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SANJAY JOG / Mumbai

The Maha Vikas Aghadi gov-ernment was perturbed atthe leakage of the call datarecords (CDR) pertaining tothe abandoned Scorpiofound outside industrialistMukesh Ambani’s residenceon February 25.

Leader of Opposition De-vendra Fadnavis’s claim inthe state assembly that hewas in the possession of theCDR forced the ruling MahaVikas Aghadi government topull up its socks.

The MVA partners werealso frustrated at themanner in which Fadnaviswas exposing the govern-ment, citing access to ‘secret’security inputs.

These exposes by the oppo-sition went against ParamBir Singh. The issue was dis-cussed at length by NCP

Sharad Pawar at his meetingwith Chief Minister UddhavThackeray on Monday.“Pawar was quite furiousover the leakage of informa-tion to the opposition. Hewas also angry with Singh,for his mishandling,” said anMVA minister.

“No police officer is greaterthan the establishment andif he tries to pose so, it istime he is shown the door,’”Pawar is reported to havetold Thackeray, in no uncer-tain terms. He argued thatSingh should be transferredimmediately, for his defaultby omission.

Another minister said,“There was unanimityamong the MVA partnersthat Home Minister AnilDeshmukh had no role inprotecting Vaze. But therewas consensus that Singhmay have preferred not

to act against Vaze and al-lowed events to take theircourse. That has goneagainst Singh.”

Moreover, there is a possi-bility that the NIA may re-open the death case of SayedKhwaja Yunus Sayed Ayubwho was an accused in the2002 Ghatkopar blast case.Vaze and three constableswere suspended from the po-lice force in 2004 after theywere arrested in connectionwith the death of SayedKhwaja Yunus Sayed Ayubin January 2003.

“When Vaze was reinstat-ed in the police force in2020, he was picked up bySingh to head the Crime In-vestigation Unit while ne-glecting senior inspectorsfor the post. Singh’s lovefor Vaze has been anothernegative factor,” said theminister.

Vol. 64 No. 273 | THURSDAY | MARCH 18, 2021 | 14 Pages | `4 | EDITIONS: MUMBAI*, Pune, Indore, Bhopal, E-Paper

OUR CORRESPONDENTLucknow

After famous Bolly-wood singer SonuNigam’s objections,

the Allahabad Central Uni-versity Vice-Chancellor ProfSangita Srivastava haslodged a police complaintagainst use of high-pitchedloudspeakers at a mosque for

‘azaan’ near her Civil Linesresidence in Prayagraj.

Acting on her complaint,the Superintendent of Po-lice D.K. Singh said that theMutawalli of the mosquehas been directed to lowerthe volume in accordancewith the High Court ordersso that no one's sleep is dis-turbed during ‘azaan’.

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EDITSTRIKE UNLIKELY TO DETERDISINVESTMENT PROCESSPg 19

SENSEX PLUNGES 562POINTS ON COVIDFEARS, ONGC TANKS Pg 9

‘I THINK OF MYSELF AS AGLOBAL ACTOR,’ SAYSSHRIYA PILGAONKAR Pg 24

BETWEENTHE LINES

MiG-21 CRASHES,IAF PILOT KILLEDAn Air Force Group Captainwas killed in an accidentinvolving a MiG-21 Bisonaircraft on Wednesdaymorning, the Air Force said ina statement. The accidenttook place when the aircraftwas taking off for a combattraining mission. The Air Forcestatement did not disclose thelocation of the airbase. Since1963, India has introducedmore than 1,200 MiG fightersinto its air force. As of 2019,113 MiG-21s were known tobe in operation in the IAF.However, the plane has beenplagued by safety problems.Since 1970 more than 170Indian pilots and 40 civilianshave been killed in MiG-21accidents. Air Force

BJP MP FROM MANDIIS FOUND HANGINGA BJP MP from HimachalPradesh, Ram SwaroopSharma, was found dead athis residence in Delhi onWednesday; the police areinvestigating whether it was acase of suicide. Sharma, 62,was found hanging in hisroom. No suicide note wasfound from the spot. Theparliamentarian wasreportedly unwell for the pastfew months. He is the secondMP to commit suicide in lessthan a month. In February,Mohan Delkar, anindependent MP from Dadraand Nagar Haveli, was founddead at a hotel in Mumbai.Sharma was a two-time MP.He was elected to the LokSabha from the Mandiparliamentary constituency in2014 and 2019.

TAILPIECE

VACCINE ROW:2ND THOUGHTSBritish patients are cancellingappointments fortheir coronavirus vaccinebecause of the EU's massrevolt against AstraZeneka’sjab over unproven blood clotfears. One GP claimed up to10 per cent of peoplescheduled for appointmentswere either not showing up,asking to cancel or double-checking which vaccine theywere getting before turningup. Meanwhile, Spainis investigating three cases ofblood clots in women whohad recentlyhad AstraZeneka’s vaccine.The women all fell ill withthrombosis -- the medicalterm for blood clots --between late Monday andearly Tuesday, Spain's AEMPSmedical agency said. One ofthe women, a 43-year-oldteacher with no pre-existinghealth conditions,subsequently died ofa cerebral haemorrhage.BJP’s Modi government,meanwhile, said in New Delhiit is aware of media reportsexpressing concerns related tothe use of AstraZeneca'sCovid-19 vaccine. However,so far, there are "no signals of concerns" on the usage ofthe vaccine. Ten countries, mostly inEurope, have temporarilyhalted use of AstraZeneca'sCovid-19 vaccine.

WARNING

"Even when a dog dies it iscondoled, but 250 farmershave died, yet no oneexpressed condolences. If thismovement continues like thisthen in the long term, BJP willlose out in western UP,Rajasthan and Haryana

— Meghalaya GovernorSatya Pal Malik

V-C can't sleep, lower the volumeLAST WORD

�CM Uddhav Thackeraytold PM Modi that the

state government proposes tovaccinate 3 lakh people daily,up from the present level of1,38,957 doses. He also urgedthe Centre to allow HaffkineBio-pharmaceuticalCorporation to produce COVID 19 vaccine

�Seventy districts in thecountry have seen an

increase in the positivity rateby over 150 per cent in thelast few weeks, the PM said,underlining his concern. "If wedo not stop it here, then acondition for a nationwideoutbreak may emerge," hesaid, and called for quick anddecisive steps to stop it.

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erform noble actions without expecting

reward, reward willautomatically follow.

Brahma Kumaris

For want ofAadhaar link

New Delhi

The Supreme Court on Wed-nesday sought reply fromCentre and states, on a plea al-leging cancellation of nearlyfour crore ration cards, in theabsence of linkages with theAadhaar card.

A bench headed by ChiefJustice S.A. Bobde and com-prising justices A.S. Bopan-na and V. Ramasubramaniansaid: "The matter is too seri-ous. We have to hear it."

The observation came on aplea filed by Koili Devi,mother of an 11-year-oldgirl, who allegedly died ofstarvation on September 28,

2017. The top court notedthat this matter should notbe treated as adversarial.

"Insistence on Aadhar andbiometric authenticationhad led to the cancellation ofnearly 4 crore ration cards inthe country according to theUnion of India. The Unionof India casually gives an ex-planation that these can-celled cards were bogus,"said the plea.

Senior advocate Colin Gon-

salves, representing the peti-tioner, said the matter dealswith a larger issue. Thebench told him that therelief sought is very om-nibus and widened the scopeof the matter.

Gonsalves argued thatmore than three crore rationcards were cancelled at cen-tral level, and as many as 10to 15 lakh cards are cancelledat each state level. "The realreason is that the technolog-ical system based on irisidentification, thumb prints,possession of Aadhar, func-tioning of the Internet in ru-ral and remote areas etc. ledto large scale cancellation ofration cards without noticeto the family concerned," theplea argued.

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74% feel antibodiesdevelop after dose

With the Covid-19vaccination drives in

progress, 74 per centIndians believe thatantibodies develop just aftertaking the first dose ofCovid-19, a new report saidon Wednesday. According toa myth-busting quizconducted by location basedsocial network Public App,almost two-thirds of therespondents believed thatantibodies instantly startdeveloping post the firstdose of the vaccine.However, a top healthexpert stressed that it takesat least two weeks todevelop antibodies postsecond dose. "Antibodiesgenerally develop twoweeks after receiving thesecond dose. So, don't loweryour guard and give yourbody some time to buildthat immunity back up.”

SWAPNIL MISHRAMumbai

People over 45 years of ageare next in line for vaccina-tion, according to officialsfrom the state health depart-ment.

This indication comes onthe heels of MaharashtraCM Uddhav Thackeray's pro-posal in a virtual meetingchaired by PM Modi that allthose above 45 years of ageshould be inoculated.

Currently, four categoriesof people -- healthcare andfrontline workers, senior cit-izens and those in the 45-59

years’ category with co-mor-bidities -- are being vaccinat-ed across the state.

Officials and health expertshave welcomed the proposal,saying in view of the increas-ing number of cases, vacci-nating all above 45 yearswould be a good decision, aswith this, half the populationof the state would be covered.But before this can begin, im-portantly, it needs to be en-sured that all centres are ableto handle the beneficiariesand the CoWin portal func-tions smoothly, to avoid anyproblems in future.

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45-PLUS?You’re next in line

Maharashtra on Wednesdayadded a whopping

23,179new COVID-19 cases to itscount, the highest single-daytally since September 16 last

year. The state reported

84 fatalities in the last 24 hours.

Mumbai reported the highestsingle-day case count since

October 7 with

2,377new cases and eight deaths.

PIC: BHUSHAN KOYANDE

SANJAY JOG / Mumbai

A day after the Maharashtra health minis-ter Rajesh Tope urged the Centre toincrease COVID 19 vaccine supply, theUnion Information and Broadcasting Min-ister Pravakash Javadekar blamed the ShivSena-led Maha Vikas Aghadi governmentfor its poor show in carrying out the inocu-lation drive.

In a scathing tweet, Javadekar said, ''The Maharashtra Government has onlyused 23 lakh vaccines out of the 54 lakhvials sent to the state till March 12. 56% vac-cines remain unused.

And, now, the Shiv Sena MP is asking for

more. First, mismanagement of the pan-demic and now poor administration of vac-cines.’’

Javadekar was referring to the demandmade by Shiv Sena MP Priyanka Chaturve-di in the Rajya Sabha for providing morevaccines to the state.

Contesting the MVA government's claimsamid the mounting cases, the Union Minis-ter said: ''Do not point a finger at the Centrebut put your own house in order.’’

However, Tope, on his part, stuck to his demand for the supply of 20 lakh vaccinedoses per week and the need for additionalcentres to expedite the drive.

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JAVADEKAR v/s TOPE SOMENDRA SHARMA / Mumbai

The National InvestigationAgency (NIA) officials onWednesday took suspendedAssistant Police InspectorSachin Vaze to the spotwhere the gelatin sticks-laden SUV was placed on thenight of February 24-25 onCarmichael Road, to recre-ate the scene of the crime.

They also visited Babul-nath, Mahim Creek, Vaze'sresidence and the placeswhere the vehicle registra-tion numbers plates were ob-

tained in Thane and used inthe crime, as part of the in-vestigation.

The Central agency had,on Tuesday, seized a Mer-cedes car being used byVaze from a parking lotnear Chhatrapati ShivajiMaharaj Terminus (CSMT).From this car, the agencyrecovered Rs 5 lakh in cash,a note-counting machine,two vehicle registrationnumber plates, some par-tially burnt clothes and abottle of kerosene.

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PIC: BL SONI

Cancellation of 4 cr rationcards a serious matter: SC

SANJAY JOGMumbai

Amid rising attacks from the BJP andpressure from its ruling partners, theNCP and the Congress, the Maha

Vikas Aghadi government on Wednesday, ina major reshuffle, shunted out Mumbai PoliceCommissioner Param Bir Singh, replacinghim with Hemant Nagrale, who wasthe acting director general of po-lice (DGP). Singh will now be di-rector of the low-profile HomeGuards.

Singh’s transfer came daysafter the state governmentfaced a fusillade for its mis-handling of the Antillabomb scare case and alsofor shielding the contro-versial police officerSachin Vaze, who hasbeen arrested by the Na-tional Investigation Agen-cy (NIA) in the matter.

Anti-Corruption BureauDirector Rajnish Seth hasbeen given additional charge asMaharashtra DGP, while Sanjay Pandey will be the newdirector of the MaharashtraState Security Corporation.The reshuffle was an-nounced by the Home Min-ister Anil Deshmukh.

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OUR CORRESPONDENT / Kolkata

TMC supremo MamataBanerjee on Wednesday re-leased what she described as a‘development-oriented’ mani-festo and not just a grocery listof political pledges. By doingso, she was almost taking acue from PM Modi’s philoso-phy of ‘sab ka vikas.’

“This is a manifesto of thepeople, for the people, and bythe people. I humbly presentmy 10 ‘Ongikars’ to build astronger and more prosper-ous Bengal, so that thewheels of development re-main well-oiled in the thirdterm of government. Theaim is to position Bengal asone of the leading states inthe country,” said Mamata.

Touching what is a raw

nerve in the BJP, she saidgrappling with unemploy-ment will be the pivot of herpolicies. “If voted to power,the TMC government willcreate 5 lakh jobs in a year.’’She picked on yet anotherstrand of the Modi dispensa-tion – cash doles and thetransfer of the monies di-rectly to the account of thebeneficiary. So, for the firsttime, every family in Bengalwill be entitled to minimumbasic income. Under this, 1.6crore a general categoryfamily will get Rs 500 amonth, whereas an SC/STfamily will get Rs 1,000. Ma-mata’s masterstroke is thatthe amount will be trans-ferred to the account of thewoman head of a family.

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Didi takes a leaf fromModi’s Vikas agenda

SANJAY JOGMumbai

In a pre-emptive move to save face in casethe NIA investigation would have ultimate-ly implicated Mumbai Police Commission-

er Param Bir Singh and could have possiblyresulted in his arrest, the MVA governmentseems to have decided to transfer Singh. Themove was the outcome of a marathon meet-ing chaired by CM Uddhav Thackeray lateon Tuesday night with Home MinisterAnil Deshmukh, acting DGP Hemant Na-grale and Param Bir Singh.

“Without touching on the merits of thecase, the MVA partners

realised that the plan topark the gelatin sticks-laden Scorpio near the

Ambani residence wasallegedly hatched by Vaze

to create a scare. He wasalso becoming a super cop.

However, the 19 gelatin stickswere not packed in explosives, so

these were harmless. Thereafter,Vaze organised the Innova to provide a getaway ve-

hicle for the Scorpio driver. CONTD. ON P15

CP SHUNTED OUT TOREPEL BJP’S ATTACKHis possible arrestforced govt's hand

PHOOL AURKAANTE

To weed out fresh coronascourge, BMC plans to

temporarily move Dadarflower market to BKC

PRATIP ACHARYA / Mumbai

To counter the rising num-ber of Covid-19 cases acrossthe city, the BrihanmumbaiMunicipal Corporation(BMC) has decided to tem-porarily shift the Dadarflower market to an alterna-tive location.

Since February, the G northward under which Dadarfalls has recorded a spike incases. On Wednesday, therewere 62 cases reported here,taking the present activecase tally to over 600.

Nearly 400-500 hawkershave their stalls at the Dadarflower market, where thou-sands of Mumbaikars flockregularly. Located just belowthe Dadar flyover, themarket area becomes heavi-ly congested during the day,making it a thorny businessfor authorities to impose so-cial distancing norms.

On Wednesday, at a high-profile meeting chaired byMumbai Mayor Kishori Ped-nekar, the possibility of tem-porarily shifting the marketwas discussed with seniorofficials of Mumbai Police.

Senior BMC officials saidthat the civic administrationis looking at two optionswhere the market could beshifted temporarily.

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NEW CHIEF:26/11 HERO

Senior IPS officer HemantNagrale, who was onWednesday appointed as thenew police commissioner,played an important role duringthe 26/11 attacks: he hadrecovered a bag containingRDX, which he had shifted to asafer place. The 1987-batchofficer, along with four otherpolicemen, had also sneakedinto Hotel Taj, where theyrescued a number of injuredpersons and shifted them tohospitals. A sports buff, he isalso black belt-holder in judo.

‘Leaks’ cooked Singh’s goose

Vaze towed to recreate crime scene

MUMBAIMUMBAI | THURSDAY | MARCH 18, 2021

MUMBAI: Around 18,321 students graduated from theInstitute of Distance and Open Learning (IDOL) of theUniversity of Mumbai (MU) on Wednesday. During thegraduation ceremony, 15 meritorious students from

various courses were conferred degrees.Over 4,700 students have graduated from Humanities,13,003 from Commerce, 338 from Science and Technologyand 230 from skill development programmes.

18,321 students graduate from MU IDOL

NARSI BENWAL | Mumbai

The Bombay High Court, onWednesday, posed a straightquestion to the Mumbai Po-lice on whether it wouldname Republic TV and itsEditor-in-chief ArnabGoswami as accused in theTelevision Rating Points(TRP) scam. The court said,since the city police claims tohave sufficient evidenceagainst Goswami and hischannel, it should spell if itproposes to name them as ac-cused.

A bench of Justices Samb-haji Shinde and ManishPitale specifically orderedspecial public prosecutorShishir Hiray to inform it, onThursday, the exact stand ofthe city police. "The probe inthis matter started in Octo-ber, 2020, and we are inMarch, 2021, now. We would,thus, want to know your(Mumbai Police) stand withregard to Goswami and Re-public, especially, when youhaven't named them as ac-cused," the judges said. "Yourchargesheet names them asmere suspects. Let us clarifythere is no concept like sus-pects in criminal law," thejudges added.

This comes in response tothe contentions put forth byGoswami and the channelthrough senior counselAshok Mundargi. In his brief

submissions on Tuesday,Mundargi had argued thatGoswami and the channelaren't named in the FIR andneither do their names find amention in the chargesheet.He had also claimed thatthere is no sufficient evi-dence against the channeland Goswami and, thus, thecity police is dragging its feetover naming them as ac-cused.

Countering the submis-

sions, SPP Hiray pointed outthat the city police hasenough evidence and is stillcollecting ‘additional’ mate-rial to prove its case. At this,Justice Shinde intervenedsaying, "Why should there bea sword hanging on them?""We fail to understand, whenyou say you have sufficientevidence, then why don't youname them as accused in thiscase," Justice Shinde ob-served.

Cyber crooks target kids playing online gamesMAHARASHTRA CYBER CAUTIONS PUBLIC

ED attaches properties worth `32 cr of 3 accused channels

Will restore maligned image ofMumbai Police, claims Nagrale

Mumbai Police asked to spell if itwould name Goswami as accused Bus operators meet

Transport Minister to discuss ailing

COVID-19 hit sectorSHASHANK RAO | Mumbai

Merely 10,000 buses, of the37,000 buses, have been ply-ing on the road owing tothe drop in demand andresurfacing COVID-19wave. On March 17, theUnion Minister for Roadsand Transport Nitin Gad-kari met private bus opera-tors to discuss the prob-lems ailing them. One ofthe biggest concerns dis-cussed was the repaymentof loans to financial insti-tutions that run intocrores. This comes at atime when the Maharash-tra government has al-lowed sleeper and doubledecker buses with morethan 9-seats to have buses13.5 meters in length fromthe current 12 meters.

On Wednesday, few mem-bers of the Bus and CarOperators Confederationof India (BOCI) met Gad-kari in Delhi. Sources whoattended this meeting saidthat the minister was sym-pathetic towards the condi-tion the bus transport in-dustry is in. “He directedthe officers to set up ameeting with the FinanceMinistry to resolve thematters.

WILL PLAN TO VACCINATE 3 LAKH PEOPLE DAILY: CM

Urges the Central government to allow Haffkine Bio Pharmaceutical Corporation to produce vaccineSANJAY JOG | Mumbai

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thack-eray, during a video conference chaired byPrime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednes-day, said that the state government proposesto vaccinate 3 lakh people daily from its cur-rent average of 1,38,957 doses amidst the risein COVID-19 cases. The Shiv Sena chief alsorequested for more vaccine doses, as thestate has a stock of only 10 days left. So far,35,52,000 vaccine doses have been given and31,38,463 doses are remaining.

The central government was urged to allowmore centres and hospitals with adequate ca-pacity to conduct the vaccination drive. Itwas also asked to permit Haffkine Bio Phar-maceutical Corporation to produce theCOVID-19 vaccine. The CM demanded thatthe vaccine technology be transferred underMission COVID Suraksha to the companyunder the guidance of the Indian Council ofMedical Research (ICMR).

The demand is important as Haffkine BioPharmaceutical Corporation is engaged inthe development and production of a widerange of bacterial and viral vaccines fordiphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough,plague, poliomyelitis and rabies. It also for-mulates pharmaceutical products, disinfec-tants, ointments, injectables, syrups andmixtures.

Besides, the union health secretary termedthe vaccination rate in Maharashtra -1,38,957doses daily on an average- satisfactory ascompared to some other major states. How-ever, he added that the rate should be in-creased further. He also expressed satisfac-tion over the RT-PCR tests conducted in thestate.

The Chief Minister’s Office, in a release,claimed that the prime minister has assuredthat the central government will support andencourage the institutes that plan to produceCOVID-19 vaccines. Besides, it also ex-pressed satisfaction over the present pace ofconducting RT-PCR tests in the state. In Ma-harashtra, of the total tests conducted, 70 percent are RT-PCR tests.

State accounts for 61.8% of India’sdaily fresh cases: Health Ministry13 of 36 districts are of serious concern with sharp rise in cases

SANJAY JOG | Mumbai

Maharashtra, along with Karnata-ka, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Pun-jab, continues to drive up India’sactive cases. They collectively ac-count for 71.10 per cent of the 28,903new cases in the last 24 hours. Fur-ther, 83.91 per cent of the new casesare from Maharashtra, Punjab,Karnataka, Gujarat, Tamil Naduand Kerala.

A day ago, union Health Secre-tary Rajesh Bhushan, in a stronglyworded letter to the state Chief Sec-retary Sitaram Kunte, had said thatMaharashtra is staring at the startof a second wave. The Health Min-istry said that the state alone ac-counts for 61.8 per cent of the daily

new cases with 17,864 cases. It is fol-lowed by Kerala with 1,970 casesand Punjab with 1,463 new cases. Ofthe total fatalities between March 1and March 17, 45.4 per cent deathsalone are in Maharashtra.

India’s total active caseloadstands at 2.34 lakh (2,34,406) today,comprising 2.05 per cent of the to-tal cases. Maharashtra, Kerala andPunjab account for 76.4 per cent ofthe country’s total active cases,with Maharashtra alone contribut-ing nearly 60 per cent to it.

Further, the Health Ministry hassaid that the situation in 13 of thetotal 36 districts in Maharashtra isof serious concern, especially dueto the rise in the number of casesfrom March 1 to March 15.

MUMBAI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED), conducting a moneylaundering probe into the Television Rating Points (TRP) scam, hasprovisionally attached properties worth Rs 32 crore of three channelsaccused in it. These channels include Fakt Marathi, Box Cinema andMaha Movie. The Mumbai Police had registered an FIR against thethree channels along with several others and had alleged them ofmanipulating TRPs. According to the ED officials, they have attachedimmovable and movableproperties in the form of land, commercial and residential units inMumbai, Indore, Delhi and Gurgaon along with the balance in bankaccounts of these channels amounting to Rs. 32 crore. Investigationshave revealed that the proceeds of crime for these channels is to thetune of Rs 46 crore, which was allegedly generated during themanipulation period of the TRP of the channels, said the ED officials.The attachment has been done under the Prevention of MoneyLaundering Act, 2002.According to the officials, investigation revealed that these threechannels had entered into a criminal conspiracy to cheat andcommitted the offence of criminal breach of trust and forgery in orderto gain wrongfully by manipulating TRPs. Thus, by fraudulentlyenhancing the TRP ratings, these channels have garnered enhancedadvertisement revenue, claimed the ED officials. -Sachin Gaad

STAFF REPORTER | Mumbai

In what could spell troublefor actress RheaChakraborty's brotherShowik, the Narcotics Con-trol Bureau (NCB) moved theBombay High Court andsought the cancellation ofhis bail. The court is likely totake up his bail plea for hear-ing in the last week of thismonth.

Showik, along with his sis-ter Rhea, are named as theprime accused in a drug car-tel case being probed by theNCB after the death of actorSushant Singh Rajput inJune last year.

Notably, the special courtdesignated to hear cases un-der the Narcotics Drugs andPsychotropic Substances(NDPS) Act had, in Decem-ber last year, granted bail toShowik.

It would not be out of place

to mention that the HC benchof Justice Prakash Naik had,in October, 2020, denied bailto Showik on the ground thatthere was sufficient materialon record to show his prox-imity with other accused inthe case from whom substan-tial amount of drugs wereseized during the probe.

NCB has heavily relied onthis observation and hasclaimed that the specialcourt erred in consideringthe evidence on record.

The central agency has fur-ther claimed that the specialcourt seems to have not ap-preciated the observations ofthe HC in a correct mannerand has ended up in passinga wrong order by grantingbail to Showik.

It must be noted that thebench of Justice Naik haddenied bail to Showik, buthad ordered immediate re-lease of Rhea.

NCB seeks cancellationof Showik's bail in court

SC grants ad-interimrelief to Doshis forrunning shop in an

unauthorised structureNEW DELHI: The Supreme Court,on Wednesday, granted an ex-parte ad-interim relief to ShantilalDoshi and his son Naresh ofKumbharwada Lane in Mumbaifor running a shop from anunauthorised structure and issueda notice to the MunicipalCorporation of Greater Mumbai(MCGM), returnable on April 5.Doshis have come in appealagainst the Bombay High Court'sjudgment on February 18, whichrejected their appeal and held thatno sympathy can be shown to anunauthorised structure thattantamounts to perpetuatingillegality, which may cause dangerto the lives of adjacent dwellers.The bench of Justices Uday UmeshLalit, Indira Banerjee and KMJoseph ordered Dasti service. Theorder said the notice mayadditionally be also served uponMs Jayashree Wad, an advocatewho appeared for MCGM.Doshis, who are tenants in twopremises with a corrugated sheetsroof, are accused of erecting anunauthorised L-shaped structureand running their shop in thename of Shanti Metal SupplyCompany. -Staff Reporter

SOMENDRA SHARMA | Mumbai

1987 batch Indian PoliceService (IPS) officer HemantNagrale, on Wednesday, tookcharge as Mumbai PoliceCommissioner after IPS offi-cer Parambir Singh wastransferred by the state gov-ernment from the said post.Singh was shunted five daysafter Assistant Police Inspec-tor Sachin Vaze was arrestedby the National InvestigationAgency (NIA) in connectionwith a case where a gelatinsticks-laden SUV was foundnear the residence of indus-trialist Mukesh Ambani. Na-grale said that a review of allthe cases being handled bythe Crime Intelligence Unit(CIU) would be taken.

"As we are aware, currently,Mumbai Police is goingthrough a difficult phase andthe confidence of the policeforce has dropped. The gov-ernment has given me an op-portunity to serve as theMumbai police commission-er and handle the force. Inthe coming days, the image ofMumbai Police, which hasgot maligned, will be re-stored. In the past few days, afew officers are being probedby the investigating agen-cies. I am sure that the inves-tigation will be done in a suit-able manner. Suitable action

will be taken against thosefound guilty," said Nagrale,while briefing the media.

Speaking further on the on-going Vaze case, Nagralesaid, "It is required to under-stand all the information asto what and why the saidepisode happened. After tak-ing a review of the incident,we will discuss with the offi-cers about the correctivesteps that can be taken sothat such incidents do not re-peat again. If the NIA givesus their report on the investi-gation, we will take the re-quired action. I will instructall my officers to performtheir duties as required bythe law. We will focus on thesafety of senior citizens, chil-

dren and women."Nagrale had earlier served

in different positions inMumbai Police and had han-dled important cases in thepast as additional commis-sioner and joint commission-er. In the November 2008 ter-rorist attack, Nagrale hadhelped the injured and deadto be shifted to the nearbyhospital. On lookout for thesuspicious objects, he spottedand inspected the RDX bagand personally removed it toa safer place and summonedthe Bomb Disposal Squad.Four policemen and he en-tered Hotel Taj, where theyhelped remove a number ofinjured and dead people andshifted them to the hospital.

PRIYANKA NAVALKAR | Mumbai

Amidst the rise in cases ofcyber crime, a pattern hassurfaced, where a number ofscamsters have targeted kidsplaying online games on mo-bile phones. The accused peo-ple exploit the gaming soft-ware vulnerabilities andmake sure they are rightlyexposed to the teens, who aremade to share images anddocuments for a further conset up, said a MaharashtraCyber official. Police havealso issued an advisory tocaution the public.

According to a recent re-port, Indian video game play-ers spend an average of eightand a half hours each weekplaying, with over 60 per centclaiming to have played

games for three consecutivehours or more. Taking ad-vantage of this trend, cybercriminals have sneaked theirway into these games on mo-biles, wherein they embedfake websites and suspiciouslinks in a desperate attemptto dupe people, especially

teens.In an advisory, Maharash-

tra Cyber stated that cybercriminals exploit varioussoftware vulnerabilities ofthese online games and redi-rect the users to the fake web-site, similar to one of the on-line game manufacturers. "In

some cases, the users are di-rected to fake websites whereimages and other documentsare also taken away by thecrooks, which could be usedfor any malicious intent orpurposes. Cyber criminalsensure that the vulnerabili-ties in the gaming sites or ap-plications are appropriatelyexposed and utilised for theirbenefits," said an official.

Police have advised parentsto keep a close vigil on theirchildren's online/gaming ac-tivity and ensure that what-ever their kids are engagingin is safe and authentic. Par-ents have also been advisedto not share or save theirbanking passwords withtheir children on theirphones, as it could lead tomisuse.

BJP should explain its connection inMansukh Hiren death case: CongressMUMBAI: A day after theNational Investigation Agency(NIA), which is probing the caseof an explosives-laden ScorpioSUV found near MukeshAmbani's residence in Mumbailast month, seized a blackMercedes Benz car driven byarrested police officer SachinVaze, the Congress party hasattacked the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and alleged that MansukhHiren is said to have travelled in the same car on February 17. In aphoto with this vehicle, a Thane BJP office bearer is also seen.“There is a photograph in which, along with the vehicle, a BJP officebearer from Thane district is seen. BJP, which has made baselessallegations, must give an explanation about its connection in theHiren death case,” said Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committeespokesman Sachin Sawant. He demanded that BJP, which is levellingbaseless charges against the state government, owes anexplanation. -Sanjay Jog

Param Bir Singh’s transfer is MVAgovernment’s damage control: BJPMUMBAI: The opposition hasslammed the Maha Vikas Aghadi(MVA) government on thetransfers in the police force andsaid that it will severely hamperthe morale of the police force.The state Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) unit, on Wednesday, termedthe transfer of Mumbai PoliceCommissioner Param Bir Singh asMVA's move to control thedamage.BJP legislator Ashish Shelar took a swipe at the government andtweeted, “There has never been such a scandal and discredit to theMumbai Police. This is the sin of Thackeray government!’’Further, Leader of the Opposition in the state assembly DevendraFadnavis stepped up his attack against Chief Minister UddhavThackeray and said that he had called him in 2018 and urged him toreinstate Sachin Vaze in the police. -Sanjay Jog

BJP leader accuses Anil Parab of notfollowing due process for ETIMsMUMBAI: A scam of Rs 250 crore!This is what Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) leader Mihir Kotecha hasalleged against Shiv Sena leaderand state Transport Minister AnilParab, who also headsMaharashtra State Road TransportCorporation (MSRTC). The state-runtransport corporation had to renewits contract for e-ticketing machines (ETIM). BJP claims that it has beenapproved overnight for the benefit of a Gujarat-based contractor withoutfollowing due process. On March 17, in a press conference, BJP Memberof the Legislative Assembly (MLA) Mihir Kotecha alleged that the ETIMcontract for MSRTC will end in June this year. In July, last year, MSRTCofficials and Minister Anil Parab, had a meeting where they decided tocall for tenders. “But since then, it was lying idle and was awaitingsignatures from the minister,” said Kotecha. “The officials reminded him afew times about the renewal, but it was ignored.” Finally, in January, thisyear, a Gujarat-based company approached the minister’s office and theydiscussed the renewal of the contract. In early February, Kotecha allegedthat there was a meeting and that there were also few changes made inthe contract as well. “To benefit the contractor, the contract condition wasamended and the participating company’s annual turnover was reducedfrom Rs 150 crore to Rs 100 crore. They also decreased the need tohandle the number of ETIMs,” added Kotecha. -Staff Reporter

Will form panel to look into attackson doctors, state tells High CourtMUMBAI: The Maharashtragovernment on Wednesday toldthe Bombay High Court that it willconstitute a committee to look intoattacks on doctors and medical staffby patients' relatives, and othersuch grievances faced by medicos.Public prosecutor Deepak Thakaretold a bench of Chief JusticeDipankar Datta and Justice G S Kulkarni that an expert committee will beconstituted within four weeks.Thakare was responding to a public interest litigation filed by one DrRajeev Joshi, seeking judicial intervention to curb violence againsthealthcare professionals.The plea filed through advocate Nitin Deshpande stated thatMaharashtra witnesses the maximum number of such instances ofviolence. Dr Joshi further claimed in his plea that the Maharashtragovernment had failed to implement existing legal provisions, includingthe 2010 Maharashtra Medicare Service Persons Act, to curb suchinstances. Earlier this month, the state had told the High Court that theexisting legal provisions, including the 2010 Act, were enough to dealwith cases of such attacks. It had, however, said at the time that it waswilling to constitute an expert committee to look into any shortcomingsin the existing provisions, and the need for further steps to curb attackson doctors and other medical staff. -Agencies

The chargesheet names Goswami and Republic TV as mere suspects

PIC: BL SONI


It is after six months that Ma-harashtra has reported morethan 23,000 cases in one day.With 23,179 new infectionsand 84 covid-19 fatalities be-ing reported on Wednesday,the state's tally has reached23,70,507, with 53,080 deathsso far. The state had reported23,365 cases in one day onSeptember 16 last year. Mum-bai reported the highest sin-gle-day cases since after Oc-tober 7 when 2,848 cases werereported. On Wednesday, thecity reported 2,377 new casesand eight deaths, increasingits overall count to 3,49,958,with 11,547 fatalities till now.

