ˇ ˘ ˆ ˙˝ · 2020. 9. 26. · community that india will pro- ... outrage. traders p jeyaraj...

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M aking a strong case for a significant role for India in the United Nations, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday stressed the need for changes in the international body and questioned its posi- tion in fighting the coron- avirus pandemic. He also assured the global community that India will pro- vide corona vaccine to the world as it is the world’s biggest pharmaceutical drugs manu- facturer. Addressing the 75th annu- al session of the United Nations General Assembly virtually in Hindi, Modi said India has already supplied relevant drugs to more than 150 countries in the past few months since the outbreak of the pandemic. He said while the world is fighting it for the last eight to nine months, “where is the UN in this joint fight. Where is the effective response.” Focussing on a more prominent role for India in the UN and fight against corona, the Prime Minister avoided making any reference to ongo- ing tension at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and frosty ties with Pakistan in his 20-minute speech. He also did not respond to Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s remarks about India in his speech. However, Modi put a ques- tion mark on the UN role by stating that though the third world war did not take place so far but the past years saw sev- eral wars and civil strifes besides terrorist attacks killing scores of innocent people. The PM acknowledged that while the UN had several notable achievements to its name in the 75 years of its experience, including the pre- vention of a third world war, “we can’t deny terrorist attacks shook the world”. “We have successfully avoided a third world war but we cannot deny many wars happened, many civil wars happened. Terrorist attack shook the world. Blood was spilled. Those were killed were like you and me. Children left the world prematurely,” he said. Strongly pitching a greater position for India, he said when the UN was formed in 1945 the world was signifi- cantly different. Challenges in the 21st century and future are now different and the UN has to change to keep pace with changing times, Modi said adding the global forum need- ed to introspect. Underlining that the UN commands respect in India, Modi, however, said the coun- trymen were anxious as to when will the much awaited reforms take place in the body. “They are worried whether the process will reach a logical end. Till when will India be kept away from the UN’s deci- sion-making process?” he said. “When we were weak, we didn’t trouble the world. When we became strong, we didn’t become a bojh (burden) on the world. Till when do we have to wait? India has sent soldiers to UN peace-keeping missions and India has lost the most number of soldiers. India has always thought about the wel- fare of the world,” the PM said in strong opening remarks. B JP national president JP Nadda on Saturday announced a new team of office-bearers and significant- ly replaced Ram Madhav, P Muralidhar Rao, Anil Jain, Saroj Pandey as general secre- taries. Nadda appointed Bengaluru Member of Parliament Tejasvi Surya as party’s youth wing president, replacing Poonam Mahajan. The list of eight general secretaries has five new faces with Bhupender Yadav, Arun Singh, and Vijayvargiya being retained. Dushyant Kumar Gautam (MP Delhi), D Purandareshwari, CT Ravi (MLA, Karnataka), Chugh (Punjab), and Dilip Saikia ( MP, Assam) are new choices as general secretaries. In the list of vice presidents, Nadda has retained ex-Chief Ministers Dr Raman Singh (Chhattisgarh), Vasundhara Raje (Rajasthan), and Baijyant Jay Panda (Odisha). The new vice-presidents are: West Bengal leader Mukul Roy, former Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das, mem- bers of Parliament Rekha Verma, Annapurna Devi, Bharatiben Shiyal, DK Aruna, Radha Mohan Singh, M Chuba Ao and AP Abdullakutty. Radha Mohan Singh is a former Union Minister and former State BJP president. His induction as the party’s national VP comes ahead of the Bihar Assembly polls, obviously to send a message among his Rajput caste men. Besides Radha Mohan Singh, the poll-bound Bihar has three others in the list of office-bearers, most of them retained from the last team. Similarly, Mukul Roy’s ele- vation as vice-president is seen as a move with an eye on the next year’s Bengal Assembly elections. In addition to Roy, Member of Parliament (West Bengal) Raju Bisht figures as spokesperson in the list. The “new team” which has come into effect eight months after Nadda took up the reins of the party represents more or less a status quo, mirroring the profile under the two-terms of Amit Shah. Among 12 vice-presidents announced, Dr Raman, Raje and Panda have been retained in their posts. Ahead of the crucial Madhya Pradesh bypolls for an odd-22 Assembly seats, the BJP has continued with its senior leader Kailash Vijaywargiya as party general secretary from MP. T he CBI has filed a chargesheet against nine police officials, including then Inspector/SHO, two Sub- Inspectors, two Head Constables and four constables of Sathankulam Police Station (Tamil Nadu) for allegedly tor- turing a father-son duo, both traders, to death on June 19, in a case that triggered nationwide outrage. Traders P Jeyaraj (59) and his son J Feniks (31) were taken into custody by the Sattankulam Police allegedly for violating the lockdown rule that mandated the closure of all business establishments after 8 pm. Jeyaraj, who owned a mobile phone shop, had kept open his shop beyond the time limit, according to the police version. He was taken to the police station while his son reached the station to find out why his father was taken into custody. While Feniks died on June 22 at the Kovipatti General Hospital, Jeyaraj was found dead on June 23. Police bru- tality is said to be the cause of the deaths. The Tamil Nadu Government had ordered a magistrate level probe, but the cops in the Sattankulam Station refused to cooperate with the magistrate which led the Madras High Court to order the revenue administration to take possession of the police station, a first of kind incident in the country. Later the State Government ordered a CBI probe into the case following the request by the Director General of Police. C hief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday said that the Aam Aadmi Party Government will make water supply in Delhi as good as in developed countries and hire a consultant for better water management ensuring not a drop goes waste in the city. “The Government will hire a consultant to suggest mea- sures to improve water supply management and no wastage of water in Delhi to enhance the water availability,” he said. “The process got a bit delayed due to corona other- wise the process would have been completed in March or April,” he said. The Chief Minister also said that his Government has been working to increase water availability in Delhi. He said, “We have been working to increase water avail- ability in Delhi. We have been talking to the Governments of UP, HP, Uttarakhand and other States, which have more | water.” The CM said some Opposition leaders are saying that the water supply in Delhi is being privatised. “No pri- vatisation of water is happen- ing. There can be no privatisa- tion of water at any cost,” he said. T he government will need 80,000 crore over the next one year to buy and dis- tribute Covid-19 vaccine across the country, said Adar Poonawalla, CEO of Serum Institute of India (SII). “Quick question; will the Government of India have 80,000 crores available, over the next one year? Because that’s what @MoHFW_INDIA needs, to buy and distribute the vaccine to everyone in India. This is the next concerning the challenge we need to tackle. @PMOIndia,” Poonawalla tweeted. The world’s leading vac- cine manufacturer, SII, has joined hands with five global pharma companies including AstraZeneca to pro- duce one billion doses of its vaccine candidate, besides partnering with Russia’s Gamaleya Research Institute to manufacture the Sputnik V vaccine. The Serum Institute of India has pledged half of it to the country. T he reports of growing rift within the Bengal BJP that was hitherto ruled out by party stalwarts on Saturday came to the fore with senior leader and former State party president Rahul Sinha speaking out openly against the central leadership’s decision to honour Trinamool Congress defectors with priced posts at the cost of time-tested per- formers. Sinha’s outburst came hours after Mukul Roy and Anupam Hazra were elevated to the post of BJP national vice president and national gener- al secretary respectively. O ne of the oldest partners of the BJP — the Shiromani Akali Dal — which has been with it through thick and thin for decades, finally quit the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) on Saturday, signaling a complete political break from its past on the three farm Bills passed by Parliament early this week. Eyeing the March 2022 Assembly elections which is expected to be fought on the Farm Bills, SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal announced the decision to part with NDA after a meeting of the core committee of the party here saying the decision was taken due to injustice to farmers, Sikhs, Punjab and Punjabi language. “In the last two months, our attempt was to make aware the Central Government, the sentiments of the people of Punjab. But with regret we have to say that the Bill was passed with brute force…You know what hap- pened in the Rajya Sabha…Our Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal had resigned earlier in protest,” Badal said late in the evening. He said the party took a conscious decision after talk- ing to the party workers, talk- ing to the farmers and people of the state. “For the last few days, I have been talking to everybody… The entire lead- ership of the Akali Dal has decided not to be a part of the NDA which has brought Ordinances and Bills which are against Punjab and farm- ers,” he said. A mid the coronavirus pan- demic, sickle cell patients should be extra cautious of Covid-19, said Padma Shri Dr AT Dabke at an international webinar on sickle cell anaemia held on Saturday. The webinar was jointly organized by the Sickle Cell Institute Chhattisgarh and Indiana Academy of Paediatrics. Institute Director Dr Arvind Neral said in a press release that Dr Dabke explained the importance of a balanced diet in treating sick- le cell patients. Dr Ifran Noor from Amsterdam also took part in the webinar. Dr Dabke, while presiding over the programme, said that excessive heat can cause trou- bles of sickle cell carrier (HbAS) persons and cause dehydration, the press release said. Dr Noor, who was the key speaker, stressed that sickle cell can cause blockage in vein and cause defects in other organs as well. He suggested blood trans- fusion for avoiding complica- tions like VOS and ACS. Dr Harish Nayak, State President of Chhattisgarh Academy of Paediatrics, detailed about chronic damages caused to the organs of a sick- le cell patients and interruption or slow mental-physical growth in children suffering from sick- le cell anaemia. Later, a panel discussion on sickle cell was held wherein experts analyzed different aspects of the disease. RNI Regn. No. CHHENG/2012/42718, Postal Reg. No. - RYP DN/34/2013-2015

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Page 1: ˇ ˘ ˆ ˙˝ · 2020. 9. 26. · community that India will pro- ... outrage. Traders P Jeyaraj (59) and his son J Feniks (31) ... management and no wastage of

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Making a strong case for asignificant role for India

in the United Nations, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi onSaturday stressed the need forchanges in the internationalbody and questioned its posi-tion in fighting the coron-avirus pandemic.

He also assured the globalcommunity that India will pro-vide corona vaccine to theworld as it is the world’s biggestpharmaceutical drugs manu-facturer.

Addressing the 75th annu-al session of the United NationsGeneral Assembly virtually inHindi, Modi said India hasalready supplied relevant drugsto more than 150 countries inthe past few months since theoutbreak of the pandemic. Hesaid while the world is fighting

it for the last eight to ninemonths, “where is the UN inthis joint fight. Where is theeffective response.”

Focussing on a moreprominent role for India in theUN and fight against corona,the Prime Minister avoidedmaking any reference to ongo-ing tension at the Line ofActual Control (LAC) andfrosty ties with Pakistan in his20-minute speech. He also didnot respond to Pakistan PrimeMinister Imran Khan’s remarksabout India in his speech.

However, Modi put a ques-tion mark on the UN role bystating that though the thirdworld war did not take place sofar but the past years saw sev-eral wars and civil strifesbesides terrorist attacks killingscores of innocent people.

The PM acknowledgedthat while the UN had several

notable achievements to itsname in the 75 years of itsexperience, including the pre-vention of a third world war,“we can’t deny terrorist attacksshook the world”.

“We have successfullyavoided a third world war butwe cannot deny many warshappened, many civil warshappened. Terrorist attackshook the world. Blood wasspilled. Those were killed werelike you and me. Children leftthe world prematurely,” he said.

Strongly pitching a greaterposition for India, he saidwhen the UN was formed in1945 the world was signifi-cantly different. Challenges inthe 21st century and future arenow different and the UN hasto change to keep pace withchanging times, Modi saidadding the global forum need-ed to introspect.

Underlining that the UNcommands respect in India,Modi, however, said the coun-trymen were anxious as towhen will the much awaitedreforms take place in the body.“They are worried whetherthe process will reach a logicalend. Till when will India bekept away from the UN’s deci-sion-making process?” hesaid.

“When we were weak, wedidn’t trouble the world. Whenwe became strong, we didn’tbecome a bojh (burden) on theworld. Till when do we have towait? India has sent soldiers toUN peace-keeping missionsand India has lost the mostnumber of soldiers. India hasalways thought about the wel-fare of the world,” the PM saidin strong opening remarks.

����������� �� ������ ��

BJP national president JPNadda on Saturday

announced a new team ofoffice-bearers and significant-ly replaced Ram Madhav, PMuralidhar Rao, Anil Jain,Saroj Pandey as general secre-taries.

Nadda appointedBengaluru Member ofParliament Tejasvi Surya asparty’s youth wing president,replacing Poonam Mahajan.

The list of eight generalsecretaries has five new faceswith Bhupender Yadav, ArunSingh, and Vijayvargiya beingretained.

Dushyant Kumar Gautam(MP Delhi), DPurandareshwari, CT Ravi(MLA, Karnataka), Chugh(Punjab), and Dilip Saikia ( MP,Assam) are new choices asgeneral secretaries.

In the list of vice presidents,Nadda has retained ex-ChiefMinisters Dr Raman Singh(Chhattisgarh), VasundharaRaje (Rajasthan), and BaijyantJay Panda (Odisha).

The new vice-presidentsare: West Bengal leader MukulRoy, former Jharkhand ChiefMinister Raghubar Das, mem-bers of Parliament RekhaVerma, Annapurna Devi,Bharatiben Shiyal, DK Aruna,

Radha Mohan Singh, M ChubaAo and AP Abdullakutty.

Radha Mohan Singh is aformer Union Minister andformer State BJP president.His induction as the party’snational VP comes ahead of the

Bihar Assembly polls, obviouslyto send a message among hisRajput caste men.

Besides Radha MohanSingh, the poll-bound Biharhas three others in the list ofoffice-bearers, most of themretained from the lastteam.

Similarly, Mukul Roy’s ele-vation as vice-president is seenas a move with an eye on thenext year’s Bengal Assemblyelections. In addition to Roy,Member of Parliament (WestBengal) Raju Bisht figures asspokesperson in the list.

The “new team” which hascome into effect eight monthsafter Nadda took up the reinsof the party represents more orless a status quo, mirroring theprofile under the two-terms ofAmit Shah.

Among 12 vice-presidentsannounced, Dr Raman, Rajeand Panda have been retainedin their posts.

Ahead of the crucialMadhya Pradesh bypolls for anodd-22 Assembly seats, theBJP has continued with itssenior leader KailashVijaywargiya as party generalsecretary from MP.

����� ������ ����������

The CBI has filed achargesheet against nine

police officials, including thenInspector/SHO, two Sub-Inspectors, two HeadConstables and four constablesof Sathankulam Police Station(Tamil Nadu) for allegedly tor-turing a father-son duo, bothtraders, to death on June 19, ina case that triggered nationwideoutrage.

Traders P Jeyaraj (59) andhis son J Feniks (31) weretaken into custody by theSattankulam Police allegedlyfor violating the lockdown rulethat mandated the closure of allbusiness establishments after 8pm. Jeyaraj, who owned a

mobile phone shop, had keptopen his shop beyond the timelimit, according to the policeversion.

He was taken to the policestation while his son reachedthe station to find out why hisfather was taken intocustody.

While Feniks died on June22 at the Kovipatti GeneralHospital, Jeyaraj was founddead on June 23. Police bru-tality is said to be the cause ofthe deaths.

The Tamil NaduGovernment had ordered amagistrate level probe, but thecops in the Sattankulam Stationrefused to cooperate with themagistrate which led theMadras High Court to orderthe revenue administration totake possession of the policestation, a first of kind incidentin the country. Later the StateGovernment ordered a CBIprobe into the case followingthe request by the DirectorGeneral of Police.

���������������� ������ ��

Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal on Saturday said

that the Aam Aadmi PartyGovernment will make watersupply in Delhi as good as indeveloped countries and hire aconsultant for better watermanagement ensuring not adrop goes waste in the city.

“The Government will hirea consultant to suggest mea-sures to improve water supplymanagement and no wastage ofwater in Delhi to enhance thewater availability,” he said.

“The process got a bitdelayed due to corona other-wise the process would havebeen completed in March orApril,” he said.

The Chief Minister also

said that his Government hasbeen working to increase wateravailability in Delhi.

He said, “We have beenworking to increase water avail-ability in Delhi. We have beentalking to the Governments ofUP, HP, Uttarakhand and otherStates, which have more |water.”

The CM said someOpposition leaders are sayingthat the water supply in Delhiis being privatised. “No pri-vatisation of water is happen-ing. There can be no privatisa-tion of water at any cost,” hesaid.

����� ������ ��

The government will need�80,000 crore over the

next one year to buy and dis-tribute Covid-19 vaccine acrossthe country, said AdarPoonawalla, CEO of SerumInstitute of India (SII).

“Quick question; will theGovernment of India have�80,000 crores available, overthe next one year? Becausethat’s what @MoHFW_INDIAneeds, to buy and distribute thevaccine to everyone in India.This is the next concerning the

challenge we need to tackle.@PMOIndia,” Poonawallatweeted.

The world’s leading vac-cine manufacturer, SII, hasjoined hands with five globalpharma companies including AstraZeneca to pro-duce one billion doses of itsvaccine candidate, besidespartnering with Russia’sGamaleya Research Institute tomanufacture the Sputnik Vvaccine.

The Serum Institute ofIndia has pledged half of it tothe country.

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The reports of growing riftwithin the Bengal BJP that

was hitherto ruled out by partystalwarts on Saturday came tothe fore with senior leader andformer State party president Rahul Sinha speakingout openly against the centralleadership’s decision to honourTrinamool Congress defectors with priced posts atthe cost of time-tested per-formers.

Sinha’s outburst camehours after Mukul Roy andAnupam Hazra were elevatedto the post of BJP national vicepresident and national gener-al secretary respectively.

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One of the oldest partnersof the BJP — the

Shiromani Akali Dal — whichhas been with it through thickand thin for decades, finallyquit the National DemocraticAlliance (NDA) on Saturday,signaling a complete politicalbreak from its past on thethree farm Bills passed byParliament early this week.

Eyeing the March 2022Assembly elections which isexpected to be fought on theFarm Bills, SAD chief SukhbirSingh Badal announced thedecision to part with NDAafter a meeting of the corecommittee of the party heresaying the decision was takendue to injustice to farmers,Sikhs, Punjab and Punjabilanguage.

“In the last two months,our attempt was to makeaware the CentralGovernment, the sentimentsof the people of Punjab. Butwith regret we have to say thatthe Bill was passed with bruteforce…You know what hap-pened in the RajyaSabha…Our MinisterHarsimrat Kaur Badal hadresigned earlier in protest,”Badal said late in theevening.

He said the party took aconscious decision after talk-ing to the party workers, talk-ing to the farmers and peopleof the state. “For the last fewdays, I have been talking toeverybody… The entire lead-ership of the Akali Dal hasdecided not to be a part of theNDA which has broughtOrdinances and Bills whichare against Punjab and farm-ers,” he said.

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Amid the coronavirus pan-demic, sickle cell patients

should be extra cautious ofCovid-19, said Padma Shri DrAT Dabke at an internationalwebinar on sickle cell anaemiaheld on Saturday.

The webinar was jointlyorganized by the Sickle CellInstitute Chhattisgarh andIndiana Academy ofPaediatrics.

Institute Director DrArvind Neral said in a pressrelease that Dr Dabkeexplained the importance of abalanced diet in treating sick-le cell patients. Dr Ifran Noorfrom Amsterdam also tookpart in the webinar.

