&ˇˆˆˇ. / ˇ˚˛ RNI Regn. No. MPENG/2004/13703, Regd. No. L-2 ...€¦ · 8 hours ago  ·...

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A fter rebel leader Sachin Pilot asserted he was still a Congressman and had no intention to join the BJP, the Congress top leadership has stepped in to bring him back to the “family” even as Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot seemed totally opposed to his “homecoming”. In his separate media inter- action, Pilot laid emphasis on attempt to malign him before the Gandhis by alleging that he hobnobbed with the BJP. If his emphasis on “Gandhis” was his way to reach out to them, then it didn’t go unanswered. For the first time during the entire cri- sis, Sonia Gandhi reportedly asked Ashok Gehlot not to crit- icise the former Deputy CM and make way for his return. Sources said soon after Gehlot slammed Pilot before the media, he received a call from the party chief who advised him to take steps to defuse the situation and not do anything to belittle Pilot. This followed a press con- ference by Congress chief spokesman Randeep Surjewala in Jaipur who appealed to Pilot to return “home” (Congress) and give up the BJP’s hospital- ity at Manesar under the Haryana Government. Later, Gehlot, who had been foul-mouthing Sachin Pilot also came with a tweet that he “loved” the new gener- ation of leaders and tomorrow belongs to them. This was an apparent reference to his for- mer Deputy CM. Sources said that Rahul Gandhi, who has not been involved in Gehlot-Pilot face- off all these days, directed senior Congress leaders to get in touch with Pilot and pave the way for ensure his return. But buoyed by the fact that several Pilot supporter MLAs were sending feelers to come back to Jaipur, Gehlot unleashed a scathing attack on Pilot in the afternoon, accusing Pilot of indulging in horse trading to topple the Congress Government in Rajasthan. Taking a jibe at Pilot Gehlot said that only English fluency and being handsome is not everything. Claiming that the Pilot camp was also hand-in-glove with the BJP’s attempts at horse-trading in the recent Rajya Sabha elections, Gehlot said, “Horse trading was being done in Jaipur, we have the proof. We had to keep people at a hotel for 10 days, if we had not done that, the same thing that is happening in Manesar now would have happened back then.” In the morning, reflecting Gehlot’s hard stand, Rajasthan Speaker issued notices to Pilot and 18 other rebel Congress MLAs after the party sought their disqualification from the State Assembly. Sacked Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot and the other MLAs were asked to respond to the notices by Friday. The notices were issued on Tuesday. The MLAs had defied a whip and did not attend its leg- islature party meetings held on Monday and Tuesday. “Notices have been issued to 19 rebel MLAs, including Sachin Pilot, yesterday,” Speaker CP Joshi said. Sources said the notices were sent after the chief whip of the Congress in Rajasthan Assembly, Mahesh Joshi, wrote to the Speaker, seeking pro- ceedings against the rebel MLAs in accordance with the 10th Schedule of the Constitution. The Congress also cited past Supreme Court rulings to seek their disqualification. Notices have been sent to all rebels through e-mail and WhatsApp. Physical copies have also been delivered to the official Jaipur addresses and constituency addresses of the rebel MLAs. Among those sent notices are Vishvendra Singh and Ramesh Meena, who were sacked along with Pilot from the State Cabinet after their rebellion against Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot. Earlier, in separate state- ments to media channels Sachin said that there was no truth in the rumours of him joining the BJP. He said that he had worked very hard to defeat the saffron party in the Assembly elec- tions that saw Congress return to power. He said that he is yet to take a decision on his future course of action. T he Centre on Wednesday launched the IIT-Delhi developed low-cost coron- avirus testing kit worth 650 approximately. The test kit, Corosure, has been touted as the most affordable probe-free RT-PCR diagnostic kit available whose test results would be available in three hours and the sensitivity of the tests are com- parable to kits that are currently available and has been approved by the ICMR. HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and HRD Minister of State Sanjay Dhotre took to twitter to launch the affordable testing kit. Newtech Medical will pro- duce the affordable coron- avirus testing kit which is cheaper than the usual RT-PCR kits because it does not require the “probe” components that are imported. On the occasion, Dhotre said amid the coronavirus cri- sis, when widespread testing is most needed, this very low-cost diagnostic kit is a great feat that the IIT-Delhi has achieved in such a short period. “Innovation and entrepre- neurship are complimentary to each other, and are also most crucial for an Atmanirbhar Bharat. IITs have very robust- ly nurtured these two. Even in schools across the country, cli- mate for innovation and new technology is being created very actively,” Dhotre said. He also said the country’s youth have a lot of passion and potential for innovation and entrepreneurship. They only need to be provided right cli- mate, resources and motiva- tion. IITs have done a great job in this sphere, Dhotre said. “This IIT Delhi technolo- gy should change the paradigm of Covid testing in the country, both in terms of scale and cost. This product, approved by the ICMR and the DCGI, is being launched tomorrow. Two mil- lion tests at an unbeatable price,” said IIT Delhi Director Ramgopal Rao on Tuesday. “The sensitivity of this in- house assay is comparable to that of commercially available kits,” said Professor Vivekanandan Perumal, lead member of the team. O ver 6,700 personnel of the Central paramilitary forces, like CRPF and BSF, have contracted Covid-19 till so far. Of them 3,093 are still active cases while 36 patients have died. The CRPF tops the list with 2,290 cases out of which 1,117 are active. As many as 1,160 patients have recovered and 13 died. Closely following the CRPF, the Border Security Force (BSF) has recorded 2,093 cases out of which 1,024 are active and 1,060 patients have been cured. The force has suffered nine casualties due to Covid-19. The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) that secures vital installations air- ports, seaports and land ports besides other Government buildings and transport infra- structure has reported 1,306 coronavirus cases. Of the 1,306 cases, 417 are active and 880 have recovered and nine per- sonnel have succumbed to the deadly viral infection. The Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), the lead agency for the Line of Actual Control with China, has reported 707 cases of infection includ- ing 356 active cases and 348 cured patients besides three casualties. The Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), the designated border guarding force for the frontiers with Nepal and Bhutan has also reported 329 cases of Covid-19 with 179 active cases and 148 recovered besides at least two casualties. The number of coro- navirus infection cases in the SSB ranks has doubled in the last 10 days and the number of active cases has spiralled up six fold during the period. The paramilitary forces have added 2,000 new cases of Covid-19 during the last 10 days and the number of active patients jumped from about 2,000 to 3,000. The ITBP was the first paramilitary to set up a quar- antine centre here to isolate evacuees from Wuhan China in February and beyond. The ITBP is also managing the biggest Covid care centre in the country with 10,000 beds at Chattarpur here. A fter ensuring that troops have withdrawn from the stand-off sites at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Eastern Ladakh, India and China mutually agreed on modalities to implement the next phase of disengagement. In the 15-hour marathon talks, India also made it clear that all protocols for border manage- ment for maintaining peace have to be followed. This was the fourth round of talks between the Corps Commanders Lt General Harinder Singh and Major General Liu Lin on Tuesday in Chushul, Ladakh, in the last one and a half months with the Indian side also insisting in the latest round that onus is on China to pull back speedily, sources said here on Wednesday. Given the sensitive nature of talks, Army Chief General M M Naravane held at least two ses- sions of talks in New Delhi on Wednesday to anaylse the par- leys. He later briefed the top political leadership while senior commanders also apprised the China Study Group. This high-powered group comprises senior officials of Home, Defence and External Affairs Ministries. In a related development, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will make an on the spot review of the situation on the LAC during a two-day visit starting July 17. The Army Chief will accompany the Minister who is likely to visit some forward posts in Ladakh. Rajnath was earlier scheduled to visit Leh on July 3. It was postponed as Prime Minister Narendra Modi toured the for- ward areas there on July 3. Reacting to the latest round, China on Wednesday said the parleys held to reduce tension at the border had made progress in disengaging troops in the western section of the disputed boundary. The Chinese Foreign Ministry said it hoped New Delhi would work with Beijing to safeguard peace and tran- quility in the border areas. Responding to a query on the talks, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said: “As I know on July 14, bor- der troops of China and India held the fourth round of com- mander-level talks building on the consensus of the previous three rounds and the imple- mentation of relevant work have reached progress on pro- moting further disengagement between troops at the western section of the boundary and de-escalating tensions.” “We hope India can work with China to implement our consensus with real actions and jointly safeguard peace and tranquility in the border areas,” she said in her short response without sharing details or elaborating on the exact agenda of the talks. T he Trump administration has agreed to rescind its July 6 rule, which temporarily bared international students from staying in the United States unless they attend at least one in-person course, a feder- al district court judge said on Tuesday. The U-turn by the Trump administration comes follow- ing a nationwide outrage against its July 6 order and a series of lawsuits filed by a large number of educational institu- tions, led by the prestigious Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), seeking a permanent injunctive relief to bar the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from enforcing the federal guidelines barring interna- tional students attending col- leges and universities offering only online courses from stay- ing in the country. As many as 17 US states and the District of Columbia, along with top American IT companies such as Google, Facebook and Microsoft, joined MIT and Harvard in the US District Court in Massachusetts against the DHS and the ICE in seeking an injunction to stop the entire rule from going into effect. “I have been informed by the parties that they have come to a resolution. They will return to the status quo,” Judge Allison Burroughs, the federal district judge in Boston, said in a sur- prise statement at the top of the hearing on the lawsuit. The announcement comes as a big relief to international students, including from India. In the 2018-2019 academ- ic year, there were over 10 lakh international students in the US. According to a recent report of the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP), 1,94,556 Indian stu- dents were enrolled in various academic institutions in the US in January. Judge Burroughs said the policy would apply nation- wide. “Both the policy directive and the frequently asked ques- tions would not be enforced anyplace,” she said, referring to the agreement between the US government and MIT and Harvard. Congressman Brad Scneider said this is a great win for international students, col- leges and common sense. “The Administration needs to give us a plan to tackle our public health crisis — it can’t be recklessly creating rules one day and rescinding them the next,” he said in a tweet. R ebel Congress leader Sachin Pilot is now left with few options but to climb down after several MLAs close to him opposed any truck with the BJP and risk their membership of the Assembly after they were served disqualification notice by the Rajasthan Speaker. Making this difficult for Pilot is Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, who is opposed to the efforts mooted by the Central leadership to bring back pilot once again in the “Congress family”. Sources said Gehlot wants Pilot to be expelled from the party con- tending that Pilot could remain a “threat forever” to the stabil- ity of the State Government. After his unceremonious exit as Rajasthan Deputy CM and State PCC president, it will be interesting to see whether Pilot turns this rebellion into a turning point in his political career. One of the options before him is to accept a com- promise formula to be back as PCC chief. And there he can also have a major say in the next pan- chayat elections in State politics. It’s unlikely that Pilot will like to be back in the Government and work under Gehlot any more as Deputy Chief Minister. Another option for Pilot is to form a regional outfit with his loyalists, challenging both the Congress and the BJP in the next elections in Rajasthan, a State, which traditionally has, for at least the last two decades, witnessed the consecutive rule of the BJP and the Congress. Pilot has a stronghold on the Meena-Gujjar community and both communities have 8 per cent vote shares each in the State. In eastern Rajasthan, the Congress won several seats in the 2018 Assembly elections because of the support of both these two communities. Another possibility, which though Pilot has denied, is to get in touch the BJP and break a sizeable number of MLAs to head a BJP-led Government. But this option is not like- ly to be a cakewalk for Pilot. The likes of former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, veteran leader Gulabchand Kataria, State party president Satish Poonia are unlikely to agree on Pilot as one of the CM candidates. Raje will be an important factor for the BJP before it con- siders including Pilot in the party. Despite the electoral losses, Vasundhara continues to command Rajasthan BJP with a stronghold. A njali Jain of St Joseph’s Convent School grabbed the position on city topper in the CBSE Class X Board exams in city. She secured 99.2% in the board exams. The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) declared the Class X board results on Wednesday. The results were declared at 1:55 pm making the students and parents happy and relaxed. Notably, Sareen Chhabra of Delhi Public School (DPS) secured second position with 98.8% and Siddhi Gothi of Sagar Public School Saket Nagar secured the third posi- tion with 98.6%. It is to be noted that the CBSE Board declared the results of class XII on Monday and on Wednesday the results of class X were declared. The passing percentage in Bhopal zone is 92. 86%. Around 18 lakh 60 thou- sand students appeared for the X board examinations this year from across the country. In Madhya Pradesh, about 1.5 lakh students registered for X board exams from 1308 schools. It is to be noted that the board examinations of class X and XII were cancelled due to the outbreak of Covid-19. The results were prepared on the basis of students performances in their internal examinations. The results were announced on the official web- site of CBSE www.cbse.nic.in. Besides, the results are also available on DIGILocker App. Anjali Jain while sharing her contentment said, “I pre- pared really hard and was expecting the result. I would like to give all credit of my suc- cess to my parents and teach- ers.” Sharing her future plans, she said, “ I want to get into Indian Economic Services.” I n a sensational incident in Mandla district on Wednesday, two persons assaulted members of the rival family with sharp edged weapons killing six persons on the spot. One of the attack- ers was killed after allegedly being beaten up by the locals while the second one was apprehended by police after the assault. A property dispute is said to be behind the incident. Those killed in the incident were massacred in gruesome manner, said locals. The mat- ter took place in village Maniya under the limits of Bijadandi police station on the border of Jabalpur and Mandla district on Wednesday evening. Continued on Page 3 RNI Regn. No. MPENG/2004/13703, Regd. No. L-2/BPLON/41/2006-2008

Transcript of &ˇˆˆˇ. / ˇ˚˛ RNI Regn. No. MPENG/2004/13703, Regd. No. L-2 ...€¦ · 8 hours ago  ·...

Page 1: &ˇˆˆˇ. / ˇ˚˛ RNI Regn. No. MPENG/2004/13703, Regd. No. L-2 ...€¦ · 8 hours ago  · Vivekanandan Perumal, lead member of the team. Over 6,700 personnel of the ... While

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After rebel leader SachinPilot asserted he was still a

Congressman and had nointention to join the BJP, theCongress top leadership hasstepped in to bring him back tothe “family” even as RajasthanChief Minister Ashok Gehlotseemed totally opposed to his“homecoming”.

In his separate media inter-action, Pilot laid emphasis onattempt to malign him beforethe Gandhis by alleging that hehobnobbed with the BJP. If hisemphasis on “Gandhis” was hisway to reach out to them, thenit didn’t go unanswered. For thefirst time during the entire cri-sis, Sonia Gandhi reportedlyasked Ashok Gehlot not to crit-icise the former Deputy CMand make way for his return.

Sources said soon afterGehlot slammed Pilot beforethe media, he received a callfrom the party chief whoadvised him to take steps todefuse the situation and not doanything to belittle Pilot.

This followed a press con-ference by Congress chiefspokesman Randeep Surjewalain Jaipur who appealed to Pilotto return “home” (Congress)and give up the BJP’s hospital-ity at Manesar under theHaryana Government.

Later, Gehlot, who hadbeen foul-mouthing SachinPilot also came with a tweetthat he “loved” the new gener-ation of leaders and tomorrowbelongs to them. This was anapparent reference to his for-mer Deputy CM.

Sources said that RahulGandhi, who has not been

involved in Gehlot-Pilot face-off all these days, directedsenior Congress leaders to getin touch with Pilot and pave theway for ensure his return.

But buoyed by the factthat several Pilot supporterMLAs were sending feelers tocome back to Jaipur, Gehlotunleashed a scathing attackon Pilot in the afternoon,accusing Pilot of indulging inhorse trading to topple theCongress Government inRajasthan. Taking a jibe atPilot Gehlot said that onlyEnglish fluency and beinghandsome is not everything.

Claiming that the Pilotcamp was also hand-in-glovewith the BJP’s attempts athorse-trading in the recentRajya Sabha elections, Gehlotsaid, “Horse trading was beingdone in Jaipur, we have theproof. We had to keep peopleat a hotel for 10 days, if we hadnot done that, the same thingthat is happening in Manesarnow would have happenedback then.”

In the morning, reflectingGehlot’s hard stand, RajasthanSpeaker issued notices to Pilotand 18 other rebel CongressMLAs after the party soughttheir disqualification from theState Assembly. Sacked DeputyChief Minister Sachin Pilotand the other MLAs were askedto respond to the notices byFriday. The notices were issuedon Tuesday.

The MLAs had defied awhip and did not attend its leg-islature party meetings held onMonday and Tuesday.

“Notices have been issuedto 19 rebel MLAs, includingSachin Pilot, yesterday,”

Speaker CP Joshi said.Sources said the notices

were sent after the chief whipof the Congress in RajasthanAssembly, Mahesh Joshi, wroteto the Speaker, seeking pro-ceedings against the rebelMLAs in accordance with the10th Schedule of theConstitution.

The Congress also citedpast Supreme Court rulings toseek their disqualification.Notices have been sent to allrebels through e-mail andWhatsApp. Physical copieshave also been delivered to theofficial Jaipur addresses andconstituency addresses of therebel MLAs.

Among those sent noticesare Vishvendra Singh andRamesh Meena, who weresacked along with Pilot fromthe State Cabinet after theirrebellion against Chief MinisterAshok Gehlot.

Earlier, in separate state-ments to media channels Sachinsaid that there was no truth inthe rumours of him joining theBJP. He said that he had workedvery hard to defeat the saffronparty in the Assembly elec-tions that saw Congress returnto power.

He said that he is yet to takea decision on his future courseof action.

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The Centre on Wednesdaylaunched the IIT-Delhi

developed low-cost coron-avirus testing kit worth �650approximately. The test kit,Corosure, has been touted asthe most affordable probe-freeRT-PCR diagnostic kit availablewhose test results would beavailable in three hours and thesensitivity of the tests are com-parable to kits that are currentlyavailable and has beenapproved by the ICMR.

HRD Minister RameshPokhriyal Nishank and HRDMinister of State Sanjay Dhotretook to twitter to launch theaffordable testing kit.

Newtech Medical will pro-duce the affordable coron-avirus testing kit which ischeaper than the usual RT-PCRkits because it does not requirethe “probe” components thatare imported.

On the occasion, Dhotresaid amid the coronavirus cri-sis, when widespread testing ismost needed, this very low-costdiagnostic kit is a great feat that

the IIT-Delhi has achieved insuch a short period.

“Innovation and entrepre-neurship are complimentary toeach other, and are also mostcrucial for an AtmanirbharBharat. IITs have very robust-ly nurtured these two. Even inschools across the country, cli-mate for innovation and newtechnology is being createdvery actively,” Dhotre said.

He also said the country’s

youth have a lot of passion andpotential for innovation andentrepreneurship. They onlyneed to be provided right cli-mate, resources and motiva-tion. IITs have done a great jobin this sphere, Dhotre said.

“This IIT Delhi technolo-gy should change the paradigmof Covid testing in the country,both in terms of scale and cost.This product, approved by theICMR and the DCGI, is being

launched tomorrow. Two mil-lion tests at an unbeatableprice,” said IIT Delhi DirectorRamgopal Rao on Tuesday.

“The sensitivity of this in-house assay is comparable tothat of commercially availablekits,” said ProfessorVivekanandan Perumal, leadmember of the team.

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Over 6,700 personnel of theCentral paramilitary

forces, like CRPF and BSF,have contracted Covid-19 till sofar. Of them 3,093 are stillactive cases while 36 patientshave died. The CRPF tops thelist with 2,290 cases out ofwhich 1,117 are active. Asmany as 1,160 patients haverecovered and 13 died.

Closely following theCRPF, the Border SecurityForce (BSF) has recorded 2,093cases out of which 1,024 areactive and 1,060 patients havebeen cured.

The force has suffered ninecasualties due to Covid-19.

The Central IndustrialSecurity Force (CISF) thatsecures vital installations air-ports, seaports and land portsbesides other Governmentbuildings and transport infra-structure has reported 1,306coronavirus cases. Of the 1,306cases, 417 are active and 880have recovered and nine per-sonnel have succumbed to thedeadly viral infection.

The Indo-Tibetan BorderPolice (ITBP), the lead agencyfor the Line of Actual Controlwith China, has reported 707 cases of infection includ-ing 356 active cases and 348cured patients besides threecasualties.

The Sashastra Seema Bal(SSB), the designated borderguarding force for the frontierswith Nepal and Bhutan has also

reported 329 cases of Covid-19with 179 active cases and 148recovered besides at least twocasualties. The number of coro-navirus infection cases in theSSB ranks has doubled in thelast 10 days and the number ofactive cases has spiralled up sixfold during the period.

The paramilitary forceshave added 2,000 new cases ofCovid-19 during the last 10

days and the number of activepatients jumped from about2,000 to 3,000.

The ITBP was the firstparamilitary to set up a quar-antine centre here to isolateevacuees from Wuhan China inFebruary and beyond. TheITBP is also managing thebiggest Covid care centre in thecountry with 10,000 beds atChattarpur here.

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After ensuring that troopshave withdrawn from the

stand-off sites at the Line ofActual Control (LAC) inEastern Ladakh, India andChina mutually agreed onmodalities to implement thenext phase of disengagement.In the 15-hour marathon talks,India also made it clear that allprotocols for border manage-ment for maintaining peacehave to be followed.

This was the fourth roundof talks between the CorpsCommanders Lt GeneralHarinder Singh and MajorGeneral Liu Lin on Tuesday inChushul, Ladakh, in the lastone and a half months with theIndian side also insisting in thelatest round that onus is onChina to pull back speedily,sources said here onWednesday.

Given the sensitive nature oftalks, Army Chief General M MNaravane held at least two ses-sions of talks in New Delhi onWednesday to anaylse the par-

leys. He later briefed the toppolitical leadership while seniorcommanders also apprised theChina Study Group.

This high-powered groupcomprises senior officials ofHome, Defence and ExternalAffairs Ministries.

In a related development,Defence Minister RajnathSingh will make an on the spotreview of the situation on theLAC during a two-day visit

starting July 17. The ArmyChief will accompany theMinister who is likely to visitsome forward posts in Ladakh.Rajnath was earlier scheduledto visit Leh on July 3. It waspostponed as Prime MinisterNarendra Modi toured the for-ward areas there on July 3.

Reacting to the latestround, China on Wednesdaysaid the parleys held to reducetension at the border had made

progress in disengaging troopsin the western section of thedisputed boundary.

The Chinese ForeignMinistry said it hoped NewDelhi would work with Beijingto safeguard peace and tran-quility in the border areas.

Responding to a query onthe talks, Foreign Ministryspokesperson Hua Chunyingsaid: “As I know on July 14, bor-der troops of China and Indiaheld the fourth round of com-mander-level talks building onthe consensus of the previousthree rounds and the imple-mentation of relevant workhave reached progress on pro-moting further disengagementbetween troops at the westernsection of the boundary andde-escalating tensions.”

“We hope India can workwith China to implement ourconsensus with real actionsand jointly safeguard peaceand tranquility in the borderareas,” she said in her shortresponse without sharingdetails or elaborating on theexact agenda of the talks.

