˘ ˆ...2020/10/06  · Hospital. * ˚

12
A fter a medical board of the AIIMS unanimously decided that Sushant Singh Rajput committed suicide and ruled out any possibility of homicide, the section advanc- ing the “murder” theory has cried foul. The CBI has also found nothing so far that sug- gested any foul play in the actor’s death. While Sushant Singh Rajput’s sister has rejected the AIIMS report, the doctors on the panel have strongly defend- ed their findings. The Mumbai Police and the Shiv Sena have said they stood vindicated by the AIIMS report. The CBI reiterated its stand that all aspects of the film star’s untimely demise are being probed. However, the agency has so far found nothing either by way of forensic, documen- tary, or photographic evidence or by way of profiling of the suspects to differ with the AIIMS findings. The agency will continue with its probe and look into all aspects as was rou- tinely done in similar cases until a closure report is filed. A CBI spokesperson said, “Investigation in Sushant Singh Rajput case is going on. All aspects into the case are being looked into meticulously.” Earlier on September 28, the CBI had in a similar state- ment said, “The Central Bureau of Investigation is conducting the investigation related to the death of Shri Sushant Singh Rajput in which all aspects are being looked at and no aspect has been ruled out as of date.” The CBI’s reaction on Monday came in response to the contradictory claims by AIIMS Forensic Department head Dr Sudhir Gupta who had on Saturday claimed that “Sushant’s death is a case of sui- cide and the murder angle has been completely ruled out.” The AIIMS panel was tasked to re-evaluate the late actor’s post-mortem and vis- cera reports based on the 20 per cent viscera samples avail- able with them. Dr Gupta’s claims with respect to Rajput’s case forensic probe from August 22 completely contra- dict his views in the matter. “Why was the autopsy done in such a hurry, was any videography done? There was contamination of evidence and is not suitable for further exam- ination with sanctity. I had never given permission to open Sunanda Pushkar’s room for four years. There was also a case of DK Ravi in Bangalore,” he had told a news channel. The channel also revealed the WhatsApp chats with Dr Gupta, from August 11, where- in he had raised questions on forensics. “The panel of five doctors of Cooper (Hospital) conducted an autopsy...only one is junior level forensic doctor...rest 4 are just medical officer. The panel must be of forensic specialists as per norms. Who constituted the medical board? What was jus- tification for the medical board...by the police?” were some of the questions asked by Dr Gupta then. Apart from the forensic issue, Dr Gupta had also sub- sequently openly questioned the manner in which the autop- sy was conducted in Rajput case by the Mumbai hospital. Sushant’s sister Shweta Singh Kirti called for a probe into an alleged ‘U-turn’ by Dr Sudhir Gupta, who headed the AIIMS panel re-evaluating the actor’s post-mortem report. Gupta stuck to his ground and pointed out that all members of the medical board has come to one conclusion that it was a case of suicide. “This kind of U-Turn must be explained!! #SushantConspiracyExposed #SushantAIIMSTape.” In another tweet, she asked, “Why?” Shweta wrote. But doctors on the AIIMS panel rejected such contention and said that Gupta had said so on August 22 when the AIIMS had not received any medical report or Sushant’s viscera and he was merely reacting to wild media reports. Meanwhile, the Mumbai Police is jubilant that its probe stood vindicated with the AIIMS ruling out murder. Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh said people with “vested interests” targeted Mumbai Police without know- ing anything about the probe. I n a stern message to India’s neighbours, IAF chief RKS Bhadauria on Monday said his force is ready to take on China and “there is no question it can get better of us.” Assuring that the armed forces are “well posi- tioned” to deal with any threat, he also said the IAF is prepared to fight a two-front war. While adopting a tough stance, the IAF chief, however, said the main focus of the Government at present is to resolve the tension at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) through talks. His remarks came days before the seventh round of Corps Commander- level talks between the two sides slated for October 12. Incidentally, last week he had described the present sce- nario on the border as “not war, not peace.” Elaborating upon the oper- ational readiness in the back- drop of more than five-month- long stand-off at the LAC in Eastern Ladakh, the IAF chief on Monday said his force is very “well positioned” to deal with any threat and very strong deployments have been made in all relevant areas consider- ing the security scenario. The IAF helped the Army in a major way in mobilising troops and equipment in a short time in all the operational areas on the LAC, he said but refrained from giving details. Addressing a Press confer- ence ahead of Air Force Day on October 8, Bhadauria, cau- tioned that there was no ques- tion of underestimating the capabilities of the adversary and said China has superiori- ty in number of aircraft and missile systems. Observing that China has made huge investments in mil- itary technology, Bhadauria said, “Their strength lies in sur- face-to-air systems they have put up in the area. They have long missile systems. We cater to those in our matrix... we can take on that threat.” T he family members of the Hathras gangrape victim continue to reel under fear beg- ging for protection, while hun- dreds of upper caste men open- ly held a massive meet and defended the four accused. Unmindful of these devel- opments, the police on Monday went on to file 19 FIRs across the State for criminal conspir- acy for inciting riots and com- munal violence in the State. The FIR has been regis- tered in Chandpa police station of Hathras district under as many as 20 different sections including criminal conspiracy and IT Act 2008. The police, which is facing flaks for its handling of the entire case and cremating the victim’s body at midnight with- out taking victim’s parents per- mission, claimed that it was a big ploy to destabilise the Government. The police also blocked a website “JusticeforHathras” claiming it was created to spread fake information related to the Hathras incident in order to incite caste riots across UP. Uttar Pradesh Additional Director General of Police, Law and Order, Prashant Kumar, claimed that a “con- spiracy” was made to push the State into “turmoil”. Police have found justice- forhathrasvictim.carrd.co was involved in the conspiracy and even received foreign funds to carry on the campaigning. But when the Government found out the conspiracy, the website was immediately closed. The SIT team on Monday visited the Aligarh jail and met the four accused who are lodged there in judicial custody. The team took their state- ments and interrogated them briefly about the incident. Issuing a statement before the electronic media on Monday afternoon, ADGP Kumar said that the investi- gating agencies suspected a conspiracy involving the Popular Front of India (PFI), the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) and mafias tar- geting the Government and funding in this regard to create chaos in the State. “These people issued fake photo of the CM with a screen shot of a TV news channel writ- ing breaking news to confuse the people and also issued a fake statement of the CM,” he added. T he head of emergencies at the World Health Organization (WHO) on Monday said its “best esti- mates” indicate that roughly 1 in 10 people worldwide may have been infected by the coro- navirus — more than 20 times the number of confirmed cases — and warned of a difficult period ahead. Dr Michael Ryan, speaking to a special session of the WHO’s 34-member executive board focusing on Covid-19, said the figures vary from urban to rural, and between different groups, but that ulti- mately it means “the vast majority of the world remains at risk.” He said the pandemic would continue to evolve, but that tools exist to suppress transmission and save lives. “Many deaths have been averted and many more lives can be protected,” Ryan said. He was flanked by his boss, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who minutes earlier led a moment of silence to honour victims as well as round of applause for the health workers who have strived to save them. Ryan said southeast Asia faced a surge in cases, Europe and the eastern Mediterranean were seeing an increase in deaths, while the situations in Africa and the Western Pacific were “rather more positive.” “Our current best estimates tell us that about 10 percent of the global population may have been infected by this virus,” Ryan told attendees from mem- ber governments who make up the executive board and provide much of its funding. A minor girl was critically injured after being gan- graped in Maharajganj while in two more cases in Muzaffarnagar, a girl was raped at gunpoint and a blind girl was sexually exploited by her kin. According to reports from Maharajganj, four accused raped a minor girl in the Kothibhar area and when she resisted they brutally assaulted her and threatened to kill her if she told the incident. The incident took place on Sunday afternoon and the girl fainted after the incident. When she regained her senses after a few hours, she somehow reached home and revealed her trauma after which the family members took her to the Community Health Centre in Siswa from where she was referred to District Hospital. I n a major development, the Union Education Ministry on Monday issued guidelines for reopening of schools after October 15 in a phased man- ner. The guidelines give stu- dents the options to opt for online classes. Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank said the States have been given the flexibility to prepare their SOPs based on the Centre’s guidelines and local concerns. “The SOP of the Education Ministry comprises two parts- health and safety aspects for reopening schools and learning with social distancing... In con- sonance with the MHA guidelines, students are also permitted to take online class- es and can attend schools only with the written consent of par- ents,” said a Ministry official. T he Centre on Monday said it will release 20,000 crore to States on account of GST compensation dues. Briefing reporters after the meeting of the 42nd GST Council here, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the States which received less apportionment of Integrated GST (IGST) for 2017-18, the Centre will next week transfer a cumulative 24,000 crore to them. On the issue of releasing compensation to the States, Sitharaman said: “This year whatever we have collected till now, 20,000 crore will get disbursed tonight”. The compensation require- ment of States between April and July stood at 1.51 lakh crore. On the issue of IGST, she said excess IGST apportioned to certain States would be retrieved. However, the Minister did not mention the amount. Sitharaman said 24,000 crore would be released by the middle of next week to those states which have received less IGST share against their actu- al dues. The Minister said the proposal to extend GST com- pensation cess levy beyond 2022 was cleared by the GST Council. “Levy of Compensation Cess to be extended beyond the transition period of five years i.e. Beyond June, 2022, for such period as may be required to meet the revenue gap,” an official statement said. T wo motorcycle-borne Lashkar-e-Tayyeba terror- ists, including a Pakistani com- mander, on Monday opened “indiscriminate” firing on the road opening party of the CRPF in which two personnel were martyred and three oth- ers received injuries near Kandijal bridge in Pampore area of South Kashmir’s Pulwama district. In retaliation, CRPF per- sonnel also opened fire but the terrorists managed to escape. This is the third such strike carried out by the same group of terrorists led by a Pakistani LeT commander Saifullah, police said. The traffic on the National Highway (NH-44) near Pampore was disrupted as dif- ferent teams of the security forces launched a cordon and search operations in the close vicinity of the attack site to track down the footprints of these terrorists. Detailed report on P5 New Delhi: Aam Aadmi Party MLA Kuldeep Kumar, who was found Covid-19 positive just five days ago, on Monday landed up at the Hathras gang-rape victim’s home to meet her family. Kumar, MLA from Kondli Assembly seat in Delhi, along with dozens of his supporters reached Hathras. Kumar also made public the identity of the victim as he tweeted mentioning the victim’s name. A lleging Trinamool Congress’ hand in the murder of State BJP leader Manish Shukla, the saffron outfit has demanded a CBI- investigation into the incident with Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar too asking Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to arrest the “nose diving” law and order situation in the State. A furious Governor report- edly expressed his mind to Chief Secretary Alapan Bandopadhyay who called on him after the Home Secretary and the DGP failed to respond to Dhankhar’s summons. This, while all hell broke loose in the Barrackpore police commissionerate area where cops fought pitched battles with the stone-pelting BJP sup- porters firing several rounds of tear-gas shells. The BJP had called a 12-hour-Barrackpore bandh on Monday in protest. Detailed report on P5 T he CBI on Monday regis- tered a case against former Karnataka Minister and State Congress president DK Shivakumar and others in a 75-cr disproportionate assets probe and conducted searches at 14 locations, including nine in Karnataka, four in Delhi and one in Mumbai. The Congress condemned the raid and said it was a case of political vendetta. The search yielded 50 lakh in cash and several property and invest- ment documents. RNI Regn. No. CHHENG/2012/42718, Postal Reg. No. - RYP DN/34/2013-2015

Transcript of ˘ ˆ...2020/10/06  · Hospital. * ˚

Page 1: ˘ ˆ...2020/10/06  · Hospital. * ˚

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After a medical board of theAIIMS unanimously

decided that Sushant SinghRajput committed suicide andruled out any possibility ofhomicide, the section advanc-ing the “murder” theory hascried foul. The CBI has alsofound nothing so far that sug-gested any foul play in theactor’s death.

While Sushant SinghRajput’s sister has rejected theAIIMS report, the doctors onthe panel have strongly defend-ed their findings. The MumbaiPolice and the Shiv Sena havesaid they stood vindicated bythe AIIMS report.

The CBI reiterated its standthat all aspects of the filmstar’s untimely demise are beingprobed. However, the agencyhas so far found nothing eitherby way of forensic, documen-tary, or photographic evidenceor by way of profiling of thesuspects to differ with theAIIMS findings. The agencywill continue with its probe andlook into all aspects as was rou-tinely done in similar cases

until a closure report is filed.A CBI spokesperson said,

“Investigation in Sushant SinghRajput case is going on. Allaspects into the case are beinglooked into meticulously.”

Earlier on September 28,the CBI had in a similar state-ment said, “The Central Bureauof Investigation is conductingthe investigation related to thedeath of Shri Sushant SinghRajput in which all aspects arebeing looked at and no aspecthas been ruled out as of date.”

The CBI’s reaction onMonday came in response tothe contradictory claims byAIIMS Forensic Departmenthead Dr Sudhir Gupta who hadon Saturday claimed that“Sushant’s death is a case of sui-cide and the murder angle hasbeen completely ruled out.”

The AIIMS panel wastasked to re-evaluate the lateactor’s post-mortem and vis-cera reports based on the 20per cent viscera samples avail-able with them. Dr Gupta’sclaims with respect to Rajput’scase forensic probe fromAugust 22 completely contra-dict his views in the matter.

“Why was the autopsydone in such a hurry, was anyvideography done? There wascontamination of evidence andis not suitable for further exam-ination with sanctity. I hadnever given permission to openSunanda Pushkar’s room forfour years. There was also acase of DK Ravi in Bangalore,”he had told a news channel.

The channel also revealedthe WhatsApp chats with DrGupta, from August 11, where-in he had raised questions onforensics. “The panel of fivedoctors of Cooper (Hospital)conducted an autopsy...onlyone is junior level forensicdoctor...rest 4 are just medicalofficer. The panel must be offorensic specialists as pernorms. Who constituted themedical board? What was jus-tification for the medicalboard...by the police?” weresome of the questions asked byDr Gupta then.

Apart from the forensicissue, Dr Gupta had also sub-sequently openly questionedthe manner in which the autop-sy was conducted in Rajputcase by the Mumbai hospital.

Sushant’s sister ShwetaSingh Kirti called for a probeinto an alleged ‘U-turn’ by DrSudhir Gupta, who headed theAIIMS panel re-evaluating theactor’s post-mortem report.Gupta stuck to his ground andpointed out that all members ofthe medical board has come toone conclusion that it was acase of suicide.

“This kind of U-Turn mustbe explained!!#SushantConspiracyExposed#SushantAIIMSTape.” Inanother tweet, she asked,“Why?” Shweta wrote.

But doctors on the AIIMSpanel rejected such contentionand said that Gupta had said soon August 22 when the AIIMShad not received any medicalreport or Sushant’s viscera andhe was merely reacting to wildmedia reports. Meanwhile, theMumbai Police is jubilant thatits probe stood vindicated withthe AIIMS ruling out murder.Mumbai Police CommissionerParam Bir Singh said peoplewith “vested interests” targetedMumbai Police without know-ing anything about the probe.

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In a stern message to India’sneighbours, IAF chief RKS

Bhadauria on Monday said hisforce is ready to take on Chinaand “there is no question it canget better of us.” Assuring thatthe armed forces are “well posi-tioned” to deal with any threat,he also said the IAF is preparedto fight a two-front war.

While adopting a toughstance, the IAF chief, however,said the main focus of theGovernment at present is toresolve the tension at the Lineof Actual Control (LAC)through talks. His remarkscame days before the seventhround of Corps Commander-level talks between the twosides slated for October 12.

Incidentally, last week hehad described the present sce-nario on the border as “not war,not peace.”

Elaborating upon the oper-ational readiness in the back-drop of more than five-month-long stand-off at the LAC inEastern Ladakh, the IAF chiefon Monday said his force isvery “well positioned” to dealwith any threat and very strong

deployments have been madein all relevant areas consider-ing the security scenario.

The IAF helped the Armyin a major way in mobilisingtroops and equipment in ashort time in all the operationalareas on the LAC, he said butrefrained from giving details.

Addressing a Press confer-ence ahead of Air Force Day onOctober 8, Bhadauria, cau-tioned that there was no ques-tion of underestimating thecapabilities of the adversaryand said China has superiori-ty in number of aircraft andmissile systems.

Observing that China hasmade huge investments in mil-itary technology, Bhadauriasaid, “Their strength lies in sur-face-to-air systems they haveput up in the area. They havelong missile systems. We caterto those in our matrix... we cantake on that threat.”

*���� �</�.<�:�

The family members of theHathras gangrape victim

continue to reel under fear beg-ging for protection, while hun-dreds of upper caste men open-ly held a massive meet anddefended the four accused.

Unmindful of these devel-opments, the police on Mondaywent on to file 19 FIRs acrossthe State for criminal conspir-acy for inciting riots and com-munal violence in the State.

The FIR has been regis-tered in Chandpa police stationof Hathras district under asmany as 20 different sectionsincluding criminal conspiracy

and IT Act 2008.The police, which is facing

flaks for its handling of theentire case and cremating thevictim’s body at midnight with-out taking victim’s parents per-mission, claimed that it was abig ploy to destabilise theGovernment. The police alsoblocked a website“JusticeforHathras” claiming itwas created to spread fakeinformation related to theHathras incident in order toincite caste riots across UP.

Uttar Pradesh AdditionalDirector General of Police,Law and Order, PrashantKumar, claimed that a “con-spiracy” was made to push theState into “turmoil”.

Police have found justice-forhathrasvictim.carrd.co wasinvolved in the conspiracy andeven received foreign funds tocarry on the campaigning. Butwhen the Government found

out the conspiracy, the websitewas immediately closed.

The SIT team on Mondayvisited the Aligarh jail andmet the four accused who arelodged there in judicial custody.The team took their state-ments and interrogated thembriefly about the incident.

Issuing a statement beforethe electronic media onMonday afternoon, ADGPKumar said that the investi-gating agencies suspected aconspiracy involving thePopular Front of India (PFI),the Social Democratic Party ofIndia (SDPI) and mafias tar-geting the Government andfunding in this regard to createchaos in the State.

“These people issued fakephoto of the CM with a screenshot of a TV news channel writ-ing breaking news to confusethe people and also issued a fakestatement of the CM,” he added.

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The head of emergencies atthe World Health

Organization (WHO) onMonday said its “best esti-mates” indicate that roughly 1in 10 people worldwide mayhave been infected by the coro-navirus — more than 20 timesthe number of confirmed cases— and warned of a difficultperiod ahead.

Dr Michael Ryan, speakingto a special session of theWHO’s 34-member executiveboard focusing on Covid-19,said the figures vary from

urban to rural, and betweendifferent groups, but that ulti-mately it means “the vastmajority of the world remainsat risk.”

He said the pandemicwould continue to evolve, butthat tools exist to suppresstransmission and save lives.

“Many deaths have beenaverted and many more livescan be protected,” Ryan said.He was flanked by his boss,WHO Director-General TedrosAdhanom Ghebreyesus, whominutes earlier led a momentof silence to honour victims aswell as round of applause for

the health workers who havestrived to save them.

Ryan said southeast Asiafaced a surge in cases, Europeand the eastern Mediterraneanwere seeing an increase indeaths, while the situations inAfrica and the Western Pacificwere “rather more positive.”

“Our current best estimatestell us that about 10 percent ofthe global population may havebeen infected by this virus,”Ryan told attendees from mem-ber governments who make upthe executive board and providemuch of its funding.

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Aminor girl was criticallyinjured after being gan-

graped in Maharajganj while intwo more cases inMuzaffarnagar, a girl was rapedat gunpoint and a blind girl wassexually exploited by her kin.

According to reports fromMaharajganj, four accusedraped a minor girl in theKothibhar area and when sheresisted they brutally assaultedher and threatened to kill herif she told the incident.

The incident took place onSunday afternoon and the girlfainted after the incident.When she regained her sensesafter a few hours, she somehowreached home and revealedher trauma after which thefamily members took her to theCommunity Health Centre inSiswa from whereshe was referred to District

Hospital.

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In a major development, theUnion Education Ministry

on Monday issued guidelinesfor reopening of schools afterOctober 15 in a phased man-ner. The guidelines give stu-dents the options to opt foronline classes.

Education MinisterRamesh Pokhriyal Nishanksaid the States have been giventhe flexibility to prepare theirSOPs based on the Centre’sguidelines and local concerns.

“The SOP of the EducationMinistry comprises two parts-health and safety aspects forreopening schools and learningwith social distancing... In con-sonance with the MHA

guidelines, students are alsopermitted to take online class-es and can attend schools onlywith the written consent of par-ents,” said a Ministry official.

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The Centre on Monday saidit will release �20,000 crore

to States on account of GSTcompensation dues.

