english news paper | breaking news | latest today news in ......2021/01/26  · were injured in the...

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W hen India and China were preparing for talks last week to defuse tension at the border in Ladakh, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) troops tried to breach the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Sikkim leading to a minor face-off when Indian Army intercepted the Chinese. Soldiers from both armies were injured. The situation was brought under control fol- lowing the intervention of local commanders. China on Monday, howev- er, denied that such an incident ever took place. The Indian Army, on the other hand, con- firmed the incident and said, “We have received several queries regarding a face-off between Indian Army and PLA troops in the Sikkim sector. It is clarified that there was a minor face-off at the Naku La area of North Sikkim on January 20 and the same was resolved by local commanders as per established protocols. Media is requested to refrain from overplaying or exagger- ating reports which are factu- ally incorrect.” Sources said the injuries were insignificant and minor in nature and roughly about 20 PLA soldiers and four Indians were injured in the melee. The fracas took place when the Chinese patrol tried to enter Indian territory, they added. The Naku La is located at a height of more than 13,000 feet. The latest stand-off took place at a time when the Corps Commanders of the two armies were getting ready for the talks on Sunday. The talks lasted more than 16 hours at the Chushul-Moldo border meeting point in Eastern Ladakh. However, there was no tangible breakthrough in the parleys. The joint statement released here on Monday said the two sides had a candid and in-depth exchange of views on disengagement along the LAC. The two sides agreed that the ninth round of meeting was positive, practical and con- structive, which further enhanced mutual trust and understanding. The two sides agreed to push for an early dis- engagement of the frontline troops. Talking about the latest face-off, an official said, such an incident had also taken place last year on May 9 at Naku La when tension was building up at the LAC in Eastern Ladakh. Mountain pass is known as La in the Tibetan language. Even then, the troops from both sides exchanged blows after jostling each other. The inter- vention of local commanders prevented the situation from escalating. Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Zhao Lijian told a daily briefing in Beijing on Monday that he had “no infor- mation to offer” on the reports of clashes. He also said the Chinese troops are committed to main- taining peace at the border and urged India to meet China halfway and refrain from any unilateral actions that may exacerbate the border situation. The Chinese army mouth- piece The Global Times termed the incident as fake news and said there is no record of this incident in the Chinese PLA front line patrol logs. In recent days, the focus of the military’s top leaders on both sides has been on the ninth round of Corps Commander-level talks, not a new border clash, and the two sides have not been involved in such clashes mentioned by the Indian media, it said. There have been minor frictions between the frontline forces of the two countries, but if there had been friction involving casualties, it is impos- sible for them not to be record- ed in the Chinese patrol logs. As regards the Corps Commander-level dialogue, the Indian delegation was headed by 14 Corps chief Lt General PK Menon while Major General Liu Lin led the Chinese team. The statement said the two countries also agreed to follow the important consensus of their state leaders, maintain the good momentum of dialogue and negotiation, and hold the 10th round of the Corps Commander-level meeting at an early date to jointly advance de-escalation. The two sides agreed to continue their effective efforts in ensuring the restraint of the frontline troops, stabilise and control the situation along the LAC in the Western Sector of the China-India border, and jointly maintain peace and tranquility. B esides Indian media, a large number of foreign media has also lined up to cover the “kisan parade” on January 26 in the national Capital. A large number of YouTube channels from the UK, the USA, and Canada are present to cover the tractor rally. Farmers’ protests have drawn attention from across the world and foreign media has been highlighting the protests which entered its 61st day on Monday. According to ground reports, a large number of international media, both print and TV, has assembled at three protests sites — Tikri Border, Ghazipur Border and Singhu Border — in the national Capital to cover the tractor rally. This is for the first time since Independence the farm- ers will march in a unique kisan parade with National Flags. As thousands of farmers have started marching towards Delhi borders to participate in the tractor rally on Republic Day, agriculture organisations have decided to hold similar parades at State and district headquar- ters across the country. Foreign media, including BBC, Al Jazeera, Washington Post, the New York Times, Toronto Star, Reuters, the Province, Hamilton Spectator, CNN, CBC 24, Bloomberg, the Guardian and the Sun, were concentrated only on the Singhu Border till date. Now they have set up their crew at Ghazipur and Tikri borders. Farmers’ leaders have reported to have approached a large number of YouTube channels based in Canada, the USA, and the UK to cover their events. Foreign media is covering farmers’ protests in a promi- nent way. Farmers’ protests are making headlines across the world. Recently, a Pakistani singer Jawad Ahmed released an anthem inspired by the protests and dedicated to the farmers in India. Titled Kisana, the song which was released in December 2020, has been viewed thousands of times on YouTube. Several reaction videos on the song have also been released. The lyrics of the song say, “teri sohni dharti maa, tu jag da palan har, hun tu jeea hai (This beautiful Earth belongs to you, you are the patron of this Earth, rise and live),” which roughly trans- lates to peasants need to rise and that they are the providers of the world. Last month, a group of seven American lawmakers had written to then US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to raise farmers’ issue with his Indian counterpart. O pposition parties are like- ly to meet on Thursday to strategise plans to corner the Government in the Budget Session and force it to repeal the farm laws. Sources said leaders of various political par- ties, including the erstwhile NDA partner SAD, have got in touch to make a joint effort to repeal the three laws in the forthcoming Budget Session beginning on January 29. The main aim of the Opposition parties is to force the Government to repeal the law as it cannot be suspended since the laws came into force with the President of India’s accent. Sources in the Congress and a couple of political parties confirmed that the Parliamentary floor leaders will meet to deliberate upon a strategy for the session on Thursday. A bigger convention of Opposition parties may also take place thereafter. The SAD walked out of NDA in protest against the farm laws and its Lok Sabha MP Harsimrat Kaur resigned from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Council of Ministers. T he Centre is all set to impose “Green Tax” on older vehicles in an effort to reduce pollution by phasing out unfit and polluting vehicles. While commercial vehi- cles older than eight years could be charged Green Tax at the time of renewal of fitness certificate at the rate of 10 to 25 per cent of road tax, personal vehicles may be charged Green Tax at the time of renewal of Registration Certification after 15 years. The proposal approved by Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari will now go to the States for con- sultation before it is notified. Hybrids, electric vehicles, and those using cleaner fuels like CNG, ethanol, LPG will be exempted from green tax. Similarly, vehicles used in farm- ing, such as tractor, harvestor, tiller too will be exempted. Public transport vehicles will be charged lower green tax, and higher green tax (50% of Road Tax) will be slapped on vehicles registered in highly polluted cities. P utting the blame on “mis- information” for sluggish vaccination drive that started on January 16, the Centre has asked the States to take penal action against those engaged in rumour-mongering. In a communication to Chief Secretaries of all States and UTs, Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla also emphasised that the National Regulatory Authority in the country has found that the two vaccines — Covishield, manu- factured by the Serum Institute of India, and Covaxin, devel- oped and manufactured by the Bharat Biotech Limited — were safe and immunogenic. The Central Government, in close collaboration with the State Governments and UT administrations, has launched the inoculation drive of Covid- 19 vaccination from January 16 across the country with the two vaccines. “I would like to strongly emphasise that the National Regulatory Authority in the country has found both the vaccines safe and immuno- genic. However, it has been reported that unfounded and misleading rumours are circu- lating on social and other media, creating doubt about the safety and efficacy of these vaccines. “Such kind of rumour mongering, particularly by vested interests, can create unwarranted doubts among people at large, and there is, therefore, a need to check all such kinds of unfounded scare mongering relating to the safe- ty and immunogenicity of the vaccines,” the communication said. T he national Capital is head- ling towards attaining herd immunity against coronavirus infection as per the outcome of the fifth round of sero-survey in the national Capital, sources said on Monday. One district in Delhi has shown sero positivity of over 60 per cent, according to the 5th sero survey. Experts say herd immu- nity is said to have been devel- oped in a population segment if 50-60 per cent of those are found to have the presence of antibodies in a sero-preva- lence survey. C olonel B Santosh Babu, who along with 19 other Army personnel, was mar- tyred in a brawl with the Chinese troops in the Galwan valley last year, will be award- ed the Mahavir Chakra posthumously on the occasion of Republic Day this year. This medal is the second high- est wartime gallantry medal. Veer Chakra, the third highest wartime gallantry medal, was conferred on five other soldiers. All these sol- diers had died with Babu, the commanding officer of the 16 Bihar Regiment, in the bloody clashes on June 15 in Eastern Ladakh. The Chinese used nailed batons and iron rods to attack the Indian Army team. More than 35 Chinese soldiers were also killed in the free for all. However, China is yet to announce the number of casu- alties on its side. The Veer Chakra awardees include Naib Subedar Nuduram Soren, Havaldar K Palani, Havaldar Tejinder Singh, Naik Deepak Singh and Naik Gurtej Singh. S anyukt Kisan Morcha on Monday announced that they will march towards Parliament from different loca- tions on February 1 when the annual Union Budget is sched- uled to be presented. “We will march towards Parliament on foot from dif- ferent locations on the Budget day on February 1. As far as tomorrow’s tractor rally is con- cerned, it will give the Government an idea of our strength and they will know the agitation is not just limited to Haryana or Punjab but it is an agitation of the whole country,” said Darshan Pal of the Krantikari Kisan Union. “The farmers who have come for the tractor parade will not go back now and will join the protest. The agitation will continue till our demands met. Our stand remains the same,” Pal told a press conference, sharing the farmers’ plans to intensify the protest. The farmers’ unions also claimed that around two lakh tractors are expected to par- ticipate in their tractor rally on the Republic Day in Delhi. The rally is planned to be moved into the city from the Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur borders. Protesting farmer unions opposing the three contentious farm laws said their parade will not enter central Delhi and it will start only after the official Republic Day parade con- cludes. “It will be big event in the Indian democracy. We will cel- ebrate Republic Day in its true sense tomorrow. The way the political leaders have played with the Constitution by con- stantly introducing amend- ments that kept violating human rights…we will con- tinue to demand that they be rectified. It is the same Constitution in which they have introduced these three laws, which have created a problem not just for the farm- ers but also for the entire pop- ulation of the country, against which this protest has been happening for two months now. The agitation will con- tinue until the government repeals these laws,” Balbir Singh Rajewal of Bharatiya Kisan Union said. To maintain vigil, around 6,000 security personnel have been deployed by the Delhi police. Facial recognition sys- tem of Delhi Police has also been set up at vantage points for suspect identification. A five-layer security cover comprising border pickets, inner, middle and outer secu- rity has been deployed. Mumbai: The Centre may pass any law undermining the Constitution and on the back of its majority, but once the common man and farm- ers rise, they will not keep quiet until the new farm acts and the ruling party are destroyed, NCP president Sharad Pawar said on Monday. I n order to ensure smooth flow of traffic movement across Delhi on Republic Day, the Delhi Traffic Police on Monday issued an advisory regarding farmers’ tractors rally. Police asked commuters to avoid routes where farmers will conduct the parade. According to Meenu Chaudhary, the Joint Commissioner of Police, traf- fic, the tractor rally will be taken out on Tuesday from three city borders and the traf- fic will remain affected on these routes and the roads leading to these routes. “The first rally will start from Singhu Border to Sanjay Gandhi Transport Nagar, DTU, Shahabad Dairy, Barwala Village, Pooth Khurd Village, Kanjhawala T-Point, Kanjhawala Chowk, Kutubgarh, Auchandi Border and Kharkhoda Toll Plaza.