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The Trump administrationhas agreed to rescind its

July 6 rule, which temporarilybared international studentsfrom staying in the UnitedStates unless they attend at leastone in-person course, a feder-al district court judge said onTuesday.

The U-turn by the Trumpadministration comes follow-ing a nationwide outrageagainst its July 6 order and aseries of lawsuits filed by a largenumber of educational institu-tions, led by the prestigiousHarvard University andMassachusetts Institute ofTechnology (MIT), seeking apermanent injunctive relief tobar the Department ofHomeland Security (DHS) andthe US Immigration andCustoms Enforcement (ICE)from enforcing the federalguidelines barring interna-tional students attending col-leges and universities offeringonly online courses from stay-ing in the country.

As many as 17 US statesand the District of Columbia,along with top American ITcompanies such as Google,Facebook and Microsoft,joined MIT and Harvard in theUS District Court inMassachusetts against the DHSand the ICE in seeking aninjunction to stop the entirerule from going into effect.

“I have been informed bythe parties that they have cometo a resolution. They will return

to the status quo,” Judge AllisonBurroughs, the federal districtjudge in Boston, said in a sur-prise statement at the top of thehearing on the lawsuit.

The announcement comesas a big relief to internationalstudents, including from India.

In the 2018-2019 academ-ic year, there were over 10 lakhinternational students in theUS. According to a recentreport of the Student andExchange Visitor Program(SEVP), 1,94,556 Indian stu-dents were enrolled in variousacademic institutions in the USin January.

Judge Burroughs said thepolicy would apply nation-wide. “Both the policy directiveand the frequently asked ques-tions would not be enforcedanyplace,” she said, referring tothe agreement between the USgovernment and MIT andHarvard.

Congressman BradScneider said this is a great winfor international students, col-leges and common sense.

“The Administration needsto give us a plan to tackle ourpublic health crisis — it can’t berecklessly creating rules oneday and rescinding them thenext,” he said in a tweet.

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Rebel Congress leader SachinPilot is now left with few

options but to climb downafter several MLAs close to himopposed any truck with the BJPand risk their membership ofthe Assembly after they wereserved disqualification noticeby the Rajasthan Speaker.

Making this difficult forPilot is Rajasthan ChiefMinister Ashok Gehlot, who isopposed to the efforts mootedby the Central leadership tobring back pilot once again inthe “Congress family”. Sourcessaid Gehlot wants Pilot to beexpelled from the party con-tending that Pilot could remaina “threat forever” to the stabil-ity of the State Government.

After his unceremoniousexit as Rajasthan Deputy CMand State PCC president, it will

be interesting to see whetherPilot turns this rebellion into aturning point in his politicalcareer. One of the optionsbefore him is to accept a com-promise formula to be back asPCC chief.

And there he can also havea major say in the next pan-chayat elections in State politics.It’s unlikely that Pilot will liketo be back in the Governmentand work under Gehlot anymore as Deputy Chief Minister.

Another option for Pilot isto form a regional outfit withhis loyalists, challenging boththe Congress and the BJP in thenext elections in Rajasthan, aState, which traditionally has,for at least the last two decades,witnessed the consecutive ruleof the BJP and the Congress.

Pilot has a stronghold onthe Meena-Gujjar communityand both communities have 8

per cent vote shares each in theState. In eastern Rajasthan, theCongress won several seats inthe 2018 Assembly electionsbecause of the support of boththese two communities.

Another possibility, whichthough Pilot has denied, is toget in touch the BJP and breaka sizeable number of MLAs tohead a BJP-led Government.

But this option is not like-ly to be a cakewalk for Pilot. Thelikes of former Chief MinisterVasundhara Raje, veteran leaderGulabchand Kataria, State partypresident Satish Poonia areunlikely to agree on Pilot as oneof the CM candidates.

Raje will be an importantfactor for the BJP before it con-siders including Pilot in theparty. Despite the electorallosses, Vasundhara continues tocommand Rajasthan BJP witha stronghold.

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Anjali Jain of St Joseph’sConvent School grabbed

the position on city topper inthe CBSE Class X Board examsin city. She secured 99.2% inthe board exams. The CentralBoard of Secondary Education(CBSE) declared the Class Xboard results on Wednesday.The results were declared at1:55 pm making the studentsand parents happy and relaxed.

Notably, Sareen Chhabra ofDelhi Public School (DPS)secured second position with98.8% and Siddhi Gothi ofSagar Public School SaketNagar secured the third posi-tion with 98.6%.

It is to be noted that theCBSE Board declared theresults of class XII on Mondayand on Wednesday the resultsof class X were declared. Thepassing percentage in Bhopalzone is 92. 86%.

Around 18 lakh 60 thou-sand students appeared for the

X board examinations this yearfrom across the country. InMadhya Pradesh, about 1.5lakh students registered for Xboard exams from 1308 schools.

It is to be noted that theboard examinations of class Xand XII were cancelled due tothe outbreak of Covid-19. Theresults were prepared on thebasis of students performancesin their internal examinations.

The results were

announced on the official web-site of CBSE www.cbse.nic.in.Besides, the results are alsoavailable on DIGILocker App.

Anjali Jain while sharingher contentment said, “I pre-pared really hard and wasexpecting the result. I wouldlike to give all credit of my suc-cess to my parents and teach-ers.” Sharing her future plans,she said, “ I want to get intoIndian Economic Services.”

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In a sensational incident inMandla district on

Wednesday, two personsassaulted members of the rivalfamily with sharp edgedweapons killing six personson the spot. One of the attack-ers was killed after allegedlybeing beaten up by the localswhile the second one wasapprehended by police after theassault.

A property dispute is saidto be behind the incident.Those killed in the incidentwere massacred in gruesomemanner, said locals. The mat-ter took place in village Maniyaunder the limits of Bijadandipolice station on the border ofJabalpur and Mandla districton Wednesday evening.

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Page 2: &ˇˆˆˇ. / ˇ˚˛ RNI Regn. No. MPENG/2004/13703, Regd. No. L-2 ...€¦ · 8 hours ago  · Vivekanandan Perumal, lead member of the team. Over 6,700 personnel of the ... While

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Amidst rampant specula-tions that the State capital

could be put into total lock-down for some days, districtcollector Avinash Lavania hereon Wednesday clarified thatadministration has no plans ofdoing so, at least in near future.

“For the time being, we willpersist with Sunday lockdownwhen all commercial establish-ments will remain closed barringthose supplying essential com-modities. And locals would notbe allowed to step out of theirhomes on Sundays”, he said.

Rumours of lockdown inBhopal and Madhya Pradeshwere making rounds in fullvigour on social media asCovid-19 fresh cases are on therise since the unlock was imple-mented in the State.

“We have no proposalunder consideration for impos-

ing lockdown in Bhopal, saidthe collector adding those areaswhere infection is spreadingrapidly will be put under strin-gent measures”, he added.

Recently total lockdownwas imposed in Ibrahimganjarea in old Bhopal after freshcases of infections were report-ed from there in herds.

Bhopal’s situation has notworsened so much that is whyabsolute lockdown isn’trequired and meeting ofDistrict Crisis ManagementCommittee isn’t being organ-ised, added the collector.

He however accepted that

locals are not abiding by socialdistancing norms in shops andoffices adding that such peopleare subjected to penal action bylocal authorities.

A similar decision has alsobeen taken in Indore recentlywhich has reported spike infresh cases of infection.Meanwhile Gwalior is putunder total lockdown for aweek, starting from Tuesday.

Shivraj Government’s pub-licity department too tweeted amessage on Wednesday clarify-ing that there are no plans toimpose total lockdown inMadhya Pradesh from Thursday.

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Chief Minister Shivraj SinghChouhan dedicated 15

development works costing�4147.95 lakh and laid founda-tion stone of 15 developmentworks worth �2523.81 lakh inAgar Malwa.

Chouhan said that he hadnot left any stone unturned in thepast and will not leave any stoneunturned in future as well in thedevelopment of the district. TheState Government is of the peo-ple and farmers. The StateGovernment is committed forthe development of people. Onthis occasion, the Chief Ministeralso distributed the benefits ofvarious public welfare schemesamong the beneficiaries.

The Chief Minister wasaddressing the programme orga-nized in Agar Malwa district onTuesday. He said that the StateGovernment is with the peopleof the State in this hour ofCovid-19 crisis. Free ration wasdistributed among the poor andlabourers during the lockdown.If required, ration will be givento poor families in future too.

Arrangement has beenmade to repatriate labourersstranded in other states duringthe lockdown and an amount of�1,000 was deposited in accountsof each migrant labourer. Now,employment is being provided to

the migrant labourers in the Stateitself. The Chief Minister furtheradded that our Government hasdone many things in the last 100days, which the previousGovernment could not do in thelast 15 months. He said that theamount of interest of thosefarmers, who have been declareddefaulters because of non waiv-er of loans under the crop loanwaiver scheme, will be borne bythe State Government.

Chouhan further mentionedthat despite adverse situation, theState Government has procured1.29 crore MT wheat at supportprice from the farmers and theState has achieved the first posi-tion in the country in procure-ment. The Sambal Yojana hasbeen restarted by theGovernment to help poor. Hesaid that immediately after theformation of the Government,about �2200 crore towards cropinsurance has been distributed to15 lakh farmers. An amount of

�4 thousand crore against Kharifcrop insurance will be distributedsoon among the farmers. ShriChouhan mentioned that laptopswill be distributed among thestudents of the merit list ofboard examinations. He statedthat Urban and Rural StreetVendors scheme has also beenlaunched by the Government forpeople conducting business onthela and through shops. Underthe scheme, an interest freeamount of �10 thousand will beprovided to them, he added.

The Chief Minister ShriChouhan said that the day AgarMalwa has been made district,several gifts of developmenthave been given to the district.A large irrigation project hasbeen constructed in the districtand wherever required dams willbe constructed, he added.

Addressing the programme,Rajya Sabha MP JyotiradityaScindia said that the present StateGovernment is a Governmentfor public service.

During the Covid-19 lock-down, Chief Minister Chouhantook prompt decisions in publicinterest to save people from thepandemic. He said that thePrime Minister Narendra Modihas paved a new way for theworld by taking the importantdecision of lockdown on time tosave the lives of 130 crore peo-ple during corona crisis.

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Media ManagementDepartment of

Makhanlal ChaturvediNational University ofJournalism andCommunication has offeredadmissions in BBA (e-com-merce) and MBA (MediaBusiness Management) , thecourses designed as per thedemand in the industry.

“The curriculum of MediaManagement has beendesigned after interaction andinputs from leading academiaand industry professionals,keeping the future of corporatesectors in mind.

Committed to provideexcellence in teaching, thedepartment introduces stu-dents to the concepts ofDevelopment, Planning,Functioning, Media Marketingand Brand building of MediaEnterprises. The core task ofMedia Management course isto create professionals, who canbridge the gap between theo-retical disciplines of manage-ment and the specifics of Mediaand Corporate sectors”, said itsHoD Dr Avinash Bajpai.

The department is provid-ing specializations inAdvertising and MarketingCommunication, CorporateC o m m u n i c a t i o n ,E n t e r t a i n m e n tCommunication and E-com-merce. The alumni of thisdepartment are working inleading positions in both mediaindustries as well as corporatesectors. The department focus-es on innovative teaching ped-agogy where learning is action-oriented. Regular industrialvisits, guest lectures, field studyand industry-institute inter-face are the key features of thedepartment.

Admissions will be givenon the basis of marks of a pre-vious degree/course.Admission for BBA (e-Commerce) will be given onthe basis of Higher SecondaryCertificate examination in anysubject on 30 seats. Admissionfor MBA (MBM) will be givenon the basis of graduationmarks on 60 seats. Fifty percentminimum marks are requiredfor general category and 45 per-cent for reserved category foradmission in MBA. Last date toapply online is July 31,2020.

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After the outstanding per-formance in class XII, St

Mary's Convent Sr Sec schoolhas yet another victory in classX examination. The schoolproduced 100% result once

again with 22 students scoringabove 90.

The topper Sparsh Agarwalsecured 96%. Both HarleenKaur and Devansh Guptasecured 95.8% and RatnaSolanki scored 95.4%.SparshAgarwal and Monalisa Rout

scored 100 marks in Sanskrit.100 marks are scored in Socialstudies by Harleen Kaur,Ayushi Mittal and Shubhi Sen.

The principal Sr Mary CD,congratulated the students fortheir brilliant performance.

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All Superintendents of Policeof the State were instruct-

ed by Director General ofPolice Vivek Johri that accord-ing to the intention of theGovernment, identification ofgoons and mafias in theirrespective districts in a plannedmanner should be done andstrict and effective actionshould be ensured, DGP wasreviewing the control of crimeand criminals situation in theState through video conference.

He directed the to organ-ise ‘camps’ to register com-plaints of people cheated bychit fund companies and saidthat the camp should be wide-ly publicized so that informa-tion can reach more people andthey can register their com-plaints with ease. These pro-ceedings should be done in acoordinated manner. In this,along with the administrationand the concerned depart-ments, ensure the attachment

of the criminal’s property orother legal action to make theproceedings success. Investigatethe assets acquired by illegalacts by these anti-social ele-ments and ensure joint actionas per government rules.

He emphasised to takeprompt action on drug traf-ficking and said that the sourceof the drug dealers should betraced and deciphered. Heinstructed all the DeputyInspector General of Police toinspect the women police sta-tions themselves in the nexttwo days and submit report tothe State headquarters byreviewing 100 of the womendeaths cases in a week.

Effective control of roadaccidents, effective preventionof crimes against ScheduledCastes / Scheduled Tribes,widespread awareness in thetargeted group against drugabuse, proper arrangementsper protocol during the stay ofVVIPs in the district weresome of issues discussed.

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Miscreants targeted house ofZonal Manager of Kalyan

Jewellers and escaped with 200gm of gold from his Amar Viharcolony resident when the fami-ly was asleep in the house. Policesaid that the victim, HarishNayar was asleep in the night andwhen he and his family woke upin the morning on Tuesday andfound belongings were foundlying over the floor and valuableswere found stolen.

The victim used to keep keysof almirah below his pillowwhich was used by the burglarsto open the almirah and his twopet dogs remained silent duringthe incident said police.

The circumstantial evi-dences suggests that the miscre-ants were insider who have com-

mitted the crime.The victim works with the

Kalyan jewellers. A complaintwas lodged with the police by thevictim in which the victim stat-ed that family went to sleep afterhaving food in the night and inthe early morning hours theyfound that the valuables wereburgled.The victim claimed thatgold jewellery was worth over �8lakh. Police said that the victimhas the habit of keeping the keysbelow his pillow while sleepingand without disturbing him andcontrolling the dogs to remainsilent could be done by someoneacquainted which is under inves-tigation.

Domestic help and securityguards would be questioned inthe further investigation. Policesuspect the role of securityguards in the burglary.

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Online Poets’ Meet was orga-nized on Wednesday.

Observing the unique literaryritual Kavita-Desh, the event wasorganised. It was organised byRabindranath Tagore Universityalong with Tagore World Artand Culture Center and VanmaliShrijan Peeth, Bhopal.

Senior and renowned poetsof Hindi literature were presentduring the poets meet. Poetsincluding Nalini Pathak(Netherlands), Alka Sharma(Chicago), Atmaram Sharma,India (Guest), Sushra Hemvats(Netherlands), Rohit KumarHappy (New Zealand), HarshitaBajpai (Netherlands), BhavnaKunwar (Australia) ), PragitKunwar (Australia), Rama Joshi(UK), Raki Garg (India), SheetalJain (Singapore), VishwasDubey (Netherlands), HemantDeshmukh (Australia), SanjeevDixit (U.A.E.), Shardul Naugaja(Singapore), Harihar Jha(Australia), Rakesh Khandelwal(USA) were participating poetsin the Vishwa Rang programmeof Pravasi Kavita.

The series of Kavita Deshwas inaugurated under thechairmanship of SantoshChoubey, Senior Poet, Directorand Chancellor of VishwaRang, Rabindranath TagoreUniversity, Bhopal. The unfor-gettable event of Kavita Deshprogram was organized underthe guidance of MukeshVerma, the well-known seniornarrator of the country.

Santosh Choubey, said thata good poem is one that pene-trates deep into your memories.Santosh Choubey further saidthat today we are going throughvery difficult times. Poetry andmeaningful compositions inthe coronation of the coronaperiod give us a new energy.The participation of peoplefrom all over the country is alsoa good sign in this programme.

At the programme, thetransparency of literature wasappreciated by the audience.The literature lovers of thecity appreciated the creations ofsome of the poets for theirtremendous contribution inmounting up the literatureamong people.

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Indore: Both, the foreign liquor shop and country made liquorshop are functioning jointly at two places in Indore that is Bijalpurshop besides Indore Rau road and Rau shop at Rau square road.

With this, heavy crowd is witnessed round the clock and inthe evening and night the crowd increases many folds. Due tothe location of both the shops in one premises the customers ofboth the foreign liquor and country made liquor shop are com-ing all together.

As the Government has banned the sitting and drinking facil-ity of ahata and shop bar in the country made and foreign liquorshops due to ongoing corona pandemic and only take away facil-ity is available at the liquor shops but the customers coming topurchase the liquor are sitting Infront of the shops in large crowdand they are not following the guidelines as they are not wear-ing mask and no social distance is also maintained by the cus-tomers and interestingly the salesman of the shops are also notwearing mask.

Instead of stopping the customers for public drinking theshopkeepers are providing facility for drinking infront of the shopby giving the customers plastic glasses and water pouches fromthe window of the ahata and shop bar which are closed. Boththese shops are along the Indore Mhow highway and public drink-ing surprises people passing on the road.

ADEO in charge Balkrishna Verma told The Pioneer that wehave ordered the shopkeepers to follow the mask and social dis-tance and take away and for this every shopkeeper has to appointthe private security guards who should check the customers. Ifthe customers are not wearing mask not following social dis-tancing and drinking Infront of the shops we will take action onthe shopkeeper. PNS

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Absconding 68-year-oldaccused Pyare Miyan

involved in sexual exploitationof minor girls in Ratibad hasbeen nabbed by Bhopal policein coordination with Shrinagarpolice on Wednesday, said SPNorth SK Thota.

SP Thota said that theBhopal police took transitremand of the accused PyaareMiyan and would be brought tothe State capital by tomorrow.

Police took stern actionafter the matter surfaced of thesexual assault, exploitation andmolestation of the accused andhis luxurious lifestyle which hemaintained.

During the investigation,his illegally constructed build-ings and marriage halls wererazed and several of his prop-erties in different parts of thestate and country and in for-eign countries was revealed bythe SIT formed to investigatethe accused.

With the development ofinvestigation new informationof illegal acts by the accusedhave been found.

He used to have partieswith his friends in his proper-ties which are yet to be foundcorrect and till date the flatsand mansions which have beentracked were witness of his lux-ury life. At his flats in Bhopalit was found that the minor

girls were forced to watch pornand were sexually exploited byaccused and his aides duringparties.

Police registered a caseunder sections 376, ,376(2)N,365(A), 120(B) of the IPC andsection 5 and 6 of the POCSOAct after minor girls werefound near his flat late in the

night on July 11. It was also found that he

had strong influence in con-tractors of fisheries at dams inthe state and used to facilitatecontractors for his close aides.

Earlier on Tuesday SITwas formed to investigate thecase and which comprised SP

South SK Thota who wouldlead SIT, Supervision would bedone by ASP Rajat Saklecha,Chief Investigating Officer DSPHimani Soni while CSP TTNagar, SHO TT Nagar, TIMahila Thana, SHO Ratibad,SHO KOh-e-Fiza and SHOShymala Hills would be othermembers of team.

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A46-year-old woman whofell from terrace of his

house in Indrapurion July 6died while undergoing treat-ment on Wednesday; Piplanipolice have started investiga-tion. The deceased identified asRaju Ahirwar was rushed to anearby hospital after he fellfrom terrace while he had gonefor some work.

After the preliminaryinvestigation the body was sentfor the post mortem and a caseunder section 174 of the CrPCwas registered. The police havestarted further investigation.

In the initial investigationpolice found that the deceasedused to work with a hotel andused to live with other employ-ees. On the day of incident hefell from terrace. Initially it wasfound that he was in an ine-briated state but it has to beascertained Police said that if itis found that death was causeddue to negligence a case would

be registered.Meanwhile, a 24-year-old

youth committed suicide byhanging with the ceiling atKokta under Bilkharia policestation area on Tuesday.

Police said that thedeceased identified as MukeshBhilal was found hanging andwhen he was taken to hospitalhe was declared dead.

After the preliminaryinvestigation the body was sentfor the post mortem and a caseunder section 174 of the CrPCwas registered. The police havestarted further investigation.Police have started to investi-gate the reason of death.

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Page 3: &ˇˆˆˇ. / ˇ˚˛ RNI Regn. No. MPENG/2004/13703, Regd. No. L-2 ...€¦ · 8 hours ago  · Vivekanandan Perumal, lead member of the team. Over 6,700 personnel of the ... While

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Chief Minister Shivraj SinghChouhan has said that

good efforts have been made inthe State to control Covid-19.Positive cases are emergingdue to reasons such as organiz-ing marriage ceremonies andparties at social level, henceaction should be taken to con-trol it at both Governmentand social level with alertness.Social distancing, use of masksand precautions must be con-tinued.

The causes behind emer-gence of positive cases must beeliminated. Chief Minister

Chouhan gave these instruc-tions during the review ofCovid-19 situation in the Statetoday. He also conducted a sep-arate review of Khandwa andDatia district.

Home Minister NarottamMishra, Health MinisterPrabhuram Choudhary,Medical Education, BhopalGas Tragedy Relief andRehabilitation MinisterVishwas Sarang, ChiefSecretary Iqbal Singh Bains,Director General of PoliceVivek Johri were present at themeeting.

Chouhan said that the pos-itive cases of Corona inGwalior, Chambal region of theState have emerged due tocontact with other neighbour-ing states including Rajasthanand Uttar Pradesh. Symptomsof the disease were also noticedin citizens in the door-to-doorsurvey during the Kill Coronacampaign. All arrangements

to take samples of patients,their treatment and keepingthem in isolation should beensured to help them recover.

Additional Chief SecretaryHealth Shri MohammadSuleman informed thatimprovements in contact trac-ing and other systems have ledto better control. A total of13,908 cases have recovered.

The State’s recovery rate iscurrently 70.8 percent, higherthan 63.2 percent of the coun-try. Among the big States, onlyRajasthan’s recovery rate ishigher than Madhya Pradesh.

Till Tuesday, 11 thousand703 survey teams have con-ducted health survey of 75percent population of the Statein the Kill Corona campaign.

About 93 thousand sam-ples have been taken, out ofwhich 1611 were positive,which is 1.72 percent of thetotal samples taken.

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Chief Minister Shivraj SinghChouhan said that the

Prime Minister Shri NarendraModi is a Visionary Leader andMan of Ideas. He has convert-ed Covid challenge into anopportunity and has taken aresolution for New Atma-Nirbhar Bharat. To cherishthis resolution, we will makeAtma-Nirbhar MadhyaPradesh.

