, ˇ - RNI Regn. No. MPENG/2004/13703, Regd. No. L … · 2 days ago · the Centre announced...

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C racking the whip against Congress president Sonia Gandhi and family, the Union Home Ministry on Wednesday constituted an inter-minister- ial probe team to investigate allegations of “money laun- dering, foreign contributions and income tax evasions” by Rajiv Gandhi Foundation (RGF), Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust (RGCT) and Indira Memorial Trust. Rahul Gandhi hit back say- ing those who fight for the truth have no price and cannot be intimidated. The Congress said its leadership would not be intimidated by “cowardly acts and a blind witch-hunt” by the “panicked” Government. Last week, the Government direct- ed Priyanka Gandhi to vacate an official bungalow at Lodhi Road in Delhi. According to highly placed officials, the Union Urban Development Ministry is also probing the misuse of land allotment by Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, which is con- trolled by Sonia, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka. The Centre’s decision has come amid Rahul’s fierce attack against the Modi Government over a host of issues, including the Chinese intrusion and Covid-19 outbreak. The Home Ministry spokesperson said a Special Director in the Enforcement Directorate will head the inter- ministerial team. “The Ministry of Home Affairs has set up an inter-ministerial committee to coordinate inves- tigations into violation of var- ious legal provisions of PMLA, Income Tax Act, FCRA, etc, by the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust and Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust. Special Director of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) will head the committee,” said the spokesperson. The Rajiv Gandhi Foundation is working from a Raisina Road premises which was allotted for the Congress party to build its headquarters titled as Jawahar Bhawan in 1988 in connection with first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s centenary. The Jawahar Bhawan was constructed, but it was con- verted into the office of Rajiv Gandhi Foundation chaired by Sonia Gandhi and family members. The Urban Development Ministry has sought L&DO to submit a report in this regard, which may lead to eviction of RGF from the prime location. The RGF was set up in 1991 with the aim to realise “the vision of the former Prime Minister (Nehru) of a modern, secular, and progressive India; a country that enshrines the democratic principle of equal- ity and blends progress with rich cultural traditions”. The Foundation is chaired by Sonia Gandhi. The other trustees include former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, for- mer Finance Minister P Chidambaram, former deputy chairman of the erstwhile Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Suman Dubey, educationist Ashok Ganguly and industrialist Sanjiv Goenka. The Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust (RGCT) was established in 2002 to “address the development needs of the underprivileged of the country, especially the rural poor” and works in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. The trustees of the RGCT are Sonia Gandhi (chairperson), Rahul Gandhi, Ashok Ganguly and Bansi Mehta. Its CEO is Deep Joshi. Meanwhile, in one of his sharpest attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, for- mer Congress chief Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said Modi thinks that “the world is like him and that every one has a price or can be intimidated”. The attack from Rahul and the Congress came soon after the Centre announced forma- tion of a committee to probe the funding allegations on Rajiv Gandhi Foundation. The Congress alleged that the Centre’s decision to set up an inter-ministerial panel to coordinate a probe into three foundations linked to the Gandhi family was biased and that the Government treated several entities such as the Vivekananda Foundation and the RSS as ‘holy cows’. “Mr Modi believes the world is like him. He thinks every one has a price or can be intimidated. He will never understand that those who fight for the truth have no price and cannot be intimidated,” Rahulsaid in a tweet. Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said that the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation — one of the three foundations to be probed for alleged financial misconduct - had “nothing to add” or “fear”. T he HRD Ministry’s decision to drop chapters like demo- cratic rights, food security in India, federalism, citizenship, and secularism from the CBSE school syllabus, has triggered massive criticism from several quarters, including Opposition leaders and netizens. The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) announced that the syllabus for 2020-21 would be reduced by a third because of the “extra- ordinary situation” as the world fights the coronavirus pan- demic. Apart from these chap- ters, sub-sections, including “Why do we need Local Governments?” and “Growth of Local Government in India”, have been removed from the curriculum. “These topics will not be accessed in themselves but teachers have been asked to explain to the students of their relevance with respect to exist- ing topics,” said a HRD Ministry official. The deletions were made on the direction of the HRD Ministry which asked the CBSE to reduce the syllabus for Classes IX to XII by 30 per cent to make up for the academic loss caused by the pandemic and the subsequent closure of schools. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said she was “shocked” over CBSE dropping secularism, federalism, citi- zenship chapters and appealed for revocation. She took to social media to register her opposition, the first politician to object the move. She also appealed to the Union HRD Ministry to not curtail these subjects “at any cost”. In an official statement, the CBSE said, “The heads of schools and teachers may ensure that the topics that have been reduced are also explained to the students to the extent required to connect different topics. However, the reduced syllabus will not be part of the topics for internal assessment and year-end Board Examination.” The Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) already announced to reduce their syl- labus for Class X and XII to “make up for the loss in instructional hours during the current session 2020-21”. “Alternative academic cal- endar and inputs from the NCERT on transacting the curriculum using different strategies shall also be part of the teaching pedagogy in the affiliated schools,” said the senior official. For Classes 1 to VIII, the National Council of Education Research and Training (NCERT) has already notified an alternative calendar and learning outcomes. The board had previously asked NCERT to suggest topics and themes which are “either repeated or overlapped or learning out- comes related to it are being covered under other chapters” when it was looking to reduce the syllabus. A s the Indian and Chinese Armies have almost pulled back from the stand-off sites on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh, the next round of talks between the Corps Commanders will focus on the reduction of troops in the operational areas. The two sides bolstered their troop strength in sizable numbers in the past eight weeks during the face-offs and the ugly brawl on June 15 in the Galwan valley in which 20 Indian soldiers were killed. In their last round of nego- tiations, the Commanders had agreed to reduce the addition- al troops from the operational or “depth areas” and go back to their respective peace time locations. The operational areas are generally located 20 to 25 kms from the LAC. Now, with India and China rapidly disengaging from all the four confrontation or “friction points”, including the Galwan valley, Gogra, Hot Springs and Pangong Tso (lake), source said here on Wednesday steps are on to start the process of “thinning out” troops in oper- ational areas. The Chinese have disman- tled tents and makeshift bunkers besides removing vehi- cles from all the face-off points. On Tuesday, the with- drawal at the Galwan river valley, where Indian and Chinese troops clashed on June 15, appeared complete. Satellite images from the bend of the Galwan river as it crosses the LAC and flows into Indian ter- ritory, showed the area cleared of Chinese troops and struc- tures. The Chinese and Indian troops had started the with- drawal at four spots leaving a buffer zone in between after Sunday’s talks. I ndia may record 2.87 lakh Covid-19 cases per day by the end of 2021 winter (Jan- Feb), topping the list of worst- hit nations in the world if there was no vaccine or cure for the deadly virus, researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have warned. The study “Estimating the global spread of Covid-19”, painted a scary picture for the country like India whose crum- bling health infrastructure is already overwhelmed with over 7.5 lakh coronavirus cases, making it third among the most virus-infected countries, just behind the USA and Brazil. However, the researchers avoided using phrase like “community trans- mission.” The researchers provided some hope as they noted that the projections are highly sen- sitive to assumed testing, behavioural, and policy responses, and as such they should be interpreted as indi- cators of potential risk and not precise predictions of future cases. As per the MIT researchers, India will be the worst-affected country at the end of winter 2021 followed by the US (95,000 cases per day), South Africa (21,000 cases per day) Iran (17,000 cases per day), and Indonesia (13,000 cases per day). With such fast increase in the cases, the world will witness 249 million (24.9 crore) cases and 1.8 million (18 lakh) deaths by spring 2021 if there are no effective treatments or vacci- nation, said researchers Hazhir Rahmandad, TY Lim and John Sterman of MIT’s Sloan School of Management in their study. Using data for 84 countries with reliable testing data — spanning 4.75 billion people — the researchers developed a dynamic epidemiological model. According to the study, the top 10 countries by pro- jected daily infection rates at the end of winter 2021 are India, US, South Africa, Iran, Indonesia, Nigeria, Turkey, France and Germany. For the findings, the MIT research team used a multi- country modified SEIR (Susceptible, Exposed, Infectious, Recovered) model, a standard mathematical model for infectious diseases used by epidemiologists, to simultane- ously estimate the transmission of Covid-19 in 84 countries (4.75 billion people). T en districts of West Bengal and Bihar’s capital Patna will face strict week-long lock- down as coronavirus cases surged in both the States. Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has warned the “lax” citizens against the severity of coronavirus direct- ing the police to take strong measures who do not follow the protocols. The State Government has decided to enforce strict lock- down procedures in the con- tainment zones which togeth- er with the buffer zones would be regarded as containment zones. Patna will remain under lockdown from July 10 to July 16, the District Magistrate ordered on Wednesday. The announcement came with the State witnessing a steady increase in the number of coronavirus cases being report- ed on a daily basis. Meanwhile, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren has quarantined himself at his Ranchi residence after a cabi- net minister whom he had met recently tested positive for Covid-19, an official state- ment said T he World Health Organization (WHO) has admitted that evidences were emerging about airborne trans- mission of coronavirus. The WHO’s admission came after 239 scientists from 32 countries wrote it an open letter. Dr Benedetta Alleganzi, WHO Technical Lead for Infection Prevention and Control, said at a media brief- ing in Geneva, Switzerland, on Tuesday that the agency has discussed and collaborated with many of the scientists who signed the letter. “We acknowledge that there is emerging evidence in this field, as in all other fields regarding the Covid-19 virus pandemic and therefore we believe that we have to be open to this evidence and understand its implications regarding the modes of trans- mission and also regarding the precautions that need to be taken,” Alleganzi said. “The possibility of air- borne transmission in public settings — especially in very specific conditions, crowded, closed, poorly ventilated set- tings that have been described, cannot be ruled out,” she said. A spa owner has been arrest- ed for allegedly letting loose a dog on her employee who asked for pending salary in south Delhi’s Malviya Nagar. The victim, Sapna (39), got injured and received at least 15 stitches on her face and neck, said police on Wednesday, adding that the incident took place on June 11. Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), South district, Atul Kimar Thakur, said the victim told police she had worked in the spa run by the accused identified as Rajni, a resident of Khirki Extension in South Delhi, for one-and-half month before the lockdown and left the job on March 22. C ontinuously mounting pressure on notorious criminal Vikas Dubey, the Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) on Wednesday picked up Dubey’s brother-in- law from Shahdol in Madhya Pradesh. On Tuesday, the UP cops had landed at the home of Gyanendra alias Raju Nigam and had picked up his son Adarsh after Gyanendra was not available at home. Later, Nigam appeared before cops in Shahdol. Fearing for safety of his son, Gyanendra told media persons that he had severed his relations with Dubey around 15 years ago and settled in Shahdol’s Burhar town. “I ended all ties with Vikas Dubey after my name surfaced in two cases involving him without any reason,” plead- ed Nigam. Pratima Mathew, the Addl Superintended of Police (ASP) claimed that the UP police had landed in Shahdol to find a man Raju Nigam who is a rel- ative of Kanpur (UP) fugitive criminal Vikas Dubey. The UP STF however picked up Nigam and left for UP on Wednesday morning in the presence of Burhar police, confirmed Shahdol Superintendent of Police Satyendra Shukla. Sources claim that Dubey had married Nigam’s sister around 15 years ago. However, it was not clear whether Nigam had secured bail in two cases he was named in Uttar Pradesh. Police have already sound- ed an alert in Gwalior-Chambal region suspecting that Dubey who is accused of killing eight policemen in Kanpur with his gang, could be hiding in the region. The police parties are also searching Dubey in the forests starting from Auriya UP to Nayagaon in Bhind in Madhya Pradesh. Dubey’s native village Bansar also falls in this region. Sources claimed that UP police had traced his last location in Auraiya of UP. RNI Regn. No. MPENG/2004/13703, Regd. No. L-2/BPLON/41/2006-2008

Transcript of , ˇ - RNI Regn. No. MPENG/2004/13703, Regd. No. L … · 2 days ago · the Centre announced...

Page 1: , ˇ - RNI Regn. No. MPENG/2004/13703, Regd. No. L … · 2 days ago · the Centre announced forma-tion of a committee to probe ... the top 10 countries by pro-jected daily infection

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Cracking the whip againstCongress president Sonia

Gandhi and family, the UnionHome Ministry on Wednesdayconstituted an inter-minister-ial probe team to investigateallegations of “money laun-dering, foreign contributionsand income tax evasions” byRajiv Gandhi Foundation(RGF), Rajiv GandhiCharitable Trust (RGCT) andIndira Memorial Trust.

Rahul Gandhi hit back say-ing those who fight for thetruth have no price and cannotbe intimidated. The Congresssaid its leadership would not beintimidated by “cowardly actsand a blind witch-hunt” by the“panicked” Government. Lastweek, the Government direct-ed Priyanka Gandhi to vacatean official bungalow at LodhiRoad in Delhi.

According to highly placedofficials, the Union UrbanDevelopment Ministry is alsoprobing the misuse of landallotment by Rajiv GandhiFoundation, which is con-trolled by Sonia, Rahul Gandhiand Priyanka.

The Centre’s decision hascome amid Rahul’s fierce attackagainst the Modi Governmentover a host of issues, includingthe Chinese intrusion andCovid-19 outbreak.

The Home Ministryspokesperson said a Special

Director in the EnforcementDirectorate will head the inter-ministerial team. “TheMinistry of Home Affairs hasset up an inter-ministerialcommittee to coordinate inves-tigations into violation of var-ious legal provisions of PMLA,Income Tax Act, FCRA, etc, bythe Rajiv Gandhi Foundation,Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trustand Indira Gandhi MemorialTrust. Special Director of theEnforcement Directorate (ED)will head the committee,” saidthe spokesperson.

The Rajiv GandhiFoundation is working from aRaisina Road premises whichwas allotted for the Congressparty to build its headquarterstitled as Jawahar Bhawan in

1988 in connection with firstPrime Minister JawaharlalNehru’s centenary.

The Jawahar Bhawan wasconstructed, but it was con-verted into the office of RajivGandhi Foundation chairedby Sonia Gandhi and familymembers. The UrbanDevelopment Ministry hassought L&DO to submit areport in this regard, whichmay lead to eviction of RGFfrom the prime location.

The RGF was set up in1991 with the aim to realise“the vision of the former PrimeMinister (Nehru) of a modern,secular, and progressive India;a country that enshrines thedemocratic principle of equal-ity and blends progress with

rich cultural traditions”. TheFoundation is chaired by SoniaGandhi. The other trusteesinclude former Prime MinisterManmohan Singh, RahulGandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, for-mer Finance Minister PChidambaram, former deputychairman of the erstwhilePlanning Commission MontekSingh Ahluwalia, SumanDubey, educationist AshokGanguly and industrialistSanjiv Goenka.

The Rajiv GandhiCharitable Trust (RGCT) wasestablished in 2002 to “addressthe development needs of theunderprivileged of the country,especially the rural poor” andworks in Uttar Pradesh andHaryana. The trustees of the

RGCT are Sonia Gandhi(chairperson), Rahul Gandhi,Ashok Ganguly and BansiMehta. Its CEO is Deep Joshi.

Meanwhile, in one of hissharpest attack on PrimeMinister Narendra Modi, for-mer Congress chief RahulGandhi on Wednesday saidModi thinks that “the world islike him and that every one hasa price or can be intimidated”.

The attack from Rahul andthe Congress came soon afterthe Centre announced forma-tion of a committee to probethe funding allegations on RajivGandhi Foundation.

The Congress alleged thatthe Centre’s decision to set upan inter-ministerial panel tocoordinate a probe into threefoundations linked to theGandhi family was biased andthat the Government treatedseveral entities such as theVivekananda Foundation andthe RSS as ‘holy cows’.

“Mr Modi believes theworld is like him. He thinksevery one has a price or can beintimidated. He will neverunderstand that those whofight for the truth have no priceand cannot be intimidated,”Rahulsaid in a tweet.

Congress spokespersonAbhishek Manu Singhvi saidthat the Rajiv GandhiFoundation — one of the threefoundations to be probed foralleged financial misconduct -had “nothing to add” or “fear”.

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The HRD Ministry’s decisionto drop chapters like demo-

cratic rights, food security inIndia, federalism, citizenship,and secularism from the CBSEschool syllabus, has triggeredmassive criticism from severalquarters, including Oppositionleaders and netizens.

The Central Board ofSecondary Education (CBSE)announced that the syllabus for2020-21 would be reduced bya third because of the “extra-ordinary situation” as the worldfights the coronavirus pan-demic.

Apart from these chap-ters, sub-sections, including“Why do we need LocalGovernments?” and “Growthof Local Government in India”,have been removed from thecurriculum.

“These topics will not beaccessed in themselves butteachers have been asked toexplain to the students of theirrelevance with respect to exist-ing topics,” said a HRDMinistry official.

The deletions were madeon the direction of the HRD

Ministry which asked the CBSEto reduce the syllabus forClasses IX to XII by 30 per centto make up for the academicloss caused by the pandemicand the subsequent closure ofschools.

West Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee said she was“shocked” over CBSE droppingsecularism, federalism, citi-zenship chapters and appealedfor revocation.

She took to social media toregister her opposition, thefirst politician to object themove. She also appealed to theUnion HRD Ministry to notcurtail these subjects “at anycost”.

In an official statement, theCBSE said, “The heads ofschools and teachers mayensure that the topics that havebeen reduced are also explainedto the students to the extentrequired to connect differenttopics. However, the reducedsyllabus will not be part of thetopics for internal assessmentand year-end Board

Examination.”The Council for the Indian

School CertificateExaminations (CISCE) alreadyannounced to reduce their syl-labus for Class X and XII to“make up for the loss ininstructional hours during thecurrent session 2020-21”.

“Alternative academic cal-endar and inputs from theNCERT on transacting thecurriculum using differentstrategies shall also be part ofthe teaching pedagogy in theaffiliated schools,” said thesenior official.

For Classes 1 to VIII, theNational Council of EducationResearch and Training(NCERT) has already notifiedan alternative calendar andlearning outcomes. The boardhad previously asked NCERTto suggest topics and themeswhich are “either repeated oroverlapped or learning out-comes related to it are beingcovered under other chapters”when it was looking to reducethe syllabus.

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As the Indian and ChineseArmies have almost pulled

back from the stand-off sites onthe Line of Actual Control(LAC) in Ladakh, the nextround of talks between theCorps Commanders will focuson the reduction of troops inthe operational areas.

The two sides bolsteredtheir troop strength in sizablenumbers in the past eightweeks during the face-offs andthe ugly brawl on June 15 in theGalwan valley in which 20Indian soldiers were killed.

In their last round of nego-tiations, the Commanders hadagreed to reduce the addition-al troops from the operationalor “depth areas” and go back totheir respective peace time

locations. The operational areasare generally located 20 to 25kms from the LAC.

Now, with India and Chinarapidly disengaging from all thefour confrontation or “frictionpoints”, including the Galwanvalley, Gogra, Hot Springs andPangong Tso (lake), sourcesaid here on Wednesday stepsare on to start the process of“thinning out” troops in oper-ational areas.

The Chinese have disman-tled tents and makeshiftbunkers besides removing vehi-cles from all the face-off points.

On Tuesday, the with-drawal at the Galwan rivervalley, where Indian andChinese troops clashed on June15, appeared complete. Satelliteimages from the bend of theGalwan river as it crosses theLAC and flows into Indian ter-ritory, showed the area clearedof Chinese troops and struc-tures.

The Chinese and Indiantroops had started the with-drawal at four spots leaving abuffer zone in between afterSunday’s talks.

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India may record 2.87 lakhCovid-19 cases per day by

the end of 2021 winter (Jan-Feb), topping the list of worst-hit nations in the world ifthere was no vaccine or cure forthe deadly virus, researchersfrom Massachusetts Institute ofTechnology (MIT) havewarned.

The study “Estimating theglobal spread of Covid-19”,painted a scary picture for thecountry like India whose crum-bling health infrastructure isalready overwhelmed with over7.5 lakh coronavirus cases,making it third among themost virus-infected countries,just behind the USA and Brazil. However, theresearchers avoided usingphrase like “community trans-mission.”

The researchers providedsome hope as they noted thatthe projections are highly sen-sitive to assumed testing,behavioural, and policyresponses, and as such theyshould be interpreted as indi-cators of potential risk and notprecise predictions of futurecases.

As per the MITresearchers, India will be theworst-affected country at theend of winter 2021 followed by

the US (95,000 cases per day),South Africa (21,000 cases perday) Iran (17,000 cases perday), and Indonesia (13,000cases per day).

With such fast increase inthe cases, the world will witness249 million (24.9 crore) casesand 1.8 million (18 lakh) deathsby spring 2021 if there are noeffective treatments or vacci-nation, said researchers HazhirRahmandad, TY Lim and John Sterman of MIT’s SloanSchool of Management in theirstudy.

Using data for 84 countrieswith reliable testing data —spanning 4.75 billion people —the researchers developed adynamic epidemiologicalmodel.

According to the study,the top 10 countries by pro-jected daily infection rates atthe end of winter 2021 areIndia, US, South Africa, Iran,Indonesia, Nigeria, Turkey,France and Germany.

For the findings, the MITresearch team used a multi-country modified SEIR(Susceptible, Exposed,Infectious, Recovered) model,a standard mathematical modelfor infectious diseases used byepidemiologists, to simultane-ously estimate the transmissionof Covid-19 in 84 countries(4.75 billion people).

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Ten districts of West Bengaland Bihar’s capital Patna

will face strict week-long lock-down as coronavirus casessurged in both the States.

Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee has warnedthe “lax” citizens against theseverity of coronavirus direct-ing the police to take strongmeasures who do not followthe protocols.

The State Government hasdecided to enforce strict lock-down procedures in the con-tainment zones which togeth-er with the buffer zones wouldbe regarded as containmentzones.

Patna will remain underlockdown from July 10 to July16, the District Magistrateordered on Wednesday. Theannouncement came with theState witnessing a steadyincrease in the number ofcoronavirus cases being report-ed on a daily basis.

Meanwhile, JharkhandChief Minister Hemant Sorenhas quarantined himself at hisRanchi residence after a cabi-net minister whom he hadmet recently tested positivefor Covid-19, an official state-ment said

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The World HealthOrganization (WHO) has

admitted that evidences wereemerging about airborne trans-mission of coronavirus. TheWHO’s admission came after239 scientists from 32 countrieswrote it an open letter.

Dr Benedetta Alleganzi,WHO Technical Lead forInfection Prevention and

Control, said at a media brief-ing in Geneva, Switzerland,on Tuesday that the agency hasdiscussed and collaboratedwith many of the scientists whosigned the letter.

“We acknowledge thatthere is emerging evidence inthis field, as in all other fieldsregarding the Covid-19 viruspandemic and therefore webelieve that we have to beopen to this evidence and

understand its implicationsregarding the modes of trans-mission and also regarding theprecautions that need to betaken,” Alleganzi said.

“The possibility of air-borne transmission in publicsettings — especially in veryspecific conditions, crowded,closed, poorly ventilated set-tings that have been described,cannot be ruled out,” she said.

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Aspa owner has been arrest-ed for allegedly letting

loose a dog on her employeewho asked for pending salaryin south Delhi’s Malviya Nagar.

The victim, Sapna (39),got injured and received at least15 stitches on her face andneck, said police onWednesday, adding that theincident took place on June 11.

Deputy Commissioner ofPolice (DCP), South district,Atul Kimar Thakur, said thevictim told police she hadworked in the spa run by theaccused identified as Rajni, aresident of Khirki Extension inSouth Delhi, for one-and-halfmonth before the lockdownand left the job on March 22.

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Continuously mountingpressure on notorious

criminal Vikas Dubey, theUttar Pradesh Special TaskForce (STF) on Wednesdaypicked up Dubey’s brother-in-law from Shahdol in MadhyaPradesh.

On Tuesday, the UP copshad landed at the home ofGyanendra alias Raju Nigamand had picked up his sonAdarsh after Gyanendra wasnot available at home.

