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The Omicron infection is nolonger being spread

through foreign travellers. TheGovernment has finallyacknowledged that Covid-19,which is now in the form of anew highly transmissible vari-ant, is in the community trans-mission stage.

A recently released bulletinof Indian SARS-CoV-2Genomics Consortium(INSACOG), the consortiumof national laboratories that istracking the different variantsof the Coronavirus, has saidthat Omicron is now spreadingthrough community transmis-sion. So far there are more than10,000 reported Omicron casesin the country, spread across 28States. The actual numberscould be far more (70 to 90times as per some estimates)because in very few casesgenome sequencing is beingdone to identify Omicroninfections.

“Omicron is now in com-munity transmission in Indiaand has become dominant in

multiple metros, where newcases have been rising expo-nentially,” noted INSACOG inits latest bulletin on Sunday.

INSACOG, jointly initiat-ed by the Union HealthMinistry and the Departmentof Biotechnology (DBT) amongothers, is a consortium of 38laboratories to monitor thegenomic variations in theSARS-CoV-2

The two-page bulletin ofJanuary 10, released on Sunday,added that while mostOmicron cases so far had beenasymptomatic or mild, hospi-talisations and ICU cases hadbeen increasing in the currentwave. The threat level remainedunchanged.

The recently reported newSARS-CoV-2 variant —

B.1.640.2 — lineage was alsobeing monitored, it added.“While it had features ofimmune escape, it was cur-rently not a variant of concern.So far, no case has been detect-ed in India,’’ said the bulletin.

It further said that BA.2lineage was a substantial frac-tion in India and S-genedropout-based screening wasthus likely to give high falsenegatives.

Tests suitable for PCR-based screening applicable toall Omicron lineages had beenapproved for use. S-gene drop-out was a genetic variation likethat of Omicron.

“Further spread ofOmicron in India is nowexpected to be through inter-nal transmission,

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The Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) supremo and Chief

Minister of Delhi, ArvindKejriwal, on Sunday said hehad been informed by sourcesthat the EnforcementDepartment (ED) might arresthis Cabinet Minister SatyendarJain just before the Assemblyelections in Punjab.

"From our sources, wehave got to know that rightbefore the Punjab polls in thecoming few days the ED isgoing to arrest the Health andHome Minister of Delhi,Satyendar Jain. They are mostwelcome. Previously too, theCentre had conducted raids atSatyendar Jain but got nothing,"Kejriwal said in a virtual pressconference.

"We are not afraid of thatas well. Once you tread on thepath of Satya, you are ready toovercome all these obstacles aswell," the AAP's national con-venor said.

Hitting out at BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP), Kejriwalsaid that neither AAP leadersfear the jails, nor the BJPGovernment's raids. "Comewhat may, we are here to serveDelhi; I appeal to the BJP tosend the CBI, Income Tax andDelhi Police behind us. Weknow that we have not doneanything wrong. We haveforced this earlier too, we arejust waiting for them to comenow," Kejriwal added.

"We won't spiral into ahue and cry spectacle likeCharanjit Singh Channi Ji; hewas on the wrong side and hismountains of cash have been

exposed. If BJP wants, theycan raid my house or deputyChief Minister Manish Sisodiaand the party's Punjab CMcandidate Bhagwant Mann aswell. We will all welcomethem with wide smiles," headded.

Kejriwal said as a partyand as a family, the CentralGovernment has conductedmalicious raids against Jaintwo times prior to this as well."They couldn't find even apennyworth's mistake backthen. We'll be happy to havethem around this time as well.We have nothing to fear," hesaid.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi on Sunday unveiled

a hologram of Netaji SubhasChandra Bose at the IndiaGate. The hologram would"soon" be replaced by a gran-ite statue.

The PM paid tribute to the"Can do and Will do" spirit ofthe Indian National Amy(INA) leader saying the coun-try would revive many suchmemories which were side-lined in the history of freedomstruggle.

In a ceremony at the IndiaGate in the evening attendedamong others by Union HomeMinister Amit Shah andUrban and Housing MinisterHardeep Puri, the PM paidglowing tribute to the "braveson of India" who, he said,declared before the Britishthat "main swatantrata bheekmain nahin loonga, main isehasil karoonga" (I will not begfor freedom but take it fromyou by my resolve).

Modi said it is a historicday on Netaji's 125th anniver-

sary --- also being celebratedas 'Prakram divas'--- a digitalstatue is being unveiled- to bereplaced by a grand granite one- that would, he said "inspirepresent and many future gen-erations and remind them oftheir national duty".

The canopy where Netaji'sgranite statue is to stand hadonce housed the statue ofBritish monarch King GeorgeV which was vacated in 1968.

In 1969, a move was con-templated to install a statue ofMahatma Gandhi, JawaharlalNehru or that of Bose but adecision was deferred for oneor the other reasons.

Reminding that "India is

presenting with pride the her-itage of Netaji", Modi pointedout naming of AndamanIsland and a Museum there inNetaji's name; march of ex-INA veterans in the RepublicDay parade in 2019; unfurlingof national flag by him fromthe Red fort wearing INA cap;and starting of Republic daycelebrations from January 23,the birthday of Bose.

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The Republic Day paradethis year at Rajpath will

see soldiers marching past thesaluting base in different uni-forms worn by the Armysince 1950 till date.

The contingents will alsocarry rifles of that era. Tanksof various vintage will rolldown the parade route show-casing the ongoing process ofmodernization.

Overall, the parade willsee six marching contingents

wearing different uniformsand carr ying dif ferentweapons of that era.

The elite commandos ofthe Parachute Regiment willbe seen in the new combatuniform.

The Pioneer in the edi-tion dated December 3, lastyear had reported about thesetwo new additions to theRepublic Day parade.

Unlike the previous yearswhen the contingents worethe dress of their regiments,the Republic Day this yearwill see the troops marchingpast in uniform of the pastera --- the 1950s and 60s-andthe olive greens of the present.

New Delhi:Vice PresidentVenkaiah Naidu tested positivefor Covid-19 in Hyderabad onSunday. He will remain isolat-ed for one week, his secretari-at informed via Twitter.

"He has advised all thosewho came in contact with himto isolate themselves and gettested," the tweet said.

President Venkaiah Naidupaid tribute to Netaji SubhasChandra Bose on his 125thbirth anniversary at a portraitof the freedom fighter inHyderabad. Photographs ofthe same were posted on hisofficial Twitter account. "

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Ateenager from ArunachalPradesh who went miss-

ing last week has been foundby the Chinese army and maybe sent back to India in thenext few days after establish-ing his identity and due veri-fication.

One version claimed thatthe 17-year-old boy wasabducted by the ChinesePeople's Liberation Army(PLA), the other narrationsaid he lost his way in thethick jungles while collectingherbs and hunting.

Giving the update aboutthe youth, sources said thePLA confirmed to the IndianArmy that they have found amissing person. Authoritieswere now trying to confirmwhether he was the sameyouth, Miram Taron, who hadrecently gone missing fromArunachal Pradesh. BJP MPfrom the State, Tapir Gao, hadalleged that PLA troops hadabducted the youth fromIndian territory on January 18.

Sources said the PLA willconfirm the youth's identityusing photos and then startthe process of sending himback, which could take abouta week.

The Indian Army had ear-lier reached out to the PLAregarding the disappearanceof Taron. Defence sourceshad then said the Army was intouch with PLA on matter.

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02RANCHI | MONDAY | JANUARY 24, 2022

PNS � Jamshedpur

The district administrationhas made it mandatory foreveryone to wear a maskwhile entering GopalMaidan in Bistupur, thevenue for Republic Day onJanuary 26. Moreover, stu-dents have been bannedfrom any type of 'PrabhatFeri' as part of the celebra-tions.Practice session of securitypersonnel started for organ-izing the Republic Daymain function under thechairmanship of DeputyCommissioner SurajKumar. The Deputy Com-missioner Suraj Kumar saidthat the district level mainfunction will be held atGopal Maidan, Bistupur. Hedirected authorities tostrictly follow the guide-lines of Covid-19.He said that all the peopleattending the ceremony willinevitably use masks andensure compliance with so-cial distancing. The DeputyCommissioner directed theconcerned officers to make

available sanitizers at themain gate of the GopalMaidan and to keep the san-itizer at various places in theground as well.The Deputy Commissionerdirected the use of the Na-tional Flag of Khadi cloth inthe district level main func-tion and all government of-

fices.All the contingents partici-pating in the parade were in-structed by SeniorSuperintendent of Police Dr.M. Tamil Vanan to attendthe parade and rehearse theparade complying with therules of Covid-19.The parade of Republic Day

celebrations will include 7contingents this year, in-cluding 1 platoon JAP 6 , 1platoon NCC, 1 platoonscout-guide, 3 platoon dis-trict police force and 1 pla-toon district home guardforce.The contingents of the pa-rade will be rehearsed on

21, 22, 23 and 24 January.On January 24, the fulldress rehearsal of the paradewill be held at GopalMaidan, which will bejointly supervised byDeputy Commissioner andSenior Reserve Superinten-dent.DC said various sub-com-mittees had been formed todiscuss cultural pro-grammes to be chalked outin connection with the Re-public Day.The city will be wrapped upin a multi-layered securitychain on the eve of the Re-public Day. Cadets of NCC,JAP, CRPF, RAF and dis-trict police would partici-pate in the parade. The DChas also decided to felicitateall the participants in the pa-rade.Police will issue instruc-tions to the general publicagainst carrying any inflam-mable items, bags and othersuch things into the paradeground. Spectators wouldbe subjected to policechecking before gainingentry into the grounds.

Covid protocols in place for Republic Day celebration

Ashis Sinha � Bokaro

Coal utilised as a fuel isnow presented in a new

way to the public in an inven-tive step. The Central Insti-tute of Mining and FuelResearch (CIMFR), Dhan-bad, has spearheaded theusage of coal to make jew-ellery, including necklacesand earrings.The “coal crafting” process isa combination of using apiece of coal, coal dust and abinder to hold everything to-gether so that it can bemolded and formed, said DrSelvi, Principal ScientistCIMFR.“Developed processes formaking ‘fine arts, crafts and

jewellery using coal’ willhelp skill development andeconomical upliftment of

coal mine based women.Under this project, one gramof coal transformed into jew-

ellery can be sold for Rs 500– Rs 600,” she added.After processing, coal waste

can be used for making “artand craft.” I came up with theidea of using it for jewellery;creating a form that could begiven different shapes afterprocessing coal waste, shesaid."These products are not onlyhandy and light, but alsosturdy and long-lasting. It ismanufactured in a way thatprevents it from catching fireor breaking,” added Dr Selvi.As part of a project financedunder the Corporate SocialResponsibility (CSR) ofCIMFR that aims to improvethe lives of women in miningcommunities, we have de-vised a technique that allowscoal waste to be shaped intojewellery and other ornamen-tal products, she said.She stressed, “We cannotimagine our lives withoutcoal, and we are proud of it.Honouring and expressingour pride in our heritage isessential to us, so I want toshare it with others whoshare our values.”

Coal-based jewellery, art, crafts empowering rural womenCIMFR skillingrural women forart, jewellery,and crafts madefrom coal

M FAIYAZ AHMAD � DALTONGANJ

The semi urban streetShahpur Chainpur

today witnessed nomarathon race for any vac-cination but a kind of walkdown. It was a walk down thestreet of Shahpur Chainpurin Palamu today to vacci-nate those who float andvanish everyday but con-tinue to miss the jab. The walk down was doneby the SDO Sadar Rajesh

Kumar Sah and medical of-ficer in charge of the com-munity health centreChainpur Dr ChamanKumar Bhardwaj.The vaccination team ledby the ANM Basanti Ku-mari was in a car. The purpose behind thiswalk down was to catch theelusive in the street whoare dodging their vaccina-tion by January 16 2021and also the 15+ teens try-ing not to take the jab sincethe start of their vaccina-tion from January 3, 2022.

Sources said the vaccina-tion by the side of the roadhad an emotional and per-sonal touch where the vac-cinator and the vaccinatedfelt owed to each other.Sources said neither thevaccinator made any com-plaint nor the vaccinatedshowed any discontent. The vaccination by the sideof the street was done inmutual confidence in eachother, the vaccinator andthe vaccinated said theSDO sadar Rajesh kr Sah. A 15 plus boy was foundworking in a roadsidegarage who first told a liethat he was vaccinated butwhen queried with loveand care agreed to take thevaccine saying he wasmaking false claims muchto his own disadvantage tohis health said Dr Bhard-waj. A fruit vendor was vacci-nated right before his cart.The fruit vendor kept star-ing at his fruits all throughhis vaccination. A personin the hardware store wasvaccinated. A littie seller took his jabwith his stock of littie safein his glass box. A man

sitting and enjoying hislittie saw the vaccinationbeing done with faith andtrust said sources. SDO sadar said such face-less eligibles matter mostfor the vaccination andour walk down the streetfor vaccination was forsuch people in the street. A passerby said he hadnever believed that civilSDO and doctor would berubbing shoulders to-gether for our vaccinationin the street. The SDO sadar RajeshKumar Sah said the teamcraned out its neck intothe autorickshaws askingthe eligible passengers ifany of you is unvacci-nated and on getting re-sponse of someonetravelling unvaccinatedwas then and there giventhe vaccine.The SDO said these peo-ple when they will beback home will definitelytalk about our efforts fortheir vaccination. ANM Basanti Kumari saidit was altogether a new ex-perience to vaccinate peo-ple in whatever job or workthey were found.

Vaccination by street draws attention in Palamu

PNS � Ranchi

The 125th birth anniversary of iconicfreedom fighter Subhash ChandraBose, popularly known as Netaji wasCelebrated at NTPC Coal miningHeadquarters, Ranchi with patrioticfervour and flower tributes by employ-ees. The day is celebrated as ‘ParakramDiwas’ (day of valour). The programwas organised by following COVIDappropriate behaviour with maskingand social distance.The programme began with the gar-landing of the portrait of SubhashChandra Bose by Chief Guest, AmitKumar Dubey, General Manager(Safety) in presence of Alois Topno,General Manager(HR) followed byflower tributes by the august gatheringof senior officials and employees. Dubey on the occasion read out themessage of Regional Executive Direc-tor (Coal Mining), Shri ParthaMazumder. The message stated that aseries of events were being planned atNTPC Coal mining headquarters andcoal mining projects during the week-long celebration of the 125th birth an-niversary of “Netaji” under the aegis ofAzadi Ka Amrit Mahastov. It is veryencouraging to see large participationin the program by employees and fam-ily members including children.The message speaking on Netaji sharedthat his sacrifice and dedication to-

wards the freedom of the country is un-parallel, he was a bright student whoeven qualified for Indian Civil Servicesbut decided that his true calling was toserve the motherland and its country-men. Netaji came back to India fromforeign and dedicated his whole life toIndia’s Freedom Struggle. He stoodfor truth, justice and freedom and oneshould emulate the same belief andvalues to become an ideal citizen of

the nation.As part of the celebration, competi-tions e.g online quiz on Netaji for chil-dren of coal mining projects, onlineInter school Quiz Competition, paint-ing competitions, elocution competi-tions, Nukaad Natak, naming ofChildren’s Park & office building andweeklong creative workshop bySwayamsiddha Ladies Club will be or-ganised.

Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's 125th birth anniversarycelebrated at NTPC Coal Mining Headquarters

Nityanand Dubey � Garhwa

The Garhwa district po-lice on Thursday busted

a big gambling racket andarrested 22 people in a houseof Adhaura village underNagar Untari police stationarea of the district, on Satur-day night. As per the report, a specialpolice team formed by theSuperintendent of policeAnjani Kumar Jha led bySDPO Pramod Keshariraided a semi finished houseof one Birendra Singh andarrested the people duringgambling. The SDPO informed thatinitial investigation has re-vealed that the gamblinghad been operating in thevillage for the last twentydays and was run by Biren-dra Singh. The police said the arrestedmen have been identified asRamashray Prasad, ManishKumar, Subodh Kumar,Vinay Shankar Prasad,Chandan Kumar, NandlalKumar, Anand Kumar,

Avinash Chandra of NagarUntari village, ShriramPrasad of Henho, ManojKumar, Neeraj Kumar,Chandan Kumar of Narkho-ria, Bilaspur K ShaileshKumar, resident of Sareyaunder Bhavnathpur policestation, Chairman Kumar,Somnath Kumar, AkhileshSah, Santosh Dubey, Digvi-jay Sah of Bhavnathpur, Kr-ishna Prasad of Chapri,Rannvijay Sah, NaradKumar Yadav resident ofSagma under Dhurki policestation, Sonbhadra district of

Sonbhadra in neighboringUttar Pradesh. Amjad Hus-sain, a resident of Murise-mar. Keshari said all the accusedwere arrested under section188,269,270, 290,34 of IPCand 11 gambling and 51DMAct and an FIR has beenregistered against them atNagar Untari police station.“We have recovered Onelakh 16 thousand 570 rupees, 22 mobiles, eight bikes andseven seals and two openplaying cards,'' the SDPOadded.

Gambling racket busted, 22 held in Garhwa

JRDA to seek nodfrom Govt for veri-fication of totalholders in Jharia

Pankaj Kumar� Dhanbad

The Jharia Rehabilitationand Development Author-

ity (JRDA) would seek per-mission from the Stategovernment for verification oftitle holders residing in fire hitlocations of Jharia coalfieldsso that compensation andother related issues may be re-solved ahead of their reloca-tion. The decision was takenduring the 32nd governingboard meeting of the JRDAchaired by divisional commis-sioner Kamal Jhon Lakra. Itwas also decided to seek per-mission from the governmentto identify government build-ings and institutions that needto be relocated to a safe zonefrom the fire zone.

SURESH NIKHAR� BERMO

Giridih MP Chandra Prakash Chaud-hary and Gomia MLA LambodarMahto seized about 500 tonnes of ille-gal coal at Dhawaiya village underMahuatard police station in Bokarodistrict on Saturday evening. After receiving huge quantities of ille-gal coal, the MP informed the StateDGP Neeraj Sinha and Bokaro SPChandan Kumar Jha. On the occasion, he said that illegalsmuggling of coal is frequently goingon in Bermo sub division under thenose of local police here and also onthe instructions of the state govern-ment. In which the role of the police is

also quite doubtful, added MP Giridih. The state is losing revenue worthcrores of rupees due to illegal smug-gling of coal. He further said that thework that the police had to do but weMPs have to do. Despite the MP informing the police

department about the seizure of coal,about two hours later, the station in-charge of Mahuatand police station,

Anand Karmali, reachedthe spot along with the po-lice force.He then confiscated the il-legal coal. On the spot, hesaid that there was no in-formation about illegalsmuggling of coal. Sincethis area is marked asNaxal affected area. Dueto which it is very difficultto patrol these areas atnight. He further said thatthe matter will be investi-gated.Many AJSU workers in-

cluding MP representative Dharmesh-war Mahto, Mandu Assemblyin-charge Tiwari Mahto, studentleader Rajesh Mahto, Ramgarh NPPresident Yugesh Bedia, Vice Presi-dent Manoj Mahto, Mandu CouncilorNaresh Mahto, AJSU District WorkingPresident Amritlal Munda, Chan-drashekhar Mahto were present on theoccasion.

