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T he Government on Tuesday said it has evacuated all the Indian citizens stranded in Sumy in eastern Ukraine and transported them by buses to Poltava. Announcing this here on Tuesday, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said here, “Last night, I checked with the control room, 694 Indian stu- dents were remaining in Sumy. Today, they all have left in buses for Poltava,” he said. India has, so far, brought out more than 18,000 citizens from Ukraine in nearly 80 spe- cial flights. Meanwhile, Indian Embassy in Kyiv said the mis- sion intervened to evacuate 75 Indian sailors stranded in Mykolaiv Port. “Y’day buses evacuated 57 sailors, including two Lebanese and three Syrians. Route constraints pre- cluded evacuation of balance 23 sailors. Mission’s attempting their evacuation today,” it said in a tweet message. Sumy along with Kharkiv are the two cities in eastern Ukraine that witnessed heavy fighting since the Russian mil- itary offensive started on February 24. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday had urged Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to keep dialogue process on to end cri- sis and ensure the safety of the students from Sumy. He had talked to the two leaders and called holding direct talks at the highest level to stop the con- flict. E vacuations of people fleeing embattled Ukrainian cities along safe corridors began on Tuesday, while UN officials said the exodus of refugees from Russia’s invasion reached 2 million. The Russian onslaught has trapped people inside cities that are running low on food, water and medicine amid the biggest ground war in Europe since World War II. Previous attempts to lead civilians to safety have crum- bled with renewed attacks. But on Tuesday, video posted by Ukrainian officials showed buses with people moving along a snowy road from the eastern city of Sumy and yellow buses with a red cross on them heading toward the southern port of Mariupol. It was not clear how long the efforts would last. “The Ukrainian city of Sumy was given a green corri- dor, the first stage of evacuation began,” the Ukrainian state communications agency tweeted. Related reports on P8 A fter Russia and Ukraine, the two of the world biggest wheat exporters, locked horns, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said the demand for India’s wheat in global markets has increased. This opportunity could be used to provide the best quality product globally and regularly, he said. Russia is the second-largest and Ukraine the fourth-largest wheat exporters in the world. India is one of the world’s biggest producers of grain, but it exports a little of its produce as a major chunk of it goes for domestic consumption. India is expected to ship a record 7 mil- lion tonnes in 2021-22. Earlier, speaking at a webi- nar, Modi said, “Agar mano dunia mein hamare liye gehun (export) ki opportunity aayi hai, to usko samay se pehle, uttam quality, uttam service ke saath hum provide karein, to dheere dheere woh permanent ban jayega”. (It’s as if a golden opportunity to export Indian wheat has knocked our door and we should seize this oppor- tunity with best quality of grain and service, and slowly this arrangement will become permanent). There is news of the rising demand of Indian wheat in global markets, and the finan- cial sector, import-export departments as well as shipping industry should make a “com- prehensive effort” to help wheat and other exports, he said via a video link. The impact of the Russia- Ukraine war is also visible in India as wheat is selling at Rs 2,400-2,500 per quintal, quite above the minimum support price of Rs 2,015 per quintal in domestic mandis. The global wheat prices have already gone up and are ruling in the range of Rs 24,000-25,000 per tonnes so far. India primarily exports wheat to neighbouring coun- trieslike Bangladesh. Besides,it exports the grain to Yemen, Qatar, Afghanistan and Indonesia. “Wheat prices have sky- rocketed globally due to the geopolitical condition, espe- cially since Russia and Ukraine, the world’s second-largest and fourth-largest wheat exporters respectively, have set them- selves at war. This is an oppor- tunity for Indian wheat exporters,” said officials of the food ministry. “Russia and Ukraine together account for almost a quarter of the global wheat sup- ply and most of their wheat goes to European countries. As the Western countries have imposed restrictions on Russia, they won’t import wheat from it. This will give India a chance tocapture European markets,” officials added. India’s wheat production is estimated to touch a new record of 111.32 million tonnes in the 2021-22 crop year (July- June) as against 109.59 million tonnes in the previous year, of which a major chunk goes for domestic consumption. Wheat, the main rabi (win- ter) crop, will start hitting the market from March 15 onwards. The country also has a surplus stock of wheat in the government godowns. P utting the Centre in a tight spot, the Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Union Home Ministry to clarify whether it is going to abide by the assurance given by then Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani to the Portugal Government that the maxi- mum sentence to gangster Abu Salem will not exceed beyond 25 years. The apex court said that it is not satisfied with the affidavit filed by the CBI which said that the assurance given by India to Portugal on the maximum sen- tence during the extradition of Salem, a convict in the1993 Mumbai serial blast case, is not binding on the Indian courts. A bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and MM Sundresh asked the Home Secretary to file an affidavit specifying whether the Government of India will abide by the solemn assur- ance given by thenthe Deputy Prime Minister to Portugal. F inance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday hinted that the current spike in international oil prices may upset provisions of the Union Budget as she voiced concern over the impact of spiralling oil rates on the Indian econo- my. “It (rising crude prices) will have a bearing. We have made some provisions for it in the Budget (for fiscal 2022-23). But that provision is only based on some average (price of oil) prevailing earlier but now is beyond that. So, we will have to see how we can work it out,” she said at an interactive session organised by BJP’s Karnataka unit in Bengaluru. International crude oil prices shot up to 14-year high of USD 140 per barrel on Monday before retracting to near USD 129 on Tuesday. But even this rate is 50 per cent higher than the USD 80-87 range of January when most of the Budget 2022-23 would have been prepared. Sitharaman presented the Budget on February 1. India relies on overseas purchases to meet about 85 per cent of its oil requirement, making it one of the most vulnerable in Asia to higher oil prices. The twin blows of oil prices, already up more than 60 per cent this year, and a weakening rupee may hurt the nation’s finances, upend a nascent economic recovery and fire up inflation. “It will certainly have an impact on the Indian econo- my,” Sitharaman said. “How much we are going to be pre- pared to take it as a challenge and mitigate the impact is something which we will have to see as we go (along).” International oil prices have been on the boil ever since Russia put its forces on the Ukraine border last month. They spiked after it invaded the eastern European nation on fears that oil and gas supplies from energy giant Russia could be disrupted, either by the conflict in Ukraine or retalia- tory Western sanctions. While Western sanctions have so far kept energy trade out, a prospect of a full embar- go of Russian oil and products is leading to the latest rally in international oil prices. But Indian consumers have so far largely remained insu- lated as PSU oil firms have for over four months not changed prices in view of assembly elections in states like Uttar Pradesh. While petrol and diesel prices are due to revision anytime as the polling has ended, the indirect effect on the industry in the form of higher input cost is already being felt across sectors. There are concerns that elevated oil prices will fire up inflation which is already above the RBI’s tolerance range of 6 per cent. Noting that India imports more than 85 per cent of its crude oil requirements, Sitharaman said when oil prices go up, it is a matter of concern and “now we will have to see how it pans out”. She said oil marketing companies fix pump prices daily based on a 15-day rolling average. A s Covid-19 cases ebb worldwide, the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) on Tuesday announced that inter- national scheduled commercial flights to and from India will resume on March 27, after a 25- month ban. Previously, the Government had announced that India would resume inter- national flights on December 15, 2021, but the order was taken back just a day later after Prime Minister Narendra Modi sought a review of the decision in the wake of the Omicron variant. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on February 28 had extended the ban on scheduled internation- al passenger flights to and from India till further orders. Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said on Tuesday, “After delib- eration with stakeholders and keeping in view the decline in the COVID-19 caseload, we have decided to resume inter- national travel from March 27 onwards.” Air bubble arrange- ments will also stand revoked thereafter, he said. “With this step, I am con- fident the sector will reach new heights,” Scindia said. The move will allow airlines to operate at their capacity as per the original bilateral agreements on foreign routes ahead of the summer travel season. India has been operating flights under air bubble arrangements with Afghanistan, Australia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Canada, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Germany, Iraq, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kenya,... E ven a mild infection of Covid-19 can negatively tinker the brain and thinking, scientists have found in a study that highlights the illness’ alarming impact on mental function. However, in a bid to not scare the Covid-survivors about their mental status, the researchers simultaneously clarified that they are yet to investigate whether the changes are reversible. The researchers identified Covid-associated brain damage months after infection, includ- ing in the region linked to smell. They pointed out that shrinkage in size could be equivalent to as much as a decade of normal aging. The changes were linked to cogni- tive decline in the study, which was published Monday in the journal Nature. The study is believed to be the first involving people who underwent brain scans both before they contracted Covid and months after. Neurological experts who were not involved in the research said it was valuable and unique, but they cautioned that the implica- tions of the changes were unclear and did not necessar- ily suggest that people might have lasting damage or that the changes might profoundly affect thinking, memory or other functions. The study, involving peo- ple aged 51 to 81, found shrink- age and tissue damage primar- ily in brain areas related to sense of smell. Some of those areas are also involved in other brain functions, the researchers said. The study involved 785 participants in UK Biobank, a repository of medical and other data from about half a million people in Britain. The partici- pants each underwent two brain scans roughly three years apart, plus some basic cognitive testing. In between their two scans, 401 participants tested positive for the coronavirus, all infected between March 2020 and April 2021. The other 384 participants formed a control group because they had not been infected with the coronavirus and had sim- ilar characteristics to the infect- ed patients in areas like age, sex, medical history and socioeco- nomic status. With normal ageing, peo- ple lose a tiny fraction of gray matter each year. For example, in regions related to memory, the typical annual loss is between 0.2 per cent and 0.3 per cent, the researchers said. But Covid patients in the study — who underwent their second brain scan an average of four and a half months after their infection — lost more than non-infected participants, experiencing between 0.2 per cent and 2 per cent additional gray matter loss in different brain regions over the three years between scans. They also lost more overall brain volume and showed more tissue dam- age in certain areas. I n a sensational charge that came on the heels of the Income Tax department car- rying out a series of raids at its various offices in Mumbai, the Shiv Sena on Tuesday alleged that the ED was running a major “extortion racket” in Maharashtra and the investi- gating agency had become an “ATM” for the ruling BJP at the Centre. Talking to media persons here, Shiv Sena’s Rajya Sabha member and party’s chief spokesperson Sanjay Raut said: “The ED’s top official contest- ed the recent elections on a BJP ticket. The ED has become an ATM for the BJP. I have given all the details of the extortion indulged in by the ED to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Modi government is misusing its investigating agencies to harass and victimise its politi- cal rivals”. New Delhi: With ceasefire coming into force for a limited time in Ukraine, the Indian embassy there issued an advi- sory on Tuesday urging all its citizens to avail of this oppor- tunity to leave the country. “Humanitarian Corridor for evacuation of stranded people announced in various parts of Ukraine from 1000 hrs on 8 March...All stranded Indians are urged to make use of this opportunity and evacuate using trains/vehicles or other available means of transport,” it said.

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The Government on Tuesdaysaid it has evacuated all the

Indian citizens stranded inSumy in eastern Ukraine andtransported them by buses toPoltava.

Announcing this here onTuesday, Union MinisterHardeep Singh Puri said here,“Last night, I checked with thecontrol room, 694 Indian stu-dents were remaining in Sumy.Today, they all have left in busesfor Poltava,” he said.

India has, so far, broughtout more than 18,000 citizensfrom Ukraine in nearly 80 spe-cial flights.

Meanwhile, IndianEmbassy in Kyiv said the mis-sion intervened to evacuate 75Indian sailors stranded inMykolaiv Port. “Y’day busesevacuated 57 sailors, includingtwo Lebanese and threeSyrians. Route constraints pre-cluded evacuation of balance 23sailors. Mission’s attemptingtheir evacuation today,” it saidin a tweet message.

Sumy along with Kharkiv

are the two cities in easternUkraine that witnessed heavyfighting since the Russian mil-itary offensive started onFebruary 24.

Prime Minister NarendraModi on Monday had urgedRussian President VladimirPutin and Ukraine PresidentVolodymyr Zelenskyy to keepdialogue process on to end cri-sis and ensure the safety of thestudents from Sumy. He hadtalked to the two leaders andcalled holding direct talks at thehighest level to stop the con-flict.

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Evacuations of people fleeingembattled Ukrainian cities

along safe corridors began onTuesday, while UN officialssaid the exodus of refugeesfrom Russia’s invasion reached2 million.

The Russian onslaught hastrapped people inside citiesthat are running low on food,water and medicine amid thebiggest ground war in Europesince World War II.

Previous attempts to leadcivilians to safety have crum-bled with renewed attacks. But

on Tuesday, video posted byUkrainian officials showedbuses with people movingalong a snowy road from theeastern city of Sumy and yellowbuses with a red cross on themheading toward the southernport of Mariupol. It was notclear how long the effortswould last.

“The Ukrainian city ofSumy was given a green corri-dor, the first stage of evacuationbegan,” the Ukrainian statecommunications agency tweeted.

Related reports on P8

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After Russia and Ukraine,the two of the world

biggest wheat exporters, lockedhorns, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on Tuesdaysaid the demand for India’swheat in global markets hasincreased. This opportunitycould be used to provide thebest quality product globallyand regularly, he said.

Russia is the second-largestand Ukraine the fourth-largestwheat exporters in the world.India is one of the world’sbiggest producers of grain, butit exports a little of its produceas a major chunk of it goes fordomestic consumption. India isexpected to ship a record 7 mil-lion tonnes in 2021-22.

Earlier, speaking at a webi-nar, Modi said, “Agar manodunia mein hamare liye gehun(export) ki opportunity aayihai, to usko samay se pehle,uttam quality, uttam service kesaath hum provide karein, todheere dheere woh permanentban jayega”. (It’s as if a goldenopportunity to export Indianwheat has knocked our doorand we should seize this oppor-tunity with best quality ofgrain and service, and slowlythis arrangement will becomepermanent).

There is news of the risingdemand of Indian wheat inglobal markets, and the finan-cial sector, import-exportdepartments as well as shipping

industry should make a “com-prehensive effort” to help wheatand other exports, he said viaa video link.

The impact of the Russia-Ukraine war is also visible inIndia as wheat is selling at Rs2,400-2,500 per quintal, quiteabove the minimum supportprice of Rs 2,015 per quintal indomestic mandis. The globalwheat prices have already goneup and are ruling in the rangeof Rs 24,000-25,000 per tonnesso far. India primarily exportswheat to neighbouring coun-trieslike Bangladesh. Besides,itexports the grain to Yemen,Qatar, Afghanistan andIndonesia.

“Wheat prices have sky-rocketed globally due to thegeopolitical condition, espe-cially since Russia and Ukraine,the world’s second-largest andfourth-largest wheat exportersrespectively, have set them-selves at war. This is an oppor-

tunity for Indian wheatexporters,” said officials of thefood ministry.

“Russia and Ukrainetogether account for almost aquarter of the global wheat sup-ply and most of their wheatgoes to European countries. Asthe Western countries haveimposed restrictions on Russia,they won’t import wheat fromit. This will give India a chancetocapture European markets,”officials added.

India’s wheat production isestimated to touch a newrecord of 111.32 million tonnesin the 2021-22 crop year (July-June) as against 109.59 milliontonnes in the previous year, ofwhich a major chunk goes fordomestic consumption.

Wheat, the main rabi (win-ter) crop, will start hitting themarket from March 15onwards. The country also hasa surplus stock of wheat in thegovernment godowns.

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Putting the Centre in a tightspot, the Supreme Court on

Tuesday asked the UnionHome Ministry to clarifywhether it is going to abide bythe assurance given by thenDeputy Prime Minister LKAdvani to the PortugalGovernment that the maxi-mum sentence to gangster AbuSalem will not exceed beyond25 years.

The apex court said that itis not satisfied with the affidavitfiled by the CBI which said thatthe assurance given by India toPortugal on the maximum sen-tence during the extradition ofSalem, a convict in the1993Mumbai serial blast case, is notbinding on the Indian courts.

A bench of Justices SanjayKishan Kaul and MMSundresh asked the HomeSecretary to file an affidavitspecifying whether theGovernment of India willabide by the solemn assur-ance g iven by thentheDeputy Prime Minister toPortugal.

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Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman on Tuesday

hinted that the current spike ininternational oil prices mayupset provisions of the UnionBudget as she voiced concernover the impact of spirallingoil rates on the Indian econo-my.

“It (rising crude prices)will have a bearing. We havemade some provisions for it inthe Budget (for fiscal 2022-23).But that provision is only basedon some average (price of oil)prevailing earlier but now isbeyond that. So, we will have tosee how we can work it out,” shesaid at an interactive sessionorganised by BJP’s Karnatakaunit in Bengaluru.

International crude oilprices shot up to 14-year highof USD 140 per barrel onMonday before retracting tonear USD 129 on Tuesday. Buteven this rate is 50 per centhigher than the USD 80-87range of January when most ofthe Budget 2022-23 would havebeen prepared.

Sitharaman presented theBudget on February 1. Indiarelies on overseas purchases tomeet about 85 per cent of its oilrequirement, making it one ofthe most vulnerable in Asia tohigher oil prices. The twinblows of oil prices, already upmore than 60 per cent this year,and a weakening rupee mayhurt the nation’s finances,upend a nascent economicrecovery and fire up inflation.

“It will certainly have animpact on the Indian econo-my,” Sitharaman said. “Howmuch we are going to be pre-pared to take it as a challengeand mitigate the impact issomething which we will haveto see as we go (along).”

International oil priceshave been on the boil ever sinceRussia put its forces on theUkraine border last month.They spiked after it invaded theeastern European nation onfears that oil and gas suppliesfrom energy giant Russia couldbe disrupted, either by theconflict in Ukraine or retalia-tory Western sanctions.

While Western sanctions

have so far kept energy tradeout, a prospect of a full embar-go of Russian oil and productsis leading to the latest rally ininternational oil prices.

But Indian consumers haveso far largely remained insu-lated as PSU oil firms have forover four months not changedprices in view of assemblyelections in states like UttarPradesh. While petrol anddiesel prices are due to revisionanytime as the polling hasended, the indirect effect on theindustry in the form of higherinput cost is already being feltacross sectors.

There are concerns thatelevated oil prices will fire upinflation which is already abovethe RBI’s tolerance range of 6per cent. Noting that Indiaimports more than 85 per centof its crude oil requirements,Sitharaman said when oil pricesgo up, it is a matter of concernand “now we will have to seehow it pans out”.

She said oil marketingcompanies fix pump pricesdaily based on a 15-day rollingaverage.

"��%��%������� ������$����%��6������������$�%��������1����1��%�$$�

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As Covid-19 cases ebbworldwide, the Ministry of

Civil Aviation (MoCA) onTuesday announced that inter-national scheduled commercialflights to and from India willresume on March 27, after a 25-month ban.

Previously, theGovernment had announcedthat India would resume inter-national flights on December15, 2021, but the order wastaken back just a day later afterPrime Minister Narendra Modisought a review of the decisionin the wake of the Omicronvariant.

The Directorate General ofCivil Aviation (DGCA) onFebruary 28 had extended theban on scheduled internation-al passenger flights to andfrom India till further orders.

Union Civil Aviation

Minister Jyotiraditya Scindiasaid on Tuesday, “After delib-eration with stakeholders andkeeping in view the decline inthe COVID-19 caseload, wehave decided to resume inter-national travel from March 27onwards.” Air bubble arrange-ments will also stand revokedthereafter, he said.

“With this step, I am con-fident the sector will reachnew heights,” Scindia said.The move will allow airlinesto operate at their capacity asper the original bilateralagreements on foreign routesahead of the summer travelseason.

India has been operatingflights under air bubblearrangements withAfghanistan, Australia,Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bhutan,Canada, Ethiopia, Finland,France, Germany, Iraq, Japan,Kazakhstan, Kenya,...

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Even a mild infection ofCovid-19 can negatively

tinker the brain and thinking,scientists have found in a studythat highlights the illness’alarming impact on mentalfunction.

However, in a bid to notscare the Covid-survivorsabout their mental status, theresearchers simultaneouslyclarified that they are yet toinvestigate whether the changesare reversible.

The researchers identifiedCovid-associated brain damagemonths after infection, includ-ing in the region linked tosmell. They pointed out thatshrinkage in size could beequivalent to as much as adecade of normal aging. Thechanges were linked to cogni-tive decline in the study, which

was published Monday in thejournal Nature.

The study is believed to bethe first involving people whounderwent brain scans bothbefore they contracted Covidand months after. Neurologicalexperts who were not involvedin the research said it wasvaluable and unique, but theycautioned that the implica-

tions of the changes wereunclear and did not necessar-ily suggest that people mighthave lasting damage or that thechanges might profoundlyaffect thinking, memory orother functions.

The study, involving peo-ple aged 51 to 81, found shrink-age and tissue damage primar-ily in brain areas related to

sense of smell. Some of thoseareas are also involved in otherbrain functions, the researcherssaid.

The study involved 785participants in UK Biobank, arepository of medical and otherdata from about half a millionpeople in Britain. The partici-pants each underwent twobrain scans roughly three yearsapart, plus some basic cognitivetesting. In between their twoscans, 401 participants testedpositive for the coronavirus, allinfected between March 2020

and April 2021.The other 384 participants

formed a control group becausethey had not been infected withthe coronavirus and had sim-ilar characteristics to the infect-ed patients in areas like age, sex,medical history and socioeco-nomic status.

With normal ageing, peo-ple lose a tiny fraction of graymatter each year. For example,in regions related to memory,the typical annual loss isbetween 0.2 per cent and 0.3per cent, the researchers said.

But Covid patients in thestudy — who underwent theirsecond brain scan an average offour and a half months aftertheir infection — lost morethan non-infected participants,experiencing between 0.2 percent and 2 per cent additionalgray matter loss in differentbrain regions over the threeyears between scans. They alsolost more overall brain volumeand showed more tissue dam-age in certain areas.

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In a sensational charge thatcame on the heels of the

Income Tax department car-rying out a series of raids at itsvarious offices in Mumbai, theShiv Sena on Tuesday allegedthat the ED was running amajor “extortion racket” inMaharashtra and the investi-gating agency had become an“ATM” for the ruling BJP at theCentre.

Talking to media personshere, Shiv Sena’s Rajya Sabhamember and party’s chiefspokesperson Sanjay Raut said:“The ED’s top official contest-ed the recent elections on a BJPticket. The ED has become anATM for the BJP. I have givenall the details of the extortionindulged in by the ED to PrimeMinister Narendra Modi. TheModi government is misusingits investigating agencies toharass and victimise its politi-cal rivals”.

