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T he Government on Wednesday asserted that microblogging platform Twitter has lost its legal pro- tection in India because it deliberately chose non-com- pliance despite multiple opportunities to it. Losing legal protection means Twitter’s top executives, including the nation’s manag- ing director, face police ques- tioning and criminal liability under the Indian Penal Code over “unlawful and inflam- matory” content posted by users on Twitter. Accusing Twitter of delib- erately refusing to comply with Indian laws, in identical posts on Twitter as well as its Indian rival Koo, Union IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said Twitter was given “multi- ple opportunities to comply” but it deliberately chose non- compliance. In a related development, the Ghaziabad police have booked Twitter Inc, its India unit and seven others in con- nection with a viral video of an attack on an elderly person and issued notices to them. This is the first case that holds the social media giant respon- sible for third-party content. Twitter has lost its inter- mediary immunity (legal pro- tection) in India after it failed to appoint statutory officers on the company’s role, in accor- dance with the new Information Technology (IT) rules. This means Twitter’s top executives, including the nation’s managing director, face police ques- tioning and criminal liability under the Indian Penal Code over “unlawful and inflam- matory” content posted by Twitter users on its platform. In a series of tweets, Prasad said there are numer- ous queries arising as to whether Twitter is entitled to safe harbour provision. “However, the simple fact of the matter is that Twitter has failed to comply with the Intermediary Guidelines that came into effect from the 26th of May,” he said. I f a corona warrior passes away due to Covid-19 infec- tion, his relatives might get compensation as high as 1 crore, but there is no compen- sation available to a common man in case of death linked to vaccination. Clinical trial procedures do have compensation provi- sions which are paid by the companies, though the process is fraught with difficulties and may stretches years. A senior Union Health Ministry official said there is no provision of doling out com- pensation for recipients of Covid-19 vaccine against any kind of adverse events follow- ing immunisation (AEFI) or medical complications that may arise due to inoculation. In this connection, he cited chil- dren immunisation pro- gramme where no compensa- tion has been given so far. The AEFI is defined as “any untoward medical occurrence which follows immunisation” and which does not necessar- ily have a causal relationship with the usage of the vaccine. As per the Government report, since the launch of the nationwide vaccination from January 16 till June 7, one per- son has died due to severe aller- gic reaction of vaccination while 488 succumbed post inoculation which the Government said were due to co-incidental reasons, includ- ing co-morbidities, and cannot be directly attributed to the vaccination. So far, 26 crore people have been vaccinated in the country with Covaxin or Covishield. In fact, in a written reply in Parliament, Union Health Minister of State Ashwani Kumar Choubey on March 19 said, “There is no provision of compensation for recipients of Covid-19 vaccine against any kind of side effects or medical complications that may arise due to inoculation. The Covid- 19 vaccination is entirely vol- untary for the beneficiary.” However, measures have been put in place like avail- ability of anaphylaxis kits at each vaccination site, immedi- ate referral to AEFI manage- ment centre and observation of vaccine recipients for 30 min- utes at session site for any adverse events so as to take timely corrective measure. Also, the AEFI management of such cases are provided free of cost treatment in Public Health Facilities, he had said. “Though under clinical tri- als conducted in India, there are specific rules defining com- pensation for participants, this is not so in case for the vacci- nation. There is no method under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act to provide any type of com- pensation against any adverse event after receiving a vaccine approved for restricted emer- gency use. A s the third Covid-19 wave is projected to impact chil- dren in a bigger way, the Government has issued guide- lines for Covid-care manage- ment for kids. According to the guidelines, drugs such as iver- mectin, hydroxychloroquine, favipiravir and antibiotics like doxycycline and azithromycin, which are prescribed for adult patients, should not be rec- ommended for treating the minor. The Union Health Ministry’s recommendations include augmenting existing Covid-care facilities to provide care to children with acute coronavirus infection. “Similarly, issues of opti- mal treatment for multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children ( MIS-C ) need to be addressed by clinical trials, such as comparison of low dose with high doses steroids, comparison of steroids with IVIG and others,” it added. Various States like Delhi, UP and Maharashtra on their own have already started tak- ing measures — from ramping up paediatric beds to priori- tising vaccination for parents of kids below 12 years. L ok Janshakti Party (LJP) leader Chirag Paswan on Wednesday vowed to fight back to save the party found- ed by his father late Ram Vilas Paswan, saying he was “sher ka beta” (lion’s son). In his first media interac- tion after split in the LJP par- liamentary party and five of LJP MPs writing to Lok Sabha Speaker to appoint his uncle Pashupati Kumar Paras as the leader of the party, Chirag blamed the Janata Dal (United) for crisis in the party. While blaming the JD(U) for the split, he steered clear of questions regarding the role of the BJP in the devel- opment and added that what has happened is also an inter- nal matter of his party for which he will not target oth- ers. Chirag may have avoided any reference to the role of the BJP behind the split in the LJP, but it is well known that the saffron outfit had lent its weight behind Paras. State BJP chief Sanjay Jaiswal had met Paras just three days before the split in the parlia- mentary party. When asked if “Hanuman” who is in trouble now will seek help from “Ram”, a reference to his pro- jection of his relationship with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the Bihar Assembly polls as that between the two famous char- acters of epic Ramayan, he said, “If Hanuman has to seek help from Ram, then what good is Hanuman and what good is Ram.” It is going to be a long battle, Paswan said, as the group headed by him fights the faction of five other party MPs, led by Paras, to claim ownership of the LJP. The JD(U), he alleged, had been working to cause a split in the party even when his father was alive. Targeting the party, he said it has always worked to divide Dalits and weaken its leaders. The LJP draws its support from Paswans, the largest Dalit caste in Bihar. I n a move unheard of in the contemporary political histo- ry of India, Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Wednesday called on National Human Rights Commission Chairman Justice Arun Mishra apparently to apprise him of what he called “retributive post poll violence” in the State. The ruling Trinamool Congress, the prime target of Dhankhar’s attack, promptly reacted saying “Governor… don’t come back to Bengal.” The Governor is reported to have drawn the attention of the NHRC chief towards the attacks mounted on Opposition sup- porters and human rights viola- tion in State. Dhankhar, who was on a three-day trip to New Delhi, also met Union Ministers Prahlad Singh Patel and Prahlad Joshi before tweeting, “… Had useful interaction with Union Minister of Coal and Mines and Parliamentary Affairs...” Earlier dwelling on the post poll violence and the alleged Governmental apathy, Dhankhar said how the State Government was turning a blind eye to the incidents of “ret- ributive post poll violence” that had rendered thousands of peo- ple homeless and properties worth crores looted and destroyed. “Four Cabinet meet- ings have taken place in the past six weeks … not a single word has been spent on the post poll violence … no Minister or offi- cer has visited the affected areas and no compensation has been declared,” the Governor said, adding, “I told the Chief Minister to update me about the situation but … there was no response on her part… it seems that the police have forgotten their work … the police and the Home Department must rise above partisan politics … (or else) I shall not overlook the matter.” New Delhi: Amid stand-off with the Government, Twitter shared details of an interim compliance officer with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. Twitter has reiterated that it is making all possible efforts to comply with the new IT rules. A Twitter spokesperson stated on Wednesday that the interim Chief Compliance Officer had been retained by the company. H ealthcare is the primary focus area of my Government; and we are invest- ing more than Rs 8,500 crore on health infrastructure,” Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said this on Wednesday while inter- acting with 786 doctors who were recently selected through the OPSC. Patnaik said his Government is continuously strengthening the healthcare system by recruiting large num- bers of personnel in the last few years. Appreciating the doctors’ role in the current pandemic, he said doctors have a special respect in society. People look at doctors like gods, especially when it’s a life-and-death situ- ation. The current pandemic has transformed doctors into warriors, he said. Congratulating the young doc- tors, Patnaik said, “Your family is proud of your achievement. You are now a role model in your community.” Making a cautionary remark, he said the fight against Covid is far from being over. “You are all joining during a very challenging time in the midst of the second wave in the country. Even though the cases are coming down, we all need to be extremely careful.” Health Minister Naba Kishore Das, Chief Secretary Suresh Mahapatra and Secretary to CM (5T) VK Pandian also spoke. In his welcome address, ACS Health PK Mohapatra referred to the initiatives taken for improvement of health infra. He said the Shri Jagannath Medical College at Puri would function from this year. Till 2024, the State would have two more medical colleges each year. T he Shree Jagannatha Temple Administration (SJTA) on Wednesday decided not to allow devotees into the shrine till July 25 in view of the continuing Covid-19 pandem- ic. Earlier, the administration had decided to stop ‘public dar- shan’ at the temple till June 15. SJTA Chief Administrator Krishan Kumar told media- persons after a meeting of the administration that a unani- mous decision has been taken to stop visit to the shrine till July 25. If there is an improve- ment in the Covid situation, the SJTA would again hold a meet- ing on July 24 or 25 to decide on ‘public darshan’ of the deities. As the Snan Yatra is to be followed by the Rath Yatra on July 12 and the Niladri Bije on July 23, the SJTA’s priority is to ensure smooth conduct of these festivals and rituals of deities while adhering to Covid protocol, Kumar added. This year too, the Rath Yatra will be held with participation of servi- tors and police personnel only. B hubaneswar on Wednesday registered 372 new Covid- 19 positive cases, with which the State capital city’s total tally increased to 85,208. Out of the new cases, 287 were local contacts and 85 were from quarantine. The local contacts includ- ed 22 cases in Patia, 15 in Niladri Vihar, 13 each in Patrapada and Khandagiri, 12 each in Nayapalli, Laxmisagar and Chandrasekharpur, 11 each in Old Town and AIIMS Nagar, 10 in Badagada and nine in Pokhariput. Currently, the active cases stood at 3,004 in the city. Meanwhile, four more patients succumbed to the disease in the city, increasing the total death toll to 388. However, 825 patients recovered on the day, increasing the total recoveries to 81,795. T he Covid-19 positive cases reported on Wednesday increased marginally to 3,535 from 3,405 on Tuesday. The new cases were registered in the 30 districts and the State pool, with which the total tally rose to 8,63,061. A total of 58,695 samples had been tested in last 24 hours; and test positivity rate (TPR) stood at 6.02% against last 24 hours’5.99%. The cumu- lative samples tested so far were 1,28,36,434. Out of new cases, 2,016 were from quarantine and 1,519 were local contacts.Khordha district again reported day’s highest cases at 533 followed by Jajpur with 348, Cuttack 320, Baleswar 296, Puri 187, Bhadrak 184, Mayurbhanj 153 and Kendrapada 104. The districts which record- ed below 100 cases were Nayagah with 95, Keonjhar 92, Jagatsinghpur 90, Bargarh 86, Nabarangpur 85, Sundargarh 76, Rayagada 73, Dhenkanal, Kandhamal and Koraput 56 each, Boudh 52, Subarnapur and Sambalpur 39 each, Kalahandi 35,Gajapati 27, Ganjam 26, Deogarh 25, Balangir 18, Nuapada 15 and Jharsuguda 12. Besides, 82 cases were reported from State pool. The active cases stood at 47,796 and while so far 8,11,780 patients have recovered. A day before the lockdown restrictions were set to end, the Odisha Government on Wednesday announced that lockdown restrictions would continue in the State till July 1 (5 am). In the wake of the sec- ond Covid wave, the State Government had imposed a lockdown from May 5 to 14, which was first extended to June 1 and subsequently to June 17 (5 am). Chief Secretary Suresh Chandra Mahapatra said, “To break the chain of Covid-19 infection, the State Government has imposed lockdown in three phases since May 5. The State has crossed the peak. Now the test positivity rate (TPR) has come down from 14 per cent to 6 per cent.” All 30 districts have been divided into two groups. As many 17 southern and western districts have been marked as Category A, where the TPR has remained below 5% while the remaining 13 districts of coastal and adjourning area have been put in Category B, where the TPR is high. As the western and south- ern districts are now reporting a very low TPR, little relaxation has been given in these districts, Mahapatra said. The districts are Sundargarh, Ganjam, Malkangiri, Nabarangpur, Nuapada, Deogarh, Kalahandi, Subarnapur, Koraput, Jharsuguda, Kandhamal, Bargarh, Boudh, Rayagada, Gajapati, Sambalpur and Balangir. The Category B districts are Puri, Kendrapada, Khordha, Jajpur, Baleswar, Bhadrak, Jagatsinghpur, Dhenkanal, Angul, Cuttack, Nayagarh and Mayurbhanj. In Category-A districts, the shops for essential goods will open from 6 am to 5 pm and in Category-B districts from 6 am to 1 pm.Street vend- ing for takeaway packets is allowed only in 17 districts under Category A. However, the Chief Secretary informed that night curfew and weekend shut- down would continue across State till July 1. Keeping in view livelihood of milk farmers, the Government has decided to open sweets shops in the State. They can only give parcels. The cycle sale and auto- mobile repair shops will con- tinue to remain open. Morning walk and jugging are allowed, but parks and gyms would remain closed.All essential ser- vices, transport of goods, indus- trial activities and construc- tion activities would be allowed. But public buses would not run. All restrictions regarding marriage, cremation, meetings, social gatherings, and religious places would continue as before. All temples and other places of warship will remain closed. However, rituals would contin- ue as earlier.Mahapatra urged to people to continue to follow Covid-appropriate behaviours like wearing a mask, social dis- tance and hand washing.

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Page 1: The Pioneer...“Ram”, a reference to his pro-jection of his relationship ... between the two famous char-acters of epic Ramayan, he said, “If Hanuman has to seek help from Ram,

����� ��������

The Government onWednesday asserted that

microblogging platformTwitter has lost its legal pro-tection in India because itdeliberately chose non-com-pliance despite multipleopportunities to it. Losinglegal protection meansTwitter’s top executives,including the nation’s manag-ing director, face police ques-tioning and criminal liabilityunder the Indian Penal Codeover “unlawful and inflam-matory” content posted byusers on Twitter.

Accusing Twitter of delib-erately refusing to complywith Indian laws, in identicalposts on Twitter as well as itsIndian rival Koo, Union ITMinister Ravi Shankar Prasadsaid Twitter was given “multi-ple opportunities to comply”but it deliberately chose non-compliance.

In a related development,the Ghaziabad police havebooked Twitter Inc, its India

unit and seven others in con-nection with a viral video of anattack on an elderly personand issued notices to them.This is the first case that holdsthe social media giant respon-sible for third-party content.

Twitter has lost its inter-mediary immunity (legal pro-tection) in India after it failedto appoint statutory officers onthe company’s role, in accor-dance with the newInformation Technology (IT)rules. This means Twitter’s topexecutives, including thenation’s managing director,

face police ques-tioning and criminal liabilityunder the Indian Penal Codeover “unlawful and inflam-matory” content posted byTwitter users on its platform.

In a series of tweets,Prasad said there are numer-ous queries arising as towhether Twitter is entitled tosafe harbour provision.“However, the simple fact ofthe matter is that Twitter hasfailed to comply with theIntermediary Guidelines thatcame into effect from the 26thof May,” he said.

��������� ��� ��������

If a corona warrior passesaway due to Covid-19 infec-

tion, his relatives might getcompensation as high as �1crore, but there is no compen-sation available to a commonman in case of death linked tovaccination.

Clinical trial proceduresdo have compensation provi-sions which are paid by thecompanies, though the processis fraught with difficulties andmay stretches years.

A senior Union HealthMinistry official said there is noprovision of doling out com-pensation for recipients ofCovid-19 vaccine against anykind of adverse events follow-ing immunisation (AEFI) ormedical complications thatmay arise due to inoculation. Inthis connection, he cited chil-dren immunisation pro-gramme where no compensa-tion has been given so far.

The AEFI is defined as “anyuntoward medical occurrencewhich follows immunisation”and which does not necessar-ily have a causal relationshipwith the usage of the vaccine.

As per the Government

report, since the launch of thenationwide vaccination fromJanuary 16 till June 7, one per-son has died due to severe aller-gic reaction of vaccinationwhile 488 succumbed postinoculation which theGovernment said were due toco-incidental reasons, includ-ing co-morbidities, and cannotbe directly attributed to thevaccination. So far, 26 crorepeople have been vaccinated inthe country with Covaxin orCovishield.

In fact, in a written reply inParliament, Union HealthMinister of State AshwaniKumar Choubey on March 19said, “There is no provision ofcompensation for recipients ofCovid-19 vaccine against anykind of side effects or medicalcomplications that may arisedue to inoculation. The Covid-19 vaccination is entirely vol-untary for the beneficiary.”

However, measures havebeen put in place like avail-ability of anaphylaxis kits ateach vaccination site, immedi-ate referral to AEFI manage-ment centre and observation ofvaccine recipients for 30 min-utes at session site for anyadverse events so as to taketimely corrective measure.Also, the AEFI management ofsuch cases are provided free ofcost treatment in Public HealthFacilities, he had said.

“Though under clinical tri-als conducted in India, thereare specific rules defining com-pensation for participants, thisis not so in case for the vacci-nation.

There is no method underthe Drugs and Cosmetics Actto provide any type of com-pensation against any adverseevent after receiving a vaccineapproved for restricted emer-gency use.

����� ��������

As the third Covid-19 waveis projected to impact chil-

dren in a bigger way, theGovernment has issued guide-lines for Covid-care manage-ment for kids. According to theguidelines, drugs such as iver-mectin, hydroxychloroquine,favipiravir and antibiotics likedoxycycline and azithromycin,which are prescribed for adultpatients, should not be rec-ommended for treating theminor.

The Union HealthMinistry’s recommendationsinclude augmenting existingCovid-care facilities to providecare to children with acutecoronavirus infection.

“Similarly, issues of opti-mal treatment for multisysteminflammatory syndrome inchildren ( MIS-C ) need to beaddressed by clinical trials,such as comparison of lowdose with high doses steroids,comparison of steroids withIVIG and others,” it added.

Various States like Delhi,UP and Maharashtra on theirown have already started tak-ing measures — from rampingup paediatric beds to priori-tising vaccination for parentsof kids below 12 years.

����� ��������

Lok Janshakti Party (LJP)leader Chirag Paswan on

Wednesday vowed to fightback to save the party found-ed by his father late RamVilas Paswan, saying he was“sher ka beta” (lion’s son).

In his first media interac-tion after split in the LJP par-liamentary party and five ofLJP MPs writing to Lok SabhaSpeaker to appoint his unclePashupati Kumar Paras as theleader of the party, Chiragblamed the Janata Dal(United) for crisis in the party.

While blaming the JD(U)for the split, he steered clearof questions regarding therole of the BJP in the devel-opment and added that whathas happened is also an inter-nal matter of his party forwhich he will not target oth-ers.

Chirag may have avoidedany reference to the role of theBJP behind the split in theLJP, but it is well known thatthe saffron outfit had lent itsweight behind Paras. StateBJP chief Sanjay Jaiswal hadmet Paras just three days

before the split in the parlia-mentary party. When asked if“Hanuman” who is in troublenow will seek help from“Ram”, a reference to his pro-jection of his relationshipwith Prime Minister NarendraModi during the BiharAssembly polls as thatbetween the two famous char-acters of epic Ramayan, hesaid, “If Hanuman has to seekhelp from Ram, then whatgood is Hanuman and whatgood is Ram.” It is going to be

a long battle, Paswan said, asthe group headed by himfights the faction of five otherparty MPs, led by Paras, toclaim ownership of the LJP.

The JD(U), he alleged,had been working to cause asplit in the party even whenhis father was alive. Targetingthe party, he said it has alwaysworked to divide Dalits andweaken its leaders. The LJPdraws its support fromPaswans, the largest Dalitcaste in Bihar.

������������� ��� ��� �

In a move unheard of in thecontemporary political histo-

ry of India, Bengal GovernorJagdeep Dhankhar onWednesday called on NationalHuman Rights CommissionChairman Justice Arun Mishraapparently to apprise him ofwhat he called “retributive postpoll violence” in the State.

The ruling TrinamoolCongress, the prime target ofDhankhar’s attack, promptlyreacted saying “Governor… don’tcome back to Bengal.” TheGovernor is reported to havedrawn the attention of theNHRC chief towards the attacksmounted on Opposition sup-porters and human rights viola-tion in State. Dhankhar, who wason a three-day trip to NewDelhi, also met Union MinistersPrahlad Singh Patel and PrahladJoshi before tweeting, “… Haduseful interaction with Union

Minister of Coal and Mines andParliamentary Affairs...” Earlierdwelling on the post poll violenceand the alleged Governmentalapathy, Dhankhar said how theState Government was turning ablind eye to the incidents of “ret-ributive post poll violence” thathad rendered thousands of peo-ple homeless and propertiesworth crores looted anddestroyed. “Four Cabinet meet-ings have taken place in the pastsix weeks … not a single wordhas been spent on the post pollviolence … no Minister or offi-cer has visited the affected areasand no compensation has beendeclared,” the Governor said,adding, “I told the Chief Ministerto update me about the situationbut … there was no response onher part… it seems that thepolice have forgotten their work… the police and the HomeDepartment must rise abovepartisan politics … (or else) Ishall not overlook the matter.”

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����������"������������#�$ �����New Delhi: Amid stand-offwith the Government, Twittershared details of an interimcompliance officer with theMinistry of Electronics andInformation Technology.Twitter has reiterated that it ismaking all possible efforts tocomply with the new IT rules.A Twitter spokesperson statedon Wednesday that the interimChief Compliance Officer hadbeen retained by the company.

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Healthcare is the primaryfocus area of my

Government; and we are invest-ing more than Rs 8,500 crore onhealth infrastructure,” ChiefMinister Naveen Patnaik saidthis on Wednesday while inter-acting with 786 doctors whowere recently selected throughthe OPSC.