There is a need for maxi-mum development in farming,farmers and villages in thisregard. Special works havebeen undertaken in MadhyaPradesh for expansion in theirrigation capacities. In previ-ous years, we have expandedour irrigation capacities from

7.5 lakh hectare to 42 lakhhectare and NABARD has con-tributed significantly in achiev-ing this objective. In the com-ing times, we will make effec-tive efforts to supply water toevery inch of farmers’ land.

Chouhan mentioned that itis a matter of joy that approvalhas been given on Wednesdayby the NABARD for ‘LiftIrrigation’ project costing Rs1425 crore of Madhya Pradesh.In addition, it has also sanc-tioned loan of Rs. 4 thousandcrore for other projects. Forthis, ‘I express my gratitude tothe entire team of NABARD’,he added.

The Chief Minister wasaddressing the Women Self-Help Groups, representatives ofFarmer ProducerOrganisations and ProgressiveFarmers of various districtson the occasion of the 39thFoundation Day of NABARDthrough video conferencing atMantralaya today. The Ministerfor Farmer Welfare andAgriculture Development ShriKamal Patel, Minister for

Cooperatives, Public ServiceManagement Shri ArvindSingh Bhadoriya, GeneralManager NABARD D.S.Chouhan, Chief Secretary IqbalSingh Bains, Additional ChiefSecretary Manoj Shrivastava,Additional Chief SecretaryManoj Govil and other werepresent on the occasion.

Chouhan asserted thatMadhya Pradesh has achievedAgriculture Growth Rate of upto 24 percent. The main reasonfor this is special efforts in thefield of irrigation. There hasbeen special contribution ofNABARD in achieving thisgrowth rate. A significant rolehas been played by NABARDin development of agriculture,rural areas and agricultureinfrastructure.

Chouhan said that con-

structive works are being donein the state to strengthen self-help groups. Now, the govern-ment will make available theloan on 4 percent interest ratefor enhancing economic activ-ities. The E-Shakti Yojana ofNABARD will be fully imple-mented. The women self-helpgroups will play an importantrole in converting local intovocal.

The Chief Minister heldtalks with Women Self-HelpGroups, Office Bearers ofFarmer ProducerOrganisations and ProgressiveFarmers through video confer-encing. Chhapli Bai of GangaSelf-Help Group of Ratlamdistrict informed that hergroup is involved in business ofblock printing and manufactur-ing of Punjabi suits and ban-gles. On this, Chouhan saidthat he heard a lot about thebed covers and ‘I would like tosee it’. Expressing happinessover the comment of Chouhan,Chhapli Bai showed him a bedcover made by using blockprinting.

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To make people realize aboutthe importance of cleani-

less, a play ‘Kachra Rakshas’was presented in the OnlineTheatre Festival on Wednesday.

The play was directed byAyaz Khan and was written byAlosk Sharma. The play waspresented by the artists ofParivartan Rangsamooh,Gwalior. This musical play wasbased on the theme “SwachhBharat Abhiyan”.

Earth is distraught with theburden of waste. The publicdoes not care about it. They arein the grip of all diseases, butare not trying to improve.Everyone is keeping their houseclean and spreading dirt out. Tomake the earth free from dirt,Mahatma Gandhi again has tocome to the earth to give peo-ple the right direction.

Gandhi's life is consideredan exemplary life. He vowed towalk on the path of truththroughout his life, followedthe path of lifelong truth.Mahatma Gandhi had the ideaof truth in his mind whichbecomes the inspiration forpeople. Mahatma Gandhi con-tinued to speak his thoughtsfreely without fear and hisspeech inspired everyone andlater he gave freedom to thecountry.

He talked about cleanilessand his dream of swacchbharat. In the play, the blood-seeds are given the shape ofgarbage. Garbage is complete-ly polluting the environment.In the musical drama, the peo-ple remain ignorant of every-thing that is happening around.The play gives out a message ofhow can people contribute inSwacch Bharat Abhiyan. Theplay really explained the impor-tance of cleanliness to the audi-ence.

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From Page 1The attackers, two in numbers, had killed the family mem-

bers of Rajjan Soni, who is said to be associated with the BharatiyaJanata Party.

Initial reports suggested that Soni’s family had an enmity withneighbours. At around 4pm on Wednesday, Santosh and Harishof the rival family assaulted Soni and his family with sharp edgedweapons. Santosh also was killed in the assault, reportedly bylocals who caught hold of the attackers and gave then sound bash-ing after the attack.

The condition of Harish, second attacker, was said to be crit-ical. Senior police officials including the SSP had rushed to thespot after receiving the report of this gruesome massacre. Heavypolice force was deployed in the area after the massacre.

Those killed in the incident included Rajjan Soni aka RajendraSoni, Vinod Soni, Om Soni, Priyesh Soni, Shreyansh Soni andDinesh Soni, the police said adding Santosh Soni of another fam-ily was killed in the assault.

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Aiming to transform theeducation landscape of

Delhi, Deputy Chief andEducation Minister ManishSisodia said 98 per cent resultis not enough and all have to toeducation to next level.

Citing Delhi’s educationmodel, Sisodia said,”

Last five years showed uswhat we can achieve within theexisting education system. Nowour aim is to redefine the edu-cation system to prepare ourstudents for the challenges ofthe 21st century world.”

After the announcements

of Class X and XII of CentralBoard of Secondary Education( CBSE ), Sisodia convened thefirst joint meeting of Delhi’sCurriculum Reform and DelhiEducation Board Committeefor the designing of newCurriculum and Board forDelhi Schools.

Lauding the efforts of gov-ernment teachers, the educa-tion minister encouraged hisstaff and said, Delhi schoolshave achieved success on exist-ing educational parameters.

Sisodia announced theconstitution of two committees- DEC and a committee forcurriculum reforms which he

promised during theannouncement of annual bud-get 2020-21 in Delhi LegislativeAssembly.

Starting the discussionwith the exemplary perfor-mance of Delhi Govt schools inClass 12 Board examinations,Sisodia said that the TeamEducation should start think-ing of taking education to thenext level, “Our Delhi Govtschools have showcased exem-plary performance in class 12board exam results. This is areflection of the work that hasbeen done in the last 5 years.But 98% result is not enough,we have to work together to

take education to the nextlevel,” he said.

Sharing his vision for thenext five years is to transformthe education system of Delhi,Sisodia said the newly consti-tuted committees will guideand tell us how we can achieveour aim.

The Committee for thecreation of the framework forthe Delhi State EducationBoard will study global bestpractices in learning assess-ment, reimagine current assess-ment practices and provide aroadmap for an innovative,student-friendly scheme ofassessment to be followed by

the new Education Board ofDelhi.

Members of this commit-tee include Professor AnkurSarin (faculty member, IIMAhmedabad), Dr. WilimaWadhwa (Director of ASERCentre), Ashok Pandey(Director of Ahlcon Group ofSchools) amongst others.

The Committee for thecreation of the new curriculumfor children upto the age of 14years will study globallyrenowned best practices incurriculum and reforms andrecommend what is best suit-ed for Delhi. The Committee ismandated to re-imagine cur-

rent curriculum, pedagogicalpractices and provide aroadmap for an innovative,student-friendly curriculumfor the pre-primary, primaryand upper primary stages in theschools of Delhi.

Members of this commit-tee include Abha Adams(Advisor Education, Step byStep School); Ameeta Wattal(Principal, Springdales School), Dr Rukmini Banerji ( CEO,Pratham EducationFoundation); Vinod Karate (Social Entrepreneur and CEO,The Teacher App) amongstothers.

The Education Minister of

Delhi stated that he conveneda joint meeting of these com-mittees, as curriculum andassessment are inextricablylinked to each other.

Delhi government underthe leadership of Chief MinisterArvind Kejirwal has shownwhat can be done within theexisting education system inthe past five years, by bringingabout massive transformationin the quality of education.

“The team should thinkabout redesigning the educa-tion system in a way that willsuit the demand and chal-lenges of the 21st centuryworld,” said Sisodia.

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Deputy Chief MinisterManish Sisodia has

announced the constitution oftwo committees to prepare thescheme and framework forformation of Delhi educationboard and curriculum reforms.

The announcement wasmade in a meeting convenedon Wednesday. In the annualbudget 2020-21, the govern-ment had announced its plansfor curriculum reforms andcreating a new board of educa-tion for Delhi.

Starting the discussionwith the exemplary perfor-mance of Delhi governmentschools in Class 12 Boardexaminations, Sisodia said thatthe team education shouldstart thinking of taking educa-tion to the next level.

“Our Delhi governmentschools have showcased exem-plary performance in class 12board exam results. This is areflection of the work that hasbeen done in the last 5 years.But 98 per cent result is notenough, we have to worktogether to take education tothe next level,” he said.

Our vision for the next five

years is to transform the edu-cation system of Delhi andthese two committees consti-tuted for the purpose.

“The committee for thecreation of the framework forthe Delhi State EducationBoard will study global bestpractices in learning assess-ment, re-imagine currentassessment practices and pro-vide a roadmap for an innov-ative, student-friendly schemeof assessment to be followed bythe new education board ofDelhi,” the government said ina statement.

Members of this commit-tee include Professor AnkurSarin (faculty member, IIMAhmedabad), Dr WilimaWadhwa (Director of ASERCentre), Ashok Pandey(Director of Ahlcon Group ofSchools) amongst others.

The committee for the cre-ation of the new curriculum forchildren up to the age of 14years will study globallyrenowned best practices incurriculum and reforms andrecommend what is best suit-ed for Delhi. The Committee ismandated to re-imagine cur-rent curriculum, pedagogicalpractices and provide a

roadmap for an innovative,student-friendly curriculumfor the pre-primary, primaryand upper primary stages in theschools of Delhi. Members ofthis committee include AbhaAdams, Ameeta Wattal(Principal, Springdales School),Dr Rukmini Banerji (CEO,Pratham EducationFoundation); Vinod Karate (Social Entrepreneur and CEO,The Teacher App) amongstothers.

The education ministeralso stated that he convened ajoint meeting of these commit-tees, as curriculum and assess-ment are inextricably linked toeach other.

Speaking at the joint meet-ing, the minister said that thegovernment under the leader-ship of CM Arvind Kejirwalhas shown what can be donewithin the existing educationsystem in the past five years, bybringing about massive trans-formation in the quality ofeducation.

“But now the team shouldthink about redesigning theeducation system in a way thatwill suit the demand and chal-lenges of the 21st centuryworld,” he said.

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Delhi Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal on Wednesday

said that the current Covid -19situation is better than what itwas in June, but the war againstthe disease has not been wonyet. In a digital conference,Kejriwal said there are threekey principles behind Delhi’smodel of fighting Corona, Ourthree principles include team-work and collectivity, correct-ing the lapses when pointedout, and not losing hope,”adding, “Delhi has recorded1.15 lakh cases against 2.25lakh estimated in Delhi byJuly.”

Citing a report of State (Delhi ) health department, hesaid there are only 1.15 lakhtotal cases and 18600 activecases in the

"One and a half monthback, around June 1 when thenumber of Corona cases wasrising, we had presented theprojected number of cases ofCorona as of June 30, July 15,and July 31 in front of the peo-ple. This projection was doneas per the central govt's formu-la of identifying the number ofcases in the future according to

the trend at that time,” Kejriwalsaid that as per the Centre's for-mula, there was a prediction of2.25 lakh cases by July 15according to the surge in thenumber of cases in the firstweek of June. Out of the 2.25lakh cases, around 1.34 lakhactive cases would have beenactive, for which 34,000 bedswould have been needed inDelhi. He said, "But due to thecollective efforts of all the gov-ernments, including Delhi gov-ernment, central government,and the 2 crore people of Delhi,the actual number of cases ishalf from what we had project-ed till July 15. There are1,15,000 Corona cases in Delhi,out of which only 18,600 casesare active against our projectionof 1,34,000 active cases. Only4000 beds, as against our pro-jection that 34,000 beds wouldbe needed. We have arrangedfor 15,500 beds for the treat-ment of Corona patients, out ofwhich only 4000 beds are occu-pied and the rest remainvacant."

"The situation is undercontrol, but as I say, we shouldnot be complacent. The num-ber of cases can surge at anymoment. I want to thank all of

the people who put in theeffort and worked hard to con-trol the Corona situation inDelhi, especially the 2 crorepeople of Delhi. I believe thatit is neither because of me norbecause of the cabinet of min-isters in Delhi, that the situa-tion has been brought undercontrol. It has happenedbecause of the people, doctors,nurses, Corona warriors, whohave worked day and night tocontrol the situation withoutcaring for their lives," he added.

Point out the death rate inthe city, he said that in June,there were days when the num-ber of deaths had climbed tomore than 100, it has nowcome down to 30-35. He said,"We have to reduce the deathsfurther. We did extensive plan-ning to ascertain the causes ofdeaths.” “The first reason wastesting. Because testing was notbeing done on time, the symp-toms increased and got severe,which resulted in the patient'sdeath. We have increased thenumber of tests and people arenot facing any trouble now."

He also said that morebeds were subsequentlyarranged in the hospitals andother facilities in Delhi.

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The total number of Covid-19 positive cases crossed

23000-mark in Haryana onWednesday with the statereporting 678 fresh cases. Thetotal number of positive casesin the state stood at 23306which include 5320 activecases.

Only a day before, the statehad witnessed its biggest single-day spike with 699 positivecases. In the past few days,Haryana continued to witnessspike in Covid-19 positivecases with 658 reported on July12 and 689 cases on July 13.

Seven deaths have alsobeen reported in the last 24hours taking the total toll to319 in the state.

“Out of 678 fresh cases, 216were reported from Faridabad,82 from Gurugram, 66 fromSonepat, 36 from Rohtak, 19from Karnal, 34 from Hisar, 33in Ambala, 25 in Rewari amongother cases,” stated HaryanaHealth Department’s eveningbulletin.

Of the seven deaths, three

from Faridabad, one each fromGurugram, Bhiwani, Panipatand Nuh have been reported inthe last 24 hours in the state,the bulletin stated.

With 319 deaths so far, thefatality rate is recorded at 1.37percent in Haryana. The case-doubling rate in Haryana stoodat 21 days, Covid positive rateat 5.91 per cent, recovery raterecorded at 75.80 percent,according to the health bulletin.

Till date, 17667 patientsincluding 577 in the last 24hours have recovered and havebeen discharged from hospitalsin the state. There are a total of5320 active cases in Haryana.Among critical Covid-19patients, 64 patients are on oxy-gen support while 11 are onventilator in the state, the bul-

letin added.Meanwhile, the cases con-

tinued to surge in the worst-affected districts of Gurugram,Faridabad and Sonepat in thestate.

The total number of casesin the worst-affectedGurugram district were 7208and 110 fatalities have beenreported till Wednesday.Faridabad has recorded 58881cases and 104 deaths whileSonepat with 2170 cases hasrecorded 24 deaths.

As many as four lakh sam-ples have been tested till datein Haryana. The report of 5499samples is awaited, it added.Notably, the Home MinisterAnil Vij had a day before hint-ed at imposing strict restric-tions in the worst affected dis-tricts to stem the spread ofCovid-19 in the state.Commenting on the surge ofcases in four districts namelyGurugram, Faridabad, Sonepatand Jhajjar which are in closeproximity of Delhi, he hadsaid that we are consideringimposition of curfew in thesefour districts.

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The number of novelCoronavirus (Covid-19)

patients witnessed a big jumpon Wednesday with the statehealth department reporting104 new patients of the disease.

The state now has 3785patients of the disease. On theday the authorities discharged81 patients from different hos-pitals of the state after theircomplete recovery from thedisease. A total of 2948 patientshave so far recovered from thedisease. The recovery ratewhich was in excess of 80 per-cent till a few days ago has nowdropped to 77.86 per cent.The doubling rate of the diseaseis 32.86 percent.

The health departmentreported 52 patients of thedisease from Dehradun districton Wednesday. Similarly 24

patients were reported fromNainital district.

In Uttarkashi eightpatients were reported whileseven patients surfaced inPithoragarh and six fromUdham Singh Nagar district. In

Haridwar five patients sur-faced while Champawat report-ed one patient of the disease onthe day.

On a positive note 32patients were discharged inDehradun district, 21 fromUdham Singh Nagar, 11 fromUttarkashi, six from Pauri, fourfrom Almora, two fromChampawat and one fromHaridwar district.The statenow has 754 active patients ofthe disease admitted in differ-ent hospitals. Udham SinghNagar is at top of table in thelist of Covid-19 active caseswith 239 active cases of the dis-ease. Dehradun with 188 activecases are at second position andNainital with 149 active casesis at third spot.

Haridwar has 90,Uttarkashi 18, Pauri 17,Champawat and Tehri 16each, Pithoragarh 12 andAlmora four active cases ofCovid-19. Bageshwar andChamoli have two active caseseach while Rudraprayag hasone active case each of the dis-ease.

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All is not well with thehealth of the doctors tak-

ing care of Covid-19 patients,for as many as 99 doctors havesuccumbed to the disease while1,302 others have been infect-ed in the country.

Issuing a red alert, theIndian Medical Association(IMA) on Wednesday called fortempering the working hoursfor doctors' safety and moni-toring on daily basis the pro-vision of PPEs, physical dis-tancing and sanitisers.

Operation theaters, labourrooms, laboratories and casu-alties require special care. ICUsand Critical Care units deserveclose scrutiny for adherence tobest practices and protocols,the IMA said which representthe medical professionals in thecountry.

The IMA pointed out thatdatabase of the National CovidRegistry shows that in all 99doctors died. Of them, 73 doc-tors were above 50 years of age,accounting for 75 per cent ofthe total deaths among doctors.

While 19 doctors were inthe age group of 35-50 years,accounting for 19 per cent ofthe deaths and seven doctorswere in the age group of below35 years, accounting for 6 percent of the doctor deaths.

In all, 1,401 doctors wereexposed to the virus. Amongthe 1,302 doctors infected, 586are practicing doctors, 566 res-ident doctors, and 150 house

surgeons."Covid-19 death amongst

doctors is of great concern.Medical profession remainsthe beacon of hope for thenation to lead the exit from thepandemic. IMA strongly advo-cates the leadership of doctorsin adopting all scientific bestpractices. Wide disseminationof such knowledge is happen-ing through an avalanche ofwebinars helping doctors toface the challenge," said IMApresident Dr Rajan Sharmaand honourary secretary gen-eral Dr RV Asokan in a jointrelease on Wednesday.

"If Covid-19 mortality hasto be lessened, it has to startwith doctors and hospitals.This requires intense reviewand updating of all adminis-trative set ups in the hospitalsincluding the infection controlprotocols," the IMA heads saidsuggesting that gaps in pro-viding for the safety of doctors,nurses and staff be closed.

They stressed on the needfor a feedback system from thedoctors, employees and publicneeds to be in place besidesadhering to cleaning and sani-tisation protocols.

"Administrative gaps arebeing addressed. Clinics andnursing homes have opened.

Hospitals are functioning tocapacity. Protocols and proce-dures are in place. Doctorsneed to take charge of the sit-

uation and ensure the safety ofthemselves, their families, theircolleagues and staff," they saidcalling upon the senior doctors

who are decision makers forthe institutions to take moreresponsibility to take care oftheir flock.

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Given the tension at theLine of Actual Control

(LAC), the Defence Ministryon Wednesday, in a significantmove, granted emergency pow-ers to the armed forces to pro-cure weapons without delay.They can now buy systems upto �300 crore on an urgent basiswithout clearances.

The decision was taken ata special meeting of theDefence Acquisition Council(DAC) chaired by DefenceMinister Rajnath Singh. It wasconvened considering the secu-rity environment due to theprevailing situation along theNorthern Borders and the needto strengthen the armed forces.

“The DAC delegated thepowers for progressing urgentcapital acquisition cases up to�300 crores to the armed forcesto meet their emergent opera-tional requirements. This willshrink the procurement time-

lines and ensure placement oforders within six months andcommencement of deliverieswithin one year,” the Ministrysaid.

Incidentally, similar emer-gency powers were given afterthe Balakot air strikes inFebruary 2019. The armedforces have separate financialpowers given to Vice Chiefsunder the revenue route to pro-cure ammunition and spares.

The latest order comeseven as the Army has initiatedthe process to buy more than74,000 Sig Sauer assault riflesfrom the US on fast trackbasis. These rifles will consid-erably enhance the firepowercapabilities of the infantry sol-diers guarding the 4,000 kmlong LAC facing China and

750-km long Line ofControl(LOC) with Pakistanbesides combating terrorismand infiltration in Jammu andKashmir and the north-east.

It has also placed an orderfor Israeli-made light machineguns(LMG) besides 250 mis-siles of Spike Anti-Tank GuidedMissiles (ATGM) from Israel.In addition, the Army is alsolooking to procure additionalHeron unmanned Aerial vehi-cles (UAV) and man portableair defence systems amongothers.

The latest DAC decisioncomes days after Rajnathrecently cleared acquisitionsworth over �39,000 croreincluding acquisition of 33frontline fighter jets besidesmissiles and ammunition.

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Depressed mood or anxietyexhibited in Covid-19

patients may possibly be anindication that the virus hasaffected the central nervoussystem (CNS), according to astudy published in the journalThe Laryngoscope.

The study said that thesetwo psychological symptomswere most closely associatedwith a loss of smell and tasterather than the more severeindicators of the novel coron-avirus such as shortness ofbreath, cough or fever.

"The unexpected resultsthat the potentially least wor-risome symptoms of Covid-19may be causing the greatestdegree of psychological distresscould potentially tell us some-thing about the disease," saidstudy researcher AhmadSedaghat from the Universityof Cincinnati in the US.

For the study, the researchteam conducted a prospective,cross-sectional telephone ques-tionnaire study which exam-

ined characteristics and symp-toms of 114 patients who werediagnosed with Covid-19 overa six-week period atKantonsspital Aarau in Aarau,Switzerland.

The severity of the loss ofsmell or taste, nasal obstruc-tion, excessive mucus produc-tion, fever, cough and short-ness of breath during COVID-19 were assessed.

At the time of enrollmentin the study, when participantswere experiencing Covid-19,47.4 per cent of participantsreported at least several days ofdepressed mood per weekwhile 21.1 per cent reporteddepressed mood nearly everyday.

In terms of severity, 44.7per cent of participants report-ed expressing mild anxietywhile 10.5 per cent reportedsevere anxiety.

"We think our findingssuggest the possibility thatpsychological distress in theform of depressed mood oranxiety may reflect the pene-tration of SARS-CoV-2, the

virus that causes COVID-19,into the central nervous sys-tem,"

Sedaghat said researchershave long thought that theolfactory tract may be the pri-mary way that coronavirusesenter the central nervous sys-tem.

Studies using mouse mod-els of that virus have shownthat the olfactory tract, or thepathway for communication ofodours from the nose to thebrain, was a gateway into thecentral nervous system andinfection of the brain.

"These symptoms of psy-chological distress, such asdepressed mood and anxietyare central nervous systemsymptoms if they are associat-ed only with how diminishedis your sense of smell,"Sedaghat said.

