RNI NO.: WBENG/2015/65962

VOL. 7, ISSUE 224 | Tuesday, 17 August 2021 | Kolkata | Pages 12 | Rs 3.00PUBLISHED FROM DELHI | KOLKATA

MILLENNIUMPOST.IN

No Half Truths

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: India’s Coro-navirus caseload mounted to 3,22,25,513 on Monday with 32,937 fresh infections, while the active cases came down to 3,81,947, the low-est in 145 days, according to Union Health ministry data.

So far, 3,14,11,924 peo-ple have recuperated from COVID-19. The case fatality rate stands at 1.34 per cent, it added.

The death toll climbed to 4,31,642 as 417 more peo-ple succumbed to COVID-19, the data updated at 8 am showed.

The 3,81,947 active cases, down from 3,85,336 on Sun-day, comprise 1.18 per cent of the total infections in the country, the lowest since March last year. The national recovery rate stands at 97.48 per cent, the highest since March last year, the minis-try said.

The daily positivity rate was recorded at 2.79 per cent. It has remained below 3 per cent for the last 21 days. The weekly positivity rate was recorded at 2.01 per cent, it said. Continued on P4

India adds 32,937 Covid

cases, 417 deaths

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: The Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Monday observed ‘Khela Hobe Divas’ across Bengal. Party leaders marked the day by organising football matches in every nook and corner of the state.

These events are aimed at promoting sports and as a mark of respect to those 16 persons who died in a stam-pede during a football match — between Mohun Bagan and East Bengal — in Kolkata on this day in 1980.

TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee had announced last month that August 16 would be observed as ‘Khela Hobe Divas’.

“The Khela Hobe Divas is being observed across the state. In other parts of the country, too, we have plans to organise events. However, in some BJP-ruled states, we were not given permission. We are still pursuing the mat-ter with the authorities,” TMC state general secretary Kunal Ghosh had earlier said.

Over 5,000 footballs were distributed in 343 blocks, 117 municipalities, six municipal corporations, 144 wards, 23 SDO offices and 309 autho-rised clubs and societies in Bengal.

‘Khela Hobe’ (Game On) was the battle cry of the TMC and was made popular by the party chief during the high octave Assembly polls

in April-May this year, as the party defeated the BJP to storm back to power in Bengal for the third consecutive time.

During her campaigns, Banerjee had promised to dis-tribute footballs among clubs and school students and was often seen dribbling the ball on stage during several of her programmes and throwing it to the crowd.

‘Khela Hobe Divas’ was observed in all the wards of KMC. In South Kolkata, party MP Mala Roy took part in a football match. She kicked a ball to mark the start of the game.

In North Kolkata, Shashi Panja, the state minister for Women and Child Devel-opment and Social Welfare, also kicked a ball to mark the beginning of the occasion in her area. Football matches were held in all the wards in Kolkata in presence of ward coordinators.

Continued on P4

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: Sushmita Dev, former Congress MP — who was serving as president of the All India Mahila Congress — quit the party and joined Tri-namool Congress (TMC) on Monday.

The former MP from Assam’s Silchar is the daugh-ter of former Union minister Santosh Mohan Dev.

Sushmita, along with Derek O’Brien, TMC Rajya Sabha MP, went to the office of the party’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee and held an hour-long dis-cussion following which she

was formally inducted into the party. Taking to Twitter, the TMC welcomed the former parliamentarian on board.

“We warmly welcome the former President of All India Mahila Congress @sushmitadevinc to our Trin-amool family! Inspired by @MamataOfficial, she joins us

today in the presence of our National General Secretary @abhishekaitc & Parliamentary Party Leader, Rajya Sabha, @derekobrienmp,” the TMC wrote on its official Twitter handle.

Earlier, she wrote a letter to Sonia Gandhi and resigned from Congress, mentioning that she was beginning a “new chapter in my life of public service”.

Abhishek, Derek and Sushmita went to Nabanna and met Mamata Banerjee. It was learnt that she had expressed her satisfaction over Dev’s induction into the party.

Continued on P4

Ex-Congress MP Sushmita Dev joins Trinamool

‘Khela Hobe Divas’ observed across Bengal‘Khela Hobe’ was TMC’s battle cry & was made

popular by the party chief during the high octave Assembly polls in April-May this year

City: Pg 3One man, one post: TMC declares names of district presidents

Nation: Pg 6Landslide: Toll reaches 25

Film: Pg 12‘Everyone is charting their course in the industry’

FILE PHOTO

SC says ‘can’t compel’ Centre to file detailed affidavit; govt to set up probe panel

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday said it can-not compel the “reluctant” Centre to file a detailed affi-davit on petitions seeking to know if Pegasus spyware was used to snoop on certain citi-zens and steps it took to probe the allegations.

The Centre, while deny-ing all claims linked to recent reports that the Israeli Pega-sus spyware was used to target opposition leaders, journal-ists and others, told the Apex Court that a group of experts will be investigating into all such claims.

The top court Bench headed by Chief Justice N V

Ramana would on Tuesday deliberate on whether the Cen-tre should file a detailed affi-davit in the matter, after the short one in which it submit-ted on Monday that the peti-tions seeking an independent probe into the snooping allega-tions are based on “conjectures, surmises” and unsubstantiated media reports. Continued on P4

PEGASUS ROW

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: Chief Justice of India NV Ramana on Monday sought an explanation from the Centre on its decision to enact a Bill with provisions that were earlier struck down by the Supreme Court, Live Law reported.

On August 9, Rajya Sabha passed the Tribunals Reforms Bill, 2021. The Lok Sabha had passed the Bill on August 3.

Two of the Bill’s provi-

sions regarding appointment criteria for members of tri-bunal bodies in India were the same as in an Ordinance introduced by the government on the matter. These provi-sions were struck down by the

Supreme Court on July 14 in a separate case.

Tribunals are legal bod-ies that settle administrative and tax-related disputes. Cen-tral Administrative Tribunal, Armed Forces Tribunal, Secu-rities Appellate Tribunal are some of the examples.

On Monday, a Bench led by Ramana was hearing a case related to filling up vacancies in various tribunals in the country. During the hearing, the Chief Justice asked Solic-

itor General Tushar Mehta why the Bill was introduced with provisions that have been invalidated by the court.

“We are not commenting on the Parliament proceed-ings... Of course, the legis-lature has the prerogative to make laws,” Ramana said, according to Live Law.

“At least we must know why the government has introduced the Bill despite being struck down by this court.” Continued on P4

SC asks Centre to explain why it introduced Bill with provisions that were struck downTribunals Reforms Bill was passed by both Houses even as SC had

struck down 2 provisions in an Ordinance introduced earlier

ICA-1184(14)/2021

7 killed as people throng Kabul airport to flee Taliban rule in Af: Reports

Commercial flights suspended; India says will take all steps to ensure security of its nat’ls

KABUL: At least seven people, including three Afghan nation-als who clung to a US Air Force plane to escape Taliban rule, died on Monday in a melee at the Kabul airport, as hundreds of people scrambled to board flights in a desperate bid to get out of Afghanistan, following the toppling of the government led by President Ashraf Ghani.

India, on Monday, said it will take all steps to ensure the safety and security of its nationals and facilitate the

repatriation of Sikhs and Hin-dus who wish to leave Afghan-istan as the Taliban takeover triggered fear and uncer-tainty and forced suspension of commercial flights after the Kabul airport authorities declared the Afghan airspace as “uncontrolled”.

Also on Monday, India’s defence top brass, the for-eign policy establishment and senior intelligence offi-cials were understood to have reviewed the fast-paced

developments in the war-torn nation, a day after the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan 20 years after it was ousted by a US-led military coalition.

People familiar with the meetings said the immediate priority of the government is to evacuate nearly 200 Indi-ans, including Indian embassy staffers and security personnel from Kabul after the Taliban insurgents seized the Afghan capital following the collapse of the US-backed Afghan gov-

ernment on Sunday.Noting that the security sit-

uation in Kabul has deterio-rated significantly in the last few days, the External Affairs ministry said: “Commercial operations from Kabul airport have been suspended today. This has forced a pause in our repatriation efforts. We are awaiting the resumption of flights to restart the process.”

It further said that the sit-uation in Afghanistan was being monitored on a con-

stant basis at high levels. “The Government will take all steps to ensure the safety and secu-rity of Indian nationals and our interests in Afghanistan.”

Taliban insurgents swept Kabul on Sunday after the US-backed Afghan government collapsed and President Ghani fled the country, bringing an unprecedented end to a two-decade campaign in which the US and its allies had tried to transform the war-ravaged nation. Continued on P4

PREZ ASHRAF GHANI FLEES KABUL IN HELICOPTER STUFFED WITH CASH: RUSSIAN MEDIA

Hundreds run alongside a US Air Force C-17 transport plane as it moves down a runway of the international airport, in Kabul, on Monday AP/PTI

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday seemed to endorse the Taliban tak-ing over Kabul by saying that Afghanistan has bro-ken the “shackles of slav-ery” in the neighbouring war-torn country.

The longstanding war in Afghanistan reached a watershed moment on Sunday when the Tali-ban insurgents closed in on Kabul before entering the city and took over the presidential palace, forcing embattled President Ashraf Ghani to join fellow citi-zens and foreigners to flee the country.

Khan made these remarks while address-ing a ceremony to launch the first phase of the Sin-gle National Curriculum (SNC) from Grade 1 to 5, which was part of the man-ifesto of his ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party.

Continued on P4

Afghans have broken ‘shackles of

slavery’: ImranBEIJING: China on Monday expressed hope that the Tali-ban will stand by its commit-ment to establishing an open and inclusive Islamic govern-ment in Afghanistan and will ensure a peaceful transition of power without violence and terrorism.

Commenting for the first time on the sudden and rapid takeover of the Afghanistan government by the Taliban insurgents, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying in a media briefing here expressed hope that the Taliban will abide by its com-mitment to ensure a peaceful

transition of power, taking full responsibility for the safety of Afghan citizens and foreign diplomatic missions.

While most of the embas-sies in Kabul, including that of the US, India and EU coun-tries rushed to evacuate their diplomatic staff, Hua said the Chinese Embassy is up and running with its ambassador and some staff. Continued on P4

China says ready for ‘friendly relations’ with Taliban

Cases dip to 502; at least nine fatalities reported in a day

Vaccination: Bengal extracts extra doses from vials

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: Residents of Salt Lake will receive filtered water four times a day soon instead of the service given thrice a day at present.

According to Bidhan-nagar Municipal Corpora-tion (BMC) officials, last year during November a trial was conducted.

At present, BMC receives around 6.5 mgd water from the KMC and 4 mgd water from the HIDCO. Soon, 2 mgd more will be given to the BMC which will help the civic body to cater to the demand of water throughout Salt Lake.

Tulsi Sinha Roy, Member, Board of Administrator, BMC said to cater the demand of fil-

tered water in Salt Lake, around 11mgd water is required. This apart, 1 mgd water is being sup-plied to the four wards in Kes-htopur and its adjacent areas.

Sources informed that at present water is being supplied in Salt Lake thrice every day since morning.

In the first phase, water is supplied from 6:30 am to 8:30 am. In the second phase, water supply is available between 11:30 am and 12:30 pm. In the third phase water supply is available between 4:30 pm and 6:30 pm.

It has been decided that after the monsoon ends, water supply will be given for another hour at night between 9 pm and 10 pm.

Roy also mentioned that at

present three wards, which are 28, 35 and 36, are still not get-ting the surface water.

Filtered water will be sup-plied in these three wards soon through a separate reservoir which will be constructed at AK block.

Around three months ago a Detailed Project Report (DPR) was submitted at the KMDA for necessary work. After com-pletion of the project extraction of ground water in Salt Lake will not be required.

“Our aim is to provide suf-ficient filtered water to the residents. For the purpose we have taken up several projects. To cater to the demand in 21 wards in Rajarhat Gopalpur area, a DPR will be prepared soon,” added Roy.

Salt Lake households to get filtered water 4 times a day

Trial was conducted last November

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: Bengal has been successfully extracting mini-mum 7 to 10 extra doses of vac-cine on an average basis from 10 vials, which is beyond the labeled quantity of doses sup-posed to be administered. This has become possible due to the efficiency of nursing per-sonnel and health workers in the Covid vaccination centers (CVC) across the state.

As a result, no vaccine dose is wasted in Bengal and there-fore the wastage rate in the state remains in negative figure. It happened only because the state has ensured overutilisa-tion of vials by extracting more doses given in extra.

In the country, around 6 to 7 doses out of 100 are wasted by the health workers but in the case of Bengal, the same amount is extracted as extra over 100 doses which is the usual utilisation figure in the case of 10 vials. It is expected

that 10 doses can be admin-istered on 10 people from each vial but there is an extra amount given in each vial considering the wastage issue. Bengal has managed to use the extra doses and thereby draw-ing the attention of many other states.

According to an estimate, in the states like Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu around 15-30 per cent doses are wasted.

Most of the time, Bengal has been utilising 11 to 12 doses from each vial. It means that 1 to 2 persons are being vaccinated from the doses, which are beyond the normal counting. It is presumed that 10 people would be vaccinated from each vial.

“It has been happening both in the case of Covishield and Covaxin. Around 1-1.5 mm vaccines are kept within the vial in extra. Around 0.5 mm quantity is administered on each person. It has become

possible in the state due to the efficiency of our health work-ers. Each vial is opened when there are at least 11-12 bene-ficiaries,” said a senior health official.

It may be mentioned here that the amount of doses sup-plied to Bengal by the Centre is lower than many other states.

Despite the crunch, the state has managed to conduct 4 lakh daily vaccinations for the fourth time so far. In the past 24 hours, around 3,14,637 doses were administered across the state.

Bengal has so far adminis-tered cumulatively 3,45,90,461 doses till Monday.

On Sunday, around 70,000 doses had been administered. In the special category vaccine group aged between 18-45, around 87,86,454 doses have been administered so far.

The department has already prioritized the administration of second doses of vaccine due to the short supply.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: Court on Monday adjourned Narada tape case hearing till September 13.

A five- judge bench, com-prising Acting Chief Jus-tice Rajesh Bindal, Justice IP Mukerji, Justice Harish Tan-don, Justice Soumen Sen and Justice Arijit Mukherjee, took on record the rejoinder filed by Advocate General Kishore Dutta in response to the affi-davit-in-reply filed by the CBI pertaining to the Narada case in which two Cabinet minis-ters Firhad Hakim and Sub-rata Mukherjee along with Trinamool Congress MLA Madan Mitra and former Kol-kata Mayor Sovan Chatterjee had been granted interim bail in May.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the CBI, appealed to the bench to post-pone the hearing as there are other cases in Supreme Court in which he had to be present.

The court urged the con-cerned parties to complete the submission of oral arguments at the earliest.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: West Bengal Clin-ical Establishment Regulatory Commission (WBCERC) has directed various private hos-pitals in the city to return a cumulative amount of around Rs 2.98 lakh in separate inci-dents as the patients were excessively charged by all the hospitals.

In one incident, the WBCERC asked Good Samari-tan Hospital to refund around Rs 40,000 after it found some faults on the part of the hos-pital authorities. WBCERC chairperson Justice (retired) Ashim Banerjee said one Deba-sish Dutta admitted his patient to the hospital on May 10 and the patient was discharged on May 14.

The patient was charged around Rs 1.20 lakh out of which Rs 60,000 was taken in

advance. It was alleged that the patient was exorbitantly charged by the ambulance.

Good Samaritan Hos-pital has also been asked to return Rs 25,450 in a separate incident. One Moumita Dey admitted her mother on April 29 this year and she died after two days. Her father was also admitted with Covid. He was later released from the hospital. The family was asked to pay Rs 2 lakh. The Commission found that the bill was hefty.

In another case, the Com-mission found that a patient was charged Rs 50,000 for one day by Apex Hospital.

The Commission has also asked the hospital to return another Rs 20,000 to the patient. In another incident the Apex Hospital was asked to pay Rs 30,000 to a patient as the hospital had excessively taken bed charges.

2 HELD WITH HEROIN WORTH RS 50CRKOLKATA: The Special Task Force (STF) of Kolkata Police nabbed two drug smugglers and seized heroin worth Rs 50 crore on Sunday evening. Cops came to know about the consignment while interrogating two drug smugglers arrested on August 12. According to STF officials, two drug smugglers identified as Md. Es-mail Sk of Kalichak in Malda and Abhishek Salam of Manipur were arrested from West Port police station with more than 2 kg yaba tablets worth Rs 5 crore. The accused were remanded in police custody for 14 days. During interrogation, the accused duo told the cops that another consignment of drugs was to reach state soon. On Sunday, police intercepted two persons carrying around 10 kg heroin.

CYBER FRAUD: OVER 5K SIM CARDS SEIZEDKOLKATA: Bankura District Police has again seized around 5800 SIM cards and several fake Aadhaar cards. Earlier, police had busted a racket of cyber fraudsters who used to open e-wallet accounts using pre-activated SIM cards. Around eight thousand such SIM cards were seized a few days ago and police found traces of around 10 thousand e-wallets as well. While interrogating the accused, police on Monday seized 5857 SIM cards, 32 fake Aadhaar cards used for activation, and e-wallet merchant QR codes.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: The West Bengal College Service Commission (WBCSC) on Monday released notification for State Eligibil-ity Test (SET) for recruitment of assistant professors in Ben-gal with the approval received from University Grants Com-mission (UGC) for introduc-tion of three new subjects. The expert committee has also allowed WBCSC to set questions in Bengali language besides English for all such sub-jects in which there are such provisions.

The notification was released soon after the state Higher Education department got the nod of UGC to con-tinue holding of SET exami-nations for a period of another three years.

WBCSC, being the nodal agency, will do the needful for holding examinations

“We had been holding SET for recruitment of assistant professors in government aided colleges against 30 subjects.

“We had applied for per-mission to introduce three new subjects -Environmen-tal Science, Business Admin-istration and Arabic. We have been granted the nod by UGC and hence we will be hold-

ing SET for recruitment in 33 subjects,” a senior official of WBCSC said.

The WBCSC after every three years has to forward application to the UGC for accreditation so that it can con-tinue with its holding of SET examinations for recruitment of assistant professors.

The application to the UGC through the Higher Education department was forwarded in the month of September last year after the accreditation (for three year period) ended.

The UGC team did neces-sary inspection this year and allowed further accreditation for three years.

The commencement of online application has begun from 12 noon on Monday with the last date of such application and payment of fees being Sep-tember 15. The date of exami-nation has been scheduled on January 9, 2022.

WBCSC gets UGC’s nod to hold SET for hiring assistant professorsHC adjourns

hearing till September 13

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: Around 90 BJP leaders and workers including Dilip Ghosh, Sayantan Basu and Suvendu Adhikari were arrested for allegedly violating Disaster Management Act by gathering on the Rani Rash-moni Avenue to observe ‘save West Bengal day’.

On Monday, BJP leaders and workers gathered on the Rani Rashmoni Avenue and started demonstrating.

Despite the fact that police

did not allow the saffron party to demonstrate in view of the prevailing pandemic, BJP lead-ers were adamant.

On Monday when the BJP

leaders and workers gath-ered on Rani Rashmoni ave-nue, police requested them to leave as they were violating the Covid protocols.

When the BJP workers and leaders denied to move, police started detaining the law vio-lators.BJP state president Dilip Ghosh, Leader of Opposition, Suvendu Adhikari along with saffron party leaders like Say-antan Basu, Saumitra Khan, Joayprakash Majumdar and Debasree Chowdhury were arrested.It had been alleged

that police were obstructed by the Central force person-nel from arresting the CRPF protectees.

BJP workers got involved in scuffle with the cops as well. The BJP leaders and workers were taken to the Lalbazar from where they were released on bail later.Meanwhile, massive traffic congestion took place in and around Esplanade on the first working day of the week resulting in tremen-dous harassment for the daily commuters.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: The number of daily Covid infected cases dropped to 502 on Monday from what stood at 673 on Sunday.

Number of daily caseload remains much higher in the districts like North 24-Parga-nas, Kolkata, South 24-Parga-nas and Darjeeling. According to the health bulletin on Mon-day, as many as 74 fresh cases were detected in North 24-Par-ganas while in case of Kolkata the number was registered at 62. Darjeeling has seen 47 new cases and South 24-Parganas 44. Coochbehar has reported 30 new cases, Hooghly 30 new cases and Howrah 25.

Single-day Covid fatality stood at 9 on Monday. Around 18,312 people have so far died of Covid across the state. The recovery rate remains at 98.17

per cent while the fatality rate was registered at 1.19 percent on Thursday. The total tally of COVID-19 infected cases reached 15,39,065 out of which around 15,10,921 patients have already been released from the hospitals so far.

As many as 691 people were discharged from different hos-pitals on Monday. The percent-age of positive cases out of the sample tested remained at 1.92 on Monday whereas the per-centage of occupancy of Covid beds in the State remains at 3.58.

Bengal has so far carried out 1,64,13,281 Covid sam-ple tests out of which around 26,124 tests were done in the past 24 hours. North 24-Par-ganas has seen no Covid death on Monday while Kolkata has seen 1 and South 24-Parga-nas 2. Hooghly and Howrah each have reported 2 deaths

on Monday. Darjeeling and Kalimpong registered 1 death each.Health department has so far addressed 21,02,182 gen-eral queries so far out of which 2,501 queries were addressed in the past 24 hours.

State has so far given tele-medicine consultations to 8,46,622 people so far out of which 1,313 were given con-sultation in the past 24 hours.

Around 516 people have been given tele-psychological coun-selling in the past 24 hours taking the total number of counselling to 4,14,579 till Monday.

Around 203 dedicated Covid hospitals have been still functional in the state out of 196 are run by the government. There are around 23,947 ear-marked Covid beds in the state and 2,861 ICU/HDU beds.

Meanwhile, the number of confirmed deaths due to mucormycosis in Bengal has remained at 21 while 49 others who have died are still among the suspected cases. No new confirmed mucormycosis cases suspected cases were reported on Monday. The total number of mucormycosis infected cases remained 87 in the state. The total number of suspected cases stood 204 in the state so far.

RECOVERY RATE STANDS AT 98.17%

BJP leaders, including Suvendu, held for violating Covid protocols

News at a Glance

2 millenniumpostCitympTUESDAY, 17 AUGUST, 2021 | KOLKATA

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Covid-19 Stats » Number of deaths in past 24 hours 9 » Total death toll so far 18,312 » Tested COVID positive in the past 24 hours 502 » Total COVID positive cases so far 15,39,065 » Total patients recovered from COVID so far 15,10,921 » Discharged from hospitals in a day 691 » Total sample tested so far 1,64,13,281

Health body asks pvt hosps to repay Rs 2.98L

in separate cases

City gets tram museum on PartitionKOLKATA: A museum on wheels inside the iconic trams of Kolkata, commemorating the 75th anniversary of India’s Independence, was inaugu-rated by state Transport Minis-ter Firhad Hakim. The first car highlights the rising resistance against the British Raj from the 1900s. It delves on to the key moments during the period of 1900 to 1947, leading to inde-pendence and how the borders were drawn, dividing Bengal and Punjab in two halves. The second car focuses on the mass migration and rehabilitation that took place post-partition and explores the humane angle.