Dr Dabke, while presidingover the programme, said thatexcessive heat can cause trou-bles of sickle cell carrier(HbAS) persons and causedehydration, the press releasesaid.

Dr Noor, who was the keyspeaker, stressed that sickle

cell can cause blockage in veinand cause defects in otherorgans as well.

He suggested blood trans-fusion for avoiding complica-tions like VOS and ACS.

Dr Harish Nayak, StatePresident of ChhattisgarhAcademy of Paediatrics,detailed about chronic damagescaused to the organs of a sick-le cell patients and interruptionor slow mental-physical growthin children suffering from sick-le cell anaemia.

Later, a panel discussion onsickle cell was held whereinexperts analyzed differentaspects of the disease.

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� What is your role in Indiawaali Maa?I play Chinamma, a girl from

Mangalore. She is Rohan’s girlfriend.They both have moved to the US and areplanning to return to India now. She istruly in love with Rohan and wants tosupport him in his business. She has a lotof baggage since her childhood. She losther mother at an early age so she nevergot to experience that selfless love. Shewonders how someone can love selflesslyand make sacrifices. Though her fatherloves her, he wants her to follow thefamily traditions. However, she wants todo what she loves in life. She wants toexperience what true love really is.� What made you say yes to the role?

I have worked with Akshay beforeand when he told me about the projectand that he had signed it, I found itinteresting. The story is such that it willtouch everybody’s heart. Today, most ofus have become thankless to our parentsand the ef forts they put in ourupbringing. In such a scenario, the showgives out a beautiful message and it feelsgreat that I am a part of this show. Theshow is a tribute to all Indian mothers. � How did acting happen to you?

I was always inclined towards it, butI didn’t take it seriously initially. No onefrom my family was in this field and I hadno idea of how to get there and becomea part of it. It just happened with me. Iwas working with a bank in Delhi and gotan opportunity to do a small role in aproject. Then people startedrecommending me for some projects andthen I started giving auditions. It was likea chain for me. � How supportive was your family?

My family has always beensupportive. They never me or my sisterwhat should we become in our loves, theyleft it upto us to make a choice. Hadanyone from my family been in this field,I would have definitely received some tipsfrom them, but that was not the case.Hence, I was all by myself, but they neverstopped me from doing anything.� Were there any apprehensions beforeentering this field?

There were many. But slowly yourealise that in every artistic field, thereis very low certainity. So either you go fora settled job and be certain abouteverything or take that risk to becomewhat you want. It’s your choice to make.� What kind of roles attract you?

There are a lot of roles that attractme. TV is changing and some beautifulshows are coming up that offer actorssome good roles. So I would like to be apart of shows that are unique and havean interesting story to tell.� Any plans of exploring the digitalspace?

Yes, definitely. There are so manyplatforms now and an actor can do somuch. I would like to explore everything.I have not done much work till date, it’salmost like a starting. I want to webseries, theatre and films. I want toexplore all the mediums.� Any actor or director you would liketo work with?

There are lots of them. It’s very hardto name one. After every movie that I see,I end up following the actors anddirectors on Instagram and then keepstalking them.� Do you still get butterflies in yourstomach when you see yourself onTV?

Yes. It happens with me everytime Ido a new project. Whenever I am on sets,I get so nervous and excited at the sametime. But after doing a couple of scenes,I get back to normal.

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Apoorva Lakhia has shrunkfrom the big screen to tubespace, from multiplexes to

OTT, much too smoothly to notraise an eyebrow or two.

Having said that, the webseries that he has directed,Crackdown, brings in it, explosiveenergy, slick pace and of coursethe ability to withstand and negatein style any possibility of beingfathomed, till the very end.

That’s what makes this slicklyput together anti-terror spy storyworth the time you would spendwith it, on it. Lakhia skillfullypursues the goal of making hisviewers susceptible to bingewatching and then audaciouslywalks away with an ending that’sabrupt, killing and fodder foranother season chant withoutlosing much time.

Without letting out anyspoilers, the story pursues acovert operation and operatorswithin RAandW to take downterrorati in general and terrorcells in particular. Taking downterror cells, as it turns out,becomes like a walk into thebeehive with plot after plot

springing up to taunt the hero inpursuit. Saqeeb, by the way,manages the operation with a nononsense approach that leaves notime for the viewer to dwell onanything else than the job athand. That gives the series apinpoint focus and narrows downavenues to stray into emotionsother than the one which givesthem constant palpitation andanticipation.

Lakhia, please do zoom intoSeason 2 just like the way youtook us through Season 1.... withno time lost, with no bilaterals,with no dilly dallying. After all,you have sent the benchmark forthis much anticipated secondpart.

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Let’s get one thing clear here. Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes neverhad a sister; only an older brother, Microft. So fans of the original 56 storiesby the author should not be scratching their heads wondering where this

sister was all along. This movie directed by Harry Bradbeer is based on a series of books written

by Nancy Springer. Now that we have one of the most popular detective characterall sorted out, it’s time to talk about the movie.

It is interesting to see how this sister is so much like Sherlock Holmes andat times smarter. Yes, she does manage to outwit and outsmart him, at least inthis one, to be a step ahead and solve the mystery. A bit strange to see a film thathas Sherlock Holmes and him taking a back seat. But Henry Cavill, yes the manwho plays Superman, fits the bill here. His straight laced face with somewhat smirkwhen he realises that he has been upped by a 16-year-old makes one smile sincewe all know that Sherlock Holmes was only outwitted once in his life — a womanwhom he referred to as The Lady.

Given that Benedict Cumberbatch played this life size character in the BBCseries so well, Cavill sits pretty in this role.

Millie Bobby Brown who plays Enola Holmes is brilliant. She is funny,charming and steals your heart from the word go even if she doesn’t conform tothe definition of how a proper lady should behave — definitely not stand in frontof her brothers in knickers pants and camisole worn in 1890s. But she holds herground brilliantly and takes you on a roller coaster ride. While there isn’t muchof a mystery yet Brown manages to keep the viewers entertained till the very end.So much so that one will wait for the next one. There are more right?

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What would you do if you are the second-born royal? Mostprobably travel the world, do charity work, cut ribbons andsupport your sibling whenever called upon to so. Not quite right

if one goes by the movie directed by Anna Mastro. Here, if you are second-born you are born with certain privileges or should one say powers uniqueto each royal born later even if it is by a minute. So if one is missing outon watching Avenger movies, Secret Society... is somewhat of asubstitute. Or one can say that it is the fun take on the X-Men series.

While it may not be on the lines of Avengers and X-Men, it does comewith its fair share of gizmos, secret organisation, a fancy costume, a jetand not to forget a plot where there is revenge and murder. The filmis entertaining enough given that these royals have weird powers whichthey must master not to benefit themselves but to do good for the othersand ensure that the world is free from dangerous criminals.

It is engrossing, exhilarating and kid-friendly. At the same time, theadults can enjoy the intrigue and the underground operative station —like a Batman Cave and state of the art weapons and computers to keeptabs on what is happening around the globe and in the house of the mostnotorious criminals as well. Quite the operation that will keep the adultsglued to the seats till the very end.

If you love movies where the characters have superpowers that theyuse to fight crime, even if they are just teenagers, Secret Society... is justup your alley.

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Page 3: ˇ ˘ ˆ ˙˝ · 2020. 9. 26. · community that India will pro- ... outrage. Traders P Jeyaraj (59) and his son J Feniks (31) ... management and no wastage of

RAIPUR | SUNDAY | SEPTEMBER 27, 2020chhattisgarh 03

World Tourism Day: With World Tourism Day's 2020 edition having ‘Tourism and Rural Development’ as the theme,Chhattisgarh has unexplored areas of varied tribal and eco-tourism spots which can attract tourists from near and far.

STAFF REPORTER nRAIPUR

On the lines of the nation-al capital Delhi,

Chhattisgarh will soon start‘Mohalla Clinics’ in 14municipal corporations of thestate. For this, 60 medicalmobile units will be devel-oped in the first phase.

Under the ChiefMinister's City Slum HealthScheme, the medical unitteams will not only providetreatment and medical check-up of people in Mohallas(localities), especially in slumareas, but will also distributemedicines for free, an officialpress release said on Saturday.

A committee constitutedto implement this scheme hasrecommended to provide `55

crore for the health service.At the meeting of the

committee held on Saturday,

chairman Chief SecretaryR.P. Mandal told the UrbanAdministration Department

to start this scheme at the ear-liest, the press release said.

The officials said the‘Mohalla Clinic’ is to beimplemented in the munici-pal corporation limitsthrough the Urban PublicService Society constitutedunder the chairmanship ofthe District Collector.

Through the mobilemedical unit, free pathologytest, free of charge medicinedistribution, referral basedfree ambulance and free radi-ology along with free medicalconsultation will be providedin slum areas.

Chief Minister BhupeshBaghel wants the scheme tostart at the earliest.

Chhattisgarh to openMohalla Clinics soon

STAFF REPORTER nRAIPUR

The Chhattisgarh govern-ment stood with the poor,

farmers, tribals and workersduring the Covid-19 pandem-ic, due to which the state'seconomy remained untouchedwhen people around the globefaced financial constraints,Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghelsaid on Saturday.

Baghel was addressing thepublic after dedicating thefoundation stone laying cere-mony at Kondagaon throughvirtual mode from his resi-dence-cum-office. A total of 25works worth `155 crore wasinaugurated while foundationstone for `145 crore worth ofdevelopment work was laid.

These included a maize

processing centre, livelihoodcentres, a district library, con-struction of a bus stand in

Kondagaon and more.He said the Rajiv Gandhi

Kisan Nyay Scheme's third

instalment would be given onNovember 1, the FoundationDay of the state.

Already the loan waiver,paddy procurement, GodhanNyay scheme, procurement ofminor forest produce onMinimum Support Price andregular work through MahatmaGandhi National RuralEmployment Guarantee Scheme(MGNREGA) have economical-ly helped the people.

The Godhan Scheme isunique as it provides space forprotecting cattle, procreationand income to the cattle own-ers. Till date `21 crore has beenpaid to the cow dung sellers.

Kondagaon MLA MohanMarkam, district in-chargeMinister Guru Rudra Kumarand other public representa-tives also addressed the event.

STAFF REPORTER nRAIPUR

The Chhattisgarh gov-ernment's Public

Instructions Directoratehas told all district educa-tion officers to get detailsof the various fees soughtby private schools duringthe Covid-19 lockdown.

A letter issued onFriday states that the HighCourt of Chhattisgarh onJuly 9 ordered that privateschools can charge onlytuition fees from parents.After the order, the SchoolEducation Departmentdirected a stern imple-mentation of the courtorder.

The letter says thegovernment is seekinginformation regarding thefees charged by the privateschools. The schoolsshould provide details offees charged under differ-ent heads for fiscal 2019-20, during the lockdownperiod.

The details shouldinclude under whichheads the private schoolscharged the fees. The listof students should also becollected where the pri-vate schools have discon-tinued the online classesfor non-deposit of fees orhave issued TransferCertificate.

STAFF REPORTER n RAIPUR

Amid the anger of parentsover the charging of fees

during lockdown by privateschools in Chhattisgarh, thestaff of these schools allege thattheir work has gone up steeplyeven as their salaries have beencut and no one seems to bebothered about their rights.

A group of private schoolteachers told The Pioneer onanonymity that while the gov-ernment is seeking details offees from the private schools,the Chhattisgarh High Courthad directed the school man-agements to collect tuition feesand also pay the teachers wagesin full.

But in reality, the salaries ofthe staff in private schools havebeen cut by 30 to 50 percent,say the teachers. The workloadwas less during the earlier regu-

lar classes. Now it takes moretime to prepare slides and studymaterials. This, the teacherssay, has increased the stresslevel.

The parents of students arealso not concerned about non-teaching employees like driversand conductors of school vehi-cles and other office staff. Aspayments to them are directly

linked to the fees paid by stu-dents, they will be hit hard iffees are not paid.

With Raipur having around600 private schools and morethan 1.5 lakh employees, anunemployment crisis loomslarge, the teachers fear.

The Principal Secretary ofthe School EducationDepartment, Dr Alok Shukla,told The Pioneer that details offees from schools are beingsought to be submitted to theHigh Court.

Regarding wages to teach-ers, he said the government hasnot received any complaint.

Arvind Sharma, Secretaryof the Federation of EducationSocieties, said: “The SchoolEducation Department andDirectorate of PublicInstructions already have thecomplete data of school fees

being charged. Even the audit-ed reports. Every year withouttheir signature the fees struc-ture implementation is not pos-sible.”

The online classes are beingregularly held but parents arenot ready to pay even thetuition fees, he said, adding thatthe government is initiating aone-sided action.

“The government is hold-ing regular classes for studentsof government schools in dif-ferent forms but private schoolshave been denied the sameright,” he said.

There are around 8,000 pri-vate schools across the state,out of which around 6 percentare elite schools which chargehefty fees. But others are main-ly dependent on the middle,lower middle class and poorerfamilies.

Three electrocuted while working in fieldGARIYABAND: Three persons, including a man and his wife, were electrocuted while working in their field in Sarkadavillage in Chhattisgarh's Gariaband district on Saturday.

The deceased were identified as Daman Kanwar (38), his wife Arin Bai (35) and his nephew Om Kanwar (28), allresidents of Sarkada village in the Pandurang police station limits, police said.

“The incident happened between 11:00 and 12:00 at noon when all three were working,” Thana In-charge PandurangBasant Baghel said.

A live wire of the pump house broke and passed electric current in the field where Daman and Om were working.They were electrocuted.

Arin Bai saw the two collapse and tried to help them and she too was electrocuted, the officer said. People who heardtheir screams called the electricity department employees who disconnected the wire.

Police have registered a case and are investigating it, the officer said.

STAFF REPORTER n RAIPUR

The Central government'sdecision to procure 60 lakh

tonnes of rice fromChhattisgarh will favour thefarmers in the current Kharifseason, said Chhattisgarh BJPstate President Vishnudeo Saion Saturday.

He asked Chief MinisterBhupesh Baghel to send a thankyou letter on behalf of the peo-ple of Chhattisgarh to theCentral government.

Sai said the Central govern-ment had decided to procure495 lakh tonnes in the currentKharif season. Instead of 43.48lakh tonnes from Chhattisgarhto the central pool, 60 lakhtonnes rice will be procured.This will be 17 lakh tonnes on ahigher scale compared to lastyear.

Now the state government

should procure the completepaddy from the farmers so thatthey are benefitted.

STAFF REPORTER nMAHASAMUND

Chhattisgarh Police onSaturday seized 810 kg of

cannabis valued at `1.62 croreand arrested two persons inChhattisgarh’s Mahasamunddistrict who were transportingit from Odisha to Delhi.

M a h a s a m u n dSuperintendent of PolicePrafull Kumar Thakur toldThe Pioneer over telephonethat the arrested men weretruck driver Sakir Hussein(32) and his cleaner-assistantKhalid (20), both residents ofRajasthan.

The action was takenbased on a tip that the contra-band was being transported toBihar from Delhi via theMahasamund NationalHighway NH-53, Thakur said.

Police intercepted a truck

(RJ-02, GA-5686) duringchecking near Temri village inthe Komkhan police stationlimits, he added.

The police seized 165packets of cannabis, eachweighing 4.90 kg, from the

truck. The drugs were packedin 26 gunny bags and con-cealed behind empty plasticcontainers.

A mobile phone, `3,300 incash and the truck were alsoseized.

STAFF REPORTER nMAHASAMUND

An elephant died of electro-cution in Mahasamund

district of Chhattisgarh after itstepped on a live electric wirelaid on the ground by poach-ers to trap other animals, aForest Department officialsaid on Saturday.

The incident took place onFriday night on the outskirtsof Kishanpur village in thePithora Forest Range when aherd of four wild elephantswas passing from there,Divisional Forest Officer(DFO) of MahasamundMayank Pandey said.

After being alerted aboutit this morning, forestpersonnel reached the spotand started the process ofpost-mortem, he said.

"No movement of ele-phants had been reported inthis fringe area of forest in thepast. On Thursday, a herd offour elephants had enteredfrom neighbouring Odishaand reached close toKishanpur on Friday night,"Pandey said.

Preliminary investigationrevealed that poachers hadlaid the electric wire trap tokill wild boars. Unfortunately,a female elephant from theherd came in contact with itand got electrocuted, he said.

"We have got clues aboutthe offenders and efforts areon to arrest them," he added.

With the latest fatality, 10elephants have died in thestate due to various reasons,including electrocution, in thelast four months.

Two men arrested with810 kg cannabis in C’garh

Govt seeks detailsof fees chargedby private schools

Elephant electrocutedin Mahasamund

Centre to procure 60 lakh tonnes

rice from Chhattisgarh: Sai

RAIPUR: TheChhattisgarh BJP haswelcomed theappointment of formerChief Minister DrRaman Singh as anational Vice Presidentand Saudhan Singh asnational Co-organisa-tion General Secretary.

The state leaderssaid the appointmentswill further strengthenthe party.

BJP state PresidentVishnudeo Sai said itwould boost themorale of partyworkers in the state.

BJP welcomes appointmentof Dr Raman, Saudhan Singh

Benevolent policies keptC’garh economy rolling: CM

Private school staff complaintheir rights are being denied

Page 4: ˇ ˘ ˆ ˙˝ · 2020. 9. 26. · community that India will pro- ... outrage. Traders P Jeyaraj (59) and his son J Feniks (31) ... management and no wastage of

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BJP’s Kerala unit president KSurendran alleged on

Saturday that the CPI(M)Government in the State is sab-otaging the probe into all cor-ruption cases brought to lightby his party.

“A day after the CentralBureau of Investigationlaunched a probe against theLIFE Mission project of theState Government, theVigilance Department underthe direct control of ChiefMinister Pinarayi Vijayan hasremoved and destroyed all therelevant files from theSecretariat atThiruvananthapuram. It was tosubvert the probe by the CBI,the Chief Minister orderedVigilance probe into the alle-gation of corruption worthhundreds of crore rupees,” saidSurendran while speaking to

reporters at Pathanamthittawhere he inaugurated a MahilaMorchcha rally demanding theresignation of Ministers E PJayarajan and K T Jaleel againstwhom there are big allega-tions of corruption.

The CBI on Friday has reg-istered a case in the ChiefJudicial Magistrate Court,Ernakulam, in awarding theLIFE Mission contracts ofbuilding apartment complex atWadakancherry to two privateentrepreneurs without anyexperience in construction sec-tor.

According to sources inCBI, even ministers would besummoned for questioning inthis case.

The CBI case is a follow upto a complaint filed byCongress legislator AnilAkkara, who representsWadakkancherry constituencyin the Assembly.

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Kerala, which declared itselfas a Covid-19 free-State on

May 8, is facing an unprece-dented grievous situation witha steep hike in the number ofnew patients diagnosed withthe pandemic as well as thetotal number of persons under-going treatment for the disease.

The State has put neigh-bouring Tamil Nadu waybehind in both the categories,according to the facts and fig-ures released by the respectiveState Governments onSaturday.