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Page 1: English News Paper | Breaking News | Latest Today News in ......2021/01/26  · were injured in the melee. The fracas took place when the Chinese patrol tried to enter Indian territory,

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When India and Chinawere preparing for talks

last week to defuse tension atthe border in Ladakh, thePeople’s Liberation Army(PLA) troops tried to breachthe Line of Actual Control(LAC) in Sikkim leading to aminor face-off when IndianArmy intercepted the Chinese.

Soldiers from both armieswere injured. The situationwas brought under control fol-lowing the intervention of localcommanders.

China on Monday, howev-er, denied that such an incidentever took place. The IndianArmy, on the other hand, con-firmed the incident and said,“We have received severalqueries regarding a face-offbetween Indian Army and PLAtroops in the Sikkim sector. Itis clarified that there was aminor face-off at the Naku Laarea of North Sikkim on

January 20 and the same wasresolved by local commandersas per established protocols.Media is requested to refrainfrom overplaying or exagger-ating reports which are factu-ally incorrect.”

Sources said the injurieswere insignificant and minor innature and roughly about 20PLA soldiers and four Indianswere injured in the melee. Thefracas took place when theChinese patrol tried to enterIndian territory, they added.The Naku La is located at aheight of more than 13,000 feet.

The latest stand-off took place at a time when theCorps Commanders of the twoarmies were getting ready forthe talks on Sunday. The talkslasted more than 16 hours atthe Chushul-Moldo bordermeeting point in EasternLadakh. However, there was notangible breakthrough in theparleys.

The joint statement

released here on Monday saidthe two sides had a candid andin-depth exchange of views ondisengagement along the LAC.

The two sides agreed thatthe ninth round of meeting waspositive, practical and con-structive, which furtherenhanced mutual trust andunderstanding. The two sidesagreed to push for an early dis-engagement of the frontlinetroops.

Talking about the latestface-off, an official said, such an

incident had also taken placelast year on May 9 at Naku Lawhen tension was building upat the LAC in Eastern Ladakh.Mountain pass is known as Lain the Tibetan language. Eventhen, the troops from bothsides exchanged blows afterjostling each other. The inter-vention of local commandersprevented the situation fromescalating.

Chinese Foreign MinistrySpokesman Zhao Lijian told adaily briefing in Beijing on

Monday that he had “no infor-mation to offer” on the reportsof clashes.

He also said the Chinesetroops are committed to main-taining peace at the border andurged India to meet Chinahalfway and refrain from anyunilateral actions that mayexacerbate the border situation.

The Chinese army mouth-piece The Global Times termedthe incident as fake news andsaid there is no record of thisincident in the Chinese PLAfront line patrol logs.

In recent days, the focus ofthe military’s top leaders onboth sides has been on theninth round of CorpsCommander-level talks, not anew border clash, and the twosides have not been involved insuch clashes mentioned by theIndian media, it said.

There have been minorfrictions between the frontlineforces of the two countries, butif there had been friction

involving casualties, it is impos-sible for them not to be record-ed in the Chinese patrol logs.

As regards the CorpsCommander-level dialogue,the Indian delegation washeaded by 14 Corps chief LtGeneral PK Menon whileMajor General Liu Lin led theChinese team.

The statement said the twocountries also agreed to followthe important consensus oftheir state leaders, maintain thegood momentum of dialogueand negotiation, and hold the10th round of the CorpsCommander-level meeting atan early date to jointly advancede-escalation.

The two sides agreed tocontinue their effective effortsin ensuring the restraint of thefrontline troops, stabilise andcontrol the situation along theLAC in the Western Sector ofthe China-India border, andjointly maintain peace andtranquility.

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Besides Indian media, a largenumber of foreign media

has also lined up to cover the“kisan parade” on January 26 inthe national Capital. A largenumber of YouTube channelsfrom the UK, the USA, andCanada are present to cover thetractor rally.

Farmers’ protests havedrawn attention from acrossthe world and foreign mediahas been highlighting theprotests which entered its 61st

day on Monday.According to ground

reports, a large number ofinternational media, both printand TV, has assembled at threeprotests sites — Tikri Border,Ghazipur Border and SinghuBorder — in the nationalCapital to cover the tractorrally. This is for the first timesince Independence the farm-ers will march in a unique kisanparade with National Flags.As thousands of farmers havestarted marching towards Delhiborders to participate in thetractor rally on Republic Day,agriculture organisations havedecided to hold similar paradesat State and district headquar-ters across the country.

Foreign media, includingBBC, Al Jazeera, Washington

Post, the New York Times,Toronto Star, Reuters, theProvince, Hamilton Spectator,CNN, CBC 24, Bloomberg,the Guardian and the Sun,were concentrated only on theSinghu Border till date. Nowthey have set up their crew atGhazipur and Tikri borders.Farmers’ leaders have reportedto have approached a largenumber of YouTube channelsbased in Canada, the USA, andthe UK to cover their events.

Foreign media is coveringfarmers’ protests in a promi-nent way. Farmers’ protestsare making headlines across theworld. Recently, a Pakistanisinger Jawad Ahmed releasedan anthem inspired by theprotests and dedicated to thefarmers in India. Titled Kisana,the song which was released inDecember 2020, has beenviewed thousands of times onYouTube. Several reactionvideos on the song have alsobeen released. The lyrics of thesong say, “teri sohni dhartimaa, tu jag da palan har, huntu jeea hai (This beautifulEarth belongs to you, you arethe patron of this Earth, riseand live),” which roughly trans-lates to peasants need to riseand that they are the providersof the world.

Last month, a group ofseven American lawmakershad written to then USSecretary of State MikePompeo to raise farmers’ issuewith his Indian counterpart.

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Opposition parties are like-ly to meet on Thursday to

strategise plans to corner theGovernment in the BudgetSession and force it to repealthe farm laws. Sources saidleaders of various political par-ties, including the erstwhileNDA partner SAD, have got intouch to make a joint effort torepeal the three laws in theforthcoming Budget Sessionbeginning on January 29.

The main aim of theOpposition parties is to forcethe Government to repeal thelaw as it cannot be suspended

since the laws came into forcewith the President of India’saccent.

Sources in the Congressand a couple of political partiesconfirmed that theParliamentary floor leaderswill meet to deliberate upon astrategy for the session onThursday. A bigger conventionof Opposition parties may alsotake place thereafter.

The SAD walked out ofNDA in protest against thefarm laws and its Lok SabhaMP Harsimrat Kaur resignedfrom Prime Minister NarendraModi’s Council of Ministers.

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The Centre is all set toimpose “Green Tax” on

older vehicles in an effort toreduce pollution by phasing outunfit and polluting vehicles.

While commercial vehi-cles older than eight yearscould be charged Green Tax atthe time of renewal of fitnesscertificate at the rate of 10 to 25per cent of road tax, personalvehicles may be charged GreenTax at the time of renewal ofRegistration Certification after15 years. The proposalapproved by Union Minister

for Road Transport andHighways Nitin Gadkari willnow go to the States for con-sultation before it is notified.

