12
T o keep the national Capital’s “lungs” healthy in winter, the Delhi Cabinet on Friday approved the country’s first tree transplantation policy and will also install world’s second smog tower of 20 crore at Connaught Place. On Friday, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal approved the proposal in a Cabinet meet. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court-appointed Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority (EPCA) has announced measures under the very poor to severe category of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) to be enforced from October 15. Use of diesel generator sets in Delhi and other NCR towns of Ghaziabad, Noida, Greater Noida, Faridabad and Gurugram has been banned. Kejriwal said, “Our smog tower will suck the polluted air from above, and release the clean air from the bottom. The Delhi Cabinet has sanctioned 20 crore for the installation of this first-of-its-kind smog tower and we hope that the installation work will be com- pleted within the next 10 months.” “We are calling it a pilot project for now, and if it is suc- cessful, many more smog tow- ers will be installed across Delhi,” the CM said while briefing media. The first smog-tower in the world was set up in China.As per the Government policy, two smog-towers are being installed in Delhi, out of which one will be installed by the Central Government at Anand Vihar and the second by the Delhi Government at Cannaught Place. The technology used in the smog-tower installed by the Delhi Government is different from the one used by China. To monitor pollutants in CP, Delhi Pollution Control Committee ( DPCC) and Central Pollution Control Board’s ( CPCB’s) air monitor device is installed in Mandir Marg area. T he National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday named eight persons, including prominent activists Anand Teltumbde, Gautam Navlakha, Delhi University Associate Professor Hany Babu, Sagar Gorkhe, Ramesh Gaichor, Jyoti Jagtap, Stan Swamy and Maoist leader Milind Teltumbde, in a 10,000-page supplementary chargesheet under penal code and anti-terror laws into the 2018 violence in Maharashtra’s Bhima Koregaon. The federal agency had arrested 83-year-old Stan Swamy, a member of CPI (Maoist), on Thursday, from Ranchi. He was sent to jail till October 23 by a special court in Mumbai. “During investigation, it was revealed that senior lead- ers of CPI(Maoist), a pro- scribed terrorist organisation, were in contact with the organ- isers of Elgar Parishad as well as the accused arrested in the case so as to spread the ideol- ogy of Maoism/Naxalism and encourage unlawful activities,” the NIA said in a statement. “Through meticulous, sci- entific and detailed analysis of more than 10,000 pages of communications made by var- ious accused, reliable oral, doc- umentary and material evi- dence was brought on record. NIA’s investigation revealed that the tentacles of conspira- cy were not only spread throughout the country but also extended beyond India,” the NIA said. The incriminating docu- ments recovered from the accused include their discreet communications with other Maoist cadres regarding con- spiracy related to the violent incident of Bhima Koregaon. It also included various documents regarding mobili- sation against the Constitutionally-established Government by the Maoist cadres, information about movement of the security forces with an intention to cause heavy damage to the state. Discreet codes were used for secret communication amongst themselves to avoid detection by security forces, it said. T he Reserve Bank of India (RBI) left key interest rates unchanged on Friday but sig- nalled more easing ahead to support an economy that it sees contracting 9.5 per cent in the current fiscal. The six-member Monetary Policy Committee, with three newly inducted external mem- bers, voted unanimously to retain the benchmark repur- chase or repo rate at 4 per cent while keeping its policy stance accommodative, implying it could ease again. The accommodative stance and many liquidity boosting measures by the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) on Friday left economists divided over the scope of a rate cut this fiscal, with some expecting it in February while others ruling it out citing higher inflation. The RBI had slashed the repo rate by 115 basis points since late March to support growth. RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said the economic growth, which slumped to a negative 23.9 per cent in the April-June quarter, will turn positive only in the final January-March quarter. “By all indications, the deep contractions of Q1 2020- 21 (April-June) are behind us; silver linings are visible in the flattening of the active case load curve across the country,” he said. Barring the risk of a second wave of infections, the econo- my appeared poised to begin a recovery, he said, noting food grain production was set for record highs and factories and cities were coming back to life. With macro indicators pointing to a recovery, “GDP growth may break out of con- traction and turn positive by Q4 (January-March),” he said. “For the year 2020-21 as a whole, therefore, real GDP is expected to decline by 9.5 per cent, with risks tilted to the downside,” he said, adding that if the current momentum of upturn gains ground, a faster and stronger rebound is eminently feasible. A ghastly incident of a tem- ple priest having been burnt alive by a group of peo- ple over a land dispute in Rajasthan’s Karauli district, around 180 km from Jaipur, came to the fore on Friday. The accused allegedly threw petrol on the priest named Babulal Vaishnav and set him on fire on Wednesday as he had been trying to pre- vent them from encroaching temple land. According to the Karauli SP, Mridul Kachhawa, the main accused, identified as Kailash Meena, has been arrested, while search is on for other accused — Shankar, Namo, Ram Lakhan and Kishan. The injured 55-year-old priest was taken to the district hospital from where doctors sent him to SMS Hospital in a critical condition. He suc- cumbed to his injuries late on Thursday. The main accused has been arrested while search is on for four others. The video of the incident has gone viral on social media. The incident took place at Bukna village in Karauli district where Vaishnav was the priest of Radha Gopal temple. The priest had about 15 bighas of land which belonged to the Radha Krishna temple trust. The said land was given to the head priest to till as a source of income. The said land was registered in the revenue record as “Mandir Mafi land”, which is a land given to a priest who is the caretaker of the vil- lage temple to use it as a source of income. But this land became the source of a dispute. The priest had the land levelled as he wanted to build a plot for him- self close to the land. This was objected by the accused group. The matter was taken to the village panchayat which ruled in favour of the priest last week. The priest then placed bales of his newly har- vested millet on the land as a sign of ownership. However, despite the ruling, the accused also started construction on the plot. S ustaining the momentum of developing missiles against the backdrop of tension at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh, India on Friday suc- cessfully tested a new-genera- tion anti-radar missile (RUDRAM) by firing it from the front-line fighter jet SU-30. Mounted on fighter jets, these missiles can subvert enemy radar and other communica- tion systems. So far, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has test fired five dif- ferent systems of missiles for operational readiness in the past few weeks. These tests come at a time when China has deployed its long range missiles in the Tibet region forcing India to take counter measures. The missile shield close to the LAC now includes Brahmos supersonic missiles besides Nirbhay and Akash surface to air missiles. As regards the latest test conducted off Balasore, Odisha, India achieved a major mile- stone by successfully firing an indigenously designed and manufactured new generation Anti Radiation Missile (RUDRAM). The missile was success- fully flight tested onto a radi- ation target located on Wheeler Island off the coast of Odisha. The missile was launched from SU-30 MK1 fighter aircraft. The RUDRAM hit the radia- tion target with pin-point accu- racy, the DRDO said. The missile is integrated on SU-30 MK1 fighter aircraft as the launch platform, having capability of varying ranges based on launch conditions. It has Inertial Navigation System (INS)-Global Positioning System (GPS) navigation with Passive Homing Head (PHH) for the final attack. The missile is a potent weapon for the IAF for suppression of enemy air defence effectively from large stand-off ranges, it stated. The PHH can detect, clas- sify and engage targets over a wide band of frequencies as programmed. With this, the country has established indige- nous capability to develop long range air launched anti-radia- tion missiles for neutralising enemy radars, communication sites and other Radio Frequency (RF) emitting tar- gets, officials said. The missile has a launch speech of up to 2 Mach, twice the speed of sound. The fight- er jets can now fire these mis- siles from long distance crip- pling the enemy radar system and conduct its mission deep inside enemy zone. The high- ly potent weapon system can be launched from a height rang- ing from 700 metres to 16 km and can hit targets within a range of 250 to 300 km. Though relative calm pre- vails at the LAC now, the Indian security establishment is not taking any chances and the recent tests are an indication of its intent to maintain opera- tional readiness. The past few weeks saw the DRDO successfully test firing the 700 km range Shaurya missile. Capable of carrying 200 to 1,000 kg nuclear payload, it is the land version of subma- rine launched K-15 missile. Officials rate Shaurya as one of the top 10 missiles in the world in its class with its high performance navigation and guidance systems, efficient propulsion systems, sophisti- cated control technologies and canisterised launch. The missile can be launched from silos and canis- ters mounted on a truck and fixed on the ground, they said adding that it can be easily moved around. A truck itself can become a launching plat- form. Moreover, these missiles are difficult to be tracked by enemy satellites. Keeping up the tempo of tests, scientists some weeks back successfully tested Hypersonic Technology Demonstrator (HSTDV). The capability has now placed India the elite category of nations having this capability. The US, Russia and China are other countries having these capabil- ities. The HSTDV gives India the flexibility of developing missile travelling at speed three to four times more than sound. The indigenously designed and manufactured Brahmos supersonic cruise missile got a major boost after the success- ful test of its extended range system. Now, these missiles with most of its components manufactured within the coun- try can hit a target at more than 400 km. The other important test included the supersonic missile assisted release of tor- pedo that targets submarines. T he State’s Covid-19 toll surged to 991 after 17 more patients succumbed to the virus on Friday in 10 districts, the Health and Family Welfare Department said.Khordha dis- trict recorded four deaths fol- lowed by Baleswar with three, Mayurbhanj and Puri two each. One each died in Bargarh, Kalahandi, Kandhamal, Malkangiri, Nayagarh and Subarnapur. The Khordha deceased were a 75-year-old man and a 72-year-old man (both of Bhubaneswar), a 64-year-old man and a 50-year-old man.The casualties in Baleswar were a 55-year-old man, a 72- year-old woman and a 70-year- old man. The deaths in Mayurbhanj were of a 40-year- old man and a 53-year-old man. The fatalities in Puri were a 90-year-old man and an 80- year-old woman. The other deceased were a 53-year-old man of Bargarh, a 70-year-old man of Kalahandi, a 51-year- old man of Kandhamal, an 80- year-old of Nayagarh, a 40-year- old man of Malkangiri and a 67-year-old man of Subarnapur. Meanwhile, the number of positive cases in the State rose to 2,40,998 with 2,697 new cases recorded from all 30 dis- tricts and the State pool on the day.Of the new cases, 1,576 were detected from quarantine and 1,121 were local contacts. Khordha recorded highest 482 cases followed by Cuttack 234, Nuapada 153, Mayurbhanj 134, Sundargarh 120, Jajpur 118, Baleswar 115, Angul 107, Sambalpur 107, Bargarh 86, Jharsuguda 77, Keonjhar 75, Kendrapada and Subarnapur 69 each, Bhadrak 66, Jagatsinghpur 65, Puri 64, Balangir 62, Nawarangpur 51, Dhenkanal, Ganjam, Koraput and Kalahandi 45 each, Malkangiri 40, Nayagarh 38, Kandhamal 34, Boudh 31, Deogarh 15, Gajapati eight and Rayagada three. Besides, 94 positive cases were detected from the State pool.With 45,169 Covid tests done during the period, the cumulative tests rose to 36, 64,678.However, another 3,404 persons recovered on the day, taking the total recoveries to 2, 20,388. O disha has not seen any development and has lacked democratic values dur- ing the last 21 years of the BJD Government, alleged Congress in-charge for Odisha Dr A Chellakumar here on Friday. He was addressing a Press conference here for the first time after being appointed Odisha in-charge. “Forget about MLAs and elected panchayat representa- tives, even Cabinet Ministers are not being able to meet Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. People have elected leaders to have their say through them before the Government. But they are not able meet the head of the Government. This is a mockery of democracy,” alleged Chellakumar. He said, “Whatever development Odisha has seen, it had all hap- pened during the Congress tenure. Eight big industries, including Rourkela Steel Plant and Nalco and three ports, including Paratip Port, had come up during Congress rule. Odisha had seen rapid devel- opment in irrigation, tourism and hotel sectors during the JB Patnaik Government. To a question has to why Congress has seen defeats in successive elections, Chellakumar said, “The BJP and the BJD have mastered political marketing. The Congress believes in work. We will go to people and remind them about develop- ment progrmmes undertaken the Congress regime. Regarding party organistion, he said student, youth and women committees from block to State levels would be restructured during a month’s time. He said names of candidates for Baleswar Sadar and Tirtol Assembly by-polls would be declared soon. He claimed that the Congress would see remarkable development in three months and form Government in the State in 2024.Regarding change of PCC president, he said, “There is need to change work style only. The Congress has all strengths.”He slammed the BJD for supporting the firm Bills in Lok Sabha and opposing them in Rajya Sabha. He said the BJD and the BJP are two sides of a coin. Congress Legislature Party Leader Narasingha Mishra slammed the State Government for remaining silent over fire mishap near Raj Bhavan. “It is not clear who many people have lost life due to the mishap. The State Government should have filed a criminal case, But it is disappointing that the Government has sit silent,” said Narasingha.PCC presi- dent Niranjan Patnaik and working president Pradeep Majhi were present. W ith 316 more persons test- ing positive for Covid-19 on Friday, total number of infected persons in capital city Bhubaneswar surged to 24,853, out of which 3,507 were active cases. Out of new cases, 232 were local contacts and 84 quarantine cases linked with earlier positive cases, Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) said.The local contacts included 15 in Baramunda, 12 each in Patia and Nayapalli, 10 in Dumduma, nine in BJB Nagar, eight each in Khandagiri. Continued on P2

ˇˆ · 1 day ago  · is the land version of subma-rine launched K-15 missile. Officials rate Shaurya as one of the top 10 missiles in the world in its class with its high performance

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Page 1: ˇˆ · 1 day ago  · is the land version of subma-rine launched K-15 missile. Officials rate Shaurya as one of the top 10 missiles in the world in its class with its high performance

������������ ��������

To keep the national Capital’s“lungs” healthy in winter,

the Delhi Cabinet on Fridayapproved the country’s firsttree transplantation policy andwill also install world’s secondsmog tower of �20 crore atConnaught Place.

On Friday, Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal approved theproposal in a Cabinet meet.

Meanwhile, the SupremeCourt-appointed EnvironmentPollution (Prevention andControl) Authority (EPCA)has announced measures underthe very poor to severe categoryof the Graded Response ActionPlan (GRAP) to be enforcedfrom October 15.

Use of diesel generator setsin Delhi and other NCR townsof Ghaziabad, Noida, GreaterNoida, Faridabad andGurugram has been banned.

Kejriwal said, “Our smogtower will suck the polluted airfrom above, and release theclean air from the bottom. TheDelhi Cabinet has sanctioned�20 crore for the installation of

this first-of-its-kind smogtower and we hope that theinstallation work will be com-pleted within the next 10months.”

“We are calling it a pilotproject for now, and if it is suc-cessful, many more smog tow-ers will be installed acrossDelhi,” the CM said whilebriefing media.

The first smog-tower in theworld was set up in China.Asper the Government policy,two smog-towers are beinginstalled in Delhi, out of which

one will be installed by theCentral Government at AnandVihar and the second by theDelhi Government atCannaught Place.

The technology used inthe smog-tower installed by theDelhi Government is differentfrom the one used by China.

To monitor pollutants inCP, Delhi Pollution ControlCommittee ( DPCC) andCentral Pollution ControlBoard’s ( CPCB’s) air monitordevice is installed in MandirMarg area.

����� ��������

The National InvestigationAgency (NIA) on Friday

named eight persons, includingprominent activists AnandTeltumbde, Gautam Navlakha,Delhi University AssociateProfessor Hany Babu, SagarGorkhe, Ramesh Gaichor, JyotiJagtap, Stan Swamy and Maoistleader Milind Teltumbde, in a10,000-page supplementarychargesheet under penal codeand anti-terror laws into the2018 violence in Maharashtra’sBhima Koregaon.

The federal agency hadarrested 83-year-old StanSwamy, a member of CPI(Maoist), on Thursday, fromRanchi. He was sent to jail tillOctober 23 by a special courtin Mumbai.

“During investigation, itwas revealed that senior lead-ers of CPI(Maoist), a pro-scribed terrorist organisation,were in contact with the organ-isers of Elgar Parishad as wellas the accused arrested in the

case so as to spread the ideol-ogy of Maoism/Naxalism andencourage unlawful activities,”the NIA said in a statement.

“Through meticulous, sci-entific and detailed analysis ofmore than 10,000 pages ofcommunications made by var-ious accused, reliable oral, doc-umentary and material evi-dence was brought on record.NIA’s investigation revealedthat the tentacles of conspira-cy were not only spreadthroughout the country butalso extended beyond India,”the NIA said.

The incriminating docu-ments recovered from the

accused include their discreetcommunications with otherMaoist cadres regarding con-spiracy related to the violentincident of Bhima Koregaon.

It also included variousdocuments regarding mobili-sation against theConstitutionally-establishedGovernment by the Maoistcadres, information aboutmovement of the securityforces with an intention tocause heavy damage to thestate. Discreet codes were usedfor secret communicationamongst themselves to avoid detection by securityforces, it said.

���� ��

The Reserve Bank of India(RBI) left key interest rates

unchanged on Friday but sig-nalled more easing ahead tosupport an economy that it seescontracting 9.5 per cent in thecurrent fiscal.

The six-member MonetaryPolicy Committee, with threenewly inducted external mem-bers, voted unanimously toretain the benchmark repur-chase or repo rate at 4 per centwhile keeping its policy stanceaccommodative, implying itcould ease again.

The accommodative stanceand many liquidity boostingmeasures by the MonetaryPolicy Committee (MPC) onFriday left economists dividedover the scope of a rate cut thisfiscal, with some expecting it inFebruary while others ruling itout citing higher inflation.

The RBI had slashed therepo rate by 115 basis points

since late March to supportgrowth.

RBI Governor ShaktikantaDas said the economic growth,which slumped to a negative23.9 per cent in the April-Junequarter, will turn positive onlyin the final January-Marchquarter.

“By all indications, thedeep contractions of Q1 2020-21 (April-June) are behind us;silver linings are visible in theflattening of the active case loadcurve across the country,” hesaid.

Barring the risk of a secondwave of infections, the econo-my appeared poised to begin arecovery, he said, noting foodgrain production was set forrecord highs and factories andcities were coming back to life.

With macro indicatorspointing to a recovery, “GDPgrowth may break out of con-traction and turn positive by Q4(January-March),” he said. “Forthe year 2020-21 as a whole,therefore, real GDP is expectedto decline by 9.5 per cent, withrisks tilted to the downside,” hesaid, adding that if the currentmomentum of upturn gainsground, a faster and strongerrebound is eminently feasible.

����� ��������

Aghastly incident of a tem-ple priest having been

burnt alive by a group of peo-ple over a land dispute inRajasthan’s Karauli district,around 180 km from Jaipur,came to the fore on Friday.

The accused allegedlythrew petrol on the priestnamed Babulal Vaishnav andset him on fire on Wednesdayas he had been trying to pre-vent them from encroachingtemple land.

According to the KarauliSP, Mridul Kachhawa, the mainaccused, identified as KailashMeena, has been arrested, whilesearch is on for other accused— Shankar, Namo, Ram

Lakhan and Kishan.The injured 55-year-old

priest was taken to the districthospital from where doctorssent him to SMS Hospital in acritical condition. He suc-cumbed to his injuries late onThursday. The main accusedhas been arrested while searchis on for four others. The videoof the incident has gone viralon social media.

The incident took place atBukna village in Karauli districtwhere Vaishnav was the priestof Radha Gopal temple.

The priest had about 15bighas of land which belongedto the Radha Krishna templetrust. The said land was givento the head priest to till as asource of income. The said land

was registered in the revenuerecord as “Mandir Mafi land”,which is a land given to a priestwho is the caretaker of the vil-lage temple to use it as a sourceof income.

But this land became thesource of a dispute. The priesthad the land levelled as hewanted to build a plot for him-self close to the land. This wasobjected by the accused group.

The matter was taken tothe village panchayat whichruled in favour of the priestlast week. The priest thenplaced bales of his newly har-vested millet on the land as asign of ownership. However,despite the ruling, the accusedalso started construction onthe plot.

����� ��������

Sustaining the momentum ofdeveloping missiles against

the backdrop of tension at theLine of Actual Control (LAC)in Ladakh, India on Friday suc-cessfully tested a new-genera-tion anti-radar missile(RUDRAM) by firing it fromthe front-line fighter jet SU-30.Mounted on fighter jets, thesemissiles can subvert enemyradar and other communica-tion systems. So far, theDefence Research andDevelopment Organisation(DRDO) has test fired five dif-ferent systems of missiles foroperational readiness in thepast few weeks.

These tests come at a timewhen China has deployed itslong range missiles in the Tibetregion forcing India to takecounter measures. The missileshield close to the LAC nowincludes Brahmos supersonicmissiles besides Nirbhay andAkash surface to air missiles.

As regards the latest testconducted off Balasore, Odisha,India achieved a major mile-stone by successfully firing anindigenously designed andmanufactured new generationAnti Radiation Missile(RUDRAM).

The missile was success-fully flight tested onto a radi-ation target located on Wheeler

Island off the coast of Odisha.The missile was launched fromSU-30 MK1 fighter aircraft.The RUDRAM hit the radia-tion target with pin-point accu-racy, the DRDO said.

The missile is integrated onSU-30 MK1 fighter aircraft asthe launch platform, havingcapability of varying rangesbased on launch conditions. Ithas Inertial Navigation System(INS)-Global PositioningSystem (GPS) navigation withPassive Homing Head (PHH)for the final attack. The missileis a potent weapon for the IAFfor suppression of enemy airdefence effectively from largestand-off ranges, it stated.

The PHH can detect, clas-

sify and engage targets over awide band of frequencies asprogrammed. With this, thecountry has established indige-nous capability to develop longrange air launched anti-radia-tion missiles for neutralisingenemy radars, communicationsites and other RadioFrequency (RF) emitting tar-gets, officials said.

The missile has a launchspeech of up to 2 Mach, twicethe speed of sound. The fight-er jets can now fire these mis-siles from long distance crip-pling the enemy radar systemand conduct its mission deepinside enemy zone. The high-ly potent weapon system can belaunched from a height rang-

ing from 700 metres to 16 kmand can hit targets within arange of 250 to 300 km.

Though relative calm pre-vails at the LAC now, theIndian security establishment isnot taking any chances and therecent tests are an indication ofits intent to maintain opera-tional readiness.

The past few weeks saw theDRDO successfully test firingthe 700 km range Shauryamissile. Capable of carrying 200to 1,000 kg nuclear payload, itis the land version of subma-rine launched K-15 missile.

Officials rate Shaurya asone of the top 10 missiles in theworld in its class with its highperformance navigation and

guidance systems, efficientpropulsion systems, sophisti-cated control technologies andcanisterised launch.