“India is a country of peace. Bengal believes in har-

mony and unity in diversity. This museum reflects the ethos of Bengal. It also dwells upon the Freedom struggle in which Bengal played a major role. The Museum on Wheels beau-tifully depicts the efforts of our

freedom fighters and also the impact of the division of Ben-gal and Punjab on the national psyche,” said Hakim, during the inauguration ceremony at Esplanade.

State Transport secretary Rajesh Sinha and West Ben-gal Transport Corporation (WBTC) managing director Rajanvir Singh Kapur were also present on the occasion.

The museum, curated by the Arts and Cultural Heritage Trust in collaboration with the WBTC, will be on display at Esplanade between August 15 and December-end. From Jan-uary 1, 2022, the Museum on Wheels will move to other parts of the city. MPOST

The nodal agency got approval to add three new subjects

Minister Firhad Hakim inaugurated the museum

CU adjudged best univ in India, CM

congratulatesOUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: Calcutta Univer-sity has been adjudged the best among all universities across India in the Shanghai Rank-ings-- Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), 2021. Among all the universi-ties and institutes in the coun-try, the University of Calcutta is second only to the prestigious Indian Institute of Science.

“Extremely pleased to share that 2021 Academic Rank-ing of World Universities has informed the Government of West Bengal that Calcutta University is one of the top ranking universities in India! Congratulations to all teachers, administration staff and our dear students,” Chief Minis-ter Mamata Banerjee tweeted. .

A senior CU official said that this success and interna-tional recognition should be seen as a result of the sustained efforts of the brilliant mem-bers of faculty, the dedicated research scholars, the sincere non- teaching colleagues as well as the bright students.

CU is best among all universities across India as per Shanghai Rankings

KOLKATA: On the occasion of ‘Khela Hobe Divas’, an all women’s inter-ward football tournament was held under Manicktala constituency on Monday.

The tournament was held with great enthusiasm. Par-ticipants from all eight wards of Manicktala constituency took part in the tournament. It was held on the premises of Sukanta Udyan, Kankur-gachi. In the absence of Man-iktala MLA and state Cabinet minister for Consumer Affairs and Self Help Group and Self-Employment Sadhan Pande, his daughter Shreya Pande—who is a social worker—took up the initiative and organised the tournament.

Various other sports activi-ties and tournaments like boy’s cricket and badminton, were also organized. Former and current generation footballers

of different teams including Mohan Bagan were present in the competition and various political and eminent persons also attended the event. The main objective of observing ‘Khela Hobe Divas’ is to inspire younger generation of the state to take up sports. MPOST

Women football tournament held to observe ‘Khela Hobe Divas’

(Above) Sadhan Pande’s daughter, Shreya Pande, with a women team; (Right) Chandrima Bhattacharya at a Khela Hobe Divas event

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: Professor Chiran-jib Bhattacharjee on Monday took charge as the president of West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education.

He was handed over the charge by Mahua Das, who was removed from the post on Friday.

“I have a long term plan to ensure that there is mini-mum grievance among candi-dates regarding the assessment pattern of higher secondary examination if the COVID sit-uation continues during the 2022 examinations. I will dis-cuss the plan with the officials of Council and will submit a report to the state government,” Bhattacharjee, who is also the pro vice-chancellor of Jadavpur University said.

A senior Council official said that holding examina-tions in semester mode may be an option.

New prez for HS Council

In many states, around 6 to 7 doses out of 100 are wasted

‘We had applied for permission to introduce three new subjects -Environmental Science, Business Administration and Arabic. We have been granted the nod by UGC..’

The BJP leaders and workers were taken to the Lalbazar from where they were released on bail later

NARADA CASE

3millenniumpost City mpKOLKATA | TUESDAY, 17 AUGUST, 2021

One man, one post: Trinamool declares names of dist presidents

‘70% of total applications received at Duare Sarkar camps was for Lakshmir Bhandar’

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: State Finance minister Amit Mitra on Mon-day virtually inaugurated has-sle-free online services for citizens in municipal areas in the form of e-building plan (grihanaksha), e-trade license and e-mutation. The sanction for such online applications will be given within 15 days.

“There is provision of pen-alty for failure in meeting the deadline unless there is any genuine reason behind the delay,”Chief Secretary H K Dwivedi said at the inaugural programme. Chandrima Bhat-tacharjee, state Urban Devel-opment and Municipal Affairs minister, said all the 123 urban local bodies (ULBs) across the state had been included in the integrated system for trade license and around 2 crore peo-ple would be benefitted.

In the online building plan platform, 60 ULBs have been

included and another 39 will be integrated within three months. More than 1.5 crore people in the state will be ben-efited through this service.

“District-wise training has been imparted to all con-cerned officers so that they are equipped to handle this service with ease. Leaflets will be dis-tributed in the municipal areas and wide publicity will be made

through social media,” Bhat-tacharjee said.

Claiming that the intro-duction of the online ser-vices is a major intervention towards Ease of Doing Busi-ness (EODB), the Chief Sec-retary pointed out that there was no uniformity among the ULBs (expect Kolkata Munici-pal Corporation and Howrah Municipal Corporation) in

these matters and each of them had their own way. Often there were complaints of inordinate delay in building plan sanction or granting of trade license.

“With the online system in place we will be able to monitor things and can seek explanations from munici-palities for delays. The indus-tries too require services like trade licenses and sometimes building plans too. So, they will also reap benefits of this online facility,” he added.

Pointing out a unique fea-ture of the facilities, Mitra said auto calculation of fee charges can be seen digitally and no person will have to reach out physically to a concerned per-son for knowing such charges.

The state government rolled out a toll free helpline number 18003458251, a dedicated help desk at Nagarayan and an email id helpdesk.sws.udma@wb.gov.in for answering queries related to these services.

E-services launched for citizens in municipal areas

They can now apply online for building plan, trade license & mutation

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: At least 70 per cent of the total 15 lakh applications received on the first day of the second edi-tion of Bengal’s mega outreach drive Duare Sarkar were for the basic min-imum income scheme for women—Lakshmir Bhandar.

Sources said that a total of 883 camps were organised across the state on Monday and at least 15 lakh appli-cations were received till reports last came in. “Around 70 per cent of the applications are for the Lakshmir Bhandar scheme,” said a senior offi-cer of the state government.

The remaining 30 per cent are for the schemes including Stu-dent Credit Card, Krishak Bandhu (New), “Bina Muley Samajik Surak-shya”, “correction in minor errors in land records”, “Bank (opening of new accounts), Swasthya Sathi, Kanyas-hree, Rupashree, Khadya Sathi, Shi-khashree, Caste Certificate, Tapasili Bandhu, Manabik, Jai Johar and Mutations in Agricultural Land.

A woman member of a general caste family would get Rs 500 per month that is Rs 6,000 per annum and one from an SC or ST family would get Rs 1,000 per month, which

is Rs 12,000 annually, under the Lak-shmir Bhandar scheme.

The project is Chief Minis-ter Mamata Banerjee’s brainchild and it was one of her pre-poll assurances.

Dedicated counters have been set up for Lakshmir Bhandar scheme at every camp of the biggest outreach drive taken by the state government.

Despite all preparations including applications with unique identifica-tion numbers, heavy rush of appli-cants were noticed at many camps to get enrolled for Lakshmir Bhan-dar scheme.

Even there were reports of some falling ill while standing in queues at the camps. There were reports of seven people getting injured at a camp at Murarai in Birbhum. “The turn up was much more than our expectation. All steps are being taken to avoid such a crowd from Tuesday onward,” said a senior state govern-ment officer.

Ministers and local MLAs vis-ited the Duare Sarkar camps in their areas. Animal Resources Develop-ment minister Swapan Debnath visited Duare Sarkar camps in East Burdwan.

The Duare Sarkar camps would continue till September 15. Some issues related to logistics cropped up on the first day of Duare Sarkar camp as there were reports of poor internet service at certain places and snag developed even in the machine needed for enrolment in Swasthya Sathy scheme at some camps. Neces-sary moves have been taken to resolve the issues.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: The state government on Monday set up the West Ben-gal Industrial Promotion Board with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee as its chairperson to redress investment and indus-trialisation related issues at the earliest.

The step was taken following a nod by the Cabinet on Monday considering that it would ensure a momentum in terms of invest-ment in various sectors. “Issues related with different state gov-ernment departments crop up while setting up an industry. The need for better coordination is required to resolve the issues at the earliest. So, the decision has been,” said state Industry min-ister Partha Chatterjee.

Ministers and secretaries of departments including Micro Small and Medium Enterprises and Textiles (MSME & T), Infor-mation Technology and Elec-tronics, Tourism, Power, Land, Finance and Food Processing Industries and Horticulture are members of the board with sec-retary of the Industry Commerce and Enterprises as its member convener. The state’s Chief Sec-retary and chairpersons of both West Bengal Industrial Devel-opment Corporation (WBIDC) and West Bengal Industrial Infra-structure Development Corpo-ration (WBIIDC) are also the members of the board.

The board will make the sys-tem more ‘entrepreneur friendly” and help to attract more invest-ment in the state.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: Giving stress for further revival of economy besides taking steps to check spread of Covid, the state on Monday allowed the function-ing of production units, mills

and industries including IT and ITeS sector with 100 per cent manpower from Tuesday.

Issuing an order on Mon-day, the Bengal government stated that all production units are allowed to function with “100 per cent strength as per normal working hours pro-vided employees are vacci-nated and Covid appropriate behavior and protocols are fully complied”. “It is good for the industry that functioning with 100 per cent workforce has been allowed. It would help more

people to get jobs specially at mills,” said a state govern-ment officer.

The state government has also allowed opening of muse-ums including Archeologi-cal Survey of India protected monuments and entertainment

parks with not more than 50 per cent of capacity at a time.

It needs mention that already the restrictions on out-door activities has been relaxed for two hours from Monday as it now prevails from 11 pm to 5 am. All shops, restaurants and bars also remained open till 10.30 pm on Monday with the relaxations given.

The museums and enter-tainment parks too have to strictly follow the Covid norms while allowing people to enter the establishments.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: Trinamool Con-gress (TMC) MPs took part in Khela Hobe Divas in Tripura.

The MPs gathered at Swami Vivekananda maidan and took part in a football match with local boys.

TMC MP from Howrah Pra-sun Banerjee, former India soccer captain and party’s Rajya Sabha MP Dr Santanu Sen took the leading role. Before the match started Banerjee displayed his dribbling skills.

Tripura administration which had harassed TMC leaders in more than one way, however, did not intervene and allowed the football match to end peacefully.

The BJP supporters who had damaged the vehicle of party’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee and later assaulted party leaders who are still undergoing treatment at SSKM hospital did not take measures to spoil the match. The players wore black shorts and white jersey with “Jitbe Tripura” (victory in Tri-pura) inscribed on the back. However, the administration in Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh

did not allow TMC to organise football matches. The admin-istration informed the party leaders well in advance and no matches were held in these states. In both the states the adminis-tration informed TMC leaders that in view of the pandemic, they could not give permission to hold such matches.

On the occasion over 5,000 footballs were distributed in 343 blocks, 117 municipalities, six municipal corporations, 144 wards, 23 SDO offices and 309 authorised clubs and societies in Bengal.

‘Strengthen voices against forces that stifle freedom’

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: As part of implementing the ‘one man, one post’ formula, all former Trinamool Congress (TMC) district presidents—who used to hold more than one post in the party—have been replaced by new faces across the state.

The list was announced after get-ting a nod from party’s chairperson Mamata Banerjee. Names of Trin-amool Congress MP Mohua Moi-tra, ministers Jyotipriya Mallick, Soumen Mahapatra and Pulak Roy and MLA Atin Ghosh were dropped. Mausam Benazir Noor, Trinamool Rajya Sabha MP, was also dropped from Malda district president’s post.

Partha Bhowmick has become the new president of North 24-Par-ganas district. He replaced Jyotipriya Mallick, the state Forest minister. Tapas Roy and Debashis Kumar have been appointed as the presi-dents of Kolkata north and Kolkata south districts.

Tarun Maity has been made the president of east Midnapore district, replacing Soumen Mahapatra, state minister for Irrigation and Water-ways. Sujoy Hazra has become the new president of West Midnapore district while Debnath Hansda is the new president of Jhargram district. Kalyanendu Ghosh is the president of Howrah district. Sne-hashis Chakraborty is the president of Hooghly district.

Veteran Trinamool leader Rabi-ndranath Chatterjee has been made

the president of East Burdwan dis-trict while Bidhan Upadhyay is the new Burdwan West district president. Prakash Chik Baraik and Girendra-nath Burman have become the dis-trict presidents of Alipurduar and Cooch Bihar districts respectively.

Mohua Gope has been appointed as the district president of Jalpaig-uri. Kanhaialal Agarwal has been appointed as the district president of Uttar Dinajpur.

Abdur Rahim Boxi became the district president of Malda and he replaced Mausam Noor. Trinamool Congress appointed eight state gen-eral secretaries. They are former state minister for Paschimanchal Unnayan Affairs department Shan-tiram Mahato, Krishnendu Narayan Chowdhury, Pratul Chakraborty, Minati Adhikary, Krishna Kalyani, Ramendra Nath Biswas and Gautam Das. Subhashis Batabyal has been appointed as the vice-president along with Mohammad Shorab. A senior TMC leader said the list had been prepared in such a way that both the old guards and the new leaders had been incorporated in the district committees. While the old leaders were made the chairman of the dis-trict, the young leaders were made the district presidents. The names of the district youth presidents had also been announced.

The party has intensified its vigil to stop infighting. Also, the idle leaders will be sidelined and finally dropped.

SEVERAL MINISTERS, MLAS & MPS LOSE POST

Highlights » Names of TMC MP Mohua Moitra, ministers Jyotipriya Mallick, Soumen Mahapatra, Pulak Roy and MLA Atin Ghosh dropped » Mausam Benazir Noor, Trinamool Rajya Sabha MP, was also dropped from Malda district president’s post » The party has intensified its vigil to stop infighting

Key Points » The sanction for such online applications will be given within 15 days » Chandrima Bhattacharjee, state Urban Development and Municipal Affairs minister, said all the 123 urban local bodies (ULBs) across the state had been included in the integrated system for trade license and around 2 crore people would be benefitted » ‘With the online system in place we will be able to moni-tor things and can seek explanations from municipalities for delays. The industries too require services like trade licenses and sometimes building plans too. So they will also reap benefits of this online facility’

On 75th Independence Day, CM pens an ode to country’s unity & people

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who hoisted the National Flag at Red Road in Kolkata on 75th Independence Day on Sunday, gave a call to strengthen voices against all forces that aim to stifle people's

freedom. Banerjee received guard of honour after hoisting the flag and gave away Chief Minister’s Medals to police officers. Baner-jee attended the mesmerising event in which at least seven tableaus of different state-run projects rolled on the Red Road one after the other.

In a tweet, Banerjee stated: "On the 75th Independence Day, let us all come together to strengthen our voices against all forces that aim to stifle our free-dom. We must never forget the sacrifice of those who fought a long and hard battle for this day. Warm wishes to all my brothers and sisters. Jai Hind!"

Banerjee also penned a song —“Desh ta sobar nijer"—on the 75th Independence Day as an ode to the country’s unity. The song has been sung by minister of state for Information and Cul-tural Affairs department Indranil Sen and other artistes including Monomoy Bhattacharya, Debo-jyoti Ghosh and Trisha Parui.

Commissioner of Kolkata Police Soumen Mitra, ADG Correctional Services Peeyush Pandey and IGP North Bengal

DP Singh were conferred with Chief Minister's Police Medal for outstanding service.

While seven IPS officers including Superintendent of Police (SP) of East Midnapore Amarnath K, SP West Midnapore Dinesh Kumar, SP Cooch Behar Sumit Kumar, IG CID Anand Kumar, Joint Commissioner of Police (Organisation) in Kolk-ata Police Syed Waqar Raza, SP Sunderban Bhaskar Mukher-jee, and Deputy Commissioner (Special Task Force) of Kolkata Police Aparajita Rai received Chief Minister’s Police Medal for commendable service.

The Chief Minister made a courtesy visit to Raj Bhavan in the evening of Independence Day. Victoria Memorial Hall was also decorated with a giant 7,500 square feet Indian Flag.

TMC observes ‘Khela Hobe Divas’ in Tripura

Water-logging woes in Alipore, Behala likely to end before 2022

Covid restrictions eased for industries, including IT sector

State sets up industrial board with CM at helm

Debashish Kumar, member of Board of Administrators of KMC organised a football tournament for specially-abled on the occasion

‘Over 5,000 footballs were distributed in 343 blocks, 117 municipalities, six municipal corporations, 144 wards, 23 SDO offices and 309 authorised clubs in Bengal’

KOLKATA: The Trinamool Congress on Sunday alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has scant knowledge of history and demanded an apology from him for incorrectly saying that freedom fighter from Bengal, Matangini Hazra, hailed from Assam.

Bengal TMC general secretary Kunal Ghosh said the Prime Minis-ter has scant knowledge of history and merely read out a written text in a "dra-matic style".

The TMC spokesperson tweeted: “@BJP4India Matangini Hazra from Assam? R u mad? U don't know his-tory. U have no feelings. You just read a written speech (that also by others) with drama.”

“This is insult to Bengal. You must beg apology. Hope Your LOP from East Midnapore will also condemn such a mistake,” Ghosh added, while attach-ing a purported clipping of the speech. The TMC leader sought a response from

Leader of Opposition in Bengal Assem-bly and Nandigram's BJP MLA Suvendu Adhikari, who had often referred to the contribution of Medinipur, from where Matangini Hazra hailed, to the freedom struggle.

The Trinamool Congress tweeted on its official handle, “Matangini Hazra is a freedom fighter from Bengal, Mr. @narendramodi!”

“With such scant regard for our glorious history, you have insulted all

of #Bengal once again. Is @BJP4In-dia committed to erasing our history? Mocking it as they please? SHAME,” the party said, attaching a purported video with the post.

State Left Front chairman Biman Bose said, “Things like these happen if someone who has grown up with RSS teachings does not care to read or find out on his own and depends on the text prepared by his office without even checking.” AGENCIES

PM must apologise for saying Matangini Hazra was from Assam: TMC

The CM during the I-Day ceremony at Red Road, in Kolkata, on Sunday

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: Water-logging woes in a number of pockets in Behala and Alipore Body-guard Lines will come to an end before the 2022 monsoon with Chairman Board of Adminis-trators, Kolkata Municipal Cor-poration, Firhad Hakim setting a deadline for completion of all works related to sewerage and drainage implemented by Kol-kata Environmental Improve-ment Investment Programme (KEIIP).

“Recently, I held a meet-ing with all contractors who are doing work under KEIIP. Work cannot go on day after day causing inconvenience to common people. A deadline has been set for completion of each of the work and if there is a failure in meeting the same, penal action will be taken,” Hakim said.

Among the various proj-ects, the improvement in sew-erage and drainage of Alipore Bodyguard Lines will be com-pleted by December 31 this year.

“The work includes set-

ting up of a pumping station and 4.3 km pipeline that will drain out the water from Body-guard Lines to Tolly Nullah. The areas, where Police fami-lies live at the barracks at Body-guard Lines, get inundated and residents are compelled to use boats,”Hakim said.

The construction of sewer-age and drainage in Thakur-para and Purba Putiary under Borough XI will be completed by September 3, 2021.

Development of sewerage

and drainage within James Long Sarani and Mahatma Gandhi road catchment under ward 123 and 124 in Behala will be completed by March 31, 2022.

The construction of under-ground reservoirs & overhead reservoirs, pumping stations and linking pumping stations for water supply in Joka and adjoining areas including oper-ation and maintenance of the pumping station will be com-pleted by September 30.

Several pockets of the city went under water because of heavy showers last week FILE/PIC

The Directive » Production units, mills, industries including IT and ITeS can function with 100 per cent manpower. » Museums and amusement parks can reopen and allow 50 percent more people of the capacity » All shops, restaurants and bars also remained open till 10.30 pm on Monday with the relaxations given earlier » ‘It is good for the industry that functioning with 100 per cent workforce has been allowed. It would help more people to get jobs specially at mills’

A Duare Sarkar camp underway on Monday

4 millenniumpostNationmpTUESDAY, 17 AUGUST, 2021 | KOLKATA

7 killed in KabulThree Afghan nationals fell to death from the

sky as they failed in their bid to flee the Taliban rule in Afghanistan by clinging to a US Air Force plane, according to video clips posted by a local news agency.

Exclusive - A clear video of men falling from C-17. They were clinging to some parts of the plane that took off from Kabul airport today, the Afghan Asvaka news agency tweeted, posting the clip of the gory incident.

In another tweet, it said the bodies of three men clinging to the wheels of the plane that took off from Kabul airport fell to the ground near the Khairkahana area of Kabul.

Videos aired by TV channels and circulated on social media also showed humongous crowds of people at the entrance of the Kabul airport and also inside the airport attempting to board air-craft in chaotic scenes late on Sunday and Mon-day morning.

Quoting senior US military officials, Ameri-can news agency Associated Press reported that the chaos left seven dead, including several who fell from the flight.

Though the officials did not divulge further specific details about the deaths, they said that thousands of Afghans rushed onto the tarmac of Kabul’s international airport on Monday, so desperate to escape the Taliban capture of their country that they held onto an American mili-tary jet as it took off and plunged to death in the chaos that killed at least seven people.

According to TOLO news, some people were killed and wounded by gunfire in the Kabul international airport as hundreds crowded to board flights. Kabul airport was overwhelmed on Sunday night with over 2,000 people hoping to board commercial flights leaving the country, it said.

Quoting sources, the TOLO news report said some people were killed and wounded by gun-fire at the airport on Monday morning as crowds continue to grow.

However, no further detail was available on the gunfire incident.

Meanwhile, all commercial flights have been suspended at the Hamid Karzai International Airport, the Afghanistan Civil Aviation Author-ity said in a statement. The statement also urged the public to not crowd the airport.

Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani allegedly fled the war-torn country aboard a helicopter stuffed with money but had to leave some cash on the airfield as it could not be squeezed into the chopper, according to Russian official media reports on Monday.

Quoting the Russian embassy in Kabul, Rus-sian official news agency TASS reported that the 72-year-old President fled Afghanistan aboard a helicopter packed with money.

