections, and 5.8 croreI-T return filings within the setdeadline of July 31 to assert thatboth of these are seeing a hugepositive impact from the gov-ernment's digital programme.

The ITR (Income TaxReturn) filings have beensmooth, he said."It is workingpretty well at this stage," Parekhsaid when asked about I-Tefiling and GSTN portals.

The users of the e-filingportal had experienced diffi-culties when it was launched onJune 7 last year and since then

it has seen glitches happeningon and off. Asked if the glitch-es been resolved, Parekhaffirmed all those had beensorted out.

"In fact, July 31 was thedeadline and… on the last day,we had something like 70 lakhreturns that were filed. And insome of the hours… morethan 5 lakh (returns were get-ting filed) per hour," Parekhsaid. He also said that Infosysis in ongoing discussion withclients on what's happening onthe GSTN and income taxreturn portal.

"On the income tax filings,we had something like 5.8crore returns that were filed. Itwas all done on schedule. Therewas a very smooth experiencefor the taxpayers. Of those,almost 70 lakh have alreadybeen processed... So the sys-tems are working very effec-tively for the citizens and alsofor the tax department," hesaid.

����� ��������

Aditya Birla Fashion andRetail Ltd (ABFRL) is

looking at FY23 with cautiousoptimism and the company ison a growth trajectory with adigitally and structurally trans-formed business, its ChairmanKumar Mangalam Birla hassaid.

The Indian economy isheaded towards a steady recov-ery and as the vaccination dri-ves progress, consumers areexpected to get back to shop-ping with renewed confidence,Birla said in the company'sannual report for 2021-22

"As mobility picks up, thedemand for categories includ-ing formals, occasion wear,festive wear and accessories willrecover," he said.

"The next fiscal is going tobe a race to normalcy for theindustry with re-invigoratedmarket sentiments."

For the long-term, Indiaremains on a strong value cre-ation path considering the

underlying growth drivers likefavourable demographics,increasing per capita and dis-posable income, and growingconsumption.

Given the inherentstrengths of ABFRL, "we areagain at a moment where weare uniquely positioned toinvest for long-term growthand explore new paradigms",he added.

ABFRL, which has sub-stantially invested in digitalplatforms such as e-commerce,omnichannel and D2C busi-ness post-pandemic, will con-tinue investing in building itsdigital capabilities further tomake it intrinsic to its businessmodel, the report said.

"With a digitally and struc-turally transformed business,your Company is on a growthtrajectory to make the most ofpost-pandemic opportunities,"he added. More than 1,000stores of Madura brands and300 stores of Pantaloons arenow fully omnichannelenabled.

����� ��������

Lulu group, which has built fiveshopping malls in India with

Rs 7,000 crore investment, nowplans to develop about a dozenmore malls as the UAE-basedgroup sees huge growth oppor-tunities in the Indian retail space.

The group has five opera-tional malls in India at Kochi,Trivandrum, Thrissur, Bengaluruand Lucknow, comprising about3.7 million square feet of leasablearea. Shibu Philips, Director-Shopping Malls of Lulu GroupIndia, said the Indian retail mar-ket is still "under-utilised" withthe share of organised retailbeing still low.

"India is an extremely impor-tant market for Lulu. It is ayoung population whose percapita income and consumptionis increasing. It is a very under-utilised market because if youlook at the organised retail, it isstill only 12 per cent. So, I believethat there is a lot of opportunityhere if you have the right businessmodel. Lulu is completely focusedon India," he told PTI in an inter-view.

In the first phase of shoppingmall business in India, Philipssaid the Lulu group investedabout Rs 7,000 crore to developfive shopping malls, of whichBengaluru property is not ownedby it.

#!�7�#�8�)6&���''�) 8�!?�3��5� '"��!('�*'"+�! ���8�&��%%�'@��'"*)� . �������������� ���������������(����K �(L������ �&�"�&���� �"&����%�����������#������#����<<���&�������%���������!��#����!����&��#�����%%���!"��������3. ��������#���""�$�� �"&�!�C8378�!��!��� ���!����!"�#����"�����������������"�6���� ���!����!"��!���!"��� ���������!&&�&3,/�&��+' �&�!?��3���55"��+'+�! �����A�'B' ��*' �)��>�������������!�&��#���&�����%�����+ ����������%���������!�&�.�� ��"�#'K�+ �.L��/!��!�0�"!� ������� ������&�$'�%���&��� !���""����%��+ �.�����.+(!!��1��& !!���!���!����%�� �!���!"��&����&������!'��"�$�!����3������!�&5' +��,#/�"�;*�96�! 5'�9*'�0�8�&�(�&) '&&��'@��'"*)���!��4����&� !�!��(����"����������!������&�K�(��L���""���1����+��C3N"!0 ���������������� ����!"�����'�#!��!�&��"�!������#'���� ����6��%�1��'�!���!�����"��0�������4%��"�$����������%��#���� 3

%!8!�� �������� �� ��������� �� 9+99 �� ������ !�

���$����� ���� �! ������'�����' ��'����)���������)� ���

;������ ��������������� ����#�� ��)��!���� ��

��"�� �������!�"�����������"���������"!�����&�1�"��������� �����#��!""������&�!