Giridih MP seizes 500 tonnes of illegal coalAccuses police,administration ofnegligence

PNS Jamshedpur

All India Sikh StudentsFederation has ap-pealed to all the gurd-wara committees tocooperate till Veer BalDiwas is renamed asSahebzade ShaheediDiwas as per the normsof Guru Granth Sahib.Shiromani GurdwaraPrabandhak CommitteeAmritsar has alsopassed an order in thisregard, which has beensupported by the Feder-ation's Eastern IndiaPresident Satnam SinghGambhir. He said thatthe entire Sikh commu-nity addresses them asSahebzade or Baba. PrimeMinister Narendra Modi hasgiven him respect, he iscommendable but the nameof Veer Bal Diwas is not atall appropriate, every dayin Ardas, the Sikh commu-nity remembers them as

Baba, so on 26 December,Sahabzade Shaheedi Diwasbe celebrated. Gambhirspoke to the president ofShiromani Gurdwara Pra-bandhak Committee, Am-ritsar, Harjinder SinghDhami on the phone and

asked him to give adirection to the Gurd-wara committees inthis regard. Federa-tion official AmarjeetSingh Bhamra has ex-pressed concern overthe situation inJamshedpur, the com-mittees should ab-stain from theprograms being heldin Gurdwaras to an-nounce the celebra-tion of VeerChildren's Day untilthe name of Veer BalDiwas is according tothe dignity of GuruGranth Sahib.Appealing to the cen-tral government, he

said that the history of Sa-hebzade should be taughtin all schools. Federationofficer Sarabjit SinghBhullar said that a signa-ture campaign will also belaunched to change thename of Veer Bal Diwas.

Gurdwaras should abstain fromVeer Bal Diwas events: Federation

PNS � BERMO

Carrying liquor, travel-ling after consuming

liquor or clandestinelyconsuming liquor in therunning trains would landpassengers in big troubleincluding jail as the rail-way passengers havebeen put under the railwaypolice’s scanner, said Inspec-tor RPF Gaya Ajay Prakash.RPF Senior Divisional Secu-rity Commissioner, MGSunder ECR, A.K.Mishra saidthat the railway police, on thebasis of reports about smug-gling of liquor through trainsoriginating from Jharkhand,West Bengal, Assam, Maha-rashtra, Delhi etc and passingthrough the state besides con-suming liquor kept in coldwater bottles being carried bythem, have undertaken

painstaking initiative to stopthe menace. In the specialdrive undertaken by the RRP,Gaya between the Dhanbad-Gaya-Mugalsarai-Patna rail-way section, the police teamsof RPF have embarked on thedrive to check the train pas-sengers and their luggage tostop liquor peddling in the re-gion.Apart from checking the bag-gage, RPF Sub InspectorMonika Singh was patrollingat PF No. 02 and 03 withother forces while train num-

ber 13010 to secure Dnpass and to monitor crim-inal activities. During thepatrol, a person was look-ing back with his back-pack repeatedly, when hewas stopped and ques-tioned on suspicion, hasbeen identified as RipuDas, son of Beni Ravidas24 a resident at Belaganj

in district Gaya Bihar. Whenasked about the goods kept init, he could not give any satis-factory answer. After search-ing the bag, 48 nos. officer'schoice whiskey, and 02 nos.Officer's choice whiskey fromhis bag, kept in a carton, wereseized and the arrested personand the confiscated goodswere handed over to GRPGaya along with a writtencomplaint letter where underBihar Excise Act - 2018 U/S -30(a) Case No. 36/2022 hasbeen registered.

Special drive by RPF under ECR to enforce alcohol prohibition

��

RANCHI | MONDAY | JANUARY 24, 2022 04

MRITUANJAY KUMAR� Ranchi

West Singhbhum Dis-trict Administration on

Sunday detained four peoplefor appointing by mislead-ing the youth in Kolhan Mil-itary, regarding the demandfor a separate Country.Under the said Kolhan Gov-ernment Estate in Laduravillage under Mufassil Po-lice Station of West Singhb-hum district, about 50youths were being recruited

into the alleged securityforce.After getting informationabout this to the District Ad-ministration, Sadar Sub-Di-visional Officer, ShashidharBadaik, Sadar Sub-Divi-sional Police Officer, AjayKhalkho, District PlanningOfficer, Rajesh Kumar, Mu-fassil Police Station Officer,Pawan Chandra Pathak andother officials reachedLadura village along withthe team force.After the arrest of four peo-ple, the mob attacked the po-lice with conventionalweapons and stones. To con-trol the crowd, the policefired tear gas shells. Afterthis the villagers started run-

ning to save themselves. Thepolice also used mild forceto control the crowd.On interrogation there, itwas found that the youthswere being misguided andappointed in the securityforce in the name of KolhanGovernment Estate for 40years. However, on interro-gation of the officials, thematter of deceiving theyouth and appointing themcame. The four people whomade the same appointmentwere caught by the Mufassilpolice station and brought tothe police station.After the villagers came toknow about this, thousandsof villagers surrounded theMufassil police station with

traditional weapons. Theyalso gathered at NationalHighway 75E for about twohours. The demand of thevillagers was that the fourpeople who were caught bythe police should be re-leased.However, the administrativeofficers were talking to thevillagers regarding the mat-ter. Despite this, the villagerswere not ready to accept it.Despite the rain, the villagersblocked the National High-way and demanded the re-lease of the arrested people.Even after a long time, whenthe villagers did not agree,the police used force andchased them away fromaround the police station.

A person named RamoBiruwa had raised the de-mand for a separate countryby declaring himself as thePresident of Kolhan. Takingaction in this case, the policesent him to jail. RamoBiruva died in jail itself. Hisassociate Anand Chatar wasalso in jail in the case ofsedition. A few days ago, hecame out of jail on the basisof bail. After this, AnandChatar was recruiting newyouths to protect Kolhan inthe name of Kolhan Govern-ment Estate in the entireWest Singhbhum district.Anand Chatar is also distrib-uting an appointment letterto the youth. Appointmentfor 40 years is shown.

4 held for recruiting youths for separate Kolhan EstateVillagers gheraopolice station,block highway

Chief Minister Hemant Soren pays floral tributes to Netaji Subhas Chandra Boseon his birth anniversary at his official residence in Ranchi on Sunday. PNS

PNS � Ranchi

Jharkhand has passed thepeak period of the third

wave of the Covid 19 pan-demic during the secondweek of this month, afterwhich the cases startedfalling. But, health expertshave warned that any relax-ation or compromise withthe Covid appropriate be-haviour may trigger thespread of the virus.The health experts havesaid that a low mortalityrate, beds in hospitals lessoccupied this time doesn’tmean that the pandemic hasreduced to the level of thecommon cases of coughand fever.They have pointed out thatfrom 20 December 2021 tillJanuary 22, as many as 102people lost their lives.However, more than 50 percent of cases are related tocomorbidity where the de-ceased was suffering fromone or other diseases. Fifty

five deceased persons arethose who were above the60s, whereas 14 patients be-longed to the age group of45 and 59. Rest are fromdifferent age groups. No-

tably, in the last one week,over 40 deaths due toCovid-19 have been re-ported.Dr. Prabhat, who is a mem-ber of the State task force

on Covid control said thatJharkhand has crossed thepeak period but the dangercontinues. On January 8,the highest number ofcases, 5081 was recordedin Jharkhand. On January12, a total of 4753 caseswere reported which re-duced to 3000 on January16. But there is no com-fort since cases continue tohaunt. For instance, on Saturday,a total of 1755 new caseswere reported out of which600 cases are from Ranchimeaning thereby Ranchicontinues to top the listwith the highest number ofcases. On Saturday ninedeaths were reported fromfour districts namely Cha-tra, Dhanbad, East Singhb-hum, and Saraikela-Kharsawan.On Friday also deaths werereported and the test reportssuggested that the Omicronvariant has started affectingpeople.

Peak period of Covid has gone but threat stays: say experts

A government health worker takes swab samplesfrom a passenger for COVID-19 test, amid concernover rising Omicron cases at Birsa Munda Airport inRanchi on Sunday. Pix by Vinay Murmu

JPPC holds Coping with CovidprogrammeOn the eve of National GirlChild Day, JharkhandPradesh Professionals Con-gress (JPCC) organised anawareness programme'Coping with Covid' at thecrepe cafe, Lalpur, with keyspeakers being AdityaVikram Jaiswal, President,JPPC, Dr Vinay Dhandaniya, Dr Suyash Sinha, VicePresident, JPPC and Khyati Munjal, Secretary, JPPC.Jaiswal said that today was a day for raising aware-ness among our daughters. Daughters are the pride ofour society, nation and should have equal rights in allspheres. He quoted Indira Gandhi as a beacon for allwomen, what they are capable of being. Dr. VinayDhandaniya advised the gathered to not be afraid ofcovid, rather tackle covid and get vaccinated. Weshould support our elderly when it comes to their mentalhealth, and be aware of whatever challenges mightcome our way with covid. JPPC State Secretary, KhyatiMunjal also emphasised on the role played by womenin our society. Their bravery and sense of public serviceis always in the correct spirit. JPPC Vice President DrSuyash Sinha said that we must look to the future. Incovid times there is a surge of mental health problems,we should not shy away from seeking help. BhuvneshThakur, President, Ranchi Chapter Professionals Con-gress gave the vote of thanks, ending the program withassurance that JPPC would be instrumental in settingup mental health facilities in the state.

Paradise provides equipment atTB SanitariumMembers of Paradise Soci-ety provided necessaryequipment at RamakrishnaMission T.B. Sanatorium,Ranchi on Sunday. Themembers provided equip-ment for two RespiratoryEmergency ICU Roomswith four Beds. The totalcost of the project was over Rs 3.30 Lakh and theequipment included 4 Semi Fowler Beds, 4 Bed SideRails, 4 Mattress, 4 Foot Steps, 4 Bed Side Lockers, 4Bed Side Screens, 2 Instrument Trolley, 2 BP Ma-chines with Stands, one Cardiac Monitor and oneHeavy Duty Invertor with Batteries. The TB Sanitariumis a 250bed hospital, where 200 beds are dedicated forfree treatment of TB patients.

Ranchi Dist Admin held vehiclechecking driveIntensive vehicle checking drive was conducted byRanchi District Transport Officer, Praveen KumarPrakash on Sunday at various spots of the city. Duringthe checking drive in Rampur Namkum, documents ofhundreds of vehicles were checked, in which fitness,pollution and insurance of many vehicles were foundto be failed. Fines in the tune of Rs 384150 were re-covered from 37 vehicles during the intensive vehiclechecking campaign. Prakash has urged all the vehicleowners to operate the vehicles only after carrying allthe valid documents of the vehicle so that they couldnot face any problems. He said that in future also suchinvestigation drives would be conducted from time totime.

Netaji Jayanti celebrations at SCSTo commemorate Netaji's125th birth anniversary thestudents of classes II and IIIat Surendranath Centenaryschool paid tribute to thisgreat patriot and iconic heroof our freedom struggle. Theyperformed a series of pro-grams virtually which included speech, dance, a skit anda quiz based on his life .They also performed on Netaji'sregimental song Kadam Kadam badhaye ja. PrincipalSamita Sinha remembered and paid tribute to Netaji's in-domitable spirit and selfless service to the nation andasked the students to act with fortitude as Netaji did.

Tributes paid to Netaji at Gomoh JunctionRich tributes were paid toNetaji Subhash ChandraBose on his 125th birth an-niversary at Gomoh Junc-tion that has been namedafter him. It was this Junc-tion in India when he waslast seen alive and is wit-ness to his great escape as had boarded a train here.People, besides a host of railway employees, paid flo-ral tribute to Netaji on his portrait that has been in-stalled here by railways in memory of his great escape.Several other programmes were held to remember himincluding blood donation camp by Youth Conceptwhere 53 units of blood were collected and handedover to SNMMCH blood bank.The Bengali Welfare so-ciety organised a prabhat period to mark this occasionduring which local MLA Raj Sinha too took part. Netajiwas also remembered at Katras station besides Barariwhere he had stayed at the house of his relative aheadof escaping from India.

JPSC prepares to conductoffline examination

PNS � Ranchi

Jharkhand witnessed rainsand fog across all dis-

tricts due to two weatherphenomena affecting theweather conditions in thecountry. According to me-teorological department theState will experience rainyweather for the next twodays Monday and Tuesdaydue to western disturbancepassing through Pakistanextending between 3.1 kmand 7.6 km above mean sealevel.IMD's Ranchi Meteorolog-ical Centre has said that thenorth and central part ofJharkhand will have themaximum impact of theweather change which isalso set to bring down thetemperature.After more than a week ofpoor weather due to west-ern disturbance, theweather condition had im-proved in Jharkhand with a

sunny day with a clear skyand of course chill in theair. But, the State witnessedlight and moderate rainfallcoupled with fog through-out the day on Sunday.According to the RanchiCentre of Indian Meteoro-logical Department maxi-mum rainfall of 22 mmwas witnessed in Ko-derma district on Sunday.Ranchi witnessed 3.8 mmrainfall, while Jamshed-pur witnessed 4 mm rain-fall on the day.The weather will continuefor two more days andthere may be further dropin the temperature after

January 25 owing to clearskies from January 26.The districts like Garhwa,Palamu, Latehar, Chatra,Hazaribagh, Kodera,Giridih, Dhanbad, De-oghar, Jamtara, Dumka,Godda, Pakur and Sahib-ganj are expected to wit-ness rain. Rest of thedistricts may not witnessrain. There is a strongpossibility of rain on Jan-uary 23.However, there are indi-cations of improvement inweather after January 25onward when the mini-mum temperature willalso improve.

Rains, fog engulf State due to western disturbanceSituation tocontinue tillJanuary 25 inJharkhand

A passenger train moves slowly at railway track,amid low visibility due to fog on a cold wintermorning at Hatia Railway station in Ranchi onSunday. Pix by Vinay Murmu

PNS � Ranchi

Agricultural think tank of the State, BirsaAgricultural University (BAU), and the Agri-cultural Directorate of the State Governmentare jointly trying to increase income of thefarmers of the State. In order to do so, BAUhas started research on the newly emergingoilseed crop ‘Gobhi Sarson' in the currentRabi season for searching opportunities inthe State.This initiative of research on this crop isbeing done for the first time in the State bythe Agronomy Department of BAU, which isbeing implemented under the ICAR sup-ported All India Coordinated Research proj-ect on Integrated Farming System Research.This crop was planted in November in theagronomy department's Integrated FarmingSystem Research Farm. Presently this cropis flourishing in the field. Flowering hasstarted in its plants.Director Agriculture, Nesha Oraon said thatthe Directorate is to connect the research andfindings of agriculture scientists, to the farm-ers in fields , to facilitate innovative practicesand optimum productivity, therefore leadingto economic empowerment of farmers. “Weplan to promote these findings on pilot basis,by demonstrating them on our own Govern-ment agricultural lands and introducing thesecrops to our progressive farmers,” she added.Recently, BAU Vice Chancellor (VC), DrOnkar Nath Singh along with agronomists

observed the perception of this new crop. Heexpressed satisfaction over the vegetativegrowth and flowering of the crop in the localclimate. The scientists appreciated the initia-tive on the possibility of cropping GobhiSarso under the Integrated Farming Systemmodel.Singh said that the intensity of Rabi crop isvery less in Jharkhand and in this research ini-tiative, if found suitable in the agriculturalecology of the State, ‘Gobhi Sarson’ crop can

prove to be very effective in increasing the in-come of the farmers. He said that innovativeagricultural technology development is theneed of the hour as per the changing agricul-tural environment and market demand and agri-cultural scientists have to be always ready in thisdirection.The VC added, this crop, which is prevalent inHaryana, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh ofIndia, can prove to be very useful in increasingthe income of farmers if it is suitable in the agro-

ecology of Jharkhand.Project Investigator Associated with this re-search Dr S Karmakar, told that the improvedvariety RP-9 of ‘Gobhi Sarso’ has been used forresearch in the experimental farm. “The seedsof this have been provided by Indira GandhiAgricultural University, Raipur, Chhattisgarh.Its cultivation has been started in the IntegratedAgricultural System Farm of the UniversityHeadquarters, Kanke, in addition to the Re-gional Research Center, Chiyanki (Palamu) andDarisai (East Singhbhum) and Krishi VigyanKendra, Chiyanki (Palamu). The perception hasbeen done in the fields of some farmers of EastSinghbhum. The performance of the crop is stillsatisfactory in the research centers of Palamuand East Singhbhum,” he added.Dr Karmakar informed that ‘Gobhi Sarso’, isgrown in Rabi season. Its cultivation has alsostarted in the neighbouring state of Chhattis-garh. “The yield potential of the RP-9 varietyis 30-35 quintals per hectare and the oil contentis up to 40-42 per cent, which is much betterthan the traditional mustard crop. In the initialstage it is also used in animal fodder. Feweramounts of seed are required in cultivation.It is an attempt to explore possibilities inJharkhand's agricultural ecology through re-search and analysis. In this research pro-gram, the possibility of cultivation in thelocal environment on the basis of yield po-tential, oil quantity, quality, benefits andharmful effects and others will be assessed,”he added.

BAU & Agri Dept begin research on oil seed ‘Gobhi Sarson’

BAU Vice Chancellor ON Singh takes stock of the plantation of Gobhi Sarson atBAU Campus in Ranchi. PNS

Mobile vans to develop readinghabits among students

PNS � Ranchi

In order to compensate for the loss of stud-ies of students due to the corona pandemic

especially in rural areas, the State Educationdepartment has decided to roll out mobilereading vans. These mobile vans will be likemini libraries having books, magazines forall age groups of students. The JharkhandEducation Project Council (JEPC) will runthese mobile vans as a campaign for 100days. The focus areas of these mobile vanswill be educationally backward areas wherethe students have failed to connect digitallywith various educational teaching providedby JEPC.The Jharkhand Education Project Councilhas issued a guideline for mobile chariots.JEPC's State Project Director Kiran KumariPasi has directed all the districts that in theera of Covid pandemic, the areas where chil-dren have been deprived of education, thesereading chariots will move. In an area thevans will move for two to three hours. Dur-

ing this time, the children of thearea will come there and will beable to study. The logo of thestate government and the bannerof the reading campaign will bedisplayed in these vans. It hasalso been directed that with eachvan, there will be two volunteersand a teacher who will motivatestudents for availing the facili-ties.From these vans children will beissued instructions through loud-speakers. The jobs of volunteersand teachers will also to clear thequery of students regarding theirstudies. The JEPC has also issueddirections that all Covid proto-cols should be followed duringthe movement of these vans.Along with this, sanitizers and

masks will also be kept in thevan. If a child comes without amask, he will be provided a mask

and hand sanitizer. It will be mandatory tosend pictures and videos of each program sothat it can be sent to the central government.Every week the calendar is also being re-leased for the reading campaign.This campaign will run till April 10, nowchildren will be able to study on the basisof that calendar by staying at home. Rou-tines are being made available to themthrough WhatsApp and other means.Meanwhile, in another development theState Education department has issuedSOPs for online education of school stu-dents. As per the directives issued by thedepartment it has been stated that studentswho are preparing for class VIII, X andXII board examinations focus will be onsuch students. It has also been stated thata teacher will contact ten students or theirparents discussing the teaching providedthrough online education. The teacher willalso motivate students to have healthy on-line competition on various topics andstudents.