Later, Nigam appearedbefore cops in Shahdol. Fearingfor safety of his son, Gyanendratold media persons that he hadsevered his relations withDubey around 15 years ago andsettled in Shahdol’s Burhartown. “I ended all ties withVikas Dubey after my name

surfaced in two cases involvinghim without any reason,” plead-ed Nigam.

Pratima Mathew, the AddlSuperintended of Police (ASP)claimed that the UP policehad landed in Shahdol to finda man Raju Nigam who is a rel-ative of Kanpur (UP) fugitivecriminal Vikas Dubey.

The UP STF howeverpicked up Nigam and left forUP on Wednesday morning inthe presence of Burhar police,

confirmed ShahdolSuperintendent of PoliceSatyendra Shukla.

Sources claim that Dubeyhad married Nigam’s sisteraround 15 years ago. However,it was not clear whether Nigamhad secured bail in two cases hewas named in Uttar Pradesh.

Police have already sound-ed an alert in Gwalior-Chambalregion suspecting that Dubeywho is accused of killing eightpolicemen in Kanpur with hisgang, could be hiding in theregion. The police parties arealso searching Dubey in theforests starting from Auriya UPto Nayagaon in Bhind inMadhya Pradesh.

Dubey’s native villageBansar also falls in this region.Sources claimed that UP policehad traced his last location inAuraiya of UP.

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International FacultyDevelopment Program’ was

organized under the joint aegis ofRabindranath Tagore UniversityBhopal and Dr. CV RamanUniversity Bilaspur. The theme ofthis week-long online FDP was‘Alternative Education PossibilitiesChallenges and Solutions in PostCovid Era’.

This FDP was inauguratedby Brahmaprakash Pethia, ViceChancellor of RabindranathTagore University Bhopal, RPDubey, Vice Chancellor of Dr.CV Raman University Bilaspur.

Brahmaprakash said thateducation is a challenge in pre-sent times. At this time, the scopeof education and teachers hasmultiplied. Teachers are per-forming their responsibilities.RNTU Registrar Vijay Singhand CV Raman UniversityRegistrar, Gaurav Shukla werepresent on the closing occasion.

Vijay Singh said that the par-ticipants of this internationalFDP got useful informationabout the changing scenario ofeducation during the Covid-19era. Teachers will definitely workin creative ways during this cri-sis. The FDP was coordinated by

PK Nayak, Pro-VC of CVRaman University Bilaspur andKiran Mishra, Head ofDepartment of Faculty ofEducation, RNTU.

National internationalexperts gave their lectures in var-ious sessions in this week-longFDP. Eminent MotivationalSpeaker from London, SanjayKataria, inspired the teachers andsaid that teachers need to playmore influential role at thistime. International expert KalyanChakraborty T spoke about theuse of lateral thinking tech-niques at the workplace.

CD Agashe Professor PanditRavi Shankar University, Raipur,while lecturing on ‘ThinkingPattern for Alternatives inPlanning’, effectively explainedthe problems faced during onlineteaching and ways to solve them.

Sangeeta Johri CoordinatorIQAC Cell RNTU explainedvarious aspects of inter person-al skills while Prof. ProfessorVandana Goswami of VanasthaliVidyapeeth Rajasthan explainedvarious theories of teachinglearning processes with exam-ples. Sujit Mishra of GuruGhasidas University Bilaspurspoke about the values of ateacher. A large number of teach-

ers and researchers were involvedin this FDP.

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A20-year-old youth died while his friendescaped with injuries after thier bike was hit

head on by a speeding car at Golkhedi underEintkhedi police station area on Tuesday.

The injured youths were rushed to a hos-pital where the one was declared dead. Policesaid that the youths met accident at Golkhediroad where one of them was escaped the acci-dent while the other died on the spot. Thedeceased was identified as Sohail Khan(20)while injured youth was identified as ArsalanKhan.

The father of deceased works as truck dri-ver and on Tuesday cleaner had gone to refillfuel at Golkhedi petrol pump where he fell shortof money and informed for money after whichdeceased was asked to provide money. Thedeceased was accompanied by Arsalan and later

they met accident.After the accident Sohail died on the spot

while Arsalan escaped, said police. After the pre-liminary investigation the body was sent for thepost mortem. The police have registered a caseunder section 304 A of the IPC and started fur-ther investigation.

The two reached near Golkhedi in the after-noon and later they were found in an injuredstate by commuters and locals who informed thepolice and on the receipt of the informationpolice team rushed to the spot and started inves-tigation.

Police have not found any details of the vehi-cle which the hit as no one have spotted theerrant vehicle due to darkness. Nearby CCTVcameras would be investigated. The villagers arequestioned in the accident which could help inrevealing the details of the errant vehicle driverwho escaped the spot with the vehicle.

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Residence of a widow atAzad Nagar under Piplani

Nagar police station was tar-geted by miscreants and valu-ables worth �2.7 lakh were bur-gled on Tuesday.

Police said that the victimRekha Thakur had gone to hernative place in Raisen onSunday and when she returnedon Tuesday valuables werefound burgled.

The victim in her com-plaint stated that she had goneto meet her family two days agoand when she returned doorwas found open and locks bro-ken. On entering the house, vic-tim found that the valuableswere targeted by the miscreants.

Victim approached policeand lodged a complaint. Basedon the complaint after the pre-liminary investigation thepolice have registered a caseunder sections 457 and 380 of

the IPC and have started fur-ther investigation.

The victim is a housewifeand her husband died fewyears ago.

After checking the valu-ables victim found that cashand gold and silver jewelrywere burgled. The total loss inthe burglary is around Rs 2.7lakh claimed the victim.

Police suspect that the bur-glars were aware regarding thewhereabouts of the family andcommitted the burglary whenthe family was away.

The area is vigil by securi-ty guards and CCTV cameraswould be investigated in thefurther investigation. Policesaid that the miscreants mighthave recce and later targetedthe house late in the night.

The miscreants targetedthe almirah having valuableswhich suggests that miscreantshave information about thevaluables.

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The important Khelo Indialaghu kendra for develop-

ment and promotion of sportsat the would soon be launchedunder Khelo India Scheme bythe Ministry of Youth Affairsand Sports, Government ofIndia.

Under the scheme, onethousand centers will be estab-lished in the entire country.Under this important schemethe training of players at thegrassroots level will be held byformer champion players.

Each year, three KheloIndia centers will be selected bythe District Sports and YouthWelfare Officers of Sports andYouth Welfare Departmentwith the recommendation ofthe District Collector and theproposals will be sent toDirectorate of Sports and YouthWelfare, Madhya Pradesh.

Former champion playerswill be the coaches and men-tors of budding players andtheir experience should be uti-lized adequately on training of

players. Along with this, it willalso be ensured that these for-mer champion players can getsome income from this work.

In this connection, all theDistrict Sports Officers of theState have been directed toselect maximum two proposalsfor the year 2020 -21 from theirrespective districts and submitthem in the prescribed form byJuly 20, 2020.

In this four-year plan, 1000Khelo India centers are to be setup across the country. It con-sists of 14 sports played inOlympics such as archery, ath-letics, boxing, badminton,cycling, fencing, hockey, judo,rowing, shooting, swimming,table tennis, weight lifting,wrestling as well as football andtraditional sports.

For the establishment ofKhelo India Center, the formerchampion players will be pro-vided with trainers, supportingstaff, sports equipment pur-chase, sports kit, non-con-sumables and grants to involvethe team in the competition.

While selecting the centers,

sports of 18 sports academiesrun by the Sports Departmentwill be given priority, so thatthis center can prepare plat-form of better talent as a co-training center of SportsAcademy.

Besides, the Governmentof India will provide financialassistance for 4 years to select-ed Khelo India Centers. Afterfour years, with the recognitionof former champion players asestablished coaches, they willbe able to conduct the centercontinuously with their ownresources.

The selected Khelo IndiaCenter will be made availableby the Government of India fora expenditure of Rs 5 lakh percenter per game for the upkeep,upgradation, sports equipment,sports kit.

The applications of theformer champion sportsman orinstitution should be sent in thestipulated period to the DistrictSports and Youth WelfareOfficer along with the check listand the necessary documentsattached.

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Madhya Pradesh leads insolar energy production in

the country. The world's biggestprojects include the Rewa SolarProject. The 750 MW RewaSolar Project costing about4,000 crore has already startedproduction with its full capac-ity. Apart from this, six projectsof five thousand MW are underconstruction. Prime MinisterNarendra Modi will dedicate theRewa Ultra Mega Solar Projectto the nation through video

conferencing on July 10. About8 hundred people are gettingemployment through this pro-ject.

It may be mentioned thatin context to Rewa Solar pro-ject, the Rewa Ultra MegaSolar Co. Ltd. was formed in ajoint venture of MadhyaPradesh Urja Vikas Nigam andSolar Energy Corporation ofIndia. This project was select-ed under the best projects forthe Prime Minister's Award forInnovation at state level. Theminimum tariff of electricity

produced in this project was Rs2 and 97 paise per unit, whichwas less than Re one and a halfto two as compared to the tar-iff of four and a half to five perunit obtained from other con-temporary projects.

The Rewa Solar project isspread over 1590 hectare are inRewa district. It is one of thebiggest single site solar plantsin the world. Seventy six per-cent of the electricity producedfrom the project is being pro-vided to the PowerManagement Company of the

state and 24 percent to DelhiMetro. For the first timethrough open access, electric-ity is being supplied from thisproject to Delhi Metro, a com-mercial institution outside thestate. This is the first project of

the country, which has beengiven loan by the World Bankfor internal grid arrangement.The loan has been given by theWorld Bank without the guar-antee of the state governmentand under the CleanTechnology Fund (CTF).

Emission of 1.57 milliontonnes of carbon dioxide equiv-alent to planting 26 milliontrees is being prevented everyyear by the Rewa Solar project.The Rewa Solar Energy Projectwill not only make the state self-reliant in the field of renewable

energy but will make MadhyaPradesh a leader in supply ofelectricity to others atets andcommercial institutions.

The Rewa solar project ispreventing emissions of 1.57million tonnes of carbon diox-ide every year, which is equiva-lent to planting 26 million trees.The Rewa Solar Power Projectwill not only make the state self-reliant in the field of renewableenergy but will also makeMadhya Pradesh a leader in pro-viding electricity to other statesand commercial institutions.

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In want of adequate resourcesof traffic from remote areas

due to coronavirus pandemic,members of legislativeAssembly could send theirquestions to the Assembly sec-retariat through e-mail for theupcoming monsoon session commencing from July20.

The arrangement is analternative facility provided tothe members of legislativeassembly who are facing prob-lems in providing questionsphysically.

The questions, adjourn-ment notices, short noticequestion, non-governmentalbill and resolution could beshared on e-mail.

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A17-year-old girl was sexu-ally assaulted and exploit-

ed for the past four months bya youth luring her of marriageand later refused to marry herwhen she got pregnant. A caseof rape was registered againstthe accused on Tuesday byAshoka Garden police.

According to the police, thematter came to fore after vic-tim got pregnant and accusedidentified as Shiva Gaikwadrefused to marry her. Policesaid that the victim was sexu-ally assaulted by accused wholives in the same locality. Theaccused used to sexually exploit

the victim.The girl in her complaint

stated that accused lured herand took her to Shiv Sai hotelat 80 ft road in April and sex-ually assaulted her. The accusedassured her of marrying andcontinued to sexually exploither till the month of June. Laterwhen she found that she waspregnant she informed accusedand asked to marry her but herefused.

The police after prelimi-nary investigation registered acase against the accused. A caseunder sections 376 and 506 ofthe IPC was registered againstthe accused.

Meanwhile, Mahila police

have booked a man for was sex-ually exploited a 47-year-oldwoman for the past two years;a complaint was lodged by thevictim on Tuesday.

According to the police, thevictim was sexually assaultedby the accused, Naresh KumarGoplani , for the past twoyears on the pretext of marriage.

The two developed rela-tionship in May 2018 and latershe was exploited for two yearsand accused refused to marryher. Based on the complaintand after the preliminary inves-tigation, the police have regis-tered a case under sections 376and 506 of the IPC.

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Renowned mountaineerShobhit Nath Sharma from

Bhopal has been selected atIndian Institute of DemocraticLeadership(IIDL). He has beenselected for a 9 month pro-gram. This programme is foryoung professionals who wishto make a career in the field ofpolitics, governance, publicaffairs and leadership.

The programme seeksindividual with far sight Visionfor the development of nationand society and with strongcharacter, ethics and Ideologies.With his diligent hard work

and sincere efforts ShobhitNath Sharma has been chosento study in the most exclusiveprogram at Indian institute ofdemocratic Leadership.

It is to be noted thatSharma is the first person fromMadhya Pradesh to climb thehighest mountain of AustraliaMount Kosciuszko. Apart fromMountaineering and motorsports, he is greatly involved insocial work.

He been very active inCovid-19, he InventedHandmade Sheet Mask fromordinary stationary Item, anddistributed to more than 2500mask to Doctors, Nurses,

Health worker, and policemen.He provided ration and med-ical care to the children andpeople of slum area.

He believes Politiciansshould have ability to under-stand situations and the prob-lems of people and to takestrong decisions irrespective ofthe opposition.

Notably, now there areinstitutions and formal educa-tion for politics and leadershipby which a youth can under-stand how to use their talentand ability with workingmethodology of the system forthe prosperity and welfare ofthe nation.

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Four day special trainingprogram for Sub Inspector

and Assitant Sub Inspectors ofBhopal Police concluded onWednesday; training pro-gramme was organised toincrease the professional skills

of research officers and inves-tigation officers for preventionand research of crime againstwoman.

The training programinaugurated by DIG BhopalIrshad Wali in the Old policecontrol room on July 4.

The SP Headquarters

Dharmveer Singh and ASPHeadquarters Nivedita Naiduwere present on the ocassion.

Addressing the trainees,special importance was given toprofessional skills in theresearch of crimes and after lis-tening carefully and followingevery thing and experiences of

experts, guidance and direc-tions were given for becominga good research officer.

Specialist in various disci-plines participated in the train-ing program organized oncrimes against women. FSLexpert Dr. Hirek Ranjan, Dr.OP Dixit, Child Line Director

Archana Sahai, ADPO T.P.Gautam, ADPO Manisha Patel,

ADPO Priyanka Upadhyayshared their experiences andwhat are the evidence and howto collect from the scene ofcrime in serious crimes ofmurder and rape, filling vari-ous forms like pmlc etc., actionof DNA sample etc.

Lectures were given in

detail and amendments weremade in 376, 354ipc and PoxoAct, rights of the victim andgovernment assistance given tothem. At the same time, it isalso said that during the inves-tigation, serious investigation ofserious crimes by the investi-gation officer has an important

role in providing justice to thevictim and in convicting theculprit.

During the training, about50-55 participants from allpolice stations of Bhopal dis-trict attended the programme.About 200 policemen weretrained in the four day training.

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Page 3: , ˇ - RNI Regn. No. MPENG/2004/13703, Regd. No. L … · 2 days ago · the Centre announced forma-tion of a committee to probe ... the top 10 countries by pro-jected daily infection

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Days after the UniversityGrants Commission

(UGC) issued guidelines clear-ing way for universities to holdfinal-year or end-semesterexams in online, offline or“blended” mode, PunjabGovernment has written tothe Central Government andthe higher education regulatorto reconsider its decision.

Notably, the Chief MinisterCapt Amarinder Singh hadalready announced cancellationof university and college exams,

both Government and pri-vate, followed by issuance offormal orders by the Directorof Public Instructions(Colleges) to the Vice-Chancellors of all Governmentand Private Universities to pro-mote the students on the basisof their previous years’ perfor-mance, besides a chance toimprove their results once theCOVID-19 crisis ends.

A day later, the highereducation regulator, UGC, hasissued revised guidelines afterreceiving a go ahead from theUnion Ministry of HomeAffairs to mandatorily con-duct final-year college and uni-versity exams.

Besides Punjab, the statesof Maharashtra, Haryana,Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh,Kerala and West Bengal had

also decided to cancel the final-year exams amid the COVID-19 pandemic to mitigate therisk of exposure for students, asthe prospect of online examsseemed unfeasible to imple-ment.

Now, the PunjabGovernment has written tothe Union Minister of HigherEducation and the UGC —higher education watchdog,asserting that conductingexaminations amidst the coro-na outbreak was not possible inthe State considering the risingnumber of cases and the grow-ing threat posed by it.

The Government alsoargued that currently, almost allthe college or university hostelsacross the State have beenvacated.At the same time, thegovernment also highlightedthe broad rural-urban divide inthe state pointing at the “fewerfacilities” available for takingthe online exams.

A senior government offi-cial told The Pioneer that wehave discussed the matter andhave decided to appeal to theCentre and the UGC to recon-sider its decision of consistingexams, as the situation, not onlyin Punjab, but across the coun-try, is alarming.

As per the StateGovernment’s guidelines issuedon Sunday, all the students interminal or exit classes orsemesters will be awarded

degrees or diplomas providedtheir average grades,

marks or CGPA(Cumulative Grade PointAverage) on the basis of previ-ous exams or semesters, areover and above the minimumpass grades, marks or CGPA(as per norms or regulations ofthe individual university).

At the same time, the stu-dents of exit or intermediateclasses will also be given theoption to take exams as andwhen they are held to improvetheir grades, if they desire to doso.

The guidelines maintainedthat all the students in inter-mediate classes will be pro-moted to the next class orsemester or year.

But all those students scor-ing average grades, marks orCGPA, less than the minimumpass figure, will have to clearthe exams of that semester asand when they are held to beeligible for award of degree.

It was also stated that theuniversities, which are in theprocess of conducting onlineexams, have been directed tocontinue with the same withthe permission of the stateHigher EducationDepartment.It has also beenclarified that the guidelinesare “not applicable” to theinstitutions under Departmentof Medical Education andResearch and Health.

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A16-year-old girl was founddead under suspicious cir-

cumstances near ImperialHarmony apartment in themorning; girl went missing inthe evening and was founddead at the premises of otherbuilding in the same locality.

The deceased PriyankaShrivastava was found deadafter she went missing in theevening on Tuesday and laterfound dead in the morning onWednesday.

In the initial investigationit was found that the girl was

a resident of Narmada apart-ments while she jumped fromsecond floor of ImperialHarmony apartments.

After the body was spottedby the locals police wereinformed and it was sent forpost mortem. The police reg-istered case under section 174of the CrPC.

SDOP Misrod AK Mishratold that the girl was chattingover mobile phone and wasscolded and phone was takenby family which angered herand she left the home andlocked the door from outside.

The family members later

started to search for her butfailed to find her and a missingperson complaint was lodgedin the evening.

The girl was later founddead in the next morning. Itwas found that she jumpedfrom second floor of a fivestorey building in the samelocality,he added.

Mishra said that the girljumped in the night but herbody was found in the morn-ing. Any visible injury marks orany kind of other signs ofstruggle were not found. Thepost mortem report is awaitedwhich could reveal furtherdetails.

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To mobilize additional rev-enue for improving the state’s

financial health, Punjab Cabineton Wednesday gave the go-ahead to increase mutation feefrom Rs 300 to Rs 600 — expect-ed to add nearly Rs 10 crore tothe state exchequer.

At the same time, the ChiefMinister has asked the RevenueDepartment to launch a specialcampaign for clearing all pend-ing mutations in the interest oflandowners.

He also directed theRevenue Department to considercharging mutation fee and expe-ditiously completing the docu-mentation for mutation at thetime of registration of sales toprevent unnecessary delays inthis regard.

As some of the ministerspointed out that several muta-tions were pending for years, theChief Minister asked the ChiefSecretary and FinancialCommissioner (Revenue) tolook into the matter and takecorrective measures.

“The fees set byGovernment for revenue collec-tion is very low in today’s highcurrency environment and themutation fees was last increase inOctober 2012, when it went upfrom Rs 150 to Rs 300.

With increasing expenditureburdening the state’s exchequer,the State Government has decid-

ed to increase the mutation feeafter this long period of eightyears,” said a spokesperson of theChief Minister’s Office.

SAD DUBS THE MOVE AS“ANTI-PEOPLE”, DEMANDSWITHDRAWAL

Condemning the CongressGovernment for doubling themutation fee on sale of land, SADon Wednesday aid that such adecision should not have beentaken during a time of pandem-ic when relief needed to begiven to the people instead ofburdening them with fresh taxes.

Terming the hike as an“anti-people step”, SAD’s seniorleader and former RevenueMinister Bikram Singh Majithiademanded that it is withdrawnimmediately.Majithia also casti-gated the Government for beingpenny wise and pound foolish.

“The people of Punjab arebeing burdened with one taxafter another.

They are reeling underextreme high power charges aswell as one of the highest StateVAT and surcharge quotient onpetrol and diesel.

The Government is refusingto give any relief to children whoare at risk of being thrown outof private schools by depositingthe fee to schools on behalf of thestudents.

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With industry associationsin Haryana expressing

concern over the StateGovernment’s plans to reserve75 percent of private-sectorjobs for local youth, DeputyChief Minister DushyantChautala on Wednesday clari-fied that the proposed Act willnot affect the already employedworkers in the State. Dushyant,who is also Haryana IndustriesMinister said that there is noneed to fear about the proposedAct as nobody who is alreadyemployed is going to lose theirjob in the State. The peoplewho are already working in theState's industries need notpanic at all as they will not beremoved from their jobs, hesaid while talking to the medi-apersons here. The DeputyChief Minister said that oncethe ordinance mandating 75percent employment of localpeople in the industry inHaryana receives the assent ofGovernor, the new law willapply to new appointmentsonly. The main objective is tomake more and more youths ofthe state employable by skillingthem. If suitable local candi-dates are not available for a par-ticular category of job, a pro-

vision will be made in theproposed Act for the LabourCommissioner to allow firmsto hire candidates from outsidethe state, he clarified seeking toward off fears on theGovernment's plans.

Haryana Cabinet had onMonday approved a proposalto bring an ordinance beforethe Council of Minister in itsnext meeting to provide 75 percent of the new employment tolocal candidates for jobs havingsalary of less than Rs 50,000 permonth in various privatelymanaged companies, societies,trusts, limited liability part-nership firms, partnershipfirms etc. situated inHaryana.Under this, thosecompanies which would notregister on the government’sportal, they will face a penaltyfrom Rs 25000 to Rs one lakhunder Section-3 of ordinance“Haryana Employment ToLocal Candidates-2020”besides the concerned wouldhave to pay daily fine of Rs5000 if the clause violated bythe company.

Notably, the proposed ordi-nance has created confusion inthe industries in the state. Overa week ago, a prominent bodyrepresenting automotive com-ponents manufacturers had

also written to Chief MinisterManohar Lal Khattar making arepresentation to reconsiderthe proposal for 75 percentreservation in private jobs forlocals.The letter had pointedout that Haryana has a pres-ence of several large-scale glob-al vehicle manufacturers suchas Maruti Suzuki, HeroMotoCorp, Honda Motorcyclesand Scooters, JCB, and theirancillaries.

The auto industry con-tributes more than 25 per centof the State GDP of Haryana;moreover, the industry notonly caters to the domesticdemand, but also to interna-tional markets.

It was further pointed outthat the industry requires askilled workforce to producehigh-quality products that areglobally competitive, and hir-ing is done on the basis of tal-ent and skills needed ratherthan the domicile of the can-didates.

The industries body hadsought CM’s urgent interven-tion to reconsider mandating75 per cent employment oflocal people in the industry inHaryana, stating that it will bedetrimental to the futuregrowth of the industry in theState.

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Punjab Government has con-stituted the District Technical

Committees headed by CivilSurgeon to take the immediatedecisions at district level regard-ing COVID-19.“Punjab has thebest recovery rate of 70 per-cent…There is no situation ofcommunity spread in Punjaband with view to swiftly managethe situation at the district level,

it has been observed thatthere is need to give more pow-ers to the district authorities whoare working with the frontlineteams,” said the state Healthand Family Welfare MinisterBalbir Singh Sidhu.