��"��!0#�%0#�!&#!�!�0"��!')!&#:�% !��#��".&0�$%��#)��!�9�/?/�

��!��� ���/%<������� )���)������������ ���������'��� ��"���������!�)�5��:)� ��� � � ��

����"��9���:���:������� �����; �&��$(� �����$����*���

)����� ��8 ������������4 ����� "������ ����� "���� )���� .�3

�.-��&$!!��$%&"&0%"�,�!��<!�,%#������!��!$%&"&0!:#��"%�!��:/??0�

��A�� �������� !������ � ���'������� ���"��%9B������ ��� ����� "��5���)����"����

Page 11: :_UZR dVe e` ^R\V ^R[`c ]VRa Z_ 2^cZe `UZ Z_g ...

���� �66������������������� �������� � !�"#""

���■ ������

South Africa great MikeProcter hopes England's

"mind-blowing" approach toTest cricket under captain BenStokes and coach BrendonMcCullum is a sign of things tocome as they prepare to face hisnative Proteas in a three-matchseries.

England had won just oneof their 17 previous Tests beforetheir new red-ball leadershipduo took charge this season.

But they have since becomea transformed team, with a per-fect record of four wins in asmany matches heading intoWednesday's first Test againstSouth Africa at Lord's.

That record includes a 3-0series win over world champi-ons New Zealand, whereEngland chased down targets of277, 299 and 296.

England then made light ofa seemingly stiff pursuit of

378 in the Covid-delayed fifthTest against India at Edgbaston.

"Mind-blowing, to be hon-est," Procter said. "Watching ontelevision, the way Englandhave played has been mind-blowing, it really is."

An outstanding all-rounder, renowned for both hisdynamic fast bowling andaggressive batting, the 75-year-old Procter played in just sevenTests before his internationalcareer was cut short by SouthAfrica's apartheid-enforcedexile from the world game.

But having spent a largepart of his career playing forGloucestershire in the hard-nosed environment of 1970sEnglish county cricket, Procterhas been struck by England'sefforts to "dilute" the fear ofdefeat.

"Looking back over all theyears of Test cricket the initialattitude has always been, 'Let'smake sure we don't lose',' Then

it's, 'If we can win, we win'," hesaid.

"This England team havechanged all that. Of course, los-ing still matters but it's aboutgoing for the victory. It's beena breath of fresh air and I hopeit rubs off on other teams."

He added: "That fear oflosing hasn't been dispersed,but when you dilute it the wayEngland hierarchy have, youare going to get some absorb-ing Test matches.

"Sure, they are going tocome unstuck. There's nodoubt it's going to happen,but I think they've got thecharacter to pull through. Ifthey continue playing the waythey are, they can only get tothe top."

Procter, however, believesSouth Africa could prove amatch for England.

Since opener Dean Elgarbecame captain of the Test sidein March 2021, the Proteas

have won seven out of ninematches.

They boast an impressivepace attack, although doubtsremain over whether KagisoRabada will be fit to play atLord's following an ankleinjury, with Duanne Olivieralready ruled out of the entireseries by a hip problem.

But the likes of AnrichNortje and towering left-armerMarco Jansen could still poseproblems for England.

"South Africa have beatenIndia (at home in January),they've beaten New Zealandwhen they batted first on agreen-top (in Christchurch inMarch)," said Procter. "Thebatters are really starting toapply themselves."

"South Africa are punchingabove their weight, but so areEngland. We've got two sideswho are playing above them-selves, it's going to be a fasci-nating series."

���■ +�..�+��

Pakistan will look to collectcrucial World Cup qualify-

ing points when they tackle theNetherlands in a three-matchODI series from Tuesday butwill have a wary eye on the fit-ness of star bowler ShaheenShah Afridi.

The 22-year-old pacemansuffered a knee injury on therecent tour of Sri Lanka, a wor-rying setback with the AsiaCup -- and a meeting with oldrivals India -- coming up at theend of the month.

Pakistan team bosses donot want to overload a fastbowler who has already played97 times across all three for-mats since his internationaldebut just four years ago.

"We're taking a couple ofdoctors with us to take care ofShaheen and want him to playa game against Netherlands tosee if he's fit and ready for theAsia Cup," said Pakistan skip-per Babar Azam.

"But we have 11 trumpcards. Each of them can bematch winners on their day. Ihave faith in every one ofthem, whether batters orbowlers."

The series in Rotterdamwas postponed due to Covid in2020.

