=`X[R^ `gVc 9`fdV UVSReV ]Zde - Daily Pioneer

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A mid the worsening coron- avirus pandemic, falling economy and an aggressive China on the Line of Actual Control (LAC), Parliament would begin its 18-day Monsoon Session on Monday with no Question Hour and shortening of Zero Hour. In a clear indication of unusual times, for the first time in two decades, the Lok Sabha Speaker did not host an all-party meeting on the eve of the Session for consultation between the ruling party and the Opposition for the smooth running of the legislative busi- ness. The departure from the convention came amid a rift between the Opposition and the Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on the issues to be raised on the floor of Parliament. A meeting of the Business Advisory Committee (BAC) was called to iron out con- tentious issues, including the abolition of Question Hour and the curtailing of Zero Hour which has been opposed by the Opposition parties. Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury who attended the BAC meeting said the meet did not come to "any conclusion on the issues raised by us, there- fore, Birla will convene anoth- er meeting on September 15." Chowdhury said, "We have proposed issues of unemploy- ment, status of migrant labour- ers, economic scenario in the country to be discussed in Parliament. We urged the Government that Opposition voices should be heard in Parliament. We want to have a discussion on Covid-19, NEP, environment policy, floods, border tensions with China. We will continue to raise people's problem in Parliament," he said. The Congress leader said not only his party but the entire Opposition wants to know what is happening on the borders with China. "We want to know Government's views on this. We will support the Government whatever decision it takes to counter China," he said.The Lok Sabha Speaker hoped after the BAC meet that all members will be present and will engage in fruitful discussions. He said leaders of all political parties have "taken a pledge to uphold and carry our constitutional duties and responsibilities even in this hour of crisis." Politically, Bihar polls which are round the corner may generate heat with Opposition raising the Government's handling of the Covid-19 in the State and the alleged neglect of migrant labourers. A discussion on the India- China face-off is unlikely to be allowed anytime soon during the limited session. In 2017 the Government had refused dis- cussion on China's incursion at Doklam on the LAC citing national security.Parliament resumes after 20 soldiers were killed at Glawan in Ladakh after clashes with China in June. The Opposition is expect- ed to seek clarification on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's first reaction on the LAC stand-off following Glawan incident when he asserted in the All-Party Meet that "no one entered Indian ter- ritory, no posts taken". T he Congress-led Opposition is all set to oppose four of the 11 Government Ordinances and try to corner the ruling dis- pensation on the issue of the LAC tension, Covid-19 situa- tion and plight of the economy in the Monsoon Session of Parliament starting Monday. Congress chief whip in the Rajya Sabha Jairam Ramesh, on Sunday said like-minded non- NDA parties have largely agreed on a joint strategy to question the four ordinances. “We've proposed that the issues of unemployment, the status of migrant labourers and the economic scenario in the country, to be discussed in the upcoming Session both the Houses. The Government has not handled the China territorial problem, and the relation with neighbouring Nepal is at its lowest ebb. We have urged the Government that our voices should be heard in Parliament," said Leader of the party in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury. Party sources said the Opposition will also raise the issue of Delhi riot supplemen- tary chargesheet in which the the names of several political personalities including Sitaram Yechury and Yogendra Yadav appear in a disclosure state- ment of an accused. Jairam Ramesh said they will be re opposing three ordi- nances “clearly and 100 per cent”. W ith eyes fixed on the upcoming Bihar Assembly polls, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday inaugurated three petro pro- jects estimated to incur an investment of Rs 900 crore. These include the Durgapur-Banka section of the Paradip-Haldia-Durgapur Pipeline Augmentation Project and two LPG Bottling Plants. They have been commissioned by Indian Oil and HPCL under the aegis of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. In what sounded like a poll campaign speech, the PM praised Chief Minister Nitish Kumar saying Bihar's admin- istration has been exemplary in making sure that Government schemes reach the common people. "Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has a very important role to play in taking Bihar for- ward on the path to progress. We must ensure Sushasan (good governance) in Bihar. The good work done in the last 15 years must continue. During the rule of Nitish, two large universities, one IIT, one IIM, one NIFT, one National Law Institute in Bihar have opened," said Modi. "In the last 15 years Bihar has shown that if the right Government is elected in a State, benefits of Government's schemes can reach its people," said Modi detailing the Rs 21,000 crore projects imple- mented in the State by the BJP led Government. These two LPG plants will be able to fill gas cylinders for several districts not only in Bihar but also in Jharkhand and a few districts in Uttar Pradesh as well, Modi said. Kumar, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Bihar Deputy CM Sushil K Modi were among those who were present in the virtual inaugu- ration ceremony. The Prime Minister said the Centre has worked exten- sively in developing all energy related projects in the State. "We do not live in the age where one generation saw the inauguration of a project and another generation saw its completion. New India and new Bihar believes in fast- paced development." Detailing the implementa- tion of several projects, Modi said the age when someone owned a gas connection was considered a bigwig is now a thing of the past. He also high- lighted that Centre's schemes like Ujjwala has also empow- ered women and made sure that they do not spend hours collecting firewood which would later when burnt to cook would also cause respira- tory ailments. The PM said eastern India and Bihar's infrastructure was never prioritised. He further said earlier people never imag- ined that they could get access to developed infrastructure because there were economic and political issues to which no one paid attention to despite the fact that the region is teem- ing with natural as well as human resources. H is loud guffaws and ear-to- ear smile is a thing of the past. Veteran socialist leader and former Union Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh (74), succumbed to post-Covid ill- ness at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) on Sunday. Singh was under treatment for a lung infection and was put on a ventilator on September 6 after his condition worsened. He is survived by three chil- dren. A trusted lieutenant of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad for nearly three-decades, Singh had resigned from the RJD from his hospital bed just four days ago. His hand-written resigna- tion letter to Lalu went viral on social media platforms. In his two-line letter to Lalu, Singh wrote, "I have been standing behind you ever since the demise of Karpoori Thakur for the last 32 years. Not any- more." Lalu did react, writing back that he did not believe that "Raghuvansh babu" would leave him, adding that the two would sit down and sort it out once the leader recovered. On Sunday, the RJD chief tweeted his condolences. "Dear Raghuvansh babu! What have you done? I told you the day before yesterday that you are not going anywhere. But you have gone so far. I am speechless. I am sad. Will miss you very much." The same day he also wrote to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar about the projects in his constituency Vaishali, and demanded that alms bowl of Lord Buddha should be brought to Vaisali from Kabul Museum and national flag should be hoisted at Vaisaligarh on Independence Day and Republic Day to mark the importance of his native district as the world's first republic. A rustic man all the way, Singh was one of those few leaders who never faced even single charge of corruption in his nearly 40 years of political life. He had a PhD in mathe- matics and began his career as a mathematics professor at a north Bihar college. Recognisable by his white kurta and his khadi dhoti, Singh was one of the tallest Rajput lead- ers of the RJD. As a Rural Development Minister between 2004 and 2009, Singh was one of the key persons behind the success of the UPA Government's flagship scheme, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA). The five-term Lok Sabha member representing Vaishali had been in the news recently despite his illness for express- ing his disenchantment with the way RJD was being run. Upset with the functioning of the party he had formed with Lalu, he was facing an ideo- logical dilemma. Like a true socialist, he sent two hand- written letters, one to Lalu and other to the Bihar CM. In a moving tribute to the departed leader, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who received the news of his death when he was inaugurating a string of petroleum sector schemes for Bihar, called him a grassroots leader with deep understanding of poverty and problems of the poor. "I will request Nitish Kumar to execute the devel- opment projects he wrote about in the letter. Let's together — the State and the Centre — ful- fil his wishes," Modi said, while referring to Singh's letter to the Chief Minister. T he CRPF and BSF have each reported about 9,000 Covid-19 infections each till now and lost around 66 men due to the pandemic. The com- bined Covid-19 infections of the CRPF, BSF, ITBP, CISF and SSB have reached 29,377 and these Forces have suffered 101 casualties till now. The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) has reported 8,992 cases of Covid-19 infec- tions of which 7,609 have recov- ered from the disease while 1,342 patients continue with the illness. As many as 41 patients have succumbed to the disease. With a strength of 3.25 lakh per- sonnel, the CRPF is the world’s largest paramilitary force. Likewise, the Border Security Force (BSF) has reported 8,826 Covid-19 infec- tions out of which 1,704 are active 7,097 have recovered. A Covid-19 vaccine is likely to be available by early next year and the Government is considering its emergency authorisation for high-risk settings, Union Minister Harsh Vardhan on Sunday said, asserting he will take the first dosage if there is any concern over its safety. A s many as five members of the Lok Sabha have tested positive for coronavirus ahead of the Monsoon Parliament Session beginning Monday. There is is no official con- firmation about the number of MPS who have tested positive, but it is learned that the num- bers may go up to 15. The MPs were asked to get their Covid-19 test done with- in 72 hours before the start of the Parliamentary Session at any hospital/laboratory autho- rised by the Government or at Parliament House Complex. According to officials, all persons were informed about the test results and as it is a matter related to privacy, there would be no official announce- ment. Those who found posi- tive were asked to undergo treatment. T he Bihar police have suc- cessfully solved the mystery of a double murder of their State that occurred three years back on September 2, 2017. The Bihar cops with the help of their Odisha counter- parts in Sambalpur arrested a girl, Tannu, who had remained in disguise of a boy here.“Tannu didn’t kill the youths of her State, Anil and Lalbahadur. But she was direct- ly involved in the case by allur- ing Anil to come to her for love that gave opportunity to his opponents to kill him,” the Bihar police said. During the time of murder, Tannu was a minor girl, but now she is 22. One criminal group of Bihar, to take revenge on their opponents on business dis- putes, used Tannu to allure Anil of that group. Gradually, their relationship developed and Tannu requested him to meet her. But suspecting something fishy, he didn’t agree first. However, at the request of Tannu and her frequent phone calls, Anil came with one of his friends, Lalbahadur, to Tannu to the particular spot as told by her. But their opponent group, well-prepared to take revenge, caught hold of both of them and killed them mercilessly and threw the bodies on rail line to give it a suicide colour. “We were well-aware of the background of the mur- dered youths and their oppo- nents. Hence, we arrested four persons involved in the case,” the Bihar police informed. But Tannu went to her sister’s house in Delhi after it and then came to Rengali in Sambalpur to her uncle’s house and stayed here as a boy. The Bihar police tracked the telephone calls of Tannu’s family members, including her sister, and knew her location in Sambalpur. Finally, with the help of Sambalpur SP Kanwar Vishal Singh and Thelkoli police sta- tion IIC Surubabu Chhatria, the Bihar cops arrested Tannu from Rengali. And as per the provision, they first produced her in a Sambalpur court and then took her to Bihar on transit remand. A s many as 395 new Covid- 19 positive cases were detected under the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) area on Sunday, taking the city’s total cases to 16,240 so far. Of the new cases, 116 were from quarantine centres, all being linked with earlier positive cases. Besides, 279 were local contacts. However, 604 infected per- sons o recovered from the dis- ease taking the total recoveries to 11,430 in the city. Further con- tact tracing was still continuing. Primary contacts and nearby houses were being quarantined, sanitised and would be under active surveillance. T he State on Sunday report- ed 3,913 new Covid-19 cases from across all 30 districts and the State pool that went past a total of the 150,000-mark reaching 1,50,807. Of the new cases, 2,348 were from various quarantine centres and 1,565 were local contact cases. While 17 districts report- ed over 100 cases each, Khordha reported the day’s highest 552 followed by Cuttack (382), Puri 212, Jharsuguda 162, Kendrapada 156, Mayurbhanj 147, Bargarh 146, Balangir 142, Sambalpur 141, Baleswar 134, Nuapada and Jajpur 128 each, Bhadrak 123, Nabarangpur 112, Jagatsinghpur 108, Angul 103, Koraput 100, Rayagada 98, Subarnapur 91, Ganjam 86, Kandhamal 86, Keonjhar 76, Dhenkanal 74, Malkangiri 68, Boudh 61, Kalahandi and Nayagarh 60 each, Sundargarh 35, Gajapati 16 and Deogarh 15.Besides, 107 positives were from the State pool. Meanwhile, the Covid death toll increased to 626 in the State with 10 new fatalities on the day.While Khordha dis- trict registered the highest three deaths, two more died in Cuttack district and one each succumbed to the virus in Baleswar, Ganjam, Kalahandi, Mayurbhanj and Subarnapur. The deceased in Khordha included a 66-year-old man, a 62-year-old man (both of Bhubaneswar) and a 60-year- old man. The Cuttack fatalities were of a 45-year-old man and a 74-year-old man. The other deceased includ- ed a 60-year-old man of Baleswar, a 55-year-old man of Ganjam, a 62-year-old man of Kalahandi, a 60-year-old man of Mayurbhanj and a 84-year- old man of Subarnapur.However, another 3,363 patients recovered on the day, taking the total recov- eries to 1,18,642. V eteran Odia actor Ajit Das passed away at a pri- vate hospital here on Sunday afternoon. He was 71 and is survived by his wife and three daughters. Das was undergoing treat- ment at the SUM Covid Hospital after being tested positive for the virus. His wife Maya Das was discharged from the hospital after her test report came out negative for Covid-19. Born at Karanjia in Mayurbhanj dis- trict in 1949, Ajit Das had debuted in Ollywood with ‘Sindura Bindu’ in 1976. He had also left his marks in Odia films like ‘Hakim Babu’, ‘Maa’ and ‘Tunda Baida’ playing dominating charac- ters. He was an alumnus of the National School of Drama (NSD).

Transcript of =`X[R^ `gVc 9`fdV UVSReV ]Zde - Daily Pioneer

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Amid the worsening coron-avirus pandemic, falling

economy and an aggressiveChina on the Line of ActualControl (LAC), Parliamentwould begin its 18-dayMonsoon Session on Mondaywith no Question Hour andshortening of Zero Hour.

In a clear indication ofunusual times, for the firsttime in two decades, the LokSabha Speaker did not host anall-party meeting on the eve ofthe Session for consultationbetween the ruling party andthe Opposition for the smoothrunning of the legislative busi-ness.

The departure from theconvention came amid a riftbetween the Opposition and theLok Sabha Speaker Om Birla onthe issues to be raised on thefloor of Parliament.

A meeting of the BusinessAdvisory Committee (BAC)was called to iron out con-tentious issues, including theabolition of Question Hourand the curtailing of Zero Hourwhich has been opposed by theOpposition parties.

Leader of Congress in LokSabha Adhir RanjanChowdhury who attended theBAC meeting said the meet didnot come to "any conclusion onthe issues raised by us, there-fore, Birla will convene anoth-er meeting on September 15."

Chowdhury said, "We haveproposed issues of unemploy-ment, status of migrant labour-ers, economic scenario in thecountry to be discussed inParliament. We urged theGovernment that Oppositionvoices should be heard inParliament. We want to have adiscussion on Covid-19, NEP,

environment policy, floods,border tensions with China. Wewill continue to raise people'sproblem in Parliament," hesaid.

The Congress leader saidnot only his party but the entireOpposition wants to know whatis happening on the borderswith China. "We want to knowGovernment's views on this. Wewill support the Government

whatever decision it takes tocounter China," he said.TheLok Sabha Speaker hoped afterthe BAC meet that all memberswill be present and will engagein fruitful discussions. He saidleaders of all political partieshave "taken a pledge to upholdand carry our constitutionalduties and responsibilities evenin this hour of crisis."

Politically, Bihar polls

which are round the cornermay generate heat withOpposition raising theGovernment's handling of theCovid-19 in the State and thealleged neglect of migrantlabourers.

A discussion on the India-China face-off is unlikely to beallowed anytime soon duringthe limited session. In 2017 theGovernment had refused dis-

cussion on China's incursion atDoklam on the LAC citingnational security.Parliamentresumes after 20 soldiers werekilled at Glawan in Ladakh afterclashes with China in June.

The Opposition is expect-ed to seek clarification onPrime Minister NarendraModi's first reaction on theLAC stand-off followingGlawan incident when heasserted in the All-Party Meetthat "no one entered Indian ter-ritory, no posts taken".

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The Congress-ledOpposition is all set to

oppose four of the 11Government Ordinances andtry to corner the ruling dis-pensation on the issue of theLAC tension, Covid-19 situa-tion and plight of the economyin the Monsoon Session ofParliament starting Monday.

Congress chief whip in theRajya Sabha Jairam Ramesh, onSunday said like-minded non-NDA parties have largely

agreed on a joint strategy toquestion the four ordinances.

“We've proposed that theissues of unemployment, thestatus of migrant labourersand the economic scenario inthe country, to be discussed inthe upcoming Session boththe Houses.

The Government has nothandled the China territorialproblem, and the relation withneighbouring Nepal is at itslowest ebb. We have urged theGovernment that our voicesshould be heard in Parliament,"

said Leader of the party in LokSabha Adhir RanjanChowdhury.

Party sources said theOpposition will also raise theissue of Delhi riot supplemen-tary chargesheet in which thethe names of several politicalpersonalities including SitaramYechury and Yogendra Yadavappear in a disclosure state-ment of an accused.

Jairam Ramesh said theywill be re opposing three ordi-nances “clearly and 100 percent”.

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With eyes fixed on theupcoming Bihar

Assembly polls, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on Sundayinaugurated three petro pro-jects estimated to incur aninvestment of Rs 900 crore.

These include theDurgapur-Banka section of theParadip-Haldia-DurgapurPipeline Augmentation Projectand two LPG Bottling Plants.They have been commissionedby Indian Oil and HPCL underthe aegis of the Ministry ofPetroleum and Natural Gas.

In what sounded like a pollcampaign speech, the PMpraised Chief Minister NitishKumar saying Bihar's admin-istration has been exemplary inmaking sure that Governmentschemes reach the commonpeople.

"Chief Minister NitishKumar has a very importantrole to play in taking Bihar for-ward on the path to progress.We must ensure Sushasan(good governance) in Bihar.The good work done in the last15 years must continue.During the rule of Nitish, twolarge universities, one IIT, oneIIM, one NIFT, one NationalLaw Institute in Bihar haveopened," said Modi.

"In the last 15 years Biharhas shown that if the rightGovernment is elected in aState, benefits of Government'sschemes can reach its people,"said Modi detailing the Rs21,000 crore projects imple-mented in the State by the BJPled Government.

These two LPG plants willbe able to fill gas cylinders forseveral districts not only inBihar but also in Jharkhandand a few districts in UttarPradesh as well, Modi said.

Kumar, Union MinisterDharmendra Pradhan, BiharDeputy CM Sushil K Modiwere among those who werepresent in the virtual inaugu-ration ceremony.

The Prime Minister saidthe Centre has worked exten-sively in developing all energyrelated projects in the State."We do not live in the agewhere one generation saw theinauguration of a project andanother generation saw its

completion. New India andnew Bihar believes in fast-paced development."

Detailing the implementa-tion of several projects, Modisaid the age when someoneowned a gas connection wasconsidered a bigwig is now athing of the past. He also high-lighted that Centre's schemeslike Ujjwala has also empow-ered women and made surethat they do not spend hourscollecting firewood whichwould later when burnt tocook would also cause respira-tory ailments.

The PM said eastern Indiaand Bihar's infrastructure wasnever prioritised. He furthersaid earlier people never imag-ined that they could get accessto developed infrastructurebecause there were economicand political issues to which noone paid attention to despitethe fact that the region is teem-ing with natural as well ashuman resources.

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His loud guffaws and ear-to-ear smile is a thing of the

past. Veteran socialist leaderand former Union MinisterRaghuvansh Prasad Singh (74),succumbed to post-Covid ill-ness at the All India Institute ofMedical Sciences (AIIMS) onSunday.

Singh was under treatmentfor a lung infection and was puton a ventilator on September 6after his condition worsened.He is survived by three chil-dren.

A trusted lieutenant ofRashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)chief Lalu Prasad for nearlythree-decades, Singh hadresigned from the RJD from hishospital bed just four daysago. His hand-written resigna-tion letter to Lalu went viral onsocial media platforms.

In his two-line letter toLalu, Singh wrote, "I have beenstanding behind you ever sincethe demise of Karpoori Thakurfor the last 32 years. Not any-more."

Lalu did react, writing backthat he did not believe that

"Raghuvansh babu" wouldleave him, adding that the twowould sit down and sort it outonce the leader recovered. OnSunday, the RJD chief tweetedhis condolences.

"Dear Raghuvansh babu!What have you done? I told youthe day before yesterday thatyou are not going anywhere.But you have gone so far. I amspeechless. I am sad. Will missyou very much."

The same day he also wroteto Bihar Chief Minister NitishKumar about the projects in hisconstituency Vaishali, anddemanded that alms bowl ofLord Buddha should bebrought to Vaisali from KabulMuseum and national flagshould be hoisted at Vaisaligarhon Independence Day andRepublic Day to mark theimportance of his native districtas the world's first republic.

A rustic man all the way,Singh was one of those fewleaders who never faced evensingle charge of corruption inhis nearly 40 years of politicallife. He had a PhD in mathe-matics and began his career asa mathematics professor at anorth Bihar college.Recognisable by his white kurtaand his khadi dhoti, Singh wasone of the tallest Rajput lead-ers of the RJD.

As a Rural DevelopmentMinister between 2004 and2009, Singh was one of the keypersons behind the success ofthe UPA Government's flagshipscheme, Mahatma GandhiNational Rural EmploymentGuarantee Act (MNREGA).

The five-term Lok Sabhamember representing Vaishalihad been in the news recentlydespite his illness for express-ing his disenchantment with

the way RJD was being run.Upset with the functioning

of the party he had formed withLalu, he was facing an ideo-logical dilemma. Like a truesocialist, he sent two hand-written letters, one to Lalu andother to the Bihar CM.

In a moving tribute to thedeparted leader, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi, whoreceived the news of his deathwhen he was inaugurating astring of petroleum sectorschemes for Bihar, called hima grassroots leader with deepunderstanding of poverty andproblems of the poor.

"I will request NitishKumar to execute the devel-opment projects he wrote aboutin the letter. Let's together —the State and the Centre — ful-fil his wishes," Modi said, whilereferring to Singh's letter to theChief Minister.

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The CRPF and BSF haveeach reported about 9,000

Covid-19 infections each tillnow and lost around 66 mendue to the pandemic. The com-bined Covid-19 infections ofthe CRPF, BSF, ITBP, CISFand SSB have reached 29,377and these Forces have suffered101 casualties till now.

The Central Reserve PoliceForce (CRPF) has reported

8,992 cases of Covid-19 infec-tions of which 7,609 have recov-ered from the disease while1,342 patients continue with theillness.

As many as 41 patientshave succumbed to the disease.With a strength of 3.25 lakh per-sonnel, the CRPF is the world’slargest paramilitary force.

Likewise, the BorderSecurity Force (BSF) hasreported 8,826 Covid-19 infec-tions out of which 1,704 areactive 7,097 have recovered.

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��������/�A Covid-19vaccine is likely to beavailable by early next yearand the Government isconsidering its emergencyauthorisation for high-risksettings, Union MinisterHarsh Vardhan on Sundaysaid, asserting he will take thefirst dosage if there is anyconcern over its safety.

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As many as five members ofthe Lok Sabha have tested

positive for coronavirus aheadof the Monsoon ParliamentSession beginning Monday.

There is is no official con-firmation about the number ofMPS who have tested positive,but it is learned that the num-bers may go up to 15.

The MPs were asked to gettheir Covid-19 test done with-in 72 hours before the start ofthe Parliamentary Session atany hospital/laboratory autho-rised by the Government or atParliament House Complex.

According to officials, allpersons were informed aboutthe test results and as it is amatter related to privacy, therewould be no official announce-ment. Those who found posi-tive were asked to undergotreatment.