“After considering the pre-sent scenario, the PunjabGovernment has decided toconstitute and strengthen theDistrict Level Committees. Allthese committees are doing wellas per the SOPs,” he added.

The Minister said thatinstructions have been issued toall Civil Surgeons to submit theaction taken report as well asmajor sources of spread in spe-cific areas.

In districts, where even sin-gle containment zone is not

declared, has been directed totable the report of every case sothat it could stop in specific areaby taking the concrete steps. CivilSurgeon,

representative of DistrictAdministration, Medical col-lege facility (CommunityMedicine), WHO officer, DistrictEpidemiologist (Convener),People’s Representative, NGORepresentative, Communityleader are the prominent mem-bers of the panel. Each memberwas assigned the specific respon-sibility of particular areas inconsultation with Civil Surgeonand District Epidemiologist, headded. All crucial decisionsregarding containment or microcontainment zones — changerequired, activities (contact trac-ing, sampling isolation, quaran-tine, sanitization, IEC, supplies),human resources required inspecific area were being taken bythese committees.

Apart from this, arrange-ments of beds in COVID CareCentres (CCC), DesignatedCOVID Hospital, Tertiary carefacility, ICU beds, Ventilators,Ambulances etc. and Samplingcollection were being made bythem.

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The tally of novelCoronavirus (Covid-19) in

Uttarakhand jumped to 3230on Tuesday as the state healthdepartment reported 69 newpatients of the disease. Onepatient of the disease died onTuesday which pushed thecount of the dead to 43 in thestate. The health departmentdischarged 35 patients of thedisease on the day from dif-ferent hospitals of the state aftertheir recovery from the disease.A total of 2621 patients have sofar recovered from the diseasein the state. The recovery ratein Uttarakhand is at 81.15 per-cent and the state is among thetop ranking states in the coun-try in this aspect.

On Tuesday the authoritiesreported 25 patients of thedisease from Udham SinghNagar district while 18 newpatients surfaced fromDehradun. In Haridwar sevenpatients were reported whilefive patients were found inNainital district. Three patientseach of Covid-19 were report-ed from Pauri, Pithoragarhand Uttarkashi districts onTuesday. Similarly two patientseach were found in Almora andChampawat districts while onepatient was found in Tehridistrict.

A 75 year old male, positivefor the disease, died atGovernment Doon MedicalCollege (GDMC) hospital onTuesday. On June 24 thispatient was referred from Maxhospital, Dehradun after beingfound positive for Covid-19.

The health department dis-charged ten patients fromAlmora, seven in Haridwar, fivein Dehradun, three each fromUdham Sing Nagar andUttarkashi districts and twopatients in Bageshwar districton Tuesday after their recovery

from Covid-19. One patienteach was discharged from Pauriand Chamoli districts on theday.

The state now has 538active patients of the diseaseadmitted in different hospitals.Nainital continued its numberone position on table of activepatients with 181 activepatients while Udham SinghNagar has 125, Dehradun 123,Uttarkashi 23, Haridwar 24,Pauri 11, Almora 10,

Champawat nine, Pithoragarhseven, Chamoli four and Tehrione active case of the disease.Rudraprayag district has noactive case of the disease.

The administration hasdeclared 76 areas as contain-ment zones to prevent the con-tagion of Covid-19 fromspreading. Haridwar has 53,Dehradun and Udham SinghNagar six each, Tehri five,Uttarkashi four and Nainitaltwo containment zones.

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Aprofessor of the physicsdepartment of the

Garhwal Central University,Swami Ramteerth campus atBadshahi Thaul in Tehri hasmade an attempt to test theSIR epidemic model forCovid-19 spread in India dur-ing this pandemic period.According to the mathemati-cal calculations, the pandem-ic may reach its peak in Indiaduring August and its effectmay end in the country by theend of this year. The study hasbeen uploaded on the portal ofResearchGate- a professionalnetwork for scientists andresearchers.

Professor RC Ramola ofthe university’s physics depart-ment has based the researchon the Susceptible-Infected-Removed (SIR) model. TheCovid-19 data of India wascollected from open databaseof various websites to fit in themodel. The infection rate,mortality figure and the num-ber of recovered patients werestudied. The research took

into account the data startingfrom the first case found onJanuary 30 till May 20 duringthe lockdown. According tothe study, after reaching thepeak in the first week ofAugust, Covid-19 will thenstart to subside. The researchclaims that the nation will befree from the effect of the dis-ease by the end of December.It has also been stated thatsince the numbers can changein the coming time, the esti-mated peak time and end canalso vary. Ramola said that tilla vaccine is made, maintainingsocial distancing and observ-ing governmental guidelines isthe best way to check thespread of the virus

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With 15 persons testingpositive for COVID-19,

the union territory ofChandigarh crossed the 500-mark on Wednesday. The totalnumber of cases in the city nowstands at 507 including 98active cases.

The COVID-19 continuesto spread its tentacles in varioussectors across the city withfresh cases reported from Sector19, 20, 43, 44, 45, 49 andManimajra. On June 20, thecity had crossed the 400-mark,while it was on June 2 when thenumber of COVID-19 caseshad crossed 300-mark inChandigarh.

The first case of COVID-19in the city was reported onMarch 19 and it was on May 4

that the number of positivecases had crossed the 100-mark.

The number of positivecases had reached 200-mark onMay 19. “15 fresh cases havebeen reported in the city takingthe total number of positivecases to 507 in the city.

There are 98 active cases inthe city,” stated ChandigarhHealth Department’s eveningbulletin.

Giving details of the newcases, the bulletin stated, a 54years old female fromManimajra was tested positive.Six cases were reported positivefrom the same family in Sector49. The family membersincluded 8 years old boy, threemale members aged 17, 47 and71 and two females aged 44 and74 years, it saidIn Sector 19, a

57 years old male was testedpositive and has three familycontacts, who are asympto-matic. In Sector 20, three pos-itive cases were reported includ-ing two males aged 44 and 59years and a female aged 53years. They all are family mem-bers of already positive patientfrom Sector 20, who was work-ing in the UT EducationDepartment, the bulletin stat-ed.

One case of a 25 years oldfemale was reported in Sector45. She is a workplace contactof a previously positive case ofPunjab who was a student atPGIMER. One more positivecase of a 47 years old male wasreported in Sector 44. He hasthree family members who areasymptomatic. Two new caseswere reported from Sector 43.

They are 29 years old male and57 years old female, both work-ing in Punjab. So far, sixemployees of the UT EducationDepartment who are resident ofChandigarh and their severalrelatives have been tested pos-itive for COVID-19.The bul-letin stated, “A 40 years oldfemale employee, who is a res-ident of Mohali and working inUT Education Department wastested positive for COVID-19last week.

She had 30 workplace con-tacts out of which 17 are resi-dents of Chandigarh. Five havetested positive, 10 are negativewhile reports of two is awaited.”

With a surge in cases ofCOVID-19 in its Governmentoffices, ChandigarhAdministration had a daybefore issued orders for rotation

of its employees allowing themto attend office in UTSecretariat building in Sector 9on alternate days till July 31.

Earlier, the Administrationhad directed that teaching andnon-teaching staff will not beasked to come to offices andGovernment and aided col-leges, unless there is emergentwork. They have been allowedto work from home till July 31.

Chandigarh, which is ajoint capital of Punjab andHaryana has so far reportedseven COVID-19 related fatal-ities. 8833 sampleswere tested incity till date.

The recovery rate ofCOVID-19 patients stood at 79per cent in Chandigarh with402 patients having recoveredfrom the virus till Wednesdayevening, the bulletin added.

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Punjab’s bigwigs have come underCOVID-19’s grip. The deadly con-

tagion not only afflicted the districtbureaucracy, but health professionalsand judicial officers during the past 24hours, during which total 158 freshcases and three corona deaths wererecorded from across the State.

As many as five more high rankingofficials in the State have tested positiveto the deadly contagion on Wednesday,a day after Ludhiana Additional Deputy

Commissioner (General) was testedCOVID-19 positive.

Sangrur Civil Surgeon Dr RajKumar, Bathinda's District and SessionJudge Kamaljit Lamba, Jagraon ADCNeeru Katyal Sharma, Khanna Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) SandeepSingh, and a Judicial Magistrate atJalandhar are among those tested pos-itive for the novel coronavirus.

Only a day before, Ludhiana ADC(General) Amarjit Bains was tested pos-itive, followed by Khanna SDM SandeepSingh also reported positive late in the

evening. Nearly 15 officials from theLudhiana district administration wereasked to home-quarantine, includingthe Deputy Commissioner, CivilSurgeon, District epidemiologist, amongothers.

Both of them were reportedly suf-

fering from Influenza-like Illness (ILI)earlier and were admitted at DayanandMedical College and Hospital(DMC&H).

In all, five high ranking officialshave been tested positive fromLudhiana, till date. Earlier, Ludhiana’sAssistant Commissioner of Police(ACP) Anil Kohli died from COVID-19 on April 18, and a DeputyCommissioner of Police (DCP), Lawand Order, Ashwani Kapoor, is currentlyundergoing treatment after testing pos-itive in the last week of June.

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Page 4: , ˇ - RNI Regn. No. MPENG/2004/13703, Regd. No. L … · 2 days ago · the Centre announced forma-tion of a committee to probe ... the top 10 countries by pro-jected daily infection

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The Supreme Court Wednesday direct-ed Rajasthan Police to complete with-

in two months its ongoing investigationin the case of death of a third year stu-dent of National Law University, Jodhpur,in August 2017.

A bench headed by Justice R FNariman said this while hearing throughvideo-conferencing a plea filed by the vic-tim's mother who has sought transfer ofthe case from Rajasthan Police to the CBI.

“Having heard Manish Singhvi,senior counsel appearing on behalf of thestate, we are of the view that the investi-gation which is ongoing, pursuant to thehigh court's order dated February 24,2020, must be completed within a peri-

od of two months and final report be filedbefore this court,” said the bench, alsocomprising Justices Navin Sinha and B RGavai.

The apex court has posted the mat-ter for further hearing on September 7.

Singhvi informed the bench about thestatus of probe going on in the case.

Neetu Kumar Nagaich, mother of 21-year-old victim Vikrant Nagaich, has alsosought a direction to the CBI to take allsteps to “solve the mystery of the unnat-ural death”.

The apex court had earlier agreed tohear the plea and sought response fromthe state and others.

While claiming that an FIR waslodged in the case after a delay of around10 months, in June 2018, the petitioner

has alleged that the manner in whichprobe has been conducted “leads to aninescapable reasonable apprehension”that it is a result of a “probable collusionto shield some high, mighty and influ-ential person(s)”.

“Despite lapse of almost three years,no charge-sheet has been filed.

The investigation is at a stand-still,with no effort made to apprehend the

offenders,” said the plea. It has pointed out to several alleged

lapses in the investigation conducted bythe police. It said that on August 13, 2017,the victim went to a restaurant, around300 metres from the varsity campus, withhis friends in the evening but he did notreturn and his body was found nextmorning near the railway track.

It has alleged the police has neitherapproached Google or Facebook norretrieved the victim's mobile phone datawhich could have helped in tracing hismovement to ascertain the events on thenight of August 13, 2017 and led to fur-ther probe.

The plea has claimed that the policehas also not retrieved the victim's chatconversations from WhatsApp on the

night of the alleged incident. It has said chat conversation would

have been important in ascertainingwho the victim was talking to or planningto meet at that hour and it would alsohave been instrumental in unearthing theevents which led to the death.

“The chronology of events raised areasonable suspicion that the death ofpetitioner's son was not merely an acci-dent, or suicide but was something moregrave and profound, which demandedimmediate consideration and investiga-tion,” it said.

“However, the same was not carriedout by the investigation agency, and thepetitioner was left dismayed and devas-tated after the death of her only child,” theplea said.

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The Supreme CourtWednesday recalled its

March 27 order by which it hadallowed the sale of BS-IV vehi-cles for 10 days across the coun-try, except in Delhi-NCR, afterlifting of COVID-19 inducedlockdown.

The apex court said auto-mobile dealers violated its direc-tives and BS-IV vehicles weresold during the lockdown in lastweek of March and after March31 also.

“Do not take advantage ofthis court by playing fraud” abench comprising Justices ArunMishra, S A Nazeer and IndiraBanerjee, said while hearingthe matter through video-con-ferencing.

The top court had onMarch 27 said it was permittingsale of 10 per cent of unsold BS-IV vehicles to make up for sixdays lost due to the nationwidelockdown which was imposedon March 25.

The apex court Wednesdaysaid that Bharat Stage (BS)-IVvehicles sold after March 31 thisyear will not be presently regis-tered.

The bench observed thatsale of BS-IV vehicles hadincreased in the last week ofMarch, when the nationwidelockdown was in force, andthey were sold online also.

Senior advocate AparajitaSingh, who is assisting the topcourt as an amicus curiae in thematter, said the court hasrecalled its March 27 order.

During the hearing, thebench observed that the auto-mobile dealers association havenot followed its earlier order andthey have violated the apexcourt's directives.

It said that BS-IV vehicleswere sold during the lockdownin last week of March and afterMarch 31 also and now theirregistration was sought despitethe fact that order was passedway back in 2018.

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In a contentious move, theGovernment was mulling

decriminalisation of “minoroffences” enshrined in theRights of Persons withDisabilities Act, 2016. Howeverlate at night, the Governmentshelved the plan. The earlierplan was, the Government con-tends, to improve the ease ofdoing business and subse-quently increase foreign invest-ment in the country.

The plan had offended thedisability sector which termedthe move as ‘apathetic’, ‘hurtful’and an ‘attack on their dignity’as well as rights to live a digni-fied life. Last month, the UnionMinistry of Social Justice andEmpowerment wrote to overhalf-a-dozen NGOs a lettertitled “Decriminalisation ofMinor Offences For ImprovingBusiness Sentiment AndUnclogging Court Processes –Amendment in RPwD Act,2016”. Intriguingly, it gave just10 days to these NGOs to pro-vide their feedback.

As per the letter,“Decriminalisation of minoroffences is one of the thrust

areas of the Government. Therisk of imprisonment for actionsor omissions that aren’t neces-sarily fraudulent or the outcomeof malafide intent is a big hur-dle in attracting investments.

“The ensuing uncertainty inlegal processes and the timetaken for resolution in thecourts hurts ease of doing busi-ness. Criminal penalties includ-ing imprisonment for minoroffences act as deterrents, andthis is perceived as one of themajor reasons impacting busi-ness sentiment and hinderinginvestments both from domes-tic and foreign investors.”

The proposed Section 95Aof the Act would effectivelyallow Chief or StateCommissioners to withdrawcases after the approval of thedefender, or the aggrieved,explained Dr Satendra Singh, aDelhi-based disability rightsactivist and member of theorganisation Doctors withDisabilities.

He said, “Violation is avery subjective term. Whatmight look to you as a petty vio-lation, for instance slapping orusing offensive words mightleave another person in depres-

sion or attack on his/her digni-ty.”

Moreover, what isenshrined in the legislation asour rights cannot be taken awayso easily, he asserted adding theMinistry’s move is a fit case ofviolation of human rights.

Wheelchair-bound MeenuMani who is suffering withcerebral Palsy too agreed. “Manytimes we are left hurt whensomeone makes causal remarksor laughs at our disabilitieswhen in the queue or eating athotels. these are just a few smallinstance where our sentimentsare easily violated”

In fact, it was in the wake ofsuch daily discrimination thatthe RPWD Act was passed inParliament ensuring legal rightsto the PwDs against discrimi-nation. As per the Section 89 ofthe Act: “Any person who con-travenes any of the provisions ofthis Act, or of any rule madethereunder shall for first con-travention be punishable withfine which may extend to tenthousand rupees and for anysubsequent contravention withfine which shall not be less thanfifty thousand rupees but whichmay extend to five lakh rupees”.

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The CBI has taken over theprobe into alleged custodi-

al deaths of the father-son duoat Sathankulam police stationin Thoothukudi district ofTamil Nadu.

The alleged beating by thepolice personnel leading tothe deaths of J Benniks and hisfather RP Jeyaraj on June 20and June 23 respectively evokednationwide outrage and trig-gered calls for police reforms.

Amid the public outcryover the incident, the State gov-ernment referred the two casesfor a CBI probe with ChiefMinister K Palaniswami writ-ing a letter to Union HomeMinister Amit Shah requestinga probe into the cases by theCentral agency.

After getting a referencefrom the Centre on Monday,the CBI entrusted the investi-gation to its Delhi-basedSpecial Crimes Unit (SCU)and dispatched a team to con-duct the probe, officials said.

As per procedures, theCBI on Tuesday evening re-registered the two cases orig-inally lodged by the Kovilpattipolice station under IPCSection of custodial deathwith suspected offences to be"illegal detention, murder anddestruction of evidence".

The deceased persons rana mobile shop at Kovilpatti andthey were arrested for allegedviolation of prohibitory ordersin place to contain the spreadof Covid-19 by keeping theirshop open beyond permitted

time.The judicial magistrate

probing the incident hadinformed the Madras HighCourt that the policementhrashed the father-son duothe whole night in the policestation with batons and a tablewith bloodstains bore testi-mony to the allegations of tor-ture.

The magistrate’s findingswere based on a statement ofa woman constable attached tothe police station where thealleged crime took place.

Mentioning HeadConstable Revathy''s statementin a four-page report to theMadurai bench of the MadrasHigh Court, the magistratesaid she feared threats if sherevealed the facts.

After the alleged torture,Jeyaraj and Benniks were sentto sub-jail under remandaround 2.30 am on June 20where they were kept as pris-oner number 3636 and 3635respectively.

In the morning around7.45, Benniks complained of awheezing problem and wastaken to KovilpattiGovernment hospital in anautorickshaw. The doctorsdeclared at 9 AM that he couldnot survive, the FIR alleged.

On June 22, at about 10.20PM, Jeyaraj complained offever and was taken to theGovernment hospital. Nextmorning at about 5.40 am,doctors told the authoritiesthat the treatment failed andJeyaraj too died, according tothe FIR.

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Following complaints of ram-pant black marketing of

antiviral drug Remdesivir, usedfor treatment of Covid-19, theUnion Health Ministry hasdirected the Drug ControllerGeneral of India (DCGI) totake immediate steps to ensurethat the medicine is sold as perits maximum retail price.

Subsequently, the DCGIhas asked drug controllers instates and Union Territories toprevent black marketing ofRemdesivir which is being soldas high as upto �80,000 in openmarket in some States even asseveral hospitals have reportedits shortage.

The DCGI has approvedrestricted emergency use ofRemdesivir injectable formu-lation for the treatment ofpatients with severe Covid-19infection.

The warning follows com-plaints by social media plat-form LocalCircles which in aletter to the Health Ministrysaid many citizens on its platform have flagged the issueof alleged black marketing ofRemdesivir.

"The MRP of Remdesivirmarketed by Hetero HealthcareLimited is Rs 5,400 but con-sumers have reported it beingsold at a price of anywherebetween Rs 15,000 to 60,000,"LocalCircles said.

DCGI Dr VG Somani, incommunication to states andUTs, said, "You are requestedto instruct your enforcementofficials to keep a strict vigil onthe matter to prevent the blackmarketing and sale of the drugRemdesivir injection aboveMaximum Retail Price(MRP)," Somani said, addingthat action taken in the mattershould be intimated to this

office at the earliest."Various medical shops

have been telling buyers thatthe medicine is in short supplybut can be made available ifthey are ready to pay a premium. It has also beenreported that doctors at manyprivate hospitals are directingfamilies to procure and get themedicine themselves," it said.

Such unscrupulous actionwarrants stringent punish-ment. “The Governmentshould ensure a mechanismwherein there is no pilferage aswell as work on enhancing pro-duction to make it within thereach of the needy. I think theprice is also too high for poorpatients, who have to shell outaround � 30,000 for the fivefive vials,” said Dr Rajinder KDhamija, head of theNeurology Department atLady Hardinge MedicalHospital in Delhi.

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���� 56��$6-7�

BJP on Wednesday claimedthat the country under

Prime Minister Modi is mak-ing strides in ‘Make in India’movement in defence and it isreflected in the government'sapproval of Rs 31,130 croredefence procurements fromIndian industry.

Addressing a press confer-ence here, BJP NationalGeneral Secretary PMuralidhar Rao said India’sfocus on indigenous manufac-turing in the defence space is“paying off ” as the Ministry ofDefence over the last two yearsunveiled several productsmanufactured in India like theHAL Tejas Light CombatAircraft, the composites Sonardome, a Portable TelemedicineSystem (PDF) for ArmedForces, Protective Gears,Penetration-cum-Blast (PCB)and Thermobaric (TB) ammu-nition specifically designed forArjun tanks.

“India has begun export-ing bulletproof jackets as perits own standards, which con-form to international norms,to over 100 countries, includ-ing European nations, accord-ing to the Bureau of Indian

Standards (BIS)”, said the BJPleader.

BJP leader’s assertioncame amidst a f lurry ofdefence buying by the gov-ernment in the wake of India-China stand-off on the line ofActual Control in easternLadakh and the recent visit ofDefence Minster to Russia.

Rao said “now we arewitnessing ‘Make in India’impact in defence produc-t ion.” He said DefenceAcquisition Council (DAC)has approved Capital acqui-sition of various platforms &equipment worth Rs 38,900crore.

DAC is headed by thedefence minister and aims atquick acquisition of arms andequipment required by thedefence forces by cuttingthrough bureaucratic bottle-necks.

“Focus on indigenousdesign and development;acquisitions from Indianindustry worth Rs 31,130crore already done for rein-forcing India’s defences. TheDAC also cleared a project toupgrade the army’s fleet of1,500 BMP-2 infantry combatvehicles. FDI under automat-ic route increased from 49%

to 74%”, he said.In order to further

encourage procurement fromlocal suppliers, 26 items out of127 already notified, havenow been notified underclause 3(a) of the PublicProcurement (Preference toMake in India) Order 2017and henceforth procuringentities shall procure theseitems only from local suppli-ers, irrespective of purchasevalue, provided that the localsuppliers meet the MinimumLocal Content (MLC) as pre-scribed for each item, Raosaid.

BJP leader said, Cabinethas approved far reachingreforms in the Space sectoraimed at boosting private sec-tor participation in the entirerange of space activities onJune 24, 2020.

“The decision taken is inline with the long-term visionof the Prime Minister oftransforming India and mak-ing the country self-reliantand technologically advanced.The Cabinet also approvedsetting up of a new spaceboard called Indian NationalSpace Promotion andAuthorisation Centre (IN-SPACe).

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In a move to provide afford-able housing on rent for

migrants and urban poor, theUnion Cabinet on Wednesdayapproved the development ofaffordable rental housing com-plexes (AHRC). The complex-es will be built under thePradhan Mantri Awas Yojana(Urban) and it will benefitover 3.5 lakh urban poor. Thegovernment estimates Rs 600crore of expenditure in theform of ''technology innovationgrant''.

Under the initiative, exist-ing vacant government fundedhousing complexes will be con-verted to ARHCs. Further, spe-cial incentives like use permis-sion, 50 per cent additionalfloor area ratio or floor spaceindex and tax relief will beoffered. The complexes willrevert to urban local bodies(ULBs) after 25 years to restartthe next cycle.

The scheme was

announced by the FinanceMinister on May 14, 2020 inview of the mass exodus ofmigrant workers and the poorto back to their home town andvillages during the nationwidelockdown. This scheme seeksto fulfill the vision of‘AtmaNirbhar Bharat’.

A large part of workforcein manufacturing industries,service providers in hospital-ity, health, domestic/com-mercial establishments, andconstruction or other sectors,labourers and students whocome from rural areas or smalltowns seeking better oppor-tunities will be the target ben-eficiary under ARHCs.

