ˆ˛ˇ€¦ · 14.10.2020  · me ee ba” to showcase the infrastructure development in bihar...

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T he stand-off between the Centre and Punjab farmers continues as a delegation of protesting farmers’ leaders from Punjab invited for talks by Union Agriculture Secretary Sanjay Agarwal on Wednesday here cried foul and walked out of the meeting, demanding the presence of Minister of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare Narendra Singh Tomar. The agitated farmers claimed the Government is least interested in solving farmers’ problems with no Minister present to hear them out. Amid farmers’ protests across the State, Punjab has become the first State to reject the Centre’s farm laws. At the Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh rejected the farm laws enacted by the Centre and convened a special Assembly session on October 19 to bring a legisla- tion to counter the Centre’s farm laws. The Punjab Cabinet’s move is expected to have over- whelming support, with both the ruling Congress and the Opposition Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD). The CM had announced his Government will fight the “anti-federal and vicious farm laws tooth and nail through legislative, legal and other routes”. Meanwhile, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said the Government is always open for discussion with farm- ers on the revolutionary farm laws. When asked about boy- cott by farmers’ body, Javadekar said Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar have already held one round of dis- cussion with farmer organisa- tions on this issue. “If someone wants more (discussion), we are always open (to) meet everyone. But Tomarji has an engagement today, therefore he has gone. When he will get free, he is meeting all. There is no prob- lem in this,” Information and Broadcasting Minister Javadekar told the media after the Cabinet meeting. A delegation of 29 farmers organisations, comprising Balbir Singh Rajewal, Darshan Pal, Jagjit Singh Dalewal, Jagmohan Singh, Kulwant Singh, Surjit Singh and Satnam Singh Sahni, who had come to attend meeting are said to have asked the Secretary what an administrative officer can do when the political leadership was not interested in repealing the recently-passed farm laws and walked out of the meeting. After a one-and-a-half- hour long meeting with Agarwal, the farmers leaders were seen shouting slogans and tearing copies of new farm laws outside Krishi Bhavan. Farmers’ leaders Jogjit Singh Dalewal and Jagmohan Singh said at least Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar should have been pre- sent at the meeting. The meet- ing was convened at the Krishi Bhavan amid police security to avoid any protest. Farmers’ leaders said that their agitation against the contentious farm laws will continue. “No proper discussion took place. Neither Union Agriculture Minister nor junior Ministers were present to hear our concerns. We asked why the Minister is not meeting us, why the Government is playing double standards by calling us here and Ministers holding virtual meetings in Punjab. There was no proper response,” Darshan Pal, member of the coordination committee of 29 farmers’ organisations, told reporters after the meeting. BKU leader Balbir Singh Rajewal said the farmers’ rep- resentatives will meet in Chandigarh on Thursday to discuss the next course of action. “He (Agriculture Secretary) kept saying he wants to act as a bridge and help, etc. We asked why we were called when no Minister was present to talk to us. The Secretary said he will communicate our demands further,” said a farmer union leader. “The meeting was an effort to try and create a false impres- sion that the Central Government is engaging with farmers, when in fact it is going all out to roll out and enforce the anti-farmer laws,” the All-India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC) said in a statement. “First, the Government should be ready to review and if necessary, repeal the three laws. Second, the Government should be ready to consider leg- islating the minimum support price as a legal right and deal with input cost, food security and other issues,” the AIKSCC statement said. Farmers also presented a memorandum of demands to the Government. A s the poll campaign for the first phase of election in Bihar on October 28 heats up, BJP’s national president JP Nadda will again go the State on Thursday for physical cam- paign rallies and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the main face of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), is expected to swoop down on the State for first series of elec- tioneering from October 22, which, among others, include the Assembly seats of Buxar, Jehannabad and Bhagalpur. BJP senior leaders, includ- ing party general secretary and State-in-charge Bhupendra Yadav and former Maharashtra Chief Minister and the cam- paign-in-charge Devendra Fadnavis, are drawing up plan for the Prime Minister’s rallies as he is seen as the prime mover and shaker of voters in the State with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar facing the anti- incumbency factor. Modi’s rallies are expected to be held in Buxar, Jehanabad, Rohtas and Bhagalpur for the NDA candidates, beginning October 22. The Covid-19 conditions have put extra-pres- sure on the planners and the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) is carefully examining the details before giving a go ahead for the physical rallies. With the pandemic still on surge, rallies ahead of the Assembly elections would be conducted with standard oper- ating procedure and guide- lines for safety. On Monday a Bihar Minister for backward and extremely backward class welfare Vinod Kumar Singh, 55, passed away due to post- Covid-19 complications. The Prime Minster will also address poll rallies digitally, though number of physical and virtual public meeting is yet to be fixed, said sources, adding total addresses could be more than ten, according to party sources. Bihar is one of the first of States in the country to go to polls under Covid-19 condi- tions. Physical rallies are increasingly turning “normal” with political leaders pulling out all full stops to attract vot- ers who, this time, are not swayed by one particular issue or political personality. BJP president is on a two- day tour of Bihar for election- eering from October 15 and to address rallies at Vikramganj, Karakat (Rohtas), Goh (Aurangabad) and on October 16 campaign in Barahat (Banaka), Hisua (Nawada) Assembly segments. BJP launched its “Bihar Me Ee Ba” to showcase the infrastructure development in Bihar under the NDA regime. The BJP’s video song also men- tions the opening of IITs, AIIMS, new bridges as well as improvement in the health and education sector. It talks about transforming Bihar cities into metros like Mumbai and Delhi. Countering the BJP devel- opment plank, the rival alliance leader RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav is attacking the NDA Government for miserably fail- ing as a job provider and devel- oping the State. “What did their double- engine govt do in 15 years? It’s their attempt to divert from agenda but we want to contest election on agenda,” says Lalu Prasad’s son and his political heir apparent. T o ensure that it is not caught napping in the win- ters and festivities in the com- ing weeks when Covid-19 cases are likely to spike, the Union Health Ministry has initiated the process of import- ing liquid oxygen to meet any unforeseen shortage due to rise in demand for oxygen. On behalf of the Government, public sector undertaking HLL Lifecare Limited floated a global tender on Wednesday for procuring one lakh metric tonne of liq- uid oxygen, as per its website. The oxygen is being pro- cured for various Central and State Government hospitals. The entire exercise of import- ing and then distributing the medical oxygen is estimated to cost 600-700 crore, according to officials in the Ministry. Even though, Covid cases are on decline as has been shown by the data available from the Government, experts as well as the Government fear that the upcoming festive sea- son and following winter months may see a spike in coronavirus infections. On Tuesday, Dr VK Paul, Niti Aayog member (Health), said in the coming winter months, when respiratory viruses are more dangerous, we would have to make efforts to bring a decline in the num- ber of cases. “Winter season is seen as a breeding ground for viruses and infections. We must remember that the world is also witnessing a second peak. We are also detecting more severe forms of coronavirus cases as the season progress- es,” said the Niti Aayog mem- ber. “This is the time for it because, during winters, res- piratory infections go up and, whatever else we may say for Covid, it is, after all, a disease that affects the respiratory tract and it is well known that respiratory infections happen more during the winter sea- son,” Dr Paul said indicating rise in numbers. A report prepared by the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) too has warned that Delhi might wit- ness an increase of 15,000 daily coronavirus cases during the winter season with festive gatherings, seasonal illnesses and influx of patients from outside adding the city’s tally. As on Tuesday, around 3.97 per cent of the Covid-19 patients were on oxygen sup- port, 2.46 per cent were in ICU beds which are again with oxygen support and 0.40 per cent on ventilator support. A head of the Bihar Assembly elections, for- mer Union Minister and Loktantrik Janata Dal chief Sharad Yadav’s daughter Subhashini Yadav joined the Congress on Wednesday in the presence of local leaders. Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) leader and former MP Kali Pandey too joined the Congress. Both are likely to contest the upcoming Assembly elections in Bihar and are seeking tickets from the Congress party. Subhashini Yadav, a social worker, said she is taking the responsibility of carrying on the fight of the Mahagathbandhan in Bihar, as her father Sharad Yadav has always supported it. “I thank Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra for giving me this opportuni- ty. Sharad Yadav is not active- ly taking part in the Bihar elections as he is not well. He has always supported the ‘Mahagathbandhan’. It is my responsibility to take this fight forward and to take Bihar to greater heights,” she said. Kali Pandey said it was a homecoming for him as he had extended support to for- mer Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1984 when he was a member of the Lok Sabha. T he Orissa High Court on Wednesday asked the State Government to submit a progress report on the probe into the Bhubaneswar minor girl gang-rape case. During a hearing of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed in connection with the case, a Division Bench of the court comprising Chief Justice Mohammad Rafiq and Justice BR Sarangi directed the Government to submit the progress report on November 9, the next date for hearing. The court also asked the Government to provide secu- rity to the victim’s family. Notably, the Crime Branch took charge of the minor gang- rape case on October 6. Acting as per the High Court’s direc- tive, the Crime Branch SP was appointed as the investigating officer of the case. An Additional SP, three women Inspectors and an Inspector from the Cyber Cell have been assisting in the probe. In its affidavit in the HC, the Crime Branch has stated that even though the incident occurred in April, a complaint was lodged on August 30. Due to the gap of around four months, the investigating agency is facing difficulties in getting the biological evidence in the case. A polygraph test of the accused has been carried out at the SFSL in Bhubaneswar and the report is awaited, the affidavit added. T he State recorded 15 more Covid-19 deaths on Wednesday, taking the total toll to 1,072, the Health and Family Welfare Department said. While three deaths were report- ed from Cuttack district, one each was reported from Baleswar, Boudh, Ganjam, Jajpur, Kalahandi, Kandhamal, Kendrapada, Khordha (Bhubaneswar), Mayurbhanj, Puri, Rayagada and Sundargarh. The deaths in Cuttack were of a 48-year-old man, a 64- year-old man and a 62-year-old man.The other deceased were a 78-year-old man of Boudh, a 58-year-old man of Bhubaneswar, a 65-year-old woman of Kalahandi, a 72- year-old man of Rayagada, a 63-year-old man of Ganjam, a 65-year-old man of Kendrapada, a 68-year-old man of Kandhamal, a 25-year-old woman of Mayurbhanj, a 47- year-old woman of Jajpur, a 60- year-old man of Puri, a 72- year-old man of Sundargarh and a 56-year-old man of Baleswar. Meanwhile, the State on the day reported 2,604 new pos- itive cases, pushing the total positive caseload to 2,59,541.Of the new cases, 1,511 patients were from quarantine and 1,093 local contact cases. Khordha recorded the maxi- mum 385 new cases followed by Angul 216, Cuttack 209, Sundagarh 186, Mayurbhanj 122, Jajpur 113, Nuapada 95, Bargarh 90, Jagatsinghpur 84, Kalahandi 76, Kendrapada 70, Balangir 64, Nabarangpur 60, Jharsuguda and Malkangiri 57 each, Keonjhar 51, Bhadrak 50, Puri and Sambalpur 49 each, Subarnapur 44, Kandhamal 38, Nayagarh 35, Dhenkanal 33. Boudh and Koraput 31 each, Ganjam 29, Rayagada 21, Deogarh 13, Gajapati eight and State pool 74.However, another 2,775 patients recovered on the day, taking the total recoveries to 2,35,763. C onsidering the intensity and frequency of natural disasters along with need for preparedness to face industri- al disasters, Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy directed to strength- en disaster fighting arms of the State with hi-tech equipment and innovative training at State Executive Committee meeting held here on Wednesday. An additional amount of around Rs 55.22 crore was sanctioned in the meeting tak- ing total sanction to around Rs 205 crore for current year. Available data show that a total amount of Rs 205.21 crore has been sanctioned for hi-tech equipment and capacity build- ing activities during current financial year of 2020-21. This includes procurement of high- tech collapsed structure search and rescue (CSSR) equipment and quick deponent antenna (QDA) for ODRAF and Fire Service Units; and, instru- ments for disaster manage- ment training cell. SRC Pradip Jena appraised, “The Disaster Management Training Cell (DMTC) estab- lished in Revenue Officers Training Institute (ROTI), Gothapatana has successfully trained 3,586 persons from ODRAF, Fire Services, Civil Defense, community level vol- unteers and others in various modules relating to disaster management, search, rescue and first aid, etc.”The meeting also reviewed progress regard- ing repair and maintenance of multipurpose cyclone/flood centers (MCS/MFS) operating at different places. I n a continuing declining trend, the Covid-19 cases fell to 267 in Bhubaneswar on Wednesday. The total tally rose to 26,283, of which 2.372 were active cases. This was fourth consecutive day the capital city reported less than 300 positive cases. Of the new cases 196 were local contacts and 71 quaran- tine cases, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) said.The local contacts includ- ed 19 cases from Nayapalli, 10 each from Baramunda and Unit-9, eight each from Old Town and IRC Village, seven each from Rasulgarh, Patia and Rental Colony, six from Unit-7, five each from Khandagiri Bari, Jagamara, Mancheswar and Dumduma and four each from Jayadev Vihar and Chandrasekharpur. The quarantine cases included five from Saheed Nagar, four from BJB Nagar, four from Bhimatangi, four from Old Town and three each from Unit-6, Palasuni and Baramunda. I n view of ensuing festivities and onset of winter, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday directed officials to remain alert and ensure strict implantation of Covid- 19 guidelines to prevent the spread of the virus. During a weekly review meeting on corona, he cited instance of Kerala and asked the officials to intensify Covid awareness programme. Following the Onam fes- tival in Kerala, there have been a considerable rise in Covid cases in that State. Hence, it is necessary for the administration in Odisha not to take the situation lightly, he said. Patnaik expressed satis- faction at the decline of posi- tive cases in the State. Emphasising on econom- ic activity, he said Odisha has been an attractive destination for investors. He advised the officials to ensure that the projects take off and people get the benefit of the investments. Priorities must be given to restart activities in the indus- try, mining, construction, ser- vice and transport sectors, he said, adding that any kind of hindrance in attracting invest- ment in these areas would not be tolerated. He also asked officials to give stress on MNREGA, Mission Shakti and Jeevika Mission programmes.

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Page 1: ˆ˛ˇ€¦ · 14.10.2020  · Me Ee Ba” to showcase the infrastructure development in Bihar under the NDA regime. The BJP’s video song also men- tions the opening of IITs, AIIMS,

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The stand-off between theCentre and Punjab farmers

continues as a delegation ofprotesting farmers’ leadersfrom Punjab invited for talks byUnion Agriculture SecretarySanjay Agarwal on Wednesdayhere cried foul and walked outof the meeting, demanding thepresence of Minister ofAgriculture & Farmers WelfareNarendra Singh Tomar. Theagitated farmers claimed theGovernment is least interestedin solving farmers’ problemswith no Minister present tohear them out.

Amid farmers’ protestsacross the State, Punjab hasbecome the first State to rejectthe Centre’s farm laws. At theCabinet meeting onWednesday, Punjab ChiefMinister Amarinder Singhrejected the farm laws enactedby the Centre and convened aspecial Assembly session onOctober 19 to bring a legisla-tion to counter the Centre’sfarm laws.

The Punjab Cabinet’s moveis expected to have over-whelming support, with boththe ruling Congress and theOpposition Shiromani AkaliDal (SAD). The CM hadannounced his Governmentwill fight the “anti-federal andvicious farm laws tooth andnail through legislative, legaland other routes”.

Meanwhile, UnionMinister Prakash Javadekarsaid the Government is alwaysopen for discussion with farm-

ers on the revolutionary farmlaws. When asked about boy-cott by farmers’ body, Javadekarsaid Defence Minister RajnathSingh and Agriculture MinisterNarendra Singh Tomar havealready held one round of dis-cussion with farmer organisa-tions on this issue.

“If someone wants more(discussion), we are alwaysopen (to) meet everyone. ButTomarji has an engagementtoday, therefore he has gone.When he will get free, he ismeeting all. There is no prob-lem in this,” Information andBroadcasting MinisterJavadekar told the media after

the Cabinet meeting. A delegation of 29 farmers

organisations, comprisingBalbir Singh Rajewal, DarshanPal, Jagjit Singh Dalewal,Jagmohan Singh, KulwantSingh, Surjit Singh and SatnamSingh Sahni, who had come toattend meeting are said to haveasked the Secretary what anadministrative officer can dowhen the political leadershipwas not interested in repealingthe recently-passed farm lawsand walked out of the meeting.

After a one-and-a-half-hour long meeting withAgarwal, the farmers leaderswere seen shouting slogans

and tearing copies of new farmlaws outside Krishi Bhavan.

Farmers’ leaders JogjitSingh Dalewal and JagmohanSingh said at least AgricultureMinister Narendra SinghTomar should have been pre-sent at the meeting. The meet-ing was convened at the KrishiBhavan amid police security toavoid any protest. Farmers’leaders said that their agitationagainst the contentious farmlaws will continue.

“No proper discussion tookplace. Neither UnionAgriculture Minister nor juniorMinisters were present to hearour concerns. We asked why

the Minister is not meeting us,why the Government is playingdouble standards by calling ushere and Ministers holdingvirtual meetings in Punjab.There was no proper response,”Darshan Pal, member of thecoordination committee of 29farmers’ organisations, toldreporters after the meeting.

BKU leader Balbir SinghRajewal said the farmers’ rep-resentatives will meet inChandigarh on Thursday todiscuss the next course ofaction. “He (AgricultureSecretary) kept saying he wantsto act as a bridge and help, etc.We asked why we were calledwhen no Minister was presentto talk to us. The Secretary saidhe will communicate ourdemands further,” said a farmerunion leader.

“The meeting was an effortto try and create a false impres-sion that the CentralGovernment is engaging withfarmers, when in fact it isgoing all out to roll out andenforce the anti-farmer laws,”the All-India Kisan SangharshCoordination Committee(AIKSCC) said in a statement.

“First, the Governmentshould be ready to review andif necessary, repeal the threelaws. Second, the Governmentshould be ready to consider leg-islating the minimum supportprice as a legal right and dealwith input cost, food securityand other issues,” the AIKSCCstatement said.

Farmers also presented amemorandum of demands tothe Government.

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As the poll campaign for thefirst phase of election in

Bihar on October 28 heats up,BJP’s national president JPNadda will again go the Stateon Thursday for physical cam-paign rallies and PrimeMinister Narendra Modi, themain face of the NationalDemocratic Alliance (NDA), isexpected to swoop down on theState for first series of elec-tioneering from October 22,which, among others, includethe Assembly seats of Buxar,Jehannabad and Bhagalpur.

BJP senior leaders, includ-ing party general secretary andState-in-charge BhupendraYadav and former MaharashtraChief Minister and the cam-paign-in-charge DevendraFadnavis, are drawing up planfor the Prime Minister’s ralliesas he is seen as the primemover and shaker of voters inthe State with Chief MinisterNitish Kumar facing the anti-incumbency factor.

Modi’s rallies are expectedto be held in Buxar, Jehanabad,Rohtas and Bhagalpur for theNDA candidates, beginningOctober 22. The Covid-19conditions have put extra-pres-sure on the planners and thePrime Minister’s Office (PMO)is carefully examining thedetails before giving a go aheadfor the physical rallies.

With the pandemic still onsurge, rallies ahead of theAssembly elections would beconducted with standard oper-ating procedure and guide-lines for safety. On Monday a

Bihar Minister for backwardand extremely backward classwelfare Vinod Kumar Singh,55, passed away due to post-Covid-19 complications.

The Prime Minster willalso address poll rallies digitally,though number of physicaland virtual public meeting isyet to be fixed, said sources,adding total addresses could bemore than ten, according toparty sources.

Bihar is one of the first ofStates in the country to go topolls under Covid-19 condi-tions. Physical rallies areincreasingly turning “normal”with political leaders pullingout all full stops to attract vot-ers who, this time, are notswayed by one particular issueor political personality.

BJP president is on a two-day tour of Bihar for election-eering from October 15 and toaddress rallies at Vikramganj,Karakat (Rohtas), Goh(Aurangabad) and on October16 campaign in Barahat(Banaka), Hisua (Nawada)Assembly segments.

BJP launched its “BiharMe Ee Ba” to showcase theinfrastructure development inBihar under the NDA regime.The BJP’s video song also men-tions the opening of IITs,AIIMS, new bridges as well asimprovement in the health andeducation sector. It talks abouttransforming Bihar cities intometros like Mumbai and Delhi.

Countering the BJP devel-opment plank, the rival allianceleader RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav isattacking the NDAGovernment for miserably fail-ing as a job provider and devel-oping the State.

“What did their double-engine govt do in 15 years? It’stheir attempt to divert fromagenda but we want to contestelection on agenda,” says LaluPrasad’s son and his politicalheir apparent.

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To ensure that it is notcaught napping in the win-

ters and festivities in the com-ing weeks when Covid-19cases are likely to spike, theUnion Health Ministry hasinitiated the process of import-ing liquid oxygen to meet anyunforeseen shortage due torise in demand for oxygen.

On behalf of theGovernment, public sectorundertaking HLL LifecareLimited floated a global tenderon Wednesday for procuringone lakh metric tonne of liq-uid oxygen, as per its website.

