12
A n eight-member team of CBI SIT headed by a Joint Director left for Mumbai on Thursday to probe the myste- rious death of film actor Sushant Singh Rajput even as the Enforcement Directorate (ED) recorded the statement of film director Rumi Jaffery in a related money laundering case. The CBI SIT team com- prises JD Manoj Sridhar, Deputy Inspector General and supervisory officer Gagandeep Gambir, Superintendents of Police Nupur Prasad and Ravi Gambhir besides Additional Superintendent of Police and Investigating Officer Anil Kumar Yadav and two consta- bles, sources said. After reaching Mumbai, the CBI team is expected to visit the scene of crime and also undertake crime reconstruc- tion besides seeking the docu- ments related to the accidental death probe, autopsy report and other such materials from the Mumbai Police, they said. The CBI move comes a day after the Supreme Court okayed the registration of the case by the Patna Police on a complaint from Rajput’s father and subsequent transfer of the FIR to the CBI. The CBI had on August 6 re-registered the case naming the same set of accused including actress Rhea Chakraborty, her relatives, Rajput’s business managers and friends among others. Soon after the SC judg- ment approving the CBI probe into the issue, the CBI had said, “The investigation related to death of Sushant Singh Rajput is continuing. The CBI team will visit Mumbai in due course for further investigation. Other details can not be shared at this stage.” Meanwhile, the ED on Thursday recorded the state- ment of film maker Rumi Jaffery in connection with a money laundering case regis- tered after taking cognisance of the Bihar Police FIR into the FIR relating to abetment to sui- cide of Rajput. Jaffery’s statement was recorded with regard to his reported plans of directing a movie with the late actor and the finances involved in that project, sources said. Jeffery had earlier been questioned by the Mumbai Police which was probing the death of the actor under the accidental death report (ADR) procedure of the CrPC. Rajput (34), was reported- ly found hanging at his home in a Bandra locality in Mumbai on June 14. T he Delhi Government on Thursday allowed licensed hotels and restaurants to serve liquor. Releasing the order, a senior Government official said this permission has been granted only to units who hold a valid licence to serve liquor. However, as per the Unlock 3 guidelines issued by the Union Home Ministry, bars are not allowed to operate at pre- sent. The permission to serve liquor was withdrawn in the wake of mounting coronavirus cases in Delhi. On June 12, the Delhi Government had allowed restro-bars, hotels and clubs to sell their stock of beer that was expiring immediately to liquor shops. The Government had said this was aimed at min- imising their loss. There are around 950 hotels, clubs and restro-bars in the national Capital that have excise licence. However, they have not been allowed to open since March 25 when the first nation- wide lockdown was announced. Earlier on May 4, the Delhi Government had allowed standalone Government-run liquor shops to open. By May 22, private liquor shops includ- ing those in markets were allowed to operate. Four Government agen- cies — Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation, Delhi Tourism and Transportation Development Corporation, Delhi State Civil Supplies Corporation and Delhi Consumer’s Cooperative Wholesale Store — operate the State-run shops in the city. A t least 0.28 per cent patients of 6,86,395 Covid-19 infected cases are on ventilator support while 1.92 per cent are in ICU and 2.62 per cent on oxygen support, the Union Health Ministry on Thursday said adding that a total 21,57,941 people have recu- perated so far, pushing India’s recovery rate to 73.91 per cent. On Thursday, India’s coro- navirus caseload rose to 29,04,329 with a record single- day spike of 68,507 infections. The death toll climbed to 54,975 with 981 new fatalities. With 61,873 recoveries in a span of 24 hours, India’s recovery rate amongst Covid- 19 patients has reached nearly 74 per cent (73.91 per cent) reflecting that the number of patients recovering is on a steady rise over the past sever- al months, said the Ministry. “Focus on standard of care protocol including use of non- invasive oxygen, better skilled doctors, and improved ambu- lance services have culminated in the desired results,” it said. The record high recoveries have ensured that the active cases, the “actual caseload” of the country, currently comprise only 24.19 per cent of the total cases. Continued on Page 2 T he Congress is gearing up to raise issues like the bor- der standoff with China in Ladakh, Facebook’s alleged nexus with the ruling BJP, the Government’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, increased economic crisis, job losses, and agrarian distress during the upcoming Monsoon Session of Parliament that is likely to start from September 10. The Congress has also urged Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu to allow MPs to participate in the session either physically or virtually as is being done by the courts. While Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has written a letter to Birla, P Chidambaram has written to Naidu to allow MPs, unable to participate physically, attend the proceedings through an app or a link. A senior Congress Member of Parliament said the party would demand a statement from Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the border row, especially after his remarks at the June 19 all-party meet- ing that there have been no intrusions by Chinese forces into Indian territory in Ladakh. The party has attacked Modi for refraining from nam- ing China in his Independence Day speech, saying the Government should tell the people how it proposes to push back the Chinese forces occu- pying Indian territory. AICC sources said while they are also coordinating with other Opposition parties, the Congress will demand a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the Wall Street Journal report last week that claimed Facebook’s Indian staff ignored its rules in handling hate speech by BJP politicians. The Congress has alleged an “unholy nexus” between Facebook and the BJP. The party also desires for a discussion on the PM Cares Fund in the wake of the Prime Minister’s Office denying infor- mation under RTI. Continued on Page 2 I ndore has been ranked the cleanest city for the fourth consecutive year and Chhattisgarh the cleanest State for the second time under the Swachchh Survekshan 2020 ranking released by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs on Thursday. Surat and Navi Mumbai were ranked second and third, respectively. According to the ranking, New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) is the clean- est Capital city in India. Varanasi, which is Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Lok Sabha constituency, has been chosen as the cleanest town on the banks of river Ganga and Jharkhand was adjudged the cleanest state of India among those with less than 100 urban local bodies (ULBs) or cities. PM Narendra Modi, who was originally supposed to announce the results, could not attend the event. According to the ranking, New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) is the cleanest Capital city while Bengaluru adjudged the Best Self Sustainability award in the Mega city catego- ry. Among the cities with over one lakh population, Indore was ranked number one, fol- lowed by Surat, Navi Mumbai, Ambikapur, Mysore, Vijayawada, Ahmedabad, New Delhi, Chandrapur and Khargone. Among smaller cities, with population under one lakh, the top three cities - Karad, Sasvad and Lonavala - were all from Maharashtra. The survey, which covered 4,242 cities and saw the par- ticipation of 1.87 crore citizens, was completed in 28 days. On this occasion, Union Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) Hardeep Singh Puri today gave away the awards to the winning cities and States of Swachchh Survekshan 2020 at a virtual event titled Swachh Mahotsav organised by the Ministry. Continued on Page 2 A dvocate Prashant Bhushan’s contempt case took a queer turn on Thursday when the Supreme Court deferred its decision on award- ing him punishment and asked him to reconsider his statement on the proceedings. Interestingly, Attorney General KK Venugopal also asked the court not to proceed against Bhushan, who refused to ten- der an apology. The Bench had found him guilty of contempt of court for his tweets criticising Chief Justice of India SA Bobde and the judiciary posted earlier this year. The court sought an unconditional apology from Bhushan by August 24. “We have given time to the con- temnor to submit uncondi- tional apology, if he so desires. Let it be filed by 24.08.2020. In case, an apology is submitted, the case to be posted for con- sideration on the same, on 25.08.2020,” the court said. “There is no person on earth who cannot commit a mistake. You may do hun- dreds of good things but that doesn’t give you a licence to do 10 crimes. Whatever has been done is done. But we want the person concerned to have a sense of remorse,” said Justice Arun Mishra. In its suo motu contempt case against Bhushan, while the apex court Bench of Justices Arun Mishra, BR Gavai, and Krishna Murari, gave the lawyer four days’ time to recon- sider his statement on the pro- ceedings, the advocate refused to blink and seek court’s “mercy.” Thousands of lawyers, civil right activists and retired judges have appealed to the Supreme Court not to proceed with any punitive action against Bhushan. On Thursday, the Human Rights Committee of England and Wales (BHRC) expressed concern over the SC’s decision to hold Bhushan guilty of con- tempt of court. The BHRC defended the right of the lawyers to criticise the institution and to exercise their right to freedom of speech in the process. The BHRC asked the Supreme Court to review this decision and dis- charge Bhushan of this charge. Incidentally, the UK abolished the statutory offence of crimi- nal contempt of court in 2013. In his statement filed in response to the August 14 ver- dict holding him guilty of con- tempt, Bhushan quoted Mahatma Gandhi, saying, “I do not ask for mercy. I do not appeal to magnanimity. I am here, therefore, to cheerfully submit to any penalty that can lawfully be inflicted upon me for what the court has deter- mined to be an offence, and what appears to me to be the highest duty of a citizen.” When the court started the hearing in the matter for awarding sentence to Bhushan, Senior Advocate Dushyant Dave, appearing for Bhushan, requested it to adjourn the case as Bhushan was going to file a review petition against the court’s August 14 verdict. “If that can be reviewed, this (sentencing) can also be reviewed,” Justice Mishra said, rejecting the plea. Dave then responded, “If that (conviction judgment) is reviewed, then sentencing will become infructuous.” Continued on Page 2 H eavy downpour in Delhi on Thursday morning resulted in waterlogging, falling of trees and traffic snarl in var- ious areas of the city. The Delhi Traffic Police issued an advi- sory to the people to inform them about the routes to take to avoid the gridlock. Many residents shared videos and pictures of vehicles plying through waterlogged roads on social media. Continued on Page 2 A head of the Bihar Assembly polls, as part of the “Aya Ram, Gaya Ram” tradition, former Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi on Thursday quit Mahagathbandhan, led by the RJD. Manjhi gave no indication about the future of Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular), but given the lack of option it has, it is understood that he would go back to the NDA. Manjhi has so far not been able to play any significant role in wooing even his Dalit voters in previous polls. Continued on Page 2 T here was no breakthrough in ending the stalemate at the volatile at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh in the latest round of diplomatic-level talks on Thursday. However, India and China pledged their commitment to complete disengagement of troops from all the friction points “expeditiously.” The two sides also expressed their resolve to main- tain peace at the LAC and con- tinue dialogue to address dif- ferences. These takeaways emerged from diplomatic-level talks under the aegis of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination. These joint secretary level talks, fifth since the stand-offs started in early May, were ongoing process to end the logjam. New Delhi: Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat on Thursday said he has tested pos- itive for coronavirus. The Minister said in a tweet that he underwent a coronavirus test after expe- riencing symptoms of the infection. On the advice of doctors he is getting admitted to a hos- pital, he said. The Minister held two important meetings on Tuesday. One was on the Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL). Haryana Chief Minister ML Khattar was physically present at the meeting.

˘ ˇ ˆˆ˙...1 day ago  · New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) is the cleanest Capital city while Bengaluru adjudged the Best Self Sustainability award in the Mega city catego-ry

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Page 1: ˘ ˇ ˆˆ˙...1 day ago  · New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) is the cleanest Capital city while Bengaluru adjudged the Best Self Sustainability award in the Mega city catego-ry

������������� ����������� ��������� �������������� ������������ ����������� � ����������������������������������������� ����������� ����������������� ����������������������������������� � ���������� ���� ��!����������� "� ����������������������� �#�����������$��������������� ����������������������� ��� �����������!���� ����������� �������� �����!��� ����������������������!���������������� "

������������� ����!������ "����������#�$��%��&�'� ��������%��&�������������&��������������������'�����������������! �������������������������������������������� ���� ���������������� ����������������� ������������"��(

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An eight-member team ofCBI SIT headed by a Joint

Director left for Mumbai onThursday to probe the myste-rious death of film actorSushant Singh Rajput even asthe Enforcement Directorate(ED) recorded the statement offilm director Rumi Jaffery in arelated money laundering case.

The CBI SIT team com-prises JD Manoj Sridhar,Deputy Inspector General andsupervisory officer GagandeepGambir, Superintendents ofPolice Nupur Prasad and RaviGambhir besides AdditionalSuperintendent of Police andInvestigating Officer AnilKumar Yadav and two consta-bles, sources said.

After reaching Mumbai,the CBI team is expected tovisit the scene of crime and alsoundertake crime reconstruc-tion besides seeking the docu-ments related to the accidentaldeath probe, autopsy reportand other such materials fromthe Mumbai Police, they said.

The CBI move comes a dayafter the Supreme Courtokayed the registration of thecase by the Patna Police on a

complaint from Rajput’s fatherand subsequent transfer of theFIR to the CBI. The CBI had onAugust 6 re-registered the casenaming the same set of accusedincluding actress RheaChakraborty, her relatives,Rajput’s business managers andfriends among others.

Soon after the SC judg-ment approving the CBI probeinto the issue, the CBI had said,“The investigation related todeath of Sushant Singh Rajputis continuing. The CBI teamwill visit Mumbai in due coursefor further investigation. Otherdetails can not be shared at thisstage.”

Meanwhile, the ED onThursday recorded the state-ment of film maker Rumi

Jaffery in connection with amoney laundering case regis-tered after taking cognisance ofthe Bihar Police FIR into theFIR relating to abetment to sui-cide of Rajput.

Jaffery’s statement wasrecorded with regard to hisreported plans of directing amovie with the late actor andthe finances involved in thatproject, sources said.

Jeffery had earlier beenquestioned by the MumbaiPolice which was probing thedeath of the actor under theaccidental death report (ADR)procedure of the CrPC.

Rajput (34), was reported-ly found hanging at his homein a Bandra locality in Mumbaion June 14.

����� ��� �� �� ()'�*)+,-

The Delhi Government onThursday allowed licensed

hotels and restaurants to serveliquor. Releasing the order, asenior Government officialsaid this permission has beengranted only to units who holda valid licence to serve liquor.

However, as per the Unlock3 guidelines issued by theUnion Home Ministry, bars arenot allowed to operate at pre-sent. The permission to serveliquor was withdrawn in thewake of mounting coronaviruscases in Delhi.

On June 12, the DelhiGovernment had allowedrestro-bars, hotels and clubs tosell their stock of beer that wasexpiring immediately to liquorshops. The Government hadsaid this was aimed at min-imising their loss.

There are around 950 hotels,clubs and restro-bars in thenational Capital that have exciselicence. However, they have notbeen allowed to open sinceMarch 25 when the first nation-wide lockdown was announced.

Earlier on May 4, the DelhiGovernment had allowedstandalone Government-runliquor shops to open. By May22, private liquor shops includ-ing those in markets wereallowed to operate.

Four Government agen-cies — Delhi State Industrial

and InfrastructureDevelopment Corporation,Delhi Tourism andTransportation DevelopmentCorporation, Delhi State CivilSupplies Corporation and DelhiConsumer’s CooperativeWholesale Store — operate theState-run shops in the city.

����� ()'�*)+,-

At least 0.28 per cent patientsof 6,86,395 Covid-19

infected cases are on ventilatorsupport while 1.92 per cent arein ICU and 2.62 per cent onoxygen support, the UnionHealth Ministry on Thursday

said adding that a total21,57,941 people have recu-perated so far, pushing India’srecovery rate to 73.91 per cent.

On Thursday, India’s coro-navirus caseload rose to29,04,329 with a record single-day spike of 68,507 infections.The death toll climbed to54,975 with 981 new fatalities.

With 61,873 recoveries ina span of 24 hours, India’srecovery rate amongst Covid-19 patients has reached nearly74 per cent (73.91 per cent)reflecting that the number ofpatients recovering is on asteady rise over the past sever-al months, said the Ministry.

“Focus on standard of careprotocol including use of non-invasive oxygen, better skilleddoctors, and improved ambu-lance services have culminatedin the desired results,” it said.

The record high recoverieshave ensured that the activecases, the “actual caseload” ofthe country, currently compriseonly 24.19 per cent of the totalcases.

Continued on Page 2

����� ()'�*)+,-

The Congress is gearing upto raise issues like the bor-

der standoff with China inLadakh, Facebook’s allegednexus with the ruling BJP, theGovernment’s handling of theCovid-19 pandemic, increasedeconomic crisis, job losses,and agrarian distress during theupcoming Monsoon Session ofParliament that is likely tostart from September 10.

The Congress has alsourged Lok Sabha Speaker OmBirla and Rajya SabhaChairman M Venkaiah Naiduto allow MPs to participate inthe session either physically orvirtually as is being done by thecourts. While Congress leaderAdhir Ranjan Chowdhury haswritten a letter to Birla, PChidambaram has written toNaidu to allow MPs, unable toparticipate physically, attendthe proceedings through anapp or a link.

A senior CongressMember of Parliament said

the party would demand astatement from Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on the borderrow, especially after his remarksat the June 19 all-party meet-ing that there have been nointrusions by Chinese forcesinto Indian territory in Ladakh.

The party has attackedModi for refraining from nam-ing China in his IndependenceDay speech, saying theGovernment should tell thepeople how it proposes to pushback the Chinese forces occu-pying Indian territory.

AICC sources said whilethey are also coordinating withother Opposition parties, theCongress will demand a JointParliamentary Committeeprobe into the Wall StreetJournal report last week thatclaimed Facebook’s Indian staffignored its rules in handlinghate speech by BJP politicians.The Congress has alleged an“unholy nexus” betweenFacebook and the BJP.

The party also desires fora discussion on the PM CaresFund in the wake of the PrimeMinister’s Office denying infor-mation under RTI.

Continued on Page 2

����� ()'�*)+,-

Indore has been ranked thecleanest city for the fourth

consecutive year andChhattisgarh the cleanest Statefor the second time under theSwachchh Survekshan 2020ranking released by theMinistry of Housing andUrban Affairs on Thursday.Surat and Navi Mumbai wereranked second and third,respectively. According to theranking, New Delhi MunicipalCouncil (NDMC) is the clean-est Capital city in India.

Varanasi, which is PrimeMinister Narendra Modi’s LokSabha constituency, has beenchosen as the cleanest town on

the banks of river Ganga andJharkhand was adjudged thecleanest state of India amongthose with less than 100 urbanlocal bodies (ULBs) or cities.PM Narendra Modi, who wasoriginally supposed toannounce the results, could notattend the event.

According to the ranking,

New Delhi Municipal Council(NDMC) is the cleanest Capitalcity while Bengaluru adjudgedthe Best Self Sustainabilityaward in the Mega city catego-ry. Among the cities with overone lakh population, Indorewas ranked number one, fol-lowed by Surat, Navi Mumbai,Ambikapur, Mysore,

Vijayawada, Ahmedabad, NewDelhi, Chandrapur andKhargone. Among smallercities, with population underone lakh, the top three cities -Karad, Sasvad and Lonavala -were all from Maharashtra.The survey, which covered4,242 cities and saw the par-ticipation of 1.87 crore citizens,was completed in 28 days.

On this occasion, UnionHousing and Urban Affairs(MoHUA) Hardeep Singh Puritoday gave away the awards tothe winning cities and States ofSwachchh Survekshan 2020 ata virtual event titled SwachhMahotsav organised by theMinistry.

Continued on Page 2

����� ()'�*)+,-

Advocate PrashantBhushan’s contempt case

took a queer turn on Thursdaywhen the Supreme Courtdeferred its decision on award-ing him punishment and askedhim to reconsider his statementon the proceedings.Interestingly, Attorney GeneralKK Venugopal also asked thecourt not to proceed againstBhushan, who refused to ten-der an apology.

The Bench had found himguilty of contempt of court forhis tweets criticising ChiefJustice of India SA Bobde andthe judiciary posted earlierthis year.

The court sought anunconditional apology fromBhushan by August 24. “Wehave given time to the con-temnor to submit uncondi-tional apology, if he so desires.Let it be filed by 24.08.2020. Incase, an apology is submitted,

the case to be posted for con-sideration on the same, on25.08.2020,” the court said.

“There is no person onearth who cannot commit amistake. You may do hun-dreds of good things but thatdoesn’t give you a licence to do10 crimes. Whatever has beendone is done. But we want the

person concerned to have asense of remorse,” said JusticeArun Mishra.