Hybrids, electric vehicles,and those using cleaner fuelslike CNG, ethanol, LPG will beexempted from green tax.Similarly, vehicles used in farm-ing, such as tractor, harvestor,tiller too will be exempted.

Public transport vehicleswill be charged lower green tax,and higher green tax (50% ofRoad Tax) will be slapped onvehicles registered in highlypolluted cities.

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Putting the blame on “mis-information” for sluggish

vaccination drive that startedon January 16, the Centre hasasked the States to take penalaction against those engaged inrumour-mongering.

In a communication toChief Secretaries of all Statesand UTs, Union HomeSecretary Ajay Bhalla alsoemphasised that the NationalRegulatory Authority in thecountry has found that the twovaccines — Covishield, manu-factured by the Serum Instituteof India, and Covaxin, devel-oped and manufactured by theBharat Biotech Limited — were safe and

immunogenic.The Central Government,

in close collaboration with theState Governments and UTadministrations, has launchedthe inoculation drive of Covid-19 vaccination from January 16across the country with the twovaccines.

“I would like to strongly

emphasise that the NationalRegulatory Authority in thecountry has found both thevaccines safe and immuno-genic. However, it has beenreported that unfounded andmisleading rumours are circu-lating on social and othermedia, creating doubt aboutthe safety and efficacy of thesevaccines.

“Such kind of rumourmongering, particularly byvested interests, can createunwarranted doubts amongpeople at large, and there is,therefore, a need to check allsuch kinds of unfounded scaremongering relating to the safe-ty and immunogenicity of thevaccines,” the communicationsaid.

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The national Capital is head-ling towards attaining herd

immunity against coronavirusinfection as per the outcome ofthe fifth round of sero-surveyin the national Capital, sourcessaid on Monday.

One district in Delhi hasshown sero positivity of over 60per cent, according to the 5thsero survey.

Experts say herd immu-nity is said to have been devel-oped in a population segmentif 50-60 per cent of those arefound to have the presence ofantibodies in a sero-preva-lence survey.

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Colonel B Santosh Babu,who along with 19 other

Army personnel, was mar-tyred in a brawl with theChinese troops in the Galwanvalley last year, will be award-ed the Mahavir Chakraposthumously on the occasionof Republic Day this year.This medal is the second high-est wartime gallantry medal.

Veer Chakra, the thirdhighest wartime gallantry

medal, was conferred on fiveother soldiers. All these sol-diers had died with Babu, thecommanding officer of the16 Bihar Regiment, in thebloody clashes on June 15 inEastern Ladakh.

The Chinese used nailedbatons and iron rods to attackthe Indian Army team. Morethan 35 Chinese soldiers werealso killed in the free for all.However, China is yet toannounce the number of casu-alties on its side.

The Veer Chakra awardeesinclude Naib SubedarNuduram Soren, Havaldar KPalani, Havaldar TejinderSingh, Naik Deepak Singhand Naik Gurtej Singh.

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Sanyukt Kisan Morcha onMonday announced that

they will march towardsParliament from different loca-tions on February 1 when theannual Union Budget is sched-uled to be presented.

“We will march towardsParliament on foot from dif-ferent locations on the Budgetday on February 1. As far astomorrow’s tractor rally is con-cerned, it will give theGovernment an idea of ourstrength and they will know theagitation is not just limited toHaryana or Punjab but it is anagitation of the whole country,”said Darshan Pal of theKrantikari Kisan Union.

“The farmers who havecome for the tractor parade willnot go back now and will jointhe protest. The agitation willcontinue till our demands met.Our stand remains the same,”Pal told a press conference,sharing the farmers’ plans tointensify the protest.

The farmers’ unions alsoclaimed that around two lakhtractors are expected to par-ticipate in their tractor rally onthe Republic Day in Delhi.

The rally is planned to bemoved into the city from theSinghu, Tikri and Ghazipurborders.

Protesting farmer unionsopposing the three contentiousfarm laws said their parade willnot enter central Delhi and itwill start only after the officialRepublic Day parade con-cludes.

“It will be big event in theIndian democracy. We will cel-ebrate Republic Day in its truesense tomorrow. The way thepolitical leaders have playedwith the Constitution by con-stantly introducing amend-ments that kept violatinghuman rights…we will con-tinue to demand that they berectified. It is the sameConstitution in which theyhave introduced these threelaws, which have created aproblem not just for the farm-ers but also for the entire pop-ulation of the country, against

which this protest has beenhappening for two monthsnow. The agitation will con-tinue until the governmentrepeals these laws,” Balbir SinghRajewal of Bharatiya KisanUnion said.

To maintain vigil, around6,000 security personnel have

been deployed by the Delhipolice. Facial recognition sys-tem of Delhi Police has alsobeen set up at vantage pointsfor suspect identification.

A five-layer security covercomprising border pickets,inner, middle and outer secu-rity has been deployed.

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������������� ��!��"� #�$%�&������� Mumbai: The Centre maypass any law underminingthe Constitution and on theback of its majority, but oncethe common man and farm-ers rise, they will not keepquiet until the new farmacts and the ruling party aredestroyed, NCP presidentSharad Pawar said onMonday.

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In order to ensure smoothflow of traffic movement

across Delhi on Republic Day,the Delhi Traffic Police onMonday issued an advisoryregarding farmers’ tractorsrally. Police asked commutersto avoid routes where farmerswill conduct the parade.

According to MeenuChaudhary, the JointCommissioner of Police, traf-fic, the tractor rally will betaken out on Tuesday fromthree city borders and the traf-fic will remain affected onthese routes and the roadsleading to these routes.

“The first rally will startfrom Singhu Border to SanjayGandhi Transport Nagar, DTU,Shahabad Dairy, BarwalaVillage, Pooth Khurd Village,Kanjhawala T-Point,

Kanjhawala Chowk,Kutubgarh, Auchandi Borderand Kharkhoda Toll Plaza.

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Page 2: English News Paper | Breaking News | Latest Today News in ......2021/01/26  · were injured in the melee. The fracas took place when the Chinese patrol tried to enter Indian territory,

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By educating over 30,000illiterates within five

months under Padho DoonBadho Doon campaign, theDehradun has became the firstdistrict in Uttarakhand toachieve the 100 percent litera-cy rate.

Dehradun DistrictMagistrate Ashish KumarSrivastava disclosed this at anevent organised by districtadministration on Sunday tofelicitate those who contributedto the Padho Doon BadhoDoon campaign includingcounsellors, education officersand representatives of volunteerorganisations.

Referring to the campaign,DM said that the administra-tion started this campaign toprovide basic education so thatevery person can at least read,count numbers and write orsign their name and nobodyremains 'Anguthachap'. Hepointed out that the adminis-tration started this campaign atthe time during Covid-19 pan-demic when it was difficult toconvince people to study but itwas made possible with theteamwork of various depart-ments and organisations. Thechief development officer(CDO) Nitika Khandelwal whowas heading this campaignstated that local residents fromover six years to over 85 yearsold were educated under thecampaign while adding that theenthusiasm of senior citizenstowards getting the educationwas very inspiring and appre-ciable.

Informing about the cam-paign, Khandelwal said that atotal 35,261 people were regis-tered as illiterates through thesurvey conducted byAnganwadi workers out ofwhich, 30,207 locals have beeneducated while the remaining5,054 locals could not receiveany education. These remain-ing locals include those who areindisposed, dead, migrated toother locations, mentally unsta-ble and those, whose names gotregistered twice during thesurvey.

Meanwhile, DM said thatthough the district has a 100percent literacy rate excludingthose who couldn't get edu-cated under the campaign, theadministration will conduct athird-party audit too to verifythe level of education receivedby the 30,207 locals and willrectify any shortcomings foundalong the way. On the basis ofthis audit, the administrationwill declare Dehradun as afully literate district ofUttarakhand, said officials.

However, the officials alsostated that volunteer organisa-tions will not stop teaching stu-dents if students wish to con-tinue their education. DM saidthat it is a continuous processand such people who do notlive currently in the district butwill return in future will beeducated too through suchorganisations. The DM alsostated that after achieving thetarget of 100 percent literacyrate in the district, the admin-istration now aims to eradicatemalnutrition from Dehradunfor which the planning will becommenced very soon.

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After laying down stringentprotocols such as compul-

sion of RTPCR tests, pre regis-tration and discouraging vul-nerable groups for the upcom-ing Kumbh in Haridwar, theunion ministry of health andfamily welfare department hasnow asked the Uttarakhandgovernment to put up a cap onthe number of devotees andsuggested that the duration ofKumbh Mela should be cur-tailed for limiting the potentialtransmission of the infection ofCovid-19. In a letter directed tothe chief secretary ofUttarakhand Om Prakash, theUnion secretary RajeshBhushan has warned that thecurrent low incidence of the

cases in the country has creat-ed some complacency in con-forming to the Covid appro-priate behaviour. “In anyinstance of a large number ofpeople gathering at one placefor a significantly long durationof time, enforcing physical dis-tancing, wearing of masks etcitself will be an issue. It is essen-tial that there should be a capon numbers attending the Melaon each day,’’ he said.

The union secretary hassaid that the state governmentshould fix an upper limit onnumber of pilgrims on thebasis of the carrying capacity of

Ghats, disease surveillance andenforcement capacity. Givingexamples of Amarnath Yatra,Kanwar Yatra and JagannathRath Yatra, the union secretarysaid that the state governmentshould also examine curtailingthe duration of Kumbh Mela.

