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  •  · 2 days ago · India’s total Covid-19 active caseload has reached 2.10 ... University Vice...
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C hief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday roared back at the BJP warning her political rivals that an injured tigress was more dangerous than the one in the woods. Mamata led a roadshow to commemorate the Nandigram Day that eventually catapulted her to power. On March 14, 2007, 14 anti-land acquisition protesters were killed in a police firing at Nandigram. Riding a wheel-chair, the Chief Minister took part in the road- show at the end of which she said, “I am out in the public with a broken leg and go on campaigning in this condition on a wheel chair… but I must remind one and all that an injured tigress is more danger- ous than the one in the forests.” “Bhanga pa niyei khela hobe … khela hobe, jeta hobe (the game will be played with broken legs … there will be a game and victory will be ours),” Mamata said. The Chief Minister, who led the 5-km roadshow from Mayo Road to Hazra More near her residence, said, “We will continue to fight boldly. I’m still in a lot of pain, but I feel the pain of my people even more,” adding “people advised me rest but “if I go for bed rest, who will reach out to people... We have suffered a lot and will suffer more but we will never bow down to cowardice … we will never let Bengal be taken by the outsiders.” Mamata who left for Durgapur on Sunday noon, will attend at least five back-to-back rallies at Purulia and Bankura — all on wheelchair. Meanwhile, Home Minister Amit Shah held a colourful roadshow here in West Midnapore district on Sunday as he sought to bolster the BJP’s campaign in West Bengal ahead of the Assembly elections. The roadshow, which com- menced at the local BJP office, ‘’Premhari Bhavan’’, and con- cluded at Malancha petrol pump in the town, covering a distance of nearly one kilome- ter. Shah was accompanied by BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya and party State president Dilip Ghosh. Thousands of supporters took part in the rally, which began after sundown, as resi- dents stood on balconies and rooftops to witness the show. Shah waved at the specta- tors and showered rose petals on the participants of the road- show, as the saffron party can- didate for Kharagpur Sadar constituency Hiran Chatterjee, who is also a film star, stood by his side. A mid concern that India is all set to witness the sec- ond phase of coronavirus, the country showed a steep rise in Covid-19 cases and deaths in the past 24 hours with 25,320 new infections and 161 deaths. The infection level in the country is back to last year’s December as it has soared to 1.85 per cent from 1.55 per cent in a short interval. “The fresh cases of coro- navirus in the last 24 hours are the highest daily rise in almost three months — taking the total tally to over 1.13 crore cases while the death count has increased to 1,58,607 on Sunday with 161 new fatalities, the highest in 44 days,” said the Union Health Ministry. However, 67 per cent of the cases were recorded from two States only. Maharashtra has reported 15,602 cases in the last 24 hours whereas Punjab recorded its highest single-day tally of this year with 1,515 new cases of Covid- 19. As the number of Covid- 19 cases is rising across the country, the Centre has sound- ed a word of caution for States which are not yet seeing a surge but are at the threshold. Niti Aayog (Health) mem- ber VK Paul had recently said the situation of Maharashtra is worrying as part of the State is going back to strict lockdown. However, he shared his concerns for other States as well like Kerala, Punjab, Karnataka, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh which are showing an upsurge in the daily new Covid-19 cases and have accounted for 87.73 per cent of the new instances of the disease report- ed in a day, the Union Health Ministry said on Sunday. India’s total Covid-19 active caseload has reached 2.10 lakh, the Ministry said. The total number of recoveries in the country has surged to 1,09,89,897 with 16,637 people recuperating from the disease in a day. The Ministry said 83.13 per cent of the new recovered cases are observed to be concentrated in six States. Maharashtra has reported a maximum number of 7,467 single-day recoveries. The Ministry said 161 deaths were reported in a day. M etroman E Sreedharan will make his electoral debut from Palakkad in the April 6 Assembly polls, while BJP State president K Surendran will con- test from two constituencies, including Konni, the epicentre of the Sabarimala stir in 2018. The BJP, which will be contest- ing in 115 of the 140 con- stituencies, released its candi- dates list for 112 seats in New Delhi on Sunday. Twenty five seats have been given to its four NDA allies — BDJS (Bharath Dharma Jana Sena), AIADMK, Janadhipathya Rashtriya Sabha (JRS) and Kamaraj Congress, party general secretary Arun Singh told the media in Delhi. “Metroman” Sreedharan had joined the BJP recently. Two film actors — Suresh Gopi (Thrissur), who is a Rajya Sabha MP and Krishnakumar (Thiruvananthapuram central) are also in the fray. Former Union Minister K J Alphons will try his luck from Kanjirapallyand former DGP Jacob Thomas from Irinjalakuda. Firebrand BJP leader Surendran,who had led the Sabarimala agitation in 2018 against entry ofwomen of all ages to the Lord Ayyappa tem- ple following the Supreme Court verdict, has been fielded from Manjeshwaram in Kasaragod district and Konni in Pathanamthitta district. He had unsuccessfully contested the 2016 assembly polls from Manjeshwaram and had lost by a meagre 89 votes. Former Mizoram Governor Kummanam Rajashekharan has been fielded from Nemom, the lone seat won by the BJP in the 2016 assembly polls when for- mer Union minister O Rajagopal was elected. Senior leaders C K Padmanabhan will take on Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan at Dharmadam in Kannur, while P K Krishnadas will battle it out at Kattakada in Thiruvananthapuram. Well knownacademi- cianand retired Calicut University Vice Chancellor Dr Abdul Salam has been fielded from Tirur and Manikuttan, the first tribal engineer,will be in the fray from Mananthavady (reserved) seat. The saffron party, which has fielded 12 women candidates, has not given a seat tosenior leader Shobha Surendran.Rajashekharan, a for- mer BJP state president, told reporters here that people in Kerala are yearning for a change from the alternate governments being formed over the years by the CPI(M) led LDF and Congress led UDF. R ashtriya Lok Samta Party (RLSP) of Upendra Kushwaha which had quit the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) before the Bihar Assembly polls on Sunday merged itself with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s ruling Janata Dal (United). The development is seen as Kumar’s attempt to fortify his position against ally BJP, which enjoys numerical superiority in the State Assembly. The merger took place at the JD(U) State headquarters in Patna where the Chief Minister welcomed Kushwaha, a former Union Minister, by presenting him with a bou- quet. Soon after he was induct- ed into the JD(U), Kumar announced Kushwaha’s appointment as the national parliamentary board presi- dent “with immediate effect”. Top JD(U) leaders like Rajeev Ranjan Singh alias Lalan, Sanjay Kumar Jha, and Vashisth Narayan Singh and key office bearers of the now- dissolved RLSP like Madhaw Anand and Fazl Imam Mallick were also present. I n a landslide of unprece- dented scale that is now being described as “Jagan Wash”, the ruling YSR Congress in Andhra Pradesh on Sunday swept the elections to the urban local bodies, lit- erally burying the main Opposition Telugu Desam in 75 municipalities and 11 municipal corporations. The humiliation for the TDP was such that it could cross the double digit in only five ULBs while other oppo- sition parties BJP and JSP made little gains. The Congress was nowhere in the picture. The YSRC attributed the resounding victory to the faith people reposed in the leadership of Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, who “lives up to his promises” and implemented a welfare agenda in the last 22 months. The ruling party also claimed the verdict was an endorse- ment of the Government’s decision to have three differ- ent capitals for the State. TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu, in a tweet, told his party rank and file there was “nothing to be disappointed” with the results. “We fought well despite rowdyism, threats, intimidation, abuse of power and inducements,” he claimed. Sadly for the TDP, it failed to make a mark in either Vijayawada or Guntur munic- ipal corporations, which form part of the current capital region Amaravati.It is here that people have been oppos- ing the capital trifurcation plan. It did relatively better in Visakhapatnam, which the government wanted to make the Executive Capital, but it would be the YSRC that would be ruling the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation.The TDP has hopes of capturing only one municipality, Tadipatri in Anantapuramu district, with the backing of ally CPI and an indepen- dent.It will be the YSRC’s rule in 74 other municipalities across the three regions of the state. In Mydukuru in Kadapa district, the TDP won 12, the YSRC 11 wards and the Jana Sena one in the 24-member council but ex-officio votes (of legislators) would tilt the balance in the ruling partys favour, helping it to bag the chairmans post. Eleven out of the 12 municipal corporations have also fallen in the YSRCs kitty.Counting of votes in Eluru Municipal Corporation has not been taken up because of an order of the High Court.According to the latest information revealed by sources in the State Election Commission, the YSRC bagged 1,754 out of the 2,122 wards in 75 municipalities. The TDP won 270, BJP eight, Jana Sena 19, Independents and others 71.Detailed results of munic- ipal corporations were yet to come in as counting was con- tinuing in some of them, the sources said. In the last elections to the ULBs held in 2014, the TDP had won five out of seven municipal corporations and the YSRC two.Of the 92 municipalities, TDP bagged 70, YSRC 18, Congress and CPI one each and others two. M umbai police officer Sachin Waze, arrested in the probe into recovery of explosives from a car near industrialist Mukesh Ambani’s residence on February 25, was on Sunday remanded to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) custody till March 25. The NIA, which arrested Waze (49) on Saturday night, brought him to the court in south Mumbai after taking him to a local hospital for his medical examination, an offi- cial said. The court remanded him to the Central agency’s custody for further probe in the matter, he said. In its remand plea, the NIA submitted wit- nesses’ statements to show Waze’s involvement in the case. Detailed report on P5 F our days after Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was injured while campaigning at Nandigram, the Election Commission of India on Sunday removed the District Magistrate of East Midnapore and sus- pended the district SP and the director in charge of her secu- rity. Also, the EC on Sunday concurred with reports from its two poll observers that there was no pre-meditated attack on Mamata in Nandigram, indi- cating that her injuries were the result of a security lapse. Not only this, the Commission has also directed State Chief Secretary Alapan Bandopadhyay and Director General of Police P Neeraj Nayan to report by 5 pm on March 17, actions taken against the lesser officials in charge of the Chief Minister’s security on the said day. Taking serious cognisance of the Wednesday incident which saw serious lapses in the securi- ty of the Chief Minister who gets Z-plus security, the EC removed East Midnapore DM Vibhu Goyal. He has been replaced by Smita Pandey who will take charge by Monday morning. The EC also suspended Superintendent of Police, Praveen Prakash for alleged dereliction of duty. He has been replaced by another IPS officer SK Yadav. But the most noticeable action has been taken against Director Security Vivek Sahay, a senior IPS offi- cer, who has been in charge of Mamata’s overall security. Actions have been taken on the basis of reports submitted by the Chief Secretary, DGP Special Election Observer and police observers, sources said. The EC has also directed the State police administration to conduct a thorough enquiry into the role of lesser officials and report action taken against them within two days’ time, sources said. “Vivek Sahay IPS, Director Security shall be removed from the post of the Director Security and be placed under suspension immediately. The charges must be framed against him within a week for grossly failing in discharge of his pri- mary duty as Director Security to protect the Z+ protectee,” the Election Commission said, with an additional remark that the Wednesday’s incident was an accident and not attack. A young Sadhu of Naga cult was severely injured after being manhandled in the Jagannath Temple in Puri on Sunday. The police hospitalised the Sadhu, who was identified as Baisnav Puri, belonging to Niranjan Akhada at Lokannath Road in the city. After eviction of the Naga mutt near the Lions’ Gate last year, the young Sadhu was liv- ing in the Lokanath Road. Interesting is that, Puri was working as a journalist of a television channel and was in charge of events concerning the Jagannath Temple and its close proximity. While Puri is yet to register an FIR against the accused staffers of temple for manhandling him, the police have registered a complaint brought by a JTP of the shrine. Among the charges against the Sadhu, he had breached the Covid norms and was present at the Rohini Kunda to the detriment of the devotees. In the meantime, Puri claimed that he was present near the Rohini Kunda to help the devotees. He said that he just opened the cover of the Rohini Kunda, which was in closed condition earlier, so that the devotees could view it and pay obeisance. He also told that some JTPs and other offi- cials came and started charging him and injuring him badly. T he State registered 71 new Covid-19 positive cases on Sunday in 20 districts and the State pool, with which its total tally increased to 3,38,192. Of the new cases, 43were report- ed from quarantine centres and 28 were local contact cases. Khordha district recorded the day’s highest 11 cases. Besides, two cases were reported from the State pool.Currently, the total active cases in the State stood at 652 and the cumulative samples tested were 86,21,715. However, 91 patients recovered on the day, taking the total positive tally to 3,35,660 in the State. I n view of a resurgence of coronavirus in other parts of country, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Sunday appealed to people of the State to adhere to the Covid proto- col and achieve a “zero infec- tion” target in the battle against the deadly virus. Addressing the State peo- ple, he said, “With your sup- port, the Covid situation is cur- rently under control in Odisha. Even the World Health Organisation (WHO) has praised the State’s initiatives in the fight against coronavirus. Although single-day spike in Covid cases is below 100, zero infection is our target.” “Self-satisfaction is not accepted in case of the disease because the risk is yet to get over,” Patnaik stressed in his video message. He said the Covid situation in some States including Maharashtra, Punjab, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh has been worsened due to a significant rise in infections. In the high-risk State Maharashtra, lockdown has been enforced in some cities. “The lockdown agony is still fresh in our minds. It has severely affected our economy, social life, education and almost all the sectors. Normalcy has returned to the State due to people’s sacrifice and cooperation. Nobody wants lockdown to return. Therefore, the only way to avoid such a situation is ‘awareness’. If we stay alert, a lockdown situation will never arise,” Patnaik said and urged the citizens to continue to fol- low the Covid guidelines strict- ly and achieve the target of zero infection. Stating that the Covid vaccination drive is underway in the State, he sought cooperation from peo- ple in making the massive inoculation programme suc- cessful. Remembering the sacri- fice of Covid warriors of the State, Patnaik said, “We have lost many lives in the battle against coronavirus. The tears rolled down from eyes of kin of deceased persons are not dried up. We will never let their sac- rifice go in vain. Remaining alert is the greatest tribute to Covid warriors.”

 · 2 days ago · India’s total Covid-19 active caseload has reached 2.10 ... University Vice Chancellor Dr Abdul Salam has been fielded from Tirur and Manikuttan, the first tribal

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Page 1:  · 2 days ago · India’s total Covid-19 active caseload has reached 2.10 ... University Vice Chancellor Dr Abdul Salam has been fielded from Tirur and Manikuttan, the first tribal

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Chief Minister MamataBanerjee on Sunday roared

back at the BJP warning herpolitical rivals that an injuredtigress was more dangerousthan the one in the woods.

Mamata led a roadshow tocommemorate the NandigramDay that eventually catapultedher to power. On March 14,2007, 14 anti-land acquisition

protesters were killed in apolice firing at Nandigram.Riding a wheel-chair, the ChiefMinister took part in the road-show at the end of which shesaid, “I am out in the publicwith a broken leg and go oncampaigning in this conditionon a wheel chair… but I mustremind one and all that aninjured tigress is more danger-ous than the one in the forests.”

“Bhanga pa niyei khela

hobe … khela hobe, jeta hobe(the game will be played withbroken legs … there will be agame and victory will be ours),”Mamata said.

The Chief Minister, wholed the 5-km roadshow fromMayo Road to Hazra More nearher residence, said, “We willcontinue to fight boldly. I’m stillin a lot of pain, but I feel thepain of my people even more,”adding “people advised me

rest but “if I go for bed rest,who will reach out to people...We have suffered a lot and willsuffer more but we will neverbow down to cowardice … wewill never let Bengal be takenby the outsiders.”

Mamata who left forDurgapur on Sunday noon, willattend at least five back-to-backrallies at Purulia and Bankura— all on wheelchair.

Meanwhile, Home MinisterAmit Shah held a colourfulroadshow here in WestMidnapore district on Sundayas he sought to bolster the BJP’scampaign in West Bengal aheadof the Assembly elections.

The roadshow, which com-menced at the local BJP office,‘’Premhari Bhavan’’, and con-cluded at Malancha petrolpump in the town, covering adistance of nearly one kilome-ter. Shah was accompanied byBJP national general secretaryKailash Vijayvargiya and partyState president Dilip Ghosh.

Thousands of supporterstook part in the rally, whichbegan after sundown, as resi-dents stood on balconies androoftops to witness the show.

Shah waved at the specta-tors and showered rose petalson the participants of the road-show, as the saffron party can-didate for Kharagpur Sadarconstituency Hiran Chatterjee,who is also a film star, stood byhis side.

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Amid concern that India isall set to witness the sec-

ond phase of coronavirus, thecountry showed a steep rise inCovid-19 cases and deaths inthe past 24 hours with 25,320new infections and 161 deaths.The infection level in thecountry is back to last year’sDecember as it has soared to1.85 per cent from 1.55 percent in a short interval.

“The fresh cases of coro-navirus in the last 24 hours arethe highest daily rise in almostthree months — taking thetotal tally to over 1.13 crorecases while the death counthas increased to 1,58,607 onSunday with 161 new fatalities,the highest in 44 days,” said theUnion Health Ministry.

However, 67 per cent ofthe cases were recorded fromtwo States only. Maharashtrahas reported 15,602 cases inthe last 24 hours whereasPunjab recorded its highestsingle-day tally of this yearwith 1,515 new cases of Covid-19.

As the number of Covid-19 cases is rising across thecountry, the Centre has sound-ed a word of caution for Stateswhich are not yet seeing asurge but are at the threshold.

Niti Aayog (Health) mem-ber VK Paul had recently said

the situation of Maharashtra isworrying as part of the State isgoing back to strict lockdown.

However, he shared hisconcerns for other States aswell like Kerala, Punjab,Karnataka, Gujarat, TamilNadu and Madhya Pradeshwhich are showing an upsurgein the daily new Covid-19cases and have accounted for87.73 per cent of the newinstances of the disease report-ed in a day, the Union HealthMinistry said on Sunday.

India’s total Covid-19active caseload has reached2.10 lakh, the Ministry said.

The total number ofrecoveries in the country hassurged to 1,09,89,897 with16,637 people recuperatingfrom the disease in a day. TheMinistry said 83.13 per cent ofthe new recovered cases areobserved to be concentrated insix States.

Maharashtra has reporteda maximum number of 7,467single-day recoveries. TheMinistry said 161 deaths werereported in a day.

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Metroman E Sreedharan willmake his electoral debut

from Palakkad in the April 6Assembly polls, while BJP Statepresident K Surendran will con-test from two constituencies,including Konni, the epicentreof the Sabarimala stir in 2018.The BJP, which will be contest-ing in 115 of the 140 con-stituencies, released its candi-dates list for 112 seats in NewDelhi on Sunday.

Twenty five seats have beengiven to its four NDA allies —BDJS (Bharath Dharma JanaSena), AIADMK, JanadhipathyaRashtriya Sabha (JRS) andKamaraj Congress, party generalsecretary Arun Singh told themedia in Delhi. “Metroman”Sreedharan had joined the BJPrecently. Two film actors —Suresh Gopi (Thrissur), who is

a Rajya Sabha MP andK r i s h n a k u m a r(Thiruvananthapuram central)are also in the fray. FormerUnion Minister K J Alphons willtry his luck fromKanjirapallyand former DGPJacob Thomas fromIrinjalakuda. Firebrand BJPleader Surendran,who had ledthe Sabarimala agitation in 2018against entry ofwomen of allages to the Lord Ayyappa tem-ple following the Supreme Courtverdict, has been fielded fromManjeshwaram in Kasaragoddistrict and Konni inPathanamthitta district. He hadunsuccessfully contested the2016 assembly polls from

Manjeshwaram and had lost bya meagre 89 votes. FormerMizoram GovernorKummanam Rajashekharan hasbeen fielded from Nemom, thelone seat won by the BJP in the2016 assembly polls when for-mer Union minister ORajagopal was elected.

Senior leaders C KPadmanabhan will take on ChiefMinister Pinarayi Vijayan atDharmadam in Kannur, while PK Krishnadas will battle it out atKattakada inThiruvananthapuram.

Well knownacademi-cianand retired CalicutUniversity Vice Chancellor DrAbdul Salam has been fieldedfrom Tirur and Manikuttan,the first tribal engineer,will be inthe fray from Mananthavady(reserved) seat.