The missile can belaunched from silos and canis-ters mounted on a truck andfixed on the ground, they saidadding that it can be easilymoved around. A truck itselfcan become a launching plat-form. Moreover, these missilesare difficult to be tracked byenemy satellites.

Keeping up the tempo oftests, scientists some weeksback successfully testedHypersonic TechnologyDemonstrator (HSTDV). Thecapability has now placed Indiathe elite category of nationshaving this capability. The US,Russia and China are othercountries having these capabil-ities. The HSTDV gives Indiathe flexibility of developingmissile travelling at speed threeto four times more than sound.

The indigenously designedand manufactured Brahmossupersonic cruise missile got amajor boost after the success-ful test of its extended rangesystem. Now, these missileswith most of its componentsmanufactured within the coun-try can hit a target at more than400 km. The other importanttest included the supersonicmissile assisted release of tor-pedo that targets submarines.

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The State’s Covid-19 tollsurged to 991 after 17 more

patients succumbed to thevirus on Friday in 10 districts,the Health and Family WelfareDepartment said.Khordha dis-trict recorded four deaths fol-lowed by Baleswar with three,Mayurbhanj and Puri two each.One each died in Bargarh,Kalahandi, Kandhamal,Malkangiri, Nayagarh andSubarnapur.

The Khordha deceasedwere a 75-year-old man and a72-year-old man (both of

Bhubaneswar), a 64-year-oldman and a 50-year-oldman.The casualties in Baleswarwere a 55-year-old man, a 72-year-old woman and a 70-year-old man. The deaths inMayurbhanj were of a 40-year-old man and a 53-year-oldman. The fatalities in Puri werea 90-year-old man and an 80-year-old woman. The otherdeceased were a 53-year-oldman of Bargarh, a 70-year-oldman of Kalahandi, a 51-year-old man of Kandhamal, an 80-year-old of Nayagarh, a 40-year-old man of Malkangiri and a67-year-old man of Subarnapur.

Meanwhile, the number ofpositive cases in the State roseto 2,40,998 with 2,697 newcases recorded from all 30 dis-tricts and the State pool on theday.Of the new cases, 1,576were detected from quarantineand 1,121 were local contacts.

Khordha recorded highest 482cases followed by Cuttack 234,Nuapada 153, Mayurbhanj 134,Sundargarh 120, Jajpur 118,Baleswar 115, Angul 107,Sambalpur 107, Bargarh 86,Jharsuguda 77, Keonjhar 75,Kendrapada and Subarnapur69 each, Bhadrak 66,Jagatsinghpur 65, Puri 64,Balangir 62, Nawarangpur 51,Dhenkanal, Ganjam, Koraputand Kalahandi 45 each,Malkangiri 40, Nayagarh 38,Kandhamal 34, Boudh 31,Deogarh 15, Gajapati eightand Rayagada three.

Besides, 94 positive caseswere detected from the Statepool.With 45,169 Covid testsdone during the period, thecumulative tests rose to 36,64,678.However, another 3,404persons recovered on the day,taking the total recoveries to 2,20,388.

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Odisha has not seen anydevelopment and has

lacked democratic values dur-ing the last 21 years of the BJDGovernment, alleged Congressin-charge for Odisha Dr AChellakumar here on Friday.

He was addressing a Pressconference here for the firsttime after being appointedOdisha in-charge.

“Forget about MLAs andelected panchayat representa-tives, even Cabinet Ministersare not being able to meet ChiefMinister Naveen Patnaik.People have elected leaders tohave their say through thembefore the Government. Butthey are not able meet the headof the Government. This is amockery of democracy,” alleged

Chellakumar. He said,“Whatever developmentOdisha has seen, it had all hap-pened during the Congresstenure. Eight big industries,including Rourkela Steel Plantand Nalco and three ports,including Paratip Port, hadcome up during Congress rule.Odisha had seen rapid devel-opment in irrigation, tourismand hotel sectors during the JBPatnaik Government.

To a question has to whyCongress has seen defeats insuccessive elections,Chellakumar said, “The BJPand the BJD have masteredpolitical marketing.

The Congress believes inwork. We will go to people andremind them about develop-ment progrmmes undertakenthe Congress regime.Regarding party organistion, hesaid student, youth and womencommittees from block to Statelevels would be restructured

during a month’s time. He saidnames of candidates forBaleswar Sadar and TirtolAssembly by-polls would bedeclared soon.

He claimed that theCongress would see remarkabledevelopment in three monthsand form Government in theState in 2024.Regarding changeof PCC president, he said,“There is need to change workstyle only. The Congress has allstrengths.”He slammed the BJDfor supporting the firm Bills inLok Sabha and opposing themin Rajya Sabha. He said the BJD

and the BJP are two sides of acoin. Congress LegislatureParty Leader NarasinghaMishra slammed the StateGovernment for remainingsilent over fire mishap near RajBhavan.

“It is not clear who manypeople have lost life due to themishap. The State Governmentshould have filed a criminalcase, But it is disappointing thatthe Government has sit silent,”said Narasingha.PCC presi-dent Niranjan Patnaik andworking president PradeepMajhi were present.

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With 316 more persons test-ing positive for Covid-19

on Friday, total number ofinfected persons in capital cityBhubaneswar surged to 24,853,out of which 3,507 were activecases. Out of new cases, 232 werelocal contacts and 84 quarantinecases linked with earlier positivecases, Bhubaneswar MunicipalCorporation (BMC) said.Thelocal contacts included 15 inBaramunda, 12 each in Patia andNayapalli, 10 in Dumduma,nine in BJB Nagar, eight each inKhandagiri.

Continued on P2

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Across the world, peopleare facing situations and

scenarios they have neverencountered before. TheCovid-19 pandemic is forcingus to make sudden, drasticshifts to keep ourselves and ourcommunities healthy and safe.Even in these uncertain times,there are signs of optimism.

People from all corners of theglobe are carrying out selflessacts in these times of distress.

We are also doing our bitto map, measure and mitigatethe sufferings caused due to thepandemic, especially for thedisadvantaged and poorbecause we believe that it is thatstrata of society that suffers themost in case of any calamity,financial depression, epidemicor a pandemic.

It is estimated that thepandemic could push 150 mil-lion into extreme poverty inIndia and the numbers arefrightening.

Several media reports havemirrored light on the rampantphysical and sexual violencefaced by India's 80 millionlower-class women, who liketheir male counterparts fade atthe bottom of the country'sunrelenting caste and com-munal hierarchy. These womenface a "triple load" of genderprejudice, caste discriminationand financial deprivation. With

a pandemic which has nowbeen upending lives for the lastsix months with no end insight, the number of people atthe margins who are sufferingis increasing.

To help the vulnerable,KIIT and KISS has come for-ward to adopt around 100orphan children and vowed tohelp them out. It is importantto mention here that most ofthe adopted children are girls.

A complete assistanceincluding short-term and long-term intervention is being pro-vided to them.

While the short-term helpincludes a provision of Rs5,000-10,000 each for suste-nance, the long-term helpincludes free-of-cost educa-tion at KISS so that they cansecure a decent job and liveli-hood. Instead of a one-time aid,a complete assistance pro-gramme such as ours can makea real impact in the lives of thevulnerable sections of society.

I feel I understand the

helplessness, turmoil and hard-ships of living in poverty andhumiliation because I havefaced similar circumstances.My bitter learning experiencesmake me empathise with theconditions of the unprivilegedwho can be helped by access toeducation and employment.

Backed by such experi-ences, I extend a helping handto people in distress, especial-ly the children, by reaching outto them and helping themwithout any delay.

I am enraged by theHathras and Balrampur gang-rape cases and condemn suchbrutal acts and feel satisfied thatthe girls we adopt will have asafe and a secure life becausewe understand how difficult itis for girls with limited or noresources to lead a life of dig-nity.

From the many instancesof help to the needy, the KISSFoundation has come to therescue of three hapless orphansiblings of Bhogibandha village

in Ganjam district who losttheir mother and father inAugust and September, respec-tively.

On obtaining informationregarding the plight of thesetribal children from the media,we decided to provide Rs 3,000per month to each of them tomeet their expenses. We alsoassured complete education tothese children at KISS when it

reopens after the pandemic. Infact, KIIT and KISS are the onlyeducational institutions in theworld that have promised freeprofessional education for thechildren of the deceasedthrough Covid-19; and fifteenstudents have taken admis-sion so far. This announcementis valid till the next year; andwe hope to provide hope tothose children who have lost

their loved ones.Quality edu-cation has the power to ame-liorate all sufferings from thelife of a poor child and securi-ty of food and shelter ensuresthat the benefit of education isreaped.

Our intervention is at theintersection of food security,safe living with dignity andaccess to quality education freeof cost - much like our timelyhelp to Rahul Mahat.

I can never see a talentedand meritorious student optingto discontinue his/her educa-tion due to financial con-straints.

The KISS Foundation haspromised to aid the kid whosecured 87% marks in +2exams but took to sellingGupchup to manage his fami-ly expenses. He has been givenadmission in the KIITUniversity.

At KIIT, Rahul will haveaccess to the best quality edu-cation in MechanicalEngineering free of cost and

will pursue a career of hischoice. We also gave him a lap-top for online classes and finan-cial help of Rs 10,000 for hissustenance now and monthly afinancial assistance to Rahul’sfamily for the years. He will bestudying at KIIT.

KIIT and KISS, withoutany hesitation and delay reachout to the unreached and helpthem emerge out of the suffer-ings. We believe in assessing thesituation, identifying the needyand do everything in ourcapacity to bring a glimmer ofhope in their lives.

A complete 360-degreeapproach is far more efficientand effective than onetimedole or charity that tramplestheir dignity. We help the vul-nerable, believe in their capac-ity to move ahead to preventthe next generation from suf-fering the way we did.

(The writer is MP,Kandhamal, and founder KIIT& KISS)

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Violation of Covid-19 guide-lines during Bhubaneswar

BJP MP Aparajita Sarangi’sbirthday celebration onThursday has drawn criticismfrom various quarters.

State Minister of State forHome Dibya Shankar Mishrahas written to Union Ministerof State (Home) NityanandRai objecting to Sarangi’s act.

Enclosing videos of thecelebration with the letter,Mishra said the clips clearlyshow the MP being surround-ed by hundreds of women who(except one) are neither wear-ing masks nor maintainingsocial distance and indulging insong and dance with utter dis-regard to the Covid guidelinesissued under the NationalDisaster Management Act.

“I would not have broughtthis to your notice had thisbeen the first occasion wherethe Honourable MP has bla-

tantly violated Covid guide-lines. In addition to repeatedadvisories, warnings and book-ing of at least three casesagainst Honourable MP forviolation of Covid guidelines,there is no improvement inbehaviour,” Mishra’s letter stat-ed.

“Such irresponsible behav-iour on the part of a people’srepresentative will de-moti-vate the Covid warriors and isan insult to all those who have

lost their lives. And it also sendsa completely contradictorymessage to the people at largeespecially in the light of theHonourable Prime Minister’srepeated messages and hisappeal yesterday,” the letteradded.

Mishra hoped Rai’s officewould bring the matter to thenotice of the Prime Ministerand Home Minister and advisethe MP not to endanger lives ofpeople of Bhubaneswar.

����� ���� ��/� +

Kendrapada BJD MP andOllywood actor Anubhav

Mohanty has filed a criminalcomplaint in a court in Delhiagainst Odisha Television(OTV) and its managing direc-tor Jagi Mangat Panda andnews editor RadhamadhabMishra accusing them of tar-nishing his image by telecast-ing and publishing fake newsabout him.

Mohanty has alleged thatthe accused have intentionallyand knowingly insulted,defamed and humiliated himby circulating, telecasting, writ-ing, publishing and sharingfalse stories, articles and videosabout him.

“The accused in con-nivance with each other with illmotive, malafide intentionsand to gain the political bene-fits out of fake propaganda haveharmed the reputation, good

will and respect of the com-plainant,” Mohanty has stated.

He has requested the courtthrough his counsel AshwaniKumar Dubey to take cogni-sance of the case, issue sum-mons, undertake trial and pun-ish the accused and issue direc-tions to lodge an FIR againstthe accused persons.

����� ���� ��/� +

The Election Commission ofIndia (ECI) on Friday

issued notification for the by-elections to Tirtol and BaleswarSadar Assembly constituenciesscheduled to be held onNovember 3. The process forfiling of nomination papersbegan on Friday itself.

The last date for filing ofnominations is October 16.The nomination papers will bescrutinised on October 17.The last date for withdrawal ofcandidature is October 19.

The polling would be heldfrom 7 am to 6 pm onNovember 3 while counting ofvotes would take place onNovember 10, State ChiefElectoral Officer SK Lohaniinformed.For the first time, thevoting time has been increasedby an hour to enable physical-ly-challenged and Covid-affect-ed persons to exercise theirfranchise.The election will becompleted by November 12.

����4�3���������� ��/� +�

The State Government in abid to implement 5T in the

Works Department andstreamline the department’sfunctioning had appointed anIAS Officer instead of an engi-neer as the Works Secretary.

But sadly, there have beenno major achievements by theSecretary in his tenure. Thedepartment Minister has norole to play in the depart-ment’s functioning and there isno coordination with theSecretary.

Rather some contractors,who are beating the drum thatthey are close to the WorksDepartment Engineer-in-Chief have continued tounscrupulously squeeze illegalprofits at public expense while

relaying roads, repair and patchof roads, putting up of signagesand undertaking roadsidepaintings.It is alleged that inef-ficient and corrupt engineersare holding key posts, takingadvantage of it dubious con-tractors are siphoning crores ofrupees.

Take for the example ofDivision-3.The departmenthad floated a tender for con-struction of a drain from theHDFC Bank in Nayapalli to theWorld Square (via PowerHouse Square). And the pro-ject cost was Rs 2.722 crore. Asper the tender specifications abox wall was to be construct-ed. However, OPTCL had ear-lier constructed a wall on oneside of the road only finishingwork was done on the otherside but the contractor claimedthat he had constructed walls

on both the sides and claimedthe bill accordingly. To makematters worse the corrupt offi-cials have turned a blind eye tocontractor’s violations forallegedly receiving a cut whencontractor would cash the bills

Besides, most of the roadsthat were constructed in theJaydev Vihar area have devel-oped potholes after a few daysof their completion. The unrav-elled roads within days of theirconstruction a jeopardisingpublic safety.

But due to lack of qualityassurance, fixing of account-ability and the corrupt engi-neers alleged connivance withcontractors has cost the Statecrores of rupees.The intelli-gentsia has demanded aVigilance probe into the mas-sive corruption in departmentwhich has spread like cancer.

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An auto-rickshaw driver wasdetained by locals in

Barang on Friday for allegedlykidnapping and attempting torape a girl, who was on her wayfrom Kendrapada district toBhubaneswar.

As per preliminary reports,the vivtim was to appear anexamination at Bhubaneswar.She reportedly got down froma bus at Link Road and took asharing auto-rickshaw to herdestination in Bhubaneswar.

There were two morewomen co-passengers in theauto who got down after awhile. Finding the girl alone invehicle, driver allegedly droveauto to a secluded place nearGovindpur under Godisahipolice post. It is alleged thatdriver allegedly tried to rapeher.Sources said, a group oflocals rushed to rescue of girlafter hearing her cries.

�/��� ���� ��/� +�

The Commissionerate policeon Friday arrested five

more persons accused in theOctober 5 murder of the sweetstall owner of Samantrapur inthe city.

The arrests were made aday after prime accused RajKumar Behera surrendered inthe Bhubaneswar SDJMCourt.The five accused wereidentified as Dillip KumarBehera (45), Balaram Behera

(74), Sasmita Behera, residentsof Shishupalgarh area inKhordha district, Biswajit Barik(26) of Jarakani in Puri districtand Rashmi Ranjan Barik (25)of Bhimatangi in the city.

“ All the accused includingparents and grandfather of theprime accused were producedbefore the court today.

Biswajit and Rashmi areliable for harbouring theaccused,” said police. “Theconspirator behind the murder,Raj Kumar Behera.

����� ���� ��/� +

With a fresh low pressureover north Andaman Sea

and adjoining east-central Bayof Bengal set to intensify intoa depression in the next fewhours, the Regional Office ofthe IMD here on Friday issuedheavy rainfall warning for sev-eral parts of the State.

The low pressure system islikely to concentrate into adepression over central Bay of

Bengal by Saturday and likelyto move west-northwestwardsand cross north AndhraPradesh coast as a depressionon October 12.Under itsimpact, light to moderate rainor thundershower is likely tooccur at isolated places overmany districts for next two tothree days.Light to moderaterain or thundershower are alsolikely to occur at most placesover districts of south coastalOdisha, south interior.

����� ���� ��/� +

The Bhubaneswar SDJMCourt here held a midnight

hearing on Thursday night todecide whether an ArmyMajor, accused of dowry tor-ture by his wife, would be sentto the Jharpada jail here orArmy custody.As the hearing

could not be held throughvideoconferencing, the judgevisited the SDJM Court at 10pm and the hearing continuedtill 1.30 am and the judge pro-nounced that accused SoumyaRanjan Pati would be lodged inArmy custody.

Earlier, the Mahila policehere had arrested Pati, a res-

ident of Nayapalli, who wasalso accused of attempting tomurder his wife. The womanalleged that her husband wasdemanding lakhs of rupees asdowry.

�/��� ���� ��/� +�

Former DG of Fire Services& Home Guards John

Nayak succumbed to Covid-19at a hospital here on Thursdaynight, informed DGP Abhay ina tweet on Friday.

After his retirement, 1965-batch Odisha-cadre retired IPSofficer Nayak was associatedwith several organisationsengaged in social service.

����� ���� ��/� +

The State Level SingleWindow Clearance

Authority (SLSWCA) on Fridayapproved as many as five indus-trial projects worth Rs 1,851.96crore. The projects would pro-vide jobs to more than 1,624 peo-ple.Among approved projects,Narbheram Power would setup a 2-MTPA pellet and grind-ing plant at an investment of Rs350 crore at Joda in Keonjhar dis-trict.The Viraj Steel & Energywould expand its existing 0.1MTPA Integrated Steel Plant toa 0.3 MTPA capacity at aninvestment of Rs 261.71 crore.

The BR Sponge and PowerLimited would expand itsTumkela project by setting up0.21 MTPA sponge iron, 1MTPA iron ore beneficiation, 0.6MTPA pellet, 0.112 MTPA MSBillets, 0.112 MTPATMT, 50TPH coal washery and 24 MWcaptive power plant.

The Nu Vista LimitedCement grinding capacity wouldbe expanded from from 1.5MTPA to 2 MTPA in KalingaNagar, Jajpur at an investment ofRs 598.62 crore. The OCL Indiawould set up a cement grindingunit of 2.5 MTPA capacity atBiswali in Cuttack at Rs 441.43crore.

����� ���� ��/� +

The Commissionerate policehave decided to divert traf-

fic at Khandagiri Chhak hereduring night hours for con-struction of a grade separatorstructure on NH-16 by theNHAI.

The following traffic diver-sion shall be undertaken forconstruction of the grade sep-arator structure within twomonths from issue of the orderfrom 11 pm to 5 am subject tofulfilment of the conditions laiddown by the NHAI.Vehiclescoming from Khordha toBhubaneswar would be divert-ed before Kolathia Chhak on

the LHS towards RHS up toPrachi Hotels & Resort, wherethe vehicles would again enterthe LHS through the mediancut in front of Prachi Hotel justbefore the starting point ofBaramunda overbridge.

The entire service road onthe RHS (Khandagiri PS ser-vice road) starting from PrachiHotel to the median cut justbefore the Kolathia Chhakwould be barricaded into twoways to facilitate movement onboth sides. The vehicles fromBhubaneswar towards Khordhawould run on their normalroute.The vehicles fromJagamara towardsKhandagiri/Udayagiri Hills.

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The District CongressCommittee on Thursday

organised a party workers’meeting at Anakhia ahead ofthe Tirtol by-poll.

State party in-charge AChella Kumar, PCC presidentNiranjan Patnaik, MLAs SureshRoutray and Tara PrasadBahinipati, leaders ChiranjibBiswal, Pradeep Majhi andGaneswar Behera attended themeeting.

The meeting was held toseek views from party sympa-thisers for selecting a candidatefor the by-election.ChellaKumar spoke about the “mis-rules” of both Union and StateGovernments.

He urged party workers tobe united during the by-poll.Meanwhile, three of seniorCongress leaders have crossedover to BJD and BJP. The partyis facing dearth of a suitableaspirant for the by-poll.

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Activists of the BJPBhubaneswar district led

by its president Babu Singhstaged demonstrations at 35different places in the city inprotest against rise in electric-ity tariff for household con-sumers.

“The State Governmenthas increased electricity tarifffor four times in four years.

But it misled the StateAssembly informing that thetariff was increased once inseven years.

The recent rise has addedto the woes of people who havealready suffered financially dueto Covid-19. It is not at allacceptable,” said Singh

He demanded that theGovernment withdraw the tar-iff soon and the concernedMinister resign from the post.He also threatened that theparty would intensify stir ifdemands are not met soon

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It seems schools might reopensoon in the State if recent

directives issued to them aretaken into consideration.

The Government has askedschools to take up cleaningactivities of their campuses andother school infrastructureswhich is lying idle for last sixmonths. This was informed bySchool and Mass EducationMinister Samir Ranjan Dash.

All the District EducationOfficers (DEOs) have beeninstructed to ensure availabilityof teachers at their headquartersand pre-Covid-19 status shouldbe maintained in all education-

al institutions. Any deviationwould be viewed seriously,Minister said. The Governmenthas prepared an action plan forintensive and focused Covid-19campaign which would be rolledout very soon.

For successful implementa-tion of this campaign, partici-pation of all teachers is absolute-ly required so that IEC materi-als approved by Government canreach to students, parents andcommunity. The Governmenthas also approved Rs 31.81 crorein favour of 1,13,628 cook-cum-helpers in all 30 districts forrelease of honorarium for Julyand August at Rs 1,400 permonth.

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From Page 1 Satyanagar, seven each in

Acharya Vihar and Rasulgarh,six in Jagamara, five in Unit-1,four each in Sundarpada, Unit-8, Rudrapur and Laxmisagarand three in Pokhariput.Thequarantine cases included seveneach in Nayapalli andChandrasekharpur, six in

Palasuni, five in IRC Village,four each in Rasulgarh andUnit-9.Meanwhile, two morepatients succumbed to the dis-ease on the day, pushing thetotal toll to 111.

However, as many as 326patients also recovered in thecity on the day, taking the totalrecoveries to 21,214.