In its suo motu contemptcase against Bhushan, while theapex court Bench of JusticesArun Mishra, BR Gavai, andKrishna Murari, gave thelawyer four days’ time to recon-sider his statement on the pro-

ceedings, the advocate refusedto blink and seek court’s“mercy.”

Thousands of lawyers, civilright activists and retiredjudges have appealed to theSupreme Court not to proceedwith any punitive action againstBhushan.

On Thursday, the HumanRights Committee of Englandand Wales (BHRC) expressedconcern over the SC’s decisionto hold Bhushan guilty of con-tempt of court.

The BHRC defended theright of the lawyers to criticisethe institution and to exercisetheir right to freedom of speechin the process. The BHRCasked the Supreme Court toreview this decision and dis-charge Bhushan of this charge.Incidentally, the UK abolishedthe statutory offence of crimi-nal contempt of court in 2013.

In his statement filed inresponse to the August 14 ver-dict holding him guilty of con-

tempt, Bhushan quotedMahatma Gandhi, saying, “I donot ask for mercy. I do notappeal to magnanimity. I amhere, therefore, to cheerfullysubmit to any penalty that canlawfully be inflicted upon mefor what the court has deter-mined to be an offence, andwhat appears to me to be thehighest duty of a citizen.”

When the court startedthe hearing in the matter forawarding sentence to Bhushan,Senior Advocate DushyantDave, appearing for Bhushan,requested it to adjourn thecase as Bhushan was going tofile a review petition against thecourt’s August 14 verdict.

“If that can be reviewed,this (sentencing) can also bereviewed,” Justice Mishra said,rejecting the plea.

Dave then responded, “Ifthat (conviction judgment) isreviewed, then sentencing willbecome infructuous.”

Continued on Page 2

����� ��� �� �� ()'�*)+,-

Heavy downpour in Delhion Thursday morning

resulted in waterlogging, fallingof trees and traffic snarl in var-ious areas of the city. The DelhiTraffic Police issued an advi-sory to the people to informthem about the routes to taketo avoid the gridlock.

Many residents sharedvideos and pictures of vehiclesplying through waterloggedroads on social media.

Continued on Page 2

����� �� (�

Ahead of the Bihar Assemblypolls, as part of the “Aya

Ram, Gaya Ram” tradition,former Chief Minister JitanRam Manjhi on Thursday quitMahagathbandhan, led by theRJD. Manjhi gave no indicationabout the future of HindustaniAwam Morcha (Secular), butgiven the lack of option it has,it is understood that he wouldgo back to the NDA.

Manjhi has so far not beenable to play any significantrole in wooing even his Dalitvoters in previous polls.

Continued on Page 2

����� ()'�*)+,-

There was no breakthroughin ending the stalemate at

the volatile at the Line ofActual Control (LAC) inLadakh in the latest round ofdiplomatic-level talks onThursday.

However, India and Chinapledged their commitment tocomplete disengagement oftroops from all the frictionpoints “expeditiously.”

The two sides alsoexpressed their resolve to main-tain peace at the LAC and con-tinue dialogue to address dif-ferences.

These takeaways emergedfrom diplomatic-level talksunder the aegis of the WorkingMechanism for Consultationand Coordination. These jointsecretary level talks, fifth sincethe stand-offs started in earlyMay, were ongoing process toend the logjam.

New Delhi: Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra SinghShekhawat on Thursday said he has tested pos-itive for coronavirus. The Minister said in a tweetthat he underwent a coronavirus test after expe-riencing symptoms of the infection. On the

advice of doctors he is getting admitted to a hos-pital, he said. The Minister held two importantmeetings on Tuesday. One was on the SutlejYamuna Link (SYL). Haryana Chief Minister MLKhattar was physically present at the meeting.

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Heavy rain disrupted nor-mal life in many parts of

the country, including Delhiand adjoining Gurgaon, onThursday and led to worseningof the flood situation in UttarPradesh where over 870 villagesin 16 districts have been affect-ed. Low-lying areas were sub-merged and electricity androad links snapped at severalplaces in Odisha after torren-tial rains triggered by a low-pressure area over the Bay ofBengal lashed the State.

In Jammu & Kashmir, mul-tiple landslides triggered byheavy rains blocked the 270-km Jammu-Srinagar nationalhighway, the only all-weatherroad linking Kashmir to rest ofthe country.

Rains in Delhi and its neigh-bouring areas this morning ledto long traffic snarls and dam-aged property.

Rainfall recorded below 15mm is considered light, between15 and 64.5 mm is moderate andabove 64.5 mm is heavy.Kuldeep Srivastava, the head of

the India MeteorologicalDepartment’s (IMD) regionalforecasting centre, said moder-ate rains will continue till Fridaymorning. Thereafter, the inten-sity will decrease and the city willwitness on and off light rains.

Just a few hours of rainsflooded swathes of Delhi,spelling trouble for commuterswho remained stuck for hourson water-logged roads. Picturesand videos of vehicles and peo-ple wading through waist-deepwater were widely shared onsocial media. The rains alsocrippled electricity supply inmany areas.

The IMD in its all-Indiaweather summary and forecastbulletin said that heavy to veryheavy rainfall was recorded atisolated places in east Rajasthanand heavy rainfall at isolatedplaces in Konkan and Goa,Telangana, Odisha, West Bengal,Sikkim and north-eastern statesof Assam and Meghalaya.

It has forecast more rains forOdisha, Chhattisgarh, MadhyaPradesh, Telangana and Gujarat.

In Uttar Pradesh, as many as875 villages in 16 districts are

affected by floods.Relief Commissioner Sanjay

Goyal said that 578 of the affect-ed villages are marooned andrelief work was going on in theaffected areas.

On Wednesday, a state min-ister had said that 777 villages in16 districts were affected by theflooding and 520 of them weremarooned.

Three major rivers in theState — the Sharda, Rapti andthe Ghagra — were flowingabove the danger mark in sev-eral places. The state recordedmore rains on Thursday.

The heavy rain in Odishathrew life out of gear by snap-ping road link and communi-cation, and damaging mudhouses. Two men were washedaway in an overflowing Jambhirariver at Golmuhan Ghat inMayurbhanj district, officialssaid. Special relief commission-er (SRC) P K Jena said the staterecorded average rainfall of 59mm since Wednesday

Nabarangpur districtreported the heaviest rainfall of130.6 mm, while Malkangiri dis-trict in southern Odisha saw

road communication snappedand low-lying areas inundateddue to the incessant rains, theofficials said.

The heavy rains caused thewater levels of several rivers torise in Bhadrak, Balasore, Puri,Kalahandi and Kandhamal dis-tricts, the officials said addingthe state government has alreadyasked the district administra-tions to be ready to deal withwaterlogging and localisedflooding. In view of heavy rain-fall forecast by IMD, state chiefsecretary AK Tripathy held avideo conference with seniorofficials, including collectors toreview the situation arising outof heavy downpour.

Jena said after the reviewmeeting that five districtsreceived more than 100 mmrainfall, while ten others report-ed more than 50 mm.

The two who were washedaway on Wednesday eveninghave been identified after theirbodies were fished out of theriver on Thursday by fire servicepersonnel, officer in-charge ofMoroda police station,Madhusudan Dutta said.

Jena said low-lying areasand roads in different parts ofthe state were submerged due tothe torrential rains. Reports ofdamage to mud and thatchedhouses, standing crops werereceived from some areas.

He said assessment of theloss due to the rain is on.

Cuttack recorded 117.2 mmrainfall, Jajpur 111.8 mm,Koraput 100.8 mm andKendrapada 100.2 mm in the 24hours ending at 8.30 AM onThursday, Jena said.

Salepur block in Cuttackdistrict recorded the highestrainfall of 300 mm followed byNischintakoili at 297.5 mm andNabarangpur which saw 243mm rainfall, he said.

Revenue and DisasterManagement Minister SudamMarndi who took stock of thesituation, said the situation isunder control and there is nofear of flood though the waterlevel of several rivers in the stateis rising.

In J&K, multiple landslidestriggered by heavy rain blockedthe Jammu-Srinagar nationalhighway in Ramban district,

leaving over 200 vehicles strand-ed, officials said.

The 270-km highway, theonly all-weather road linkingKashmir with rest of the coun-try, was blocked by landslides atTrishul Morh, Battery Cheshmaand Pantiyal areas, officials said.

Over 200 vehicles arestranded at different points ofthe highway, they said. Menand machinery have beendeployed to clear the area.

In Kerala, the death toll inthe Pettimudi landslideclimbed to 63 on Thursday

with the recovery of an uniden-tified woman’s body whilesearch is on for seven missingpeople. The remains werefound near a river bank atPuthukuzhi, about 14 km, fromthe landslip site, an officialpress release said.

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Heavy rain played havoc forthe second consecutive

day that resulted in waterlog-ging and heavy traffic snarls atseveral places across the city.

According to the IMD, inthe last 48 hours, Gurugramreceived 158 mm of rain whichcaused water-logging andflood like situation on multi-ple stretches and areas in thecity. Both vehicular traffic andpedestrian movement havebeen disrupted due to water-logging on several major andconnecting roads in the city.

According to the datareleased by the local adminis-tration, the Gurugram city onThursday recorded a rainfall of158 mm, Pataudi 129 mm,Sohna 104 mm, Farukhnagar76 mm, Manesar 127 mmand Wazirabad 128 mm.

Apart from this, a five-story under constructionbuilding located in Sector-46in Gurugram was vacated onThursday after it bent on oneside due to heavy rain in theregion. The area where thebuilding was situated wasseverely flooded. The roadswere also waterlogged.

“Water has filled up in thebasement since Wednesdaymorning. We are helpless sinceit is raining and can’t drain thewater out,” said Rajesh Kumar,owner of the property.

The neighbours howeverclaimed that the buildingowner illegally constructedthe fifth floor while the MCGallows construction only uptothe fourth floor.

In another incident, a partof the road caved in nearIFFCO Chowk in Gurugramon Thursday morning, fol-lowing heavy rainfall. Thearea has been cordoned off.

The city was submerged inan average of 3 feet of waterwith the worst hit areas being

Delhi-Gurugram expressway,Jharsa Chowk, IffCO Chowk,Sohna Road, Narsinghpur,Basai Chowk, Sohna Chowk,Sector 4-7, Hanuman Chowk,Bilaspur Chowk, FazilpurChowk, Vatika Chowk,Subhash Chowk, BaghtawarChowk, Atul Kataria Chowk,Mahavir Chowk, Dundaheraand Jawala Mill.

Morning rush hour trafficwas affected and the policestruggled to keep the vehiclesmoving. The policemen wereseen standing in knee-deepwater while struggling to keeptraffic going. People also tookto twitter to share pictures andvideos of their rainy experi-ences. Being a working day,the continuous rain createdproblems for two-wheeler rid-ers, with many waiting underflyovers to escape the down-pour. Meanwhile, GurugramPolice on its official Twitterhandle also alerted the com-muters about the heavy traffic and water-logging inseveral areas.

It said, “Water-logging hasbeen reported at South city-2on Sohna road, SignatureTower, Narsinghpur Chowkon NH-48.”

“Our traffic officials are onthe spot to facilitate the traf-fic flow. Commuters arerequested to plan their travelaccordingly.”

Waterlogging was alsoreported from areas like theOld Delhi road in front ofMaruti Gate-1, Unitech CyberPark, Sector 4 and 5 round-abouts, Jawala Mill Road andGolf Course Road inGurugram.

The Gurugram TrafficPolice also appealed to thepeople to come out of theirhomes only if it was necessary.“Due to consistent rain sinceWednesday water-logging hasbeen reported at several placesand the traffic is moving at avery slow pace. It is a requestto everyone to come out if itis necessary. Inconvenience isregretted,” it said in a tweet.

On Wednesday, visuals oftraffic jams, submerged roadsand underpasses and a boatmoving on a water-loggedroad emerged fromGurugram. The city was crip-pled due to the rain for the lasttwo days as many subwayswere inundated by the water.

“Heavy rain disrupt traf-fic movements in Gurugram,the MCG on their task to flushout rain water in the drainagewith the help of pumps, firetenders and other machinery.The civic body officials havebeen deployed at the water-logged spot to take a stock ofthe drainage situation in thecity,” said Vinay Pratap Singh,Commissioner MCG.

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The waterlogging issue wasreported at Jhandewalan Mandiron Rani Jhansi Road, MB Roadat Lal Kuan (both carriageway),Ma Anandmayee Marg nearDD Motors (both carriageway),GT Road at Azadpur SubziMandi out gate (both carriage-way), Sarai Pipal Thala (bothcarriageway), Mahindra ParkSignal on GT Road (both car-riageway), Jahangirpuri on GTRoad (both carriageway) andGTK Depot on GT Road, as perthe Delhi Traffic Police (DTP).

Meanwhile, civic agenciessaid two parts of a house col-lapsed due to rain inDakshinpuri and Malviya Nagar.Traffic was also affected as treesfell down in many places in thecity. Also, civic agencies saidtrees fell at several locationsacross the national Capital.

“Falling of trees werereported from AmbedkarMarket in Safdarjung enclave,Pushp Vihar area, MalviyaNagar, CR Park, ChhatarpurMandir Boys school nearChhatarpur metro station, HariNagar area, Tuglaqbad exten-sion, Sukdev Vihar, LajpatNagar area, New FriendsColony and several other partsacross the city,” said a seniorcivic agency official. “MB Roadtraffic movement closed fromMathura Road, due to waterlogging under Pul Pehlad Pur.Obstruction in traffic in thecarriageway from Satyamtowards Kasturba Underpass,Maharaja Surajmal Marg due towater logging at Jhilmil,” theDelhi Traffic Police tweeted.

“Traffic on the Ring Road-Bhairon Road was affected dueto potholes and traffic goingfrom Ring Road towardsBhairon Road was affected due

to the bottle-neck route,” theDelhi Traffic Police said inanother tweet. “Traffic move-ment has been closed onRajpur Road from both sidesdue to a tree fallen near PS CivilLine. A tree has fallen near therailway gate on Narela-Bawanaroad due to which traffic isaffected,” it tweeted.

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If he joined the NDA, hecould at best hope to get achance to contest four-fiveseats of central Bihar.

The HAM decided to walkout of the the five partiesOpposition coalition in Biharat the party’s “core committee”meeting convened at Manjhi’sresidence, said partyspokesman Danish Rizwan.

“HAM will no longer be aconstituent of the grand alliance.The party has decided to leavemahagathbandhan,” saidRizwan. Apart from HAM, themahagathbandhan in Biharcomprises of RJD, Congress,Upendra Kushwaha’s RashtriyaLok Samata Party (RLSP) andBollywood set designer MukeshSahni headed-Vikassheel InsanParty (VIP).

Blaming the RJD for thefailure to form a coordinationcommittee within the grandalliance for its better function-ing, the HAM leader said,“Leaders who do not listen tothe constituent partners, willthey listen to the people aftercoming to power?”

“Our leader Manjhi hascategorically stated that there isno point in continuing with thealliance which does not followdemocratic norms and listen toits partners, “Rizwan said.

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“In the event we decide toimpose any kind of punish-ment, we assure you that itwon’t be in operation till thereview is decided. Don’t worry,we will be fair to you... Even ifyou are not fair to us,” JusticeMishra added. At this point,Justice Gavai said it seemedthat the review will be filedafter one of the judges on theBench retires. Justice Mishraretires on September 2.

But Dave countered him,saying, “Review can be filedwithin 30 days. Let the impres-sion not go that review will notbe filed till Justice Mishraretires...Every order of JusticeMishra can be reviewed, butthat does not mean that reviewhas to be filed before JusticeMishra retires. There is a statu-tory limit of 30 days.”

Dave went on to add,“Heavens are not going to fallif the sentencing is deferred tillthe review is decided. It is notprovided in the law that it hasto be decided by the sameBench.” Refusing to defer thehearing, Justice Mishra said, “Asentencing is a continuation ofhim being found guilty. Will itbe appropriate if another Benchdecides on sentencing?Suppose I was not demittingoffice, then would it be appro-priate for another Bench todecide on sentencing?”

At this point, Bhushan reada statement on the court’s ver-dict finding him guilty of con-tempt. The statement read: “Iam pained at the verdict thatthe court held me guilty. I ampained that I am grossly mis-understood. I am shocked thatthe court arrived at the con-clusion without providing anyevidence about my motives....Ibelieve that open criticism isnecessary in any democracy tosafeguard the constitutionalorder. Saving the constitution-al order should come abovepersonal or professional inter-ests. My tweets were a smallattempt to discharge what Iconsider my highest duty...I donot ask for mercy. I do notappeal for magnanimity. Icheerfully submit to any pun-ishment that court mayimpose...” Bhushan went on tosay that his tweets were out ofa bona fide attempt to dis-charge his duty as a citizen. “Iwould have been failing in myduty if I did not speak up at thisjuncture of history. I submit toany penalty which the courtmay inflict. It would be con-temptuous on my part to offerapology...” Senior advocateRajeev Dhavan then addressedthe court, arguing that in con-tempt cases, the nature of thecontemnor, as well as thenature of the offence have to beconsidered.

Justice Mishra then said,“You want us to balance, the

court is for balance, if we don’tbalance the whole institutionwill be destroyed. But if coun-sel’s interest has to be protect-ed, at the same time the insti-tution also has to be protected.You all are part of this institu-tion, this system...

...Sometimes in zeal, youcross the lakshman rekha. Weappreciate the cases and thework and efforts for goodcases. In my entire judicialcareer, I have never held anyone person guilty of contempt.”

Dhavan went on to arguethat for contempt proceedingsto be invoked, it has to beshown that a statement causesa substantial interference in thefunctioning of the justice deliv-ery system. Referring toBhushan’s first tweet on CJIBobde on the motorbike, heasked, “How can a lawyer’stweet about CJI not wearing amask affect the functioning of

the court?” When Dhavanreferred to Bhushan’s affidavitand pleaded that truth is anabsolute defence in defamationand contempt cases,, the Benchsought Attorney General KKVenugopal’s views on the state-ment made by Bhushan andwhether he should be givenmore time. The AG said that itwould be “tremendously good”if the court gave Bhushan time.

But Bhushan was notinclined to seek the court’sindulgence and said, “It isunlikely that there will be sub-stantial change in my state-ment”, he said. The court thensaid, “We can give you time andit is better if you consider it.Think over it...we will giveyou 2-3 days time.” Senioradvocate Rajeev Dhavan thenargued that the court has notspelled out any reasons onhow the tweets were “scur-rilous”. “The conclusion was

reached without consideringthe justification of PrashantBhushan. Dave did not want toembarrass the court (by goinginto the details of the affidavit).”

Dhavan pointed out thatretired judges and thousand oflawyers have supportedBhushan’s and asked the court,“Are they in contempt too?”

At this stage AG Venugopalrequested the court not topunish Bhushan. On this,Justice Mishra asked him toconsider the entire case andthen make submissions after 2-3 days.

The AG said, “I have a listof nine judges who had saidthat there is corruption in thehigher levels of the judiciary. Ihad myself said it in 1987...”

The court ultimately gaveBhushan 2-3 days to reconsider his statement madein response to the August 14verdict.

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In 2019, Indore was award-ed the cleanest city in thecountry while Bhopal wasdeclared the cleanest Capital.Ujjain bagged the award forbeing the cleanest city in thepopulation category of 3 lakhto 10 lakh. Indore had retainedthe top spot in the survey forthree consecutive years. “Fourtimes in a row the cleanest cityin the country! We willprogress together to fulfill thedream of a prosperous MP withSwachh MP”, Madhya PradeshChief Minister Shivraj SinghChouhan tweeted soon afterresults of the SwachhSarvekshan 2020 wereannounced.