While Kerala diagnosed7,006 new persons with Covid-19 by Saturday evening, therewere only 5.647 new patients inTamil Nadu which has morethan twice the population thanthe former. There were 52,678

active Coronavirus afflictedpersons in Kerala as onSaturday evening. But the cor-responding figure for TamilNadu was 46,336.

The only segment in whichKerala is trailing Tamil Nadu isin the number of fatalities.While Kerala announced 21deaths on Saturday, Tamil Nadusaw 85 persons succumbing tothe pandemic during the last 24hours.

A Government physicianin Kerala, whom The Pioneerhas been in touch with sincethe first case was reported inthe State, said that theGovernment of Kerala hasbeen furnishing false detailsabout the number of casesfrom the beginning itself. Buthe did not want his name to bedisclosed.

“Even the number ofdeaths from the State is faulty.

I have authentic figures fromPathanamthitta district wheremore than 50 persons had diedbecause of Covid-19. But theofficial claim is just threedeaths,” said the doctor.

A senior scientist ofVikram Sarabhai Space Centre,Thiruvananthapuram, said thesituation in Kerala has beengrave from the beginning itself.“If you are bold enough, just goto Medical College Hospital inthe capital city. I have seen itpersonally,” said the scientist.

The doctor said that ChiefMinister Pinarayi Vijayan knewwell that the situation in theState would no more be keptsecret from the general public.“It is dangerous to come toKerala at this juncture. Out ofthe 7,006 new cases diagnosedon Saturday, 6,668 contractedthe pandemic through socialcontact” he said.

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In its 29th board meetingchaired by Chief Minister

Arvind Kejriwal, the DelhiUrban Shelter ImprovementBoard has taken a decision toprovide in-situ housing toaffected people of PrincessPark area near India Gate onaccount of the construction ofthe National War Museum bythe Ministry of Defense.

As per a survey carried outby DUSIB, 203 families are liv-ing in that area. On eligibilitydetermination as per DelhiSlum and JJ Relocation and

Rehabilitation Policy 2015(Now Mukhya Mantri AwasYojana), they will be allottedhouses at Dwarka till houses atDev Nagar near Karol Bagh willbe constructed which will takenearly 18 months.0

“The Delhi Governmenthas decided to construct 784houses at Dev Nagar near KarolBagh at a cost of Rs 102 croresto facilitate these people to havein-situ housing. The housesthat are being constructed willhave two rooms, a kitchen,bath, and toilet with all goodamenities like parking space,parks, community halls, etc.

The buildings will be multi-sto-ried (stilt plus 14 stories) hav-ing lifts and fire staircases, etc.The project will be completedin 18 months,” the governmentsaid in a statement.

Meanwhile, the residents ofthe Princess Park area will beshifted to already constructedhouses by DUSIB at Sector 16-B, Dwarka, they will have theoption to shift to the newlyconstructed housing premisesin Dev Nagar, Karol Bagh, itsaid.

The slum-dwellers from150 jhuggis at Dev Nagar plotwill also be shifted to Dwarka

to facilitate the construction of784 houses.

After allocating houses forinhabitants of Princess Park

and Dev Nagar, the remaininghouses will be used for in-siturehabilitation of jhuggis near-by, it added.

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Following repeated incidentsof arms dropping using

drones by the Pakistan basedhandlers of terrorist outfits indifferent parts of Jammuregion, the border securitygrid and security checkpointsalong the National highway hasbeen beefed up to prevent anymajor terror strike on a vitalsecurity installation in theregion.

Inspector General ofPolice, Jammu Zone , MukeshSingh Saturday chaired a highlevel meeting with the districtpolice chiefs following appre-hensions of 'subversive' activi-ties by the anti national ele-ments and reviewed theBorder Security Grid andNational Highway security.

In the recent weeks, sever-

al incidents of arms droppingalong the International borderin Samba and Kathua havecome to light where local Overground workers (OGW's) weretasked to ferry the arms andammunition consignment totheir conduits before handingthem over to the commandersof different terrorist outfits. Inmany cases, these conduitshave been caught red handedwith arms consignment by thealert security forces but thereare apprehensions that some ofthese consignments have beendelivered 'successfully' withoutcoming on the radar of thesecurity forces.

In a separate meeting onFriday IGP, Jammu MukeshSingh had directed the seniorpolice officers to remain alertin their respective jurisdictionand ensure strict 'Naka' check-

ing on the National Highwayfrom Kashmir valley to Jammuregion to prevent the move-ment of arms and terrorists intheir region.

The meeting was attendedby the senior police officersincluding range DIG's and dis-trict police chiefs of Jammu,Samba, Kathua and Udhampur.

During the security reviewmeeting, detailed presentationswere given by the senior offi-cers discussing the three tierdeployment of paramilitaryforces along the Internationalborder and the counter terror-ist grid in the region. Directionswere issued to the police offi-cers of these bordering districtsto strengthen the intelligencenetwork in the border belt andmaintain tight vigil on themovement of suspected peoplein the area.

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Lucknow: As many as 4,412fresh COVID-19 cases tookUttar Pradesh's infection tally to3,82,835 on Saturday, while 67more deaths pushed the toll to5,517.

There are 57,086 active casesin the state, according to officials.A total of 4,412 fresh coron-avirus cases were reported. Thedeath toll due to the virus hasmounted to 5,517, AdditionalChief Secretary, Health, AmitMohan Prasad said.

The number of activepatients in the state stands at57,086. Currently, 29,266patients are under home isola-tion, he said. As many as3,20,232 patients have recoveredand been discharged from hos-pitals, Prasad said, adding thatthe state's recovery rate hasgone up to 83.64 per cent.

On Friday, over 1.56 lakh

samples were tested, taking thetotal number of COVID-19tests conducted in the state toover 94 lakh, he said.

Stressing that the positivityrate in the state is coming down,the officer said since the past oneweek, a declining trend hasbeen seen in the number of dailycases.

In a meeting with seniorofficials earlier in the day, ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanathexpressed satisfaction over thedeclining positivity rate.

He said it is an indicationthat the state's strategy to con-tain the infection is showinggood results.

He asked officials to con-tinue testing in the same man-ner and ensure that there is noshortage of manpower or med-icines in COVID-19hospitals. PTI

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Jaipur: Rajasthan reported2,045 fresh coronavirus caseson Saturday while the state'sdeath toll due to the infectionrose to 1,426 with 14 morefatalities, according to a healthdepartment bulletin.

The state's infection tallynow stood at 1,26,775.

Ajmer, Banswara, Baran,Bikaner, Dungarpur, Jaipur,Jalore, Jhunjhunu, Jodhpur,Kota, Pali, Sikar, Tonk andUdaipur reported one deatheach, according to the bulletin.

The maximum number offresh cases was reported fromJaipur (415), while Jodhpurand Bikaner reported 335 and108 infections, respectively.

Other cases were report-ed from Ajmer (100), Alwar(153), Banswara (22), Baran(20), Barmer (3), Bharatpur(15), Bhilwara (90), Bundi (10),Chittorgarh (18), Churu (23),

Dausa (37), Dholpur (20),Dungarpur (35), Ganganagar(23), Hanumangarh (19),Jaisalmer (29), Jalore (84),Jhalawar (10), Jhunjhunu (26),Karauli (20), Kota (53), Nagaur(43), Pali (83), Pratapgarh (5),Rajsamand (32),Sawaimadhopur (18), Sikar(58), Sirohi (5), Tonk (30) andUdaipur (103).

In Rajasthan, 1,05,994patients have recovered fromCOVID-19 so far and the num-ber of active cases stood at19,355. PTI

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Amid the mad rush for allo-pathic medicines, protec-

tive gears and electronic gadgetsto fight Covid-19, noted prac-titioner of Integrative Medicinein Capital City Dr SureshAgarwalla claims to have devel-oped a very effective medicineextracted out of seven Indianherbal plants and a metal (zinc)that has not only cured over 200Covid patients in 20 cities of 11states in the country, but is alsohelping hundreds of others forprotection from the pandemicplaguing the world.

DrAgarwalla, with an MSdegree in Surgery, has beenworking on Indian medicalplants for the past 30 years. Hisspecial research subject, onwhich he wrote his thesis wason evaluation of the immunesystem in cancer patients. Hehas been interested in medici-nal plants since his student-life.

Talking about the medicineDr Agarwalla said, “When Istarted working on the immunesystem in 1985 there was hard-ly any medicine for the immunesystem in modern medicine. Iguided a thesis at the veterinarycollege to work on the effect offour medicinal plants on theimmune system. One of thesefour plants is Giloy or Gudich.That was only the second workin the country on the immunesystem. The findings furtherincreased my interest.”

“For Corona treatment andmanagement we need threethings. First the medicine

should control or kill or controlthe virus. Secondly, it shouldimprove the immune system.And third, it should repair thedamage caused by the virus.Based on these scientific ratio-nales I selected seven plants andone metal that is zinc,” headded. The surgeon said that inthe beginning of Corona peri-od he formulated the medicinefor his personal family use. Inthe beginning just 900 capsuleswere prepared. “My son wascoming from New Jersey and Iwas worried to protect him andother family members. Thenpeople started asking me to pre-pare the medicine for them andI started preparing it in smallnumbers as I do not have a biginfrastructure here to formulatethe product,” he said.

Dr Agarwalla, who runs hisAmrita Family Health Centre inLalpur area of the city said thatthe medicine is derived fromseven Indian herbs -- Kalmegh,Giloy, Neem, Haldi, Tulsi,Vasak, Pipli and Zinc. He saidthat Kalmegh is doing the won-ders as the single plant is effec-

tive against 12 different kinds ofviruses. Research across theworld shows that it is very effec-tive in Coronavirus infectiontoo, he added.

Informing about the effectof the medicine the Dr furthersaid, “By June 400 people tookit for preventive purposes. Thenthe product reachedAhmedabad by means of peo-ple taking it from here. Onelady, who had Covid-19 andwhose condition was deterio-rating took the medicine. I waswaiting for this opportunity andwas confident that the medicinewill work. I asked the familymembers to give her two cap-sules 3 times a day. And thenext day her fever was downand within 3 days she was dis-charged and was cured withinseven days.”

“By now I have nearly 200case records with corona posi-tive reports, who have beencured. I have created forms tobe filled up for all those whocame for the medicine. Over200 Covid patients have takenthe medicine and it has helpedthem recuperate. When Iupscaled the production ofmedicine it was taken in bunchby several people in 11 states, in20 cities,” he added.

The doctor, however, does-n’t call it a medicine of Covid-19. “Now, I have interviewed atleast five former Covid patientsabout side effects and benefitsetc. I am doing a very meticu-lous work on it but I do notclaim that this is a medicine forcorona,” he said.

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The new Industrial andEmployment Policy of

Haryana, 2020 will come intoforce from November 1 on theoccasion of Haryana Day.

This announcement wasmade by Haryana ChiefMinister Manohar Lal Khattaron Saturday while briefing themedia in Gurugram.

Haryana CM Khattar andDeputy CM DushyantChautala earlier had invitedsuggestions from entrepreneurson the draft of new industrialand employment policy forthe state and also chaired ameeting with entrepreneurswith them.

Khattar, at the meeting,informed that the new indus-trial and employment policy ofthe state will be formulated byincorporating the suggestionsreceived from entrepreneurs.

“The Haryana government

is putting all its efforts to pro-vide employment opportunitiesto the youth of the state inindustries and when sugges-tions were invited from entre-preneurs in this regard, theysuggested making skills and

behaviour along with skill upgradation for the youth of thestate to work in the industries,”the CM said at the meeting.

"For this, we have directedRaja Nehru, Vice Chancellor ofShri Vishwakarma SkillUniversity, to prepare a shortterm course for BehaviouralAptitude. This university willalso give its certificate to theyouth after that course," headded.

"In the new industrial andEmployment Policy -2020,there will be a focus on bring-ing maximum investment inHaryana and giving employ-ment to the youth of the state."

Earlier, in a meeting orga-nized with entrepreneurs, theChief Minister said that

Haryana is still one of theleading states in the country asan industry.

After this, with the effortsof the government, Haryanacame in sixth place and lateralso reached the third place.

“This time Haryana fell abit behind in the ranking dueto some procedural shortcom-ings but in future, those gapswill be removed and will againcome to the leading states,Khattar said.

The deputy CM Chautalasaid that “it is the government'sidea to focus on providingemployment to the people ofthe state. For this, the youth willbe made skilled and madeavailable to the industries,” hesaid.

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New Delhi: It's that time of the year inPunjab-Haryana-NCR.

Amid the protests over farm Bills,Punjab farmers are back at burningstubble. Satellite images released by theNational Aeronautics and SpaceAdministration (NASA)show that stub-ble burning has started for nearly fivedays in the farm basket of India, whichmeans in the next three days, Delhi's airmay turn into 'poor' category amid theCovid-19 pandemic, sparking healthconcerns.

The System of Air Quality andWeather Forecasting And Research(SAFAR) has already started to show theresults with Delhi's air quality turning'moderate'.

To put things into context, the airquality in Mumbai and Ahmedabad is'satisfactory', while it is 'good' in Pune.

SAFAR has red-flagged that in thenext three days alone, PM 2.5, which is

in moderate quantity in Delhi air as ofnow, will turn into 'poor'. As onSaturday, PM 2.5 count in Delhi air was68. In the next three days, it is likely toreach 96. PM 2.5 count in Mumbai was33 on Saturday, and is likely to go up to35 in the next three days.

While farmers are being brazenabout the Supreme Court guidelines on

stubble burning, the state administra-tions too seem to have turned away theirattention from it.

In August this year, the SupremeCourt had asked Delhi, Punjab,Haryana and other state governmentsabout their preparedness to preventstubble burning.

Like in recent years, when Delhi

turned into a gas chamber last year, theSupreme Court had asked, "Why arepeople being forced to live in gaschambers?"

But less than a year on, Punjabfarmers are back at what they do whilecomplaining that with no financialsupport to avail alternative methods,burning stubbles is all they can afford.

Hemant Kaushal, ProjectCoordinator at the Centre of Excellencefor Research on Clean Air, IndianInstitute of Technology (IIT), Delhi, toldIANS, "Unlike other years, we have apandemic this year which affects thelungs. A gas chamber in Delhi will onlyaggravate the situation as far as the fightagainst Covid-19 in Delhi-NCR is con-cerned.""This needs to be curbed imme-diately. This stubble burning carries onfrom October to November and badlyaffects Delhi-NCR. We can not wait forthat," he added. IANS

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Ruling Congress legislatorAnd chairman of

Puducherry PlanningAuthority T Jayamoorthy test-ed positive for COVID-19 onSaturday.

An official of theDepartment of Health andFamily Welfare told PTI thatthe legislator tested positive ata government hospital here.Jayamoorthy would be shiftedto a private hospital in Chennai,sources said. Two of theMinisters of Puducherry andthree legislators, including twomembers of the oppositionparties - AINRC and AIADMK- had tested positive a fewweeks ago and recovered aftertreatment inChennai.

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With an aim to tackleshortage of medical oxy-

gen and the resultant increasein prices amid rising Covid-19cases in the country, theNational PharmaceuticalsPricing Authority (NPPA) hascapped the ex-factory price ofliquid medical oxygen (LMO)and filled cylinders for sixmonths.

It has also instructed thestates to fix transport costs forthe supply of medical oxygen toaddress COVID-19 exigencies.

The ex-factory price ofLMO at the manufacturers’end has been capped at Rs15.22 per cubic metre, exclusiveof GST, while the ex-factorycost of a medical oxygen cylin-der has been capped at thefillers’ end at �25.71 per cubicmetre, exclusive of GST, asagainst the existing ceilingprice of �17.49 per cubic metre.

However, it is subject to thetransportation cost fixation atthe state level.

The move by the NPPAcomes after a three-foldincrease in the price of medicaloxygen gas. A few days ago theCentre had urged the States toallow unhindered movement ofthe oxygen cylinders to ensuretimely help to the needypatients.

The authority said that thedemand for medical oxygenhad gone up almost four times,from 750MT/day to 2,800MT/day. Besides, deliverythrough cylinders has increasedfrom 11 per cent pre-Covid to50 per cent of current oxygensupply, leading to an exponen-tial rise in prices.

“This has caused a strainat all levels in the value chainof production and supply,especially for distant and inte-rior districts based on terrainand distance.”

The manufacturers ofmedical oxygen and fillershad represented to theGovernment for up to a three-fold price increase in the ceil-ing price of gaseous medicaloxygen.

“It is, therefore, imperativeto cap the price of LMO toensure uninterrupted avail-ability of medical oxygenthrough cylinders to the hos-pitals and consumers,” theorganisation said.

The NPPA said that use ofoxygen for medical purposesfrom the overall productionhas also signif icantlyincreased. “Currently, duringthe Covid-19 pandemic,around 50% of the total liquidoxygen production is used formedical purposes in compar-ison with around 15% usageduring the pre-Covid period.

Liquid oxygen is beingdiverted from industrial use tomedical use to cope with theadditional demand. Manystates/UTs are dependent onthe medical oxygen supplyfrom other states/UTs. To meetthe enhanced requirement,medical oxygen is being sup-plied to remote areas of thecountry after incurring addi-tional cost on transportation,”it added.

However, the All IndiaIndustrial Gas Manufacturers’Association (AIIGMA)felt thatthe Government should capthe cost of oxygen at the levelof the hospital instead of thesupplier end.

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As former Prime MinisterManmohan Singh turned

88 on Saturday, greetingspoured in from across thepolitical spectrum withCongress leader Rahul Gandhisaying that India feels theabsence of a PM with the“depth” of Singh.

If anyone in public lifealive today is deserving of theBharat Ratna, it is “undoubt-edly” Singh, said his party col-league P Chidambaram whoserved as finance minister andhome minister under the UPAI and II governments led byManmohan Singh.

Greeting his predecessoron his birthday, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi wished Singha long and healthy life.

Several Union Ministersand BJP leaders, includingNirmala Sitharaman, RajnathSingh, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi,Jyotiraditya Scindia andVasundhra Raje Scindia, DMK

chief M K Stalin and WestBengal Chief Minister MamataBanerjee also extended theirgreetings.

Manmohan Singh headedthe UPA coalitionGovernments between 2004and 2014 and earlier as afinance minister under the P VNarasimha Rao governmentsupervised the liberalisation ofthe Indian economy in the1990s.

“Birthday greetings to DrManmohan Singh Ji. I pray toAlmighty that he is blessed witha long and healthy life,” PrimeMinister Modi tweeted.

Former Congress presi-dent Rahul Gandhi wishedSingh, saying, “India feels theabsence of a PM with thedepth of Dr Manmohan Singh.His honesty, decency and ded-ication are a source of inspira-tion for us all.”

“Wishing him a very happybirthday and a lovely yearahead,” Gandhi tweeted withthe hashtag

‘HappyBirthdayDrMMSingh’.Stalin hailed Singh for his

“visionary leadership & futur-istic ideas”, saying that they hadbeen instrumental in estab-lishing India’s global promi-nence.

“Greetings to former PrimeMinister and Economist Dr.Manmohan Singh ji on hisbirthday. Wishing him goodhealth and more productiveyears in public life,” TrinamoolCongress supremo MamataBanerjee tweeted.

Congress general secretaryin-charge organisation K CVenugopal lauded Singh’s“journey filled with incredibleachievements”.