The oxygen is being pro-cured for various Central andState Government hospitals.The entire exercise of import-ing and then distributing themedical oxygen is estimated tocost �600-700 crore, accordingto officials in the Ministry.

Even though, Covid casesare on decline as has beenshown by the data availablefrom the Government, expertsas well as the Government fearthat the upcoming festive sea-son and following winter

months may see a spike incoronavirus infections.

On Tuesday, Dr VK Paul,Niti Aayog member (Health),said in the coming wintermonths, when respiratoryviruses are more dangerous,we would have to make effortsto bring a decline in the num-ber of cases.

“Winter season is seen asa breeding ground for virusesand infections. We mustremember that the world isalso witnessing a second peak.We are also detecting more

severe forms of coronaviruscases as the season progress-es,” said the Niti Aayog mem-ber.

“This is the time for itbecause, during winters, res-piratory infections go up and,whatever else we may say forCovid, it is, after all, a diseasethat affects the respiratorytract and it is well known thatrespiratory infections happenmore during the winter sea-son,” Dr Paul said indicatingrise in numbers.

A report prepared by the

National Centre for DiseaseControl (NCDC) too haswarned that Delhi might wit-ness an increase of 15,000daily coronavirus cases duringthe winter season with festivegatherings, seasonal illnessesand influx of patients fromoutside adding the city’s tally.

As on Tuesday, around3.97 per cent of the Covid-19patients were on oxygen sup-port, 2.46 per cent were in ICUbeds which are again withoxygen support and 0.40 percent on ventilator support.

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Ahead of the BiharAssembly elections, for-

mer Union Minister andLoktantrik Janata Dal chiefSharad Yadav’s daughterSubhashini Yadav joined theCongress on Wednesday inthe presence of local leaders.Lok Janshakti Party (LJP)leader and former MP KaliPandey too joined theCongress. Both are likely tocontest the upcomingAssembly elections in Biharand are seeking tickets fromthe Congress party.

Subhashini Yadav, a socialworker, said she is taking theresponsibility of carrying onthe fight of theMahagathbandhan in Bihar,as her father Sharad Yadav hasalways supported it. “I thankSonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhiand Priyanka Gandhi Vadrafor giving me this opportuni-ty. Sharad Yadav is not active-ly taking part in the Biharelections as he is not well.

He has always supportedthe ‘Mahagathbandhan’. It ismy responsibility to take thisfight forward and to takeBihar to greater heights,” shesaid.

Kali Pandey said it was ahomecoming for him as hehad extended support to for-mer Prime Minister RajivGandhi in 1984 when he wasa member of the Lok Sabha.

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The Orissa High Court onWednesday asked the State

Government to submit aprogress report on the probeinto the Bhubaneswar minorgirl gang-rape case.

During a hearing of aPublic Interest Litigation (PIL)filed in connection with thecase, a Division Bench of thecourt comprising Chief JusticeMohammad Rafiq and JusticeBR Sarangi directed theGovernment to submit theprogress report on November9, the next date for hearing. Thecourt also asked theGovernment to provide secu-rity to the victim’s family.

Notably, the Crime Branchtook charge of the minor gang-

rape case on October 6. Actingas per the High Court’s direc-tive, the Crime Branch SP wasappointed as the investigatingofficer of the case. AnAdditional SP, three womenInspectors and an Inspectorfrom the Cyber Cell have beenassisting in the probe.

In its affidavit in the HC,the Crime Branch has statedthat even though the incidentoccurred in April, a complaintwas lodged on August 30. Dueto the gap of around fourmonths, the investigatingagency is facing difficulties ingetting the biological evidencein the case. A polygraph test ofthe accused has been carriedout at the SFSL in Bhubaneswarand the report is awaited, theaffidavit added.

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The State recorded 15 moreCovid-19 deaths on

Wednesday, taking the total tollto 1,072, the Health and FamilyWelfare Department said.While three deaths were report-ed from Cuttack district, oneeach was reported fromBaleswar, Boudh, Ganjam,Jajpur, Kalahandi, Kandhamal,Kendrapada, Khordha(Bhubaneswar), Mayurbhanj,Puri, Rayagada and Sundargarh.

The deaths in Cuttack were

of a 48-year-old man, a 64-year-old man and a 62-year-oldman.The other deceased werea 78-year-old man of Boudh, a58-year-old man ofBhubaneswar, a 65-year-oldwoman of Kalahandi, a 72-year-old man of Rayagada, a63-year-old man of Ganjam, a65-year-old man ofKendrapada, a 68-year-old manof Kandhamal, a 25-year-oldwoman of Mayurbhanj, a 47-year-old woman of Jajpur, a 60-year-old man of Puri, a 72-year-old man of Sundargarhand a 56-year-old man ofBaleswar.

Meanwhile, the State on theday reported 2,604 new pos-

itive cases, pushing the totalpositive caseload to 2,59,541.Ofthe new cases, 1,511 patients

were from quarantine and1,093 local contact cases.Khordha recorded the maxi-mum 385 new cases followedby Angul 216, Cuttack 209,Sundagarh 186, Mayurbhanj122, Jajpur 113, Nuapada 95,

Bargarh 90, Jagatsinghpur84, Kalahandi 76, Kendrapada70, Balangir 64, Nabarangpur60, Jharsuguda and Malkangiri57 each, Keonjhar 51, Bhadrak50, Puri and Sambalpur 49each, Subarnapur 44,Kandhamal 38, Nayagarh 35,Dhenkanal 33. Boudh andKoraput 31 each, Ganjam 29,Rayagada 21, Deogarh 13,Gajapati eight and State pool74.However, another 2,775patients recovered on the day,taking the total recoveries to2,35,763.

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Considering the intensityand frequency of natural

disasters along with need forpreparedness to face industri-al disasters, Chief Secretary AsitTripathy directed to strength-en disaster fighting arms of theState with hi-tech equipmentand innovative training at StateExecutive Committee meetingheld here on Wednesday.

An additional amount ofaround Rs 55.22 crore wassanctioned in the meeting tak-ing total sanction to around Rs205 crore for current year.

Available data show that atotal amount of Rs 205.21 crorehas been sanctioned for hi-techequipment and capacity build-ing activities during currentfinancial year of 2020-21. Thisincludes procurement of high-

tech collapsed structure searchand rescue (CSSR) equipmentand quick deponent antenna(QDA) for ODRAF and FireService Units; and, instru-ments for disaster manage-ment training cell.

SRC Pradip Jena appraised,“The Disaster ManagementTraining Cell (DMTC) estab-lished in Revenue OfficersTraining Institute (ROTI),Gothapatana has successfullytrained 3,586 persons fromODRAF, Fire Services, CivilDefense, community level vol-unteers and others in variousmodules relating to disastermanagement, search, rescueand first aid, etc.”The meetingalso reviewed progress regard-ing repair and maintenance ofmultipurpose cyclone/floodcenters (MCS/MFS) operatingat different places.

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In a continuing decliningtrend, the Covid-19 cases

fell to 267 in Bhubaneswar onWednesday. The total tally roseto 26,283, of which 2.372 wereactive cases. This was fourthconsecutive day the capital cityreported less than 300 positivecases.

Of the new cases 196 werelocal contacts and 71 quaran-tine cases, the BhubaneswarMunicipal Corporation (BMC)said.The local contacts includ-ed 19 cases from Nayapalli, 10each from Baramunda andUnit-9, eight each from OldTown and IRC Village, seveneach from Rasulgarh, Patiaand Rental Colony, six fromUnit-7, five each fromKhandagiri Bari, Jagamara,Mancheswar and Dumdumaand four each from JayadevVihar and Chandrasekharpur.

The quarantine casesincluded five from SaheedNagar, four from BJB Nagar,four from Bhimatangi, fourfrom Old Town and three eachfrom Unit-6, Palasuni andBaramunda.

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In view of ensuing festivitiesand onset of winter, Chief

Minister Naveen Patnaik onWednesday directed officialsto remain alert and ensurestrict implantation of Covid-19 guidelines to prevent thespread of the virus.

During a weekly reviewmeeting on corona, he citedinstance of Kerala and askedthe officials to intensify Covidawareness programme.

Following the Onam fes-tival in Kerala, there havebeen a considerable rise inCovid cases in that State.Hence, it is necessary for theadministration in Odisha notto take the situation lightly, hesaid.

Patnaik expressed satis-faction at the decline of posi-tive cases in the State.

Emphasising on econom-ic activity, he said Odisha hasbeen an attractive destinationfor investors. He advised theofficials to ensure that the

projects take off and people getthe benefit of the investments.Priorities must be given torestart activities in the indus-try, mining, construction, ser-vice and transport sectors, hesaid, adding that any kind ofhindrance in attracting invest-ment in these areas would notbe tolerated.

He also asked officials togive stress on MNREGA,Mission Shakti and JeevikaMission programmes.

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Page 2: ˆ˛ˇ€¦ · 14.10.2020  · Me Ee Ba” to showcase the infrastructure development in Bihar under the NDA regime. The BJP’s video song also men- tions the opening of IITs, AIIMS,

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Everyone must know thatmankind has to live with

corona for quite some time. Asbelieved earlier, wrongly orrightly, that hot-climate coun-tries would not be so badlyaffected, has been proven com-pletely wrong.

The coronavirus of 2019 isa rather unruly one and willtake time to eradicate as vac-

cines are not yet in hand. Theonly way to remain free of thevirus is to remain firm and res-olute on the recommended,highly-tested behaviour proto-col, which is not difficult at all.One has only to avoid beingexposed to the virus thatspreads from person to person.

Social distance of at leastsix feet has to be maintained.Most people in India do notseem to adhere to this verysimple precaution which keepsoff respiratory droplets pro-duced when an infected personcoughs, sneezes or talks.

These droplets can land inthe mouths or noses of peoplewho are nearby or possibly beinhaled into the lungs. Recentstudies have suggested that thevirus is spread by people whoare not showing any symptoms.

Washing hands often withsoap and water for at least 20seconds after being in a publicplace or after blowing yournose, coughing or sneezing:It iscritically important to wash

hands before eating or prepar-ing food; before touching face;after using the restroom; afterleaving a public place; afterblowing nose, coughing orsneezing; after handling mask;after changing a diaper; aftercaring for someone sick; aftertouching animals or pets.

If soap and water are notreadily available, use a handsanitiser that contains at least60% alcohol. All surfaces ofhands should be covered andrubbed together until they feeldry. Avoid touching eyes, noseand mouth with unwashedhands.

Inside your home: Avoidclose contact with people whoare sick. If possible, maintainsix-feet between the personwho is sick and other house-hold members.

Outside home: one has tomaintain a six-feet distancebetween self and people whodon’t live in own household.The mouth and nose have toremain covered with a mask

when amid other people evenif it looks odd or laughable.Masks should not be placed onyoung children under age twoand anyone who has trouble ofbreathing or is unconscious,incapacitated or otherwiseunable to remove the maskwithout assistance.

Masks meant for a health-care worker should not beused. Currently, surgical masksand N95 respirators are inshort supply.

They should be reservedfor healthcare workers andother first responders. Mouthand nose have to remain cov-ered with a tissue while cough-ing or sneezing. If nothing isavailable to cover, the inside ofthe elbow can be used. Spittingin public should never happen.Used tissues should be thrownin the trash bin without fail.

Frequently-touched objectsincluding tables, doorknobs,light switches, countertops,handles, desks, phones, key-boards, toilets, faucets and

sinks, etc., should be cleanedregularly with detergent orsoap and water immediatelybefore disinfecting them. Mostcommonly-used householddisinfectants will work. Onehas to remain alert for symp-toms: fever, cough, shortness ofbreath, or other known symp-toms.

This is particularly impor-tant for people running essen-tial errands, going into theoffice or workplace and in set-tings where it may be difficultto keep a physical distance ofsix feet.Temperature monitor-ing is a must if symptomsdevelop. But temperature takenwithin 30 minutes of exercisingor after taking medicationswould be wrong as that couldlower temperature.

CDC guidance should befollowed if symptoms devel-op.Healthcare systems havealready been overwhelmedtreating Covid-19 patients.Getting a flu vaccine is a goodprecautionary measure. It will

not protect one against Covid-19, but there are many impor-tant benefits, such as reductionof the risk of flu illness, hospi-talisation and death. Getting aflu vaccine can also save health-care resources for the care ofCovid-19 patients.

Now some informationabout guys who have made adifference to the pandemic sit-uation: There are depressive,scary news stories every otherday about corona warriors,including doctors, succumbingto the fragile pathogen.

It seems the health work-ers have been careless, unwit-tingly, maybe, about handwashing or sanitisation. Somevery sharp-minded doctorswho have been religiously anddedicatedly serving Covidpatients have made it crystalclear that there is no danger atall only if hand washing andsanitisation techniques arestrictly followed.Several doc-tors have come in the socialmedia encouraging their fra-

ternity to follow simple pre-cautions. One such doctor hasbeen found in Odisha. DrArnab Patnaik, in his thirties,is posted at the Puri DistrictHeadquarters Hospital.

Whoever has come in hiscontact says he is ‘Godsend'! DrPatnaik has been serving Covidpatients right from the virusonset times without fear orconfusion.

He says, “If one follows thesafety guidelines just religiously,particularly hand-washing andbasic sanitisation, there is sim-ply no reason why anyone atwork will get infected unlessmisfortune befalls. Dr Patnaik,now looked upon as messiah,has not taken a single back steponce while expected to serveCovid patients.

He not only remains jovial-ly fit, he also guides patientsand family member how totake simple precautionary mea-sures to remain immune. TheState Government would dogreat service to mankind by

recognising such dedicateddoctors, health workers andother professionals or relatedfunctionaries publicly so as toencourage more warriors toremain safe and deliver service.

There is big rumour thatsenior doctors are hiding awayfrom zones with coronapatients.

Though it is absolutelyright to protect the lives of topdoctors, it is also appropriate toensure they do not live in fearwithout any basis.

The whole world knowsthat panic kills more than dis-eases do in such unprecedent-ed pandemic situations.

People must know thatmany more flu and other virus-es will keep coming in future.The present coronavirus hastaught mankind many won-derful lessons, most impor-tantly safe and civilised behav-iour which is so simple topractise. Future flu pandemicsshall not be so frightening, forsure.

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The New Delhi CBI SpecialCourt’s order on sentence

against former Union MinisterDilip Ray and five others con-victed in Jharkhand coal scamwould be announced onOctober 26. The order was ear-lier scheduled for Wednesday(October 14)

Ray was Minister of Statefor Coal in the Atal BihariVajpayee Government in 1999.

On Wednesday, CentralBureau of Investigation (CBI),in a significant move, moved aDelhi court to award life

imprisonment to Ray and theother convicts in coal blockallocation case. On other hand,convicts urged court to take alenient view due to their old ageand prior clean antecedents.The CBI, on its part, argued incourt that a maximum pun-ishment would send a messageto society in view of fact thatwhite-collar crimes are on rise.

Notably, on October 6,Special Judge Bharat Parasharof the Rouse Avenue Court hadconvicted Ray and others say-ing that they had conspiredtogether beyond shadows of allreasonable doubts to procureallocation of coal block of105.153 hectares of non-nationalised and abandonedmining area in Jharkhand infavour of Castron Technologies

Limited by 14th ScreeningCommittee of Ministry of Coalin 1999. Besides Ray, two for-mer senior officials of CoalMinistry, Pradip KumarBanerjee, then AdditionalSecretary, and Nitya NandGautam, former Advisor(Projects), CastronTechnologies its director MKAgarwalla and Castron MiningLimited have also been con-victed.

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Police arrested a person onWednesday in connection

with the gang-rape of a 15-year-old girl for 22 days in theChauliaganj area of Cuttackcity.

Cuttack DCP PrateekSingh said the Chauliaganjpolice have arrested oneaccused in the case and huntis on to nab another. Besides,a special team has beenformed to probe the incident.

“We are also looking forinvolvement of more personsin the incident,” Singhadded.Meanwhile, police onthe day recorded the state-

ment of the victim.As perreports, the Class-IX girl ofthe Tirtol area ofJagatsinghpur district wasstaying with her married eldersister and brother-in-law atProfessor Pada here for lastone month after her fatherallegedly started torturing her.

Following a disputebetween her sister and broth-er-in-law, the former asked thegirl to return to her home.

On the fateful day, whenthe girl was waiting at theOMP Square to a board a busto her village, a man offeredher a lift to her village andlater took her to a house nearGatiroutpatna in Chauliaganj

area.The man and his associ-ate held her hostage in ahouse for 22 days and rapedher. The accused duo alsorecorded a video of theshameful act and threatenedher to upload it on socialmedia if she revealed the mat-ter to anyone.

Acting on a tipoff, policeon October 12 night raidedthe house and rescued the girl.She was later handed over tothe Child Line.

Her statement was record-ed by the Child WelfareCommittee (CWC) onTuesday. The Child Line laterlodged an FIR in this regardwith the Chauliaganj police.

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The National Federation ofPostal Employees (NFPE),

Odisha State CoordinationCommittee has termed theFinance Ministry’s recently-announced festival packagesfor employees as “squeezing ofexisting benefits” anddemanded early withdrawal ofDA and DR freezing ordersand declaration of bonus with-out further delay.

Of the two packages, grantof advance is not a new ben-efit since this facility wasavailable to the CentralGovernment employees tillthe implementation of 7thCentral Pay Commission rec-ommendations. Employees

have been demanding theGovernment to modify the7th CPC recommendationsand retain the facility of fes-tival advance. But theGovernment snatched awaythe benefit of eight interest-free advances, including thisfestival advance.

Instead of restoring thefestival advance as a perma-nent measure, theGovernment has now declaredthe package as a one-timemeasure till March 31, 2021.

The special cash packageequitant in lieu of leave trav-el concession is nothing butextraction of money ofCentral Government employ-ees by way of spending threetimes more the amount to be

sanctioned by Governmentunder the package. Thatmeans to get 1/3rd amount ,the employee has to spent2/3rd amount from his pock-et, that too for compulsorypurchase of goods and ser-vices with a GST of minimum12% or above.

The Government shouldhave extended the LTC facil-ity for the current block year2018 - 21 for one or two years,taking into consideration theCovid -19 pandemic situation.

The Central Governmenthas frozen the dearnessallowance (DA) and dearnessrelief (DR) of the employeesand pensioners from January1, 2020 to June 30. Instead ofimposing further restrictions

on the existing LTC benefits ofemployees, the Governmentshould have withdrawn thefreezing of DA and DR.Further, the bonus, which isdeclared in the first half ofOctober, has not beendeclared yet. DA due on July1, 2020 has also not yetdeclared.

“Instead of imposing moreadverse conditions on theexisting benefits of the CentralGovernment employees, theGovernment should imme-diately withdraw the DA/DRfreezing orders and declare thebonus for the current yearwithout any further delay,”demanded NFPE, OdishaState CoC chairmanBruhaspati Samal.

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Abus owner was fined awhopping Rs 5.81 lakh

and the vehicle was seized byRTO officials in the capital cityon Wednesday for violation ofMotor Vehicles Act and non-payment of tax.

According to reports, thebus bearing registration num-ber OD10F0409 plying fromKoraput to Bhubaneswar wasdetained by the Bhubaneswar-II RTO’S enforcement squad atKhandagiri here morning.

The vehicle owned bySneharekha Padhy of Pujariputin Koraput lacked stage car-riage permit and fitness cer-tificate. Besides, MV tax of thebus from May 2019 to October2020 amounting to Rs 5, 66,981was not paid.

The challan of Rs 5, 81,981has been issued against thevehicle owner while the buswas seized by RTO officials.

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Aperson was killed when atruck hit a trailer truck

carrying iron beams frombehind on the flyover near FireStation Square on NH-16 inBhubaneswar on Wednesdayafternoon.As per reports, themishap took place when thetrailer truck was in a station-ary position on the NH after

developing some technicalglitches. The driver of thetruck that hit the trailer wasseriously injured. With thehelp of police, he was rushedto a hospital, where he suc-cumbed to his injuries.

Later, ODRAF personnelreached the accident spot toremove the damaged truckthat was pierced with ironbeams loaded in the trailer.

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Tension prevailed at theBanapur hospital under

Balugaon block in Khordhadistrict when a man, who hadbeen detained by forest offi-cials, died while undergoingtreatment on Wednesday.

The deceased was identi-fied as Balabhadra Behera ofthe Bolagaon area in Nayagarhdistrict.According to sources,Behera was detained by ForestDepartment officials during apatrolling in Tamana forest onsuspicion of wood theft.

During detention Behera’shealth condition deterioratedand he was rushed to the hos-pital. However, he died whileundergoing treatment, sourcesadded. Meanwhile, familymembers of the deceased havealleged that Behera was tor-tured by forestt officials.

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The deep depression formedover north Andhra Pradesh

coast has triggered heavy rain-fall in various districts, partic-ularly Ganjam and Gajapati.But the rainfall would subsideas there is no warning for thenext two days, said SpecialRelief Commissioner PradeepKumar Jena on Wednesday.

