2020/10/17 · rafale project as part of the annual routine meeting. at least, 10 to 12 iaf pilots...

�� !��"#��$

�� !��"#$�� %�� &��'��(��)��"��*��+�� , ��$

��% &�� "#$� �� -��.��/��*��!�� 0��+��/�� !��)��%��./ �� $

�� %�1.�'23

Stepping in to ensure that the“residents of Delhi-NCR are

able to breathe in fresh cleanair”, the Supreme Court onFriday appointed retired apexcourt judge Justice Madan BLokur as a one-man commit-tee to take steps for preventingstubble burning in Punjab,Haryana and Uttar Pradesh —wherein incidents of burning ofpaddy crop residue have dou-bled up this year compared tolast two years during the cor-responding period.

Stubble burning in thethree neighbouring States isone of the major sources of pol-lution in the Delhi-NationalCapital Region (NCR).Between October 1 and 15, asmany as 4,644 paddy cropresidue burning incidents weredetected in the three States,with Punjab leading the packwith 3,516 incidents.Comparatively, the three Statescombined reported 2,119 suchincidents in 2019 and 2,151incidents in 2018.

While directing thatNational Cadet Corps (NCC),National Service Scheme andBharat Scouts be deployed forassisting the panel, a benchheaded by Chief Justice SABobde also rejected the objec-

tion of Solicitor General TusharMehta to the appointment ofthe committee saying the Statesconcerned have already beenheard.

The apex court directed thecourt-appointed EnvironmentPollution Control Authority(EPCA) and chief secretaries ofHaryana, Punjab and Uttar

Pradesh to assist the Lokurpanel to enable physical sur-veillance of fields where stub-ble is burnt.

“We just want that peopleof Delhi-NCR can breathe freshair without any pollution,” saidthe bench, also comprisingJustices AS Bopanna and VRamasubramanian.

Mehta, who appeared forthe Centre, Uttar Pradesh andHaryana, told the bench thatthey may have “some reserva-tion” over appointment of theone-man committee and urgedthat the EPCA should be themonitoring authority for pre-venting stubble burning.

“We must not troubleJustice Lokur,” Mehta said, urg-ing the bench to post the mat-ter for hearing after Dussehravacation on this issue. He saidno notices were issued to theCentre and the concernedStates on the issue of appoint-ment of a committee.

“We have not given someextraordinary power to JusticeLokur,” the bench said, adding,“We have heard the States andyou (Mehta) were not therewhen we were dictating orderfor half an hour”.

Additional SolicitorGeneral Aishwarya Bhati, who

also appeared for the Centre,told the bench that the courtmay select the committeemember from a panel ofnames.

The top court directed theStates concerned to provideadequate security, secretarialinfrastructure and transportto Lokur panel. It said thepanel shall submit its report onstubble burning fortnightly tothe apex court.

During his tenure as anapex court judge, Justice Lokurhad dealt with pollution mat-ter which included the aspectof stubble burning.

Union EnvironmentMinister Prakash Javadekarhas, however, contended thatonly 4 per cent pollution is dueto stubble burning and 96 percent of it is due to local factorslike biomass burning, garbagedumping, unpaved roads, dust,construction and demolition

activities. He has flagged off 50inspection teams of the CentralPollution Control Board(CPCB) for field visits to keepa watch on pollution hot spots.

The SC bench was hearinga plea filed by one AdityaDubey who has raised concernover pollution caused due tostubble burning. During thehearing conducted throughvideo-conferencing, senioradvocate Vikas Singh, appear-ing for the petitioner, told thebench that a one-man com-mission headed by Justice(retd) Lokur be constituted ashe has the experience in deal-ing with environment issues.

The bench observed it hasno problem in appointing acommission and asked Singh totake consent of Justice (retd)Lokur. Singh later told thebench that he has talked toJustice (retd) Lokur and he is ready.

�� %�1.�'23

Prime Minister NarendraModi on Friday said the

Government will soon take adecision on revising the mini-mum age of marriage for girlsafter it receives the report fromthe committee set up for thepurpose.

He said he has been receiv-ing letters from women fromacross the country, askingabout the report of the com-mittee and when theGovernment will take a deci-sion on it. “I want to assurethem, the Government willsoon take its decision after thesubmission of the report,” Modisaid.

Addressing a video con-ference here after releasing acommemorative coin of �5denomination on the 75thanniversary of the Food andAgriculture Organisation

(FAO), the Prime Ministermaintained: “There is animportant deliberation goingon to decide what should be theideal age of marriage fordaughters.”

He pointed out that thegirls’ gross enrolment ratio ineducation has turned higherthan that of boys for the firsttime in the country because ofseveral efforts taken by theGovernment in the last sixyears.

On June 20, this year, theWomen and ChildDevelopment Ministry set upthe committee, headed by for-mer Samata Party leader JayaJaitley, to review or reconsiderthe legal age for women.

Before 1978, the legal mar-riage age for the girl was 15years. It was changed in 1978by amending the erstwhileSarda Act of 1929. As of now,a girl is allowed to get marriedlegally when she is at least 18years old.

Continued on Page 2

�� %�1.�'23

With stand-off continuingat the Line of Actual

Control (LAC), India’s opera-tional readiness will get a boostwith the arrival of the secondbatch of three to four moreRafale fighter jets in earlyNovember. The first batch offive jets, which joined the IAFin September, is now flying reg-ular sorties along the border inLadakh as part of the country’soverall preparedness to meetany challenge from China.

The induction of moreRafale jets will enhance theIAF’s overall readiness as it hasalready deployed all its front-line jets, including the SU-30s,MIG-29s and Jaguars, at criti-cal forward bases stretchingfrom Ladakh in the west toArunachal in the east.

The new arrivals will getoperationalised within a fewdays for active duty. They willjoin the current lot of Rafalesat the Ambala airbase.

In a related development,an IAF team, led by AssistantChief of Air Staff (Projects) AirVice Marshal N Tiwari, is inFrance now reviewing theRafale project as part of theannual routine meeting.

At least, 10 to 12 IAF pilotsare now undergoing training inFrance on the Rafale mediummulti-role fighter aircraft, theysaid adding the training sched-ule will end by March next year.

As per the overall plan, theIAF will have two squadrons(one squadron has 18 jets) ofRafales based at Ambala innorth India and Hashimara inWest Bengal in the east.

Continued on Page 2

�� *2 %.3� )2

Shaurya Chakra awardeeBalwinder Singh

Bhikhiwind, who had foughtbravely against terrorism foryears and was repeatedlyattacked by terrorists in the ter-ror-infested area, was shot deadby unidentified assailants in

Tarn Taran district on Friday.Many documentaries have

been made on his bravery.Only a year ago, the secu-

rity cover to 62-year-oldawardee was withdrawn by theState Government on the rec-ommendation of Tarn Taranpolice.

Punjab Chief MinisterCapt Amarinder Singh onFriday ordered the constitutionof a Special Investigative Team(SIT), headed by DIGFerozepur, to probe all angles

of the fatal attack on BalwinderSingh.

The motorcycle-bornemiscreants attacked Balwinderwhen he was at his office,adjoining his home, in the dis-trict’s Bhikhiwind village, thepolice said, adding that theaccused then fled the spot.

Condoling the death ofBalwinder, the CM has direct-ed DGP Dinkar Gupta toensure speedy investigation toidentify and bring the culpritsto book at the earliest.

CCTV footage from thearea shows that two unknownassailants arrived at the houseof the deceased in the morningand one of them entered thepremises and fired at BalwinderSingh at point-blank range.The details of the vehicle andits registration number arebeing probed, said the DGP.

A case under sections 302,34, of the Indian Penal Codeand 25, 27 of the Arms Act hasbeen registered againstunknown persons.

�� 2 �2) "

Members of the CBI teamprobing the Hathras rape

and murder incident picked upa shirt that had “red stains”during a search operation car-ried out in the house of LuvKush Sikarwar, one of the accused.

While the sleuths tookaway the shirt for forensicexamination saying it could be“blood”, the family of theaccused refuted the claims.

The family said that RaviSikarwar, the elder brother ofthe accused, works as a painterin a factory and thus his clotheshad red stains of paint.

Lalit Sikarwar, the youngerbrother of Luv Kush Sikarwar,

told reporters: “The CBI was inthe house for more than twohours and they searched every-thing but could not find any‘evidence’. So they picked upshirt with red paint stains andtook it away.”

Lalit also released a video message.

A 19-year-old girl hadallegedly been raped and stran-gulated by four accused per-sons on September 14. The girllater died and the case is beingprobed by the CBI.

The CBI team has been inthe Boolgarhi village for thepast four days and has inter-acted with the victim’s fatherand brothers.

They had also taken one ofthe victim’s brothers to the

crime scene. The mother andaunt of the victim had alsogone to the millet field, thecrime spot.

��%�� %�1.�'23

Over the last three decades,Indians have been increas-

ingly living longer. On an aver-age, Indians now are living adecade more than those duringthe early nineties. The lifeexpectancy in India has risenfrom 59.6 years in 1990 to 70.8years in 2019.

There’s a disparity inStatewise life expectancyincrease though. An averageKeralite now lives for 77.3years while his counterpart inUttar Pradesh for 66.9 years.

Nevertheless, both, as alsofrom many other States, sharea commonality — the quality oflife is missing as they live morewith illness and disability,according to the Global Burdenof Disease (GBD) Study, pub-lished in the Lancet journal onFriday.

The culprits, as the studypointed out, were air pollution,hypertension, tobacco use,poor diet and high blood sugarlevels, the top-five risk factorsfor deaths in India in 2019.

The rising chronic illnesscan also fuel the Covid-19death tally as people with co-morbidities are vulnerable to

the deadly virus.The study assessed more

than 286 causes of death and369 diseases and injuries inmore than 200 countries andterritories across the worldand noted that India has gainedmore than a decade of lifeexpectancy since 1990, butwith wide inequalities betweenStates.

However, it said theincrease in “healthy lifeexpectancy” in India has notbeen as dramatic as the growthof life expectancy since “peopleare living more years with ill-ness and disability”.

Health Minister HarshVardhan too had on Thursday

stressed the need to move fromfood security to nutrition secu-rity to achieve the goals of the“Eat Right India Movement”and urged other Ministriesconcerned to form a joint plat-form to determine commongoals and strategy and syner-gise their actions.

The GBD study found thatthe largest contributors toincreasing health loss in Indiaover the last 30 years were non-communicable diseases(NCDs) like ischaemic heartdisease, COPD, diabetes, andstroke.

In 2019, the research notedthat the top-five risk factors fordeath in India were air pollu-

tion (contributing to an esti-mated 1.67 million deaths),high blood pressure (1.47 mil-lion), tobacco use (1.23 mil-lion), poor diet (1.18 million),and high blood sugar (1.12 mil-lion).

“Over the past decade therehas been more than 0.5 per centannual increase in the exposureto several highly preventablerisks such as obesity, highblood sugar, alcohol use, anddrug use globally,” said studylead author ChristopherMurray, Director of theInstitute for Health Metricsand Evaluation (IHME) at theUniversity of Washington inthe US.

“We are failing to changeunhealthy behaviours, partic-ularly those related to dietquality, caloric intake, andphysical activity, in part due toinadequate policy attentionand funding for public healthand behavioural research,”Murray said.

The scientists said severalof the risk factors and NCDshighlighted by the study,including obesity and diabetesare associated with increasedrisk of serious illness and deathfrom Covid-19.

�� %�1.�'23

Prime Minister NarendraModi, the main face for the

National Democratic Alliance(NDA), will go full steam cam-paigning in Bihar by holding asmany as 12 rallies, startingnext Friday, for the upcomingAssembly polls in the State.

Of these rallies, three eachwould be held on the dayswhen the first (October 28) andsecond phase (November 3) ofpolling will be on in other con-stituencies in the State. Theelections in Bihar are beingheld in three phases onOctober 28, November 3 andNovember 7 for the 243-seatBihar assembly.

“On October 23, PM Modiwill hold rallies in Sasaram,Gaya and Bhagalpur. OnOctober 28, he will hold ral-lies in Darbhanga, Muzaffarpurand Patna. On November 3, hewill hold rallies in Chhapra,

East Champaran andSamastipur. On November 3,rallies in West Champaran,Saharsa and Araria will beheld,” former MaharashtraChief Minister and incharge ofBJP in Bihar DevendraFadnavis said during a Pressconference.

The BJP, in the meantime,continued to distance itselffrom the Lok Janshakti Party(LJP) and even dubbing it a“vote katua” (vote-cutter) party.But then, LJP leader ChiragPaswan too continued to playhis part to create confusionamong the NDA ranks by reit-erating his reverence for Modiand wishing to see the nextBihar Chief Minister from theBJP.

The BJP is seeking to reas-sure Chief Minister Nitish

Kumar that it is not providingany tacit support to the LJPagainst him. “Chirag has cho-sen a separate path in Bihar, heis trying to mislead people bytaking names of senior BJPleaders. We don’t have any B orC team. The NDA will get athree-fourth majority. Chirag’sparty will be left as a vote-katuaparty,” Union Information andBroadcasting Minister PrakashJavadekar said.

As all senior BJP leaders ,including party president JPNadda, have hit the ground totake the BJP-JD(U)-VIPalliance forward in Bihar, theLJP seemed to be playing tru-ant by “loving BJP” and “hit-ting” JD(U).

“I don’t need to use the PMModi’s photos for campaigning.He lives in my heart, I am hisHanuman. If needed, I’ll tearopen my chest and show it,”said Chirag even as the BJP hitout at him.

Other senior BJP leaders,including party general secre-tary Bhupender Yadav, too hitout at Chirag, who walked outof the ruling NDA in Bihar anddeciding to contest theAssembly polls on its own.

Continued on Page 2

Mathura: A local court inMathura on Friday admitted aplea that seeks to remove amosque adjacent to the KrishnaJanmabhoomi.

The court of district judgeSadhna Rani Thakur has fixedNovember 18 as the next dateof hearing in the case.

Earlier in October, a civilcourt in Mathura had dis-missed a plea seeking a judg-ment to remove the ShahiIdgah Mosque. The petitionerhad alleged that the mosquewas built over KrishnaJanmabhoomi.

Mathura is considered to be the birthplace of LordKrishna.

The mosque in questionwas built in the 17th century.According to petitioners, itwas built at the birthplace ofLord Krishna, within the 13-acre premises of the KatraKeshav Dev temple. IANS

Ballia/Lucknow: Police onFriday arrested two peopleincluding the brother of a localBJP leader who allegedly shotdead a man when a fracasbroke out at a meeting attend-ed by administration and policeofficials in Uttar Pradesh’sBallia district.

Five others have beendetained but till Friday eveningthe main accused was yet to bearrested. As opposition partiestargeted the Government, localparty MLA Surendra Singhdefended him.

“Dhirendra Pratap Singhopened fire in self-defence orelse dozens of his family andassociates would have beenkilled,” the Bairia MLA toldreporters.

Barabanki: A Dalit girl hasbeen allegedly raped and stran-gulated in a village inBarabanki district. The girl’sbody was found on Wednesdayin a paddy field. The police hadinitially filed a murder caseagainst an unidentified personbut after the post-mortemreport confirmed sexualassault, the charge of rape wasadded to the FIR.

� � %�1.�'23

The Supreme Court onFriday sought Attorney

General’s assistance on a pleafor stay on the MadhyaPradesh High Court orderwhich granted bail to anaccused in a molestation caseon the condition that hewould request the alleged vic-tim to tie him “Rakhi”.

A bench headed by JusticeAM Khanwilkar issued noticeto the office of AttorneyGeneral K K Venugopal on anappeal filed by nine womenlawyers who have said thatcourts across the countryshould be restrained fromimposing such conditions asthese are “against the princi-ple of law”.

The HC, in its July 30order, had granted bail to theaccused and imposed a con-dition that he along with hiswife shall visit the house of thecomplainant and request herto tie “Rakhi” to him with thepromise to protect her to thebest of his ability for all timesto come. Senior advocateSanjay Parikh, appearing forthe petitioners, includinglawyer Aparna Bhat, told thebench that the appeal hasbeen filed in a “extraordinarycircumstance”.

Continued on Page 2

��

� ��*��# ��" 4��"�� !��

� ��"*�� -�� *�� 5��* 6��2�� /��'�� $

�1�� .��-%*)�� 7��

� �� "��, �� '��

� "� �� "�� .��-%��*��)��

� 4��(��8��89��:�;::�� "�� <�98;��

�� !��

��

�� ! �� "��

��

�� ! ��#��

$��$��

"#$��% ��%� ��

%��$��

$�� &'()��

�� ! "��#�� $��%�� &�

�� !��"��#$��$!%$��!�!��$��$&��'��!��%$��(�)��$!��$��&��**(+%�� $��$��!��!$�� ,,(-%��

!��% ��#�%� *#��

'��

(�� ) �� )��&� �&� ��

=��.�� $��>��&��'� ��(

��

��$��>��>

?'��*�� "'�<@ (()� ABC? ��" ��

� ��+��.�'23'/*0%(1 42(� '42/4 %�"1 )

) %*23) 3�/) *2 %.3� )2.�2) ./% 2D.�) 4 .E3# D1 .

