12
U nion Home Minister Amit Shah has tested positive for coronavirus and has been admitted to hospital for the treatment. Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit and UP BJP chief Swatantra Dev Singh too have tested pos- itive for Covid-19. Amit Shah took to Twitter to inform about his Covid pos- itive status and requested all those who have come in contact with him in the last few days to get themselves tested for coro- navirus. Shah said that his health is fine and he is being admitted to hospital on the advice of doc- tors. Amit Shah was admitted to Medanta Hospital in Gurugram in the afternoon. “On getting initial symp- toms of coronavirus, I got the test done and the report came back positive. My health is fine, but I am being admitted to hospital on the advice of doc- tors. I request that all those who have come in contact with me in the last few days, please iso- late yourself and get your enquiry done,” Home Minister Amit Shah said in a tweet. Shah was also on the list of 200 invitees of the Ayodhya Ram temple “bhoomi pujan” that is to take place on August 5, however, sources had con- firmed that Shah was not going to attend the event. Shah test- ing positive for Covid-19 is like- ly to have an impact on the Ayodhya event as several Cabinet Ministers and BJP leaders who may have come in close contact with Shah in recent meetings were also on the invitee list for the event. As per doctors, Amit Shah has comorbidities and thus comes under the vulnerable cat- egory. His oxygen levels will be monitored from now on. The Home Minister attend- ed a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday at the Prime min- ister’s residence where the new National Education Policy was passed. Among the high-profile cases Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is also currently down by the virus and recuperating in hospital. Prior to this, BJP leader Jyotiraditya Scindia and Delhi Health Minister Satendra Jain were also inflicted by Covid19 and recovered. The 55-year-old Home Minister has been admitted in a room on the 14th floor of the Medanta Hospital and is under Dr Sushil Kataria’s observation. The entry to the hospital has reportedly been barred for now. Amit Shah’s contact-tracing is being done. Shah has come in contact with all his Cabinet col- leagues in recent meetings, however, it is unclear whether all Cabinet ministers will be tested for coronavirus or not. BJP leader Babul Supriyo said that he had met Shah a day before and has been advised by doctors to isolate himself. “I had met Amit Shah ji day before in the evening. I am advised by doctors to confine myself, away from my family members, for the next few days with a test to be done soon. Shall abide with all precau- tionary measures as per rules and protocol. “ said Babul Supriyo. E ight months after he detect- ed “Vikram”, the lander payload of Chandrayaan-2, India’s second unmanned mis- sion to moon which went hay- wire minutes before it was to land on the lunar surface, a Chennai-based software engi- neer Shanmuga Subramanian has spotted “Pragyan”, the Rover which travelled piggy- back on Vikram. Shanmuga Subramanian, addressed as Shan by friends, tweeted on Sunday that Chandrayaan-2’s Pragyan “Rover” is intact on Moon’s sur- face and has rolled out a few meters from the skeleton Vikram lander whose payloads got disintegrated due to rough landing. This was followed by a series of tweets by him (@Ramanean) in which he said that the rover has rolled out from lander and has actually travelled a few metres from the surface. He said he had intimated the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) about his findings. In 2019 December, Shan had spotted the lander Vikram, the main payload in the Chandrayaan-2 space mis- sion, with the help of satellite images provided by the NASA. The Chandrayaan-2 mis- sion was launched by ISRO from Satish Dhavan Space Centre at Sriharikotta, 100 km north of Chennai on July 22, 2019 onboard a Geo Synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III rocket and the project cost the exchequer 978 crore. The spacecraft entered the Moon’s orbit on August 20, 2019. The ISRO engineers and scientists had scheduled to make a soft landing of Vikram on the lunar surface on September 6, 2019. But a soft- ware glitch resulted in Vikram making a crash landing on Moon and the Space scien- tists were under the impression that the mission had a prema- ture death. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had travelled to the ISRO headquarters in Bangalore to be with the scientists and to watch the soft landing of Vikram and Pragyan on the lunar surface. He was seen hugging and consoling K Sivan, ISRO chairman who broke down after the master control room lost track of the second lunar mission of India in the last moment. Shan’s finding proves that the rover Pragyan remains intact despite the crash landing. It is for the ISRO to take the lead and find out the possi- bilities of getting any commu- nication from the rover. T he Special Protection Group (SPG) has repatri- ated over 200 personnel, including 85 from CRPF, who were on deputation from the Central paramilitary forces. . The others include 45 BSF, 23 from the CISF, 17 from Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and 24 from Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB). Apart from the paramili- tary forces, personnel from the Central Police Organisations (CPOs), includ- ing three officials of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and four from Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), have also been repatriated to their respective parent organisations. The SPG needs only 500 staff, not the earlier 3,000, since it is deployed for the secu- rity of the PM only now. “On completion of their extended tenure of deputation to SPG, services of 85 officer (s) of CRPF ....are replaced at the disposal of their parent depart- ment with effect from the fore- noon of 01st August, 2020. These officer (s) will accord- ingly stand relieved from SPG from the fore-noon of 01st August, 2020 and will report to the Deputy Inspector General (Pers/Estt/Org), Directorate General, CRPF, Lodhi Road, New Delhi for duty and further orders, after availing leave sanc- tioned in conjunction with repatriation, if any and admis- sible joining time,” reads the order issued by the SPG (Cabinet Secretariat). Separate orders on similar lines were also issued on Saturday for the repatriation of 201 paramilitary personnel of the forces like BSF, ITBP, CISF and SSB. Orders were also issued for repatriation of three more men from CRPF, one inspector from Railway Protection Force (RPF) and one constable each from the Rajasthan and Haryana Police besides anoth- er from Rajasthan Armed Constabulary (RAC). W ith the corona threat looming large over the groundbreaking ceremony of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, the organisers have further pruned the list to 170 people and issued instruction that there should be no crowding at the dais as well as Ram Janmabhoomi Complex where the main function will be held on August 5. Former Deputy PM Lal Krishna Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi — considered the architect of the Ayodhya movement — will attend the function virtually from Delhi. “This is being suggested because of their age and spread of corona infection in the region. Some senior officials of the Trust have spoken to both of them,” a source said. A senior official in the Sri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust said earlier the Trust wanted to invite 280 people but after the interven- tion of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, the list was reduced to 200 members. After one of the temple priests and several cops posted at the com- plex were found corona posi- tive the number of invitees has further gone down to 170. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stone of the temple. U ttar Pradesh Minister Kamal Rani Varun, the only woman Cabinet Minister in the State, died of Covid-19 at a hospital here on Sunday. She was 62. The Technical Education minister, who tested positive for Covid-19 on July 18 and is the first minister in the State to succumb to the disease, breathed her last at the Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPIMS). She had comorbidities, including diabetes, hyperten- sion and hyperthyroidism, a senior doctor at the hospital said. Kamal Rani, who is sur- vived by her daughter, was cre- mated at the Bhairo Ghat cre- matorium here in accordance with Covid-19 protocols. “A guard of honour was given as soon as her body reached Bhairo Ghat crematorium,” District Magistrate Dr Brahmdeo Ram Tiwari said. Mumbai: Megastar Amitabh Bachchan on Sunday said that he has tested negative for Covid-19 and will now be quarantining at home. The 77-year-old actor, who was admitted to Nanavati hospital along with son Abhishek after testing positive for Covid-19 on July 11, expressed his gratitude to well-wishers for their contin- ued support and prayers. “I have tested Covid -ve, have been discharged. I am back home in solitary quar- antine. Grace of the Almighty, blessings of Maa, Babuji, prayers, duas of near and dear and friends fans EF and the excellent care and nursing at Nanavati made it possible for me to see this,” Amitabh wrote on Twitter. Minutes before the screen icon, Abhishek shared on the microblogging site that his father has tested negative for the virus. The 44-year-old actor, however, said he is still Covid- 19 positive and will remain under medical care. “I, unfor- tunately due to some comor- bidities remain Covid-19 pos- itive and remain in hospital. Again, thank you all for your continued wishes and prayers for my family. Very humbled and indebted. I’ll beat this and come back healthier! Promise,” he wrote. New Delhi: The Centre has written to all States and Union Territories stating that smartphones and tablet devices should be allowed for hospitalised Covid-19 patients so that they can interact with family and friends through video conferencing, which would provide them psychological support. T he Covid-19 death toll in the State jumped to 197 with 10 more deaths regis- tered on Sunday. Out of the new fatalities, four were report- ed from Ganjam district, three from Khordha and one each from Jajpur, Kalahandi and Sundargarh. The deceased included a 73-year-old man of Sundargarh district, a 58-year-old man and a 60-year-old woman of Khordha, a 78-year-old woman of Bhubaneswar (Khordha dis- trict), a 57-year-old man, a 94- year-old woman, a 45-year-old woman and a 57-year-old man of Ganjam, an 80-year-old man of Jajpur and a 62-year-old man of Kalahandi. Besides, one more patient of Gajapati district died due to other health complications. “Regret to report the demise of a 65-year-old male Covid-positive patient of Gajapati district, who expired due to end stage chronic kidney disease,” the Health and Family Welfare Department said. With this, the number of deaths for other than Covid reached 39 in the State. So far, Ganjam district has reported the maximum 103 casualties, followed by 28 in Khordha, 11 each in Cuttack and Gajapati, 10 in Sundargarh, seven in Rayagada and three each in Puri, Nayagarh and Baleswar, two each in Angul, Bhadrak, Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur, Kandhamal, Kendrapada and Malkangiri. On Sunday, 1,434 new pos- itive cases were reported in the State. pushing the total tally to 34,913. Out of the new cases, 889 were from quarantine cen- tres and 545 were local contacts. The day’s maximum 320 cases were reported from Ganjam district, followed by Khordha 218, Rayagada 197, Cuttack 123, Gajapati 91, Puri 65, Jajpur 57, Kandhamal 44, Bhadrak 25, Malkangiri 24, Kendrapada 22, Kalahandi 18, Dhenkanal 13, Baleswar and Korapur 12 each, Angul nine, Nayagarh eight, Nuapada seven, Jharsuguda six, Bargarh and Boudh five each, Deogarh, Keonjhar and Nabarangpur two each and Mayurbhanj one. C hief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Sunday wished speedy recovery of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who has been hospitalised after being tested positive for Covid-19. “Concerned to know about the hospitalisation of Union Home Minister Amit Shahji after being tested positive for Covid 19. Wishing him a speedy recovery and praying for a long life,” Patnaik said in his Twitter post. Earlier in the day, Shah (55) had said on his Twitter handle that he has tested pos- itive for coronavirus and is get- ting admitted to a hospital fol- lowing the advice of doctors. A s many as 118 new Covid-19 pos- itive cases were detected under the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) area on Sunday. With this, the city’s total tally rose to 2,979. Of the new cases, 69 were quar- antine cases and 49 local contacts, the BMC said. The quarantined cases included seven, all employees of a private hos- pital linked with an earlier positive case; five of Palaspalli near the airport linked with an earlier case; four of Jagamara linked with an earlier case; three, all male police staffs, linked with an earlier case; three of Pandra linked with an earlier positive case, two new cases of New Forest Park linked with earlier case; two, both women employ- ees of a private hospital; two, both minor girls, of Tankapani Road Shiba Nagar linked with an earlier case; two of Bhoi Nagar linked with earlier case; two, both women of Maa Tarini Basti; and two cases of Dumduma Raghunath Nagar Basti. The local contacts included three of Unit-8 CBI Colony; two of Salia Sahi; two of Baramunda; two of IRC Village; two of Khandagiri; two, both employees of a private hospital; two of Bhoi Nagar; two of Satyanagar, both women staffs of private hospital; and a 57-year-old police staff of Nayapalli. However, 125 patients recovered from the disease on Sunday, taking the city’s total recoveries to 1691. In Cuttack, 55 new positive cases were reported on the day, increasing the city’s total cases to 1,004. Out of the new cases, 47 were from home quarantine, two from institutional quarantine and six were local contacts, the Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) said. Besides, 33 patients recovered on the day. Till now, while 511 persons have recovered, 10 have succumbed to the disease in the city. A greeing to sustain the tempo of dialogue to defuse tension on the volatile Line of Control(LAC) in Eastern Ladakh, India on Sunday insisted that China completed the process of disengagement from all the “friction points.” including the Pangong Tso (lake) at the earliest. While the pace of pullback is positive at three face-off sites, China is reluctant to ease the situ- ation at the Pangong and has deployed additional troops. The fifth round of talks between the Corps Commanders of the two armies — Lt General Harinder Singh and Major General Liu Lin — at Moldo on the LAC in Ladakh region on Sunday also reviewed the progress of with- drawal of troops by both the sides, including the front and depth areas, sources said here. The Indian security establish- ment was keenly watching the evolving ground situation since the last Corps Commander-level talks were held on July 14. The two sides had agreed for complete disengagement at the earliest but China refused to step the pace. The local commanders of the Indian Army have monitored the situation every 72 hours and sources said there was little move- ment by the Chinese since July 14. During the latest round of par- leys, the Indian commander reit- erated that complete disengagement is part of major confidence build- ing measure to end the ten-week old impasse at the border. This insistence by India came as China has substantially reduced and withdrawn its troops from Galwan valley, Gogra and Hot Springs but has not done so at the Pangong Tso. In fact, the first face- off took place at this place on May 5 when the Chinese intruded more than five km into India and obstructed an Indian army patrol. It led to exchange of blows. Since then, the Chinese bol- stered their troop strength there forcing India to take preventive steps to thwart any major challenge, sources said.

˛ ˇˇ · doctors to isolate himself. “I had met Amit Shah ji day before in the evening. I am advised by doctors to confine myself, away from my family members, for the next few

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Page 1: ˛ ˇˇ · doctors to isolate himself. “I had met Amit Shah ji day before in the evening. I am advised by doctors to confine myself, away from my family members, for the next few

����� ��������

Union Home Minister AmitShah has tested positive for

coronavirus and has beenadmitted to hospital for thetreatment. Tamil NaduGovernor Banwarilal Purohitand UP BJP chief SwatantraDev Singh too have tested pos-itive for Covid-19.

Amit Shah took to Twitterto inform about his Covid pos-itive status and requested allthose who have come in contactwith him in the last few days toget themselves tested for coro-navirus.

Shah said that his health isfine and he is being admitted tohospital on the advice of doc-tors. Amit Shah was admittedto Medanta Hospital inGurugram in the afternoon.

“On getting initial symp-toms of coronavirus, I got thetest done and the report cameback positive. My health isfine, but I am being admitted to

hospital on the advice of doc-tors. I request that all those whohave come in contact with mein the last few days, please iso-late yourself and get yourenquiry done,” Home MinisterAmit Shah said in a tweet.

Shah was also on the list of200 invitees of the AyodhyaRam temple “bhoomi pujan”that is to take place on August5, however, sources had con-firmed that Shah was not goingto attend the event. Shah test-ing positive for Covid-19 is like-

ly to have an impact on theAyodhya event as severalCabinet Ministers and BJPleaders who may have come inclose contact with Shah inrecent meetings were also onthe invitee list for the event.

As per doctors, Amit Shahhas comorbidities and thuscomes under the vulnerable cat-egory. His oxygen levels will bemonitored from now on.

The Home Minister attend-ed a Cabinet meeting onWednesday at the Prime min-

ister’s residence where the newNational Education Policy waspassed.

Among the high-profilecases Madhya Pradesh ChiefMinister Shivraj SinghChouhan is also currently downby the virus and recuperating inhospital. Prior to this, BJPleader Jyotiraditya Scindia andDelhi Health Minister SatendraJain were also inflicted byCovid19 and recovered.

The 55-year-old HomeMinister has been admitted in a

room on the 14th floor of theMedanta Hospital and is underDr Sushil Kataria’s observation.The entry to the hospital hasreportedly been barred for now.

Amit Shah’s contact-tracingis being done. Shah has come incontact with all his Cabinet col-leagues in recent meetings,however, it is unclear whetherall Cabinet ministers will betested for coronavirus or not.BJP leader Babul Supriyo saidthat he had met Shah a daybefore and has been advised bydoctors to isolate himself.

“I had met Amit Shah ji daybefore in the evening. I amadvised by doctors to confinemyself, away from my familymembers, for the next few dayswith a test to be done soon.Shall abide with all precau-tionary measures as per rulesand protocol. “ said BabulSupriyo.

����� ���

Eight months after he detect-ed “Vikram”, the lander

payload of Chandrayaan-2,India’s second unmanned mis-sion to moon which went hay-wire minutes before it was toland on the lunar surface, aChennai-based software engi-neer Shanmuga Subramanianhas spotted “Pragyan”, theRover which travelled piggy-back on Vikram.

Shanmuga Subramanian,addressed as Shan by friends,tweeted on Sunday thatChandrayaan-2’s Pragyan“Rover” is intact on Moon’s sur-face and has rolled out a fewmeters from the skeletonVikram lander whose payloadsgot disintegrated due to roughlanding.

This was followed by a

series of tweets by him(@Ramanean) in which he saidthat the rover has rolled outfrom lander and has actuallytravelled a few metres from thesurface.

He said he had intimatedthe Indian Space ResearchOrganisation (ISRO) about hisfindings. In 2019 December,Shan had spotted the landerVikram, the main payload inthe Chandrayaan-2 space mis-sion, with the help of satelliteimages provided by the NASA.

The Chandrayaan-2 mis-sion was launched byISRO from Satish DhavanSpace Centre atSriharikotta, 100 kmnorth of Chennai on July22, 2019 onboard a GeoSynchronous Satellite LaunchVehicle Mark III rocket and theproject cost the exchequer �978

crore.The spacecraft entered the

Moon’s orbit on August 20,2019. The ISRO engineers andscientists had scheduled tomake a soft landing of Vikramon the lunar surface onSeptember 6, 2019. But a soft-ware glitch resulted in Vikrammaking a crash landingon Moon andthe Spaces c i e n -

tists were under the impressionthat the mission had a prema-ture death.

Prime Minister NarendraModi had travelled to the ISROheadquarters in Bangalore tobe with the scientists and towatch the soft landing ofVikram and Pragyan on thelunar surface.

He was seen hugging andconsoling K Sivan, ISROchairman who broke downafter the master controlroom lost track of thesecond lunar mission ofIndia in the last moment.

Shan’s finding provesthat the rover Pragyanremains intact despitethe crash landing. It is

for the ISRO to take thelead and find out the possi-

bilities of getting any commu-nication from the rover.

������������� ��������

The Special ProtectionGroup (SPG) has repatri-

ated over 200 personnel,including 85 from CRPF, whowere on deputation from theCentral paramilitary forces. .

The others include 45 BSF,23 from the CISF, 17 fromIndo-Tibetan Border Police(ITBP) and 24 from SashastraSeema Bal (SSB).

Apart from the paramili-tary forces, personnel fromthe Central PoliceOrganisations (CPOs), includ-ing three officials of theIntelligence Bureau (IB) andfour from Research andAnalysis Wing (RAW), havealso been repatriated to theirrespective parent organisations.

The SPG needs only 500staff, not the earlier 3,000,since it is deployed for the secu-rity of the PM only now.

“On completion of theirextended tenure of deputationto SPG, services of 85 officer (s)of CRPF....are replaced at thedisposal of their parent depart-ment with effect from the fore-noon of 01st August, 2020.These officer (s) will accord-ingly stand relieved from SPGfrom the fore-noon of 01stAugust, 2020 and will report tothe Deputy Inspector General(Pers/Estt/Org), Directorate

General, CRPF, Lodhi Road,New Delhi for duty and furtherorders, after availing leave sanc-tioned in conjunction withrepatriation, if any and admis-sible joining time,” reads theorder issued by the SPG(Cabinet Secretariat).

Separate orders on similarlines were also issued onSaturday for the repatriation of201 paramilitary personnel ofthe forces like BSF, ITBP, CISFand SSB. Orders were alsoissued for repatriation of threemore men from CRPF, oneinspector from RailwayProtection Force (RPF) and oneconstable each from the Rajasthan andHaryana Police besides anoth-er from Rajasthan ArmedConstabulary (RAC).

������� ������� ����

With the corona threatlooming large over the

groundbreaking ceremony ofRam Mandir in Ayodhya, theorganisers have further prunedthe list to 170 people andissued instruction that thereshould be no crowding at thedais as well as RamJanmabhoomi Complex wherethe main function will be heldon August 5.

Former Deputy PM LalKrishna Advani and MurliManohar Joshi — consideredthe architect of the Ayodhyamovement — will attend thefunction virtually from Delhi.“This is being suggestedbecause of their age and spreadof corona infection in theregion. Some senior officials ofthe Trust have spoken to bothof them,” a source said.

A senior official in the SriRam Janmabhoomi TeerthKshetra Trust said earlier theTrust wanted to invite 280people but after the interven-tion of Chief Minister YogiAdityanath, the list was

reduced to 200 members. Afterone of the temple priests andseveral cops posted at the com-plex were found corona posi-tive the number of invitees hasfurther gone down to 170.

Prime Minister NarendraModi will lay the foundationstone of the temple.

������������� ���������������� �������������� � ���������������������������������������� ���������!� � ��

����� � �����

Uttar Pradesh MinisterKamal Rani Varun, the

only woman Cabinet Ministerin the State, died of Covid-19at a hospital here on Sunday.She was 62.

The Technical Educationminister, who tested positivefor Covid-19 on July 18 and isthe first minister in the Stateto succumb to the disease,breathed her last at the SanjayGandhi Postgraduate Instituteof Medical Sciences(SGPIMS).

She had comorbidities,including diabetes, hyperten-sion and hyperthyroidism, asenior doctor at the hospitalsaid.

Kamal Rani, who is sur-

vived by her daughter, was cre-mated at the Bhairo Ghat cre-matorium here in accordancewith Covid-19 protocols.

“A guard of honour wasgiven as soon as her bodyreached Bhairo Ghat crematorium,” District Magistrate Dr Brahmdeo RamTiwari said.

Mumbai: Megastar AmitabhBachchan on Sunday said thathe has tested negative forCovid-19 and will now bequarantining at home.

The 77-year-old actor,who was admitted to Nanavatihospital along with sonAbhishek after testing positivefor Covid-19 on July 11,expressed his gratitude towell-wishers for their contin-ued support and prayers.

“I have tested Covid -ve,have been discharged. I amback home in solitary quar-antine. Grace of the Almighty,blessings of Maa, Babuji,prayers, duas of near anddear and friends fans EF andthe excellent care and nursingat Nanavati made it possiblefor me to see this,” Amitabhwrote on Twitter.

Minutes before the screenicon, Abhishek shared on themicroblogging site that hisfather has tested negative for

the virus.The 44-year-old actor,

however, said he is still Covid-19 positive and will remainunder medical care. “I, unfor-tunately due to some comor-bidities remain Covid-19 pos-itive and remain in hospital.Again, thank you all for yourcontinued wishes and prayersfor my family. Very humbledand indebted. I’ll beat this andcome back healthier!Promise,” he wrote.

New Delhi: The Centre has written to all States and UnionTerritories stating that smartphones and tablet devices shouldbe allowed for hospitalised Covid-19 patients so that they caninteract with family and friends through video conferencing,which would provide them psychological support.

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The Covid-19 death toll inthe State jumped to 197

with 10 more deaths regis-tered on Sunday. Out of thenew fatalities, four were report-ed from Ganjam district, threefrom Khordha and one eachfrom Jajpur, Kalahandi andSundargarh.

The deceased included a73-year-old man of Sundargarhdistrict, a 58-year-old man anda 60-year-old woman ofKhordha, a 78-year-old womanof Bhubaneswar (Khordha dis-

trict), a 57-year-old man, a 94-year-old woman, a 45-year-oldwoman and a 57-year-old manof Ganjam, an 80-year-old manof Jajpur and a 62-year-oldman of Kalahandi.

Besides, one more patientof Gajapati district died due toother health complications.

“Regret to report thedemise of a 65-year-old maleCovid-positive patient ofGajapati district, who expireddue to end stage chronic kidneydisease,” the Health and FamilyWelfare Department said.

With this, the number of

deaths for other than Covidreached 39 in the State.