According to the ministryof housing and urban affairs,coronavirus pandemic hasresulted in massive reversemigration of workers/ urbanpoor in the country who comefrom rural areas or smalltowns for seeking betteremployment opportunities inurban areas. Usually, these

migrants live in slums, infor-mal/ unauthorized coloniesor peri-urban areas to saverental charges. They spendlot of time on roads by walk-ing/ cycling to workplaces,risking their lives to cut on theexpenses.

“ARHCs will create newecosystem in urban areas mak-ing housing available at afford-able rent close to the place ofwork. Investment underARHCs is expected to createnew job opportunities. ARHCswill cut down unnecessarytravel, congestion and pollu-tion.

The Government fundedvacant housing stock will beconverted into ARHCs foreconomically productive use.

The scheme would createa conducive environment forEntities to develop AHRCs ontheir own vacant land whichwill enable new investmentopportunities and promoteentrepreneurship in rentalhousing sector,” it said.

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Amid COVID 19 pandemic,the Union Cabinet on

Wednesday approved settingup an agri-infra fund with acorpus of �1lakh crore to pro-vide financial support to agri-entrepreneurs, start-ups, agri-tech players and farmer groupsfor infrastructure and logisticsfacilities. The agri-infra fundwas part of the over �20 lakhcrore stimulus packageannounced in response to theCOVID-19 crisis.

The new agri-infra fund,the duration of which will be 10years till 2029, aims to providemedium-to-long term debtfinancing facility for investmentin viable projects for post-har-vest management infrastruc-ture and community farmingassets through interest sub-vention and financial support.

Under this, about Rs 1lakh crore will be provided bybanks and financial institutions

as loans to primary agri cred-it societies, farmer groups,farmer producer organisations(FPOs), agri-entrepreneurs,start-ups and agri-tech players.

“Loans will be disbursed infour years starting with sanc-tion of �10,000 crore in the cur-rent year and � 30,000 croreeach in the next three financialyears”, Union AgricultureMinister Narendra SinghTomar said after the Cabinetmeeting.

The Minister said all loansunder this financing facilitywill have interest subventionof 3 per cent per annum up toa limit of �2 crore. This sub-vention will be available for amaximum period of sevenyears.

Further, credit guaranteecoverage will be available foreligible borrowers from thisfinancing facility under theCredit Guarantee Fund Trustfor Micro and Small

Enterprises (CGTMSE)scheme for a loan of up to Rs2 crore. The fee for this cov-erage will be paid by the gov-ernment.

In case of FPOs, creditguarantee may be availed fromthe facility created under theFPO promotion scheme ofthe Department ofAgriculture, Cooperation andFarmers Welfare (DACFW).

The funds will be provid-ed for setting up of cold storesand chains, warehousing,silos, assaying, grading andpackaging units, e-marketingpoints linked to e-tradingplatforms and ripening chambers, besides PPP pro-jects for crop aggregationsponsored bycentral/state/local bodies, headded.

In a statement, the agri-culture ministry said the totaloutflow as budgetary supportfrom the Government of India(GoI) will be �10,736 crore.

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Even as various States havealready started exploring

plasma therapy as a way totreat Covid-19 patients,results f rom the IndianCouncil of Medical Research’s(ICMR’s) convalescent plasmatherapy (CPT) trials are stillawaited.

Sources said that theresults which are expected ina couple of weeks have deliv-ered mixed outcomes— whilesome patients have recovered, there have alsobeen cases of conditionsworsening.

The trial is being con-ducted across 50 sites in thecountry, has collected datafrom 350-odd patients. Thesample size for the trial is 425patients.

The therapy involves tak-ing antibodies from the bloodof a person who has recoveredfrom COVID-19 and trans-fusing those antibodies intoan act ive coronavirus patient to help kickstart theimmune system to fight theinfection.

"The ICMR has initiateda multi-centre clinical trial,titled 'A Phase II, Open-Label , RandomizedControlled Trial to Assessthe Safety and Efficacy ofConvalescent Plasma to LimitCOVID-19 AssociatedComplications in ModerateDisease (PLACID Trial)'," theapex health research bodyhad said while launching thestudy.

CPT is being used in

India on compassionategrounds by doctors and is alsoa part of the ICMR’s clinicalmanagement protocol ofCovid-19. In this experimen-tal therapy, blood plasmafrom a Covid-19 recoveredpatient (which is rich in anti-bodies to fight the virus) istransfused into another Covidpatient. This is likely to boostthe recipient’s immuneresponse to the SARS-CoV-2infection.

Two sites in Ahmedabad(NHL Medical College and BJMedical College), which areconducting the ICMR trials on CPT, have shownpositive results, said sources,according to a few reports onthe websites.

According to them, fairamounts of some patientshave shown recovery underthe trials that are likely toconclude in a week or two.

“Initial observationsshow a fair amount of patientson recovery mode thoughthere have also been cases ofconditions worsening.“

States like Delhi hasalready established plasmabank while Goa recentlysought the ICMR nod to usethe therapy to treat the disease which has killed over20,000 people across theStates in the country.

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Fugitive businessman NiravModi's properties worth

�330 crore attached by theEnforcement Directorate (ED)stand confiscated to the CentralGovernment under theFugitive Economic OffendersAct following a court order.

The confiscated proper-ties worth �329.66 croreinclude four flats in iconicSamudra Mahal in Worli,Mumbai, one seaside farmhouse and land at Alibaugh, awindmill in Jaisalmer, a flat inLondon and residential flats inUAE besides shares and bankdeposits.

“The ED had filed an appli-cation on July 10, 2018 beforethe FEO Special Court todeclare Nirav Modi, a FugitiveEconomic Offender and con-fiscate the properties (valued atRs 1,396 crore approximately,attached at that time.) belong-

ing to Nirav Modi and the enti-ties directly/indirectly belong-ing to him,” the agency said.

The FEOA Special Courtvide its order December 5,2019 declared Nirav Modi aFugitive Economic Offender.Further, through its order onJune 8 this year, the SpecialCourt directed ED to attach theproperties (other than proper-ties mortgaged/hypothecatedand secured to PNB-led con-sortium) belonging to NiravModi and his companies. Thecourt also ordered that afterattachment of the assets, theseproperties will stand confis-cated to Central Governmentunder Section 12(2) and (8) ofthe Fugitive EconomicOffenders Act, 2018.

The court further directedthe bank consortium toapproach PMLA Special Courtto claim themortgaged/hypothecated andsecured properties, which wereattached by ED.

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Whatever little relief TamilNadu’s policy makers

breathed on Tuesday turned outto be short-lived as the numberof coronavirus cases shot upagain in the State by Wednesday.According to the medical bul-letin released by the Tamil NaduGovernment on Wednesday,3,756 persons were diagnosedwith Covid-19 during the last 24hours with Chennai aloneaccounting for 1,261 cases. Therewas a marginal fall in the num-ber of persons tested on Tuesdaywhich had given some relief tothe administrators.

But it was back to square oneagain by Wednesday with mostof the districts registering high-er number of cases. The day saw64 persons succumbing to thepandemic across the State.

Tamil Nadu has till date test-ed 1.22 lakh persons positive forCovid-19. By Wednesdayevening, the State has 46,480 reg-istered active coronaviruspatients undergoing treatment in

the hospitals. Till date, 74,167patients have come out of hos-pitals, fully cured, said the bul-letin.

The 98 testing facilitiesacross the State tested 34, 962persons on Wednesday while 1.3million persons have been test-ed till date. Out of the 64 patientswho died on Wednesday, 59 hadpre-existing chronic diseasesmaking it clear that those withserious ailments should be extracautious.

Chengalpet (273),Kancheepuram (133),Thiruvallur (300) and Madurai(379) showed considerableincrease in the number of per-sons afflicted with the pan-demic. Dr Prabhdeep Kaur,director, National Institute ofEpidemiology, said that sur-veillance and testing in districtswith increased number of coro-navirus cases was the need ofthe hour. “There should berestrictions on public transport,gatherings and the need topromote the use of masks,”said Dr Kaur.

���� 56��$6-7�

The India MeteorologicalDepartment (IMD) on

Wednesday said that the mon-soon trough is shifting north-wards along the foothills of theHimalayas during the next 24hours. This will bring heavyrainfall in Uttarakhand, easternUttar Pradesh, foothills of WestBengal, Assam, Meghalaya,Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkimin the next three or four days.The western end of the mon-soon trough lies to the south ofits normal position and itseastern end lies near to its nor-mal position.

On the other hand, Kutch,Saurashtra region in Gujaratand northern Maharashtra arelikely to get some respite fromincessant rain and water-log-ging.

In its latest bulletin,theIMD has also warned of"intense thunderstorm andlightning" in Uttrakhand,Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, easternRajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Bihar,Jharkhand, Assam, Meghalaya,the Konkan coast and Goa inthe next 12 hours.

The IMD has forecast morerain in Kutch and Saurashtra inthe next 24 hours due to a lowpressure area over the region.

Gusty winds are very likely oversouthwest and northeastArabian Sea, off Gujarat coastduring next 48 hours.Fishermen have been advisednot to venture into sea. Weatherin many parts of northernIndia including Haryana andPunjab remained pleasant whileUttar Pradesh, Rajasthan andHimachal Pradesh witnessedlight showers.

Monsoon is now 14 percent surplus but a break inmonsoon is expected in mostparts of the country, except thefoothills of the Himalayas,where flooding and landslidesare expected.

������������� 232���

After a gap of two days, theinfected cases in

Maharashtra crossed 6000-marked on Wednesday, as 6603people tested positive forCovid-19 while 198 peopledied of the pandemic in vari-ous parts of the state.

Maharashtra -- where theinfected cases had dropped to5,368 and 5,134 positives caseson Monday and Tuesdayrespectively from the highestday’s count of 7,074 casesnotched on Sunday (July 4) –had a cause for concern as theday’s infected cases’ tallytouched 6603, taking the totalnumber of positive cases in thestate to 223724.

With fresh 198 deathsreported, the total number ofdeaths in the state rose fromTuesday’s 9,250 to 9,448 onWednesday

Of the total 198 deaths,Mumbai accounted for 62deaths, taking the total numberof deaths in the metropolis to5,064 now, while the totalnumber of positive patientsclimbed up by 1,347 cases totouch 87,856.

Apart from 62 deathsrecorded in Mumbai’s 62deaths, there were 36 deathseach in Thane and Pune, 10

deaths in Jalgaon, eight deathsach in Satara, Aurangabad andSolapur, six deaths in Raigad,five in Nashik, three each inPalghar, Kolhapur and Jalna,two each in Sangli, Nanded andAkola and one each inAhmednagar, Nagpur,Yavatmal and Beed.

With 52,733 infected caseswith 1,417 deaths, Thane hasemerged as the second worsthit district in Maharashtra.

Pune, which has emergedas the third worst affected dis-trict in terms of spread of thepandemic, has recorded 30,704infections and 962 deaths tillnow.

In a related development,the total number of patientsdischarged from various hospi-tals after full recovery since thesecond week of March this yeartouched 1, 23,192. The recoveryrate in the state stood at 55.06per cent. The mortality rate inthe state is 4.22 per cent. Thestate health authorities peggedthe number of “active cases” inthe state at 91,065.

Out of 11, 61,311 samplessent to laboratories, 2,23,723have tested positive (18.77%)for COVID-19 until Monday.Currently, 6,38,762 people arein home quarantine while48,072 people are in institu-tional quarantine.

�������������232���

The shocking vandalisation ofthe garden area of late Dr. B

R Ambedkar’s Mumbai resi-dence ‘Rajgruha’ here triggereduproar in the state political cir-cles on Wednesday, with allparties demanding the imme-diate arrest of two unidentifiedculprits behind the incident.

At around6 on Tuesday, two“still-to-be identified” miscreantshurled stones at the glass win-dows, smashed CCTVs anddamaged the flower pots at theresidence in a quiet corner of theDadar Hindu Colony in north-central Mumbai.

On Wednesday, theMatunga police station had reg-istered an FIR in connectionwith the incident. Currently,Dr Ambedkar's daughter-in-law and his grandsons PrakashAmbedkar, AnandrajAmbedkar and BhimraoAmbedkar and family memberslive at that bungalow.

Late Dr Ambedkar’s bun-galow has a huge collection ofDr. B. R. Ambedkar’s books,photographs, some personaleffects and artefacts, his ashes, allof which are now housed in asmall memorial museum and acentre for Ambedkarite scholarsfrom all over the world.

Expressing shock over theincident, Maharashtra chiefminister Uddhav Thackeray saidthat ”Rajgruha” was a heritagemonument and a ‘place of rev-erence’. He said that the State

government would bring tobook the culprits behind theincident and punish themseverely.

“It is shocking that miscre-ants entered ‘Rajgruha’ andindulged in vandalism. Theplace is not only important forAmbedkarites, but the entiresociety who consider it as a placeof pilgrimage. I have directed thepolice to act strongly against thevandals,” Uddhav said.

"It is the work of an anti-social element with a wickedmindset and done with ulteriormotives. The investigations areunderway. The culprits behindthe incident would be arrestedsoon," deputy chief ministerAjit Pawar said.

Talking to media fter speak-ing to the family members of lateDr Ambedkar and the police,leader of opposition DevendraFadnavis of the BJP said "Whathas happened is highly con-demnable and the accused mustbe caught".

The Ambedkar familymembers appealed to people,particularly political party lead-ers, not to come to Rajgruha."Yes. Two people came. Theydamaged the CCTV and otherthings and left. The police havetaken cognizance and they aredoing a good job. I appeal toeveryone to maintain peace,"Prakash Ambedkar, late DrAmbedkar’s grandson, thefounder of Vanchit BahujanAghadi and three-time formerMP, said.

���������������� 0"�7�

Exactly two months afterKerala declared that it suc-

ceeded in flattening the coro-navirus curve which earnedencomiums from all over theworld for Chief MinisterPinarayi Vijayan and HealthMinister K K Shylaja the Statefound itself being batteredand bruised by the same virusforcing the administration todesignate many towns, cities

and even rural areas as con-tainment zones.

It was on May 8 PinarayiVijayan made the announce-ment that Kerala has defeatedthe coronavirus and compli-mented all officials for theachievement. But onWednesday , Vijayan chose tostay indoors as health minis-ter Shylaja issued a release stat-ing that 301 persons werediagnosed with coronavirus inthe State. This is the highest

number of persons testingpositive in the State on a sin-gle day.

What has shocked thegovernment health officials isthe number of persons infect-ed through contacts. OnWednesday 90 persons gotinfected through contactshinting again that communi-ty transmission has set in.While 99 expatriates testedpositive on Wednesday, 95persons were those whoreturned from other parts ofthe country.

Situation continued to begrave in Thiruvananthapuram,Kochi and Kozhikode. The

capital city which is underlockdown following unprece-dented increase in the numberof persons infected with thepandemic saw hundreds ofpolitical party workers stagingdemonstrations along thethoroughfares in violation ofthe lockdown rules.

The capital city was hometo 64 out of the 301 personstested positive for the pan-demic on Wednesday. Out ofthis 64 covid-19 patients, 60got infected through contactswhich itself is self-explanato-ry of the seriousness.

The minister’s release said2.605 persons were undergo-

ing treatment in various hos-pitals across the State. The dayalso saw 421 persons gettinghospitalised on account of thecovid-19 pandemic.

The State has sent 11, 250samples for testing during thelast 24 houtrs. Till date, a totalof 2.96 lakh samples havebeen sent for testing. Aluwa, amajor commercial centre inErnakulam has been totallyshut down. Sunil Kumar,Kerala’s Agriculture Minister,who is in charge of theErnakulam district, asked theAluwa population to stayindoors and not to come outunless it is an emergency.

���� .�223�

Taking serious note of repeat-ed instances of "gross mis-

conduct and misbehaviour" byBasant Rath, an IPS officer ofJ&K cadre 2000 batch, theMinistry of Home AffairsWednesday placed him undersuspension with immediateeffect.

"A disciplinary proceedingagainst Basant Rath is contem-plated in connection withrepeated instances of gross mis-conduct and misbehaviour,which have been brought to thenotice of the Government," theministry said in the statement.

The suspended IPS officerwas also directed by the UnionHome Ministry to stay put inJammu till further orders. Rathwas also directed to obtain per-mission from the DGP, J&Kpolice before leaving the head-quarters in Jammu.

Earlier, in the last week ofJune 2020, Rath had filed awritten complaint, in his per-sonal capacity and not as apoliceman, against Jammu andKashmir police Chief, DilbaghSingh, stating that Singh poses athreat to his safety and reputa-tion.

He attracted attention ofthe local media andnetizens,especially from Kashmirvalley during his stint as IG,Traffic in Jammu and Kashmir.He was also running a book cluband distributed books,free of costto the needy students and aspi-rants studying for Union PublicService examination.

He adopted 'unorthodox'means and also invited publicwrath while he went aroundkicking motorbikes parked onthe roadside.

������������� 232���

In an effort to increase thenumber of Covid-19 tests in

the country’s commercial cap-ital, the BrihanmumbaiMunicipal Corporation (BMC)on Wednesday opened up test-ing to all Mumbaikars, irre-spective of whether they havesymptoms or not, and withouta doctor’s prescription or selfdeclaration.

In line with the guidelinesissued recently by the IndianCouncil Medical Research(ICMC) to do away with earli-er mandate that allowed onlypatients with symptoms and adoctor's prescription wereallowed to get tested, the BMC-- through a circular issued onTuesday-- permitted the peo-ple to undergo Covid-19 testsat 17 designated private labo-ratories irrespective of whetherthey have symptoms or not, andwithout a doctor’s prescriptionor self declaration.

The BMC said that the 17designated laboratories – names

of which it has realised -- werefree to conduct RT-PCR (real-time polymerase chain reac-tion) tests on any individual inaccordance with ICMR guide-lines without prescription froma doctor, including for hometesting.

The BMC has fixed Rs2,500 and Rs 2,800 as chargesfor per laboratory test and perhome test respectively.

Announcing Covid-19 testsfor all, Maharashtra ministerand in-charge of Mumbai sub-urban district Aditya Thackeraytweeted: "The @mybmc hasdecided to open up testing toany individual in the city with-out prescription/ self attestation.Labs can now conduct RT PCRtests as per ICMR guidelines atthe will of anyone. This will helpcitizens feel safer and test whenthey have a doubt, without anydelays"

The BMC has been fore-front of a grim battle beingwaged against Covid-19 inMumbai, where there were5002 deaths and 86509 infect-

ed cases till Tuesday evening.Significantly enough,

Mumbai on Tuesday surpassedChina in terms of total deathsand infections and. China haswitnessed 4,634 deaths and83,565 cases, ranking at No. 22on the Worldometer.

Contrary to the public per-ception, the BMC has con-ducted sizeable number Covid-19 tests ever since the pandemicbroke out in the metropolis inthe second week of March thisyear.

Currently, 4,000 to 4500Covid-19 tests are conducted inMumbai every day. So far, BMChas conducted 3.63 lakh tests –27,916 per million – with a pos-itivity rate of 23.49 per cent.

One of the reasons that hasprompted the BMC to imple-ment the ICMR guidelines topermit Covid-19 tests withoutdoctor’s prescriptions was theconcern that not testing asymp-tomatic people might lead tothe spread of the virus anddefeat the very idea of infectioncontainment.

��������������� .�223

While peace is graduallyreturning along the Line

of Actual Control in the easternLadakh sector,however, the sit-uation remains tense along theline of control in areas South ofPir Panjal.

A 60 year old woman losther life in an incident of 'unpro-voked' ceasefire violation alongthe line of control (LoC) inBalakote sector of Mendhartehsil in Poonch while anotherwoman received serious injuriesin the wee hours of Wednesday.

Meanwhile, two more civil-ians received injuries in a sep-arate incident of ceasefire vio-lation reported along the LoC inTangdhar sector of NorthKashmir's Kupwara district.

According to the police,"the deceased woman has beenidentified as Resham Bi w/oMohd Azam of village Sagraand the injured woman wasidentified as Hakam Bi W/O ofMohd Shareef of Lanjote vil-lage".

Defence PRO in Jammu,Lt-Col Devender Anand said,"at about 2.00 a.m Pakistan ini-tiated 'unprovoked' ceasefireviolation by firing with smallarms and intense shelling withmortars along the LoC inBalakote and Mendhar sectorsof Poonch". He said the Indianarmy retaliated befittingly.According to reports, intenseshelling continued for about 45minutes after which it wasstopped.

According to groundreports during intense shelling,which started around 2.00 a.m,one of the shells landed inLanjote village where one of the

women received splinter injurieson her left leg. Another woman,who also stepped out of thehouse to save livestock, lost herlife as another shell exploded inher close vicinity. According tothe local villagers she died onthe spot.The villagers had tostruggle hard to shift the injuredwoman to a Sub district hospi-tal in Mendhar from where shewas shifted to GMC Rajouriafter providing her first aidtreatment.

In GMC Rajouri, MedicalOfficer Dr Mansoor Ahmadsaid, "the injured woman hadreceived splinter injuries onher left leg and before operatingupon her they were trying toresuscitate her. He said whenshe was admitted in the hospi-tal her pulse, BP was not record-able.

For the last couple of days,the local residents of Mendhartehsil are spending sleeplessnights following intenseexchange of mortar shelling inthe forward areas.

In strong retaliatory action,Indian army had inflicted heavydamages across the line of con-trol. According to local reports,at least four Pakistani soldierswere killed in these pinpointedstrikes across the line of controlin the last one week.

In a separate incident ofceasefire violation in TangdharSector, two civilians alsoreceived splinter injuries.

According to defencespokesman, "Pakistan army ini-tiated ceasefire violation inTangdhar sector of Kupwara byfiring mortars and otherweapons". "Befitting response isbeing given. Two civilians wereinjured,he added.

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The gold smuggling opera-tion through diplomatic

channel busted by the CustomsDepartment on Sunday atThiruvananthapuram airporttook a new turn on Wednesdayas all main Opposition partiesstaging demonstrations all overthe State demanding the imme-diate resignation of ChiefMinister Pinarayi Vijayanwhose office and persons closeto him find mentioning in theincident.

The Customs Departmenton Wednesday morning tookinto custody Sowmya, wife ofSandeep Nair, a close associateof Swapna Suresh, the kingpinbehind the whole operation.Sowmya was taken to Kochiand is being grilled by thedepartment officials. TheCustoms officials is yet to makeany formal announcementabout the seizure or probe.

Swapna Suresh remainedabsconding for the fourth dayin succession while theCustoms officials examinedher apartment inThiruvananthapuram suburb.They seized lap tops as well aspen drives and mobile phonesfrom her apartment, accordingto reliable sources.

Meanwhile VMuraleedharan, BJP leader andminister of State for foreignaffairs told reporters that thebusting of gold smugglingracket has come to the noticeof the Centre and there wouldbe comprehensive investiga-tion into the case.Muraleedharan refused todivulge the name of the agen-cies which would probe theissue though he said all organ-isations entrusted with theresponsibilities of nationalsecurity, finance, crime inves-tigation would feature in theprobe.

Reacting to Kerala ChiefMinister’s allegation that thegold smuggling showed thefailure of the CentralGovernment, Muraleedharansaid it was the timely inter-vention of the Central agency

which resulted in the exposureof the smuggling racket.“Vijayan is upset over the factthat persons close to him havebeen caught red handed in thiscase. The chief minister’s igno-rance about the waywardbehaviour of his principal sec-retary shows how incapableand inefficient he is to be inthat chair,” said Muraleedharan.

The union minister dis-closed that the CustomsDepartment had approachedthe external affairs ministry forpermission to question theUAE Consulate official inwhose name the consignmentwas sent. “The external affairsministry would take up thematter with its counterpart inUAE for the same. It is notproper to term the consign-ment as diplomatic baggagebecause it was not an officialmaterial. It was a consignmentmeant for the personal use ofan official in the consulate,” saidthe minister.