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New Delhi: With ceasefirecoming into force for a limitedtime in Ukraine, the Indianembassy there issued an advi-sory on Tuesday urging all itscitizens to avail of this oppor-tunity to leave the country.“Humanitarian Corridor forevacuation of stranded peopleannounced in various parts ofUkraine from 1000 hrs on 8March...All stranded Indiansare urged to make use of thisopportunity and evacuate usingtrains/vehicles or other availablemeans of transport,” it said.

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DEHRADUN | WEDNESDAY | MARCH 09, 2022 uttarakhand 02

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Equal opportunities to women, a social investmentGUEST COLUMN

International Women's Day wascelebrated as every year on

March 8. It offered an opportuni-ty to reflect on progress made, tocall for change and to celebrate actsof courage and determination byordinary women who have playedan extraordinary role in the histo-ry of their countries and commu-nities. The theme for InternationalWomen’s Day 2022 (IWD 2022)was “Gender equality today for asustainable tomorrow”, recognisingthe contribution of women andgirls around the world, who areleading the charge on climatechange adaptation, mitigation andresponse to build a more sustain-able future for all.

The article 15 of the Indian con-stitution gives the guarantee ofequality to every citizen irrespec-tive of gender. I do not state that theconditions have not improved forthe female gender but overall, thegender has not been able to catchup with the pace as the oppositegender. The concept of equalitycannot be brought only with leg-islation. It requires transformationof thinking in the male dominat-ed society. We are proud that ournation even had a woman PrimeMinister in the past, but in spite ofthat the changes or the impact hasnot been reproduced in all theother spheres of life, in all religionsand communities as it should ide-ally have been. In my opinion,whatever change appears in today’s

era which has been achieved in thecondition of females is mainlyconfined to the affluent and high-ly educated society.

There was always a hue and crywhenever the issue of womenreservation was raised. It seems tobe correct to some people that aparticular section of the societyequates their women as the truerepresentatives of all women.Rather, if that section of the soci-

ety really wants to improve the sta-tus of female gender as a wholethen they should in a real sense,consider the concept of equality toall women irrespective of caste,creed, region and religion. If it isdiligently considered, then the sta-tus of all women will change.

It is pertinent to mention thateven after seven decades of inde-pendence majority of the sexualabuse, molestation and rape inci-dents are still happening with thedowntrodden, underprivileged girlsand women. I would like to men-

tion that most of the time evenwomen of the affluent society donot give due importance to raisetheir voice against the perpetratorsespecially if the accused or perpe-trator belongs to the affluent sec-tion or their community. Therehave been incidents and reports inthe mass media that the women ofthe affluent and influential societyare becoming a party with the per-petrators, to commit the crime with

women of poor and downtroddensociety.The incidents in the recentpast like incident of Unnao, Kathuaand Hathras are the glaring exam-ples of the discrimination amongthe same gender. It is suggested thatwhen whole society practices themotto of Vasudhaiv Kutumbakamthen things will change otherwiseit will remain the same or couldeven worsen in the coming time.

I would like to raise the issue ofdomestic violence which is preva-lent even today not only in uned-ucated and poor families but alsoin well-educated and rich families.

But contrary to that, there are manyinstances of harassment by thefemale gender of the opposite gen-der as well as that against the wholefamily. Whosoever is at fault, it isnot only destroying the life of hus-bands or wives but also of theirextended families.

If we really want to improve thestatus of women, we need to changethe mind-set of the whole society.All-out effort should be made

a g a i n s tt h ef e m a l ei n f ant i -cide, togive qual-ity health,educationa n dnutritionto thef e m a l egender asprovidedto them a l e s .P r i m ei m p o r -t a n c eshould begiven toe d u c a -tion. Ibelieve ife q u a l

opportunities are given to thefemales then the situation will bedifferent and very soon they willhave the same life as other femalesare having in the developed soci-ety. Equality of opportunity in thematter of public employment isguaranteed in article 15 and free-dom of speech and expression isguaranteed in article 19. In factequality is the fundamental right ofevery citizen- for example not to bediscriminated on the grounds ofreligion, caste, sex or place ofbirth which is granted by article 15to all citizens.

Education is the prime factor togive employment and employmentis based on the quality of education.I believe that only if education isgiven to all girls either free or atsubsidised rates then the ability ofthese girls will be changed and theywill be able to deal with any prob-lem faced in the life whether phys-ical, social, economic, political oremotional.Our current govern-ment has taken many steps to giveopportunity to girls to lead in manyfields which were unheard earlier.

Though article 15 states thereshould not be any discriminationon grounds of religion, caste, sex,place of birth, clause 3 and 4 of arti-cle 15 embody exceptions to thegeneral principle of non-discrim-ination. They respectively empow-er the State to make special provi-sion for women and children andfor the advancement of any social-ly and educationally backwardclasses of citizens for scheduledcaste and scheduled tribes.

In my opinion, if the nationwants to improve the status of thefemale gender then the nationshould prioritise giving employ-ment and a law should be made togive job preferably to the womenof the families particularly if suchfamilies have never got the oppor-tunity to get a government job inpast.

Another suggestion is that con-sidering the scarcity of job partic-ularly in the government sector,only one person per couple shouldbe given the government job withpreference to the women. I am suresuch arrangement will not onlyincrease the chances of employ-ment for other people as well as butalso give an opportunity to empow-er the women too.

(A Padma Shri recipient, theauthor is a senior orthopaedic sur-geon. Views expressed are personal)

Book on ideological pro-gression of women’srights released in DLRC

Abook titled "The Ideological Progressionof Women's Rights Question in Colonial

India 1820-1947" by Manoj Panjani wasreleased in Dehradun. The book was releasedby former principal of MKP PG College, InduSingh and Doon Library and Research Centre(DLRC) director BK Joshi.

The author has based his book on researchundertaken during the past 17 years and it isabout the journey of Indian women's quest forequality.

Panjani spoke on lesser known facts aboutthe role of women in India's freedom strug-gle and their collective battles fought againstthe patriarchal society of the colonial era. Hesaid that he toiled to collect information andfacts on the topic since most of the work inthe colonial era was penned by men which pro-vided no room for women. Speaking on theoccasion Singh opined that the book is a goodcollection of lesser known facts and anecdotesfrom the struggles of Indian women at thattime. Joshi said that DLRC has been sup-portive in publishing new works by amateurwriters as well.

Women have better leadershipqualities- Ganesh GodiyalCongress organises a programme on the occasion ofInternational Women’s Day; many women felicitated

IN BRIEFSIWD 2022 celebrated in UCOSTPNS/Dehradun

Uttarakhand State Council of Science and Technology (UCOST) andNASI- UK Chapter delivered the “Malti Purohit Memorial Award” in

the memory of late Malti Purohit on International Women’s Day. UCOSTDG Rajendra Dobhal said that NASI Uttarakhand chapter has institutedthe award for outstanding women scientists of Uttarakhand and this yearRenu Dhasmana, professor and head, Department of Ophthalmology, SwamiRama Himalayan University was nominated for this award for her out-standing work in the field of healthcare. On this occasion, Leading WomenScientist Award-2022 was conferred on Laxmi Rawat, College of Forestry,Ranichauri; Veena Pande from Kumaun University, Neelu J Ahuja fromUPES, Rama Bhargava from Roorkee College of Engineering, PriyankaUniyal from Government PG College, Gopeshwar; Prerna Pokhriyal, RCUGovernment PG College, Uttarkashi; Meena Joshi, SSJ Campus, Almora;Kanchan Karki, Uttarakhand Council for Biotechnology and Manjulata fromGovernment Degree College, Nainidanda. Awards were also presented towomen in other categories.

Dr Sujata Sanjay raises awareness, distributessanitary napkins on IWDPNS/Dehradun

On the occasion of International Women’s Day, gynecologist and obste-trician Dr Sujata Sanjay distributed sanitary napkins to women and

adolescent girls and informed about the benefits of its use. More than 20million women use unsafe means instead of sanitary napkins. Sheinformed that for the last eight years, free sanitary napkins have been dis-tributed to women, adding that there is still considerable hesitation in womenregarding periods. Stating that it is a natural process, she stressed on theneed to avoid panic and shame while ensuring hygiene. Dr Sujata Sanjaysaid that 70 per cent of women and girls are unable to use sanitary nap-kins due to financial constraints; women in extremely backward areas ofIndia use cloth instead of sanitary pads and that due to this uncleanlinessrural women get various infections. This is responsible for the rising inci-dence of cervical cancer in India.

Online felicitation held on IWDPNS/Dehradun

Women Empower and Child Development department and MerakiFoundation celebrated International Women’s Day with online felic-

itation of women champions for promoting sustainable ECCE inUttarakhand through ICDS and the Digital Parent Margdarshak Programmerun by the foundation. Champion parents, AWWs, supervisors and CDPOswere felicitated by WECD secretary Hari Chandra Semwal and deputy direc-tor SK Singh. Semwal appreciated the efforts of women in ensuring qual-ity ECCE to all children below the age of six years during the Covid pan-demic. Singh also appreciated the women champions for their resilienceand hard work across Uttarakhand.

Women honoured for distinguished work inGraphic EraPNS/Dehradun

On International Women's Day, Graphic Era Hill University honouredthe best performing women in various fields. They included faculty,

non-teaching staff, women personnel associated with security, housekeepingdepartments and lab staff among others. Chancellor of Graphic Era deemeduniversity RC Joshi and vice chancellor of Graphic Era Hill University, JKumar, presented the certificate of honour and trophy in the felicitationceremony. Jyoti Chhabra, Shipra Gupta, Mandakini, Saroj Muralidharan,Savita Maithani, Anita Dhyani, Mehnaz Bano, Shaivya Uniyal, KomalKumari, Santosh, Aarti Kashyap, Rekha Dubey and Seema Mittal were amongthose honoured on the occasion.

IWD celebrated at Motherhood UniversityPNS/Roorkee

The Motherhood University organised a cultural programme onInternational Women’s Day. The university vice chancellor Narendra

Sharma inaugurated the event. He said that women have proved themselvesin social, economic, political and various other spheres. He appreciated theprogress being achieved by women empowerment. The university studentsparticipated in various competitions held on the occasion. University reg-istrar NK Yadav, heads of various departments, faculty members and stu-dents were present during the event.JBIT holds workshop to mark IWDPNS/Dehradun

Former chairperson of the State Commission for Protection of ChildRights, Usha Negi inaugurated a workshop held at JBIT on International

Women’s Day. Uttarakhand Technical University pharmacy department headDr Yusara Ahmed and JBIT group of institutions chairperson HemlataSinghal were also present on the occasion. Speaking on the occasion, Negispoke on the history and relevance of international women’s day. Ahmedspoke on the aim and importance of the occasion with special focus on thisyear’s theme. The institute’s executive director Sandhya Singhal also spokeon the occasion.

The Pradesh CongressCommittee (PCC) presi-

dent Ganesh Godiyal has saidthat the women have outshonemen in every field and theypossess better leadership qual-ities as compared to the males.He was addressing a pro-gramme organised on the occa-sion of International Women’sday at the state headquarters ofthe Congress party on Tuesday.He said that from ancient timeswomen have shown the light tosociety. The PCC presidentsaid that the women played a

key role in the freedom strug-gle of the country and in thestatehood movement ofUttarakhand. He rememberedthe contribution of formerPrime Minister Indira Gandhi,

former President Pratiba Patil,Sonia Gandhi in politics and PT Usha, Marry Kom, SainaNehwal, Sania Mirza in sportsand Sunita Williams andKalpana Chawala in space sci-ences. The PCC president alsopaid tributes to Gaura Devi andTilu Rauteli on the occasion.

On the occasion the presi-dent of the Mahila CongressJyoti Rautela congratulatedeveryone and said that womenare contributing in every field.Many women were honouredon the occasion.

Short movie from U’khandselected for Busan Film FestivalPNS DEHRADUN

Pataal Ti, a short film based on a folktale of the Bhotia tribe of Uttarakhand

has been selected for screening at theprestigious BusanInternational Short Filmfestival. This movie isamong 40 selected froma total of 2,548 entriesfrom 111 countries andthe sole from India tomake it to the event thisyear. The movie wasfilmed in different highaltitude locations ofUttarakhand and is pro-duced and directed bylocal youngsters. Informing about thefilm, producer and director SantoshRawat said that it is based on a folklorein which a young boy undertakes a jour-ney to places located in lofty mountains

to fulfill the last desire of his grandfatherfor holy water. “During the journey hediscovers various aspects of culture, tra-

dition, nature and himself.The water is used as ametaphor in the movie.The whole team spent 20days and trekked 300 kilo-metres in the highHimalayas for shootingthe movie,’’ he said.

The film's executiveproducer GajendraRautela said that the shortfilm brings forward the

soul of the mountains before the world.He said that the movie is produced byRudraprayag based production house UK13 and Ayush Rawat, Dhan Singh Rana,Kamla Kunwar and Bhagat Singh Burfalhave acted in it.

DEHRADUN | WEDNESDAY | MARCH 9, 2022 uttarakhand 03

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Congress gearing up forMarch 10 verdict in U’khandCentral observers held deliberations with state leadersin Doon, strategies on different possibilities finalised.

Intense activity has started inthe Uttarakhand Congress

ahead of March 10 when theverdict of the people will bedelivered. The All IndiaCongress Committee (AICC)has sent senior leadersDeepender Hooda and M BPatil as central observers to thestate. They held deliberationswith leaders of UttarakhandCongress on Tuesday. Theseleaders held a series of meetingswith the leaders of state whichincluded the former chief min-ister and head of the campaigncommittee of UttarakhandCongress Harish Rawat, thePradesh Congress Committee(PCC) president GaneshGodiyal, the leader of opposi-tion in assembly Pritam Singh,senior leader Yashpal Arya andothers. The in charge ofUttarakhand CongressDevendra Yadav, co-in-chargesRajesh Dharmani, DipikaPandey Singh and nationalconvenor of IT cell, Saral Pateland others also took part in thedeliberations. In the meetingsthe preparation of the party forthe counting day was givenfinal touches. The Congressleadership also discussed theparty strategy in the event of a

hung assembly. It is learnt thatthe discussions on the ways toprotect the newly elected MLAfrom the poaching also figuredprominently.

Exuding confidence HarishRawat said that the people ofUttarakhand have voted for achange and Congress is form-ing the next government in thestate.

Informing about the meet-ings the PCC president GaneshGodiyal said that the meetings

are part of the normal processahead of the counting day. Hesaid that discussions on thepostal ballot also took place inthe meeting. Referring to thepresence of national generalsecretary of BJP KailashVijayvargiya and speculationsthat the BJP is working on aplan under him to effect defec-tions, the PCC President saidthat the Congress leadership isvery alert on the issue. He saidthat the party has assigned

different tasks to different lead-ers on the counting day. He saidthat many news channels arepredicting victory for theCongress party and he is con-fident that the party is comingto power with a big majority.“The BJP is said to be workingon plan B now. The people ofthe state have given their bless-ings to the Congress party andit is our duty to work as per themandate of the people andtake necessary steps,’’ he said.

BJP coming back to power with thump-ing majority in U’khand : CM Dhami

Exuding confidence ahead ofthe counting of the votes,

the chief minister ofUttarakhand Puskhar SinghDhami said on Tuesday that theBJP is coming back to power inthe state with an overwhelmingmajority. Talking to the mediapersons at his residence he saidthat most of the exit polls havepredicted a BJP government inthe state. Dhami added that heis confident that the partywould perform exceedinglywell than shown in the exitpolls. Dhami said that all theparty workers, PannaPramukhs, booth presidentsworked very hard and due tothis the BJP is getting theblessing of the people of thestate for formation of the gov-ernment in Uttarakhand. Hesaid that under the leadershipof Prime Minister NarendraModi many developmentworks such as construction ofroads, hospitals, All IndiaInstitute of Medical Sciences(AIIMS), Bharat Mala projectsand Rishikesh – Karnprayagrail project. Dhami said that heis confident that the peoplehave given their blessings toBJP on the works done by thecentral and state government.Taking a dig at the Congressparty, the CM said that theCongress was nowhere in theelections and it was without anyissue. “After the end of the vot-ing the Congress leaders wereblowing their own trumpet

but now we would celebrate onMarch 10,’’ he quipped.

Earlier in the day the Chief

Minister visited Hanol inChakrata and paid obeisance tothe Mahasu Devta where he

offered prayers for the happi-ness and well being of thepeople of the state.

BJP sets up control rooms for vote counting dayPNS DEHRADUN

The Bharatiya Janata Partyhas stepped up its prepa-

rations for the counting ofvotes polled in the VidhanSabha elections. For this pur-pose, the party has establishedcontrol rooms at its state head-quarters and districts.

The BJP State media in-charge Manveer SinghChauhan informed that on thedirections of the party’s statepresident Madan Kaushik con-trol rooms have been set up inthe party’s state head office andin the districts apart from amedia war room for the count-

ing of votes. Further, the partyhas also appointed districtcoordinators for handling anyissues in the districts regard-ing the counting of votes.Necessary instructions havebeen issued to all the pollingagents for the countingprocess, he added.

CM Pushkar Singh Dhami offers prayers at Mahasu Devta temple in HanolPioneer photo

Only 33 new Covid-19 casesin U’khand on Tuesday

The active case count of the diseasecomes down at 473

The state healthd e p a r t m e n t

reported only 33 newpatients of the novelCoronavirus (Covid-19) in Uttarakhandon Tuesday. Deathof no patient fromthe disease wasreported on the day.

The authoritiesalso declared 42patients cured on theday. The departmenthas so far detected91,694 new cases ofthe disease fromJanuary 1 this yeartill date. A total of87,746 patients haverecovered from thedisease so far in this year while269 patients have died in thestate since January 1 this year.The recovery percentage ofthe disease was at 95.69 percent on Tuesday. The positivi-ty rate of the disease wasreported at 0.48 per cent on theday.

The health departmentreported 14 new patients from

Dehradun, seven fromHaridwar, five from Nainitaland two each from Almora andPauri districts on Tuesday. Onepatient each was found atPithoragarh, Rudraprayag andUdham Singh Nagar districtson the day. No new patientswere found in the Bageshwar,Chamoli, Champawat,Pithoragarh, Tehri andUttarkashi districts on Tuesday.

The active case count ofCovid-19 in the state is now at473. Dehradun with 220 casesis at the top of the table of activecases while Haridwar has 57active cases of the disease.Tehri is at the bottom of thetable with three active cases. Inthe ongoing vaccination drive11,762 people were vaccinatedin 786 sessions in the state heldon Tuesday.

Police nab inter-staterobber from DelhiPNS DEHRADUN

The Dehradun Police arrest-ed a gang member of inter-

state robbers from Delhi whohad attempted to rob MuthootFinance Gold Loan company atPrince Chowk in Dehradunduring January. The DeputyInspector General (DIG) andthe senior superintendent ofpolice (SSP) JanmejayaKhanduri has announced areward of Rs 25,000 for theteam involved in nabbing thegang member.

He informed in a PressConference on Tuesday that arobbery attempt was made atthe said company on January20. He said that some men tooka security guard as a hostagethat night and broke the lock ofthe main gate and other lockswith their pieces of equipmentto enter the strong room of thecompany but they failed tobreak into the room. Whenthey failed to rob the compa-ny, the accused left their equip-ment and fled from the scene.The company filed a com-plaint the next day and thepolice started the investigation.Khanduri informed that thepolice got the information thatone of the accused- IstakAalam involved in the attempt-ed robbery was about to arrivein Delhi from Chennai follow-ing which, the police team

nabbed him from DelhiNizamuddin railway stationon March 7 during the night.The accused is a Jharkhand res-ident and has also mentioned

to the police about the involve-ment of 10 other accused in thesaid attempted robbery duringthe investigation, informed theSSP.

He said that the accused hasinformed that they generallyused to involve Nepalese menin their gang before carryingout a robbery. People across thecountry believe them to com-monly work as a security guard

which helped them to scantheir target places in the nameof getting a security job. TheSSP said, "He said that theirgang uses a local vehicle rather

than a private vehicle to flee thescene after robbing a place.They never used a cellular net-work but rather interact witheach other through internetcalls. The accused has con-fessed of carrying out rob-beries in other states too likeMaharashtra and Delhi and hewas just returning fromChennai where they hadplanned another robbery too."

Governor inauguratesSpring Festival 2022PNS DEHRADUN

Uttarakhand GovernorLieutenant General (retd)

Gurmit Singh inaugurated thetwo-day Spring Festival-Vasantotsav at Raj Bhawan onTuesday. The governor inau-gurated the festival by cuttinga string of flowers and releas-ing balloons in the air as a sym-bol of peace. The festival start-ed with the celebration of thefolk festival of the state- PhoolDei. He also unveiled a specialcover featuring YamunaTulsi/Kunj (Artemisia vulgaris),which is found in variousmountainous areas of the stateand is also offered to GoddessYamuna at Yamunotri Dham. Atotal of 1,985 contestants par-ticipated in 12 main competi-tions with 51 subcategories onthe first day of the event. Outof total contestants, 786 par-ticipated in the cut flower (tra-ditional) category, 677 in thepainting competition, 201 par-ticipants in the cut flower(non-traditional) category, 58in the loose flower category, 53in the potted plant (non-floral)category, 52 in Hanging Potcategory, 40 in On the SpotPhotography, 29 in Fresh PetalRangoli and 18 in potted plant

categories. The prizes to thewinners will be given onWednesday.

A total of 242 stalls were alsoset up on this occasion includ-ing 218 individual stalls and 24stalls associated with statedepartments. Bakery productswere selected under the “OneDistrict One Product” catego-

ry for Dehradun district thatused edible flowers to prepareseveral bakery products whichwere also included in the com-petition for the first time.

Several farmers from all thedistricts participated in thefestival too.

Singh said that the spring

festival has been encouragingmany for the plantation of dif-ferent types of plants and topursue agriculture for years.This festival also gives a mes-sage to people to connect withnature and protect the envi-ronment and will continue toinspire many more in futuretoo, said the governor.

HC orders principal secretaryto explain why CCTV camerasnot installed in lower courts

Despite repeated orders of the Supreme Court and High Court,CCTV cameras have not been installed so far in lower courts.