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An intense debate is hottingup over the causes of sharp

decline in Gross DomesticProduct (GDP) to the extent of23.9 per cent in the first quar-ter ( April-June) of FY 2020-21.While some experts attributethis to the structural problemswith the economy, others con-nect this to the onslaught of thepandemic-led lockdown.Based on the available data, thefirst group of experts argue that

the current crash in GDP datesback to pre-Covid-19 periodbeginning with 2016-17. Theeconomy witnessed decelerat-ing trend in real GDP growthfrom 8.2 per cent in 2016-17 to6.1 per cent in 2018-19 to 4.2per cent in 2019-20. Quarterlygrowth rates also reveal a con-sistent declining trend from 8.2percent in Q1 of FY 2018-19,to 5.00 per cent Q1 of 2019-20and subsequently to 3.1 percent in Q4 of FY 2019-20.

In contrast, the otherexpert group who attributes thepresent GDP collapse to Covid-19- led lockdown rely largelyon current reports of differentagencies including mediareports exhibiting massive lossin output and employment dueto shutting down of business-es and stifling people’s move-ment etc. In this context it maybe pointed out that as mea-sured by the OxfordGovernment Response, the

lockdown followed by India isconsidered the most stringentin the world.It is commonlyunderstood that the poor arethe hardest hit whenever someuntoward situation befalls onan economy. It may be natur-al calamities like drought andflood or business upturn anddownturn -inflation and reces-sion/ depression.

As such the present reces-sionary situation (the consis-tent and sharp decline in GDP) that has emerged in the econ-omy has impacted severely thepoor, the daily labouers, thefarmers, the lower middle classof the community. Sectors hav-ing higher incidence of labouremployment are severely hitduring the lockdown.

As per the available data,the construction sector is worsthit by the lockdown with -50.3per cent decline followed byhotels and transport (-47.0 percent), manufacturing ( -39.3

per cent ) and mining andquarrying ( -23.3 per cent).The services sectors are how-ever found less affected astheir negative growth ratesremain relatively low. In con-trast the farm sector whichhappens to be labour intensiveshows a positive growth per-formance of 3.4 per cent dur-ing the period. This impliesthat our rural economy is leastaffected by the lockdown. Assuch in reviving the economy,the farm sector can play a sig-nificant role provided no inter-ruption in the economic activ-ity in this sector takes place.

In view of the wide-rang-ing debate on the decliningGDP numbers, it is very muchimportant for us to know aboutthe composition of GDP andhow its various componentsbehave over time so as to havea better understanding of itspresent awful status. GDP is asum total of four values such as

private consumption, privateinvestment, Governmentexpenditures and net exports.Leaving the Governmentexpenditures, all the otherthree components denote thenon-Government part of theGDP of an economy.

What is observed overtime, leaving asideGovernment expenditure allthe three other components ofGDP have been showing poorgrowth performance. Sales ofall consumer products fromcars to biscuits have fallenresulting in imore or less a stallin investment in these sectors.Exports are barely growingover the last few years.

There is a limit to theextent Government expendi-ture can drive the economy. Inthe present situation when thetax collections have starteddeclining, the Governmentshould address the slowdownbeyond growth stimulating

spending. At this juncture arevival cannot be expected fol-lowing the usual Keynesianway of raising Governmentexpenditure.Since the presentcrash in GDP can be attributedlargely to structural reasonswith Covid-19 led lockdownheightening the crisis, there isa need for taking some boldreform measures to remove theimpediments blocking the eco-nomic growth.

As it is seen, our agricul-ture sector continues to sufferfrom low productivity, lowgeneration of income andputting farmers in a regulardebt trap. The sector needs astructural reform.

As it is learnt agriculturehad remained outside the eco-nomic reforms initiated in1992. It is now high time totake bold decision to free agri-culture sector from theGovernment regulations. Nodoubt in recent years some pol-

icy changes have been adopted. But they are largely piece-

meal approach to tide oversome immediate issues andhence are not helpful in thecontext of long-term sustain-able growth of the sector.Following the model adoptedby the East Asian countries like,Japan, China, South Korea, thesmall farms need to be madecompetitive in India.

Besides, in the bankingsector the economy faces aserious roadblock to develop-ment. Our public sector banks(PSBs) are burdened with mas-sive NPAs and crippled byscarcity of capital. Their sharein total loans advanced in thecountry has fallen.

What is a concern is theshare of PSBs in incrementalloans has significantly declinedfrom 76 per cent in 2012 toabout 20 per cent in 2019. Theargument that PSBs are servingthe poor does not hold true.

Going by the data as of now, thecorporate borrowing accountsfor 51.3 per cent of total loansand 78.3 per cent of bad loans.This suggests for doing awaywith State control and regula-tion on the banks so as to makethem perform their interme-diary functions with account-ability.

Prime Minister NarendraModi has often been stressingon what he says, “Crisis be con-verted into opportunities”. Infact it is the most opportunetime to push through reformmeasures. The ModiGovernment must rise to theoccasion to herald a new era ofbold reforms for a “BetterIndia”.

(The write is a formerProfessor of Economics, UtkalUniversity and former Director,Nabakrushna ChoudhuryCentre for Development Studies, Bhubaneswar)

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Ateam headed by StateGovernment 5T Secretary

VK Pandian on Friday visitedCuttack early in morning toreview the development pro-jects for the existing TaladandaCanal left and right embank-ment road as part of theGovernment’s plan for up-gra-dation of the SCB MedicalCollege and Hospital.

The team comprisingWorks and Energy Secretaries,Cuttack RDC and Collectorand representatives of HealthDepartment decided toimprove the left and right canalembankment road to a three-lane thoroughfare.

The existing road fromJobra to Hind Cinema Chhak(right embankment) and Jobrato Cuttack Sweet Stall (left

embankment) of the canalwould be widened andstrengthened.“Existing 3.5metre has been widened to 9.30metre (950 mtr. length) withpaved shoulder. Existing 3.5metre has been widened to12.30 metre (600 metre length)

with paved shoulder.e Besides,a 1.5 metre width footpathhas been developed on bothsides of the embankment withpaver blocks. Five parking areashave been developed in bothembankments. Plantation hasbeen made on both sides of the

road to provide scenic beautyas well as greenery. A smallpatch of landscaping has beendeveloped with parking facili-ties in left embankment.Moreover, streetlights havebeen installed,” said an officialrelease. On January 23, ChiefMinister Naveen Patnaik hadvisited the city and announcedup-gradation of the SCBHospital for the better healthservice facilities for the people.

For the project, improve-ment to the existing TaladandaCanal left and right embank-ment road was felt necessaryfor easy access of patients andambulances approaching fromdifferent places of the State.

The embankment roadwould connect to the CuttackRing Road near the Jobra bar-rage for better connectivityfrom outer city to the hospital.

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The BJP received a jolt afterits former party candidate

Ramakanta Bhoi who foughtTirtol Assembly constituencyunsuccessfully in the years2014 and 2019 resigned aheadof the upcoming by-poll for theseat.

In another development threeCongress leaders Rajkishor

Behera, Devendra Mallick andformer MLA Kailash ChandraMallick have deserted theparty. While Rajkishor andKailash have joined the BJP,

Devendra crossed over to theBJD.Meanwhile, in the BJDcircle, the party is confrontingserious internal rift over select-ing a suitable candidate for theby- poll.

Although the party hadcaptured the seat in 2019 elec-tions with a huge margin afterdefeating its BJP rival but thedemise of MLA Bishnu Dasnecessitating the by-poll hasput BJD leadership on a stickywicket over picking up a suit-able candidate to field.

Das's son Bijaya ShankarDas has emerged as a top con-tender for ticket but his path tosuccess is not all that rosygiven late Das's opponents inthe party who may lobby for anew face.Late Das’s antago-nists recently had converged atBiridi under leadership of for-mer vice chairman, Biridiblock, Siva Prasad Jena,Sarpanch Nihar Ranjan Swain

and former ZP member BidhanJena. Sources informed that thisdisgruntled BJD group is lob-bying for ticket to MP DrRajashree Mallick’s husbandAshutosh Mallick.

However, another BJDgroup is in favour of givingticket to a leader fromRaghunathpur area this time asthe nominees have beenalready chosen by the partyearlier from Jagatsinghpur,Tirtol and Biridi. They arethrowing their weight behindYadhistera Sethi fromRaghunathpur.

Political observers say thatthe BJD is undergoing intraparty squabbles due to factionbetween late Bishnu Das groupand MP Dr Rajashree Mallicksupporters. They predict thatafter party declares a candidatefor the by-poll, those who stayunhappy may cross over to theBJP.Sources further said BJP

turncoat Ramakanta Bhoi is inconstant touch with seniorBJD leaders in State.

He maintains a good rela-tionship with some BJD heavy-weights and is lobbying hardfor ticket. In 2014 Assemblyelections, he had been lobbyingfor BJD ticket for Tirtol con-stituency and when he failed,he joined the BJP and contest-ed elections unsuccessfully onBJP ticket.

Political analysts opine thatif Ramakanta gets ticket fromBJD, the BJP may suffer ahuge setback and the prospectsof BJP in Tirtol may be shat-tered.

In 2019 elections due tosincere efforts of Ramakanta,the BJP had obtained secondposition garnering 53,242votes. The BJD had won with93,217 votes and Congresswith 23, 593 votes had finishedin third.

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Preparations in various levelsare underway for smooth

conduct of the November 3 by-poll in the Baleswar Sadar seat.

This time besides the offi-cials in the polling duties threeother categories including phys-ically challenged, senior citizensabove 80 years and Covid 19patients are allowed to casttheir votes through postal bal-lots as per the directions of theChief Election Commissioner.

The Sub Collector, Nilgiriis the nodal officer to overseethe postal ballot affairs whilethe district administration hasissued his mobile No.9437174513 for any quarriesand difficulties regarding thepostal ballots. For issue ofpostal ballot, one has to applyto the returning officer in form

12D. These forms would begiven to them by the BlockLevel Officers (BLO) and fillingup the forms they will bereturned to the BLO.

Then the postal ballotpapers will be supplied to themfor casting vote. The postal bal-lots would be collected by theBLO or his representatives fromtheir houses. The officials willvisit twice to their houses to col-lect the ballot papers.

The postal ballot is notmandatory for the above cat-egory of citizens but oncesomebody from the categoryopts for a postal ballot, he or shecan’t cast a vote in a booth , saida district administrationrelease. These postal ballotsprocedures would be complet-ed between October 9 and 13by the BLO or other represen-tatives.

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The first visit of Dr AChellakumar, an MP of

Tamil Nadu and AICC gener-al secretary, to Odisha after hisappointment as the new in-charge of the State unit of theCongress, has generated visibleinterest among the partycadres. He replaced formerUnion Minister Jitendra Singh,who had served in the samerole since 2018 but failed tobring glory to the State unit in2019 general election.

After the 2019 poll debacle,the OPCC president rightlysubmitted his resignation onmoral ground but was asked tocontinue. As time went by, theparty high command gave indi-rect messages for the change ofguard at a later appropriatetime. The speculation madeleaders exercise lobbies for thenext OPCC chief post.However, the Covid-19 pan-demic brought a temporaryhalt to such activity in the StateCongress.

Dr Chellakumar’s appoint-ment has signaled the begin-ning of a process of in invigo-rating the OPCC leadershipand pumping life to the mori-bund organisational system ofthe party.Right now the chal-lenge for the State Congress is

to face the two Assembly by-elections in Tirtol and BaleswarSadar constituencies in a dig-nified manner though it is adifferent matter whether theparty will win the seats.

As by-elections are usual-ly won by the ruling party inthe State, this should not both-er Chellakumar much. Infact,his first test lies ahead in theforthcoming 2021 ULB and2022 Panchayat elections.

If he succeeds in thesesemi-finals, then he could facethe 2024 general elections withconfidence. Perhaps he wasgiven the charge of OdishaCongress due to his threedecades of political experienceand party high command’strust on him.Dr Kumar can gethuge inputs for drafting the2020-2024 roadmap of theState Congress correctly if hemeaningfully reflects on the2014 -2019 reorganizationstrategy of the State unit.

Why did the last plan fail?Why there emerged a mid-course need for changing thefirst OPCC president, PrasadHarichandan and the first State–in-charge, BK Hariprasad?Why did PCC presidentNiranjan Patnaik and formerState-in-charge, Jitendra Singh,fail miserably in 2019 poll?Why did not the pre-poll activ-ities, poll strategy, the working

president system, campaigncommittee system, new induc-tion plan of journalists andsocial workers, yield the desiredpoll results?

Was the failure in the lastpoll due to PCC leadership,organisational structure, intra-party conflicts, poor electionstrategy, trust deficit, secretcompromises or a combinationof all these factors? Now thefirst job for Dr Kumar is to finda suitable PCC president whocan mobilize the frozen partyunit.

The new president shouldbe able to move to the districtsto revamp the organisation,spend money for activities andfacilitate protests against thepolicies of both the ruling par-ties, the BJD and the BJP? Heshould be also able to follow theAICC line of mobilisationwhich is not happening now.

The moot issue before himis should caste be a criterion inthe selection of PCC president?Congress had tried with the SC,ST and OBC cards in the pastbut the strategy failed.

The party is also unlikelyto give the PCC charge to for-mer PCC chiefs or old seniorleaders. The right criterioncould be selection of a leaderwho has won confidence ofpeople, preferably someonefrom group of MLAs and MPs.

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Amatriculation pass-out stu-dent committed suicide as

his father failed to pay fee foradmission into Plus II coursesin Kalahandi district. The inci-dent occurred at Kelua villageunder the Thuamul Rampurpolice limits.

Sanjay, son of ShyamMajhi, had successfully clearedthe matriculation examinationthis year. As he had interest tocontinue study, he asked hisfather to give him money forenrolment into Plus II coursesat a higher secondary school.

However, the poor fatherrefused his son to pay admis-sion fee and told him to getadmission next year.

After this, the 19-year-oldboy lost his mental balance andconsumed pesticide to end hislife.When his sister Sarita foundhim struggling with poison, sheimmediately informed her par-ents.

The family membersrushed the boy to the DistrictHeadquarters Hospital here.However, he died on Thursdaywhile undergoing treatment.

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Aman was killed by somelocals allegedly over the

suspicion of practising sorceryat village Udaygiri under thePadia police station inMalkangiri district onThursday. The deceased wasidentified as Baga Kabasi.

A few people of the villagekilled Kabasi in front of hishouse suspecting him of prac-tising witchcraft. Later, theyburnt the body in the villagecrematorium.

Following the incident, thefamily members of thedeceased approached the Padiapolice and lodged a writtencomplaint. Based on the alle-gation, a team of police officialsraided the village and detainedsome suspects involved in themurder.

A case has been registeredunder Sections 302/201/34 ofIPC and the probe into the inci-dent is underway, informedPadia Police IIC Ranjan KumarMajhi.The preliminary inves-tigation in the case revealedthat some locals were in log-gerhead with Kabasi with himsince a long time over hisalleged practice of sorcery.

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The much-required boatambulance service for

the people of cutoff pocketsunder Rajnagar block, whoearlier faced much problem toreach Rajnagar CHC for get-ting treatment during exi-gency time, are now able toavail the boat ambulance.Theservice on Thursday was inau-gurated by Rajnagar MLADhruba Charana Sahu atGupti jetty.An estimated40,000 people of five grampanchayats under Rajnagarblock are now going to get theboat ambulance.

According to medical offi-cer of Rajnagar CHC RashmiRanjan Mohanty, a populationof 10,000 of Talachua GP,20,000 of Keruapala,Baghamari and Rangani GPs,and 10,000 population ofIswarpur and part ofGhadiamala GP, will avail theboat ambulance service facil-ities.Earlier, people of cut-offpockets l ike Rangani,K e r u a p a l a ,Gumura,Sailendranarayanpur,Pataparia, Iswarpur,Julusnagar, Balabhadrapur

and Ghadiamala, mostly thepregnant woman, generallyfaced much problem duringemergencies to reach Guptihospital or Rajnagar CHC.

Though financial assis-tances were provided underSampurna Yojana to the peo-ple of inaccessible pockets forbringing the pregnant womanon their own to the nearbyhospital but several maternaldeaths were reported during2017 and 2018 years, said DrMohanty.

Floating jetties have beenset up at Kothighat,Julusnagar and Gupti where-as another jetty is going to beset up at Gumura very short-ly. Boat ambulance will carrypatients and pregnant womenfrom Kothighat, Gumura andJulusnagar to Gupti floatingjetties and later they would besent to hospital in 108 ambu-lance.

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Baladejew Temple servitorshere on Friday staged a

protest beating gongs anddemanded to reopen the tem-ple. They said the Covid-19pandemic has affected theirlivelihood badly as they aredeprived of collection fromdevotees since devotees arerestricted from entering the

temple for last sevenmonths.Most of the servitorsare going through severe finan-cial constraints, said NrusinghaCharan Patri, a servitor.

Though the Governmenthas been providing financialassistance to several sections ofthe people hit by lockdowns,but for the servitors ofBaladevjew temple there is noassistance, Patri lamented.

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In spite of significant declinein the number of Covid-19

positive cases in Brahmapurduring last fortnight, 12 morenew positive cases have cometo notice creating panic amongthe denizens, sources said.

According to informationavailable, more than 100 policepersonnel (the Covid-19 war-riors) including eight officialswho recovered from Coronavirus on Wednesday havedonated their plasma at thePlasma Bank in MKCGMedical College and Hospital.

Under the direct supervi-sion of Chhatrapur 8thBattalion CommandantSuryanarayan Mallick, the dis-trict police have reportedlystarted a noble mission ofdonating plasma.

So far 39 police personnelfrom Chatrapur 8th Battalionwho have already recoveredfrom the Corona virus havedonated their plasma atMKCG, followed by 19 policepersonnel from Bhanjanagar8SR, 26 from Gajapati 3SS, 4personnel from Debagarda 4thIR Battalion, 3 OISF personnelon duty at IRE Limited, 4 fromBoudh 5th IR Battalion.

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While swimming pools areto remain shut, water-

themed amusement parks andwater rides have been allowedto reopen provided they haveall health-related safety mea-sures in place such as manda-tory disinfections before com-mencing the ride, adequateand regular water filtrationand chlorination.

As per the standard oper-ating procedures (SOPs)issued by the Union HealthMinistry, amusement parksand similar places in contain-ment zones have been pro-hibited to operate. Only thoseoutside containment zoneswill be allowed to reopen.

As per the SoPs, the fre-quently-touched surfaces ofequipment must be disinfect-ed before commencing the

ride, along with ensuringphysical distancing in rideswhile prior to resumption ofactivities, all work areas, pub-lic utility areas and openspaces, including rides, muse-ums, gardens, food courts,gift shops, theatres, etc. willhave to be sanitised with 1%sodium hypochlorite solution.Thereafter, this needs to bedone on a regular basis, as perthe guidelines.

The ministry guidelinesadvise the use of CCTV inlarge numbers to monitorcrowding at any rides or foodcourt etc. as entry of visitorsinside the park will have to belimited to ensure proper phys-ical distancing.

Only asymptomatic per-sons (managerial staff,employees, visitors) will be

allowed in the premises; andmanagement staff, employeesand visitors living in contain-ment zones shall not beallowed entry in amusementpark and other similar places.

Employees who are athigher risk, such as, olderemployees, pregnant employ-ees and employees who haveunderlying medical conditions

must take extra precautions.They should preferably not beexposed to any front-line workrequiring direct contact withthe public, according to theguidelines.

Persons above 65 years ofage, those with comorbidi-ties, pregnant women andchildren below the age of 10years are advised to stay at

home.Two months ago, the

Indian Association ofAmusement Parks andIndustries (IAAPI) had urgedthe Government to allowreopening of the amusementparks citing huge revenue loss-es due to closures of the parks.

“The amusement andwater parks are running into

huge losses since their closureon March 15 due to the lock-down,” IAAPI president AjaySarin had said. There are near-ly 150 such parks in the coun-try, including the famousRamoji Film City, which givedirect employment to around80,000 people and indirectlyprovide livelihood to nearlythree lakh, he had said.

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While old people are wide-ly believed to be at a

greater risk due to Covid-19pandemic, new study pub-lished in the journal JAMMAInternal Medicine showsyounger patients too are vul-nerable to the adverse clinicaloutcomes.

Following analysis ofrecords from 419 hospitalswhich included studying theclinical trajectories of 3,222hospitalised Covid-19 patients aged 18-34,

researchers found that overone-fifth of the patients (21per cent) required intensive

care, 10 per cent requiredmechanical ventilation and2.7 per cent died.

“There was a significantrate of adverse outcomes,”said study author JonathanCunningham from Brighamand Women’s Hospital in the US.

“Even though a 2.7 percent death rate is lower thanfor older patients, it’s high for young people whotypically do well even when for other conditions,”Cunningham added.

Individuals with cardio-vascular risk factors were alsoover-represented among theyoung people hospitalised —

36.8 per cent and 24.5 percent of patients had obesityand morbid obesity, respec-tively; 18.2 per cent of patientshad diabetes and 16.1 per centhad hypertension.

The researchers foundthat patients who presentedthese comorbidities were alsomore likely to experienceadverse outcomes.

Patients with morbid obe-sity, for example, comprised41 per cent of the hospi-talised young adults who diedor required mechanical ventilation, said the study.

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The Centre on Friday saiddespite the challenges

posed by the Covid-19 pan-demic, 3,951 km of highwayswere constructed in the first sixmonths of the current fiscalyear. The Nitin Gakdari-ledMinistry of Road Transportand Highways said it achieveda road building rate of 21.60km per day despite the pre-vailing situation.

“The Ministry of RoadTransport and Highways hassuccessfully completed con-struction of road length of3,951 km during the first sixmonths of this fiscal year(April-September). It hasachieved a construction paceof 21.60 km per day despiteCOVID-19 difficulties,” theministry said in a statement. Ithas set an ambitious target ofconstructing 11,000 km road

during this fiscal year.The Central road-making

agency, National HighwaysAuthority of India (NHAI),also said it awarded projectsfor building 1,330 km of high-ways in April-September, up60 per cent from the year-agoperiod despite the challengesposed by the COVID-19 pan-demic. The projects awardedby NHAI were valued at�47,289 crore.

“NHAI has awarded pro-jects for a total cumulativelength of 1,330 km in thecurrent financial year. Theprojects awarded so far infirst half of the current finan-cial year are 1.6 times higherof 828 km awarded in FY19-

20 and 3.5 times higher of 373km awarded in FY 18-19 dur-ing the same period,” NHAIsaid in a statement.