Chhattisgarh was rankedthe cleanest State out of thosewith over 100 cities, followed byMaharashtra and MadhyaPradesh while Jharkhand wasthe cleanest among those withless than 100 urban local bod-ies (ULBs) or cities. In the cat-egory of “Ganga towns”,Varanasi, has been chosen asthe cleanest town on the banksof river Ganga. “Heartiest con-gratulations to PM Shri@narendramodi Ji, who repre-sents the city in Lok Sabha, forhis visionary leadership whichhas inspired the people of thetown for this achievement,”the Union Minister said.

Jalandhar got the top rankamong cantonments category.A total of 6 cities (Indore,Ambikapur, Navi Mumbai,Surat, Rajkot and Mysuru)have been rated as 5-star cities,86 cities have been rated 3-Starand 64 cities have been rated 1-Star, as per Ministry of Housingand Urban Affairs’ Star RatingProtocol for Garbage FreeCities. According to the min-istry, 4,324 urban local bodies

have declared open defecationfree so far while 1,319 cities certified ODF plus and489 ODF ++.

Speaking about the SwachhBharat Mission- Urban, Purisaid it had had a deep impacton health, livelihoods, qualityof life and behaviour, whichhad come in handy when deal-ing with the COVID-19 pan-demic. When the mission waslaunched in 2014, waste pro-cessing was 18 percent. Now it

had increased to 66 percent.“The mainstreaming of infor-mal waste workers, provision ofsocial security schemes andsafety gear to all sanitationworkers, dignity, recognitionand welfare of sanitation work-ers and their families was accorded due importance,”Puri said. He added that thesurvey team visited over 58,000residential and over 20,000commercial areas covering over64,000 wards-all in 28 days.

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“We will also take on theGovernment over its mishan-dling of the Covid-19 pan-demic. When Rahul Gandhiflagged the issue as early asFebruary, he was ridiculed bythe BJP. See, where we standnow. We have become thethird country in the world tocross over two million Covid-19 cases. We also saw an ill-conceived lockdown thatresulted in a huge economiccrisis and massive job losses.The Government has to tell uswhy and how it failed in con-taining the pandemic,” saidthe MP requesting anonymity.

The issue of the sale of 32PSUs and handing over rail-ways and airports to privateparties will also be raised dur-ing the first-ever virtual sessionof Parliament.

“We are in talks with otherlike-minded Opposition partiesto present a united front inParliament on all critical issues

confronting the country. Wewill meet soon to firm up ourParliament strategy,” said theMP. The Monsoon Session,which usually starts in mid-July, has been deferred due tothe pandemic, which led to asweeping federal lockdownfrom March 25.

Welcoming the decisionto hold the Monsoon Session ofthe two Houses of Parliament,Chidambaram said it is veryimportant that the Housesshould meet, even during thepandemic, to deliberate onmany issues that concern thenation and the people.

In a letter to Lok SabhaSpeaker, Adhir RanjanChowdhury said under thecurrent circumstances,Parliament should develop anApp and link should be pro-vided to members like in theSupreme Court and HighCourts in practice now.

“Members who are physi-cally present may speak in theHouse. Members who cannotbe physically present should be

allowed to speak via an app.When the member’s name iscalled, his mike will be unmut-ed, and he can speak for theallotted time,” Chowdhury said.

Noting that proceedingsof the House are open, record-ed, reported in the media, andtelecast, Chidambaram said insuch circumstances it should bequite easy to employ technol-ogy to enable members to par-ticipate either physically orvirtually in the proceedings ofthe House. Special arrange-ments are being made to ensurethat the members are safe andto maintain social distancinginside the House, he noted.

“However, you will kindlyappreciate that when nearly 245members of the Rajya Sabhagather in one place, with near-ly 300 officers, staff and secu-rity personnel in attendance,(and a larger number in theadjacent Lok Sabha), it is near-ly impossible to avoid thespread of the virus,”Chidambaram said in the let-ter to the Vice President.

All evidence points to theconclusion that when peoplegather in significant numbersin one place, they are vulnera-ble and are exposed to infec-tion, he said.

“I am afraid this appre-hension will discourage manyMembers from participatingphysically in the proposedSession of the House,”Chidambaram said further.

Hectic preparations areunderway for the MonsoonSession of Parliament with sev-eral first-time measures in viewof the Covid-19 pandemic suchas staggered sitting of LokSabha and Rajya Sabha and useof both chambers and galleriesto accommodate memberswhile following physical dis-tancing norms, officials said.

The Monsoon Session islikely to begin in the last weekof August or early September.

According to the RajyaSabha Secretariat, members ofthe Upper House will be seat-ed in both chambers and gal-leries during the session.

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Delhi Health MinisterSatyendar Jain on

Thursday released second serosurvey report claiming out ofthe 2 crore national Capital’spopulation, 59 lakh people areat a low risk of Covid-19 infec-tion however 70 per cent peo-ple are still at a risk of gettinginfected from the deadly virus.The Delhi Government willconduct next sero survey fromSeptember 1, 2020.

According to the Healthdepartment of DelhiGovernment, in August month7.1 per cent more people havedeveloped antibodies compare toprevious which was 22 per cent.

According to the sero sur-vey report, the highest preva-lence rate is in the South EastDelhi out of all 11 districts.

Addressing media, Jain saida prevalence rate of 34.7 per centhas been found in the peoplewho are below 18 years of age,28.5 per cent in people between

18-50 years, and 31.2 per centin people above 50 years.

Citing the major findingsof sero survey report, Jain said,antibodies have been found inaround 28.3 per cent males and32.2 per cent females.

Interestingly, Delhi whichwas competing with otherStates highly affected withcorona, the latest sero surveysuggested that a population ofabout 60 lakh in Delhi hasalready recovered after being

infected by the virus.Illustrating further the

report, Jain highlighted thatthe improvement across districtscan be mapped in the range of6 per cent to 50 per cent.“While the numbers increasedonly slightly in the North-EastDistrict which already had afairly high percentage in the pre-vious survey of July, South-EastDelhi has shown an improve-ment of about 50 per cent.”

Commenting on the find-ings, Jain added, “Differentprevalence has been observedin different districts.”

“For instance, antibodieshave been found in 29 per centof people in North East Delhi,27 per cent in South Delhi, 33per cent in South East Delhi, 24per cent in New Delhi,”

According to health offi-cials, the difference between thefirst and the second sero-sur-vey ranges between 6 per centand 50 per cent.

“In the first survey, theprevalence rate in North East

Delhi was 27.7 per cent whichhas now increased to 29.6 percent, and from 22 per cent to 33percent in South East Delhi,which means that there is anincrease of 50 per cent. The over-all increase rate from the previ-ous survey is 25-26per cent.”

“This sero-survey has beendone considering the overall 2crore population of Delhi. Thesample size was 15,000,” headded. Jain said, “As per the sci-entists, the antibodies stay inyour body starting from a peri-od of 3-4 months up to 7-8months. Along with this, T-Cellsalso get developed and their lifeis much longer. They are calledmemory cells and because ofthem, if a person is alreadyinfected by Corona in the past,it is very non-probable thathe/she will get infected again.”

Jain added there were hugevariations in all the districts thelast time and ranged from 18per cent in one place to 12 percent in another. This variationhas now lowered.

“This means that we maysoon be able to achieve herdimmunity in the comingmonths because as per scien-tists, herd immunity is achievedbetween 40-60 per cent and weare already at 29 per cent,” headded.

“We will compare the dataof the previous survey andthis month’s survey, and we willthen analyze if more strategiesneed to be made and anyapproach that needs to bechanged. We are not slowingdown on preparations that wehave already done. In Europe or

the USA, numbers have start-ed rising again in some of thecountries of Europe. Our coun-try saw the highest rise in thecases at 69,000 cases. So, wecannot believe that corona isover in Delhi. There was a timewhen the cases in Delhi wereincreasing by 4,000 daily andthe positivity ratio was 30 percent. It is also reassuring to seethat the positivity rate in Delhihas reduced to nearly 7 percent, which is much lowerthan the national average. Thesituation in Delhi is improving,”Jain added.

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New Delhi MunicipalCouncil (NDMC) was

declared first in cleanest capi-tal category and best perform-ing Capital amongst all theState Capitals and UnionTerritories in SwachchhSurvekshan 2020 announcedby the Minister for Housingand Urban Affairs onThursday.

Chairman of the NDMCDharmendra received the

award from the Minister onbehalf of NDMC. The munic-ipal council has alreadyachieved ODF++ (OpenDefecation-Free) status andreceived three stars as per theMinistry’s rating protocol forgarbage-free cities.

“NDMC is a bin-free citywith volume sensor under-ground bins which are moni-tored at Command andControl Centre. It is carryingout 100 per cent door-to-doorcollection and processes all its

waste on a daily basis. Nogarbage goes to the landfill siteand the entire waste is incin-erated to produce power,” thecouncil said in a statement.

All NDMC schools, middleand senior, have sanitary nap-kin-vending machines.

It has also created ‘youngjournalists’ among school stu-dents to spread the message ofcleanliness in the community.The NDMC area also has 100 per cent sewerage connectivity.

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Delhi Transport MinisterKailash Gahlot met with

RK Singh, Minister of State(Power and New & RenewableEnergy) via video conferencingon Thursday to discuss instal-lation of charging infrastruc-

ture in Delhi-NCR as part ofthe recently launched electricvehicle policy.

The Delhi electric vehiclepolicy - which was launched onAugust 7 this year by DelhiChief Minister Arvind Kejriwal— aims at having 5 lakh (25 percent of all new vehicle regis-trations) electric vehicles inDelhi by 2024. Along withproviding category basedincentives, it also aims to devel-op an effective network ofcharging stations and infra-structure throughout the city.

“The strategy that will beadopted to cater to the suddenjump in sales of electric vehiclesdue to subsidies that the policyoffers is something that has beenwidely discussed by the publicand experts in the field,” theGovernment said in a statement.

The first leg of the policytargets installation of 200 charg-ing stations within the citywithin the next year such thatthere is a charging station everythree km, it said, adding thereare also provisions to encouragemore private players to venture

into being partners in the ini-tiative through setting up privatecharging stations/ battery charg-ing points but ensure that thereis enough competition so thatthe technology is affordable tothe common man.

After the meeting, Gahlotsaid, “We had a very fruitfuldiscussion today. The Delhi EV policy is being dis-cussed worldwide now, it is theresult of more than 2 years ofhard work by our Governmentin consultation with experts inthe field”.

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The Delhi Fire Service (DFS) men on Thursday rescuedthree members of a family, including a 12-year-old boy,

from their east Delhi flat which was engulfed with smokecaused by a fire on Thursday morning.

Aadil (52), his wife Ishrat Aadil (45) and Ali Aadil (12)were rescued from their flat where they were trapped dueto smoke. According to Atul Garg, the Director, DFS, acall at 5.24 AM about a blaze in Murti Gali Krishan Ganjin Laxmi Nagar was received on Thursday.

“Acting on the call eight fire tenders were rushed tothe 325 square yard apartment building which had 17 flats,”Garg said. “The fire had started in meter boards and spreadto 11 vehicles, including seven scooters and four bikes. Thetrio family members were rescue from their flat safely bythe DFS officials,” Garg added.

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With 90.2 per cent recov-ery rate, the doubling

rate of Covid-19 cases hasgone up to 101.5 days as com-pared to 28.8 days for rest ofthe country. Moreover, casefatality rate in the nationalCapital for the month ofAugust has also improved sub-stantially to 1.4 per cent whichis 1.92 per cent with respect to72.5 per cent recovery rate forthe rest of India.

According to Covid-19health data till August 20, outof a total of 1,57,354 cases inDelhi, 1,41,826 cases haverecovered, which shows a sig-nificant improvement in thecorona situation in Delhi.

As per the State healthdepartment report, there islarge drop in test positive ratebetween June 18 and August16, positivity rate of RT-PCRand Rapid tests both see asharp decrease.

Analysing the healthreport, a senior Governmentofficial said, the mortality ratein Delhi has also considerablydecreased due to the multipleefforts being made by ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwal tobring the death figures to zero.

It may be noted that in ameeting of the Delhi DisasterManagement Authority(DDMA) held on Wednesday,the Health Department of theDelhi Government presentedfresh data regarding the situ-ation of corona in Delhi.

“The figures are not onlystrengthening the case for Delhimodel’s success in defeatingcorona but also bring relief tothe residents of Delhi,” a DelhiGovernment official said.

Comparing the Covid-19data, the official said on July 1,the doubling rate of coronacases in Delhi was the same aswith the rest of India at 20 days.Since then, the doubling rate ofDelhi has been steadily rising.It was 58 days on July 17,around 90 days on August 1,and has currently increased to

101.5 days. In comparison, forthe rest of India, the doublingrate has remained between 20and 27 days since July 1.

On June 20, the recoveryrate of Delhi and the rest of Indiawas similar at 55.2 per cent Sincethen, the recovery rate of Delhihas been consistently higherthan the rest of India.

Presenting Covid-19 reportand mentioning about Delhimodel to combat with the dis-ease, Government official high-lighted that the success of DelhiModel is also seen in the sharpdecrease in test positivity rateover last two months.

On 18 June, the test posi-tivity rate in Delhi was 24.59per cent, which reduced sub-stantially to 5.25 per cent onAugust 16. More importantly,the positivity rate has dropped

for both RT-PCR tests andRapid Antigen Tests. On 18June, 9,088 RT-PCR tests wereconducted of which 2,804 pos-itives emerged — a positivityrate of 30.85per cent.

“In comparison, onAugust 16, 4,106 RT-PCR testswere conducted of which 434positives emerged — a posi-tivity rate of 10.57 per cent.Similarly, on 18 June, 3,316Rapid tests were conducted inDelhi of which 247 positivesemerged — a positivity rate of7.42per cent.””In comparison,on 16 August, 10,882 Rapidtests were conducted in Delhiof which 353 positivesemerged — a positivity rate of3.24 per cent,” quoted datafrom State health department.

Lauding the efforts of histeam, earlier, Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal maintainedthat the main aim of theauthorities and the DelhiHovernment is to save as manylives as possible. “For this,many improvements havebeen made inside the hospitalssuch as ramping up the infra-structure, increasing ICU bedsand wards, and supplying oxy-gen concentrators to patientsrecovering in hospitals as wellas home isolation,” Kejriwalhad said.

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The national Capital record-ed 1,215 fresh coronavirus

cases on Thursday, taking thetally to 1.57 lakh, while thedeath toll from the diseasemounted to 4,257, authoritiessaid. Twenty-two fatalities havebeen recorded in the last 24hours, according to the DelhiGovernment’s health bulletin.

This is the highest numberof deaths since August 7, whenthe city recorded 23 fatalities,according to the data.

The death toll due to thedisease has mounted to 4,257,it said. The number of deathsrecorded on Tuesday andWednesday was 12 and 9respectively.

The city has so far record-ed a total of 1,57,354 cases, ofwhich 1,41,826 have recov-ered or been discharged. Therecovery rate stands at 90.13per cent, it said.

There are 11,271 activecases, of which 5,707 are underhome isolation.

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The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) attackedthe BJP-ruled municipal corporations

after it was ranked poorly in the 2020cleanliness survey conducted by theCentral Government. Senior party leaderand MCD in-charge Durgesh Pathak onThursday said that the BJP-ruled munic-ipal Corporations have tarnished theimage of Prime Minister Narendra Modias all the three civic bodies have beenranked as worst performers in the 2020cleanliness survey conducted by theCentral Government.

Pathak said the survey was done andpublished by the Union Governmentwhere SDMC rank is 31, North MCD rankis 43 and EDMC was ranked 46. The sur-

vey was conducted for 47 cities. Pathak saidone of the key responsibilities of the munic-ipal corporations of Delhi is cleaning thecity but the survey clearly shows that theyhave miserably failed in their duty.

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi helda cleanliness mission across India. Thedepartment under the Prime Minister hasalso done a cleanliness survey across India.This survey was done in 47 cities. Delhiwas also part of the survey. But the BJPcouncillors and leaders have devastated thesanitation situation of the capital and thishas tarnished the image of our Prime

Minister,” he said.“If you try to find out any 10 drains of

your locality you will see that the MCDsnever cleaned those drains. This is the keyreason behind the water-logging problemof Delhi. Whenever it rains the whole citysuffers from huge water-logging due to thepoor performance of Corporations,” he said.Pathak added one of the key responsibili-ties of the municipal corporations of Delhiis cleaning the city but the survey clearlyshows that they have miserably failed.

“The BJP has done only one thingwhich is corruption and making money.The Corporations have failed in the sec-tors of education because they could notprovide books to the students in healthbecause they could not give salary to thedoctors and they have also failed incleaning the city,” he said.

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Page 4: ˘ ˇ ˆˆ˙...1 day ago  · New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) is the cleanest Capital city while Bengaluru adjudged the Best Self Sustainability award in the Mega city catego-ry

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The bitter war of wordsbetween the BJP and the

Congress on the Facebook con-troversy is set to escalate fur-ther as BJP MPs NishikantDubey and Rajyavardhan SinghRathore have written letters tothe Lok Sabha Speaker OmBirla seeking the removal oftheir Congress counterpartShashi Tharoor as the chief ofthe Parliamentary StandingCommittee on InformationTechnology on the groundsthat the latter chose to speak tothe media about his intentionto summon officials of thesocial networking majorinstead of discussing the mat-

ter first in the parliamentarypanel.

Both sides have raised priv-ilege issues against each otherin the committee.

Subsequent to a report inthe American English dailyWall Street Journal that claimedthat Facebook refused to applyhate speech rules to BJP andRSS leaders, Tharoor had spo-ken about summoning thecompany’s officials before thecommittee due to the “seriousnature” of allegations.

“Issuing statements as towho would be summoned andwhat would be the agenda ofthe meeting is absolutelyuncalled for and is violative ofthe procedures of the LokSabha. The proclivity of the ITcommittee chairman to speakto media first undermines thefunctioning of the committeemembers and the committeeitself,” Rathore told newsper-sons on Thursday.

Former Information &Broadcasting Minister Rathoreis also a member of the IT com-mittee. He said he has writtena letter to Lok Sabha SpeakerOm Birla in this regard.

Rathore said the IT com-mittee members have no issueon “summoning whosoeverthe committee feels needs to besummoned for the protectionof the rights of citizens of ourcountry” but added that thematter should be discussed inthe panel first.

Dubey, who is also a mem-ber of the committee, has comeout openly against Tharoor forhis remarks and has filedbreach of privilege petitionsagainst him with the Speaker.

Dubey wrote, “Tharoor’stenure has been controver-sial... Speaking in SpenserianEnglish in foreign accent doesnot give one freedom to anindividual to disregard parlia-mentary institutions”

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Stalemate continued at thevolatile Line of Actual

Control(LAC)in Ladakh withthe latest round of diplomat-ic level talks on Thursdayunable to provide any break-through. However, India andChina reaffirmed their com-mitment to complete disen-gagement of troops from allthe friction points “expedi-tiously.”

The two sides alsoexpressed their resolve tomaintain peace at the LAC andcontinue dialogue to addressdifferences.

These takeaways emergedfrom diplomatic level talksunder the aegis of the WorkingMechanism for Consultationand Coordination(WMCC).These joint secretary leveltalks, fifth since the stand-offsstarted in early May, wereongoing to end tension at theLAC.

The five military leveltalks, so far, since the stand-offs started also did not see anypositive outcome with China,

till now, refusing to pull backfrom the friction points.Moreover, over the weeks ithas added muscle to its troopstrength at these sites besidesdeploying heavy guns andarmour.

With China not budgingand retreating from frictionpoints like PangongTso(Lake)and Depsang val-ley, the Indian security estab-lishment was expecting nomajor breakthrough in thisround of talks, sources said.They also said as the issue is“complex and complicated,”

the coming weeks will seemore parleys at the diplomat-ic and military level to bringdown temperature at thevolatile LAC.

Meanwhile, giving detailsof the latest round of WMCCtalks, ministry of externalaffairs spokesperson AnuragSrivastava said here the Indiandelegation was led by JointSecretary (East Asia), MEA,while the Director General ofthe Boundary & OceanicDepartment of the ChineseMinistry of Foreign Affairs ledthe Chinese delegation.