It forms part of the 13-nation Super League fromwhere the top seven teamsplus hosts India will qualify forthe 2023 World Cup.

Pakistan are currently thirdwith 90 points, having beatena formidable Australia 2-1 intheir last ODI series at home.

Failure to make the topseven would mean having tonegotiate a perilous routethrough a qualifying competi-tion.

"There are important SuperLeague points at stake whichwe can't lose," said Azam whomay be stunned to find Europebaking in a heatwave.

"I think the conditions willbe similar to England. Theweather will be cooler so wehave practiced with the air con-ditioning on indoors, perhapsthat helps simulate the condi-tions," he said on the team'sdeparture for Europe.

The two teams have onlyplayed three ODIs -- all inmulti-national events at the1996 (Pakistan) and 2003(South Africa) World Cupsand 2002 Champions Trophy(Sri Lanka).

Pakistan won all three.After qualifying for the

T20 World Cup to be played inAustralia later this year, theNetherlands are seeking a hugelift in their 50-over fortunes.

They are placed last in theSuper League, having won onlytwo of their 16 matches withone no-result and 13 defeats.

Those two wins -- againstIreland -- followed 12 straightlosses in series againstAfghanistan, New Zealand,West Indies and England.

England also smashed aworld record total of 498-4against them in June.

After the opening game onTuesday, the sides meet againon Thursday and Sunday.

���■ *� ���

West Indies handed NewZealand their first limit-

ed-overs defeat of the year incruising to a consolation eight-wicket win in the third and finalT20I at Sabina Park on Sunday.

Odean Smith improved onhis career-best T20I bowlingfigures for the third time in fourmatches as the fast bowling all-rounder claimed three for 29.

That helped limit the BlackCaps to 145 for seven after cap-tain Kane Williamson chose to

bat first.New Zealand had already

wrapped up the series by mar-gins of 13 and 90 runs in thefirst two matches.

West Indies' platform forthe comfortable win was estab-lished by openers ShamarhBrooks (56 not out) andBrandon King (53) in a 102-runopening stand.

"This was special, beingable to give this performance athome," said King on receivingthe man of the match award forhis 35-ball innings.

"My job is the same nomatter what total we are chas-ing, which is to get the team offto a good start."

Leading the side in theabsence of regular captainNicholas Pooran, RovmanPowell sealed victory in style offthe last ball of the 19th over asthe home side reached 150 fortwo.

New Zealand struggled toestablish any sort of battingmomentum although GlenPhillips was again in primeform, top-scoring with 41 off 26balls before falling to Smith atthe start of the 17th over.

"West Indies adapted tothe conditions nicely and wejust couldn't open up an endwith the ball," Williamson con-ceded.

����■ ��������

Ageing like fine wine,Sharath Kamal has sethis sights on yet anoth-

er shot at the Olympics, hisconfidence boosted by a grandshowing at the recently-con-cluded CommonwealthGames.

At 40, Sharath returnedfrom Birmingham as the most-decorated Indian athlete at theGames, with four medals.

Besides a yellow metal inthe mixed doubles, Sharathalso won the singles Gold after16 years, the first coming at the2006 Melbourne CWG.

Having played at the toplevel for over 20 years, Sharathis in no mood to retire just yet,and is determined to give him-self two more years in search ofan elusive Olympic medal.

"It feels great to get my per-sonal best in CWG. My high-est was three, this time I wona fourth. Fitness is key, it issomething which I have beenable to keep up, keep track ofmyself. I am working a lot tokeep myself fit," Sharath said.

"I always try to keep mybody and mind fit, especiallybecause the reflexes of young-sters are fast, and I just try tobe at par so that I can competewith them."

Having claimed a whop-ping 13 medals from the CWGand two Bronze at the 2018Asian Games, the lanky pad-dler wants to achieve Olympicsuccess before drawing thecurtains on an illustriouscareer.

"Still that hunger to winmedals is there, I am alwayslooking to get better.

"I want to take two years ata time. So Paris could be a land-mark year where we couldqualify for the team event, and

hopefully, win a medal,"Sharath said.

"It's a process, first wearrived at the CWG level, thenwe established ourselves at theAsian level also, and next is theOlympics."

Sharath doesn't want tocompare his 2006 singles medalwith the one in Birmingham,and feels both have their ownsignificance.

"I had to wait for a longtime to reclaim the Gold. I wona Gold for the first time in

2006. I won Bronze, Silver inbetween and in a few events, Iwon Gold, but comparison isdifficult.

"That time (in 2006) I wasyoung and there were noexpectations from me. But thistime, expectations were there,and I am happy I could repeatthat feat," he said.

The country's most cele-brated paddler believes thelandscape of table tennis inIndia has changed a lot over theyears.