It said the feat wasachieved despite challengesposed by the pandemic and forthe awarded projects, it hasalready completed at least 80-90 percent of the land acqui-sition, utilities shifting besidesobtaining required forest andenvironment clearances.

During first half of theongoing fiscal year, NHAIawarded a total of 40 projectscovering 1,330 km length, itsaid adding that the capitalcost of these 40 projects is�47,289 crore, which includescost of civil work, land acqui-sition, and other pre- con-struction activities. NHAI hasset a target of awarding 4,500km of projects during 2020-21and is likely to exceed the tar-get, it said.

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For the last 30 years,Gurunath Narvekar hasn’t

taken a break. After all, he hashis “children” — the animalsand birds of the VeermataJijabai Bhosale Udyan inMumbai — to take care of.Right from tending and feed-ing them to dressing theirwounds in case of any injurywere his daily routine.

“They are like my chil-dren. During the lockdownperiod, I did not go home butstayed in the Zoo itself toensure that these innocentanimals do not have to starvein case there is no onearound,” Narvekar told ThePioneer on phone. Set to retirein a couple of months,Narvekar said he will badly

miss his “children”.To recognise his uninter-

rupted ser vice, UnionEnvironment MinisterPrakash Javedekar on October5 conferred him with thePrani-Mitra Award 2020 dur-ing a virtual event.

Narvekar is among thefour zoo warriors, the threeothers being Atul Gupta fromVan Vihar National Park inBhopal, Sudha Raman, (IFS)Director of a Chennai Zooand Rajesh Mahapatra, biolo-gist in a zoo in Odisha, whohave been conferred with theprestigious award for theirdedication towards ensuringthe well-being of the captiveanimals under their care.

The award has been insti-tuted by the Central ZooAuthority (CZA) this year to

encourage zoo officers andstaff engaged in captive animalmanagement.

Another awardee, SudhaRamen (IFS), Director ofArignar Anna ZoologicalPark, Chennai, Tamil Nadusaid that even though October4 is recognised as the WorldAnimal Day and InternationalZoo Keepers Day, in her opin-ion, animals should be valuedand respected on all days.

“Animal keepers do thatround the year with no breaks.Having worked with them, Iknow their love and care,” shesaid adding that zoos haverendered major contributionas ex-situ conservation cen-tres.

Veterinarian Dr. AtulGupta (48) felt that for betterwildlife health, besides focus

on capacity building of thestaff, there is a need to have aveterinarian cadre in the for-est department. “Presently,veterinarians from AnimalHusbandry are deputed inthe Zoo. But one must under-stand that domestic and wildanimals have different energylevels and hence, need to behandled by the one who hassuch expertise,” he said.

Mohapatra, who receivedthe award in theBiologist/Educationist cate-gory, is associated with thereleasing of seven gharials inMahanadi for the revival ofthe species in their naturalhabitat as well as introducingpuzzle feeding to the animalsin the zoo to encourage men-tal stimulation in them andreduce boredom.

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Almost a month after puttinga blanket ban on onion

exports, the Centre on Fridaymade amendment in its exportpolicy for Bangalore Rose andKrishnapuram onions in orderto allow export of up to 10,000tonnes up to March 31, 2021.This is despite onion prices stillreeling at �60-70 per kg in theretail markets across India. TheGovernment has, however, notallowed exports of Nashik vari-ety of onions.

The Government hadbanned the export of all vari-eties of onions to increase avail-

ability and to check the price ofthe commodity in the domes-tic market on September 14.

According to theDirectorate General of ForeignTrade (DGFT)’s notification,the onion exports will beallowed only through Chennaiport till 31 March, 2021 and theexporters have to get a certifi-cate from their respective hor-ticulture departments ofKarnataka and Andhra Pradeshcertifying the item and quanti-ty.

Karnataka farmers hadurged the Centre to allow ship-ment of 10,000 tonnes ofBangalore Rose variety of

onions as there is no demand inthe domestic market. This vari-ety has demand in SoutheastAsian countries such asMalaysia, Singapore, Thailandand Taiwan. And, generally,Krishnapuram onions are notused for consumption in Indiadue to their size and pungency.The onions are imported byThailand, Hong Kong,Malaysia, Sri Lanka andSingapore.

India exported fresh onionsworth $328 million and driedonions worth $112.3 million inFY20. Exports of onions shot up158% to Bangladesh in theApril-July period.

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With former Congress chiefRahul Gandhi on Friday

taking a jibe at Prime MinisterNarendra Modi over his sug-gestion that wind turbines canbe used to generate clean drink-ing water, oxygen and energy,the BJP reacted sharply askinghim to read scientific papers.

“The real danger to Indiaisn’t that our PM doesn’tunderstand. It’s the fact thatnobody around him has theguts to tell him,” he said onTwitter, as he posted a video ofthe Prime Minister’s interac-tion with a CEO of a windenergy company.

The Prime Minister isheard suggesting the CEO

make use of wind turbines toproduce not just energy but alsooxygen and clean drinkingwater from thin air.

Hitting back at Rahul,Union Minister Piyush Goyalsaid, “Nobody around RahulGandhi has the guts to tell himthat he doesn’t understand. Hemocks PM Narendra Modi’sideas when the CEO of theworld’s leading companyendorses them.”

He also tagged a newsreport with his tweet that sayswind turbines create water fromthin air. BJP spokespersonSambit Patra also attacked himin a tweet, saying, “Rahul jitomorrow morning please getup at night and read the two sci-entific papers that I have

attached herewith. Though I’msure you won’t understand thecomplexity of the subject...”

He also attached newsreports that said wind turbinescreate water from thin air andanother saying wind turbinemakes 1,000 litres of clean watera day in the desert. BJP’s head ofsocial media department AmitMalviya also attacked theCongress leader.

“There is no cure for igno-rance and entitlement. Entitledbrat Rahul thinks everyonearound the world is as cluelessas he is... He mocks PM’s ideaswhen CEO of world’s leadingwind energy company termsthem inspirational! Watch thelast bit of the video he himselfhas posted...,” he tweeted.

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Aday after the TRP scamand sparring between the

TV channels, the Ministry ofInformation and Broadcastingon Friday directed all privatechannels to strictly adhere tothe Programme Code askingthat no programme shouldcriticise, malign or slanderany individual and certaingroups. In its advisory,Ministry citied Delhi HighCourt Judgment’s Order onactress Rakul Preet Singhdesisting TV channels to airreports maligning her in con-nection with the drugs proberelated to Sushant Sign Rajput

death case. “Attention is drawn to the

provisions of the ProgrammeCode as per which no pro-gramme should contain any-thing obscene, defamatory,deliberate, false and suggestiveinnuendos and half-truths. Asper the Code, no programmeshould criticise, malign orslander any individual in per-son or certain groups, seg-ments of social, public andmoral life of the country,” saidthe advisory also directing theTV channels to adhere to theprovisions of Cable TelevisionNetworks (Regulation ) Act1995 and Advertsign Codes.

The advisory quoted the

Delhi High Court’s September17 Order in the actress’ peti-tion against media organisa-tions on reports against her inconnection with the drugscase. She approached HCrequesting media to stopreporting about her and link-ing her name to the RheaChakraborty drug case. “Itishoped that the media housesand televisions channels wouldshow restraint in the reportingand abide by the provisions ofthe Programme Code as alsothe various guidelines, bothstatutory and self regulatory,while making any report inrelation to the petitioner,” saidthe High Court.

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Celebrating the birth anniver-sary of Mahatma Gandhi

and Lal Bahadur Shastri, theChief Mentor and curator ofPlus Approach Foundation(PAF), Dr Ashutosh Karnatak,enthused the youth and profes-sionals an all-around develop-

ment and transformation ofsociety and organisationstowards positivity.

In a webinar on the occa-sion, the speakers emphasisedthe importance of Gandhiji’sthoughts in keeping oneselfpositive in the difficult circum-stances that are being faced cur-rently worldwide.

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To nurture interest of girl stu-dents in Science Technology,

Engineering, and Mathematics(STEM), the Department ofScience Technology and IBMIndia have announced collabo-rations to scale up 'Vigyan Jyoti'and 'Engage with Science' ini-tiatives, a statement said onFriday.

The Vigyan Jyoti pro-gramme was launched by theDST in 2019 to inspire girl stu-dents to pursue higher educa-tion and career in STEM fields.It provides a scholarship, visit tonearby scientific institutions,science camps, lecturers fromwomen scientists and careercounselling.

It is implemented byJawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya in58 districts, with the participa-tion of about 2,900 students.

"The partnership with IBMIndia will strengthen the currentactivities and will be expandedto include more schools in thefuture. Women tech expertsworking at IBM India will inter-act inspire girl students to planfor a career in STEM under the

programme. This will strength-en the DST's initiative toincrease the number of womenin technology fields," the state-ment said.

The IBM will work withVigyan Prasar, a body under theDST, to help popularise sciencethrough several strategic initia-tives, including 'Engage WithScience'.

This is an interactive plat-form that will be built on top ofthe India Science Over-The-Topplatform to encourage andinspire high school students topursue science & technology fora career.

As part of the collaboration,IBM will run the day-to-dayactivities of the programme,including student workshops,seminars, and leverage its exper-tise to mentor the students.

The platform will makestudents interact, participateand get involved with the sam-pling and active consumption ofS&T content, including Cloud,Big Data, etc. Through theusage of gamification tools andArtificial Intelligence /MachineLearning components.

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The Supreme Court Fridayrefused to either cancel the

Common Law Admission Test(CLAT)-2020 or stay the coun-selling process and asked fivecandidates, who were seekingquashing of the exam allegingtechnical glitches, to give theirgrievances within two days tothe redressal committee.

CLAT is a centralisednational level entrance test foradmissions to 23 National LawUniversities (NLUs) in Indiaand the test was held onSeptember 28.

A bench comprisingJustices Ashok Bhushan and M

R Shah was informed by seniorlawyer P S Narasimha, appear-ing for consortium of NLUs,that there is a grievance redres-sal committee headed by aformer Chief Justice of Indiawhich can consider the issuesof the petitioners.

“We are of the view that thepetitioners shall submit thegrievances within two daysfrom today and the grievanceredressal committee will take adecision on the complaints,” thebench said in its order.

“We cannot stop the coun-selling,” the bench told senioradvocate GopalSankaranarayanan, appearingfor the petitioners.

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India and the US are likely tohold the third 2+2 Minister

level talks here in late October.US Secretary of State MikePompeo and Defence SecretaryMark Esper will discuss theentire range of strategic issuesincluding the current stand-offat the Line of ActualControl(LAC) in EasternLadakh with their Indian coun-terparts S Jaishankar andRajnath Singh.

The in-person meeting,likely to take place on October26-27, comes at a time whenthe entire world is battling thecoronavirus pandemic andIndia engaged in an eyeball toeyeball confrontation withChina for the past five monthsat the LAC.

The first two rounds wereheld in New Delhi andWashington in 2018 and 2019respectively. This ministeriallevel engagement was approvedduring Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s dialogue withPresident Donald Trump in2018.

The two sides will discussthe bilateral defence and strate-gic ties besides the current sit-

uation on the LAC, terrorismand evolving scenario inAfghanistan after the peacedeal with the Taliban duringthe forthcoming parleys,sources said here on Friday.

Pompeo and Esper areexpected to meet PrimeMinister Narendra Modi andNational SecurityAdviser(NSA) Ajit Doval onthe sidelines of the ministerialdialogue. Both sides are alsolikely to sign the BasicExchange and CooperationAgreement (BECA) for geo-spatial cooperation after theyagreed to expedite the work ofthe deal earlier this year.

The signing of BECA couldbe a significant landmark inUS-India strategic coopera-tion as it allows India to useglobal geospatial maps of theUS for accuracy of stand-offweapons like cruise and ballis-tic missiles.

The foundational agree-ments like General Security ofMilitary InformationAgreement, Logistics ExchangeMemorandum of Agreement,and CommunicationsCompatibility and SecurityAgreement have already beenactivated, with both using each

other’s designated militaryfacilities for refuelling andreplenishment.

Incidentally, Jaishankar andPompeo held bilateral talks onthe sideline of Quad meeting inTokyo earlier this week onTuesday. During the conclaveattended by India, US, Australiaand Japan foreign ministers,Pompeo openly criticizedChina for coronavirus pan-demic.

He said the ChineseCommunist Party (CCP) hadmade the crisis “infinitelyworse” as a result of its “cover-up” and accused the “authori-tarian” regime of locking upthose who raised the alarm.

With the armies of Indiaand China locked in a stand-offat the LAC, Jaishankar had saidin his address at the Quad, NewDelhi is committed to peacefulresolution of disputes, rulesbased world order and respectfor territorial integrity.

Making these openingremarks at the meeting, he alsosaid the four democratic coun-tries favour a free and openIndia-Pacific region. The Quadmeeting comes at a time whenChina is aggressively assertingitself in this region leading to

tension. Jaishankar, however,refrained from naming China.

The Quad meeting dis-cussed the issue of ensuring afree and open Indo-Pacific inthe face of China’s increasing-ly aggressive behaviour acrossthe region. Addressing theconclave, Jaishankar said theevents of this year have demon-strated how “imperative it is forlike-minded countries to coor-dinate responses to the variouschallenges that the pandemichas brought to the fore”.

On the situation in thestrategically important India-Pacific region, he said “asvibrant and pluralistic democ-racies with shared values, ournations have collectivelyaffirmed the importance ofmaintaining a free, open andinclusive Indo-Pacific.”

“We remain committed toupholding the rules-based

international order, under-pinned by the rule of law,transparency, freedom of nav-igation in the internationalseas, respect for territorialintegrity and sovereignty andpeaceful resolution of disputes,”he added.

Spelling out India’s stand,he said it was for advancing thesecurity and economic interestsof all countries having legiti-mate and vital interests in theregion. “It is a matter of satis-faction that the Indo-Pacificconcept has gained increasinglywider acceptance,” he said.

Incidentally, Australia iskeen to join the yearly Malabarseries of maritime exercisebetween India, US and Japan inNovember end. However, adecision is yet to be taken.Moreover, China is resistingsuch a proposal of all the fourcountries of Quad holding amilitary exercise.

Among other key points,Jaishankar also underlined theneed for “seeking collectivesolutions to global challenges,including global recovery fromthe pandemic and reform ofmultilateral institutions”.

Highlighting the growingimportance of this coalition, he

also said the fact that the fourforeign ministers were meetingin person, despite the globalpandemic, is “testimony to theimportance that these consul-tations have gained, particu-larly in recent times”. He added,“Our world is significantly dif-ferent today than what it waswhen we last met in New Yorkin September 2019.”

During their bilateralmeeting the Quad, India andUS reaffirmed their commit-ment to work together forpeace and stability in the India-Pacific region.

On his parleys withPompeo, Jaishankar said“Pleased to see the progress ofour partnership in so manyfields. Will work together forstability and prosperity in theIndo- Pacific.” It was learnt thatJaishankar and Pompeo alsodeliberated on overall tiesincluding evolving securityscenario around India.

The US Secretary of Statesaid he had productive meetingwith Jaishankar adding togeth-er “we are advancing US-Indiarelations, combating COVID-19 and ensuring a secure andprosperous Indo-Pacific forall.”

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The inclusion of Aligarh inthe first phase of the Indian

Smart City Award created anatmosphere of joy in theMunicipal Corporation. Thirtysmarts cities out of 100 havebeen selected in this competi-tion.

City Commissioner SatyaPrakash Patel said that we getthis honor and pride by the trustand cooperation of the citizens.In the first phase of the IndianSmart City Award, four smartcities of Uttar Pradesh have beenselected, including Agra,Varanasi and Saharanpur. Hesaid that day and night effortsof public representatives, highofficials, municipal officials andemployees has resulted in thishonor.

Hoped that Aligarh willalso be selected in the final ofthe Indian Smart City Award bythe cooperation and trust of itspeople. The Smart Cities Awardcompetition is organized underthe Smart Cities Mission,Ministry of Housing and UrbanAffairs, Government of India.

ISAC will recognize andreward cities, projects and inno-vative ideas that are promotingsustainable development inurban areas in India. Alsoencouraging inclusive, equi-table, safe, healthy and sup-portive cities. 30 smart cities outof 100 have been selected in thecompetition. Arun KumarGupta, Additional MunicipalCommissioner said that selec-tion is a big achievement in thefirst phase of the Indian SmartCity Award.

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With 5.24 lakh out of the6.29 lakh Covid-19

patients in Tamil Nadu turningout to be in the age group of 13-60, medical doctors in theState have sounded cautionwhile relaxing lockdown rulesto re-open schools and colleges.

Neighbouring Kerala showunprecedented increase in thenumber of Covid-19 caseswhile the number of cases inTamil Nadu has shown a smalldecline. “But the percentage ofpersons in the 13-60 age groupin Tamil Nadu is disturbing.We have to be vigilant aboutthis category which is vulner-able,” said Dr C VKrishnaswamy, octogenarianphysician who is the editor ofJournal of the Science of

Healing Outcomes, an inter-nationally known peerreviewed journal.

Dr Krishnaswamy said hewas disturbed about newsreports coming from theGovernment Secretariat aboutre-opening of schools and col-leges in the State. “The policymakers and ministers shouldnote the age group of the pop-ulation most vulnerable to thepandemic. It is difficult to con-trol students in schools and col-leges. The government is bestadvised to conduct on-lineclasses in schools and collegestill the Covid-19 pandemic iscompletely subsided,” DrKrishnaswamy told ThePioneer.

He said the safety of stu-dents should be given prefer-ence over all others. “They areour future and it is our respon-

sibility to ensure their well-being,” said Dr Krishnaswamy.“Is there any system in place toensure social distancing, wash-ing of hands four times veryhour and make sure that stu-dents do not come close?”asked the doctor.

But there are teachers likeDr M G Gireeshan, vice-prin-cipal and assistant professor atthe department of electronics,Jai Bharat College,Perumbavoor, cynical abouton-line classes . “How is it pos-sible to teach science and tech-nology students? They need

laboratory and workshops fortheir practical classes,” said DrGireeshan.

Kerala Chief MinisterPinarayi Vijayan gave hintsthat schools and colleges maynot function at least for thenext few months. “It is good tomake some sacrifice like keep-ing the institutions locked tillwe cross the threshold of threatby this pandemic,” said DrRajiv Pillai, Perumbavoorbased Ayurvedic physician.

Attending schools and col-leges is not that simple as it ismade out, says RajeshNarayanan, entrepreneur. “On-line teaching methods are hereto stay. Laboratory classes couldbe held in conventional style.But class room sessions mayhave to be curtailed at least tillwe reach a safe zone fromCovid-19,” he said.

Aligarh: An alumnus was shotdead on Thursday evening in aplayground at Aligarh MuslimUniversity in the Civil LinePolice Station area. Shortlyafter this news, the police andthe proctorial team of AMUreached on the spot and on thebasis of suspicion took the twofriends present on the spotinto custody. Till night, thepolice did not receive any com-plaint and was engaged in inter-rogating the friends.

Shanu Abbas, the 22-year-old son of Chand Babu, a resi-dent of Zakir Nagar streetnumber 2 of Kwarsi, was thestudent of 11th standard ofAMU, but he had left the schoolin the middle PNS

KOCHI: There was an attempton the life of A P Abdullakutty,national vice -president of theBJP late Thursday evening atMalappuram. A heavy dutytruck crashed twice against thecar in which Abdullakutty wastravelling.

Though he escaped unhurt,the incident has brought backmemories of violent clashesinvolving the Sangh Parivaractivists and Marxists inNorthern Kerala which hadclaimed the lives of hundreds ofworkers over the last twodecades.

According to Abdullakutty,he was travelling fromThiruvananthapuram toKannur by road when the inci-dent occurred. He had stopped

in front of wayside eatery tohave his dinner when a groupof people approached him andhad verbal altercations overhis joining the BJP. KSurendran, BJP's Kerala presi-dent demanded a thoroughprobe into the incident.

Though the BJP leadercame out of the hotel withoutspeaking to the group anddrove away, a Taurus truckwas seen following him andcrashed against his car twicecausing many dents on the rear.When he stopped the car andgot down, the truck sped away.

The incident happens with-in days of Abdullakutty releas-ing the book Deseeya Muslim(Nationalist Muslim), a collec-tion of essays listing the story

of his life and how he ended upwith the Sangh Parivar.Abdullakutty has recounted anincident that took place in theCPI(M) head quarters in Keralain 2009 when Pinarayi Vijayanwas the party general secretary.

P Satheedevi, MP, toldVijayan that the CPI(M) mem-bers were shocked when theBJP members of parliamenthad come to the House withflex boards featuring the pic-tures of the dead bodies of RSSand BJP workers in Kerala whowere murdered in gruesomemanner by the Marxists. “Wewere left speechless by thesepictures. Something should bedone to stop this,” Satheedevirequested Vijayan. PNS

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The Faculty of UnaniMedicine, Aligarh Muslim

University organized the firstinternational symposium in e-mode on “Immunomo dula-tion: An Integrated Approachin Unani Medicine”.

Delivering a talk on“Immunology Goes Viral”, ProfNadeem Fazal (SeniorImmunologist, Bio-MedicalSciences, Chicago StateUniversity, USA) said that “noproduct has yet been approvedby the FDA regarding COVID-19 treatment”. He discussedhow immunity impactedhuman health and how it couldbe enhanced.

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Thursday’s ado over a saffronmarch to Bengal State sec-

retariat Nabanna culminatedinto an alleged “counter-offen-sive” by the TrinamoolCongress Government whichon Friday slapped a volley ofcriminal charges against seniorBJP leaders holding them guiltyof violating National DisasterManagement Act, destroyingpublic property and organizingunlawful assembly.

The BJP promptly hit backaccusing Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee of muzzlingopposition voice and convert-ing Bengal into a police state.

FIRs were filed againstsenior BJP national secretaryKailash Vijaybargiya, nationalvice president Mukul Roy, MPsLocket Chatterjee, Arjun Singhand Rakesh Singh under theNDMA while other leaderslike State BJP vice president JPMajumdar, IPS officer-turnedsaffron leader Bharati Ghoshand others were charged withcausing unlawful assembly.

The police action was sum-marily challenged by the BJPleadership which not onlybrought out a silent march onFriday but also played to theSikh gallery condemning “dis-turbing” pictures doing therounds in the social media ---showing how a police consta-ble was pulling at the turban ofBalwinder Singh a protesterand an accused who was arrest-ed on Thursday with a gun.