Srivastava said the twosides had a “candid” and in-depth exchange of views onthe existing situation in theIndia-China border areas.They reaffirmed that in accor-dance with the agreementsreached between the twoForeign Ministers and the twoSpecial Representatives (SRs),the two sides will continue tosincerely work towards com-plete disengagement of thetroops along the Line of ActualControl (LAC) in theWestern(Ladakh) Sector.

In this context they agreedto resolve the outstandingissues in an “expeditious”manner and in accordancewith the existing agreementsand protocols. The two sideswere in agreement thatrestoration of peace and tran-quility in the border areaswould be essential for theoverall development of bilat-eral relations, he said.

The two sides furtheracknowledged the need tomaintain close communica-tion through both the diplo-matic and military channels so

as to ensure complete disen-gagement. In this regard, theyalso agreed to continue theirongoing engagements includ-ing through the meetings ofthe WMCC, Srivastava said.

Sources said India alsoinsisted in the talks its standthat status quo ante be restoredon the LAC and no effort tochange the LAC is acceptableto it. Restoring status quo antemeans that China will have toretreat to its positions acrossthe LAC as they were on April30.

With talks making littleheadway till now, the Indianarmed force are now preparedfor the long haul. Besides hon-ing their operational pre-paredness, the Army has start-ed winter stocking in the rightearnest to sustain its troops inLadakh in the winter months.

In fact, winter will set inthere by September end withtemperature dipping to minus20 degrees some time later.The army is rushing prefabri-cated huts to withstandextreme cold besides otherlogistic support.

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When the country’s econo-my reeled under Covid-

19 impact, Prime MinisterEmployment GenerationProgram (PMEGP), which isimplemented by Khadi andVillage Industries Commission(KVIC), defied the trend.Boosted by the decision of theMinistry of MSME to eliminatethe role of district collectors inapproving the PMEGP pro-jects, the approval of projectsduring the first five months ofthis financial year went up bya whopping 44%.

The KVIC has approvedand forwarded 1.03 lakh pro-ject applications to the financ-ing banks as compared to71,556 projects during the cor-responding period last year.

PMEGP is the flagshipemployment generation pro-gram of the Central govern-ment and the KVIC is thenodal agency for implementingthe scheme. The MSMEMinistry on April 28 amendedthe guidelines to eliminate therole of the District Collectorsapproving any scheme. TheDM office, preoccupied as itwas with other administrativeworks, accorded the least pri-ority to clearing projects underPMEGP.

As per the amended guide-lines, KVIC, the nodal agencyfor implementing PMEGPscheme, was entrusted the taskof clearing the applicationsfrom prospective entrepre-neurs and forward it to theBanks for taking credit deci-sions.

During the period fromApril to August in 2020,financing banks sanctioned11,191 projects and �345.43crore margin money was dis-bursed to applicants as com-pared to �276.09 crore marginmoney disbursed for 9161 pro-jects in the first five months ofprevious year, i.e. 2019. Thenumber of sanctioned pro-jects by banks thus increasedby 22% while the disbursementof margin money by KVICincreased by 24% as comparedto the previous year.

The faster implementationof PMEGP projects this yearassumes greater significance asthe entire country was underlockdown for the most part ofthese five months.

The higher number of pro-jects also signifies the govern-

ment’s resolve to create self-employment and sustainablelivelihood for the people bypromoting local manufactur-ing.

KVIC Chairman ShriVinai Kumar Saxena said themassive jump in approval ofPMEGP projects is a result ofthe Prime Minister’s call for“Minimum Government,Maximum Governance”.

“Discontinuing the role ofDistrict Collectors has ensuredthe swift implementation of theprojects. However, the banksmust also expedite the processof sanctioning funds so as tobenefit the maximum numberof applicants. Timely disbursalof funds is crucial for the exe-cution of projects and creatingemployment in the country,”Saxena said.

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In what should come as a bigrelief, scientists and health

experts here have dispelledfears about the news related tothe discovery of mutant formof the novel coronavirus fromMalaysia as being “10 timesmore infectious”. They saidthat it is not a concern forIndia as the strain is alreadywidely prevalent here andisn’t any more virulent thanthe one originating in Wuhan.

Two-days ago Malaysia’sDirector General of Healthhad raised alarm overFacebook that the D614Gstrain of the virus was dis-covered from a cluster, includ-ing a restaurant owner return-ing from India calling it “10times more infectious andeasily spread by an individualsuper spreader.”

Virologist Upasana Raysaid that the mutation mayhave just been reported inMalaysia but is not new forthe world. “We saw it hap-pening in April and it even-tually dominated many coun-tries. It is new for Malaysiabut is not a new mutation,”said the senior scientist atKolkata’s CSIR-IndianInstitute of Chemical Biologysaid.

While some reports claimthe mutation is capable ofenhancing the infectivity ofthe virus, this is not wellestablished and also does notnecessarily indicate more virulence or harmfulness ofthe disease.

Ray pointed out that even

a highly infectious and trans-missible variant of the virusmight actually have a lesserability to cause disease inhumans.

Rajinder K Dhamija, headof the Department ofNeurologists , Dr LadyHardinge echoed similar sentiments saying that muta-tion of a virus is not uncom-

mon. This mutation is part ofthe spike protein that thenovel coronavirus uses toenter host cells. “We are surethat the vaccine being devel-oped will cover this strainalso,” he said.

The strain with theD614G mutation, dubbed the‘G clade’, became widelyprevalent in India even as far

back as Apri l , asserted Kumar Somasundaram, pro-fessor of Microbiology andCell Biology at the IndianInstitute of Science (IISc)Bangalore.

In June, Somasundaram’steam published a study in thejournal Current Science,analysing hundreds of sam-ples of the virus in India.

“Back in Apri l , i f 100 patient samples were analysedin India, 40-50 per cent ofthem had the G clade virus. If

you look at those analysed inJune, almost 95 per cent are Gclade… cumulatively if youadd up all the samples that

have been analysed over themonths, the G clade makes up70-75 per cent of the cases inIndia,” he explained.

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The Union Health Ministryhas taken exception to the

Federation of Obstetric andGynecological Societies ofIndia (FOGSI), the apex bodyof obstetricians and gyne-cologists, bid to hold a stringof webinars under the spon-sorship of a global foodmajor, Danone, terming it theviolation of Infant MilkSubstitutes, Feeding Bottlesand Infant Foods Act (knownas IMS Act) .

The move followed acomplaint by NGOBreastfeeding PromotionNetwork of India (BPNI)which accused the associa-tion of violating the IMS Actprovisions as four of its webi-nars were held by the majorfood company. The IMS Actprotects, promotes and sup-ports breastfeeding in India.

In a recent letter to theFO GSI, Union Health

Secretary Rajesh Bhushansaid that such an act was aviolation of the “The InfantMilk Substitutes, FeedingBottles and Infant Foods(Regulation of Production,Supply & Distribution) Act1992, and Amendment Act2003” (lMS Act) wherein anoffense committed is cog-nizable.

“It is clearly stated undersection 9(2) of the IMS Actthat “no producer, supplieror distributor referred to insub-section (l), shall offer orgive any contribution or pecuniary benefit to a healthworker or any association ofhealth workers, includingfunding of seminar, meeting,c o n f e r e n c e s ,educational course, contest,fellowship, research work orsponsorship,” pointed outthe official.

In this regard, saidBhushan to the FOGSI “youare requested to clarify thereason behind organizing

such webinars which appearto be directly violating theIMS Act provisions. You arealso requested to takeprompt and necessary actionto comply with the provi-sions of the IMS Act and toensure that such incidencesnever take place in future.”

Last year, following acomplaint by the BPNI, theUnion Health Ministry hadalerted the Indian Council ofMedical Research (ICMR)to “examine the matterregarding violation of theIMS Act by sponsoringresearch in five Indian hos-pitals.”

Following the complaint,ICMR constituted a probepanel, which concluded thatNestle’s sponsorship violatedthe law. The five-hospitalstudy was immediately ter-minated and the committeerecommended prosecutionof the v iolators ( theresearchers and the compa-ny).

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With various reports point-ing out possible SARS-

CoV-2 infection through theeye and the need for protect-ing eye health professionals aswell as patients, the UnionHealth Ministry on Thursdayissued guidelines that encour-age tele-consultations and fol-lowing an appointment systemfor those needing investiga-tions and procedures.

While no routine proce-dure/surgery has been allowedon a Covid-19 suspect or aconfirmed case, the Ministryhas banned operation of eyecare facilities in containmentzones. Persons above 65 yearsof age, persons with co-mor-bidities, pregnant women andchildren below the age of 10years should be encouraged tostay at home, unless they arepatients themselves.

Noting the examinationand procedures related to oph-thalmology involves closeinteractions with the patient,the Ministry said the guide-lines are aimed at minimisingthe spread of Covid-19 infec-tion among ophthalmologists,

ophthalmic assistants/techni-cians, nurses, support staff,patients and their attendants.

As per the ‘Guidelines onSafe Ophthalmology Practicesin Covid-19 Scenario’, eyedrops should be put in thepatient’s eye by a nursing orparamedical staff with a notouch technique.

Pre-surgical Covid-19 teston patients is not mandatory,but a thorough history takingand examination must be doneto ensure that patient hasminimal probability of havingthe infection.

According to guidelinesno routine procedure/surgeryshould be done on a Covid-19suspect or a confirmed case.

“Tele-counselling and tele-consultation should beencouraged to lessen patientvisits and/or appointment sys-tem can be followed to callpatients needing examina-tion/eye investigations/proce-dures,” the guidelines said.

Eye-care facilities should

encourage app-based mobilephone check in and paymentalong with digital prescriptionof glasses and medicines toprevent long queues, it said.

The identified patientsmay be called to the base hos-pital by appointment forcataract surgery, so that back-log of cataract cases does notbuild up.

“No eye-ball retrieval fromhomes to be undertaken, onlyHospital Cornea RetrievalProgram can be continued innon-Covid-19 cadavers, forutilization of corneas for ther-apeutic purposes only,” thedocument underscored.

In case a Covid-19 patientwith eye condition is to beadmitted, a separate room oran isolation ward should beused, the document stated.

According to experts,there are three potential routesthrough which SARS-CoV-2can infect the eye: by directcontact of the conjunctivawith infected droplets, bytouching the eyes with thehands or by migration ofupper respiratory tract infec-tion through the nasolacrimalduct.

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There’s good news for stu-dents and employed per-

sons with a disability looking toenhance or learn new skillcourses to add on to theirincome from the confines oftheir homes amid Covid-19pandemic.

Taking the Digital Indiamotto forward and to help thedisabled enhance their skills,online education platformDigiVidhyapeeth has offered atleast 10 seats in each batch of

its various skill courses to thecommunity free of cost.

“Covid-19 is changing theworking environments andarrangements particularly forpeople with disabilities who areat the receiving end in thesetough times.

“Keeping this in mind, wehave kept ten seats reserved forthe people with disability ineach course offered by ourorganisation. The aim is to helppeople with disabilities to be ontheir own and lead a dignifiedlife,” said DigiVidhyapeethfounder and managing director

Pradeep Khatri.Online digital platforms

like ours can play a key role insupporting disabled people tolearn as well as enhance newskills to help them get employ-ment, he said.

It is an online platformimparting skill developmenteducation to the youth as pertheir requirements. It offersthree types of courses–digitalmarketing, personal financemanagement and soft skilldevelopment wherein person-ality development is included atnominal fees.

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Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birlaon Thursday said that

Parliament need to ensure pub-lic participation in parliamen-tary oversight and improvinggovernance.

Addressing the fifth WorldConference of Speakers ofParliament through virtualmode, Birla said the informa-tion technology revolutionmade people close toParliaments and improving ingovernance. The agenda of themeeting was “Improving gov-ernance by bridging the gapbetween Parliaments and thePeople” and many Speakersacross the world attended themeet.

He mentioned thatParliament of India, repre-senting the aspirations of 1.35billion people, plays a proactiverole in ensuring engagementwith them.

Birla said that this involvesthe usage of five ‘I’s in theprocess: ‘Interact’, ‘Inform’,‘Involve’, ‘Imbibe’ and ‘Improve’.

Observing that the IndianParliament is the highest leg-islative institution of the nation,Birla said that our Parliamentis fully engaged with the peo-ple and always reinforces trans-parency and good governance.Birla mentioned that even dur-ing the Covid-19 pandemic, Parliament main-tained a 24X7 connect betweenthe parliamentarians and thegeneral public to ensure thatthe needy and the underprivi-leged are provided necessaryrelief and assistance withoutdelay.

Rajiv Pratap Rudy,Meenakshi Lekhi, Members ofParliament and SnehlataShrivastava, Secretary General,Lok Sabha also attended thepanel discussion.

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As the nation observes the99th anniversary of the

Moplah Rebellion (conve-niently named KhilafatMovement by a group of his-torians and politicians), theIslamists in Kerala are gettingready to demand a separateMalabar State where theMuslims would have a clearmajority. The Muslim YouthLeague, an outfit affiliated to theMuslim League has declaredthat it would be the focus of thecentenary celebration of theMappila Rebellion which falls in2021.

Though some historiansportray the rebellion as anagrarian crisis the truth is faraway, says Prof C I Issac, histo-rian and member of the ICHR.

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The corona virus havoc is not taking the nameto slow down its pace. The number of peo-

ple infected with the corona virus has nowreached 2,937 in the district. According to thurs-day reports, 121 people were found infected inJN Medical College, Pandit Deendayal UpadhyayJoint Hospital, Private Lab and Antigen Test.

District Magistrate Chandrabhushan Singhtold that the covid 19 infected are being admit-ted to hospital and home isolated on the basisof their symptoms. Family members are beingquarantined and their samples are being taken.

Jest in the name of barricading; Municipalcorporation not serious regarding Corona.

People are surprised to see what happenedin the Bada Gauhar Ali locality on Agra Road.

Aligarh: 4 people died and oneinjured in a road mishap inEtah, 65 km away from Aligarhheadquarter. On wednesdayevening, a truck coming fromKanpur at a high speed nearReliance Petrol Pump inMalawan overturned. Twowomen, a teenager and a 2-year-old baby were killed in the

accident. While the mother of the babyis injured. All came togetherfrom the village and sat downto take shade under the tree.Just then, a truck coming fromKanpur overturned uncontrol-lably. During this time, the dri-ver and cleaner ran away afterthe incidence. PNS

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Aligarh, AMU Vice-Chancellor Prof. Tariq

Mansoor said that JNMC willsoon increase Covid - 19 sam-ple test capacity. Today thenewly renovated ResidentDoctor’s Association premiseof the medical college was inau-gurated by Prof. Tariq Mansoorthrough video conferencing. Inaddition to this, Vice-Chancelloralso inaugurated a laboratory atthe Department of Economicsand a new Provost Office of BibiFatima Hall.

Prof. Tariq Mansoor saidthat the work of ResidentDoctors in the fight againstCovid-19, relief camps in flood-affected areas is remarkable.

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The Union Government’sdecision to award the oper-

ation, management and devel-opment works ofT h i r u v a n a n t h a p u r a mInternational Airport to theAdani Group was as per exist-ing rules and through a trans-parent process, according to VMuraleedharan, UnionMinister of State for ExternalAffairs.

Muraleedharan disclosedthat the Kerala Governmenttoo was a party to the decisionmaking process which culmi-nated on Wednesday with theawarding of the airport to theAdani Group for a period of 50years.

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Though the number of newpatients diagnosed with

Covid-19 on Thursday camedown to 1,968, the situation inKerala continues to be critical.Nine deaths were confirmed inthe last 24 hours while 1, 737of the new patients contractedthe ailment through local trans-mission, said a release by thehealth department.

Thursday’s figures wereslightly better than that ofWednesday, when the Statediagnosed 2,333 new patientswith 2,153 cases of communi-ty transmission.

100 patients who testedpositive on Thursday couldnot furnish details like fromwhere, when and how theycontracted the virus.

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Death toll due to Covid-19remained high in Tamil

Nadu on Thursday as 116patients succumbed to the pan-demic and 5,986 persons weretested positive during the day,according to a press releaseissued by the Department ofHealth.

With Thursday’s death toll,the total number of fatalities inthe State reached 6,239. As onThursday there were 53, 283active cases in Tamil Nadu.The day also saw 5,742 patientsgetting cured and dischargedfrom hospitals across the State.Tamil Nadu’s testing remainedmuch higher than that of otherStates as it tested 73,162 personson Thursday which took thetotal number of people tested inthe State till date to 3.85 million.

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With a view to intensify its campaignagainst the Mamata Banerjee

Government ahead of the next year’s Assemblyelections the Bengal BJP on Wednesdaylaunched a dedicated phone number to regis-ter the “disgruntled electorate’s” complaintsagainst what they called “corrupt activities ofthe Trinamool Congress.”

Launching a toll-free phone number toentertain people’s grievances against the “cor-rupt Trinamool Congress regime” Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh said“Corruption and Trinamool are inseparableexpressions… the people of Bengal have beensuffering under this corrupt regime for past onedecade now and this must come to an end …which is why we have brought this phone num-ber so that the people can get their experiencesregistered here and help us take up their caus-es.”

The BJP calls the programme DurnitirBiruddhe (or campaign against corruption).Saying that the number was toll-free .

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Tamil Nadu witnessed an unprecedented spec-tacle on Thursday when believers, rationalists,

atheists and people from all religions, castes andtribes assembled at all public places and prayed forthe speedy recovery of S P Balasubramaniam, theiconic playback singer who is waging a battle withCovid-19 in a city hospital.

Since Thursday 6 pm the whole State rever-berated with all-time melodious songs sung by the74 year old singer who has been on ventilator andExtra-Corporeal Membrane Oxygenation support.

The prayer meet was led by Rajnikanth, KamalHaasan , Bharati Raaja and others while music mae-stros A R Rehman and Ilayaraja joined the mil-lions with prayers for the return of SPB, as thesinger is addressed in reverence.

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An SUV-sized asteroid,which incidentally was the

closest object to fly 2950 kmabove the surface of earth, wasdiscovered on Sunday by twoIndian Institute of Technology-Bombay (IIT-B) students, usingdata from the robotic ZwickyTransient Facility (ZTF) inCalifornia, IIT-B announcedhere Thursday.

Designated 2020 QG, theobject --discovered by IIT-Bstudents Kunal Deshmukh andKritti Sharma while working ona research project --is the clos-est known asteroid to fly byEarth without impacting theplanet. The previous knownrecord-holder is asteroid 2011CQ1, discovered by theCatalina Sky Survey in 2011,which passed above Earthabout 1,550 miles (2,500 kilo-meters) higher than 2020 QG.

Sunday (August 16) wasKritti’s third day on a researchproject to search for Near EarthAsteroids. She and Kunal wereanalysing ZTF data on Sunday

afternoon, when they reportedfive “streaks” in the data aspotential asteroids. Little didthey know that one of themwas a record-breaking asteroid.

After the ZTF team report-ed their finding to theInternational AstronomicalUnion Minor Planet Center,several telescopes followed upto learn more about the aster-oid's size and orbit, proving thatit had passed very close toEarth.

“Helping make a discoverylike this, so early in my researchproject, is beyond what I hadever imagined!, Kritti Sharma,the third year undergraduatestudent of IIT Bombay’sDepartment of MechanicalEngineering,

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The Director General of Jammu & Kashmir Police (DGP),Dilbagh Singh on Thursday said by eliminating 26 top com-

manders of different terror outfits in the last seven monthsthe security forces have successfully destroyed terror networksand rendered these terror outfits leaderless in different partsof the Kashmir valley.

Addressing a joint press conference in the company ofsenior army and CRPF officers in Handwara, Singh said, “ theterror structure has been successfully targeted by the jointteams of security forces leaving many terror outfits leaderless.He said, so far this year 26 top most commanders have beenkilled in different encounters across Kashmir valley.”