Meanwhile, for the thirdconsecutive day, close to10,000 patients were dis-charged from several hospi-

tals in the state. The recoveryrate of Maharashtra hasdropped to 91.26 per centwith 9,138 patients recover-ing in the last 24 hours, tak-ing the total count to21,63,391.

Senior health officials fromthe state health departmentsaid that it will be too early tocomment whether the recentsurge is the onset of the pan-demic's second wave, andcoming to a conclusionwould require scientific cal-

culations based on severaloutbreak factors. “We canonly urge citizens to followcovid norms strictly if theydo not want to go enduresame sufferings due to lock-down last year,” he said.

“Moreover, a virus is likelyto mutate all the time and sothis mutation is definitelycausing a different kind ofcoronavirus and a differentkind of Covid-19 presenta-tion altogether in March2021," he added.


The civic body has increasedvaccination centres acrossMumbai, but it manages tovaccinate less than 50,000beneficiaries in a singleday.However, on the other hand,the BMC initially claimed to havethe capacity to inoculate onelakh beneficiaries. According tothe data, 44,000 beneficiarieswere inoculated at 89 vaccinecentres on March 16 comparedto 37,000 beneficiaries whowere vaccinated across 65vaccine centres in the city untilMarch 6, which means only 18per cent rise of beneficiariesdespite increasing 29 centres inthe last 10 days. Officials saidthe numbers will increase slowlyas many senior citizens arecoming forward for thevaccination drive.Senior civic officials said thatmany people are still afraid ofthe side effects of the vaccine,

while some are still unaware.Now we can increase anynumber of centres, ultimatelythose who wish will come.

“People should not beinconvenienced and they do notneed to go for vaccination, so wehave increased the number of

vaccination centres in the city. It isnow the wish of the beneficiarynot to take the vaccine. We cannotforce ourselves to take the

vaccine,” said Dr. Sheela Jagtap,Immunisation officer.

Dr. Deepak Baid, President of theAssociation of Medical Consultantssaid increasing the vaccinationcentres will not increase thenumber of beneficiaries, in fact,the civic body should createawareness related to the Covid-19vaccine as there are many mythsgoing around due to which stillcitizens are hesitating in taking thevaccine shots. “The state government shouldthink of all possible waysthrough which more number ofbeneficiaries will be benefited asmost of the beneficiaries prefervisiting the nearby centresconsidering their age factors. Wehave seen that there is not agood response from the healthcare workers for the vaccination,the frontline workers also camefor the vaccination in largenumbers in the beginning, butnow their number is alsoincreasing. In such a situation,now the government shouldstart vaccinating all peopleabove 45 years of age,” he said.

STAFF REPORTERMumbai

The Ghatkopar police arrested a34-year-old man for allegedlyduping a woman afterbefriending with her on socialmedia. The accused SaurabhThakur posing as a high rankingpolice officer lured the womaninto the trap and decamped withher gold ornaments worth Rs 7lakh. The accused suspected tohave duped other women withsimilar way, said police. According to the police, Thakurrecently met the 32-year-old on

a dating application, the womanis an IT professional, said police.After talking with each other, thetwo decided to meet at herhouse in Ghatkopar. On Monday upon reaching ather house Thakur told her thathe had left gift inside his car andasked her to collect it. As shestepped out to collect the giftThakur allegedly decamped withgold jewellery worth Rs 7 lakhfrom her house. When shereturned, she shocked to see allher belongings were scatteredall over the house and there wasno sign of Thakur.


Nearly 40,000 beneficiaries werevaccinated at the 91 vaccinecentres across Mumbai onWednesday. According to thevaccine data provided by theBrihanmumbai MunicipalCorporation (BMC), 38,369beneficiaries were vaccinated inthe last 24 hours, of which35,337 were given Covishiledand 4,032 were inoculatedCovaxin. However, the eightbeneficiaries showed mild sideeffects The BMC also startedadministering doses of Covishieldand the COVAXIN vaccines in fiveof the jumbo centres of the cityfrom Monday. These five facilitiesare Nair Hospital, BKC jumbofacility, Seven Hills, Mulundjumbo facility, and Dahisar jumbofacility.Worryingly, Pune and Thanereported a shortage of vaccines,

though officials said Mumbaihad adequate doses for the next8-10 days. BMC’s executivehealth officer Dr. MangalaGomare said the city had over 3lakh doses.Dr. Deepak Baid, President,Association of MedicalConsultants said currently,private hospitals would be givena daily target of vaccinating 100senior citizens. But to expeditethe process, they need toincrease the target to 300. “It isa welcome move and we needto also increase the number ofthose vaccinated from 100 to300 per day,” he said.

SWEETY ADIMULAMMumbai

In a bid to expedite the city'scessed building redevelopmentprojects, the state housingministry has issued freshguidelines. In these newly framedguidelines, there is a provision toimpose a fine on the bankguarantee deposited by thedeveloper if it fails to completethe project within five years.Meaning, now every developerhas to deposit 10 per cent of theproject cost of existing marketvalue as bankguarantee/nationalised bank fixeddeposit receipt to the Mumbaibuilding Repairs andRedevelopment Board (MBRRB)for five years. MBRRB is anundertaking of the MaharashtraHousing and Area DevelopmentAuthority (MHADA). According to the new rule, it ismandatory to deposit the bankguarantee amount beforedemolishing the structure.However, if the builder fails tocomplete the project before theexpiry of the bank guarantee and

further fails to renew the same,then it will have to pay a fine of12 per cent every year for thefirst three months and later 18per cent till the completion of theproject work. Interestingly, the new guidelineshave been formulated to give amuch-needed push to thestalled/incomplete cessedbuilding redevelopment projects.However with the said leewaythough it MBRRB has a provisionto impose a fine but it also allowsthe developer to renew the bankguarantee period so it can carryout the project beyond theexpected timeline. Arun Dongre,Chief Executive Officer (CEO)MBRRB replied, "This provision ofextension to the project in lieu offine on bank guarantee will beallowed in exceptional cases only.

Like for instance, the developermay want some more time forproject completion due to sometechnical reasons /challenges hefaced while carrying out theredevelopment. It will not beallowed for all builders. Besides,the new guidelines are morestringent. As previously there wasno provision to holdbuilders/developers responsiblefor their failure." Apart from depositing bankguarantee, the builders/developers are also required todeposit the rent of tenantsinitially for one year in an escrowaccount, and as the projectprogresses more than two yearsof rent need to depositedsubsequently. Moreover, aStandard operatingprocedure(SOP) has been drafteddirecting said developers abouthow much work is required to becompleted in the expectedperiod. Also, they are required tosubmit an updated report to theboard and a vigilance committeewill be set up to check the workregularly, the governmentnotification stated.

SLOW STARTER

CESSED BUILDING REDEVELOPMENT

Posing as cop, man loots woman of valuables in Ghatkopar, held

BMC committee members oppose extra funds for repairs at its HQ MUMBAI:A contentious proposalof repairing works of theBrihanmumbai MunicipalCorporation (BMC) headquarterswas adjourned during the standingcommittee meeting on Wednesday.Earlier in 2009, the standingcommittee had passed a proposalof carrying out repair andrestoration works of the BMCheadquarters which is a heritagestructure. The proposal wasunanimously passed back then anda tender of Rs 68.77 crores wasapproved for the works. Meanwhile, on Wednesday, aproposal was tabled during thestanding committee meeting whichmentioned that restoration andmaintenance works of nearly55,000 square feet inside thebuilding is still remaining, for whichthe administration sought anadditional Rs 40 crore fund. Corporator members across partylines expressed their disapproval onthe issue. — PRATIP ACHARYA

VAX DRIVE NOT GATHERING PACE

Frontline workers outside a vaccination centre in Mumbai — PHOTO: BL Soni

RONALD RODRIGUESMumbai

Over 70 per cent of preparationfor the National Assessment andAccreditation Council (NAAC)recognition has been done, saidthe University of Mumbai (MU).Over 8,000 students haveparticipated in the studentsatisfaction survey (SSS) and self-study report (SSR) which is amandatory report for NAACranking, said Ravindra Kulkarni,pro-Vice Chancellor (PVC) of MU.In December 2019, MU missedthe NAAC recognition applicationprocess due to an incompletedatabase. Kulkarni said, "We hadsubmitted the institutionalinformation for quality assessment(IIQA) in December 2019 but, thedatabase was incomplete as thestudent satisfaction survey wasnot done." Kulkarni added, "Now, we havesubmitted the proposal for NAACin December 2020. As per NAACguidelines, we need to conductinternal and external audits everytwo years. We have completed

the internal audit and collectedthe student-teacher-employer ratiodata. Now, we are waiting forVice-Chancellors (VCs) of otheruniversities to visit for mockinspections and external audit."NAAC accreditation is aperformance indicator for highereducational institutes. It ismandatory for funds from centralagencies. A senior official of MUsaid, "MU was given a ‘Grade A’score by NAAC in 2012, whichexpired on April 20, 2017. Sincethen, MU has failed to apply forre-accreditation. In the absence ofa NAAC grade, the university haslost out on grants worth crores ofrupees from the centre. Theannual national and globalrankings of MU have droppedtoo."

DIPTI SINGHMumbai

As the number of sealed buildings andfloors in the city starts to rise once again,K-West ward, which comprises Andheri,Juhu, Versova, etc. tops the list in thecategory. Besides this, Bhandup andKanjurmarg in eastern suburbs top the listof containment zones (slums and chawls).Amid the rise in the number of Covid-19cases, the number of sealed floors inresidential buildings has gone up to 3,770as of March 15, from 2,815 till March 10.As per the Brihanmumbai MunicipalCorporation (BMC) data, the number ofsealed floors was 2,016 as of March 1.The 3,770 sealed floors comprise of 1.68lakh households having a population of6.71 lakhsThe K (West) ward (Andheri West, Juhu,Versova) has 618 sealed floors, which isthe highest amongst all the 24administrative wards followed by T ward

(Mulund), P north (Malad) and K East(Andheri East) that have 414, 408 and 403sealed floors in residential buildings.The F (North) ward (Matunga, Sion, AntopHill) has zero buildings with sealed floors,while G south ward (Prabhadevi, Worli,and Lower Parel) has only one sealed floor.Alongside this, there are 246 buildingsthat are completely sealed and 34 slum/

congested chawls marked as activecontainment zones in the city.While the number of active Covid-19 caseshas drastically increased in the city owingto a massive spike since the second weekof February, most active cases in the cityare from the Western suburbs. Borivali,Kandivali, Malad, Andheri, Jogeshwari,Vile Parle, in the western suburbs,according to data from the BrihanmumbaiMunicipal Corporation (BMC) are on thetop of the list of active cases across thecity."The number of sealed floors, buildings,and containment zones is still small ascompared to the previous spike. This onlypoints out at one thing that there are morescattered cases this time. We are notgetting many cluster cases. Wherever thereare clusters cases, we sealed the area,floor, or building and step up thecontainment measures," said SureshKakani, Additional MunicipalCommissioner (Health).

NARSI BENWALMumbai

The children of a couple canalso question the validity of themarriage of their parents byapproaching a Family Court,ruled the Bombay High Courton Thursday. The HCaccordingly quashed a FamilyCourt orders dismissing theplea filed by a daughterquestioning the marriage of herfather and her step-mother. A bench of Justices RameshDhanuka and Virendra Bishtwas seized with a plea filed bya woman seeking a declarationthat her father's marriage withher step-mother as illegal.The daughter, a resident of Sionhad dragged her step-mother, aresident of Worli to the courtseeking several reliefs,including quashing of thedocuments by virtue of whichthe step mom allegedlyusurped her deceased father'sproperties. According to the daughter, herstep-mother, a Dawoodi Muslimmisled her deceased fatherstating that she was a divorcee."However, she was not adivorcee as there was no legaldocument pronouncing herjudicial separation from her firsthusband," the daughter arguedthrough senior counsel VineetNaik. The daughter claimed that herstep-mother coerced her fatherand got transferred majorproperties in her name andeven took away the "streedhan"(bride's jewelry) of her mother.Before the Family Court inBandra, the step-mother arguedthat the daughter isn't a partyto the marriage and thus shehas no locus standi in the case.

She argued that the FamilyCourt laws allow only thespouses to seek such reliefs ofdeclaring a marriage illegal. Accordingly, the Family Courthad dismissed the daughter'splea. However, the bench led byJustice Dhanuka concluded thatthe Family Court erred ininterpreting the Family Courtlaws. The judges, while interpretingthe relevant laws stated thatone of the provisions does notsay that such proceedingshould be between the partiesto the marriage. "To note that this provision iswidely couched to encompassin its ambit and include theproceeding of the naturereferred to regardingdeclaration of the validity ofthe marriage or it could be fora declaration of thematrimonial status of anyperson, would be a but faircomment," the bench said. "Not only the spouses areentitled to file the petitionchallenging the validity of themarriage but the interestedpersons and beneficiariesrelated to the spouses may alsochallenge it," the judges held.

MUMBAI: AHAR (Indian Hotel and Restaurant Association), the apexbody of the industry on Wednesday urged the MaharashtraGovernment to waive license fees payable to the BrihanMumbaiMunicipal Corporation (BMC) for the lockdown period and allow easyinstalments of payment of Excise licence fees. The delegation led byAHAR President Shivanand Shetty met Chief Minister UddhavThackeray and Excise Minister Dilip Walse Patil and urged them toprovide relief in these fees as the industry is struggling to recover fromthe coronavirus-induced lockdown and economic downturn.Shetty told Free Press Journal, “We raised the waiver of BMC licencefees during the period of lockdown when our businesses were shutand also how to facilitate easy instalment payment of Excise licencefees. CM has assured his support and personal attention on how it canbe resolved in the best interest of the industry.’’Chief Minister’s Office said the CM has assured the industryrepresentatives that the state government will consider their demands.Today’s meeting came days after Thackeray’s ultimatum to the hotel,restaurant, and mall operators to strictly follow norms to avoid a freshlockdown. CM had expressed serious concerns over the crowding, lackof compliance with Covid-19 norms and SOPs and warned that thegovernment will not tolerate this anymore. His message was "Controlcrowding and keep a safe distance. — SANJAY JOG

PRATIP ACHARYAMumbai

Corporators urged the BMCadministration to waive off the2 per cent fine on property tax.The demand was made duringthe standing committeemeeting on Wednesday. Earlierthis year, BMC’s assessmentand collection department hadpassed a notification sayingthat citizens who have pendingproperty tax bills will be leviedpenalty of 2 per cent per

month if they don't pay theoutstanding amount by March9.According to the agendatabled by the BMC in themeeting on Wednesday, thecivic body has a totaloutstanding property taxamount of Rs 19, 000 crore, ofwhich Rs 15,000 crore is underlitigation.In the 2020-21 financialbudget, BMC had set a targetof collecting Rs 6,700 croreproperty tax, but the pandemic

reduced it to Rs 4,500 crore.Rais Shaikh, a Samajwadi Party(SP) corporator and member ofstanding committee raised theproposal of tax waiver onWednesday. Shaikh had alsowritten to the Mayor. “Middle

class Mumbaikars are underheavy financial pressure sincethe last one year. Many ofthem are struggling to makeends meet. It is unjust to putadditional burden on theirshoulder," Shaikh said. Hisproposal was backed bycorporators across party lines.Ravi Raja, Leader of Opposition(LoP) said that the Shiv Senashouldn't forget that beforecorporation elections in 2017,it had promised to waive offproperty tax on properties

smaller than 500 square feet."The BMC is giving waivers tofive star hotels and real estatefirms, but at the same time it isturning a blind eye towardsthe middle class Mumbaikars,"said Raja.Bhalchandra Shirsat, seniorBharataiya Janata Party (BJP)corporator and member ofstanding committee said thatthe decision to implementpenalty was passed withoutconsultation with thecommittee.

70% preparation done for NAACgrade, informs Mumbai University

Corporators ask BMC to waive off 2% fine on property tax

Vax drive continues to be smooth inMumbai; shortage in Pune & Thane

Sealed buildings & floors: K-West ward tops the list

Developer may lose bank guarantee if it fails to complete project within 5 yrs

CITY'S PROGRESS CARD

� From Jan 16 to March 16

1,34,191 health workers havetaken the first dose of vaccine,and 68,652 have taken thesecond dose. Whereas morethan 2.5 lakh have gotregistration done.

� From February 4 to March 16

1,24,024 frontline workers havetaken the first dose and 18,153have taken the second dose.While more than 2 lakhbeneficiaries have gotregistration.

� From March 1 to March 16

3,03,724 elderly people above60 years of age and only 41,500beneficiaries suffering fromvarious diseases above 45 yearshave taken the first dose ofvaccine. While this number ofboth is above 30 lakhs inMumbai.

TAXING TIMES

� Civic body has a totaloutstanding property taxamount of Rs 19, 000 crore,of which Rs 15,000 crore isunder litigation

AHAR pleads for relief in BMC license & excise fees

Merely increasing the number of vaccination centres not enough to win public confidence, say experts

Over 23,000 cases in State for first time in six months


A Dindoshi sessions court onTuesday sentenced a 29-year-oldman to life imprisonment for killinghis maternal uncle who was in hismid-60’s in 2014 when the duogot into a property-relateddisagreement after having alcohol.Additional Sessions Judge SUBaghele also imposed a fine of Rs20,000 on the man. In case hedoes not pay the fine, the court hasdirected him to undergo threeyears of rigorous imprisonment.The prosecution examined 10witnesses. Additional PublicProsecutor Sachin Jadhav said themain witness was the deceased

Kisan Kharvi’s son. In his testimonybefore the court, the victim’s sonVinod Kharvi had told the courtthat he had come to his father’shome from Bilimoria city in Gujaraton 10 October 2014 and no oneanswered the door. He assumedthat his father must be drunk andasleep and hence kicked the dooropen. In the room, he found hiscousin Aatish Patel sitting against

the wall on one side and his fatherlying in a pool of blood on the flooron the other side. He then tookPatel in an auto to the Borivalipolice station, where he wasarrested. As per the prosecution’s case, uncleand nephew were having drinksand the nephew had asked theuncle to make a room in the villagein his name, to which he refused. Aquarrel ensued between them andhe banged his uncle’s head on thewall a few times and also strangledhis neck.Prosecutor Jadhav said that theblood-stained clothes in whichPatel was taken to the policestation were also seized andproduced as evidence against him.

MUMBAI MUMBAI: After rejecting of his temporary bail plea recently,accused in the Jhanvi Kukreja murder case Shree Jogdhankarhas filed an application before a Bandra magistrate court forgetting medical treatment for his spinal injuries and to permit

him to attend his midterm examination. The plea throughadvocate Mahesh Vaswani said that despite the magistrate’sorder in January directing the jail to provide medical treatmentto him, no such treatment was provided.

Kukreja murder: Shree approaches magistrate for medical aid MUMBAI | THURSDAY | MARCH 18, 2021

Man gets life in prison for killing uncle over a property dispute

The bench wasseized with aplea filed by awoman seeking adeclaration thather father's mar-riage with herstep-mother asillegal

Not only spouse, childrenand kin too can challenge a particular marriage: HC

MUMBAI | THURSDAY | MARCH 18, 2021

Recommendations of the Committee of Independent Directors (�IDC�) of Vedanta Limited (�Target ��

�� 1st Floor, �C� Wing, Unit 103, Corporate Avenue, Atul Projects, Chakala, Andheri (East), Mumbai � 400 093.�� +91 22 6643 4500; �� +91 22 6643 4530.��[email protected]; �� www.vedantalimited.com�� L13209MH1965PLC291394.

1. Date March 17, 2021

2. Name of the Target Company (TC)

Vedanta Limited

3. ��pertaining to the TC

��INR 1 (Indian Rupee One only) each (��) representing 17.51% of the fully diluted voting share capital of the Target Company at a price of INR 235 (Indian Rupees ��) from the public shareholders of the Target Company (��).

The public announcement dated January 09, 2021 (��), corrigendum to PA dated January 14, 2021 (��), the detailed public statement published on January 15, 2021 (��DLOF�), ��published on March 17, 2021 (��) and the letter ��LOF�) have been issued by J.P. Morgan India Private ��

4. ��and PACs with the ��

�� Vedanta Resources Limited��);b. Vedanta Holdings Mauritius Limited (��); andc. Vedanta Holdings Mauritius II Limited (��).(PAC 1, PAC 2 and PAC 3, are collectively referred to as ��).

5. Name of the Manager to ��

�� +91 22 6157 3000��+91 22 6157 3911�� INM000002970�� Permanent

6. Member of the Committee of Independent Directors (Please indicate the chairperson of the Committee separately)

a. ��

7. IDC Member�s relationship with the TC (Director, ��any other contract/ relationship), if any

The members of the IDC are independent directors on the board of directors of the ��entered into any contract or have any relationship with the Target Company:

��

��

��

��of the Target Company.

�� shares/ other securities of the TC by IDC Members

��the Target Company during the: (a) 12 months period preceding the date of the PA; and (b) period from the date of the PA and till the date of this recommendation.

9. IDC Member�s relationship ��owned, any other contract/ relationship), if any.

None of the members of IDC:��

10. ��shares/ other securities of ��IDC Members

��and (b) period from the date of the PA and till the date of this recommendation.

11. Recommendation on the ��reasonable

��and reasonable.

12. ��recommendations

��the PACs.

The recommendation of the IDC set out in paragraph 11 above, is based on the following:��

��delay of 20 days from April 6, 2021 (being the last date for payment of consideration ��received on February 16, 2021) till April 26, 2021 (being the last date by which the ��

��

��preceding the date of the PA, i.e. INR 159.94;

�� date of the PA, i.e. INR 159.96; and

�� the shares of the Target Company has been recorded during such period, i.e. INR 130.05.

��

��(��

The public shareholders of the Target Company are advised to independently evaluate ��

13. Details of Independent Advisors, if any

None

14. Any other matter to be highlighted

None

��this statement is, in all material respects, true and correct and not misleading, whether by omission of any information ��Regulations.

��

��Chairperson � Committee of Independent DirectorsDIN: 00010336

Place: New DelhiDate: March 17, 2021

MUMBAIMUMBAI: The legal team of Ashish Kaul, author of'Didda: The Warrior Queen of Kashmir', onWednesday sent a notice to Khar police station in

Mumbai seeking an update on the progress of thecase filed by him against actor Kangana Ranautand others. -AGENCIES

Kangana copyright FIR: Author sends notice to police station

BJP netas seek alternatejobs for Victoria drivers

PRATIP ACHARYAMumbai

During the Standing Com-mittee meeting on Wednes-day, Makarand Narwekar, asenior BJP corporator andmember of the committeesaid that the BMC needs toframe an alternative policyfor the 700 drivers of Victo-rian era carriages, who havelost their source of employ-ment after the horse pulledcarriages were banned in2015.

On March 14, Chief Minis-ter Uddhav Thackeray inau-gurated eight battery oper-ated Victoria carriages thatwould run across the her-itage precinct of Mumbaifrom Nariman Point to Gate-way of India - via MarineDrive. "Only eight drivershave been given an employ-

ment opportunity but whatabout the rest of them ? To-tal 700 drivers have losttheir income, but till datethe BMC is yet to formulatea concrete plan for provid-ing them alternate rev-enue," said Narwekar.

'"After the carriages werebanned the drivers moved tocourt, the court had orderedboth the state governmentand BMC to formulate poli-cies for those affected. How-

ever, it has been six yearsbut nothing has been imple-mented so far," he added.

Narwekar further men-tioned that the driversshould be given valid li-cense to prove the legality ofthe routes. "The municipali-ty needs to provide them li-cense for driving the car-riages, if they fail to do so itmeans they don't have anyconcrete plan as of now,"stated Narwekar.

STAFF REPORTER / Mumbai

After witnessing a rise inthe number of tourists sincethe lockdown was lifted,Matheran seems to be facinganother hit this year, as peakseason approaches. Accord-ing the Central Railway (CR)data the number of touriststaking the popular toy trainsthat operates between Neraland Matheran hill station ispresently operational be-tween Matheran and AmanLodge railway stations isgradually declining.

A total of 1,10,702 passen-gers travelled by train be-tween November 2020 andMarch 15, 2021 as per theCentral Railway (CR) data.The train services wit-

nessed an increase in thenumber of passengers inJanuary and then dipped inFebruary.

Around 33,515 passengerstravelled by the toy train inJanuary, while in February,20,548 passengers travelledby the toy trains and up tillMarch 15, 11,507 passengers

travelled as per the CentralRailway data.

“More than Rs. 67 lakhshave been earned by theticket sales of the toy trainservices. There seems to bea gradual decline in thenumber of tourists takingthe toy train.” said a seniorCentral Railway official.


The Airport IntelligenceUnit (AIU) seized around6.5 kilograms of goldvalued over �3 crore fromMumbai's ChhatrapatiShivaji Maharaj Interna-tional Airport on Wednes-day. Officials said that thegold was allegedly smug-gled from Abu Dhabi toMumbai.

The AIU had received in-formation that gold was be-ing smuggled in AbuDhabi-Mumbai flight AI-1970, acting on which theofficials had fanned outtheir teams to trace it. Af-ter a rigorous search, theAIU officials found 6.5 kilo-grams of gold biscuits in ablack bag, tied up andholes in a cavity made inthe bathroom wall.

While the officials are yetto trace the person whocarried it, stuffed it in aswell as the person who wasto receive the consignment.Officials said that the priceof gold is being reported asaround �3 crore. The Air-port Intelligence Unit hasseized the consignmentand the matter is under in-vestigation.

A case has been regis-tered against unidentifiedpersons. The gold wasseized under the reason-able belief that the samewas smuggled into Indiawithout payment of cus-toms duty in contraventionto provisions of The Cus-toms Act, 1962.

In the past, the smugglershave tried to sneak in goldthrough various channelsfrom foreign countries.Some of the recent tacticsthat people have adopted isto smuggle gold insidepens, microwave oventransformers, locks andautomobile parts.

6.5kg gold biscuitsfound hidden inairport bathroom

MACT orders �20 lakh payoutto kin of 26-year-old labourerwho died after truck mishap

Madrasa teachergets 5-year-jail,�30,000 fine for sexual assault

Covid-19: As number of tourists decline,Matheran Toy train gets a poor response


A special court designatedunder the Protection ofChildren from Sexual Of-fences Act (POCSO) onWednesday sentenced a 24-year-old who worked as aMadrasa teacher in a TilakNagar Madrasa to five yearsof rigorous imprisonmentfor sexually assaulting a 10-year-old there in 2018.

Special Public ProsecutorGeeta Sharma said that thechild, a resident of Chem-bur, had identified the manin court during her testimo-ny in January last year. Shehad told the court that hehad started teaching themonly 15 days prior to the in-cident. The man had askedher to stay back when shewas leaving with all stu-dents after classes. He hadthen taken her to the wash-room, where he half un-dressed her as well as him-self and then sexually as-saulted her. She began to cryand he opened the door. Thechild had further told thecourt that he then startedwalking beside her with hishands on her shoulder andtold her not to disclose theincident to anyone or thathe would beat her. She wenthome and disclosed the inci-dent to her mother.

During trial, the man hadtaken the defence that thecomplaint was made inanger as he was short tem-pered and had beaten her fornot doing her homework.

Special Judge Bharti Kaleimposed a fine of Rs. 30,000on the man and directedthat of it, Rs. 20,000 be givenas compensation to the vic-tim. The court also directedthat she be given compensa-tion under the Victim Com-pensation Scheme.

The man had been in cus-tody since March 2018. Thecourt said he is entitled toset off for the period spentin prison.

BHAVNA UCHIL / Mumbai

A Motor Accident ClaimsTribunal (MACT) in Mum-bai has ordered a truck own-er and an insurance compa-ny to pay a compensation ofover Rs. 20 lakh to the youngwidow, six-year-old son andthe parents of a 26-year-oldlabourer who had suc-cumbed to injuries in 2016after being knocked down bya truck in Mazgaon.

The claimants had soughtcompensation of Rs. 10lakhs. As per the claim, onOctober 17, 2016, the de-ceased Pankaj Kumar waspulling a handcart loadedwith aluminium pipes alongwith other labourers around2.15 PM on Container Roadnear Eastern Express Free-way at Mazgaon. As per theFIR registered at Sewri po-lice station, a rashly-driventruck hit them. Anotherlabourer died before admis-sion to the hospital. Kumardied during treatment.

The Tribunal’s ChairmanSC Chandak considered in

his judgment that the appli-cants belong to poor strata ofsociety. He further said thatthe compensation amount isnot huge and that the familyhad lost a very young andthe sole earning memberwho could have been ofgreat help and assistance.

The truck owner had notresponded to the Tribunal’snotice and the order waspassed ex-parte against him.Reliance General InsuranceCompany Ltd. had opposedthe claim and stated that theaccident had taken placedue to circumstances be-yond the control of thetruck driver. It had also de-nied the deceased's incomewhich the family claimed tobe Rs. 10,000 monthly.

The tribunal held thatthere is no evidence that Ku-mar was getting work dailyand hence said that themonthly income of Rs.10,000 is unacceptable. Itsaid that considering that hewas doing very hard work, itcan be gathered that heearned Rs. 7,000 monthly.

HC may order CAG audit onMum-Pune Exp toll collection

NARSI BENWALMumbai

In what can spell serioustroubles for the Maharash-tra government, the Bom-bay High Court on Wednes-day while summoning theadvocate general to appearbefore it in the petition al-leging serious anomaliesin the Mumbai-Pune Ex-pressway toll collection, in-dicated that it might orderan audit by the CAG in thematter.

A bench of Chief JusticeDipankar Datta and Jus-tice Girish Kulkarni or-dered AG Ashutosh Kumb-hakoni to appear before iton Thursday morning. Thebench was irked over theaffidavit filed by theMSRDC, the authoritydealing with the toll collec-

tion of the expressway.In its affidavit the

MSRDC had stated that theprivate firm, subcontract-ed by it, to collect the tolland maintain the express-way, would continue to col-lect the monies till 2030.

It had stated that initially

the toll was to be collectedtill 2019, however, due toseveral reasons, primarilythe fact that citizens toevade paying the toll usedthe National Highway 04,couldn't recover theamount totalling aroundRs 3,632 crore. It further

claimed that the amounthas now scaled up to overRs 4,000 crore.

On Wednesday, when thematter was called out forhearing, the bench soughtto know if the amount ofRs 3,632 crore wasn’t recov-ered since 2004. "Whowould believe that thisamount couldn't be recov-ered in all these years?"The bench observed.

The judges, accordingly,summoned AG Kumb-hakoni to appear for thestate on Thursday morn-ing. "We want the AG to ap-pear before us on Thursdaymorning," the judges said.

The bench, while ad-journing the hearing tillThursday, opined that itmight have to order an au-dit even by the CAG in thetoll collections.

A PIL has alleged serious anomalies in the Mumbai-Pune Expressway toll collection

BUMPY JOYRIDE

700 Victoria carriage drivers lost their income after they were banned in 2015

MMRMUMBAI: The Juhu unit of the Anti Terrorism Squad(ATS) arrested a notorious criminal on record, SohailMemon, with possession of 5.065 kilograms of

Mephedrone valued at �2.53 crore in the internationaldrug market. Police had received a tip off, followingwhich a trap was laid in Andheri. -STAFF REPORTER

Notorious criminal held with MD worth �2.53cr in Andheri


Active cases cross 1000-markunder PMC after five months

2 KDMC wardofficers caughtaccepting bribe,7 transferred

AMIT SRIVASTAVANavi Mumbai

After five months, the num-ber of active cases ofCOVID-19 under the PanvelMunicipal Corporation(PMC), has again crossed1000 marks on Tuesday with131 new positive cases re-ported. On October 22, thenumber of active cases was1,026, thereafter, it kept ondecreasing.

As per the data availablewith the PMC, the numberof active cases of COVID-19had dropped to 250 on Feb-ruary 1. However, there-after, it has been increasingcontinuously increasing.On March 16, 131 new caseswere reported and the totalactive cases reached 1,001.

The recovery rate has alsodropped from 96 percent to94.7 percent due to a rise inthe number of active cases.So far, a total of 31,543 peo-ple tested positive of

COVID-19 and 29,876 peoplehave recovered. However,645 people also died due toinfection.

Last week, the civic bodyhad imposed a night curfewto contain the spread andalso changed the timing ofmalls and shops. On March17, the civic body issued afresh circular, directingmalls and theaters to en-sure visitors must wearmasks properly otherwiseready to face strict action.“If COVID-19 norms are

found violating at malls andtheaters, the civic body willclose the premises and alsoimpose a monetary penal-ty,” stated the circular.

Multiplexes have beenasked to operate with 50%of their capacities. Even of-fices expect health and es-sential services, only 50% ofemployees will be allowed.

The civic chief SudhakarDeshmukh appealed to citi-zens to adhere to the COVIDnorms or be ready to faceaction.

PRIYANKA DHOMSE / Thane

The Kalyan Dombivali Mu-nicipal Corporation chiefhas issued transfer noticesto seven civic officials onWednesday after they werecaught taking bribes by theAnti-corruption team. Theaccused have been identifiedas KDMC ‘C' ward officer,Bhagaji Bhangre and civicemployee, Suhas Madhavi.They were caught acceptingbribes. The incident was re-ported on March 15. Accord-ingly, a trap was laid by theThane Anti-corruptionteam.

"The officials were caughtred-handed while taking abribe of Rs 15,000 from thecomplainant, regardingsome construction work inThankar Pada area inKalyan (W)," informed po-lice official from Thane.

As a result of the same,within two days KDMC chiefDr Vijay Suryawanshi is-sued a transfer notice to sev-en ward officers of KDMC.