Patnaik said hisGovernment is continuouslystrengthening the healthcaresystem by recruiting large num-bers of personnel in the last fewyears. Appreciating the doctors’role in the current pandemic, hesaid doctors have a specialrespect in society. People look atdoctors like gods, especiallywhen it’s a life-and-death situ-

ation. The current pandemichas transformed doctors intowarriors, he said.Congratulating the young doc-tors, Patnaik said, “Your familyis proud of your achievement.You are now a role model inyour community.” Making acautionary remark, he said thefight against Covid is far frombeing over. “You are all joiningduring a very challenging timein the midst of the second wavein the country. Even though thecases are coming down, we all

need to be extremely careful.”Health Minister Naba KishoreDas, Chief Secretary SureshMahapatra and Secretary toCM (5T) VK Pandian alsospoke. In his welcome address,ACS Health PK Mohapatrareferred to the

initiatives taken forimprovement of health infra. Hesaid the Shri Jagannath MedicalCollege at Puri would functionfrom this year. Till 2024, theState would have two moremedical colleges each year.

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The Shree JagannathaTemple Administration

(SJTA) on Wednesday decidednot to allow devotees into theshrine till July 25 in view of thecontinuing Covid-19 pandem-ic. Earlier, the administrationhad decided to stop ‘public dar-shan’ at the temple till June 15.

SJTA Chief AdministratorKrishan Kumar told media-persons after a meeting of theadministration that a unani-mous decision has been takento stop visit to the shrine tillJuly 25. If there is an improve-ment in the Covid situation, theSJTA would again hold a meet-

ing on July 24 or 25 to decideon ‘public darshan’ of thedeities. As the Snan Yatra is tobe followed by the Rath Yatraon July 12 and the Niladri Bijeon July 23, the SJTA’s priorityis to ensure smooth conduct ofthese festivals and rituals ofdeities while adhering to Covidprotocol, Kumar added. Thisyear too, the Rath Yatra will beheld with participation of servi-tors and police personnel only.

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Bhubaneswar on Wednesdayregistered 372 new Covid-

19 positive cases, with whichthe State capital city’s totaltally increased to 85,208. Outof the new cases, 287 were localcontacts and 85 were fromquarantine.

The local contacts includ-ed 22 cases in Patia, 15 inNiladri Vihar, 13 each inPatrapada and Khandagiri, 12each in Nayapalli, Laxmisagarand Chandrasekharpur, 11each in Old Town and AIIMSNagar, 10 in Badagada and ninein Pokhariput.

Currently, the active casesstood at 3,004 in the city.Meanwhile, four more patientssuccumbed to the disease in thecity, increasing the total deathtoll to 388. However, 825patients recovered on the day,increasing the total recoveriesto 81,795.

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The Covid-19 positive casesreported on Wednesday

increased marginally to 3,535from 3,405 on Tuesday. Thenew cases were registered in the30 districts and the State pool,with which the total tally roseto 8,63,061.

A total of 58,695 sampleshad been tested in last 24hours; and test positivity rate(TPR) stood at 6.02% againstlast 24 hours’5.99%. The cumu-lative samples tested so farwere 1,28,36,434.

Out of new cases, 2,016were from quarantine and 1,519were local contacts.Khordhadistrict again reported day’shighest cases at 533 followed byJajpur with 348, Cuttack 320,Baleswar 296, Puri 187,Bhadrak 184, Mayurbhanj 153and Kendrapada 104.

The districts which record-ed below 100 cases wereNayagah with 95, Keonjhar 92,Jagatsinghpur 90, Bargarh 86,Nabarangpur 85, Sundargarh76, Rayagada 73, Dhenkanal,Kandhamal and Koraput 56each, Boudh 52, Subarnapurand Sambalpur 39 each,Kalahandi 35,Gajapati 27,Ganjam 26, Deogarh 25,Balangir 18, Nuapada 15 andJharsuguda 12.

Besides, 82 cases werereported from State pool. Theactive cases stood at 47,796 andwhile so far 8,11,780 patientshave recovered.

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Aday before the lockdownrestrictions were set to end,

the Odisha Government onWednesday announced thatlockdown restrictions wouldcontinue in the State till July 1(5 am). In the wake of the sec-ond Covid wave, the StateGovernment had imposed alockdown from May 5 to 14,which was first extended to June1 and subsequently to June 17(5 am).

Chief Secretary SureshChandra Mahapatra said, “Tobreak the chain of Covid-19infection, the State Governmenthas imposed lockdown in threephases since May 5. The Statehas crossed the peak. Now the

test positivity rate (TPR) hascome down from 14 per cent to6 per cent.”

All 30 districts have beendivided into two groups. Asmany 17 southern and westerndistricts have been marked asCategory A, where the TPR hasremained below 5% while theremaining 13 districts of coastaland adjourning area have beenput in Category B, where theTPR is high.

As the western and south-ern districts are now reportinga very low TPR, little relaxationhas been given in these districts,Mahapatra said.

The districts areSundargarh, Ganjam,Malkangiri, Nabarangpur,Nuapada, Deogarh, Kalahandi,Subarnapur, Koraput,Jharsuguda, Kandhamal,Bargarh, Boudh, Rayagada,Gajapati, Sambalpur andBalangir.

The Category B districts arePuri, Kendrapada, Khordha,Jajpur, Baleswar, Bhadrak,Jagatsinghpur, Dhenkanal,Angul, Cuttack, Nayagarh andMayurbhanj. In Category-Adistricts, the shops for essentialgoods will open from 6 am to 5pm and in Category-B districts

from 6 am to 1 pm.Street vend-ing for takeaway packets isallowed only in 17 districtsunder Category A. However, theChief Secretary informed thatnight curfew and weekend shut-down would continue acrossState till July 1.

Keeping in view livelihoodof milk farmers, theGovernment has decided toopen sweets shops in the State.They can only give parcels.

The cycle sale and auto-mobile repair shops will con-tinue to remain open. Morningwalk and jugging are allowed,but parks and gyms wouldremain closed.All essential ser-vices, transport of goods, indus-trial activities and construc-tion activities would be allowed.But public buses would notrun.

All restrictions regardingmarriage, cremation, meetings,social gatherings, and religiousplaces would continue as before.All temples and other places ofwarship will remain closed.However, rituals would contin-ue as earlier.Mahapatra urged topeople to continue to followCovid-appropriate behaviourslike wearing a mask, social dis-tance and hand washing.

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Page 2: The Pioneer...“Ram”, a reference to his pro-jection of his relationship ... between the two famous char-acters of epic Ramayan, he said, “If Hanuman has to seek help from Ram,

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Only a week ago, Israel, themost daring nation on the

planet, declared that it hasdeveloped a magic bullet curefor Covid. Only five doseswould be enough to destroy thepathogen and, that too, withindays. This medicine wouldmake vaccines redundant.Hopefully, the claim turns outto be true. Only recently, Indiannuclear scientists made anincredible claim about a drugcalled 2-DG, which eventual-

ly turned out to be a big hoax.This glucose lookalike stuff,known since long as a cancertherapy drug, has not beenapproved by a single sane inter-national agency anywhere inthe world. If it were such amagnificent cure costing a beg-garly 950 rupees per dose, allailing Indians would havewalked back home by nowfrom the Covid hospitals.

As some experts say, the 2-DG fairytale was only aplanned bluff to draw publicattention away from scores ofmessed-up acts by the CentralGovernment that has jeopar-dised lives of Indians by notbeing serious about vaccineprocurement quite in time.

There may be a fleetingchance humans could halt thespread of SARS-2 and drive itback into nature as happenedwith its cousin SARS-1 in 2001across China and elsewhere.Fortunately, this time, theseverely acute global pandem-ic forced the best brains on thejob of zeroing in on fairly

effective vaccines in recordtime. But vaccination is anexpensive toll highway thatfew countries will be able toaccess in the near term.

Most countries are still faraway from a vaccine. All thesame, there is no cause for bigworry anymore. Pandemicsalways end after a natural cycleis complete. Though vaccineshave never played a significantrole in ending them before, thistime around the human specieshas been luckier.

Far fewer people will diefrom Covid-19 because of thewonderful vaccines that haveworked like magic There wereno flu vaccines in 1918 whenthe world didn’t yet know thatthe great influenza was causedby a virus H1N1.

In 1957, when the H2N2pandemic swept the world, fluvaccine was mainly a tool givenonly to the military. In theH3N2 pandemic of 1968, theUnited States produced nearly22 million doses of vaccine, butby the time it was ready the

worst of the pandemic hadpassed, and naturally, andimportance of the vaccine haddiminished significantly. That‘too-little-and-too-late’ phe-nomenon had played out againin 2009 when the world final-ly had the capacity to makemillions of vaccines. But vac-cines were ignored as the viruscycle was naturally over.

A descendent of theSpanish flu virus, the modernH1N1, circulates even today asdoes H3N2. Humans didn’tdevelop herd immunity tothem. The known phenome-non has the pathogen disem-powered naturally because somany people became protect-ed against it as they got infect-ed or vaccinated.

The human immune sys-tems learned enough aboutthe pathogens to fend off thedeadliest manifestations ofinfection. Humans and virus-es reached kind of an immuno-logical détente. Instead of beingable to cause tsunamis of thedevastating illness, the viruses

succeeded only in triggeringsmall surges of milder illness astime rolled by. Thus, the pan-demic flu degenerated into aseasonal flu in an endemicform. So, the current ravagingSARS-2 virus will soon join ahandful of human coron-aviruses that cause colds, main-ly in the winter, when condi-tions favour their transmission.The fear will have gone by then.Deadly flu viruses last betweentwo and three years beforedegenerating to ordinary,impotent viruses.

Maria Van Kerkhove, theWorld Health Organisation’sleading coronavirus expert,believes that the faster theaffected countries come onguard religiously, the earlier willbe the conclusive defeat of thevirus.

India got affected horrifi-cally only because the pre-sent-day unruly youths andheadless politicians defied allsafety norms and spread theCovid virus without knowingthey were causing havoc to all

other citizens. The same thinghappened even in Americaand Europe. People disbelievedthat a seemingly ordinary fluvirus could be so deadly. Thefirst-wave measures in Indiawere fantastic. The wholecountry obeyed rules and thevirus lost the power of attackwithin less than ten months.

But Indians did not care adamn about how the UKGovernment and the USauthorities partly foresaw adeadlier second wave would becoming to impose failsafe pro-tective behaviour. Indians,including top members of theexecutive, wrote off coronaand flung all doors open to letmindless people mingle every-where. The devastating conse-quences are being experiencedeven at this moment, and help-lessly so.

Top medical experts havemade it amply clear that thepeople will have to keep guarduntil the second year of initialattack had occurred. So bylogic, until the end of 2022

spring, everyone around alllocations has to keep usingmasks, maintaining social dis-tance by avoiding crowdedplaces and ensuring handhygiene without once floutingon any single front. Vaccineshave been a timely Godsend.As necessity has invariablybeen the mother of invention,the mankind today has organ-ised the best possible protec-tion. Indians are fortunatebecause it is the biggest vaccineproducer in the world.

Lastly, there is big talk ofthe ECMO machine as if it’s themagic bullet to cure anyonesuffering from nearly-irre-versible lungs infection.Although it is so reassuring tosee country folks coming for-ward to support helplesspatients with money in what’scalled crowd funding, it wouldbe wise to know that themachine is not a treatment atall. It only temporarily oxy-genates blood outside the bodyin a highly invasive manner.

The lungs, muscles and tissueskeep live by getting oxygen.May God bring back home allpatients on the machine haleand happy! Technicians to runthe machines have a moreimportant role than doctors inkeeping the patients live. So,per every machine, at leastthree sets of technicians have tobe kept ready as they have theiremergencies too.

Lastly again, unless theinfection comes below five percent on any physical location,there should not begin any un-lockdown initiative at all. Evenif some minor relaxation is tobe granted only to restorelivelihood, Covid-appropriatebehaviour has to be strictlyadhered to.

This can be achieved onlyby imposing hefty financialpenalty. No extent of physicalpunishment would reform peo-ple with congenital disobedi-ence traits. India is great inancient history books. By andlarge, the people of India todayare very difficult to tame.

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The BJP on Wednesdaydemanded sale of an esti-

mated 16.5 million tonnes ofiron ore worth an estimated�10,000 crore left unsoldbecause of the Covid-19 situ-ation. Addressing a Press con-ference here, Keonjhar MLAand BJP Legislature Party ChiefWhip Mohan Majhi stated thatto strengthen the State’s econ-omy and provide employmentto local youths, the StateGovernment must sell the

unsold iron ore. Majhi said agroup of BJP legislators havewritten a letter to ChiefMinister Naveen Patnaik andUnion Coal and MiningMinister Prahllad Joshi andPetroleum MinisterDharmendra Minister to inter-vene in this issue.

He said that before Covid-19, it was estimated that therewere 58,000 MT of iron ore, outof which 16.5 MT is nowunsold.

According to the MMDRAct, the unsold ore could bestored up to seven months. Ofthe 16.5 MT of iron ore, 8.5 MTis lying at Nuagaon in Keonjhardistrict.

Majhi alleged that becauseof lack of imitative of the StateGovernment, Odisha is goingto lose revenue of �10,000

crore. He further stated thatdespite a High Court rulingthat the Mines PrincipalSecretary would take a call onthe issue, he has decided thatthere would no extension inmine leasing.

Reacting to the statementof Majhi, BJD spokespersonLenin Mohanty said Majhi’sallegation is based on politicalconsideration, baseless andwithout facts.

Mohanty said Odisha is theonly State where mine leasingis conducted in a fair andtransparent manner, which theUnion Government haspraised.“If Majhi thinks of anyunfair work on the StateGovernment’s part, he can askthe Central Government tofind out the truth,” Mohantyadded.

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The Commissionerate policeclaimed to have busted a

major illegal firearms racket inCuttack by seizing 11 country-made guns and 51 live roundsof ammunitions onWednesday.

Four conduits involved inthe gunrunning syndicate werearrested, said Commissioner ofPolice (CP) SoumendraPriyadarshi. The arrests andarms seizure were made by aspecial squad of the police ledby Cuttack DCP Pratik Singh.Those arrested were identi-fied as Tukuna Swain, SantoshRout, Jyoti Ranjan and PrasantRout. Tukuna Swain, who is thekingpin of the racket, used to

procure the illegal arms fromMunger in Bihar, the CP saidat a Press meet. Swain used tobe a major supplier of guns tonotorious gangster siblings D-brothers who are currentlybehind the bars, he said.

“A total of 18 cases arepending against Tukuna Swain,who is currently on remand, atvarious police stations in Anguland Jagatsinghpur districts.Five cases are pending againstSantosh Rout in Bhubaneswarand Cuttack, five cases againstJyoti Ranjan alias Lipu, nineagainst Prasant Rout are alsopending” he informed. A spe-cial drive against organisedcrime syndicates has beenexpedited under the directsupervision of DCP Pratik

Singh, Priyadarshi said. Asmany as 43 illegal arms alongwith 225 rounds of ammuni-tions have been seized in theCuttack urban police jurisdic-tion in the last three months,the CP said.

“The crackdown on use ofillegal arms is highly requiredto prevent organised crimesand the Commissioneratepolice have successfully curbedthe supply and manufacturingof illegal arms,” Priyadarshiclaimed.

The special drive againstillegal country-made guns hasyielded fruit as organisedcrimes have decreased consid-erably due to the continuouscrackdown against firearmsmuggling, he pointed out.

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Two persons were killed andfour others injured in two

separate road accidents inCuttack and Bhubaneswar lateon Tuesday night.

The driver of a pickup vanlost his balance and the vehi-cle hit a stationary trailer atManguli Square nearChoudwar near Cuttack. As aresult, two persons fromBaleswar who were travelling inthe vehicle died on the spot andanother sustained criticalinjuries. However, the driverescaped unhurt.

In the other incident,three staffs of a PCR wereinjured when a truck hit thevehicle near the Saheed Nagarpolice station over bridge inBhubaneswar. The truck driverfled from the spot. Police seizedthe truck. An investigationinto the incident was underway.

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Rourkela has been elevatedto the final round among

50 champion cities in the 2021Global Mayors Challenge, aworldwide innovation compe-tition organised by theBloomberg Philanthropies.

The steel city found theplace as one of the finalists inIndia apart from Pune in 5Asia-Pacific countries forurban innovations. TheBloomberg Philanthropiesnamed Rourkela among top 50cities for supporting solar-powered cold storage pluswomen entrepreneurship toreduce food waste.

This year’s programmefocuses on identifying theunique innovations by resi-dents of cities in response toglobal Covid-19 pandemic.The 50 cities from 29 countrieswere selected based on four cri-teria -- vision, potential fromimpact, feasibility and trans-ferability.

The Mayors from 631 citiesin 99 countries had submittedtheir most promising ideas forconsideration and from those,a committee of global expertshas selected the 50 most inno-vative urban solutions toemerge in the wake of Covid-19 to advance in the competi-tion. The 50 champion cities,representing the boldest urbaninnovations of the past year,that will advance to the final-ist stage of the 2021 Global

Mayors Challenge, a worldwideinnovation competition thatencourages and spreads thecities’ most promising ideas, theBloomberg Philanthropies saidin a release. The ideas providea powerful snapshot of theinnovation priorities of theworld’s cities. At the globallevel, innovations focusing onimproving health and reducingunemployment were mostcommon. Racial justiceemerged as the area of highestpriority for US cities whilesocial inclusion topped theEuropean submissions.

In Africa, where the worldis experiencing its fastest ratesof urbanisation, infrastructurewas dominant. Nearly half ofthe submissions were generat-ed in part through participa-tory processes with residents.

“These 50 finalists areshowing the world that in theface of the pandemic’s enor-mous challenges, cities are ris-ing to meet them with bold,innovative, and ambitiousideas,” the Bloomberg quotedMichael R Bloomberg, founderof Bloomberg LP andBloomberg Philanthropies and108th mayor of New York City,as saying. “By helping thesecities test their ideas over thecoming months, we will have achance to identify cutting-edgepolicies and programs that canallow cities to rebuild in waysthat make them stronger andhealthier, and more equal andmore just,” he added.

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Celebrated Indian Englishpoet Jayanta Mahapatra

has won the battle againstCovid-19.The 93-year-oldwriter was undergoing treat-ment at SCB Medical CollegeHospital here since May 31. Ashe was suffering from age-related ailments and had dia-betes, his treatment was chal-lenging for doctors.Mahapatrais the first in the country tohave won Sahitya AkademiAward for English poetry. Heis credited with works ‘IndianSummer’ and ‘Hunger’, theclassics in modern IndianEnglish literature.

He was conferred with thePadma Shri in the year 2009.However, he returned the pres-tigious award in 2015 to protestagainst moral asymmetry incountry.

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Several Maoists were injuredduring an encounter with

police in a forest under theMathili police station inMalkangiri district on Tuesday,it was reported on Wednesday.

During a combing opera-tion in a jungle near Kulabedavillage, Maoists opened fire atthe security personnel, whoretaliated with controlled firingafter warning the ultras, saidMalkangiri SP HrushikeshKhilari, adding that the injuredMaoists fled into deep forests.The police recovered an INSASrifle along with 34 rounds ofbullets, an AK-47 magazine,

two INSAS magazines, four kitbags, digital cameras and otherarticles, Khilari said. Notably,Maoists are losing public sup-port in this area.

Also, many ultras are suf-fering from Covid-19. TheMalkangiri police administra-tion once again appealed to theMaoists to join the mainstreamof the society, become part of

peaceful developmental initia-tives and get better medicaltreatment.

Meanwhile, six Maoistswere killed in operations con-ducted by police personnel inVisakhapatnam district ofAndhra Pradesh early onWednesday. A senior Maoistleader and a woman memberwere among those killed.

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As the State Government onWednesday allowed sale

and service of automobiles,State Transport Authority(STA) has permitted registra-tion of new vehicles by dealers.The registration will be doneon VAHAN portal with effectfrom June 17.

The STA Chairman haswritten a letter to all RegionalTransport Officers (RTOs) ask-ing them to allow the dealersaccess to VAHAN portal untilfurther orders.

Earlier in day, theGovernment allowed openingof automobile showrooms forsale and service of vehicleswhile announcing lockdownrelaxations. The partial lock-down will remain in forcefrom 5 am of June 17 to 5 amof July 1.

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The Congress onWednesday announced

that its workers across theState would take up voluntarywork to reach out to andhelp Covid-19 victims andtheir families on June 19, thebirthday of former AICCpresident Rahul Gandhi.

In a Press release, PCCpresident Niranjan Patnaikstated that as Rahul Gandhihas urged party workers notcelebrate his birthday withmuch fanfare with meetings,flags, banners, placards, etc.,the PCC has asked partyworkers and units to distrib-ute dry rations among dis-tressed people, help and assistCovid-19 patients, besidesdistributing masks, sanitisersand medical kits, etc.

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Atotal of 1,607 tankers orcontainers carrying

29907.468 MTs medical oxygenhave been dispatched underthe escort and supervision of theOdisha police so far fromRourkela, Jajpur, Dhenkanaland Angul districts of Odisha to17 deficit States and UnionTerritories in the country. Moreare leaving on Friday.

During last 54 days, asmany as 125 tankers were dis-patched from Angul with2036.562 MT, 340 fromDhenkanal with 5676.48 MT,315 from Jajpur with 6420.949MT and 827 from Rourkelawith 15773.477 MT.

A total of 472 tankers with9253.216 MT of oxygen havebeen sent so far to AndhraPradesh, and 388 tankers with6923.589 MT of oxygen toTelangana.Tamil Nadu hasreceived 257 tankers with4763.738 MT of medical oxy-gen. Similarly, Haryana has

received 182 tankers filled with3331.793 MT of oxygen. 41tankers with 660.051 MT ofoxygen have been sent so far toMaharashtra; while 836.711 MTof oxygen filled in 50 tankershave been dispatched toChhattisgarh.

Besides, 68 tankers havecarried around 1319.962 MT ofoxygen to Uttar Pradesh and 67tankers with 1182.6 MT of oxy-gen have been sent to MadhyaPradesh till date, 22 tankers with410.24 MT of oxygen have beensent so far to Delhi, four tankerswith 107.89 MT sent to Punjab.

As many as 25 tankers with500.56 MT has been sent toKarnataka, three tankers with66.14 MT sent to Bihar, twotankers with 25.29 MT sent toChandigarh, 21 tankers with405.068 MT sent to Kerala,one tanker with 29.1 MT sent toWest Bengal, two tankers with52.1 MT sent to Jharkhand andtwo tankers with 39.42 MT ofoxygen have been sent so far toRajasthan in the last 54 days.