Three blocks of Ganjamreceived rainfall over 300 mmwhile 16 blocks received rain-fall above 100 mm in last twodays. Seven blocks of Gajapatirecorded rainfall over 150 mm,said Jena.Kabisuryanagarreceived rainfall of 328 mm fol-lowed by Aska 307.6 mm andPurushottampur 306 mm.Similarly, Khalikote recorded252 mm rainfall,Sanakhemundi 265 mm,Sheragada 223 mm andMohana received 218 mm rain-fall.Narayanpatna in Koraputdistrict received 126.8 mmrainfall and Daspalla inNayagarah recorded 105 mmrainfall, added Jena.

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PCC president NiranjanPatnaik on Wednesday

expressed his disappointmentover the way the way the StateGovernment dealt with thedemise of former AssemblySpeaker Sarat Kumar Kar.

In a letter to CM NaveenPatnaik, he lamented that thedeceased leader was not givenappropriate homage and hon-our. "As the leader of theHouse, you will certaintyacknowledge his contributionas Speaker from the year 2000to 2004.

He too was a MP andCabinet Minister for a numberof times. It is indeed a matterof utter disappointment andhumiliation for the citizens ofOdisha, the great soul was notgiven proper homage and hon-our by the State," said the PCCchief. He also said that it was

painful when Kar was notallowed to be cremated atSwargadwar. "He was known asthe devotee of Sri Jagannathcult. The family and sondesired to take the body toSwargadwar for cremation tofulfil the last desire of greatsoul.

Reasons are best known toyou as to why prayer wasdenied while in some othercases the administration waslenient," said Patnaik in his let-ter.

"I think all these, perhapsdidn't happen with yourknowledge. If it is true, how theofficials of administration dareto dishonour and deny theprotocol and disrespect of sucha great soul.

It all impeached pain to themembers of the braved family.I believe it is a matter of mostinexcusable incident and inhuman nature," he wrote.

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Odisha is among six States tobenefit from the World

Bank-aided StrengtheningTeaching-Learning and Resultsfor States (STARS) educationproject, which the UnionCabinet approved onWednesday.

The other States areHimachal Pradesh, Rajasthan,Maharashtra, Madhya Pradeshand Kerala.

This project would beimplemented as a Centrally-sponsored one under theUnion Education Ministry’sDepartment of SchoolEducation and Literacy at a costis Rs 5,718 crore with a WorldBank support of $500 million.

The project is aimed atdeveloping, implementing,evaluating and improvinginterventions with direct link-ages to improved educationoutcomes and school-to-worktransition strategies forimproved labour market out-comes.

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The KISS Foundation hasextended a helping hand to

two hapless brothers ofTelgabeda village under Jiangapanchayat in Mathili block ofMalkangiri district.

Notably, the elder brother,who was sold by his parents,had been rescued byAnganwadi Worker JayantiKhara, who provided him careafter learning about his situa-tion.

The younger sibling wasrescued from Siraguda village,where he was engaged as a goattender. After knowing aboutthe plight of the two siblingsfrom the media, KISS

Foundation founder DrAchyuta Samanta came for-ward to help them. He con-tacted them through his rep-resentatives and assured themthat they would be admitted tothe Kalinga Institute of SocialSciences (KISS), where theywould receive free education.

The KISS Foundation willprovide Rs 2,000 per month tothem to meet their day-to-dayexpenses.

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Work in tandem with thedistrict administration

and lay collaborative base ofyour career during your days indivisions and districts,” advisedChief Secretary Asit Tripathy tothe Indian Forest Service (IFS)probationers when the latercame to meet him in theLokseva Bhawan on Tuesday.

Sharing his field experi-ences with the probationers,Tripathy added, Odisha is anexcellent State for forest officersto work and learn. The State haswider stretches of forest withrich biodiversity. Communityparticipation in forest manage-ment is a best practice of Odishaand, it is the strength of forestconservation and improvementin the State. Further, Tripathysaid, “Community participa-tion becomes more lively andeffective when added with otherdevelopmental schemes of theGovernment, routed through

Collectors and Superintendentsof Police.” He advised the offi-cers to feel themselves a part ofthe district administration.

He added, “Many forestofficers of the State have doneexcellent works during emer-gencies and exigencies in closecooperation with other depart-ments. Their services have alsobeen very helpful in ongoinghealth emergency of Covid-19.” Tripathy emphasized thatthe forest officers can serve theforest and the forest dwellersbetter in active cooperationwith other departments.

Two probationers namelyRavi Meena from Rajasthanand Sudarshan Yadhav fromMaharashtra under the guid-ance of Dr HB PandaAdditional Commissioner,Gopobandhu Academy ofAdministration, met the ChiefSecretary. Meena has been post-ed to Angul Forest Division andYadhav has been posted toBaripada forest division.

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The 78km road from Paradipto Chandikhol (NH-5A) is

one of the busiest roads of theState and high revenue gener-ating highways.

Because the highway is con-nected to the Paradip port

and port based industries likePPL, Iffco, IOCL refinery, Essarsteel and others, it has a lot ofimportance.

But though both sides ofthe road are crowded withslums, residential colonies andvillages but there is noapproach road. Besides, theroad is not repaired.Over25,000 trucks, including heavyvehicles like project cagro car-riers run on the road round-the-clock.

Even the Iffco and Essarsteel plants are directly con-nected to the highway. But itseems none bothers for the

road. So potholes and dust pol-lution are a major worry for theroad users who often meetaccidents. Every day small orbig accidents occur on theroad.

The step motherly attitudeof the NHAI towards NH 5(A)is spreading resentment amongthe locals. Convenor, OdishaRasta Suraksha Mancha, ArunKumar Pani demanded that theCuttack Paradip and ParadipChandikhol road be madefour- laned. Pani has also sub-mitted a petition to theCollector Jagatsinghpur in thisregard.

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If Odisha can initiate a plan tohave an alternative Kolkata-

Chennai route, in terms ofbuilding railway and highwaypassing through Kharagpur,Baripada, Talcher, Phulbani,Bhawanipatna, Nabarangpur,Jeypore, Malkangiri, Motu,Bhadrachalam and Vijayawadaas a heartline, it will bringdevelopment in service, addnew investment in these placesand change the perception,said NRO Prof Digambar Patraof the American University ofBeirut.

Moreover, the 100 kmradius of such a highway willbring together northern, east-ern central and southern dis-tricts, minimizing regional feel-ing, he said in a letter to CMNaveen Patnaik.

While hailing the develop-ment plan of present Kolkata-Chennai route via Baleswar,Bhubaneswar and Brahmapurcovering 400 km distance inOdisha, Prof Patra said the pro-posed route via Baripada,

Bhawanipatna and Motu willcover 750 km distance bene-fiting Odisha the most. Such aroute will boost many touristlocations along the route.

The way the OdishaGovernment made the Bijuexpressway including thenational highway and the statehighway, the proposedexpressway can be easily con-structed.

For instance, there isalready a 4 lane national high-way from Kolkata to Baripadaand an existing national andState highway from Baripada toTumudibandh (Kandhamal)except that a bridge overMahanadi to connectPurunakatak (Boudh) directlymay further straighten theroute.

Similarly, there is a Stateand national highway fromTumudhibandh toBhawanipatna. But the curvevia Madanpur Rampur can beshortened by converting a vil-lage road betweenTumudibandh (Kandhamal)and Lanjigarh road (Kalahandi)to highway. This will also boostLanjigarh road as a railwayjunction and develop this local-ity. Bhawanipatna toBhadrachalam via Motu has anexisting national highway. Alarge part of the proposed

heartline passing fromBaripada to Motu has a nation-al highway and many of themare to be converted to 4 lanesor 6 lanes. The OdishaGovernment just needs to workwith the Central Governmentto convert them as soon as pos-sible and make all the Statehighways and a couple of smallvillage roads, such as Lanjigarhroad to Tumudibandh to 4lane highways, he said.

When it comes to the rail-ways, there is an existing railline from Lanjigarh road toJunagarh road. Constructionwork has just begun for Jeyporeto Nabarangpur and Jeypore toMalkangiri. A survey has beendone from Junagarh road toNabarangpur and Lanjigarhroad to Talcher.

There was a proposal tosurvey from Malkangiri toBhadrachalam road andTalcher to Kharagpur viaBaripada. Since it will be a hugeinvestment, this will be themost challenging aspect of thisroute which may discouragerailways. However, it is asso-ciated with the development ofhinterland and tribal-domi-nated regions of Odisha, mak-ing it in the greater interest ofthe Odisha State. Therefore, theOdisha Government has to actproactively, he added.

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The All India DemocraticStudents’ organisation

(AIDSO) organised a demon-stration in front of the Boardof Secondary Education officehere on Monday, opposingthe State Government’s deci-sion to hold online teststhrough online and demand-ing reopening of schools and

running of physical classesonly after the Covid pan-demic. “ The StateGovernment’s plan to hold anexcellence test for Class X stu-dent though online could notmaterialise due to link failure.

As a result , theGovernment has postponedthe test for further order. Infact, all students don’t havesmart phones or computersand network is not available.Students are precariouslyclimbing trees, hills and otherdangerous places to avail net-work.

Besides, unreportedpower cuts add to students’woes. Under these circum-stances, how the StateGovernment is going for

online teaching,” wanted toknow AIDSO State membersBhagyarabi Das and others.

They alleged that the StateGovernment’s move intendedto pave way for implementa-tion of National EducationPolicy 2020.

The online move woulddeprive thousands of studentsof teaching.

Thus, the Governmentshould plan to reopenschools, conduct classroomexaminations and introducepass-fail systems for Class I toVIII students after Covid sit-uation becomes normal,demanded they.

They warned to intensifyagitation if the demands arenot met soon.

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The State Government hasurged the National

Highways Authority ofIndia(NHAI) to take up imme-diate renovation of severalnational highways in order toimprove accessibility to themining zones.

Principal SecretaryIndustries Hemant Sharma haswritten to Chairman NHAISukhbir Singh Sandhu, whilerequesting immediate inter-

vention as serious problems arefaced by the steel makers in theState.

While Odisha enjoys aleadership role in mineral andmetal production in the coun-try, the State Governmentthrough its progressive indus-trial policy and other initiativeshas given impetus for thegrowth of the mineral sectorand metal industries. This isbeing done keeping in view theemployment generation andeconomic development asso-ciated with the sector.

However, steel makers arefacing a problem with regard toaccessibility to mining zones asroad condition is very poor.Several National Highwayscrossing the mining zones needimmediate repair and renova-

tion, pointed out the PrincipalSecretary Industries.Recently,the Indian SteelAssociation(ISA) has flaggedconcern over the poor accessi-bility to the mining zones,which is hampering move-ment of machines and metalsin these areas. At least sevenNational Highways like NH -20, 53, 55, 59, 143, 215, 520need immediate attention ofthe NHAI as these form a life-line of the steel industry.

NH-20 from Remuli toPanikoili, NH-53 fromChandikhole to Talcher, NH-55from Cuttack to Sambalpur,NH-59 from Keonjhar toTeleibani, NH-520 fromParsora to Rajamunda are cov-ering the mining zones andconnecting to the industrial

areas. As the NHs are poor in

condition, movement ofmachineries and metals to thesteel industries is posing aserious problem, pointed outthe ISA.The National Highwaysare connecting major industrialzones and steel sector townslike Kalinga Nagar, Rourkela,Angul and others.

The SAIL is using NH-520for iron ore transportationfrom Kalta mines and facing alot of difficulties as the NH isin poor condition from Parsorato Rajamunda via Kalta. TheNH is running thorough min-ing belt and India’s major steelmaker is facing the problem,officials pointed out. Whilethe Ministry of Steel hasplanned an integrated steel

hub in Kalinga Nagar andaccelerated development of theeastern region as PrimeMinister has stressed onPurvodaya, it is expected thatout of 300 Million Tonne(MT)of steel capacity by 2030-31,over 200 MT can come fromthe region alone.

However, unless the acces-sibility of the mining zones isimproved, excellent opportu-nity to spearhead the expectedgrowth in the domestic steelsector will face a bottleneck,admit officials. EarlierAdditional Secretary Ministryof Steel had also written to theMinistry of Road Transportand Highways to lay downcritical logistics and infra-structure projects identifiedfor the steel zones.

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The long-awaited dream ofsetting up a Trauma Care

Centre at Panikoili has cometrue. The Department ofHealth and Family Welfarehas approved it.

Jajpur MLA PranabPrakash Das had promised toset up a trauma care center atPanikoili.

Thanks to the efforts ofDas and the collaboration ofPanikoil i Public WorksDepartment ExecutiveEngineer and current PublicWorks DepartmentSuperintendent, Tara PrasadMishra, the trauma care cen-ter is going to be establishedsoon. The Department of

Health and Family Welfarehas issued a letter of approvalon October 9 to the project.

The estimated cost of the100-bed trauma care center isRs 70 crore. With its approval,the plan has a lso beenreleased.The claim of a trau-

ma care center was justifiedbecause of the connection oftwo highways at Panikoili.Carrying out the trauma willhelp save the lives of all thepeople of Jajpur district andthose injured in road acci-dents.

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A91-year-old man,Kashinath Padhi, was dis-

charged from the JeyporeCovid Hospital on Wednesdayafter defeating the deadly viruswith a strong willpower.

Padhi is a resident ofBasuguda Sahi of Kotpad inKoraput district. He willremain under home isolationfor next few days on doctors’suggestion to avoid spread ofthe infection.

Notably, Padhi was fifthmember of his family to havecontracted the virus. Earlier, hisson Santosh Padhi, grandsonsAbinash Padhi and DeepakPadhi and a close relative at hishome had been infected. Theyrecovered afterwards.

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Adrop of soap diluted inwater is sufficient to rup-

ture and kill many types of bac-teria and viruses, includingthe new Covid-19 virus that iscurrently circling the globe.The secret to soap’s impressivemight is its hybrid structure.Soap is made of pin-shapedmolecules, each of which has ahydrophilic head — it readilybonds with water — and ahydrophobic tail, which shuns

water and prefers to link upwith oils and fats. These mol-ecules, when suspended inwater, alternately float about assolitary units, interact withother molecules in the solutionand assemble themselves intolittle bubbles called micelles,with heads pointing outwardand tails tucked inside.

While washing your handswith soap and water, you sur-round any microorganisms onyour skin with soap molecules,the hydrophobic tails of thefree-floating soap moleculesattempt to evade water. In theprocess, they wedge themselvesinto the lipid envelopes of cer-tain microbes and viruses, pry-ing them apart.

A proper hand washinvolves lathering soap andscrubbing hands on both sidesfor at least 20 seconds, accord-ing to WHO guidelines.October 15 is Global Handwashing Day, a global advoca-cy day dedicated to increasing

awareness and understandingabout the importance of handwashing with soap as an effec-tive and affordable way to pre-vent diseases and save lives dur-ing the pandemic of this cen-tury.

The Covid-19 pandemicprovides a stark reminder thatone of the most effective waysto stop the spread of a virus isalso one of the simplest ie, handhygiene, especially throughhand washing with soap. Handstouch too many surfaces andcan quickly pick up viruses.

Once contaminated, handscan transfer the virus to yourface, from where the virus canmove inside your body, makingyou feel unwell. Hand washingwith soap must be a prioritynow and in the future in orderto beat the virus today andensure better health outcomesbeyond the pandemic period.

This year’s theme “HandHygiene for All” calls for all ofsociety to achieve universal

hand hygiene. Hand hygiene iskey to keeping ourselves andothers protected from Coronavirus disease.

Even people who are rela-tively young and healthy shouldregularly wash their hands,particularly during a pandem-ic, because they can spread thedisease to those who are morevulnerable.

Washing with soap andwater is one of the key publichealth practices that can sig-nificantly slow the rate of apandemic and limit the num-ber of infections, preventing adisastrous overburdening ofhospitals and clinics.

Different measures are tobe taken like setting up a net-work of public hand-washingstations – something done inWest Africa during the Ebolaoutbreak of 2014.

(Dr Senapati is DeanScience, Biju Patnaik Universityof Technology)

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Bharatiya Bikash ParishadState president Surendra

Panigrahi filed a FIR onMonday against former J&KCM and now MP FarooqAbdullah, for provocative pub-lic speech against the interestthe country.

The FIR was filed byPanigrahi based on somemedia reports, the FIR stated.Panigrahi alleged that Abdullahin his interview to some elec-tronic media reportedly heldthe Center’s decision to abro-gate Article-370 responsiblefor Chinese aggression at theLAC in Laddakh.

Panigrahi also alleged that,Abdullah reportedly said that,“China never accepted” theabrogation of Article-370 andhoped that the same will berestored in J&K with China’ssupport. Panigrahi saidAbdullah was advocating the

restoration of Article-370 of theConstitution of India not byConstitutional means, butthrough the use of external andforeign forces particularly byseeking help from China withwhom the Indian Republic iscurrently entangled in a war-like situation.

The very act of Abdullahhas hurt the public sentimentsin India and it is a challenge tothe sovereignty and territorialintegrity of the country.

The Parishad submitted acopy of the FIR to the Secretary,Union Ministry of HomeAffairs, Chief Secretary,Odisha, Director General ofPolice (Cuttack), DIG Police(SR) and SP of Police District,Brahmapur for their informa-tion and necessary action.

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Vigilance officials onWednesday raided the

houses of Bhubanananda Sahu,Hindi teacher of the JashodaHigh School, Jhadankuli underRangeilunda block in Ganjamdistrict, at different locations inBrahmapur, Bhubaneswar andPuri town on allegations ofacquiring assets dispropor-tionate to known sources of hisincome.

The searches were con-ducted at his residential houseat Baikunthanagar, anotherhouse at Baikunthanagar, afour-storied building atBrahmanagar in Brahmapur, ashop at Nimakhandi in

Brahmapur, a rented house atKalpana Square and a 3BHKflat at Sundarpada inBhubaneswar, a 1BHK flat atPuri, office at Jashoda HighSchool, a house at native placeChikiti in Ganjam district, aprivate school run by his fam-ily members near Chikiti.

The value of his total mov-able and immovable assetswould be calculated after com-pletion of the searches.

In a similar case, AshokNanda, a Senior Clerk of theRegulated Market Committee(RMC) in Nabarangpur districtcame under the Vigilance neton the charge of possessingassets disproportionate to hisknown source of income. AVigilance team raided hisancestral single-storied houseand his two-storied residenceand office of RMC.

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A20-year-old youth com-mitted suicide at

Badamasigam village inNabarangpur district followinghim tested Covid-19 positiveon Tuesday.The deceased wasidentified as Narendra Bisoi.

Sources said Narendraalong with his friends hadundergone RT-PCR test at theSanamasigam CommunityHealth Centre (CHC). AsNarendra’s reports came outpositive, the health staffsinformed him about it andasked him to remain in isola-tion.

Hearing this, Narendra gotdistressed and. later in theevening; he went to his houseand consumed pesticide.Though his family membersrushed him to the DistrictHeadquarters Hospital (DHH)here, doctors declared himbrought dead.

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Hundreds of members,including women, of the

Hospital Banchao Andolan(HBA) took to the streets inBargarh town on Wednesdaypressing for functioning of afull–fledged CommunityHealth Centre (CHC) at the oldDistrict Headquarters Hospital(DHH) building.

Earlier, Chief MinisterNaveen Patnaik hadannounced a setting of a full-fledged CHC on demands ofthe local residents. The CHC atpresent does not have adequatestrength of doctors, nurses,health workers and therequired equipments, the HBAmembers said.The agitators

went in a procession from theDHH building to the BargarhCollector holding banners andshouting slogans. The agitatorssaid healthcare in the town hasbeen severely affected after theDHH was shifted to its newcampus at Tukurla, about 10km from here.From that daythe town residents are facing a

lot of difficulties due to it. Theyhave demanded the ChiefMinister to intervene andensure adequate staffs andother equipment for the CHC.Among others, HBA’s BhabaniSahu, Anitab Patra, RameshPati Pabitra Dehuri, BasamatiBanchhor and Meriyam Barlawere present.

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Two candidates filed theirnomination papers for the

Tirtol (SC) Assembly by-elec-tion on Wednesday. They wereBijaya Kumar Bhoi from theCPI and Independent aspirantArjuna Charan Behera.

BJP nominee RajkishoreBehera had filed his papers onTuesday. The last date of filingnominations is October 16.

Meanwhile, a training pro-gramme for educatingPresiding and Polling Officersfor the Tirtol by-poll was heldon the day at the SVM Collegehere, which was inaugurated byDistrict Election Officer-cum-Collector Saroj Kumar Mishra.

Mishra emphasised onstrict adherence to the Covid-19 guidelines during the poll.

The training camp wasattended by Assistant CollectorChinmayee Biswal, TehsildarsManas Ranjan Bhoi andSidhartha Kumar Sahoo,DIPRO Kaminiranjan Patnaik.

As many as 271 Presidingand Polling Officers wereimparted training on the daywhile others would be trainedphase wise.

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Page 4: ˆ˛ˇ€¦ · 14.10.2020  · Me Ee Ba” to showcase the infrastructure development in Bihar under the NDA regime. The BJP’s video song also men- tions the opening of IITs, AIIMS,

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The National InvestigationAgency (NIA) has con-

ducted searches at six locationsin Punjab in connection withthe Sikh for Justice (SFJ) caserelating to hoisting of the socalled Khalistani flag by thecadres of the outlawed outfit atthe office of the DeputyCommissioner”s Office, Moga(Punjab) on the eve ofIndependence Day, 2020.