Bhushan said that due tothe sustained efforts, India hasperformed well in the man-agement of the Covid-19 pan-demic. “Now we must ensurethat the infection does notspread and create a spike thatwill again challenge the publichealth systems,’’ the letter reads.

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The Governor Baby RaniMaurya and chief minister

Trivendra Singh Rawat havegreeted the people on the occa-sion of Republic Day. In hermessage to the public, the gov-ernor said that this is the daywhen we reiterate our deter-mination towards justice, free-dom, equality and brother-hood. Referring to the chal-lenging situation caused bythe Covid-19 pandemic, shesaid that an extraordinary con-fidence and determination wasshown by the entire countryincluding Uttarakhand againstthe pandemic. Stating thatCovid cases have decreased inUttarakhand too, she stressedon the need for observing allprecautions. Maurya said thatvarious schemes are being run

by State and CentralGovernments for the overalldevelopment of Uttarakhand. Itis necessary for the prosperityof State that equal opportuni-ties be provided for the devel-opment of the women, youth,farmers, traders and all theclasses and communities.Employment and healthschemes should be imple-mented for the economicgrowth and overall welfare ofthe women. Stating thatwomen are the backbone of thesocial-economic developmentof the state, she said that theirgood health, nutritious food forthem and their family, theireconomical empowerment arepriorities of the government.

In his message to the pub-lic, CM Rawat paid tribute tofreedom fighters, makers of theconstitution and Statehood

activists, adding that RepublicDay is a celebration of the cre-ation of the constitution.Stating that the day reminds allof the sacrifice of freedomfighters, the CM said that thisis an opportunity for all to reit-erate the commitment to fulfilthe dreams of patriots andachieve our targets. He said thatunder the guidance of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi, thestate is developing consistent-ly, adding that the state gov-ernment has focused on devel-opment and transparent gov-ernance. Rawat said, “Our gov-ernment has worked on themotto of less talk, more work.From making Gairsain thesummer capital, the DobraChanthi bridge, Janaki bridgeand various other basic facili-ties have been inaugurated.Conducive policies were made

to encourage entrepreneurshipwith schemes like CM solar selfemployment andMukhyamantri SwarozgarYojana introduced to provideself employment opportuni-ties to the youths. Growth cen-tres have been opened in ruralareas to encourage local prod-ucts while a network of roadshas been laid in the state underthe PMGSY.”

Referring to other efforts ofthe state government, the CMsaid that a total of 190 model

schools comprising two in eachblock are being built to providequality education to children.The government is also focus-ing on the revival of rivers andwater sources. Apart from this,the government has put aneffective check on corruption,focused on women empower-ment and resolved the prob-lems of farmers, youths andtraders. The Covid-19 pan-demic was faced strongly in aplanned manner with the sup-port of the public, he added.

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Atotal of 14546 healthworkers of Uttarakhand

have so far received the firstdose of the Covishield, thevaccine of Covid-19. OnMonday, 58 vaccine sessionswere held in different parts ofthe state and in them 4032health workers were vacci-nated. The Chief OperatingOfficer (COO) of the stateCovid-19 control room, DrAbhishek Tripathi said that229 vaccine sessions have sofar been held in the state. OnMonday 857 workers werevaccinated in Dehradun, 507in Haridwar, 488 in Nainital,359 in Rudraprayag, 178 inAlmora, 149 in Bageshwar,272 in Chamoli, 195 inChampawat, 167 in Pauri, 230in Pithoragarh, 192 in Tehri,218 in Udham Singh Nagarand 220 in Uttarkashi on

Monday.Meanwhile the death toll

from the novel Coronavirusincreased to 1635 inUttarakhand with the statehealth department reportingfour deaths from the diseaseon Monday. The departmentreported 62 new cases of thedisease on Monday. The statenow has 95702 patients of thedisease. The recovery per-centage is at 95.32 percent.

Two patients of the diseasedied at Mahant Indiresh hos-pital Dehradun while onepatient each was reporteddead at JLN district hospitalRudrapur and MedicityRudrapur on Monday.

Dehradun reported 28new cases of Covid-19 onMonday while Nainital report-ed 13, Haridwar 10, UdhamSingh Nagar 6, Chamoli 2and Rudraprayag, Tehri andPithoragarh one case of thedisease each. No patient of thedisease was reported fromAlmora, Bageshwar, Pauri andUttarkashi districts on theday.

The state now has only1523 active cases of the Covid-19 with Dehradun leading thetable with 349 cases. Nainitalis at second position with 282cases, Haridwar has 200,Almora 136, Bageshwar 128,Udham Singh Nagar 106,Pithoragarh 72, Tehri 69, Pauri50, Rudraprayag 30 andChamoli 29 active patients ofthe disease. With only eightactive cases of the diseaseChampawat is at the bottom ofthe table of active patients ofCovid-19 in Uttarakhand.

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The Chief MinisterTrivendra Singh Rawat

digitally transferred a sum ofRs 93.3153 Crores to the bankaccounts of three tierPanchayati Raj bodies ofUttarakhand on Monday. Theamount pertains to the month-ly grants of October,November and December2020 under the allocationmade by the fourth financecommission to the Panchayatiraj bodies. CM Rawat said thatthe digital transfer of the grant

to the bank accounts of thePanchayats would help intimely completion of thedevelopment works. The sec-retary Panchayati Raj, H CSemwal said that Rs 28.9536Crores was digitally trans-ferred to village panchayats, Rs21.7134 Crore to the ChhetriyaPanchayats and Rs 42.6483Crores to District Panchayatsby CM Rawat through PublicFinance Management System(PFMS). He said that the min-istry of Panchayati Raj, gov-ernment of India has appreci-ated the initiative taken by

Uttarakhand in digitally trans-ferring the grants toPanchayats. He added thatthe joint secretary KhushwantSingh Sethi has appealed to thestates to follow the example ofUttarakhand and start digitaltransfer of grants. It is perti-nent to mention here that all7791 Panchayats in the stateare linked with the PFMSplatform of online transfer offunds. The Panchayats woulduse the amount for variousdevelopment and other pro-jects in the rural areas of thestate.

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In his book Balraj, the authorManoj Jain has remained

true to his promise of it beinga faithful recounting of eventsthat took place in essence andspirit. The book records theauthor’s overview of Balraj andhe characteristically buildsBalraj up throughout the story,with personal narratives andassociating him to his sur-roundings and it blends welltogether. The book emphasis-es one of the most fundamen-tal questions one must face inlife. It introduces Inder, a 47-year-old man, who suspendshis lifestyle, everything heknows and loves and begins towalk towards; aspiring for agreater purpose in life. Thepremise of the story intro-duces Inder as stern, success-ful, and conventional. Andthen, the series of events buildup as to how he will encompassmore meaning in his life that

transcends the usual, conven-tional, and typical of him. Theplot will probe its readers tolook within themselves, and inmany ways, and we may lookfor a Balraj inside our Inder.The personification of one’salter-ego is the central theme ofthe narrative and Balraj is howInder transacts with himself.

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The Centre on Mondayrefuted the claim that the

portrait of Netaji SubhasChandra Bose unveiled byPresident Ram Nath Kovind in‘Rashtrapati Bhawan’ was “fake”and that of Bengali actorProsenjit Chatterjee, who hadplayed the role of Bose in afilm.

This is yet another contro-versy over which BJP and TMChave clashed with each other asthe latter charged the formerwith showing disrespect to‘Netaji’.

Terming the debate as“fake”, the CentralGovernment clarified that theportrait of Netaji in‘Rashtrapati Bhavan’ is basedon an original photo of thefreedom fighter. “Shows howthe entire debate is fake andbased on poor research,” theGovernment said.

President Kovind onJanuary 23 unveiled a portraitof Bose at the RashtrapatiBhavan to mark the beginningof celebrations to commemo-

rate the freedom fighter’s125th birth anniversary.

TMC MP Mahua Moitra,however, claimed on Twitterthat there was a mix-up andthat the portrait unveiled bythe President was not of Netajibut of actor Prosenjit.

Actor Prosenjit playedBose in a 2019 Bengali filmGumnaami, which deals withthe freedom fighter’s deathmystery.

The ‘Gumnami Baba’, wholived in an out-house of ‘Ram-Bhawan” at Faizabad, UP,since 1983, died in 1985,without anyone, outside hisclose followers, ever seeinghim.

It is claimed by some thathe was Netaji himself living inanonymity. After his death,bundles of The Pioneer daily,besides other things, werealso reportedly recoveredfrom his mysterious dwelling.

The TMC MP not onlyattacked the Central govern-ment over the alleged faux pasbut also had a dig at thePresident. The TMC MPtweeted, “After donating �5

lakh to the Ram temple thePresident honours Netaji byunveiling a portrait ofPrasenjit, the actor who playedhim in biopic. God Save India(because this government cer-tainly can’t),” Moitra said.

According to an officialstatement, the portrait ofNetaji Subhas Chandra Bosewas unveiled at the‘Rashtrapati Bhavan’ to markthe beginning of year-longcelebrations to commemoratehis 125th birth anniversary.