Representational picture of a mobile van with books. File

PNS � Ranchi

As the Jharkhand PublicService Commission

(JPSC) is learnt to havedecided to conduct the of-fline examination of themain examination of thecombined civil servicesagitating students have ac-cused the JPSC of puttingtheir lives at risk.As per the schedules an-nounced, the main exami-nation will be held fromJanuary 28 till January 30.A total of 14 examinationcenters across Jharkhandhave been selected and stu-dents were asked to down-load the admit card fromthe website of the JPSC.Like other states, Jhark-hand is also facing thethird wave of the Covid19, and the governmenthas imposed the lockdownwhich will stay effectivetill January 31. All schoolsand colleges have beenclosed and any gatheringat public places has been

restricted under the disas-ter management act.Notably, on January 3when chief minister He-mant Soren had chairedthe meeting of disastermanagement to review thesituation the direction wasclear that all offline ex-aminations in Jharkhandwill remain suspended.But the JPSC has not is-sued any statement onwhether or not the exami-nation will be postponed.According to the direc-tion of the government,all public places likeparks, fitness centers, sta-diums, schools, and col-leges will remain closed.Even if the JPSC getsspecial permission fromthe government andmakes special arrange-ments for the examina-tion, it hardly minimizesrisk factors. It will bedifficult to ascertainwhether or not an aspi-rant is affected by theCovid 19.

Panchayat elections likely in March: MinisterPNS � Ranchi

Jharkhand Rural Development ministerAlamgir Alam has said that the Jharkhandgovernment may decide to conduct the Pan-chayat elections in Jharkhand soon. Theminister said that the schedule of the elec-tion may be announced in February andthere is the possibility of elections beingheld in March. The Minister informed thiswhile responding to a query as to whetherand when the government plans to completethe elections. Alam said that due to Covid19 pandemic the government was unable toconduct the election. He said that while the

pandemic posed a challenge; the govern-ment diverted its entire attention and ma-chinery to tackle the situation. He said thatit was impossible to conduct any election insuch a situation. The Panchayat election wasscheduled to be completed in December lastyear. The government through a notificationextended the tenure of Panchayat bodies asthe stop-gap arrangement. According to the official sources, the notifi-cation for the Panchayat election may be is-sued any time after February 15. The Stateelection body will be asked to revise thevoter lists through the DC of the concerneddistricts.

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ADravidian rationalist devo-tee from Tamil Nadu is

seeking the blessings and favorsof Lord Narasimhamoorthi,an Aryan God, may soundstrange. Come January 31, acaparisoned elephant repre-senting Tamil Nadu ChiefMinister M K Stalin would goround the centuries oldAnayadi NarasimhamoorthiTemple at Sooranadu in Kollamdistrict of Kerala. According toVenugopala Kurup, president

of the NarasimhamoorthiTemple, representatives of therationalist and atheist Stalin haspaid Rs 9,000, the customaryfee for parading the elephant totake a round of the sanctumsanctorum of the temple. Theelephant has been numberedsix, to match with the luckynumber of the chief minister,said Kurup.

Though Stalin is unlikely tomake it to Sooranadu, his closeconfidante M Subramaninan,the health minister and hun-dreds of DMK activists from

Tamil Nadu are certain to takepart in the divine function,according to Kurup.

“This pooja is performedfor seeking the Lord’s favorsand to get cured of serious ail-ments. The persons whobooked the pooja in Stalin’sname told us that they want thechief minister to lead the DMKto victories in all elections ,”said Kurup.

Though the temple man-agement got phone calls report-edly from the DMK office inChennai, enquiring about the

details of the offering, the tem-ple staff did not take it seriouslyand briefed the callers aboutthe age-old custom and tradi-tion. It was only when a duofrom Chennai called on thedepartment of Devaswam, theyunderstood the seriousness.

“The Gajamela in the tem-ple is a famous rituals and wehave paraded hundred ele-phants in the past. But becauseof Covid-19 related restric-tions, the number of elephantshave been kept to a minimum.Though 500 devotees had

booked for the offering, weconvinced the sixth person inthe list to give way to Stalinwhich he obliged without anyhotch,” said Kurup.

Though Stalin is a ratio-nalist, his wife Santa Durga isa devotee and visits all church-es, temples and mosques pray-ing for the health and successof the former.

The shots of Durga sob-bing uncontrollably during theswearing in of Stalin as chiefminister in May 2021 had goneviral in the social media.

Moradabad (Uttar Pradesh):A special POCSO (Protectionof Children from SexualOffences) court in Moradabadhas awarded life imprisonmentto a 24-year-old man for rap-ing a Class 10 girl and record-ing a video of the crime.

The court also slapped afine of Rs 50,000 on theaccused, after pronouncinghim guilty. Half of the fineamount will be provided to thesurvivor as compensation, thecourt ordered.

The survivor was 15 yearsold when the crime took placein 2018 and had to leave thetown with her family after the

incident.Additional District

Government Counsel (ADGC)M.P. Singh told reporters,"According to the FIR, Faheemwas arrested and sent to jailearlier too for harassing the girl.After securing bail, he bargedinto her house in the absenceof her parents and raped her.He was caught red-handed byneighbours and handed over tothe police. An FIR was regis-tered against him under rele-vant sections of IPC and underthe POCSO Act."

He further said that thepolice had filed a charge sheetagainst Faheem, and the court

pronounced him guilty, sen-tencing him to life imprison-ment for his offence. At present,the accused is behind bars. Acopy of the order has been sentto the jail authorities," Singhadded.

A senior police officer inMoradabad said, "We are close-ly monitoring all cases of crimeagainst women and providingall possible support to ensurespeedy trial. The survivor andher family were provided ade-quate counselling and financialsupport through beneficiaryschemes by the district admin-istration."

IANS

Varanasi: A 35-year-oldwoman in Uttar Pradesh wasgiven triple talaq by her hus-band after she refused to dancein orchestra shows.

The woman has nowlodged an FIR against her hus-band with Lanka police.

ACP Bhelupur, PravinKumar Singh said, "After initialinvestigation in the complaintof the woman, an FIR againsther husband Naseem Ahmedof Mungra Badshahpur area ofJaunpur district, his motherand two sisters has been lodgedby Lanka police under sectionsof Muslim Women (Protectionof Rights on Marriage) Act,Immoral Traffic (Prevention)Act and Dowry ProhibitionAct.

"The police have startedfurther investigation in thiscase."

According to the police, thewoman in her complaint men-tioned that she was married toNaseem in 2007 and they havetwo sons and a daughter.

In 2015, Naseem and hisfamily forced the woman'sfather, who is a retired gov-ernment employee, to give Rs2 lakhs to get his job of driverin municipal body confirmed.

After this, Naseem startedforcing her to dance in orches-tra shows and indulge in fleshtrade. The woman said that hermother started paying Rs 5,000to Naseem's family per monthto ensure that she was notforced to indulge in immoral

activities.She further alleged that in

August 2021 she was oustedfrom home with her childrenby Naseem, his mother and sis-ters as she refused to indulge inflesh trade and dance in orches-tra to earn money for him.

She said that she keptrequesting her husband and in-laws over the phone to take herback.

She alleged that when shewas talking to Naseem onphone, he gave her 'triple talaq'.

IANS

Bengaluru: The issue of wear-ing a hijab (head coveringworn in public by Muslimwomen) to the colleges alongwith the uniform has sparkeda debate in Karnataka over reli-gious practices impacting theeducation system in the state.The matter has also snow-balled into a controversy onwhether the hijab could be con-sidered as part of the uniform.

The ruling BJP is deliber-ating on whether to take a callon allowing hijab as part of theuniform of college students.State Education Minister B.C.Nagesh, while opposing thewearing of hijab to classrooms,has said that a decision wouldbe taken on the issue soon bythe government.

The experts as well as stu-dents are divided over the issue.Those who are in favour statethat the dress code in class-rooms should not indicate faithor religion as it creates barriersbetween students as well asteachers. Those who supportthe wearing of hijab say thathijab should be treated as ascarf. Hijab is black in colourand it can't be a religious sym-bol as Islam is identified withthe green colour. The hijabshould be treated as a symbolof chastity, they maintain.

The denial of permission tosix girls in the GovernmentGirls' Pre University College inthe communally sensitive dis-trict of Udupi in the state hascreated a controversy. Nageshdubbed it as a political moveand questioned whether cen-tres of learning should becomereligious centres.

Meanwhile, the girl stu-dents have decided to contin-ue their protest until they are

allowed to attend classes wear-ing hijab.

"I have been facing theissue of hijab. We have not beenallowed into the classroom justbecause we are wearing hijab.Though it's our fundamentaland constitutional right theyare not allowing us. It's a gov-ernment college though. Thereis a lot of discrimination in thecollege, we can't speak to eachother in Urdu, we can't saysalaam to each other in the col-lege. This matter has becomecommunal and we are so sadabout it. We did not want thisto become communal," AliyaAssadi, a protesting studentexplained.

"Many political parties aretaking advantage of this. We arejust asking for basic funda-mental rights. I don't knowwhy it is so tough to take usinside with a headscarf. We arenot asking permission withburqas. Last Friday, the collegeprincipal and four professorsmade protesting students givean apology letter by black-mailing them that their state-ments on hijab are false. Forbasic rights do we have to doso much?" she asked.

"They tease that we willnever win in this protest. Theycalled our parents many timesand tried to manipulate them.I request government officialsto respond on the issue andallow us to wear hijab. We don'twant options. We want to study,come up in life as well as wearhijab," explained Almas.

Eight students of the col-lege are still protesting in thecollege campus for beingdenied entry into the class-rooms for wearing hijab alongwith the uniform. IANS

Chennai: The Tamil Nadupublic health department hasinoculated 14,29,736 peopleas part of the 19th mega vac-cine drive conducted across thestate.

The drive was conductedon Saturday. The health depart-ment officials said that a major-ity of those who were inocu-lated had come for their seconddoses. The health and familywelfare department in a state-ment on Saturday said that10,27,810 people took the sec-ond dose of vaccine, 3,68,797took their first dose and 33,129took the booster dose.

The state health minister,Ma Subramanian while speak-ing to IANS said, "The statehealth department has vacci-nated more than 14 lakh peo-ple and I appeal to the people

of the state, who are yet to bevaccinated, to do it immedi-ately."

The state minister said that89.6 per cent of the eligiblepopulation have taken theirfirst dose of the vaccine while66.8 per cent have taken theirsecond dose of the vaccine. MaSubramanian said that out ofthe 5.56 lakh people eligible forthe booster dose of vaccine,only 1.84 lakh have taken themtill Friday.

He also said that while theCovid-19 cases were increasingin large numbers in the state, itwas less compared to the fig-ures in Kerala, Karnataka, andMaharashtra. The minister alsosaid that the case fatality ratewas less in Tamil Nadu andadded that those who weredying due to Covid-19 werethose who were not vaccinat-ed. He urged the people of thestate to take vaccination withimmediate effect. IANS

New Delhi: Red wine could help staveoff Covid-19, according to new research.

People who drink more than fiveglasses a week had a 17 per cent lowerrisk of catching the virus, the Daily Mailreported citing the study as saying.

Experts believe this is due to thepolyphenol content, which can inhibitthe effect of viruses such as flu and res-piratory tract-related infections.

White wine drinkers who con-

sume between one to four glasses a weekhad an eight per cent lower risk of catch-ing the virus compared with non-drinkers.

Beer and cider drinkers had anearly 28 per cent higher chance of get-ting Covid, regardless of how much theyconsumed. Figures from British data-base UK Biobank were analysed atChina's Shenzhen Kangning Hospital,the report said. IANS

Shillong: Amid the surge ofCovid-19 cases in Meghalaya,anti-vaccination protestersorganised a rally in the capitalcity Shillong against the allegedmandatory inoculation drive bythe State Government.

Organised by the NGOAwaken India Movement(AIM), the anti-vaccinationprotesters took out a protestmarch from Motphran toKhyndailad, strongly opposingthe compulsory vaccination by

the health department.AIM Chairman Banshai

Marbaniang, who led theprotest march, said that peopleare protesting the mandatoryvaccination by the state gov-ernment against their funda-mental rights of taking thevaccine jab of their choice.

The protesters are alsoagainst the compulsory wear-ing of face mask and testing oftheir samples.

"The authorities are forcing

and harassing the non-vacci-nated people to test their sam-ples every 10 days. The AIMwould hold protest marches onthe matter in other parts of thestate," Marbaniang told themedia. According to reports ofthe National Health Mission,Meghalaya, the state onSaturday recorded the highestever single-day spike of 406new Covid positive cases push-ing the number of active casesto 2,002, with one death due to

the infection raising the totalnumber of casualties to 1,496.

Aman War, MeghalayaDirector of Health Services,said that East Khasi Hills inwhich the state capital Shillongfalls, the most coronavirus-hitdistrict registered 304 freshcases on Saturday, with the dis-trict currently having 1,377active cases with 1,018 peoplesuccumbed to the contagiousdisease.

Deputy Chief Minister

Prestone Tynsong while talkingto the media said that the stategovernment is not consideringimposing lockdown in the statefollowing the sudden rise ofnew Covid-19 cases.

The state governmentwould review the situationarising out of sudden spurts ofCovid cases and in view of thepositive cases of Omicron vari-ant found in the hill state andin the neighbouring states,Tynsong added. IANS

New Delhi: After affectingnormal life in Karachi,Pakistan, a massive dust stormheaded towards Gujarat andsouth Rajasthan and may con-tinue to have an effect till thenext 12 hours, the IndiaMeteorological Department(IMD) said.

No impact likely over Delhiin coming days, it added.

Karachi was caught offguard on Saturday morningwhen a dust storm that trav-elled from west Pakistan dis-turbed the normal life therewith visibility reduced to lessthan or about 500 metres.

"The Saurashtra coast hasbeen getting dust rising windsfrom Saturday afternoon.Dwarka station reported 400metre visibility, at Porbandarthe wind speed was more than10 km per hour with visibilityof less than one kilometre," theIMD said.

Winds carrying dust blewfrom south Pakistan areas andadjoining Arabian Sea towardsKutch and Saurashtra towardsevening.

"Dust storm or dust raisingwinds in association with sur-face winds at a wind speed of30-40 kmph gusting to 50kmph, is likely over manyplaces of Saurashtra and Kutch,and at isolated places overadjoining Gujarat region andsouth Rajasthan," said IMD's

senior scientist R.K. Jenamani,adding, "This is valid tillSunday morning for next 12hours."

Fortunately, the dust stormwill have no impact on Delhi inview of the western disturbancebeing very active for the next36 hours in northwest India.

"Its (dust area) forwardpart interacts with high mois-ture and intense cloud zonecurrently located over south-west Rajasthan. The dust layeris over Saurashtra, very far,southwest of Delhi," Jenamanisaid.

The 'Sand and Dust StormsRisk Assessment in Asia andthe Pacific' report for 2021published by the Asian andPacific Centre for the

Development of DisasterInformation Management,which is a regional institutionof the United NationsEconomic and SocialCommission for Asia and thePacific, had said more than 500million people in India andmore than 80 per cent of thepopulation of Turkmenistan,Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistanand Iran are exposed to medi-um and high levels of poor airquality due to sand and duststorms.

Lahore, Karachi and Delhiare the three most affectedcities, the report had said.

Dust storms, if severe, andover a longer time, alsoadversely affect agriculture,especially cotton.

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Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee contin-

ued to fire salvos at the Centreover the issue of Netaji SubhasChandra Bose’s tableau even asshe accused the BJPGovernment for discarding theiconic freedom-fighter’s ideals.

Slamming the Centre fordoing away with the PlanningCommission --- which hasbeen replaced with Ayog --- shesaid, “We will have a planningcommission in West Bengal…The tableau from West Bengalhas not got space in RepublicDay Parade in Delhi but willdefinitely participate in thecelebrations at Red Road inKolkata.”

Insisting that the Centrehad taken the decision to installNetaji’s statue at India Gateunder pressure --- in the wakeof the tableau controversy ---Banerjee said “we still not havebeen given the reasons why theBengal’s tableau on Netaji wasrejected by the Centre.”

She said, “had Bengal notbeen there, country'sIndependence would not havebeen achieved” and asked,“why such neglect for Bengal.None can wipe the history ofBengal … Nobody can changethe real history of the country.If someone does that they willbe playing with fire.”

Attacking the Centre forfailing to bring out the truth on

Netaji’s final days Banerjeesaid “it is not enough to installthe freedom fighter’s statue …In so many years there is noclarity about Netaji’s death …They (the BJP) had said thatafter coming to power, they willwork on it but nothing hap-pened. In fact, we (state) havereleased and declassified allfiles on Netaji Bose … OnNetaji’s statue, his birth day canbe written, will we able towrite the date of his death?”

She also attacked theCentre for merging AmarJawan Jyoti with National WarMemorial. Saying that therewas a constant effort to dividethe people of the countryBanerjee asked the powers thatbe to read the history of SwamiVivekanand, Gandhi and Netajisaying “I request them to readabout Mahatma Gandhi,Swami Vivekananda and NetajiSubhas Chandra Bose. None ofthese personalities ever talkedabout dividing the country”

The Chief Minister onSunday announced a numberof schemes including the set-ting up of Jai Hind Force inevery school that would beshaped after the NCC.

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Security forces reportedlyfired several rounds after

clashes broke out on Sundaybetween cadres of BJP andruling Trinamool Congressover celebrations of NetajiSubhas Chandra Bose’s birthanniversary at Barrackpore inNorth 24 Parganas adjacent toKolkata.

Though there was no offi-cial statement from any sidelocals said forces manning BJPMP Arjun Singh’s security fired

several rounds in the air after brickbats were hurledfrom both sides when Singh thelocal MP rushed to a spot where the members of twoparties were exchanging blows.

The BJP MP was rescuedand sent to his residence safe-ly, said Joint Commissioner ofPolice Dhruba Jyoti Dey.

“This is how the TMC istrying to capture Bengal … thisis the kind of democracy theyhave established in the State,”Singh said after the incident.“Our men had gone to garland

a statue of Netaji when theTMC goons stopped themfrom doing so … when ourmen protested they attackedthem and even fired shots,”Singh said.

Local TMC MLA ParthoBhowmick however rejectedthe charges saying it were “theBJP goons who attacked theTMC men … after whichArjun Singh came with hissecurity men and lathi-chargedour workers and his forcesfired in the air … I will requestthe police to investigate as towho resorted to the firing.”