“As for the reasons for the collapse of the regime, they are characterised by how Ghani fled the country. Four cars were packed with money, and they tried to cram another bag of cash into the helicopter. Not all the cash managed to squeeze in, and some of the money was left lying

on the airfield,” a mission employee was quoted as saying by the report.

Though TASS did not name the mission employee, quoting Russian diplomatic mission spokesperson Nikita Ishenko, Russian wire ser-vice Sputnik reported that Ghani was escorted with cars filled with cash as he was fleeing Kabul.

“They tried to put part of the money into a helicopter, but everything did not fit. And some of the money was left on the runway,” Ishenko said.

Media reports suggested that Ghani may have fled to the neighbouring Tajikistan or Uzbeki-stan, but there was no official confirmation of his whereabouts.

The exact location of Ghani is unknown, but he is said to have travelled to Oman to escape to the US, Mehr News reported.

An academic and economist, Ghani was the 14th President of Afghanistan. He was first elected on September 20, 2014 and was re-elected in the September 28, 2019 presidential election.

Ghani, the soft-spoken US-trained anthropol-ogist also holds a doctorate from Columbia Uni-versity and is a former World Bank employee.

China saysHowever, most of the Chinese nationals have

already been evacuated from Afghanistan, she said.

“The situation in Afghanistan has experi-enced major changes. We respect Afghanistan’s people’s will and choice,” Hua said.

The war in Afghanistan has lasted over 40 years. To stop the war and realise peace is the wish of the 30 million Afghan people and the aspiration of the international community and regional countries, she said.

“We noticed the statement from Afghan Tali-ban yesterday (Sunday) saying that the war is over and they will start consultation on the estab-lishment of an open and inclusive Islamic gov-ernment and take the responsibility of the safety of Afghan citizens and foreign diplomatic corps,” the spokesperson said.

“We hope this will be implemented to ensure a peaceful transition, stop violence and terror-ism, and make sure people are free from war and build their new home,” Hua said.

Replying to a question on when will China recognise the Taliban government and whether any condition is attached to it, Hua said on the basis of fully respecting Afghanistan’s national sovereignty and the will of all parties, Beijing has been maintaining contact and communication with the Afghan Taliban and playing a construc-tive role in promoting a political settlement.

Recalling last month’s China visit of the Tali-ban delegation led by its Political Commission Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar and his talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Hua said: “We hope the Afghan Taliban will be united with other parties and with all nations and build a political framework in keeping with national conditions that is broadly inclusive and will lay the foundation for enduring peace.”

She also emphasised the Taliban’s assur-ance to Wang that it will not permit anti-China forces, that is, the Uygur Islamic militants of East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM), which is

fighting for the separation of China’s volatile Xin-jiang province.

According to a recent UN report, hundreds of militants of ETIM, which is affiliated to Al Qaeda terror outfit, are converging in Afghanistan amid the military advances made by the Taliban in the country. Xinjiang shares borders with Afghani-stan, Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (POK), besides Central Asian countries of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz-stan and Tajikistan.

Referring to the Taliban’s assurances, Hua said the Afghan Taliban has repeatedly said that they wanted to develop a good relationship with China and hope that Beijing will take part in the reconstruction and development of the nation.

She said the Afghan Taliban has assured that it “will never allow any forces to use the country (Afghanistan) to harm China”.

“We welcome that and we have always respected the county’s sovereignty and indepen-dence and integrity. We do not interfere in inter-nal affairs and our friendship is for all the people of Afghanistan. We respect people’s indepen-dence (and) choice and we continue to develop friendly relations and play a constructive role in peace and reconstruction,” Hua said. AGENCIES

Shackles of slaveryThe premier spoke how the parallel education

system led to the existence of “English medium” schools, resulting in the adoption of “someone else’s culture” in Pakistan.

“When you adopt someone’s culture, you believe it to be superior and you end up becom-ing a slave to it,” he said.

In the same breath, he indirectly likened the ongoing upheaval in Afghanistan with the people of the country breaking the “shackles of slavery”.

Khan said becoming a mental slave was worse than being an actual slave, adding that subju-gated minds can never make big decisions.

Pakistan is accused of facilitating the Taliban rebellion which ultimately resulted in the captur-ing of the country after being ousted for about 20 years ago.

Officially, Pakistan has maintained that it wanted a broad-based inclusive government in Afghanistan and was also hosting the Afghan leaders to create consensus for a peaceful transformation.

Meanwhile, Khan launched the SNC despite criticism because it put emphasis on religious teaching instead of modern national sciences. All provinces agreed to introduce it except Sindh.

Khan rejected all criticism and announced that the plan to introduce the education system from Grade 1-12 in the coming years would go ahead. AGENCIES

‘Khela Hobe Divas’Debasish Kumar, a member of the Board of

Administrators of Kolkata Municipal Corpora-tion (KMC), organised a football tournament for the specially-abled at Deshapriya Park.

“We want to give a message through Khela Hobe Divas that the specially-abled can also play the game of football like normal players do,” said Kumar.

Firhad Hakim, chairman of the Board of

Administrators of KMC, on Thursday, had dis-tributed footballs to all borough chairmen.

Sushmita DevIt is supposed that her induction would boost

TMC’s strength in the north-east. Besides Tri-pura, TMC is trying to increase its organisational strength in Assam as well. TMC has already approached Akhil Gogoi, MLA and the leader of the anti-CAA movement to join the party. How-ever, he refused to join the party but did not rule out the possibility of forming an alliance.

Born in a political family, Dev had man-aged the Mahila Congress. Educated in Delhi and England, she is a good speaker. Experts said it was to be seen how TMC utilises her and uses her pan-India image. After joining TMC, Dev said she was happy to talk to Mamata Baner-jee and would do her best to serve the party. On Tuesday, she is likely to hold a press conference in Delhi.

Covid casesThe cumulative number of COVID-19 vac-

cine doses administered in the country has sur-passed 55 crore, the ministry said on Monday.

“In record-breaking progress, India admin-isters 55 crore #COVID19 vaccines. Let’s strengthen India’s fight against Coronavirus. Let’s get vaccinated,” Union Health minister Mansukh Mandaviya said in a tweet on Monday afternoon.

Over 55 lakh doses of the vaccine were administered on Monday, as per the 7 pm pro-visional report. The ministry said 31,44,650 first doses and 5,22,629 second doses were adminis-tered in the 18-44 age group on Monday.

SC says ‘can’t compel

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, said the matter, if gone into on the basis of unsubstantiated reports, may have “national security implications” and it cannot be managed by asking to furnish an affidavit etc.

In a two-page affidavit filed by the Additional Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Infor-mation Technology, the Centre stated: “A bare perusal of the captioned petition and other con-nected petitions makes it clear that the same are based on conjectures and surmises or on other unsubstantiated media reports or incomplete or uncorroborated material.”

It added: “To dispel any wrong narrative spread by vested interests and with an object of examining the issues raised, we will constitute a committee of experts in the field which will go in to all aspects of the issue.”

The affidavit further stated: “At the outset, it is submitted that I hereby unequivocally deny any and all of the allegations made against the Respondents in the captioned petition and other connected petitions.”

It said that due to the limited time, it was not possible to deal with all the facts stated and the questions raised in the batch of petitions before the Apex Court and hence, filed a limited affida-

vit at this stage while reserving liberty to file fur-ther affidavit in detail hereafter.

“It is submitted that this question stands already clarified on the floor of Parliament by the Minister of Railways, Communications and Elec-tronics & Information Technology of India, Gov-ernment of India,” the affidavit read, adding, “in that view of the matter, in the respectful submis-sion of the deponent, nothing further needs to be done at the behest of the Petitioner, more partic-ularly when they have not made out any case”.

The Supreme Court was hearing a batch of petitions seeking an independent probe into the allegations of surveillance through the use of Pegasus spyware.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for petitioners N Ram and Sashi Kumar, however said the affidavit filed by the Centre does not say whether the government or its agencies had used the spyware. He also expressed dissatisfaction over government forming its own committee to probe allegations against it. “We do not want the government, which might have used Pegasus or its agency might have used it, to set up a commit-tee on its own,” Sibal said.

Earlier, Chief Justice of India N V Ramana, while hearing the matter, had described the alle-gations as “serious” but wondered as to why no FIR had been filed to date if there was evidence to show that the phones had been hacked.

“You all know that there is a prima facie material, as well as credibility of reports, on the basis of which we can order an inquiry etc. Unfortunately, from what I read from the writs, this matter came to light in May 2019. I don’t know if any effort was made. Persons who have filed the writ petitions are knowledgeable per-sons having resources. They should have made more effort to bring forth more material… Some of the petitioners who have filed the pleas are not affected and some claim their phones are hacked. But they have not made efforts to file a criminal complaint,” the CJI had maintained.

WITH AGENCY INPUTS

SC asks CentreRamana asked Mehta if he could present the

official statement of reasons prepared by the gov-ernment for introducing the Bill. To this, Mehta, representing the Centre, said it would not be proper for him to respond on the matter till the Bill attained the status of an Act.

He also requested time to consult with Attor-ney General KK Venugopal before making a statement on the matter.

In July, while hearing a case related to the Madras Bar Association, the Supreme Court had struck down two provisions of the Tribunals Reforms (Rationalisation and Conditions of Ser-vice) Ordinance, 2021.

The Ordinance had fixed the term of tribunal members at four years. However, the court held that the tenure should be of at least five years as it ensured more efficiency, according to Live Law.

The court also struck down the eligibility cri-terion that members should be at least 50 years of age. The court, instead, held that advocates with a minimum experience of 10 years should be made eligible for appointments as tribunal members. WITH AGENCY INPUTS

From Page 1

NEW DELHI: The government on Monday imposed restric-tions on export of COVID-19 rapid antigen testing kits amid several experts warning of a possible third wave of the coro-navirus pandemic.

"The export of COVID-19 rapid antigen testing kits... has been put under restricted cat-egory, with immediate effect," the directorate general of for-eign trade (DGFT) said in a notification.

Exporters have to seek licence or permission from the DGFT to ship items under the restricted category. Such restrictions are aimed at increasing the domestic avail-ability of the kits.

Several experts have been warning of a possible third wave of the pandemic hitting the country in the near future.

The number of coronavi-rus cases in the country rose to 3,22,25,513 on Monday and the death toll climbed to 4,31,642, according to the Union health ministry data. MPOST

MPOST BUREAU

NEW DELHI: After a break, the Southwest Monsoon has started reviving and rainfall activity has started to increase over south India, the India Meteorological Department said on Monday.

IMD Director General Mru-tunjay Mohapatra said a low pressure is likely to form over the west-central Bay of Ben-gal off Odisha-north Andhra Pradesh coasts during the next 24 hours.

"There will be a revival of rainfall activity. Under the influence of this system, rain-fall activity is likely to increase over the northern part of the southern peninsula and central India," Mohapatra said.

However, subdued rainfall activity is likely to continue over north India and Gujarat, the IMD said. After heavy rains in the second half of July over sev-eral parts of the country, there was a lull in the rainfall activity.

The IMD said fairly wide-

spread to widespread rainfall activity is likely over Gangetic West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand, coastal Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Vidarbha during next five days.

Isolated heavy falls are likely over coastal Andhra Pradesh on August 17, Telangana on August

18 and 19, over Jharkhand from August 16-19, over the Gangetic West Bengal on August 16 and 17, sub-Himalayan West Ben-gal and Sikkim during August 16-20.

Rainfall activity over Mad-hya Pradesh will increase from August 17 to 19; over Chhattis-garh and Vidarbha from August

16 to 18. Isolated heavy to very heavy falls are also very likely over coastal Andhra Pradesh on August 16; Odisha and Telan-gana on August 16 and 17, and Vidarbha on August 18.

Fairly widespread to wide-spread rainfall activity is very likely over Maharashtra (except Vidarbha area) during next three days till August 19 with reduction thereafter.

Isolated heavy falls are very likely over these areas during August 16 and 17 heavy to very heavy falls are very likely on August 19. Fairly widespread to widespread rainfall activity with isolated heavy falls are very likely to continue over northeast India and sub-Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim during next 4-5 days.

Isolated heavy to very heavy falls are also very likely over Assam, Meghalaya on August 16 and 17, Arunachal Pradesh on August 17, and Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura on August 16.

NEW DELHI: Farmers protest-ing against the Centre's three contentious agri laws will orga-nise a national convention on August 26 to mark the com-pletion of nine months of their agitation, according to a state-ment from the Samyukt Kisan Morcha on Monday.

"To mark the completion of nine months of historic, continuous peaceful protests by lakhs of farmers, Samyukt Kisan Morcha has decided to hold a national convention on August 26.

This all-India convention will witness the participation of representatives of hundreds of farmers' organisations which have been part of the ongoing protests locally, regionally and nationally, the umbrella body of over 40 farm unions said.

Details regarding the venue of the national convention will be worked out later, a farmer leader said.

Thousands of farmers from across the country, particularly Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, have been camping at Delhi borders, including Sin-ghu, Tikri and Ghazipur, since November last year.

The three laws that the farmers are demanding to be repealed, they claim, will do

away with the Minimum Sup-port Price system, leaving them at the mercy of big corporations.

Over 10 rounds of talks with the government that has been projecting the laws as major agricultural reforms have failed to break the deadlock between the two parties.

Before their national con-vention on August 26, the farmers will also mark the completion of 36 years of the Narmada Bachao Ancholan, for which a 'Narmada Kisan Mazdoor Jan Sansad' is being organised in Badwani in Mad-hya Pradesh, the SKM said.

On August 17, to mark

the completion of 36 years of Narmada Bachao Andolan, 'Narmada Kisan Mazdoor Jan Sansad' will be organised in Badwani. Several SKM leaders are expected to take part in this event, which will see the partici-pation of thousands of farmers from various places in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharash-tra in addition to villagers from numerous villages of Narmada valley, the body said.

It added that to strengthen their agitation against the three contentious laws, farmers from southern India have been arriv-ing at the protest sites on Delhi borders. MPOST

Export of Covid Rapid

Antigen Testing kits restricted

‘Rainfall likely to increase over south, central India’

‘A low pressure may form over west-central Bay of Bengal’

Aug 26: Farmers to mark 9 months of protest with national convention

People of a village shift to a safer place after the water level rises in Ganga river following monsoon rain, in Patna, on Monday PTI

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke with his Israeli counterpart Naftali Ben-nett on Monday with the two leaders agreeing on the poten-tial to further expand coop-eration and deciding that the foreign ministries of the two countries would work on pre-paring a roadmap for further enriching the India-Israel stra-tegic partnership.

During their telephonic conversation, Modi reiterated his congratulations to Ben-

nett for assuming office as the Israeli Prime Minister earlier this year, a statement from the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) here said.

The leaders expressed sat-isfaction over the remarkable growth in the bilateral relation-ship in recent years, it said.

Prime Minister Modi emphasised that India greatly values its robust cooperation with Israel in areas like agricul-ture, water, defence and secu-rity, and cyber-security.

"Both leaders agreed on the potential to further expand cooperation, especially in the areas of high-technology and innovation. They discussed concrete steps that could be taken in this regard, and decided that the two Foreign Ministries would work on pre-paring a roadmap for further enriching the India-Israel Stra-tegic Partnership," the state-ment said.

Recalling that next year would mark the 30th anniver-

sary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between India and Israel, Prime Min-ister Modi extended an invita-tion to Bennett to visit India.

Modi also conveyed his greetings and good wishes to Bennett and the people of Israel for the coming Jewish festival of Rosh Hashanah.

"It was a pleasure to speak to Prime Minister @naftaliben-nett. Reiterated my congratu-lations for his appointment," Modi tweeted. MPOST

Farmers burn effigy during a protest against three farm reform laws on the occasion of the 75th Independence Day in Amritsar PTI

Modi speaks with Israeli PM; both leaders vow to expand cooperation

MPOST BUREAU

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court Monday refused to grant interim relief to former Maha-rashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh who was seeking protection from any coercive action in connection with a money laundering case lodged by the Enforcement Director-ate (ED)

A three-judge bench headed by Justice A M Khanwilkar said Desmukh is at liberty to access remedies available to him under the law.

We are not inclined to grant any interim relief," said the bench, also comprising justices Krishna Murari and V Ramasubramanian.

During the hearing, the counsel appearing for Deshmukh told the bench that this is a classic case of political witch-hunt .

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said there are serious allegations of money launder-ing in the case.

You take recourse to reme-dies which are available to you under the law, the bench told

Deshmukh's counsel.The top court was hearing a

batch of pleas, including those challenging the constitutional validity of certain provisions of the Prevention of Money Laun-dering Act (PMLA).

ED had earlier issued sum-mons to the 71-year-old NCP leader in connection with a criminal case registered under the PMLA related to an alleged Rs 100 crore bribery-cum-extortion racket that led to Deshmukh's resignation in April this year.

The ED case against

Deshmukh and others was reg-istered after the CBI had lodged a corruption case related to alle-gations of at least Rs 100 crore bribery made by former Mum-bai Police commissioner Param Bir Singh.

In his letter to Chief Minis-ter Uddhav Thackeray after he was removed from the police commissioner's post, Singh had alleged that Deshmukh had asked suspended Mumbai Police assistant police inspector Sachin Waze to extort over Rs 100 crore a month from bars and restaurants in Mumbai.

SC refuses to grant interim relief to former Maha minister Anil Deshmukh in PMLA case

5millenniumpost Nation mpKOLKATA | TUESDAY, 17 AUGUST, 2021

Cong hits out at govt for no plan to evacuate Indians from Af

India wants peace all over world: Lekhi on Afghanistan

SCHEDULED CASTES PANEL NOTICE TO MADHYA PRADESH GOVTNEW DELHI: Taking a note of a tragic incident of as-sault of a Dalit Sarpanch and his family by an upper-caste secretary of the gram panchayat over flag hoisting in Madhya Pradesh, the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC), which is led by Chair-man Vijay Sampla, has issued notice to the Madhya Pradesh government and asked the authorities to sub-mit an action taken report at the earliest. Reportedly, Hannu Basor, sarpanch of village Dhamchi in Chhatar-pur district of the state, was kicked and manhandled by secretary Sunil Tiwari as the sarpanch had hoisted the Tricolour in his absence.

EX-MLA JAGBIR BRAR JOINS SAD; TO CONTEST POLL FROM JALANDHAR CANTT JALANDHAR (PUNJAB): Congress leader and former MLA Jagbir Singh Brar joined the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) here on Monday in the presence of party chief Sukhbir Singh Badal. Welcoming him into the party fold, Badal announced that Brar would be the SAD candidate from the Jalandhar Cantonment seat in the state elections. Badal also appointed him a general secretary of the party. Brar, who is the chair-man of the Punjab Water Resources Management and Development Corporation, was first elected from the Jalandhar Cantonment seat in 2007 on an SAD ticket. He later joined the People’s Party of Punjab floated by Manpreet Singh Badal. Thereafter, he switched over to Congress but was defeated by Pargat Singh, who had contested the Jalandhar Cantonment seat on an SAD ticket in 2012 assembly polls.

‘SITUATION IN AFGHANISTAN IS EXTREMELY ALARMING’

Nation Briefs

MUMBAI: Maintaining that the Constitution was bigger than any court judgement, NCP president Sharad Pawar on Monday asked the Centre to enact a law to remove the Supreme Court-mandated 50 per cent cap on reservations and allow states to exceed the existing quota limit.

He also said the use of force by mashals during ruckus in the Rajya Sabha last week was an "attack" on parliamentarians and democracy, and asserted that the Modi government fielding seven Union ministers before the media to justify its stand on the bedlam shows it was on a "weak wicket".

Addressing a press confer-ence here, Pawar said the Con-stitution was bigger than any judgement and asked the Modi government to bring a consti-tutional amendment to relax the 50 per cent cap on reserva-tions in jobs and education and allow states to exceed existing quota limit.Articles 15(4) and 16(4) (dealing with provision for socially and educationally backward classes,and reserva-

tion) do not put any limit on the percentage of quota and there is no constitutional hur-dle in increasing the same, the former Union minister said.

The central government has already exceeded the 50 per cent limit by providing a 10 per cent quota in jobs and educa-tion for economically weaker sections, Pawar said.

Pawar asked the Centre to undertake a caste-based census and claimed the Modi Central government misled people on the quota issue. The constitu-

tional amendment of restor-ing the right of the states to prepare a list of OBCs, taken away two years ago, is a mere eyewash, he said. Unless the 50 per cent cap is relaxed, the Maratha quota cannot be restored. Similarly, the empir-ical data on OBCs should be shared with the states. Unless the data is available, it cannot be known how much repre-sentation needs to be given to smaller castes, the NCP leader said.Pawar said reservation in most of the states is above 60

per cent. Someone will have to show courage to speak in front of Modi. Deception is the only motive for the constitutional amendment," he said.

On August 10, the Lok Sabha passed a bill allow-ing states to decide who their Other Backward Classes (OBCs) are. The 127th Consti-tution Amendment Act, 2021, restores the power of states to identify socially and education-ally backward classes (SEBCs), usually called OBCs.

In May, the Supreme Court struck down the 2018 Maha-rashtra law granting quota to Marathas in admissions and government jobs, terming it as unconstitutional", and held there were no exceptional cir-cumstances to breach the 50 per cent reservation cap set by the 1992 Mandal verdict.

The veteran politician (80) said in his 54 years of parlia-mentary life, he had never seen 40 marshals entering the House during a session. Pawar said the use of force by marshals in Parliament was dangerous for democracy. AGENCIES

NARESH BISWANI

NEW DELHI: Minister of State for External Affairs Meen-akshi Lekhi said that the coun-try (India) wants peace all over the world, while asked by Mil-lennium Post over current developments in neighbour-ing Afghanistan.

Lekhi addressed a Press conference at the Delhi BJP headquarters over the mega four-day long ‘Jan Ashirwad Yatra’, commenced on Monday.

The ruling BJP launched the campaign since the new min-isters could not be introduced in the Parliament during the recent monsoon sessions, amid disruption and protests by the Opposition.

“This four day long ‘Jan Ashirwad Yatra' will cover all the seven Lok Sabha constitu-encies of Delhi. The people of India are supreme to us and let us continue to work for them, who elected us,” Lekhi told media persons.

Moreover, the minister is a two-time Lok Sabha mem-ber from New Delhi Lok Sabha constituency. Lekhi also added, "We are members of the Par-liament first, then Minis-ter." Expressing her gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi she added, “People only talk about women empower-ment, but PM Modi showed the example of women empower-ment by inducting such a large number of women ministers to

his Cabinet.”Lekhi started the 107

km-long yatra from her con-stituency, taking part in 47 pro-grammes, and in the next three days, she will cover East Delhi, Chandani Chowk and some areas of North-East Delhi Lok Sabha constituency. This cam-paign will conclude on August 19, and 20 lakh people across different communities will also be contacted, she claimed further.