Positive cases that were 250 on February 1, have surged to 1,001 on March 16

Woman hangs self in Turbhe;husband, father-in-law held

Covid cases continue tosoar in KDMC and TMC

PRIYANKA DHOMSEThane

The daily positive cases inKalyan-Dombivali andThane Municipal Corpora-tion soared on Wednesday.The total positive cases inKDMC jumped to 207, whileTMC reported 123 cases in asingle day. "On Tuesday, atotal of 370 cases wererecorded in TMC and 386 inKDMC. However, onWednesday, the daily posi-tive cases noticed an im-mense rise; 493 in TMC and593 in KDMC (today)," in-formed officials from re-spective Corporations.

Following the increase inthe number of daily posi-tive cases within both cor-porations, strict guidelineshave been issued to curb thespread of COVID-19 virus.

"With other COVID regu-lations implemented in thecity, if needed civic officialswill seal the commercial es-tablishments found operat-ing by violating the norms,"informed TMC chief DrVipin Sharma in a pressmeet held on Wednesday.On Wednesday, two deathswere reported in Thane. Sofar 62315 patients have beenrecovered from the COVID-19, while 3041 are active pa-tients at present in Thanecity. The death toll in Thanecity has reached 1,416.

AMIT SRIVASTAVA / Navi Mumbai

A 27-year-old woman al-legedly committed suicideat her residence in Turbheon Saturday. Following acomplaint registered by herparents, the APMC policeon Tuesday arrested herhusband and father-in-lawfor abetting the suicide.

The deceased womanidentified as Bikhi Parmarwas married to KalpeshParmar, 28, in June 2017.However, just a few monthsafter the wedding,Kalpesh’s family startedtorturing her both physical-ly and mentally. They weredemanding gold and cashfrom her family.

Police said that Kalpeshused to threaten that hewould marry anotherwoman in case her parentsfail to meet the demand. Not

being able to tolerate thetortures, Bikhi finally tookthe drastic step on Saturdaynight.

Police registered a case ofdowry harassment andabetment of suicide againsther husband and father-in-law. Vikash Ramgude, sen-ior inspector of APMC po-lice station said, “The de-ceased’s family later regis-tered an FIR with us follow-ing which we arrestedKalpesh and his fatherShantilal Parmar, 51. Theyare now in police custody.”

AFFORDABLE HOUSING

SURESH GOLANI / Mira Bhayandar

The officials attached to thecrime branch (unit II) of theMira Bhayandar-Vasai Virar(MBVV) police commission-erate have apparently man-aged to foil an armed crimebid with the arrest of fournotorious goons who werefound to be in possession ofarms including countrymade revolver, live cartridgeand four swords.

Acting on a tip-off thecrime branch unit led by Po-lice Inspector-ShahurajRanawre under the supervi-sion of DCP (crime)-Dr. Ma-hesh Patil swooped down onan apartment located on theHigh Tension road in Nalla-sopara (E) and apprehendedfour accused who have beenidentified as-Amit Amarba-hadur Singh alias Vijay (26),Salman Salim Hashmi alias

Salman Khan (32), AshutoshRamashankar Dubey aliasBaba Dubey (35) and Mohd.Talim Tahil Shaikh (28)- allresidents of Nallasopara-Vi-rar belt.

Prima facie investigationsrevealed that Vijay had beenbooked and Salman Khanwas a wanted criminal in acase registered against themfor assault at the Tulinj po-lice station.

While the quartets havebeen booked under the rele-vant sections of the IPC andthe Arms Act, the policeteam is trying to ascertaintheir motive for which theyhad procured the firearmand swords.

Notorious goons held withswords, gun in Nallasopara

CIDCO puts 19 more plots in NewPanvel and Kharghar on the block

AMIT SRIVASTAVANavi Mumbai

The City and Industrial De-velopment Corporation(CIDCO) has come up with19 residential plots inKharghar and New Panvelfor which the registrationfor bidding started on March 15. These plotsare located in prime loca-tions of these two developednodes. The base price ofthese plots ranges betweenRs 70,000 and Rs 1,00,000.

Continuing the supply ofland parcels in the satellitecity, the planning agencyhas promised to bring moreplots that will benefit homebuyers as the cost of houseswill come down.

The size of the plots being

offered in the Khargharnode range between 60 sqm and 103 sqmwhile in New Panvel, thesize of plots ranges between 82 sqm and 279

sqm. All the Kharghar plotsare located at sector 12while the New Panvel plotsare available at sector 6, 9and 10. These plots can bedeveloped with 1.1 FSI.

However, developers canuse more FSI as per therules by paying an extrapremium. Interested buyerscan submit their bid tillApril 7 and the auction willtake place on April 8.

Meanwhile, the biddingfor 106 bungalow and row house plots across NaviMumbai ended on March 17and the auction will takeplace on March 18. CIDCOextended the deadline forthese plots twice to get amaximum response.

These 106 residential plotsput for auctions are avail-able of Nerul, Kharghar,Ghansoli, New Panvel and Airolinodes and the minimum off-set price is Rs 70,000 whilethe size of plots ranges be-

The registration for bidding of these plots in prime locations began on March 15

CORONAVIRUS IN PANVEL

��

��

��

NOTICE

AGM of BEST Rajdoot Co-operative

Housing Society Limited, Ghatkopar

(East), Mumbai- 400075.

All members are kindly requested to

Register to attend the upcoming

Online AGM scheduled on 25/03/2021,

starting at 6:30 pm. Please click on

below link to get Register yourself.

https://event.webinarjam.com/register

/280/oxlm4h73

In the Column: First Name (Enter your

First name and Last Name), Last

Name (Enter your Building Number -

Flat Number), Email (Enter your Valid

Email address), Mobile (Enter Your

Mobile Number) Click On Register

Button.

On successful Registration, You will

receive an email with a link to join the

AGM on the above date.

For BEST Rajdoot CHS. Ltd.

Sd/-

Hon. Secretary

Place: Mumbai Date: 18/03/2021

PUBLIC NOTICE

This is to inform the general public that the

following Share Certificate of UPL having

its Registered Office at 3-11, G.I.D.C;

Vapi, Dist-Valsad, Gujarat- 396195

registered in the name of following

Shareholder/s have been lost by them.

Serial No.1, Folio No. Y01164,

Certificate/s No.11840 No. of Shares-600

(Equity Shares) bearing distinctive

Nos.18231351 to 18231950,of M/s UPL

Limited standing jointly in the names of

Yunus Tarmohamed Merchant & Fatma

Yunus Merchant. The Public are

cautioned against purchasing or dealing in

any way with the above referred share

certificates. Any person/s who has any

claim in respect of the said share

certificate/s should lodge such claim with

the company or its Registrar and Transfer

Agents Link Intime India Pvt Ltd., 247

Park, C-101, L.B.S. Marg, Vikhroli (W),

Mumbai- 400083 within 15 days of

publication of this notice, after which no

claim will be entertained and the Company

shall proceed to issue Duplicate share

Certificate/s.

Name(s) of Shareholder (s)

Yunus Tarmohamed Merchant Jointly

With Fatma Yunus Merchant

Date: 18/03/2021

��

Dated this 19th day of March, 2021 For R & G AssociatesSd/-

ProprietorAdvocates

201/202, Mistry Mansion, 2nd Floor, 107 M G Road, Fort, Mumbai-400001Email: [email protected]

Take Notice that our client is negotiating with Mr. Rajiv Anant Shah and MrsGunjan Rajiv Shah , to purchase all their right title interests and benefits intoor under a Permanent Alternate Accommodation Agreement for providing aPremises more particularly described in the Schedule hereunder written. Any person or persons having any claim against or in respect of the saidPremises or any part thereof by way of inheritance, mortgage, possession,sale, gift, lease, lien, charge, trust, maintenance, easement, transfer, licenseor otherwise or any other right or interest whatsoever, are hereby required tomake the same known in writing, along with the documentary evidencesupporting such claim to the undersigned within 7 (seven) days from the datehereof, failing which such right, title, interest, benefits, claim or demand, ifany shall be deemed to be have been waived and/or abandoned and no suchclaim will be deemed to exist. If no claim is made within the period specified above, the transaction shall beentered into by our client without any reference or regard to any such purportedclaim or interest in the aforesaid Premises, which shall be deemed to havebeen waived for all intents and purposes and not binding on our client.

THE SCHEDULE ABOVE REFERRED TOAll that residential premises consisting of Flat No.1901 admeasuring 659sq.ft. i.e. 61.21. sq.m. carpet area ( inclusive of applicable fungible areaavailable to the Tenant) as defined in RERA on the 19th Floor in the NewBuilding to be known as “The South Bay” standing on all that triangular pieceand parcel of leasehold land and ground bearing Plot No.86 of the GamdeviEstate of the Improvement Trust and bearing New Survey No.7310 (part),C.S. No.465 of Malabar and Cumbulla Hill division, Mumbai City Districtsituate, lying and being at Hughes Road, (now N. S. Patkar Marg), Mumbai400007, admeasuring 815 sq.yards. less the area of set back being110.06sq.yards leaving a balance of 704.94 sq. yards. equivalent to 589.47 sq.mtrs. or thereabouts according to the property cards with further set back of170.82 sq mts leaving the net area of 418.65 sq. mtrs. according to titledeeds,in the Registration District and Sub-District of Mumbai City.

Form No. URC-2

Advertisement giving notice about registration under Part I of Chapter XXI

[Pursuant to section 374(b) of the companies Act, 2013 and

rule 4(1) of the companies (Authorised to Register) Rules, 2014]

1.Notice is hereby given that in pursuance of sub-section (2) of section 366 of the

Companies Act, 2013, an application has been made to the Registrar at Mumbai

that K. Mordani Constructions LLP, an LLP may be registered under Part I of

Chapter XXI of the Companies Act 2013,

2.The principal objects of the company are as follows:-

3.A copy of the draft memorandum and articles of association of the proposed

company may be inspected at the office at Office No.105, 1st Floor, Amore

Commercial Premises Co-Op. Soc. Ltd., JN. of 2nd & 4th Road, Khar (West),

Mumbai - 400 052.

4.Notice is hereby given that any person objecting to this application may

communicate their objection in writing to the Registrar at The Registrar of

Companies, 100, Everest, Marine Dive, Mumbai – 400 002, within twenty one

days from the date of publication of this notice, with a copy to the company at its

registered office.

Dated this 18th day of March, 2021.

Name(s) of Applicant

1. K. Mordani Constructions LLP

as a company limited by shares.

Builders, Developers, Lessors or Investors in Real Estates business.

In the Public Notice published onPage No.8 of daily ‘Free PressJournal ’ dated 15/03/2021regarding the land bearing GatNo.464 of Village Sasawane, Tal.Alibag, District Raigad, the scheduleof the property be read as follows:“Eastern part of landadmeasuring 100 gunthas i.e.101.17 Ares out of the piece andparcel of Agricultural Landsituated at Village Sasawane,Taluka Alibad, District Raigad &bearing Gat No.464,admeasuring 2 Hectare 46 Ares& assessed at Rs.13.95”.Rest of the contents of notice beread as it is.

Dated: 18/03/2021

��

Sd/-Adv. Ganesh G. Patil,

A/1,2, Shrutisarang C.H.S., Gr.Flr., Brahmin Ali,

Opp. Union Bank of India, Alibag,Raigad-402 201

(Advocate for Purchaser)

Government of MaharashtraPublic Works Department

P.W. Division, PanvelTelephone No. 022-27452778

E-Tender Notice No. 79 Year-2020-21 (Recall-1)E-mail address :- [email protected], Fax Number :- 022-27467440

E-Tender for the following work in B-1 Form is invited via online e-tendering system from theRegistered with Govt. of Maharashtra by Executive Engineer, Panvel (P.W.) Elision, Panvel on behalfof Government of Maharashtra. Tender Documents can be downloaded from Government ofMaharashtra e-tender portal https://mahatender.gov.in

1. Period of E-tenders : Date 18.03.2021 to Date 24.03.20213. Date of Opening (If Possible) : Date 26.03.2021 at 16.00 hrs. the office of the Superintending

Engineer Raigad (PW) Circle, Navi Mumbai

The Executive Engineer, (P.W.) Division, Panvel Reserves right to accept or Reject any offer.Conditional offers will not be accepted.Note :-1. All eligible/interested contractors should use the E-tender portal https://mahatenders.gov.in for

downloading tender documents and participating in the tender process.2. If the bidders have any issues or queries regarding online payment and issuing DSC digital cer-

tificates and enrollment on the above portal, then the bidder should contact on the following num-ber and address.Toll Free No. : 1800 3070 2232E-Mail : [email protected], [email protected]

3. It is mandatory to submit all tender related documents online. Also original documents regardingEMD/Security amount, E-tender cost should be submitted within E-tender schedule date and timewith keeping privacy for name of the bidder.Otherwise the bidder wilt not be able to participate in E-tender process.

4. A set of tender documents should be submitted separately in an envelope on or before24.03.2021 within office hours. As per Government resolution lowest bidder should submitDD/FDR/BG of performance security (L-1) within 8 days after opening of envelop No. II FinancialBid to this office. If the bidder fails to submit the same, the EMD amount will be deposited toGovernment account and the bidder shall not be entitled to participate in any tender process forone year under this department. Also, tender may be recalled under such case. Other terms andconditons are mentioned in the E-tendar.

5. All rights to reject this E-tender process without, any reason are kept with competent authority.The tender notice of ab.ive work is available on Government portal www.mahapwd.com

E-Tender/O.No./P.W./PNL/912 Sd/-Office of the Executive Engineer, Executive EngineerPublic work Division, Panvel. P. W. DivisionDist. Raigad PanvelDate : 12.03.2021

DGIPR 20-21/3007

Sr.No.

Name of Work EstimatedCost

(Rs. inLakhs)

Earnestmoney(Rs.)

Class ofContractor

E-TenderForm feeGST Add

Time limitin

(CalendarMonth)

Head ofAccount

1 Repairing of Kon SavabRoad SH-105 km from 1/500to 3/000 Ta. Panvel, Dist.Raigad in Flood DamageRepaire Programme

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Now, gangstersmove HC againstthe release of film

Mumbai Saga

Chemical tank blastin Ambernath, nocasualties reported

STAFF REPORTER / Mumbai

Gangsters D K Rao and Ash-win Naik along with thefamily members of slaingangster Amar Naik movedthe Bombay High Court onThursday seeking a stay onthe release of film MumbaiSaga. Notably, the film basedon the life of underworldand gangsters in the city, isset to release on March 19.The film is primarily basedon the life of slain gangsterAmar Naik.

The gangsters have ap-proached a bench of JusticesAmjad Sayed and MadhavJamdar seeking a stay on thefilm's release claiming that itinterferes with the trial invarious criminal cases pend-ing against them.

PRIYANKA DHOMSE / Thane

Thousands of litres of chem-ical liquid spilled on the roadand premises of chemicalmanufacturing companies –Paramount and Minerals inWadol MIDC area of Amber-nath. The mishap took placeon Wednesday. The concerned officials andemergency team reached thespot taking necessary ac-tions. According to officials,the blast was caused after thetanks of two different chem-icals consisting 1L litres and15k litres each collided. Soonafter the blast, the chemicalliquid spread on the premis-es of the company and on thenearby streets. The chemicaleven flowed into the Waldhu-ni river. The MPCB is in theprocess of issuing a notice tothe company, informed offi-cial.

AS MANY AS 77% ARE READY TO LEARN NEW SKILLS OR COMPLETELY RE-TRAIN

NEW DELHI: Nearly 40% of the glob-al workforce believe their job will beobsolete within 5 years due to acceler-ated automation in view of the pan-demic, according to a survey by PwC.

The survey, conducted between Jan-uary 26 and February 8, involved32,500 respondents from 19 countries,including India and China.

It also pointed out that the globalworkforce sees the shift to remoteworking as just the tip of the iceberg.

Reflecting the fact the pandemic hasaccelerated a number of workforcetrends, the survey found 60% are wor-ried that automation is putting manyjobs at risk; 48% believe traditional em-ployment won't be around in the futureand 39% think it is likely that their jobwill be obsolete within 5 years.

"However, this is not a counsel of de-spair, as 40% of workers say their dig-ital skills have been improvedthrough the prolonged period of lock-

down, and claim they'll continue toembrace training and skill develop-ment," it said. As many as 77% areready to learn new skills or complete-ly re-train and 74% see training as amatter of personal responsibility.

"And, 80% are confident they canadapt to new technologies enteringtheir workplace, with a large majorityof those asked in India (69%) and inSouth Africa (66%) saying they are'very' confident," said the survey.

The study also found that 49% of re-spondents were focused on building

entrepreneurial skills with an inter-est in setting up their own business.

PwC said respondents included work-ers, business owners, contract workers,students, unemployed people lookingfor work, and those on furlough or whowere temporarily laid off.

The survey involved 19 countries:Australia, Canada, China, France, Ger-many, India, Japan, Kuwait, Malaysia,the Netherlands, Poland, Qatar, SaudiArabia, Singapore, South Africa,Spain, the UAE, the UK and the US.

The survey also found that 50% ofworkers "say they've faced discrimi-nation at work which led to themmissing out on career advancementor training". As per the study, 13% re-ported missing out on opportunitiesas a result of ethnicity and 14% ofworkers experienced discriminationon the grounds of gender, withwomen twice as likely to report gen-der discrimination as men.

About 40% feel their job will be obsolete in 5 years

Broadband subscribers up 1.3% to 75.7 crore: TRAIThe number of broadband subscribers increased from74.74 crore in December-end to 75.76 crore in January-end, marking a growth rate of 1.36 per cent, TelecomRegulatory Authority of India (TRAI) said. The top five

service providers constituted 98.84 per cent marketshare They are Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd (41.29 crore),Bharti Airtel (18.46 crore), Vodafone Idea (12.27 crore),BSNL (2.66 crore) and Atria Convergence (18 lakh).

BIZ BUZZFranklin Templeton MF's six shutschemes generate Rs 15,272 croreFranklin Templeton MF has said its six shut schemes havereceived Rs 15,272 crore from maturities, coupons and pre-payments since closing down in April 2020. The fund househad shut six debt MF schemes on April 23 last year, citingredemption pressures and lack of liquidity in the bond market.

BSNL expects 4G services rolloutcompletion in 18-24 months: MinisterState-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) expects therollout of 4G services to be completed in 18-24 months,Parliament was informed on Wednesday. The government hasno plan to privatise BSNL, Minister of State forCommunications, Sanjay Dhotre said.

Wonderla Holidays temporarily suspends its food serviceWonderla Holidays Ltd said the services of its food takeawayand home delivery initiative are temporarily suspended. "Weare in the process to upgrade Wonder Kitchen making theservice the best of its kind. The temporary break will be usedfor research and adopting appropriate measures forcomeback," said MD Arun Chittilapilly.

Danfoss merges biz, to focus on integrated energy-efficient solutionsDanfoss India, a 100 per cent subsidiary of Danfoss Group,has merged its heating and cooling businesses with DanfossClimate Soulutions to focus on developing integrated energy-efficient solutions, the company said on Wednesday. Also, thecompany announced that Anuraaga Chandra, who earlier ledDanfoss Cooling Sales, would now be Head-India Sales ofDanfoss Climate Solutions.

Kotak Special Situations Fundinvests Rs 410 crore in DCW LtdKotak Special Situations Fund (KSSF) -- managed by KotakInvestment Advisors Limited (KIAL), on Wednesdayannounced that it has invested Rs 410 crore in DCW Limited(DCW) in the form of debentures. KSSF has invested in theform of non-convertible debentures (NCDs) and optionallyconvertible debentures (OCDs) in DCW. On conversion, theOCDs will result in an 11% stake in DCW for KSSF.

DLF to raise Rs 500 crore through private placement of NCDsRealty major DLF's Finance Committee on Wednesdayapproved an issue of redeemable non-convertible debentures(NCD) with principal amount of Rs 500 crore through privateplacement. The debenture will be issued in one or moretranches to certain eligible investors permitted to invest in theNCDs as per applicable laws, the company said in a marketfiling.

PhonePe emerges as largest playerin UPI merchant transactionsDigital payments platform PhonePe claimed on Wednesdaythat it has emerged as the largest player on UPI merchant(P2M) transactions capturing over 42% of overall marketshare. PhonePe had recently also emerged as the largestdigital payments platform processing over 107 croretransactions across UPI, wallet, credit and debit cards.

Retailers’ body appeals to prioritiseCovid vaccine for workersRetailers Association of India (RAI) has appealed to theMinistry of Health and Family Welfare to consider prioritisingvaccination for the frontline retail workers who face hundredsof people in the course of dispensing their duties and run therisk of getting infected. In a submission to the Ministry ofHealth and Family Welfare, RAI expressed that the hard work,struggles, and risk of retail frontline workers must also beappreciated along with the frontline workers of the medicaland the law enforcement staff.

Promoters of Satin Creditcare reducepledge percentage to 3.09%The promoters of Satin Creditcare Network Ltd (SCNL) havereduced the pledge percentage of company from 8.9% onJuly 16 last year to 3.09% now. The promoters hold 2.75crore equity shares on a fully diluted basis of which 8.5 lakhequity shares are pledged. This amounts to 3.09% of thecompany's holding and 1.18% of total equity paid-up capital.

Iran ban helps US to become India's second biggest crude supplier in FebThe US has becomes the biggest gainer of its decision toimpose sanctions on oil producing countries Iran andVenezuela. America has steadily improved its exports postsanctions and has now become second biggest oil supplier toIndia, the worlds third largest oil consumer.

Euler Motors raises $2.6 million in Series A funding roundAutomotive technology start-up Euler Motors on Wednesdaysaid it has raised $2.6 million (around Rs 18.8 crore) fromnew investor ADB Ventures, the venture investing arm ofAsian Development Bank and existing investor BlumeVentures. With this, the company has closed the Series Afunding round at $9.5 million.

Recovery across Asia's EMs to withstand rising US yields: S&P S&P Global Ratings on Wednesday said the recovery acrossAsia's emerging economies would withstand rising US yieldsso long as this reflects an improving growth outlook andreflation rather than a monetary shock. US yields are risingmostly due to expectations of higher growth, rather thanfears of imminent tightening, or monetary-policy shock. Thistime around, initial conditions in Asia are sturdier than theywere in 2013, the rating agency said.

NSE Data invests in technology startup Capital Quant SolutionsNSE Data and Analytics, a wholly-owned subsidiary of leadingstock exchange NSE, said it has invested in technology startupCapital Quants Solutions Ltd (CQS). CQS is an India-basedtechnology startup focused on providing software productsusing machine learning and natural language proficiency thathelp in extracting and analysing structured information andbuilding machine learning models for extracting data fromcomplex unstructured financial documents.

Govt gets complaints against some e-comm cos over FDI norms violationThe government has received complaints against certain e-commerce companies alleging violation of foreign directinvestment (FDI) policy and necessary actions have beentaken for investigation by the Enforcement Directorate,Parliament was informed on Wednesday. In a written reply tothe Lok Sabha, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyalsaid no representation from All India Chamber of Commerceand Industry (AICCI) was received regarding banning of somebig e-commerce companies from operating in India

—Agencies

MONEY MUMBAI | THURSDAY | MARCH 18, 2021

NEW DELHI: Asset qualityof banks, which saw someimprovement in the secondhalf of 2020, is likely toworsen during the first sixmonths of 2021, accordingto a survey.

The findings are part ofthe 12th round of bankers'survey carried out by FICCI-IBA between July andDecember 2020.

The survey was conductedon 20 banks, includingpublic sector, private sectorand foreign banks,representing about 59% ofthe banking industry, asclassified by asset size.

In the current round of thesurvey, half of therespondent banks reported adecline in NPAs during thesecond half of 2020. About78% of participating state-run banks have cited areduction in NPA levels.

"However, in terms ofoutlook, nearly 68% ofrespondent bankers expectthe NPA levels to be above10% in the first half of2021," the survey showed.

Power consumption jumps 16%on-year indicating recoveryNEW DELHI: Domestic power consumption, a key indicator ofeconomic recovery, jumped 16.2% on year to 63.35 bln units inthe first 16 days of March, as per data on Power SystemOperation Corp Ltd's website.

In the same period last year, power consumption was recordedat 54.53 bln units.

The peak power demand met, which is the highest supply in aday, during this 16-day period was also higher than the highestrecord of 170.16 GW in March last year.

Till Tuesday, peak power demand met had touched the highestlevel of 186.03 GW on Thursday, up 9.3% from 170.16 GW ayear ago, which was recorded on Mar 3, 2020.

Last year, power consumption witnessed a sharp fall due toCOVID-19 pandemic induced lockdowns and sluggish economicconditions.

With most pandemic-related restrictions tapering off, powerconsumption is likely to record double-digit growth in themonth.

The early-onset of summers and the rise in commercial andindustrial requirement of electricity will increase powerconsumption.

In February, domestic power consumption rose merely 1% onyear to 104.73 bln units versus 103.81 bln units in the year-agoperiod.

—Agencies

AGENCIESMumbai

The cumulative corpus ofvarious schemes under theNational Pension Systemstood at 5.60 trln rupees asof Feb 28, up 33.1% on year,the Pension Fund Regulato-ry and Development Au-thority said.

Of the total corpus, 1.77trln rupees belonged to cen-tral government employ-ees, while 2.82 trln rupeeswas accounted for by vari-ous state government em-ployees.

The corpus under AtalPension Yojana was at 151bln rupees, the regulatorsaid in a release.

The number of sub-scribers to variousschemes under the Nation-al Pension System rose to41.5 mln as of Feb 28, show-ing year-on-year growth of

21.85%. Of the total, the number

of Atal Pension Yojana sub-scribers stood at 27.3 mln ason Feb 28.

The number of centraland state government em-ployees for whom the Na-tional Pension System ismandatory was at 7.3 mlnas of Feb 28.

Govt plans to offload 15%stake in Rail Vikas Nigam

INFORMISTMumbai

The government is planning to sell 15%stake in Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd through anoffer-for-sale by the end of June, a seniorfinance ministry official told Informist.

"We have been working on this transac-tion for the last few months along with ad-visors, and expect it to be completed in thenext three months," the official said.

At the current market price, the govern-ment can raise about 9.7 bln rupees by sell-ing 15% stake in Rail Vikas Nigam, whichundertakes rail-related projects.

Currently, the government holds 87.8% inthe state-run company. In 2019-20 (Apr-Mar), the government raised 4.76 bln ru-pees by selling 12.12% stake in the compa-ny through an initial public offering.

The company reported an over two-foldon-year rise in consolidated net profit at2.81 bln rupees in Oct-Dec on a revenuefrom operations of 37.32 bln rupees.

The announcement of strategic disin-vestment policy during Budget opened upthe sector to private investment, and willhelp attract investors, the official said.

The policy has identified railways as astrategic sector, in which the public sector

will have a bare minimum presence. Con-tainer Corp of India Ltd, IRCON Interna-tional Ltd, Indian Railways Catering andTourism Corp Ltd, Indian Railway Fi-nance Corp Ltd and RailTel Corp of IndiaLtd are among the other public sectorunits under railways.

The government has set an ambitioustarget of raising 1.75 trln rupees from di-vestment in 2021-22, five times more thanthe aim for the current financial year.

At 1132 IST, shares of the company wereup 4% at 31.85 rupees on the NationalStock Exchange

NPAs MAY RISEIN FIRST HALF

OF 2021: IBA

Sensex plunges 562 pointson Covid fears; ONGC tanks

AGENCIESNew Delhi

Equity indices wilted under sellingpressure for the fourth straight ses-sion on Wednesday, weighed by sell-ing in RIL and banking stocks, amidlacklustre trade in global marketsahead of the US Federal Reserve's pol-icy decision.

A flat rupee and rising COVID-19cases in multiple states also sappedrisk appetite, traders said. After avolatile session, the 30-share BSE Sen-sex ended 562.34 points or 1.12% lowerat 49,801.62.

Similarly, the broader NSE Niftyslumped 189.15 points or 1.27% to fin-ish at 14,721.30. ONGC was the top los-er in the Sensex pack, declining4.95%, followed by NTPC, Sun Phar-ma, SBI, IndusInd Bank, Reliance In-dustries, Bajaj Auto and Dr Reddy's.

Only four index components fin-ished with gains -- ITC, Infosys, TCSand HDFC, climbing up to 1.20%.

"Indian market remained in nega-tive territory as investors traded cau-tiously ahead of the US Fed meeting

coupled with a resurgence in COVIDcases. Adding to that, the rise in in-ternational crude prices is also drag-ging the Indian market.

"Global markets also displayed aweak opening as it awaits the final de-cision of the FOMC meeting today,which will decide the trend of themarket in the short-term. On a con-sensus basis, an accommodative poli-cy is expected by Fed, which will helpthe global market to stabilise," saidVinod Nair, Head of Research at Geo-

jit Financial Services.All BSE sectoral indices closed in

the red, with oil and gas, power, realty,energy, utilities, industrials and capi-tal goods indices shedding up to3.22%.

In the broader markets, the BSEmidcap and smallcap indices fell asmuch as 2.28%.

Global investors awaited the Fed'spolicy decision in the backdrop ofsurging US Treasury yields.

Elsewhere in Asia, bourses inShanghai, Tokyo and Seoul ended ona negative note, while Hong Kong wasin the positive terrain.

Stock exchanges in Europe werelargely trading in the red in mid-ses-sion deals.

Meanwhile, the global oil bench-mark Brent crude was trading 0.89%lower at USD 67.78 per barrel.

The rupee closed flat 72.55 againstthe US dollar.

Foreign institutional investors werenet buyers in the capital market asthey purchased shares worth Rs1,692.31 crore on Tuesday, accordingto exchange data.

Foreigners cannotsell property in Indiawithout RBI nod: SC

FROM OUR BUREAU New Delhi

The Supreme Court onWednesday held that a for-eigner can not sell or mort-gage a property without theprior permission of the Re-serve Bank of India.

Holding it as illegal, aBench headed by Justice A MKhanwilkar said the condi-tion predicated in Section 31of the 1973 Act of obtaining"previous" general or specialpermission of the RBI fortransfer or disposal of an im-movable property situated inIndia by sale or mortgage bya person, who is not a citizenof India, is mandatory.

It, however, said the trans-actions that have already be-come final including byvirtue of the decision of thecourt of competent jurisdic-tion, need not be reopened ordisturbed in any manner be-cause of this pronouncement.

“Until such permission isaccorded, in law, the transfercannot be given effect to; andfor contravening with that re-

quirement, the concernedperson may be visited withpenalty under Section 50 andother consequences providedfor in the 1973 Act”, SC said.

The court said: "The TrialCourt, as well as the HighCourt, committed manifesterror in dismissing the suitfiled by the plaintiff for a dec-laration in respect of suitproperty admeasuring 12,306square feet and for conse-quential reliefs referred totherein."

"A priori, we conclude thatthe decisions of concernedHigh Courts taking the viewthat Section 31 of the 1973Act is not mandatory and thetransaction in contraventionthereof is not void or unen-forceable, is not a good law,”Supreme Court said.

KS Oils to be liquidated;NCLAT pulls up NCLT

AGENCIESMumbai

The National Company LawAppellate Tribunal(NCLAT) has directed to ini-tiate liquidation process ofleading integrated edible oilcompany K S Oils Ltd andset aside an NCLT orderpassed against it. Terming it"unfortunate", the appellatetribunal observed that evenafter the lapse of 981 daysand repeated compliance bythe Resolution Professionalto initiate the liquidationprocess, the NCLT had notconsidered it.

A two-member NCLATbench headed by ActingChairperson Justice B LBhat allowed the appeal filedby the Resolution Profes-sional (RP) saying "fitness ofsituation" allows to initiateliquidation of the corporatedebtor K S Oils.

"The Appeal is allowed andthe impugned order datedJanuary 1, 2021, passed bythe Adjudicating Authority

(NCLT) is set aside and atthe same time the order forinitiation for liquidation ofthe Corporate Debtor Ms.K.S.Oils Ltd is also allowed.The Corporate Debtor- K SOils shall liquidate in themanner as laid down inChapter-III of the Code," itsaid.

Earlier, on January 1, 2021,the Indore Bench of the Na-tional Company Law Tribu-nal (NCLT) had dismissedthe application filed by theRP of the debt-ridden com-pany to initiate liquidationagainst K S Oils after itcould not attract a buyerwithin the permissible timeframe.

Withholding tax of 5% onFPI debt investment to stay

AGENCIESNew Delhi

The withholding tax on in-terest income earned byforeign portfolio investorson debt investments will re-main at the concessionalrate of 5% and there is nochange in it, a finance min-istry official said.

The clarification from theministry official came aftera media report said earliertoday that the withholdingtax rate for FPIs investing indebt securities is likely to in-crease to 20% from Apr 1.

"The substantive provi-sion of Section 194 LD ofthe Income Tax Act, whichdeals with FPI investmentin debt instruments, stillremains. That has the 5%withholding tax provision,"the official told Informist.

"There are no changes inthat provision. In fact, theconcessional tax of 5% wasextended till 2023," the offi-

cial said.Later the Central Board of

Direct Taxes issued a clari-fication that withholdingtax on interest incomeearned by foreign portfolioinvestors on debt invest-ments will remain at theconcessional rate of 5%.

"There are reports in cer-tain section of media thatthe said concessional taxrate of 5% has been with-drawn. It is hereby clarifiedthat there is no change," theCentral Board of DirectTaxes said in a release.

The confusion is on ac-count of an amendment tothe Income Tax Act in Sep-tember to provide with-holding tax rate of 10% foralternative investmentfunds that invest throughthe International FinanceService Centre.

The Taxation and OtherLaws (Relaxation andAmendment of CertainProvisions) Act, 2020,passed by Parliament inSeptember seems to haveinadvertently deleted thespecial provision for the 5%concessional withholdingrate for FPIs investing indebt, the official said.

The specific provision hasbeen deleted only for FPIsthat invest through the In-ternational Finance Serv-ice Centre. "This was most-ly for funds registered asFPIs in IFSC. So the 5% pro-vision was removed onlyfor FPIs registered inIFSC," the official said.

Aditya Birla Capboard gives nodfor AMC arm IPO

NPS corpus jumps 33% toRs 5.6 L cr, subscribersrise 22% amid pandemic NEW DELHI: Aditya Birla

Capital said its board hasgiven in-principle approval toexplore an initial publicoffering (IPO) of its arm AdityaBirla Sun Life AMC.