The agency conductedsearches at six locations inFerozpur, Ludhiana and Mogadistricts of Punjab on TuesdayNIA case relating to Khalistaniflag hoisting case.

“This crime was commit-ted by the miscreants whowere offered cash rewards atthe behest of terroristGurpatwant Singh Pannu ofSFJ for this heinous act,” theNIA said in a statement.

The agency further said,“The searched premises belongto the accused AkashdeepSingh, Jogwinder Singh,Inderjeet Singh, Jaspal Singhand Ram Tirath.

The cyber cafe belongingto the accused Jaspal Singh wasalso searched.”

During searches, variouselectronic items like pen drives,laptops, hard disc and otherincriminating documents havebeen seized, it said.

The background of thecase is that on August 14,2020, two miscreants hoisteda yellow coloured flag withKhalistan written on it on theterrace of the four-storiedbuilding of the DeputyCommissioner Off iceComplex, Moga (Punjab) andwhile coming back, they cutthe rope of the IndianNational Flag hoisted near themain gate and dragged the

Indian National Flag alongwith the rope.

In connection with thisincident, a case was registeredat Moga police station videFIR No: 136 of 2020 datedAugust 14, 2020. The case wasre-registered by the NIA asRC-30/2020/NIA/DLI underIndian Penal Code (IPC)Sections relating to wagingwar against the nation, con-spiracy for waging war againstthe nation, sedition, promot-ing enmity between differentgroups on grounds of religion, imputations preju-dicial to national integrationand Section 2 of Prevention ofInsults to National HonoursAct, 1972.

Further investigation inthe case is continuing.

SFJ is a banned terroristoutfit in India and Pannuhas been designated as a ter-rorist.The SFJ is a projectlaunched and sustained atthe behest of Pakistan”s spyagency Inter-Ser vicesIntelligence (ISI) to carry outthe so -called Referendum2020 online.

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The Coronavirus-triggeredlockdown in the first half of

2020 has led to a decline of 1,551million tones of carbon dioxideemission which was higher thanduring the financial crisis of2008, the oil crisis of the 1979, oreven World War II, according toa study by an international teamof researchers.

The study, published in thejournal NatureCommunications, pointed outthat the greatest reduction ofemissions was observed in theground transportation sector,largely because of working fromhome restrictions. TransportCO2 emissions decreased by 40per cent worldwide while in con-trast, the power and industry sec-tors contributed less to thedecline, with -22 per cent and -17 per cent respectively, as didthe aviation and shipping sectors.

“In the first six months ofthis year, 8.8 percent less carbondioxide was emitted than in thesame period in 2019 - a totaldecrease of 1,551 million tones,”

said the study which not onlyoffers a much more precise lookat COVID-19”s impact on glob-al energy consumption thanprevious analyses.

“What makes our studyunique is the analysis of metic-ulously collected near-real-timedata” explains lead author ZhuLiu from the Department ofEarth System Science atTsinghua University in Beijing.

“By looking at the daily fig-ures compiled by the CarbonMonitor research initiative wewere able to get a much fasterand more accurate overview,including timelines that showhow emissions decreases havecorresponded to lockdown mea-sures in each country.

“In April, at the height of thefirst wave of Corona infections,when most major countriesshut down their public life andparts of their economy, emis-sions even declined by 16.9 %.Overall, the various outbreaksresulted in emission drops thatwe normally see only on ashort-term basis on holidayssuch as Christmas or the

Chinese Spring Festival.”“The greatest reduction of

emissions was observed in theground transportation sector,”explains Daniel Kammen, pro-fessor and Chair of the Energyand Resources Group and alsoprofessor in the GoldmanSchool of Public Policy,University of California,Berkeley.

Surprisingly, even the resi-dential sector saw a small emis-sions drop of 3 %: largelybecause of an abnormally warmwinter in the northern hemi-sphere, heating energy con-sumption decreased with mostpeople staying at home all dayduring lockdown periods.”

The authors have stressedthat the only valid strategy to sta-bilise the climate is a completeoverhaul of the industry andcommerce sector. “While theCO2 drop is unprecedented,decreases of human activitiescannot be the answer,” says Co-Author Hans JoachimSchellnhuber, founding directorof the Potsdam Institute forClimate Impact Research.

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In a move to provide housingfor urban poor, the Ministry

of Housing and Urban Affairson Wednesday will provideconcessional finance underAffordable Housing Fund(AHF), rebate in taxes andadditional floor area ratio forAffordable Rental HousingComplexes (ARHCs). Thescheme will be implementedthrough two models.

To make this a lucrativeand viable business opportu-nity for Entities, Central Govt.will provide ConcessionalProject finance underAffordable Housing Fund(AHF) & Priority SectorLending (PSL), Exemption inIncome Tax and GST and tech-nology innovation grant forpromotion of innovative tech-nologies in ARHCs. Further,State/UT government will pro-vide Use Permission changes,50% additional Floor Area

Ratio/ Floor space index (FSI)free of cost, Single WindowApproval within 30 days, TrunkInfrastructure facility andMunicipal charges at par withresidential property.

This was announced byUnion Housing and UrbanAffairs minister Hardeep SinghPuri while addressing a webi-nar at the launch of ARHCsportal. He also released theguidelines and guidebook onthis occasion.

According to the ministry,in the first model, the existinggovernment funded vacanthouses to be converted intoARHCs through Public PrivatePartnership or by public agen-cies for a period of 25years.The scheme provides anopportunity for all States/UTsto convert their existing vacanthouses constructed under var-ious Central/ StateGovernment schemes intoARHCs. A model request forproposal (RFP) has been

shared with all States for cus-tomisation and issuance bythem to select a concessionaire.

In the second model,vacant land lying unutilisedwith various Industries, TradeAssociations, ManufacturingCompanies, Educational/Health Institutions,Development Authorities,Housing Boards, Central/ StatePublic Sector Undertakings(PSUs) and other such Entitieswill be used for ARHCs for aperiod of 25 years. “By pro-viding with appropriate policysupport, enabling suitable pro-visions and incentives, theseavailable vacant lands can beutilised effectively for devel-oping affordable housing facil-ities to migrants/ poor,” theministry said. Further, theministry will issue Expressionof Interest (EoI) for shortlist-ing of Entities by urban localbodies to Construct, Operateand Maintain ARHCs on theirown available vacant land.

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Union Health MinisterHarsh Vardhan on

Wednesday launched the sec-ond phase of a Coal India CSRinitiative to provide financialassistance for treatment ofunderprivileged thalassemicpatients.

Launched in 2017, theThalassemia Bal Sewa Yojanais a hematopoietic stem celltransplantation (HSCT) pro-gramme that aims to providea one-time cure opportunityfor haemoglobinopathies likethalassaemia and sickle celldisease for patients who havea matched family donor.

The CSR initiative wastargeted to provide financialassistance to a total of 200patients by providing a pack-age cost not exceeding Rs 10lakh per HSCT.

Vardhan congratulated thedoctors of SGPGI Lucknow,PGI Chandigarh, AIIMS Delhi,CMC Vellore, Tata MedicalCentre in Kolkata and Rajeev

Gandhi Cancer Institute, Delhifor the successful transplanta-tion of 135 children withoutcharging any physician fee,according to a Health Ministrystatement.

“Data on the prevalence ofsilent carriers for varioushaemoglobinopathies showthat it is 2.9-4.6 per cent for ß-Thalassemia, while it can be ashigh as 40 per cent for sicklecell anaemia especially amongthe tribal population.Haemoglobin variants likeHBE in eastern India can be ascommon as 3-50 per centwhich calls for more attentionto these diseases,” he was quot-ed as saying in the statement.

He also acknowledgedCMC, Ludhiana and NarayanHrudayalaya, Bangalore whohave agreed to provide thisadvanced care therapy from2020.

Expressing gratitude toCoal India and their CSRteam for providing suchopportunity to the BPLpatients suffering from haema-

tological disorders and extend-ing the support for anothertwo years from 2020, Vardhanmentioned the issue of highout-of-pocket-expenditure onhealth services in India.

“People go bankrupt sell-ing ancestral land and the lastproperty paying for their treat-ment. It is precisely that painthat moved Prime MinisterNarendra Modi to introducethe Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan AarogyaYojana for targeted populace,”he said.

Expressing satisfactionthat the scheme has beenextended to cover aplasticanaemia patients for a total of200 such patients from thisyear, he said, “Such cases canbe prevented by counsellingusing the Ayushman Bharat–Health and Wellness Centresnetwork. We have made bloodtransfusion facilities availablein every district hospital whilesome districts also offer thefacility in health centres at sub-district level.

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Hyderabad-based drugphrama Bharat Biotech

has decided to cut by half itsnumber of volunteers and sub-sequently reduce trial sites forthe Phase II clinical trials ofcoronavirus vaccine candidateCovaxin. This may lead to anexpedition of phase-2 trials,said a few reports.

According to the reports,the biotechnology firm hadenrolled 750 volunteers for theCovaxin trials, but has nowreduced the number to 380who will be dosed with thevaccine.

The number of trial siteswould also be reduced accord-ingly. This may lead to anexpedition of phase-2 trialsand a possible early start of thethird phase – leading to ashortened duration of clinicaltrials for Covaxin.

The report, citing lead

trial investigators, suggeststhat the decision to scale-down the trial size was basedon good sero-conversion orimmunogenicity seen in vol-unteers during phase-1.

The potential vaccineagainst COVID-19, the diseasecaused by the novel coron-avirus, is being developed byHyderabad-based BharatBiotech in collaboration withthe Indian Council of MedicalResearch (ICMR) and theNational Institute of Virology(NIV).

The f irst phase ofCovaxin”s clinical trialinvolved 375 volunteers.Interim data from phase-1has not been made public yet.

The reports further sug-gests that no major adversereactions have been noted sofar, apart from minor sideeffects such as mild fever andbody aches.

Researchers are currently

in the process of administer-ing the second dose to partic-ipants as part of the phase-2trial. Two doses of the Covaxinvaccine candidate are to beadministered with a gap of 14days between them.

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People in many cities have towait to buy a bicycle of their

choice due to a massive surge indemand. Bicycle sales in Indiahave grown by over two-folds inthe last five months as people areopting for this cheapest mode oftransport to cover short to medi-um amid coronavirus pandem-ic. According to the All IndiaBicycle ManufacturersAssociation (AICMA), a total of41,80,945 bicycles have beensold in the country in the fivemonths from May to September2020. In May, the number ofbicycles sold was 4,56,818. Thisnumber almost doubled to8,51,060 in June, while inSeptember, the country sold11,21,544 cycles in a month.

AICMA secretary general K

B Thakur said the increase indemand for bicycles is unprece-dented. “Probably for the firsttime in history, such a trend hasbeen seen on bicycles.” “Sales ofbicycles have gone up by over100 per cent in these fivemonths. In many places peoplehave to wait for their favouritecycle, booking has to be done.Such a trend has been seen forthe first time in the country andthe reason can be attributed tohealth awareness after the coro-navirus pandemic, they said.

Thakur said that the coro-navirus pandemic crisis hasmade people aware of theirhealth and immunity but at thesame time they have becomeconscious about social distanc-ing. In such a situation, a bicy-cle has emerged as an option, headded.

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In order to step up efforts forensuring better air quality

and address pollution relatedissues in the upcoming winterseason, strict vigil will be main-tained against polluting activi-ties in Delhi and neighbouringtowns, the Union EnvironmentMinistry said on Wednesday.

Fifty teams of the CentralPollution Control Board(CPCB) will be deployed tomake extensive field visits fromOctober 15 this year tillFebruary 28 next year, it said.

In a statement, the Ministryof Environment said the teamswill visit Delhi and NCR towns— Noida, Ghaziabad, Meerut inUttar Pradesh; Gurugram,Faridabad, Ballabgarh, Jhajjar,Panipat, Sonepat in Haryana;and Bhiwadi, Alwar, Bharatpurin Rajasthan.

These teams will specifi-cally focus on hotspot areaswhere the problem is aggra-vated, it said.

“Strict vigil will be main-tained against polluting activ-ities in the upcoming winterseason. On-spot reporting ofmajor air polluting sourcessuch as major constructionactivities without proper con-trol measures, dumping ofgarbage and construction wastealongside the roads and on

open plots, unpaved roads,open burning ofgarbage/industrial waste, etc.will be done using SAMEERApp.

“Feedback on pollutingactivities will be shared withconcerned agencies throughan automated system, for quickaction. Details will also beshared with StateGovernments. This will help intaking timely actions and mon-itoring at appropriate levels bythe concerned agencies,” itsaid.

The ministry said that acentral control room at theCPCB headquarters has beenmade functional for keepingtrack of pollution levels onhour-to-hour basis and overallcoordination with state agen-cies.

In addition, district-wisenodal officers have beenappointed for better manage-ment and coordination withteams, the ministry said.

“Air quality in winter sea-son is a major environmentalconcern in Delhi and NCRregion. Various efforts arebeing taken since past fiveyears for air quality manage-ment in the region. Althoughgradual year-on-year improve-ment in air quality has beenobserved, a lot needs to bedone,” it said.

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Talks between Congress andthe Left over sharing of

seats for the next year WestBengal Assembly elections willbegin next week. The Left andthe Congress have hit the roadstogether over the last one yearon several issues, opposing theTMC government in the stateand the BJP-led government atthe Centre. The Left-Congresstie-up bagged 76 seats in the294- member assembly in 2016.

“Now, this is the time totake forward this alliance to itslogical conclusion, and that issharing of seats for the elec-tions. The preliminary talkswill begin next week,” seniorCongress leader and WestBengal Congress chief Adhir

Ranjan Chowdhury said onWednesday. The Lok SabhaMP said TMC and the BJP aretrying to polarise the state oncommunal lines, and it is theduty of the Left and theCongress to provide a thirdalternative.

The two sides want tobegin the talks as earlyOctober for the elections like-ly to be held in April-May nextyear. “The talks are beingstarted now so that there areno problems at the lastmoment. We struck a seat-sharing deal for the 2016assembly elections but it washalf-baked. During the 2019Lok Sabha polls, we couldn”tstitch an alliance as the talksfailed at the last moment,”Chowdhury said.

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The Indian army claimed tohave foiled a suspected

BAT (Border Action Team)operation along the line ofcontrol in Tangdhar sector ofNorth Kashmir's Kupwara dis-trict on Wednesday. Earlier,two weapon smuggling bidswere foiled by the alert troopsfrom across the line of control.

It is after a gap of morethan six months, heavily armedintruders supported by thePakistani army had attempteda BAT operation in the area.Earlier, five heavily armed ter-rorists were neutralised by theelite para commandos of theIndian army in the Keran sec-

tor of Kupwara as they hadattempted to infiltrate insidethe Indian territory.

Meanwhile, in a separateanti-terrorist operation, twoterrorists were gunned down bythe joint team of security forcesin Chakura area of Shopian onWednesday.

Till the time of filing thereport the operation was notcalled off as thorough search-es were still going on in andaround the encounter site torule out the presence of anyother hiding terrorist.

Earlier, the operation waslaunched by the joint team ofsecurity forces on receipt of theinformation about the presenceof terrorists in the area.Director General of Police,

Dilbagh Singh told reporters,"so far two terrorists have beeneliminated in the ongoing oper-ation and searches were goingon to confirm the presence ofa third terrorist in the area".

In a brief statement thetwitter handle of Srinagar basedChina Corps said, " a suspect-ed BAT(Border Action Team)action bid was foiled by thealert troops early Wednesdaymorning in Tangdhar".

It further said, "suspiciousactivity of 3-4 intruders wasobserved by the alert troops,close to forward post along theline of control.Timely action bythe alert troops averted infil-tration bid. The entire area waskept under surveillance", thestatement added.

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Agroup of mainstreamKashmiri politicians led

by a sitting Member ofParliament from Srinagar DrFarooq Abdullah are all set toattend a brainstorming sessionto review the present politicalsituation and decide theirfuture course of action onThursday.

Mainly signatories of theGupkar Declaration have beenextended a formal invitation toassemble at the residence ofNational Conference ChiefDr Abdullah.

Gupkar Declaration is ajoint effort of all the regionalmainstream political parties –the National Conference, thePeoples Democratic Party, thePeoples Conference, the

Awami National Conferenceand the CPI (M) - of Jammuand Kashmir to fight for thespecial status of the erstwhile State.

Earlier, both Dr Farooqand Omar Abdullah had calledon PDP Chief MehboobaMufti at her residence to per-sonally meet her where theyextended her an invitation toattend the meeting.

Soon after her release lateTuesday night, former Jammuand Kashmir Chief MinisterMehbooba Mufti vowed tofight for the restoration ofArticle 370.

Calling August 5, 2019 ablack day, Mufti urged every-one in Jammu and Kashmir towork towards resolving theKashmir conflict.

Sharing details of the their

meeting former Chief MinisterOmar Abdullah tweeted,“Myfather and I called onMehbooba Mufti Sahiba thisafternoon to enquire about herwell-being after her releasefrom detention. She has kind-ly accepted Farooq Sb’s invita-tion to join a meeting of theGupkar Declaration signato-ries’ tomorrow afternoon(Thursday)”.

“Today our visit was with-out any political motive andwe wanted to know her well being.

In the meeting tomorrow,the present political situationwill be reviewed and what willbe the future agenda of theGupkar Declaration signato-ries in one view, that will alsobe discussed,” he said in anoth-er tweet.

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Kerala Congress (Mani) fac-tion, a political outfit of the

Catholic community in Kerala,severed its 33-year-old alliancewith the Indian NationalCongress on Wednesday andmoved over to the LeftDemocratic Front led by theCPI(M).

Jose K Mani, son of late K MMani, one of the founders of theKerala Congress, announced hisdecision to join the CPI(M)camp after a meeting of the highpower committee of the factionheld at Kottayam. Mani Jr alsoannounced his resignation fromthe membership of the RajyaSabha, which he had won in2018 as a UDF nominee.

This is being seen as thebuild up to the 2021 assemblyelection as the CPI(M) badlywants to retain and return topower. Presently, the party isunder siege because of scamsand corruption charges rangingfrom Gold smuggling, datesimport and LIFE Mission payoff.

It is reported that theCPI(M) leadership has assuredthe KC(M) that the latter wouldbe allocated 12 to 15 seats in theupcoming assembly electionexpected to be held in March -April 2021. The CPI(M) leader-ship hope that it would be ableto retain power in the nextassembly election in company ofthe KC(M) faction, which hasconsiderable influence amongthe Catholic community in dis-tricts like Kottayam, Idukki,Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha andIdukki.

“It is a welcome move by theKerala Congress. The LDF andthe Kerala Congress would be ina win-win situation,” said ChiefMinister Pinarayi Vijayan aboutthe development. Former chiefminister and senior Congressleader Oommen Chandidescribed Jose Mani’s move as

immature and foolish.Meanwhile, the NCP, a con-

stituent of the LDF expressed itsdispleasure over the CPI(M)move to accommodate JoseMani. Mani C Kappen, whohad defeated the KC(M) factionleader in the by-poll at Palanecessitated by the demise ofMani said that he was in talkswith the Congress-led UDF.

The CPI(M) had tried itsbest to derail the presentation ofthe Kerala Budget by the thenFinance Minister K M Mani inthe House in February 2016. Theassembly witnessed nasty scenesas the CPI(M) MLAs destroyedfurniture and computer termi-nals in the House in their bid toprevent the then finance minis-ter from presenting the budgetaccusing him of having takenmoney from liquor mafia to liftthe ban on sale of liquor. A crim-inal case against six CPI(M)MLAs have been filed in theChief Judicial Magistrate Courtat Thiruvananthapuram fordestruction of public property.

The Mani led KeralaCongress had a brief honey-moon with the CPI(M) in 1980during the tenure of E KNayanar as Chief Minister. ButMani switched his loyalty to theCongress-led UDF in 1982which resulted in the fall ofNayanar ministry. Nayanar in allhis interviews and speeches usedto ridicule Mani as a person whocould not be trusted.

The KC(M) moving to theLDF is likely to see a realignmentof various parties in the State inthe build up to the assemblyelection.

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Aligarh: Aligarh which came in limelight acrossthe country after the incident of Hathras, is goingto get a big gift soon. Aligarh Municipal Corporation area will soon

be transformed into Women Safe City. About 100crore rupees will be spent on this project fromthe Nirbhaya Fund. It will have special hostels,DNA and forensic labs for women, pink bus andauto, toilets, Asha Jyoti Kendra and many more.

Along with Aligarh, women of Hathras, Etahand Kasganj will also get the benefit. Aligarh isthe second city in the state after Lucknow to beselected in the Women's Safe City list.

After the Nirbhaya incident in Delhi, thecentral government decided to make some citiesof the country as safe cities. Cities like Delhi,Lucknow, Bhopal have started safety audits atevery stage but earlier this year the central gov-ernment decided to include more cities in thislist. Instructions were given to include 17 citiesincluding Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh, but no city

paid attention to this project. After the incidentof Hathras, the commissioner took up the taskof developing it.