The Uttarakhand high court has now directed the principal sec-retary, Home, to appear in court personally on March 16 andexplain why the CCTV cameras have not been installed yet. Thesingle bench of justice Ravindra Maithani issued this directionwhile hearing the case on Tuesday.

According to the case details, Dehradun resident PradyumnaBisht had filed a petition stating that he is representing himselfin a case in a lower court. The father of his opponent is also alawyer in the same court and a counsel in the case related todowry. The petitioner has alleged that during the trial he goesinside and manages to get changes made in the statements. Statingthis, the petitioner has sought that the statements should berecorded under CCTV camera surveillance. Imn 2014, the highcourt had rejected this petition stating that no law had been madeat that time regarding this. The petitioner had challenged thisorder in the Supreme Court which converted it into a public inter-est litigation in 2017. A report was sought from all high courtson whether CCTV cameras can be installed in the lower courts.Many high courts recommended that CCTV cameras should beinstalled in the lower courts. On August 15, 2017, the Apex courtdirected all the states that in the initial phase should set up CCTVcameras in the courts in two of their districts but this was notdone in Uttarakhand. The high court full court sent a proposalto the government in 2017 and 2018 for placing CCTV camerasin the courts in Dehradun, Haridwar, Nainital and Udham SinghNagar. In June 2021, the chief justice talked via video conferencingwith the state’s chief secretary regarding this proposal. The chiefsecretary had then informed the chief justice that this matter hadbeen put up in the cabinet. In July 2021, the chief justice talkedto the principal secretary, Home on the proposal via video con-ferencing. The principal secretary had assured that the govern-ment had approved the proposal to set up CCTV cameras in lowercourts of two districts. In August that year the high court senta budget proposal of Rs 4.98 crore for this purpose but it has notbeen passed yet. With the CCTV cameras not being installeddespite the court repeatedly sending proposals to the state gov-ernment, the principal secretary has been directed to appear per-sonally in court and explain the reason for the same.

Dumper placer bins installed in Doon

The Dehradun mayor SunilUniyal 'Gama' inaugurated

the initiative of the installationof dumper placer bins in thecity on Tuesday. The refusecompactor vehicles will beused to lift these bins and

unload the garbage without anymess at the garbage collectionsite.

The locations of many largebins have become a regularsight of a huge pile of garbagewhich continues to get worsetill the corporation's vehicles donot collect it to dispose of in thesolid waste management plant.Considering this, ChennaiMSW Private Limited, thecompany that manages thegarbage collection and dispos-al work in 69 wards, started aninitiative of installing dumperplacer bins at the five locationsin the city which can hold thegarage of about 3.5 cubicmetres. Ahsan Saify fromChennai MSW informed that

vehicles have also been modi-fied to refuse compactor vehi-cles to ensure the newlyinstalled bins can be emptiedthrough the hydraulic tech-nique which will be quick andmess-free. He said that these

modified vehicles have thecapacity to hold the garbage ofsuch six bins and will surelyhelp to tackle the issue of over-flowing garbage bins in manyareas. He said that this is a pilotproject and more such bins willbe installed based on the workresponse of this initiative.

The mayor inaugurated theinstallation of bins in GMSroad and said that this initia-tive will certainly help the cor-poration to improve the sani-tation facilities across the city.

The municipal commission-er Abhishek Ruhela and seniormunicipal health officer DrRK Singh were also presentduring the event.

Councillors warn of protestagainst MCD's officialsPNS DEHRADUN

Accusing senior officials ofthe Municipal Corporation

of Dehradun (MCD) of beingapathetic towards the issue ofland encroachment by landmafia, several councillors havedecided to stage a protest if theofficials fail to take cognisancein the matter. CouncillorBhupendra Kathait informedthat he along with other coun-cillors had given a memoran-dum to themunicipal com-m i s s i o n e rAbhishek Ruhelaon March 3 andmade him awareof the severalencroachments onthe corporation'sland. He said, "Wealso apprised himof the allegedassistance beingprovided by somemunicipal officialsto land mafias toacquire the piecesof land that belong to the cor-poration. However, no actionhas been taken by the corpo-ration so far." He said thatproperty tax is allegedly beingdeposited for MCD's landswith officials' assistance tomake it easy for land mafias togo to court to claim their own-ership in future. There are sev-eral such cases across the citywhere many are trying to

encroach the MCD's land usingdifferent ways but despite theconsistent complaints, seniorofficials concerned remainedapathetic towards the issue."We went to the MCD premis-es on Tuesday to meet the com-missioner and other officialsconcerned but we foundnobody there. We tried callingthem but nobody picked upour calls. We interacted with

some officials but theirresponse on the matter wasunsatisfactory. Nothing is beingdone by them in such a seriousissue," said Kathait. He said thatif the officials will not take anyaction in the matter this week,they will stage a protest outsidethe commissioner's office at theweekend and demand theinvestigation by SpecialInvestigation Team (SIT).

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Prime Minister NarendraModi on Tuesday called

‘Kanya Shiksha Pravesh UtsavAbhiyan’ “an exemplary effortwhich will ensure more girls getthe joys of education”. Modialso asked for efforts to makethe movement a success. Thecampaign is a mission to ensureevery young girl is allowed topursue education and skilling.

Replying to a tweet of theUnion Minister for Womenand Child Development SmritiZubin Irani, the Prime Ministersaid in a tweet “An exemplaryeffort which will ensure moregirls get the joys of education!Let us all, as a nation, cometogether and make this move-ment a success.”

On the eve of InternationalWomen’s Day, the Ministry ofWomen and ChildDevelopment launched the‘Kanya Shiksha Pravesh Utsav’scheme to bring back the out-of-school girls back to the edu-cation system. The schemeenvisages partnership of

Women and ChildDevelopment Ministry withEducation Ministry. Thescheme will fulfil the target ofRight to Education Act thatseeks to bring out-of-schoolgirls back to the educationsystem.

Paying tribute to the 'NariShakti' in the country on theInternational day of women,the Prime Minister highlight-ed exemplary tasks accom-plished by the women in dif-ferent parts of the country as herecalled his monthly radio pro-gramme 'man ki baat'.

One of the women in audiotagged by Modi includes 105year old Bhagirithi Amma whoeven at her advanced age sat forclass IV exam and passed it ina commendable way.

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The Supreme Court onTuesday refused urgent

hearing on a PIL seeking ver-ification of Voter Verified PaperAudit Trail (VVPAT) slips withElectronic Voting Machines(EVMs) before the counting ofvotes, saying it is not interfer-ing as the counting is scheduledon March 10 for assembly pollsheld in five states.

The plea has also said ver-ification of VVPAT withEVMs, which are being con-ducted at five polling boothsper assembly segment, beraised to five polling stations,a larger unit as one polling sta-tion has several polling booths.

“We are not interfering, letcounting go on as per estab-lished practice, procedures andlaw. They (Election commis-sion) are following judgment.They have made a statement(to this effect),” said the benchcomprising Chief Justice N VRamana and Justices A SBopanna and Hima Kohli.Thebench, in forenoon, reluctant-ly agreed to hear plea when

senior lawyer MeenakshiArora, appearing for petition-er Rakesh Kumar, mentioned itfor urgent listing saying she willbe intimating the poll panelabout the proposed hearing.

Later in the afternoon,senior advocate ManinderSingh appeared for the pollpanel and said the Commissionhas been following the verdictof the apex court in relation toVVPAT verification and theofficials have been trained tocounting of votes accordingly.

“We are not interfering atthe moment,” the bench said,adding that the petition will beconsidered in the regularcourse only.In the morningwhen the plea was mentioned,the bench said, “You are com-ing at the last moment… Lastminute ,if you are asking us totake it up then we do not havetime. You know counting is theday after tomorrow. You shouldhave mentioned it yesterday.You are mentioning it now.Assuming for a minute, wehear it tomorrow, will it be pos-sible to send to all states a par-ticular direction to follow.”

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The Congress on Tuesdaydeputed senior leaders for

poll management ahead ofelection results in Uttarakhand,Goa, Punjab and Manipur.

While Karnataka Congresschief D K Sivakumar will bespecial observer in Goa, partygeneral secretary MukulWasnik and ChhattisgarhHealth Minister T S SinghDeo besides Vincent Pala havebeen deputed in Manipur forpost-poll management.

AICC General secretaryAjay Maken and partyspokesperson Pawan Kherahave been deployed as partyspecial observers for Punjab.Rajya Sabha memberDeepinder Singh Hooda hasalso left for Dehradun after hewas asked by the party leader-ship to reach there for man-agement of legislators in case ofa hung assembly. Hooda willwork out modalities with

Chhattisgarh Chief MinisterBhupesh Baghel once theresults are out on March 10.Hooda has reachedUttarakhand.

The party's in-charges andobservers in various poll-bound states will also be sta-tions at the state headquartersahead of results. The move isaimed at keeping the Congressflock together in case of ahung assembly in Goa,Uttarakhand, Manipur andPunjab.

The appointment of specialobservers is part of theCongress strategy to work outgovernment formations instates where no party gets aclear majority.

AICC sources said plansare also afoot in the party toshift its newly-elected legisla-tors to a safe location inCongress-ruled states ofRajasthan and Chhattisgarh.

Party leader PriyankaGandhi Vadra is also learnt tohave seen the arrangements in

place for its legislators in thedesert state in case they need tobe shifted there. Sources saidthe MLAs will be kept at "safelocations" to prevent what theysaid "possible attempts by oth-ers to poach them".

Congress is not taking anychances this time as had beendone during the last Goa elec-tions when despite emerging asthe single largest party, it failedto form its government there.

Exit polls have predicted atight race in Uttarakhand andGoa, while most of them haveprojected a victory for theAam Aadmi Party in Punjab.

Senior Congress leader andformer Union Minister PChidambaram said talks wereon between leaders of his partyand other opposition parties inGoa ahead of counting of votesin the Assembly elections in thecoastal state. Congress is alsofocusing on keeping its flocktogether and plans to shift allits candidates to a resort., saidsources.

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Union Minister Smriti Iranion Tuesday said one-stop

centres are planning to organ-ise self-defence camps forwomen and girls in every dis-trict in collaboration with theBureau of Police Research andDevelopment (BPR&D).

There are 704 One StopCentres and 36 Mahila HelpLines in the country throughwhich 70 Lakh women havebeen protected, she said at anevent of BPR&D to mark theInternational Women’s Day.

Addressing the NationalConference on Safety andSecurity of Women at Publicand Workplaces organised bythe BPR&D, Irani also said thegovernment is workingtowards linking mahilahelpdesk at every police sta-

tion with one-stop centres."One-stop centres in collabo-ration with the Bureau ofPolice Research andDevelopment are planning toorganise self-defence campsfor women and girls in everydistrict," she told in her speechat the conference organised onthe occasion of theInternational Women's Day.

The Minister also put for-ward a number of proposalswhere collaboration can takeplace between BPR&D and theWomen and ChildDevelopment Ministry.

“If the BPR&D desires,then the Ministry of Womenand Child Development canarrange Crèche at the DistrictLevel for the Indian PoliceWomen,” she said. BPR&Dand NIMHANS, which isamong the country's apex cen-

tre for mental health and neu-roscience education, can col-laborate to provide counsellingfor women police personnelwho are stressed, she said.

Irani further proposedthat the BPR&D and theWomen and ChildDevelopment Ministry canhave a special crèche facilityfor women personnel in everydistrict. Irani said that underthe Nirbhaya fund, the gov-ernment wants to empowerwomen.

She said, "Rs 4,000 crorehave been given to variousstates and I request BPR&D ifthey wish to propose any newprojects under the fund thenwe welcome it."

As much as Rs 9,000 croreworth projects have been eval-uated in the Nirbhaya Fund,she added.

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Ahead of the impendingmunicipal elections in

Delhi, the Ministry of Housingand Urban Affairs on Tuesdayannounced allowing owner-ship right on full plot area incase of private land and sim-plifying the development con-trol norms in unauthorizedcolonies by reducing the normsfor group housing land require-ment from 3000 square metresto 2000 sqm.

Further, as per the amend-ments in the PM-UDAYRegulations, vacant govern-ment land parcels can be ear-marked / reserved for creationof supporting social and phys-ical infrastructure for unau-thorized colonies regeneration/ redevelopment and pave theway for regularization of UCs.

“Vacant land parcels can beutilized for creation of parks,schools, hospitals / dispensaryfor the benefit of residents ofUCs.

Protection of vacant gov-ernment land from unscrupu-lous elements / land grabbersunder the garb of GeneralPower of Attorney (GPA) andAgreement to Sell (ATS),”Union Housing and UrbanAffairs minister Hardeep Purisaid.

This will also curb thepractice of creating fake andillegal property documents forgovernment land, he added.The Delhi DevelopmentAuthority (DDA) and stateBJP leaders have written to theMoHUA requesting modifi-cations in the list of documentsneeded for processing theapplications to further simpli-fy the process so that peoplecan be covered or benefit fromthe scheme.

The DDA has received90,700 applications of whichapproximately 21,000 wererejected as the applicants werefound to be ineligible and11,500 were given ownershipdocuments (either conveyancedeed to properties on privateland or authorisation slip toproperties on governmentland). Addressing a press con-ference on Tuesday, Puri saidthat new amendments in unau-thorized colonies (UC) will

help residents to get their prop-erty registration without anyhassle. “Many applicants underPM-UDAY are not in posses-sion of valid ‘Will’ document.As on 04.03.2022, around 1,000applications under PM-UDAYhave been kept under abeyancedue to unavailability of valid‘Will’ or ‘Gift Deed’ docu-ments.

The proposed amendmentfor not treating valid ‘Will’ asa mandatory document willresolve the grievance of appli-cants whose applications havebeen kept on hold due toabsence of valid Will.

It will speed up the processof disposal of cases and willfacilitate in increasing the num-ber of Conveyance Deed (CD)/Authorization Slip (AS),” hesaid. On the amendments of inthe Delhi Development Act1957, the minister said that amajor recommendation is thatonce the minimum thresholdof 70% voluntary land poolarea is achieved in a sector, itshall be obligatory for alllandowners of the sector i.e. thebalance 30%, to mandatorilypool their land.

“Keeping in view that theproposed amendments willhave to follow the due legisla-tive process, which will taketime, a second pronged strat-egy has also been worked out.

It has been decided thatDDA will issue conditionalnotice for formation of con-sortium for the eligible sectors(where 70% land is pooled),stating that consortium wouldensure proper contiguity of allthe partially participated khas-ras at the time of filing theimplementation plan,” he said.

The amendments willempower to central govern-ment to declare mandatorypooling even if minimumthreshold participation has notbeen achieved to ensure timebound planned development.

Reacting on the amend-ment, BJP MLA Ramvir SinghBidhuri who was present at thepress conference alongwithBJP Delhi unit president AdeshGupta, said that these amend-ments will simplify the normsin 1700 unauthorised coloniesin Delhi and this will be a greatrelief to these people.

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The second part of the bud-get session of Parliament

from March 14 will function asper pre-Covid schedule whereRajya Sabha and the Lok Sabhawill resume from 11 am andboth the Houses will use theirrespective chambers and gal-leries for the members.

According to the sources,Rajya Sabha Chairman MVenkaiah Naidu and Lok SabhaSpeaker Om Birla met onTuesday and discussed theseating arrangements for thesecond part of the budget ses-sion.

The secretaries general ofboth the houses also discussedthe issue in the context of asubstantial reduction in thenumber of COVID-19 casesduring the third wave of thepandemic in the country and

the extensive vaccination cov-erage. The Rajya Sabha func-tioned from 10 am to 3 pm andthe Lok Sabha from 4 pm to 9pm during the first part of thebudget session. The sessionstarted on January 30 with thepresident's address to a joint sit-ting of both houses and theUnion budget was presented onFebruary 1.

The budget session of theLok Sabha and the 251st ses-sion of the Rajya Sabha inJanuary 2020 were the first ses-sions to be curtailed by eightsittings due to the outbreak ofthe pandemic and the 252ndsession of the Rajya Sabha inSeptember 2020 and the mon-soon session of the Lok Sabhawere the first ones to be heldunder full Covid protocols,with the members seated inboth houses and in two shifts,officials said.

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The Supreme Court onTuesday sought responses

from the Centre and itsRegistry on a PIL seekingdevelopment of a “judicialvista” near the apex courtpremises to cater to the grow-ing need of judicial infrastruc-ture for all the courts includingthe subordinate judiciary, tri-bunals, the Delhi High Courtand the bar in the national cap-ital.

A bench of Justices VineetSaran and Aniruddha Bosetook note of the PIL, filed bylawyer Ardhendumauli KumarPrasad, which also sought adirection to the UnionMinistries of Law and Justiceand the Housing and UrbanAffairs to constitute a centralauthority, funded by theConsolidated Fund of India, tocater to need of judicial infra-structure under administra-tive control of the Chief Justiceof India (CJI). “Issue notice.Returnable on March 30,” the

bench ordered. “The lack ofjudicial infrastructure, hat iscourtrooms, basic amenities,etc. For Judges, advocates andthe litigants across the country,in the subordinate Judiciaryand tribunals, is a very seriousissue, and the lack of autono-my of the Judiciary in the mat-ter, and the dependence on theCentral Government and theState Government, defeats thecause of judicial independence,”the plea said.

The judicial infrastructuralindependence is “quintessentialfor the furtherance of the causeof judicial independence”, andhence need to set up a NationalJudicial InfrastructureAuthority, and falls within themost basic fundamental rightsof constitution, it said.

The petition has soughtconstruction of a large multi-level complex of courtroomswith 45 to 50 courtrooms withvideo conferencing facilitiesand adequate seating facilitiesfor lawyers, litigants, law clerks,and interns.

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The Centre on Tuesdaydefended in the Supreme

Court the PMLA provisionrelating to power to arrestsaying adequate “safeguards”are provided in it and relevantrecords, including grounds forarrest and the material on thebasis of which the conclusionhas been arrived at, are placedbefore the concerned court forits perusal. The governmenttold the apex court, which ishearing arguments on a batchof petitions concerning theinterpretation of certain pro-visions of the Prevention ofMoney Laundering Act(PMLA), that nothing is “keptconfidential” from the con-cerned court. Solicitor GeneralTushar Mehta, appearing for

the Centre, told a bench head-ed by Justice A M Khanwilkarthat no provision can bequashed merely because itdeviates from Code ofCriminal Procedure (CrPC).

“Please see how manysafeguards are provided insection 19 (of PMLA),” Mehtatold bench, also comprisingJustices Dinesh Maheshwariand C T Ravikumar, whilereferring to Section 19. Section19 of PMLA deals with aspectof power to arrest.

The solicitor general toldbench that validity of Section19 of PMLA has been chal-lenged in the matter on theground that it allegedly violatesArticles 14 (equality beforelaw) and 21 (protection of lifeand personal liberty) ofConstitution.

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The Covid-19 slide contin-ued with India on Tuesday

reporting the lowest daily spikein cases in 662 days at 3,993new infections. The Covidtally has touched 4.29 crorewhile 108 fresh fatalities werereported.

According to the UnionHealth Ministry data, the activecases dipped to 49,948. With108 fresh fatalities, the deathcount climbed to 5,15,210 sofar. “This is the lowest dailyspike in Covid cases in 662days. The last time India'sdaily new cases fell below 4,000was on 15 May 2020, when thecountry recorded 3,967 freshcases.

The daily Covid-19 caseshave remained less than onelakh for 30 consecutive days,and it is the second straight daythe new case count has beenunder 5,000 cases,” said asenior official from the UnionHealth Ministry. The activecases comprise 0.13 per cent ofthe total infections, while thenational COVID-19 recovery

rate has further improved to98.68 per cent, the officialsaid.

The daily positivity ratewas recorded as 0.46 per centwhile the weekly positivity ratewas 0.68 per cent, according tothe ministry. The number ofpeople who have recuperatedfrom the disease surged to4,24,06,150 and the case fatal-ity rate was recorded as 1.20per cent.

The cumulative dosesadministered in the country sofar under the nationwideCovid-19 vaccination drivehas exceeded 179.13 crore.

India's Covid-19 tally hadcrossed the 20-lakh mark onAugust 7, 2020, 30 lakh onAugust 23, 40 lakh onSeptember 5 and 50 lakh onSeptember 16.

It went past 60 lakh onSeptember 28, 70 lakh onOctober 11, crossed 80 lakh onOctober 29, 90 lakh onNovember 20 and surpassedthe one-crore mark onDecember 19. The countrycrossed the grim milestone oftwo crore on May 4 and threecrore on June 23 last year. The

108 new fatalities include 83from Kerala and five fromKarnataka. A total of 5,15,210deaths have been reported sofar in the country including1,43,740 from Maharashtra,

66,263 from Kerala, 39,996from Karnataka, 38,017 fromTamil Nadu, 26,137 fromDelhi, 23,476 from UttarPradesh and 21,180 from WestBengal.

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Embassy of India in Argentina and University Institute ofthe Argentine Federal Police (IUPFA) will be jointly con-

ducting a workshop on Yoga with an aim to promote ancientpractice as a tool to develop physical, mental and emotionalwell-being, incorporating discipline techniques for stress man-agement. University Institute of the Argentine Federal Policestudents, faculty, graduates, and staff; students from School ofCadets and School of NCOs and Agents of the ArgentineFederal Police can participate in this workshop, according toa statement from Union Ayush Ministry. In India a customizedyoga package has been developed for army, air force and navyto tackle high altitude, hot desert and cold desert conditionsand submarine and ship conditions. According to variousresearch, it has been found that asanas and pranayams haveenabled its application in combating stress in soldiers and pro-moting their psycho-physiological fitness, said statement.Though Yoga has been practiced in this part of globe for thelast several years, yet in the last couple of years, interest in yogaand awareness in Indian culture has increased rapidly.

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The massive win scored bythe ruling DMK in Tamil

Nadu in the February 19 elec-tion to the urban local bodiessuffered a setback as aReturning Officer told theMadras High Court onMonday that pressure exertedon him by the ruling party big-wigs led him to commit a fauxpas and declare the loser aswinner.