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The Bihar police have suc-cessfully solved the mystery

of a double murder of theirState that occurred three yearsback on September 2, 2017.

The Bihar cops with thehelp of their Odisha counter-parts in Sambalpur arrested agirl, Tannu, who had remainedin disguise of a boyhere.“Tannu didn’t kill theyouths of her State, Anil andLalbahadur. But she was direct-ly involved in the case by allur-ing Anil to come to her for lovethat gave opportunity to hisopponents to kill him,” theBihar police said.

During the time of murder,Tannu was a minor girl, butnow she is 22.

One criminal group of

Bihar, to take revenge on theiropponents on business dis-putes, used Tannu to allure Anilof that group. Gradually, theirrelationship developed andTannu requested him to meether.

But suspecting somethingfishy, he didn’t agree first.However, at the request ofTannu and her frequent phonecalls, Anil came with one of hisfriends, Lalbahadur, to Tannuto the particular spot as told byher.

But their opponent group,well-prepared to take revenge,caught hold of both of themand killed them mercilesslyand threw the bodies on railline to give it a suicide colour.

“We were well-aware ofthe background of the mur-dered youths and their oppo-nents. Hence, we arrested four

persons involved in the case,”the Bihar police informed. ButTannu went to her sister’s housein Delhi after it and then cameto Rengali in Sambalpur to heruncle’s house and stayed here asa boy.

The Bihar police trackedthe telephone calls of Tannu’sfamily members, including hersister, and knew her location inSambalpur.

Finally, with the help ofSambalpur SP Kanwar VishalSingh and Thelkoli police sta-tion IIC Surubabu Chhatria,the Bihar cops arrested Tannufrom Rengali.

And as per the provision,they first produced her in aSambalpur court and then tookher to Bihar on transit remand.

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As many as 395 new Covid-19 positive cases were

detected under the BhubaneswarMunicipal Corporation (BMC)area on Sunday, taking the city’stotal cases to 16,240 so far.

Of the new cases, 116 werefrom quarantine centres, allbeing linked with earlier positivecases. Besides, 279 were localcontacts.

However, 604 infected per-sons o recovered from the dis-ease taking the total recoveries to11,430 in the city. Further con-tact tracing was still continuing.Primary contacts and nearbyhouses were being quarantined,sanitised and would be underactive surveillance.

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The State on Sunday report-ed 3,913 new Covid-19

cases from across all 30 districtsand the State pool that wentpast a total of the 150,000-markreaching 1,50,807. Of the newcases, 2,348 were from variousquarantine centres and 1,565were local contact cases.

While 17 districts report-ed over 100 cases each,Khordha reported the day’shighest 552 followed byCuttack (382), Puri 212,Jharsuguda 162, Kendrapada156, Mayurbhanj 147, Bargarh

146, Balangir 142, Sambalpur141, Baleswar 134, Nuapadaand Jajpur 128 each, Bhadrak123, Nabarangpur 112,Jagatsinghpur 108, Angul 103,Koraput 100, Rayagada 98,Subarnapur 91, Ganjam 86,Kandhamal 86, Keonjhar 76,Dhenkanal 74, Malkangiri 68,Boudh 61, Kalahandi andNayagarh 60 each, Sundargarh35, Gajapati 16 and Deogarh15.Besides, 107 positives werefrom the State pool.

Meanwhile, the Coviddeath toll increased to 626 inthe State with 10 new fatalitieson the day.While Khordha dis-trict registered the highestthree deaths, two more died inCuttack district and one each

succumbed to the virus inBaleswar, Ganjam, Kalahandi,Mayurbhanj and Subarnapur.

The deceased in Khordhaincluded a 66-year-old man, a62-year-old man (both ofBhubaneswar) and a 60-year-old man. The Cuttack fatalitieswere of a 45-year-old man anda 74-year-old man.

The other deceased includ-ed a 60-year-old man ofBaleswar, a 55-year-old man ofGanjam, a 62-year-old man ofKalahandi, a 60-year-old manof Mayurbhanj and a 84-year-old man ofSubarnapur.However, another3,363 patients recovered onthe day, taking the total recov-eries to 1,18,642.

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Veteran Odia actor AjitDas passed away at a pri-

vate hospital here on Sundayafternoon. He was 71 and issurvived by his wife and threedaughters.

Das was undergoing treat-ment at the SUM CovidHospital after being testedpositive for the virus.

His wife Maya Das wasdischarged from the hospitalafter her test report came outnegative for Covid-19. Born atKaranjia in Mayurbhanj dis-trict in 1949, Ajit Das haddebuted in Ollywood with‘Sindura Bindu’ in 1976.

He had also left his marksin Odia films like ‘HakimBabu’, ‘Maa’ and ‘Tunda Baida’playing dominating charac-ters. He was an alumnus ofthe National School of Drama(NSD).

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The Government of Odishashould set up a dedicated

institute for geriatric care toaddress old age-related issues.

The measure may helpthrow more light on the plightof the elderly, but their needsare much more than what themedical institutions can offer.The senior citizens shall feelimmensely grateful if ashramsof the kind Rishis of yoreestablished. The StateGovernment may play its rolein realising that dream of thesecond childhood.

How about the country’shigh net worth individuals(HNWIs)? The factors trig-gering the process of physi-cally delinking elderly mem-bers of the family areexplained away in terms ofcompulsions of urban life,

pushing under the carpet theother factors of duty of theyounger generation to theseniors in caring for them, for-saking filial relations, throw-ing to winds the sense ofgratefulness, pursuit of self-interest, disregard to com-passion towards the elderly inthe evenings of their livesand so on.

Traditionally, an ashramwas perceived as a spiritualhermitage or monastery in thesubcontinent, of which pre-sent territory of India is but apart. Modern avatar namelyVruddhashrama, euphemismfor old-age homes, emergingin the country decades ago asselfless service in the matter ofcaring of the aged inmates has

got transformed into arewarding enterprise, theinmates having to pay theprescribed charges virtually aspaying guests. The changeovercontinues to be an urban hap-pening; the rural folk is yet toenter the system that is grow-ing in rapid strides in cities ofall descriptions, includingBhubaneswar.

In many countries of theWestern world, the socialsecurity system to which thecitizens are required to makea token lifelong monetarycontribution seems to beworking reasonably well, free-ing the beneficiaries fromworry of depending on theirchildren. Given the fact thatnearly 95 per cent of the

wage-earning population ofthe country is in the unor-ganised sector and a part ofthe rest covered by pension,millions of the country’s elder-ly have nowhere to look to fortheir security and minimumcomforts in life.

Only an infinitesimal frac-tion of the last-mentionedsection in the population hasthe wherewithal to meet thecharges collected by most ofthe old-age homes, their num-bers swelling each year inOdisha.

(The writer, who lives at E-237, GGP Colony,Bhubaneswar, works with NSS,CHSE. Mob: 9437616497. Theviews expressed are personal)

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At a time when the Statesees shortfall in resource

realisation due to the impactof Covid-19, a massive over-drive has been set to bringback huge unutilised fundsparked in the bank accounts.

According to an estimate,about Rs 7,000 crore releasedby the State Governmentunder the programme expen-diture head have been parkedin bank accounts.

However, no official con-firmation is available in thisregard as of f icials aretightlipped over the mat-ter.Sources said the FinanceDepartment has approached

various departments to get itdetails about the parked fundsso that the funds would bebrought back to State treasuryfor utilisation in Covid-19pandemic.

Ti l l date, the StateGovernment has mopped upmore than Rs 2,300 crore outof the parked money. Fundsare now required to meet thegrowing expenditure in socialand other sectors.

As the State Governmentmopped up over Rs 2,300Crore of money parked inBank Accounts, resourceposition in September looksbright and if more funds willbe retr ieved from BankAccounts, several depart-

ments, which are requiringmore funds in Covid-19Pandemic in coming months,will be able to meet theirexpenditure needs, officialsfeel.

Finance Department hasissued guidelines prohibitingparking of Governmentmoney outside PublicAccounts and these instruc-tions are needed to be strict-ly followed by the Drawingand Disbursing Officers(DDO)s, pointed out an offi-cial.

While serious move is onto mop up funds parked inbank accounts, another addi-tional resource mobilisationeffort has been initiated for

realisation of huge arrears. Allthe revenue earning depart-ments are having huge arrearspending for realisation. TheGovernment has advisedthese departments to formu-late one time settlement(OTS) scheme for release ofsuch funds.

Through OTS, theGovernment had realisedhuge arrears pending withthe Nalco, HAL and otherpublic sector udertaking.

Such measures will aid increating fiscal space to meetthe Covid-19- related expen-diture on public health, liveli-hood generation, social secu-rity net and internal security,said officials.

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About 37,459 students ofOdisha appeared for the

important National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET)2020 held at 83 testing centresin seven cities of as many dis-tricts in the State on Sunday.

Students who had appliedfor free travel and free stayreached allotted hostels alongwith hostels last night.

While tests were conduct-ed from 2 pm to 5 pm, studentsentered testing centres from 12am, two hours of scheduledtime. Students strictly adheredto all Covid guidelines, includ-ing use wearing of facemasksand social distancing, at the

testing centres. Their seatswere arranged at 6-ft distances.Thermal screening were con-ducted on students before theirentry to the campuses.

According to the guidelinesof the National Testing Agency(NTA), students having testedpositive for the Covid-19 werenot allowed not sit for the testthis time.

However, they wouldappear for a test on a later date,which will be finalisedafter.Students having cold,cough and sneezing-like prob-lems sat for the test in separaterooms. Each centre had a sep-arate room for such studentsand two PPE wearing invigila-tors guided them.The State

Government provided allarrangements for free stayingand boarding to students camefrom distance places.

As the highest number of15,000 students sat for the testin Bhubaneswar, the BMC hadprovided accommodation tostudents in hostels of five engi-

neering colleges here.In view ofCorona-19 pandemic, this time29 more testing centres hadbeen set up compared to thelast year. While 54 examinationcentres had been arranged for33,797 students last year, 83centres were set up this year for37,459 students.

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The Institute of CompanySecretaries of India (ICSI),

Bhubaneswar Chapter, on its39th Foundation Day, organ-ised a webinar on Issues withDematerialisation of Sharesand Form PAS – 6 and RecentUpdates in Companies Act,2013

Chief guest Rajya Sabhamember Dr Sasmit Patra saidthe ICSI has developed leapsand bounds to deliver to thehigh expectations of the stake-holders.

He congratulated the ICSIBhubaneswar Chapter andthose associated during the 39years of rendering various ser-vices to the society. He alsocongratulated the BhubaneswarChapter for receiving 5 timesNational Best Chapter Awardof ICSI.Registrar ofCompanies- cum-OL, Ministryof Corporate Affairs, Cuttack,Odisha Ananta Kumar Sethisaid a Company Secretary is theconscience stimulator of a com-pany and the governanceguardian. The Company

Secretaries are accorded withmuch recognition under theCompanies Act, 2013 and rulesmade thereunder.

In his presidential addressAshish Garg, who is also elect-ed as president of CorporateSecretaries InternationalAssociation (CSIA) for the year2021 congratulated the ICSIBhubaneswar Chapter.

Vice-president, the ICSINagendra D Rao, CentralCouncil Member, the ICSISiddhartha Murarka,Chairman, EIRC PriyadarshiNayak and Chairman,Bhubaneswar Chapter PrabhatKumar Nayak spoke. The ICSIChapter also organised a

Teachers’ Conference on theday via online mode whereinProf Mahadeo Jaiswal, Director,IIM Sambalpur, addressed theteachers on “EmpoweringEducators” during the morningsessions of the programme.Prof Samson Moharana, Headand Dean, School ofCommerce, Birla GlobalUniversity, Prof Ranjan KumarBal, former PG CouncilChairman, Utkal University,CS Deepak Kumar Khaitanand CS Siddhartha Murarka,Central Council Member, theICSI addressed on “NewCompanies Act, 2013, NewEducation Policy.” About 100teachers attended.

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Aday before the NEET, a girlcandidate committed sui-

cide at Budhikhamari Sahi inBaripada town on Saturdayevening.

According to reports,Upasana Sahu (19) was prepar-ing for the test in Kota,Rajasthan and had returnedhome during the Covid-19lockdown.

One of her friends com-mitted suicide in Chennai onSaturday morning, followingwhich she got upset and tookthe extreme step, her familymembers said. Her body, whichwas found in a hanging state,was recovered by police forpostmortem.

A note was found near thebody in which it was men-tioned that she was undermental stress over the possi-bility of not qualifying inexam.

A similar note was alsofound near body of herdeceased friend in Chennai,Upasana’s family members said.

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Newly-appointed All IndiaCongress Committee

AICC in-charge for OdishaDr A Chellakumar has testedpositive for Covid-19.

Dr Chellakumar informedthis on his Twitter handle onSaturday night. He is current-ly under home isolation and hiscondition is stable.

He requested all peoplewho had come in contact withhim in recent days to isolatethemselves and undergo Covidtest, if necessary.

Notably, the All IndiaCongress Committee (AICC)had on Friday appointed DrChellakumar, an MP fromTamil Nadu, as its new in-charge of Odisha replacingJitendra Singh.

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The Indian Red CrossSociety, Odisha State

Branch has decided to organ-ise a voluntary blood donationcamp on the second Friday ofevery month. Accordingly, sucha camp was organised in thecity on Friday and 19 units ofblood were collected.

The State Red Cross hadearlier 56 blood banks and itwas organising camps withsupport of other organisations.On the Red Cross Day, it washolding a camp on its own andlifetime members were donat-ing bloods.Now, the State RedCross has only one blood bank.The 55 blood banks have noRed Cross logo now. In mean-time, entry of lifetime membersto State Red Cross was stopped.

Giving no attention to this,functionaries are now holdingblood donation camps to takecredit only, alleged Red CrossState Branch ProtectionCommittee convenor DillipDashsharma.

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The Sai International SchoolParents’ Association on

Sunday said the news of waiverof 30% fee for private schools isfalse and urged the Governmentto resolve the issue by promul-gating an Ordinance in linewith the Gujarat Government’smove.

“Hearing a PIL, the OrissaHigh Court formed a commit-tee and directed the committeeand the State Government to dis-cuss the issue and reach con-sensus regarding the quantum ofschool fees that can be waive forprivate school students in viewof their parents being hit byCovid-19 crisis.

The court set September 14for the next hearing in the case.However, a parents’ association,which is a party to the PIL, ispublicly saying that an MoU hasbeen signed to waive 30 ofschool fees. But another associ-

ation, which is also a party, is say-ing no discussion has been madeand no MoU signed. Thus, thenews is completely false,” saidforum president Naresh Sahuand secretary NeelamadhabMohanty in a statement. Theyalleged that the Sai School man-agement authorities, which are apart of the committee, havebeen exploiting parents, despitea direction of the High Court.

They said the parents’ issuewas not discussed in the com-mittee meeting.“The StateGovernment should talk all par-ents association on the matter. Itshould promulgate an Ordinancein line with Gujarat Governmentand direct schools to waive feesin view of parents’ income beinghit Covid crisis,” they urged.

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For the 125th birth anniver-sary of great freedom

fighter Vinoba Bhave, an 84-year-old pensioner spentmoney from own pocket toset up a statue of Bhave inSarvodaya Nagar here.

Pravakar Mishra, whoworks as president of theSarvodaya Nagar BikashParasad, spent his pensionmoney for the statue, whichPuri MLA Jayant Sarangiinaugurated.

Mishra said it was hislong dream to set up a statueof the great social reformercommemorating his visit toSarvodaya Nagar in 1955 toaddress an all-India confer-ence, where Mishra joined theSarvodaya movement. Thelocality is named asSar vodaya Nagar sincethen.Mishra said that in lasttwo decades, he went to many

offices starting from munic-ipality to Collectorate andapproached several top polit-ical leaders for a statue ofBhave, but nobody listened tohim.

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Bollywood actor Sonu Sood,after lending a helping hand

to migrant labourers in reach-ing their homes during thelockdown, recently announceda scholarship for underprivi-leged students who want topursue higher education.

And now, Sood has drawnChief Minister NaveenPatnaik’s attention on Twitterrequesting him to help in treat-ment of a cancer-strickenyoung girl from Attabira inBargarh district.

One Sukant Meher initial-ly brought to Sood’s noticeabout the girl’s plight. Eventhough Ratnabati Pradhan hasbeen suffering from lung can-cer for quite long period, theGovernment is yet to provideher any help.

Sood became a messiah forneedy people, especiallymigrant labourers, during theCovid-induced lockdown.

Many are worshippingSood or naming their shopsafter him in several places ofthe country.

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To make people aware offirst-aid treatment, the

Indian Red Cross Society-Odisha State Branch organiseda seminar on the occasion ofWorld First Aid Day here onSaturday.

State Red Cross HonourarySecretary CTM Sugunapresided over the seminar.

Chief guest Rajya Sabhamember Dr Amar Patnaik dis-cussed about national devel-opment being done throughvarious programmes of theRed Cross. Dr Bikash Prasadand Dr Lokanamth Sahu high-lighted about first aid treat-ment.

Besides, Dr Prabir KumarDas and Dr Dillip Kumar Bhoitalked about the first aid treat-ment in cases of Covid infec-tion.Programme coordinatorGulsan Kumar Dash presenteda primary reports.

Youth Red Cross officer DrAjay Kumar Tripathy proposeda vote of thanks. SanjuktaPriyadarshini coordinated theentire programme.

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Forest personnel seized threeleopard skins and arrested

four youths in Nabarangpurdistrict on charges of smug-gling on Saturday.Forest officerMagar Dhanaji Raose toldmedia persons a team of Forestpersonnel intercepted twovehicles at different places inNabarangpur on basis of areliable information.

When one team intercepted amotorcycle in a bordering

area of Kalahandi andNabarangpur districts ataround 11.30 am on Saturday,one leopard skin was recoveredfrom the two motorists. The

Forest personnel then arrestedthe two youths riding themotorcycle.Another teamfrisked a two-wheeler nearUsuripadar Chhak underNandahandi block inNabarangpur district at around3:30 pm. During the search theForest personnel recovered twoleopard skins from the motor-cycle and arrested another twoyouths, said Raose.

During both the raids the twomotorcycles were seized.The

accused were Surendra Naikand Trinath Naik from TRampur in Kalahandi districtand Gupta Prasad and PrahlladKhatiguda from Gariguda vil-lage in Nabarangpur district.

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Residents of fourteen vil-lages in Sundargarh district

have been living in darkness forlast three months. The villagersdrew the attention of con-cerned authorities of Wesco butpower restoration to these vil-lages has not yet been done.

According to sources, elec-tricity connection had beenprovided to a number of vil-lages in Sundargarh districtunder the Dindayal UpadhayaGramin Jyoti scheme. Villagersof fourteen villages underNuagaon block un the districtwho had got electricity underthis scheme, have been livingin darkness because the trans-formers which had beeninstalled in these villages, aredefunct.

The villlages under dark-ness are Fuljhar, Teresa,Mahulachapala, Sanajojata,Karanjia, Taranda, Purunapani,Gopur, Barileputa, Nuagaon,Batakulagaja, Kerketa, UrmeiChuantoli, Katha Karanjia.About 600 consumers of thesevillages are the victims. Thevillagers repeatedly have been

telling their plight to Wescoofficials but restoration ofpower has not yet been done.

Notably, these villages arenear Jharkhand border andPLFI members are active there.Consequently, the villagers arein fear and are not going out-side after sunset.

"We had written toRajgangpur electric divisionfor requirement of transformeragainst non functioning oftransformers in these villagesbut we have not yet got thereplacement," said SDO,Wesco, Kuanrmunda sub divi-sion, S Mohanty.

Significantly, crores ofrupees were spent for electri-fication in villages under theDindayal Upadhaya GraminJyoti scheme in Sundargarhdistrict and the transformershad been supplied by VijayElectrical, Hyderabad.

About 180 transformerswhich had been installed in dif-ferent hamlets for power sup-ply are lying defunct.

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The world is in danger.People are in panic and are

striving hard for the sake ofmere survival. The Covid war-riors are sacrificing their liveswhile saving the lives of thepeople.

At this critical juncture, itis very crucial to be in physi-cal and mental balance. Yogacan be the true and ultimatesolution for this.

Speakers opined this at anInternational Yoga Summitorganised online by theSivananda Yoga VedantaAcademy (SYVA),Bhubaneswar here The event

was inaugurated by SwamiJagannathnanda Saraswati ofDivya Jeevan Sangh. The inau-gural address was delivered byDr BR Sharma, Dean, SRI SRIUniversity.

While all the programmesof the summit will continue tillSeptember 17, eight differentcountries of the world are hav-ing their online participation.

The highlight of the event willbe the Yoga competition andWebinar on ‘Yoga in the mod-ern world of adversities’. Theresource persons include oldyogis, experienced yoga teach-ers, doctors and intellectualswho will have regular discus-sion on different topics relatedto yoga.

While Dr Prashant KumarPradhan (director and presi-dent of SYVA) wished to cre-ate an awareness among thepeople about Yoga throughthe programme, organizingsecretary, Prafulla KumarBehera (Faculty SYVA),assured of a free and fair con-duct of the programme.

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Coronavirus played spoil-sport in the path of

observation of the deathanniversary of Bagha Jatin, aprominent freedom fighterwho laid his life in the earlytwentieth century whilefighting against British duringthe freedom struggle.This

year was 105th death anniver-sary and the observation forthe first time was made inabsence of Rakta Tirtha Yatriof Bengal and without pub-lic gathering.

Every year Rakta TirthaYatris from Bengal come tothe place to pay tribute to thegreat leader who exhibitedunparalleled heroism andsupreme sacrifices in hisyouth.

“This year no Rakta TirhaYatri did come from Bengalowing to Covid 19 pandem-ic. The observation was madein a ritualistic manner with-out gathering and meeting,”said general secretary,BaghaJat in DevelopmentCommittee Haren Chandra

Rana. Hardly at an age ofabout 30 had Jatin displayedthe courage to fight against amassive British police forcewith only his four aides.

He made supreme sacri-fices for the motherland . Hedied on September 10, 1915while undergoing treatmentin hospital.

After garlanding the bustof Jatin at Barabati Girls’high school ( then DistrictHeadquarters Hospital whereJatin breathed his last ), thecommittee members visitedthe Balasore Jail where twoaides of Jatin were hanged).Ina similar manner, the daywas observed at Chasakhandwhere the final battle wasfought between Jatin and his

aides and a mighty Britishforce. Jatin, a native of Koya, Kustia, now in Bangladesh,in his childhood killed a maneater Royal Bengal Tiger witha Khukri single handedlywithout fear in his village.

Having a strong sense ofself respect and nationalpride, he jumped into thenational movement to freeIndia from the British Raj.

He enriched his potentialand passion after coming incontact with AurobindoGhosh and his AnushilanSamiti.He and four of hisassociates had a fierce gunfight with British police nearChashakhand about 10 kmfrom Baleswar town where hereceived bullet injuries.

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Allegations of fraud and cor-ruption in payment of

Rehabilitation andResettlement (R&R) assis-tance to fake Displaced Persons(DPs) are cropping up again inthe Lower Indra IrrigationProject (LIIP), Khariar ofNuapada district.

The Office of the specialLand Acquisition Officer

(LAO) has been in the target ofthe aggrieved DPs this time.According to a complaint sub-mitted to the CM, Odisha, 5TSecretary VK Pandian and thePrincipal Secretary WR depart-ment by one Ramesh Chandra

Pradhan and two other DPs,the office of the Special LAOhas paid lakhs of rupees to fakeDPs, who either physically donot exist or do not actuallybelong to the project affectedareas.

"Kartik Harijan, LambuHarijan and Giridhari Harijanare three such fake names,against whom R&R assistancehas been disbursed. GarnaHarijan, a resident ofChandopala (Colony Pada) vil-lage under Pendrawan GP, whois reported as the father of thesethree DPs is issueless and hasalready received R&R assis-tance long ago.