The saffron party, which hasfielded 12 women candidates,has not given a seat toseniorleader ShobhaSurendran.Rajashekharan, a for-mer BJP state president, toldreporters here that people inKerala are yearning for a changefrom the alternate governmentsbeing formed over the years bythe CPI(M) led LDF andCongress led UDF.

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Rashtriya Lok Samta Party(RLSP) of Upendra

Kushwaha which had quit theNational Democratic Alliance(NDA) before the BiharAssembly polls on Sundaymerged itself with ChiefMinister Nitish Kumar’s rulingJanata Dal (United). Thedevelopment is seen asKumar’s attempt to fortify hisposition against ally BJP, whichenjoys numerical superiorityin the State Assembly.

The merger took place atthe JD(U) State headquartersin Patna where the ChiefMinister welcomed Kushwaha,a former Union Minister, bypresenting him with a bou-quet.

Soon after he was induct-ed into the JD(U), Kumarannounced Kushwaha’s

appointment as the nationalparliamentary board presi-dent “with immediate effect”.

Top JD(U) leaders likeRajeev Ranjan Singh aliasLalan, Sanjay Kumar Jha, andVashisth Narayan Singh andkey office bearers of the now-dissolved RLSP like MadhawAnand and Fazl Imam Mallickwere also present.

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In a landslide of unprece-dented scale that is now

being described as “JaganWash”, the ruling YSRCongress in Andhra Pradeshon Sunday swept the electionsto the urban local bodies, lit-erally burying the mainOpposition Telugu Desam in75 municipalities and 11municipal corporations.

The humiliation for theTDP was such that it couldcross the double digit in onlyfive ULBs while other oppo-sition parties BJP and JSPmade l itt le gains. TheCongress was nowhere in thepicture.

The YSRC attributed theresounding victory to thefaith people reposed in theleadership of Chief MinisterYS Jagan Mohan Reddy, who“lives up to his promises”and implemented a welfareagenda in the last 22 months.The ruling party also claimedthe verdict was an endorse-ment of the Government’sdecision to have three differ-ent capitals for the State. TDPpresident N Chandrababu

Naidu, in a tweet, told hisparty rank and file there was“nothing to be disappointed”with the results. “We foughtwell despite rowdyism,threats, intimidation, abuse ofpower and inducements,” heclaimed.

Sadly for the TDP, it failedto make a mark in eitherVijayawada or Guntur munic-ipal corporations, which formpart of the current capitalregion Amaravati.It is herethat people have been oppos-ing the capital trifurcationplan. It did relatively better inVisakhapatnam, which thegovernment wanted to makethe Executive Capital, but itwould be the YSRC that

would be ruling theGreater VisakhapatnamMunicipal Corporation.TheTDP has hopes of capturingonly one municipal ity,Tadipatri in Anantapuramudistrict, with the backing ofally CPI and an indepen-dent.It will be the YSRC’srule in 74 other municipalitiesacross the three regions of thestate. In Mydukuru in Kadapadistrict, the TDP won 12, theYSRC 11 wards and the Jana

Sena one in the 24-membercouncil but ex-officio votes(of legislators) would tilt thebalance in the ruling partysfavour, helping it to bag thechairmans post.

Eleven out of the 12municipal corporations havealso fallen in the YSRCskitty.Counting of votes inEluru Municipal Corporationhas not been taken up becauseof an order of the HighCourt.According to the latestinformation revealed bysources in the State ElectionCommission, the YSRCbagged 1,754 out of the 2,122wards in 75 municipalities.

The TDP won 270, BJPeight, Jana Sena 19,Independents and others71.Detailed results of munic-ipal corporations were yet tocome in as counting was con-tinuing in some of them, thesources said.

In the last elections to theULBs held in 2014, the TDPhad won five out of sevenmunicipal corporations andthe YSRC two.Of the 92municipalities, TDP bagged70, YSRC 18, Congress andCPI one each and others two.

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Mumbai police officerSachin Waze, arrested in

the probe into recovery ofexplosives from a car nearindustrialist Mukesh Ambani’sresidence on February 25, wason Sunday remanded to theNational Investigation Agency(NIA) custody till March 25.

The NIA, which arrestedWaze (49) on Saturday night,brought him to the court insouth Mumbai after takinghim to a local hospital for hismedical examination, an offi-cial said. The court remandedhim to the Central agency’scustody for further probe in thematter, he said. In its remandplea, the NIA submitted wit-nesses’ statements to showWaze’s involvement in the case.

Detailed report on P5

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Four days after Bengal ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee

was injured while campaigningat Nandigram, the ElectionCommission of India on Sundayremoved the District Magistrateof East Midnapore and sus-pended the district SP and thedirector in charge of her secu-rity. Also, the EC on Sundayconcurred with reports from itstwo poll observers that therewas no pre-meditated attack onMamata in Nandigram, indi-cating that her injuries were theresult of a security lapse.

Not only this, theCommission has also directedState Chief Secretary AlapanBandopadhyay and DirectorGeneral of Police P Neeraj Nayanto report by 5 pm on March 17,actions taken against the lesserofficials in charge of the ChiefMinister’s security on the saidday.

Taking serious cognisance ofthe Wednesday incident whichsaw serious lapses in the securi-ty of the Chief Minister who getsZ-plus security, the EC removedEast Midnapore DM VibhuGoyal. He has been replaced bySmita Pandey who will takecharge by Monday morning.

The EC also suspendedSuperintendent of Police,Praveen Prakash for allegeddereliction of duty. He hasbeen replaced by another IPSofficer SK Yadav. But the mostnoticeable action has beentaken against Director SecurityVivek Sahay, a senior IPS offi-cer, who has been in charge ofMamata’s overall security.Actions have been taken on thebasis of reports submitted bythe Chief Secretary, DGPSpecial Election Observer andpolice observers, sources said.

The EC has also directedthe State police administrationto conduct a thorough enquiryinto the role of lesser officialsand report action taken againstthem within two days’ time,sources said.

“Vivek Sahay IPS, DirectorSecurity shall be removed fromthe post of the DirectorSecurity and be placed undersuspension immediately. Thecharges must be framed againsthim within a week for grosslyfailing in discharge of his pri-mary duty as Director Securityto protect the Z+ protectee,” theElection Commission said,with an additional remark thatthe Wednesday’s incident wasan accident and not attack.

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Ayoung Sadhu of Naga cultwas severely injured after

being manhandled in theJagannath Temple in Puri onSunday. The police hospitalisedthe Sadhu, who was identifiedas Baisnav Puri, belonging toNiranjan Akhada at LokannathRoad in the city.

After eviction of the Nagamutt near the Lions’ Gate lastyear, the young Sadhu was liv-ing in the Lokanath Road.Interesting is that, Puri wasworking as a journalist of atelevision channel and was incharge of events concerning theJagannath Temple and its close

proximity. While Puri is yet toregister an FIR against theaccused staffers of temple formanhandling him, the policehave registered a complaintbrought by a JTP of the shrine.Among the charges against theSadhu, he had breached theCovid norms and was presentat the Rohini Kunda to thedetriment of the devotees.

In the meantime, Puriclaimed that he was presentnear the Rohini Kunda to helpthe devotees. He said that hejust opened the cover of theRohini Kunda, which was inclosed condition earlier, sothat the devotees could view itand pay obeisance. He also toldthat some JTPs and other offi-cials came and started charginghim and injuring him badly.

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The State registered 71 newCovid-19 positive cases on

Sunday in 20 districts and theState pool, with which its totaltally increased to 3,38,192. Ofthe new cases, 43were report-ed from quarantine centresand 28 were local contact cases.Khordha district recorded theday’s highest 11 cases.

Besides, two cases werereported from the Statepool.Currently, the total activecases in the State stood at 652and the cumulative samplestested were 86,21,715.However, 91 patients recoveredon the day, taking the totalpositive tally to 3,35,660 in theState.

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In view of a resurgence ofcoronavirus in other parts of

country, Odisha Chief MinisterNaveen Patnaik on Sundayappealed to people of the Stateto adhere to the Covid proto-col and achieve a “zero infec-tion” target in the battle againstthe deadly virus.

Addressing the State peo-ple, he said, “With your sup-port, the Covid situation is cur-rently under control in Odisha.Even the World HealthOrganisation (WHO) haspraised the State’s initiatives inthe fight against coronavirus.Although single-day spike inCovid cases is below 100, zeroinfection is our target.”

“Self-satisfaction is notaccepted in case of the disease

because the risk is yet to getover,” Patnaik stressed in hisvideo message. He said theCovid situation in some Statesincluding Maharashtra, Punjab,Chhattisgarh and MadhyaPradesh has been worseneddue to a significant rise ininfections. In the high-riskState Maharashtra, lockdownhas been enforced in somecities.

“The lockdown agony isstill fresh in our minds. It hasseverely affected our economy,social life, education andalmost all the sectors.Normalcy has returned to theState due to people’s sacrificeand cooperation.

Nobody wants lockdownto return. Therefore, the onlyway to avoid such a situation is‘awareness’. If we stay alert, alockdown situation will neverarise,” Patnaik said and urgedthe citizens to continue to fol-

low the Covid guidelines strict-ly and achieve the target of zeroinfection. Stating that theCovid vaccination drive isunderway in the State, hesought cooperation from peo-ple in making the massiveinoculation programme suc-cessful.

Remembering the sacri-fice of Covid warriors of theState, Patnaik said, “We havelost many lives in the battleagainst coronavirus. The tearsrolled down from eyes of kin ofdeceased persons are not driedup. We will never let their sac-rifice go in vain. Remainingalert is the greatest tribute toCovid warriors.”

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Page 2:  · 2 days ago · India’s total Covid-19 active caseload has reached 2.10 ... University Vice Chancellor Dr Abdul Salam has been fielded from Tirur and Manikuttan, the first tribal

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The Haryana Government’sState Employment of Local

Candidates Bill 2020 whichwas passed by the StateAssembly last year and recent-ly received the Governor’sassent is constitutionallyuntenable and fallacious.Besides, the new law suffers

from short-sightedness as far associoeconomic interest of theState is concerned. This legis-lation mandates to reserve 75per cent of new jobs in privateestablishments under a com-pensation limit of Rs 50,000 forHaryana residents and it isbased on the practice of domi-cile or nativity-based policieswhere preference is accordedaccording to one’s domicile ornativity in various govern-ment or private programmesmainly concerning employ-ment.

And Haryana is not thefirst State to introduce a law ofthis kind, as Andhra Pradeshhas reserved 75 per cent jobsfor local residents; Karnatakahas already contemplated theidea of reserving all blue-col-lar jobs for the locals; and

Madhya Pradesh has gone a bitfurther in announcing thatpublic employment in entire-ty within the state be reservedfor state residents.

The history of domicile-based preferences goes back tothe 1970s, when States likeTamil Nadu, Andhra Pradeshand Maharashtra directedemployers to employ local res-idents and circulars wereissued by the government tothis extent.

Such Acts of Government,including the recent HaryanaReservation law that is await-ing notification by the StateGovernment is flawed from theprism of the constitution. TheConstitution under Article16(2) has clearly prohibiteddiscrimination based on placeof birth. The only enabling

provision to make specialavenues or opportunities inpublic employment for anyclass of citizens is providedunder Article 16(3), whichmakes it quite clear that onlyParliament shall have the juris-diction to undertake such anexercise and not the State leg-islatures.

Besides, such unilateralenactment by the state assem-bly has infringed the rights ofthe citizens belonging to otherstates as it has directly ham-mered on the right to resideand settle in any part of the ter-ritory of India under Article19(1)(e) read with Article19(1)(f) that is the right topractice any profession, or tocarry on any occupation, tradeor business. The provisionsunder Article 16(3) seems to

have been intelligentlydesigned by the framers of theIndian Constitution, as by stip-ulating that, it is only withinthe rights of the Parliament tomake such exceptions to theprovisions incorporated underArticle 16 (1) and 16 (2) of theConstitution, they ensured thatsuch rules would not be enact-ed without broader delibera-tion and consensus and that itshall indeed serve greaternational interest than whathas been intended underArticle 16(1) and 16(2).

The courts are yet to testthe constitutionality of domi-cile-based employment pref-erences, however, in in KailashChandra Sharma Vs State ofRajasthan, the court hadwarned against such narrowapproach in matters of employ-

ment and the Andhra PradeshBill is still sub judice before thehigh court. The ramificationsof this new law are far beyondconstitutionality. It is an exer-cise to achieve narrow politi-cal goals as the Government inall probability knows it will bestruck down sooner or later; ithas still proceeded to make theBill an Act. As even though thenew law gets struck down indue course, it shall stoke flamesof regionalism that shall ben-efit the regime.

Apart from that, domi-cile-based reservation inemployment shall in no wayespouse the cause of social jus-tice and, rather, it shall open upa new form of competitive pol-itics based on regionalism andan attempt to take control ofindustry and Government by

such high-voltage campaignfor local dominance in the jobsector resembling the ShivSena activism of the 1970s. Onthe other hand, the Stateshould not have introducedsuch a law at all when it itselfis not sure about the potencyand utility of the new law. Thereason behind saying so isthat the provisions of the newlaw have made way for apply-ing for an exemption if there isnot enough local talent.

Here, it is important tonote that if the Government islacking dependable and quan-tifiable data about the concretepresence of local talent why hasit resorted to introduce such adivisive and parochial legisla-tion? Moreover, this new leg-islation is repugnant to regu-latory reform; and with the

provisions for exemptions, ithas tried to make avenues forthe State to be better-placed fora bargain with companies andmake adequate scope forauthorities to make an earningfrom bribes almost like in thelicence-permit raj system.

And this is precisely whywe need to rethink about theState Employment of LocalCandidates law of Haryanaand ensure that it is repealedand no other State takes it as aprecedent.

(The writer is a lawyerand public policy expert and aDistinguished Adjunct Professorof Law and Media Studies atSchool of Mass Communication,KIIT University. He can bereached [email protected].)

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The corridors of power areagog with talks that one-

time suspended Factory andBoilers in-charge DirectorSatya Narayan Sethi, is going tobe reinstated soon.

Notably, Sethi had joinedthe Directorate of Factoriesand Boilers, functioning underthe Labour and ESIDepartment during1994.Subsequently, he was pro-moted to the post of DeputyDirector in 2014. Thereafter, hewas allowed to remain in-charge of Director of Factoriesand Boilers till May 3, 2019.

A habitual bribe-taker, hewas successful in evading theprying eyes of the Vigilancesleuths until he was caught red-handed by the BhubaneswarVigilance Division personnelon August 27, 2019, while hewas accepting a bribe of Rs50,000.He was arrested and

forwarded to court. Thereafter,he was remanded to judicialcustody and remained in jail tillSeptember 2019. The anti-graftagency had raided simultane-ously his house atChandrasekharpur andBishnudiha village in Khordhadistrict. During searche Rs68.30 bank deposits, a flat inChandrasekharpur worth Rs26.62 lakh, household articlesworth over Rs 8.21 lakh, invest-ment insurance policies to tuneof Rs 3.71 lakh, Rs 3lakhscash,gold ornaments, threeplots in Bhubaneswar and twovehicles were detected byVigilance officials.

Sethi’s total assets amount-ed to Rs 1.15 crore. This storydoes not end here.It is learntfrom confirmed sources thatSethi had invested the blackmoney in Sai Sakti Associates,Royal Engineering and BasantiEngineering. The Steel City res-idents were shocked when they

had learnt from the allegedsources that Sethi had collect-ed over Rs 1 crore from 21fatally wounded persons, mostof whom succumbed to death,during his tenure as AssistantDirector Factories and Boilersat Rourkela.

In this context it is perti-nent to mention here that GAand PG Department circularNo 27037/Gen dated29/09/2019 speaks about pre-mature retirement ofGovernment servants to weedout officers and employees ofdoubtful integrity from publicservice to ensure efficiency inadministration. The ChiefMinister has recentlyannounced zero tolerancetowards corrupted officers.

Then the question arisesthat for whose interest the cor-ridors of power are trying toreinstate a tainted officer likeSethi, who has such a dubiousservice record.

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On the occasion of theInternational Women’s

Day this Monday, theFreethought Party of India(FPI) in association with the“AMOFOI” conducted a sem-inar on the topic: Politicalleaders must challenge castesystem to save lives of lovers allover India” with MadamSwapna Bijayini in the chair.

While highlighting theimportance of the celebrationof the International Women’sDay, FPI general secretary BRamchandra CST Voltairereferred to the famous KeralaHadiya Case that was decidedthree years back on March 8,2018 by the Supreme CourtBench headed by the then CJIJustice Dipak Misra.

Justice Misra upholdingthe genuine love affairs thatHadiya had with her loverJahan said, “Every Indianwoman (18+) enjoys absoluteautonomy over her person.”Thus all lovers have theConstitutional mandate under

Article 21 “Right to Life andPersonal Liberty” to enjoy theirpersonal life without any hin-drance from anybody. Butsince the caste system is stillthere with all its dark side andprejudices, lovers are not beingtolerated all over India.

Political leaders are afraidto speak out their mind againstthe caste system for reasons ofvote bank politics, saidVoltaire.But some leaders mustcome forward to save the livesof all young women born in

high caste families who areready to marry their loversbelonging to Scheduled Castefamilies, he stressed.

Besides, all police officersshould be sensitized to stand bythe lovers and by the provisionsof the Constitution that are insupport of individual freedom,added Voltaire.

Three pairs of lovers choseto have their priestless, dowry-less, casteless, unconventionallove marriages by exchange ofgarlands.

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The Scheduled Caste(Donna/Ganda Samaj)

Welfare Samiti, Nuapada onFriday held a Press meet toprotest casteist remarks by twosocial activists in Facebookagainst senior IAS officerBishnupada Sethi.

President of the SamajFakira Jagat stated that thepostings have been made bytwo social activists namedPradip Pradhan and ShrikantPakala. "However, the peoplebehind the scene are a fewsenior IAS officers who areencouraging such anti-Dalit

elements to file cases and postdefamatory statements againstSethi," said Jagat. "BishnupadaSethi is an honest, upright andhardworking officer. Some ofhis seniors are envious of hisunblemished career and there-fore are trying to defame him,"he charged.

Nimai Tandi, a seniorleader of Domb Gana Samaj,informed that the Samaj hasfiled a criminal case in theKhariar police station againstPradhan and Pakala. BothJagat and Tandi also statedthat there is a strong uppercaste lobby of IAS officers inOdisha, which never allows

OAS officers of Dalit commu-nities, who are promoted to IAScadres to be posted as districtCollector. "After the OdishaLokayukta gave a clean chit toBishnupada absolving him ofcharges levelled against him inconnection with the procure-ment of poly-film pouches for

packaging of Omfed milk, it isclear that allegations raisedagainst him were false. It was aconspiracy. Actions should beinitiated against the conspira-tors," stated Jagat. Senior mem-ber of Dalit SamajDharmudhar Bag and lawyerKishore Bag were also present.

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Earlier, the Union PetroleumMinister and now, the

Chief Minister want people todonate money for theJagannath Temple for its main-tenance and development.

The amount of silverbricks and the gold from thelocker inside the temple isenough to build another tem-ple. Are we beggars to ask formoney for Lord Jagannth? It ishigh time Hindu temples are

liberated from the vote bankpolitics and madeautonomous. We have toomany temples in India. Morereligious the Indians havebecome, more is the corrup-tion in every field. Someday,this religion phobia will divideIndia.

Sanjoy Satpathy, Seniorcitizen and active social work-er, Bhubaneswar

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Inspired by retired judgesand retired IAS officers in

adopting Government schoolsunder the ‘Mo School’ cam-paign; a retired OAS officer toohas come forward to join thenovel move.

The State Government hasapproved former OAS officerSibabrata Ghosh’s proposal toadopt the Rameswarpur UpperPrimary School in Dhamnagarblock of Bhadrak district.

“I decided to adopt theGovernment school in mynative village to help improveits infrastructure and augmentthe quality of education of thisfive-decade-old school,” Ghosh,who is now staying inBhubaneswar after his retire-ment in 2018, said. Serving asBDO and Tehsildar in severalblocks, Ghosh had also workedas Prison Welfare Officer inmany jails of the State.

According to sources, morethan 25 Government schools inthe State have now been adopt-ed by IAS officers, Ministers,retired judges and retired IASofficers under the innovativecampaign launched by theGovernment.