"The popularity of tabletennis has increased in thecountry and I am glad that wecould inspire a generation ofyoungsters with our perfor-mances," said Sharath, whostarted his preparation for theBirmingham CWG in January.

"It changed a lot, back thenmy ranking was 130, and now,it's 38. I have a player rankedbetter than me in Sathiyanwho is placed at 36th. Wenever had such highly rankedplayers."

����■ ������

South Africa pace spearheadAnrich Nortje has criticised

the International CricketCouncil (ICC) for giving fewerTest matches to his country inthe World Test Championship(WTC) cycle, saying gettingjust six games in a year whenother are playing 15 is unfair.

Dean Elgar's side will beginits three-Test campaign againstBen Stokes' England at Lord's onAugust 17 hoping to garnermaximum points in order to seala spot in the WTC Final sched-uled next year.

South Africa are marginal-ly ahead of Australia at the topof the WTC rankings with 71.43percentage points and, despitegetting fewer games, are in poleposition to secure a place in the2023 final.

"If we play six (Tests) in ayear and you guys (England)play 15 in a year, I don't see thatbeing fair," Nortje, who will havea key role in the three-Testseries against England, toldDaily Mail.

"Our guys are not going tobe as well-known as previousgenerations if we play 18 gamesin three years, or something like

that," he added.The 28-year-old fast bowler

also urged the cricket authori-ties to give his country thenumber of Tests befitting its cur-rent status. South Africa have gotfewer opportunities than the bigthree comprising England, Indiaand Australia.

"We want to be the No. 1team in all formats. It's unfortu-nate the way it's gone but we arevery keen to make a mark.

����■ *��������)+�

Left-arm spinner KeshavMaharaj and pacer

Ayabonga Khaka werenamed as the Men's andWomen's Cricketer of theYear at the 2021-22 CricketSouth Africa Awards cere-mony held virtually onSunday evening. Maharajand Ayabonga were alsovoted by their teammates toclaim the Men's andWomen's Players' 'Player of

the Year' awards, respective-ly.

In the men's awards,pacer Kagiso Rabada, wasnamed the Test Player of theYear. All-rounder AidenMarkram was named theT20I Player of the Year, whiletop-order batter JannemanMalan was adjudged as theODI Player of the Year.

Left-arm pace all-rounder Marco Jansen wasnamed the InternationalNewcomer of the Year.

����■ ��������

Prime Minister NarendraModi on Monday said

India has come a long way onthe front of transparency innational selection of athletesand that has been key tocountry's success at the multi-sporting events.

Modi said nepotism'snegative influence was not justrestricted to politics but themenace, at one time, also

affected the sporting arena. "Just like Bhai-

Bhatijawaad (nepotism) inpolitics, there was a lack oftransparency in the selectionof players for sports competi-tions. This was a huge factordue to which our players' tal-ent was wasted," Modi saidwhile addressing the nationon country's 76thIndependence Day.

"They used to struggle alltheir lives against such diffi-

culties. But the situation haschanged now and players aretouching the sky. The shine ofgold and silver medals isboosting the confidence ofour youngsters.

"This is just the beginningbecause India will neither gettired nor stop here. Days arenot far when we will win sev-eral gold medals," Modiadded. In last year's TokyoOlympics, India signed offwith a record of seven medals

(1 Gold, 2 Silver, 4 Bronze)and then followed that perfor-mance with 61 medals,including 22 Gold at the just-concluded BirminghamCWG. Modi has been consis-tent in meeting and interact-ing with sports persons beforeand after the big-ticket events.

He had hosted the Indiancontingents after the TokyoOlympics and the recently-concluded CommonwealthGames in Birmingham.

�� � �����������������������!�������� A�)������������� �� 5��������

O.���(�()��+.5�>�.�����.����������+�������.�����)�.+5������ ������.��.�����)�����(+�������+�.����>5�)���.�+��

����■ ��������

Legendary Australia pacerGlenn McGrath feels that

playing a Test series in India,scheduled to be held nextyear, is going to be the ulti-mate challenge for PatCummins & Co. McGrathwas also appreciative ofAustralia's recent perfor-mances in Test trips toPakistan and Sri Lanka, say-ing that the side has startedto understand sub-continen-tal conditions.

Australia will tour Indiaas part of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy tentativelyin February-March 2023,with an aim to win the seriesin a country where they havenever won after the 2-1 tri-umph in October-November2004. The side won the three-match Test series in Pakistan1-0 in March and were heldto a 1-1 draw in a two-matchTest series in Sri Lanka inJuly.

"Obviously the singlebiggest challenge forAustralia is coming to India,performing well and winningthe series. We were luckyenough to do it in 2004.You've got to come up withgood plans, the batsmen haveto learn to adapt on turningpitches and the bowlers haveto learn to bowl in those con-ditions." "I think with IPL, alot of players have been over

here (in India) regularly andhave hence experienced theconditions. The currentAustralian team, evidentfrom their showings in SriLanka and Pakistan, are start-ing to get a better under-

standing of how to play onsubcontinent wickets. Thatbeing said, India is still theultimate challenge. I thinkthey're up for it," McGrathwas quoted as saying bycricket.com.