“Dr. Manmohan Singh’s lifeis an inspiration to us all. Hishumility, honesty and incredi-ble intellect make him anexemplary leader,” he tweeted.

Punjab Chief MinisterAmarinder Singh extended warm wishes toSingh, praying for his goodhealth and long life.

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After announcing minimumsupport prices for rabi

crops in advance, the Centre onSaturday ordered commence-ment of procurement opera-tions for kharif paddy/rice“immediately” (from Saturday)in Punjab and Haryana to pla-cate farmers agitating againstthe farm Bills. Significantly,these two States have beenwitnessing maximum protestagainst the farm Bills in the lastfew days.

While ‘rail roko’ agitationby farmers organisations wascontinued in Punjab’s Amritsarand Ferozepur districts onSaturday as more farmers andtheir farmers joined in. Theprotesters reached the protestsite in tractor trailers, buses,four-wheelers and even onmotorcycles and went bare-chested to express their resent-ment over the response gotfrom the Union Government.Farmers have extended the‘rail roko’ agitation tillSeptember 29. Besides, farmersprotests continued in sporadicmanner in Haryana, UP andsouthern states.

In its order, the Ministry ofConsumer Affairs, Food andPublic Distribution said itwould commence procurementof paddy in the two northIndian States from Saturday,ahead of October 1, the date setfor commencing procurementacross the country otherwise.The order said that the step hasbeen taken in view of earlyarrival of paddy this year. According to the ministry,state procuring agenciesincluding Food Corporation ofIndia (FCI) are in a state ofreadiness for smoothly under-taking procurement opera-tions.

The Kharif MarketingSeason (KMS) 2020-21 forpaddy/rice was scheduled tocommence from October 1 inall procuring States, but the

Centre has allowed procure-ment operations to begin fromSaturday in both these states.

“…in view of early arrivalof paddy in the mandis ofHar yana and Punjab.Government of India hasappeared the commencementof procurement operationsfor paddy/rice immediatelyin both these States fromtoday, i.e. with effect from26th September 2020 toensure that farmers are facil-itated in selling their pro-duce at Minimum SupportPrice (MSP) expeditiously,”the order said. “Orders forcommencement of procure-ment operations for paddy/rice from 26th September,2020 in Haryana and Punjabhave been issued,” it added.

P K Das, additional chiefsecretary, Food, Civil Suppliesand Consumer Affairsdepartment, Haryana, saidthat about 4 lakh quintals of‘PR-126’ variety of paddy hasbeen harvested by farmers infour districts of Kurukshetra,Karnal, Ambala and Kaithal.Farmers of these districts havebrought their crops to themandis and procurement will

start from Sunday.The Government has kept

a target to procure 113 lakhtonnes of rice from Punjaband 44 lakh tonnes fromHaryana during the kharifmarketing season. Otherwise,total rice procurement targetis kept at 495.37 lakh tonnesfor the entire country for the2020-21 kharif season.

The Centre has fixed MSPfor ‘’common variety’’ paddyat �1,868 per quintal and for‘’A’’ grade variety at Rs 1,888per quintal for the currentyear.

In the last kharif season(KMS 2019-20), a total quan-tity of 512 lakh metric tonnesof rice was procured from 23states. However, biggest quan-

tity of rice was procured fromPunjab (109 lakh tonnes met-ric tonnes), and the state wasfollowed by Telangana (73LMT), Andhra Pradesh (54LMT), Chhattisgarh (49 LMT),Odisha (47 LMT) and Haryana(43 LMT).

Farmers have been protest-ing on rails tracks at manyplaces in the state sinceSeptember 24. Squatting onrails tracks, agitating farmerson Saturday shouted slogansagainst the BJP-led government at the Centre anddemanded the rollback of thefarm Bills which theydescribed as black laws.

In Amritsar, a group ofprotesting farmers went shirt-less to express their anger

against the farm Bills. Farmershave taken off their ‘kurtas’ andshirts to make the governmenthear our voice, said KisanMazdoor SangharshCommittee general secretarySarwan Singh Pandher overthe phone. Bare-chested pro-testers, sitting on Amritsar-Delhi rail track, raised slogansagainst the BJP-led centralgovernment.

In Mohali, farmers burnteffigy of PM Modi and blockedroads. Keeping in view theundergoing blockade of rail-way lines by farmers at sever-al places, the Northern rail-way’s Ferozepur division hasextended the cancellation of 14trains (up and down) for onemore day on September 27.

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The Congress on Saturdaylaunched a ‘Speak up for

farmers’ campaign on socialmedia protesting the farmBills, with former party chiefRahul Gandhi urging people toraise their voice against whathe described was the NarendraModi Government’s “exploita-tion” of farmers.

The party also attackedthe Centre over the controver-sial labour Bills passed by theParliament. It asked the otherOpposition parties to join theprotest on the new labour lawsjust like they extended theirunited protest against the farmbills that has led to a country-wide agitation.

“Let us raise our voicestogether against the atrocitiesand exploitation of farmers bythe Modi Government,” Rahulsaid in his message.

The three farm Bills andthe labour code laws werepassed by both houses ofParliament during theMonsoon session and areawaiting presidential assent.

Rahul , who was abroad forhis mother and party chiefSonia Gandhi’s treatment whenthe bills were passed, said theselegislations will “enslave” farm-ers and minimum supportprice (MSP) will be “snatched

away”. Rahul extended party’s full

support to the ongoing farmers’agitation across the country,particularly in Punjab andHaryana, where it entered itssecond day with sporadic inci-dents of violence being report-ed.

Rahul even went to theextent of claiming that theselegislations will result in an EastIndia company-like culture.

The Congress, on its offi-cial Twitter handle, alleged thatthe agriculture bills passed bythe government in a “highlyundemocratic manner arenothing but an attack on ourfarmers and an attempt totransform agriculture intoanother revenue stream fortheir crony capitalist friends”.

Describing the three labourcodes passed by Parliament as“anti-labour”, Congress saidthe farms bill passed hasalready led to country wide agi-tation by farmers and this newlabour law will bring anotherset of restlessness to the work-ers class who are the propellerof the country growth.

“They have weakenedtrade unions and finished thesecurity and safety for theworkers,” senior Congressleader and former minister oflabour and employmentMallikarjun Kharge said at

AICC Press conference. Hewas joined by partyspokesman Pawan Khera andINTUC General Secretary GSanjeev Reddy.

Attacking the Governmentover the Bills, Kharge said thegovernment’s claim that thelaws will increase ease of doingbusiness is false.

“States’ powers have beenusurped by the central gov-ernment with these laws.These codes are anti-worker,anti-labourer and it is impor-tant to agitate against them,”the Rajya Sabha MP said.

“All parties must opposethese laws. The Modi govern-ment only listens to corporatesand after these laws it will notlisten to trade unions,” hesaid.

Congress spokespersonPawan Khera alleged this gov-ernment is “betraying theinterests” of different sectionsone after another. As the issueof injustice to farmers wasongoing, this governmentbetrayed workers, just likefarmers,” he said.

Reddy alleged that there isno provision for safety andsecurity of workers in thesebills.

“We will protest andstruggle against these unjust,anti-labour and anti-tradeunion laws,” he said.

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The Khadi and VillageIndustries Commission

(KVIC) has appointed SunilSethi, a leading personality inthe Indian fashion industry, asits adviser.

Sethi will advise theCommission on latest designinterventions in the ready-made garments segment aswell as promotion of Khadi inIndia and abroad.

Earlier, renowned fashiondesigner Ms Ritu Beri servedas advisor to KVIC whose

term expired recently.Sethi has over four

decades of experience in glob-al merchandising, where hehas contributed significantly tothe growth of Indian handi-crafts, design and the textileindustry, through many inno-vative and successful initia-tives.

As Chairman of theFashion Design Council ofIndia, which is represented by400 designers, Sethi has beenworking to take Indian fashionindustry global.

“Sustainable growth of

Khadi in the fashion industry,both locally and internation-ally, is the key idea behind theappointment. KVIC hasalready marked its advent onthe global platform and fromhere on we must capitalise onevery opportunity.

Khadi artisans are capableof producing the finest quali-ty and the most unique fabricin the world and with thenewest design innovations,Khadi can be a favourite of avast global consumer seg-ment,” KVIC Chairman, VinaiKumar Saxena said.

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NITI Aayog CEO AmitabhKant on Thursday said

the idea of an aspirationalIndia is deeply linked to ourspirit of entrepreneurship andthis spirit is a driving forcewhich will turn the wheels ofIndian economy, propelling itto greater heights.

“If India’s growth story hasto continue then withoutwomen entrepreneurs and gen-der parity, India cannot grow,and it is pretty clear that India’sbusinesses cannot grow with-out women entrepreneurs.Gender constraints impedewomen entry in the entrepre-neurial Landscape and ahealthy ecosystem, it trulyrequires conscious efforts toimprove women’s access toknowledge and the requisiteskills,” Kant said at a webinarorganised by FLO, the Women’sWing of FICCI on “AspirationalIndia- Role of WomenEntrepreneurs in India’sTransformation.”

The session elaborated onthe role of women entrepre-neurs as an important,untapped source of economicgrowth and have an importantrole as key drivers in India’stransformation journey.

Jahnabi Phookan, NationalPresident, FLO said “Talkingabout an aspirational India isnot enough, we should all be apartner in the process. Ourendeavour is to create eco-nomic possibilities for womenat different levels and equipthem to be in charge of theirlives and participate in thesustainable development of thenation”.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi on Saturday held

wide-ranging talks with his SriLankan counterpart MahindaRajapaksa, covering the entireexpanse of bilateral ties andwith a focus on further expand-ing cooperation in key areas.

In his opening remarks ata virtual bilateral summit, Modisaid he was confident that themassive electoral victory of theruling party in Sri Lankabacked by the RajapaksaGovernment’s policies will facil-itate deeper cooperationbetween the two countries.

“An opportunity has cometo begin a new chapter inIndia-Sri Lanka ties after yourparty’s electoral victory. Peoplefrom both the countries arelooking at us with new hopeand expectations,” Modi said.

Rajapaksa was sworn in asSri Lankan prime minister for

a fresh term on August 9 afterhis party, the Sri Lanka People’sFront, secured a two-thirdmajority in the parliamentarypolls.

Modi said India gives pri-ority to its relations with SriLanka as he mentioned his gov-ernment’s neighbourhood-firstpolicy as well as SAGAR(Security and Growth for All inthe Region) doctrine.

It was Prime MinisterModi’s first such virtual bilat-eral engagement with a leaderof a neighbouring country. ForRajapaksa, it was the first diplo-matic engagement with a leaderof a foreign country after hewas sworn in as prime minis-ter.

It was learnt that the twoleaders deliberated on a host ofissues like ways to furtherdeepen overall defence andtrade ties as well as expansionof existing cooperation in sev-eral key areas.

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APIL has been filed in theSupreme Court for equal

protection of law to peoplebelonging to the third gender,alleging that there was nopenal provision which pro-tects them from offences of sex-ual assault.

The plea, which has madethe ministries of law and jus-tice, and social justice andempowerment as parties,referred to the provisions of theIPC of 1860 and recentamendments into the statuteand other laws on sexualoffences and alleged that noneof them talked about the “trans-gender, transsexuals, kinnar

and eunuchs”. “In spite of declaring trans-

gender people to be a ‘thirdgender’ by this court, there isno provision / section in theIndian Penal Code which mayprotect the third gender fromthe sexual assault by male/female or another transgender,”it said.

The PIL challenged theconstitutional validity of certainclauses of Section 354A (out-raging the modesty of woman)of IPC, to the extent that theyare interpreted to exclude vic-tims of sexual harassment whoare transgender persons, asbeing ultra vires Articles 14, 15and 21 of the Constitution.

The plea filed by lawyer

Reepak Kansal, in his person-al capacity, said that though theapex court in 2014, had grant-ed “recognition to the trans-gender/ third gender as ‘per-sons’ falling under the ambit ofArticle 14 of the IndianConstitution”, still they do not

have equal protection of law inrelation to sexual offenses.

“The petitioner is filingthis petition...With respect toequal protection of law to thethird gender/transgenderfrom the sexual assault/offences as there is no provi-

sion / section in the IPCwhich may protect the thirdgender from the sexual assaultby male/ female or anothertransgender therefore, an anti–discrimination laws areneeded to safeguard the basiccitizenship rights of trans-gender persons,” the plea said.

The plea, which may

come up for hearing in fewdays, has sought a direction tothe Centre to “make appro-priate modification/ interpre-tation of sections/ provisionsof IPC dealing with sexualassault to include transgender/transsexuals/ kinnar andeunuchs in the definitionsaccordingly”.

It also referred to an inci-dent of not lodging an FIR byDelhi Police on a sexualharassment complaint of aDelhi University transgenderstudent on the ground thatthere was no provision in theIPC to deal with transgenders.

The plea urged the topcourt “to issue an appropriateorder... Directing the respon-dents to pass an Anti-Discrimination Bill thatpenalises discrimination andharassment on the basis ofgender”.

It also sought a directionto the Centre to adopt andimplement the UniversalDeclaration of Human Rightsbeing signatory of it.

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Union Home Minister AmitShah will inaugurate a

four-day event here on Sundayto highlight the Northeastregion’s various potentials likeeco-tourism, culture, heritageand business.

The ‘Destination NorthEast-2020’ is a calendar eventof the Ministry ofDevelopment of North EasternRegion conceptualised withthe objective of taking thenortheastern region to otherparts of the country and bring-ing them closer together inorder to strengthen nationalintegration, an official state-ment said.

The home minister willinaugurate the event throughvideo conference while UnionMinister for Development ofNorth Eastern Region

(DoNER) Jitendra Singh willbe the guest of honour.

For ‘Destination NorthEast 2020’, the theme is ‘TheEmerging DelightfulDestinations’, which speaks ofthe tourism destinationsemerging stronger and moreattractive when the sectorpicks up momentum.

The programme focusesmostly on tourism and coin-cides with World TourismDay which falls on September27.

The four-day programmewill feature audio visual pre-sentation of the tourist spots ofthe states and the region, mes-sages from State icons andachievers, introduction toprominent local entrepreneursand virtual exhibition of hand-icraft, traditional fashion, andlocal products, the statementsaid.

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Finance ministry sourceshave countered CAG audit

finding of central Governmentwrongly retaining �47,272crore of GST compensationcess meant for States, sayingtemporary retention cannot betermed as diversion.

Days after theComptroller and AuditorGeneral (CAG) flagged that theCentre in first two years of theGST implementation wronglyretained GST compensationcess that was meant to be usedspecifically to compensatestates for loss of revenue, min-istry sources said compensationdue for the year 2017-18 and2018-19 was fully paid to states.

Time taken in reconcilia-tion of compensation receiptscan’t be termed as diversion ofGST cess fund when the duesto states were fully released bythe central government, theysaid.

Sources said that in 2017-18, �62,611 crore was collect-

ed, out of which the govern-ment released full compensa-tion dues of �41,146 crore tothe States and union territories(UTs).

In 2018-19, an amount of�95,081 crore was collected, outof which �69,275 crore waspaid as full compensation duesto States and UTs.

They said an amount of�47,271 crore collected in the2017-18 and 2018-19 hadremained unutilised for rec-onciliation post full payment ofGST compensation dues.

For the year 2019-20, thecentral Government released�1,65,302 crore as GST com-pensation against a cess col-lection of �95,444 crore whichit could do so with theunutilised cess of �47,271crore.

The GST (Compensationto States) Act guarantees allstates an annual growth rate of14 per cent in their GST rev-enue in the first five years ofimplementation of GST begin-ning July 2017. It was intro-

duced as a relief for States forthe loss of revenues arisingfrom the implementation ofGST.

If a state’s revenue growsslower than 14 per cent, it issupposed to be compensated bythe Centre using the fundsspecifically collected as com-pensation cess. To providethese grants, a GST compen-sation cess is levied on certainluxury and sin goods.

The collected compensa-tion cess flows into the con-solidated fund of India (CFI),and is then transferred to thePublic Account of India, wherea GST compensation cessaccount has been created. Statesare compensated bi-monthlyfrom the accumulated funds inthis account.

However, instead of trans-ferring the entire GST cessamount to the GST compen-sation fund during 2017-18 and2018-19, the CAG found thatthe Centre retained these fundsin the CFI and used it for otherpurposes.

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Telecom regulator Trai hasdecided to drop proceed-

ings against Vodafone Idea Ltd(VIL) in priority plan matterafter the telco withdrew con-tentious claims on faster speedand modified its offering.

The move brings downcurtains on the controversialpriority plan issue, which sawthe Telecom RegulatoryAuthority of India (Trai) initi-ating a probe into telco’s claimsof priority network and fasterdata speeds for premium cus-tomers.

Last month, the regulatorhad slapped a show-causenotice on VIL over its prioritymobile plan, saying the tariffoffer lacked transparency andwas “misleading” and not incompliance with regulatoryframework.

Faced with regulatory heat,VIL recently dropped the fasterdata speed claims whichformed a prominent part of itspay-more-for-priority-treat-ment offering and filed arevised plan with Trai.

The regulator has nowinformed VIL that “the author-ity has decided not to proceedwith the investigation/ furtherinquiry”. Trai letter, seen byPTI, noted that the operatorhas informed that the earlierRedX plan has been discon-tinued and that a new tariff

plan of RedX, without theclaim of priority 4G networkfeature with faster speed, hasbeen filed. “It has been furtherstated that VIL believes that thesame would address the con-cerns of the authority andbased on the same, VILrequested the authority to grantclosure to the pending enquiry,”the regulator said closing thematter. Earlier this month, VILsubmitted a new RedX planwith Trai as

it removed claims of fasterdata speeds - a major bone ofcontention. The company’swebsite too had stopped tout-ing claims of faster speeds forRedX plan and instead spoke ofbenefits purely in terms ofentertainment privileges(Netflix and Amazon Prime),travel privileges, mobility ben-efits and other privileges for thesaid offer. Trai had been exam-ining VIL’s priority plan RedXand Bharti Airtel Platinumoffering to see if network pref-erence to specific customers ledto deterioration of services forother non-premium sub-scribers or violated any norms.

Bharti Airtel, how-ever, was not issued a show-cause notice for its platinumplan. Airtel had withdrawn itsplatinum offering and offeredto abide by Trai’s views andhence the regulator did notproceed with further investi-gation on it.

New Delhi: Leading privatesector medical service providerFortis Healthcare has handedover a cheque of �2.5 crore atthe initiative of Minister ofState for Health and FamilyWelfare Ashwini KumarChoubey.Fortis Healthcare’s MD andCEO Dr AshutoshRaghuvanshi, senior VicePresident (Corporate Affairs

and CSR) Manu Kapila, SRL’sCEO Anand Kumar handedover the cheque to IndianCouncil of Medical Research(ICMR) Director General Prof(DR) Balram Bhargav andsenior financial advisor RajivRoy. On the occasion, ShriChoubey was present. At theevent, Shri Choubey said thatthe ICMR has established anoutstanding parameter in the

field of research. Not only inIndia, this institute one of thebest research institute in theworld. Since day first of Covid-19 pandemic, the scientists areworking tirelessly day andnight. He also said that theFortis Hospital has done acommendable job and “I amsure this would inspire many.”