So far, Ganjam district hasreported the maximum 103casualties, followed by 28 inKhordha, 11 each in Cuttackand Gajapati, 10 in Sundargarh,seven in Rayagada and threeeach in Puri, Nayagarh andBaleswar, two each in Angul,Bhadrak, Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur,Kandhamal, Kendrapada andMalkangiri.

On Sunday, 1,434 new pos-itive cases were reported in theState. pushing the total tally to34,913. Out of the new cases,

889 were from quarantine cen-tres and 545 were local contacts.

The day’s maximum 320cases were reported fromGanjam district, followed byKhordha 218, Rayagada 197,Cuttack 123, Gajapati 91, Puri65, Jajpur 57, Kandhamal 44,Bhadrak 25, Malkangiri 24,Kendrapada 22, Kalahandi 18,Dhenkanal 13, Baleswar andKorapur 12 each, Angul nine,Nayagarh eight, Nuapadaseven, Jharsuguda six, Bargarhand Boudh five each, Deogarh,Keonjhar and Nabarangpurtwo each and Mayurbhanj one.

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Chief Minister NaveenPatnaik on Sunday wished

speedy recovery of Union HomeMinister Amit Shah, who hasbeen hospitalised after beingtested positive for Covid-19.

“Concerned to know aboutthe hospitalisation of UnionHome Minister Amit Shahjiafter being tested positive forCovid 19. Wishing him aspeedy recovery and prayingfor a long life,” Patnaik said inhis Twitter post.

Earlier in the day, Shah(55) had said on his Twitterhandle that he has tested pos-itive for coronavirus and is get-ting admitted to a hospital fol-lowing the advice of doctors.

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As many as 118 new Covid-19 pos-itive cases were detected under the

Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation(BMC) area on Sunday. With this, thecity’s total tally rose to 2,979.

Of the new cases, 69 were quar-antine cases and 49 local contacts, theBMC said.

The quarantined cases includedseven, all employees of a private hos-pital linked with an earlier positivecase; five of Palaspalli near the airportlinked with an earlier case; four ofJagamara linked with an earlier case;three, all male police staffs, linked withan earlier case; three of Pandra linkedwith an earlier positive case, two newcases of New Forest Park linked withearlier case; two, both women employ-

ees of a private hospital; two, bothminor girls, of Tankapani Road ShibaNagar linked with an earlier case; twoof Bhoi Nagar linked with earlier case;two, both women of Maa Tarini Basti;and two cases of DumdumaRaghunath Nagar Basti.

The local contacts included three

of Unit-8 CBI Colony; two of SaliaSahi; two of Baramunda; two of IRCVillage; two of Khandagiri; two, bothemployees of a private hospital; two ofBhoi Nagar; two of Satyanagar, bothwomen staffs of private hospital; anda 57-year-old police staff of Nayapalli.

However, 125 patients recoveredfrom the disease on Sunday, taking thecity’s total recoveries to 1691.

In Cuttack, 55 new positive caseswere reported on the day, increasing thecity’s total cases to 1,004. Out of the newcases, 47 were from home quarantine,two from institutional quarantine andsix were local contacts, the CuttackMunicipal Corporation (CMC) said.

Besides, 33 patients recovered onthe day. Till now, while 511 personshave recovered, 10 have succumbed tothe disease in the city.

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Agreeing to sustain the tempo ofdialogue to defuse tension on

the volatile Line of Control(LAC)in Eastern Ladakh, India on Sundayinsisted that China completed theprocess of disengagement from allthe “friction points.” including thePangong Tso (lake) at the earliest.

While the pace of pullback ispositive at three face-off sites,China is reluctant to ease the situ-ation at the Pangong and hasdeployed additional troops.

The fifth round of talksbetween the Corps Commanders ofthe two armies — Lt GeneralHarinder Singh and Major GeneralLiu Lin — at Moldo on the LAC in

Ladakh region on Sunday alsoreviewed the progress of with-drawal of troops by both the sides,including the front and depthareas, sources said here.

The Indian security establish-ment was keenly watching theevolving ground situation sincethe last Corps Commander-leveltalks were held on July 14.

The two sides had agreed forcomplete disengagement at theearliest but China refused to stepthe pace. The local commanders ofthe Indian Army have monitoredthe situation every 72 hours andsources said there was little move-ment by the Chinese since July 14.

During the latest round of par-leys, the Indian commander reit-

erated that complete disengagementis part of major confidence build-ing measure to end the ten-weekold impasse at the border.

This insistence by India cameas China has substantially reducedand withdrawn its troops fromGalwan valley, Gogra and HotSprings but has not done so at thePangong Tso. In fact, the first face-off took place at this place on May5 when the Chinese intruded morethan five km into India andobstructed an Indian army patrol.It led to exchange of blows.

Since then, the Chinese bol-stered their troop strength thereforcing India to take preventivesteps to thwart any major challenge,sources said.

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Page 2: ˛ ˇˇ · doctors to isolate himself. “I had met Amit Shah ji day before in the evening. I am advised by doctors to confine myself, away from my family members, for the next few

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Various shopping malls inBhubaneswar, which had

been closed due to the Covid-19 lockdown for over fourmonths, reopened with certainconditions on Sunday.

The BhubaneswarMunicipal Corporation (BMC)had given permission for it onSaturday.

But no food court or eaterywould operate in the mallpremises. Gaming zone andcinema halls would not bepermitted.

All shops would ensurethat buyers and staffs maintain6-ft social distancing and use

facemask.All staffs would wash

hands frequently. In case of ill-ness, staffs would inform theconcerned mall authorities andthen to the BMC.

They should be advised toinstall “Arogya Setu App” and“Sachetak App” on their per-sonal mobile phones.

At the entrance of the mall,thermal screening should bedone on customers and staffs.There should be sanitizer dis-penser for use at entrancepoint too.

The mall authorities shouldalso make arrangement of AVmedia at different places insidethe mall and display the Covid-19 prevention measures so thatit catches the attention of mostvisitors/customers.

The number of persons inelevators may be restricted soas to maintain social distancingnorms.

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In view of the Covid-19 pan-demic, the State Government

could not go for elections to themanagement committees ofthe cooperative societies andhas vested the management onadministrators.

With the expiry of theterm of Committee ofManagement of various apexcooperative organisations, theRegistrar of CooperativeSocieties, Odisha has appoint-ed several administrators tomanage the affairs of the coop-erative societies.

As per provision of section32(1) of the OCS Act, 1962,where the election is not con-ducted before expiry of term ofthe committee, it shall bedeemed to have been super-seded immediately and themanagement shall stand vest-ed on the Registrar.

Accordingly, the Registrarhas appointed administratorsin several apex cooperativesocieties as on July 30, said offi-

cial sources.While the Development

Commissioner has beenappointed as administrator inOdisha State Coop MilkProducers’ Federation Limited(OMFED), the Secretary,Cooperation has been appoint-ed as administrator in the OdishaState Cooperative Bank (OSCB).

The Secretary Handlooms,Textiles and Handicrafts hasbeen appointed administratorin the Odisha State HandloomWeavers’ Cooperative Societies(Boyanika) and in the OdishaCooperative Tassar and SilkFederation Limited (SER-IFED).

The Additional SecretaryCooperation has been appoint-ed as administrator in theOdisha State CooperativeMarketing Federation Limited(MARKFED).

The Director Handicraftand Cottage Industries hasbeen appointed as administra-tor of the Odisha StateCooperative HandicraftsCorporation Limited.

The Director Industrieshas been appointed as admin-istrator of the OdishaCooperative Coir CorporationLimited and the Odisha RajyaTalaguda Samabaya SanghaLimited.

The Director AnimalHusbandry and VeterinaryServices has been appointed asadministrator in the OdishaState Poultry ProductsCooperative MarketingFederation Limited(OPOLFED).

The Director SC Welfarehas been appointed as admin-istrator of the Odisha SC STDevelopment FinanceCooperative CorporationLimited.

The DRCS Credit in RCSOffice has been appointed asthe administrator in the OdishaFederation of UrbanCooperative Bank and CreditCooperative Societies Limitedand the Odisha StateCooperative Agricultural andRural Development Bank(OSCARD).

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While Odisha has beenprovided more funds for

implementing Jal JeevanMission, slow progress andunderutilisation of funds haveraised concern.

Jal Jeevan Mission is a flag-ship programme of theGovernment of India for pro-viding tap connections to thehouseholds in villages allowingthem to enjoy pure drinkingwater.

The Department ofDrinking Water and Sanitationunder the Ministry of Jal Shaktiis implementing the pro-gramme through Jal JeevanMission.

Looking at the require-ment of the State, the Central

Government has allocated Rs812 crore in 2020-21 as GrantIn Aid and the first installmentof Rs 149 crore was releasedduring this year.

Minster Jal ShaktiGajendra Singh Shekhawatreviewed the progress of vari-ous States since first quarter of2020-21 was over, said officialsources.

A Jal Jeevan MissionReview has revealed that onboth physical and financialprogress count, Odisha is lag-ging behind.

While the Central fundsflow is more, spending less inthe programme implementa-tion is a cause of concern, saida senior official.

According to informationavailable with the National

Mission, Odisha has providednearly 81,500 household con-nections during first quarter of2020-21. The Annual ActionPlan for Odisha was to provide17.10 lakh FunctionalHousehold Tap Connections(FHTC)s to the households.

As in the first quarter,progress is slow, a strategy isneeded for speeding up thehousehold connections. WhileOdisha was also falling short ofmore than 7 lakh householdconnections in 2019-20, nowwith the shortfall in first quar-ter, more is needed to be cov-ered.

This is because 40 per centcoverage of the uncoveredhouseholds is to be taken upduring 2020-21. So it is a hugetarget and with Covid-19 pan-

demic, the State administrationfaces a Herculean task in imple-menting the flagship pro-gramme, admit officials.

While physical progress isslow, financial spending is alsolow. Official sources revealedthat out of nearly Rs 240 croreCentral grants available withthe State, Rs 115 crore has beenspent.

The slowdown of spendingis also a cause of concern forthe Central Government and ithas requested the State author-ities to speed up spending. Inthe meantime, Jal JeevanMission authorities havereportedly requested the StateGovernment to speed up theimplementation of the flagshipprogramme as Central grantsare available with the State.

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Mystery shrouded the deathof a suspected highway

looter, whose naked body wasfound under a flyover at FireStation Square here onSaturday.

As per the documentsfound from the spot, the youthwas identified as Rakesh Panda,a resident of Aditya Lane atSatya Nagar of the city.

Police said the deceasedalong with another youth AsimNanda Jena of Brahmanjharilounder the Cuttack Sadar policestation looted cash and amobile phone from of a truck

by breaking its window glassnear CRPF Square on the NH-16 on Saturday.

However, a driver of truckcoming from Khandagiriinformed police about the inci-dent. On receiving information,

a PCR rushed to the spot andfound two persons were attack-ing an auto-rickshaw driver.

Seeing the PCR van, one ofthem sped away from the spotby his motorcycle towardsRasulgarh and another ran

towards theBaramunda area.

Following theincident, the PCRteam informed thePolice ControlRoom and man-aged to nab Jena atVSS Nagar with hismotorcycle.

Soon later, thepolice receivedinformation about abody lying at FireStation area.Immediately, policerushed to the spotand found body of

a youth without clothes. Thedocuments including AadharCard showed that the deceasedwas Rakesh and he wasaccused, who had fled from thecrime scene on the highway,police said.

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Today ‘mask' is probably themost-used word across the

globe after corona happened.Facemasks are most effectiveshields against flu viruses.Mask-wearing is now health-safety culture. Even as govern-ments are struggling to keepcitizens healthy and safe, thereis a lot of heartening news com-ing from around the globe.Social distancing, though dif-ficult to practise at all times,will remain live in humanminds for always as flu virus-

es will keep attacking thehuman race one after the other.

British science, economicsand environment journalistMark Ridley says, “From vac-cine triumphs to leadershiplearning curves, we can final-ly dare to hope for a break-through in containing theunruly speck of a fat substancecalled virus. The nightmare willend this year or at least by thespring in 2021.”

Ridley sounds logical. Thequickly-produced vaccine tri-als have been promising. Theyseem to be safe and capable ofraising both a T-cell responseand an antibody response.Behind the pioneer Oxfordvaccine, comes a stream ofother vaccines, some of whichwill surely work. The secondbig reason for hope is that herdimmunity may be achievedmore easily than experts firstthought. Infections have begunto dwindle in developed coun-tries despite‘social distancing'protocol isbeing ignored bymany people. ‘Herd immunity'has already been achieved inLondon as a recent study indi-cates. Half the population mayhave already turned immune

because of exposure to coron-avirus colds while childrenseem to resist catching Covid-19. Senior medical officer ChrisWhitty has conceded that theepidemic is already in retreat.That has happened because thevirus has had a few superspreaders before imposition ofmeasures like lockdowns, ‘nohandshakes', ‘frequent handwashing', ‘no large gatherings'and strict ‘social distancing'.The third reason for optimismis that as long as people con-tinue with the preventive mea-sures, the virus will struggle tokeep spreading.

Unfortunately, at the begin-ning, the virus did spread withhorrible ease in care homes andhospitals. Since T-cell senes-cence is a critical issue, old peo-ple’s immune systems are justnot as good at coping with thiskind of infection. Further, therewere dreadful policy mistakeslike stopping testing people,clearing patients out of hospi-tals to care homes withouttests and assuming no asymp-tomatic transmission. Besides,healthcare and care home staffswere not protected properly.Many of them were infected

and had become potent carri-ers. The fourth cause for cheeris, therefore, that now expertsknow about asymptomatictransmission, people have moreprotective equipment and alsoa better, if still imperfect, capac-ity to test, track and isolatecases, it is likely that the hos-pital-acquired epidemic of thelast spring will not be repeat-ed. The fifth excuse is that doc-tors and scientists now knowbetter how to treat seriouspatients. Ventilation is not nec-essarily the answer; blood clot-ting is a real threat makingpatients lie face down; dexam-ethasone can save lives andsome antiviral drugs are show-ing promise.

These are reasons that evenif a lot of people catch the virusthis winter, fewer will die.Colds and flu viruses usuallypeak in mid-winter when weare indoors. Viruses survivelonger in colder and drier con-ditions; and centrally heated airdries out our protective mucusmembranes. Only 21,000Australians were diagnosedwith flu; 132,000 people werediagnosed in the same periodlast year. Social distancing had

worked wonders. And thiswinter in Australia, fewer peo-ple will die of flu of any kind.Behaviour change has virtual-ly thrown off flu viruses there.

Authorities and employershave to show zero tolerance tocold-spreaders. Mocking themfor taking a day off and prais-ing them for trudging intowork while feeling miserablehas to stop.

So, having learnt top gradelessons, ten years from now,people will not only havedefeated Covid-19 but madecommon colds rarer too.

The bigger challenge thiswinter will be to tackle thebacklog of treating cancer andother medical problemsdelayed by Covid. And tounleash economic growth tohelp those who lost their jobs.

Japan is the smartest nationon good-health behaviourwhich is part of the Japaneseculture. Now, the Japanese havehappily decided to coexist withthe new corona virus! TheJapanese know too well that‘bad’ things can't be forsakenfor all times. So, using riskassessment models in principle,humans can continue to live

well. The Japanese have learntnever to violate the three basicprinciples: Keep a distancebetween people; wear a maskunfailingly; and wash handsfrequently. The moment theyreturn home, they wash faceand clothes immediately. Theyreligiously wash hands as soonas they touch someone's hand.Citizens are encouraged to gofor online shopping and elec-tronic settlement. They don'ttalk on public transportationsystems. They are encouragedto go to work by bicycle or onfoot. They are constantlyrequested to use electronicbusiness cards. They are usingvideoconference for meetings.They work in spaces with openwindows for ventilation there-by avoiding air-conditionedinteriors. No Japanese isallowed to go to countrieswhere the virus is endemic.Even visiting relatives is alsoavoided in Japan. They chat lessat meals, eat more vegetables.While eating, they sit side byside, and never face to face.

The Japanese are geneti-cally disciplined. The rest of theworld can become immenselyimmune by following them.

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The Government RailwayPolice (GRP) on Sunday

seized ganja worth more thanRs 5 lakh from theBhubaneswar station andarrested a person in this con-nection.

According to reports, theaccused was waiting for a trainat the station in the morningpossessing a carton containingthe ganja.

Acting on a tipoff, theGRP detained the person andfound the ganja from the car-ton during the search. Theaccused was trying to smugglethe contraband outside theState.

The criminals are increas-

ingly trying to smuggle con-traband, especially ganja, fromthe State to outside using longdistance trains. The back-to-back seizures by the RailwayProtection Force (RPF) andGRP are proof of that, saidsources.

In another incident, theMohana police in Gajapati dis-trict seized 38 sacks of ganjafrom an onion-laden trailer onthe Luhagudi road which wasbeing transported to Varanasiin Uttar Pradesh and arrestedtwo people in this connectionon Saturday.

The accused identified asNikhil Kumar and AnuragKumar of Rourkela. The mar-ket value of the seized contra-band was estimated to bearound Rs 50 lakh, saidMohana PS IIC Sujit Kumar

Sources said the raid wascarried out on the instruc-tions of Gajapati SP TapanKumar Patnaik under thesupervision of SDPO AshokKumar Mohanty.

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Despite sluggishness inmany sectors due to Covid

lockdowns, the State has wit-nessed a positive growth rate inGST collection in July duringthe current financial year.

The collection of State GST(OGST) in July 2020 increasedto Rs 794.02 crore as against Rs702.44 crore collected duringthe corresponding month lastyear, registering a growth rateof 13.04 per cent.

The growth rates of OGSTcollection for April, May andJune were -61.15 per cent, -25.22 per cent and -5.83 percent, respectively, as comparedto the corresponding monthslast year i.e. 2019.

This turnaround of positivegrowth rate in July’20 is pri-marily due to regular persua-sion and facilitation by the fieldofficers, continuous monitoringand hand holding supported bydata analytics by theCommissionerate of CT & GSTas well as better performance inthe mining sector.

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The warning that the scien-tists are now issuing is the

possibility of increase in Covid-19 infections in comingdecades as a consequence ofdegradation of forests andother natural ecosystems anddepletion of wildlife that har-bor many such viruses. In sucha changing scenario, the needis to reinforce protection mea-sures for the vegetation and thewildlife.

The experts participatingin a webinar organised by theOrissa Environmental Society(OES) on the theme ‘Covid-19:A Novel Zoonotic Disease’opined this.

Organised under the chair-manship of OES president DrSundara Narayan Patro, chiefspeaker of the occasion wasDirector, Institute of LifeSciences Dr Ajay Parida.

Dr Parida stated that vac-cines are the second mostimportant requirement afterclean water for human health.Presently more than 300 vac-

cines are available globally forthe treatment of 80 odd humanpathogens, which wipe out theviruses by synthesizing antigensin human blood. Whereas

approximately one millionviruses exist on earth at present,seven Corona virus specieshave been identified and Covid-19 has come to the forefront justeight months ago. "The coronainfection that we witness inIndia has its origin from twosources- European and South-East Asian countries. In Odishanow we have identified fiveclades of Covid-19, 19 A, 19 B,20 A, 20 B and 20 C."

If the virus changes itsgenetic features further soonafter the vaccine gets invented,it is going to create new chal-lenges for scientific research.The best option in such aglooming scenario is mankindhas to apply its wisdom andundertake all conservationmeasures for protection of thenature and wildlife, he stated.

OES secretary DrJayakrushna Panigrahi pre-sented the welcome address. DrPatro emphasised on protec-tion of the biodiversity. Vote ofthanks was presented by OESvice-president Dr Lala AKSingh.

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The Department ofBiodiversity and

Conservation of NaturalResources, Central Universityof Odisha, organised a nation-al level webinar on“Biodiversity- Environment-Health” on July 30.

Inaugurating the webinar,VC Prof I Ramabrahmam citedthe World Economic ForumReport-2020 highlighting con-cern for loss of biodiversity andman-made environment dis-asters and said that the nationStates need to come out withpolicy responses and thereneed to have a reset of agenda

of environment concerns.FM UNIVERSITY VC

PROF MADHUMITA DAS inher lecture highlighted impactof climate change on biodiver-sity.

Director, National insti-tute of Immunology, NewDelhi, Dr Amulya KumarPanda in his lecture said bio-diversity of Odisha is rich andcited some examples of mush-rooms of forests which aresource of anti-cancer drugs, Kiaflower (Pandanus species)source of costliest perfume ofthe world.

Noted environmentalistfrom Hyderabad Prof KPuroshothom Reddy discussed

about environment movementin the world and interventionof United Nations in theMillennium DevelopmentGoals and the the recentSustainable DevelopmentGoals (SDGs).

The national level webinarwas attended by faculty mem-bers, research scholars, stu-dents and academicians fromOdisha and other parts of thecountry.

Prof SK Palita, convener ofthe seminar, gave the welcomeaddress, and coordinated theproceedings. Dr KakoliBanerjee introduced the guests,while Dr Debabrata Pandagave vote of thanks.

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� �����������������!����������"����# SUNDARGARH: Sadar BJPMLA Kusum Tete has urgedthe Odisha Lokayukta to ordera high-level probe into misap-propriation of funds by theIntegrated Tribal DevelopmentAgency (ITDA), Sundargarh.

MLA Tete in her letter toJustice Lokayukta ChairmanAjit Sing has said that it is amatter of grave concern thatdespite the implementation of5T and zero tolerance on cor-ruption, there has been mis-appropriation of Governmentfunds by the ITDA,Sundargarh.

Tete in her letter allegedmisappropriation of funds inconstruction of boundary wallof Bhalugarh School, asbestosfixing in the hostel ofLankahuda Primary School,

boundary wallof SalangabudP r i m a r ySchool, depart-mental work inK u n d u k e l aGirls HighSchool, Hostelof BhasmaP r i m a r ySchool whereno work wasdone but expenditures wereshown.

The letter said works wereexecuted in the same buildingduring three financial years i.e2017-18,2018-19 and 2019-20.These were done at EkalabyaModel School at Laing,Malidihi Girls High School,Jampali Girls High School andhostel of Kansbahal College.

The MLA’s letter gaveexamples of funds bunglingrelating to departmental exe-cution of work in manyschools, colleges and blocks.

Similarly in the name ofAdibasi Bajar Pindi, 92 marketplatforms were executed at acost of Rs 5 lakh each but actu-ally the cost should be Rs 3 lakheach. PNS

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Page 3: ˛ ˇˇ · doctors to isolate himself. “I had met Amit Shah ji day before in the evening. I am advised by doctors to confine myself, away from my family members, for the next few

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Even as online classes havebeen inevitable for students

in view of the Covid 19 pan-demic, the mobile network isstill a distant dream in manyparts of rural areas in the Statemuch to the agony of learners.

In many parts, students arenow facing difficulties inattending online classes, beingimparted by their respectiveinstitutions, due to poor net-work.

Such a scenario was foundat Kandhakhilum village underRayagada block where schooland college students are scalinga mountain for online classes.

According to reports, over30 students, who are enrolledin various schools and collegesat Rayagada walk about 5 kmeveryday to Pitamahal area toattend online classes due tounavailability of mobile net-work at Kandhakhilum vil-lage.

The students also face fluc-tuation issue even after going

up the hills by crossing themuddy paths.

The villagers alleged thedistrict administration and theBSNL authorities of not payingheed to their repeated demandsfor setting up a mobile phone

tower in the village.The similar issue is also

being faced by many studentsin 25 villages of eight grampanchayats under Rayagadablock in the tribal dominated-district.

Source said as many as 271villages of the district have nomobile phone towers. Thisputs a question mark on‘Digital India’ programmelaunched by the Centre.

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The MerchantAssociation,

Padampur ofBargarh districtled by its presi-dent PratapMishra submitteda memorandumto the BargarhCollector throughthe Sub-Collectoron Fridaydemanding relax-ation of shutdownand lockdownrestrictions in thelocality.

In the memorandum, theysaid that the Central and StateGovernments have declaredshutdown and lockdown forlast four months as a result ofwhich many small and medi-um establishments have beenparalysed. The general publichas been facing many difficul-

ties as their livelihood hasbeen adversely affected.

Now the CentralGovernment has relaxed somerestrictions. In view of this, themerchant body requested theCollector to permit them toopen their shop and businessestablishment.