"This may indicate that thevirus is infecting olfactoryneurons, decreasing the senseof smell, and then using theolfactory tract to enter the cen-tral nervous symptom," henoted.

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As the incidence of novelcoronavirus infection goes

up globally, universal testingbesides implementing precau-tions like handwashing andwearing mask, according to astudy by John Hopkin'sUniversity, may also help inslowing down the spread ofSARS-CoV-2, the virus respon-sible for causing the deadly dis-ease.

"More testing resources areurgently needed to identify thetrue burden of Covid-19 inlong-term care facilities so thatwe can be more successful incurbing infection and mortal-ity in one of the disease's majorhot spots," said study seniorauthor Morgan Katz from theJHU.

Researchers performeduniversal testing among all 893men and women, at 11 long-term care centres in Maryland,USA. Initially, only people whoshowed symptoms were being

tested by the local healthdepartments. It is found thatamong 893 people, 354 peopletested Covid-19 positive, whileonly 153 were found positivewhen tested based on theirsymptoms. Almost 40 per centof the total people tested posi-tive during universal testing.

Universal screening, there-fore, led to arise in Covid-19cases among residents in theUnited state's long-term carefacilities by 231 per cent. Ofthose who tested positive, about281 people were asymptomatic.

"These results underscorethe importance of universaltesting, as symptom-basedapproaches may miss a sub-stantial number of cases inlong-term care facilities," saidstudy lead author BenjaminBigelow.

"Unrecognised asympto-matic cases among residentscan severely hinder preventivestrategies and increase the riskof the virus dangerously spread-ing," Bigelow added.

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As many as 45.40 lakh peo-ple and 33.96 lakh animals

(big and small) including poul-try in 26 of the 33 districts inAssam are affected by the dev-astating floods. The flood sit-uation continues to deterioratewith the number of deathsgoing up to 61. Over 95 percent of the Kaziranga NationalPark, a world heritage site, hasbeen inundated and 66 wildanimals including two rhinoshave died and 170 animalswere rescued. This is the thirdrhino death in the park- thelargest habitat of one-hornedrhinos in the world - this mon-soon Most of the rivers in thestate are in spate. According tothe India Meteorological

Department, Assam hasreceived 22 percent excess rain-fall so far. The state has received796 mm rainfall as against thenormal of 652 mm so far.

Many roads, bridges, cul-verts and other infrastructurehave been damaged in floodsand landslides across the state.The worst hit districts in thestate are Hojai, Dhemaji,Lakhimpur, Biswanath,Sonitpur, Udalguri, Darrang,Baksa, Nalbari, Barpeta,Chirang, Bongaigaon,Kokrajhar, Dhubri, Goalpara,Kamrup, Nagaon, Golaghat,Jorhat, Majuli, Sivasagar,Dibrugarh, Tinsukia and KarbiAnglong.

According to the Assamstate disaster managementauthority (ASDMA), 4,627 vil-

lages are under flood watersand standing crops in 1.28lakh hectares have been ruined.

More than 44,000 have beenmoved to state relief camps. Asper daily situation report of

ASDMA, over 45.40 lakh peo-ple, 33.96 lakh animals in 26 ofthe 33 districts in Assam are

affected by the devastatingfloods. The death tolls hasreached to 61. The StateGovernment has set up 426relief camps in which morethan 1.18 lakh people havetaken shelter so far.

In a widely-shared videotweeted by BJP MLA MrinalSaikia from Khumtai, is seenwading through waist-deepwater to help rescue people andlivestock marooned becauseof floods.

P Sivakumar, Director,Kaziranga National Park saidthat as many as, 66 animalshave died with 23 deaths (tworhinos, five wild boars, aswamp deer, 14 hog deer, anda porcupine) due to drowningand 12 (all hog deer) after theywere hit by speeding vehicles

and 170 animals were res-cured. A total of 45 animals (allhog deer) have been injured —44 due to floods and one dueto a vehicle hit. Over 80 percentKaziranga Park has been inun-dated and 153 of the total 223forest camps inside are inun-dated, of which 14 of whichhave been vacated. Water fromthe swollen Brahmaputra riverand its tributaries has enteredthe Kaziranga Park, which hasforced tigers and other animalsto flee to human habitats andhighlands for survival.

There were reports of moretigers being sighted when theywere trying to escape flood-waters. One of the tigers wasspotted in Karbi Anglong dis-trict and while another wasseen near the National

Highway 37.Each year, the monsoon

floods inundate the NationalPark, located on the edge of theEastern Himalayan biodiversi-ty hotspots of Golaghat andNagaon district, forcing a largenumber of the wild animals toleave the park and headtowards the nearby hills inKarbi Anglong district bycrossing National Highway-37that passes near the park`sboundary.

According to a paper pub-lished by the Assam govern-ment in 2015, soil erosion hasclaimed over 3,800 sq km offarmland since 1954 – aroundhalf the size of Sikkim.Approximately 8,000 hectaresof land was being eroded everyyear.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi on Wednesday urged

the youth to learn more skillsto enhance opportunities in thechanged world order due to thepandemic crisis. And he laidout the mantra for them: Skill,re-skill and upskill.

He was addressing a webconference on the occasion ofthe fifth year of the SkillMevelopment Mission.Referring to the portal launchedrecently for mapping the skilledemployees and employers, Modisaid this would help the skilledworkers, including the migrantworkers who have returned totheir homes, to access jobs eas-ily and the employers to contactskilled employees.

“The biggest strength ofthe millennials is their ability toget skilled.The ongoing cornon-avirus pandemic has changedthe work culture and started theconcept of work from home; forthis the youth are acquiring new

skills keeping in mind the newwork culture and new nature ofjob,” said Modi.

“People ask me businessand markets are changing toofast, it’s hard to remain relevant.In times of corona, this is evenmore relevant. My answer tothat is to skill, re-skill andupskill. To keep learning newskills is to re-skill and continu-ing to scale it up is to upskill,”he added.

The Prime Minister statedthat the Skill India Missionlaunched five years back has ledto creation of a vast infrastruc-ture for skilling, reskilling andupskilling and enhancingopportunities to access employ-ment both locally and globally.It has led to hundreds of PMKaushal Kendras being set upacross the country and anincrease in the capacity of theITI ecosystem. Due to theseconcerted efforts, more than fivecrore youth have been skilled inthe last five years, said Modi.

He described skills as a gift

which we can give to ourselvesand added that skills are time-less, unique, a treasure trove anda means by which one can notonly become employable butalso help in leading a satisfyinglife. He said that a naturalattraction to acquire new skillsprovides new energy andencouragement in one’s life.Skills are not only a means to alivelihood but also a reason tofeel lively and energetic in ourdaily routine. The PrimeMinister also brought out thedistinction between ‘knowl-edge’ and ‘skills’ in his address.He illustrated this with anexample – that knowing how acycle runs is ‘knowledge’ whileactually being able to ride a cyclewas a ‘skill’. It is important forthe youth to realise the differ-ence between the two and theirdifferent contexts and implica-tions.

With an example from car-pentry, he explained thenuances between skilling,reskilling and upskilling.

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The Government onWednesday said that with

the number of Covid-19patients recovering to 5,92,031,the recovery rate has climbedup to 63.24 per cent.

The actual case load ofCovid-19 is only 3,19,840 activecases. “They are all under med-ical supervision. The normsand standards for HomeIsolation along with use ofoxymeters have helped to keepa check on the asymptomatic ormildly symptomatic patientswithout putting pressure on thehospital infrastructure,” said astatement from the UnionHealth Ministry here .

The surge in recoveredcases is driven by aggressivetesting, timely diagnosis andeffective management of thepatients either through super-vised home isolation or underactive medical attention in thehospitals.

The gap between recoveredand active cases has been con-sistently growing. It stands at2,72,191 today.

The number of recoveredcases outweighs the active casesby a factor of 1.85.

Medical infrastructure inIndia to treat COVID-19patients includes 1,378Dedicated Covid Hospitals(DCH), 3,077 Dedicated CovidHealth Centres (DCHC), and10351 Covid Care Centres(CCC). They have a total of21,738 ventilators, 46,487 ICUbeds, and 1,65,361 Oxygenbeds to treat Covid-19 patients.

The Central Governmenthas distributed 230.98 lakhsN95 masks, 123.56 lakhs PPEsand 11,660 ventilators toStates/UTs/Central institutionsto ensure effective clinicalmanagement of Covid-19.

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Election CommissionerAshok Lavasa has been

appointed as vice president forPrivate Sector Operations andPublic-Private Partnerships atthe Asian Development Bank.The ADB statement said he willsucceed Diwakar Gupta, whoseterm will end on August 31.ADB appoints a vice-presidentfor a term of three years, whichcan be extended by another twoyears.

Lavasa would be only thesecond election commissionerto step down from the pollpanel before completion of histerm after chief election com-missioner Nagendra Singh,who was appointed a judge inthe International Court ofJustice at The Hague in 1973.Lavasa, a retired 1980 batch IASofficer of Haryana cadre, was

appointed as an ElectionCommissioner in January 2018.

Sources said the govern-ment had recommended a fewnominees to the ADB, includingLavasa’s name. Since electioncommissioners serve for a termof six years or till they reach theage of 65, Lavasa, who wasappointed to the post in January2018 and was born in October1957 still has over two years ofhis term left at the ElectionCommission and was on track tobecome the chief election com-missioner next April, when thecurrent CEC, Sunil Arora retires.As per the provisions of theElection Commission(Conditions of Service ofElection Commissioners andTransaction of Business) Act,1991, an EC or the CEC can ten-der his or her resignationaddressed to the President.

Lavasa had made headlines

during the 2019 Lok Sabha elec-tions when he gave a dissentingnote to the Election Commissionof India (ECI) giving a clean chitto Prime Minister NarendraModi and former BJP presidentAmit Shah on charges of violat-ing the Model Code of Conduct.Soon after the elections, threemembers of the Lavasa familyincluding his wife came underthe scanner of the Income TaxDepartment for alleged non-dec-laration of income and dispro-portionate assets.

In September 2019, a noticewas sent to Lavasa’s wife NovelS Lavasa for alleged discrepan-cies in income tax filings. InNovember, the EnforcementDirectorate started an investiga-tion against a company in whichLavasa’s son Abir was a director,for alleged violation of foreignexchange laws. The Lavasa fam-ily members have, however,

denied the allegations.The ADB on Wednesday,

said that Lavasa has a long anddistinguished career in theIndian civil service.

“Lavasa led the Indian del-egation in the climate changenegotiations for the ParisAgreement and was instrumen-tal in finalizing India’s nationally determinedcontributions, which included amajor role of the private sector.At both policy and project lev-els, he made significant contri-butions to the inclusion of theprivate sector in many develop-ment programs in India for dif-ferent sectors such as energy,agriculture, finance, and infra-structure. As Joint Secretary inthe Department of EconomicAffairs, he worked closely withmany ADB projects that had pri-vate sector components,” theADB said.

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Aparliamentary panel onWednesday suggested top

government officials to checkblack marketing of coronavirusmedicines, consider cappingtheir prices and promote local-ly made and easily availablecheaper medicines, sourcessaid.

Home Secretary AjayBhalla, Joint Secretary inHealth Ministry Lav Agarwaland other officials briefed theParliamentary StandingCommittee on Home Affairschaired by Congress leaderAnand Sharma on the man-agement of the Covid-19 pan-demic and phased unlockingand resumption of economicactivities.

During the meeting, thecommittee members expressedconcern about black marketingof drugs such as Remdesivir

and Tocilizumab, the sourcessaid, adding that they also sug-gested capping the price ofthese drugs.

Cutting across party lines,the MPs advocated for pro-moting locally made and easi-ly available medicines, sayingthe pharmaceutical lobby wastrying to suppress the cheaperdrugs by pushing for expensiveoptions, the sources said.The members were also briefedby officials on lockdown and itseffectiveness in checking thespread of the virus in the coun-try. Sources said HomeSecretary Bhalla made a pre-sentation on the overall han-dling of the situation by thegovernment.

The MPs suggested anational database of migrantlabour be created as it will helpin improving their social secu-rity and they should be givendirect cash benefit and rations.

Suggestions were also given forschools to prescribe a fixedtime for online classes andensure counselling of studentsin these tough times, thesources said.

Appreciating the handlingof COVID-19 crisis in the

national capital by the Centre,some members were of theopinion that similar efforts arerequired in other big metrocities such as Mumbai andChennai. There was also asuggestion for a new law to dealwith infectious disease.

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It lookS the noose is tighteningaround the Kerala Government led

by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan asthe gold smuggling scam busted byCustoms officials is assuming alarm-ing size and spilling out new details.

While M Sivsankar, the formerprincipal secretary to the ChiefMinister who was summoned by theCustoms officials on Tuesday eveningwas questioned for a marathon ninehours and let off by Wednesdaymorning informing him that he mayhave to present himself at the Kochioffice of the Department if need aris-es, the day also saw Customs officialsraiding the offices of Kerala State ITInfrastructure Ltd at the capital citywhere Swapna Suresh was employedas liaison officer by the IT Departmentheaded by Sivsankar.

At the same time, the façade ofdenials by Higher Education MinisterK T Jaleel about his telephonic con-versation with Swapna Suresh, one ofthe kingpins of the gold smugglingracket was demolished by a section of

the media on Wednesday. Though the minister, a former

leader of the banned SIMI hadclaimed on Tuesday that he spoke toSwapna on May 27 at the instance ofthe UAE Consul General, details ofcall records aired by Janam Newsprove that he was having telephoniccontacts with the controversialwoman as early as April.

Though the Customs Departmentis yet to make any official statementabout the arrests, seizure and ques-tioning of the suspects, informationtrickling out of theThiruvananthapuram office of thedepartment confirm that Sivsankarhad told the officials that he had closerelationship with Swapna Suresh andhe might have intervened once ortwice to help her personally.

He was allowed to go home on thecondition that he should make avail-able himself for further grilling as andwhen needed. The Customs officialsalso got enough information that sub-stantiates the close proximitySivsankar had with Swapna, Sarithand Sandeep.

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For the second day in suc-cession, more than 600 per-

sons in Kerala were diagnosedwith Covid-19. “OnWednesday 623 persons weretested positive for Covid-19.Out of this, 432 persons infect-ed the coronavirus throughsocial contacts. Expatriatesaccounted for 96 cases while 76were those from other parts ofthe country,” said PinarayiVijayan, chief minister ofKerala in his daily press brief-ing.

Vijayan disclosed that 602persons afflicted with Covid-19were hospitalised onWednesday. “As on Wednesday,there are 4,880 persons under-going treatment in varioushospitals. The State has till nowdiagnosed 9, 513 persons with

Covid,” said the ChiefMinistetr.

As the situation has turnedgrave and dangerous in Kerala,the Government has changedthe catchword against coron-avirus from the present “BreakThe Chain” to “Caution asPrecious as Life”, according toVijayan.

The CM said 1.86 lakh per-sons were under observation inthe State while 2.6 lakh sampleshave been tested. “TheGovernment is actively con-sidering the possibility ofincreasing the number of test-ing facilities and setting up FirstLine Covid Treatment Centresacross the State,” said Vijayan.

Thiruvananthapuramtopped the list of districts withthe highest number of patients-157. Situation in other parts ofthe State were no different.

Kochi: Kerala Catholic priestRobin Vadakkumchery, 52, sen-tenced to 20 years in jail in threedifferent cases of rape and abuseof a minor, has moved theKerala High Court seeking tomarry the victim and take careof the child born to her.

Expressing similar wish, thevictim has filed an affidavit inthe court.

However, the prosecutionexpressed doubts over it and saidit could be a ploy to get relax-ation. The court has sought apolice report and posted the casefor July 24.

Vadakkumchery, dismissedfrom priesthood by the Vatican,was serving as a parish vicar nearKannur and was the manager ofthe Church-backed-school,where the victim, a Class 11 stu-dent, was studying. IANS

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The Covid-19 situation in Tamil Nadu is a mix-ture of hope and despair as on Wednesday.

While a total of 4,496 persons were diagnosed withCovid-19 on Wednesday (less than Tuesday’s4,526), the number of active cases in the State toocame down on Wednesday. The medical bulletinissued by Tamil Nadu Government said there were47, 340 active covid patients in the State onWednesday. This is less than Tuesday’s numbers-47,912.

The day also saw 5,000 persons coming out ofhospitals, fully cured of the pandemic. This took thetotal number of persons in the State who were curedof the disease to 1.02 lakh.

The death toll continued to be in the higher sideas 68 persons succumbed to the coronavirus onWednesday. Out of this, 64 persons had pre-exist-ing morbidity (chronic diseases). The total numberof persons tested positive for covid-19 till date inthe State reached 1.51 lakh by Wednesday.

Coming to the negative news, Chennai report-ed an increase in the number of persons tested pos-itive on Wednesday.

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Aday after a BJP delegationmet President Ram Nath

Kovind seeking his attention towhat they called a TMC-spon-sored “cold blooded murder” ofDebendranath Roy, a saffronMLA from Hemtabad in NorthBengal, CM Mamata Banerjeewrote a letter to the first citizenblaming the BJP for “distorting”a “suspected suicide” for “polit-ical gains.”

The letter handed over tothe President by senior TMCMP Derek O’ Brien alsodropped hints of a possiblebank scam with the unnaturaldeath of the BJP Legislator.

Banerjee wrote, “…This isin the context of your meetingwith a delegation of BJP whomight have appraised you withsome distorted fact.” The letterfurther said that the dead MLA’sbody was “found on a hangingcondition from a tin shed/veran-dah in front of a mobile shopwhich he used to visit to meetthe local people. On receipt ofpost mortem and on primaryinvestigation, West Bengal Policehas reported that it is a case ofsuspected suicide and could berelated to some local moneytransfer activities.”

The note found in the pock-et of the deceased leader referredto two names --- out of whomone had been arrested --- whowere “allegedly found to berelated to such money transferactivities in the locality,”Banerjree wrote adding “I amsorry to say that it does notappear to be a political casebeing projected by BJP.”

Roy died an unnatural deathreportedly in the wee hours ofMonday by hanging from a baroutside a shop about a mile awayfrom his house. The BJP instant-ly picked up the issue calling ita cold-blooded murder andcalled a North Bengal bandh onTuesday.

O Brien who met thePresident for 25 minutes onWednesday later said”our ChiefMinister has explained the entirein details to the President tellinghow the BJP is trying to politi-cize the issue.”

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Concerned by the fact the pro-posed Railway gauge conversion

of the Akola-Khandwa line wouldhave an “irreversible impact” on theendangered species and their habi-tat, the Maharashtra Governmenthas urged the Railway Ministry towithdraw the proposal and consid-er alternate alignment outside theMelghat Tiger.

In a letter shot off to RailwayMinister Piyush Goyal, MaharashtraChief Minister Uddhav Thackerayexpressed serious reservations aboutthe proposal involving the gaugeconversion of the Akola-Khandwaline proposed by the South-CentralRailway which passes through the

“core critical Tiger Habitat ofMelghat Tiger Reserve” inMaharashtra.

The proposal involves con-struction of tunnels by cutting andblasting rocks using heavy machin-ery and explosives. It also involvesrealignment away from the existingtrack to ease sharp carves on 23.48km out of a total length of 38 km“passing through the core area of theTiger Reserve”. “This amounts torealignment and not just the gaugeconversion along the existing rail-way track,” he said.

“Considering that the long-term irreversible impacts of thegauge conversion on endangeredspecies like the Tiger and their habi-tat, it would be appropriate to focus

on alternative alignments whichwould not only ensure muchrequired space for the wild life butalso bring railway connectivity andgreater economic development tohitherto unconnected villages locat-ed in Jalgaon-Jamed andSangrampur talukas and benefittingalmost 100 villages in the vicinity ofthe alternative alignment,” the chiefminister wrote in his letter.

The chief minister went on tourge the minister to “withdraw” theproposal and consider alternativealignment of the railway line outsidethe Melghat Tiger Reserve “in theinterest of wildlife conservation ingeneral and protection of the tigerhabitat in particular”. In this contextUddhav said that Prime MinisterNarendra Modi had himself saidthat the “the conservation of tigersis not a choice but an imperative”.

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Taking serious cognisanceof complaints about some

miscreants cheating the needyCovid-19 patients after plasma,Maharashtra Home MinisterAnil Deshmukh said onWednesday that the StateGovernment would initiatestern action against those fleec-ing the people by making falseclaims of having tested positivefor Covid-19 and promisingdonation of plasma samples fortreatment.

Talking to media personshere, Deshmukh said: “Manyinfected people are gettingcured by the plasma donated bythe cured patients. ...It being thecase that only the cured patientscan donate plasma, some peo-ple are taking advantage of thesituation to make false claimsthrough affidavits that they

had tested positive Covid-19 tomake plasma donations”.

“Though no one has comeforward to complain formallyabout lakhs of rupees collectedfrom them by making falseclaims of having tested positivefor Coronavirus and promisingplasma samples, I have heardsuch things are happening. Ifthe affected people come for-ward and lodge complaintswith the police, we will take seri-ous cognisance of the com-plaints and act sternly againstthe miscreants. We will allowmiscreants cheating the Covid-19 patients who genuinely needplasma samples from the curedpatients,” the Minister said.

“I request the affectedCovid-19 patients to eitherlodge a complaint at the policestation or make a complaint onwww.cybercrime.gov.in,”Deshmulh said.

Jammu : Mehraj Din Malla, anabducted Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) leader and Vice-Presidentof Watergam MunicipalCommittee, Baramulla wassafely rescued by the Jammuand Kashmir Police lateWednesday evening.

He was abducted by'unidentified' terrorists fromRafiabad area of Baramulla.

Inspector General of Police,Kashmir ranger Vijay Kumarlate evening confirmed,“Mehraj Din Malla, BJP leader& vice-president of WatergamMunicipal Committee inBaramulla who was abductedearlier today has been rescuedby Police”

After the killing of a youngBJP leader Sheikh Wasim Bari,former district PresidentBandipora, the abduction ofanother BJP leader had keptsenior police officers on theirtenterhooks throughout theday.

Several teams of Jammuand Kashmir police were work-ing on ground zero since morn-ing to track down the footprints

of his abductors.Mehraj Din Malla's family

members including his daugh-ter had made passionate appealsto those unidentified abductorsto release their loved one.

Unconfirmed reports indi-cated, after identifying theabductors, local police teamshad called family members ofa Lashkar-e- Tayyeba com-mander to one of the police sta-tions to ensure safe release of aBJP leader. It is learnt, a localLeT commander identified asSajjad had issued threats to BJPleaders and family members ofpolicemen of dire conse-quences. PNS

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ADahanu court on Wednesdayrejected the bail applications of

25 accused in the much-discussedPalghar lynching incident in whichtwo Sadhus and one driver were killedby a mob of villagers on April 16.

Accepting the contention of theProsecution in the case that therewere “multiple evidences” in the caseagainst the accused, AdditionalSessions Judge at the Dahanu SessionsCourt in Palghar district D. H.Keluskar rejected the bail applicationsof the 25 accused on technicalgrounds.