Aditya Birla Sun Life AMCLtd, the investment managerof Aditya Birla Sun Life MutualFund, is a joint venturebetween the Aditya BirlaGroup and the Sun LifeFinancial Inc. of Canada.

"The board of directors ofAditya Birla Capital hasprovided its in-principleapproval to explore an initialpublic offering of Aditya BirlaSun Life AMC, a materialsubsidiary of the companysubject to market conditions,receipt of applicable approvalsand other considerations,"Aditya Birla Capital said.

The company did not shareany other details. As per AdityaBirla Sun Life AMC, it has a totaldomestic assets undermanagement (AUM) of over toRs 2,38,000 crore for the quarterended September 30, 2020.

—Agencies

INVESTOR WEALTH TUMBLES BY OVER RS 5.55 L CR IN 4 DAYS OF DECLINE ON ST

Rs 970 cr Govt may get via RailVikas Nigam OFS

12.12% Stake the govt sold andraised Rs 4.76 bn via IPO

Rs 3,732 cr revenues of thecompany in Oct-Dec

� Pension subscribers were41.5 million as on Feb 28,up 21.9% YoY

� The corpus under AtalPension Yojana was at Rs 15,100 crore

� FPI tax confusion due tolikely error in Septemberamendment, says source

� Withholding tax for FPIsdebt invest at 5% till 2023

� CBDT later clarified onwithholding tax on FPI debt investments

� Provision deleted only forFPIs investing via IFSC

189.15 pts Drop in NSE Nifty

3.7% Fall in NSE PSU Bank Index

4.8% Drop in ONGC’s share price

ALL FALL DOWN

MUMBAI | THURSDAY | MARCH 18, 2021 MONEY

Reforms to boost India'ssovereign rating: K V Kamath

AGENCIES/ New Delhi

Veteran banker K V Kamath onWednesday expressed optimism thatIndia's sovereign rating would go upon the back of efforts being taken bythe government to push economic re-forms.

Participating in a virtual event or-ganised by India International Centre(IIC), Kamath, former chief of Shang-hai-based New Development Bank,further said that he does not think rat-ing agencies can hold India's rating"where it is".

"With all the efforts (economic re-forms) the government of India ismaking, I think that sovereign ratingitself would go up. Because, I don'tthink rating agencies can hold India'srating where it is," Kamath said.

The Economic Survey had expressedconcern over lower sovereign ratingassigned by agencies like Fitch, S&Pand Moody's to India despite its strongeconomic fundamentals.

Global ratings agencies have the low-est investment-grade rating on India,which is just above the junk status.

In June 2020, Fitch Ratings revisedIndia's outlook to 'negative' from'stable' and affirmed the rating at'BBB-', stating that the coronaviruspandemic has significantly weakenedthe country's growth prospects for theyear.

Moody's Investors Service down-graded India's sovereign rating to'Baa3' from 'Baa2', saying there will bechallenges in the implementation ofpolicies to mitigate risks of a sus-tained period of low growth and dete-riorating fiscal position.

S&P Global Ratings retained the'BBB-' rating for India for the 13th yearin a row in June last year.

Commenting on the Union Cabinet'sdecision to approve a bill to set up a

Development Finance Institution(DFI) to raise long-term capital to fundinfrastructure development, Kamathsaid it is a right time to set up this in-stitution.

"Today, we have a situation wherebanks are funding long term require-ment of the industry...Infrastructureneeds long term funds that is wherethese institutions (DFI) comes in pic-ture," he noted.

Kamath also noted that the govern-ment backing the institution (DFI) isalso a big push.

"It is a support of your shareholderthat give you one notch upgrade...TheDevelopment Finance Instituionshould have freedom to design prod-ucts," the veteran banker said.

�With all the efforts thegovernment is making, I

think that sovereign ratingitself would go up. I don'tthink rating agencies can holdIndia's rating where it is

NEW DELHI: Venture capital in-vestments in India touched USD10 billion during the pandemic-hit 2020 and as many as 7,000 newstartups were founded during thesame period, according to a re-port.

Bain & Company's latest IndiaVenture Capital Report, releasedon Wednesday, also said that con-sumer tech, SaaS, and fintech ac-counted for nearly 75 per cent ofthe VC (Venture Capital) invest-ments by value, with consumertech attracting the maximumfunding.

As per the report, done in part-nership with Indian Private Eq-uity & Venture Capital Associa-tion (IVCA), there was a dramaticimpact of COVID-19 in accelerat-ing digital trends, which was re-flected in VC money flows and theemergence of new and digitallyfounded business models acrosssectors.

"While the total deal value de-clined slightly to USD 10 billionin 2020 from USD 11.1 billion in2019 due to smaller average dealsize, deal volume grew by 7 percent with approximately 810 VCdeals versus 755 seen in 2019.

"Growth in deal volume sig-nalled strong fundamentals forIndia's start-up ecosystem withnew business models keepingpace with the challenges seen in2020," it said.

According to the report, Indiamaintained its robust positionamong the top five startup ecosys-tems globally, with 7,000 newstartups founded in 2020.

It also noted that the country'sstartup ecosystem remainsstrong with "12 additional compa-nies achieving 'unicorn' status in2020, taking India's unicorn tribeto a total of 37 and only behindthe US and China globally".

STAYING BULLISH

AGENCIESNew Delhi

Air-conditioner and commercialrefrigeration maker Blue Star Ltdon Wednesday did not rule out thepossibility of a hike in prices fol-lowing the rise in raw materialand freight charges.

This proposed move follows theearlier price increase in January.

Blue Star Ltd Managing DirectorB Thiagarajan, who unveiled anew range of products online un-der the 'affordable' segment, saidthe AC industry was expected toregister a 15-20% growth,while thecompany hopes to clock 30% thissummer and 25% overall in fiscal2021-22.

"This (projection of industrygrowing at 15-20% in the next fis-cal) is despite the price increasethat has taken place in January.

And another price increase isnot ruled out because commodityprices, steel, copper, plastic and

ocean freight are also on the rise",he told reporters.

Transportation charges havealso increased, he said.

The increase in prices of com-modities has already been passedon to the consumer in January, hesaid.

"There is likely to be one moreround of price increase in April.This is actually across categories,not only in air-conditioners, butalso in consumer durables.

The impact may not correct (sta-bilize) till June-July and that isour estimate", he said.

Thiagarajan said productionworldwide was disrupted last yeardue to the COVID-19 enforced lock-down and many vessels wereparked (at berths in ports) due topartial lockdown in some coun-tries

The companies have stepped upproduction and the revival acrossthe globe was happening very fast,he said.

To a query on investments, hesaid Blue Star has earmarked Rs250 crore for its manufacturing fa-cility in Sri City in the first phaseand another Rs 270 crore in thesecond, scheduled to take place inthree years.

Under the deep freezer category,the company had already investedRs 150 crore at its Wada facility toaugment production as it was im-porting sizable quantities fromoverseas.

"This investment we are makingis to reduce the imports from over-seas," he said.

BHEL emergeslowest bidder in Rs 11K cr tenderMUMBAI: State-owned engineer-ing firm BHEL on Wednesday saidit has emerged as the lowest bidderfor supply of equipment for 6x700MW nuclear power projects of Nu-clear Power Corporation of India.

"In an open competitive biddingprocess, Bharat Heavy ElectricalsLtd (BHEL) has emerged as thelowest bidder (Rs 10,800 crore) forthe fleet mode tender floated by Nu-clear Power Corporation of IndiaLtd (NPCIL) for the 6x700 MW Tur-bine Island Package Projects," thecompany said.

The Pressurised Heavy Water Re-actors (PHWRs) are the mainstayof the Indian Nuclear Power Pro-gramme and 12 out of 18 operatingPHWRs of the NPCIL are equippedwith the BHEL-supplied SteamTurbine Generator setswith thebalance from Canada and Ukraine.

These sets have been exhibitingexcellent performance with KaigaUnit-1, it said.

Blue Star hints at price increase, eyes 30% growth in summer sales

Voda Idea snaps losingstreak, adds 1.7 mn users

INFORMIST/ New Delhi

In January, Vodafone IdeaLtd net added subscribersto its network for the firsttime in over two years.

The company had beenlosing subscribers since theVodafone India Ltd andIdea Cellular Ltd merger inOctober 2018.

The merged entity netadded 1.71 mln users in Jan-uary, taking its overall sub-scriber base to 285.97 mln.Bharti Airtel Ltd continuedto add more subscribers toits network compared withrivals for the sixth consecu-tive month.

The Sunil Mittal-led tele-com operator net added 5.89mln users in January.

The company now has anoverall user base of 344.60mln with a market share ofalmost 30%.

Reliance Jio InfocommLtd also continued to add

users to its network albeitat a slower pace than Bhar-ti Airtel, but slightly higherthan the previous month.

The company net added1.96 mln subscribers in Jan-uary as against 478,917users added in December.

However, the company re-mains the market leader interms of subscribers, withan overall user base of410.73 mln and a marketshare of over 35%.

The overall subscriberbase in the country hasnow crossed pre-COVID-19levels.

AGENCIESNew Delhi

A bunch of Indian A-list entrepreneurs,including Flipkart CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthyand former Indian Cricketer Javagal Srinath,have bought out Chinese investors ShunweiCapital's stake in the parent firm of Koo,India's answer to Twitter.

BookMyShow founder Ashish Hemrajani,Udaan co-founder Sujeet Kumar and Zerodhafounder Nikhil Kamat were others whobought out Shunwei's over 9 per cent stakein Bombinate Technologies Pvt Ltd.

"Existing investors along with a bunch ofindividuals have bought out ShunweiCapital's minority stake in BombinateTechnologies Pvt Ltd, the parent company ofVokal and Koo," the company said.

Koo, which caught public attention afterthe Indian government's tussle with Twitterover the removal of inflammatory contents,has crossed over 4 million downloads withabout a million active users.

Koo's investors include Accel Partners,3one4 Capital, Blume Ventures, and KalaariCapital. Additionally, global venture capitalfirm, Shunwei, was also an investor inBombinate Technologies, the parent of Koo.

Shunwei Capital, which is led by apartnership team that includes people ofChinese origin, had invested in the earlier

product of Bombinate, an app called Vokal.Since Bombinate has pivoted its primary

business and focused on Koo, Shunweicommitted to exiting the company.

Javagal Srinath, former Indian cricketer andfast bowler said, "I am very happy to bebacking Koo - one of India's most talked-about social media platforms. The fact thatthey are building a platform to bring thevoices of Indian language audiences onto theinternet is commendable.”

Srinath, entrepreneurs buyShunwei Cap’s stake in Koo

Venture Capfunds invested$10 billion inIndia in 2020

ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund launchesnew exchange-traded fundICICI Prudential Mutual Fund is launching a new exchange-tradedfund targeted at the 30 least volatile stocks from the Nifty 100index. The new fund will open on March 23 and close on April 6,the AMC said on Wednesday. ICICI Prudential Nifty Low Volatility 30index is an open-ended fund of funds that will invest in thesestocks, and the underlying ETF replicates the Nifty 100 low volatility30 index, the fund house said.

Gati-KWE plans to invest Rs 100 crore in infra, tech development next fiscalExpress logistics company Gati-KWE plans to invest Rs 100 crore ininfrastructure and technology development next fiscal as it aims toclock 30 per cent year-on-year growth by FY22 driven by air freightbusiness. The company, which is a part of the Allcargo Logistics,also launched an advanced air freight solution for pharma,electronics and auto ancillaries segments.

AU Small Fin Bank raises Rs 626 crorethrough QIP; allots five million sharesAU Small Finance Bank has raised Rs 6.26 billion through allotment of 5mln equity shares under qualified institutional placement at an issueprice of Rs 1,251 per share, the lender said in a release today. Thelender's qualified institutional placement received participation fromboth domestic and global investors, and the issue was subscribed bysovereign wealth funds, large foreign portfolio investors, life insurancecompany and domestic mutual funds, the release said.

Apparel retail's recovery expected to continue in fiscal 2022: India RatingsApparel retail sector's recovery is expected to continue in FY22, onback of improving consumer confidence, resumption of storeexpansion by organised players and prospects of the vaccine rollout,said India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra). "Although the pressure ondiscretionary spending, possibility of a second wave of infection incertain states and subsequent travel restrictions continue to pose athreat to the recovery, improved cost structures, liquidityenhancement measures and omnichannel push should providecushion to glide through the same," Ind-Ra said.

Axis Asset Management Co launches IT-focused exchange traded fundAxis Mutual Fund on Wednesday launched an exchange-traded fundfocused on technology stocks. The new fund, Axis Technology ETF,opens on Thursday and closes on March 23. It will track the Nifty ITindex, and offers investors an opportunity to invest in the biggest ITcompanies. Globally, passive funds have been the fastest growinginvestment segment over the past several years as investors havewarmed up to their simplicity and low cost-efficient structures.

Online multi-brand EV store BLive raises$1 million from Lets Venture, othersOnline multi-brand EV store BLive has raised USD 1 million (around Rs7.25 crore), as part of follow-on capital of Pre-Series A round, led byLets Venture, Mumbai Angels, Credit Wise Capital and JITO along withsome HNIs. The fresh capital raised is planned to be invested inpeople, processes and technology to scale up the company's presenceacross India, said Sandeep Mukherjee, Co-Founder and COO, BLive.

IEA says global crude oil stocks still high even as demand improvesExpectations of a new super-cycle in the oil market and a loomingsupply shortfall was overstated as global crude inventories stillremain above historical levels, the International Energy Agency saidtoday. "Oil inventories still look ample compared with historicallevels despite a steady decline from a massive overhang that piledup during 2Q20 (second quarter of 2020)," the Paris-based energyagency said in its monthly report.

TEJI MANDI

A recent report from Spark Indiasuggests that the NBFC sector is yet toreturn to pre-Covidlevels. However,consolidation isvisible across alllending segments.

It also suggeststhat housing,vehicle finance,textiles &agriculture-relatedMSMEs, and goldfinancing are seeinghealthy recovery.On the other hand,microfinance, rawmaterial-dependent MSMEs, anddiscretionary related sectors continue toremain weak. A growing trend ofdeleveraging has also been observedamong the businesses.

Vehicle Finance: CV space picking upAmong the vehicle finance space, largefleet operators, especially in

Agri/food produce/rural segments aredoing well. Their utilization levels haveimproved. And, they have been able topass on the increased fuel prices. In themeanwhile, small transporters continueto feel stress due to the financial crunch.

Among the commercial vehicles, lightand small CVs continue to witness ahealthy business revival. Demand forused commercial vehicles is also robustwith an uptick in prices.

Housing Finance: Larger playerscontinue to gain market share Among the housing space, Largerplayers continue to gain market share.They are enjoying their dominance overtheir smaller peers due to the strength oftheir balance sheets and easy excess tocapital. In the affordable and Tier 2/3market, real estate demand has slightly

moderated since Jan'21. Even in realestate, regional affordable players arelosing market share to large brandnames as their trust factor is high among

the homebuyers.

Microfinance:ImprovingcollectionefficiencyThe microlendersare seeing arevival in theincome level oftheir borrowers. Itis currently at65%-75% of pre-Covid levels.Improved incomes

have resulted in better collection efficiency.More customers are expected to availadditional credit with income levelsimproving further. Except for Assam andWest Bengal, political interference remainsabsent from the rest of the country.Among the other segments, demand forgold finance remains healthy. However,declining gold prices could play aspoilsport in the future.

Many large and private banks are seenmaking active inroads into this market.However, gold NBFCs have managed toprotect their market share so far.

Among MSMEs, beaten downsegments like textiles, power looms etc.are witnessing a revival. But, travel,tourism, hospitality, discretionary relatedsectors continue to remain weak. Rawmaterial dependant businesses are alsofacing stress. Earlier, they faced Covidrelated import curbs. Now, they arefacing pricing related volatility.

Teji Mandi (TM InvestmentTechnologies Pvt. Ltd.) is a SEBI

registered investment advisor. Noinformation in this article should not beconstrued as investment advice. Please

visit www.tejimandi.com to know more.

Laxmi Organic IPOsubscribed 106 timesNEW DELHI: Speciality chemi-cals manufacturer Laxmi OrganicIndustries' initial public offer wassubscribed a whopping 106.79times on the last day of subscrip-tion, largely driven by huge inter-est from institutional investors.

The public offer garnered bidsfor 3,47,67,42,330 shares against3,25,58,138 shares on offer, as perNSE data.

The portion for qualified insti-tutional buyers (QIBs) was sub-scribed 175.43 times, non institu-tional investors 217.62 times andretail individual investors (RIIs)20.06 times.

The initial public offer aggre-gating up to Rs 600 crore com-prised a fresh issue of up to Rs 300crore and an offer for sale of up toRs 300 crore. The price range was

fixed at Rs 129-130 per share.Laxmi Organic Industries had

garnered Rs 180 crore from an-chor investors on Friday.

Net proceeds from the issue willbe utilised for setting up a manu-facturing facility for fluorospecial-ty chemicals, working capital re-quirements, purchase of plant andmachinery and upgrading existingunits.

In addition, funds would be usedfor pre-payment or repayment ofall or a portion of certain out-standing, besides general corpo-rate purposes.

The company has a global pres-ence with customers in over 30countries, including China, theNetherlands, Russia, Singapore,United Arab Emirates, the UKand the US.

NEW DELHI: Fast-moving con-sumer goods major HindustanUnilever Ltd's gross margin islikely to remain impacted in Jan-Mar due to significant inflation inpalm oil, tea and crude oil, Nomu-ra Financial Advisory and Securi-ties said in a report.

The Lux soap maker will need toundertake price hikes at 7-9% tocounter the inflation in soap costs,it said. The company had taken2.5% price hike in Oct-Dec and an-

other 2.5% in January. It has alsoinitiated price increases in deter-gents in the current quarter dueto inflation in crude oil prices.

The brokerage firm sees grossmargin in Apr-Jun at 52.5%, down120 bps on year. The brokeragefirm also pointed out that thecompany's operating margin willhold up and will see on-year ex-pansion but sequentially, it'll re-main flat. The company's savingsprogramme and operating lever-

age are likely to offset costs re-emerging due to travel, staff in-crements and promotions, it said.The company's operating marginin Oct-Dec contracted to 24.06%from 24.93% a year ago, primarilydue to high prices of raw materi-als. The brokerage firm noted thatdemand trends have improved se-quentially, with economic revivalover the past couple of months. Itestimates HUL's underlying vol-ume growth in Jan-Mar at 13%.

The company's overall underlyingvolume growth in Oct-Dec was at4%.

While rural demand continuesto be strong, urban demand hasalso improved, led by smallertowns. Demand in metro citiesalso clawed back to the growth ter-ritory in January, the brokeragefirm said. Demand in health, hy-giene, nutrition portfolio, whichconstitutes 80% of the company'ssales, remains elevated, but tail-

CA Rover sellsSBI Cards stakefor Rs 3,943 cr

AGENCIESNew Delhi

CA Rover Holdings on Wednesdaydivested 4.25% stake in SBI Cardsand Payment Services Ltd for Rs3,943 crore through an open markettransaction.

According to the bulk deal dataavailable on the BSE, four croreshares of SBI Cards were offloadedby CA Rover Holdings at an aver-age price of Rs 985.98 apiece. Thistranslates to a deal value of Rs3,943.92 crore.

CA Rover Holdings is a sub-sidiary of Carlyle Group.

On Wednesday, shares of SBICards settled 4.44% lower at Rs976.75 apiece on the BSE.

As per the company's sharehold-ing pattern, CA Rover Holdingsheld 15.86% stake in SBI Cards as apublic shareholder at the end ofDecember 2020.

In March 2020, SBI Cards cameout with its Rs 9,000-crore initialpublic offer. SBI Cards is the sec-ond-largest credit card issuer in In-dia with an 18% market share.

HUL margins under pressure on rising costs

NEW DELHI: Automaker JeepIndia on Wednesday launched alocally assembled version of itspremium SUV Wrangler in thecountry with introductoryprices starting at Rs 53.9 lakh(ex-showroom).

The company had started theproduction of the model at itsRanjangaon plant near Pune inFebruary and is now ready for retail across the coun-try. The locally-assembled Jeep Wrangler is availablein two variants - the Unlimited and Rubicon, pricedat Rs 53.9 lakh and Rs 57.9 lakh, respectively.

Both variants come with a BS-VI compliant 2-litreturbo petrol powertrain, which produces 268 horse-power and 400 Nm of torque and comes mated withan 8-speed automatic gearbox.

Celebrating 80 years of Jeep brand globally, Jeep In-dia has also introduced a limited number of theWrangler's 80th Anniversary Launch Edition.

"Indian customers have always desired the leg-endary Jeep Wrangler, and I am pleased that today weare able to bring this to them, assembled in India,"

Jeep India Managing DirectorPartha Datta said in a virtuallaunch event.

The company has extendedpoints of sale and service forthe locally-assembled Wranglerto 26 across the country, headded. Datta noted that the au-tomaker has also brought inover 120 Wrangler accessories

and value packs, which customers can order at thedealerships.

Customers can buy an explorer pack, night ultra vi-sion pack, sports pack and the essential pack at thecompany dealerships.

The 4X4 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon is known for its off-road prowess and comes with a ground clearance of217 mm, water wading capability of 760 mm and ap-proach, departure and break-over angles of 36-de-grees, 31-degrees and 21-degrees, respectively.

"Jeep Wrangler's capability is unmatched becauseour engineers always have and continue to test andimprove our 4x4 technology to make it a globalbenchmark," Partha said.

Locally assembled Wrangler drives out

HUL'S GROSS MARGIN LIKELY TO BE HIT IN JAN-MAR DUE TO SIGNIFICANT RISE IN PALM OIL, TEA PRICES: NOMURA

NBFCs: Greenshootsappear, recovery far

�BookMyShow founderAshish Hemrajani, Udaan

co-founder Sujeet Kumar andZerodha founder Nikhil Kamatparticipated in the buyout

BIZ BUZZ

ARITRA SINGHAKolkata

To counter BJP’s Rath Yatraand TMC’s Didir Doot, theLeft Front on Wednesdaylaunched ‘Halla Gadi’ wherethe student unions of theLeft Front will go across thestate and enact the allegedatrocities of both the TMCand BJP governments.

After releasing two parodysongs to woo the grassrootsvoters the CPI (M) had nowset the wheel of Halla Gadirolling which will play theparody songs at the back-ground while all the studentunions of the Left Front in-form people about the mis-governance of both BJP andthe TMC government.

Senior CPI (M) leader Su-jan Chakraborty said that in-forming people about theatrocities of both TMC andBJP is necessary so that thepeople at the grassroots real-ize that it will a mistake tovote for those parties.

“Colourful presentationwith song and dance isneeded to attract people.Both the parody songsTumpa and our version ofLungi dance will be played.The Left Front and the Con-gress alliance can only re-store democracy in WestBengal,” mentioned the sen-

ior Politburo member.Notably, the Left Front

who always claimed to be aregimented party and spokeof Karl Marx and VladimirLenin had now resorted to‘mdle-class Bengali parody’as the first song was re-

leased to attract people fortheir public rally at BrigadeParade Ground in Kolkataon February 28. The secondparody song was releasedon March 13 to connect withthe masses ahead of thepolls.

AGENCIESChennai

Loaded with doles and free-bies to woo the electorateahead of the April 6 Assem-bly polls in Tamil Nadu,archrivals DMK andAIADMK's populist agendadriven election manifesto arealso being debated for the fi-nancial implications on astate already burdened withhigh debts.

With late DMK chief MKarunanidhi's 'hero' mani-festo of 2006 that promisedamong others, free colour TVsets, virtually setting thetrend for similar races in thefuture, Tamil Nadu has seenit all--- free laptops, milch

cows, mixer-grinder and goldfor thali (mangal sutra)among others.

In 2021 too, the Dravidianmajors chose to dish out aslew of promises that carrythe 'free of cost' tag, a morepolitically correct term used

to describe freebies by theproponents of such largesse.

The two parties--AIADMKseeking a record third termand the DMK planning astrong combeack after adecade in opposition, haveconverged not only on suchfreebies, but also on othercontentious issues like therepeal of CitizenshipAmendment Act and releaseof seven convicts in the RajivGandhi assassination.

Free washing machine,

housing for all, solar cookers,education loan waiver, gov-ernment jobs to familieswithout anyone in state serv-ice etc are AIADMK's prom-ises to the voter while that ofDMK includes Rs 4,000 reliefto COVID-19 hit rice rationcard holders, laws to reserve75 per cent jobs for locals andwaiver of various loans andprovision of various assis-tance.

Both have promised phasedprohibition in a state.

New draft rules to increase thickness of carry bags from 2022 NEW DELHI: The draft plastic waste management rules notifiedby the Union Ministry of environment, forests and climate changeon March 11 proposes to increase the thickness of carry bagsmade of virgin plastic to 120 microns from 50 microns and banthe single-use plastic from January 1, 2022. They contain a fewchanges in the country's handling of its plastic waste, includingextension of the applicability to the brand owners, plastic wasteprocessors and recyclers. - From Our Bureau

Lt Gen Raju to be new DGMOSRINAGAR: Lieutenant General B S Raju who will take over as thenew Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) handed overthe charge of the strategic XV Corps of the Army, which guardsthe Line of Control in Kashmir Valley, to Lt Gen D P Pandey onWednesday. At a simple ceremony held at the headquarters of theSrinagar-based XV Corps, the baton was handed over to Lt GenPandey, who was earlier serving as the Director General ofTerritorial Army.

Baby girl born in a flight mid-airNEW DELHI: A baby girl was born on board IndiGo's Bengaluru-Jaipur flight mid-air on Wednesday morning with the help of cabincrew and a doctor, according to an airline statement. "A baby girlwas born mid-air on board flight 6E 469 from Bangalore to Jaipur.The baby was delivered with the help of the IndiGo crew,effectively assisted by Dr. Subahana Nazir, travelling with us onthe same flight," the airline's statement noted.

Pak intruder killed on Jammu border SAMBA (J&K): An intruder from Pakistan was shot dead by theBorder Security Force on the international border in the Ramgarharea of Jammu's Samba district. According to top sources in BSF,the incident took place on Tuesday at about 3:55 pm.

AGENCIES / Guwahati

Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) leader Devendra Fad-navis on Tuesday stated thatthe party will register a bigwin in Assam.

Reacting to National Con-gress Party Chief SharadPawar's prediction on up-coming assembly elections,Fadnavis said, "Even our ad-versaries have accepted thatBJP will win in Assam. Al-though I don't agree withSharad Pawar Ji's wholestatement, if he also believesthat BJP will win in Assam,it goes on to show that we

will register a big win.Fadnavis made the state

during his visit to Guwa-hati.

Sharad Pawar on Sundaysaid that the BJP will retainpower in Assam, but otherparties will win in otherstates.

"In Assam, the BJP's condi-tion is better (than otherstates). In one state (Assam),BJP will retain power whilein other states, other politicalparties will win elections.This is the trend and I amsure this new trend from fivestates will show a new way tothe nation," he added.FAST NEWS

Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla meets Italian Ambas-sador Vincenzo De Luca on Wednesday in New Delhi. (Pic: PTI)

Congress candidate Mayura S Jayakumar along with supportersgoes to file his nomination paper for Coimbatore South Constituen-cy in Coimbatore on Wednesday. (Pic: ANI)

AIADMK, DMK SHOWER FREEBIES � RAJYA SABHA ACCEPTS SWAPAN DASGUPTA'S RESIGNATION: TheRajya Sabha accepted the resignation of nominated member SwapanDasgupta on Wednesday. Dasgupta tendered his resignation fromthe Upper House of Parliament on Tuesday after being named as aBJP candidate in the upcoming West Bengal Assembly polls. DeputyChairman Harivansh Narayan Singh said the chairman has receivedDasgupta's resignation letter dated March 16 and accepted hisresignation with effect from March 17.

� TMC DEMANDS EC TO DELETE SUVENDU'S ELECTORAL ROLL: In atit for tat attempt, the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) wrote tothe Chief Electoral Officer on Wednesday demanding to deleteBharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Suvendu Adhikari's electoral rollfrom Nandigram seat claiming the latter had filed false residencedetails in the nomination for the upcoming West Bengal assemblypolls. The AITC's move comes days after the BJP delegation visitedthe office of the Chief Electoral Officer in Kolkata on Mondaydemanding the cancellation of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee'snomination from Nandigram.

� CONG IN KERALA REGISTERS COMPLAINT ABOUT 'RIGGED'VOTERS LIST: Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala onWednesday met Chief Electoral Officer Teeka Ram Meena andregistered a complaint about widespread allegations about thevoters list being rigged. He alleged that this is part of a conspiracy.Kerala goes to the polls on April 6 to elect 140 legislators.

� RECORD SEIZURES WORTH RS 331 CR MADE IN POLL-GOINGSTATES, PUDUCHERRY: EC: The Election Commission Wednesday saidrecord seizures worth Rs 331 crore have been made so far in the fourpoll-going states and Puducherry as part of the expendituremonitoring process. The seizures already surpass the total seizuresmade in assembly elections to these states and the union territory in2016, it said. A maximum of Rs 127.64 crore worth seizures havebeen made in Tamil Nadu, while Rs 112.59 crore worth seizures havebeen made from West Bengal.

� 16% CANDIDATES IN PHASE-1 OF ASSAM ASSEMBLY POLLS FACECRIMINAL CASES: Sixteen per cent of the candidates contesting inthe first phase of Assam assembly elections have declared criminalcases against themselves, according to a report by poll rights groupAssociation for Democratic Reforms (ADR). The Assam Election Watchand ADR have analysed the sworn affidavits of 259 out of the 264candidates in the first phase. Out of 259 candidates analysed, 41 (16per cent) candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves.

BJP will register majorwin in Assam: Fadnavis


Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) cadres on Wednesdayprotested on wheelchairsagainst the alleged violenceof the ruling TrinamoolCongress which killed 130BJP cadres.

Talking to Free PressJournal, BJP activistShankar Sikdar said thatthe saffron camp is askingthe TMC to reply and feelthe pain of the families ofthe deceased BJP cadres.

“The BJP is showing soli-darity to the West BengalChief Minister MamataBanerjee over Nandigramincident which left her in-jured but she and her partyshould also understand thepain of the family mem-bers of the dead cadres ofBJP as their violence tookaway their lives,” said

Shankar sitting on Wheel-chair at Hazra crossingnear the residence of ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee.

The rally covered 2.5 kilo-meters from Exide in Cen-tral Kolkata to Hazra cross-ing at South Kolkata.

Notably, after being in-jured at Nandigram inci-dent on March 10, wherethe TMC supremo claimedthat it was a ‘planned’ actand four-five people at-tacked her has been cam-paigning across West Ben-gal with her plastered leg.

BJP takes out protestrally on wheelchairs

Experts flag financial implications of populist agenda-driven manifesto; doable, say parties

NEW DELHI: India and Bangladeshhave agreed to expand cooperationacross the entire gamut of waterresources issues, including

framework for sharing of riverwaters, mitigation of pollution, riverbank protection, flood management,basin management.

Indo-Bangla cooperation in water resources issues THEGAME ISONMUMBAI | THURSDAY | MARCH 18, 2021

Left Front now launches‘Halla Gadi’ to woo voters

AGENCIES / New Delhi

The armed forces will com-pletely ban the import ofclothing, required to sustainits soldiers at extreme tem-peratures across the country,if the Indian textile industryis able to innovate and manu-facture them, said Chief ofDefence Staff (CDS) GeneralBipin Rawat on Wednesday.

"We are looking at the kindof clothing that can sustainour soldiers in the kind of ex-treme cold climate (nearnorthern borders of Ladakh)and in the hot, dry and hu-mid climate in the desertsand the north-eastern re-

gions where we have the jun-gle and semi-mountainousterrain," he said in hisspeech at an event organisedby industry body FICCI.

As of now, a large amountof clothing for the armedforces is being imported butin the past one or two years,there has been a lot of inno-

vation by the Indian industryas far as high altitude cloth-ing is concerned, he said.

Centre working on second in-digenisation list in defencesectorNew Delhi: The Centre isworking on a second 'positiveindigenisation list' in the de-fence sector to boost the Aat-manirbhar Bharat mission.The Centre said it is pursuinginitiatives to achieve higherlevels of indigenisation andself-reliance in the defencesector by harnessing the ca-pabilities of public and pri-vate sector industries in thecountry.

Will ban import of soldiers' clothing ifIndian industry can make them: CDS

POLL BYTES

AGENCIESKochi/Kottayam

Ahead of the April 6 Assem-bly polls, the Kerala Con-gress headed by formerUnion Minister C Thomas onWednesday quit the BJP-ledNDA and merged with anoth-er Kerala Congress factionheaded by P J Joseph, whichis a constituent of the Con-gress-led UDF.

Thomas, who helped theNDA register its first elec-toral victory in Kerala bywinning the 2004 Lok Sabhapolls from then Muvat-tupuzha seat, quit the BJP-led alliance alleging that hisparty was neglected by thefront when the seats were al-located for the April 6 polls.

The Kerala Congressleader, who was a minister in

the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-ledNDA government, said hisparty was given four seats inthe 2016 Assembly polls but

not a single seat was allocat-ed this time.

Thomas said the BJP lead-ership had offered him Palaassembly seat but he did notopt for it due to some person-al reasons.Later in the after-noon, the merger took placeat an election convention ofthe UDF held at Kaduthu-ruthy in Kottayam district.

Karnataka DyCM offers Iru-mudi to Lord Ayyappa Pathanamthitta (Kerala):Deputy Chief Minister ofKarnataka, CN AshwathNarayan, who is also theBharatiya Janata Party's co-in charge for Kerala assem-bly elections, visited Kerala'shilltop shrine of Sabarimalaamidst election campaignand had darshan of LordAyyappa Swamy.

PC Thomas-led Kerala Cong quits NDA

AGENCIESNew Delhi

Noting that many infrastruc-ture systems cover the entireworld, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on Wednes-day said the effect of a disas-ter in one part can quicklyspread across the globe andcooperation is a must for en-suring the resilience of theglobal systems.