�(*+,"$(#�-� ./0�� !"��#$%��

��&�� 1�� 21�34345�� 3��6

�)�*+*)+�,

��'�E3"3(% %.3�"1 )�"

-).�%�/�43.�%E(1"�()�� 'F!/"'3!4 %G3!�("�.4D�)/!� .!3%3+�'�*��.

��).0�12

!()� %)��' *�".0 "00)* �� 3%

��

��./�� !��"#$�%&%&

�� !��"��#�� $��%&&'''(� ��)'&&%*'&&'*++��,,��-��).%/&�!��-0$1��,��#�%('&/'&�2��)'&('%*3453''6*3455'' ��7#��8��$(&'�(&&!��%�/��92��:�;��)��10<!2<�=1<�;�� (�'';��)��)��>��)��, �61�,�� !��)��#��6��)��?��8�� -��)*��.��!��!��#��.�@ �<��8�� %((�'&��A��)'+((%(/*�**/�(/*�***�(/*�**+�

�� !��"�� #�� $��%��&�� '�� "��(��

�� %�1.�'23

Delhi EnvironmentMinister Gopal Rai

on Friday issued direc-tions for imposition of �1crore fine on North DelhiMunicipal Corporationin Kirari village innorthwest Delhi.

He said regular incidents of

large-scale garbage burninghad been brought to his notice.

"Delhi's air qualityhas been worseninggradually, but the agen-cies are still not taking its e r i o u s l y .Environmental normsare being f loutedbrazenly. Garbage burn-

ing is rampant," Rai said.

�� %�1.�'23

Delhi Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal has written to

Union Education MinisterRamesh Pokhriyal seeking toabolish the Section 5(2) DelhiUniversity Act, 1922 so thatnew colleges and universities canbe opened in Delhi to providequality higher education.

Kejriwal said that the DelhiUniversity Act made during the

British era states that a new col-lege needs to be affiliated withDelhi University.

The chief minister said thatthe Delhi government is ready toopen new colleges and universi-ties in Delhi as students are fac-ing a tough time getting enrolledin colleges because of high cut-off marks. "With cut-offs touch-ing 100 per cent what will hap-pen to students who secure 60,70, 80, 90, 95 per cent?. He also

observed that every year, Delhihas around 2,50,000 studentspassing out from school, butaround 1,25,000 of them man-age to get admission in Delhi-based colleges. What will happento the remaining 1,25,000," heasked ? Kejriwal said, "Studentstrying to get admission in col-leges are facing trouble, given the100 per cent cut-offs. Studentsbelow that mark too have theright to quality higher education.

High cut-offs are not the fault ofstudents, it’s our fault. This ishappening because of the lack ofuniversities and colleges in Delhiin comparison to the ever-risingnumber of students."

Delhi is the capital of thenation, it should have been as parwith the increasing number ofstudents however, there is astark imbalance in the ratio of thenumber of universities to thenumber of students, he said.

Kejriwal on Friday said, "Iam hopeful that the Centralgovernment will definitely pon-der over this and will definitelyalter this act to suit the need ofthe hour. I believe the stress fac-tor is escalating in studentsbecause of this system. If therewill be cut-offs as high as 100 percent, where will students go? Thiscalls for a step to take in thisdirection to for once and for allend this for the sake of our stu-

dents’ future.""If we only talk about Delhi,

every year 2.5 lakhs students pass12th class. However, only 1.25lakh students can secure admis-sion in Delhi colleges. It meanstwo students are fighting for oneseat leading to a cut-throat com-petition. Leaving behind theother 1.25 lakh students withoutany resources. This means thatcolleges in Delhi can onlyaccommodate 50 per cent of stu-

dents. Where will the other 50per cent go?" he asked.

Kejriwal said, "There is aneed to establish more universi-ties and colleges to solve thisproblem. The Delhi Governmentis ready to invest, however, thereis a legal impediment beingfaced." "Delhi University alreadyhas 91 affiliated colleges and has,since the last 30 years not openeda new college as it has alreadyexceeded its

capacity. Because of this very rea-son as stated in this Act underSection 5(2), no new affiliatinguniversity or college can be setup. It was amended in 1998 andallowed IP University to doaffiliation. IP University waslaunched to offer professionalcourses only and not regularcourses like BA, BSc. But, NowIP also has 127 affiliated colleges,which too, has surpassed itscapacity," he added.

#�3��'��%4��'��

)��8��%!*��

�� %�1.�'23

Senior Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) leader and national

Spokesperson Raghav Chadhaaccused Municipal Corporationof burning of garbage in Kirariand polluting the atmospherethat is already deteriorated dueto stubble burning in neigh-bouring States.

"It is most unfortunate thaton one hand, the Delhi Gov-ernment has been working tire-lessly to come up with solutionsfor combating Delhi's pollution

and the BJP ruled Corporationis burning garbage in residen-tial area. Chadha went on toshow images, videos and evena live recording of the garbageburning at Kirari. Mounds ofgarbage could be seen go up inflames, polluting an alreadypoor atmosphere. Delhi's AirQuality Index has been rangingfrom 'unhealthy' to 'veryunhealthy' for days now.

"I would like to ask theCPCB and EPCA as to how isBJP openly indulging in thiscriminal act with rampant

impunity? How is the MCDburning garbage with suchbrazenness," he asked ?

"Such criminal negligencecannot and will not be tolerat-ed. And this is just one incidentthat has come to light. Theremust be several other currentinstances where BJP-ruledmunicipal corporations wouldbe flouting norms and breakingthe law," he said.

Respiratory problems haveincreased manifold. COVID-19is still a clear and present dan-ger, and then the BJP govern-

ment is playing with Delhiites'lives, he said.

Rituraj, MLA of Kirari elab-orated upon how Kirari is adensely populated area with aneconomically weak population,and how the BJP and MCD areresponsible for the terrible stateof the environment.

"Our Govt has taken mul-tiple steps to combat air pollu-tion. We have banned thermalplants, diesel gensets, we are fol-lowing GRAP norms; the AAPGovernment is taking amplecare and caution to protect res-

piratory health of Delhiites butthe sins of MCD in particulargarbage burning is just criminal.I would request the SupremeCourt to take cognizance of theissue" Chadha said.

"It is crucial that action betaken against this body. I wouldlike to remind the MCD run byBJP that it is their responsibili-ty to keep Delhi clean and thatis the principal responsibility ofMCDs. Garbage disposal mustbe done in a sustainable way,and the MCD has failed spec-tacularly in this area," he said.

Jaipur: With 720 out of 720marks, 18-year-old Soyeb Aftabhas hit the bullseye in this year'sNEET, topping the coveted examfor admission to undergraduatemedical courses.

From Rourkela in Odisha,Soyeb wants to be a cardiac sur-geon when he finishes his med-ical studies. Giving the exam inthe middle of the coronaviruspandemic had its pressures, saidSoyeb, but he used the lockdownto study even harder.

"I haven't gone back to myhometown since 2018," saidSoyeb. "I stayed in Kota with mymother and younger sister tostudy," he added.

While most students in Kotapetitioned to go back homeduring the lockdown, Soyebstayed put with his mother andsister to keep his nose to thegrindstone and continue his

coaching classes from Kota'sAllen Career Institute, his parentssaid.

And it has certainly paid offas Soyeb Aftab managed to getthe perfect score - a record firstin the country.

With marks like these, Soyebshould not have a problem ingetting into the Delhi's premierAll India Institutes of MedicalSciences or AIIMS where hewants to specialise in cardiacsurgery. Soyeb's father is has aconstruction business and he hasa younger sister. The family saidthey now plan to visit the dargahat Ajmer Sharif to give thanks.

A pen and paper-based testunlike the engineering entranceexam JEE, results for NEETwere announced on Friday withmore than 7.7 lakh candidatesclearing the test this year.

Agencies

)��1556��+770�� '��#��'�

�� !�"#��$��%�%�$��%"��$"#�!"�&��$"�#'��

�� !/!4 3

Lamenting that there was nomechanism to control the

electronic media, the BombayHigh Court asked theInformation and BroadcastingMinistry to look into the mat-ter and come out with a mech-anism to control the electron-ic media.

Hearing a bunch of PILsseeking restraint on the televi-sion news channels against thebackdrop of ‘media-trial’ in thecoverage of Bollywood actorSushant Singh Rajput’s death,HC a division bench compris-ing wanted to know as to whythere was nothing for electronicmedia, when for print mediathere is an act since the seven-ties.

“You do not seem to be inthe mood to ruffle feathers withrespect to electronic media,” thejudges told AdditionalSolicitor-General (ASG) ofIndia Anil Singh representingthe Government.

“For the print, there is thePress Council for the filmsthere is the Censor Board…what about a similar statutorybody for the electronicmedia…” a division benchcomprising Chief JusticeDipankar Datta and Justice G.S. Kulkarni noted.

“Times have changed...This is the most misused free-dom now, as CJI has said.....Youshould have something forelectronic media. We are say-ing this out of concern.Everyone seems to have anunfettered licence to say what-ever they want to. There is suchhue and cry, the entire system

will break down, if you do notdo something,” the Judges toldthe ASG.

At one stage, the judgesobserved: “Let the investigativejournalism continue, it is legit-imate, let them do their work,but not to such an extent... Allwe are saying there is no mech-anism to control the electron-ic media”.

“So much is happening,who is going to look into it. Atthis point, it is left to the wis-dom of the legislature andjudiciary. Why is the mediaexempted from such scrutiny?Why should citizens come tocourt every time? It is notgood for the media as well.... Itis an urgent situation, the min-istry must look into it urgent-ly,” the Judges observed.

The HC bench wasresponding to the ASG’s con-tention that “Time and again,courts have held that minimuminterference should be therefrom the government. thereshould be self-regulation. TheNational BroadcastersAssociation (NBA) has theirown code and guidelines....It isnot like we are not acting, wetake action, we step in and takeaction”.

The Judges said that theHC bench was acting only inthose cases, where the mediachannel is not a member ofNBA. “If he is not a member,then we send it to the channel,if the channel takes no action,then there is an inter-ministe-rial committee to take action,”the ASG responded..

The HC bench wanted toknow if there is a mechanismfor surveillance of ministry or

prior censorship “Are actionstaken by existing mechanismsonly after complaint? Is anymachinery to check the media channel is following thelaw, before the "so-called dam-age" is caused?,” the judgesasked.

Senior Council ArvindDatar who represented theNational BroadcastersAssociation (NBA) informedthe court that it had imposedfines on several TV channelsfor objectionable reportage onSushant’s death case.

*��'��)��

��!��$�!��0�#$�!�$��

From Page 1H�� 7��# ��4)��$H��$)�� 7��$H �� !�� 7��$�� $�� %��A$3�� $�� , �� $H1�� &��&�� 7��H1�� I7$

From Page 1Given the reach and capa-

bilities of the Dassault manu-factured fighter jet, the Rafalewill guard the LAC and Line ofControl (LOC) in the northand west facing China andPakistan and China the east.

India and France inked aGovernment to Governmentdeal for 36 Rafale jets inSeptember 2016 at a price of 7.8billion Euros. The entire fleetof 36 jets is expected to join theIAF by next year end.

The Rafale jets are the firstto be inducted into the IAFafter more than 24 years. TheSU-30s manufactured byRussia were inducted in 1997.

In his annual Press con-ference earlier this month, IAFchief RKS Bhadauria had said

the integration of Rafale fight-er jets brought in a platformarmed with advanced weapons,sensors and technologies thatgave the IAF an operationaland technological edge.“Combined with upgradedoperational capabilities of ourcurrent fighter fleet, it gives usthe ability to shoot first andstrike deep and hard, even incontested airspace,” the IAFchief said.

The French built twin-engine jets have at least 13 Indiaspecific enhancements. Theyinclude a helmet-mountedsight, radar warning receivers,flight data recorders with stor-age for 10 hours of data,infrared search and track sys-tems, jammers, cold enginestart capability to operate fromhigh-altitude bases and toweddecoys to ward off incomingmissiles.

The modern jet is capableof carrying out a variety of mis-sions like gound and sea attack,air defence and air superiority,reconnaissance and nuclearstrike deterrence. It can carryalmost 10 tonnes of weapons.

From Page 1The task force’s mandate is

to examine the correlation of theage of marriage and mother-hood with health, medical well-being and nutritional status ofmother andneonate/infant/child, duringpregnancy, birth and thereafter;key parameters like InfantMortality Rate, MaternalMortality Rate, Total FertilityRate, Sex Ratio at Birth, ChildSex Ratio and any other relevantpoints pertaining to health andnutrition in this context.

In many rural areas of India,girls are routinely married before18 years with the approval ofcommunities which is illegal.Orthodox sections back childmarriages citing religion. Thetime seemed to have not movedfor the child-marriage backerssince Raja Ram Mohan Roy firstopposed child marriages in thesecond-half of the 19th centuryand was actively supported byBritish Governor-General LordWillian Bentick.

Anemia and malnutritionare known to be the result ofunderage marriages in Indiawhich has one of the largestnumbers of child-marriages inthe world even though the lawhas set 18 as the age of marriagefor women and 21 for men.

In his Independence Dayspeech, the PM had announcedthat the Government was delib-erating on what should be theminimum age of marriage forwomen and has set up a com-mittee to look into the matter.

Modi highlighted the effortstaken by his Government in thelast six years to fight against mal-nutrition.

The Prime Minister said hisgovernment has taken an inte-grated and holistic approach todeal with the challenge of mal-nutrition.

The Government hasadopted a multi-dimensionalstrategy to work on all thosefactors responsible for highmalnutrition, he said addingthe Government has startedNational Nutrition Mission.

Highlighting otherachievements, the PrimeMinister said the Governmenthas built 11 crore toilets acrossthe country under the SwachhBharat Mission and haslaunched Jal Jeevan Mission toprovide piped drinking water.

The Government is alsoproviding sanitary pads at Rs 1to poor women, he furthersaid.

“Because of these efforts, forthe first time, the gross enrol-ment ratio of girls in educationis more than that of boys,” Modisaid.

From Page 1Yadav accused Chirag of

practising "politics of lies", say-ing he had been praising theBihar Government in Februarythis year. "Chirag should noteither live in illusion or nurseany illusion or spread illu-sion," Yadav tweeted.

Javadekar said BJP'salliance in Bihar is with JD(U),Jitan Ram Manjhi's HAM(S)and Vikassheel Insaan Party,asserting the NDA combinewill win three-fourth majorityin the State. The UnionMinister's statement camehours after Bihar Deputy CMSushil Kumar Modi saidChirag's party left the NDA as

it wanted more seats than whatthe BJP was willing to give.

"LJP was asking for moreseats than what we wanted togive, so the matter broke down.Nowadays, some leaders ofLJP are spreading rumoursand asking why did the PrimeMinister and Amit Shah notstop LJP from leaving NDA?"said Sushil.

�� (((

�� 888

�� (((

!��(((

�� .+

��.�� !��"#$�%&%&

�� %�1.�'23

The CBI on Friday recovereddigital evidence, various

incriminating documents andalso bank accounts and fixeddeposits worth �190 crorebesides �25 lakh in cash andgold worth �55 lakh duringsearches in multiple cities againstfirms that posed as representa-tives of reputed firms likeMicrosoft to dupe the victims byoffering technical support fornon-existent problems.

The CBI had conductedthe searches recently at variouslocations including Jaipur, Delhi,Noida, Gurugram, Faridabadand Mainpuri (Uttar Pradesh) atthe premises of private compa-nies and residential premises ofaccused persons in an on-goinginvestigation of a case.

The agency had earlier reg-istered a case on a complaintagainst six private companies—Softwill Infotech Pvt Ltd, NewDelhi, Innovana Thinklabs Ltd,Jaipur, BenovellientTechnologies Pvt Ltd, Noida,

Systweak Software Pvt Ltd,Jaipur, Saburi TLC WorldwideServices Pvt Ltd, Delhi andSaburi Global Services Pvt Ltd.,Gurugram and unknown othersalleged to be involved in tech-nical support fraud scheme.

“It was alleged that thesecompanies would contact thevictims via internet pop-upmessages that falsely appeared tobe security alerts from Microsoftor another well-known compa-ny. The pop-up messages fraud-ulently claimed that the con-sumer’s computer was infectedby a virus. It would then run ascan on the consumer’s com-puter, falsely confirming thepresence of a virus and malware.A toll free number would begiven, where the victim will con-tact, and call would land up intheir call centres. These com-

panies would then take remoteaccess of the victim’s computerand would convince the victimof the presence of non-existingproblems and then would makethem pay hundreds of Dollarsfor unnecessary services and

softwares. Many of these irrele-vant softwares were also devel-oped by the companies underinvestigation,” the CBI said in astatement.

The CBI is collaboratingwith its counterparts in other

countries to identify the net-work, dismantle their infra-structure and bring the perpe-trators of crime to justice.

The US Department ofJustice and CBI collaborated inthis regard.

�1$��#��!��$#�

0�� 195��

�� %�1.�'23

The EnforcementDirectorate on Friday

issued seizure order underForeign ExchangeManagement Act seizing prop-erties held by DMK MPGautham Sigamani to the tuneof �8.60 crore.