Briefing reporters after themeeting of the 42nd GSTCouncil here, Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman said theStates which received lessapportionment of Integrated

GST (IGST) for 2017-18, the Centre will next weektransfer a cumulative �24,000crore to them. On the issue ofreleasing compensation to theStates, Sitharaman said: “Thisyear whatever we have

collected till now, �20,000crore will get disbursedtonight”.

The compensation require-ment of States between Apriland July stood at �1.51 lakhcrore. On the issue of IGST, shesaid excess IGST apportionedto certain States would beretrieved.

However, the Minister did

not mention the amount.Sitharaman said �24,000

crore would be released by themiddle of next week to thosestates which have received lessIGST share against their actu-al dues. The Minister said theproposal to extend GST com-pensation cess levy beyond2022 was cleared by the GSTCouncil.

“Levy of CompensationCess to be extended beyond thetransition period of five yearsi.e. Beyond June, 2022, forsuch period as may be requiredto meet the revenue gap,” anofficial statement said.

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Two motorcycle-borneLashkar-e-Tayyeba terror-

ists, including a Pakistani com-mander, on Monday opened“indiscriminate” firing on theroad opening party of theCRPF in which two personnelwere martyred and three oth-ers received injuries nearKandijal bridge in Pamporearea of South Kashmir’sPulwama district.

In retaliation, CRPF per-sonnel also opened fire but the

terrorists managed to escape.This is the third such strike

carried out by the same groupof terrorists led by a PakistaniLeT commander Saifullah,police said.

The traffic on the NationalHighway (NH-44) nearPampore was disrupted as dif-ferent teams of the securityforces launched a cordon andsearch operations in the closevicinity of the attack site totrack down the footprints ofthese terrorists.

Detailed report on P5

New Delhi: Aam Aadmi PartyMLA Kuldeep Kumar, whowas found Covid-19 positivejust five days ago, on Monday landed up at theHathras gang-rape victim’shome to meet her family.Kumar, MLA from KondliAssembly seat in Delhi, alongwith dozens of his supportersreached Hathras.

Kumar also made publicthe identity of the victim as hetweeted mentioning the victim’s name.

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Alleging TrinamoolCongress’ hand in the

murder of State BJP leaderManish Shukla, the saffronoutfit has demanded a CBI-investigation into the incidentwith Governor JagdeepDhankhar too asking ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee toarrest the “nose diving” law andorder situation in the State.

A furious Governor report-edly expressed his mind to

Chief Secretary AlapanBandopadhyay who called onhim after the Home Secretaryand the DGP failed to respondto Dhankhar’s summons.

This, while all hell brokeloose in the Barrackpore policecommissionerate area wherecops fought pitched battleswith the stone-pelting BJP sup-porters firing several rounds oftear-gas shells. The BJP hadcalled a 12-hour-Barrackporebandh on Monday in protest.

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The CBI on Monday regis-tered a case against former

Karnataka Minister and StateCongress president DKShivakumar and others in a�75-cr disproportionate assetsprobe and conducted searchesat 14 locations, including ninein Karnataka, four in Delhi andone in Mumbai.

The Congress condemnedthe raid and said it was a caseof political vendetta. The searchyielded �50 lakh in cash andseveral property and invest-ment documents.

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New Delhi: Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on Mondaystressed on responsible use ofartificial intelligence and pro-tecting the world againstweaponisation of AI by non-state actors.

Speaking at the Raise 2020conference, he said AI has a bigrole to play in sectors like agri-culture, creating next generationurban infrastructure and mak-ing disaster management sys-tems stronger.

"It remains our collectiveresponsibility to ensure trust inhow AI is used. Algorithmtransparency is key to estab-lishing this trust. Equally impor-tant is accountability. We must

protect the world againstweaponisation of AI by non-state actors," he said.

Modi said India has experi-enced that technology hasimproved transparency and ser-vice delivery. "The teamwork ofAI with humans can do wondersfor our planet." "We want Indiato become a global hub for AI.Many Indians are already work-ing on this. I hope many moredo so in the times to come," hesaid. The Prime Minister saidIndia has recently adopted theNational Education Policy 2020which focuses on technology-based learning and skilling as amajor part of education.

E-courses will also be devel-

oped in various regional lan-guages and dialects, he said.

A National EducationalTechnology Forum is beingformed to create an e-educationunit to boost the digital infra-structure, digital content andcapacity, he said.

"We launched 'ResponsibleAI for Youth' program this yearin April. Under this programme,more than 11,000 students fromschools completed the basiccourse. They are now buildingtheir AI projects," he said.

"While we discuss AI, letalso have no doubts that humancreativity and human emotionscontinue to be our greateststrength. PTI

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New Delhi: The CentreMonday told the SupremeCourt that a show-cause noticehas been issued to SudarshanTV based on the recommen-dation of an inter-ministerialgroup which has viewed all theepisode of the channel's ‘BindasBol' programme.

The apex court was hear-ing a plea which has raisedgrievance over Bindas Bol' pro-gramme whose promo had

claimed that channel wouldshow the 'big expose on con-spiracy to infiltrate Muslims ingovernment service'.

A bench headed by JusticeD Y Chandrachud wasinformed by Solicitor GeneralTushar Mehta that the inter-ministerial group has alsoheard the representative of thechannel.

Taking note of Mehta'ssubmission, the bench, also

comprising Justices InduMalhotra and Indira Banerjee,posted the matter for hearingon October 26 to enable thechannel to file its reply to theshow cause notice. OnSeptember 23, the Centre hadinformed the apex court that ithas prima facie found violationof the programme code bySudarshan TV's ‘Bindas Bol'show and has issued a notice tothe channel. PTI

New Delhi: The Defence Ministry hasscrapped the requirement of mini-mum continuous service of sevenyears for grant of enhanced ordinaryfamily pension (EOFP) to the next ofkin of deceased defence personnel, anofficial statement said Monday.

An EOFP is 50 per cent of per-sonnel's last emoluments and ispayable for 10 years from the date ofthe death of the personnel in service,the ministry said in the statement.

"The requirement of continuousqualifying service of 7 years (to getEOFP) is done away with effect from

October 1, 2019," it said.If the service personnel dies after

his or her release, retirement, dis-charge or invalidment, the EOFP isgiven for seven years from the date ofdeath or up to the time when the per-sonnel would have reached 67 yearsof age, whichever is earlier, the min-istry noted.

Further, the family of armed forcespersonnel who died within 10 yearsbefore October 1, 2019, without com-pleting continuous service of sevenyears, would be getting the EOFP, itnoted. PTI

Mumbai: Contending that the UttarPradesh government "is trying to hidesomething" from the very beginning in theHathras Dalit girl gang rape incident, theMaharashtra Congress on Monday chargedthat the Yogi Adityanath dispensation “istrying to save someone” and “suppress” thecase.

The Maharashtra Congress’ chargeagainst the Yogi Adityanath governmentcame on a day when it organised“Satyagraha” in all the district headquar-ters across the state to demand justice forthe victim girl.

In Mumbai, the Congress’ satyagraha

was held in front of the Mahatma Gandhistatue near Mantralaya, Mumbai.

Apart from Congress State Presidentand Revenue Minister Balasaheb Thoratwho led the Satyagraha, Mumbai CongressPresident Eknath Gaikwad, MedicalEducation Minister Amit Deshmukh,Textiles Minister Aslam Sheikh, Ministerof State for Home Affairs Satej alias BuntyPatil, former Minister ChandrakantHandore, former MP Dr. BhalchandraMungekar, Hussain Dalwai, MLC BhaiJagtap, MLA Amin Patel and StateCongress General Secretary Sachin Sawantwere present. PNS

Kaushambi (UP): A 19-year-oldwoman was allegedly abductedand raped by two youths fromher village here, police said onMonday.

The woman was abductedon September 13 by the duowho are cousins. They took herto their relatives' place inPashchim Sarira Police Stationarea and raped her, the victim'sfather alleged.

She somehow managed toescape and returned home abouta week ago and told her familyabout the incident, her fathersaid, adding that the local policerefused to lodge an FIR. PTI

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For the first time since thestandoff between Indian

and Chinese troops along theLine of Actual Control (LAC)in eastern Ladakh, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi andChinese President Xi Jinpingare expected to come face-to-face virtually at the BRICSannual summit to be held onNovember 17.

Russia, the chair of the five-nation BRICS, announced on

Monday that the annual sum-mit of the bloc will be held onNovember 17 via video con-ference.

The BRICS (Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa) isknown as an influential blocthat represents over 3.6 billionpeople, or half of the world''spopulation. The BRICS coun-tries have a combined GDP ofUSD 16.6 trillion.

"The theme of the meetingof the leaders of BRICS coun-tries is ''BRICS Partnership for

Global Stability, SharedSecurity and InnovativeGrowth''," the Russian govern-ment said in a statement.

Both Prime Minister Modiand President Xi have attend-ed all summit meetings of theBRICS in the last few years.

Modi and Xi are attendingthe virtual summit, said adiplomat, involved in thearrangements for the multilat-eral event.

Last year, the BRICS sum-mit had taken place in Brazilia,

the capital city of Brazil. Modiand Xi also held a bilateralmeeting on the sidelines of thesummit.

India and China are lockedin a bitter border standoff ineastern Ladakh since early Maythat has significantly strainedthe bilateral ties.

Both sides have held aseries of diplomatic and mili-tary talks to resolve the row.However, no breakthrough hasbeen achieved to end the stand-off.

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Lucknow: The Samajwadi Party onMonday nominated its candidates forfour of the seven assembly seats inUttar Pradesh where by-polls are beheld on November 3.

It left Bulandshahr seat for allyRashtriya Lok Dal (RLD).

"On directives of party presidentAkhilesh Yadav, Sayed Javed Abbashas been declared as the party can-didate from Naugaon Sadat(Amroha), Mahraj Singh Dhangharfrom Tundla, Indrajeet Kori fromGhatampur and Lucky Yadav fromMalhani in Jaunpur,” party sourcessaid here.

The party has left Bulandshahrseat for the RLD, party chief

spokesperson Rajendra Choudharysaid. he seven seats going for bypollsinclude Naugaon in Amroha,Ghatampur in Kanpur and KamalRani Varun, while Bulandshahr fellvacant after the death of BJP MLAVirendra Singh Sirohi.

Similarly, Tundla in Firozabadgot vacated after sitting MLA S PSingh Baghel was elected as a BJP MPfrom Agra.

Another assembly seatBangarmau in Unnao had ben vacat-ed after the conviction of MLAKuldeep Singh Sengar, while Deoriaand Malhani seats were vacated dueto the deaths of Janmejay Singh andSP MLA . PTI

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The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs(MoHUA) has entered into an MoU with

Swiggy, the food ordering and delivery major,to bring street food vendors on its ecommerceplatform, giving them online access to thou-sands of consumers and helping them growtheir businesses under the Prime MinisterStreet Vendor’s AtmaNibhar Nidhi (PMSVANidhi) Scheme.

According to the ministry, MoHUA andSwiggy will run a pilot program by on-board-ing 250 vendors across five cities namely –Ahmedabad, Chennai, Delhi, Indore, andVaranasi. The street vendors will be helpedwith PAN and FSSAI registration, training on

technology/ partner app usage, menu digiti-zation and pricing, hygiene and packaging bestpractices. Upon the successful completion ofthe pilot, MoHUA and Swiggy plan to expandthis initiative across the country inphases.

MoHUA secretary Durga Shankar Mishraalso also launched the updated and modifiedversion of PM SVANidhi Dashboard, whichfacilitates users not only with better granu-lar view of the Scheme’s performance but alsowith additional tools for comparisons.

As on October 4, 2020, over 20 lakh loanapplications have been received under theScheme. Out of these over 7.5 lakh loans havebeen sanctioned and over 2.4 lakh loans dis-bursed.

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0������������ ������( ���"������ �����������!� ���������� ��� ��������� ���!�����������5��������������� �"#

�������������$��� �����#������ ���%J�)+4?������������Guwahati: The flood situationin Assam Improved marginal-ly as the number of affectedpeople came down by over30,000 on Monday, thoughthat of the district remainedthree, a government bulletinsaid.

The number of people reel-ing under the deluge now is1,04,625 while it was 1,35,074on Sunday, Assam StateDisaster ManagementAuthority (ASDMA) said in abulletin.

Altogether 312 villages inthe districts of Dhemaji,Morigaon and Nagaon areunder water now while 19,737

hectare of crop area is affected.Flood waters receded from

Goalpara district and enteredDhemaji since Sunday, it said.

The total number of peo-ple who lost their lives inflood-related incidents thisyear remained 122.

The bulletin said thatMorigaon is the worst-hit dis-trict with 74,993 people affect-ed, followed by Nagaon(25,123) and Dhemaji (4,500).

Meanwhile, the Jia Bharaliand the Kopili rivers are flow-ing above the danger level atNT Road Crossing in Sonitpurand Dharamtul in Nagaonrespectively. PTI

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Telangana's Covid tally onMonday breached the two

lakh-mark to reach 2,00,611with 1,335 new positive cases,even as 2,176 recoveries werereported.

For the third consecutiveday, Telangana has registeredcases less than 2,000.

Hyderabad has accountedfor the highest number ofcases, 262, followed byRangareddy district (137),Medchal Malkajgiri (91),Karimnagar (83), Nalgonda(72) and Sangareddy (69)among others.

In the past 24 hours, eightpatients succumbed to thevirus.

As many as 2,176 patientsrecovered from the virus,increasing the total number ofrecoveries to 1.72 lakh.

Telangana's Covid fatalityrate currently stands at 1.5 percent, while the recovery rate isat an impressive 84.1 per cent.

During the last 24 hours,36,348 more tests took thecumulative total to 32.4 lakh.

Seventeen government-runand 44 private laboratories and1,076 Rapid Antigen test cen-tres are conducting the tests.

According to a media bul-letin from the Public Healthand Family Welfare office, ofthe 36,348 samples tested dur-ing the last 24 hours, 15,993were primary and 4,362 sec-ondary.

Samples tested per mil-lion population ratio improvedfurther to 87,092. The dailytesting target for the state is5,600 per day as compared withthe World HealthOrganisation's benchmark of140 per million per day.

Of the two lakh cases, 70per cent (1.4 lakh) were asymp-tomatic and the remaining 30per cent (60,183) symptomatic.

The data shows that 64.13per cent corona patients are inthe age group of 21-50 and22.76 above 51. Those below 20years account for 13.13 per centcases.

Officials said that 61.28 percent patients were male andremaining 38.72 per centfemales.

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Nearly 50 per cent of thecandidates opted out of the

Union Public ServiceCommission (UPSC) prelimi-nary examination 2020 forselection to IndianAdministrative and AlliedServices in Lucknow.

The exam was conductedon Sunday.

According to sources, asmany as 43,921 candidateswere registered for the exami-nation at various centres in thecity. About 21,790 (49.6 percent) registered candidatesappeared in the first shift for"general studies" paper.

The number dropped fur-ther to 21,607 (49.2 per cent)in the second shift for "option-al subject".

This was a sharp drop ascompared to 15-20 per centaverage dropout seen in previ-ous years.

The majority of the stu-dents, who had dropped out ofthe examination, cited Covid-19 pandemic as the main rea-son for the high number ofabsentees.

The candidates said thatapart from the fear of catchingan infection, many of themcould not prepare for the testbecause of restrictions oncoaching classes, group studies,library sessions and mentorshipprogrammes in the past sixmonths.

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Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's office will nowreach out directly to lakhs of farmers and address the prob-

lems being faced by them. The officials will use the helpline num-ber 1076 to contact farmers who have lodged complaints withthe helpline. According to the government spokesman, thehelpline will start contacting farmers directly, briefing them aboutthe government's schemes, including the new MSP.

The Chief Minister's office that also monitors the helpline'sfunctioning, said, "So far, the helpline of the CM office has beencatering to Covid-19 patients but from now on the helpline willreach the farmers. The helpline has mapped over seven millionpaddy cultivators by procuring a list containing their phone num-bers from the food and civil supplies department, which had pur-chased paddy from them in the previous season."

The helpline will brief them about the new MSP, set for paddyand the purchase centres which the government has set up fortheir convenience.

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RAIPUR | TUESDAY | OCTOBER 6, 2020chhattisgarh 03

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STAFF REPORTER n DURG

A34-year-old farmer whowas reportedly distressed

over damage caused to hiscrops due to some unknowndisease committed suicide inChhattisgarh’s Durg district,police said on Monday.

Chief Minister BhupeshBaghel on Monday expresseddeep sorrow over the incidentand asked Home MinisterTamradhwaj Sahu to providefinancial assistance of Rs 4lakh to the family of thedeceased farmer.

Durgesh Kumar Nishad, aresident of Matarodih village,was found hanging from a treeon Sunday at a field where hehad sown paddy, said MonikaPandey, the Station HouseOfficer of Utai police station.

As per preliminary infor-mation, he had taken four acreof farm land on lease fromanother villager and cultivatedpaddy. However, his crop was

completely destroyed recently,she said.

On Saturday evening, thefarmer went to the field and didnot return. Some locals foundhim hanging on Sunday morn-ing and alerted the police.

The farmer said in a sui-cide note found at the spotthat he was upset over thecrop loss and that had com-pelled him to take the extreme

step, the official said, addingan investigation is underway.

Minister Sahu visited thedeceased's house on Mondayand gave his family membersa cheque of Rs 4 lakh onbehalf of the government.

"Today, I visited the houseof young farmer in Matarodih(Machandur) village who tookthe extreme step after beingdisturbed over crop loss due

to the disease."I have expressed my con-

dolence to his family andgiven them an assistance of Rs4 lakh on behalf of the stategovernment," Sahu tweeted inHindi.

"I have directed the offi-cials concerned to ascertainthe new disease targetingcrops and chalk out a way todeal with it," the Minister said.

STAFF REPORTER nRAIPUR

Chhattisgarh DirectorGeneral of Police (DGP)

D.M. Awasthi on Mondaytold senior police officers totake prompt action in casesrelated to crime againstwomen and warned that anydelay will not be tolerated.

Awasthi made theremarks in a meeting with allInspectors General of Policeand Superintendents of Policein the state via video confer-encing from the PoliceHeadquarters in Raipur.

He also reviewed thecases related to crime againstwomen.

Only DeputySuperintendents of Policeshould investigate the casesrelated to crime againstwomen, the DGP said, adding

that Inspector, Sub-Inspector,Head Constable andConstable should not betrusted to investigate suchcases.

He said that district-wisemechanisms should be madeto control crimes againstwomen so that such cases canbe reviewed soon.

He said that action mustbe taken in cases related tocrime against women so thata better image of the policecan be made.

Awasthi also called forstrict action in crimes relatedto illicit liquor, drugs, betting,hookah and cannabis racketsin the state.

He directed rotation-wiseduty of Dial 112 and HighwayPatrolling staff.

He also ordered forimmediate suspension ofpolice personnel againstwhom complaints arereceived besides initiatingdepartmental inquiry againstthem.

STAFF REPORTER nRAIPUR

The procurement of paddythis kharif season, starting

from November 1, should be 20quintals per acre, not 15 quin-tals, and farmers should not bebooked for selling paddy as pertheir choice, Chhattisgarh BJPPresident Vishnudeo Sai andBJP MLA Shivratan Sharmasaid on Monday.

Addressing the media, Saisaid the government of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi hasdecided to procure around 60lakh metric tonnes of ricefrom Chhattisgarh, which is1.5 times higher compared tolast fiscal year.

The Centre has alsoreleased Rs 9,000 crore for therice. For 60 lakh tonnes rice,the procurement of around85-90 lakh tonnes of paddy

has to be done.MLA Sharma said last

time the paddy procurementwas a bitter experience for thefarmers as they were treatedlike criminals. In the name ofstorage and transportation ofpaddy, offences were regis-tered against them.

The BJP leaders hopedthat this time the farmers willnot face any such problem.

They said that last sea-son's paddy sale amount hasnot been received by farmersdue to which the farmers arefacing economic crises.

During BJP rule, the pay-ment was released within 24hours of the sale of paddy, Saisaid.

The BJP leaders alsodemanded disbursal of twoyears bonus of paddy pro-curement as promised by theCongress government.

STAFF REPORTER nGARIABAND

Chhattisgarh Police onMonday arrested three

Odisha-based wildlife smug-

glers for allegedly possessing arare species of pangolin inGariaband district.

Gariaband AdditionalSuperintendent of PoliceSukhnandan Rathore told The

Pioneer over telephone thatthose arrested were BhojSingh Bhnujia, SantoshBhunjia and Nand KumarBhunjia.

The police received a tipthat three smugglers ofNuapada district in Odisha,possessing a rare species ofpangolin inside a jute bag,were heading towardsKothigaon village in theChhura police station limits.

The police team reachedthe spot and arrested theaccused on charges of illegallypossessing the pangolin, arare species of wildlife, theofficer said.

In June this year,Gariband police had arrestedan Odisha-based man forsmuggling a rare species ofpangolin, he said.