“It only shows how insen-sitive a State Government andits police can become whenthey do not even think twicebefore hurting someone’s reli-gious sentiments… the Sikhgentleman --- a body guard ofa party leader --- who was ille-gally arrested with a gun whichhad a license repeatedlyrequested not to touch his tur-ban or hair which are sacred forthe Sikh community by thepolicemen would not listen toit… would Mamata Banerjee’spolice do the same thing tosome other people of a specif-

ic minority community (readMuslims),” said BJP leaderSayantan Basu.

The police sources subse-quently said that BalwinderSingh who carrying the gunhad a license issued in Jammuand was not valid in Bengal.

On Thursday about 25,000agitators marched at theNabanna from four directionsto protest against “corruption,deterioration of law and order,syndicate raj, police-goonnexus and alleged irregularitiesin recruitment examinations.

Things turned violent evenas the protesters who wereblockaded atvarious pointsallegedly resorted to throwingbrickbats and hurling bombs.The BJP however said thebombs and bricks were peltedfrom roof tops by the TMCgoons. The police subsequent-ly resorted to lathi-charge andfired tear gas shells to dispersethe crowd.

Even as the police broughtcriminal charges against theBJP leaders Roy promptlyreacted saying “the illegal slap-ping of the charges only proveshow this Government is heav-ily dependent on the police …historically speaking a Statewhich becomes a police stateand a government which has torely for its survival on thepolice has a limited life.”

Time had come for theMamata Banerjee Governmentto go from power he added say-ing “the party’s legal cell wouldlook into the legal implicationsof the charges that has beenslapped on us illegally.”

State party president DilipGhosh said “the FIRs that havebeen filed are illegal and wouldbe quashed any way because apolitical party has every rightto organize protest movementsin a democracy,” asking “whatkind of democracy is there inBengal where a rally by theChief Minister is not stoppedbut a similar rally by the oppo-sition is not only brutally tack-led but also their leadersframed illegally.”

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More than six years after theComptroller and Auditor

General of India (CAG ) had'unearthed' 25,000 croreRoshni land scam, the DivisionBench of the Jammu & KashmirHigh Court comprising ChiefJustice Gita Mittal and JusticeRajesh Bindal Friday handedover the probe in the landscam to the Central Bureau ofInvestigation.

The Division Bench alsodeclared the 'Roshni Act'“unconstitutional”. Directionswere also passed to the CBI tofile a status report of the ongo-ing investigation every 8 weeksbefore the Court.

Soon after submitting itsreport to the state legislature inMarch 2014, the PrincipalAccountant General (Audit)had described the transfer of3,48,160 kanals of land in thestate at a cost of Rs 76.24 Cr (24percent) against a demand of Rs317.54 Cr under Roshni Act, asone of the biggest scams of J&K.

Originally, the Act wasaimed at resource mobilizationof Rs 25,448 Cr for investmentin power sector.

Speaking to The Pioneer,Senior Advocate Sheikh ShakeelAhmad, who had initially fileda PIL in the case in 2011, said,

“A division bench of ChiefJustice Gita Mittal and JusticeRajesh Bindal Friday alloweda petition that sought transferof the Rs 25,000 land allotmentscam under the Roshni Actfrom the Anti-CorruptionBureau (ACB) to the CBI”.

Referring to the ongoinginvestigations in the case andwhy the need was felt to handover the probe to the premierinvestigating agency, SheikhShakeel said, “till now the AntiCorruption Bureau Jammu(Vigilance) was investigatingthe matter and had registered17 FIRs so far. He said, due tonon- cooperation of the gov-ernment agencies involved inthe case, ACB could issue chal-lan in only two cases. He saidin the light of these develop-ments the court deemed itappropriate to divest it of theinvestigation simultaneouslyhanding it over to CBI.

Advocate Sheikh Shakeelalso claimed, “due to directinvolvement of land sharksalong with top bureaucrats,politicians and police officers inthe biggest ever land scam inthe history of Jammu andKashmir the Anti CorruptionBureau was not able to com-plete the probe in the matter”.

Challenging theConstitutional Validity of

Roshni Act in its PIL filed in2014, another senior AdvocateAnkur Sharma had also soughtCBI probe in the matter. Duringprevious hearing in the case inSeptember 2020,Adv AnkurSharma had submitted beforethe Division bench, “Given thestructural problems and polit-ical interference crippling theACB, both of which are reflect-ed in its conduct of the last 6years of investigation, the timeis ripe to bring in an indepen-dent and professional agencylike CBI for investigation”.

“The conduct of ACB is“suspect” and we can’t have sus-pects investigating the sus-pects”, he further submitted,adding “since beneficiariesinclude Ministers, politicians,IAS/KAS officers, the ability ofthe ACB is crippled from with-in”.

Meanwhile, in its order theDivision Bench on Friday saidthat J&K Chief Secretary willensure uninterrupted investi-gation which will also be direct-ed against those officers inwhose tenures the encroach-ments had happened.

The court said all DeputyCommissioners and DivisionalCommissioners will be held forcontempt of court if they do notcooperate with the investiga-tion.

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In a significant development,the Anti-Terrorism Squad

(ATS) of the MaharashtraPolice arrested an employee ofHindustan Aeronautics Ltd(HAL) at Ozar near Nashik forallegedly passing on “secret”information about Indian AirForce's (IAF) fighter aircrafts tothe Pakistani spy agency InterServices Intelligence (ISI).

Identifying the arrestedHAL official as one DeepakShirsat (41), the ATS officialssaid here on Friday that Shirsatworked at the HAL’s Ozar facil-ity that houses the AircraftManufacturing Division of thestate-owned aerospace anddefence company.

Shirsat was on Friday pro-duced before a competent courtwhich has remanded in policecustody for 10 days.

Acting on a reliable piece ofintelligence, the the NashikPolice, ATS, and MilitaryIntelligence had put the sus-pected HAL employee closewatch for the past several days.He was finally taken into cus-tody by the ATS three days ago.

Shirsat has been bookedfor an offence under sections 3,4 and 5 of the Official SecretsAct, 1923. “Three mobilehandsets with five SIM cardsand two memory cards havebeen seized from the accusedand the same are being sent

to the Forensic ScienceLaboratory for examination,”a senior ATS official said.

As per his social mediaprofile, Shirsat is a marriedman hailing from Jalgaon innorth Maharashtra. An alum-nus of Government PolytechnicPune, and GangapurMadhyamik Vidyalaya, he wasworking with HAL as a QCInspector.

Informed ATS sources saidthat the sustained interrogationof the arrested accused hadrevealed that he was “in con-stant touch” of the ISI and “wassupplying the secret informa-tion about Indian fighter air-crafts and their sensitive details,along with the informationrelated to HindustanAeronautics Ltd. (HAL), theaircraft manufacturing Unit atOzar, Nashik, the airbase andthe prohibited areas inside themanufacturing Unit to the ISI”.

The secret operation wascarried out and accomplishedunder the overall supervision ofMaharashtra’s AdditionalDirector General of Police andATS Chief Deven Bharti.

Investigations haverevealed the arrested accused

was allegedly passing on doc-uments, photographs, mapswith the longitude-latitudemarkings of the defence-relat-ed facilities here, via WhatsAppand other modes of commu-nication.

While Deven Bharti head-ed the operation, the promi-nent senior police officials par-ticipated in the operationwereDIG Shri JayantNaiknavre, SP Shri.Ravindrasingh Pardeshi andDCP Dr. Vinaykumar Rathodby ACP Sunil Yadav, PIMahadev Waghmode, APIsSandip Ghuge, PratimaJoglekar, Ekshinge and PSISanap.

Meanwhile, HALspokesperson Gopal Sutardeclined comment, saying: “Asthe investigation is on we haveno comments to offer.”

Located 200 kms awayfrom Mumbai, the HALAircraft ManufacturingDivision at Ozar in Nashik dis-trict manufactures MiG vari-ants MiG-21 M, MiG21 BIS,MiG 27 M and Su-30 MKI forthe Indian Air Force.

The HAL Ozar facility isthe mainstay for Russian-originaircraft in terms of life exten-sion, modifications, site repairsand investigations. It alsoexports MiG spares to Egypt,Syria, Vietnam, Malaysia,Algeria, Poland andRussia.

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Bengaluru: Karnataka ChiefMinister BS Yediyurappa onFriday appealed to the peoplenot to pay heed to the specula-tion about reopening of schoolsamid the coronavirus scare.

In a statement, Yediyurappasaid there has been debate infavour of and against thereopening of schools and he hasalso seen the debate on the topicin the media about it. Besides,political leaders too haveexpressed their views, he added.

Before opening the schools,meetings will be held regardingthe pros and cons with thepolitical leaders, experts andsenior officials to arrive at adecision, the Chief Minister

said.“Till then, I appeal to the

parents not to heed to thespeculations regarding theopening of schools and I appealto the media to spread aware-ness about it,” Yediyurappa saidin the statement.

Earlier, Karnataka Primaryand Secondary EducationMinister S Suresh Kumar toohad reiterated that there was nohurry to start the schools.

“Neither our governmentnor the Department ofEducation is rushing to openschools under any circum-stances. The health and safetyof our children is very impor-tant to us,” Kumar said in aFacebook post. PTI

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Srinagar: As many as 636more persons tested coron-avirus positive in Jammu andKashmir on Friday, taking theactive cases to 11,144.

The Information andPublic Relations Departmentsaid 263 new cases were report-ed in Jammu division and 373in Kashmir division. The totalcorona cases in the UnionTerritory are 82,429.

Of the total, 69,979 patientshave recovered whereas 1,306succumbed to the dreadedvirus, including 15 who died onFriday. Of the active cases,4,989 are from Jammu divisionand 6,155 from Kashmir divi-sion. IANS

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Page 6: ˇˆ · 1 day ago  · is the land version of subma-rine launched K-15 missile. Officials rate Shaurya as one of the top 10 missiles in the world in its class with its high performance

Pakistan was born to aregressive, exclusivist andinstinctively interferingidea that has pandered toreligiosity as a central

tenet. This has over time pushed itsfate towards the slippery slope ofrevisionism and medievalism.While the success of the secular“idea of India” and the indepen-dence of Bangladesh ought to haveconclusively trashed the flawed“two-nation theory,” Pakistan hasoddly accelerated its puritanicalimpulses towards unprecedentedlevels. From civilian Governmentsto military men, all have conced-ed ground to the mullahs, extrem-ist ideologies and even terrororganisations. A so-called liberallike Zulfikar Bhutto was responsi-ble for declaring Ahmadis as “non-Muslims,” a career soldier likeGeneral Zia-ul-Haq ushered inShariaisation, Benazir Bhutto’sInterior Minister Nasrullah Babarwas responsible for creating theTaliban and so on. Each and everyleader tried to run with the hareand hunt with the hound, thinkingthat they could manage and mis-use religious passion for their ownadvantage but like the proverbialgenie that once unleashed cannotrevert, Pakistan is now combustingfrom within. Yet, it refuses toacknowledge and renege from thedangerous games of its past and theresult is the Frankensteinian mon-ster of religious extremism.

Pakistan’s exposed infamy asthe “terror nursery” explains theongoing tryst with the FinancialAction Task Force (FATF), whereit stands to be black/grey listed forits sovereign stand on money laun-dering and terror financing. As perFATF findings till now, Pakistan has“strategic deficiencies” that barelymask its indefensible reputation formisadventures in Afghanistan,India, Iran, Middle Eastern swathesto now even in the latest flashpoint,Azerbaijan. Former Commander ofUS forces in Afghanistan,Lieutenant-General JohnNicholson, had complained aboutPakistan’s incorrigibility by stating,“We have been very direct and veryclear with the Pakistanis... we havenot seen those changes imple-mented yet.” He had unambiguous-ly added that the Pakistani estab-lishment was harbouring “agents of chaos.” Typically, Pakistandenied the accusations and attrib-uted all wrongdoings to what it haspatently and conveniently called

“non-State actors”. The concep-tual formulation of “non-Stateactors” offers it an implausibleopportunity of official deniabil-ity as Pakistan’s duplicity on ter-ror has got firmly established;hence the FATF proceedings.The slamming observation andwarning to Pakistan by the thenSecretary of State, HillaryClinton, that the “snakes inyour backyard won’t bite onlyneighbours”, has gone expected-ly unheeded as the foundation-al spirit underlying the nationjustifies its routine dalliances inthe inappropriate name of reli-gion. It is almost as if the inter-nal problems of other nations arethe necessary “bind” that keepsthe fractured and restivePakistan going. And Azerbaijanis its latest expression and foray.

As the bloody war betweenAzerbaijan and Armenia esca-lates in the breakaway region ofNagorno-Karabakh, it collater-ally galvanises foreign powers tointervene militarily in order topursue their own selfish agenda.Unfortunately, this war in theerstwhile region of Union ofSoviet Socialist Republics(USSR) has an unmistakableangularity of religion, where aChristian Armenia is pittedagainst a predominantly MuslimAzerbaijan. This opens the win-dow to a neighbouring Turkeyto establish its quest as the new“leader” of the Ummah (displac-ing the Arab Sheikhdoms) andto perpetuate its historical ani-mus with Armenians. Turkeyunder Recep Tayyip Erdoganfancies itself as the sole power

that hasn’t “succumbed” to Israel(towards the rapprochementand normalcy of ties of TelAviv with Abu Dhabi, Bahrainand by default, even Riyadh).This intra-Ummah struggle hasseen Turkey tactically champi-oning Kashmir even as Pakistan’shistorical allies like Saudi Arabiaand United Arab Emirates havestarted showing disinterest insuch pitches. The fight for lead-

ership is so intense that SaudiArabia has called for an embar-go on Turkish products andstopped further aid to cash-strapped Pakistan. BeyondChina, today it is only Turkeythat is supporting Pakistan atmulti-lateral forums. So it is crit-ical for Pakistan to reciprocateand curry favour with Ankara toconsolidate its new-found andonly ally (beyond Beijing). Insiding with Azerbaijan, Pakistankills three birds with one stoneas it remains consistentlyinvolved in others’ matters, rec-iprocates by backing Turkeyand can claim religious contextfor its action.

Officially, Pakistan denies anyinvolvement in Azerbaijan, as italways does. However, thePakistani Foreign Office leavesno doubt about its position inthe conflict when it says, “inten-sive shelling by Armenian forceson Azerbaijan’s civilian popula-tion is reprehensible and mostunfortunate” but denies sendingPakistani troops to fight along-side the Turkish and Azeri sol-diers. Tellingly, Azerbaijan’sPresident, Ilham Aliyev, thankedboth Turkey and Pakistan fortheir support in the fight againstArmenian forces.

There is a tell-tale Pakistanipattern to external interferencesthat over time justifies and legit-imises its own misadventures toitself. A key component of thatstrategy is what it ostensibly calls“non-State actors.” As early as1947-48, it sent tribal lashkar(militia) from Waziristan tocapture Kashmir even as it

denied any official patronage. Itsmilitary doctrine to “bleed Indiawith a thousand cuts” is from thesame fount. Later in the Kargilwar also, it was the infiltrationof Pakistani military regulars inthe guise of local Kashmiris thathad been publicly opposed. Theunconvincing cover of Pakistaniinvolvement in foreign war the-atres like Afghanistan and Kargilwas later blown by self-goals bynone less than former Generalslike Hamid Gul, Ashraf Rashidand even former President,Pervez Musharraf.

Pakistan is a past master inarranging “mercenaries” or“non-State actors” that partakein operations at the behest of itsestablishment, and the com-ment of the Armenian DeputyForeign Minister, Avet Adonts,that “we can’t exclude the pos-sibility” of Pakistani wherewith-al, is so familiar and repetitive.But as usual, Pakistan is playinga dangerously high stakes gameof realpolitik where a lot moreis loaded against it this time.Despite earning internationalnotoriety as an unreliable part-ner in the global “war on terror,”the foundational flaw of thenation is too deep-rooted, exis-tential and regime-sustaining towarrant any course correction.Though in the Azerbaijan-Armenia theatre, it may perhapsbite more than what many of itstraditional supporters them-selves will tolerate any further, letalone the rest of the world.

(The writer, a military veter-an, is a former Lt Governor ofAndaman & Nicobar Islands)

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*�������������������� �������+>$&�����������������+�������������������������� �������������������������������������������� �����6����&�>��������;@����<� �������=>$������������������������ ��������� ������������+>$��������������������������� ����*����,����������������������������������+>$&�+(������������ �������� ��������� ����������������(����������������������A������������+>$��������� ����������� ������(���������� �������*)���������������������������������������������������1B�������+����&�������������������������$������������������������ ������=>$����� ����+�� ������� ��������������("��������)���������������������� ���������������+������������������������������>���)�����������������+�������������*������������������*)&����������������������(��������������������������=>$��������������������������������� ������� ��+�������������������������������=���&����#������?������������������������������� ������������������ �)�� ��������*�������������������������������� ������� �������������������������#�����������������������������������+���������� ������������������������ �������������������������������������&����������������������� �������������*������������������ ������������������������� ����������������&�����(�� ��������������������������������������������������������� �����������������$�����>�����������������+��� ��������������������������������+����������#��������������������������������������������!>��*��������������� �������������������������=>$����������� (��� ������������������������ ��������� ���������������������������������������@���$��������$�������������������2������)$��������������������������*�������������� �����������������������������������������������4��� ����������������� ������������&����������������������� ���������4����������������������=>$���������������������+���������� ����(���������������C/������������������+>$��������+������$��������������� ������������������������������*�������������������������������������������������������������������� �$�����&������� �������������� ����� ��������������������������� ���������� ������������7������ ���������(���������������������#�+>$��������������������

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������������ ��Sir — The way the Uttar PradeshGovernment and a section of themedia is treating the Hathras caseis reprehensible. It is sad but truethat an all-out attempt is beingmade to blame the victim and herfamily for the cruel fate that befellthem. Canards are being peddledto make it appear that the fami-ly brought the tragedy uponitself. The attempt to malign thefamily is nothing but a deeperdescent into inhumanity. The ref-erence to the absence of semenand old healed wounds in the pri-vate parts, made in a vain bid toestablish that there was no rapeand protect the accused, hurts oursensibilities. And it is clear thatthe victim and her family areslandered to pervert the course ofjustice. The ill-concealed align-ment of the administration withthe upper caste section of thesociety explains the flat denial ofthe caste angle in this case. Thewoes of those at the receiving end,in the present instance the Dalitfamily in Hathras, are exacerbat-ed by the lack of institutionalintegrity and professional ethicson the part of those tasked withensuring justice.

G David MiltonMaruthancode

i����������������Sir — The Bombay High Courtrecently granted bail to RheaChakraborty, who was pro-nounced “guilty” by certain tele-vision channels for driving actorSushant Singh Rajput to suicide,siphoning off his money anddealing in narcotic drugs. Thecourt observed that Chakrabortywas not guilty of any offence of

embezzlement of opium, exter-nal dealing in narcotic drugs andpsychotropic substances, financ-ing illicit traffic and harbouringoffenders and/or any otheroffence involving commercialquantity.

However, numerous ques-tions arise from the drama thatsurrounded the false murdercase. The most unfortunateaspect being the wastage of pre-

cious time and resources by theinvestigating agencies to delveinto a case which had been con-structed on speculation, allega-tions and wild imagination. It isnecessary that the Governments,both the Centre and the State,show maturity and rise abovepartisan political considerationsin dealing with such complaints.

Haridasan RajanKozhikode

�������������Sir — Products made by womenself-help groups (SHGs) inKarnataka could be providedwith a wider market as com-merce giant Amazon hasexpressed interest in enablingthem to sell their products to cus-tomers across India. There areabout 1.5 lakh SHGs in theState, all engaged in the produc-tion of various products. It wouldgive an impetus to the market ifthese products are enabled to sellthrough the e-commerce plat-form.

Amit Singh KushwahaSatna

���������� �Sir — Rather than helping theHathras gang-rape victim get jus-tice, some BJP politicians arebusy assassinating her character.This paints a grim picture ofIndian politics, where electedrepresentatives are trying to keepthe culture of caste dominancealive as their sole concern is tosave their vote banks.

MN Musaeed Mumbai

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Small business enterprises are given purchasepreference quota in procurement byGovernment and Public Sector Undertakings

(PSUs), a pooled quota in bank credit and interestsubvention under some Government schemes.The Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs)were categorised, separately from the manufactur-ing and services sector, based on investment in plant,machinery and equipment under the MSMEDevelopment Act 2006 (MSMED Act). ManyMSMEs do not increase their investment for fear oflosing their tag and associated benefits. To addressthis concern, the definition of MSMEs was changedfrom July 1 this year.

By bringing an additional criterion of turnover,a business entity is now classified as a micro enter-prise if its investment is upto �1 crore and turnoveris upto �5 crore. The corresponding figures are �10crore and �50 crore for small and �50 crore and �250crore for medium enterprises. Earlier, the classifi-cation was only based on investment, with separateinvestment limits for manufacturing and service sec-tors. The exports turnover will be excluded fromreckoning for the qualifying turnover to encourageMSMEs to export more without losing their statustag and associated benefits.

The 73rd round of the National Sample Survey2015-16 (NSS) estimated that there were 6.34 croreMSMEs (6.30 crore micro, 3.31 lakh small and 5,000medium enterprises) employing 11.10 crore people.By January, only 86.11 lakh MSMEs had availed thefacility of online, self certification-based, paperlessregistration on the MSME Ministry’s Udyog,Aadhaar, Memorandum portal. About 60 per centare in the service sector and 40 per cent in manu-facturing. After the revised classification from July1, many erstwhile large business enterprises have alsonow become medium and medium have becomesmall enterprises and so on. So 99 per cent busi-ness enterprises are MSMEs and 99 per centMSMEs are micro enterprises. What is the signifi-cance and implication of this change? MSMEs com-plain of payment delays resulting in liquidity prob-lems. Section 15-24 of the MSMED Act stipulatesa 45-day time limit on payment to Small and MicroEnterprises (SMEs). On delayed payment of dues,the debtor is liable to pay interest at three times thebank rate notified by the RBI, compounded month-ly. Under the Atmanirbhar package, in May theGovernment ordered all departments and PSUs toclear all pending MSME dues within 45 days ofacceptance of supplies. In July, departments wereasked to pay penal interest of one per cent per monthon delayed payments. The dispensation applied toall MSMEs, including medium enterprises that werenot entitled to legal remedy under the MSMED Act.