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Persistently high inflationfanned in part due to sup-

ply side disruptions along withseasonal factors will deter theReserve Bank to administer adose of lending rate cut duringthe upcoming monetary poli-cy review.

In a poll conducted byIANS, economist and industryexperts cited elevated inflationlevel as a key determinant fora pause in policy easing.

Notably, the expectedmove comes at a time whenindustrial output is at historiclow due to the Covid-19 pan-demic.

A policy easing, if admin-istered, would have theoreti-cally allowed commercial

banks to reduce their lendingrates thereby helping both con-sumers and the industry to getcheaper finance.

Subsequently, the increasedmoney flow in the hands ofconsumers would have helpedto boost demand, and for theindustry provided a higherflow of capital investment onthe back of lower cost.

Nonetheless, retail inflationhas been at an elevated levelduring July-August.

“In view of the retail infla-tion being higher than RBI’scomfort zone for two consec-utive quarters in the past andlikelihood of it remaining inexcess of 6 per cent in July-September as well, no rate cutis expected in the upcomingpolicy review,” Sunil Kumar

Sinha, Principal Economist,India Ratings & Research toldIANS.

“But RBI will continue tomaintain its accommodativepolicy stance to signal thatpolicy rates are not going to goup either.”

Lately, data showed thatIndia’s August retail inflationstood at an elevated level.

The retail or consumerprice index stood at 6.69 percent in August. It had risen to6.73 per cent in July.

As per the data, retail infla-tion level has reached the upperlimit of the medium-term CPIinflation target of 4 per cent.The target is set within a bandof +/- 2 per cent.

“Given the elevated CPIinflation, we expect an extend-

ed pause from the MPC,” saidAditi Nayar, PrincipalEconomist, ICRA.

The RBI’s MPC (MonetaryPolicy Committee) is expectedto release its resolution on themonetary policy after theirmeet on Sep 29th to Oct 1st,2020.

“We believe that MPC will

continue to hold the interestrates in the near term given thecontinuing inflationary con-cerns,” said Suman ChowdhuryChief Analytical Officer atAcuite Ratings and Research.

“However, the accom-modative stance is likely to per-sist in the face of the ongoingeconomic contraction.”

Besides inflation, other

economic indicators, showeddecline in production and inessence revival of economicgrowth due to localised lock-downs, supply chain disrup-tions and lack of labour supply.

“Our inflation trajectorysuggests that technically thenext opportune time to cut maynot come before end-3QFY21,”said Madhavi Arora, LeadEconomist, FX and Rates forEdelweiss Securities.

“However, the modestreduction in July and AugustCPI inflation will provide somecomfort for the RBI. We main-tain the depth of ongoing fallin demand is not yet reflectedaccurately in inflation, and asit starts to percolate in data andas supply normalise progres-sively, headline CPI inflation

will likely moderate towards 4per cent by end-CY20, admit-tedly also helped by base effect.”

The August datapoint fur-ther showed that India’s con-sumer food price index hadeased a bit to 9.05 per centagainst 9.27 per cent reportedfor July 2020.

On its part, BrickworkRatings said: “We expect infla-tion to remain b elow 6 per centin Q3FY21 as food inflation islikely to lower in the wake ofabundant harvests.”

“The pandemic is stillevolving, and credit offtake,even at a low rate of interest,looks sticky. With uncertaintyregarding the pandemic looming large, the RBI may not pro-vide a GDP forecast for FY21in the upcoming MPC meet-

ing. As in the previous state-ments, the RBI may continue totalk about economic contrac-tion without quantifying themagnitude.”

Last month, the MPC ofthe central bank decided toretain its key short-term lend-ing rate to curb the rise in infla-tion, and stabilise the generaleconomic environment.

Even though it retained therepo rate -- or short-term lend-ing rate for commercial banks,at 4 per cent, the MPC agreedto maintain the growth-ori-ented a ccommodative stance.

Likewise, the reverse reporate stood unchanged at 3.35per cent, and the marginalstanding facility (MSF) rateand the ‘Bank Rate’ at 4.25 percent.

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No further relaxation is like-ly in terms of e-invoicing

as the Centre is set to go aheadwith the decision to make GSTe-invoicing mandatory forcompanies with annualturnover of over �500 crore fortheir business-to-businesstransactions starting October 1.

Industry representatives,however, have urged the gov-ernment to not make itmandatory and rather allowvoluntary compliance.

The rel ie f , however,would be there for relativelysmaller businesses, as thethreshold for mandatory e-invoicing, a step to improvetax compliance, was earlierplanned to be kept at �100crore, is set to be raised to�500 crore on the recom-mendations of an empoweredpanel of the Goods andServices Tax (GST) Council.

The initial date for its rollout was April 1, 2020, but theCentre notified October 1,2020, as revised date forimplementation of e-invoic-ing.

New Delhi: In a big change inits business strategy, the coun-try’s largest coal-fired power

producer NTPC proposes tocompletely stop land acquisi-tion for green field thermal

projects and rather look forreducing its carbon footprintthrough aggressive renewableenergy push.

“We have taken the deci-sion not to acquire any furtherland for green field thermalprojects in near future and thefocus will be on reducing thecarbon foot print,” NTPCchairman Gurdeep Singh saidin a statement to the share-holders at a recently conclud-ed AGM.As part of its initiativeto transform itself into a renew-able player, NTPC has alsodecided to set up a separategreen focused subsidiary.

By 2032, state-ownedNTPC plans to add 32 GW ofrenewable generation capacityto its portfolio through organ-ic and inorganic routes. Non-fossil fuel-based generationcapacity will make up nearly 30per cent of its portfolio, which,at present, is less than 10 percent. Short term target is toreach 10 GW of renewablecapacity up to 2022.“In order toget access to large tracts of landfor RE projects, discussions arein progress with state govern-ments of Gujarat, Rajasthan,Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtraand Andhra Pradesh for allo-cation of land parcels for settingup of renewable projects. Thesewould be developed underUltra Mega Renewable EnergyPower Parks scheme of the gov-ernment of India,” the compa-ny chairman informed theshareholders. IANS

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Caution over the upcomingmonetary policy review

along with a strong US dollaris expected to check the appre-ciation in Indian rupee duringthe short-term.

Notably, a likely US fiscalstimulus package combinedwith caution over the upcom-ing monetary policy reviewslated for October 1 may limitthe rise in the USDINR spot.

“The strength in dollarindex, foreign fund outflowscould weigh Rupee for next fewweeks going ahead,” saidDevarsh Vakil, Deputy Head ofRetail Research at HDFCSecurities. “Dollar continues togain as concerns about risingCovid-19 cases in ducing aslowdown in the global eco-nomic recovery weigh on stockmarkets and emerging cur-rencies, in turn benefiting theoversold dollar.”Recently, acomment by a senior US Fedofficial on the need for moreUS fiscal stimulus added “fur-

ther fuel to the fire”.“In near term, dollar and

the safe haven yen are likely tooutperform,” he said.

According to Sajal Gupta,Head, Forex and Rates,Edelweiss Securities: “Rupeeclosed at 73.60 after a rollercoaster week, but remainedstable to strong on expectedReliance Retail deal pipeline.”

“Other developments suchas RBI again mopping-up $3billion in the previous w eek,S&P affirming India’s ratingswith a word of caution onfuture growth outlook areexpected curtail the apprecia-tion, however, rupee maystrengthen toward 73 in com-ing days within a range of73.90 to 73.20.” Besides, mar-ket will keep an eye out for thepan-ultimate monetary policyre view for the calendar year2020 which is slated for Oct 1.

Last week, the rupeestrengthened to Rs 73.60against a greenback.

“Rupee can be in range of73.25-74.10 as the dollar index

keeps has strong support near$94-94.20, and some upsidepossibly towards $95-95.40shall keep rupee appreciation atcheck,” said Jateen Trivedi,Senior Research Analyst(Commodity & Currency) atLKP Securities. “The market iscautiously awaiting the out-come of the RBI monetarypolicy me eting on October 1.More or less the range remainsbetween 73.25-74.10 on broadtrading.”However, corporatedollar inflows along with IPOlisting will keep the apprecia-tion momentum going on forthe Indian currency.

“The hope that the US fis-cal stimulus package will rolloutsoon is tempting to think thatthis may be an end to the dol-lar bull run, but there s tillremains a high risk over the pas-sage of the stimulus package. Sounless the bill is passed, we mayobserve some appreciation in theUSDINR spot towards the 74zone,” said Rahul Gupta, Headof Research-Currency at EmkayGlobal Financial Services.

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Diesel prices fell again onSaturday continuing its

southward movement in tan-dem with fall in global productprices and steady crude prices.

Oil marketing companies,however, kept petrol pricesunchanged for the fourth con-secutive day.

In the national capital,diesel prices fell by 16 paise perlitre to �70.94 a litre down from�71.10 per litre on Friday.Petrol prices remained static at�81.06 a litre.

In the other metros ofMumbai, Chennai and Kolkataas well diesel prices fell between15-18 paise per litre.

The price fall is on theback of expectation of slowingdemand for oil globally as asecond wave of coronavirusspike threatens further deraileconomic activity.

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Building on the opportunityof trust, transparency and

security in Crypto trading,India’s first Business-to-Business (B2B) Crypto tradingexchange, DigitX, hasannounced its commencementof trading operations.

Speaking on the occasionAshish Mehta, Co-Founder,DigitX said “Crypto even sinceits inception have had a rollercoaster ride, where it enjoys ahigh degree of popularityamong a certain section of thesociety and at the same time itfaces questions on security andtransparency. It is our humbleinitiative, to educate investorsin the ecosystem and people atlarge about the potential of thisalternative asset class, whichworks on the principal of superefficiency through BlockChain. We are starting opera-tions with our trusted membersand by the end of 2021, we areaiming to have members onboard.”

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Seven people were in custodyon Saturday after a stabbing

outside the former Paris officesof satirical newspaper CharlieHebdo, including the suspectedassailant, authorities said.Counterterrorism authoritiesare investigating what authori-ties called an Islamic extremistattack linked to Charlie Hebdo,which lost 12 employees in anal-Qaida attack in 2015.

The weekly, which rou-tinely mocks religious andother prominent figures,recently republished carica-tures of the ProphetMuhammad that outragedmany Muslims.

The suspected assailant inFriday’s stabbing had beenarrested a month ago for car-rying a screwdriver but was noton police radar for Islamicradicalisation, Interior MinisterGerald Darmanin said. He saidthe screwdriver was considereda weapon, but did not explainwhy.

The suspect arrived inFrance three years ago as anunaccompanied minor, appar-

ently from Pakistan, but hisidentity was still being verified,the minister said.

Seven others were detainedin the aftermath of Friday’sattack, but one has beenreleased, according to judicialofficials.

Five of those in custodywere detained in the Paris sub-urb of Pantin in a residencewhere the suspect is believed tohave lived, a police officialsaid.

Two people were woundedin Friday’s attack, a woman anda man working at a documen-tary production company whohad stepped outside for asmoke break.

The interior minister con-ceded that security was lackingon the street where CharlieHebdo was once headquar-tered, and ordered special pro-tection for all “symbolic sites,”noting in particular Jewishsites around the Yom Kippurholiday this weekend.

A Jewish grocery store wastargeted days after the CharlieHebdo newsroom massacre,in what authorities say werecoordinated attacks.

Colombo: Former Sri LankanPresident Maithripala Sirisenashould take responsibility forthe 2019 Easter Sunday bomb-ings that claimed the lives ofover 250 people, ex-policechief Pujith Jayasundara hastold a panel probing theattack, according to mediareports.

On April 21, 2019, EasterSunday, nine suicide bombersbelonging to the local Islamicextremist group NationalThawheed Jamaat (NTJ) car-ried out a series of blasts thattore through three churchesand as many luxury hotels inthe island nation, killing 258

people, including 11 Indians,and injuring over 500 people.

Sri Lankan police havearrested over 200 suspects inconnection with the bomb-ings. Links between the NTJand the Islamic State (IS)were later established.

Suspended InspectorGeneral of Police Jayasunderatestified on Thursday beforethe presidential inquiry com-mission probing the attacks,the Daily Mirror Lankareported. “I provided intelli-gence to senior DIGs NandanaMunasinghe, Latheef, PriyalalDasanayake and WarunaJayasundara who had been

appointed to cover the entireisland. Provincial officers werealso informed,” the newspaperquoted Jayasundera as saying.

He said Sirisena’s brotherhad ensured the intelligencethat he provided was deletedfrom telecom records, who atthe time was the president ofMobitel Telecom, reportedthe Colombo Page.Jayasundara told the com-mission that Sirisena hadasked him to take responsi-bility for the attack and indi-rectly offered inducements —high government post,appointment as anAmbassador. PTI

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US President Donald Trump hasalleged that a new set of docu-

ments have revealed that Russiansinterfered in the 2016 presidentialelections on behalf of his then rivaland Democratic presidential nom-inee Hillary Clinton.

The alleged Russian interferencein US elections in 2016 was one ofthe major topics for the OppositionDemocrats in the first three years ofTrump’s presidency and also becamethe basis of the failed impeachmentproceedings against him.

“I’ve been tarred with this hor-rible witch hunt for four years. AndI didn’t do it. Think of it. Whatwould my numbers be, if I didn’t gothrough almost four years of aRussian witch hunt that turned outto be just the opposite. They were theones involved with Russia,” Trumpsaid while addressing a Repubicancampaign rally in Newport, Virginiaon Friday.

“A new trove of documents…now prove that Russia interferedin 2016. Unfortunately, it was onbehalf of Hillary Clinton, not Trump.

They interfered with disinfor-mation,” Trump said.Trump allegedthe 2016 presidential elections wereinterfered by the Russians on behalfof rival Clinton’s campaign.

“The newly released text mes-sages make 100 per cent clear. TheFBI knew that Democrats pur-chased Russian disinformation tar-geting me, your favourite president,which then formed the basis for thewitch hunt,” he said as he praisedseveral Fox News anchors for stand-ing by him during those days.

Trump also accused theDemocrats and the Russians of spy-ing on him and his campaign.

“It was a whole big disinforma-tion campaign,” he said amidstcheers and applause from his audi-ence. Now it’s turning out….Not

turning out, turning out, it’s donebecause if you look at everything,that’s come out over the last few days,it’s we caught them. They spied onmy campaign and they tried for acoup,” he said.

“Can you believe it, in this dayand age? And we caught them cold.… It turned out to be a total hoax.In fact, Biden’s son was just revealedtwo days ago, got USD 3.5 milliondollars from the wife of the mayorof Moscow,” he alleged.

The Trump administration ear-lier this month charged a Russiannational in a sweeping plot to sowdistrust in the American politicalprocess and imposed sanctionsagainst a Russia-linked Ukrainianlawmaker accused of interfering inthe US presidential election.

Those actions, combined with aMicrosoft announcement on hack-ing

attempts targeting US politicalcampaigns, parties and consultants,

underscore the extent to which thesame cyber intrusions and foreigninfluence operations that defined the2016 White House race remain apersistent concern, according tolocal media reports.

Meanwhile, latest polls show thatTrump, 74, is fast catching up withhis Democratic rival and former vicepresident Joe Biden, 77, with the lat-ter leading by 6.7 per cent on anational average against a double-digit lead more than a month ago.

In the battleground States, thelead has now come down to 3.6 percent ahead of the November 3 pres-idential election.

Trump in his rallies over the past10 days has been attracting a hugecrowd, with his supporters ignoringsocial distancing measures of coro-navirus pandemic.

Biden on the other hand has notbeen doing large public rallies. Hismeetings are mostly virtual andsmall in-person ones at times.

Seoul: South Korea said onSaturday it will request NorthKorea to further investigate thekilling of a South Korean gov-ernment official who was shotby North Korean troops afterbeing found adrift near therivals’ disputed sea boundarywhile apparently trying todefect.

Seoul could also possiblycall for a joint investigation intoTuesday’s shooting, whichsparked outrage in the Southand drew a rare apology fromNorth Korean leader Kim JongUn.

Kim was quoted as sayinghe was “very sorry” over whathe described as an “unexpect-ed, unfortunate incident” in amessage sent by Pyongyang’sUnited Front Department, aNorth Korean governmentagency in charge of inter-Korean relations.

However, the North Koreanmessage, which was announcedby the office of South KoreanPresident Moon Jae-in onFriday, largely passed the blamefor the shooting to the SouthKorean official, claiming that herefused to answer questionsand attempted to flee beforeNorth Korean troops fired athim.

South Korean officials dur-ing a presidential NationalSecurity Council meetingFriday evening concluded thatfurther investigation was need-ed because the North’s accountof the incident was differentfrom what was gathered bySouth Korean intelligence,Moon’s office said.

“We have decided torequest the North to conduct anadditional investigation andalso request a joint investigationwith the North if needed,” the

Blue House said in a statement. It said the South will also

“swiftly take measures to fur-ther strengthen surveillanceposture” in waters off the coun-try’s western coast to preventsimilar incidents.

South Korea’s coast guardwas deploying dozens of vesselsand hundreds of officers tosearch waters near the westernsea border Saturday for the offi-cial’s remains.

The North’s state mediahave yet to report on the inci-dent or Kim’s apology.

South Korea earlier accusedthe North of shooting the man,who was likely trying to defect,and burning his body afterfinding him on a floating objectin North Korean waters. SouthKorean officials condemnedwhat they called an “atrociousact” and pressed North Korea topunish those responsible. AP

Beijing: The ruling Communist Party of Chinahas suspended a senior official in Tibet for cor-ruption and divulging state secrets, accordingto the official media.

Wang Jinhe, 55, a former party member anddeputy director of Tibet’s transport authority,has been subject to disciplinary and supervisoryinvestigations for suspected serious violationsof discipline and law in April this year.

He has been in the vice post of the Tibettransport authority for eight years since 2012,the state-run Xinhua news agency.

The discipline inspection commission of theTibet Autonomous Region announced onFriday that Wang was expelled from theCommunist party and removed from his posi-tion for corruption, divulging state secrets andillegally possessing ammunition.

The commission said Wang had demon-strated disloyalty to the party and even coun-tered the inspection by transferring and con-cealing evidence.

He illegally occupied public houses; divulgedstate secrets, and illegally possessed ammuni-tion, the commission said.

He took advantage of his position to pro-vide unlawful help in contracting projects tothose who offered him bribes of a huge amount,it said, without releasing details.

Wang has seriously violated the party’s dis-ciplines of politics, organisation, work and life.And, his actions should be dealt with serious-ly, it said.

Wang has since been expelled from the partyand removed from his government position withall illegal gains confiscated.

Thousands of Communist Party of Chinaofficials have been suspended since ChinesePresident Xi Jinping took power in 2012.

Critics allege that Xi also made effective useof the anti-graft campaign to consolidate hispower. PTI

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United Nations: Russia andChina blocked the official releaseof a report by UN experts onLibya that accused its warringparties and their internationalbackers -- including Russia -- ofviolating a UN arms embargo onthe conflict-wracked country,UN diplomats said Friday.