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Aman was stabbed to deathin a dispute over banana

theft at Kadua village under theKhandapada police station inNayagarh district on Tuesdaynight.

According to reports,accused Kathia Swain was spot-ted stealing bananas from a treelocated in front of the house ofone Panchanan Mallik in thevillage.In the meantime,Panchanan’s sons Ramesh andBabula tried to nab Kathia, buthe managed to escape from thespot.The two siblings thenchased Kathia on a motorcycleand caught hold of him.

But the accused attackedthe duo with a knife, stabbingRamesh to death on the spotand leaving Babula grievouslyinjured. Later, Babula was shift-ed to the District HeadquartersHospital (DHH).Police havearrested Kathia and are ques-tioning him. Further investi-gation was ongoing.

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The Joda police arrested andcourt-forwarded four inter-

State dacoits who were plan-ning to loot trucks carryingiron ore while passing betweenJoda to Rimuli situated onNH- 520 of Keonjhar district.Joda PS IIC Padmalaya Sahoorevealed that on Monday nightat about 3 pm a suspected Xylojeep having registration No.

JH -06D- 4242 with fouryouths inside was parked atKandra- Dampur road by theside of NH-520. A team ofpolice consisting of ASI,Bileipada Beat house AzharKhan, SI, Joda PS Sasmita Hariand others immediately rushedto the spot. Having seen police,the Xylo sped away towardsJharkhand. However, the policeteam nabbed them and recov-ered from them a 9 mm USA-made pistol, mobile and cash.

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The 3rd Folk Art Day at thedistrict level was observed

in virtual mode in Keonjhar onMonday. District CollectorAshish Thackrey, who was thechief guest on the occasion,told that folk art reflects thecultural life of a community butwith the development of sci-ence and technology, folk art islosing its relevance and is onthe verge of extinction.

However, the StateGovernment has come for-ward with different schemes topreserve the folk art and makeit relevant in the modern world,he told. Thackrey furtherdeclared that the districtCultural Bhawan will be oper-

ational very soon to provide aplatform to the artists to devel-op their skills. ADM SantoshKumar Naik, District CulturalOfficer Sushree ManuswiniRout, DIPRO Sanjib Barik,vice-president, District FolkArtists ' Association LoknathSahu, eminent Pala Gayak andSangita Nayak Akademi

awardee Govinda ChandraPanigrahi and master of pup-pet dance and member, OdishaSangeet Natak AkademiChakradhara Parida amongothers participated in the vir-tual meeting and praised thedifferent initiatives taken by thedistrict administration to pro-mote the folk art in the district.

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It is unfortunate that Odisha’schromite iron ore are export-

ed toChina, Japan, the UnitedStates and other countriesinstead of their use in ourown land. China has moreiron ore deposits than India,but China has been saving

iron ore for next 100 yearsby resorting to imports. Chinais considered to be the secondrichest country in the world.Japan has also taken over theglobal market for chromiteproducts. The United States ismaking and selling weapons byusing our chromite iron ore.

We are yet to know the artand technique of making orturning minerals into materi-als. So as long as we lag behindothers in technical, scientificand practical know-how for

optimum use of our minerals,our future will remain bleak.Sukinda vally alone accountsfor 7 per cent of chromitedeposits of the Asian subcon-tinent. The Asian nations like,China and Japan, have alreadytaken over a majority of theSukinda chromite. Of late theUnited States has cast its volup-tuous eyes on the Sukindachromites.

When the Nilachal steelplant was set up in Sukinda, theworkers complained of findingchromite and oil in the site.Soon there was a demand forrelocating the Nilachal steelplant. In 1906, Bijubabu sum-moned me and asked,“Mayadhar. The Odisha exche-

quer is empty. Where will themoney come from?’ I said, “ Sir,money is buried under thesoil of Odisha. Dig in and geta bag of money.” I asked him tocancel all mine leases and stopexports of minerals. TheGovernment should take all themineral resources under itscontrol and sell them at mar-ket prices, I said and he nod-ded.

Luhapathar hills are con-stantly being subjected to lootin Keonjhar, Sundargarh andMayurbhanj districts.Dhenkanal, Angul, Sambalpurdistricts have rich deposits ofcoal and the coal producedthere is world famous.Kalahandi and Nuapada are

known for gems stone. Balangirhas diamonds, pearls, rubiesand gold worth millions ofrupees. The bauxites inKoraput, Rayagada andKalahandi districts are in dis-array.From manganese toChinese clay, 41 types of min-erals are found in Odisha soil.But the no-holds-barred loot ofminerals is going on with thehelp of the regime. Needless tosay, Odisha can become therichest State in India if miner-al loot can be checked and theresources can be properlyutilised.

(Nayak is a trade unionleader and is based at JajpurRoad, Jajpur, Mob: 9861034163)

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The Raja Parba is a uniqueOdia festival that worships

womanhood, fertility andregeneration. With the onset ofmonsoon, the festival bringsjoy, happiness and all hues oflife, said Chief Minister NaveenPatnaik, inaugurating the vir-tual celebration of the festival‘Global Raja Parba 2021’ by theOdia Society UAE on June 13.

Patnaik said, “The Odiasociety in the United ArabEmirates is a vibrant organisa-tion providing an enrichingexperience to all Odias living inthat country.

The effort to relive thesocio-cultural life of the moth-erland in an exotic land is high-ly satisfying. I appreciate theendeavour of the UAE Odiasociety to connect people toour cultural roots.” “My hearti-est congratulations to all. Iwish the celebration all suc-cess,” the Chief Minister added.

Union Petroleum and NaturalGas Minister, DharmendraPradhan thanked for the cele-

bration and emphasised theRaja Parba as an integral partof Odia culture. Eminent writer

Dr Pratibha Ray mentionedthat whoever forgets the soiland culture is a lost person ashe has forgotten his identity.

SJTA Chief AdministratorDr Krishan Kumar said the fes-tival is the worship of BhoomiMaata (Mother Earth) whichhe described as the biggestrespect for nature. Noted Odiaactor Kuna Tripathi said thattoday's generation needs to becommitted to Odia culture andsuggested that it should beprotected.

Parents only can teach andhandover the Odia culturaltraditions and language to theirchildren. UAE Odia Societychief Dr ChandrasekharKhuntia, thanked the peoplefrom Odisha, who participatedfrom all over the world. Themessage was shared for comingtogether to celebrate this greatculture and tradition.

The programme which wascelebrated with the efforts of DrKhuntia, Rajashree Mohanty,Dr Manas Pradhan, ChandraSekhar Dash and other mem-bers of the Odia society wasattended by Odias from morethan 21 countries in large num-

bers. They also actively partic-ipated in the cultural pro-gramme of the event. As it wasnot possible to enjoy the Rajafestival in person during thepandemic period, it wasplanned to celebrate this festi-val in a new way by the OdiaSociety UAE team.

The cultural programmesbegan with the play of conchshells and prayers for LordJagannath.

A minute’s silent prayerwas offered to the Odias wholost their lives in Covid-19.Later Odia artists from elevencountries sang the Odia song"Banaste dakila gaja" and per-formed a dance programme.Kalpana Bal, the daughter ofdevotional singer Bhikari Baland her daughter radio jockeySwati graced the occasion withrendition of devotional songson Lord Jagannath.

Odia singer PadminiPanigrahi's song "Jhuma jhumalagte aaj jhuma Jhuma", themessage of coronavirus aware-ness through the amazinghumour of S Bhavani Babufrom Georgia (USA), the songof Arya Priya Dev of UK ,

musical programme of AlokPanda and team fromSambalpur, Two wonderfulsongs Sabeswara Bhoi,enthralling flute recital byAnnada Prasanna Pattanaik,devotional song byArupananda Das, Dalkhaidance of Sanvika Raut of USA,devotional song rendition bydevout doctor couple RajinderSingh and Dr Kaur from UAEenthralled the audience.

Sand artist Sudam Pradhanwas also present. The Lord’sname chantingMadhavanananda SankritanMandal of Jamugaon, Nua vil-lage, Jagatsinghpur created aspiritual atmosphere.

Greetings were conveyedby Sarat Mohanty fromSingapore, Adyasha Mallickfrom Indonesia, Dr Nalini Patifrom Australia, Dr TanmayPanda from Toronto, SantoshKumar Mishra and GirijaShankar Padhi, Alok KumarPanda of Singapore, Dr ManasPradhan and Arup Das fromUAE and all others across theworld which filled with every-body with a sense of unparal-leled nationalism.

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Corona has rendered twosiblings of a family in

Nimatpur village underBhograi block orphan as theylost their parents due to the dis-ease recently.

The deceased are KamleshPanda (36) who was serving inthe East Coast Railway and hiswife Smita Panda (28) who wasemployed in the AcharyaHarihar Cancer Hospital,Cuttack, as a nurse. They hadtwo children, one daughter (7)and an infant son of one and ahalf months. Smita was under

treatment for Corona beforeher delivery. And, after deliv-ering a girl child, she died.After about two weeks of herdeath, her husband Kamleshtoo died of Covid during treat-ment.

Reports said after receivinginformation, District ChildProtection Officer Jubak Majhivisiting the victim’s house andinformed them of variousGovernment welfare schemesfor the children.

However, their uncles andother family members whiledidn’t allow him to take thechildren to the rehabilitationcentre. They reportedlydemanded compensation forthe kin as the deceased wereCorona warriors. They fur-ther demanded free educationfor the kids, as declared by theGovernment, reports added.

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Acrematorium workerallegedly demanded �5,000

to show the face of a deceasedwoman, who had died ofCovid-19, to her relatives in theChampua area of Keonjhardistrict.

A video of the incident hasgone viral on various socialmedia platforms. However, thecrematorium staff, identified asSidheswar Nayak, is seen refus-ing to show the body after real-ising that the incident wasbeing recorded on a mobilephone camera.

The woman of Krushnapurin Champua block had suc-cumbed to the virus whileundergoing treatment at aCovid Hospital. Her kinbrought the body to the cre-matorium after the hospitalauthorities handed it over tothe family members.

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In yet another incident of thedeteriorating law and order

situation in Brahmapur, ayouth was stabbed to deathwhile two of his associates sus-tained critical injuries follow-ing an altercation atUttaramukhi under the BadaBazar police station on Tuesdaynight.

The deceased was identi-fied as Chandan Pradhan. Theincident occurred whenChandan was gossiping withtwo of his friends. The accusedidentified as Sibaram Sethi

reached there and started abus-ing Chandan over old enmity.When Chandan reprimandedhim, he took out a knife andstabbed him. When two of hisfriends came to his rescue,they also faced Sibram’s wrathand were critically hurt.

Getting information,police rushed to the spot andshifted the injured trio to theMKCG Medical CollegeHospital where doctorsdeclared Chandan dead.

The friends of Chandan arestill battling for life. Policehave sent the body for post-mortem. The accused has beendetained and being interrogat-ed. Prima facie investigationrevealed that incident is falloutof past enmity, police said.

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The 12th World Clay Daywas celebrated here with

Covid guidelines onWednesday (June 16). Alongwith the nature lovers, thefounder of the day, environ-mentalist and Supreme Courtlawyer Radhakanta Tripathycelebrated it by smearing clayon their bodies.

The day was observed atthe Salandi riverbank near theSahapur PanchamukhiHanuman temple. The partic-ipants decided to spread aware-ness for safeguarding earth, airand water.Tripathy appealedto people to give complete jus-

tice to the environment by thejudicious use of different nat-ural resources. Among others,Kalandi Mallick, Debasis

Panda, human rights researcherSitakanta Tripathy andDebendra Bedi were present onthe occasion.

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Even though the StateGovernment has made it

mandatory to wear masks inpublic to prevent transmis-sion of Coronavirus and topay heavy fines for violation,many people are still floutingthe rules.

Some of them reactaggressively and resort to vio-lence when they are asked towear one.In a glaring exam-ple, a jail warder allegedlyattacked an ASI during maskchecking by the Udala policein Mayurbhanj district onTuesday night.

According to reports,accused Baripad Jail WarderManoj Kumar Kuanr, andthree other persons were gos-siping near the AurobindoSchool here without wearingmasks or any facial coverings.

In the meantime, apatrolling team of Udalapolice reached the spot andASI Sashi Bhusan Paridaquestioned them for the vio-lation of the Covid protocols.

The situation took a vio-lent turn when Kuanrattacked the cop. As thepatrolling team tried to over-power Kuanr and bundle himinto the police vehicle, hescuff led and abusedthem.Later, he was taken tothe Udala police station forquestioning. It is alleged thathe was drunk.

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Amway India announcedthe launch of its Nutrilite

Vitamin C Cherry Plus intend-ed for individuals with weak-ened immunity that comeswith the benefit of extended-release technology.

With this, Amway India isfurther strengthening its nutri-tion and immunity supportingportfolio in the country byintroducing a product for spe-cial dietary use for individualswith weakened immunity.

The Nutrilite Vitamin CCherry Plus provides steadyrelease of Vitamin C into thebody for over 8 hours as it isformulated with extended-release technology, to provideall-day immune support.Commenting on the category,CEO, Amway India, AnshuBudhraja said, “Nutrilite

Vitamin C Cherry Plus is tar-geted for population with spe-cific need and we are targetingto generate more than Rs 100crore in revenue by 2025.”CMO, Amway India, said, AjayKhanna, “Nutrilite’s newVitamin C Cherry Plus is madewith plant-based source ofVitamin C like AcerolaCherries, which are one ofnature’s most concentratedsources of Vitamin C grown inour own organic farms inBrazil. This product is intend-ed for those adults who have aweakened immunity.”

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The People’s RuralEducation Movement

(PREM) in association withthe Educo, an internationalorganisation, held a district-level webinar on the occasionof the World Day againstChild Labour on Saturday.The webinar, attended by 145participants from across theState, was focused on childlabour issues, their causes,effects and solutions. WhilePREM director Dr JacobThundyil stressed the need onthe importance of education

and its role to stop childlabour, Educo representativeAshish Nagori explained thecontext and background ofchildren problems with sta-tistical presentations.

Child ProtectionAmbassador Sushma Pradhanhad presented her experienceof the problems of children inher area, how children areworking as labourers at anearly age, child marriage is theresult of which they are los-ing their childhood. Thewebinar was attended by dis-trict officials and child rightsactivists.

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The Bharatiya SikshyaBikasha Sansthana,

Odisha unit, conducted awebinar here on Sunday todiscuss the myriad problems

of schools which are under itsjurisdiction. More than 100members, office bearers andteachers across the State par-ticipated in the virtual zoommeeting and gave their viewson diverse issues of theschools including the impactof the ongoing pandemic.

They suggested measuresto resolve the same. WhileSansthan founder MahaMandaleswar MahantaKamalakanta Das coordinat-ed, Kriya Yogi Srijukta SwamiShankarananda Giri Maharajgraced the event and blessed

the members. Former DeputySpeaker of Odisha Assemblyand advisor of Odisha AgriMarketing Board RamaChandra Panda recounted theunprecedented Covid-19 pan-demic and its catastrophicimpact on the society in gen-eral and on education sectorin particular.

Former MLA ofBrahmapur Dr RameshChandra Chyau Pattnaikassured the members to faith-fully bring to the notice of theState Government the genuineproblems of the schools under

the Sansthana. Notably, mostof the schools of the Sansthanaare currently facing a seriousfiscal crisis since most of theparents do not pay the month-ly school fees of their childrendue to ongoing Covid-19 pan-demic, thereby making it dif-ficult for the Sansthana tomanage the schools.

The speakers urged theGovernment to engage orappoint trained teachers(Acharyas) of Sishu Mandiron full time basis, exemptthe managing committee ofthese schools from

Government NOC, supplyprescribed text books on con-cessional basis and bring a cir-cular not to admit any studentof Sishu Mandir inGovernment schools withoutTC.

Sansthan presidentPadmanabha Panda requestedformer MLA Pattnaik to bringthese serious and genuineproblems to the notice of theGovernment, GanjamCollector, and respective dis-trict education authorities.Prakash Bisoyi offered a voteof thanks.

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Ayouth attacked the car ofErasama Tehsildar

Chaudhury PragnyanandanDas at Japa Chhak inJagatsinghpur district whilethe official had gone there forenforcement of Covid lock-down norms.The incidentwhich took place on June 14was caught on camera. A teamled by the Tehsildar found thatthree shops selling non-essen-tial items were open at Japa

Chhak, violating the lockdownguidelines. When Das was rep-rimanding the shopkeepersand asked them to close theshops, one of the traders van-dalised the official’s car andbroke the windshield.

But the Tehsildar and otherofficials, who were in the car,managed to escape unhurt.Later, on the basis of a com-plaint lodged by Das, theErasama police have arrestedthe accused youth, identified asone Chandan Behera.

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ATHAGARH: A 25-year-oldwoman was allegedly mur-dered for dowry by her in-lawsat Kainmundi village in Bankiarea on Wednesday.Thedeceased was identified asBabina Dhara of Phategarhvillage of Banki.

The incident came to lightafter Babina’s uncle PradeepDalei reported to the police onWednesday morning that hisniece was beaten to death overa dowry issue.

Later, the police reachedthe spot and sent the body forpost-mortem. On the basis ofan FIR lodged by the family ofthe deceased, the Banki policeregistered a case and startedinterrogating Babina’s in-laws.Meanwhile, the police detainedBebina’s husband PrakashDhara and further investiga-tions were underway.

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The police here arrested fourpersons, including a

woman, on the charge of smug-gling ganja to AP and seizedthe contraband of 77.5 kg.

A patrolling team com-prising Adava IIC AnandChandra Patra, SI HrushikeshPanda and other staffs spottedthe accused near the weekly

market area of Paniganda vil-lage. They were waiting for avehicle to transport the ganja.They were about to leave thespot when police nabbed them.The arrestees were identified asAjay Nayak of Barihapada,Alok Paricha of TalaDakarpanka, Shyama Raikaand Rebati Parichja of Barihavillage. They were forwarded tothe R Udayagiri court.

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Facing criticism for increas-ing the gap between two

Covishield doses withoutallegedly taking all the expertsinto confidence and beingquestioned if the indigenously-developed Covaxin containednewborn calf serum, theGovernment on Wednesdaydefended itself on both thecounts and termed the politi-cisation of the issue as “unfor-tunate”.

Union Health MinisterHarsh Vardhan said the deci-sion to increase the gapbetween two doses ofCovishield has been taken in atransparent manner based onscientific data. “Decision toincrease the gap betweenadministering 2 doses of#COVISHIELD has been takenin a transparent manner basedon scientific data. India has arobust mechanism to evaluatedata. It’s unfortunate that suchan important issue is beingpoliticised!” he tweeted.

The National TechnicalAdvisory Group onImmunization (NTAGI) chairN K Arora said, “The decisionregarding enhancing intervalbetween two doses ofCovishield was based on sci-entific evidence and taken in atransparent manner.” “Therewas no dissenting voice amongthe NTAGI members,” heasserted.

Sharing details of the deci-sion taken in this regard, theHealth Ministry in a state-ment said that on May 13, ithad approved extending thegap between the two doses ofthe Covishield vaccine from sixto eight weeks to 12 to 16 weeks

following a recommendationfrom the NTAGI.

“The 22nd meeting ofCovid-19 Working Group ofNTAGI was held on May 10.There, a proposal for a changein dose interval for Covishield,used under the NationalVaccination Policy, was con-sidered. Based on the real-lifeevidence, particularly from theUnited Kingdom, the Covid-19Working Group agreed toincrease the interval betweentwo doses of CovishieldVaccine to 12 to 16 weeks, ‘’ thestatement said.

“This recommendationwas taken up for discussion atthe meeting of the StandingTechnical Sub-Committee(STSC) of NTAGI held onMay 13 under the joint chair-personship of the secretary ofthe Department ofBiotechnology, the secretary ofDepartment of HealthResources and the DG of theIndian Council of MedicalResearch,” it said.

“The STSC of NTAGI gavethe following recommenda-tion: ‘as per the Covid-19Working Group recommen-dation, a dosing interval ofminimum three monthsbetween two doses ofCovishield vaccine was rec-ommended’,” the statementsaid.

In both the meetings -- ofthe Covid-19 Working Groupand of the STSC -- no dissentwas given by any of the threemembers who have been quot-ed in the news report, namelyDr Mathew Varghese, Dr M DGupte and Dr J P Muliyil, thestatement said adding that DrVarghese has denied talking tothe reporter on the issue of his

alleged dissent.Regarding social media

reports on Covaxin containingcalf serum, it clarified that the

indigenously developed jabdoes not contain newborn calfserum at all and that the calfserum is not an ingredient of

the final vaccine product.Bharat Biotech, on its part alsoechoed similar points.

The Health ministry said

that the newborn calf serum isused for preparation andgrowth of vero cells which areused in production of vac-cines. This technique has beenused for decades in Polio,Rabies, and Influenza vaccines.

“It is used for the growth ofcells, but neither used ingrowth of SARS CoV2 virusnor in the final formulation.Covaxin is highly purified tocontain only the inactivatedvirus components by removing

all other impurities,” theMinistry said.

These cells are then washedwith water, chemicals to makethem free of the newborn calfserum. The vero cells are theninfected with coronavirus forviral growth and in the processthey are completely destroyed.

“In the final vaccine for-mulation no calf serum isused,” the Ministry said.

Bharat Biotech also clari-fied that the usage of new

born calf serum was ‘transpar-ently documented’ in severalpublications in the last ninemonths. The company hadmentioned the same when itpublished animal trial studydocuments -which involvedtrials on hamsters and mon-keys; in pre-clinical safety andimmunogenicity study reports;in studies on neutralisation ofthe UK variant, the SouthAfrica variant, the Delta vari-ant among others.

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Amuseum dedicated to thecountry’s 5,000-year mar-

itime history will be set up inGujarat’s Lothal by the CultureMinistry in collaboration withthe Ministry of Shipping, Portand Waterways (MoSPW).