The seized properties areequivalent to the value of theillegally acquired foreignsecurity and non-repatria-tion of foreign exchange

earned abroad till date incontravention of Section 4 ofFEMA, the ED said in astatement.

The ED probe revealedthat in March 2008 Sigamani,being a Person Resident inIndia, made overseas invest-ment of USD 1,00,000(�41,57,225) in acquiring2,45,000 shares of PT ExcelMegindo, Jakarta and USD55,000 (�22,86,924) inUniversal Business Ventures,UAE without RBI approval

and thereby contravened theprovisions of Section 4 ofFEMA for the said acquisi-tion of foreign security, itsaid.

Further, Sigamaniv failedto repatriate profits amount-ing to �7,05,57,237 earned byhim from Universal BusinessVentures, UAE for the periodfrom Financial Year 2008-09to 2012-13 and continued tohold the same abroad tilldate in contravention ofFEMA, according to the ED.

�(��&&��)"#�(��*#�$ �"$&+�, $&)��-./��$

�� %�1.�'23

Much to the delight of theenvironmentalists, par-

ticularly bird-lovers, the AsanConservation Reserve inUttarakhand’s Dehradun,which is home to variouswinged guests, has been recog-nised as wetland sites of inter-national importance under thetreaty of Ramsar Convention.

In January this year, 10 wet-lands in India were recognisedby the Ramsar Convention assites of international impor-tance.

With this new addition,the country's wetlands tallynow stands at 38, the highest inSouth Asia. The AsanConservation Reserve, home torare species, is a fish spawningground and has a lot of biolog-ical diversity and is the firstwetland from Uttarakhand tobe recognised by Ramsar.

The convention, signed in1971 in the Iranian city ofRamsar, is one of the oldestinter-governmental accord forpreserving the ecological char-acter of wetlands. Also knownas the Convention on Wetlands,it aims to develop a global net-work of wetlands for conserva-tion of biological diversity andfor sustaining human life.

In February this year, thegovernment had proposed 10more sites to be declared as sitesof international importance,including the AsanConservation Reserve.

Wetlands declared asRamsar sites are protectedunder strict guidelines. If thenine other proposed wetlandsare approved by the RamsarSecretariat, India will have 47sites protected internationally.

In January this year, 10 wet-lands in India that baggedRamsar tag are NandurMadhameshwar inMaharashtra, Keshopur-Miani,Beas Conservation Reserve andNangal in Punjab, andNawabganj, Parvati Agra,Saman, Samaspur, Sandi andSarsaiNawar in Uttar Pradesh.

The other Ramsar sites arein Rajasthan, Kerala, Odisha,Madhya Pradesh, HimachalPradesh, Assam, West Bengal,Jammu and Kashmir, AndhraPradesh, Manipur, Gujarat,Tamil Nadu, Tripura and UttarPradesh.

"�� +� ��,-)��-�� +��

��,(��

�� %�1.�'23

At least 40 per cent of theworld’s population i.e. 3

billion people, do not haveaccess to handwashing facil-ities even though handwash-ing with soap is an integralpart of protecting oneselffrom the deadly coronavirus.

The new Unicef estimatesalso painted a grim pictureregarding the handwashingfacilities in schools across the

world. Consider this: Forty-three per cent of schoolsglobally also did not havehandwashing facilities, thismeans that mi l l ions ofschool-age children do nothave access to water andsoap.

Handwashing is the sim-plest and easiest way to pre-vent Covid-19.

Kel ly Ann Naylor,Associate Director of Water,Sanitation and Hygiene at

UNICEF said in a statementthat handwashing is one ofthe simplest ways in whichone can protect themselvesand their loved ones fromthis epidemic.

Naylor also added thatthe Covid-19 pandemic hashighlighted a very crucialproblem that handwashingfacilities still remain out ofreach for millions of chil-dren, be it where they live orlearn.

.��)��

�� %�1.�'23

Remdesivir-Gilead Sciences’anti-viral drug does not

assist in reducing mortalitydue to Covid-19 or decreasethe hospital stay, the WorldHealth Organization's (WHO)Solidarity trial has found.

In response, however, thedrug maker released a state-ment suggesting that theSolidarity trial is inconsistentand has not been subjected toa rigorous review.

From the 2743 recruitedfor being treated with remde-sivir, 301 died. In comparison,the control group that did notreceive remdesivir recorded303 deaths from the 2708participants.

The study stated that therewas no significant differencein the death rate ratio betweenthe ones who received and didnot receive remdesivir.

Remdesivir is widelybeing used in 5 or 10 dosesacross the world to combatCovid-19.

)��12(��*��-8C

� �% %�1.�'23

The Supreme Court onFriday refused to entertain

a plea seeking dismissal of theUddhav Thackeray-ledGovernment of Maharashtraand imposition of President'sRule in the State.

"*��3'��!��

�� %�1.�'23

India and the US will discussthe entire range of defence

ties and explore ways to furtherenhance co-operation throughjoint exercises during ArmyVice chief Lt General S KSaini’s four-day visit to Americabeginning Saturday. His visitcomes ahead of the proposed2+2dialogue between defenceand foreign ministers of thetwo countries in New Delhi onOctober 26-27.

It will be third 2+2 dia-logue between the two coun-tries in the last three years.Defence Minister RajnathSingh and External AffairsMinister S Jaishankar will holdextensive discussions with theirUS counterparts Mark Esperand Mike Pompeo. The meet-ing will take place in the back-drop of ongoing tension at theLine of Actual Control(LAC)inLadakh with China.

The first 2+2 dialogue washeld in Delhi in September2018 after the mechanism wasapproved by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and USPresident Donald Trump. Thesecond edition of the dialoguetook place in Washington inDecember last year. The newframework of the ministerialdialogue was initiated in orderto provide a forward-lookingvision for the strategic partner-ship between the two countries.

In the parleys, both sides arealso expected to delve into thesituation in the Indo-Pacificregion as well as in India's neigh-bourhood besides key bilateralissues. On the Vice Chief ’sschedule, the Army said theaim of the visit is to enhance mil-itary cooperation between boththe Armies. He will visit the USArmy Pacific Command, theArmy component of Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPA-COM) and exchange ideasextensively with the militaryleadership apart from witnessingtraining and equipment capa-bilities of US Army.

��.2�� !��"#$�%&%&

Aligarh: Former UnionMinister and current Governorof Meghalaya, Mr Satya PalMalik will deliver the Sir SyedDay commemorative speech asthe Chief Guest in an onlinefunction on October 17 begin-ning from 11 am.

The annual Sir Syed Dayfunction will feature the dis-tribution of Sir Syed ExcellenceAwards 2020. Eminent histori-an and reputed author, Dr GailMinault will receive the awardin the international category,while Anjuman-I-Islam,Mumbai based educationalconglomerate will be conferredwith the award in the nationalcategory. AMU YoungResearcher of the Year Awardwill also be conferred on DrInamuddin (Department ofApplied Chemistry). PNS

Aligarh: Resource personsshed light on significant con-tributions of women scientistsand how they discovered life-saving remedies, devisedworld-altering inventions, andproduced far-reaching researchin the two-day webinar on'Prospects for STEM Educationin the 21st Century and con-tribution of women scientists inSTEM' held to mark the event-ful centenary year of theAligarh Muslim University(AMU). PNS

�� '3� )2

The courts have been bur-dened due to the increasing

crime cases with women andthe girl child because of whichjustice is delayed. TheProtection of Children fromSexual Offenses Act (POCSO)has four courts in the district toprotect children from sexoffenders, despite this, 1,400cases are pending since 2012.Corona is also one of the mainreason for this, due to which thework is stopped since 6 months.

��7�� '3� )2

Madrasas are in discussionall over the country after

the Assam Governmentannounced the conversion ofmadrasas into regular schools.Most of the madrasas were rec-ognized in the SP Government.

31 madarsas opened in theBSP Government. YogiGovernment has not allowedany new madrasas after 2017.

There are 121 madrasas inthe district of which 4 aresemi-Government, 33madrasas operates under mod-ernization scheme and the restare being privately run. Thecentral and state governmentgive budget in madrasasincluded in the modernizationscheme and the semi-govern-ment which include the salaryof teachers and other expens-es. More than 20,000 studentsare enrolled in these madrasas.

�� 0('0 �

In a judgment that raisedquestions on the constitu-

tional decorum of sponsoringreligious festivals by secularGovernments, the CalcuttaHigh Court on Friday effec-tively segregated secular andreligious works professed to beperformed by various com-munity-based Durga Pujacommittees often patronized bythe democratically electedGovernments.

In a hard-hitting order theDivision Bench of JusticesSanjib Banerjee and ArijitBanerjee directed the thou-sands of Durga Pujas commit-tees that recently received

Government grants of Rs50,000 each to use such fundsonly for “secular purposes”like procuring logistics to pre-vent proliferation of coronavirus and strengthening police-public bonding.

The clubs were also direct-ed to present detailed utiliza-tion reports of the fund of Rs50,000 to the Government foraudit. The purchase of logis-tics like masks, sanitisers, andother relevant equipmentshould be supported by bills ofpurchase the Court said.

The Court apportioned 75per cent of the allocated fundtowards the purchase of masks,sanitisers and face shields,while the remaining 25 percent

was asked to be spent forstrengthening public-policebonding and inclusion of morewomen in community policing.

Chief Minister MamataBanerjee had announced onSeptember 24 the Rs 50,000grant for each of the 36,946Durga Puja committees in thestate.

She said that herGovernment had decided tomake a grant of Rs 50,000 eachto the Durga Puja committeesthis year round as “we are in adifficult time for the pandem-ic situation and it has been verydifficult for the communityPuja committees too to orga-nize Pujas.”

Earlier Sourab Dutta a

CITU leader had moved apetition on October 9 chal-lenging the grant and otherdoles such as discounts onapplication fees for permis-sions from fire brigade andpower distribution companiessaying such a grant was againstthe concept of secularism andhurt the fundamental rights provided in theConstitution.

Even as the state AdvocateGeneral Kishore Dutta saidthat the funds allocated by theGovernment were to be usedfor “secular purposes” like pur-chasing safety equipment andfor public-police bonding theCourt tended to ensure that thefunds were indeed spent for the

purposes as claimed by theGovernment.

The matter would be takenup for hearing before the Courtafter the Durga Pujas.

Meanwhile, though theTrinamool Congress refused toreact to the Friday’s order,senior leader and MP SaugatoRoy said that it would hurt thecommon people. “I do notwant to make any comment onthe order as such but I feel thatthe common people will behurt by it.” He also would notsay whether the Governmentwould prefer an appeal in theSupreme Court. “It is for theState Government to decidewhether it would appeal beforethe Supreme Court or not.”

:4�� '��;��%��

�� # !!/

In a dramatic sequence ofevents an Over Ground work-

er (OGW) was caught alive bythe joint team of security forceswhile another Special PoliceOfficer, who had earlierdecamped with two AK riflesfrom a security camp two daysago, managed to flee after an ini-tial exchange of fire with secu-rity forces in the Chadooraarea of Budgam on Friday.

The entire sequence ofevents was caught on camerawhere a senior army officersupervising the operation onground zero was seen repeatedly

making an appeal to the OGWto surrender his weapon andwalk towards the security per-sonnel without fearing for hislife.

In one of the videos whichwent viral on social media plat-forms the army officer wasseen instructing his soldiers toserve water to an OGW and stayaway from him so that he canfeel comfortable and not threat-ened due to the presence of alarge number of soldiers sur-rounding him.

In another video, the fatherof an OGW who was identifiedby the police as Jehangir AhmadBhat, was seen touching the feet

of a senior officer and thankingthem for saving the precious lifeof his son. Several other secu-rity personnel were seen pattingthe back of an OGW and con-gratulating his father over safehome coming of his son.

Sharing details of the inci-dent, a Jammu and Kashmirpolice spokesman said, “On aspecific input regarding thepresence of deserted SPO whodecamped with 02 AK 47 riflestwo days ago along with hisassociate in Chadoora area ofBudgam, a joint cordon andsearch operation was launchedby Police, 53RR and 181BnCRPF in the said area”.

0 $�"#��&�)��1,) $��,�+�,�&)�2��$�3�"#

�� 0(*23

Politics in Kerala took a newturn as Jose K Mani, leader

of the Kerala Congress(Mani)faction called on CPI(M) StateGeneral Secretary KodiyeriBalakrishnan at AKG Centre atThiruvananthapuram onFriday.

This is the first ever visit bya Kerala Congress (Mani) fac-tion leader to the CPI(M) Stateheadquarters in the last 39years. Balakrishnan whoaddressed the media after thevisit of Jose K Mani said thatthe decision of Kerala Congress

(Mani) to cast its lots with theLeft Democratic Front wasbecause of the anti-communaland anti-imperialist policiespursued by the CPI(M).

“The foundation of theUnited Democratic Front ledby the Indian NationalCongress has been shattered.This is because of the failure ofthe Congress to take a stronganti-communal stance againstthe RSS. All sections of peoplein the State trust the develop-ment initiatives of the CPI(M).Ours is the best State in Indiaonly because of the develop-ment agenda of the CPI(M),”

said Balakrishnan.He said even Pope Francis

has accepted the fact that cap-italism all over the world wascollapsing. The CPI(M) leaderaddressed the Pope as “HisHoliness Pope” as part of hisparty’s changed attitudetowards the Catholic Church.

But Balakrishnan gotannoyed when reporters askedhim about the CPI(M)’s agita-tions against Jose’s father late KM Mani, founder of the KeralaCongress who was the financeMinister of Kerala during 2011to 2016.

)� ��304�� "�5��$304��6��+-7��

%�� "�� /��#��

(� (��#��

0�� 1� �� (&2�� -

8�:@@�(*"(�� !/!4 3

In what came as a pleasant surprise for women commuters,the Maharashtra Government on Friday announced that it

would allow all ladies to travel by suburban trains for a spec-ified number of hours during a day in Mumbai and MumbaiMetropolitan Region (MMR) from Saturday.

Unveiling a major lockdown unlocking measure for womencommuters, Maharashtra’s Disaster Management, Relief &Rehabilitation Secretary Kishor Raje Nimbalkar wrote to theGeneral Managers of Western Railway and Central Railway, saying that beginning Saturday, all lady commutersbe permitted to travel by local trains from 11 am to 3 pm andfrom 7 pm till end of the last services operated for theday.

“It is requested that local train services may be made avail-able to all ladies from 11 am to 3 pm and again from 7 pmonwards till the end of local services for the day, with effectfrom October 17 in Mumbai and MMR,” Nimbalkar wrote inhis letter to the General Managers of Western Railway andCentral Railway.

“During the said time period, entry may be allowed to allladies having valid tickets and to all emergency staff as well.QR codes will not be required for ladies travelling during thesaid time period,” Nimbalkar said.

The local train services to all the personnel of all sectorsthat have been notified as the emergency services till date shallcontinue as being provided currently i.e., for the entire day.“You are requested to also increase the frequency of local trainsas per the increased demand,” Nimbalkar stated in his lettersto both the Western and Central Railway GMs.

Though the state government has asked the women com-muters to travel during the non-peak hours of the morning,the state government’s move is bound to help thousands ofwomen commuters who travel to downtown Mumbai and otherparts of Mumbai where offices and business establishmentsare located.

��

Srinagar: Jammu & Kashmiron Friday reported 697 newCovid-19 cases, taking theUnion Territory's coronavirustally to 86,754, while 8 deaths inthe past 24 hours mounted theUT's Covid death toll to 1,366.

A statement issued by theInformation and PublicRelations Department said thatof the 697 positive cases report-ed on Friday, 312 were fromJammu division and 385 fromKashmir division.

So far, 86,754 people havebeen infected with coronavirusof which 76,479 have recoveredcompletely. IANS

;CJ��#K0L�*��B;�J9:

�� %�1.�'23

The BJP on Friday alleged that the accused inthe Kerala gold smuggling case are “hand in

glove” with the people in power and demand-ed the resignation of Kerala Chief MinisterPinarayi Vijayan.

“The moral authority of the Chief Ministeris lost. The BJP has been demanding, the peo-ple of Kerala have been demanding that the chiefminister should resign owning moral respon-sibility of the whole incident,” said UnionMinister and Kerala BJP leader VMuraleedharan.

Muraleedharan said the Left government inthe state had first asked the Centre to order aprobe into the matter and has now moved courtagainst the CBI, claiming that agency does nothave the authority to investigate.

“This shows that those involved in smug-

gling gold are hand-in-glove with those inpower,” he alleged, adding that this case is dis-tinct from other cases of gold smugglingbecause it is “directly” linked to the chief min-ister's office. Vijayan has been changing his standon the matter from the day the case was regis-tered and accused were arrested, Muraleedharanclaimed.

The Union Minister noted that the caserelates to the seizure of 30 kg of gold inThiruvananthapuram Airport on July 5 after theprecious metal was found camouflaged in diplo-matic baggage.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA),Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and theEnforcement Directorate (ED) are probing var-ious angles of the case and several people, includ-ing two former employees of the UAE consulatein Thiruvananthapuram have been arrested bycentral agencies in connection with the case.