In a safe city, the focus will be given towomen's safety. Women police personnel will begiven pink scooters and SUV vehicles so thatthey will keep an eye on the bad elements. A pinktoilet will also be made. Such areas will be iden-tified where the movement of women will bemore and there more lighting arrangements willbe made. A special pink bus will run fitted withpanic buttons, GPS and CCTV. Women's powerline capacity will be doubled. Pink booths willbe built by which women will get sanitary pads.Asha centers and hostels to be built.

A Counseling center will be formed. Shelterhomes will be built to keep women.G.SPriyadarshi, Commissioner, Aligarh said that thisis a big project for women's safety and willchange the atmosphere of the city. All four dis-tricts of the Aligarh division will be benefited.DPR will be sent soon to the government. PNS

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Aligarh: Cinema, multiplex and theater aregoing to open tomorrow in Aligarh like otherstates after 6 months-long closure. Since the riskof corona infection is still there hence CovidProtocol must be followed. The audiencecapacity will be 50% of the designated seat andthe hall will also have to be sanitized after everyshow.

Guidelines issued for the operation of cin-ema, theater and multiplex by the Governmentof Uttar Pradesh based on the instructions ofthe Ministry of Information and Broadcasting,Government of India. All the cinema halls andmultiplex in Aligarh will reopen from thurs-day based on the guidelines given by thegivernment.

The mandate issued by Chief Secretary R.KTiwari stated that cinema, theater and multi-plexes outside the Containment Zone have beenallowed to be opened with viewers up to a max-imum of 50 percent of their rated capacity.Employees and audience need to follow a phys-ical distance of 6 feet in the general area andwaiting area. It is always mandatory to use aface cover or mask, wash hands with soap fromtime to time, use sanitizer and tissue or hand-kerchief while coughing or sneezing. The ChiefSecretary informed that through the entry ofthe auditorium, circular signs will be arrangedin accordance with the physical distance stan-dard for thermal screening, sanitizer andqueue. Only people without Covid symptomswill be allowed to enter. An adequate time gapmust be given between the shows. The audi-ence will have to seat at alternate seats to main-tain the physical distance.

Guidelines stated that the ticket bookingsin the cinema, theatres and multiplex can bedone in advance or online. Touchless transac-tions like e-wallet / QR code scanner etc. shouldalso be used in window booking. The phone

number should also be taken at the time ofbooking the ticket for the convenience of con-tact tracing. After the show is over, do not leavethe audience together and be arranged in aqueue following the standard of physical dis-tance.

Guidelines also stated that during aninterval, avoid gathering in toilets. Thereshould be adequate counters at the canteen andstalls and no food items will be allowed insidean auditorium or hall. Only packed food anddrinks will be allowed.

Cinemas, theatre and multiplex with A.Cshould follow the guidelines of CPWD.Temperature setting should be maintainedbetween 24-30° C and relative humidity shouldbe maintained between 40-70%. The properarrangement of cross ventilation should also bethere.

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The BJP and TrinomialCongress were trying to

polarize the electoralatmospherewhich was why they werespreading all kinds of rumorsaboutfailed alliance talksbetween the Congress and LeftFront.

Urging the two sides to has-ten up the talk process so that thetwoparties can hit the streets wellbefore the next year’sAssemblyelections Chowdhuryon Wednesday said “the TMCand the BJP are tryingto polarisethe state on communal lines, andit is the duty of theLeft and theCongress to provide a thirdalternative,”adding the twopartieswere spreading all kinds ofrumours suggesting that theseat-sharing talks between the twosides had proved to be anon-starter.

Meanwhile, in an unrelateddevelopment the State BJP lead-ership on Wednesday said thatHome Minister Amit Shah

would not be able to come toBengal ahead of the Durga Pujas.Instead he would come to theStateonly after the Pujas.

In Shah’s place BJP presidentJP Nadda would visit the StateonOctober 19. He would go toNorth Bengal and hold meetingswith seniorParty leaders there,sources said.

Referring to how the Leftand Congress jointly launched anumber ofmovements in thepast couple of years he said “atime has come to takeforwardthis alliance to its logical con-clusion, and that is sharingofseats for the elections,” adding thepreliminary round of talks onset-sharing between the two sideswould begin next week.

Incidentally Left FrontChairman and CPI(M)politburomember Biman Bosehad report-ed spoken to the Congress lead-ership asking it to hasten upthetalk process and hit the streetsearly. Even Chowdhury said thetwo sides should begin the talksas early aspossible to avoid last-minute "hiccups". Though thetwo sides hadjointly contestedthe 2016 elections their dia-logue ahead of the lastyear’sparliamentary elections fail in thelast moment.

Chowdhury said that thetwo sides had fought jointly in2916 but thetalks were half-baked. In fact the 2016 Alliancejointly picked up 77out of 294seats whereas the TrinamoolCongress won 212. Howeverthecatch was the Left Congressalliance lost out to the ruling out-fit inabout 70 seats by slendermargin of 150 to 4000 voteswhich the twosides had blamedon a “partisan ElectionCommission that ignoredmas-sive violence during elections.”

Congress MP PradipBhattacharya, who is the chair-man of thenewly-formed coor-dination committee, along withMr Chowdhury and thestate'sLeader of Opposition AbdulMannan are likely to lead thetalkswith the Left parties,Pradesh Congress Committeesources said.

On the alleged rumoursbeing spread by the BJP andTMC, Chowdhury saidtheCongress and Left Front shouldnot pay heed to “canards” being-spread against the alliance.Thetwo parties were spreadingrumour that the Congress andLeft hadlost reference and so thevoters should choose betweenthe TMC and theBJP.

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Mumbai:As part of its “MissionBegin again”, the MaharashtraGovernment on Wednesdaydecided to allow metro trainsin Mumbai and Nagpur tooperate from October 15 in aphased manner and do awaythe health check-up and stamp-ing of domestic passengersarriving at the railway stationsin Maharashtra from differentparts of the state.

In other guidelines, thestate government allowed gov-ernment and private libraries tofunction with protocols ofsocial distancing and sanitationnorms in place and increasedthe number of people, while itpermitted local weekly bazars,including that of animals, toreopen outside containmentzones.

In an effort to control andreduce crowding, the State gov-ernment permitted marketsand shops to remain open foradditional hours from 9 am to9 pm, with effect from October15, while the limit on the num-ber of guests who can remainpresent has been increased to50 from the earlier 20.

While the government hasalso allowed “Business toBusiness” (B2B) exhibitionsonly outside the containmentzones and all types of localweekly markets (bazaars)across the state with effectfrom October 145, it has decid-ed to do away stamping withindelible ink for domestic pas-sengers arriving at different air-ports after COVID-19 testing.

Though it announcedrelaxations on several fronts,the state government made noannouncement regarding there-opening of various places ofworship. PNS

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Page 6: ˆ˛ˇ€¦ · 14.10.2020  · Me Ee Ba” to showcase the infrastructure development in Bihar under the NDA regime. The BJP’s video song also men- tions the opening of IITs, AIIMS,

Recently, India decided tojoin the Djibouti Codeof Conduct/JeddahA m e n d m e n t(DCOC/JA) as an

observer after a high-level meet-ing held on August 26. This is agroup on maritime affairs, includ-ing countries such as Djibouti,Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar,Maldives, Seychelles, Somalia,United Republic of Tanzania andYemen, all from the Red Sea, theGulf of Aden, the east coast ofAfrica and island countries in theIndian Ocean Region (IOR).Member nations include SouthAfrica, Sudan and the UnitedArab Emirates. Recently Japan,Norway, UK and the US have alsobeen included as observers ofDCOC/JA. So India’s inclusionwould increase its political stake inthese waters and help it use the col-lective heft with other nations totame Chinese expansionist tenden-cies.

The alliance came into beingin January 2009 under theInternational MaritimeOrganisation (IMO). It initiallyfocussed on piracy and armed rob-bery against ships in the westernIOR, the Gulf of Aden and the RedSea. In 2017, other issues like theenvironment, human traffickingand illegal fishing were added. Butit is the Jeddah Amendment thatis significant. At a high-level meet-ing of the countries that signed theDCOC in Jeddah in January 2017,17 signatory nations agreed toadopt a revised code of conduct.They agreed to work closely withthe IMO and other stakeholders tobuild national and regional capac-ities in addressing broader mar-itime security issues and enablingthe sustainable development of themaritime sector. And at the sametim, the code emphasised theimportant role of the “blue econ-omy” in supporting sustainableeconomic growth, employment,food security and stability.

The Horn of Africa is of greatstrategic importance from a com-mercial and economic point ofview because it is coveted bymajor powers of the world.Djibouti’s role is most importanthere. It may be a small country interms of area and population butenjoys great geo-strategic impor-tance. It commands the narrowentrance to the Red Sea on thesouthern end (from the Gulf ofAden side) with Egypt on the

northern end. Every day mil-lions of oil barrels and other oilproducts pass through thisroute to different destinations.Due to its important position,it hosts military bases of aboutnine countries, including theUS, France, Italy and China.After the 9/11 attacks on the US,Washington established itslargest permanent base inDjibouti, named CampLemonier, which houses at least4,000 military personnel.

China has also expanded itsmilitary cooperation across theAfrican continent in recentyears as part of its nationaldefence policy. On July 11,2017, Beijing sent two warshipsacross the Indian Ocean toDjibouti, the main objective ofwhich was to establish China’sfirst overseas permanent mili-tary base. Work started formal-ly on August 1, 2017. Djiboutiis at the centre of China’s mar-itime policy as it is located at thenorthwest end of the IndianOcean, allowing it to checkmateIndia. Its naval base here couldprove to be the pillar of itsoceanic strategy, known as the“string of pearls” or friendlyislands in the sea route connect-ing China to West Asia. It is acrucial link in its ambitious“maritime Silk Route” plan.

The purpose of this networkis to ensure the safety of China’strade routes, its raw materialsand oil-laden ships and theuninterrupted return of finishedgoods to Europe via the Gulf ofAden. India’s relations with theHorn of African nations like

Ethiopia, Somalia, Eritrea,Sudan and Djibouti have beenfriendly since ancient times.Some historical researchersbelieve that economic and cul-tural relations existed betweenthe two regions since 538 BC.All these nations share thesame legacy of colonialism aswell as the struggle for indepen-dence; India continued to sup-port their anti-colonial fighteven after attainingIndependence in 1947. In thepost-colonial period, Indiaestablished the SpecialCommonwealth AfricanAssistance Programme(SCAAP) in 1963. Its relationswith the Horn of Africa coun-tries have further strengthenedthrough the Indian Technicaland Economic Cooperation(ITEC), South-SouthCooperation and other interna-tional fora. Now it is building onthis historicity to emerge a keyplayer in the region.

The strategic importance ofthe Horn of Africa for India canonly be known from the factthat President Ramnath Kovindmade his first foreign trip to twoAfrican countries — Djiboutiand Ethiopia. During his visit,he remarked, “India andDjibouti have had historicalconnections and mutual con-tacts for a long time. Now weshould try to rediscover thisshared history and identity.Not only for the old times butto build a contemporary part-nership, it is necessary to makethe utmost effort to revive thisshared heritage of ours. The

potential of marine resourcesand engagement with theIndian Ocean has immensepotential to create a sustainablefuture.” The President also saidthat “Djibouti is a strategiccountry, located near the Gulfof Aden. For India, it is animportant partner of the IndianOcean. In 2015, during theYemen crisis, as part ofOperation Relief, at the time ofevacuating citizens and peoplefrom other countries, Djiboutisupported India’s efforts.”

As an observer nation, Indiacan boost its influence in theIOR with new diplomatic equa-tions. New Delhi is alreadystrengthening its position in itssurrounding waters as part ofthe Indo-Pacific policy throughProject Mausam, Mission Sagarand Indian Ocean Rim Group.It can further increase its strate-gic footprint through blue econ-omy initiatives. This will enableus to sustain the use of oceanresources for economic growth,create better livelihoods andjobs and ensure the health ofocean ecosystems.

On the other hand, Beijing isincreasing its clout through itsclaims in the South China Seaand the East China Sea, theString of Pearls diplomacy andBelt & Road Initiatives (BRI).India can effectively neutraliseit if it consolidates its hold inthis region alongside the Quadinitiative with the US, Japan andAustralia.

(The writer is an AssistantProfessor, Department of AfricanStudies, Delhi University)

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��������� ���������Sir — On October 12, FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharamanannounced the payment of cashin lieu of Leave TravelConcession (LTC) and �10,000festival advance to Governmentemployees to stimulate con-sumer demand during the festi-val season and boost the econo-my. The Government will alsogive its employees income tax-exempt cash vouchers in lieu oftheir entitled travel allowancesthis year. However, there is acatch. The cash will have to bespent on buying goods thatattract 12 per cent or more GST,a condition which totally elimi-nates the possibility of the cashbeing spent on food items.Additionally, the Governmentwill, as a one-time measure, give�10,000 salary loans to all its offi-cers and employees as a festivaladvance.

The Retailers’ Association ofIndia (RAI) has welcomed theGovernment’s LTC cash vouch-er scheme stating that it will helpits members recover from theloss of business caused due to theCOVID-19 pandemic. However,the expectation to create a con-sumer demand of about �28,000crore through this scheme is

rather far-fetched. This seems tobe just another attempt to stripthe middle class and lure themto transfer their savings to thecapitalist.

Bhagwan ThadaniMumbai

����������������Sir — It is disconcerting that dif-ferences between the executive

and the judiciary have emergedin Andhra Pradesh. In a first, theState has lodged a complaint tothe Chief Justice of India (CJI)alleging that the Supreme Courtjudge, Justice NV Ramana, wasinterfering in the judicial process-es of the High Court. The Statehas placed material evidencebefore the CJI, highlightingJustice Ramana’s proximity withN Chandrababu Naidu and his

interventions to protect the inter-ests of the Telugu Desam Party(TDP). Chief Minister JaganMohan Reddy, in his letter datedOctober 6, has expressed that theobjective of the letter is solely toinform the Supreme Court aboutthe acts of a few individualjudges.

The apex court should take theallegations made by the APGovernment seriously and clear

the air or else it could affect thefaith of the common man in thejudiciary. A touch of pragmatismis what the judiciary and theexecutive need at this juncture asthe very credibility of the judicia-ry as an institution is at stake. TheCJI should personally look intothe matter and consider initiat-ing steps to ensure that the Statejudiciary’s neutrality is main-tained.

Yash Pal Ralhan Jalandhar

�������� ������� Sir — Cinema halls are all set tore-open across the country.However, strict measures need tobe taken so that they don’tbecome spaces of mass infection.Six feet distance should be fol-lowed outside the auditoria,common areas and waiting areasat all times. There should also behand sanitisers, preferably inthe touch-free mode, at the entryand exit points as well as com-mon areas within the premises.And the use of face masks mustbe made mandatory.

Jubel D’CruzMumbai

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Page 7: ˆ˛ˇ€¦ · 14.10.2020  · Me Ee Ba” to showcase the infrastructure development in Bihar under the NDA regime. The BJP’s video song also men- tions the opening of IITs, AIIMS,

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With caste and gender-based crimes inIndia on the rise, some really tough ques-tions need to be answered by us all. The

National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) 2019 reportdoes a wonderful job in showcasing some extreme-ly relevant data for our consideration. India report-ed 4,05,861 cases of crimes against women. Assamreported the highest rate of crimes against womenat 117.8 per lakh population and Uttar Pradesh (UP)topped the list with 59,853 incidents. From 2018, therate of crime against women has risen by 7.3 per cent,with the country recording an average 87 rape casesevery day in 2019. UP had the highest number ofcrimes against girl children under the POCSO Actwith 7,444 cases, followed by Maharashtra (6,402)and Madhya Pradesh (MP) at 6,053. Other registeredcases on the rise were assault, cruelty and outrag-ing the modesty of a woman. On the other hand,crimes against Scheduled Castes (SCs) andScheduled Tribes (STs) saw a seven per cent and 26per cent rise respectively. Curiously, the report alsoindicates a consistent decline in conviction rates incaste-related violence in the past three years.

So, why and how did we land here and whereare we going? I shall endeavour to declutter this bya simple process called reverse engineering. Ours hasalways been a divided society. Caste and gender-based discrimination weren’t a colonial constructionin India. It was our own. Our social, economic andlegal institutions were all divided and categorised tomeet vested interests. What the British did was amere “reinvoking of the Varna system.” This, theyjustified, was necessary to make sense of the com-plexity that existed within the Indian caste system.As BR Ambedkar said in his Annihilation of Caste,the caste system in India had been historically usedto perpetuate discrimination in the name of “divi-sion of labour” which in fact, according to him, wasa “division of labourers.”

Such discrimination gave rise to a social andbehavioural bias, and in the long run, led to the“upward mobility” of the concept of caste. Since thisconcept was used to allocate social roles such as one’sprofession in a hereditary manner, it restricted thesocial mobility of those groups who were allottedlower roles. This led to a lost individual identity ofthe members of those groups and instead, in soli-darity, gave rise to a “group identity.” In modern-dayIndia, we know these groups as SCs, STs, OtherBackward Classes (OBCs), women and religiousminorities.

A systemic problem: Our police force was alsonot immune to this virus. As caste and gender-baseddiscrimination grew in independent India, privilegedupper caste men, who were born, trained and nur-tured in a favorable environment, filled the spacesin our administration, including but not limited to,our police force. The problem was further exempli-fied when we inherited the colonial Indian PoliceAct of 1861 and other such laws from British India.The Act was brought in after the revolt of 1857 andthe purpose behind enacting it was, as David Arnoldsays, “to establish control, coercion and surveillanceover the Indian subjects.” So, lack of diversity, anunder-represented administration and a law basedon tyrannical ideologies became a perfect mishmashfor future discriminatory policing in India. Thiswould lay the foundation for perpetration of violenceand creation of an extremely patriarchal institutionthat would survive for decades if not centuries.

Institutionalised discrimination: What tran-

spired, as a consequence, years later, is theinstitutionalisation of the very same dis-crimination within our police force. Aninstitution becomes defunct if its work-ing is entirely based on biased andinequitable means. To command confi-dence, trust and respect of the public, thepolice administration in a democracymust be diverse and must acknowledgethat people from different backgroundswill bring with them skills, experiencesand perspectives that are vastly differentfrom others. However, the opposite is truefor India.

Laws such as Abolition ofDiscrimination under Article 17 of theConstitution, SC/ST Prevention ofAtrocities Act and provisions forAffirmative Action have by and largeremained symbolic. The Common Causereport on Status of Policing in India, 2019,reveals some shocking numbers. It showshow the representation of SCs, STs, OBCsand women is extremely poor in our policeforces. Reserved positions for such person-nel have been vacant for years. The Statestopping the list here are Haryana and UP.Furthermore, it shows how such groupsare less likely to be posted at officer-levelranks. They are also more likely to faceunequal distribution of work wherein theyare asked to do their seniors’ chores andhousehold work.

One out of four women police per-sonnel reported the absence of a sexualharassment committee in police stationsand one out of five reported the absenceof separate toilets for policewomen. Stateslike Bihar, Karnataka and Bengal have thehighest levels of institutional bias againstwomen in the forces. The report goes onto state that senior police officers think that“women are less hard-working, less effi-cient and should focus on householdduties.” Data shows that policewomen are

given in-house tasks like maintaining reg-isters, and so on, whereas, male person-nel are given on-field investigation, lawand order, policing and patrolling tasks.This has literally been normalised with-in the working of our police administra-tion, to an extent that it no more looks likediscrimination. Instead it is seen as rou-tine division of work, based onnatural/biological capabilities.

Shockingly many police personnelthink that Gender-Based Violence (GBV)complaints are false and motivated. Theyalso say that members of the transgendercommunity, Muslims, Dalits and so on, aremore “naturally” prone to committingcrimes. Such institutionalised discrimina-tion against caste and gender reasserts itselflike a vicious cycle. It also assists in exer-cising a lot more political control on thosewho are vulnerable. The way our policereacts to caste and gender is a mirrorimage of the political ideology ruling overthe State. It is a common phenomenonthat majoritarian governments who cometo power based on hyper-nationalism andby using the rhetoric of religion, tend tobe a lot more misogynist, divisive and reli-giously intolerant.

Resultantly, constitutional moralityisn’t their source of power. The increas-ing nature of politicisation of crimesagainst women has gained momentum inthe last decade, ever since there has beena rise in majoritarian politics. The 2019report shows how police personnel almostalways face political pressure while inves-tigating crimes that have political ramifi-cations. If an honest police officer tries notto be swayed by such an influence, he ismet with the “Black Sheep Effect.” This isa process of evaluative upgrading of“norm-compliant” members and evalua-tive downgrading of “deviant” ones. So, thedeviant members are usually transferred

to locations where there is less digital andmedia penetration so that their honestyis less of a problem for the State. It is alsoseen that there are certain areas wherepolitical control is exercised more effec-tively with the help of the police. In theareas where the majority population isfrom the Dalit or minority community, thepolice infrastructure is in shambles. Thereis a greater lack of adequate training, dig-ital accessibility, vehicles and funding pro-vided to the police. In such a situation,crimes either go unreported or are metwith State-sponsored violence in policestations.