STAFF REPORTER nAMBIKAPUR

The Darima Airport atSurguja in Chhattisgarh

will operate on ‘uni-diver-sonal’ mode, which meansthe landing and take-offhappen from different direc-tions, an official press releasesaid on Monday.

Due to the Madvamountain located at the

northern side of the airport,the 72-seater planes will beoperated on ‘uni-diversonal’mode, it said.

Chhattisgarh Food andCivil Supplies MinisterAmarjeet Bhagat, an MLAfrom Sitapur that is nearDarima, inspected the air-port on Monday.

He directed officials tosoon finish all necessaryworks required for begin-

ning flights from the airport.The Minister took a meetingof nodal officers at the air-port terminal.

The Minister directedthat ‘Thinthini Pathhar’should be kept out of theboundaries of the airport asit is a place of archaeologicalimportance.

Referring to OLX report,he asked officials to increasethe length of the runway for72-seater plane to 2,100meters and increase the ter-minal strength of the airportfor up to 300 passengers.

“Under the UDAANscheme of the Union govern-ment, Darima airport isbeing developed to connectnorthern Chhattisgarh byair. Flight operations fromJagdalpur airport havealready started. For begin-ning air service fromAmbikapur combined effortis necessary,” Bhagat wasquoted in the press release assaying.

Raipur/New Delhi, (IANS)

Chhattisgarh has started 'ChiefMinister Suposhan Abhiyan'

with an aim to eradicate malnutri-tion keeping in view the specialCovid precautions.

Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghelin a statement on Monday said,"Under the SupplementaryNutrition Programme, the ready-to-eat meal is being distributed to chil-dren in the age group of six monthsto six years, pregnant women,infants and adolescent girls."

The Anganwadis have beenopened up with proper safety meas-ures with the consent of the publicrepresentatives and parents at theCovid infection-free places in thestate to maintain the state's fightover malnutrition and to avoidinfection among the children. Thearrangements have been made toprovide warm food to the benefici-

aries under the Chief Minister's'Suposhan Abhiyan' keeping theirsafety in mind, the ChhattisgarhChief Minister added.

According to data received fromthe 'weight festival' in the schemelaunched last year, nearly 4,92,000children were malnourished in thestate of which more than 67,000children have become malnutrition-free.

Baghel said that there has been a13.79 per cent decrease in the mal-nourished children, which is a majorachievement in the state's waragainst malnutrition. In a short spanof time, the rate of malnutrition hasdecreased significantly in the state.

After the formation of a newgovernment in Chhattisgarh, thecampaign to free the state from mal-nutrition and anaemia was started,keeping in mind the rate of malnu-trition and anaemia among thewomen and children, according to

data by the National Family HealthSurvey-4.

According to the NationalFamily Survey-4, 37.7 per cent chil-dren under five years were sufferingfrom malnutrition, and 47 per centwomen between 15 and 49 years

were suffering from anaemia. Amajority of the malnourished chil-dren hailed from tribal and remoteforest areas in the state.

'Suposhan Abhiyan' was startedas a pilot project in some GramPanchayats of the forest-coverregions, including Naxal-affectedBastar. This was further upgradedwith innovative programmes such asserving warm nutritious food viaPanchayats in Dantewada districtand 'Laika Jattan Thaur' initiative inDhamtari district. Arrangementswere made to provide hot and nutri-tious food under the 'SuposhanAbhiyan' making better use of theDistrict Mineral Trust Fund.

Additional nutrients are provid-ed along with the warm food in thediet by adding delicious meals pre-pared out of eggs, laddus (sweets),chickpea, jaggery, sprouted grains,milk, fruit, peanuts, chikki, soyabean, oatmeal, soya chikki and

munga bhaji.Anaemic people are provided

with iron-folic acid tablets andanthelmintic tablets with the sup-port of the Health department. Witha vision of freeing the state frommalnutrition in the next three years,coordinated efforts are being con-stantly made by the Women andChild Development department,Health authorities and other coordi-nated agencies.

The government has instructedto maintain the nutritional level ofchildren and women amid the clo-sure of all Anganwadi and mini-Anganwadi centres for preventionand control of Covid-19 infection inthe state, distribution of ready-to-eat nutritious food has been ensuredfor each and every house for nearly28,78,000 beneficiaries in 51,455Anganwadi centres with the supportof Anganwadi workers and assis-tants.

C’garh steps up war against malnutrition amid Covid-19

Farmer commits suicide,govt offers compensation

Darima airport to operateon ‘uni-diversonal’ mode

STAFF REPORTER n RAIPUR

In view of the rising demand,the Railways have said the

thrice-a-week Howrah-Mumbai-Howrah and Howrah-Ahmedabad-Howrah specialexpress trains will run daily.

The South East CentralRailway's Raipur RailwayDivision said the two train serv-ices were started on June 1. Nowthe 02810/02809 Howrah-Mumbai-Howrah and02834/028333 Howrah-Ahmedabad-Howrah trains willoperate daily.

It said the 02810 Howrah-Mumbai train will commencedaily service from October 6and the 02809 Mumbai-Howrahfrom October 8.

Similarly, 02834 Howrah-Ahmedabad train will begindaily service from October 7and 02833 Ahmedabad-Howrahfrom October 10.

Both trains will halt atTatanagar and Chakradharpur.

Howrah trainsto Mumbai,Ahmedabadto run daily

STAFF REPORTER nRAIPUR

Chhattisgarh AgricultureMinister Ravindra

Choubey on Monday tolduniversities to ensure effec-tive action for seed produc-tion by making an action planaimed at making the stateself-reliant.

The Minister made thecomments as ordered thebeginning of the process ofadmission of eligible studentsfor undergraduate courses forthe current academic sessionat the Mahatma GandhiHorticulture University inSankra, Durg district.

He met the officer onspecial duty (OSD) of theVice Chancellor of IndiraGandhi AgriculturalUniversity (Raipur) and

Kamdhenu University,Anjora Durg, and SpecialDuty Officer of MahatmaGandhi and HorticultureUniversity while reviewing

the status of academic activi-ties, research and field pro-motion works.

The Minister wantedsome nurseries of the

Horticulture Departmentlocated in different districtsassigned to the university topromptly start the activitiesof the Horticulture

University.Choubey said that

Chhattisgarh is an agricultur-al state. So, development ofagriculture will amount todevelopment of the state.

He pressed the universitiesfor extending agro-based activi-ties including agriculture, horti-culture and food processing inthe rural areas of the state. Hesaid that the farmers should seeand get its benefits of agro-based activities.

He called for beginningeducational activities in thenewly established agriculture,horticulture and agricultureengineering colleges in a sys-tematic manner besidespreparing a proposal forestablishing an undergradu-ate college under the SankaraHorticulture University.

RAIPUR: Chhattisgarh's for-mer Inspector General ofPolice (IGP) RavindraBhediya died after a cardiacarrest at a private hospital inRaipur on Sunday night. Hewas the husband of Womenand Child DevelopmentMinister Anila Bhediya.

Governor Anusuiya Uikeand Chief Minister BhupeshBaghel on Monday expressedtheir condolences on thedemise of the IPS officer.They empathized with thegrief-stricken family andprayed for the departed soul.

Ex-IGP dies ofcardiac arrest Make state self-reliant for seed production: Minister

STAFF REPORTER n RAIPUR

The ruling Congress inChhattisgarh on Mondaystaged a silent protest acrossthe state against the horrificrape and murder of a Dalit girlin Hathras in Uttar Pradesh, aparty spokesperson here said.

Party leaders and workersheld a day-long ‘maun satya-graha’ in all district and devel-opment block headquartersdemanding justice for theyoung Hathras woman, saidDhananjay Singh Thakur,spokesperson of theChhattisgarh PradeshCongress Committee (CPCC).

PCC chief MohanMarkam led the protest inKondagaon district while incapital Raipur senior Congress

MLAs Satyanarayan Sharmaand Kuldeep Juneja took partin the demonstration, he said.

The protestors held plac-ards accusing the UttarPradesh government of pro-tecting the perpetrators of theHathras horror and seekingjustice for the gang-rape vic-tim.

In Durg district, partyleaders and workers took out asilent march, he said.

Cong stages ‘maun satyagraha’against Hathras horror

The protestorssought justicefor the gang-rape victim

Take prompt action regardingcrime against women: DGP

Let farmers sell paddyas they wish: BJP

Three arrested for possessingpangolin in Chhattisgarh

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The land and carbon seques-tration value of the Delhi

Zoo, also known as theNational Zoological Park(NZP), in the heart of the cityhas been valued at a whopping�55,209.45 crore. And visitedby over 2 lakh foriegn anddomestic tourists every year,the annual economic value ofthe Zoo’s biodiversity conser-vation, recreational and cul-tural services has been peggedat �422.76 crore.

These have been estimatedin a first of its kind economicvaluation of any zoo in thecountry, conducted to identifyits contributions to the econo-my as well as environmentalawareness level of the visitor.

Spread over an area of 176acres against the historic mon-ument of Old Fort, the NZP ishome to around 75 species ofanimals under various cate-gories including the endan-gered one and 29 species ofexotic animals besides severalfree ranging floral and faunalspecies.

The ecosystem services pro-vided by the zoological park arebio-diversity conservation, car-bon storage and sequestration,

employment generation, edu-cation and research, and recre-ational and cultural, said thereport ‘Economic Valuation ofthe Ecosystem Services ofNational Zoological Park, NewDelhi – 2020’.

According to the report, 77per cent of the total of �422.76crore came from recreationaland cultural services while edu-cation and research servicescontributed nine per cent. Theinformal interactions with thetourists suggested that mostIndian tourists visiting the zoowere from Delhi, Rajasthan,Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, andHaryana.

While employment gener-ation contributed eight percent or �32.19 crore, the con-tribution of bio-diversity wassix per cent or �27.33 crore.The least contribution wasfound in carbon sequestra-tion which was 0.31 per cent orRs 1.31 crore of the total eco-nomic value of ecosystem ser-vices provided by the Delhi zooin 2019-2020.

“Irrespective of the con-tributions, every service isimportant as it contributestowards the improvement ofthe local environment. Thebenefits of the zoo are not only

restricted to its visitors but alsoreach Delhi’s citizens. Hence, itis necessary to ensure propermaintenance of the zoo toimprove its services,” the reportstated.

The Central Zoo Authority(CZA) and The Energy andResources Institute (TERI)prepared the report which wasreleased by UnionEnvironment Minister PrakashJavadekar on Monday duringan online event on WildlifeWeek 2020.

“Humans have always con-sidered ecosystem services asa gift from nature withoutrealizing the fact that theyneed to be maintained regu-larly to ensure their smoothflow. The maintenance of theservice surely incurs a hugecost and hence these servicesmay not be taken as granted tobe a gift,” Ajay Mathur,Director General, TERI, saidon the need for conductingsuch a study.

Zoological Parks areunique ecosystems that pro-vides numerous services oflocala and national signifi-cance and this makes it neces-sary to relaise the potential ofthese ecosystem servicestowards societal and overall

human development, addedCZA member secretary SPYadav on the importance of the

habitats such as zoos to humanwellbeing and the need forreplication across India.

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The Centre is planning for apublic-private partnership

(PPP) model to operate zoos inthe country for their propermaintenance, said UnionEnvironment Minister PrakashJavadekar on Monday.

Speaking at an onlineevent, he said that funds will beallocated for the plan and it willbe announced in the budgetsession next year.

“Children like visiting zoosand to enhance their experi-ence, these facilities must bemaintained properly. Thereare 160 zoos in the country.We will soon come up with anew plan for upgradation andexpansion of zoos across thecountry and we will set asidea budget for it, which will beannounced in the next year’sbudget session,” Javadekar said.

The minister said thatState Governments and cor-porations will also be involvedin this plan. There are about160 zoos in the country, eitherfunded by the State

Governments or the Centrethrough the Central ZooAuthority (CZA) .

The Minister further saidthat State Governments, cor-porations, businesses and peo-ple will all be key elements ofthe plan. “It will help giveenhanced experience to thevisitors especially the studentsand children and the futuregeneration in order to nurturethe connect between wildlife,nature and humans.”

SP Yadav, member secre-tary of the CZA said that theAuthority which was estab-lished to oversee the func-tioning of Indian zoos andcomplement the wildlife con-servation strategies throughex-situ measures, as on todayrecognizes around 160 zooand rescue centers that enforceglobal standards in animalhousing and welfare. “Over 567captive animal species (with114 species under endangeredcategory) with overall 56481individual animals are cur-rently housed in various zoosin the country,” he said.

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New Delhi: The Centre onMonday told the SupremeCourt that “secret” extraditionprocess was going on to bringfugitive businessman VijayMallya to the country but it wasnot aware about its status.TheCentre also told the top courtthat it was not a party to theproceedings.

A bench of Justices U ULalit and Ashok Bhushan askedMallya’’s lawyer to inform thecourt what kind of “secret” pro-ceedings are going on to extra-dite him.

Advocate Ankur Saigal,appearing for Mallya, told theapex court that he was notaware what kind of proceedingsare going on.

He said, “I have knowledgethat my request against extra-dition has been rejected”.

The bench also directedMallya’’s lawyers to apprise it byNovember 2 when can thefugitive businessman appearbefore the court and when the“secret” proceedings are goingto end.

Advocate Rajat Nair,appearing for the Centre, toldthe court that extraditionrequest has been made as perthe direction of the court.

“Some secret extraditionproceedings are going on towhich we are not a party.

“Extradition proceedingshave been upheld by the high-est court of UK but it has notbeen happening as of now,” hesaid.

The apex court had earli-er directed Mallya to appearbefore it on October 5 whiledismissing his plea seekingreview of the 2017 verdictwhich held him guilty of con-tempt for transferring USD 40million to his children in vio-lations of court orders.

Mallya, an accused in bankloan default case of over Rs9,000 crore involving his

defunct Kingfisher Airlines,is in the United Kingdom.

The apex court had inJune directed its registry toexplain as to why Mallya’’sreview petition had not beenlisted before the concernedcourt for the last three years.

It had directed the registryto furnish all the details includ-ing names of officials whohad dealt with the file con-cerning the review petition inthe last three years.

The apex court’’s 2017order had come on a plea byconsortium of banks led by theState Bank of India (SBI),which had said that Mallya hadallegedly transferred USD 40million received from Britishfirm Diageo, to his children in“flagrant violation” of variousjudicial orders.

It was dealing with pleas oflending banks seeking con-tempt action and a direction toMallya to deposit USD 40 mil-lion received from offshorefirm Diageo respectively.

The banks had thenalleged that Mallya concealedthe facts and diverted themoney to his son SiddharthMallya and daughters LeannaMallya and Tanya Mallya in“flagrant violation” of theorders passed by the KarnatakaHigh Court.

Mallya had in May lost hisapplication seeking leave toappeal his extradition to Indiain the UK Supreme Court, set-ting a 28-day clock on hisremoval from the UK.

The UK top court’’s deci-sion marks a big legal setbackto the 64-year-old flamboyantbusinessman, who had earlierlost his high court appealagainst an extradition order toIndia on charges of allegedfraud and money launderingrelated to unrecovered loans tohis now-defunct KingfisherAirlines. PTI

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Over 700 observers includ-ing police and expenditure

observers who joined virtual-ly from 119 locations for theupcoming Assembly electionsin Bihar — were on Mondaybriefed by the ElectionCommission (EC) to ensurestrict compliance of the newguidelines amid the coron-avirus pandemic in the pollfray.

Chief ElectionCommissioner Sunil Aroraunderlined the need for pollobservers to be extra carefulduring the three-phase Biharassembly elections, saying theexercise, being the largest in theworld to be held amid theCOVID-19 pandemic, will bekeenly watched by the worldcommunity. He also reiteratedthe poll panel’s commitmenttowards conducting an electionthat is free, fair, transparent,ethical and also “COVID safe”.

The EC also gave themdetails of Covid19 guidelinesfor electorates and candidatesand for poll duty officials dur-ing elections in Bihar.

Addressing observers,Arora said the strength of ademocracy rests in its prima-ry stakeholder -- the voters. “Allefforts must be made to instilconfidence in the voter tocome to the polling station onelection day to cast her/his votesafely and freely,” an ElectionCommission statement saidquoting him. Arora gave aglobal perspective on theimpact of Covid 19 on electionschedules around the worldand the detailed deliberationand assessments done by pollbody before taking the decisionto conduct elections in Bihar.

Monday’s meeting was ablend of virtual and physicalgathering with more than 700general, police and expenditureobservers joining virtually from119 locations across the coun-try and about 40 observersposted in Delhi joining in per-son.

He underscored the needto be extra careful as this elec-tion will be keenly watched bythe world community being thelargest election in the world tobe held amid the pandemic.

Speaking on the occasion,Election Commissioner RajivKumar drew the attention ofthe officers that as Observersthey have a statutory duty toperform on behalf of ElectionCommission of India. He saidthe officers should always bearin mind they are the actual faceof ECI on the ground.

Deputy ElectionCommissioner and in charge ofBihar polls at the ECI, ChandraBhushan Kumar gave a detailedout the legal provision, ModelCode of Conduct issues specif-ically in COVID scenario forBihar Elections.

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The Election Commission(EC) on Monday

announced that bypolls to threemore Manipur Assembly seats— Wangoi, Saitu (ST) andSinghar (ST) — would be heldon November 7. The countingwill take place on November10.

On September 29, thecommission had announcedbypolls to two assembly seats inManipur. With these freshannouncements, the total num-ber of seats going for by-elec-tion in the state goes up to five.All the bypolls in Manipurwould be held on November 7and counting will take place onNovember 10 along with thatof the Bihar Assembly pollsbeing held in three phases and54 other assembly bypolls tak-ing place on November 3.

Manipur Chief MinisterN. Biren had requested the pollbody to hold bypolls to sixother Assembly constituenciesalong with the two constituen-cies whose byelection schedulehad already been announced.At present, altogether 13assembly constituencies arelying vacant in the 60 memberManipur legislative Assemblyafter nine MLAs resigned andfour were disqualified.

“There are 13 vacant seatsin the 60-member House. Wewill point out that there is nobar by courts against eightconstituencies and it is just thatsome petitions had been filed,”he had stated.

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Hyderabad-based vaccinesmajor Bharat Biotech on

Monday said that it has inkedpact with a US firm to use lat-ter’s adjuvant Alhydroxiquim-II to boost immune responseand longer lasting immunity ofits indigenous Covid-19 vac-cine candidate Covaxin, whichis currently undergoing PhaseII clinical trials.

An adjuvant is a pharma-cological or immunologicalagent that improves theimmune response of a vaccineby producing more antibodiesand providing longer-lastingimmunity.

Kansas-based ViroVax LLChas licensed their adjuvant forthe use of Covaxin, which iscurrently undergoing advancedstages of clinical trials in India.

Covaxin is an inactivatedvaccine derived from a strain ofthe Sars-CoV-2 virus that caus-es Covid-19, isolated at theIndian Institute of MedicalResearch-National Institute of

Virology (NIV), Pune.The inactivated virus has

been formulated with ViroVax’sadjuvant to produce the vaccinecandidate.

Bharat Biotech is current-ly conducting Phase 2 humantrials of its Covid-19 vaccinecandidate after receivingapproval from the DrugsController General of India(DCGI) around the end ofJune.

“There is a critical need forthe development and avail-ability of adjuvants that inducegreater antibody responses tovaccine antigens, thus resultingin long-term protection againstpathogens. Adjuvants alsoenhance the sustainability ofthe global vaccine supply onaccount of their antigen-spar-ing effect,” said Krishna Ella,chairman and managing direc-tor, Bharat Biotech.

“The widely used adjuvantAluminium hydroxide in thedevelopment of Sars-CoV-2vaccines is known to induce aTh2 based response (whichare important for eradication ofextracellular parasites and bac-terial infection).

“The Th2 based responsehas a theoretical risk of vaccineassociated enhanced respirato-ry diseases (VAERD or ADE).We have used

Imidazoquinoline class of adju-vants (TLR7/8 agonists), whichare known to induce Th1 basedresponse which further reducesthe risk of ADE (Anti-BodyDependent Enhancement),” heexplained.

Sunil David of ViroVax,said, “ViroVax is delighted topartner with Bharat Biotech.This has been possible becauseof support from the NationalInstitutes of Health.”

ViroVax is supported bythe National Institute of Allergyand Infectious Diseases(NIAID), part of the NationalInstitutes of Health, medicalresearch centres under USDepartment of Health.

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Therapeutic, diagnostics andvaccines for the whole

world are the only way out ofthe Coronavirus pandemic,WHO Executive board directorDr Harshvardhan said onMonday during online interac-tion with the member nationsof the world health agency.