New Delhi: The Union HealthMinistry on Friday rushed high-level Central teams to Kerala,Karnataka, Rajasthan,Chhattisgarh and West Bengalwhich have been reporting asurge in the number of newCovid cases in the recent daysto help them manage the dis-ease.

Each team comprises a jointsecretary who will be the nodalofficer for the concerned state,one public health expert, andone clinician to look after infec-tion prevention practices, clin-ical management protocol beingfollowed by the state, theMinistry said in a statement onFriday.

Kerala has reported a3,17,929 cases, amounting to8,909 infected per million.Recoveries are at 2,22,231, andactive cases at 94,609. The state

has reported 1,089 deaths so farand has a positivity rate of 16.6per cent.

Similarly, Karnataka has11,010 cases per million, with arecovery rate of 83.35 per centand positivity rate of 11.5 percent. It has so far reported7,43,848 cases and a death tollof 10,283. Rajasthan has regis-tered 1,67,279 cases, with num-ber of fatalities at 1,708.Positivity rate is at 5.3 per centwhile West Bengal has 3,09,417cases amounting to 3,106 casesper million. Case fatality rate is1.90 per cent and the positivityrate is 8.2 per cent.

These teams interact withthe the authorities and get a firsthand understanding of the chal-lenges and issues being faced bythem so as to strengthen theirongoing activities and removebottlenecks, if any. PNS

*��0��0��)��*��4�� *��

�"$��% �!�#4�%%��%��#"'56 !"4��!#��*#�$"#�%��&� ��

The character assassina-tions and defamatorycampaigns, witnessedon some televisionchannels by some

anchors and reporters against indi-vidual film personalities and theMumbai movie industry, haveunderstandably been strongly con-demned. While the public responsehas mainly been focussed on thecampaign and its gross violation ofthe principles of fair play, there isa compelling need to examine thecharacter of television itself as amedium and its impact on society.

As a medium, television com-bines unfolding visuals with verbalnarratives, besides bringing distantevents to the homes of viewers, giv-ing them a feeling of being in themidst of an unfolding developmentor its aftermath, with all its sightsand sounds. In contrast, radio,which provides only audioaccounts, does not give the feelingof being there and seeing it all. Notsurprisingly, television coverageattracts more people than radioreportage and provokes moreintense public reaction than radio.

The question arises: What arethe consequences of its impact?One frequently heard in the 1960sthat television coverage broughtthe horrors of the Vietnamese Warinto American drawing roomsand was a major factor in trigger-ing massive protest demonstra-tions and rioting, hastening theUnited States’ withdrawal fromVietnam. Why go so far? We arenow witness to the investigationsinto the rape and murder of a 19-year-old girl in Hathras, UttarPradesh, in the aftermath of anationwide uproar sparked prin-cipally by television reports.

Pieces in the print media —daily newspapers and magazines—have cost important people theirperches. Newspaper reports havecaused riots, violent demonstra-tions and general strikes,paralysing entire countries. This,however, was when newspapersand magazines constituted thedominant media. Now televisionhas replaced them. This is theresult not only of the pronouncededge that audio-visual reportagehas over audio or print coverage,but of the fact that reports appearon television the same evening —or even earlier. An event hasoccurred, and by the time it is innewspapers the next morning,people already know the broad

contours of what has happened.There is, however, a funda-

mental difference in popularresponse to television and printmedium coverage respectively.It lies in not just the actions theytrigger but the mindsets theycreate. This, in turn, followsfrom a basic difference in thecharacter of the two. Visualimages constitute the USP oftelevision. An image is recog-nised; the mental processinvolved in cognition. A print-ed word is first decoded fromthe combination of the lettersthat constitute it, and is thenlinked by a mental process —association — to an object or animage. The ability to associateis central to the process ofrational thinking and the latteris the principal instrument inthe formulation of systems ofthought or critical examinationof the import of events.

Cognition primarily involvesvisual identification. It is not anact of intelligence though it canlead to one when externallystimulated. Much depends onthe nature of the stimulus. InAmusing Ourselves to Death:Public Discourse in the Age ofShow Business, Neil Postmanstates that entertainment is“the supra-ideology of all dis-course on television. No matterwhat is depicted and from whatpoint of view, the overarchingpresumption is that it is therefor our amusement and plea-sure.” This is hardly surprising.A very large section of peoplewants entertainment. Henceprogrammes that entertain earn

higher Target Rating Points(TRPs) than those that do not,and advertisers, who sustainmedia, also prefer these.

There are doubtless televisionchannels that consciously try totread a different path and comeup with programmes thatinform and promote sociallyand politically relevant dis-course. But even their pro-grammes have an ambience ofentertainment as they are pre-ceded, followed and punctuat-ed by music and advertise-ments featuring visuals ofattractive models and productsin the most arresting possiblesettings. For example, theadvertisement of a car or amotorbike often shows it inshining colours, driven by abeautiful model or her equallyattractive male companion,through a picturesque land-scape. People enjoy watchingthese, sometimes more than theprogrammes themselves.

This writer has no quarrelwith entertainment. Life wouldbe terribly boring without it. Healso believes that each person isentitled to his/her brand ofentertainment within the lim-its prescribed by law and a veryliberal definition of decency.There is, however, a darkdimension to what is happen-ing now. Viewers, who remainglued to television sets whilesome anchors, reporters andtalking heads gloat over the tra-vails of film personalities andberate them hour after hour,behave in the same manner asthe crowds in ancient Rome’s

Colosseum, who roared indelight as a gladiator killedanother or a lion. By catering tothem, the mindset that televi-sion engenders is that of want-ing to be perennially and bru-tally entertained. The result isa progressive coarsening ofsensibilities and erosion of thevirtues of compassion, toleranceand a sense of fair-play.

This is the most detrimentaleffect of television as a mediumthat needs to be countered.The print media is a very differ-ent cup of tea. It is the outcomeof the written culture. AlvinGouldner states in The Dialecticof Ideology and Technology: TheOrigins, Grammar and Future ofIdeology, that writing confers apermanence to statements thatverbal articulation does not. Heargues that it also confers a cer-tain finality. A mistake madeduring a conversation may becorrected then and there. Aprinted word cannot be easilyrecalled for correction oncewidely circulated. One, there-fore, carefully seeks to avoidmistakes, embarrassing state-ments and faulty argumentswhile writing. This contributesto the drafting of informed andreasoned texts.

Besides, while one can inter-rupt and resume a conversation,one cannot do so in a writtentext where one has to proceedfrom premise to conclusion,rationally and convincingly, stepby step — a process that leadsto rational articulation and crit-ical thought.

Doubtless, written communi-

cation lacks the advantages thata speaker has at a lecture.He/she can convey a great dealthrough gestures, facial expres-sions and body movements; alistener/ viewer can also gleanconsiderable information aboutthe speaker and what he/she issaying and stands for. Equally,excessive focus on the speakercan distract attention from thesubstance of the speech. Thereis no such distraction when itcomes to looking at a printedtext. The reader can concentratesolely on the latter, absorbing itscontents and reflecting on thesame. Reading conduces tothought and thought spurs fur-ther thought. This fact, as wellas the capacity for rationalargumentation from premise toconclusion that the print medi-um promotes, has led to the riseof great systems of thoughtwhich have come to be knownas ideologies.

That is another story. What isimportant now is the fact thatthe process of critical thinkingcan — and often does — medi-ate in a person’s internalisationof the information generated bythe print medium. Given thisand some other of its attribut-es, those associated with it havea responsibility in counteringthe socially and morally devas-tating effect of the kind ofdeplorable fare that some chan-nels are churning out. Theprocess must begin by makingpeople aware.

(The writer is ConsultantEditor, The Pioneer, and anauthor)

)��!�� *��(�� +��,��

��#�� (�� -��.��(��!��/��0��/��+�� ,��1��%��(2334��*��(��(�� !�� *�� (��(

�� 544��24�444�� )��!�� (��(��6��(��(�� 7��!��8 7!9��!��!�� :�� 6�� 6��&��(� ��!�� (�� 25��

��!�� +�� !�� (��#��&�� (�� !�� #�� !��

.�� 7��&�� 0�� (

�� 6��7�� (�� ;��7�� $�� *�� 6��%��(� <�� *��

��"�� 7��&��)��%�� *��=��>��<��7��8<�79��6��&��7��6��$��(%��"��7��#�� (�� 7��$��?�@�� AA��<��$�� =��>#�� *��<��$��:��6�� (��7��#��+��/��,�� @��7��-��*��(�� ?�&�� .�� 7��&�� 6��6�� 6�� (��(��(��#�,��<��0�� <�� *��(��%��(*��8$��(��;��9��7��($��/��7��87$/79��7��6�� (�� ?��#��2B3��6��(�� -��$��#��)�� $��&�<�� 8$<�9��C42D��?��<�7��

6�� (��&��6��7��6��:��!��86:!9��&��,��,�� *��&��(�� &�=��>�� (�� #�%��+ ��)�� +��,��7��&��6�� 7�� 6��E��F,�@��=��(��>��7��&�=��>�� 6��7�� &�� (�� F,(��6��F,��&�� *�� 6��(��"��7��!��(��7��&��(�(��F,�� (��,��6�� (�� 7�� &��

��<��

�� Sir — Amid the nationwide out-rage over the rape-murder caseof the 19-year-old Dalit womanin Hathras, three minor sisters,belonging to the same commu-nity, were attacked with acid inGonda, Uttar Pradesh. The sis-ters, aged 17, 12 and eight, weresleeping on the second floor oftheir house in Paraspur area,when someone threw acid onthem in the wee hours ofOctober 13. While the victims’parents rushed to their roomsafter hearing their cries to findthem writhing in pain, the attack-er managed to escape. The policesuspect that someone from theirlocality might have perpetratedthe crime. The eldest sister suf-fered major injuries on her faceand chest while the other twosuffered minor burns on theirhands. So while the StateGovernment and its police areruthlessly trying to save the cul-prits of the Hathras case, thereseems to be no end to caste andgender-based atrocities. TheCentre and the judiciary needto urgently intervene andensure that victims of the Dalitcommunity get justice.

NR Salam Jammu

��Sir — The release of the formerJammu and Kashmir ChiefMinister and Peoples DemocraticParty (PDP) leader MehboobaMufti, after her detention formore than a year under thePublic Safety Act (PSA) ahead ofthe Centre’s decision to abrogateArticle 370, was needlesslydelayed. But, as it seems now, it

has dawned on the ruling dispen-sation that the presence of thelocal leaders is crucial to nego-tiate the future of the UnionTerritory (UT). Even after a yearof restrictions on the citizens, theCentre still lacks a clear roadmap.Rather, the blanket hold on thePress, the promulgation ofSection 144 and its unendingnature are a poor reflection ongovernance. This has only caused

damage to the region’s economyand worse, our national fabric.Previous Governments at theCentre and J&K were not naive,they carried a delicate politicalsuitcase for decades.

Now, the Centre has twooptions — either run an inani-mate State to all-round disillu-sionment or gather its wits andacumen to infuse the real mean-ing of integration of the UT with

the pulse of the nation, with orwithout Article 370 and anyother legalese. Winning overthe hearts of the locals is crucialfor a democratic bulwark againstfurther socio-political attritionand an invitation to outsiders tomeddle in the region.

R NarayananMumbai

��Sir — The overall air quality level(AQI) of Delhi is deteriorating bythe day. On October 16, theSupreme Court constituted aone-member committee, head-ed by Justice Madan B Lokur, tocarry out physical surveillance offarm fires in Punjab, Haryanaand western Uttar Pradesh caus-ing air pollution in Delhi and theNational Capital Region (NCR)and submit a report after theDussehra vacation. The commit-tee will also suggest additionalmethods for preventing theburning of stubble. This comesas a ray of hope as Delhi contin-ues to battle both air pollutionand the pandemic.

Devendra KhuranaBhopal

� � � 7 . � - * 0 " � � � � � * ) +

,,,.!��+�� ""$.� 4��$��>��M =��.��M ��$��>��>

�� !��"#$�%&%&

.,

+��,� ��

��5 ��L�� 6�� $��, �� $

��8��)(*�+"$+�9#$�8��:�9)*$;��N��0��

��

�� -��$4 �!��4��"��0��-

��*��!��/��-��"��$2��, ��*!��H� �-�� 7��H��7��$"�� $ ��0��

�� *�� $"��)��"��"��5)""6��$0��*!��2�� -�� $2�� *��*�� $0��G��*!�� -��$

�� , �� $3�� , ��$

��+;$-��$"*�<��

(�� )��3"�**��(*�=$�<��>?@+$"'9�@�

+�'��

#��,��%�� ,� (-�,.��%�� %��%�� %��

+%�$��/��,�� 0� �� %��

��)��)��

3�� *(E3.�� "2 ��$

��$@��$<$(*��N%��!��

��-�� $

��+��N��"��

�� I3�� $4 ��3��L�� 3��$3��$

�� ($-�<*�N.��

� � � � # 1 $ ! �

� � ! ! � � � ! � !! � � � # $ ! � �

��!��

��7�� .*& $ � � ! � � � � 0 �

("4 �$��+�� &!"�!��5 ��7��

�1��#%��

!��G�� ! " �� G�� G��!��

#�"�� =$�� >0��/��(��<��&�� G

=%�� >�� #�� $��<��*��C5 ��(�� /��+��$��*��2A �� G#�� /��*�� 80��:��2H��9

#�� 8��<��9��=��>��*�� #�� $��22��!��(��*��&�� I��(��#�� (��+��

+�� :��,��=��(��>��=��>�� (��>#�� +��#��,��8+�,9��

6�� (�� :��(��7��7��/��F��8/F9��$��+�,��+��(��J��($��,��@��K-��

)��+��=��6��>�� =,��>6��(�� CH��,��(��

�K-�� !��+�� +� ��(�� (��*��7:J6�(23��L��

6��*��(� ��#��(��+�,G<��/�� +��+��&�� +�� G /�($��7��+��7��(<�� K-��(!�� <�� .��7�� &��

#�� #�� A4��6��L��(�� 8��(�� 9�

+��24(��+�� HM��L��="��>�� +��24�2��,��G+��#��&��(� ��(�� %��+��&��L��(�� +�,(��L�� (��

+��&��+�,��&��&��+�� $�� *��

8�� 9

The term “hybrid regime” hasgained increasing currency inPakistan among analysts and

politicians. It is specifically used toexplain the existential nature of thecurrent PTI-led coalitionGovernment, which came to powerafter the July 2018 polls. The elec-tions were severely criticised byvarious parties for being “rigged,”whereas a December 9, 2018 reportby the Free and Fair ElectionNetwork (FAFEN) found “variousirregularities” in the electoralprocess.

The Government’s critics insistthat institutions such as the ElectionCommission of Pakistan (ECP) — atthe behest of the so-called “military-establishment” — tampered with the

voting and counting processes. Theyclaim that this was done to aid ImranKhan’s Centre-Right PTI, so it couldgain just enough seats to form acoalition Government, especially atthe expense of the country’s twoother mainstream parties, the cen-trist PML-N and the liberal-Left,PPP. Over the decades, the relation-ship of these two outfits with the mil-itary-establishment has continued todeteriorate.

Observers and analysts, whosubscribe to this view, use the term“hybrid regime” in a negative lightto explain the current Governmentas an artificially bolstered civilianvessel of the military establishment,propped up so that the latter can sus-tain its political influence within asemblance of democracy and with-out the controversial complexities ofdirect intervention.

However, interestingly, eventhough the Government and itssupporters rubbish such claims,there have also been those withinthem who have used the term in apositive manner, to mean that theGovernment and military-estab-lishment are on the same page.

Nevertheless, “hybrid regime” asa concept and reality has comeunder increasing scrutiny and crit-icism by political scientists. But thiscriticism was missing when theHungarian sociologist ElemérHankiss first used the term. Hankissused it in the 1990s to describe thecommunist regime of János Kádár inHungary. Kádár was appointed bythe then Soviet Union as Hungary’spremier in 1956, after a popularuprising in Budapest against the pre-ceding Communist set-up wascrushed by Soviet forces.

Hankiss treaded a fine linebetween the democratic aspirationsof the protestors and Soviet-styleauthoritarianism by introducingcivil, cultural and economic reformsthat were a departure from the pre-vious “Stalinist” model of authoritar-ianism. But he maintained the polit-ical supremacy and monopoly of theHungarian Communist Party.

However, Hankiss’ term wasquickly picked up by European andAmerican political scientists to meana transitional period in former com-munist countries and non-commu-nist dictatorships, which began to

adopt increasing democratic reformsand mechanisms after the end of theCold War in 1991. Till the 1980s,countries going through this processwere described as “transitionaldemocracies.” But this term wasreplaced with “hybrid regimes” inthe post-Cold War period.

In an essay for the January 2012issue of the Journal of World Politics,the American political scientist,Yonatan Morse, writes that initially,there was an element of optimism inthe term, because most political sci-entists believed that hybrid regimeswould eventually evolve into becom-ing full-fledged liberal democracies.Their optimism can be understoodin the context of an unprecedentedoccurrence at the end of the ColdWar, which saw numerous authori-tarian systems across the worlderode and/or adopt democratic elec-toral and constitutional tools andreforms.