�&�!�������""�� ���"���!��� !""��#��%����B?� ���!�

���■ ������

India's top-order Test bat-ter Cheteshwar Pujara's

scintillating run in theRoyal London One-DayCup extended when hesmashed a fantastic 174 off131 balls for his side Sussexagainst Surrey at theCounty Ground in Hove.

With his astonishingknock laced with 20 foursand five sixes, Pujara nowholds the record for thehighest-ever score made bya Sussex batter in List Acricket, going past the 171made by all-rounder DavidWiese against Hampshirein 2019. Pujara alsobrought up his highestever score in List A crick-et, going past the unbeat-en 158 he made while rep-resenting India B in Rajkotin 2012. It also means thatPujara notched up back-

to-back hundreds in thecompetition, after scoringa 79-ball 107 againstWarwickshire on Friday.

Against Sussex, heshowed no signs of slow-ing down, picking up fromright where he left againstWarwickshire.

As Sussex's skipper,Pujara came out to batwhen the side were 9/2.

��#$"%�#�'%<!$!,!��!�#�#���.#��$�%0";���#*!

�"�"�"*:2�" "�!0!%<!#����&�.��

!�" �#���$%� �&��& �"' ��"��'

� ! ����%�������P���0�'�!��(!0�!�0"����� ��"!�&�

<' ��������*����������������������� ��� ��)��� �� ������;���� �(<� ��"�=�*�� ��*�$>�� ����"���&��"������>�)�������� �����:�?�#������"���� ������� �� �� (������ ����� �� �$ ����

SHARATH EYES OLYMPIC GLORYBEFORE CALLING IT A DAY

#�������������8���=>���.��-���'������,���

Page 12: :_UZR dVe e` ^R\V ^R[`c ]VRa Z_ 2^cZe `UZ Z_g ...

���� �6�������������������� �������� � !�"#""

���■ ������

The last stage of theChampions League qualify-

ing marathon kicks off onTuesday with three clubs whohave already got their hands onthe trophy eager to grab one ofthe last six group slots and thecheque that goes with it.

Benfica, who won theEuropean Cup in 1961 and1962 and have reached thefinal five times since then, faceDynamo Kyiv.

While Benfica coach RogerSchmidt worries whether AlexGrimaldo will recover from thedizzy spell that forced him offin Saturday's 1-0 league win atCasa Pia, the Ukrainians madeclear they have weightier con-cerns.

The game will be in Lodz,where Dynamo are in exile fol-lowing Russia's invasion ofUkraine.

The two clubs met in thegroup stage last season.

They drew 0-0 in Kyiv inthe opening round, Dynamo's

only point. The Portugueseside won 2-0 at home in the lastround to edge Barcelona forsecond in the group.

Returning to the groupstage this year offers a hefty

reward.Each club is guaranteed

15.64 million euros ($16.04million) for taking part. Theycan also collect 2.8m euros forevery group stage victory and

930,000 euros for a draw.Teams that miss out, drop tothe Europa League group stagewhere they are guaranteed3.63m euros.

PSV Eindhoven, who

needed an extra-time goal toeliminate Monaco in the previ-ous round, face Rangers.

Ruud van Nistelrooy, whoreplaced Schmidt as coach atthe 1988 European champions,faces old international team-mate and club adversaryGiovanni van Bronckhorst, inGlasgow on Tuesday.

The two coaches werelong-time Netherlands team-mates.

They played on oppositesides the last time the clubs metin the Champions League.

Rangers, with VanBronckhorst in midfield, wonhome and away in the 1999group stage. Van Nistelrooyscored PSV's goal at Ibrox asRangers won 4-1.

The third former champi-ons in action are 1991 winnersRed Star Belgrade, who visitMacabbi Haifa on Wednesday.

The Israelis surged throughthe last round by scoring threetimes in the last 30 minutes foran eye-catching 4-0 second-legvictory at Olympiakos.

���■ .�+��.�

Simona Halep kept control againstunpredictable Beatriz HaddadMaia on Sunday, beating the

Brazilian 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 to win a thirdWTA Masters 1000 title in Canada.

The former world number onefrom Romania added the trophy inToronto to those she captured inMontreal in 2016 and 2018.

She needed two and a quarterhours to deny the South American left-hander the upset victory.

"Here there are many Romaniansand they always come to support me.I'm really happy that I could win alsohere," said Halep, who was backed bychants of "Si-mo-na!" from her vocalfans throughout the match.