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Miss Sambedana Sandeep,the 2nd rank holder in her

debut appearance in the recent-ly published OJS Examinationand an alumnus of DAV PublicSchool, Kalinga Nagar was felic-itated in the school on Saturday.

Principal Bipin KumarSahoo congratulated her for thesplendid success and com-mended her for her grit anddetermination.Senior teacherand supervisor Dipanjali Sahunarrated the old days of

Sambedana in school andblessed her for a bright future. Inher comment after the felicitationSambedana expressed her grate-fulness to her parents and theteachers for helping her out andguiding her properly during herschool days. She appealed thestudents to rely on their strengthand work towards honing themproperly in order to excel in life..

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While mystery still shroud-ed the seizure of a

woman’s skeleton from a seizedvehicle in the premises of theJanla police outpost, the skele-ton has been sent for tests toHyderabad. “The skeleton hasbeen sent to Hyderabad forskull mapping examinationand the report is awaited,”Commissioner of Police (CP)Saumendra Priyadarshi saidon Sunday.

The death of woman is stilla mystery and the unnaturaldeath case has been trans-ferred to the Mahila police sta-tion. The Mahila PS IIC willprobe the matter. He said policeare yet to ascertain the identi-ty of the deceased woman.When asked about the torn-uplove letter recovered from thesite as well as rape aspect,Priyadarshi said, “We are inves-tigating all aspects of the case.”Clarifying about delay in sus-pending Janla police outpostin-charge in connection withthe case, he said, “The skeleton

was found on February 12,2021. As the incident occurredon the outpost campus and theinvestigation was ongoing, thedepartmental action was takenagainst him for dereliction induty after a few days.”

He said that the AIIMSBhubaneswar in the post-mortem report has clearlymentioned the cause of deathof the woman. “Initially, theinvestigation was made in anunnatural death case afterrecovering the skeleton. Thepostmortem conducted by ateam of doctors at AIIMSBhubaneswar revealed that thewoman was suffering fromtuberculosis and her deathappears to be natural. The pos-sible rape aspect would becleared from the postmortemreport rather than investiga-tion. Because we have under-taken matter very seriously, theunnatural death case was hand-ed over to the Mahila Police IICfor further investigation,”Priyadarshi said.

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The Commissionerate policehave managed to arrest a

man allegedly involved in themurder of music directorSumanta Kumar Mohanty atMancheswar in Bhubaneswarin 2008.

The accused was identifiedas Bikramaditya Jena alias Lituais the fifth one to be arrested inthe case. Jena had abscondedafter the crime. He was resid-ing in Pune and working as atrainer in a gymnasium, saidCommissioner of PoliceSaumendra Priyadarshi onSunday, adding that he wasarrested on Saturday.

Police had earlier appre-hended four other accusedSunil Kumar Jena (primeaccused), Manas RanjanBedanta, Subhakanta Jena, andSushil Kumar Samantaray inthe case, said Priyadarshi.

Deceased Sumanta andmain accused Sunil were study-ing in the same college. Sunilwas rusticated from the edu-cational institution on the basisof a complaint bySumanta.Later, Sunil laterhatched a conspiracy to elim-

inate Sumanta to settle scores,the police official said. InOctober 2008, Sumanta wasfound dead in his car onChakeisiani-Palasuni Roadunder the Mancheswar policestation in the city. During theinvestigation of the case, itwas ascertained that Sumantawas called to arrange a musi-cal programme. He went tomeet the event organisers nearEkamra Talkies on October 9,2008 in his car but didn’t returnhome. He was found dead inthe vehicle on the next day.

Further probe by policerevealed that the registeredowner of the mobile phonenumber from which the callswere made to Sumanta wasKasinath Champati ofRasulgarh. Kasinath had giventhe SIM card to Sunil.

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Security forces and Maoistsexchanged fire in the

Mudulipada forest ofSwabhiman Anchal inMalkangiri district on Sunday.

However, the ultras fledfrom the spot and there are noreports of any casualties fromeither side. Later, the securitypersonnel seized a huge cacheof arms and ammunition afterthe fierce gun battle saidMalkangiri SP RishikeshKhilar.The SP said theyreceived a tipoff on Saturdaynight about the camping ofmembers of the AndhraOdisha Border Special ZonalCommittee (AOBSZC) in theforest. He led the combingoperation comprising person-nel of the Special OperationsGroup (SOG) and DistrictVoluntary Force (DVF).During the search operation,the Maoists fired on the secu-rity personnel in the wee hoursof Sunday. The security per-sonnel retaliated in self defence.

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Afundraising drive inOdisha to collect

Samarpan Nidhi (donations)for construction of a grandRam Temple in Ayodha hasended with mopping up ofmore than Rs 42 crore.

The drive was carried outby the Shreeram JanmabhhomiMandir Nidhi SamarpanSamiti, Odisha. Like other partsof the country, huge enthusi-asm was marked among thepeople in the during the fundraising drive, said Samiti sec-retary Gopal Prasad Mahapatraat a Press conference here onSunday.The Samiti has thankedthe people of the State fortheir contributions.

Among others, Samiti’sadvisor Swami JibanMukutanandapuri, vice-presi-dent Harischandra Parida andassistant secretary MaheshSahu were present at the Pressmeet.

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Governor Prof Ganeshi Lallaunched the book "Turn

Around India-2020” writtenby RP Gupta in the presence ofAssembly Speaker Dr SurjyaNarayan Patro and a host ofdignitaries including MLAs,bureaucrats and representa-tives from corporate sectorhere on Sunday.

The book narrates a real-istic and possible option forreviving the Indian economyfor creating new jobs andenlarging public income andalso, the structural reformssuch as fiscal and monetarystimuli for overcoming eco-nomic crisis arising due to theCovid-19 pandemic as Indiahas become the fastest-growingmajor economy in the world.

The Governor said, “I con-gratulate Mr Gupta on thelaunch of this wonderful bookon Indian Economy.

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Sonepur has become the lat-est addition to the list of dis-

tricts battling with forest fire inthe State. Sources said wildfirehas been causing irreparablelosses to the flora and fauna inforests of Lachhipur, Dovlong,Kumbharmunda, Sindhol andArjunpur for the last severaldays.

Hundreds of hectares offorest land have been destroyedin Lachhipur, Tarbha andUllunda areas due to the wild-fire. New saplings planted bythe Forest Department havealso been destroyed in the fire.

It was informed in a meet-ing that the Forest personnelhad been provided equipmentto identify forests where fire isreported. A few months back,

fire extinguishers were provid-ed to the division. Besides, aspecial team to keep a watch onfire points in forests was alsocreated. But in last few days,fires have broken out in variousforests which are yet to bebrought under control. Sourcessaid villagers residing in theforest fringe areas are also to beblamed for the blaze.

People are setting fire toforests, especially at night, dueto lack of awareness. The forestsare being set on fire for maizecultivation as well in the inte-rior parts. In Subarnapur dis-trict, more than 300 fire pointsare identified every year.

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The second wave ofCoronavirus in Ganjam

district has sent the authoritieson their toes with the detectionof five patients as Covid posi-tive in the MKCG MedicalCollege Hospital here onSaturday last.

Significantly, one of thefive patients is a resident ofAnkuli industrial area, sourcessaid.According to informationavailable, these five patientswere admitted in toOrthopaedic Department, E&TDepartment, and Surgery

Department and their opera-tion date was fixed. However,before the operation, theirRTPCR tests were conducted.After the news of positivereport of the patients spread,the doctors, healthcare profes-sionals, patients and their rel-atives were in panic, as Ganjamdistrict was a hotspot ofCoronavirus just six monthsago.

Sources also said that, thepost operation test reports of allthe patients in the MKCG werefound negative three monthsback. After the test reports werefound positive, now the MCHauthorities are reportedly con-templating to shift them toCovid Hospital.

According to a doctor,these five cases seem to be asrecurrence of Coronavirus forwhich the public need to becareful and follow the Covid-19 guidelines. Notably, the dis-

trict administration and theBeMC authorities recently hadcautioned the public to refrainfrom mass gathering and issuedSoP for wearing face maskand maintaining social dis-tancing norms in view of aspike in Covid-19 cases in theState.

The district administra-tion had also imposed restric-tions on performance offamous ‘Danda Yatra’ andupcoming Maa ThakuraniYatra with limited devoteesand minimizing their perfor-mance as well.

Some intellectuals andsocial activists demanded thatthe district administrationshould keep an eye on migrantworkers of five States likeGujarat, Kerala, Maharashtra,Tamilnadu, and Delhi wherethe number of cases is high, soas to prevent communityspread in the district.

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Strong resentment is brew-ing among the residents of

Baleswar as sevices of severalpassenger trains runningthrough Baleswar station, espe-cially between Howrah andBhubaneswar, have not beenrestored although the Coronarestrictions have been eased.

Reports said that as manyas seven pairs of trains both inthe up and down lines wererunning on the route prior tothe advent of the Corona.

However, currently onlytwo trains , Bangiripohi-Bhubaneswar ( express trains)and Bhadrak- Howrah ,(Baghajatin – a passenger train)are available for the trainusers. Baghajatin although is apassenger train yet currentlythe fare is charged at par with

express train after it resumed itsoperation after easing of theCorona restrictions. The fareescalation has caused consid-erable hardship on the com-muters who were otherwiseable to go to Howrah with avery nominal fare.

Similarly in the morninghours while only one train toCuttack and Bhubaneswar isavailable, it is difficult to get aseat as all the seats reminbooked in advance.

The bus fares have wit-nessed a hike due to escalationof price in diesel. The com-muters who were availing thetrains to Cuttack and beyondfor medical reasons are facingimmense difficulties owing tonon availability of trains.

Thus the residents herehave appealed to the Railwaysto restore services of old trainsand provide adequate numberof trains as in the neighbour-ing States most of the trainswhich were halted earlier haveresumed their operations .

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Two truck drivers allegedlyraped a married woman for

three days at a house in theBarbil area of Keonjhar districtrecently. The incident came tolight on Sunday.

On the basis of a complaintlodged by the woman, theBarbil police have arrested theaccused duo and started aninvestigation. As per reports,Khudabaksh Ansari and

Muhammad Naseer, the twoaccused who are acquaintancesof the woman, on March 11offered her a lift at RoidaChhak after the woman left herhouse at Bhadrasahi villagefollowing a dispute with herhusband. Ansari and Naseerforcibly took the woman insidea truck and raped her.

They later took her to ahouse, where the duo raped herfor three days. The woman,somehow, managed to escapefrom their clutches on Sunday,after which the entire incidentcame to the fore. The truck wasseized by police while a med-ical examination of the womanhas been conducted.

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The Marshaghai police havearrested a tutor for

allegedly thrashing a Class-IIIboy student atPurushottampur village inKendrapada district.

According to reports, theteacher beat the student up asthe latter failed to recall mul-tiplication table during atuition class. The victim sus-tained injuries in his back andhands. On the basis of a com-plaint lodged by the student’sfather, police arrested thetutor and started an investi-gation.

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Odisha-born World Bankeconomist Deepak Mishra

has been appointed as theDirector and Chief Executive ofthe Indian Council forResearch on InternationalEconomic Relations (ICRIER).

He will assume the officereplacing Rajat Kathuria, whohas been serving the premierinstitution, a Delhi-basedthink-tank, as the Directorand Chief Executive sinceSeptember 1, 2012.

Presently, Mishra is work-ing as the Practice Manager inthe World Bank’sMacroeconomics, Trade, andInvestment Global Practice.He had held key positions at

the World Bank. He wasappointed as the Co-Directorof the World DevelopmentReport 2016 (DigitalDividends) and country econ-omist for Ethiopia, Pakistan,Sudan and Vietnam. Besides,

he has also served as the coun-try economist for India inWorld Bank from the year2001 to 2004. During histenure, he had worked with theUnion Government as well asseveral State Governmentsincluding Andhra Pradesh,Bihar, Karnataka, Maharashtraand Punjab.

Prior to serving the WorldBank, Mishra was associatedwith the Tata Motors, theFederal Reserve Board and theUniversity of Maryland. Mishrahad his Economics (PG) in theDelhi School of Economics. Hereceived his PhD from theUniversity of Maryland. Hisresearch works have been pub-lished in various academicjournals.

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The JSW Steel Limitedobserved the ‘Ethics and

Compliance’ Week from March4 to 10 with an aim to educateand sensitise employees andpartner companies regardingcode of conduct, ethics, anti-bribery and related matters.

A number of awarenesssessions and employee engage-ment activities were conduct-ed throughout the week by theunit. Reiterating the effort,

Chief Operating Officer, JSWSteel Limited (Odisha) saidRanjan Nayak said, “It isabsolutely important for anorganisation to have a systemof governance that lays downthe guiding principles, expect-ed behavior and actions fromall employees both individual-ly and collectively.

As employees, we havealways been complying withthe code of conduct and statu-tory laws/regulations that applyto our business. We at JSWSteel, have had a strong footingwith values and continue touphold them with utmost sin-cerity and diligence.”

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Adistrict-level event wasorganised at Gandhi

Smrutui Bhawan on Mondayon the International Women’sDay. The event was jointlyorganised by the districtadministration, DLSA in asso-ciation with social organisa-tions like SWATI, BanabasiSeva Samiti and Sakhi .

The chief guest at the eventKandhamal Collector DrBrunda D said women are notweaker in any way they shouldkeep their self confidence alive

The meeting was addressedamong others by KandhamalSP Vinit Agrawal, DLSA sec-retary Patanjali Sahu, Sub

Collector Devendra KumarNanda and CDMO kandhmalDr Rajshree Pattnaik. DrBrunda honoured the girlswho work and protest againstthe child marriage. She alsofelicitated best CDPO,

Supervisior, Anganwadi work-er and SHG group. On thisoccasion DSWO ManaswaniMishra was specially honouredwho was awarded the best offi-cer of the state. Vote of thankswas proposed by S Gayatri.

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The Mayurbhanj WorkingJournalists' Association

(MWJA), in a recently-heldmeeting of its members, haschosen the organisation's newoffice-bearers.

While Dr Bijay KumarAgar wal la and SoumyaRanjan Patnaik were chosenas the president and the work-ing president respectively,Deepak Kumar Nayak and RajKishore Dash have been madegeneral secretary and orga-

nizing secretary respectively.While Abhij it Mohanty,Dolgovind Barik and ManasKumar Behera are the vice-presidents, Priyabrat Mishra,Subrat Pradhan, Santosh Barajand Sanjay Barik are the jointsecretaries.

Akshay Kumar Agarwallais the association's choice forthe post of treasurer, andLaxman Jena, SukumarRanjan Pradhan, Asit Giri,Manoj Kumar Panda, RupamSwain and Ramachandra Dasare all its executive commit-

tee members. Besides these,for the Disciplinar yCommittee, senior journalistsKavi Vishnu Satpathy, SukantJew and Ranjan Kumar Dashwere made members. SubratDas, Prabhas Sahu and RajGupta were chosen as itsmedia coordinators.

The meeting, chaired bySukant Kumar Jew, was heldin the local Bazar IndiaConference Hall. RavindraNayak, Rajat Patnaik, SanjeevRanjit, Dillip Patra, DineshSethy, Nirmal Mohanty, Viswajit Mohanty and Viswajit Bhuyan attended.

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The Commissioner-cum-Director of Mission Shakti

Sujata R Karthikeyan paid avisit to Kendrapada districtrecently. The purpose was todiscuss with the district admin-istration and also members ofthe block and district levelfederations of Mission Shakti.District Collector AmritRuturaj, and senior officials ofthe district have participated inthe meeting. According toKarthikeyan, she informed inthe meeting about the aim and

objective of State Governmentin creating new Mission Shaktidepartment, which will con-tribute towards overall admin-istration and programmaticcoordination of SHG-centricdevelopment schemes and howthe SHG groups would getmore benefits in Kendrapadadistrict was been discussed.

The separate departmentwill help secure linkages at alllevels and build compellinginteractive platforms betweencommunity and Governmentfor strengthening SHG move-ment by empowering women

and providing livelihood. Thenew Mission ShaktiDepartment will avoid conflictof command, ensure betterservice delivery, effective mon-itoring, and optimum utilisa-tion of human resources,informed Karthikeyan.

She too reviewed differentbusiness activities of MissionShakti, including electricitymetre reading, MDM, servicesector, agro farming ,sattu pro-duction etc, and also directeddistrict administration to takesteps for increasing bank link-ages.

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The World Consumer RightsDay is observed on March

15. This year’s theme is: ‘TacklePlastic Pollution.’

Despite the increased useof single-use plastic during theCovid-19 pandemic, 55 percent of consumers globallyhave now become more con-cerned about the environmentand nearly 74 per cent of con-sumers are willing to spendmore on sustainable packaging.

There is an urgent need tocampaign to raise awarenessand engage consumers to adoptand promote more sustainablepractices. The roles of con-sumers, Governments andbusinesses are vital in tackling

the plastic pollution crisis.Though plastic is a usefulmaterial in our everyday life,but our consumption and pro-duction of plastics, especiallysingle-use plastic, have becomeunsustainable. This is impact-ing our ecosystems, causingnegative environmental conse-quences and threateninghuman health. It is estimatedthat there will be more plasticin the oceans than fish by2050.

Single-use plastics accountfor 50 per cent of the plasticproduced every year. 82 percent consumers are usingreusable cleaning utensilsinstead of single-use plasticalternatives, 72 per cent bring-ing reusable bags when shop-

ping and 62 per cent usingrefillable drinking bottle. Theconsumers need to promotemore sustainable practices, util-ising the Circle Model of WasteManagement of 7Rs (rethink,refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle,repair, and replace).

There is an urgent need onaddressing and tackling plasticpollution amidst the Covid-19pandemic, which has added tothe rise of single-use plasticslike face masks, gloves, andfood packaging.

Plastic waste is India’s andthe world’s most formidableenvironmental challenge today,and the Covid -19 pandemichas made the matter worse.Plastic waste is everywheretoday. It is in our faces. It is fill-

ing up our oceans and destroy-ing marine life and even invad-ing our food chain to get intoour bodies. The Government’skey priority areas for actionsare: Ban on import of plasticwaste, a clearer definition ofsingle-use plastics, ban onsome items made of single-useplastics, a review of use ofmulti-layered plastics andestablishment of an online plat-form for trading in plasticcredits.

There is an urgent need todefine single-use plastics clear-ly, and ban items made from it.The Government should makerules for Extended ProducerResponsibility (EPR) simpleand enforceable and incen-tivise business of recycling.

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BJP Ganjam district vice pres-ident and senior lawyer

Manoj Patnaik staged a dharanabefore residence of theBerhampur MunicipalCorporation (BeMC)Commissioner on Saturdaynight, protesting inaction in pre-venting mosquito menace andpoor sanitation in the city.

Supporting him, some otherlawyers and BJP workers joinedhim in the dharana. Ganjam DMVijaya Amruta Kulange talkedwith the agitating lawyers overphone and on request of localpolice officers, the dharana waslifted.

BeMC Commissioner BSiddheshwar Baliram Bonderhad a discussion over the prob-lems with Manoj at his office.

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Woman golfer ManasiChalia emerged champi-

on in the women category ofParadip Port Invitation GolfTournament 2021, which con-cluded here on Sunday.

In the Men category,Bhubaneswar Oran ofBhubaneswar Golf Clubbecame the champion.

In handicap (1-12), (13-18)and (19-24) categories, OscarDung Dung of Paradip GolfClub, Shailendra Upadhyaya ofBhubaneswar Golf Club andCapt AK Mohapatra of ParadipGolf Club became winners,respectively.

In children putting, KumarHarshid Das became champi-

on. Western OdishaDevelopment CouncilChairman Asit Tripathy, for-mer PPT Chairman SantoshKumar Mohapatra, PPTDeputy Chairman AK Boseand GKS president DN Sondhigave away the prizes. Total 60golfers from five leading golfclubs from eastern India par-ticipated in the tourney.

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The 50th National SafetyWeek was celebrated from

March 4 to 10 in the BhushanPower and Steel Limited(BPSL). Various programmeswere held in the plant premis-es during the week-long cel-ebration, said Dinesh KumarYadav from the company.