As the world grapples withthe virulent virus which hasinfected over 3.5 crore peopleand claimed 10 lakh lives, DrHarsh Vardhan stressed onstrengthening emergency pre-paredness and risk manage-ment as a key to addressinghealth risk posed by emergingdiseases like Covid-1

The agenda of the meetincluded focus on the measuresnecessary to ensure the full andeffective implementation of theterms of resolution WHA 73.1on Covid-19 respons

He said, “Committing todisaster risk reduction andmanagement would requireearly and transparent identifi-cation and communication ofrisks, maintaining the momen-tum in investing in people andresilient health systems,

strengthened multi-sector col-laboration, stress on the swiftergeneration of evidence, accel-erated research & developmentefforts and rational evidence-based implementation of plans

In this regard, Dr HarshVardhan urged WHO membersto work with the global community of partners for theefficient, effective and respon-sive discharge of public healthobligations.”All these challenges,such as the present pandemic,demand a shared responsebecause these arethe sharedthreats requiring shared respon-sibility to act

India’s COVID-19 case-load has crossed 66 lakh, whilethe number of people whohave recuperated from the dis-ease surged to 55,86,703,pushing the recovery rate to84.34 per cent, according toUnion Health Ministry data onMonda

The death toll has climbedto 1,02,685 with the virusclaiming 903 lives in a span of24 hours.There are 9,34,427active cases of the coronavirusinfection in the country whichcomprises 14.11 per cent of thetotal caseload.

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Aligarh: Dengue has started spreading its leg in the dis-trict. In the last one week, 52 people have been infect-ed by dengue while the reality is more frightening thanthis. People are still battling with corona and now thespread of dengue will worsen the situation. 31 peopleout of 85 total tested found dengue positive in the lastfew days in the district hospital's path lab. They are fromShahjamal, Neenvari, Khair, and other areas of the city.JN Medical College also received some dengue patients

Dengue occurs when a female Aedes aegypti mos-quito bites during the day, especially in the morning.The highest spreads occur from July to October –November. The current period is favorable conditionsfor mosquitoes to thrive. The symptoms of dengue feverstart appearing in the patient 3 to 5 days after the Aedesmosquito bite.

Platelets are an important constituent of blood. Anormal human being contains one and a half to twolakh platelets. It prevents bleeding of the body by mak-ing clots over the flowing blood to avoid excessive bloodflow. Less than one lakh of platelets is considered as dan-gerous and needs transfusion if goes less than 20 thou-sand. Dengue virus usually reduces platelets which causebody bleeding.

Prof. Haris of JN Medical College said that we havereceived many dengue cases and are admitted in wards10, 11, and 12. PNS

Aligarh: In the Hathras rape case, the tongue of NizamMalik, state vice-president of western Uttar Pradesh of theCongress Minority Department, slipped. In the viral videoon social media, Nizam Malik on Hathras case is claiminga reward of one crore rupees by the society for beheadingthe rape accused. Police have arrested Nizam Malik.

Since the death of Hathras’s rape victim, senior leadersof the opposition have started visiting Hathras.

Recently, Rahul Gandhi of Congress was also going toHathras from Yamuna Expressway with his team and partyleaders. Many Congress leaders of the district also joinedhim there. At the same time, on social media, a video of statevice-president of Congress Minority Department, WesternUttar Pradesh Nizam Malik, son of Haji Allauddin, residentof mohalla Shaikh Saheban, is going viral in which he is seengiving disputed statements on the Hathras case. He alsoaccused police of indecency and mishandling of RahulGandhi.

Apart from this, in the video, he showed his fracturedhand because of a police lathi-charge and accused the policeof this. In the video he is also demanded to hang the cul-prits and finally ended his video by saying that whoever willbring the head of the rape accused, a reward of one crorerupees will be given to him. PNS

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Hathras may be in the news for this horrific incident but these dis-tricts have a golden and glorious history. “Mohabbato se logo ke

dilo ko jeetna padta hai, muft mai mil jaega faltoo kahin ehtaram nahipada hai”, this composition of the comic poet Kaka Hathrasi is alive inthe heart of people even today. Nataram Gaur, Karpatri Maharaj alsorecognized the city globally. Shiv Kumar, the producer of the filmBrijbhoomi was also from Hathras. The name of King Mahendra Pratap,who formed the exile government in Afghanistan is proudly taken, thescent of asafetida and gulal is still in the heart of people.

History said that Vivekananda had a night stay in Hathras whilereturning from Vrindavan. Sharat Chandra Gupta was the station mas-ter of Hathras at that time. Before making him a student, Vivekanandaasked the station master to ask alms to the porters at his own station.Sharat Chandra succeeded in this examination and became Vivekanand’sstudent. He was named Sadanand. Vivekanand went to Hrishikesh withSadanand. The film Swami Vivekananda released on 12 June 1998 alsomentions the Hathras station and the then station master.

Hathras is the only city to have four railway stations (hathras city,hathras qila, hathras junction and hathras mendu) Kaka Hathrasi (orig-inal name Prabhulal Garg) born in Hathras was a Hindi comic poet.His creations draw attention to the faults prevailing in the society, mali-cious corruption, and political misrule. Even though Kaka is not amongus today, his comic poems will always tickle us.

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The murder of Sanoop (26),a CPI(M) activist in

Thrissur district of Kerala onSunday night has led to a tensesituation in the region. Threeassociates of Sanoop have beeninjured in the attack, allegedlycarried out by workers of theBJP and Bajrang Dal.

“Stage is set for anotherseries of counter attacks andmurders,” said a cop investi-gating the case as Police havebeefed up security all over thedistrict. Thrissur is a CPI(M)stronghold and the district washome to many skirmishesbetween the Marxists andHindutwa forces in the past.

Kodiyeri Balakrishnan,secretary, Kerala CPI(M)blamed the BJP and RSS lead-ers for the murder of Sanoop,who was the branch secretaryof the party in Kunnamkulam.A C Moideen, Kerala ministerfor cooperation, said theCPI(M) workers in the districtknew who the murderers wereand they would be caughtsoon.

But BJP Kerala president KSurendran said the murderwas the fall out of the turf warin the CPI(M) and his party hasno role in it. “Let them conductan enquiry. Truth will comeout,” he said.

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Two motorcycle-borne Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT) terrorists, including

a Pakistani commander on Mondayopened 'indiscriminate' firing on theroad opening party (ROP) of the CentralReserve Police Force (CRPF) in whichtwo CRPF personnel were martyred andthree others received injuries nearKandijal bridge in Pampore area of SouthKashmir's Pulwama district.

In retaliation, CRPF personnel alsoopened fire but the terrorists managedto escape taking advantage of the civil-ian traffic in the area. This is the thirdsuch strike carried out by the same groupof terrorists led by a Pakistani LeT com-mander Saifullah, police said.

The traffic on the National Highway(NH-44) near Pampore was disrupted asdifferent teams of the security forceslaunched a cordon and search operationsin the close vicinity of the attack site totrack down the footprints of these ter-rorists. Senior CRPF and Jammu andKashmir police officials also visited thespot to assess the ground situation.

Briefing media persons at the loca-

tion, Inspector-General of Police,Kashmir range, Vijay Kumar said,“around 12.45 p.m when CRPF roadopening party was conducting its drilltwo motorcycle borne terrorists arrivedthere, parked their motorcycle on theroadside and opened 'indiscriminate' fir-ing on them”. He said, CRPF jawans alsoretaliated. During the exchange of firing,which continued for a few minutes, twoCRPF jawans received critical injuriesand later they succumbed to their fatalinjuries in the Army Base hospital inSrinagar. Three other CRPF personnelwere undergoing treatment in the samehospital, he added.

IG, Kashmir said, the terroristswere armed with AK rifles. He said, “wehave already identified the terroristgroup behind the attack and soon we willneutralise them”. Kumar confirmed thatone of the terrorists is a Pakistani andhas been identified as Saifullah.

Referring to back to back terrorstrikes on the security forces deployedon National Highway duty, IG Kashmirsaid, the national highway is vulnerableto such attacks and is a high value tar-get.

Purnia (Bihar): A political storm has erupted aheadof the Bihar elections after an FIR was registered inthe Khajanchi Haat police station in Purnia againstRashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav andhis brother Tej Pratap Yadav. The duo has been namedin an alleged case of murder of Shakti Mallik, a Dalitleader and former state unit secretary of the RJDsSC/ST cell.

A police official said on Monday that Mallik wasshot dead by some unidentified assailants at his res-idence in Purnia on Sunday.

Based on the written statement of the deceased'swife Khushboo Devi, an FIR was lodged at theKhajanchi Haat police station which allegedly namesRJD leader and Leader of Opposition in the BiharLegislative Assembly Tejashwi Yadav and his broth-er and former Health Minister Tej Pratap Yadav. Theother accused named in the FIR include KaloPaswan, Anil Kumar Sadhu, Suniti Devi and ManojPaswan.

A video of the deceased Dalit leader shot a monthago has gone viral on the social media in which hespeaks about the possibility of getting killed. IANS

Kolkata: Senior Congressleader and Lok Sabha MP fromBerhampore in Murshidabaddistrict, Adhir RanjanChowdhury, on Monday ques-tioned Prime MinisterNarendra Modi for his pro-longed silence on the allegedgang-rape and murder of a 20-year-old Dalit girl in Hathras inUttar Pradesh.

Chowdhury said thatModi, who used to be vocal onevery local and global issue, ismute on the heart-wrenchingincident of Hathras.

“What has happened toyou Modi ji? Where is your'Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikash,Sabka Viswash',” the CongressMP asked on Twitter. He alsosaid that hypocrisy has beenexposed after the Hathras inci-dent. IANS

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Agra: Fearing a surge in the numberof Covid-19 patients as winter sets inlater this month, the S.N. MedicalCollege has begun gearing up to copewith the imminent challenge.

Officials said 280 beds, including140 ICU beds would be added soon.The hospital's OPD was being stream-lined and the switch over to a wholelot of medical services was beingworked out to prevent doctors andparamedical staff from getting exposed.

In the past 24 hours, 47 fresh caseswere reported while the sample col-lection was now close to two lakh.District Magistrate P.N. Singh saidthere were 598 active cases while thetotal number stood at 5,943. Thenumber of discharged after recoverywas 5,217.

For the first time, the recovery ratehas gone up to 87.78 per cent. Thesample positivity rate has come downto 2.98 per cent from last week's 3.04per cent.

The district health department hasallowed some blood banks to collectplasma from donors. Efforts have alsobeen stepped up to mobilise voluntaryblood donors after the blood banks

reported a shortage of blood in theirstocks.

Meanwhile, the number of visitorsto the Taj Mahal and other monumentshas shown some improvements. Thehotels are now geared to welcomeguests as more trains are expected toresume normal operations.

The local tourism industry leadersexpect more domestic tourists this yearthan foreign visitors. “Once Agra's airconnectivity with other major cities inIndia is restored, as is the plan of thegovernment, we expect the number toswell,” tourist guide Ved Gautam said. IANS

Panaji: There is no way to predict whether Covid-19 cases in the state would dip or rise in the future,Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said on Monday,after the daily number of cases dropped to 400-500 from the 600-700, which was being report-ed a few weeks back.

Sawant also said that Covid care centres --facilities used to admit asymptomatic Covid-19patients -- would not be shut down in the state,until the pandemic dies down.

“We cannot predict whether it will go downor rise. People to report to the public health cen-tres (with suspicion of Covid-19) continue to betested,” Sawant told reporters on the sidelines ofa government event in Panaji.

Sawant also said that most Covid care cen-tres in Goa were temporarily being put on hold,because asymptomatic patients have preferred tostay in home isolation, rather than gettingthemselves admitted to the centres.

“No Covid centre is being shut down. Covidcentres are being run at 30 per cent to 40 per centcapacity. Most people prefer home isolation. Thatis why these centres are put on hold... we haveto look at the cost (incurred) for the governmenttoo,” the Chief Minister said.

“People can still opt for Covid care centres.Unless the pandemic dies down, we will not shutdown any centre. If more patients are reported,we will restart them,” Sawant said.

Goa currently has reported a total numberof 35,328 Covid-19 positive cases, out of whichactive cases are 4,839. IANS

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Afghanistan’s first womanConsul General in

Mumbai Zakia Wardak calledon Maharashtra GovernorBhagat Singh Koshyari at RajBhavan in south Mumbai onMonday.

During her meeting withthe Governor, the ConsulGeneral thanked India for itshelp in constructing the par-liament building inAfghanistan and providingeducation scholarships to alarge number of students fromAfghanistan.

She told the Governor thatduring her tenure, she waskeen to promote bilateral tradebetween India andAfghanistan. Zaika told theGovernor that the tradebetween India and Afghanistancould grow significantly withthe opening of the Chabaharport, a seaport in Chabaharlocated in southeastern Iran.She said it would be herendeavor to promote theChabahar port route, which isdirectly linked with Nhava-Sheva Port in Mumbai andKandla Port in Gujarat. Certainregulatory hurdles in the opti-mum utilization of theChabahar port were also raisedby the Consul General.

Welcoming the ConsulGeneral, Governor Koshyariassured that he would use hisgood offices to resolve bilater-

al problems and promote tradebetween the two countries byseeking the intervention of theMinistry of External Affairs.

Stating that she had grownup in the midst of Indians,especially Sikhs in Afghanistan,Zakia said that there was no

difference between the peopleof Afghanistan and India. Shesaid that Bollywood has donea good job of promoting Hindilanguage, which is understoodby many in Afghanistan.

India and Afghanistanshare traditionally warm andfriendly relations between themin different spheres, India hasbuilt around 200 schools there,it awards 1,000 scholarshipsand hosts over 16,000 studentshere.

It may be recalled that in2016 Prime Minister NarendraModi and Afghan PresidentAshraf Ghani had jointly inau-gurated the Salma Dam, ahydroelectric and irrigationproject, renamed as theAfghan-India Friendship Dam.

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Alleging Trinamool Congresshand in the murder of Bengal

BJP leader Manish Shukla, the saf-fron outfit has demanded a CBI-investigation into the incidentwith State Governor JagdeepDhankhar too asking ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee toarrest the “nose diving” law andorder situation of the State.

With no love lost between himand the State Government a furi-ous Governor reportedlyexpressed his mind to ChiefSecretary Alapan Bandopadhyaywho called on him, after HomeSecretary and Director General ofPolice failed to respond toDhankhar’s express summons.

This, while all hell broke loosein the Barrackpore police com-missionerate area north of Kolkatawhere the men in uniform foughtpitched battles with the stone-pelt-

ing BJP supporters firing severalrounds of tear-gas shells.

The BJP had called a 12-hour-Barrackpore bandh onMonday in protest against themurder of Shukla a local councilor,an upcoming party leader andclose associate of strongman andBJP MP Arjun Singh who too hadcrossed over to the saffron outfitfrom the Trinamool Congressbefore the 2019 Lok Sabha elec-tions after he was denied MP tick-et by the party. He defeated sittingTMC MP Dinesh Trivedi by a fewthousand votes.

Shukla, a man with manipu-lative and organizational skills,who too left the Trinamool andjoined the BJP recently was shotdead late on Sunday eveningmoments after he alighted fromSingh’s car and proceeded towardsa local party office at Titagarh.

While locals said the miscre-ants riding a motorbike fired at

least 25 to 30 rounds doctors con-ducting autopsy found 9 bulletinjuries on his person. While four7 mm pistol bullets were pulled outfrom his head and body other bul-lets seemed to have piercedthrough his neck and hand,sources said.

According to the police,Shukla suffered serious bulletinjuries on his face and chest. Hewas immediately rushed to a hos-pital in Kolkata where he wasdeclared brought dead on arrivalat the hospital.

While Singh blamed localTMC MLA Nirmal Ghosh for themurder of Shukla saying “I haveinformation that the miscreantscame out of the MLA’s house andthey used police guns to killManish.”

Later Bengal minister FirhadHakim who too once enjoyed closechemistry with both Singh andShukla suspected BJP hand in the

murder saying “he was sendingfeelers to us about his possiblereturn to the party as he was feel-ing out of place in the new party.”

Rejecting CBI investigationHakim said “it is an open secretthat CBI is a caged parrot. Theyhave not been able to catch the cul-prit who stole Tagore’s NobelPrize. … Bengal is not UP and thecriminals will not be killed inencounter. We will arrest them,bring them to justice.”

Later even as senior BJP lead-ers like Vijaybargiya, LocketChatterjee and others met theGovernor in the evening seekingCBI investigation Dhankharexpressed grave concern overwhat he called an “alarming situ-ation” in Bengal.

He said that the “ChiefMinister should take note of crit-ical aspects that run down thedemocratic governance and law-lessness” adding targeted killing of

people should be stopped inBengal.

After meeting the ChiefSecretary he said about having“conveyed my concern of the pre-sent alarming scenario to the newChief Secretary.

Am sure Chief Minister wouldbe indicated all these criticalaspects that run down democra-tic governance and lawlessness.Political violence and targetedkillings must stop.”

Expressing anger at the “offi-cial apathy” towards theGovernor’s summons he said,“alarming nose-diving law andorder scenario Targeted politicalkillings in spite of alert byConstitutional Head. Neither ACSHome nor DGP WB Policeresponded.”

He further rued that thoughhe had sent a message to the ChiefMinister for a conversation on theissue but there was “no response.”

Jammu: A Junior Commissioned Officer(JCO) of the Indian Army was martyred dur-ing ceasefire violation along the line of con-trol in Nowshera sector of Rajouri lateMonday evening.

Earlier, two back to back ceasefire viola-tions were reported from both the frontier dis-tricts of Rajouri and Poonch Monday eveningwhere Pakistan army resorted to 'unprovoked'mortar shelling targeting civilian pockets.

In response, the Indian army stronglyretaliated at both the locations.

Till the time of filing the report, heavyexchange of firing was going on in the forwardareas. Unconfirmed ground reports claimed,pint pointed retaliation by the Indian armycaused extensive damages on the other side ofthe line of control.

Defence PRO in Jammu, Lt-Col DevenderAnand said, “the first incident of ceasefire vio-lation was reported in Nowshera sector ofRajouri around 6.30 p.m while the second inci-dent was reported along the line of control inDegwar sector of Poonch around 8.00 p.m”.

He said,the Pakistan Army resorted tointense mortar shelling after initiating smallarms firing in the Nowshera sector.Later cease-fire agreement was violated in Degwar sectorof Poonch, he added. PNS

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In two welcome developments,Maharashtra on Monday recorded

relatively low 10,244 Covid-19 infec-tions –which is the lowest in aweek-- and the recovery rate in theState touched 80 per cent, while 263more people succumbed to coron-avirus in various parts of the State.

On a day when the total infec-tions in Mumbai region –comprisingMumbai, Thane, Navi Mumbai,Kalyan-Dombivli, Ulhasnagar,Bhiwandi-Nizampur, Mira-Bhayandar, Palghar, Vasai-Virar,Raigad and Panvel—crossed 5 lakhinfection mark to touch 5,02,583,there was a drop in the number ofinfections in the state. The infectionscame down to 10,244 from Sunday’s13,702.

With 13,702 fresh infections,the total number of infectionsjumped from 14,43,409 to 14,53,653.Similarly, with 263 fresh deaths, the

Covid-19 toll in the state mountedfrom 38,084 to 38,347.

On a day when 12,982 peoplewere discharged from various hos-pitals in the state, the number of peo-ple discharged from various hospi-tals after full recovery since the sec-ond week of March this year went upto 11,49,603. The recovery rate in thestate rose from 79.64 to 80 per cent.

Of the total 263 deaths reportedon Monday, Mumbai recorded amaximum of 47 deaths, followed by30 deaths in Pune, 25 in Kolhapur,20 in Nagpur, 17 in Thane, 15 inSatara, 14 in Jalna, 12 in Yavatmal,11 in Sangli and 10 deaths each inRaigad and Nanded.

In the lower range, there were 9deaths in Nashik, 6 deaths each inSolapur and Bhandara, 5 each inPalghar, Latur and Amravati, 4 inAhmednagar, 3 in Beed, 2 each inJalgaon and Akola and one deatheach in Ratnagiri, Hingoli, Buldhana,Washim and Chandrapur.

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Addressing the historic75th session of theUnited NationsGeneral Assembly(UNGA) recently,

Prime Minister Narendra Modi yetagain made a forceful plea forreforming this international bodyand making the UN SecurityCouncil (UNSC) more represen-tative and balanced. Modi hadflagged this issue six years agowhen he addressed the UNGA forthe first time as India’s PrimeMinister in September 2014. Onthat occasion, he told the membercountries that no one country orgroup of countries can determinethe course of the world. There hasto be a genuine international part-nership. This is not just a moralposition but a practical realityand these efforts should begin withthe UN. “We must reform theUnited Nations, including theSecurity Council, and make itmore democratic and participative”,or else it could “face the risk ofirrelevance” if it remained resistantto change. The Prime Minister wasobviously emphasising India’s rightto be a permanent member of theUNSC, a status enjoyed by the P-5 — US, UK, France, Russia andChina — who are also armed withextraordinary veto powers.