Germany’s deputy UNambassador, Günter Sautter,said he brought the issue to theSecurity Council after the twocountries blocked the report’srelease by the committee mon-itoring sanctions on Libya,which Germany heads. “Manydelegations have asked for thepublication of the panel ofexperts’ interim report,” he said.

“This would create muchneeded transparency. It wouldcontribute to naming and sham-ing those who continue to bla-tantly violate the arms embargoin spite of agreements that havebeen made.”

But diplomats, speaking oncondition of anonymity becauseFriday’s council consultationswere closed, said Russia and

close ally China again blockedthe report’s publication.

Sautter said before the meet-ing, when asked what Germanycould do if Russia and Chinablocked the report’s releaseagain: “Let me assure you I willcontinue to use every tool athand in order to make sure thatwe have the necessary trans-parency.”

The report, seen by TheAssociated Press earlier thismonth, said the arms embargowas being violated by Libya’sUN-supported government inthe west, which is backed byTurkey and Qatar, and by rivaleast-based forces under com-mander Khalifa Hifter, backedby the United Arab Emirates,Russia and Jordan.

The panel said the embar-go remains “totally ineffective.”The experts said 11 companiesalso violated the arms embargo,including the Wagner Group, aprivate Russian security com-pany that the panel said in Mayprovided between 800 and 1,200mercenaries to Hifter.

In addition, the experts saidthe warring parties and theirinternational backers, along withEgypt and Syria, failed to inspectaircraft or vessels if they havereasonable grounds to believethe cargo contains militaryweapons and ammunition, asrequired by a 2015 SecurityCouncil resolution.

Anwar Gargash, the UnitedArab Emirates’ minister of statefor foreign affairs, told a groupof reporters at a virtual briefingFriday that he wouldn’t com-ment on a report he hadn’tseen. But he said that “we cate-gorically deny” many of the“wild allegations that we’ve beenhearing in the press.”

In the years after the 2011uprising that toppled longtimeautocrat Moammar Gadhafi,Libya has sunk further into tur-moil and is now dividedbetween two rival administra-tions based in the country’s eastand west, with an array of fight-ers and militias backed by var-ious foreign powers allied witheach side. AP

Washington: President DonaldTrump plans on Saturday toname conservative federalappeals court judge AmyConey Barrett to fill the vacan-cy on the US Supreme Courtcreated by the death of JusticeRuth Bader Ginsburg, twosources said on Friday.

His decision, which comesa week after the liberal icon’sdeath at age 87, sets the stagefor what promises to be a bit-ter confirmation fight in theU.S. Senate, which is controlledby Trump’s fellow Republicans.Trump has asked SenateRepublicans to confirm hisnominee ahead of the Nov. 3US election, when he seeks asecond term in office andDemocrats aim to seize controlof the chamber.

Barrett, 48, was appointedby Trump to the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court ofAppeals in 2017 and is knownfor her conservative religiousviews. Supreme Court justices

are given lifetime appoint-ments.

If confirmed by the Senate,she would become the fifthwoman to serve on the highcourt while expanding its con-servative majority to a rock-solid 6-3.

Trump plans a formalintroduction at the WhiteHouse on Saturday. Twosources confirmed on Fridaythat Trump plans to nominateBarrett, but warned thatTrump could change hismind. Trump himself toldreporters on Friday that hehad made his decision, butdeclined to say who his pickwas.

Barrett has been viewed asa frontrunner throughout,along with fellow federalappeals court judge BarbaraLagoa. Barrett previouslyserved as a clerk to conserva-tive Supreme Court JusticeAntonin Scalia, who died in2016. Agency

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London: Thousands gatheredon Saturday at London’sTrafalgar Square to protestlockdowns and social distanc-ing rules imposed to slow thespread of COVID-19.

London’s MetropolitanPolice has warned demonstra-tors to follow social-distancingrules. Police said before theevent that officers will firstengage with people and explainthe social distancing rules, butthey may take enforcementaction if protesters still fail tocomply. As the protest began,police were visible around theedges of the crowd but didn’tconfront protesters, most ofwhom weren’t wearing masks.

“I know there is great frus-tration to these regulations, butthey have been designed tokeep everyone safe from what isa lethal virus,” Cmdr. AdeAdelekan said. “By flagrantlygathering in large numbers andignoring social distancing, youare putting your at risk.” AP

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Kyiv: Hundreds of women call-ing for the authoritarian pres-ident to step down protested inBelarus’ capital on Saturday,continuing the large demon-strations that have rocked thecountry since early August.

Police blocked off the cen-ter of Minsk and arrested morethan 60 demonstrators, accord-ing to the Viasna human rightsorganisation. Some of thosearrested were chased down by

police in building courtyardswhere they were trying to takerefuge, Viasna said.

Protests, by far the largestand most persistent in Belarussince independence from theSoviet Union in 1991, beganAugust 9 after an election thatofficials said gave PresidentAlexander Lukashenko a sixthterm in office.

Opponents and some pollworkers say the results, in

which Lukashenko was talliedwith 80 per cent support, weremanipulated.

Despite wide-scale deten-tions of demonstrators and thearrest of many prominentopposition figures, the protestshaven’t shown signs of abating.Lukashenko further angeredopponents this week by takingthe oath of office for a newterm in an unexpected cere-mony. AP

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The Trump Administrationis seeking to restrict the

stay of journalists from Chinain the US to just 90 days withthe provision of another exten-sion for a similar duration,according to a federal notifi-cation.

The move came amidstworsening of bilateral ties overa range of issues like the coro-navirus pandemic, trade,Beijing’s increasing grip onHong Kong and alleged humanrights abuses against minoritiesin the Xinjiang province.

The proposal of the

Department of HomelandSecurity is part of the fixedtime limit on visas of students,researchers and foreign jour-nalists in the US.

While the time limit forforeign journalists in generalhas been restricted to 240 daysand another extension of asimilar period, those for ajournalist from China wouldbe issued a I visa by the UnitedStates just for 90 days, as perthe federal notification issuedon Friday.

Stake holders have 30 daysto respond to the federal noti-fication before it can beenforced.

�������������������������;������������?+���� Beijing: China’s fastest subway

train, travelling at 160 kms perhour, made its debut in south-ern Guangzhou city, officialmedia reported on Saturday.

The subway train will beput into service at GuangzhouMetro’s No. 18 and No. 22metro lines, which are stillunder construction. Once it isput into service, it will take 25minutes and 30 minutes fromNansha Free Trade Zone to theSouth Guangzhou train stationand East Guangzhou train sta-tion, respectively, state-runGlobal Times reported. Thetwo lines will extend toGuangdong’s Zhuhai,Zhongshan and Dongguancities in the future. PTI

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Page 8: ˇ ˘ ˆ ˙˝ · 2020. 9. 26. · community that India will pro- ... outrage. Traders P Jeyaraj (59) and his son J Feniks (31) ... management and no wastage of

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Sanju Samson would like to contin-ue his dream form while the pres-

ence of Jos Buttler puts RajasthanRoyals on even keel with Kings XIPunjab in an IPL game which promis-es to be yet another six-hitting contest.

Coming into the match aftermorale-boosting victories, both KXIPand the Royals would look to build awinning momentum after starting thetournament as underdogs.

Buttler, who missed the first matchdue to quarantine rules as he reachedthe UAE separately with his family, isexpected to open alongside YashashviJaiswal while Steve Smith will takeDavid Miller’s position in the battingorder. Tom Curran and Jofra Archerwill again complete the four-playeroverseas quota.

“I am really excited to play my firstgame, it was great to be back in train-ing with the boys, there’s a great vibearound the team so I’m really lookingforward to taking the field,” Buttler saidon the eve of the match.

“The atmosphere and energyaround the squad is fantastic, obvious-ly lots of confidence after that firstgame. The training has been veryenergetic, guys are lively and enjoyingeach other’s company. So expecting areally tough match against Kings XI,”Buttler said after a net session at

Sharjah ground.KL Rahul, touted as a future

India captaincy material, plun-dered a record 132 not out offjust 69 balls with the help ofseven sixes in a much biggerground in Dubai to lead KXIPto a resounding 97-runwin over RCB.

The 28-year-oldRahul, one of thecleanest hitters of theball, notched up thehighest score by anIndian in IPL histo-ry and he wouldlike to continue inthe same vein on aground which hasshort boundarieson all sides.

The youngSamson, on theother hand,made amincemeatof theC h e n n a iSuper Kingsbowlers, hit-

ting nine sixes in his 32-ball 74before Jofra Archer joinedthe party with a four-six burstin the final over in the matchplayed at the same venue inSharjah on Tuesday.

The Royals captainSmith also chipped in

with a 47-ball 69 whileplaying his first matchafter concussionrelated issues in theUnited Kingdom.

“Great to get awin on the board,the team playedfantastically wellin the firstgame. It was ano u t s t a n d i n gbatting perfor-mance and afantastic bowl-

ing performance in tough bowling con-ditions,” Buttler said, praising his col-leagues.

For KXIP, Australian all-rounderGlenn Maxwell would look to makeamends for his low score (5) in the ear-lier match against RCB.

In the bowling department,Mohammed Shami and West IndianSheldon Cottrell led the pace-bowlingdepartment quite well for KXIP whilethe likes of leg-spinners Ravi Bishnoiand Murugan Ashwin grabbed threewickets apiece against RCB.

The Royals managed to defendtheir 216 run target with Archer bowl-ing brilliantly at the death and leg spin-ner Rahul Tewatia (3/37 in 4 overs)inflicting top order damage.

The sore point was yet anotherpoor show from Jaydev Unadkat, whohas never been able to raise his IPLgame save one odd season with Rising

Pune Supergiants.It will be interesting if Smith

and Andrew McDonald decide totry out rookie Kartik Tyagi or sea-soned Varun Aaron in Unadkat’splace keeping his lack of pace andshort boundaries in mind.

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Two consecutive defeats have left ChennaiSuper Kings reeling and skipper Mahendra

Singh Dhoni is contemplating rejigging thecombination, saying they are lacking steam andneed to come back with a clearer picture forthe next IPL games.

“I don’t think it was a good game for us.There was no dew, but the wicket did slowdown. We are lacking a bit of steam in the bat-ting and that hurts. The run rate keeps onmounting after such slow starts and adds pres-sure, we need to figure that out,” Dhoni saidafter the match against Capitals on Fridaynight. “We need to come back with a clearerpicture, looking at the combination. Maybe, theteam balance will get better once (Ambati)Rayudu comes back in the next game.”

Rayudu, who struck a brilliant 48-ball 71in CSK’s five-wicket win over MI in the tour-nament-opener, missed the next two games dueto a hamstring injury.

The CSK captain expressed hope thatRayudu will be available in their next game.

“That will give us the room to experimentwith an extra bowler perhaps. There are quitea few things we can think about. We are onebatter extra to start off, so the players need tostep up.”

Dhoni also asked his bowlers to pull uptheir socks after two ordinary outings.

“We need to get better with our lengths,lines and pace. I think the spinners have notcome to the party yet. We are bowling good

deliveries, but we are giving away the bound-ary deliveries bit too often,” he said.

Spin bowling has been traditionally CSK’sstrength but struggling at the moment, prompt-ing head coach Fleming to say it was an areaof concern.

“Yeah, it’s an area of concern, because it’sbeen such a strength for CSK, and you’ve got

to think that the style of play that we’ve devel-oped over the last 12 years is heavily based onspin. So what we’re trying to do is find a dif-ferent personality.

“Spin still plays a part, and we’ve played onthree different grounds, so each game has beendifferent conditions. We’re struggling to adjustto find the pace and the style to bowl throughthe middle, and that, in the last two games inparticular, has been an area where we haven’tdone so well. So from a strength to an area ofconcern, we need to rectify that.”

Asked about the possible team combina-tion in the upcoming matches, Fleming said,“All bets are on the table at the moment as wetry to find a way. We are looking forward toplaying a number of games here (in Dubai), wewere interested in how this pitch played, andget conditions right so we can get right com-bination.”

Barring some fielding lapses, Delhi Capitalscaptain Shreyas Iyer was happy with the per-formance of his side so far.

“I am really happy with the performance.I would give them the benefit of doubt, is toughto catch in these conditions. You misjudge theball, really don’t know how to pace yourself,”he said.

Shimron Hetmyer grassed two chances butit did not hurt the team much.

“In the team meeting we decided that weare going to assess the batting conditions earlyand then play accordingly. The way the open-ers started, gave us a lot of confidence and thefinish was good too.

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Neetu David, one of India’s finest woman cricketersin the late ‘90s and early 2000s, has been appoint-

ed chairman of the women’s selection committeereplacing Hemalata Kala, the BCCI announced onSaturday.

The other members of the panel are MithuMukherjee, Renu Margrate, Arati Vaidya and VKalpana — all former India players.

The four-year term of the previous panel, led byKala, ended in March 2020. It had Sudha Shah, AnjaliPendharkar, Shashi Gupta and Lopamudra Banerjeeas other members.

Their last assignment was selecting the team forthe women’s World T20 in Australia, where India endedrunners-up.

“On account of seniority, Neetu David, the formerleft-arm spinner, will head the five-member commit-tee,” BCCI secretary Jay Shah said in a statement.

She holds the world record for best bowling fig-ures in an innings in a Test — 8/53 against Englandin Jamshedpur in 1995.

“She is also the second-highest wicket-taker forIndia in WODIs with 141 scalps and was also the firstfrom India to take 100 WODI wickets,” Shah observed.

India’s women’s cricket will get back to action witha three-team Women’s Challenger Series in the UAEand for that, the BCCI was required to form a newwomen’s selection panel.

There were a lot of applications but the former left-arm spinner David, who was India’s highest wicket-taker in WODIS before Jhulan Goswami surpassed her,was the top contender.

David played 10 Tests in which she had taken 41wickets. She retired from international cricket in 2008.

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Brilliant performances fromAshleigh Gardner and

Megan Schutt helped Australiadefeat New Zealand by 17 runsin the first T20I of the three-match series on Saturday.

With both sides playinginternational cricket for thefirst time since the T20 WorldCup in March, it was the expe-rienced hand of White Fernsskipper Sophie Devine whoelected to bowl first, andclaimed 3/8 from her first threeovers to leave the Australiansreeling at 81/5.

However, Gardner, whocame to bat at number five,played a superb knock of 61 tohelp the hosts post 138/6 in theirallotted 20 overs. The 23-year-

old batswoman scored 6 foursand 3 sixes during her 41-ballknock.

Chasing the target, the vis-itors had a decent start as open-ers Devine (29) and MaddyGreen (5) put on 27 runs for thefirst wicket. However followingtheir dismissals, the White Fernswent off the track and kept los-ing wickets at regular intervals,thus unable to keep up with therequired run-rate.

While Suzie Bates (33) didkeep their hopes alive, shecouldn’t find support from theremaining batters as NewZealand could manage 121/7 intheir full quota of overs.

For Australia, Schutt wasthe pick of the bowlers as shescalped four wickets givingaway just 23 runs.

�!� � Spin legend Shane Warne onSaturday expressed his “surprise” that wick-etkeeper-batsman Sanju Samson is notplaying for India across formats.

Samson smashed a 32-ball 74 againstChennai Super Kings to power RajasthanRoyals to a 16-run win in the IPL onTuesday.

Warne praised the 25-year-old playerafter his exploits.

“Sanju Samson, what a player he is. Ihave said for a long time and I think SanjuSamson is probably one of the most excit-ing players I have seen for a long time. I amsurprised that he is not playing all forms ofcricket for India,” said Warne in anInstagram live session of Rajasthan Royals.

The Australian legend added, “He is thatgood. He is an absolute champion he is gotall the shots, quality, and class.

“So, hopefully, he has a consistent yearand helps Rajasthan Royals lift the IPL tro-phy and I hope to see in him Indian coloursin all three forms of cricket.”

In recent times, KL Rahul has cement-ed his place as the number one wicketkeep-er-batsman in the Indian team for the lim-ited overs format, pipping Rishabh Pant. PTI

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Kolkata Knight Ridersput up a disciplinedeffort with Pat

Cummins brilliantly spear-heading the attack to restrictSunrisers Hyderabad to amodest 142 for four in theirIPL fixture here on Saturday.

Having drawn flak forbowling short againstMumbai Indians, the IPL’smost-expensive overseas buyreturned tidy figures of 1/19,while spinner Varun

Chakravarthy (1/25) out-foxed the dangerous DavidWarner to derail SRH earlyon.

Manish Pandey returnedto form at No 3 with a 38-ball51 and along withWriddhiman Saha (30 off31 balls), tried to repair thedamage but the duo were dis-missed at the death and SRHlacked the finishing touch tosettle for a seemingly below-par total.

Unlike their last matchagainst Mumbai Indians,

KKR looked more intent andaggressive with theirapproach, having brought inSunil Narine and Cumminsup front with the new ball.

Cummins smartlyaltered his length and bowledJonny Bairstow with anabsolute ripper to give KKRthe first breakthrough.

In his second-coming,architect-turned mysteryspinner Chakravarthy dis-missed a well-set Warner(36 off 30) in a soft mannerfor his maiden IPL wicket,

giving KKR the big break-through.

The Australian left-han-der, who got out cheaplyagainst Royal ChallengersBangalore, looked to make amark with some clean hits,but a lapse in concentrationdid him in and he spooned asimple catch to Chakravarthy.

The two wickets meantthat SRH could not step upthe momentum and at thehalfway mark, at 61 for two,the run-rate was just abovesix.

Dubai: Rohit Sharma, one of the most success-ful captains in the IPL, says he learnt the art ofmaking teammates feel important fromAustralian great Ricky Ponting.

The India opener has led IPL side MumbaiIndians to a record four titles after beingappointed Ponting’s successor in the 2013 sea-son of the T20 tournament.

“I want to make sure the 10 guys who areplaying and the other players on the bench, Ishould be talking to them and make them feelimportant,” Sharma, who has also captainedIndia in the absence of regular skipper ViratKohli, told India Today TV.

“And that is something that I learned fromRicky Ponting.”

Ponting, currently coach of Delhi Capitals,stepped down as captain of Mumbai midway intothe sixth IPL edition and Sharma eased into therole to help the team clinch its first title.

The 33-year-old Sharma led by example withhis high-scoring role as opener with Mumbaiwinning three more IPL titles in 2015, 2017 and2019.

Sharma, who has played 224 one-day inter-nationals, 32 Tests and 108 T20 matches for thenational side, believes in giving youngsters free-dom to perform.

“Those players will come out good or willbe at their best when they are not under pres-sure,” said Sharma.

“When there is not too much talking goingon about them in the squad. They get to knowall these things.” AFP

KKR attack restricts SRH to 142/4

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Picture this: Jay worked as a techni-cal consultant for a financial soft-ware company’s taxation productteam. For a new project, his teamwas forced to interact with the

financial services team due to political pres-sure from senior management. As expected,the initial interactions were a bit contentious.The technical lead for the taxation team,Abhay, saw this as an opportunity to shineand mandated that he would be the point ofcontact for interacting with the financial ser-viced team. All communications were nowrequired to be funneled through him.