A “Suraksha Rath” movedaround the plant and massmeetings were held at differ-ent units. The closing cere-mony was held on March 10in presence of AssistantDirector, Factories andBoilers , UmakantaSamantaray. The programme

started with welcome addressby HoD (Fire & Safety) AshokBiswal, followed by addressfrom unit head P Sasindran.Prizes were distributed among

winners in various competi-tions such as essay, slogan,quiz and puzzle. The vote ofthanks was given by manag-er Niranjan Mohapatra.

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The Indian Army has askedthe Central Bureau of

Investigation (CBI) to probethe alleged wrongdoing andcorruption in officers’ selec-tion process in Punjab. It wassuspected that some defenceand civilians were involved inthe racket.

The decision to ask theCBI to take over the probewas taken after malpracticescame to light in one of theofficers’ selection centre inKapurthala district of Punjab,sources said here on Sunday.

They said the allegedwrong practices were detect-ed at a Service SelectionCentre there. These centrescarry out the Service SelectionBoard(SSB) tests for candi-dates who apply for being

selected as officers in thearmy, navy and IAF.

They said the detectioncame after a “proactive operationby the Army intelligence agen-cies. Since the scope of investi-gation involves multiple agen-cies, including civil entities, theArmy has decided to hand overthe case to the Central Bureauof Investigation,” officials said.

Reiterating that the Armyhas zero tolerance towardscorrupt practices in therecruitment process for selec-tion of suitable candidatesfor the Indian Army, officialssaid the CBI was asked to takeover the case.

Sources said the mattercame to the notice of theArmy headquarters and aprobe started after complaintsagainst a junior officer forbeing involved in malprac-

tices. Later on, it emerged thatmany other insiders and civil-ians could be involved, includ-ing some high-ranking offi-cials. Therefore, it was decid-ed that the probe should behanded over to the CBI whichcan probe all entities involved.

Incidentally, this devel-opment comes days afteranother recruitment racketwas busted in Maharashtrasome days back. Two servingofficers allegedly involved inthe scam. They allegedlyleaked the army recruitmentexamination paper.

Officials said Army chiefGeneral Manoj MukundNaravane has also clearly toldhis commanders that therewould be zero tolerancetowards cases of financialwrongdoings and moralturpitude.

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Taking note of blatant secu-rity lapses in which West

Bengal Chief Minister gotinjured despite being Z plusprotectee on March 10 inNandigram, the ElectionCommission (EC) has issuedguidelines saying all candi-dates including star cam-paigners must follow safetyinstructions during the use ofany vehicle.

Attention is drawn to theCommission’s letter to all chiefelectoral officers of states andUnion Territories, which spec-ifies the use of bulletproof carsby the persons provided withZ+ security cover as prescribedby Central Government, it said.

The guidelines said all can-didates including star cam-paigners must follow safetyinstructions during the use ofany vehicle including heli-copter as prescribed under rel-evant laws to avoid any mishapor accident, which may endan-ger the life and property ofindividual(s) and/or public atlarge. “Star campaigners, whohave been provided with secu-rity cover by the security agen-cies, must adhere to the secu-rity protocols laid down toavoid any security breachwhich may expose them torisk,” it said.

It has been brought to thenotice of the Commission thatat some occasions, the StarCampaigners are not adheringto the security protocols laiddown by the security agenciesand exposing themselves tosecurity risk during the cam-paign. “Attention has also been

drawn that the safety provisionsas prescribed in the MotorVehicle Act, 1988 [as amended)(applying seat belt etc.) are alsonot being followed in somecases thereby violating theexisting statutory provisionspunishable under law,” it said.

The use of State-ownedaircraft (whether fixed wing orhelicopter) propelled at Statecost or hired at State cost willnot be permitted for any rea-son including security. In allcases where a party or a can-didate hires a private air-craft/helicopter for any reasonwhatsoever the complete costwill be included as part of elec-tion expenditure withoutexception.

“In respect of persons cov-ered by security, the use ofState owned one bullet proofvehicle for the particular per-son (PP) will be permitted inall cases where the securityagencies, including the intelli-gence authorities, have pre-scribed such use. The use ofmultiple cars in the name ofstand-by should not be per-mitted unless so specificallyprescribed by security author-ities. The cost of propulsion ofsuch bullet proof vehicleswhere such use of bullet proofvehicles is specified will beborne by the particular personwhether he is in office or out,and whether he is a candidate

or not,” read the letter.“No part of the present

instructions may be treated asaffecting any modificationwhatsoever in regard to theexisting instructions regardingthe travel and the provision offacilities including transportand security, for the PrimeMinister even when he is trav-elling specifically for partyand election work. The exist-ing instructions should bescrupulously adhered to,” itsaid.

It further stated that norelaxation can be made to anyperson with regard to theabsolute ban on the use ofGovernment owned/fund-ed/hired means of transportfor any reason other than secu-rity. These exclusions refer forexample to age, state of healthetc.; and to all manner of vehi-cles.

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Former Congress presidentRahul Gandhi on Sunday

slammed the Centre over therise in fuel and gas prices andalso the alleged sale of publicsector undertakings.

Rahul and the Congresshave been attacking theGovernment over high fuelprices, alleging that it has col-lected over �21 lakh crore byway of taxes on petroleumproducts ever since coming topower in 2014.

“The Central Governmentlooting in broad daylight. 1.Massive tax collection on gas-diesel-petrol. 2. Snatching peo-

ple’’s share, employment andfacilities by selling PSU-PSB tofriends,” he charged in a tweetin Hindi.

“PM’’s only method, bene-fit friends at the cost of thecountry,” the former Congresschief alleged.

The Congress has beenstalling proceedings in bothhouses of Parliament over therise in prices of petroleumproducts and demanded a dis-cussion on the issue.

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The Civil Aviation Ministry(MoCA) has proposed 392

new routes under its flagshipscheme UDAN 4.1 biddingprocess on the commencementof the “Azadi Ka AmritMahotsav”.

“The bid document hasbeen uploaded on the CentralProcurement portal of theNational Informatics Centre(NIC) inviting the bids frominterested airlines. The bid-ding process is expected to becompleted by six weeks,” reada statement by MoCA.

“Following the four suc-cessful rounds of bidding, thespecial UDAN 4.1 biddinground invites bids for priorityroutes which have not beencovered under UDAN so far.This bidding round alsoincludes routes speciallyrequested by the state govern-ments/Union Territory admin-istrations and earlier can-celled/terminated routes,” saidUsha Padhee, Joint Secretary,MoCA.

The UDAN 4.1 round isfocused on connecting smallerairports, along with a specialhelicopter and seaplane routes.

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New Delhi: The Governmenthas never threatened employeesof any social media platform,such as Twitter, of jail term, theIT Ministry has said.

Reacting to reports thatalluded to Facebook, WhatsAppand Twitter employees beingthreatened with jail term, theMinistry said social media plat-forms are “obliged to follow thelaws of India and theConstitution of India, just like allother businesses in India haveto.”

“As has been conveyed onthe floor of Parliament, users ofsocial media can criticise thegovernment, the Prime Ministeror any Minister but promotionof violence, rampant communaldivide and stoking the flames ofterrorism will have to be reflect-ed upon,” it said.

The Government hadordered Twitter to take downhundreds of posts, accountsand hashtags, that it saw violat-

ing rules. Twitter initially did notfully comply but fell in line afterthe government showed therule book that contained penalprovisions.

The IT Ministry went on tostate that the recent guidelinespertaining to social media sim-ply require the platforms to putin place a robust grievanceredressal mechanism for users.

“None of the governmentcommunications, either writtenor oral, have ever threatened theemployees of any of the socialmedia platforms of jail term,” itsaid.”The Government wel-comes criticism and dissent.However, of late, repeatedinstances of abuse of socialmedia to foment hate, discordand violence by terrorist groupsfrom outside India and circula-tion of morphed images ofwomen, revenge porn posingthreat to the safety of users espe-cially women users have becomegrave concerns,” it said. PTI

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The CBI has booked anEPFO official of Mumbai

for demanding bribe for sub-mitting challan of teachingand non-teaching staff of aThane-based educational insti-tution.

The agency.has bookedSurjit Datta, an official ofEmployees Provident FundOrganisation on a complaintfrom Pradeep Anant Palayeworking as advisor of SahayogShikshan Sangh EducationalSociety Bhiwandi, Thane,Maharashtra.

The complainant allegedthat he had forwarded docu-ments of 35 teaching and non-teaching staff on the official

email of Regional Office ofEPFO, Thane for requirementof challan for depositing the PFsubscription for the month ofFebruary 2021.

“It is alleged that the com-plainant had also personallyvisited the Regional Office ofEPFO, Thane on March 1 andmet Surjit Datta who is postedin that office and requested himto process the same. It is alsoalleged that during the visit,accused Surjit Datta demand-ed �2,500 per month as bribefor the smooth receipt of chal-lan every month without anydelay.

However, after negotiation,Datta agreed to accept �2,000per month for the smoothreceipt of challan without anydelay and also agreed toupgrade the bank accountdetails for depositing the bribemoney in the same.

The agency has bookedthe EPFO official under rele-vant section of the Preventionof Corruption Act.

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Researchers from JamiaHamdard University have

found that certain ayurvedicformulations can help rejuve-nate cells of an ailing kidney bycutting down reactive oxygenspecies (ROS) which are causeddue to the disturbances in levelof potassium and sodiumenzyme occurring in the body.

The conclusion wasreached following administra-tion of punarnava (anayurvedic plant)-based NEERIKFT formulation, that com-prises lotus leaves, patharchurand other major herbs to thesubjects of chronic kidney dis-ease, they said in a study.

As per the doctors, bring-ing ROS under control is veryimportant in the treatment ofthe kidney as these are major

factors in damaging the renalcells.

The research, though con-ducted over quite a few num-ber of subjects, showed adecline in the level of ROS inthe controlled arm which wasadministered the NEETI KFTtreatment.

During trials, only ninesubjects were given differenttreatment for eight days.However, the researchers saidthat the number was enough toascertain the primary endpointof the trial.

“We found that the groupwhich was administered NEERIKFT had a controlled level ofantioxidant enzyme. This showsthat anti-oxidant elements inthe formulation not only func-tion against ROS but also bringdown its level,” they stated.

The study also claimed that

the ayurvedic formulation wasfound to help in detoxifyingkidney cells apart from reduc-ing high levels of uric acid andelectrolytes.

Professor at Banaras HinduUniversity Dr KN Dwivediacknowledged the benefits ofthe ayurvedic formulations andsaid that at his institutes he hasreceived many patients whohave claimed that ayurvedic for-mulation Neeri KFT proved tobe beneficial in curing kidneydisease. Sanchit Sharma,Executive Director of theAIMIL Pharma said that theformulation was found helpfulin delaying the need of dialysisas well. “It reduces the pro-gression rate of degenerationand improves reparative capac-ity of renal cells nephron,” headded.

Expressing similar views,

Bheema Bhatt, MedicalDirector of Ayurvedic Medicineat Medanta, Gurugram, saidthat in a large number of kid-ney patients having high crea-tinine and urea levels, NeeriKFT has been found to be bal-

ancing the level.“I have prescribed the

treatment to my patients andhave received positive output sofar,” he said adding that due topoor lifestyle and diet habits,cases of kidney ailments are on

increase in the country. In theera of Covid-19, taking care ofhealth is more important thanever, as contracting the viruscan cause additional harm toyour kidneys, health expertshave warned.

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Amodel study conducted bya team of international

researchers has revealed thatdue to climate change-inducedwater shortage, the growth stageof rice crop in India is shrink-ing while the time for totalmaturity from the day the cropis planted to the day it is har-vested is getting shorter.

“The crops are maturingfaster, and as a result, you don’tget the full potential of the yield,”said the team led by PrasantaKalita, professor in theDepartment of Agricultural andBiological Engineering atUniversity of Illinois and leadauthor of the study.

The researchers had col-lected data on rice yield and cli-mate conditions, then usedcomputer simulations to modelfuture scenarios based on fourglobal climate models.

“If farmers maintain currentpractices, rice yield will decreasesubstantially by 2050,” Kalitasaid, pointing out that it was a

matter of concern given theUnited Nations’ Food andAgriculture Organization (FAO)estimates, the world populationwill grow by two billion peopleand food demand by 60 per centby 2050.

But various managementstrategies can mitigate the effectsof climate change, and theresearchers provide a series ofrecommendations, said theresearchers in the article,“Predicting the water require-ment for rice production asaffected by projected climatechange in Bihar, India” pub-lished in journal Water

“Overall, the best approachto achieve a 60% increase in riceproduction while minimizingadditional irrigation needs is acombination of conservationstrategies and a 30 per centreduction in post-harvest loss,”they suggested.

“If you look at where theytraditionally grow rice, it iscountries that have plenty ofwater, or at least they used to.They have tropical weather with

heavy rainfall they depend onfor rice production. Overall,about 4,000 liters of water gointo production and processingper kilogram of rice,” he said.

Climate change is likely toaffect future water availability,and rice farmers must imple-ment new management prac-tices to sustain production andincrease yield, Kalita said.

Kalita and his colleaguesconducted the study at theBorlaug Institute for SouthAsia’s research farm in Bihar,India where farmers grow rice

during the monsoon season,when heavy rainfall sustains thecrop.

The researchers collecteddata on rice yield and climateconditions, then used comput-er simulations to model futurescenarios based on four globalclimate models.

The purpose of the studywas to estimate rice yield andwater demand by 2050, andevaluate how farmers can adaptto the effects of climate change.

Traditional rice farminginvolves flooding the fields withwater. Rice transplants needabout six inches of standingwater. If fields aren’t level, itrequires even more water tocover the crops, Kalita said.However, if farmers use direct-seeded rice instead of trans-plants, they can increase pro-duction while using signifi-cantly less water.

Another practice involvessoil conservation technology.“The soil surface continuouslyloses water because of temper-ature, humidity, and wind. If youkeep crop residue on theground, it reduces the evapora-tion and preserves water.Furthermore, when the cropresidue decomposes, it will helpincrease soil quality,” Kalitaexplained.

The researchers also sug-gested implementing strategiesto prevent post-harvest croplosses.

FAO estimates about 30% ofcrops are lost or wasted afterharvest, so efforts to reducethose losses can further increasecrop availability and food secu-rity. Ranjeet Jha, Richard Cooke,Praveen Kumar, Paul Davidson,and Rajkumar Jat, all from theUniversity of Illinois were thepart of the team which con-ducted the study.

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ABJP leader has moved theSupreme Court seeking

directions to the Centre forframing guidelines to ensurestrict action against fake com-plainants in criminal cases andfor compensating victims ofsuch wrongful prosecutions.

The PIL has been filed byBharatiya Janata Party (BJP)leader Kapil Mishra in thebackdrop of a sensational casein which the Allahabad HighCourt, on January 28, declaredrape convict Vishnu Tiwariinnocent, observing that themotive behind the FIR wasrelated to a land dispute.

Tiwari was arrested onSeptember 16, 2000 after beingbooked for rape and atrocitiesunder the SC/ST (Prevention ofAtrocities) Act and was in jailfor 20 years.

The PIL, filed throughadvocate Ashwani KumarDubey, has also sought “ade-quate compensation” for Tiwarifor his wrongful convictionand life imprisonment in thefake case.

“Direct the Centre to fameguidelines and to make a mech-anism to take strict action andto prosecute fake complainantsas well as to frame guidelinesto pay adequate compensationto victims of wrongful prose-cutions and implement therecommendations of law com-mission Report ...On miscar-riage of justice,” the plea said.

The BJP leader has madeunion ministries of HomeAffairs and Law and Justice, theUttar Pradesh government andthe Law Commission as partiesto his PIL.

It has also sought direct forsetting up of a mechanism forspeedy disposal of cases per-taining to undertrial prisonersprosecuted in special Acts andto frame guidelines for under-trial prisoners to decide theircases in a time bound manner.

“Direct the respondents(Centre and others) to framerules to release poor personswho are victim of maliciousand vague prosecution who

are facing jail in theabsence of not furnishing theadequate sureties/bonds,”

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Page 5:  · 2 days ago · India’s total Covid-19 active caseload has reached 2.10 ... University Vice Chancellor Dr Abdul Salam has been fielded from Tirur and Manikuttan, the first tribal

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Pondicherry Institute of MedicalSciences, a state-of-the-art med-

ical school launched with the objec-tives of “reaching the unreached”through compassionate practice inthe profession of medicine and alsoto train and qualify the best physi-cians in the country is seething withagitation by a group of students.

Medical students and theirguardians/parents are upset over thedecision of the college managementcommittee to extent the CompulsoryRotatory Residential Internship ofthose who have completed the aca-demic course. “This is despite the factthat we have completed the internshipas prescribed by the MedicalCommission of India. Last year therewas a lock-down because of theCovid-19 pandemic and all interneeswere put on duty in covid wards aspart of the CRRI. But the collegemanagement is insisting that theInternship should be extended tillApril 15 to compensate for the dayslost by lock-down,” said a studentwho did not want his name to bequoted.

Many parents echoed the appre-hension of the students. “Theseyoungsters had put in enough timeand days to complete their internshipand it is cruel to ask them to work foranother two months to atone for the

lock-down,” said the father of a stu-dent in PIMS.

Prof Gurmeet Singh, vice-chan-cellor of the Pondicherry University,under whose jurisdiction the PIMScomes, said though he had writtento the college authorities to curtailthe period of internship. “I haveissued orders to all institutes aboutwhich I have received complaints. Ifthey fail to follow suit, they wouldhave to listen to the music,” the vice-chancellor told The Pioneer overphone from Puducherry.

Dr Renu G Boy Varghese, deanand director of the college refused tospeak on the issue while Babu Daniel,member, management committeesaid the Pondichery University has noauthority to direct the college to med-dle with the CRRI programme. “Weare bound by the National MedicalCommission regulations which arebeyond the reach of the PondicherryUniversity. A college official hadmet the vice chancellor and briefedhim about this directive and the VChas issued an order negating his pre-vious order,” said Daniel.

But students and guardians arerejected the contention of the collegemanagement. Even Dr Jacob Roy,former chairman of the college sup-ported the stance of the students. “Ifthere are students among theinternees who do not have themandatory attendance, let them com-

pensate it by working for an equalnumber of days. But those studentswho have completed the CRRI pro-gramme should be released from thecollege,” said Dr Roy.

Daniel sees whole issue in awider perspective. “Ours is aChristian minority institution and thethen lieutenant governor Kiran Bediwas prejudiced against us. This formsthe root cause of the presentimpasse,” he said. In a representationto the PIMS authorities, parents ofstudents point out that the latter weredeputed to covid duties “with the bareminimum in terms of protectionagainst an evolving disease and weregiven only two days of post covidduty off for seven days of duty. Theyalso worked in non-covid areas of thishospital this time-in all the requireddepartments for the stipulated peri-od of time as part of their compul-sory rotational residential internship”.

One of the agitating students saidthat the dean had ordered an exit testto check the competence of the stu-dents who have completed the CRRIprogramme. “This is unheard of inany of the medical colleges inPondicherry and is planned with ulte-rior motives,” said father of a studentwho is well versed in NMC.

The chaos created by the intern-ship controversy has upset the teach-ing and student communities inPIMS, a sad news.

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New Delhi: Union Minister ofInformation and BroadcastingPrakash Javadekar on Sundayinaugurated a photo-exhibi-tion at National Media Centerin New Delhi. The exhibition,set up by Bureau of Outreach& Communication is part of amassive awareness campaignby Ministry of I&B to celebrateAzadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav.

Addressing media on theoccasion the Minister said thiswas an important moment forthe country to reflect on howfar we have come since inde-pendence as well as envisionwhat we want to achieve in nexttwenty five years. This is thecore belief that informs theseexhibitions. The Ministeradded that freedom for thecountry came at a great cost,and this exhibition seeks tonarrate the story behind thosesacrifices. Shri Javadekar con-gratulated BOC for setting upthe exhibitions.

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Aday after his arrest for hisalleged links with the

recovery of an explosive-ladenSUV near Industrialist MukeshAmbani, a special court onSunday remanded Mumbai’sAssistant Police Inspector andencounter-specialist SachinVaze in the custody of theNational Investigation Agency(NIA) till March 25.