The payment has beenmade to one Sanju Harijan, S/oGanesh Harijan in the name ofKartik Harijan, one of the fakeDPs," stated the complainants

in their petition. The other fakeDPs according to the com-plaints are Rahul Harijan,Jagdish Harijan, ChitrasenHarijan, Kumar Harijan andDasarath Harijan. Rahul hasbeen shown as one of the sonsof Sudarshan Harijan, whoalongwith his only offspringChitrasen have already receivedtheir assistance long ago.

Likewise, Jagdish,Chitrasen, Kumar andDasarath have been mentionedas the offsprings of Rangin andDala Harijan, who are issuelessand have already been paidtheir assistance.The complaintshave also alleged that, R&Rpayments have been made topeople who do not actuallybelong to the affected areas, likeChintamani Ganda, D/oMunsiram who has married

much before the initiation ofproject work in Badadohel vil-lage located outside the affect-ed area and two of her sons,Ghasi Sagaria and Deba Sagariahave been paid R&R assis-tance.

Bhoibudha Bhoi, S/oKapurchan, Manuhar andJaldhar both S/o Bhoibudha areresidents of Chandopala villageof Pendrawan GP underKomna Block, who have beenpaid assistance as the DOs ofHaripur village.The petition,which mentions about severalsuch manipulations and cor-ruption, has been forwarded bythe Director, R&R and Ex-officio Additional Secretary tothe Government, WRDepartment, the Collector,Nuapada, with a request to startan inquiry into the matter.

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Awoman and her daughterwere murdered in their

house by unidentified miscre-ants at Shankarpur villageunder the Champua police sta-tion in Keonjhar district onSaturday night.

The deceased were identi-fied as Saraswati Munda andher seven-year-old daughter.The assailants barged into thehouse by breaking the doorwhen Saraswati, her daughterand five-year-old son weresleeping.

They killed the mother-daughter duo but left the sonunharmed. sources said. Policehave sent the bodies for post-mortem and initiated an inves-tigation.

Sources said the woman’shusband is currently in jail inconnection with a murdercase.In another incident, awoman was brutally killed bymiscreants on rooftop of her

house at Malaspadar villageunder the Bhanjanagar policestation of Ganjam district onSaturday night.

The deceased was identi-fied as Jyotshna Rani Sahoo,wife of one Prashant KumarSahoo of Malaspadar village.

Police recovered the bodyand initiated probe into themurder case. According toreports, some miscreantsattacked the woman with sharpweapons while she was sittingon rooftop of her house.Hearing screams of the victim,family members rushed to theplace but the culprits escapedfrom the spot by jumping offthe roof.

However, the motivebehind the crime was yet to beascertained. On receiving infor-mation, the Bhanjanagar policereached the spot and sent thebody for postmortem.

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The PREM, a leading volun-tary organisation based

here, has been making contin-uous efforts during the threatsposed by Covid-19 pandemicto save precious human livesand restore livelihood of thepoor migrant workers comingfrom different States.

Earlier , PREM, in collab-oration with Ajzim PremjiPhilanthropic Initiatives alsoprovided kits of mask, soap,dry food and sanitary items tomore than 1,600 migrant fam-ilies from Goudagotha andAsurbandha Panchayats ofSurada block of Ganjam dis-trict.

In addition, the PREMtook steps for the proper imple-mentation of the Governmentprogramme ’SUGAM’ with thesupport of the district admin-istration, Ganjam for thereturnee migrants providingdry foods, cooked foods andwater bottles etc at the

Mandiapalli bus stop on theNational Highway.

Moreover, the PREM withthe support of United NationsPopulation Fund, Odisha StateOffice, Bhubaneswar, suppliedkits containing essential itemssuch as a bucket, mug, towel,soaps and face-masks to 3,831households of 112 villagesbelonging to the particularlyvulnerable tribal groups ofeight panchayats underK.Singipur, Bisamcuttak ,Muniguda and Gunupur blocks

of Rayagada district and sup-plied 3,169 kits to 70 PVTGvillages of Mohana Block ofGajapati district.

Besides, the PREM cameforward also to join the Mission“Anna Seva” of RelianceFoundation and provided 1,500ration kits to the migrants andmarginal labourers of ninePanchayats of Dharakote,Patrapur, Kukudakhandi,Seragada and Chikiti Blocks ofGanjam district during thiepandemic period.

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The Bharatiya BikashParishad led by its State

president Surendra Panigrahiin a letter to the Governor, theChief Minister, the H&FWSecretary, the RDC (SouthernDivision) and the GanjamCollector has drawn theirattention to the inhuman treat-ment of MKCG MedicalCollege and Hospital towardspatients.

Panigrahi has sent a pho-tograph showing how a seriouspatient is being administeredoxygen by asking the patient tosleep on floor of the hospitalcasualty ward.

Such gross negligence andstep-motherly attitude of theState Government in healthcare sector has exposed theGovernment, the Parishad saidin a Press release.The StateGovernment only constructsmultistoried buildings for theMKCG one after another with-out adequate infrastructure

such as health care staff, doc-tors, hi-end medical equip-ment and apparatus and ser-vice, to befool the public, theParishad pointed out.

Since MKCG is a premierreferral hospital of the entireSouth Odisha, hundreds ofserious patients from 4-5neighboring districts includingneighboring Andhra comeevery day to meet their healthcare needs.

Only serious patients areadmitted in the Casualty withbed as these patients requireimmediate healthcare for sur-vival.

But the Casualty is cur-rently having little more than20 beds which is inadequate fora premier referral hospital.Panigrahi demanded sternaction against those officialsresponsible for such negligenceas well as lapses.

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Police seized sandalwoodbeing transported to Uttar

Pradesh and ganja to Assam intwo separate incidents inGajapati district on Saturday.

In the first incident, theChandragiri police got inputsabout sandalwood being trans-ported in a car to Uttar Pradeshfrom the Cheligada area in thedistrict.The car was intercept-ed by the Mohana policebetween Luhagudi andKamalapur following informa-

tion from their Chandragiricounterparts. During searchnearly 10 kgs of sandalwoodpacked in five bags was recov-ered.The cops arrestee MDJamsed of Brahmapur andShravan Sharma of UttarPradesh in connection with theincident.

The estimated value of theseized sandalwood is worth Rs1.5 lakh. Later, the cops hand-ed over the seized car and thesandalwood to the officials ofChandragiri Forest Range.Inanother incident, duringpatrolling the Mohana policeintercepted a truck which wason its way from Adaba. Duringsearch, 502 kgs of ganja was

recovered from a secret cham-ber of the truck. The estimat-ed market value of the seizedcontraband is about Rs 30lakh. Police arrested the truckdriver, Gopal Chandra Ray of

Assam. During interrogation itwas ascertained that the ganjawas being transported fromRaipanka in the district andwas being trafficked to Assamand Kolkota.

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The Amway India is focusingon bolstering its home

delivery (HD)and logistics net-work to support the surge inonline orders.

The company has wit-nessed a significant shift toonline sales, from 33. 6 per centin February 2020 to over 70percent today.

Amway expects the trendto continue and foresees theonline orders to reach over 5-6 lakhs per month by the endof the year.

Commenting on Amway’shome delivery strategy, AmwayIndia CEO Anshu Budhrajasaid, “In the last few months,we have witnessed a rapid shiftin consumer behaviour, espe-cially in retail, with peopleincreasingly migrating toonline platforms for shopping.Amway too has observed asimilar trend.”

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The BJD has urged to can-cel the contract of a thermal

power plant of Naveli LigniteCorporation (NLC) and itsash pond proposed in Hirma.

A memorandum was sub-mitted to district CollectorSaroj Kumar Samal by a fact-finding team of BJD, to cancelthese projects keeping in viewthe increased pollution causedin the locality.

A team under the leader-ship of BJD Town presidentSandeep Awasthy discussedthe issue of spillage from powerplants, damage of farm landand crops and other problemswith the Collector. Likewise, a

proposed thermal power plantsat Darlipali of neighbouringSundargarh district, ashpondin Tileimal panchayat ofLaikera Block in Jharsugudadistrict, construction of an ashpond at Lara in theChhatisgarh Kanaktora borderby NTPC, proposed ashpond ofInd -Barath Energy Project atSahajbahal area and proposednew ash pond of OPGC havebeen demanded to be can-celled by the BJD.

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With poachers being active,elephants are not safe in

Keonjhar district in spite of thefact that a huge amount ofmoney is spent on wildlifeconservation across the State.

On Friday, a female ele-phant calf was found dead atTangarbahal forest inBarabanki reserve forest underSadar range of Keonjhar ForestDivision.

Sources revealed that onFriday morning, some villagersof Tangarbahal village who hadgone to the nearby forest to col-lect mushrooms found a jumbolaying dead and observed adeep mark on the side of hindleg of the carcass and afterinquiry it was known that thepoachers had fired targetting atthe tusker of the herd but bymistake it hit the female ele-phant calf.

The forest officials dis-posed of the carcass by declar-ing that the elephant died due

to unknown reasons. Sourcesfurther revealed that as per theguidelines of wildlife conser-vation, in case of late detectionof a dead elephant, it is the dutyof the concerned DFO toimmidiately inform to theRCCF and the PCCF (WildLife) and immediately reach atthe site for spot inspection andtake the help local blockVeterinary Assistant Surgeon(VAS) to conduct post mortem.But in this sensational case,

DFO Ajit Sarangi made theissue more suspicious and con-troversial by deputingGhanshyam Mahanta, thecontroversial ACF, who buriedthe carcass without informingthe local block VeterinaryAssistant Surgeon who couldhave revealed the actual causeof death.

It is discussed that due toalleged lapses of duty ofGhanashyam Mahanta duringhis tenure as the Range Officer

of Raiguda under SatkoshiaWild Life Division in Anguldistrict, tigress Sundaree haddied in the year 2017-18 forwhich he had to remain onleave for a long period.

Now it is discussed amongthe locals that due to poach-ers - officers nexus ,Ghanashyam disposed of thecarcass in a supicious manner.Meanwhile, a highlevel inquiryis demanded into the entireincident.

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The Aul police on Saturdaynabbed five persons,

including four Kerala-basedpersons of a Delhi-based place-ment agency and a local agent,who were conducting job inter-views by violating Covid 19guidelines.

The police also seized fourlaptops, two printers and 10mobile phones from the arrest-ed persons.

The arrested five agentswere identified as ManojS h a n m u g h a nPanamukkathu(48), ofPanamukkathu under Trichurdistrict of Kerala , Anoop K of

Kundil house under Palakkadin Kerala, Selvaraj(34) ofMattathumoola ofTiruvananthapuram, VincentSaji K J(51) ofKuttikezaakethic(M) ofEranakumal district besidesSk Habizul(32) of Rasulpurunder Aul police station inKendrapada, informed Aulpolice station IIC Salil KumarPradhan.

They represented Delhi-based placement Agency "M/S

Staris Group ” and were con-ducting the interview at Singiri-based Suvam Kalyani Mandap.

When the matter came tothe notice of district Collector,Samarth Verma, he immedi-ately directed the IIC of Auland the District Labour Officerto conduct raid and take legalaction against the violators ofCovid-19 protocols.

Later, Sarpanch of Singiri,Manas Ranjan Das lodged FIRagainst the five persons.

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Even as the soaring Covid-19positive cases continue to

heighten worries of the peopleand administration in the dis-trict, in forests of Athgaon andUpparjhar villages, a herd of 14elephants has been on themove and damaging paddycrop, increasing the ordeal offarmers further.https://ssl.gsta-tic.com/ui/v1/icons/mail/images/cleardot.gif

The elephants on Thursdaynight came to the villages anddamaged crop. “We had culti-vated paddy crop with muchdifficulty in the lockdown sit-uation.

Last year, we got very lowamount of compensation.

With the present loss dueto the elephant menace, wehave been hit badly.”

said a farmer ofPhatamunda village. “We arekeeping a tab on the movementof jumbos,” said a forest official.

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The coronavirus vaccinemight be ready by the first

quarter of 2021, Union HealthMinister Harsh Vardhan onSunday announced even as hesaid that no date has been fixedfor the vaccine launch. And ina bid to allay fears regarding thesafety aspect of the vaccines, heoffered to take the first dosageof vaccine himself to removeany trust deficit among people.

“The Government is alsoconsidering emergency autho-risation of Covid-19 vaccina-tion to senior citizens and peo-ple working in high-risk set-tings. This shall be done aftera consensus has been reached,”he said adding that the vaccinewould be first made available tothose who need it the most,irrespective of their payingcapacity.

The National ExpertGroup on VaccineAdministration for Covid-19 isdrawing up a detailed strategyon how to immunise themajority of the population, hesaid during the ‘SundaySamvad’ programme where heinteracted with his social mediafollowers and answered their

questions.Dr Harsh Vardhan also

assured that the Government istaking full precautions in con-ducting the human trials of thevaccine.

“Issues like vaccine securi-ty, cost, equity, cold-chainrequirements, production time-lines, etc, are also being dis-cussed intensely,” he said andassured the vaccine would befirst made available to thosewho need it the most, irre-spective of their paying capac-ity.

His statement regardingadminisration of vaccine camein the wake of an incident inthe UK where one of the par-ticipants in the ongoing trial ofthe University of Oxford’s vac-cine candidate developed asevere complication right afterbeing administered its dose.

The coronavirus tally inIndia crossed the 47 lakh-mark with 94,732 new casesreported in the last 24 hours.

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With morethan 47

lakh reportedc o r o n a v i r u sinfections and arise in the num-ber of critically-ill patients need-ing oxygen, aw o r r i e dGovernment hasnow asked sevenStates with highCovid-19 case-loads to pull uptheir socks andensure adequatesupply of oxygen in theirhealthcare facilities to min-imise fatalities.

A string of measures suchas provision for Green corri-dors for movement of oxygentankers within cities, timelypayment of dues, effectivecoordination with steel plantsand uninterrupted oxygensupply within states has beensuggested to Maharashtra,Telangana, Gujarat ,Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh,Telangana and Karnatakawhich are witnessing a surgein infections and deaths dueto the virulent virus.

Fol lowing reports ofshortage of oxygen fromsome States, Union HealthSecretary Rajesh Bhushan onSaturday held a virtual meet-

ing which was attended bySecretary Department forPromotion of Industry andInternal Trade (DPIIT) andSecretary Pharmaceuticalsbesides State HealthSecretaries and IndustriesSecretaries of the identifiedStates to take stock of the oxy-gen availability.

The States were specifi-cally advised to ensure facil-ity wise/hospital wise oxygeninventory management andadvance planning for timelyreplenishment so that thereare no stockouts, said a senioroff icial from the UnionHealth Ministry. They werealso asked to ensure that norestriction is imposed on themovement of MedicalOxygen between States/UTs

while provision of “GreenCorridor” for Liquid MedicalOxygen (LMO) Tankers with-in the cities is planned.

The States were remind-ed that hospitals and institu-tions have long term tender/contract agreements for sup-ply of Oxygen with oxygenmanufacturers, which need tobe honoured.

Hence, States must notimpose restrictions on freemovement of Oxygen, theywere told.

“Ensure proper disinfec-tion of Oxygen cylinders asper protocols while sendingcylinders to fillers of oxygenand effective coordinationwith steel plants for oxygen,”the states have been advised,said the official.

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In the wake of reports ofhealth complications faced

by Covid-19 survivors, theGovernment on Sunday issuedfresh guidelines recommend-ing the recovered patients toundertake physical exerciseand consume chavyanprakashand turmeric milk and otherprescribed immunity boostingmedicines besides constantlymonitoring their health andlooking for early signs like a dipin oxygen level or unexplainedchest pain.

In its new managementprotocol for patients who haverecovered from Covid-19, theUnion Health Ministry onSunday called for a holisticapproach for follow up careand well-being of all recoveredpatients and said that theymust continue Covid appro-priate behaviour by use ofmask, hand and respiratoryhygiene, physical distancing.

The protocol provides anapproach for managingpatients who have recoveredfrom Covid-19 for care athome.

However, the procedure isnot meant to be seen as pre-ventive or as a curative thera-py. “The recovery period islikely to be longer for patientswho suffered from more severeform of the disease and thosewith pre-existing illness,” itsaid.

At individual level, the

protocol suggested drinkingadequate amount of warmwater (if not contra-indicated),taking immunity promotingAYUSH medicine prescribedby a qualified practitioner ofAYUSH and if health permitsthen regular household work tobe done. Immunity promotingAYUSH medicine like mulethipowder, ayush kwath,Samshamani vati andAshwagandha powder havealso been recommended by theHealth Ministry in its protocol.

It advised people to resumeprofessional work in a gradedmanner. Daily practice ofYogasana, Pranayama andmeditation, as much as healthpermits or as prescribed,breathing exercises as pre-scribed by treating physicianand daily morning or eveningwalk at a comfortable pace astolerated were among othermeasures.

The protocol also called forself-health monitoring at homeof temperature, blood pressure,blood sugar (especially, if dia-betic), pulse oximetry etc (ifmedically advised).

“If there is persistent drycough/sore throat, do salinegargles and take steam inhala-tion. The addition ofherbs/spices forgargling/steam inhalation.Cough medications, should betaken on advice of medicaldoctor or qualified practi-tioner of Ayush. Look forearly warning signs like highgrade fever, breathlessness,

unexplained chest pain, newonset of confusion, focalweakness,” it said.

At the level of communi-ty, the ministry said recoveredindividuals should share theirpositive experiences withfriends and relatives usingsocial media, communityleaders, opinion leaders, reli-gious leaders for creatingawareness, dispelling mythsand stigma.

“Take support of com-munity based self-help groups,civil society organizations,and qualified professionalsfor recovery and rehabilitationprocess (medical, social, occu-pational, livelihood). Seek psy-cho-social support from peers,community health workers,counsellor. If required seekmental health support ser-vice,” the protocol said.

In the healthcare facilitysetting, the ministry advisedthe first follow-up visit (phys-ical/telephonic) should bewithin seven days after dis-charge, preferably at the hos-pital where he/she underwenttreatment.

“ S u b s e q u e n ttreatment/follow up visits maybe with the nearest qualifiedallopathic/AYUSH practi-tioner/medical facility of othersystems of medicine.

“Poly-therapy is to beavoided due to potential forunknown drug-drug interac-tion, which may lead toSerious Adverse Events orAdverse Effects,” it said.

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The CPI(M) polit bureau onSunday blamed the Delhi

Police for bringing its leaders’names in the Delhi communalriots related case chargesheet.However, the Delhi Police clar-ified that the media reports inthis regard are totally wrongand none of the leaders wasmentioned as accused. CPI(M)MPs have decided to take upthis issue in the ParliamentSession, starting Monday, andhave given a suspension ofbusiness notice.

“The Polit Bureau of theCommunist Party of India(Marxist) is shocked by thebrazenness with which theDelhi Police, acting underHome Minister, Amit Shahhas tried to implicate promi-nent political leadership, aca-demics, cultural personalitiesand activists in connectionwith the horrific communal

violence in North East Delhi inFebruary. No condemnation isstrong enough for this act ofcrude partisanship andvengeance.

“In scripting its own nar-rative of the organised com-munal violence, it is amplyclear that BJP-RSS has goneabout to portray Delhi riotsbeing a “deep-rooted conspir-acy” by anti-CitizenshipAmendment Act (CAA) pro-testers. In the latest sequel, the

Delhi police have dragged inCommunist Party of India(Marxist) General SecretarySitaram Yechury, renownedeconomist Jayati Ghosh, DelhiUniversity professorApoorvanand, Swaraj Abhiyanleader Yogendra Yadav anddocumentary filmmaker RahulRoy, among other prominentpersonalities, as persons whohad, encouraged the protestersas part of a ‘plan’,” said CPI(M)in a statement.

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President Xi Jinping is amajor threat to global peace

and the world needs to followIndia in fighting his expan-sionism, an exiled Chinese stu-dent leader who had led the1989 Tiananmen Squareprotest has said. ZhouFengsuo, the President ofHumanitarian China, alsocompared Xi with Nazi Party’sHitler, and pointed out that thecharacteristics of the two lead-ers are remarkably similar.

“I applaud India for ban-ning all the Chinese apps. It isimportant to counter China atevery step. There is no way out.Other countries should followIndian footsteps in fightingthe Communist Party of Chinaunder Xi Jinping,” Zhou, whois currently in exile in theUnited States, said.

Making this sharp remarksrecently while speaking at awebinar here organised by Lawand Society Alliance andDefence.Capital, he said the

Chinese Communist Partyunder Xi is a threat to the entireworld and every nation mustrealise China’s human rightsviolations perpetrated onChinese citizens and on thosein Tibet, East Turkestan andInner Mongolia. The theme ofthe webinar was “Emperor hasno Clothes: China under XiJinping.”

He said the global threatfrom Xi’s Communist Party ofChina will impact the people ofevery nation around the worldand its shadow will fall on allof us, including all Indians.

“The 1989 TiananmenSquare protest should havewoken up the world to thetragedy of allowing the ChineseCommunist Party(CCP) tocontinue in power, a regimethat uses battle tanks and guns

on its own people. Shouldn’tthe world have understoodhow a regime that is brutallykilling its own people will be athreat to the entire world later?”he asked.

Drawing parallel with NaziParty’s Hitler with CCP’s Xi,Zhou said Communist Chinawas using technology and debt-diplomacy to subjugate theentire world. “The totalitarianregime of Communist Chinahas become unmatched inhuman history. Now I see acommonality between Xi’s

China and Hitler’s Germany. Tome, it is very alarming. Weshould fight it all the time andon all the fronts. To me a strongadministration like India’s thathas taken strong steps is laud-able.”

Throwing light on theatrocities committed on theTibetans by Communist Partyof China, Thinlay Chukki,Special Appointee for HumanRights at the Geneva-basedThe Tibet Bureau, said since1949, the CCP has massacred1.2 million Tibetans anddestroyed more than 6,000monasteries in Tibet.

Aditya Raj Kaul, an inde-pendent journalist, saidCommunist Party of Chinaunder Xi has a game plan,which includes domination ofevery global institution in theemerging new world order.

He said the expansionisttendencies of Xi is reflective ofthe hegemonistic mindset ofCommunist China, which hastriggered the current conflictwith India in Ladakh.

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Afire broke out at the State-run SSG Hospital treating

COVID-19 patients in Gujarat’sVadodara city, the second suchincident at the hospital in aweek, officials said on Sunday.

The minor blaze erupted inthe hospital late Saturday nightfollowing a spark in the electricroom of the neurosurgeryward, but it was soon dousedwith a fire extinguisher byalert staff members, they said.

There was no casualty, theyadded.

No fire department per-sonnel was called, a fire brigadeofficial said.

The incident took place onthe ground floor of the build-ing, which has an ICU wardhaving several patients on thefirst floor and a laboratory fortesting samples for coronavirus,a hospital official said.

“It was a minor fire. A fuseblew up due to an electricspark, but the fire was soonbrought under control,” SSGHospital’s medical superinten-dent Ranjan Aiyer said.

“We controlled the blazeusing a fire extinguisher. Hadthe fire not been controlled, thesituation could have beenworse as many serious patientsare admitted in the ICU wardon the first floor,” another hos-pital official said.

Earlier, a fire broke out inthe hospital in Tuesday fol-lowing which 35 patients wereshifted from two affectedwards. No one was injured inthat incident.

The fire had broken outdue to a short-circuit in a ven-tilator inside the Intensive CareUnit (ICU) ward where criticalcoronavirus patients were beingtreated, an official earlier said.

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Aspiring to study law, a77-year old woman has

approached the SupremeCourt challenging the freshBCI rules prescribing anupper age limit of 30 foradmission.