This was disclosed by theReturning Officer of TKallupatti Town Panchayathin Madurai district. The officerpersonally appeared before theFirst Bench of the MadrasHigh Court consisting of ChiefJustice Munishwar NathBhandati and Justice BharatChakravarti and explainedwhat had happened onFebruary 22 when votes weretaken up for counting.Independent candidate RPalaniselvi and DMK’s KSubbulakshmi polled 284 voteseach and this prompted theReturning Officer to elect thewinner through a draw of lots.

Palaniselvi won the elec-tion as the lot bearing her

name was handpicked by thepolling officer. The StateElection Commissionannounced Palaniselvi as thewinner and made theannouncement through theportal. But within half an hour,matters took a turn for theworse as the Returning Officerdeclared that Subbulakshmi(DMK) was the winner whencasts were drawn.

Palaniselvi, in her writ peti-tion to the Madras High Courtsaid that she was elected win-ner when casts were drawn andthe Returning Officer hadmade the announcement inthis regard. But the SEC web-site removed the results with-in 30 minutes and posted theinformation that Subbulakshmiwas the winner.

The judges examined theCCTV footage of the countingstation in the open court and

the Returning Officer was sum-moned to personally appear inthe court. The RO, who waspresent in the court on Mondaytold that he was underimmense pressure to changethe election results. The Courtasked the RO to file a detailedaffidavit by March 18 statingthe kind pf pressure exerted onhim and the persons con-cerned. Meanwhile the StateElection Commission com-plied with the Court directiveand declared the writ peti-tioner as the winner.

There were widespreadallegations from majorOpposition parties viz theAIADMK, the BJP, the PMKand the Makkal Neethi Maiamthat the ruling dispensationhad engaged in massive mal-practices during the election. DJayakumar, former minister inthe Edappadi Palaniswami-ledAIADMK government wasarrested and sent to jail whenhe caught hold of a historysheeter while impersonating asa voter in a Chennai corpora-tion booth.

The incident has put shad-ow on the impressive victoryregistered by the DMK andallies in the just concludedpolls.

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With the exit polls notshowing a promising

result for the Congress Party inthe just-concluded Assemblyelections in five States, BengalChief Minister MamataBanerjee once again said that itis Bengal (read TrinamoolCongress) that would providea political alternative in Delhiin the days to come.

Addressing a TMC partyconference in Kolkata the ChiefMinister on Tuesday said, “TheBJP is flourishing in Delhi asthere is no alternative there assoon as an alternative is givento the people this party will beobliterated … and rememberpost 2024 it is Bengal that willshow the way for which we willhave to start working fromnow… we will have to create analternative in Delhi the respon-sibility will be with us to pro-vide an alternative to the peo-ple.”

In order to make theTrinamool stronger and moreacceptable Banerjee asked herparty leaders to commence a“Jan Sanyog Yatra (public rela-tions rally) from May 5onwards. “The party leaders

will travel the districts … downto each village if need be theywill sleep on Khatias and winthe people’s trust … listen totheir problems and solve themthis Yatra will continue tillJuly 21 (TMC martyrs’ day)when there will be a big partyconference,” Banerjee saidadding the public relationsexercise would continuethroughout the year.

The Chief Minister alsoattacked the Centre for takinga belated decision on Indiannationals stranded in war-tornUkraine. “The

Government should havetaken a decision six months agothe question is why they failedto take the decision … why fortheir failure thousands ofIndian students will have tosuffer can those in powerreturn their peace of mind …can they restore to them whatthey have lost,” Banerjee said.

During the meetingBanerjee announced a cabinetreshuffle appointing formerUrban Development MinisterChandrima Bhattacharya asthe Finance Minister withIndependent charge and restor-ing the Urban Developmentportfolio to Kolkata Mayor

and Transport Minister FirhadHakim.

As the State’s first womanFinance Minister Bhattacharyawould replace Dr Amit Mitrawho has been indisposed anddid not contest the 2021Assembly elections.

Dr Mitra would howeverfunction as the FinanceAdvisor to the Chief Minister.

Even as experts said thatthe TMC supremo’s commentswere directed at the Congresswhich was fast losing clout inlarge parts of the country,Pradesh Congress presidentAdhir Chowdhury promptlyhit back wondering why theChief Minister had called a 19-party alliance in 2019 thatfinally hit the Congress whichwas the biggest anti-BJP forcethen.

“She will have to answerwhy she spiked the chances ofthe Congress-led alliance bycreating an alternative forumthat dividedthe oppositionvotes in 2021 she will also haveto explain herconduct as an

NDA ally till 2009,”Chowdhury said remindingthe Congress being an all-India party still enjoyed 22 per-cent votes that was next only tothe BJP whereas the TMC hadonly 4 percent votes.

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Former Bengal BJP vice pres-ident and a fierce critic of

Mamata Banerjee --- who waslast month ‘temporarily sus-pended’ from his party --- onTuesday joined the TrinamoolCongress in presence of theChief Minister who promptlyappointed him the State TMCvice president.

Majumdar who had been‘temporarily suspended’ fromhis former party along withformer State general secretaryRitesh Tewari for siding withrebel party leader and UnionMinister Shantanu Thakurimmediately returned thefavour to the Chief Minister bycomparing her with soccerstar Messi.

“I have joined the TMC onthe grounds of Bengali asmita(pride) … here is a womanwho is carrying forward thehonour of Bengal … she isundoubtedly the Messi ofIndian politics and it is worthworking with her,” Majumdar

said.Incidentally, Majumdar

had a closed-door meetingwith BJP MP LocketChatterjee, former State com-mittee leaders Sayantan Basuand Raju Banerjee and Tewarion Monday.

When asked to commenton Majumdar’s joining theTMC, Chatterjee said “I hadtried to convince him yester-day about not taking any hastydecision but he would not lis-ten to this … it seems somepeople join party for theirpersonal benefits … it is goodthat he has left.”

Tewari said he would neverjoin the TMC while both Basuand Raju Banerjee remainedsilent on the issue.

Curiously TrinamoolCongress spokesperson KunalGhosh made a suggestive state-ment saying though he was notprivy to what transpired in theMonday’s meeting “I think it ispossible that some more peo-ple may try to join the TMCbecause the BJP is on its wayout in Bengal.”

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In what was seen as an indi-cation of truce between the

Trinamool Congress’ reformistbrigade and the old guardsTuesday’s party conference sawboth Abhishek Banerjee who isalso Mamata Banerjee’s nephewand poll strategist PrashantKishor sharing the same stagewith the Chief Minister whereshe took a whole lot of organ-siational decisions appointingold timers to various organi-sational posts.

The Chief Minister wentabout announcing her deci-sions while both juniorBanerjee and his pollster friendwatched the proceedings qui-etly.

The party had come to asituation of a vertical split earlythis year after the TMC youthicon Abhishek Banerjee andPrashant Kishor had startedintroducing young faces trig-gering rebellion till down thedistrict level.

So much so that at onepoint of time Kishor and theChief Minister had reportedlyexchanged messages indicatinga formal break up. RegardingTuesday’s development seniorparty leader SudipBandopadhyay said, “The TMChas always been a single unitperforming under the guidanceof Chief Minister Banerjee andit will continue to do so infuture … good that everyone isworking together now.”

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Accusing the ChiefMinister’s Office of trying

to influence the process ofcounting of votes, SamajwadiParty national presidentAkhilesh Yadav said that theelections are the last battle ofdemocracy and there is a needto stand up to save democracy.

“I have definite informa-tion that the Chief Minister'sPrincipal Secretary has askedall district officials to slowdown the counting of voteswhere the BJP is losing,”Akhilesh told mediapersonsin Lucknow Tuesday and evennamed the District Magistrateof Varanasi playing mischief.

The SP chief even saidthat EVMs were taken away bythe officials on the direction oftheir political masters. “Onevehicle carrying EVMs wasapprehended in Varanasi, whiletwo vehicles sped away.

The needle of suspicionpoints towards the DM ofVaranasi as to why no actionwas taken against the persons

who removed the EVMs fromthe custody,” he said.

Akhilesh further said, “Alsothree boxes were seized carry-ing EVM machines and over500 ballot papers were seizedfrom a garbage disposal vehi-cle (UP 25 DT 9166) in Bareilly.The people who caught thevehicle informed Ghoraval'sSDM but the official took noaction. So, it shows that officialsare working on the directionsof the Principal Secretary to theChief Minister.”

The Samajwadi Party chiefappealed to party workers tostage a dharna outside strongrooms where EVMs are kept.“Now the EVMs have to beprotected for the next two

days. Stage a sit on outside thestrong rooms as farmers stageddharna in UP-Delhi border.Save your vote if you have votedfor Samajwadi Party as every-one will have to come forwardto save democracy,” he said.

Earlier, the SamajwadiParty had demanded that jam-mers be installed outsidecounting centres so that no onecould hack the EVMs.

“The BJP can go to anyextent to win the UP polls.They can use technology avail-able under the sky to manipu-late EVMs.

Therefore, our demand isto install jammers so that hack-ing (of EVMs) could be pre-vented,” the SP chief said.

����� ��5*���

Fearing the hacking ofElectronic Voting Machines

(EVMs), State Samajwadi Partypresident Naresh Uttam haswritten to UP Chief ElectoralOfficer to install jammers nearcounting centres and not toallow excessive use of mobilephones there.

Polling for 403 Assemblyseats concluded in the seventhphase on March 7 and thecounting of votes will startfrom 8 am at all voting centresacross the state on March 10.

In a letter to the ElectionCommission of India, Uttamsaid that there was a fear ofhacking of EVMs and thereforeexcessive use of mobile phonesshould not be allowed andjammers be installed there.

The Samajwadi Party hasalso demanded that counting ofvotes should start with postalballots and EVM countingshould be taken up after count-ing of paper ballots is over.

“If the District Magistrates

did not start the process bycounting paper ballots,Samajwadi Party workers willstage dharna at the countingcentres,” he said.

The directives were issuedafter Exit Polls were released byseveral news channels pointingtowards a thumping majority tothe BJP in the just concludedUttar Pradesh Assembly polls.

"Everyone has seen thegatherings at SP rallies, peoplehave seen that Akhilesh Yadavwas able to touch every issueand how people responded tohim. The Exit Polls were anattempt to create a situation tohelp the ruling party to rig thecounting,” Uttam said.

The SP leader further saidthat the party brass has askedall the workers to be on highalert during counting. “Theparty workers are alreadyguarding the locker roomswhere the EVMs have been ineach district,” he said.

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On the occasion ofInternational Women’s

Day on Tuesday, the UPGovernment claimed that spe-cial efforts made by theProsecution Department havenot just helped in jacking upconviction in crimes related towomen but also put UttarPradesh on the top amongst allStates.

Through a communiquéreleased on Sunday, the stategovernment said that the con-viction rate of accused involvedin crimes against women in2019 was 55.2 percent in thecountry except in northeastern states and thehighest was recorded in UttarPradesh.

The conviction rate was

50.6 percent in Uttarakhand,45.5 percent in Rajasthan, 44.7percent in Jharkhand, 32.3 per-cent in Chhattisgarh, 26.5 per-cent in Madhya Pradesh and23.1 percent in Punjab.

It further said that the UPgovernment stressed on moreeffective advocacy in crimesagainst women which yieldedfruitful results.

As a result, in 2020, theconviction rate of accused incrime against women in Indiaexcept northeastern states,Uttar Pradesh clocked the high-est rate of 61.0 percent.

In comparison,Uttarakhand recorded 41.8percent, Rajasthan 47.5 per-cent, Jharkhand 51.0 percent,Bihar 43.9 percent,Chhattisgarh 37.5 percent andMadhya Pradesh 33.2 percent

respectively.It is worth mentioning that

the UP Prosecution depart-ment headed by ADG,Ashutosh Pandey occupies thetop spot in India as perInternational Criminal JusticeSystem (ICJS).

The Prosecution depart-ment also bagged the first prizefor carrying out prosecutionamong the other states of Indiaand was feted by the UnionMinistry of Home Affairs.

Uttar Pradesh is at the topposition across the countrywith more than 70 lakh entriesbeing registered on the e-Prosecution portal.

Madhya Pradesh recorded18 lakh entries and was in thesecond position while Gujaratoccupied the third place with4 lakh entries.

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With a new Government setto be formed after the

counting of votes on March 10,people of Bundelkhand whohave been battling cripplingcrises like water scarcity, finan-cial crunch and even hunger fordecades have high expecta-tions from the new regime.

While the common publicrefrain is that the area did wit-ness a certain amount of infra-structural development, littlewas done to address the agrar-ian crisis even as a large popu-lace is dependent on farmingwhich has been hit by frequentdrought in the region. Despitethe presence of at least seven allweather rivers, the region hasbeen arid and has been affect-ed by 13 droughts in the lasttwo decades. The consequenceof these recurrent calamitieshave been pronounced on the

not-so affluent masses.Professor of Social Work at

Bundelkhand University(Jhansi) Mohammed Naeemopined, “The next governmentwill have to seriously work onrejuvenating traditional waterbodies to cut the costs of farm-ing in the region and makemarkets available so that farm-ers get remunerative prices fortheir produce. This will help inincreasing the per capitaincome of farm-dependentlocals. High deposits of graniterender natural water rechargedifficult in the region and it hasbeen a bane for the locals.Even as the government hasbeen providing free ration tothe poor, the quantity suppliedto each family is much less thantheir need. Shortage of foodbecomes acute for poor familiesin the first three months of ayear before the new crop hitsthe market. I can readily referto the Adivasi colony of

Bhadana where most familiessleep without a proper dinnerin these months. Also, officialspresent on ground zero have tobe more sensitive to these burn-ing problems so that the gov-ernment can formulate andimplement people-centric poli-cies for the region.”

Social worker GopalSahriya has been working inJhansi, Lalitpur and adjoiningareas to alleviate the conditionof the poor families for over adecade now. When asked onthis score, Sahriya said, “Povertyand hunger are realities inBundelkhand which haveadversely affected the purchas-ing power of the common man.The condition is so pitiable thatpoor families munch on driedgrams as vegetables are out oftheir reach. Cattle-rearing hasbeen a traditional occupationhere but due to scarcity of fod-der, most owners let their cat-tle loose, as a result of which

they graze in cornfields, inflict-ing losses to farmers. Suchincidents often lead to dis-putes and even clashes. Thegovernment has to focus onsuch incidents and addressthese problems.”

Principal of Arya KanyaWomen’s College Dr Alka Raihighlighted the lack of indus-tries despite there being vastswathes of land in the region,forcing locals to depend onagriculture.Dr Rai pointed out,“If the state government is seri-ous on improving the plight ofthe masses it has to focus onsetting up industries as there isample barren land. Even a lit-tle industrial development willlead to organised employmentand effectively prevent exodusof poor families to other statesfor employment. In the last fewyears, the seven districts ofBundelkhand have been witnessto large-scale employment-linked exodus and several vil-

lages have become ghost set-tlements. I feel the worst casu-alty in this scenario are childrenwho are deprived of educationdue to displacement and theregion has become home to anarmy of people with little or noeducation. The governmentshould give a serious thoughtto this social problem.”Farmerleader Mahendra Sharma feltthat more than expresswaysand airports, Bundelkhand res-idents needed proper employ-ment and improved form offarming. “Generation ofemployment will translate intowelfare and prosperity of thelocals. Instead of KisanSamman Nidhi, the new regimeshould come up with a packagefor improving farming andimplement welfare schemestransparently. The revenueearned from Bundelkhaand’sabundant natural resourcesshould also be put to use for itsdevelopment to turn a new leaf.

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Despite Covid infectionbeing on the ebb, at least

nine people died of the viraldisease, 105 fresh cases werereported and 326 patientsrecovered across UttarPradesh in the last 24 hours.

Additional ChiefSecretary (Health) AmitMohan Prasad said inLucknow on Tuesday that 1.10lakh samples were tested in aday and 105 new Covid caseswere reported.

A maximum of 15 caseswere reported from GautamBudh Nagar (Noida), followedby 13 in Lucknow and 12 inGhaziabad. He said that nonew cases were reported in 45districts in the last 24 hours,indicating that the viral infec-tion was on the ebb.

“Of the nine people whodied of Covid in the last 24hours, 2 deaths each werereported from Hardoi andAmbedkar Nagar, while otherdeaths were reported fromBasti, Gonda, Moradabad, RaeBareli and Shrawasti,” he said.

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On International Women'sDay on Tuesday, Chief

Minister Yogi Adityanath calledupon educational institutionsto become a medium of theGovernment schemes' imple-mentation.

“A society or class lagsbehind when it is not aware ofthe system and schemes of thegovernment. Therefore,schools, colleges and universi-ties will have to become themedium of implementing gov-ernment schemes because thestudents coming out of theseinstitutions will implementthese schemes some time infuture,” Yogi said while address-ing a seminar organized onInternational Women's Day at

Mahayogi GorakhnathUniversity on Tuesday.

The BJP leader said thatthis year's theme on WorldWomen's Day is 'GenderEquality for a SustainableTomorrow'. “You would besurprised to know to whatextent women had to fight fortheir rights across the globe. Inseveral countries, women didnot have the right to vote.There have been movements inall countries of the worldregarding this. But from theday elections started in India,women got the right to vote.India's first general election washeld in 1952 and women weregiven the right to franchisewithout any discrimination.

However in many coun-tries, like in England, women

got the right to vote after India.This implies that there isalready a sense of equality forwomen in India,” the ChiefMinister said.

“When India adopted itsConstitution, its sentiment wasthat no one would discriminateagainst any person on the basis

of caste, religion, creed, sex orlanguage. Equality and liber-ty are the souls of theConstitution of India. Despiteall this, this process may nothave progressed that well.Therefore, we talk about aware-ness so that people shouldhave information about theschemes related to the welfareof women and all sections ofthe society,” he said.

Yogi Adityanath, who isalso Chancellor of MahayogiGorakhnath University, saidthat security, respect and self-reliance would pave the way forwomen empowerment. “WhenModi ji became the PrimeMinister in 2014, he intro-duced 'Beti Padhao, BetiBachao' scheme. Under theSwachh Bharat Mission, 2.61

crore families were given toi-lets, which is also related to thedignity and respect of women.Under the Ujjwala scheme,1.67 crore poor families wereprovided with LPG gas.Through Pradhan Mantri AwasYojana, women were given theright of ownership of houses byproviding them with morethan 43.50 lakh houses,” hesaid.

On this occasion, Vice-Chancellor of MahayogiGorakhnath University, Prof.UP Singh, Registrar Dr.Pradeep Rao, Director ofAIIMS Gorakhpur Prof.Surekha Kapoor, Principal ofAyurveda College Dr. T. Suresh,Principal of Nursing CollegeDr. GS Ajita, Prof. ShobhaGaur were present.

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Even as the majority of ExitPolls predicted a poor show

by Congress candidates in thejust-concluded Assembly polls,Congress general secretaryPriyanka Gandhi Vadra, how-ever, appeared to be satisfiedwith the partymen saying thatthey fought hard.

In Lucknow to lead amarch under her party's cam-paign - 'Ladki Hoon, Lad SaktiHoon' in Uttar Pradesh,Priyanka reacting to Exit Pollssaid, “We fought as hard as wecould. We will wait and see theresults.”

Meanwhile Congress lead-ers claimed that Priyanka had

shed the maximum sweatamong top leaders for over thelast 45 days for the seven-phase UP Assembly electioncampaign.

“Despite the Exit Polls notmaking an encouraging pre-diction for the grand old party,Priyanka Gandhi held the max-imum number of 209 ralliesand roadshows during elec-tioneering starting mid-January to enhance the party’spoll prospects.

If the number of ralliesheld by a party and its leadersis any indication of their efforts,Chief Minister Yogi Adityanathalmost matched Priyanka’s elec-toral efforts by holding 203 ral-lies and roadshows, but still fell

short of efforts made by heralone,” senior UP Congressleaders claimed.

While Priyanka led herparty from the front in a bid toregain its lost ground, herefforts were supplemented onlyby a virtual rally by her moth-er and Congress chief SoniaGandhi when she addressed avirtual rally for party candi-dates in the fray from variousAssembly segments of her LokSabha constituency - RaeBareli.

Priyanka’s brother and for-mer Congress chief RahulGandhi too made only guestappearances addressing barelytwo rallies — one in Amethiand the other in Varanasi.

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academician who was sadlyconsumed by his own intellectto an extent that he cut him-self from reality, politics andpower structures that areneeded to control Afghanistan.The insecure politician inGhani reconfirmed the time-less wont of empty talk as hespent the last few weeks beforeabandoning Afghanistanthundering that he’d “fight tothe death”! Apparently, Ghanihad reconfirmed his suppos-edly resolute intent to USSecretary of State AntonyBlinken just the night beforehe fled unheroically, leavinghis people to their fate. Unlikealmost all other Afghan lead-ers who had taken to the gunat some stage in Afghanistan’sbloody history, Ghani was anacademician-turned-politicianand not a professional of arms.His own deputy, AmrullahSaleh, a former Mujahideenfighter and later spymaster,had slammed Ghani’s cow-ardice as “disgraceful”. Naturally,the likes of Saleh remain the lastfew vestiges of hope in the fight-back against the Taliban. Notonly had Ghani, to use theAmerican phrase, ‘cut and runbut had apparently done so,even more despicably, withstashes of money. He willspend the rest of his life justi-fying his ignoble actions invain as the history is alreadywritten on this one.

Merits of the debatableRussian-Ukrainian positionsaside — contrast the person-al leadership styles as current-ly exhibited in Kiev byUkrainian PresidentVolodymyr Zelenskiy withthat of Ghani earlier. Like thenon-military man in Ghani,Zelenskiy, too, is a civilianpolitician with a past in theentertainment industry andbusiness. He too is personal-ly up against a formidableenemy in Vladimir Putin butthe difference in resistance andfightback is palpable. Despiteemerging as the singularlymost sought-after target in theensuing battlefield of Kiev,Zelenskiy’s turning down ofthe offer from the US to evac-uate with the statement, “Thefight is here; I need ammuni-tion, not a ride”, is starkly dif-ferent from Ghani’s. Theimpact of such leadership isobvious as, unlike the surrealand complete capitulationseen in Kabul last year, Kievhas put up an unbelievablefight against Russian might.Announcement of Putin’s ‘spe-cial military operation’ inUkraine has been anything buta walk in the park, and large-ly so owing to the characterdisplayed by the Ukrainianleadership so far.