After having questionedhim intensely for 12 long hoursover his alleged role in theexplosive-laden SUV recoverycase, the NIA arrested Vazeshortly before midnight onSaturday. After the arrest, Vazewas subsequently taken to theState-run JJ Hospital for amedical examination and aCovid-19 test.

Later on Sunday, Vaze wasproduced before NIA SpecialJudge Additional sessions JudgeP R Sitre, who remanded himin the NIA’s custody till March25.Vaze has been booked undersections 120 (B) (criminal con-spiracy) 286 (negligent con-duct with respect to explosivesubstance), 465 (forgery) 473(making or possessing coun-terfeit seal) and 506 -2 (crim-inal intimidation) of the Indian

Penal Code (IPC) and 4(a)(b)(i) of the ExplosiveSubstances Act, 1908.

Vaze is the first accused tohave been arrested by the NIAwhich registered an FIR in theexplosive-laden SUV recoverycase on March 8.

The NIA told the court thatthe case, which was initiallyinvestigated by the Mumbaipolice crime branch beforebeing transferred toMaharashtra’s Anti TerrorismSquad (ATS), was being han-dled by it now. It wanted toinvestigate the role of Vaze inthe case.

On its part, theProsecution refused to sharethe copy of the remand appli-cation with the lawyers of Vazeon the grounds of privilege andconfidentiality.

Taking objection to thestand taken by NIA, Vaze’slawyer Sudeep Passbolaclaimed that the agency has noevidence to book his client inthe case.

The court will hear thearguments of Vaze’s lawyers onthe right of the accused tohave access to the remandapplication, on Monday.

Vaze has moved an appli-cation before the Bombay high

court challenging the groundsof his arrest.

Meanwhile, MaharashtraHome Minister AmitDeshmukh said that the casesinvolving the recovery of gela-tine sticks‘ laden SUV andsubsequent death of Thanebusinessman Mansukh Hirenwere being conducted by theNIA and Maharashtra’sd AntiTerrorism Squad (ATS).

Talking to media persons,Deshmukh said: “The mattersrelating to the recovery ofgelatin sticks in a Scorpio vehi-cle found near Ambani's resi-dence and the Hiren murdercases are being investigated byNIA and ATS. Action will betaken based on the truth thatcomes out of it”.

Upping the ante on theissue, Maharashtra‘s formerchief minister and currentleader of the Opposition in theState Assembly DevendraFadnavis said that Vaze’sarrest was just the beginningand much more would comeout in the case in the comingdays.

“It’s a big plot…The arrestof Sachin Vaze is just the begin-ning…in the days to comemuch more would comeout…what was the conspiracy,

who asked him to do all this,”Fadnavis said

“The NIA has arrestedSachin Vaze…This is one partof the crime, the other part isdeath of Mansukh Hiren..“Theplanting of the Scorpio SUVnear the residence of RILChairman Mukesh Ambaniand the death of the vehicleMansukh Hiran are seriousissues How can a person whoplanted the vehicle can be theinvestigating officer of thesame case?” Fadnavis asked.

It may be recalled that thepolice had recovered 20 gelatinsticks and a letter were recov-ered from what was laterdescribed as Mahindra Scorpiothat was found abandoned inthe vicinity of MukeshAmbani’s 27-storey residence“Antilia” on Carmichael Roadin south Mumbai on February25.

Mansukh Hiren, a Thane-based businessman whose“stolen” SUV with 20 gelatinsticks was recovered by thepolice near IndustrialistMukesh Ambani’s skyscrapermansion “Antilia” in southMumbai on February 25, wasfound dead in the Reti Bundercreek area at Mumbra-Kalwaon March 5.

After the recovery ofHiren’s body, the role of Vazecame under the scanner withthe wife of the deceased busi-nessman Vimala suspectingthat the police office mighthave had a role to play in thedeath of her husband. TheOpposition BJP had demand-ed Vaze’s suspension and arrest.

On its part, theMaharashtra governmentshunted Vaze out of the crimebranch of the Mumbai policeon March 10.

Meanwhile, theMaharashtra governmenttransferred the case fromMumbai police to theMaharashtra’s Anti-TerrorismSquad (ATS), which on March7 registered Hiren’s mysteriousdeath as a case of murder.

On March 7, the NIA tookover the investigations intothe explosive-laden SUV recov-ery case. On March 8, the NIAregistered an FIR under sec-tions 286 (negligent conductwith respect to explosive sub-stance), 465 (forgery) 473(making or possessing coun-terfeit seal) and 506 -2 (crim-inal intimidation) of the IndianPenal Code (IPC) and section4 (a)(b)(i) of the ExplosiveSubstances Act, 1908.

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Confusion and chaosmarked Sunday as the

Congress and the BJPannounced names of candi-dates for the April 6 Assemblyelection from Kerala. Thoughthere were reports since Sundaymorning that many seniorCongress leaders would jointhe Hindutva party, nothing ofthat kind has happened till thetime of going to Press. ButLathika Subash, president ofKerala Mahila Congressexpressed her displeasure withthe Congress High Commandby shaving off her hair in fullpublic view before tenderingher resignation from the partypost.

E Sreedharan, the leg-endary engineer from Ponnaniwould be the BJP candidatefrom Palakkadu while Dr JacobThomas, the agriculture scien-tist-turned-super cop wouldtest electoral politics for the firsttime from Irinjalakkuda inThrissur district as a nomineeof the Hindutwa party. KSurendran, Kerala BJP chiefwould contest from two con-stituencies, Manjeswaram(Kasaragod district)

Film actors Suresh Gopi

and Krishnakumar would con-test from Thrissur andThiruvananthapuram respec-tively while former MizoramGovernor KummanamRajasekharan would be theparty candidate from Nemom.The constituency has set theagenda for the 2021 assemblyelection in Kerala as it isdescribed as a stronghold of theBJP in the State.

The significance attachedby the Congress to Nemomcould be understood from thefact that the party has decided

to field K Muraleedharan,member of parliament fromVadakara as the party candi-date. It may be rememberedthat K Karunakaran, formerchief minister and father ofMuraleedharan had contestedfrom Nemom and won with abig margin in the 1980s.

The Congress list has givenrise to disappointment anddejection among a section ofthe leaders. Some of the lead-ers who failed to make it to thelist were on the verge of tearsfor being overlooked whileselecting the party candidates.

Padmaja Venugopal,daughter of late K Karunakaranwill try her luck from theThrissur assembly constituen-cy. Bindu Krishna, the leaderfrom Kollam, who had brokendown on Saturday followingreports that her name wasmissing from the list, foundherself back in reckoning as shehas been fielded from Kollam.

While the BJP is contestingfrom 115 seats in the State, theCongress will contest from 83seats. The Congress has heldback the names of two candi-dates while the BJP is yet toannounce the names of 20more names.

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In the wake of the councilor electionof Makdoom Nagar of Dehli Gate, the

brothers of SP leader Shahzad Alvi fileda false case of gang rape at the Madarakpolice station. The case was preparedby the brothers of the SP leader by pay-ing 20 thousand rupees to the womanto implicate their opponents. On dis-closure in the police investigation,both the brothers of the SP leader havebeen arrested and sent to jail, while areport has been given against thewoman under the court under section182.

SP Crime Dr. Arvind said that awoman from Makdoom Nagar area hadreached Madarak police station onFriday afternoon and informed that shewas gang-raped by Akram, Shaheed,Mehdi, Urman and Kalim of MakdoomNagar.

When the police immediately fileda case and started investigating the case,within hours, the entire distinction wasrevealed.

The woman admitted that whenshe went to the forest for defecation atfour o'clock in the morning,Shahbuddin, the brother of SP minor-ity cell's District President Shahzad Alvi,met her and gave Rs 20,000 to registerthe case.

The woman said that in the year2017, Shehzad Alvi's wife and Akram's

wife Rukhsar contested the councilor'selectiom, in which Rukhsar won theelection.

Shahzad Alvi also went to jail in aquarrel on polling day. In the same law-suit, there are warrants against thesepeople again. This false lawsuit wasdesigned to press for settlement in thelawsuit.

The misdemeanor case was dis-missed after the woman admitted thetruth in front of the police and whilerecording the statement incourt.Simultaneously report of Section182 against the woman has been givento the court for action. Here, ShahzadAlvi's brothers Abdul Rahman andShahabuddin who were involved in thisconspiracy have been arrested. Bothhave confessed to their act in the inter-rogation.

According to SP Crime Dr. Arvind,SO Madarak Rajiv and his team havedisclosed a false case of rape in just eighthours. He told that in the afternoon thewoman reached the police station andby evening, the truth was revealed.

According to SP Crime, the inci-dent was reported to have taken placeon 12 March.

But when Shahabuddin was arrest-ed, a complaint without date (March 11on mobile) was found in his mobile .According to the other facts which willcome to light in the investigation, thecharges will be increased.

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With no let up in the sec-ond wave of Covid-19,

Maharashtra on Sundaycrossed a grim milestone of 23lakh infections, as the stateadded fresh 16,620 cases to thetotal pandemic infection tally.

After having recorded15,817 and 15,602 cases onFriday and Saturday respec-tively, the infections crossed the16000 mark on Sunday totouch a figure of 16,620 onSunday.

However, the number ofCovid-19 deaths came downfrom 88 on Saturday to 50 onSunday.

With 15,620 fresh infec-tions, thetotal infections in thestate climbed from 2,29,7793 to23,14,413. Similarly, with 50new deaths the Covid-19 toll inthe state went up from 52,811to 52861.

As 8861 patients were dis-charged from the hospitalsacross the state after full recov-ery, the total number of peopledischarged from the hospitalssince the second week of Marchlast year went up to 21,34,072.The recovery rate in the statedropped marginally from 92.49per cent to 92.21 per cent.

With five fresh deaths, theCovid-19 toll in Mumbai rosefrom 11,523 to 11,528. whilethe infected cases went up by

1963 to trigger a jump in theinfections from 3,41,999 to3,43,962.

Meanwhile, the number of“active cases” total cases in thestate went up from 1,18,525 to1,26, 231 The fatality rate in thestate dropped from 2.3 per centto 2.28 per cent.

There are a maximum of25,673 “active” cases in Pune,followed by Nagpur (16,964),Mumbai (12535), Thane(12,332), Nashik (7688),Aurangabad (7148), Jalgaon(4944), Amravati (3997) andAkola (3783).

Pune district, which con-tinued to be the worst-affectedcity-district in Maharashtra,saw the total number of casesincrease from 4,36,303 toi4,39,562, while the total num-ber of deaths in Pune went upfrom 8133 to 8144.

Thane district remainedin the third spot --after Puneand Mumbai – after the totalnumber of infections rose from2,81,704 to 2,93,052, while thetotal deaths climbed from 5869to 5873.

Of the 1,75, 16,885 samplessent to laboratories, 23,14,413have tested positive (13.21 percent) for COVID-19 untilSunday.

Currently, 5,83,713 peo-ple are in home quarantinewhile 5,493 people are in insti-tutional quarantine.

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Jammu: Jammu and Kashmirrecorded 105 new Covid casesand 66 recoveries on Sundaywhile no Covid-related deathwas reported.

An official bulletin said ofthe new cases, 25 were from theJammu division and 80 fromthe Kashmir division.

So far, 127,640 people havebeen infected with coronavirusin J&K out of which 124,746have recovered, and 1,974 havesuccumbed.

The number of active casesis 920, out of which 212 arefrom the Jammu division and708 from the Kashmir division. IANS

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Pune: Nationalist CongressParty (NCP) president SharadPawar on Sunday claimed thatbarring Assam, the BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP) is set to losethe upcoming Assembly elec-tions in the other three Statesand a Union Territory.

Addressing the media inhis hometown Baramati, Pawarsaid his assessment was basedon the ground level situationand reports emanating fromthese states and UT.

About West Bengal, Pawaraccused the BJP government atthe Centre of "grossly abusingits power" to target TrinamoolCongress supremo and WestBengal Chief Minister MamataBanerjee, who is fighting a

single-handed battle for thepeople of her state.

"The people of West Bengalare self-respecting. If anyonetries to attack the Bengali cul-ture and pride, the whole statewill stand up unitedly andretaliate," warned Pawar.

He said in such a scenario,no matter what anybody mayclaim, he was confident that"Mamata Banerjee will returnto power". In Kerala, Pawar saidthe NCP is in alliance with theruling Left Democratic Front(LDF) and there is little doubtthat they would attain a major-ity in the coming elections toretain power.

The poll scenario in TamilNadu seems to be in favour of

the opposition DMK and itschief M.K. Stalin, who wouldunseat the ruling AIADMKand the people of the statewould wholeheartedly supporthim to take over the reins of thestate, Pawar added.

On Assam, the NCP chiefsaid the BJP is already in powerthere and its comparative posi-tion there seems good so far,and hence it would retainpower in that northeasternstate.

The multi-phased electionsfor Assam, and West Bengalbegin March 27, while Kerala,Tamil Nadu and Puducherrywill vote on April 6. Countingin all five polls will be held onMay 2. IANS

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Srinagar: A local youth suffered apellet gunshot injury at anencounter site in Jammu andKashmir's Shopian district, where amilitant was killed.

Doctors at the SMHS hospitalin Srinagar city said 22-year-old ArifAhmad was admitted to the hospi-tal with a pellet injury in his left eye.

The family alleged that theyouth had suffered the injury whenthe security forces used force to keepcivilians away from the encountersite. The encounter took place in theRawalpora village of Shopian districtwhere a local militant was killed.

The US made M-4 carbine rifleand 36 armour piercing rounds wererecovered from the dead terrotist.

The encounter between the ter-rorists and the security forces beganon Saturday evening. IANS

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Amaravati: Six farm labourerswere killed and seven injured ina road accident in AndhraPradesh's Krishna district onSunday, police said.

An auto-rickshaw carryingthe labourers was hit by anunknown vehicle near theGollapalli village of NuzvidMandal, Krishna district.

The four-wheeler, whichrammed into the auto, escapedfrom the scene. Police said theywere trying to trace the vehicle.

Six labourers died on thespot while seven others wereinjured. The injured were admit-ted to hospitals at Vijayawadaand Nuzvid.

Andhra Pradesh GovernorBiswa Bhusan Harichandan andChief Minister Y.S. Jagan MohanReddy have expressed shock

and profound grief at the deathof six labourers in the road acci-dent.

The chief ministerannounced Rs 5 lakh as ex-gra-tia each to the families of thedeceased. He directed the offi-cials to provide best treatment tothe injured.

According to a statementfrom Raj Bhawan, the Governorwas informed by the district offi-cials that the farm workersbelonging to Lion Thanda inNuzvid mandal were proceedingin an autorickshaw towardsBapulapadu Mandal when anunknown vehicle dashed againsttheir vehicle. The officialsinformed that the injured per-sons have been shifted to hos-pital and are being provided nec-essary medical care. IANS

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Lucknow: The Yogi AdityanathGovernment in Uttar Pradesh hasordered the demolition of over 9,800dilapidated schools in the State.

The Government authorities haveidentified over 12,000 such schoolswhere renovation or demolition isrequired.

Vijay Kiran Anand, Director General,education, said, "As many as 12,177schools have been identified in UttarPradesh which are either dilapidated orneed renovation. Out of these, 2,013schools have to be renovated and theremaining 9,826 schools have to bedemolished."

While 2,195 schools have alreadybeen demolished, action is still pendingon other schools.

However, the demolition of these

schools would create problems for stu-dents studying in them unless they areprovided alternative accommodation.

A senior official in the educationdepartment said, "In most of these cases,separate buildings have already been con-structed on the same premises. However,in other cases, schools in vicinity of thedilapidated buildings have been identi-fied and the students will be moved thereaccordingly."

Anand said, "The dilapidated build-ings put a question mark on the safety ofthe students studying there and henceaction will be taken with immediateeffect,"

He said that a committee would beformed under the district magistrates andaction would be taken on the identifiedbuildings. IANS

Srinagar: Dry, overcast weath-er occurred in Jammu andKashmir and Ladakh onSunday as the meteorological(MeT) department forecastlight to moderate rain andsnow during the next 24 hours.

"Weather to remain over-cast with light to moderate rainin plains and snow over thehigher reaches of Kashmirtowards the Sunday afternoonand generally cloudy weather inJammu", an official of the MeTdepartment said.

Srinagar had 5.8, Pahalgam0.6 and Gulmarg minus 2.2 asthe minimum temperature.

Leh town of Ladakh hadminus 2.7, Kargil minus 4.3while the minimum tempera-ture recorded in Drass townwas not available. IANS

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/,-AA������������)$�����������!��������� Pilibhit: In a shocking incident in

Uttar Pradesh, a police officer,posted as a circle officer in Bisalpurpolice station, landed himself in asoup, for allegedly forcing the vil-lage head of Marauri Khas village,Sanjeev Awasthi, to rub his nose onthe feet of an accused.

BJP MLA Ram Saran Vermasaid that circle officer Vineet Singh,accompanied by Bilsanda SHORavindra Kumar, had come to thevillage on Wednesday to resolve adispute related to a temple's land.

Guddu, the accused, has beenliving illegally on the temple premis-es.

The police officer had come atthe behest of Guddu, who Vermadescribed as "a criminal involved inseveral nefarious activities".

The MLA claimed that Singh

called the village 'pradhan' anddirected him to first touch Guddu'sfeet and then made him rub hisnose on them thrice.

MLA Ram Saran Verma said hehad written to additional chief sec-retary, home, Avanish Awasthi,DGP HC Awasthi and Pilibhit SP JaiPrakash Yadav, seeking immediatelegal action against the police offi-cer.

He has also called for an urgentmeeting of the Gram PradhanSangh to decide future course ofaction.

Condemning the incident, dis-trict president of Pradhan Sangh,Ashutosh Dixit, said, "We haveannounced to fight a decisive bat-tle and it will continue till a sternlegal action against the erring cir-cle officer is ensured." IANS

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had two children. A fewyears later, the Chinese alsomet someone with whomthere grew a desire to havechildren. Last heard, theSino-American combinationhad one child. The same-sexcouple and their childrenstay together whereas thefathers visit them accordingto mutual convenience.

However odd these inci-dents may appear to tradi-tional people, a free societyshould allow people to dowhat they prefer. But thatdoes not mean that the cur-rent laws should have toaccommodate new oddities.For such people, the legisla-tures should make separatelaws so that the pioneersconcerned do not feel inse-cure or outside the pale ofsociety. Say, merely for illus-trating my contention, letsame-sex coming togetherbe under a law called a ‘unitycontract’ or anything elsebut not marriage.

Experts may have sever-al explanations for what inthe old days would havebeen called perversities, butare now sympathised with. Inmy own lay observation,homosexuality develops nor-mally due to the denial ofaccess or exposure to theother gender. Boarding

schools occasionally reportsuch cases and, lately, irreg-ularities have come to thesurface in religious institu-tions, too. Again, going bymy experience of being anonly child, I suffered fromextreme shyness in mixing upwith girls. Here, my parentsshould have noted this andplayed a part in bringing meout of my reserve. All theyneeded to have done is toclearly tell me that if I want-ed to talk to a girl, I had tofirst say hello to her. I some-how had the notion that if Itook the initiative, the girlmight misunderstand andfeel that I was taking liberties,which was so wrong!Nevertheless, I remained safefrom any diversion.

Another unusual experi-ence I have witnessed is ofmy aunt. About the time Iwas born, she fell in love withan older doctor. He was mar-ried in his village beforecompleting his studies. In duecourse, he and his wife hadthree healthy children. Themental or intellectual chasmbetween them had grownconsiderably. Basically, thedoctor’s problem was similarto that of the Vadodaralawyer. He, therefore,responded to my aunt, theybecame friends and remained

so for years. When I wasabout eight years old, theycame to see my grandfatherfor permission to marry. If hedid not object, they wouldtake a train to Goa and getmarried there. The reasonwas that the BombayProvincial Law had prohibit-ed bigamy by 1945 whereasthe Goan rules permitted it.

They went to Goa, gotmarried and, remarkably, alllived together until death didthem part: That is the twowives, six children and thedoctor husband who happi-ly survived until he was 83. AsI grew up, I awoke to a con-tradiction in the BombayProvincial Law. My aunt anduncle had to go to Goa toescape the ban on bigamy butthousands others are in lawexempted from it and permit-ted the privilege of polygamy.This discrimination is nowprevalent across India. Eitherpolygamy should be allowedfor all under a distinct, sep-arate law or, preferably, itshould be prohibited for allcitizens of the country. Butdifferent privileges to differ-ent people under the law arediscriminatory and wrong.