In 2002, the American authorand political analyst ThomasCarothers nudged political scientiststo study the term “hybrid regime”without the optimism attached to it,and without the assumption that

such regimes would transform intobecoming liberal democracies.Second, hybrid regimes were nothomogenous. After Carothers’ essay(published in the June 2002 issue ofthe Journal of Democracy) a concep-tual shift occurred in the study of“hybrid regimes.”

According to Morse, the com-mon practice and theme in most“hybrid regimes” is “electoral author-itarianism” and that’s how most ofthem are now understood (asopposed to earlier, when they wereseen as political systems transition-ing to liberal democracy). In elec-toral authoritarianism, elections donot stand up to democratic standardsof being free and fair.

Such elections continue to,directly or indirectly, keep an author-itarian constant in power, but give itdemocratic “legitimacy” and theauthority to alter the constitution tosustain its monopoly over largeareas of power that it had earlieraccumulated as a non-electoral enti-ty, before the system went hybrid.

This arrangement can be seen incountries where once-dictatorialcliques reinvented themselves as

“popularly elected” entities throughsham elections. They pay lip-serviceto democratic rights and manipulatethe judiciary and an “elected”Parliament to do their bidding.Examples in this respect include for-mer “strongmen” in certain Africancountries and in former Sovietrepublics in Central Asia, andVladimir Putin in Russia.

Another manifestation of elec-toral authoritarianism is when apowerful State institution, such as themilitary, gets one of its high-rank-ing former members elected througha questionable voting process andcontinues to manipulate electionsand alter the Constitution to keephim there (e.g. Egypt’s Abdel Fattahel-Sisi).

Or the institution may nourishthe rise of an easily-manoeuvred andmanageable “democrat,” and aidhim to come to power through atampered election (for instanceallegedly in Pakistan).

Yet another manifestation iswhen a genuinely popularfigure/party is elected through a fairelection but, once it becomes anestablished incumbent, it begins to

alter the Constitution and laws to aidits continuation (Erdogan inTurkey).

All these manifestations of“hybrid regimes” claim to be demo-cratic but resort to undemocraticpractices, including usurping civilrights, using strong-arm tactics andState machinery to browbeat theOpposition. However, according toMorse, electoral authoritarianismand/or “hybrid regimes” can becomeproblematic for those who imposeand retain them.

Morse writes that electoralauthoritarianism can be a “double-edged sword” because even theprocess of sham elections has thepotential of creating new power cen-tres and can also give the Oppositionaccess to certain constitutional toolswhich can be turned against “hybridregimes” — especially if, because ofan assortment of economic, politi-cal or existential threats and chal-lenges, the polity pours out on thestreets to protest. One can thus con-clude that a “hybrid regime”, such asthe one currently in Pakistan,inevitably heads that way.

(Courtesy: Dawn)

�� %�� %� �� &�'�(�)��(�*��$ +�,�##��- *�-)� ��*�'�,�'�)�-�*�)�� *��.%(��$��/,,��%�%�*� --��-�*��%�0�%�* #��#��$ ��%��- *��0)*� . %*��0-$� �.�(�

��(��

�� !��"#$�%&%&

,,,.!��+�� ""$.� 4

After the Central and State governments, it isthe Urban Local Body (ULB) or panchayatthat is the closest to the people. The 74th

Constitutional Amendment Act of 1992 recognisedmunicipalities even though the MunicipalCorporation of Chennai had existed since 1688 andthat of Kolkata and Mumbai had been there since1726. Local government is a subject in the State listand though the 1992 Amendment provided con-stitutional status to municipalities, the prerogativeof the respective State legislatures to determine thepowers, functions and responsibilities of munici-pal bodies was maintained. So even though the legit-imacy of the ULBs had been ensured, the amend-ment by itself did not lead to any structural changein the municipal system.

States have built upon this requirement of pro-viding governance through local governments,thereby taking it closer to the people, albeit differ-ently. The 18 functions, which could be assignedto ULBs as per Schedule 12 of the Constitution, havebeen handled differently by different State govern-ments. Some have transferred all these functionsbut many have done it partially. And even when thisis done, the issue of funds, functions and functionar-ies fully getting assigned to the ULBs continues toremain live because there is a lot missing in thisregard.

The Central Government has made efforts —through the linking of Central schemes for urbanareas with the reform agenda — to ensure trans-fer of all these functions to the urban bodies andto make them effective in line with the principleof subsidiarity. Why cannot our ULBs be fullyresponsible for key areas of activity affecting the livesof each one of us, such as water supply, waste man-agement, drainage, sewage, city transport and e-gov-ernance? One reason cited as to why the urban bod-ies are not able to do this is that since theConstitutional Amendment did not lay down therevenue base for the ULBs and the State FinanceCommission (SFC) mechanism has not workedeffectively to bring about change in this regard,empowering them to improve own fund generationand ensuring better devolution of finances from theStates are major requirements. As an example, it maybe mentioned that municipalities in Brazil enjoybroad autonomy in regard to levying taxes and theirConstitution defines a system of unconditionaltransfers between the federal, state and municipalgovernments.

It is worth considering whether like the Unionand State lists in the Constitution, we can have alocal bodies’ list as well. If local bodies are to playa more active and accountable role in the case offunctions assigned to them, it is important that themunicipal cadre structure as it exists today under-goes a substantial change.

These are days of specialised work and each areaof municipal administration needs competentprofessionals to oversee performance and to planappropriately for the future. A typical city corpo-ration in a State like Karnataka today has five mainheads next to the Municipal Commissioner, name-ly the chief accounts officer, chief engineer, revenueofficer, chief development officer and chief healthofficer. Solid waste management is a complex sub-ject today, needing proper leadership. Raisingresources, tying up for public-private partnerships,environment management, urban mobility are allareas which require competent professional lead-

ership at the local body level. Norms ofstaffing pattern, too, require review. Oururban bodies should be able to focus onthe best possible service delivery and haveto be accountable for the same.

The importance of a shift frominfrastructure creation to delivery of ser-vice outcomes has to be recognised at thelocal level. Are our local bodies in a posi-tion today to talk confidently about say,water supply, in terms of coverage, percapita supply, extent of continuity of sup-ply, quality, metering, extent of non-rev-enue water, cost recovery, efficiency incollection of water charges, efficiency inthe redressal of complaints and all suchbasic matters? Can they present before theresidents the roadmap for making wateravailable 24x7 as per norms, to all thehouseholds of the city/town representingfuture requirements as well?

The 13th Finance Commission hadsaid that State Governments must grad-ually put in place standards for all essen-tial services provided by local bodies andthe 14th Finance Commission repeatedthe point that ULBs will have to measureand publish service level benchmarks forbasic services.

Here, let me refer to one global exam-ple of how accountable the public serviceutility overseas feels to the consumer. Thehead of a private water utility in Londonaccepted through a public statement in2019 that it had not met the water leak-age target for the year. And finding itunacceptable, apologised wholehearted-ly and assured that the penalty it will payfor this, as determined by the water reg-ulator, will be transferred to the customersthrough their bills from the next year.That is how a utility is subjected to thenorms of accountability of performance.

In order to take local governmentscloser to the people, there are two mea-sures, which if made effective and func-tional, can make a big difference as far asmaking local governments “vocal.” TheConstitution amendment provides for

ward committees to be constituted belowthe level of the local body council. EachState Legislature has to make provisionsfor this and see to it that they becomefunctional.

The Centre had circulated to theStates a model Nagar Raj Bill, which hadlisted their functions, their rights andduties as well. Such ward committees canplay a proactive role in preparing wardbudgets, supervision and coordination ofvarious development works, ensuringuniversal access to the key public servicesand overall, this mechanism can be con-verted into one where people of the areacan proactively contribute to the devel-opment agenda. It is for the States to leg-islate for their constitution and makethem effective. Most of the States have nottaken this agenda forward. Recently, theperformance audit of Karnataka localbodies by the Comptroller and AuditorGeneral has pointed out that ward com-mittees have not been constituted in anyof the city corporations except inBengaluru.

Yet another step which can take localgovernments closer to the people isconstitution of area sabhas at the level ofeach polling station or a group of pollingstations, as decided by each StateGovernment through a legislation.

The community participation law,which each State Government wasexpected to legislate as part of the reformagenda under the national urban mission,was to make such a provision. But exceptfor a very limited number of States likeAndhra Pradesh, the agenda has not beentaken forward. In making local “vocal”,both ward committees and area sabhascan play a key role in generating andmaintaining basic data/information aboutthe residents, constantly monitoring ser-vice delivery, reporting deficiencies, pro-viding a network which can promptly andefficiently highlight issues and require-ments, encouraging citizen participationand promoting local leadership — the

very essence of local governance.Visualise a situation where, like in the

context of the current pandemic, the areasabhas could have provided inputs to thelocal body administration about peopleneeding help, who are single, disabled, liv-ing alone, needing constant medicalattention, migrants and workers who arestranded and need support, linkagesrequired with supply of certain essentialitems locally not available, deficiencies inservice delivery and so on. This in turncould have positively influenced moreinformed decision-making at the localbody level.

One such proactive example whichwas noticed recently was the Gurugramcity administration utilising the otherwiseidle city buses to go to different parts ofthe city to provide provisions and suchessential items as per a pre-publicisedrotation arrangement.

Local governments can be made“vocal” as far as areas of local adminis-tration are concerned. This will give peo-ple the feeling of being participative in theprocess of governance. States have to takethe initiative to legislate for these insti-tutions at the local level. It is time that theState Governments recognise the effec-tive role local bodies can play in areas ear-marked for them. Some changes have tocome about as regards to resource posi-tion, professionalisation of cadres andencouraging the growth of both localaccountability and improved perfor-mance at that level.

The Swachh Bharat Mission hasproved how useful a contribution localleadership can make when it gets active-ly involved. With formal mechanismscoming into existence, it should be pos-sible to better implement goals of schemeslike the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation andUrban Transformation in terms of the pri-mary purpose of covering all householdswith water supply and sewerage.

(The writer is a former Secretary inthe Ministry of Urban Development)

��0��#��

�2�"1 *2242 ) �!3""3(%2 "�)(E�.2(1

/"�+/' *(%�)34/�3(%

'(* ''� .�)"23�* %! 0�12�%3�

��" *�3E�'D3%E('E�.$13�2

+()! '!�*2 %3"!"*(!3%�3%�(�O3"��%*��3�"2(/'.4�

�(""34'��(4��)

3!�'�!�%��( '"(+"*2�!�"'30��2�

� '!3""3(%+())�#/E�% �3(%

%./)4 %�) %"+()! �3(%

3%��)!"(+*(E�)3%� ''2(/"�2('."13�21 ��)"/��'D %."�1�) ��

!�� $�� %��%��

�� 0�� %��

�� '�� '��

��&�'A��

�� %��

& �� %�� 1�� B�� 1�� 1�� 1�� 'A��

8� ��.9�� !��"#$�%&%&

��$C$<?��*��+�� /"��) �� $�+�)�� &��+�� %��-0�� &�� $

1 ��%�1 ��%�

��

London: British PrimeMinister Boris Johnson onFriday issued a stark warningthat the UK must now preparefor the prospect of no post-Brexit free trade agreement(FTA) with the EuropeanUnion (EU).

In a statement fromDowning Street, Johnson saidthat he was making a judgmentcall on the UK-EU trade nego-tiations as the January 1, 2021,deadline for the end of theongoing Brexit transition peri-od was now only 10 weeksaway and the crucial EuropeanCouncil summit this weekfailed to come up with promis-ing answers.

“We always knew that therewould be change on January 1whatever type of relationshipwe had. And so now is the timefor our businesses to get ready,and for hauliers to get ready,and for travellers to get ready,”said Johnson.

“So with high hearts andcomplete confidence we willprepare to embrace the alter-native. And we will prospermightily as an independentfree trading nation, controllingour own borders, our fish-

eries, and setting our ownlaws,” he said.

The UK had voted to leavethe 27-member European eco-nomic trading bloc in a refer-endum in June 2016 and for-mally left in January this year,entering into a transition peri-od with unchanged rules untilthe end of this year.

Both sides have been hold-ing talks to thrash out an FTAakin to the EU’s trade tieswith Canada. However,Johnson’s dramatic announce-ment on Friday notes that thelikely outcome is now a rela-tionship similar to EU-Australia ties, based on globaltrading norms.

“From the outset we weretotally clear that we wantednothing more complicated than

a Canada-style relationship,based on friendship and freetrade. To judge by the latest EUsummit in Brussels that won’twork for our EU partners.

“They want the continuedability to control our legislativefreedom, our fisheries, in a waythat is obviously unacceptableto an independent country,”said the UK PM, referring toone of the key stumbling blocksto a new deal being the divisionof waters for fishing rightswith neighbouring coastal EUcountries.

Instead, he indicated theprospect of smaller, sector-specific agreements remainson the table.

“And of course we are will-ing to discuss the practicalitieswith our friends where a lot ofprogress has already beenmade, by the way, on suchissues as social security, and avi-ation, nuclear cooperation andso on. But for whatever reasonit is clear from the summit thatafter 45 years of membershipthey are not willing — unlessthere is some fundamentalchange of approach — to offerthis country the same terms asCanada,” he said. PTI

0��:��;�$��=�(�$��

Manila (Philippines): ThePhilippines is ready to defendthe oil and gas exploration ithas decided to resume in itsinternationally recognisedwaters in the disputed SouthChina Sea and will not cedethat right to any nation, theenergy chief said Friday.

The Department of Energyannounced Thursday thatPresident Rodrigo Duterte hasapproved its recommendationto lift a 6-year-old moratoriumon energy exploration in threeoffshore areas west of thePhilippines, including in poten-tially oil- and gas-rich ReedBank, which China also claims.

Companies with govern-ment exploration contractshave been notified to resumetheir petroleum search, EnergySecretary Alfonso Cusi said.

Cusi told reporters in anonline news conference Fridaythat China was not informed ofthe Philippine government’sdecision to resume oil explo-ration in its exclusive econom-ic zone, a 200-mile (320-kilo-meter) stretch of waters wherea coastal state can exclusively

exploit maritime resourcesunder the 1982 U.N.Convention on the Law of theSea.

Reed Bank and two otherexploration areas are within thePhilippines’ exclusive zone butChina is likely assert its claim,Cusi said.

“They will not just take itwithout raising a word. I’m surethey’re going to write us,” hesaid.

Asked how the Philippineswill respond if China protestsor intervenes in the high-seasexploration, Cusi replied, “We have to stand up for ourrights, that’s what we are goingto do.”

Exploration companieshave been assured they will beprotected by a 500-meter(1,650-foot) security bufferzone, Cusi said, without elab-orating. He said he expected“China will be respecting that.”

In 2011, a Philippine explo-ration vessel reported it wasbeing harassed by two Chinesepatrol boats at Reed Bank,prompting a military comman-der to deploy two aircraft. AP

�� (��(��

Greenville (US): US PresidentDonald Trump and hisDemocratic challenger JoeBiden held simultaneous andseparate televised town halls inlieu of the second presidentialdebate, taking questions frompre-selected individuals at ses-sions moderated by eminenttelevision journalists.

While Trump’s town hallwas hosted by the NationalBroadcasting Company (NBC)in Miami, Florida, that of Bidenwas held in Pennsylvania,Philadelphia by the AmericanBroadcasting Company (ABC)News.

The second presidentialdebate had originally beenscheduled for Thursday night.However, it was cancelled afterTrump refused to participate ina virtual format of the presi-dential debate as amended bythe independent debate com-mission following the presi-dent’s COVID-19 diagnosis.

A final debate is still sched-uled for October 22 inNashville, Tennessee. The firstdebate was held on September29 in Cleveland, Ohio.

Trump, 74, has recoveredfrom a brief spell of COVID-19 after he and First LadyMelania Trump, 50, tested pos-itive for the deadly viral infec-tion on October 1. Trump’sdoctors have now cleared himfor his election campaigns.

During the town hall,Trump defended his handlingof the coronavirus pandemic.He also reiterated his stand ontax returns.

However, Trump refused todenounce the QAnon conspir-

acy theory.According to QAnon, a

far-right group that has beenlabelled a terror threat by theFederal Bureau of Investigation(FBI), Democrats are runninga secret paedophilia ring. PTI

& ��*��

Greenville (US): Democraticpresidential nominee Joe Bidenhas vowed to include MuslimAmericans in every social andpolitical aspect in his admin-istration as well as repealPresident Donald Trump’s“Muslim ban” if voted topower.

In a video message toMuslim Advocates, a civilrights organisation, onThursday, Biden also promisedto push lawmakers for legisla-tion to fight the growing spikein hate crimes in the US.

“As president, I’ll workwith you to rip the poison ofhate from our society to hon-our your contributions andseek your ideas. My adminis-tration will look like America,with Muslim Americans serv-ing at every level,” he said.

“On day one, I’ll end

Trump’s unconstitutionalMuslim ban. I’ l l pushCongress to pass hate crimeslegislation. I’ll implement thenational strategy I’ve laid outsince March to be COVID. I’llend the deadly inequities inhealth care, education, andopportunity that this crisis hasamplified. And together, we’llrebuild the criminal justicesystem focused on redemp-tion, not retribution,” Bidenadded.