NEW DELHI: As India enters the 75th year of independence, the Congress on Monday said party chief Sonia Gandhi has urged people to introspect what freedom means and told them it is a "sin" to remain silent when fundamental rights and the Constitution are "trampled upon".

She also said the country's democracy needs repairing.

"When fundamental rights of people, guaranteed by the founding fathers of our Con-stitution are being trampled upon, it is a sin to stay silent," Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said, quot-ing Gandhi's article in an Eng-lish daily.

He said that in the article, the party president has talked about what freedom means for people, with the coun-try entering the 75th year of Independence.

When the government "attacks" Parliament and "tramples upon" its tradi-tions, "enslaves" democracy, attempts to "violate" the Con-stitution and "shackles" insti-tutional autonomy, the people

of the country need to intro-spect what freedom means to them, she has said. Gandhi has alleged that currently journal-ists do not have the freedom to write, TV channels the freedom to show the truth, and writers and thinkers the freedom to express themselves.

She also alleged parliamen-tarians don't have the freedom to express their views, people affected by the oxygen short-age crisis and GST do not have the freedom to speak and the states, in a federal structure, do not have the freedom to demand their rights.

In her article she argues that Indian democracy is in need of repair. "We must undo the

damage."She said the progress

achieved in the last few decades has been reversed under the present government which indulges in "hollow slo-gans, event management and brand-building" at the cost of governance.

"After decades of prog-ress towards an India of our dreams, why is our democracy in danger? It is because tan-gible achievements have been substituted by hollow slogans, event management and brand-building only to benefit those in power at the expense of gov-ernance,” she said.

"It is because symbolism has triumphed over meaning-ful action. It is because democ-racy is sought to be replaced by an autocracy. Today's symbol-ism and reality is that Parlia-ment House is being turned into a museum," Gandhi said in the article shared by the Congress.

As we begin independent India's 75th year, we owe it to our freedom fighters to undo this damage to our Republic, she said. MPOST

Sin to stay silent when fundamental rights trampled upon: Sonia Gandhi

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: Hitting out at the government, Congress chief spokesperson Ran-deep Surjewala said that the situation in Afghanistan is extremely alarming and India’s strategic interests are at stake, but the government has not put in place any plan to evacuate its citizens there which is a gross abdication of duty.

However, the Congress leader also asked the Modi gov-ernment to wake up from its slumber and protect Indians in the strife-torn country. Modi government’s refusal to set in motion a well-thought-out plan to evacuate our citizens is a gross abdication of its duty and is totally unacceptable.

“The Congress party stands solidly behind protect-ing India’s interests and expects a mature political and diplo-matic response from our Gov-ernment over the complete collapse of Government in Afghanistan and Taliban take-over,” he told reporters.

“Despite this, the stunning silence of Narendra Modi govt is deeply disturbing and highly intriguing, which is beyond any reasonable understanding. Modi government's refusal to set in motion a well thought out plan to evacuate our citi-

zens is a gross abdication of its duty and is totally unaccept-able,” he said.

“Situation in Afghanistan is extremely alarming. India’s strategic interests are at stake. Safety and security of our embassy and its personnel and Indian citizens is at stake. Modi government need to wake up from its slumber and protect Indian citizens in Afghanistan,” he also tweeted.

The Congress leader said that the Taliban and Haqqani Network connections with Pakistan's ISI and JeM, LeT, JuD are well known.

“There is an urgent need to revisit our geo-political inter-ests in this background and its impact on J&K. Sadly, Modi government is oblivious of the same,” he said, adding that the Prime Minister and External Affairs Minister need to come

out and clearly spell out our policy for safe return of our citizens, embassy personnel as also our future relationship.

“Unexplained silence at this extremely critical juncture gives rise to a reasonable appre-hension that Modi government is hiding something from the country. We are still in the dark over Modi government’s role in Doha talks,” the Congress leader said.

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday granted 4-week extension to the Cen-tre to frame guidelines for ex-gratia compensation to families of those who died of COVID-19.

The Centre told the top court that the exercise of framing the guidelines is at an advanced stage and therefore some more

time is required for in-depth examination before it is final-ised and implemented.

During the brief hearing, a bench of Justices D Y Chan-drachud and M R Shah asked Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati about compli-ance of other directions given by the court in its verdict on June

30. Bhati told the bench that she will file an affidavit within two weeks giving the entire details of compliance of other direc-tions issued by the court. The bench then ordered that time be extended by four weeks for compliance of the direction on framing of the guidelines.

It directed the Centre to file

a status report on compliance of other directions of the court and listed the matter for further hearing after two weeks.

The apex court had in its June 30 verdict directed NDMA to recommend within six weeks appropriate guidelines for ex-gratia assistance on account of loss of life to the family mem-

bers of persons who died due to COVID-19.

The Centre has moved an application seeking some more time to frame the guide-lines on the ground that the exercise which was in active consideration of the NDMA was at an advanced stage and requires a little more in-depth

examination. In its June 30 verdict, the top

court had also ordered steps to simplify guidelines for issuance and correction of death certifi-cates/official documents, stating the exact cause of death, that is, ‘Death due to Covid-19’ for enabling dependents to get ben-efits of welfare schemes. MPOST

MoS for External Affairs Meenakshi Lekhi during ‘Jan Ashirwad Yatra’, at BJP office at Pandit Pant Marg in New Delhi, on Monday

NEW DELHI: An official of the Afghan embassy on Mon-day suggested that its Twitter handle was hacked after sev-eral tweets criticising embat-tled Afghan President Ashraf Ghani for fleeing the country were posted from it.

Abdulhaq Azad, the press secretary of the Afghan embassy in India, tweeted that he has lost control of the mis-sion's official Twitter handle, along with a screen shot of one of the messages slamming Ghani for leaving Afghanistan.

"I have lost access to Twit-ter handle of @AfghanistanI-nIN, a friend sent screen shot of this tweet, (this tweet is hid-den from me.) I have tried to log in but can't access. Seems it is hacked," Azad tweeted from his own Twitter handle.

The tweets criticising Ghani were deleted later. Ghani and his close aides left Afghanistan on late Sunday afternoon after the Taliban was on the brink of seizing control of Kabul after taking over almost all cities and provincial capitals. AGENCIES

Af embassy official: Twitter

a/c hacked

Security has been beefed up outside the Afghanistan Embassy, in New Delhi, on Monday

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: In a major move aimed at reducing the pendency of juvenile cases in Bihar, the Patna High Court has arranged special sitting in all the 38 Juvenile Justice Boards (JJB) of the state follow-ing all the protocols of COVID-19 guidelines.

The decision in this regard has been taken by the Juvenile Justice Monitoring Commit-tee (JJMC) of the Patna High Court comprising Justice Ash-wani Kumar Singh (Chair-

person), Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah and Justice Arwind Srivastav with the approval of the Chief Justice of Patna High Court and in collaboration of Bihar State Legal Services Authority.

Notably, in Bihar, more than 18,000 cases are pending in the JJB, including 15,500 cases of heinous nature.

According to additional registrar of juvenile justice secretariat Subhash Chandra Sharma, in the special sitting held between 10.30 am to 4.30 pm, 1,416 cases, including 620

petty, 701 serious and 95 hei-nous nature cases, have been disposed of by the JJB in a sin-gle day in strict adherence with the spirit and objects of JJ Act, 2015 and Bihar JJ Rules, 2017.

The board has also facili-tated the release of more than 50 children institutionalised in the child care institutions, particularly in observation homes. Out of 50, 20 children were released from Patna's observation home. As per the officials, more special sittings would be organised in a month or bi-month.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: Delhi Chief Minister and AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal on Monday said his party will make a very important announcement for Uttara-khand on August 17 that will prove to be a milestone in the state's development. He also said he will visit Uttarakhand on Tuesday.

"I am going to Uttara-

khand tomorrow. Aam Aadmi Party is going to make a very important announcement tomorrow. This announce-ment will prove to be a mile-stone for the progress and development of Uttarakhand," Kejriwal said in a tweet. The Uttarakhand Assembly elec-tions are due next year.

AAP has said it will con-test the elections and raise development issues as part of its poll campaign.

Bring law to remove quota cap, Sharad Pawar tells Centre

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: As Kerala is still struggling with fresh Covid-19 cases, the Union Health Ministry on Monday allo-cated Rs 267.35 crore to the state to strengthen its health infrastructure.

Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, who arrived in Kerala with a central team on Monday to review the Covid-19 situation in the state, said that the Centre will pro-vide it more vaccines to com-bat the pandemic.

In a tweet, subsequent to his “intensive” meeting with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and state Health Minister Veena George, Mandaviya said that besides the Rs 267.35 crore an additional Rs one crore would be made available to each dis-trict of Kerala for creating a medicine pool.

The Union Health Minister also said that the central gov-ernment has assured all pos-sible help to Kerala, including providing vaccines to the state. “Had an intensive meeting with the Chief Minister and Health Minister of Kerala, Vijayan Pinarayi and Veena George,

along with state officials to review the Covid-19 situation in Kerala,” he said in a tweet.

“Central government allo-cates Rs 267.35 crore to Ker-ala under Emergency COVID Response Package- II. It will strengthen the state’s health infrastructure and effectively manage Covid-19. Addition-ally, Rs one crore will be made available to each district of Kerala for creating a medicine pool,” he tweeted.

Mandaviya further said in his tweet that the “Centre will ensure the creation of a Cen-ter of Excellence that caters to telemedicine facilities in every district in Kerala.

“For prioritising the health of children, paediatric ICU to be established in district hos-pitals with a 10 kilo-litre liquid oxygen storage tank facility,” he said.

Mandaviya and the central team visited Kerala at a time when it was accounting for more than half of the nation’s daily fresh infection caseload. Kerala on Sunday reported 18,582 new Covid-19 cases, which was more than half of the national total of 32,937 fresh coronavirus cases.

Mandaviya: Rs 267.35 cr allocated to Kerala to

strengthen health infra

‘Use of force by marshals during ruckus in RS indirect attack on MPs’

National Congress party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar addresses media at the party office in Mumbai, on Monday

Patna HC holds special sitting to reduce juvenile cases’ pendency

Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya in a meeting with Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan to review Covid sitution in Kerala

SC gives Centre four more weeks to frame guidelinesEX-GRATIA TO FAMILIES OF COVID VICTIMS

Kejriwal: AAP to make important announcement

for U’khand on Tuesday

ELEPHANT ATTACK IN CHHATTISGARH: WOMAN KILLED, ANOTHER INJURED JASHPUR: A 45-year-old woman was killed and an-other one was injured in separate incidents of attack by wild elephants in Chhattisgarh on Monday, officials said. With this, three people have so far been killed in attacks by jumbos in the state this month. In the lat-est incident on Monday morning, the victim, Khijmati Bai, was trampled to death by a herd of elephants on a road in Gothan forest near Bartoli village, around 400 km from the state capital Raipur, when she was travelling with her husband on a motorcycle, Jashpur’s Divisional Forest Officer Srikrishna Jadhav said. The official said according to the victim’s husband, he was taking his wife for treatment to a nearby health centre when they came face-to face with three jumbos, which charged towards them. While the man managed to escape from the spot, the elephants caught hold of his wife and trampled her to death, the official said.

MAHA: 2 DROWN IN CANAL OF GOS-EKHURD DAM WHILE CLICKING SELFIES NAGPUR: Two brothers in their thirties drowned in a canal of the Gosekhurd Dam in Bhandara district while clicking selfies, police said on Monday. Mangesh Junghare and his brother Vinod, residents of Umred in Nagpur, drowned on Sunday and their bodies were fished out at 3pm on Monday, an official said. “Vinod ventured into the water first to click a selfie and lost his balance and got caught in the current. Mangesh tried to save him but both drowned,” the Paoni police station official said.

CIC ASKS MISSIONS IN 6 GULF NATIONS

Nation Briefs

Highlights » The rescue operation is being carried out jointly by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and members of local police and home guards » Earlier on Wednesday, eight bodies were found in a taxi during the search and rescue operation. Two cars had also been recovered in a damaged condition on Wednesday, but no one was found in them » Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur had informed the state assembly after visiting the spot on Thursday that 16 people were still missing

6 millenniumpostNationmpTUESDAY, 17 AUGUST, 2021 | KOLKATA

OUR CORRESPONDENT

SHIMLA: Two more bodies were recovered on Monday from the site of the landslide in Himachal Pradesh's Kinnaur district, taking the death toll to 25, a senior official said.

Search and rescue operation for those miss-ing in the landslide that occurred on Wednesday last are underway.

State Disaster Manage-ment Director, Sudesh Kumar Mokhta, said as per informa-tion provided by Bhawanagar SHO, two bodies had been retrieved from the rubble at Chaura village on National Highway 5 in Nichar tehsil on Monday.

He said search and rescue operations, which had been suspended on Sunday night, resumed again on Monday morning.

An SUV and its passengers feared buried under the rubble could not be traced so far, he said, adding that it might be possible that the vehicle rolled down with the debris.

The rescue operation is being carried out jointly by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and members of local police and home guards.

On the day of the incident, 10 bodies were recovered and 13 people rescued.

Earlier on Wednesday, eight bodies were found in a taxi during the search and rescue operation. Two cars had also

been recovered in a damaged condition on Wednesday, but no one was found in them.

On Thursday, four bodies were found from the landslide site, while three were taken out

on Friday.Subsequently, six bodies

were retrieved from the rubble on Saturday.

Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur had informed the state

assembly after visiting the spot on Thursday that 16 people were still missing.

After that, 11 bodies have been recovered so far. At least five people are still missing, officials said.

An HRTC bus, which along with other vehicles, was buried under the debris, was found in a badly damaged condition on Thursday.

A truck was also found, which had rolled down towards a riverside due to stones falling down a mountainside, and the driver's body was recovered.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: The Central Information Commission has directed the Indian Missions in six Gulf countries to pro-actively disclose data in future on any death of Indians there mentioning the year of death, total numbers, gender and the cause of death, if available

The order came on a plea of VenkateshNayak of Common-wealth Human Rights Initiative who had approached Indian Missions in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Bah-rain and Qatar seeking to know the year-wise list of names, age, sex, and occupation of Indian workers who had died in the period from January 1, 2012.

He had also sought infor-mation on the cause of death as mentioned in the death certifi-cates but was dissatisfied with their response.

In his decision, Chief Infor-mation Commissioner YK Sinha said disclosure of cer-tain details as sought by Nayak can lead to its misuse, hence the Commission is not inclined to allow disclosure of the infor-mation which is likely to be used in abusing the process of law.

"Under the circumstances, balancing larger public interest with the right to privacy of the deceased and their families, the Commission hereby directs the various Respondents who are parties in this case to disclose data in future regarding the

year of death, the total number of deaths of Indians, sex of the deceased and cause of death, if available," Sinha ordered.

He directed the External Affairs Ministry to apprise Indian Missions and Posts to take steps for the suomotu dis-closure of the above informa-tion in the future in accordance with Section 4 (1) of the RTI Act, 2005.

Sinha told the Missions that there are variations in their RTI responses on the issue and they should provide "uniform" responses to the applications filed by Nayak.

In its response to Nayak, the Indian Embassy in Doha had said it does not maintain such a list, and if such a list of 1500 persons is compiled, it would disproportionately divert its resources.

It also said in cases of sui-cide, disclosing name and occupation will not serve any larger public interest and fam-ilies in such cases do not want the names of their loved ones disclosed.

Other embassies also pro-vided only partial informa-tion following which Nak approached the Commission with his appeal.

During the hearing, Nayak argued that the information sought is in the larger public interest as substantial foreign remittances made by Indian workers working outside India are a major source of foreign exchange for India.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

CHANDIGARH: The Punjab Police have arrested two ter-rorists and recovered two hand grenades and as many pistols from their possession, an offi-cial statement said on Monday.

This comes days after the recovery of an impro-vised explosive device (IED) concealed in a tif-fin box along with five hand grenades and 100 rounds of 9 mm pistol from a village in Amritsar.

The Punjab Police arrested the two militants allegedly linked to a UK-based terrorist entity from Amritsar on Sunday night, the statement said.

According to Punjab Director General of Police Dinkar Gupta, the duo was allegedly operating on the directions of UK-based ter-rorist Gurpreet Singh Khalsa alias Gurpreet, and had been tasked with retrieving weap-

ons consignment sent from across the border.

The consignment was most likely delivered in the border area around Attari-Jhabal Road some days ago, he said in a statement.

In view of the large num-ber of intel inputs indicat-ing plans by Pakistan-based ISI and terrorist elements based abroad to carry out an attack in India on or around Independence Day, police had made extensive security arrangements at the borders, he said.

Special security check-points were set up and patrolling was intensified round-the-clock, he added.

On the night of August 15, two motorcycle-borne men were stopped by police per-sonnel deployed at a check-point near AddaKhalsa. The duo failed to produce valid documents pertaining to the ownership of the vehicle, the DGP said.

NEW DELHI: Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Mon-day announced that 75 Hunar Haats, the flagship initiative of his ministry to encourage mas-ter artisans, will be organised in various parts of the coun-try to mark 75 years of India’s independence.

The ‘Hunar Haats’ will be organised under the ‘Azadika Amrit Mahotsav’, which is being celebrated to mark 75 years of independence, how-ever, officials said the tar-get of 75 Haats is likely to be completed in a couple of years due to Covid protocols in place in many places.

Naqvi said here that a target has been set to provide employ-ment and employment oppor-tunities to 7,50,000 artisans, craftsmen through 75 ‘Hunar-Haats’ across the country.

He also announced that 75 “Amrit Mahotsav Parks” will also be constructed on vacant Waqf lands across the coun-try under “Waqf Taraqqiati Scheme” and “Pradhan mantri Jan Vikas Karykram” (PMJVK) of the Union Minority Affairs Ministry.

Under the “AmritMahotsav”, ‘Mera Watan, Mera Chaman Mushairas and Kavi Sammelans’ will also be organised across the country till 2023 in which renowned as well as emerg-ing poets will give effective and patriotic message of “Ek Bharat-Shreshtha Bharat”, the minister said.

Naqvi said that 75 ‘Hunar Haats’ will be organised with the resolve of “vocal for local” in all parts of the country, where artisans, craftsmen from every region of the country will exhibit and sell their handmade indig-enous products.

There will also be a sec-tion “bawarchi khana” of tra-ditional culinary experts in the ‘Hunar Haat’ where the peo-ple will enjoy traditional cui-sines and dishes from different regions of the country. Naqvi said that various cultural pro-grammes will also be performed by renowned artists of the coun-try every evening in the ‘Hunar Haat’. He said land is being given by various Waqf Boards of the country for construction of 75 “Amrit Mahotsav Parks” across the country. MPOST

OUR CORRESPONDENT

LUCKNOW: Some schools in Uttar Pradesh reopened on Monday for students of classes 9 to 12 with strict Covid pro-tocols and limited attendance.

Some other schools said they were getting ready to resume physical classes for stu-dents and would reopen soon.

Earlier this month, the Uttar Pradesh government had said that schools would reopen for students of classes 9 to 12 from August 16 with 50 per cent attendance. The Cathe-dral Senior Secondary School here said about 100 students attended classes Monday.

"Offline classes have resumed for students of classes 9 to 12 today (Monday). About 100 students, which is around 20 per cent of the total strength, have come to attend classes," Donald De Souza, chancellor and spokesper-son of the Catholic Diocese of Lucknow, told the news agency. Some schools, how-ever, remained closed.

La Martiniere Girls' College

has not reopened, its principal Aashrita Dass said.

Principal of St Francis' Col-lege, Lucknow, A Moras said: "We are planning to open the school from August 26."

Not all parents were willing to send their children to school.

Ashit Neogy, a Prayagraj-based businessman, whose son is a Class 10 student, said he was happy with his son attend-ing the online classes. Neogy's son, Apratim, was also appre-hensive about attending phys-ical classes. Puneet Mehrotra, whose daughter studies in Class 9 at a Lucknow-based

school, said he wanted to send her to school, but could not due to some technical issues in the consent form.

His daughter Avna said that she was ready to go to the school, and wanted to meet her friends. According to the UP government order issued earlier this month, classes at higher education institutes will resume from September 1.

In a statement issued here Monday, the government said that as per the recommenda-tions of the State-Level Health Specialist Advisory Commit-tee, secondary educational institutes, higher, vocation and professional educational institutes opened with 50 per cent attendance, and teaching commenced.

The classes are held in two shifts, and COVID-19 proto-col is being strictly adhered to, it said. "From August 23 after Rakshabandhan, resumption of teaching activity may be con-sidered for Classes 6 to 8, while the same could be considered for classes 1 to 5 from Septem-ber 1," the statement said.

Landslide: Toll reaches 25 ‘Proactively disclose data on death of Indians’

Punjab: Two linked to UK terror group held,

grenades, pistols seized

Some schools in Uttar Pradesh reopen for classes 9 to 12

Offline classes have resumed for students of classes 9 to 12 today (Monday). About 100 students, which is around 20 per cent of the total strength, have come to attend classes

Naqvi: 75 Hunar Haats to be organised under

‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’

RAIPUR: Three lower-rung Naxals, who were allegedly involved in the killing of a civilian in 2019 and also in incidents of damaging roads, were arrested in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district, police said on Monday.

Acting on a specific input, the trio, identified as Hunga Kartam (25), Aayta Madvi (25) and Pojja alias Lathi Kartam (28), was apprehended on Sun-day from a forest near Etepal village under Kuakonda police station limits when a joint team of the DRG and local police was out on a search operation, Dantewada Superintendent of Police Abhishek Pallava said.

They were lower-rung reb-els and allegedly involved in the killing of a resident of Chho-tegudra village of the district in 2019 suspecting him to be a police informer, he said. Besides, the three were involved in inci-dents of damaging roads in inte-riors of Kuakonda and putting up Maoist posters and banners, the SP added. MPOST

3 Naxals arrested in Dantewada

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court Monday asked the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to respond to a plea by Avan-tha Group promoter Gautam Thapar, arrested in connection with a Rs 500-crore money laundering case, claiming that he was produced before the trial court after expiry of statutorily mandated 24 hours.

Thapar has approached the high court challenging a trial court's August 5 order by which his plea to declare his arrest as illegal was dismissed without recording reasons.

Justice Yogesh Khanna asked the ED to file within seven days, its counter affidavit to the two petitions filed by Thapar and listed the matter for further hearing on August 27.

The high court was informed that Thapar, who was sent to 10-day ED custody, will be pro-duced before the trial court later in the day.