Elsewhere in Kerala, theday saw BJP and Congressworkers burning the chioefminister by effigy and stagingrallies asking Pinarayi Vijayanto quit as early as possible.

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Even as parts of Bengal go toits second phase of lock-

down in 10 districts from 5 pmon Thursday, Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee has warnedthe “lax” citizens against theseverity of corona virus direct-ing the police to take strongmeasures who do not followthe protocols.

The State Government has

decided to enforce strict lock-down procedures in the con-tainment zones which togeth-er with the buffer zones wouldhenceforward be regarded ascontainment zones.

“It is scaring to see thatmany people, more so amongthe upper section of the soci-ety are not adhering to the pro-tocols of physical-distancingand use of masks… We do notask the citizens to get panicked

but at the same time utmostcaution has to be exercised orotherwise you will end up notonly infecting you but alsoyour relatives,” the ChiefMinister who on Wednesdaydirected the police adminis-tration to take stern measuressaid.

Banerjee has asked thepolice to send the people backhome who do not wear masks,Home Department sources

said adding denying reportsthat the Government was con-templating imposing fines onthe “wayward citizens.”

Initially the renewed lock-down --- excluding essentialservices --- will be imposed forone week. “After that we willdecide on future course ofaction doing further evalua-tion,” she said.

Kolkata MunicipalCorporation administrator and

Bengal Minister Firhad Hakimsaid the “KMC is keeping astrong vigil on the affectedpremises and the people havebeen asked to stay indoors. “Onwhether the non-infected peo-ple will be allowed to go to theiroffices or regular business hesaid “they will not be stoppedbut only be asked to maintaincaution.”

Among the districts wherepartial lockdown has been re-

imposed at Malda, NorthDinajpur, Hooghly, Purulia,Bankura, North 24 Parganas,South 24 Parganas, Howrahand Hooghly.

Meanwhile at least 50members of newly formed“corona warriors’ club” fromBehrampore have arrived inKolkata to serve and help coro-na patients. This club has beenformed by the StateGovernment and comprises

the cured patients.They will be paid an

allowance of Rs 15,000 permonth and will work bothinside and outside the coronawards.

Elsewhere in order to con-tain the corona crisis theautonomous GorkhalandTerritorial Administration(GTA) has issued a circularprohibiting entry of tourists inDarjeeling Hills. The order

will continue to till July 31.A prominent tourist desti-

nation of Bengal Darjeeling,has remained closed sinceMarch 19.

The order issued by GTAchairman Anit Thapa alsoappeals to clubs and otherinstitutions within the districtto refrain from holding anyevents, which require largegatherings of people and alsomaintain social distancing.

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Shiv Sena’s two former corpo-rators died of Covid-19 at

Aurangabad during the last twodays, sending waves of anxietyamong the people in theMarathwada city.

Shiv Sena’s former corpora-tor from Aurangabad’s UttamNagar's Boudhnagar ward NitinSalvi died of Coronavirus at aprivate hospital on Tuesday. Hehad been admitted to the hos-pital on June 26, after he wasdiagnosed with Covid-19.

Sena’s another former cor-porator from PadegaonRaosaheb Amle breathed hislast at the local Ghatti Hospitalon Wednesday. Ahead of hisdeath, he was to undergo plas-ma therapy. The two Sena’s for-mer corporators' deaths havecome as a big shock to the peo-ple in Aurangabad which inci-dentally is one of the Covid 19-affected cities in the state.

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New Delhi: The Supreme Court Wednesdaydirected Rajasthan Police to complete with-in two months its ongoing investigation inthe case of death of a third year student ofNational Law University, Jodhpur, in August2017. A bench headed by Justice R FNariman said this while hearing throughvideo-conferencing a plea filed by the victim'smother who has sought transfer of the casefrom Rajasthan Police to the CBI."Having heard Manish Singhvi, senior coun-sel appearing on behalf of the state, we areof the view that the investigation which isongoing, pursuant to the high court's orderdated February 24, 2020, must be complet-ed within a period of two months and finalreport be filed before this court," said thebench, also comprising Justices Navin Sinhaand B R Gavai. PTI

New Delhi: The Supreme Court Wednesdayrecalled its March 27 order by which it had allowedthe sale of BS-IV vehicles for 10 days across thecountry, except in Delhi-NCR, after lifting ofCOVID-19 induced lockdown.

The apex court said automobile dealers vio-lated its directives and BS-IV vehicles were sold dur-ing the lockdown in last week of March and afterMarch 31 also. "Do not take advantage of thiscourt by playing fraud" a bench comprising JusticesArun Mishra, S A Nazeer and Indira Banerjee, saidwhile hearing the matter through video-confer-encing. The top court had on March 27 said it waspermitting sale of 10 per cent of unsold BS-IV vehi-cles to make up for six days lost due to the nation-wide lockdown which was imposed on March 25.The apex court Wednesday said that Bharat Stage(BS)-IV vehicles sold after March 31 this year willnot be presently registered. PTI

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Page 6: , ˇ - RNI Regn. No. MPENG/2004/13703, Regd. No. L … · 2 days ago · the Centre announced forma-tion of a committee to probe ... the top 10 countries by pro-jected daily infection

Wanton Chinese aggressionand the cowardly, premed-itated attack on the IndianArmy that led to the killingof 20 of our brave soldiers

are episodes India can never forget. The timehas come for the citizens to unite and for theGovernment to ensure that a single-mindedresolve is visible to the world. China has a his-tory of betrayal. It tends to covet the land ofother countries and grab it under some pre-text or the other. While it has grown its econ-omy in the last 30 years, it has also shrunk inits status as a nation that can be consideredas a responsible member of the global com-mittee of nations. Sadly, for an economy anda country of its size, China has behaved likea bully with almost every neighbour. It hasshown willful disregard for established normsof conduct.

China has shown disrespect to India’s sus-tained and mature outreach to settle pend-ing issues with respect to border issuesbetween both nations. It has not evenexchanged maps with respect to the disput-ed boundary in many areas and has used thatto try and intrude into the Indian territory.It has also supported and financed Pakistanto act as a terror proxy against India. Chinesearms have been utilised by Left-wing extrem-ists through Nepal. Beijing has also createda red corridor from Pashupati to Tirupati.Mineral-rich areas, which lie in this corridor,have been disturbed for decades, leading tothe misutilisation of India’s natural resources.The current pandemic is an example. Amajority of the migrant labourers are from thiscorridor, proving that disturbance has led tohigh unemployment and economic degrada-tion of the area.

In short, China has played double games.On the one hand, it has gained tremendousaccess to the Indian market and consumerssince we opened up our trade and economyin the early 90s. On the other, it has tried tounsettle our nation through direct and indi-rect provocations. Prime Minister NarendraModi has invested the highest amount of timein maintaining relations with China. He hasvisited that country several times and hasrepeatedly asserted the need to maintain“friendly” and “good relations.” Indian citizens,too, want to establish good economic anddiplomatic relations with China. The twonations share a long history of cultural andreligious relations and affiliations.

However, the Chinese State apparatus isafraid of India’s long-term economic rise, ourdemocratic tradition and the use of “softpower” across the world. This myopic viewhas mistakenly led the Chinese authorities toconclude that India can be contained andrestrained. But they forget the lessons in his-tory. India has always been a beacon of renais-sance, a messiah of peace and accommoda-tion for the entire world. China needs tobehave responsibly. It is a sad fact that fivemajor global pandemics since 2002, includ-ing the severe acute respiratory syndrome(SARS) infection, avian flu, swine flu andCOVID-19 have originated from China.

At a time when the entireworld is suffering from the dis-astrous economic consequencesof a virus, the People’s LiberationArmy (PLA) is triggering hostil-ities with the Indian Army. Giventhe Chinese strategy and intent,it is time India acts to safeguardits interests. While several mea-sures are currently under way, Isupport the call to reduce Indiandependence on Chinese productsand reduce Chinese FDI. At thebehest of the Communist Partyof China (CPC) and the PLA,Chinese firms have outmanoeu-vred FDI laws to take control ofIndian companies.

Attempts to reduce ChineseFDI have not been successful sofar. This because Chinese firmsare creating SPVs in Hong Kong,Mauritius, Singapore and othertax havens to generate investmentin India. Bilateral trade betweenIndia and China is around $100billion. Trade is supposed tobenefit both nations. However,the same is not the case withIndo-China trade. At themoment, India has a trade deficitof $67 billion with China. Thismeans we are exporting consid-erably fewer goods in compari-son to China. This is belittling oureconomy.

Coupled with the Chinesetakeover of major Indian export-ing and production houses, tradebetween the two nations is oneas between two Chinese compa-nies. Anti-dumping duty andminimum import price havebeen placed on 99 Chinese prod-ucts. Despite this, India is heav-ily dependent on Chinese prod-

ucts. Around 73 per cent of thetelecommunication equipment,82 per cent semiconductor, 87per cent antibiotic and 83 per centactive pharma ingredients areimported from China.Unknowingly, India has beenpromoting Chinese productsthrough the facade of “Make inIndia” where major Chinesecompanies have set up theirshops in India and have becomea hindrance in the developmentof Indian companies.

Chinese companies such asXinxiang, Shanghai Electric, SicsMotocorp Huawei and Alibabaare controlled by the PLA. Theyhave all set up bases under theshelter of Make in India to con-trol the Indian economy. Chinesefirms have surpassed others inbecoming leading players inmobile phones and other itemsin the Indian market.

The Atmanirbhar BharatAbhiyan (self-reliant India) isvery significant. India became amember of the WTO in 1995,much earlier than China, whichjoined the trade body in 2001.Since then, China has growninto a massive economy thatrules global exports. It is time forIndia to undertake a new jour-ney in a post-Corona world.Unless we develop strong man-ufacturing capacities, under-take higher exports of goods aswell as services, we will not beable to take care of the welfareneeds of our population. Indianeeds to promote local manufac-turing of imported items. Toencourage the manufacturing ofcomponents, customs duty

should be gradually increased —starting from 10 per cent fromthe base year to 40 per cent bythe fourth year. For fully import-ed products, basic customs dutyshould be hiked to 75 per centin the base year and furtherincreased by the fourth year to100 per cent to ensure that allsuch importers utilise the threeyears to set up manufacturingunits in India. The machineryfor the production of itemsshould be kept at 10 per cent inthe base year and then subse-quently increased every year toencourage domestic manufac-turing of the machinery.

Further, it is also importantto clarify the definition of“importer”, “assembler” and“manufacturer.” The lack of a def-inition allows all importers andsystem integrators to falsely sellimported products as “Made inIndia.” The ICT and the defencesectors are areas where despite ahuge domestic potential, mostgoods are imported. One of thereasons why India does not havea clear definition of who is a“manufacturer” is becauseimporters/assemblers declare theimported equipment (hi-tech) byjust changing the sticker and thendeclare it as “manufactured” inIndia.

Similarly, assemblers importthe goods in semi-knocked down(SKD) condition and after assem-bling it locally, declare it as“manufactured in India.” Suchimporters, system integratorsand assemblers promote foreignproducts and have no interest toinvest in R&D within the coun-

try. Such firms enjoy a hugeadvantage over those few Indianfirms who have tried to keep theflag of manufacturing alive allthese years. These few, despiteinvesting money in R&D andproduct development, lose outdue to policy and bureaucraticapproach that promotes tradersover true manufacturers.

In the domestic front, for thesake of stability of the market, theIndian Government requireshigher sovereign rating, which isneeded to maintain or decreaseinterest rates and debts. Thus, thisenables more borrowing by theGovernment and industries.Rating agencies are meant to pro-vide investors with reliable infor-mation on the riskiness of vari-ous kinds of debts. However,these agencies have been addingto financial difficulties. After the2008 financial crisis, the USrevoked the first amendmentrights of credit rating agencies. IfIndia can create a similar policyand advance local credit ratingagencies, similar to China andRussia, it can compete withChina financially. Since the rat-ings on debts provided toinvestors will be fair, the econo-my will be boosted.

The Prime Minister’s call tomake India aatmanribhar, a pol-icy which looks to increase localmanufacturing and consump-tion, can do just that. China, thelargest source of FDI in India, isthe largest hindrance to the suc-cessful implementation of thisproject. Due to numerous inter-national regulations and India’slack of mass manufacturing abil-ity in proportion to its popula-tion’s consumption demands, itis heavily dependent on China foralmost all consumer products.

In its attempt to make theAatmanirbhar Bharat initiativesuccessful, India needs to reduceits dependence on Chineseimports and FDI through bothChinese companies in the main-land and their SPVs in taxhavens. Identifying Chinese con-trolled SPVs and prohibitingthem from investing or partic-ipating in trade, we need to findthe source of their revenues.

I presume the PrimeMinister’s call for aatmanirbharbharat is heading in the rightdirection to ensure employ-ment, save hundreds of billionsof dollars in foreign exchangeand boost reserve capital accu-mulation in the Indian bankingsystem. Transparent and demo-cratic investment under “Makein India” will give a massive blowto the Chinese market. This ini-tiative will also create an influxof Indian products in the South-East Asian market, thus increas-ing our export market andreducing Chinese influence overthe South-East Asian region.

(The writer is a BJP MP in the Lok Sabha)

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Sir — Indian cricket buffs andmillions of fans of MS Dhoni havebegun singing the new anthem, abeautiful foot-tapping number,“MS Dhoni number seven...”,sung energetically by West Indiesall-rounder Dwayne Bravo on hisbirthday. Bravo’s song has alreadygone viral. His song beautifullydepicts the life story of a small-town boy who braved all odds tobecome one of the greatest crick-et captains India has seen. Thepunch lines and the video withfoot-tapping music are really atreat to hear and watch.

Dhoni, as the song depicts, istruly the most successful Indianskipper, who has won every majorICC trophy in all formats and theonly captain to do so. The song,as Bravo says, is for a man whoredefined the modern cricket, beit captaincy, wicket keeping, bat-ting and field arrangement.Besides, the support that Dhonigave to his playmates is also wellknown. The song also showshow sports can connect humanbeings, especially during tryingtimes like these.

M PradyuKannur

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Truce for now” (July 7).After escalatory rhetoric andmore importantly aggressiveactions, a process to defuse ten-sions along the Line of ActualControl (LAC) has commenced.

There are structural reasons whydisengagement makes sense forboth countries. China was solelyresponsible for transgressingacross the border. Even the finestscholars who study China havenot been able to offer a satisfac-tory explanation as to why Beijinghas behaved the way it did. Butthe fact is, even for a rising

power, its actions defied rationalcalculation. It has alienated Indiaand public opinion, throwingthe entire relationship — of whichChina too has been a beneficia-ry — off gear.

On the other hand, NewDelhi doesn’t want conflict. It wasleft with no choice but to respondaggressively to Chinese incursions

and defend its integral territory.Given the economic weakness,the COVID-19 challenge, thegaps in military preparation andthe costs of any conflict, peace isof course, the most desirableoption. The Indian establish-ment rightly made it clear thatevery step of the disengagementprocess will be carefully moni-tored and verified. India mustensure complete restoration ofstatus quo ante.

N Sadhasiva Reddy Bengaluru

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Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Truce for now” (July 7). Chinamay have mutually agreed to dis-engage at the LAC but this maywell be a well-calculated move toconfuse India as it has been doingfor ages. It is naïve to expect thatthe China imbroglio shall beresolved soon. China wants Indiato join the league of nations likePakistan and Nepal that are play-ing second fiddle to it.

SrishtiVia email

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Ihave never found a companion that was so com-panionable as solitude,” says Henry DavidThoreau. Nothing can make us feel better — calmer,

happier and clearer — than being immersed in abook, a piece of music or in the plaintive woods,away from the madding crowd. This is a sentimentexpressed by most people when they talk abouttheir privacy and the pleasure they derive from it.It is actually something deeper than just a feelingof ecstasy. It’s only when one loses oneself in thestillness by stepping briefly away from family andfriends that one experiences creativity.

COVID-19 has forced millions of people intointernal exile, many of whom have been overcomeby a deep sense of loneliness. The pandemic hasmade our understanding of solitude more acutethan ever. While the outbreak has opened up ourminds to the benignity of loneliness, it has alsogiven us an idea of the fears and nightmares thataccompany it. For instance, researchers at theUniversity of Essex, UK conducted a study andfound out that women are more vulnerable tomental health problems during the Coronaviruspandemic than men. The study revealed that thenumber of women suffering from stress and lone-liness during the outbreak has risen from 11 percent in normal times to 27 per cent. On the otherhand, the number of men suffering from at leastone mental condition during the pandemic hasreached 18 per cent from seven per cent earlier.

Loneliness, uncertainty, desolation and theeconomic despair triggered by the contagion haveled to a spurt in distress calls to the nation’s sui-cide prevention helplines.

In India, the Mumbai-based VandrevalaFoundation, an NGO that aims to provide aid tothose suffering from mental health issues in thecountry, says it used to receive 90 calls a day beforethe lockdown. Since the lockdown began, thesecalls have gone up to 150 a day as people find itdifficult to deal with isolation and loneliness. Also,the emails received by the foundation have goneup from 80 to 120.

Part of the reason that the current crisis is sofrightening is that it sets off a fear of not just beingin quarantine but also of being abandoned alto-gether. This fear is profoundly affecting individ-ual psyche and world views. No visitors. No sharedmeals. No one to hold our hands. We’re all cut offfrom each other, trapped inside the walls of ourown domestic space, the 21st-century version ofbeing marooned.

Social distancing and sometimes self-quaran-tining is the most important protective gear forthe Coronavirus but that doesn’t make it easy whenwe have to do it. One of the inevitable costs willbe social isolation and an increase in our loneli-ness. More people live alone now than at any othertime in history. The weird gift of loneliness is thatit grounds us in our common humanity. The wholeworld is in the same boat.

However frightened we may feel, we havenever been less alone. It has also heightened theconsciousness about belonging to one family. It hasshown that only by taking care of one another —as well as the planet on which we all depend —can any of us hope for a better future. It has shownhow helpless we as individuals are despite beingblessed with the best of this world.

Loneliness is a unique condition in which anindividual perceives himself or herself to be social-ly isolated even when among other people. Thedeleterious effects of loneliness are, however, not

due to some peculiarity of individualswho are lonely; instead they are due tothe effects of loneliness on ordinary peo-ple. It gives a feeling of being unable toconnect despite being surrounded bymillions of others. Being alone and beinglonely are not the same thing, of course,and many people who live by themselvesspend little time alone.

Being single can feel lonely but itdoesn’t always have to. Likewise, beingin a relationship doesn’t make youimmune to loneliness. Just as you can feellonely in the company of others, you canfeel perfectly content in your own com-pany. It’s just that many of us don’t knowhow to be alone.

However, one should not let beingalone during the pandemic get us down.There’s a positive side to it as well. It isin isolation that we are able to do mostof our sharpest thinking and yield a har-vest of our best ideas. It is only when youview the world from a distance that youare able see it whole and understand itbetter. We are able to achieve an ambi-ence that is great for creativity. Lonelinessisn’t the same thing as solitude, nor is itsolitude’s inevitable consequence. It canarise just as easily in situations of prox-imity. You can be lonely in a crowd, lone-ly at a birthday party — at occasions ofintimacy, closeness, connection.

There is difference between loneli-ness and solitude. Solitude purges thedestructive capacity of loneliness andallows us to tap the protective potentialof sequestration. The words “solitude”and “loneliness” ought to have similarmeanings: “Solo” and “alone” do after all.But faced with courage and determina-tion they do not. Loneliness is a nega-tive, sad feeling. On the other hand, soli-tude is elevating, blissful.

Loneliness is the nightmare of thesocial animal. It is a taboo state in oursocial world. It may not be fully true

under ordinary circumstances, or evenunder quarantine. But there are otherways in which loneliness causes pain, too.It has real, tangible effects on our brainsand bodies. The need for connection isso central to our being that to experienceits lack plunges the body into a state ofminor emergency.

But loneliness isn’t just a negativestate, to be vanquished or suppressed.There’s an intensifying of perception thatled Virginia Woolf to write in her diaryof 1929: “If I could catch the feeling, Iwould. The feeling of the singing of thereal world, as one is driven by lonelinessand silence from the habitable world.”Woolf was no stranger to quarantine. Shewas confined to a sick bed for long peri-ods but found that even these painfulperiods yielded harvests of creativity justbecause she used them not as periods ofsolitary confinement or detention but asperiods of meditations and self-reflection.

This commitment to spendingtime alone has been particularly impor-tant in a hyper-connected world whereour inner sentiments and thoughts aredrowned out by the constant chatter orupdates of other people.

Many of us confuse alone timewith “doing nothing” or equate it to phys-ical isolation. But solitude is a state or asituation — not a place or final destina-tion. After all, mastering the art of soli-tude isn’t about being antisocial butrather knowing and understanding our-selves better in order to connect to oth-ers. Solitude is an opportunity to renewourselves and deepen self-knowledge. Itgives us time to explore and know our-selves. It is the necessary counterpoint tointimacy and allows us to polish the selfto make it relevant to the outer world.

Solitude gives us a chance to regainour perspective and connect to others ina far richer way. Pearl Buck sums it upbeautifully, “I love people. I love my fam-

ily, my children…but inside myself is aplace where I live all alone and that’swhere you renew your springs thatnever dry up.” It allows us to get back intothe position of driving our own lives,rather than having them run by sched-ules and demands that are out of our con-trol. Thoreau spent a long time in soli-tude in the woods of Walden and he con-sidered it as constructive and purpose-ful solitude because he was insulatedfrom the ego-driven clamour of humandiscourse. Silence is a necessary precon-dition to contemplation and meditation— religious or otherwise. The effortneeded to achieve quiet, let alone silence,usually makes it more rewarding than theambient noise. It’s why we go to thewoods, or the sea, or up on hillsides torenew ourselves. It is also why we takeup meditation, or spend time in quietplaces of worship.

We all need silence and also stillnessto become our true selves and to discov-er the divine spark in ourselves even aswe remain surrounded by the endlessrush and agitation of modern life. Quietintrospection sharpens the mind andimproves our understanding of an issue,an event, or even the emotions swirlingaround. This requires not just time, spaceand solitude but enough silence to allowthe clear tones to steer through the noise.

For Thoreau, revolution began athome, one person at a time. “We mustfirst succeed alone, that we may enjoy oursuccess together”, he wrote.

Buddha pointed out that there wasan “island of calmness” within each oneof us and we should take refuge in thatisland and not allow people and eventsaround us to upset our inner poise. Thispandemic has given us solitude and still-ness. We can either waste this rare giftor we can unleash our creativity.

(The writer is a well known develop-ment professional)

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Following Chinese aggression andthe border clashes at the Line ofActual Control (LAC) the rela-

tionship between India and China isnow at a nadir. As a result, the war cryto “boycott Chinese goods” is rever-berating across India. Though theshout is emanating mostly from thecommon citizens, the Government,too, has given clear indications in oneor two cases that Chinese investmentsand firms are not welcome.

Indian industries, on the otherhand, have given a measured responsethat disengagement with China is notpossible in a short span of time andsupply chain disruption will be detri-

mental to the country.The search for alternative suppli-

ers may begin if the Government wish-es but it would take some time for re-orienting production with them. IfAtmanirbhar Bharat is to succeed,there is no alternative but to restrictimport of cheap Chinese products, alarge part of which is a result of theChinese exchange rate policy anddumping of goods with underwrittenGovernment subsidy to theirexporters. Furthermore, India needs toadopt a balanced approach so that thepolicy passes the World TradeOrganisation’s (WTO’s) dispute settle-ment mechanism and New Delhidoes not lose face there.

The Department for Promotion ofIndustry and Internal Trade of Indiarecently revised its policies on ForeignDirect Investment (FDI), restrictingfunds coming from five countries thatshare a border with India. Sinceinvestment is neither covered underthe General Agreement on Tariffs andTrade (GATT), the agreement on

Trade-Related Investment Measures(TRIMs) or the General Agreement onTrade in Services (GATS), whichIndia has committed to, the move isnot a violation of any WTO commit-ments.