This created a precarious situation forJay. All his emails and documents were pre-sented to the other team as if Abhay had pro-duced them. Abhay was taking credit foreverything Jay did. Abhay would edit outmajor chunks of essential technical advicebeyond his level of competence, and hewould keep coming back to Jay for moreinputs on how to answer questions comingfrom the other team. This entire episode leftJay feeling angry, frustrated, and unmotivat-ed.

The above is a classic example of officepolitics. Office politics is a reality that existsin every organisation, big or small: the largerthe firm, the more complex the politics.There is more of everything — players, com-petition, agendas, information, and more togain and lose. If you have enjoyed a goodnumber of years of work experience, I’m sureyou have experienced politicking in theworkplace.

Companies with a great culture knowhow to create systems to minimise or miti-gate politics. Indeed, productivity, employeeengagement, and a company’s growth dependon how much politics exists. Leaders have ahuge responsibility to recognise what causespolitics and which systems, processes, orpeople initiate or encourage it in their com-pany environment. Alternatively, employeesmust also understand their workplace’s polit-ical machinery to bring about success forthemselves and their team members.

As a leadership coach, I work with peo-ple managers from mid-level managers up toCXOs and board members from diverseindustries. These folks are all brilliant, intelli-gent, and accomplished individuals. When Iwork with them on their leadership goalsand challenges, I get to hear the real-life situ-ations they have encountered. The only thingsetting them back is their collective belief inoffice politics. I listen to statements like, “Idon’t like office politics, and I don’t want togo there at all.” “I cannot get to this positionbecause it requires me to be political, and Iam not a political person,” etc.. They holdthemselves back from greatness because oftheir limited perception of office politics. Intheir minds, office politics is a dirty wordthat they are better off not handling.Understanding and cruising through anorganisation’s power dynamics is the key dif-ferentiator between successful and extremelysuccessful people.

������������ ������������������It is all about power, influence, and rela-

tionships, the power entanglements betweencoworkers trying to get ahead. These strug-gles for advancement are usually based onwhat you are after and whom you formalliances with. Some people are drawn into itintentionally, many accidentally and mostunknowingly.

Definitely, through years of work experi-ence, people do learn to deal with this beastmore effectively. But why leave such a criticalskill to chance? Why not address it head-onby understanding the power dynamics early

on in your career and moving ahead victori-ously in your leadership journey.

��������� ������There are a few tell-tale signs of environ-

ments being intensely political. If youencounter these signs, often you know thechances of getting stuck in the dirty swamp ofpolitics are high. Beware when you encounterthe following patterns:● There is a lack of transparency in communi-cations. People are not direct and don’t meanwhat they say. There exists an unspoken sys-tem within the organisation that needs to beworked. ● Often poor performers are neither fired norreprimanded. Superstar employees quitbecause they don’t want to play the game anddon’t see any future growth.● The majority of the people are unwilling toacknowledge and celebrate their team mem-ber’s successes. Other’s growth invokes nega-tive emotions such as discomfort, resentment,or jealousy! They view it as being left behind.● Fear and limitations of opportunities drivemost conversations, decisions, and behaviours.● There is a constant underlying sense of com-petition amongst individuals for roles, visibili-ty, or growth.● Trust in leadership is weak.● Most individual performance rewards arenot in alignment with those of the organisa-tion’s wins.● People’s need for opportunity or recognitionmakes them nervous and fearful of makingmistakes and taking risks.● Most employees have little knowledge of andvisibility into the company’s decision-making.There is a significant distance between junior-level employees and executives; too manyclosed-door meetings with exclusive informa-tion are not shared with the rest of the organi-sation.● There is a lack of ownership amongst peo-ple. The general tendency is to shirk responsi-bility when possible. Instead of stepping upand taking on tasks outside their area, peoplecan quickly assign blame to someone else.

�� ������������Below are a few tricks on dealing with cor-

porate politics:Observe and listen: Most people jump intothings from the intention of action and contri-bution. Whether it is a meeting, a project, or anew role, everyone wants to perform well, andso they start doing things. Instead, be in anobservation and listening mode before youchoose to take action. This will help you iden-tify the influencers — they are the stakehold-ers that hold power to move things in theorganisation. Understand their needs andmindsets.

Do you know how the power distributionin your organisation works? Who are the keydecision-makers? What are their motivations?

Trust but not blindly: It is wonderful to findgood friends in your colleagues; after all, youare spending many waking hours with them.Research proves that it can be extremelyhealthy to have friendships at work. Personalbonds at work are essential; however, there is adifference between personal and professionalrelationships. Knowing the limits and bound-aries of these relationships is crucial.

It requires one to walk that tightropebetween sharing and oversharing. Practicessuch as socialising outside of work are helpingto advance careers and build networks andbonds. Be mindful — a drink too many canexpose you and give people something to talkabout or lead to even more severe conse-quences. The same rules apply to social mediainteractions with colleagues.

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Be clear of your vision: We all have avision for our lives, spoken or unspo-ken, explicit or implicit. A vision is howone commits to living their life, demon-strated by their choices, actions, words,and behaviors. What separates greatleaders from the average one is theirability to crystallise their vision andthen execute goals towards it. Beingclear of your desired reality helps youstay out of the unnecessary messes andface with courage and conviction, thepaths essential to actualise your dreams.

Communicate your vision: Once youknow and own your vision, communi-cate it intelligently and smartly withyour manager and team members. Thismay or may not mean sharing every-thing. Your vision may be to become theCFO of an organisation in a few years,identify the skills and experiences youneed to get there, and communicateonly those.

Stay informed, but avoid gossip: Keepin mind, no matter how tempting itmight seem, hear gossip but don’t gen-erate or propagate it. Being aware ofwhat is going on around you is prudent,but make sure not to get sucked into it.Being viewed as a gossip underminesthe trust people will have in you. Loosetalk can get you in trouble or make youseem immature.

There is a significant differencebetween gossiping and stayinginformed. The former projects you asimmature while the latter is a skill onemust develop to succeed at work.

Information is powerful: Most suc-cessful politicians spend their energymanaging up, down and sideways.They hustle and work their chain ofcommand. Such people base theircareer on building alliances with thepower brokers. They are astute enoughto be present at all the right meetings,jump in, and take personal credit for

other’s work and are informationhoarders. Information is power, andpower is politics. The one who hasknowledge holds power. The clear signof a political person is that they rarelyshare information.

Learn to read people: So many times, Ihave come across leaders misjudgingsituations and the intentions of people.The outspoken ones are edged to speakup the politically incorrect things likecomplaining about the health benefitsor a new policy. People don’t flinchbefore showing enthusiasm for ideasand activities that may harm yourcareer. As part of building ExecutivePresence, I often help leaders get edu-cated on sensing and reading body lan-guage in others and utilising powerstances for themselves. Reading peopleand situations is the number one talentto get ahead without getting in trouble.

Integrity and ethics always win: Thegeneral impression is that people thatrise quickly often have to do unethicalthings to get there. The negative conse-quences of acting out of your value sys-tem or integrity will catch up with you.There is no escaping that. Sometimesthings may take a little longer but staythe course and don’t succumb to wrong-doings and temptations.

��� ������������������ ������My book Checkmate Office Politics

discusses the distinction between goodpolitics and bad politics. Practicinggood or healthy politics enables peopleto further personal and team interestsfairly and justly. Staying alert and awareof the ‘bad’ politics helps to avoid need-less suffering and being taken advantageof. To look at politics through a positivelens, one must first understand the dif-ference between good and bad politicsor healthy and unhealthy politics.Healthy Politics: Healthy politicsalways attempts to empower

individuals. An effective politicianbuilds a strong network at all levelsinside and outside of an organisation.They are familiar with the pulse ofemployees at all levels. They have acrisp and clear understanding of thesuccess parameters in theirorganisation. Healthy politics requiressharing information and encouragingothers to do the same. Good politicsbelieves unity is Strength. Goodpoliticking fuels the promotion ofinnovation and problem-solving. Itadvocates respect and inclusiveness forall, irrespective of their role andposition. There is a goal of improvingsystems instituting permanentsolutions to problems. In the aboveexample of Jay and Abhay, Abhay wasdoing a good thing by streamlining thecommunication through a narrowchannel to avoid confusion, howeverhe could have given credit to Jayhighlighting his contributions in hisinteractions to avoid the bad politics.

Unhealthy Politics: The mostsignificant sign of harmful politics is thepersonal gains of a handful of people.Unhealthy politics leads to a divide andrule philosophy. It promotes authorityand compliance and creates a distanceamong people based on thesedifferences. Bad politics deviateattention away from the real issues.

As individuals working in the busi-ness world, when you feel powerless andout of control in situations where youbelieve you are at the receiving end ofpolitical manoeuvers of coworkers, it isessential to remember that there areseveral techniques you can apply to suc-ceed. You have a choice. The choice maynot always be an easy one. However, it isusually a choice between staying in yourcomfort zone or getting uncomfortablebut evolving into a better leader.

The writer is a leadership coach and anauthor. She has just published

Checkmate Office Politics: Build aPositive Power Equation at Work

with SAGE India

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Bollywood is in the eye of a storm.The industry thatdid yeoman service for the masses by entertainingthem has suddenly become a cesspool, a term Big B

used for politics. Nevertheless, Bollywood has been provid-ing three hours of power-packed action, fantasy, joy andromance — all for the price of peanuts. It made people laugh,cry, filled them with rage, and made them partake in theworld of make-believe. It aroused and awakened too, at times.All that has been pushed to the backburner. But before blam-ing Bollywood for all that is bad in the society we need topause and ponder. In more than a century of its history, theMumbai film industry has served the society in a way fewindustries have done. It has researched like no institutioncould do, it has taught like no teacher would have done. Itde-stressed the masses, at a price that the common mancould afford. It provided an outlet for the pent up feelingsof the people, made them rejoice and giggle, filled them withecstasy, made them forget their sorrows casting a magicalspell. There was a salutary hangover too. People would talkand discuss even after they had seen the film. No mean ser-vice to a huge majority that was starved for pleasure andjoy. It advocated the right lessons too. That it’s the good thattriumphs over the evil in the end. Or as you sow so you reap.All of a sudden, everything is being painted black. So blackthat it reeks of a design. Reasons are not far to seek. FrancisBacon once said that if you go deep into any problem youwill find people. Only, replace people with politics. Man,after all, is a political animal. So if you go deep into a prob-lem, you will find politics. Dirty politics. Forget those blamegames. Forget those ideas of cronyism and syndicate, lob-bies and pressure groups. They are everywhere. Even in thenoblest of institutions. We must go back to the basics. Andthat reminds of the class four English language idiom — Abad workman blames his tools. There is a hindi equivalent,too, and in Bollywood lingo: “If you don’t know how todance, you find fault with the dancing floor”. Films and thefilm world are of a different genre and for a different pur-pose. To be objective, films don’t create society, they reflectsociety. And on this count they are more real than manynews channels which pollute the society more than the films.Films are market driven and showcase the society. There isno formula for a hit film nor a lobby. It is the film goer whodecides and he is highly erratic. Interestingly, he himself does-n’t know why. Same happens in the case of film stars. Orelse meagre budget and no star film like Jai Santoshi Maawould not have been a bigger hit than the mega budget multi-starrer Sholay in the same year. Coming to stars making itbig, examples galore prove that it’s God given merit and notGodfather. From Dev Anand, Dilip Kumar and Rajkumarto Amitabh Bachchan, Shatrughan Sinha and the like provethat it is only merit. And failure of star sons confirms this.One last take. And a crucial one. While many news chan-nels try selling lies as truth, films are doing it the other wayround. Bollywood must stand and the show must go on.

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Then, we accept His creation.This has a huge implication onour lives. We will begin to seek

God’s guidance and help, because thisis the cosmic design. We, souls, areparts of God. (Bhagawad Gita 15.7) Ourexistence, independent of God, is verytroublesome as those who don’t havea connection do realise sooner orlater. And God will guide and help; wejust need to approach Him in allhumility. Therefore, humility is the firstquality we inculcate in ourselves.Imagine a world where people are hum-ble and treat others with respect. Thisbrings us to the next quality — becom-ing better. The way the creation is, thereis only one big entity, that is God. Wehumans are small and will remain so.However, there is no bar on becomingbetter.

This leads us to the third quality —to be able to coexist with others. Ourrelationships improve greatly. We realisethat no one is perfect, only God is,therefore, we need to accept faults ofothers as others accept ours. We alsorealise that we depend upon a whole lotof people for our existence. Slowly, themode of goodness begins to gainascendency. We speak better, we behavebetter, etc. This mode has an enormousinfluence over our senses and themind. It prods us to eat what is usefulto us, see what is illuminating, hearwhat benefits, and so on.

Gradually, we enter the spiritualrealm. We understand that there is athing like the Karmaphala principle.This is in short — what we sow, we reap.This is as simple as that. Some fruits areinstant, like if we appreciate someonewe get excellent vibrations from thatperson. Some take long like studyingto become financially self-supporting.

We begin to watch all our actions inorder to create a better future for our-selves. This is the beginning of spiritu-al intelligence. The wise ones turn tothe book eternal wisdom — The Gita.One then progresses to become eithera medium of God or an instrument.God uses us to deliver benefits to otherpeople. For example, someone is to geta donation, the Lord inspires one of usto do this noble deed, for which theLord rewards handsomely. Then, Goduses advanced devotes to deliver Hisinstructions to other devotees, that isHe uses one of His own to do this veryimportant job. Advancing this way, asoul begins to enjoy the company ofGod — the highest achievement priorto qualifying for liberation after a fewlives.

This is about those who acceptGod. The story is quite different forthose who don’t. They believe in thechance theory, that is anything can hap-pen anytime, though this is absurd. Onetime a person was arguing with meabout this; he said that he believed inchance. I asked him whether he sends

his children to school. He said yes. I,then, advised him to avoid this pain;they may get educated by chance. Egoof such persons is quite dominant; theydon’t listen to reason. They are guidedby material intelligence even thoughthere is cause and effect there also. Theyare mostly in the modes of passion anddarkness, and suffer on account ofthem. Their senses and minds are most-ly uncontrolled. They wish to becomebigger — a mirage.

Most of their lives such persons tryto compete with others or feel that oth-ers are after them. They are mostlyalone, at least this is how they feel. Lifeis mostly rudderless, jumping from onematter to another; there is hardlymuch focus. After all, without God con-sciousness, one will be whimsical only.

Therefore, it is wise to accept God.Life will take a perfect direction withunimaginable advantages accruing,and God will help in piloting usthrough future lives till we qualify forliberation — the greatest boon.+����������� ������! ��� ������������ ������

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Krishna, the theme did notconfine itself to the literaryworks alone, but also hasmanifested itself elaborate-ly in the art forms of India

which include, sculptural representa-tions, icons, images, paintings, murals-miniatures and archaeology (whichhas its subparts seals — epigraphy,coins and monuments etc). This arti-cle aims at providing an idea as to howShri Krishna has deeply expressedhimself through this varied art tradi-tion of India.

Generally, the icons are named asKrishna’s archa-avataras. Sanskrit termfor icon is archa-vigraha. Besides, termicon has its parallel in the word, pra-tima, which means an image. In theform of the science of images or pra-timas, iconography has a long histo-ry in India, which dates back to theVedic age. As one of the Rigvedicmantra mentions, one best icon (para-maapratima). After the Mauryan peri-od, elaborate temple iconographydeveloped in India and it continued tillthe Muslim invasions.

Iconography has an importantplace in India’s cultural tradition,since the same has religion and phi-losophy as its integral parts and as theimage worship constitutes the very

basis of its religion. Since, the religiousand philosophical trends originatefrom people’s mind and thus provemajor role in their lives, the icons thusserving as effective modes of express-ing this ideals and imparts regardingthe favorite icons of Krishna and othergods were also engraved in sculpturesalong side in the temples.

This art tradition on Krishna wasdeveloped on the basis of the Puranasand the Mahabharata. Its main aimwas to depict concepts-imageriesthemes, which are associated withKrishna from time to time. It also aimsto delineate new theological themes —or trends and symbols associatedwith Krishna in the later Puranas.With the result, his icons were engraft-ed with murals depicting new mean-ings and dimensions of his concept.Although, the scriptures in this wayhave provided much fundamentalframe-work to his icons and haveplayed a major role in the developmentof iconography of Krishna, yet differ-ences of treatment of Krishna conceptby both these sources (scriptural andicon — Art) is vividly visible.

As any tradition in India has neverceased to grow and further develop,the same trend applies to the Art tra-dition relating to Krishna’s iconic

manifestations. It has developed itselfunto a new form to meet the chal-lenges of time and circumstances. Italso had developed within its rangenew theological details from thepuranas, and the icons thus madeserved as very important mediums ofworship in the religious scenario of theIndians. Hence, during these times,the iconography of Krishna attainedthe mega position in the cultural artof India.

Now, to define icon, it is found thatgenerally icon of God or Krishnaimplies his imitation. Reference to theart tradition of iconography in Indiabe cited in the Vedas and upnishads,in the form of pratikriti. Besides, it isalso held that the vedic concept of theGods has inspired the framework ofthe icons of Gods, as in the Vedas andthe subsequent works Gods are spo-ken ‘men of the sky or Divo-naras andalso having forms like those of thehuman beings or Nri-peshas”.

As far as Krishna’s iconography isconcerned it has developed on thebasis of the scriptures like Agamas andthe Puranas. These works providemuch authentic material on Krishna’sicons, which are said to be of such typelike Chala, Achula, meaning thosewhich are very light in weight and

heavy in weight, light weight icons arefurther of four types known as Vautaka(those worshipped daily); utsava (wor-shipped on particular occasion); Bali(worshipped each day with offering ofPrasad); Snapana (sprinkled withholy water).

Where as the Achala icons aremade of stone and are of types suchas, mula vigraha and Dhruva. TheDhruva icon is further of these typeslike standing (sthanak), asan (sitting)and shayan (lying), with regard to thedetermination of dress ornamentssymbols which are to be applied thepeople of those regions according totheir cultural standards and trends.Apart from these types of Krishna’sicons other types of icons are men-tioned by Krishna’s icons other typesof icons are mentioned by Krishnahimself to Uddhava in a dialogue inBhagavatapurana, where he says thathis icons can be made of clay, sandalwood, stone, metal, sand, crystal, andof mental imagery (manomaya).

Generally, in the literary traditionon Krishna, the icons of Krishna aremade on the basis of the symbolswhich serve as key notes for makingicons individually and distinguishingthese form the other. The frameworkof icons is contemplated according tosome symbols in the abstract formand then is expressed in materialabstract form of specific symbol.Amongst all the Gods, it is Krishnawho has mostly impressed the templeart form of the medieval age, where-by he is shown in multiple form suchas Venugopal, alone or accompanyingRadha and other gopis during Rasa,holding govardhana mountain; asYogi in Narada’s vision, as youngcowherd boy in the company ofBalarama and Subhadra, as warriorkilling Kansa and his wrestlersJarasandha and Shishupala, drivingArjuna’s chariot.

In the icons, Krishna is eitherendowed with two or four arms. Twoarmed Krishna is in abhayadana pose.While, four armed Krishna is endowedwith conch, mace, chakra and lotus inhands. That various cults have addedto varied manifestations of Krishna iniconic forms. For instance, the cult oflotus and of conch, of mace associat-ed with Yaksha (he always holdsmace) be mentioned. Besides, mythol-ogy has also its role in the frameworkof the icons where he is depicted alongwith his family members.