Advocate Vijay Aggarwal, representing Thapar, argued that the time of arrest shown in the arrest memo is 7;55 PM on August 3. However, the search and seizure was conducted by the ED officials at Thapar's place at 8:30 AM on August 3 and he was arrested at that time only.

He said that on August 4, Thapar was produced before the special judge, PMLA, after the expiry of statutorily man-dated 24 hours period contrary to the provisions of law and he was remanded ED custody for a day. On August 5, he was sent to 10 days in ED custody.

Time of arrest is when the person is first to put to restraint, that is, 8:30 AM here and not

the time of arrest recorded by the arresting officers. He was not produced before the court within 24 hours, Aggarwal argued.

Besides, Thapar has also sought a copy of Enforcement Case information Report (ECIR) registered by the ED, the copy of reasons to believe that Thapar was guilty of offence of money laundering and a check-list prepared before the arrest.

Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, representing the ED, said he would file a reply to the petitions and that there was no urgency in the matter.

According to the ED, Thapar was arrested on August 3 night after the agency carried out raids against him and his linked busi-nesses in Delhi and Mumbai.

The agency had told the trial court that investigation revealed that around Rs 500 crore worth proceeds of crime were alleg-edly laundered through Oys-ter Buildwell Pvt Ltd (OBPL), Jhabua Power Ltd (JPL), Jhabua Power Investment Ltd (JPIL), Avantha Power & Infrastructure Ltd (APIL), Avantha Realty Ltd (ARL) etc. which were being controlled and beneficially owned directly or indirectly by Gautam Thapar.

The probe revealed that sham agreements were made by these entities to fraudu-lently obtain huge amount running into more than 500 crore from Yes Bank and fur-ther by different modes of lay-ering the tainted amount was laundered and the loan account thus turned NPA causing a loss of huge public money, it had alleged. AGENCIES

‘Respond to Avantha Group promoter's plea

challenging arrest’ Search and rescue operation for those missing in the landslide that occurred on Wednesday last are underway

ITBP personnel during rescue operation at the lanslide point in Kinnaur district on Monday PIC/PTI

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: The state govern-ment has extended the lease period for the 14 acre land given to the Cricket Asso-ciation of Bengal (CAB) at Dumurjala Sports City in How-rah for 99 years.

The decision was taken in the cabinet meeting held on Monday. Earlier the lease period was for 30 years. As some complications in terms of developing the cricket facil-ity has cropped up, the lease period has been extended for 99 years, said a state govern-ment hospital.

The state government had given the land to CAB in December 2019 to set up a state of the art cricket facility. An international standard sta-dium would also be developed as there is only Eden Gardens in Kolkata for international level cricket tournaments. The standing committee of the cabi-net had given the nod for allo-

cating 14 acres of land to CAB .The state government is

coming up with a Sports City on 60 acres of land near the Dumurjala Stadium. It will have several facilities and the cricket facility is one of the components.

Bengal extends lease period of land

given to CABThe state government had given the land to CAB in December 2019 to set up a state of the art cricket facility. An international standard stadium would also be developed as there is only Eden Gardens in Kolkata for international level cricket tournaments

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOCHI: With single women right to conceive through Assisted Reproductive Tech-nologies (ART), like IVF, being recognised, requiring them to furnish father's name in the form for registering births and deaths of children born through such procedures nec-essarily affects the right of dig-nity of the mother as well as the child, the Kerala High Court has said.

The high court said that the State has to provide appropriate forms for registration of births and deaths of children born through such procedures.

"The right of a single par-ent/ unwed mother to conceive by ART having been recog-nised, prescriptions of forms requiring mentioning of name of father, the details of which is to be kept anonymous, is viola-tive of their fundamental rights of privacy, liberty and dignity," the court ruled.

The ruling by the high court came on a plea by a divorced

woman, who got conceived by In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) procedure, challenging the requirement under the Ker-ala Registration of Births and Deaths Rules, 1970 to mention the father's details.

She had said in her peti-tion that she cannot disclose the father's name as firstly, the identity of the sperm donor is kept anonymous and has not been and could not be dis-closed even to her and sec-ondly, such a requirement intrudes upon her right of pri-vacy, liberty and dignity.

She had also contended that issuing a certificate by leaving the column for father's details as blank also interferes with her right of dignity, privacy and liberty.

Agreeing with the wom-an's claims, the high court said rights of a single woman to conceive through ART pro-cedure was recognised and accepted in the country and in such procedures, the iden-tity of the sperm donor cannot be disclosed except in circum-stances as may be compelled for, under law.

"It falls within the realm of the 'right of privacy'. The said right has also been recognised in the guidelines for ART clin-ics, with very little exceptions. Under the circumstances, there is no rhyme or reason in requiring the petitioner to pro-vide the name of the father in the form prescribed for regis-tration of birth and death.

"Requiring the petitioner to leave the column regarding the details of father as blank, the issuance of a certificate of birth or certificate of death leaving the space provided therein regarding the details of the father as blank, necessarily affects the right of dignity of the mother as well as the child," the high court said.

It further said that the right of a single woman/ unwed mother, to conceive through ART procedures having been recognised, "the State has to provide appropriate forms for registration of births and deaths of children born through such procedures, and for issuance of birth/death certificates".

‘Father’s info for registering birth of kids born via IVF to single women affects dignity’

The High Court said that the State has to provide appropriate forms for registration of births and deaths of children born through such procedures

Kerala High Court

Landslides in the Himalayan regions are getting all too frequent with tremendous loss of life and property. Unbridled and unchecked construction activities without showing any concern for the environment seems to be the most likely cause of the increase in landslides. A geological survey must be made mandatory, especially for large developmental projects. The greed for using the mountains unethically for profit has led to the loss of many innocent lives. Unless measures are taken to control, or even possibly stop all construction activities, it is more likely that we will be experiencing more devastating landslides in the future.

The world we are living in is so detestable right now. A country has been taken over by terrorists and all the other countries are just watching it happen with sealed lips. Also, according to some reports, the US has sent some 5,000 soldiers to evacuate the US citizens trapped in Afghanistan. India too has sent air help to evacuate Indians from Afghanistan. This evacuation of citizens by their respective countries is commendable but, at the same time, very selfish too. Have we ever thought about those Afghani people who are trapped in their houses? Now that terrorists are becoming so powerful that they can usurp a country, if strong action is not taken now this horror can happen in our backyards too. I urge all countries to get together if we want terrorism to eat dust.

—NOOPUR BARUAH, TEZPUR via email

— ANTHONY HENRIQUES, MUMBAI via email

DearEditorDEVASTATING LANDSLIDES

STAND TOGETHER

7millenniumpost Editorial mpKOLKATA | TUESDAY, 17 AUGUST, 2021

Log on to write letters to the editor or send them to letter2editor.mp@gmail.com. You can also send your comments to The Editor,

Millennium Post, Pratap Bhawan, 5 Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, New Delhi 110 002

EDITORIALA ‘legitimate’ usurpation

Is this a fitting outcome of a war that lasted over two decades? Taliban is at the brink of the process of usurping unhindered control over Kabul as the legitimate adminis-trator of the country. The war on terror has ceded ground

to the Taliban. Afghan president has fled the country “to avoid bloodshed” in the nation; the United States, along with many other powerful nations, is evacuating its citizens from the embassy; India is still clueless and has been silent until now over the Kabul takeover — all this under the influence of a ter-ror-based outfit allegedly backed by certain nations. This hor-rible scenario is grim reminder of how threatening terrorism could be. The one word for the current scenario in Afghani-stan should be — downfall. Downfall of a democratic set-up in Afghanistan and downfall of all the involved warlords, including the world’s most powerful nation that has aban-doned Afghanistan by turning a blind eye towards the conse-quences. But the greatest downfall would be that of women, artists, and children. It takes not years, but decades, to uplift marginalized, downtrodden, secluded sections of society to get themselves counted in mainframe, to attain freedom and lead towards a dignified or, at least, a satisfactory life. The rav-ages caused by Taliban rule in the 1990s on the women and children were so grave that they are pleading for support to escape them from being forced back into the gloom. It is mis-leading on the part of those who find solace in the fact that Taliban’s transition to power is comparatively peaceful this time. It is pitying to find traces of tolerance in unresisted tram-pling of power. It is, at best, an effort to find an escape. Can the Taliban be expected to run a more rational government than it did two decades earlier. Chances are very bleak. It would again be misleading to go by its promises of peaceful transi-tion and governance. Promises mean the least in administra-tion matters, especially if it comes from an authoritative power. Afghan people have earned an administrative set up over the past two decades. To rest their prospects on the alms of Tali-ban would be a grave insult to the people of Afghanistan. The peaceful transition is a façade. In reality there is discontent and fright. Until now five people have been reported to be killed at Afghanistan airport. The cause could be a stampede or the fir-ing of gunshots in air by the US troops to prevent people from rushing towards the military Tarmac. It is argued that Taliban takeover of Afghanistan was inevitable and that only the swift-ness with which it has come is shocking. If the consequence had been so clear, where were the efforts of building up a long-term resistance plan on the part of the Afghan government. As a country which is always ready to step its foot in the affairs of countries around the world on the ground of upholding democracy, does the US hold legitimacy to make such claims further, given that it has shown complete disdain towards civil rights and liberties in Afghanistan. Though the biggest con-cern at the moment is life and liberty of the people, repercus-sions on regional geopolitics are no less serious. Afghanistan could emerge as a new point of tension among the countries that are its immediate or disjoint neighbors — India, Pakistan, Iran and China. Afghanistan could be a country where these nations will strive towards competing with each other. Such a conflicting zone could potentially push the South Asian region backwards against the Western regions. In certain quarters, Pakistan is being seen as a strategic gainer as it is believed to have backed Taliban rule in Afghanistan. But as for now, there are no clear winners in these developments. Taliban’s complete rule may even backfire against Pakistan’s interests. India cer-tainly is finding itself in an uncomfortable position. Individual woes and aspirations of each of the nations may be different at this point in time — giving rise to differing insecurities and ambitions. History is replete with examples where such insecu-rities and ambitions have given birth to blunders. The nations in the region are expected to avoid such blunders in wake of misunderstanding against each other. Taliban rule in Afghani-stan — good or bad — has emerged as a new reality, it cannot be escaped now. The key thing is that it can be made better or worse depending upon how the neighboring countries interact with Afghanistan and among themselves. Whether the Tali-ban have changed or not over the past decades is not known. But Afghanistan has changed, and the world has changed. It is time to figure out the best bargain for vulnerable sections in Afghanistan. They have already tasted some freedom and they need buttressing so that they can stand up for their rights and liberties under the new regime.

millenniumpost.in

Eye of the storm

Below par performance

We each have our innate personal beliefs and devices, a divine faith that helps us wade through crises. These provide us with inner strength, helping us ride and more...

Be it foreign policy, battle against terror or domestic press freedom, Imran Khan government has fallen short on all fronts

We all have our fallacies and beliefs. I dis-covered my

own nascent ones on Octo-ber 31, 1984, hours after the tragic assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gan-dhi. It was 7 pm in the evening and my father hadn’t returned from office. By then, little Raju knew that riots had broken out in Delhi and people were being butchered on the streets. ‘Om Sharavana Bhavaya’ was my worried chant to the Gods for the next half hour (taught and reverently drilled into me by a pious and indulgent Madraasi mother). Sure enough, the age-ing deviant arrived home soon; I feverishly hugged him and quickly forgave him. All turned out well.

Next chapter. A few days later, as anti-Sikh riots ravaged Delhi, we took in Ajju, the son of our very-genial Sikh neigh-bor. For a week, Ajju stayed with us, pretending to be my sister. Leaving him with us, his father, Jasbir Uncle, quietly mumbled: ‘Wahe Guru Ji da Khalsa, Wahe Guru Ji di Fateh’. All turned out well.

A year before this travesty, India all but lost a crucial and baseline qualifier World Cup 1983 cricket match to Zimba-bwe. Sadly, this was an untele-vised encounter between two abject underdogs. ‘Sad’ because from somehow there emerged an unlikely batting inferno, with Kapil Dev smashing an unbeaten and improbable 175 runs to get India home. Kap’s Devils eventually won India its first ODI cricketing World Cup. Most of India and all of Haryana chanted ‘Jai Bajrang Bali’. All turned out well.

Moral of the story – we all have our little personal beliefs and chants (religious and otherwise) that we turn to in times of crises. If nothing else, they provide us with per-sonal strength and faith, help-ing us ride out whatever storm we are caught up in. But what of our country, mired in many terrible storms today? This is paradoxical, because you are reading this column shortly after we completed 74 years of our independence.

Too many storms…The last year-and-a-half

has been terrible for India and the rest of the world due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The travesty is that there is no vis-ible relief or divine interven-tion in sight anytime soon, as we continue to blank out half of our face behind masks and cower in our frightened little personal space(s). The answer lies in vaccinating as many of India’s 140-odd crore people as possible, quick as we can. And therein is the monkey wrench, for vaccination – or the pain-fully sluggish pace at which it is being done – is the one thing that really sticks out like a sore thumb. India has fully vaccinated only 10 per cent of its population in the first 200 days of the much-glamorized national drive. And experts warn that any return to nor-malcy can happen only after 80 per cent or more of the popula-tion is fully vaccinated.

In these 200 days, it is only since May, when the Govern-ment liberalized the National Vaccination Policy and sought to decentralize the drive, that some speed was witnessed. This was also the time when we were at the height of the Sec-ond Wave, with nearly 4 lakh new cases being reported every day. As COVID cases and fatalities shot up, vaccination centers saw people queuing up to get their jabs, resulting in a shortage of vaccines. As states cried wolf, many were asked to import their own vac-cines to meet the shortfall, but global manufacturers insisted they would deal only with the Central Government. And for reasons unknown, no signifi-cant deal to import vaccines has been finalized, other than with Sputnik from Russia. Meanwhile, Moderna, J&J and Wockhardt are trying to get a foot in the door, but things are anything but crystallized. All is not turning out well.

Choppy watersLife has changed and the

irony is that health concerns and fears are only the tip of the icebergs that we are sailing toward now, caught as we are in vicious swirls and the pro-verbial eye of the storm. The

economy has taken a beat-ing that we will take years to crawl back from. In turn, busi-nesses large and small have been maimed, with aviation, hospitality, tourism, automo-biles and ancillaries, food busi-nesses and real estate all but on the verge of a resounding col-lapse. That begets the crunch of the story – joblessness and unemployment. Over the last 18 months, nearly 3 crore qualified and salaried Indians have lost jobs, highly educated and qualified people living in metropolises, urban centers and key Indian cities. They are buckling under EMIs and loan repayment schedules, relying as they are on their savings and Provident Fund withdrawals to keep life chugging along.

Then we have 23 crore Indi-ans who have been pushed back below the poverty line in this financial year alone, in just a few months. While the lowest of the lowest have benefited to some extent in terms of basic employment under MNREGA and other such schemes, a majority remain jobless and are out of cash. It is time to make radical moves, quickly. All is not turning out well.

Business, political chagrinBusinesses, in turn, are

going through their rough-est patch in decades. Conse-quently, they have reached out

to the Government for relief, either in taxation or levies. In fact, manufacturing companies have cited rising raw material costs and higher transportation costs due to rising fuel prices, which they say are making it unviable to sell their output at prevalent prices and warned that they would soon be forced to pass the burden on to the consumer (thus raising prices and stoking the already run-away inflation). The authori-ties, in turn, have bluntly turned them down, asking them to “manage at your own behest as the Government has already provided relief through vari-ous packages”. The only excep-tion is for the telecom sector, especially after Vodafone Plc Global Chairman ruled out any further investments in India, even as its India chief Kumar Mangalam Birla stepped down as Non-Executive Chairman, offering to hand over his 27 per cent stake to the Government at zero cost.

Add to this business mess the brouhaha on the politi-cal front. After the curtains went down on the West Ben-gal assembly polls, the spot-light has since shifted to Uttar Pradesh. A bloody battle has erupted in the state as the incumbents flex muscle and exercise vocal chords, making staunch and provocative state-

ments, all announcing their certain victory at the polls. We also have shenanigans within the Congress, the latest being the leadership tussle in Pun-jab, with Navjot Singh Sidhu coming out trumps against Chief Minister Amarinder Singh. The party is also fever-ishly working on its strategy and possible alliance options in Uttar Pradesh, with politi-cal chess being played with Akhilesh Yadav. Back to the central ruling party, bitter divides are surfacing in the state units in Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka, especially after BJP Chief Minister BS Yediy-urappa’s unceremonious exit. All is not turning out well.

Terrible reminiscenceAll of the above are terrible

reminders of a dark past, but a corollary to a darker today. It is reminiscent to what happened in India during the 1947 par-tition or the subsequent skir-mishes with Pakistan (and the Godhra riots in February, 2002); what we saw in South Africa at the times of Apart-heid; or when the Allied forces dropped A-bombs in Hiro-shima and Nagasaki to bring Japan and Germany to their knees and a force a closure of World War II.

One thought those times are gone, but today’s actions are reminding us of the past once again, spreading hatred and betraying the desper-ate need for togetherness, the only means for survival in today’s changed world. A bitter lesson that COVID-19 has taught us is that peo-ple have to mend fences and not spread animosity or dis-dain, parry to fight together a common and dreaded enemy. That is the only way out of the mess that we find ourselves in now, rapidly, as a country and a flagellating world. Or truth be told, the future shall make a mockery of the world’s past mistakes, and the ones we are making again today.

All is clearly not turning out well.

The writer is a communica-tions consultant and a clinical analyst. narayanrajeev2006@

gmail.com. Views expressed are personal

RAJEEV NARAYAN

SHANTANU MUKHARJI

Month of August has always been striking for Pak-istan. It gained

independence in this month 74 years ago and it struggles while entering into its plati-num jubilee year. It was a dark day in August 1988 when its military dictator and religious fundamentalist President Zia Ul Haq died in a plane crash in Bahawalpur. Again, the month of August, three years ago, saw cricketer-turned pol-itician Imran Khan assuming office as the Prime Minister on August 18. The road, how-ever, for Imran Khan has been rather bumpy so far. The oppo-sition political parties often gang up in an apparent bid to topple Imran Khan, there was a marked rise in the cases of spiralling terror and the FATF did not let Pakistan off the hook for the country’s abject failure to contain terror-fund-ing of the home-grown ter-ror organizations thriving on extreme religious ideology.

Menace of terror apart, Pakistan is at the crossroads as it battles frustratingly to deal with the armed upris-ing of the Balochistan rebels and other discontented groups seeking more autonomy and freedom of expression. There is also an influential segment within Pakistan that is vehe-mently opposed to the much-hyped China project of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Internal problems not-withstanding, Pakistan, under Imran Khan, failed also in its foreign policy implementation.

Saudi Arabia, once the staunch-est ally of Pakistan, based on shared religion, has steadily dis-tanced itself from Pakistan, stir-ring discussion among several Muslim nations.

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), which is a Saudi Arabia brainchild, repeatedly refused to comply with Pakistan on a number of issues including its refusal to pass a resolution on Jammu and Kashmir. In fact, today, India is relatively closer to Saudi Arabia with focus on bilateral trade and investment. Mean-while, according to latest news reports, Pakistan is among the nine countries, devotees from where have been banned from entering Saudi Arabia for the Umrah pilgrimage. That is indeed a jolt to the Saudi–Pak ties. Although, Imran Khan and his Foreign Minis-ter Shah Mahmood Qureshi lately made futile attempts to bring it back to rails. The frac-tured Riyadh-Islamabad rela-

tions restoration seems distant. China, for its own selfish politi-cal interest, did hold Pakistan’s hand for Belt and Road Initia-tive (BRI) and the CPEC, but analysts don’t see any reason to give any credit to Imran Khan for any new improvement in Sino-Pakistan ties. In reality, as everyone would know, the Beijing-Islamabad relation-ship would remain warm even without Imran Khan as the Prime Minister. On the con-trary, Imran Khan exceeded all limits by conspicuously avoid-ing to condemn China for its oppressive measures against the Uighur Muslims in the Western province of Xinjiang. Imran’s indifference on this sensitive issue evoked worldwide criti-cism. Yet, due to Chinese dik-tat, as part of its typical bullying tactics and aggressive attitude as a big brother, Pakistan buck-led under China’s pressure and continues to do so. The US, under Joe Biden, is also seeing a sharp decline in its relations

with Pakistan. Experts feel that it is because of China that Pak-istan is facing unprecedented alienation from the US.

Last but not the least, Pak-istan’s Afghanistan policy has gone for a toss, as clearly seen in the advances made by Tali-ban. It is widely believed that the Pakistan-supported Lash-kar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) are fighting shoulder to shoulder with the Taliban and the impending civil war might have a cas-cading effect within Pakistan with a sizable Pashtun popula-tion changing their course. So, the Pakistan Prime Minister remains in a tight spot.

In the meantime, the min-iscule Hindu minority is feel-ing insecure, following an attack on a Hindu temple in Rahim Yar Khan as also after an action against a Hindu child under the draconian blas-phemy laws. We see numerous challenges before Imran Khan when he is more than halfway through his term as the Prime Minister. He needs to reset his priorities for a smooth passage for his remaining term.

As Imran Khan will com-plete his third year of his tenure on August 18, a very prominent media person, Hamid Mir, in a revealing interview to the popular BBC show on August 10, disclosed sensational details about the deteriorating press freedom in Pakistan. He criticized attacks against press liberty as a grow-ing threat for the journalists in Pakistan. Lambasting Paki-stan, insinuating specifically

Prime Minister Imran Khan, Hamid Mir further said that the democracy and Constitu-tion in Pakistan are sham and they exist only in name. More significantly, he disclosed that the Prime Minister of Paki-stan was helpless and was in no position to help Mir or any other media person. Without naming anyone, he hinted that an invisible force was working to control Imran Khan and his policies, subtly ascribing it to the intelligence agency (ISI). In the past, Mir was abducted and interrogated, presumably by the intelligence agencies.

In the recent past, Hamid Mir lost his journalistic assignment for exposing the influential and wrong doers. Quoting Mir may be relevant here which surmises Imran Khan’s performance: “Imran Khan is not directly respon-sible for imposing a ban on me. I do not think he wants me to be off air. But like past Prime Ministers, he is not a very powerful Prime Minis-ter. He is helpless and he can’t help me. Such a bold accusa-tion against the Prime Minis-ter is being seen as a message which is loud and clear. With electronic and print media muzzled, and diplomatic meltdown on external fronts, Prime Minister Imran Khan’s track record for the last three years does not really call for any celebration.