(The writer is a well-known columnist and anauthor. The views expressedare personal.)

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Same-sex marriage isnovel and different fromthe traditional sacramen-tal or contractual coming

together of a man and a woman.It would be a union legitimisedby religion or law between twopersons. It enables the couple tobear children who are, there-fore, legitimate and not other-wise. Giving birth or procre-ation is a duty for the perpetu-ation of the human race. A pri-mary function of marriage islegitimate procreation.

There are men and womenwho live together without beingmarried, especially in Europe,but hesitate to produce children.There are others who do nothesitate. In Gujarat’s Vadodaracity, nearly 30 years ago, a lead-ing lawyer introduced a novel-ty called “maîtri karaar”(friendship contract). It laiddown in a legal document allthe necessary conditions aboutthe future of the man’s proper-ty and assets as well as othercommitments. From an ortho-dox family, he had been marriedwhen very young. Subsequently,he was educated as a lawyer. Hiswife remained the woman shewas expected to be.

The mental or intellectualgulf between the two grewwider. Their two childrenremained with the wife but hemaintained them all, though helived separately with a youngerlady whom he had befriended.To reassure herself of futuresecurity, she requested for acontract and the lawyer acced-ed. Following their example,several others in Gujarat adopt-ed this contract method.Seldom did the parties to thecontract procreate; in that theydid not fulfill their racial dutyto nature. I have come acrossstranger incidents.

Two young ladies, one verydistantly related to me and theother of Chinese origin, residedin Canada at the time. Theybecame such close friends thatthey got married. In due course,the Indian met an Englishman,a bachelor, who had a greatdesire to have children. Withthe consent of the Chinesespouse, the Indian agreed and

SOUNDBITE���������� ������������������Sir — It is unfortunate that there is no solu-tion in sight to end the humanitarian cri-sis in Yemen which seems to be unabated.The recent exclusive reports by the mediahave just highlighted the sorry state ofYemen as well as the plight of malnourishedchildren in the region.

The World Food Programme haswarned of malnutrition-related child deathsin huge numbers in the country. These dis-turbing issues cannot be brushed aside bypointing the finger at others. All the stake-holders, including the world community,must be held accountable for the ongoingcrisis. Adding to the woes, famine has alsobeen projected to raise its ugly head acrossthe region. The international communityshould not think twice before helpingYemen through strong food assistance,medical aid and other financial backup pro-grammes.

The US has urged Yemen’s Houthimovement to halt an offensive on theGovernment-held city of Marib and joininternational efforts to find a politicalsolution to the more than six-year-oldcivil war. But it seems that mere persua-sions and requests are not enough. It’stime for the world community to takesome concrete measures. India mustanalyse the possibility of encouragingfarming activities in Yemen. India cansupply farming equipments, seeds, fertilis-ers and other essentials to boost agricul-tural in the war-torn nation. It can alsoextend its startup programme for theyouth in the region to create employmentopportunities. Empowering youth,women and other marginalised sectionwill empower the country.

P Senthil | Mumbai

���������������� ���������� ��Sir — Women should be extra cautiouswhile travelling in public transport andautorickshaw if they are alone. In Metrotrains, there are special coaches for women;it provides some security, especially whiletravelling during odd hours but this aloneis not sufficient. Special marshals should be

deputed to keep an eye on harassers andeve-teasers.

While travelling in an autorickshaw ora taxi, women must be careful, especiallyif they are alone. They must remain alertto avoid any danger whenever the autorick-shaw driver or the taxi driver suddenlyappears to be having an engine problem ortries to stop his vehicle at a deserted or iso-lated spot. In such a situation, they shouldimmediately get out of the vehicle and standsomewhere where they are visible to thepassers-by.

They must not remain inside the vehi-cle and should dial an emergency contactnumber or at least inform relatives. Theymust also give the vehicle’s number to theperson they are speaking to. Being extra vig-ilant will help avoid any mishap.

Jubel D’Cruz | Mumbai

���������� ����������Sir —Kudos to Mithali Raj for having joined

England’s Charlotte Edwards in the eliteclub of 10,000 run scorers. Raj’s achieve-ment to cross the milestone while corner-ing a boundary off Anne Bosch in the 28thover of India’s innings during the third ODIagainst South Africa is praiseworthy.

She has played for more than twodecades in the Indian cricket team and herperformance has been priceless. She hasbecome a source of inspiration for thosedaughters of the nation who intend to pur-sue cricket as a passion and profession. TheIndian cricket board (BCCI) has alwaysbeen considered a male-centric organisa-tion but now with an exemplary perfor-mance, Mithali Raj has changed the defi-nition. This achievement will definitelyencourage other girls to join sports.

Yugal Kishore Sharma | Faridabad

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We have heard that data, like photographs,can’t lie. However, these notions arechanging in the modern world.

Technology tools like Photoshop single-handedlydisproved the statement regarding photographs andit is increasingly coming to the fore that data don’talways necessarily tell the whole truth. Lee Baker,statistician and author of the book ‘Truth, Lies andStatistics: How to lie with Statistics’ said: “Data does-n’t lie. People do. If your data is biased, it is becauseit has been sampled incorrectly or you asked thewrong question (whether deliberately or otherwise).”However, the concept of algorithmic bias is morenuanced and is gaining traction with the increasein automation and the use of Artificial Intelligence(AI) in virtually all fields. The issue of bias is not anew concept. The human race throughout its evo-lution has seen various biases affecting its trajecto-ry and how we perceive ourselves and our surround-ings. The biases that impact our society have alsocrept into the functioning of technology because,it is, after all, conceptualised by individuals havingtheir own priorities and notions. In the context ofdata bias, we can analyse whether data are biasedwhen they are a result of an insufficient or non-inclu-sive sample or the person interpreting the data hasan impact on the outcome or its interpretation.

However, beyond this straightforward notionof bias, with the proliferation of “smart” or AI-dri-ven technologies, the concept of algorithmic biasis gaining ground. Algorithms often display or func-tion with the same biases as those held by the indi-viduals who create them. This is a matter of con-cern as information and communications, alongwith the use of AI-based technology, have foundtheir way into every facet of human life. Such bias-es can be harmful especially to marginalised com-munities and individuals, who have faced discrim-ination in other walks of life and are now at risk indigital environments also.

In the age of automated decision-making, themachine learning models are trained on data thatare available to the systems. This is often the rawmaterial that these machines “learn” from and thatforms a world view for the machine, within its lim-ited scope of functioning. This makes it all the morecrucial that the training figures for these models areunbiased. But are they really? Many have held thatthe offline biases that humans hold are codified intonumbers. The figures often fail to capture the struc-tural issues of the offline world into representativedata points. The Gender Shades study byBuolamwini and Gebru highlighted disparate per-formance in commercial facial recognition systems.This scenario highlighted how designers fail toaccount for and think outside of their world viewand identity, namely skin colour or sex — whichresults in adverse externalities for communities thathold vulnerable identities. The lack of dark skinnedfaces and female representation led to inaccuracyin predictions for those who fell within these cat-egories. Earlier this year, a PhD student in Canadabrought attention to issues with the videoconfer-encing service Zoom’s algorithms pertaining to theirvirtual backgrounds and how it was causing the AIto “remove” the heads of African-American userswhile using virtual backgrounds. Zoom respond-ed to these concerns and ensured that they wereworking to create a more inclusive platform for all.Inclusiveness in the phase of conceptualisation of

such algorithms is a critical aspect.Often the implications of algo-

rithmic bias are more serious whenbiased datasets train algorithms fordecision-making, particularly inareas such as crime, education andhealthcare — the errors of exclusionare costly. There is a false equivalencebetween machine-generated resultsand on-ground reality which leads todenial of healthcare benefits, difficul-ty in finding jobs, profiling of a vul-nerable group and so on.

In December 2019, a non-parti-san entity of the US FederalGovernment, the National Instituteof Standards and Technology (NIST),released a study that acknowledgedthe existence of demographic bias infacial recognition algorithms. Theresearch, that was the first of its kindin studying the issue of “identifica-tion” over the issue of recognition,clearly showed that most facial recog-nition tracking (FRT) fared poorly inexamining the faces of women, peo-ple of colour, the elderly and children.This is alarming as the use of FRT bylaw enforcement in the US andaround the world, including in India,is increasing at a rapid rate and hasreal life implications where such bias-es could harm someone’s life.

Even the healthcare sector hasnot been spared. Though the use ofAI and machine learning is intend-ed to make healthcare more inclusiveand reduce the inequalities in ser-vices, it is increasingly being foundthat it exacerbates them instead. Theissue of algorithms being formulat-ed on data that isn’t representative of

society, finds very serious and far-reaching implications in healthcareby impacting the effectiveness andfunctionality of automated diagnos-tic systems which are increasinglybeing employed across the globe. Forinstance, algorithms used to diagnoseskin cancer lesions are largely trainedusing light-skinned individuals andshow lowered efficiency pertainingto individuals with darker skin,thereby placing them at risk of notbeing diagnosed in time.

In India, we are very far fromhaving open conversations about theneed for accountability of algo-rithms and transparency for thesame. Though India has recentlybegun its journey on creating aframework for data protection, butthe policy attempts by theGovernment have not touched uponissues such as algorithmic inequali-ty or transparency. The Governmentis rapidly digitising the approach togovernance and embarking upon for-mulating India’s data governanceframeworks to build a more fair andequitable digital ecosystem. However,none of the frameworks governingdigital programmes or the proposeddata governance legislations addressthe issue of bias in data and algo-rithms. Another pressing issue withrespect to the Government’s employ-ment of algorithms has also been alack of transparency or the practiceof auditing the outcomes of suchalgorithms to assess probable bias.

Though the Government haspreviously acknowledged the need tostandardise AI systems and develop-

ment in India through the AI Stack,announced in 2019, not muchprogress has been made since. Manyexperts in the field have suggestedthat the way forward for India wouldbe to formulate an algorithmic trans-parency and accountability Bill,which would incorporate safeguardssuch as algorithmic outcome audit-ing pertaining to the usage of auto-mated decision-making.

There is a need to make data rep-resentative in a manner that itattempts to solve one aspect of algo-rithmic bias. By making the spacemore diverse, including membersfrom disadvantaged groups to be partof the process and by looking at issuesfrom an interdisciplinary lens —many outcomes involving exclusioncan be pre-empted. Along with this,strong bias detection and mitigationframeworks that aim to constantlycheck and improve on existing designwill ensure a more inclusive system.

Right from those who designthese algorithms to the data sets usedto create them, we must ensure thatthese are a reflection of our societyand are as diverse as society itself. Itis also imperative that such individ-uals represent various fields such associal science, law, ethics and philos-ophy in addition to engineers, toensure that the final product is pri-vacy respecting, ethical and inclusive.We must strive to not view the effi-cacy of algorithms or models myopi-cally but broadly from a lens of inclu-sivity and in the hope that it servesthe lowest common denominator justas efficiently as the majority.

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In a letter to AfghanPresident Ashraf Ghanirecently, US Secretary of

State Antony Blinken insist-ed that Ghani agree to sharepower with the Taliban insur-gents in a transitionalGovernment, to be followedat some point by some sort ofelection in the beleagueredcountry. Understandably, theAfghan leader views this as ashotgun marriage in whichthe Taliban will hold theshotgun.

Too bad, but the BidenAdministration has inheritedformer President DonaldTrump’s deal with the Talibanto pull all US troops out ofAfghanistan by May 1 thisyear and it has no intentionof changing that. The “goodguys” lost and US PresidentJoe Biden has promised nomore “forever wars”, andAshraf Ghani will just have tosuck it up.

Secretary Blinken’s letterto him was little short of bru-tal: “Over the last twomonths...I have kept youscrupulously informed of theprogress of the negotiations.This is my final effort to pointout to you the necessity forjoint action and to convey myirrevocable intention to pro-ceed, preferably with yourcooperation but, if neces-sary, alone. The time hascome for us to present aunited front in negotiatingwith our enemies, and youmust decide now whetheryou desire to continue towork together or whetheryou want me to seek a settle-ment with the enemy whichserves US interests alone.”

Hang on a minute. Thedate’s wrong on this letter.Sorry. My incompetentintern has brought me the let-ter that President RichardNixon wrote to South

Vietnamese PresidentNguyen Van Thieu onDecember 17, 1972. That wasjust before Nixon signed thepeace agreement with NorthVietnam that gave the US aface-saving “decent interval”(two years after Americantroops left) before Hanoi col-lected its winnings by con-quering South Vietnam.

Ah! Here’s Blinken’s letterto President Ghani.Completely different, apartfrom the large parts thatsound exactly the same.

“I must also make clear toyou, Mr President, that as ourpolicy process continues inWashington, the UnitedStates has not ruled out anyoption. We are consideringthe full withdrawal of ourforces by May 1st, as we con-sider other options.

“Even with the continua-tion of financial assistancefrom the United States to

your forces after an Americanmilitary withdrawal, I amconcerned that the securitysituation will worsen andthat the Taliban could makerapid territorial gains.”Blinken concluded byexpressing the hope thatGhani “understands theurgency of my tone regardingthe collective work outlinedin this letter.”

“Nice little country you’vegot here, Ghani”, as mafiaboss Tony Soprano might

have put it in the famousHBO series The Sopranos.“You wouldn’t want anythingbad to happen to it.” Exceptthat the US is no longer run-ning a protection racket inAfghanistan. The US is aban-doning Afghanistan, just likeit abandoned South Vietnamalmost 50 years ago. And it’sdemanding that the localpuppet ruler give it politicalcover for its withdrawal andtake the blame for its finaldefeat, also just like it did withPresident Thieu in SouthVietnam 50 years ago. Andthe poor mugs went alongwith it, because what choicedid they have?

This is not to suggestthat the US should keep itslast 2,500 troops inAfghanistan, let alone rein-force them again. It wouldhave been better if Americanforces had left within a fewyears of the 2001 invasion. It

would have been even betterif they had never invaded atall. One of the most quotedaxioms of military history,right up there with “Don’tmarch on Moscow”, is “Neverinvade Afghanistan.” Thethree greatest empires of thepast century, British, Russianand American, have all triedand failed.

Afghanistan is alwayseasy to conquer, because it ispoor and disunited. It isimpossible to stay there verylong, because Afghans hatebeing invaded and every adultman is armed. The Talibannever had a foreign policy;they were exclusively interest-ed in “reforming” their owncountry according to theirextreme Islamist ideology.Their leader gave shelter toOsama bin Laden’s crewbecause he had the same ide-ology, but there is no evidencethat the Taliban knew he was

planning the 9/11 attacks.Washington’s best coursewould have been to try tobribe enough mid-levelTaliban leaders to hand binLaden and Co over to it. (Youcan’t buy religious fanatics,but you can sometimes rentthem.)

Failing that, go in fast,grab the al-Qaeda bunch,and get out again. And if youmust invade, quickly find afriendly strongman, put himin power and leave. Insteadthe US and its equally befud-dled NATO allies stayed andstayed, finding an ever-changing array of reasons(some of them well-meaning)for chasing an ever-recedingvictory. And now it’s down tothis: Buy yourself some short-term political cover, get thehell out, and don’t look back.It will be ugly afterwards, butit’s much too late to changethat.

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POINTCOUNTERPOINT

Venkatesh is researchcoordinator and Mehta isstrategic engagement and

research coordinator, The Dialogue.

The views expressed are personal.

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Gwynne Dyer’s new bookis ‘Growing Pains: TheFuture of Democracy

and Work’. The views expressed

are personal.

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At least four people wereshot dead during protests

in Myanmar on Sunday, assecurity forces continued theirviolent crackdown against dis-sent following last month'smilitary coup.

Two of the victims werekilled in Yangon, the country'slargest city. One of them wasshot in the head and anotherwas shot in the abdomen,according to local media cov-ering the demonstrations inHlaing Thar Yar Township.

A third person died in thenorthern city of Hpakant whenpolice fired into a crowd ofdemonstrators, local mediareported. A fourth victim, awoman, died after being shot inthe head in Mandalay, thecountry's second-largest city, assecurity forces were conductingclearance operations.

In Yangon, video posted on

social media showed crowds ofpeople, some wearing hardhats and gas masks, runningdown a street amid sounds ofgunfire. The demonstratorsquickly sprayed vapor from fireextinguishers as they retreated.

The use of fire extinguish-ers - common now in protestsacross Myanmar - is intendedto smother tear gas and alsocreate a vapor screen thatmakes it harder for police topursue or shoot demonstrators.

There were also reports ofinjuries from live rounds andrubber bullets in other parts ofYangon, including Insein dis-trict, where billows of blacksmoke could be seen aftersecurity forces reportedly setroadblocks on fire.

On Saturday, the civilianleader of Myanmar's govern-ment in hiding vowed to con-tinue supporting a "revolu-tion" to oust the military lead-ers who seized power in the

February 1 coup. Mahn WinKhaing Than, who was namedthe acting vice president by

Myanmar's ousted lawmakersand is a member of deposedleader Aung San Suu Kyi'spolitical party, addressed thepublic for the first time sincethe coup.

"This is the darkestmoment of the nation and themoment that the dawn is close,"he said in a video posted on the

shadow government's websiteand social media.

"In order to form a feder-al democracy, which all ethnicbrothers who have been suf-fering various kinds of oppres-

sions from the dictatorship fordecades really desired, thisrevolution is the chance for usto put our efforts together," hesaid.

He added: "We will nevergive up to an unjust military,but we will carve our futuretogether with our united power.Our mission must be accom-plished."

At the end of the message,he flashed the three-fingersalute that has become a sym-bol of resistance to the militaryrulers.

Also Saturday, securityforces again opened fire ondemonstrators, killing four inMandalay, two in Pyay insouth-central Myanmar, andone in Twante, a suburb ofYangon. Details of all sevendeaths were posted on multiplesocial media accounts, withsome accompanied by photosof the victims.

The actual death toll is like-ly to be higher, as police appar-ently seized some bodies, andsome of the victims sufferedserious gunshot wounds thatdoctors and nurses working atmakeshift clinics would behard-pressed to treat.

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At least eight persons wereinjured on Sunday when a

"pressure cooker bomb"exploded at a crowdedGovernment office in Sirahadistrict's Lahan in south-east-ern Nepal, according to media reports.

The pressure cooker bombexploded on the first floor ofthe Land Revenue Office at12.40 pm, Assistant ChiefDistrict Officer Krishna Kumar Niraula was quoted assaying by The Kathmandu Postnewspaper.

Eight employees - five menand three women - of the landrevenue department wereinjured in the blast, the papersaid.

"Three of the criticallyinjured are undergoing treat-ment at Saptarishi Hospital,Lahan while the others areadmitted at Lahan Hospital,"said DSP Tapan Dahal.

Meanwhile, police said thatthey have recovered pamphlets

published by the JanatantrikTarai Mukti Morcha(Revolutionary), an armed out-fit led by Jaya Krishna Goit,from the blast site, MyRepublica newspaper reported.

According to police, severalpieces of pamphlets were foundfrom the blast site but it is hardto read what is written onthem.

"We can, however, see thesignature of Jaya Krishna Goit,"a police officer said.

Police has been investigat-ing the case.

The Janatantrik TeraiMukti Morcha is a group agi-tating for greater political andeconomic rights for the peopleof the Terai plains borderingIndia. PTI

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�&���� �#�#"#��"��,� ��1�9 ���".�#��)�/�#���*.���Mandalay: The civilian leaderof Myanmar's Government inhiding vowed to continue sup-porting a "revolution" to oustthe military that seized powerin last month's coup, as secu-rity forces again met protest-ers with lethal forces, killing atleast seven.

Mahn Win Khaing Than,who was named the acting vicepresident by Myanmar's oust-ed lawmakers and is a mem-ber of deposed leader AungSan Suu Kyi's party, addressedthe public on Saturday for thefirst time since the February 1military takeover.

"This is the darkestmoment of the nation and themoment that the dawn isclose," he said in a video post-ed on the shadow govern-ment's website and socialmedia.

"In order to form a feder-al democracy, which all ethnic

brothers who have been suf-fering various kinds of oppres-sions from the dictatorship fordecades really desired, thisrevolution is the chance for usto put our efforts together," hesaid.