Addressing the openingceremony of the Internation-al Conference on Disaster Re-silient Infrastructure viavideo conference, Modi saidcountries that are makinglarge investments in infra-structure, such as India,must ensure that this is aninvestment in resilience and

not in risk.He asserted the notion of

"resilient infrastructure"must become a mass move-ment. Many infrastructuresystems such as digital infra-structure, shipping lines andaviation networks cover theentire world and the effect ofdisaster in one part of theworld can quickly spreadacross the world, Modi said,adding that cooperation is a

must for ensuring the re-silience of the global system.

Terming the COVID-19 pan-demic situation unprece-dented, the prime ministersaid, "We are witnessing anevent that is being termed aonce-in-a-hundred-year dis-aster." The COVID-19 pan-demic has taught that in aninterdependent and inter-connected world, no country-- whether rich or poor, in theeast or west, north or south --is immune to the effect ofglobal disasters, he said.

On the one hand the pan-demic has shown us how im-pacts can quickly spreadacross the world, and on theother, it has shown how theworld can come together tofight a common threat, Modi

said.He said the pandemic has

shown us that innovation toaddress global challengescan come from anywhere.

He called for fostering aglobal ecosystem that sup-ports innovation in all partsof the world, and its transferto places that are most inneed. The year 2021 promisesto be a year of swift recoveryfrom the pandemic, hehoped.

Modi cautioned that the les-sons from the pandemicmust not be forgotten, assert-ing that they apply to notonly public health disastersbut other disasters as well.

He said it will take sus-tained and concerted effortsto mitigate climate change.

Cooperation must for resilience of global systems: PM

KERALA

TAMIL NADU

WEST BENGAL

AGENCIES / New Delhi

Biennial elections for threeseats in the Kerala legislativecouncil will be held on April12. The Election Commissionsaid that the biennial elec-tions are being held as theterm of three members ofthe Rajya Sabha elected fromKerala is due to end in Aprilbecause of their retirement.

Indian Union MuslimLeague (IUML) leader AbdulWahab, Communist Party ofIndia (Marxist) leader K.K.Ragesh and Congress's Vay-

alar Ravi are due to retire onApril 21.

The Commission has decid-ed to hold the biennial elec-tion to the council of statesfrom Kerala to fill up theseats by completing the elec-tion process by April 16.

As per the Commission, no-tifications regarding thepolls will be issued on March24, the last date of makingnominations is March 31,scrutiny of nominations canbe done till April 3 and thelast date for withdrawal ofcandidatures is April 5.

Biennial polls for 3 Kerala seatsto be held on April 12, says EC

AGENCIES / Chennai

Marumalarchi Dravida MunnetraKazhagam (MDMK) Chief andMP Vaiko on Wednesdayreleased the party's electionmanifesto in Chennai andpromised to ensure that jobs inTamil Nadu will be reserved forTamils. He added that MDMKwill raise voice against Hindiand Sanskrit imposition in TamilNadu. "AIADMK is supportingHindutva forces who are tryingHindi and Sanskrit imposition inPeriyar's land. So our main aimis to ensure that they don'tcome to power," he said.

"Tamil Nadu is the custodian ofsecularism and social justice. Thereis a grave threat by Hindutvaforces such as BJP against thesecular fabric. To put an end tosuch an invasion of Hindutvaforces we put forward thismanifesto," the MDMK chief said.

MDMK manifestooffers reservationof jobs for Tamils

AGENCIES / Chennai

DMK president MK Stalin haschallenged both Chief MinisterK. Palaniswami and the DeputyChief Minister O.Panneerselvamto unravel the mystery behindthe death of former ChiefMinister Jayalalithaa. Stalinpromised that once the DMKcomes back to power, thegovernment will unravel themystery.

Stalin while addressing apublic rally in Chennai said CMPalaniswami and Deputy CMPanneerselvam were not seriousenough to get the detailsregarding the death of theirleader Jayalalithaa and said thatif they were serious enough thecommission, which was set upto probe the death, would notbe lurking in the dark.

Stalin challengesEPS, OPS to unfold

'mysterious'death of Jaya

AGENCIESMurshidabad (West Bengal)

Congress' West Bengal chiefAdhir Ranjan Chowdhury onTuesday accused the WestBengal Chief Minister MamataBanerjee-led Trinamoolgovernment of being "involved"in the smuggling of girls in thestate.

Speaking to media atMurshidabad, Chowdhury said,"Besides coal smuggling, Bengalis also known to be a notoriousplace for cow smuggling. Ourmother, daughter, and sisters arealso smuggled in Bengal. Theruling party (of Bengal) andbureaucracy do this togetherhence no one gets caught."

Congress accusesTMC of 'smuggling

girls in Bengal'

AGENCIES New Delhi

Congress leader Rahul Gandhion Wednesday took a dig at theCentre over the reportedvacancies in faculties of topeducational institutions, sayingthe educated youth is facingsevere joblessness and it seemsthe government is "penalising"them for having "real degrees"."Educated youth is facing severejoblessness. It seems GOI ispenalising them, especially OBC-SC-ST candidates, for havingreal degrees!" Gandhi tweeted.The Congress leader tagged atable showing faculty vacanciesin top institutions.

Govt penalisingeducated youth:Rahul Gandhi


BJP leader Suvendu Ad-hikari says his father andTMC MP Sisir Adhikari willattend Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s rally atContai on March 24.

Addressing a public rally atChandipur of Nandigramthe defected leader said thathe will insist his father to at-tend Union Home MinisterAmit Shah’s rally at Egra onMarch 21.

Meanwhile, asked about de-fecting to the saffron camp,the TMC MP Sisir Adhikarisaid that if Suvendu says hewill join and will also cam-paign for son in Nandigram.

“I don’t have any stand inTMC. For the last fewmonths’ leaders of the rulingTrinamool Congress hasbeen bad-mouthing my fore-fathers. People of Midnaporeknow that the Adhikari fam-ily had worked for them andnow the TMC is calling usthieves,” mentioned Sisirwithout naming TMC MPAbhishek Banerjee.

Countering Sisir, TMC MPSaugata Roy said despite get-ting respect and post fromMamata Banerjee the Ad-hikari family is crying foulagainst the TMC ahead ofthe assembly poll scheduledfrom next week.

TMC MP SisirAdhikari toattend PM’s

rally in Bengal

AGENCIES / Hojai (Assam)

Uttar Pradesh Chief MinisterYogi Adityanath on Wednes-day held Congress responsi-ble for lack of developmentand illegal influx in the NorthEast and rise of militancy inKashmir in its quest for pow-er. Addressing a poll cam-paign rally here, he chargedthe Congress, the main oppo-

sition party in Assam, of ig-noring the people's welfareand development of the re-gion in its quest for power.

He said northeast lookedfor development.

NE now island of peace:Tomar Nalbari: The northeast re-gion which at one time usedto reverberate with sound ofgunshots has now become anisland of peace due to thespecial interest shown by PMNarendra Modi towards itsdevelopment, Union minis-ter Narendra Singh Tomarsaid in poll-bound Assam.

Cong resposniblefor lack of devp in

NE : Adityanath

BUDGET SESSION

India's engagement withChina complex: Govt in LS India on Wednesday said

its engagement withChina is "complex" and

the two countries agreedthat the future direction ofties should be built upon re-specting each other's sensi-tivities, concerns and aspi-rations. Minister of Statefor External Affairs V Mu-

raleedharan also said inthe Lok Sabha that Indiawill continue discussionswith China to resolve theremaining issues along theLine of Actual Control ineastern Ladakh to achievethe objective of disengage-ment from all frictionpoints.

India's reputation as pharmacy of worldreinforced: Jaishankar External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar told Parliament onWednesday that India's reputation as "pharmacy of the world"stands reinforced the way it reached out to nations in the midstof a global crisis and supplied vaccines to 72 nations.

‘No decision yet on nationwide NRC’ The Centre on Wednesday said it has not taken any decision onthe nationwide roll-out of the National Register of Citizens (NRC).Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai was replying toa question in the Rajya Sabha.

Cong built 'substandard' buildings: Puri Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri onWednesday accused the Congress of constructing "substandard"buildings like Krishi Bhawan, Shastri Bhawan and NirmanBhawan here, saying they are not fit for being used as offices.

Vayalar Ravi's 'innings' to come to an endWith the biennial elections for three seats to the Rajya Sabha totake place on April 12 on Wednesday, it will be curtains for oneof Kerala's stalwart Congress' politician, Vayalar Ravi, who willturn 84 in June. Meanwhile, a parliamentary committee hassuggested the use of the term "officials of the Union of India" inplace of "central government officials" for those serving in all thethree organs of governance. - the executive, the legislative andthe judiciary.

Tripura CM Biplab Kumar Deb(C) and wife leave Sree Pad-manabhaswamy Temple afterprayers during his visit to Ker-ala in Thiruvananthapuram onWednesday. (Pic: PTI)

ASSAM

CP SHUNTED OUT TO REPEL BJP’S ATTACKSingh’s removal was merely a formality as the ruling Maha VikasAghadi members were unanimous on this issue, to avert furtherdenting of the state government’s image. “Singh seems to be in theknow of the bomb scare or Sachin Vaze’s alleged involvement inplacing the Innova near gelatin sticks-laden Scorpio outside theAmbani residence. Further, what has gone against Singh is thatdespite Vaze’s alleged extortion and his use of various cars withdifferent numbers, he did not initiate any action. This was allhappening when Singh was there and his continuation would not onlyhave created problems for the city police force but also for the stategovernment a senior MVA minister revealed to The Free Press Journal.

The decision to transfer Singh was taken after a series of meetings.On Monday, NCP Chief Sharad Pawar, the architect of the MVAgovernment, at an hour-long meeting with Chief Minister UddhavThackeray, made a strong case for Singh’s immediate removal, citingthat he could not pose himself as bigger that the government.

On Tuesday, Thackeray met the ruling partners represented byDeputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and Water Resources MinisterJayant Patil (NCP) and Revenue Minister Balasaheb Thorat(Congress). They reached an understanding that Singh should betransferred at the earliest, to repulse the BJP attack that thegovernment was shielding him. The ruling partners also expressedserious concerns over the serious lapses in handling the bomb scareand the Hiran death case by Singh and his team. Thereafter,Thackeray held a marathon meeting with Deshmukh, Nagrale andSingh late on Tuesday night, wherein he reviewed the turn of eventsand arrived at the conclusion that Singh had to be moved out.

Singh’s transfer comes a day after the NIA team recovered some‘incriminating’ documents and electronic evidence such as a laptop,iPad and mobile phones from Vaze's office. A black Mercedes car,being used by Vaze, was also seized from a parking lot near theCSMT station, and Rs 5 lakh in cash, a note-counting machine, twonumber plates and some clothes were recovered from it.

Singh had recently, hogged the limelight as he spearheaded theprobe in the alleged TRP scam, where households were apparentlyasked to keep channels switched on the entire day. At least fivenews and entertainment channels were found allegedly involved inrigging the Television Rating Points (TRP) to attract moreadvertisements. In 2005, Singh had landed in a controversy for‘falsely framing’ the co-owner of Provogue, Salil Chaturvedi, in adrug case. Singh was the ADG (law & order) during the arrests ofnine activists by Pune Police in connection with the Elgar Parishadcase. He had also overseen the arrest of BJP MP Pragya SinghThakur in connection with the Malegaon 2008 blast case.

His possible arrest forced govt's handThe same Innova was later recovered from the city police transportdivision at Byculla,” said MVA sources. Further, what was shocking wasthat a person wearing a PPE suit had arrived at the scene on February25 and supervised the parked car. “However, neither did PoliceCommissioner Param Bir Singh step up surveillance near the Ambaniresidence nor did he find how the Innova was shifted to the transportdivision at Byculla. What was also shocking was that Singh spent two-and-a-half hours with Vaze when the BJP was hurling charges againstthe MVA government in and outside the state legislature. Singh keptmum about that meeting. Was that meeting to ‘feed’ Vaze and warnhim not to reveal any details?” asked a senior minister.He further noted that skeletons would tumble out of the cupboardwere Vaze forced to speak out during the NIA probe. “In such asituation, if NIA were to arrest Singh for allegedly shielding Vaze andthereby partnering with him in the conspiracy, it would have furthertarnished the image of the city police. Moreover, the stategovernment would have cut a sorry figure. Therefore, the MVApartners decided to shunt out Singh,” he noted.

45-plus? You’re next in lineDr Gautam Bhansali, consultant physician, Bombay Hospital, and thecoordinator for private hospitals amid the ongoing pandemic, saidthere was a need to step up the vaccination drive, considering thecurrent scenario of the cases across Maharashtra. “It was a much-needed demand, as with this, we will cover most of the populationand it will benefit the nation. We are just hoping the Centre gives itsapproval soon, which will boost the vaccination drive,” he said.Dr Deepak Baid, president of the Association of Medical Consultants,said the state government should increase its manpower if it waswilling to vaccinate everyone above 45 years of age. The centralisedCoWin portal too should function properly, to rule out problems atthe vaccine centres as was faced by senior citizens when the thirdphase of the drive began, he said. “Before allowing everyone to goin for vaccination, all the facilities should be in place and thereshould be no mismanagement at the vaccine centres. Meanwhile,the state government should increase more centres so that thevaccination drive can speed up,” he said.

Javadekar v/s TopeThis will cover 1.77 crore beneficiaries under the first dose by May andconclude the second dose by June. For that to happen, Tope has urgedUnion health minister Dr Harsh Vardhan to supply 2.20 crore Covishieldand Covaxin vaccines. In his reply to Javadekar’s jibe, Tope said, ''Irespect Union minister Prakash Javadekar. I spoke to Dr Harsh Vardhanand health secretary Rajesh Bhushan we have vaccine stock for 10 days.We have not said that there is any partiality. We merely told the Centrewe are vaccinating more and can continue if the state gets more doses.We will need 20 lakh doses per week and also need more centres.’’Tope had pleaded that the state be allowed to set up vaccinationcenters in 367 private and government hospitals. ''Out of the 367, theCentre has allowed vaccination in 209. The remaining hospitals shouldbe also facilitated,’’ he added. Further, Tope said he has requested theCentre to relax the 100-bed hospital conditionality for startingvaccination centres. Instead, hospitals with 50 beds be allowed.

Vaze towed to recreated crime scene"While investigating the purpose of the kerosene bottle kept in the car,it came to light that it was used to set on fire the kurta worn by theaccused person underneath the PPE suit while parking the Scorpio(near the Ambanis’ house) on the night of February 25," the NIAofficial said. Sources in the agency told The Free Press Journal thatduring the searches in Vaze's cabin at the Criminal Intelligence Unitoffice on Tuesday, officials found his bag which had the key, insurancedocuments and invoice of the Mercedes car. “The said car was boughtby a private company for Rs 28 lakh in February,” said an official. Meanwhile, the former owner of the Mercedes car which wasallegedly used by Vaze and seized by the NIA, said he would ‘fullycooperate’ with the probe agency were it to approach him for anyinformation related to the vehicle. Saransh Bhawsar, a resident ofDhule district, told mediapersons that he had sold his vehicle lastmonth through an online portal and claimed he did not know theperson who purchased it. Bhawsar said he did not know Vaze andhad heard his name for the first time on Tuesday. Bhawsar said thateven though he no longer owned the car, he kept getting called bypeople who know him after the vehicle was seized by the NIA.Meanwhile, in connection with its probe, the NIA questioned Mumbaicrime branch officer Riyazuddin Kazi for the fourth consecutive day onWednesday. Another assistant police inspector (API) of the crime branch,Prakash Howal, also appeared before the NIA on Wednesday afternoonto get his statement recorded. Kazi had, on February 27, collected theDigital Video Records (DVR) of CCTVs from the housing society inThane's Saket area where Vaze lived. The NIA suspects that the DVRwas collected with the intention to destroy evidence which could haveimplicated Vaze. Kazi had also allegedly procured the fake numberplates found in the Scorpio, the official claimed. (With inputs from PTI)

Didi takes a leaf from Modi’s Vikas agendaReaching out to the youth, she has promised to start student creditcards so that they can avail education loans up to Rs 10 lakhs at aminimal interest rate of four percent. Another pledge, which will gettraction, is ration at doorstep. She has also promised 10 lakh MSMEsand 2000 big industrial units in the next five years.

PHOOL AUR KAANTEThe large open MMRDA ground at Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) andSomaiya Playground at Sion are the two feasible options the BMC islooking at.“The Mayor has called a meeting with the heads of association ofthe Dadar market and will inform about this decision in the meetingtomorrow, after that arrangements will be made for shifting themarket,” the official told The Free Press Journal. “The grounds have large open spaces so we will be marking pitchesand proper queues could be set up, as the Dadar area has becomevery congested now,” the official added. Further, said another official, despite deploying more marshals, thecases in Dadar were uncontrollable.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Says follow test,track and treat

approach seriouslyAGENCIES / OUR BUREAU

New Delhi

Expressing co n cern about arise in Co vid-19 cases in partsof the country, Prime Minis-ter Modi on Wednesday cal -led for "quick and decisive"steps to check the emerging"second peak" of coron-avirus, and stressed the needto seriously follow the "test,track and treat" approach.

In a virtual interaction wi-th state chief ministers overthe pandemic situation andthe ongoing vaccination dri-ve, Modi asserted vaccine isan effective weapon againstthe diseases and asked statesto establish more vaccina-

tion centres, be it govern-ment-run or private.

In his first interaction withCMs after the vaccinationdrive started in January, hesaid states like Maharashtraand Punjab have been seeinga sharp rise in the Covid cas-es while the positivity ratehas shot up in Maharashtraand MP. 70 districts in thecountry have seen a jump inthe positivity rate by over150% in the last few weeks,he said, underlining his con-cern. “If we do not stop ithere, then a condition for anationwide outbreak mayemerge,” he said, and calledfor quick and decisive stepsto stop it.

Urging CMs to ramp uptesting and put in place othermeasures, he noted manytier 2 and 3 cities, which were

earlier seen as "safe zones"due to low spread of the in-fection, were now witnessinga rise in positive cases.

"Test, track and treat"should be taken as seriouslynow as it has been for over ayear since the outbreak, headded.

Quick, decisive steps needed to stop 2nd peak: PMBATTLING VIRUS RESURGENCE

SHANKAR RAJBengaluru

Karnataka has further tight-ened its coronavirus rulesstating no one will be allowedto enter from Maharashtraand Kerala without a Covid-negative certificate.

The move comes amidalarming reports that Be-galuru and other areas maybe at a tipping point and wit-ness a surge in days to come.

“The negative RT-PCR re-port shall be verified at thetime of boarding. For thosetravelling by bus, ticketsshall be issued on productionof a negative report or shallbe checked by the bus con-ductor when those whobooked tickets online boardthe bus. In trains, the TTEsshall check the negative RT-PCR test report,” Chief Min-ister BS Yediyurappa said, af-ter a meeting with the tech-nical advisory committee onthe Covid-19 pandemic.

On imposing a night cur-few, he said “We will wait andwatch for another week. Ifpeople don’t take adequateprecautionary measures,mainly wearing masks andmaintaining social distanc-ing, we may be forced to takestricter measures,’’ he added.“We will try to understand

what the PM is planning andthen take a final decision,”he said.

Meanwhile, Bengaluru hasbeen consistently reporting aspike in Covid-19 cases. With628 new cases on Sunday,Bengaluru touched a high af-ter reporting less than 250cases a day all through Feb-ruary. It was the highest sin-gle-day spike among bigcities in the south.

On Monday, Bengaluru re-ported 550 fresh cases, taking

active Covid cases to 6,454.“The incremental rise sug-

gests Bengaluru is seeing asurge. Most new cases are inperipheral areas where pre -va lence was comparativelylower in our earlier serosurvey. Outer areas are epi-centres of the surge,” DrGiridhara R Babu, epidemi-ologist and member of thetechnical advisory commit-tee, said.

He warned the city is “at atipping point”.

The average of Covid-19 vaccine wastage in India is 6.5%, withTelangana and Andhra recording 17.6% and 11.6% wastagerespectively, the Centre said on Wednesday as it called for

optimal utilisation of the jabs. Addressing a press conference,Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said 3.51 crore vaccine doseshave been administered till now in the country, which include 1.38crore beneficiaries aged 45-60 years with specific co-morbiditiesand those above 60 years who have been given the first dose.On March 15, 8.34 million Covid-19 vaccine doses were administeredworldwide, of which India alone administered 36% of doses, he said,adding, COVID-19 vaccine wastage in 5 states — Telangana, Andhra,UP, Karnataka and J&K — is higher than 6.5%, which is the nationalaverage. “The message we have shared with states is that vaccinesare invaluable commodities. They are public health goods andtherefore vaccines have to be optimally utilised. Vaccine wastage hasto be drastically reduced. Any reduction in wastage means that youend up inoculating more people and therefore the chances ofdisrupting the chain of infection grow that much more.”

NATIONCHHATARPUR / BHOPAL: Ghuwara Block Congress President Indra Pra t apSingh was shot dead in Chhatarpur district, the police said. The Cong ressleader was killed on Tuesday evening, following which his family created a

ruckus in the hospital. The reason behind the murder is said to be an oldrivalry. Reportedly, he was sitting at a small eatery when he was shot de ad.Singh was declared dead at the hospital. His family vandalised the hospital.

Congress Block President shot dead in Madhya Pradesh


6.5% VAX WASTAGE: GOVT... calls for optimal utilisation of shots

COVID CASES REPORT JUMPDespite all efforts, includingthe highest 9.69 lakh dailychecks in 3 months, India isfacing a second run of thevirus. The highest 28,903 newcases were reported in 24hours on Wedn es day, whilethe daily deaths shot up to anew high of 188 and the ac-tive caseload also hit a newhigh of 10,974 in a day.

The vaccination touched3.51 crore on Wednesdaymorning, 21.17 lakh in 24hours, while 22.92 crore peo-ple have been tested sinceMarch last year.

The death toll of 188 in asingle day, the highest in 3months, is a cause for con-cern since the new cases ofthe infection are continu-ously, the Health Ministryofficials said. Maharashtraas ever remained on the topwith 87 deaths in 24 hours,followed by 38 in Punjab, 15in Kerala and 12 in Chhatti -s garh even while only 15 ofthe 36 states/UTs reportedno death.

The national death toll hasgone up to 1.59 lakh, which is1.39% of the total 1.14 croreinfections. The ever-increas-ing active cases touched 2.33lakh on Wednesday, which is2.05% of the total infectionswhile the recovery ratetouched 96.56% with 1.10crore recovered, 17,741 in thepast 24 hours.

FPJ CORRESPONDENT / Jaipur

A male nursing staff at a pri-vate hospital in Jaipur wasarrested for raping a womanadmitted in the ICU ward af-ter an operation. The ac-cused, 26-year-old Khushi-ram, has been employed inthe hospital for six months,said Panna Lal, SHO, Chi-trakoot police station.

The accused was posted inthe ICU and was in charge ofpost-operative patients. Hewas required to monitor thatthey regained consciousnessafter anaesthesia and checkparameters to see they werestable. On Monday night,there were 6 patients in theICU and a female nursing at-tendant apart from the ac-cused, said Lal. The victim,in her 30s, was given anaes-thesis before the operation tomake her unconscious. Shewas later shifted to the ICUafter the operation and wasbeing given oxygen support.She had no clothes on herbody and was covered with asheet. Khushiram told policehe had not molested the buthe only checked her as hewas required to do with pa-tients. However, the wom anshe was indeed molested.

38-yr-old UPman dies 2

days after jabSRAWAN SHUKLA / Lucknow

A 38-year-old man died onWednesday under mysteri-ous circumstances 2 days af-ter taking the Covid-19 vac-cine shot in Mirzapur dis-trict of Uttar Pradesh.

A resident of Bahuti vil-lage, Lamani (38) was vacci-nated on March 15 at thecommunity health centre. Af-ter coming home, he startedvomiting and complained ofa severe body ache at night.Local doctors refused to treatthe vaccinated patient. When

his condition deteriorated,his wife brought him to thedistrict hospital where hedied during treatment.

His wife alleged the mandied due to side-effects ofCovid-19 vaccination. Deathof Lalmani two days aftertaking vaccination caused aflutter in the district. Chiefmedical officer PD Gupta or-dered a probe, saying there ispermission from the govern-ment to vaccinate a 38-year-old man. The CMO said hisbody was sent for the post-mortem to ascertain thecause of death. “Postmortem report will throwsome light on the cause of hisdeath. We are also inquiringhow a man of his age (38) wasallowed vaccination againstrules,” said the CMO.

Raj woman inICU raped bynursing staff

K’taka tightens screws: -ve report must

Form No. URC-2

Advertisement giving notice about registration under Part I of Chapter XXI

[Pursuant to section 374(b) of the companies Act, 2013 and

rule 4(1) of the companies (Authorised to Register) Rules, 2014]

1.Notice is hereby given that in pursuance of sub-section (2) of section 366 of the

Companies Act, 2013, an application has been made to the Registrar at Mumbai

that Paramvir Developers LLP, an LLP may be registered under Part I of

Chapter XXI of the Companies Act 2013,

2.The principal objects of the company are as follows:-

3.A copy of the draft memorandum and articles of association of the proposed

company may be inspected at the office at Office No.105, 1st Floor, Amore

Commercial Premises Co-Op. Soc. Ltd., JN. of 2nd & 4th Road, Khar (West),

Mumbai - 400 052.

4.Notice is hereby given that any person objecting to this application may

communicate their objection in writing to the Registrar at The Registrar of

Companies, 100, Everest, Marine Dive, Mumbai – 400 002, within twenty one

days from the date of publication of this notice, with a copy to the company at its

registered office.

Dated this 18th day of March, 2021.

Name(s) of Applicant

1. Paramvir Developers LLP

as a company limited by shares.

Builders, Developers, Lessors or Investors in Real Estates business.

BENGALURU: The ManipalInstitute of Technology (MIT)was on Wednesday declared acontainment zone after a largecluster emerged with 52 Covid-19 positive cases being report -ed over the last two days. 25cases were reported Tuesdayand 27 cases Wednesday.

MIT is a renowned engineer -ing college at Manipal in Udupidistrict of Karnataka andattracts a large number ofstudents from across thecountry and the globe.

The areas coming under theMIT campus were cordoned offand the movement of studentsin hostels and others residingon the campus restricted fortwo weeks.

Narayana Sabhahit, registrarof the Manipal Academy ofHigher Education (MAHE) toldthe media: “The academic areawill be excluded but the hostelareas will be a containmentzone. Students in the hostelwill be asked to restrict theirmovement. We will continueonline classes but laboratoryclasses are postponed. If thereare any examinations in thenext two weeks, they will bepostponed,” the registrar said.

Meanwhile, after an onlinemeeting with PM ModiWednesday, Karnataka ChiefMinister BS Yediyurappadenied speculations of a freshlockdown or curfew in thestate. —Shankar Raj

MIT A CONTAINMENT ZONE

TAKE BACK BILL ONPOWERS OF DELHILG: KEJRI TO CENTRENEW DELHI: CM Arvind Kejri -wal on Wednesday urged theCentre to take back the billseeking to define certain rolesand powers of the Delhi LG,saying the AAP dispensation isready to even fall at the Modigovt’s feet for its withdrawal.He asked where the CM will goif the Govt of NCT of Delhi(Amendment) Bill, 2021 broughtby the Centre becomes a law.

� 5 states account for over70% of new infections

� Review immunisationstrategy: Punjab CM tellsCentre; says vaccinate all agesin selected areas

� Flyersnot wearing marksproperly to be de-boarded,treated as unruly: DGCA to HC

� UP’s Guru Dham Mandirturns hotspot aftercongregation

VIRUS TIDBITS

Cancellation of 4 cr ration cards a serious matter: SCAdditional Solicitor General Aman Lekhi, representing the Uniongovernment, termed the plea as misconceived.Lekhi contended there was grievance redressal mechanism under theFood Security Act and if Aadhaar is not available alternatedocuments can be submitted. "We have clearly said Aadhaar or noAadhaar, nobody will be denied right to food," submitted Lekhi.The court issued notice to the Centre and sought its reply within fourweeks in the petition pending since 2018. Gonsalves cited situationswhere fingerprints or iris scanner did not work in tribal areas. "Not asingle State has appointed Independent Nodal Officers under section 14or District Grievance Redressal Officer under section 15. All the Stateshave mechanically granted additional designations to existing officers. Inmany cases the officers given additional designations are from the FoodSupply Department and they are the main persons responsible forcorruption in the food distribution system," added the plea.

V-C can’t sleep, lower...After the SP’s directive,Mohammed Kaleem, a memberof the Managing Committee ofthe mosque said that they havenot only lowered the volumebut withdrawn twoloudspeakers. “We have alsochanged the directions of theloudspeakers so that the sleepof the Vice-Chancellor andothers does not get disturbedearly morning when azaan isrendered from the mosque,”stated Kaleem.In a letter to the IG, the DistrictMagistrate and the SSP, ProfSrivastava had complained thatshe is awakened by the high-pitched azaan early everymorning. The break in sleepcauses headache the whole dayaffecting her duties, she rued.He claimed in her letter that shewas not against any religion,caste or community but everyonein the area is affected by thehigh-volume azaan. “During Eid,sahari is announced at 4.00 am.Azaan can be rendered withoutloudspeakers also. It will notcause any trouble to anyone,”She complained.The Vice-Chancellor also referredto an Allahabad High Courtorder which restricts use ofhigh-volume loudspeakersbetween 10 pm and 6 am. Thestate government had alsopassed directives to all DMs andSSPs to ensure that use ofloudspeakers at places ofworship follow the provisions ofthe Sound Pollution Act.Like in case of Sonu Nigam,Muslim Clerics reacted sharplyto objections raised by the Vice-Chancellor. Chairman IslamicCentre of India Maulana KhalidRashid Firangi Mahali clarifiedthat mosques all over thecountry follow the court ordersand render azaan throughloudspeakers within theprescribed sound limits.

SINCE 1928

FOUNDER EDITOR: S SADANAND

The two-day strike by the unionised employees of thepublic sector banks, which ended on Wednesday, is un-likely to cause the government to drop the proposal to

sell off two more nationalised banks. The nation-wide strikewas a partial success with some banking operations contin-uing on both days of the strike. Given that the governmenthas sought repeatedly to reassure the employees that theirinterests would be protected, it is correct to presume that thestrike was motivated by ideological considerations. Publicsector bank employees’ unions affiliated to the left partieswere in the lead in organising the strike. Theirs is a voice inthe wilderness, neither they nor their political masters nowretain much political relevance, though they still have the ca-pacity to create avoidable hurdles. Considering how disin-vestments, mergers and acquisitions in the banking spacehave resulted in creating first-class private banks in a span ofa couple of decades, considering their success with peoplepreferring to bank with them, opposing the privatisation oftwo sick banks is counter-productive. Happily, the govern-ment has drawn up an ambitious programme not only for twobanks but a host of other public sector entities with the over-all objective of mopping up Rs. 2.5 lakh crore in 2021-22. Thereticence over disinvestment that had slowed down theprocess in Modi 1.0 no longer seems to hold back the process.Indeed, a core group of secretaries for asset monetisation hasalready considered a tentative list of assets which are to besold off. Among them are said to be seven loss-making air-ports, 50 railway stations, 150 trains, telecom towers, high-ways, sports stadia, gas pipelines, ports, waterways, etc. Sucha comprehensive list for asset sales underlines a completechange in the government policy towards the public sector.The department of investment and public asset managementis facilitating the monetisation of non-core assets. Whetherit will succeed in achieving the budgeted target remains to beseen, given the past experience there is little room for opti-mism. Admittedly, the Prime Minister this time appears to becommitted to monetise the loss-making assets unmindful ofthe opposition from the left and other quarters. On Tuesdaytoo, when Rahul Gandhi tweeted support for the strikingbank employees and went on to say that the government wasprivatising profit-making undertakings while retaining loss-making ones, Finance Minister Nirmala Seetharaman wasquick to rebut. Accusing the Congress government of frit-tering away national assets in sick public sector enterprises,she countered, “Nationalising corruption and privatisingtax-payers’ money for the betterment of one family is all thatRahul Gandhi will have to take as a reply for that tweet,which probably some outsourced fellow in his team is feedinghim with…” Although post-1992 economic liberalisation, or-dinary people are no longer enamoured of the public sectoras something sacrosanct, and conversely do not consider pri-vate sector anti-people, the government will have to be pre-pared to blunt false propaganda that a demoralised opposi-tion and the remnants of a depleted trade union movementare bound to unleash to try and queer its pitch. Getting outof all non-core businesses ought to be a matter of priority forthe government.

Step up pace of vaccinations

Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan’s statement inthe Rajya Sabha on Tuesday that Covid-19 vaccinessent to help the foreign countries are not at the cost of

domestic supplies ought to reassure the people that the on-go-ing vaccination exercise is not being hampered for want ofadequate numbers of vaccines. Logistics and a lack of suffi-cient health infrastructure explain the slow pace of vaccina-tions. However, the minister must address concerns that tillnow less than one percent of the population has received thefirst jabs. At this rate, it would take several years to cover theentire population. Stepping up the pace is absolutely neces-sary. Vardhan informed the House that till Tuesday evening,the 59th day of the drive, nearly 3.5 crore doses had been ad-ministered. Given that each person is required to take twosuch doses, it does seem that the vaccination drive would bea long-drawn affair. Whether after the vaccination of one-third of the population we can expect herd immunity too isunclear. Therefore, it is absolutely necessary that with agreater involvement of the private sector the number of dai-ly doses is doubled or even tripled at the earliest possible.Meanwhile, the plea in the apex court that various highcourts be asked not to entertain pleas from state govern-ments and others for diverting vaccine supplies must be dis-posed of early. For an orderly management of supply and dis-tribution of vaccines the Centre alone ought to remain thesole authority. Otherwise, it will lead to utter confusion andcreate further glitches in the vaccination process.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: It is difficult to geta man to understand something when hissalary depends upon his not understanding it.