Among others,Nandakishor Agrawal,Rabinarayan Dora were pre-sent.

Padampur Sub-CollectorTanmaya Kumar Darwanreceived the memorandum andassured that he would put upthe demands before theCollector.

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MLAs of Sambalpur andRengali Jayanarayan

Mishra and Nauri Naik have demanded before theChief Minister for his inter-vention to convert the DistrictHeadquarters Hospital (DHH) to a general one likebefore where people will avail all medical facilities.

They also suggested con-verting JMM Hospital atBareipali inside town to convertit to a Covid hospital as the dis-trict administration has con-verted a part of it for the gen-eral patients.

“After my visit to JMMHospital today, I came to knowthat only a portion of the hos-pital has been converted to gen-eral hospital when only limit-ed but not all patients will gethealth care facilities. This isbecause of its space constrains.Hence, a reconsideration and

reconversion will be better forthe benefit of the poor patientswho depend on the DHHlocated in the heart of thetown for all purposes,” Mishrasaid.

It needs mention here thatafter public resentment andalso looking at the inconve-nience of the non-Covidpatients, the Collector,Sambalpur, has converted theJMJ Hospital in Bareipali to ageneral hospital for all kinds ofpatients. But MLAs Mishraand Naik alleged that onlyGynaecology and minorsurgery patients will get facil-ity from here and hence rest ofthe patients will suffer likebefore.

But a senior officer of theadministration said that thereare seven health centres insidethe SMC area. Hence there isno problem at present.Moreover, OPD at Burla isalso functioning as usual, headded.

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Today the whole world isunder a panic health crisis

created by the Corona viruswhich has led to a pandemicsituation since January andnobody, even scientists engageddeeply in research work toproduce medicines for its treat-ment, knows the duration ofthe crisis. And it is a temporarycrisis and may be it will againreappear through a new virus

as a result ofdestruction ofdeep forestsalong with itsrich biodiversitywhich is naturalshelter ofzoonotic viruses.

But the waythe nation-Statesin the worldtotally driven bythe capitalistglobal market

forces for profits are insensitiveto the need of a cool earth, itseems, a far bigger disaster isahead. Climate change willpose a threat not only to thehuman health but also to thewhole nature, human existenceas well as civilization.

The PM justifies the diver-sion of 41coal blocks for com-mercial mining though privateIndian and foreign conglom-erate of companies for ‘’AtmaNirvar Bharat’’ or self reliance

of India. But it is totally oppo-site to its thinking, action andconsequence. Because the sov-ereign State like India as demo-cratic, socialist and secular willbe resourceless after a shortperiod of time witnessing theashes of destructive develp-mental fires and ultimately(wethe people of India) can notclaim as a sovereign republic.

The lockdowns havebrought phenomenal changesin climate. Highly pollutedcities in the world have seenclean blue sky, return of migrat-ed birds, clean water in riversand free journey of beautifuldeer along with many suchflora and founa on the high-ways because of stoppage ofvehicles consuming fossil fueland a halt in chimneys ofindustries. Reduction of greenhouse gases and diminishingextractive industries is the onlyway to save the burning earth.The learning from Covid 19

lockdown is that less con-sumption is directly related topreventation of climate changewhich is an outcome of highconsumption by rich people,high resources exploitation byrich nations and opting for highlife style by middle class.

Last year 11,000 scientistsin a joint appeal to the heads ofnations had urged to reduceunnecessary wants and accord-ingly refrain from unmindfulmining and unending indus-trialisation which is responsi-ble for finishing non renewableresources and excess emissionof carbon dioxide. The pan-demic lockdown should betaken as an opportunity tobegin with to change the pre-sent economic system anddevelopmental paradigms tosustainable development forachieving minimum needs fordignity of life to everyone with-out concentrating of eithernatural resources or capital in

the hands of limited people orcorporates. But the CentralGovernment ’s new economicpackage already started to takeplace in name of economicrevival is a dangerous antithe-sis to mitigation or preventa-tion of climate change. It is alsofuel to the fire to destroy thelivelihood system of the mar-ginalised sections like tribals,Dalits, farmers and labour classwho need small-mediumindustries, food processing,renewable energy for which theprotection and conservationof land, forest and waterresources and its developmentare necessary with priority.This will open the gates formass employment in everyregion of the country.

The present auction of 41coal blocks will destroy lakhs ofacres of forest and agricultur-al land in Odisha, Chhatisgarh,Jharkhand, Madhya Pradeshand Maharastra. In Angul and

Jharsuguda districts 33,000acres of forest and agricultur-al land will be diverted and themining activities will polluteand create water scarcity inriver Brahmani which has beenalready vulnerable to industri-al and mining activities. InJharkhand there will be hugeloss of livelihood system oftribal communities. InMaharastra a tiger sanctuarywill be affected along withland of tribals. In MadhyaPradesh 11 coal blocks are to beauctioned where as the State issurplus of power generation.

In 2010, the Ministry ofEnviornment and Forest andClimate Change (MoEFCC)had notified 60,000 thousandhectares as ‘no go zones’ and‘inviolate area’ in forest areas ofthe country. It is a matter ofdeep concern that there are 11such restricted zones among 41coal blocks for destruction.Why this madness? Because

these are areas in favour of blueeyed corporate giants of theruling boss. All these auctionsof mines have been fixed ignor-ing the laws of the land.

In this covid period, theMOEFCC has cleared DibangValley Etalin hydropower pro-ject of 3,097 megawatts dam inArunanchal Pradesh’s Forestarea of 1,178 hectares which isnatural habitat of more than300 species of birds and mam-mals.

India is a signatory to ParisClimate Agreement 2015 onwhich we have to reduce fossilefuel up to 30-35 per cent till2030 and have to strive forgreen energy like solar andwind. The Secretary General ofthe UNO Antonio Guterres hassaid that the Governmentsshouldn't open new coal minesin lockdown and they shouldgo for solar and wind energyproduction as to maintainquiteness of present atmos-

phere. The UNO environmen-tal chief Ingar Anderson alsosaid to keep the deep forestsuntouched to prevent virusestransfer to human livingregions. So far as electricitygeneration is concerned, Indiahas capacity of 4lakh MW toproduce but our maximumnational consumption in lastyear was below 3 lakh MW forwhich 33% plants have beenclosed for operation because oflow demand. For coming 20years the Indian Governmenthas responsibility to go forincreasing green energy with-out stepping into new thermalprojects. Given the situation, anatural forest of nine lakh saaltrees in Dangalpada ofKeonjhar district which is set tobe destroyed for mining mustbe left untouched.

(The writer is president,Lokshakti Abhijan. [email protected])

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The Central Government ina most dubious manner is

taking the advantage of Covid-19 pandemic situation forimplementing its hidden agen-da for privatisation of impor-tant public sector includingrailway, coal and defence, sus-pension of existing labourlaws, increasing daily workingfrom 8 hours to 12 hours, saidDr G Sanjeeva Reddy whileaddressing the INTUC 302Working Committee virtualmeeting on Friday.

While giving details aboutthe present situation, Dr Reddyemphasized on trade unionunity and appealed to theworking class to join August 9CTUC joint agitational pro-gramme to support coal strike.

Vice president INTUC, DrRC Khuntia while addressingsaid that 14.5 crore MGNREA

workers, 5 crore constructionworkers, 13.9 crore migrantlabourers, 2.5 crore interna-tional migrant labourers, con-tract labourers, vendors, shopkeepers and 12 crore workerswho are working in small andmedium scale industries havelost their wage or job for lock-down, shutdown demonetiza-tion and GST. But theGovernment has failed to givefinancial package to workers ofRs 7,500 per month.

The Government shouldgive compensation to thosemigrant workers who have lost

their life in train and bus acci-dents while returning to theirnative places, he demanded.

Ragabeya, Ashok Singh, KChandra Sekhar, ChandraPrakash Singh, Sanjaya Singh,former Minister Paban SinghGhatuwar, KK.Nair, K Raju,Hirarn Vora, Sanjaya Gabaand Rakeshwar Pandey spoke.

The INTUC WorkingCommittee unanimouslyresolved to support on August9 agitation programme andthe coal industrial strike onAugust 18.

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Corona virus continues tobring unending miseries

and one arguably cannot findbetter example than a family inGanjam which lost three mem-bers due to medical negli-gence.

There is hardly any chanceleft for the State Governmentand the district administrationincluding a band of seniorbureaucrats monitoring thehealthcare needs of Coronaaffected patients in Ganjam toescape, as the manifold lapsesare being noticed every day atTata’s so super specialty Covid-19 hospital located atSithalapalli on the outskirts ofthe silk city. A number ofvideos currently which havebeen circulated in varioussocial networking platformsreveal the ground realitiesattracting public anger.

Rights activist cum BJPleader Srikanta Padhi has

recently moved the NHRCseeking legal action againstAdditional Chief SecretaryPradip Mahapatra, the DistrictMagistrat-cum- Collector ofGanjam, CDMO and theSuperintendent of SithalapalliCovid-19 Hospital for theirreported negligence in pro-viding proper healthcare ser-vices to Corona patients thatclaim valuable lives of theentire family of AnuradhaPanigrahi, an adhoc teacher ofDigapahandi, the complaintpointed out.

Shockingly, Anuradha losther husband E Jitendra Patra,father in law E Krushna Patraand mother in law E JanakiPatra. Padhi also made anappeal to the Governor ofOdisha for an impartial probeinto the case and also manymore such cases noticed inGanjam due to sheer medicalnegligence of the Covid hospi-tal and to bring the culprits tbook.

The complaint notably

alleged that, Anuradha’s fami-ly members while under treat-ment in the Covid hospital nei-ther got beds, nor were thereany doctors, nurse or health-care professional to attendthem all the time. There wasnone to give attention to themnor were they given medicinesand vitamins in time and therewas lack of ventilators andoxygen.

Anuradha alleged that theday her husband died, oxygenwas over and water was com-ing out of it. As a result, herhusband faced immense chestpain and fell down from thebed and the hospital did notallow Ganjam patients to

Bhubaneswar. The patient wasforced to die, Padhi in hiscomplaint wrote.

Anuradha’s father-in-lawKrushna Chandra, an engi-neer by profession, mother-in-law Janaki and husbandJitendra-all had tested positiveand were admitted to hospitalat Sitalapalli. The misery of theincident is that, Janaki becamethe first victim and succumbedto the virus on July 15 whileundergoing treatment. Fivedays later, Krushna Chandraalso passed away while his sonbreathed his last the sameevening. Padhi demanded ade-quate compensation for nextkin of the deceased.

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Afarmer committed suicideby hanging himself over

loan burden at Rajualibindhavillage under the BhadrakRural police limits late onFriday night.

The deceased was identi-fied as Mahendra Das.

Reports said Das had bor-rowed Rs 50,000 from four

moneylenders of the locality.Due to the Covid-19 lock-down, his source of income gotseverely affected and hebecame unable to pay back theloan. He was under stress.

He was found hanging inhis house at about 2.30 am.

Police have sent the bodyfor postmortem and initiatedan investigation.

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The members of theBandhbahal Maa

Samleswari Truck Owners’Association have expresseddispleasure anticipating dis-ruption of coal transportationby trucks in MCL's Ib Valley,Lakhanpur and Orient Area.

Hundreds of truck ownersgathered at BandhbahalBOCM Chowk. For years 5,000truck owners have been main-taining their livelihood throughroadsale coal transportationwith the cooperation of the dis-trict administration and MCLmanagement.

But since last few weeks,irregularities are seen in road-sale coal transport. No facility

for coal loading is given inspiteof thousands of trucks strand-ed on the road. Maximum 4 to5 trips per month is given forcoal transport. As a result, thetruck owners are facing hard-ships to manage monthly vehi-cle premium, staff salary, fuelcharge etc. Hence, the familymembers of the truck ownersdepending on their incomeare now passing days together.

The truck owners hadalready ventilated their griev-ances before the MCL man-agement and local peoples rep-resentatives to get a permanentsolution of the problem. Forthe last so many years,a total of30 per cent auction coal wastransported through trucks tothe local industries while nowthe MCL management are try-

ing to transport coal throughrail.

During last 4 months also,auction coal is being trans-ported to the industries byrailway thus leaving 50,000families of truck owners andtheir workers almost jobless.Now, MCL is trying to changethe existing guidelines forwhich thousands of families arebeing deprived of their dailylivelihood, they alleged.

Jharsuguda Collector SarojKumar Samal said that a deci-sion will be taken in the mat-ter soon. Likewise Bargarh MPSuresh Pujari assured that he isin touch with both MCL man-agement and district adminis-tration and the matter will bedecided in a meeting soon.

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ATHAGARH: One SubaReddy from Andhra Pradesh,who for the last ten years isengaged in a muri factory inBanki town, on Sunday went tothe Mahanadi near the Sunadeihill with three of his kids forbathing where due to beingunaware of the water level thelegs of his nine-year-old daugh-ter slept in the stream.

When she shouted for help,Reddy’s son (6) and daughter(12) tried to rescue her butfailed to do so and were them-selves swept away. When all thethree cried, some fishermenrushed to the spot and fishedout Reddy’s son and one of thedaughters. The elder daughterremained missing for twohours before her body wasrecovered by the fire brigadepersonnel after a search oper-ation.

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Page 4: ˛ ˇˇ · doctors to isolate himself. “I had met Amit Shah ji day before in the evening. I am advised by doctors to confine myself, away from my family members, for the next few

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International passengersseeking exemption from

mandatory seven-day institu-tional quarantine in India willhave to submit a negative RT-PCR test upon arrival whichshould have been conductedwithin 96 hours prior toundertaking the journey.

The passenger will alsohave to submit a declarationwith respect to authenticity ofthe report and if found other-wise will be liable for “crimi-nal prosecution” as per theGovernment’s revised guide-lines issued on Sunday.

Those travelers in situa-tions of distress like death,serious illness, pregnancy or toparents with children under10-years of age, have also beenexempted from the mandato-ry institutional quarantine.

These people citing thecompelling reasons will needto undergo 14 days of homequarantine instead. However,they will be eligible for avail-ing this exemption only ifthey apply 72 hours beforeboarding the aircraft on theonline portal—www.newdel-hiairport.in, the Health

Ministry clarified.“Only for compelling rea-

sons/ cases of human distresssuch as pregnancy, death infamily, serious illness and par-ent(s) with children of the ageof 10 years or below, homequarantine may be permittedfor 14 days,” as per the guide-lines.

“At the time of boardingthe flight/ ship, only asymp-tomatic travelers will beallowed to board after thermalscreening while suitable pre-cautionary measures such asenvironmental sanitation anddisinfection shall be ensured atthe airports.

“On arrival, de-boardingshould be done ensuring socialdistancing and thermal screening would be carried outin respect of all the passengersby the health officials presentat the airport/ seaport/Iandport, the guidelines pointout.

Also, the passengers foundto be symptomatic duringscreening shall be immediate-ly isolated and taken to med-ical facility as per health pro-tocol.

Post thermal screening,the passengers who have been

exempted from institutional quarantine (deci-sion as indicated on the onlineportal in advance) will showthe same to the respective

State Counters on their cellphones/other mode beforebeing allowed home quaran-tine for 14 days.

These passengers shall be

kept under institutional quar-antine for a minimum periodof 7 days after which they shallbe tested as per ICMR proto-col, said the guidelines.

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The Union Health Ministryhas asked all the States

and Union Territories to allowhospitalised Covid-19 patientsto use smartphones and tabletdevices to help them interactwith their kin through video-conferencing, which wouldease their mental stress.

Though mobile phones areallowed in hospital wards, themissive was issued followingsome representation from thekin of patients alleging other-wise. States like Uttar Pradeshand West Bengal too had ini-tially banned the phones in thehospitals but later on withdrewtheir order following protestsfrom the families.

Director General of HealthServices (DGHS) in the HealthMinistry Dr Rajiv Garg in theletter to the principal secre-taries of health and medicaleducation of states and Unionterritories said appropriateprotocols for disinfectingdevices and allotting time slotscan be developed by the hos-pital concerned to facilitatecontact between patients andtheir family.

He underlined that admin-istrative and medical teamsshould be responsive to thepsychological needs of patientsadmitted in COVID-19 wardsand ICUs of various hospitals.

“Social connection cancalm down patients and alsoreinforce the psychologicalsupport given by the treatingteam. Please instruct all con-cerned that they should allowsmartphones and tabletdevices in the inpatient areaso that the patient can videoconference with their familyand friends,” as per the letter.

“Though mobile phonesare allowed in the wards toenable a patient stay in touchwith his or her family, wereceived representations from

the patient families fromsome states stating mobilephones are not being allowedby hospital administrationsbecause of which they werenot being able to stay in con-tact with the patient,” said DrGarg.

Dr Smita Deshpande,senior psychiatrist and con-sultant at RML Hospital,Delhi welcomed the movesaying,” It is important for thepatients staying alone in thequarantine to keep talkingand sharing with their fami-ly members and friends howthey feel and what they aregoing through. Interactionwith their family membersand friends will help themrecover well.”

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With more and more peo-ple seeking information

about financial difficulties anddisaster relief during theCovid-19 outbreak which hasbrought the world economy toalmost standstill, researchershave sounded the alarm bellswarning that the trend predictsa ‘suicide pandemic’.

Researchers at ColumbiaUniversity Irving MedicalCenter found dramatic relativeincreases (in the thousands ofpercentages, in some cases) inGoogling search terms relatedto financial distress — e.g., “Ilost my job,” “unemployment,”and “furlough” — and for thenational Disaster DistressHelpline.

“The scale of the increasein Google searches related tofinancial distress and disasterrelief during the early monthsof the pandemic was remark-able, so this finding is con-cerning,” said Madelyn Gould,Professor of Epidemiology inPsychiatry at ColumbiaUniversity Vagelos College ofPhysicians and Surgeons andsenior author of the study.

Because previous researchhas shown that financial dis-tress is strongly linked to sui-cide mortality, the researchersfear that the increase may pre-dict a future increase in deathsfrom suicide.

The findings have beenpublished online in PLOS One.

Researchers in the UnitedStates and elsewhere havebegun studying the effects ofthe Covid-19 pandemic onmental health, but the impacton suicidal behavior anddeaths is difficult to assessdue to lag time in the avail-ability of mortality data.

Previous studies suggestthat suicide rates often decreasein the immediate aftermath ofnational disasters, such as 9/11,but may increase severalmonths later, as seen after the1918 flu pandemic and the2003 SARS outbreak in HongKong.

The researchers used analgorithm to analyse Googletrends data from March 3,2019, to April 18, 2020, andidentify proportional changesover time in searches for 18terms related to suicide andknown suicide risk factors.

“We didn’t have a clearhypothesis about whether therewould be an increase in sui-cide-related queries duringthis period of time, but weanticipated a national sense ofcommunity during the pan-demic that might mitigate sui-cidal behavior in the shortterm,” says Emily Halford, dataanalyst and the study’s firstauthor.

The proportion of queriesrelated to depression was

slightly higher than the pre-pandemic period, and moder-ately higher for panic attack.

“It seems as though indi-viduals are grappling with theimmediate stresses of job lossand isolation and are reachingout to crisis services for help,but the impact on suicidalbehavior hasn’t yet manifested,”says Gould. “Generally, depres-sion can take longer to devel-op, whereas panic attacks maybe a more immediate reactionto job loss and having to dealwith emotionally chargedevents amidst the social isola-tion of the pandemic.”

Searches for terms relatedto loneliness were also mean-ingfully higher during the earlypandemic period versus theprior year.

Gould adds that social dis-tancing is one of the primarymeasures implemented to slowthe spread of the coronavirus,“but this approach may havedetrimental secondary effects,such as loneliness and exacer-bation of preexisting mental ill-nesses, which are known sui-cide risk factors.”

The researchers said that inlight of an anticipated increasein suicidal crises, it will beimportant to ensure continuedavailability and accessibility ofcrisis services and other men-tal health services during thelater stages of the pandemic.

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The India MeteorologicalDepartment (IMD) is

planning to use artificial intel-ligence in weather forecasting,especially for issuing now-casts, which can help improve3-6 hours prediction ofextreme weather events. TheIMD has invited researchgroups who can study howartificial intelligence (AI) beused for improving weatherforecasting and the Ministry ofEarth Sciences is evaluatingtheir proposals. According toIMD Director GeneralMrutunjay Mohapatra, the useof artificial intelligence andmachine learning is not asprevalent as it is in other fields

and it is relatively new in thearea of weather forecasting.

Mohapatra said the IMD isalso planning to do collabora-tive studies on this with otherinstitutions. The IMD uses dif-ferent tools like radars, satelliteimagery, to issue nowcasts,which give information onextreme weather events occur-ring in the next 3-6 hours. TheIMD issues forecasts forextreme weather events likethunderstorms, dust storms.Unlike cyclones, predictionsof thunderstorms, which alsobring lightning, squall andheavy rains, are more difficultas the extreme weather eventsdevelop and dissipate in a veryshort period of time.

Last month, over 160 peo-

ple died due to lightning alonein Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. TheIMD wants to better the now-cast predictions through AIand machine learning.“Artificial intelligence helps in

understanding past weathermodels and this can makedecision-making faster,”Mohapatra said.

The National Oceanic andAtmospheric Administration

(NOAA) of the US announcednew strategies this year toexpand the agency’s applicationof four emerging science andtechnology focus areas —NOAA Unmanned Systems,artificial intelligence, Omics,and the cloud -- to guide trans-formative advancements in thequality and timeliness ofNOAA science, products andservices.

Omics is a suite ofadvanced methods used toanalyse material such as DNA,RNA, or proteins. With regardsto AI, it said the overarchinggoal of the NOAA ArtificialIntelligence (AI) Strategy is toutilise AI to advance NOAA’srequirements-driven missionpriorities. The NOAA said

through this, it seeks to reducethe cost of data processing, and

provide higher quality andmore timely scientific products

and services for societal bene-fits.

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Undeterredby the

Corona scare,the civil ser-vants of thecountry haveplanned thefirst ever ‘vir-tual’ sportscompet it ionbeginning withcarrom next week. The onlinecarrom competition, to be heldfor both the men and womenGovernment employees, isbeing organised by the CentralCivil Services Cultural andSports Board on the FacebookOnline Platform.

The Government as per theDepartment of PersonnelTraining (DoPT) has alreadyimplemented work from homeCOVID rules and is conduct-ing online meetings besideswebinars where even UnionMinisters have been partici-pants.

In a letter to the ChiefSecretaries of the States’ andUTs, CCSCSB SecretaryKulbhushan Malhotra said theStates/UTs and Regional SportsBoard are requested to consid-er sending names of the par-ticipants for the FacebookGroup CCSCSB OnlineCarrom Challenge 2020 sched-uled from August 10 to August15.

The circular also says theparticipants should have AICF-approved Carrom Board,

Carrom Men (CM) Set, LampShade, Strikers besides aFacebook profile and all nec-essary equipments such asmobile, camera and signifi-cantly, an internet connectionto allow the live performancelikely to be witnessed by thou-sands who will be able to watchthe virtual competition.

“We are confident aboutthe event’s success. Other com-petitions will follow thereafterfollowing similar SOP,” said anoffice bearer of CCSCSB.

The organisers have askedthe players to fix the camera infront of them in such a positionthat the entire carrom board isvisible during the live perfor-mance.

“For better visibility all theplayers are required to place awhite sheet on the frame forkeeping CM as indicator ofmissed chances. The missedchance CM shall be placed onthe white background onlyand in the order of missingstarting from player’s side toupward side of the frame,” saidthe circular.

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The Central Association ofPrivate Security Industry

(CAPSI) has written to PrimeMinister Narendra Modi, say-ing private security servicesshould be exempted from pay-ing service tax.

In a letter to the PrimeMinister on July 29, CAPSIChairman Kunwar VikramSingh said in order to “creategoodwill among its citizenspost Covid, the private securi-ty services should be declaredtax free as majority of such ser-vices are now being availed by

lakhs of resident welfare asso-ciations (RWAs) and small andmedium enterprises (SMEs)”.

If the private security indus-try is exempted from service taxpayment, consumers of the pri-vate security services will behugely benefited as such serviceswill become more affordable, headded. Singh is of the view thatit is the basic and fundamentalduty of the Government toensure that every citizen of thecountry feels safe and secure byproviding adequate internalsecurity infrastructure.