He added: "We will nevergive up to an unjust militarybut we will carve our futuretogether with our unitedpower. Our mission must beaccomplished."

At the end of the messagehe flashed a three-finger salutethat has become a symbol ofresistance to the military rule.

Earlier Saturday, securityforces opened fire at demon-strators, killing four inMandalay, the second biggestcity, two in Pyay in south-cen-tral Myanmar, and one inTwante, a suburb of Yangon,Myanmar's largest city. Detailsof all seven deaths were post-ed on multiple social media

accounts, some accompaniedby photos of the victims.

The actual death toll islikely to be higher, as policeapparently seized some bodies,and some of the victims suf-fered serious gunshot woundsthat doctors and nurses work-ing at makeshift clinics will behard-pressed to treat. Manyhospitals are occupied by secu-rity forces, and as a result areboycotted by medical person-nel and shunned by protesters.

The independent UNhuman rights expert forMyanmar, Tom Andrews, saidlast week that credible reportsindicated at least 70 people haddied so far, and cited growingevidence of crimes againsthumanity by the military.

Other unofficial but care-fully compiled tallies put thenumber of deaths since thecoup at around 90.

AP

Wilmington: As he stood inthe Rose Garden celebrating hisfirst big legislative win,President Joe Biden gestured tothe White House and said it'sa "magnificent building" to livein. Except on weekends.

Of the eight weekendssince Biden took office, he hasspent three at his longtimehome outside Wilmington,Delaware, including this week-end. Tentative plans for anoth-er weekend visit were scrubbeddue to Senate action on Biden'sUSD 1.9 trillion coronavirusrelief plan.

Biden also spent a weekendat the Camp David presidentialretreat in Maryland.

Many presidents have com-plained at one point or anoth-er about feeling confined in the

White House. Biden alreadyhas echoed earlier presidents incomparing the experience toliving in a "gilded cage." So trading the 132-room exec-utive mansion for a less con-fining, more relaxing weekendhangout can help presidentsunwind, said University ofChicago political scientistWilliam Howell.

"What he wanted to be waspresident," Howell said. "It isnot the White House per se thatis the draw."

The White House defendsBiden's leisure travel at a timewhen both he and federalhealth officials have beenpleading with the public to takethe coronavirus pandemic seri-ously, including by avoidingunnecessary travel.

"The president lives inWilmington. It's his home.That's where he's lived formany, many years," press sec-retary Jen Psaki said recently."And as you know, as any pres-ident of the United States does,he takes a private airplanecalled Air Force One to travelthere." "I think mostAmericans would also see thatas a unique circumstance," shesaid of the government aircraftavailable to Biden.

No president travels alone,though, no matter how privatethe plane.

It requires that lots of otherpeople travel as well. And thecosts mount quickly.

Besides the Air Force flightcrew, a president's travel partyincludes Secret Service agents,

White House staff, journalistsand family.

Depending on the desti-nation and purpose of the trip,lawmakers, Cabinet secretariesor other guests may fly with thepresident.

Biden occasionally broughtsome of his six grandchildrenon trips when he was vicepresident, as well as during lastyear's presidential campaign.

Presidential travel doesn'tcome cheap.

Federal agencies spent anestimated $13.6 million onfour trips that then-PresidentDonald Trump took to hiswaterfront Mar-a-Lago estate inPalm Beach, Florida, inFebruary and March of 2017,the GovernmentAccountability Office reported

in 2019.The figure includes USD

10.6 million to operate gov-ernment aircraft and boats,and USD 3 million for trans-portation, lodging, meals andother expenses for governmentpersonnel supporting the pres-ident on the road, the reportsaid.

But not all presidentialtravel is the same.

Trump took the morefamiliar version of Air ForceOne, a modified 747, on thetwo-hour-plus flight to thecommercial airport in WestPalm Beach, Florida. Bidenhas flown a smaller version ofthe aircraft for the roughlyhalf-hour flight to the DelawareAir National Guard Base.

AP

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The Hindu community inPakistan's restive Khyber

Pakhtunkhwa has decided topardon the mob that van-dalised and burned down acentury-old temple in theprovince.

The local clerics and mem-bers of the Hindu communityheld a meeting on Saturday toresolve the dispute.

As per the dialogue, infor-mally called 'jigra', the accusedhave tendered an apology overthe attack and a similar inci-dent in 1997.

The Muslim clerics haveassured full protection to theHindus and their rights as perthe country's Constitution.

A reconciliation statementfrom the meeting would bepresented to the SupremeCourt, in a bid to secure therelease of the accused fromdetention.

On December 30last year, a mob led by somelocal clerics and members ofradical Islamist party JamiatUlema-e-Islam vandalised thetemple and an adjoining'samadhi' and set it on fire inTerri village of KhyberPakhtunkhwa's Karak district.

Speaking to themedia after the meeting withthe local Ulema, PakistanHindu Council ChairmanRamesh Kumar said the inci-dent had hurt the feelings ofHindus across the world.

Kumar, who is also aPakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf law-maker, said KPK ChiefMinister Mahmood Khan hadchaired the 'jirga' proceedingsand thanked him for settlingthe matter amicably.

Mahmood Khan, in hisaddress to jirga members, hadcondemned the attack strong-ly, calling it an attempt to pol-lute the peaceful environment

in the province. The attack on the temple

had drawn strong condemna-tion from human rightsactivists and the minorityHindu community leaders,prompting the Supreme Courtto order its reconstruction.

Nearly 50 people have beenarrested in the case.

Following the incident,India had lodged a strongprotest with Pakistan. TheMinistry of External Affairshad conveyed its serious con-cerns to the Pakistan HighCommission in New Delhiover the repeated instances ofsimilar incidents and atrocitiesagainst the members of theminority community.

India had also called outthe Pakistan government atthe United Nations, saying thecountry's enforcement agenciesstood as "mute spectators"when a historic Hindu templewas attacked.

London: Buckingham Palaceplans to hand over an investiga-tion into allegations that MeghanMarkle, the Duchess of Sussex,may have bullied staff during hertime as a frontline royal withPrince Harry in Britain to exter-nal investigators, a UK mediareport said on Sunday.

Earlier this month, thepalace had confirmed that aprobe would be conductedafter 'The Times' published aleaked email from a staff mem-ber alleging that the formerAmerican actress drove twopersonal assistants out of theroyal household and under-mined the confidence of athird member of staff.

Now, 'The Sunday Times'reports that it has been decid-ed that the inquiry would behanded to a third-party lawfirm to conduct an indepen-dent investigation, rather thanan inhouse inquiry.

"Our commitment to lookinto the circumstances aroundthe allegations from formerstaff of the Duke and Duchessof Sussex is being taken for-

ward but we will not be pro-viding a public commentary onit," a Buckingham Palacespokesperson said.

Several former and currentroyal aides who could not giveevidence in court duringMeghan Markle's recent legalcase about privacy against aBritish newspaper are expect-ed to speak to the inquiry.

"The actual worst inci-dences haven't come out. Thereare some harrowing stories totell," the newspaper quoted aroyal source as saying.

The complaint againstMeghan dates back to October2018 when an email was sentby a member of the Duke andDuchess of Sussex's staff to asenior courtier. The email wasforwarded to the HR depart-ment, but the complaint did notprogress.

The palace inquiry intothe exact circumstances wasannounced days before Harryand Meghan's explosive inter-view with Oprah Winfrey wasaired last weekend, in whichthe Duke and Duchess of

Sussex made a series of shock-ing claims around the lack ofmental health support offeredto a suicidal Meghan andunnamed royals raising con-cerns about the skin colour oftheir mixed-race son Archie.

"The issues raised, partic-ularly that of race, are con-cerning. Whilst some recollec-tions may vary, they are takenvery seriously and will beaddressed by the family pri-vately. Harry, Meghan andArchie will always be muchloved family members," read aBuckingham Palace statement,days after the interview.

Prince William, Harry'solder brother, is the only seniorroyal to directly comment onthe allegations as he respond-ed to reporters' questions with:"We are very much not a racistfamily." The relationshipbetween the brothers has beenstrained for some time and itemerged this weekend thatthey had "been in contact" forthe first time since the OprahWinfrey interview, reportedlyvia text message. AP

Jerusalem: Israeli PrimeMinister Benjamin Netanyahusaid he was deterred from fly-ing to the United Arab Emiratesthrough Saudi Arabian air-space last week because of thethreat of missile fire fromIranian proxies in Yemen.

Netanyahu, whose com-ments came Saturday, hadcalled off a visit to the Emirateslast week over a spat withneighboring Jordan, which hadtemporarily closed its airspaceto the Israeli prime minister'sflight.

But rather than bypassJordanian airspace and take amore southerly route acrossSaudi skies, Netanyahu toldIsrael's Channel 13 "there werealso problems a week ago in theskies of Saudi Arabia," referringto recent missile attacks byYemen's Houthi rebels.

Netanyahu did not elabo-

rate, nor did he say his planewas targeted by the Iran-backedHouthis.

Yemen's Houthi rebels,who control the capital andmuch of the country's north,have escalated their cross-bor-der attacks on critical Saudiinfrastructure in recent weeks,crashing bomb-laden dronesand missiles into the king-dom's Patriot missile batteriesand revealing gaps in the coun-try's defenses.

Last week, missiles anddrones hit one of the world'slargest oil shipping ports andhalted air traffic toward theinternational airport in theport city of Jiddah. WhileHouthi-claimed attacks onSaudi Arabia rarely cause sub-stantial damage, such strikeshave roiled the world economyand raise the risk of a disrup-tion in global oil supplies. AP

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Greek convicted terroristDimitris Koufodinas has

ended a 66-day hunger strikethat left him dangerously ill.

Koufodinas, 63, who isserving 11 consecutive life sen-tences plus 25 years for mur-ders he committed as the mainhitman of far-left armed groupNovember 17, had begun thehunger strike demanding to betransferred to a prison of hischoice. In a statement releasedthrough his lawyer, IoannaKourtovik, Koufodinasthanked the "progressive peo-ple" who showed solidarity ina "fight against an inhumanepower system."

Several protest marcheshave taken place to supportKoufodinas' demands and sym-pathisers have staged a series ofarson and vandalism attacks inrecent days.

"There are living socialforces who resist arbitrariness,violence and authoritarianism.This gives (us) hope,"Koufodinas said.

Koufodinas also attackedthe "governing family that hasshown how ruthless it is indebasing the laws and theConstitution."

That is a reference to PrimeMinister Kyriakos Mitsotakis,the scion of a political family.Koufodinas and another manmurdered Mitsotakis' brother-in-law, Pavlos Bakoyiannis, inSeptember 1989.

U.S. And U.K. Militaryofficers were also among hisvictims before the armed groupwas dismantled in 2002 and heturned himself in.

Koufodinas had benefitedfrom the previous leftist gov-ernment's passage of a lawthat allowed him to serve histerm at a minimum-security"farming" prison.

The legislation wasrepealed by Mitsotakis' con-servative government.

Koufodinas' demand for atransfer was rejected by thegovernment and the courts. Hishunger strike led to kidney fail-ure and doctors had describedhim as dangerously weakened.

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Pope Francis has renewed his"heartfelt appeal" to all sides

in the Syria conflict to demon-strate "signs of goodwill so thata glimmer of hope can beopened for the exhausted pop-ulation."

The pope offered prayersfor Syria during his tradition-al Sunday blessing in St. Peter'sSquare, noting that a decadehas passed since the start of the"bloody conflict."

It "has caused one of themost serious humanitarian dis-asters of our times, with anunknown number of dead andwounded, millions of refugees,thousands missing, destruc-tion and violence of every type,enormous suffering for theentire population, in particularthe most vulnerable, including children, women andthe elderly."

Denver: More than 2,000flights have been cancelledover the weekend at DenverInternational Airport as amajor snowstorm strikes theregion.

The National WeatherService has issued a winterstorm warning, saying itexpects 18 to 24 inches (46-61cm) of heavy, wet snow to fallin Denver and Boulder fromSaturday afternoon throughSunday night. Some areas alongthe Front Range foothills wereexpected to receive up to 30inches (76 cm).

The Colorado Departmentof Transportation warned thatroad closures are highly likelyand asked people not to makeunnecessary trips. The high-ways most likely to be affectedincluded Interstate 25 fromColorado Springs to Wyoming,including Denver andMonument Hill; I-70 to Limon;and I-76 to Ft. Morgan, thedepartment said.

Denver International had abusy morning Saturday withpassengers trying to beat thestorm. AP

Kabul: Afghanistan's interiorminister said on Saturday thatAfghan security forces canhold their ground even if UStroops withdraw, challenging awarning from the United Statespredicting a withdrawal wouldyield quick territorial gains tothe Taliban.

Masoud Andarabi's com-ments in an interview Saturdaywith The AP were the first gov-ernment reaction to USSecretary of State AntonyBlinken's warning issued in asharply worded letter to AfghanPresident Ashraf Ghani lastweekend. In the letter pressingGhani to step up efforts to makepeace with the Taliban, Blinkensaid, "I am concerned the secu-rity situation will worsen and thatthe Taliban could make rapid ter-ritorial gains" after the Americanmilitary withdraws. Andarabisaid Afghanistan's NationalSecurity Forces could hold ter-ritory, but would likely endureheavy losses trying to holdremote checkpoints without USair support. AP

London: London's MetropolitanPolice was under heavy pressureSunday to explain its actionsduring a vigil for a womanwhom one of the force's ownofficers is accused of murdering.

Hundreds defied coron-avirus restrictions to gather andprotest violence against women,but the event ended with clash-es between police and thoseattending.

Home Secretary Priti Patelsaid scenes from Saturday's vigilin south London were "upset-ting" and she is seeking a fullreport on what happened fromthe Metropolitan Police. Thecapital's mayor, Sadiq Khan,said the police response was "attimes neither appropriate norproportionate."

Police were seen scufflingwith some women at the event,and one woman was seenpinned to the ground by twoofficers. Several women were ledaway in handcuffs as otherattendees chanted "Shame onyou" at police. The force latersaid four people were arrestedfor violating public order andcoronavirus regulations. AP

London: Scotland Yard onSunday defended its actions inpolicing a vigil in southLondon where a 33-year-oldwoman went missing and waslater found murdered.

The murder of SarahEverard, who disappeared onher way back home from afriend's place last week, has sentshockwaves across the UK as aserving Metropolitan Policeofficer appeared in courtcharged with her murder thisweek. An unofficial gatheringin memory of the victim endedup in scuffles with the policeand four arrests as the MetPolice acted to break up thecrowds under the current coro-navirus lockdown rules.

"Police must act for people'ssafety, this is the only responsi-ble thing to do. The pandemicis not over and gatherings ofpeople from right acrossLondon and beyond, are still not

safe," said Met Police AssistantCommissioner Helen Ball.

"We repeatedly encour-aged those who were there tocomply with the law and leave.Regrettably, a small minority ofpeople began chanting at offi-cers, pushing and throwingitems. After speaking with offi-cers, the vast majority of peo-ple quickly left. Four arrestshave been made for publicorder offences and for breach-es of the Health ProtectionRegulations," she said.

However, scenes of clash-es between people gathered atthe vigil and police officers onSaturday evening were sharedwidely across social media andresulted in outrage from dif-ferent quarters, includingLondon Mayor Sadiq Khan"urgently seeking an explana-tion" from Met PoliceCommissioner Cressida Dick.

PTI

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Magitronix EComm, astartup Firm, is focusing

on buyers in small towns for itsonline marketplace and helpingneighbourhood electronicsshop owners who are not ableto get access to the network ofbig e- commerce players, acompany official said onSunday.

The startup firm fromWest Bengal has also receivedapproval from the departmentfor promotion of industry andinternal trade (DPIIT) of thecommerce ministry and willstart transactions through itsportal ‘Ononya.Com’, he said.

“We do not have any ware-housing facility.Neighbourhood electronicsshops will act as sellers.

This is a startup with nofunding from outside till now,”Magitronix CEO IndrajitGhosh said.

The offline sales of elec-tronics shops across the coun-try have been hit due to theCOVID-19 pandemic.

Citing a recent studyreleased by IT body Nasscomand retail consultancy firmTechnopak Advisors, he said,“The emergence of‘online+offline’ (O+O) mar-ket is seen as a rising collabo-ration of digitally enabled retailstores.”

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Bank credit rose by 6.63 percent to �107.75 lakh crore

and deposits grew by 12.06 percent to �149.34 lakh crore inthe fortnight ended February26, according to RBI data.

In the fortnight endedFebruary 28, 2020, bank cred-it stood at �101.05 lakh croreand deposits at �133.26 lakhcrore, the recent data releasedby the Reserve Bank of Indiashowed.

Bank credit increased by6.58 per cent to �107.04 lakhcrore and deposits rose by11.75 per cent to �47.81 lakhcrore in the previous fortnightended February 12, 2021.

Care Ratings in a reportsaid the bank credit growth inthe fortnight ended February26 stood stable compared to thelast fortnight and returned tothe levels observed in the earlymonths of the pandemic, whenthe loan growth rangedbetween 6.5% to 7.2 % duringApril 2020. According to ana-lysts, the growth in bank cred-it is driven by an increase inretail loans. Emkay GlobalFinancial Services in its March5 report said it expects overallretail credit growth, which iscurrently at 9%, to acceleratefurther, led by mortgages (con-tributing 51 per cent of retailloans) and back-end support byunsecured (cards/ personalloans) and vehicle loans.

“The current market con-ditions favour banks armedwith lower funding rates,strong balance sheet, better

asset quality and strong captivecustomer base,” Anand Dama,an analyst at Emkay Global,had said in the report.

Large private banks suchas HDFC Bank (despite sus-pension in new card acquisi-tion) and ICICI Bank havebeen at the forefront of retailgrowth momentum, whileKotak Bank too is finally show-ing signs of much-neededgrowth and trying to raise theretail game, the report hadsaid.

Among state-run banks,SBI and Bank of Baroda, whichhave been the key players in themortgage market, are changinggears in the auto finance spaceas well, the research report said.

Care Ratings believe thatthe increase in the credit out-standing during the next fort-night is anticipated as year-endtransactions are expected topush up bank credit as banksundertake the year-end closingactivities. This trend can be wit-nessed for the last three-fouryears. In the first nine monthsof the current fiscal, while thegrowth in credit was 3.2 percent, bank deposits saw a riseof 8.5 per cent.

“While bank credit growthhad contracted 0.8 per cent inthe first half of this fiscal, itrecovered sharply in the thirdquarter by growing around 3per cent sequentially. In thefourth quarter, too, it shouldclock near 3 per cent sequen-tial growth,” Crisil RatingsSenior Director KrishnanSitaraman had said in a reportreleased earlier this month.

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Foreign portfolio investors(FPIs) were net sellers to the

tune of �7,013 crore so far thismonth in the Indian marketson profit-booking as jitters inglobal bond markets spookedinvestors.

As per depositories data,FPIs pulled out �531 crorefrom equities and �6,482 crorefrom the debt segment betweenMar 1-13.

The total net outflow stoodat �7,013 crore.

In contrast, they hadpumped in �23,663 crore inIndian markets in Februaryand �14,649 crore in January,on net basis.

“The flows into the equi-ty markets have moderatedsignificantly in the recent times,which could be largely attrib-uted to profit booking as mar-kets continue to be at elevatedlevels,” said HimanshuSrivastava, associate director -manager research, MorningstarIndia.

The dollar index climbingabove 92 and firmness in US10-year bond yield impactedsentiments which may be seenas profit-booking since FPIs aresitting on huge profits, VKVijayakumar, chief investmentstrategist at Geojit FinancialServices, added.

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State-owned ONGC, which isoften perceived as a drag on

the crude oil and natural gasproduced in the country, hasactually seen its contribution tothe national production jumpto over 70 per cent from under53 per cent a decade back,petroleum ministry datashowed.

While Oil and NaturalGas Corporation (ONGC)maintained production levels,output by other operators hasdropped, leading to an overallfall in India’s output and a sharprise in import dependency.

Its standalone productionat 47.51 million tonnes of oiland oil equivalent gas in 2010-11 was 52.8 per cent of a total of 89.91 million tonnes ofoil and gas produced in thecountry that year, the datashowed.