Referring to the recent successful operations in which sixterrorists including Nasir-ud-din and another LeTCommander Sajad Mir alias Haider were killed, DGP said,“Nasir was involved in the killing of six CRPF personnel besidesother killings, including a cop. He was likely to carry out a bigstrike in north Kashmir after the killing of Sajad alias Hyder,”said Singh.

Regarding the probe into the alleged fake encounter inShopian, the DGP said that the investigation is going in theright direction and police is also carrying out a separate inves-tigation in the matter.

The DGP said that despite challenges, safety of people isbeing ensured and added that there have been no civilian casu-alty in 2019 and 2020 in any law and order situation or at anyencounter site.

He said that protecting the interests of people is our primeconcern and every possible step is being taken to ensure it.

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In a development that exposed chinks in theEnforcement Directorate (ED) machinery, the

Bombay High Court on Thursday granted bail toDeewan Housing Finance Corporation (DHFL)group’s promoters Kapil Wadhawan and DheerajWadhawan, accused in a money laundering in theYes Bank fraud case, after the ED failed to file acharge-sheet against them within the stipulated60-day period.

After taking cognisance of the ED’s failure tofile a charge-sheet against the two accused with-in the stipulated 60 days, Justice Bharati Dangrenoted that there was a period prescribed in lawfor filing of the charge sheet, and an accused couldnot be kept in custody even for a day after thestipulated time and they have the right to defaultbail

While granting “default” fail to Wadhawanbrothers, the Judge directed the two accused tosurrender their passports and deposit Rs.100,000each as surety.

Agra/Firozabad: A man whoallegedly masterminded hijack-ing of a bus with 34 passengerson board was arrested by theUttar Pradesh Police followingan encounter in Firozabad dis-trict on Thursday, officials said.

The gunfight broke outaround 5 am near a village inFatehabad area between theaccused and police teams,including Agra and Firozabadunits, and a special operationsgroup, the officials said.

“Key accused PradeepGupta and his associate YatendraYadav were on a motorcycle butseeing the police check, theyopened fire and tried to flee.Gupta got injured in retaliatoryfiring, while Yadav managed toescape through the farmlands,”

Agra Senior Superintendent ofPolice Babloo Kumar said.

He said police teams are onthe search for others accused inthe case and will arrest themsoon. Around a dozen peoplewere involved in planning andexecuting the bus hijackingfrom Agra late on Tuesday nightallegedly over monetary disputebetween Gupta and vehicleowner Ashok Arora, a residentof Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh,according to the officials.

The bus was recovered froma dhaba in Etawah onWednesday afternoon, aftermore than 12 hours of goingamiss, with officials saying all 34passengers on board it were safeand on their way to their desti-nations in other vehicles. PTI

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Patna: The main oppositionRJD on Thursday received yetanother jolt ahead of the pollswhen its three more MLAsincluding old-timer ChandrikaRai, whose daughter is lockedin a nasty marital dispute withLalu Prasads son, joined theruling JD(U).

Rai hinted that his daugh-ter might contest the comingassembly polls. He, however,did not specify the name of theRJD leader against whom hisdaughter Aishwarya wouldcontest polls, but asserted thatthere is no “safe seats” for bothbrothers- Tejashwi Yadav andTej Pratap Yadav- in the state.Rais daughter Aishwarya hadtied the knot with Prasadselder son Tej Pratap Yadav inMay, 2018 though the latterfiled a divorce petition barelysix months later citing incom-patibility.

The matter is pending witha Patna court. PTI

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Maharashtra witnessed anoth-er major spike in Covid-19

infections on Thursday, as an high-est-ever 14,492 people tested pos-itive for the pandemic, while 326more people succumbed to theCoronavirus in various parts of thestate.

A day after it logged the thenall-time high of 13,165 infections,Maharashtra saw the infectedcases increase by 1227 cases to takethe daily to 14,492.

With fresh infections, the totalnumber of infected cases in theState jumped to 6.43,289.With 326fresh fatalities, the total numberdeaths in Maharashtra mounted to21,359. Pune with 1,41,056 freshcases continued to race ahead ofMumbai with 1,32,822 in terms ofthe total infections.

Of the 326 deaths reported onThursday, Pune once again toppedthe list with 95 deaths, while therewere 46 deaths in Mumbai for thesecond day, 25 in Thane, 22 inKolhapur and 21 in Nagpur.

J a m m u :L i e u t e n a n tGovernor ManojSinha, who is theChairman of ShriMata Vaishno DeviShrine Board on Thursdaypaid obeisance at the HolyCave Shrine and prayed forpeace, progress and prosperi-ty in Jammu & Kashmir.

During his visit, the LtGovernor was accompaniedby Chief Secretary, BVRSubrahmanyam and ChiefExecutive Officer, Shri MataVaishno Devi Shrine Board,Ramesh Kumar. During hismaiden visit Lt -Gov ManojSinha also inspected the way-side facilities put in place by theShrine Board for facilitation ofthe pilgrims.

At Bhawan,the Lt Governorinspected thearrangementsmade by theBoard for the

pilgrims in view of the resump-tion of the Yatra on 16th of thismonth and asked the CEOthat all the precautionary mea-sures taken by the Board inconnection with the COVID-19 for the safety and security ofthe pilgrims and the ShrineBoard staff should continue tillthe situation normalises.

The Lt Governor alsodirected the CEO for expedi-tious planning and construc-tion of Durga Bhawan for pro-viding free of cost accommo-dation facilities for thepilgrims. PNS

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Who wantsKhalistan? Thenative Indian Sikhcommunity inPunjab has

absolutely no interest to discuss thesubject even in routine life. The Sikhdiaspora, attached with the main-land, too, has no interest in this issue.But some disgruntled groups,prompted by foreign funding, arerunning a futile campaign to raisethe subject without any supportfrom credible places. And a misguid-ed section of the Sikh diaspora hasplanned an unofficial vote on state-hood in 2020. The Sikh communi-ty in India is the most progressiveand prosperous one in the country.Its members have proudly represent-ed high offices — that of thePresident and the Prime Minister,the Army General, top bureaucrats,technocrats and State heads.Independent India, which com-prises 80 per cent Hindus, hasshowered tremendous love andrespect to the two per cent Sikhcommunity residing here. It can bea unique case to study anywhere inthe world wherein an overwhelm-ing majority of the population hasvoluntarily offered respect and posi-tion to the almost dismal-sizedminority.

Of course, there are differencesof opinion and governance disputeswithin the family but the two com-munities have integrated wellenough to be bifurcated by vestedforeign interests. A desperatePakistan, led by the Inter-ServicesIntelligence (ISI), has put much atstake to abet the Khalistan move-ment since Operation Blue Star.There are Western interest groups,too, that are based in the US,Canada and the UK, which areputting in lopsided efforts to flamethe fire so as to keep our progressin check. At the same time, they arekeeping the Indian Government ingood humour to balance a newemerging world order.

Lately, even the once sympathet-ic countries have decided to comeup with a clear policy of not support-ing Khalistan. Canada rejected it,saying, “Canada respects the sover-eignty, unity and territorial integri-ty of India and the Government ofCanada will not recognise thePunjab 2020 Referendum.” PunjabChief Minister Captain AmarinderSingh said that the categorical standtaken by the Justin TrudeauGovernment on this issue is exem-plary. He hoped that other nationsand Governments, too, would comeout against the Sikhs for Justice (SFJ),a US-based group, which wasbanned by India as a terroristorganisation last July. It has been

involved in recent anti-Indiaprotests in the US, the UK andCanada, which have been indi-rectly sponsored by Pakistaniagencies. Singh warned that fail-ing to oppose the separatist SFJcould set a dangerous precedentfor any country; this could beseen as a covert support to anorganisation that freely propa-gates secessionist activities.

Weeks ahead of the formalopening of the KartarpurCorridor between India andPakistan in 2019, New Delhi hadshared a 23-page dossier aboutKhalistani anti-India propagan-da led by Gopal Singh Chawla.An asset of the Pakistani intelli-gence agency, Chawla is the for-mer general secretary of thePakistan Sikh GurudwaraPrabhandhak Committee andpresident of the Punjabi SikhSangat. He is a well-knownKhalistan proponent, who oftenspews venom against India in hisspeeches and supports terrorismin Punjab.

In October 2018, in a tele-phonic interview, Chawla hadconfessed to having knowledge ofthe role of the Khalistanis in thekilling of RSS leaders in Punjab.“The killing of the RSS leaderswill continue in Punjab. RSS lead-ers are our very first target. Wedon’t want any interference of theRSS in our gurdwaras or inPunjab.” On being asked aboutthe support of globally-designat-ed terrorist and chief of the ter-ror group, Lashkar-e-Tayyiba,Hafiz Saeed, Chawla said: “Ihave had relations with HafizSaeed and they continue even

now. Doesn’t mean we operatetogether. Saeed is my ideal per-son. (sic).”

While several ISI chiefs in thepast have been vocal supportersof the Khalistan movement,including former Army GeneralHamid Gul, the Pakistani deepState seems to have nowembarked on the K2 (Kashmirand Khalistan) strategy with anew-found hate and vengeance.A part of this hatred stems fromthe fact that diplomatically,Pakistan has failed to gatherglobal momentum against India.Post the abrogation of Article 370,terror groups in Kashmir havebeen at their weakest in the lastthree decades.

The SFJ argues that Punjabis “currently occupied by India”and vows to organise a non-bind-ing vote — both in Punjab and20 countries where the Sikhdiaspora exists — on an indepen-dent Khalistan. The group hasnot disclosed how it will be ableto organise the vote in India orhow it will establish its represen-tative legitimacy.

In Punjab, the StateGovernment has traditionallybeen dominated by either theCongress or the Shiromani AkaliDal — a conservative, Sikh-majority, pro-autonomy Punjabiparty that is currently not striv-ing for independence, despite thefact that in past times, some of itsleaders and factions had beensecession proponents. NowAmarinder Singh has emerged asthe tallest nationalist leader, whohas the support of the entire Stateand the Indian Sikh communi-

ty. The so-called vote by the SFJ,therefore, remains a non-starterin mainland Punjab.

Secessionists have ignoredcertain historical facts from thePartition in 1947 to 1984. Forthat, we have to revisit Punjab’shistory. In the later part of the15th century, Sikhism had beenproclaimed by Guru Nanak as anew monotheistic religion thatrejected both Hinduism andIslam and rapidly gained follow-ers. Perceiving the growth of theSikhs as a threat, Mughal author-ities began to persecute them.And in 1606 Sikh leader GuruArjan Dev was executed byMughal emperor Jahangir, appar-ently for helping prince Khusrau.

Sikhism split into two move-ments: One led by Guru ArjanDev’s son Guru Hargobind, whobegan to regard his father as amartyr. He became more politi-cal and militaristic and startedorganising armed rebellionsagainst the Mughals. The otherwas led by Guru Arjan Dev’solder brother Prithi Chand, whofocussed on peace and non-vio-lence and rejected uprisings. TheSikhs first raised their weaponsagainst the Mughal empire underGuru Hargobind. The 10th andthe last Guru, Guru GobindSingh, organised Sikhs into a mil-itary sect called the Khalsa in1699 against the Mughal emper-or Aurangzeb. Guru GobindSingh was formally installed asthe leader of the Sikhs at the ageof nine. His four sons died dur-ing his lifetime — two in battleand two executed by the MughalArmy. Unfortunately, Chawla

ignores historical facts. He hasbeen blindfolded to read thescript written by Pakistan anddestabilise India. Likewise, a tinysection of the affluent, well-accomplished but confused Sikhdiaspora leaders are distorting theimage of the community by theiractions and ignoring the historyof the great Khalsa.

The tragedy of the Sikhs isthat they have not found a leaderworthy of carrying forward thelegacy of their illustrious Gurussince Maharaja Ranjit Singh.Present-day leaders have nointellect to understand the histor-ical perspective and current geo-political games where they arebeing used as pawns. We are stilltrying to get over the fallout of themisrepresented leadership ofJarnail Singh Bhindranwale. Nowanother “visionary”, GurpatwantSingh Pannu, wishes to lead theSikhs by carrying forward thelegacy of Bhindranwale. No onehas divided the Sikhs more thanBhindranwale. He has also poi-soned the minds of our youth,who have limited understandingof our faith and history but feelangry due to the attack on theGolden Temple.

It is high time that this dis-gruntled group sheds violenceand anti-India activities. Forwhat its leaders are selling is anillusion. The glorious sacrificemade by the Sikh community fortheir motherland is unparal-leled. The contribution made bythis community towards nation-building remains second to none.

(The writer is Editor-in-Chiefof Opinion Express)

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Sir — While it is welcome thatthe Government is consideringincreasing the legal marriageableage of women, it must not be for-gotten that crimes against themhave seen a stupendous rise inrecent times. According to data,a woman was raped every 15minutes in 2018.

These numbers are alarm-ing. My parents, albeit mistaking-ly, feel that if a girl child is mar-ried as early as possible, then shewould not be vulnerable to sex-ual violence and abuse. In fact,such women are more likely toface emotional as well as physi-cal abuse given their vulnerabil-ity. In over 140 countries acrossthe world, the lower age limit forwomen to get married is 18, bywhich time they have not evencompleted their education.Unless women are empoweredand can access all opportunitiesaccorded to men, their conditionwill continue to be the same.

NR RamachandranChennai

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Sir — This refers to the editori-

al, “Locals first” (August 20).That identity-based politics isgaining traction is reflected in theannouncement by MadhyaPradesh Chief Minister Shivraj

Singh Chouhan that allGovernment jobs in the Statewould be given to the locals.Though Chouhan’s statement isbeing seen as a political compul-

sion in the light of the Assemblybypolls in the State, it has creat-ed a controversy and could provecounter-productive. States likeAndhra Pradesh and

Maharashtra, too, have alreadypromised policies to give jobs todomiciles. What theGovernments have to make sureis that there are enough jobsgoing around in the first place.Along with the public sector, theorganised private sector has wit-nessed job losses, pay cuts andmanpower rationalisation inpandemic-hit times. Promisingjobs to the locals is no solutionfor unemployment.

N Sadhasiva ReddyBengaluru

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Locals first” (August 20). Thesons of the soil theoryannounced by the MadhyaPradesh Chief Minister will seta dangerous precedent if imple-mented. If every State adopts thiscriterion, then it will lead tosocial disharmony and nationaldisintegration. What is worse isthat the Congress party, too, sup-ports this.

ParthaVia email

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Page 7: ˘ ˇ ˆˆ˙...1 day ago  · New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) is the cleanest Capital city while Bengaluru adjudged the Best Self Sustainability award in the Mega city catego-ry

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Melghat is a forest tract nestled in the Satpurarange in eastern Maharashtra. It is inhab-ited by indigenous people like the Korkus,

Gond and Bhilalas, who are bravely defending theirverdant world against the ravages of modern com-merce. Melghat has been in the news for severalyears for its lethal malnourishment, which had beenclaiming lives of hundreds of children year after year.The social landscape has now bloomed like the sur-rounding lush forest and tribals now enjoy bettersocial indices. The harbinger of this change is thework of an impressive range of social warriors, whohave helped build resilience of local communities.

Sobered by recurring disasters, the people, too,have honed their instincts and have taken chargeof their lives. Among the people who are leadingthis revolution is a home-grown social crusader cou-ple, Sunil and Nirupama Deshpande.

An opportunity arose in the 1990s for theDeshpandes to make social service a calling.Melghat was declared a severe malnutrition zonein 1993, following the death of 500 children, andthe region soon became a challenging arena fordevelopment workers. It was in this sombre envi-ronment that Sunil’s social chromosomes fired hisimagination to do something useful.

That vision had been years in the making. Hewas always stirred by a desire to do more with hislife and that of others. When his enterprising wifeNirupama, herself finely honed in a social mouldand an academically-trained social worker, nudgedhim to follow his heart, Sunil turned his back onhis urban upbringing and decided to pursue his pas-sion: Empowering the tribals.

“Giving up city life was inevitable…not that itwas appreciated by everyone, but my mind wasmade up,” recalls Sunil. The mission resonated withboth of them and germinated their dormant socialseed. The couple picked a remote village, Lavadain Melghat region, as their home and set upon alifelong romance with tribals. They decided to makebamboo the medium of economic regeneration oflocal tribal communities and founded SampoornaBamboo Kendra in 1996. It was followed by an arti-sans’ cooperative, Venu Shilpi Industrial CooperativeSociety, in 1998 with just 15 tribals. The society isthe marketing platform of the bamboo productioncentres, which have now increased to 37 sites acrossthe country. As many as 450 tribal families aredependent on the society for their livelihood.

When I first came in contact with Nirupama,I was heading my bank’s State operations inmicro-finance and she was a frontline campaign-er of the self-help group (SHG) movement inMaharashtra. I realised that the couple’s momentof epiphany was an inevitable milestone. Sunil wasintroduced to bamboo craft by another acclaimedbamboo enthusiast Vinu Kale. The main benefit ofbamboo is its amazing strength and enhanced aes-thetics as compared to wood, metal and steel. Thestructure of bamboo, with its long tubular fibres,densely packed and bonded with starch, gives itamazing durability.

Wherever it is available, bamboo is muchcheaper than higher-grade timber. There are a num-ber of positive attributes of this grassy material. Sinceit has a unique rhizome-dependent system, bam-boo is among the fastest growing and most adapt-able materials on the planet. It can grow up to 24inches in a day or more. Sunil decided to use it tobring prosperity to the tribals. His attempt was topush the possibilities of the material, primarily itsinherent tensile strength, and bring it out of its castof a rudimentary material, the urban conception

of which might be limited to the bambooladders used in construction. He is vig-orously promoting bamboo craftsman-ship by integrating traditional skills withmodern needs, making the craft a vehi-cle of emotional, aesthetic and econom-ic fulfilment. Sunil’s experiment mergestraditional and contemporary creativity.

Tribal areas typically face severaldevelopmental impediments: Small landholdings; low savings and capital forma-tion; limited market access; low levels ofhuman development; paucity of resourceslike skilled labour, reliable power supply,connectivity, transport and a young pop-ulation alienated from farming and otherrural occupations. They need solutionstailored to their needs and contexts. Thecauses of rural distress are manifold andthe root cause is lack of skills and econom-ic opportunity. As a consequence, theyouth is migrating to cities.

Filial piety has been a tenet of tribalvalues, helping to ensure that traditionsare passed down from one generation tothe next. While this sense of familial dutyhas ensured the survival of local tradi-tions, so far it’s not clear if it’s going to beenough. Times are changing and not allyoung people want to take over their par-ents’ old jobs, nor is it easy to attract newpeople to enter these trades. Sunil’s inter-vention has been able to reignite this bondand now the youth is enthusiastically onboard his mission.

Sunil and Nirupama understandthat interventions for regeneration of thetribal economy cannot be played out inthe same way that society perceives thepoor: Desperate citizens who need to berescued by the elite.

“We have to understand the localchallenges to improve their compositelivelihoods,” avers Sunil. According tohim, it takes local entrepreneurs, empow-ered to adapt easily to the nuances of local

culture, to create and drive change sus-tainably on the ground.

The bamboo kendra undertakestraining, research, organisation anddesign development and so far, 5,000 trib-al youth have been trained here. Awhopping 150 items are made here, themost popular being rakhis (wrist bands)and coasters. “We are unable to make fur-niture as the power supply is meagre andmeans of transportation don’t exist.” Thecouple is also focussing on agriculture andplantations. The duo has also taken up aproject for building bamboo bathroomsfor women.

They have established a villageknowledge centre where students aretaught traditional and cultural knowledgeto ensure that they live a successful prac-tical life in co-existence with the environ-ment. No student is awarded a degree ora certificate in this institution, they areonly imparted knowledge and for free.Their skill is their strongest credential forlivelihood employment. Gram Gyanpeethor ‘rural university’ has nine ‘gurukuls’where students learn art and crafts likepottery, stitching, making of bamboo,stone, metal and leather handicrafts.Later, these skills can be used to earn alivelihood.