Earlier, opposing the bail plea,Special Public Prosecutor SatishManeshinde had told the court thatthe Prosecution had gathered “mul-tiple evidences” against the accused”.The evidence, he said, included:mobile Call Data Records and othertechnical evidence.

Among other things, the SPP hadtold the court that the examination ofmobile phones of the accused revealedthat they were present at the crimespot when the incident took place.

It may be recalled that on thenight of April 16, three persons werelynched by a 200-strong mob of vil-lagers near Kasa town inMaharashtra’s Palghar district on sus-picion that they were thieves.

The villagers first hurled stonesat the van, prompting the driver tostop the vehicle. Later, they pulledthree persons out of the vehicle andbeat them to death in Gadhchinchalevillage on Dabhadi-Khanwel road,with sticks and rods.

The deceased ---identified asChikne Maharaj Kalpavrukshagiri(70), Sushilgiri Maharaj (35) and dri-ver Nilesh Telgade (30) were travel-ling to Surat. Of them one was thediver, while two are residents ofKandivli in north Mumbai. The place

where the incident took place isapproximately 120 km from Mumbai.

After the incident, thee Kasapolice had registered three FIRs inconnection with the lynching andassault on policemen. All the accusedhad been arrested a day after theghastly crime.

In the first FIR, the police hadcharged 110 accused with murderunder IPC Section 302. In the secondFIR, the 110 accused were bookedunder IPC Section 307 (attempt tomurder) and 353 (deterring govern-ment servant from performing hisduty) for assaulting cops and dam-aging their vehicle.

Subsequently, the CrimeInvestigation Department (CID)sleuths of the Maharashtra police,who took over the investigationsinto the case, arrested 25 more per-sons taking the total number of theaccused in the case to 135.

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The total number of Covid-19infections crossed 7,000

mark in Maharashtra onWednesday, as the State record-ed 7,975 new positive caseswhile 233 more people suc-cumbed to the pandemic.

With 7,975 fresh infectionsand 233 fatalities, the total num-ber of positive cases in the casesjumped to 2,75,640, while thetotal number of deaths inchedcloser to 11,000 as the figuretouched 10,928.

Of the total deaths report-ed to Wednesday, Mumbai aloneaccounted for 62 deaths, whichtook the total number of deathsin the metropolis from 5,405 to5,467, while the total number ofCovid-19 cases rose by 1,374 totouch 96,474.

In addition to 62 deathsrecorded in Mumbai, there were49 deaths in Thane, 48 deaths inPune, 14 in Jalgaon, 13 inNashik, 10 in Solapur, 6 inPalghar, 5 each in Raigad,Kolhapur and Aurangabad, 4 in

Latur, 3 each in Dhule andJalna, 2 in Sangli, 1 each inSatara, Ratnagiri, Nanded andAmravati.

With 67360 infected casesand 1818 deaths, Thane contin-ued to be the second worst hitdistrict in Maharashtra.

Pune, which has emerged asthe third worst affected districtin terms of spread of the pan-demic, has recorded 44202infections and 1,200 deaths tillnow.

In a related development,the total number of patients dis-charged from various hospitalsafter full recovery since the sec-ond week of March this yeartouched 1,52,613. The recoveryrate in the state stood at 55.37per cent. The mortality rate inthe state is 3,96 per cent. Thestate health authorities peggedthe number of “active cases” inthe state at 1,11,801.

Out of 14,08,901 samplessent to laboratories, 2,75,640have tested positive (19.56 percent) for Covid-19 untilWednesday.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modihad invoked a “special relation-ship”, based on shared culture, lan-guage and religion, with Nepalduring his first official visit to

Kathmandu in 2014. He had said, “This isthe land of Sita and Janak; Nepal-India rela-tions are as old as the Himalayas and theGanga.” Given his proclivity for abbrevia-tions, Modi had coined HIT (Highways, I-Ways and Transways) as the transformation-al formula to strengthen age-old tiesbetween the two nations. Much water hasflown down the rivers Kosi, Gandaki andKarnali (the three big rivers that flow fromNepal to India) and Nepal has instead vest-ed its trust in the Chinese Belt and RoadInitiative (BRI) to usher in the much-need-ed transformation.

Nepalese Prime Minister KP SharmaOli’s speech in New Delhi in 2018 was lessflowery and presciently loaded. Repeatedly,he stressed on a “balanced outlook” in exter-nal relations, an unmistakable euphemismto “correct” the pro-India tilt. Nepal had justemerged from the perceived wounds ofIndia’s braggadocio during the 2015 earth-quake relief operations and the supposedinterferences in the framing of a newConstitution. Agitation over this issue hadled to a crippling “blockade.” In an age ofsocial media, the hurt felt by a proud nation,which has never been ruled by outsiders,was palpable. Murmurs of India’s “bigbrotherly” attitude being unacceptablegained credence in the streets of Nepal.

Oli had alluded to that overarching trustdeficit and sinking sentiment. “Good neigh-bourliness demands harmonious co-exis-tence forever. And trust is the key cement-ing factor. It derives its strength from theobservance of such fundamental principlesas equality, justice, mutual respect and ben-efit as well as non-interference,” said Oli. Headded that for impact, “it is natural to expectsimilar assurance from India.” Clearly, thehealing process never kicked off and today,ties between India and Nepal have reachedan unprecedented low due to border vio-lence, cartographical disputes and trusteroding measures like Nepal’s decision toban the Indian media.

Undoubtedly, there are layered com-plexities of missteps that were taken by bothsides in equal measure. Both nations weredriven by their own domestic political con-siderations, short-termism and geo-politi-cal churns that widened the faultlines, whichalways existed but never flared up to thisextent. The crests and troughs of bilateralrelations were always handled politically,without any unnecessary attribution to thesocietal-ethnicity of the people involved.Today, that venerated “Gurkha” stands to bedangerously demonised as collateral dam-age. The delinking of “politics” and “peo-ple” has not been the strength of the cur-rent dispensation. Deliberate contextuali-sation and binarisation of circumstances

may still yield electoral gratifi-cation but this will come at thecost of alienating almost allneighbouring countries, wellbeyond Pakistan and China.

The intermingling andintermeshing of the Indo-Nepalese people are not just his-torical, cultural, spiritual, reli-gious or even transactional; it isunparalleled in terms of thefaith, trust and reverence that isafforded on the “Gurkha” in theIndian consciousness. Nearly 40dedicated Gurkha Regimentbattalions with approximately40,000 Indian and NepaliGurkha soldiers defend India’ssovereignty. Another one lakhveterans reside in Nepal and theannals of Indian Army’s valourtestify to the raw gallantry of thelikes of Lt Col Dhan SinghThapa, Param Vir Chakra(PVC), among others, whoironically fought the Chinese inthe same area around thePangong Lake.

His citation read, “MajorThapa got out of his trench andkilled several enemies in hand-to-hand fighting before he wasfinally overpowered by Chinesesoldiers.” The proud Gurkhahad stared death in the eye andreturned. Indeed, he was bornin Dharamshala as many otherGurkhas in the region ofDarjeeling Hills or Dehradunbut he was as synonymously aGurkha and an Indian asMahavir Chakra (MVC)awardees like Tika Bahadur

Thapa, Pati Ram Gurung or aPrem Bahadur Gurung.

This unparalleled traditionand saga of sacrifice for India isreciprocated in a similar spiritby all those who chose to iden-tify themselves as Gurkhas. Ina deeply moving sight, a 11-year-old girl shouted theGurkha war-cry on her father’scremation “Tiger 9 GR Ko! HoKi Hoina?” (Col MN Rai, theTiger of 9 Gurkha Regiment, hewas or wasn’t he?) and it wasresponded by a resounding “HoHo Ho” (he was, he was, hewas). The daughter and thenation mourned his loss and yetanother name got etched to thelist of the illustrious Gurkha glo-ries. The inexplicable bond ofthe Indo-Nepalese realityunderwrote that sacred spirit.

The “Gurkha” cannot andshould not be sacrificed at thealtar of partisan politics or thesmallness of spirit that besetsthe times that be. Sadly, the oversimplistic narrative of the daycan easily affix the slant of “anti-national” on anyone owing totheir ethnicities or religion asthe basest instincts are easilyaroused, tolerated and stoked bythe powers-that-be.

Equally, the Nepalese dis-pensation cannot forget histo-ry and independent India’s con-tributions or the essential impli-cations that are imminent inchoosing a China over India asits “bargaining tool.” The peo-ple-to-people connect with

some other neighbouring coun-tries has already been rupturedand irreversibly damaged withthe context of politico-religios-ity. This has done an extremedisservice to some of our own,who axiomatically got associat-ed as “anti-nationals” owing totheir co-religiosity. Ironically,such an ethnic pejoration ontothe identity of the “Gurkha”would be a unique failure. Thisdespite the supposed common-alities of the two realms.

Field Marshal SamManekshaw identified himselfas a proud Gurkha as does thecurrent Chief of Defence Staffor the Chief of Indian ArmyStaff prior to him. In a recipro-cal dignity, the chiefs of botharmies also bestow Honorary“Generalship” of their Armies,mutually. The national leader-ship has to make a concertedeffort to ensure that no unto-ward or over-excitable taint isimplied on the loyalty, fidelityand character of the people ofNepal. Governmental or ideo-logical differences have to behandled separately without gal-vanising societal emotions as itdid with other neighbouringcountries. India must alwaysprotect its sovereign interestsfirmly. It must also recognise thedignity of the “other”, especial-ly one who has bled for Indiaunflinchingly.

(The writer, a military vet-eran, is a former Lt Governor ofAndaman & Nicobar Islands)

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Sir — It should not have taken apandemic for this nation to redis-cover that we are essentially anagrarian economy. Decades of adhoc and knee-jerk policies on agroproduction, storage capacity, dis-tribution and exports were trans-lating into excess grain reservessince 1995. The pity of it all,grains were wasted in shoddywarehouse facilities. Further, anunimaginative distribution andpricing set-up denied their reachto the deserving poor.

On April 1, 2020, stocks in thecentral pool stood at 73.85 MT, thehighest ever, against a reserverequirement of just 21.04 MT. Thisshould help feed the common manfor months now. Pulled up byCOVID-19, we are sure to sustaina new-found respect for this foun-dational sector of our economy.Reserve levels will be scaled up.More modern and efficient stor-age capacities and attendant infra-structure and employment-centricinitiatives will be on the cards.Significantly, procurement duringthis harvest season was promptand harvesting was imaginativelydone by States despite the non-availability of labour. Bureaucracy

must ensure that this singular effi-ciency in decision-making and inowning up to a problem becomesthe new norm to give a fillip torural stakeholders.

Once the thrust reverts to theagro sector, the economy mustshift to the rural epicentre, but-tressed by auxiliary industriessuch as food processing. Post thepandemic, reverse migration of a

huge number of non-residentIndians is imminent and anexpanded rural economy alonecan accommodate the surge. Thepandemic has given us a sharpcue for the dispersal of wealth andconsumption into rural heart-lands as an enduring policy ofinclusive development.

R NarayananNavi Mumbai

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Sir — Nepal Prime Minister KPOli has thrown yet anotherbouncer by claiming that “realAyodhya” is in Nepal and not inIndia. He also claimed that Indiahad created a “fake Ayodhya.”

Of late, Oli has been in thenews for all the wrong reasons.

He issued a “new” map of Nepal,claiming Kalapani, Lipulekh andLimpiyadhura as its territory.Oli’s communist Government inNepal is also playing into thehands of China, which has report-edly taken away 33 hectares ofland from it. But all of this has notbothered Oli, who is also facinggrowing discontent back homefor “junking India” and “joiningChina.” One just hopes that tem-porary developments and flash-points do not hamper the uniquerelations both nations share.

KV Seetharamaiah Hassan

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Sir — The Google initiative topump �75,000 crore for digitalIndia initiative will benefit Indiain the long-term. For Google,too, this is an effort to tap thehuge opportunity in a countrywhose mass market has only justbegun to go online. This step willalso fill the void created by thebanning of Chinese applications.

SudhirVia email

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President Xi Jinping’s ambition to make Chinaan undisputed global superpower has changedthe entire geo-political dynamics. The phe-

nomenal rise of Xi has made China more aggres-sive. He has emerged as the most powerful leaderof China after Mao Zedong. Born in a politically-influential family in 1953, he witnessed the Mao eraclosely and saw the ruthless face of Zedong whenhis father was purged and jailed during the 1966-76 Cultural Revolution. Though his father was reha-bilitated after the death of Mao, these events left along-lasting impression on his mind which got fur-ther hardened during Xi’s initial struggle within theCommunist Party which he joined in 1974. He spentdecades working his way up the party andGovernment ranks but his consolidation of powersince becoming General Secretary, the head of theparty, in 2012 has been unprecedented. In 2013, healso became the President of the Peoples’ Republicof China (PRC), thus assuming charge of all thethree most-coveted posts in the party andGovernment. He represents the new generation ofChinese because he is the first General Secretaryborn after the establishment of the PRC. Xi todayis the President of PRC without term limits.Incidentally, he now has 12 posts that give him con-trol and oversight over most areas of Government,the economy and military. Xi, therefore, is the mostauthoritarian world leader today, who is ruthlesswith any form of opposition to him at home andvisualises himself as a potential supreme leader ofthe world.

It goes to the credit of Xi that during his tenureChina has grown economically and militarily. Chinasurpassed Japan to become the second-largest econ-omy in the world and global manufacturing hub.He effected a large-scale purge in the military brassto end corruption in the People’s Liberation Army(PLA). This was followed by structural reforms tomake PLA a lean and modern fighting force withemphasis on mastering the three domains ofcyber world, space and information.

Xi proved to be a leader who can rise to chal-lenges. But his bitter experience during the CulturalRevolution has made him an authoritarian man whodoes not trust anyone. He abhors challenge to hisauthority or to his “Chinese Dream” of national reju-venation. Thus, he has crushed dissent in HongKong, Xinjiang and Tibet. In pursuance of hisMiddle Kingdom ambition, he has refused to acceptinternational laws and treaties and persisted withexpansionist designs in the South China Sea(SCS), East China Sea (ECS) while continuing withsalami-slicing in the neighbourhood to includeIndia, Nepal and Bhutan. His ambition to be a glob-al leader has led to a no holds barred conflict withthe sole superpower, the US. Xi is convinced thatthe main rival of China is the US and all others aremere pushovers and that has determined hisbehaviour and actions as far as the disputes in theSCS, the Sino-India border and disputes with SouthKorea, Japan and Taiwan are concerned.

All was going well for Xi till the outbreak of theCoronavirus. The ongoing trade war with the USwas also tilted in his favour till the pandemic spreadacross the world with its roots in China. All of a sud-den Xi was being attacked globally as well as domes-tically. The strong Chinese economy began to showsigns of crumbling. The demand for closing facto-ries in China and relocating them grew louder bythe day. India was being considered a probable alter-native. The US seized the opportunity and led theglobal offensive against China, accusing Xi of delib-erately delaying the information regarding the out-break. The global economy was in the doldrumswith nations resorting to prolonged lockdowns andmost countries blaming China for the contagion.

Xi’s dream of the 21st century belonging toChina began to crumble gradually. His plan of end-

ing poverty in China by 2020 suffered thebiggest setback and it emerged as histoughest year. Xi’s unchallenged status athome came under threat and in order todivert attention he began to pursue anaggressive policy to portray Chinesesupremacy. He let loose his “wolf warrior”diplomats to counter the global diplomat-ic and political onslaught. Simultaneously,he began to flex muscles in the SCS andECS. He started the process of gainingcomplete control over Hong Kong,denouncing the “One Nation TwoSystems” promise. The regime change inTaiwan, too, annoyed Xi. He began tobehave like a medieval king eager toextend frontiers and win glory.

Challenging India in the trans-Himalayan icy battlefield was meant toteach New Delhi a lesson for challengingthe Chinese ownership of Aksai Chin.China was convinced that New Delhiwould not challenge its occupation ofAksai Chin till the Indian Home Ministerroared in the Parliament that his referenceto Ladakh included Gilgit-Baltistan andAksai Chin. It rattled Beijing more thanPakistan because it could afford to loseneither of the two.

Despite China’s denial, the worldcommunity noted with concern the sink-ing of Vietnamese fishing boats in the SCS,the unilateral decision to name newChinese districts in the area, sanctionsagainst Australia, browbeating of Japan inthe ECS, unilateral actions in HongKong, Ladakh incursions, manipulationof Nepal, claims on the Sakteng WildlifeSanctuary in Eastern Bhutan and on theSiberian town of Vladivostok.

Buoyed by the passive response ofother nations, Xi ventured to provokeIndia at Galwan Heights expecting meeksubmission. But the brawl at those icyheights on the night of June 15 not onlytook the Chinese by surprise but also putthe fear of God in its soldiers about thefighting prowess of Indian soldiers. TheChinese plan to teach India a lesson notonly backfired but the Galwan face-offproved to be a turning point, which maywell turn out to be a reason for renewedvengeance. The global communityacknowledged India standing up to thebully and paying him back in the samecoin. India followed it up with an econom-

ic offensive as well. The changed scenariohad a ripple effect. China’s victims realisedthat the dragon could be held off.

ASEAN nations for the first timespoke in unison, asking China to followinternational laws on maritime bound-aries. Japan reacted offensively by deploy-ing near the disputed islands, Bhutanvehemently asserted its claim over SaktengWildlife Sanctuary and refused to becowed down, Russia agreed to fast trackarms supplies to India, the US movedthree aircraft carriers in the SCS, Australiarefused to take Chinese students andbroke trade ties with it.

The Chinese economy, too, suffereda big blow, putting greater pressure on Xi.Following the Indian ban of 59 Chineseapps, cancellation of contracts signed withChinese companies in the telecom, con-struction and MSME sectors and thegrowing demand for boycott of Chinesegoods, other nations, too, began to banChinese technology firms. Chinese giantHuawei has been the biggest sufferer.Similarly, the dream project of Xi, the BeltRoad Initiative (BRI), has come undersevere strain with many countries eitherabandoning various projects or demand-ing a review of their loan agreements.

The list of Xi’s woes is growing by theday. China had become an economicsuperpower by the time Xi took power buthis critics now blame him for leading thecountry to ruin due to his aggressive,expansionist policies and ambition.

After aggressive posturing followingthe Galwan face-off, China has nowagreed to a negotiated settlement on theborder so that he doesn’t lose the waragainst the international community aswell. India and China agreed that differ-ences should not become disputes after atelephonic discussion between the IndianNational Security Advisor and the ChineseForeign Minister.

Though China has agreed to a phaseddisengagement and de-escalation, there isa big trust deficit between the two armiesnow. The overwhelming opinion in Indiais that disengagement is not enough inorder to end tensions on the Line of ActualControl (LAC). They advocate no de-esca-lation until full return of status quo. WhileXi would fight his own battle for survival,we have to ensure that it is not yet anoth-

er Chinese trap.History tells us that China is untrust-

worthy. Be it 1962, Sumdrong Chu,Depsang or Doklam. This time, too, weare not yet sure if the Chinese move is atactical retreat in order to achieve its big-ger strategic aim. Hence, India should notbe lulled into complacence. History tellsus that our political leadership has failedto understand the insurance provided toa nation’s growth economically and diplo-matically by strong security forces. Hence,payment of annual premium to ensurethat the insurance does not lapse ismandatory. The nation has to be preparedto ward off physical threats to its bordersand also those in the cyber world, spaceand the information highways.

India must not let its guard down onthe borders along the Line of Control(LoC) and the LAC. At the same time allactions taken to supplement the armouryof the three services should not be halt-ed but put on fast track to ensure that ifthe dragon dares to threaten us again, itis taught a lesson forever. If needed, weshould be prepared to stay put even dur-ing the harsh winters, for which logisticsand catering preparations have to beginforthwith.

Economic strangulation of Chinashould continue while at the same timeencouraging friendly nations to do thesame. On the diplomatic front, apart fromconsolidating Chinese isolation due to thepandemic, India should also considerdenouncing Beijing’s One Nation Policyand leverage numerous fault lines in Chinaby exposing its high-handedness in grab-bing the territories in its periphery. FreeTibet movement should be given an impe-tus in India. The democratic movementsin Hong Kong and Taiwan need strongerIndian support.

If Xi is able to overcome the domes-tic challenges he faces now, he wouldemerge a dictator. India, therefore, has tobe prepared for a probability of reoccur-rence of Chinese aggression on its borders.We have to emerge as China’s equal.Beijing will try its level best to lull us intocomplacency, it would be suicidal if we fallinto China’s trap again.

(The author is a Jammu-based veter-an, political commentator and security ana-lyst)

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The nation has been in lockdownmode for more than fourmonths now and has only just

started opening up. Hospitals, researchand development (R&D) institutionsare trying their best to bring out a vac-cine for the Coronavirus. In fact,human trials for the vaccine havebegun in India. We have seen manyreports that have said that there hasbeen a decline in the number of peo-ple opting for surgeries, especially low

and medium-risk patients. A lot of patients, who had surg-

eries scheduled, have postponed themand are avoiding hospital visits forroutine checkups as they fear beingexposed to the Coronavirus. Therehave been reports of people losingtheir lives due to a heart attack orstroke. Even though they had priorsymptoms of heart disease, they didnot venture out due to the fear ofCOVID-19.

It is extremely important for car-diac patients and people with heartconditions to take care of their healthin such testing times, especially asthere are a lot of restrictions on accessto various facilities.

Exercising, maintaining a prop-er diet and taking the prescribed car-diac medication or anti-diabetes med-icine are all very important for

patients, since these are the co-mor-bid conditions which make theCOVID-19 infection serious as thecardiac/diabetes patients are alreadyimmuno-compromised. With thatsaid, it is also impossible for high-riskpatients with severe heart conditionsto not opt for surgeries. When it isabsolutely essential depending onthe conditions, patients might have toundergo surgery.

The need to safeguard themselvesand their patients has prompted mostsurgeons to develop their own proto-cols to tide over the pandemic situa-tion. The decision for surgical careshould be based on the doctor’s ownsurgical and clinical judgment andassessment of resource availability.Patients should get the surgical carebased on practice of evidence-basedmedicine. A non-operative line of

management is advised when it is clin-ically appropriate for patients, special-ly looking at risk and benefits ofsurgery.

Heart surgeries are arduous andlong procedures that take a toll onpatients physically and mentally.Open-heart surgeries are back break-ingly expensive and procedures last fordays. Since the surgical team has to becareful not to get infection, all the pre-cautionary measures that are beingpractised are also the most rigorousfor the surgical team. Apart from that,in the COVID-19 era, there is a direneed for minimum contact which isonly possible through minimally-invasive surgical techniques.Minimally invasive surgery improvesshort-term outcomes in patients andit is associated with a faster recoveryin comparison with the traditional

approach. If a patient needs valvereplacement, then a trans catheter aor-tic valve replacement is an alternative,but the long-lasting results of thesevalves are still questionable. There isa certain amount of industry drive tomake these procedures popular with-out really knowing the long- termresults. I am sure that there are car-diologists who will object to this con-tention. But this remark is onlybecause of the fact that I am one of thefew surgeons in this country who hasbeen replacing valves (single, doubleor treble since 1975) and hence I haveexperienced the long-term results ofconventional valve replacement.