The two Ministries onWednesday inked aMemorandum ofUnderstanding for‘Cooperation in Developmentof National Maritime HeritageComplex (NMHC) at Lothal,Gujarat. According to a state-ment from the CultureMinistry, the world-class facil-ity will be developed in thevicinity of the ArchaeologicalSurvey of India (ASI) site inLothal, located about 80 kmaway from Ahmedabad.

NMHC would be devel-oped as an internationaltourist destination where themaritime heritage of India --from ancient to modern times

-- would be showcased and anedutainment approach usingthe latest technology would beadopted to spread awarenessabout the country’s maritimeheritage, it said.

The NMHC project hasbeen taken up under theunique and innovative pro-jects categor y of theSagarmala programme underMoSPW. The Government of

Gujarat has transferred 375acres of land in Saragvada vil-lage on lease for 99 years at atoken rate to MoSPW.

“The complex will beshowcasing the thousands of

year old maritime strength ofIndia,” said Culture MinisterPrahlad Patel.

Renowned architectHafeez Contractor has beenselected as the PrincipalProject Consultant to preparea master plan and requisitedesign and engineering doc-uments for inviting EPC ten-ders and project managementconsultancy.

NMHC would be devel-oped in an area of about 400acres with various uniquestructures such as the National

Maritime Heritage Museum,lighthouse museum, heritagetheme park, museum-themedhotels, maritime-themed eco-resorts and maritime instituteamong others which would bedeveloped in a phased man-ner.

The unique feature ofNMHC is the recreation ofancient Lothal city, which wasone of the prominent cities ofthe Indus valley civilization.

“NMHC is to be devel-oped as a first of its kind in the

country dedicated to the lega-cy of the maritime heritage ofIndia, to showcase India’s richand diverse maritime glory,”Mansukh Mandaviya, theMinister of MoPSW said dur-ing the signing ceremony.

The museum is set to becompleted in three years fromthe date the project com-mences.

As a part of the museum,14 galleries have been pro-posed to exhibit the evolutionof India’s maritime heritageduring various eras.

Key galleries includemythologies and wilderness ofIndian Ocean, Harappans: ThePioneer Master Seafarers,Indian Ocean: an InteractiveSphere, India’s contact with theRoman World: The Quest forthe Spice, Trade, Commerceand Cultural Interaction withChina and South-East Asia.

Artefacts from Lothal andDholavira will also be displayedat the NMHC complex.

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The Congress onWednesday questioned

the decision of the ModiGovernment to double the gapbetween the doses of theCovishield Covid-19 vaccine,asking whether it was prompt-ed by a vaccine shortage.

The party also announcedto launch a nationwide out-reach programme to collect allthe data pertaining to thepandemic, the affected fami-lies and losses incurred by thecommon man among others.Through the outreach pro-gramme, Congress aims todirectly cover approximatelythree crore households in 30days, as per an AICC pressstatement.

The Congress said Indianeeds quick and completevaccination and not the BJP’s“brand of lies and rhymingslogans” to cover up the vac-cine shortage caused by thegovernment’s inaction.

Congress leaders, includ-ing former party presidentRahul Gandhi, said the gov-ernment was trying to coverup a vaccine shortage. “Indianeeds quick & complete vac-cination,” Rahul Gandhi saidin a tweet.

The Government hadsaid that the gap within twoshots of covishield wasincreased based on scientif-ic evidence and that the issuehad been discussed in detailby members of NTAGI aswell as its working group onCOVID-19.

Rahul alleged that theGovernment was trying to

save the image of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi,attempts that are facilitatingthe virus and costing people’slives. Rahul had earlier alsoaccused the Centre of hidingactual figures of Covid-19deaths in the country.

He also tagged a mediareport that the governmentdoubled the gap between thetwo doses of Covishield with-out the agreement of the sci-entific group that it claimedhad recommended theincrease.

As for the nationwideoutreach campaign, it aimedengaging party cadres fromPradesh CongressCommittee (PCC) to thePanchayat level and estab-lishing contact with targetgroups in urban, semi-urbanand rural areas.

Local leaders will organ-ise visits of senior leaders tothe households of the Covid-affected families and help indisseminating informationregarding health issues andpost-Covid care.

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Earlier on Wednesday, theCongress sought a clari-

fication from theGovernment following thecontroversy in the wake of anRTI reply that allegedly sug-gested that newborn calfserum has been used to makethe Covaxin Covid-19 vac-cine. Congress spokesmanPawan Khera said that theparty wants “the Governmentand Bharat Biotech torespond to the reply that hascome in the RTI, then we willgive a detailed response on it”.

Gaurav Pandhi, thenational coordinator ofDigital Communications andSocial Media at AICC, hadtweeted the RTI response toapplicant Vikas Patni. The“newborn calf serum is used

in the revival process of Verocells, which is further used forthe production of coron-avirus during the manufac-turing of Covaxin,” read theresponse by the CentralDrugs Standard ControlOrganisation.

Taking to Twitter, Pandhicited the RTI response andsaid that the Modi govern-ment admitted that the vac-cine manufactured by BharatBiotech “consists NewbornCalf Serum which is a por-tion of clotted blood obtainedfrom less than 20 days youngcow-calves, after slaughteringthem”. “This is heinous. Thisinformation should havebeen made public before,”added Pandhi. He alsoattached a screenshot of theresponse to the RTI applica-tion as well.

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Accusing the Congress of“ c o m m u n a l i s i n g ”

and spreading disinformationon the indigenous CovaxinCovid-19 vaccine, the BJP onWednesday demanded toknow whether Congress pres-ident Sonia Gandhi and herparty leaders, Rahul Gandhiand Priyanka Gandhi, werevaccinated or not.

Addressing a Press con-ference here, BJP nationalspokesperson Sambit Patrarejected the Congress charge

that Covaxin has calf serum,saying the Opposition partyhas committed “a big sin” bymaking such allegations.

He said the scientificcommunity and the HealthMinistry has said there is nocalf serum in Covaxin andthat it is “fully safe”.

Patra said Congress hasgiven a “communal angle” tothe vaccination process andasked whether “Gandhi fam-ily members Sonia, Rahuland Priyanka and RobertVadra have vaccinated them-selves and if so when, where

and which vaccine?”As against Congress “dis-

information”, the BJPspokesperson said India isthe fastest vaccinating coun-try and that the efforts shouldbe applauded.

Patra said the Congress islowering the name of Indiaand is only known for creat-ing vaccine hesitancy and itswastage. He said Congress-ruled Chhattisgarh said no toCovaxin , Rajasthan threwvaccines into “garbage” andPunjab indulged in “profi-teering”.

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Drones will play a major rolein India’s national highway

construction plans. TheNational Highway Authority ofIndia (NHAI) on Wednesdaymade the use of drones manda-tory for a monthly recording ofall national highway projectsduring their different stages ofdevelopment, construction,operation and maintenance.

The NHAI has mandated

that contractors and conces-sionaires will carry out thedrone video recording in thepresence of the SupervisionConsultant, and upload com-parative project videos of thecurrent and previous month onNHAI’s portal ‘Data Lake’, cap-turing all project-related devel-opments in a month.

Supervision consultantswill analyse these videorecordings and provide theirinputs/comments in the digi-

tal monthly progress reportscovering various aspects of theproject development.

“Project Directors ofNHAI shall undertake month-ly drone survey from the dateof signing of contract agree-ment till the start of con-struction of the project at siteand also on completion of theproject. NHAI will also under-take monthly drone survey inall developed projects whereNHAI is responsible for oper-

ation and maintenance,” theMinistry of Road Transportand Highways said in a pressnote.

Further, mandatorydeployment of a NetworkSurvey Vehicle (NSV) to carryout a road condition survey onnational highways willenhance the overall quality ofthe highways as NSV uses thelatest survey techniques suchas a high-resolution digitalcamera for 360 degreeimagery, Laser RoadProfilometer and other latesttechnology for the measure-ment of distress in the roadsurface.

The decision to usedrones comes a day after theRoad Transport HighwaysMinister Nitin Gadkarireviewed the projects andasked the stakeholders includ-ing NHAI to put in use tech-nology and innovative ideas tokeep a track on the develop-ment of the highways androad infrastructure projectsacross the country.

As part of mission PRA-GATI, the Centre has beenmonitoring the progress ofseveral other major infra-structure projects includingBullet Train, Dedicated FreightCorridors and Ports amongothers.

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As China is muscling intothe Indo-Pacific region

causing concern, DefenceMinister Rajnath Singh onWednesday called for an openand inclusive order in theregion based upon respect forsovereignty and territorialintegrity of nations.

He also flagged terrorismand radicalisation as the“gravest threats” to peace andsecurity in the world and saida collective approach isrequired to combat the chal-lenges. This observation was inapparent reference to Pakistanaiding and abetting terrorism.

Rajnath made these asser-tions while addressing the 8thAssociation of Southeast AsianNations (ASEAN) DefenceMinisters Meeting (ADMM)Plus. The ADMM Plus is anannual meeting of DefenceMinisters of 10 ASEAN coun-tries and eight dialogue partnercountries - Australia, China,

India, Japan, New Zealand,Republic of Korea, Russia andthe United States. Brunei is theChair of the ADMM Plusforum this year.

Refraining from namingChina, Rajnath talked aboutthe Indo-Pacific region stress-ing the need for rule-basedorder and stressed on “peace-ful resolutions of disputesthrough dialogue and adher-ence to international rules andlaws.”

“India has strengthened itscooperative engagements inthe Indo-Pacific based on con-verging visions and values forpromotion of peace, stabilityand prosperity in the region.Premised upon the centrality

of ASEAN, India supportsutilisation of ASEAN-ledmechanisms as important plat-forms for implementation ofour shared vision for the Indo-Pacific,” he added.

Highlighting India’s con-cerns over maritime securitychallenges, he noted thatdevelopments in the SouthChina Sea attracted attentionin the region and beyond. Itwas in obvious reference toChina’s aggressive behaviourin the critical waterways.

“Maritime security chal-lenges are a concern to India.The Sea lanes ofCommunication are criticalfor peace, stability, prosperityand development of the Indo-Pacific region,” he stressed.

He hoped that the Code ofConduct negotiations will leadto outcomes keeping withinternational law and do notprejudice the legitimate rightsand interests of nations thatare not party to these discus-sions.

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The EnforcementDirectorate (ED) has arrest-

ed Vivekanand Shankar Patil,Chairman of Karnala NagariSahakari Bank, Panvel, Raigad,Maharashtra, in a bank fraudcase worth over �500 crore.

The fraud came to lightafter an audit was done at thebehest of the Reserve Bank ofIndia in 2019-20.

The audit revealed thatPatil was siphoning off fundssince 2008 from the bankthrough 63 fictitious loanaccounts of Karnala CharitableTrust and Karnala SportsAcademy, which were foundedby him, the agency said.

No collateral securitieswere taken against such loansand no correspondence wasmade with the revenue author-ities regarding payment ofstamp duty for the purpose ofpurchasing immovable prop-erties for which loans wereobtained, thereby making theloans unsafe/unsecured, it said.

Further, all the above loanaccounts that were used fortransferring funds to the saidtrust, were found to be non-performing asset (NPA).

It was further observedthat without following KYCnorms and other RBI guide-lines, the said loans were sanc-tioned and disbursed at theinstruction and for gains byPatil, the agency alleged.

Patil was produced beforethe Special Court for PMLAcases in Mumbai onWednesday. The court grantedhis custody till June 25.

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The CBI has registered a caseagainst a private company

Ruchi Global Limited and itsdirectors for cheating a con-sortium of banks led by Bankof Baroda to the tune of�188.35 crore. The accusedfirm is registered in Mumbaiand has a corporate office inIndore (Madhya Pradesh). Thefirm and the accused directorscheated the banks betweenJanuary 1, 2016 and December2017.

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Page 5: The Pioneer...“Ram”, a reference to his pro-jection of his relationship ... between the two famous char-acters of epic Ramayan, he said, “If Hanuman has to seek help from Ram,

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As a prelude to its original demand for thecreation of a separate Malabar State incor-

porating the regions of Kerala, Tamil Nadu andKarnataka, the Social Democratic Party of India(SDPI), the political outfit of the extremistorganisation Popular Front Of India, launcheda month-long agitation on Wednesday inMalappuram asking for the setting up of a newdistrict with Tirur as district headquarters.

According to a release issued by the SDPI,the next 30 days would see party activists stag-ing demonstrations in front of all Taluk officesin the district calling for the immediate creationof the new district. The Muslim Youth Leaguein its annual State conference held last year haddeclared that the party would launch an agi-tation for the creation of separate Malabar Statebifurcating Kerala and adding some districts ofTamil Nadu and Karnataka.

It may be remembered that Malappuramdistrict was formed in 1969 by the thenUnited Front Government led by the CPI(M)in which the Muslim League, CPI and someregional outfits were the constituents. TheMuslim League had joined the alliance on thecondition that a separate Muslim districtwould be formed as a quid pro quo.

The year 2021 being the centenary year ofthe Moplah Rebellion of 1921, an event dearto the Islamic outfits in the State. Though it waslaunched as an agitation against Britaindemanding the restoration of the Khalifa ofTurkey, the struggle turned out to be a pogromin which thousands of local residents belong-ing to a particular community were annihilat-ed for their refusal to undergo religious con-version.

“We have been subjected to the worst kindof treatment during the last five decades andwe want speedy economic development of thisregion. The formation of a new district withTirur as head quarters is the only solution forthe same,” said the SDPI release.

Tirur is the birth place of ThunchathuRamanujan Ezuthachan, the father ofMalayalam language who authored AadhyatmaRamayanam. But the local body controlled byconservative Islamists have not allowed to instala statue of the Father of the Malayalam languagein his place of birth.

Leaders of the SDPI called on P Ubaidulla,MLA and submitted a memorandum demand-ing the formation of the new district.

Sadiq Naduthodi, vice president of SDPItold reporters that the agitation would be con-tinued till July 16.

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Amid BJP’s continued allega-tions of State repression of

its workers and leaders theKolkata Police on Wednesdaygrilled super star MithunChakrabarty for allegedly pro-voking violence during the elec-tions.

The actor who was cur-rently in Puri was virtuallygrilled for about 45 minutes bythe additional Officer in-chargeof the Manicktalla Police Stationand was asked whether he hadincited people through hisspeeches or not.

The Bollywood star hadcampaigned for the BJP in theState polls and had apparently ina bid to perk up the crowdsrecited a number of dialoguesfrom Bengali films that he had

acted in.Out of those dialogues a

famous one was “Marbo ekhane… Laash porbe smashaney (willhit you here and your corpse willfall at the funeral ground)” thatChakrabarty had repeatedly per-formed in his public meetings.

Post polls an alleged TMCsupporter Mrityunjay Paullodged a complaint with theManicktulla Police station inNorth Kolkata seeking actionagainst the Mumbai star. Subsequently caseswere registered against himunder Sections 153, 504, 505 ofthe IPC.

Chakrabarty had earlierpetitioned the High Court for ananticipatory bail but the Courthad directed him to cooperatewith the police virtually.

KOCHI/CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu has stabilised thetransmission of Covid-19 in the State as the data fur-nished by the Directorate of Health and PreventiveMedicine shows that the instances of the pandem-ic was on a downward journey.

On Wednesday, the State logged 10,448 newcases while 270 succumbed to the pandemic.Coimbatore and Erode, the industrial hub, had 1,420and 1,123 new cases respectively while Tirupur had608 new patients.

Kerala, which begins the lifting of lock downby phases on Thursday registered 13, 270 new casesand 147 deaths. Test Positivity Rate in the State ason Wednesday evening was 11.79. There were 1.09lakh patients across the State as on Wednesday.

The liquor outlets in the State would start oper-ating from 9 am on Thursday and there is no restric-tion other than the Covid-related standard protocols.Tipplers are welcome to visit the nearest outlet andpick up their favourite brands. The re-opening ofliquor outlets owned by the State Government hascome as a major relief to regular customers who wereat the mercy of black marketeers who charged tentimes the original cost. PNS

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The Covid-19 deaths dropped to1,236 in Maharashtra on Wednesday,

even as the State logged 10,107 infectionsand recorded recoveries by 10,567patients.

A day after the daily pandemicdeaths – inflated by 1,070 “old” andunaccounted fatalities – jumped to1,458 in the state, the fatalities wentdown to 1,236. The daily deaths com-prised 237 new deaths and 999 “old”deaths.

The infections went up by 577 —from 9,350 on Tuesday and 10107 onWednesday. With 1,458 deaths report-ed on Wednesday, the Covid-19 toll inthe State jumped from 1,14.154 to1,15,390.

With 10,107 fresh infections, thetotal infections in the State rose from59,24,773 to 59,34,880.

As 10,567 patients were dischargedfrom the hospitals across the State afterfull recovery, the total number of peo-

ple discharged from the hospitals sincethe second week of March last yearincreased from 56,69,179 to 56,79,746.The recovery rate in the state rose95.69 per cent to 95.7 per cent.

The total “active cases” in the statedropped from 1,38,361 to 1,36,661. Thefatality rate in the state went up from 1.93per cent to 1.94 per cent.

Pune with 17,820 cases continued tobe remain first in the state in terms ofmaximum number of “active cases” inthe state, while Mumbai with 17,732stood second, followed by Thane(14,170), Kolhapur (12,487), Sangli(10,900), Satara (7488), Ratnagiri (7385)Sindhudurg (5057), Nashik (4718)Nagpur (4674), Ahmednagar (4619)and Raigad (4067).

Of the 3,86,41,639 samples sent tovarious laboratories across the state sofar, 59,34,880 have tested positive (15.36per cent) for Covid-19 until Wednesday.

Currently, 6,78,781 people are inhome quarantine while 5401 people arein institutional quarantine.

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Prime MinisterNarendra Modi

will launch a‘Customized CrashCourse programmefor Covid-19Frontline workers’ on Friday viavideo conferencing.

The launch will commence theprogramme in 111 training centresspread over 26 States.

The launch on June 18 will befollowed by the Prime Minister’saddress. Union Minister of SkillDevelopment andEntrepreneurship Mahendra NathPandey will also be present on theoccasion. The programme aims toskill and upskill over one lakhCovid warriors across the country,according to the Prime Minister's

Office. The training willbe imparted to Covidwarriors in six cus-tomised job roles name-ly Home Care Support,Basic Care Support,Advanced CareSupport, Emergency

Care Support, Sample CollectionSupport, and Medical EquipmentSupport.

The programme has beendesigned as a special programmeunder the Central Component ofPradhan Mantri Kaushal VikasYojana 3.0, with a total financialoutlay of Rs. 276 crore.

The programme will createskilled non-medical healthcareworkers to fill the present andfuture needs of manpower in thehealth sector, said the statementfrom the PMO.

New Delhi: The Union Cabineton Wednesday approved thecorporatisation of OrdnanceFactory Board (OFB) by split-ting it into seven entities toimprove autonomy, account-ability and efficiency. There are42 ordnance factories spread allover the country and its employ-ees had opposed corporatisationwhen it was mooted more thantwo years back.

There are more than 82,000employees in the ordnance fac-tories and many of them hadresorted a stir in 2019 and gavea notice for agitation last yearalso against the proposal tocorporatize these units. Basedin Kolkata, the Ordnance fac-tories have a history of morethan 200 years old and nowmanufacture guns, missiles,tanks and other such equipmentfor the armed forces.

The Cabinet Committeeon Security (CCS) last year inJuly had approved to convert theOrdnance Factory Board (OFB)“into one or more than one 100

per cent Government-ownedcorporate entities”.

The official communiqueregarding this also said then thecorporatisation of OFB willimprove its autonomy, account-ability and efficiency inOrdnance Supplies.

It said the government hastaken note of the strike byworkers of the OFB against theproposed corporatisation andtheir concerns in the noticedated 04.08.2020 from the threerecognized Federations ofDefence Civilian Employees,proposing to call an indefinitestrike from 06.00 am of12.10.2020 by the DefenceCivilian Employees of OrdnanceFactories against the govern-ment move to corporatize OFB.

An Empowered Group ofMinisters (EGoM) has beenconstituted under theChairmanship of Minister ofDefence to oversee and guidethe entire process of corporati-sation of the OFB, includingtransition support and rede-

ployment plan of employeeswhile safeguarding their wagesand retirement benefits.

The OFB products arepriced on a cost based method-ology without charging anyprofit over the cost of produc-tion for supply to the armedforces. Since the OFB is nom-inated as a production agencyfor supply of core items to thearmed forces, no comparisonwith international prices can bemade. This information wasgiven by Minister of State fordefence Shripad Naik in a writ-ten reply to Santanu Sen in theRajya Sabha on September 19last year.

The EGoM comprisedHome Minister Amit Shah,Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman, Minister for Lawand Justice Ravi Shankar Prasad,Minister of State for Labour andEmployment Santosh KumarGangwar and Minister of Statefor Personnel, Public Grievanceand Pension Dr Jitendra Singh. PNS

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With the rumblings in theBJP, expulsion of rebel

MLAs from BSP and the rebelsseeking comfort zone, the polit-ical parties have kick-startedthe battle for the 2022 UPAssembly elections. The polit-ical activities are likely to gath-er pace with a sharp dip in theCovid curve.

The Samajwadi Party, fac-ing existential crisis after threeconsecutive defeats in UP(2014 Lok Sabha polls, 2017 UPAssembly polls and 2019 LokSabha elections) is desperatelytrying to reinvent itself. The SP,having burnt its fingers afterforging alliance with theCongress for the 2017 UPAssembly elections and laterwith the BSP and Rashtriya LokDal for the 2019 Lok Sabha

elections, seems to have grownwiser. It has ruled out allianceswith bigger parties and decid-ed to have a truck only withsmall parties.

The SP has already firmedup alliance with the RashtriyaLok Dal, (RLD) a predomi-nantly Jat political outfit.

Newly elected RLD chiefJayant Chaudhary has made itclear that his party will contestthe assembly elections inalliance with the SP to send amessage to its support base, theJat community in western UP.RLD has also announced itssupport to SP candidates in thezila panchayat chairpersons’elections.

The SP has also firmed upthe alliance with the MahanDal that is said to be popularamong Maurya, Kushwaha andSaini caste voters in western UP

districts. The Mahan Dal has also

announced its support for theSP in the assembly elections. SPsources said the party leader-ship is worried by not gettingthe votes of non-Yadav OBCsand non-Jatav SCs in the lastthree elections which it lost.