The writer is a retired IPS offi-cer, a security analyst and a for-mer National Security Advisor to the PM of Mauritius. Views

expressed are personal

Businesses across sectors are witnessing a steep decline

Saudi Arabia’s distancing away from Pakistan is seen as a major diplomatic failure of Imran Khan government

Businesses are going through their roughest patch in decades. Consequently, they have reached out to the Government for relief, either in taxation or levies — but with little success

Imran Khan exceeded all limits by conspicuously avoiding to condemn China for its oppressive measures against Uighur Muslims in the western province of Xinjiang

8 millenniumpostWorldmpTHURSDAY, 17 AUGUST, 2021 | KOLKATA

Taliban leader Baradar is 'undisputed victor' of war in Afghanistan: Report

LONDON: Abdul Ghani Bara-dar, the Taliban leader freed from a Pakistani jail on the request of the US less than three years ago, has emerged as an "undisputed victor" of the 20-year war in Afghanistan, according to a British media report.

While Haibatullah Akhun-dzada is the Taliban's overall leader, Baradar is its political chief and its most public face. He was said to be on his way from his office in Doha, Qatar, to Kabul on Sunday evening.

In a televised statement on the fall of Kabul, he said the Taliban's real test was only just beginning and that they had to serve the nation, The Guardian newspaper reported on Sunday.

Baradar's return to power embodies Afghanistan's inabil-ity to escape the bloody shackles of its past. The story of his adult life is the story of the country's unceasing, pitiless conflict, the report said.

Born in Uruzgan province in 1968, he fought in the Afghan mujahideen against the Soviets in the 1980s. After the Russians were driven out in 1992 and the country fell into civil war between rival warlords, Baradar set up a madrassa in Kandahar with his former commander and reputed brother in law, Moham-mad Omar.

Together, the two mullahs founded the Taliban, a move-ment spearheaded by young Islamic scholars dedicated to the religious purification of the country and the creation of an

emirate, the report said.Fuelled by religious fervour,

widespread hatred of the war-lords and substantial support from Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency, the Taliban swept to power in 1996 after a series of stunning con-quests of provincial capitals that took the world by surprise, just as the movement has done in recent weeks.

Baradar, Mullah Omar's deputy who was widely believed to be a highly effective strate-gist, was a key architect of those victories. Baradar played a suc-cession of military and admin-istrative roles in the five-year Taliban regime, and by the time it was ousted by the US and its Afghan allies, he was deputy minister of defence.

During the Taliban's 20-year exile, Baradar had the reputation of being a potent military leader and a subtle political opera-tor. Western diplomats came to view him as on the wing of the Quetta Shura the Taliban's

regrouped leadership in exile that was most resistant to ISI control, and most amenable to political contacts with Kabul.

The Obama administration, however, was more fearful of his military expertise than it was hopeful about his supposedly moderate leanings. The CIA tracked him down to Karachi in 2010 and in February of that year persuaded ISI to arrest him, the report said.

The capture of Baradar was predominantly instigated because of his role in the war rather than because of the like-lihood that he was going to sud-denly make peace, a former official said.

The fact is, the Pakistanis held on to him all those years in large part because the United States asked them to, the report said.

According to the Guardian report, in 2018, however, Wash-ington's attitude changed and Donald Trump's Afghan envoy, Zalmay Khalilzad, asked the Pakistanis to release Baradar so he could lead negotiations in Qatar, based on the belief that he would settle for a power-sharing arrangement.

I had never seen any real substantiation of that point, but it just took on a kind of mythic idea, the report quoted a former official as saying.

Pakistan reportedly released the Afghan Taliban leader from prison in October 2018 after being arrested by Pakistani authorities in the southern port city of Karachi in 2010. AGENCIES

UN chief: World must unite to combat 'global terrorist threat' in AfghanistanUNITED NATIONS, UNITED STATES: United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on the world to work together Mon-day to "suppress the global ter-rorist threat in Afghanistan" after the Taliban took control of the war-torn country.

"The international commu-nity must unite to make sure that Afghanistan is never again used as a platform or safe haven for terrorist organizations," Guterres told an emergency UN Security Council meeting on Afghanistan.

The meeting was hastily convened at the UN's head-quarters in New York after Taliban militants entered the capital Kabul on Sunday, lead-ing Afghan president Ashraf Ghani to flee abroad.

"I appeal to the Security Council — and the interna-tional community as a whole — to stand together, to work together and act together," Guterres added.

He urged nations to "use all tools at its disposal to sup-press the global terrorist threat in Afghanistan and to guaran-tee that basic human rights will be respected."

Guterres' comments came as victorious Taliban fighters patrolled Kabul after a stun-ningly swift end to Afghan-

istan's 20-year war, AFP reported on Monday.

Thousands of people mobbed the city's airport try-ing to flee the group's feared hardline brand of Islamist rule.

Guterres said Afghans "deserve our full support."

"The following days will be pivotal," he said. "The world is watching. We cannot and must not abandon the people

of Afghanistan."The secretary-general urged

the international commu-nity to "speak with one voice to uphold human rights in Afghanistan."

He said it was "essential that the hard-won rights of Afghan women and girls are protected."

Guterres also called upon the Taliban "to respect and protect international humani-

tarian law and the rights and freedoms of all persons."

Meanwhile, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan on Monday said that President Joe Biden is prepared to mar-shal the international com-munity on human rights in Afghanistan, where the Tali-ban is seizing power, Reuters reported.

“He is prepared to marshal

the international community on this issue. He cares pas-sionately about these human rights questions, and we will stay focused on them in the period ahead,” Sullivan said in an interview with Today.

“But that was not a reason for the United States to enter a third decade of war in the mid-dle of an internal conflict in another country.” AGENCIES

‘Biden to marshal international community on rights in Afghanistan’

Left Afghanistan to avoid bloodshed, 'big human disaster', says Prez Ashraf Ghani

KABUL: Embattled Afghani-stan President Ashraf Ghani has said he left Kabul to avoid bloodshed and a "big human disaster" in the city of six mil-lion people, urging the Tali-ban to reveal their intentions and reassure the people who are unsure about their future after the insurgents took over the war-torn country.

Taliban insurgents swept into Afghanistan's capital on Sunday after a sudden and unprecedented collapse of the government, prompting presi-dent Ghani to join fellow citi-zens and foreigners to leave the country.

Ghani in his first comments after he left Afghanistan said on Sunday he was faced with a "hard choice" between the "armed Taliban" who wanted to enter the Presidential Pal-ace or "leaving the dear coun-try that I dedicated my life to

protecting the past 20 years"."If there were still count-

less countrymen martyred and they would face the destruction and destruction of Kabul city, the result would have been a big human disaster in this six million city. The Taliban have made it to remove me, they are here to attack all Kabul and

the people of Kabul. In order to avoid the bleeding flood, I thought it was best to get out," Ghani said in a Facebook post on Sunday.

"Taliban have won the judgement of sword and guns and now they are responsible for protecting the country-men's honor, wealth and self-esteem. Didn't they win the legitimacy of hearts? Never in history has dry power given legitimacy to anyone and won't give it to them," the 72-year-old politician, reportedly taking shelter in neighbouring Tajiki-stan, said.

Ghani said the Taliban insurgents are now facing a new historical test of either to protect the name and honour of Afghanistan or prioritising other places and networks.

He said that to win legiti-macy and the hearts of peo-ple who are in fear and unsure

of their future, it is necessary for the Taliban to assure all people, nations, different sec-tors, sisters, and women of Afghanistan.

"Make a clear plan to do and share it with the public. I will always continue to serve my nation with an intellectual moment and a plan to develop. Lots more talk for the future," he added. An academic and economist, Ghani is the 14th President of Afghanistan. He was first elected on September 20, 2014 and was re-elected in the September 28, 2019 presi-dential election.

He was announced the win-ner after a protracted process in February 2020 and was sworn in for a second term on March 9 last year. An anthropologist by education, he previously served as Minister of Finance and the Chancellor of Kabul University. AGENCIES

Top Biden official admits fall of Afghanistan ‘unfolded

at unexpected speed’WASHINGTON DC: White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan on Mon-day acknowledged the secu-rity situation in Afghanistan "unfolded at unexpected speed," while maintaining that President Biden stands by his decision to withdraw U.S. troops.

Heavily armed Taliban fighters swept into Afghan-istan’s capital of Kabul on Sunday after the government collapsed, and the Afghani president fled the country, sig-naling the end of the United States’ 20-year effort to rebuild the nation after the withdrawal of the U.S. military from the region, Fox News reported.

Sullivan, during an appear-ance on ABC News’ “Good Morning America” Monday, defended Biden’s decision to withdraw troops.

“The president did not

think it was inevitable that the Taliban were going to take control of Afghanistan,” Sul-livan said.

“He thought the Afghan national security forces could step up and fight because we spent 20 years, tens of billions of dollars, training them, giv-ing them the best equipment, giving them support of U.S. forces for 20 years.”

“When push came to shove, they decided not to step up and fight for their country,” Sullivan said, adding that the president was faced with the question of whether U.S. men and women should be “put in the middle of another coun-try’s civil war when their own army won’t fight to defend them?”

“And his answer to the question was ‘no,’ and that is why he stands by this deci-sion,” Sullivan said. AGENCIES

Death toll of massive quake in Haiti soars to 1,297

LES CAYES (Haiti): The death toll from a 7.2-magnitude earth-quake in Haiti climbed to 1,297 on Sunday, a day after the pow-erful temblor turned thousands of structures into rubble and set off franctic rescue efforts ahead of a potential deluge from an approaching tropical storm.

Saturday's earthquake also left at least 5,700 people injured in the Caribbean nation, with thousands more displaced from their destroyed or dam-aged homes.

Survivors in some areas were forced to wait out in the open amid oppressive heat for help from overloaded hospitals.

Yet the devastation could

soon worsen with the coming of Tropical Depression Grace, which is predicted to reach Haiti on Monday night. The US National Hurricane Center demoted the tropical storm to a depression Sunday, but fore-casters warned that regard-less, Grace still posed a threat to bring heavy rain, flooding and landslides. The earthquake struck the southwestern part of the hemisphere's poorest nation, almost razing some towns and triggering landslides that ham-pered rescue efforts in a coun-try already grappling with the Coronavirus pandemic, a presi-dential assassination and a wave of gang violence. AGENCIES

Death toll in floods that

hit northern Turkey

climbs to 70ANKARA: Rescuers recovered more bodies from the site of severe flooding that devastated a town in northern Turkey on Monday, bringing the death toll to 70, officials said.

Torrential rains battered the country's northwestern Black Sea provinces on Aug. 4, causing floods that demolished homes and bridges, swept away cars and blocked access to numer-ous roads.

The Turkish disaster man-agement agency, AFAD, said at least 60 people were killed in the province of Kastamonu, nine died in Sinop and one in Bartin.

Emergency crews on Mon-day pressed ahead with efforts to locate at least 47 people who were still reported missing in Kastamonu and Sinop. AFAD said some 8,000 personnel, backed by 20 rescue dogs, are involved in the rescue and assis-tance efforts.

About 2,400 people were evacuated across the region amid the floods scores of them lifted to safety by helicopters. Many are being temporarily housed in student dormitories.

Around 40 villages remain without power, according to AFAD. The heavy flooding came after Turkey endured a searing heat wave and as crews in the south were taming wildfires that raced across the country's Medi-terranean coast. AGENCIES

Japan extends, expands virus emergency as cases surge

TOKYO: Japan's state of emergency for curbing surg-ing COVID-19 cases will con-tinue through Sept. 12 rather than ending at the end of this month as initially planned, the government decided Monday.

With the pandemic con-tinuing to spread in the coun-try, the emergency for Tokyo, Osaka, Okinawa, and three other regions which started in July would be prolonged and expanded. The measures were enforced throughout the recently-concluded Tokyo Olympics, which took place with no spectators from the general public allowed in the stands.

With the latest extension, they emergency will remain in force the Tokyo Paralym-pics, which open Aug. 24 and close on September 5. AGENCIES

EU countries evacuate KabulBRUSSELS: European coun-tries scrambled to evacuate their citizens and Afghan staff from Kabul on Sunday and Monday (16 August) as US troops kept the Afghan capi-tal's airport open - the only way out of the country that has been taken over by Taliban extremists in lightning speed.

Germany, France, and the Netherlands were among countries moving diplomatic staff to the airport ahead of evacuations and to help their own nationals and Afghans to find a way out. Paris has also set up a mission at the airport.

Britain, Italy, Denmark, Sweden, and Spain have announced the evacuation of embassy personnel.

Denmark, Norway, and Finland are temporarily shut-ting their Kabul embassies.

Czech prime minister Andrej Babiš said on Sunday that a plane carrying 46 Czechs and local colleagues, and their families, had left Kabul and was headed for Prague.

Spain was planning to send two planes to Dubai on Monday as part of evacuat-ing embassy staff and Afghan workers and their families, as well as EU personnel.

Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba also said Kyiv was helping EU countries with evacuations.

Albania and Kosovo both said Sunday they had accepted a request from Washington to temporarily bring in Afghan refugees, Reuters reported.

Around 60 countries issued a statement on Sunday calling for “all parties to respect and facilitate, the safe and orderly departure of foreign nationals

and Afghans who wish to leave the country.”

The statement was signed by 25 EU countries, except for Hungary and Bulgaria, Euob-server reported on Monday.

Meanwhile, Poland is closely monitoring the situ-ation in Afghanistan and the first plane will soon head to Afghanistan to evacuate peo-ple who require care, the prime minister announced on Facebook on Monday, The First News reported.

Mateusz Morawiecki wrote: “Poland supports its allies and friends in need… Under my authority, the first plane will soon depart for Afghanistan and be used to evacuate people who require our care. This operation has been in preparation since yesterday.”

Belgium will also send military planes to Kabul to evacuate Belgian citi-zens and Afghan staff, news agency Belga reported on Monday. AGENCIES

Malaysian PM resigns after failing to get majority support

KUALA LUMPUR: Malay-sian Prime Minister Muhyid-din Yassin resigned on Monday after less than 18 months in power, apologizing for his shortcomings but blaming those hungry for power.

Muhyiddin conceded that he had lost majority support to govern, making him the coun-try's shortest-ruling leader.

I have tendered my resig-nation as prime minister and also for the entire Cabinet ... because I have lost the majority support of lower house mem-bers, he said in a televised final message after meeting the king.

I take this opportunity to seek forgiveness ... for all my mistakes and weaknesses dur-ing my tenure as prime minis-ter. I and my Cabinet colleagues have tried our best to save and protect lives ... in this period of crisis. However, as a human being, we are bound to make mistakes so I apologize."

He said he had hoped to stay on until the country's Coronavirus vaccination pro-gram is completed and the economy has recovered, but was thwarted by those hungry for power."

Muhyidddin's departure plunges the country into a new crisis amid a worsening COVID-19 outbreak. Political leaders have already begun to jostle for the top post, with his deputy, Ismail Sabri, rallying support to succeed Muhyid-din and keep the government

intact.The palace said the king,

Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah, accepted Muhyiddin's resignation and appointed him as caretaker prime min-ister until a successor is found, in line with the constitution.

Sultan Abdullah said a new election is not an option because many parts of the country are COVID-19 red zones and health facilities are inadequate. He urged the nation to stay calm and expressed hope that the politi-cal turmoil that has disrupted the country's administration will be swiftly resolved.

The king's role is largely ceremonial in Malaysia, but he appoints the person he believes has majority support in Parlia-ment as prime minister.

Muhyiddin's resignation comes amid mounting pub-lic anger over what was widely perceived as his govern-ment's poor handling of the pandemic. AGENCIES

Taliban fighters stand guard in front of the Hamid Karzai International Airport, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday PTI

Abdul Ghani Baradar

Muhyiddin Yassin PTI

Ashraf Ghani

Belgium will also send military planes to Kabul to evacuate Belgian citizens and Afghan staff

9millenniumpost Business mpNEW DELHI | TUESDAY, 17 AUGUST, 2021

NEW DELHI: Saudi Aramco is in advanced talks for an all-stock deal to acquire a stake in Reliance Industries Ltd.’s oil refining and chemicals busi-ness, people with knowledge of the matter said.

The Saudi Arabian firm is discussing the purchase of a roughly 20 per cent stake in the Reliance unit for about $20 billion to $25 billion-worth of Aramco shares, the people said, asking not to be identi-fied because the information is private. Reliance, which is backed by Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani, could reach an agreement with Aramco as soon as the coming weeks, the people said.

Shares in Reliance extended gains to as much as 2.6 per cent in Mumbai after the Bloomberg News report.

A deal would forge closer ties between the world’s biggest oil exporter and one of the fast-est-growing energy consumers.

It would seal more than two years of negotiations and mark Aramco’s first all-stock deal since its initial public offering in 2019.

Ambani confirmed talks about a deal with an implied stake valuation of $15 billion that same year. Discussions

were delayed by the onset of the coronavirus pandemic and slump in oil prices.

Energy markets have since recovered, with crude prices jumping around 35 per cent this year to almost $70 a bar-rel. Aramco said last week due diligence on a deal with Reli-ance was underway.

A transaction would boost Aramco’s sales of crude to

India. For Reliance, it would help to lock in a steady supply of oil for its giant refineries and make the Indian company a shareholder in Aramco. Based on Aramco’s market valuation of about $1.9 trillion, a transac-tion would give Reliance a stake of around 1 per cent.Details of the potential transaction are still being negotiated, and talks could drag on longer or fall

apart, the people said. A repre-sentative for Aramco declined to comment. The Saudi govern-ment’s Center for International Communication didn’t imme-diately respond to an email requesting comment.

A representative for Reli-ance said the company does not have anything to add beyond Ambani’s comments at the shareholders’ meeting

in June, when the conglomer-ate appointed Aramco Chair-man Yasir Al-Rumayyan to the board. Ambani had said Reli-ance could finalize an invest-ment deal with the oil producer this year.

The Saudi government sold 2 per cent of Aramco in the IPO, raising almost $30 bil-lion. It’s still the largest first-time share sale on record.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler, said in April that the kingdom was in talks to sell a 1 per cent stake in Aramco to a “leading global energy company.” He didn’t disclose which one.

“This deal could be very important in strengthening Aramco’s sales in the country where this company resides,” the prince had said.

Saudi Arabia shipped 613,000 barrels a day of crude to India in July, around 10 per cent of its total exports.

The transaction would help Aramco reach its goal of more than doubling refining capac-ity to between 8 million and 10 million barrels of crude a day.

The Saudi firm had 3.6 million barrels a day of capac-ity at the end of last year, including stakes in joint ventures. AGENCIES

MUMBAI: Investments by pri-vate equity and venture capital funds doubled to a record high of $9.5 billion in July mainly driven by higher investor inter-est in the e-commerce sector, a report said on Monday.

Private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC) invest-ments stood at $4.1 billion in the year-ago period.

The activity was higher by 77 per cent when compared to June’s $5.4 billion, the report on monthly PE/VC invest-ment activity by industry lobby IVCA and consultancy firm EY said.

The month recorded 19 large deals of over $100 mil-lion aggregating to $8.2 bil-lion, compared to 10 large deals worth $3.1 billion in the year-ago period and 12 worth $3.6 billion in June 2021.

July 2021 was also a record in volume terms, as 131 trans-actions were announced, com-pared to 77 in the same month last year and 110 in June 2021.

Pure-play investments,

excluding those in real estate and infrastructure, accounted for 96 per cent of all PE/VC investments in July 2021 at $9.1 billion, almost twice the value recorded in July 2020 ($3.8 bil-lion) and June 2021 ($4.4 bil-lion), the report said.

The e-commerce sector accounted for $5.8 billion of PE/VC investments, bring-ing the e-commerce total PE/VC investments year-to-date in 2021 to $10.5 billion, more than double the previous annual high.

“The positive response of the equity markets to the Zom-ato IPO has acted as a cata-lyst and almost all the leading e-commerce companies are now shoring up capital from

investors (who are keen) and are making bolt-on acquisi-tions to bulk-up prior to hit-ting the capital markets,” EY’s partner Vivek Soni said.

Important enabling reforms like the performance-linked incentive (PLI) scheme and scrapping of the retrospective tax law will further strengthen investor sentiment, he said.

However, he cautioned that the downside risks include a possible pandemic resurgence, a potential spike in commodity prices especially oil, inflation and any hawkish action by the US Federal Reserve.

From ‘exits’ perspective, July recorded 22 deals worth $965 million which is much higher than the $134 million in July 2020, but 70 per cent lower compared to the preced-ing June’s $3.2 billion, it said.

In terms of fund raising, there was a massive decline in July 2021, as only $226 mil-lion has been raised for future investments, as against $2.2 bil-lion in July 2020. PTI

Aramco in talks to buy 20% stake in RIL unit for $25 bnThe deal will seal more than two years of negotiations and mark

Aramco’s first all-stock deal since its initial public offering in 2019

Highlights » A deal would forge closer ties between the world’s biggest oil exporter and one of the fastest-growing energy consumers » A transaction would boost Aramco’s sales of crude to India. For Reliance, it would help to lock in a steady supply of oil for its giant refineries and make it a shareholder in Aramco » Saudi Arabia shipped 613,000 barrels a day of crude to India in July, around 10 per cent of its total exports

Crown Prince Salman, the de facto ruler, said in April that the kingdom was in talks to sell a 1 per cent stake in Aramco to a “leading global energy company.” He didn’t disclose which one

CORPORATE KALEIDOSCOPE

Punjab State Power Corporation Limited has celebrated 75th Independance Day at PSPCL headquarters in a simple, but in an impressive manner while maintaining all precautions in view of safety of COVID-19 here on Monday. MPOST

On the occasion of India’s 75 th Independence Day, HPCL Irumpanam Terminal Organised a special event to felicitate Delisha Davis, a 24 year old Lady Tank Truck Driver, on her brave endeavor to venture into a tough zone of work like Petroleum Tank Truck driving. ED-SOD, Subodh Batra & CGM- Retail South Zone, Sandeep Maheshwari, attended the function virtually. General Manager-O&D, SZ R Narayana Rao and Irumpanam Terminal In-Charge Navin Kumar handed over a Honda Activa to her on behalf of HPCL. MPOST

‘PE/VC investments at all-time high of $9.5 bn in July’

NEW DELHI: Supply of drinking water to the pub-lic through mobile tankers or dispensers by a charitable organisation is taxable at 18 per cent under the GST, AAR has ruled.

The Andhra Pradesh bench of the Authority for Advance Ruling (AAR) has ruled -- in the case of Vijaya-vahini Charitable Foundation -- that since the organisation is supplying purified water, hence it is not fit for GST exemption.

Vijayavahini Charitable

Foundation had sought an advance ruling on whether the supply of groundwater after undertaking purifica-tion through Reverse Osmo-sis to the general public either through the dispens-ing unit or mobile tanker at a concessional rate is exempt from Goods and Services Tax (GST).

The AAR said the prin-cipal supply undertaken by the organisation is a supply of purified water, which is taxable at 18 per cent, while the service of distribution

through mobile units is an ancillary service and taxable at 18 per cent.