The Government hasdecided to observe January 23as “Parakram Divas” to com-memorate the birth anniver-sary of Bose, who was born onthis day in 1897.

BJP sources said the photowas provided by Netaji’s fam-ily to famous Padma Shriaward-winning artist PareshMaity, who painted the por-trait. “The photo does notresemble Prosenjit at all. It isan unnecessary controversy,”the sources said.

Chandra Kumar Bose,Netaji’s grand-nephew and amember of the BJP, also post-ed on the micro-blogging sitethat the portrait was based onthe leader’s original photo-graph.

In fact, Prosenjit also him-self tweeted to put the con-troversy to rest: “Would like tocongratulate Paresh Maity forthe wonderful piece of art inremembrance of our Nationalhero Netaji Subhas ChandraBose. As an Actor, I’m elatedthat people thought, that thepainting resembles my char-acter in Gumnami.”

TMC MP Moitra has sincedeleted her tweet.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi on Monday lauded

the contribution of children inraising awareness about hand-washing during the Covid-19pandemic, and said that a pro-gramme tastes success if theybecome part of it. In an inter-action with the ‘PradhanMantri Rashtriya BalPuraskar’awardees via videoconferencing, Modi praisedthe winners and said theyshould never stop working andstay humble all the time.

Thirty-two children havebeen chosen for the PradhanMantri Bal Puraskar this yearfor displaying valour, excep-tional abilities and outstandingaccomplishments in variousfields, including arts, culture,archery and swimming.

Modi asked them to workfor the country, urging them tothink of what they can do as thenation approaches the 75thyear of its Independence. ThePrime Minister also asked themto read biographies and said itwill keep inspiring them. UnionMinister Smriti Irani also inter-

acted with the children. Jyoti Kumari, 16, cycled to

her native place Darbhanga dis-trict in Bihar from Gurgaon inHaryana covering around 1,200km with her father on the rearcarrier amid the nationwidelockdown in May last year. Shehas been awarded for her brav-ery. “During the COVID-19lockdown, she traversed 1,200kms from Sikandarpur inHaryana to Darbhanga in Biharto reach home,” the citationissued for her by the Womenand Child DevelopmentMinistry said.

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CRPF Assistant SubInspector (ASI) Mohan Lal

who “chased and fired” at anexplosives-laden car thatrammed into a force bus inPulwama killing him and 39troops onboard in 2019 hasbeen decorated with the high-est police medal for gallantryon the eve of the Republic Dayon Monday. A total of 207police bravery medals weredeclared by the Governmentapart from 89 President’s policemedals for distinguished ser-vice and 650 police medals formeritorious service, as per a listpublished by the Union HomeMinistry.

Only two police personnelhave been decorated with thetop category President’s PoliceMedal for Gallantry (PPMG)this time, CRPF’s Lal and lateJharkhand Police ASI BanuaOraon. As many as 205 per-sonnel have been decoratedwith the second-highest policemedal for gallantry or thePMG. 50-year-old ASI Lal wasthe picket commander of theCRPF road opening partydeployed on February 14, 2019at milestone number 272 nearthe BSNL Tower in Lethpora,Pulwama on the Jammu-Srinagar highway when thedastardly terror attack was car-ried out by the Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorist outfit.

The attack car was beingdriven by suicide bomber AdilAhmed Dar with about 200 kgsof explosives inside. The CRPFsaid Lal, after passing of fewvehicles of the cavalcade,noticed this car “runningalongside the convoy and try-ing to enter between the con-voy vehicles.” The brave official“signalled and chased the car tostop but could not match itsspeed”. “Ultimately, finding noother option, he fired towardsthe suspicious car to stop butthe car rammed into a nearbyrunning CRPF bus and a hugeblast took place,” the forcesaid. The massive blast killed atotal of 40 CRPF personnel, 39

on the bus and Lal, it said. The Central Reserve Police

Force (CRPF), the lead force foranti-Naxal operations andcounter-terrorist operations inJammu and Kashmir, also ledthe gallantry medals tally witha total 69 medals (1 PPMG and68 PMG) followed by 52earned by the JK Police, 20 bythe Border Security Force, 17by the Delhi Police and 13 byMaharashtra Police and others.Two personnel of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP)force, tasked to guard the Lineof Actual Control with China,have also been given the policemedal for gallantry.

Deputy CommandantRajesh Kumar Luthra has beendecorated for displayingcourage and presence of mindto defuse a faceoff withChinese troops at Ladakh inJuly, 2019 while another offi-cer of the border guardingforce, Assistant CommandantAnurag Kumar Singh, hasbeen given a gallantry medalfor the second time for under-taking a counter-terroristoperation in Jammu andKashmir in 2017.

The other recipients fromITBP include InspectorGeneral (IG) Deepam Seth,awarded the meritorious ser-vice medal, and Deputy IG(veterinary) SudhakarNatarajan who has beenbestowed the distinguishedservice medal. Seth, a 1995-batch Indian Police Serviceofficer of Uttarakhand cadre,is heading the ITBP northwestfrontier formation based inLadakh since mid-2019.

Delhi Police off icerMahesh Bhardwaj, deputed asSenior Superintendent ofPolice in the CBI to probeextrajudicial kil l ings inManipur, has been awardedthe President’ Police Medal forDistinguished Service on theoccasion of Republic Day.Bhardwaj, who joined DelhiPolice as AssistantCommissioner in the year1993, has worked extensivelywith United Nations Police,

Andaman Nicobar andMizoram police, NationalHuman Rights Commission(NHRC) and the CentralBureau of Investigation (CBI).In February, 2018, he wasdeputed in the CBI on thedirection of Supreme Court toassociate with the investigationof alleged extra judicial killingsand human rights violations bysecurity forces in Manipur.

BSF’s AssistantCommandant Gajender Singh,ASI Braj Kishore Yadav,Constables Amresh Kumarand Abhijit Nandy wereawarded gallantry awardsposthumously. Gallantryawards were given to DIGSurjeet Singh Guleria, DIGHari Lal and AssistantCommandants Raman Guptaand Prateek Vashishth. Medalsfor distinguished service wereawarded to DIGs UmeshKumar Nayal, Surjit Singh,Dharmendra Pareek, AjitKumar Tete and RanveerSingh Shaktawat.

Officers and personnel ofNational Disaster ResponseForce (NDRF) have beenawarded with the prestigious‘Police Medal for MeritoriousService’ on the occasion ofRepublic Day-2021. The PoliceMedal for Meritorious Serviceis awarded to the personnel ofCentral police and securityorganization who have com-pleted a minimum service of 18years. The medal is awarded topersonnel for their commend-able work whether operationalor administrative. Love Kumar,S e c o n d - i n - C o m m a n d ,Surendra Kumar, AssistantCommandant, InspectorRamakant Singh and AssistantSub-Inspector MoenuddinKhan have been awarded withthe ‘Police Medal forMeritorious Service’ in recog-nition to their outstanding ser-vices. So far 10 NDRFOfficers/personnel have beenawarded with President’s PoliceMedal for Distinguished Serviceand 74 personnel with PoliceMedal for Meritorious Service,said NDRF in statement.

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President Ram Nath Kovindon Monday awarded

Padma Vibhushan awards toseven eminent persons includ-ing late singer SPBalasubramanian and Japan’sformer Prime Minister Shinzo

Abe and noted archeologistB.B.Lal who headed excavationof Ayodhya. Others are famousdoctor BM Hegde, spiritualleader Maulana WahinduddinKhan, artist Sudarshan Sahooand US based scientist lateNarinder Singh Kapany.

10 persons were awardedPadma Bhushan including lateChief Ministers of Gujarat andAssam Keshubhai Patel andTarun Gogoi and former UnionMinister late Ram VilasPaswan. Former Lok SabhaSpeaker Sumitra Mahajan andNripendra Misra, formerPrincipal Secretary of PrimeMinister. Other who got PadmaBhushan are Tarlochan Singh,

former Chairman of MinortiesCommission, spiritual leaderlate Kalbe Sadiq, noted singerK.S. Chitra, ChandrasekharKambara, writer fromKarnataka and industrialist RDShroff.

102 persons are awardedPadma Shri. “This year thePresident has approved con-ferment of 119 Padma Awardsincluding 1 duo case (in a duocase, the Award is counted asone) as per list below. The listcomprises 7 PadmaVibhushan, 10 PadmaBhushan and 102 Padma ShriAwards. 29 of the awardees arewomen and the list alsoincludes 10 persons from the

category ofForeigners/NRI/PIO/OCI, 16Posthumous awardees and 1transgender awardee,” saidGovernment in a statement.

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President Ram Nath Kovindon Monday paid tributes to

farmers saying every Indian isgrateful to them for ensuringfood security in our vast andpopulous country, and gave theassurance that the Governmentis devoted to farmers’ welfare.

“Every Indian salutes ourfarmers, who have made ourvast and populous countryself-reliant in food-grains anddairy products. Despite adver-sities of nature, numerous otherchallenges and the COVID-19pandemic, our farmers sus-tained the agricultural pro-duction,” he said in his addresson the eve of the 72nd RepublicDay.

“A grateful nation is fullycommitted to the welfare of ourfarmers. Just as our hardwork-ing farmers ensure food secu-rity for the country, the bravesoldiers of the armed forcesensure security of our nation-al boundaries amid severestconditions,” Kovind said.