“SP has repeatedly com-mitted the mistake to over-whelmingly rely on the Yadav-Muslim vote bank, leaving therest of the Hindu votes for theBJP,” a senior SP leader said,adding: “To bridge this gap, theSP is forging alliance withsmall caste-based political par-ties to prevent the ‘Ati Picchda’votes going to the BJP.”

A SP leader said: “With 11per cent Yadav votes and 19 percent Muslim votes, we wereactually treating the Muslims asa majority community.”

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In yet another gesture towards the children whowere orphaned due to Covid, Chief Minister Yogi

Adityanath upwardly revised the aid being given tochildren whose guardian’s income is below �3 lakhper year.

“For the legal or natural guardian, the annualincome of �2 lakh limit is very low, hence themonthly assistance will be provided to everyorphaned child whose guardian's income is below�3 lakh per year,” announced the Chief Minister ata high-level Covid review meeting in Lucknow onWednesday.

Under the ‘Uttar Pradesh Mukhyamantri BalSeva Yojana’, the State Government will providefinancial assistance to a child’s guardian while thosewho did not have anyone to look after will be sentto children’s homes.

Taking care of the upbringing and education ofchildren orphaned by Covid, a monthly financialassistance of �4,000 will be given to a child'sguardian or caretaker, till he or she attains adult-hood.

Further, the State Government will also providetablets or laptops to all such children studying inschools, colleges, or pursuing vocationaleducation.

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Targeting the BJP Government overalleged irregularities in purchase of

land by Shree Ram Mandir Trust, Congressgeneral secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadrasaid that it had hurt people’s faith anddemanded Prime Minister Narendra Modito furnish the details of money spent as theTrust was formed by him. She alsodemanded a Supreme Court monitoredprobe in the murky land deal.

In a Facebook post in Hindi onWednesday, Priyanka said, “According tonews reports there have been irregulari-ties in buying land. On March 18, two peo-ple bought land in Ayodhya for �2 crore.And within five minutes the land wasbought by the Shree Ram Mandir Trustwhich was formed by the Prime Ministerfor �18.5 crore.”

The Congress honcho said that itmeant that the value of land increased by�5.5 lakh per second. “Can anyone imag-ine and believe this ? Not to be forgotten,the entire money belongs to the people ofthe country who donated for the con-struction of Ram temple. In the sale deedof the land and registry papers, most of thenames in the column of witnesses werecommon,” she said.

Priyanka further said, “One of the wit-nesses is a Trustee of the Ram MandirTrust (who is a former member of theRashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) and anoth-er one is a BJP leader and mayor ofAyodhya.”

She further stated that the statementfrom Shree Ram Trust claimed that the rateof land increased which was why a whop-ping amount was paid. “As per reports, thevalue of land was around �5 crore as perthe existing circle rate,” she pointed out.

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The Uttar Pradesh Government is expected tomake more stringent laws for gambling in

public places. The State Law Commission has notonly made the Public Gambling Act enacted dur-ing the British era stricter but also put onlinegambling and various forms of betting in the cat-egory of non-bailable offences.

After studying the laws of several states, thedraft of Uttar Pradesh Public Gambling(Prevention) Bill has been prepared under thechairmanship of a commission led by Justice AN Mittal. A draft scripted by the Commission wassubmitted to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath onTuesday. It is believed that the state governmentwould soon implement its own law across thestate with regards to gambling.

The State Law Commission in its draft hasrecommended to increase the amount of finealong with the provision of maximum punish-ment of three years. The special component is thatthe draft of this new law has been made keep-ing in mind the fast growing habit of online gam-bling in the last decade.

Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh BJP presidentSwatantra Dev Singh slammed theSamajwadi Party saying that those whodenied the existence of Lord Rama werenow questioning the land purchase for theconstruction of a grand Ram temple inAyodhya. Singh spoke to media personsafter condoling the death of BJP regionalchief Manvendra Singh’s uncle atVikrampur village of Etawah onWednesday.

Attacking the Samajwadi Party further,Singh said that the party which did nothave any love for Lord Rama and LordKrishna, who denied the existence of Ramand Ram Setu and fired bullets at RamSevaks were now talking about RamMandir. “Every Ram bhakt knows thetruth about the transparent way the landswere purchased in Ayodhya,” he said.

The BJP leader visited the Etawah vil-lage to pay homage to the BJP worker whodied from corona on Wednesday and saidthat he was visiting the houses of all BJPworkers and their families who lost theirnear and dear ones in the state during thecorona period. Etawah also witnessed thedeath of BJP MLA Savitri Katheria's hus-band and regional vice-presidentManvendra Singh’s uncle. PNS

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Lucknow: The rebel BSP MLAswho met Samajwadi Party chiefAkhilesh Yadav on Tuesday arein a dilemma over joining thenew party. Right now, the primeobjective of the rebel MLAs is toavoid disqualification from themembership of Vidhan Sabhaon the grounds of defection.Some of the rebels are trying toform a new party and latermerge it with the SP while someare in touch with the BJP andalso their parent party.

The sharp attack on theSamajwadi Party by the BSPchief Mayawati on Wednesdayadded to the discomfiture of therebel MLAs. “The SamajwadiParty is propagating in themedia that some BSP MLAs areswitching over to the SP, whichis a hoax. These MLAs were sus-pended from the BSP long agofor defeating the son of a Dalitin the Rajya Sabha elections toconnivance with the SP and anindustrialist,” Mayawati said onWednesday. PNS

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After the residents of a city hous-ing society alleged a fraud in the

vaccination camp held by a privateagency in their housing society, theBrihanmumbai MunicipalCorporation (BMC) and Mumbaipolice on Wednesday launched inde-pendent investigations into mannerin which three persons claimingthemselves to represent two leadinghospitals fleeced them of �4.91 lakhon the pretext of organising a vacci-nation camp.

A day after the residents of theHiranandani Heritage Society com-prising 435 flats in three towers atKandivali (west) in north Mumbaiflagged the issue in the media, BMCAdditional Commissioner SureshKakani took suo moto cognisance ofthe residents’ grievance and asked hisdeputy Vishwas Shankarwar to con-duct an enquiry and submit hisreport within 48 hours..

Similarly after the office bearersof Hiranandani Heritage Residents’Welfare Association (HHRWA)lodged a complaint with them, the

Kandivlin police also launched inves-tigations into the alleged fraud.

The HHRWA office bearers toldthe police that the three allegedfraudsters collected �4.92 lakh from390 residents, housekeeping staff,security guards, drivers or domestichelpers on May 30 for conducting avaccination camp.

The camp was conducted threefacilitators, including Rajesh Pandeyand Sanjay Gupta, who claimed torepresent leading private hospitalslike the Kokilaben DhirubhaiAmbani Hospital (KDAH) and theNanavati Hospital. They agreed toprovide 400 vaccine doses for around�1,260 each, for which the societypaid around �4.92 lakh. However thevaccination facilitator did not providereceipts for the money taken.

On their part, the KDAH and theNanavati Hospital have distancedthemselves from the questionablevaccination camp by saying thatthey had nothing to do with the vac-cination camp conductred atHiranandani Heritage Society. Theysaid that they were not approachedby the housing society.

The residents got suspicious afteras none of the beneficiaries weregiven the vaccination certificates.They also noticed that the vials usedfor vaccination camp bore 'Not ForSale' stamp.

The society membersapproached one of the facilitatorsSanjay Gupta for vaccination certifi-cates.

However, Gupta said that thecertificates would be given after 3-4days. Later on the residents found outafter June 8 that the certificates werebeing generated from different hos-pitals in the city, without the date ofvaccination i.e, May 30.

Before long, some of the aggriev-ed residents checked their status onCoWin only to learn that they wereyet to get their first vaccine dose, adevelopment that prompted to lodgea complaint with the police.

Meanwhile, local BJP leaderYogesh Sagar alleged that there couldbe a nexus between the BMC andunscrupulous elements in such pri-vate drives and the beneficiariesmust make full enquiries before get-ting lured by such offers.

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Page 6: The Pioneer...“Ram”, a reference to his pro-jection of his relationship ... between the two famous char-acters of epic Ramayan, he said, “If Hanuman has to seek help from Ram,

conservation of forests.The path-breaking law gave

three generations of tribals theright to live on their land. Butthey were asked to prove theirownership, which most of themcan’t and that is the biggest stickto beat them up with. Thoughthe authorities want them toshow papers of the inheri-tance, they have lived on theland even before paper wasinvented! Even so, they havebeen branded a “danger to for-est land and wildlife”.

The adivasis have managedtheir environment better thanneo-conservationists. Peoplein Gosaba, Sunderbans, arekilled by the Bengal Tigers.There is a village in Gosabanamed Vidhwapalli, a village ofwidows whose husbands werekilled by tigers. The very samepeople feed the tigress whotakes shelter in the village whenshe is about to deliver hercubs! Now think about theDelhi ridge or Mumbai’s Aareyforest constantly waning eachpassing year. Nearly 80 per centof biodiversity in the world isin areas inhabited by tribals.They have conserved the forestspretty well. They take from itwhat they need, without mak-ing permanent damage andgiving time and chance tonature to recuperate and grow.

Their religious practices forbidthem to even enter the coreareas. The modern conserva-tion programmes would havethese forests as open zoos forthe inspection of tourists.

While tourists and otheroutsiders are welcome, theadivasis are not. They are aliensin their own homes. Even ifthey venture inside, they arebeaten up, tortured, even killedby rangers. Their houses areburnt and properties van-dalised. Not very long ago, a 13-year-old boy was shot in theKaziranga for wandering insidethe protected area. The park hasa shoot-at-sight policy. TheJenu Kuruba, tribals living inthe Nilgiri in Karnataka, are fre-quently shot while collectingmushrooms. Over 50 peoplehave been shot dead by theguards in the last five years. Ofcourse, you haven’t heard orread about them. They were sel-dom reported!

Another aspect of tribalpersecution is the Maoist vio-lence in forested areas. It is oftenreported from Chhattisgarh,Madhya Pradesh, Odisha,Jharkhand, and others. Thesecurity forces are up againstthe armed resistance in theforests. However, not all tribalsare supporters or sympathisersof Maoists. Most of them face

pressure both from Maoists aswell as the security forces.They are routinely rounded upand made to suffer.

It is indeed a problem thatrefuses to go away. TheGovernment, for its part, hasnever tried to find the root ofthe problem and solve it polit-ically. The Maoists draw cadresfrom the wronged people. Sincethe exploitation doesn’t end,they never run out of cadres.The basis of the problem isindeed economic beingaddressed with force. Since2010 when it was at its peak, ithas come down. It is now con-fined to around 30 districts, butthere is a long way to go. Thegains of security forces are noguarantee that the problem isover. Maoism is a problemborn out of the social and eco-nomic milieu of the region andlack of development. TheGovernment gives themenough fuel and exploitationthat oils this war machinery.

If the current rate ofexploitation of nature contin-ues, we may lose the forests andforest dwellers. And, with them,their wisdom to survive with-out harming nature.

(The writer is a columnistand documentary film-maker.The views expressed are personal.)

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����������������� ������������Sir — As per reports, a housing society inMumbai’s Kandivali area has complained tothe police that it was cheated by some per-sons who organised a COVID-19 vaccina-tion camp by claiming to represent a pri-vate hospital, and the vaccine administeredcould be spurious. The society, HiranandaniHeritage Residents Welfare Association, hasnow sought investigation into the matter.

A vaccination camp was arranged by theresidential complex on May 30. But later itfound that the Co-WIN portal did not haveany record of the people who participatedand they received certificates in the nameof different hospitals, it said. “If the vaccineis found to be spurious, the people who gotvaccinated will have a medical emergencyto deal with. Therefore, there is an urgentneed to investigate the whole episode so thatsuch fraudulent activities are not repeatedat other places,” the complaint stated.

The HHRWA had organised the campthrough a person who claimed to be a salesrepresentative of a private hospital inAndheri. As many as 390 members receivedthe jabs at �1,260 per person. They wereshocked to receive vaccination certificatesin the name of Nanavati Hospital, LifelineHospital and NESCO COVID Camp,among others. Nanavati Hospital denied anyinvolvement and said they’re themselves avictim of the situation.

There are even doubts whether the res-idents were actually given Covishield or ifit were just glucose or expired/waste vaccine.Meanwhile, the BMC, from this week, hasmade signing of a Memorandum ofUnderstanding mandatory between privatevaccination providers and housing societiesif such camps are organised.

Bhagwan Thadani | Mumbai

����������� ��������� Sir — The group of seven largest indus-trial and developed nations was found-ed in1970 with a focus on economic issueand to resolve global problems. The47th G7 Summit was held in the city ofCornwall, the United Kingdom. Thewestern media focused only on the

beaches and the glowing sun.The G7 grouping took three important

decisions to restrict China, which is consid-ered to be moving in an unethical way. Thefirst is the threat to humanity, the sanctionof $40 trillion and re-investigation into thealleged Wuhan lab’s virus leak. We havealways seen that when a programme is beingheld in developing nations, the news andarticles underlining the headlines of “Hidingthe poverty” in the international media popsup. But when the same thing happens in thedeveloped world, it is hushed up. The poor-est city of the United Kingdom, Cornwall,where the G7 summit was organised, does-n’t get any space in international coverage.

The powerful nations didn’t evenfocus on how to address the issue of theappetite of the poor by providing shelterto their bodies and food to their stomach.It seems that poverty is the selling pointonly in certain cases.

Aman Jaiswal | New Delhi

�������������� �������� ����Sir — Raja, the famous festival of Odisha,was badly hit by the COVID-19 secondwave. Due to the rising cases, theGovernment imposed lockdown in most ofthe state. During this festival in the pre-pan-demic times, people used to wear newclothes, moved around having fun, enjoyedsavouries and involved themselves in “RajaMauja” for various games and activities.

But this year, the evergreen and colour-ful Raja witnessed no colours due to the sec-ond wave of the pandemic. People, being ina state of fear and negative mindset, wereadverse to letting their hair down. Maybethe State Government should start a showthat will add some colour and flavour to thelife of the Odia people.

Sarmistha Pradhan | Cuttack

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The recent upsurge inMaoist violence puts thefocus back on tribalissues, rarely discussed in

the mainstream. Even thoughthe tribal population is nine percent, they live as invisible Indians.Their presence is felt only whenthey make headlines for thewrong reasons, for obstructingtraffic with their protests, forinstance, and thereafter againfade into oblivion.

These are the people whohave been on the frontline ofIndia’s war of independence andthe ones to have suffered the most.The British branded 150-oddtribes as “criminal tribes” byimposing the Criminal Tribe Act,starting in 1871. It took theNehru Government five years tode-notify these tribes and replacethe derogatory law on April 31,1952. Adivasis now celebrate April31 as the alternative IndependenceDay.

Even today, tribals live on thesidelines of the Indian politicallandscape. They are indeed themarginalised entities in India’spolitical life. The adivasis havelived in forests at peace withnature for ages. But they have beencastigated, charged, blamed anddemonised, often stripped oftheir basic human rights, theirright to life and property includ-ed. They are evicted from theirdwelling places in the name ofconservation and national inter-est. To use the conservationistlingo, their habitat is shrinking. Itis being usurped legally. Despitesome sops here and there, the con-dition of tribals has not improvedeven after Independence. Theyremain on the margins, their lifeand livelihood constantly underthe threat. The neo-colonialmindset has replaced the olderone. Conservation is one bigplank that is a legit and subtle wayto evict tribals from their land.

The Forest Rights Act (FRA),2006, for the first time recognisedthe rights of tribal communitiesto forest resources. Hitherto,Government Acts and policies didnot recognise the symbiotic rela-tionship of the forest dwellers withthe forests. This, ironically, wasalways present in their depen-dence on the forest as well as intheir traditional wisdom for the

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Things don't happen easily in the gov-ernment. And, if they do happen, it isdifficult to sustain them. I had been ofthe view that for anything to happen

and sustain in the government it had to bepolitically acceptable, socially desirable, tech-nologically feasible, financially viable, admin-istratively doable and judicially tenable. Thisin itself was quite a handful. However, theunexpected agitation against the Farm Bills hascompelled me to add another dimension:"Emotionally relatable".

There is a feeling outside the governmentthat not much happens in the government. Notonly that, each one of them will have an ideaon how to make-things-happen. However, ifthe sixafore-mentioned aspects are not takeninto consideration, the idea will perhaps nottravel much distance on the ground. Let usconsider each one of them.

No matter how good an idea is, it will getconverted into a policy only if the ultimatedecision-making authority, a politician or agroup of politicians, puts its stamp on it. Forexample, many would argue that reservationin government jobs is adversely impacting gov-ernance. If there is a referendum, perhaps themajority will vote against it. But can we dis-pense with it now or at any time in the future?Perhaps not, because it will never be political-ly acceptable. That is why decision making indemocracies takes much longer than in coun-tries like China. A lot of time gets spent in con-sensus building. This is not to say that democ-racies are worse than autocracies because polit-ical acceptability, as an underlying principle ofdemocracy, has its own merits.

Social desirability of an idea is equallyimportant even if it may not appear to be so.It is important in the context of implementa-tion of an idea that may be politically accept-able. A number of schemes announced by thegovernment, hence politically acceptable, failon the ground because while formulating thescheme, the social context is not taken intoconsideration. Thus, the infamous FamilyPlanning effort of the government during thedark days of Emergency not only met with fail-ure but led to the fall of the government. Thismay be an extreme example but many schemesand ideas face enormous problems if they arenot socially desirable. Understanding theneeds of the stake holders is critical for the suc-cess of any scheme.

Technology is changing by the day. Hence,the feasibility of technology becomes animportant determinant in the implementationof an idea and sustaining it. Many of those thathave not travelled to various parts of the coun-try advocate the use of internet to reach outto children during COVID-19 times forschooling. They are perhaps unaware of thefact that internet has not reached out as yet toa large part of the country. The situation maychange over a period of time but as of now, itmay not be possible to reach out to all the chil-dren through the net.

The most critical part in implementation ofan idea is the availability of funds to back suchan idea. Till a couple of years ago, number ofrailway lines were announced by successiveMinisters for Railways in their budget speech-es (fortunately this has ceased now) without thefunds to back them. These railway lines weresocially desirable and technologically feasible.

They were obviously politicallyacceptable as well. But they neverhappened on the ground. Similarapprehensions are raised about therecently announced NationalEducation Policy (NEP). ThePolicy recommends allocation ofsix per cent of GDP to EducationSector. This is nothing new. It wasrecommended long ago by DrKothari in his Report as well. Butthe money never came despite acess levied by the government toraise resources. In fact, during theperiod from 2014 to 2018 the bud-getary allocation to school educa-tion actually came down in realterms. Without requisite money toback ideas, such ideas will nottravel a long distance.

Even if we have the requisitemoney, if the desired humanresources are not available, theidea will not work on the ground.One of the reasons of failure indelivery of health care in ruralareas is the shortage of doctors.Health care is politically acceptableand socially desirable. There is rea-sonable amount of money avail-able. But shortage of humanresource is a major constraint.School education in the country isanother example where there is anacute shortage of humanresources. There is an additional

problem relating to their manage-ment as well. This management ofthe teachers who are the pivot ofschool education, has left a lot tobe desired. The biggest mafia inschool education is the one thatprovides pre-service training, theB.Ed and D.El.Edcolleges. A largenumber of them exist only onpaper but they can give you adegree. The selection of teachersto government schools is anoth-er racket. One former ChiefMinister is behind the bars formanipulating selection. What canbe expected of teachers who havecome through such a process?Human resource management isthe key to the success of any pro-gramme.

Finally, no matter what thegovernment does, the final arbiteris the judiciary. It can undo all thatmay have been attempted. Theover-indulgent judiciary can makematters worse.

The Farm Bills appear to befine on all these dimensions men-tioned above. Even those who areopposing it on account of politi-cal considerations were them-selves pushing for such reformswhen they were in power. Most ofthemwould privately agree that theBills would benefit the farmersand will free them from the

clutches of "middle-men".However, opposition to the Billswasstill so huge. It reflected theinability of the proponents tomake this idea "emotionally relat-able" to the farming community.The Bills are indeed socially desir-able but the government whichhas otherwise demonstrated to beso skilful in communicating mes-sages, has apparently been unableto do so in the present instance.Hence, the Bills that are so bene-ficial to the farmers are not per-ceived as such. There is, therefore,this problem of perception and alarge number of farmers are notable to relate emotionally with theBills.

The listing of these limitationsdoes not mean that things donothappen in the government. Thesuccess of Ayushman Bharat, theCoal Block auctions and unprece-dented increase in coal productionduring 2014-16, the successfulmanagement of Covid-19 falloutin Mumbai and many districts ofthe country and the like prove thatit-can-happen. These pro-grammes/ schemes/ efforts under-stood these limitations andworked around them. There isindeed a lot to learn from howthey made-it-happen for others tomake-it-happen.

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Lifting Trump's sanctions,@SecBlinken, is a legal&moral obligation, NOT

negotiating leverage. Didn'twork for Trump - won't work foryou," tweeted Iran's ForeignMinister Mohammad JavadZarif late last month. But whatif US Secretary of State AntonyBlinken (and President JoeBiden) have just decided thatreviving the 2015 nuclear deal isa lost cause?

There are quite a few peo-ple in the Biden administration,and particularly in the StateDepartment, who can count totwenty without even takingtheir shoes off. So they musthave realised that there wasgoing to be an election in Irannext Friday (18 June).

Many of them would evenhave known that this time the

Iranian election has been riggedso that the 'hard-liners' arebound to win it.

Joe Biden therefore onlyhad five months to reverseDonald Trump's deliberatewrecking of the 2015 treaty thatprevented Iran from working onnuclear weapons. After the Juneelection, the wreckers would bein power in Tehran, and theywould sabotage the talks.

So why didn't Blinken'speople move faster?