The Russians themselvesare conversant with their ownsuper-heroic spirit of never-

say-die with the 872-day siegeof Leningrad (St Petersburg)— ironically by the Nazis,who were incredulously re-invoked by no less than Putinin Ukraine today. Hitler’s‘Operation Barbarossa’ hadalso entailed a surprise inva-sion with a dastardly intent todestroy and starve the enemyinto submission, but the inde-fatigable human spirit andhistory of the Russiansdeemed otherwise.

However, many autocratswho spew brave words whenin power cut a sorry figurewhen exposed to the brutal-ity of war. Iraq’s SaddamHussein who had famouslywarned of “mother of all bat-tles” was ultimately pulled outbedraggled from a holewhereas his even more the-atrical co-dictator in Libya,Muammar Gaddafi, waspulled out of a drainage pipe.Both had fled after insistingthat they wouldn’t. Reality iswar talk is always cheap —actual war isn’t. It was not soin Leningrad, Iraq, Libya ornow in Ukraine. Leaders whoposture political muscularityoften aren’t, they are usuallythe first to cut and run.

(The writer, a militaryveteran, is a former LtGovernor of Andaman &Nicobar Islands andPuducherry. The viewsexpressed are personal.)

������������� ���� ����Sir — BSP Chief Mayawati has exhort-ed the voters to vote for a Governmentthat takes care of all sections of the soci-ety and appealed to install an ‘ironGovernment’. The BSP has been main-taining a low-key presence in the UPAssembly election. Virtually, there isstraight fight between the BJP and SP.The Congress has ceased to be a force toreckon with despite UP being the nativeState of the Nehru-Gandhi family. RahulGandhi suffering defeat in Amethi andsimultaneously contesting in Wayanad toenter Parliament bears testimony to theCongress gradually losing ground in itsnative State.

People are aware that during herregime, Mayawati had spent crores ofrupees to erect her own statue and stat-ues of her party symbol, the elephant. Itwas alleged Mayawati had spent �2,000crore for erection of the statues from theState budget of 2008-09 and 2009-10 atparks in Lucknow and Noida. Shedefended her move by saying that it wasin deference to the wishes of the peopleof the State. A Government should sit likea rock and work like a clock. But manyof the Governments have sat like rock butnot worked like clock.

KV Seetharamaiah | Bengaluru

��������������� �� �Sir — The CBI has at last arrested for-mer MD of NSE Chitra Ramkrishnaand her confidant Anand Subramanianin a case registered in May 2018. It isalleged that a Himalayan yogi hadbeen controlling her and directing herto follow his advice in taking decisionsrelating to NSE. All secrets were alleged-ly shared with the yogi by Chitra for rea-sons best known to her. It is said thatChitra is refusing to name the mysticwho induced her to commit such crim-inal acts. The height of comedy is thatChitra has feigned ignorance of a per-son like Anand Subramanian!

It is paramount that the CBI ekesout the name of the Himalayan yogifrom the rogue CEO and exposes allwho were hand-in-glove with Chitra in

committing such a serious fraud. Onereally wonders what the Board Membersof NSE were doing when such illegalactivities were being carried out. All thiscould not have happened without thepatronage of an influential and power-ful politician. The CBI should prove itsgenuineness by probing the case thor-oughly and expose all culprits involvedin this national crime-cum-shame irre-spective of the positions they held ear-lier/hold now.

Tharcius S Fernando | Chennai

������������� ������ ������� Sir — The just-concluded Test matchsaw that all-rounders Ravinder Jadejaand Ravichandran Ashwin came outtrumps with a superior show with bothbat and ball. Jadeja in his Test comebackmade 175 not out and captured ninewickets to become the ‘Man of theMatch’ for the Mohali match.Ravichandran Ashwin returned to inter-national scene after a month’s rest and

hit a purple patch by scoring 61 runsand getting six wickets to increase histally of wickets to 436 and, in theprocess, surpassed Richard Hadlee,Rengana Herath and Kapil Dev. Thenext to surpass is Dale Steyn of SouthAfrica.

Thus, Ashwin is number two Indianbowler after Anil Kumble with 619wickets. It is a tough fight between thestrike bowlers. Both Ashwin and Jadejaare vying for top honours for the bestall-rounder spot. If Jadeja is a bowler towatch out with variety, Ashwin is toogood with his wiles and guiles andaccounted for over 200 left-handed bats-men in his career. In the Mohali Test,he accounted for Thirumane in both theinnings and got the prize scalp of firstinnings top-scorer Pathum Nissanka. Itis indeed a healthy competition.

CK Subramaniam | Navi Mumbai

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American bravado insists,‘Marines don’t cut andrun’ — but they werevirtually made to, very

recently in Afghanistan. They leftrather unceremoniously at night,unannounced and after puttingout the lights! After 20 years,thousands of lives lost and an esti-mated $2 trillion burnt, theperennial battleground since thetime of Alexander the Great out-lasted and out-fatigued the mostpowerful military in the world.US Marines, who pride them-selves as ‘The Few, The Proud,The Marines’, may not have per-sonally thrown in the proverbialtowel but their national leader-ship had had enough, political-ly, psychologically and financial-ly. The last American soldier toleave Afghanistan was ‘Flatliner’or Maj Gen Chris Donahue —the forlorn image of him infatigues, helmet and carrying arifle with night-vision optics,stepping onto the transporter air-craft was captured for posterity.A poignant moment for theGeneral of the 82nd AirborneDivision who had himself insist-ed on the ethos of his Divisionwhere ‘Leaders jump first, eatlast. Always’. He may have welladded about truly inspirationalleaders that they are also expect-ed to be ‘the last to leave’.

However, that is not so forpolitical leaders, often. BothPresident Joe Biden (who execut-ed the withdrawal) and his pre-decessor, Donald Trump (whohad inked the withdrawal agree-ment), were amongst the minor-ity 17 of the total 46 Presidentsof United States of America todate who had not served in themilitary. Usually, military folksdon’t like the idea of ‘withdraw-al’ without achieving objectives,and it was the same discomfortagainst the abrupt withdrawal ofUS troops from Syria-Turkeyborder by Donald Trump thatled to his ‘Veteran’ DefenseSecretary James Mattis to final-ly bite the bullet and tender hisresignation. For a professionalcombatant who had made hisreputation as a revered warrior,retreat was dishonourable.

One contrasting leader in theland of wars was former AfghanPresident Ashraf Ghani — an

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allocation of �100 crores. In orderto ensure equitable access to school-ing and enhance the quality of edu-cation, the Union Budget 2018-19introduced three additional schemesunder ‘Samgra Shiksha,’ namely,Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA),Rashtriya Madhyamik ShikshaAbhiyan (RMSA), and TeacherEducation (TE).

These schemes emphasize gen-der-equal access to general educa-tion and vocational training withimproved teaching staff. The strongfocus on enhancing the educationand participation of girl children iswhat makes all these schemes socrucial for women’s empowerment.Classes on self-defense training forgirls and providing stipends to girlsin upper primary to higher sec-ondary education and its alignmentwith the ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’scheme are additional gender-equi-table provisions. Increasing women’sgeneral and technical educationcan improve their access to employ-ment opportunities.

In addition to enhancing thescope for women’s education, acredit-linked subsidy scheme,Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana(PMAY), has been introduced toencourage female ownership ofhouses in rural and urban areas.Predominantly, women’s owner-ship of land and assets has beenrestrained due to patriarchal socialnorms that require male familymembers to own properties, there-fore, limiting women’s intrahousehold bargaining power and increas-ing dependence on male members.PMAY mandates ownership ofhouses in the name of womenheads of households unless noadult female member is present inthe family.

The Ministry of Housing andUrban Affairs’ report onTransforming Urban Landscape-Empowering Women throughPMAY(U) highlighted the casestudies of 35 women across Indian

states who described their experi-ence of increased attainment ofsocial protection and integrity dueto ownership of homes. Improvedaccess to sanitation facilities result-ing from the construction of prop-er toilets and ensured water supplyhave boosted women’s self-esteemand helped them gain a sense ofsecurity through the PMAY scheme.

These new women-specificschemes are some gender-basedinterventions that can help increasewomen’s educational participation,secure women’s asset ownershiprights, and boost the female laborforce participation rate (FLFPR).According to the Periodic LabourForce Survey (PLFS), the ruralFLFPR has increased from 18.2 percent during 2017-18 to 19.7 percent in 2018-19. Furthermore, therural FLFPR has risen to 24.7 percent during 2019-20. The urbanFLFPR has shown an increasingtrend, rising from 15.9 per cent in2017-2018 to 16.1 per cent in2018-19 and increasing to 18.5 percent during 2019-20. Despite therise in FLFPR over 2017-2020, asubstantial gender gap in employ-ment exists even today.

The traditional rural job guar-antee scheme, Mahatma GandhiNational Rural EmploymentGuarantee Act (MGNREGA), hasintroduced some gender-sensitiveprovisions,such as including a quotanecessitating women laborers to beat least one-third of the total partic-ipants, providing childcare facilitiesat works ites and equal wages tomen and women workers. However,the scheme is inadequate at address-ing socio-cultural barriers such asconservative norms regarding con-fining women’s mobility andemployment. Further more, thebudgetary allocation for MGNRE-GA has been reduced by 25.5 percent from the revised estimates of� 98,000 crore in financial year (FY)2021-22 to budget estimates of �73,000 crore in FY 2022-23. The fall

in fund allocation will adversely hitrural workers who depend on theMGNREGA scheme for their liveli-hoods. The reduction in resourceswill also be detrimental to achiev-ing gender equality and inclusivedevelopment.

Besides, there is a considerablegap in education between male andfemale persons. Per the PLFS (2017-18), the literacy rate in both ruraland urban areas is higher amongmales than females, and the gendergap in education is much more pro-nounced in rural India. In 2017-18,the literacy rate was 64.5 per cent forrural females compared to 80.7 percent for rural males. In 2019-20, theliteracy rate for rural females mar-ginally increased to 66.3 per cent,and rural male literacy was 82.2 percent. The gap between male andfemale literacy rates and employ-ment levels reinforces the disadvan-taged position of women in Indiansociety.

Beyond this, another aspectthat profoundly impacts women’slives is the gender gap in politicalrepresentations at various levels ofthe Indian political system.According to the ElectionCommission of India, in 1967, only6 per cent of women were membersof the Indian Parliament. In 2019,women’s representation in politicaldecision-making bodies increasedas 14.4 per cent of women becamemembers of Parliament.

Higher representation ofwomen in political decision-mak-ing positions can help increasewomen’s autonomy in their familiesand economy. This would leadmore families to encourageincreased enrolment of women inhigher education, thereby expand-ing economic opportunities forwomen. The presence of womenpolitical leaders can improve socialoutcomes by creating gender-sen-sitive policies,which can addresswomen’s needs and voice their concerns.

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The gender budgeting approachincludes an assessment of govern-ment expenditure through a gen-der lens such that fiscal spending

can adequately meet the needs of both menand women. The Organisation forEconomic Co-operation and Development(OECD) defines “gender budgeting as inte-grating a clear gender perspective withinthe overall context of the budget process,through the use of special processes andanalytical tools, with a view to promotinggender-responsive policies.”

Gender budgeting efforts have beenundertaken in several developed anddeveloping countries. It is an essential toolthat helps to correct gender inequities andensure women’s socio-economic develop-ment. Per the United Nations, India has seta leading instance of integrating gender intofiscal policy to address gender disparities.A 2021 article published in WorldDevelopment, by Chowdhury, Parida, andAgarwal Goel suggests that the gender bud-geting policy has improved women’s over-all well-being and has helped to serve asinsurance against death from flood disas-ters. Based on empirical findings, the studyconcluded that a greater expenditure ongender budgeting could help to reduce gen-der-based vulnerability to floods. Therefore,it is imperative for the government to pre-pare gender-responsive actions, leading toa zero-disaster mortality rate.

At the national level, the Eighth FiveYear Plan (1992-97) highlighted the neces-sity for directing funds and benefits fromdifferent development sectors to women.Later, the Ninth Five YeaR Plan (1997-2002)stated that at least 30 percent of public fundsand benefits should be designated forwomen’s development. This led to theNational Policy for the Empowerment ofWomen in 2001. Finally, in 2005, a genderbudget statement was introduced withcommitments to budgetary allocationsfor financing women-focused public interventions.

Gender budget has been divided intotwo major components: part A involvesspending for 100 per cent women-specif-ic programmes, and part B incorporatesspending on social security programmeswhere at least 30 per cent of the allocationis directed to women. In 2022-23, BudgetEstimates reveal that �1,71,006.47crore hasbeen allocated for women-specific pro-grammes combining parts A and B of theGender Budget.This shows a 11.53 per centrise from �1,53,326.28 crore budgetary allo-cation in 2021-22. Although the focus ofgender budgeting varies across Indianstates, the principal objective is to improvewomen’s education, employment, and wel-fare and create state infrastructure tofacilitate women’s social and economicempowerment.

A new women-centric scheme, ‘BetiBachao, Beti Padhao’, implemented by theMinistry of Women and ChildDevelopment, was introduced in UnionBudget 2014-15 with an initial budgetary

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(Dr.Joyita RoyChowdhury, Assistant

Professor of Economics,FLAME University; Ms.

Arushi Bhasin, Economicsand Public Policy

Candidate, FLAMEUniversity; Dr.YashobantaParida, Assistant Professor

of Economics, Pune. The views expressed

are personal.)

Russia’s ‘invasion of itsneighbour Ukraine’ onFebruary 24 has brought

to the fore once again theurgent need for UnitedNations reform and the needfor an international body toplay its proper role. Theworld is facing a possiblenuclear conflict today.

Whatever may be the rea-son, Russian PresidentVladimir Putin, despite thecoordinated sanctions of thewest, is sitting pretty presidingover a $600 billion war chest.

External Affairs Minister SJaishankar summed up onFebruary 19 that the conflict“derives from the post-Sovietpolitics, the expansion ofNATO, the dynamics betweenRussia and Europe, and Russiaand the West broadly.”

Ironically Russian envoy

Vassily Nebenzias was presid-ing over an emergency meetingof the Security Council in NewYork on February 24 whenPutin announced Russia’sassault on Ukraine. He called it‘a special military operation’. Asexpected, Russia blocked theresolution to condemn itsaggression.

UN has rarely imposedsanctions on the SecurityCouncil members. As a perma-nent member, Russia did notface any UN sanctions inChechnya in 1999, Georgia in2008, and Crimea in 2014.Two other permanent mem-bers, the US and the UnitedKingdom did not face sanc-tions when they invaded Iraqin 2003. There have been otherinstances also.

Ukraine has questionedthe legality of Russia’s member-

ship in the UN SecurityCouncil. In 1991, most Sovietrepublics signed the Alma AtaProtocol agreeing that Russiawould take over the USSR’s seatas a Permanent member. NowUkraine says it was the USSRand not Russia, which was amember, and is asking forrecords to show how Russia isa member today.

China also would not liketo raise this question. TheNationalist government of the

Republic of China initially heldthe SC seat. The ChineseCommunist Party-controlledmainland China and estab-lished the People’s republic ofChina while the ROC retreat-ed to Taiwan in 1949. IN 1971UN recognized the PRC andgave it the security council seat.

After Russia’s blocking theresolution, the UN adopted the“Uniting for Peace” resolutionmodel from 1950, which hadbeen invoked only ten timesbefore. On last Wednesday,most members (141) voted infavor, demanding that Russia“immediately, completely andunconditionally” withdraw itsmilitary forces from Ukraine.

Unable to control Putin, afrustrated UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterresthrew up his arms and said ina statement, “End hostilities in

Ukraine - now. Silence theguns - now”.

The problem is that thereis no unanimity among the P5to remove Russia. While somemembers of the US Congressare in favor, the White Houseis not considering such a step.“We don’t see that happening,”spokeswoman Jen Psaki said ata news conference when askedabout Ukraine’s request toremove Russia. She clarifiedthat “we are not consideringtaking steps that would put usin direct conflict with Russia.”

In such a situation, mem-ber countries, particularly thoseplugging for SC expansion,have intensified their demandfor speeding up the reforms.

Conflicts like the presentUkraine crisis revives whetherthe UN has been relevant ornot. The pro-reform lobby

argues that today’s UN is huge-ly different from the UnitedNations of 77 years ago. Fromjust 51 countries in 1945, theUN membership has grown to193 today. They argue that theUNSC is increasingly becom-ing irrelevant to match therealities of the 21st-centuryworld. Members seek theexpansion of SC to be morerepresentative and inclusive.

The UN has not been effec-tive in overseeing the multi-lat-eral system for many reasons.For instance, the P5 countriesescape any sanctions evenwhen they violate internation-al law. The UN came intobeing to prevent conflicts andwar, yet over 80 conflicts haveemerged since its inception.

Under its watch, severalauthoritarian rulers have usedconventional weapons against

innocent citizens. UN is alsofacing a resource crunchbecause members, includingthe US, do not pay their con-tribution in time.

However, UN supportersbelieve that the world body hasserved its purpose by and large.The very fact that it has sur-vived despite the ups anddowns shows it has performedwithin the restraints. Most ofall, there has been no nuclearwar in the past 77 years.However, the Ukraine conflictmakes it dangerous with Putinthreatening to use Russia’snuclear power.

Perhaps it is time that theUN will speed up its reformprocess to make it more effective. It needs more teethand sufficient funds to play its role as an influential international body.

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(The writer is a senior journalist. The views

expressed are personal.)

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Pakistan's Opposition partieson Tuesday submitted a

no-confidence motion againstPrime Minister Imran Khan toremove him from office after

holding his governmentresponsible for the uncon-trolled inflation, promptinghim to dismiss the move andflaunt his closeness to the pow-erful army.

The motion, signed byabout 100 lawmakers from the

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and PakistanPeoples Party (PPP), was sub-mitted with the NationalAssembly Secretariat, PML-Nspokesperson MarriyumAurangzeb said.

"We have taken this deci-sion for the people of Pakistanand not for ourselves," PML-Npresident and Leader of theOpposition Shehbaz Sharif,who was flanked by formerpresident and PPP co-chair-man Asif Ali Zardari andJamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl(JUI-F) chief Maulana FazlurRehman, told a press confer-ence.

As per rules, signatures ofat least 68 Members ofParliament were required toforce the Speaker to summona session, which should beconvened between three toseven days to conduct a vote ona no-confidence motion.

In the house of 342, theopposition needed the sup-port of 172 members to removethe Prime Minister and his cab-inet. Khan, 69, is heading acoalition government and hecan be removed if some of thepartners decide to switch sides,which is not unusual in par-liamentary democracies.Reacting to the oppositionmove, Prime Minister Khansaid that the country's power-ful army was with him and hewas confident that the gov-ernment was not going any-where.

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Buses packed with peoplefleeing the Russian invasion

in Ukraine left two embattledcities along safe corridorsTuesday, while officials said theexodus of refugees from thecountry reached 2 million.

The Russian onslaught hastrapped people inside besiegedcities that are running low onfood, water and medicine amidthe biggest ground war inEurope since World War II.

Previous attempts to leadcivilians to safety have crum-bled with renewed attacks. Buton Tuesday, video posted byUkrainian officials showedbuses packed with people mov-ing along a snowy road fromthe eastern city of Sumy andothers leaving the besiegedsouthern port of Mariupol.

It was not clear how longthe effort would last. “TheUkrainian city of Sumy wasgiven a green corridor, thefirst stage of evacuation began,”the Ukrainian state communi-cations agency tweeted.

Those buses are headed toother cities in Ukraine, butmany people have chosen toflee the country instead.

Safa Msehli, a spokesper-son for the UN's InternationalOrganisation for Migration,tweeted that 2 million havenow fled the country, includingat least 100,000 people who arenot Ukrainian.

With the invasion well intoits second week, Russian troopshave made significant advancesin southern Ukraine but stalledin some other regions.Ukrainian soldiers and volun-

teers fortified the capital, Kyiv,with hundreds of checkpointsand barricades designed tothwart a takeover.

A steady rain of shells androckets fell on other populationcentres, including the Kyivsuburb of Bucha, where themayor reported heavy artilleryfire.

“We can't even gather upthe bodies because the shellingfrom heavy weapons doesn'tstop day or night,” MayorAnatol Fedoruk said. “Dogs arepulling apart the bodies on thecity streets. It's a nightmare.” Inone of the most desperatecities, Mariupol, an estimated200,000 people — nearly halfthe population of 430,000 —hoped to flee.

Russia's coordination cen-tre for humanitarian efforts inUkraine and Ukrainian DeputyPrime Minister IrynaVereshchuk both said a cease-fire was agreed to start Tuesdaymorning to allow some civil-ians to evacuate, but it was notclear where all the corridorswould lead to, amid disagree-ment between the two sides.

Russia's coordination cen-tre suggested there would bemore than one corridor, butthat most would lead to Russia,either directly or throughBelarus.

At the UN, however, theRussian ambassador suggestedcorridors from several citiescould be opened and peoplecould choose for themselveswhich direction they wouldtake.

Vereshchuk, meanwhile,only said that the two sides hadagreed to an evacuation of

civilians from the eastern cityof Sumy, toward the Ukrainiancity of Poltava. Those to beevacuated include foreign stu-dents from India and China,she said.

She reiterated that propos-als to evacuate civilians toRussia and its ally Belarus,which was a launch pad for theinvasion, were unacceptable.

Later, Ukrainian presiden-tial aide Kyrylo Tymoshenkoposted a video of yellow buseswith a red cross plastered onthe side that he said showedevacuations from Mariupoltoward the city ofZaporizhzhia.

He said that humanitarianaid was also being sent in toMariupol.

Demands for effective pas-sageways have surged amidintensifying shelling by Russianforces. The steady bombard-ments, including in some ofUkraine's most populatedregions, have yielded a human-itarian crisis of diminishingfood, water and medical sup-plies.

Through it all, UkrainianPresident VolodymyrZelenskyy said Ukrainianforces were showing unprece-dented courage.

“The problem is that forone soldier of Ukraine, wehave 10 Russian soldiers, andfor one Ukrainian tank, wehave 50 Russian tanks,”Zelenskyy told ABC News inan interview that aired Mondaynight.

But he noted that the gapin strength was closing and thateven if Russian forces “comeinto all our cities,” they will be

met with an insurgency.A top US official said mul-

tiple countries were discussingwhether to provide the war-planes that Zelenskyy has beenpleading for.