Sunil is engaging the students at boththe craft and philosophical level. The tra-ditional spirit of creative work in tribalcommunities is rooted in bold experimen-tations, open and limitless interactions,collaborations and dialogues. Sunil hastried to retain this flavour in the knowl-edge systems at his centre.

The artisan is not only a repositoryof a knowledge system that was sustain-able but is also an active participant in itsre-creation. The artistic achievements ofthese craftsmen are contextualised withobjects and art works that encapsulatebamboo’s long-standing appeal. They

also highlight the material’s natural beau-ty and its versatility.

One of the most successful initiativesof the Deshpandes is the concept of eco-friendly bamboo rakhis. Aptly named“Shrushti Bandha” — to signify thehuman bond with nature — these rakhisuse wafer-thin bamboo shavings cutinto stars, triangles, pyramids, and so on,as a base, which is then combined withother locally-sourced decoration mater-ial.

“It is a simple technique that usesordinary tools. Five days of training canget any tribal to produce beautiful rakhis,”says Sunil. The centre has been produc-ing more than one lakh rakhis and ofthis, 50,000 have been exported to the UK,the US, Canada, Australia and Singapore.

“About 450 adivasis work for threemonths, using the simplest of tools andproduce about 50,000 rakhis. Each per-son earns between �150 and ��00 per daydepending upon the number of rakhisproduced,” says Sunil.

It has been a long, arduous trek forthe Deshpandes, whose small sapling hasgrown into a banyan tree. They haveencountered several challenges but theirdetermination has sustained them and thetribals they work for. In a world wheresocial issues are proliferating and wheregovernments are looking inward insteadof outward, hope comes from social entre-preneurs whose commitment and creativ-ity are driven by a purpose far bigger thantheir own identities.

Most revolutionary solutions wereevolved by people who looked at thefamiliar landscape with fresh eyes andbelieved that expertise was sterile with-out passion. The Deshpandes saw promisewhere others saw hopelessness. That hasmade all the difference.

(The writer is a well-known development professional)

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The pandemic’s impact willremain etched in our collectivememory for ages as virtually all

aspects of human life and develop-ment have been affected by it,including the renewable energy sec-tor. The COVID-19 lockdowns haveensured that renewable energy pro-jects have either stopped or arebehind schedule. For a sector thatwas already fighting for viability ina fossil fuel-driven economy, thecontagion is proving to be a deathknell.

According to a recent report byconsulting firm Bridge to India(BTI), a sharp drop in demand,

accompanied by construction delays,made worse by the poor financialcondition of distribution companies(DISCOMS), has ensured that Indiais now staring at a two to threeGigawatt (GW) loss of capacityaddition this year. These conditionshave been exacerbated by constraintsin debt financing.

The import of this has not beenlost on the Government, whichannounced a �90,000 crore liquidi-ty package in May for the power sec-tor. But unfortunately, the implica-tions for the renewable energy sec-tor are now driven by waning powerdemand in the face of these difficultcircumstances. The stimulus pack-age may prove to be too little and toolate to secure the sector and safe-guard the progress made till date.

Riding on these bleak condi-tions, the BTI has revised the basecapacity addition estimates from 43GW to 35 GW for solar power andfrom 15 GW to 12 GW for windpower. The BTI has also highlight-ed the problems that are rife in the

sector, which is now plagued byshortage of funds and capital, espe-cially debt capital.

Moreover, the financial crisislooming in the distribution business,too, needs urgent addressing if fur-ther deterioration is to be avoided.The cash-strapped DISCOMS are atthe centre of the storm as they areunable to pay renewable power pro-ducers. Analysts suggest that thelosses of DISCOMS may double to$15 billion, further deepening thecash crunch.

This will increase the stress onthe entire system, which is alreadyfacing unequal competition fromfossil fuel-driven power that is eco-nomical and in surplus. As it is entre-preneurs are wary of choosingrenewable power production as asustainable business and the currentconditions are not helping in mak-ing the sector lucrative for securingfuture investments.

According to the estimates of theInternational Energy Agency (IEA),this year was expected to be a record

one for renewable energy, not just forIndia but globally, too. Riding on arather strong performance in 2019,the IEA was expecting a similar runthis year.

In the US for instance, the on-shore wind power generation wasexpected to peak this year, whileChina was poised to witness a rushin completion of solar and windpower projects as the feed-in-tariffs(FITs) were scheduled to be phasedout this year.

India, on the other hand, waspositioned to make critical progressin the process of achieving 175 GWgrowth in wind and power energy by2022. But none of this happened. Infact, the IEA estimated that 2020would witness a three per centgrowth of biofuel production, which,too, did not materialise.

Many of India’s ambitiousrenewable energy targets have asocial welfare theme to them. Theserenewable energy projects not onlymean well for the environment butalso have the potential to be the har-

bingers of good news for margin-alised communities while providinga sustainable alternative to fossilfuels. But all this now seems to be injeopardy unless urgent structuralchanges are envisaged in the renew-able energy sector. These changesmust account for the recession in theeconomy and the fact that people arenot spending money the way theyused to before the pandemic hit analready sluggish economy.

These factors will help in design-ing what could be the toughest andmost complicated chapter in India’stransition from fossil fuels to renew-able energy. Consumer response toelectric vehicles in Delhi, post the lat-est Electric Vehicle Policy, wouldprove to be a big learning curve forthe sector.

One of the major aspects that theGovernment must attend to imme-diately is the availability of labour.This has been impacted severely dueto the migration of labourers to theirhometowns and villages. This has notonly stopped various projects in their

tracks but has also adversely impact-ed the Government’s ‘Make in India’initiative.

The conditions in the renewablepower sector are still evolving andthe impacts are still being identifiedand evaluated. Therefore, it is theright time for the Government toundertake necessary diagnostics onthe sector and carry out urgentremedial measures that can help itback on its feet.

Many experts feel that therenewable energy sector needs morethan just subsidies and other promo-tional measures. The requirementnow is for deep-rooted structuralchanges in the Indian renewableenergy guidelines and strategies.The success of these changes will beevident in future when India is ableto not only put back on track itsrenewable energy targets but is ableto provide people with dependable,viable and sustainable alternative tofossil fuels, too.

(The writer is an environmentaljournalist)

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New York: In his most blister-ing attack on Donald Trump,former president Barack Obamahas accused his successor oftreating the presidency like a “reality show” and said the topRepublican leader “ hasn’t growninto the job because he can’t.”

Obama, the country’s firstBlack president, spoke on thethird night of the virtualDemocratic NationalConvention on Wednesday justbefore Senator Kamala Harris ofCalifornia became the firstBlack person to be formallynominated for vice-president bya major party.

Former vice president JoeBiden is already the Democraticpresidential nominee.

Obama said that bothBiden and Harris have theexperience needed to get thingsdone and they have concretepolicies that will turn theirvision of a better, fairer, strongercountry into reality.

But he had some very harshwords for President Trump whois seeking re-election in theNovember 3 presidential polls.

“I have sat in the Oval

Office with both of the menwho are running for president.I never expected that my suc-cessor would embrace my visionor continue my policies,”Obama said.

Obama said that he hadhoped that Trump might “ showsome interest in taking the jobseriously … But he never did” .

“ I did hope, for the sake ofour country, that Donald Trumpmight show some interest intaking the job seriously; that hemight come to feel the weight ofthe office and discover somereverence for the democracythat had been placed in his care,”Obama said in an unusuallystrong criticism of Trump dur-ing his remarks.

“ For close to four yearsnow, he’s shown no interest inputting in the work; no interestin finding common ground; no

interest in using the awesomepower of his office to help any-one but himself and his friends;no interest in treating the pres-idency as anything but onemore reality show that he canuse to get the attention hecraves. “ Donald Trump hasn’t

grown into the job because hecan’t,” Obama said, giving hisaddress from Philadelphia,where the US Constitution wasdrafted and signed.

The former president saidone expects a president to bethe “ custodian” of American

democracy and one who, regardless of ego, ambi-tion or political beliefs, will pre-serve, protect and defend thefreedoms and ideals that somany Americans marched for,went to jail for, fought for anddied for. PTI

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Washington: Kamala Harris,who scripted history in US pol-itics as she became the firstIndian-American and Blackwoman to get a major party’svice presidential nomination,has assailed President DonaldTrump’s “ failure of leadership”that has cost “ lives and liveli-hoods.”

Introducing herself as thedaughter of Indian andJamaican immigrants at the vir-tual Democratic NationalConvention on Wednesdaynight, Harris, 55, fondlyremembered her Chennai-born

mother who she said taught hertwo daughters to “ be consciousand compassionate about thestruggles of all people” and tobelieve that “ the fight for jus-tice is a shared responsibility.”

“ My mother taught methat service to others gives lifepurpose and meaning. And oh,how I wish she were heretonight but I know she’s look-ing down on me from above,”she said in her acceptancespeech.

Harris said probably hermother, Shyamala GopalanHarris, could have never imag-

ined that “ I would be standingbefore you now speaking thesewords: I accept your nomina-tion for Vice President of theUnited States of America.”

“ She raised us to be proud,strong Black women. And sheraised us to know and be proudof our Indian heritage,” Harrissaid, emphasising her links toIndia.

“Family is my sister. Familyis my best friend, my nieces andmy godchildren. Family is myuncles, my aunts—my chit-this,” she said, referring to herrelatives in Tamil Nadu. PTI

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Bamako (Mali): A colonel inMali’s army says he’s now incharge of the West Africancountry, declaring himself chair-man of the junta that forced thedemocratically elected butunpopular president to resign.

Col. Assimi Goita, one ofthe five military officers whoannounced this week’s coup onthe state broadcaster ORTM,declared himself chairman ofthe junta now in power.

“ By making this interven-tion (the coup), we have putMali first,” Goita said in abroadcast that showed him

meeting with the top officials ofgovernment ministries and urg-ing them to resume workThursday.

“ Mali is in a sociopoliticaland security crisis,” he said.

“ There is no more room formistakes.” Across Africa andaround the world, leaders havestrongly condemned this week’scoup, calling for an immediatereturn to civilian rule and therelease of ex-President IbrahimBoubacar Keita and his primeminister, Boubou Cisse.

The two leaders weredetained by mutinous soldiers

on Tuesday who surrounded thepresident’s private residence inBamako and fired shots into theair. Under duress, Keita laterannounced his resignation onstate television, saying he didnot want any blood to be shedto keep him in power.

Analysts have said therewere few signs that politicalopposition leaders were aware of the coup plot inadvance, though they nowstand to benefit through anopportunity to serve in thetransitional governmentpromised by the junta. AP

5����=��#����������������������������������$*������� ����#����New York: US PresidentDonald Trump’s former topadviser Stephen Bannon wasarrested on Thursday andcharged for his role in defraud-ing thousands of donors inconnection with an onlinecrowdfunding campaign knownas ‘We Build the Wall’ thatraised more than $25 million.

Bannon, 66, was charged inan indictment along with Brian

Kolfage, 38, an Air Force veter-an from Florida, AndrewBadolato, 56, a financier alsofrom Florida and Timothy Shea,49, of Colorado, Acting UnitedStates Attorney for the SouthernDistrict of New York AudreyStrauss said on Thursday.

The men were arrested onThursday morning and Bannonwill be presented in theSouthern District of New York,while others will make theircourt appearance in their juris-dictions.

“ As alleged, the defendantsdefrauded hundreds of thou-sands of donors, capitalizingon their interest in funding aborder wall to raise millions ofdollars, under the false pre-tense that all of that moneywould be spent on construction,”Strauss said. It was assured todonors that Kolfage, the founderand public face of ‘We Build theWall’, would not be paid a centbut the defendants secretlyschemed to pass hundreds ofthousands of dollars to him,which he used to fund his lav-ish lifestyle, he added. PTI

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It was the statement of PakistanForeign Minister Shah

Mahmood Qureshi against theSaudi-led Organisation ofIslamic Cooperation (OIC), per-taining to the Kashmir dispute,which attracted irked responsefrom the Kingdom of SaudiArabia (KSA).

And while Pakistan’s mili-tary establishment is focused onmending the dented tiesbetween the two Islamic nations,Prime Minister Imran Khan’srecent statement, coupled withthe visit of Qureshi to China, issignalling at Islamabad extend-ing allegiance and inclinationtowards Beijing.

Qureshi, accompanied bysenior officials, will be inHainan, China, from August20-21 to take part in the secondround of China-PakistanForeign Ministers’ StrategicDialogue.

As per the Pakistan ForeignOffice, “ The Chinese side will

be led by State Councillor andForeign Minister Wang Yi.”

“ During the dialogue, bothsides will, inter alia, discusscooperation on Covid-19, bilat-eral relations and regional andinternational issues of mutualinterest. The visit will play animportant role in furtherstrengthening the Pakistan-China All-Weather StrategicCooperative Partnership anddeepen strategic communica-tion and coordination withChina on a range of issues,”said a Ministry of ForeignAffairs press release.

Qureshi’s visit comes a dayafter Prime Minister ImranKhan said that Pakistan’s futureis tied with China, indicating vis-ible signs of Islamabad’s intend-ed inclination towards its trust-

ed friend and partner China.“ It should be made clear

that our future is tied withChina, which has stood byPakistan through thick andthin. Both countries recogniseeach other’s importance and arefurther strengthening mutualties,” Khan stated in a televi-sion interview.

“Unfortunately, westerncountries are using Indiaagainst China,” he added. Khanalso rejected what he calledrumours about “ rifts” withSaudi Arabia, saying “ theyhave their own foreign policy”.

It is pertinent to mentionhere that while Pakistan has notbeen happy with the perfor-mance of OIC, specifically onthe Kashmir issue, Beijing hastaken its side on raising the issueof Kashmir at global platformslike the United Nations. WithPakistan cozying up with China,experts believe that Islamabadmay be sliding away from thefinancial dependency andalliance with Saudi Arabia.

Dubai: Iran displayed a surface-to-surface ballistic missile onThursday that Defence MinisterAmir Hatami said had a rangeof 1,400 kilometres and a newcruise missile, ignoring USdemands that Tehran halt itsmissile programme.

“ The surface-to-surfacemissile, called martyr QassemSoleimani, has a range of 1,400km and the cruise missile, calledmartyr Abu Mahdi, has a rangeof over 1,000 km,” Hatami saidin a televised speech.

Pictures of the missiles wereshown on state TV, which it saidwas “ the newest Iranian cruisemissile that will further strength-

en Iran’s deterrence power” .Soleimani, head of Iran’s

elite Quds Force, and Iraqi mili-tia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis were killed in Januaryin a US strike on their convoy inBaghdad airport.

“ Missiles and particularlycruise missiles are very impor-tant for us ... the fact that we haveincreased the range from 300 to1,000 in less than two years is agreat achievement,” said IranianPresident Hassan Rouhani.

“ Our military might andmissile programmes are defen-sive.” The announcement comesas Washington is pushing toextend a UN-imposed arms

embargo against Iran, which isdue to expire in October underTehran’s 2015 nuclear deal withworld powers.

Tensions have been highbetween Tehran andWashington since 2018, whenPresident Donald Trump pulledout the United States from thedeal and reimposed cripplingsanctions on Iran.

Washington says its aim isto force Tehran to agree a broad-er deal that puts stricter limits onits nuclear work, curbs its bal-listic missile program and endsits regional proxy wars. Iran hasrejected talks as long as US sanc-tions remain in place. AFP

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Washington: The Trumpadministration is set to demandthe restoration of all interna-tional sanctions on Iran in amove that will further isolatethe U.S. At the United Nations,test the credibility of the U.N.Security Council and possiblydeal a fatal blow to one of for-mer President Barack Obama’ssignature foreign policyachievements.

At President DonaldTrump’s direction, Secretaryof State Mike Pompeo willtravel to New York onThursday to notify the worldbody that the US Is invokingthe “ snapback” mechanism inthe Security Council resolutionthat endorsed the 2015 Irannuclear deal.

“ The United States intendsto restore virtually all of thepreviously suspended UnitedNations sanctions on Iran,”Trump said on Wednesday.

“ It’s a snapback.” As setout by the resolution enshrin-ing the 2015 deal, snapbackwould re-impose UN Sanctionsthat were eased in exchange forcurbs on Iran’s nuclear pro-gram. But the US Move facessteep opposition and couldprompt a revolt from the coun-cil’s other members. None ofthem believes the US Has thestanding to do it becauseTrump withdrew from thenuclear deal two years ago. AP

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Moscow: Russian oppositionpolitician Alexei Navalny is in acoma and on a ventilator in anintensive care unit in Siberiaafter falling ill from suspectedpoisoning that his allies believeis linked to his political activity.

The 44-year-old critic ofRussia’s President VladimirPutin felt unwell on a flight backto Moscow from Tomsk, a cityin Siberia, and was taken to ahospital after the plane made anemergency landing in Omsk,Navalny’s spokeswoman, KiraYarmysh, said on Twitter.

She told the Echo Moskvy

radio station that he must haveconsumed something from teahe drank at an airport cafebefore boarding the plane earlyThursday.

During the flight, Navalnystarted sweating and asked herto talk to him so that he could“ focus on the sound of a voice.”He then went to the bathroomand lost consciousness, and hasbeen in a coma in grave condi-tion ever since. Other oppositionfigures were quick to suggestKremlin involvement. AP

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London: The brother of a sui-cide bomber who killed 22people at an Ariana Grandeconcert in the British city ofManchester was on Thursdayjailed for life for playing an “integral part” in the attack.

Hashem Abedi, 23, wasconvicted of murder, attemptedmurder and conspiring to causeexplosions at a trial that endedin March, after one of the worstterror attacks on British soil.

The IS group-inspiredbombing, carried out by his 22-year-old brother Salman, deto-nated among crowds of mostlyyoung people leaving the concertat the Manchester Arena. AFP

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The BSE Sensex was trading344.53 points or 0.89 per

cent lower at 38,270.26; whileNSE Nifty was down 92.80points or 0.81 per cent at11,315.60.

ICICI Bank was the toploser in the Sensex pack, shed-ding around 2 per cent, fol-lowed by IndusInd Bank,HDFC, ITC, Asian Paints andTitan.

On the other hand, NTPC,PowerGrid, Sun Pharma andInfosys were among the gain-ers.

In the previous session,the Sensex closed at 38,614.79,up 86.47 points or 0.22 percent, while the Nifty rose 23.05points or 0.20 per cent to11,408.40.

Exchange data showed thatforeign institutional investors

bought equities worth Rs459.01 crore on a net basis onWednesday.

According to traders,domestic bourses followed neg-ative trend in global equities asselloff emerged after the USFederal Reserve released theminutes from its latest policymeeting.

The Fed’s minutes showedthat policy makers are findingit difficult to forecast the pathof the economy, as the coron-avirus likely would continue todampen economic growth.

Stock exchanges on WallStreet ended in the red inovernight session.

Bourses in Shanghai, HongKong, Tokyo and Seoul weretrading with heavy losses inmid-day deals. Global oilbenchmark Brent crude wastrading 0.75 per cent lower atUSD 45.03 per barrel.

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Bharti Enterprises hopes toset up a few ground stations

in India to receive signals fromthe 648-satellite constellationowned by UK-based OneWeband start offering its services inIndia, Chairman Sunil BhartiMittal said on Thursday.

Speaking at the webinar on‘Unlocking India’s potential inSpace Sector’, he notedOneWeb with 648 satellites inthe Low Earth Orbit (LEO)plans to start its services inIndia in early 2022.

Bharti has to get the land-ing rights for its signals, set upground stations in the north,south and western parts of thecountry to start offering theservices in early 2022.

Mittal also sought theIndian Space ResearchOrganisation’s support to devel-op user terminals to cater toIndian needs, adding that thecountry needs affordablebroadband connectivity inrural areas.

According to him, areas inIndia have been earmarkedfor offering OneWeb satelliteservices.

In July this year, the UKgovernment and Bharti GlobalLtd won the bid to acquireOneWeb.