It was the Trump adminis-tration that unilaterally pulledout of the JCPOA treaty (JointComprehensive Plan of Action)and slapped crippling econom-ic sanctions on Iran in 2018.Since then, Iran has repeatedlysaid that if the US just cancelledTrump's sanctions and rejoinedthe treaty, all would be well. Now

it's probably too late.Iran did nothing for more

than a year, waiting and hopingthat the other signatories(Britain, France, Germany,Russia and China) would findways to help Iran get around theAmerican sanctions.

The other countries allagreed that Iran was not violat-ing the terms of the treaty in any

way, but none of them wantedto get into a showdown withTrump by breaking the USsanctions. So when Trump tight-ened the sanctions further inMay 2019, crushing Iran'sremaining oil exports, Tehranbegan to go beyond the treatylimits - a little bit.

It didn't leave the treaty, butit began to enrich its uranium a

bit beyond the treaty limit of3.67% (far below weapons-grade). It allowed inspections tocontinue, it kept nothing secret,but every three or six months itmoved the enrichment upanother notch to create somecounter-pressure on the othersignatories to sort theirAmerican problem out.

Finally, Trump lost the 2020election, Biden replaced him inthe White House last January,and it became possible to repairall the damage. However, thenew secretary of state, AntonyBlinken, then announced thatIran would have to roll back allits post-2019 increments to theenrichment process BEFOREthe US lifted its sanctions.

The shoe is clearly on thewrong foot there. It was theUnited States that showed itself

to be untrustworthy by quittingthe treaty. The Iranian economypaid the price, starving in thegutter for three years.

The question of who goesfirst is fundamentally childish ifthere is trust, but America hasforfeited the right to demandthat Iran trust it. Biden andBlinken must know thatdemanding Iran go first doomsthe negotiations, and that arigged election in Iran willshortly close the door on the dealfor good. It would break themoff, because Iran's SupremeLeader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei,has arranged for his faithful sup-porter Ebrahim Raisi to win theelection by banning more open-minded candidates from run-ning at all.

Both men are fiercely anti-Western ultra-conservatives, but

they wouldn't have got awaywith rigging the election like thisfour years ago, when the treatywas new and popular hopeswere still high in Iran. Thedespair created by Trump'srenewed sanctions killed thosehopes. Biden may be wrong tolet the JCPOA treaty die. Animmediate end to US sanctionsand a quick roll-back of Iran'sdeviations from strict adherenceto the treaty's terms might havebeen done the trick. Even a newhard-line government in Iranwould have found it hard tounpick that sort of done deal.

But it would have been agamble, and Biden seems to havedecided that he couldn't affordto risk his political capital thatway. It will be years before weknow if this was a fatal mistake(and who it was fatal for).

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POINTCOUNTERPOINT

The author is a formerIAS officer. The views

expressed are personal.

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The author’s new book is‘Growing Pains: TheFuture of Democracy

(and Work)’. The viewsexpressed are personal.

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With stern expressions andpolite words before the

cameras, President Joe Bidenand Russia’s Vladimir Putinplunged into hours of face-to-face talks on Wednesday at alush lakeside Swiss mansion, ahighly anticipated summit at atime when both leaders sayrelations between their coun-tries are at an all-time low.

Biden called it a discussionbetween “two great powers”and said it was “always betterto meet face to face.” Putin saidhe hoped the talks would be“productive.”

The meeting in a book-lined room had a somewhatawkward beginning — bothmen appeared to avoid lookingdirectly at each other during abrief and chaotic photo oppor-tunity before a scrum ofjostling reporters.

Biden nodded when areporter asked if Putin could betrusted, but the White Housequickly sent out a tweet insist-ing that the president was “veryclearly not responding to anyone question, but nodding inacknowledgment to the pressgenerally.” Putin ignored shout-ed questions from reporters,including whether he fearedjailed Russian opposition leaderAlexei Navalny.

The two leaders did shakehands - Biden extended hishand first and smiled at the

stoic Russian leader - momentsearlier when they posed withSwiss President Guy Parmelin,who welcomed them toSwitzerland for the summit.

Biden and Putin first helda relatively intimate meetingjoined by US Secretary of StateAntony Blinken and RussianForeign Minister Sergey Lavrov.Each side had a translator forthe session, which lasted aboutan hour and a half. The meet-ing, after about a 40-minutebreak, then expanded to includesenior aides on each side.

Biden and Putin wereexpected to meet for a total offour to five hours of wide-rang-ing talks.

For months, they havetraded sharp rhetoric. Bidenhas repeatedly called out Putinfor malicious cyberattacks byRussian-based hackers on USinterests, for the jailing ofRussia’s foremost oppositionleader and for interference inAmerican elections.

Putin has reacted withwhatabout-isms and denials— pointing to the Jan. 6 insur-rection at the US Capitol toargue that the US has no busi-ness lecturing on democraticnorms and insisting that theRussian government hasn’tbeen involved in any electioninterference or cyberattacksdespite US intelligence showing

otherwise.In advance of Wednesday’s

meeting, both sides set out tolower expectations.

Even so, Biden said it wasan important step if the UnitedStates and Russia were able toultimately find “stability andpredictability” in their rela-tionship, a seemingly modestgoal from the president fordealing with the person hesees as one of America’s fiercest

adversaries.“We should decide where

it’s in our mutual interest, in theinterest of the world, to coop-erate, and see if we can do that,”Biden told reporters earlierthis week. “And the areas wherewe don’t agree, make it clearwhat the red lines are.”

Putin’s spokesman, DmitryPeskov, told The AssociatedPress on Wednesday that nobreakthroughs were expected

and that “the situation is toodifficult in Russian-Americanrelations.” He added that “thefact that the two presidentsagreed to meet and finally startto speak openly about theproblems is already an achieve-ment.”

Arrangements for themeeting were carefully chore-ographed and vigorously nego-tiated. Biden first floated themeeting in an April phone call

in which he informed Putinthat he would be expellingseveral Russian diplomats andimposing sanctions againstdozens of people and compa-nies, part of an effort to holdthe Kremlin accountable forinterference in last year’s pres-idential election and the hack-ing of federal agencies.

Putin and his entouragearrived first at the summit site:Villa La Grange, a grand lake-side mansion set in Geneva’sbiggest park. Next came Bidenand his team. Putin flew intoGeneva on Wednesday short-ly before the scheduled start ofthe meeting; Biden — who wasalready in Europe for meetingswith allies — arrived the daybefore. After the meeting con-cludes, Putin is scheduled to

hold a solo news conference,with Biden following suit. TheWhite House opted against ajoint news conference, decidingit did not want to appear to ele-vate Putin at a moment whenthe US president is urgingEuropean allies to pressurePutin to cut out myriad provo-cations.

Biden sees himself with fewpeers on foreign policy. Hetraveled the globe as a memberof the Senate Foreign RelationsCommittee and was given dif-ficult foreign policy assign-ments by President BarackObama when Biden was vicepresident. His portfolio includ-ed messy spots like Iraq andUkraine and weighing the met-tle of China’s Xi Jinping duringhis rise to power.

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Israeli aircraft carried out aseries of airstrikes at militant

sites in the Gaza Strip earlyWednesday, the first such raidssince a shaky cease-fire endedthe war with Hamas lastmonth.

The airstrikes targetedfacilities used by Hamas mili-tants for meetings to planattacks, the Israeli militarysaid, blaming the group for anyact of violence emanating fromGaza. There were no immedi-ate reports of casualties.

On Tuesday, hundreds ofIsraeli ultranationalists, somechanting “Death to Arabs,”paraded in east Jerusalem in ashow of force that threatened tospark renewed violence.Palestinians in Gaza respond-ed by launching incendiaryballoons that caused at least 10fires in southern Israel.

The march posed a test forIsrael’s fragile new governmentas well as the tenuous truce thatended last month’s 11-day warbetween Israel and Hamas.Palestinians consider themarch, meant to celebrateIsrael’s capture of east Jerusalemin 1967, to be a provocation.Hamas called on Palestinians to“resist” the parade, a version ofwhich helped ignite last month’s11-day Gaza war.

With music blaring, hun-dreds of Jewish nationalistsgathered and moved in front ofDamascus Gate. Most appearedto be young men, and manyheld blue-and-white Israeli

flags as they danced and sangreligious songs.

At one point, several dozenyouths, jumping and wavingtheir hands in their air, chant-ed: “Death to Arabs!” In anoth-er anti-Arab chant, they yelled:“May your village burn.”

In a scathing condemna-tion on Twitter, ForeignMinister Yair Lapid said thoseshouting racist slogans were “adisgrace to the Israeli people,”adding: “The fact that there areradicals for whom the Israeliflag represents hatred andracism is abominable andunforgivable.”

The crowd, while boister-ous, appeared to be muchsmaller than during lastmonth’s parade. From theDamascus Gate, they proceed-ed around the Old City to theWestern Wall, the holiest placewhere Jews can pray.

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The Israeli military onWednesday shot and killed

a Palestinian woman who itsaid tried to ram her car into agroup of soldiers guarding aWest Bank construction site.

In a statement, the armysaid soldiers opened fire at thewoman in Hizmeh, just northof Jerusalem, after she exitedthe car and pulled out a knife.The statement did not say howclose the woman was to the sol-diers, and the army did notrelease any photos or video ofthe incident.

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Russian President VladimirPutin says he and US

President Joe Biden haveagreed to return their ambas-sadors to their posts in a bidto lower tensions.

Putin made theannouncement at a news con-ference following a summit onWednesday with Biden inGeneva.

The return of ambassadors

follows a diplomatic tug-of-war that saw deep cuts indiplomatic personnel.

Russia’s ambassador to theUS, Anatoly Antonov, wasrecalled from Washingtonabout three months ago afterBiden described Putin as akiller.

US Ambassador to RussiaJohn Sullivan left Moscowalmost two months ago afterRussia suggested he return toWashington for consultations.

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President Joe Biden onTuesday unveiled picks for

nine ambassadorial postings,tapping career diplomatssteeped in foreign policy expe-rience — as well as politicalallies and aviation hero “Sully”Sullenberger.

The picks include formerInterior Secretary Ken Salazaras ambassador to Mexico andformer Deputy Secretary ofState Tom Nides as ambassadorto Israel.

Retired airline pilot C B“Sully” Sullenberger, mostfamous for negotiating theemergency landing of USAirways Flight 1549 on theHudson River with no fatalities,has been named to serve as USrepresentative on the Councilof the International CivilAviation Organisation.

The announcement comesas Biden is on the tail end of aneight-day European trip thatincluded stops in the UnitedKingdom for a meeting of theGroup of Seven leaders andBelgium for a gathering of the27 NATO countries and theUS-EU summit.

The trip culminates inGeneva on Wednesday with ahighly anticipated meeting withRussia’s Vladimir Putin, wherethe leaders are to discuss risingtensions between their coun-tries. As a candidate, Bidendeclined to rule out appointingpolitical donors to ambas-sadorships or other posts if hewas elected. But he pledged thathis nominees, regardless oftheir contributor status.

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Government troops inMyanmar have burned

most of a village in the coun-try’s central heartland, a resi-dent said Wednesday, con-firming reports by independentmedia and on social networks.The action appeared to be anattempt to suppress resistanceagainst the ruling militaryjunta.

The attack is the latestexample of how violence hasbecome endemic in much ofMyanmar in recent months asthe junta tries to subdue anincipient nationwide insurrec-tion. After the army seizedpower in February, over-throwing the elected govern-ment of Aung San Suu Kyi, anonviolent civil disobediencemovement arose to challengemilitary rule, but the junta’sattempt to repress it with dead-ly force fuelled rather thanquelled resistance.

Photos and videos of dev-astated Kinma village inMagway region that circulatedwidely on social media onWednesday showed much ofthe village flattened by fire andthe charred bodies of farmanimals. One report said the vil-lage had about 1,000 residents.A villager contacted by phonesaid only 10 of 237 houses wereleft standing. The villager, whoasked that his name not be usedbecause of fear of governmentreprisals, said most residentshad already fled when soldiersfiring guns entered the villageshortly before noon on Tuesday.

He said he believed thetroops were searching formembers of a village defenseforce that had been established

to protect against the junta’stroops and police. Most suchlocal forces are very lightlyarmed with homemade hunt-ing rifles.

The village defense forcegave residents advance warningof the troops’ arrival, so onlyfour or five people were left inthe village when they begansearching houses in the after-noon. When they found noth-ing, they began setting thehomes on fire, he said.

“There are some forests justnearby our village. Most of usfled into the forests,” he said.

The villager said hebelieved there were three casu-alties, a boy who was a goat-herder who was shot in thethigh, and an elderly couplewho were unable to flee. Hebelieved the couple had diedbut several media reports said

they were missing.Asked if he planned to go

back to the village, he said: “No,we dare not to. We think it isn’tover. We will shift to other vil-lages. Even if we go back to ourvillage, there is no place to staybecause everything is burnt.”

The village defense forcesare committed to forming afuture opposition federal army,and some have allied them-selves with ethnic minoritygroups in border areas thathave been fighting for decadesfor autonomy from the centralgovernment.

Most of the fiercest fight-ing takes place in the borderregions, where governmentforces are deployed in areascontrolled by ethnic groupssuch as the Chin in the west,the Kachin in the north and theKarenni in the east.

The incident in Kinmaattracted special attentionbecause the Burman, orBarmar ethnic group, the coun-try’s power-holding majority, ispredominant in the Magwayregion and it is unusual forthem to be targeted for suchsevere measures.

The army burned manyvillages of the MuslimRohingya minority in 2017 ina brutal counterinsurgencycampaign in the western stateof Rakhine that drove morethan 700,000 to seek safetyacross the border inBangladesh.

There is widespread preju-dice against the Rohingya andfew in Myanmar protested thearmy’s treatment of them,though international courtsare now considering whether itconstituted genocide.

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London: Dominic Cummings,the former top aide of UK PrimeMinister Boris Johnson, onWednesday reignited an ongoingrow over the government’s han-dling of the Covid-19 pandem-ic as he shared expletive-ladenWhatsApp messages believedto be from his former boss inwhich the premier brands hishealth secretary “hopeless”.

Johnson’s former ChiefStrategy Adviser, who leftDowning Street unceremoni-ously last year, has previouslymade withering attacks on UKHealth Secretary Matt Hancockand claimed the ministershould have been sacked for15-20 things, including “forlying” to people.

Following Hancock’s ownevidence before a parliamen-tary committee to deny all theallegations, Cummings tookto his blogpost to brand theCabinet minister’s parliamen-tary evidence as an attempt torewrite history.

“Number10/Hancock haverepeatedly lied about the failures

last year,” he writes in his blog.In screenshots of

WhatsApp messages he hasshared alongside, the PrimeMinister appears to callHancock’s efforts “totallyf****** hopeless” in response toa message from Cummingsand in others seems to consid-er replacing him.

The 7,000-word blogpostdubs Hancock’s version ofevents as “fiction” and criticis-es “systemic incompetence”surrounding the UK PrimeMinister.

Downing Street has refusedto be drawn into the latestWhatsApp messages row, withthe UK Prime Minister’s offi-cial spokesperson sayingJohnson continued to have“full confidence” in Hancock.

“I am not planning toengage with every allegationput forward, the PrimeMinister has worked veryclosely with the HealthSecretary throughout and willcontinue to do so,” thespokesperson said. PTI

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Mumbai:With automation tak-ing place at a much faster paceacross industries especially inthe tech space, domestic soft-ware firms that employee over16 million are set to slash

headcounts by a massive 3million by 2022, which willhelp them save a whoppingUSD 100 billion mostly insalaries annually, says a report.The domestic IT sector

employs around 16 million, ofthem around 9 million areemployed in low-skilled ser-vices and BPO roles, accordingto Nasscom.

PTI

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Sellers who do not declarelocal content percentage

while uploading their productsat public procurement portalGeM will lose out on businessand will not be able to partic-ipate in bids in which buyer haschosen to procure only made-in-India items, the commerceministry said on Wednesday.

The Government e-Marketplace (GeM) portal waslaunched in 2016 for onlinepurchase of goods and servicesby all central and state gov-ernment ministries and agen-cies.

The Ministry also saidGeM was the first e-commerceportal in the country whichhad started displaying the‘country of origin’ of all prod-ucts prominently for giving itsbuyers the right to makeinformed decisions of pro-curement.

Now, it is mandatory for allsellers to upfront declare the‘country of origin’, withoutwhich they cannot uploadproducts on the platform.

“Going a step further,GeM has also started high-lighting the local content %(percentage) on the productdescription page prominently.

“So, even within the prod-ucts made in India, buyers canidentify products that havehigher local content and take

informed decisions according-ly,” it said.

Buyers have been providedwith a filter in the marketplaceto identify and select productsfrom among MII (make inIndia) complaint sellers/ prod-ucts only, it said.

“Sellers who do not declarelocal content % (percentage)while uploading product andcreating catalogue on GeMwill lose out on business andwill not be able to participatein bids in which the buyer haschosen to procure only MII-compliant products,” it added.

In the portal, a MII filterhas been provided using whicha buyer can filter out all non-local suppliers and restrict itsprocurements under directpurchase and L-1 (lowest bid)purchase from among local

suppliers only.Informing about the por-

tal, Commerce Secretary AnupWadhawan said it is providingincreasing market access toseller groups like MSEs (microand small enterprises), womenself-help groups (SHGs), andstart-ups.

Currently, GeM has over6,90,000 MSE sellers and ser-vice providers and they con-tribute over 56 per cent of thetotal order value on the plat-form.

Speaking with reporters,GeM Chief Executive Officer PK Singh said there are 9,980start-ups registered on GeMcurrently.He said that toaddress the credit access chal-lenges faced by MSMEs,GeMSAHAY app has beenrolled out.

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Drug pricing regulator NPPA has asked phar-maceutical companies and medical device

makers to reduce prices on products on whichthe GST has been lowered in order to pass onthe benefit to the consumers. In a notification,the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority(NPPA) noted that a change in tax rates has animpact on the fixation of maximum retail prices(MRP) of various drugs and formulations.

As per DPCO 2013, MRP of drugs and for-mulations are inclusive of taxes. Therefore, anydownward change in tax or GST rates should be

reflected in the MRP and benefit of the reduc-tion should be passed on to the consumers, itnoted.

“In view of the above, all the manufactur-ers and marketing companies are required torevise the MRPs of drugs/formulations onwhich tax/GST rates have been reduced takinginto effect the revised GST rates,” NPPA said.

Recalling or re-labelling or re-stickering onthe label of the container or pack of the alreadyreleased stocks in the market is not mandato-ry if manufacturers are able to ensure price com-pliance at the retailer level through issuance ofa revised price list, it noted.

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Key benchmark indicesSensex and Nifty retreated

from record-high levels onWednesday following intenseselling in Reliance and HDFCtwins as investors turned cau-tious ahead of the outcome ofthe US Federal Reserve’s poli-cy meeting.

The 30-share BSE indexended 271.07 points or 0.51 percent lower at 52,501.98. It hadclosed at an all-time high of52,773.05 on Tuesday.

The broader NSE Niftyretreated from a record anddeclined 101.70 points or 0.64per cent to 15,767.55.

PowerGrid was the toplaggard in the Sensex pack,shedding around 2 per cent,followed by IndusInd Bank,Reliance, L&T, UltraTechCement and Bajaj Finance.

On the other hand, Nestle,NTPC, ONGC, Bajaj FinservHindustan Unilever andInfosys were among the gain-ers.

“Indian indices slippedahead of the Fed policyannouncement as global mar-kets turned cautious.Weakening MoM sales dataand rising prices in the US areadding concerns to ongoinginflationary trend. But, Fedmaintaining an accommoda-

tive policy and a calm com-ment on short-term inflation-ary pressure can drive the mar-kets ahead,” Vinod Nair, Headof Research at Geojit FinancialServices, said.

Chice Broking in a notesaid that the domestic markettook cues from the weak glob-al market ahead of the US Fed’sdecision.

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As India emerges from adevastating second wave

of Covid-19 infections, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi onWednesday said the focus mustbe on repairing and preparingthe health infrastructure aswell as the economy for futurechallenges.

To prepare a base for a sus-tained higher growth rate, theGovernment continues tounleash reforms and has alsoextended free food distributionschemes to aid the poor hithard by the pandemic.

“Over the past year, wehave witnessed a lot of disrup-tion in different sectors. Muchof it is still there,” Modi said atthe VivaTech Summit. “Yet, dis-ruption does not have to meandespair. Instead, we must keepthe focus on the twin founda-tion of repair and prepare.”

This time last year theworld was still seeking a vac-cine and today two vaccines arebeing made in India, and moreare in the development or trialstages, he said.

“We have to continuerepairing health infrastructureand our economies,” he said.“And when I say prepare, I

mean insulating our planetagainst the next pandemic,ensuring we focus on a sus-tainable lifestyle that stops eco-logical degradation, strength-ening cooperation in further-ing research as well as innova-tion.”

Indian economy sufferedits worst contraction in fourdecades as coronavirus-induced lockdowns stalledbusinesses and economic activ-ity.

While attempts were madeto control the spread of infec-tions and healthcare infra-structure built to treat the ill,the government implementedhuge reforms across sectors -from mining to space, frombanking to atomic energy.

“This goes on to show thatIndia as a nation is adaptableand agile,” he said.

After the brutal secondwave in April and May, theCovid case has fallen more than80 per cent since its peak 5weeks ago.

This as also the pick up inthe pace of vaccination hadaided state governments torelax restrictions at a relative-ly faster pace than in 2020.

“I believe where conven-tion fails, innovation can help.This has been seen during theCovid-19 global pandemic,which is the biggest disruptionof our age. All nations have suf-fered losses and faced anxietyabout the future,” Modi said.

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The Centre on Wednesdaysaid the government is

planning to simplify the greenclearances required for thequick operationalisation ofmining projects, includingcoal.

It assumes significanceas mining projects in variousstates face delays in productiondue to lack of approvals suchas forest and environmentclearance.

“(With regard to) EC(environment clearance) andFC (forest clearance), we areactually trying to do some-thing with the Ministry ofEnvironment and Forest(MoEF). I think some simpli-fication is going to be done.

“The secretaryMoEF...Told us in a meetingthat EC, FC norms are ofcourse friendlier so that wewill able to have operation ina quicker way,” CoalAdditional Secretary MNagaraju said.