Currently these valves are high-ly expensive in India, going up to�22.5 lakh, owing to which this tech-nology is not available for commonIndians. Even the cost of convention-

al valve replacement, that is between�2.5 to �3 lakh, is not affordable forthe common man. The solution forthis dilemma is indigenisation. Somehospitals in the country have been inthe forefront of bringing about indi-genisation in Transcatheter AorticValve Implantation (TAVI) alongwith the National AeronauticalLaboratory and Council of Scientificand Industrial Research, using Nitinolstents. The valve material used isbovine jugular veins which is after alla waste. This could be a classic exam-ple of “waste to wealth, but unfortu-nately, there has been no support fromany Central Government agenciessuch as the Department ofBiotechnology, the Department ofScience and Technology or any reg-ulatory bodies.

Children with congenital heart

disease or structural heart diseaseundergo multiple heart surgeries intheir lifetime. Of course, closing a holein the heart through the Transcatheterroute is available. Most of thesepatients who have these “corrections”can go home within 24 hours.

This reduces their risk of catch-ing infection, which is vital in theCOVID-19 era. This also means morebeds will be available for electivepatients who need such therapy,which does not need long-term hos-pitalisation. It is not the technologyalone but the logistics, the patient’scomfort and affordability of the pro-cedure that are also important.

(The writer is a Padma Sriawardee and cardiothoracic surgeoncredited with India’s first bypass. He isChairman and CEO of Frontier LifelineHospital)

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China on Wednesday warnedthe US that it will “definitely

hit back” with sanctions ifWashington goes ahead with theimplementation of PresidentDonald Trump's 'Hong KongAutonomy Act' to end the prefer-ential treatment to the formerBritish colony.

President Trump has signed anexecutive order to end the prefer-ential economic treatment forHong Kong after China introduceda controversial national securitylaw in the Asian trading hub tocurb autonomy and democraticfreedoms.

Reacting to Trump'sannouncement of signing the'Hong Kong Autonomy Act',Chinese Foreign Ministryspokesperson Hua Chunying saidthe US should not implement it.

“We urge the US side to cor-rect its mistake, not to implement

the so-called 'Hong KongAutonomy Act' and immediatelystop meddling in Hong Kongaffairs and China's internal affairsin any way,” she told a media brief-ing here.

“This act smears our law onsafeguarding national security inHong Kong Special AdministrativeRegion (HKSAR). If the US insistson going on the wrong path,China will definitely hit back,” she said.

The US attempt to obstructChina's national security legisla-tion for the HKSAR will be to noavail and China will make neces-sary responses to protect its legit-imate interests and impose sanc-tions on relevant US personnel andentities, she said.

“This US move has grosslyinterfered in China's internalaffairs and seriously violated inter-national law, as well as the basicnorms governing internationalrelations,” she said.

London: The year 2020 will wit-ness an “inflection point” in theUK-India healthcare collabora-tion as the Covid-19 pandem-ic has brought collaboration inmedicine to the centrestage,outgoing Consul General ofIndia in Birmingham Dr AmanPuri has said.

In an interview to PTI onthe eve of his departure from theWest Midlands region ofEngland, Puri reflected on therecently-launched WestMidlands India Partnership

(WMIP) to boost India-UKinvestment flows and flaggedthe healthcare sector as a par-ticular focus of bilateral tiesamid the coronavirus pandem-ic.

“My sense is that 2020 willwitness an inflection point inthe UK-India healthcare col-laboration. Covid-19 hasbrought healthcare centerstage,and the need for collabora-tions has been realised by allstakeholders more than everbefore,” said Puri. PTI

Washington: US PresidentDonald Trump has indicatedthat he has no plan to speakwith his Chinese counterpartXi Jinping, amid a war ofwords between the two coun-tries on a range of issues andtit-for-tat sanctions on law-makers and senior officials.

“No, I haven't spoken tohim,” Trump said in responseto a reporter's question at aWhite House press conferenceon Tuesday.

“I have no plan to speak tohim,” the president said whileexpressing his anger overChina's inability to preventthe spread of the coronavirusout of the country, from whereit originated.

“Make no mistake, we holdChina fully responsible forconcealing the virus andunleashing it upon the world.

(They) could have stopped it,they should have stopped,”Trump said as he also lashedout at WHO for siding withChina on this issue.

“They were really a puppetof China,” he said. T r u m pspoke to reporters after endingspecial privileges and economictreatment for Hong Kong andrescinding the territory's excep-tion to bans on the importingof sensitive technologies.

He also signed into lawbipartisan legislation thatallows the US government tosanction individuals and enti-ties known to be involved ininterfering in Hong Kong'sfreedom. Beijing has con-demned Washington's recentbid reject its claims in theSouth China Sea as illegal andhas retaliated against US visarestrictions on Chinese officials

in Xinjiang by banning seniorsenators and representatives.

At his presser, Trump alsoslammed former vice presidentJoe Biden, who is hisDemocratic Party challengerfor being “soft” on China.

The China issue hasbecome a leading election yeartopic as Trump and Biden eachattempt to paint the other asweak in the face of aggressivemoves from Beijing.

“By contrast, my adminis-tration acted very early to bantravel from China, fromEurope, saving all of these lives.I want every citizen to knowthat we are using the full powerof the federal government tofight that China virus and keepour people safe. ThroughOperation Warp Speed, we willdeliver a vaccine in record-breaking time,” he said. PTI

Washington: China's “very aggressive”actions against India, including the brutalattack on Indian soldiers in eastern Ladakh,and its moves in the South China Sea andHong Kong give a “good insight” into howthe ruling Communist Party of China isthinking these days, US National SecurityAdvisor Robert O'Brien has said.

The Indian and Chinese Armies werelocked in a standoff in multiple locations ineastern Ladakh since May 5. The tensionescalated in the Galwan Valley on June 15 inwhich 20 Indian Army personnel werekilled during a violent face-off with Chinesesoldiers.

“The Chinese have been very aggressivewith India,” O'Brien said on Tuesday alleg-ing that during the recent clash they beatsome of the Indians so badly they were dis-figured and could not be identified.

“This is a dispute between India andChina, but China has shown itself for whatit was. Chinese troops ambushed the Indians.They beat 20 Indians to death. They beatthem so badly with clubs with nails in themand wrapped with concertina -- barbed wire,”O'Brien told Fox News Radio in an interview.

He was responding to a question on the

recent Chinese aggressive behaviour againstIndia in eastern Ladakh.

Responding to a question on US-Indiabilateral relations, he said, India is a democ-racy and is a great friend of the United States.

Prime Minister Narendra “Modi andPresident (Donald) Trump have a super rela-tionship,” O'Brien said.

“In fact, it was the last foreign trip thatI took with the president before the COVIDcrisis hit, was to India, and we had a greatreception of the Indian people there. We havea lot in common with them, we speakEnglish, we're democracies. We've got a grow-ing, very strong relationship with India,”O'Brien said.

“But China's action towards India, just likeits actions in the South China Sea, just likewhat it's doing in Hong Kong, just like the bul-lying intimidation of Taiwan, really gives youa good insight into how the Communist Partyof China is thinking these days,” he said.

China claims almost all of the 1.3 millionsquare mile South China Sea as its sovereignterritory. China has been building militarybases on artificial islands in the region alsoclaimed by Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines,Taiwan and Vietnam. PTI

Moscow: Russian authoritieshave lifted mandatory two-weekself-quarantine for those arriv-ing as part of easing coronavirusrestrictions.

Starting Wednesday, bothRussian and international trav-elers will have to either providecoronavirus test results at theborder or take a test within threedays of arrival in Russia.

Self-quaratine will remainmandatory for those who testpositive for the virus or whosehealth deteriorates upon arrival.

It's one of several steps inan effort to reopen the countryafter health officials startedreporting a slowdown in infec-tions. Last month, authoritiesallowed travel abroad for thepurpose of work, studying, med-ical treatment or taking care ofrelatives. They also let foreign-ers with work permits or thoseseeking medical treatment ortaking care of family membersinto the country.

Last week, Deputy PrimeMinister Tatyana Golikova saidRussia may resume interna-tional flights startingWednesday, adding that thefinal decision would dependon the outcome of negotiationswith other countries.

On Tuesday night, BelarusPrime Minister RomanGolovchenko announcedreopening of the border withRussia and resuming transportties between the two countriesin the coming days. AP

Washington: US PresidentDonald Trump has signed anexecutive order to end the pref-erential economic treatment forHong Kong after China imposeda controversial national securi-ty law in the Asian trading hubto curb autonomy and democ-ratic freedoms.

The Trump administrationhas been openly critical ofBeijing’s sweeping national secu-rity law aimed at limiting HongKong’s autonomy and curb polit-ical dissent against the rulingChinese Communist Party.

Trump said he also signedlegislation to sanction Chineseofficials responsible for crackingdown on political dissent inHong Kong. “Today, I signedlegislation and an executiveorder to hold China accountablefor its oppressive actions againstthe people of Hong Kong,”

Trump said at a White Housepress conference on Tuesday.

The president also said hesigned an executive order end-ing US preferential treatment forHong Kong, a former British ter-ritory handed over to China in1997. “Hong Kong will now betreated the same as mainlandChina. No special privileges, nospecial economic treatment andno export of sensitive technolo-gies. In addition to that, as youknow, we are placing massivetariffs and have placed verylarge tariffs on China.

“First time this has ever hap-pened to China, billions of dol-lars have been paid to the US, ofwhich I have given quite a bit tothe farmers and ranchers of ourcountry because they were tar-geted, and that has been goingon for three years,” he said. PTI

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China will lose “a big tool” ofespionage and surveillance

if America and some westernEuropean countries banChinese apps like TikTok asdone by India, US NationalSecurity Advisor RobertO’Brien has said.

India last month banned 59Chinese apps, including TikTokand UC Browser, saying theywere prejudicial to the sover-eignty, integrity and security ofthe country.

O’Brien told Fox NewsRadio in an interview that theTrump administration was“very seriously taking a look”at TikTok, WeChat and someother apps coming out ofChina.

Promachonas (Greece):Countries around the world arereimposing lockdowns andimplementing new healthchecks at their borders in aneffort to curb a resurgence of thecoronavirus before it spins evenfurther out of control.

Starting Wednesday, all trav-ellers arriving in Greece from aland border with Bulgaria wererequired to carry negative coro-navirus test results issued in theprevious 72 hours and translat-

ed into English. The new rules,which follow an increase intourism-related Covid-19 cases,triggered an immediate drop inarrivals compared to recentdays. Residents of Australia''ssecond-largest city, Melbourne,were warned on Wednesday tocomply with lockdown regula-tions or face tougher restrictions.

Melbourne''s 5 million peo-ple and part of the city''s semi-rural surroundings are a weekinto a new, six-week lockdown

to contain a new outbreak there.“The time for warnings,

the time for cutting peopleslack, is over,” Victoria statePremier Daniel Andrews said.“Where we are is in a very seri-ous and deadly position.”

The developments comewith more than 13 million casesof coronavirus cases confirmedworldwide, and with over578,000 deaths, according to atally by Johns HopkinsUniversity. AP

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An eight-year-old Pakistanigirl died in a hospital on

Wednesday after she was gang-raped by two men in a villagein Punjab province, sparkingoutrage among the locals whodemanded public hanging ofthe rapists.

According to police, thegirl, the daughter of a rickshawdriver, was playing outside herhouse on Monday at ButtarDograan-Chawinda village inSialkot district, some 130 kmsfrom Lahore when two sus-pects gave her some intoxicantin juice and took her to adeserted place.

They gang-raped her and

tortured her.The suspects fled when

some locals reached there afterhearing the child's screams.The girl was shifted to a hos-pital in Sialkot in a critical con-dition where she died onWednesday due to excessivebleeding, police said.

The family and local resi-dents held a demonstrationand blocked a road to protestagainst the incident and policeapathy. They demanded thatthe culprits be arrested andhanged publicly.

They ended the protestafter the district police chiefMustansar Feroze told themthat the accused have beenarrested.

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Democratic presidentialnominee Joe Biden has

unveiled a USD 2 trillion pro-posal to boost investment inclean energy and combat theglobal warming as he pledgedto rejoin the historic Parisagreement on climate change ifelected in the November elec-tions.

US President DonaldTrump in 2017 withdrew theUnited States, the world's No 2emitter of greenhouse gases behind China, from the2015 Paris Climate Agreementthat brought countries together to mitigate globalwarming, saying it was toocostly.

Biden has said he willreturn the US to a leadershiprole on climate change,assertively re-entering theUnited States in future climatenegotiations to advance thegoals of the Paris ClimateAgreement.

“We're going to reverseTrump's rollbacks of 100 pub-lic health and environmentalrules – and then forge a path togreater ambition. We're goingto get back into the ParisAgreement – and back into thebusiness of leading the world,”Biden said in a major policyaddress on climate change,which he said poses a seriousthreat the mankind.

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New Delhi: At the behest ofRailway Board each zonalRailway has set up BusinessDevelopment Units to focus onincreasing the share of Freighttraffic through Railways. In this regard DivisionalRailway Managers, Firozpurand Moradabad and their teamof officers held separate meet-ings via video conferencingwith Freight customers dealingwith commodities like food-grain, fertilizer, cement, sugar,food processing, yarn & tex-tiles, paper and FMCG supplychain. Most of these industriesare located in the Northernregion of the country and areserviced by Firozpur andMoradabad Divisions ofNorthern Railway.

New Delhi: Sumit Thakur(IRSE) took charge of ChiefPublic Relations Officer ofWestern Railway at his office atW.Rly’s HQs at Churchgatestation building on 13th July,2020. Shri Thakur is an officerof the Indian Railways Serviceof Engineering of 2010 batchand has worked in variousimportant assignments per-taining to track maintenance &smooth operation of Mumbai’ssuburban trains, especially dur-ing monsoon season, as SeniorDivisional Engineer (South)of Mumbai Central Division ofWestern Railway. His role asSr.DEN (South) of MumbaiCentral division, particularlyholds distinction for ensuringsuitable identification of vul-

nerable flooding spots overWR’s Mumbai suburban sec-tion and fixing them with bestcustomized solutions duringthe years 2018 & 2019, whichwas highly appreciated byadministration at different lev-els.

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The Japanese carmakerHonda today launched the

newest version of their best-selling sedan the Honda City.The fifth generation of thepopular sedan had seen itslaunch delayed by over threemonths thanks to theCoronavirus lockdown butwith production resuming atHonda’s factory at Surajpurnear Greater Noida, Hondahas gone ahead with thelaunch. The new iteration ofthe car features severalimprovements, and is signifi-cantly longer and wider thanthe previous model, howeverthe previous model will con-tinue to be sold in the Indianmarket for the time being.Speaking to The Pioneer, GakuNakanishi, President and CEO,Honda Cars India said that thiswas because the carmaker felt

that the new car was ‘stepabove’ the earlier model aswell as the rest of the compe-tition. The fifth generationHonda City will be available inboth Diesel and Petrol engineswith the latter featuring a CVTautomatic transmission optionas well. Prices for the new carrange from Rs 10.89 lakh to Rs14.64 lakh and are available inthree trim levels.

However with the negativesentiment in the Indian econ-omy after the virulent spread ofthe Coronavirus, Nakanishidid not expect sales to fullyrecover until the first quarter of2021, “Only in January toMarch, 2021 will we actually

start to see sales showing anincrease on a year to yearbasis.” Honda has been impact-ed by the lockdown situation aswell, even though many oftheir dealerships are now open,several have had to be shut aftersome states have introduced arenewed lockdown. Their fac-tory at Surajpur has also suf-fered with last weekend’s lock-down announcement in UttarPradesh catching them by sur-prise, however Nakanishi saidthat the carmaker was workingwith the local administration toensure that the parts hub cancontinue functioning and thatHonda Cars usually shut for theweekend any which way.

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The Sensex and Nifty sur-rendered most of the day’s

gains to end marginally high-er on Wednesday, pressured bya fag-end selloff in heavy-weight Reliance Industries.

During the day, the 30-share BSE Sensex rallied 777points, driven by positive sen-timent across global markets onhopes of a COVID-19 vaccine.

The index, however, madea U-turn in the last hour oftrade and settled just 18.75points, or 0.05 per cent, high-er at 36,051.81. On similarlines, the NSE Nifty closed10.85 points, or 0.10 per cent,up at 10,618.20, after soaring220 points during the session.

Reliance Industries wasthe biggest drag on the Sensex,skidding 3.71 per cent afterscaling its life-time high of�1,978.50 (intra-day) asinvestors rushed to book prof-its amid a slew of announce-ments at its annual generalmeeting. RIL ChairmanMukesh Ambani said Googlewill invest �33,737 crore to buy7.7 per cent stake in JioPlatforms, completing RIL’scapital-raising target for thedigital arm. Ambani alsoannounced Jio is developing ahomegrown 5G telecom solu-tion, but added that his group’s

planned stake sale in oil-to-chemical business to SaudiAramco has not progressed asper the original timelines dueto the COVID-19 crisis. BhartiAirtel, ONGC, IndusInd Bank,Bajaj Finance and SBI were alsoamong the laggards, sheddingup to 4.24 per cent. On theother hand, Infosys rallied 6.16per cent ahead of its quarterlyearnings. HCL Tech, TCS, TechMahindra, Axis Bank and HULtoo ended with smart gains.

According to traders, dur-ing majority of the session,domestic investors wereenthused by hopes of a COVID-19 vaccine as two contendersbegan human trials in India andone US-based candidate suc-cessfully completed the initial

phase of human trials.However, the fag-end sell-

off in RIL halted the rally, theysaid. “The stock price ofReliance has witnessed adecline towards the end of theAGM since most of the newswas already priced in and therewere not many surprises,” saidNirali Shah, Senior ResearchAnalyst, Samco Securities.

Ajit Mishra, VP - Research,Religare Broking Ltd, added,“We’re seeing a tussle betweenthe bulls and bears for the lastcouple of sessions and we feelit would be healthy if the mar-ket witnesses some correctionafter the recent surge. However,the resilience of global marketswould help the index to limitthe downside.”

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Amid the ongoing debateover goods and services tax

(GST) rate on hand sanitisers,the government on Wednesdayclarified alcohol-based handsanitisers will continue to belevied at the standard rate of 18per cent as the product is a dis-infectant like soaps and not amedicament.

With the Consumer AffairsMinistry having classified handsanitisers as essential com-modities in wake of Covid-19pandemic, there had been ademand from certain sectionsof the industry, particularlyliquor and sugar sectors, toclassify sanitisers in themedicament category attractinglower 12 per cent duty.

“It is stated that hand sani-tisers attract GST at the rate of18 per cent.

Sanitisers are disinfectantslike soaps, anti-bacterial liq-uids, Dettol etc, all of whichattract duty at the standard rateof 18 per cent under the GSTregime,” a Finance Ministrystatement said.

“It is further clarified thatinputs for manufacture of hand

sanitisers are chemicals, pack-ing material, input services,which also attracts a GST rateof 18 per cent. Reducing theGST rate on sanitisers andother similar items would leadto an inverted duty structureand put the domestic manu-facturers at disadvantage vis-a-vis importers,” the statementadded.

Earlier, the Goa bench ofthe GST Authority for AdvanceRuling (AAR) also held that thealcohol-based hygiene productswill attract 18 per cent GST. Itadded that its classification asan essential commodity cannotbe a criteria for exemptionfrom GST.

The order came on a peti-tion from Springfields (India)Distilleries over classification ofthe hand sanitiser and theapplicable rate of GST.

The clarity has also comein wave of reports of large-scale tax evasion reported bythe Central EconomicIntelligence Bureau with cer-tain new manufacturers ofsanitisers paying 12 per centGST due to the wrong classi-fication instead of the actual 18per cent.

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Google has agreed to invest�33,737 crore for a 7.7

per cent stake in RelianceIndustries’ technology ventureand to cooperate on technolo-gy initiatives, including devel-opment of affordable smart-phones, billionaire MukeshAmbani said on Wednesday.

Addressing RIL’s first-everonline annual general meeting,which had an unprecedented3.2 lakh shareholders attendingfrom 550 cities in 48 countriesthrough the newly-mintedJioMeet platform, he saidReliance Jio has developed anindigenous 5G solution whichcan be exported globally.

Also, the group’s petro-chemical and retail business hasreceived strong interest fromfinancial and strategic investorson lines of the massive �1.52lakh crore that the technologyventure Jio Platforms amassedin less than three months fromthe likes of Facebook andGoogle.

The only disappointmentfor investors was on the com-pany’s talks for a sale of a 20 percent stake in oil-to-chemical(O2C) business to SaudiAramco for an asking of USD15 billion, with Ambani sayingtalks have “not progressed asper the original timeline”. He,however, hastened to add thatthe company has raised enoughmoney from stake sale in JioPlatforms and fuel retailing

business as well as a rights issueto achieve the net-debt free tar-get nine months ahead ofschedule. Achieving net-debtfree status was one of theobjectives behind Asia’s richestman announcing stake saletalks on O2C business toAramco in the company’s lastannual general meeting inAugust 2019.

On Wednesday, he neithersaid if the talks with Aramcowere on track nor did he givea new deadline.

All he said was that RIL,operator of the world’s largestrefining complex, will replacetransportation auto fuels withclean electricity and hydrogenas it set a target to become netcarbon-zero by 2035.“We are delighted to welcomeGoogle as a strategic investor inJio Platforms. We have signeda binding partnership and aninvestment agreement underwhich Google will invest �

33,737 crores for a 7.7 per centstake in Jio Platforms,” Ambani,63, said.

California-based AlphabetInc joins Facebook Inc, whichopened the investment cycle inJio Platforms by picking 9.99per cent stake for �43,573.62crore, as well as chipmaker IntelCorp and Qualcomm Inc.

With Google coming onboard, Reliance has completedits target of capital raising forJio Platforms, he said.

With this deal, Reliance hassold 32.84 per cent stake in JioPlatforms Ltd - the unit thathouses India’s youngest butlargest telecom firm JioInfocomm and apps, to 13marquee firms for a total of �1,52,055.45 crore.

Proceeds from the stakesales in Jio Platforms, alongwith the �53,124 crore raised ina rights issue in June and saleof a 49 per cent stake in its fuelretail network to BP last sum-

mer for Rs 7,629 crore will helpthe company become net debt-free, Ambani said.

The cumulative fund rais-ing by Reliance in less thanthree months is now �2,12,809crore as compared to net debtof �1,61,035 crore as on March31, 2020.

Ambani, who has cata-pulted his way to become thesixth richest man in the worldwith USD 72.4 billion, sur-passing Tesla’s Elon Muskand Alphabet co-foundersSergey Brin and Larry Page,said his group can “designentry-level 4G or even 5Gsmartphone for a fraction ofits current cost”.

“Google and Jio are part-nering to build an Android-based smartphone operatingsystem,” he said. “Through thispartnership, we are confidentthat we can accelerate thenational mission of putting asmart device in the hands ofevery Indian.”