He returned to this theme onceagain when he addressed theUNGA last month. Referring to thecircumstances prevailing in 1945when the UN came into being, hetold his audience that memberswere now in a completely differentera — the 21st century. Therefore,the international community mustask itself whether the character ofthe institution, constituted in 1945,was relevant even today? He spokeof the regard that the people ofIndia have for the UN and saidthey wonder whether the reformprocess will ever reach its logicalconclusion. “For how long willIndia be kept out of the decision-making structures of the UnitedNations?...When we were strong,we did not trouble the world; whenwe were weak, we did not becomea burden on the world. How longwill such a country have to wait?”

The Prime Minister was echo-ing the sentiments of 1.35 billioncitizens of the country when hehinted that India’s patience wasrunning thin. Indians find it dif-ficult to fathom why their countryis kept out, especially when it hassuch strong credentials. It is the

world’s largest and most vibrantdemocracy with 911 millionelectors, of whom over 600million exercised their franchisein 2019. It is also the mostdiverse nation in the worldwith unparalleled ethnic, cultur-al and linguistic diversity andhome to all the major religionsin the world. Indians speak121 languages and 270 dialects.Further, India accounts for 18per cent of the global populationand will overtake China andbecome the most populousnation by 2027. Add to this itseconomic and military strength— it is the fifth-largest econo-my and one of the top five mil-itary powers in the world.Finally, it is a founding memberof the UN, one of the 26 signa-tories at the first conference in1942 and has made a phenom-enal contribution to the organ-isation’s peace-keeping effortsacross the world. Are these notenough reasons for India to bea permanent member of theUNSC?

As proud citizens of theworld’s largest and most vibrantdemocracy, Indians also havethe right to demand that the UNremain faithful to its own fun-damental postulates. Is it notstrange that the Preamble to theCharter of the United Nationsreaffirms faith “in the equalrights of men and women andof nations large and small…”and yet, actively promotes ahierarchy of nations and conse-quently, of human beings? Howcan India, which has equality asa fundamental precept in its

Constitution, accept this form ofgraded membership?

Further, Article 2 of theCharter says the UN is based onthe sovereign equality of allmembers. How is this achievedwhen a nation with almost one-fifth of the global population isnot a permanent member of theUNSC whereas two Europeannations — UK (67 million)and France (65 million), eachwith a population equivalent tojust one of India’s 28 states(Karnataka) — are permanentmembers of the UNSC?

Articles 108 and 109 of theUN Charter are also whollyundemocratic because even iftwo-thirds of the members of theUN agree to amend the Charter,any of the five permanent mem-bers of the UNSC can use itsveto power to block the amend-ment. This is absolutely unde-mocratic and unworthy of beingpart of any civilised institutionin the democratic world. Whyshould the world’s largestdemocracy put up with this?

These articles enable mem-bers of the P-5 to play politicsand stonewall reform. That iswhy the efforts of the G-4(India, Brazil, Japan andGermany) to support eachother’s bid for a permanentseat in the UNSC have not thusfar fructified.

The international communi-ty must understand that India’spatience, despite all its philo-sophical underpinnings, is notinexhaustible and that there isa new India emerging — opti-mistic, self-confident and self-

reliant (atmanirbhar). It is truethat seven decades ago, givenIndia’s economic plight aftercenturies of colonisation, itlacked the gumption to stand upand demand its rightful place.But that is not the India of today.This is not a tame India. This isa bold India. A billion-plus cit-izens of this nation are nolonger willing to accept theseinequities as part of their karmaand reconcile themselves to thesecond-class status thrust onthem 75 years ago.

India is shaking off the delu-sions of the past. It has shed itsinnocence and gullibility thatwas in full display during the“Hindi-Chini Bhai Bhai” daysand has realised that it mustbecome strong and resilient topromote peace in its neighbour-hood and the world. TheChinese are getting a taste ofthis, and as the momentumpicks up, other nations too willbegin to sense it. This is irre-versible. Having nudged hiscountrymen towards this newthinking, Modi is sensing thechange. That is why he made aspecific reference to the aspira-tions of the people vis-à-vis UNreform.

India will celebrate the 75thanniversary of its independencein 2022. The UN must use theoccasion to redeem itself,acknowledge that democracy isthe most civilised political sys-tem ever devised by man andinvite India to the high table.

(The writer is an author spe-cialising in democracy studies.Views expressed are personal)

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����%���'��������(��

���������� ������Sir — Ruling out theories of poi-soning and strangulation, theAIIMS medical board, in itsreport to the CBI, revealed thatthe cause of actor Sushant SinghRajput’s death was indeed sui-cide. Ever since the 34-year-oldactor was found dead on June 14in his Mumbai apartment, manynews channels had falsely cookedup theories of his murder andstarted a witch-hunt against hisgirlfriend Rhea Chakraborty.Under pressure from the mediatrial, the case was handed over tothe CBI for further investigation.

The media is supposed to bethe fourth pillar of democracyand report unbiased news.Rajput’s case is a perfect exam-ple of how media houses sensa-tionalise news rather than report-ing facts. They have become atool for political parties to dis-seminate their propaganda andpolarise the masses. Further,news debates are being used asa platform to distract peoplefrom important issues ratherthan being informed. There is anurgent need for implementationof the rules laid down by exist-ing media regulatory bodies.

Falguni AswaniUjjain

��������������� Sir — There is no doubt that evenafter 73 years of Independence,not much has changed when itcomes to caste discriminationand divide. Atrocities againstDalits and Scheduled Tribes arecommon across the country.And the recent rape-murdercase of the young Dalit womanfrom Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras is

one of many such instances.What is more shameful is theextent to which the StateGovernment is ready to go inorder to save the culprits. The UPpolice has claimed that the foren-sic report of the 19-year-oldwoman’s viscera has establishedthat she was not raped. How canone believe this, given the man-ner the police cremated herbody? Having said that, the fault

not only lies in our police andjudicial system but also the soci-ety which woke up too late in thiscase. There is not only a need formore stringent laws but also apolitical will to implement them.It is also time that we root out thepatriarchal and casteist mindsetfrom society and not feed it tocreate a political constituency.

Bal GovindNoida

���� �������Sir — US President DonaldTrump, who has been playingdown the threat of theCoronavirus pandemic from itsoutset, has tested positive alongwith his wife Melania. Feverishand fatigued, Trump was flownto a military hospital on October2 after being injected with anexperimental drug combination.In a video he posted from thehospital, he said that he wasimproving and would be “backsoon” but he also acknowledgedthat the crucial coming dayswould be “the real test.” With this,the prospects for two remainingpresidential debates and whetherthe President will have to yieldpower temporarily to VicePresident Mike Pence if his con-dition worsens are unknown.Also, now that Trump under-stands the severity of the pan-demic that has killed more than2,08,000 Americans, he shouldadopt a serious approach in thefight against the virus and stopsending mixed messages onmask-wearing.

Sanjana SoniUjjain

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Reining in the fiscal deficit has always been achallenge for the Centre especially after theenactment of the Fiscal Responsibility and

Budget Management (FRBM) Act, 2003, whichrequires it to maintain the shortfall within a spec-ified threshold. At the same time, there are certainthrust areas, such as education, roads and otherinfrastructure, telecommunication networks inrural areas, exploration of oil, gas and so on, whichthe Government feels won’t get the desired fundsin the normal course of budgeting. This led to suc-cessive dispensations to think of a special tax orcess — a form of tax charged/levied over and abovethe base tax liability of a taxpayer. These includeUSO (Universal Service Obligation) levy imposedon telecom service providers, cess on CrudePetroleum Oil (CPO), Road and Infrastructure Cess(RaIC), Primary Education cess (PEC), Secondaryand Higher Education cess (SHEC), Education cesson Imported Goods (ECIG), R&D cess and so on.The proceeds from these taxes are credited to theConsolidated Fund of India (CFI) and subsequent-ly transferred to a non-lapsable fund, for instance,the USO Fund (USOF) — based on the appropri-ation approved by the Parliament — created in thepublic account for utilising exclusively for the pur-poses for which it is collected. The financing of thespecified activity thus gets shielded from the vul-nerabilities associated with the normal budgetingexercise.

Prima facie, the idea sounds appealing. But thebig question is if this is working. Are funds beingutilised for the declared purpose? Are the outcomescommensurate with the intent? To answer thesequestions, let us look at the reports of theComptroller and Auditor-General of India (CAG)brought out from time to time. The Centrecharges licence fee at eight per cent of the adjust-ed gross revenue (AGR) of telecom serviceproviders. This includes five per cent as appropri-ation for crediting to USOF (set up in 2002) whilethe balance three per cent is retained with the gen-eral exchequer. For 2018-19, the CAG has notedthat out of a total collection of about �6,900 croreas USO levy, only �4,800 crore was transferred tothe USOF, implying a shortfall of �2,100 crore.Against a collection of �1,10,000 crore since 2002,the amount disbursed till date is only �54,500 crore.The balance �55,500 crore remains with the CFI.Coming to the SHEC, the Government started col-lecting this levy from 2006-07 and until January2019, could harness about �94,000 crore. The entireamount has been retained in the CFI. In this case,even the public account christened as Madhyamikand Uchchtar Shiksha Kosh (MUSK) was createdonly in August 2017 (more than a decade after thecollection started) and has not been opera-tionalised so far.

The R&D Cess Act, 1986, provides for levy andcollection of cess on all payments made for theimport of technology. The proceeds of this wereto be disbursed as grants-in-aid to the TechnologyDevelopment Board (TDB) set up in 1996. During1996-97 to 2017-18, a total of about �8,000 crorewas collected. Of this, a mere �800 crore was trans-ferred to the TDB. Furthermore, though the cesswas abolished from April 2017, it continued to becollected during the following two years, viz. 2017-18 and 2018-19. In case of Clean Energy Cess(levied on coal supplies) since 2010-11, theamount denied to the designated fund, viz.

National Clean Energy Fund (NCEF),was about �44,500 crore. Likewise, in thecase of the RaIC, (earlier nomenclatureRoad Cess), there was a “short transfer”of about �72,000 crore in the amount col-lected since 1998-99 till March 31, 2018to the Central Road Fund (CRF), thepublic account.

Unlike other taxes, which are part ofthe “divisible pool” to be shared with theStates as per the recommendations of theFinance Commission, the Centre gets toretain all of the cess (which goes to theCFI and is available for general use).Because its finances have come underserious stress during the current pandem-ic year, its reliance on RaIC has increasedby leaps and bounds. It raised centralexcise duty (CED) on petrol and dieseltwice this year in March and May, most-ly through hike in the cess. At present,out of CED on petrol of �33 per litre, �18per litre or 54.5 per cent comes from thecess. For diesel, out of �32 per litre CED,RaIC is �12 per litre or 37.5 per cent. TheGovernment also levies the Oil IndustryDevelopment (OID) cess currently at 20per cent ad-valorem on the price thatdomestic producers of crude, namely theOil and Natural Gas Corporation(ONGC) and the Oil India Limited(OIL), get on their supplies from nomi-nated blocks and pre-NELP (new explo-ration licensing policy) exploratoryblocks. Collected under the Oil Industries(Development) Act of 1974, though thecess proceeds are intended to fundresearch, exploration and developmentwork, yet the money remains with theCFI.

As pointed out by the top auditor,there are irregularities galore in the man-agement of the cesses. These includeshort or “nil” transfer of cess proceedsfrom the CFI to the dedicated non-lapsable fund in the public account set

up for the specified purpose. In certaincases, the public accounts were not evencreated long after the Government start-ed collecting the tax. In others, it contin-ued to collect even after the same wasabolished. The Government has, in fact,used them primarily for increasing its“general revenue” and meeting the fiscaldeficit target. If an overwhelming shareof proceeds (or even the whole of it) fromthe cess remain with the CFI, what elseone should conclude? Or the dedicatedpublic account where the money has togo (for use in the intended purpose) isnot even created, what else can one infer?

Meanwhile, these cesses continue toinflict damage on the stakeholders whobear their brunt. Look at the impact ofthe five per cent USO levy on telecomservice providers. In an intensely com-petitive environment, wherein they arecompelled to keep the tariff low (this isalso in sync with the dire need to makethese affordable to consumers, with amajority of them having a low income),such levy has the effect of raising the costof services and making them unviable. Infact, there is a strong case for scrappingthis tariff.

This was recognised by none otherthan the Union Telecom Minister, RaviShankar Prasad, when he wrote to theFinance Ministry: “Given that rural tele-density has significantly increased sincethe time the fund was set up, it is pro-posed that the USO levy may be reducedfrom five per cent to three per cent. Thetwo per cent USO levy reduction may bemade available to the telecom serviceproviders provided that this amount isutilised by them for carrying out researchand development for development anddeployment of indigenous technologiesin the country.” Yet the Government con-tinues with status quo, the sole reasonbeing easy availability of funds (from

USO levy) which can be used for plug-ging its general deficit. Look at the RaIC,which accounts for a major slice of theCED on petrol and diesel and togetherwith the cascading effect of Value AddedTax (VAT) leads to a bizarre situationwhereby taxes alone account for abouttwo-third of their prices at the pump. Thehigh fuel price contributes to high infla-tion and higher cost of fertilisers andfood. Since the Government controlstheir prices at a low level to make themaffordable, much of the extra revenue isgiven back as higher subsidy.

To that extent, the revenue gain fromthe cess (besides other taxes) is imaginary.Likewise, 20 per cent OID cess ondomestic supplies of crude (besides the20 per cent royalty ONGC/OIL need topay to State Governments in respect ofonshore supplies and 10-12.5 per centroyalty to the Centre on offshore supplies)impacts the viability of producers at atime when their realisation from sale hasplummeted (courtesy, the steep declinein the international price of crude).

Despite the cesses not serving theintended purpose and their negative con-sequences, the mandarins in the FinanceMinistry appear to be in no mood to saygoodbye to them. Amid the current cri-sis created by the pandemic, when the taxcollections have been severely impactedand expenditure commitments have bal-looned, they may not even entertain anydiscussion on this. Nonetheless, there isdire need to put abolition of these cess-es on the high table as these are not onlycounter-productive but also make ourpolicy planners and administrators com-placent with regard to sustainable waysof balancing the budget. Will theGovernment go on a course correction?One can only wait and watch.

(The writer is a New Delhi-based pol-icy analyst)

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It was supposed to be the most loyal,oldest and time-tested ally of theBJP but ground realities and com-

pulsions of State politics in Punjab inthe wake of the passage of the threefarm Acts forced the Shiromani AkaliDal (SAD) to hurriedly exit the NDA.Had there been even a slight delay inannouncing the divorce from theNDA, the party, whose major votebank comprises the farmers and thosein the rural areas of Punjab, would haveseen an erosion of its base at a crucialjuncture. Plus, the SAD draws itspower from influential Sikh religiousorganisations, which would not havetaken too kindly to the party contin-uing to be in an alliance with the NDAafter its decision to push through thethree farm Acts despite protests by thefarmers.

The primary concern of the SADat the moment is the March 2022Assembly election, the countdown forwhich has already begun in the Statewith the political positioning by var-ious parties. For the SAD, being a partof the NDA is a secondary concern atthe moment, focussing as it is on gain-ing public traction and getting on theelectoral bandwagon.

Particularly as the SAD’s mainrival, the ruling Congress Party, whichis facing anti-incumbency sentimentsin the State, has been aggressively tar-geting the farm Acts to divert atten-tion from its lacklustre performance inthe last 42 months. It would have chal-lenged the SAD for being part of analliance which passed the “anti-farmer” laws.

However, SAD patron and five-time Chief Minister Parkash SinghBadal and party president SukhbirSingh Badal sensed the mood andstrategy of the Congress and tookimmediate measures by quitting theNDA. Harsimrat Kaur Badal wasasked to submit her resignation fromthe Cabinet and when this was dubbedas “too little, too late”, SAD walkedaway from the NDA to stop the

Congress from becoming the ful-crum of a pro-farmer political mobil-isation.

However, the question remains,how deep is the fissure between theSAD and the BJP and is the split per-manent? Moreover, questions arebeing raised whether this was mereposturing and a strategy to buy time?Will the two once again enter into anelectoral alliance for the 2022 Assemblypolls and then the 2024 Lok Sabhaelections?

The Badal patriarch has time andagain described the SAD-NDA allianceas “made for each other” and even afterthis break, he has refused to join in anypublic mudslinging against the formerpartner. He also did not get swayed bythe temporary sentiments of hostilitytowards each other. Perhaps he wantsto leave a window of rapprochementajar as and when the time comes. Manyin Punjab believe that this time wouldbe a few weeks before the Assemblyelections when the din associatedwith the farm Acts dies down in duecourse and a formula is evolved toappease the farmers, who are on thewarpath at the moment.

Punjab has more or less been a

two-party system for decades now,where the SAD-BJP and the CongressParty have shared power for long,though the equations changed slight-ly after the emergence of the AamAadmi Party (AAP) and its decent out-ing in the last State polls.

The BJP’s votebank in urbanpockets of Punjab is an increment innot only sociological terms for theAkalis but also psychologically as ithelps the alliance present itself to theelectorate as an ideal Sikh-Hinducombination, carrying the legitimacyof the entire population. With the SADparting ways with the NDA, whichmany, even those in the Badal-ledparty, believe is temporary, this idea ofa composite Sikh-Hindu electoralalliance has been dented. This is like-ly to carry an adverse message for therest of the country as well, where theOpposition could paint the BJP as“anti-alliance” or a party which couldnot keep a Sikh minority party in itsfold or accommodate the viewpoint ofits alliance partners.

Talk to the Akali Dal leaders inprivate and they admit that backdoornegotiations would begin once the heatgenerated by the Acts subside and the

churning for the Assembly electionsstarts. Even BJP leaders in the State arenot sure what exactly to say at themoment. Behind the public posturingand the bravado of a couple of saffronleaders, who talked of a “clean sweepand Modi wave in next elections”, liesa lurking fear on how to pick candi-dates and build the organisation in therural pockets of the State. Hitherto,they had never been to the rural areasas it was always left for the Akalis. Evennow, after the divorce, the saffron partyleaders are taking no steps to build asemblance of a political structure in theSikh-dominated rural pockets. Perhapsthey, too, have a sense that the break-up is temporary and they should notdo anything to aggravate the situationas of now.

The argument that the Shiv Senawalked away from the BJP and formeda Government in alliance with theCongress and the-Nationalist CongressParty (NCP) in Maharashtra and thatsomething similar could happen inPunjab, simply does not hold ground.The reason is simple — the SAD wouldcease to exist if it even goes soft on theCongress in Punjab, forget aboutentering into any sort of understand-

ing with the grand old party. The SAD was born on an anti-

Congress plank and has consistentlymaintained that in the two-party elec-toral ethos which the State has devel-oped historically. The BJP or its earli-er avatar, the Jan Sangh, has alwaysbeen a minor player in the border State.Even at the height of the NarendraModi wave in 2019, the Congress man-aged to swim through. For the BJP,Punjab is more or less politically sim-ilar to Kerala or Tamil Nadu — what-ever it does, however hard it tries, itcannot get a foothold as of now if itgoes solo. The reason is simple —demography and the socio-religiousprofile of the electorate.

Of course, the farm Acts couldhave consequences in neighbouringHaryana as well where the BJP is in apost-election alliance with theJannayak Janata Party (JJP). The Ajayand Dushyant Chautala-led familyparty has so far stuck to the chorus thatthe Acts would not take away even an“iota” from the farmers and their inter-ests are safe, but they, too, are slightlyapprehensive given the support thefarmers’ agitation is receiving from therich Jat growers — the main social and

political base of the JJP. But asAssembly elections in Haryana are fouryears away, sitting ensconced in theState Government is far more politi-cally rewarding for the JJP than facingan uncertain future and an uncertainelectoral outcome if it withdraws sup-port at this juncture.

If the ongoing season of paddyprocurement goes well, farmers get theMinimum Support Price (MSP) andare able to sell their produce in themandis without any difficulty; theapprehensions related to the farm Actswould be addressed automatically toan extent. Then comes the wheat sow-ing and harvesting season in Aprilnext. Farmers and political parties likethe SAD and the BJP will look at thattoo. And if everything goes as per whatthe proponents of the Acts in the BJPare saying, there could be a rethink inthe strategy of the SAD and itsapproach towards the NDA. Many inPunjab believe that the SAD wouldwait till the next wheat harvesting sea-son and take a call on whether thedivorce with the NDA and the BJPwould be permanent or temporary.

(The writer is Senior ResidentEditor, The Pioneer, Chandigarh)

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Kyiv: Authorities in Belarussaid Monday that more than300 people were detained dur-ing the previous day’s protestsagainst the country’s authori-tarian president, who won hissixth term in office in a votewidely seen as rigged.

The Interior Ministry said317 people were detained dur-ing rallies in several citiesSunday against AlexanderLukashenko.