— UPTON SINCLAIR EDIT


'Clapping tax'NEW DELHI, Feb. 16 (PTI) - Is there a 'clapping tax' in Chineseoccupied areas?According to the recently published autobiography of the DalaiLama, a minor Chinese dignitary was visiting a Tibetan village.The villagers who had assembled to greet him clappedenthusiastically when he arrived. Gratified, the 'VIP' askedwhether they were happy under the Chinese regime."Yes, quite happy. ...But we do not like this new tax. ...the clapping tax. Everytime a Chinese comes here, we all have toturn out and clap."

FEBRUARY 17, 1963FPJ ARCHIVES

Letters to the editor should be sent to: The Free Press Journal, Free Press House, Free Press Journal Marg, 215 Nariman Point, Mumbai. 400021; Fax: 69028020, e-mail: [email protected]; Type letter, leave space, write your views and name. Letters may be edited for clarity and space.

When we speak of digitalisa-tion, we can’t possibly neg-lect the rapid development

of FinTech in the past decade inChina, of which mobile payment isthe best example. China’s mobilepayment started roughly in 2010,and after 2015, the surge came. Firstof all, I would like to share somestatistics to show how dynamic mo-bile payment currently is in China:

There are approximately 800 mil-lion users of mobile payment inChina; mobile payment transac-tions exceeded 250 trillion RMBequivalent to Rs 2,800 trillion in2019; 719 billion was the number ofmobile payment transactions in2019; the percentage of mobile pay-ment among the overall personalexpenditure, 64 per cent was thepercentage of mobile paymentamong the overall personal expen-diture, while in younger agegroups, this was up to 83 per cent.

And given the special situation of2020, the above figures will likely in-crease further.

Another feature of Chinese socie-ty nowadays, which can’t be de-scribed by numbers, is the preva-lence of QR codes at every streetcorner. Bank of China also provid-ed QR codes associated with thebank accounts even to some smallshops to facilitate their collection ofpayments.

While the numbers are impres-sive, the emergence of FinTech hasgreatly challenged banks in multi-ple fronts. The challenges can besummarised into the following fourarenas:

i. BRANCHES: Nowadays, cus-tomers, especially those of theyounger generation aren’t willingto go to brick-and-mortar bankbranches, unless necessary. Mostbanks are reducing the number ofnewly established branches andshutting down some existingbranches. Counters in branches are

also shrinking. ii. LIABILITIES: Users of FinTech

companies like Alipay can easilydeposit money on their smart-phones with just a few steps, andeven at higher interest.

Take Yu’e Bao for example, this isa money market fund easily acces-sible on Alipay. Initially, Alibabafigured that large sums of cash bal-ance remained in customers’ ac-counts and was kept idle. There-fore, the Yu’e Bao fund waslaunched in 2013. Yu’e in Chinesemeans balance, Bao means treas-ure. Marketed with features like‘high returns’, ‘zero commission’,‘can be withdrawn at any time’, etc.,Yu’e Bao has been popular from thestart. In 2017, with $165.6 billion un-der management, Yu’e Bao sur-passed JP Morgan’s US govern-ment money market fund to be-come the world’s largest fund, al-though it has failed to retain the po-sition since then.

Products like Yu’e Bao introducedthe concept of money market fundsto the general public, and are ofboth savings and personal wealthmanagement functions. It obvious-ly made it harder for banks to at-tract deposits, or makes them haveto offer higher interest.

iii. ASSETS: On the asset side, takesmall and medium enterprises(SMEs) for instance -- difficulty infinancing is still a critical bottle-neck for many of them. Tradition-ally, large commercial banks can-not fully satisfy the capital require-ment of SMEs, so the latter turn toother parties, like microlendingcompanies.

In view of this, FinTech plat-forms like Ant Financial have ex-plored a new way to develop theirown business, aimed at inclusive fi-nance. Considering the feature ofSMEs’ funding requirement like‘small amount’, ‘timeliness’ and‘discontinuous’, with the help ofBig Data and AI, FinTech compa-nies have developed their own plat-form, where steps like loan applica-tion, credit evaluation can be all fin-ished online, which makes it easierfor SMEs to apply.

As for individual customers,Huabei has been officiallylaunched since April 2015, which

was designed for shopping inTaobao and other e-commercialplatforms under Ant Group. It of-fers customers different credit lim-its based on the credit record, pay-ment preference and shopping be-haviour of customers through bigdata analysis. Even those con-sumers without fixed income, likecollege students, who have been ex-cluded from credit card applica-tions are also permitted to apply forHuabei. And all the processes arecompleted online. Huabei has beenextremely popular with many con-sumers, especially the post-80s, 90sand even 00s generation, which in away seized the market share ofcredit cards.

iv. FEE-BASED INTERMEDIARY BUSI-NESS: For decades, large commer-cial banks have been the preferredchannel where remittance, wealthmanagement services, credit cardbusiness and insurance servicesare provided. The presence of Ali-pay and WeChat Pay has changedthe situation. Their mobile apps arealso designed to integrate all thefunctions above, and with less oreven complete waiver of fees.

With convenience at their fingertip,customers prefer to use mobile appsto remit funds or purchase insur-ance, which to some extent influ-enced commercial banks’ intermedi-ary business and fee-based income.

Confronted with these challenges,commercial banks in China havenot been sitting still, a few changeshave taken place, to respond to thelate but aggressive competitor:

i. Optimise bank counters’ func-tion, reduce manual processes andmigrate as many functions as pos-sible into the ‘intelligent bankcounter’. For example, so far, the in-telligent bank counter of BOC hascovered more than 170 functions,including opening bank accounts,searching and printing transactionhistory, purchasing wealth man-agement products, cross-border re-mittances, individual purchase andsettlement of foreign exchange, etc.

ii Innovate deposit products. Com-mercial banks are adopting a muchmore proactive approach to designdeposit products like structured de-posits and CDs (certificates of de-posit).

Besides, with their subsidiary ad-vantages, large commercial bankgroups also appeal to a wider cus-tomer base. For instance, cus-tomers can buy money marketfunds or other mutual funds withease from Bank of China Invest-ment Management at the bank’sAPP as well.

iii. On the asset side, banks arenow taking a more active attitudetowards technology. By improvingthe capabilities of big data and AIto analyse the customer’s transac-tional record, commercial bankshave developed their own models tomeet the credit needs of SMEs.

Targeting SMEs, Bank of Chinaestablished the BOC Credit Factoryin 2014. By adopting the online fac-tory-like operation mode, BOCCredit Factory successfully re-shaped the internal businessprocess and management system,and offered customised products.

iv. Drawing on the experience ofAlipay and WeChat Pay, large com-mercial banks in China have alsodeveloped or upgraded their ownmobile apps, which not only in-clude basic functions like accountmanagement, transaction and re-mittance, but also funds business,precious metals business, insur-ance business and credit card busi-ness, etc.

Furthermore, customers of mo-bile bank apps and online bankscan receive preferential benefits.For example, now CNY accounttransfer between accounts in Chinathrough BOCNET/BOC mobile appis free of charge.

As for Bank of China, we persist-ently enable advancement throughtechnology, and drive developmentthrough innovation. We increasespending on technology, streamlinethe internal structure to prioritisethe IT department’s resources re-quirement and enhance the coordi-nation between business depart-ments and their IT colleagues bothon a regular basis and on specificprojects.

Additionally, learning from the ex-pansion of Chinese internet com-panies, Bank of China has createdthe concept of the ‘scenario-basedbank’, which means concentratingon the demand of customers, and

integrating the financial needs un-der various scenarios, and provid-ing a one-stop solution. The func-tions are developed to allow conven-ient access from the mobile app. Asone of the key strategic initiativesof the bank, four scenarios are iden-tified, namely cross-border, educa-tion, sports and pension.

Take the cross-border scenario forexample. With plenty of interna-tional settlement and financingproducts, Bank of China providesour corporate customers with fundsettlement services during thewhole process of cross-border busi-ness. At the same time, for individ-uals who are travelling or studyingabroad, we have also launchedmany activities to introduce relatedbusiness and products, such as cur-rency exchange, foreign currencydeposit and international remit-tance. We also offer a unique serv-ice called ‘virtual attestation serv-ice for account opening’, paving theway for those students to open ac-counts with us without the need tovisit branches in person. They cansimply complete the account open-ing formalities, including the KYCprocess, at the designated attestingnetwork of Bank of China. Theservice has received a lot of posi-tive response from our customers.

Above all, although the pastdecade has produced some quitetransformative changes, the mostthrilling and unpredictable road isalways the road ahead of us. Actu-ally, we might already be on a newpath, the comparatively lax regula-tion that the FinTech industry en-joyed having come to an end, espe-cially for many of the financialservices they provided. Regulationon the finance industry will be ap-plicable to them as well.

The only change we can foresee iswe will never stay unchanged, thebanking industry will continue toembrace digitalisation in a moreextensive manner. I expect to be onboard a journey that is constantlyevolving.

Welcome aboard as well.

The writer is CEO, Bank of China,Mumbai. The views expressed in this

article are personal and should not beconstrued as those of the bank.

India has a way with words todisguise its lack of intention.In its attempt to justify its judi-

cial delays it has even come up withan answer to the famous quote ofWilliam E Gladstone, who said that‘Justice delayed, is justice denied’.The Indian counter is ‘Justice hur-ried is justice buried’. It uses glibphrases, facetious ways, to make le-gal even the most illegal of acts.

Justice loses its meaning if there isno speed. Delays only benefit the cul-prit, and weaken the victim further.

Consequently, there is a hugebacklog of cases in India (seechart). There are 37 million casespending in trial courts.

The simplest way to ensure thatcases get delayed is to reduce va-cancies of judicial appointmentsat every level, as has been pointedout in an earlier article. At eachlevel, 25-30 per cent sanctionedseats remain to be filled. Worsestill, the number of sanctionedposts too is almost one-fifth ofwhat it ought to be when com-pared to global norms. Thus, youhave a judicial set-up where casesget resolved by barely one-tenth ofthe judges required.

Iniquity benefits the powerfulThe Foundation for Democratic

Reforms (FDR) points to the excel-lent work being done in the UK.

There, Justices of Peace (JPs) ac-tually take away much of the case-load from UK’s courts. These mag-istrates account for 83 per cent ofthe total strength of the judiciaryand clear a whopping 99.8 per centof the cases in the country. Theysettle cases – some within 24 hours,especially when the complaints re-late to tourists.

Another variant of such courts in

the UK are small causes courts, in-volving disputes over amounts ofunder £10,000 GBP. Almost 60 percent of the cases go to the smallclaims track.

Can India create similar courts –with similar timeline? The answeris yes – if there is a will.

Solutions existConsider the Gram Nyayalaya

Act of 2008. It was supposed tomake provision for local courts inevery block in rural areas. Themagistrates would be an integralpart of the independent judiciary,and under the administrative con-trol of high courts relevant to theregion. The judges were to be ap-pointed by the state governmentconcerned, but in consultationwith the high courts. The salariesand other allowances payable, andother terms and conditions of serv-

ice would be on par with those ap-plicable to the judicial magistratefirst class.

But the Act failed to make a dif-ference for several reasons.

Against the target of 5,000 nyay-alayas across the country (a lowtarget, considering India has oversix lakh villages), India had only395 Gram Nyayalayas as of 2020. Ofthese, only 221 are operational.

But why did this happen? First, the Act was not binding on

state governments. So, states ig-nored it.

Second, the focus should havebeen on urban centres, where popu-lation density is greater and pettycrimes and disputes are increasing.

FDR believes that India needs atleast one local court per 50,000-100,000 population, based on case-load. Even this number is inade-

quate, they add, considering thatthe UK has 14,348 local criminalcourts or JPs which comes to oneJP for under 4,700 people.

Challenges to be metThe biggest challenge is to ensure

that the existing vacancies for judi-cial posts are filled up quickly andurgently. Introduce measures toevaluation judgement outcomes toweed out the undesirables.

There needs to be a redressal ofthe rigid and formal proceduresthat intimidates common folk.

Both the legislatures and the judgesneed to reduce the delays in register-ing FIRs and filing charge sheets.

The courts should have the powerof reprimanding and penalising of-ficers who do not file such docu-ments in time, or draft them sloppi-ly, thus letting culprits off the hook.

Allow citizens to file complaintsand even launch prosecutionagainst errant bureaucrats (evenpolicemen under certain condi-tions) for non-fulfilment of duties.Remove the protection they enjoy.

Similarly, curb the tendency tofile voluminous reports. Insist onsummary reports of not more thantwo pages, appended to each volu-minous report.

Lawyers will have to be told – as isdone with adjudication cases, thatall their submissions should bemade with a fixed period, irrespec-tive of adjournments, failingwhich both the lawyer and theclient earn negative points, includ-ing not being heard.

Penalise witnesses who changetheir story or turn hostile with thecharge of perjury.

All these measures would auto-matically bring down the cost oflitigation both in terms of timeand money.

If the government believes in aSwabhiman Bharat (a proud In-dia), please begin with speedy ef-fective justice first. Without jus-tice, all other touted values will cor-rode and crumble.

The author is consulting editor with FPJ

LETTERSTO THEEDITOR

Squarely our faultRef.: ‘Butler blaze’ (March 17). TheIndian team's performance is to beblamed. We could have easilyscored more than 225 runs. Chasingthe ball and gifting the wicket atthis level is not warranted norexpected. KL Rahul's consistentlybelow par performance has pavedthe way for another openingbatsman. Butler encashed, stoodhis ground and ensured runsflowed from his bat. Wood brokeour batting order with three earlywickets. Credit goes to the Englandteam. Kohli's efforts went in vain.

Vasudevan

Valuable lessonsRef.: ‘5,000 residents staying alongMithi river get waste segregationlessons’ (March 17). The efforts ofthe Earth5R group to educate theresidents living alongside the Mithiriver with regard to garbagesegregation is commendable. All ofus need to take a cue from this andget ourselves organised withregard to waste management. Itwill go a long way in improvingour surroundings.

Melville X D ’ Souza

Twinkle, twinkle onlyRef.: ‘Do filmstars really winelections?’ (March 17). Whetherfilmstars are young or not-so-young, their only contribution totheir respective political parties isto draw crowds to the electionrallies. Expecting any more ofthem beyond that – like causing amajor turnaround in the party’sfortunes is unfair. Because today'svoters have become quite smartand are not carried away by thecharm of these cinestars.

Bal Govind

Changing coloursThe change in the colour schemeof the iconic Mumbai Centralstation is ugly, to say the least. Itwould have been more suitable fora circus. One wonders what therailway ministry had in mind. Theoriginal cream and brown bordercombination was one of the best inIndia. What was the need tochange it?

Bhagwan Thadani

Poll stuntPolitical parties in Tamil Nadu havepromised salaries to housewives intheir poll manifestos. The topic hasbeen discussed in the media forquite some time. A paltry sum isbeing promised to housewives everymonth. But how will it be ensuredthe money is going to the actualdomestic drudge? How will it beensured the money is not misusedfor drinking and gambling? Mostimportantly, are we notperpetuating the dogma that onlywomen should do housework?

O Prasada Rao

THURSDAY'S SWIPE

The biggest challenge is to ensure that the existing vacancies for judicial posts are filled up quickly and urgently

Delays only benefit the culprit, and weaken the victim further

All international country rankings are bull****. And so India making its own rankings is perfectly fine. The whole 'lets rankentire countries based on random bull****' industry must be thrown into the bin.Sidin@sidin

But which rankings are the best? Can you arrange them in an order?Abhishek Upadhya@_logik

Never joke with a politician. Ironically, it may just translated into a policy.Tushar@tushar

...thats what they did with the calculation of GDP a few years back. To have better numbers they changed the way itscalculated, but they still couldnt manage it. Also , stop joking. Jokes get you court notices!Soniapohare@Soniapohare1

...Ranking should be done as per civilizational values and not western values as per SINGAPORE DECLARATION 1993.India First@pradkuma250

ONE FLEW OVER THE NEST #India’sOwnDemocracyReportFreedomIndex

Banking On It�Hu Beihei

Policy Watch�RN Bhaskar

Can India hope for speedier justice?

Strike unlikely to deterdisinvestment process

The impact of digitalisation on banks in China

WORLDKARACHI: At least seven Pakistani miners were killed after an explosion ata coal mine in the troubled Balochistan province, the second such incidentin the province in a week. The explosion took place on Monday night afterthe accumulation of methane gas in the mine in Torghar gas field in Hanai

district, Balochistan Coal Mines Workers Federation president SultanMuhammad Lala said. The workers were at least 1,500 feet below whenthe explosion occurred late night. Last week, six miners were killed after anexplosion in a coal mine in Marwar district of the province.

7 miners killed in coal mine explosion in Pakistan


ERIC TUCKERWashington

Russian PresidentVladimir Putin authorisedinfluence operations to helpDonald Trump in last No-vember’s presidential elec-tion, according to a declas-sified intelligence assess-ment that found broad ef-forts by the Kremlin andIran to shape the outcomeof the race but ultimatelyno evidence that any for-eign actor changed votes orotherwise disrupted thevoting process.

The report released onTuesday from the Office ofthe Director of National In-telligence represents themost detailed assessment ofthe array of foreign threatsto the 2020 election. Theseincluded efforts by Iran toundermine confidence inthe vote and harm Trump'sreelection prospects as wellas Moscow operations that

relied on Trump's allies tosmear Joe Biden, the even-tual winner.

Despite those threats,though, intelligence offi-cials found "no indicationsthat any foreign actor at-tempted to interfere in the2020 US elections by alter-ing any technical aspect ofthe voting process, includ-ing voter registration, bal-lot casting, vote tabula-tion, or reporting results."The report is the latest of-ficial affirmation of the in-tegrity of the election,even as Trump supporterscontinue to make falseclaims of interference,from foreign or domesticactors, and refuse to acceptBiden’s victory.

Multiple courts and evenTrump's own Justice De-partment refuted claims ofwidespread fraud. The doc-ument makes clear thateven while Trump hascried foul about the legiti-

macy of the election, intel-ligence officials believeRussia sought to influencepeople close to Trump as away to tip the election in hisfavour.

The report, rejected byRussia as "unsubstantiat-ed," wades into the politi-cally charged task of ferret-ing out which foreign ad-versaries supported whichcandidates during the 2020election, an issue that dom-inated headlines last year.

Trump, whose 2016 cam-paign benefitted from hack-ing by Russian intelligenceofficers and a covert socialmedia effort, seized on anintelligence assessmentfrom August that said Chi-

na preferred a Biden presi-dency - even though thesame assessment also saidRussia was working toboost Trump's own candi-dacy by disparaging Biden.

Tuesday's report, howev-er, says China ultimatelydid not interfere on eitherside and "considered butdid not deploy" influenceoperations intended to af-fect the outcome.

U.S. officials say they be-lieve Beijing prioritised astable relationship with theU.S. and did not consider ei-ther election outcome as ad-vantageous enough for it torisk the "blowback" thatwould ensue if it got caughtwith interfering.

The primary threats in-stead came from Russia andIran, albeit with differentintentions and through dif-ferent means, according toofficials. The report says,Russia sought to under-mine Biden's candidacy be-cause it viewed his presi-dency as opposed to theKremlin's interests, thoughit took some steps to pre-pare for a Democratic ad-ministration as the electionneared. The report alsosays Putin authorised influ-ence operations aimed atdenigrating Biden, boost-ing Trump, underminingconfidence in the electionand exacerbating social di-visions in the US.

Biden agrees Putin is a ‘killer’Biden, in an interview that aired onABC’s ‘Good Morning America’, said

there would be repercussions for Putin for a variety of misdeeds,

saying, “The price he’s going to pay,you’ll see shortly.” Asked if he thinks

Putin is a killer, Biden said, “I do.”

2 jurors dropped from Chauvintrial after $27 mn settlement

WHO reports10% weekly rise in virus cases

GENEVA: The World HealthOrganisation reported thatthere was a 10 per cent risein new coronavirus casesglobally last week, driven bysurges in the Americas andEurope. WHO said in itsweekly update on the statusof the global outbreak pub-lished on Wednesday, theworldwide number of newCOVID-19 cases peaked inearly January at nearly 5million cases, but thendropped to about 2.5 millioncases per week in mid-Feb-ruary. The U.N. healthagency noted that last weekwas the third consecutiveweek there was a global risein new cases, after weeks ofdeclining infections.

WHO said COVID-19 num-bers in the Americas andEurope accounted for morethan 80 per cent of all newcases and deaths in the lastweek. In Europe, WHO saidnew confirmed cases roseby about 6 per cent whiledeaths have been "consis-tently declining". It said thehighest numbers wererecorded in France, Italyand Poland.

The spike in cases comesas more than a dozen coun-tries, mostly in Europe,have temporarily suspend-ed their use of As-traZeneca's COVID-19 vac-cine amid reports that it islinked to blood clots.

8 DEAD IN 3 US SPA SHOOTINGSThe killings came amid a recent waveof attacks against Asian Americans

that coincided with the spread of thecoronavirus across the US.

KATE BRUMBACKAtlanta

A series of shootings overnearly an hour at three At-lanta area massage par-lours left eight people deadand raised fears that the at-tack was yet another hatecrime against people ofAsian descent. Police ar-rested a 21-year-old Geor-gia man and said the mo-tive wasn't immediatelyknown, though many ofthe victims were women ofAsian descent.

The attacks began Tues-day evening, when fivepeople were shot at YoungsAsian Massage Parlour inAcworth, Cherokee Coun-ty Sheriff's Officespokesman Capt. Jay Bak-er said. Two people died atthe scene, and three weretaken to a hospital wheretwo died, Baker said.

About an hour later, po-lice responding to a callabout a robbery foundthree women dead from ap-parent gunshot wounds atGold Spa in Atlanta'sBuckhead neighbourhood,which is home to many tat-too parlours and stripclubs.

While there, the officerslearnt of a call reportingshots fired at another spaacross the street, Aro-matherapy Spa, and founda woman who appeared tohave been shot dead. "It ap-pears that they may beAsian," Atlanta PoliceChief Rodney Bryant said.

White House press secre-tary Jen Psaki said Presi-dent Joe Biden has beenbriefed on the "horrificshootings" and adminis-tration officials have beenin contact with the mayor'soffice and the FBI.

A Law enforcement offi-cial has stated that the sus-pect is a white.

Surveillance videorecorded a man pulling upto the Acworth businessabout 10 minutes beforethe attack there, authori-ties said. The same car wasspotted outside the Atlantabusinesses. A manhuntwas launched, and RobertAaron Long, of Wood-stock, was taken into cus-

tody in Crisp County.Video evidence "suggests

it is extremely likely oursuspect is the same asCherokee County's, who isin custody," Atlanta policesaid.

South Korea's ForeignMinistry said on Wednes-day that its diplomats inAtlanta have confirmedwith police that four of thedeceased were women ofKorean descent. The min-istry said its ConsulateGeneral in Atlanta is try-ing to confirm their na-tionalities. "We are horri-fied by this violence whichhas no place in America oranywhere," US State Secre-tary Antony Blinken said.

Man taken into custody

SAJJAD HUSSAINIslamabad

Pakistan Prime MinisterImran Khan on Wednesdaysaid India will benefit eco-nomically by having peacewith the neighbour as it willenable New Delhi to directlyaccess the resource-richCentral Asia region throughPakistani territory.

Delivering the inauguraladdress at the launch of the2-day Islamabad Security Di-alogue, Khan said his gove -rnment after coming to po w -er in 2018 did everything for

better ties with India and itwas for India to reciprocate.

“India will have to take the

first step. Unless they do so,we cannot do much,” hesaid.

India last month said it de-sires normal neighbourlyrelations with Pakistan in

an environment free of ter-ror, hostility and violence.India has said the onus is onPakistan to create an envi-ronment free of terror andhostility. India has told Pak-istan “talks and terror” can-not go together and hasasked Isla mabad to takedemonstrable steps againstterror groups responsiblefor launching various at-tacks on India.

Khan discussed Pakistan’svision of comprehensive na-tional security, built on thepillars of traditional andnon-traditional security, in-cluding his vision for eco-nomic prosperity and hu-man welfare. Khan dwelt atlength on peace in the re-gion, including peace be-tween Pakistan and India,saying “the unresolvedKashmir issue was thebiggest hurdle between thetwo countries.”

“If India gives the Kash-miris their right under theUN, it will greatly benefitPakistan as well as India,”he said, adding, “India canaccess Central Asia afterpeace.” Khan said having adirect route to the CentralAsian region will economi-cally benefit India. CentralAsia is rich in oil and gas.

‘Peaceful’ India may access C Asia

EC notice to Imran’s party in foreign funding caseISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s election commissionhas sent notices to Prime Minister Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party and its ownscrutiny committee to appear before it onMarch 22 to explain their stance over keepingsecret the party's foreign funding documents,according to a media report on Wednesday. Thenotices follow a complaint by Akbar S Babar, adissident founding member of the PakistanTehreek-e-Insaf party (PTI) against the scrutinycommittee's decision to keep the party'sdocuments secret. A three-member ElectionCommission of Pakistan (ECP) bench headed byJustice (retd) Irshad Qaiser heard the complaint,Geo News reported.

The notices were issued before the ECPdecided on the secrecy of scrutiny in the PTI'sforeign funding case.

Babar's lawyer, Ahmad Hassan Shah,challenged the scrutiny committee's decision tokeep PTI's accounts secret. He invoked the Rightto Information Act to seek access to thedocuments, the report said.

Babar stated that PM Khan feared that if detailsof concealed bank accounts come into the light, itcan reveal billions of rupees of illegal funding tothe PTI accounts. “This could open Pandora's boxleading to charges of money laundering,corruption, and concealment of accounts againstthe PM and others,” he added.

People dine on a restaurant terrace in front of the stupa of the Buddhist temple Wat Arun (Temple ofDawn) illuminated in green to mark St Patrick’s Day in Bangkok, Thailand, on Wednesday. –AFP

WH sets lowexpectations

for China talksin Alaska

WASHINGTON: The WhiteHouse is setting low expec-tations ahead of Secretaryof State Antony Blinkenand national security advis-er Jake Sullivan's first face-to-face meeting with theirChinese counterparts inAnchorage, Alaska.

Blinken and Sullivan areset to meet on Thursdaywith State Councilor WangYi and the foreign affairschief of the Chinese Com-munist Party, Yang Jiechi,in what the US side has saidwill be an initial opportuni-ty to address intense dis-agreements over trade andhuman rights in Tibet,Hong Kong and the westernXinjiang region, and thepandemic. But ahead of themeeting, a senior adminis-tration official describedthe talks as a chance for"taking stock" in the ties.

The official told media thetwo sides would not delivera joint statement followingthe meeting and no majorannouncements are expect-ed to come out of the talks.

Blinken and Defence Sec-retary Lloyd Austin visitedTokyo on Tuesday, wherethey delivered a statementwith Japanese counterpartsexpressing concern aboutBeijing’s human rights vio-lations in the Xinjiangprovince against ethnic mi-norities and China's deter-mination to alter the statusof a group of uninhabitedislets administered by To -kyo but claimed by Beijing.

GLOBE-TROTTINGBiden: Afghanistan May 1withdrawal deadline ‘tough’WASHINGTON: President Joe Biden said it will be"tough" for the US to meet a May 1 deadline towithdraw troops from Afghanistan but the completedrawdown won't take longer. The deadline to endAmerica's longest war six weeks from now was setunder an agreement reached by former PresidentDonald Trump and the Taliban, without the buy-inof the Afghan government. Biden, in an interviewwith ABC News' George Stephanopoulos that airedWednesday, said he was consulting with allies onthe pace of the drawdown. Biden, like his predeces-sor, has promised to end the nearly 20-year conflictand bring home more than 2,500 American troopsin the country - down from about 13,000 troops ayear ago. The Trump deal caught some Americanallies off guard, as the roughly 7,000 NATO troopsin Afghanistan rely on the US for logistics and secu-rity support. "That was not a very solidly negotiateddeal that the president, the former presidentworked out," Biden said in the interview.

Annual Iran fire festival accidents claim 10 livesTEHRAN: Mishaps during an annual fire festival inIran have left at least 10 people dead and hun-dreds more injured around the country, state TVreported Wednesday. State TV reported the casual-ties on Wednesday but news outlets including thesemiofficial ISNA said the deaths happened over aperiod of several weeks. Many of the deaths andinjuries occurred during the production and prepa-ration of firecrackers, according to reports. Officialssaid the casualties were the result of disregardingsafety measures. The annual festival begins on theTuesday before Nowruz, the Iranian New Year,which will be celebrated on Saturday.

Scores of Palestinians injuredin clashes with Israel forcesTEL AVIV: Dozens of Palestinians were injured inclashes with the Israeli forces in the Kafr Aqabneighbourhood located in East Jerusalem, aspokesperson for the Red Crescent Society inJerusalem told Sputnik. "Thirty-one people wereinjured [after inhaling] tear gas, and 11 otherswere wounded by rubber bullets in the Kafr Aqabarea. All of those injured received immediate treat-ment," the spokesperson said. Palestine's officialnews agency WAFA reported that Israel's forcesstormed the area, which led to clashes betweenthe two sides. The Israeli Border Police, declined to

comment when asked for clarification by Sputnik.

Nepal expects hundreds ofclimbers despite pandemicKATHMANDU: Nepal is expecting hundreds of for-eigners to attempt to scale the highest Himalayanpeaks despite the pandemic. The Department ofTourism in Kathmandu said Wednesday that morethan 300 foreigners have expressed interest inclimbing Mount Everest this spring. There's similarinterest for other mountains too, said a departmentofficial. One Japanese and four Canadians climbersare already trekking their way to the base camps ofMount Manaslu and Mount Nuptse, respectively, anofficial said. The spring season, which is popularbecause of favourable weather, began this month. Itextends up to the end of May, when weather dete-riorates and climbing becomes dangerous. Thosewishing to scale mountains still have to be quaran-tined in a Kathmandu hotel and test negative.

14 hospitalised as Spain rescues migrant boat BARCELONA: Dozens of migrants were rescuedfrom a boat near Spain’s Canary Islands, with 14people — many suffering from hypothermia —requiring hospitalisation, authorities saidWednesday. Emergency services also spotted a sec-ond boat carrying migrants south of Gran Canaria.A girl, 2, in critical condition and 3 women in seri-ous condition were among 9 children and 5 adultswho were hospitalised, the health dept said. Atotal of 52 sub-Saharan Africans, including 29women and 9 kids were found onboard the vesselsouth of the island of Gran Canaria on Tuesdayevening and brought to the port of Arguineguin,Spain’s Maritime Rescue Service said.

French court rules firefighters’sex with teen wasn’t rapePARIS: A top French court has ruled against upgrad-ing the charges against 3 firefighters accused of hav-ing sex with a teenage girl from sexual assault torape in a case that helped fuel efforts to set a legalage of sexual consent in France. The victim hasaccused the firefighters of repeatedly raping her overa decade ago, when she was 13-15-years-old. Theaccused have acknowledged they had sex with her,insisting the activity was consensual. The womanand her mother appealed a lower court ruling thatdowngraded the charges. But France’s Court ofCassation ruled Wednesday there “were insufficientcharges against anyone for committing acts of rape.”

Meghan-Harry’smortgage

fundraiser raisesonly $110, closed

ARUL LOUIS New York

As a border crisis is build-ing, President Joe Biden isappealing to people to notcome to the US, dispellingthe impression for somefrom the campaign rhetoricthat immigration restric-tions would be dismantled.

“Don’t come over,” he saidon Tuesday, repeating a pleaby officials to people fromCentral America converging

along the border with Mexi-co.

"Don't leave your town orcity or community," he saidin an interview on ABC TV.

Homeland Security secre-tary Alejandro Mayorkas as-sured a House of Represen-tatives Committee onWednesday, "Border is se-cure, it is not open."

While White Housespokesperson Jen Psaki hasdenied there was a "crisis" atthe border, Mayorkas said:

"The Department is re-sponding to historic and un-precedented challenges atthe border, including the ar-rival of record levels of un-accompanied children."

Earlier he had warned:"We are on pace to encountermore individuals on thesouthwest border than wehave in the last 20 years."

US border security person-nel caught over 97,000 peopleillegally crossing into theUS. "The idea that Joe Bidensaid, 'Come' -- because Iheard the other day thatthey're coming because theyknow I'm a nice guy. Here'sthe deal: They're not," Bidensaid in the interview.

In one of his manifestos,he had said: "It is a moralfailing and a national shamewhen a father and his babydaughter drown seeking ourshores" and added therewould be a "humane" immi-gration policy.

He promised to give legalstatus with eventual citizen-ship for an estimated 11 mil-lion illegal immigrants inthe country.

But his manifesto also saidhe would enforce the laws onimmigration and border se-curity.

Don’t come over: PrezUS BORDER CRISIS INTENSIFIES

* Three Covid-19 patientsdie in Dhaka MedicalCollege fire

* BoJo to get C-19 vax jab

* SL opens 1st automatedmask manufacturingplant; country continueswith AstraZeneca vax

* France's Nicolas Sarkozygoes back on trial forelection spending

* Covid-19 disruptionskilled 2,28,000 children inSouth Asia: UN report

* Hungary reports recordnumber of C-19 deaths

* Russia registers 8,998new Covid-19 cases

* UK variant spread rapidlyin UK care homes in spanof two weeks: Study

Dashboard

LOS ANGELES: A fundraiserto help pay off Prince Harryand Meghan Markle's $14.6million California estatewas closed after raising just$110.

Calfornia-based AnastasiaHanson set up the Go-FundMe page two days afterthe Duke and Duchess' ex-plosive interview withOprah Winfrey aired in theUS, the Daily Mail reported.

According to the informa-tion on the page, the 56-year-old was seeking donationsof $5 to reach a target of$10,000,000.

Hanson wrote the Sussex-es had parted with $6 mil-lion for the down paymenton their sprawling, 9-bed-room Montecito home be-fore they moved in in Au-gust 2020 and so required afurther $13 million to pay offthe mortgage.

She said the pair had ar-rived in the US "withoutjobs and with limitedfunds" and have had a "veryrough time" since steppingback as senior royals al-most a year ago.