As many as 350 millionIndians still use a 2G featurephone. “Our mission withAndroid has always been tobring the power of computingto everyone, and we’ve beenhumbled by the way Indianshave embraced Android overrecent years,” said Google chiefexecutive Sundar Pichai.

“The time is right toincrease our commitment toIndia significantly, in collabo-ration with local companies,and partnership with Jio is the

first step.”Google and Jio are part-

nering to build an OperatingSystem that could poweraffordable 4G/5G smart-phone. Also, JioMart, onlineshopping portal, andWhatsApp will be workingclosely to enable customersseamlessly transact withmom-and-pop stores.

He also announced

broadband for enterprises andsmall businesses andNarrowband Internet-of-Things (NBIoT). J i oPlatforms - which is alsoamassing a wide range of ser-vices from music streaming toonline retail and payments - isexpected to use its 388 millionmobile phone subscribers asthe cornerstone of an e-com-merce and digital services busi-

ness to rival Amazon andWalmart’s Flipkart.

Jio, which is at the centre ofAmbani’s ambition to create ahomegrown technology behe-moth akin to China’s Alibaba,has become Reliance’s growthengine, combining with thecompany’s fast-growing retailarm to help in offsetting thedecline in oil and petrochem-icals.

The oil-telecom-to-retailconglomerate also announcedacceleration in the rollout ofJioMart - its ecommerce ven-ture.

“We have received stronginterest from strategic andfinancial investors in RelianceRetail. We will induct globalpartners and investors inReliance Retail in the next fewquarters,” he said.

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RIL Chairman MukeshAmbani on Wednesday

said time has come for aglobal digital product andservices company to emergefrom India, as he nudged JioPlatforms to pursue globalopportunities and create rev-enue source from domesticand international marketsAddressing RelianceIndustries 43rd AGM,Ambani said over the years,Reliance has built deepdomain knowledge in most ofthe industry verticals that arekey to the Indian economy,and Jio Platforms can com-bine this domain knowledgewith its technology strengths

to create multiple innovativeecosystem solutions and man-aged services for India.“Eachof these solutions, onceproven in India, has thepotential to be a global solu-tion... That can be used toserve the rest of the world.

I am setting a goal for JioPlatforms to pursue this glob-al opportunityand to create as i g n i f i c a n tsource of rev-enue from boththe domesticand globalm a r k e t s , ”Ambani said atthe annual gen-eral meeting(AGM).

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Reliance Jio’s new com-merce platform JioMart

and Whatsapp will be work-ing closely to create growthopportunities for millions ofIndian small merchants andkirana shops, Reliance

Industries (RIL)Chairman MukeshAmbani said onWednesday.

F a c e b o o k -owned instant mes-saging platformWhatsApp, whichis immensely pop-ular in India, hasbeen testing a pay-ments platform in

India for quite some timenow.

“Over 400 millionWhatsApp users in Indiabring unique value to ourpartnership,” Ambani said atthe company’s first annualgeneral meeting.

In India, there are morethan 15 million monthlyWhatsApp Business app users.

“Both Facebook and Jioshare a strong vision for dig-itally empowering consumersas well as small businessesand entrepreneurs acrossIndia,” the RIL Chairmansaid. In April, Facebook hadannounced a $5.7 billion, or�43,574 crore, investment inJio Platforms.

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New Delhi: With workforcehaving migrated from Stateswith large rubber clusters,RSDC is gearing up to trainlocal populace in required jobroles so that the rubber man-ufacturing plants could runsmoothly.“The Southern stateslike Kerala, Tamilnadu,

Andhra, Telangana and alsostates like Maharashtra,Gujarat, Punjab & Haryanahave witnessed the large exodusof the workforce. Incidentally,these states are also those thathouse large clusters of Rubbermanufacturing units and arefacing the heat in view of man-

power crunch. These units arevoicing the need for localskilled human resources. Wehave targeted to skill and reskillpeople in popular job rolesrequired by the rubber manu-facturing plants”, said MrVinod Simon, ChairmanRSDC.

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For alcohol, had any of us thoughtthat there would be a falling graph,ever? The global data suggests that

due to the ongoing pandemic, the beermarket has seen a shift in consumer pref-erences towards low and non-alcoholicvariants as well as craft beer. Well, whohad thought this would change.

The report titled, India Beer Market— Industry Size, Share, Drivers, Trends,Analysis and Forecasts (2019-24),released by Niir Project ConsultancyServices, provides a comprehensiveanalysis on the Indian beer market.

As per the data, India has one of thelowest consumption levels of beer inAsia. Currently, India consumes abouttwo per cent of the total world volumesand has the potential to match the worldleader, China, thus opening a vast poolof opportunities for the brewing com-panies. However, changing dynamics ofIndian preferences, favourable demo-graphics, growing awareness and accept-ability of alcohol, rising per capitaincome and evolving cultural attitude aresome of the key factors, which are like-ly to contribute to sales.

���,�����%�.��.�Looking at the manufacturing

process of beer, from malting till the endof process at bottling, the beer segmentin India is categorised either by fermen-tation process (ale & lager) or by alco-hol’s volume (mild & strong). TheIndian industry is majorly dominated bystrong beer but new flavourful mild beerare finding their feet on the ground.While strong beer has alcohol content ofnot less than five per cent, mild beer con-tains not more than five per cent of alco-hol. Even though beer is being increas-ingly accepted as a social drink and theurban youth in particular favours it asthe preferred alcoholic beverage, theIndian market has been highly dominat-ed by hard liquor. However, consumersare now looking for choices away fromwhisky.

��������..� �!�"� &�H��,%"�����

It is not just the male populace thatis enamoured by beer but women equal-

ly enjoy the beverage today. One of thedrivers for the beer industry is the ris-ing online alcohol-delivery. A suddenspurt of such portals not only indicatesthe rising acceptability of alcohol in thecountry but also the much evolving con-sumer base. The consumers, who wereunable to go to a liquor store earlier,especially women, now purchase theirpreferred drinks and are in a sweet spotwith home deliveries.

However, the industry still facesmoral restrictions due to great religiousinfluences. It is still considered to be aforbidden, taboo drink in some parts ofthe society, detrimental for Indian cul-ture. Drinking alcohol is culturally notaccepted in most parts of the country.

.��� �!�#� ��-����The Indian beer market has also

been experiencing the trend of micro-breweries and exclusive beer spots. Theemergence of such outlets has con-tributed to an increased awareness andeasy availability of beer in Indian mar-kets. Today, craft beer is a rage in theindustry and is booming. The market isswamped with a number of craft beerwith new and innovative flavours. Beerconsumers are nowadays shifting theirpreferences from regular mainstreambottled beer to artisanal brews, new freshflavours and unique local ingredients. Alarge number of microbreweries are alsoselling their bottled craft beer. Thesurge in craft beer sales is intended todrive the beer industry sales to the bub-

bly top!

�D���!�One of the recent trends to hit the

industry is emergence of zero per centbeer. Since the consumer profile for beerindustry in India is evolving, so is thepreference meter and hence the emer-gence of new varieties. Consumers arenow increasingly opting for drinks thatare low on sugar, carbs and hence, calo-ries. In view of an increasing demand forsuch drinks, a lot of brewers have come

up with their versions of zero per centbeer to tap the demand from this seg-ment. Players have been branching outinto concepts such as non-alcohol brandextensions and surrogate advertising andalignment with sport.

���.�����5������!����The report also scrutinises the

Indian beer industry with the help ofSWOT Analysis, elucidating thestrengths of the industry in being reces-sion-proof in view of the fact that alco-

hol consumption generally remainsunfazed by the economic downturn.Also, the growing Indian populationserves as a ready customer base for thebeer industry. According to the UnitedNations, India is poised to overtakeChina as the world’s most populousnation around 2027. Such populationgrowth puts the industry in a comfort-able spot. Indian demographics arebound to benefit the industry in the longterm with large number of people underdrinkable age. With rising urbanisation,escalating disposable income and grow-ing affluent class, there are enormousopportunities for the players to tap into.It is estimated that the urban populationin India will rise to 38 per cent of thetotal population by 2025.

.�""����������- However, the industry faces chal-

lenges in the form of ban on directadvertising and derisory state of marketinfrastructure. The industry is alsohighly taxed, regulated and struggleswith multiplicity of taxes. With globalbigwigs like Carlsberg, Anheuser-Buschand Heineken entering the country, thecompetitive landscape of the domesticbeer market has changed considerably.However, given the above growth trig-gers of beer — acceptability, popularityof microbreweries and craft beer andevolving consumer preferences — theindustry is expected to reach consump-tion levels of 3,584 million litres or 459million cases by 2024.

While the world experiences strife throughislolation, boredom, panic and uncertain-

ty, yet, for those, who pick up a paint brush orpen in response to the disease, their role as achange-maker in society becomes very impor-tant. It has been rightly said that art and cre-ativity in the time of a pandemic is more cru-cial than ever! Going by the references andexamples of art from the time of the greatPlague, poet Richard Kenney said that thePlague had changed the imagination of theWest. It changed every culture that is passedthrough. Well, that’s what a creative piece of art-work does. For future generations, it stands asan evidence that this happened.

Marking 2020 in history, Delhi-basedartist Gunjan Tyagi creates three ‘paintings onCOVID-19’ that aim to reflect the current rela-tionship between humans and nature, and theirbattle with the Coronavirus pandemic.

The first, Prerequisite, as she explains, findsmeaning in the touch of a human — which hascurrently gone missing. The work is a spin onMichelangelo’s Creation of Adam. Talkingabout how she made it, she earlier recalledabout how she recently made New York herhome and that she found the city’s energy andvibrance “truly stimulating.” However, after apandemic at hand, she added, “I found myselfconfined to my studio. I started re-focussingmy energies on painting. But, true to contem-porary anxieties, we see that both god andhumans are wearing hand gloves!”

The painting showcases two gloved hands

not being to able to touch each other. She says,“The creation of Adam is one of the most pow-erful, intimate and awe-inspiring pieces of art.Touch being the most significant act here,

which is untouched. Yet, it portrays that thespark exists, even though we can’t see it, justlike the instant which signifies the birth ofhumankind. The same powerful spiritualimage has another meaning in these complextimes — when the human touch and smiles onfaces have gone missing. We are surroundedby fear, anxiety and depression. We are livingin a time when all we really want is that touch,that spark to relive, to say the unsaid things,to rejoin and to cherish the moments of whatwe have lost and what we have.”

The second painting, titled, Quarantined,is inspired by perhaps what is now the ‘wordof the year.’ The painting showcases a girl whokeeps her hair braid in front of her face ratherthan at the back.

She explains, “This very small work wasdone in the beginning of the pandemic situa-tion. This was the response of the news andinformation we were surrounded with. Itreminded me how boredom feels and one hasthat empty mind which they use in uselessthings at such times. People swamped on socialmedia, YouTube, TikTok (which is now bannedin India) and were busy doing stupid things.Things which have little happiness, thingswhich make others laugh and keep everyoneengaged.”

The third, Gaze, is a portrait of a friend.She says, “I am trying to create a strange gazeon her face which is on society and its system,currently,” questioning and trying to come toterms with the uncertainty around.

Actor Ayushmann Khurrana has emerged as athought-leader with his thought-provoking scripts

that are based on topics which are considered a taboo.With eight back to back hits with such scripts, the actoraims to entertain audience with message-based films thathave no reference point in Bollywood.

His brand equity today stands for backing the bestquirky content that is being made by the industry. Heplayed a sperm donor in his debut film Vicky Donor,someone with erectile dysfunction in Shubh MangalSaavdhaan, dived into India’s fragmented and sensitivecaste politics in Article 15, and a gay character in Shubh

Mangal Zyada Saavdhaan. He evenhighlighted body shaming in DumLaga Ke Haisha and promotedinclusivity and body positivity inBala.

Ayushmann says, “I havealways tried to choose films that

have no reference points and Ihave done this delib-erately. I have gravi-tated towards hand-

picking social dra-mas in my questto give films that

can hopefullyimpact change

in mindset,communitiesand of course

a t t i t u d e .These topics

were hardlytouched upon by ourindustry because wegenerally, conscious-ly like to shy away

from speaking pub-licly about these issues.”

The star wants soci-ety and Bollywood to bemore vocal about impor-tant issues that can helppromote diversity and

inclusivity. He says, “Wearen’t very vocal aboutsome important and real

issues that we should actu-ally be talking about and dis-

cussing more often. I havealways felt that bringing suchtopics out in the open will helpus grow as a country.”

Ayushmann adds, “I willcontinue on my journey tomake as much positive changehappen around me as possi-ble. That’s my biggest motiva-

tion as an artist.”

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The novel Coronavirus hasbadly affected people from all

over the world. In February thisyear, the World HealthOrganisation (WHO) declaredCOVID-19 as a pandemic.According to WHO, pandemic isthe advanced stage of disease pro-gression. It means that a disease,after affecting the population ofthe country of its origin, has start-ed spreading among other coun-tries also. Presently, the pandem-ic has affected 217 countries andthere is hardly any country leftfrom this disease. America,European countries, Russia andchina are the most developedcountries, but none of them areout of the clasps of this deadlyvirus. Rather, even being mostdeveloped, these countries havetolerated the most devastatingimpact of the disease and could donothing to check and control it.

Presently there is no medicine,vaccine or surgery available forCOVID, only precautions andpreventive measures can help.These measures have been devisedby understanding the process oftransmission of the virus. Thereare speculations that the virus hasjumped from bats to humans. Butthen thereafter there is man toman communication only, whichis easy and fast.

Anyone can catch the viruswith contaminated hands. Majorreason for the viral contaminationof hands is direct receiving of thevirus laden fluid droplets from acoughing or sneezing COVIDinfected person. Touching theCorona contaminated surfaces,where the virus laden fluiddroplets have settled down mayalso be the reason for contamina-tion of hands. So, maintenance ofone meter distance, wearing maskand repeated hand sanitisation ismust to remain protected from thevirus. The incubation period todevelop the disease is two days totwo weeks (average six to sevendays). Only after the incubationprocess, a Corona positive patientwill show the symptoms. Duringthis period, a Corona positiveperson showing no symptoms canshare the virus. proper precautionsis must.

Precautionary activities suchas wearing mask and hand saniti-sation are simple and easily execut-ed. But maintaining distance is dif-ficult as it is a social activity. Whenyou are involved in social activi-ties, you have lesser control on thesituation. Moreover, it is challeng-ing to maintain distance in theexisting system and design of theworld.

Scientists from all across theglobe are struggling to invent thevaccine or medicine for the virusbut so far there is no break-through. With each day, the sit-uation is becoming terrible, uncer-tain and fearful. Man has struck toa catastrophic confusion, where onone hand, if he goes out for earn-

ing, his life is on stake because ofpossibilities of exposure. While, onthe other, if he doesn’t steps out toearn, his life is in danger again. So,the challenge is to protect thehuman life without involving peo-ple in economic activities, becausewithout economic activities basicneeds cannot be fulfilled.

Currently, there is no treat-ment available, so the only optionis to learn how to live with thepandemic. This situation is notnew for humans, rather, man isalready living with different dead-ly diseases caused by the virusesand other micro-organisms. Butthe precautionary measures ofthese diseases is not so complicat-ed as in the case of COVID-19.People who are suffering from thediseases like HIV, Hepatitis andCancer, do not need to follow thestrict instructions of physical dis-tancing.

To live with the virus, currentphysical and virtual environmen-tal situations and designs are notappropriate. There is an urgentneed to rethink, relearn, re-plan,redesign and rework about thepersonal, social, cultural, eco-nomic, educational, political, trav-eling, hospitality and other activ-ities. It is important to have onemeter distance among humanbeings, when they are at theirhome, workplace and publicplaces. It is simple to suggest thisbut its execution and implemen-tation will bring heavy expenditureof money, resources, effort, timeand energy. World is already pass-ing through the phase of severeeconomic crises and management,mobilisation and spending of sucheconomic resources is not feasible.Creation of the desired new nor-mal is very difficult. To addressthis challenge, researchers, acad-emicians, industrialists, econo-mists, businessmen, politicians,social-scientists and others shouldcome forward to work togetherand evolve the policies, strategies,programmes and scheme.

(The writer is Prof Rishipal,Dean Humanities and AppliedSciences, Shri Vishwakarma SkillUniversity, Haryana.)

India is the largest producer ofraw jute and jute goods in the

world, contributing about 60 percent of the global production andproviding livelihood to about fivemillion people in farming andtrade industry.

Although, the domestic mar-ket continues to be the mainstayfor jute sector, of late, our exportmarket share is also showing anincreasing trend. India earnsabout �2200 crores per annumthrough jute goods exportbecause of biodegradability andeco-friendly nature of this fibre.However, to be suitable for highvalued diversified products, thequality of fibre needs furtherimprovement. Besides the genet-ic background of the jute vari-eties, the quality of the fibre large-ly depends on retting processadopted by the farmers, said DrGouranga Kar, Director of ICAR-CRIJAF, Barrackore.

This year, initially, there wasa setback in jute farming due tothe outbreak of Coronavirus.Also Amphan cyclone wrecked ahavoc on the crop in the thirdweek of May. Despite COVIDoutbreak and the cyclone, thereis a good standing crop becauseof the efforts of ICAR-CRIJAFand other stakeholders likeNational Jute Board, JuteCorporation of India, etc. Nowthat the harvesting and retting

have started, there is a need toadopt the technology ofimproved retting, so that bestquality fibre is obtained.

In this context, Dr Kar men-tioned that recently a break-through in jute retting researchhas been achieved by scientists ofICAR-CRIJAF who have decod-ed the genome sequences ofjute-retting bacteria by highthroughput genome sequencing.The in-depth genomic analysissignificantly revealed three differ-

ent species of Bacillus constitutethe consortium strains. Genomesequencing also confirms thatretting bacteria degrades pectin,hemicellulose and other non-cel-lulosic materials, non-harmfulfor fibre. The bacterial strains arealso non-toxic and thus the ret-ting water with microbial strainscan successfully be used for irri-gation purpose. The sequencedata has been submitted to theNational Centre forBiotechnology Information

(NCBI) database of NIH, USA.These retting bacteria were

already incorporated in themicrobial consortium, called“CRIJAF Sona” developed byICAR-CRIJAF. Owing to its pop-ularity, in last three years alone,1428 MT of CRIJAF Sona worth��7.85 crore was sold to 3.6 lakhfarmers covering more than50,000 ha area in different jutegrowing states of the country.

While congratulating theteam of scientists, Dr Gourangaexpressed that such break-through is first of its kind in juteand is confident that these find-ings will help the scientistsimprove the microbial rettingformulation for better efficiencyand resilience. The genes fordegrading pectin, hemicelluloseand other non-cellulosic materi-als can be altered for enhancedretting efficiency and shorteningthe retting duration with mini-mal water usage. Thus, thisbreakthrough will facilitate toproduce high quality jute fiber byfarming community which willfetch higher income in the mar-ket.

The findings of the genomesequence research is recentlypublished in journal ScientificReports from the NaturePublishing group. Ref Datta, S.Saha, D Chattopadhyay andMajumdar B (2020).

Rajasthan State Industrial Developmentand Investment Corporation (RIICO)

plays a role of catalyst in industrial devel-opment of the state. It facilitates investorsand entrepreneurs in site selection, gettingfinancial assistance to small, medium andlarge scale projects, getting governmentclearances and extends incentives andconcessions according to the policies of thestate government. Here is our interview withRIICO MD, Ashutosh AT Pednekar.Excerpts:

�What is the situation of industries inRajasthan during the pandemic?

It is a challenging time. The priority isto restore the pre-corona situation of theproduction level. The biggest issue is the cre-ation of sufficient demand to start the pro-duction.

�What is RIICO doing to lure invest-ments?

There is a lot of movement in invest-ment at the international level. RIICO, alongwith European Business Group Federation,had discussions with various internation-al companies and chambers of commercefrom different countries including USA,Japan etc. Besides luring internationalinvestments, we are trying to attract domes-tic investments in the state too. We areattracting sector specific investments.Refinery with an estimated cost of � 56,000crore is coming up at Pachadra in Barmerdistrict. Lot of ancillary units of plastic,petrochemicals will come up here. Withrestrictions on import of toys and sportsgoods, RIICO is coming up with sports/toyszone at Khushkhera in Alwar district. Thereis big scope for ceramics and glass sector.Also, a zone is coming up at Soniyana inChittaurgarh district where gas and rawmaterial is available. Similarly, we arelooking into the field of defence productionas Rajasthan has army and air force base.Bharat Electricals Limited (BEL) has set upits unit in Jodhpur for defence production.There is huge scope for Maintenance,Repair and Overhauling (MRO) of defenceequipment, so MRO units can be set here.Apart from these, RIICO is looking intogems and jewellery, FinTech (Financial and

Technical) services including others. Toreduce the cost of investors, we have start-ed allotting smaller plots of 250 to 750square metres to micro, small enterprises.Earlier, the plots offered were of 1000-1500sqmts. Along with this, entrepreneurs areoffered loans facilities such as Mudra Loanetc. These small plots are being given atRaghunathpura industrial area in Jaipurdistrict and at Uniara in Tonk district. Weare also offering Plug & Play facilities, inwhich there is multi-storey buildingwhere manufacturing can be done by tak-ing space on rent. This will reduce theinvestment of the entrepreneur due toavailability of common facilities, there willbe ease of entry and exit too. All thesesteps were important during the COVIDsituation.

�What is the situation of labourers…Most of the labourers working out-

side the state have come back to theirhomes. The labour and industry depart-ments have made a database of the skills,address and phone number of theseworkers. All the industry associationshave been told about the availability oflabourers as per their requirement.Rajasthan State Livelihood DevelopmentCorporation is also imparting training tothe labourers.

�It seems that industrial developmentis taking place in NCR, and along theJaipur-Delhi highway. Is there similardevelopment in process in other dis-tricts too?

Yes, industrial development has takenplace in NCR and on Jaipur-Delhi high-way due to the logistics. Besides this,industrial development has taken place inUdaipur, Jodhpur, Pali, Bhilwara andKota. The Pachpadra refinery will bringin a huge industrial change. RIICO is alsocoming up with 20 new industrial areasin 16 districts in this financial year.

�What has been the response of webi-nar with multinational companies?

The response has been quite encour-aging. Many companies want to do MoUwith us but prior to that they want to visitpersonally. It is getting delayed becauseof restrictions on operation of interna-tional flight services due to Coronavirus.

�What has been industrial developmentduring the Congress regime in last 18months?

Industrial development is a continu-ous process. Last one year has been his-torical for RIICO, as sale of plots hasincreased by 325 per cent as compared toprevious years.

The Chhattisgarh cabinet,which is chaired by ChiefMinister Bhupesh

Baghel, approved Godhan NyayYojana. It has been done tomake gauthans, sanctionedunder Narva, Garua, Ghuruaaur Bari Yojana, more employ-ment-oriented. The schemewill be started in the state fromHareli festival. Till date, near-ly 5,300 gauthans have beensanctioned, out of which theconstruction of 2,408 in ruralareas and 377 in urban areashas completed. And thisscheme will be started fromthese newly-built cowsheds(gauthan).