In the capital, Minsk,where according to a rightsgroup nearly 120,000 took partin a rally on Sunday, water can-nons were used to disperse thecrowds, the ministry said.Police estimated the turnout tobe around 10,000 people.

In the city of Vitebsk policeused tear gas against protesters,the ministry said. The vastmajority of those detained —258 — remain in custodypending a court appearance.

Mass protests have rockedBelarus for almost two months,with the largest held onSundays and drawing up to200,000 people.

The unprecedented unrestwas triggered by the results ofthe August 9 presidential elec-tion that handed Lukashenko,who has run Belarus with aniron fist for 26 years, victorywith 80 per cent of the vote.

His main challenger,Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, got10 per cent. She and her sup-porters refused to recognizethe results, saying the outcomeof the vote was manipulated.

Initially, Belarusianauthorities cracked down bru-tally on protesters, with policedetaining thousands and injur-ing scores with truncheons,rubber bullets and stungrenades.

The government has sincescaled down on the violencebut has maintained the pres-sure, detaining hundreds ofprotesters and prosecuting topactivists.

Prominent members of theopposition’s CoordinationCouncil, formed to push for atransition of power, have beenarrested or forced to leave thecountry. AP

Lahore: Pakistan’s former primeminister Nawaz Sharif, hisdaughter Maryam and othertop leaders of the OppositionPML-N party were chargedwith sedition and other seriouscases for allegedly conspiringagainst the institutions of thearmy and judiciary, and incit-ing people against them.

The Lahore police registereda FIR on the complaint of a per-son on Monday, citing Sharif ’stwo recent speeches madethrough a video link fromLondon in which the PakistanMuslim League-Nawaz supremomade blistering remarks target-ing the powerful Pakistan Army.

Sharif - who left for London

late last year after securing bailfor medical treatment in theChaudhry Sugar Mills case andthe Al Azizia case — has beentargeting the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-led government led byPrime Minister Imran Khan aswell as many state institutions,including the judiciary and themilitary.

He served as Pakistan’sprime minister three times,first removed by a president in1993, then by military rulerPervez Musharraf in 1999. Acourt in 2017 ousted himfrom power over corruptionallegations. Imran Khan, aformer cricketer, came topower in 2018. PTI

Stockholm: Americans HarveyJ Alter and Charles M Rice andBritish-born scientist MichaelHoughton won the Nobel Prizefor medicine on Monday fortheir discovery of the hepatitisC virus, a major source ofliver disease that affects mil-lions worldwide.

Announcing the prize inStockholm, the NobelCommittee noted that the trio’swork identified a major sourceof blood-borne hepatitis thatcouldn’t be explained by thepreviously discovered hepatitisA and B viruses.

Their work, dating back tothe 1970s and 1980s, has helpedsaved millions of lives, thecommittee said.

“Thanks to their discovery,highly sensitive blood tests forthe virus are now availableand these have essentially elim-inated post-transfusion hepati-tis in many parts of the world,greatly improving globalhealth,” the committee said.

“Their discovery alsoallowed the rapid developmentof antiviral drugs directed athepatitis C,” it added. “For the

first time in history, the diseasecan now be cured, raisinghopes of eradicating hepatitis Cvirus from the world popula-tion.”

The World HealthOrganisation estimates there areover 70 million cases of hepati-tis C worldwide and 400,000deaths from it each year.

The disease is chronic anda major cause of liver cancerand cirrhosis requiring livertransplants.

The medicine prize carriedparticular significance this yeardue to the coronavirus pan-demic, which has highlightedthe importance that medicalresearch has for societies andeconomies around the world.

Will Irving, a virologist atthe University of Nottingham,said that identifying hepatitis Chad been the “holy grail” inmedicine.

“After hepatitis A and Bwere discovered in the 1970s,it was clear there was still atleast one other virus or morethat were causing liver damage,”he said.

“We knew there was a

virus in the blood supply,because when people hadblood transfusion they wouldget liver damage,” Irving said.

“It was recognised as arisk but there was nothing wecould do. We didn’t know whatthe virus was and we couldn’ttest for it.”

Nobel Committee memberPatrik Ernfors drew a parallelbetween this year’s prize andthe current rush by millions ofscientists around the world tocombat the coronavirus pan-demic.

“The first thing you needto do is to identify the causingvirus,” he told reporters. “Andonce that has been done, thatis, in itself, the starting point fordevelopment of drugs to treatthe disease and also to devel-op vaccines against the disor-der.” “So the actual discovery,viral discovery itself, is a criti-cal moment,” said Ernfors.

Unlike hepatitis A, whichis transmitted via food or waterand causes an acute infectionthat can last a few weeks,hepatitis B and C are trans-mitted through blood. AP

Yerevan (Armenia): The fight-ing between Armenian andAzerbaijani forces over theseparatist territory of Nagorno-Karabakh resumed on Mondaymorning, with both sidesaccusing each other of launch-ing attacks.

Armenian military officialson Monday reported missilestrikes hitting Stepanakert, thecapital of Nagorno-Karabakh.The region lies in Azerbaijanbut has been under the controlof ethnic Armenian forcesbacked by Armenia since theend of a separatist war in 1994.

Firefights of varying inten-sity “continue to rage” in theconflict zone, ArmenianDefence Ministry spokes-woman Shushan Stepanian saidon Facebook.

The Azerbaijani DefenceMinistry, in turn, accusedArmenian forces of shelling thetowns of Tartar, Barda andBeylagan. Ganja, Azerbaijan’ssecond-largest city far outsideof the conflict zone, is also“under fire,” officials said.

Armenia’s Foreign Ministryin a statement dismissed allega-tions of the attacks beinglaunched from the Armenia’sterritory as a “disinformationcampaign” waged by Azerbaijan.

Vahram Poghosyan,spokesman for Nagorno-Karabakh’s leader, on Mondaywarned in a Facebook post thatthe territory’s forces would tar-get military facilities inAzerbaijani cities in response tostrikes on Stepanakert andShushi, a town in Nagorno-Karabakh.

The fighting eruptedSeptember 27 and has killeddozens, marking the biggestescalation in the decades-oldconflict over the region. Bothsides have accused each otherof expanding the hostilitiesbeyond the conflict zone inNagorno-Karabakh. AP

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Asuicide car bomber target-ed the convoy of a provin-

cial governor in easternAfghanistan on Monday, killingat least eight people, includingfour civilians, government offi-cials said.

The governor,Rahmatullah Yarmal, wasunharmed in the attack inLaghman province, accordingto his spokesman, Asadullah

Dawlatzai.Four of Yarmal’s body-

guards were killed, thespokesman said, adding thatabout 38 people — both mili-tary and civilians — werewounded in the attack, whichtook place in Mihterlam, theprovincial capital.

Dawlatzai said 36 civilianswere among the wounded,including children, as well astwo other bodyguards of thegovernor.

The explosion also left sev-eral badly damaged vehicles atthe site of the attack. Thewounded, including small chil-dren, were taken to the city’smain hospitals.

No one immediatelyclaimed responsibility for theattack but both the Islamic Stategroup and the Taliban areactive in the area. Both militantgroups have carried out attacksin the past against Afghangovernment representatives,national security and defensepersonnel, and civilians. AP

Washington: US PresidentDonald Trump made a surprisedrive-past to greet his support-ers outside a military hospitalwhere he has been admittedsince Friday for the treatment ofthe deadly coronavirus, drawingcriticism from Democrats anda leading medical expert.

The brief drive throughRockville Pike in Bethesda, aMaryland suburb ofWashington DC, that separatesthe National Institute of Healthand Walter Reed NationalMilitary Medical Center,brought cheers to his support-ers who have been praying forthe 74-year-old president’shealth ahead of the presiden-tial election next month.

“I really appreciate all ofthe fans and supporters outsideof the hospital. The fact is, theyreally love our Country and areseeing how we are MAKINGIT GREATER THAN EVERBEFORE!” Trump said in a

tweet soon after his unan-nounced drive-past.

Trump, a Republican isseeking another term in theWhite House. He is beingchallenged by former VicePresident Joe Biden of theDemocratic Party in theNovember 3 election.

Trump and the First LadyMelania tested positive forCOVID-19 on Thursday night.

Trump was shifted to the

military hospital on Friday,which his doctors and WhiteHouse said was taken out ofabundance of caution.

On Sunday, before goingout to wave at his supporters,Trump in a video posted on hisTwitter handle said he will give“a little surprise to some of thegreat patriots, who have beenon the streets, and they havebeen out there for a long time.”

“They love our country. Iam not telling anybody but you,I am about to make a little sur-prise visit,” Trump said. PTI

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Bethesda: President DonaldTrump was hoping for aMonday discharge from themilitary hospital where he isbeing treated for COVID-19,a day after he briefly venturedout while contagious to salutecheering supporters by motor-cade in a move that disre-garded precautions meant tocontain the deadly virus thathas killed more than 209,000Americans.

White House officials saidTrump was anxious to bereleased after three nights atWalter Reed National MilitaryMedical Centre, where doctorsrevealed on Sunday that hisblood oxygen level droppedsuddenly twice in recent daysand that they gave him asteroid typically only recom-

mended for the very sick. Still, the doctors said

Trump’s health is improvingand volunteered that he couldbe discharged as early asMonday to continue theremainder of his treatment atthe White House.

“This is an important dayas the president continues toimprove and is ready to getback to a normal work sched-ule,” White House chief of staffMark Meadows told Fox Newson Monday.

He said the determinationon whether Trump would leavethe hospital won’t be madeuntil later in the day after thepresident is evaluated by hismedical team, but that Trumpwas “optimistic” he could bereleased Monday. AP

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Kuala Lumpur: MalaysianPrime Minister MuhyiddinYassin said on Monday hewill self-quarantine after aCabinet minister he was incontact with tested positive forthe coronavirus, as new casesin the country hit a recordhigh.

Muhyiddin had chairedan October 3 meeting attend-ed by Religious AffairsMinister Zulkifli MohamadAl-Bakri, who confirmedMonday he has been hospital-ized for treatment.

The health ministry haswarned that Malaysia is facinga new wave of virus cases asthe outbreak has widened inrecent days.

New clusters have sprungup in many states amidincreased travel to easternSabah state, a hotspot zone, fora state election last month.

New virus cases hit arecord daily high of 432 onMonday, bringing Malaysia’stally to 12,813 with 137 deaths.Nearly half were from a prisonin a northern state, and 130were in Sabah.

Muhyiddin, who tookpower in March after a polit-ical coup, said in a statementthat he underwent virus test-ing every two weeks sinceApril. AP

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Rose Valley, which is underthe Concurrent probe of

the CBI and ED for allegedlydefrauding investors, hasalready returned around�10,500 crore out of �17,520crore raised from them, an offi-cial said on Monday.

He said the ED had alsoattached properties worth�4,500 crore and filed twoprosecution complaints withthe designated Prevention ofMoney-Laundering Act(PMLA) court.

“Out of �17,520 croreraised by Rose Valley, whichhas been in in operation since1999, around �10,500 crorehas already been returned toinvestors,” the ED official said.

The probe into the RoseValley scam started six yearsago. The official said the second

prosecution complaint isagainst all those who havebeen accused, including theowner of Rose Valley, who isstill in jail.

“The designated court hasgiven a date in November forhearing on the complaint,which had been filed by SEBI,”he said, adding, the courtwould also frame chargesagainst the accused on the dayof hearing.

The official said there havebeen instances of forging ofdocuments and cheating by“some unscrupulous elementswho are trying to derail the ses-sion trial”.

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Markets regulator Sebi onMonday came out with a

uniform time period for listingsecurities, including municipalbonds, issued on private place-ment basis.

The timeline will beapplicable for non-convertibleredeemable preference shares,debt securities, securitised debtinstruments and securityreceipts and municipal bonds,Sebi said in a circular.

The move comes after theregulator received severalrequests from various marketparticipants for clarificationon the time period withinwhich such securities need tobe listed after completion ofallotment.

After taking feedback frommarket participants, Sebi hasdecided that allotment of secu-rities will be completed by

T+2 trading days after receiv-ing funds.

T day refers to closure ofthe issue.

It further said issuer needsto make listing application tostock exchanges and obtainapproval from the bourses byT+4 trading day.

In case of delay in listingof securities issued on privateplacement basis beyond thetimeline, the issuer will paypenal interest of 1 per cent perannum over the coupon rate forthe period of delay to theinvestor (i.E. From date ofallotment to the date of listing),Sebi said.

In addition, issuer will bepermitted to utilise the issueproceeds of its two subse-quent privately placedissuances of securities onlyafter receiving final listingapproval from stockexchanges, it added.

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Equity benchmark Sensexdarted up for the third con-

secutive session on Monday,buoyed by robust gains in ITand banking stocks amid abroad upmove in global mar-kets.

TCS soared over 7 percent after the IT major said itwill consider a share buybackproposal later this week.

Starting off on a high note,the 30-share BSE Sensexzoomed to the day’s peak at39,263.85, before ceding someground to settle at 38,973.70,up 276.65 points or 0.71 percent.

Likewise, the broader NSENifty rose 86.40 points or 0.76per cent to close at 11,503.35.

TCS was the top per-former on the Sensex chart, ral-lying 7.30 per cent.

In the process, the IT giantbecame the second Indian firmafter Reliance Industries tocross the Rs 10 lakh croremarket valuation mark.

Other prominent gainers

included Tata Steel, SunPharma, Infosys, TechMahindra, IndusInd Bank,HCL Tech, ICICI Bank, HUL,Kotak Bank and HDFC Bank,spurting up to 4.71 per cent.

On the other hand, BajajFinserv, Bajaj Finance, BhartiAirtel, Bajaj Auto, PowerGridand ITC were among the majorlaggards, shedding as much as2.70 per cent.

With the global markets’focus turning to US PresidentDonald Trump’s COVID-19treatment, reports of animprovement in his healthboosted investor sentiment,analysts said.

Asian shares rosefollowing Trump’s healthupdate, while European mar-kets too opened on a firm foot-ing.

“Indian indices had a verypositive start taking cues fromthe global market and in antic-ipation of the Supreme Courtverdict of the compounding ofloans during the moratoriumperiod. Gains came off whenthe decision was deferred tonext week, this delay is unlike-ly to change the framework forsmall borrowers and the bank-ing sector as the government

and RBI is expected to main-tain the buoyancy of the mat-ter.

“In the near-term, the mar-ket is expected to maintain itsoptimism based on Trump’srecovery, development of stim-ulus in US and India, upcom-ing Q2 FY21 results in Indiaand Supreme Court final ver-dict,” said Vinod Nair, Head ofResearch at Geojit FinancialServices.

Sectorally, the BSE ITindex rose 4.06 per cent, fol-lowed by teck, metal, healthcareand bankex.

In the broader market, theBSE midcap index shed 0.18per cent, while the smallcapgauge rose 0.38 per cent,underperforming the bench-mark.

On the forex market front,the rupee closed 16 paise lowerat 73.29 against the US dollar.

Global crude oil bench-mark Brent was trading near-ly 3 per cent higher at USD40.41 per barrel.

Analysts further said thatgoing ahead, the market’s focuswill shift to corporate earningsannouncements, with theresults season beginning thisweek.

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Billionaire Mukesh Ambani’sReliance Industries has

called off the proposed merg-er of his group’s entertainmentbusiness with Sony PicturesNetworks India following astrategic rethink.

Ambani’s television net-works housed in Viacom18Media Pvt Ltd were to mergewith Sony Corp, with theJapanese giant having a biggerstake in the merged entity.However, Reliance has now hada rethink and has decided not topursue the merger route, sourceswith direct knowledge of thedevelopment said. Instead, thecompany is now keen to investmore in digital content cre-ation. Digital media and enter-tainment is an essential pillar oftelecom unit Jio’s digital businessstrategy, they said

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Recovery in domestic airpassenger traffic contin-

ued in September with asequential growth about 37-39per cent in passenger volume inthe previous month overAugust, ratings agency Icrasaid on Monday.

The passenger volumes,however, plunged around 60per cent in September over thesame month year-ago, it said ina release.

Besides, the domestic car-riers also increased capacitydeployment significantly toaround 46 per cent inSeptember as compared to 33per cent in the month ago,according to Icra.

The Civil AviationMinistry in June had permittedincreasing the capacity to 45per cent with effect from June27 from a maximum of one-third at the time of resumptionof domestic flights from May25, which was further scaled upto 60 per cent from September2. This apart, the ministry in

late August announced otherrelaxations also such as allow-ing airlines to provide meals onboard, serve pre-packedsnacks/meals/ pre-packagedbeverages, and allowing in-flight entertainment, howeverwith certain riders. “Thenumber of flights departing hasalso gradually increased from416 on Day 1 (May 25) to1,488 on Day 128 (September28,),” said Kinjal Shah, VicePresident, ICRA. ForSeptember, the average dailydepartures were about 1,311,significantly lower than theaverage daily departures of2,874 in September 2019,though much better than about930 in August 2020, she said.

The average number of pas-sengers per flight duringSeptember was 98, as against anaverage of 133 passengers perflight in September 2019, saidShah, adding, therefore, it isexpected that the domesticindustry operated at a passengerload factor of about 63 percentin the previous month as against85.5 per cent in Sept 2019.

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The Government proposesto implement a new floor

price mechanism for gas pro-duced from domestic fields bycompanies such as the Oil andNatural Gas Corporation(ONGC) to prevent the fuelprice from crashing below anidentified threshold in currentsubdued market conditions.

Domestic gas price hasfallen to $1.79 per millionBritish thermal units (mmBtu)for the October-March periodof the current fiscal.

The administered price ofthe gas has fallen in the last foursix-monthly revision cyclesand has now reached the low-est price levels since 2014.

At this level of natural gasprices, exploration compa-nies such as ONGC actuallylose money on fuel as tariffscrash.

Sources said the Petroleum

Ministry is considering a pro-posal under which domesticgas will have a floor pricing thatwould be linked to gas priceswith the Japan-Korea Marker,a benchmark index used todetermine LNG tariff in NorthAsia with a discount.

With JKM prices hoveringover $5 per million Britishthermal units (mmBtu) evenwith a $1 mmBtu discount, theIndian gas floor price underthis formula will be close to $4mmBtu.

This is much higher thanthe government’s currentadministered price of naturalgas and would give necessarymargins to oil explorers toeconomically maintain gas pro-duction cycles.

“Nothing has beenfinalised on having a gas floorprice as of now. A panel in thePetroleum Ministry is lookingat various options and the bestcourse would be adopted that

has little impact on consumersbut also supports oil and gascompanies with remunerativeand sustainable gas prices,”said a source.

While a gas floor price atthis juncture would benefit oilcompanies, it could render theprice of piped natural gas tohouseholds and CNG for trans-portation expensive.

The average cost of gasproduction for the country’slargest public sector oil com-pany ONGC is about$3.7/mmBtu, much higherthan the current regulated priceof natural gas at $1.79/mmBtu.If the current demand cycle inthe oil market sustains, gasprices may fall even further.

Lower gas price is badnews for the ONGC as it wouldmean further suppressed mar-gins and losses. The companyis set to lose close to Rs 6,000crore on low gas prices thisyear, brokerages have said.

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Despite Covid-inducedmoderation, India’s eco-

nomic fundamentals remainstrong, thereby retaininginvestors’ interest, contendedthe chief of the Bombay StockExchange.

In a conversation withIANS, BSE MD and CEOAshishkumar Chauhan point-ed out that rising investor par-ticipation in the equity segmentalong with recent industrialrecovery trends clearly showthe resilience of the Indianeconomy.

“Overall, I believe thatdespite a moderation caused bythe Covid-19 pandemic, thefundamentals of Indian econ-omy remain strong and GDPgrowth is expected to reboundfrom the second quarter of FY2020-21,” Chauhan said.

“Indian government is seennot only as reformative, buttransformative in approach, asseen by the recent farm andlabour bill enactments. Foreigninvestors, in my view, are

focussed on such reforms.”According to Chauhan,

India’s economy has shownsigns of stability in the last fewmonths with manufacturingand services gradually improv-ing even as coronavirus casesescalated across the country.

“Activity in India’s domi-nant services sector is pickingup and manufacturing hasbounced back into expansiondue to government push afterfour successive months of con-traction,” he said.

“So clearly the real econo-my is on the path of recovery,as the markets have indicated.It is early days to predict fullrecovery but current indica-tions are good.”

Besides, he cited that in thelast 1 year, BSE brokers haveopened 1.5 crore investoraccounts. In the last 6 monthsalone, more than 80 lakhinvestor accounts have beenopened on BSE. Consequently,the stock exchange major hasreached a landmark of 5.47crore investor accounts regis-tered on its platform.

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The global governmentInternet of Things (IoT)

endpoint electronics and com-munications market will reach$14.7 billion in 2020, anincrease of 6 per cent from2019, a Gartner report said onMonday.