The comments by thePresident come against thebackdrop of the ongoing agi-tation by farmers against threenew farm laws.

The President said the pathto reforms in the initial stagesmay cause misapprehensions,but the government is devotedto farmers’ welfare.

“Economic reforms havecontinued apace and have beensupplemented by long-pendingreforms in the areas of labourand agriculture through legis-lation. The path to reform atthe initial stages may causemisapprehensions.

However, it is beyonddoubt that the governmentremains singularly devoted tofarmers’ welfare,” he said.

Kovind said the country’sfarmers, soldiers and scientistsdeserve special appreciationand the entire nation is grate-ful to them.

“From space to the farms,from educational institutions tohospitals, the community ofscientists has enriched our lifeand work. Our scientists havebeen working day and night fordecoding the Coronavirus andthey have succeeded in devel-oping the vaccine in recordtime. With this accomplish-ment, our scientists have addeda glorious chapter of contribu-tion to the well-being ofhumanity.

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President Ram Nath Kovindon Monday termed the suc-

cessful conduct of electionsduring pandemic an extraor-dinary achievement of ourdemocracy and said that theright to vote must be respect-ed, noting that people aroundthe world have struggled a lotto earn this right.

Addressing through vir-tual mode an event to celebratethe 11th National Voters’ Day,Kovind said even in America,one of the leading democraciesin the world, people had toundertake decades of struggleto get this right. In Britain,women got the right to voteafter a long fight, he said.

The condition was similarin India before Independence.

But after India earned its free-dom, anyone of 21 years of ageand above were allowed tovote which was later reduced to18, he said. “We should alwaysrespect the valuable right tovote. The right to vote is not asimple right. People around theworld have struggled a lot forthis. Since Independence, ourConstitution has given equalvoting rights to all citizenswithout any discrimination onthe basis of merit, religion, race,caste,” Kovind said.

For his part, Law MinisterRavi Shankar Prasad defendedthe Electronic Voting Machine,describing it as an instrumentdesigned to empower the ordi-nary Indian. “We can havedifference of opinion on the useof electronic voting machine.But can we deny that the EVM

is an instrument which hasgiven power to nearly all thepolitical formations of India indifferent parts, in varyingdegree,” he asked. Oppositionleaders including JairamRamesh of Congress and DerekO’Brien of the TrinamoolCongress were present whenPrasad made these remarks.

Some parties have on mul-tiple occasions questioned thereliability of the EVMs. TheElection Commission has allalong maintained that themachines are tamper-proof.Prasad also launched the e-EPIC programme and distrib-uted e-EPICs and ElectorPhoto Identity Cards to fivenew voters. Three publica-tions were also launched byPrasad.

The electronic version ofthe voters’ photo identity cardcan be stored on mobile phonesand downloaded on personalcomputers.

Chief ElectionCommissioner Sunil Arora saidthat the mock trials for remotevoting facility for electorswould begin soon. A researchproject on remote voting usingcutting-edge technology hasalready begun, he revealed.

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The Congress on Mondaylashed out at Prime Minister

Narendra Modi stating that hisalleged silence over the Chineseencroachment in the country’sborder, was increasing theenemy’s spirits.

Taking to Twitter, formerCongress chief Rahul Gandhistated that China is expandingits occupation into the Indianterritory, while the PrimeMinister has not said the word‘China’ for months. SlammingPM Modi, the Congress leadersaid, “Mr 56-inch,” who hadpromised to never compromisethe border security, could startby saying the word ‘China’.

Congress chief spokesper-son Randeep Surjewala alsoattacked the Prime Minister,stating that his alleged silenceover the Chinese encroach-ment in the country’s border,was increasing the enemy’s spir-its. He called on the governmentto come to clear the situationalong the border and to take thenation in confidence.

New Delhi: Foreign invaderschose Ram temple for demo-lition because they knew thatthe soul of India resides there,said Union Minister PrakashJavadekar on Sunday.

Speaking at a felicitationevent for donors of Shri RamJanam Bhoomi Mandir NidhiSamarpan Abhiyan in Delhi,the Union Minister said thata “historical mistake” wascorrected on December 6, 1992, with thedemolition of Babri Mosquein Ayodhya.

When foreign invaderslike Babur came to India,why did they choose the Ramtemple for demolition becausethey knew that the soul of thecountry resides in Ram tem-ple.

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sion”. It is derived from theexperiment conducted in 1997by Nathan Zohner, a 14-year-old student, who gatheredpetitions to ban “DHMO”, orDihydrogen Monoxide, as thebasis of his science project,titled “How Gullible Are We?”The experiment involved call-ing water by an unfamiliar sci-entific name and listing someof its effects in a particularlyalarming manner, such ascausing burns when in agaseous form, accelerating cor-rosion and causing suffocation!Incidentally, Zohner con-vinced 86 per cent of his class-mates to sign the petition call-ing for its ban, which tells usa lot about human nature.

Trump used this phenom-enon to good effect. Whileestablished media outlets maynot have fully played along,the conservative and extremeRight-wing media outlets, likeFox News and One AmericaNews Network, did broadcasthis lies and conspiracy theo-ries with telling effect. The dig-ital social media platforms too,such as Facebook and Twitter,were no less complicit inspreading his message of hatetill they finally banned him forinciting violence.

After what we have wit-nessed during his presidency, itwould be fair to say that theAmerican democracy, despite

its deep roots stretching back244 years, has survived a directassault on its very foundationby Trump and his acolytes bya hair’s breadth. Thanks, in nosmall measure, to the strengthof its democratic institutionsand the upstanding character ofthe people who run these. Anoutstanding example, but notthe only one, being that of for-mer Vice-President MikePence, who did not let hisunswerving support and loyal-ty to President Trump get in theway of doing the right thing,despite intense pressure to sub-vert the constitutional process.The other institution thatdeserves accolades, survivingwith its dignity and reputationintact, was the judiciary. Trumphad expected that havingappointed a total of 200 FederalJudges with lifetime tenures,including two to the SupremeCourt, they would remainbeholden to him and act in amanner to support his agenda.He was, therefore, understand-ably shocked and disappointedwhen nearly all of his 60-pluschallenges to the election resultswere summarily rejected by thecourts, including two by theSupreme Court.

While Trumpism may beon the decline in America, it isalive and flourishing here inIndia. Make no mistake, thecurrent dispensation — while

more circumspect and lesscolourful — has been just asdamaging for our democracy.Our secular traditions are in tat-ters, empathetic behaviour for-gotten and democratic institu-tions have all but crumbled,lacking even a shred of credi-bility. A vast majority of ourmedia have become willinghandmaidens of theGovernment. The military isbeing incrementally politicisedand even our final bulwark, thejudiciary, especially the apexcourt, is perceived to be func-tioning in tandem with theGovernment. Worst of all, wehave no Opposition leadershipworth the name, debilitated bythe cancer of dynastic ambition.

Yet, hope springs eternal.After all, we have just witnesseda young untested Indian crick-et team rise like a phoenix fromthe ashes of its worst defeat.Despite being deprived of itscharismatic leader, anotherstepped up from the shadows,doing the impossible and lead-ing the team to victory.Similarly, we too should shunfear and do the right thing; therest will follow.

(The writer is a militaryveteran, who is a consultantwith the Observer ResearchFoundation and Senior VisitingFellow with The PeninsulaFoundation, Chennai. Theviews expressed are personal.)

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������������� ����������������Sir — The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) isplaying dirty politics in West Bengal. Theparty and its leaders are trying to gain sym-pathy of voters by portaying that they arethe only ones who really respect the greatNetaji Subhas Chandra Bose and his ide-ology. The visit of the BJP leaders to WestBengal on the 125th birth anniversary ofBose on January 23 was only a politicalstunt with an eye on the forthcomingAssembly elections. The BJP is remind-ed of such great leaders only at the timeof elections.

The ruling party leaders are trying tofool the people but the voters of WestBengal are wise enough not to fall intotheir trap. The people have realised thatthe BJP leaders can go up to any extent justfor the sake of winning the elections. TheState can even be plunged into widespreadviolence for the sake of politics. The BJPwill gain votes by creating a law and ordersituation. It is high time that the BJP con-centrated on the real issues confronting theState and its people rather than showingoff its bogus image. West Bengal is grap-pling with poverty, unemployment, illit-eracy and several other problems besidesCOVID. Both the Centre and the StateGovernment must focus on the real issuestroubling the people and not on poll gim-micks.

Bhagwan Thadani| Mumbai

������������������������Sir — India is all set to witness a majesticmarch past at the Rajpath and a mammothtractor rally by the farmers in Delhi on theRepublic Day. The farmers’ rally willattract wide attention. The farmers havereiterated that repeal of the laws is the onlyacceptable proposition for withdrawal ofthe agitation. In fact, the offer of theGovernment to put the laws on hold for18 months itself is illogical as the SupremeCourt has already stayed their implemen-tation until further orders. However, thecourt can withdraw the stay soon, and thelaws will come into force immediately.Faced with such vagueness, farmers fear

that a decision to retreat after accepting theoffer could prove costly for them eventu-ally.