The Government createdpolice and paramilitary forces torespond to the security and safe-

ty situation for its citizens anddoes not send invoices to peo-ple for availing such serviceswhich are provided to ensuresafe living for all, he pointed out,he wrote in the letter.

This need is felt by them asthey don’t feel secure due to var-ious prevailing factors that cre-ate a fear psychosis amongthem that force them to buy pri-vate security for a cost, accord-ing to the letter.

The circumstances aroseout of the factor that the gov-ernment’s internal securityinfrastructure is not adequate togrant the right to security to cit-izens, it said.

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The National InvestigationAgency (NIA) on Sunday

conducted searches at theresidential premises of DelhiUniversity professor HanyBabu Musal iyar veett i lTharayil at Noida (GautamBuddha Nagar, Uttar Pradesh)in connection with the inves-tigation of Bhima KoregaonElgar Parishad Case.

he case relates to organi-sation of Elgar Parishad atPune, Maharashtra onDecember 31, 2017 whichpromoted enmity betweenvarious caste groups and ledto violence resulting in loss oflife and property and state-wide agitation inMaharashtra.

“ The investigationrevealed that the ElgarParishad along with Maoistleaders used the incident tospread the ideolog y ofMaoism/Naxalism andencourage unlawful activitieson the instructions of theleaders of CPI (Maoist), abanned organisation,” theNIA said in a statement.

Accused Hany Babu M.T., son of Kunhu Mohammad,was found to be a co-conspirator along withother accused persons prop-agating Naxal activities andMaoist ideology, and wasarrested on July 28.

The NIA investigationfurther revealed that accusedHany Babu was in contactwith Paikhomba Meitei,Secretary Information &Publicity, Military Affairs,Kangkeipak Communist

Party (MC), an organisation banned underUnlawful Activit ies(Prevention) Act.

“An inter view ofGanapathy, General Secretaryof CPI (Maoist) was shared by

Paikhomba Meitei with theaccused Hany Babu.Communications of HanyBabu with other Maoists ofManipur have also beenretrieved,” the NIA furthersaid.

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The Congress on Sunday saidthe National Education

Policy (NEP) was “‘high oncatchwords, gloss, appearanceand verbosity”, but lacked clar-ity on key issues like roadmapand strategy, and did not detailthe scale of finances required toexecute it.

Addressing a Press confer-ence, former HRD MinisterMM Pallam Raju said the poli-cy not only comes at a time ofthe coronavirus pandemic, butalso circumvents parliamentaryoversight indicating that it couldraise the issue in the next session.

Some of the key concernsraised by Congress include lack

of transparency in consulta-tions, record of the union gov-ernment’s public spending oneducation, pushing digital dividefor the less privileged and impacton socially disadvantagedgroups.

“The timing of the NEP2020 in the middle of theCorona pandemic when all edu-cational institutions are closed is,in itself, questionable,” said Rajujoined by Congress chiefspokesman Randeep Surjewalaand Rajya Sabha MP RajeevGowda.

“On a policy that impactsand affects our present andfuture generations, even parlia-mentary oversight has been cir-cumvented. Contrast this with

the rigorous parliamentary andwidespread consultation thatpreceded the Right to EducationAct,” Raju said ahead of theMonsoon session of theParliament nearing.

“There is thus a huge mis-match between promise anddelivery with no clarity onwhether NEP 2020 proposesfinancing of 6% of GDP tocome from public funds or pri-vate investment,” the grand oldparty said in a statement.

“What about affirmativeaction. India over 70 years hasput in a huge amount of effortto be inclusive and take care ofthe disadvantaged groups interms of education and relatedjob opportunities.

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The India MeteorologicalDepartment (IMD) on

Sunday issued yellow andorange alert for several dis-tricts in Kerala for the nextfour days (Monday onwards).The districts of Alappuzha,Kottayam, Ernakulam,Idukki, Thrissur,Malappuram, Kozhikode,

Wayanad, Kannur andKasaragod are among otherdistricts where the IMD hasissued yellow alert. On somedays, an orange alert has beenissued in these districts.

The IMD website alsoindicates the formation of alow-pressure area over northBay of Bengal towards thelater part of the first week ofAugust and says it’s likely to

intensify over northwest Bayof Bengal off Odisha coast atthe end of the first week.

The Orange warning indi-cates heavy to very heavyrainfall, while yellow warningindicates moderate rain isexpected. The Red alert is themost serious kind of weatherwarning which indicates theweather is likely to causedamage.

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The NIA on Sunday con-ducted searches at six

places in Kerala in connectionwith the Kerala GoldSmuggling case and recoveredone Tablet PC, eight mobilephones, six SIM cards, one dig-ital video recorder and fiveDVDs besides bank passbooks,credit/debit cards and trav-el/identity documents. A PFI-linked accused has also beenarrested in the case.

The agency has so fararrested 10 accused persons inthe case including six duringthe last week whose premiseswere searched during the day.

On Saturday, the NIAarrested two accused persons,Muhammad Ali Ebrahim andMuhammad Ali, both resi-dents of Muvattupuzha,Ernakulam district, Kerala,after investigation revealedthat they were also a part of theconspiracy besides aiding and assisting arrestedaccused Jalal A. M. in collect-ing the smuggled gold fromRamees K. T. atThiruvananthapuram and dis-

tributing the contrabandamongst other conspirators,the NIA saud in a statement.

“Muhammad Ali is amember of the Popular Frontof India and was earlier charge-sheeted by Kerala Police inProfessor’s Palm ChoppingCase but got acquitted aftertrial in 2015,” the agency said.

On Friday, two accused,Mohammed Shafi P. resident ofAyikkarapadi, Malappuramdistrict and Abdu P. T. ofKottakkal, Malappuram dis-trict of the State were arrestedfor playing similar roles in thecrime.

On July 30, the agencyarrested two accused— Jalal A.M., resident of Muvattupuzha,Ernakulam district, Kerala andSaid Alavi E. Alias Bawa ofVegara, Malappuram district ofthe State for conspiring withalready arrested accusedRamees K. T. and for smug-gling gold through diplomat-ic baggage addressed to theUAE Consulate atThiruvananthapuram, it said.

Further investigation inthe case is continuing, theagency added.

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Page 5: ˛ ˇˇ · doctors to isolate himself. “I had met Amit Shah ji day before in the evening. I am advised by doctors to confine myself, away from my family members, for the next few

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98 persons died and 5,875new patients were diag-

nosed with Covid-19 duringthe last 24 hours that ended onSunday evening in Tamil Nadu.The day also saw the FirstCitizen of the State too gettinginfected with the pandemic.Governor Banwarilal Purohitwas tested positive for covid-19at a corporate hospital inChennai.

A bulletin issued by thehospital on Sunday said theGovernor has been advised

home isolation and would bemonitored by the medical teamof the hospital.

As on Sunday evening,there were 56, 998 Covid-19patients in Tamil Nadu. Tilldate 2.57 lakh persons havebeen tested positive in theState while 1.96 lakh has been

discharged following recoveryfrom the pandemic.

The only positive newsfrom the State was the fall inthe number of new patients inChennai. The Metropoliswhich was the epicentre of thepandemic during the last twomonths with the highest num-ber of persons testing positiveexperienced a fall in new cases.On Sunday, 1,065 persons test-ed positive in Chennai whilethe situation in the three neigh-bouring districts of Chengalpet(446), Kancheepuram ( 393)and Thiruvallur (317) remain-ing critical.

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Number of persons diagnosed with Covid-19reached new high in Kerala as 1,169 persons

tested positive on Sunday. Though there were reports that four persons

died in different parts of the State, the releaseissued by the Government of Kerala on Sunday evening said only one person has suc-cumbed to the pandemic. With the death of oneperson on Sunday, the State’s fatality toll reached82.

The speed with which Covid-19 is spreadingall over Kerala indicates that things are going outof control in the State.

Out of the 1,169 persons tested positive onSunday, 991 contracted the pandemic throughlocal transmission. The total number of personstested positive on Sunday included 43 expatriateswhile 95 were those from other parts of the coun-try.

The capital city of Thiruvananthapuram con-tinued to be the epicentre of coronavirus.

There are 377 new covid patients in the dis-trict out of which 363 developed the pandemicthrough contacts. The cosmopolitan district ofErnakulam had 128 patients out of which 121 wereinfected through local transmission.

By Sunday evening, 11,342 persons have beenadmitted to hospitals with Covid-19 and there were497 hotspots in the State. By Sunday, all 14 dis-tricts in the State have come under the grip of coro-navirus.

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If the views expressed by someof the political parties in

Tamil Nadu and students andparents are any indication, theDravidian parties may get iso-lated in their stance viz-a-vizHindi and Sanskrit.

The DMK and its offshootsthe MDMK and the DK havecome out in the open lambast-ing the new National EducationPolicy announced by theCentre. M K Stalin, president,DMK, declared that Hindi andSanskrit were not welcome inTamil Nadu and his partywould not allow to disturb thetwo-language system adoptedby the State.

Tamil Nadu is the onlyState in the country whichdoes not have JawaharNavodaya Vidyalays, the con-cept public school introducedby former Prime Minister RajivGandhi as part of hisGovernment’s New NationalEducation Policy in 1987. Allremaining States in the countryboast of each NavodayaVidyalaya in each districts.These schools offer qualityeducation at unbelievable ratesof fee and charge nothing forboarding and lodging.

Though the Madras HighCourt issued a directive to theTamil Nadu Government toprovide land and infrastructurein the State so that the Centrecould launch Navodaya

Vidyalayas, the AIADMKGovernment challenged theorder in Supreme Court andmanaged to get a stay on theverdict.

“The politicians are forget-ting the fact that there exists avast country outside TamilNadu. The Dravidians are vio-lating fundamental rights of thechildren in Tamil Nadu to learnadditional languages,” saidVijayashree Ramesh, a lawyer -turned-activist questioning thelegality of the Dravidian partiesto oppose the NationalEducation Policy. She said evenwhile the DMK opposed teach-ing Hindi and Sanskrit in StateGovernment schools, the edu-cational institutions owned bythe DMK leaders and their

relations taught Hindi andSanskrit charging exorbitantfees.

Devika, a Plus Two studentin Chennai, said that it was onlyif one had knowledge in Hindione could move to North Indiafor higher learning and employ-ment. “There were instances ofsome post graduate studentsfrom Tamil Nadu studying inNorth India committing sui-cides because of their failure tocomprehend Hindi,” she point-ed out.

Interestingly, PuthiyaTamilakam founder DrKrishnasamy and Tamil ManilaCongress leader and formerunion minister G KVasan wel-comed the NEP terming it pro-gressive and students friendly.

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AUnion Minister hasdemanded the resignation

of Kerala Chief Minister PinarayiVijayan for his association withpersons involved in gold smug-gling and anti-national activities.

“Pinarayi Vijayan has pro-vided his office as a haven forgold smugglers and anti-nation-al elements. His principal sec-retary (since removed) MSivsankar was helping goldsmugglers and was friendly withpeople of questionable charac-ters. The Chief Minister gave

tacit support to Sivsankar toappoint a school drop-out to animportant position,” chargedUnion Minister of State forExternal Affairs VMuraleedharan while addressinga meeting held at New Delhi onSunday.

Muraleedharan observed aday’s fast demanding Vijayan’sresignation as part of BJP’s State-wide agitation in Kerala. He alsocharged that Vijayan’s familymembers too were engaged inquestionable deeds and howcan he keep away people likeSivsankar who were helping

them.The Kerala Government led

by Pinarayi Vijayan has comeunder the scanner for its asso-ciation with the three kingpinsof gold smuggling racket,Swapna Suresh, Sarith P S andSandeep Nair who have beenarrested by the NationalInvestigation Agency (NIA). “KT Jaleel, a Minister in Vijayan’s council of Ministers,has violated all Constitutionalproprieties and laws of the landby accepting gifts and help fromthe UAE Consulate inThiruvananthapuram.

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It is rare to see astrologers inSouth India agreeing on an

issue, especially when it comes tofix the Muhurtha (auspicioushour) for events like weddings,naming ceremony and even on theideal time to consecratetemples.

But two prominentSanskrit/Vedic scholars of SouthIndia are unanimous in theirastrological forecast that the SreeRam Temple to be built up atAyodhya would change the face ofthe city as well as the State. Thefoundation stone for the temple isbeing laid on August 5 between 12pm and 12 40 pm in the presenceof Prime Minister Narendra Modi

and other Hindu Sants. The SouthIndian astrologers' forecast comesat a time when in the backdrop ofdoubts raised by some of the lead-ing Hindu sants

Parappanangadi UnnikrishnaPanicker, Sanskrit and astrologi-cal scholar of repute who is a reg-ular columnist in national news-papers is of the view that the date,day and time chosen for the func-tion could be rated as excellent. “Itis Wednesday, the 14th day in themonths of Shravan. According toSasthra (science), at 12.15 pm itwould be 16 Ghatis and 49Vighatis (astrological time) aftersunrise in Ayodhya.

Each Muhoortha lasts for 16Ghatis (24 minutes). At 12 15 pmit would be Virinca Muhoortha.

The Lord of Virinca Muhoortha is Brahma, the Lord ofCreation. “Week, Star, Thithi,Yoga and Karana (all astrologicalfactors ) are good at thisMuhoortha. This will alleviate alldisorders and defects. TheMuhurtha ascendant is Tula. Thisis also great. Mercury which rep-resents Lord Sri Rama is also in amost favorable position at thisMuhoortha,” explained Panicker.

Panicker, addressed as Guruji,by Marxists, Congressmen andrationalists Dravidians alike, is ofthe view that the temple wouldbring prosperity and richness tothe city of Ayodhya. “Thiswould also be of great and auspi-cious for the country and the

rulers,” he said.Pandhappili Gopala Menon

and his son Prof M G Gireeshan,a physicist-turned-astrologer toowere of the view that the templetrust authorities could not haveselected a most ideal muhoorthamthan this.

“Lord Rama was born in themonth of Shravan, the Malayalamequivalent of Karkkataka, whenKerala experiences heavy down-pour. It is the month whenRamayana is recited non-stop inall Hindu homes in the State, atradition dating back to thousandsof years,” said Menon and ProfGireeshan, who is also known asKerala Edison because of thenumber of scientific inventions hehas made.

Bengaluru: People in Karnatakabreathed easy as the Sunday lock-down was lifted and the night cur-few withdrawn despite surge incoronavirus cases, according to anofficial, here on Sunday.

“As decided by the state gov-ernment on July 30 on the advice ofthe Union Ministry of HomeAffairs, the Sunday lockdown hasbeen lifted and the 9 p.m. to 5 a.m.night curfew withdrawn,” a statehome department official toldIANS.

Lockdown had been re-imposed on four Sundays since July5, and the 8 p.m. to 5 a.m night cur-few since July 1 to July 31 to con-tain the spread of coronavirus.

Though hotels, shops, markets,malls and parks re-opened, major-ity of people preferred to stay athome. It was evident from fewerpeople and less vehicular traffic incities and towns across the state.

“As festival holidays began onFriday for VaramahalakshmiVratam, Bakrid on Saturday andholiday on Sunday, most outstationpeople had left for their nativeplaces by Thursday night,” the offi-

cial said.But lockdown restrictions will

remain in containment zones andonly essential services and suppliesare exempted. “With more relax-ations of lockdown, gyms and yogainstitutes will reopen from August5,” said the official. Schools, colleges,theatres, bars, entertainment parks,

auditoriums, assembly halls andswimming pools will continue toremain shut till August 31.

“Ban on social, political, sports,entertainment, academic, cultural,religious functions and other largecongregations will also continue tillfurther orders,” the officialsaid. IANS

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KANPUR : The Uttar PradeshGovernment has decided torecommend a CBI inquiry intothe kidnapping and murder ofa lab technician in Kanpur,Additional Chief Secretary(Home), Awanish Awasthi, saidon Sunday. He said the recom-mendation is being made onthe demand of the family of the27-year-old technician S Yadav.

According to the police,five people, including a womanand two friends of Yadav, havebeen arrested in connectionwith the case.

Later, the lab technician'ssister, Ruchi, “After getting toknow from the police that aCBI probe has been recom-mended, we feel satisfied. Wehad demanded a probe by thecentral agency.”

The lab technician inKanpur was kidnapped in Juneand killed within a week ofbeing held captive. His familyhas claimed that ?30 lakh ran-som was paid for his release inthe presence of police, butpolice say that it was not true.

Eleven police personnel,including two senior officers,were suspended for laxity ininvestigation.

Kanpur SSP Dinesh KumarPrabhu had said a police probeconfirmed that Yadav was mur-dered by his abductors. He saidthat several suspects weredetained and grilled intensive-ly, and two of them confessedto the crime. Agencies

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Notwithstanding her differ-ences with the Union

Home Minister Bengal ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee onSunday wished Amit Shah wellsoon after he was hospitalisedtesting positive for the coronavirus.

Banerjee wrote, “heardabout the Union HomeMinister Shri @AmitShah Jibeing tested positive for

#COVID-19. Wishing him aspeedy recovery. My prayers arewith him and his family!”

At least three Bengal BJPleaders who recently met theHome Minister withdrew intoself-isolation soon after Shah’shospitalization, sources said.

“I met Amit Shah ji a fewdays ago and so I have isolatedmyself in a room in my house,”Union Minister Babul Supriyosaid adding “I have my old par-ents both of whom are morethan 80-years’-old and a smallchild so I cannot take any risk.”

Supriyo said he had con-sulted a senior cardiac special-ist who has asked him to

remain quarantined till histests were conducted. “It is tooearly and signs may not showso I am will have to wait for afew days… I will be tested onTuesday for the corona virus.”The Minister however said hewas not feeling any discomfortas of now.

Other two Bengal BJPleaders who have gone into selfisolation are Nisit Pramanik theCoochbehar MP and SoumitraKhan MP from Bishnupur,sources said.

Meanwhile, in a majordecision Bengal State HealthCommission a quasi judicialbody on Sunday issued a

mandatory advisory for thehospitals treating coronapatients.

Capping costs of coronatreatment the directed the hos-pitals not to charge more than�2,250 for testing for the virus.The Commission also directedthe hospitals not to chargemore than �1,000 per day forthe personal protective equip-ment, masks etc required forthe treatment givers.

Besides, the order alsofixed �50 as “corona protection’charges for outdoor patientsand �10 per km for collectingsamples from homes, sourcessaid.

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Some miscreants attacked Congress Lok Sabhaleader Adhir Chowdhury’s house at Behrampore

in Murshidabad district, police said.According to sources the attack took place in the

night intervening Saturday and Sunday when allegedgoons pelted stones at Chowdhury’s house breakingthe glass panes. The senior Congress leader escapedunhurt as he was not in the house during the time ofthe attack.

Sources also said that some suspected miscreantshave been caught in the CCTV camera moving sus-piciously around his house carrying gun during thetime of the attack. Senior State Congress leader ManojChakrabarty rushed to Chowdhury’s house soon after,sources said.

The police are investigating the incident.Chowdhury also a former Pradesh Congress presi-dent and a firebrand leader has been the five-time MPfrom Behrampore.

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Bengal Governor JagdeepDhankhar on Sunday launched a

fresh attack on the Mamata BanerjeeGovernment for refusing to shareinformation with the Raj Bhavan onvital issues.

In a series of tweets the Governoralleged that though it was the “rightand duty of Governor to seek infor-mation” the Government was hidingfacts about issues like “political vio-lence, Bengal Global BusinessSummit,” and alleged “corruption” in“Public Distribution System” and dis-tribution of relief to the victims ofsuper cyclone Amphan.

Curiously the Governor found aspontaneous support from an unlike-ly quarter, the Left Front whosesenior leaders said the Governor hadafter a long time made a validdemand and asked the Chief

Minister to “take up challenge andshare information.”

The Governor who has no lovelost with the State Governmentasked as to “why information is notprovided? What is there to hide?Government must clarify. For sake ofaccountability and transparency,responsibility be fixed on those …who defaulted in giving information.Opacity would breed scams andadd skeletons to cupboards.”

Wondering how the basic rightsunder the Right to Information Actwas violated the Governor said “fail-ure … to give information toGovernor reveals worrisome state ofRTI. I had earlier cautioned ChiefInformation Officer at low RTIapplicants - for fear of police knockand repression if they seek informa-tion. Sharing information is a deter-rent to corruption.”

The Left Front which is usually

skeptic about what they callGovernor’s “mock fight with ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee” imme-diately jumped into the fray saying“this is for the first time that he hasraised a genuine issue.”

CPI(M) legislator party leaderand its central committee memberSujan Chakrabarty said the LeftFront too had on several occasionsraised the issues in the StateAssembly mentioned by theGovernor but they were notanswered by the Government. “Weasked the state government to comeup with the information during theAssembly sessions. But our questionswere never answered,’’ Chakrabartya former MP said.

CPI(M)’s legal spearhead andRajya Sabha MP Bikash Bhattacharyasaid how “this is the first time theGovernor raised relevant issueswhich are related to common man…

now the Chief Minister must take upthis challenge and come out withinformation or else the people willhave no option but to call herGovernment a government ofthieves.”

Giving his reactions senior TMCleader Partho Chatterjee said theGovernor was behaving like a BJPcadre and faulted the Left for “show-ing their true colours.” He said“today’s statements by the Left lead-ers only prove our allegation that theCPI(M) was behind the BJP’s per-formance in the Lok Sabhaelections.”

Trinamool MP and senior coun-sel Kalyan Banerjee said that theGovernor should not cross the hisconstitutional limits while dealingwith the State Government even ashe said that the Governor was “theface of the BJP in Bengal alwaysspeaking like a BJP leader.”

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In the run up to the first anniver-sary of Abrogation of Article 370

and reorganisation of the erstwhileState of Jammu & Kashmir into twoUnion Territories the biggest worryremains providing job opportunitiesto the growing Army of unemployedyouth in the region.

In the absence of any major pri-vate investment coming its way inthe near future the majority ofunemployed youth are keenly wait-ing for the Government depart-ments to advertise their vacantposts and fill the vacancies.

In the second week of July thisyear, the Jammu & Kashmir ServicesSelection Board had advertised8575 Class IV posts forDistrict/Divisional/Union Territorycadre in various departments underthe provisions of the Jammu &

Kashmir Appointment to the Class-IV (Special Recruitment) Rules,2020.

So far a total number of 4,04,200Registrations have been done by thecandidates on JKSSB’s Online Portal,and 2,05,400 candidates have com-pleted their online application sub-mission process for Class IV poststill August 2.

Official sources said, an averagenumber of 47 unemployed youth areset to compete with each other forone single post of Class IV employ-ee as on date.

In addition to this, 46,100 appli-cations have been submitted onlinefor the post of Accounts Assistant.

Meanwhile, to attract freshinvestment in Jammu & Kashmir theGovernment had earlier decided tohold global Investors meet early thisyear but in the wake of Covid-19pandemic the plan was shelved.

The Government is now con-templating to organise the investorssummit early next year and hopingto revive its contacts with all thoseinvestors who had previously shownkeen interest in investing money inthe region.

Various Government depart-ments had also conducted roadshows and preliminary meetingsacross different states of India to woobig investors.

The Jammu & Kashmir gov-ernment had also identified 6,000acres of land across the Union ter-ritory for potential investors.

The land was identified in thedistricts of Samba and Kathua inJammu region, and Pulwama andAnantnag districts in the KashmirValley. Jammu & Kashmir TradePromotion Organisation was alsoconstituted as a nodal agency fororganising the investors meet.

Jammu: The total number of coronavirus positive cases in theUnion Territory of Jammu & Kashmir on Sunday rose to 21,416, with 444 new positive cases. A total number of 256 patientsrecovered while 8 patients died due to Covid -19 taking the tallyto 396.

According to the media bulletin, 206 fresh cases of coro-navirus were detected from Jammu division and 238 fromKashmir division.The highest number of 68 cases were report-ed from Udhampur and 65 from Jammu district whileSrinagar and Pulwama districts recorded 62 cases each. Outof 68 cases, 50 jawans of BSF tested positive late Saturday eveningin Udhampur. In Jammu, seven members of a family tested pos-itive from the Rehari area forcing the local authorities to strict-ly enforce lockdown guidelines in the area. Already several local-ities with corona positive cases have been declared as con-tainment zones by the district administration.