“It is invariably a compos-ite supply and the rate of tax of purified water prevails, being the principal supply... The said supply is not covered under exemption and taxable at 18 per cent...,” it noted. AMRG & Associates Senior Part-ner Rajat Mohan said water sourced from open bore-wells/ ground is not potable, and thereby, that needs to be treated/ purified before supply to the general public. PTI

‘Drinking water supply through mobile tankers taxable at 18%’

NEW DELHI: The gems and jewellery exports grew by 6.04 per cent to $12.55 bil-lion during April-July this fis-cal as against $11.8 billion in the same period of 2019-20, on the back of the continued recovery in key export mar-kets like the US, China and Hong Kong, GJEPC said on Monday.

During July, the exports rose by 18 per cent to $3.36 billion. The gems and jewel-lery exports stood at $3.87 billion in April-July 2020-21. The export figures for 2021-22 were compared to the numbers of 2019-20, as the comparison with pandemic-hit 2020-21 will not show the true picture of export growth in the sector due to the low base effect.

GJEPC Chairman Colin Shah said that with the con-tinued recovery in global mar-kets, rise in disposable income of consumers, forthcoming festive season at domestic and international markets, there are expectations that exports would grow further in the coming months.

“We are optimistic that our flagship show, IIJS Pre-miere in September and IGJS in Dubai in October would further improve the sentiment in the global market. Exports growth is majorly attributed to the renewed consumer senti-ments, especially in the USA with the recent announce-ment of a COVID -19 stim-ulus package of $1.9 trillion to speed up the USA’s recov-ery from the economic and health effects of the pandemic, he added.

‘Gems, Jewellery exports rise to $12.5 bn in Apr-July 2021’

BEIJING: China’s economic growth will soften this year due to summer flooding and anti-coronavirus controls, an official said Monday, after consumer sales and other activity weak-ened in July.

China’s economy still is in a recovery trend from last year’s pandemic-induced slowdown but is likely to weaken after a relatively strong first half, said Fu Linghui, a spokesman for the National Bureau of Statistics.

This year’s main economic growth trend will be low after high, Fu said at a news conference.

Fu gave no growth forecast. Private sector forecasters say the

world’s second-largest economy easily should achieve 8 per cent over last year’s depressed level.

Growth in July retail sales softened to 8.5 per cent over a year earlier, below the consen-sus forecast of 10.9 per cent and down from the previous month’s 12.1 per cent. Factory output grew 6.4 per cent, below the forecast of 7.9 per cent.

Growth momentum weak-ened sharply, said Louis Kuijs of Oxford Economics in a report.

The economy was dis-rupted by unusually severe summer flooding that hit central China in July, kill-ing more than 300 people in Henan province. PTI

‘China’s growth likely to slow due to virus, floods’

Cut and polished dia-mond exports have regis-tered a growth of 27 per cent to $8.52 billion during the first four months of this fis-cal, compared to $6.7 billion in the same period of 2019-20. However, gold jewellery ship-ment dipped by 38.5 per cent to $2.41 billion.

Silver jewellery exports, though, increased to $843 million.

These exports have contin-ued to be buoyant on account of the exports of silver jewel-lery studded with diamonds and shift in preferences of consumers in international markets from expensive pre-cious metal - gold base jewel-

lery to relatively lower-priced precious metal base i.e. silver, Shah said. PTI

GOVERNMENT OF WEST BENGAL

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GOVERNMENT OF WEST BENGALWEST BENGAL HOUSING INFRASTRUCTURE

N.I.T No.33 of AGM(Engg)-IV of 2021-2022 Sealed tenders are invited from bonafied, resourceful, experienced outsiders having experience in execution of similar nature of works from any Organization for the work- “Supply & Installation of Slid-ing Door for Vivek Tirtha AA-II in New Town, Kolkata.” Last date of receiving application 23.08.2021 upto 12.00 P.M in the office of Additional General Manager (Engg)-IV, WB HIDCO.

Additional General Manager (Engg)-IVWB HIDCO

GOVERNMENT OF WEST BENGAL

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NOTICEOOFFERS FROM ELIGIBLE, REPUTED AND RESOURCEFUL AGENCIES ARE INVITED THROUGH E-AUCTION FOR OPERATING A RESTAURANT NEAR GATE NO.4, ECO PARK, NEW TOWN, KOLKATA . E-AUCTION ID : 2021_WB_1907Date of E-auction: 27/08/2021 from 12.00 hrs onwards up to 16.00 hrs. For details, please visit official website of WBHIDCO Ltd.: .: www.wbhidcoltd.com & https://eauction.gov.in General Manager (Administration)

GOVERNMENT OF WEST BENGAL

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GOVERNMENT OF WEST BENGALe-Tender invited by the Executive Engineer, Tamluk Division, P.H.E. Dte. Vide No:- WBPHED/EE/TD/NIeQ 02/2021-2022 (2nd Call) and Ten-der ID-2021_PHED_340625_1 details of works shown in the NIeQ. Bid submission End date:-25/08/2021 at 11.00 A.M. Corrigendum if any will be published in website only. All details can be obtained from the website-https:// wbtenders.gov.in

sd/ Executive Engineer, Tamluk Division, PHE Directorate

VIL STRESS

10 millenniumpostBusinessmp TUESDAY, 17 AUGUST, 2021 | KOLKATA

MUMBAI: Equity bench-marks Sensex and Nifty raced to new peaks on on Monday on account of healthy buying in heavyweights Reliance and HDFC twins as well as IT and pharma shares.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex was quoted higher by 145.29 points or 0.26 per cent at a new closing high of 55,582.58. It also hit a record intra-day high of 55,680.75.

Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty advanced 33.95 points or 0.21 per cent to mark a fresh closing high of 16,563.05.

Tata Steel was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rallying nearly 4 per cent, followed by

Bajaj Finance, M&M, Bajaj Fin-serv and Reliance Industries.

On the other hand, Maruti,

Bajaj Auto, PowerGrid ad Ultra-Tech Cement were among the major laggards. PTI

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court has sought the Central government’s stand on a plea concerning the alleged cyber security breaches and data leaks on the online platforms of BigBasket, Domino’s, MobiK-wik and Air India.

Justice Rekha Palli granted time to the counsel for the Centre to seek instructions and listed the petition by Yar-lagadda Kiran Chandra, Gen-eral Secretary of Free Software Movement of India, which claims to be a national coalition of various regional and sectoral free software movements, for hearing on September 23.

Learned counsel for the respondents, who appears on

advance notice, prays for time to obtain instructions. List on September 23, 2021, the judge said in the August 13 order.

In his petition, Chandra has prayed for a direction to Com-puter Emergency Respondent Team -India (CERT-In) to act on his representation and com-mence investigation and review

the alleged data breaches.The petitioner has said

that he wrote to the CERT-In on several occasions on the breaches of data of millions of users of Big Basket, Mobikwik, Domino’s and Air India plat-forms, urging it to investigate and update the citizens, but no action was taken.

He said that under Section 70B of the Information Tech-nology Act, 2000, CERT-In is responsible for collecting and analysing information on cyber incidents and take emergency measures for handling cyber security incidents etc.

The petition said that pres-ently, since there is no law gov-erning data protection in India

and the aggrieved users do not have any legislative recourse against such breaches, an inves-tigation by CERT-In on fre-quent data breaches at mass level is important to safeguard the privacy of users.

The data breaches at MobiK-wik, BigBasket, Air India and Domino’s have leaked sensitive personal information of mil-lions of users including their addresses, phone numbers, passport information, credit-debit card details, hashed pass-words, bank accounts, KYC details. These breaches seri-ously impact the privacy of the users including their financial details and personal addresses, the petition reads. PTI

LONDON: The long war in Afghanistan reached a poten-tial watershed on August 6 when Taliban fighters took over Zaranj, a dusty frontier town with a population of some 63,000 on the Afghan-Iranian border. Though geographically and politically marginal, Zaranj was the first provincial centre to fall during a month of rapid advances.

In the preceding weeks, the Taliban’s advances had been largely confined to the coun-tryside, taking control of more than half of the country’s 421 districts. But emboldened by these successes and the plum-meting morale of the Afghan

armed forces, the Taliban turned to major population centres. Since their break-through in Zaranj, they have taken over nearby Farah and seven other provincial capitals in the north.

The speed and success of this offensive has taken many by surprise, but the balance of power has shifted since the 2020 agreement between the US and the Taliban, which committed the US to withdraw its troops from the country.

This has been aided by Pakistani support for the Tal-iban, as well as the Afghan government’s release of 5,000 imprisoned Taliban fighters,

a condition of the US-Taliban agreement. Subsequent peace talks, supported by interna-tional and regional powers, have failed to stem the recent violence or come up with a credible peace plan.

But while most commen-tary has focused on this ailing peace process and the military dimension, far less has been said about how economic fac-tors are shaping unfolding events, including the trade in opium and heroin.

This takes us back to Zaranj. It is not coincidental that the Taliban has focused on bor-der towns, since these have huge importance economi-

cally, which translates into military and political advan-tage. The Taliban now control some ten international crossing points. In addition to Zaranj, they have Spin Baldak, a gate-way to Pakistan; Islam Qala, the main crossing point to Iran; and Kunduz, which con-fers control of the routes north to Tajikistan.

The importance of these trading cities has been demon-strated by recent history. When the warring factions in Afghan-istan stopped receiving military and financial aid mainly from the Russians and Americans after the Russians withdrew in the late 1980s, control of trade

became very important. This included the drug economy, which expanded massively from the early 1990s.

This is playing out again. In the 1990s, for example, Zaranj was a wild west kind of place that grew as an illicit trading hub, drawing on longstand-ing cross-border connections between Baluch tribes who specialised in smuggling fuel, drugs and people. Similar activities continue there today: opium and heroin, derived from the poppy fields of Farah and Helmand provinces, are smuggled across the border, alongside the booming busi-ness in human trafficking. PTI

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Mon-day ruled out a cut in excise duty on petrol and diesel to ease prices, which have touched an all-time high, saying payments in lieu of past subsidised fuel pose limitations.

Petrol and diesel as well as cooking gas and kerosene were sold at subsidised rates during the previous Congress-led UPA government. Instead of paying for the subsidy to bring par-ity between the artificially sup-pressed retail selling price and the cost that had soared because of international rates crossing $100 per barrel, the then gov-ernment issued oil bonds total-ling Rs 1.34 lakh crore to the state-fuel retailers.

These oil bonds and the interest thereon are being paid now. “If I did not have the bur-den to service the oil bonds, I would have been in a position to reduce excise duty on fuel,” she told reporters here. “Previ-ous government have made our job difficult by issuing oil bonds. Even if I want to do something I am paying through my nose for the oil bonds.”

Sitharaman, who had raised excise duty on petrol and diesel to record high to shore up rev-enue collections last year, said

the interest on oil bonds paid in the last seven years totalled Rs 70,195.72 crore.

Of the Rs 1.34 lakh crore of oil bonds, only Rs 3,500 crore of principal has been paid and the remaining Rs 1.3 lakh crore is due for repayment between this fiscal and 2025-26, she said.

The government has to repay Rs 10,000 crore this fiscal year (2021-22). Another Rs 31,150 crore is due to be repaid in 2023-24, Rs 52,860.17 crore in the fol-lowing year and Rs 36,913 crore in 2025-26.

“A significant amount is going for interest payment and principal repayment. What unfair burden on me,” she said.

“Opening balance in 2014-15 was about Rs 1.34 lakh crore and interest repayment was Rs 10,255 crore. Since 2015-16, interest burden each year is Rs 9,989 crore.” The collections

from the hike in excise duty far exceed the amount due to be paid to oil companies.

Excise duty on petrol was hiked from Rs 19.98 per litre to Rs 32.9 last year to recoup gain arising from international oil prices plunging to multi-year low as pandemic gulped demand.

Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Rameswar Teli had last month told Parliament that the Union government’s tax collections on petrol and diesel jumped by 88 per cent to Rs 3.35 lakh crore in the year to March 31 from Rs 1.78 lakh crore a year back.

Excise collection in pre-pan-demic 2018-19 was Rs 2.13 lakh crore. The hike in taxes last year did not result in any revision in retail prices as they got adjusted against the reduction that was warranted because of fall in

international oil prices.But with the demand return-

ing, international oil prices have soared, which have translated to record high petrol and diesel prices across the country. More than half the country has pet-rol at over Rs 100-a-litre mark and diesel is above that level in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha.

Sitharaman said the Cen-tre has kept open the option of inclusion of petroleum products under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime. “Whenever states agree on this, it can be brought under the GST.”

Inclusion under GST would mean subsuming of excise duty and VAT (levied by states) into one tax. This would help con-tain the cascading impact of tax-on-tax (VAT being levied on excise duty).

Further, the Finance Min-ister said that she expects infla-tion to remain in the prescribed range during the current fiscal. The RBI has been mandated to keep inflation at 4 per cent, with tolerance level of 2 per cent on either side.

She expressed confidence that the revenue would be buoy-ant in the coming months. Both Goods and Services Tax (GST) and direct taxes have improved in the past few months, the min-ister said.

On the demand pick up, she said there is enough liquidity in the market and credit growth is expected to pick up in the com-ing festive season.

Moreover, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Mon-day said the rules that will lead to the scrapping of the retro-spective tax demands made on companies such as Cairn Energy Plc and Vodafone Plc will be framed soon.

Parliament earlier this month passed a bill to scrap a tax rule that gave the tax department power to go 50 years back and slap capital gains levies wherever owner-ship had changed hands over-seas but business assets were in India. The 2012 legislation was used to levy a cumulative of Rs 1.10 lakh crore of tax on 17 entities, including UK telecom giant Vodafone.

The bill provides for the government to refund the retro tax to companies provided all legal challenges are withdrawn.

Now the rules for the same have to be framed, Sitharaman told reporters here. “Rules will have to be framed... rules will be famed soon.” The govern-ment has to refund about Rs 8,100 crore that it had collected using the retro tax law. The bulk of this -- Rs 7,900 crore is to Cairn Energy alone.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: The wholesale price-based inflation softened for the second straight month to 11.16 per cent in July, on cheaper food items, even though prices of manufactured goods and crude oil hardened.

However, WPI inflation remained in double digit for the fourth consecutive month in July, mainly due to a low base of last year. WPI inflation was (-) 0.25 per cent, in July 2020.

“The high rate of inflation in July 2021 is primarily due to low base effect and rise in prices of crude petroleum and natural gas; mineral oils; manufactured products like basic metals; food products; textiles; chemicals and chemical products etc as com-pared the corresponding month of the previous year,” the Com-merce and Industry Ministry said in a statement.

Inflation in food articles eased for the third straight month, and was at ‘zero’ per cent in July, down from 3.09 per cent in June, even as onion prices spiked. Inflation in onions was high at 72.01 per cent.

Inflation in crude petroleum and natural gas was 40.28 per cent in July, against 36.34 per cent in June.

In manufactured products, inflation stood at 11.20 per cent in July, against 10.88 per cent in the previous month. WPI inflation scaled double digit in April at 10.74 per cent, rising to a record high of 13.11 per cent in May. In June it eased to 12.07 per cent and further moderated to 11.16 per cent in July.

ICRA Chief Economist Aditi

Nayar said the core-inflation is likely to have peaked at 10.8 per cent in July 2021.

The rapid rise in the core-WPI inflation from August 2020 onwards as well as the impact of concerns related to the Delta plus variant on com-modity prices are likely to grad-ually soften the core print going ahead, she said.

“The headline WPI inflation is expected to remain in double-digits until October 2021, and therefore its softening over the last two months is unlikely to provide any material comfort to the monetary policy com-mittee,” Nayar added.

The RBI, which mainly takes into account retail inflation, in its monetary policy last week kept interest rates unchanged at record lows. It projected CPI or retail inflation at 5.7 per cent

during 2021-22, up from its ear-lier projection of 5.1 per cent.

Data released last week showed retail inflation eased to 5.59 per cent in July, mainly due to softening food prices.

PHD Chamber of Com-merce and Industry President Sanjay Aggarwal said although WPI inflation is decelerating month after month, the build-up of WPI inflation in manu-factured products from 10.9 per cent in June 2021 to 11.2 per cent in July 2021 is worry-ing as it is impacting the cost of production and reducing price-cost margin of the producers.

“High prices of raw mate-rials are posing a serious chal-lenge to the small businesses to operate in the difficult pan-demic times, which needs to be addressed immediately,” Aggar-wal said.

WPI inflation falls 11.16% in July for 2nd month in row

Inflation in food articles eased for the third straight month, and was at ‘zero’ per cent in July, down from 3.09 per cent in June, even as onion prices spiked. Inflation in onions was high at 72.01 per cent

Sensex soars to new peak, up 145 pts, Nifty ends above 16,550

KBK graphicsInfo

Intra-day on August 16, 2021

9am 10 11 12 1pm 2 3 4 9am 10 11 12 1pm 2 3 4

Previous close:

55,437.29

Previous close:

16,529.10

NSE NIFTYIntra-day on August 16, 2021

BSE SENSEX

High:

16,589.40

High:

55,680.75

Close:

55,582.58Close:

16,563.05

33.95

(0.21%)

Low:

55,281.02Low:

16,480.75

Open:

55,479.74Open:

16,518.40

145.29

(0.26%)

NEW DELHI: India’s fuel demand recovery continued in August as sales of the nation’s most used fuel, diesel, inched towards pre-Covid levels on easing of pandemic-related restrictions, preliminary sales data showed on Monday.

Petrol sales are already above pre-Covid levels and diesel is 8 per cent short.

State-owned fuel retailers sold 0.98 million tonnes of pet-rol in the first half of August, up 9.4 per cent from the year-ear-lier period. It was 3.7 per cent higher than pre-Covid petrol sales of 0.95 million tonnes in August 1-15, 2019.

Sales of diesel - the most

used fuel in the country - rose 18.5 per cent to 2.11 million tonnes during August 1-15, 2021 over the previous year, but was down 7.9 per cent from August 2019.

This is the third straight month that showed a rise in consumption since March.

Fuel demand had recov-ered to near-normal levels in March before the onset of the second wave of COVID-19

infections led to the re-impo-sition of lockdowns in differ-ent states, stalling mobility and muting economic activity.

Consumption in May slumped to its lowest since August last year amid lock-downs and restrictions in sev-eral states. .

On July 30, S M Vaidya, Chairman of India’s largest oil firm IOC, had stated that petrol consumption has risen over pre-Covid levels as people prefer personal transport over public transport.

Diesel sales, he said, were likely to return to pre-pan-demic levels by Diwali in November if a third wave of

Covid infections does not lead to the reimposition of lockdown.

ATF consumption, which had seen the most severe fall as air travel was restricted begin-ning March 2020, is likely to return to normal by the end of the current fiscal in March, he had said.

Consumption of LPG, the only fuel which showed growth even during the first lockdown because of free supplies by the government to the poor, rose 6.5 per cent year on year to 1.06 million tonnes in August 1-15. It was however 2.5 per cent lower than August 2019. PTI

No room for cut in excise duty on petrol, diesel: Sitharaman

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also said that the rules that will lead to the scrapping of the retrospective tax will be framed soon

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman

Fuel demand recovery continues in August, diesel sales 8% less than pre-Covid level

HC seeks Centre’s stand on plea over data leaks at AI, BigBasket, Domino’s, MobiKwik

NEW DELHI: Finance Min-ister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday said she is awaiting an approval from the Cabinet on Bill on cryptocurrency as the proposed legislation is before it.

The inter-ministerial panel on cryptocurrency under the Chairmanship of Secretary (Economic Affairs) to study the issues related to virtual cur-rencies and propose specific actions has already submitted its report.

It has recommended that all private cryptocurrencies, except any virtual currencies issued by state, will be prohib-ited in India.

“Cabinet note is ready on cryptocurrency (Bill). I am awaiting Cabinet to clear that,”

she said during her interaction with the media here.

Meanwhile, the RBI has concerns on the cryptocurren-cies traded in the market and has conveyed the same to the government.

Underlining that both the government and the RBI are “committed to financial stabil-ity”, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das had said there are no dif-ferences between the central bank and the Finance Ministry on the matter, and “we should now await the final decision on the matter” from the Centre.

Das had said he has “rea-sons to believe” that the gov-ernment is in agreement with the “major concerns” flagged by the RBI about the

cryptocurrencies.The Supreme Court in

March allowed banks and financial institutions from pro-viding services related to cryp-tocurrencies by setting aside the RBI’s 2018 circular which had prohibited them.

Cryptocurrencies are dig-ital or virtual currencies in which encryption techniques are used to regulate the gener-ation of their units and verify the transfer of funds, operat-ing independently of a central bank.

A three-judge bench, headed by Justice R F Nariman, said the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) circular is liable to be set aside on the ground of “propor-tionality”. PTI

Waiting for Cabinet approval, says FM on Bill on cryptocurrency

NEW DELHI: Amid expec-tations that the government might find a solution to prevent the collapse of Vodafone Idea Ltd, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday said a “lot of officials” were talking to each other but nothing has come to her.

The financial health of India’s number three phone operator is a concern for its lenders after the Supreme Court last month rejected its petition to reassess back dues to the government.

“Lots of officials are talking to each other... (but) nothing has come to me,” Sitharaman told reporters here. She did not mention whether the talks were between government officials or the lenders were talking to Vodafone Idea.

Vodafone Idea, which is struggling to stay afloat, has deferred spectrum payment obligations of Rs 1,06,010 crore and Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) liability of Rs 62,180 crore that are due to the government.

Billionaire Kumar Man-galam Birla, who recently stepped down as chairman of Vodafone Idea Ltd, had previ-ously sought government sup-port and had also offered to give up his stake in the tele-com operator. Vodafone Idea has continuously made annual losses after March 2016 since the entry of Mukesh Amba-ni’s Reliance Jio that year. Jio debuted with ultra-low prices, forcing rivals to quit, merge or go bankrupt. PTI

Nothing has come to me,

says FM

Afghanistan: What conflict means for heroin tradeThe drug economy, trade in opium and heroin expanded massively from the early 1990s

NEW DELHI: With Kabul fall-ing into the hands of the Tal-iban, bilateral trade between Afghanistan and India will get impacted significantly in these uncertain times, according to exporters.

Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) Director General Ajay Sahai said domes-tic exporters should follow cau-tion looking into the political development in Afghanistan, particularly with regard to payments, for which adequate credit insurance may be availed by them.

“The trade will be impacted. It would reduce due to the growing uncertainty in Afghan-

istan,” he said on Monday.Former FIEO president and

country’s leading exporter S K Saraf too said there will be a significant fall in the bilat-eral trade. “We may not lose all because they need our prod-ucts,” Saraf said.