An argument advanced against giv-ing legal status to the Minimum SupportPrice (MSP) is that it would put a heavyburden on the national exchequer. It runscounter to the repeated assertions thatfarmers are free to sell their produce any-where in the country. Here, wouldn’t theenvisioned higher prices for agriculturalproduce in the market — being ‘openedup’ now — reduce the dependence on theMSP and lessen the burden on the Budget?Farmers have deciphered the intentionsand the arguments.

Haridasan Rajan | Kozhikode

������������������������������Sir — In 2020, all the countries includ-ing India faced an unprecedented chal-lenge in the form of the COVID-19 pan-demic. In some countries like the UK andthe US, Coronavirus is still rearing its uglyhead and hospitals are looking like war

zones. It will take some more time for allthe countries to recover from the unwel-come guest’s impact. At this juncture, thedecision to supply millions of COVID-19vaccines free of cost from India to multi-ple countries like Bhutan, Nepal, Maldives,Myanmar, Seychelles, Mauritius, Brazil,Morocco and so on is really laudable. TheUK, Dominica, South Africa, Kenya,Nigeria, Saudi Arabia and the UAE aresome other countries interested inCOVID-19 vaccines from India as thesevaccines are safe and cost-effective with-out compromising on safety standards.

India is clearly upstaging China in theCOVID vaccines’ supply. India is planningto vaccinate its 300 million people, almostthe population of the US. Indians shoulddismiss all their apprehensions in takingvaccine jabs. We must come forward tomake the inoculation drive successful.

V Nagendra Kumar | Hyderabad

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Former United StatesPresident DonaldTrump’s blatant disre-gard for all norms ofcivilised behaviour, his

overt racism combined with anoutsized ego and the propensi-ty to lie — 21 per day during histerm as per The Washington Post— are well known. Yet, despitethis, or the 400,000 pandemicdeaths directly attributable to hislack of leadership, or his futileand rather ludicrous attempts tooverturn the election results, hestill continues to enjoy the sup-port of approximately 34 percent of the population as per thelatest Gallup Poll.

This is indeed intriguing, andwhile much of it can be attributedto racism, bigotry and illiteracy, itwas his sophisticated use of themedia, especially social media,that was probably the game-changer. Unfortunately, while hisbrash and uncouth ways may havemade him a laughing stock inter-nationally, it also made for a verydangerous and unstable world, inwhich America had abdicated itsrole as the beacon of democraticnorms and human decency.Worse, he became the poster boyfor a cohort of other tinpot dic-tators and autocrats globally, sud-denly free to do as they pleased,with little fear of retribution.

“If you tell a lie big enoughand keep repeating it, people willeventually come to believe it,” saidJoseph Goebbels, Hitler’s Ministerfor Propaganda. However, he didadd a caveat: “The lie can be main-tained only for such time as theState can shield the people fromthe political, economic and/ormilitary consequences of the lie.It thus becomes vitally importantfor the State to use all of its pow-ers to repress dissent, for the truthis the mortal enemy of the lie andthus, by extension, the truth is thegreatest enemy of the State.” It’ssomething every autocrat and dic-tator instinctively understands.

While swatting flies with asledgehammer has its advan-tages, there are those who haveunderstood and utilised the con-cept of “Zohnerism” to theirbenefit. The term, coined by jour-nalist James Glassman, refers to“the use of true facts to lead a sci-entifically and mathematicallyignorant public to a false conclu-

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The Indian Constitution came into effect onJanuary 26, 1950 and the ConstituentAssembly first met on December 9, 1946 to

draft it in the Constitution Hall, now known as theCentral Hall of the Parliament. The ConstituentAssembly firmly resolved to mould the dreams andaspirations of Indians after the freedom struggle.

Historical background: Since the beginning,the Constitution makers were transparent and knewtheir purpose and direction. Pandit JawaharlalNehru while moving the Objectives Resolution inthe Constituent Assembly said: “Laws are made ofwords but this Resolution is something higher thanthe law.” He urged the members of the Assemblyto treat the Objectives Resolution as a declaration,an undertaking and a pledge to achieve what theypromised the people of India and the yet unborncitizens: A Constitution to call their own.

The Objective Resolution declared India as anindependent, sovereign, republic. Pandit Nehru said:“India is bound to be sovereign, it is bound to beindependent, and it is bound to be a republic.”Clearly, the Constituent Assembly’s intention wasto end the monarchical system. The debates anddeliberations in the House led to the ObjectiveResolution taking the form of the Preamble of theConstitution. However, the ‘Mountbatten plan’divided India into two new dominions on June 3,1947, causing political changes to the ConstituentAssembly. Thus, the Resolution needed amendmentto factor in the changed political context.

On August 29, 1947, the Constituent Assemblyformed the Drafting Committee, of which BRAmbedkar was the convenor. The DraftingCommittee rendered meaning and form to thePreamble and incorporated other matters in thebody of the Constitution. It took two years, 11months and 17 days to complete the historic taskof drafting the Constitution of India.

Preamble: Ambedkar’s new preamble definedthe essential features of the Indian State and its socio-political objectives. While drafting the Constitution,the makers imagined an egalitarian society built onthe values and the spirit embodied in the Resolution.Pandit Thakur Das Bhargav, a member of theConstituent Assembly, said: “The Preamble is themost precious part of the Constitution. It is the soulof the Constitution. It is the key to the Constitution.It is a jewel set in the Constitution. It is a properyardstick with which one can measure the worthof the Constitution.”

The trinity of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity: The egalitarian society the founding fathers

envisioned, rests on four pillars established in thePreamble: The pillars of Justice, Liberty, Equality andFraternity. However, the word ‘Fraternity’ is men-tioned in the Constitution only once. Also“Fraternity” and has not occupied much space injudicial discourse by the Supreme Court comparedto Justice, Liberty and Equality. The FrenchRevolution inspired the Drafting Committee toadopt the trinitarian concept of Liberty, Equality andFraternity preceded by Justice. The French were thefirst to raise the slogan, “Liberty! Equality!Fraternity!” against oppression by the State, todemand political participation and to promotebrotherhood. Of the three revolutionary slogans, fra-ternité, called for unity and solidarity, to be boundas citizens of one nation. In his concluding remarkson November 25, 1949, Ambedkar said: “We mustmake our political democracy a social democracyas well. Political democracy cannot last unless therelies at the base of it social democracy. What doessocial democracy mean? It means a way of life whichrecognises liberty, equality and fraternity as the prin-ciples of life.”

Ambedkar asserted that the principles ofLiberty, Equality and Fraternity are to be treated as

a trinity and not as separate andmutually exclusive items. They mustbe seen as enforcing elements thatcannot be divorced from each other.He said: “They form a union of trin-ity in the sense that to divorce onefrom the other is to defeat the verypurpose of democracy. Liberty can-not be divorced from equality, equal-ity cannot be divorced from liberty.Nor can liberty and equality bedivorced from fraternity. Withoutequality, liberty would produce thesupremacy of the few over the many.Equality without liberty would killindividual initiative. Without frater-nity, liberty would produce thesupremacy of the few over the many.Equality without liberty would killindividual initiative. Without frater-nity, liberty and equality could notbecome a natural course of things. Itwould require a constable to enforcethem.”

Ambedkar pointed to the exist-ing social and economic inequalityin Indian society and the significanceof the ideals of Liberty, Equality andFraternity to eliminate those inequal-ities. On October 17, 1949, AcharyaKripalani applauded the inclusion ofFraternity in the Preamble. “Again Icome to the great doctrine of frater-nity, which is allied with democra-cy. It means that we are sons of thesame God, as the religious would say,but as the mystic would say, that thereis one life pulsating through us all, oras the Holy Bible says, ‘We are one ofanother’. There can be no fraternitywithout this.”

Courts on fraternity: TheBombay High Court in the IndianNational Mines Overmen vs WesternCoalfields Limited case, challengingthe compulsory deduction of �50from the salary/wages of its employ-ees for transfer to the Prime

Minister’s National Relief Fund citedthe explanation given by Ambedkaron Fraternity. The court said that“fraternity means a sense of commonbrotherhood of all Indians. In a coun-try like ours with disruptive forces ofregionalism, communalism and lin-guism, it is necessary to emphasiseand re-emphasise that the unity andintegrity of India can be preservedonly by a spirit of brotherhood. Indiahas one common citizenship andevery citizen should feel that s/he isIndian first, irrespective of otherbasis. In this view, any measure atbringing about equality should bewelcome.” The court relied on‘Fraternity’ in the Preamble andAmbedkar’s speech on obligationsimposed under the FundamentalDuties chapter, which do not other-wise have any legal sanction.

In the Prathvi Raj Chauhan vsUnion of India case, addressing theSC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities)Act, Justice Ravindra Bhat of theSupreme Court said that fraternityholds a crucial a place in the schemeof our nation’s consciousness andpolity. However, he said that‘Fraternity’ is one of the lesserexplored areas in the Constitutionaldiscourse of the judiciary. The courtobserved that, “The Fraternityassured by the Preamble is not a dec-laration of a ritual handshake or cor-diality between communities that arediverse and have occupied differentspaces: It is far more.”