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The allied powers, led byBritain and the US, had won.The axis powers led by Hitler’sGermany had been van-quished. The victors wanted toimpose justice on the defeat-ed armies. In India, officers ofNetaji Bose’s INA were put ontrial for treason, torture andmurder. This series of courtmartials came to be known asthe Red Fort trials.

Indians serving in theBritish armed forces wereinflamed by the Red Fort tri-als. In February 1946, almost20,000 sailors of the RoyalIndian Navy serving on 78ships mutinied against theEmpire. They went aroundMumbai and Karachi withportraits of Netaji and forcedthe British to shout ‘Jai Hind’and other INA slogans. Therebels brought down theUnion Jack on their ships andrefused to obey their Britishmasters. This mutiny wasfollowed by similar rebel-lions in the Royal IndianAir Force and also in theBritish Indian Army units inJabalpur. The British wereterrified. After the SecondWorld War, 2.5 millionIndian soldiers were beingde-commissioned from theBritish Army.

Military intelligencereports in 1946 indicatedthat the Indian soldiers were

inflamed and could not berelied upon to obey theirBritish officers. There wereonly 40,000 British troops inIndia at the time. Most wereeager to go home and in nomood to fight the 2.5 millionbattle-hardened Indian sol-diers who were being demo-bilised. It is under these cir-cumstances that the Britishdecided to grantIndependence to India.

The idea is not to in anyway undermine the signifi-cant contribution ofMahatma Gandhi or PtNehru in awakening themasses to the value of free-dom but to spark a debateabout the real contribution ofNetaji Subhas and the roleplayed by him and the INA.School textbooks are domi-nated by the role played bythe non-violent movementwhile the INA’s role is dis-missed in a few cursory para-graphs. The time has come torevisit modern Indian histo-ry and acknowledge theimmense contribution ofNetaji in helping India win itsfreedom.

Bose was so popular asCongress president in 1938that the members made himcontest again in 1939.Gandhiji did not approve ofthe re-election and, in duecourse, squeezed the young

leader out of the Party. In1940, Netaji was put underhome arrest in Calcutta, fromwhere he decided to abscondto join Germany which wasfighting World War II againstBritain. The land route wasdifficult with several visasrequired on the way. After ahard struggle, Netaji reachedBerlin in April 1941, threemonths since leavingCalcutta.

After the Japanesedeclared war on Americaand UK, Hitler suggestedthat Netaji could be moreuseful against the British.He therefore agreed to pro-ceed across half the globe bysubmarine. He reachedSingapore en route Tokyo bythe middle of 1943, soon totake over an incipient INAfounded by the patriot RashBehari Ghosh. From a mot-ley crowd of less than 10,000,Netaji within weeks built thearmy into a disciplined forceof 50,000 soldiers by persuad-ing British Indian POWs,that fought until the end ofthe war. Tragically, it tookBose’s life in an accidental aircrash. India’s brightest lampof patriotism was blown out.

(The writer is a well-known columnist, an authorand a former member of theRajya Sabha. The viewsexpressed are personal.)

�� Sir — The Union Government hadinformed the States in December that thenumber of IAS officers deputed to theCentre was not sufficient. TheDepartment of Personnel and Trainingproposed four amendments to Rule6(1), of which two have drawn seriouscriticism from some State Governments.The deputation of IAS officers is madethrough an understanding between theCentre, State Governments and the offi-cers concerned. One of the proposedamendments makes it mandatory for theStates to provide a certain number of IASofficers to the Centre on deputationevery year, which is against the rights ofthe officers to make a choice.

The Centre has clarified that itwould set the number of officers to bedeputed. This proposal will also badlyaffect the Centre-State relations anddamage the structure of the IAS services.In fact, the shortage of IAS officers inCentral services is a cause for concernand it needs to be resolved immediate-ly. This move by the Centre has othernegative consequences, too. The StateGovernments may seek the services ofmore State Civil Aervice officers and itmay lead to the marginalisation of theIAS. The Centre must take a wider viewof the situation and address the griev-ances of the States.

Venu GS | Kollam

��Sir — The Election Commission hasextended the ban on political rallies, roadshows, padyatras, cycle rallies and pro-cessions till January 31. It is a prudentstep in the right direction as the num-ber of Omicron cases is increasing byleaps and bounds and the situation isalarming. The curbs on other politicalevent will be revoked only when the sit-uation improves drastically, the EC hassaid. So it will take some more time forpolitical parties in the poll fray to go allout and bring out the best in vote bankpolitics. The decision, impairing thecampaign by political parties in the fivepoll-bound States, was taken after online

consultations.Though the Punjab election was

postponed to February 20, the otherStates would go to the polls aroundValentine’s Day and the spread of virusis still continuing in other States. Bettersense should prevail on the authoritiesto postpone the elections to sometime inMarch to protect those actively involvedin politics from the virus; thereby pre-venting the spread of the virus to otherparts of the country.

MR Jayanthi | Kerala

�� Sir — Immediately after Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s decision to instal NetajiSubhas Chandra Bose’s statue at IndiaGate on his 125th birth anniversary,Union Home Minister Amit Shah asusual slammed the Congress for forget-ting the freedom fighter’s immortalcontribution to the country. He tweet-ed: “…Congress has left no stoneunturned to forget the immortal contri-

butions of India’s brave son.” Sadly, it isbeyond Shah’s knowledge that India'sfirst PM, Jawaharlal Nehru, in his firstIndependence Day Speech (August 16,1947) at the Red Fort invoked thenames of only two men: MahatmaGandhi and Netaji Subhas Bose.

Shah should be asked whetherinstalling Netaji’s statue at India Gate isthe true reminder of his immortal con-tribution to the nation? But when Netajiwas trying to secure foreign support forthe nation’s liberation, was it not Savarkarwho offered full military cooperation tothe British masters and directly called outto Hindus for joining the British armedforces? Whatsoever be Netaji’s contribu-tion to the country, will Amit Shah con-demn Savarkar’s backstabbing of SubhasBose and apologise for it to the nation?

Bidyut Kumar Chatterjee |Faridabad

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Aconversation tookplace between formerBritish Prime MinisterClement Attlee and

the then acting Governor ofWest Bengal Justice PBChakraborthy. In 1956,Clement Attlee had come toIndia and stayed as a guest ofthe then Governor. Remember,Attlee was the man who, as theBritish PM, had signed on thedecision to grant Independenceto India.

Chakraborthy then wrote aletter to the publisher of RCMajumdar’s book, A History ofBengal. In this letter, the ChiefJustice wrote, “When I wasacting Governor, Lord Attlee,who had given usIndependence by withdrawingBritish rule from India, spenttwo days in the Governor’spalace during his tour of India.At that time, I had a prolongeddiscussion with him regardingthe real factors that had led theBritish to quit India.”Chakraborthy adds, “My directquestion to Attlee was thatsince Gandhi’s Quit Indiamovement had tapered offquite some time ago and in1947 no such new compellingsituation had arisen that wouldnecessitate a hasty Britishdeparture, why did they had toleave?... Attlee cited severalreasons, the principal amongthem being the erosion of loy-alty to the British crown amongthe Indian Army and Navypersonnel as a result of Netaji’smilitary activities.”

That’s not all. Chakraborthyadds, “Toward the end of ourdiscussion, I asked Attlee whatwas the extent of Gandhi’sinfluence upon the British deci-sion to quit India. Hearing thisquestion, Attlee’s lips becametwisted in a sarcastic smile as heslowly chewed out the word, m-i-n-i-m-a-l!’a

This startling conversationwas first published by theInstitute of Historical Reviewby author Ranjan Borra in1982, in his piece on Netaji, theIndian National Army and thewar of India’s liberation. Tounderstand the significance ofAttlee’s assertion, we have to goback in time to 1945. TheSecond World War had ended.

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Land litigation is a nightmareacross the country. Land recordsare not readily available orupdated. Registration of land is

a cumbersome affair. Proving landownership is tough. The AndhraPradesh Government has decided torectify the situation by ordering a re-survey of land records in a phased man-ner so that legal title deeds are handedover to the property owners by the endof 2023.

In the first phase, land was re-sur-veyed in a set of village and new landrecords have been made available. Theprocess is to be carried out in a phasedmanner across the state and complet-ed by June 2023.

The process, initiated by ChiefMinister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, willcost �1000 crore involving thousands ofsurvey teams and the latest geo-taggingand satellite mapping technologies.Once the land is marked afresh, anidentity card is issued specific to thecoordinates of the land determined dig-itally. The card will have a QR codealong with a map of the land.

The prime reason for land litigationis attributed to the land records datingback to the colonial era which havenever been touched for any re-surveyto check the authenticity of the owner-ship. Interestingly, civil litigants had tospend an average of �497 per day oncourt hearings, according to a surveydone some time back.

A World Bank study suggests thatthese land disputes in courts includethose related to the validity of land titlesand records, and rightful ownership,and for years together the cases arepending before disposal. A NITI Ayogpaper points out that land disputes onan average take about 20 years to beresolved.

Another interesting aspect is bena-mi transactions are taking place in theabsence of proper land document. TheWhite Paper on Black Money releasedin 2012 had noted that black moneygenerated in the country gets investedin benami properties.

While this is the scenario all overthe country, the situation is no differ-ent in Andhra Pradesh which prompt-ed Chief MinisterJagan Mohan Reddyto straighten the land records systemonce and for all.

It may be mentioned here that the sys-tem of land records was inherited from thezamindari system and post-Independence,the responsibility for land administrationwas transferred to states.

Most of the 6.4 lakh villages in thecountry were surveyed and their cadastralmaps prepared during the late 19th andearly 20th century. In Andhra Pradesh toosurvey of lands had taken place duringBritish Rule in 1927-28.

The scheme initiated by Jagan MohanReddy is the first of its kind in the coun-

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try to accord permanent land rightsto the legal owners with an aim toproviding land protection legally.This initiative is aimed at makingland-related transactions conve-nient and dispute-free, giving own-ers permanent land rights with thestate Government’s assurance.Under the Jagananna SashwataBhoohakku (permanent land rights)Bhoo Raksha (land protection)scheme, the land resurvey recordsare now being digitised and main-tained in a transparent manner.

It was during his historic ‘PrajaSankalpa Yatra’ covering 3,468 kmwalking through 2,516 villages in134 Assembly segments of thestate in a span of 341 days betweenNovember 6, 2017 and January 9,2019 that the YSRCP Chief under-stood the fate of legal land ownerswho were facing litigation for yearstogether. He had seen how peoplerued when their plot, house, farm,and other lands fell into litigationafter they had purchased themwith their hard-earned money.After taking over as Chief Ministerone of his priorities is to attend tothe issue and launched the historicscheme.

A beginning was made inTakkellapadu village nearJaggaiahpet in Krishna district onDecember 21, 2020 when the CMformally commenced surveyprocess. Ten days before formallylaunching the scheme, the AndhraPradesh Government signed aMemorandum of Understanding(MoU) with the Survey of India tokick-start one of the largest landand house ownership surveys.

The land resurvey was startedwith a budget of around �1,000

crores. Around 14,000 surveyorshave been appointed by the govern-ment and given training by Surveyof India for the survey. In exact fig-ures, the survey covers 1.26 croreacres of agricultural land in 17,000villages, 85 lakh acres of non-agri-culture lands of Government andprivate owners within the limits of13,371 villages, 40 lakh governmentand private properties and 10 lakhplots in 110 urban areas. Once theprocess is done, every land parcelthat is surveyed is being given aunique identification number.

Keeping the laborious processin view, the entire programme isscheduled to complete in threephases. Around 5,000 villages areprogrammed to be covered in thefirst phase, 6,500 villages in the sec-ond phase, and 5,500 villages in thethird phase.

The state Government has alsoset up mobile tribunals to solve landdisputes on the spot.

While launching the initiativethe CM had made it clear to theteams that “With every new survey,accurate revenue records are to beprepared for every immovableproperty with exact latitude andlongitude, using advanced instru-ments like drones, ContinuousOperating Reference Stations(CORS) and Rovers”. Survey stonesare to be installed once the mark-ing of the land is completed. A digi-tised cadastral should be preparedafter the completion of the surveyand all details of the lands in the vil-lage are to be reflected in themaps, the CM instructed.

Thus, yet another dreamprojectJagan Mohan Reddy cameinto reality on January 18 last

when he launched the registrationprocess in 37 villages of Guntur dis-trict as part of first phase. He washappy that in the first phase resur-vey was completed in 51 villagescovering 29,563 acres. On the occa-sion, the CM asserted that theresurvey would ensure no scope forany future litigation and the landdeals can be carried out at villagelevel with the implementation of thescheme.

Mandal Mobile Magistrateteams which are specially draftedhave scrutinised 3,304 objectionsthat were registered in 51 villagesand resolved them making way forthe officials to issue PermanentLand Right Certificates. As per theprogramme, once resurvey is com-pleted, registrations are done at vil-lage secretariat level.

Even before the first phaseprocess is in progress, theMaharastra government hasevinced keen interest in the schemeand has sent a team of 11 seniorofficials led by Maharashtra surveysettlement commissioner NiranjanKumar Sudanshu to study the landand the survey project being imple-mented. He appreciated the effortsof the AP Government and felt thatthe resurvey of lands can be a viablesolution to the decades-old surveyproblems.

Terming the YSR JaganannaSaswata BhooHakku and BhooRaksha scheme as a great reformand revolutionary step, the ChiefMinister has said that the resurveyof lands has been taken up after 100years and the Government is com-mitted to providing clear title deedsto the rightful owners after properand scientific resurvey.

(The writer is Advisor,National Media and

Inter-StateAffairs,Government of Andhra Pradesh. The views expressed

are personal.)

Once linear, life nowseems circular. Schoolsopened. They closed

again. In-person meetings hadjust been reinstated when, weeksback we were again told theywould cease, with a return toZoom gatherings.

Maybe Omicron willmutate; maybe not. Some othervariants have come and gonewithout driving the pandemic toterrifying new heights. MaybeOmicron will follow suit. But fornow, for us, every plan is a pro-visional plan.

It’s a sea of worry. If youtake illness as a metaphor, weall hold dual citizenship of theland of the well and that of theunwell. Maybe worry is thebridge between the towns.And living in this bridge as weall are doing now is not easythough it may look ‘near nor-

mal’ from a distance.As a child, I lived in an

upper Assam town where, onhot humid summer nights,incessant rains hammered ourhouse roof. There was thunder— explosions of fury. The rainsand thunderbolts made me feellike a caterpillar who was aboutto have his head stuck by a can-non. And I clung to my moth-er or my nanny and slept untilthe rains stopped.

The arrival of the rainsattimes sent the nanny - a girl inher teens called Niru — into herpast and at times she spoke upabout her painful memoriessending terror down my spine.The air would slow down andgrow heavy as if coiling in onitself, Niru would say, remem-bering her life a year back. Faraway, near the river bank whereshe lived with her parents and

siblings, the vast expansion ofskyover the waterbody flickered.That day, for a minute or two,the lights paused, she saidwith terror in her eyes, likemaybe the rains went away toskirt around the hills;and thengot back only to detonate over

the roof of her hut. And thereshe was facing a stream of rav-aging flood waters. Her siblingsand she cried together, andthen all she remembered wash-er struggle to keep her headabove the water level. Niru sur-vived, so did her parents but

her siblings who were youngerthan her, went missing.

Her story gave me goose-bumps and the fear that I gotfrom her still lives with me.I havebeen reminded of this time a lotlately. I am not making light ofthis pandemic, one that killedmany and may kill many morebefore it is brought under con-trol, or the economic panic thatis now scorching through mar-kets. I wonder how would thistime turn into memories in theminds of the children today inthe years to come.

If you are reading this andfeeling fear, this is just to say thatpanic and fear are the great con-tagions of a contagion. AfterNiru’s stories, in athunderousrainy night when I along with mysibling couldnot take the dread,we would run to our bedroomand get under a thick quilt. And

there we will tell stories or try tofall asleep in order to do whatseemed the most logical thing:leaving. As I grew up,I wouldopen a book and go someplacewhere nothing had quite somuch power over me. This is aform of quitting the unpleasant,unwanted. My worst fear wasthat a lightning bolt would comescissoring down and evaporatemy mother or a loved one whileI was under the quilt.

I imagine many of us aredoing something similar thesedays (or during the last coupleof pandemic waves) in the quietof our bedrooms.

Fear in general can deteri-orate mental health but fears ofchildhoodnever go away. Ibelieve the fear response inushas gone through a seachange in this pandemic. Itseems to have dulled our ‘fear-

response’ by now; at least inmany of us. We all have possi-bly received the best fear extin-guishing therapies that psy-chologists often use therapeuti-cally in patients. Systematicdesensitization is what we allhave gone through in the lasttwo years.

Pandemic-related adversepsychological conditions haveled to another pandemic ofpsy-chological distress around theglobe. For those under 18, oneis four was affected.

We all exist in vulnerabili-ty. Shared vulnerability is essen-tial to family life-and to citizen-ship, and in the larger contexthumanity. What each of usdoes affects us all. It is aboutaccepting that you cannot opt out of an ecosystem andneed to manage our inter-connectedness.

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expressed are personal.)

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Iraq has tightened securitymeasures on the border withneighbouring Syria after a

jailbreak by Islamic State (IS)terrorists in a Kurdish-con-trolled prison located in the lat-ter country's Hasakah province.

On January 20, a group ofIS militants escaped from theSina'a prison in the Gweiranneighbourhood of Hasakah,followed by violent clashesbetween the Kurdish-led SyrianDemocratic Forces and the ter-ror group, reports Xinhua newsagency. "There are directivesissued by the Commander-in-Chief of the Iraqi forces todouble the security measures onthe Iraqi-Syrian border," YahiaRasoul, spokesman of the com-mander-in-chief of the Iraqiforces, told the official IraqiNews Agency (INA) on

Saturday. The Iraqi securityforces are ready to confront anyattempt by IS militants to infil-trate Iraqi territory, Rasoul wasquoted as saying by INA.

According to the UK-based Syrian Observatory forHuman Rights (SOHR), the ISmilitants blew off the gate of theSina'a prison with a booby-trapped car and an explosive-laden fuel tanker.

It said a number of inmatesfled the prison while manyKurdish security members werewounded. Captured IS militantshave repeatedly tried to breakfree from the prison in Hasakah.A number of IS militants havebeen imprisoned by theKurdish-led Syrian DemocraticForces (SDF) following thedefeat of the terror group inHasakah and parts of Deir al-Zour province.

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German naval chief, ViceAdmiral Kay-Achim

Schonbach has resigned overcomments on Ukraine andRussia he made during hisvisit to India. His resignationon late Saturday night wasaccepted by Defence MinisterC h r i s t i n eLambrecht.Lambrecht hasappointed his deputy as inter-im naval chief.