Finally to conclude, let us assumethat the iconic representation ofKrishna provides us the true transla-tion in lithic form of the texts of thepuranas and the epic and thus supple-ments the same.%���! ��� ����������4��������������� ��"

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Past few months have been really diffi-cult for anyone trying to cope up withthe current times of pandemic, but it

has also bought opportunities for people toexplore. Time at home where most of theadults and all of the kids no longer have theresponsibilities of rushing off to work andschool every day. It’s an amazing gift thatthis pandemic has bestowed upon us, andaround the world we’re seeing people enjoy-ing it in ways they never thought possible.Individuals could invest their time in theright thing by staying at home and by beingproductive. These are a few ways to stayoptimistic and that will help you becomeuseful and productive during the Pandemic: ● Read the Classics: The local librariesmight be off-limits, but there are a numberof devices you can use to read as manybooks, magazines, comics, or graphic novelsas you want, many for a substantiallyreduced price. There are great book web-sites all over with bucket lists of bookseveryone should read at least once in theirlifetime. Make a goal of reading one perweek and see how far you get and whatwonderful new worlds you can discover.● Planting & Gardening: Your home isyour castle. Time to upgrade it! If yourworking hours are reduced or gone com-pletely for a while, turn your energytowards improving the condition of yourhome and yard. Surely somewhere in yourhome, there are projects to take on that youare handy enough to handle. It might meanpatching a hole in your fence, re-painting aroom, replacing the weather stripping onthe door, or planting new flower beds toadd some color to your life. Most homerepair stores are still open as they count asessential businesses. Pretty much every pro-ject under the sun you might want to takeon has an instructional video availableonline at YouTube or another site, so surveyyour home and yard and find a project that

you have been itching to scratch.● If you can’t learn, teach! There is some-thing inherent to human nature that pre-vents us from shutting ourselves off com-pletely from one other. We still seek to bringour contributions to the fight against thevirus by whatever means we can. Peopleeverywhere have taken to the Internet tomake their presence known in a helpfulway. Some offer psychological support, oth-ers provide inventive ways of killing time byteaching classes and Do-It-Yourself (DIY)courses. A few gentle souls are even there tooffer a conversation partner to those whoare stuck alone in isolation.

If you’ve got a device that records video,you’re qualified to teach people how to dosomething. If you’ve got an audio recorderand a voice, you’re set to record a podcastabout anything you want — your expertisein your job field, your favorite music ormovie, your own brand of humour, whatev-er you think people will enjoy listening to.

The Internet is not only a way for us tocome together, but also to share positivemessages and stories in this time of distress.

● Team Building exercises: Spread theknowledge. People have slowly adapted tothe new normal of “Working from home”. Itmust have probably been a while since thepeers must have even spoke to each otheron the calls other than work, coming upwith sessions where team can speak abouttheir experiences of working from home,share some good ideas and play somegames can help the rejuvenate the thoughtprocess of the employees and they feel freshand start working with a positive attitude. ● Analyse your budget: Even though, theeconomy has re-opened, it will somehowstill take time for it to be back to normaland boost and hence it becomes veryimportant to reassess our current budgetand our expenditures. One should high-light and spend where it is important atleast during this time of pandemic becauseit can help you get a gist of where themoney is going and will also be beneficialin a longer run.

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��'�������(�����������������,��<���((����,����&The intra-Afghan dialogue

going on in Qatar is a con-certed effort to chart a newcourse of peace and tranquili-ty in Afghanistan, torn apart by decades of occupationand civil war.

As the Taliban have beenwaging war to regain power bybrutal means, it is important inthis situation to look at the crit-ical roles played by Pakistanand America in this long--drawn Afghan quagmire.

Interestingly, Pakistan acountry that was reprimandedby US President Donald Trumpin 2018 for its “lies and deceit”joined as the third key player inthe historic US-Taliban peacetalks. This has even despiteWashington cutting securityassistance to Islamabad.

Since the signing of thepeace deal in February 2020amid the peak of the Covid-19pandemic, Pakistan’s fortunehas started changing. Somestrategic experts say the ImranKhan Government is trying toshed its image of a state asso-ciated with terror and terrorfinancing. Pakistan has beencriticised by world leaders fornot uprooting anti-India terrorforces on its soil.

As Pakistan has involveditself in the Afghan peace talks,it is vital for New Delhi toapproach the Afghan dilemmaafresh. Taliban is now in aposition of strength. New Delhi,Islamabad and Washingtonneed to tackle the monstervery cautiously. For the Ghaniregime, the durability of peacedepends on limiting Taliban’sinfluence in small pockets.Allowing the Taliban to regroupfor seeking a role larger than itsusual strength would heraldfull-scale disaster to Kabul.

Further, the arrival of theTaliban cadre to the heart ofAfghan politics once againmight jeopardise the democ-ratic institution building takenup by the previous Karzairegime and the current estab-lishment in the country.

Is there any hope that therewould be lasting peace inAfghanistan? It seems unlike-ly. Resting on the most unpre-dictable Taliban might beanother misstep in the lexiconof peace building inAfghanistan. However, theresilience demonstrated by the

group this time is extraordi-nary. They are working hard toproject themselves as a pan-Afghan identity. However, thisexpedient tactic would notoffer sizeable dividends to themas their brutality and antipathytowards the Afghan minoritieslike the Hazras and Sikhs areentrenched in the memory ofthe persecuted.

Hence, the enormity ofchallenges faced by the currentGhani regime is more than areality. Practically speaking,the US support in the form ofaid, advice and supervisionmust continue. WhetherTrump or Biden, whoevercomes to Washington inJanuary, without a secondthought, America must backany democratic regime thatcomes to Kabul. Else the hopeof building a civil society andgrassroot democratic institu-tions would be completelydestroyed.

It is unlikely that Pakistanwill learn from its past mistakesof aiding and abetting terrror-ism. No one knows how longthe Imran Government can

survive. As long as the PakistanArmy calls the shots, no demo-cratic leader or regime wouldhave a free hand in politicalaffairs of the country. And forsure, a country like Pakistancan best be safeguarded only bythe Army. It’s a notion deeplyentrenched in power corridorsof the country and among thepublic.

Its people have rarely hadthe experience of governed bystrong civilian leaders in the his-tory, except one like late BenazirBhutto. She ruled Pakistan dur-ing a tumultuous time. Butthen till her assassination in2007, she was always regardedby the country’s military a“security threat” simply becauseshe was working hard to pro-mote peace in South Asia andvoicing for a broad-basedGovernment in Afghanistan.

It is fair to say military inPakistan is an omnipotent insti-tution. Its influence in politicsis here to stay. So whatever isconvenient to it, accordingly,the future roadmap of Pakistanwill be drawn. Afghanistanhas always been viewed as a

playing ground and a zone ofinfluence by the PakistaniArmy. Thus its proxies, ratherthan Islamabad’s, have a majorsay in Kabul for years.Whenever this equation doesnot match, such regimes inKabul find it too difficult tosustain. Experience saysPakistan never wants a strongIndian presence inAfghanistan. Considering itstraditional rivalry with India,Islamabad would not allowDelhi to be in good termswith Kabul. Though India’scontinued outreach toAfghanistan has mostly beenreceived positively, the complexpower structures in that coun-try has hardly left any role forNew Delhi, except as an aidpartner.

The root cause for thisdilemma is no other thanPakistan, and to some extentthe US. Washington knowspretty well that without takingIslamabad into confidence,peace in Afghanistan wouldnot last long.

Currently, the ModiGovernment is advocating that

the talks must be Afghanowned and Afghan led. This isfine. But then, will Delhi beready to forge a deal with theTaliban if it comes back topower? This must be madeclear to the world that Delhiwould be forging a new normalwith the Taliban if it forms alegitimate Government inAfghanistan. Can anyone thinkthat Taliban will have trust inthe democratic process? Will itbe ready to contest elections incase it takes place?

What will happen if its can-didates are outright rejected bythe common people? TheTaliban is an experienced play-er. Its Government from 2001to 2006 led by Mullah Omarwas barely recognised by one ortwo countries around theworld. Afterwards, the Talibanregime tasted defeat from thepowerful force led by the USand its allies.

Since then, Afghanistan isvirtually under the occupa-tion of NATO forces eventhough democratically electedGovernments have reinforceda new sense of security and

peace in the country. In the last two decades, the

way the Taliban has intervenedin several pockets of the coun-try has demonstrated how bru-tal it could be. Its complete dis-regard for basic rights, partic-ularly of the minorities, chil-dren and women, have onlybrought fear and darkness tothe civilians in Afghanistan.

In such circumstances, theonly possibility for the Talibanis to charter a new peace courseto be acceptable as a Afghangovernment. It could be asmart power-sharing deal thatmay make the group a partnerin the legitimate Governmentof the country. Then the ques-tion comes, will these radicalsbe accepted by the democrati-cally elected leaders? Will therebe a working relationshipamong them that could survivefor some time? Will these war-lords simply accept a rule-based order? It all looks topsy-turvy.

They may not be accept-able by either Ghani or anyother popular leaders in thecountry. Accepting them is

simply a big blot on the fragiledemocratic set-up of the coun-try. Neither would they accepta system that offers an orderwherein one needs to beresponsible and deliveringgoods to the people. So theroad ahead in Afghanistan ismurky.

To conclude, the Taliban isto be handled carefully. It’sgood that they are back to apeace table. Pakistan has final-ly realised that its willingnessto back the peace process maymean a lot to the making ofpeace in its neighborhood. TheUS role is inseparable from adurable peace process inAfghanistan. Other criticalplayers such as India, Chinaand Russia need to see that theyare all engaged in any peacedeal that brings stability to alegitimate government inKabul.

When the Taliban repre-sentatives and the delegates ofthe Ghani Government meet inDoha, they would find it hardto resolve many critical issues.The two parties are showingvisions that could hardly meetat any point, particularly inregard to how Afghanistanwould be governed in future.Many hardline Taliban com-manders demand that Ghanibe replaced and an interim gov-ernment should come to Kabul.

Many of these militants arenot ready to work with theGhani Government. They evenview the Ghani Government asnot a legitimate representativeof the Afghan people. They allhave referred Ghani as a pup-pet. How will they work withsuch a leader now?

Way back in June, Ghanisaid during a virtual confer-ence: “I serve at will of theAfghan people, not to the willof the Taliban.” Such conflict-ing statements from both theTaliban and Ghani might puthurdle in the ongoing intra-Afghan talk. Ghani also saidany discussion of an interimgovernment is premature. He isabsolutely right as there aremany other critical issues to besorted out with the Taliban.Only, time will tell us, whatcould unfold for the war-rav-aged Afghanistan.

(The writer is an expert oninternational affairs)

<����������=�$���������������������������Wonder and mystery surrounds

the magnificent “Fairy Circles”.They are one of the most beautifulcreations of God. These unique“Fairy Circles” are found in theNamib Desert of Namibia in South-Western Africa. They are 10-65 feetin diametre. Usually, they are barrencircles lined with patches of vegeta-tion. They stretch for hundreds ofkilometres. Surprisingly, these circleslook other-worldly from imagestaken from various satellites.According to the local folklore, the“Fairy Circles” were once created bythe God himself. Some say that theyare no other than the footprints leftbehind by the God on the red soil ofthe Namib Desert. Another local tra-dition claims that these circles arepatches of desert poisoned by thebreath of dragons living beneath theNamibian Desert. This is mentionedin the folk tales of the Himba resi-dents of Namibia.

Much beyond, it has always beenpopular in South-Western Africathat “Namibia is the land that Godmade in anger”. This comes from thewide areas of Namibia that consistsof rugged and deeply forbiddingjungles. Indeed, rare records showthat this series of expressions believeto derive from the local inhabitantswho directly refer to the treacherousskeleton coast of the Namib Desert.Thus the tales of the Fairy Circles goon. They provide us clues to redis-cover the strange patterns.

Some mathematicians say thatthe whole landscape that covers theFairy Circles looks like polka dotsdress. Interestingly, these dots areregularly spaced across the NamibDesert. From far and the sky, theylook like islands in a sea of smallgrasslands. Even the biologists havefound it difficult to unearth the exis-tence of them. Tarnita, a theoretical

biologist and her team at the presti-gious Princeton University in the USsay that it is not possible to conductclose experiments about the FairyCircles in an area like the NamibDesert. Therefore such vast areaspose real big hurdles to test multiplehypotheses.

However after decades of stren-uous research, the environmental sci-entists and mathematicians havehighlighted two primary hypothesesabout these Circles. They are PlantCompetition Hypothesis and TermiteColony Hypothesis. Firstly, the entireNamib Desert is an arid desert.And such arid deserts are normallyfound closer to the equator becauseof direct sunlight it gets. Water is veryrare and the existing plants struggleto survive in areas like the NamibDesert. About the growth of strangepatterns like the Fairy Circles, Tarnitasays, “As vegetation expands, andthrives into a patch, smaller plantsnearby cannot get the water neces-sary to survive. The amount of veg-etation thins or disappears at theedges of the patch, forming regulardistanced gaps.”

Thus, all the Fairy Circles exhib-it regular patterns across this desert.Secondly, the Termite ColonyHypothesis says that under each ofthese patches, there exists a termitecolony. According to the ecologists,the eusocial insects where individu-als are divided into specialised groupsto support the overall survival oftheir colony make a large number ofunderground tunnels to transportfood for the rest of the members. Inthis whole process, the termitesseem to destroy the vegetationaround their colonies. Further, sci-entists state that in case of encroach-ments of one colony by the other,they fight till their enemy is finished.In this long and underground war of

survival, a series of termite coloniesdevelop in due course of time. Butinterestingly, these colonies areseemed to be of equal size and thereis no “termites land” between twocolonies. These are some of thenovel revelations that open up scopefor future research.

Thus the Namibian Fairy Circlesrepresent a unique ecosystem so fartill 2015. In the year 2016, such FairyCircles were discovered outsideNewman, in a small mining towncalled Pilbara region in WesternAustralia. This provides a new oppor-tunity to the scientific community toonce again uncover the origin and

growth of such phenomena. By now,the Australian Fairy Circles indicatethat these circles are the reaction ofthe plants to scare waters. Thoughboth the Australian and NamibianFairy Circles are more than almostthousands of kilometre apart, they aredeclared to be identical. UnlikeNamibia, where a large number ofinsects of species like ants and ter-mites are found in the Fairy Circles,the majority of the circles found inPilbara do not have ant or termitecolonies. Such nests or mounds ofinsects wherever discovered inAustralia are also randomly distrib-uted unlike the Namibian ones.

Besides their mysteries and sci-entific discoveries, the Fairy Circlesadd to the beauty of the biodiversi-ty of Namibia and Australia. Theyattract numerous insects and animalssuch as ants, bees, geckons, spiders,wasps and small mammals like gold-en moles, bat-eared foxes, black-backed jackals and aardvarks. Again,the Fairy Circles can be well-regard-ed as fine examples of allogenicecosystem engineering. Such ecosys-tems refer to an environment thattransforms the environment bymechanically changing materialsfrom one form to another. Such landforms helps in restoring water, peren-

nial plant and termite biomass acrossthe Namib Desert. As far as they arenot a threat to human and naturalenvironment, the Fairy Circles are tobe preserved.

For years, though the scientistsand researchers have suggested var-ious theories about the Fairy Circlesyet the mysteries have not come toan end about them. Hence, its veryexistence is highly debatable. Theywould remain enigmatic unlessdestroyed in the course of nature orthrough some man-made actions.

(The writer is a young environ-mental activist)

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One day, a group of self-acclaimedrationalists barged into my officeunannounced to question me on

the relevance of astrology. “Why do youmislead people with this unscientific dis-cipline?” they asked. “Well, I have been astudent of science, which is why I pursuethis discipline with confidence,” Iresponded. More than exposure to oneor other discipline of science, it is thescientific temper that matters the most.Scientific temper calls for a thoroughscrutiny before accepting or rejectingany view point, and with an open mind,free from any limitation whatsoever. Youare expected to thoroughly explore asubject before challenging its relevance.Let me tell you, astrology is a disciplinein its own right, having its own philoso-phy, premise, phraseology and workingmodalities. It doesn’t need sanction ofany other belief or discipline, includingscience, which itself is subject to contin-ued change.

A decade back, a lady known to mecame with a list of astrological terms,not in popular use. She wished to have asmall note on all of them. She informedme that Khuswant Singh (then alive)wished to write critically on Astrology. A

week later, in his weekly column in anational daily, he wrote disparagingly onastrology, based on those few liners.How can such a serious discipline becommented upon through a look intofew selective terms, which he did notunderstand?

Then came the next question: “Howcan you define anybody’s destiny infinite terms? Does individual freewillnot count in making one’s destiny?”Well, it’s your power of freewill thatdefines your destiny. Human beingsenjoy the exclusive privilege to guidetheir actions by choice and discrimina-tion. But whenever there is choiceoption in hand, the probability of its useand misuse remains equal.

And there is nothing like a freelunch in this world. You have to own upand bear with the consequences of thechoices you make. It’s again a mistakenperception that astrology straightawaylooks into one’s future space. Instead, itlooks into your present, which is noth-ing but a culmination of doing in thepast. And, seeded in the present is theway future is expected to unfold. If youknow that you have the seed of a mangotree in hand, if you plant and nurse it,

following its natural chemistry (expectedtimeline), will first sprout and then growinto a full-fledged mango tree. It maynot be out of place to mention here thatshould you self-reflect, through a dispas-sionate look into your thought-trends,you may figure the indwelling desiretrends. And all actions on your part aredriven by inlaid desire-trends, withrelated bearing on future course of life.So, astrology looks into your present,based on which future trends are antici-pated with a fair amount of precision.

Then came a counter: “Agreed, onecan watch out for own thought-trendsthrough self-reflection. But how can youread it through planetary projections?Planet’s gravitational pull can hardlyhave any bearing on us.” First, let me tellyou that it is not just the gravitationalpull of the planets that matters. Theplanets are not to be seen just as physicalobjects moving in the cosmos. All ofthem are energy balls either excitinglight in own right as Sun and other stel-lar bodies, or reflecting those drawnfrom other stellar bodies, or both.

Here a look into scientific principlesdeserves attention. Going by the percep-tion of modern theoretical physics, allexistences in this living world are actual-

ly manifestation of energy streams excit-ed from a ‘Singularity’ following the Big-bang. And energy particles having com-mon root, are in immediate and intimateconnect with each other. Even in so faras human beings are concerned, whatyou see of a being with a form body withhard bones, are at subtle level nothingbut an inseparable web of energy pat-tern, all primarily sourced to nature. So,at energy plane, there exists immediateconnect between man and the cosmicworld.

Now, thoughts playing throughmind are again nothing but energy.Their flow can’t be directly read. Butplanetary motions can be measured witha fair amount of precision. It is the cor-respondence between the movement ofcosmic bodies and the man that helpsdecipher how one’s mind would be flow-ing. So, planets are not doers, they arerather markers of what is going withinour minds. To sum up, though the disci-pline of astrology doesn’t claim scientificheritage, but its operating principlescan’t be termed unscientific either.

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