President Trump hasimposed a controversial trav-el ban, often referred to by crit-ics as a “Muslim ban”, on sev-eral Muslim majority coun-tries, including Iran and Syria,through a series of executiveorders. In February, the travelban was expanded to includesix additional countries,including Nigeria. PTI

#��,�� 2!��+ ��

Beijing: China on Friday jus-tified a warning by its envoy tothe Canadian Government tonot to grant asylum to HongKong residents fleeing abroad,saying that the ambassadorwas stating Beijing’s “just posi-tion”.

Chinese Ambassador toCanada, Cong Peiwu, in avideo press conference fromthe Chinese Embassy inOttawa, on Thursday said, “westrongly urge the Canadianside not (to) grant so-calledpolitical asylum to those violentcriminals in Hong Kongbecause it is the interference inChina’s domestic affairs. Andcertainly, it will embolden thoseviolent criminals.”

“So, if the Canadian sidereally cares about the stabilityand the prosperity in HongKong, and really cares aboutthe good health and safety of

those 300,000 Canadian pass-port-holders in Hong Kong,and the large number ofCanadian companies operatingin Hong Kong SAR, you shouldsupport those efforts to fightviolent crimes,” Cong said.

A large number of HongKong residents have been leav-ing the former British colonyresenting China’s move toextend the new security law tothe specially administeredprovince.

Asked about Cong’sremarks which were interpret-ed as a warning by Beijing,Chinese Foreign Ministryspokesman Zhao Lijian told amedia briefing here that, “theChinese embassy in Canadajust made clear our just posi-tion on issues relating to HongKong. It is beyond reproach”.

“If anyone is misinterpret-ing this, then you should ask

for the reason and find out ifthere are ulterior motivesinvolved”, he said.

Chinese President XiJinping on June 30 signed acontroversial security law thatgave Beijing new powers overHong Kong that are tailor-made to crackdown againstdissent, criminalising seditionand effectively curtailingprotests, amidst global angerand outrage in the formerBritish colony.

The relations betweenChina and Canada werestrained by the arrest of HuaweiChief Financial Officer MengWanzhou, in Vancouver in2018 on a bank fraud warrantissued by the US authorities.

Meng, who is currentlyfacing trial in the case, is alsothe daughter of Chinese tele-com giant Huawei founderRen Zhengfei. PTI

��4��-�� '��56��

�� %�E

The UN health agency saysthe world’s largest ran-

domised trial of COVID-19treatments found “conclusiveevidence” that remdesivir, adrug used to treat US PresidentDonald Trump when he fell ill,has little or no effect on severecases.

The World HealthOrganisation announced Fridaythe long-awaited results of its six-month “Solidarity TherapeuticsTrial” that endeavored to see ifexisting drugs might have aneffect on the coronavirus.

The study, which was notpeer-reviewed, found that fourtreatments tested - remdesivir,h y d r o x y c h l o r o q u i n e ,lopinavir/ritonavir and inter-feron - had “ little or no effect”on whether or not patients diedwithin about a month orwhether hospitalised patientsrecovered.

Most of those had alreadybeen ruled out. But remdesivir,a repurposed malaria drug, hasbeen classified as standard-of-care in the United States, and ithas been approved for useagainst COVID-19 in the UKand EU.

0'73(��8� ��9:

Washington: US PresidentDonald Trump has blamedcountries like China, Russiaand India for adding to theglobal air pollution and assert-ed that his country has the bestenvironmental numbers.

Speaking to his cheeringsupporters at an elections rallyin the key battleground State ofNorth Carolina on Thursday,Trump said the US under hisadministration has achievedenergy independence while pro-tecting its pristine environment.

“We have the best environ-mental numbers, ozone num-bers, and so many other num-bers. In the meantime, China,Russia, India all these countriesthey’re spewing stuff into the air,”he alleged during the rally. Hesaid the US has achieved ener-

gy independence while protect-ing its pristine environment.

Trump in June, 2017announced his decision towithdraw from the Paris deal,saying the accord would havecost America trillions of dol-lars, killed jobs, and hinderedthe oil, gas, coal and manufac-turing industries.

He has continuouslyargued that countries likeChina and India are benefitingthe most from the Paris agree-ment and the agreement itselfwas unfair to the US, as it badlyhit its businesses and jobs.

During Thursday’s rallytoo, Trump said to the cheer-ing crowd that it were a fewnations that were contributingto global pollution. PTI

��. ��*��'�� 0� ��

��7.-�� !��"#$�%&%&

�� %�1.�'23

The upcoming festive seasoncomes with a hope for the

retailers as they have beenseverely hit by the pandemic.

A survey by the RetailersAssociation of India (RAI)

and LitmusWorld shows thataround 80 per cent Indianconsumers are looking for-ward to buy products duringthe upcoming festive season.

The ‘Festive ShoppingIndex 2020’ shows that around75 per cent of the consumerswould be shopping online andaround 66 per cent would alsoconsider shopping at stand-alone stores and 37 per centwant to visit malls. The surveyobserved that the trend reflectsthe rise of omni-channel shop-ping.

“While online is the pri-

mary mode of discovery, con-sumers are looking forward topurchasing at physical stores,”said a joint statement by RAIand LitmusWorld.

Commenting on the fes-tive shopping sentiments,Kumar Rajagopalan, CEO ofRAI, said: “Retailers are look-ing at the festive season withsome amount of cautiousoptimism. We believe that allformats of retail will see resur-gence but on an omni-channelbasis.”

He said that customers dofeel the need to reconnect witha sense of cheer and are slow-ly coming out to shop.

“However, they may notshop in the same way they havebeen shopping all these years.There is a lot of reliance onwhat is being shown to themdigitally,” he added.

CHITTARANJAN: 65thRailway Week function wasobserved on 15th Oct 2020afternoon in Chittaranjan con-ference hall. Praveen KumarMishra, General Manager/CLW presided over this func-tion as Chief Guest & SunitaMishra, President /CLW-WWO as Guest of Honour inthis annual award function. Onthis occasion, staff and offi-cers of CLW were felicitatedfor their outstanding perfor-mance in the year 2019-20.Sunita Mishra President/CLW-WWO, along with other mem-bers of the organisation, S DPatidar, Pr. Chief PersonnelOfficer / CLW and otherSenior officers were also pre-sent on the occasion in con-ference hall. Shri PraveenKumar Mishra, GeneralManager congratulated theaward winners.

Rajendra Chaudhari,Director (Commercial)

accompanied by Shri PradeepSharma, GM (BD), called onH.E. Mossi Nyamale Rosette,Ambassador of DemocraticRepublic of Congo at CongoEmbassy, Delhi on Oct 14,2020 to discuss NBCC’s par-ticipation in upcoming infra-structure Development worksin DRC.

� �� %�1.�'23

The finance ministry onFriday kicked off the exer-

cise to prepare the annualBudget for 2021-22 amid theurgency to push economicgrowth hit by the COVID-19pandemic.

The upcoming Budgetwill be crucial for the countryas it will have to deal withimpact of pandemic which hasaffected all segments of theeconomy, including revenuecollection, disinvestment,expenditure, exports and foodprices.

The economy is projectedto contract by a massive 10.3per cent this year, according toan IMF forecast. Even theReserve Bank of India expectsthe economy to shrink by 9.5per cent in the current finan-cial year.

As per the finance min-istry schedule, the nearly one-month long exercise to finalisethe Revised Estimate (RE) for

2020-21 and Budget Estimate(BE) for 2021-22 began onFriday. The meetings will con-clude on November 12.

Officials of the Departmentof Financial Services, as well asministries of MSMEs, housing,steel and power were amongthose who participated in thefirst meeting, as per the sched-ule. “This year, however, keep-ing in view the COVID-19 sit-uation and the need to main-tain social distancing, thenumber of participants for thepre-budget meetings may berestricted to a maximum of 5officers (for each meeting)from a Ministry/Department,not below the rank ofDirector/DS,” the BudgetDivision of the finance min-istry had said in a notice.

It will be the third Budgetof the Modi 2.0 governmentand Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman.

Budget 2021-22 is likely tobe presented on February 1.

The Prime Minister

Narendra Modi-led govern-ment scrapped the colonial-eratradition of presenting theBudget at the end of February.The then finance ministerArun Jaitley had for the firsttime presented the annualaccounts on February 1, 2017.

With the preponement ofthe Budget, ministries are nowallocated their budgeted fundsfrom the start of the financialyear beginning April.

This gives governmentdepartments more leeway tospend as well as allow compa-nies time to adapt to businessand taxation plans.

Previously, when theBudget was presented at theend of February, the three-stageParliament approval processused to get completed sometime in mid-May, weeks aheadof onset of monsoon rains.

This meant governmentdepartments would startspending on projects only fromAugust-end or September, afterthe monsoon season ended.

� �� !/!4 3

Farm sentiments haveremained buoyant mainly

driven by healthy monsoonand further optimism of agood kharif crop, according toa report.

Agriculture income islikely to benefit over the medi-um term aided by increasedgovernment focus on ruralincome coupled with therecently introduced farmreforms, Icra Ratings said in thereport.

Moreover, it said the ruralhousehold incomes have stayedresilient in the face of theCOVID-19 pandemic and havebeen supported by healthyfarm cash flows across regions,aided by high levels of rabi pro-curement under various gov-ernment schemes after a seasonof bumper harvest.

Further, increased govern-ment support through schemeslike MNREGA and PM-KISAN have helped in creatingemployment and easing liq-

uidity pressure on ruralincomes, brought about bylarge scale reverse migrationfrom urban to rural areas postthe imposition of the nation-wide lockdown, it added.

“While the sudden impo-sition of nationwide lockdownhad led to fears of disruption inthe Rabi procurement process,the same was mitigated byprompt lifting of restrictions bythe government for agriculturalactivities.

“This, along with signif-icant increase in spending onsocial welfare schemes duringthe first quarter of FY21helped in absorbing the excesslabour availability in ruralareas created by reverse migra-tion,”

the ratings agency’s VicePesident Shamsher Dewan said.

Further, timely andhealthy monsoon rain acrossregions and labour availabilityhas supported early kharif sow-ing with its acreage at recordhighs during the current year,the report added.

� �� !/!4 3

Indian equities resumed theirupward march on Friday fol-

lowing the massive selloff in theprevious session, with banking,metal and IT counters leadingthe rally. After fighting boutsof volatility, the BSE Sensexclosed 254.57 points or 0.64 percent higher at 39,982.98.

On similar lines, the NSEgauge Nifty settled 82.10 pointsor 0.70 per cent up at 11,762.45.

Tata Steel topped theSensex gainers chart with ajump of 5.38 per cent, followedby HDFC Bank, PowerGrid,Ultratech Cement, Kotak Bank,Axis Bank and ONGC.

Of the 30 Sensex con-stituents, 24 ended with gains.

HCL Tech was the biggestlaggard, tumbling 3.76 percent, despite the company post-ing an 18.5 per cent rise inSeptember quarter net profit atRs 3,142 crore.

Mahindra & Mahindra,Reliance Industries, Asian

Paints, Nestle India and SunPharma were the other losers.

On a weekly basis, theSensex lost 526.51 points or1.29 per cent, while the Niftydeclined 151.75 points or 1.27per cent.

“The market has liftedmarginally after yesterday’sdeep fall, but the overall trendis still fragile. The market trendhas turned weak due to highstock prices in spite of lack ofrequired fiscal support andrising spread of COVIDimpacting economic recovery.The quick bounce of the mar-ket to above last high and nearthe pre-COVID level, hasbrought volatility, which canstay for some time.

“For Nifty a strong supportis at 11,500 limiting the down-side, in the near-term. Themarket will look forward, withhigh hopes to Q2 results andupdate on stimulus plans. IT,telecom, pharma and bankswill be the sectors under focuswith a positive bias,” said VinodNair, Head of Research atGeojit Financial Services.

�� !/!4 3

The Reserve Bank of India(RBI) on Friday announced

the purchase of state develop-ment loans worth �10,000 croreunder open market operations.

The auction will be con-ducted on October 22.

The RBI, in a statement,said that it has been decided toconduct a purchase auction ofSDLs under OMOs for anaggregate amount of �10,000crore on October 22, keeping inview that this is the first everOMO purchase of SDLs.

“Depending on marketresponse, the size of the auc-tions may be enhanced in thesubsequent auctions.

“Accordingly, RBI will pur-chase the SDLs... through amulti-security auction usingthe multiple price method.”

Earlier this month, RBIGovernor Shaktikanta Das, inthe ‘Statement on

Developmental and RegulatoryPolicies’, said: “In order toimpart liquidity to SDLs andthereby facilitate efficient pric-ing, it has been decided to con-duct open market operations(OMOs) in SDLs as a specialcase during the current finan-cial year.”

“This would improve sec-ondary market activity andrationalise spreads of SDLsover the Central governmentsecurities of comparable matu-rities. This measure, along withthe extension of HTM (Held toMaturity Category) till March2022, should ease concernsabout illiquidity and absorptivecapacity for the total govern-ment borrowing in the currentyear.”

Jammu:A Two days CapacityBuilding program for theemployees of Hospitality &Protocol Jammu was inaugu-rated today by Sh Hashmat AliKhan, KAS, DirectorHospitality & Protocol, J&Kthrough Online Mode atConvention centre , Jammu.The Capacity Building pro-gram has been organised incollaboration with M/s IndusEduTrain Pvt Ltd a NationalSkill Development Corporation(NSDC) empanelled vocation-al training partner with aim toimpart Hard/ soft skills to theofficials required in servicesector, besides etiquettes, per-sonal hygiene & hygiene in

food production. The training endeavors toimpart among the officials thebest skills, knowledge of the lat-est trends, modern ways &techniques to ensure the Guestsatisfaction. Director, H&P,J&K while moti-vating the officials towardsimprovisation of their skills andservices further said that theprogramme is organised withthe objective of upgrading theskills of the staff of Hospitality& Protocol and imbibe in thema culture of courtesy, etiquettesand to inculcate an aptitude forproblem solving and service,the safety and security para-meters.

Jaipur:Due to the continuousefforts of Jaipur DevelopmentCommissioner Gaurav Goel,the JDA has earned Rs 130crore in September. Theincrease in JDA revenue willaccelerate the development ofJaipur city and provide betterfacilities to the common man.Along with this, many devel-opment works are being doneby the JDA in the city.

The JDC said that 711leases were issued in the campheld in the month ofSeptember in Prithviraj Nagar,due to which JDA received arevenue of Rs 33 crores.

He informed that 180 leas-es were issued by the JDAunder the Zone-PrithvirajNagar Yojana (North-I) in themonth of September, whichreceived a revenue of Rs. 42million.

&��>��$ ��=��

/#$��3!3��4.�,� �%�5'�'''�

�� %�1.�'23

The Department of Telecom’swireless monitoring organ-

isation on Friday conductedraids in South and South-WestDelhi to bring down illegal net-work boosters which interferewith mobile services and resultin call drops and other qualityissues, an official said.

The Wireless MonitoringOrganisation (WMO) has alsoissued notice to e-commercecompanies warning against thesale of network boosters with-out valid permit, the officialsaid.

“We got an assignment fromWMO regarding unautho-

rised mobile boosters in East ofKailash, Sant Nagar and SouthWest.

We have identified someunauthorised mobile boostersbut people are not aware thatinstalling them without a validpermit is illegal. We madethem aware of it,” said G KReddy, engineer-in-charge,international monitoring sta-tion, Wireless MonitoringOrganisation.

��$8"&#��8�& �,��%�,�+#�#��8��%9�4"&��#& �8#�#��$8�"��&��

� �� !/!4 3

The rupee on Friday settledalmost f lat at 73.35

against the US dollar in theabsence of any fresh trigger.

At the interbank forexmarket, the rupee opened at73.41 against the greenbackand moved in a narrow rangeduring the day in lacklustretrade. The rupee closed at73.35, higher by just 1 paisafrom its previous close of73.36. Meanwhile, the dollarindex, which gauges thegreenback’s strength againsta basket of six currencies, fell0.16 per cent to 93.70.

“There are no fresh cuesin the market to react to andthat is why we are seeingUSD/INR spot consolidatingin between 73-73.60.