She shrugged of nine double-faultsand broke Haddad Maia five times from10 chances as she became the third play-er with at least nine WTA 1000 titles,after Serena Williams (13) and VictoriaAzarenka (10).

Halep, who was playing in her ninthfinal at the elite level as Haddad Maiatackled her first, won her 38th matchof the season and claimed her biggestsuccess since the Rome trophy in May,2020.

After a year outside of the world'stop-10 she is projected to rise to sixththis week with the start of the US Openapproaching on August 29.

"I was there for many years but nowI feel like it's a big deal to be back in top10," she said. "I'm really happy with thisperformance.

"When I started the year I was notvery confident and I set the goal to betop-10 at the end of the year -- and hereI am.

"It's a very special moment. I willenjoy it. I will give myself credit. I'mjust dreaming for more."

Haddad Maia, enjoying a breakoutseason that included grasscourt titlesat Birmingham and Nottingham inJune, had toppled world number oneIga Swiatek on her way to the final.

She struck first with a break on theway to a quick 3-0 lead. But Halep, atwo-time Grand Slam champion,quickly responded, winning the open-ing set as she spun off six straightgames to claim the opener 6-3, in 50minutes.

Haddad Maia answered in theopening game of the second set witha break, consolidating through a dou-ble break for 4-0 before Halep stoppedthe rot to hold for 1-4.

The Brazilian delivered a hugeserve on set point three games later tosquare the contest at a set each.

But Halep came out ahead afterthey traded three breaks of serve in thefinal set, wrapping it up on her secondmatch point as Haddad Maia fired aservice return into the net.

Haddad Maia said she was attimes overwhelmed by the occasion.

"It was an emotional beginning,even when I was 3-Love up I couldn'thold the emotions. I couldn't controlmyself," she said.

"Simona started to play better, toimprove. I was trying to be moreaggressive.

"Today Simona deserved it, sheplayed better than me," added HaddadMaia, the first Brazilian to reach thefinal of a WTA 1000 event. "She wasmore brave.

"Sometimes we learn — today, it'sa day to learn."

���■ ��.+���

Pablo Carreno Busta seizedhis first ATP Masters title

on Sunday, spoiling HubertHurkacz's perfect record inATP finals with a MontrealMasters triumph.

The 23rd-ranked Spaniardbeat eighth-seeded Hurkacz3-6, 6-3, 6-3 to become the firstunseeded winner in Canada intwo decades.

Carreno Busta notched hisseventh ATP title, but his firstin an elite Masters 1000 eventin his first opportunity.

"It's an amazing feeling tobe a Masters 1000 winner,"Carreno Busta said. "It's thebest title of my career for sure.

"I know that during all theweek we worked very hard,also the weeks before. It's veryimportant to be very positiveall the time. It's not my bestseason this year. I lost somematches that probably otherseasons I didn't lose, but I justtried to continue believing inmy team, in myself and in mygame."

Carreno Busta became thefirst unseeded winner inCanada in two decades.

Poland's Hurkacz had beenunbeaten in five f inals,Carreno Busta putting the firstblemish on that record in justover an hour and three quar-ters.

He survived 18 aces fromHurkacz to become the firstCanadian champion rankedoutside the Top 20 since num-ber 43 Andrei Pavel in 2001 atMontreal.

Carreno Busta is the thirdSpanish winner after five-timechampion Rafael Nadal andManuel Orantes in 1975.

���■ ��+�

David Alaba scored with astunning free-kick imme-

diately after coming on as asubstitute as reigning champi-ons Real Madrid came frombehind to beat Almeria 2-1 intheir opening game of the sea-son in La Liga on Sunday.

Carlo Ancelotti's sidetrailed to an early goal byLargie Ramazani away againsttheir promoted opponents, butLucas Vazquez equalised justafter the hour mark.

The winner arrived with 15minutes remaining at Almeria'sPower Horse Stadium, as Alabastrode onto the pitch andcurled a free-kick in off theupright after Luka Modric hadbeen fouled just outside thebox.

Real were made to workhard for the points against anAlmeria side who won lastseason's second-tier title toreturn to La Liga after a seven-year absence.

"We had lots of shots ongoal but once we got the firstgoal it made things much eas-ier for us," said Ancelotti.

"I am happy with the waythe game went. We were notspectacular but there were lotsof things to take into account,like the game on Wednesdayand the heat."

At one point it looked likeMadrid might suffer a defeat intheir opening league game ofthe season for the first timesince 2008, with Ancelotti'sdecision to rotate his squad notinitially paying off.

�����C�������Alexis Sanchez came off

the bench to make his debutfor Marseille as his new clubdrew 1-1 with Brest in Ligue1 on Sunday.

The Chilean forwardwas named among the sub-stitutes by coach Igor Tudorfor the game in Brittany, fourdays after signing a one-yearcontract.