While evaluating the constitu-tional validity of the appointment oflocal tribals as special police officersin Maoist-hit regions of Chhattisgarhin the Nandini Sundar vs State ofChhattisgarh case, the apex courtstressed on the importance of frater-nity. It said, “Our Constitution positsthat unless we secure ... conditions of

social, economic and political justicefor all who live in India, we would nothave achieved human dignity for ourcitizens, nor would we be able to pro-mote fraternity among groups ofthem. Policies that run counter to thatessential truth destroy national unityand integrity.” The court said that theConstitution casts a positive obliga-tion on the State to take necessarysteps to protect the fundamentalrights of all citizens. The State is oblig-ed to secure conditions where digni-ty of its citizens is protected toenable all to live in conditions of fra-ternity. Fraternity not only acts as thebinding element between unity andequality, it gives birth to new rightswhich facilitate the constitutional goalof an egalitarian society. The right tolive with dignity and respect, freefrom oppression and untouchabili-ty. The fundamental rights grantedin the Constitution are structured onthe principles liberty, equality, andfraternity. These ideals are inscribedin the Constitution’s Preamble. TheUniversal Declaration of HumanRights,1948, which is contemporane-ous with the Indian Constitution,recognises inherent dignity and theequal and inalienable rights of allmembers of the human family. Thisis the foundation of freedom, justiceand peace in the world.

Thus, the Constitutional value of‘Fraternity’ must be palpably seen inthe actions of the State andConstitutional functionaries.Fraternity must be seen in the lawsand enactments by Parliament andthe Legislature. Fraternity must per-colate into people’s lives to uphold asense of brotherhood that theConstitution makers envisioned forIndia. The ideals of Liberty, Equalityand Fraternity are coexistent, inter-dependent and inseparable.

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Now when the UnionBudget 2021-22 isaround the corner, in the

midst of one of the worst pub-lic health emergencies faced byhumanity in recent memory, itis high time for the healthcareindustry to articulate its con-cerns and expectations. Only awell-formulated and balancedannual financial statement withadequate allocation and focuson all critical segments, as wellas on secondary aspects, canprepare the country to improveits health services and meet thechallenges of inoculating such alarge population as ours.

Need to address poorspending on healthcare: Thereis an urgent need to raise theallocation on health as a propor-

tion of the Gross DomesticProduct (GDP). The gap is solarge and the population sounderserved that this wouldhave to be done for several yearsin succession to alleviate the sit-uation.

The forthcoming financialstatement should focus on sig-nificantly higher allocations forResearch & Development(R&D) in biotechnology, epi-demiology and pharmaceuticalsincluding vaccines and in build-ing healthcare infrastructure.The ongoing pandemic reiter-ates the need for increased pub-lic spending on healthcarewhich is still in the range of 1.3per cent of the GDP, far lowerthan what has been stated andpromised.

More allocation must forinfrastructure and skill devel-opment: It is another key areathat the Government shouldprioritise. India has less than abed and a doctor per 1,000 pop-ulation, far lower than theWorld Health Organisation’s(WHO’s) standards. We need toinvest in setting up an increasednumber of medical collegeswith requisite infrastructurewhile giving due importance tokey departments which play asignificant role in preventinginfections in hospital environ-ments, apart from the operatingrooms and Intensive Care Units(ICUs). There is also a pressingneed to contain the problem ofantibiotic and antimicrobialresistance for getting the desired

improvement in overall out-comes. If the Centre truly seeksto involve private capital it mustrelax unrealistic price restric-tions and do away with outdat-ed rules. One initiative that canbe taken is to ask the medicaland pharmaceutical companiesto direct their Corporate Social

Responsibility funds for devel-opment of healthcare infra-structure and capacity building.

Expansion of digitalhealthcare must be the focus ofthe Union Budget: The coun-try needs connected health-care — a digital ecosystemwhere real-time data from topGovernment and private hospi-tals and diagnostic centres flowsinto a data centre that tracks,monitors and predicts changesin disease patterns, so that time-ly action can be initiated to obvi-ate the expensive follow-ontreatment. In this context, theNational Digital Health Missionis a step in the right direction.It needs to be strengthenedand investments are required tobe made to create the infrastruc-

ture and capacity for collectingand analysing data.

Need to expand the ambitof medical insurance: Theannual financial statement 2021also needs to ensure that med-ical insurance is extended asmuch as possible to drive theidea of universal healthcare inthe country. Treatments likedental procedures, mentalhealthcare and homecare for thesick need to be included as partof health insurance policies.

Therefore, the UnionBudget must be a well-thoughtout document from the health-care sector’s perspective and theallocation of 1.6 per cent of theGDP in the previous Budgetmust be improved under all cir-cumstances.

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POINTCOUNTERPOINT

The writer is Advocate,Supreme Court of India,

and partner, DuaAssociates. The views

expressed are personal.

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The writer is president,Council of Healthcare

and Pharma, and founder Reva

Pharma.The views expressed

are personal.

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FOREIGNEYE

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The benchmark Sensexdived nearly 531 points to

close at 48,348 on Monday,extending its losses to the thirdstraight session due to massiveselling in energy and IT stocks.

After swinging nearly1,000 points during the session,the BSE benchmark settledwith a loss of 530.95 points or1.09 per cent at 48,347.59.

The 30-share indexopened over 375 points high-er and hit the day’s high of49,263.15 before succumbing toselling pressure that took the

index to the session’s lowestpoint at 48,274.92.

The broader NSE Niftyplunged 133 points or 0.93 percent to end the session at14,238.90.

Over the last three ses-sions, the BSE Sensex has lost1,444.53 points or 2.90 per centand the NSE Nifty has shed405.80 points or 2.77 per cent.

“Domestic equities werequite volatile today and gave upall early hours’ gains.

Investors continued toprefer in taking profits off thetable ahead of union budgetand F&O expiry.

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The Government may tweakcustoms duties in the

Budget next week on severalgoods, including furniture rawmaterials, copper scrap, certainchemicals, telecom equipmentand rubber products, to pro-mote domestic manufacturingand exports, sources said.

They said that whileimport duties could be tweakedon over 20 products such as cutand polished diamonds, rubbergoods, leather garments, tele-com equipment and carpet, thecustoms duties could beremoved on select raw materi-als (like wood in rough, swanwood and hard board) used forfurniture manufacturing andcopper concentrate.

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The Reserve Bank of India(RBI) on Monday refuted

reports of withdrawal of oldseries of �100, �10 and �5 cur-rency notes.

“With regard to reports incertain sections of media onwithdrawal of old series of�100, �10 & �5 banknotesfrom circulation in near future,it is clarified that such reportsare incorrect,” the RBI said ina tweet.

While announcing theissuance of new �100 denom-ination banknotes with basecolour Lavender in July 2018,RBI had said banknotes in thedenomination of �100 issuedby it in the earlier series willcontinue to be legal tender.

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Country’s largest softwareexporter Tata Consultancy

Services (TCS) on Mondaysurpassed Reliance IndustriesLtd to become the country’smost valued firm by marketcapitalisation.

In another milestone, TCSalso emerged as the most val-ued IT company in the worldas its market valuation wentpast that of Accenture.

During the close of trade,the market valuation of TCSwas at �12,34,609.62 crorewhile that of RelianceIndustries Ltd (RIL) stood at �12,29,661.32 crore on the BSE.

TCS dipped 0.40 per centto close at �3,290.20 after gain-ing 1.26 per cent to its one-year

high of �3,345.25 during theday.

Shares of RIL declined 5.36per cent to close at �1,939.70 onthe BSE after its earnings failedto cheer investors.

In March last year also,TCS had reclaimed the statusof the country’s most valuedfirm by market valuation.

So far this month, TCSshares have gained nearly 13per cent on the BSE.

Multinational tech firmAccenture’s market capitalisa-tion was at USD 168.44 billionas of Friday close on the NYSE.As of Monday, TCS valuationin dollar terms was at USD169.26 billion. Tech giant SAP’smarket valuation was at USD155.50 billion and that of IBMwas at USD 105.69 billion.

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US online retail giantAmazon has moved Delhi

High Court to block partnerFuture Group from sellingretail assets to RelianceIndustries that had received anod from market regulatorSEBI and stock exchanges.

The e-commerce giant isseeking enforcement of theSingapore arbitrator’s interimorder to stall �24,713-croreFuture-Reliance Industries Ltd(RIL) deal.

The move comes just daysafter the Future-RIL dealreceived nod from market reg-ulator SEBI and bourses.

In its latest petition,Amazon has said the interiminjunctions granted by theEmergency Arbitrator (EA)are enforceable under theIndian laws under theArbitration and ConciliationAct as the order is deemed tobe an order of the Court and isenforceable under the Code ofCivil Procedure.

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New Delhi: With an aim to cel-ebrate and encourage deservinginstitutions to continue toenhance outreach to the poorby way of motivating manage-ment and staff through recog-nition to their painstakingefforts and enhancing credi-bility of the institution, theInclusive Finance India Awardswere constituted by ACCESSDevelopment Services in part-nership with HSBC Indiarecently in Delhi. The winnerswere felicitated by UnionMinister of State for FinanceAnurag Singh Thakur andNABARD Chairman GRChintala.

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Mumbai:The rupee rose by3 paise to settle at 72.94against the US dollar onMonday, extending its gainsfor the fifth straight sessiondespite heavy selling in thedomestic equity market. Atthe interbank forex market,the rupee opened at 72.95against the American cur-rency, and hit an intra-dayhigh of 72.89 and a low of72.96 in day trade.

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