Out of 21.416 positive cases, 7893 are Active Positive, 13127have recovered and 396 have died; 28 in Jammu division and368 in Kashmir division. The Bulletin further said that out of6,54,117 test results available, 6,32,701 samples have been test-ed as negative till August 02, 2020. PNS

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Aday after a record 322 peo-ple succumbed to Covid-

19 in Maharashtra, the pan-demic claimed 260 lives, while9,509 people tested positive invarious parts of the state.

With fresh fatalities andinfections, the total number ofdeaths in the state mounted to15,576, while the total positivecases jumped to 4,41,228.

Of the total 260 deathsreported on Sunday, Puneaccounted for 51 deaths, fol-lowed by 49 deaths in Mumbaiand 48 deaths in Thane district

The deaths in Mumbai fellbelow 50-mark for the thirdtime in a week. With 49 newdeaths, the pandemic toll in thecity rose from 6,398 to 6447,while the number of infectedcases went up by 1105 to touch1,16,436.

In addition to 51 deaths inPune, 49 deaths in Mumbaiand 48 deaths in Thane district,there were 19 deaths in Palghar,12 in Solapur, 11 in Latur, 8 inNashik, 7 in Ahmednagar, 6each in Satara and Sangli, 5each in Raigad, Aurangabadand Akola, 4 in Dhule, 3 each

in Kolhapur, Amravati andWashim, 2 each in Jalgaon,Hingoli, Jalna, Osmanabad andNagpur and one death each inParbhani, Nanded, Yavatmal,Buldhana and Chandrapur.

Meanwhile, as many as9926 patients were dischargedfrom hospitals in the state afterfull recovery, taking the totalnumber of patients dischargedfrom various hospitals after fullrecovery since the second weekof March this year to 2,76, 809.The recovery rate rose to 62.74per cent.

The mortality rate in thestate is 3.53 per cent. The statehealth authorities pegged thenumber of “active cases” in the

state at 1,48,537. With 96,120 infected cases

and 2,674 deaths, Thane con-tinued to be the second-worsthit district in Maharashtra.

Pune, which has emergedas the third worst-affected dis-trict in terms of spread of thepandemic, has recorded 94,911infections and 2226 deaths tillnow.

Out of 22,55,701 samplessent to laboratories, 4,41,228have tested positive (19.56 percent) for COVID-19 untilSunday.

Currently, 9,25,269 peo-ple are in home quarantinewhile 37,944 people are ininstitutional quarantine.

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Over a century-old womanrecovered from Covid-19

within a week after she contract-ed the virus from an infected per-son in Karnataka's Chitradurga, adistrict doctor said on Sunday.

“Siddamma, who is about 100years old, recovered from theinfection and was discharged onSaturday from a Covid designatedhospital in the town where she was

admitted on July 27 and treated asan asymptomatic patient,” districthospital doctor Rangareddy toldIANS on phone.

Chitradurga is 205 km north-west of Bengaluru.

“Though a native ofBurujanahatti village in the district,Siddamma was living with her fam-ily in police quarters near thestate-run hospital in the town.

“Siddamma is said to be amother of 5 children, 17 grand chil-dren and 22 great grandchildren,”said Rangareddy.

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Page 6: ˛ ˇˇ · doctors to isolate himself. “I had met Amit Shah ji day before in the evening. I am advised by doctors to confine myself, away from my family members, for the next few

Edwin A Grosvenor (1845-1936), an American histori-an and author, who for someyears lived and taught inConstantinople — as Istanbul

was still called in the late 19th centu-ry — found that the Turks regardedAya Sofia (Hagia Sophia) with “prideof conquest than affection.” The exquis-ite cathedral was still functioning as amosque when Grosvenor wrote thehistory of the Ottoman capital in twovolumes, Constantinople (1895).Nevertheless, since the end of theCrimean War (1854-56), its groundfloor and the gallery were thrown opento the visitors for payment of a fee. TheChristian characteristics of the cathe-dral were so pronounced that “its struc-tural form has always resisted therequirements of Moslem ritual.”

The Turks, being conscious that“though the mosque is theirs, it is notof them”, had to import two distinctivesymbols connected with the pulpit. Thefirst was a pair of silken flags, “signif-icant of victory of Islam over its par-ent faiths, Judaism and Christianity.”Second, every Friday, when its Sheikh(Imam) climbed the steep pulpit stepsto preach, he held in his right hand anunsheathed sword, indicative of themanner in which the Hagia Sophia wasconquered. “So, would the Moslem for-get the long past of the church?” askedGrosvenor. “He cannot, for the flagsand sword are there” (Constantinople,Vol-II, Pg, 543)

It is speculative whether the flagsand sword would be reintroduced inHagia Sophia, which was recentlyreverted to a mosque. Turkey’sPresident Recep Tayyip Erdogan, how-ever, did not re-reclaim Hagia Sophiafor Islam in a manner reminiscent ofSultan Mehmed II in 1453 AD.Erdogan achieved his end through apresidential decree, published in theofficial gazette on July 10. He has, thus,clothed himself in the role of “GazetteGhazi.”

Mustafa Kemal Pasha, formerPresident of Turkey, was also known asa “Ghazi” (vanquisher of infidels) for14 long years before he adopted his lastname Ataturk in 1935. This title wasconferred upon him by the newTurkish National Assembly inSeptember 1921, at the height of theGreco-Turkish War (1919-1922) thathe led as the Field Marshal. To manyof his countrymen, especially thosewho never saw him, the title conjureda glamourised image.

Once, when Kemal Pasha “Ghazi”,as biographer Patrick Kinross informs,was visiting a mountainous village inTurkey, he found that an artist haddrawn his portrait from imagination on

a wall. It was that of a formida-ble warrior, with sweepingmoustaches and a seven-footlong sword. The villagers, how-ever, were shocked to discovera clean-shaven Ghazi inEuropean style summer suit, asports shirt open at the neckand a Panama hat. So great wastheir disbelief that they barelymanaged to clap as the Ghaziwalked past his imaginary por-traiture. The conqueror waswearing the costume of the infi-del (Ataturk: The Rebirth of aNation, Pg, 414).

More than his westernattire, Kemal’s westernising pol-icy was likely to scandalise hiscountrymen, who had beendirect subjects of the Caliphatefor 400 years. However, it wasmuch less than what we mightassume. Kemal, by sheer forceof his personality, no less thanthe weight of his achievements,was able to ramrod secularisa-tion in matters of State policyand national life of Turkey. Heabolished the Caliphate, elim-inated religious courts, abol-ished the fez cap, discouragedveil for women, suppressedreligious brotherhood, closedsacred tombs as places of wor-ship, declared the Gregoriancalendar as a national calendar,replaced Sharia with a newcivil code law, introduced Latinalphabets in place of Arabic forwriting Turkish and made theadoption of the last name

mandatory (himself took upAtaturk) among others.

Even the name of therepublic viz, Turkey (whichcitizens called Türkiye), clear-ly revealed its European origin.The term Turk, profoundlyconnected with Islam, had orig-inally been given by theEuropeans in the 11th century.Whether the modernisation ofTurkey could have beenachieved without brazen west-ernisation is a matter of opin-ion. However, through thesemeasures, Ataturk built up aTurkish identity founded onlanguage and territory butdelinked from religion.

“In the imperial society ofOttomans, the ethnic term Turkwas little used and then chieflyin a derogatory sense” saysBernard Lewis, “to designateTurcoman nomads or laterignorant and uncouth Turkishspeaking peasants of Anatolianvillages. To apply it to anOttoman gentleman ofConstantinople would havebeen an insult” (The Emergenceof Modern Turkey, Pg 1-2).Until the 19th century, theTurks had thought of them-selves purely as Muslims.Turkish nationalism could onlyemerge at the expense ofMuslim identity. Ataturk’srepublic, however, was one-party rule. Therefore, he couldenforce his policies withoutany organised opposition. He

did not banish religion from therepublic but controlled its insti-tutions, clergy and instructionsthrough State apparatus.

For the Greeks, by contrast,religion continued to be a deci-sive factor in shaping theirnational identity. The LausanneConvention on the compulso-ry exchange of populationbetween Greece and Turkey(January 30, 1923) defined aGreek as one belonging to“Greek Orthodox religion” andTurk as “Moslem” without anyreference to a person’s mothertongue. Greece’s democraticConstitution (2001) beginscounter-intuitively “in the nameof Holy and Consubstantialand Indivisible Trinity” ratherthan Solon, Clisthenes,Themistocles and Pericles.

The reason for the indissol-uble bond between EasternOrthodox Christianity andGreek identity is two-fold. First,during the Byzantine era (mid-fourth to mid-15th centuryAD) orthodox religion cement-ed spiritual and national unityof the Greeks. The Hellenic pastof the Greeks witnessed conflictof philosophy and religion aswell as extreme political disuni-ty. Second, under the Ottomanrule (mid-15th century to 19thcentury), the Church formedthe nucleus of the Greek nation.Under the millat system, theGreek patriarch based inConstantinople also acted as the

secular head of the Roum mil-let (Roman nation) comprisingall Christian subjects in theOttoman empire. It, thus, func-tioned as a State within theEmpire, whose influence con-tinued to increase as Ottomanpower declined vis-à-visEurope.

The pioneer of the GreekWar of Independence (1821-29)was Germanos, the Archbishopof Patras, who on April 4, 1821,proclaimed the insurrectionagainst the Turks. Several highdignitaries of the OrthodoxChurch, including Patriarch ofConstantinople Gregory IVhimself, suffered martyrdom.Thus, Church and Greek inde-pendence somehow got inter-connected from the beginning.This is a legacy that even 21stcentury Greece continues torespect. However, the Churchand the State were separate evenduring the Byzantine Empire,with no scope for conflictbetween the Emperor and thePatriarch, unlike between thePope and the monarchs inLatin Christendom. The samecontinues to be true in therepublic of Greece, where theChurch has no role in statecraft.Turkey, meanwhile, has dentedits own image by reversion ofHagia Sophia into a mosque.

(The writer is an author andindependent researcher. Theviews expressed herein are personal.)

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “New curriculum” (July 31).Coming after a gap of 34 years,the new educational policyunveiled by the Government isstill idealistic. But it is timely con-sidering that in a post-COVID-19 world, the educational patternwill undergo a sea change. Theproposed shift in the existing(10+2) system to (5+3+3+4) willlead to the overall developmentof children. Vast changes willensure universal access to schooleducation, focus on early child-hood care and education, restruc-ture the school curriculum andpedagogy, reform the assess-ment system and invest inteacher training. All of this willsignificantly transform the edu-cational system.

Yet NEP’s success dependson the finer details. It is up to theGovernment to create an atmos-phere, infrastructure and teach-ing resources for the smoothphasing of this transition stage.And it must ensure transparen-cy and accountability. But mostimportantly, it must bring out anaction plan for a pan-Indiaimplementation,

Kirti WadhawanKanpur

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Sir — The induction of fiveRafale jets will boost the IndianAir Force (IAF)’s airpower andmilitary prowess. The procure-ment of the jets is a very signif-icant development for India,

which is in the midst of a bittermilitary standoff with China ineastern Ladakh and heightenedtensions with Pakistan alongthe LoC.

Technical experts claim thatthe supersonic Rafale can beused for ground and sea attacksand can undertake electronicwarfare, air defence, groundsupport and in-depth strikes.The biggest asset, however, is its

weapon carrying capability andair-to-air missile feature. Beingclaimed as the most potent air-craft in South Asia, the flight isequipped with scalp long-rangemissile and can hit a targetmore than 300 km away. It canalso detect threats well inadvance and neutralise them.

However, in the context ofthe border confrontation withChina, so long as Beijing refus-

es to restore status quo antealong the LAC, the Rafalesshould be used as a bargainingchip or as a contingency tactic.But in the changed securityenvironment, India needs tofast-track the procurement of thesubsequent batches of the jets.Unfortunately, the political sys-tem is always more concernedabout accusations of scandalsregarding arms purchases thanwhat they mean for security.

N Sadhasiva ReddyBengaluru

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “New curriculum” (July 31).The NEP offers a lot of hope butthe Government must simulta-neously work on improving thequality of teaching and research.It must also improve its fundingstructure. Due to the lack ofopportunities, researchers prefermoving abroad to pursue PhD.We need to give them job offersand financial security.

Rati AgrawalVia email

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The modern military is increasingly becomingtechnology-reliant and, therefore, industry-dependent. Hybrid warfare — the current

flavour of war-fighting — is fast transforming intoa technology-based, non-contact, ambiguous andtransitory model. The rapidity of change comes fromexponential growth in every facet of human life,largely fuelled by computers, generating competi-tion between man and machine as well as combinedman-machine teams. Bursts of concentrated tech-nology innovation periods like these — so produc-tive, so game-changing — move into an entirely newcategory: Industrial revolution.

The military has been constrained to follow andadapt to what technology and the industry providethrough these cycles. Throughout revolutions his-torically, the industry has been just a level ahead ofthe military. Today we are deep into IndustrialRevolution 4.0, marked by data and machine learn-ing (ML). For the military, that means moving ourindustrial platforms and war machines to be runby Artificial Intelligence (AI) engines. The currentsecurity dynamics dictate that the military must dothat, albeit with caution, to finally pull a half-levelahead of the industry.

The armed forces must set the tone for tech-nology-based warfare and create the roadmap sothat they can reach ‘Military 4.5’ as quickly as pos-sible and guide the industry rather than be dictat-ed by it. This is a call for the military fraternity andtheir counterparts in the industry. If a country isinferior in technology, by inference, it would be infe-rior in national security.

Facing an adversary with better technology, youare that much weaker, more porous and behind thecurve. If you are vulnerable, you are also exploitableby nations that are high on research and develop-ment and innovation. That advantage extends wellbeyond military might to the negotiating table, todiplomatic efforts, to trade and financial markets.Overall, security is driven by accelerating techno-logical prowess. For example, China feels comfort-able, as it projects and flexes its muscles, leverag-ing technology and military power in tandem.

Moving the military to 4.5 will represent a majorhurdling of significant obstacles i.e. our cultural aver-sion to swift change. Right now, we have yet to fullysubsume the elements of Industrial Revolution 4.0.We’re frankly closer to 3.5. But who better to deter-mine what is needed and put forth to the industrythan the armed forces, the tip of the spear. We needthe industry to deliver today on the most promis-ing technologies of tomorrow.

Neo-Nanotechnology: Light, small and fast,nanotechnology and miniaturised componentsoffer the military some obvious benefits in termsof portability, protection and connection. But itneeds to go further. We need the military version— neo-nanotech — that’s even smaller, refined forreliable performance, and rugged and hardenedenough to withstand the rigorous demands of fieldoperations.

Human augmentation to match the machine:As systems become more networked and themachines get smarter, the sheer speed and connec-tivity will challenge the human beings they aremeant to serve. They will need to keep up. Fast andcapable, these systems will easily outstrip their oper-ators unless some augmentation technology pairswith the person to prevent fatigue, circumvent rel-atively slower thinking and fuels a better decision-making cycle. This intelligent augmentation is cru-cial to controllable autonomous applications. Forcontext, consider the modern-day flight deck, whichrelies on human input to set up a flight plan. But

the execution of that flight is now under-taken by the onboard flight computer, amachine. Why? Humans are now theweakest link in the chain, vulnerable tolapses in attention, fatigue, even informa-tional, psychological, biological andchemical warfare. Autonomous systemsare much more impervious to suchinfluences.

True network-centric operations:When target acquisition and robotics arebrought together, we will have nearlyachieved the Industrial Revolution forMilitary 4.5. Call it C5ISR-STAR2(Command, Control, Communications,Computers, Cyber, Intelligence andInformation — Surveillance, TargetAcquisition, Reconnaissance andRobotics). It is a substantial name for asubstantial capability, a networked battle-field where decentralised, robotic-initiat-ed decision-making would be the norm.The Command, Control and Surveillancewould largely be linked through space.These assets in space would need protec-tion. How that is achieved is another race.

Imagine, for example, that humanspre-programme a satellite to identify tar-gets in a certain area. AI can enable themto set the parameters by which the targetwould be eliminated autonomously — thesystem would designate the weapon fordoing so and take action if the criteria fits.In another situation, humans mightserve as the final confirmation before theautonomous system locks on to a targetfor action. Another step forward wouldbe to designate pre-sanctioned targets, tobe engaged on appearance.

The Internet of Military Things(IoMT): Network-centric operationswon’t happen without the fusion ofsmaller, smarter sensors, network connec-tivity, signal intelligence devices, aircraft,UAVs and so on. A secure, private net-work is the core layer to communicatingthis data. That will require scalable satel-lite connectivity for narrowband applica-tions plus fibre and microwave links to

support broadband applications. Thesewould ultimately connect millions ofdevices and sensors operating ubiquitous-ly and support data transfer. AI wouldplay a critical role, enabling the IoMT totransition from mostly telemetry andsensing to complete autonomous actionguided by rules defined by individualcountries.

Computer networks are efficient,desirable tools as they can move massivemachine data simultaneously to multiplesubscribers. This can also turn disastrousif disruption is caused through technol-ogy limitations, an incident driven byadversarial action or a simple humanerror. The military has this challenge —it needs its machines and networkssecured and protected against these pos-sibilities. High assurances and strong pro-tection tools will need to be delivered bythe industry. Call it military-grade secre-cy; security protocols would need to bewell-defined.

Secure Chips, Quantum Technologyand IP concealment (ie, no IP Address)would essentially form this baseline.None of the above will be possible if theindustry cannot pin down the fundamen-tal, base-layer PME (Power, Materials, andElectronics) capabilities. Military superi-ority will come from innovations that candeliver lighter, more sustainable power,perhaps delivered through nuclear, renew-ables or rechargeable through motion.

It will come from lighter, stronger,self-healing materials designed to max-imise survivability for the war-fighter andbear up under temperatures that span theextremes of heat and cold.

It will come from next generationelectronics that are tiny, light and pro-grammable. It will come from develop-ing the technological mechanisms thatmake it possible for humans andmachines to partner in powerful newways. PME would expand the possibili-ties for a single fighting machine to per-form operations in all three spheres — air,

ground and water — with almost equalefficiency and sustainability. The AIengines would enable them to be net-worked as swarms and self-assign targetsbetween machines. Networks will makeit possible to build H-M2M-H (Human-Machine to Machine Human) interfacesto bring battles to be planned, regulatedand controlled from manned war rooms,yet fought by machines in the field. Thegroundwork has clearly been laid. Wehave data, advanced computing, newmaterials and engineering methods thatare translating into the fastest evolutionof physical systems in human history.

We can process data in seconds andrun experiment after experiment basedon the evolving results. Even small com-panies can better innovate at scale becauseit’s cheaper and faster to do so. There aresimply no excuses for failure.

If the industry can deliver on this con-siderable potential, the military candeliver and fulfil its prime directive:Ensuring national security that underpinsall else. We can do it while preservinghuman life and outsourcing the truly dan-gerous jobs to robotics and autonomoussystems. Military 4.5 is not a holistic war-fighting solution but a concept to guidethe industry to push the envelope beyond4.0.

For all actors, elements of war-fight-ing (ethical, unethical and ambiguous) arecoming together in a new technology-enabled paradigm — hybrid war — thatwill challenge us to be more thoughtful.The Grey Zone is expanding, stitchingnon-State and State actors as legitimateparticipants of the hybrid war. The con-ventional battles are subsuming the sub-conventional. Technology is the commondenominator but it needs ethical militaryguidance along the way.

(The writer is a military veteran andformer Deputy Chief of Integrated DefenceStaff of India. He raised the Defence SpaceAgency, Defence Cyber Agency and SpecialOperations Division.)

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An acquaintance associated withan advertising firm once relat-ed a rather telling anecdote.

Two years ago, his firm prepared acampaign for a food company ownedby a gentleman from Faisalabad. Theowner of the company was a self-made-man who, decades ago, hadbegun his career as a worker in a fac-tory after arriving as a teenager froma village.

He had passed his matriculateexams but because of his family’s dete-riorating economic situation, he couldnot attend college. However, this did

not stop him from diligently workinghis way up. From a factory worker, hebecame a foreman and then, yearslater, with some money borrowedfrom a friend, he first set up a grocerystore and then a small food company.The business was a success and by2006, he was a rich man.

The campaign that the advertis-ing firm presented to him was basedon phrases and antics popularised byarchetypal Punjabi films. After thefirm was done presenting, the ownerbegan giving his feedback. He told theagency’s executives that he wouldnever want to use the campaign.

He then explained: “For years,Punjabis like me have been strugglingto eliminate this image of us as peo-ple who look and do things like SultanRahi in Punjabi films.” The business-man was disappointed that a group ofeducated executives from Karachicould not visualise his company as amodern entity as they would do for amultinational.

This was a case of how superficial-ly sometimes members of urban mid-dle-classes perceive people from hum-bler backgrounds. The advertisingexecutives had been told by “insiders”in the company about the owner’srural origins. So, in a bid to appeal tothis aspect of his personality, theyassumed that Punjabi films wereaccurate depictions of the province’srural life and, therefore, such imagerywould suffice to get the owner’sapproval.

In the early 1990s, Imran Aslam,playwright and former editor of anEnglish daily where I worked as areporter, told me that when he was ayoung man and “experimenting” withcommunism, there used to be a trendamong communists from well-to-domiddle-class families to “prove theirsocialist credentials” by taking up“working class vocations.”

Imran said that he once joined agroup of labourers working at a con-struction site but the workers simply

refused to let him work. This was notbecause his presence threatened them.In fact, according to Imran, it actual-ly amused them no end. They justcould not figure out why a person witha good education, spacious home andthe potential to bag a lucrative jobwould leave all of it to lift bricks witha group of men who would rather havea good education, spacious homes andthe potential to bag lucrative jobs.

According to Imran, his young,idealistic self had sketched a roman-ticised picture of how working classpeople think. He believed they wouldbe pleased to see a member of a moreprosperous class join them in doingwhat they did for a living. Imran saidthat, eventually, some of the labour-ers told him that one day they wouldlike their children to have the kind oflife he had before he arrived at the con-struction site. Imran went back home.

In 2015, at that year’s KarachiLiterature Festival that I attended asa speaker, I bumped into a relative of

the late communist leader HasanNasir. Nasir, who hailed from an aris-tocratic family in India, was associat-ed with the Communist Party ofPakistan. He was arrested by the AyubKhan dictatorship in 1960, torturedand killed. His relative is married toone of my mother’s cousins. He (therelative) told me that Nasir was arrest-ed from a shanty town in Karachi.When I asked him if he was hidingthere, the relative smiled and said, “No,he was living there.” He said that Nasirwas constantly at odds with his priv-ileged background and made sure hechallenged it by residing in areas whereworking-class people lived, in theirhuts and tiny apartments.

As I showed my appreciation, therelative smiled again and said, “Butthey (the poor) always treated him dif-ferently. He was never accepted as oneof their own. All they were interestedin was whether he could get them bet-ter jobs or a better education for theirchildren. All else they understood as

just talk by a young man.” This is interesting because, as a

student leader, during my involvementin a campaign for a political party forthe 1988 elections, I remember thatwhen we used to visit low-incomeareas, the people there would nod,smile and applaud the fiery speechesthat the party’s younger cadres deliv-ered. But they were far more interest-ed to meet the candidate and talk tohim about whether he was capable ofproviding them jobs or schools, orhow the candidate planned to resolvethe area’s infrastructural issues.

Finally, one day, I asked the can-didate how he was able to engage withthe voters in such areas where our rev-olutionary speeches about solidaritywith the poor were failing to attractsimilar traction. He replied: “Theydream about becoming what youare. They don’t want to see anotherthem. They want to see themselvesbecoming you, or at least believe thattheir children can. That’s what I

promise them. Things and tools to bet-ter their lot.”