He was speaking duringthe Virtual ChhattisgarhMining Summit organised bythe PHD Chamber ofCommerce and Industry.

The additional secretaryalso stressed that the state

government should ensurethat the mines that are allot-ted are operationalised at theearliest by hand-holding theallottees and holding regularmeetings, among others.

“Expect these two clear-ances (EC and FC), rest ofclearances come from the stategovernment. In fact, for ECand FC, a lot depends on theefficiency of the state govern-ment’s forest department.

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India’s exports rose by 46.43per cent to USD 14.06 billion

during June 1-14 on account of

healthy growth in shipments insectors such as engineering,gems and jewellery and petro-leum products, according topreliminary data of the com-

merce ministry.Imports too rose by 98.33

per cent to USD 19.59 billionduring the period, the datashowed.

Exports of sectors such asengineering, gems and jew-ellery and petroleum productsare recording healthy growthrates.

The exports grew by 52.39per cent to USD 7.71 billionduring the first week of thismonth and by about 40 percent to USD 6.35 billion dur-ing the second week of thismonth, according to the data.

Exports during Apr-Maythis fiscal year jumped to USD62.89 billion, as against USD29.41 billion in the same peri-od last year.

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India’s fuel demand rebound-ed in the first half of June as

easing of coronavirus lock-downs helped sales but the con-sumption was still lower com-pared to last year. While petrolsales rose by 13 per cent dur-ing June 1-15 over the sameperiod of last month, dieselconsumption was up 12 percent, according to data com-piled by state fuel retailers.Thisis the first monthly increasesince March. Fuel demand hadrecovered to near-normal lev-els in March before the onset ofthe second wave of Covid-19infections led to the reimposi-tion of lockdowns in differentstates, stalling mobility andmuting economic activity.

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Adani Total Gas went up by921 per cent while Adani

Enterprises went up by 890 percent in the last one year com-pared to 60.7 per cent returnfor the NSE Nifty index, as perTrendlyne data.

Adani Group stocks havebeen scorchers in the stockmarket in the last year beforethey started unravelling in thelast three days and have beengoing down ever since.

Adani Group investorshave seen wealth erosion of �1.10 lakh crore in the last threetrading sessions.

Adani Enterprises wasdown 5.82 per cent at �1449.30.

Adani Enterprises Ltd hasgained 213.40 per cent in thelast six months. It has a marketcap of �1.59 lakh crore.

Adani Total Gas is up 917.9per cent in the last one year andhas a market cap of �1.53 lakhcrore. It was down onWednesday by 5.02 per cent at�1,394.

Adani Total Gas has gained86.09 per cent in the last threemonths, as per Trendlyne data.

While Adani Enterprisesand Adani Ports have been theflagship companies, it is AdaniGreen Energy which is thestar in the portfolio of the

group with the highest marketcapitalisation.

Adani Green’s market capis at �1.83 lakh crore, eventhough it is a relatively newcompany. Adani Green hasgiven a one year return of238.4 per cent. Along withother stocks, Adani Green wasdown by 3.38 per cent at �1,171.25 on Wednesday.

Adani Ports has given aone year return of 108 per centcompared to 61.1 per cent forthe Nifty. Its market cap is at�1.44 lakh crore. It was down7.22 per cent at �706.85 onWednesday.

Adani Ports and SpecialEconomic Zone Ltd has lost19.14 per cent in the last oneweek.

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Extending its losses forseventh straight session,

the rupee slipped by 1 paisato end at 73.32 against the USdollar following risk-off sen-timent among investorsahead of the outcome of theUS Federal Reserve meeting.

At the interbank foreignexchange market, the rupeeopened at 73.29 per dollar asagainst its previous close of73.31.

It hovered in the range of73.26 to 73.38 during the day.The domestic currency haslost 52 paise in the seventrading sessions toWednesday.

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The Government onWednesday said edible oil

prices have started falling in thepast one month, and the quan-tum of decline is nearly 20 percent in some cases. Stating thatIndia imports a significantquantity of edible oils to meetdomestic demand, the Centresaid it is working on a “seriesof mid- and long-term mea-sures” to make the country self-sufficient.

“Edible oil prices in Indiaare showing a declining trendacross a wide array of oils.

As per data from theDepartment of ConsumerAffairs, over the past month,the prices of edible oils are nowcoming down,” an official state-ment said.

In some cases, the declineis as much as nearly 20 per cent,as shown in prices in Mumbai,it added.

Citing examples, the gov-ernment said the price of palmoil was �142 per kg on May 7and now, it has come down to�115 per kg, a drop of 19 percent. Similarly, the price of sun-flower oil has dropped 16 percent to 157 per kg, from �188per kg on May 5.

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The Union Cabinet onWednesday approved a �

700 per bag hike in subsidy forDAP fertilizer to protect farm-ers from its surging prices dueto the increasing cost of rawmaterials globally. This willcost an additional of �14,775crore to the exchequer. Thehike is part of the government’seffort to ensure that farmers getthe key soil nutrient at old ratesof �1200 per bag.

With rise in global prices,the actual price of DAP reached�2,400 per bag. DAP is thesecond most popular fertiliseramong Indian farmers behindurea — in 2020-21, 119.13lakh tons of DAP were pur-chased, compared to 350 lakhtons for the top-selling urea.Beside DAP, the government isproviding � 900 per bag sub-sidy on urea.

The decision was taken ata high-level meeting chaired byPrime Minister NarendraModi. Briefing the media,Minister of State for Chemicalsand Fertilisers MansukhMandaviya on Wednesday saidthe Cabinet has approvedincreasing the subsidy amountfor DAP fertiliser for the ben-efits of farmers.

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The COVID-19 outbreak elicited awide spectrum of merchants’sentiments and behaviours. The

retailers are focussing on innovation tooperate to the best of their capacities inthe new normal. If the modifications,that merchants are compelled to makeas a result of the pandemic, are goodenough, they will become the newbenchmark for customer experience.When you introduce customers to anew level of convenience, reducedpricing, or better fit, their future expec-tations will be established accordingly.As sad as a pandemic of this magnitudeis, merchants simply cannot afford towaste time.

During the first several months,dealing with the new social distancestandards was difficult, and only a fewshops could open, largely selling food,medical supplies, and necessities. Withmany establishments closing, the retailsector business faced a very low con-sumer base and was at times nil.However, as time passed, each sectorlearned new strategies to deal with thenew difficulty.

Consumer behaviour was forced toalter during the lockdown. With phys-ical stores closing, everyone, even sec-tors and client groups that had previ-ously avoided doing so, had to turn tothe digital realm for their retail require-ments. Now that this behaviouralchange has been adopted, it is doubt-ful that things will revert to their pre-vious state.

This indicates that the offline-online link is more crucial than everbefore. Brands that are unable to bal-ance the two might struggle. Physicalretail remains a very powerful tool forcustomer engagement and the digitalenvironment will never be able tocompete with its value and experience,hence, being omnichannel is the wayforward to exist in composure.

E-commerce will continue to eatmarket share because it already has thetools in place to provide what customerswant — price, selection, free and rapiddelivery, to mention a few. Many brick-and-mortar stores were failing evenbefore the outbreak. The reasons for thisare numerous and complicated, but itis reasonable to assume that the rise andpopularity of e-commerce are to blamefor a large portion of it.

Another trend that will undoubted-ly become popular in the future is con-tactless shopping, which helps avoid

crowded stores while preferring lowexposure; a retail experience in whichno items are touched, displays are not

restocked, and large crowds are notrequired. Products are displayed in dis-plays, and purchases are either made

there and then and produced from therear, or they are delivered directly toyour home the following day. While thisis a format that has emerged as a resultof the short-term restrictions of work-ing in a Covid environment, it is quitelikely that customers will come toaccept it and then prefer it.

Technology will drive a revolutionin the forthcoming months and yearsand thus, retailers should invest in dig-itally advanced infrastructure and facil-ities. Digital transformation will pave theway for touch-free shopping experi-ences, merchandising, transactions, andeliminate physical interactions, there-fore, investment in retail technology willbe seen. The use of VR and AR for mar-keting changed the playing field dramat-ically. Leading companies are adoptingaugmented reality (AR) or virtual real-ity (VR) into their digital marketingstrategy to attract customers, advertisetheir goods, improve sales, retain con-sumers, and give consumers new expe-riences. Their application is expandingin a variety of fields, including health-care, medicine, astronomy, education,defence, and consumer products.

AR and VR also allow for in-storeexperiences to be had from the comfortof one’s own home, eliminating the needto travel to the store. AR is rapidly beingused by e-commerce platforms to allowbuyers to experience the goods as if theywere there in a real-life situation. Theuse of augmented reality and virtualreality in retail establishments, e-com-merce, and advertising is the next bigthing poised to disrupt marketing par-adigms. AR is more successful since ithas reduced costs and assists customersin making purchasing decisions whilethey are engaged with the information.

‘Shopping by appointment’ is anoth-er shopping trend now gaining morepopularity. This is already happeningwith a lot of designer labels and fashionfirms, and it’s a trend that may continueto spread when Covid fades into obscu-rity. In a nutshell, ‘appointment only’refers to booking an appointment andreceiving a time window in the store foryourself only or with a restricted num-ber of other clients. While the short-termgoal is to maintain social distance stan-dards and make the client feel safe, thelong-term goal is to deliver a variety ofsubstantial benefits leading to a lastingexperience. Customers with an appoint-ment are more likely to make purchas-es, allowing retailers to spend more oftheir time and effort on other aspects oftheir business.

With huge retailers suffering and arein the midst of a recession, landlords willneed to rethink their options and tacticsif they want to keep filling their facilitieswith brands that attract customers andconfirm growth.

(The writer is the Vice Chairman ofKGK Group.)

Two years ago in June, Dia Mirza-starrer and Sonal Nair-directorial

Kaafir made their debut as a web tele-vision series and instantly connectedwith the audience across the world.Written by Bhavani Iyer, the series toldthe wrenching story of Kainaaz Akhtar,a woman who mistakenlycrosses the LOC, is pre-sumed to be a militant,and is held, prisoner.

The series was agrim and poignantretelling of a similarincident andreminded the audi-ence of the humancost paid by inno-cent citizenswhen nationsmistrust eachother.

Dia says,“It is difficultto note m p a t h i s ewith a womanwho goesthrough somuch sufferingfor no fault ofhers. A womanwho is also amother and nolonger knows ifshe will everexperience asense of home. Itis a human storythat will alwaysbe relevant forits message oflove and peace butis particularly pertinentnow because we arebeing reminded everyday by the pandemic ofour shared humanity. We are being

reminded that hate and violenceare ultimately futile emotions.What remains after we are gone isjust this question, ‘Did we lovethis world and those inhabitingit enough?’”

Dia says, the fundamentalhumanism informing the storyinstantly drew her to the char-acter of Kainaz and she says,

“Deep-rooted prejudices make us for-get that we are human first and Kaafircontinues to remind us of this fact. Hateis a corrosive emotion and robs us ofour ability to empathise with each otherand vitiates life so much that we for-get to love, to be kind, to build a worldwhere there is more light than darkness.Yes, geopolitical tensions are real butso is the hope that one day we can

resolve them.”Kaafir was also Dia’s digital debut

and she says, “The performance had tobe subtle and yet expressive of the tur-moil within the character and I felttruly humbled when so many fans andcritics sent me appreciative messagesafter watching the series.”

She also won a Critic’s Choice nodfor Best Actor (OTT) at Gold Awards.

According to a National Centre forComplementary and Integrative

Health survey, one in 12 childrenpractice yoga. Over the years,yoga has become increasinglypopular among Indian chil-dren. It helps in improvingbalance, strength,endurance, and aerobiccapacity. It can also help toboost memory, self-esteem,academic performance,and classroom behaviour,thereby reducing anxiety andstress in children.

As we approachInternational Yoga Day, TataSky Fitness is introducing YogaKi Paathshala by ShrradhaSetalvad. The series will focus on‘3Fs’ — fitness for the body,focus on the mind, and fun forthe soul. Setalvad explains ‘3Fs’ indetail:

FITNESS FOR BODYAsanas like Shavasana,

Navasana, Tolasana,Suryanamaskar, Chakrasana helpsin strengthening the overall well-being of kids. It aims to develop bothphysical health as well as cognitiveskills in children. It opens the ener-gy channels throughout the body,increasing flexibility of the spine,strengthening bones, and stimulatingthe circulatory and immune systems.Along with proper breathing, these

poses or asanas also calm the mind and reducestress.

FOCUS ON MINDAsanas like Pranayama, Padmasana,

Sukhasana, and others, help a child to be awareof themselves and help them control their emo-

tions. These act as a tool for calming and ener-gising the child to develop a state-of-relaxed

mind, which is crucial for learning. It alsodevelops social-emotional awareness,body awareness and coordination,and interpersonal skills.

FUN FOR SOULChildren can adapt to all kinds of exercise and

practicing yoga asana at an early age can leadthem to have a healthy head start in life. In thisfast-paced world, it helps to rejuvenate kids inside-out. The meditative pose helps to relax both ourmind and body. It promotes spiritual awakeningand awareness of higher consciousness. It is a per-fect choice if you want a holistic approach to mindand body strength.

C1&�,

Actor Ayushmann Khurrana’s equity has been soar-ing since the past few years as he delivered eight

back-to-back hits in theatres. His booming credibil-ity with inclusive, conversation-starting social enter-tainers in India has made him one of the most sought-after brand endorsers in the country.

Now, Ayushmann has been roped in to be the faceof a mobile phone brand. As we all know, mobilephones and banking are two sectors that thrive on thecredibility of the artist to become the face. Recently,mobile phone brands have signed on the superstarslike Robert Downey Jr and Virat Kohli. So, Ayushmannbeing roped in for a mobile phone brand surely meanshis credibility with the masses is only on the rise.

When asked if Ayushmann could decode whatmakes him so brand-friendly, he candidly says,“Whatever my equity is today, is mainly due to the suc-

cess of my social entertainerswhich have made me connectto the people of India. Thesefilms have told people whoI’m, how I think, and what my

intent is as an entertainer.”He adds, “I’d like to believebrands have noticed this

and connected with theidea that I try to tell realstories of real people. Ifeel thrilled that I’mpart of a brand’s visionand journey to reachout to the audiencewith a narrative thatresonates with myjourney in cinema.I’m grateful that my

films have workedwonderfully at the box

office and also got thelove and appreciationfrom people.”

Ayushmann says hehas been fortunate to getthe right films that have

become huge hits. Successalways translates to equity,

he feels.“I have always believed in

letting my work do the talking. Ihave been fortunate enough topick projects that have contributedto the new discourse of how cin-ema in India can be unique,clutter-breaking, conversation-starting entertainers that don’tneed to follow the same, stereo-typed norms of how stories have

been told,” says Ayushmann.

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Jai Ram Thakur, Chief Minister ofHimachal Pradesh (HP), flagged off

truck-mounted sewer jetting and litterpicking machines, provided to theMunicipal Corporation of Shimla byPower Grid Corporation of IndiaLimited (POWERGRID), as part of itsCorporate Social Responsibility (CSR)initiative.

Suresh Bhardwaj, UrbanDevelopment Minister of HP, V KSingh, Director (Personnel) of POWER-GRID, Kailash Rathore, ExecutiveDirector, Northern Region-II of POW-ERGRID and other senior officials werealso present on this occasion.

POWERGRID had sanctionedfunds amounting to �1.98 crores for pro-viding four special purpose vehicles(SPVs) to the state of HP. One truck-mounted sweeping machine with vacu-um cleaner and one truck-mountedcompactor had been handed over to theMunicipal Corporation of Shimla inDecember 2020. The remaining twomachines were flagged off on the daybefore yesterday.

This initiative of POWERGRIDshall help the municipal corporation increating smart city infrastructure. These

machines shall help in maintaining thecleanliness and hygiene of the city.Furthermore, with the introduction ofthese technologically advancedmachines, the process of cleaning, espe-cially in difficult terrains of the hillyregion, will be done easily and rapidly.

Earlier, one SPV mounted vacuum-assisted road sweeper, two sewer clean-ing jetting vehicle machines costing�1.31 crore had been handed over to theSub Divisional Magistrate (SDM) ofManali, district Kullu. Apart from this,3,250 solar LED street lights and 13,000twin-bin dustbins having financial impli-cation of �11.49 crore, have been suppliedand installed in various parts of HP.

Besides, POWERGRID has alsoundertaken efforts for skill developmentfor local youth in district Lahaul andSpiti, through infrastructure additions &capacity building in the field of moun-taineering & allied activities with thefinancial implication of �32 lakhs. As partof CSR efforts in the state, 4 MedicalMobile units costing �1.06 crores toBilaspur District Authorities, two ambu-lances in IGMC Shimla and DistrictHospital, Chamba have been provided inthe state of Himachal Pradesh.

The National Cadet Corps,a premier uniformed

youth organisation of ourcountry, has contributed sig-nificantly to nation-buildingsince its inception. It hastransformed the lives of mil-lions of youth by shapingtheir character and showingthem the path of ‘Unity andDiscipline’, the motto of NCC.

The NCC has madenotable and praiseworthycontributions in spreadingawareness among the masseson important issues like waterconservation, environmentprotection, Swachhta Abhiyanand enforcing COVID-19protocols. It is time that NCCnow be considered as a gen-eral elective subject/creditcourse in all universities andcolleges which are affiliatedwith NCC in an extracurric-ular capacity.

Secretary of theDepartment of HigherEducation from the Ministryof Education, Amit Khareheld a meeting with Lt GenTarun Aich, Director-Generalof NCC and Maj Gen MIndrabalan, ADG of NCC, onfacilitating the implementa-tion of NCC general electivecredit course across universi-ties and technical colleges inIndia. He welcomed the circu-lars issued by UGC andAICTE that recognises NCCas a credit course designed byDirectorate General NationalCadet Corps (DGNCC),which he hailed as a landmarkstep.

In phase one, adoption ofthe course in colleges alreadyhaving NCC units will bemade possible. Subsequentexpansion to other collegeswould depend on the creationof necessary capacity withDGNCC or by the collegesthemselves. DGNCC revealedthat under Fully Self-FinancedScheme, one lakh vacancieshave been released for privatecolleges over and above the 15lakh sanctioned strength ofNCC.

Interestingly as a JS in2013, Khare had initiated asimilar process. But at thattime it was considered as anelective subject since choicebased semester system wasnot in place. He mentionedthat the National EducationPolicy, 2020 has already recog-nised the importance of holis-tic education, social service,community development et alas credit courses under the

Choice Based Credit Systemand NCC training alreadyfalls in this ambit.

Out of the 979 universitiesin India, only 54 are centraluniversities, 425 are state uni-versities and 125 are deemeduniversities. To achieve imple-mentation of NCC elective instate universities, the DoEwould approach the state gov-ernments to facilitate theprocess. The DoE would alsoconsider the suitability ofintroducing the NCC creditcourse in IITs and NITs.

Khare also conveyed thatthe benefits of the NCC cred-it course to students need tobe adequately publicised togenerate awareness and inter-est among universities andstudents. He appreciated theefforts being made by DG ofNCC and the state direc-torates engaging with uni-versities and colleges in assist-ing the implementation.

Sudhanshu Pandey, Secretary ofFood and Public Distribution for

the Ministry of Consumer Affairs,Government of India launchedNAFED Fortified Rice Bran Oil onJune 15. This Rice bran oil will bemarketed by NAFED (NationalAgricultural Cooperative MarketingFederation of India Ltd), India’sapex Agri-marketing Organisationwhich has been serving the coun-try since 1958.

On the occasion, Sudhanshustated that this initiative by NAFEDwill reduce the country’s consump-tion dependence on imported edi-ble oil in the future. He also saidthat this will provide opportunitiesfor Indian edible oil manufacturerswhile giving an impetus to theAatmnirbhar Bharat initiative.

Guest of Honour, Arun Singhal,Chief Executive Officer of FoodSafety and Standards Authority of

India (FSSAI) highlighted the ben-efits of rice bran oil stating it is oneof the healthiest cooking oils andhas numerous benefits like beingrich in antioxidants and havinganti-cancerous, anti-ageing proper-ties.

Atish Chandra, Chairman &Managing Director of FoodCorporation of India (FCI) alsograced the e-launch and outlined thevarious health and lifestyle benefitsof rice bran oil and the importanceof standardisation of this product inthe industry. Recently an MoU hasbeen signed between NAFED andFCI for the production and market-ing of fortified rice kernel.

Regarding this initiative,Sanjeev Kumar Chaddha,Managing Director of NAFED,said, “We aim to support con-sumers by providing immunityboosting products in the backdropof the pandemic by introducingproducts aimed at promotinghealthy food habits.” He also men-tioned that this initiative will pro-vide easy access to NAFED brand-ed high-quality rice bran oil, whichwill boost the indigenous oil man-ufacturing industry.

Pankaj Kumar Prasad, NAFED’sAdditional Managing Director, con-cluded the event by highlightingthat such initiatives will broaden the

organisation’s consumer marketingsegment by offering daily essentialhealthy products at affordable price.

Rice bran oil from NAFEDwill be fortified and will containadditional nutrients and vitamins.According to the FSSAI, fortified oilcan help a person fulfil 25-30 percent of the recommended dietaryintake for vitamins A and D.NAFED Fortified Rice Bran Oil willbe available at all NAFED Storesand also on various online plat-forms and is recommended by theAmerican Heart Association andthe World Health Organization(WHO) as one of the best substi-tutes for other edible oils..

Sankalp Se Siddhi — MissionVan Dhan, was launched byArjun Munda, Minister for

Tribal Affairs on June 15. Theevent also witnessed the inaugura-tion and launch of several otherprogrammes, including the newpremises of the Tribal CooperativeMarketing Development Federationof India (TRIFED) headquarters.Keeping in line with the PrimeMinister’s clarion call ‘Vocal forLocal’ and to build an AtmanirbharBharat, TRIFED has been comingup with several initiatives, aimedat sustainable livelihoods for ourtribal population.