India can also impose uniformrule across private firms and PSUs:In the aftermath of the People’sLiberation Army’s (PLA’s) attack on theIndian Army, the Department ofTelecommunications (DoT) askedBharat Sanchar Nigam Limited(BSNL) and Mahanagar TelephoneNigam Limited (MTNL) to reworktheir tenders for the forthcoming 4Gbusiness to exclude Chinese equip-ment. In the end, the two PSUs can-celled the tenders and will now issuefresh ones.

A fiat for a PSU and not impos-ing the same set of rules for privateplayers (except for imploring privatesector mobile operators to reduce theirdependence on Chinese equipment)sets a bad precedent. This discrimina-tion will kill PSUs in the telecom sec-

tor and in other sectors, too, if the samepractice is replicated.

Set the right perspective forpublic procurement: Annually, theGovernment of India spends nearly 13per cent of the Gross DomesticProduct (GDP) to acquire supplies,services and capital assets. The largesize of Government procurement out-lays empowers it to implement selectnational policies using the same asleverage. Government entities canrequire contractors to maintain fairemployment practices, promote pur-chase from Micro, Small and MediumEnterprises (MSMEs), promote stan-dards and innovation. All countriesworldwide have used public procedureas a tool to set their own agenda. Thisneeds to be a decisive tool ifAtmanirbhar Bharat is to succeed.

However, here India needs torefine her public procurement system.By and large, the Indian Governmenthas adopted the two-bid system,where vendors are requested to sub-mit both technical and financial bids

in sealed envelopes while submittingtenders for any project/service. First thetechnical bids of various vendors areevaluated as per standard criteria andthen the financial bid of the qualifiedvendors are subsequently opened tofind the lowest bid. The contract isgiven to the lowest bidder among thetechnically qualified vendors.

In this two-bid system, the pro-curement agency has a very little roleto ensure quality/standard. Of course,one can argue that technical bid eval-uation criteria may be stringent toensure quality. However, one invariablyfinds that the selection criteria of tech-nical bids are more of a check list ratherthan for identifying standard/qualityof the bid or to fulfil the desired objec-tive. This may not be the way to pro-mote Atmanirbhar Bharat.

Use anti-dumping duty judi-ciously: Given that India and Chinaare both members of the WTO andhave extended most-favoured-nation(MFN) status to each other, India is notin a position to impose additional

import duty selectively on Chineseimports. However, India is in a posi-tion to impose anti-dumping duties onChinese goods keeping within therule-book of the WTO. It is a knownfact that China follows aggressivepricing policy to export goods, manya time with tacit financial support fromthe Government. Among the WTOmember countries, India is an activeplayer in respect of imposition of anti-dumping duty. However, most pleasare usually negated by the WTO dis-pute settlement body after examina-tion of evidence submitted by theIndian Government. India really needsto build its technical capacity in thisrespect. A close interaction betweenthe Government, industry bodies andeconomists is must for filing evidenceto the WTO panel which may have achance to stand.

Discourage import of finishedChinese goods though Nepal: IfIndia becomes vigilant regardingimport of Chinese goods, one canexpect the Chinese consumer goods to

be routed through Nepal via theinformal channel. These productsdirectly compete with Indian goods inthe heartland of northern India, espe-cially in Tier-II and Tier-III cities.Strong action is required on thisfront.

Play with the trade facilitationmeasures: Since the rules for the sameare not well laid out in the WTO, Indiahas a lot of leverage to use this chan-nel to discourage Chinese imports. Forinstance, imposing tighter standardsmay simply discourage Chineseimports. Frequent scrutiny of Chineseimports for complying with varioustrading procedures, sending moresamples of agricultural products forchecking for sanitary and phytosani-tary standards would give the messageto the traders/industrialists thatChinese imports are not wanted.Once they get the signal, they will sure-ly establish alternative supply lines fortheir required imports.

(The writer is Professor, NCAER.Views expressed are personal)

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Washington: SeveralCongressmen and top educa-tional institutions decried thepolicy change that will requireinternational students who arein the United States with an F-1 visa to take at least one in-per-son course or else face theprospect of being deported.

The Trump administrationhas yet again announced a newpolicy that will damage theeconomy, harm the US institu-tions, and do nothing to improveAmerica's safety or security,said Congressman BennieThompson, chairman of theCommittee on HomelandSecurity, and CongresswomanKathleen Rice, chairwoman ofthe Border Security, Facilitation,and Operations Subcommitteein a joint statement.

“There is no apparent legit-imate reason for the adminis-tration's inflexibility towardinternational students attendingcolleges and universities thatadopt ‘online-only' policies – theAdministration seems to justwant them to leave,” the two law-makers said.

International students con-tribute billions of dollars to theUS economy and barring themfrom our country will depriveAmericans of badly neededincome. “We cannot allowPresident Trump to continuedestroying jobs and cause need-less suffering just to satisfy hisanti-immigrant base. We opposethis reckless policy and the last-ing harm it will cause to uni-versities and communities acrossthe country,” they said. PTI

Washington: The US hasannounced new visa bans onsenior Chinese officials involvedin restricting access to foreign-ers to the sensitive region ofTibet and reaffirmed its supportfor “meaningful autonomy” forTibetans, opening another pointof friction amid tense relationsbetween Washington andBeijing.

Secretary of State MikePompeo said he was takingaction against an unspecifiednumber of Chinese officials,including from the rulingCommunist Party, under a USlaw that calls on China to letAmericans visit Tibet.

“Today I announced visarestrictions on PRC (PeoplesRepublic of China) officialsinvolved in restricting foreign-ers' access to Tibet. We will con-

tinue to seek reciprocity in ourrelationship,” Pompeo tweetedon Tuesday.

Beijing has continued sys-tematically to obstruct travel tothe Tibetan AutonomousRegion (TAR) and other Tibetanareas by US diplomats and otherofficials, journalists, and tourists,while Chinese officials and othercitizens enjoy far greater accessto the United States, he said ina statement.

As such, Pompeo said he isannouncing visa restrictions onChinese Government andChinese Communist Party offi-cials determined to be “sub-stantially involved in the for-mulation or execution of policiesrelated to access for foreigners toTibetan areas,” pursuant to theReciprocal Access to Tibet Actof 2018. PTI

Rio De Janeiro: Brazilian President JairBolsonaro says he is confident that he will swift-ly recover from the new coronavirus thanks totreatment with hydroxychloroquine, the anti-malaria drug that has not been proven effectiveagainst Covid-19.

Bolsonaro said he tested positive for the newcoronavirus on Tuesday after months of down-playing its severity while deaths mountedrapidly inside the country.

The president told reporters he underwenta lung X-ray on Monday after experiencingfever, muscle aches and malaise.

As of Tuesday, his fever had subsided, hesaid, and he attributed the improvement tohydroxychloroquine. He stepped back from thejournalists and removed his mask at one pointto show that he looked well.

The 65-year-old right-wing populist whohas been known to mingle in crowds withoutcovering his face confirmed the results whilewearing a mask and speaking to reporters huddled close in front of him in the capital,Brasilia. AP

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Acrucial meeting of the rul-ing Nepal Communist

Party to decide the politicalfuture of beleaguered PrimeMinister KP Sharma Oli wasonce again deferred onWednesday till Friday to allowmore time for the top leadersto reach a power-sharing dealamid the heightened intra-party rift and his anti-Indiaremarks.

As the leaders need moretime for negotiations, the 45-member Standing Committeemeeting scheduled forWednesday has been post-poned till Friday morning, saidSurya Thapa, the PrimeMinister's Press advisor.

With this, the crucial meet-ing has been put off for thefourth consecutive time in a bidto provide enough time for thetwo chairmen of the rulingparty, Oli and Pushpa KamalDahal 'Prachanda', to sort outdifferences amidst the height-ened intra-party rift.

The political future of 68-year-old Oil is expected to bedecided on Friday during theStanding Committee meeting,amidst the growing involve-

ment of Chinese ambassadorHou Yanqui to save him.

The ruling party is facingcrisis after Prime Minister Oliaccused Prachanda and otherdissident leaders of hatchingconspiracy to remove him frompower aligning with the south-ern neighbour.

The differences betweenthe two factions of the NCP -- one led by Oli and the otherled by 'Prachanda' on the issueof power-sharing – has recent-ly intensified after the primeminister unilaterally decided toprorogue the budget session ofParliament.

The Prachanda faction,backed by senior leaders andformer prime ministersMadhav Kumar Nepal andJhalanath Khanal, has beendemanding Oli's resignation,saying his recent anti-Indiaremarks were “neither politi-cally correct nor diplomatical-ly appropriate.”

Oli and Prachanda haveheld a series of meetings to ironout their differences.

On Wednesday, the twoleaders again met at the PrimeMinister's official residencehere for talks, the HimalayanTimes reported.

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The Trump administrationhas formally notified the

United Nations of its decisionto withdraw the US from theWorld Health Organization,breaking off ties with the glob-al health body amidst the rag-ing coronavirus pandemic.

President Donald Trumpsaid he was halting funding tothe organisation in mid-Apriland announced his intention towithdraw from the WHO inMay after he said it “failed tomake the requested and great-ly needed reforms.”

The US has also accusedthe WHO of siding with Chinaon the outbreak of the virus,which originated in theChinese city of Wuhan late lastyear, alleging the health bodymisled the world resulting indeaths of over half a millionpeople globally, including over

130,000 in America alone.“China has total control

over the World HealthOrganization,” PresidentTrump said in May. He has alsoalleged that the Chinese gov-ernment tried to cover-up ofthe coronavirus pandemic'sorigins. In April, the USstopped funding to WHO asthe Trump administrationreviewed the ties. A monthlater, President Donald Trumpannounced the US was termi-nating the relationship.

The US is the single largestcontributor to the WHO, pro-viding over USD 450 millionper annum. China's contribu-tion to the global health bodyis about USD 40 million, one-tenth of that of the US.

“I can say that on 6 July2020, the United States ofAmerica notified the secre-tary-general, in his capacity asdepositary of the 1946

Constitution of the WorldHealth Organization, of itswithdrawal from the WorldHealth Organization, effectiveon 6 July 2021,” said StephaneDujarric, spokesman for theUN secretary-general, in astatement.

Dujarric said the secre-tary-general is in the process ofverifying with the WHOwhether all the conditions forsuch withdrawal are met.

Senator Robert Menendez,the top Democrat on the SenateForeign Relations Committeetweeted that Congress hasreceived notification thatPresident Trump has officiallywithdrew the US from theWHO. The US has been a partyto the WHO Constitution sinceJune 21, 1948.

Its participation wasaccepted by the World HealthAssembly with certain condi-tions set out by the US for its

eventual withdrawal from thisworld body.

The said conditionsinclude giving a one-yearnotice, meaning the withdrawalwon't go into effect until July 6next year, raising the possibil-ity the Trump administration'sdecision could be reversed bya new government after thepresidential elections inNovember this year.

Joe Biden, who will chal-lenge Trump in the November3 presidential election, tweet-ed: “On my first day asPresident, I will rejoin theWHO and restore our leader-ship on the world stage.”

Democratic House SpeakerNancy Pelosi called the moveto withdraw from the WHO as“an act of true senselessness.”

The Trump administra-tion's decision was criticised byseveral Congressmen, who saidit “would be a bad policy.”

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China on Wednesdayslammed the US decision

to withdraw from the WHO asyet another example ofWashington upholding “uni-lateralism” and defended theUN body for coordinating theglobal response to Covid-19, asit geared up for a visit by thehealth agency's experts to probe the origin of the coron-avirus.

The Trump administra-tion has formally notified theUnited Nations of its decisionto withdraw the US from theWorld Health Organization(WHO), breaking off ties withthe global health body despitethe raging coronavirus pan-demic in the country.

US President Donald

Trump said he was haltingfunding to the organisation inmid-April and announced hisintention to withdraw from theWHO in May after he said it“failed to make the requestedand greatly needed reforms.”

Reacting to the move,Chinese Foreign Ministryspokesman Zhao Lijian said,“this is yet another example ofUS upholding unilateralism,withdrawing from treaties andgroupings.”

The US has accused theWHO of siding with China onthe outbreak of the virus, whichoriginated in the Chinese cityof Wuhan late last year, alleg-ing the health body misled theworld resulting in deaths ofover half a million people glob-ally, including over 130,000 inAmerica alone.

New York: President Donald Trump is wieldingAmerica's racial tensions as a reelection weapon,fiercely denouncing the racial justice movement ona near-daily basis with language stoking whiteresentment and aiming to drive his supporters tothe polls.

The incendiary discourse is alarming many inhis own party and running contrary to the adviceof some in his inner circle, who believe it risks alien-ating independent and suburban voters. It's a pat-tern that harks back to cultural divisions Trumpsimilarly exploited in his victorious 2016 campaign.

“It's not about who is the object of the derisionor the vitriol. The actual issue is understanding theappeal to white resentment and white fear,” saidEddie Glaude, chair of the Department of AfricanAmerican studies at Princeton University.

“It's all rooted in this panic about the place ofwhite people in this new America.” ThoughTrump has long aired racially divisive language andgrievances in the public sphere, his willingness todo so from behind the presidential seal — and onhis Twitter account — has reached a breakneck pacein recent days as the nation grapples with racialinjustice. AP

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At least 239 people have been killedand 3,500 arrested in more than a

week of unrest in Ethiopia that poses thebiggest challenge yet to its Nobel PeacePrize-winning prime minister.

In the Oromia region, the tollincludes 215 civilians along with ninepolice officers and five militia members,regional police commissioner MustafaKedir told the ruling party-affiliatedWalta TV on Wednesday.

Officials earlier said 10 people werekilled in the capital, Addis Ababa, eightof them civilians, amid outrage after apopular singer was shot dead lastMonday.Hachalu Hundessa had been arallying voice in anti-governmentprotests that led to Prime Minister AbiyAhmed taking power in 2018.

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APakistani court has dismissedthree identical petitions chal-

lenging the construction of thefirst Hindu temple in the coun-try's capital.

A single bench of theIslamabad High Court (IHC),comprising Justice Aamer Farooq,delivered the judgement late onTuesday, making it clear thatthere was no bar on the Instituteof Hindu Panchayat (IHP), whichwas allotted the land for the con-struction of the temple, to buildit using its own funds. The courthad on Monday reserved thejudgement on the matter.

As per plans, the Krishnatemple is supposed to come up ina 20,000 sq ft plot in the capital'sH-9 administrative division. The

groundbreaking ceremony forthe temple was performed recent-ly by Parliamentary Secretary onHuman Rights Lal Chand Malhi.

The Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), a ruling ally ofthe Imran Khan government,has opposed the construction ofthe temple, asking its coalitionpartner to scrap the project as itis “against the spirit of Islam”.

The petitioners had askedthe court to annul the construc-tion of the temple and allotmentof a piece of land by the CapitalDevelopment Authority (CDA)for it in Islamabad, pleading thatthere was no provision for thesame in the master plan of thenational capital.

The court rejected it sayingthat it was up to the CDA todecide the purpose of land.

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China on Wednesdayopened its first office

in Hong Kong to imple-ment the controversialnational security law, amove which is expected toimpact the hundreds offoreign firms which areconcerned over the vaguelanguage used in the legis-lation and its implications.

The office forSafeguarding NationalSecurity of the CentralPeople''s Government inthe Hong Kong SpecialAdministrative Region(HKSAR) was inauguratedon Wednesday, establish-

ing for the first time thepresence of China’s security establish-ment in the former Britishcolony after it came underthe control of Beijing in1997.

The new nationalsecurity office places main-land Chinese agents in theheart of the territory for thefirst time.

The office is one ele-ment of a sweeping newlaw which outlaws criti-cism of China''s govern-ment, the BBC reported.

Hong Kong was, untilthe law was passed, onlythe part of China and notsubject to such policies.

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)�*����� ���4�� ��� ���������������� ��� ������& 7���� �!���������!� ���Washington: President Donald Trump on Wednesday

threatened to withhold federal money if schools don'treopen in the fall, and he lashed out at federal healthofficials over school reopening guidelines that he saysare impractical and expensive.

Taking to Twitter to voice his frustration, Trumpargued that countries including Germany, Denmarkand Norway have reopened schools “with no prob-lems.” He also repeated his claim that Democrats wantto keep schools closed for political reasons, not becauseof any risks associated with the coronavirus.

“The Dems think it would be bad for them polit-ically if U.S. Schools open before the NovemberElection,” Trump said, “but is important for the chil-dren & families. May cut off funding if not open!” Hedid not immediately say what funding he would cutoff or under what authority he had to make the move.

Trump made the comments a day after launch-ing an all-out effort pressing state and local officialsto reopen the nation's schools and colleges this fall.

At a White House event on Tuesday, health andeducation officials argued that keeping students outof school for the fall semester would pose greater healthrisks than any tied to the coronavirus. AP

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Canberra: A New Zealand politicianhas resigned after admitting heleaked the names of coronaviruspatients to news media.

Conservative opposition law-maker Hamish Walker saidWednesday he was sorry for hisactions and was withdrawing his can-didacy for the September generalelection in a seat he was expected towin. Walker sent the details of 18patients to several news outlets oncondition he remain anonymous asthe source.

He said he was exposing a “sig-nificant privacy issue” for theGovernment because the patientnames weren't password secured.

But news organisations said he'dgiven them the information to refuteclaims he was racist, after he'd earli-er said that active cases were cominginto the country from India, Pakistanand South Korea. The news organi-sations did not publish the names. AP

Tokyo: Pounding rain thatalready caused deadly floods insouthern Japan was movingnortheast Wednesday, batter-ing large areas of Japan's mainisland, swelling more rivers,triggering mudslides anddestroying houses and roads.At least 58 people died in sev-eral days of flooding.

Parts of Nagano and Gifu,including areas known forscenic mountain trails and hot

springs, were flooded by mas-sive downpours.

Public broadcaster NHKshowed a swollen river goug-ing into its embankment anddestroying a highway. In thecity of Gero, the rising riverwas flowing just below abridge.

Flooding and mudslidesblocked parts of a main roadconnecting Kamikochi andMatsumoto, two major tourist

destinations in Nagano,stranding hundreds of resi-dents and visitors, though theywere believed to have safelyevacuated. In neighboringGifu, hundreds were isolated inthe hot spring towns of Geroand Ontake.

In the scenic mountainoustown of Takayama, severalhouses were hit by a mudslide,but their residents were safelyrescued. AP

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Page 9: , ˇ - RNI Regn. No. MPENG/2004/13703, Regd. No. L … · 2 days ago · the Centre announced forma-tion of a committee to probe ... the top 10 countries by pro-jected daily infection

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Kolkata: During the nation-wide lockdown, Metro Railwayhas suspended its services since23.03.3030. Massive mainte-nance and overhauling ofassets have been going on inNorth - South Metro forimproving passenger amenitiesas well as infrastructure. Thesemaintenance works will bevery helpful for Metro com-

muters once Metro servicesresume after the lockdown.

Recently, ElectricalDepartment has taken up thework of painting the third railof North- South Metro afreshin this period. This fresh coatof paint will prevent rust of thethird rail which provide powersupply to the Metro rakes. Itwill also beautify Metro tracks.

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Adecrease in the gapbetween petrol and diesel

prices is likely to accelerate theshift towards petrol or CNGpassenger vehicles in the com-ing years, an ICRA analysisshowed on Wednesday.

Accordingly, diesel PV'sshare is expected to decline to15-18 per cent in FY2022 from29 per cent in FY2020.

“Within this, the share ofdiesel vehicles in the car seg-ment will stabilize around 5-7per cent (from 11 per cent)whereas UV segment's sharewill gradually reduce to sub 40per cent (from 65 per cent)over the next 2-3 years,” thereport said.

“The entry-level segment(sub �5 lakh price segment) hasalmost entirely shifted to petrolor CNG, as it doesn't makefinancial sense for an averagecar buyer to opt for dieselvehicle.”

According to the report,one key challenge in this shiftis the all important taxi seg-ment which continues toaccount for a sizable share ofoverall diesel vehicle sales; andgovernment's initiative to pushclean vehicles (CNG or LPG orHybrid) is yet to completelymaterialise.

“Here, the ratings agencyexpects that the CNG vehiclesshare will benefit at the expenseof diesel share, as the CNGvariant already provides lowerrunning cost per km com-pared with diesel vehicles,” thereport said.As per the report,there has been an increase inupfront price differential of�50,000 to �70,000 post BS6implementation which alongwith narrowing fuel price gapis accelerating this shift.

“This apart, regulatoryoverhang like ban on olderdiesel vehicles and push forCNG in commercial taxi seg-ment will dampen the demand

for diesel vehicle in the medi-um to long term,” the reportsaid.

“The share of diesel vehi-cles has already reduced to 29per cent in FY2020 from 58 percent in FY2013, and it will fur-ther reduce to about 15- 18 percent level in the next threeyears.”

Besides, the report saidthe CNG vehicles will mainlybenefit from the shift due tolower upfront cost and bettercost economics than dieselvehicles.

“The share of CNG vehi-cles, currently below 5 percent in overall PV sales, isexpected to outperform otherfuel segments in the mediumterm,” the report said.

“In line with the emergingtrend, OEMs are re-aligningtheir business strategy; somehave exited from diesel pow-ertrain offerings and are insteadfocusing only on hybrids orCNG.”

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The Union Cabinet onWednesday decided to halt

the merger process of threeState-owned general insurancecompanies, National Insurance,Oriental Insurance and UnitedIndia Insurance, for themoment and approved fundinfusion of �12,450 crore toimprove their financial health.

The cabinet headed byPrime Minister Narendra

Modi also decided to increasethe authorised share capital ofNational Insurance CompanyLimited (NICL) to �7,500 croreand that of United IndiaInsurance Company Limited(UIICL) and OrientalInsurance Company Limited(OICL) to �5,000 crore each togive effect to the capital infu-sion decision.

“Further, the process of merg-er has been ceased so far in

view of the current scenarioand instead, the focus shall be

on their profitable growth,” anofficial statement said.

The �12,450 crore capitalinfusion approved by the

Cabinet includes �2,500 croreprovided to these companiesduring 2019-20, it said, adding�3,475 crore will be releasedimmediately, while the bal-ance �6,475 crore will beinfused later in one or moretranches.

The Government inBudget 2020-21 had made a

provision of �6,950 crore forcapital infusion in these threeinsurance companies in orderto maintain the requisite min-imum solvency ratio.

Briefing reporters aboutthe Cabinet meeting, Ministerof Information andBroadcasting PrakashJavadekar said that recapitali-sation will make the govern-ment-owned insurance com-panies more stable.

“To ensure optimum util-isation of the capital being pro-vided, the government hasissued guidelines in the formof KPIs (key performance

indicators) aimed at bringingbusiness efficiency and prof-itable growth,” the statementsaid.

The capital infusion, itadded, will enable the threepublic sector general insur-ance companies to improvetheir financial and solvencyposition, meet the insuranceneeds of the economy, absorbchanges and enhance thecapacity to raise resourcesand improve risk manage-ment.

In the Budget 2018-19speech, the then FinanceMinister Arun Jaitley hadannounced that the three com-panies would be merged into asingle insurance entity.

However, the process ofmerger could not be complet-ed due to various reasons,including poor financial healthof these companies.

In 2017, state-owned com-panies New India AssuranceCompany and GeneralInsurance Corporation of Indiawent public.

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Equity benchmarks suc-cumbed to a fag-end selloff

to close in the red onWednesday as investors pock-eted gains after a five-sessionrally amid weak global cues.

A depreciating rupee alsoweighed on market sentiment,traders said. After opening ona positive note, the 30-shareBSE Sensex buckled under sell-ing pressure in the last hour oftrade to close 345.51 points, or0.95 per cent, lower at36,329.01.