He was introduced at thestart of the second half butdid not have a major influ-ence on the game asMarseille failed to hold ontothe lead given to them in thefirst half at the Stade Francis-Le Ble by Nuno Tavares.

���■ +� �

Roma began their Serie Acampaign with a hard-

fought 1-0 win at Salernitana onSunday, while Ciro Immobileshot Lazio to a comeback 2-1win over Bologna.

Paulo Dybala andGeorginio Wijnaldum bothmade their league debuts forJose Mourinho's Roma but itwas an older hand in BryanCristante who decided thematch in the 33rd minute.

Italy international Cristanteclaimed the points with a drivefrom the edge of the area whichtook at least one deflectionbefore nestling in the bottomcorner.

Roma's margin of victorywould have been larger hadthey capitalised on a series ofchances, in particular in the firsthalf.

"I would have been happyif we'd won 3-0 or 4-0 but whatI liked was that even though wedidn't score as many as weshould have we had enoughmaturity to control the game"Mourinho told reporters.

Dybala was unlucky not tobe on target on an impressiveRoma debut in which he imme-diately struck up an under-standing with Nicolo Zanioloand Tammy Abraham.

The Argentina forwardstruck the post in the dying sec-onds of the opening half aftera winding run from Zaniolo,who could have easily had twoof his own before the break ina exciting display from the 23-year-old.

Zaniolo, long consideredone of Italy's brightest youngtalents, has had to battle back

from two serious knee injuriesand despite reported interestfrom Juventus and Tottenhamlooks committed to Roma.

It was far from one-waytraffic at the Stadio Arechi asSalernitana, who completed amiracle escape from the drop tostay in Serie A, squeezed Romaback towards their own goal.

But they struggled to createchances and despite visibly tir-ing in the latter stages Romawould have sealed the winthrough Wijnaldum with fiveminutes left had Dybala notstrayed offside in the build-up.

Earlier, Italy strikerImmobile coolly slotted homethe winner with 11 minutesremaining at the StadioOlimpico to complete a come-back which looked unlikelywhen the hosts went a mandown in the fourth minute.

Goalkeeper LuisMaximiano was sent off forhandling outside his own area,and Maurizio Sarri's side werea goal down in the 38th minutefollowing another couple ofblunders from Alessio

Romagnoli and MattiaZaccagni led to a silly foul onNicola Sansone and a penaltywhich Marko Arnautovic hap-pily tucked away.

Lazio were level in terms ofon-pitch personnel going in atthe break after AdamaSoumaoro picked up two book-ings in the space of five minutesat the end of the first half.

And they were level on thescoreboard in the 68th minutethanks to Lorenzo De Silvestri'sown goal, the Italian watchingon in horror as ManuelLazzari's cross was patted ontohim by goalkeeper LukaszSkorupski and then rolled intohis own net. Lazio were in theascendency and it was no sur-prise when the club's all-timetop scorer netted the winnerafter being put through bySergej Milinkovic-Savic.

���■ ��+�

Japan star Takefusa Kubomarked his Real Sociedad

debut by scoring the onlygoal in a 1-0 win away toCadiz in their opening gameof the season in La Liga onSunday.

The 21-year-old fin-ished after being picked outby Mikel Merino midwaythrough the first half, andthe strike proved enough forthe Basque side to claim allthree points.

Kubo moved to SanSebastian last month on a

five-year deal from RealMadrid, after never manag-ing to break into the firstteam at the SantiagoBernabeu.

/�$����������������+�!"������&!&�&�$��

���■ ������

Chelsea manager ThomasTuchel said he was happy

to take a "fair tackle" fromTottenham boss Antonio Conteafter both were shown redcards for clashing twice duringa heated 2-2 on Sunday.

Conte's overexuberant cel-ebrations of Spurs' first equalis-er resulted in the two coachesbeing booked for squaring up.

Tuchel then responded byrunning down the touchline incelebration when Chelsearetook the lead through ReeceJames 13 minutes from time.

But Harry Kane's 96thminute equaliser meant Contehad the last laugh.

Tuchel was not happy atthe Italian for not making eyecontact during a handshake atfull-time, which sparked anoth-er melee between both sets ofcoaches and players.

"It was hot from the tem-perature and hot between the

benches and hot on the fieldand hot between the specta-tors," said Tuchel with temper-atures soaring above 30degrees Celsius in the Englishcapital.

"There's no hard feelings. Ifeel like it was a fair tackle from

him and a fair tackle from me."We did not insult each

other, we did not hit eachother, we were fighting for ourteams and from my side there'sabsolutely no hard feelings.I'm surprised that we both gota red card for that."

���■ ��.+���

World number one DaniilMedvedev said on

Sunday that he had no choicebut to respond to a tennisspectator who jeered himafter his loss last week to NickKyrgios in Montreal. Video ofthe incident was posted onsocial media.