Munda formally inauguratedthe new office by cutting the ribbonin the presence of Renuka Singh,Minister of State for the Ministry ofTribal Affairs, Bhaskar Khulbe,Advisor to the PM, Ramesh ChandMeena, Chairman of TRIFED, andPravir Krishna, Managing Directorof TRIFED.

Speaking on the occasion,Munda remarked, “I am delightedto inaugurate the new premises of

TRIFED and unveil some notewor-thy initiatives that TRIFED hasbeen working towards, such asSankalp se Siddhi — Mission VanDhan. Implementation of this cru-cial mission will result in the trans-formation of the tribal ecosystem inour country. Today, is a momentousday for tribal people, as today seesthe culmination of the valuableeffort put in by the TRIFED teamover the past years. It is commend-able that the Ministry of TribalAffairs and the TRIFED team hasachieved this, despite the difficultcircumstances of the past twoyears.”

Renuka said, “It is noteworthythat the new initiatives beingunveiled today take care of allaspects of tribal empowerment, beit spreading awareness about therichness of tribal lifestyle and nat-ural produce with the immunityboosting product hampers and theattractively designed H&IG prod-ucts which are not only sustainable;or preserving the culture throughthe vivid colourful Coffee Table

book.”The new TRIFED Office

premises at NSIC Complex, OkhlaIndustrial Area, Phase-III, NewDelhi is around 30,000 sq ft in areaand has state-of-the-art infrastruc-ture and is equipped with twoconference rooms for video confer-encing and other latest amenities.It houses office space for theMinister for Tribal Affairs,Managing Director, senior offi-cials and all staff.

The most notable initiativeunveiled was Sankalp Se Siddhi —Mission Van Dhan. TRIFED hasbeen implementing several note-worthy programmes for theempowerment of the tribals. Overthe past two years, The ‘Mechanismfor Marketing of Minor ForestProduce (MFP) through MinimumSupport Price (MSP) andDevelopment of Value Chain forMFP’ has impacted the tribalecosystem in a major way. It hasinjected �3,000 crores into thetribal economy, even during suchdifficult times, aided by government

push. The Van Dhan tribal start-ups, a component of the samescheme, have emerged as a sourceof employment generation for trib-al gatherers and forest dwellers andthe home-bound tribal artisans. Inless than two years, 37,362 VanDhan Vikas Kendras (VDVKs),subsumed into 2240 Van DhanVikas Kendra Clusters (VDVKCs)of 300 forest dwellers each, havebeen sanctioned by TRIFED out ofwhich 1200 VDVK Clusters areoperational. A total number of 134Tribes India Outlets have beenopened for retail marketing todate, and have made a total sale of�53.66 crores. Besides, two TRI-FOOD Projects at Jagdalpur andRaigarh (Maharashtra) are beingshortly commissioned for under-taking value-addition of variousforest products being procured bybeneficiaries of Van Dhan Kendras.As a result of the above, an estimat-ed amount of �3800 crores has sofar been injected in the tribal econ-omy while impacting the lives of 50lakh members of the tribal popu-

lation. TRIFED now plans toexpand its operations through theconvergence of various schemes ofdifferent ministries and depart-ments to launch various tribaldevelopment programmes underthe Sankalp Se Siddhi — MissionVan Dhan banner for expediting itsimplementation in a Mission mode.Through this mission, the establish-ment of 50,000 Van Dhan VikasKendras, 3000 Haat Bazaars, 600godowns, 200 Mini TRIFOODunits, 100 common facility centres,100 TRIFOOD parks, 100 SFURTIclusters, 200 Tribes India retailstores, e-commerce platforms forTRIFOOD and Tribes India brandsis being targeted.

Munda also inaugurated sevenmore Tribes India outlets, two inJagdalpur, three in Ranchi, one inJamshedpur and another at Sarnath.Showcasing tribal products from allover the country, the outlets will havespecific GI and Van Dhan cornersand will display the large variety ofGI tagged and natural productsfrom different parts of the country.

The Sarnath outlet is the first suc-cessful collaboration with theMinistry of Culture at an ASI her-itage site. With these outlets, the totalnumber of Tribes India outlets havegone up to 141.

A Tribes India Coffee TableBook, which showcases the rich cul-tural tribal heritage and highlightsthe journey of various tribal artisanspractising different arts and craftsand how TRIFED has impacted theirlivelihoods, was also unveiled today.With the mission to make TribesIndia the ultimate gifting destina-tion, TRIFED has compiled a ham-per of unique handicrafts, GI prod-ucts and immunity boosters fromdifferent parts of the country. Thesehampers, unveiled today, will makefor unique gifts both here andabroad. TRIFED has also been pro-viding skill upgradation and designdevelopment workshops for thedevelopment of tribal artisansthrough handicraft and incomegeneration training programmes.During the pandemic, efforts weremade for the skill development of

tribal artisans and 17 training pro-grammes were approved for bene-fitting 340 tribal artisans and devel-oping 170 new designed products.Twenty five newly designed productsfrom the recently completed Designworkshop training programmes forthe Boksa tribal artisans at Rishikeshand Meena tribal artisans at Jaipur,were also launched.

Speaking on the occasion, Pravirsaid, “TRIFED is working consis-tently on its mission towards mak-ing the tribals atmanirbhar andself-reliant. These are just a glimpseof the activities it has undertaken inthis regard. The team is striving inthis direction and will continue todo so.”

With the emphasis on being‘Vocal for local’ and building a self-reliant India, TRIFED, as the nodalagency working towards tribalempowerment, continues tolaunch and start new initiativesthat helps in improving the incomeand livelihood of the tribal people,while preserving their way of lifeand traditions.

Apromotion-cum-pipping ceremonyof other ranks was organized at CISF

Headquarters, New Delhi and simulta-neously at all the zonal headquartersacross India.

In a path-breaking initiative for thewelfare of the personnel, 2100 consta-bles/GD have been promoted to the rankof Head Constable/GD. Sudhir KumarSaxena, DG of CISF put ranks to promot-ed CISF personnel during the promo-tion-cum-pipping ceremony held atCISF HQ. Arvind Deep, ADG (North),P S Phalnikar, ADG (APS), PrateekMohanty, IG (Pers) and other senior offi-cers of CISF were present during the cer-emony. The ceremony witnessedimmense pride and enthusiasm amongstthe promoted personnel. To implementthis transformational agenda, the officersand staff of CISF HQ pursued hard andmaintained liaison & coordination withMHA, for promoting the force person-nel.

Because of the COVID menace andguidelines of social distancing, only a

few constables were invited from Delhi-NCR Units and IGI Airport for puttingtheir rank on promotion during the pip-ping ceremony. Similarly, pipping cer-emonies were also organised in all thezonal headquarters of CISF for promot-ing the CISF personnel to the next high-er rank.

Saxena congratulated all the pro-moted head constables. He said that reg-ular promotions to the personnel go along way in enhancing our capabilitiesand also motivates other personnel toimprove in their tasks and aspire for asimilar promotions. It thus improves theoverall employee morale and job satis-faction thereby promoting the devel-opment of the organisation as person-nel feel connected with their organisa-tion and willingly give their best for itseffective functioning and growth. Healso added that in the present scenarioof negativity, these promotions will notonly boost the morale of the personnelbut also help to create a positive func-tional atmosphere at workplaces.

RITES Ltd (NSE: RITES, BSE:541556), the leading

Transport InfrastructureConsultancy and Engineeringfirm, announced its standaloneand consolidated financial resultsfor the Quarter and Year ended onMarch 31, 2021.

Commenting on the results,Rajeev Mehrotra, Chairman andManaging Director, RITESLimited, said, “Given the testingscenario, our focus remained onproject delivery & executionwhich helped us to registerQuarter to Quarter operationalrevenue growth in every quarterof FY21. Our Q4FY21 results sur-passed the Q4FY20, but were notenough to make up for the short-falls in first three quarters.”

Revenue and profit growthQ4FY21 total revenue is up

by 6.1 per cent to `632 crore asagainst �596 crore in Q4FY20 andhas shown a QoQ growth of 36.2per cent. Revenue improved dueto growth in consultancy, exports

and turnkey. Similarly, operatingrevenue, excluding other income,is up by 12 per cent to �619 crorein Q4FY21. EBITDA, excludingother income, and PAT has showna growth of 17.3 per cent and 2.4per cent respectively and sus-tained margins at 27.8 per centand 21.3 per cent respectively.During the quarter, exports start-ed for cape gauge locomotives toMozambique and coaches to SriLanka and as a result, exportshave shown a YoY growth of 54.5per cent. However, revenue fromsome consignments which wereready for shipment is spilling overto Q1FY22. Consultancy andleasing remained almost flat andseen revenue reaching towards thepre-COVID levels.

FY21 (consolidated)FY21 total consolidated rev-

enue stands at �2005 crore against�2735 crore in FY20. Similarly,the operating revenue, excludingother income, stand at �1860crore against �2474 crore in

FY20. The decrease is attributableto a decrease in exports by �448crore, disruptions in the supplychain and restrictions imposeddue to pandemic and one-timesettlement income of �91 croreduring FY20. Excluding exports,the fall in operating revenue is 8.7per cent. EBITDA (excludingother income) and PAT stands at�505 crore and �444 crore,respectively, against �668 croreand �633 crore respectively inFY20. EBITDA and PAT marginsare sustained at 27.2 per cent and22.2 per cent respectively due totimely cost reduction measures.

FY21 (standalone)Similarly, standalone revenue

also got impacted due to disrup-tions in the supply chain andrestrictions imposed due to pan-demic and total standalone rev-enue now stands at �1947 croreagainst �2665 crore in FY20.EBITDA (excluding other income)and PAT stands at �460 crore and�424 crore, against �602 crore and

�596 crore respectively in FY20. Inconsultancy and turnkey, the mar-gins were maintained at 44.2 percent and 3.8 per cent howeverexports and leasing margins mod-erated to 19 per cent and 35.6 percent respectively, due to fewerexports and reduced locomotiverequirement in H1FY21.

DividendAfter declaring two interim

dividends of �120 crore (�5 pershare) and �96 crore (�4 pershare) for FY21, the Board ofDirectors has recommended afinal dividend of �96 crore (�4 pershare) for FY21 which is 40 percent of paid-up capital. This div-idend will take the dividend pay-out of the company to 73.6 percent for FY21 based on the PATof FY21.

Performance of our subsidiaryand JV

Revenue from our subsidiaryREMC Ltd stands at �69 croreagainst �81 crore in the previous

financial year. Profit after taxstands at �24 crore against �35crore in FY20. Consultancy rev-enue from this subsidiary gotimpacted due to less tractionpower requirement by railwaysduring FY21, however, powergeneration revenues are up by46.9 per cent to �16 crore inFY21.In FY21, our wagon man-ufacturing joint venture, SRBW-PL, revenue and profit stands at�161 crore and �2.5 crores against�265 crore and �15.5 croresrespectively in FY20. In our JointVenture IRSDC, revenue andprofit stand at �39 crore and �5crores respectively against �50crore and �5 crores in FY20.

Growth outlook for FY21Commenting on the outlook,

Mehrotra said, “We can deliverorders in hand in a timely man-ner but post-COVID normalcywill set the pace for execution. Weare also aligned to seize moreopportunities for growth in com-ing years.”

State-owned non-banking financial firmPower Finance Corporation (PFC)

records highest ever net profit of �8,444crore for FY 21, up 49 per cent on Y-o-Ybasis.

STANDALONE�Highest annual PAT of �8,444 crore.�Approximately 49 per cent jump in

Standalone Profit After Tax from FY 20. �Around 28 per cent increase in net

interest income from FY 20.�Dividend of �2 declared per share.

Thus, in FY 21, PFC has given a total div-idend of �10 per share i.e. 100 per cent.

�Aided by profit growth, company’snet worth for FY 21 is up by 16 per centto �52,393 crore and has crossed the fiftythousand mark.

�Around 25 per cent Stressed BookResolved in FY 21:

�Gross NPA ratio saw a sharp reduc-tion of 238 bps from FY 20. The currentGNPA ratio is at 5.70 per cent against 8.08per cent in FY 20.

�Lowest Net NPA levels in past fouryears. Net NPA ratio saw a sharp reduc-

tion of 171 bps from FY 20. The currentNet NPA ratio is at 2.09 per cent against3.80 per cent in FY 20.

�The Capital Adequacy Ratio of thecompany has also improved sequentiallyto 18.83 per cent as on March 31, 2021.The capital adequacy is at a comfortablelevel with sufficient cushion over andabove the prescribed regulatory limits.

CONSOLIDATED FY 21 vs FY 20�Around 66 per cent increase in con-

solidated profit after tax from FY 20. PATat �15,716 crore for FY 21 vs �9,477 crorefor FY 20.

�Loan Asset book grows at 12 percent. For FY 21, it was at �7,45,189 croreand for FY 20, it was at �6,67,330 crore.

�Reduction in consolidated net NPAratio to 1.91 per cent in FY 21 from 3.57per cent in FY 20 due to resolution ofstressed assets.

�Reduction in consolidated grossNPA ratio to 5.29 per cent in FY 21 from7.36 per cent in FY 20 due to resolutionof stressed assets.

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AMats Hummels own goalwas enough to handFrance a 1-0 victory over

Germany on Tuesday as theworld champions made a win-ning start to their Euro 2020campaign by controlling thegame in Munich.

Hummels turned the ballinto his own net in the 20thminute, which ultimately decid-ed the contest.

France also saw KylianMbappe and Karim Benzemahave second-half goals ruled off-side, while Adrien Rabiot hit thepost for Les Bleus.

“It was a clash that couldhave been a semi-final or a final,so to take three points wasimportant,” said France coachDidier Deschamps.

“We played a big gameagainst a very good Germanteam, but we were up to the leveland this victory does us good.”

The result leaves Francesecond on goal difference in theearly Group F table behindPortugal, after the holders’ 3-0win over Hungary earlier in

Budapest.The home defeat piles the

pressure on Germany ahead oftheir next game againstCristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal onSaturday, also at Allianz Arena.

“It was a brutally intensegame,” said Germany headcoach Joachim Löw. “We foughtuntil the end and I can’t blamethe team, we gave it everythingwe had. What was missing wasa bit of penetrating power in thefinal third. We didn’t do enoughthere.”

He refused to blameHummels for the own goal,saying: “There is no need toreproach Mats for the own goal.It was difficult for him to clear.”

It was a heartbreaking nightfor Hummels, back to boost theGerman defence after a two-yearexile from International football.

Seven years ago, it wasHummels’ headed goal whichknocked France out of the 2014World Cup in the quarter-finalsas Germany went on to win thetitle in Brazil.

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Legendary opener Sunil Gavaskar believesthat India will go in with both Ravindra

Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin againstNew Zealand in the World TestChampionship final as Southampton’s‘boiling hot’ weather is going to ensure thatthe pitch dries up progressively and assistsspinners.

Gavaskar is part of the match’s com-mentary panel and is currently inSouthampton with first-hand knowledgeabout the pitch and conditions forthe match starting June 18.

“In Southampton, it’s beenboiling hot over the last few daysso the pitch will definitely be dryand help spin as the match pro-gresses, so yes both Ashwin andJadeja will play,” Gavaskar said.

Southampton’s maximumtemperature has been over250C for the past few days butthere is a forecast of rain fromThursday.

For Gavaskar, it’s not just bowl-ing but all-round abilities that giveIndia the kind of balance they needgoing into a marquee match likethis.

“That (Ashwin and Jadeja together) alsogives depth to the batting as well as give afine balance to the bowling attack. For theseries later (vs England) much will dependon the weather and pitch conditions.”

While New Zealand will be ona high after their series winagainst England, Gavaskar does-n’t feel that the Indian team isunder-prepared either justbecause it didn’t get any practicematches.

“(In) today’s tours thereare barely one or two

practice games beforethe Test series beginsand the Indian teamhas had intra-squadmatches so theyhave had that prac-tice.

“The team isa good blend ofyouth and expe-

rience and most ofthe players have been toEngland several timesso they know the con-ditions and what toexpect,” said the formerIndia captain.

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Austria forward MarkoArnautovic has been given

a one-game Euro 2020 ban forinsulting a North Macedoniaplayer in his side’s openingmatch at the tournament, UEFAsaid on Wednesday.

UEFA said Arnautovic hadbeen punished for ‘insultinganother player’ and the 32-year-old will miss his side’s matchagainst the Netherlands inAmsterdam on Thursday as aresult.

European football’s govern-ing body had opened an inves-tigation into Arnautovic fol-lowing the incident in Sunday’s3-1 win over North Macedoniain Bucharest.

The former West HamUnited player, who now plays forShanghai Port in China, nettedAustria’s third goal in the game

and then launched into an ill-tempered celebration until histeammate David Alaba inter-vened to calm him down.

Media reports claimed heinsulted Leeds United’s EzgjanAlioski, referring to the NorthMacedonia defender’s Albanianheritage.

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Aspecial goal by AlekseiMiranchuk allowed Russia to

kickstart their Euro 2020 campaignwith a 1-0 win over Finland in SaintPetersburg on Wednesday, but thegame was marred by an injury toMario Fernandes.

Miranchuk, of Serie A sideAtalanta, produced a glorious finishin first-half stoppage time for theonly goal of the game between theneighbours in Group B.

It blows open the section afterRussia, one of nine participatingnations at the Euro playing match-es at home, had lost 3-0 to Belgiumin their opening game at the week-end.

Finland, making their debut ata major international tournament,had beaten Denmark 1-0 inCopenhagen on Saturday, a game

completely overshadowed byChristian Eriksen’s cardiac arrest.

Here it was Russia’s Fernandes,the Brazilian-born CSKA Moscowright-back, who provided an injuryscare.

The 30-year-old went up for ahigh ball in the Finland box in thefirst half and came down awkward-ly, the back of his neck taking the fullforce of the landing.

He needed to be stabilised andwas stretchered off before beingtaken to hospital.

The Russian team’s Twitter feedsaid he was undergoing tests for asuspected spinal injury.

Russia went on to win the gamewithout Fernandes, as Miranchukturned on the edge of the box andplayed a one-two with skipperArtem Dzyuba before sending a glo-rious left-foot shot into the top cor-ner of the net.

That was enough for the 2018World Cup quarter-finalists to winthe game but it could have been verydifferent.

Finland thought they had gonein front inside three minutes whenJoel Pohjanpalo headed in a JukkaRaitala cross.

However Pohjanpalo, who gotthe winner against Denmark, wasthis time denied as a VAR check con-firmed a marginal offside against theBayer Leverkusen player.

Russia went on to have the bet-ter chances and could have won bya wider margin, with Finland goal-keeper Lukas Hradecky producing asuperb fingertip save to deny DalerKuzyaev in the second half.

Russia’s final group game will bein Denmark next Monday, whileFinland should again have a sizeablesupport behind them as they stay inSaint Petersburg to play Belgium.

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Netherlands star MemphisDepay has hinted that he

is on the verge of sealing amove to Barcelona as headmitted his desire to team upagain with former nationalteam coach Ronald Koeman.

“Things will become clearwith the transfer. I want toleave it at that for now,” Depaysaid after being asked abouthis club future at a press con-ference ahead of theNetherlands’ Euro 2020 gameon Thursday against Austria.

“Everyone knows that Ihave been linked to Barcelonafor a long time and that I wantto play under RonaldKoeman. “Let’s wait and see.”

Depay, 27, is a free agentafter opting not to extend hiscontract with Lyon, for whomhe scored 20 goals in the pastLigue 1 season.

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Budapest: Portuguese superstarCristiano Ronaldo removed Coca-Colabottles placed in front of him at a Euro2020 press conference here, whichreportedly cost the global beverage gianta staggering $4 billion.

A well-known fitness enthusiast,Ronaldo set aside two Coca-Cola glassbottles which lay in front of him dur-ing a press conference ahead ofPortugal’s opening Euro match againstHungary here on Monday.

According to media reports, theshare price of Coca-Cola, one of theofficial sponsors of Euro 2020, slippedfrom $56.10 to $55.22 almost immedi-ately after Ronaldo’s gesture.

The market valuation of Coca-Colawent from $242 billion to $238 billion,a fall of $4 billion.

On Tuesday, France mid-fielderPaul Pogba also removed a bottle ofHeineken beer that had been placed infront of him at a Press conference. PTI

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Indian Women picked up the crucialwicket Tammy Beaumont (66) in the

second session but England Womenconsolidated their position by reaching162 for two at tea on the opening dayof the one-off Test here on Wednesday.

After getting rid of LaurenWinfield-Hill (35) in the first session ofthe day, India Women toiled hard formost part of the post-lunch periodbefore debutant off-spinner Sneh Ranapicked up her maiden Test wicket.

She got rid of in-form of Beaumont,who was brilliantly caught by ShafaliVerma at short leg.

Beaumont faced 166 balls and dec-orated her innings with six fours enroute to her second Test fifty.

Skipper Heather Knight (47 notout) batted cautiously and remainedunbeaten in the company of NatalieSciver (11 not out) as England made 76runs off 28 overs in the second session.

Earlier, the hosts made a solid 86for one in the opening session.

The Indian pace duo of veteranJhulan Goswami and Shikha Pandeymade a promising start, doing just

enough to trouble the Englishbatswoman on more than oneoccasion.

In the seventh over,Goswami induced an edge fromWinfield-Hill as the batter wentfor an extravagant drive butSmriti Mandhana dropped thechance in the slip cordon despitegetting both hands on the ball.

In the next over, Winfieldgot lucky again. Debutant PoojaVastrakar induced a thick edgefrom the batter but the ball flewbetween second slip and gullyto the boundary.

After a slow and cautiousstart, England picked up thepace. Winfield was the morepositive of the two batters as shelofted Pandey over the mid-wicket to hit the first six of theinnings and in the processbrought up England's fifty in the17th over.

An over later, Winfield hitanother maximum, this timeover backward square leg off Varakar. Vastrakar eventually hadthe last laugh as she hadWinfield caught by wicketkeep-er Taniya Bhatia, giving Indiathe breakthrough. As many asfiv players made Test debut forIndia, including Verma, DeeptiSharma, Vastrakar, Rana andBhatia, while for EnglandSophia Dunkley was the loneplayer to earn a Test cap.


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