The besieged city ofMariupol was short on water,food and power, and cellphonenetworks are down.

Stores have been looted asresidents search for essentialgoods.

Police moved through thecity, advising people to remainin shelters until they heard offi-cial messages broadcast overloudspeakers to evacuate.

Hospitals in Mariupol arefacing severe shortages ofantibiotics and painkillers, anddoctors performed some emer-gency procedures withoutthem.

The lack of phone serviceleft anxious citizens approach-ing strangers to ask if they

knew relatives living in otherparts of the city and whetherthey were safe.

The battle for Mariupol iscrucial because its capturecould allow Moscow to estab-lish a land corridor to Crimea,which Russia seized fromUkraine in 2014.

Several hundred kilometers(miles) west of Mariupol,Russian forces continued theiroffensive in Mykolaiv, openingfire on the Black Sea ship-building centre of a half-mil-lion people, according toUkraine's military. Rescuerssaid they were putting out firescaused by rocket attacks in res-idential areas.Ukraine's gener-

al staff of the armed forces saidin a statement Tuesday thatUkrainian forces are continu-ing defense operations in thesuburbs of the city. The gen-eral staff said “demoralised”Russian forces are engaging inlooting in places they haveoccupied, commandeeringcivilian buildings like farmhangars for military equip-ment, and are setting up firingpositions in populated areas.The claims could not be inde-pendently verified.

Ukrainian defense forceswere also involved in opera-tions in the northern city ofChernihiv and the outskirts ofKyiv, the general staff said.

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The Israeli military said onTuesday ithas demolished

the homes of two Palestiniansaccused of carrying out a dead-ly shooting attack in the occu-pied West Bank last year.

The residences ofMohammed Jaradat and JitJaradat in the WestBank weredemolished Monday, the mil-itary said. The men areaccused of shooting at a car dri-ving near the outpost ofHomesh, killing a Jewish sem-inary student and woundingtwo others. During the demo-lition, the military said armedPalestinians fired at the troops,who fired back.

The military also saiddozens of Palestinians threwrocks, firebombs and grenadesat the troops who respondedwith live fire and other means.There were no immediatereports of injuries. Israeli offi-cials say home demolitionsdeter future attacks, whilerights groups view the tactic asa form of collective punish-ment. The demolitions camehours after a Palestinianstabbed two police officers inJerusalem's Old City before hewas shot and killed by thepolice.

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The UN human rights chiefsaid on Tuesday that her

office and China's governmenthave reached an agreement forher to visit in May the westernregion of Xinjiang, wherehuman

rights groups and Westerngovernments have alleged thatgenocide and other crimes arebeing carried out against thepredominantly Muslim minor-ity group known as Uyghurs.

Michelle Bachelet, the UNHigh Commissioner forHuman Rights, told theHuman Rights Council byvideo message that she waspleased to announce the visitand that concrete preparationshave begun.

She said the Chinese gov-ernment has also accepted thevisit of an advance team fromher office next month “to pre-pare my stay in China, includ-ing on-site visits to Xinjiangand other places.”

Bachelet has talked abouthoping to visit Xinjiang near-ly since she took office in2018. Her office has also beencompiling a long-awaited --and much-delayed -- reportinto alleged human rights abus-es in the region.

Separately, Human Rights

Watch said a total of 195human rights groups in anopen letter released Tuesday arecalling on Bachelet to “urgent-ly” release the report on“Chinese government rightsviolations targeting Uyghursand other Turkic communities.”

Diplomats in Geneva havesaid the report has been ready- or very close to it - formonths. Speaking to the rightscouncil on Thursday, GermanForeign Minister AnnalenaBaerbock called on Bachelet'soffice to release the report.

Human rights groups andothers have focused much oftheir criticism on what they calldetention centers set up by theChinese government forUyghurs and others in theregion.

Beijing says the sites arevocational training centersaimed at helping improve eco-nomic fortunes and counteractbouts of extremist violence inXinjiang.

“Human rights groupshave become increasinglyconcerned that the UNhuman rights office has stillnot published its long-await-ed report on Xinjiang, even asthe atrocity crimes pile up,”said Kenneth Roth, executivedirector of Human RightsWatch.

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Eleven Indian fishermenwere released on Tuesday

on the instructions from alocal court, a month after theywere arrested by the Sri LankanNavy for allegedly poaching inthe country's territorial waters,officials said.

The fishermen were arrest-ed by the Sri Lankan Navy onFebruary 7 near the DelftIsland in the north. Their threefishing trawlers were alsoseized. The fishermen werecharged for bottom trawling.

"11 Indian fishermendetained in Jaffna prison werereleased by the Kayts courttoday. The consulate in Jaffnaprovided them with the legalassistance by representing theircase in the court and facilitat-ed their early release," theConsulate General of India inJaffna, Raakesh NatrajJayabhaskaran, tweeted.

They have been releasedwith one-and-a-half-years jailsentences suspended for 10years, J Sudakaran, theAssistant Director of FisheriesJaffna, told PTI.

"On May 27, there will beanother inquiry by the court onthe three boats," Sudakaranadded.

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At least three persons werekilled and nearly 30 oth-

ers injured on Tuesday in ablast in Sibi distr ict ofPakistan's troubled south-western Balochistan province,police said.

The medical superinten-dent of the district hospital ofSibi confirmed that threebodies were shifted to themedical facility after theexplosion near Thandi Sarakin Sibi district, Geo Newsreported.

Police said that 29 injuredwere rushed to the districthospital.

No one immediatelyclaimed responsibility for theattack.

Balochistan, borderingIran and Afghanistan, is hometo a long-running violentinsurgency. Baloch insurgentgroups have previously car-ried out several attacks tar-geting the China-PakistanEconomic Corridor (CPEC)projects and security person-nel in the region.

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The United States and 10other countries on Monday

condemned North Korea's lat-est ballistic missile launch andurged the UN Security Councilto respond, saying its inactionerodes the credibility of theUN's most powerful body andundermines global efforts to pre-vent the proliferation of nuclearweapons.

US Ambassador LindaThomas-Greenfield read a state-ment from the 11 countriesafter a closed Security Councilbriefing on North Korea's 11thballistic missile launch sincethe beginning of the year onSaturday, which was detected byits neighbours.

Experts say the launches arean attempt to add new weaponssystems to the North's arsenaland pressure the United Statesinto making concessions amidstalled diplomacy.

The 11 countries —Albania, Australia, Brazil,France, Ireland, Japan, NewZealand, Norway, South Korea,United Kingdom, and UnitedStates — said they remain com-mitted “to seeking serious andsustained diplomacy” with

Democratic People's Republic ofKorea, the country's officialname.

They said the United Statesand others have repeatedlyoffered dialogue without pre-conditions. But they said theDPRK has chosen to increase itsballistic missile launches in vio-lation of Security Council reso-lutions and international law,“instead of embarking on apath of diplomacy and de-esca-lation.” The 11 countries calledon all 15 Security Council mem-bers “to speak with one voice incondemning these dangerousand unlawful acts.” Thomas-Greenfield responded to a ques-tion asking about the failure ofveto-wielding council membersChina and Russia to support thestatement. “We would love tohave had China and Russia joinus in this group,” she said.

The Security Council ini-tially imposed sanctions onNorth Korea after its first nucleartest in 2006 and toughenedthem after further nuclear testsand launches from its increas-ingly sophisticated ballistic mis-sile program. Former US ambas-sador to the United NationsNikki Haley said in 2018 that thesanctions had cut off all North

Korean exports and 90 per centof its trade and disbanded thepool of workers which NorthKorea sent abroad to earn hardcurrency, though experts mon-itoring sanctions say Pyongyangcontinues to evade the measures.

In November, the North'smost important allies, China andRussia revived their 2019 effortto ease sanctions against NorthKorea.

They circulated a draft res-olution to Security Councilmembers that would end a hostof sanctions against North Koreaincluding a ban on exports ofseafood and textiles, a cap onimports of refined petroleumproducts and a prohibition on itscitizens working overseas andsending home their earnings.

It stresses the economic dif-ficulties in the North and saysthese and other sanctions shouldbe lifted “with the intent ofenhancing the livelihood of thecivilian population.”

The Security Council hasrepeatedly stated it would mod-ify, suspend or lift sanctions ifNorth Korea complied with itsdemands, but Pyongyang hasignored them and advanced itsnuclear and ballistic missileprograms.

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One teenager was killed andtwo others were critically

wounded after gunfire thatappeared to come from a pass-ing vehicle struck them outsidean Iowa school, authorities said.

Des Moines police said in anews release that potential sus-pects have been detained in theMonday afternoon shooting onthe grounds of East HighSchool, near Des Moines' down-town, about a half-mile (0.8kilometers) from the Capitol.No charges were immediatelyfiled.

Sgt. Paul Parizek toldKCCI-TV that calls startedpouring in around 2:50 pm,shortly before classes werescheduled to dismiss for the day.

Police didn't identify thoseshot but said a 15-year-oldmale had died. He was not a stu-dent at East.The other two shotwere females aged 16 and 18,who both attend East. Theywere hospitalised in criticalcondition.The district said in anews release that the school wasimmediately put into lockdownand students were kept insidewhile police investigated.

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Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov has released newestimates of casualties and damage from the Russian war,

saying Russian military actions have killed 38 children andwounded more than 70.

Overall at least 400 civilian deaths have been recorded and800 wounded, though “these data are definitely incomplete,” hesaid in a video address.

It was not immediately possible to verify the figures.He said Russian strikes have destroyed more than 200

Ukrainian schools, 34 hospitals and 1,500 residential buildings.He estimated some 10,000 foreign students, notably from

India, China and the Persian Gulf are trapped by the fighting,and described attacks on British and Swiss journalists.

He claimed that Ukrainian forces have killed more than11,000 Russian troops.

“Russian invaders fire on humanitarian corridors throughwhich civilians are trying to escape,” he said, without saying where.Russian officials did not comment Tuesday and have only acknowl-edged several hundred deaths among Russian forces.

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China says President XiJinping has criticised sanc-

tions imposed on Russia overits war against Ukraine as"harmful to all sides," in avideo summit with FrenchPresident Emmanuel Macronand German Chancellor OlafScholz.

China has largely backedRussia in blaming the US andits allies for provoking theconflict and has abstained invotes at the United Nationsover whether to condemnMoscow for its actions.In itsreadout of Tuesday's conversa-tion, Chinese state broadcast-er CCTV said Xi expressed"anxiety and deep pain" overthe fighting.

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Japan says it has suspendedthe assets of 32 more Russian

and Belarusian individuals aspart of international sanctionsagainst Russia.

The additional sanctionsannounced Tuesday target 20Russians including head of theChechen Republic RamzanKadyrov, deputy chiefs of staffand a press secretary forPresident Vladamir Putin'sgovenment, and deputy chair-men of the State Parliament.

The list also includes busi-ness executives with close tiesto Putin and his administrationsuch as Volga Group, Transneft,the Private Military CompanyWagner and USM Holdings,according to a statement.

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Market benchmarks ratchetedhigher in a see-saw session onTuesday after four days of

steep declines as investors accumulat-ed recently-battered IT, pharma andfinance stocks even as the Ukraine cri-sis remained an overhang.

World equities were mixed as par-ticipants tracked Russia's intensifyingattack on Ukraine and the cascade ofsanctions against Moscow.

The 30-share BSE Sensex openedon a weak note and tumbled 581.93points or 1.10 per cent to 52,260.82 dur-ing the day amid firming oil prices andrelentless selling by foreign institution-al investors.

Overcoming bouts of volatility, theindex gained momentum in the lasthour of trade to close 581.34 points or1.10 per cent higher at 53,424.09.

On similar lines, the broader NSENifty darted up 150.30 points or 0.95 percent to 16,013.45.

Sun Pharma topped the Sensexgainers' chart with a jump of 3.99 percent, followed by TCS, NTPC, Wipro,Tech Mahindra, Dr Reddy's, UltraTech

Cement and Infosys.In contrast, Tata Steel, PowerGrid,

Titan, Nestle India, Reliance Industriesand SBI closed with losses of up to 1.73per cent.

In the broader market, the BSEmidcap index gained 1.46 per cent andthe smallcap gauge jumped 1.33 percent.

"Domestic indices reversed its trendand traded with gains led by export-ori-

ented sectors like Pharma and IT whichwitnessed buying interest as the rupeefell to its record lows. Favourable exitpoll results of state election and low-levelbuying seen in mid and small caps alsohelped in adding optimism in thedomestic market.

"Major western markets were alsotrading in the green while other Asianpeers continued to trade in negative ter-ritory on fear of the impact of global

inflationary pressure...," said VinodNair, Head of Research at GeojitFinancial Services.

Bourses in Hong Kong, Shanghaiand Tokyo settled lower.

Stock exchanges in Europe weretrading mostly higher in the afternoontrade.

Meanwhile, international oil bench-mark Brent crude jumped 2.87 per centto USD 126.6 a barrel.

"After purchasing resurfaced atlow levels, benchmark indices returnedto green. Early trades on European mar-ketplaces show a slight upward trend,"said Mohit Nigam, Head - PMS, HEMSecurities.

Among BSE sectoral indices, real-ty, IT, Teck and healthcare were thebiggest gainers, climbing as much as3.19 per cent.

The rupee slipped 6 paise to closeat 76.99 (provisional) against the US dol-lar on Tuesday amid a weak greenbackoverseas.

Foreign institutional investors con-tinued their selling spree in Indian mar-kets as they offloaded shares worth Rs7,482.08 crore on a net basis on Monday,according to exchange data.

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For most women, cash is stillthe king when it comes to

making payments at retail out-lets, even as those in age groupof 21-30 years are the mostadept digitally, according to asurvey.

Cash continues to domi-nate the payment space amongwomen as more than 60 per centpreferred dealing in cash, fol-lowed by UPI QR and cards, asper the 'PayNearby WomenFinancial Index (PWFI)' surveyreleased on Tuesday.

Digital payments andbranchless banking networkPayNearby partners with neigh-bourhood retail stores to pro-vide digital and financial ser-vices to the local communities.

In the second edition of thepan-India survey covering over3,000 retail stores across thecountry, recording financialtransactions of women,PayNearby said more than 58per cent of female customerspreferred the Aadhaar enabledAePS to avail basic banking ser-vices. More than 75 per cent ofthe retailers said women in 21-30 years age group were the

most digitally adept, with over50 per cent of this age bracketowning a smartphone andaccessing digital contentthrough it.

This was followed by the agegroup 31-40 years.

In the remittance drivenurban and metro centres, the 20-30 years group contributed tonearly 25 per cent of womenconsumers, showcasing thegrowing trend of young womengetting integrated into the work-force. Cash withdrawals, mobilerecharges and bill paymentswere the top three services usedby women customers at theretail touchpoints.

At urban and metro loca-tions, money remittance servicesby them also saw good adoption.

The transactions were pri-marily conducted by youngworking women belonging tothe age bracket of 21-30 years(45 per cent) and 31-40 years(25 per cent).

In the withdrawal marketlargely driven by tier III andrural regions,majority of thetransactions conducted bywomen were in the age bracketof 31-40 years (65 per cent),PayNearby said.

About 78 per cent ofwomen in tier III and rural mar-kets availed cash withdrawals.Overall, Rs 1,000-2,500 was themost preferred range of with-drawal for women across thecountry, it said.

Over than 75 per cent of thewomen operated their bankaccount themselves, even as 20per cent admitted to their hus-bands operating their bankaccounts.

On the post-pandemic sce-nario, it said there is now agrowing awareness amongwomen to save for medicalemergencies and rainy days.More than 40 per cent of thosesurveyed indicated 'bachat' (sav-ings) as a priority.

Formal saving instruments,though, continue to see thinadoption, with less than 15 percent aware of these instruments.Penetration of evolved servicessuch as insurance (less than 5per cent) also continues to below. "Whether it is our womenforce or the large underservedrural economy, it is importantfor us to measure the digitalindex across segments, to put inplace appropriate actions wher-ever necessary.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi will on Wednesday

address global investors aswell as infrastructure, realestate and legal sector expertson the strategy of CPSE pri-vatisation, asset monetisationand their contribution toIndia's growth.

The Department ofInvestment and Public AssetManagement (DIPAM), in col-laboration with NITI Aayog, isorganising the apex level con-sultative post-Budget webinar,which will see participationfrom 22 ministries and seniormanagement from PSEs.

Global sovereign funds,private equity, global pension

funds, investment banks, assetmonetisation companies espe-cially real estate, infrastructure,

and legal experts alongwith other stakeholders fromNorth America, Europe,Middle East, Asia and FarEast, and Australia would alsoparticipate.

"With this webinar,

DIPAM aims to elicit ideas andviews from the sectoralexperts, investors' communityand other eminent stakehold-ers on the issues to chalk outa time-bound implementationplan/strategy regardingPrivatization/ Disinvestmentof Public Sector Enterprisesand Asset Monetization ofCore and Non-Core assets forrealization of optimal out-come/contribution in India'sgrowth," an official statementsaid.

Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman will give heraddress in the concluding ses-sion of the webinar.

DIPAM will incorporatevaluable thoughts/experiencesfrom the panellists and partic-

ipants to formulate robustimplementation strategy forprivatisation, asset monetisa-tion and disinvestment pro-gramme of the Government ofIndia with sharper focus, thestatement added.

The Government has seta Budget target of Rs 65,000crore from CPSE disinvest-ment/privatisation in the nextfiscal beginning April 1. In thecurrent fiscal, the disinvest-ment target has been scaleddown to Rs 78,000 crore in therevised estimates, from Rs 1.75lakh crore pegged in theBudget. So far this fiscal, overRs 12,400 crore has beenrealised from minority stake sales and Air India pri-vatisation.

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There has been a significantrecovery in the property

market as the established real-tors reported sale of Rs 34,000crore in the first nine monthsof FY22, equalling the amountachieved in the entire FY21, areport said on Tuesday.

The established residentialrealtors' topline is expected torise by 35 per cent in FY22,compared to 14 per cent inFY21, it added. This jump insales for the 11 listed playerswas attributed to affordabili-ty and a preference for largerhomes, owing to a surge inremote working driven by theCOVID-19 pandemic, as perthe report by rating agencyCrisil. This has led to animprovement in the marketshare of these players to about

22 per cent against the 14-16per cent before the COVIDpandemic struck, it said.

Apart from the highersale of residential dwellings,this set of developers has beenable to navigate the pandem-ic, courtesy equity raising andmonetisation of land andother assets, it said.

"Increased affordabilitydue to low-interest rates andflattish capital values, risingdemand for bigger homes,and government measures inthe past two fiscals have pro-vided a fillip to residentialrealty," Anand Kulkarni, adirector at the agency, said.

The sector did face revers-es due to the first wave of thepandemic in FY21 but hascontinued on the upward tra-jectory in the latter two waves,he said, adding that this will

give a fillip to growth.The established residential

realtors' toplines will grow by upto 35 per cent in FY22, up from14 per cent in FY21, he said,estimating them to clock a 10-15 per cent jump in FY23.

he sector has seen a lowerimpact and a shorter disruptionperiod with each passing wave,with sales at 70-75 per cent ofthe pre-pandemic level duringthe second wave compared with50-55 per cent in the first,underlining the sector'sresilience, the agency said.

Home prices in the top sixcities are expected to rise mar-ginally soon as realtors will bepassing on the impact of infla-tion in labour and materialcosts on the improvement indemand, the agency said,adding that the same is reflect-ed in a dip in inventory levels to2.5 years as against earlier 3.5years. On the balance-sheetstrengthening front, the estab-lished realtors have delever-aged in the five fiscals through2022 by raising equity andmonetising commercial assets.

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Retirement fund body EPFO saidit has processed all pending claims

of women across the country tomark the occasion of InternationalWomen's Day in a unique way.

The Employees' ProvidentFund Organisation (EPFO) began amassive exercise on March 25, 2022and processed about 1.39 lakh claimsfiled by women, it said in a statement.

Out of the 1.39 lakh claims, 73per cent were settled and 27 per centclaims were found deficient andreturned for due corrections.

The Chennai Zone of the bodyreceived and processed maximumclaims. As per the statement, afunction was organised on the theme

'Value and empower the womenworkforce' in New Delhi.

On the occasion, Union LabourMinister Bhupender Yadav lauded

the EPFO and Employees' StateInsurance Corporation (ESIC) forrunning a special campaign forwomen while celebrating the

International Women's Day."While EPFO symbolizes Trust,

ESIC compliments through Services,"Yadav said.

He also appreciated clearing ofall women's claims in EPFO andESIC.

The pilot for processing allpending claims of women to markthis occasion was done last year atEPFO's regional office of Delhi Westsituated in Dwarka.

Talking to PTI, Uttam Prakash,former Regional Provident FundCommissioner, Delhi West, said, "Itis overwhelming when an idea takesa policy kind of shape. Replication ona larger canvas gives me immense sat-isfaction."

Over 7 lakh e-nominations were

filed by women members, from justthe top 100 establishments in termsof e-nominations. Dedicated e-nom-ination camps for women employeeswere organised by all the RegionalOffices.

More than 10,000 establish-ments in this drive reported 100 percent e-nomination of their womenemployees, the statement said.

The EPFO is chasing the magi-cal number of one crore e-nomina-tions by the end of 'Azadi Ka AmritMahotsav'.

The labour ministry celebratedInternational Women's Day by clear-ing all claims of women by EPFO andESIC, launching a WomenEmpowerment Desk, and excellenceawards.

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Google is fortifying its cloudservices with a USD 5.4

billion acquisition of the cybersecurity firm Mandiant, thecompanies announcedTuesday.

The acquisition is the firstof many that analysts foresee inthe cyber security sector fol-lowing Russia's invasion ofUkraine.

Analysts and governmentofficials have said they expecta wave of cyberattacks fromRussia and others as geopolit-ical tensions rise.

"In a massive growth back-drop for cyber security and fur-ther tailwinds seen during thisUkraine invasion from Russiabad actors/nation state attacks,we believe today's deal is the tipof the iceberg to a massivephase of consolidation poten-tially ahead for the cloudspace," Wedbush analyst DanIves wrote Tuesday.