Creating such systemic barriers, overa long period of time, for people who havebeen historically discriminated againstleads to a situation of internalised oppres-sion. Paulo Freire, a renowned educator,in his Pedagogy of the Oppressed, says, “Theoppressed, having internalised the imageof the oppressor and adopted his guide-lines, are fearful of freedom.” This fear actsas an incentive for political control.Control on what is reported, what is notreported and how reported cases are dealtwith. It is almost like an echo-chamber thatincentivises political oppression.

Expecting that such an institution,where discrimination and victimisation isnormalised against its own membersand has been historically used as a polit-ical sidekick, would do justice by protect-ing those outside the institution against thesame evil forces, is simply living in an alter-nate reality. Public outrage has been mis-placed in so far as it consistently demandspolitical reform. The following state-ment by Ambedkar is of huge significance,“There is a need for social reform beforepolitical reform and the latter cannot hap-pen without the former.”

(The writer is from the National LawUniversity, Visakhapatnam)

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There was a deliberate smashingof pots; people making a clam-our. This may be an illustration

of a population experiencing trau-matic shock. It might have been donein panic but also might have beendone to somehow disturb and clearthe air,” Hays wrote about a supposedact of an angry God when hedescribed the plague in his bookEpidemics and Pandemics: TheirImpact on Human History. But hecould have been writing about us inthe present day and our initialattempts to keep away a disease thathas yet not been properly under-stood.

“The mask is a tool to make usweak.” Our attention turned towardsthe driver as he detailed the complex

inter-relationship between carbondioxide (CO2) and the mask. Hislogic was, as we exhale CO2, themask forces us to inhale it back,thereby weakening our body’simmune system. This was a novelconspiracy theory in a world filledwith absurd theories about the pan-demic.

Over ten months into the out-break, the inventory of rumoursrelated to the contagion has managedto transcend boundaries. Creativeand inane, such stories multiply asthe pandemic refuses to release itsgrip. While in the early days, mostconversations veered around thepotency of the virus and the multi-tude of ways to cure oneself of thisdreaded pandemic, they now tend todismiss the disease as “just anotherflu.” The apparent casualness flies inthe face of conventional analysis asawareness about the disease isimmense and Indians who livedthrough the difficult times of thelockdown are cognisant of its life-threatening effects.

However, the current predilec-tion of not wearing masks alsocomes associated with the sense of

fatality and fatigue, having under-gone painful job losses and socialstigma for the past few months.Varying from, “It is all God’s will” to“Nothing will happen to me” to “Wehave all caught the disease” to “Godcannot kill all the poor” to “If it hap-pens, it happens” to “We don’t havemoney to buy a mask” and a multi-tude of other reasons, the almost uni-versal lack of interest in wearing aface cover hides an important detailabout our social lives. People havebeen hit hard by the economicimpact of the crisis and most have noother option but to step out. Theycannot stay in and worry about wear-ing a mask or maintaining social dis-tancing. They are more concernedabout filling their stomachs andmeeting their financial needs.

In many ways, the fear of thepandemic, coupled with the spreadof fake news in this era of socialmedia and messaging platforms,have led to revisionist theories thatat once declare the impact of theCoronavirus a hoax while also pan-dering to the fear of its supposedeffects.

With millions falling prey, there

is an outcry that this generation ispaying for its sins. However, WilliamDunbar said it best when he wrotethat, “The fear of death disturbs me”in the Lament for the Makers, sug-gesting perhaps that the human racehas faced such threats throughouthistory. And those dark momentswere unique as humanity did nothave an answer then just as it does-n’t have one now. People in thosedark days were prone to succumbingto fear as the rise of a disease, cut-ting through society without any dis-crimination, results in helplessnessamong the rich and the poor alike.This causal relationship betweendisease and sin is seen also in Greekliterary texts, such as Homer’s Iliadand Sophocles’ Oedipus the King.Iliad opens with a plague visitedupon the Greek camp at Troy to pun-ish them for Agamemnon’s enslave-ment of Chryseis.

Humankind has time and againlet this fear turn into panic, over-whelming all traces of rationality.This facilitates easier propagation offake news in the community. Thefeedback surrounding the mythsand legends over managing COVID

also borders on the absurd. Just as theCO2 theory propounded by the dri-ver, more such theories abound inthe markets of Bengaluru, Chennai,Pune and Delhi, ranging from guz-zling copious amounts of alcohol, tobeing safe in one’s locality, to stop-ping the consumption of fruits asthey are known to carry the virus.The list is endless, and each country,State, city and locality has added atwist to these stories. The challengefor people working in the frontlineis to sift through the rumours andconvey basic truths about the pan-demic and its causes.

However, as we see more com-placency creep in, it would do goodto understand the underlying fearand weariness that communities aresuffering from. For the moment, theyface a gun-shaped thermal scanner,an oximeter and endless surveys thathave fatigued them. Then there is theunfortunate spread of stigma of anuncommon but not unmanageabledisease and the mishandling of dis-semination in this very real publichealth crisis.

The need of the hour is toaggressively push for an overarching

campaign that involves all stakehold-ers and myriad activities such asposters, stickers, banners, wall paint-ings, murals, street theatre, songs,tableaus, announcement from reli-gious places, radio campaigns, tele-vision ads and as many creative out-lets as possible.

As we learn from this crisis, itwill bode well to recall that literaturehas been humanity’s constant com-panion though long periods ofuncertainty. And often, when a pan-demic hit humankind, there was notmuch that could be done then as itis now.

The only effective measure backthen was what is known today associal distancing and quarantine ofthe sick which, according toProcopius, the principal Byzantinehistorian, was done voluntarily byindividuals. In this current age, wecan strive to be a step ahead, promotesocial distancing, wear masks andensure better hygiene in a mannerthat was not possible in ancienttimes.

(Sharma is a faculty at AzimPremji University and Bhaskar is anindependent researcher)

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Page 8: ˆ˛ˇ€¦ · 14.10.2020  · Me Ee Ba” to showcase the infrastructure development in Bihar under the NDA regime. The BJP’s video song also men- tions the opening of IITs, AIIMS,

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Moscow: Russian authoritieshave reported a record 14,000new coronavirus cases , the lat-est daily spike in infections.

Russia, which has theworld’s fourth-largest confirmedcoronavirus caseload of morethan 1.3 million, has beenreporting over 10,000 new casesfor 11 straight days, The 14,231new infections on Wednesday isthe highest number since thebeginning of the pandemic.

Most of the virus restric-tions in the county have beenlifted over the summer. Despitethe rapid resurgence of the out-break, Russian authorities havedismissed suggestions of a sec-ond national lockdown.

In Moscow, which has beenreporting over 4,000 new casesevery day since Saturday, offi-cials recommended that theelderly to self-isolate at homeand ordered employers to have30 per cent of their staff workfrom home. AP

Yangon: Three election candi-dates from Myanmar’s rulingNational League for Democracyparty were abducted Wednesdayby an unknown armed group inthe western state of Rakhine, aparty official said.

Min Aung, a member of theRakhine state parliament, Ni NiMay Myint, a lower house mem-ber of the national parliament,and Chit Chit Chaw, a candidaterunning for the national upperhouse, were abducted during acampaign trip to villages inTaungup township, NLD partyofficial Monywa Aung Shinsaid. Elections are scheduled forNov. 8.

“We don’t know exactlywhich armed group abductedthem. But it’s likely to be onegroup but I can’t confirm it fornow,” Monywa Aung Shin saidby phone.

Myo Nyunt, an NLD partyspokesman, also said the partycould not confirm who the kid-

nappers were.Since 2018, Rakhine state

has been embroiled in a bitterarmed struggle between thegovernment and the ArakanArmy, which seeks self-deter-mination for the region’sRakhine ethnic minority.Myanmar has more than adozen minorities seeking somekind of autonomy, but the well-trained and well-armed ArakanArmy is considered to pose thegreatest military threat. Humanrights groups have accused gov-ernment forces of abuses againstcivilians in their fight against theArakan Army, which has alsobeen accused of abuses.

While no one has claimedresponsibility for the abduc-tions, the Arakan Army hasgained notoriety for capturingofficials and other civiliansand exploiting their victims forpropaganda purposes byshowing videos of them onsocial media. AP

Kampala: Armed police onWednesday “besieged” the cam-paign headquarters of BobiWine, a pop star and politicianwho is seeking Uganda’s presi-dency in elections set for 2021,an opposition figure said.

Police confiscated itemssuch as security cameras andsupplies of red berets that aresymbols of Wine’s popular cam-paign, David Lewis Rubongoya,an official with Wine’s partywho is at the scene in theUgandan capital, Kampala, told

The Associated Press.“They have taken away

everything,” he said.Wine, a legislator whose

real name is KyagulanyiSsentamu, was meeting withother leaders of his NationalUnity Platform party when thepolice swooped in and cor-doned off the area, he said.

Wine and other party offi-cials have not been arrested, hesaid. But in a Twitter post Winereported that “comrades hadbeen injured” after police “raid-

ed” his headquarters and seizeddocuments and other items.

A police spokesman did notimmediately respond to ques-tions, but authorities frequent-ly accuse Wine and others in theopposition of disobeying ordersaimed at protecting publicpeace.

Wine, who has been arrest-ed many times in recent years,has captured the imagination ofmany Ugandans with his per-sistent calls for President YoweriMuseveni to retire. AP

Islamabad: Pakistan’s militaryon Wednesday said a soldierwas killed and another wound-ed in the country’s northwest byfire from across the Afghan bor-der, a sign of increasing violencein an area that until recent yearsserved as a base for Pakistaniand foreign militants.

The attack hit a bordersecurity post in Bajur district, aformer tribal region of KhyberPakhtunkhwa province. Themilitary statement said theshooting came from theAfghan side of the frontier, and

did not speculate on who wasbehind the attack.

Similar cross-border attacksin Bajur district killed twoPakistani soldiers in July andSeptember, respectively.

Pakistan’s border areasserved as a base for the PakistaniTaliban and other militantsuntil a few years ago, when thearmy said it cleared the regionof insurgents, but occasionalattacks have continued. AP

Beijing: Chinese President XiJinping has visited the head-quarters of the Marine Corps,a new force being developed bythe Chinese military to back upits navy’s manifold expansionwith overseas logistics bases,and asked it to turn into an inte-grated, capable, flexible andfast-responding elite force.

Xi, who is Chairman of theCentral Military Commission(CMC) - the overall high com-mand of the military, besidesbeing the President and theGeneral Secretary of the rulingCommunist Party, on Tuesdayinspected the People’sLiberation Army (PLA) NavyMarine Corps in Chaozhou,south China’s GuangdongProvince, official media herereported.

This was Xi’s first visit to

the headquarters of the MarineCorps, which was overhauled in2017 and became part of thePLA Navy during the militaryreform launched by him in2015, state-run China Dailyreported on Wednesday.

Under the reform, the PLAslashed three lakh troops fromthe army and focussed expan-sion on navy and the air forceas part of China’s efforts toenhance its global influence.

In 2017, the Hong Kong-based South China MorningPost reported that China plansto increase the size of its marinecorps from 20,000 to one lakhpersonnel for overseas deploy-ment including Gwadar port inPakistan and military logisticsbase in Djibouti in the IndianOcean.

The expansion is planned

to protect China’s maritimelifelines and its growing inter-ests overseas, the report said.

In his interaction with theMarine Corps commanders,Xi asked them to concentrateon fostering their troops’ com-bat preparedness and stay onhigh alert.

More realistic battle train-ing must be carried out toenhance skills and more effortsshould be made to innovate interms of combat theories, train-ing methods and task planning,he said.

He stressed that the MarineCorps is an elite amphibiousfighting force that shoulders sig-nificant responsibilities in safe-guarding national sovereigntyand territorial integrity as wellas China’s maritime rights andoverseas interests. PTI

Melbourne: The GreatBarrier Reef in Australia,which is the largest reef sys-tem in the world, has lostmore than half of its coralpopulation in the past threedecades, according to a newstudy.

The research, publishedin the journal Proceedings of

the Royal Society B, assessedcoral communities and theircolony size along the length ofthe Great Barrier Reefbetween 1995 and 2017, andfound that small, medium,and large corals have alldeclined in the period.

“We measured changes incolony sizes because popula-tion studies are importantfor understanding demogra-phy and the corals’ capacity tobreed,” said Andy Dietzel, aco-author of the study fromthe ARC Centre of Excellencefor Coral Reef Studies(CoralCoE) in Australia.

“We found the numberof small, medium and largecorals on the Great BarrierReef has declined by morethan 50 per cent since the1990s,” said Terry Hughes,another co-author of thestudy from CoralCoE.

According to the study,the decline occurred in bothshallow and deeper water,and across virtually allspecies — but especially inbranching and table-shapedcorals. PTI

Washington: China and the farleft are “desperate” for JoeBiden’s win as the Democraticpresidential candidate will “sur-render” jobs to China,President Donald Trump saidas he returned to the battle-ground State of Pennsylvaniaafter being treated for COVID-19.

In his first political rally inPennsylvania, which sends 20electoral college votes, after hewas tested positive for COVID-19, Trump on Tuesday hit hardat his political opponent, alleg-ing that the former vice presi-dent is known for “surrender”.

“Biden will eliminate tariffson China. He’s already said he’sgoing to take the tariffs offChina. There goes your steelindustry. There goes your alu-minum industry. There goeseverything. Allowing them toplunder without consequence,”he said, addressing thousandsof his supporters in Johnstown,Pennsylvania.

“The one constant inBiden’s platform is surrender.

He surrenders. He surrenders,whether it’s China, whether it’sCuba. How about Cuba? Howabout the deal they made withCuba? How bad was that one?I ended it,” he said.

“That’s why both Chinaand the far left are desperate fora Biden win because he willsurrender our jobs to China.China will own the US if thatsleepy guy gets the position,okay,” Trump said.

Tump said that over thenext four years, he will makeAmerica into the manufactur-ing superpower of the world.

“And we’ll end our relianceon China once and for all.That’s already happening. We’llhire more police, increasedpenalties for assault on lawenforcement, and we will bandeadly sanctuary cities thatpeople don’t want,” he said.

“Unlike ‘sleepy’ Joe Biden,I will never abandon ournation, and I would neverabandon its values. My goal isnot to make friends in the DCswamp. My goal is to fight for

you and fight for your family,”said the president amidstapplause from thousands of hissupporters who came to listenhim at a local airport, ignoringthe social distancing restric-tions of COVID-19.

Trump, 74, said while in2017, he signed a historic exec-utive order making it officialgovernment policy to buyAmerican and hire American,his opponent has put forwarda radical plan to eliminate USborders by implementing catchand release programmes thathe ended.

“Do you know what catchand release is? You catch a mur-derer, you catch a rapist com-ing across our border, and yourelease him. Catch, you catchhim and release him. And yousay, I’m sorry, three years fromnow, please come back for acourt case. Nobody comesback,” he said.

“Imposing deadly sanctu-ary cities and suspending allremovals. They don’t want anyremovals. This is what Bidenagreed to with crazy BernieSanders.

“When you have peoplethat are in this country illegal-ly, even if they’re murderers, ifthey’re rapists, no matter whatthey are, you can’t removethem. We’ve removed tens ofthousands of people, includingMS-13,” he said. PTI

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Washington: PresidentDonald Trump will feature ina televised town hall Thursdayon NBC News, the networksaid, setting up a direct sched-uling clash with rival Joe Bidenwho had already planned hisown version.

The two were originallymeant to have been meetingfor their second debate onThursday evening. Instead,they will be simultaneously,but separately, talking to vot-ers in TV studios -- NBC forTrump and ABC for Biden.

Trump will be in Miami,the network said, while Biden,who had already booked hisappearance last week, will bein Philadelphia.

Their scheduled debate

had also been designed as atown hall where the two can-didates would have fieldedquestions from voters, butthis was upended after Trumpcontracted the coronavirus.

Debate organizers saidthey wanted to switch the for-mat to a virtual appearance,for safety reasons, and Trumprefused, forcing cancellation ofthe event.

NBC News saidWednesday it had received astatement from the clinicaldirector at the NationalInstitutes of Health and leadinfectious diseases expertAnthony Fauci that they had“a high degree of confidence”that Trump is now “not shed-ding infectious virus.” AFP

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Washington: US SupremeCourt nominee Amy ConeyBarrett insisted Tuesday that shehad no fixed views on hot-but-ton legal issues as Democratspainted her as President DonaldTrump’s vehicle to end abortionrights and kill the popularObamacare health program.

In the second day of hear-ings on her hurried nomination,Barrett, who if approved will tiltthe high court decisively to theright, told lawmakers she wouldput personal and religiousbeliefs aside when decidinglandmark cases.

But the 48-year-old judgeand devout Catholic could notescape accusations fromDemocrats on the SenateJudiciary Committee that shewas chosen to achieve Trump’sdream to nullify the AffordableCare Act of predecessor BarackObama, which extended cheaphealth care to millions of unin-sured Americans.

Likewise, Democrats saidshe was also picked to lead thecourt to overturn the land-mark 1973 Roe v. Wade deci-sion, which guarantees abortionrights.

“President Trump promisedto name a Supreme CourtJustice ... who would tear downthe Affordable Care Act,”Kamala Harris, the Democratic

candidate for vice president, saidto Barrett.

The ACA’s benefits, shesaid, “hinge on this seat and theoutcome of this hearing.”

But after more than ninehours of questioning, Barrettheld her ground.

“I made no promises toanyone. I don’t have any agen-da,” she insisted.

“Judges can’t just wake upone day and say ‘I have an agen-da. I like guns, I hate guns, I likeabortion, I hate abortion,’ andwalk in like a royal queen andimpose their will on the world,”Barrett said.

“It’s not the law of Amy, it’sthe law of the American people.”

After liberal icon RuthBader Ginsburg’s death lastmonth left the nine-membercourt with a vacancy, Trump hasrushed to fill it at the height ofhis presidential election battleagainst Democrat Joe Biden.

A respected Notre Damelaw professor but with onlythree years as an appeals courtjudge, Barrett is supported byconservatives for her personalopposition to abortion.

Her confirmation by theRepublican-controlled com-mittee after two more days ofhearings, and by the full Senatebefore the end of October,remained near-certain. AFP

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Two Afghan army heli-copters collided while

transporting wounded soldiersin the southern Helmandprovince, killing nine Afghanservice members, the country’sDefense Ministry and localofficials said Wednesday.

The two Soviet-era Mi-17helicopters crashed due to tech-nical problems while taking offin Nawa district, the Afghan

Defense Ministry statementsaid.

The nine dead were allAfghan crew and soldiers whohad been on board the aircraft.

Omer Zwak, a spokesmanfor Helmand’s provincial gov-ernor, said the helicopters werecarrying wounded soldierswhen they crashed lateTuesday.

He said that over the pastweek, Taliban fighters havelaunched coordinated attacksin different parts of Helmand

province, which have intensi-fied in recent days.

Three local officials inHelmand province said thehelicopters were deployingAfghan commandos to repel aTaliban attack in Nawa district,and were evacuating woundedsoldiers on their return flight.

The Afghan officials spokeon condition of anonymitybecause they were not autho-rized to speak to the mediaabout military activities.

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Page 9: ˆ˛ˇ€¦ · 14.10.2020  · Me Ee Ba” to showcase the infrastructure development in Bihar under the NDA regime. The BJP’s video song also men- tions the opening of IITs, AIIMS,

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Mumbai: Amid the jump seenin unified payment interface(UPI) transactions, a digitaleconomy professor closelyaligned with the ruling BJP onWednesday claimed that theshift to this mode has helpedIndia save over 0.10 per cent ofGDP from going out of thecountry. The uptick in trans-actions, which touched 1.8 bil-lion in September, has alsohelped the economy from an“enablement” perspective,Arvind Gupta, a professor ofdigital economy who spear-headed BJP’s national tech-nology department for threeconsecutive terms, toldreporters.

The comments come amida 10 per cent surge in UPItransactions by quantum ofmoney transacted to Rs 3.29lakh crore in September asagainst August this year, asmore people switch to digitalpayments amid the pandemic.

“From the research hatthat I wear, I can tell you thatthe initial study suggests thatjust by using UPI payments, wehave saved upwards of 0.10 percent of GDP which remainsback in the country,” Gupta saidat an event organised by thefintech Earlysalary. PTI

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India is expected to have60,000 start-ups and 100

companies with valuation ofover USD 1 billion by 2025, aTiE Global report, in associa-tion with Zinnov, released onWednesday said.

The report observed thatbusiness recovery of start-upsis back on track after the lock-down.

However, 12-15 per cent ofstart-ups are facing risk of sur-vival and a similar percentageof start-ups have closed theirbusiness.

“Despite being in thebiggest pandemic we have had,India is going to create samenumbers of unicorn in 2020 aswe did in 2018 and 2019,which is a testament of ourstrong ecosystem,” TiE Delhi-NCR president Rajan Anandansaid while sharing the findingsof the report.

“We do believe that Indiais on track to have 60,000start-up by 2025. We are wellon track to have 100 unicorns

in India by 2025,” he added.He said investments are

also on track for recovery.TiE Global is a non-prof-

it organization devoted toentrepreneurs in all industries.

There are around 38,000active start-ups, out of which 26are unicorns.

The start-up ecosystem inIndia had attracted USD 14.5billion of funding in 2019, thereport titled ‘Covid-19 and theantifragility of Indian startupecosystem’ said.