Denied admission to pur-sue a three year LL.B course,Rajkumari Tyagi, a resident ofSahibabad in Uttar Pradesh,moved a plea seeking to inter-vene in a case a lready pending on the issue where-in the Bar Council of India(BCI) rule has been chal-lenged.

The BCI rules prescribean upper age limit of 20 yearsfor 5-year and 30 years for a3-year LL.B course.

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If conservation efforts arenot improved, at least 558

mammal species globally willvanish within the next decadeie by 2100, researchers havesaid.

Even though they did notattribute the likely extinctionof the wildlife to humanactions, they were clear that“humans are almost entirely tobe blamed” for all the mam-mal species that have goneextinct so far.

The researchers in theirstudy published in the journalScience Advances said in thepast 126,000 years at least351 mammal species havegone extinct. But theseextinctions that have occurredin the past centuries only rep-resent the “tip of the iceberg”,compared to the loomingextinctions of the nextdecades.

‘On the basis of the IUCN(International Union forConservation of Nature)-based scenario, we predict558 mammal species’ extinc-tions globally by the year2100,’ the study authors wrotesaid the researchers in thejournal Science Advances.

Currently there are 5,700extant species of mammals.Out of them, 80 are knownfrom historical reports sincethe year 1500, while all othersare only known from fossil orzooarcheological records.

For the study, TobiasAndermann from Universityof Gothenburg in Sweden andhis colleagues applied mathe-matical procedures that applyprobabilities to statisticalproblems to the fossil recordsto estimate how mammalianextinction rates have changedover the past 126,000 years,inferring specific times of rateincreases.

Based on current trends,the researchers predicted forthe near future a rate escala-tion of “unprecedented mag-nitude.”

Further the authors said,‘We are losing biodiversity

every year, and with everyextinct species and popula-tion, we lose unique evolu-tionary history.’

According to these mod-els, “the extinctions that haveoccurred in the past centuriesonly represent the tip of theiceberg, compared to thelooming extinctions of thenext decades.”

However, the studyauthors noted that despite thehigh level of current threat,there is still a window ofopportunity to prevent manyspecies’ extinctions byimproving conser vationefforts.

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“Unhealthy” commoditycompanies like those

engaged in alcohol, tobacco,junk foods, gambling, infantmilk formula, and fossil fuels toname a few around the worldare using the covid-19 pan-demic for commercial gain inways that could fuel futuredisease epidemics in a big way,a report has said.

Taking exception to this“corporate capture of covid19”, the researchers from theNCD Alliance and a multi-uni-versity and multi-agency con-sortium of researchers knownas SPECTRUM, based atEdinburgh University, hascalled for a tough governmentactions and warned that firmswere trying to weaken regula-tions and shape tax policies totheir advantages.

The study also slammedsuch firms for “leveraging” thecoronavirus crisis to burnishtheir brands, build influence,and advance their strategicinterests, often to the detrimentof wider public health andsustainability goals.

Lucy Westerman, the NCDAlliance’s policy and campaignsmanager, said, “There is anirony that companies whoseproducts increase the risk ofnon-communicable diseases,putting people at higher risk ofsuffering through the pan-demic, have positioned them-selves as heroes and partners inthe response but have inter-

fered in public policies thatseek to protect populationhealth.”

Linda Bauld, a professor ofpublic health at EdinburghUniversity and head of SPEC-TRUM, said that companieswere constantly adapting theirengagement with covid-19 andthat the findings should be seenas the “tip of the iceberg.”

Jeff Collin, co-investigatorand professor of global healthpolicy at Edinburgh University,said, “Alcohol and ultraprocessedfood companies in particular aredesperate to present themselvesas partners in global health anddevelopment rather than as keydrivers of NCD [non-commu-nicable disease] epidemics. Andthey’re extensively working toexploit opportunities arisingfrom the pandemic to promotethat framing-one that has wor-rying potential to shape policyagendas across national andinternational levels.”

In the crowdsourced projectthe researchers analysed com-panies’ activity over 10 weeks,from early May to mid-July thisyear, in 94 countries. Theyamassed 786 submissions, inwhich the most frequently citedcountries were the UK and theUS (119 submissions each), fol-lowed by Australia, India,Mexico, Brazil, and Jamaica

Westerman said,“Companies rapidly adaptedtheir marketing efforts to refer-ence the health and social con-cerns associated with the pan-demic.

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Congress leader RahulGandhi wished students

appearing for the medicalentrance exam NEET onSunday, while expressing hissympathies with those whocould not take it due to theCOVID-19 pandemic andfloods.

He also criticised PrimeMinister Narendra Modi, say-ing he wished the PM was con-cerned about the JEE-NEETaspirants.

“My best wishes to thestudents appearing for NEETexam and my sympathies tothose who couldn’t take it dueto the Covid pandemic andfloods.

“Wish Modi ji was as con-cerned about JEE-NEET aspi-rants and students as he isabout his crony capitalistfriends,” he said on Twitter.

Gandhi and his Congressparty have been demandingpostponement of NEET and

JEE exams, saying the situationis not conducive for holdingthese exams due to the pan-demic. He has also said hold-ing the exams at such a time isendangering their lives.

Over 15 lakh candidatesare likely to appear in NEET onSunday which will be con-ducted amid strict precautionsin view of the COVID1-9 pan-demic.

The National TestingAgency (NTA), which is con-ducting the exam, said in orderto maintain social distancing,it has increased the number ofexam centres from originally-planned 2,546 to 3,843, whilethe number of candidates perroom has been reduced fromearlier 24 to 12.

The crucial NationalEligibility-cum-Entrance Test(NEET), which is a pen andpaper based test unlike theengineering entrance examJEE, has already been deferredtwice in view of the COVID-19pandemic.

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The Bengal BJP on Sundaythreatened retaliation after

another saffron worker wasfound hanging from a tree thistime at Goghat in Hooghly dis-trict some 50 km from Kolkata.The incident occurred close onthe heels of yet another BJPworker found hanging in a sim-ilar fashion at Khanakul in thesame district a few days ago.

Ganesh Roy a middle-agedBJP “Mandal” president wasfound hanging from a treenear Goghat railway station,some 2 km away from hishome, family members saidaccusing “there is a Trinamoolhand in the murder.”

The incident sparkedinstant tension in the area withhundreds of saffron workers

staging a road blockade atArambagh highway and thepolice had to clear the block-ade after great strain.

Local party men said Roywas “under TMC’s radar as hehad been an active worker andgreat mobiliser of supporterswhich was he was “beingthreatened by the TMC eversince they lost Hooghly to BJPin the last year’s parliamentaryelections.”

Reacting to the incidentState BJP president Dilip Ghoshsaid “the TMC wants to clingon to the power by hook or bycrook… they know that theyare on their way out and so theyhave become desperate, killingour good organisers. But thiswill not the BJP workers. Theywill come back with biggerforce.”

Alleging that terror was thestate policy of the TMCGovernment he said “CPI(M)used to bury the opponents andthe TMC is doing the oppositeby hanging them from trees.But these cruel acts of theirswill not go unpunished. TheTMC will be wiped out in thenext year’s Assembly elections.”

Another senior State leaderSayantan Basu warned theTMC of retaliation saying “weare taking note of all the inci-dents and these will be paidback in equal measures and inthe same coin. When we willcome to power there will be noTMC party office left in theState.”

State Minister FirhadHakim however deniedTrinamool hands in the inci-dent saying “the BJP workers

are committing suicide becausethey are depressed by the factthat as members of that partythey have to commit manyundesirable works includingspreading hatred among thepeople. So I tell all and sundrythat doing BJP is risky.”

Killing opponents was notthe policy of the Trinamool asthe party had suffered the sameat the hands of the CPI(M) ear-lier and knows what it was likebeing killed by the ruling partygoons, he said.

A number of BJP men hadhung to death in Purulia districtlast year. Even a few months agoa BJP MLA from Hemtabad inNorth Dinajpur died by hang-ing near his village.

Meanwhile, Two monthsafter BJP MLA from HemtabadDebendranath Ray was found

hanging in North Dinajpurdistrict of West Bengal, theCriminal InvestigationDepartment (CID) has filed itscharge sheet concluding it to bean abetment to suicide andcheating case.

Sources said quoting the,Charge Sheet that cases hadbeen filed under sections 306/420/ 120(B)/ 34 of the IndianPenal Coce. “Charge sheet hasbeen submitted against accused- Niloy Sinha of English Bazar,Malda district and Mabud Aliof Chanchal, Malda district forabetment to suicide, conspira-cy and cheating,” sources said.

The BJP had staged mas-sive protests against the TMCfor allegedly murdering theMLA and demanded a CBIinvestigation.

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Abody of 12-year-old boywho was kidnapped from

Dori Nagar in Gandhi Parkpolice station area was found inan empty plot near Kwarsibypass road. It seems that hisface was crushed and burntwith acid. The family suspect-ed their neighbour of kidnap-ping and murder due to oldenmity.

A fruit-seller by profession,Gopal Kumar Sharma said thathe lives on rent in a relative'shouse in Dori Nagar. He is hav-ing three daughters, wifeManju, and a 12-year-old sonAtul Kumar alias Laddu. OnThursday night at around 8pm, the son went out of thehouse after a power cut andnever returned home. Familiessearched him overnight.

The next day, a missingreport was lodged at GandhiPark police station. The policealso started a search operationhowever, they did also notfind any clue.

According to Gopal, onSaturday afternoon, he wassearching for the son with hiswife near Etah Chungi when hewas informed about a child'sbody to be found in an emptyplot near the engineer colonyon the Kwarsi bypass.

On reaching there, he con-firmed the body as his son AtulKumar. The Kwarsi police werealso present at the spot and sentthe body for postmortem.Because of no ransom call, afamily is suspecting theirneighbor for this crime due toold enmity.

SSP Muniraj said thatpolice had been searching for

him since the missing reportwas filed of the child. CCTVfootage was also investigated.Meanwhile, news of the deadbody was received on Saturdayafternoon. All aspects are beinginvestigated.

Darkness ate LadduFather of Atul alias Laddoo,

Mr. Gopal said that he is curs-ing that time when the powerof the locality went off.

The son came out of thehouse only after the power cut.If the light had not gone, hewould have been watching TVcomfortably at home andwould not have been killed.Gopal said that he has marriedtwo of the three daughters. Atulwas third. Another daughteryounger than him is 2 years old.Wife Manju is in deep shock bythe incident. Daughters arealso in depression.

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Uttar Pradesh traders got abig relief after a facility has

been started to hear the old taxcases at the earliest in UttarPradesh. The pending cases ofVAT for the financial year 2016-17 will be now heard online. Alltraders will have to downloadthe “Dealer epassbook” app forthis. The state’s commercial taxcommissioner Amrita Soni hasissued this instruction on 11thSeptember.

Under this, for the financialyear 2016-17, the time frame fortax assessment or re-assessmentpromises has been extended to31st October due to corona.Earlier it was extended from 21stMarch to 30th June 2020.According to this decision madeunder Section 29 sub-section(11) of the Uttar Pradesh ValueAdded Tax Act 2008, now hear-ing of VAT cases will be through'e-Hearing' i.e. online. TheAligarh Commercial Tax Officecomprises the districts ofAligarh, Hathras, Etah, Kasganj,and Mathura, and cases of about18000 will come under thisnew arrangement. Officers andstaff will be imparted training atthe Commercial Tax Office atTalanagri from Monday 14thSeptember.

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The National Education Polic-2020will have a great impact on the dis-

course of future education and will bring a drastic change in the edu-cation system in coming years”, saidProfessor Tariq Mansoor, Vice-Chancellor, Aligarh Muslim Universitywhile inaugurating a webinar onNational Education Policy organized bythe AMU Malappuram Centre, Kerala.

He said that the new policy isbeing widely discussed by educationistsacross the country and seminar and con-ferences are being organised for the dis-semination of details of the new NationalEducation Policy.

Dr Shakila T Shamsu (former OSD,NEP 2020, Department of Higher Education) highlighted var-ious aspects of National EducationPolicy.

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Students committing suicideallegedly due to fear of fail-

ure in the National Eligibilitycum Entrance Test (NEET) isbeing blown out of proportionby some political parties inTamil Nadu, say parents andaspiring medical students in theState.

“How come that only stu-dents from Tamil Nadu are theones who resort to the extrememeasure?” asks VijayasreeRamesh, a lawyer cum socialactivist who is also a dotingmother.

DMK president M K Stalinhad described that NEET wasnot at all an examination fol-lowing the reports of suicide bythree students from differentparts of the State. “They com-mitted suicide even before theyappeared in the test. That

sounds strange,” saidVijayasree.

She said parents shouldbe blamed for the suicides.“They pressurize the childrento accomplish their dreams onchildren. Parents need coun-selling to handle children,” shesaid.

She was also for coun-selling the children. “The chil-dren aren’t given time to relaxor take time off to pursue hob-bies or divert their thoughtonce negativity sets in,” saidVijayasree. She blamed parentaland peer pressure for this phe-nomenon. “The crucial tenseconds to commit suicide .. ifthat’s evaded they can escapesuicidal attempts. The parentsshould not allow children to bealone or lock up their rooms,”said Vijayasree.

Vanathi Srinivasan, seniorBJP leader has something inter-esting to tell. “I had launched

a free NEET coaching centerfor students from Coimbatoreand Tiruppur. Students from 12government schools wereselected and were offeredcoaching. Six students made itto all India ranks list. I dis-continued the coaching centreswhen Tamil Nadu Governmentset up such centres in all dis-tricts. But the DMK, havingcertain hidden agenda, wasagainst NEET from day onedespite their support to theCongress in ushering the sys-tem,” said Vanathi Srinivasan.

Vanathi is of the view thatthe approach of the DMK andthe AIADMK was not pro-stu-dent. “They are trying to makethe students to take up cudgelsby spreading falsehoods againstNEET,” she said. Vanathi andVijayasree pointed out that thesuicides are reported only fromTN and not from anywhereelse.

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Jaipur: Rajasthan Chief MinisterAshok Gehlot on Saturday decided toenhance the benefits given under thewelfare schemes for journalists in theState, a statement said.

In a review meeting of the depart-ment of Information and PublicRelations, the chief minister approvedthe increase in the assistance amountfor journalists from Rs 1 lakh to Rs2 lakh in case of serious illness, it said.

The CM also decided to enhancethe monthly pension of veteran jour-nalists from present Rs 5,000 to Rs10,000 and asked the officials toaddress other issues of journalists,including land allotment among oth-ers, the statement said.

Addressing the meeting, Gehlot saidjournalism is a powerful medium of serviceand the welfare of journalists should be theresponsibility of the government.

DIPR Commissioner Mahendra Sonigave a presentation on the works andvision of the department during the meet-

ing, while DIPR minister Raghu Sharmasuggested to improve the content and pre-sentation of the magazine "Sujas".

In another review meeting of the gen-eral administration department, the chiefminister instructed officials to dispose ofNazul properties in a phased and timebound manner, the statement said.

He also directed to prepare a reportabout the proper use of these properties inpublic interest, it said. Gehlot asked the offi-cials to go to Delhi and prepare a reportabout the properties of the state in Delhi. Itwas informed in the meeting that a softwareis being prepared for effective monitoringof state assets, the statement said.

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Defying COVID-19 fears, as many as 1,19,587students wrote their National Eligibility-

cum-Entrance Test (NEET) on Sunday in 298examination centres across Karnataka.

The examination went smoothly across thestate without any incident being reported. TheNEET is conducted to select seats for Medicaland Dental Science courses across the country.

The state government had taken all precau-tionary steps like thermal screening and sanitisersfor both students and staff members of all 298centres.

Across the country, as many 15,97,433 stu-dents appeared for this examination. The test wasconducted in cities like Bengaluru, Mysuru,Mangaluru, Udupi, Davanagere, Belagavi,Hubballi-Dharwarda and in Kalburgi districts.

As per the COVID norms, the number ofstudents per call was restricted to 12 instead of24 last year, as a result the number of examina-tion centres this year was at an all-time high, with298 centres when compared to last year's 194 cen-tres across the state.

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A15-year-old boy wasallegedly hacked to death

with an axe by his cousinbrother in Nagla Kondar villagein Mainpuri over a trivial issueof using pump for irrigatingtheir fields.

The police have registeredan FIR in the case and the mainaccused has been detained forquestioning.

According to reports, theRobin Yadav, a student of class11, had gone to plough his fieldwhen he was attacked by hiscousin brother Rahul Yadav(26).

There was a disputebetween them over using thepumping set for irrigating theirfields, which had been distrib-uted between two families.However, the ownership of thepump set is not yet clear, saidpolice.

Interestingly, despite thedispute, the two families wereliving together in one house.

A FIR under section 302(murder) of IPC has been reg-istered against three personsincluding Rahul Yadav on acomplaint filed by thedeceased's family members atDannhar police station.

The deceased's fatherVinod Yadav had diedearlier.

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Samajwadi Party chief AkhileshYadav on Sunday lashed out at

the BJP, saying the suicide by aTamil Nadu girl student on the eveof NEET was the murder of the“Beti Padhao, Beti Bachao” slogan.

The 19-year-old Madurai girland two other medical aspirants inTamil Nadu had committed suicideon Saturday, prompting the oppo-sition parties to demand the scrap-ping of the National Entrance-cum-Eligibility Test (NEET).

On Wednesday, the SupremeCourt had refused to entertain abatch of pleas seeking deferment orcancellation of exam scheduled forSunday, saying the authorities willtake all necessary steps for con-ducting it amid COVID-19.

Referring to the girl's suicide,the SP chief in a tweet asked theBJP who was responsible for her“murder”.

“The news of suicide by a med-ical aspirant in Madurai yesterdayhas shocked every family,” he saidwhile paying tributes to the girl.

“Heartless BJP should tellwho is responsible for this. This isa murder. Along with this, the slo-gan of 'Beti Padhao, Beti Bachao(teach daughter, save daughter) hasalso been murdered,” he said.

Besides the girl, the other twoaspirants, aged between 19 and 21,had committed suicide inDharmapuri and Namakkal dis-tricts of Tamil Nadu.

They were found hanging intheir homes.

Bengaluru: A 105-year-oldwoman in Koppal District hassuccessfully recovered fromCOVID-19, after undergoingtreatment for the viral infectionat her home.

Kamalamma LinganagoudaHiregoudar hails from Katarkivillage in Koppal taluk.According to official sources, asthe elderly woman had a fever,she was made to undergo a testand the result came out positivelast week. As the centenarianhad no other health issues, alsoconsidering her refusal to go tohospital, she underwent treat-ment under home isolation ather son's residence.

After undergoing treatmentat home under the supervisionof grandson, Srinivas Hyati,who is a Doctor by profession,Kamalamma has recovered andher test reports have come neg-

ative now.Speaking to reporters,

Kamalamma's grandson saidhe felt it was challenging con-sidering her age, but as she hadno other health issues, she wasunder normal treatment and hisgrandmother is now an inspi-ration for those who fearCOVID-19.

Though the elderly womanhesitated to take food, she wasadministered porridge andwater, and medicine that wasprescribed to her was limited. Till last evening, Koppalhad reported a total of 8,802COVID-19 cases, including 186deaths and 6,870 discharges.As of September 12 evening,cumulatively 4.49 lakh positivecases have been confirmed inKarnataka, which includes 7,161deaths and 3.44 lakh discharges. PTI

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Upping the ante over theincidents of assault on a

retired Navy officer by ShivSainiks and alleged efforts bythe Udhav ThackerayGovernment to “implicate”Kangana Ranaut in a drugcase, Union Minister of Statefor Social Justice andEmpowerment RamdasAthawale on Sunday rooted forimposition of President’s rule inMaharashtra, even as actressKangana called onMaharashtra Governor BhagatSingh Koshyari and soughtjustice for her.

Talking to media personsafter meeting the retired NavyOfficer Madan Sharma atKandivli residence in northMumbai, Athawale said: “I metMr Sharma and made enquiriesabout his health. He has suf-fered an injury in the eye. Ihave advised him to undergotreatment at Mumbai's top eye-specialist Dr T P Lahane”.

Charging that the attack onSharma was attempt on his life,Athawale said: “The policeshould have registered offencesagainst the accused under sec-tions 307 (attempt to murderand 326 (Voluntarily causinggrievous hurt by dangerousweapons or means) of IPC.Since these IPC sections were

not invoked, the accused gotthe bail easily in the case”.

Athavale, who is also thepresident of Republican Partyof India (A), said that being theprincipal ruling party inMaharashtra, it was the respon-sibility of the Shiv Sena.

“But, the Shiv Sena is con-ducting itself in a vindictivemanner. Its workers attackedretired Navy officer and seniorcitizen Madan Sharma. TheShiv Sena has even defendedthe attack. The police havenot acted sternly against theShiv Sainiks who attackedSharma. The accused are onbail now”.

Alluding to news reportsthat the Maharashtra govern-ment had ordered an inquiryinto the alleged consumption ofnarcotic substances byKangana, Athawale alsocharged the Mumbai police –under the advice of theMaharashtra government –were trying to “implicate” theactress in a drug consumptioncase.

Athawale, it may berecalled, had on Thursday vis-ited Kangana’s Pali Hill bun-galow and held an hour-longmeeting with the actress.Athavale extended his party’ssupport to the actress.

“Because of the vindictiveacts of the Shiv Sena-led MVA

government, the atmospherehas vitiated. Under the cir-cumstances, the Centre shoulddismiss the Maharashtra gov-ernment and imposePresident’s rule in the state,”Athawale said.

Meanwhile, Kangana cre-ated a minor flutter in Mumbaiby calling on Governor BhagatSingh Koshyari at Raj Bhavanhere on Sunday to seek “justice”for her in the wake of partialdemolition of h4er bungalow atBandra’s Pali Hill area in north-west Mumbai. Kangana's sis-ter Rangoli had accompaniedthe actress to Raj Bhavan.

After her meeting with theGovernor, Kanagana tweeted:

“A short while ago I met HisExcellency the Governor ofMaharashtra Shri Bhagat SinghKoshyari Ji. I explained mypoint of view to him and alsorequested that justice be givento me; it will restore the faithof common citizens and par-ticularly daughters in the sys-tem”.

Meanwhile, the “Queen”fame actress fired a fresh salvoat the Shiv Sena spokespersonand MP Sanjay Raut over thatreported statement that it wasunfortunate that the BJP was“backing” her despite her liken-ing Mumbai Pak-OccupiedKashmir with an eye on theBihar Assembly polls.Taking a

pot shot at Raut, Kanganatweeted: “Wow!! Unfortunatethat BJP is protecting someonewho busted drug and mafiaracket, BJP should instead letShiv Sena goons break myface,rape or openly lynch me,nahin Sanjay ji? How dare theyprotect a young woman who isstanding against the mafia!!!”

On his part, Raut said thatthe Shiv Sena had stoppedtalking about the statementsand issues relating to Kangana.“But, we are keeping a closewatch of the Kangana-relatedevents, who is doing what andwhich party is behind thewhole thing”.

Raut’s comment should beseen in the context of Kangana’sstatements, the support beingextended to her by theOpposition BJP and her meet-ing with MaharashtraGovernor Bhagat SinghKoshyari earlier in the day.

Earlier, in his weekly col-umn “Rok tok” published inthe Shiv Sena’s official mouth-piece “Saamana”, Raut slammedKangana, without naming herbut merely describing as anactress, for her objectionablestatements against chief min-ister Uddhav Thackeray whomhe referred to in singular termas “Tujhe” and even threatenedto expose.

It may be recalled that

referring to Uddhav Thackerayas “tujhe”, Kangana had onSeptember 9 launched an allout war against the Maha VikasAghadi government.