) ��J<$<9��

&�� )��

.� �� ./"

.�� "��#��,� ��%��"��

,?��.��'��'��-

%� ��

#. G�8<@�� "��

6� �� /��

-�:�� #�4"$#�� 83 $,�$!�3 $�3"#&�7"#) ��%'� �$7"+

� ��$""�=)�9#+(��*#��('''�*#��)?#�+�@)"*$�(�9)�$*D�+)9*$�<�)($<?�*#�@)"*$="��=�$9��@�*#�-

� � � � ! � $ � � � $ ! �

�� -�� $ �8@-��-��"��L�� $��-�� $

��-��.��$�� $1�� $

�"�$�+��@�* �".*�0)�"7.��.)��3��8@��$3�� L�� $ ��$3L�� L�� N� ��-4��"��$

4%�A��")�.�3��-��N��3�� $4��G�� 3�� L��$

1��!��5�� 6��-��3�� 3�� $2�� 3��3�� $

#�+ �+��.�+�400* 7.��".)&&

�� !��"#$�%&%&

��&��/4��

How often do we come acrossfilms which have been thecreation of a single person’s

mind? Well, filmmaker, actor andmodel Rohit Arora, for his firstdirectorial, a neo-noir film, ThePickup Artist, donned several hats —of a writer, director, producer, filmvideographer and editor — to makethe project finally come through.The reason behind this also findssimilarity with the film’s underlyingtheme — trust. He says, “Goingahead with an absolutely no-com-promise approach on my debutfilm, there was literally nothing Iwouldn’t have done to make it a mas-terpiece in cinema. I ended upbeing a DOP to avoid any nuisancein the tone of the film because Iknew it could take a long time toshoot. Since the film has been shotin Delhi, I did not know anyone herewhom I could trust enough for beinga long-term crew. Hence, I ended upbeing an editor for this very reason— lack of trusted talent around.”

The film revolves around alecherous, maniac cop, Tiger Tiwari,who has been transferred to NewDelhi and appointed for an “unsolv-able” and a “curious” case of miss-ing girls. The suspected culpritoperates in daylight and does notleave a clue. With each new missinggirl, Tiwari comes closer to solvingthe case. But the questions remainthe same — Where are the girlsgoing? What is the culprit’s purposebehind this? Will Tiwari be able tosolve the case?

As Rohit calls the film “anythingbut boring, pretty much an edge-of-the-seat thriller,” out of an ensemblecast of 20 main characters, one of thelead actors and debutante Sasha Aeryagrees and talks about how the nar-ration itself had flattered her.

Well, we know, how on debu-tantes, 2020 hasn’t been very fair. Thefilm, which was initially scheduledto release on April 3, faced the bruntof the pandemic-induced lockdownin the most unexpected ways.However, Rohit and Sasha are grate-ful that the film was featured at var-ious international film festivals andwon accolades at the oldest, 52ndWorldfest Houston — Remi WinnerUSA 2019. Well, the excitement canbe sensed in their voice from theother end of the phone. Excerpts:

�How difficult was it to extend therelease due to the lockdown? Whydidn’t you release the film online?

Rohit: In March, just 10 daysbefore the lockdown wasannounced, we had finished all themarketing work as the release datewas nearing. It was surely devastat-ing to know that we had to extendthe release for that time but now Ithink, it was for a reason. I made thefilm for the big screen and itdeserved to have been showcasedthere. Of course, the thought killedme every now and then that whenare the theatres going to open but Ialso knew that cinema is one thingIndian audience has loved and it willcertainly be opened again oncethings settle down.

I held back on OTT. I had somesmall investors in the film who want-ed it to be out during this time inlockdown. Even I thought for onceto just go for OTT and get over withit. But it was my first film and it hadto be special. The film has played atbig festivals and grabbed good audi-ences. Also, it’s a different processthrough which you make content forthe big screen or the small one orOTT. The cost goes high, the post-production and editing work is alsodone accordingly.

Sasha: Lockdown was like anunending wait. Given that it’s myfirst film, I was very excited aboutit. But it gradually demanded a lotof patience. However, I also think it’skind of revolutionary now that thisis one of the first films to be releas-ing after the reopening of the cine-mas. And I am glad for this factbecause cinema lovers have obvious-ly waited long for this day to comein 2020.

�How did you conceptualise thefilm?

Rohit: The idea occurred to mein 2010. However, I cannot tell youhow it originated because otherwiseI might end up revealing a lot aboutthe script and the film’s very secret!(laughs)

I would say it’s a compilation ofa lot of ideas that I had in my mind.I also referred to books — about mys-tery, thriller and cops. It was a verylong process. I wanted my first filmto be super amazing. I didn’t want theaudience to get bored. I had set thebar very high for myself even in myvery first project. I just wanted to

bank on the originality of my thoughtthat revolves around creating moremindful cinema in India. From theconcept to the screen, it was a jour-ney of 10 years. At the end of 2015,we started shooting and 2019 was thepremiere. And now it’s releasing inthe cinemas in India.

�The trailer highlights a lot ofthings like questioning the govern-ment, society and old-age beliefsand the exploitation of women, ofcourse. It says very less about whatthe film is exactly trying to say...

Rohit: Well, it’s the reason whyI cut the trailer this way. I did not

want to reveal anything. Trailers areusually cut by the producers’ market-ing team. But here, I worked on itmyself and it took my team about sixmonths to cut the trailer. You willrealise that at every step in the film.

�What does the title signify?Rohit: Who is a pickup artist? He

is the one who belongs to the seduc-tion or the pickup community andaims at picking up girls to lure themfor sex. Our tagline — a curious caseof missing girls investigated by amaniac cop — is actually the answer.This is the plot. But there’s a lot moreto it!

�There was a dialogue in the trail-er that caught our attention —“Raavan agar Ramayan jeet jaatatoh voh hero ban jaata, par haargaya isliye villain ban gaya.” Wheredid that idea come from? How doyou think modern dialogue-writinghas become more thought-provok-ing?

Rohit: The idea came to mewhen I was going to shoot a Ramleela

scene and I was in a cab. It just struckme out of nowhere. You never knowwhere an idea might emerge from attimes and that’s exactly what hap-pened at the time. You just know thatit’s a good idea and you should workupon it. I never sit down to think andwrite. I let it happen while on the go.I am in a constant conversation withmyself. So, I never write my dialoguesin a rush, I give them a lot of time. Iusually have a structure ready, whichI fill up with dialogues and storysteadily. Until I am super happy andsatisfied with my writing, I don’t goahead with it. Dialogues is my USPas a writer.

Sasha: I agree. I think he has thatflair of being perfect with the struc-ture. He makes sure his script alignswith his idea. I think it also has a lotto do with the way he structured theidea itself, for which he needs thosespecific pieces to build it. That’s actu-ally the beauty of this film!

�Being a practising psychologist,how did you land the project?

Sasha: It’s actually a very funnystory and that’s the most interestingpart about it. One of my very goodfriends was going for the audition forthis film and I just accompanied him.And it’s the funny how I landed a roleand he did not. I just went casuallyand gave a try. Before this, I had onlygiven auditions for theatre or stageshows or a street play but never fora feature film. I think it was just meantto happen.

Rohit: I’d say, she is very photo-genic. She just held the audience. Oneof my friends complimented her thatone can just hold the camera on herfor as long as one wants, and the audi-ence won’t move!

Sasha: (Laughs) It was flattering!

�How did you get into the skin ofyour character, Akansha? Was theprep more mental?

Sasha: Yes, my target was alwaysto understand the character from apsychological perspective becauseotherwise it would have got quite dif-ficult for me to resonate with her andbe in her skin. And Rohit always gaveme that leeway. Even if he had hisown process and professional ethics,he still let me get comfortable with thecharacter myself and gave me enoughtime to settle.

�How challenging was it?Sasha: I would say it was slight-

ly challenging because Akansha wasquite opposite to how I am. She wasquite naive. I am not trying to meanthat being naive is a bad thing but ifwe look at Sasha, her senses wouldhave been too alert rather than justgoing for what was being asked of her.So my most conversations about thecharacter with Rohit were about this— How can she do that? I was con-stantly trying to understand hermotives. But then, it automaticallycame to me when we started rehears-ing and finally shooting. I also founda similarity that Akansha, just like me,also wanted to be somebody success-ful.

�What should the audience expectfrom the film?

Rohit: It’s a mindful entertain-ment. The audience will find goodmusic, definitely a story, perfor-mances by some amazing actors,humour, drama, suspense and aboveall, newness. It will certainly be a visu-al treat. It has not been made as a typ-ical Bollywood film. I have workedvery hard to fight the cliches and gobeyond them both in my writing andmy treatment. We even conductedvarious workshops to get better atlearning the characters. We did notstraight away begin with the shoot.Had I done it in a Bollywood system,it would have never worked out thisway. A funny fact? A lot of my assis-tants left in the way (chuckles)because it took so long to complete!

�What do you think is the relevanceof the film?

Rohit: There’s no message assuch. It’s just a thriller — a mindfulone. The core of the film is “trust.”This term has fascinated me sincechildhood. As I grew-up, my sensi-tivity towards trust increased to apoint where I started seeing my wholelife as a binary pattern of presence orabsence of trust, just like signals in acomputer are represented by presenceor absence of current. I am really gladthis film turned out to be my debutas a director. The thought still fasci-nates me how the idea of a pickupartist and trust somehow amalgamat-ed together in my head.

(The film released yesterday intheatres.)

The Mehrauli-Badarpur Road isone of those roads, whichwhen you drive through

you go through a millennia ofDelhi’s history — from the ram-parts of the spectacularTughlakabad Fort to the toweringQutub Minar, the oldest free-standingtower in the world. You realise then thatDelhi is truly one of the world’s oldestliving cities, one steeped in history bothancient and modern. And one of thoseplaces where Delhi’s history meets themodern Delhi is The Garden of FiveSenses, located just off this very road,next to Saket Metro Station. This 20-acrespace initially conceptualised by Delhi-based architect Pradeep Bhandari is runby Delhi Tourism and, in a normal time

is a hub of cultural and gastronomicactivities, particularly in Winters. Thatis why the name of the place — as itdelights all your five senses.

But one must not lose sight of thesite’s historical significance located justoutside the Mehrauli archaeologicalsite. Several historical monuments,including the Qutub Minar, are visiblefrom the site. However, it is also hometo some stunning modern art installa-tions as well as a replican of the Mayan-

era Labna Arch, creating a culturalhistory bridge between India andMexico. It is unfortunate that due tothe current pandemic, there will befewer events this year, althoughDelhi Tourism is promising that

some events with limited attendancewill take place nonetheless. Some of thepermanent restaurants located inside theGarden of Five Senses have opened theirdoors again and the public can easily visitthe site and experience a mix of theancient and modern.

There is ample parking at the Gardenand the Hyundai Venue Sport is the idealurban car to visit the site in its modernlooks, accentuated by the greenery andthe art installations at the Garden.

��3;�) ��(��

��+��"��"� ��.��

+3E�"�%"�"(+23"�()D

Even as festivals world overare moving virtual, Egypt’s

El Gouna Film Festival to beheld between October 23 andOctober 30 is all set to beamongst the first sizeable phys-ical film events to be held inCOVID-era. Interestinglyenough, the festival has aninteresting Indian connectiontoo. The Shorts FilmCompetition of the schedulewill be judged by Bollywoodactor Ali Fazal.

Fazal, who is currently inthe midst of promoting hisforthcoming Amazon PrimeShow Mirzapur, will soon starin the much-awaited KennethBranagh film Death On TheNile. The actor had previous-ly headlined Victoria & Abdulalongside Dame Judi Dench.His co-jury members includeTunisian director Raja Amari,Syrian actor Kinda Alloushand the popular Argentinefilmmaker SantiagoAmigorena. The jury willchoose four best entries froma wide range of submissions toaward a prize money of$31,000n(USD).

Fazal will be accompa-nied to the festival by fianceactor Richa Chadha. Theactress known for the Emmynominated series Inside Edge,the much-celebrated LoveSonia amongst others will bein a panel discussion aboutwomen empowerment. Shewill also discuss her journey inthe Hindi film industry, herchallenges, choices and theimpact it had on the kind ofroles that came her way.

In a statement, Richa said,

“I am looking forward to thepanel discussion. It’s an impor-tant dialogue that must be hadto help popular culture movein the right direction. With therising number of powerfulfemale voices across the world,it’s important to discuss, debateand relearn norms. The narra-

tive in 2020 must speak aboutgender equality which willonly come from empoweringthe women who’ve been giventhe short end of the stick for fartoo long.”

Ali says, “It has been a fair-ly grim year for all of us acrossthe world. The fact that I will

be attending an on groundphysical event is a reminderthat the worst is behind us. Itgives me hope that things willget better world over, here on.I am looking forward to watch-ing many short films andinteracting with the people atthis event.”

��64��

��,��%��$+��)(23� )() ��" "2 �)D�� !��"�� -�� $1�� 8@�� $4�*2 2 0 !3�� '

��)3*2 *2 .2 �� '3+ P '��$��+&��

5 ��"��8�& �� $4��

��:��7'()�*+ ,- 5.

��:��7'()�*+ ,-�55�� !��"#$�%&%&

�� 64�� E��

Terminator: Dark Fate is ascience fiction actionfilm directed by Tim

Miller and produced by JamesCameron and David Ellison. Itis the sixth installment in theTerminator film franchise andacts as a direct sequel to TheTerminator (1984) andTerminator 2: Judgment Day(1991).

The film stars LindaHamilton and ArnoldSchwarzenegger as SarahConnor and the T-800Terminator, respectively,reuniting the actors after 23years, and introducesMackenzie Davis, Natalia Reyesand Gabriel Luna as new char-acters. In this interview, Arnoldand Linda talk about theircharacter and the feeling ofreuniting after so many years.

�In these 35 years of life, theelectronics have kind of takenover our lives. How foreshad-owing is this franchise?

Linda Hamilton: Well, itcertainly was ahead of its timeback in 1984 when we did thefirst one and it couldn’t be truertoday. So in all these years wehave seen it come true and Ithink it actually speaks morepowerfully today than it everhas.

�How refreshing is it to comeback together after years toinhabit the characters?

Arnold Schwarzenegger:Well, we had such a great timewhen we worked in the firstterminator. Then, in the secondone we did a lot of trainingtogether, weapon training andstuff like that. We also didtraining for the acting, thescenes and all. One day JamesCameron and I went to a

motorcycle ride as we always goand had breakfast. There he sai,‘what do you think of doinganother terminator film?’ I gotreally excited and asked himabout the storyline. And whiletelling me the story he said thatwe are going to have Lindaback. I said, ‘Oh man thatwould be great.’ So he told methat he is going to produce itsoon and create a story wherealong with Linda, we all aregoing to be back. I was delight-ed about this and it turned outto be a great decision as itended up being a great film.

�“Years ago if you would askme to run, jump and do somephysical exertion I could do itwell. But later there would besome things I would have aharder time doing it.” Howwas it doing some of theactions in the film?

Linda: We used to workday in and day out, I meanthere was not a rest day. I usedto act and then go home, laydown to rest my body and read40 books. That way you restyour body, take your mind outelsewhere and then work in afresh mood the next day.

�What really impressed mewith this latest incarnation isfemale empowerment. Therehas always been that kind ofelement but this time we seea little spin...

Arnold: Well, thanks toJim. I have to say this becausein all in his films he has femaleheroes. The key thing is thecasting, there are a lot ofwomen who rebel on thescreen, I don’t believe it and Idon’t buy all of it. But with thisone I bought it. When Lindacame on this screen in the first

terminator and she crushed it,I totally bought in because shebecame the ant and the leaderthat she is supposed to be. It gota notch higher in the secondone. She created a whole newkind of a character that afemale can be a rebel just likea guy and its totally believable.

So the pressure is on the otherwomen who want to be thesame and want to be calledaction heroes. They have to beas intense as her as she has seta whole new standard. This alsoapplies to other women whoare in this film. She created astandard that’s very hard to

match up to and so the otherwomen were all struggling,but they finally did. They alldid a great job but Linda is thereal hero.

(The film will premiere forthe first time on television onStar Movies on October 18 at 12pm and 9 pm.)

Having written-directed-produced andanimated children films like

Jajantaram Mamantaram, GoopiGawaiyaa Bagha Bajaiyaa and written-illustrated numerous books for children,the filmmaker Soumitra Ranade is nowcoming out with his first action adventurenovel for children, Bhrigu and The PalaceOf Mirror.

Known for the official remake ofAlbert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyun Aata Hai?starring Nandita Das and Manav Kaulwhich is streaming on Netflix andAmazon Prime, Soumitra is currentlyinvolved with the pre-production of ananimated feature Kabuliwala based onRabindranath Tagore’s short story and ananimation web series.

Excited about his debut as a novelwriter for children, Soumitra says,“Although I have written many short sto-ries for children and some of them havealso been published, I always wanted towrite something longer, something moresubstantial. A novel by its very form givesthe writer that space to explore stories indepth – to delve into complexities, todevelop relationships and so on.”

He adds, “Writing and then illustrat-ing the novel brought me immense joy —like all the work that I do specifically forchildren always does. More than anythingelse, it is also to maintain my own sanitythat I keep going back to children’s liter-ature or films. That is free world — aworld full of adventure and fantasy, ofmystery and intrigue. That’s a worldwhere one can eliminate the dark, thedepressing and the miserable. It is a spaceof hope, love and compassion. There is awide variety of children’s literature avail-able in India — not just in English but alsoin many regional languages. But most ofit is for young children. There is hardlyanything for older children as a result ofwhich they have to switch to the HarryPotters and other western writing. This initself is fine, since children should be read-ing all that, but I think they should alsobe reading our stories. This novel is ourway to address this gap. I am absolutelyfascinated by the way children think andI am really looking forward to knowingwhat they think of my book.”