The report said start-upsare expected to create 1.5 to 1.6million jobs by 2025.

The study included most ofthe business data till the end ofFebruary and compared it withdata till the end of September,Anandan said.

According to the report,direct job creation in the start-up ecosystem will remain flatin 2020 as about 25,000 jobs inseveral sectors like hospitality,mobility, among others, havebeen lost, while a similar num-ber of jobs have been created insome sectors like edutech, com-munications, online fitness,among others, .

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All four labour codes arelikely to be implemented in

one go from April 1, the begin-ning of the next fiscal year,Labour Secretary ApurvaChandra said on Wednesday.

Parliament in its just con-cluded session passed threelabour code bills: the IndustrialRelations (IR) Code, the SocialSecurity Code, and theOccupational Safety, Healthand Working Conditions Code(OSH).

The Wage Code Bill, 2019was passed by Parliament lastyear.

Last month, LabourMinister Santosh Gangwar hadsaid that efforts would be madeto complete the labour reformsby implementing the all fourlabour codes by December thisyear.

The labour ministry hadcirculated the draft rules on theWage Code Bill last year butheld back its finalisation andimplementation. The ministrywanted to implement all thefour codes and rules underthose in one go as all of themare inter-linked.

Talking to reporters,Chandra said, “We have start-ed work on firming up draftrules of the recently passedthree labour codes inParliament. We are trying tonotify draft rules by middle ofNovember to seek feedback. Wewill give 45 days time for feed-back.”He further said that thefour codes are likely to beimplemented from April 1, withnotification of firmed-up rules.After the passage of a legislationin Parliament, it is sent for thePresident of India’s assent. Thethree codes on IR, OSH andsocial security have already gotassent of the President of India.A law comes into force afternotification of rules.

Initially, draft rules undera law is notified with a stipu-lated time period (45 days) toreceive feedback. Thereafter,these rules are finalised andimplemented for bringing thelaw into force. Chandra said thelabour ministry is expected toget the feedback on three codeson IR, OSH and social securi-ty by December-end and thusit would take some time toanalyse that for firming up therules.

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The Reserve Bank of Indiaon Wednesday launched

the latest round of its quarter-ly Order Books, Inventoriesand Capacity Utilisation Survey(OBICUS) of the manufactur-ing sector which will providevaluable inputs for monetarypolicy formulation.

“The survey (Round 51) isfor the reference period July-September 2020 (Q2:2020-21),”the central bank said in a state-ment.

The RBI has been con-ducting the OBICUS of themanufacturing sector on aquarterly basis since 2008.

The information collectedin the survey includes quanti-tative data on new ordersreceived during the referencequarter, backlog of orders at thebeginning of the quarter, pend-ing orders at the end of thequarter, and total inventorieswith a breakup between work-in-progress and finished goodsinventories. “The level ofcapacity utilisation is estimat-ed from these responses. Thesurvey provides valuable inputfor monetary policy formula-tion,” the RBI said.

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Housing and Urban AffairsSecretary Durga Shanker

Mishra on Wednesday askedstates to reduce stamp duty onregistration of properties as itwill help reduce the overall realestate cost and boost housingsales. Addressing a webinarorganised by CREDAI in col-laboration with NangiaAndersen India, Mishra saidthe government has taken var-ious measures in the past sixyears for revival of this sectorsuch as enactment of realty lawRERA.

The finance ministry aswell as the Reserve Bank ofIndia (RBI) have taken sever-al steps during the lockdown toaddress the concern of the realestate sector, he added.

“Measures taken duringthe past six years and also dur-ing the lockdown have startedshowing results,” Mishra said.

The secretary noted thatthe property registrations inMumbai, Maharashtra, haveimproved and are back to pre-COVID-19 level.

He said the Maharashtragovernment has taken a gooddecision to reduce the stampduty, and many builders havedecided to absorb the balanceto incentivise the homebuyers.

“We have also written toall the states. I am also follow-ing up with different principalsecretaries and secretaries ofthe states to see if they cancome up with such move whichwill help reduce cost,” Mishrasaid.

The secretary said thereal estate is one of the mostimportant components of theIndian economy havingimmense contribution in thecountry’s gross domestic prod-uct (GDP) and employmentgenMishra asked builders toutilise this pandemic time toretrospect and see how theycan reduce cost and adoptinnovative technologies forsustainable and inclusive devel-opment. He asked realtors toparticipate in the government’snewly launched AffordableRental Housing Complexes(ARHC) scheme for migrantworkers.

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India’s public debt ratio, whichremarkably remained stable

at around 70 per cent of theGDP since 1991, is projected tojump by 17 percentage pointsto nearly 90 per cent because ofincrease in public spendingdue to COVID-19, the IMFsaid on Wednesday.

“In our projections, theincrease in public spending, inresponse to COVID-19, andthe fall in tax revenues andeconomic activity, will makepublic debt jump up by 17 per-centage points to almost 90 percent of GDP,” Vitor Gaspar,Director of the IMF’s FiscalAffairs Department told PTI.

“Going forward it is pro-jected to stabilise in 2021,before slowly declining up tothe end of the projection peri-od, in 2025.

Broadly speaking the pat-tern of public debt in India isclose to the norm around theworld,” he said.

According to Gaspar,India’s public debt ratio hasbeen remarkably stable since1991. It is interesting to notethat the debt ratio has been sta-

ble at around 70 per cent ofGDP over the past decade, hesaid.

Responding to a questionabout his assessment of the fis-cal situation of India, Gaspersaid India has been an impor-tant source of growth in theworld since the 1991 econom-ic liberalisation reforms.

Real GDP growth aver-aged 6.5 per cent between 1991to 2019, and real GDP per capi-ta was multiplied by four overthat period. This impressivegrowth performance helpedlift millions of people out ofextreme poverty, he said.

The extreme poverty rate,measured as the proportion ofpeople whose income is lessthan USD 1.90 a day at pur-chasing power parity (the inter-national poverty line), fell from45 per cent in 1993 to 13 percent by 2015 (date of the latestfull extrapolation by the WorldBank available – last full eval-uation, based on householdsurveys, goes back to 2011), hesaid.

India achieved the millen-nium development goal ofhalving poverty by 2015 (fromits 1990 level), he said.

���� 3 3>�

Equity indices defied gravi-ty for the tenth session on

the trot on Wednesday as a fag-end rally in banking and finan-cial counters helped offset prof-it-booking in IT stocks.

The 30-share BSE Sensexopened on a weak note butgained ground in the last hourof trade to finish at 40,794.74,up 169.23 points or 0.42 percent.

Similarly, the broader NSENifty rose 36.55 points or 0.31per cent to 11,971.05.

Bajaj Finserv led the Sensexgainers chart, spurting 3.87per cent, followed by BajajFinance, ICICI Bank, IndusIndBank, SBI, Tata Steel, AxisBank, L&T and HDFC.

On the other hand, NTPC,ONGC, PowerGrid, TechMahindra, Infosys, ITC andHCL Tech were among themajor laggards, dropping up to4.35 per cent.

Announcing its resultspost market hours, Infosys said

its consolidated net profit grewby 20.5 per cent to Rs 4,845crore for the September quar-ter, while it has raised revenueforecast to 2-3 per cent forFY21.

“Initially, the benchmarkindices opened in red on theback of unsupportive globalcues. Besides, the news of IMFlowering its growth forecast forIndia for the second time infour months was also weighingon the sentiment.

However, a sudden surgemainly in the banking andfinancial counters changed thetone and helped Nifty to pareall its losses and close near11,970 levels. On the flip side,IT, oil and gas and power trad-ed subdued.

“The rebound is on theexpected lines and we expectfurther surge ahead.Participants should keep aclose watch on earningsannouncements as well as glob-al markets for cues. We reiter-ate our view to maintain extracaution in the selection oftrades due to limited partici-pation and prevailing volatili-ty,” said Ajit Mishra, VP -Research, Religare Broking.

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With the gradual lifting oflockdown restrictions,

housing demand in the July-September quarter improvedand the sale of residential prop-erties increased by around 38per cent during the period inDelhi-National Capital Region,according to a JLL report.

A total of 3,112 housingunits were sold during theperiod under review, com-pared to 2,250 units sold in theApril-June quarter.

As per the report, most ofthis traction was witnessed inNoida, which contributed near-ly 48 per cent to the overallsales, as it caters to all price seg-ments. Noida was followed byGhaziabad constituting 31 percent of the sales and it mainlycaters to the mid and affordablesegments.

Gurugram accounted fornearly one-fifth of the overallsales during this quarter.

“The quarter saw a prefer-ence for ready-to-move-in pro-jects by reputed developers.The affordable and mid seg-ment projects garnered moreinterest from the homebuyers

as compared to high-end andluxury projects,” it said.

The emerging corridors ofsuburban markets such asNoida-Greater NoidaExpressway, Golf CourseExtension Road and DwarkaExpressway in Gurugram con-tinue to drive sales on theback of expected augmentationin physical and social infra-structure in these markets.

Given the current busi-ness environment, developersexercised restraint and cautionin launching new projects, JLLsaid.

Three projects werelaunched during the thirdquarter in the region, two inGurugram and one in Noida.

“While the launches werein high-end and upper midsegments in Gurugram, theproject in Noida catered to themid segment buyers,” thereport said.

Real estate developers con-tinue to focus on offloading theexisting unsold inventory andcompleting the projects underconstruction. Prices remainedrange-bound across most of thesubmarkets within Delhi-NCRduring the quarter.

The Hon’ble Union Ministerof Rural Development, Shri

Narendra Singh Tomar, waspresented the final dividendcheque of �97.52 crore for theyear 2019-20, by Shri M.Nagaraj, Director (CorporatePlanning) HUDCO.

Present on the occasion wereShri Nagendra Nath Sinha,

Secretary MoRD, Shri D.Guhan, Director (Finance)HUDCO and other senior offi-cials.

The Ministry of RuralDevelopment with a 20.73%

share holding has received atotal dividend of �128.65crore.

In its Golden Jubilee year,HUDCO has made an all-timehigh dividend payout of 31%amounting to �620.59 crore forthe year 2019-20.

HUDCO also paid divi-dend of �428.68 crore toMinistry of Housing and UrbanAffair (MoHUA), and �63.26core to public shareholders.

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The rupee managed to pareintra-day losses to settle

higher by a marginal 4 paiseat 73.31 against the US dol-lar on Wednesday, trackingupbeat Asian peers and latebuying in domestic equities.

At the interbank forexmarket, the rupee traded in anarrow range. It opened at73.39 against the US dollarand hit an intra-day high of73.28 and a low of 73.47. TheIndian currency finally settledfor the day at 73.31 againstthe greenback, higher by 4paise over its previous closeof 73.35 - logging its first gainin three days. The dollarindex, which gauges thegreenback’s strength against abasket of six currencies, fell0.06 per cent to 93.47.

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The COVID-19 pandemic continues toprove to be a tough time for everyone,

especially the frontline workers. The policedepartment has been faced with grave chal-lenges as they continue to provide assistanceand protect citizens on a round-the-clockbasis. While many are undergoing treatmentafter contracting the Coronavirus, many havesuccumbed to the health crisis while on duty.

During the lockdown, Diana Pentyextended a helping hand to police authori-ties in Byculla todistribute essen-tial equipment tokeep health risksat bay. With theaim to providethem with handsanitisers and eye-wear, she came upwith The KhakiProject initiative.In associationwith SalaamB o m b a yFoundation, theactor has raisedmore than �17lakh to providesafety essentials to 5,800 police personnelacross 34 police stations in Mumbai.

Taking to Instagram, she announced thedevelopment. Thanking everyone for theirsupport in raising the amount, she wrote,“Thank you from every corner of my heartto each and everyone of you for your gener-ous contribution towards The Khaki Project.Your love and support is what kept us going.A special shout-out to Salaam BombayFoundation for all the assistance in makingthis happen. More power to you guys. We aretruly grateful for all the things we couldaccomplish with your kindness.”

As the war against the pandemic contin-ues, Diana’s noble gestures have surelyinspired many across the nation to do theirbit to help those working who are tirelesslyworking on the frontline.

�What would you say about the LotusMake-up India Fashion Week (LMIFW)2020 under the shadow of theCoronavirus pandemic? How is it differ-ent?

The India Fashion Week has alwaysbeen a wonderful affair. However, this year,it has been a learning experience as wellas a challenging one for all of us. Therestricted movement and social distancinghas given the industry a new format — adigital space with grand virtual sets andimmersive technologies that will surelybuild a bridge between the physical anddigital spaces. At ‘Ashima Leena’ (AL), wehave been working meticulously to createour collection and have re-engineered ourworkspace where social distancing and allsafety guidelines are being followed.

LMIFW 2020 is different in manyaspects. There are more details this time.The digital presentation helps a brand toconvey a story and also becomes accessi-ble to a wider audience, increasing thereach of brands as well as designers.

�What were the underlying challengeswhile holding a grand show like thisonline?

Well, what poses itself as a challengetoday becomes a norm tomorrow. Curatinga grand show like this online for the firsttime was certainly very challenging.However, with the supportive and hard-working team of the FDCI, the entire expe-rience has been creaseless. As we were try-ing to adapt to using technology to show-case our designs, it also became moreinspiring to watch how the show came tolife with various added elements — visu-als, music, videography — all in sync to cre-ate the magic for us. With key elements inmind that tell the story of Ashima Leenasuch as styling, jewellery, choreography andmake-up, we have created our digital showthat showcases ‘the art of textile crafting’with signature AL styles.

�What do you think is the new face offashion?

The new face of fashion is definitelydigital. New formats have been re-imag-ined, the entire concept of fashion is beingrevisited due to the pandemic. I believewith less physical contact, the best way toreach out to our customers is online.

�What have you brought to the table thistime? Can you take us through your col-

lection?This collection is a tribute to the skilled

craftsmen and weavers of our rich textileindustry who are struggling for theirlivelihood today. We have been workingwith them for the last three decades. Theunseen hands of the weavers who haveworked relentlessly for decades togetherhave helped bring the brand where it is

today. Their support has truly beenimmeasurable.

This showcase of our CoutureCollection 2020 is titled, Umme Rabab,which represents the serenity and the divin-ity of a woman, who is known for her beau-ty, eloquence and wisdom. She proved tobe the epitome of a modern maharani(queen), who is strong-willed and dedicat-

ed but doused in softness and femininity.The collection combines delicate handembroidery in the form of meticulouslycurated textiles with classic AL Maharanisilhouettes. Through our interpretation, weaspire to reflect a poetic flow in volume,layers and impeccable garment construc-tion, which characterises the unique beau-ty of Umme Rabab.

The art of textile crafting is the signa-ture style of my label. It’s a magical mix ofdifferent kinds of weaves put together tocreate breathtaking patterns. The collectioncomprises of re-interpreted, lengthenedjackets that can be worn with any of theclassic silhouettes, peplums, circular lehen-gas, appliqué delicate sarees with jewelledtassels with chanderi and brocade-wovenOdhni along with antique gold fabrics. Wehave used a million tiny hand-embroideredbeads and intricately-appliquéd brocadesthat highlight our legacy of fine craftsman-ship. Our brilliant selection of hues trans-form texture into a chromatic scale of mag-ical colours, exuding an old-world charm.Mustard, muted turmeric, soft dusky pink,ivory, pomegranate red, iron black, beat-en gold, bold pinks, deep emerald, sand-like beige are some of the shades whichcome together to create the colour paletteof this diverse collection.

The fabric has a blend of many huesand colours, which renders an inimitableuniqueness to the outfits. The collection hasinterplays of dexterous applique workwith brocade fabrics, delicate French knotsand detailed zardozi embroidery.

�Given a massive crisis like this year, howdo you think the fashion industry can bebetter prepared to face such challengesin the future?

Today, as the world is learning to livein new ways, there are many who are strug-gling and trying to cope with the changesthis pandemic has brought to all our lives.One of the most affected sections has beenof the karigars (craftsworkers) and weaversof our country. We are now supportingthem in every possible way. We stand insolidarity with them during these toughtimes. There are millions of looms acrossIndia that are engaged in weaving cotton,silk and other natural fibers to bring outthe traditional beauty of India’s spectacu-lar heritage. Many generations of weavershave been dependent on this art of weav-ing and for decades it has provided liveli-hood to their families. Weavers and spe-cialised textile craftsmen of our countryhave helped in keeping alive Indian her-itage with various techniques of weavingand textile crafting. As we face challenges,we are also given an opportunity to rein-vent and reimagine new and improvedways of working. I feel whenever there willbe a challenge or such an obstacle, we willfind ways again to face them and to workaround them as it is imperative to supportone another in difficult times like these.

(The show is scheduled on October 16.)

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In 2007, as part of the CommonwealthGames 2010 planning, it had been

proposed that a road be built throughwhat we now know as Sunder Nurseryto connect Lodhi Road with RingRoad. While urban infrastructure is nota bad thing, this would have been amonumental folly, thankfully manyconservationists and the media, ThePioneer among them opposed thisplan. Instead in 2010, the Aga KhanTrust, the Archeological Survey ofIndia, the Central Public WorksDepartment (CPWD, which actuallyruns the ‘nursery’ bit) and other gov-

ernmental and non-governmental agen-cies began work on Phase-3 of the renew-al of the Nizamuddin area. This has start-ed with Humayun’s Tomb and adjoiningareas but this phase dramaticallyimproved the 90 acres of land at SunderNursery, the eventual plan being to cre-ate parks and green areas totalling 900acres in the heart of the capital.

In 2018, Vice-President ofIndia M Venkaiah Naidudedicated the park tothe citizens of thecity.

Today, the park is open from earlymorning to early evening not just forwalkers and joggers but also for thosekeen on buying plants and saplings fortheir homes. Indeed, Azim Bagh as thearea was known was a green space thatwas converted by the British into a nurs-ery to grow the trees that would line the

r o a d s

of the new capital being built. All theJamun trees that line Lutyens Delhi’sboulevards started their lives as saplingsat Sunder Nursery. It is also home toseveral species of trees uniquely foundjust there, and any budding arborist willfind the area fascinating to visit and dis-cover trees such as the Pink Cedar. Theflower gardens are also stunningthrough the years. And many of thetrees, flowering plants and even Bonsaiplants are available to the public fromthe CPWD nursery at prices muchlower than that of the myriad privatenurseries in Delhi. Buy plants andsaplings above �500 and your parkingfees of �75 are reimbursed.

One of the other major parts of theredevelopment completed two yearsago was the restoration of severalMughal-era buildings, gardens andtombs. The Sunder Burj, SunderwalaMahal and the Lakharwala Gumbad arejust some examples, making SunderNursery a great place to learn historyand with the fantastic Humayun’sTomb a short walk away, an outingthere should make it more fun for anybudding historian.

The Hyundai Venue Sport wedrove to Sunder Nursery is the perfectfamily vehicle for an outing to such anamazing site, not only has the VenueSport fit in a family comfortably, but itslarge boot means that you could also

buy a large number of saplings totake home and make your

house and Delhi agreener space as

well.

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The Director(Operations), Power

Grid Corporation ofIndia Limited, SeemaGupta, has beendeclared the winner ofGold Stevie® award in theLifetime Achievement— Business category inthe 17th annual StevieAwards for Women inBusiness.

The award honourswomen executives, entre-preneurs, employees andthe companies they runworldwide. For this year,the gold, silver and bronze award win-ners were determined by the averagescores of more than 180 business pro-fessionals around the world, working onseven juries.

The jury, while recommendingSeema’s name for the award, was allpraise for her lifetime achievements ina key industry usually dominated by men

and for demonstratingher leadership calibreby sustained excellencein her area of work. Thejury noted that hercareer and achieve-ments showed dedica-tion and determina-tion. She could becomea role model for thewomen in engineeringfield.

The award will bepresented to Seemaduring a virtual awardsceremony scheduled onDecember 9, 2020.

This global recognition is yet anoth-er achievement in Seema’s career. She hasbeen earlier conferred with SpecialCommendation Award for OutstandingWomen Manager in Public SectorEnterprises by the President in 2017 andwas adjudged as the Best Contributor atthe ITOMS 2018 Conference inMalaysia.

Life Insurance Corporationof India’s resilient and

quick response in meeting theexpectations of the marketand the people has brought itexemplary results in the cur-rent financial year.

In the half year of 2020-21, LIC has achieved morethan �25000 crore in first yearpremium income inIndividual New Business per-formance as on September 30,2020 as compared to�24867.70 crore as on Sept 30last year. Under its JeevanShanti plan, LIC collected�11456.41 crore as first yearpremium as on Sept 30, 2020.ULIP Business of LIC is alsodoing well this year.

As on Sept 30, 2020 thecompany sold 16844 policieswith a premium of �128.63crore as compared to 12940policies sold during the sameperiod last year.

LIC Pension and Group

Schemes Vertical collected�62,112.27 crore as GroupSchemes New BusinessPremium Income as on Sept30, 2020.

The corporation’s com-posite market share in num-ber of policies and first yearpremium is 67.82 per centand 70.57 per cent respective-ly for Q2.

It has also declared abonus of more than �51,000crore for its policyholders.

Due to heightened aware-ness about need of risk coverthe policy surrenders havereduced drastically.