Migrants wait to cross the border into the US at the Gateway International Bridge, between Brownsville, Texas, and Matamoros, Mexico, in Brownsville, Texas. — AFP

AGENCIESMinneapolis

A judge on Wednesday dis-missed 2 jurors who hadbeen seated for the trial of aformer Minneapolis policeofficer in George Floyd'sdeath over fears the jurorshad been tainted by thecity's announcement lastweek of a $27 million settle-ment to Floyd's family.

Hennepin County JudgePeter Cahill recalled 7 jurorsand was questioning eachone in turn to find out whatthey knew about the settle-

ment and whether it affectedtheir ability to serve.

Former officer DerekChauvin's attorney, EricNelson, had requested therecall.

Cahill was being careful toask jurors if they had heardthe news of the settlementwithout giving details, say-ing only that there had been"extensive media coverageabout developments in acivil suit between the city ofMinneapolis and the familyof George Floyd" and ask-ing if they had been ex-posed to it.

India will haveto take the first

step. Unless they doso, we cannot domuch.

—IMRAN KHAN, Pakistan PM

‘

Printed and Published by Girdharlal Lakhotia for the Proprietors, Indian National Press (Bombay) P. Ltd., at Journal Press, Free Press House, Free Press Journal Marg, 215, Nariman Point, Mumbai-400 021. Tel: 69028000, Advt. Dept. 69028026. E-mail: [email protected] • OFFICE: Indore: 3/54, Press Complex, A. B. Road, Indore-452 008, Tel: 2555111-2, Fax: 2558555, New Delhi: 1/8 INS Bldg., Rafi Marg, New Delhi-110 001; Tel.: 23718853; Kolkata: Tel.: 22875645; Chennai: Tel: 28217766; Bhopal: Tel: 2660570, 4271345. Air Surcharge Rs. 2.00 only. Managing Editor: Girdharlal Lakhotia. Editor: S. S. DHAWAN. Reg. No. MCS/048/2018-20; RNI No. 1541/1957

2007Twenty-four hours on from thegreatest upset in World Cuphistory, an even greater off-fieldshock brought the Caribbeancarnival to an instant andterrible halt. Bob Woolmer, thecoach of the Pakistan teamthat had been knocked out of

the tournament by Ireland, was found unconscious in his hotelbathroom and later died in hospital. He was 58. As the worlddigested the enormity of the news, all manner of rumours, theoriesand plots flooded the airwaves, and within four days the Jamaicapolice had launched a murder inquiry. After months of fruitlessspeculation, they eventually conceded he had died of naturalcauses.

05.30: WWE NXT; Sony Ten 120.00: WWE NXT; Sony Ten 123.25: EL; Tottenham vs Dinamo Zagreb; Sony Ten 223.25: EL; Arsenal vs Olympiacos; Sony Ten 123.25: EL; Shakhtar Donetsk vs Roma; Sony Six01.30: EL; Rangers vs Slavia Praha; Sony Ten 101.30: Europa League; Milan vs Man. United; Sony Ten 201.30: Europa League; Young Boys vs. Ajax; Sony Six

THIS DAY, THAT YEAR

SPORTS CAFEChikkarangappa on top with 65GURUGRAM: Defending champion Chikkarangappa S ofBengaluru carded a sublime seven-under-65, the day's joint bestscore, to emerge as halfway leader with a total of nine-under-135 at the Delhi-NCR Open Golf Championship here onWednesday. Gurugram's Tapy Ghai (67) and Chandigarh'sHarendra Gupta (70) were in joint second place with totals ofeight-under-136 at the Rs. 30 lakh event.

Sable sets new national record PATIALA: Athlete Avinash Sable on Wednesday set a newnational record in the men's 3000m steeplechase event in theongoing Federation Cup. The 26-year-old Avinash recorded atiming of 8:20.20 and hence he ended up breaking his ownrecord which he set in 2019.

Jahanvi emerges leader in 6th legJAIPUR: Jahanvi Bakshi carded a one-under 69 on the openingday to take the lead in the sixth leg of the Hero Women's ProGolf Tour here on Wednesday. Playing in windy conditions at thepar 70 course, Jahanvi was steady with two birdies against onebogey while her younger sister Hitaashee shot one-over 71 tobe tied second alongside Tvesa Malik and Amandeep Drall.

One Pakistan player tests positiveLAHORE: Ahead of the South Africa tour, Pakistan Cricket Board(PCB) on Wednesday confirmed that one member of the squadhas tested positive for coronavirus. "A total of 35 tests wereconducted on the South Africa-bound Pakistan men's nationalcricket team on Tuesday, 16 March. All squad members havetested negative, except for one player," PCB said in a statement.

Solanki, Lather make winning startNEW DELHI: Indian boxers Gaurav Solanki and Sonia Latherproduced brilliant performances on the opening day of theBosphorus Boxing Tournament in Istanbul as they progressed tothe next round in their respective categories. Solanki, the 2018Commonwealth Games champion, looked in complete controlright from the word go as he blanked his opponent ArapovAidos of Kazakhstan 5-0 to enter the quarter-finals in the 57kgmen's category.

Arm wrestling ahead of Vijender's boutPANJIM: Swen Entertainment in partnership with IOS Sports andEntertainment is set to bring Asia's biggest Arm Wrestlingtournament, The Pro Panja League to Goa on Friday. The ProPanja Mega Matches-2 will be held just before the main eventfight between Vijender Singh and Artysh Lopsan on the rooftopof the Majestic Pride Casino Ship.

NeoGrowth rope in Rahane as AmbassadorMUMBAI: NeoGrowth Credit Pvt. Ltd., a pioneer in SME lendingin India, announced that the company has signed up the Vice-captain of the Indian Cricket Test Team, Ajinkya Rahane, as itsbrand ambassador. NeoGrowth provides finance to smallbusiness owners such as retailers, restaurants, apparel shops,kirana stores, petrol pumps, groceries, pharmacies and otherMSMEs, with flexible repayment options and customisedproducts addressing multiple business needs.

Girl Gang official song of Women's CWC'22DUBAI: Gin Wigmore's female empowerment anthem 'GirlGang' has been named as the official song for the ICC Women'sWorld Cup 2022. The Kiwi pop star is pretty happy with the waythings have worked out. "When you send a song out to theworld you never really know what will happen. You do certainlyhave hopes for it. I guess I had thought it would make a greattheme song for something," said an official ICC release.

Lahiri gets back to action at PGA NationalPALM BEACH (Florida): Seeking to regain his form and rhythm,Indian golfer Anirban Lahiri will return to what he considers hishome course, the PGA National, for the Honda Classic this week.It will be fourth successive event of the Florida Swing and thevenue, Jack Nicklaus' PGA National where the Champion course,will see the stars tackle the famous Bear Trap.

PSG shuts down youth academyPARIS: Paris Saint-Germain closed its youth academy trainingfacility on Wednesday following a COVID-19 outbreak. TheFrench club said several new coronavirus cases were recentlydetected following a testing campaign at the training center. Theclub said the academy will be closed until Monday "as aprecautionary measure" and that a new round of testing willtake place Friday.

Good response for Gaming Masters MUMBAI: Jio and MediaTek concluded Gaming Masters, a 70-day Esports tournament, which according to them received anoverwhelming response from gaming enthusiasts all over thecountry. The tournament that started on January 13 featuringGarena's Free Fire game; with solo and duo categories, runningin parallel for seven weeks with over 43,000 teams.

Kohli rises to 5th in T20I listDUBAI: India skipper Virat Kohli has moved back into the topfive while England star batsman Jos Buttler has re-entered thetop 20 in the latest ICC men's T20I rankings after blisteringperformances in their ongoing five-match series in Ahmedabad.Kohli, has gained one slot and a massive 47 rating points afterunbeaten knocks of 73 and 77 in the second and third T20I.

RR plan to continue scouting talentNEW DELHI: The Indian Premier League (IPL) franchiseRajasthan Royals have deepened their association with theenergy drink giant Red Bull in India and plans to continuescouting talent from the annual international T20 tournament forcollege cricket teams -- Red Bull Campus Cricket.

WHAT’S

(V)INGLISH CHALLENGE MUMBAI THURSDAY| MARCH 18, 2021

FPJ NEWS SERVICEAhmedabad

Toss has also been the gamechanger at least in the ongo-ing T20 International be-tween England and India, theworld No one and two teams,respectively.

And with this five-serieswell in the visitors favour (2-1) lead, Virat Kohli will lookfor redemption, setting asidethe toss factor, which hasseen the batting second teamwinning in the last three out-ings.

And as these two teams

take to the field on Thursday,in their fourth T20, the hosthave a task cut out, as theywill have to win to keep theseries alive.

Kohli has repeatedlystressed the need to do wellwhether they are posting to-tals or chasing as part oftheir preparation for the T20World Cup at home later thisyear.

In the two games they lostafter batting first, Indiastruggled in the powerplay,which impacted their finaltotal despite one batsman

(Shreyas Iyer and Virat Kohlirespectively) going on tomake a significant contribu-tion.

A lot of it was down to K LRahul not being amongst theruns but Kohli made it amplyclear that the Karnatakabatsman and Rohit Sharmaremain their preferred open-ing combination.

"If you look at his stats inthe last 2-3 years, they areprobably better than anyonein T20. He will continue to beone of our main battersalong with Rohit at the top of

the order. We don't have anyconcerns there," said Kohli.

England, like India, alsowants to win in all condi-tions and will be buoyed bytheir emphatic win in theprevious game.

Buttler being amongst theruns is also a cause of worryfor India as on his day he candemolish any attack in theworld.

Jonny Bairstow, who had ahorror run in the two Testshe played against India,came up with a morale-boost-ing 40 on Tuesday.

Now England are waitingfor the world's number one

batsman Dawid Malan tofire.

TEAM

S (F

ROM

) INDIA: Virat Kohli (captain), Rohit Sharma (vc), KL Rahul,Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, RishabhPant (wk), Hardik Pandya, Yuzvendra Chahal, BhuvneshwarKumar, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur,Navdeep Saini, Deepak Chahar, Rahul Tewatia, IshanKishan (reserve w-keeper).

ENGLAND: Eoin Morgan (captain), Joss Buttler, JasonRoy, Liam Livingstone, Dawid Malan, Ben Stokes, MoeenAli, Adil Rashid, Reece Topley, Chris Jordan, Mark Wood,Sam Curran, Tom Curran, Sam Billings, Jonny Bairstow,Jofra Archer.

Live on Star Sports @ 6.30pm

FPJ NEWS SERVICEMumbai

All-rounder Om Keshka-math’s solid knock of 93 runsand Atharva Bhosale’s splen-did bowling effort of 4 for 27runs inspired New HindCricket Club to snatch a nail-biting eight-run victoryagainst John Bright CricketClub in a tense and thrillingfinal of the Lord NorthbrookCC orgainsed 1st LNCCOmni Global Trophy Invita-tion Under-19 (45 overs)Cricket Tournament 2021,conducted under the aus-pices of the Mumbai CricketAssociation and played at theWankhede Stadium, Church-gate on Wednesday.

New Hind CC who weresent in to bat first managedto reach a modest total of 226for the loss of nine wickets

from their stipulated 45overs. Later, New Hind whodid not get much runs on thescoreboard bowled well andmanaged to restrict JohnBright to 218 all out in 43.4overs.

New Hind’s all-rounder OmKeshkamath bagged both the‘Man of the Match’ and ‘Man

of the Series’ awards.Brief scores

New Hind Cricket Club: 226-9(Om Keshkamath 93, SahilJadhav 35; D Singh 2-45,Atharva Dakwe 2-39) bt 218(Akshat Jain 52, Tejas Chavan45, Jai Jain 34, DashrathChavan 31; Atharva Bhosale 4-27, Ayush Zimre 2-39).

New Hind emerge championsPTI / Greater Noida

The Indian team won twogold medals on the secondday of the ITPF World CupQualifiers for Tent Pegging.

The Indian team won thegold medal in Team Swordcompetition with 111 points.Nepal won the silver with 98points and the bronze medalwas won by Pakistan with89.5 points.

Dinesh G Karlekar, B RJena, Mohit Kumar andSandeep Kumar were part ofthe winning Indian team.

In Individual Sword com-petition, Dinesh G Karlekarfrom India bagged the goldmedal. Sandeep Kumar fromIndia won silver andMuhammad Nasir Abbasfrom Pakistan and Golamfrom Nepal both won thebronze medals.

Team Indiabags two gold

AP / Budapest

The quarterfinals haveproved to be the ceiling forManchester City in theChampions League underPep Guardiola.

The team is back thereagain, for a fourth straightseason, after sweeping asideBorussia Monchengladbachin the last 16.

And this time, things feelvery different.

The ruthless nature ofCity's 4-0 aggregate win overGladbach, sealed by another2-0 victory over the Germanteam in the second leg onTuesday, smacked of a sidein control of its destiny.

The celebrations at thefull-time whistle were asbusiness-like as the per-formance. For City, it feltthe competition now starts

for real."Since the first day I ar-

rived here, five years ago,they told me you have to winthe Champions League,"Guardiola said.

Yet the expectations haveproved too much forGuardiola and his team insuccessive quarterfinal ex-its, to Liverpool, Tottenhamand then - so painfully -Lyon last season.

This looks to be City's bestchance of becoming Euro-pean champion for the firsttime, though.

Real in QfsIn Madrid, Real Madrid tookadvantage of Atalanta's cost-ly goalkeeping change tomake it back to the Champi-ons League quarterfinals.Madrid defeated Atalanta 3-1, to advance 4-1.

City in CL quarters

PRESS TRUST OF INDIABirmingham

World champion P V Sindhumade an impressive start atthe All England BadmintonChampionships but compa-triots Kidambi Srikanth andParupalli Kashyap sufferedearly exits after losing theirrespective opening roundmen's singles matches hereon Wednesday.The Indian women's duo ofAshwini Ponnappa and NSikki Reddy and men's dou-bles pair of SatwiksairajRankireddy and Chirag Shet-ty also progressed to the sec-ond round with straightgame wins.Olympic silver medallistSindhu gave a good account

of herself as she covered thecourt well and dished out adisciplined performance tooutwit world number 32Soniia Cheah ofMalaysia 21-11 21-17 in 38 minutes.

Indianscleared

Meanwhile, theIndian bad-minton contin-gent has beencleared to partici-pate in the Champi-onships after the players,who had tested positive forCOVID-19, returned nega-tive in retests conducted bythe governing body (BWF)on Wednesday.

Three Indian shuttlers and

a support staff had testedpositive on Tuesday while afew were awaiting confirma-

tion on their inconclusivesamples, leaving the

players withoutmuch practice

ahead of thetournament.

"No positivetests in theteam anyone.

We are readyfor All England,"

wrote India's Dan-ish foreign coach

Mathais Boe in a post in In-stagram.

In an email to team man-agers on Wednesday, theBadminton World Federa-tion (BWF) and BadmintonEngland also informed that

following further investiga-tions and testing, all teammembers have been re-turned to the draw havingsuccessfully retested nega-tive.

It also said that, followinga higher-than-expectednumber of inconclusiveand positive tests, a full in-vestigation into the testingand laboratory process wasconducted in consultationwith representatives fromPublic Health England andthe testing companies in-volved.

The Indian campaign wasthrown into chaos on Tues-day after reports emergedthat three players and a sup-port staff had tested posi-tive for COVID-19.

Sindhu wins; Srikanth, Kashyap out

PTI / Indore

In a bizarre women's game,domestic giants Mumbaibundled out minnows Na-galand for a paltry 17 in theongoing Senior One-DayTrophy and then chaseddown the target in just fourballs without any loss, hereon Wednesday.

The incident happenedduring the league stage ofthe ongoing Women's Sen-ior One Day Trophy at theHolkar Stadium here and itwas Mumbai skipper andmedium-pacer Sayali Sat-ghare (7/5 in 8.4 overs), whowreaked havoc with theball.

No Nagaland batter couldmanager a double digitscore with Sariba (9), whowalked in at number seven,being the top-scorer.

Satghare was superblyaided by S Thakor (1/0) andM Dakshini (2/12) as Mum-bai put up a dominant show.

BizarreGame

PRESS TRUST OF INDIALucknow

South Africa added salt to In-dia's wounds by registering afive-wicket win over thehosts in the low-scoring fifthand final women's ODI toseal the series 4-1 here onWednesday.

Mithali Raj played a cap-tain's knock by hitting a well-crafted 79 not out but it wasonly enough to take India to188 all out.

South Africa then rode onAnneke Bosch (58) andMignon du Preez's (57) half-centuries to chase down thetarget in 48.2 overs.

The series marked India'sreturn to international crick-et after 12 months. They werenaturally rusty to start withand by the end of the series, itseemed that they have a lot ofwork to do if they want to betitle contenders for the WorldCup early next year.

The batting needs more

firepower and bowling con-cerns too need to be ad-dressed as spinners, tradi-tionally India's strength,struggled against SouthAfrica.

Coming back after a longbreak, the India players hadonly a handful of trainingsessions ahead of the seriesas they also had to undergo amandatory one week quar-antine.

"Clearly, we do need somecamps before series. We wereunderprepared, comingfrom a gap.

The batting unit tried toimprove consistently matchby match. Our spinners needto improve," said Mithali atthe post-match presentation.

"Other than the result, it'sbeen a good series for us. Ex-posure for the young players,and opportunity to thoseplayers looking for rhythm.Congratulations to SouthAfrica for doing so well inour conditions," she added.

South Africa sealODI series 4-1

AGENCIESSimdega (Jharkhand)

Defending championsHaryana and hosts Jhark-hand stormed into the finalof the 11th Sub JuniorWomen's National Champi-onship with resounding vic-tories here on Wednesday.

In the first semi-finalmatch, Haryana romped toa comprehensive 10-0 winagainst Uttar Pradesh.

In the second semi-finalmatch, Jharkhand beatOdisha 5-0 to book a place inthe summit event.

The third/fourth placematch between UttarPradesh and Odisha will be-gin at 11 am on Thursday.The final will begins at 3pm.

Jharkhand,Haryana in final

FPJ NEWS SERVICE / Raipur:

Sachin Tendulkar-led IndiaLegends stormed into thefinals of the first edition ofthe Road Safety World Se-ries T20 after beating WestIndies Legends by 13 runsat the Shaheed VeerNarayan Singh Interna-tional Cricket Stadium onWednesday.It was none other than cap-tain and crowd favouriteTendulkar who led the waywith a stylish half centuryafter Virender Sehwag's en-tertaining cameo and be-fore Yuvraj Singh's six-hit-ting spree. Chasing 219 to win, theWindies were restricted to206 for 6 in 20 overs by In-dia.

India Legendsstorm into final

Seeking redemptionIn a must-win game, India aim tonegate toss factor in the 4th T20I

against England today

PTI / Ahmedabad

Three cheap dismissalscan't change the fact thatKL Rahul is India's best T20batsman and it won't belong that one shot or one in-nings will get him back tohis best, batting coachVikram Rathour said,promising support for thestruggling opener. Rahulgot out without scoring intwo of his last three inningswhile he managed just onerun in the series-opener. Apart of it could be attributedto no game time since theend of T20 series in Aus-tralia early December.

"Anybody can have a leanphase and KL has been ourbest batsman in T20 format.He is averaging 40 plus witha strike rate of 145 and 3 fail-ures doesn't change the factthat he is the best batsmanwe have in this format,"Rathour said after India lost

the third T20 Internationalon Tuesday. "This is the timewhen we need to supporthim and I am absolutelysure he will come back outof the lean phase," the bat-ting coach spoke in thesame vein as Kohli did at thepresentation ceremony.

However, Rathour didagree that rustiness couldbe a reason and all it wouldtake is one good shot to get

back into the groove."I agree they do tend to get

rusty when they are sittingout but only thing we can dois to provide them practice.They are having a lot of netsessions and even on middle(centre strips)," he said.

"That's all they can do andwe can just hope that one in-nings or one shot and theywill be back in form. Peoplelike KL Rahul."

Three failures don't change fact: Rathour

KL Rahul being bowled by Mark Wood on Tuesday

Champion team, New Hind CC


NEW DELHI: Google has introduced a new feature called Sleep Sensingon the second-gen Nest Hub which is an opt-in feature to help youunderstand and improve your sleep. Available as a free preview until nextyear Sleep Sensing uses Motion Sense (powered by Soli low-energy radartechnology) to analyse how the person closest to the display is sleeping,based on their movement and breathing – all without a camera or

wearable. Sleep Sensing can also detect sleep disturbances like coughingand snoring or the light and temperature changes in the room with NestHub's built-in microphones and ambient light and temperature sensors,Google said in a statement on Tuesday. Sleep Sensing can also connect toyour Google Fit app on Android and iOS devices, so you can see your sleepsummary alongside your other health and wellness information. –IANS

2nd Gen Google Nest Hub to sense your sleep patterns

FROM OUR BUREAUNew Delhi

Foods such as cheese andprocessed meats can infectsites of intestinal damage in

mice and people with Crohn’s dis-ease and prevent healing, accord-ing to new research. The new studyalso shows that treating infectedmice with anti-fungal medicationeliminates the fungus and allowsthe wounds to heal.

Eating is a dangerous business.Naturally occurring toxins in foodand potentially harmful food bornemicrobes can do a number on ourintestines, leading to repeated mi-nor injuries. In healthy people,such damage typically heals in aday or two. But in people withCrohn’s disease, the wounds fester,causing abdominal pain, bleeding,diarrhoea, and other unpleasantsymptoms.

The study findings, published inScience, suggest that anti-fungaldrugs and dietary changes are po-tential new approaches to improv-ing intestinal wound healing andreducing symptoms of Crohn’s disease.

“We’re not suggesting that peoplestop eating cheese and processed

meat; that would be going far be-yond what we know right now,”says first author Umang Jain, an in-structor in pathology and im-munology at the School of Medi-cine at Washington University inSt. Louis.

“What we know is that this foodborne fungus gets into inflamed, in-jured tissue and causes harm.We’re planning to perform a largerstudy in people to figure out if

there’s a correlation between dietand the abundance of this fungusin the intestine. If so, it is possibledietary modulation could lower lev-els of the fungus and thereby re-duce symptoms of Crohn’s disease.”

Crohn’s is a subtype of inflamma-tory bowel disease. As the namesuggests, it is driven by chronic in-flammation in the digestive tractand primarily treated with im-

munosuppressive medications.Crohn’s patients endure repeatedcycles of gastrointestinal symptomflare-up and remission. During aflare, their digestive tracts are dot-ted with inflamed, open sores thatcan persist for weeks or evenmonths.

To understand why intestinal ul-cers take so long to heal in somepeople, Jain and senior authorThaddeus Stappenbeck, formerly atWashington University and now atthe Cleveland Clinic, studied micewhose intestines had been injured.

By sequencing microbial DNA atthe site of injury, they discoveredthat the fungus Debaryomyceshansenii was abundant in woundsbut not in uninjured parts of the intestine.

People acquire the fungusthrough their food and drink, Jainsays. D. hansenii is commonlyfound in all kinds of cheeses, aswell as sausage, beer, wine, and oth-er fermented foods.

Further experiments showed thatintroducing the fungus into micewith injured intestines sloweddown the healing process, and thateliminating D. hansenii with theanti fungal drug amphotericin Bsped it up.

Are fermented foods safe? Think againAs per a report,

foods likecheese,

processed meat,sausage, beer,

wine etc.prevents healing

in people withCrohn’s disease.It may also lead

to abdominalpain, bleedingand diarrhoea

AGENCIESNew York

Spending more time onInternet improved aca-demic performance

and also led to more discipli-nary problems among stu-dents, said a US-based study.The study published in theJournal of Marketing Re-search indicated that it alsoled to an improvement incommended performance inmath, reading, writing andsocial studies. Interestingly,the researchers noted these

improvements werestronger for students wholived in counties withgreater internet access.

“Investments in internetaccess provide clear andmeaningful academic bene-fits yet schools need to im-plement policies to addressincreased disciplinary is-sues such as cyberbullying,”said researcher Vikas Mit-tal, Professor at Rice Univer-sity in the US.

For the study, the teamcreated a multi year dataset(2000-14) of 1,243 school dis-

tricts representing morethan 9,000 Texas publicschools.

The team measured inter-net access spending, 11 aca-demic performance indica-tors and 47 types of schooldisciplinary problems. Itused econometric tech-niques to develop causal es-timates linking internet ac-cess spending to academicperformance and discipli-nary problems.

Using student earning,the researchers calculatedthe economic impact of in-creased annual internetspending. The team also cal-culated how much economicbenefit a school district's in-ternet access would bringstudents during their lifetimes.

It found that a $600,000 in-crease in annual internet ac-cess spending produces a fi-nancial gain of nearly$820,000 to $1.8 million perschool district, togetherwith losses from discipli-nary problems totalling$25,800 to $53,440. –IANS

Students, internet surfing mayhelp you score good marks!

AGENCIES / Washington

Asignificant portion ofMars’ water, between30 and 99 per cent, is

trapped within minerals inthe planet's crust, says a newstudy. The research, pub-lished in the journal Science,challenges the current theo-ry that the Red Planet’s wa-ter escaped into space.

The research team fromCalifornia Institute of Tech-nology (Caltech) and NASA'sJet Propulsion Laboratory(JPL) found that around fourbillion years ago, Mars washome to enough water tohave covered the whole plan-et in an ocean about 100 to1,500 metres deep; a volumeroughly equivalent to half ofEarth’s Atlantic Ocean.

But, by a billion years lat-

er, the planet was as dry as itis today.

Previously, scientists seek-ing to explain what hap-pened to the flowing wateron Mars had suggested thatit escaped into space, victimof Mars’s low gravity.

Though some water did in-deed leave Mars this way, itnow appears that such an es-cape cannot account for mostof the water loss.

“Atmospheric escape doesnot fully explain the datathat we have for how muchwater actually once existedon Mars,” said lead author ofthe study Eva Scheller, a PhDcandidate at Caltech in theUS.

The team studied the quan-tity of water on Mars overtime in all its forms (vapour,liquid, and ice) and thechemical composition of the

planet’s current atmosphereand crust through the analy-sis of meteorites as well asusing data provided by Marsrovers and orbiters, lookingin particular at the ratio ofdeuterium to hydrogen(D/H).

“Atmospheric escape clear-ly had a role in water loss,but findings from the lastdecade of Mars missionshave pointed to the fact thatthere was this huge reservoirof ancient hydrated miner-als whose formation certain-ly decreased water availabil-ity over time,” said study co-author Bethany Ehlmann,Professor at California Insti-tute of Technology.

“All of this water was se-questered fairly early on, andthen never cycled back out,”Scheller said. –IANS

Mars water still trapped underground, says study Dry eye disease mayaffect overall well-being

AGENCIESLondon

Anew study by the Uni-versity of Southamp-ton reports that pa-

tients suffering from dry eyedisease symptoms have alower quality of life com-pared to those without symptoms.

The findings showed thatpatients with the conditionreported negative effects onvisual function, their abilityto carry out daily activitiesand their work productivity.

Dry eye disease is a com-mon condition and a fre-quent reason for patients toseek medical care. It can af-fect people of any age but ismost prevalent in women

and in older people. Symptoms include irrita-

tion and redness in the eyes,blurred vision, and a sensa-tion of grittiness in the eye.

The results showed that ahigher proportion of partici-pants in the study with dryeye disease had problemswith mobility and experi-enced more difficulties intheir day-to-day activitiesthan patients without thecondition. The surveys alsorevealed they were more like-ly to suffer from anxiety anddepression.

Those with the most severesymptoms were more likelyto experience a negative im-pact on their social and emo-tional functioning as wellwork productivity. –ANI

Amazing AyurvedaAadraark Pak Key property: Thisayurvedic formulation is ef-fective against dry cough. Italso helps in combat-ing low appetite. Ingredient: Gin-ger, ginger pow-der, black pep-per, Nagkesar(mesua ferrea),mace, cinnamonetc. Quantity & usage: 10to 15 gm. It should betaken twice a day or as di-rected by the physician.

Ashwagandha PakKey property: This formula-tion boosts nutrition in the

body and it also improvesphysical health. Ingredient: Ashwagandha,cinnamon, bay leaf, mesua

ferrea, cardamom, nut-meg, saffron, ras

sindoor, micaand iron pow-der etc. Quantity & us‐age: 5 to 10 gm.It should be

taken twice aday with milk. Or

as directed by thephysican.

(To know more about Shri Mohta Ayurvedic

Rasayanshala, call on 0151-2523227/ or reach at

[email protected])

Disclaimer: The description of the above-mentionedproducts is an excerpt from a booklet, Sankshipt AushadParichay Patrak. Please consult your doctor/ or contact

the clinic before taking them.

GUIDING LIGHT

Discrimination: Let’s speak against it– Rajyogi Brahmakumar Nikunj ji

The Indian caste system ishistorically one of the maindimensions where people in

India are socially differentiatedthrough class, religion, region,tribe, gender, and language. Al-though this or other forms of dif-ferentiation exist in all human so-cieties, it becomes a problem whenone or more of these dimensionsoverlap each other and become thesole basis of systematic rankingand unequal access to valued resources like wealth, income,power and prestige.

The phrase “Without any dis-crimination, based on race, colour,caste, creed, sex and religious be-lief” is now commonly used whensuch part of any Act, Article orRule that puts emphasis on justiceand equality is to be suitably word-ed. The Universal Declaration ofHuman Rights, adopted by the U.N.

General Assembly in 1948 also hasused this phrase with addition ofwords like property, birth, nation-al origin and distinction of any kind.

However, article-2 of the Declara-tion, which has this phrase, doesnot include the word ‘caste’ be-cause the caste system, as it isprevalent in India, is not prevalentin most other countries. But theaforesaid Article uses the words‘social origin’ and also the word'birth' and these words shouldjointly imply the distinction madeon the ground of caste that isnowadays based on birth and social origin.

There is no doubt, that the use ofthis or similarly worded phrases isthe right thing done to meet the re-quirements of law and legislationthat makes it mandatory for andobligatory on the citizens of a

country or the world not to dis-criminate on the basis of any oneof these. The simple reason for thisis that the discrimination resultsin inequality, based on extraneousfactors, and also in injustice anddisrespectful or inhuman treat-ment of some people and depriva-tion of certain classes. But, an im-portant thing, what seems to havebeen missed all along in this con-nection is that legal luminaries, so-cial scientists and the public have,perhaps, never applied any seriousthought as to why distinctionsbased on race, colour, nationality,etc., are sought to be set asidewhen these distinctions really ex-ist and qualify or disqualify a per-son or certain worldly roles. Also,why is discrimination, based onany one of these, considered as anobstacle to justice or road block toequality?... (to be continued)

WHAT TO DO: Fill in the grid sothat every row, every column andevery 3x3 box contains the digits1 to 9. Every puzzle has only onecorrect solution.

4367 / © 2021 Amrita Bharati, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan

AMAZING LIVINGWORLD

Mammal with ScalesTHE pangolin is an animal whose body iscovered with hard brownish-grey, horny scalesthat overlap each other. These scales are saidto be bullet-proof.

A pangolin does not have teeth but has along, rope-like, sticky tongue. It is a shy,nocturnal animal and is rarely seen. But thepresence of excavated termite mounds betrayits presence, for it feeds exclusively on antsand termites.

A hungry pangolin will rip apart a termitemound with its strong claws and thrust itstongue into the interior. When it withdraws itstongue, there are ants stuck all along the length.Sometimes it climbs trees to feed on tree ants.

A stray puppy isearning legions of fansonline thanks to herprominent ‘handlebarmoustache’, whichclosely resembles thesignature moustacheof Spanish artist Salvador Dali. NamedSalvador Dolly, the puppy is currentlystaying at a shelter in Dallas and will soonbe placed for adoption.

FUN FACT

A pangolin eats nearly 200 g of insects inone night.

Its house is a long burrow which can bealmost 6 m deep. The pangolin sleeps inside itsburrow the whole day long, and when inside it,keeps the entrance closed with mud.

The pangolin has a strong, muscular andprehensile tail which is almost as long as itsbody. It lashes out with its tail when caught.Generally it is a peaceable animal. For self-defence, it rolls itself into a tight ball and thengreat muscular force is required to unroll it. If anenemy does manage to unroll it, the pangolinwill further defend itself by squirting urine.

The Indian pangolin is found all over thecountry. Another species, the Chinese pangolin,is found in Assam and the easternHimalayas.

BLONDIE / Dean Young & Mile Gersher

ARIES: You may feel dissatisfied in the areayou are currently working in. Explore and findyour hidden potentials. Your intuitions maytell you to distance from certain people.

TAURUS: Those in the field of media may doremarkably well, their hard work will definitelypay off. You may devote more time todeveloping new skills and knowledge.

GEMINI: You may feel ecstatically happy,thanks to the connection between you andyour life partner. An influential person maysupport you which will boost your confidence.

CANCER: You may have a wonderful time. Apiece of good news may come to you. Get ridof stress. Your health will be good. Yourreputation in the workplace will improve.

LEO: You may get confused while makingdecisions, better seek advice from anexperienced person. Your disturbed mentalpeace may affect your confidence.

VIRGO: You will have unexpected gainsthrough friends. Your optimism will help youcross obstacles. You might buy paintings orsome antique goods for your home.

LIBRA: If you give more emotional supportto your relationships then you will reapmore benefits on the personal front. Effortswill be valued. Fame is on the cards.

SCORPIO: You will be high on energy. Youmay feel a good atmosphere at work aftera long time. You will feel comfortablesharing your inner voice with your partner.

SAGITTARIUS: Those in the field of sports andpolitics will win over opponents. Success willfollow you. The agricultural sector mayflourish. Kids will make you proud.

CAPRICORN: A new romantic connection ison the cards. You may go on a family vacationor go on a romantic outing with your spouse.Assignments will be done on time.

AQUARIUS: You are a charmer even whenthe tide is not in your favour. Things willhappen the way you wanted and expected.Gains are seen on the business front.

PISCES: Imagination will run wild now. A fri-end or associate will give you the opportunityto come out of your problem and will benefityou in future. Love life will be happy.