During his interaction onJanuary 21 at the ManoharParrikar Institute for DefenceStudies and Analyses, a militarythink tank in Delhi, Schonbachhad said the idea that Moscowwanted to invade Kiev was"nonsense", adding thatRussian President VladimirPutin deserved respect."DoesRussia really want a small andtiny strip of Ukraine soil tointegrate into their country?No, this is nonsense. Putin is

probably putting pressurebecause can do it and he splitsEU opinion. What he reallywants is respect."Speakingabout Putin, the German navalchief had also said: "He wantshigh-level respect and my Godgiving some respect is lowcost, even no cost. If I wasasked, it is easy to give him therespect he really demands andprobably also deserves.

Russia is an old country,Russia is an important country.Even we India, Germany, needRussia. We need Russia againstChina" Talking about Ukraine'spossible admission into NATO,Schonbach had said: "Ukraineof course cannot meet require-ments because it's occupied inDonbas region by the RussianArmy or by what they call asmilitias." He also said that theCrimean Peninsula, whichRussia annexed from Ukrainein 2014, was gone and wouldnot come back to Ukraine.

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At least seven civilians,including four women,

were killed and nine othersinjured when a bomb blast hita minibus in Herat city, capitalof Afghanistan's western Heratprovince, an official said."Sevendead and nine wounded wereadmitted to Herat RegionalHospital following a bombblast in Herat city on Saturdayevening," the official toldXinhua news agency.According to local residents,the incident occurred when animprovised bomb planted in aminibus was detonated inPolice District 12, a Shia-dom-inated neighbourhood in thecity, 640 km west ofKabul.Some of wounded werein critical condition.The vehi-cle was destroyed by the blast.No group has claimed respon-sibility for attack so far. Localaffiliates of Islamic State terrorgroup, opposing the Taliban-led administration.

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The US has no specifiedschedule to recognise the

Taliban-led government inAfghanistan, said ThomasWest, Washington's specialrepresentative for Kabul.

He also emphasized thatnormalisation of relationsbetween the Islamic Emirateand the world depends on theTaliban's behaviour.

West made the remarkswhile speaking to BBC Pashto.The top diplomat said that nor-malisation of ties between theUS and the Taliban does notseem easy and that Washingtonhas outlined preconditions inthis regard, Khaama Pressreported.Respect for humanand women's rights, freedom ofspeech, education of women,and formalisation of the rightsof minorities in Afghanistanare preconditions of the US tothe Taliban.The special repre-sentative said that the US willpay the salaries of Afghanteachers in collaboration withthe International Society incase the Taliban reopenschools. Regarding the frozenassets of Afghanistan, Westsaid that a part of the moneywill be released for humani-tarian purposes in Afghanistanbut reiterated that it will not begiven to the Taliban.

Afghanistan's over $9.5billion funds has been frozenby the US since the country fellto the Taliban in August lastyear.

Taliban officials mean-while, have said they wantgood relations with the worldwhile claiming to have fulfilledthe promises made to the worldfor recognition."The IslamicEmirate has hopes from theinternational communitywhich have several aspects,particularly that the US,European Union and otherorganisations take a positionthat is understandable andengage in a new phase ofengagement in Afghanistan,"said Taliban spokesmanInamullah Samangani.

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Iranian President EbrahimRaisi has vowed to strength-

en ties and cooperation withTurkey for regional stability.

"Iran has a long-term andcomprehensive vision of rela-tions and cooperation withTurkey, and we welcome plan-ning for strategic cooperationwith Turkey," Raisi said duringa phone conversation with hisTurkish counterpart RecepTayyip Erdogan.

Raisi also stressed the needof respecting countries' sover-eignty and territorial integrityas the only way to long-termsecurity and stability in theregion, reports Xinhua newsagency. Erdogan, for his part,said Turkey has prepared a listof diverse economic collabo-rations to strengthen relationswith Iran, and expressed hishope to visit Tehran soon.

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tine officials began cullingabout 427,000 chickens onSunday as a precautionarymeasure after the outbreaks ofH5N1 avian influenza virus orbird flu, at two farms, theAgricultural Ministry said. Thecases of highly pathogenic birdflu were reported at two chick-en farms in Hwaseong, about40 km south of Seoul, theMinistry of Agriculture, Foodand Rural Affairs said. TheMinistry did not give a specif-ic time frame on when quar-antine officials will completeculling, Yonhap News Agencyreported. It marked the 23rdand 24th case of a highly path-ogenic strain of H5N1 found atpoultry farms in South Koreathis winter since November 8,2021. Highly pathogenic avianinfluenza is very contagiousamong birds and can causesevere illness and even death,especially among poultry.

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The Australian governmenthas announced a new envi-

ronmental DNA (eDNA)research centre to boost biose-curity. The National eDNAReference Centre will be set upat the University of Canberra inpartnership with theDepartment of Agriculture,Water and the Environment,reports Xinhua news agency.

Researchers at the centrewill be tasked with developingcutting-edge technology todetect pests at the Australianborder.

The eDNA technologyworks by detecting skin, hair,urine, tissue and faecal mattershed by organisms in an envi-ronment such as a shippingcontainer.It can also be used todetect ribonucleic acid (RNA)from a species.Dianne Gleeson,a wildlife geneticist from theUniversity of Canberra's Centrefor Conservation and EcologyGenetics, said eDNA testinghas transformed pest surveil-lance. "The work that we've

been doing recently with thekhapra beetle has been usingdust samples from shippingcontainers where we suck upthe dust, extract the DNA andwe look for a sign of thespecies," she was quoted byNine Entertainment newspa-pers on Sunday."CurrentlyAustralia is free of that speciesand it puts it in a very goodmarket position international-ly... Because otherwise, it's amassive pest and a massiveproblem for the grain industryso it could be really destructiveif it arrives."

The government has com-mitted A$7 million in fundingfor the new centre.AndrewMetcalfe, head of Departmentof Agriculture, Water and theEnvironment, said eDNAdetection was critical to safe-guarding Australia's biodiver-sity. "While the program willhave the capacity for broad riskmanagement application, ourimmediate focus is to addressrisks associated with khaprabeetle and high-priority hitch-hiker pests generally," he said.

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Lima: The Peruvian govern-ment has declared a 90-dayenvironmental emergency inthe coastal area of Lima whichhas been affected by a recent oilspill, the Ministry of theEnvironment said.

The government has calledit one of the "most importantecological disasters" on thecoast in recent years, reportsXinhua news agency.The reso-lution was approved byMinister of the EnvironmentRuben Ramirez, who headsthe Environmental CrisisCommittee that is trying tomitigate the effects of the oilspill.

The oil spill occurred onJanuary 15 when an oil tankerwas unloading at one of the ter-minals of La Pampilla Refinery,operated by Repsol, in theprovince of Callao, neigh-bouring Lima. Repsol report-ed on January 21 that thecleanup of the areas affected bythe oil spill should be com-pleted by the end of February,and that 1,580 cubic metres ofcontaminated sand had beenremoved. IANS

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South Korea said on Sundaythat it has signed a deal with

Egypt to dismantle and restorethe gateway of an ancient tem-ple in the city of Luxor.

South Korea plans to beginrestoring the pylon and refur-bish the access road of theRamesseum, a mortuary tem-ple of Pharaoh Ramses II,starting next year, according tothe Cultural HeritageAdministration.

The move came as MostafaWaziry, Secretary-General ofEgypt's Supreme Council ofAntiquities, requested CulturalHeritage Administration torestore Ramesseum duringsenior-level talks on January20, reports Yonhap NewsAgency. On January 21, the twosides inked a memorandum ofunderstanding duringPresident Moon Jae-in's visit toCairo.

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Russia’s Foreign Ministry onSunday rejected a British

claim that Russia was seekingto replace Ukraine’s govern-ment with a pro-Moscowadministration, and that for-mer Ukrainian lawmakerYevheniy Murayev was beingconsidered as a potential can-didate.

Britain’s Foreign Office onSaturday also named severalother Ukrainian politicians itsaid had links with Russianintelligence services, along withMurayev who is the leader of asmall party that has no seats inparliament.Those politiciansinclude Mykola Azarov, a for-mer prime minister underViktor Yanukovych, theUkrainian president ousted ina 2014 uprising, andYanukovych’s former chief ofstaff, Andriy Kluyev.

“Some of these have con-tact with Russian intelligenceofficers currently involved inthe planning for an attack onUkraine,” the Foreign Officesaid.

Murayev’s Nashi party —whose name echoes the formerextensive Russian youth move-ment that supported PresidentVladimir Putin — is regardedas sympathetic to Russia, butMurayev on Sunday pushedback, characterizing it as pro-Russia.

“The time of pro-Westernand pro-Russian politicians inUkraine is gone forever,” hesaid in a Facebook post. Shortlybefore the British statementwas made public, he posted hisface superimposed on a JamesBond movie poster and thecomment: “Details tomorrow.”

The U.K. governmentmade the claim based on anintelligence assessment, with-out providing evidence to backit up. It comes amid high ten-sions between Moscow andthe West over Russia’s designson Ukraine and each side’sincreasing accusations that theother is planning provocations.

“The disinformationspread by the British ForeignOffice is more evidence that itis the NATO countries, led bythe Anglo-Saxons, who areescalating tensions around

Ukraine,” Russian ForeignMinistry spokeswoman MariaZakharova said on theTelegram messaging appSunday. “We call on the BritishForeign Office to stop provoca-tive activities, stop spreadingnonsense.”British ForeignSecretary Liz Truss said theinformation “shines a light onthe extent of Russian activitydesigned to subvert Ukraine,and is an insight into Kremlinthinking.”

Truss urged Russia to“deescalate, end its campaignsof aggression and disinforma-tion, and pursue a path ofdiplomacy,” and reiteratedBritain’s view that “any Russianmilitary incursion into Ukrainewould be a massive strategicmistake with severe costs.”

Britain has sent anti-tankweapons to Ukraine as part ofefforts to bolster its defensesagainst a potential Russianattack.

Mark Galeotti, who haswritten extensively on Russiansecurity services, told TheAssociated Press “I can’t helpbut be skeptical” about theBritish claim.

“This is one of those situ-ations where it is hard to knowwhether what we’re facing is agenuine threat, a misunder-standing of the inevitable over-tures that were being made tovarious Ukrainian figures byRussians or ‘strategic commu-nication’ — which is what wecall propaganda these dayswhen we’re doing it,” saidGaleotti. who is honorary pro-

fessor of Slavonic and EastEuropean Studies at UniversityCollege, London.

Amid diplomatic effortsto defuse the crisis, U.K.Defense Secretary Ben Wallaceis expected to meet RussianDefense Minister Sergei Shoigufor talks in Moscow. No timinghas been given for the meeting,which would be the first U.K.-Russia bilateral defense talkssince 2013.

The U.S. has mounted anaggressive campaign in recentmonths to unify its Europeanallies against a new Russianinvasion of Ukraine. The WhiteHouse called the U.K. govern-ment assessment “deeply con-cerning” and said it standswith the duly elected Ukrainiangovernment.

“The Ukrainian peoplehave the sovereign right todetermine their own future,and we stand with our demo-cratically-elected partners inUkraine,” National SecurityCouncil spokeswoman EmilyHorne said.

The assessment came asPresident Joe Biden spentSaturday at the presidentialretreat Camp David outside ofWashington huddling with hissenior national security teamabout the Ukraine situation.

A White House officialsaid the discussions includedefforts to de-escalate the situ-ation with diplomacy anddeterrence measures beingcoordinated closely with alliesand partners, including secu-rity assistance to Ukraine.

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People in a Beijing districtwith some 2 million resi-

dents were ordered Sunday toundergo mass coronavirus test-ing following a series of infec-tions as China tightened anti-disease controls ahead of theWinter Olympics.

The government told peo-ple in areas of the Chinese cap-ital deemed at high risk forinfection not to leave the cityafter 25 cases were found in theFengtai district and 14 else-where.

The ruling CommunistParty is stepping up enforce-ment of its “zero tolerance”strategy aimed at isolatingevery infected person as Beijingprepares to open the WinterGames on Feb. 4 under inten-sive anti-virus controls.

On Sunday, Fengtai resi-dents lined up on snow-cov-ered sidewalks in freezingweather for testing.

The Chinese capital must“take the most resolute, decisiveand strict measures to block thetransmission chain of the epi-demic,” a city governmentspokesman, Xu Hejian, told anews conference.“In principle,personnel in risk areas shall notleave Beijing,” Xu said.

Nationwide, 56 new con-firmed infections were report-ed in the 24 hours throughmidnight Saturday. TheNational Health Commissionsaid 37 were believed to havebeen acquired abroad.Chinahas reported 4,636 deaths outof 105,603 confirmed casesand seven suspected cases sincethe pandemic began.

The Olympics are beingheld under strict controls thatare meant to isolate athletes,reporters and officials fromthe outside world. Athletes arerequired to be vaccinated orundergo a quarantine afterarriving in China.

Other outbreaks promptedthe government to impose trav-el bans on the major cities ofXi’an and Tianjin.

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New Zealand Prime MinisterJacinda Ardern is postpon-

ing her wedding after announc-ing new COVID-19 restrictionsSunday following the discoveryof nine cases of the omicronvariant in a single family thatflew to Auckland to attend awedding.

The so-called “red setting”of the country’s pandemicresponse includes heightenedmeasures such as required maskwearing and limits on gather-ings. The restrictions will go intoeffect on Monday. Ardernstressed that “red is not lock-down,” noting that businessescan remain open and people canstill visit family and friends andmove freely around coun-try.“Our plan for managingomicron cases in the early stage

remains same as delta, where wewill rapidly test, contact traceand isolate cases and contacts inorder to slow the spread,”Ardern told reporters. But herown wedding plans are onhold.The 41-year-old primeminister was planning to tieknot next weekend. “I just joinmany other New Zealanderswho have had an experience likethat as a result of the pandem-ic and to anyone who’s caught upin that scenario, I am so sorry,”she said.

New Zealand had beenamong few remaining countriesto have avoided any outbreaks ofomicron variant, but Ardernacknowledged last week that anoutbreak was inevitable givenhigh transmissibility of variant.The country has managed tocontain spread of delta variant,with an average of about 20 newcases each day. It has seen an

increasing number of peoplearriving into country and goinginto mandatory quarantine whoare infected with omicron. Thathas put strain on the quarantinesystem and prompted govern-ment to limit access for return-ing citizens while it decideswhat to do about reopening itsborders, angering many peoplewho want to return to NewZealand.

About 93% of NewZealanders aged 12 and over arefully vaccinated, and 52% havehad a booster shot. The countryhas just begun vaccinating chil-dren aged between 5 and 11.Thefamily from Nelson-Marlborough region attended awedding and other events whilein Auckland earlier this month,with estimates suggesting theycame into contact with “wellover 100 people at these events,”Ardern said.

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Farmers, cattle-breeders,hunters and opposition sup-

porters descended Sunday onthe Spanish capital of Madridto protest environmental andeconomic policies by Spain’sleft-of-center government thatthey say are hurting ruralcommunities.

Sunday’s protest was orga-nized by Alma Rural 2021, aplatform representing over 500rural organizations from allcorners of Spain. Members ofopposition parties, rangingfrom centrists to far-right sup-porters, also attended.

The demonstration cameas Spanish politicians are cam-paigning before an early elec-tion in Castilla-Leon, a vastregion northeast of Madridwhere proposals against depop-ulation and agricultural policiesare taking center stage. CarlosBueno, head of Alma Rural2021, said the protest aimed to

highlight rural concerns amidwhat he called “ideological”attacks from the government.Concerns ranged from regu-lating prices for agriculturalproducts to protections forthose who breed cattle forbullfights and more subsidiesfor rural industries.Tractors

and bull carts headed themarch along a Madrid thor-oughfare, with protesters walk-ing from the gates of theEcology Transition Ministry —the previous EnvironmentMinistry — to the AgricultureMinistry. Among the manybanners held by protesters,

one read: “Farmers speak.Who’s listening?”Spain’sEcological Transition Ministrysaid the country’s budget for2022 includes 4.2 billion euros($4.7 billion) to fight thedepopulation of rural areas.Spain’s rural world “doesn’tneed populist slogans but polit-ical involvement and resourceto solve historical problems,” itsaid in a statement.

A spat over industrial live-stock farming has dominatedheadlines for the past monthsince Consumer MinisterAlberto Garzón, a member ofthe far-left junior partner of theSocialist-led administration,criticized big cattle operationsfor damaging the environmentand producing poor qualityfood for export.

His remarks caused a polit-ical storm, created divisionswithin the ruling coalition andled to calls by right-wing oppo-sition parties for Garzón toresign.

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Afire erupted at a popularnightclub in Yaounde,

Cameroon’s capital, setting offexplosions and killing at least16 people, government officialssaid Sunday. The tragedycomes as country hosts thou-sands of soccer players, fansand match officials from acrosscontinent for month-longAfrican Football Cup ofNations tournament.“We arestill at the level of investigationsto find out names and nation-alities of dead and wounded,”said government spokesmanRene Emmanuel Sadi.Authorities say fire started at anightclub in Bastos neighbor-hood of Cameroonian capitaland soon spread to a placewhere cooking gas was beingstored.“There were loud explo-sions from six gas bottles, caus-ing panic in neighborhood.” thegovernment statement said,adding that eight others wereinjured and taken to Yaounde’sCentral Hospital.

LONDON: A former ministerin Britain’s Conservative gov-ernment says she was told herMuslim faith was a reason shewas fired, a claim that hasdeepened the rifts roiling PrimeMinister Boris Johnson’s gov-erning party. Former transportminister Nusrat Ghani toldSunday Times that when shewas demoted in 2020, a gov-ernment whip said her“Muslimness” was “making col-leagues uncomfortable.”

She said she was told “therewere concerns ‘that I wasn’tloyal to the party as I didn’t doenough to defend party againstIslamophobia allegations.’ “Itwas very clear to me that thewhips and No. 10 (Downing St.)were holding me to a higherthreshold of loyalty than othersbecause of my background andfaith,” Ghani said. Chief WhipMark Spencer said he was per-

son Ghani was talking about,but strongly denied her allega-tion. “These accusations arecompletely false and I consid-er them to be defamatory,” hewrote on Twitter. “I have neverused those words attributed tome.”The Conservative Partywhips’ office said Ghani’s claims“are categorically untrue.”

“The Conservative Partydoes not tolerate any form ofracism or discrimination,” itsaid in a statement.The primeminister’s office said Johnsonmet with Ghani to discuss herconcerns in 2020, and invitedher to file a formal complaint,but that she didn’t do so. SeveralConservative lawmakers, how-ever, spoke up to supportGhani. Caroline Nokes, whoheads Parliament’s Women andEqualities Committee, saidGhani’s treatment had been“appalling” and she was brave

to speak out.EducationSecretary Nadhim Zahawitweeted that Ghani’s allega-tions must be “investigatedproperly & racism routed out.”His tweet ended with hashtag“standwithNus.”

When Ghani was made aminister in 2015, her boss,then Transport Secretary ChrisGrayling, said it was proofConservatives “were a party ofopportunity.” But some haveaccused party of failing tostamp out anti-Muslim preju-dice under Johnson, who in2018 compared women whowear face-covering veils to “let-ter boxes.” Ghani’s allegationcomes after anotherConservative legislator, WilliamWragg, accused party whips ofintimidating and blackmailingmembers of Parliament toensure they supported govern-ment. AP

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India's gem and jewelleryexports during December

2021 grew 29.49 per cent to$3,040.92 million (Rs 22,914.6crore) as compared to$2,348.44 million (Rs 16,712.46crore) in December 2019 — thepre-pandemic year, the Gemand Jewellery ExportPromotion Council said.