On May 14, the MSME Ministry’s Samadhaanwebsite, an online delayed payment monitoring sys-tem for settlement of disputes by affected SMEs, list-ed pending claims of �40,720 crore. Of this, 11.6 percent were claims from the Central Government. BySeptember 30, the outstanding amount on theSamadhaan portal had substantially come down to�12,598 crore (37,520 cases) despite an increase inthe number of SMEs from July 1 --- StateGovernments (�2,349 crore/3,546 applications),Central PSUs (�2,172 crore/2,211 applications), StatePSUs (�1,573 crore/1,355 applications) and propri-etorship firms (�852 crore/6,483 applications).

The amount shown on the Samadhaan portaldoes not seem to reflect the true picture of the MSME

working capital distress. The amount isinsignificant in comparison to the totalcontribution of MSMEs in the economy(GDP of about �44.5 lakh crore as con-tributed by MSMEs in 2016-17).

The MSME Minister had informed inMay that outstanding payments toMSMEs totalled about �5 lakh crore. Mereexclusion of medium enterprises fromaccess to the Samadhaan portal can’texplain the big gap in figures. Probablymany SMEs are reluctant to escalatetheir payment delays for fear of reprisalslike denial of future orders or fault-find-ing in supplies. Or because they are mere-ly outsourcing arms set up by large busi-ness units, unable to bite the hand thatfeeds it. Hence, there is no reliable data onactual distress caused by stalled payments.

Bill discounting offers a solution to theproblem of stalled cash flows to MSMEs.There are Trade Receivables DiscountingSystem (TReDS) platforms for MSMEs toauction their trade receivables throughonline bidding. Multiple financiers buytheir undisputed invoices at a discount.While the financier can wait for paymentclearance, the MSME gets the discount-ed value of invoices upfront. In 2018, theMSME Ministry had mandated all CPSUsand all corporates with a turnover exceed-ing �500 crore to be on-board TReDS plat-forms. However, many corporates are notyet registered on these.

By delaying even the acknowledge-ment of their liability to pay, they areavoiding giving a handle to MSMEs todrag defaulting buyers before insolvencycourts. The recent changes in theInsolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC)have limited the scope of small operationalvendors to trigger insolvency proceedingsand a pause/stop button is in place on freshdefaults since March 25 for six months,extendable to one year. The Atmanirbharpackage of May included the Emergency

Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS),a �3 lakh crore window of collateral-freeloans to MSMEs. Banks could extend anextra 20 per cent outstanding loan to cred-itworthy MSMEs having non-NPAaccounts with Government guarantee. Thefour-year tenure loans carry a 12-monthmoratorium on principal repayment anda cap on interest rates, 9.25 per cent forbanks and 14 per cent for Non-BankingFinancial Companies (NBFCs). The scopeof the ECLGS was later enlarged toinclude even non-MSME business entities,retailers and individual borrowers, propri-etorships, partnerships, registered firms,trusts, limited liability partnerships andinterested borrowers under the PradhanMantri Mudra Yojana, who are now eli-gible for ECLGS. By September 29, bankshad sanctioned loans of about �1.86 lakhcrore to 50 lakh business entities and dis-bursed �1,32,246 crore to over 27 lakhentities under the ECLGS.

MSME registration is voluntary. Onlyabout 86 lakh MSMEs are registered whilethere were 633 lakh MSMEs as per a 2015-16 survey estimate. Just like unorganisedlabour, a majority of the MSMEs are notregistered with the Government. Notbeing on the radar of the Governmenthelps the “informal economy” to dodgeGovernment regulations, some of whichare indeed outdated and burdensome.They want Government help but are waryof getting registered with it. Many MSMEsdon’t register out of ignorance of benefitsor the assessment that the risks of gettingentangled with the Government are morethan the benefits of registration. Thoughit enables better support, registrationleads to anxiety about formalisation andpossible Government overreach. ForMSMEs, getting relief from theGovernment without registering is notpossible because the latter is accountableto keep a record of who has been helped

and by how much. The MSME sectorneeds increased formalisation and digital-isation to get more commercial creditthrough digital lending. Under such a sys-tem, the sales and payments are record-ed through digital payments and invoic-ing systems, which give the bankers reli-able data on sales/turnover and help in thegeneration of a better credit history.Loans can be substituted with customisedcredit cards for better transaction levelcontrols with links to the Goods andServices Tax (GST) system and logisticsservice providers for control on mortgagedinventories. Digital technology can takecare of a lot of ills of the past. Even bankshave to look out for high quality borrow-ers, so digital lending is a win-win for bothbankers and borrowers. The Governmenthas offered a rather hassle-free registra-tion facility. May be there is a case for giv-ing automatic MSME registration toECLGS beneficiaries and GST-registeredvendors. Of course, Aadhaar-based veri-fication would be a must because there arereports of splitting of businesses to bringthem within the lower tax threshold.

The Government expects businessesto become responsible, take care of pub-lic safety, employees, the environment andpay taxes. The Government would beemboldened to deregulate if self-regula-tion by businesses improves. The pace ofderegulation is slow only because mis-deeds of some keep the logic of regulationalive. An attempt should be made fromboth sides to address the mutual concernson why there is low registration. Maybethere is a case for the Government allow-ing a limited period of regulatory forbear-ance and amnesty to erstwhile unregis-tered MSMEs. Without registering, reliefwould be slow and difficult to come by.

(The writer is a retired IAAS officer andformer Special Secretary, Ministry ofCommerce and Industry.)

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Ahead of October 10, that is cel-ebrated as World Mental HealthDay, there is a spurt in discus-

sions on mental well-being across theworld. However, the focus is mostly oncelebrities, rich people or privilegedstudents dealing with depression oranxiety. No one talks about the men-tal health of the poor. Underlying thisselective outrage is a rationalisation thatpoverty, failure, violence and hardshipsin life may cause depression, anxietydisorders or other psychological prob-lems.

Sadly, in a Corona-affected India,no one has seen how sex workers andsurvivors of human trafficking havesuffered trauma through the lock-downs and even after. Quite falsely,

some aid organisations and NGOshave inferred that this trauma is dueto lack of shelter homes for survivors.

The nationwide lockdown fromMarch triggered one set of challenges— of people without ration andAadhaar cards or bank accounts notgetting rations or cash transfers.Survivors of trafficking are high amongthis group since they often lose theiridentities in the process of being soldor even after being rescued. For exam-ple, survivors of trafficking in Bengal,who were rescued from Delhi,Maharashtra or Goa, reported that noone had provided them with anyidentity papers when they had beenrescued, put into shelter homes foryears and repatriated back home.

Vimukthi, a sex workers’ group inAndhra Pradesh, has been pleading forthe attention of the State Governmentfor rations and welfare services. It tookthe AP State AIDS Control Society(APSACS) months to verify identities,until the Supreme Court ordered theState to ensure accessibility to food forsex workers.

Saans, a group of survivors oflabour trafficking in the brick kiln sec-tor from Chhattisgarh, reported the

distress suffered when captive labour-ers in the kilns were left to fend forthemselves post the lockdown and theyreceived little or no support whilereturning home. Meanwhile, the lock-down also led to identification and res-cue of children and adolescents fromBihar, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Bengalthrough ingenuous sting operationsand intel-mining by non profits suchas Mission Rescue Operation andMission Mukti Foundation, start-upsthat specialise in investigations on traf-ficking.

In the midst of lockdowns, quar-antines, stranded migrants, inactivechild welfare committees and anti-human trafficking units, the police andNGOs managed to return survivors totheir families.

As usual there were no services toaddress the panic, fear, trauma and dis-tress of survivors. This is becauseactivists and NGOs working on men-tal health mostly prioritise workingwith populations in residential insti-tutions and their suffering in poorinstitutional care, their stigma andexclusion by families and the State.Many of them have also taken upworking with the homeless mentally ill,

who live on the streets in absolute dis-tress.

However, communities such as sexworkers, trafficked people, drug usersand trans-people, who are particular-ly vulnerable to psychological distress,have been peripheral in dialoguespaces or policy engagement process-es. The terms “psychosocial coun-selling” and “psychosocial counsellors”are commonly used by NGOs and bygovernments in policies when it comesto recovery of survivors of human traf-ficking. This happened in the late 90s,when activists believed that not all sur-vivors of trafficking are clinicallydepressed, or ill and may not requireclinical services.

Recovery was understood to be aset of services that would help a traf-ficked person, often an adolescent oryoung adult, find safe spaces in shel-ter homes, be offered group coun-selling or individual counselling whereeach could be helped to assimilate whathe/she had been through and emergeresilient and work for rehabilitation. Ifthe person showed any clinical symp-toms, such as violence, self-harm,suicide attempts, then the personcould be taken to a psychiatrist for

medication. So mental health assess-ment was largely done only throughobservation by people not trained todo so (activists, CWC chairpersons,judges, or magistrates). The under-standing of trauma was largely asso-ciated with violence and withdrawal.In the last three decades, this under-standing has not been challengeddespite clinical research showing thatsurvivors of human trafficking sufferdysthymia (a condition of chronicdepression and anxiety disorders)even after having gone through reha-bilitation services in shelter homes.Even today, they are not tested forPTSD to check trauma symptoms anddecide the need for therapeutic andrecovery services.

The approach of NGOs hiringsocial work graduates, or people whohave done diploma courses on basiccounselling, expecting them to be ableto respond to PTSD suffered by peo-ple who have experienced sexual vio-lence, physical torture, confinementand multiple betrayals in their child-hood and adolescence, is a severe over-expectation. While many of theseNGOs may even be aware of this andspeak about their limitations of salary,

or recruitment of people with training,the alternative of helping survivorsaccess therapy from senior and estab-lished therapists has not emerged.That’s because these shelters are run ona closed door policy, where survivorsare incarcerated and NGOs heldresponsible to keep them in custody.So any external mobility requires per-mission and is severely disapproved bythe judiciary or CWCs, bodies whichhave very little orientation on theimplications of incarceration on men-tal health of survivors of trafficking.

As the Ministry of Women andChild Development has been deter-mined to bring about legal reforms forprotection of human trafficking vic-tims, it would be worthwhile to con-sider how to correct the ills of some ofthe bad rehabilitation and recoverypractices that have proved to be inef-fective and expensive. The recommen-dations that have emerged from theexperience of survivors of traffickingare: Ensure PTSD testing and mentalhealth assessments for all survivors.Recovery services must be based ondiagnosis. Quell the myth that psycho-logical distress can be diagnosed by laypeople.

Restrict the periods of stay for sur-vivors in shelter homes to not morethan three-six months. The law andpolicies should shift the focus to com-munity-based rehabilitation approach-es. The law should define rehabilitationand recovery. Disband the currentmyth that incarcerating survivors inshelters or returning them home with-out any services for their rehabilitationmeans reintegration. Provide commu-nity-based social workers to supportsurvivors’ access to health services atlocal hospitals and clinics.

Rescue, institutionalisation andrepatriation may not be feasible for allsurvivors of human trafficking. Forexample, a person trafficked fordomestic labour ten years ago, whosince then has escaped the traffickers,may still be suffering from the traumat-ic impact of trafficking, but may notneed to be institutionalised or returnedback to his/her native village. Mentalhealth services, both clinical and com-munity-based approaches, need to bemade available to all vulnerable groupssuch as sex workers, substance-usersand survivors of trafficking.

(The writer is a researcher, facili-tator and an activist)

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Washington: Days after return-ing to the White House afterbeing treated for Covid-19,US President Donald Trumphas expressed his willingness tohold rallies for the presidentialelections, with his doctor say-ing he is “safe” to return to pub-lic life on Saturday.

Trump, 74, and First LadyMelania tested positive forCovid-19 last week. The pres-ident was taken to a militaryhospital for treatment, whichthe White House said wastaken as a “matter of abun-dance caution”.

After spending four days,he came back to the WhiteHouse on Monday. His doctorssay he has had no fever sincelast Friday.

In a memorandum issuedon Thursday night, WhiteHouse physician Dr Sean

Conley said, “Today, the pres-ident completed his course oftherapy for Covid-19 as pre-scribed by his team of physi-cians.”

Since returning home, hisphysical exam has remainedstable and devoid of any indi-cations to suggest progressionof illness. Overall he's respond-ed extremely well to treat-ment, without evidence onexamination of adverse thera-peutic effects, he wrote in thememo.

“Saturday will be day 10since Thursday's diagnosis, andbased on the trajectory ofadvanced diagnostics the teamhas been conducting, I fullyanticipate the president's safereturn to public engagements atthat time,” Dr Conley said.

In an interview to FoxNews, Trump said that he was

feeling good and was lookingforward to rallies.

“I'm feeling good. Reallygood. I mean, perfect. Andwe're ready to go. I'm ready togo except the quarantine situ-ation that you have for a littlewhile after you get tested orwhatever the procedure is. ButI'm ready to do -- and I'm look-ing forward to doing the ral-lies,” he said.

“I would love to do a rallytonight. I wanted to do one lastnight. But I think I'm better toa point that I feel better than Idid, I jokingly said 20 yearsago... I had a case. I got itknocked out. I think it wasRegeneron that was responsi-ble for it. Because of that, it wassort of like almost a gift fromheaven because of what I wentthrough, and I felt pretty lousy,”Trump said. PTI

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Beijing: China on Friday claimedthat the coronavirus broke out inthe various parts of the world lastyear but it was the only one to havereported and acted first, refutingthe widely-held view that thedeadly contagion originated inWuhan before turning out to be apandemic.

China, besides denying theUS allegations that Covid-19 hasemerged from a bio-lab in Wuhan,also rejected that it emanatedfrom a wet market in the centralChinese city from bats or pan-golins before infecting humans.

Chinese Foreign Ministryspokesperson Hua Chunying tolda media briefing that “the coron-avirus is a new kind of virus asmore and more facts emerge asreports reveal, we all know that theepidemic broke out in variousplaces in the world at the end oflast year, while China was the firstto report the outbreak, identifiedthepathogen and shared thegenome sequence with the world.”

Hua's comments came inresponse to US Secretary of State

Mike Pompeo's allegations of acover-up by the ruling CommunistParty of China (CPC).

The coronavirus crisis wasinfinitely made worse by theChinese Communist Party's cover-up, Pompeo had said in Tokyo atthe QUAD ministerial meeting ofthe US, India, Australia and Japanon Tuesday.

The Chinese Foreign Ministrystatement was made as the WorldHealth Organisation (WHO) wasgearing up to probe the origin ofthe deadly coronavirus.

According to Johns HopkinsCoronavirus Resource Center, thecontagion has infected over 36 mil-lion people and killed more than1 million across the world. The USis the worst affected country withover 7.6 million cases and morethan 2,12,000 deaths. China hasreported 90,736 cases and 4,739deaths due to Covid-19.

The WHO has given to Beijinga list of global experts to be sentto China to probe the origin of thecoronavirus, Hong Kong-basedSouth China Morning Post report-ed on Thursday. The WHO is

awaiting its approval.In May, the annual meeting of

the World Health Assembly(WHA), the Geneva-basedWHO's decision-making bodycurrently headed by India, passeda unanimous resolution to probethe origin of the virus. China alsobacked the resolution.

In August, a two-memberteam from the WHO, which vis-ited China, completed the ground-work for the probe into the animalsource and reservoirs of the Covid-19 which first emerged in Wuhanin December last year.

On Monday, WHO healthemergencies programme executivedirector Mike Ryan told a specialmeeting of the organisation's exec-utive board that “a list of candi-dates has been submitted to theChinese authorities for their con-sideration and for the next steps inorder to deploy that team”.

Hua, while refuting Pompeo'scharge of a cover-up, said that ahigh-level group of Chinese sci-entists first identified the person-to-person transmission due tocoronavirus on January 19. PTI

Washington: President Donald Trumpis increasingly at odds with AttorneyGeneral William Barr over the status ofthe Justice Department's investigationinto the origin of the Russia probe, withthe president increasingly critical abouta lack of arrests and Barr frustrated byTrump's public pronouncements aboutthe case, according to people familiarwith the matter.

Trump and his allies had highhopes for the investigation led byConnecticut U.S. Attorney JohnDurham, betting it would expose whatthey see as wrongdoing when the FBIopened a case into whether the Trumpcampaign was coordinating with Russiato sway the 2016 election.

Trump has also pushed to tieprominent Obama administration offi-cials to that effort as part of his cam-paign against Joe Biden, who was serv-ing as vice president at the time.

But a year and a half into the inves-tigation, and with less than one monthuntil Election Day, there has been onlyone criminal case: a former FBI lawyerwho pleaded guilty to altering a gov-

ernment email about a former Trumpcampaign adviser who was a target ofsecret FBI surveillance.

With time running out for pre-elec-tion action on the case, Trump isincreasingly airing his dissatisfaction intweets and television appearances. Barr,meanwhile, has privately expressedfrustration over the public comments,according to a person familiar with histhinking.

It's not dissimilar to a situation ear-lier this year, when Trump complainedpublicly that he believed ally RogerStone was getting a raw deal in his pros-ecution, even as Barr had alreadymoved to amend a sentencing positionof the prosecutors in the case.

Despite Trump's unhappiness,there's no indication Barr's job is at riskin the final weeks of the campaign.

Still, the tensions between Trumpand the attorney general over the fateof the probe underscore the extent towhich the president is aggressively try-ing to use all of the levers of his powerto gain ground in an election that hasbeen moving away from him. AP

Moscow: Russia moved to stop theworst escalation of fighting in the sep-aratist region of Nagorno-Karabakh inmore than a quarter-century by offer-ing to host cease-fire talks on Friday.Late Thursday, Russian PresidentVladimir Putin issued a statement call-ing for a break in the fighting betweenthe Armenian and Azerbaijani forcesthat have raged for nearly two weeksover the region.

The Kremlin said Putin''s initiativefollowed a series of calls with ArmenianPrime Minister Nikol Pashinian andAzerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.

The latest outburst of fightingbetween Azerbaijani and Armenianforces began September 27 and markedthe biggest escalation of the decades-oldconflict over Nagorno-Karabakh.

The region lies in Azerbaijan buthas been under control of ethnicArmenian forces backed by Armeniasince the end of a separatist war in 1994.

The Kremlin said Putin proposedcalling a cease-fire to exchange pris-oners and collect the bodies of dead sol-

diers, adding that the top Azerbaijaniand Armenian diplomats were invitedto Moscow for consultations.

The Russian Foreign Ministry saidthey confirmed their attendance Friday,but there was no immediate commentfrom Armenia or Azerbaijan to theRussian initiative. Azerbaijani officialsand Nagorno-Karabakh separatistauthorities said heavy shelling contin-ued overnight.

Fighting with heavy artillery, war-planes and drones has engulfedNagorno-Karabakh despite numerousinternational calls for a cease-fire. Bothsides have accused each other of tar-geting residential areas and civilianinfrastructure.

On Thursday, a historic cathedralin the town of Shusha in Nagorno-Karabakh came under shelling, a shellpiercing its dome and damaging theinterior. No one was hurt in the attack,but hours later more shelling wound-ed two Russian journalists inspectingthe damage.

The Azerbaijani military deniedtargeting the cathedral. AP

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More than 1,800 studentsand staff from universities

across the north-east ofEngland, currently undertougher localised lockdowns,tested positive for coronavirusover the past week.

Newcastle University said1,003 students and 12 membersof staff were confirmed to havebeen infected with coronavirusin the past week, comparedwith 94 last Friday. AtNorthumbria University, therewere also 619 new cases andDurham University confirmed219 cases in students in the lastweek.

Most universities are plan-ning to switch to online teach-ing for at least three weeks,except in cases where in-personlessons are essential.

Newcastle University said“the overwhelming majorityof cases” were from “socialand residential settings” and

said appropriate measures werebeing taken to protect everyoneon campus.

“We expected to see casesrise in light of the increase incases both locally and nation-ally and all HE (higher educa-tion) institutions have to man-age this on an ongoing basis,”a spokesperson said.

“We feel confident that wehave appropriate measures inplace to protect us all while weare on campus and to reducethe potential for transmissionin our community,” thespokesperson said. DurhamUniversity has asked studentsliving in two colleges to remainon campus for the next weekfollowing the sharp rise incases and NorthumbriaUniversity said it was “contin-uing to make extensive efforts”to provide support for its self-isolating students with onlineconcierge services or foodparcels delivered by staff andthe students' union.

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Asecurity official inEthiopia's Western

Benishangul-Gumuz regionsays an attack this week killed14 civilians and security forceskilled 14 militia members.

This is the latest deadlymilitia attack in the region. Twoearlier attacks in recent weeksreportedly killed several dozenpeople.The head of security forthe region, Gashu Dugaz, con-firmed the new attack inDangur district and said eightpeople were receiving medicalcare for injuries.

He said one victim was aforeigner but did not give moredetails.

In a statement onThursday, Gashu said twoattackers were captured aliveand five Kalashnikovs wereseized.

Ethiopian troops andmembers of the federal andregional police are currentlydeployed in the region nearEthiopia's massive Grand

Ethiopian RenaissanceDam. Some parts of theregion are under a militarycommand post following theattacks.

Beijing: China has officiallyjoined the World HealthOrganization's (WHO) COVAXalliance to equitably distributeCovid-19 vaccines around theglobe, ending speculation thatit wants to supply them on itsown to developing countries forits diplomatic agenda.

According to the WHO,countries should join theCOVID-19 Vaccine GlobalAccess Facility (COVAXFacility) by September 18 butnot later than October 9 with

upfront payments.“On October 8, China and

Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance,signed an agreement, officiallyjoining COVAX,” ChineseForeign Ministry spokesper-son Hua Chunying said in astatement on Friday.

“This is an important stepChina has taken to uphold theconcept of a shared communi-ty of health for all and to hon-our its commitment to turnCovid-19 vaccines into a glob-al public good,” she said, appar-

ently refuting reports that Chinaplans to distribute the vaccinesto developing countries on itsown ahead of developed coun-tries. WHO announced inAugust that “172 economies arenow engaged in discussions topotentially participate inCOVAX, a global initiativeaimed at working with vaccinemanufacturers to provide coun-tries worldwide equitable accessto safe and effective vaccines,once they are licensed andapproved”. PTI

Berlin: A Berlin district has ordered a local Korean group toremove a statue commemorating women used as sex slaves byJapan during World War II, saying Friday it goes beyond whathad been approved.

The issue of sex slaves, euphemistically called “comfortwomen,” has been a major source of friction between South Koreaand Japan, and the district's decision came after Japan expressedirritation about the statue depicting a woman sitting next to anempty chair. Stephan von Dassel, mayor of the central Mitte dis-trict, said permission had been given for the Korean organiza-tion to display a “peace statue” for one year, as a broad “state-ment against sexualized violence against women in armed con-flicts.” Instead, he said, the statue unveiled in late September“exclusively addresses the behavior of the Japanese army in WorldWar II.” “This has led to irritation in Japan on a national and locallevel and also in Berlin,” he said in a statement. AP

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Several thousand Catalan sep-aratists are protesting the

visit of Spanish King Felipe VIand Prime Minister PedroSánchez to Barcelona amid con-tinued tensions between therestive region and nationalauthorities.