On similar lines, the broad-er NSE Nifty shed 93.90 points,or 0.87 per cent, to close at10,705.75.Bajaj Finance wasthe top laggard in the Sensexpack, tumbling 4.45 per cent,followed by Asian Paints, BajajFinserv, Maruti, HCL Techand Infosys. On the otherhand, IndusInd Bank, SBI,HUL, Tata Steel and ITC wereamong the gainers, spurting upto 5.06 per cent.According totraders, domestic market fol-lowed the volatility in global

equities as rising number ofCOVID-19 cases across theworld stoked concerns overeconomic recovery.

The number of casesaround the world linked to thedisease has crossed 1.17 croreand the death toll has topped5.43 lakh. In India, the numberof infections has spiked to 7.42lakh, with 20,642 fatalities.

“Markets were volatile asvirus infections continued tomount and uncertaintyincreased regarding the eco-nomic recovery. Volatility isexpected to continue andinvestors need to maintain astock specific view on the mar-ket,” said Vinod Nair, Head ofResearch at Geojit FinancialServices.

BSE realty, auto, IT, teck,power and consumer durablesindices fell up to 2.05 per cent,while metal, FMCG andhealthcare finished with gains.

Broader BSE mid-cap andsmall-cap indices fell up to 0.43per cent. Global equitieswavered as the relentless rise incoronavirus cases triggereddoubts about the economicrecovery.

Bourses in Tokyo andSeoul closed lower, whileShanghai and Hong Kongnotched up gains.

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The � skidded 9 paise toclose at 75.02 against the

US dollar on Wednesday amidrising crude oil prices and afirm greenback.

While foreign fundinflows supported the rupee,factors like a strong dollar,volatile domestic equities andrising COVID-19 casesdragged the local unit down,forex traders said.

The rupee opened on apositive note at 74.88 at theinterbank forex market andshuttled between 74.87 and75.05 during the session. Itfinally ended at 75.02 per USdollar, down 9 paise over itsprevious close. It had settledat 74.93 against the US dollaron Tuesday.The dollar index,which gauges the greenback'sstrength against a basket of sixcurrencies, rose 0.01 per centto 96.89.

On the domestic equitymarkets front, the 30-shareBSE Sensex closed 345.51points, or 0.95 per cent, lowerat 36,329.01. The broader

NSE Nifty shed 93.90 points,or 0.87 per cent, to finish at10,705.75.

Foreign institutionalinvestors were net buyers inthe capital markets as theypurchased shares worth �829.90 crore on Tuesday,according to provisionalexchange data.

Brent crude futures, theglobal oil benchmark, rose0.32 per cent to USD 43.22 perbarrel.Meanwhile, the numberof cases around the worldlinked to COVID-19 hascrossed 1.18 crore and thedeath toll has topped 5.44lakh. In India, the death tolldue to the disease rose to20,642 and the number ofinfections increased to

7,42,417 on Wednesday,according to the health min-istry. “The USD/INR spot hasbeen respecting the 75.05resistance as traders are hope-ful about additional govern-ment and central bank stim-ulus from major economies.

“However, until then inthe absence of major eco-nomic data, the coronavirusand geopolitical fears willkeep risk sentiments undercheck,” said Rahul Gupta,Head of Research- Currency,Emkay Global FinancialServices. Gupta further said“the US-China trade tiff isescalating with Trump con-sidering to ban TikTok app asa retribution against China forcoronavirus pandemic.”

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The Tata group is the onlybidder in the fray for

national carrier Air India withjust a month left for the finalbidding date.

The Tata group, whichalready has a footprint in theairlines business, has showninterest in acquiring Air India,which at one point of time wasunder the Tata umbrella.

The other bidders will beknown in due course as glob-ally airlines are under severestress due to the Covid-19pandemic and the resultantdisruptions on air travel andtourism.The Tata group is like-ly to go ahead with the bidwhile its joint venture airlinesventure, Singapore Airlines,has declined to join the AirIndia bid due to Covid-19woes.

The group is currentlydoing due diligence for the air-lines. The last date for bidding

is August 31 and the govern-ment is not in favour of extend-ing the deadline.Air India hasbeen passing through a criticalfinancial condition from muchbefore the Covid-19 onslaught.The crippling effect of thepandemic, especially in theaviation sector, has furtherplummeted its finances to aprecarious position.From TataAirlines and Air India toVistara and AirAsia India, theTata group has been an impor-tant part of the growing avia-tion sector in India.

From Tata Air Lines andthe long-since nationalised AirIndia to strategic joint ventureswith AirAsia Berhad andSingapore Airlines (SIA) forAirAsia India and Vistara,respectively, Tata has been pre-sent in the aviation sector.

The two joint venture air-lines operate independentlywith their respective businessmodels - low-cost AirAsiaIndia and full-service Vistara.

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The country's largest car-maker Maruti Suzuki India

(MSI) on Wednesday said it hastransported over 6.7 lakh carsthrough the Indian Railways inthe past six years, witnessing aCAGR of over 18 per cent. Thefirst dispatch of the company'svehicles by double-decker flexi-deck rakes took place in March2014.

The increased focus onusing railways has helped thecompany offset nearly 3,000MT of carbon dioxide emis-sions, MSI said in a statement.In addition, over 100 millionlitres of fossil fuel was saved, asthe company could avoid over1 lakh truck trips on thenational highways, it added.

During the last fiscal, over1.78 lakh cars were dispatchedthrough the rail mode, a 15 percent increase over previousyear, the auto major said. Thisaccounts for nearly 12 per centof total sales of the company inthe year.

Commenting on the

importance of utilizing railwaysfor transporting vehicles, MSIMD and CEO KenichiAyukawa said: “Consideringthe increasing volumes, ourteam felt the need for largescale logistics flow. We realised,that not only for expansion butalso for risk mitigation wehave to look beyond road modelogistics.

The automaker started theinitiative with single-deck wag-ons which have capacity tohandle 125 cars. It then shift-ed to double-decker rakeswhich have a capacity of 265cars and till date over 1.4 lakhcars have been dispatched

through these rakes. The com-pany now utilizes 27 rakes thatcan be operated at high speedof around 95 km/hr with eachrake having a capacity toaccommodate 318 cars.MSIsaid it is the first auto manu-facturer in the country toobtain Automobile FreightTrain Operator (AFTO)license. This allows privatefirms to fabricate and operatehigh speed, high capacity auto-wagon rakes on the IndianRailway's network, it added.Currently, the company utilizesfive loading terminals --Gurugram, Farukhnagar,Kathuwas, Patli, and Detroj and13 destination terminals --Bengaluru, Nagpur, Mumbai,Guwahati, Mundra Port,Indore, Kolkata, Chennai,Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, NCR,Siliguri and Agartala, MSI said.

With the addition ofAgartala, the reach of rail modehas now been extended to farNortheast, it added. “It hashelped to reduce the trans-portation time to these states bynearly half,” MSI noted.

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In line with the asset moneti-sation plans for state-owned

telecom firms BSNL andMTNL, four consultantsincluding CBRE, JLL andKnight Frank have been ropedin to gauge the market appetiteand assess the process thatcould be adopted, a top com-pany official said. A prelimi-nary report on the land mon-etisation process is likely to besubmitted by the month-end,BSNL Chairman andManaging Director P K Purwaradded.As many as 11 assetshave been shortlisted for mon-etisation in case of BharatSanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL)and about five for MahanagarTelephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL).

Purwar - who earlier thisyear was also handed the addi-tional charge of MTNL -- con-firmed that CBRE, JLL andKnight Frank are among theconsultancy firms appointed by

the Department of Investmentand Public Asset Management(DIPAM) for the process.

“For BSNL, 11 assets havebeen shortlisted for monetisa-tion. The consultants will assessmonetisation process thatshould be followed, they willhandhold both the organisa-tions and DIPAM on what is abetter way, how optimum valuecan be derived... they will dodue-diligence on behalf of thedepartment,” Purwar told .

It may well take 8-10months for the entire processto conclude, Purwar said, butadded the preliminary report isexpected by the month-end.

“They will look into allpossible aspects...based onmarket appetite amid difficul-

ty, as well as constraints in landparcels individually, if any.They are in the process of vis-iting the sites...In this month,we expect preliminary report tobe submitted,” he said. Asked ifthe coronavirus pandemic willpose challenges to the moneti-sation process, Purwar said,“There will be some issues,appetite in the market needs tobe assessed, but at this stage wehave not reached that point.”

“We first have to assess theissues in property and otherlogistics, resolve them, thenassess market constraints andother aspects,” he said.

In October last year, thegovernment approved a Rs69,000 crore revival package forBSNL and MTNL that includ-ed merging the two loss-mak-ing firms, monetising theirassets and VoluntaryRetirement Scheme foremployees so that the com-bined entity turns profitable intwo years.

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The CompetitionCommission on

Wednesday dismissed a com-plaint against the NationalHighways Authority of India(NHAI) alleging unfair busi-ness practices, acknowledgingthe prerogative of the procur-er or buyer to decide tenderconditions as per its require-ments.

The matter pertains to pre-scription of specific eligibilitycriteria in tender documentsfor engagement of consultantsby NHAI.

The ruling came on a com-plaint filed by an individualwho alleged that the sub-crite-ria for relevant experiencebeing prescribed by NHAI inits request for proposal (RFP)for engaging consultants is dif-ferent from the criteria fol-lowed by the Ministry of RoadTransport and Highways(MoRTH)/National Highwaysand InfrastructureDevelopment Corporation Ltd.

The informant averred thatNHAI is following “monopo-listic and restrictive trade prac-tice” resulting in abuse ofdominant position in the mar-ket and requested theCommission to initiate aninquiry.

NHAI, in its submissions,said that the matter pertains toRFP for engagement of author-ity engineer and it follows thestandard RFP document issuedby MoRTH for the same.

Further, it said thatdepending upon the nature ofworks under consideration,project specific changes may beincorporated in RFP, which isalso in accordance withMoRTH standard for RFP.

NHAI submitted that thereis no deviation in experiencerequirement between the RFPadopted by NHAI and thestandard RFP document issuedby MoRTH.

The CompetitionCommission of India (CCI)said the prescription of eligi-bility criteria in the matterdoes not appear to beunfair/discriminatory, and anyservice provider with pre-scribed certification is eligibleto participate in the tender.

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Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd , aCoal India arm, has

ordered eight days wage deduc-tion for workers who went ona three-day strike last week toprotest against the govern-ment's decision to open thecoal sector for private players.The company in a noticetermed the three-day strike byworkers from July 2-4 as “ille-gal”.“It is noted that theemployees...have participatedin this illegal strike, which isviolation of rule 26.10 of thecertified standing orders ofthe MCL. In view of this mis-conduct on their part, eightdays wage deduction as per sec-tion 20 of the Code on WagesAct, 2019, is hereby ordered forthis act of participation in theillegal strike,” MCL said in anotice.

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Many would recall Omi from Kai Po Che(2013) as the one who got involved in reli-gious politics in his town and later mis-

takenly killed his own friend in the riots. However,his emotional breaking down in front of his latefriend’s sister in the end was the audience’s ultimatetakeaway from actor Amit Sadh’s highly relatablecharacter — a fierce youngster whose anger wasfuelled by instances of personal loss.

Well, the actor, who had once shared how hewent out of work for some time after the role, hasnow come a long way in reaching what he hadthought of as an actor. From Guddu of GudduRangeela (2015), Shivaji Nagre of Sarkar 3 (2017),Raghubir Pratap Singh of Gold (2018) to Amit Barotof Barot House (2019), he has some criticallyacclaimed roles in his portfolio today. And now, theactor is back with the “most intense of all,” KabirSawant of Breathe (2018) with its season 2,Breathe: Into The Shadows. The psychologicalthriller is a gripping tale of a parent’s quest to savehis family.

Even though Amit’s “Yeh mera case hai, mainhi solve karunga,” from the teaser might explainhow he owns the plot here, how different is thisKabir from season 1? The actor is quick toexplain, “Trailers are only 10 to 15 per cent of whatyou are actually going to experience in the series.Kabir Sawant was present in the first partand he is here again. It’s a new world anda new dimension altogether. Wehave worked harder on Kabir inthis season. We have reallyupped the game, put a lot ofeffort in writing and triedcreating something thrillingfor the audience.”

Creating Kabir, a copwho investigates the seriesof murders happening inthe city, surely took a lot ofbackground research. ForAmit, it’s been four yearssince he is working on thecharacter and it’s all becauseof “the way it has beenwritten” (by directorMayank Sharma). He adds,“I would also say that Iunderstand this world a lotraw. I know a lot of peoplethere and have been fasci-nated by them. I havehence tried to take inspi-ration from reality andkeep it as authentic andequally dramatic as Ican. When you make aseries or a film, you wantit to be real. And at thesame time, you also wantit to be aspirational.”

Looking at the recentexamples in Bollywood,there has been a surge ofgrey roles. Actors havestopped putting theircharacter into a box. IsKabir also headed thesame way? Amit pointsout that Kabir isn’t a greycharacter, rather he is a“protector.” He adds that heis just an intense characterwho is focussed on his tar-gets.

“And yes, the fact thatroles have taken a newshape in Indian cinema isright. I think now we havepassed that stage of deter-mining the good and thebad or the right and the

wrong. We are exploring humanhood in complex-ity, in being damaged and in survival. What makesBreathe special is that all its characters have thatdimension. Sometimes they are good, at times bad,and other times, they are failing, too. The audienceconnects with such lives. As actors and as an indus-try, we have become more courageous and we’remore inclined to explore and experiment now,” sayshe.

There have been a plenty murder mysterieswritten and filmed in the past. The genre, specif-ically, demands something different each time. Ina thriller, there can’t be any repetition or a story-line that could be easily predicted. It has to be fresh.Amit agrees. One of the most important thingswhen you chase a psychological thriller is “who-dunit.” He adds, “Kisne kiya, kaise kiya, kyun kiya?When the audience starts raising such questionsin their mind, the film or series works. Season 1worked because it kept their intrigue alive. In sea-son 2, we have tried upping it even more. I hope

this becomes one of the best psychologicalthrillers in India.”

The season 2 revolves around afather (played by Abhishek

Bachchan) whose daughterhas been kidnapped andfor three months, he’s leftwith no clue of her where-abouts. Just as he beginsto lose hope, he receivesa package that con-nects him the kidnap-per, who demandshim to do whatcould turn out to bea heinous crime —murder — inexchange of hisdaughter. As onemoves towardsthe trailer’send, the moth-er (played byN i t h y aMenen) tellsher hus-band that(no matterh o wdark), heis a per-son whohas donethe best hecould tosave his

family.W e l l ,

talking aboutthis practically, is it viable in real

life — a parent going to any extent toprotect his family, even murdering?Amit says, “It’s a very tricky question!I will definitely say that for Indian par-

ents, this stands true. They will go to agreat extent to protect their family. If itcomes on me, even I will protect my kidswith my life.”

When we counter question, “Really?Murdering too?” He laughs and adds,“My answer was only till Indian par-ents! You’ve added the murdering bit.Well, it’s a series, so there has to be acertain documentation, wavelengthand drama. That dialogue is just onething it sticks to. That is how a show

or a film is dramatised. It does keep that curiosi-ty intact and gives a thrill up your spine. There’sa hook in it for the audience to work.”

Looking at his recent past, in Hrithik Roshan-starrer Super 30, the actor played a cameo.However, the role turned out to be equally impor-tant for the film’s narrative. Well, such minor roleshave surely become a thing now — appearing onthe screen for a short span but bringing someimpactful and major twists to the plot. Amit is quickto say, “I like how honestly this has been put up tome. Especially, the intention behind it, it’s so beau-tiful! However, I would like to make a correctionhere that we cannot call it a “minor” role. It wasthe one which impacted the film. When the direc-tor called me for the role, he also explained it tome by using the term. ‘Ek minor role hai, karoge?’But I told him that it’s not minor. I will do it becauseit’s a special film and I will be very glad to be a“part” of it. I knew that it would do well as it hasa great message. I felt that it would be good on mypart if I could give a bit of myself to it and workwith them. It became special.”

For Amit, the span of an actor’s screen pres-ence does not matter. The character is whatmakes the difference. There could be times whenan actor is on the screen all the time and even then,not leave a mark on the audience. “Times havechanged today. The critics and the media have start-ed focussing on minute details. They have startedlooking at characters very closely. They don’t seethe screen time anymore because an actor couldbe present on the screen for three hours or thirtyminutes too. For India, what matters more is anactor’s performance and not for how long he hasbeen present. This is also a personal understand-ing. As an actor, I don’t look into minor or major.I look at the craft, the story and the reward I laterget when I am appreciated for that presence,” sayshe.

“People made me doubt myself,” the actor hadonce said. Well, after garnering some decentreviews for his works, Amit has certainly come veryfar now. He says, “Yes, I said it at that time becausewhen you get rejections, you tend to feel let down.But that’s just a part and parcel of life. You can’t com-plain. Especially, for an actor, you have to simplyaccept. But now that I am working hard on vari-ous things, I am really happy. I am able to connectwith the audience. People are understanding me andmy work. It feels great. And I will till date say this.Have I arrived? No. Will I ever arrive? No. In fact,recently when I was talking to a friend, he said, ‘Sirab aapka hogaya (you’re done now). I asked whathappened? He said aap aagaye ab (you’ve arrived).And I felt, no. Don’t say like that. I haven’t done any-thing yet. He then asked when will I arrive? I saidin five years and realised this is the reality. Five yearsback, I felt I’d do it in the next five years. When Iwas 25, I thought I’ll be able to make it in anotherfive years or till the time I turn 30. However, whenI reached 30, I still felt there’s more to it. I need sometime more. Abhi toh aage bohot kuch bacha hai. SoI now feel I’ll never be able to reach that stage. Butit has an advantage — I’ll never stop! Well, this isthe process. I just want to get better. I want to cre-ate a good environment when I work. That’s mydream. And I really mean it!”

Amit believes that Kabir Sawant is one role thatchose him rather than he being the selector. He saysin a perplexed tone, “I think we will have to askKabir Sawant why he chose me (laughs). The pro-ducer had called me back then and told me aboutthe role saying, ‘Tum yeh karlo bas!’ And touchwood,I did it. I am so grateful.”

(The series releases on Amazon Prime Video onJuly 10.)

As we continue to hustle through dif-ficult times, we have all been glued

to our screens, consuming viral contentcirculated on various platforms, whichin several cases, have also been mislead-ing and untrue. The rise has beenunprecedented. Especially, when talkingabout COVID-19, there has been a lotof fake content making rounds online.

To counter this growing threat ofmisinformation across the internet,Mallika Dua is set to explore a new roleas a news anchor, Mythika Dutt, host-ing the show, a United Nations-verifiedcampaign, Fake or Not? Launched onthe Flipkart app, actor, comedian andwriter Mallika brings forth her humourand satirical comedy as she explores thisnew avatar. She is committed to debunkfake news and fight ignorance throughher news segment.

In an attempt to curb the spread ofmisinformation and help people iden-tify real from fake, Flipkart Video islaunching the show, aimed at educatingusers by debunking fake content, whileencouraging them to be mindful of thenews and information they come across.Many questions that are part of theshow will address common misconcep-tions surrounding the COVID-19 pan-demic.

Mythika Dutt, a sincere newsanchor and host of Fake or Not?, tack-les fake news and fights ignorance.Along with quashing inaccurate news,the new quiz show is also busting com-mon myths that people have come tobelieve as facts, with a fun twist.

Did you know that the humble

peanut is not a nut? Or that the fullform of ‘SOS’ is not Save Our Souls!Fake or Not? combines many such sur-prising answers.

“People today are so easily misin-formed with all the viral content flood-ing social media. It has been great tak-ing on a new role, playing MythikaDutt, to address this. True to the char-acter, I am determined to fight miscon-ceptions as I keep viewers informedthrough the light-hearted and engaging

format of the show. This is such a greatinitiative to educate people and the twistof comedy makes the show entertain-ing, while still driving awareness toquestion the source and credibility ofinformation. The show is definitely theneed of the hour and I can’t wait to seehow this journey unfolds.” said Mallika.

Fake or Not? reinforces a commit-ment to bring the most relevant andinnovative content to users in India andis now live on Flipkart Video.

Actor Anushka Sharma and her broth-er Karnesh Sharma are riding high on

two back to back successes with Pataal Lokand Bulbbul. With strong content, theseshows have captured the imagination ofthe audience, resulting in the brother-sis-ter producer duo garnering heaps of praisefor their clutter-breaking attempt atchanging the content landscape of India.

“Karnesh and I are relishing howClean Slate Filmz has shaped up over theyears. We have given our everything tonurture the company and we have takengutsy baby steps into changing the con-tent landscape. There is a ton of work tobe done to achieve what we set out to doand I’m happy that we are contributingtowards giving the audience somethingnew to watch and also telling the worldwhat good Indian content truly stands for,”says Anushka.

She adds, “Looking back, when I was25 and started my production venture, Iwas sure that Clean Slate Filmz will havea distinct identity. I was sure that we wouldshape it through the content we produceto entertain the audience worldwide. Wethought of being careful in breaking awayfrom producing common subjects. I’mglad we stuck to our gut and never com-promised on this mission because we haveso many reasons to celebrate today.”

“I’m proud of our body of work

because all of them have stood out fororiginality. I’m proud seeing the numberof talented people we have managed toempower through our production house,”says the actor.

Karnesh says they have been chasingthe dream to create the best content.

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Page 11: , ˇ - RNI Regn. No. MPENG/2004/13703, Regd. No. L … · 2 days ago · the Centre announced forma-tion of a committee to probe ... the top 10 countries by pro-jected daily infection

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Offering the much-needed remobilisationfor Delhiites, artisans

and craftsmen, Delhi Tourismhas opened the gates to allthree of its Dilli Haats (INA,Janakpuri and Pitampura),Nature Bazaar, the Garden ofFive Senses, Azad Hind Gramand GTB Memorial from July4 in compliance with all thesafety measures set by theGovernment of India andGovernment of NCT of Delhi.Entry to all the mentionedproperties will be free for thefirst 15 days in order toencourage footfall.

The following measuresare being taken up at theDelhi Tourism Properties toensure the safety of visitorsand staff alike:�Mandator y wearing ofmasks by all�Social distancing among thevisitors�Mandatory thermal screen-ing for all�Daily disinfection of thepremises�Hand sanitisation provision

Sanjay Goel, MD andCEO of DTTDC, stated, “Wehave always been proud to bea conducive space for Indianheritage and creativity. Ourproperties have evolved as anintegral part of the city, fromoffering the ecological andartistic richness of Garden ofFive Senses to offering the vis-itors a chance to take homepleasant experiences andhandmade goods at the Haatsthat belong to, perhaps, thelargest living art and craft tra-dition in the world. Whilepeople can again relish thesespaces, we urge all visitors tostrictly adhere to the safetymeasures and protocols theset by the government.”

Offering a kaleidoscope ofcraftspeople and a glimpse ofthe varying traditions in the

cultural life of India throughregional cuisines and cultur-al events, Dilli Haats over theyears have established them-selves as one of the mostloved urban leisure spacesamong foreign and domestictourists. Combined withNature Bazaar, they are a tes-timony to the fact that manytraditional craft skills havesurvived and have evolvednew parameters of aestheticand commercial value.

The Garden of Five Sensesis not just a park, it is a spacewith a variety of activities,inviting public interaction

and exploration. Soaringstainless-steel birds mountedon slate-clad pillars welcomeyou into the park. An expan-sive plaza, set on the naturalslope of the site, invites you upthe spiral walkway. Across, atroop of elephants, cut instone, regaling in a waterbath, tempts exploration. Theproject was conceptualizedto answer to the city’s need forleisure space for the public, forpeople to socialise andunwind. Such spaces addatmosphere and life to a cityand cater to all sections of thesociety.