In his 1937 book, The Road toWigan Pier, George Orwell writesabout his experiences living as asocialist among coal miners and fac-tory workers. According to Orwell, thepoor were simply interested inimproving their lives with better payand conditions. They had no interestin the theoretical aspects of any ide-ology. Orwell believed that the reasonthe socialists failed to fully engage withthe workers was because the socialistsbring with them people who preachcomplex political and cultural ideasthat have everything to do with upperand middle-class discourses and noth-ing to do with the realities and aspi-rations of the working-classes. Insome cases, this may also mean usingideological rationales to keep thepoor from even thinking about anyupward mobility because that wouldbe “beneficial to capitalism.”

(Courtesy: Dawn)

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Kabul/Islamabad: Pakistan-origin intelligence head of ter-ror group Islamic State'sKhorasan unit (ISIL-K) hasbeen killed by special forcesnear the eastern town ofJalalabad, according to theAfghan security agency.

Zia-ur-Rehman known asAssadullah Orakzai was killedduring an operation nearJalalabad, close to Pakistanborder, the NationalDirectorate of Security or NDSsaid in a statement on Saturday.

Orakzai was the head ofintelligence for Islamic State'sKhorasan branch, which isactive in South Asia andCentral Asia.

"The Special Units of theNational Directorate ofSecurity NDS have eliminatedAssadullah Orakzai, the nativeof Akhel Orakzai agency ofPakistan during a targetedoperation," the TOLOnewsreported, citing the statement.

He was involved in sever-al deadly attacks against bothmilitary and civilian targets inAfghanistan, it said.

"Afghanistan's regional andinternational partners shouldremember that Afghanistan isa key player in the fight againstterrorist and will crush terror-ists' roots anywhere," the NDSsaid.

Last week, the 26th reportof the UN's Analytical Supportand Sanctions MonitoringTeam concerning ISIS, al-Qaeda and associated individ-uals and entities said that manyformer Tehreek-e-Taliban mil-itants have joined ISIS-Khorasan (ISIL-K).

"The total number ofPakistani foreign terrorist fight-ers in Afghanistan, posing athreat to both countries, isestimated at between 6,000and 6,500, most of them withTTP," it said.

The monitoring team alsoestimates the current ISIL-Kmembership in Afghanistan at2,200. In April and May, theAfghan special forces con-ducted a series of countrywideoperations that led to the arrestof the group's leaders, includ-ing Aslam Farooqi (also known

as Abdullah Orakzai), the headof ISIL-K, his predecessor Ziaul-Haq (also known as AbuOmar Khorasani) and othersenior members.

In March, at least 25 Sikhworshippers were killed andeight others injured when aheavily armed ISIS suicidebomber stormed his way intoa prominent gurdwara in theheart of Afghanistan's capital ofKabul, in one of the deadliestattacks on the minority com-munity in the strife-torn coun-try.

Eighty people, includingwomen and children, strandedinside the gurdwara were res-cued by the security forces.

The ISIS terrorist groupclaimed responsibility for thelatest attack.

In July 2018, ISIS terroristsbombed a gathering of Sikhsand Hindus in the eastern cityof Jalalabad, killing 19 peopleand injuring 20.

Awtar Singh Khalsa, one ofthe country's best-known Sikhpoliticians then, was amongthose killed in the attack. PTI

Berlin: Some 45 police officerswere injured in a wave of week-end demonstrations in Berlinincluding protests against coro-navirus restrictions, police saidas protesters gathered again insmaller numbers on Sunday.

The unruly protests, inwhich many demonstratorsfailed to wear masks or respectsocial distancing rules, havesparked a chorus of condemna-tion including calls for tougherpenalties against those who vio-late restrictions aimed at curb-ing transmission of the deadlyvirus. A total of 133 people werearrested during Saturday'sprotests, which included a huge"day of freedom" demo againstcoronavirus restrictions, policesaid in a statement on Sunday.

The arrests were for offencesincluding resisting police offi-

cers, breach of the peace and theuse of unconstitutional symbols.

Three officers required hos-pital treatment, police said.

Around 20,000 people tookpart in the "day of freedom"demonstration, the majority notcovering their nose and mouthor respecting Germany's 1.5-metre (five-foot) social distanc-ing requirement.

The crowd, a mixture ofhard left and right, and con-spiracy theorists, shouted "Weare the second wave" as theyconverged on the BrandenburgGate, demanding "resistance"and dubbing the pandemic "thebiggest conspiracy theory".

Police began dispersing thecrowds in the late afternoon, buthundreds of protesters remainedat the Brandenburg Gate lateinto the evening. AFP

Kampala: After 23 days inquarantine in Uganda — farlonger than required — JimmySpire Ssentongo walked free inpart because of a cartoon hedrew. It showed a bound pris-oner begging for liberationafter multiple negative tests,while a health ministerdemanded to know where hewas hiding the virus.

“The impression was thatwe were a dangerous group andthat what was necessary was toprotect the rest of society fromus,” said Ssentongo, a cartoon-ist for Uganda's Observernewspaper who was put inquarantine when he returnedfrom Britain in March.

The fear he describes isindicative of the dangerousstigma that has sprung uparound the coronavirus inAfrica — fuelled, in part, bysevere and sometimes arbi-trary quarantine rules as well asinsufficient information about

the virus.Such stigma is not unique

to the continent: Patients fromEcuador to Indonesia havebeen shamed when their diag-nosis became known.

But with testing in Africalimited by supply shortagesand some health workers goingwithout proper protective gear,

fear of the virus on the conti-nent as it approaches 1 millionconfirmed infections is hin-dering the ability to control itin many places — and also dis-couraging people from seekingcare for other diseases. The waypeople were treated early in thispandemic is “just like the way,early on in the HIV epidemic,

patients were being treated,”Salim Abdool Karim, an epi-demiologist who chairs SouthAfrica's COVID-19 ministeri-al advisory committee, told aWorld Health Organizationevent last month. People withHIV were often shunned bytheir own families, and reportsof health workers refusing tocare for them were common inthe 1990s.

Now, some people avoidtesting for the coronavirus"because if they test, they'reostracised," Karim said. Orsimply locked away. Ssentongo,who was released from quar-antine on the 24th day aftertesting negative three times,told The Associated Press thathe and others were poorlytreated at the facility, a hotel.Like him, many were held forfar longer than the required 14days, and he saw some bribetheir way out. He was amongthose that went on hunger

strikes in a bid to be freed.“It was dehumanising,” said

Ssentongo, who also noted thatthere was no social distancingat the facility, and medicalworkers were rarely seen andinconsistent in their efforts tocontrol the virus. A medicalteam once took a woman sus-pected of having the virusfrom her room and sprayed herwith disinfectant, but ignoredher partner.

In neighbouring Kenya,people in quarantine reportedsimilar poor treatment anddiscrimination.

At one facility, those insidesaid their money was rejectedby the staff and the surround-ing community when theytried to buy food, according toa Human Rights Watch reportin May. At another, kitchen staffsometimes declined to servethem, forcing a security guardto bring the food.

Some humanitarian groups

warn that stigma could setback Africa's pandemicresponse.

In Somalia, "our teams areseeing people who have testedpositive running away fromtheir homes out of fear ofbeing stigmatised by the com-munity,” Abdinur Elmi, an offi-cial with the aid group CARE,said in a statement.

As a result, the group said,contact tracing has becomenearly impossible in the Hornof Africa country, which hasone of the world's weakesthealth systems after nearlythree decades of conflict.

Worryingly, the stigma hasattached to health and aidworkers in some places. In theWest African nation of BurkinaFaso, a nurse's assistant whofound employment as a clean-er in a hospital said her unclegave her an ultimatum: quit orleave home.

“He said, 'Pack your bags

and find another place to live,'”said the woman, who spoke oncondition of anonymity inorder to avoid retribution fromher family.

Health Minister PierreSomse, of Central AfricanRepublic, said humanitarianworkers have been targetedbecause the idea has spread thatWesterners, who often do suchwork, brought the virus. Heurged governments to “de-dra-matize” the response to calmpanicked communities.

Aid workers have raisedsimilar concerns about how theresponse is described inUganda, where health officialsfrequently speak of “huntingdown” suspected patients.

The blaring horns andsirens of the vehicles used bythose tracing the contacts of theinfected add to a sense of fearin some communities, such asthe village of Bugomoro nearthe Congo border, said Charles

Kaboggoza. The World Visionofficial said he witnessed dis-crimination against the familyof a man who tested positiveafter returning fromAfghanistan in March.

“The people had stoppedthem from going to fetch waterfrom the (well)," he said. “It wasreally stigmatizing." Someaccused the patient of bringinga “curse" to the community, hesaid.

Stigma is also having a neg-ative effect on health care morebroadly. In CARE-supportedhealth centers in Somalia, thenumber of people seeking con-sultations for communicablediseases has fallen by 26 percent since the first case ofCOVID-19 was recorded in thecountry, “with fear of stigma forhaving the virus being a majorfactor,” according to the group.

Some leaders are aware ofthe dangers of stigma and arecountering it. AP

Tel Aviv: An Israeli Cabinetminister says he has tested pos-itive for the coronavirus.

Minister for Jerusalem andHeritage Rafi Peretz tweeted lateSaturday that he received apositive result after being test-ed the previous day. He said hefelt well.

Peretz is the second Israeliminister to have been infectedwith the virus. Israel's formerhealth minister, YaakovLitzman, also contracted it andlater recovered.

Israeli media reported thatcontact tracing was being con-ducted to determine whetherIsraeli Prime Minister BenjaminNetanyahu or other legislatorswould need to self-isolate fol-lowing Peretz' diagnosis. Israelis experiencing a surge in coro-navirus cases after having large-ly contained an earlier out-break in the spring. AP

London: UK Chancellor of theExchequer Rishi Sunak onSunday backed a campaign forinfluential ethnic minority fig-ures to be featured on a set ofUK coins to celebrate Britain'sdiversity.

Mahatma Gandhi is in therunning as an influentialCommonwealth figure, as theUK's Royal Mint considers theplans as part of commemorat-ing the 150th birth anniversaryyear of the Indian independencemovement leader.

Others in the race alsoinclude Noor Inayat Khan, whowas the first Indian-originWorld War II spy for Britain,and Khudadad Khan, the firstsoldier of the British IndianArmy to become the recipientof the prestigious Victoria Cross,the highest military award forgallantry in the face of theenemy given to British and

Commonwealth forces.“Yesterday [Saturday] I

wrote to the Royal Mint urgingthem to consider how to cele-brate the achievements ofBAME [black, Asian andminority ethnic] individuals onUK coinage,” said Sunak in astatement issued on socialmedia on Sunday.

The move follows a letter tothe Indian-origin finance min-ister from the “We Too BuiltBritain” campaign calling for aset of coins entitled “Service tothe Nation”.

In response to the cam-paign, led by Indian-originConservative Party candidateZehra Zaidi, Sunak issued a let-ter to the chair of the Royal MintAdvisory Committee (RMAC),Lord William Waldegrave, totask the Sub-Committee onThemes to consider recognisingBAME contributions on the

nation's coinage.“Black, Asian and other

ethnic minority communitieshave made a profound contri-bution to the shared history ofthe United Kingdom,” readsSunak's letter to LordWaldegrave. “For generations,ethnic minority groups havefought and died for this coun-try we have built together;taught our children, nursed thesick, cared for the elderly; andthrough their enterprising spir-it have started some of our mostexciting and dynamic busi-nesses, creating jobs and drivinggrowth,” it reads.

“I know you are alreadyseeking to fully consider diver-sity in future coin design and Ivery much welcome theseefforts. I hope this campaignreminds us of the importanceand urgency of doing so,” itadds. PTI

Portland: The Portland PoliceBureau declared an unlawfulassembly Saturday night whenpeople gathered outside apolice precinct in Oregon'slargest city and threw bottlestowards officers, police said.

Until that point, federal,state and local law enforcementhad been seemingly absentfrom the protests Thursday,Friday and Saturday. Thedemonstrations — that forweeks ended with tear gas, fire-works shot towards buildings,federal agents on the street andinjuries to protesters and offi-cers — have recently endedwith chanting and conversa-tions.

Activists and Oregon offi-cials urged people at Saturdaynight's protest in Portland tore-center the focus on BlackLives Matter, three days afterthe Trump administrationagreed to reduce the presenceof federal agents in Oregon.

Groups gathered Saturdayevening in various areas

around downtown Portlandto listen to speakers and pre-pare to march to the JusticeCenter and Mark O. HatfieldCourthouse.

One of the more popularevents, “Re-centering why weare here - BLM,” was hosted bythe NAACP. Speakers includ-ed activists as well as Oregon

Sen. Jeff Merkley and PortlandCity Commissioner Jo AnnHardesty.

Merkley and Hardestyspoke about policies they areputting forward, including tocut police funding and restrictchokeholds. “The next thingwe need you to do is vote likeyour life depends on it, because

guess what, it does,” Hardestysaid.

For the first time since thepresence of federal agents inPortland diminished lawenforcement and protestersnoticeably clashed Saturdaynight.

As one group of protestersgathered outside the court-house another marched to aprecinct for the MultnomahCounty Sheriff 's Office andPortland Police Bureau.

Police stated that protest-ers proceeded to throw glassbottles and direct lasers atofficers. Just before 10 p.M.,Portland police declared anunlawful assembly and direct-ed people to disperse or theymay be subject to use of forceor be arrested. Police could beseen charging, multiple times,at protesters in the area.

At the courthouse thescene was different. Around11:30 pm hundreds of peopleremained, standing and lis-tening to speakers. AP

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Washington: Federal authoritiessay one of the gravest threats tothe November election is awell-timed ransomware attackthat could paralyse voting oper-ations. The threat isn't just fromforeign governments, but anyfortune-seeking criminal.

Ransomware attacks tar-geting state and local govern-ments have been on the rise,with cyber criminals seekingquick money by seizing dataand holding it hostage untilthey get paid. The fear is thatsuch attacks could affect votingsystems directly or even indi-rectly, by infecting broadergovernment networks thatinclude electoral databases.

Even if a ransomwareattack fails to disrupt elec-tions, it could nonetheless rat-tle confidence in the vote.

On the spectrum of threatsfrom the fantastical to the moreprobable, experts and officialssay ransomware is a particularlyrealistic possibility because theattacks are already so pervasiveand lucrative. The FBI andDepartment of HomelandSecurity have issued advisoriesto local governments, includingrecommendations for prevent-ing attacks.

“From the standpoint ofconfidence in the system, Ithink it is much easier to dis-

rupt a network and prevent itfrom operating than it is tochange votes,” Adam Hickey, aJustice Department deputyassistant attorney general, saidin an interview.

The scenario is relativelysimple: Plant malware on mul-tiple networks that affect voterregistration databases and acti-vate it just before an election.Or target vote-reporting andtabulation systems.

“With the 2020 election,election infrastructure has atarget on its back,” ColoradoSecretary of State JenaGriswold said. “We know thatelection infrastructure wasattempted to be undermined in2016, and we know the tech-niques are shifting.”

The number of attacks hasescalated in recent years, withtargets including Texas' trans-portation agency and city com-puters in New

Orleans. A Decemberreport by cybersecurity firmEmsisoft tracked attacks againstat least 966 entities that inter-rupted 911 services, renderedmedical records inaccessibleand hindered police back-ground checks.

“We're seeing state andlocal entities targeted with ran-somware on a near daily basis,”said Geoff Hale, a top election

security official with HomelandSecurity's Cybersecurity andElection Infrastructure Agency.

Steps taken to improvesecurity of voter registrationsystems after the 2016 electioncould help governments fendoff election-related ransomwareattacks. They've also acted toensure they can recover quick-ly in the event of an attack.

Colorado, for example,stores redundant versions of its

voter registration data at twoseparate secure locations soofficials can easily shift opera-tions. Backups are regular sothe system can be quicklyrebuilt if needed.

Even so, ransomware is anadded concern for local elec-tion officials already con-fronting staffing and budgetconstraints while preparing fora shift from in-person voting toabsentee balloting because of

the pandemic.In West Virginia, state

officials are more concernedabout the cyberthreat con-fronting its 55 county electionoffices than a direct attack onthe statewide voter registrationsystem. One click from acounty employee falling victimto a spearphishing attack couldgrant a hacker access to thecounty network and eventual-ly to election systems. AP

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Washington: Only 34 per centof Americans approve of USPresident Donald Trump's han-dling of the novel coronaviruspandemic, according to a newpoll.

The ABC News/Ipsos poll,whose results were released onFriday, also found that the USpublic broadly disapproves ofthe President's handling ofother recent crises such as thenationwide protests followingthe death of African AmericanGeorge Floyd, reports Xinhuanews agency.

According to the poll's

result, "just over a third ofAmericans (36 per cent)approve of President Trump'shandling of the response to theprotests across the country".

"Specifically, a majority ofAmericans (52 per cent) believethe deployment of federal lawenforcement to cities withprotests have made the situationworse," it added.

Republicans back Trump'shandling of the coronavirus(74 per cent), the protests (78per cent) and Russia (80 percent) by overwhelming mar-gins.

Democrats are almost uni-formly in opposition to Trump'smanaging of the three issues,with approval of the presidentin single-digits on the pandemic(7 per cent), the unrest (8 percent) and Russia (8 per cent).

Roughly 1 in 5 Republicansdisapprove of the president oncoronavirus (26 per cent), theprotests (22 per cent) and Russia(20 per cent), and just over 9 in10 Democrats disapprove on allthree matters.

The ABC News/Ipsos studysurveyed 730 adults from July29-30. IANS

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Kathmandu: Nepal's embattledPrime Minister K P Sharma Oliand the ruling party's executivechairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal‘Prachanda' have agreed to holdanother round of talks onMonday as nearly three-hourlong meeting on Sunday failedto resolve their differences, amedia report said.

"Talks are positive betweenthe two leaders. There was dis-cussion whether to summon theparty's Secretariat, StandingCommittee or the CentralCommittee meeting. The meet-ing also dwelled on holding theparty's unity general conven-tion,” the Prime Minister's PressAdviser Surya Thapa was quot-ed as saying by My Republica.

"The two leaders are yet toreach any consensus," Thapasaid. The meeting between thetwo top leaders of the NepalCommunist Party (NCP) camesix days after Prime Minister Oli

postponed the party's StandingCommittee meeting on July 28.

The Standing Committeemeeting has fallen uncertain asdifferences between the two topleaders continue to exist, thepaper said.

During Sunday's meeting,the prime minister was accom-panied by his close confidanteSubash Nembang, who has beenworking as a mediator to resolvethe differences between Oli andPrachanda. Prachanda wasaccompanied by senior leaderJhala Nath Khanal.

The two leaders are sched-uled to hold talks again onMonday to find a way out to thecurrent stand-off, the papersaid, citing sources.

Quoting party insiders, itsaid the two leaders have helddiscussions as per the proposalput forth earlier by the party'sVice Chairman Bam DevGautam. PTI

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US Secretary of State MikePompeo on Sunday urgedHong Kong to reverse a deci-sion to suspend its legislativeelections amid a resurgence ofthe coronavirus, saying thedelay would be another blow toits autonomy from Beijing, themedia reported.

In a statement publishedon Sunday morning, Pompeocondemned the decision byHong Kong Chief ExecutiveCarrie Lam to invoke her emer-gency powers to postpone theLegislative Council elections,scheduled for September 6,until September 5, 2021,reports the South ChinaMorning Post (SCMP).

"We urge Hong Kongauthorities to reconsider theirdecision," he said.

The elections should beheld as close to the September

6 date as possible and in a man-ner that reflects the will andaspirations of the Hong Kongpeople.

"If they aren't, then regret-tably Hong Kong will contin-ue its march toward becomingjust another Communist-runcity in China.

"There is no valid reasonfor such a lengthy delay... It islikely, therefore, that HongKong will never again be ableto vote – for anything or any-one," the SCMP newspaperquoted Pompeo as saying in thestatement.

As relations betweenWashington and Beijingremain tense, the US hasmoved to end preferential treat-ment for Hong Kong over whatit sees as an erosion of itsautonomy and freedoms.

Besides Pompeo, HongKong's opposition lawmakershave also decried the electiondelay as a political move.

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Seoul: North Korean mediaoutlets on Sunday lashed out atSouth Korea over a recent USdecision to lift restrictions onSeoul's use of solid fuel for itsspace rockets, slamming themove as being contrary to theSouth's calls for peace.

Seoul and Washingtonrevised the missile guidelinesbetween the two countries onJuly 28 to lift a decades-old banon the South from using solidfuel for space rockets, a moveexpected to lead to the countrydeveloping space rockets andlaunching spy satellites to mon-itor North Korea, reportsYonhap News Agency.

Meari, one of the North'swebsites, denounced the revisedguidelines, saying Seoul "hasrevealed its evil intentions forcontention, saying the solidfuel-propelled space rocketsallow the launch of low-orbitreconnaissance satellites, or

that it will talk with the US onlifting restrictions on the rangeof ballistic missiles".

South Korea is still prohib-ited from firing solid-fuel bal-listic missiles with the range ofover 800 km under the allianceaccord first signed in 1979.

On July 29, the presidentialoffice Cheong Wa Dae said thecountry will make continuedefforts to "secure complete mis-sile sovereignty".

Another North Korean out-let, Uriminzokkiri TV, criticizedSouth Korea's move as a "con-tradictory attitude".

The articles mark the firsttime North Korean media out-lets have reacted to the South'srevised missile guidelines, butmedia reports still remain lim-ited to propaganda outlets andofficial state media, such as theKorean Central News Agencyor the Rodong Sinmun remain-ing silent on the issue. IANS

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Page 9: ˛ ˇˇ · doctors to isolate himself. “I had met Amit Shah ji day before in the evening. I am advised by doctors to confine myself, away from my family members, for the next few

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Union Minister NitinGadkari has approved an

employment generation pro-gramme proposed by Khadiand Village IndustriesCommission to make Indiaself reliant in agarbatti pro-duction through the use oflocally-made machines bymanufacturers and trainedworkers.

The ‘Khadi AgarbattiAatmanirbhar Mission’ aims atcreating employment for theunemployed and migrantworkers in different parts of thecountry, handholding artisansand supporting the local agar-

batti industry. The current consump-

tion of agarbatti in the countryis approximately 1,490 MT perday. However, per day produc-tion of agarbatti in India is just760 MT. The deficit is metthrough imports primarilyfrom China and Vietnam.

Elaborating on thescheme, which will initially belaunched on a pilot basis, KVICChairman Vinai Kumar Saxenatold PTI that “100 per cent ofthe machines used in produc-tion of agarbattis were beingimported from Vietnam”.

Under the scheme, KVIChas decided to procure onlylocally-made machines by

Indian manufacturers whichalso aims at encouraging localproduction. KVIC will pro-vide automatic agarbatti makingmachines and powder mixingmachines to artisans throughsuccessful private agarbattimanufacturers who will sign

agreements as business partners. The Commission will pro-

vide 25 per cent subsidy on thecost of the machines and recov-er the remaining 75 per cent ofthe cost from the artisans ineasy instalments every month.

The business partner willprovide raw material to artisansfor making agarbatti and paythem wages on job work basis.

Saxena said the pilot pro-ject for the programme willbegin this month. “Supply ofraw material to the artisans,logistics, quality control andmarketing of the final productwill be the sole responsibility ofthe business partner. Afterrecovery of the 75 per cent

cost, the ownership of themachines will automaticallybe transferred to the artisans,”the Micro, Small and MediumEnterprises Ministry stated.

A two-party agreementto this effect will be signedbetween KVIC and the privateagarbatti manufacturer for suc-cessful running of the projecton PPP Mode.

The cost of artisans’ train-ing will be shared betweenKVIC and the private businesspartner wherein theCommission will bear 75 percent of the cost while 25 percent will be paid by the busi-ness partner. “Each automaticagarbatti making machine

makes approximately 80 kgagarbatti per day which willprovide direct employment tofour persons. One powder mix-ing machine, to be given on aset on five agarbatti makingmachines, will provide employ-ment to two persons,” theMSME Ministry saidThe wagesto artisans will be provided bybusiness partners on weeklybasis directly in their accountsthrough direct benefit transferonly.The current job work ratefor agarbatti making is Rs 15per kg. At this rate, four arti-sans working on one automat-ic agarbatti machine will earnminimum Rs 1,200 per day bymaking 80 kg of agarbatti.