Besides, exports duringApril-December rose 5.8 percent to $29,084 million from$27,500 during the same peri-od of 2019.

"The holiday bounce hasmanaged to offset part of thepost-Diwali export slumpwhen factories normally take ashort break. Holiday and festivedemand was robust in impor-tant trading centres such as theUS, Hong Kong, Thailand, andIsrael," Council ChairmanColin Shah said. "And we haveevery reason to believe that thismomentum will carry throughthe end of FY 2022, bringing uscloser to the set target of $41.67billion in exports."

Further, exports of cut andpolished diamonds inDecember 2021 grew by 41 percent to $1,770.61 million ascompared to $1,253.79 millionfor the same period of 2019.During April-December 2021,cut and polished diamondexports rose by 23 per cent to$18,007.24 million as com-pared to $14,666.23 million forthe same period in 2019. Goldexports during December 2021remained largely steady at $778million, the Council said.

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Rising global crudeoil prices along

with FIIs fund outflowfrom the equity marketwill further weaken theIndian rupee duringthe upcoming week.Accordingly, the rupeeis expected to tradewith a weak bias upto75 to a USD in thecoming week.

"Rising crude andtrade deficit has beenkeeping the currencyunder pressure andeven FPI outflows havebeen a constant pres-sure on the rupee...,"said Sajal Gupta, Head, Forexand Rates at EdelweissSecurities. "It may lose furtherground owing to oncoming USFed meeting and current equi-ty outflows."

Notably, a rate hike by theUS Federal Reserve can poten-tially drive away more FIImoney from India and otheremerging markets. "Omicronnormalisation would also leadto demand revival and thusmore imports and more pres-sure on the rupee... Crude oilprices around $90 to a barrel is

a warning bell for commodityprice rise in the time to come,"Gupta said. Last week, therupee closed at 74.41 to a USDafter weakening to 74.75.

"In the coming days, theprice action of USDINR will bedetermined by Crude oil prices,FOMC Meeting outcome, risksentiments, and dollar inflows,"said Devarsh Vakil, DeputyHead of Retail Research, HDFCSecurities. "Spot USDINR isexpected to oscillate between74.10 to 74.8 for the next

week." Gaurang Somaiya, Forex &

Bullion Analyst, Motilal OswalFinancial Services, said: "Thisweek, market participants willbe primarily keeping an eye onthe Fed policy meeting as thecentral bank is likely to provideclarity and details on the end ofquantitative easing, possiblyin March. "Apart from the pol-icy statement, preliminarymanufacturing and servicesPMI, advance GDP and corePCE index number to gauge aview for the dollar."

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Demand for office space inDelhi NCR region has

grown 50 per cent year-on-yearin 2021, majorly due to strongabsorptions by startups andtechnology firms, said globalreal estate consultancy firmColliers. In 2021, total absorp-tion in the office space segmentwas 6.3 million square feet, itsaid. Of the total, startupsabsorbed 1 million square feet.

"Gurugram led the leasingactivity accounting for 64 percent share in overall transac-tions. Flight to quality is drivingoccupiers' real estate strategyand Noida Expressway, GolfCourse Extension Road andDLF Cybercity drove the bulkof leasing activity as theylooked for better-quality build-ings," it added. With morethan 25 years presence,Colliers, a Nasdaq-listed com-pany, is a professional consul-tancy firm which providesadvice to real estate occupiers,owners and investors withoperations in 67 countries.

"For north India, only theNCR can boast in terms of sig-

nificant office absorption as theother major cities have not cho-sen office markets. Hub'n'spokemodels have not been suc-cessful due to the mindset ofthe workforce still choosing tomove to major metros.

"Co-working transactionshave been the preference formost occupiers and will contin-ue to be the preference forOccupiers throughout 2022 untilthere is an end to the uncertainenvironment created due to thepandemic," said BhupindraSingh, Managing Director,Regional Tenant Representationand Office Services, North India,Colliers. "...The overall absorp-tion numbers indicate a strongdesire for corporates to committo the office segment and there-by showcasing that the WFH isan interim option only."

Besides, demand for flexspaces grew threefold duringthe calendar year. Going for-ward, rentals in key micromarkets like Cyber City, Sector16 A and 16B Noida, GolfCourse Road and Sector 62 areexpected to see a gradual risedue to the limited availability ofquality stock, Colliers said.

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After several users com-plained about issues with

logging back to their accountson Crypto.com after the plat-form was hit by a $34 millionhack, its CEO Kris Marszalekhas been forced to respond onsocial media how best they canget back their accounts.

Thousands of people tookto social media to complainthat they could not get backinto their accounts, begging forhelp. In a tweet thread,Marszalek finally responded,saying if you can't get back intoour app following access resetthis week, "in 95/100 cases youare simply using the wrongemail to login". "We don'tallow duplicate accounts withthe same phone number, soyou will get stuck if you areusing the wrong email,"Marszalek posted late onSaturday.

"We are helping users withthese cases one by one, but ittakes time given the scale ofour platform," he added.Leading cryptocurrency plat-form Crypto.com last weekadmitted that 483 users on itsplatform lost almost $34 mil-lion in various digital coinsowing to a compromise intwo-factor (2FA) authentica-tion. Overall, the unautho-rised withdrawals had over$15 million worth of ethereum,$19 million worth of Bitcoinand $66,200 in "other curren-cies".

Marszalek said in a latesttweet: "Rest assured your fundsare safe and waiting for you tolog back in.. with the rightemail." Crypto.com, which isendorsed by famousHollywood actor Matt Damon,had said it revoked all cus-tomer 2FA tokens, and addedadditional security hardeningmeasures, which required allcustomers to re-login and setup their 2FA token to ensureonly authorised activity would occur.

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Tech giant Google has intro-duced a new security fea-

ture to Drive to help users stayon top of potentially maliciousfiles. Google Drive will nowstart displaying a warning ban-ner when you are about todownload and open a poten-tially dubious document,image, or any type of file,reports Android Central.

The new feature is rollingout across all GoogleWorkspace, G Suite Basic andG Suite Business tiers. Theyellow banner shows up at thetop of an attachment page after

you click on a link. It shouldappear before a file is down-loaded to your laptop, warningyou that it looks suspicious and"might be used to steal yourpersonal information".

Users will recognise thesecurity alert if they have beenusing Google Docs, Sheets,Slides and Drawings. AtGoogle's Cloud Next 2021, thesearch giant announced newmeasures to help safeguardusers from malicious files.These alerts were rolled out tothose file syncing services latelast year.

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To further aid small busi-nesses and empower entre-

preneurs, the Union Budget2022-23 should introduce addi-tional startup-friendly policiesand tax relaxations to enablespending on innovation, ease-of-doing business and reducingcompliance costs, a slew ofhomegrown startups said. Newreforms, policy assistance andsupport mechanisms for estab-lishing a focused approach insolving unmet financial needsthrough technology will sig-nificantly benefit the economy,they stressed.

"We've seen a substantialspike in the adoption of digi-tal payments in the last oneyear. I'm hoping that in theupcoming Budget, the gov-ernment will think of alterna-tives to the Zero MDR (mer-chant discount rate) policy, asthat will help promote e-pay-ments and drive significantdigital adoption among busi-nesses," said Harshil Mathur,CEO and Co-founder,Razorpay. In last year's Budget,Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman had announced Rs

1,500 crore to further acceler-ate digital payments' growth inthe country. Mathur said thatit would also be desirable forthe government to increasecontribution to the Fund ofFunds for Startups (FFS).

"Hassle-free loan disburse-ments, automation of tax andcompliance, paper-lessapprovals, and incentives toadopt digital banking prac-tices will also be welcomechanges that can support thegrowth of MSMEs," he added.To incentivise startups, thegovernment had last yearextended the eligibility forclaiming tax holidays for star-tups by a year to March 31,2022. It also extended the cap-ital gains exemption for invest-ment in startups by a year toMarch 31, 2022, to boost fund-ing. The country has also seennumerous startups incentivis-ing their employees in the pastyear with buying back ESOPs.

"Deferring tax paymentswhen exercising the option,plus waiving tax for someESOP receipts, will also be alaudable change in the newbudget," said Mathur.According to Ravish Naresh,

CEO and Co-f o u n d e r ,Khatabook, theyare hoping for ap r o g r e s s i v eBudget, espe-cially aimed atp r o m o t i n gh o m e g r o w nstartups focusedon problem-solving forIndia. "Newreforms, policyassistance, and support mech-anisms for establishing afocused approach in solvingunmet financial needs throughtechnology will significantlybenefit the economy," Nareshtold IANS. "In addition, thegovernment's continued focuson enhancing digital infra-structure in the country willensure progress towards equal-ity in digital access in FY22-23,"he added.

In the last year's Budget,the government had said it willfacilitate setting up of a world-class fintech hub in GujaratInternational Finance Tec(GIFT) city. The governmentalso proposed a portal to col-lect relevant information on gig

workers to help formulatesocial security schemes forthem.

Vidit Aatrey, Founder andCEO of homegrown socialcommerce platform Meesho,said that a singular focus onaugmenting offline MSMEswith online distribution couldbe a game-changing econom-ic transformation opportunity."We would like to see the gov-ernment focus on policies thatwill create a level playing fieldfor offline and online sellerswith less than Rs 40 lakhturnover," Aatrey told IANS."Simplifying GST compliancerequirements for online sellerswill also enable millions ofsmall businesses to leverage the

potential of e-commerce andcontribute to India's growingdigital economy," he added. Inaddition to this, the startupshope that the governmentincentivises capital formationin the area of logistics and coldchains through policies andinfrastructure development.Akash Gupta, Co-founder andCEO, Zypp Electric, said thatthey are optimistic that the gov-ernment will announce newinitiatives to encourage localEV manufacturing, facilitateeasy finance and create aninnovative EV ecosystem. "Weurge the government to reduceGST on EV purchases andrentals from 5 per cent to 2 percent. A reduced GST wouldallow consumers to smoothlyshift to EV," Gupta told IANS.Indian startups raised a record$24.1 billion in 2021, a two-foldincrease over pre-Covid levels,while $6 billion were raised viapublic markets with 11 startupIPOs, a Nasscom-Zinnovreport said last week. TheIndian tech startup base con-tinues to witness steady growth,adding over 2,250 startups in2021, which is 600 more than2020.

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Amazon has said it is pleased thatfor the first time since December

2, 2020, the independent directors ofFuture Retail are willing to consid-er Amazon's assistance in addressingthe financial concerns of FRL.

"We note that significant timehas been lost on account of theunwillingness of FRL and the inde-pendent directors to consider poten-tial solutions facilitated by Amazonin the past. Nevertheless, we reaffirmour offer to assist FRL within theframework of our rights under theAgreements", Amazon said in a let-ter to the independent directors ofFuture Retail. Amazon said SamaraCapital has once again reiterated tous that they remain interested and

committed to lead and take forwardthe term sheet dated June 30, 2020,signed amongst Samara, FRL and thePromoters of FRL, which contem-plates a purchase consideration of Rs7,000 crore with the assistance andcooperation of the independentdirectors.

Pertinently, the Samara TermSheet provides for an acquisition ofall retail assets of FRL, including the"small store formats" comprisingthe "Easy Day", "Adhaar" and"Heritage" brands, through an Indianowned and controlled entity struc-ture led by Samara and supported byAmazon. The transaction envisagedin the Samara Term Sheet wouldensure availability of funds in FRL atthe earliest, through an asset sale andan equity infusion, which would be

a direct antidote to FRL's indebted-ness, Amazon said.

As regards compliance of anystructure with Indian law, Amazonsaid that this structure is also simi-lar to the proposed acquisition of theretail and wholesale undertaking ofthe Future group (which includesFRL's retail assets) by Reliance Retailand Fashion Lifestyle Limited.

We understand that this entityhas negligible business operationsand whose parent entity RelianceRetail Ventures Limited has receivedat least Rs 47,265 crore from variousforeign investors. We also understandthat this amount is proposed to beutilised to fund the acquisition ofFRL's retail, wholesale and logisticsassets", Amazon said.

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TCS is aiming for a high double-digitgrowthin revenues from Canada in

the next few years as the NorthAmericancountry's economy growsacross sectors and digitisation becomesanessential aspect for businesses, asenior official has said.

TCS Canada, a wholly-owned sub-sidiary of India's largest IT exporter-dedicated to serve the market, had aturnover of Rs 6,268 crore inFY21 andhas been growing at triple the rate ofoverall IT servicesspends in Canadaover the past few years, its country headSoumen Roy said.Roy said if theCanadian IT spends have grown at 4-5 per cent yearly,the company has beenable to grow at triple the pace and thecompanyalso surpassed the billion-dol-lar mark three fiscals ago.The revenuegrowth from Canada, where it employsover 7,000 people at present, was ham-pered because of the pandemic-relat-ed disruptions in FY21 but is likely tobe much better in FY22.

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It’s been a couple of weeks sincewe entered a new year with

fresh plans and renewed hopes.We have been reading andwatching the intelligentsia shar-ing their views and visions ofwhat the society in this yearwould be like. Generally, thesetalks revolve around the newinventions of science or aboutsocial and economic issues.

However important theseinventions and issues may be,there is hardly any forum or plat-form where anyone ever offersideas, ideology or visions whichhave such social, political, eco-nomic, administrative, culturaland health-related dimensionsthat represent almost a completedeparture from what we know ofwhat has been in the past 20 cen-turies. They only stretch theirhuman imagination, linked as itis to what we see today and theirvisions or predictions are, moreor less, a knitting-together of thelatest researches and findings,projected by their fertile imagi-nation into the future. What theysay is not altogether novel nor dothey give any scenes of a wonder-land that will become a reality.

Similarly, newspapers, mag-azines and electronic media alsogive almost the same stuff withonly little additions or changesin perceptions, observations orconclusions and they call someof these changes a ‘breakthrough’.Perhaps, these are a break-through but what will be theiroverall effect, reflected in theemerging society is hardly dis-cussed with any clarity, certain-ty and coherence. They just givebits and pieces of informationwhich are disjointed and noone tells how these will fit in thejigsaw puzzle of the new society.They give only grains of infor-mation; no one gives an integrat-ed and holistic view of what soci-ety in the coming years will belike. No effort has ever beenmade to synthesise the findingsof all branches of knowledge togive mankind the multi-discipli-nary sum-up or resume of thewhole thing. Perhaps, no humanbeing could do this because noone is well-versed in all thebranches nor has anyone the req-uisite time and acumen.Moreover, the total informa-tion provided by all kinds ofresearch, done in all fields ofknowledge, is so scant andsketchy that one cannot makeout anything concrete about the21st century, with any certainty.Also, there are many gaps andmissing links in the information,so much so that the knowledgeof these in future may overturnand invalidate the current beliefs.

If we read the history ofPhilosophy, Physics, Astronomy,Geology, Biology or Psychology,to give a few examples, we willfind that many theories in all thedisciplines have been changingand some of them have beenchanging very frequently and

overnight. So, we cannot say thatwhat we have learnt is accurateand final and will stayunchanged at least in our life-time. What then can, we, humanbeings say about the 21st centu-ry when we do not knowwhether a nuclear world war willstart or an environmental cata-strophe will result in grave dev-astation of our flora, fauna andhumankind or the populationexplosion and the expandingcities will cause havoc during ourlifetime? Again, the so-callednew information or discoverieshave not yet even been delinkedfrom the old and the obsoleteand contradictory theories co-exist as there is no clinchingproof of either or the paucity oftime and effort to sift the grainfrom the chaff. For example,there is no universal agreementas to whether the mind or soulis an entity separate from thebody or the mind is an epiphe-nomenon of the brain. The infor-mation we have is so inadequatethat nothing can be said with cer-tainty that is acceptable to all.

Further, the major and minorevents that occurred from the 20thcentury till today are recorded inhistory but no human beingknows their effects and after-effects thoroughly nor has anyoneever combined and coherently col-lated these to give a cogent viewof what will happen as a cumula-tive result of these. No one can cal-culate these. We do not even knowfor sure whether we are sitting onan active volcano or that, soon, thegates of paradise would be flungopen unto us to enter. Moreimportantly, we do not knowwhether all these events havebeen part of a well-knit plan thathas a meaning and a goal for allof us without a single exception.And, what is most important isthat most of us haven’t everthought that there is a plan ofretrieval that is being implement-ed and there is an incognito inter-vention of Supreme Almighty toimpart new holistic knowledge,give a new paradigm and teachnew ways of making spiritualefforts to usher a new era that isalmost totally different from whatwe see today. So, let us look at the21st century from that perspective.No one can neglect or postponeseeing the birth of this golden erain this light. Can we?

Last year, the panchayat electionsin Bihar witnessed an increasein the number of women con-

testing the elections. The voting forthe panchayat election took place in11 phases. While the first phasebegan on September 24, the last onewas held on December 12. As per areport, five to 10 per cent morewomen than men participated in thepanchayat elections in each phaseand won. Against a total of 4,17,772male candidates, 4,74,917 womencontested in all the phases.

The Government of Bihar hasreserved 50 per cent of the seats inthe panchayat election for women tomotivate them to enter politics.These provisions have helped inincreasing women’s participation indecision-making and strengtheningwomen’s empowerment. In the recentpanchayat election in Bihar, womenfrom different rural areas haveensured their participation throughtheir candidature. Interestingly,women who have studied at presti-gious colleges in the country andworked in multinational companieshave also contested the elections.

Take the case of 31-year-oldDolly, who completed her MBAfrom Symbiosis InternationalUniversity in Pune and worked inseveral multinational companiesbefore deciding to enter the fray inthe recent panchayat elections. Not

only did she participate, but also wonby receiving 2,600 votes in herfavour and is currently the sarpanchin the Shadi Pur panchayat ofManpur block situated in the Gayadistrict of Bihar. “I started workingafter I passed my XII standard in2008. I wanted to get back to my vil-lage and work for its development.With this vision in my mind, Ifinally left my job in 2018,” said Dolly.

In 2014, she got married and hasa four-year-old daughter. Her moth-er-in-law was the sarpanch of ShadiPur panchayat for eight years but,unfortunately, died during her tenurein November 2018. “The death of mymother-in-law was a huge loss. Aneducated and responsible personwas required to take her place andcarry out the duties. This is when Idecided to contest in 2018. Witheveryone’s support, I won the elec-tion,” she expressed. Ever since shehas been working towards the devel-opment of the village and won the

panchayat election for the secondtime.

While talking about her initia-tives, she said, “I want to establish acottage industry in the village so thatmore women can get work andbecome financially strong. As womenin this village take an active part inagricultural work, they will benefitfrom this initiative.” On the otherhand, talking about the challenges,Dolly informed that the biggest onein the village is domestic violence,which needs to be curbed. Althoughwomen in the village complain aboutit, they are afraid to take action. Over

the years, Dolly has been able tobring several positive changes to thevillage. She has also received theAparajita Award for WomenEmpowerment in Excellence ofGram Kachhari by Dainik Jagran forestablishing the first digitised villageoffice in Bihar.