In view of providing addi-tional healthcare facility

to the people of Delhi NCR,on demand of the StateGovernment, NorthernRailway is providing 503isolation coaches as CovidCare Centers. RajivChaudhry, GeneralManager Northern andNorth Central Railways,informed that these isola-tion coaches have the facil-ity of 8,048 beds and areplaced at nine different sta-tions of Delhi area —Anand Vihar Terminal, Shakurbasti, DelhiSarai Rohilla, Safdarjung, Delhi Shahdara,Adarsh Nagar, Delhi Cantt, Badli andTughlakabad. All these stations have goodinfrastructure for maintaining these coach-es. A total number of 49 patients have admit-ted at Shakurbasti Covid Care Center so farout of which 21 have been discharged, shift-ed or transferred till date and 28 are still undertreatment.

Features of the isolation coaches: In aunique bid to create additional quarantinefacilities to bolster the country’s limited

healthcare infrastructure,Indian Railways decided toconvert its ICF non-AC sleep-er coaches into quarantinewards. This is deemed as agood and cost-effective inter-im measure to provide med-ical care and isolation facili-ty in view of the risingCOVID-19 cases.

Like other zonalRailways, Northern Railway isdiligently working to modifysome of its train coaches intopatient isolation wards. TheRailway workshops have con-

verted 540 coaches into quarantine facilitiestill now. A single coach will be able to accom-modate as many as 16 patients at a time.

In the modified coaches, an Indian styletoilet on one side of the coach has been con-verted into a bathroom, while space for para-medics has been created on the other side.Each compartment has been installed withadditional electric ports for plugging medicalequipment. Oxygen cylinders have also beenprovided, windows have been covered withmosquito nets and additional fans have alsobeen fitted.

Books are a true stress buster. It’stime we embrace reading as we

struggle with the COVID-19 pandem-ic. National Book Trust of India, anautonomous body under the Ministryof Human Resource Development, isembracing this simple act by donat-ing books in Sardar Patel QuarantineCentre in Delhi.

NBT has taken this one-of-a-kindinitiative in collaboration with theDelhi Government so that patients

can spend time in isolation with infor-mative and entertaining books. Thisis in regard with making their stay inconfinement easier and productive.NBT donated more than a thousandbooks and 100 copies of their maga-zines/journals; Pustak Sanskriti andReaders Club Bulletin. They have

been taking various initiatives tohelp the society in coping up withmental stress, staying positive andkeeping healthy.

Yuvraj Malik, director of NationalBook Trust, said, “Good books pro-vide a positive mindset to people bat-tling with Corona, which helps them

in overcoming from the mental frus-tration during their quarantine peri-od.”

Patients often tend to spend mostof their time on the phone in confine-ment. Library in COVID care centrewill give them an option to read booksinstead.

It is noteworthy that NBT has con-ducted the same kind of experimentin the quarantine Centre of Ghaziabad.Positive feedback has encouraged tak-ing it further. Reading can provide uswith an escape from the stress of dead-ly pandemic. Simply by opening abook, one allows themselves into a lit-erary world that distracts from dailystressors. They are continuously try-ing to motivate every section of soci-ety to read good books.

Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS)has provided second phase dried food

items and study materials to its 30,000 students.Earlier, the students were sent back to theirhomes in their respective villages due to thepandemic. Last month, they were provided flat-tened rice, sugar, dal, biscuit, soap, textbooksand allied study materials at their doorsteps.

Dr Achyuta Samanta, founder of KIIT and

KISS, who has always put education of thesetribal students above everything else, arrangedall of it. “The students will be provided thisevery month until they come back to KISS,”said Dr Samanta.

In fact, KISS Management has been con-tinuing its best possible measures to provideteaching to all the students by means of tech-nology.

You are the kingThe crown is yours You’ll light up the dark Your hard work will spark

People will say, let’em sayHeating up in the cold light of the day Ignoring the blood with pain Living in the fire with flames

Chasing dreams but never sleptAnother sprint, another stepLearning is your Euphoria Fighting like a warrior Clearing all the barriers

Open your eyes, it’s a dark nightGo, you can make it brightOvercome the obstaclesAnd you’ll see the miracles

Let the bullets rain That struggle is in your vein You have to lift the weight Be that star of the fame.(A poem by Abhiksha Singh, AFS Hindan.)

0�������������������� ����!� ����

SRM Medical College Hospitaland Research Centre (SRM

MCHRC), Kattankulathur, hasbeen selected by Indian Councilfor Medical Research (ICMR) asa clinical trial site of the coun-try’s first indigenous COVID-19vaccine (BBV152 COVIDVaccine).

Its among the 12 institutionsin India to have been chosen byICMR. ICMR has partneredwith Bharat BiotechInternational limited,Hyderabad.

The hospital is also the onlymedical institution to be select-ed from Tamil Nadu for this pur-pose. Dr Satyajith Mohapatra,Associate Professor from theDepartment of Pharmacology,SRM Medical College Hospitaland Research Centre, has beenchosen as the PrincipalInvestigator for this clinicaltrails.

This is one of the top pri-ority projects which is being

monitored at the topmost levelof the government. The IndianGovernment has envisagedlaunching the vaccine for pub-lic health use latest by August 15after completion of all clinicaltrials. This comes at a timewhen the entire world is reelingunder the COVID-19 pandem-ic and there is a dire urgency tolaunch the vaccine.

Praising Dr SatyajithMohapatra’s role in this,

President of SRM hospital, Dr PSathyanarayanan said, “This is agreat news for us. I appreciate DrSatyajit Mohapatra and his teamin making our institution a partof this prestigious project. Wewill provide him with all thenecessary support to performthis exercise towards savingmankind. My best wishes to himand the entire team for the suc-cessful completion of this pro-ject.”

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THE OUTDOORS ARE BACK 5�����!� �������������� ��������'�����!� ��'� ������� ���%���!� ���������� ;�''��<����� ����������� ��(��� ����)�%���� ���

More than five lakh ben-eficiaries of the capital

have availed the facility of theSupplementary NutritionFood (SNF) of Governmentof NCT of Delhi. TheDepartment of Women andChild Development (WCD)has implemented a StandardOperating Procedure (SOP)to ensure the delivery ofsupplementary nutrition tothe beneficiaries at theirdoorsteps through 10,755Anganwadi Centres (AWC’s)of all eleven districts ofDelhi. This was informed byDelhi Women and ChildDevelopment MinisterRajendra Pal Gautam after areview meeting of thedepartment held at his campoffice.

Delhi Women and ChildDevelopment Minister

informed that after theimplementation of depart-mental SOP, the distributionwill be done on fixed week-days in every fortnight of themonth and the existing sys-tem of giving THR (TakeHome Ration) entitlement of13 days for every fortnightwill continue as such.

Gautam said, “It hasbeen decided that all theIntegrated ChildDevelopment Services(ICDS) projects in Delhiare clubbed into two clus-ters, 48 projects in one and47 projects in another,known as Cluster ‘A’ andCluster ‘B’. The Cluster ‘A’includes the district officesof South, South East, West,Central, North West-I,North West-II, North,North East, East and

Cluster ‘B’ includes SouthEast, South West, West,Central, North West-I,North, North-East, Eastrespectively.”

Delhi Women andChild DevelopmentMinister said that all ChildDevelopment ProjectOfficers (CDPO’s) areinstructed to ensure thatSNF in the proper packageare received at AWCs inadvance as per the fixedschedule of departmentalSOP and no SNF would beaccepted thereafter. All dis-trict officers and CDPO’sshall submit the requiredcertificate regarding check-ing of stock of a requisitenumber of AWC’s one dayprior to distribution. Anylaxity in this matter will beviewed seriously.

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SRM hospital chosen for trials of COVID-19 vaccine

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India’s squash star Joshna Chinappahas broken back into the top-10 of

the PSA world rankings following theshock retirement of Egyptian worldnumber one Raneem El Welily.

Joshna, who has not played sinceMarch due to the Covid-19 pandem-ic, moved up a spot to be in 10th posi-tion. The 33-year-old had entered thetop-10 for the first time in 2016. DipikaPallikal is the other Indian female play-er who has achieved the feat.

Egypt’s Nouran Gohar is the newworld number one following Raneem’sretirement.

Raneem had held the top spot for19 months before announcing a sud-den retirement last month. India’s topmale player Saurav Ghosal remains13th in the latest rankings.

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Juventus wasted the chance tomove 10 points clear at the top

of Serie A as the defendingchampions blew a two-goallead to lose 4-2 at a ZlatanIbrahimovic-inspired AC Milanon Tuesday, after second-placedLazio’s shock 1-2 defeat at Lecce.

Maurizio Sarri’s men ledthrough goals from AdrienRabiot and Cristiano Ronaldoearly in the second half, butwere then blown away by a bril-liant Milan display asIbrahimovic scored and had anassist.

Milan coach Stefano Pioli,who could reportedly be sackedat the end of the season, saw hisside boost their hopes ofEuropean qualification by mov-ing above Roma and Napoli intofifth.

“I am not remotely thinkingabout August 3 or the future. Iam thinking of the next game,”Pioli told DAZN. “There havebeen some tough moments,but I love what I do.”

Juve remain on track for a

ninth straight title, sitting sevenpoints clear of Lazio with sevenmatches remaining, but couldhave rendered the race all butover with a victory.

The loss snapped the Turingiants’ seven-game winning runin the league.

The reigning champions

burst into life after the interval,when French internationalAdrien Rabiot drove forwardand fired a fine left-footed shotfrom the edge of the area intothe top corner to score his firstSerie A goal.

Ronaldo doubled theadvantage less than eight min-

utes into the second half, nettingfor the fifth consecutive gameand for the 26th time in Serie Athis term with a cool finish.

But Milan were handed alifeline out of nowhere on thehour mark as Bonucci waspenalised for handball, andIbrahimovic stepped up to score

his sixth goal since returning tothe San Siro from LA Galaxy inJanuary.

The 38-year-old made itback-to-back games with a goaland an assist in the 66th minute,teeing up Franck Kessie to scorewith a deflected strike.

Incredibly, Milan complet-ed the turnaround with theirthird goal in five minutes asRafael Leao beat Szczesny at hisnear post.

Ante Rebic had an excellentchance to make it 4-2 with 12minutes remaining, but Szczesnydid well to save with his boot,

The Croatian internationalwrapped up the points twominutes later though with his10th league goal of the season.

LAZIO STUMBLE AGAINEarlier, Lazio, who lost 3-0

to Milan at the weekend,slumped to a second straightloss, beaten 2-1 at relegation-threatened Lecce.

Defender Patric added toLazio’s problems in injury timeas he was dismissed for bitingLecce’s Giulio Donati and ishanded four-match ban.

“Our dream must continue,which is to qualify mathemati-cally for the ChampionsLeague,” Lazio coach SimoneInzaghi told Sky Sport Italia.“We hope to achieve it as soonas possible, but that is our onlyobjective.”

Lecce ended a six-matchlosing streak in dramatic fash-ion to climb out of the relega-tion zone.

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Atletico Madridwill have to

wait to clinch aplace in next sea-son’s ChampionsLeague after being heldto a 1-1 draw at CeltaVigo on Tuesday.

Alvaro Moratascored in the openingminute beforeFrancisco Beltranequalised for the hoststhe other side of thebreak.

The result leavesAtleti four points awayfrom qualifying for the top

tier of European footballwith three games remain-ing and Celta are sevenpoints clear of the relega-tion zone.

“It’s a difficultground to visit,Celta play goodfootball, wherethey are in thetable isn’t justi-fied by their football,”Morata told Movistar.“We’re ready now to

finish our objective ofthird place. What we haveto do is achieve our objec-tive as quick as we can.”

Victory could haveseen Atletico seal a top-

four spot this week if otherresults had gone their way.

Earlier, South Koreanteenager Lee Kang-inscored with two minutes to

play to moveValencia to within apoint of the EuropaLeague places in a 2-1 win over RealValladolid.

Lee, 19, clinched hisside’s first victory sinceAlbert Celades was sackedearlier this month and senthis outfit up to eighth, justbehind Real Sociedad inthe spot for the qualifyingrounds for next season’scontinental competition.

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Chelsea moved up to third inthe Premier League table

after holding out to win a 3-2thriller at Crystal Palace, whileLeicester could only manage adraw at 10-man Arsenal onTuesday.

Frank Lampard’s men edgedcloser to sealing a place in nextseason’s Champions League as aseventh win in eight gamestakes them one point aheadof Leicester and opened upa five-point lead on fifth-placed Manchester United.

The Blues were fortu-nate when opening thescoring at Selhurst Park as for-mer Chelsea captain Gary Cahillfell to the ground clutching hishamstring to allow Willian to teeup Olivier Giroud for his fourthgoal in six games.

Christian Pulisic’s formsince the Premier League’srestart has led to comparisonswith Eden Hazard, the man hereplaced at Stamford Bridge, andthe Belgian would have beenproud of Chelsea’s second as the21-year-old American skippedpast Joel Ward and hammeredin off the inside of the near post.

As so often this season,Lampard’s men failed to capi-talise on their dominance andwere suddenly on the back footwhen Wilfried Zaha thundereda shot high past KepaArrizabalaga from long range forPalace’s first goal in four games.

Chelsea looked to havesealed the three points again

when substitutes Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Tammy Abrahamcombined for the latter to restorea two-goal cushion 19 minutesfrom time.

Just over a minute later,though, Palace were back in thegame when a brilliant move cul-minated in Patrick van Aanholtsquaring for Christian Benteketo tap in just his second goal ofthe season.

VARDY MATCHES AUBALeicester have now

won just one of their sixgames since the restart tosee their lead over thechasing pack for a place

in the top four whittled away,but were grateful for a 1-1draw at the Emirates after aslow start against in-formArsenal.

P i e r r e - E m e r i c kAubameyang swept home theopener for the Gunners asKasper Schmeichel keptLeicester in the game with astunning save to denyAlexandre Lacazette.

Lacazette also saw a goaldisallowed for offside afterthe break before the gameturned when Eddie Nketiahwas shown a straight red cardafter a VAR review for a highchallenge on James Justin.

Leicester made the manadvantage count as Vardypounced to slot homeDemarai Gray’s cross andregain his two-goal advan-tage over Aubameyang in therace for the Golden Boot.

����� 56��$6-7�

Hosting the IPL in Indiaremains BCCI presidentSourav Ganguly’s “first

priority” and he is hoping thatthe cricket world will not haveto endure a 2020 sans the glitzyevent, despite his concernsaround the rising Covid-19cases.

The T20 league, which wasscheduled to start on March 29,stands suspended due to theCovid-19 pandemic.

While the former India cap-tain said it is important for crick-et to return to normalcy, anydecision on the IPL can betaken only after the ICC decideson the fate of the T20 WorldCup, scheduled to be played inAustralia in October-November.

“We don’t want the year2020 to finish without an IPL.Our first priority is India andeven if we get 35 to 40 days, wewill host it. But we don’t knowwhere...” Ganguly said on IndiaToday show Inspiration.

New Zealand, Sri Lankaand the UAE have offered tohost the event in case there arelogistical issues in India with therapid rise in coronavirus cases.

Organising the league over-seas is an option but that wouldresult in increased costs.

“I will put it in this order.Firstly, whether we can (have anIPL) within the time frame asIPL has limited window.

“Secondly India. If it’s notpossible then we are thinking ofgoing out (abroad). But goingout where...Because if you go out

it becomes expensive for every-one — franchises and board.

“Because of conversion rate

and currency exchange rate itbecomes expensive. So we aremonitoring but as I said we are

very keen to host it and got ourfingers crossed.”

The delay in taking a final

call on the fate of the T20World Cup is also keeping theBCCI bosses and other IPLstakeholders waiting.

“We don’t know yet as wedon’t have a decision from ICCregarding the T20 World Cup.We keep hearing different thingsfrom the media but unless it isofficially told to Board members,you don’t know what’s happen-ing,” he said.

Ganguly is aware of thegrim situation in Indian citieswith IPL franchises.

“If it doesn’t happen inIndia because of Covid-19 thenplaces like Mumbai, Delhi,Kolkata and Chennai, thesehave big teams in IPL but at thispoint, you can’t put hand to yourheart and say cricket will happenin these places.

“Ahmedabad we were keento go there. It’s an amazing sta-dium. I don’t know whether wecan go there or not. It’s not easyat the moment to say we aregoing to host it in India.”

Only once in the 12-yearhistory of the IPL has the entiretournament been shifted out ofIndia.

����� �"3�7�2)�"5

England and West Indiesplayers took a knee in sup-

port of the Black Lives Mattermovement before the start ofplay in the first Test atSouthampton as internationalcricket returned after a four-month absence.

Moments before the firstball was bowled at an emptyRose Bowl, West Indies’ fieldingplayers knelt in the outfieldwhile their England counter-parts did the same around thefield.

A Black Lives Matter logoalso was on the collar of the testshirts worn by players fromboth teams for the match playedin a strict isolated environmentand following repeated testingof players and staff members.

The West Indies squad hassaid the movement, which hasgrown since the killing ofGeorge Floyd in the UnitedStates in May, has been a sourceof motivation on this tour.

The kneeling gesture hasbeen made before PremierLeague matches since theresumption of football inEngland last month.

There was a minute’s silencein honor of those who died inthe coronavirus pandemic andalso West Indies great EvertonWeekes, who died last week.

Play was starting after athree-hour delay because oflight rain and a wet outfield.There can be a maximum of 70

overs on the rain-affected firstday.

It meant cricket fans had towait a while longer for thereturn of international cricketsince the last action in earlyMarch.

E n g l a n d ’sstand-in captain,Ben Stokes, wonthe toss and optedto bat under overcast skies.

Filling in for Joe Root, whowas absent because of the birthof his second child, Stokes wascaptain for the first time andmade a big call in leaving outfast bowler Stuart Broad — along-time regular in the team.

Jofra Archer, Mark Woodand James Anderson made upEngland’s pace attack alongwith Stokes.

West Indies captain JasonHolder, who left out Rahkeem

Cornwall, said he was “not toodisappointed to be bowlingfirst.”

After the toss was made,Stokes briefly forget about socialdistancing when he went to

shake the hand ofHolder. Holdermove his handaway and both all-rounders laughed.

LINEUPSEngland: Rory Burns, DomSibley, Joe Denly, Zak Crawley,Ben Stokes (c), Ollie Pope, JosButtler, Dom Bess, Jofra Archer,Mark Wood, James Anderson.Windies: Kraigg Brathwaite,John Campbell, Shai Hope,Shamarh Brooks, Roston Chase,Jermaine Blackwood, JasonHolder (c), Shane Dowrich,Alzarri Joseph, Kemar Roach,Shannon Gabriel.

���� �)�6-�6?�

Fernando Alonso will return toFormula One next season with

the Renault team.The French manufacturer said

in a statement on Wednesday thatthe 38-year-old Alonso will replaceDaniel Ricciardo, who is joiningMcLaren next year.

“Fernando joins Renault for theupcoming seasons,” Renault said.“This decision is both bold andmeaningful for the future.”Renault, which struggled in F1last season, did not say howmany seasons Alonso hassigned for. He won bothof his world titles withRenault in 2005 and‘06.

He quit McLaren and F1 at theend of 2018 to focus on winningmotorsport’s triple crown.

Having already won theMonaco Grand Prix, he then wonthe 24 Hours of Le Mans endurancerace but not the Indianapolis 500.

Alonso won 32 F1 races and iswidely considered one of the mosttalented drivers of his era alongsidesix-time F1 champion LewisHamilton.

“It's a great source of pride andwith an immense emotion I’mreturning to the team that gave

me my chance at the start of mycareer,” Alonso said.

Alonso will racealongside 23-year-oldFrench driver EstebanOcon.

����� 56��$6-7�

Australian fast bowler JoshHazlewood believes star

Indian opener Rohit Sharma hasa phenomenal record when itcomes to white-ball cricket andhis batting style is filled withpure class and elegance.

“He’s got many. I think it’sjust with how the ease that heplays, specially anything back ofa length, anything short, just putsit away with such ease. It’s just anarea in which he gets better, Ithink,” Hazlewood said — whilespeaking about Rohit’s greateststrength — on Star Sports CricketConnected show.

“He never looks to bludgeonthe ball, just pure class and ele-

gance. His records, especially inwhite-ball cricket, is phenome-nal,” he added.

When asked if a bowler getsannoyed by seeing a player batwith such ease, the right-armAustralian pacer said: “Yeah,absolutely. I mean the battersthrough our time, obviously arethe frustrating ones to bowl to.”

“Even when someone whocame quicker like Mitchell Starcor Pat Cummins’ bowling tothose guys, it doesn’t seem fastand that’s probably the onething that sticks out when youare bowling to these types ofplayers,” he added.

Rohit has so far scored 29tons, including three doublehundreds, in 224 ODIs he hasplayed for the Men in Blue. Healso has four T20I and six Testhundreds to his name.

������� Novak Djokovic hasaccused critics of subjectinghim to a “witch-hunt” after hisregional Adria Tour tennis eventended in a novel coronavirusfiasco and said he was stilluncertain whether he wouldplay at the August 31-September13 US Open.

Djokovic, who tested posi-tive for Covid-19 after the AdriaTour’s second leg in Croatia,pulled no punches in slamminghis peers and pundits who saidhe was irresponsible to stage theevent amid the pandemic.

“I can only see criticism late-ly and much of it is malicious,”Djokovic told Wednesday’s issueof Serbia’s daily Sportski Zurnal.

“It’s obviously more thanjust criticism, it’s like an agendaand a witch-hunt are on.Someone has to take the fall, a

big name.“I still haven’t decided

whether I will play in the USOpen, the upsurge in regis-tered Covid-19 cases in the

United States and New York inparticular are not playing intothe event’s hands,” addedDjokovic who was back in train-ing on Tuesday with Troicki.

Djokovic tested negativeafter the second test he took lastweek and, having concededafter the failed tournament thatit came to soon, he reiteratedthat he had acted in good faith.

“My intention was pure, Iwas whole-heartedly committedto organising a humanitarianevent to help players and tennisfederations in the (Balkan)region,” he said.

“We complied with all thelaws and regulations. But we’velearned our lessons and somethings could have probably beendone in a different way.”

The first leg in Belgrade heldon June 13-14 with no social dis-tancing rules in place drew a sell-out 4,000 crowd and as manyfans turned up in Zadar’s Visnjiktennis complex with a capacityof 9,000 a week later. Agencies

A��������� The Ryder Cupwas postponed until 2021 inWisconsin because of the Covid-19 pandemic that raised toomuch uncertainty whether theloudest event in golf could beplayed before spectators.

The announcement onWednesday was inevitable andhad been in the works for weeksas the PGA of America, theEuropean Tour and the PGATour tried to adjust with somany moving parts.

The Ryder Cup was sched-uled for September 25-27 atWhistling Straits, but will moveto September 24-26 in 2021. It’sthe second time in the last twodecades the Ryder Cup waspostponed. It was moved off theodd-numbered years in 2001because of the September 11 ter-rorist attacks. AP

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A� ������ BCCI presidentSourav Ganguly on Wednesdayannounced cancellation of theAsia Cup T20, scheduled to beheld in September, due to theCovid-19 pandemic.

Pakistan originally had thehosting rights of the six-teamcontinental event but consider-

ing the alarming situation, thePCB board had decided to swapit with Sri Lanka.

“Asia Cup cancel ho chukahai, jo September me tha (AsiaCup, which was to be held inSeptember, has been cancelled),”Ganguly told Sports Tak in anInstagram Live session.

The Pakistan Cricket Bardconfirmed that they have agreedto host the event in 2022 and SriLanka is now expected to hostit next year following the can-celation of this year’s edition.

PCB chief Ehsan Mani saidthe decision was made due tothe worsening pandemic.

“The Asian Cricket Councilis looking at organising it nextyear. It is too dangerous to hostit this year We had swapped theevent with Sri Lanka this yearbecause it is one of the leastaffected (in South Asia) fromthe virus,” the veteran adminis-trator said. PTI

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