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States which imposed morethan 50 per cent COVID-

cess on liquor after the resump-tion of retail trade post lock-down witnessed an average 59per cent decline in sales in Mayand June due to higher tariffs,a report by trade associationCIABC claimed.

States as Delhi, AndhraPradesh, Odisha, J&K andPudducherry, which hadimposed a Covid-cess of 50 per

cent and above reported adecline of 66 per cent in Mayand 51 per cent in June com-pared to the year-ago period,the report by Confederation ofIndian Alcoholic BeverageCompanies (CIABC) said.

While, states as ArunachalPradesh, Meghalaya, Rajasthan,West Bengal, Kerala andJharkhand, which had imposeda Covid-cess between 15-50 percent reported an averagedecline of 34 per cent 0in sales,the report stated.

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Power producers’ total out-standing dues owed by dis-

tribution firms rose over 47 percent year-on-year to �1.33 lakhcrore in June 2020, reflectingstress in the sector.

Distribution companies(discoms) owed a total of �90,655 crore to power genera-tion firms in June 2019, accord-ing to portal PRAAPTI(Payment Ratification AndAnalysis in Power procure-

ment for bringingTransparency in Invoicing ofgenerators).

The portal was launched inMay 2018 to bring in trans-parency in power purchasetransactions between the gen-erators and discoms. In June2020, the total overdue amount,which was not cleared evenafter 60 days of grace periodoffered by generators, stood at�1,20,041 crore, as against�72,362 crore in the year-agoperiod. According to the latest

data on the portal, total out-standing dues in June hasincreased over the previousmonth. In May 2020, the totaldues of discoms stood at�1,26,963 crore.The overdueamount in June 2020 alsoincreased from �1,13,869 crorein May 2020. Power producersgive 60 days to discoms for pay-ing bills for the supply of elec-tricity. After that, outstandingdues become overdue and gen-erators charge penal interest onthat in most cases.

New Delhi: Foreign portfolioinvestors remained net buyersfor the 2nd consecutive monthin July by pumping in �3,301crore in Indian markets amidhopes of a coronavirus vac-cine.According to the deposi-tories data, a net sum of � 7,563crore was invested in equitieswhile� 4,262 crore were with-drawn by FPIs between July 1-31.Net investment duringmonth stood at �3,301 crore. Inthe previous month, FPIs put ina net �24,053 crore in Indianmarkets. Some factors that ledto investment in July includesurge in markets which pro-vided FPIs good profit bookingopportunity, improvement insentiment on the back of risinghopes of a coronavirus vaccine,said Himanshu Srivastava,associate director - managerresearch, Morningstar India.

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The Reserve Bank’s rate-set-ting Monetary Policy

Committee (MPC) will meetnext week to decide on the pol-icy stance amid the urgency torevive the coronavirus-hiteconomy and increaseddemand for one-time loanrestructuring by industrychambers.

Experts are, however,divided over the possibility ofanother rate cut by the RBI inits forthcoming policy arguingthat one-time loan restructur-ing was more essential at thisjuncture to tide over theCOVID-19 situation.

The MPC, headed by RBIGovernor, is scheduled to meetfor three days beginningAugust 4 and announce itsdecision on August 6.

The central bank hasbeen taking steps proactively tolimit the damage to the econ-omy caused by the COVID-19pandemic and subsequentlockdowns.

It is to be noted here thata fast-changing macroeco-nomic environment and thedeteriorating outlook forgrowth necessitated “off-cyclemeetings” of the MPC – first inMarch and then again in May2020.

SBI’s research report‘Ecowrap’ said with the 115basis points (bps) reduction inrepo beginning February,

banks have already transmitted72 bps to the customers onfresh loans in the interreg-num which is perhaps a mile-stone in terms of the fastest pol-icy rate transmission in India.Large banks have transmittedas much as 85 basis points.

“...We believe an Augustrate cut is unlikely,” it said.

It believes the MPC couldnow well debate what furtherunconventional policy mea-sures could be resorted to in thecurrent circumstances toensure financial stability iscontinued to be addressed.

However, several experts,including from banks, haveopined the RBI may go for yetanother reduction in reporate of at least 25 bps onAugust 6.

Higher prices of fooditems especially meat, fish,cereals and pulses pushed theretail inflation based onConsumper Price Index (CPI)to 6.09 per cent in June. Thegovernment has tasked theRBI to keep inflation at 4 percent (+, - 2 per cent). The cen-tral bank mainly factors inCPI while arriving at its mon-etary policy.

Kuntal Sur, Partner &Leader, Finance Risk &Regulation, PwC India, saidthe MPC has followed anaccommodative policy onrates, with a cumulative reporate cut of 135 bps over the lastone year.

“Given the growth prior-ity, we expect the soft stance tocontinue. However, since thereis ample liquidity in the systemand transmission of rates ishappening, there may be apause on the reduction ofrates,” Sur said.

CII Director GeneralChandrajit Banerjee said inthe current subdued econom-ic environment, the RBI mustconsider regulatory relaxationsto avoid a bulge in deficits.

“Banks and financial insti-tutions may be allowed to pro-vide a one-time window forrestructuring of all term loansso that companies can comeback on stream.

The credit guarantee onloans to MSMEs has taken offwell,” he said.

The RBI may considerincreasing the turnover limitfor eligible companies in linewith the new definition ofMSMEs, Banerjee suggested.

Gaurav Dayal, Partner-Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan,agreed with the position takenby SBI Ecowrap that the MPCmay look to leave the ratesunchanged and not go for fur-ther rate cuts in the upcomingmeeting.

“However, the committeemay yet surprise us by goingwith a nominal rate cut to lendsupport to the government’spush for reviving growth quick-ly post the lifting of lock-down,” he added.

Mandar Pitale,Head, Treasury, SBM BankIndia, said as hinted by one ofthe MPC members in minutesof the previous meeting, thepanel may preserve some spacein future when situation startsreturning to normalcy and thefiscal and monetary boost mea-sures start generating impactsto ease further to encourage thegrowth.

“There is still a smallprobability for a cut in reverserepo rate, acting as signalingrate at present,” Pitale added.

Jyoti Prakash Gadia, man-aging director at ResurgentIndia, was of the opinion thatas per the strategy ahead forthe RBI, the policy stanceshould be accommodativemonetary policy for now,implying the governmentincreases the money supply inthe economy keeping in con-sideration to steps to increaseslowing Indian real GDPgrowth rate.

Shanti Ekambaram, GroupPresident, Consumer Banking,Kotak Mahindra Bank, said theinterest rate cuts have had lit-tle impact on demand stimu-lation or growth.

The COVID-19 pandem-ic is hurting both businessesand consumers alike and theuncertainty around whenthings will normalise has led tolacklustre and muted demandand supply disruptions, shesaid.

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Ashift to being a market-based economy from a

nationalised system has led tosimmering tensions betweenthe Reserve Bank and theGovernment and questionsover the central bank’s inde-pendence, former RBI deputygovernor Viral Acharya hassaid.

The economist, who wentback to teaching in the US afterhis surprise resignation fromthe RBI ahead of his term’s endlast year, said India continuesto be in his heart and he wouldlike to “give back” to the coun-try in the future as well.

Acharya, who resignedafter run-ins with theGovernment last year, said thedip in financial savings is alsoanother reason which canexplain the disagreementsbetween Mint Road and NorthBlock.

It can be noted that a slewof central bank governors inrecent times have flagged theissue of autonomy, and point-ed to instances where therewere disagreements both in ratesetting – where the governmentwants an accommodatorystance – and also regulatoryaspects.

“Over discussions with for-

mer governors and deputy gov-ernors, I seem to have foundone explanation for why Ithink these pressures are nowsort of simmering more. Ithink it is because we havemoved from being a nation-alised economy to a marketeconomy,” Acharya said duringa discussion organised byBhavan’s SPJIMR.

Citing former Governor YV Reddy, Acharya said in theolden days, there was thecentral government, the RBIand the public sector banksmade for a “Hindu undivid-ed family arrangement”,wherein all the requirementsof the stakeholders were eas-ily handled.

“This Hindu undividedfamily arrangement isn’t whatthe economy is about any-more. There are markets, pri-

vate sector firms are borrowingboth domestically and inter-nationally,” Acharya said.

Apart from the shift in thecharacter of the economy, thereis also a dip in the financial sav-ings of the countrymen in thelast decade which makesresources scarcer, he said.

“Growth is slowing, thefiscal (math) is becoming over-stretched rather than consoli-dating, and the household sav-ings rates are coming down,” heexplained.

“This is creating pressuresin the same arrangement thatwe had before because thegovernment needs to borrow,reduce its bills in one way orthe other and everyone wantsto turn to the central bank toaccommodate whatever poli-cies it can so that in one way orthe other,” Acharya said.

Acharya said in his newlylaunched book on financialstability, he has given nearlyhalf a dozen specific examplesof “fiscal dominance” to illus-trate that pressures are “verypervasive and across board”.

It can be noted that at thepeak of difference between theGovernment and the RBI,which started with the formerinvoking a never-used law togive directions to the latter,Acharya had made the “wrathof the markets” speech, warn-ing that the markets will pun-ish if the Government inter-feres in the central bank.

A little over a month afterthe speech, Governor UrjitPatel resigned, which was fol-lowed with a similar move byAcharya. Both Patel and

Acharya launched theirbooks last month, and the lat-ter said RBI lost its governor at“the altar of financial stability”.

Meanwhile, when asked ifhe will return to India, Acharyasaid he is back to spending timewith his family in the US rightnow but would like to give backto the country in the future aswell. “...If the right opportuni-ty comes, India will always beand is always inside my heartand (I) would like to give back.I still think I have something togive back,” he said.

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Telecom industry bodyCOAI expects supportive

policy framework and ecosys-tem to being in new technolo-gies in India as it looks towardsjourney for the next 25 years inthe country, a top official of thebody said.

COAI’s newly-appoint-ed Director General S PKochhar told PTI starting fromscratch 25 years ago the Indiantelecom sector is the second

largest growing market global-ly after China with a huge sub-scriber base of over 120 croreserving them with the cheap-est tariffs in the world.

Ever since the first mobilecall, made on July 31, 1995,telecom service providers havealways come through in diffi-cult situations.

Keeping the citizens con-nected, the nation’s economybuzzing, governments func-tioning and the networks run-ning.

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IRB Infrastructure DevelopersLtd on Sunday said it has

received award letter fromNHAI for executing a stretch ofVadodara-Mumbai Expresswayat a cost of �1,755 crore.

With this award, the com-pany’s order book now standsat �13,755 crore. “IRBInfrastructure Developers Ltd,India’s largest highways infra-structure developers, hasreceived a Letter of Award(LoA) from the NationalHighways Authority of India(NHAI) for 27.5-km longGandeva–Ena section of theupcoming greenfield project of

eight lane Vadodara-MumbaiExpressway,” the company saidin a regulatory filing. “We arehappy to receive the LoA fromNHAI; the second one for thestretch on prestigiousVadodara-Mumbai Expresswayproject under BharatmalaPariyojana,” IRB InfraChairman and ManagingDirector Virendra D Mhaiskarsaid.This will enable the com-pany to initiate further neces-sary actions to sign the con-cession agreement as well asachieving financial closure forthe project so as to receiveappointed date and commenceconstruction activity, he added.

“It is a testimony to IRB’s

capabilities, domain expertise,strict financial disciplinedemonstrated over the last twodecades in developing world-class highways infrastructureacross the nation.

We would continue to excelin our operations and wouldendeavour to complete theproject in stipulated time span,”Mhaiskar said. Last week, thecompany had emerged as thepreferred bidder for the saidproject, under hybrid annuitymode (HAM) with a bid cost of� 1,755 crore, having conces-sion period of 15 years, includ-ing 730 days of constructionperiod.

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National AgriculturalCooperative Marketing

Federation of India (Nafed) onSunday said it has procured95,000 tonnes of onion direct-ly from farmers at prevailingrates for creating a buffer stockon behalf of the Government.

Last year, Nafed hadpurchased a total of 57,000tonnes of onion from the 2018-19 Rabi (winter) crop under thePrice Stabilisation Fund (PSF).The target this time is to buy 1lakh tonnes of key kitchen sta-ple from the major producingstates.

“We have procured 95,000tonnes of onion so far for thebuffer stock. We will completethe target of 1 lakh tonne in the

next 2-3 days,” NafedAdditional Managing DirectorSK Singh told PTI. Onionsgrown in the Rabi (winter) cropcan be stored and have a longshelf life when compared to theone grown in the Kharif season.

The Rabi onions havebeen procured largely fromMaharashtra, Madhya Pradeshand Gujarat through farmers

producers organisation (FPO)and cooperative societies aswell direct purchase centres, hesaid.

Singh also said, “Onionshave been procured at an aver-age loose price of �10-11 perkg.” The cooperative has addedits own operational storagecapacity for onions inMaharashtra and Madhya

Pradesh by 30,000 tonne, withthe support of StateGovernments.

Last month, Nafed hadapproached State Governmentsto send their requirements oflean months in advance toensure timely evacuation of thestored onion in a plannedmanner to have a salutaryeffect on retail prices, whichtend to go up in the period lateAugust to November.

This will help in cut-ting the storage losses, as longduration of storage entailshigher storage loss to the extentof 35 per cent, which getscompounded due to adverseweather conditions, as report-ed last year. Besides onion,Nafed is procuring pulses forbuffer stock.

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It’s good to see how individuals havefinally started believing in ‘what youload on your body really impacts

your well-being’. With the increasingconsciousness about body positivityand self-care, the idea behind the beau-ty and personal care industry is under-going a paradigm shift. It now acknowl-edges that mindfulness and considera-tion towards consumer wellness mustgain precedence over the look factor.This has fuelled a subsidiary start-upempire dedicated to holistic health andgrooming.

Breaking out of societal stan-dards: A positive change in consumerbehaviour

So far, both men and women havebeen conforming to certain set stan-dards. Dipali Mathur Dayal, co-founderof Super Smelly, says, “For decades,these standards have been dictating theideal way men and women should lookand carry themselves. Truth be told,there is no ‘ideal’ body type.”Fortunately, people are realising thatbeauty lies in loving your skin, beingperfect in your imperfections and tak-ing care of your health more than any-thing else. “Young customers no longerbelieve in the marvel of artificiallyglamorised photographs that makethem look unnaturally beautiful anduncertain about their bodies,” she adds.

“People are becoming aware nowmore than ever and embracing natur-al, organic, and chemical-free productsthat have health benefits. Ayurveda isbeing accepted all around the globe asa healing science. Ayurvedic productsare considered to be the ones that workon the root of the problem rather thancovering it up,” says Parag Kaushik, Co-Founder, Upakarma Ayurveda.

With start-ups becoming torch-bearers of this change, even big brandslike Hindustan Unilever and Johnson &Johnson, which recently abandonedtheir “fairness” label to shed colour prej-udice, followed suit.

How are they leading the change?The new age, aware consumer,

believes in buying toxin-free, cruelty-free, natural and safe products ratherthan picking up anything that doesn’tbenefit the body but harms the planetinstead. Many start-ups have come upwith products that are environment-friendly, clean, vegan, cruelty-free, sus-tainable, toxin-free, and made with all-natural ingredients that have a positiveimpact on your health.

“The start-ups have brought abouta boom in natural and chemical-freeproducts and expanded the interest fornatural and eco-friendly items. In con-trast to synthetic items, natural offeringsaddress further issues and help in cellreinforcement, pigmentation hindranceand antimicrobial action,” says Dipali.

“When you choose Ayurvedic prod-ucts over the market-based ones that arefilled with harmful chemicals, it can sur-prise you by the multiple benefits itexerts. When your body maintains anatural balance, life becomes healthier.It may prevent various health ailments,inflammation, support beautiful skin,may improve concentration and can alsohelp to de-stress the mind in naturalways,” says Parag.

Beauty is no longer just skin deepbut is about a healthy body, innerpeace and sustainability. For personalcare business visionaries, this niche mar-ket is set to develop exponentially.Simply because the urban millennnialsand Gen Z will be powering and drivingit. Many of these brands are alsoemploying green manufacturingprocesses, such as solar power. “The eco-conscious packaging utilises everythingfrom recyclable paper to compostable

corn-based cellophane to help reduceour impact on the planet. And decreasethe carbon footprint,” says Dipali.

Moving away from toxic labelsWhen buying a personal care prod-

uct, it is critical to read the labels. Toxinscan be hidden in the most commonly-used ingredients such as sulfates andparabens, which are cheap preservativesand hence used to prolong shelf life ofthe beauty product that you use. Thesechemicals have various harmful conse-quences on your body, skin and hair andcan lead to permanent damage.Thesynthetic substances make the skin andhair lose their natural oils and leavethem rough and destroyed condition.The continuous use of such toxin-laden products is extremely dangerousto one’s well being.

So it is important to look for labelsthat mention ‘sulfate-free’, ‘paraben-free’ and ‘environment-friendly’.Furthermore, new-age brands are alsoencouraging customers to look forlabels like ‘Australia Certified Toxic Free’,‘Not Tested On Animals’, ‘Made Safe’,IFRA- compliant. These internationalcertifications and tests indicate thatproducts are the safest for use and thebest for your body.

While these certifications are impor-tant for personal care products for allages, when it comes to Gen Z, they needto be even more careful about what theyapply to their body. “Since this is the agewhen the skin undergoes a lot ofchanges due to puberty, hormonalchanges, exposure to dust, dirt, swim-ming pools, playgrounds, toxin-ladenproducts can wreak havoc on their skin,”says Dipali.

We are always just one step awayfrom moving towards a big change andthe start-ups have taken that foot for-ward to facilitate a world that is harmo-nious, sustainable, cruelty-free, natur-al and accommodative.

In keeping with the rapidlychanging times, the Fashion

Design Council of India (FDCI)has embraced new technologies.Thus, the Designer Stockroom,the anticipated sale, is nowonline, in its fourth edition.

Over 100 designers areretailing their collections atupto 70 per cent discount. TheDesign Council has created aone-stop portal for participatingdesigners on its website, wherecustomers will be directed to the“Designer Stockroom” sectionon the designer’s website.

“With the fashion week nothappening this time and theretail stores closed, this was theneed of the hour. Though vari-ous designers prepared them-selves with some available stock,the major issue was the lack ofplatforms to showcase the col-lections. So we thought of doing

something for our members,”said Chairman, FDCI, SunilSethi.

Interestingly, there was noapplication fee or revenue shar-ing for this initiative as the ideawas to get the sales wheelsrolling. “We wanted to have asale where we wouldn’t becharging anything from thedesigners as well as customers.Here what you see is what youget as the designer is able to selldirectly without giving any per-centage to the middlemen,”Sethi added.

The basic idea is to get thedesigners going. He furthershared that in the first threehours, almost 30,000 peoplehad overviewed the products.And, by the very next day, thenumbers increased to 50,000.

After tracking the buyers’pattern, it was seen that most ofthe sales were from the afford-able and mid price level brack-et. Sethi said, “The customer isvery frugal and wants some-thing worth the price. It seemsthat the market is hungry forIndian fashion designers’ appar-el but only at an affordableprice. So we encourage the con-sumers to come and buy and thedesigners to do better pricing inorder to increase their sales.”

The FDCI is trying to helpthe country’s designers to restartbusiness and give them a plat-form to showcase their collec-

tions. It is planning to host theIndia Couture Week in the dig-ital space later this year. “Therewe want to cater to a higher leveland not only the affordableones. That would be more of aspecific interest. If someone isgetting married or there’s a spe-cial occasion, you have to becareful but you’re not necessar-ily affordable. You are wantingto have the best and look thebest. So the budgets are going tobe enhanced in that case,” addedhe.

The FDCI is also workingon the Designer Showroom,which will be a B2B platform. Itwill connect designers withdomestic and international buy-ers for future collections. Thisbusiness platform will be live forthe forthcoming season, takingthe design council towards adigital transformation.

���������������� ��������������Flight Lieutenant Gunjan Saxena makes history in her journey from

aspiring aviator to India’s first female combat pilot in the Kargil War.Starring Janhvi Kapoor, Pankaj Tripathi and Angad Bedi, the film releas-es on August 12 on Netflix.

��������������������Suspected of heinous crimes, they’ve avoided capture

despite massive rewards and global investigations. A docu-series profiling the world’s most wanted. It releases onAugust 5 on Netflix.

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�������������� �������Twin sisters Sterling and Blair balance teen life at an elite

Southern high school with an unlikely new career as butt-kicking bounty hunters. Starring Anjelica Bette Fellini, MaddiePhillips and Kadeem Hardison, season one releases on August14 on Netflix.

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Rakshabandhan is a special occasion to celebrate theselfless love between a brother and a sister. It’s not

just a festival, but a symbol of our tradition and culturethat keeps us connected with our family sacraments. Theoriginal spirit of this festival lies in two words i.e rak-sha which means to protect and bandhan which meansbonding.

There have been many examples in history. The storyof Rani Karnavati and Emperor Humayun is quite a pop-ular one. When Rani Karnawati, the widowed queen ofthe king of Chittor, realised that she could in no waydefend her kingdom from the invasion of the Sultan ofGujarat, she sent a rakhi to Emperor Humayun. In return,he honored this affectionate thread (rakhi) and at oncesent his troops for her help. Another mythological ref-erence is connected with Lord Krishna and Draupadi.According to the legends, Krishna loved Draupadi somuch that he called her sakhi. Draupadi, too, had a lotof faith on Krishna. During thegreat battle of Mahabharata,Lord Krishna threw a celestialweapon at Shishupala in order topunish him for numerous sins.However, during the act of hurl-ing the Sudharshan Charka fromhis index finger, he hurt himself.On seeing blood drops, Draupadiimmediately rushed to protecthim and she tore off a piece fromher saree and wrapped it aroundhis finger to stop the bleeding.Krishna was touched by her gesture of devotion. He askedher what would she like in return of this favor.Draupadi, like a true sister, just asked for the lord’s holypresence in her life forever. From that moment onwards,Krishna has been with Draupadi like a shadow protect-ing her from every small or big trouble. When theKauravas tried to dishonor Draupadi through cheerharan, she prayed to Krishna continuously. LordKrishna took care of her honour and punished the sin-ners during the battle of Mahabharata.

With the passage of time, this festival has acquireddifferent expressions and connotations. In presenttimes, where glamour is ruling people’s heart and mind,there has been a major change observed in man’s atti-tude and approach towards this festival. As a result ofwhich mutual feelings of love, affection and most impor-tantly piousness has completely disappeared, because ofwhich the current generations are asking questions like— ‘how can one protect somebody just by tying a thread,which is easily breakable?’ ‘Do such rituals or practicesseem practical in today’s modern world?’ Those who areposing these questions must first of all understand thatrakhi is merely not a cotton thread but a sacred oblig-ation to protect modesty.

While tying rakhi on her brother’s hand, a sister doesnot just seek protection for herself only. No. She keepsmuch higher spirit of seeking protection for entire femalecommunity. Along with this, she also prays to god thather beloved brother becomes liberated from vices of lust,anger, greed, attachment and ego, and attains true peaceand happiness in life. Thus, it is important for those so-called modern and practical people to realise that tyingrakhi is just a symbolic gesture. What’s important in thisritual is the feelings of good wishes and prayers thatcomes out from a sister’s heart, which further acts likea shield of protection for her brother. However, one won-ders — are only females in need of protection? We oftenforget our true identity of being an infinitesimal pointof the divine energy i.e a soul. We get entangled in theweb or bondages of five vices — lust, anger, greed, attach-ment and ego — which overpowers and influence us toperform negative actions. In turn which causes sorrowand misery.

So when almighty applies the tilak of soul-conscious-ness on our forehead, we become elevated and divine.We start seeing each other as souls and not body. Thisunlimited vision of brotherhood breaks all barriers ofcaste, creed, gender, religion and superstitions, thereby,purifying our consciousness and making our actions pos-itive to receive his blessings. And stay under the canopyof his protection for eternity. So let’s bind ourselves inthis ‘spiritual bond’ that would liberate us from allbondages and help us to regain our lost sovereignty.