The novel revolves around 10-year-oldBhrigu who has a nose for mystery and a

taste for adventure. So instead of spend-ing his summer break playing all day, hefinds himself drawn to his father’s latestfilm set, a replica of an ancient palace witha creepy legend. But when a chanceencounter with a mysterious stranger setsoff a series of bizarre events and an oldstory tears into real life, Bhrigu realisesthat something truly sinister is afoot.Things come to a head when his fathergoes missing. Now he must use all hisdeductive skills and find little help fromthe grown-ups to solve an impossible puz-zle, before it wrecks his entire world.Packed with thrills and chills, this illus-trated book will keep you turning thepages until the very end.

��F��When my children were much

younger, I had to tell them a new storyevery night. Any repeats would be coun-tered with noisy protests and I had to rackmy brains to come up with something notjust new, but exciting enough to hold theirattention.

While I was telling them these stories,which were sometimes funny, but most-ly strange and scary, I was also experi-menting. I would sometimes create a log-ical sequence of events and then slowlybreak away and tread on a contradictorytrajectory. I would then wait for theirresponses. Sometimes they would com-plain fiercely while at other times theywere not at all disturbed by the illogical-ities. Often, I would also experiment witha non-linear storyline and at times I wouldplay with improbable sizes and shapes. Itwas my way of keeping my own interestalive.

Whether they were enjoying these sto-ries is for them to say but for me, it wasa great learning experience. It was like alittle story-making laboratory that I hadstarted in my own house.While I wastelling them these stories, I watchedthem closely, their eyes fixated on one spotlistening to me intently. They would takein my words and through their eyes, Icould see them forming their own uniqueimages in their minds. Their eyes, andoccasional questions told me if I was onthe right track. Through their eyes I couldalso sense what is really scary and whatis ‘excitingly’ scary. Their eyes told me howfar I could go.

This particular story of the Palace ofMirrors came to me when I had visitedLucknow and experienced the extraordi-nary mazes at Bhool Bhulaiya. I had feltthen that it is not only an exciting storybut something that will connect our chil-dren with our architectural heritage. I haveoften felt that amazing structures such asAjanta Caves, Jantar Mantar, Konarktemple etc. have all been relegated to merechapters in school history books with noreal bond with the younger generation.This story is also an attempt to addressthat.

&��&�� GA few years back, I had a chance to

visit Lucknow and I was totally lookingforward to savouring the most delicious

local food – the Tunday Kebabs, Khasta,Kormans, Makhan Malai, Awadi Biryani,Nahari-Kulchas, Roomali Rotis, Sheermal,Basket Chaat and of course the WarqiParathas. And if there was still any spaceleft in my overstuffed stomach then therewere the sweets too. The Gulab Jamuns,Besan Laddus, Jalebis and Kulfi. ButLucknow is known for many other thingsbesides its cuisine. It’s incrediblechikankari kurtas, exquisite jewelry andthe aromatic attars – natural perfume oilsmade from flowers like rose or jasmine orfrom sandalwood, herbs, spices or evenspecial tree barks, are famous the worldover. But wait.

Well, this is not all. Lucknow also hasthe most extraordinary architecture.Dilkisha Kothi Palace, Chattar Manzil,Aurangzeb’s Mosque, Kaiserbagh Palace,Constantia House, Chota Imambara andmany such architectural wonders dot thecity, which reflects centuries old culture orthe Lucknowi tehzeeb as it is called uni-versally.

The most peculiar edifice is ofcoursethe Bhool Bhulaiya. The entire structureis staggering to say the least. Here, unend-ing passages and corridors are connectedextremely skillfully with one another andform mysterious mazes that are spellbind-ing.While I was walking through these pas-sages totally mesmerised by them, a storybegan to form in my mind and as soon asI returned to Mumbai, I wrote the firstdraft of Bhrigu and the Palace of Mirrors.

The Naseemgadh Palace in the bookis inspired by Bhool Bhulaiya, which is apart of Bara Imambara, used by ShiaMuslims for the purpose of Azadari. It wascommissioned by Nawab of Awadh, Asaf-Ud-Dowhala, during the drought year of1784. His objective was to provide employ-ment for people in the region for almosta decade while the famine lasted. Designedby Hafiz Kifayat ullah, an architect fromShahjahanabad (present day old Delhi), itscentral hall is said to be the largest vault-ed chamber in the world. Two imposinggateways lead to the main hall and it is saidthat there are 1024 ways to reach the ter-race but only two to come back.

(Published by Hachette India, thenovel will be out on October 20 onAmazon, Kindle, Flipkart and bookstoresacross India.)

Recognising India’s unsungselfless heroes who have

gone out of their way to helpthose in need during the pan-demic, the United Nations inIndia and NITI Aayog, in part-nership with Discovery chan-nel, are launching a campaign#BharatKeMahaveer. It will cel-ebrate Indians who have shownkindness, extending a helpinghand to the vulnerable andhave selflessly gone that extramile.

As a part of the campaign,a three-part series will air onDiscovery to celebrate theactions by 12 champions fromacross India who, through theirexemplary actions have beenspreading a ray of hope, com-ing together in strength andsolidarity.

The series will be co-host-ed by the UN Secretary-General’s SDG Advocate DiaMirza and actor Sonu Sood,who was recently conferred the‘Special Humanitarian ActionAward’ by the Government ofPunjab for his efforts duringthe COVID-19 crisis.

Speaking about the initia-tive, Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITIAayog, said, “Throughout thisglobal crisis, we have seencountless stories of individualsacross the country who havegone beyond their call of duty.Even in the aspirational dis-tricts, despite facing greaterdevelopmental challenges, peo-ple came forward in a tremen-dous display of humanity. Weare happy to have come togeth-er for this initiative to recognisethese stories.”

The campaign celebratesluminous stories of solidarity,where, whether through fooddistribution, medical care,donating their life savings orfeeding a stray animal peoplehave shown a strong sense oftogetherness.

Renata Dessallien, UNResident Coordinator in Indiasaid, “As COVID-19 continuesto upend our lives, theseunsung heroes are an inspira-tion and solace to us all. Theyremind us that it is only work-ing together, with kindnessand compassion, that we cansucceed – a truth that under-pins the message of UN.Through the campaign we wishto honour those individuals,who despite all odds, havegone out of their way to showextraordinary kindness to helpthose in need. They rekindleour faith in humanity and ourhope for a better future. They

make us proud.”Megha Tata, Managing

Director – South Asia,Discovery CommunicationsIndia, said, “This is not just aTV show – it is a reflection ofIndia’s gratitude to so many ofthe unsung heroes who becamea shining beacon of hope andinspiration.”

Dia said, “Over the pastfew months, India has shownthe world that when peoplecome together, they can over-come any adversity. Instead ofself-interest, we have seen anoutpouring of solidarity duringthe pandemic. People are band-ing together to spread love,compassion and positivitythrough their actions, therebyensuring that the most vulner-able are not left behind. I amproud to call myself an Indian

and proud to be part of thisexcellent initiative.”

“The recent time has beenpainful for humanity. Duringthis time, some individualswith extraordinary sense ofempathy for fellow citizensgave away everything theyhad,” said Sonu. He added,“The almighty has been benev-olent to me and has given memeans to help others. I tried inmy small way but some of thestories that I came across are ofindividuals with limited meansbut who with their strong willmoved mountains. The worldwill know more about theseheroes through this campaign.”

(The documentary willcommence with phase 1 inNovember on Discovery,Discovery HD Channels andDiscovery Plus app.)

1�� $-.1�1!$+3- ��1/-3.4"�71/89-9��9/��%�� %� �� %��:�� (#�+91! ;$;1

& $�"#� 3�) �"� ��.3 !3)P ��"(%/"((.��-��-�� #��$��"��

# ��%��% ��%��1��"(/!3�) ) % .�G��-�� #�� %&�� "��

& �F��0E��

!��%��1��)

� �� 4/.2 43

The Mumbai Indians jugger-naut rolled on unabated asthey recorded their fifth

straight win with an eight-wicketmauling of Kolkata Knight Ridersin the IPL here on Friday.

A tidy bowling effort byMumbai Indians ensured that KKRwere restricted to 148 for five afteran unbeaten 53 by pace spearheadPat Cummins.

Then, the defending champi-ons rode on a blistering 44-ball 78by Quinton de Kock, to chase downthe target with 3.1 overs to spare.

De Kock, who struck ninefours and three sixes and skipperRohit Sharma (35 off 36 balls), laidthe foundation for the emphaticwin with their 94-run first-wicketstand.

The two openers took theKKR attack to cleaners with deKock being the more aggressiveone. The South African notched uphis fifty in just 25 balls, with a max-imum over deep-square leg.

It rained boundaries forMumbai as the two dominated theKKR bowling attack.

Pacer Prasidh Krishna (0/30)faced their brunt, conceding three

fours in the third over and de Kockfollowed that up by hammeringCummins (0/28) for two successivefours, both pull shots, in the next.

De Kock kept playing shots allaround the park and was again bru-tal on Prasidh, whom he hit for twofours and a six, in the seventh over,which fetched Mumbai 16 runs.

KKR tried to pull things backby removing Rohit andSuryakumar Yadav (10) in quicksuccession, but de Kock continuedhis onslaught with gusto and tookthe side home in the company ofHardik Pandya (21 off 11 balls),who played a small cameo.

Earlier, after a top-order failure,it was Cummins (53 off 36 balls5x4;2x6) and new skipper Eoin

Morgan (39 not out off 29 balls;2x4; 2x6), who conjured 87 runs forthe unbroken sixth wicket, to pullKKR out of trouble after they werereeling at 61 for five in the 11thover.

Opting to bat, Kolkata lostopener Rahul Tripathi (7) early,courtesy a sensational catch bySuryakumar Yadav at point, in thethird over off Trent Boult (1/32).

It became 33 for two as NitishRana (5) perished cheaply after hewas caught by de Kock off NathanCoulter-Nile (1/51) as a short ballworked for the Australian pacer inthe sixth over.

Leg-spinner Rahul Chahar(2/18) struck twice in the eight over,removing the young Shubham Gill

(21) and Dinesh Karthik (4) off suc-cessive balls and reduced Kolkatato 42 for four.

KKR lost half their side for 61as Andre Russell perished for 12. Abouncer from Jasprit Bumrah(1/22) did the trick as Russelllobbed off a sitter to de Kock.

)� ��;<� 9 <��

)��=�� 598�:>��

�� !��"#$�%&%&

5<

MOTION PICTURE

DUGOUT5"��%�3 �$��!�3�7"�! ,��"�$�+$"��+�� #&��#9�,"�4��%"!�& %"&��#� $"� ��&)"�� $!9��&,)"��4�� 4"� �&��!��+��8"�&)�&��&��#�!�33��&�& #& ��4 4"�&�4

�)��%#��$"�� 8��%�% !��&&)�#�#&�%"� 3�&)"�#"�# �9��&��4��"7"$�&)"� �"�& �&$+��!� 8�& �3�$��)"�!��"��#"��8� ,�) ,�;��8�+�&)"��&�$��$ ��!

� �4"9��)$�#��#�&)"�%$"�&"#&�2��+"$.�1)"��)"��#��&&��%9�+ ��,�+#�3""��+ �)�7"��)��"� 3�,��%�&)"%�4".��"�)"��#�&)"$"9��&<#��!�33"$"�&�4 !��&)"��4�

1"<7"��""��&)�#�#�&��&� ��!��"3 $"��!�)�7"�� 4"��8�3$ 4�&)�#9�# �,"<$"�� &��8��%�� &�&)�#9�,"8� ,��&��"�! �"��!��"��"7"��&)�#�&"�4�& �! ��&

!�#�%

��

��7"�3$ 4�='=��4� ��7"�3$ 4�>'=��4�

� �

��$�!�!�1�� 1 � ��

�� B ; A Q8$<9< 3

3 (� B ; A Q@$CC@ 3

6 ��5 B 9 < -@$8<C 4

0 �� B : : -@$;B: .

E �� B < 9 Q@$@@C /

/ � � B < 9 -@$<C@ /

2 �� B < 9 -@$B:: /

. �� B A ; -@$AC9 0

��*0"�.7��*+��0�*+��&07.�.4�)4.)��)��+�� "��"��$))�� -��-��#��4 �� %&&�� H�� #��7��$�� 4 ��"��$�� 4 ��L��!��.��0��00)$))�� $H1�� 7��%&&�� "��L�� H*��7��$

� �� ./4 3

Royal ChallengersBangalore would

aim to get their strat-egy right after someinexplicable decisions duringthe loss to Kings XI Punjabwhen they take on an erratic-but-dauntless Rajasthan Royalson Saturday.

The Virat Kohli-led RCBhas won five of its eight gameson the back of all-round perfor-mances but seemingly blun-dered in the eight-wicket defeatto laggards KXIP on Thursday.

On the other hand, theRoyals’ campaign this seasonhas been marred by numeroustop-order collapses, forcing thelower half to pull them acrossthe finish line and thet lie at theseventh spot in the points tablewith just three wins from eightoutings.

Against KXIP inSharjah, AB De Villiers,who has been in fineform, was sent in to batat number six, a bafflingdecision by the RCB.

Left-handerWashingtonSundar (13)and ShivamDube (23)were pro-moted upthe order toaccompanyskipper Kohli inthe middle.

The experi-ment didn’t workas all three bats-men struggledwith the SouthAfrican scoringjust two off fiveballs. To add toRCB’s woes, whiledefending thetotal, Kohli decid-

ed to save the in-form Sundar for thebig-hitting ChrisGayle, who came tobat in the eighth over.That gamble didn’t

pay off either as the 41-year-oldJamaican smashed the youngoff-spinner for four sixes.

Meanwhile, the Royalsboast of a strong batting line-up.But the likes of Steve Smith, andSanju Samson have failed toscore since the two victories inSharjah at the beginning of thetournament.

Jos Buttler too has beenunable to capitalise on hisstarts, scoring just one half-century in seven innings.

After failing in his firstmatch of the season, BenStokes, who has been elevatedto the role of an opener, hit 41before he was run out against

the Delhi Capitals.The inaugural seasonchampions have reliedon Rahul Tewatia torescue them from

precarious positions andthe all-rounder managed

to do that twice againstKXIP and SRHrespectively. But hefailed against theCapitals when yetagain the top-

order botched aneasy run-chase.

J o f r aArcher spear-heads theR a j a s t h a nb o w l i n gunit, alongwith the spinduo of

Tewatia and ShreyasGopal, who have consis-

tently figured in an XIthat has gone through alot of chopping andchanging.

"4=� �� ."�%��

��5�� 8�& �%"&&��&��#�$�%)&

MATCHES 21RAJASTHAN ROYALS 10ROYAL CHALLENGERS 09

(��3 ��

��%��Their campaign is backon track, courtesy Mahendra SinghDhoni’s smart captaincy but a stifftest awaits Chennai Super Kingswhen they face a dominant DelhiCapitals here onSaturday.

Every tactic thatDhoni employedagainst SRH, worked,and they are expectedto continue in the samevein as they battle to salvage the sea-son.

Whether it was promotingSam Curran to the opener’s slot orfinishing pacer Deepak Chahar'squota upfront while using sevenbowlers to dry up runs, every

move produced desired result.Dhoni used leg spinner

Piyush Chawla for only oneover and that too as late as in the16th over, leaving it largely on

Ravindra Jadeja andKarn Sharma butCSK are likely tocontinue with threespinners consideringthat the Sharjahwickets are now get-

ting slower.That spinners hold the key

in Sharjah was evident in thelast two games where RCBand Kings XI Punjab slowbowlers were instrumental intheir respective team’s wins.

However, they are upagainst a team which ishigh on confidence andwell-served by theSouth African pace duoof Kagiso Rabada andAnrich Nortje.

Add the wily R Ashwinand Axar Patel to the mix andDC has a rather impressivebowling unit.

The Capitals sidewould be a tad worriedabout fitness status ofShreyas Iyer, who hurt hisleft shoulder in the previous

game. The skipper has been ingood form with the bat and hasled well too. If he is ruled out ofSaturday’s match, DC will bedeprived of his classy battingand calm leadership PTI

MATCHES 22DELHI CAPITALS 07CHENNAI SUPER KINGS 15

(��3 ��

.�0��

�* ? .0� ""�"4 �(%�(!()� %�� Wicketkeeper-bats-man Dinesh Karthik on Fridaystepped down as captain of theKolkata Knight Riders team,handing over the reins to hisEnglish deputy Eoin Morganhours before the IPL matchagainst Mumbai Indians.

Karthik told the KKR man-agement that he wants to “focuson his batting and contributingmore to the team’s cause.”Appointed skipper in 2018, the35-year-old led KKR in 37 match-es.

“We are fortunate to haveleaders such as DK, who hasalways put the team first. It takesa lot of courage for someone likehim to take a decision such asthis,” team CEO Venky Mysoresaid in a statement.

“While we were surprised byhis decision, we are respectful ofhis wishes.”

Midway into the ongoingseason, KKR find themselves atfourth place in the points tablewith four wins and four losses.Morgan was widely tipped to takeover at some point from Karthikgiven the topsy-turvy run. PTI

��<��6��)�� '� ��)�� =&>?

2020/10/17 · rafale project as part of the annual routine meeting. at least, 10 to 12 iaf pilots...

Documents