Medvedev, speakingSunday as he prepared tostart as top seed at the ATPCincinnati Masters, declinedto elaborate on what he toldthe young spectator whocalled him a "loser."

But he said he felt com-pelled to act when the insultcame from the person stand-ing with a group of fans at anentrance to the locker room."I was disappointed after

losing the match (in threesets to Kyrgios)," Medvedevsaid. "But when someonemocks me, I'll respond.

"It would be bad to letpeople shout bad things at meand just keep walking.

Medvedev also ques-tioned the parenting of theyoung man's father, who wasstanding next to him in thescrum and who also joined inthe verbal slanging.

"The father of the guysaid something to me also --I say educate your kid. Iwon't let people mock me."

Medvedev said suchharsh treatment is far fromcommon "in real life."This isone of the first times it's hap-pened to me, it doesn't real-ly happen a lot. On socialmedia are a bit out of control”.

���� ���3�����3�

Aston Villa defender DiegoCarlos is set for a long spell

out after rupturing his Achillestendon.

The Brazilian center backwill require surgery, thePremier League club said onMonday, and then will begin arehab program.

Villa did not say how longit expects Carlos to be side-lined.

The 29-year-old Carlosjoined Villa from Sevilla dur-ing the offseason and startedthe team's first two games inthe Premier League, a loss toBournemouth and the 2-1 winover Everton on Saturday.

He sustained the injury insecond-half stoppage timeagainst Everton.

��������������Madrid: Giovani Lo Celso isreturning to Villarreal onanother loan from Tottenham,the Spanish club said.

The Argentina midfielderarrived at Villarreal in thebeginning of the year but hisinitial loan expired at the endof the season.

HALEP COMPLETES HAT-TRICK�%)�&"������$$"��"��"%"#�,%&#�%������"&"�%"&0��,&

7)� �� ���*)�! �?���� !�

���'���'� �����!������ ������� ���������

����� ����������"�&�������� ����

��""!����%�������������2��'������#���!�"��

+�����"�$���!���%�""�7�������

�.0�!�%&�%�#�&��"��$!!�%&'�"$#!���&#!0�"��

1���! ��! ����� ��� .% ���! ���


FcSR_ ?RiR]d Rc^VU hZeY R_eZ :_UZR Wf_Ud dRjd A>

FcSR_ ?RiR]d Rc^VU hZeY R_eZ :_UZR Wf_Ud dRjd A>

REVIEW_TAFSI>>R AL-TAHRI>>>R WA AL-TANWI>>>>

REVIEW_TAFSI>>R AL-TAHRI>>>R WA AL-TANWI>>>>

R 316TX, R 316TX AWD, R 316TsX AWD - Gardena

R 316TX, R 316TX AWD, R 316TsX AWD - Gardena

T R A I L E R

T R A I L E R

8`ge e` deRj `_ 2X_ZaReY dRjd µ_`¶ e` c`]]SRT\ - Daily Pioneer

8`ge e` deRj `_ 2X_ZaReY dRjd µ_`¶ e` c`]]SRT\ - Daily Pioneer

AZ RBAYCANDA T ZYIQL R, H BSL R V SÜRGÜNL R

AZ RBAYCANDA T ZYIQL R, H BSL R V SÜRGÜNL R

Pla te u ja vnom se kto ru ove go di ne ne }e bi ti vra }e ne

Pla te u ja vnom se kto ru ove go di ne ne }e bi ti vra }e ne

Rppendix R

Rppendix R

.J ltI r r

.J ltI r r

r • - USModernist

r • - USModernist

R-201VN-W/R-202VN-S/ R-204VN-S/R-206VN-SK R-203VN ...

R-201VN-W/R-202VN-S/ R-204VN-S/R-206VN-SK R-203VN ...

- for trcr. tn n mb r Lend country, r r 1 r. rt

- for trcr. tn n mb r Lend country, r r 1 r. rt

(pP. 10,280 - 10,439 ine.) r. r;. ". ('

(pP. 10,280 - 10,439 ine.) r. r;. ". ('

'ffiffi \r)r,. K - The Seiko Guy

'ffiffi \r)r,. K - The Seiko Guy

R Data Import/Export R Core Team

R Data Import/Export R Core Team

frpj,jjJ/J - r __ r - Publicaciones Defensa

frpj,jjJ/J - r __ r - Publicaciones Defensa

r"/ - Vietstock

r"/ - Vietstock

BfRU RXV_UR RZUd aVRTV Z_ :_U` ARTZWZT dRjd A>

BfRU RXV_UR RZUd aVRTV Z_ :_U` ARTZWZT dRjd A>

r l- ^r/ - JDIH Kota Semarang

r l- ^r/ - JDIH Kota Semarang

\1rr\i r \ !r\'t) - Tumkur University

\1rr\i r \ !r\'t) - Tumkur University