The company had invest-ed more than �2,60,000 crorethis year in debt and equity (ason Sept 30 as compared to�244931 crore invested lastyear during the same period.It has already booked morethan �15000 crore as profitsin the capital market this fis-cal so far.

Market power has started chang-ing with the passage of time.

Malls and shopping centres wereonce a boon but in the changingenvironment, products made inhomes have started to gain afoothold in the market.

Many NGOs and local peopleset up their market near Swarnagriwith similar products. Giving infor-mation on the concept of TheNature’s Market, Smita Mittal saidthat she felt that Greater Noida is apromising city and is ready forSunday market. There are variouspeople who display their organicfarms and small businesses. Localproducers look for a platform toexpand. So we all like-minded peo-ple decided to join hands.

What started as a small groupconversation on WhatsApp hasnow become a thing for residentsof this place. The stalls at NatureMarket offered Bilona Ghee, bio-enzyme fertilisers, plant items,Kadaknath eggs, pickles, raw honey,kullu, books and many other hand-made items. The shopping processgrew more exciting with fresh litti-chokha and idli sambar. AditiSharma, from the Little MunniFoundation, said that such a mar-ket is a new ray of hope for peoplebattling the pandemic. She told thatthe market will take place everySunday. People were invited toencourage local crafts and directfarming.

The COVID-19 pandemichas largely hit the State ofOdisha. Many organisa-

tions and individuals have comeforward to supplement the gov-ernment’s efforts to deal with theemergent situation. KalingaInstitute of IndustrialTechnology (KIIT),Bhubaneswar, and its sister insti-tution Kalinga Institute of SocialSciences (KISS), under the lead-ership of its founder-professorAchyuta Samanta, have alsobeen taking a series of initiativessince the beginning of theCoronavirus outbreak and havebeen at the forefront of Odisha’swar against the virus.

Kalinga Institute of MedicalSciences (KIMS), a constituentof KIIT Deemed to beUniversity, also set up fourultra-modern dedicated toCOVID hospitals with the sup-port of the Government ofOdisha, located in Bhubaneswarand its three tribal-dominateddistricts. The hospitals have abed capacity of 1,200. KIMSCOVID Hospital inBhubaneswar, a 500-beddedstate-of-the-art facility including50 critical care beds, is India’sfirst standalone COVID hospi-tal.

The KIIT & KISS alsoreached out to various groupsfacing hardships due to theextended lockdown. The inter-vention included the distribu-tion of food material and otheressentials to over three lakh pan-demic-hit people, including theunderprivileged people living invarious slums, stranded migrantlabourers, who were also provid-ed temporary shelter, and peo-ple living in containment zones.

Community outreach activ-

ities of KIIT & KISS strived toreach the hardest-hit and com-monly overlooked people —transgenders, sportspersons,physically-challenged, sex work-ers, etc. They were provided withallowances to cope with the pro-longed lockdown. Food materi-als and cash to meet otherexpenses for three months weregiven to priests and other work-ers of several spiritual centres inBhubaneswar, Cuttack, Puri andnearby towns. The two institu-tions are providing groceries andcash for miscellaneous expens-es to over 40 orphanages, old-agehomes and leprosy centres inKandhamal district.

The student community isone of the worst-affected groupsin the COVID-19 pandemic.KISS is home to 30,000 tribalstudents from interior districtsof Odisha pursuing their stud-ies from Standard-I to PG/PhDlevel. Days before the outbreak,they were sent to their respec-tive homes in various districts ofOdisha. As the students stayedinside their homes, KISS sent outrequired study material andgenerous amount of dry foodsat their doorstep every month,since April. The monthly mate-rial also contain sanitary napkinsfor the adolescent girls. The ini-tiative will continue till the

reopening of KISS.A series of measures to

keep its students safe and healthyas well as ensuring that theyremain connected to studieswas also ensured. ProfessorSamanta, who has always put theeducation of these tribal studentsabove everything else, arrangedfor the textbooks, study materi-als and dried food items to beprovided at the students'doorsteps at the start of the newacademic year. KISS was one ofthe early institutes to beginonline classes and has beenmaintaining the academicschedule perfectly for studentsof all levels.

Inspired by the PrimeMinister’s call for ‘AtmanirbharBharat’ (self-reliant India), KISShas levelled up its vocational skillcentre during the COVID-19pandemic. The centre has beenscaled up to become a medium-sized industry and is now mak-ing 25 different types of voca-tional products. These productsare marketted through well-developed distribution chan-nel, besides fulfilling the in-house requirement of KIIT &KISS. The sale proceeds fromthe centre are expected to make

KISS self-reliant in the comingtimes.

In a unique humanitariangesture, KIIT Deemed to beUniversity has decided to pro-vide free education to the chil-dren of the COVID deceased inOdisha. The facility will beavailable for two academicyears — 2020-21 and 2021-22.

KIIT & KISS also paidspecial attention to the orphanchildren, belonging to thepoorer sections of society, whoare vulnerable to become vic-tims of child abuse and humantrafficking. The institutes haveadopted and are taking care ofabout 100 such orphans andproviding them monthlyallowance ranging from �5,000to �10,000, depending uponthe family size. As and whenthe academic institutionsreopen, they will be providedfree education and subsequent-ly complete higher education inthe institutes.

It’s professor Samanta’s per-sonal childhood experience ofhunger and poverty after hisfather’s demise at the age offour, which makes him workharder for the society’s under-privileged children.

�What are the major activities of the OBCMorcha?

The OBC Morcha is now emerged as amajor force to protect and secure the rights ofpeople from Backward Communities. That wasthe cause of its birth too. In Kerala, there hasbeen a great negligence towards this issue dueto the changing governments. There are manyschemes and governing bodies establishedover the time to benefit them, but they neverreally got benefitted. It’s because our system isnot working properly towards their facilities butonly their votes. This has to be changed. AndOBC Morcha is working to bring that change.

�Government of India has brought out sev-eral schemes to uplift the backward class com-munity. Is OBC Morcha creating awareness onthis?

Yes. In Kerala, those schemes has been sub-verted by other parties. OBC Morcha sees it asa mission to create awareness on schemes. Thishas become the need of the hour.

�There has been a loss of lives and employ-ment and the backward classes have been theworst-affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.Are you helping them in any way?

Backward classes are certainly the worst-affected. Many families have been rendered pen-niless. Many lives and jobs have been lost. That’swhy OBC Morcha has come up with a specialmission to take care of the affected people inthe community.

We believe in ‘Seva Hi Sangathan’ (serviceis organisation). And with that motto, inThrissur, thousands of families were providedwith food kits by OBC Morcha during the lock-down. When online education began, we start-ed to supply tablets and TVs to students frompoor families. And we are still continuing this.Timely intervention in matters related to thebackward communities is now getting resultstoo.

�Many people are trying to set up their ownbusinesses but the pandemic has hit themhugely. Do you plan to put forward anyschemes for saving such business and there-by people?

The central government led by NarendraModi ji has already announced many schemesto save these businesses, especially those underMSME sectors. The major need is to createawareness on these schemes and help them toget benefits out of them.

�What about the students who don’t haveaccess to smartphones or technology? How areyou helping them stay connected with educa-tion during these times?

The OBC Morcha has come up with mis-sion to supply gadgets to those who have nofacilities for online education.

�What is your solution to the growing pover-ty and suffering amid the pandemic?

There is no single solution for this. TheGovernment of India is working hard and tak-ing measures to help people in the crisis. Wehave to remain positive and work for a brighterfuture. The need of the hour is fighting awaythe pandemic. But for that, all the guidelinesfrom government must be followed.

�Do you think OBC Morcha can become anumbrella to cater to all the backward classesof the State?

Why not? Yes, it may. We are workingtowards a great goal of emancipation of back-ward communities from the clutches of negli-gence and discrimination. There is no compro-mise on that. Recently, we took an initiative tobring the Kumhara community (potters’ com-munity) in Kerala on a single platform to findsolution for their problems. They are in crisiswhile lockdown and pandemic has almost pavedthe way to death for this small industry. Now,the OBC Morcha has taken up their issues tocreate a good platform to revive this.

Perambalur MP andChancellor of SRM Institute

of Science & Technology, Dr TR Paarivendhar, who hadpromised to give free educationto 300 deserving students fromhis constituency in the SRMGroup of colleges, has complet-ed the promise this year.

In 2019, around the elec-tions, Paarivendhar had giventhis assurance to the people ofhis constituency. And after hiswin by over four lakh votes, heimmediately fulfilled his pollpromise. A total of 300 studentswere recently given free educa-tion in the colleges under theSRM ambit. This year, too,1,084 students had applied forfree education. Out of them,300 have been selected basedon their marks and the finan-cial situation of their respectivefamilies.

Apart from putting theirnames on the SRM website, aformal invitation will be sent tothe students individually, whowill then be pursuing educationin engineering, agriculture,arts and science as per theirpreferences.

Paarivendhar has also beentaking up various issues of hisconstituency with both thePrime Minister and the ChiefMinister of the State. He metPrime Minister Narendra Modi

on March 18, 2020, to talkabout the various needs of thePerambalur constituency.

Among the issues were theneed for a railway line viaA r i y a l u r - P e r a m b a l u r -Thuraiyur-Namakkal. He alsotook up the issue with RailwayMinister Piyush Goyal, whowrite to Paarivendhar that thefirst survey for the railway linewill be taken up shortly.

With Chief MinisterEdappadi Palanisamy, thePerambalur MP took up theissues of railway bridge atKulithalai-Manapparai, bring-ing residual Cauvery waterthrough a canal to Panjapattilake, setting up KendriyaVidyalayas in Lalgudi andKulithalai, and establishingcold storage facilities to helpsmall-scale onion farmers inThuraiyur and Perambalur.

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Page 12: ˆ˛ˇ€¦ · 14.10.2020  · Me Ee Ba” to showcase the infrastructure development in Bihar under the NDA regime. The BJP’s video song also men- tions the opening of IITs, AIIMS,

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Kings XI Punjab will be hoping thatChris Gayle fires on his much-

awaited return and they, for once, putup a complete performance in theirmust-win game against a high-flyingRoyal Challengers Bangalore here onThursday.

The inability to producean all-round show and closeout games they should havewon has led to KXIP losing sixout of their seven matches.

But KXIP can take con-fidence from the fact theironly win in the tournament hascome against RCB, who look a muchmore potent squad since their lastmeeting on September 24.

Though the Sharjah wicket hasbeen slowing gradually, the smallerground dimensions are ideal forsomeone like Gayle to go on a six-hit-ting spree.

However, it certainly won’t be easyfor the 41-year-old to get going fromball one, having not played earlier inthe competition.

He would have played thelast two games but could not dueto food poisoning. Havingrecovered fully, it will be inter-esting to see who he replacesin the side.

Benching a yet tofire Glenn Maxwell isone option or theteam can bring Gayleat the expense of anoverseas bowler andreplace him with theavailable Indian talent.

KXIP are languish-ing at the bottom of thetable despite having thetop-two leading run-gettersof the tournament in skipperK L Rahul (387 at strike rateof 134.84) and his opening

partner Mayank Agarwal (337 at48.14).

Barring Mohammad Shami andRavi Bishnoi, none of the bowlershave inspired confidence, especiallyin the death overs.

Not being able to find the rightbalance despite trying out manyoptions has also contributed to KXIP’s

rapid slide.They run into a RCB

squad which has grownin confidence by leapsand bounds since theirlast meeting.

For the first time inmany years, they seem to have fixedtheir bowling woes.

Their spin pairing of WashingtonSundar and Yuzvendra Chahal hasproved very effective and the pacedepartment has strengthened withthe return of Chris Morris frominjury.

“Playing such a side (with thelikes of Gayle, Rahul and Agarwal) ina stadium like Sharjah is definitely notgoing to be easy. It’s going to be a bit

challenging but I will definelty domy homework heading to thematch,” Sundar said on the eve ofthe match.

RCB’s last game against KKRwas also on this ground, so

they come into the matchmore aware of the grad-ually changing condi-

tions than KXIP, whoplayed here last onSeptember 27 whenthe surface wasmuch better to bat

on.With Aaron Finch

back among the runsagainst KKR, RCB’s top-four (including DevduttPadikkal, Virat Kohli andAB de Villiers) can be a

nightmare for any team.

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MATCHES 25ROYAL CHALLENGERS 12KINGS XI PUNJAB 13

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���!��� Former captainMisbah-ul-Haq on Wednesdaysaid he will be stepping down asPakistan’s chief selector nextmonth to focus on his role ashead coach of the national crick-et team.

Misbah told a media brief-ing in Lahore that he hasinformed the Pakistan CricketBoard (PCB) that he would bestepping down as chief selectoron November 30. He took up thedual role of chief selector andhead coach in September lastyear.

“I will select the squad forthe coming series againstZimbabwe but after that I justwant to focus on my work ashead coach,” he said.

Misbah insisted that he had

not quit as chief selector becauseof pressure from the board.

“No, it is purely my ownpersonal decision and I took itbecause I think it is not easydoing two high profile jobs atone time. I want to give my bestas head coach of the nationalteam. “Whoever is appointed aschief selector, I will fully coop-erate with him and work to takethe Pakistan team into the topthree of every format,” Misbahsaid.

Misbah said with time heunderstood that it would be pos-sible to give his best only to onerole. “When I accepted bothpositions I thought I couldmanage it but with time I thinkit is better for me to focus on onejob.” PTI

��8������� It was October 2010when India hosted the 19thedition of CommonwealthGames in Delhi where morethan 4,352 athletes from 71nations participated in 21 sportsand 272 events. The event wasa big hit but also had a fair shareof controversies and one suchwas the underpayment of vari-ous officials hired on contractu-al basis for various events dur-ing the 11-day sporting extrav-aganza. And one such wasDelhi-based Vikram Nayar whoworked as a sports announcerfor the fullbore shooting event.

But even 10 years after theconclusion of Games where hewas hired for �4500 per day for11 days, he is still fighting inhope to get his dues cleared, onlya part of which he is provided tilldate.

Speaking to The Pioneerabout his decade-old struggle,Nayar said “I was hired as asports announcer and theamount of �4500 per day waspromised to me for my servicesduring the entire duration.However I wasn’t provided withany contract document andthat’s why as soon as the gameswere done, I was sidelined andno payment was made for myservices.”

He was offered only one-

fifth of the total money that wasoriginally promised and that tooafter 15 months after wide-spread media coverage.

“I had received my part pay-ment of �10,500 after a gap of 15months. They had no intentionto make any payment but afterthe story about nonpaymentgot published in one of the lead-ing newspapers they had to doso. And since that day onwards,I have been fighting my battle forthe recovery of my balance andjustice till date, said Nayar, whowas selected as a sportsannouncer after clearing fiverounds of auditions.

In this long decade-old bat-tle to get justice, Nayar hasspent more than six times themoney that he is originally sup-posed to receive from the Gamesfederation and knocked doors ofvarious Government officialsbut all resulted in vain. But heis still hopeful that one day thetruth shall prevail and he will gethis dues sorted. PNS

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Joachim Low’s 14-year reignas Germany head coach is

under threat after his side’srun of poor results continuedon Tuesday as they had tocome from two goals down tolimp to a 3-3 draw againstSwitzerland in the Nations

League.Germany have drawn four

of their last five games — sur-rendering the lead on threeoccasions — to leave themsecond in their NationsLeague group behind Spain.

They squeezed pastUkraine 2-1 with a full-strength side in Kiev on

Saturday and after a 3-3friendly home draw againstTurkey last Wednesday, Low’sside were once again guilty ofpoor defending.

The 60-year-old Low hasa German FA contract untilthe 2022 FIFA World Cup inQatar.

However, his popularity

among German fans hasplummeted, from the heightsof winning the 2014 WorldCup title, since Germany’sdebacle at Russia 2018 finalswhen they failed to get out oftheir group.

The draw with the Swisswill only enhance the domes-tic criticism of Low from key

names within German foot-ball such as Lothar Matthaeusand Bastian Schweinsteiger.

Dinamo Zagreb strikerMario Gavranovic scoredgoals either side of a deftchip by Remo Freuler as allthree Swiss goals came fromGerman mistakes.

Germany fought back

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Ace Indian shuttler KidambiSrikanth on Wednesday out-

classed England’s Toby Penty instraight games to enter theDenmark Open second roundhere and likened his return tointernational badminton after acoronavirus-forced hiatus to “anadventure”.

The former world numberone, who had claimed four SuperSeries titles in 2017, beat Toby 21-12, 21-18 in 37 minutes, as thesport finally got going after aseven-month-long break.

“I started off well, but he wasgood in the second game. I’mplaying after a long time. It’s likean adventure. This situation issomething new. I’ve never beenaway for this long, and I’m happywith the way it went,” he told

BWF.The fifth seed will next face

Canada’s Jason Anthony Ho-Shue, who defeated India’sSubhankar Dey 21-13, 21-8 in alop-sided contest.

Former world No 13 AjayJayaram also couldn’t cross theopening hurdle, going down 12-21, 14-21 to world No 3 AndersAntonsen of Denmark in 37

minutes. Srikanth and LakshyaSen are now the only survivingIndians in the competition.

Lakshya has already reachedthe second round with a straightgame win over Christo Popov onTuesday. He will face Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus ofDenmark in the next round.

Srikanth said it will takesome time for him to find his best,given the circumstances.

“The last time I played was atthe All England where I lost in thefirst round, so I’ve not had muchof match practice. But I think I’mslowly getting back,” said theworld No 14 Indian.

“It will definitely take sometime, as there are no tournamentsafter this one. There will be apause in the season, so it mighttake time to get used to matchfeeling.”

Cape Town: South Africa is in dan-ger of being banned from internation-al cricket after its Government onWednesday said that it intended tointervene in the affairs of the sport’snational body following revelations ofserious misconduct by senior officials.

The statement from sports min-ister Nathi Mthethwa said he hadinformed the International CricketCouncil of the intended action. TheICC’s constitution forbidsGovernment interference and thepunishment is normally a ban frominternational games for the country’steams until the national cricket bodyis operating independently again.

The tension between the SouthAfrican Government and CSA relatesto a long-running investigation intothe affairs of the cricket body, whichresulted in the firing of CEO ThabangMoroe for serious misconduct. AP

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Shikhar Dhawan and skipperShreyas Iyer hit stroke-filled half-centuries but

Delhi Capitals lost momentumtowards the end to be restrict-ed to 161 for seven againstRajasthan Royals in an IPLmatch here on Wednesday.

The last five overs of theDelhi Capitals innings yieldedonly 32 runs and they lost fourwickets, an indication how theymissed Rishabh Pant andShimron Hetmyer.

DC had a disastrous start toits innings after opting to bat asit lost Prithvi Shaw off the firstball of the match with a gem ofa delivery from Jofra Archer(3/19) that jagged back in afterpitching and crashed into themiddle stump after getting an

inside edge.To make matters worse for

DC, Ajinkya Rahane was holedout to Robin Uthappa off Archerat mid-on an over later.

But then skipper Iyer (53 off43) joined hands with Dhawan(57 off 33) and the duo initial-ly played cautiously before open-ing up to take DC forward.

They shared 85 runs for thethird wicket off 55 balls to keepDC’s momentum going after theearly jolts.

Dhawan looked in greatnick from the onset, often find-ing the boundary with his trade-mark pulls and shots square offthe off side.

In the process he scored his39th fifty in the IPL off just 30balls but soon after reaching thefeat he departed while trying toforce the pacer, caught at shortthird man by Kartik Tyagi offleg-spinner Shreyas Gopal.

His runs came off 33 ballswhich had six boundaries andtwo hits over the fence.

After Dhawan’s dismissal,Iyer took the onus on himselfand upped the ante with somelusty hits and in the process gotto his fifty off 40 balls in the 15thover bowled by Jaydev Unadkat,that yielded 17 runs, includingtwo sixes. But soon after, Iyerdeparted, caught by Archer atlong-off off Kartik Tyagi as hewent for another big hit.

Marcus Stoinis (18) andAlex Carey (14) tried their bestto add muscle to the scoreboardbut were unsuccessful.

DHAWAN, IYER TAKE DC TO 161/7

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behind closed doors withgoals by Timo Werner, hisChelsea team-mate KaiHavertz and Serge Gnabry.

SPAIN GO DOWNIn other games, Substitute

Viktor Tsygankov’s strike gaveUkraine a surprise 1-0 winover goal-shy Spain in theirclash in Kiev. The 22-year-oldDynamo Kiev player had notlong been thrown into the frayby coach Andriy Shevchenkowhen he latched onto AndriyYarmolenko’s superb throughball and fired past an exposedDavid de Gea in the 76thminute.

It was a shock result afterSpain — who had not lostsince November 2018 — won4-0 when the sides met inMadrid just last month, andUkraine are now only a pointbehind Luis Enrique’s team inLeague A, Group 4.

Elsewhere, San Marinoare the perennial whippingboys of international footballbut on Tuesday they wereable to celebrate claimingtheir first point in six yearsthanks to a 0-0 draw inLiechtenstein.

Goalkeeper SimoneBenedettini was the hero forSan Marino as he kept theirfirst clean sheet since a goal-less draw at home to Estoniain a European Championshipqualifier in November 2014,and their first ever clean sheetaway from home.