The largest revenue oppor-tunities in the government IoTmarket in 2020 are in outdoorsurveillance, street and outdoorlighting and road toll and traf-fic management.

“The Covid-19 pandemicis slowing down spending.However, governments acrossthe globe continue to use IoTtechnologies and solutions toimprove citizen safety.

At the same time, thefalling endpoint and connec-tivity costs make smart city ini-tiatives more viable,” said KaySharpington, principal research

analyst at Gartner.Globally, Gartner expects

governments will deploy eightcameras per thousand urbancitizens for outdoor surveil-lance by 2021, up from sixcameras per thousand in2019. “Governments areincreasing their spending onoutdoor surveillance camerasto monitor cities for crime. Inthe wake of Covid-19, they arealso used to track compliancewith safety restrictions,” saidSharpington.Across all coun-tries, the Chinese governmentis the key contributor to theoutdoor surveillance spend-ing growth.The Chinese gov-ernment is investing in cam-eras that harness advancedimage recognition techniquesand will deploy 32 cameras perthousand urban citizens foroutdoor surveillance by 2021,up from 27 cameras per thou-sand in 2019.

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Facing intense criticism overits Play Store billing policy,

Google on Monday said it hasextended the time for devel-opers in India who use alter-native payment system, to inte-grate with the Play Store billingsystem till March 31, 2022, thusdeferring the enforcement of 30per cent commission on in-apppurchases of digital goods fromits Play Store in the country.

As the announcementcame, leading digital paymentsplatform Paytm that is involvedin a stand-off with Google,launched an Android MiniApp Store to support localdevelopers take their innovativeproducts to the masses.

Google said that deferringthe enforcement of the PlayStore fee is to ensure that theIndian developers have“enough time to implement theUPI for subscription paymentoption that will be made avail-

able on Google Play”.The tech giant said it would

also set up listening sessionswith the leading Indian startupsto understand their concernsmore deeply.

“We will be setting up pol-icy workshops to help clear anyadditional questions about ourPlay Store policies,” PurnimaKochikar, Director of BusinessDevelopment, Games &Applications, Google Play, saidin a blog post.

The developers and pay-ment gateway players have crit-icised the new Google in-apppurchase policies where thoseusing Play Store to sell digitalservices will be required to usethe tech giant’s own built-inpayment system.

“Just because Google ownsthe gate and the gateway to thedigital ecosystem of this coun-try, they should not act arbi-trarily and enforce their rules

and regulations which are con-trary to our country’s laws,” saidVishwas Patel, Founder,CCAvenues and Chairman,Payments Council of India.

“Also, they cannot forceIndian apps developers/ownersselling digital services to com-pulsorily use the Google Billingand payment system andcharge 30 per cent MDR,” headded.

According to Kochikar, theGoogle Play payments policy isnot new.

“In fact, more than 97 percent of developers with apps onGoogle Play already complywith the policy.

To be clear, the policy onlyapplies if a developer chargesusers to download their app orthey sell in-app digital items,which is less than 3 per cent ofdevelopers with apps onGoogle Play,” she reiterated.

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Vodafone Group Plc onMonday said that its

lenders have given their con-sent for the merger of IndusTowers and Bharti Infratel.

On September 1, VodafoneGroup had announced that ithad agreed to proceed with theproposed merger.

“The agreement to proceedwas conditional on consentfor a security package for thebenefit of the CombinedCompany (the “SecurityPackage”) from Vodafone’sexisting lenders (for the Euro1.3 billion loan utilised to fundVodafone’s contribution to theVodafone Idea Ltd rights issue

in 2019). This consent hasnow been received,” the com-pany said in a statement onMonday.

The parties will nowapproach the NationalCompany Law Tribunal tomake the merger scheme effec-tive. The parties are working tocomplete the transaction expe-ditiously, it added.

London: Ride-hailing majorOla will continue its operationsin London despite failing to getits licence renewed due to pub-lic safety concerns raised by thecity’s transport regulator.

Ola said that it will appealagainst the decision ofTransport for London (TfL).Under the rules, a company isallowed to operate whileappealing the decision of TfL.

The India-based ride-hail-ing major which began oper-ating in London in Februarybelieves that it has corrected allthe issues raised by the regula-tor and hopes to demonstratethem on appeal.

IANS

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The rupee depreciated by16 paise to close at 73.29

against the US dollar onMonday due to dollar buyingby banks. The Indian cur-rency opened at 73.16 at theinterbank forex market andtouched an intra-day high of73.08 and a low of 73.41against the greenback.It final-ly settled at 73.29, down 16paise over its last close of73.13 a dollar.”Weak US dol-lar, strong Asian currenciessupported by improved riskappetite lent support initial-ly,” Sriram Iyer, SeniorResearch Analyst at RelianceSecurities said. The RBI0’spresence amid expectations ofmore investment flows in thecoming sessions capped gainsin the currency this Mon, Iyeradded.

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Page 10: ˘ ˆ...2020/10/06  · Hospital. * ˚

The entire world is in thegrip of COVID-19 infec-tion. Rising number ofinfected patients with

every next moment is one of themajor concerns of the time. Socialdistancing, precautions for preven-tion have emerged as new normal,but even long before COVID camecardiac diseases have already beenone of the top killer diseases in ourcountry. Now another fact isalthough COVID is primarily arespiratory disease but in largenumber of cases it is leading to car-diac problems as well. Hence moreawareness needs to be spread inthis regard.

What exactly is CardiacDisease? :

Major function of the heart ispumping of blood after purifica-tion and oxygenation in lungs.Now when this basic functioningof the heart is obstructed it leadsto a number of heart diseases,results can vary as per the serious-ness and complexities of the dis-ease. One can also be born with itand it can be develop due to otherdiseases and unhealthy habits,food pattern and smoking.

A number of COVID patientsare reporting with heart block. Astudy suggests serious COVIDpatients are at 10 times risk ofdeveloping heart diseases. Hencetake extra precaution and lead ahealthy life in order to lower therisk.

There are some diseases whichplay a major role in predisposingto heart diseases.

There are a few standard riskand well established risk factors forblockages in the heart. Theseinclude high blood pressure, dia-betes, high cholesterol level, fam-

ily history of heart disease andsmoking.

Obesity — particularlyabdominal obesity can predisposeto heart disease both directly aswell as indirectly — by increasingthe incidence of high blood pres-sure and blood sugar.

Diabetes (high blood sugar) —in particular it is a very major riskfactor in India and its incidence israpidly increasing in both rural andurban India. Not only do Diabeticshave a higher incidence of cardiacblockages, they also have morecomplex and difficult to treatblockages.

If one is suffering from any ofthe above risk factors, they shouldbe more cautious and get them-selves regularly evaluated. It isalso extremely important to followthe treating doctors’ advice andtake your prescribed medicines ontime as well as follow all life style

advice.Talking about COVID and

heart disease, it has been seen thatCOVID and heart diseases have atwo way association. Patients withCOVID 19 infection have a high-er incidence of heart diseases suchas heart attacks, heart failure andvarious types of electrical problemsof the heart. On the other side,many established heart patients arenow suffering from unexpectedcomplications due to untimely fol-low up with doctors because fearof infection in hospital premises.Hence heart patients need to beregular with their medication andprescription and also have regularfollow ups with their treating doc-tors. Don’t ignore even a minorsymptom and stay in touch withyour concerned doctor.

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The Moyamoya Disease is a rare vascular disease which affectsthe brain. This disease is commonly seen in children between

five-10 years of age and in adults between 35-50 years of age.Though certain genes have been linked to the disease, the exactcause remains elusive. In India, this disease is frequently seenin denizens of West Bengal and North East India.

This condition causes a progressive slow narrowing of majorintracranial blood vessels which supplies blood to both hemi-spheres of the brain. The body tries to compensate for thereduced blood supply by opening up previously nonfunction-ing small vascular connections between the adjacent blood ves-sels in order to improve the blood supply. Despite the best efforts,as the disease progresses, the blood supply to the brain progres-sively diminishes and a stage of decompensation occurs. Thereis an imbalance between blood oxygen supply and the demandof the brain. In the above event the patient starts experiencinginitially fleeting neurological deficits leading to symptoms suchas weakness, headaches, seizures which inevitably worsens andends in permanent neurologic deficits of varying degrees.

Diagnosis of Moyamoya disease is mainly done with MRIand MR angiogram (MRA) or CT angiogram. The MRI showsthe presence of any infarctions or bleed and presence of signif-icant brain damage. MRA reveals the brain blood vessels paten-cy and caliber. It demonstrates the narrowing of blood vesselsand the presence of opened up vascular channels trying to shoreup the brain blood supply. When the diagnosis cannot be madewith certainty on MRI, a slightly invasive procedure known asdigital subtraction angiogram (DSA) will be needed. It is thegold standard and can establish the diagnosis irrefutably.

Ancillary tests like SPECTscans may be done in certaincases to demonstrate func-tionally the adequacy of bloodsupply.

Management ofMoyamoya disease� Untreated patients have apoor prognosis with majorneurologic deficits, includingdeath occurring in 70-75 percent by two years.� Medical managementincludes blood thinning tablets(aspirin and clopidogrel) toprevent formation of smallclots which may block thealready compromised narrowblood vessels and cause stroke.However though medicationsintuitively seem to reduce therisk of future stroke, it does notprevent the progression of thedisease and a substantial num-

ber of patients develop strokes in the months or years ahead.� Surgical intervention consists of augmenting the intracranialblood supply by using the blood vessels on the scalp. By thisprocedure there is an immediate and a delayed increase in bloodsupply to the brain which offsets the progressive oxygen deficitthe brain will face due to the ongoing progressive occlusion ofthe intracranial blood vessels. � The surgical procedures include a direct bypass between a scalpvessel (superficial temporal artery) and an intracranial vessel(branch of middle cerebral artery) and indirect procedures likeplacing the temporalis muscle directly on the brain surface. Thedirect surgery improves the blood supply immediately and theindirect procedures result in slow parasitisation of the muscleblood supply by the brain.� At present, surgical intervention offers the best outcome forMoyamoya disease. If the patient has already suffered majorstrokes then the surgical outcome and improvement is not good.It needs to be done early in the course of the disease when thediagnosis is made. Surgery prevents development of stroke andneurologic deficits, but cannot undo the damage of an alreadysustained stroke.

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�������Clove is a sweet andaromatic spice, found both inwhole and ground forms.They are widely used inIndian dishes and beveragesto add flavour.

Cloves are low in caloriesbut a rich source of man-ganese. They’re otherwise aninsignificant source of nutri-ents. In addition to containingseveral important vitamins andminerals, cloves are rich inantioxidants.

Studies alsoshow that clovesmay promoteoral health,thanks to theirantimicrobialproperties, whichmay help kill harmfulbacteria.

Cloves can also help

boost immunity. It may alsohelp in regulating blood sugarlevels.

The eugenol in cloves pos-sess strong anti-inflammatoryproperties and helps ease painby stimulating pain receptors inthe body. Clove oil or extract

provides relief fromarthritis, inflam-mation and any

pain in gen-eral.

Most women lovelong hair. After all,one ends up

styling it differently eachtime one goes out.Therefore, when clumpsof hair start falling, it canlead to worry. And rightlyso. In some cases, it can bedue to hormonal imbal-ance and a visit to thedoctor can help. Otherwisehere is what one cando:

Given the bene-fits of aloe vera, mosthouseholdshave theplant in theirhome —either intheir gar-den or in apot. Take a stalkand extract pulp.Apply it to hair andscalp and leave it for

45 minutes. Rinse withnormal water. Do thisthree-four times in a week.

Use fresh lemon juiceor lemon oil. Apply freshlemon juice to the scalpand hair. Wait for 15 min-utes and shampoo. Youcan use lemon essentialoil diluted in coconut oiland apply.

Apply coconut milk.Not only is it good for hair

re-growth, it con-trols hair fall as well.Grate coconut and

squeezeits milk.

T h e napply this

milk to thescalp. Cover

your head witha towel and leave

it for 20 minutes.Wash hair with

shampoo.

Hair fall can be worrisome.While, in many cases, it can be

due to hormonal imbalance andrequires doctor intervention, in

most cases simple ingredientsfound in our kitchen can do the

trick, says ROSHANI DEVI

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Keto, Paleo and GM diet; most of us musthave tried at least one of them during

our weight loss journey. While the resultsmust have varied, it is important to knowthat eating healthy is possible withoutfalling for these extreme diets. Even if youare aiming for weight loss, you just have tomake small changes to your food habits andyou can reach your ideal weight. It is allabout making the right choice when itcomes eating healthy.

Muesli instead of paratha for break-fast: While we all love parathas, they havea lot of calories. Eating them on a regularbasis can lead to a series of health problemssuch as high blood pressure, high choles-terol and obesity. That’s why switching theparatha with muesli is a wise option.Muesli is essentially a mix of rolled oats,nuts, seeds, and a bunch of dried fruits. Itis not only delicious when paired with tonedmilk or low-fat yoghurt, muesli is also agreat source of nutrition.

Green tea instead of regular tea/cof-fee: We often don’t realise how much sugarwe consume daily through our tea and cof-fee. High intake of sugar can increase therisk of diabetes, obesity and heart diseases.It is also bad for our skin, hair and teeth.Switching regular tea/coffee with green teais the right way to go. Rich in antioxidants,green tea has many health benefits, fromweight loss to reduced risk of cancer.

Olive oil instead of regular cookingoil: Olive oil has loads of heart-protectivepolyphenols that lower cholesterol levels inthe blood. Packed with a generous amountof omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, thismiraculous oil is also known to improvebrain health and cure depression. Moreover,it has anti-inflammatory properties andcontains mono-saturated fatty acids that aidweight loss by boosting metabolism. Withso many health benefits to offer, youshould definitely replace your regularcooking oil with olive oil.

Stevia instead of sugar: Stevia is a pop-ular plant-based, carb-free and calorie-freealternative to sugar. Unlike artificial sweet-eners, it is extracted from the leaves of aplant called Stevia rebaudiana. It is muchsweeter than sugar and a small amount issufficient. Taking stevia instead of sugar canpromote weight loss as it essentially packsno calories. However, it is crucial to choosethe right stevia as many brands add artifi-cial sweeteners and fillers.

A2 cow ghee instead of regular ghee:Ghee is an indispensable part of any Indiankitchen. From using it as a seasoning forBiryani to putting it on chapatis, ghee is per-haps one of the most used ingredients. But,there are several reasons why you mustreplace your regular ghee with A2 cow ghee.Easier to digest, A2 cow ghee is loaded withVitamin A, which is good for eyes. Since itcontains essential fatty acids, it also helpsin maintaining healthy cholesterol levels.Additionally, A2 cow ghee is Keto-friend-ly and maintains general immunity."����� �����)������D����� ��� ��������-� ����

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Maxirich, the flagship multivitaminbrand of Cipla Health Ltd has intro-duced Tulsi Drops, a natural immu-

nity booster that effectively supports respira-tory and digestive health, gives relief fromcough and cold and helps in stress manage-ment.

While the pandemic has taken the world bystorm, The World Health Organisation, Ministryof Health and Family Welfare and Ministry ofAYUSH have highlighted the importance of hav-ing a strong immune system that enables andbuilds an individual's overall capability to bat-tle diseases and stay healthy.

Taking this into consideration MaxirichTulsi Drops has been specially curated withremedial ingredients best known to fightpathogens and that one could be susceptible to.It includes 95 per cent concentration of five vari-eties of tulsi: shyam tulsi, van tulsi, ram tulsi,nimbu tulsi, vishnu tulsi all of which have med-icinal properties fostering complete wellbeing.Tulsi is a powerful antioxidant with anti-viraland anti-microbial properties useful in the treat-ment of cold, cough, sore throat, heart diseases,eye diseases, mouth infections, and stomach ail-ments.

A combination of five types of tulsi makesMaxirich Tulsi Drops an ideal inclusion in youreveryday routine to remain strong and active.

The flagship product in the range which isMaxirich Daily Multivitamin supplementsinclude more than 13 essential vitamins andminerals in a softgel capsule which helps fulfilthe body’s nutrient requirement, in the eventthere is a shortfall.

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,/��� Deep Learning — it is the artificial intel-

ligence (AI) that powers today’s self dri-ving cars, chatbots, personal assistants(such as Alexa, Cortana, Siri etc.), facialrecognition in social media and law enforce-ment agencies. The collaboration betweenProf Angshul Majumdar of IIIT Delhi andProf Emilie Chouzenoux of INRIA, Saclay,Paris, harnesses the power of deep learn-ing to screen drugs that have the potentialto treat COVID-19 infections. “This is thefirst of a kind AI powered study for antivi-ral selection”, says Prof Majumdar.

In scientific literature this is called ‘drugrepositioning’. Current approaches arebased on rudimentary models like networkdiffusion, similarity matching, matrix fac-torisation, classification etc. In contrast, ourapproach (DeepVir), integrates the powerof deep representation learning with biolog-ical insights via graphical regularisation.Furthermore, Prof. Chouzenoux boosted

DeepVir with a state-of-the-art optimisa-tion approach based on hybrid proximalalternating minimization (HyPALM); inshort “it is Deep Learning on steroids,” sheexplains.

Our deep learning AI model, DeepVir,selects Chloroquine, Remdesivir,Umifenovir, Favipiravir and Ribavarin. Allof them are undergoing clinical trials fortreating COVID-19 infections.

The use of chloroquine and hydroxy-chloroquine for COVID-19, both as a pro-phyalactic and as a treatment, is commonknowledge today. Major pharma companies(Zydus Cadilla, Cipla, Jubilant) in India havealready launched Remdesivir for treatingCOVID-19 infections. The Russian drugUmifenovir has received DGCI nod forphase III trials in the country a while back.Several big Pharma companies havelaunched the Japanese drug Favipiravir fortreating novel coronavirus infections.

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During the current time, heartpatients are not only more at

risk of infection but also theirtreatment process was also dis-turbed due to the lockdown andfear of infection. A case in pointis one of the patients lost his lifeas he did not come to the hospi-tal on time due to the fear ofcatching infection.

Hence considering everyrelated risk factor, the followingsteps should be kept in mind espe-cially in regard to cardiac diseases:� Keep your BP under check,make sure your blood sugar is in

control.� Be in contact with your con-cerned doctor and tell her/himabout every update regardingyour disease.� Do go to the hospital if doctorsuggests. Don’t ignore your dis-ease because of fear of infection.Take along only one adult withyou for help so that there will belesser risk of overcrowding andfollow every required precau-tion.� Exercise daily. Some exercisepatterns suggested in Yoga,Pranayama also lower the risk of

heart diseases. If you are alreadya heart patient then takes yourconcerned doctor’s suggestionfirst in this regard.� Take extra care of your foodhabits. Keep the nutrition valuehigh; make a diet plan with yourconcerned doctor’s suggestion.� Keep a positive outlook towardslife. Take your mental health alsoseriously and consult a specialistif face any related issue.

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In April 1992, mayhem hit theIndian financial sector as the

nation woke up to the biggeststock market scam. So huge wasits impact on the Dalal Street thatit led to structural changes in thefinancial security system of Indiawith new reforms in stock trades.However, what remains untold isthe story of the mastermindbehind it. SonyLIV brings Scam1992: The Harshad Mehta Storyunraveling the man and the storybehind one of the biggest stockmarket scandals in India.

Produced by ApplauseEntertainment in association withStudio Next, this series is a finan-cial crime thriller based on thebestseller book The Scam writtenby notable journalists DebashisBasu and Sucheta Dalal. Themakers spent over three years onthis series to ensure absoluteaccuracy in detailing right fromthe script to the choice of actors

and the overall treatment. Adapted by dialogue writers

Sumit Purohit, Saurav Dey,Vaibhav Vishal and Karan Vyas,it is a gripping tale of the mete-oric rise and the steep fall of theflamboyant Big Bull of the stockmarket — Harshad Mehta.

Directed by national award-winning filmmaker HansalMehta, the series is led by PratikGandhi and ShreyaDhanwanthary along with anensemble cast of Satish Kaushik,Sharib Hashmi, AnantMahadevan, Nikhil Dwivedi, KKRaina, Lalit Parimoo amongstothers.

Indranil Chakraborty, Head,Studio Next says, “We are delight-

ed to foray into OTT with thisseries that reflects on a landmarkevent of the Indian stock market.The incident was integral to shap-ing up India’s financial securitysystems and hence was a storywaiting to be told. It’s a new sto-rytelling format for us and we hadHansal leading us through thisprocess.”

Hansal says, “The series isinspired by true events and shedslight on a man about whom notmuch is known. In a tale that iseven more relevant today, thisshow gives you an intimate peekinto the middle-class aspirationsof a common man who rosefrom rags to riches while manag-ing to subvert and deceive the

banking system.”Sameer Nair, CEO, Applause

Entertainment says, “We have puttogether a great ensemble ofactors and a team of talentedwriters who worked tirelessly onthe show. Based on the book writ-ten by Sucheta Dalal andDebashis Basu, this show marksanother chapter in Applause’sslate of book adaptations wherewe have dramatised the storywhile staying true to the essenceof book.”