“Uddhav Thackeray, tujhekya lagta hai? (what do youthink?)… colluded along withthe film mafia, demolished myhome and took revenge on me?My home was demolishedtoday, your arrogance willcrumble tomorrow,” Kangana had said in a videomessage on her arrival inMumbai.

In his write-up, Rautexpressed surprise that theentire film industry kept quietover Kangana’s statement. “Thefilm personalities should havecome forward and taken astand against Kangana’s viewlinking Mumbai to PoK. Theyshould have said it is the opin-ion of Kangana and not theentire film industry. At leastfilm stars like Akshay Kumarshould have spoken againstKangana. Mumbai has given somuch to people. But, when itcomes to expressing their grat-itude to Mumbai, they feel thepain,” Raut wrote. “Thackerayscontrol the state. That being thecase, there is no need for theShiv Sainiks to take to streetsto create ruckus over theMarathi Asmita (self-respect)cause,” Raut stated.

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Gujarat recorded 1,326 morecoronavirus cases on

Sunday, taking its tally to1,13,662, while the death tollrose to 3,213 with 15 morepatients succumbing.

In September so far, thestate has added 17,227 morecases, at a daily average of1,325.

Meanwhile, 1,205 patientswere discharged on Sunday,taking the total cured to 94,010,while there are 16,439 activecases, out of which 87 criticalpatients are on ventilator.

Of the new cases, hotspotSurat led with 281, followed byAhmedabad with 172, andRajkot on third spot with 151.Vadodara, with 123, andJamnagar, with 120, were alsoin the three-digit case group.

Meanwhile, Bhavnagar had69 new cases, Gandhinagar46, Junagadh 36, Mehsana 32,

Panchmahals 30, Kutch 28,Amreli 25, Bharuch 21,Surendranagar 19, Banaskantha18, Dahod 17, Morbi 15, Gir-Somnath 14, Sabarkantha 13,Kheda and Patan 11 each,Anand 10, Narmada nine,Mahisagar, Navsari, Tapi, andValsad eight each, DevbhumiDwarka and Botad six each,Porbandar five, Aravalli threeand Chhota Udepur two.

Sunday's deaths werereported from Surat (6),Ahmedabad (4), Vadodara (2)and Rajkot, Bhavnagar andBharuch (one each).

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The Committee of Expertson Non-Personal DataGovernance Frameworkwas formed last year to

advise the Government on variousaspects of non-personal data. Itreleased its draft report in July andis currently accepting public feed-back. Among other things, it rec-ommended that a new legislationbe drafted and a new regulator beset up to operationalise the frame-work.

The committee defines non-personal data as anything that isnot defined in the Personal DataProtection Bill, 2019, and thatdoes not contain personally iden-tifiable information. This wouldcover a wide array of information,including, for example,anonymised datasets that compa-nies collect from their users orcustomers, traffic pattern andweather data, agricultural data anddatasets containing informationthat is not directly linked to anindividual. Given that datasets arean important aspect of manybusinesses today, any non-person-al data regulation would affectmost companies and entrepre-neurs. They would also have sig-nificant implications for provid-ing benefits and enabling individ-uals and communities to exercisetheir civil liberties, due to theinferences that can be drawneven from data that isanonymised.

This is especially the casebecause most datasets in use are“mixed,” containing a combinationof personal and non-personaldata. For example, datasets collect-ed by banks could contain clientand transaction details as well asaggregated information on over-all demographics and transac-tions. It is important to note in thiscontext that the Personal DataProtection Bill, 2019, which is setto regulate personal data, is cur-rently being deliberated by a JointParliamentary Committee. Thefinalised legislation and the DataProtection Authority, which isthe proposed regulator under thePDP Bill, are empowered to reg-ulate personal data. While thecommittee recognises that manydatasets are mixed, it neverthelessincludes anonymised personaldata within the ambit of the non-personal data framework.

This is problematic becauseanonymising personal data, asthe committee recognises, is not

irreversible and the risk of re-identification of individuals isa real concern. Moreover, evenseemingly benign data on com-munities can lead to collectiveharm, such as if data on aver-age income is used to decideinterest rates for those living ina certain area, or demograph-ic census data is used to targetcommunities based on social orreligious lines.

It is also clear that algo-rithms can exacerbate existingbiases unless there are sufficienttechnical and human-basedsafeguards. Using such analy-sis to make public service deliv-ery decisions, for example, canalso perpetuate discriminatorypractices. Importantly, theframework suggested by thecommittee also allows theGovernment wide-rangingaccess to datasets. When com-bined with data that it alreadyhas access to, this carries signif-icant surveillance risks whichcan endanger civil liberties.

Given the potential forsuch harms, it is essential thata key focus of any regulatoryframework is on institutingsafeguards, with clear account-ability and redressal mecha-nisms. The primary goals ofnon-personal data regulationare to unlock the economicvalue of data, create a level play-ing field for digital businessesand protect the interests ofthose providing the relevantdata. Unfortunately, there are afew significant issues with theframework proposed to achievethese aims.

First, crucial parts of theframework are vague. Forexample, one of the key con-cepts discussed by the commit-

tee is that of a “community.”This is relevant both from theview of protecting collectiveprivacy and for assigning rightsand obligations accruing on thebasis of data generated by com-munities. The draft reportdefines a community as a col-lection of people bound togeth-er by a common purpose,objective, or geography, whichmeans that an individual canpotentially be a part of hun-dreds of communities. While itis meant to empower commu-nities as providers of data, thereport is silent on what wouldhappen if individuals are partof multiple communities withdivergent interests, and if mem-bers of a community do notagree on what would be in theirbest interest. What this meansis that it is going to be extreme-ly difficult for communities toactually benefit from the frame-work, given that key aspects arenot clarified.

Second, the mandate ofthe new regulator, the Non-Personal Data Authority, isextremely broad and overlapswith multiple sectoral regula-tors. For instance, it would bepractically difficult for compa-nies to separate the non-per-sonal data from personal in thedatasets they use or create.The authority is also taskedwith setting standards ofanonymisation, even thoughpenalties for re-identificationare prescribed under the PDPBill.

Similarly, regulating com-petition concerns to “level theplaying field” falls squarelywithin the purview of the com-petition law framework and theCompetition Commission of

India. The mandatory datasharing mechanisms outlinedin the draft report do notengage with proprietary rightsthat datasets are subject to andare likely to conflict with intel-lectual property laws. Suchregulatory overlaps are likely tolead to conflict, litigation on theboundaries of each regulator’smandate and higher compli-ance costs for companies.

Third, although the com-mittee recognises the potentialfor harm and the need for safe-guards in a non-personal dataframework, it does not accountfor these in its report. Forinstance, when exploring theconcept of collective privacy, itrecognises that non-personaldata can provide insights thatallow for collective harm suchas discrimination and statesthat safeguards are necessary.Unfortunately, the committeedoes not explore any specifics.Even though it proposes that anew regulator is set up, there isa marked lack of engagementwith regulatory design bestprinciples to ensure account-ability, transparency and inde-pendence of the regulator, andeffective grievance redressal.Given the overlaps in ambit, itis also not clear that a separateregulator is even required tospecifically regulate non-per-sonal data. New regulatoryframeworks will also have torecognise that given the rangeof activities that are movingonline, regulating issues in the“digital” space cannot be donein silos and will require coop-eration and collaboration.Experience in India and othercountries, where such collabo-ration occurs, indicates thatthere must be robust, bindingprocesses that are built into reg-ulatory frameworks themselves.

The committee would havedone well to explore some ofthese aspects and other bestpractices in regulatory design,and more deeply consider thebest ways to achieve its statedaims. For instance, instead ofmandating data sharing, itcould focus on leveraging theintellectual property law frame-work to incentivise data-shar-ing without contradicting exist-ing copyright laws. More gen-erally, the committee mustspecifically address the areas ofoverlap with other regulatoryframeworks and clarify theambit of the proposed non-per-sonal data framework. It mustcarefully think through emerg-ing concepts like collective pri-vacy before seeking to regulateon that basis, and fundamen-tally reassess the need for a newregulator, specifically for non-personal data.

(The author is Fellow atEsya Centre)

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Sir — “Something is rotten in thestate of Denmark.” The words ofa guard in Hamlet appear to be rel-evant to India in the context of theaftermath of actor Sushant SinghRajput’s (SSR’s) death. The trail ofevents that followed the tragedybrought out and demonstrated theworst in our society and left a bloton it. SSR’s story took precedenceover the Coronavirus pandemic,contraction of the economy andthe India-China border face-off.It is generally believed that theactor had mental health issues andwas driven by clinical depressionto take the extreme step. But thenhis politically-connected familyscreamed murder and all hellbroke loose. So everything otherthan his death is being discussed.

The CBI, ED and NCB werepressed into service to probe intothe circumstances surroundingthe actor’s death. Some TVanchors got their claws into theactor’s girlfriend RheaChakraborty, declaring her guiltyof abetting suicide. And since theBJP has a point to prove about theShiv Sena Government’s mishan-dling of the probe, she was impli-cated in a drugs case on flimsygrounds that in no way was relat-

ed to SSR’s death. She was moresinned against than sinning; shewas hounded, humiliated andhurt to propitiate the bloodthirstymob. Still few people openlyexpressed empathy for her situa-tion. Politically, the BJP and

JD(U) have tried hard to make theissue a slam dunk for them.“Justice for Sushant” is now anelection slogan in Bihar.

Actor Kangana Ranautwaded in with her unpleasantaccusations. She compared

Mumbai to Pakistan OccupiedKashmir, the Shiv Sena-ledAghadi Government to theTaliban, her office to the Ramtemple and the BMC to Babur’sarmy and ended up having Y+security. The actress validated

the perception that she was act-ing as a proxy for the BJP. In anycase, the SSR case was warped byprejudice to boast any semblanceof fairness. May justice prevail.

G David MiltonMaruthancode

�����������������Sir — It is worrying that the con-stitutional post of the DeputySpeaker of the Lok Sabha hasn’tbeen filled despite 15 months hav-ing passed since the first sitting ofthe 17th Lok Sabha. With themonsoon session of theParliament commencing, itshould be one of the top priori-ties of the Union Government.

Given the raging pandemic,it would be difficult to run theHouse if Speaker Om Birla has tokeep himself away from the pro-ceedings for some time. TheSpeaker is placed on the samerank as the Chief Justice of Indiain the Indian “Order ofPrecedence.” His key positionought to be safeguarded by elect-ing a Deputy Speaker to presideover the House in his absence.

Shivanshu SrivastavaLucknow

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Information and Communication Technologies(ICTs) are providing an enormous platform tore-arrange societal contours, by abandoning the

primitive, time and space-driven edifices of epis-temology to develop some new sets of normativestandards, for citizens in the information age.Citizenship assumes geography, which is laterunderlined as a nation-State. This understanding,however, becomes inept in times of a new digitalcitizenship under the sovereign ruling of ICT. Thishas paved the way for the subaltern’s voice. Forages, socially-acceptable and prestigiousspaces/institutions were devoid of subordinatevoices. Digital social media platforms via the inter-net have considerably enabled them to mature afirst-hand collective consciousness to authorise adistinctive, shared philosophy (through Facebook,WhatApps, Twitter and so on) deeply interwovenin democratic traditions.

Digital windows have arguably helped diverseonline communities to materialise their life-world experiences and advance a fresh alternativeand corresponding model of living. Informationsociety theorist Manuel Castells recognises the lib-erating outcomes of ICT. Subalterns are takingepistemic responsibilities in socio-technicalprocesses of the information society, conditionedon epistemic justification to rectify injustice doneto them.

ICT and empowerment: Subalterns haveutilised digital platforms more suitably to revealtheir experiences, ideas, concerns and aspirationsand explore unsung heroes, weave stories and pre-serve oral traditions. These include their life expe-riences, cultures, traditions, beliefs, languages andethics, despite the anxieties from the existing dom-inating political entities. Information technologyenabled subalterns with the required information,without much obstruction, to get closer to the pur-suit of truth and justice. Information/knowledgesystems of a large section of the Indian popula-tion possibly would have been isolated by themainstream content drivers to sustain dominantconceptual accounts and discourses/narratives.Meanwhile, cyberspace is offering sizeable avenuesto freely communicate with local and globalisedcommunities.

The rise of multiple online news outlets, indi-vidual content providers and senior journalistsdevoted to maintaining the integrity of their pro-fession, and their incessantly digitally-wideningaudience, attests to the fact that subalterns andordinary citizens receive more reliable informa-tion from them than from mainstream news out-lets. In the present scenario, formal education isless required to produce creative content. On thecontrary, industrial society is engrossed in own-ership of talent. The information age does not needa bulky investment of academicians for informa-tion; rather it independently cultivates a new dig-ital forum. It is also not purely social-capital castedriven. In this way, the creator of information willenhance balance in society. The embryonic sub-altern epistemology adheres to different ideas andfigures, which might be in stark contrast to somewidely-considered knowledge structures. This willactually induce those, who remained at the helmof social and political affairs/narratives, to incor-porate burgeoning criticism and demands of sub-ordinates to enable the substantial democratisa-tion of ICT.

Subaltern news outlets: Subalternpresence is notable in online news por-tals, though not adequately enough.Some channels like Dalit Dastak,National Dastak, Bahujan TV, NationalIndia News, The Shudra and DalitCamera: Through UnTouchable Eyeshave started generating content. Theyhave subscribers/viewers in millionsfrom various social groups. Notably, sub-alterns have utilised digital media to con-structively choose relevant, valuableand meaningful information, more thanever to educate themselves.

ICT and subaltern causes: With col-lective struggle, subalterns are reachingat the centre of democratic knowledgeproduction and content generation,challenging the discriminatory andhegemonic patterns of the State. TheApril 2, 2018 mobilisation of Dalits andAdivasis across the country, against thedilution of the provisions of the SCs/STs(Prevention of Atrocities) Act, is aunique testament to a better and pur-poseful utilisation of internet technolo-gy by subalterns in India to assert theirrights. Leaders became irrelevant and,despite that, it could become the largestunprecedented movement of this scale,in recent years, by subalterns.

Why is information society moreliberating to subalterns? In agricultur-al societies, they could not acquire theland. On the contrary, in the informa-tion society, they could secure key posi-tions from content generators to contentmanagers and owners. However, the lackof financial resources limits them fromprojecting their accounts as generalmainstream opinions. At the epistemo-logical front, they have had considerableaccomplishments by acquiring digitalspace but do not possess materialistic

resources to take the ownership of bigmainstream media. The informationsociety, further, has been convertedinto a revered room that furnishes moresubstance of respect and dignity to anordinary subaltern. Fundamentally, theinformation society is based on ideals ofinclusivity, mutual collaboration, openand free access to reliable data. The sub-altern people’s reliance is diminishing onmainstream news channels. This will fur-ther translate into the development ofcommunity-owned and driven onlinemedia outlets, leading to active involve-ment and participation of outcasts andsubordinates. More so to democratise themedia space in the information society.

Subaltern hyper self: In an informa-tion society, people use the new socialchannels (Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter,Instagram, YouTube and so on) to self-broadcast (uploading pictures and loca-tions), reveal preferences (likes and dis-likes), and share personal information(relationship status). This way they aredeveloping informational selves, cover-ing various aspects of human life.

Anonymous social identities and theidea of self could be reformulated on adigital platform to generate meaning andaccomplish freedom of speech in soci-ety. Thai philosopher SorajHongladarom in his seminal work, TheOnline Self, maintains “viewing the selfas made up of information makes it eas-ier to account for the self in the onlineworld.” The online self allows thisunique opportunity, to conceal andchange your identity to put your messageacross. The physical self, which is social-ly neglected, might form a new onlineidentity (or social self) to legitimise itselfsocially, without revealing the originalidentity. The new online structure

changes the forms of earlier social struc-tures.

Futurist Jason Ohler argues, “Ourability to hide our real life identities byusing obscure user presences — fromchat room names to avatars who looknothing like us — allows us to literallyreconceptualise ourselves.” It testifies thedeparture from the earlier mode of exis-tential self to the digital self, which isattributing more meaning to a digitalsubaltern self.

Indian and Western digital self:Culturally, individuality is not sup-pressed largely in the West due to anindividualistic understanding of theself, rooted in the Cartesian self. In India,desires, fantasies and aspirations arepeculiarly anchored by external factorsother than an individual. People will,therefore, often go and create digitalselves and put fake/distorted/misinfor-mation about their identities to cherishwhat they always wanted to be withoutrevealing much about themselves. It hasgiven them more freedom to express,which has resulted in the online socialselves dominating the real ones.Sometimes, the social self overpowers thereal existential self. In general terms,humans are living in a world of “doublesocial self.” The former springs fromphysical social space, the latter is causedby ICT and made compulsory due toeconomic and political compulsions.Novel digital subaltern metaphysics hasyet to be thoroughly comprehended inIndia. It could empirically be conclud-ed that the information society sells a jus-tifiable hope of liberation and empow-erment to subalterns in India.

(The writer is Assistant Professor,Department of Philosophy, IndraprasthaCollege for Women, University of Delhi)

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Karachi is Pakistan’s largest andthe world’s sixth-largest city. Itis the provincial capital of Sindh

province. Known as Pakistan’s econom-ic hub, it generates up to 65 per centof the national revenue. It is alsoPakistan’s major port city. It is a fact thatonly during disasters, such as therecent urban flooding, do mostKarachiites realise that there is not onepolitical or administrative authority inKarachi but many. The cityGovernment, the Sindh Government,the federal Government and variouslocal administrative bodies. Theadministrative structure of this mam-moth metropolis is thus complex andmulti-layered, with some absurd over-laps. Karachi is also Pakistan’s most eth-nically diverse city. Even though thisdiversity continues to sustain the city’s

metropolitan status, and its rather prag-matically formulated pluralistic culture,it can also make the city’s many polit-ical and administrative stakeholderspull their individual weights in oppo-site directions. This makes it almostimpossible for them to strike anyworkable consensus.

This is reflective of the city’s seg-regated ethnic construct. Ever since the1980s, various ethnic communitieshave ghettoised themselves in theirareas of numerical influence. Duringtimes of ethnic tussles over the city’sresources, ethnic groups prefer toremain in their areas. However, sinceeconomic survival demands venturingout and interacting with other groups,bridges do emerge and communitiesreturn to interact with each other. Nomatter how pragmatic the nature of thisinteraction, it often results in the cre-ation of an overarching culture of inter-action and inclusiveness, only to recedeonce again during ethnic commotions.

Common economic interests arewhat drive this interaction, until onecommunity begins to suspect themotives of the other. The suspectedmotive is usually about usurping morethan one’s unsaid share of economic

resources. But there are no suchbridges between those who adminis-ter this city. Communication gapsremain and in case of emergencies,these cause uncoordinated, chaoticresponses and futile finger-pointing.The city’s ethnic diversity works in acurious manner, generating an always-squabbling pluralism.

Most large cities, even in devel-oped countries, face a plethora ofadministrative and infrastructuralproblems. But lessons and data fromtheir historical evolution aid them toadjust and resolve these problems. Butunlike most cities, Karachi did notevolve as a city, as such, but it implod-ed into existence. Twice.

The region that became Karachihas an obscure history till the 18th cen-tury. According to ancient Greek texts,the Greek commander Nearchus, whoaccompanied Alexander during hisinvasion of India in 326 BC, called theregion “Krokola”, a place by the seainhabited by a tiny community of“primitive people.” However, 16th cen-tury Turks and Arabs called it“Kaurashi.” But it does not appear onany map until Sindh’s Kalhora dynastyannexed it in 1759. It was “gifted” to

Balochistan’s Khan of Kalat in 1767before being annexed by Sindh’s Talpurdynasty in 1794. By all accounts, it wasstill a small fishing town with less than10,000 inhabitants, mostly Sindhi andBaloch, who called it “Kolachi.”

The British invaded and occupiedKarachi in the early 1840s and thenannexed the rest of Sindh. They madeKarachi and Sindh parts of the BombayPresidency. The British rapidly devel-oped Karachi’s port and infrastructure.This led to migrations from the rest ofIndia. From a population of less than15,000 during the time of the Britishtakeover, it witnessed a manifoldincrease. By 1856, the population hadjumped to 57,000.

Suddenly, within a matter of a fewdecades, the rugged fishing town of15,000 people became a rapidly-emerg-ing port city. By the 1930s, the Britishwere calling Karachi the “Queen of theEast” and praising its enterprising, tol-erant and diverse character. The city’ssudden urban emergence and swiftincrease in population did create issuesbut the British introduced an effectivemodel of city governance that contin-ued to upgrade Karachi’s infrastructure.The city governance system eschewed

politics based on religion or ethnicityand succeeded in managing the city’sresources in such a manner that majorand minor stakeholders felt included.In 1936, Sindh was restored as aprovince and Karachi was made its cap-ital. According to the 1941 censusreport, Karachi’s population then was435,887. Over 50 per cent were Hindus,40 per cent were Muslims, while therest comprised Buddhists,Zoroastrians, Christians and Jews.Over 65 per cent spoke Sindhi.

In 1947, the city imploded intoanother form of existence, this time asa capital of Pakistan. Karachi’s demo-graphics witnessed a dramatic shiftwhen millions of Urdu-speakingMuslims (Mohajir) migrated to it.There was a 161 per cent increase inKarachi’s population. The infrastruc-ture left behind by the British could notaccommodate the massive increase,and began to crumble.

In 1958, the Ayub KhanGovernment chalked out a resettlementplan which was to be accommodatedby an ambitious industrialisation pro-ject. New low-income housing schemesemerged but factories and businesseswere slow to reach these areas and there

was lack of transport. Pashtun andPunjabi migrants also began to arrivein droves. Slums began to sprout.Failure to effectively adjust the city’sinfrastructure to accommodate thesechanges led to ad hoc arrangements. In1965, Karachi witnessed its first ethnicriot. In 1970, it once again became thecapital of Sindh. In 1972, it witnessedanother round of ethnic riots. Unableto check the influx of more inner-Pakistan migrations to Karachi, andstall the mushrooming of slums, the ZABhutto Government, in 1975, deviseda “Karachi Master Plan” to upgrade thecity’s failing infrastructure. It plannedto build new road networks and hous-ing; construct transport terminals,warehousing, mass transit and so on.But the plan was not implemented afterthe 1977 coup of Zia-ul-Haq. Thisresulted in the growth of the informalsector and mafia that emerged toserve a growing population of a failingcity. Across the 1980s and 1990s,Karachi witnessed brutal ethnic andsectarian violence. Ethnic communi-ties and mafia fought running battlesto gain access to the city’s dwindlingresources. In 2000, the Musharraf dic-tatorship launched a Karachi

Development Programme. But thisplan departed from the “social demo-cratic” tenor of the previous (unimple-mented) plans and adopted “neo-lib-eral” ideas. This meant putting moremoney in extravagant buildingschemes and less on the city’s degrad-ing infrastructure. For example, accord-ing to Hasan, whereas in the past slumsbecame the source of clogging drainswith sewage, in the last two decades,the same is being done by high incomeareas.

Construction of residential areas,both high and low income, on natur-al drainage routes also continues. Dueto clogged drains, these natural routesnow go through residential areas androads, flooding them over and again.Rain run-offs have used these routesfor thousands of years but builders failto take this into account by building onthem without any adequate drainagefacilities. Ancient Greek texts quoteNearchus as saying “a great storm wasraging” when his army reachedKrokola, and the storm waters wereemptying into the sea. Of course, at thetime, there was nothing coming in theway of these waters.

(Courtesy: Dawn)

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Doha: Peace talks between theTaliban and AfghanGovernment get down to busi-ness on Sunday, with the searchfor a lasting ceasefire one ofmany key challenges up for dis-cussion.

A slick opening ceremonyin the Qatari capital Doha onSaturday saw the AfghanGovernment, and allies includ-ing the US, call for a ceasefire.