Police set up roadblocksand heavily patrolled the streetsaround the train station wherethe monarch and prime minis-ter attended the Barcelona New

Economy Week innovationawards on Friday.

The visit by Spain's heads ofstate and government comes lessthan two weeks after Catalonia'sregional chief, Quim Torra, wasremoved from office by Spain'sSupreme Court. The court ruledhim unfit to hold office for hav-ing violated election laws whenhe refused to remove a bannerfrom public buildings support-ing imprisoned Catalan sepa-ratists during an official electioncampaign.

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The chair of the Commission on PresidentialDebates says it is not reconsidering shifting the

second debate from virtual back to in-person,despite a request from President Donald Trump'steam.

Frank Fahrenkopf told The Associated Press lateThursday that the nonpartisan group's decision wasnot going to be reversed. That means the seconddebate is probably not going to happen at all.

The commission decided to make the Oct. 15debate virtual after Trump tested positive for thecoronavirus. Fahrenkopf says the group wanted to“protect the health and safety of all involved” andthat the decision was guided by the advice of theCleveland Clinic, its heath partner for the 2020debates.

Trump's doctor, Navy Cdr. Sean Conley, saidin a letter Thursday evening that Trump would becleared to resume public activities Saturday, 10 daysafter his diagnosis.

Earlier Thursday, Trump balked at the virtualevent and said he wouldn't participate. Biden's cam-paign then said Biden would participate in a townhall hosted by ABC News on Oct. 15 instead.

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Tallahassee (US): A federaljudge has denied a motion toextend voter registration inFlorida even though a com-puter meltdown on the finalday of registration might haveprevented thousands ofpotential voters from takingpart in November's presiden-tial election.

In a 29-page ruling onFriday morning, U.S. DistrictCourt Judge Mark E. Walkersaid his decision was “anincredibly close call” butadded that “the state's inter-est in preventing chaos in itsalready precarious —andperennially chaotic — elec-tion outweighs the substantialburden imposed on the rightto vote.”

Walker noted the histor-ical problems the state seemsto have with elections.

“Notwithstanding thefact that cinemas across thecountry remain closed, some-how, I feel like I've seen thismovie before. Just shy of amonth from election day,with the earliest mail-in bal-lots beginning to be counted,Florida has done it again,”Walker wrote.

Florida had alreadyreopened its site for sevenhours on Tuesday, providinganother opportunity to peo-ple who weren't able to sub-mit their voter registrationsonline before Monday night'sdeadline. AP

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Adani Gas on Friday cutCNG and piped cooking

gas prices in various geo-graphical areas in sync with therecent reduction in natural gasrates.

Rates have been reduced inUttar Pradesh, Haryana andGujarat, the company said in astatement.

CNG price has beenreduced by Rs 1.75 per kg inKhurja in Uttar Pradesh to Rs52.60 and that of piped cook-ing gas (PNG) to Rs 25.72 percubic meter from Rs 26.83.

In Haryana’sMahendragarh and Faridabad,CNG price has been cut by Rs1.70 and Rs 1.60 per kg, respec-tively. The reduction inAhmedabad/ Vadodara areas inGujarat is Rs 1.31 per kg, thefirm said. “With the reductionin the already attractive CNGprices, consumers shall nowaccrue much higher savings ascompared to petrol and diesel(up to 50 per cent savings overpetrol in some GeographicalAreas),” Adani Gas Ltd (AGL)said.

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Bankers and financial expertson Friday hailed RBI’s pol-

icy, saying the decision to keepthe key repo rate unchanged isan accommodative approach tomanage inflation while keepinggrowth as target, amid the cur-rent economic conditions.

The Monetary PolicyCommittee (MPC) evaluateddomestic and global macro-economic and financial condi-tions and voted unanimously toleave the repo rate unchangedat 4 per cent, RBI GovernorShaktikanta Das said in his pol-icy statement for the bi-month-ly monetary policy review.

It also decided to contin-ue with the accommodativestance of monetary policy aslong as necessary – at least dur-ing the current financial yearand into the next year – torevive growth on a durable

basis and mitigate the impactof COVID-19, while ensuringthat inflation remains withinthe target going forward.

“Today’s policy statementby RBI is a perfect expositionof doing ‘whatever it takes’ torevive growth,” SBI chairmanDinesh Kumar Khara said in astatement.

Given the expectation ofinflation to stay elevated and aGDP contraction of 9.5 percent in 2020-21, RBI has donethe right thing by announcing“discretion-based” policyresponses rather than being“rule based”, he added.

Bank of India’s chief exec-utive A K Das said the retailand small business segmentswill also have better prospectsby measures, such as, rational-isation of risk weight for hous-ing loans, enhancement of reg-ulatory retail cap and co-lend-ing with NBFCs/HFCs.

Punjab National Bank’sMD and CEO S S MallikarjunaRao welcomed the Rs 1 lakhcrore targeted long term repooperations and said it will sup-port the economic growth.

Friday’s monetary policywas as aggressively accom-modative as possible withoutcutting the policy rate, saidAbheek Barua, ChiefEconomist, HDFC Bank.

“Given the stance, there isa significant probability of arate cut in February, if not inDecember itself as inflation, aswe expect, moderates. Has theRBI gone overboard in itseffort to support growth? Wethink not.

“These are unprecedenttimes and the Indian economy’srevival efforts are hobbled bythe lack of adequate fiscal sup-port. If monetary policy doeshave to do the heavy lifting, itcannot do it within the confines

of a conventional take-no-risksframework,” Barua said.

Siddhartha Sanyal, ChiefEconomist and Head –Research, Bandhan Bank said:”Steps such as larger quantumof OMOs and OMOs in stategovernment securities shouldoffer cheer for the bond mar-ket, while on-tap TLTRO andrationalization of risk weigh-tages of housing loans aremeaningful steps in the rightdirection. We continue toexpect discussion on rate cutsto be back on the table laterduring the year as inflationprints start softening.”

The Reserve Bank in itspolicy statement said it is readyto conduct market operationsto assuage pressures arisingout of it and dispel any illiq-uidity in financial markets.

“The monetary policyannouncement is overall pos-itive and growth oriented. The

RBI Governor has rightly men-tioned that focus must be onreviving the economy.Accordingly, the accommoda-tive stance was as expected. TheRBI’s assurance on maintainingcomfortable liquidity condi-tions will assure the markets, atthe same time enable the gov-ernment to go ahead with itsborrowing programmesmoothly,” said Padmaja

Chunduru, MD & CEO,Indian Bank. The policy mea-sures recognize the growthrisk the economy faces and theimperativeness of providingliquidity for growth, said R KGurumurthy, Head – Treasury,Lakshmi Vilas Bank.

“The decision to hold ratessteady would also help to pro-tect net interest margin (NIM)of banks as a majority of theloan book is linked to the repoor other floating benchmarks,”Gurumurthy said.

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India’s top oil and gas pro-ducer ONGC on Friday said

it is losing Rs 6,000-7,000 croreon natural gas business after thegovernment-mandated ratesfor the fuel dropped to a decadelow. The Government-man-dated rates are way below thecost of production of USD3.5-3.7 per million British ther-mal unit, Oil and Natural GasCorp (ONGC) Director(Finance) Subhash Kumar said.

Every dollar reduction ingas price leads to a revenue lossof about Rs 5,200 crore and aRs 3,500 crore on profit. “Ourlosses will be in the order of Rs6,000-7,000 crore in current fis-cal,” he said. ONGC has beenincurring losses on the 65 mil-lion standard cubic meters perday of gas it produces fromdomestic fields after the gov-ernment in November 2014introduced a new gas pricingformula that had “inherentlimitations” as it was based onpricing hubs of gas surpluscountries such as the US,Canada, and Russia.

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The country’s foreignexchange reserves rose by

USD 3.618 billion to reach alife-time high of USD 545.638billion in the week endedOctober 2, 2020, the RBI datashowed.

In the previous weekended September 25, thereserves had declined by USD3.017 billion to USD 542.021billion. During the reportingweek, the increase in forexkitty was on account of rise inforeign currency assets (FCA),a major component of the

overall reserves. FCA increasedby USD 3.104 billion to USD503.046 billion in the weekended October 2, the datashowed.

Expressed in dollar terms,the foreign currency assetsinclude the effect of apprecia-tion or depreciation of non-USunits like the euro, pound andyen held in the foreignexchange reserves. Goldreserves were up by USD 486million in the reporting week toUSD 36.486 billion, the RBIdata showed.The special draw-ing rights with the InternationalMonetary Fund (IMF) rose byUSD 4 million to USD 1.476billion during the week. Thecountry’s reserve position withthe IMF was also up by USD 23million to USD 4.631 billionduring the reporting week, thedata showed.

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Stock market benchmarkSensex rallied 327 points on

Friday as financial stocksadvanced following the RBI’saccommodative policy stanceand steps to boost liquidity tothe banking sector.

Extending its gains forthe seventh straight session --the longest winning streak inalmost a year -- the 30-shareBSE Sensex rose by 326.82points or 0.81 per cent higherat 40,509.49.

The broader NSE Niftyrose by 79.60 points or 0.67 percent to 11,914.20 with banking,IT and infrastructure stocks ris-ing up to 4 per cent.

RBI Governor ShaktikantaDas’ comments on expectationof GDP turning positive in theJanuary-March quarter of thecurrent financial year fuelledthe market rally, traders said.

“Indian indices took aleap today following the posi-tive announcements of TLTRO& OMO, which will help in

maintaining a good level offunds available at cheap ratesfrom RBI to the industry,”Vinod Nair, Head of Researchat Geojit Financial Servicessaid. The RBI in its monetarypolicy on Friday announcedthat it will conduct on-tap tar-geted long-term repo opera-tions (TLTRO) worth Rs 1lakh crore to ensure comfort-able liquidity condition in thebanking system. As a specialcase, the central bank alsoannounced open market oper-ations (OMOs) in state devel-opment loans (SDL) in the cur-rent financial year. Rate-sensi-tive banking and financialstocks ended on a positivenote, with the BSE bankex andfinance rising up to 2.64 percent. Positive announcementswith regards to rationalisationof risk weights for all newhousing loans until March 31,2022, was a shot for retailbanks and housing financecompanies, Paras Bothra,President of Equity Research,Ashika Stock Broking stated.

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With an aim to protect theinterest of investors, cap-

ital markets regulator Sebi hasstrengthened the role of deben-ture trustees asking them toindependently evaluate andmonitor the asset cover.

The decision comes as sev-eral defaults were seen in thedebt markets.

To give this effect, Sebi hasamended debenture trusteenorms and ILDS (Issue andListing of Debt SecuritiesRegulations), the regulator saidin two separate notifications onThursday.

Under the new norms,debenture trustees (DTs) wouldexercise independent due dili-gence of the assets on whichcharge is being created.

Dr K Kasturirangan, FormerChairman of Indian Space

Research Organisation andFormer Chairman, NationalEducation Policy Committeehas urged students to aspire fordeepening and broadening oftheir knowledge, learn to expe-rience the power of collectiveteamwork and always be guid-ed by higher values which theybelieve in.

Delivering the convoca-tion address virtually at theVellore Institute ofTechnology’s (VIT) 35thannual convocation (virtualconvocation) on October 9,2020 (Friday), Dr. K.Kasturirangan emphasizedthat as inheritors of a societywhich blossomed up greatvalues for life and a deep con-cern for human development,

students should intenselyaspire for deepening andbroadening your knowledge,learn to experience the powerof collective team work, andalways be guided by highervalues which you believe in.

Quoting the Americanwriter and futurist AlvinToffler, Dr. Kasturirangan saidthat the illiterates of the 21stcentury will not be those whocannot read and write, butthose who cannot, learn,unlearn and relearn.

Pointing out that withadvances in technologies suchas Artificial Intelligence (AI)and augmented reality, anincreasing number of hybridjobs where a human’s voca-tional skills will complementthe capabilities of high-techequipment could be foreseen.

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New Delhi: Real estate devel-opers on Friday welcomed

RBI’s decision to lowerrisk weightage on housingloans, saying it would boostcredit flow to the sector, butdemanded more steps torevive the industry.

The RBI decided to ratio-nalise risk weights by linkingthem only with LTV (Loan toValue) ratios for all new hous-ing loans sanctioned up toMarch 31, 2022. With lower-ing of risk weightage, therequirement of capital provi-sion for banks will comedown. CREDAI NationalPresident Satish Magar saidlinking of housing loans toLTV would boost housingdemand.

The move to extend co-lending scheme to non-bank-ing financial companies(NBFCs) and housing financecompanies (HFCs) mayinfuse additional liquidity, hesaid, but added that realty sec-tor might not get benefit dueto strict due diligence normsand eligibility criteria.

“Now that RBI has rec-ognized realty sector as the

largest employer, it shouldalso announce steps that areimperative and crucial forthe sector’s survival and thenintroduce measures that willaid the sector’s revival,” Magarsaid. He sought that all loanaccounts that were SMA 1 &SMA 2 as on March 1, 2020should be made eligible forrestructuring.

Naredco PresidentNiranjan Hiranandani saidRBI’s decision will give aboost to the sector.

“Particularly this stepwould benefit borrowers ofhigher value loans. It wouldensure that more credit isavailable to borrowers. Thismove is a much appreciatedstep recognising the role ofreal estate sector in generat-ing employment and eco-nomic activity,” he added.

Anshuman Magazine,Chairman & CEO - CBREIndia, South East Asia, MiddleEast & Africa, said, “RBI’sdecisions to relax LTV guide-lines and rationalize riskweights for home loans willfurther encourage homebuy-ers.” PTI

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The Reserve Bank of Indiaon Friday announced dis-

continuing the system-basedautomatic caution-listing ofexporters, a move aimed atproviding f lexibility toexporters in terms of realisa-tion of export proceeds.

Exports have beenadversely impacted by thepandemic-related contrac-tion in external demand, RBIGovernor Shaktikanta Dassaid during a virtual pressconference after the meetingof the Monetary PolicyCommittee. “In this envi-ronment, it is crucial to pro-vide flexibility to exporters inthe realisation of export pro-ceeds and to empower themto negotiate better terms withoverseas buyers,” he said.

As part of automation ofExport Data Processing andMonitoring System(EDPMS), the ‘Caution/ De-caution Listing’ of exporterswas automated in 2016.

Accordingly, theexporters were to be caution-

listed automatically, if anyshipping bill against themremained outstanding formore than two years inEDPMS and no extensionwas granted for realisation ofexport proceeds against theoutstanding shipping bill.

Additionally, the normalsystem of caution-listingbased on the recommenda-tions of the AuthorisedDealer bank before the expiryof two years is there for cer-tain cases.

“In order to make the sys-tem more exporter friendlyand equitable, it has beendecided to discontinue theAutomatic Caution-listing,”the governor said.

However, RBI will con-tinue with caution-listingbased on the case-specificrecommendations of the ADbank. Commenting on RBI’sdecision, Vivek Jalan, Partner,Tax Connect AdvisoryServices, said the move willprovide much needed relief toexporters as it will ensure bet-ter and timely credit flow toexporters.

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The Reserve Bank of India(RBI) Friday said it will

conduct on-tap targeted long-term repo operations(TLTRO) worth Rs 1 lakhcrore to ensure comfortableliquidity condition in thebanking system.

As a special case, the cen-tral bank also announcedopen market operations(OMOs) in state developmentloans (SDL) in the currentfinancial year. “It has beendecided to conduct on-tapTLTRO with tenors of up tothree years for a total amountof up to Rs 1 lakh crore at afloating rate linked to thepolicy repo rate,” RBI gover-nor Shaktikanta Das saidwhile announcing the mone-tary policy earlier in theday.Liquidity availed by banksunder the scheme has to bedeployed in corporate bonds,commercial papers, and non-convertible debentures issuedby entities in specific sectorsover and above the outstand-ing level of their investmentsin such instruments as onSeptember 30, 2020, he said.

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The rupee strengthenedby 8 paise to close at

73.16 against the US dollaron Friday after the ReserveBank of India decided tokeep benchmark interestrate unchanged. The RBIkept repo rate unchanged at4 per cent but maintainedan accommodative stance,implying more rate cuts inthe future if the need arisesto support the economy hitby the COVID-19 crisis.At the interbank forex mar-ket, the rupee opened at73.21 against the Americancurrency and rose to a day’shigh of 73.02.

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New Delhi: At a time when ris-ing air pollution is set to aggra-vate Covid-19 situation, a sur-vey by prestigious KitasatoResearch Center in Japan hasproved that AirTamer can elim-inate 99% viruses from air in 20minutes and can reduce volatileorganic compounds levels byover 52% within 5 minutes.“This (wearable) device willcome in more than handy asthe coronavirus is also an air-borne virus,” said SanketAggarwal, official representa-tive of AirTamer in India.

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Kaagaz ke jahaaz bana bana ke aisephekti thi hawa mei jaise woh khududaa rahi hai unn jahaazon ko,” says

Banarasi Lal Chawla, father of KalpanaChawla, the first Indian-origin woman tofly to space, as he vividly recalls how herdaughter used to play with toy planes sincechildhood.

On the other end of the phone, I couldsense Chawla’s pride and excitement ofKalpana being featured in NationalGeographic’s show — Mega Icons Season2, which dives deep into the journey ofsome of the India’s icons like Ratan Tata,Deepika Padukone, among others to deci-pher various milestone moments and lifechoices that defined their success.

Kalpana’s episode from the series hasintimate interviews of her parents, whichdecode whether it was their conditioning,experiences and hard work or perspectivethat defined her path. Says he, “I am gladthat they have explored my daughter’s jour-ney as it can inspire millions of youth outthere trying to make a difference. Peopleshould know her teachings.”

Even though the world lost her in acrash during the STS-107 Mission onFebruary 1, 2003, her story continues toinspire and even today make many raisequestions out of curiosity. One of them issimply — how did she decide to becomean astronaut? “Since childhood, stars andspace fascinated Kalpana. She was alwayscurious about landing up in space one day.She always asked us about the position ofstars and ‘why they are up there’ but wehad no answer to it. Staring consistentlytowards the sky, she sometimes got emo-tional too,” recollects Chawla.

It all started when four-year-oldKalpana asked her father, “How do theyfly?” pointing towards an aeroplane in thesky. Kalpana asked if he could arrange aplane for her to see. Chawla promised totake her to the flying club in Karnal, justa few kilometres away from their home.He recalls, “As soon as we reached thereand she saw a plane, she ran towards it and

started asking questions about its opera-tions from the pilot. Her curiousness madethem take us for a ride and I can never for-get Kalpana’s excitement and expressionswhen she first sat in it. It occurred to methat moment that her feet were not madefor the ground. It was this queer nature thatkept her hooked to the world of galaxies.”

As Kalpana’s father went on to shareevery minute detail of her journey, Irealised that the process was not only chal-lenging for her but it was equally difficultfor her parents to justify her choices.During her graduation days at the PunjabEngineering College, she was the onlywoman to pursue AeronauticalEngineering. “I didn’t know what thiscourse was. I took her for the admissiononly because she wanted to do that course.

There, two of the teachers convinced hernot to take that course as it had no scopein India. But she was determined andadamant on her decision.”

Kalpana believed in the power of edu-cation. Chawla reminisces how she usedto offer mini scholarships every yearafter she settled in America. Says he,“Annually, she contacted her school inKarnal (Tagore Baal Niketan) and invitedtwo Science toppers to the US. For 15 days,the students would stay with her. Shewould help them learn and take them toNASA, show around and teach them aboutit. She believed that education can alwayshelp people explore their potential.”

Kalpana certainly had a special placein her heart for all her colleges andschools. She wanted to see her colleagues

and students from the college grow andmake their own path. While returningfrom space, on her last mission, just 28minutes before the crash, she had sent amessage for the students of PunjabEngineering College, which read, “Sapnose safalta ki taraf jaane ki raah maujood hai,aap mein usey khojne ki shakti, drishti auruspe chalne ka saahas hona chahiye.” Herfather adds proudly that the University hasput up the message in bold letters in its cor-ridors.

The journey of her life was dividedequally between India and America.Kalpana believed that the world is one andwe are only divided by boundaries but inreality, there’s no one greater or smaller. Ajournalist from the US once asked her,“How do you feel here, coming from India

from a small town like Karnal? And howdoes this transition feel of being surround-ed by big names?” Chawla clears his throatas he reads out Kalpana’s response, “I wasnot born for a corner of the universe. Thewhole universe is my native land and thepeople living on it are my family.” Youaren’t great only from your work, butthoughts too. Certainly!

We are all aware of the fact that livingin space is not easy. During Kalpana’stenure, the astronauts had to work for 16hours and rest for the remaining eighthours. There used to be a wake-up call forevery astronaut and a song was played foreach one of them. Kalpana’s song choice,Yaar Ko Humne Ja’Baja Dekha by PakistaniSufi singer Abida Parveen, meant that ‘Ifound my beloved everywhere.’ Her fatherchuckles, “But people there couldn’tunderstand the song and contacted us forthe cassette. And then, they used to wakeher up with this song!” After a silence oftwo to three seconds, he asks, “Would youlike to listen to the song right now?”

Recalling one incident after another,Chawla almost didn’t give me the chanceto get rid of my curiosities about Kalpana.Even before I ask him an anecdote, he isready with one. Says he, “We were aboutto visit Kalpana in America. So her eldersister wrote a letter to her asking if shewants anything from India.” With a sigh,he recalls out Kalpana’s touching reply, “Mysister, my lovely sister, I am glad that you

thought of a gift for me. Don’t go to themarket to buy any cloth or jewellery forme, instead donate that amount to envi-ronment protection and send the photo ofthe cheque to me. I will put that in myalbum and show people this precious gift.”

She was certainly a “god’s child.”Chawla feels that not everyone has thisextraordinary nature of being a decisionmaker at a young age. He fondly remem-bers how she chose her name herself. Sayshe, “Her aunt took her to get enrolled ina school at Karnal. When the teacher com-pleted all the formalities and asked hername, the aunt said Mantu, which wasKalpana’s pet name. We hadn’t named herofficially till then. So three names wereshortlised — Jyotsna, Kalpana andSunaina — to name her. Even before wecould decide a name, she promptlyanswered — Kalpana,” which impliesimagination. Well, now the world knowswhy no other name would have suited her!