Similarly, Priyanka, fromBishanpur Gonahi panchayat inSonbarsa block of Sitamarhi districtin Bihar, is driven towards breakingstereotypes through taking part inpolitics. However, her journey wasnot easy. Coming from an averagefamily, her parents did not want tospend on her education and pre-ferred to save money for her dowry.Despite several hurdles, she managedto take tuition and get an education.Even though she had started gettingproposals when Priyanka was young,she did not want to get married.

“I told my brother about the sit-uation, who was studying in Delhi.He did not just stop the wedding but

also helped me complete my X stan-dard. I became the first girl from myfamily to get a first division in theexams,” Priyanka informs gladly.

In 2013, she came to Delhi withher brother, completed her XII andgot admitted to Miranda House.Coming from a village with a low lit-eracy rate and getting admission toa prestigious college in the country’scapital is indicative of Priyanka’s gritand spirit. She completed her educa-tion in Philosophy. During hercourse, she came to know aboutIndia’s first MBA degree holdersarpanch, Chhavi Rajawat, whichmotivated Priyanka to become oneherself.

“In 2017, I got an opportunity toparticipate in the Gramya Manthanprogramme — a 10-day rural immer-sion initiative — by the YouthAlliance of India. And in 2018, I wasentrusted by the organisation with theresponsibility of Nibada, Kharagpur,Badi Palia and Chhoti Palia villagesin Uttar Pradesh’s Kanpur district,where I started a campaign namedSham Ki Pathshala for the childrenin the villages and did other develop-mental works,” she informed.

Inspired by these works, shereturned to her village in April 2020and started working on awareness.Currently, there are four members inher team, who are running theChetna Choupal programme underthe Gram-Chetna-Andolan initiative.Under the programme, they visit dif-ferent villages and inform peopleabout social issues. She aims tobecome the sarpanch of her villageand, therefore, participated in therecent panchayat elections. Despiteher loss in the election, she did notlose her zeal to work towards devel-oping her village.

Women in decision-making posi-tions not only leads to increasing women’srepresentation but also bridges the gen-der gap in political decision making.Given the right support and access toresources, these women can undertakeoutstanding work. And most important-ly, society has to do away with conserv-ative notions and discourage those whowork relentlessly towards the greatergood. As Priyanka puts it, “A woman hasto struggle more than a man to get intopolitics because society wants to only seea woman making bread and this situa-tion is more prevalent in rural areas.”

—Charkha Features(The author has been a

grassroots journalist for five yearsand is the winner of the UNFPALaadli Media Award for Gender

Sensitivity 2020 and 2021.)

Protesters were walkingback to their village post-

rally when they turned violent.Within a flash of a second, oneperson began pelting stonesand bricks in the demonstra-tion sloganeering against theadministration. Others joinedhim instantly and charged atthe police. Crowds turn unrulyand dangerous. What trans-forms peaceful protesters intoviolent agitators?

Rarely does a singledemonstrator, even if pro-voked, becomes violent.However, crowds easily adoptviolence. Why? According tosocial psychologists, mobmentality turns individualsinto conformists. To fit inwith the rest of the group,individuals, including law-abiding individuals, becomeirrational. Driven by the mob’smind they blindly follow oth-ers actions.

A single person tends tobehave or act independentlybut that person, in a crowd,loses his inhibitions, defersblame, responsibility, account-ability and/or judgment in acrowd. He assumes groupidentity ignoring his guidinginner voice. In the crowd, hedoes what he would otherwiseterm as unlawful.

Moreover, as humans haveinstinctive responses, theirresponses intensify by groupinfluences. Such situationscan become dangerous. The‘larger the group the greaterthe amplification of that crowdbehaviour’. History and evenpresent times have severalexamples of a mob killing

those who committed blas-phemy or were accused ofbeing witches.

Let’s understand mobbehaviour based on threemajor psychological theories.The Contagion theory, forexample, is where one learnsto smoke from a friend. It’snearly a magnetic influence asa non-smoker feels it’s okay tosmoke. According to theConvergence theory, peoplewith common interests, moti-vation, and goals align, forexample, college students orcivil activists protesting againstthe administration. TheEmergent-norm theoryexplains that mob behaviourresults in collective action.People under strain assume anew norm and are stimulatedto act both anti-socially andagainst their rationale. Thereare many examples of commu-nal riots in our history.

Floyd Henry Allport, thefather of experimental socialpsychology. holds this view:‘The origin of crowd responseis not by crowd members andthe stimulus situation but it isthe prepotent trend of theindividual himself ’. The trendescalates with crowd stimulus.

While there can be many

factors leading to unlawfulmob behaviour, Jung andMartin explain the cause forcrowd behaviour. They saythat ‘every individual pos-sesses the innate ability formob behaviour’. The ability isadjusted with socialisation bysocial conditioning and socialtraining. However, in a crowdsituation, humans are pos-sessed by the primitive,unconscious impulses thatabort social conditioning andtraining. So, do humansbecome more powerful incrowds and give expression totheir suppressions? Or are wehumans responsible for ourconduct regardless of the pre-disposition to adopt mobmentality for conforming togroups?

Consider this scenario tounderstand mob mentality.All the villagers draw waterfrom a well. Until one day, theking and his Minister see thatall those who drank waterfrom the well have becomeinsane. In a few days, all ofthem turn mad and they saythat the king and the ministerare mad. Later, these two con-fer and later decide that it’sbest for them to also drinkwater from the well if they

want to survive in the village.Further, Jung and Martin

say that our suppressions andrepressions lead to suchbehaviour. What is the solu-tion?

Osho says: “When youare angry with someone andyou throw your anger at him,you are creating a chain reac-tion. Now he too will beangry. This may continue forthe rest of your lives and youwill go on being enemies.

How can you end it? There isonly one possibility. You canend it only in meditation,nowhere else, because in med-itation you are not angry withsomeone: you are simplyangry.”

This difference is basic.You are not angry with some-one. You are simply angry andthe anger is released into thecosmos. You are not hatefultowards anyone. If hate comes,you are simply hateful and the

hate is thrown out. In medi-tation, emotions are notaddressed. They are unad-dressed. They move into thecosmos, and the cosmos puri-fies everything.

It is just like a dirty riverfalling into the ocean: theocean will purify it... In med-itation, you are throwingyourself into the cosmos to bepurified. All the energy thatyou throw is purified in thecosmos. The cosmos is so vastand so great an ocean, youcannot make it dirty. In med-itation, we are not related topersons. In meditation, we arerelated directly to the cos-mos.”

“To grow one’s owninsight, one needs to bedeeply meditative, very alertand aware. The crowd lives akind of sleepy, unconsciouslife; it makes no effort atawareness; it lives in amechanical, robot-like.”

Osho says: Why do peo-ple feel so happy in a crowd?Why does happiness in acrowd become so infectious?Because in a group they fall,they become unconscious.They lose their individuality.Then they are happy, thenthere is no worry, then thereis no responsibility…Bewareof mobocracy and be alert.

It would be appropriate toend this in Osho’s words: “Agroup can have a mind — nota soul.”

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Raj Bawa and AngkrishRaghuvanshi smashed fine cen-

turies as India recorded their second-highest score in an Under-19 Men'sCricket World Cup match to crushUganda by a massive 326 runs, as thefour-time champions went through asgroup winners to the Super League ofthe ICC U-19 World Cup at the BrianLara Stadium here on Sunday (IST).

Thanks to opener Raghuvanshi's120-ball 144 and Bawa's unbeaten 162off just 108 deliveries, which came ata strike rate of 150, India notched up405 for 5 in the allotted 50 overs andthen bundled out their opponents forjust 79 runs, winning their last GroupB match by 326 runs. India will nowtake on defending championsBangladesh in the quarterfinal at theCoolidge Cricket Ground on January29. India's 405/5 is only behind their425/3 against Scotland in 2004. In thegame, Shikhar Dhawan had slammedan unbeaten 155, the previous high-est individual score for India at an ICC

Under-19 Men's Cricket World Cup.Earlier, Bawa and Raghuvanshi

powered India past several battingrecords as they set Uganda an insur-mountable total of 405. After captainNishant Sindu fell for 15 in the 16thover, Raghuvanshi and Bawa workedtogether to add 206 runs in 22.4 overs.Opener Raghuvanshi was eventuallydismissed for 144 runs. Bawa thencontinued to pile on the runs asKaushal Tambe and Dinesh Banamade useful cameos.

By the time the left-hander Bawareached 150, 66 per cent of his runshad come from boundaries and at theclose of the innings, he held the high-est score of the tournament, surpass-ing the 154 not out from England'sTom Prest, to end with 162 from 108balls including 14 fours and eightsixes. Uganda's challenge got eventougher as opener Isaac Ategeka wasforced to retire having been struck onthe forearm by aRajvardhanHangargekar delivery. Theright-arm seamer then dismissed hisreplacement Cyrus Kakuru for a

first-ball duck off the final ball of aneventful first over.

Captain Pascal Murungi, whoearlier took Uganda's best figures of3/72, batted bravely for 34 but couldnot stop the inevitable victory asUganda ended on 79 for nine from19.4 overs with Ategeka unable toretake the field. The 326-run victoryis India's largest at an ICC Under-19Men's Cricket World Cup.

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Deepak Chahar's fighting fifty(54 off 34 balls) went in vainas South Africa beat Indiaby four runs in the third and

final ODI to complete a 3-0 whitewashin the three-match series, here onSunday.

A fantastic century by Quinton deKock (124 off 130) helped SouthAfrica post a challenging 287 in 49.5overs. Apart from de Kock, Rassie vander Dussen (52 off 59) and DavidMiller (39 off 38) also played vitalknocks for the Proteas.

Prasidh Krishna (3/59), JaspritBumrah (2/52), Deepak Chahar(2/53), and Yuzvendra Chahal (1/47)were the wicket-takers for India.

In reply, Shikhar Dhawan (61 off73) and Virat Kohli (65 off 84) playedimportant knocks but India were indeep trouble at one point after losingquick wickets during middle overs.However, Deepak Chahar's knockunder pressure ignited hopes and keptIndia in the game till the time he wasat the crease.

Once Deepak got out in the firstball of the 48th over, it was curtainsfor India as South Africa cleaned upthe last two wickets too quickly to seala 3-0 whitewash. In the end, the hostswere bowled out for 283 in 49.2 overs.

Phehlukwayo 3/40 was the mostsuccessful bowler for South Africa.

India rallied to bowl out SouthAfrica for 287 after opener Quintonde Kock struck an attacking century

and Rassie van der Dussen continuedhis sublime form with a 52-run knockin the third and final ODI here onSunday.

De Kock struck 124 off 130 ballsand added 144 runs for the fourthwicket with van der Dussen beforeIndia put the brakes on the hometeam's scoring by sending back boththe batters in quick succession.

The home team has already takena winning 2-0 lead in the series.

After that, David Miller con-tributed a 38-ball 39 before the

innings ended with a ball to spare.With his sixth ODI century, de

Kock equalled AB de Villiers' recordof scoring the most hundreds againstIndia by a South African.

KL Rahul's decision to bowl firstworked straightaway as DeepakChahar (2/53) had opener JannemanMalan (1) caught behind with justeight runs on the board at the start ofthe third over.

It was a big wicket for the Indiansas Malan came into the inconsequen-tial final ODI on the back of a neat 91-

run knock in the Proteas' series-clinching second ODI win at Paarl.

And credit for that must go toChahar who got his fullish delivery tomove away after angling it in, leavingMalan clueless.

A direct hit from India skipper KLRahul from mid-off, ended his in-form counterpart Temba Bavuma'sbrief stay in the middle as the batterfailed to reach the non-striker's endin time.

Bavuma making his way back tothe dressing room for eight runs was

another big break for India as theSouth Africa captain had scored a cen-tury in the opening fixture and alsolooked solid in the second outing.

After bagging two wickets in thepowerplay, India seemed to be head-ed in the right direction when AidenMarkram's attempted pull shot failedto clear substitute fielder RuturajGaikwad in the deep square legregion, leaving the hosts at 70 for threein the 13th over.

However, the duo of De Kock andVan der Dussen got together andforged an excellent partnership, mix-ing caution with aggression to deflatethe Indian bowling attack.

De Kock moved into the 90s withtwo boundaries and then produced aflat-batted six straight over PrasidhKrishna's (3/59) head.

But he got stuck on 99 for a whilebefore finally getting to the three-fig-ure mark by driving Shreyas Iyer tothe left of sweeper cover for two runs.

Van der Dussen hit YuzvendraChahal through mid-wicket for four,as the two upped the ante with theirvast range of strokes on all sides of thewicket.

But just when it looked like thetwo batters were taking the game awayform India, the visitors got rid of bothof them.

De Kock got out to a JaspritBumrah (2/52) short ball, givingShikhar Dhawan a simple catch atdeep square leg, and then, Chahal hadvan der Dussen brilliant caught by Iyerin the deep.

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Former head coach RaviShastri has said that Rohit

Sharma should be made a full-time Test captain of India, pro-vided the senior batter canmaintain his fitness.

Rohit was appointed asIndia's Test vice-captain inDecember last year.

However, the MumbaiIndi'ns' skipper was not able totravel with the Indian team toSouth Africa due to a hamstringinjury he picked up last year.

KL Rahul was then appoint-ed Kohli's deputy ahead of thetour of South Africa. But afterVirat stepped down from Testcaptaincy, the search for nextleader has begun.

To this, Shastri came for-ward and shared his view.

"If Rohit is fit, why can't hebe the captain in Tests too. Hewas appointed vice-captain forthe South Africa series but hecouldn't go there because ofinjuries. So why not, if he wasmade the vice-captain, why can'the be promoted to captaincy."Shastri told India Today.

Rohit, who is likely to leadIndia across all formats, is cur-rently 34 and India is certainlygoing to look towards groominga youngster for the leadershiprole in the future and Shastri batsfor Rishabh Pant.

He said the 24-year-oldwicketkeeper-batter should bekept in mind when the selectorsand the team management arediscussing the future captain.

"Rishabh is a tremendousyoung player. As a coach, I wasvery fond of him, his attitudeand the good thing about himwas that he would always listento you.

"A lot of people say, healways does what he wants butthat's not true. He reads thegame well and would always putmy team effort first than self. So,he should always be kept inmind for leadership," Shastriadded.

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South Africa opener JannemanMalan and Pakistan pacer

Fatima Sana were on Sundayadjudged as the ICC emergingplayers of the year for 2021 inmen's and women's respectively.

Malan, named in ICC's ODIeleven of the year, had a stunningrun in 2021 with the bat, making715 runs in 17 international match-es at 47.66 Average and 101.85strike-rate, including two cen-turies and three fifties. He playeda total of eight ODIs and nineT20Is in the year, but it was the 50-over format where he showed hisreal potential.

"It is a privilege to be namedthe ICC Men's Emerging Cricketerof the Year. I would like to thankmy family, my support system, and

my team for the opportunity. Myfavourite innings of the year camein Sri Lanka where I had to bat the

full fifty overs, whilst I was cramp-ing. It was personally a big inningsfor me to keep batting and fight

through the pain and be in a posi-tion to help my team win thegame," said Malan.

His voyage started with theT20I series in Pakistan, followed byanother ODI and T20I seriesagainst the same side at home. Atthe end of those two series, he hadalready shown the world his abil-ity with two excellent knocks of 70and 55 in Centurion.

But his moment of famearrived when he smashed anunbeaten 177, the fourth highestscore by a South African in ODIs,against Ireland in Dublin. He fol-lowed that up with another excel-lent knock of 121 against SriLanka in Colombo and thus endedthe year on a good note.

Malan's most impactful knockwas an unbeaten 177 againstIreland.

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India skipper Mithali Raj believes too much impor-tance is being given to strike rate and wants her bat-

ters to focus on playing knocks and stitching part-nership to lead the team to victory.

With the 2022 Cricket World Cup coming in NewZealand, Mithali gave an example of Australia's BethMooney's unbeaten knock of 125, where she start-ed slow and then accelerated to win the match forher team, as a template for the Indian batters to fol-low.

"I think isn't too much importance given to strike-rate by all? It is always spoken when it comes to bat-ting or putting up big totals. I just wanted to knowif you all follow the strike rate of Indian players orplayers from all around the world? If you might givean opportunity to me to enlighten, in the Australiaseries itself, the decider game which Australia won,Beth Mooney scored her 50 in 80-odd balls," saidMithali in the pre-departure virtual press conference.

"But she went on to play a match-winning inningsfor her team. As for me, I believe that cricket is a gameplayed on the situations on the ground and yes, it isimportant we keep it in mind that we need to havea healthy strike rate. But at the end of the day, it isabout how the batting unit revolves and the depth

of the batting unit in our team," added Mithali.She further explained, "When we have to score

250-270, we need to have a healthy strike rate, buthaving said we will not entirely focus on strike rate,it is important to play an innings to win and buildpartnerships. That happens not because of strike ratebut because you apply and play according to the sit-uation on the ground."

"Sometimes, you have to play fast but sometimesyou have to play to get your team out of a hole too.There will always be areas to address, any team. noteam is perfect and we will be looking to post a totalof around 250-270 consistently and that requires atop-order to score runs and be consistent."

India will depart for New Zealand on January 24to play a T20I and five ODIs against the hosts' beforeattempting to win their first World Cup trophy afterbeing runners-up in 2005 and 2017. Mithali point-ed towards contributions from the lower-middle orderbeing a positive for the team.

"Something which we were quite happy about isthe contribution of our lower-order, like Jhulan andPooja Vastrakar, not only perform with the ball butwith the bat as well. Then there's Sneh Rana, who'sperformed with both ball and bat. So, it is very goodto see the lower-middle order actually contributing.So, that helps to have a depth in the team and small-

er tail, I would say."Talking about young pacers Meghna Singh and

Renuka Singh Thakur, Mithali felt the duo will per-form well with support staff and veteran pacer JhulanGoswami around. "They might lack the experiencebut Meghna has done well in the Australia series. Iguess Jhulan is an experienced bowler in the set-up.She worked very well with the youngsters in the seriesand as far as Renuka is concerned when I saw herin the Australia series, she came across as somebodywho is very competitive."

"She had a very good domestic season with wick-ets. It's important to give players an opportunity whenthey are in rhythm and performing. I am sure theywill do well with the support staff we have and hav-ing Jhulan, I am sure she will be sharing her expe-riences of bowling in these conditions with the young-sters who will respond very positively."

Life has come full circle for Mithali, who first fea-tured in the World Cup in 2000 in New Zealand andwill now lead India in her sixth appearance in themega event. "I think it has been a wonderful jour-ney, not an easy one. There have been struggles toobut there have been good times as well. I think it hascome a full circle, my first World Cup was in 2000in New Zealand and here I am flying to New Zealandfor my sixth World Cup."