Google, a subsidiary ofMountain View, California-based Alphabet Inc., will payUSD 23 per Mandiant share inall-cash deal expected to closethis year. The price representsa 57 per cent premium onMandiant's share price in earlyFebruary, when speculationabout a deal between the com-

panies first surfaced.Mandiant, based in Reston,

Virginia, and its 5,300 employ-ees will join Google Cloud assoon as the transaction closes.

"The Mandiant brand issynonymous with unmatchedinsights for organisations seek-ing to keep themselves securein a constantly changing envi-ronment," said Google CloudCEO Thomas Kurian.

"This is an opportunity todeliver an end-to-end securityoperations suite and extend oneof the best consulting organi-sations in the world."

Russia has long beenaccused of disrupting othergovernments and businessesvia online attacks and Westernofficials have warned thatRussia could launch morecyberattacks against Ukraineand its allies.

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Sliding for the fifth consecu-tive day, the rupee depreci-

ated by 7 paise to close at a life-time low of 77 against the USdollar on Tuesday, weighed bysurging crude oil prices amidthe Russia-Ukraine war.

Heavy foreign fund out-flows and prevailing risk aver-sion globally added to the

woes, forex traders said.At the interbank forex mar-

ket, the local unit opened at77.02 against the greenback andwitnessed an intra-day high of76.71 and a low of 77.05.

The rupee finally finishedat 77.00, down 7 paise over itsprevious close of 76.93.

Analysts said the deepen-ing Russia-Ukraine conflict hassappedrisk appetite in the mar-

ket, pushing investors towardssafe-haven assets.

Meanwhile, the dollarindex, which measures thegreenback's strength against abasket of six currencies,declined 0.18 per cent to 99.11.

On the domestic equitymarket front, the BSE Sensexended 581.34 points or 1.10 percent higher at 53,424.09, whilethe broader NSE Nifty rose

150.30 points or 0.95 per centto 16,013.45.

Brent crude futures, theglobal oil benchmark, rose 2.73per cent to USD 126.57 per bar-rel.

Foreign institutionalinvestors remained net sellers inthe capital market on Tuesdayas they offloaded shares worthRs 8,142.60 crore, as per stockexchange data.

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Federation of Hotel &Restaurant Associations of

India on Tuesday welcomed therestarting of internationalscheduled commercial flights,saying it will give a ray of hopeto the pandemic-hit hospitali-

ty segment and its employees."The resumption of sched-

uled commercial internationalpassenger services from March27 is a welcome relief. Wethank the Govt and CivilAviation Ministry for it," saidGurbaxish Singh Kohli, VicePresident, Federation of Hotel

& Restaurant Associations ofIndia (FHRAI).

FHRAI was following upwith the government to restartinternational travel, especiallybecause most countries havealready thrown open their gatesfor international travellers, headded.

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Union Minister for Labourand Employment

Bhupender Yadav on Tuesdayfelicitated three medical staffersof ESIC hospitals for renderingservices during the COVID-19pandemic. Total nine officialswere selected for the awardfrom different ESIC hospitals

across the country, including inKarnataka, New Delhi,Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad,Ahmedabad, Noida, Faridabadand Delhi, according to a state-ment issued by the Ministry forLabour and Employment.

"Out of the 9 candidates, 3top achievers were felicitated byMinister Bhupender Yadav," itsaid.

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The Reserve Bank onTuesday extended the

interest equalisation scheme forpre and post shipment rupeecredit for MSME exporters tillMarch 2024 with the objectiveof boosting outbound ship-ments. Exporters get subsidyunder the 'Interest EqualisationScheme for pre and post-ship-ment Rupee Export Credit'.

In April last year, thescheme was first extended tillJune end and later tillSeptember 2021. The interestequalisation rates under thescheme have been revised to 2per cent and 3 per cent forspecified categories of MSMEmanufacturer exporters, theRBI said.

"The government hasapproved the extension of

Interest Equalization Schemefor Pre and Post ShipmentRupee Export Credit up toMarch 31, 2024 or till furtherreview, whichever is earlier.The extension takes effect fromOctober 1, 2021 and ends onMarch 31, 2024," the RBI saidin a notification. The schemewill not apply to telecominstruments and entities avail-ing benefits under theProduction Linked Incentive(PLI) scheme of the govern-ment. While issuing approvalto the exporter, the bank willbe required to furnish the pre-vailing interest rate, the inter-est subvention being provided,and the net rate being chargedto each exporter, so as toensure transparency andgreater accountability in theoperation of the scheme, theRBI said.

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Pandemic has hit the world hard.People have become more empa-thetic and kinder than ever. But for

Anamika Mishra, it has been a life-transformation phase.

Mishra started writing articles,stories and poems at a very early agewhen she was in school. She is not justan author but also a travel blogger,motivational speaker and anentrepreneur. She is a creative mentorand brand consultant for manyauthors and start-ups.

“I am grateful to my parents. Theynever stopped me from doinganything in my life. They alwaysbelieved in me and supported me formy dreams. May it be for career ormarriage, I think all parents shouldsupport their daughters in theirdecisions,” says Mishra.

She has published five books sofar out of which two are exclusivelyavailable on amazon. “Dreamcatcheris my latest book. I published it withamazon because of the pandemic andits effect on the books industry. Mypublishers wanted me to wait till themarket started to rise again but Ididn’t want to! So, I published it onamazon and I am very happy with theresponse,” she says about her latestbook.

Recently, many of Mishra’s quoteswent viral on social media. “Yes! Ithink when I write from my heart, ittouches the hearts of the readers too. Iaim to heal broken hearts with mywords. Broken hearts don’t mean onlyabout love relationships but also forthe ones who lost their parents, lost

their jobs and are going throughhardships in life,” she says adding thatshe has been through such a phasewhen she lost her parents within aspan of two years.

“I know how difficult it is to copeup. I can’t say I have healedcompletely, it never happens. But, Ihave learned to live with this truth.And this is the need of the hour, foreveryone in this world—to accept thetruth and live life normally. If mywords—written or spoken, make adifference, even a little bit, I will feel Ihave accomplished something in life,”Mishra says.

She is also one of the social mediainfluencers with approximately half amillion followers on her social media.

“The world needs more love,peace and empathy. People don’t valuewhat they have and by the time theyrealise its value, it’s gone. It breaks myheart to see so much sadness andhatred in the world. With my books,quotes and poems, I aim to addpositivity, hope and inspiration inpeople’s life,” Mishra concludes.

NFTs and Metaverse haverecently gained tractionowing to their popularity

and whether we will soon enter aphase where artificial intelligencewill become a reality. While we lookinto the broader aspects and howthis paradigm shift will transformthe global landscape, it's imperativeto understand the essential ele-ments and definition of a metaverse.

The term Metaverse was dis-covered by science fiction authorNeal Stephenson in his novel, SnowCrash, in 1992. But the advent oftechnology has made Metaverse areality, with leading brands jumpingonto the bandwagon. However, theterm gained popularity afterFacebook renamed itself as Meta,which created the much-awaitedhype around the world.

Metaverse can be defined as a3D world where you can become themasters of your own life. Like thereal-world, Metaverse acts as a vir-tual world, providing opportunitiesto interact, communicate, and con-nect with others by adding a moreimmersive, three-dimensional layerto the web, creating more authen-tic and natural experiences. The fea-tures that lay the foundation oftoday's Metaverse are web 2.0 andemerging web 3.0 characteristics.

Oxford dictionary defines meta-verse as a virtual-reality space whereusers can interact with a computer-generated environment and otherusers. Derived from meta (meaningtranscendent) and verse (from the

universe), the Metaverse will allowa completely different virtual worldexperience. Instead of looking at theinternet, one can actually become apart of it.

The next big frontier Recent reports on the growth of

Metaverse reflect that the metaversemarket opportunity could be around$800 billion by 2024. The numbersthemselves show the market growthand potential future in the upcom-ing years that will lay the foundationfor a new world, building a neweconomy and generating endlesspossibilities.

What does the FutureMetaverse hold for users?

As the metaverse concept incor-porates Web3 technology enabledthrough blockchain technology (likeNFTs and Cryptos), the future ofMetaverse seems huge in terms ofgrowth. Although people are still notcertain about the future of themetaverse, it is undoubtedly goingto take the industry by storm asmore and more people are showingkeen interest in the domain. Techgiant Facebook (Meta) is currentlyworking on a concept calledElectromyography (EMG) technol-ogy that allows users to interact withsomething in the metaverse just bythinking about it. An increasednumber of NFT enthusiasts are alsolooking to invest in virtual lands onsuch games and sell or rent them fora price. People with no actual inter-est in Metaverse, but who look atthem as financially yielding, could

invest in the inequities of the firmsworking on the concept.

The Metaverse can also con-tribute to the growth of the virtualeconomy that is not controlled orregulated by a single entity. Thisallows artists and creators to chan-nelise their interests and get mon-etary benefits.

The ability to buy, sell and tradethings in the metaverse is anothercrucial factor that could prove to bethe most transformative part of thisnew era. This will lead to a situa-tion where decentralised ledgertechnologies or blockchains will bethe most practical, if not ultimate,solution for value exchange and forstoring value. The opportunities foreconomic growth will be unfath-omable, as this is literally creatinga new world where users will inter-act, transact, own, exchange andshare economic value.

NFTs will enable users to getownership of their characters, in-game purchases and even registervirtual lands in their names. On theother hand, Cryptocurrencies willbecome the legal tender in the vir-tual economy.

Shaping the future of Gaming The gaming industry is also

witnessing massive interest withinthe metaverse frontier because of anenhanced, immersive and improvedgaming experience. Metaverseenables users to manipulate theirvirtual environment in a life-likeway. There is greater participationwith simple games being reintro-

duced by creators. This is beingdone through sophisticated digitalavatars and holograms.

Gaming within the Metaverseis aimed at fostering and buildingstrong connections. By using virtualand augmented reality, one feelsfully immersed in the digital envi-ronment. Gamers have becomeactive stakeholders by creatinggames. There are also the 'live ser-vice games' with lots of new updatesand downloadable content.Evolving technology such as 5G willfurther provide the speed neededfor this digital transformation toevolve.

Embracing the paradigm shift With each year passing, meta-

verse projects are set to penetratemass adoption as people will movefrom physical assets to digital ones,gaining interest from a lot of users.For the first time, metaverses canusher mass adoption for VR head-sets, AR extensions and gadgets andtie them together to enhance thevirtual experience. The metaverseis a chance for global audiences andfirms to embrace the radical shiftand explore endless growth anddevelopment opportunities. Whilefirms are already embracing tech-nology to extract benefits andfuturistic growth, people still needto be ahead of the curve. The year2022 is going to witness a massiverevolution in the form of AR VRtechnologies that are spearheadingmarket growth at exponential rates.

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Targeting a specific set ofpeople earlier used toentail identifying a

neighbourhood and sendingmass mail from the post office.However, on the internet thesedays, location-based targetingis more powerful and accom-plished with greater preci-sion. Such strategies can beused for a lot more than justproduct promotion and ser-vice offers. It's also useful forrecruiting, as it allows you tofocus on specific neighbour-hoods, universities, compa-nies, hospitals, and other loca-tions that can be useful in yourtalent search.

Geofencing is a location-based service in which amobile device enters a virtu-al boundary set up around ageographical area and an appor other software that usesGPS, Wi-Fi, or cellular data totrigger a pre-programmedaction. Depending on how thegeo-fence is configured, it cansend push notifications, SMSmessages, alerts, or targetedsocial media advertising.

It is the method of settingup a virtual, wireless bound-ary – around an event, a post-code, or a neighbourhood —so that individuals in thatregion receive messages oradverts on their cellphones.Perhaps the most well-knownapplication of the technologyis the distribution of couponsto potential shoppers passingby establishments. For sever-al years, retailers have usedthis technology to offer dis-counts and coupon codes toclients who enter a specificarea around their businesses.The idea is to get them tocome in and buy something.

�����������������Geofencing is a good way

to recruit in today's digitalworld. By sending out advertsto students on a certain cam-pus, geofencing can help yourecruit current or future collegegraduates. While aggressive,this method is effective forfirms wanting to hire passivepeople. Geofencing can beused by businesses of any sizeand in any industry. It's a fan-tastic technique for attractingtalented and skilled employeesto your company. Usinggeofencing for recruiting mightalso help you find specialisedindividuals. The ubiquitoususage of phones, targeted atten-tion, personalization factorand the variety of ways to com-municate with potentialprospects make geofencing forrecruiting effective.

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With so many peopleowning cell phones, it makessense for businesses to usethem to reach out to cus-tomers and jobseekers.Recruiters can utilise geofenc-ing to show relevant mobileads or send out notificationsto candidates. Advertisementscan reach potential employeesat any time of day.

�� ��������� ���Geofencing also allows

companies to recruit in amore focused manner.Companies are utilisinggeofencing for recruitmentsince it is a results-driventechnique. One can target cer-tain prospects based on edu-cational records or online pro-

files when they design their adand establish a virtual radiusfor their recruitment cam-paign. Candidates benefitfrom geofencing's specificfocus because it alleviatessome of the inconveniences oflooking for a new job.Candidates will be able to seea vacancy in their field andarea if they respond to yourpost. As a result, the compa-ny's advertising efforts willreceive a better response rate.

Mapping AttendanceUsing Geo-fencing forWorkforce Management

Organisations can domore with geo-fencing thanjust recording the clock in andout time. It allows companiesto track their employees'whereabouts in real time andrun a number of security

checks based on their GPSlocation to guarantee thateverything is running well atwork. A good change man-agement software system canguide the personnel and allowemployers to communicatewith them.

�� ����������When a company decides

to target prospective employ-ees in a certain area, they maytailor their adverts to reflectthe culture of the place as wellas the people who live there.They can also customise theirmessages and utilise person-alisation to make users feel asif the message was written par-ticularly for them, rather thansending out mass adverts thatappear to be spam.

Companies can also devel-

op an ad campaign that gen-erates engagement and con-versions with the degree ofpersonalization available ingeofencing.

When the pool of candi-dates for a position is small, itcan be difficult to find multi-faceted tools like geofencingthat can be used in ways theyweren't designed for. With alittle research and creativity,you can find multifacetedtools like geofencing that canbe used in ways they weren'toriginally intended for. Youjust need to make sure youhave a procedure in place toguarantee that those individ-uals have the essential skillsand cultural fit to succeed inyour company.

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The Whist l ing WoodsInternational (WWI), has

always been at the forefront tobridge the need for job-readyprofessionals within the Media& Entertainment landscape.With the launch of its latest ven-ture—School of Sports &Esports Management, the insti-tute has further expanded itsmission to enable aspirants totransition into the boomingindustry of sports and esportsseamlessly.

Announcing the launch,Subhash Ghai, Founder &Chairman, WWI says, “As aninstitute, we have always strivedto stay with the trends of thedynamic Media &Entertainment industry and thisvision has led us to introducethe School of Sports & EsportsManagement.

These industries are on ahuge growth path and a lot ofcareer opportunities are open-ing in these domains. There is,therefore, a tremendous needfor trained and well-informed

specialists with comprehensiveknowledge in these sectors andthe WWI School for Sports &Esports Management aims tofulfill this requirement.”

The School of Sports &Esports Management will offertwo-year MBA and three-yearBBA programmes.

These first-of-its-kind pro-grammes are offered under anagreement with Rajiv GandhiNational Institute of YouthDevelopment (RGNIYD), anInst itute of NationalImportance, which operates as

a think-tank for various youth-related activities.

The MBA in Sports &Esports Management pro-gramme comprises of impera-tive business managementcourses along with integratedknowledge and informationabout esports, sports, onlinegaming businesses, and man-agement of multiple compa-nies in such industries.

The aim of the MBA pro-gramme is to create future lead-ers with an emphasis on inno-vation and entrepreneurship.

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The University ofStrathclyde, Glasgow is

inviting applications for itsMSc Machine learning & DeepLearning course starting inSeptember 2022.

Machine learning and deepneural network systems arecurrently used by leadingorganisations worldwide andresearch centres in a widerange of applications and prod-ucts. This course is for engi-neers and scientists looking togain the necessary skills to beable to design these systems foruse in industry.

The MSc MachineLearning & Deep Learningdegree focuses on state-of-the-art technologies for machinelearning and deep neural net-work systems. The emphasis ison architectures, algorithmsand implementation withapplications in a diverse rangeof areas.

Eligibility: Normally afirst-class or second-class hon-ours degree (or internationalequivalent) in electronic orelectrical engineering, or com-puter science.

Highly-qualified candi-dates from other relevant engi-neering or science-related dis-ciplines may be considered.

Fee: £23,050 for interna-tional students for 2022/23

Scholarship: a range ofscholarships starting from£3,450 will be available forthis programme

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The Academy of Pastry &Culinary Arts invites appli-

cations for Advanced Diplomain Culinary Arts. The batch isset to commence from May 16,2022 and the programme isdesigned for students whowant to pursue their career asa Chef and aspire to set a markin the food and hospitalitysector.

This nine-month-long pro-gramme provides students witha complete hands-on

experience in strategicallydesigned Kitchen Classroomswhere they can create their owndelicacies under the supervi-sion of acclaimed chefs. Ratherthan just theoretical knowl-edge, students are providedwith mentored training to learnand master the art and scienceof cooking.

After the course, the stu-dents are offered internships inleading hotels & restaurants.Students are offered overseasexposure as well.

Course Fee: 7,38,000 (Allinclusive)

Eligibility: Minimum 16years of age, no experience incooking required.

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The University of Sheffield,UK is inviting applications

for its MSc PsychologicalResearch Methods with DataScience course starting inSeptember 2022.

The course will train you inthe most commonly appliedquantitative methods includingmultilevel modelling, factoranalysis, and structural equa-tion modelling, as well as theskills of when to apply suchtechniques and how to inter-pret the output. It will teach youthe skills you need and give youthe opportunities to apply them

Eligibility: Holders of athree-year/ four year bachelor’sdegree with a minimum of 60per cent or first class from arecognised university, or equiv-alent, in psychology or a relat-ed discipline.

Evidence of undergraduatetraining in statistics for psy-chology is also required.

Fee: Overseas (2022 annu-al fee) : £26,200

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The JK LakshmipatUniversity (JKLU),

Jaipur, in collaboration withSt Cloud State University,USA and AIC-JKLU recent-ly organised the tenth edi-tion of its two-day interna-tional conference on UN’sSDGs. This year, the themewas, Sustainable Future:Innovations in Education,which was attended by morethan 1000 viewers and had

22 speakers across the globe.It received conferencereceived over 70 researchsubmissions out of which 48promising works were pre-sented.

Anil Kakodkar, PadmaVibhushan and NuclearScientist; Prof Sudhir Jain,Padmashri and Vice-Chancellor, Banaras HinduUniversity, Varanasi; DrPramath Raj Sinha,Founding Dean, ISBHyderabad and Prof. Ajit

Chaturvedi, Director IITRoorkee were some of thedignitaries who graced theconference.

The conference was co-sponsored by BSE,Institution’s InnovationCouncil and Turnitin andhad IIT Roorkee, IITGandhinagar, IIT Jammu,IIT Bhilai, MNIT Jaipur andCentral University ofRajasthan as JKLU’sAcademic Partners. Itbrought all the stakeholders

on one platform and collec-tively discussed differentaspects of education focus-ing on achieving a sustain-able future.

Technical sessions,paper presentations andpanel discussions were heldon topics like Education forCreating Better World, Toolsfor Teaching and LearningEffectiveness, EducationalPractices for Special Needsand Educational Policy andGovernance were.

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While all the management aspi-rants in India dream to pursuea degree from IIM but given

the level of competition in the CATexam, it is a known fact that getting intothe prestigious group of institutes is nota cakewalk. Those concerned and look-ing for solutions need to know that thereare IIMs that offer five-year integratedMBA programmes for getting into IIMright after class XII.

The Indian Institute of Management(IIM) Indore and Rohtak conduct itsNational Aptitude test (IPMAT) everyyear, which has now been joined by IIMJammu, Ranchi and Bodh Gaya. Theaptitude test facilitates admissions totheir five-year integrated programme inManagement, where around 20,000 stu-dents appear for the exams annually. Theadmission process is carried out in var-ious stages, starting with the IPMAptitude test (IPMAT), Written AbilityTest (WAT) and Personal Interview (PI).

Apart from IIM, there are variousother institutes that also offer this five-year integrated programme, like NAL-SAR, Hyderabad, has recently started thecourse and it is also expected thatIndian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT)is all set to launch this programme fromthis academic year.

Why is it useful?A five-year integrated MBA pro-

gramme is for class XII pass-out studentswho look forward to a career in businessmanagement. It stimulates students’managerial skills and knowledge basedon ethical considerations. Students whowish to pursue an integrated MBAshall have an added advantage in termsof the syllabus as there is no repetitionof courses or subjects. In the Integratedprogramme candidates need not appearfor the entrance exam and selectionprocess twice (at UG and PG level),hence saving one year that goes intopreparation for entrance exams.

A management course makes stu-dents acquainted with the tools and tech-niques strategically used in improvingbusiness practices and performance. Amanagement aspirant has to clear theentrance exams to get into this course.Once the course is near completion, they

can look out for employment profiles inthe service sector, the manufacturingsector, IT sector, banking sector, etc.

Students are aiming for a five-yearintegrated programme because it offersthe following:

�Contribute to the learning andintroduce them to approaches forknowledge assimilation and skill acqui-sition.

�Provide strong foundations ofmanagement, law, philosophy, and psy-chology to the young managers for all-around personality development.

�It emphasises a more holisticthinking ability than just a process-dri-ven approach to boost innovation andlogical decision making

�It creates opportunities for gain-ing practical exposure in diverse deci-sion scenarios, realities, and complexi-ties as a part of their summer internshipsand live projects so as to develop deep-ened and contextualised understanding.

�Nurturing the entrepreneurialaspirations of the students and guidingthem towards tangible milestones dur-ing the programme.

A�����%��#���������'����#����$��1�$$�'���������������������������������5����������������� ���������5������������� ���������������������������������������������!������$16�,�6$ 778

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Global ExcellenceP o s t g r a d u a t eI n t e r n a t i o n a l

Scholarships at University ofDublin, Ireland

This funding programmesupports highly motivated andoutstanding international stu-dents who want to pursue a post-graduate taught degree at TrinityCollege Dublin.