But the Taliban, who havefought a guerrilla campaignagainst both since they wereforced from power in 2001, didnot mention a truce as theycame to the negotiating table.

The head of the peaceprocess for the AfghanGovernment suggested to AFPthat the Taliban could offer atruce in exchange for therelease of more of their jailedfighters.

“This could be one of theirideas or one of their demands,”said Abdullah Abdullah, thechairman of Afghanistan’s HighCouncil for NationalReconciliation.

Negotiations will be ardu-ous and messy, delegateswarned during the openingceremony, and are startingeven as deadly violence con-tinues to grip Afghanistan.

“We will undoubtedlyencounter many challenges inthe talks over the coming days,weeks and months,” USSecretary of State MikePompeo said as he called for

the warring sides to “seize thisopportunity” to secure peace.

Nearly two decades sincethe US-led invasion that top-pled the Taliban, the war stillkills dozens of people daily andthe country’s economy hasbeen shattered, pushing mil-lions into poverty.

The Taliban have long wor-ried that reducing violencecould lessen their leverage.

During a speech at theopening event, Taliban co-founder Mullah Abdul GhaniBaradar repeated the insur-gents’ message that Afghanistanshould be run according toIslamic law, highlighting a like-ly sticking point.

A comprehensive peacedeal could take years, and willdepend on the willingness ofboth sides to tailor their com-peting visions for Afghanistanand the extent to which theycan agree to share power.

President Ashraf Ghani’s

government wants to maintainthe Western-backed status quoof a constitutional republicthat has enshrined many rights,including greater freedoms forwomen.

Four of the 21 people onthe Kabul negotiating teamare women.

The Taliban, who strippedwomen of all basic freedomswhile in power from 1996-2001, had no female negotia-tors.

In a statement, Ghanicalled for “a lasting and digni-fied peace” that preserved “theachievements of the past 19years”.

Kabul negotiator HabibaSarabi told AFP the start oftalks had been “very positive”.

The US-backed negotia-tions come six months laterthan planned owing to dis-agreements over a controversialprisoner swap agreed inFebruary. AFP

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Divisions deepened betweenMali’s military coup lead-

ers and the country’s politicalopposition movement onSunday after the ruling juntaannounced a plan that wouldallow a military leader to over-see an 18-month transitionalperiod.

While the two sides ini-tially were united in wantingthe departure of formerPresident Ibrahim BoubacarKeita, their paths have increas-ingly diverged since he wasdeposed in an August 18 coupafter months of street demon-strations by the opposition.

On Sunday, the oppositioncoalition known as M5-RFPpublicly objected to the junta’splan, which was announcedSaturday after three days oftalks on Mali’s political future.

“The final document readat the closing ceremony was notconsistent with the delibera-tions of the various groups,including the majority choice ofa transition led by a civilian,”the M5-RFP statement said.

The junta proposed thatthe transition be led by eithera military or civilian leader,which leaves open the possi-bility that the military officerswho seized power couldremain at the helm for anoth-er 18 months until elections areorganised. The 15-nation WestAfrican regional bloc known asECOWAS has warned that byTuesday the junta must desig-nate a civilian leader to head aone-year transition period orelse the country could face fur-ther sanctions. ECOWAS hasalready stopped financial trans-fers into the country and hasclosed its borders with Mali.

Washington: A whistleblower’sallegation that he was pressuredto suppress intelligence aboutRussian election interference isthe latest in a series of similaraccounts involving formerTrump administration offi-cials, raising concerns theWhite House risks undercut-ting efforts to stop such intru-sions if it plays down the seri-ousness of the problem.

There is no question theadministration has takenactions to counter Russianinterference, including sanc-tions and criminal charges onThursday designed to call outforeign influence campaignsaimed at American voters. ButTrump’s resistance to embrac-ing the gravity of the threatcould leave the administra-tion without a consistent andpowerful voice of deterrence atthe top of the governmentheading into an election thatUS Officials say is again beingtargeted by Russia.

Russian President Vladimir

Putin “is not deterred,” saidConnecticut Rep. Jim Himes, aDemocratic member of theHouse Intelligence Committee.Himes said Putin feels“empowered, probably inocu-lated in the U.S. Because of thepresident’s behaviour.”

Brian Murphy, the formertop intelligence official at theDepartment of HomelandSecurity, alleges in the com-plaint made public Wednesdaythat he was instructed to holdback on reports on Russianinterference because they“made the president look bad.”

That follows previousreports that Trump beratedhis then-intelligence director

after a congressional briefingabout Moscow’s interferenceand that the president soughtthe firing of another officialwho told Congress he sup-ported intelligence agencies’assessment that Russia hadinterfered on Trump’s behalfduring the 2016 election.

The department deniedMurphy’s allegation, and theWhite House issued a state-ment describing instances inwhich it said the president hadit taken action against Russia.

“This president has beenresolute that any foreign adver-sary seeking to disrupt our elec-tions will face tremendous con-sequences,” White Housespokeswoman Sarah Matthewssaid.

Senior Trump administra-tion officials have been eager tofocus more on China in dis-cussing election interference,asserting that Beijing is themore potent danger.

Though intelligence offi-cials do say China is a major

espionage concern, there isalso bipartisan consensus,including in a Republican-ledSenate report, that Russiadirectly interfered in 2016 withthe goal of helping Trumpdefeat Democrat HillaryClinton. This year, intelligenceofficials say, Russia is workingto denigrate Democratic nom-inee Joe Biden.

Murphy is not alone inalleging that he felt stymiedfrom raising the Russia threathead-on.

Miles Taylor, as chief ofstaff to former HomelandSecurity Secretary KirstjenNielsen, participated in high-level administration meetingsand has in recent weeks pub-licly conveyed his concernsabout Trump’s leadership.

Taylor said Nielsen had tocreate a “shadow” NationalSecurity Council to deal withthe issue because she felt thepresident’s own team had notconvened enough meetings tocoordinate a response. AP

London: Britain’s former primeministers from rival parties,Tony Blair and John Major,united on Sunday to call onmembers of Parliament to boy-cott Prime Minister BorisJohnson’s proposed law aimedat overriding parts of the Brexitdivorce agreement.

Ahead of the InternalMarket Bill coming up fordebate in the House ofCommons on Monday, Majoras a member of Johnson’s ownConservative Party and Blairfrom the Opposition LabourParty warned that what is beingproposed by the prime ministeris “shocking” and has wide-ranging ramifications on allfuture trade negotiations, notonly with the European Union(EU) but with other nations.

“The overt repudiation ofthe treaty — by seeking to

override unilaterally the provi-sions agreeing to the applicationof certain EU rules to NorthernIreland — strikes at the veryheart of the withdrawal agree-ment,” the duo wrote in a jointarticle for ‘The Sunday Times’.

“If the government has con-cerns about specific parts of thewithdrawal treaty, there areready mechanisms within it toresolve them amicably; in thefirst instance by negotiationbetween the UK and the EUand, if that fails, through inde-pendent arbitration. It has cho-sen to ignore these options.Instead, it has thrown the with-drawal treaty into uncertaintyand given the EU genuine rea-son to question whether Britaincan be relied upon in any futuretrade agreements with the EU,”they wrote. Major was aConservative prime minister

from 1990 to 1997. His Laboursuccessor Blair served asBritain’s PM from 1997 to 2007.Amid growing discord over theissue within his own party,Boris has sought the backing ofhis MPs for the new Bill sayingthe EU is threatening to imposea customs border in the IrishSea, separating NorthernIreland from the rest of the UK.

The Bill focuses on theNorthern Ireland Protocol – thepart of the Brexit divorcedesigned to prevent a hard bor-der on the island of Ireland. Ifit became law, it would give UKministers powers to modify or“disapply” rules relating to themovement of goods betweenBritain and Northern Irelandthat will come into force fromJanuary 2021, unless the UKand EU are able to strike a tradedeal ahead of that. PTI

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The Greek Government wel-comed a Turkish survey

vessel’s return to port Sundayfrom a disputed area of the east-ern Mediterranean that has beenat the heart of a summer stand-off between Greece and Turkeyover energy rights.

The Oruc Reis research shipreturned to near the southernTurkish port of Antalya for thefirst time in weeks after Turkeyannounced in July that it wasdispatching a vessel to work inwaters that Greece claims are itsexclusive jurisdiction.

“This is a positive signal. Wewill see how this develops tomake a proper assessment,?Greek government spokesmanStelios Petsas told TV channelSkai.

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Tehran: Iran on Saturday angri-ly accused Bahrain of stirringinstability after US PresidentDonald Trump announcedManama and Israel were open-ing ties in a landmark deal thatreinforces America’s push toredraw Middle East conflicts.

Calling it a “truly historicday,” Trump said on Friday thatIsrael and Bahrain were estab-lishing full diplomatic and com-mercial relations.

“They will exchangeembassies and ambassadors,begin direct flights betweentheir countries and launchcooperation initiatives across abroad range of sectors, includ-ing health, business, technolo-gy, education, security and agri-culture,” he said.

Bahrain said in a jointstatement it had agreed to for-malise the deal with Israel at aceremony Tuesday in the WhiteHouse, where the United ArabEmirates will also sign off on itsown thaw with Israelannounced in mid-August.

Shiite Iran, which has espe-cially tense ties with Bahrainand is a sworn enemy ofWashington, slammed its Gulfneighbour over the deal.

“The rulers of Bahrain willfrom now on be partners to thecrimes of the Zionist regime asa constant threat to the securi-ty of the region and the worldof Islam,” it said.

Bahrainis opposed to theagreement vented their frus-tration on social media, usingthe hashtags “Bahrainis againstnormalisation” and “normali-sation is betrayal”.

“A black day in the historyof Bahrain,” wrote former law-maker Ali Alaswad.

Iran’s Lebanese allyHezbollah said the deal was a“betrayal and a painful stab inthe back of the Palestinianpeople”.

Turkey condemned it, say-ing it would “further embold-en Israel to continue its illegalpractices... and attempts tomake the occupation ofPalestinian territories perma-nent”.

Bahrain, a Sunni-ruledkingdom with a large Shiitepopulation, relies heavily on theUnited States, which stations itsFifth Fleet in the tiny but strate-gic Gulf archipelago.

The joint statement saidBahrain’s King Hamad bin IsaAl-Khalifa, Israeli PrimeMinister Benjamin Netanyahuand Trump had spoken hoursbefore announcing the newbreakthrough.

During the phone call, theking “stressed the need to reacha just and comprehensive peaceas a strategic option, in accor-dance with the two-state solu-tion and relevant resolutions ofinternational legitimacy”. AFP

)��������� ������� ���������������$���������1$��� Wuhan: A Chinese virologist

who has reportedly been inhiding for fear of her safety hasstepped out into the public eyeagain to make the explosiveclaim that she has the scientificevidence to prove Covid-19was man-made in a lab inChina.

Dr. Li-Meng Yan, a scien-tist who says she did some ofthe earliest research intoCOVID-19 last year, madethe comments Friday duringan interview on British talkshow “Loose Women.”

When asked where thedeadly virus that has killedmore than 900,000 aroundthe globe comes from, Yan —speaking via video chat froma secret location — replied, “Itcomes from the lab — the labin Wuhan and the lab is con-trolled by China’s govern-ment.”

She insisted that wide-spread reports that the virusoriginated last year from a wetmarket in Wuhan, China, are“a smokescreen.”

“The first thing is the[meat] market in Wuhan … isa smokescreen and this virus isnot from nature,” Yan claimed,explaining that she got “herintelligence from the CDC inChina, from the local doctors.”

The virologist has previ-ously accused Beijing of lyingabout when it learned of thekiller bug and engaging in anextensive cover-up of herwork. AGENCY

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Kathmandu: A massive land-slide triggered by torrentialrains in central Nepal has killedat least 11 people, includingseven women, and left 20 miss-ing, an official said on Sunday.

The landslide swept awaysome 15 houses in Bhirkharkaarea of Barhabise RuralMunicipality inSindhupalchowk district, 120kilometres east of Kathmandu,on Saturday night.

A security team compris-ing the Nepal Army and NepalPolice personnel have beendispatched to the incident sitefor carrying out search and res-cue operation, the official said.

The bodies of 11 people,including seven women, havebeen recovered from the siteand search operations have

been going on to rescue themissing people, according tothe home ministry.

The landslide occurred dueto incessant rainfall in the areafor the past couple of days.Some 247 houses have beenidentified as risky due to land-slide in the area which lies nearNepal-Tibet border.

The incident occurred asthe government failed to actpromptly despite the local res-idents demanding that they beshifted to safer areas.

This is the second landslidethat hit Barhabise rural munic-ipality area this monsoon.

At least 249 people havelost their lives and 49 othershave gone missing in differentincidents of landslide in Nepalthis monsoon season. PTI

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Former New York CityMayor Michael Bloomberg

is committing at least $100 mil-lion to help Joe Biden’s presi-dential campaign in the crucialbattleground state of Florida.

Bloomberg’s late stage infu-sion of cash reflects Democrats’concerns about the tight race in a state that is a priority for President Donald Trump. A victory for Joe Biden in Florida, the largest of the perennial battlegroundstates, would significantly complicate Trump’s path toreaching the 270 ElectoralCollege votes needed to securea second term.

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Minsk: Belarus police detainedat least 250 protesters as tens ofthousands demonstrated in thecapital Minsk in advance oftalks between strongmanAlexander Lukashenko andRussian President Vladimir

Putin. Security forces dressedin riot gear used barbed wire toseal off the central square in thecapital. “Some 250 people weredetained in various districts ofthe capital,” the interior min-istry said in a statement, adding

those arrested were carryingflags and “offensive” placards.

Oktyabrskaya Square incentral Minsk was fenced offwith barbed wire with armedlaw enforcement forces seenbehind it. AGENCY

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Baghdad: Iraq’s top Shiite cler-ic on Sunday threw his supportbehind the prime minister’sannouncement to hold parlia-mentary elections ahead ofschedule next year, saying thetiming should not serve theinterests of political groups.

Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani’s comments came in astatement released by his officeafter a meeting with UN envoyto Iraq, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert. A photo releasedby al-Sistani’s office showed theblack-turbaned cleric meetingwith the UN envoy and aninterpreter.

Sunday’s meeting was thefirst public face-to-facebetween al-Sistani and a for-eign official since the spread ofcoronavirus in Iraq earlier thisyear. The country is one of thehardest-hit by the virus in theregion, with nearly 300,000confirmed cases and more than

7,900 deaths. It is also the firstsuch meeting since al-Sistani,90, underwent surgery for afractured bone in January.

In August, Iraqi PrimeMinister Mustafa al-Kadhimisaid parliamentary electionswould be held in June, nearlya year before they had beenscheduled to take place.

Early elections have been akey demand of protesters, whohave been holding mass demon-strations since October demand-ing change in the country wherecorruption is widespread.

A new government will beformed by the politician whosecures the most support fromparliamentary blocs after theelections. “Parliamentary elec-tions scheduled for next yearare very important,” the Iran-born al-Sistani, who enjoyswide influence in Iraq andamong Shiite Muslims world-wide, said. AP

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Vatican City: Pope Francisurged political leaders to listento protesters and heed their callsfor political and social change,an apparent reference toprotests in Belarus against thecountry’s authoritarian presi-dent.

Francis didn’t mentionBelarus or any country in hisappeal Sunday during his noon-time prayer but his commentscame as the Vatican foreignminister, Archbishop PaulGallagher, traveled to Belarus tomeet with church and civilauthorities amid weeks of anti-government protests.

“While I urge protesters tomake their demands knownpeacefully without falling intothe temptation of aggressionand violence, I appeal to allthose with public and govern-mental responsibilities to listento the voice of their fellow cit-izens and to meet their just aspi-rations by ensuring full respectfor human rights and civil lib-erties,” Francis said.

The pope has also spokenout previously in support ofanti-racism protests in the US.

Protesters in Belarus havespent a month denouncing theresults of the country’s August

9 presidential election as riggedand demanding the resignationof President AlexanderLukashenko.

Facing criticism from theWest, Lukashenko has workedto cement ties with his mainsponsor, Russia.

The Vatican would beloathe to criticize Russia orBelarus publicly, given its long-standing efforts to improverelations with the influentialRussian Orthodox Church.

In its statement Fridayannouncing Gallagher’s visit,the Vatican stressed the reli-gious nature of the visit. AP

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Washington ecologistChristopher Schell is studyinghow coronavirus shutdownshave affected wildlife in Seattleand other cities.

But when planning field-work, he also thinks about howhe’s perceived in neighbour-hoods where he installs wildlifecameras.

“I wear the nerdiest glassesI have and often a jacket that hasmy college logo, so that peopledon’t mistake me for what theythink is a thug or hooligan,” saidSchell, who is AfricanAmerican.

The recent episode of awhite woman calling the police

on a Black birder in New York’sCentral Park shocked manypeople. But for Black environ-mental scientists, worryingabout whether they are likely tobe harassed or asked to justifytheir presence while doing field-work is a familiar concern.

Tanisha Williams, a botanistat Bucknell University, knowsexactly which plants she’s look-ing for. But after being ques-tioned by strangers in publicparks, Williams, who is Black,has started carrying her fieldguides with her.

“I’ve been quizzed by ran-dom strangers,” she said.

“Now I bring my wildflowerbooks and botanical field guides,

trying to look like a scientist. It’sfor other people. I wouldn’totherwise lug these books.”

Overt harassment and sub-tle intimidation during field-work compound the discrimi-nation that Black scientists andthose from other underrepre-sented racial and ethnic back-grounds already feel in acade-mic settings.

Now researchers in theenvironmental sciences areincreasingly raising issues of dis-crimination and marginaliza-tion in the wake of a nationalreckoning on race.

They are also pointing outhow a lack of diversity amongscientists can lead to flawed or

incomplete research.A National Science

Foundation survey found that in2016, scholars who identified asBlack or African American wereawarded just 6 per cent of alldoctorates in life sciences, andless than 3 per cent of doctoratesin physical and Earth sciences.

Students who identified asHispanic or Latino were award-ed less than 8 per cent of doc-torates in life sciences and about5 per cent of doctorates inphysical and Earth sciences.According to the most recentcensus, Black people make up13.4 per cent of the population,and Latinos 18.5 per cent.

“The issue is not lack of

interest” on the part of studentsfrom the underrepresentedgroups, said the University ofWashington’s Scott Freeman,who studies educationalpipelines to degrees in sci-ence, technology, engineeringor math.

But many of those studentscome from families with fewerfinancial resources and facegaps in access to secondaryeducation that is geared towardthe sciences or college prepara-tion. Those factors can influencehow well they perform in fresh-man general chemistry — con-sidered a gateway course forpursuing these so-called STEMmajors. AP

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The Expert AppraisalCommittee has reviewed

CPCL’s proposed 9.0 MMTPAproject in Nagapattinam in theState and has sent its recom-mendations for clearance fromthe Environment Ministry, atop company official has said.

Chennai PetroleumCorporation Ltd (CPCL), anIndianOil Group company, hasproposed to set up a 9.0 millionmetric tonne per annum com-plex at Cauvery Basin Refinery,Nagapattinam, companyChairman S M Vaidya saidwhile addressing shareholdersat the company’s 54th annualgeneral meeting.

The project would be anintegrated state-of-the art mod-ern refinery cum petrochemi-cal complex, including a propy-lene unit to start with, he said.

The detailed feasibilityreport for the project has beencompleted while the board ofdirectors have recommendedthe project to the board of

IndianOil for “investmentapproval,” he said.

Stating that the project wasin line with the growth indemand for petroleum prod-ucts, he said in view ofCOVID-19 outbreak, supply-demand outlook was being“reviewed”.

“The Expert AppraisalCommittee of the Ministry ofEnvironment and Forests hasreviewed our 9 MMTPA (mil-lion metric tonne per annum)project proposal and has sentits recommendations for envi-ronmental clearance to theMinistry...,” he said.

He said the proximity tohighways and coastal locationof the refinery were addedadvantages for the project inthe district.

CPCL said it had also spentRs 10.20 crore under its CSRinitiative near the CauveryBasin Refinery which includeadoption of three villages inNagapattinam district to ben-efit 1,700 families to improvesocial, environmental and eco-

nomic conditions, Vaidya said.The Cauvery Basin 9

MMTPA Refinery Projectwould also stand as an anchorfor feedstock generation fordownstream industries, headded.

On the digital initiativestaken up by the company, hesaid CPCL was also adoptingthe new technologies toimprove performance.

“These technologiesinclude usage of drones forinspection of pipelines andequipment at heights thusreducing the time taken tocomplete the jobs,” he said.

CPCL was also in theprocess of identifying oppor-tunities for digitisation ofprocesses and data analyticsand artificial intelligence util-isation for better decision mak-ing and improving reliability ofoperations, he added.

The initiative was expect-ed to improve the company’sperformance and employeeproductivity, he said.

On measures to reduce

carbon footprint, Vaidya saidthe company already replacedusage of naphtha in some partsof the refinery with environ-ment friendly ‘RegasifiedLiquefied Natural Gas (RLNG)’to reduce carbon intensity inoperations.

“We have also implement-ed a 50 KW roof-top solar pro-ject and are planning to imple-ment an additional solar unit of70KW,” he said.

The Chairman said CPCLachieved capital expenditure ofRs 960.60 crore during theyear. On financials, he said thecompany’s profitabilityimproved during the first quar-ter of the current financialyear with a profit before tax ofRs 430 crore. “We expect thedemand to significantlyimprove by Q3 of 2020-21.Your company’s physical per-formance continues to berobust, more particularly interms of distillate yieldimprovement, optimisation ofcrude mix and energy effi-ciency”, he said.

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Syama Prasad MookerjeePort,Erstwhile Kolkata Port

Trust, has received Rs 20 crorein connection with a courtcase related to a Russian vesselBeletsky which was arrested atHaldia Dock Complex (HDC)in 2017, an official said.

The ship was arrestedunder the jurisdiction of theadmiralty bench of the CalcuttaHigh Court on the day of itssailing from the HDC in 2017for not paying dues, he said.

“The owner of the 179.5-metre long bulk carrier failedto pay dues to the port author-ities, which led to the arrest,”the official said.

The vessel had remaineddocked at Haldia for long, hesaid.

The court granted permis-sion to the port to sell the ves-sel last year to realise its dues.

“The ship was sold at Rs 20crore. The port had realised apart of the sale proceeds earli-er and received Rs 18.74 croreon Friday,” he added.

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SBI Card is in the process ofenrolling “delinquent” cus-

tomers, who did not repayafter the end of moratorium, inthe RBI restructuring schemeor its own repayment plan toprovide them more time forrepayments, a top companyofficial said.

Due to the morato-rium, a number of customershad not been paying for thefirst three months and thecompany treated them as stan-dard accounts in line with theentire industry. However, sincethen, as the first moratoriumended, SBI Card made it a cus-tomer-led enrolment in thesecond moratorium in which alot of customers did not enrol,SBI Card Managing Director &CEO Ashwini Kumar Tewarisaid.

“Therefore, we had alarge chunk of customers whocame out of the moratorium. Alot of them paid up but manyof them did not pay also. Andthese became what we call as

more delinquent customers. “So with these delinquent

customers, we are now work-ing to enrol them either intothe RBI restructuring schemeor our own repayment plans sothat they get more time andbetter interest rate to pay theirdues,” Tewari, who took chargeover a month ago, told PTI inan interview.

According to the com-pany, it had Rs 7,083 croreunder moratorium in Maywhich came down to Rs 1,500crore in June. Those whowould be availing the compa-ny’s restructuring plan willhave a benefit over the RBIrestructuring plan as SBI Cardwill not report such cases to thecredit scoring agency CIBIL.