Ashish Golwalkar — Head-Content SET, Digital Business,Sony Pictures Networks Indiasays, “The story offers an apt mixof talent, storytelling and tech-nique. We are hopeful that likeour previous offerings, this onewill also open to a warm audienceresponse and reinstate ourpromise of bringing ‘stories ofIndia’ to the audience.”

(The series releases on October9 on SonyLIV.)

Earlier, long weekends used to bethe most awaited times of the year,especially during the festive sea-

son between October and December.However, is it same this year too, giventhat a pandemic has taken over theworld? With the festive season roundthe corner and work-from-home/any-where becoming the new normal, weanalyse how travel suppliers and hotelsare looking at it.

A recent survey by LocalCircles saidthat only 19 per cent of the people areopting to go on a holiday during theforthcoming festive season.

As per the survey, the much-await-ed festive season is unlikely to bring anycheers to the travel industry, includingthe airline sector, as less than 20 per centof people polled plan to travel duringOctober-November amid the pandem-ic. The majority of those having travelplans said that they do not want to maketheir booking till they get closer to theirtravel date.

The survey was conducted to getcitizen pulse on how people in India areplanning to travel in the forthcomingfestive season, given the current situa-tion with COVID-19. It received over25,000 responses from people located in239 districts of India. “Only 19 per centcitizens (respondents of the survey) saythat they will undertake festive travelthis year due to COVID-19. Of thosewho plan to travel, only 23 per cent saythey will travel by a flight and another38 per cent plan to travel by car or acab,” reported the survey.

When the citizens were asked aboutthe kind of travel they plan to under-take during the festive season, it saidthat as many as 69 per cent respondentsdon’t want to be travelling this year and

would prefer to stay at home. Three percent of the respondents said they willtravel to a holiday destination, while 13per cent said they will visit family andfriends, and another three per cent saidthey will do both, as per the survey.However, 12 per cent respondents wereunsure about what they would do.

People in many parts of India plantheir travel back home or vacations dur-ing this time, it said adding, this year,however, looks drastically different dueto the fast spreading COVID-19 pan-demic, lockdowns, unlocks and just a lotof caution amongst people. ThoughIndia opened domestic air and traintravel in June, the daily caseload hasgrown by 10 times during this period.

Well, it certainly raises questions athow hotels and travel aggregators arepreparing to keep the travellers comingin and give them more chances to keepconsidering their long-awaited plans.

A BETTER PLANNishant Pitti, CEO & Co-founder,

EaseMyTrip, which is supporting itscustomers to plan their travel at afford-able prices via air travel, said, “Inorder to boost the air travel, we havecome up with the ‘Lowest AirfareChallenge’, which guarantees that thecustomers will get the lowest airfare ondomestic and international flight book-ings departing from India or else we willrefund double the difference amount tothe customer, who will be then eligiblefor the refund if s/he has made book-ing via EaseMyTrip and within fourhours of booking flights with us, userfinds a lower domestic or internation-al airfare for the exact same itinerary onany other competitor website/app(India-based reputed online travel

agency).”Talking about the developments

post that, he added, “After we put outthe challenge, the business is gettingpicked by each day up to over 1.65 lakhpassengers. They are opting to go tonearby places more. We are also receiv-

ing bookings from many, who aregoing for car travel and isolated places.”

NOT TOO FARThe survey also revealed that many

service providers in the road transporta-tion sector are trying to build capacity

to seize the festival demand uptick.Many online portals are even consider-ing to get more providers for outstationrental cars and taxi services as people areopting to travel to nearby places more.

Kush Kapoor, CEO, Roseate Hotels& Resorts, said, “The Roseate Ganges,Rishikesh, is sold out during all theweekends in October 2020. Our ‘drive-cation’ packages have been well receivedby our guests who have eagerly beenwaiting to experience the wellness resortwith tailor-made experiences, properhygiene and safety standards and easyaccessibility from Delhi-NCR.”

NEWER OPTIONSWhile it’s true that a lot of people are

avoiding travel due to COVID scare,Roshan D’Silva, CEO, TripVillas, said,“It’s even more interesting to note thatthere is a marked shift away fromhotels to independent villas, homestaysand apartments. People want to traveland we have seen a surge in bookingsduring this time. People are booking formuch longer as compared to the two-night bookings as compared to how itwas before.”

Actor Harshita Gaur whowill be seen in the forth-

coming season of Mirzapurhas roots from this city inUttar Pradesh. Her maternalgrandfather hailed from Deoriawhich is close to Mirzapur andhe grew up there along with hissiblings.

Speaking about her child-hood memories, Harshita said,“Just talking about the showmakes me go all nostalgic as Ihave spent quite an amount ofmy childhood there. My nana-ji and his younger brother weresettled in Mirzapur. He eventu-ally settled in Amritsar but weused to visit our cousins inMirzapur during summer hol-idays. I have actually seen gunsand pistols in that home. WhenI used to visit the city womenused to be in ghoonghat till theirwaists. Only a few years back,I got to know that my naani wasfighting a case due to some ille-gal land grabbing. In fact, ourfamily was advised not to go toMirzapur or Wasliganj becauseof the threat of being killed onsight. It still sends shivers downmy spine when I think about it.”

She further added, “WhenI was offered the series, it tookme back to some childhoodmemories. My family has suf-fered and got threats from anextended family. Even when Iheard the narration and readthe script, I had my childhood

memories play out like a showreel as it wasn’t new to me. Yearsback if I was probably spottedin that city I would have beenkilled on sight. So somewhereyes, I resonated with the factthat things like these do hap-pen.”

Harshita will be seen repris-ing the role of Dimpi Pandit inthe series starring Ali Fazal,Vikrant Massey, PankajTripathi, Shweta Tripathi,Divyendu Sharma and RasikaDugal.

(The series will stream onAmazon Prime Video fromOctober 23.)

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Senior leg-spinner Amit Mishra wasruled out of the ongoing IPL along

with pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar, whocould also miss the tour of Australia atyear-end, after the duo sustained dif-ferent injuries while competing forDelhi Capitals and SunrisersHyderabad respectively.

While DC’s Mishra fractured hisring finger while bowling againstKolkata Knight Riders on October 3,Bhuvneshwar picked up the thighmuscle injury on October 2 when SRHtook on Chennai Super Kings. He islikely to be out of reckoning for themuch-awaited trip Down Under.

The 37-year-old Mishra had threewickets from three games this seasonwhile Bhuvneshwar also had equalnumber of scalps albeit after playing amatch more.

“Amit has fractured his ring fingerand is out of IPL tournament.

Obviously, it is a very disappoint-ing news considering he wasintegral to DC’s plans,” asource from Mishra’s man-agement team confirmed.

Delhi Capitals’ laterissued a press release,stating that the bowler will con-sult a specialist on his return toIndia for recovery and rehabili-tation.

“Mishra will now consult witha specialist over the next few daysto determine the most appropri-ate course of management for thisunfortunate injury. Everyone atDelhi Capitals wishes him a speedyrecovery,” the statement read.

As far as Bhuvneshwar isconcerned, the extent of hisinjury is still not clear but itcould take a good 6 to 8weeks for the 30-year-oldto completely recover fromthe setback.

“Bhuvneshwar Kumar is out ofIPL with a thigh muscle injury. Itis probably a grade 2 or 3 injury,

which could mean that he wouldbe out for at least 6 to 8 weeks.It might effectively rule him outof India’s tour of Australia,” asenior BCCI official told PTI.

What will hurt the fran-chises is the fact that both bowlerswere integral to the team’s plans.

Mishra, as a wrist-spinner,was very important strategicallyfor Capitals on bigger grounds ashe showed his skills againstChennai Super Kings with brilliant

figures of 4-0-23-0. He returned1/14 in 2 overs, including the wick-

et of Shubman Gill, against KKR.It was while trying to get hold of

a return catch offered by Nitish Ranathat Mishra fractured his fingerwhich forced him to leave the

ground.In case of Bhuvneshwar,

the injury was sustained while bowlingthe 19th over of CSK’s innings duringtheir clash.

There was heavy strapping on histhigh but he was in so much pain thathe hobbled out of the ground aftersending down just one ball as AbdulSamad finished his over.

His injury will be a massive blowto SRH skipper David Warner as hestruggles for quality death bowlers inhis side which is short on experience.

In case of Bhuvneshwar, he mightstay back in the UAE as the Indianteam’s physio Nitin Patel is also thereas part of the BCCI’s medical team.

Being a centrally-contracted play-er, Bhuvneshwar's rehabilitation will beentirely looked after by the BCCI.

However, for the past one yearBhuvneshwar has been mostly out, dueto side strain and hamstring injuriesand only recently, made a comebackduring the IPL. He had missed the NewZealand tour earlier this year.

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Rajasthan Royals may need torejig their Indian line-up slight-

ly when they try to pull their IPL cam-paign out of the current rot againsta supremely confident MumbaiIndians on Tuesday.

Starting with a bang atSharjah on a conducivebatting surface, Royalshave suddenly hit a slumpon bigger grounds ofDubai and Abu Dhabiwith their willow-wielders not look-ing half as menacing as they did dur-ing the first two games.

“The last two games haven’tgone to plan for us after what was areally good start to the tournament.But I guess that’s the way T20 crick-et goes sometimes. We have been out-played by the opposition on bothoccasions,” Royals skipper SteveSmith said on the eve of the match.

“Hopefully, I am able to scorea few runs tomorrow. I’ve missedout on the last two games but thathappens,” Smith added.

Mumbai Indians, on theother hand, have been solidin their last couple of gamesand are currently on top ofthe table by virtue of a bet-ter net run-rate compared toDelhi Capitals, who are alsoon six points.

After a heart-breaking lossto Royal Challengers Bangalorein the Super Over, the defend-ing champions bounced backin style, defeating Kings XIPunjab and SunrisersHyderabad by 48 and 34runs respectively.

The best part of MI’scamaign so far is that theyhave ticked almost all theboxes with skipper RohitSharma (176) in good touchand now Quinton de Kockalso looking ominous.

Kieron Pollard is consistent asever, Ishan Kishan has looked solidand Hardik Pandya is also finishinggames with the bat. Hardik’s broth-er Krunal joined the party in the lastgame.

MI’s replacement pacer JamesPattinson (7 wickets) has been a rev-

elation alongside theredoubtable Jasprit Bumrahand the crafty Trent Boult.Once Hardik starts bowling,all the pieces of the puzzlewill nicely fit in.

In contrast, Royals would like toarrest the slide before Ben Stokescompletes his quarantine and isavailable from October 11.

One of the primary reasons oftheir fall has been the poor form ofJos Buttler (47 runs from 3 games)along with yet another dismal showfrom Jaydev Unadkat (1 wicket from4 games at 9.97 economy). Theyoung Riyan Parag has also seemed

completely out-of-depth unlikelast year.

Skipper Steve Smith mightconsider dropping Parag, who is

not exactly a top of the lineoff-spinner, and give anoth-er much-talked-aboutyoungster Yashasvi Jaiswala go at the top of theorder. Smith might bring

himself in the middle togive stability to the line-up.

He indicated that therecould be a few changes.

“We will see which ofour players fit in our plansfor tomorrow’s match and fitin certain scenarios in thegame and try and get thebest match-ups forMumbai.”

In bowling, Smith maytry out the experiencedVarun Aaron who has a lotmore pace than Unadkat orthe young Kartik Tyagi whocan bowl at 140 kmph.

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����� E*��F� RoyalChallengers Bangalore cap-tain Virat Kohli inadvertent-ly applied saliva on the ballafter stopping a crackingdrive during an IndianPremier League match hereon Monday, violating theICC’s Covid-19 protocol.

Fielding at shot coverduring his team’s gameagainst Delhi Capitals, Kohlidid not let the ball, that washeaded in his direction at agreat speed, go past him.

While the Indian captaindid not show any discomfort,he ended up applying saliva

on the ball at the DubaiInternational Stadium. Thishappened after DC openerPrithvi Shaw launched into abooming drive against pacerNavdeep Saini in the thirdball of the third over after

Kohli elected to field.The skipper, though,

realised his mistake immedi-ately, smiled and alsoacknowledged the slip-upby raising his hands.

Amazed at Shaw’s pow-erful shot and Kohli’s brilliantfielding, Sachin Tendulkarpromptly put out a tweet inappreciation. “What anincredible shot by@PrithviShaw there! A mil-lion dollar reaction by@imVkohli after almostapplying saliva on the ball.Sometimes instincts takeover!" Tendulkar tweeted.

*�� &�'���-:��

On a day of incredibleresults, Aston Villa pro-

duced one of the most stun-ning scorelines in the histo-ry of Premier League footballas they beat defending cham-pions Liverpool 7-2 onSunday, not long afterManchester Unitedwere beaten 1-6 at OldTrafford by JoseMourinho’s Tottenham.

Villa captain JackGrealish was in inspired formwhile Ollie Watkins scored afirst-half hat-trick asLiverpool were ripped apartby the club that just aboutstayed in the Premier Leagueby surviving relegation on the

last day of the previous sea-son.

Jurgen Klopp was sotaken by surprise atLiverpool’s collapse that heactually wore a bemused grinat times as his team fell to thebiggest defeat of the German’s

career.Liverpool’s chief

tormentor was OllieWatkins, who becamethe first Villa player toscore a hat-trick againstthe Reds for 88 years.

Watkins bagged Villa’sfirst after a mistake byLiverpool keeper Adrian inthe fourth minute.

He netted again in the22nd minute beforeMohamed Salah got one

back.John McGinn’s deflected

effort made it three andWatkins scored Villa’s fourthbefore half-time.

Ross Barkley, in his debutafter joining on loan fromChelsea, scored Villa’s fifthafter the break with the aid ofa deflection.

Salah reduced the deficitbut Jack Grealish netted num-ber six before Villa’s captainran clear to cap the rout.

Second placed Villa havewon all three league gamesthis term, while Liverpool’sfirst defeat of the season leftKlopp wondering how to fixa leaky defence that hasshipped 11 goals in fourmatches.

No defending championin 67 years has lost so heav-ily in England. It’s been 57years since Liverpool wasbeaten as badly.

“We lost kind of the plot,”Liverpool manager JürgenKlopp said.

“The results are strange.”With Leicester opening

Sunday with a 3-0 loss toWest Ham, it leaves Evertonand Villa, whose last titlescame in the 1980s, leading theway with perfect starts.

* � ��'�(

Petra Kvitova returned to theFrench Open quarter-finals

for the first time in eight yearson Monday while German vet-eran Laura Siegemund, whoreached her first Grand Slamquarter-final.

Two-time Wimbledonchampion Kvitova is through tothe last eight at Roland Garrosfor just the second time. Herbest run in Paris came when shereached the semi-finals in 2012.

Seventh seed Kvitova, whomissed last year’s tournamentdue to an arm injury,defeated China’s ZhangShuai 6-2, 6-4 and willnext play world No 66Siegemund, who madethe second week of aGrand Slam for the firsttime in 16 attempts.

“It’s been really difficult. Itwas a tough one for sure,”said Kvitova, who will climbback into the top 10 follow-ing her performance in

Paris.“She served very well

and played very aggressive. I’mreally happy I managed to wineven if I didn’t manage to serveit out at 5-2.”

“When the roof is closed it’slike being indoors and I reallylove to play,” added Kvitova.

Siegemund, 32, advanced toher first Grand Slam quarter-final in singles after defeatingformer junior champion PaulaBadosa of Spain 7-5, 6-2. Shebecame the fourth unseeded

player to make the last eight thisyear, joining Iga Swiatek, NadiaPodoroska and MartinaTrevisan.

“I didn’t get angry whenthings weren’t going my way,”said Siegemund, who trailedBadosa 5-3 in the first set. Ithink we were both kind of

struggling but Ithink I kept ittogether better.”

Siegemundwon last month’s

US Open women’sdoubles titles alongside

Vera Zvonareva.

NOVAK WINSNovak Djokovic reached

the French Open quarterfinalsfor the 11th consecutive year,extending his own Open-erarecord at the tournament.

The top-seeded Djokovicfaced his toughest challengeyet this year at Roland Garrosbut still won rather easily againstNo. 15 seed Karen Khachanov6-4, 6-3, 6-3 at Court PhilippeChatrier, taking the last fourgames.

The stadium’s new $55 mil-lion retractable roof was shutbecause of a heavy downpour.

Djokovic has won all 12 setshe’s played in Paris this year anddropped a total of only 25games so far. He lost five gamesin each of his first three match-es.

This victory puts Djokovicin his 47th Grand Slam quarter-final, second only to RogerFederer’s 57.

*���� �</�.<�:�

Test specialists Cheteshwar Pujara,Hanuma Vihari and the support staff

led by head coach Ravi Shastri are likely tohave a six-day quarantine in Dubai duringthe business end of the IPL before flyingoff to Australia.

India are set to travel to Australia witha jumbo squad comprising 23 to 25 play-ing members across formats consideringthe requirements of the series to be playedin bio-bubble amid the Covid-19 pandem-ic.

The BCCI is trying to work out thelogistics to smoothly transfer the squadfrom one bio-bubble in the UAE to anoth-er in Australia where they might have togo for a two-week quarantine unless therules are relaxed.

While there was a plan that coachingstaff and non-IPL players will leave direct-ly for Australia, an alternate plan is beingworked out.

“The most feasible plan right nowlooks like entire team flying togetherfrom Dubai in one chartered flight. For that,the two Test specialists Cheteshwar Pujara,Hanuma Vihari, along with our coachingstaff of Ravi Shastri, Bharath Arun, VikramRathour and R Sridhar will arrive in Dubai,most probably at the end of this month,”a BCCI source, currently in Dubai, told PTI.

“In all likelihood, the non-IPL playersand the coaching staff along with other sup-port staff, would have to undergo a six-dayquarantine with a separate bubble beingcreated for them. They will also undergotests on Days 1, 3 and 6. Once IPL is over,the squad will come together and fly outDown Under,” he said.

The plan is easier to manage logistical-ly as most of the players who will be board-ing the flight to Australia are playing in theprotected environment of the IPL.

*�� &�'�<�>��

Barcelona dropped theirfirst points of the season

on Sunday as Sevilla madea statement of intent in La Liga’s titlerace by drawing 1-1 at Camp Nou.

Luuk de Jong gave Sevilla an earlylead and while Philippe Coutinho lev-elled two minutes later, the visitors werearguably the better side in a frantic con-test.

The draw brings an end to RonaldKoeman’s perfect start as Barca coachbut he might not be too displeased witha point, even if his team also hadchances to snatch a winner.

“We were less energetic than in thefirst two games but that also dependson the opposition,” said Koeman.“They have defended well.”

“Getting a point at thisground is always tough,(but) I am not satisfied. Wehad our chances. It istoo bad we couldn’thave gotten a betterresult,” Lopeteguisaid.

Real Madridare three pointsahead of Barcelonabut having playeda game more,after their 2-0 winover Levante earlier onSunday sent them tothe top of the table.

*���� .=&��

Australian all-rounderMarcus Stoinis cracked a

blistering 53 while Prithvi Shawsmashed 42 runs to take DelhiCapitals to a competitive 196for four against RoyalChallengers Bangalore in theirIndian Premier League matchhere on Monday.

Stoinis, who was droppedon 30 by Yuzvendra Chahal,made RCB pay for the mistakeas he raced to his 53 in just 26balls, hitting two toweringsixes and six fours at the DubaiInternational Cricket Stadium.

Shaw, however, missedwhat would have been a well-deserved half-century.

Invited to bat, Shaw pro-vided a blazing start, hittingthree fours off pacer IsuruUdana in the game’s very firstover. His innings was lacedwith five boundaries and twomaximums.

The opening duo ofShikhar Dhawan (32 off 28-balls) and Shaw put up a 68-

run stand and looked to go thedistance before the RCB

bowlers made a splendidcomeback.

Mohammed Siraj providedthe first breakthrough for histeam by removing the danger-ous looking Shaw.

After Udana accounted forDhawan, young DevduttPadikkal pulled off an excellentcatch at the boundary to dis-miss DC's in-form skipperShreyas Iyer (11).

Stoinis and Rishabh Pant(37) immediately got into therecovery act. The duo stitchedan 89-run partnership.Shimron Hetmyer also playeda short cameo, the Guyanesehitting a six in the last over.

Siraj (2/34 in 4 overs) wasthe most impressive bowler forRCB as he picked the keywickets off Shaw and Pant.

After an expensive firstover, Chahal pulled thingsback but couldn’t provide abreakthrough for his team.

Playing in place of AdamZampa, Moeen Ali (1/21) andUdana (1/40) claimed a wick-et each, while WashingtonSundar (0/20 in four overs) wasthe most economical.

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