“In these gauthans, cow-dung will be procured fromcow and buffalo ownersthrough gauthan samitis andthe procured cowdung will beutilised to make vermicompostand other products. This willnot only promote organicfarming but will also createnew employment opportuni-ties, encourage protection ofcows stop open grazing andwill expand the double croparea, creating source of extraincome of livestock owners,”read the government release.

The Cabinet Committeerecommended procurementof cowdung at the rate of �1.50per kg from livestock ownersin villages with cowsheds (gau-than). Cabinet approved thecowdung procurement rate at�2 per kg, including the trans-port cost.

The Cabinet has alsodecided to merge remainingbatch of teachers (panchayat

and urban body cadre) whohave completed service periodof two years or more, underSchool Education Departmentfrom November 1, 2020. Thiswill benefit approximately16,278 teachers.

It also decided to distrib-ute five kg rice, one kg chick-peas per person per monthfrom July 2020 to November2020 on ration cards (exceptAPL category) issued underthe Chhattisgarh Food SecurityAct, the same way is provided

on the ration cards of theNational Food Security Act.

In this regard, the maxi-mum entitlement of total foodgrains per person / card permonth will be equal to themaximum entitlement of foodgrains issued under CGFS andNFSA.

The ChhattisgarhGovernment has decided toreimburse the equivalentamount of State Goods andServices Tax (SGST) payablefor admission on the screening

of the film Chhapak. Theyhave decided to finalise therates for all the works relatedto drinking water supply facil-ity in all the villages of the statethrough tender procedure, col-lected via invitation forExpression of Interest under JalJeevan Mission. Cabinet hasdecided to ensure implemen-tation of the mission via select-ed agencies.

Draft of Chhattisgarh RentControl (Amendment)Ordinance 2020 has beenapproved for amendment inChhattisgarh Rent ControlAct 2011. Under this, StateGovernment will appointretired judge of High Court orretired District Judge asChairman of Rent ControlTribunal.

The Cabinet also gave itsassent to formation ofChhattisgarh SanskritiParishad, ensuring uniformi-ty in all the units conductedunder Culture Department.Chief Minister will be thechairman of this council andCulture Minister will be theVice-Chairman. They permit-ted establishment of bio-ethanol product units in thestate on Public PrivatePartnership (PPP) modeunder special incentive pack-age of the state’s IndustrialFund 2019-24.

Chhattisgarh StateIndustrial DevelopmentCorporation Ltd (CSIDC)approved the policy of pur-chasing private land withmutual consent for industrialpurpose.

Senior BJP leader and Union MinisterMukhtar Abbas Naqvi said that

‘Commotion of Corruption’ under the ‘Carpetof Clan’ is crystal clear. This has become ‘Chaosof the Congress’. Arrogance of merchant of cor-ruption proves that there is something fishy.

Talking to reporters, Naqvi said that thosewho cannot differentiate between “burger andbrinjal, onionand pizza, sug-arcane and jag-gery, grain andbetel leaf, solarplant and solarpark are givingstatements fullof ignorance oncountry’s econ-omy, securityand reforms.They are tryingto becomepolitical panty-waist in the pandemic period.”

He said that India is the only democraticcountry in the world which, under the lead-ership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, pro-vided free food to 81 crore people, one nationone ration card, free gas cylinders to eight crorefamilies, Garib Kalyan Package worth �1.70lakh crore, �1,500 given into bank accounts of20 crore women, �19,000 crore given under PMKisan Samman Nidhi during the challenges ofthe pandemic. These steps instilled a sense ofdevelopment with trust among the people ofthe country.

“During the Corona crisis, theGovernment brought historic and path break-ing reforms in socio-economic-educationalfields, administration, trade, labour, defence,coal, civil aviation, power distribution, space,forest land, agriculture, communication, bank-ing and investment. These bold reforms haveensured that India has converted disaster intoopportunity,” added Naqvi.

Farsighted decisions taken by PM Modi hasresulted into India being at a far better placein fight against Coronavirus in comparison toother developed nations. He has worked on thefront line which has increased the country’strust on his leadership.

Singrauli Unit 1, the oldest unit of NTPC Ltd,the power generation company, has

emerged as the top-performing unit in thecountry in the first quarter of the financial yearas per the data released by Central ElectricityAuthority (CEA). The first unit of the stationstarted generating on February 13, 1982 andcontinues to serve the country with exception-al performance.

NTPC Singrauli has an installed capaci-ty of 2,000 MW with five units of 200 MWeach and two units of 500 MW each. Three

units (1,4 and 5) of 200 MW have achievedPLF of 101.96 per cent, 101.85 per cent and100.35 per cent respectively in Q1 FY 20-21among the coal-fired units in the country.

NTPC has also won the prestigious CII-ITC Sustainability Award 2019 underOutstanding Accomplishment in CorporateExcellence category. Also, the company hasreceived Commendation for SignificantAchievement in category of CSR.

NTPC has always strived for sustainabledevelopment of its communities around the

power stations. GEM (Girl EmpowermentMission), a four-weeks residential pro-gramme has been institutionalised in thevicinity of its power stations for the benefitof school-going girls from underprivilegedbackground to support their overall devel-opment. The power generation company hasalso initiated Contractors’ LabourInformation Management System (CLIMS)through which payment to contract labour-ers is paid on the last day of the month at pro-ject sites.

During the New York Art com-petition, Inspiration From

Isolation, which was organisedrecently, artist Renuka SondhiGulati, the only Indian-originfemale, made her place among thetop six artists of the world. Renukasaid that she will always remaingrateful for the support of people.“I have lived my life near forests. Iunderstand the value of nature. TheLiving Ark series is all about naturereclaiming its space. The series is anincisive and reflective exploration ofthe relationship between humanbeings and the environment,” addedshe.

Initially, she competed and wonthe daily contest, then the bi-week-ly contest and then she came in thetop six of the competition and wasawarded a one year display of herworks at Agora Art gallery atChelsea, New York. During the year,thousands of art lovers and art col-lectors will be able to see her paint-ings, sculptors and prints artworks.The 16 artworks selected for displayfor one year are The Living Ark (

four works), The Graceful Stripes(two works), Save me Save theWorld, In My Dreams, The Power

Play, Intimacy, Search for Eternityand Illusions at Rest.

She has been keenly examining

the links between man’s exploitativetreatment of nature and the result-ing effect of this onslaught. Theseries featuring a log of wood takeson the Biblical story of Noah’s Arkto reflect on the world as it standstoday, especially in the light of theCOVID-19 pandemic. The seriesalso brings to fore the question ofownership of space on earth. Theimages of animals making their way

into urban spaces and reclaimingtheir freedom of movement, duringthe lockdown across the world, res-onate with the resplendent wildlifeon the different arks of life in thepaintings. The cradle of mothernature that is present for all livingforms had been usurped by civili-sation and the spread of human set-tlements. In her paintings, Renukamakes us reflect hard on the out-come of our actions that hadrestricted animals to the sanctuar-ies or the zoo.

One of the paintings in theseries sees the ark of life takingprominence as it occupies the cen-tre of the canvas with fewer figures,but the perched panther ready tosprint, the innocent deer, and a girlwith her back turned ready to steponto the life log. The artist peepingon the suspended log watches thegirl begin her ascent. However, themost prominent object on the Arkis the green heart, literally with itsaorta and vena cava, spelling theobvious that nature is the heart ofthe earth.

CHHATTISGARH CM APPROVESGODHAN-NYAY-YOJANA

‘Development is a continuous process’

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Frank Lampard admittedChelsea are struggling withnerves as they chase a

place in the Champions Leaguenext season after Olivier Giroudscored the only goal in a 1-0 winover already relegated Norwichat Stamford Bridge on Tuesday.

Victory opens up a four-point lead for third-placedChelsea over Leicester andManchester United, who bothhave a game in hand later thisweek.

But Lampard knows there isstill plenty of work to do with atrip to champions Liverpooland sixth-placed Wolves visitingStamford Bridge on the last dayof the season to come inChelsea’s final two league gamesof the season.

“I want more but that canwait. Where we are at as a teamand our position in the table,three points is everything,” saidLampard.

“If we want to really moveon then it can be better. It’s noteasy, there is a nervy feelingthere for understandable rea-sons.”

Lampard made five changesfrom the battering at Bramall

Lane with Giroud among thoserestored to the starting line-up.

Chelsea have already signif-icantly bolstered their frontlinefor next season with thesignings of Timo Wernerand Hakim Ziyech.

But Giroud has morethan justified the decisionto also extend his contractby a year during football’sshutdown as Chelsea’smost potent striker sincethe restart.

“He’s a big character for usand scoring important goals,”added Lampard.

Giroud saw a number of

chances come and go in the firsthalf as an attempted lob overTim Krul fell gently into theDutch ‘keeper’s arms before he

sliced well over the barwhen unmarked insidethe area.

Christian Pulisicforced Krul into his bestsave of the first-half witha powerful drive that wasjust too close to the for-mer Newcastle stopper.

Just as Norwich looked setto hold out until the breakGiroud shrugged off TimmKlose to connect with Pulisic’scross for his fifth goal in eight

games.“I missed some I don’t miss

usually,” said Giroud. “I lost a bitof confidence but my desire toscore was bigger, so I just triedto stay focused and on the crossof Christian I anticipated thisheader.”

Norwich’s long-awaited fateof a return to the Championshipwas confirmed in a 4-0 thrash-ing at the hands of West Ham onSaturday.

There was more defiancefrom the Canaries in defence,but they failed to score for theseventh time in their last eightgames to slump to a ninthstraight defeat.

Daniel Farke’s men failed toeven test Chelsea goalkeeperKepa Arrizabalaga or a defencethat has been under the micro-scope for conceding 49 goalsalready in the league this seasonwith a shot on target.

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Mario Pasalic scored a hat-trick as Atalanta brushed

aside struggling local rivalsBrescia 6-2 to move second inSerie A on Tuesday.

Gian Piero Gasperini’s sideextended their unbeatenleague run to 13 games tomove six points behind lead-ers Juventus who visit eighth-placed Sassuolo onWednesday.

Inter Milan and Lazio aretwo points behind Atalantabefore they play against SPALand Udinese respectively laterthis week.

Gasperini’s side havescored 93 league goals so farthis season — 26 more thaneight-time reigning championsJuventus.

“We don’t do it to humil-iate the opponent, butwe try to play our game,”said Gasperini.

“Already last year wewere the best attack inthe league, this year wehave surpassed our-selves, scoring many goalswith many different players.

“Playing in theChampions League has helpedus and made us grow,” addedGasperini, whose side willplay Paris Saint-Germain inthe last eight next month.

“We are preparing forParis Saint-Germain, but alsowant to fight to the end inSerie A.

“I think the best way to beready for August 12 will be toplay these last five league

games to the maximum.”

Atalanta’s top scorer LuisMuriel, with 17 league goalsthis season, watched from thestands but his absence was notfelt with Croatian Pasalicopening the scoring withintwo minutes at the GewissStadium connecting with aRuslan Malinovskyi cross.

Brescia hit back minuteslater with Ernesto Torregrossapouncing on Atalanta defend-er Mattia Caldara’s poor clear-ance.

But the hosts got backinto their stride and werefour-goals up after half anhour with Marten De Roon,Malinovskyi and a DuvanZapata header within a five-minute spell.

The punishment contin-ued in the second half with

Malinovskyi again set-ting up Pasalic to beatLorenzo Andrenacci inthe Brescia goal after 55minutes.

The Croatianadded a third three

minutes later sending inEbrima Colley’s cross for hisninth goal this season, five ofthem against Brescia, havingscored a brace in the away leglast November.

“It’s the best moment ofmy career,” said Pasalic afterhis maiden hat-trick.

“There are still five gamesleft and we can do even better.

Nikolas Spalek pulled agoal back for Brescia whomove closer to Serie B nextseason.

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The Spanish league trophywill be sitting by the field at

the Alfredo Di Stéfano Stadiumon Thursday, with Real Madrida win away from lifting it for thefirst time in three years.

Madrid will have its firstchance to clinch the title whenit hosts Villarreal at home fol-lowing a long season that was injeopardy because of the coron-avirus pandemic.

It enters the second-to-lastround with a four-point leadover Barcelona, which facesOsasuna at the Camp Nou at thesame time.

Madrid needs two pointsfrom its last two matches tosecure its 34th league title —and first since 2017. It can alsolift the trophy with a loss ifBarcelona fails to defeatOsasuna.

It would be Madrid’sfirst league title sinceCristiano Ronaldo left tojoin Juventus two sea-sons ago, and the firstsince coach Zinedine Zidanereturned from a short break.

Barcelona won the last twoleague titles and was at the topthis season when the coron-avirus pandemic struck, butMadrid has been perfect sincethe break, winning nine straight.

“When we returned fromthe confinement after being

stuck at home for almost threemonths, I could see that theplayers wanted to achieve some-thing big,” Zidane said onWednesday.

“I could see it during thetraining sessions, I could see itin how they were practising.”

Madrid had lost three of itslast four matches before theleague was halted in March.

Barcelona seemed in con-trol but endured an up-and-down run after the break, draw-ing three matches and losing itsadvantage at the top.

Coach Quique Setién,under pressure because of theteam’s results and lacklusterperformances, knows his clubfaces a tough task trying to over-come Madrid’s advantage.

Barcelona has won eight ofthe last 11 league titles, with

Madrid lifting the trophy in2017 and 2012.

Madrid will face aVillarreal team that is sit-ting fifth in the standingsand fighting for a EuropaLeague berth.It had one of the best runs

following the coronavirusbreak, winning six of its ninematches.

“It will be one of our mostdifficult matches,” Zidane said.

“It’s a very tough rival, avery good team.”

Barcelona’s opponent,Osasuna, is in 11th place.

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The 2022 World Cup will havefour games every day in a

12-day group stage and match-es later in the tournament thatgo into extra time will extendpast midnight in Qatar.

FIFA released the schedulefor the first World Cup to beplayed in November andDecember on Wednesday, with

kickoff times at 1 pm (1000GMT), 4 pm(1300GMT), 7 pm(1600 GMT) and10 pm (1900GMT).

Host Qatar willopen the MiddleEast’s first WorldCup in the 60,000-capacity Al BaytStadium at 1 pm on

November 21. The final start at6 pm on December 18 at the80,000-capacity Lusail Stadium.

Eight venues in closeproximity to Dohawill be used at thetournament, whichwill be played in 28days rather than the32 days used at the last

World Cup in Russia tominimize the disruption

to the European season.Teams and fans will not

need to fly around Qatarbecause stadiums are with-in a 30-mile radius.

Both semifinals — likesome games in the previ-ous rounds — will kick offat 10 pm and will spill over

into the next day if there is extratime, or even just long injury andVAR delays in regular time.

�-� %"�4 The Indian cricketteam’s six-match limited-overshome series against England sched-uled in September is all set to bepostponed along with NewZealand A’s visit of the country nextmonth due to the Covid-19 pan-demic.

The BCCI is yet to make anyformal announcement in thisregard but it is expected that it willhappen soon.

“England were supposed toplay six games (three ODIs andthree T20Is) during late September.Obviously in the current circum-stances England won’t be travellingto India,” a senior BCCI officialsaid.

India’s Future Tours andProgram (FTP) calendar will beamong the main topics of discus-sion during the BCCI ApexCouncil meeting on Friday.

“But I guess a formalannouncement will happen oncethe FTP issue is discussed as it’s partof the agenda during Friday’s ApexCouncil meeting. New Zealand Ahad a tour of India scheduled inAugust and even that’s also unlike-ly to go ahead,” the official said.

According to reports in theBritish media, the white ball tourmay now happen in September,next year. PTI

,"!�$��4The 10th season of theBig Bash League (BBL) will coin-cide with the much-anticipatedIndia’s tour of Australia, the hostboard announced on Wednesdayunveiling a 61-match schedule forthe country’s premier T20 event.

According to the schedulereleased by Cricket Australia (CA),the BBL will begin on December 3with a clash between Strikers andRenegades at the Adelaide Oval,shortly after the end of day one ofthe opening Test between India andAustralia in Brisbane. The final has

been set for February 6 next year.The 59-game Women’s BBL

will be played from October 17

until November 29.“While the Covid-19 pandem-

ic may yet force alterations to thesummer of cricket, today’s

announcement confirms thecommitment to a full 61-game schedule, including thereturn of the five-team finalsformat,” the CA said.

As per the schedule, theBBL will run for eight nights beforetaking a five-day break forAustralia’s day-night Test withIndia to be held from Dec 11-15 atAdeialde Oval. PTI

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The national camps for Indianmen’s and women’s hockey

teams will not resume as plannedon July 19 at Bengaluru SAI Centrewith the rising Covid-19 case countforcing the city into a completeseven-day lockdown.

The grave situation in thesouthern metropolis has left theSports Authority of India (SAI) withno choice but to defer its plans.

Enjoying a break at theirrespective native places after beingconfined to their rooms at the SAICentre for two months due to thenationwide lockdown, the players

had been expected to return to baseby July 19.

A SAI source in Bengaluru,however, confirmed to PTI thatthere is no way the national campscan resume on the earlier ear-marked date under the current cir-cumstances.

“We didn’t get any such instruc-tion till now about resumption ofhockey camps. On June 18, we werejust being asked to allow the play-ers to leave for their homes but nointimation has been given to us onresumption of camps,” the sourcesaid.

“Frankly speaking, it is impos-sible to resume camps now because

Bengaluru is under complete lock-down till July 22. The cases areincreasing everyday and there is apossibility that the lockdown wouldbe extended till the end of thismonth.”

Although the SAI headquartershere is yet to take a formal decisionon the matter, Hockey India’s de-recognition by the Sports Ministry,along with 53 other National SportsFederations (NSFs), as per theDelhi High Court’s order, has madethe situation complex.

“We can’t make any commenton national camps or anything aswe are de-recognised by the min-istry now,” a HI official said.

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Fresh from becoming a fatherof two, Joe Root will be

reinstalled as England captainon Thursday with his team invery familiar territory.

With Root absent so hecould be with his wife for thebirth of their second child,England lost the first Testagainst the West Indies lastweek in what was the firstinternational cricket matchsince the sport’s shutdown.

With the series against theWest Indies being only threeTests, England has to bounceback immediately and Root’sreturn is clearly a positive.

The captain will take theplace of Joe Denly, who made 18and 29 in his two innings at theRose Bowl and was fighting

with Zak Crawley to keep hisspot for the second Test at OldTrafford.

Crawley had England’shighest single score with 76 inthe second innings.

There is likely to be achange in the bowling attack,too, with Stuart Broadpushing for a recall afterbeing dropped for thefirst Test — and thenspeaking publiclyabout his disappoint-ment during thematch.

Root said anydecision would betaken after he took alook at the Old Traffordpitch again laterWednesday.

There has been rainin Manchester and Root

described the wicket as havinga “nice brownish colour.”

Continuity has been key forEngland when it comes toselection in recent years, whichmay prove a blessing for Jos

Buttler. The wicketkeeper-batsman — a limited-overs specialist — has aTest average of 23.22since the start of 2019,and only one centuryin 75 innings, but is setto keep his place.

The West Indiesare holders of theWisden Trophy afterbeating England in a

home series last year,

so will retain it with a draw inthe first of back-to-back Tests inManchester.

And they are looking to seala first Test series victory inEngland in 32 years. Not since1992-93 — when the likes ofBrian Lara, Courtney Walsh andCurtly Ambrose were in theirpomp — have the Windies wonan overseas Test series consist-ing of more than two matchesagainst major opposition.

“I haven’t mentioned any-thing about history to the guys,”West Indies captain JasonHolder said.

“It’s hard for us to get caughtup in the peripheral stuff.

“Winning the first Testmatch is just one piece of thepuzzle. We’ve got two othergames to play and we don’t getahead of ourselves.”

,��.� �4 Windies coach PhilSimmons believes that the extendedpreparations after early arrival due toCovid-19 protocols have actually playeda key part in his side’s four-wicket winin the first Test. West Indies, whoarrived in England on June 9 andtrained in a bio-secure environmentafter that, beat the home side by fourwickets on the final day of the first Test.

“I think that has been the biggestinfluence on the performance. The factthat we’ve been here for that period oftime, we’ve had quality bowling in thenets because we’ve had nearly 11 seam-ers here, you can’t put a price on that,”he said on the eve of the second Test.

“I don’t like to go back into my(playing) days, but we would come toEngland and play something like threeor four proper warm-up games beforethe first Test, and we would also have

three-day or four-day games in betweenthe Test matches. So I think that peri-od of training goes a long way to howwe performed in that first Test.”

While praising the resolve of hisplayers in the first Test, he warned theWest Indies cricketers to guard againstcomplacency.

“For me it was a great win becauseI think that it signified a lot of hard workbeing done by the players over the lastfour or five weeks. It was a top-class Testmatch, with good cricket played by bothteams, and even coming down to thelast hour, it could have gone either way.

“But you guard against complacen-cy by just trying to do the same thingsyou did before the first Test. Right nowthat Test match is history. We’ve got tobe thinking about what we do fromThursday to Monday,” the 57-year-oldformer all-rounder said. PTI

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,��.� �4 ManchesterUnited forward MarcusRashford is set to become theyoungest recipient of an hon-orary doctorate from theUniversity of Manchester forhis campaign to help needychildren.

Rashford earned wide-spread praise after the Englandforward successfully cam-paigned for school food vouch-ers to be provided over thesummer holidays in Britain,revealing that he had relied on

such support as a boy.The 22-year-old will join

club greats Alex Ferguson and

Bobby Charlton in receivingthe honorary doctorate.

“It’s a proud day for myselfand my family. When youlook at the great names thathave been awarded this doc-torate in the past, it’s hum-bling,” Rashford said.

“We still have a long wayto go in the fight to combatchild poverty in this countrybut receiving recognition fromyour city means we’re headingin the right direction... thatmeans a lot.” Agencies

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"��%��4�Premier League clubshave agreed a 10-week sum-mer transfer window, whichwill open on July 27.

Subject to the approval offootball’s world governingbody FIFA, the window willopen the day after the 2019/20league season finishes andend on October 5, the dateUEFA had recommended forthe closure of registration peri-ods across Europe.

The Premier League saidthat following consultationwith the English Football

League, a domestic-only win-dow will also be added fromOctober 5 and close onOctober 16.

Transfers between PremierLeague clubs will not be ableto occur during this period,but top-flight sides can tradewith EFL clubs and loan orsign players permanently.

The EFL confirmed itswindow would open on thesame day as the PremierLeague’s but clubs would havean extra two weeks for domes-tic-only business. AFP

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O�$-�$��-����.%��"�"����(�����D$��.4�An interim rule allow-ing football teams to use fivesubstitutes per match duringthe schedule congestioncaused by the coronaviruspandemic was extended onWednesday through next sea-son.

Football’s law-makingpanel, said the option of usingtwo extra replacements wouldcontinue in the 2020-21 seasonand for national team compe-titions into next August, whenthe Tokyo Olympic tourna-ments end. AP

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