Mittal said that one of theadvantages of the LEO con-stellation is its low latency ascompared to the constellationof geostationary satellites, andthe services are being testedwith some BMW cars.

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The Government is going allout to ensure that liquidi-

ty concerns of the MSME sec-tor are addressed on priorityunder its Emergency CreditLine Guarantee Scheme(ECLGS).

As of August 18, 2020 pub-lic sector and private bankshave sanctioned loans worthover �1.51 lakh crore under the100 per cent Emergency CreditLine Guarantee Scheme, ofwhich close to �1.02 lakh crorehas already been disbursed.

There has been a big jumpin the sanctions in the last 15days.

The sanctions haveincreased rapidly by about �

12,000 crore while disburse-ment increased by close to �10,000 crore.

In a tweet, the Ministry ofFinance said: “Loans worthmore than �1 Lakh cr dis-bursed under #ECLGS (As on18.08.2020).

ECLGS was announced asa part of#AatmaNirbharBharatPackage,to mitigate distress caused dueto #COVID19 by providingcredit to different sectors, espe-cially MSMEs.”

The ECLGS scheme is thebiggest fiscal component ofthe �20-lakh crore Self-ReliantIndia Mission packageannounced by FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharamanin May.

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In a swift turn of events, thegovernment is looking to

bar Chinese firms from par-ticipating in government con-tracts in the sensitive powersector, especially for procure-ment of digital products thatare prone to malware threats.

Sources in the governmentsaid that already global biddinghas been barred for publicprocurement of upto Rs 200crore, and more specific restric-tions may be imposed on useof Chinese gear in the criticalpower sector.

A blanket ban on use ofsensitive digital equipmentfrom China by the power sec-tor may also be looked at buta decision on this is pending,

said the source quoted earlier.The power ministry has

already put restrictions onimports as such proposals willnow be vetted by it before per-mission is given. Also, indi-vidual digital equipment wouldbe scrutinised for malwarebefore being allowed insideIndian territory.

Besides, power companieshave been told to source local-ly in all categories wheredomestic capabilities exist.

An indication that firmeraction is being looked at to pre-vent use of Chinese equip-ment in the power sector,sources said is the postponedmove to blacklist Chinese enti-ty PT Hexing Technology fromparticipating in any future gov-ernment tenders post.

New Delhi: India’s data centremarket provides an opportu-nity of $4.9 billion investmentby the year 2025, according toa JLL report.”India’s data cen-tre capacity is expected to growfrom 375 MW (megawatt) inH1 2020 to 1,078 MW by2025, presenting a $4.9 billioninvestment opportunity,” itsaid.According to JLL’s H12020 ‘(re)Imagine DataCentres: Running India’s digi-tal economy’ report, the impactof data protection laws,increased shift from captive toco-location data centres andimplementation of new tech-nologies like 5G, edge com-puting and the internet ofthings (IoT) will drive sus-tained investor demand forthis asset class over the next fiveyears.“India’s data centre market will

outperform over the next fiveyears, supported by a combi-nation of growing digital econ-omy, increased investor inter-est and stable long-termreturns,” said Ramesh Nair,CEO & Country Head, India,JLL. He was of the view thatgrowth in the sector will be fur-ther powered by co-locationsites which, through lowerupfront costs, heightened datasecurity, uninterrupted ser-vices and scalability, will, fur-ther, influence investors to re-imagine the potential of India’sdata centre space.”The 703MW expected capacity addi-tions is translating to 9.3 mil-lion sq ft of space, which willopen up greenfield investmentsfor real estate developers andinvestors to fuel the futuredevelopment of the sector,” headded. IANS

Raipur: Results of CleanlinessSurvey 2020 organised byGovernment of India’s Housingand Urban Affairs Ministrywere declared today on August20, 2020, and Chhattisgarh hasearned the status of the clean-est state of the country. ChiefMinister Bhupesh Baghel andUrban Administration MinisterDr Shivkumar Dahariareceived the award at hands ofUnion Ministry of Housingand Urban Affairs Mr. HardeepSingh Puri at the virtual onlineaward ceremony.

This was the first nation-al award ceremony organisedonline. During the award dis-tribution, Chief Minister Mr.Bhupesh Baghel gave informa-tion about Godhan NyayYojana and dung procurementbeing conducted acrossChhattisgarh to the UnionMinister. Union Minister Mr.Puri said that Godhan NyayYojana and dung procurementsystem is a good commercialmodel and praised the exem-plary initiatives of ChhattisgarhGovernment. On the occasion,Chief Minister said that our

aim is to maintain the top posi-tion of Chhattisgarh inCleanliness Survey next year aswell.

He told Union Ministerthat in Chhattisgarh, waste isbeing converted into fertilizer.Dung procured at Rs 2/kg isbeing utilized for preparationof vermi-compost. This hasenhanced cleanliness in vil-lages and cities. CM said thatthis scheme is being imple-mented in villages as well ascities.

Dung is being purchasedin 377 dung procurement cen-ters set up in urban areas of thestate. This scheme has helpedin increasing income of people.Union Minister Mr. Puri con-gratulated Chief Minister Mr.Baghel and UrbanDevelopment Minister Dr.Dahria for the excellent per-formance of Chhattisgarh inthe cleanliness survey.

Chhattisgarh has per-formed excellently in theSwachh Survekshan(Cleanliness Survey) 2020, whilemany small and big cities of thestate have gained national fame.

Chennai: K Shanmugam, IAS,Chief Secretary to Governmentof Tamil Nadu commissionedIndian Coast Guard Ship C-449at Chennai today. The ship isForty Ninth amongst the FiftyFour in their series beingindigenously designed andbuilt by M/s Larsen andToubro Ltd, Hazira (Surat).

The CommissioningCeremony was witnessed byrestricted Dignitaries followingall the Covid-19 protocols. TheInduction of this ship is a partof ongoing efforts by the CoastGuard to strengthen Maritime& Coastal Security along the

Coast of Tamil Nadu,Puducherry and AndhraPradesh. The ship will notonly strengthen the securityumbrella of the East Coast butalso help augment patrolling in

order to prevent illicit activitiesat sea.

This ship is 27.80Mtrs long, with a displacementof 105 tons and Max Speed of45 knots (85 kmph).

Mumbai: General Manager ofWestern Rly conducted a sur-prise visit to Churchgate stationon 16th August, 2020 andinspected various activitiesunder the ongoing cleanlinessdrive at this station. It’s worth mentioning that tocommemorate the 74thIndependence Day of ournation, Indian Railways hadlaunched a week long cleanli-ness drive, which started from10th August and culminated onthe 16th of August, 2020.

In continuation to thisnationwide decision, a special

Cleanliness drivewas launchedover W. Rly,which was active-ly participated bythe officers &staff of W.Rly.

According toa press releaseissued by SumitThakur - Chief Public RelationsOfficer of Western Railway,Alok Kansal strongly believesin the ideology of “AtmanirbarBharat” and accordingly

demonstrated a glaring exam-ple by taking charge of themechanised Cleaning Machineand undertook the cleaning ofconcourse area at Churchgate.

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India’s economy facesincreased risks of stagfla-

tion, which may slow down theeffectiveness of monetary andfiscal measures adopted by thecentral bank and government,Acuite Ratings said.

The economic trend ofstagflation is marked by risinginflation and falling GDPgrowth.

The ratings agency saidthat the uncertain outlook oninflation in the short-term hasalready led the Reserve Bank ofIndia’s Monetary PolicyCommittee (MPC) to hold theinterest rates in August and hasalso diminished the likelihoodof any further rate cut in thenear term.

In a report, Acuite said thatimmediate steps need to betaken to bring down food infla-tion, “the higher levels of which

have already started to spillover to core inflation”.

“India’s consumer inflationhas increased to 6.93 per centin July 2020, a bit sharp andunexpected rise of 70bps(MoM) over that in June; sinceDecember 2019, CPI printhas been on an overdrive andhas been uncomfortably highover the 6 per cent upperlimit set by the MPC,” thereport said.

“Even though anunfavourable base effect is alsoplaying an important role inshaping the inflation trendline,food inflation (CFPI) has beenthe primary driver of the CPItrajectory and has mostly hov-ered over 8 per cent over thelast nine months since October2019.”

According to the report,supply and logistical bottle-necks arising from the pro-longed and intermittent lock-

down in certain parts of thecountry have continued tokeep food inflation high despitea good agricultural output overthe last two seasons.

“The animal protein seg-ment i.e. meat, fish, eggs andmilk, edible oil, vegetables andpulses have seen double digitinflation in July; limited oper-ations of APMCs in the lock-down period, import chal-lenges along with excess rainsor floods have all led to a dis-ruption in the supply chain ofagricultural products,” thereport said.

“Further, persisting highfood inflation along with short-age of labour have started tohave a rub-off effect on pricesof non-food products and ser-vices or core inflation; whichhas risen by 50 bps to 5.6 percent in July 2020 from 5.1 percent in June 2020 and 4.1 percent in last July.”

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� ������&��������Mumbai: The rupee opened18 paise lower and slippedbelow the 75 per US dollarmark in opening trade onThursday after the US Fedmeeting minutes signalledat the central bank’s concernover Covid-19 and its impacton economy.The local unitopened at 75 at the interbankforex market, then lostground and touched 75.01against the US dollar, down19 paise over its last close of74.82. Meanwhile, the dollarindex, which gauges thegreenback’’s strength againsta basket of six currencies,rose 0.08% to 92.96.

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Right from the announcement and the firststill from A Suitable Boy, a lot has been spo-

ken about Ishaan Khatter’s character in the six-part series by BBC. Living up to all expectations,Ishaan has delivered all the hype around hischaracter — Maan Kapoor. Not only us, butviewers from England and Ireland, who have

seen the first four episodesof the series, have beentalking about how won-derful he is with hiscraft. His performance is

ruling hearts throughoutthe world.

Talking about receiv-ing so much love from

all over the globe,Ishaan said, “Itfeels fantastic thatmy work and thischaracter haselicited such awarm and pos-itive responsefrom the UKand I’m excitedfor the rest of

the world to seeit. It was a complex

and difficult charac-ter to portray so thefeedback has beentotally re-energising.”A Suitable Boy willalso be releasingworldwide onNetflix soon.

Ishaan who isknown to haveu n c onve nt i on a l

choices in films hasbeen effortlessly jug-

gling between massappeal as well as perfor-mance-oriented roles.While the actor has timeand again said he choos-es his characters verycarefully, he has a big line

up to impress his fanswith. Next, he will be

seen in three films,Khaali Peeli, Pippaand Phone Bhoot.

There’s a protective and nurturingcover to our health that our eldersand parents provide us with when

we are rocking in the cradle. And sincethen, they have always been the strongestsupport system. However, in return,most senior citizens in our society do notnecessarily enjoy the same attention thatthey had blessed us with. After decadesof hard work, it is one’s right to desire alife filled with protection. But at a timewhen they are most vulnerable, elderly aredevoid of such things. On the occasionof World Senior Citizens’ Day, why notconsider giving them a health cover toensure a secure and happy life?

With the world aging rapidly, it ismore likely that the number of senior cit-izens in need of health cover is only goingto rise. As per a recent study publishedin the Lancet, it is estimated that by theend of the century, the world will have2.37 billion individuals older than 65years and 1.70 billion individuals youngerthan 20 years.

Similarly in India, various studies inthe past decade have reported that 20 percent of the Indian population will be olderthan 60 years by 2050, which as per thegovernment can be as high as 34 crorepeople. At a time when India is struggling

to deal with the challenge of populationexplosion, making healthcare accessibleto the growing number of senior citizensis a daunting concern.

There are numerous reasons why agood health insurance cover is essentialfor the elderly and why it is an urgentneed that should be met. Senior citizensface many challenges including financialstruggles, increasing dependency, needfor specialised infrastructure, lack ofsocial support and so on... Then therecomes healthcare issues as well. They arealso most vulnerable to diseases and areat a higher risk of hospitalisation. Overthe years, people develop several non-communicable diseases (NCD). Elderlypeople are generally patients of comor-bidities and degenerative ailments. Theysuffer from a weaker immune system too.The cost of treatment for any of NCDsor conditions is generally high. Evenbefore admission into the hospital, theOPD and monthly medical bills becomea major constraint. The long-term cost torecovery can be a huge drain on the finan-cial and mental health of the senior peo-ple and their families.

With the recent outbreak of COVID-19, the risks of hospitalisation haveincreased as it’s a generally accepted factthat elderly people and those with comor-bidities are more vulnerable to contract-ing the virus. Therefore, it becomeseven more imperative for them andtheir families to invest in health insuranceso as to ensure that the cost of qualityhealthcare is covered.

The ongoing global pandemic haswitnessed a sudden spike in the demandfor health insurance policies, which hascaused panic buying. Although it hasbecome an absolute necessity for thesenior citizens to have a health insurancepolicy, it is equally important to careful-ly evaluate your purchase.

A modern-day health insurance pol-icy may cover an older individual, his orher spouse and even the entire family.The senior citizen health insuranceschemes are packed with unique benefitsfor them including cashless hospitalisa-tion, no pre-policy medical check-up,short wait-period for pre-existing diseasescover, annual health check-up and daycare expenses. If you are planning to get

a health insurance or gift your parents orgrandparents a health cover, here aresome of the very basic things to look for:

��3�((8$�##2B�22�92B$�!!=3���6!=$B"This is of utmost importance. A

young person may not need coverage ofa higher amount. However, elderly peo-ple have pre-existing conditions. Theirresponse to treatment is longer and theyneed more critical care. So it is better toopt for those insurance policies that offerhigh coverage.

#C'B�88(�''��6Is it a family floater plan, an individ-

ual, a cashless or reimbursement plan?Knowing these features are vital forinformed decision making. It is recom-mended to choose a policy that offerscashless treatment and covers post-hos-pitalisation expenses. Some policies covera policy holder’s spouse as well within thesame plan. Other plans provide freeannual health checkups at any time of theyear.

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When you choose a policy, it is wiseto choose the one which provides a widercoverage. Insurance may cover coretreatment costs but may not cover othercosts including OPD expenses, ambu-lance charge and consumables.

8�B$�9BIt is wise to go with an insurance pol-

icy that covers pre-existing diseases. Itshould cover all issues and challenges thatcome with old age. Basically, the plansneed to be age appropriate. The oneswhich cover associated medical expens-es, pre- and post-hospitalisation chargesshould be preferred.

86!�"B$�##2B�DD��#�69�''B$�8"Carefully learn about the rules relat-

ing to the waiting period, especially thosethat are applicable to pre-existing ailmentsbecause it can go upto four years. A pol-icy which ensures cover in a shorter dura-tion is the one that should be considered.

8:''�C3B6#This means that the insured person

will be bearing the cost of treatment alongwith the insurance company. The less theco-payment, the more viable the policy.

6B#D8$<�88(�228!'�#��!An insurance policy with a large net-

work of hospitals can be a life-saver. It isimportant to check whether the networkof hospitals span across India if you’re afrequent traveller.

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Do understand discount, top-ups,additional benefits and such aspects ofpolicies carefully. A good package canreally make a difference.

It is a natural truth that aging bringsits challenges, but we are a speciesknown for defying age. On World SeniorCitizens’ Day, let’s resolve to support thosewho have nurtured us to defy their ageand give them some of the best years oflife, full of health, care, security and hap-piness.

(The author, Ajay Shah, is the Directorand Head — Retail Business, ReligareHealth Insurance.)

The lockdown and the slow reopen-ing of the economy, not just in

India but across the world has hit peo-ple hard. Across sectors, including themedia, jobs have been lost and salariesslashed. I wish I could reassure myreaders that things will improve soonbut it might take a year. I have beenspeaking to several marketing chiefs inautomotive companies who are posi-tive publicly but they don’t expect 2021to be a stellar year and only see prop-er growth in 2022. However, this viewis not shared by every one.

The automotive sector is perkingup with several new vehicle launchessuch as the Honda City, Kia Sonet,Mahindra Thar and new variants andengines in the Maruti-Suzuki S-Cross.But the Skoda Rapid and the rebadgedBrezza (now also called the ToyotaUrban Cruiser), sales have been rela-tively tepid in the past few months asauto retailers struggle to move stocks.Maybe, the post-harvest festive seasonwill see some sales return but the goodtimes are still some time away. I’m notsure if all the dealerships and automo-tive journalists will ride out the storm.We can only hope for the best and thatthe damage is limited.

As there are some drives comingup in the few days, next week you will

read about what the new K15 petrolengine does to the S-Cross, then thereis the electrifying new Mercedes-BenzEQC too. I will also be driving the newclutchless IMT variant of the HyundaiVenue, a technology that might dra-matically change the entry-level auto-matic market and start the move awayfrom AMT gearboxes. So keep readingthis column for regular reviews andopinions on new cars and automotivetechnologies. You can even catch someof the videos that I have shot over thepast few months on my YouTubechannel.

But before all that, let me reminisceabout some of my enjoyable drives overthe years. By far, the most amazingexperience I’ve had with a car was theAudi Ice Drive in Finland, a few yearsago. Driving on a frozen lake in win-ter, sliding and slipping all over theplace was one of the most excitingthings I have ever done. The best part

is that this is open for anyone who canafford. Of course, in pandemic times,Audi might have curtailed their driveexperiences but if you get an opportu-nity to drive around in the ice andunderstand what ‘opposite lock’ is allabout, consider it. And if you can affordan Audi, you can easily afford to go toKittila in Northern Finland.

My next most enjoyable scenicdrive was with the Mini Convertible.It is the perfect car to drive around inperpetually sunny SouthernCalifornia. And mid-February meantthat the Pacific was still cold and thesurfer boys were nowhere to be seenon Malibu beach. It was fantastic dri-ving weather. Another great experi-ence with Mini was a couple of yearsago on the island of Mallorca. Again,the perfect car for that part of theworld with its narrow roads andsunny weather. I enjoy the Mini somuch that I’ve decided, the day I can

afford one, I’ll buy one.For my most enjoyable driving

experience in India, I’d have to go backalmost two decades ago to the day whendrives happened at one go and not in‘batches.’ I enjoyed the drives withoutneeding to worry about videos andsocial media. It was the HyundaiSantro ZipPlus variant which I drovefrom Bengaluru to Goa through theghats. It was so much fun that a fewyears later, I ‘borrowed’ an early-buildScorpio from Mahindra and drove fromMumbai to Allapuzha in Kerala mak-ing unplanned stops at beaches all theway down.

Now, as I sit and think that it hasbeen almost six months since I lastcaught a flight, I realise that thingsmight never be the same again. But carsare still around and I will keep drivingand writing about the experience foryou to read and enjoy. Do tweet me ifyou have any feedback.

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The ongoing pandemic has led to aparadigm shift in the food prefer-ence of people and the way they

consume food. Chefs and food experts aretherefore trying to create menus that areprimarily based on local produce ratherthan those being sourced from other statesor the country at large.

������ ��)���������Hence, in the near future, we are going

to witness many international dishesbeing given an Indian twist and vice versa.The millennial generation is well-travelledand ready to experiment and innovatewith food, thus giving rise to collabora-tive and fusion cuisines. In short, collab-orative cuisine is about combined ingre-dients, native cuisines, cooking tech-niques and flavour combinations and dishout magic on plates.

Typically, the pandemic has takenaway the exoticism of food from the menu.The masses have switched to basic meals,keeping away from complexity in itspreparation and the ingredients used.Food consumption has become a cautioushabit and people are highly conscious ofwhat they are eating and where it is com-ing from. As an answer, a switch to pre-packed meals with limited variety will begiven more importance over the lavishbuffet spreads during the pre-COVIDtimes. However, we assume that this isgoing to be short-lived. Although this stephas restricted the inclusion of many dish-es during every meal, safety measures arein place as this reduces the number ofhuman touchpoints. Food is safe when itis handled by as few people as possible andcooked as close to consumption. The pan-demic has given us an opportunity toexplore ways to keep food small and howit can be transported safely from one placeto the other without much human contact.