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England's T20 International series againsthosts West Indies got off to a disappoint-

ing start with the Eoin Morgan-led side suf-fering a nine-wicket defeat in a D/N match atthe Kensington Oval on Sunday (IST).

West Indies all-rounder Jason Holder cameup with career-best T20 bowling figures of fourwickets for seven runs in 3.4 overs as the hostsrestricted England to just 103 in 19.4 overs.Then, an unbeaten half-century from BrandonKing saw West Indies score an easy win in theopening game of the five-match series.

The hosts started the rot with the wicketof Jason Roy in the first over of play, and did-n't look back in a dominating performancefrom their bowlers.

Kieron Pollard's men were unrelentingwith the ball and in the field, restricting thetourists to 26/4 in the Powerplay. Holderclaimed Tom Banton and Moeen Ali in suc-cessive deliveries, as Sheldon Cottrell (2/30 offfour overs) made his mark at the other end.

Cottrell removed Roy, and the left-armerpicked up James Vince (14 from 12 balls), whothreatened to launch English resurgence.

The fourth wicket brought Sam Billings tothe middle, just a week after his Test debut inHobart against Australia. The wicketkeeper-batter was unable to hang around with cap-tain Morgan, missing an AkealHosein deliv-ery on the charge and stumped for just two.

On top of the West Indies' execution ofplans, England's batting capitulation was asmuch down to mistakes at crucial moments,with a poor call running between wickets thereason for Liam Dawson's downfall.

Misjudging a quick single, Dawson fell tohis knees in an attempt to skip back into hisground, with Pollard finishing a simple throwto Nicholas Pooran for the run out.

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England opener TammyBeaumont on Sunday was

voted as the ICC Women's T20ICricketer of the Year for 2021.Tammy beat competition fromfellow team-mate Nat Sciver,India's Smriti Mandhana andIreland's Gaby Lewis to win theaward.

Tammy was England's high-est run-getter in the year 2021 inT20Is, and third-highest overall

in the world with 303 runs in ninematches at an average of 33.66,including three half-centuries.

"It's a huge privilege to winthe ICC Women's T20I Cricketerof the Year Award. I've workedincredibly hard on my T20 gamein the last few years. My T20Icareer has had its ups and downsand I don't think I've always beenknown for my T20 abilities, sothis award gives me a hugeamount of confidence," saidTammy.

In a low-scoring series againstNew Zealand away from home,Tammy was the top run-scorerand was awarded the 'Player ofthe Series' for amassing 102 runsin three matches. Her 53-ball 63in the second match put Englandin a winning position after theylost two wickets in the Powerplay.She scored a brilliant fifty againstIndia, though it went in vain aftera lower-order collapse.

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Afghanistan and Bangladeshscored big wins against their

rivals, Zimbabwe and UAE, respec-tively as they advanced to theSuper League quarterfinals on thefinal day of group-stage matches inthe Under-19 ICC Cricket WorldCup on Sunday (IST).

In Group C, Afghanistan cameout on top, securing a 109-run winover Zimbabwe to progress, whileBangladesh triumphed in anotherwinner-takes-all game, beating theUAE by nine wickets (D/L method)in a Group A match.

In the quarterfinal on January27, Afghanistan will take on SriLanka, while on January 29, defend-ing champions Bangladesh willmeet India for a place in the last-four.

At the Diego Martin SportingComplex in Trinidad, Suliman

Safi's century helped Afghanistan tovictory, with the skipper putting on111 from 118 balls, including 14fours and three sixes. Safi's effortshelped Afghanistan move to 261/6as he was dismissed on the final ballof the innings.

Four other batters posted scoresof over 20, with openerNageyaliaKharote contributing ahalf-century from 45 balls.

Alex Falao was the pick of thebowlers for Zimbabwe as he took3/54 from his 10 overs to move onto eight wickets for the tournamentso far. In reply, Zimbabwe openerMatthew Welch led the chargewith Steven Saul contributing nineto the score before being given outleg before wicket to leave his sideon one for 49.

Welch's next two partners couldadd only one run to the totalbefore it was Welch's turn to fallhaving made 53 from 61 balls.

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Pakistan eased to one of the mostfacile wins in the current edition

of the Under-19 ICC CricketWorld, thrashing Papua NewGuinea by nine wickets in a low-scoring Group C game at theQueen's Park Oval here on Sunday(IST). They will clash with Australia

in the Super League quarterfinal atthe Sir Vivian Richards CricketGround on January 28.

Papua New Guinea were bun-dled out for just 50 in 22.4 overs,with five batters being dismissed forducks. Seventeen-year-old Pakistanopener and right-arm pace bowlerMuhammad Shehzad grabbed fivewickets for seven runs in his 6.4

overs as the opponents could man-age just one double-digit score --from opener Christopher Kilapat(11 off 30 balls). Papua New Guineastarted positively as Kilapat andBoio Ray put on 24 for the firstwicket. However, once the wicketof Kilapat fell Papua New Guinealost the next nine wickets for 26runs.

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South Africa beat India by 4 runs, complete 3-0 whitewash

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Ace Indian shuttler PV Sindhuclinched the 2022 Syed ModiInternational title after beating

young MalvikaBansod in thewomen's singles final at the BabuBanarasiDas Indoor Stadium, here onSunday.

The 26-year old Sindhu beatMalvika 21-13, 21-16 in just 35 min-utes to win her second title at theSuper 300 event. She had won thetournament in 2017 as well.

It was also Sindhu's first BWFtitle since winning the BWF WorldChampionships in 2019, after losingtwice in the finals last year -- at theSwiss Open and the BWF World TourFinals.

The two-time Olympic medallistraced to a 7-0 lead inside the firstthree minutes and kept the charge onto pocket the game quite comfortablyin 14 minutes.

The second game saw a similarpattern with the world No 7 leading11-4 at the mid-game interval.Bansod, the world No. 84, mounteda comeback and reduced the lead at17-12 but the experienced Sindhuwent on to seal the match in straightgames. Notably, this was the first

meeting between the 20-year-oldMalvikaBansod and PV Sindhu at theinternational circuit. Bansod, whoclinched the All-India Senior RankingChampionships in December, hadbeaten the London 2012 Olympicbronze medallist Saina Nehwal at theIndia Open, earlier this month.

Meanwhile, the mixed doublestitle went to seventh seeds IshaanBhatnagar and Tanisha Crasto, whodefeated compatriots Nagendra Babuand SrivedyaGurazada 21-16, 21-12in the 29 minutes final to claim theirfirst Super 300 crown.

The pair of Treesa Jolly andGayatri Pullela won the women'sdoubles title after beating AnnaCheong Ching Yik and Teoh MeiXing. Earlier, the men's singles finalbetween Frenchman Arnaud Merkleand Lucas Claerbout was declared a'no match'. One of the finalists test-ed positive for Covid-19 while theother was deemed a close contact andwas also withdrawn.

The Syed Modi International2022 was the second tourn'ment inthis year's BWF calendar after theIndia Open. The Odisha Open Super100, will be the next tournament,scheduled to be held in Cuttack fromJanuary 25 to 30.

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India had to withdraw from the ongoing AFCWomen's Asian Cup football competition on

Sunday as the hosts failed to name their teamfor the match against Chinese Taipei becauseof injuries and Covid positive tests.

The rules specify that a team should beable to put up a bare minimum of 13 playersto compete in a match. The Indians had only11 players fit and available to play Sunday'smatch against Chinese Taipei at the DY PatilStadium here. Of the 23 players in the squad,two players had to isolate themselves as theytested positive on the eve of India's openingmatch in the competition on January 20.

Sources said on Saturday, the hosts had 13players that were not down with Covid-19 buttwo of them were injured. The two injuredplayers could not recover in time and thus ateam could not be named for the match againstthe Chinese Taipei.

"The Asian Football Confederation (AFC)has confirmed that the AFC Women's AsianCup India 2022 match between ChineseTaipei and India at the D.Y. Patil Stadium inNavi Mumbai could not be played today," theAFC said in a statement on Sunday.

"Following several positive cases of Covid-19, India failed to name the required minimumof 13 players for the Group A match againstChinese Taipei," said the statement.

"In accordance with Article 4.1 of the'Special Rules Applicable to AFC Competitionsduring the COVID-19 pandemic' (SpecialRules), India was therefore unable to partici-pate in the match and the full provisions ofArticle 4.1 will apply," the statement said.

Article 4.1 of the 'Special Rules Applicableto AFC Competitions during Covid-19 pan-demic' states, "If a ParticipatingTeam/Participating Club has less than thirteen(13) Participating Players (including one (1)goalkeeper) available for a Match for any rea-son (whether or not relating to Covid-19), therelevant Participating Team/Participating Clubshall not be able to participate in the Match.Such Participating Team/Participating Clubshall be held responsible for the Match not tak-ing place and shall be considered to have with-drawn from the relevant Competition. The rel-evant Participating Team/Participating Cluband its affiliated Member Association shall besubject to the provisions of the relevantCompetition regulations regarding the conse-quences of withdrawal, as applicable."

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India's Sania Mirza and herAmerican partner Rajeev

Ram advanced to the quarter-finals of the 2022 AustralianOpen mixed doubles eventafter beating Australia's EllenPerez and MatweMiddelkoop ofthe Netherlands, here onSunday.

Mirza-Ram won their sec-ond-round match 7(8)-6(6), 6-4 in one hour and 27 minutes.

The Indo-American pairgot off to a bad start and trailed

2-0 in the opening stages of thefirst set. However, they struckback to level up the score at 6-6 and stretched the set into atiebreaker.

Sania and Ram had a bet-ter start in the second set, rac-ing to a 2-0 lead. The experi-enced duo, with no unforcederrors, then won the set com-fortably.

In the quarters, Sania Mirzaand Rajeev Ram will now facethe winner of the matchbetween Australian wild cardpairs Samantha Stosur-Matthew

Ebden and Jaimee Fourlis-JasonKubler. Notably, both Mirza andRam have won the AustralianOpen mixed doubles title beforewith different partners. WhileSania Mirza won the GrandSlam in 2009 with MaheshBhupati, Ram won the 2019 and2021 mixed doubles eventswith BarboraKrejcikova.

The 35-year-old Sania is theonly Indian left in the compe-tition after Rohan Bopannamade a first-round exit inmixed doubles event onSaturday.

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Canadian star DenisShapovalov remained calm

and composed as he booked hisAustralian Open quarterfinalberth with a 6-3, 7-6(5), 6-3 vic-tory over world No. 3 andTokyo Olympic Games goldmedallist Alexander Zverev ofGermany at the MelbournePark on Sunday.

Shapovalov has now set upa quarterfinal showdown withSpanish stalwart Rafael Nadal,who is aiming for his secondAustralian Open crown after thetitle triumph in 2009.

The searing Melbourneheat could not stop Shapovalovfrom extinguishing the hopesZverev in the duo's first meet-ing at a major.

The 14th-seeded Canadianhad to take an ice bath after his

gruelling five-setter againstworld No. 54 Soonwoo Kwon ofSouth Korea in the second-round, but he kept a cool headthroughout the tough encounterto brush past an inconsistentZverev in the fourth round. "It'sprobably the one I least expect-ed to finish in three (sets),"Shapovalov was quoted as say-ing by atptour.com on Sunday."I'm very happy with my perfor-mance, definitely happy withwhere my game is at."

With his returns sharp asever, Shapovalov broke Zverevearly for a 3-1 lead, the Germandropping just his third servicegame of the tournament on theway to also losing his first set inMelbourne this year.

Zverev looked frustrated asShapovalov broke the Germanagain immediately in the second.But seven double faults in the set

from the Canadian helpedZverev claw back. Serving for theset at 5-3, Zverev's inconsisten-cy again came to the fore at cru-cial moments and Shapovalovforced a tie-break. The Canadianlooked more comfortable of thetwo, winning 7/5.

"I think off the ground I wasplaying really well, really feelingmy shots off both wings," saidShapovalov. "I played prettysmart today, it felt like thingswere going my way early on. Ilost a little bit of momentummid-way in the second set butfought well to come back andjust kind of rolled with it after."

Shapovalov's opponent inthe quarterfinals will be Nadal,after the sixth-seed defeatedAdrian Mannarino of France 7-6(14), 6-2, 6-2. Nadal holds a 3-1 lead in the ATP head-to-headagainst Shapovalov.

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Eight-time champions China vir-tually sealed a place in the

quarter-finals and underlined theirAFC Women's Asian Cup 2022 titlecredentials by cruising to a 7-0 winover Iran at Mumbai Football Arenahere on Sunday. Wang Shuangscored a birthday brace, WangShanshan too scored a double,Xiao Yuyi and Tang Jiali con-tributed a goal each while Iran'sFatemeh Adeli scored an own goalas Shui Qingxia's side continuedtheir blistering start to the tourna-ment and set their sights towardsthe latter stages of the competition.The result leaves Iran's quarter-finalambitions hinging on Wednesday'sclash against Chinese Taipei, which

is likely to be pivotal to both sides'knockout stage hopes.

As expected, China dominatedthe match, enjoying 80.4 percentpossession, and attempted 23 shotsand 12 of them on target, resultingin six goals. Iran could get only oneshot on target. The Steel Rosesreturned to the scene of Thursday's4-0 win over Chinese Taipei eagerto build on their fast start, and theyquickly assumed control against adeep-lying Iranian defence.

Wang Shanshan forced a strongsave from ZohrehKoudaei in the10th minute, and the star goalkeep-er got down low to deny theChinese captain once again fiveminutes later, continuing the formwhich saw her voted Player of theMatch in Thursday's 0-0 draw

against India. It seemed that itwould take something special tobeat Iran's number one, and that'sexactly what Wang Shuang provid-ed in the 28th minute, picking outthe bottom corner with a perfectlydirected left-footed effort from theedge of the box to celebrate her 27thbirthday in style. Coach MaryamIrandoost's Iran side was never eas-ily broken down, but China pro-duced a move that would havepicked apart the very best defencesjust before halftime, with ZhangXin's slide-rule pass setting upXiao Yuyi, who duly caressed theball into the net to make it 2-0 twominutes before half-time. Iran'sdynamic teenage strikerNeginZandi was introduced at half-time as they looked for a way back

into the match, but their cause suf-fered a significant blow whenMelikaMotevalli clumsily fouledChinese substitute Li Mengwen,with Wang Shuang easily beatingKoudaei from the penalty spot tomake the points all but safe in the49th minute. The earlier intensityof the game now noticeably absent,Wang Shanshan extended the leadwhen she poked home Xiao Yuyi'scross in the 55th minute, and thesame duo teamed up four minuteslater to increase the tally to 5-0.

China's superior fitness andtechnique was evident throughoutthe second half, and they dulyadded a sixth through Tang Jiali77th minute, with the Tottenhamforward finding the net with theswerving effort 15 minutes.

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All India Football Federation (AIFF)president Praful Patel described

India's inability to put up the minimumrequired players for the AFC Women'sAsian Cup Group A match againstChinese Taipei in Navi Mumbai due toCovid-19 cases and injuries as theunfortunate situation and sought supportfor the players.

"We are as disappointed as probablythe entire nation would be right nowwith this unwarranted situation.However, the players' health and well-being are of paramount importance tous, and it cannot be compromisedunder any circumstances. I wish all theinfected players and team officials a swiftand full recovery. They will be well sup-ported by the AIFF and AFC," he saidin a statement on Sunday.

Patel said the team is heartbrokenand said that despite taking all precau-tions, so many players and support staff

were stricken by Covid-19."The team is heartbroken, and I

request all to respect their feelings andsentiments," he said.

"I am proud of the great promise theteam showed in their first match, and amconfident that they will prove their met-tle in the near future," Patel, also a FIFAcouncil member, stated.

"This is not the end of the world. Thepromise on display in the first matchagainst IR Iran was there for all to seeand I am confident they will bounce backfrom this temporary setback," he added.

"Unfortunately, this happened to usdespite the best measures put in place,and it is sheer bad luck that it happenedto us. Let there be no fingers pointed atany. We need to understand this is a pan-demic situation, and no bubble is fool-proof around the world," the AIFF chiefsaid.

Patel said the AIFF will continue tosupport the Blue Tigresses and was surethat the players will come back stronger

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Top-ranked Ashleigh Barty bookedher place in the 2022 Australian Open

quarter-finals with a win over AmandaAnisimova, here on Sunday.

Top seed Barty beat 20-year-oldAnisimova 6-4, 6-3 in a 74-minute clash.She will meet No 21 seed Jessica Pegula,who reached the last eight in Melbournefor the second straight season after defeat-ing No 5 seed Maria Sakkari of Greece 7-6(0), 6-3. With this win, Barty's quest tobecome the first home women's champi-on at the Australian Open since ChrisO'Neil in 1978 remains alive. In her pre-vious second-week showings, she lost inthe 2019 quarter-finals to Petra Kvitova,the 2020 semifinals to Sofia Kenin and the2021 quarter-finals to Karolina Muchova.

During Sunday's outing, Barty'sprogress was not all smooth sailing. Attimes, she was outhit by bold drive volleysand down-the-line winners fromAnisimova. She gave her younger oppo-nent openings with a smattering of dou-

ble faults (three, two of which came con-secutively) and unforced errors (17, out-weighed by 23 winners).

However, the World No 1 found solidone-two punches to wriggle out of hertightest service games in the first set, anda couple of moments of magic withdelightfully angled backhand slice winnersto break Anisimova for the first time. Hercrafty variation on the slice paid dividendsthroughout, repeatedly tanglingAnisimova up tactically and technically.

The 25-year oldBarty also raised herlevel to accelerate toward the finishing lineof both sets. The first three of her seventotal aces came in her final two servicegames of the first. And in the second,Anisimova held two game points to holdfor a 4-3 lead, only for Barty to reel off 12of the next 14 points to take the win.

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Francis Ngannou's win in UFC 270 over inter-im champ CirylGane has put the organisers

in a spot.The heavyweight champion, who took on

Gane in a five-round clash at the HondaCentre in Anaheim, California, has made it clearthat he will not fight again unless he is given aconsiderable fee hike.

So far, UFC President Dana White has beenreluctant to consider it. The fight was a literal

and figurative clash of titans with both menstanding at 6 feet 4 inches and weighing in wellover 230 pounds.

Both fighters also share a considerable his-tory having been long-time sparring partnersand this was evident throughout the fight withGane winning the first two rounds on the feet,nullifying the Cameroonian's scary knockoutpower, no doubt due to being used to it in thesparring sessions they have together. ButNgannou showed that he too had learnt lessonsfrom those sessions as he proceeded to turnaround the fight in the next three rounds byrepeatedly taking down the French kickboxer,leaving him helpless as he couldn't wrestle awayfrom the Champion's considerable frame.

The fight between the former trainingpartners wasn't the only title clash on the card,however, with the co-main event being contest-ed for the flyweight championship betweenincumbent champ Brandon Moreno andDeivesonFigueiredo.

This was the third battle for the titlebetween the pair with the first two matches end-ing in a draw and a win for Moreno which sawhim snatch away Figueiredo's crown.

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