Afghanistan stares at an uncertain future as President Ashraf Ghani left the country just before Kabul fell into the hands of the Taliban on Sunday.

Sharing similar views, FIEO Vice-President Khalid Khan stated there would be a com-plete standstill in the trade for a certain time, as the situation is out of control in Afghanistan.

“It is a landlocked country

and the air route is the main medium of exports and that has been disrupted. Trade will resume only after the uncer-tainty will get down,” Khan said.

Biswajit Dhar, a professor of economics at Jawaharlal Nehru University said India’s aid to Afghanistan was creating a market for domestic products and due to the current situa-tion, “all this will stop”.

Chairman of Plastics Export Promotion Council of India (PLEXCONCIL), Arvind Goenka said now private play-ers will have to deal through third countries to export to Afghanistan. PTI

Afghanistan situation to impact trade with India: Exporters

11mpmillenniumpostKOLKATA | TUESDAY, 17 AUGUST, 2021

12 millenniumpostLeisure

Entertainmentmp

TUESDAY, 17 AUGUST, 2021 | KOLKATA

OUR CORRESPONDENT

While her track ‘Laung Laa-chi’ is lauded by music lovers even today, singer

Mannat Noor has come up with a new single titled ‘Mera Mahi’. The number features Mannat alongside singer Hans Raj Hans’ son, Yuvraaj Hans.

“Every girl would be able to relate to ‘Mera Maahi’. I enjoyed working on the track. This one is special as it features me as well, with Yuvraaj,” she says, adding that shooting the music video with direc-tor Teji Sandhu was a lot of fun. “He was extremely patient and polite. We shot at a farmhouse in Gurugram.”

While her hit number, ‘Laung Laachi’, continues to rule the hearts of music lovers, she’s often expressed her disappointment with the Bolly-wood version of the track. “I’ve read articles where the makers said that they wanted the track in my voice but couldn’t reach me. I’m amazed because I would have loved to ren-der the track in my voice again. I was disappointed with the way the Bollywood version was sung,” says Mannat.

She adds that the single contin-

ues to boost her confidence because it was loved so much by music afi-cionados. “‘The kind of love ‘Laung Laachi’ has garnered is warming and I feel proud that it’s my track,” says Mannat.

The singer enjoys being part of Punjabi projects, but Bollywood is on her mind, too. She sang ‘Lakk Mera Hit’ from ‘Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety’ and is looking forward to more releases. “It’s a dream for every artiste to work in Bollywood. I’ve sung a lot of Hindi film songs, but only one of them made it to the film. I really want to get more work in Bollywood and hope that my songs release soon,” says Mannat.

After getting married, the first place I relo-cated to in Bengal was

Darjeeling. The misty hills, beautiful colonial properties and soul-satisfying food was all love at first sight. My col-lege education was in Sikkim and this place felt so home-like. Momos and green tea was like a staple evening snack on most days. What we got made at our bungalow were momos of whole wheat, which we used to eat in mon-strous quantities.

After many years of being in Kolkata and unable to go to the hills for more than 2 years due to the COVID lockdown and precautions, I craved to try the best hill food in the city. The choice was not tough. When it comes to authentic Nepali or Tibetan food in Kol-kata, veterans swore by ‘Doma Wang’s Blue Poppy Thakali’! I thought it may be overhyped so I had to go and see it for myself.FIRST IMP RESSION

The ‘Blue Poppy Thakali’ located at 4/1 Middle-ton Street at Kolkata offers authentic Nepalese, Tibetan, Bhutanese and Chinese dishes. The place is simple. The menu is authentic and reasonable.

THE ORDER

Sel Roti platter (Rs 250), Chicken Phaley (Rs 190), Mushroom Cheese Kothay (Rs 250), Ema Datchi (Rs 220), Thenthuk (Rs 320 - addon chicken: Rs 20, eggs: Rs 20, prawns: Rs 30), Nepali Chicken Thali (Rs 330), Chicken Thukpa (Rs 190), Japanese Cheesecake (Rs 350), Custard filled Choux (Rs 100).

AFTER TASTEI started with the Chicken

Thukpa. It was a heartwarm-ing dish containing noodles in a chicken broth with shred-ded pieces of chicken, onions, cabbage, carrots and greens. It was authentic!

This was followed by Mushroom Cheese Kothay. It is a signature Nepali dish in

which steamed momos are fried on one side. The Kothay was soft and super fresh and the cheese, paneer and thinly sliced mushroom filling was to die for. As for the sauce, it was Dalle chilli sauce, which can bring out best in the tangy pot-sticker Kothay flavours like a loving spouse. The Dalle chilli is usually grown in Sik-kim and North Bengal is one of the hottest chilies in the

world. It is not for the faint-hearted but it is so flavour-ful that you yearn for more in every bite.

Sel Roti is a traditional Nepali sweet ring shaped fried rice bread. This fennel seeds infused sel roti was served hot with super spicy Aloo dum and Mullo Ka Achaar (radish pickle). Spot on!

The Sha Phaley is a Tibetan dish that looks like a pie. The Chicken Sha Phaley I tried had well-seasoned minced chicken and cabbage stuffed in a pie shaped refined flour covering that was deep-fried, sliced and served with the Dalle chilli sauce. I was told that the Dalle chilli sauce is made fresh every few hours. The Sha Phaley was crisp and flaky on the outside, tender gooey on the inside.

The Nepali Thali consisted of rice, kali dal and a very fla-vourful chicken curry served with the mullo ka achaar, peanut chutney, curd, salad, papad and some fermented greens. Though the Thali was

good, I missed the Gundruk which I believe is the heart of Nepalese cuisine and should have been a part of the Thali.

I also ordered the Bhuta-nese national dish Ema Dachi or Ema Datshi with the Thali. It is a hot chilli peppers and cheese dish but this one did not have as many whole chil-ies as I had in the authentic dish in Bhutan. However, it went well with the steamed rice.

The Tibetan main course that I tried was the dry mixed non-veg Thenthuk. It con-sisted of hand-rolled wheat flour-based flattened squares that had been cooked in boil-ing water and after straining were stir-fried with chicken, eggs, prawns, shredded car-rots, spring onions and cab-bage with mild spices. It is like Italian pasta or Kothu paratha of South India in terms of texture.

For the desserts, I had the Japanese cheesecake. It was served warm and had a very fluffy texture when com-

pared to the usual European cheesecake. This was followed by the custard topped and filled Choux. The choux (pro-nounced Choo like in Jimmy Choo) was actually out of the world. It was airy, light and crispy salted pastry and the sweet cold creamy custard fill-ing made it truly divine. It was how-ever a little more crispy than the Korean Choux I have tried earlier, but was a delicious dessert.

WHAT I LOVEDEverything. Very few mis-

takes, if any.

VERDICTSo next time if you want

to fly to Bagdogra just for the

food, save

some effort and head

to Blue Poppy Thakali for genuine and delicious East-ern Himalayan cuisine.

(The columnist is a food connoisseur who loves

experimenting with culinary delights and a

career bureaucrat in the IRS Income Tax)

Take a culinary roller coaster rideBlue Poppy Thakali

AUTHOR

PRIYANKA DHAR KAPUR

After getting married, the first place I relo-cated to in Bengal was

Darjeeling. The misty hills, beautiful colonial properties and soul-satisfying food was all love at first sight. My col-lege education was in Sikkim and this place felt so home-like. Momos and green tea was like a staple evening snack on most days. What we got made at our bungalow were momos of whole wheat, which we used to eat in mon-strous quantities.

After many years of being in Kolkata and unable to go to the hills for more than 2 years due to the COVID lockdown and precautions, I craved to try the best hill food in the city. The choice was not tough. When it comes to authentic Nepali or Tibetan food in Kol-kata, veterans swore by ‘Doma Wang’s Blue Poppy Thakali’! I thought it may be overhyped so I had to go and see it for myself.FIRST IMP RESSION

The ‘Blue Poppy Thakali’ located at 4/1 Middle-ton Street at Kolkata offers authentic Nepalese, Tibetan, Bhutanese and Chinese dishes. The place is simple. The menu is authentic and reasonable.

THE ORDER

Sel Roti platter (Rs 250), Chicken Phaley (Rs 190), Mushroom Cheese Kothay (Rs 250), Ema Datchi (Rs 220), Thenthuk (Rs 320 - addon chicken: Rs 20, eggs: Rs 20, prawns: Rs 30), Nepali Chicken Thali (Rs 330), Chicken Thukpa (Rs 190), Japanese Cheesecake (Rs 350), Custard filled Choux (Rs 100).

AFTER TASTEI started with the Chicken

Thukpa. It was a heartwarm-ing dish containing noodles in a chicken broth with shred-ded pieces of chicken, onions, cabbage, carrots and greens. It was authentic!

This was followed by Mushroom Cheese Kothay. It is a signature Nepali dish in

which steamed momos are fried on one side. The Kothay was soft and super fresh and the cheese, paneer and thinly sliced mushroom filling was to die for. As for the sauce, it was Dalle chilli sauce, which can bring out best in the tangy pot-sticker Kothay flavours like a loving spouse. The Dalle chilli is usually grown in Sik-kim and North Bengal is one of the hottest chilies in the

world. It is not for the faint-hearted but it is so flavour-ful that you yearn for more in every bite.

Sel Roti is a traditional Nepali sweet ring shaped fried rice bread. This fennel seeds infused sel roti was served hot with super spicy Aloo dum and Mullo Ka Achaar (radish pickle). Spot on!

The Sha Phaley is a Tibetan dish that looks like a pie. The Chicken Sha Phaley I tried had well-seasoned minced chicken and cabbage stuffed in a pie shaped refined flour covering that was deep-fried, sliced and served with the Dalle chilli sauce. I was told that the Dalle chilli sauce is made fresh every few hours. The Sha Phaley was crisp and flaky on the outside, tender gooey on the inside.

The Nepali Thali consisted of rice, kali dal and a very fla-vourful chicken curry served with the mullo ka achaar, peanut chutney, curd, salad, papad and some fermented greens. Though the Thali was

good, I missed the Gundruk which I believe is the heart of Nepalese cuisine and should have been a part of the Thali.

I also ordered the Bhuta-nese national dish Ema Dachi or Ema Datshi with the Thali. It is a hot chilli peppers and cheese dish but this one did not have as many whole chil-ies as I had in the authentic dish in Bhutan. However, it went well with the steamed rice.

The Tibetan main course that I tried was the dry mixed non-veg Thenthuk. It con-sisted of hand-rolled wheat flour-based flattened squares that had been cooked in boil-ing water and after straining were stir-fried with chicken, eggs, prawns, shredded car-rots, spring onions and cab-bage with mild spices. It is like Italian pasta or Kothu paratha of South India in terms of texture.

For the desserts, I had the Japanese cheesecake. It was served warm and had a very fluffy texture when com-

pared to the usual European cheesecake. This was followed by the custard topped and filled Choux. The choux (pro-nounced Choo like in Jimmy Choo) was actually out of the world. It was airy, light and crispy salted pastry and the sweet cold creamy custard fill-ing made it truly divine. It was how-ever a little more crispy than the Korean Choux I have tried earlier, but was a delicious dessert.

WHAT I LOVEDEverything. Very few mis-

takes, if any.

VERDICTSo next time if you want

to fly to Bagdogra just for the

food, save

some effort and head

to Blue Poppy Thakali for genuine and delicious East-ern Himalayan cuisine.

(The columnist is a food connoisseur who loves

experimenting with culinary delights and a

career bureaucrat in the IRS Income Tax)

Take a culinary roller coaster rideBlue Poppy Thakali

AUTHOR

PRIYANKA DHAR KAPUR

After joining Civil Services, we went on a month-long all India trip ( ‘Bharat

Darshan’) covering many states to have a glimpse of the richness of culture and traditions of our country. During this trip, we also got to try many authentic dishes from various royal houses. Many were gracious to host us at their palaces with their secret recipes but no one ever shared the secret ingredients.

If you crave food inspired from royalty in the city of joy, look no further. Located in the South City Mall, Prince Anwar Shah Road, Kolkata, ‘Riyasat’ specializes in royalty inspired Indian dining.

THE ORDERGilawat, Rogani Roti (Rs

595), Shabdegh Dal Makhani (Rs 345), Rajwada Lal Mass Mathaniya (Rs 695), Kachchi Haldi Phool (Rs 375), Murg Malai Majithia (Rs 485), Riya-sati Ghost Dum Biryani (Rs 625), Makhani Laccha Paratha (Rs 105), Baked Yoghurt (Rs 345)

FIRST IMPRESSIONThe food boxes were

packed with stickers on cling film wrapped boxes each spec-ifying whether it is vegetarian or non-vegetarian. The pack-ing was superior giving it a feel of executive class flight food packing. Impressive!

AFTER TASTEI ordered two starters: one

from Lucknow, the other from Punjab royal houses.

Inspired from the Nawabi cuisine of Lucknow, the Gil-awat, Rogani Roti consisted of grilled spicy finely ground lamb patty on a sweet saffron almond bread. The kebab just melted in the mouth and the almond bread was a beauti-

ful companion to the smooth Gilawat.

A starter speciality from Majithia in Amritsar, Pun-jab, the Murg Malai Majithia was cream cheese and spices marinated, tandoor roasted boneless chicken which went perfectly well with the fresh coriander chutney. The grill-ing was perfect - neither raw nor overcooked.

For the main course, I ordered one vegetarian item, one dal and one non-vegetar-ian dish.

From the Kachchh region of Gujarat, I had the crunchy Kachchi Haldi Phool in which the cauliflower had been

cooked with sliced young turmeric, spring onions and pickled ginger and had been finished with sundried pome-granate to give it a zing. Very flavourful!

The Shabdegh Dal Makhani was slow-cooked in spices with dollops of cream and butter and was just out of the world. I learnt that the dal is marinated in spices over-

night before being cooked. I can bet the dal leaves many upscale restaurants serving the same at thrice the price much behind.

The restaurant boasts of having taken the recipe of Rajwada Lal Mass Mathaniya from His Highness Shreeji, the King of Mewar itself. It con-sisted of braised lamb shanks and had a distinct flavour of Mathaniya chillies, yoghurt and cloves. Mathaniya chillies are not spicy but lend a dis-tinct bright red colour, which is why the mutton cooked with it is called Lal Mass.

For the sides, I tried one paratha and biryani.

I enjoyed the gravy main course preparations with the butter soaked Makhani Lac-cha Paratha which had been generously garnished with crushed dried fenugreek leaves.

The Riyasati Ghost Dum

Biryani was a pot steamed fla-vourful basmati rice prepara-tion layered with succulent garam masala infused lamb pieces, rose petals, saffron, cardamom and mace served with Burhani raita. Burhani raita consisted of finely chopped onion and cucumber in hung curd and the tartness of the raita which was more like sour cream cut through the heaviness of the Biryani.

I tried just one desert - Baked Yogurt.

A take on the classic bhapa doi, the baked yoghurt con-sisted of sweet yoghurt baked on a thin biscuit base served on a bed of blueberry com-pote and garnished with sliced almonds, pistachios, mango cubes and nankhatai biscuit crust. The presentation was heavenly, but I did not like the combination of mango and blueberry together. It was too sweet and could have been

more refined.

WHAT I LOVEDThe dishes had

a unique his-tory to them. Each dish was authen-tic and had a geographi-cal historical stamp on the flavour pro-file. The start-ers and Dal were beautiful.

VERDICTWell, the team of Anjan

Chatterjee has really worked hard on coming up with this marvel - Riyasat. Unlike many mall-based restaurants that are unable to maintain the oomph factor, Riyasat ticks all the boxes. The food is royal,

deli-cious

and made the authentic

way. For the love of royalty and the food associated with them, you must try it!

(The columnist is a food connoisseur who loves

experimenting with culinary delights and a

career bureaucrat in the IRS Income Tax)

Riyasat: Serving royalty on the platterAUTHOR

PRIYANKA DHAR KAPUR

The restaurant is located in the South City Mall, Prince Anwar Shah Road

One of their specialities, Shabdegh Dal Makhani, is slow-cooked in spices with dollops of cream and butter, and tastes divine

LOS ANGELES: Actor Johnny Depp, one of the most popular stars of Hollywood, says he feels he is being boy-cotted by the film industry as his latest movie ‘Minamata’ is yet to get a release in the United States.

In a recent interview with a leading newspaper, the actor detailed his recent legal situ-ation, life turmoil and acting career.

Depp, whose ex-wife Amber Heard has accused him of domestic violence, called his fall from Hollywood’s good graces an “absurdity of media mathematics.”

Some films touch people and this affects those in Mina-mata’ and people who expe-rience similar things, Depp said of the Andrew Levitas-directed movie, which features him as W Eugene Smith, an American photojournalist who helped expose the dev-astating impact of mercury poisoning on coastal com-munities in Japan in the 1970s.

“And for anything.... for Hollywood’s boycott of me? One man, one actor in an unpleasant and messy situa-tion, over the last number of years?” he added.

The interview marks the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ star’s

first media interaction after losing libel case against Brit-ish tabloid The Sun, which referred to the actor as a wife-beater in an article about him and ex-wife Heard.

Last year, the court ruled

that the publication proved the content of its article to be “sub-stantially true,” and the judge found that 12 of the 14 alleged incidents of domestic violence had occurred.

Following the court’s ver-dict, Depp, 58, exited his leading role in Warner Bros’ ‘Fantastic Beasts’ franchise, while MGM reportedly halted the US release of ‘Minamata’.

“(We) looked those people in the eyeballs and promised we would not be exploit-ative. That the film would be respectful. I believe that we’ve kept our end of the bargain, but those who came in later should also maintain theirs,” Depp said about the delay in the film’s release.

He added that he is mov-ing towards where I need to go to make all that to bring things to light. The actor, however, is also finding some support as the San Sebastian Film Fes-tival has stood by its decision to honour Depp with their top prize. PTI

Johnny Depp says Hollywood is

boycotting him

The actor, however, is also finding some support in the industry as the San Sebastian Film Festival has stood by its decision to honour Depp with their top prize 

‘Want to work on more Bollywood projects’

MUMBAI: Actor Vaani Kapoor says the greed to play “the most important and impactful” characters is never-ending, but she is try-ing to gradually build a film-ography that boasts of good projects.

The 32-year-old actor, who will next be seen in the spy thriller ‘Bellbottom’, said she is building her own path to success.

“Everyone is chart-ing their own course in the industry. You cannot copy somebody else’s career struc-ture, follow their path and get success... I picked the best from what came to me and out of that what works and what doesn’t is destiny,” Kapoor, who entered Bolly-wood in 2013 with ‘Shuddh

Desi Romance’, said in an interview.

She further said she has chosen to be part of those films in her

career that have given her a sense of contentment

You are not always lucky with films where everything is going to be 50:50 or your character is going to be the sole driving force of a film. It is never going to be like that. There will be certain films that will not be driven by your character.”

In the upcoming film based on true events and directed by Ranjit M Tewari, the actor plays the wife to Akshay Kumar PTI

Mannat Noor’s new single is titled ‘Mera Mahi’

Vaani, who will next be seen in the spy thriller ‘Bellbottom’, said she is building her own path to success

ALEN PAUL

Be it the India Rebellion of 1857 or the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947, Indian soldiers have never backed down

from the bloody face-to-face with their ene-mies to save the country. Indian history is replete with such stories of uncanny heroic deeds and acts of valour. To remember one such braveheart who fought for the coun-try selflessly, Ajay Devgn starrer ‘Bhuj: The Pride of India’ was released ahead of the 75th Independance Day.

Directed by Abhishek Dudhaiya, the 1 hour 53 minutes period war film is set during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. It tells the story of IAF Squadron Leader Vijay Karnik (played by Ajay Devgn) who rebuilds the IAF base at the Bhuj airport in

a single night with the help of 300 women from the local village Madhapar in Gujarat. The runaway was destroyed by the Paki-stani air troops.

Films on patriotism have been made time and again in India and it has always been a challenge for filmmakers to offer something unique in the genre- an element that could keep the audience glued to the screen while the story unfolds. Unfortu-nately, ‘Bhuj’ lacks any of it. A bloody and brutal war between India and Pakistan, sol-diers fighting till their last breath for their motherland – it’s all a cliché.

The film starts with true accounts of the horror of the 1971 Indo-Pak War that began with Operation Chengiz Khan’s aerial strikes on 11 Indian air stations. The inci-dent later led to the announcement of hos-tilities with Pakistan and India’s entry into the war for independence in East Pakistan on the side of Bengali nationalist forces.

The focus is then brought upon the fictionalised version of how Pakistan is hell-bent on crushing the will-power and dignity of Indian soldiers by destroying

the IAF base situated at the Bhuj airport, from where Ajay Devgn (as Vijay Karnik) jumps into action to destroy the Pakistani airships. Meanwhile, in a different Indian state, Flight Lieutenant Vikram Singh Baj Jethaaz (Ammy Virk) is busy fighting off a Pakistani airship.

To begin with, the way film’s focus was shifted between the two leads Ajay Devgn and Ammy Virk, it created head buzzing confusion for the viewers. Moreover, the story unfolded in a seemingly scattered manner, making it impossible for the audi-ence to get a grasp of the whole scenario. The first few scenes were all about heart-thumping bombing sounds and unneces-sary brave speeches by several supporting characters.

Amid all the mess, Nora Fatehi’s appear-ance as Indian spy Heena Rehman comes as a breath of fresh air for the watchers. Fatehi delivers some action-packed scenes in her five-minute sequence as she escapes the lion’s den. Only if the director had not thought of killing her character so soon, the film would have got few more interest-ing scenes.

Though ‘Bhuj’ is nothing close to an awe-inspiring masterpiece, it would not be wrong to admit how every scene of soldiers waiting for the enemies’ next unexpected move give few seconds of chills and thrills - especially the climax. Ajay Devgn’s intense performance with the support of Sanjay Dutt, Sonakshi Sinha, Sharad Kelkar and Ammy Virk saves it from falling flat at vari-ous instances. Among the cameos, casting Navni Parihar as former PM Indira Gan-dhi works well.

Despite the cliché theme and disorgan-ised film setting, ‘Bhuj: The Pride of India’ is a ride-or-die war drama that delivers a satisfying amount of entertainment while also making one teary-eyed towards the end with the martyrs sacrifice for our Bharat Mata and surviving heroes’ returning to their families.

A war drama with scattered vision

MOVIE OF THE WEEK

BHUJ: THE PRIDE OF INDIA

Cast: Ajay Devgn, Sonakshi Sinha, Ammy Virk, Nora FatehiDirection: KAbhishek Dudhaiya Rating:

Directed by Abhishek Dudhaiya, the 1 hour 53 minutes period war film is set during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971

‘Everyone is charting their course in the industry’

He called his fall from Hollywood’s good graces an ‘absurdity of media mathematics’