������������)����With working on a collaborative cui-

sine comes the responsibility of being atour innovative best. The different tasteprofiles of consumers provide chefs anopportunity to explore the possibility toinnovate and differentiate from those whoare following the same, old approach evennow.

The financial luxury of clients certain-ly acts as an advantage to continuouslyinnovate and be ahead of time when wetalk about our mundane menus with typ-ical components that we hardly everthink of changing. The new chef-ledmodel should act as an enhancer toexplore any opportunity to satisfy hungrytummies. At the same time, a look at achange rather than usual food is impor-tant.

:���� �����������Investing in food which is complete-

ly different from what is served usually iswhat the consumers are looking for rightnow. For example, a basic Aloo-muttersamosa can be changed into a Chicken-faji-ta samosa, in which chicken is mixed withfajita seasoning and flavour and thedough with cumin. This way, the samosahas a Mexican flavour to it but is still a partof the Indian cuisine. This kind of samosa,then, instead of mint or tamarind chut-ney, can be sided with the salsa sauce. Thisis the kind of innovation that we need,

which will become the differentiating fac-tor, especially in food when it comes tocafeteria services. It is a major requirementright now because when you present to acorporate crowd who is well-travelled,they don’t want to have the same rice anddal and the basic, chapaati. They look forsomething different and wish to explorenewer cuisines.

Another dish is Vegetable Au Gratin— a famous Western dish, in which youmix vegetables with cream sauce, gratecheese and bake it in the oven. For someinnovation, instead of using the creamsauce, we can substitute it with theMakhani sauce. It is typically very creamybut at the same time a bit sweet. You mixit to the right consistency, add gratedcheese and paneer on top and gratinate it.This dish acts as Au Gratin but it actual-

ly is now Veg makhani. However, the pre-sentation becomes completely different.

Similarly, for strudel, I have used flouras an exterior coating for the ingredientsand cooked in oven so that it turns out likea roll, which has a crusty exterior. One canchange the ingredients in this mixture andprepare it as a different dish which is stillgoing to be liked by people as it is uniquein nature. People are aware of the healthbenefits of vegetables and fruits and theyinsist of having them in their daily menus.Such a dish can provide the same vegeta-bles or fruits cooked in a different waysor mixed with a different sauce to makeit attractive and at the same time, moreinteresting.

As Indians, we like to bite into foodthat tastes Indian but looks very Western— one of the major reasons why ‘glocal’

(globally local) is becoming the newfood trend. For example, if you bite intoan apple pie, it may not just have appleinside, instead it could have Anjeer badamhalwa.

These are some of the innovations thatcan be brought into corporate cafés. Thecooking process stays the same but chefsneed to start mapping ingredients accord-ingly. Once you use the halwa as a sub-stitute ingredient for a pie filling, itshould have good consistency and so thatthe dough doesn’t get soggy. Otherwise,the whole purpose of using different ingre-dients gets defeated. From an outsider’sperspective, it is just a pie until you biteinto it to relish the Anjeer halwa.

Indian foods can be very nutritivethough it all depends on the way onecooks it. For stir-fried vegetable dishes likePalak mutter, for example, instead of cook-ing it for too long, we can use the flash-cooking method. Flash-cooking involvescooking ingredients at a very high flameso that the outer surface of the ingredientgets sealed, eliminating any loss of inter-nal juices and thus sustaining the nutri-tive aspects of the ingredients.

Well, if we can Westernise our daily,Indian meals with some mini twitches andinnovations, aren’t we creating a wholenew cuisine altogether?

(The writer is chef and managing part-ner with Elior India.)

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The Champions League final willfinally be a meeting of championsagain.

Bayern Munich made sure the titlematch will live up to the competition’sname by beating Lyon 3-0 on Wednesday,setting up a final against Paris Saint-Germain.

It’s the first time in 22 years that thefinal will feature two teams who qualifiedas domestic league champions.

Lyon wasted a couple of early chancesand was then overwhelmed by the clini-

cal Bavarian powerhouse, the competition’shighest-scoring team which wascoming off an 8-2 win overBarcelona in the quarterfinals.

Serge Gnabry netted twicebefore Robert Lewandowski addeda later header, giving that duo acombined 24 Champions Leaguegoals this season, part of Bayern’s total haulof 42.

PSG as a team only has 25 goals in thecompetition this season.

“We will look to organize our defense,but we know our biggest strength is puttingour opponents under pressure,” Bayern

coach Hansi Flick said.In 35 games since Flick was pro-

moted to manager in Novemberafter Niko Kovac’s firing, he won 32of them to steer Bayern from fourthplace in the Bundesliga, to GermanCup glory and into a first continen-tal final since lifting the European

Cup in 2013.Sunday’s game at Benfica’s stadium

will be the first time since Real Madridfaced Juventus in 1998 that two domesticchampions met in the final.

The loss for Lyon, in its firstChampions League semifinal in a decade,

cuts out the last route back into Europeancompetitions next season.

After only finishing seventh in the cur-tailed Ligue 1 season and being beaten inthe French League Cup final by PSG, Lyon

will be out of Europe for the first time sincethe 1996-97 season.

Back on the field where it knocked outManchester City on Saturday, Lyon wasmade to pay for the squandering its oppor-tunities to take the lead after finding morespace in the Bayern defense thanBarcelona, which was thrashed 8-2 onFriday.

Memphis Depay hit the side nettingin the fifth minute with only goalkeeperManuel Neuer to beat from a tight angleand Karl Toko Ekambi hit the right post.

“I don’t think we can have any regrets... Because we had two big chances,” Lyongoalkeeper Anthony Lopes said. “Wecould have been 2-0 up. In these top-levelmatches you pay for not taking yourchances though.”

Just a minute after the post deniedLyon the opener, Gnabry brushed asideseveral challenges as he cut in from theright and powered in a shot into the topcorner in the 18th minute.

“The first couple of minutes we strug-gled a little bit,” he said.

“My goal came at the right time to giveus a bit of confidence.”

His threat was evident across the pitchat the Sporting stadium in Lisbon, drivingforward with the ball for the move that ledto the second goal.

After releasing Ivan Perišic on the leftwing, the ball was squared into the penal-ty area. Lewandowski’s sliding connectionwas blocked by Lopes but Gnabry was onhand to knock in the second in the 33rd.

It extended Gnabry’s hot scoringstreak to nine goals across nine games inthis season’s pandemic-disruptedChampions League.

But Lyon was not out of sight.Just before the hour mark, Moussa

Dembélé fed Houssem Aouar who passedto Ekambi, but the forward shot straightat Neuer’s legs.

Lewandowski never has much trou-ble scoring, although it took until the88th minute this time when he rose tomeet Joshua Kimmich’s free kick witha header.

Lewandowski has now scored in nineconsecutive Champions League games,and has 55 goals overall for the season.

And it wrapped up a 20th successivevictory in all competitions for Bayern.

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FATI, FERRAN, GARCIA LEAD SPAIN SQUADMadrid: 6������H��������������� ������������� ���� %���������� =���� �������� ������� ����� �����������?� ����������������>������P�� ������+���)���P�����$��� ��� ���� ��������?������H���)��(������ +������ �������� �������� 7������� �� �������"� 9��� >��� � � �� ��� ��� %���� %����!�������� 6���� ��������� ����� >���� �� � 9��%� �� � ����� � 8����� 9 ������!� ��� ������ ��������� �� ��� ����� ������� � +������!� ����� ������ � ��������/�E�����P�� "

YOUSUF APPOINTED BATTING COACH FOR HPCKarchi: ��� ��������� =������� 6�� � �� ���� ��������� ���������������%����� �@������������������������������(������,���������������=�������� +����"� @����!� ��� ���� ���� � 5!#�3� ���� �� 1!5/3�8*-� ����� ��� �� ������� ��������� ����2110� �/323!� ��� ��� � ���� ���� �� ������!� ������ ���� ������� �� %�����P� ���� � ��� ���� ����� ���������������� ����������� �������������������������PE��EQ�����R���������������������%� �Q��� "

U-17 WC PLAYER BORIS TESTS COVID +VENew Delhi: -� ��H��/325��-����E25�'� �=��������������6����>����� ���������� ���� ��� ����� �����$�����=$� E21������������������������$$����������$�� ������"� ��� /3E����E � 6���!� ��� �� ���� �����������������������-� ��H���������������������� �E25� '� � =��!� ���� ����� ���� � �� ��P�������������%������"

OLY CHAMPION AYAKA TAKAHASHI RETIRESTokyo: B����H��8�������� ������������������� ��������� ��� ��� ���� � ���� ����� ����� ����%������%������������?������H�� ���7��������������������������� ������� ��� ������ ��� ��������" ����3E����� ����� ���������������������� ��8��������������� ���� ������� ������� ������� ������ ����!� ������� ���� � �� ������ ��� � � ��� �������������"

THAPA, 9 INDIANS RETAINED BY CHENNAIYINChennai: �E�����-� ����>�����+��������������=���������� �=� �� ���� ��� ������� � ������������������������������������� E��� �������� � ������� �����������-� ������������������������������� �� ���� ���������"� ->+� /325E20� ������ ����!�������� ���������������20E����E ����/32.!��������������������E��������������� ������������������������������������=����������������"

HYDERABAD FC, BVB ANNOUNCE NEW P’SHIPHyderabad: >+�����������,� ����� ��=��� ���� �������� �������������E����������������������7�����������������6�������*����� ��� ����������������������������������������� �$������"�6������*����� �������������� ������ �����������,�=��������� �������������������������� ��������-� ������� �� ����� � ������"� ��� ������������ ��� ������ �� 6A6H�� �?�������� ��� �������� �� ��$����$����!����������������$��������������������!�����$��������� ��?��� �������������" "������

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Leeds’ first Premier Leaguegame for 16 years will see

Marcelo Bielsa’s men trav-el to defending championsLiverpool, whileManchester City andManchester United willmiss the opening weekendto give them extra time torecover from a late end to the2019-20 season.

In what will be the mosteagerly awaiting mathes ofthe new campaign, Cityand Liverpool are sched-uled to meet on the week-ends of November 7 at theEtihad and February6 at Anfield.

Jurgen Klopp’smen do not facetraditional rivalsM a n c h e s t e r

United until 2021 with the RedDevils visiting Anfield onJanuary 16 and Liverpool head-ing to Old Trafford on May 1.

All sides were guaran-teed by the football author-ities to have at least 30 daysoff between the two seasonsafter the late finish to the2019-20 campaign.

Chelsea and Wolves willstart their seasons on Monday(September 14) after they toowere involved in European com-petition into August.

Leeds are back in the top-flight for the first time since2003-04, but could not haveasked for a tougher start, on

September 12 againstthe champions whohave not lost a league

game at Anfield inmore than threeyears.

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Rajasthan Royals, Kings XIPunjab and Kolkata Knight

Riders on Thursday arrived inthe UAE for the IPL beginningSeptember 19, setting the ballrolling for an event that manythought would not take placeamid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Royals and KXIP landed inDubai via a charter flight, whichwill be the norm this IPL dueto the ongoing health crisis. Alittle later in the evening,Kolkata Knight Riders arrivedin Abu Dhabi, their base for thetournament.

The players, who werealready tested multiple timesbefore departure, will nowundergo a six-day isolationperiod with testing on day 1, 3and 6. If they clear all the tests,they will be eligible to enter thetournament’s bio-bubble andstart training.

Subsequently, the players

and support staff will be testedevery fifth day of the tourney.

All three teams posted pic-tures of their players and sup-port staff before departure. TheRoyals squad was fully coveredin protective gear.

Defending championsMumbai Indians, ChennaiSuper Kings and RCB willarrive in the UAE on Fridaywhile the the other two teams,Sunrisers Hyderabad and DelhiCapitals, will land over theweekend.

BHAJJI WILL JOIN LATERChennai Super Kings on

Thursday announced that vet-eran off-spinner HarbhajanSingh will not be boarding theflight with rest of squad onFriday to UAE due to personalreasons and instead join histeam within two weeks.

“Harbhajan will not betravelling with the team toDubai due to personal rea-sons. He is expected to join thesquad in two weeks,” a CSK offi-cial said on Thursday.

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The Europa League trophy is theheaviest of all UEFA silverware,

weighing in at a sturdy 15kg, some-thing Sevilla know all too well.They’ve lifted it five times, more thanany other club in history: back-to-back in 2006and 2007 back when the tournament was knownas the UEFA Cup, and a ‘three-peat’ in 2014, 2015and 2016. This Friday night in Cologne, theNervionenses are going all out for number six.

It won’t be easy though, going up against a tal-ented Inter Milan side featuring stars such asLautaro Martínez, Romelu Lukaku and DiegoGodín. The Italians know what it’s like to win thistitle too, having won it three times (1991, 1994 and1998). In fact, only Sevilla have won it on moreoccasions.

Both sides are in excellent form, with Sevillaundefeated since the coronavirus pause by win-ning nine and drawing five of their 14 fixtures sinceaction resumed and with Inter Milan having lostjust once since the restart, picking up 11 wins andfive draws along the way.

This saw Inter Milan finish second in SerieA, while Sevilla also secured Champions Leaguefootball for next year by finishing fourth in thefinal LaLiga standings.

Sevilla’s defence has been key to their strongfinish to the domestic season and their run to theEuropa League final, conceding just once since thecontinental restart: a penalty in their 2-1 semi-finalwin over Manchester United. Much credit shouldgo to Moroccan goalkeeper Bono – Sevilla’s keep-er in cup competitions this season – and centre-backs Diego Carlo and Jules Koundé. In addition,coach Julen Lopetegui has, since arriving last sum-mer, installed a possession-based system at theclub, helping to keep the ball away from theiropponents’ most dangerous forwards.

Lopetegui’s side can attack too, with their full-backs Jesús Navas and Sergio Reguilón alwayslooking to get forward. In central midfield, ÉverBanega is the creative force and he’ll be keen tomake an impact in what will be his final game forthe club.

A concern for Sevilla, though, is that their topscorer Lucas Ocampos – who has 17 goals thiscampaign – is an injury doubt for Friday’s matchafter suffering a knock in the semi-final.

INTER’S KEY MENInter Milan are similarly strong in defence and

have also conceded just a single goal since the com-petition’s restart, coming in their 2-1 quarter-finalwin over Bayer Leverkusenbefore they dispatchedShakhtar Donetsk 5-0 inthe semi-final. CoachAntonio Conte has creat-ed a solid back three, onewhich features a familiarfoe for Sevilla in the formof former Villarreal andAtlético de Madrid cen-tre-back Diego Godín.

LOOK OUT FORLukaku vs Carlos

and Koundé is set to be anepic matchup. The Belgianhas terrorised defenders allseason long, especially inthis tournament, but hemay not have come upagainst a pairing as solidas the Sevilla duo yet.

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Bob and Mike Bryan were noton the entry list released

for men’s doubles at the USOpen, possibly signalingthe end of the 42-year-oldAmerican twins’ record-breaking careers.

The Bryans won five oftheir 16 Grand Slam doublestitles together in New York,most recently in 2014.

Mike also won the 2018 US

Open with Jack Sock when Bobwas recovering from hip surgery.

The US Tennis Associationannounced its women’s andmen’s doubles fields, includingwild cards.

Three-time US Open cham-pion Kim Clijsters and playingpartner Hailey Baptiste receiveda wild-card entry in doubles togo along with the one she got forsingles as she makes her Grand

Slam comeback.The tournament

begins singles competi-tion August 31, and dou-bles on September 2. Thedoubles fields are being

cut from 64 to 32 teams forwomen and men this year toreduce the number of people on-site because of the coronaviruspandemic.

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IPL-bound players from Englandand Australia will not be required

to undergo a six-day quarantine inthe UAE to enter the tournamentbubble as they will be coming froma controlled environment, RCBchairman Sanjeev Churiwala said onThursday.

Royal Challengers Bangalorehave in their ranks Aaron Finch andMoeen Ali, who will be busy in abilateral series comprising threeT20s and three ODIs, before the IPL.

The limited overs matches areslated to be held in England fromSeptember 4 to 16.

The IPL starts on September 19and, in all likelihood, all the Englishand Australian players will land inthe UAE via a charter flight onSeptember 17, making them avail-able for their respective team’s open-

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Two players of the South African men’s cricketteam have tested positive for Covid-19 and will

miss a specially-arranged culture camp, the coun-try’s cricket board said on Thursday.

Cricket South Africa (CSA), though, did notdisclose the names of the two players.

The board had conducted 50 tests on playersand support staff before the team’s culture camp inSkukuza from August 18 to 22. The camp,focussing on the team’s “identity, environment andperformance goals”, features 32 players.

“The testing is in line with fulfilling the organ-isation’s obligation and commitment to control thespread of the virus,” the CSA said.

“There were no replacements made for the twoplayers who tested positive. All those unable toattend the camp will join the proceedings virtual-ly.” The two players will miss the camp as they havesent into isolation as per the protocols.

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England captain Joe Root said onThursday he wants his players to

give it their all in the third Test withPakistan which gets underway thisweek as it could be their last for awhile.

England lead 1-0 and have toavoid defeat at the Ageas Bowl onFriday to seal what would be their firstseries win over Pakistan in 10 years.

It would make it a perfect sum-mer having beaten the West Indies 2-1 earlier in the season.

England’s next scheduled Testseries is in India in the new year butthe coronavirus pandemic may makethat impossible — playing it in theUAE could be a possibility.

However, Root says the playersshould perform as if this is the last

Test till next summer and “leave nostone unturned.”

“My message to the guys todaywas quite simple really,” he said at hiseve of match press conference.

“We don’t know when the nexttime is that we’ll play Test cricket.

“Let’s make sure we leave nostones unturned and we give every-thing to each other and the badgegoing into this last game.

“I fully expect everyone to giveeverything over the next five days andmake sure we give ourselves the bestchance of finishing the series 2-0.”Root, who missed their only Testdefeat of the summer in the first clashwith the West Indies due to becom-ing a father, said even playing with-out spectators beat what he fearedmight happen at the beginning of theseason.

“We feel extremely lucky to havegot the opportunity to play right now,”said the 29-year-old.

“At the start of the summer, wewere dreading the thought of not see-ing any international cricket.”

Root paid tribute to both theWindies and Pakistan for agreeing totour and having to live in a bubble toreduce the risk of them getting thevirus. “Credit to both touring teamsfor coming over and giving us thatopportunity to play, and to bothboards,” said Root.

“It’s been amazing to be a part ofthis experience. Hopefully we canhave a great finish to it.

“There’s been some really excit-ing games and I think it’s made forsome entertaining viewing at times.”

(3rd Test Day 1, Live from3pm onwards at Sony Six)

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FIGURATIVELY

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<7��$������!�%���� ��=����+�����+�������������6�7=ing match.

“It is very clear from BCCISOP that each and every playerhas to go through quarantine (inUAE). However, the players fromEngland and Australia wouldalready be in a bio-bubble as theywould be playing the series there,”said Churiwala.

“If they continue to remain inthat bio-bubble and we can senda charter plane then they are assecure as other players.

“But they will have to gothrough Covid testing proceduresafter landing. It will be morestringent in their case. There willbe no compromise on safety,”added Churiwala on the eve of histeam’s departure to the UAE.

If things go as per plan, thenthe players will be available fortheir respective team’s openinggame, which they would have oth-

erwise missed in case of a six-dayquarantine.

The eight teams had initiallypressed for a three-day quarantinefor their players to start trainingearlier, but the BCCI did not agreeto that.

As per the UAE Government,players from both countries willneed to furnish Covid-19 negativetest certificates issued no morethan 96 hours before departure.

Churiwala hinted that evenfor the South Africa players due totake part in the IPL, a charter flightwill be organised.

Updating on RCB’s foreignplayers’ arrival, he said: “SouthAfrica players will arrive onAugust 22, September 17 forEngland and Australia players, SriLanka on September 1. Therecould be slight change in thisschedule,” he said.

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Leave no stone unturned: Root’s message to teammates

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