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Global pandemics likeChikungunya, Ebola Virus,SARS, Zika Virus, and now

COVID-19 have shrouded variousparts of the world, leaving them in astate of turmoil. Governments acrossnations have ordered complete lock-down, leaving adults and childrentrapped in their homes. The globaleconomy is experiencing a slumplike never before. The situation, whichis getting beyond control, has pro-foundly affected global businessesand the education sector.

Children and old age people, dueto their low immunity, are mostaffected by the contagious disease. Toprevent the disease from spreadingfurther, the WHO (World HealthOrganisation) advised limiting humanintervention. As a result, schools,universities and coaching classesacross the world have been shut, cre-ating panic and anxiety among par-ents, teachers, students and educators.

The disruption in educationaffected students’ learning, resulting ina loss of their life’s precious time. Theonly option viable for the students andlearners in the wrecked situation wasto switch to online modes. With a mas-sive surge in the number of users, itis the EdTech sector that has managedto face the unsettled economy by pro-viding free access to their learning plat-forms. The situation of havoc is a per-fect time for these EdTech startups toenhance the efficacy of their products

and services. One such solution thathas opened new opportunities forthem is the integration of ArtificialIntelligence or Machine Learningwith their platforms in channelisingremote education.

AI IN EDUCATION: A BOON INDISGUISE

India, the second-largest countryin terms of population, immensely lagsin the number of education specialistsavailable. The best solution to this ismoving proactively towards remotelearning. One of the government ini-tiatives taken in this direction is theSWAYAM (Study Webs of Active-Learning for Young Aspiring Minds),which makes learning material acces-sible for teachers as well as studentsusing cloud computing.

The integration of AI by e-learn-ing platforms to their core productsand services enables customisation ofthe entire learning experience as wellas saves a lot of time. A perfect collab-oration between AI and e-learningproducts expands the users’ rate ofengagement by making the online ses-sions much more interactive.

AI plays a significant role in pro-viding teachers and tutors more timeto monitor how individual students areusing the concepts. The involvementof modern devices makes learningmuch more personalised by cus-tomising the content for each student,depending on their skills and capabil-

ities, even in times of remote learning.Though remote learning seems to

be attractive in times like these, itappears that organising the learningprocesses is difficult in a remotelearning scenario. This is where AI orML comes into play too. Managingand coordinating the curriculum withthe help of artificial intelligence is amuch more comfortable and advancedsolution. Effective management ofthe learning process makes theseremote learning sessions engagingand enjoyable for both the teachers aswell as the students.

Incorporation of machine learn-ing to education helps in better analy-sis of a student’s capabilities and per-formance. There are smart pro-grammes that analyse a student’sstrengths and weaknesses, predictingtheir future performance. This, in turn,enables teachers to make a studyplan focusing on the weaker areas ofa student, which is not possible in thetraditional classroom structure ofeducation.

The problem of biased gradingsystem is also solved with the success-ful integration of AI to education whenimparted remotely. This increases thetrust in the education system as theprejudice of teachers towards a specif-ic student no longer affects the scoreof those deserving.

The entire process of impartingeducation, assessment and evaluationof student’s performance, setting of

tests and exam papers and tracking theperformance of each student becomessimple and less time-consuming. Inturn, teachers and educators are leftwith more time to focus on improv-ing the teaching quality and aptitudedevelopment. AI and remote learning,though, have emerged as a solution tothe current situation, have a long wayto go in the future.

WITH OPPORTUNITIES COMECHALLENGES

Remote learning and integrationof AI in the Indian education systemhave emerged as a profitable solutionin a tough time like these. But withevery opportunity, what comes alongis a set of challenges that need to bemet for its proper implementation.Remote learning seems to be a lucra-tive solution, which again leaves usquestioning whether it is possible ona large scale or not. A significant chunkof the students comes from an areawhere internet connectivity is anissue. Though the mobile penetrationin the country has increased, whatremains to be a challenge is the digi-tal divide prevailing in Indian society.Limited data usage, unavailability oflaptops and tablets, lack of access todigital resources, and e-libraries aresome primary hurdles that need to beresolved before remote learningbecomes the norm.

(The author is the co-founder andCEO of Next Education India Pvt Ltd.)

Barack Obama once said,“You know, we’re in a sports

centre. Imagine if you have ateam and you don’t let half of theteam play. That makes no sense.Isn’t it?” Similarly, the commu-nities that don’t give theirdaughters the same opportuni-ties as their sons, they are mostlikely to lag behind. No countrycan ever truly flourish if it sti-fles the potential of its womenand deprives itself of the contri-butions of half of its citizens.Well, the mere reason could bethe saying — if you educate aman, you educate an individual.But if you educate a woman, youeducate a nation.

Even though India is emerg-ing as a superpower, educatinggirls still continues to be a prob-lem in various parts of thecountry. Right from being bornas a girl, poor sanitation, lack offunding, early marriages to liv-ing in war zones and border ten-sions, there are innumerablereasons for a girl child beingdeprived of their basic right toeducation. However, despite allthese barriers, there are a fewexamples of student activists,who chose to put all the difficul-ties behind them in order tomove towards the path of suc-cess.

One such great example canbe of a young Pakistani educa-tion advocate, Malala Yousafzai,who began speaking out forgirls’ education at the age of 11in her native Pakistan. After sur-viving an assassination attemptby the Taliban in 2012, she co-founded the Malala Fund alongwith her father Ziauddin tochampion every girl’s right to 12years of free, safe and qualityeducation.

Asiya Firdous of Chitral vil-lage in Mendhar Tehsil ofPoonch district, Jammu andKashmir, is among other fewexamples of our country, whochose to fight against all odds to

brighten her future. Where,even today, families are skepti-cal about giving birth to a girl,she dared to dream of achievinga higher position. “I didn’t knowthat the path of my education-

al life would be full of thorns,”she said.

After completing her school,there was no easy way for Asiyato complete her higher educa-tion but she remained dedicat-

ed. “I passed the Class XIIexamination from the school inmy village. After that, when Idecided to further continue myacademics, it was very unlikelyto get permission from my fam-ily. But somehow, I still managedto convince them. Afterenrolling myself in college, lifewas still nowhere close to beingtrouble-free. I had to wait forlong hours in order to get aproper mode of conveyance.Then, the majority on the bususually consisted of men. Theyused to look at me with con-tempt. In spite of facing everykind of harassment on a dailybasis, I continued my educa-tion,” she shared.

We might attribute the lackof girls’ education in India to themale-dominated society.Although the country is makingprogress, the belief that womenbelong in their homes is stillwidely clenched. Undoubtedly,Asiya’s educational journey wasquite a challenge but she was afirm girl, who was committed toachieve something big in her life.She knew the value of educationand was ready to fight despitethe setbacks prevailing in thesociety.

“While I was on the verge ofcompleting my graduation,another wall stood in front ofme in the form of marriage. Istill wanted to pursue my post-graduation degree but my fam-ily got me married. In not-so-developed areas, parents usual-ly see their girls as more valuableto the family as workers andcaretakers. Since the responsibil-ities often increase after mar-riage, I, now, began to imaginethat I would not be able to com-plete my education like other

girls. The Government DegreeCollege in Poonch only offersundergraduate courses. So forcompleting my further studies,I had to either commute toRajouri or Jammu,” said Asiya.

She almost thought that shewould have to sacrifice hercareer because of added dutiesbut all thanks to her in-laws, whovery well understood the impor-tance of education. “Today, I ampursuing my MA in Urdu atBaba Ghulam Shah BadshahUniversity, Rajouri. I am alsoblessed with two children. I justhope that my hard work paysoff,” she said and added thatmany of the evils that thrive inour society affect girls’ education,which is why they have to giveup on their basic right. Butremember, success comes tothose who are willing to investin their future without anyexcuses.”

It is unfortunate that Poonchdistrict has long been neglectedby the leaders. Millions of girlsare being deprived of educationbecause they are exploited, dis-criminated against or simplyignored. Like Asiya, there aremany girls from different areasof Poonch, who have their sto-ries of struggle and success toshare but their stories, like theirvillages, are tucked away in themighty mountains.

Now the question is — canthe new education policy be agame changer for such locationsand the girls living there, who aredenied even the basic right toeducation? Let’s hope for thebest.

(This article is written underthe Sanjay Ghosh MediaFellowship.)

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Opener Jonny Bairstowsmashed 82 off 41 balls as

England beat Ireland by fourwickets in the second one-dayinternational to take an unassail-able 2-0 series lead.

England overcame a middle-order wobble to finish on 216-6 in32.3 overs in reply to Ireland's 212-9 at the Rose Bowl on Saturday.

After Adil Rashid had taken3-34 to reach 150 ODI wickets,Bairstow equaled the record forthe fastest 50 in this format by anEnglishman off 21 balls.

Bairstow, Eoin Morgan andMoeen Ali were dismissed asEngland lurched from 131-3 to137-6, before an unbroken 79-runstand between Sam Billings andDavid Willey helped the hosts totheir target with more than 17overs to spare.

The pair had been the stand-out performers in Thursday'sopener and came to the rescuehere, Billings finishing on 46 notout while Willey followed up his2-48 with an unbeaten 47 in theevening sunshine.

Earlier, Ireland overcameanother poor start after winningthe toss and being reduced to 91-6 before Curtis Campher led therecovery. Campher, in only his

second ODI, scored an 87-ball 68 with eight foursbefore being dismissed byseamer Saqib Mahmood (2-45).

Campher shared twokey partnerships late in theinnings - a seventh-wicket60-run stand with SimiSingh (25) and 56 runs forthe eighth wicket with AndyMcBrine (24).

Players again took aknee to support Black LivesMatter before the game.

The three-match series,which is being played withno fans present, marks thestart of the ICC CricketWorld Cup Super League.

The third ODI is onTuesday.

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Nick Kyrgios has withdrawn from the US Openbecause of concerns over the coronavirus and

in honor of the “hundreds and thousands ofAmericans” who have died from COVID-19.

Kyrgios said in an Instagram post on Sundaythat he had no problem with the United StatesTennis Association proceeding with its plans tohold the tournament from August 31 toSeptember 13.

But he cited health and safety concerns amidthe coronavirus pandemic as he joined fellowAustralian and world No. 1 Ash Barty in optingout of the Flushing Meadows Grand Slam tour-nament.

“I will not be playing this year at the US Open.It hurts me at my core not to be out there com-peting in one of the sport’s greatest arenas, ArthurAshe Stadium,” Kyrgios said in the video.

“But I’m sitting out for the people, for myAussies, for the hundreds and thousands ofAmericans that have lost their lives, for all of you.It’s my decision.”

“We can rebuild our sport and the economy,"Kyrgios adds, “but we can never recover lives lost.”

Kyrgios also criticised players who have con-tinued to play exhibition tournaments in the pastseveral months, chastising them for “dancing ontables, money grabbing your way around Europe,trying to make a quick buck hosting an exhibi-tion.”

There have been a number of exhibitionevents held, the most high-profile one organisedby No. 1-ranked Novak Djokovic. It was held inseveral countries and photographs of spectatorsat the events showed poor social distancing.

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Ajinkya Rahane would want hiswife and daughter to be around

during the IPL in the UAE but mind-ful of the risk it poses amid theCOVID-19 pandemic, he wouldn'thave an issue if the BCCI bars play-ers' families from the event.

The IPL is all set to be played fromSeptember 19 to November 8 in theUAE, a move forced by the risingCOVID-19 cases in India.

Rahane, who has changed base toDelhi Capitals from Rajasthan Royals,said health should be top priority.

“As an individual, you takeCOVID-19 situation aside, you wouldwant your family to travel with you,but because of this situation, safety isimportant, safety of your wife, fami-ly and daughter, obviously safety ofyour teammates is really important,”Rahane told India Today's show‘Inspiration’.

“Right now, I feel first health andthen cricket is really important. Wehad a good 4-5 months with our fam-ily (during the lockdown).”

“As I said, safety of our family,safety of our players and safety of eachand every individual is important. Thedecision is completely up to the fran-chises and the BCCI.

“But as I said, there is still coro-na around, you got to think about eachand every individual, think about your

family especially about my wife anddaughter. Safety is really important,”he said.

Rahane moved to Delhi Capitalsin the lead up to the upcoming IPLedition and the 32-year-old right-han-der said he is looking forward to work-ing with the “exciting bunch of play-ers” and head coach Ricky Ponting.

“I am really excited to play forDelhi Capitals. I got an opportunity.Last year when I was playing forHamphsire, Delhi Capitals asked meif I was interested in playing for them.

“I took my time and I thought it'san opportunity for me to learn some-thing new. To take my game forward,to take my T20 game forward,” hesaid.

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Mahendra Singh Dhoni atthis year’s IPL can be a

talking point but the tournamentcannot be a selection trial for theenigmatic former India cap-tain, reckons former pacerAshish Nehra.

Dhoni has retired from Testcricket and has not played forIndia in the limited overs formatsince last year's World Cup,where India ended semifinalists.

His comeback and retire-ment has been a matter ofintense speculation. His much-awaited comeback is expected tobe with Chennau Super Kings atthe upcoming IPL, set to be heldin the UAE from September 19.

“For me, MS Dhoni’s gamenever came down,” Nehra saidon Star Sports’ show ‘CricketConnected’. “He knows how torun the team, he knows how topush youngsters forward and allthese things I don’t need torepeat again and again but I don’tthink this IPL makes any differ-ence in MS Dhoni’s stature or hisaura as a player,” added the 41-year-old Nehra, who played 17Tests and 120 ODIs.

“I don’t think a tournamentlike the IPL should be MS

Dhoni’s selection criteria, it'sprobably just a talking point,"

“As far as MS Dhoni’s inter-national career I don’t think thisIPL has anything to do with it.If you’re a selector, you’re a cap-tain, you’re a coach and MSDhoni...If he is ready to play, hewill be my number one name onthe list,” he said.

The former left-arm pacersaid players will have to behaveresponsibly during the IPL toavoid protocol breaches likethat by England’s Jofra Archerduring the recently concludedEngland-West Indies series.

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BCCI president Sourav Ganguly on Sunday saidthe Women’s IPL or the Challenger series, as it

is better known, is “very much on”, ending specu-lation about the parent body not having a plan forHarmanpreet Kaur and her team.

The men’s IPL will be held between September19 and November 8 or 10 (final date yet to be lockedin) in the UAE due to the surge in COVID-19 casesin India. The women’s IPL will also be fit in to theschedule, according to the BCCI chief.

“I can confirm to you that the women’s IPL isvery much on and we do have a plan in place forthe national team also," Ganguly told PTI ahead ofthe IPL Governing Council meeting later onSunday.

The BCCI president, who is awaiting a SupremeCourt verdict on waiver of the cooling off periodto continue in the position, did not divulge detailsbut another senior official privy to the developmentsaid that women’s Challenger will be held during thelast phase of IPL like last year.

“The women’s Challenger series is likely to beheld between November 1-10 and there could be acamp before that,” the source said.

The former India captain also said that the cen-trally contracted women players will have a campwhich has been delayed due to the prevailing situ-ation in the country.

“We couldn’t have exposed any of our cricketers— be it male or female to health risk. It would havebeen dangerous,” Ganguly said.

“The NCA also remained shut because ofCOVID-19. But we have a plan in place and we willhave a camp for women, I can tell you that,” headded.

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Helped by a rule change thatled to more penalty kicks,

Ciro Immobile matched therecord for goals in a Serie A sea-son with 36.

In his last match of the sea-son, Immobile finished off anexchange with Adam Marušicwith one touch midway throughthe first half of a 3-1 loss atNapoli on Saturday.

Current Juventus strikerGonzalo Higuaín also scored 36in 2015-16 while with Napoli,improving by one goal on theprevious mark set by GunnarNordhal 66 years earlier.

However, while Higuaínscored only three of his goals in2015-16 with penalties,Immobile had 14 penalties thisseason - around 40 percent of histotal goals. Cristiano Ronaldo,who finished second on this sea-son’s scoring list with 31 tomatch Juventus’ club record,had 12 penalties.

The plethora of penaltieswas a product of a rule callingfor involuntary handballs to bewhistled as fouls. The rule isexpected to be revised for nextseason.

Immobile also sealed thisseason's European Golden Shoeaward. Fabián Ruiz, LorenzoInsigne and Matteo Politanoscored for Napoli.

The loss saw Lazio finish infourth place - having trailedleader Juventus by just one pointentering the break for the coro-navirus pandemic.

����������Inter Milan sealed second

place with a 2-0 win over high-scoring Atalanta, which hadn'tbeen held to a clean sheet sinceNovember.

Danilo D'Ambrosio scoredwith a header and Ashley Youngfound the target from outside

the area in the opening 20 min-utes.

Inter finished the season onepoint behind Juventus, whichsealed its record-extending ninthstraight title last weekend.Atalanta finished third for thesecond straight season, fourpoints behind Inter.

������������Cristiano Ronaldo and

Juventus strike partner PauloDybala were rested in a 3-1home loss to Roma.

After Higuaín’s opener,Roma struck back with a goalfrom Nikola Kalinic and twofrom Diego Perotti.

Still, it was a celebratorynight for Juventus, whichreceived the Serie A trophyafter the game inside the emptyAllianz Stadium.

D������ ��%�Despite playing only half the

season, Zlatan Ibrahimovicbecame the oldest player toscore 10 or more goals in a sin-gle Serie A season.

At age 38, Ibrahimovicplayed a role in all three of ACMilan’s goals in a 3-0 win overCagliari, including a powerfulshot of his own that made it 2-0.

Ibrahimovic also used hisstrength to hold off a defenderand enable Rafael Leão to shootfrom a sharp angle. The ballbounced off the post andrebounded off Ragnar Klavanfor an own-goal. For Milan’s finalgoal, Ibrahimovic set up SamuCastillejo.

Also, Sampdoria drew 1-1 atalready-relegated Brescia.

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The only time Pierre-Emerick Aubameyanglooked uncertain was

when it came to collecting theFA Cup.

Two goals from the forwardhad turned around the final forArsenal, sealing a 2-1 victoryover Chelsea on Saturday in thefirst cup final to be staged with-out fans.

The coronavirus restric-tions also meant there was noPrince William at WembleyStadium to hand over the silver-ware in the royal box.

So Aubameyang had to pickup the cup himself on the fieldas captain. Taking the base aswell, no wonder Aubameyangdropped it.

“I saw him walking with thebottom bit attached," Arsenaldefender Rob Holding said,“and I was like, 'You need to takethat off!'”

The cup was soon raisedaloft, with gold streamer show-ering the Arsenal squad in amostly-empty 90,000-capacitystadium after the 139th final ofthe world's oldest football com-petition.

“He needs more experiencewith trophies, we can get himmore used to that,” Arsenalmanager Mikel Arteta said.

“He knows what I thinkabout him. I want to build thesquad around him. I think hewants to stay and it is just aboutgetting the deal done.”

That is no certainty, withAubameyang yet to commit tostaying beyond the end of his

contract next year.“I am really not thinking

about this,” he said.Winning the record-extend-

ing 14th FA Cup does at leastgive Arsenal a spot in the EuropaLeague, after missing out onqualifying through the PremierLeague after an eighth-placefinish.

“The journey has beenlong,” Aubameyang said. “Buttoday we enjoy it.”

A competition that beganon August 9, 2019, featuringteams from ninth and 10thtiers, ended later than it had everdone before - two months afterthe final was scheduled.

Never before had the FACup final been staged in August.And never before without fans.

When the team busesarrived, just one man in anArsenal supporter was singingby the entrance.

Inside the stadium, not eventhe traditional cup final anthem- “Abide With Me” - was sunglive. Instead a pre-recorded ver-sion was played out, dedicatedto the victims of COVID-19 andracial injustice and performed byEmeli Sande on the stadiumroof.

“Love Justice Unity”appeared on the big screen onthe stadium exterior that looksdown Wembley Way where theonly crowds were heading intothe shopping mall.

Supporters were still heardinside Wembley before kickoffwhen an amalgamation of men-

tal health conversations filled thesilence at this final named afterthe Heads Up initiative spear-headed by Prince William, theFA president.

Not even the second-in-line to the British throne couldsecure a ticket to Wembley withthe capacity limited to a fewhundred, including players, clubexecutives, media and medics.Instead the prince held a view-ing party on the lawn ofSandringham House.

“I’m thinking 2-1 Arsenal,”he said before the match. Howright he was. Chelsea's celebra-tions were short-lived.

It had been the dream startfor Christian Pulisic, who hasbeen a revelation since thethree-month shutdown of foot-

ball ended in June.Set up by Olivier Giroud's

back-heeled flick, Pulisic slottedin from close range after fiveminutes for his 11th goal in allcompetitions. The Americanemulated compatriot CarliLloyd, who netted in theWomen’s FA Cup final in 2017for Manchester City.

While Lloyd got to pick upthe trophy after a 4-1 victoryover Birmingham, this show-piece ended in agony for Pulisic.

Pulisic pulled up a minuteinto the second half with ahamstring injury, shouting inpain. He managed a shot beforegoing down clutching his rightknee. He had to be helped off thepitch, with support either sidewhile he grimaced.

������ 6 684

Asian Games Gold medalistBajrang Punia is confi-

dent of Indian wrestlers per-forming well and winningmedals at the Tokyo Olympicsnext year.

The star grappler believesIndia’s performances at theWorld Championship showsthey are in good form.

“I think we will win threeto four medals from wrestlingin the Tokyo Olympics. TheWorld Championship is atougher tournament than theOlympics but we performedwell there. So I think Indianwrestlers are in top form whichmakes them strong contendersfor a medal haul in Tokyo,”Punia said during the 17thepisode of budding interna-tional paddler Mudit Dani’sonline live chat show 'In TheSportlight’ on Saturday night.

The Olympic Games,which were initially sched-uled to take place in 2020, havebeen postponed by a year dueto the COVID-19 pandemic.Along with Punia (Bronze,65kg), Deepak Punia (Silver,86kg), Vinesh Phogat (Bronze,53kg) and Ravi Kumar Dahiya(Bronze, 57kg) also wonmedals at the 2019 WorldWrestling Championship in

Kazakhstan and secured anOlympic berth in the process.

During a freewheeling chatwith Dani, 26-year-old Puniasaid he would have lived a nor-mal village life if he had notpursued wrestling. He alsorated his first WorldChampionship medal as the

most memorable accolade ofhis career so far. The Haryanaboy had an impressive outingat the 2013 WorldChampionship where he wonbronze at the age of 19.

The online live Instagramchat series ‘In The Sportlight’,that 21-year-old Dani has

begun with the sole purpose ofdelivering inspiration to otheryoung athletes and fans, hasseen champion athletes likeAbhinav Bindra, Leander Paes,PV Sindhu, SathiyanGnanasekaran and UnionSports Minister Kiren Rijijuparticipate, among others.

Talking about the compe-tition in his current weight cat-egory 65kg, Punia said: “I feel65kg is the toughest categoryin the world. There is nowrestler who has successivelywon world championship titlesor Olympic gold medals. Thereis always a new champion inevery edition. There are strongwrestlers in this category whocan beat anyone on their day.”

The grappler furtherpraised government and sportsfederations for organisingevents such as Khelo India. Ithas provided a much-neededplatform for young athletes toshowcase their talent.

“The way we have beenorganising events at the grass-root level such as Khelo India,a lot of youngsters are gettingmuch-needed support from itwhich was not there earlier.And if they keep getting thiskind of support, not only inwrestling, India will winmedals in every sport at theOlympics,” he concluded.

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England captain Eoin Morganhailed the depth in his squad

after they beat Ireland by fourwickets at the Ageas Bowl inSouthampton to claim a 2-0 leadin the three-match series. Englandare playing with a side that hasnone of the players from the Testteam that played the West Indies

in a three-Test series in July.“We have a lot of guys who

can change the match with the batat the top of the order, they havethe potential. These guys take thegame away from the opposition,”said Morgan in the post-matchpresentation ceremony.

“I was going to bat at 4 andthen we changed it. I am morethan happy to give guys opportu-

nities. It’s difficult with two bub-bles, obviously Test match is pri-ority. We are trying to fit the bestXI in the white ball format.”

“Today was a challenge butwe always wanted to play withintent. We lost wickets but cer-tainly looking at the way the guysplayed, particularly Jonny at thestart and then Sam and David fin-ished well,” said Morgan.

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Bajrang tips wrestlers to win 3-4 medals at Olympics

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