Award: Up to 5000 euroCourse Level: PostgraduateEligibility: Applicants must

be evaluated based on academ-ic performance and the appli-cants’ ability to contribute to theTrinity community as a whole

Supporting documents:Trinity Offer Letter, 200-wordstatement on How I will con-tribute to our Trinity CollegeDublin community, submitted inMicrosoft word document or pdfformat and CV/Resume

Admission requirements:Students must have to check theentry requirements of their cho-sen programme

Language requirement:Applicants must meet theNorthern Territory educationprovider’s academic and Englishentry requirement

How to apply: The studentmust have to take admission atthe university. After that, stu-dents must email their applica-tions to their Regional Officer.Subject line: your name + Trinityapplication ID + Global

Excellence PostgraduateScholarship

Application deadline:Applications are now open for2022 entry

Engineering Scholarshipsfor International Studentsat City, University of

LondonThe funding program is

available to excellent studentswho want to pursue master’sdegree programs for the acade-mic year 2022-2023.

Award: £2,000Course Level: Master’sEligibility: Must hold a first-

class honours degree or equiva-lent and students wishing to takeup a place on any of the abovecourses in September 2022

Supporting documents:Candidates need to submit aca-demic transcript – include cer-tified copies of your academicrecords, CV and certificates

Admission requirements:You need to meet the entryrequirements for each qualifica-tion you plan to study

Language requirements:Applicants from outside thehome country will often need tomeet specific English languagerequirements in order to be ableto study at the university

How to apply: Candidatesmust have to take admission toone of the Master’s programs.After getting enrolled in theuniversity, they must completethe SMCSE InternationalScholarship Application Form

Application deadline: May1, 2022

We live in a continuallychanging world wherenew technologies like

Artificial Intelligence and machinelearning keep evolving. On onehand, rapid automation has led toa loss of 60 million jobs in the USalone. But, on the brighter side, ithas been estimated that the futuretech-driven economy will createclose to 97 million jobs worldwide.

2021 has been great for theIndian tech industry, especially thestartup ecosystem. Indian startupshave raised more than $33 billionthis year, which amounts to morethan the past three years, com-bined. However, there is a cause ofconcern—talent crunch. Did youknow that there can be morethan 80 million jobs that can gounfilled because of a lack of theright talent?

Because the IT structure isdriven by technology, hiring theright tech talent is a great chal-lenge. Only 29 per cent of techcompanies believe they have theright team to progress. And, thisis just the beginning. The comingyears would see more talentcrunch as technology will evolve

each day challenging the techcompanies to up their game tokeep up. There are headlines dailyabout how robots are ready to doeverything that a human brain canand at a much faster pace.Additionally, the pandemic hasslowed down the hiring process.Because of the talent crunch,organisations are facing a huge lossin terms of failing to develop pro-jects on time and meeting impor-tant deadlines. The currentemployees are overburdened, thepandemic forced everything to godigital, and so corporates had toaugment their existing workforcewith skilled tech resources.

In the past year or so, it is def-inite that you might have heard ofthe Great Resignation of 2021.More and more people are quittingtheir jobs to do something better,or altogether change their careers.But if that is happening, why arebusinesses facing such a shortagewhen it comes to tech talent? Thereasons can vary from sector tosector. One of the main reasonsworkers left the workforce was totake care of their children. Schoolshave been shut for the longest

time, and unfortunately, morewomen have quit their jobsbecause of gender imbalance.Another factor may be the fact thatmore and more workers startedembracing remote work models ascompared to traditional ones,resulting in an acute shortage ofthe right people for IT industries.

The truth is that the industryis evolving each day, and it’s get-ting difficult for the educationalsector to keep up, contributing asone of the factors for talent crunch.

New technologies have emerged,but the college curriculums haveremained the same. Students needearly exposure to futuristic tech-nologies, and our system seems tobe slow.

Talking about the hiringprocess, gone are the days whenpeople were hired because ofsomething that looked good onpaper. Now, talent and skill set arethe priorities. The mission andvision of the candidates are the pri-orities. Now, companies also haveto ensure that the person doesn’tfind reasons to leave immediate-ly after joining. So, the hiringprocess, like technology, hasevolved.

The tech talent crunch isexpected to grow in the nearfuture because technology isnever going to stop. The marketis hypercompetitive and the pan-demic is stubborn. Even beforethe pandemic, we were in themidst of a digital shift, and nowit has accelerated. With specula-tions like the talent crunchexpected to continue for a decade,only time will tell how companiesweather this storm.

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Last month I began the series'Champion born this month'

with a game played by the oldest liv-ing Chess Grandmaster YuriAverbakh of Russia, who recently cel-ebrated his 100th Birthday on 8thFebruary this year. This month I amextremely delighted to make a storyon the Grandmaster who influ-enced the world most-- none otherthan the legendary Robert James(Bobby) Fischer [born 9th March1943].

Bobby Fischer's journey throughhis complex life has always been amatter of great curiosity to everyone,even to those outside the Chess fra-ternity. His sudden rise & phenom-enal conquests, his controversialviews & interviews, his strange deci-sions in professional & personal life,in fact, his everything has been sub-ject discussion, analysis & criticismall over the world. Due to his intro-vert nature, Fischer interacted withpeople only when absolutely neces-sary, and therefore, his personal lifeand true personality will alwaysremain a mystery. However, cleverand tactful journalists were able to geta lot of information on Fischer's ideasand views because he never avoideda question and always replied what

he believed to be correct.Though Fischer had undergone

only the basic school education of 2.5years, he was more knowledgeableand well informed than most of thecontemporary Chess players andorganisers. He was able to solve com-plex arithmetic and logic based puz-zles in a no time, something thatalways amazed the elite of theAmerican society. Studies made in U.S. A. and Europe reveal that Fischer'sI.Q was above 180 points, higherthan that of a genius.

Despite Fischer's eccentricnature, his contribution to Chess (inparticular) and Sports, (ingeneral),has been far beyond hisChess moves and games. Hisapproach to Chess was absolutelyprofessional and he did not shy awayfrom facing any challenges thatcrossed his path. He strongly believedin ethics and strictly adhered to them.Though Fischer considered the'Soviets' to be his enemies, he was thefirst Western Chess player to learnRussian in order to study the intri-cacies of the Soviet Chess School. Notonly did he master the Soviet ChessSchool better than Soviet masters,

Fischer even expanded the horizonof the Soviet Chess Strategy consid-erably. In words of five times worldchampion Mikhail Botvinnik"Fischer added 'time element' toChess Strategy".

In some of his uncommon opin-ions, (not shared or accepted by thecontemporary Chess masters),Fischer often showed greater insight,depth and wisdom than others, par-ticularly in judging the masters in thepast. For example, while the worldlooked at Wilhelm Steinitz as 'fatherof modern Chess strategy', Fischer

considered Paul Morphy to be amuch greater strategist, theoreti-cian, visionary and even a practicalplayer. Modern Chess playingengines have now proven that PaulMorphy's way of playing Chess wasthe right one but what is remarkableis that Fischer sensed it over sixdecades ago, that too, when there weno Chess playing engines.

Fischer sensed the importance ofgood health, fitness and stamina veryearly in life. He was probably the firstWestern player who really playedwith optimal mental and physicalenergy throughout the game.

Like most of the gifted players,Fischer, too, believed in maintain-ing the originality and independentthinking in Chess games. Though hedid work a lot preparing openings,he didn't believe in taking help oftrainers, consultants or 'seconds'. Infact, Fischer is the only worldchampion in modern times whodidn't have a practice partner or atrainer. In his last interview (2005),Fischer had expressed displeasureabout the modern ways of playing.His objection "Today's Chess inmainly Prearrangement" was aimed

against excessive opening prepara-tion by modern players (variationsanalysed before the game with helpfrom computers, trainers & assis-tants) which hampered their origi-nality and creativity. However,Fischer didn't hesitate to use ideasof 'patzers' (unskilled players) playedeven in 'skittles' (blitz), if he foundthem good. He had absolutely noego, a fact which helped him playobjectively in all positions. Fischerwas very astute in judging his oppo-nents and always succeeded in histaking his opponents 'out of book'(out of the path well known tothem).

Though Fischer stopped playingtournament Chess immediatelyafter becoming the world Champion(1972),he continued to study Chessseriously and was keeping himselfupdated with the latest techniquesthroughout his lifetime. The 1992Fischer-Spassky match reveals thatFischer had mastered the 'closedRuy Lopez', a particular area whichhad undergone fundamental strate-gic changes in the late 1970s due toinvaluable contributions by AnatolyKarpov -- Fischer's successor to the

world Chess throne.Fischer rarely made mistakes in

Chess annotations and commentseven in his bad days spent in asy-lum or jail. He had simply developedthe 'sixth sense' in Chess.

Fischer always fought for con-ducive atmosphere and fair condi-tions to Chess players and got sev-eral positive changes made in theChess world. Some of Fischer'sinventions, such as the concepts of'Fischer Chess Clock' and 'FischerRandom Chess' are practised regu-larly now. In fact, the 'Fischer Clock'has become an integral part ofmodern Chess. Fischer always sawChess Players as ambassadors of thegame and himself lived as one till hislast breath. That Fischer's saddemise should occur when he was64 years of age, is perhaps destiny'sunique way of acknowledging himas the perfect Chess player.

Today I have chosen a compar-atively unknown victory by BobbyFischer -- a game which has beenconsidered a 'true modern classic' bytop players, but has gone unnoticedby the commoners as it doesn'tinvolve flashy sacrifices. The ease

with which Fischer scored over aformer World Chess Champion --Vassily Smyslov -- in the game isindeed unbelievable. The gameteaches us a lot about all three phas-es of the game -- Openings,Middlegame and Endgame.

1.c4 g6 2.Nc3 Bg7 3.g3 c5 4.Bg2Nc6 5.b3 e6!

This move, with the idea ofdeveloping King side Knight at 'e7',looks like loss of a 'tempo' , but it hasa complex strategic purpose.

5...Nf6 6.Bb2 0-0 was the usualcontinuation then.

6.Bb2 Nge7! 7.Na4?!White decides to exchange the

dark Bishops immediately, ignoringthe development 7.Nf3 was calledfor but after 7.... 7...d5 Black hascomplete equality.

7...Bxb2 8.Nxb2 0-0 9.e3White plans to strike at the cen-

tre with d2-d4 but Black is alreadywell set to seize initiative.

9...d5! 10.cxd5 Nxd5! 11.Ne2Realising that he is lagging

behind in development of King sidepieces, White hurries to finish thedevelopment, hoping to castlequickly. However, things are alreadydifficult for him.

11...b6! 12.d4?White panics and tries to sim-

plify the position with…

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Double Olympic medallist P VSindhu and World

Championships silver winnerKidambi Srikanth registered con-trasting wins to advance to the sec-ond round of the USD 180,000German Open Super 300 bad-minton tournament here onTuesday. Seventh seed Sindhutrounced Thailand's BusananOngbamrungphan 21-8 21-7 in alop-sided contest after Srikanth,seeded 8th, saw off France's worldno 39 Brice Leverdez 21-10 13-2121-7 in 48 minutes. It was Sindhu's15th win over the world no. 11Thai player, while Srikanth tooextended his head-to-head countover Leverdez to 4-0 after this vic-tory. Sindhu, a 2019 world cham-pion, will meet either Spain'sBeatriz Corrales or China's ZhangYi Man next, while world no. 11Srikanth will take on China's LuGuang Zu.

Srikanth, who was forced outof the India Open Super 500 eventin January after testing positive forCOVID-19, has a 2-0 recordagainst world no. 27 Chinese.

The Indian mixed doublespair of Sai Pratheek K and N SikkiReddy, however, endured a difficulttime against top seeds DechapolPuavaranukroh and SapsireeTaerattanachai of Thailand, goingdown 19-21 8-21 in their opening

match. Sindhu was playing in a dif-ferent gear against Busanan, whofailed to pose any threat to theIndian during the 32-minutematch. It was a complete domina-tion from the Indian as she movedto 11-4 in no time and soonearned the bragging rights. Thesecond game was also not too dif-ferent as from 7-5, Sindhu marchedahead and shut the door on herrival without much ado.

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Opening batter Imam-ul-Haq hit a century in eachinnings for Pakistan as

Australia could bag only fourwickets on a docile pitch in thedrawn first test on Tuesday.

Imam followed his 157 in thefirst innings total of 476-4declared with an unbeaten 111 inhis first test since November2019.

Imam's opening partner,Abdullah Shafique, also pros-pered to record his maiden testhundred and was unbeaten on136 when Pakistan finished thefifth and final day on 252-0 in itssecond innings, leading by 269runs.

Both teams mutually agreedto end the game with an hourremaining.

Shafique hit 15 fours and a sixin his 242-ball knock while Imamwas more watchful in raising hishundred and faced 223 balls,hitting seven fours and two sixes.

The second opening standbetween Imam and Abdullahsurpassed Pakistan's previousbest against Australia in 1964when Khalid Ibadulla and AbdulKadir combined for 249 in

Karachi.Shafique and Imam also

became the first Pakistan open-ing pair to share a century standin each innings against Australiaafter combining for 105 runs inthe first innings.

It was a tough start forAustralia to resume playing testcricket in Pakistan after 24 yearson a benign Pindi CricketStadium pitch which didn't offerany lateral movement to the vis-itors' three frontline pacers or

turn to ace spinner Nathan Lyon.Lyon bowled 78 overs and

conceded 236 runs for the solitarywicket of Shafique in the firstinnings. Australia's innings waswrapped up in the first fourovers of the day when it was all

out for 459 after resuming on449-7. Left-arm spinner NaumanAli took a career-best 6-107 onthe grassless pitch to give Pakistana 17-run, first-innings lead.

The 35-year-old Nauman,playing in his eighth test, pickedup two of the last three wickets.The tailenders added only 10 runsoff 19 balls as Nauman betteredhis previous best figures of 5-35,which he took on debut againstSouth Africa last year.

Shafique and Imam acceler-ated in the middle session asAustralia resorted to Lyon andthree part-time spinners withoutany success.

Abdullah raised his centuryin four hours off 183 balls in thelast session when he tuckedCameron Green to fine leg for asingle.

Imam took half an hourmore to complete back-to-backhundreds by lofting part-timespinner Travis Head over mid-offfor two.

The second test begins inKarachi on Saturday. Lahorestages the final test from March21-25. The test series will be fol-lowed by three one-day interna-tionals and a one-off Twenty20 inRawalpindi.

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With some star power like-ly missing, Carlo

Ancelotti and MauricioPochettino will have tinkeringto do for the decisive encounterbetween their Real Madrid andParis Saint-Germain sides in theChampions League round of 16on Wednesday.

Kylian Mbappé is doubtfulfor PSG because of a left-footinjury, while Madrid is likely tobe without Toni Kroos becauseof a muscle problem.

Madrid, which lost the firstleg 1-0 thanks to Mbappé'sstoppage-time winner in Paris,is certain to be withoutCasemiro because of a suspen-sion and may not also count ona fully fit Federico Valverde aftera bout with the flu.

Setting up the midfield willbe no easy task for Ancelotti, asCasemiro plays a key role inkeeping the Spanish team bal-anced. The absence of Krooswould hurt the team moreoffensively than defensively, asthe German veteran helps theteam transition into attack.Kroos returned to training buta decision on whether he willplay likely won't be made untilWednesday.

Young Frenchman EduardoCamavinga will likely go intothe midfield alongside LukaModric and possibly Valverde,who missed the Liga gameagainst Real Sociedad last week-end. The 19-year-oldCamavinga played well in thatmatch, scoring a superb open-ing goal in the 4-1 victory thatincreased Madrid's lead in the

league. He had Casemiro by hisside, though, which will not bethe case against PSG.

Madrid's midfield issueswill likely make it easier forLionel Messi, who gets anoth-

er good chance to finally comethrough with a big perfor-mance for PSG and live up tohis status after joining fromBarcelona. He will take overmost of the spotlight if Mbappé

can't play after getting hurt inMonday's training session.

Initial medical examsshowed the injury wasn't seri-ous, but PSG said he was under-going treatment and his fitnesswould be reassessed closer tothe match.

Mbappé, who has beenlinked with a move to Madridwhen his contract expires at theend of the season, has been instellar form with 24 goals and 17assists in all competitions.

He was suspended at theweekend when PSG lost at Nice1-0 in the French league.Pochettino used former Madridforward Ángel Di María alongwith Neymar in attack, and DiMaría is likely to play again ifMbappé can't make it. TheArgentine played underAncelotti in the coach's first stint

with Madrid.Pochettino is set to be with-

out former Madrid defenderSergio Ramos and SpaniardAnder Herrera because ofinjuries, and Achraf Hakimi,another former Madrid player,was listed as doubtful. Ramoswill make the trip to the Spanishcapital despite not being avail-able. Ancelotti can't count onsuspended left back FerlandMendy, with veteran Marcelolikely taking over for him.

Madrid eliminated PSG atthis stage in 2018 en route towinning the title for the thirdyear in a row, although theFrench club came out on top inthe two previous knockoutencounters between the teams.

Madrid is the record 13-time European champion, whilePSG is seeking its first

Champions League trophy.A crowd of 60,000 - the

biggest since the coronaviruspandemic started - is expectedat Santiago Bernabéu Stadium,which remains below its fullcapacity because of renovationwork.

Paris Saint-Germain strik-er Kylian Mbappé injured hisleft foot during training twodays before the team travels toReal Madrid for a ChampionsLeague game. The Frenchleague club said Mbappé, whoscored a stoppage time winnerin the first leg of the round of16 against Madrid, was hurtduring Monday's training ses-sion but that initial medicalexams were reassuring.

PSG said Mbappé receivedtreatment and that his fitnesswill be reassessed on Tuesday.

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Gujarat Titans will in alllikelihood be replacing

Jason Roy withRahmamullah Gurbaz, thehard hitting Afghan open-er, for the upcoming IndianPremier League.

Roy had pulled out ofthe IPL as he didn't want tostay in the bubble for a pro-longed period.

Apart from having a150-plus career T20 strikerate as an opener, Gurbaz isalso a handy keeper whichmakes him a multi utilityplayer. The most excitingaspect is the 20-year-old'sability to clear the ropeswith 113 sixes in 69 careerT20 games.

He has played 9 ODIsand 12 T20Is in his shortbut exciting career so far.

Gujarat Titans are yet toofficially announce Gurbazas a replacement as theyawait the BCCI green light.But, it is understood thatthe team think-tank hastaken extensive inputs frompremier spinner RashidKhan, who has also been

Gurbaz's senior in thenational team.

Gurbaz's entry couldalso solve another issue forTitans and that's the keep-ing crisis.

Matthew Wade willonly be available in thesecond week of IPL and theonly other keeper in theroster is Wriddhiman Saha,whom they may be com-pelled to play despite notsuch great T20 record inrecent times.

Gurbaz's entry mightlessen the worry of headcoach Ashish Nehra andcaptain Hardik Pandya.

Gurbaz has been asought after name in fran-chise cricket having playedfor Multan Sultans andIslamabad United inPakistan Super League,Kandy Tuskers in LankaPremier League andKhulna Tigers inBangladesh PremierLeague.

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Opener Alyssa Healy starred withthe bat after Australian bowlers

produced a clinical display as the six-time champions coasted to a seven-wicket victory over Pakistan in theICC Women's World Cup, here onTuesday.

Australian bowlers struck at reg-ular intervals, save a fine 99-run part-nership between skipper BismahMaroof (78 not out) and all-rounderAliya Riaz (53), to restrict Pakistan to190 for six after skipper Meg Lanningdecided to field.

The Australian batters, led by starwicketkeeper Healy (72), who scoreda scintillating half-century, then bat-ted comfortably to notch up their sec-ond win of the tournament with 15.3overs to spare.

Australia, who defeated Englandin their campaign opener, thus movedto the top of the table whilePakistan.Continued to languish at thebottom. They had lost to India in theirtournament-opener.

Chasing 191 for the win, Healyand Racheal Haynes (34) shared a 60-run stand to provide a steady start toAustralia.

Some sub-par fielding by Pakistangave the two openers a reprieve eachwith their catches going down.

Haynes, who scored a century inAustralia's opening game againstEngland, stayed aggressive but herrun-a-ball knock was finally put to anend by spinner Nashra Sandhu (1/30).

Healy and Lanning (35) contin-ued the onslaught with Pakistanbowlers having no answer to the pairwith Australia edging closer to victo-ry. Healy brought up her 14th half-

century in only 55 deliveries. She hitseven boundaries in her stay at themiddle.

However, spinner Omaima Sohail(2/39) managed to get rid of theAustralian skipper in the 22nd overand Healy at the start of the 28th buttill then the damage was done andEllyse Perry (26 not out) and BethMooney (23 not out) had no troubletaking Australia over the line.

Earlier, skipper Maroof and all-rounder Riaz rescued Pakistan from

a precarious position to guide themto a respectable total.

With Pakistan teetering at 44-4after 13 overs, the duo began its res-cue act, sharing a 99-run stand for thefifth wicket before Riaz was trappedleg before in the 45th over.

It was Pakistan's highest partner-ship at an ICC Women's World Cup.

Maroof, who has returned toplay six months after giving birth, wasin particular impressive, sending theball to the fence eight time during herunbeaten 122-ball stay as she ensuredAustralia would have to score atalmost four runs per over to remainunbeaten at the tournament.

She celebrated her half-century bypointing her bat towards the pavilionwhere her seven-month-old babyFatima was present.

Experienced seamers MeganSchutt (1/43) and Ellyse Perry (1/27)and medium pacer Nicola Carrey(1/36) picked up a wicket apiece forAustralia while spinners Alana King(2/24) and Amanda-Jade Wellington(1/25) also contributed.

Maroof and Riaz didn't scorequickly to begin with and played withextreme caution to put together amemorable stand.

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Celebrating the InternationalWomen's Day in a unique way,

a special vintage car drive wasorganised on Faridabad-Gurgaonroad on Tuesday. The drive wit-nessed 15 women driven vintageand classic cars, jeeps, 10 womendriven vintage and classic bikesmanufactured up to 1972.

The Rosmerta Women's DayDrive was organised by RosmertaTechnologies Limited and HeritageMotoring Club of India. AtulAnand, group president, RosmertaTechnologies, said, "Through thisevent, we aimed to celebrate wom-anhood and recognize the extraor-dinary acts of women."

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