In March, the RBI hadallowed the first three-monthmoratorium on payment of allterm loans due between March1, 2020 and May 31, 2020. Lateron, it was extended for anoth-er three months till August2020.The process of restruc-turing is going on currently,Tewari said, adding a large

number of accounts are to beenrolled and the companyneeds to make a 10 per centprovisioning on these accountsas per the RBI guidelines.

Besides, there are someaccounts that surely havebecome NPA (non-perform-ing) due to the pandemic andtherefore additional provisionsneed to be created for that, hesaid.

“However, we will bevery cautious, even if we get tothat number (provisioning),we would still like to providemore because the future is stilluncertain,” he added.

Tewari said that in thesecond and the third quartergoing forward, the companywill be able to handle the situ-ation better.

“And of course it will bereverted to normal if the vac-cine is made available and if theCOVID-19 comes under con-trol. I think from towards theend of quarter three and(beginning) quarter four, wewill be in a much better shape,”he said further.

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State-owned UCO Bank hasnot Been able to make an

analytical study of its assetquality even after the end of theloan repayment moratoriumperiod on August 31, heedinga Supreme Court directive thatno accounts shall be down-graded for now, an officialsaid.

On September 3, in a reliefto stressed borrowers who arefacing hardship due to adverseimpact of the COVID-19 pan-demic, the top court had saidthat accounts which were notdeclared as non-performingassets till August 31 this year,shall not be declared NPA till

further orders.The apex court had also

earlier expressed its reservationover the idea of ‘charging inter-est on interest’ from thoseborrowers who were willing toavail of the loan repaymentmoratorium, a facility extend-ed by the Reserve Bank ofIndia during the pandemictimes. UCO Bank MD andCEO A K Goel had earlier saidthe lender would like to ascer-tain its asset quality, once themoratorium period ceases onAugust 31. “We are not able tocarry out that exercise as theapex court has directed that noaccounts will be downgradedtill further orders”, Goel toldPTI.

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Overcoming COVID-19challenges, Necessitating

Work From Home, among oth-ers, over the last six months, theIT sector in Tamil Nadu hadfulfilled commitments to cus-tomers and helped register �25,000 crore in softwareexports in the last two quarters,a top official has said.

Over 90 per cent ofemployees in the InformationTechnology industry, workingfrom home due to the out-break, fulfilled the commit-ments made to theclients,Software TechnologyParks of India Director, SanjayTyagi said. “I am glad toinform you that in the last six

months we have shown �25,000crore exports in the last twoquarters of this financial year”,he said at an event organised byCII, Tamil Nadu, recently.

This figure was actuallymore than last year’s exportsduring these two quarters, hesaid.

“This (achieving �25,000crore exports) is somethingwhich is phenomenal that hashappened,” he said.

However, he did notmention the software exportsmade in the two quarters of thelast financial year.Tyagi saidTamil Nadu has to play a veryimportant role in achievingPrime Minister NarendraModi’s dream of making Indiaa USD 5 trillion economy.

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The finance ministry onSunday said banks have

sanctioned loans worth over�1.63 lakh crore to more than42 lakh business units underthe �3-lakh crore EmergencyCredit Line Guarantee Scheme(ECLGS) for the MSME sector.On the disbursement front,however, over Rs 1.18 lakhcrore doled out to 25 lakhMSME units, till September 10,which were hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuinglockdowns.

The scheme is the biggestfiscal component of the �20-lakh crore AatmanirbharBharat Abhiyan packageannounced by FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharamanin May to mitigate the distressby providing credit to differentsectors, especially micro, smalland medium enterprises .

As of September 10, asreported by public sector banks(PSBs) and top 23 private sec-tor banks, “additional creditamounting to �1,63,226.49crore has been sanctioned to

42,01,576 borrowers”, the min-istry said in a statement.

“Amount of �1,18,138.64 crore has been dis-bursed to 25,01,999 borrowers,”it said while sharing theprogress of implementation ofvarious schemes under theAatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyanpackage.Sharing details of otherschemes being implemented bythe finance ministry, the state-ment said banks have approvedpurchase of portfolio of �25,055.5 crore under � 45,000-crore Partial Credit Guarantee

Scheme 2.0 for NBFCs,HFCs and MFIs to do freshlending to MSMEs and indi-viduals scheme as on August28. Lenders are currently in theprocess of approval/negotia-tions for additional �4,367crore, it said.

Talking about income taxrefunds, it said the depart-ment has issued �1,01,308 croreto more than 27.55 lakh tax-payers between April 1, 2020and September 8, 2020.

“Income tax refunds of Rs30,768 crore have been issuedin 25,83,507 cases and corpo-rate tax refunds of �70,540

crore have been issued in1,71,155 cases. In fact, all cor-porate tax refunds up to �50crore have been issued in allcases, wherever due. Otherrefunds are under process,” itsaid. With regard to �30,000crore Special Liquidity Schemefor the stressed non-bankingfinancial companies(NBFCs)/housing finance com-panies (HFCs)/micro financeinstitutions (MFIs), it said 37proposals involving an amountof �10,590 crore have beenapproved while six applica-tions seeking financing of Rs783.5 crore are under processas on Sep 11. It further saidunder the �30,000 crore addi-tional Emergency WorkingCapital Funding for farmersthrough NABARD scheme, �25,000 crore has been dis-bursed till August 28. “Balanceamount of �5,000 crore underSpecial Liquidity Facility (SLF)allocated to National Bank forAgriculture and RuralDevelopment by RBI for small-er NBFCs and NBFC-MFIs.NABARD is finalising opera-tional guidelines to roll it outsoon,” it said.

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The tourism sector, crippledby The Covid-19 pandem-

ic, hopes to see some businessesin the upcoming Durga pujaand Diwali seasons withqueries from interested trav-ellers coming in, officials of theindustry bodies said on Sunday.

In the domestic and short-haul segments, people areshowing interest, Travel Agents’Federation of India (TAFI)eastern region head AnilPunjabi said.

“There is interest andqueries are coming in aboutdestinations and safety mea-sures, but these are yet to betranslated into bookings,” hesaid, adding that people havechanged their priorities amidthe COVID-19 crisis.

“There will be businessesin the Durga Puja and Diwaliseasons with interest growingamong people, though it is like-ly to be much less than what itused to be in the previousyears,” Punjabi told PTI.

With people starting to

learn to live with the pandem-ic, at least some of them arelikely to start travelling withrequisite safety measures, hesaid.

The TAFI eastern regionhead said the tour operators areproviding people with all kindof information regardingtourists’ destinations and thesafety of the places.

A lot depends on how theCOVID-19 situation emergesin the next few days as peoplewould not want any cancella-tion.

“Bengal is a value-for-money destination and is safealso,” he said, expressing hopethat domestic tourists wouldtravel during the holiday sea-son.

The reopening ofDarjeeling hills to outsiders hasled to tourists making queriesabout bookings in different

destinations there for the Pujaseason, according to Raj Basu,convenor of the Association forConservation of Tourism.

“Many destinations inDarjeeling hills and Dooarsforest in North Bengal are invillage areas, which havearound 70 per cent share oftourist footfalls,” Basu told PTI.

Since these places arespread across villages and arenot like hotels or resorts inurban centres, operators oftourism clusters are beinginformed about safe prac-tices.

“Each cluster comprisesaround 12 to 15 villages. At themeetings in each cluster, sen-sitisation is being done so thatthe tourists, the operators asalso the villagers stay safe whilelivelihood is also earned,” Basusaid.

He said safe practices andhow to deal with any kind ofemergency situation are beingdescribed through workshopsto the village tourism operatorsin Darjeeling, Kalimpong andDooars areas.

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India’s coal import declined by34.9 per cent to 12.46 million

tonnes (MT) in August onaccount of subdued demandfor the dry fuel from consum-ing sectors like power andcement.

The country imported19.14 MT of coal in August lastyear, according to provisionalcompilation by mjunction,based on monitoring of vessels’positions and data receivedfrom shipping companies.

Mjunction, a joint venturebetween Tata Steel and SAIL, isa B2B e-commerce companythat also publishes researchreports on coal and steel verti-cals. Also, the first five monthsof the current fiscal saw 32.51per cent decline in coal importat 73.08 MT, over 108.29 MTduring the year-ago period, itsaid.

“Although there has beena modest recovery in coal-

consuming sectors such aspower and cement, coal stockcontinues to be ample andhence import demand sub-dued. If we go by the currenttrend, coal imports may see asignificant decline this year,” itsaid.

Of the total imports inAugust, non-coking coal’s ship-ment was at 8.87 MT and cok-ing coal at 2.18 MT.

Coal India (CIL), whichaccounts for over 80 per cent ofdomestic coal output, has beenmandated by the governmentto replace at least 100 milliontonnes of imports with domes-tically-produced coal in theongoing fiscal.

To boost coal demand,the government has announceda slew of measures likeincreased supply for linkageconsumers.

The Centre had alsoannounced several relief mea-sures for CIL consumers,including the power sector.

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The country’s rubber indus-try requires rationalisation

of import duties and change inthe inverted duty structure forthe sector’s raw materials andfinished goods to grow andcontribute to the vision of‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’, V.T.Chandrasekharan, Presidentof the All India RubberIndustries Association(AIRIA), said.

Speaking to IANS,Chandrasekharan noted thatimport of raw materials such asnatural rubber and latex attractimport duties of as high as 70per cent, while that on finishedgoods is much lower and thisimpacts the local rubber goodsproducing industry.

“Our major concern is theduty structure. We have beenprofessing that on raw materi-als, the duty structure should beminimum.

It should be 0-5 per cent onraw materials, 15-20 per centon intermediaries and on fin-ished goods, you can have 30-

40 per cent import duty,” hesaid.

“Unfortunately, it’s theother way round for the indus-try.”

The AIRIA President saidthat the industry body has toresort to import of naturalrubber as the quality producedin the country is not “up to themark” and the tyre manufac-tures buy the bulk of domesti-cally-produced high-qualitysupplies, leaving no choice forthe MSMEs and the other rub-ber goods producers than to gofor imports for good quality

raw materials.He also said that India

lags in terms of supply ofmachinery and their quality.

Chandrasekharan notedthat the quality of the machinesavailable is not as good as for-eign countries, which forces therubber goods industry to bringin supplies from China.

The industry body’s chiefwas of the view that the sectorplayers, along with the gov-ernment, will have to look forways of sourcing in moderntechnology, including transferof technology from foreignplayers investing in India.

Saying that the Indian rub-ber industry is “quite capable”of manufacturing products forthe major sectors includingautomobiles and healthcare,he said that availability of tech-nology and lower duties wouldplay the drivers of the growthof the sector.

Both tyre and non-tyrerubber goods industries had ademand for 1.2 million tonneof rubber last year, out ofwhich 50 per cent was catered

through imports, he said.This year, he feels the

imports will be lower becauseof the fall in demand.

About the demand in thesector, he said that it has beenimpacted post the lockdown asanticipated, but is graduallypicking after the restrictionswere lifted.

Chandrasekharan said thata major issue for the industry,more than poor demand, rightnow is the labour crunch. Mostof the skilled labourers whowent back to their villages dur-ing the lockdown have notbeen able to return yet, whichis leading to disruption inoperations.

“Even the 40-60 per centorders we have, we are facingdifficulty in delivering that,because we don’t have thetrained labour,” he said.

He noted that skill devel-opment is an importantrequirement and AIRIA alongwith other industry partnershave been involved in pro-grammes to impart therequired skills to the workers.

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India is slated to participate inthe first-ever Middle East

North Africa (MENA)Innovation TechnologyTransfer Summit (MITTSummit), Sharjah ResearchTechnology and InnovationPark (SRTI Park), the eventorganiser has announced.

The first edition of theMITT Summit will be held onSeptember 22.

The SRTI Park’s hybridsummit will connect Sharjah,New Delhi, Paris, Moscow andNew York, while the majorplayers in the world of tech-nology will interact on howbest to shape the future of inno-vation and promote sustain-ability.

“India, as a growing glob-

al economic superpower, hassome of the most excitingpotential and innovations inthe market.

The summit is also join-ing forces with Russianthought leaders to fuel inspi-ration and partnerships inthe two countries,” saidJoanna Carson,Communications Director atthe MITT Summit and GlobalOperating Director at‘Women in Tech’.

According to TatyanaSerykh, Group Product Head atthe Finnish Russian industrialdigitalisation major Zyfra,Indian and Russian IT compa-nies would meet on the side-lines of international events todiscuss the possibilities of jointdevelopment of digital solu-tions.

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The coronavirus pandemichas forced every sector to

embrace technology, and logis-tics and customs have been nodifferent, as sector players saythat it has created more oppor-tunities for technology in cus-toms clearance making theprocess less cumbersome.

Lancy Barboza, ManagingDirector, Flomic Group, afreight services company, saidthat in the past few months thepandemic has created seriousdisruptions in cross bordertrade and freight movements,but it has also created freshopportunities to leverage tech-nology for efficient facelessand paperless operations ofthe customs.

Welcoming the govern-ment’s new initiative,’TurantCustoms’, Barboza said thatthe programme to offer a ‘face-less, contactless and paperless’service, would lead to speedyclearances, transparency indecision making, ease of doingbusiness and reduction in phys-

ical contact.“Even though there are

still occasional glitches, whichhinders the smooth clearance,the initiative and the resolve ofthe government to push aheadwith the paperless and facelessprocess will go a long way inweeding out additional expens-es and delays in Custom clear-ance activity” he said.

Elucidating the ease inclearance, Rajesh Neelakanta,ED & CEO, BVC Logisticssaid: “In one such practice ofCustoms clearance process thatBVC helped in changing, wecreated an application for filingof shipment details, for bothexports and imports by theexporter/importer from thecomfort of their offices, linkedto ICEGATE - the Customsportal, thus establishing con-tactless interface for their ship-ment’s EXIM process.”

This helped eliminate thephysical movement of the cus-tomers’ personnel from theiroffices to the customs station,Neelakanta said.

“We also have introduced

shipment details’ remoteuploading for freight manage-ment and thus helping theEXIM trade to become moreefficient and productive. We areworking on a couple of moresuch technological innovations,all aimed at making the EXIMexperience of our customersseamless,” he added.

Ambrish Kumar, Founderand Group CEO, 2 InnovatePrivate Ltd noted that in thepast couple of years, the gov-ernment has been keen onbringing such reforms andthey would help the country toenter the top 50 rankings ofThe World Bank’s Ease ofDoing Business (EoDB) Index.

The ‘Turant Customs’ willaugment effortless cross bordertrade as the shipping bills willbe electronically sent to theexporters with a secure QRcode, he said, adding that theexporters can manage theirbank account and authoriseddealer (AD) Code digitallyand register at ICEGATE with-out approaching a CustomsOfficer.

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The Confederation of AllIndia Traders (CAIT) has

said that about 25 per centsmall shops and businesses,totalling 1.75 crore, across thecountry are in a bad situationand on the verge of closureamid the pandemic.

In a statement, the traders’body said: “The domestic tradeof India is suffering amid theworst days of the century dueto Covid-19, which has broughtthe traders on their knees withno sign of respite in the nearfuture.”

Noting that the Indiandomestic trade consists of morethan 7 crore traders providingemployment to more than 40crore people, CAIT said thatthe banking sector has so farfailed to provide formal financeto this sector since only 7 per

cent of the small businesses areable to obtain finance frombanks and other financial insti-tutions.

The rest of the 93 per centtraders are dependent uponinformal sources to meet theirfinancial requirements, it said.

CAIT said that traders areunder financial obligation forpayment of central and stategovernment taxes, repaymentof monthly instalments of loanstaken from formal and infor-mal sources, EMIs, water andelectricity bills, property tax,payment of interest, payment ofwages to the labour and vari-ous other payments.

It urged Prime MinisterNarendra Modi to take imme-diate cognisance of the issue ofthe traders and announce apackage policy for traders andhelp them in revival of theirbusiness.

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When former First LadyMichelle Obama says, “Youguys are here, because of real

basic qualities that. And that’s honesty,integrity, hard work, and a level ofresilience. Those are the kind of thingsthat, you can’t buy and you can’t teach,”she talks about three young womenwho have been an integral part of herteam in the White House — KristinJones (research associate), ChynnaClayton (trip director), and YeneDamtew (hair stylist).

The three started working withMichelle in various capacities in theWhite House, and “they’ve all stayed inmy life for years. While I like to say I’veknown them since they were babies,today I count them as true friends.” Shecalls them her “little sisters” she neverhad.

In the episode seven, part two, ofSpotify’s The Michelle Obama Podcast,she speaks about her mentor-menteerelationships with the three women,what’s going on in the world, and whatit’s like to be Black women in thismoment in history. Excerpts:

�Michelle: You were the child ofimmigrants...

Yene: Yes. I am first-generationEthiopian-American, and, my parentscame to this country to provide a bet-ter life for us, and so, traditionally, whenthey or anyone thinks of success, ormeasure success, it’s always about beinga doctor, a lawyer or an engineer. Iwanted to drop out of college to do hair,which just wasn’t acceptable. Once Ieven relocated, and took a position. Imoved to D.C. I remember my dad did-n’t talk to me for three months. Mymother tried to smoothen the thingsbetween us. She explained him, “It’sokay, she’s taking care of herself finan-cially.”

But yes, given that I come from aBlack family in the United States, therewas a whole lot of debate about how Iwas going to pull it off because therewas this pre-set path that my family hadcreated for me. I realised that the waymy parents looked at success was verylimited. By American culture, byAfrican culture, so for me, it justbecame that I am going to do it. I want-ed to show them that I could still makesomething of myself if I don’t work inan office.

�Michelle: What would you say tosomeone who’s now in the place youwere about 10 years ago?

Yene: Bet on yourself, trust your gutand don’t be scared to reach out tosomeone or ask for help. Well, I’d slidein somebody’s DM with intent, right, tolearn from them. And that’s probablythe greatest thing. No one’s going toroot for you like you can for yourself.Know that there are other people tooout there who are just like you, have hadthe same hardships and failures, trialsand triumphs. So, just keep betting onyourself and trust your gut.

I think, If I didn’t trust my gut, Iwould’ve never worked with MichelleObama. If I didn’t decide to drop outof college to do hair, this would’ve neverhappened. I’m not anything special. Ididn’t come from money. My motherwas a waitress, and my father has hisown company. I am just an averagemiddle class child of immigrants butlook at where my life has taken me. It’sall because I listened to that littlevoice inside of me.

�Kristin: What would you say aboutfinding the mentor?

Michelle: A lot of times, peoplethink mentors are famous people, peo-ple with titles, achievements, and thosewho they see out in the world. But weare all role models. And the one thingI don’t like is the people who have aplatform who say, ‘I’m not a rolemodel.’ Well, you have a choice. Don’tbe out there because if you are beingseen in any way shape or form, there issomebody looking up to you. I alwayswant young people to realise that men-torship starts early. It starts right in your

own backyard.For every young person out there,

I don’t care if you’re 12 or 10. There’ssomebody younger who is watchingyou. They are watching how you carryyourself, how you laugh, how youmake fun of things, what you wear,there is always somebody, right behindyou, looking, at how to be. And in thatway, we have to carry ourselves with theknowledge that we’re always setting thetone for people behind us.

�Michelle: What led you to get off thetraditional paths, and make a decisionto do something a little more risky?What gave you the courage? Was it thefact that you were born in Black fam-ilies...

Kristin: I think I’ve always had thatin me. In some way, I was always finekind of closing my eyes and jumping inthe deep end. It was never like asthoughtful or meditative as it maybeshould’ve been. I think even if we justlook at like the past 10 to 11 years, Iknow that we’ve talked a lot about fail-ure. And so, even though I’ve had thebravery in me, I think being more andmore comfortable with the idea of fail-ure, and being less terrified of it hashelped me be a little more mindful. Ithink that’s helped me be more success-ful in my risk taking, too.

Michelle: Well I know I talk a lotabout not being afraid to fail. That’s oneof the most important things I payattention to, when I talk to young peo-ple, because that is the thing we sort ofbreed into kids for them to know thatthey have got to get it straight. There’sa certain way to do everything. And alot of parents try to shield their kidsfrom failure, because as a parent, youjust don’t want to see your kids gothrough that kind of pain, but failureis something that you have to getadjusted to in some way. It’s a naturalpart of life. You anyway don’t do any-thing successful without a little stum-ble. And so many people try to avoidthat stumble that they never take thechance. Eventually, they miss out onsome really interesting opportunities.

�Michelle: So let’s talk about selfdoubt — the feeling that am I goodenough and the baggage that wecarry.

Chynna: If I recall the first time Iwas told that I wasn’t good enough, I wasin the first grade and there was a giftedprogramme at my elementary school.My mother went to my teacher and toldher that I want my daughter tested forgifted and the teacher told her, ‘No, she’snot good enough for that.’

�Michelle: Those little cuts, I thinkwomen, especially Black, experiencethem at higher rates than men. We’realways taught, keep to yourself, don’tbe vulnerable, don’t share or say it outloud. How do you overcome it?

Chynna: I would say self reflectionis something that also helps me to over-come doubt. When you just take thetime to sit with your life and its trajec-tory. When I think back over my life, Irealise that from day one, I should’vebeen counted out because I was theproduct of a single parent household, myfather went to prison when I was young,and my mother did what she could tomake the ends meet. The mere fact thatI overcame that, in itself, is powerful.And when I remember how much I’vedone, accomplished or struggledthrough, it just gives me the power tokind of get it out of my own head. Irealise that it’s what you really deserve.

�Kristin: What do we do as Blackwomen with feelings of guilt?

Michelle: Well, I don’t think I haveall the answers. But I can say that theguilt comes with the feeling that ‘can’t wedo more?’ It’s never enough. I feel theguilt. I just don’t know whether I feel itmore because I am a Black woman ormaybe that’s our nature — of fixingthings, nurturing people, being theglue.

In our families and communities,when things fall apart, usually, it’s thewomen in our lives who keep it going.In the Black community, so many of ourmen were emasculated, imprisoned,wrongly dealt with, or couldn’t find jobs.The Black men in our community wereso destroyed by the systemic, continu-ous racism that women were the onesleft who could’ve kept everything afloat.The country has put so many roadblocksup for men of colour that the burdendoes fall on us as women. It’s been ourlegacy as Black women in this countryfor four hundred years. But like I say, thefirst thing we have to do is to claim it.

The pandemic has been cat-astrophic, the kind which we

had never foreseen or imagined,for each and every other busi-ness. Not surprisingly, the the-atre as well as the performingartistes seem to be acing the list.Actor, writer, director and theco-founder of the AksharaNational Classical Theatre,Jalabala Vaidya, launches aninitiative, Save The Stage, tomake the government and cor-porate India support the theatreindustry in a much more mean-ingful way.

Since time immemorial,India’s culture has been keptalive by performing artistes andstorytellers but the pandemichas pushed us all to the edge.“Surviving as an artist is alwaysan incessant struggle. We, at theAkshara, have been strugglingfor the last 50 years with littlehelp from the government andcorporate India. Today, all of us— artistes, art lovers and theaudience must come together tohelp theatre survive in the faceof this pandemic. We are appeal-ing to the government to makesome much needed amend-ments to their cultural policy,

which will help both, individualartistes and art institutions,”she says and adds that the gov-ernment must help theatres orrather performing artistes to

survive if they want to survivethemselves. They already haveso much on their plate but whathas kept this huge diverse massof people going all these years

has indeed been the work of theartistes. “It’s intangible and theyhave to understand that,” saysVaidya.

She feels that it is absolute-ly a challenge for theatre andartistes to make a space forthemselves again till the lock-down completely ends and peo-ple can start coming to the the-atres like they used to. Untilthen, “We will have to designour work in such a way that itcan be accessed online. That ishow we are going to survive andthat is where we need financialhelp,” Vaidya says.