YOUR DAY By Nilikash P. Pradhan

FPJ - SUDOKU - 48 Level: Hard

DENNIS THE MENACE BRINGING UP FATHER / FRANK JONSON ACROSS1 Hollow out (4)4 Tempestuous (6)8 Cricket legend Kapil

___ (3)10 Cold confections (4)13 Burrowing animal (8)14 Ms. Dixit of

Bollywood fame ? (7)15 Silicon dioxide (6)17 Oil (9)21 Wager (3)22 New England sch.

(3)23 Feminine pronoun

(3)26 Violent winds and

snow storms (9)27 Of or pertaining to

words (6)28 Yell (7)32 Manicure tool ? (4-4)34 Amount or quantity

measured or paidfor? (4)

35 Designer monogram(3)

36 Over there (6)37 Hue changer (4)

DOWN1 Projecting edge (4)

2 Regretted (4)3 Carry (4)5 Ennui (6)6 Genetic material (3)7 Japanese gangster

(6)9 Virtuoso guitarist

Steve ___ (3)11 "Cable" anagram for

a Biblical name ? (5)12 Small spirit (5)15 Test of knowledge

(4)16 German river (4)

18 Rend (4)19 Respite (4)20 Gad's son ? (3)23 More rational (5)24 Decree (5)25 Equally (6)26 Confuse (6)28 Wily (3)29 Tax in an old-

fashioned way ? (4)

30 Effortless (4)31 Listen to (4)33 Hostelry (3)

Across: 1Bore, 4Stormy, 8 Dev, 10 Ices, 13Aardvark, 14Madhuri, 15Quartz,17Petroleum,21Bet, 22Uri, 23She, 26Blizzards, 27Verbal, 28Screech, 32Nail-file, 34Rate, 35YSL, 36Yonder, 37DyerDown: 1Brim, 2Rued, 3Bear, 5Tedium, 6 Rna, 7 Yakuza, 9Vai, 11Caleb, 12Short, 15Quiz, 16Ruhr, 18Tear, 19Lull, 20Eri, 23Saner, 24Edict, 25Evenly,26Baffle, 28Sly, 29Cess, 30Easy, 31Hear, 33Inn.

Solution

(Spiritual organisations keen to be featured in this space contact : [email protected])

Crossword #046

Tip for the day: Feed a needy person with respect and do not publicise it.

SAIBABA & SWAMI SAMARTHMESSAGE FOR THE DAY

Lots of divine miracles your way, Sheetal Sapan Mhatre.

How blessed or lucky you are depends upon your action, mindset and prayers.

Things are getting delayed as you are procrastinating and not taking action in the right direction.

Your wishes are in the form of energy, grab them by doing the work. We are there to help you. Loved the cloth you offered and donated to needy.

AMSAIBABA & SWWAMI SAMARTH

AMI SAMARTH

GE FOR THE DMESSAAMSAIBABA & SWWAMI SAMARTH

orm of enthe four wishes arY

tionecht dirriging and not takocrastinatingpr

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enedict Cumberbatch is teaming up with Jurassic World filmmaker Colin Trevorrow for the World War IIdrama War Magician. The project, based on the book by David Fisher, hails from Studiocanal with ENicholas Mariani on board as the script writer, reported Deadline. The movie will chronicle the wild storyof Jasper Maskelyne, a British illusionist who used magic to defeat German general and military theorist

Erwin Rommel in World War II. Trevorrow’s take on the material will focus on an “international ‘magic gang’from Africa, Europe and the Middle East who conspired with Maskelyne and a female military intelligence officer todefeat the Nazis”. War Magician will be produced by Landscape Entertainment’s Bob Cooper, SunnyMarch’sCumberbatch, Leah Clarke and Adam Ackland, Lonetree's Tony Eldridge and Bluestone’s Richard Saperstein. —PTI

BBenedictCumberbatch

to star in war drama

PRIYANKA CHANDANI

hriya Pilgaonkar, daughter of veteran actorsSupriya and Sachin Pilgaonkar, began heracting journey with a Marathi film Ekulti Ekin 2013. Following this, Shriya featured in a

French movie titled Un Plus Une, and was widelynoticed for her performance in Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Fan in 2016. After that there was no lookingback for Shriya. She proved her acting versatility inthe digital space with her performances in the Ama-zon Prime Video series Mirzapur and Netflix filmHouse Arrest. And, now, she is all set to woo the audi-ence with her role as a reporter in the multilingualfilm, Haathi Mere Saathi. In an interaction with theCinema Journal, Shriya sheds light on her character,and the OTT boom. Excerpts:

Tell us about your character in Haathi Mere Saathi.I am playing a reporter. Against all the odds she de-cides to support Rana Daggubati’s character, Baldev,in his fight for justice for elephants. She is in theplace where she is pressured to report in a certainway, and I love the fact that she is a brave girl and decides to not to be intimidated and helps this man in his fightfor justice.

What is your takeawayfrom the character?The beauty of being anactor is every charac-ter you play makesyou learn somethingand ask certain ques-tions to yourself. Inthis case, I learntwhen you are startingoff in any field you

don’t feel that you are in a position to change things.However, when you find the courage you feel empow-ered that you can be the one to make the first step tochange. Sometimes it is your own determination thatenables you to take the decision.

What inspired you to agree upon doing this rolesay as journalist roles are clichéd in Hindi cinema?I really wanted to be a part of this film. The subject ofthe film is very close to my heart. I am a strong be-liever and vocal about animal rights. I believe in de-velopment, but development along with sustainabili-

ty is important too. When I realised the filmwas made on this subject with all the enter-tainment elements, which can convey themessage in a simpler manner, I was up for it.I have seen Prabu [Solomon] sir’s films and Ilove his work. I wanted to collaborate with

Rana as I have watched him in Baahubali, and the fact that the film will be in Tamil

and Telugu.

What were the challenges of doing a multilingual film? It was challenging. I didn’t have time to prepare be-cause I got on-board at the last minute. Prabu sir im-provises a lot. Several times the dialogues will bechanged and reconstructed on the set so I preparedmyself to not worry. I was clear that I want to enjoyspeaking the language and I don’t want to speak gib-berish. I have seen many actors doing that. I wantedto understand the meaning of the words. Thingswould have been simpler if it was some other lan-guage, but Tamil and Telugu came with a chal-lenge. But, I was happy to take that up. It was anexciting experience.

Will you be interested taking up more Tollywood and Kollywood films?

I take it as it comes. For me the priorityhas always been a story. The medium

and language are secondary. I don’tthink of myself as an actor only fromthe Hindi film industry. I think ofmyself as a global actor. I have donea few international projects andsome Marathi as well. So, if I likethe story I would definitely like to bea part of it. There are no full and final decisions of transition I have made.

You have done a lot of OTT projects, do you fear beingtagged and typecast?I don’t want these labels of OTTactor or short film actor. I don’tbelieve in those things.

Today, the lines are blurring and there are a lot ofopportunities. I have done relatively more work onOTT, people say I am an OTT actor, I don’t really un-derstand this. So, I think to change people’s mindwe need to do different work, which gets people tosee your calibre, and what kind of work you like todo and stand for.

Your parents have had a flourishing acting careerfor decades. Does that come with a sense of responsibility and pressure?

I have never been brought up to feel any pressure. Myparents have encouraged me to carve my own path,and fortunately, I feel that the audience has followedmy journey. People weren’t even aware of who myparents are. I never played that card and because ofthat I have not seen that negativity. Rather than get-ting into any discussion, I let my work speak for my-self. I am here to learn to take the right feedback andknock out people who are not adding value to mygrowth. The responsibility I feel is to carry myselfwith the grace that my parents have. Ups and downsare part of life, but what stays intact is how I am as aperson and how I treat other people.

Do you discuss your work with your parents?Sometimes, when I feel I am not sure of something Ido discuss with them because I know they are goingto have a conversation with me as an artiste and notas parents. Many times, I want them to feel surprisedwith the character I am playing. So, we don’t overlydiscuss my work until I need that, but I definitely feelnice to have them around to have a discussion on myfilms whenever I want to. They empower me and letme take my decisions. They want me to make myown mistakes and learn. At the end of the day, I knowthey are proud of me and the film choices that I ammaking. What I want for myself will be unique in myown way.

‘I think of myselfas a global actor’

Says Shriya Pilgaonkar, as she talks about her upcomingmultilingual film Haathi Mere Saathi with Rana Daggubati

S

JacquelineFernandez’s

tightrope walkacqueline Fernandez, who recentlyfinished shooting in Jaisalmer forBachchan Pandey, trained in the art oftightrope walking or funambulism for her

role. It is a skill of walking on a thin wire orrope, the art has a long tradition in variouscountries and is usually performed by the locals.

Jacqueline was in Jaisalmer for almost threeweeks and she learnt the art in about a week'stime. “It is a tough art to learn where one needsto have the correct body balance to walk on arope which is tied at a height of almost eight to10 feet above the ground. Jacqueline learnt the art with ease,” said a source close to thedevelopment.

The source added that the actress has alsotrained in pole dancing and aerial yoga earlier ona personal level, which helped her get thebalancing part of the art correctly. The sourceclaimed, “She has given some amazing shots andleft everyone spellbound by learning the art soperfectly.”

The film marks the eighth time that Jacquelineand filmmaker Sajid Nadiadwala would beworking together. The duo will be working further

on Kick 2. Bachchan Pandeyco-stars Akshay

Kumar and KritiSanon, and isdirected FarhadSamji. Theaction comedyis scheduled

for a theatricalrelease on

January 26next year.

—IANS

J

Breaking!

Bir

thd

ay S

pec

ial

Arbaaz Khan turnscommander for desi Fauda?

VINAY MR MISHRA

ho plays the mysteriousMickey Moreno in the In-dian adaptation of the Is-raeli series, Fauda, has

been answered. Arbaaz Khanhas been roped in to play the roleof Mickey Moreno in the Indianremake, shoot for which is cur-rently underway. Yuval Segalplayed Mickey Morena inthe original series.

A source says, “Arbaazplays the part of Mickeywho is street smart and au-thoritative. The shooting forthe show was taking placein Mumbai tillMarch 15. The sec-ond schedule willwitness a locationchange.”

After makinghis OTT debutwith Poison in2019, the Indianredux will beArbaaz’s seconddigital outing.Arbaaz joins thecast that as ofnow includesRoohi actorManav Vij asDoron, and Fanactor Waluscha DeSousa. Directed by

two-time National Film Awardwinner Sudhir Mishra, the seriesis being produced by ApplauseEntertainment. The first season ofthe desi Fauda will be attuned tothe India-Pakistan conflict.

Arbaaz’s last big screen releasewas Dabangg 3. This will be oneof the most exciting projects forthe actor, who recently also kick-

started the shoot for his talkshow, Pinch. Arbaaz didn’t re-spond to our texts, while thespokesperson of ApplauseEntertainment didn’t com-ment till we went to the press.Fauda’s Indian remake was

supposed to hit thetubes by 2020. How-ever, due to the pan-demic, the serieswas pushed. Nowthat the enter-tainment circuitis opening up,the show is alsoback on thefloors. On itsrelease, Faudaenjoyed bothcommercialsuccess andcritical ac-claim. The

fourth season ofthe show is ex-

pected to releasein 2021.

W

SUMIT PAUL

ears ago, a celebrated editor ofa famous women's magazinewrote about Shashi Kapoor,“Almost all educated female

cine-goers in India have a sapiosexualcrush on Shashi Kapoor.” So very true. But,one hastens to add that the actor-directorand producer Shashi Kapoor was not justidolised by scores of female fans, he was averitable cynosure of all eyes. His Adonislooks, ultra-refined manners, seraphic smileand sophisticated bearing made him adarling of the movie buffs.

The decade of 1960s witnessed aplethora of heroes. Many of them werepretty successful. Shammi Kapoor,Rajendra Kumar, Pradeep Kumar,Biswajeet, Joy Mukherjee, among othershad a steady fan following. Raj Kapoor,Dilip Kumar and Dev Anand were alreadyestablished actors and stars. Yet, a couple

of heroes had a Paul Newman-typecerebral presence. They were ShashiKapoor and Sanjay Khan, who’d love toread Sarte, Camus and Heidegger whenthey were not shooting. That intensereading along with the profoundunderstanding of Shakespeareancharacters, thanks to his wife JenniferKendal, Shashi Kapoor emerged as anactor of oceanic depth.

Unlike his elder brother Shammi Kapoor,

Shashi Kapoor had a very serene presence,which was far from being boisterous. Justwatch his films Benazir (1964) andMohabbat Isko Kahete Hain (1965). Hischaracters, Anwar and Vijay respectively,endeared themselves to the cine-goers.And, when Shashi sings Dil mein ek jaan-e-tamanna ne jagah paayee hai (Benazir,Rafi, lyricist: Shakeel Badayuni andcomposer: S D Burman) or Thahariye (andnot thehariye... that’s totally according tothe rules of transliteration like kahte isnowadays erroneously written kehte) hoshmein aa loon toh chale jaiyega with Nandaon the silver screen, audience gottransported into the world of ethers andembers of smouldering passion andgraceful serenading. Or when the dejectedand desolate Shashi sings Woh tere pyaarka gham (Film: My Love, lyricist: AnandBakshi, composer: Daan Singh, 1970), oneempathises with him. Shashi’s depiction of pain and passion had a stamp of

exclusivity. It was because of his foresightand intellectual bent of mind, ShashiKapoor produced Aparna Sen’s directorialdebut 36 Chowringhee Lane in an erawhen women directors were a rare breedin the world. Shashi’s acting in all the 116Hindi films will remain etched in thecollective memory of the masses as well asclasses. At the same time, he was India’sfirst crossover star. James Ivory summedup the persona of Shashi Kapoor sotellingly, “Here’s a genuine actor whodoesn't hanker after stardom because heknows that stardom follows a true actor.”

Shashi Kapoor indeed was a magnificentactor, director, producer and individual.

(The writer is an advanced research scholar ofSemitic languages, cultures, religions and

civilisations. He teaches linguistics, psycho-linguisticsand philology at world’s premier varsities and

contributes to world’s leading publications andportals in various languages.)

Shashi Kapoor: Where commercial meets cerebral cinema

Y

Bollywood Bytes

It’s John Abraham vs Salman Khan this Eidction dramaSatyamevaJayate 2,starring John

Abraham, will nowarrive on Eid, a dayearly on May 13, incinema halls. The MilapZaveri-directed film, asequel to Abraham's2018 hit, will now clashwith Salman Khan’sRadhe: Your MostWanted Bhai, alsoscheduled to be releasedon the same date. Abraham, who features in the movie in a double role, took toTwitter and shared the film’s new poster. Produced by Bhushan Kumar’s T-Seriesand Emmay Entertainment, Satyameva Jayate 2 also stars Divya Khosla Kumar.

—PTI

Vir Das to be part of Judd Apatow’s The Bubble ctor-comedian Vir Das is excited to be apart of Hollywood filmmaker andcomedian Judd Apatow’s upcomingcomedy project The Bubble. “I have

been shooting for this for a bit now and I’mvery excited to be part of this mega comedyproject. Everyone on this cast is immensely funnyand we’re making something special,” Vir said. Thefeature is a comedy about a group of actors andactresses stuck inside a pandemic bubble in a hoteland are attempting to finish a studio franchise film.Vir is not only a part of the show but is alsoproducing it. The show will stream on Netflix.

—IANS

Hello Charlie to have OTT release on April 9he adventure comedy film Hello Charlie willhave on OTT premiere on April 9. Directed byPankaj Saraswat, the film stars Aadar Jain,Jackie Shroff, Shlokka Pandit, Rajpal Yadav and

Elnaaz Norouzi. It has been produced by RiteshSidhwani and Farhan Akhtar. “Working on Hello Charliewith Ritesh and Farhan has been an incredibleexperience. The film’s unconventional storyline is trulyone of its kind and I am hoping it spreads much joy. Thecast has phenomenally helmed their characters with theirunique comic timing and genuine appeal. It was alwaysgreat fun on the sets and I am glad that people fromworldwide will be able to see our film and beentertained,” Saraswat says. —IANS

Amazon Prime Video ventures into film production treaming platform Amazon Prime Video onWednesday announced that it will be co-producing Bollywood superstar AkshayKumar’s upcoming feature Ram Setu. Directed

by Abhishek Sharma Ram Setu will be produced byKumar's Cape of Good Films, Abundantia Entertainment,Lyca Productions and Prime Video. The action-adventuredrama has filmmaker Chandraprakash Dwivedi attached

as the Creative Producer. Following its theatrical release, Ram Setu will be available forPrime members for streaming. —PTI

A

A

T

S

aj, Rahul and Prem don't set theheartbeats racing as youth iconsanymore. Bollywood isincreasingly returning to its roots,

and Ram, Sita, Radhe and Shyam havetaken over. In an era when Hindimainstream is rapidly drawing inspirationfrom the epics, names of gods andgoddesses are cool again for our screenheroes. The trend of naming protagonistswith a touch of divinity was popular amongBollywood filmmakers from Ram Aur Shyamvia Seeta Aur Geeta to Ram Lakhan. It wasnot uncommon for top heroes and heroinestill the nineties to favour such names.The advent of globalisation in the nineties,and the urge to reach out to the NRI marketchanged that. Suddenly, romance in theSwiss Alps seemed cooler if the hero andthe heroine were named Raj and Simran,Rahul and Anjali.

Indeed, if names of our stars on thescreen reflect pervading mindsets, this is anera when Bollywood is exploring theRamayan and Mahabharat for story ideasagain. Names of characters, even in filmsthat don’t directly reference the epics, hadto reveal an influence.

As Hindi cinema digs out names from thepages of Indian mythology once again, wetake a look at traditional names that aresuddenly back invogue.

SITA By every yardstick, sheis Bollywood’s chosenone at the momentwhen it comes toname and/or screen

identity. Not one but four top heroines areplaying Sita in upcoming projects, either interms of name or role. Alia Bhatt is Sita inRRR, Kriti Sanon essays the role inAdipurush. According to reports, DeepikaPadukone and Kareena Kpaoor Khan arealso gearing up for a tryst with Sita onscreen.

RAMTelugu superstar Prabhas plays Ram inAdipurush, an adaptation of the Indian epic

Ramayana.It does notstop there,there is acharacternamedRamaraju intheupcoming

magnum opus RRR, a period action dramabased on freedom fighters, directed by S.S. Rajamouli.

OMAdiya Roy Kapur willbe seen playing acharacter namedOm, another nameof Lord Shiva. Theactor is named thusin the film Om: The

Battle Within. Shiva, is known as thedestroyer, and the film is high-octane action fare.

Ashwatthama Vicky Kaushal’supcoming TheImmortalAshwatthama is asuperhero filmwith a traditionalname at its core.In Mahabharat,Ashwatthamawas the son of

guru Dronacharya, the weapon instructor ofthe Pandavas and the Kauravas, and thefinal commander-in-chief of the Kauravas inthe Kurukshetra War. According to the epic,he was cursed to becoming Chiranjivi, orimmortal, by Krishna.

RADHEBollywood superstar Salman Khan will playthe title role in Radhe, a name synonymouswith goddess Radha, the consort of LordKrishna. An out-and-out action film,Salman's Radhe will be seen showcasingKrishna's trait of protecting the good againstevil the film. Incidentally, Salman has playeda protagonist named Radhe once before —he was Radhe Mohan in the 2003 hit Tere Naam. —IANS

Gone are the days of Rahul and Raj as an increasing number of Bollywood filmmakersare taking inspiration from mythological to name their movie characters

Sita is the new Simran!R

Shriya withparents

Benazir

Mohabbat Isko Kahete Hain

PIC: INSTAGRAM/SHRIYA PILGAONKAR

New evidence that it may be safe for schools to seat stu-dents 3 feet apart - half of the previous recommended

distance - could offer a way to returnmore of the America's children toclassrooms with limited space. Even asmore teachers receive vaccinationsagainst COVID-19, social distancingguidelines have remained a major hur-dle for districts across the US. Debatearound the issue flared last week when

a study suggested that masked students can be seated asclose as 3 feet apart with no increased risk to them or teach-

ers. The Centers for Disease Controland Prevention is now exploring theidea too. The agency's director, Dr.Rochelle Walensky, said the 6-footguideline is "among the biggest chal-lenges" schools have faced in reopen-ing. The World Health Organisation,urges 1 meter distancing in schools.

With maskedstudents

Threefeet isgoodenough

It's official! Indiais witnessing the

second wave ofcoronavirus. Daysafter health expertsand some officialsspoke about it, onWednesday, the con-firmation of the sec-ond wave came fromthe highest office ofthe Modi government withthe Prime Minister himselfstating it. During an impor-tant, critical virtual meetwith all Chief Ministers, PMModi said that it was neces-sary to stop the 'emergingsecond wave' of the coron-avirus. From ramping up the

vaccination to increasing theRT-PCR testing (instead ofantigen testing), PM Moditold the states to do whatevernecessary to halt this viralsurge. PM Modi also saidthat the states should focuson smaller towns as theseplaces remain under the

radar and can leadto an 'outbreak-likesituation.' The meet-ing was not attend-ed by West BengalCM Mamata Baner-jee and Chhattis-garh CM BhupeshBaghel. While Didireportedly conveyedthat she was skip-

ping the meet due to somepre-scheduled appointments.No message was released byBaghel administration. In-terestingly, Didi di raise theissue of 'free corona vaccine'at a poll rally in Bengal. Itcoincided with the PM'sCovid meet.

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MUMBAI | THURSDAY | MARCH 18, 2021www.freepressjournal.in

Nothing is permanentin this wicked world -not even our troubles

� CHARLIE CHAPLIN

REG. NO. MCS/048/2018-20; RNI NO. 1541/1957/M.P.C.S. OFFICE MUMBAI-400001

IT'S OFFICIAL

Domestic air travel dips

Resurgence of Covid-19 infections pulledIndia's domestic air passenger traffic

lower by over 36 per cent in February on ayear-on-year basis. According to the Direc-torate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), pas-sengers ferried by domestic airlines duringFebruary declined to 78.27 lakh as againstover 123.68 lakh for the corresponding periodof the previous year. "Passengers carried bydomestic airlines during Jan-Feb 2021 were155.61 lakh as against 251.50 lakh during thecorresponding period of previous year.

City gets new top copThe Maharashtra government on Wednesday shunted out Mumbai Po-

lice Commissioner Param Bir Singh and replaced him with current Di-rector General of Police HemantNagrale, Home Minister Anil Desh-mukh announced. Senior IPS offi-cer Rajnish Sheth has been entrust-ed with additional responsibility asthe DGP, while Singh will be postedas DGP, Home Guards. Shortly aftertaking over, Nagrale said he wouldmake all efforts to improve the im-age of the Mumbai Police.

'Allow 45-plus to take jab'Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, at a meeting chaired by Prime Min-

ister Narendra Modi on Wednesday, demanded allowing vaccinationfor all above 45 years of age. For now, four categories which include health-

care and frontline workers, senior citi-zens above 60 and people between 45 to59 years with co-morbidities are beingvaccinated across the state. Health ex-perts have welcomed this demand stat-ing amid increasing corona cases vac-cinating all above 45 years will be agood decision, but before that, theyhave increase the number of centres.

�� FREE PRESS

MUMBAI | THURSDAY | MARCH 18, 2021��TODAY IN HISTORY

Poshan PakhwadaThe Women and Child Devel-

opment Ministry is celebrat-ing Poshan Pakhwada fromMarch 16 to 31 during which ac-tivities like Poshan Panchayatswill be organised to address nu-tritional challenges.In a state-ment, the WCD Ministry said thatto address nutritional challenges,distribution of four saplings of

nutrition-rich plants will be done per anganwadi centre (AWC) in aspira-tional districts under the supervision of local panchayat and DM/DC byNational Medicinal Plants Board (NMPB), Ministry of AYUSH.

Academic year from July 15

The Karnataka government on Wednesdaysaid it plans to start the next academic yearfor schools from July 15, subject to the

Covid-19 situation. "We are planning tostart the next academic year for schools

from July 15," Primary and Second-ary Education Minister S Suresh

Kumar told reporters at Bengalu-ru. He said the government

would decide whether theBhagawad Gita should be in-

cluded in the school cur-riculum.

On March 18, 2003, U.S.President George W.

Bush ordered air strikes onBaghdad, thus launching theIraq War to oust dictatorSaddam Hussein, who wasbelieved (wrongly) to bemanufacturing weapons ofmass destruction. Iraq War,also called Second PersianGulf War, (2003-11), conflictin Iraq that consisted of twophases. The first of thesewas a brief, conventionallyfought war in March-April2003, in which a combinedforce of troops from the Unit-

ed States and Great Britain(with smaller contingentsfrom several other coun-tries) invaded Iraq and rap-idly defeated Iraqi militaryand paramilitary forces. Itwas followed by a longer sec-ond phase in which a U.S.-ledoccupation of Iraq was op-posed by an insurgency. Af-ter violence began to declinein 2007, the United Statesgradually reduced its mili-tary presence in Iraq, for-mally completing its with-drawal in December 2011.

Don't come over: Biden

As a border crisis is building,President Joe Biden is ap-

pealing to people not to come tothe US, dispelling the impressionfor some from the campaign rhet-oric that immigration restric-

tions would be dismantled. "Don't come over," he said on Tuesday,repeating a plea by officials to people from Central America con-verging along the border with Mexico," he said in an interview onABC TV. During elections, he had promised to give legal status toan estimated 11 million illegal immigrants in the country.

�� Brighter but more indisciplined students

Spending more time on Internet im-proved academic performance and

also led to more disciplinary problemsamong students, said a US-based study.The study published in the Journal ofMarketing Research indicat-ed that it also led to an im-provement in commendedperformance in math, read-ing, writing and social stud-ies. "Investments in internetaccess provide clear and meaningful ac-ademic benefits yet schools need to im-plement policies to address increaseddisciplinary issues such as cyberbully-ing," said researcher Vikas Mittal, Pro-fessor at Rice University in the US. Forthe study, the team created a multiyeardataset (2000-14) of 1,243 school districts

representing more than 9,000 Texas pub-lic schools. The team measured internetaccess spending, 11 academic perform-ance indicators and 47 types of schooldisciplinary problems. It used econo-

metric techniques for linkinginternet access spending toacademic performance anddisciplinary problems. Theteam also calculated howmuch economic benefit a

school district's internet access wouldbring students during their lifetimes. Itfound that a $600,000 increase in annualinternet access spending produces a fi-nancial gain of nearly $820,000 to $1.8million per school district, together withlosses from disciplinary problems total-ing $25,800 to $53,440.

56L registerfor UP exam

As many as 56 lakh students haveregistered this year to appear in the

high school and intermediate examina-tions of Uttar Pradesh Board, despitethe impact of Covid 19 on the educationin schools. The total number of studentsthis year is 56, 03, 813. This is also thecentenary year of the UP Secondary Ed-ucation Board, also known as UP Mad-hyamik Shiksha Parishad.

PhonePe at the top

Digital payments platform PhonePeclaimed on Wednesday that it has

emerged as the largest player on UPI

merchant (P2M) transactions captur-ing over 42 per cent of overall marketshare.PhonePe had recently alsoemerged as the largest digital pay-ments platform processing over 107crore transactions across UPI, wallet,credit and debit cards.

MORE TIME ON INTERNET LEADS TO…

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MUMBAI | THURSDAY | MARCH 18, 2021 ��QUICK NEWS

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Raj, Rahul and Premdon't set the heartbeats

racing as youth icons any-more. Ram, Sita, Radhe andShyam have taken over. Inan era when Hindi main-stream is rapidly drawinginspiration from the epics,names of gods and goddess-es are cool again for ourscreen heroes. The trend ofnaming protagonists with atouch of divinity was popu-lar among Bollywood film-makers from Ram AurShyam via Seeta Aur Geetato Ram Lakhan. The adventof globalisation in the

nineties, and the urge toreach out to the NRI marketchanged that. Suddenly, ro-mance in the Swiss Alpsseemed cooler if the heroand the heroine were namedRaj and Simran, Rahul andAnjali. But now, Bollywoodis exploring the "Ramayan"and "Mahabharat" for storyideas again. Not one but fourtop heroines are playing Sitain upcoming projects. Tel-ugu superstar Prabhas playsRam in Adipurush. VickyKaushal's upcoming "TheImmortal Ashwatthama" isa superhero film.

'Vax export not at our expense'

Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan onWednesday underlined that India is not giving

Covid-19 vaccine to the world at the expense of theneed of local pop-ulation. "We arenot giving (thevaccine) at the ex-pense of our ownpeople", he toldthe Lok Sabha."The whole world

is a family... the whole mankind should benefit fromthe vaccine," he added. The opposition said, 3.5 crorepeople in the country have been vaccinated, while5.74 crore doses were given to 72 countries.

No social media regulatorThe government told the Lok Sabha on

Wednesday that there is no proposal toappoint a regulator for social me-dia.In a written reply, Union Ministerof Communications, Ravi Shankar

Prasad said that social media shouldnot be abused or misused to defame,promote terrorism, rampant vio-

lence and compromise the dignity of women. He saidsocial media platforms are enjoined to develop a ro-bust grievance redress system.

��The Indian team won two gold medals

on the second day of the ITPF WorldCup Qualifiers at Noida for Tent Pegging.

Nepal wonthe silverandthe bronzemedal waswon by Pak-istan. A totalof five teams

including India, Belarus, USA, Pakistanand Nepal are competing at World CupQualifiers. Out of these five teams onlyone will qualify for the World Cup.

��The government has not taken any de-

cision till now to prepare the NationalRegister of Citizens (NRC) at the nationallevel, Minister of State for Home Affairs

Nityanand Raitold the RajyaSabha onWednesday. Hewas replying to

a question by Kerala MP Abdul Wahab.The MP had asked if the government hasany plan to implement the NRC through-out the country and if it has given any in-structions to state governments for that.

10L housesunderPMAY

Over 10.75 lakhhouses have beenconstructed un-

der the Pradhan MantriAwas Yojana (Urban)during the COVID-19pandemic so far, and Ut-tar Pradesh tops thechart with more than2.55 lakh such units, Par-liament was informed onWednesday. Sanctionedhouses under PMAY-U in-volve central assistanceof Rs 1,78,076 crore, theHouse was told.

70 districts leadin Covid surgeA total of 70 dis-

tricts in 16 stateshave registered morethan 150 per cent in-crease in active COVID-19 cases from March 1-15,the Union Health Min-istry said on Wednesday.From March 1-15, about70 districts in 16 stateshave registered over 150per cent increase in ac-tive cases while 55 dis-tricts in 17 states haveregistered 100-150 percent rise in cases.

Maitri Cycle Rally endsThe 70-day-long BSF's 'Maitri

Cycle Rally' to commemo-rate the 50th year of the 1971Bangladesh liberation war vic-

tory covering a distance of around 4,000-km along the fron-tiers of five Indian states culminated in western Mizoram onWednesday. The rally comprising 13 cyclists of the BSF beganon January 10 from South Bengal and ended in western Mi-zoram on Wednesday, a day coinciding with the celebrationsof the 101st birth anniversary of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

The governmenthas asked mes-

saging serviceprovider What-sApp to review itsproposed privacypolicy changes,Minister of Statefor Communications San-jay Dhotre said today in re-sponse to a question in theLok Sabha. The change inprivacy policy of What-

sApp was said to have en-abled the platform to sharecertain business chats ofbusiness accounts withparent company Facebook.

Vax for protesting farmersHaryana Chief Minister

Manohar Lal Khattar onWednesday said anti-coron-avirus vaccination camps havebeen set up for farmers at theKundli border in Sonipat. Thevaccination doses are being ad-ministered at Rasoi Dhaba on

the Kundli border. A large number of farmers have beencamping at multiple border points in protest against theCentre's new farm laws. The vaccination is being done incoordination with Red Cross society.

'WhatsApp must review policy'

�� FREE PRESS

MUMBAI | THURSDAY | MARCH 18, 2021��

Parineeti's 'second life'Actress Parineeti Chopra says

her recently released OTT film,The Girl On The Train, taught her alot. She feels the film gave her "sec-ond life" as an artiste. "I had becomea little complacent and carefree andI used to do things the same way. Soit (being part of the film) was soamazing, I really feel like this wasmy second life, almost," she said.

Tendulkar, Lara to lock horns

Legends Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara are all set to take on eachother once again on the cricket pitch as India Legends face off

against West Indies Legends in thesemi-final of the Road Safety WorldSeries T20 at the Shaheed VeerNarayan Singh International Crick-et Stadium at Raipur on Wednesday.Two of the greatest and stylish bats-men in the history of cricket arethick friends, but when it comes tothe field, they are fiercest rivals.

��Golf legend Tiger Woods on Tuesday (local

time) announced that he is back homeand continuing his recovery from a car acci-dent last month. In a statement on Twitter,

Woods said:"Happy toreport that Iam backhome andcontinuingmy recovery.I am so

grateful for the outpouring of support and en-couragement that I have received over thepast few weeks." The golfer suffered "signifi-cant orthopaedic injuries" to his right lowerextremity in the car accident on February 23.

��The postponed Euro 2020 will still take

place in 12 cities across the continent de-spite the Covid-19 pandemic. A member ofEuro-peanfootballgovern-ing bodyUEFA ex-ecutivecommit-tee saidthe goalwas to stick with the 12-city plan. "The goalremains to be able to hold onto the mode ofthe event," Rainer Koch, a vice president inthe German federation (DFB) said."

��

The makers of John Abraham and DivyaKhosla Kumar-starrer 'Satyameva Jayate

2' on Wednesday announced the release dateof the action thrilleras May 13, 2021. Thefilm will hit theatreson the occasion ofEid. The movie willlock horns withSalman Khan's up-

coming film 'Radhe: Your Most Wanted Bhai',which will be released on the same day. The'Dostana' actor took to Twitter and an-nounced the release date of 'Satyameva Jay-ate 2' along with an action-packed poster.

Film on hurting theHimalayas

Global warming is an important issue, but little effort hasbeen made by Bollywood to bring the menace into main-

stream focus. A new film titled "Komic" sets out to explore thepertinent subject of warming of the Himalayas, and the dan-ger it poses. The film is directed by Yuvraj Kumar. It will specif-ically highlight how fossil fuel-based vehicles -- more so luxuryand sports cars -- harm the Himalayan Range, resulting in massdisasters as the recent one in Uttarakhand.

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