Then US President George Bush saidat her memorial service, “None of ourastronauts travelled a longer path tospace than Kalpana Chawla. She leftIndia as a student but she would see thenation of her birth, all of it, from hundredsof miles above!” recalls her father withpride.

(Kalpana Chawla’s episode of the showwill premiere on National Geographic onOctober 11 at 7 pm. It will also be avail-able on Disney+Hotstar VIP.)

Designer duo Shantanu & Nikhilare all set for the festive season

with their Seagram’s Blenders Pridecollection edition. It aims to echotheir impeccable craft, bringingforth their signature styles andmaking a bold and unique stylestatement that spells out My Craft,My Pride.

The collectible features a classicdesign that is a true representationof the times we live in. A reflectionof class and sophistication, the lim-ited-edition pack reflects the design-er duo’s signature style of mergingelements from Indian culture withWestern silhouettes. Modern, chicand elegant, the drapes used in thedesign make the designer duo’scraft come alive and create a stylestatement that is timeless. The rich,golden liquid is perfectly wrapped ina drape of black and streaks of goldthat intertwine to form a silhouettethat is elegant and bold at the sametime. A seamless blend of finecraftsmanship, it is a rendition ofShantanu and Nikhil’s craft, whichthey call, their pride.

Bringing together this precisionand the bold, rich character of thewhisky on the same canvas, it is anexquisite blend of great craftsman-ship.

Kartik Mohindra, ChiefMarketing Officer, Pernod RicardIndia, said, “The Blenders’ Pride lim-ited-edition pack is a celebration ofexquisite craftmanship, both

through the legendary fine whiskyand our collaboration with design-er duo Shantanu & Nikhil. We takeimmense pride in our productquality and heritage and continue tocelebrate the pride in craft throughthis collaboration. The pack is asophisticated statement that com-bines exquisite taste and design,which is what we stand for.”

Shantanu & Nikhil said, “Wehave had a long-standing associa-tion with this event and today, itgives us immense pleasure toannounce our collaboration whichcelebrates this association througha collectable limited-edition pack.The design is inspired by our aes-thetic and is a unique reflection ofheritage and workmanship that cel-ebrates craft in all its glory. The part-nership is an extremely rewardingproject, giving us complete creativefreedom and allowing us to producea design that we are proud to see allover India.”

The pack is available for dis-cerning whisky connoisseurs in 28markets.

Actor Vaani Kapoor isheading to Chandigarh

to start shooting her next inwhich she has been pairedopposite actor AyushmannKhurrana. She will be direct-ed by Abhishek Kapoor,who has delivered films likeKai Po Che, Rock On andKedarnath.

It has been learnt thatthe film is set to start itsshooting schedule inChandigarh sometime soon.This is the first time that sheis paired oppositeAyushmann. Their Jodi hitthe screens in 2021.

While speaking aboutthe film, Vaani said, “It’s alovely heart-rendering film.I have always wanted towork with Abhishek, beinginspired by his films. This isan opportunity to be a partof his vision. Ayushmann isone of the talented actors ofour generation and I’mthrilled about our first filmtogether.”

The actor has justwrapped Bellbottom inwhich she has been pairedopposite actor AkshayKumar.

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As the world grappleswith the psycholog-ical ramifications of

a global pandemic, thesignificance of WorldMental Health Day beingobserved on October 10acquires an even deepersubtext. The World HealthOrganisation (WHO)warned in May itself thatwe were looking potential-ly at an epidemic of men-tal health conditions in thecoming months, causedby acute anxiety and aheightened sense of phys-ical and emotional isola-tion.

Indian-Austra l ianchoreographer AshleyLobo who himself hasbeen adapting to a differ-ent creative reality post-COVID-19, believes thereis however a way to cope.He says, “Moving the bodycan almost instantly upliftour mood and energise thebody. Movement anddance can play a crucialrole in pulling us out ofmental and physical ennuiand make an enormousdifference to our mentalhealth.”

To support his point,he cites the AmericanDance TherapyAssociation, which sug-gests the psychotherapeu-tic use of movement toimprove emotional, cogni-tive, physical, and socialintegration. Lobo’s tech-nique, Prana Paint hasalso been helping his stu-dents to connect with theirinner self through breathand Yoga-inspired move-ments, and to find calmand serenity regardless of

outward chaos.Lobo adds, “In the

post-COVID world, wecan all make creativechoices like dance andmusic to bust stress andboost positivity. It reallydoes not matter if you area trained dancer or not,everyone has rhythm inthem, which can becomea doorway to a better stateof mind.”

He talks about how

dance can prove to be ahealer. He says, “Mentalhealth challenges are uni-versal and do not discrim-inate. Dance however canprove therapeutic foralmost anyone. Dance islike Yoga in the respectwhere mindful movementcan become a meditativeand healing practice.Whether you decide totake online dance classesor put on music and dance

like nobody is watching,you are celebrating yourbody, your existence, andyour life. And soon youwill notice how a dancesession leaves you feelingmore energised and confi-dent than before. You willconnect with that part ofyourself which nowremains unaffected byanxiety and is the sourceof all your untapped ener-gy and pure potential.”

Dance, he insists, caneven prove cathartic forpeople who find it hard toput their emotions inwords and need an emo-tional outlet. And if you aretaking an online class, con-necting with others, eventhough virtually, canreduce the sense of isola-tion and you get the joy oflearning a new skill as abonus.

He adds, “Once you

master a routine, the surgeof confidence you feel willflow into other areas ofyour life. Most important-ly, you will learn how to livein the moment rather thanworrying about what thefuture holds. In that senseand many others, dance istruly liberating. I reallybelieve we can all danceour way out of our person-al issues into a healthier,sunnier mental space.”

Agravity defying story, The RightStuff, a documentary-series,

shuttles into the realities of one ofthe first-ever missions of NASA. Atits early stages of being six monthsold in 1959, NASA chose a team foran incredible project that wouldchange the scope of space andman’s travel into the depths of theworlds beyond our own. The seriesshowcases the real life story, display-ing America’s journey into spaceand how they began a programmethat created celebrities in a life-changing competition betweenambitious astronauts and their fam-ilies for money, stardom andimmortality.

Here are a few events the storyis based on:

�Based on the bestselling book byTom Wolfe, The Right Stuff

The book extensively capturedthe true stories of the pilots engagedin the Project Mercury Mission.Wolfe interviewed test pilots, theastronauts, and their wives tounearth the stories and the mis-sions’ challenges.

�TV adaptation of the 1983eponymous film

The eight-episode season, anadaptation of the 1983 releasedfilm, The Right Stuff by Philip

Kauffman, is an inspirational lookat the early days of the US SpaceProgramme and the iconic story ofAmerica’s first astronauts, theMercury 7.

�NASA’s Project MercuryThe mission Project Mercury

was a NASA programme thatlaunched the first Americans intospace. Seven astronauts were chosen

for the mission and they were calledthe ‘Mercury 7’, who were — AlanShepard, Scott Carpenter, GordonCooper, John Glenn, Gus Grissom,Wally Schirra, and Deke Slayton.

�Alan Shepard’s storyPlayed by Jake McDorman in

the series, Alan was the firstAmerican to enter space in 1961. Henamed his spacecraft Freedom 7.

The 15-minute flight went intospace and came back down. Tenyears later, Shepard also journeyedto the moon as the commander ofApollo 14.

�The Mercury 7 flew separatespacecrafts

Gus Grissom was the secondastronaut after Shepard to fly inProject Mercury followed by John

Glenn who was the first Americanto orbit Earth in his spacecraftFriendship 7. Scott Carpenter laterflew on Aurora 7 with Wally Schirrataking up the mission next, on hisSigma 7. Gordon Cooper flew onthe last Mercury mission where hespent 34 hours circling Earth in hiscapsule, Faith 7. Deke Slayton waspart of the Project Mercury astro-nauts but had to fly on a separatemission in 1975 owing to his poorhealth.

�Making the Project Mercurymission safer

A rhesus monkey, Sam, and twochimpanzees, Ham and Enos, flewin Mercury capsules to make theMercury 7 mission safer. NASA haddeveloped flights prior to the mis-sion to ensure the basic safety mea-sures were covered so that theycould launch a human into spacewith the mission. This was the firstlesson in learning how to enableorbiting the universe and flying aspacecraft.

(NatGeo’s docu-series streamson Disney+ Hotstar Premium.)

How often has learningcome as a reason for

celebration to you? Orsomething that comes fromsome sporty celebritiesthemselves?

Well, Discovery Plus’the ‘Big Learning Festival’ isdedicated to celebrating theplatform’s key target audi-ence of lifelong learners.Celebrity couples like LaraDutta & Mahesh Bhupathi,Saina Nehwal & ParupalliKashyap, and RiteishDeshmukh & GeneliaD’Souza Deshmukh willengage with fans on socialmedia with interestingquizzes, chats, watch-listsand never-before-seennuggets of trivia.

Speaking about the fes-tival, Lara and Mahesh said,“Learning is a never-endingprocess and we’re delightedto work on something souniversal. This festival is agreat way for people to winsome amazing rewards andprizes while inculcating ahabit of learning about theworld and new things.”

The couple added, “Not

only do these interestingshows and documentaryspecials provide an oppor-tunity to understand andconnect with the world,they are also a great way togather together with yourkids, family and friends towatch and engage with theimportant issues of ourtimes.”

Saina and Parupallisaid, “There’s no age forlearning. You can learnsomething new every day

and that is what we want toconvey. We look at it as aplatform, which is a one-stop destination for bothentertainment as well aseducation. We personallybelieve that learning is aprocess that takes placeevery second and it is whatmakes a person preparedfor the big moments inlife.”

Riteish and Genelia,while speaking about theimportance of learning,

said, “As parents, it is ourduty to engage our kidswith the content that willhelp them gain valuableknowledge at this age. Weare very particular on whatkind of shows our kidsshould watch in this digitalera where everything is soeasily available on the inter-net. To teach something toour kids, we ourselves needto learn first, and then onlywe will be able to pass thatknowledge to our children.I am happy that here, wecan explore a variety of con-tent from science to natureto space to history. It is theperfect platform to engageright now.”

Issac John, DigitalHead – APAC, Discovery,said, “Learning is a univer-sal emotion that enrichesand elevates all of us irre-spective of our stage of life.The Big Learning Festival isa means for us to celebratethat lifelong learner in eachof us.”

(The festival can bestreamed on the DiscoveryPlus app.)

Aseasoned productionhouse, a visionary direc-

tor, a cast including thebiggest stars of the Indianfilm industry and a remark-able story are the ingredients

for an epic cinematicexperience for filmlovers.

Production houseVyjayanthi Movieshave recently ropedin actor AmitabhBachchan to essay apivotal role in itsforthcoming film.

Aswini Dutt,producer andfounder, said, “Thelate legendary NTRwas an admirer ofAmitabh Bachchan

and had even acted inthe Telugu remakes of a

few of his Bollywood films.We have watched the land-mark film Sholay severaltimes when it ran for over ayear at NTR’s RamakrishnaTheatre. After all these years,it is truly a glorious and animmensely satisfyingmoment for me to welcomeIndian cinema’s greatesticon, Bachchan to be a partof this film.”

Director Nag Ashwinsaid, “I feel lucky and blessedthat Bachchan Sir has select-ed our film among the manychoices he has. It is a full-length role, which we believewill do justice to the legendthat he is.”

Co-producers SwapnaDutt and Priyanka Dutt haveexpressed their boundlessexcitement on this momen-tous occasion. The film starsPrabhas and DeepikaPadukone in leading rolesand is slated for a worldwiderelease in 2022.

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Chennai Super Kings will take onRoyal Challengers Bangalore in an

intriguing mid-table IPL clash here onSaturday with both teams battling

inconsistency.CSK all-

rounder KedarJadhav’s selectionwill be under the

scanner after his failure in the defeat toKolkata Knight Riders.

The Super Kings sank to a 10-runloss on Wednesday, choking inexplic-ably with Jadhav’s approach to battingattracting criticism from all quarters.

It remains to be seen if the SuperKings opt to jettison the 35-year-oldgiven the team’s propensity to give play-ers a long rope.

Despite Shane Watson finding hisrange in a 10-wicket win over Kings XIPunjab and Faf du Plessis’s consisten-cy at the top, the middle-order contin-ues to remain a concern for CSK with

skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni him-self not being at his best.

If they do decide to bench Jadhavafter his prolonged struggle, they havethe option of recalling Ruturaj Gaikwador picking N Jagadeesan, who has been

warming the bench since the 2018 sea-son.

While worries remain on the bat-ting front, the CSK bowling has got bet-ter and they did well to restrict KKRin the previous game with influentialall-rounder DJ Bravo returning to hiswicket-taking ways.

Karn Sharma, who came in forPiyush Chawla did well to pick up acouple of wickets while notgoing for too many runs andthe skipper will expect him todo the same against a formi-dable RCB batting unit.

Yet, Dhoni would preferthe pacers — Deepak Chahar,Sam Curran and Shardul Thakur — toprovide early breakthroughs and stemthe run flow.

However, the CSK bowling will beup against a strong RCB batting line-up led by captain Virat Kohli, whoreturned to form with a fine knockagainst Rajasthan Royals.

Though the Kohli-led team faltered

in the subsequent match against DelhiCapitals, they will look for an improvedperformance against CSK.

Kohli aside, young DevduttPadikkal has looked in good touch,while AB de Villiers has been a keyplayer for RCB over the years. If the big-hitting Aaron Finch can provide a rapidstart at the top, it would serve RCB bet-ter.

It is the bowling whichwould worry Kohli. Leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahalhas, as always, been theleading bowler whileWashington Sundar hasbeen frugal upfront.

However, the pacers have not livedup to their reputation, with the likes ofUmesh Yadav, Mohammed Siraj andNavdeep Saini leaking runs.

How CSK’s batting does against anup-and-down RCB bowling attackand how its batters fare against theSuper Kings bowlers could decide thefate of the game.

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Kings XI Punjab will have to play out of theirskins to get their stuttering campaign back on

track when they face fancied Kolkata Knight Ridershere on Saturday.

Following five losses and a solitary win, KingsXI Punjab are currently placed at the bottom ofthe table with two points, whereas the KnightRiders are fourth with six points from three wins.

Notwithstanding a couple of reverses, KKR aregradually emerging as a strong contender for athird IPL title, with many of their players strikingform as the tournament approaches the half-waystage.

Shubman Gill has already created an impres-sion as an opener and now KKR have foundanother option at the top in Rahul Tripathi, whowill enter the game with some confidence afterhis swashbuckling innings of 81 against CSK twodays ago.

After a string of poor scores that led to himbeing replaced by Tripathi at the top, Sunil Narineseems to be rediscovering his old touch with bothbat and ball, and evidence of that was his outingagainst CSK.

The experienced Eoin Morgan is a huge pres-ence in the middle-order which also has NitishRana, always on the lookout to impress the teammanagement with his performances with the bat.

And then there is Andre Russell, who has notset the tournament ablaze in the manner in whichhe is expected to.

The biggest cause of concern for KKR is theform of their captain Dinesh Karthik, who is yetto contribute anything substantial with the bat.

In pace bowling, they have the young duo ofKamlesh Nagarkoti and Shivam Mavi, besides theseasoned world number one Pat Cummins.

While in spin, Narine has VarunChakravarthy for company, andthe player from Tamil Naduwill be high on confi-

dence after bowl-ing out MS Dhoni

in their last match.Kings XI Punjab will

again rely on theirtrusted openingpair of captain KLRahul andMayank Agarwal.

If Chris Gaylerecovers from his

food poisoning,he will make hisfirst appearancein the ongoing

IPL and that willbe a huge boost for

KXIP. The mis-fir-ing Glenn Maxwell is

likely to make wayfor Gayle.

NicholasP o o r a n ’ sexploits withthe bat is apositive for KXIP and hewill again look to playhis shots freely.

Death bowling is amajor concern forKXIP and they wouldneed to get it rightagainst a strong KKRbatting line-up.

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NIGHT FEVERSATURDAY

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In their first matches inalmost a year, Argentina

and Uruguay won theirSouth American WorldCup qualifying openerswithout doing much toimpress their fans watchingfrom home.

Lionel Messi and LuisSuárez each scored fromthe spot, but did little elseto energize the empty sta-diums of a region still hardhit by the Covid-19 pan-demic.

Messi netted the onlygoal of Argentina’s victoryover Ecuador at the LaBombonera stadium, whileSuárez opened the scoringin Uruguay’s 2-1 last-minute win over Chile inMontevideo. Paraguay washeld to a 2-2 draw by Peruon Thursday.

The rest of the openinggames in South Americanqualifiers for Qatar 2022will be completed onFriday, when Brazil, possi-bly without Neymar, hostsBolivia and JamesRodriguez’ Colombia playsagainst Venezuela. All 10teams will be on again onTuesday.

South America willhave four direct berths inthe next World Cup. Brazil,Argentina, Uruguay andColombia, in that order,

start as favorites for thosespots. The fifth-best

team can earn qual-ification through

an interconti-nental playoff,with Peru andChile as strongc ont e n d e r s .The qualifying

phase ends inMarch 2022.

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An aggressive bowling displaycoupled with some good field-ing saw Rajasthan Royals

restrict Delhi Capitals to a below-par184 for eight in an Indian PremierLeague match here on Friday.

Desperate to snap their three-match losing streak, RR opted to fieldand the bowling unit delivered withJofra Archer (3/24) taking threewickets and spinner Rahul Tewatia(1/20) and Kartik Tyagi (1/35) captur-ing one each.

Playing his first IPL match thisseason, Andrew Tye also took onewicket but he conceded 50 in his fourovers. The Capitals’ posted the low-est first innings total at the groundthis season.

The two run outs of the danger-ous Shreyas Iyer (22 off 18) andRishabh Pant (5) also proved crucial.

Shimron Hetmyer smashed a 24-

ball 45, studded with five sixes and afour to emerge as the top-scorer forDelhi. Marcus Stoinis (39 off 30) toochipped in.

Archer was the pick of thebowlers as he dismissed openerShikhar Dhawan (5) in the secondover for his first wicket in thePowerplay this year.

Skipper Iyer then smashed twofours off pacer Varun Aaron (0/25 in2 overs) and then Prithvi Shaw (19 off10) deposited him into the standsafter Tyagi dropped the opener in theprevious ball.

However, Shaw couldn't staylonger as Archer induced a top-edgefrom the batsman and then complet-ed the catch as DC slipped to 42 fortwo.

Young Yashasvi Jaiswal then runout Iyer with a brilliant direct throwwith Delhi slumping to 51 for three atthe end of powerplay.

Marcus Stoinis then made spinner

Shreyas Gopal pay for bowling short,clobbering him for successive sixes.

Tyagi and Rahul Tewatia then fur-ther stymied the run flow beforeHetmyer smashed Tye for a six tobring up the 100 in 13th over.

Stoinis then sliced at a wide deliv-ery to hand Tewatia a wicket in his lastover to leave at DC at 109 for five.

Hetmyer then took over the man-tle and hit Tye for a four and six beforelaunching Tyagi for successive sixes.But the young India pacer had the lastlaugh as the West Indies batsman washoled out at the long-on boundary.

In the 18th over, Axar Patel (17off 8) blasted two fours and a six offTye to rack up 22 runs.

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West Indies batting great BrianLara is impressed with

Rishabh Pant’s much-improved off-side play, which he believes will adddimension to his game making himan a much well-rounded batsman indays to come.

The 23-year old Pant has hadfair degree of success for DelhiCapitals in the ongoing IPL, havingscored 176 runs in six games witha strike-rate of nearly 140.

“He (Pant) is a major assetfor the Delhi Capitals, buttoday he has also vastlyimproved his game. I amtalking about his battingand the improvementshe made in that depart-ment,” Lara said on StarSports show Cricket Live.

Lara said that Pant hasrealised that he was becom-ing a one-trick pony withshots only on the on-side,something that has changed

“On what (when he firstcame to scene) immediately wasnoticeable was his propensity totry and get everything tothe leg-side. Also, look athis run (earlier) scoringchart(s) and that’s quite a

proof of that fascination he had withthe on-side.

“I think he has come to realisethat this is not working and he wentaway and worked on improving hisoff-side play,” said Lara, one of thegreatest to have ever graced thecricket field.

Lara said Pant now has the abil-ity to score runs all round the park.

“Now look at the changes hemade. Now, he has the ability to

score runs on all parts of theground. His scoring charts are

looking impressive, and yes,more worry for the bowlers,”said the elegant formerWest Indies left-hander.

“He is now very well-balanced and he is lookingto score in key areas that he

is not accustomed to scoring— over extra cover, over

point, in front of point and hisbalance and his weight is stay-ing there, he is not falling overto the off-side to create shotson the leg side.

“That is a vast improve-ment that he has made, which

obviously going to helphis all-round batting. I

believe, this young lad has along-long way to go,” conclud-

ed Lara.

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Twelve-time championRafael Nadal reachedhis 13th French Open

final on Friday with a 6-3, 6-3, 7-6 (7/0) win overArgentina’s DiegoSchwartzman, setting up a

potential blockbuster titleclash against Novak Djokovic.

For 34-year-old Nadal, itwas a 99th win at RolandGarros since his 2005 debutand put him just one victoryaway from equalling RogerFederer’s all-time record of 20Grand Slam titles.

He is also into his 28thfinal at the Majors and has notdropped a set in the tourna-ment this year.

“It’s always incredible toplay here and this is a very spe-cial moment,” said Nadal aftera 10th win in 11 matchesagainst Schwartzman who had

shocked him in Rome last month.“I played a couple of bad

points in the third set but Diegois a very tough player. He proba-bly makes more breaks on the tourthan others.

“It was difficult until the endbut it was a positive match for me.”

Nadal fought off two breakpoints in a marathon 14-minuteopening game. The world numbertwo then broke for 2-0 butSchwartzman retrieved it imme-diately.

It was a brief respite for the 5ft

7in (1.68m) player affectionatelyknown as El Peque (“shorty”), asthe 28-year-old was broken againin the fourth game.

The Argentine saved a coupleof set points but dumped the thirdone in the net and the opener wasNadal’s after 65 minutes on court.Nadal was comfortably thestronger, breaking in the thirdand ninth games for a two setslead.

With the match and his spir-it seemingly drifting away,Schwartzman dropped serve

again to go 3-1 down in the third.But he rallied as Nadal

slipped into passivity and by the11th game he was on back onserve although he remonstratedwith himself for squanderingthree break points that wouldhave left him serving for the set.

That was his last chance asNadal stormed through thetiebreaker.

The Argentine was left toregret his 48 unforced errors andconverting just three of his 12break points.