Here are some of thedemands, rather suggestions,with inputs from individualsartistes and theatre groups suchas Atelier Theatre Group,Dastangoi Collective and SaitanTheatre Group:

���������������������������������Ensure that Corporate Indiadedicates a significant part of itsCorporate Social Responsibility(CSR) funds to support individ-ual artistes, creative projects andthe creation of infrastructure likeperformance spaces and traininginstitutions all over India by cre-ating a distinct category for thearts.�Designate certain GovernmentPublic Sector Undertaking (PSUs)to give a percentage of CSR fundsto cultural activities.�Encourage banks and lendinginstitutions to give loans at rea-sonable rates to artistes and cul-tural institutions.�Empower Gurukuls andGharanas which have preservedand carried forward our culturaltraditions through millennia toissue diplomas, which can beutilised by their students foremployment under the newNational Education Policy (NEP).�Substantially, increase the quan-tum of grants to the performingarts.�Create a helpline facility by theMinistry of Culture to resolvegrant issues on time.

�Create Arts Councils in majormetros to address artistic issues.

��������������Allow artistes/institutions toavail of Micro, Small and MediumEnterprises (MSME)-type funds.�Create a NREGA-type fund forfolk artists in rural areas, who cancontribute through training andperformance (instead of agricul-tural) work.�Substantially increase the quan-tum of the repertory grant.�Create consultancyservices/seminars on grants andfinancial assistance for artistes andart institutions.

��<�����<�������Give Goods and Services Tax(GST) exemption on ticketsales/sponsorships for perform-ing arts as is done for sportingevents.�Allow liquor and cigarette com-panies, which generate huge rev-enues, to get credit and tax ben-efit for supporting cultural activ-ities.�Give 100 per cent Income Tax(IT) exemption to individuals andcompanies for supporting artsand artistes.

�������������Suddenly a widow, a woman

rekindles her thirst for life by becom-ing a eulogist while navigating theexistential landscape of death, griefand love. Starring Anke Engelke,Thorsten Merten and NinaGummich, the series releases onNetflix on September 17.

��� ���A young nurse at a mental

institution becomes jaded andbitter before turning into a full-fledged monster to her patients.The psychological fiction releaseson Netflix on September 18.

����������������������

The killing of Latasha Harlinsbecame a flashpoint for the 1992 LAuprising. This documentaryevocatively explores the 15-year-old’s life and dreams. The filmreleases on Netflix on September 21.

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As we know, the #MeToo movement, whichstarted as a hashtag, later became a global phe-

nomenon. The recent growth in the number ofcases of people being held for charges of crimesagainst women are an indicator of the extent ofmoral downfall in our society. It’s a fact that mostwomen around the world have experienced sex-ual harassment, assault and violence or have, attimes, been pushed into a zone where they knewit did not feel right. In a recent high-profile case,involving an ambassador of a powerful country,it was a maid at a big establishment accusing theinternational figure of the charges. But this is onlythe tip of the ice berg, as in most of the cases, manyeconomically weaker and socially backward vic-tims are silenced under pressure. As a result, manysuch crimes go unre-ported across theworld majorlybecause of the fear,shame, absence ofany social support orthe lack of will on thepart of the authoritiesto pursue the case.

The media high-lights such reportsas a custodian ofpublic. However, ifstatistics of peopleinvolved in adulteryor having a criminaleye were to be taken,the results would be shocking and go beyond lim-its of class, age, gender and public profiles. So whensuch cases are mounting in the media and courts,and even juveniles and senior people are beingtried for them, what is the civil society doing tostop them? A look at three of the most influen-tial mediums of our times — the television, cin-ema and internet — and we realise that every seg-ment of the society is instrumental in fanning thefire of lust. The entertainment channels and film-makers manufacture suggestive, indecent imagesand sell them in the name of entertainment. Theconcerned ministry and the censor authorities alsoallow them to be aired or screened in the nameof freedom of speech and expression and the pub-lic consumes them day in and day out. It is shock-ing to see that nowadays even ice-cream ads or ani-mation meant for children are stuffed with suchimagery, which are in no way relatable to the actu-al product. Even if a film gets an ‘A’ certificate, howdoes it ensure that younger people do not watchit. And who can confirm that such films are notdetrimental to the moral health of adults? How dowe expect a generation fed on skin show to bringup a society safe for women? In light of the situ-ation, our society is doomed to an even greatermoral downfall.

The present state is, thus, a distress call tospiritual organisations, women groups andhuman rights custodians like the UN to take upthe fight against objectification of women in abig way. Channels that affect public mentalitymust be guarded and proper steps should betaken to nurture high moral principles in oursociety that’s reeling under crisis of varied formsas the monster of lust has been on the loose. Suchorganisations and government agencies need toimpress upon the people that the moral strengthof any society is strongly linked with the respectit accords to its women. Lastly, it has been foundthat role of education and media becomes veryimportant in propagating values in society.Unless and until education is value-based andmedia, especially electronic and cinema maketheir contribution in creating awareness for val-ues like respect, gender equality, tolerance andhumility, there will not be any peace and har-mony in the society nor will there be safety forwomen.

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How often have you found your-self in a situation where noteveryone agrees with your point

of view? It could be in a boardroom, aconference with senior colleagues, aclient meeting, a team presentation oreven at a social event. You might havepreferred to keep quiet to avoid an argu-ment or got into one that could haveturned nasty. Both reactions are equal-ly undesirable. The first reaction makesyou appear submissive and the secondonly shows your aggression. You couldbe perceived as argumentative and yourmessage or point of view can be lost.

Making yourself heard or gettingyour point of view across is gratifyingand empowering. More importantly, it

gives you visibility, influence and cred-ibility, all of which you need to succeedat work.

How do you drive our point homewithout seeming argumentative andopinionated? Speaking effectively is theart of getting through a swinging doorwhen someone else is pushing from theopposite direction. You do this by push-ing back hard but waiting for an open-ing. It needs skill and strategy. You needto give way to get your way.

Meetings, both online and offline,are a great way to collaborate and pre-sent your point but sometimes yourvoice might get lost in the myriad ofvoices. Or you may appear brash if youtend to disagree with your superior.

Hence, preparation is the key.

�Prepare by understanding your audi-ence: You need to ask yourself why youhave been invited to this meeting andhow you can contribute to the biggergoal. Be a keen listener and try to under-stand other people’s perspective. Thiswill help you identify possible road-blocks and alliances that you can pre-pare for.

�Give respect and appreciate: As anactive listener, summarise what you haveheard. For example, you could say,“For the past 10 minutes we’velearned…” or “Correct me if I amwrong...” Encourage others to speak or

seek feedback by saying, “Tell me whatyou think.” It always helps when youencourage others, especially quietercolleagues, to speak up and facilitatetheir inputs for the larger group.

�Educate, don’t blame or accuse:When it’s your turn to speak, presentyour views without sounding accusato-ry or dismissive. You should act as afacilitator who is purposeful but notdominant. It is more effective to saythings with confidence without drown-ing other people’s voices. Choose yourwords carefully; sound friendly andcalm. The right tone, volume and pitchwill go a long way in making your voiceheard, especially, in today’s world whenmost meetings and discussions havemoved online. With body languageoften lost behind the camera, yourpitch and tone are all you have to speakeffectively. And you must get them right!

�Be open to feedback and criticism:Present your critique in a way thatinvites feedback and discussions. Beopen to criticism or negative feedback.Remember, this is a discussion, a collab-oration and it’s important to be a teamplayer.

�Don’t be hesitant or shaky. Speakwith certainty: Never sound vague.Always back your arguments with sup-porting rationale, data and examples. Bebrief, concise and to the point whenyou’re presenting your case. Peoplehave a short attention span, so stick tothe topic and avoid using jargons. Thisis even more important in the digitalworld where you have multiple distrac-tions.

�Be polite, humble and patient: Usepronouns such as ‘we’, ‘us’ and ‘our’ tosignal yourself as a team player commit-ted to the bigger goals of the team. Don’tinterrupt when someone else is speak-ing. Wait for your turn to speak. Makea note if you have something significantto add and speak only when the personhas finished talking. In online meetings,always turn off your microphone or putit on mute when you aren’t speaking.

While it is important to voice yourideas, it is equally vital to listen to oth-ers. This helps understand and absorbtheir views and you’re perceived asthoughtful leader. You’re likely to gainmore respect as a speaker, increasingyour chances of being heard.

(The writer is the founder and chair-man of Harappa Education.)

Vinayak Sonar is 14-year-old.Every day his friends visit

his home to invite him for anevening stroll around the village— a regular ritual for this younggroup of boys. One day when theboys asked Vinayak to comealong, something was different.His mother Chandrakala Sonartold them that he was washingutensils and will join them later.The boys burst into giggles asthey heard this — a usual reac-tion for the boys (and men), whogo against the gendered rolesand participate in the householdchores. Unaffected, Vinayak con-tinued to contribute towardsthe silent revolution that adoles-cent boys in Pune’s communitiesare a part of — of moving fromthe belief of ‘protecting women’to making the world a more gen-der equitable space.

Since 2019, Vinayak — a res-ident of Bhimtola, a low-incomecommunity in Pune, has beenattending the Action for Equality(AfE) programme that aims atcreating awareness and sensiti-sation about gender equityamong adolescent boys.Organised once a week, thisprogramme is delivered at threelevels and is facilitated by ateam of dedicated programmementors of Equal CommunityFoundation. The team supportsboys to bring about change at theindividual, family, peer and com-munity level in 20 communitiesacross the city.

“During the initial days, Iwould miss classes as I wasunfamiliar with the word ‘gen-der equity’ and had no ideaabout its importance in life.With time, my mentor, SandeepPatil encouraged me and askedquestions which made me curi-ous. Gradually, the sessions

became interesting because weshared a lot about our lives,” saidVinayak, who learnt abouthuman rights through theseconversations. The most strikingright he identified was abouthow women often don’t get toexercise the right to leisure.

To work towards this right,his mentor shared, “Vinayakslowly started taking up smallchores at home so that his moth-er could get some time for her-self. He started folding his bed-sheets, washing his undergar-ments and plate after meals. Healso washed the vessels andsweeped the floor. Steadily, hestarted embracing householdresponsibilities.”

In the densely packedBhimtola community, menwashing vessels is more of anexception than a norm.However, he found an interest-ing ally at home — his fatherwho works as an office assistantat a private bank. Inspired by hisson and after learning from himabout women’s right to leisure,his father started playing anactive role in household chores— he now washes vegetables,makes his own tea and cleans thehouse while his wife runs a tai-loring unit at home.

“What are human rightsreally?” asks Vinayak and thenanswers himself, “For me, it isnot about restricting women

from going out or stopping themfrom wearing the clothes oftheir choice to ‘protect’ them.Rather it’s about cooperating,taking responsibilities and hav-ing a dialogue with them wherethey are free to speak. It is notprotection but collaboration.”

Vinayak has even startedlearning how to use a pressurecooker and make chapatis toensure that his mother getsmore time to focus on tailoring.He has also started showinginterest in tailoring — seeming-ly a ‘women’s job’ and has learntto sew ‘fall’ into saris and dosmall repair work on clothes.Seeing him take up the work, fewcustomers expressed their con-

cerns. However, Vinayak provesthem wrong by doing a good jobevery time, with his mother’ssupport.

Can those who reject genderdisparity in their own lives, lookaway from it in everyday inter-action with their neighbours,communities and extended fam-ilies? Well, it might vary fromperson to person. Ideally, no oneshould look away from it andrather try to address this deepand universal issue.

Before COVID-19 had hitthe world, Vinayak and hisfriends witnessed unpleasant,everyday experiences of theirfemale peers — be it in work oreducation. Building on these

observations, their mentor,Sandeep helped them mold theirthoughts into a street play. Lastyear, amidst the lanes ofBhimtola, these boys performeda play on women’s right to mobil-ity. But no one attended. “It’s hardto have a dialogue with peoplewho are keen on following theirown belief systems,” Vinayakrecollects. Not the ones to be dis-heartened, these boys went doorto door, requesting everyone tojoin in. Upon their insistence, 70to 80 neighbours turned up. Asthis group of adolescent boystalked about how women havelost the opportunities to play,work and roam around freely,there was a silence in the audi-ence. The questions they raisedforced people to think. Later, fewmembers from the audienceapproached the group andexpressed their concerns aboutwomen’s safety and education.Vinayak and his friends engagedwith them, sharing their learn-ings and experiences.

At 14, Vinayak has takendefinitive stands on householdresponsibilities and genderedroles. His mother is proud ofhaving a son who’s her ally notjust at work but within theirhome as well. Says Vinayak,“When my five-year-old sistergrows up, I would want her tohave all the opportunities in theworld, like I did. Or maybeeven more.”

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After one errant forehand in thefirst set of the US Open final,Naomi Osaka looked at her

coach in the mostly empty ArthurAshe Stadium stands with palms up,as if to say, “What the heck is hap-pening?”

In response to another waywardforehand against Victoria Azarenkaseconds later, Osaka chucked herracket. It spun a bit and rattledagainst the court.

Surprisingly off-kilter in theearly going Saturday, Osaka keptmissing shots and digging herself adeficit. Until, suddenly, she lifted hergame, and Azarenka couldn't sustainher start. By the end, Osaka pulledaway to a 1-6 6-3 6-3 victory for hersecond US Open championship andthird Grand Slam title overall.

“For me, I just thought,” saidOsaka, who trailed by a set and abreak, “it would be very embarrass-ing to lose this in an under an hour.”

This, then, is what she told her-self with a white towel draped overher head at a changeover whenthings looked bleakest: “I just haveto try as hard as I can and stop hav-ing a really bad attitude.”

It worked. A quarter-centuryhad passed since a woman who lostthe first set of a US Open final woundup winning: In 1994, ArantxaSanchez Vicario did it against SteffiGraf.

“I wasn’t really thinking aboutwinning. I was just thinking aboutcompeting,” Osaka said.

“Somehow, I ended up with thetrophy.”

Osaka is a 22-year-old who wasborn in Japan to a Japanese motherand Haitian father; the family movedto the US when she was 3.

Osaka, now based in California,arrived for the US Open intent onclaiming the championship, to be

sure, but with another goal in mind,as well: continuing to be a voice forchange by calling attention to racialinjustice.

She showed up for Saturday'smatch wearing a mask with thename of Tamir Rice, a Black 12-year-old boy killed by police in Ohio in2014. That was the seventh maskshe'd used during the tournament,after honoring other Black victims ofviolence: Breonna Taylor, ElijahMcClain, Trayvon Martin, AhmaudArbery, George Floyd and PhilandoCastile.

“The point,” Osaka explained, “isto make people start talking.”

Last month, Osaka refused tocompete after the police shooting ofa Black man, Jacob Blake, inWisconsin - she said she wouldwithdraw from her semifinal at theWestern & Southern Open, althoughdecided to play after the tournamenttook a full day off in solidarity.

Osaka and her coach, WimFissette - who used to work withAzarenka - have said they think theoff-court activism has helped herenergy and mindset in matches.

“I wanted,” Osaka said, “morepeople to (see) more names.”

So perhaps it was no coincidencethat this win over Azarenka, a 31-year-old from Belarus also seeking athird Grand Slam title but first in 7½years, made Osaka 11-0 since tennisresumed after its hiatus because ofthe COVID-19 outbreak.

Osaka added to her triumphs atthe 2018 US Open - earned with abrilliant performance in a memo-rably chaotic and controversial finalagainst Serena Williams - and 2019Australian Open.

Azarenka carried an 11-matchwinning streak of her own intoSaturday, including a stirring three-set victory over Williams in thesemifinals, stopping the American'sbid for a 24th Grand Slam title.

Azarenka won the2012 and 2013Au s t r a l i a nOpens andlost toWilliamsin the USO p e nfinals eachof those years.

“I thoughtthe third timewas the charm,”Azarenka said,“but I guess I'll haveto try again.”

Even after Osakasurged ahead 4-1 in thethird set, the outcome wasunclear. Azarenka drew to 4-3, then stood and stretchedduring the ensuingchangeover.

“Had a little bit of aenergy dip,” Azarenka said.

Osaka regained con-trol, then laid down onthe court when the finalwas over.

The 23,000-plusseats in the main arenaat Flushing Meadowswere not entirelyunclaimed, just mostlyso - while fans were notallowed to attend becauseof the coronavirus pan-demic, dozens of peoplewho worked at the tour-nament attended - andthe cavernous place wasnot entirely silent, justmostly so. One of thelucky few in the house:Osaka's boyfriend, rapperYBN Cordae.

“I’m very grateful forthe opportunity to play infront of millions of peoplewatching on TV,” Azarenkasaid.

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Timothy Castagne scored onhis Leicester debut before

Jamie Vardy netted two penaltiesin a season-opening 3-0 victoryover newcomer West BromwichAlbion in the Premier League onSunday.

Castagne, a defensive sign-ing from Atalanta, made animpact at the other end by head-ing in a cross from fellow BelgianDennis Praet in the 56th minute.

Vardy doubled the lead fromthe penalty spot in the 74th afterbeing pulled back by KyleBartley.

Vardy was on target 10 min-utes later - again from the spot- after James Justin was broughtdown by Dara O'Shea.

Vardy was the league's topscorer last season which endedin empty stadiums. Fans arealso still shut out at the start ofthe new campaign due to coro-navirus restrictions.

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England's decision to bat firstappeared to backfire with the

world champions limited to 231-9 in the second one-day cricketinternational against Australia onSunday.

Australia is looking to wrapup a series victory after beatingEngland in the first ODI onFriday, also in Manchester.

No England batsman reached50 at Old Trafford on Sundaywith ODI captain Eoin Morgan(42 runs off 52 balls) and test cap-tain Joe Root (39 off 73) the top-scorers. Both men were dis-missed by leg spinner AdamZampa who finished with 3-36off 10 overs.

Morgan was out leg beforewicket after Australia captainAaron Finch opted to review theoriginal not out decision, leavingEngland on 117-5 in the 29thover.

No. 9 Tom Curran (37 off 39)and No. 10 Adil Rashid, who hitan undefeated 35 off 26 deliver-

ies, came to England's rescue atthe end, sharing 76 for the ninthwicket.

England's explosive opener

Jason Roy (21) was run outwhile attempting a quick singlefrom the non-batting end afterimpressive fielding from Marcus

Stoinis.England is in danger of its

first ODI home series defeatsince 2015.

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India pacer S Sreesanth’s ban foralleged spot-fixing came to an

end on Sunday, concluding aseven-year punishment that wasoriginally meant to be for life andwas aggressively contested by theflamboyant bowler.

The 37-year-old has alreadymade it clear that he intends toresume at least his domestic careerat the end of the ban and his homestate Kerala has promised to con-sider him if he manages to prove

his fitness. “I’m completely free ofany charges nd anything nd nowgonna represent the sport I lovethe most.Will give my very best toevery ball I ball even (if) it’s justpractice,” he tweeted on Friday, acouple of days before the end ofhis suspension.

“Just have another 5 to 7 yearsmax to give it all I’ve got nd I willgive the very best to any team Iplay,” he added.

However, with the Indiandomestic season postponed atpresent due to the COVID-19

pandemic, it remains to be seenwhen exactly Sreesanth is able tomake a comeback if Kerala decidesto give him a chance.

The Indian domestic seasonstarts in August but the pandem-ic has left the scheduling in com-plete disarray.

“...The BCCI is making allefforts to ensure that domesticcricket resumes as and when theconditions permit,” SouravGanguly wrote in a recent letter topresidents and secretaries of itsaffiliated member associations

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Former captain Ian Chappellbelieves playing cricket in

COVID-19 era is a lot differentfrom anything experienced in thepast, but said the upcoming IPLcan provide some "challenging"practice to Indian and Australianplayers ahead of their much-anticipated duel later this year.

Indian players will fly direct-ly to Australia after the IPL con-cludes on November 10 for thehigh-profile tour which is likelyto begin with a T20 series fol-lowed by four Tests and ODIs.The IPL begins in Abu Dhabi onSeptember 19.

Chappell feels the high-pro-file T20 event might just be ablessing in disguise for theIndians and the Australians, withjust a few series possible sincemid-March because of the pan-demic.

“One thing is certain: wherethere’s a will, there’s a way, andthe better players are dedicated tofinding a solution,” Chappellwrote in a column forESPNcricinfo.Com..

“In case of Indian players,and some of the Australians,they will at least have some chal-

lenging IPL cricket in the lead-upto the December series.” Chappelladmitted the IPL “may not seemlike ideal preparation for a toughTest series in Australia” but herecalled the thoughts of formerEngland batsman Ravi Bopara in2009.

“After a stint in the IPL,Bopara was asked on return toEngland if this was appropriatepreparation for a Test match. Heresponded by saying that ‘look-ing to score at every opportuni-ty gets your feet moving positive-ly’. He proved his point emphat-ically by scoring back-to-backcenturies against West Indies.”

The 76-year-old legend saidwith a host of health and safetyprotocols in place, it is difficultfor visiting teams to prevail overhome sides in the COVID-19 era.

“With venue bubbles, isola-tion rules, social distancing, anda number of changes to playingconditions, adapting to interna-tional competition has been test-ing for players.

It’s made life difficult and dif-ferent even in a team environ-ment but imagine the individ-ual's dilemma in enforced isola-tion with a tour looming,” hesaid.

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Indian badminton starSaina Nehwal on Sunday

raised concerns about thetiming of next month’sThomas and Uber Cup,asking whether it would besafe to go ahead with it inthe middle of a ragingpandemic.

Nehwal tweeted herapprehensions followingthe withdrawal of sevencountries from the tourna-ment due to the risingCOVID-19 cases acrossthe globe.

“7 countries havewithdrawn from tourna-ment cause of the pan-demic...Is it safe enough to

conduct this tournamentduring this time ??...(Thomas and Uber Cup2020) #coronavirus,” she

tweeted. Scheduled to beheld in Denmark fromOctober 3 to 11, theThomas and Uber Cupwill mark the resumptionof international bad-minton after it came to ahalt in March because ofthe dreaded virus.

Countries that havewithdrawn include Korea,Thailand, Indonesia,Australia, Taiwan,Singapore and HongKong. India’s build-up tothe event has also been hitby the pandemic. A pro-posed preparatory camp in

Hyderabad had to be can-celled after players refusedto accept the quarantineconditions set by theSports Authority of India.

The Indian challengewill be spearheaded byreigning world championPV Sindhu, who hadpulled out initially citingpersonal reasons but wasconvinced to reverse herdecision by the federa-tion. However, worldbronze-winner B SaiPraneeth has decided togive it a miss due to a kneeinjury.

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Lewis Hamilton won a hec-tic Tuscan Grand Prix on

Sunday to clinch his 90thFormula One win and moveone behind MichaelSchumacher's record.

The first F1 race on aMugello track with super-fastcorners usually used byMotoGP riders was incident-packed throughout. Twocrashes on the first seven lapssaw six drivers go out, and ared flag suspended the racefor the first time after the sec-ond one.

A second red flag late onfollowing Lance Stroll's heavycrash meant another gridrestart - on Lap 46 of 59 - andgave Valtteri Bottas anotherchance to beat race leaderHamilton if he made a strongstart from second.

Hamilton held firm andRenault's Daniel Ricciardoovertook Bottas, who passedhim back to finish second butlose more ground toHamilton in the title race.

Bottas pushed hard andgot to within 1.1 seconds ofHamilton on the penulti-mate lap but the British dri-ver clocked a fastest lap onthe last one to take a bonuspoint.

Red Bull driver AlexanderAlbon drove well to finishthird and clinch a firsr careerpodium that will boost hischances of keeping his seatalongside team star MaxVerstappen next year.

Hamilton can equalSchumacher's record for winsat the Russian GP in twoweeks and take a step closer tomatching Schumacher’s recordof seven world titles.