Despite having majority offields where natural decline hasset after being in operations formore than four decades,ONGC maintained produc-tion throughout the last decadethereafter and had an output of44.57 million tonnes of oil andoil equivalent gas in 2019-20,which was 70.3 per cent ofIndia’s total production of63.353 million tonnes.

ONGC’s output droppedto 43.54 million tonnes of oiland oil equivalent gas in 2015-16 (62.9 per cent of India’s totalproduction) but new discover-ies as well as massive invest-ment in extracting last dropfrom the ageing fields arrested

further fall and even led to amarginal increase.

Even when its productiondropped when compared toprevious year, ONGC’s share intotal production of crude oiland natural gas in the countrycontinued to rise, the datawhich formed part of thereview taken by the ministry acouple of weeks back, showed.

ONGC is focused on find-ing oil and gas reserves inCategory II and III Basins,which do not have establishedhydrocarbon proficiency.

This helped accrete inplacereserves of 2,246 million tonnesof oil between 2002 and 2015and ultimate accretion of 1,014million tonnes, the data pre-sented at the review showed.

Of this, ONGC realised830 million tonnes of oil and oilequivalent gas as production. Ithas approved 14 schemes fordeveloping 135 million tonnesof reserves.

ONGC’s share in nation-al production rose from 52.8per cent in 2010-11 to 54.9 percent in the following year andto 58.7 per cent in 2012-13,62.2 per cent in 2013-14, 62.3per cent in 2014-15, 62.9 percent in 2015-16 and 65.3 percent in 2016-17.

In subsequent years it was67 per cent, 68.4 per cent and70.3 per cent in 2019-20 -- thelatest year for which data waspresented at the review.

During this 10-year peri-od, India’s dependence onimported crude oil to meet itsdemand rose from about two-third to 85 per cent.

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The Central Governmentaims to sell its residual

stake in four airports as part ofthe �2.5 lakh crore asset mon-etisation pipeline.

The sale of AirportAuthority of India’s remainingstake in the four airports ofDelhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru andHyderabad, as well as identifi-cation of 13 more airports forprivatisation, has been plannedfor the next fiscal.

The Ministry of CivilAviation will take approvals fordivestment of equity stake ofthe AAI in the joint venturesrunning Delhi, Mumbai,Bengaluru and Hyderabad air-ports.

For the 13 AAI airportsidentified for privatisation, thepossibility of bundling of prof-itable and non-profitable air-ports will be looked at to makemore attractive packages.

In the first round of air-

ports’ privatisation under theNarendra Modi government,the Adani Group bagged con-tracts for six airports -Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Jaipur,M a n g a l u r u ,Thiruvananthapuram, andGuwahati - last year.

Adani Enterprises inJanuary had signed the con-cession agreement with theAirports Authority of India(AAI) for operating and devel-oping the Jaipur, Guwahatiand Thiruvananthapuram air-ports.

In a regulatory filing, the

company said that the conces-sion period is 50 years from thecommercial operation date.

“Adani Jaipur InternationalAirport Ltd, Adani GuwahatiInternational Airport andAdani ThiruvananthapuramInternational Airport, wholly-owned subsidiaries of the com-pany have signed the conces-sion agreement on January 19,2021 with Airports Authorityof India for the operations,management and developmentof Jaipur, Guwahati andThiruvananthapuram airportsrespectively,” it said.

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Rising risk of inflationarypressure as shown by the

latest macro economic datawill dent the equities market’supward trajectory during theweek ahead.

Besides, rising bond yieldsin the US, expensive valuationsand rising Covid-19 infectionswill dampen investors’ senti-ments, market observers cited.

“The CPI and IIP numbersthat came out on Friday inIndia could dampen the equi-ty markets early next week,”HDFC Securities’ RetailResearch Head Deepak Jasanisaid.

“14,862 is a crucial supporton falls for the Nifty while15,336-15,432 is the resistanceband. A fall below 14,862 couldresult in sharper and broadersell-off.”

Accordingly, the retailinflation, measured inConsumer Price Index (CPI)rose to 5.03 per cent inFebruary from January’s rise of4.06 per cent.

India’s factory output, mea-sured in terms of the Index ofIndustrial Production (IIP),witnessed a contraction of (-)1.6 per cent in January.

“While the long termstructure of the market con-tinues to remain positive, itmay face some hurdles in thenear term due to concernsover the bond yields, com-modity prices and risk ofincrease in inflation,” said

Siddhartha Khemka, Head -Retail Research, Motilal OswalFinancial Services.

“Even Nifty valuation at‘21x FY22 EPS’ is not inex-pensive and demands consis-tent delivery of earnings.”

At present, crude oil hoverover $68 per barrel. This pricelevel is expected to exert pres-sure on the currency as well asstroke domestic inflation.

“The core of the market’sworries is the rising bondyields across developed mar-kets, especially the US, thehigh oil prices which are show-ing a tendency to hold on to thehigher perches, and the conse-quent likely adverse impacton the price level in many larg-er economies like India andChina,” said Joseph Thomas,Head of Research, EmkayWealth Management.

“There is an expectationthat the demand for oil couldgo up by 5 million barrels perday, the rise accounted formainly by China, India, andEast Asia.”Furthermore, bondyields are expected to remainvolatile in the week ahead.

“The market will be keen-ly focusing on the upcomingUS Fed policy meeting sched-uled to be held on the 16th and17th of March,” said VinodNair, Head of Research atGeojit Financial Services.

“The market is waiting fora confirmation from Fed thatan accommodative stance willbe maintained even during anelevated inflation forecast.”

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Imposition of basic customsduty (BCD) on imported

solar PV cells and modules willsupport domestic OEMsm,ICRA said in a note.

Earlier, the Centre hadapproved a proposal to imposea BCD of 25 per cent onimported solar PV cells and 40per cent on imported solar PVmodules, with effect from April1, 2022.

As per ICRA note, whilethis move will support domes-tic OEMs, it is likely to resultin an increase in solar tariffs.

However, clarification isawaited on the continuation ofthe safeguard duty (SGD) onimported cells and modules,which is currently at 14.5 percent, valid till July 2021.

“This is expected to resultinto an increase in the capitalcost for a solar power projectby 23-24 per cent,” saidGirishkumar Kadam, Co-Group Head, ICRA Ratings.

“This in turn would resultin an increase in tariff by about45-50 paise per unit.Nonetheless, the bid tariff tra-jectory is likely to remain wellbelow Rs 3 per unit and thus,would continue to remain costcompetitive from the off-takers’perspective.”

At present, the state-ownedutility off-takers, average powerpurchase cost and variable costof power purchase remain inthe range of Rs 4-5 per unit andRs 3-3.5 per unit respectively inmany states.

According to the note, forthe project already bid out andhaving scheduled commis-sioning date post April 2022,wherein modules may beimported post this date, thelevy of BCD is expected to bea change in law event under thepower purchase agreement(PPA).

In such cases, the ICRAnoted that timely approval bythe respective regulatory com-missions and pass-through ofthe tariff increase to the off-tak-ers would be critical from thecash flow perspective for theproject developers.

In addition, the moduleprice trends remain a key mon-itorable for the solar powerdevelopers, in view of therecent firmness in the import-ed module prices, the notesaid.

“The imposition of BCDon imported solar cells andmodules is expected to improvethe competitiveness of domes-tic cell or module manufac-turers,” the note said.

“However, the extent ofbenefit would also dependupon the imported PV moduleprices, especially from China.”

IIFL Finance, India’s largestretail focused Non-Banking

Financial Companies, todaysaid its bonds which offers upto 10.03% yield, effectivelydoubling investment in 87months will close on March 18,2021.

The Fairfax and CDCGroup backed IIFL Finance’sunsecured redeemable non-convertible debentures(NCDs), aims to raise up to Rs1000 crore. It has already seenvery good response frominvestors across India due tohigher interest rate and high-er degree of safety.

The IIFL Bonds offer high-est yield of 10.03% p.a. for tenorof 87 months. The NCD isavailable in various optionslike monthly, annual and atmaturity. The IIFL Bondswould be issued at face value ofRs 1,000 and the minimumapplication size is Rs 10,000across all categories.

In the current scenario,the rate of interest offered byIIFL Finance bonds is veryattractive compared with otherdebt products. Liquid fundsoffer average net yields of2.8%-3%, ultra-short-termfunds offer average net yields ofaround 3-3.5%., short-termfunds offer average net yield isaround 4%-4.25%, while banks

are currently offering an inter-est of around 5.1% for a 3 yearfixed deposit.

These 10.03% rate is alsogetting locked in for 87 months.This is a big advantage as liq-uidity eases post Covid worldfor next few years, most expertsbelieve that interest rates canhead down and to lock-in goodinterest rate is a big advantage.Today the interest rates on a 10-year government securities areat 6%. The credit rating hasbeen AA by Crisil and AA+ byBrickwork. Through the crisis,credit rating of IIFL Financehas been reaffirmed by agen-cies, which indicates that theinstruments are considered tohave a high degree of safety fortimely servicing of financialobligations and carry very lowcredit risk. Nirmal Jain,Chairman, IIFL Finance said,“IIFL has an impeccable trackrecord of more than 25 yearsand all the bond issues and thedebt obligations have alwaysbeen paid on time.”

IIFL Finance is one ofIndia’s largest retail-focusedfinancial services companies.IIFL Finance’s Loan Assetsunder Management is Rs42,264 crore. Most important-ly, 90% of the book is retail -which is focused on small tick-et loans.

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India’s merchandise export isexpected to grow at 4.9 per

cent in Q4FY21, predictedExport-Import Bank of India ina report.

Accordingly, the reportcited that total merchandiseexports can amount to $78.6billion, growing at 4.9 per cent.

Similarly, the non-oilexports are expected to grow.They might reach $73.9 billion,growing at 12 per cent duringthe fourth quarter of 2020-21.

However, aggregate exportsfor 2020-21 are forecast toamount to $279.4 billion, wit-nessing a contraction of 10.8per cent over 2019-20.

Besides, non-oil exportsare forecast to amount to$256.8 billion, witnessing acontraction of 5.6 per centover 2019-20.

“The fall in India’s exportsof petroleum products could beattributed largely to the globalslump in demand and espe-cially in the transportation andlogistics sectors,” the bank saidin a statement.

“Considering the globalcontraction in trade due topandemic, non-oil exportsfrom India has been resilient.Despite serious disruptionsand logistical constraintsexports from India haveremained upbeat.”

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Telecom industry’s revenuescontinued to grow for the

fifth quarter in a row duringQ3FY21 to Rs 443 billion,India Ratings and Research(Ind-Ra) said in a report.

Accordingly, this trend wassupported by the industry-wide tariff hikes implementedin the last 12-18 months,increasing penetration of highARPU (average revenue peruser) broadband subscribers,and increasing subscriber base.

Quoting the TelecomRegulatory Authority of Indiadata, the report said industry-wide revenue continued togrow for the fifth quarter in arow in “3QFY21 to INR443 bil-lion”.

“Reliance Jio Infocommcontinued to be the largesttelecom player by revenue mar-ket share (RMS) in December2020 with RMS of 39.3 per centin 3QFY21, followed by 32.8per cent RMS of Bharti Airtel20.8 per cent RMS of Vodafone

Idea Limited and a 6.8 per centmarket share of Bharat SancharNigam.”Besides, the number ofbroadband subscribersincreased to 63 per cent of theoverall wireless subscriber basein December 2020 from 62 percent in November 2020 and 47per cent in March 2019.

“In December 2020, thenumber grew by strong 5 mil-lion (November 2020: 6.9 mil-lion). This along with a rise indata tariffs reflects that theIndian telecom industry ismoving towards a higherARPU regime.”

“The tariff differentials forthe prepaid and postpaid tar-iff plans among the telcos arealready narrowing down overthe past one year.”According tothe report, post-paid tariffplans by RJio and tariff hikeannounced by VIL for selectplans, a few months back, indi-cated the inclination of indus-try players towards a higherARPU regime in the long run.

“This is also reflected in the

growth in ARPU in 3QFY21for all the telecom players,where in BAL and VIL report-ed an increase in ARPU by 2per cent and RJio reported anincrease in ARPU by 4 per centqoq in 3QFY21.”“BAL contin-ued to report highest ARPU ofINR166 per user per month in3QFY21 compared to theARPU of INR151 of RJio andINR121 of VIL.”Furthermore,the report cited that out of856MHz spectrum sold in therecent auctions, RJio hasacquired the highest spectrum,adding up to a total of 488MHzthrough three bands 800MHz,1,800MHz and 2,300Mhz,while BAL has acquired356MHz spectrum throughfive bands ranging from800MHz to 2,300Mhz.“Thatbeing said, the agency believesthat both RJio and BAL havethe strong financial flexibilityto make the immediate upfrontpayment and adequate cashflow buffers to cover yearlyspectrum payments FY24onwards.”

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Consumer companies areexpected to either return to

and in some cases exceed pre-Covid sales levels in Q4FY21,Motilal Oswal FinancialServices said in a report.

Accordingly, it cited lowerbase in the previous year,increased mobility on the backof lesser Covid cases, strongrural demand, record highRabi sowing, recovery in cele-bratory occasions, andimproved consumer sentimentas factors behind the expectedtrend.

“Rural markets will leadgrowth on account of a goodharvest, higher governmentspends, lower Covid impact,and a better agri outlook, withnormal monsoons expected,”the report said.

“Recovery in urban mar-kets continues to be strong aslife in the metros and largercities moves back to normalwith increased mobility.”

Besides, it pointed out thate-commerce showed its promi-nence over last year and gen-eral trade has returned to pre-Covid levels. Modern trade, itsaid is normalising now afterfacing headwinds caused by thepandemic in the past few quar-ters.

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After sustaining its winningstreak, Indian Rupee is

expected to slip during theupcoming week on the back ofhigh crude oil prices along withsomber macro-economic data.

Accordingly, crude oil atover $68 per barrel is expect-ed to exert pressure on the cur-rency as well as stroke domes-tic inflation.

Last week, the rupee recov-ered from 73.95 to 72.60 perUSD on the passage of a $1.9trillion stimulus package inthe US.

“Crude staying above $68per barrel is a damper forrupee. A range from 72.55 to73.25 can be expected for thecoming week,” Sajal Gupta,Head, Forex and Rates atEdelweiss Securities told IANS.

“Nifty looks a bit wobblyon stretched valuations. Anyclose above 15,400 can lead tofurther strength in rupee butthis looks less likely.”

Besides, recently releasedinflation along with industrialproduction data are expected todampen the rupee’s prospects.

The retail inflation, mea-sured in Consumer Price Index(CPI) rose to 5.03 per cent inFebruary from January’s rise of4.06 per cent.

India’s factory output, mea-sured in terms of the Index ofIndustrial Production (IIP),witnessed a contraction of (-)1.6 per cent in January.

“Somber economic datawill put pressure on Indian cur-rency, though we expect dollarsupply to come in near 73.3level. The pair has supportnear 72.26,” said Devarsh Vakil,Deputy Head of RetailResearch at HDFC Securities.

According to Rahul Gupta,Head Of Research-Currency,Emkay Global FinancialServices: “Market attentionnow turns to the US FederalReserve’s meeting next week,focusing on any commentsabout rising yields.”

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New Delhi: President of India,Ram Nath Kovind, on Sundayinaugurated school and hostelbuildings built by NTPCRihand under its CorporateSocial Responsibility (CSR)initiative, at Sewa KunjAshram, Chapki at NTPCRihand.

Along with Ram NathKovind, President, the inau-gural function was also gracedby Anandiben Patel, Governorof Uttar Pradesh and YogiAdityanath, Chief Minister ofUttar Pradesh.

President Ram NathKovind was gracious to visit tothe NTPC stall set up near thenewly constructed hostel andappreciated NTPC’s endeavourin working towards the welfareof the society and said that thisis true service to the Nation.

While appreciating NTPC’sefforts Yogi Adityanath, Chief

Minister said that compassionand service towards the tribalpopulation is testimony to truenationalism and NTPC hasdisplayed it consistentlythrough their good work forthe communities.

DK Patel, Director (HR)NTPC, Balaji Iyengar,Executive Director, Rihand andother senior officials of NTPCwere present on the occasion.

The buildings have beenestablished by NTPC, Rihandat a total cost of about Rs.11crore. The school comprisesof 18 classrooms and the hos-tel facility has 24 rooms.NTPC has also installed a40KW Solar Power System forsaid buildings, to ensureuninterrupted power supply.Further, additional rooms forthe school are being con-structed by NTPC Ltd. underits CSR initiative.

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Looking our best is one of themost quintessential things no

matter the occasion. We often for-get that not cleaning our makeuptools properly can harm our skinin more ways than one. The bacte-ria and germs on them causesyour skin to react, which can laterlead to acne and skin irritation.

One of the most simple ways toprotect your skin is to ensure youclean your tools regularly. It is theonly hygienic way to keep yourskincare routine effective. You canavoid several rashes, skin irritations,acne issues and skin clogging bycleaning your tools frequently.

Here’s a beginner’s guide to getyou started:

Scrub all metal tools with anold brush. Use an antibacterialsoap and warm water to washthem.

- Clean the corners, edges and

curves of your tools with cotton ora q-tip with rubbing alcohol to ridaway from the lingering bacteria.

- Wipe down your plastic mate-rial tools such as toe separators andcuticles sticks with rubbing alcoholafter every use.

- Clean your powder brushes atleast two to three times a week. Youcan wash them with gentle cleansersor mild shampoo.

- Brushes used for liquid foun-dation, concealers and eye shadowsshould be cleaned daily, if possible.Ensure that they are dried before

use. Do not keep them damp or wetbecause that can also cause bacte-ria to grow and gather mould.

- Towel dry your tools to get ridof excess moisture. You can alsosqueeze the delicate whiskers beforetowel drying.

- Brushes can also be dried byhanging them upside-down in a dryplace.

- Ideally, change your toolsevery year. Most cosmetics comewith a time until they can be bestused. Often, they can be used evenafter the expiry but don’t use them

beyond a reasonable time. Old andoutdated cosmetics are harmful.

- You can use disposable brush-es and applicators to avoid any kindof germs and infections. Regulartools are popular and some timesexpensive. Disposable tools canalso be cost-effective and retainyour flawless skincare routine.

- Every week clean the edge ofjars, tubes, caps and covers of allcosmetics and makeup tool storage.

- Clean out the leftover prod-uct from the edges and lipstickswith clean cotton pads.

The cleaner your products,dresser, storage and tools are, bet-ter effective your skincare routinewill be. Keep your storage space dryand tidy. It is essential that all yourmakeup products are kept awayfrom the sun and heat providingsources. Clean your cosmetics andmakeup frequently so they lastlonger and give you exciting resultson every occasion. A clean vanitybag is a secret to healthy skin andyour sparkling beauty.

(The writer is the co-founder ofRecode.)

Ahead of Bollywood iconAmitabh Bachchan being pre-

sented with the prestigious FIAF2021 award by the InternationalFederation of Film Archives (FIAF)for his commitment and contribu-tion towards the cause of filmpreservation, actor-filmmaker-politician Kamal Haasan and Oscar-winning composer AR Rahman,emphasised the need for film preser-vation and restoration.

“Roja, my first film that becamea major success has been preservedby Film Heritage Foundation so thataudiences can still enjoy it, almost30 years later. In these unprecedent-ed times when we are talking aboutsurvival, cinema has the power tohelp us survive. Film HeritageFoundation has been fighting alone battle with very little support tosave our films and music for six yearsnow, and we need to support themwhen they are preserving our workas an integral part of culture and his-tory for posterity,” says Rahman.

He also called for support forShivendra Singh Dungarpur ledFilm Heritage Foundation that isworking towards preserving thefilm heritage of India.

Said Kamal Haasan, “Films areour heritage and if we forget wherewe came from, we might not be ableto fix our destination at all. We needto preserve most of our great worksthat are lost now. Unlike inHollywood, we have lived for the dayand are repenting now. For thesake of the film industry, we owe ourgratitude to the Film HeritageFoundation for doing what theindustry should have done, forreviving that passion and remindingus what needs to be done for ourfilm heritage.”

Filmmakers Martin Scorseseand Christopher Nolan, who alsoshare a long-standing relationshipwith India through their affiliationwith Film Heritage Foundation, willbestow the award on Big B at a vir-tual presentation, on March 19.

With the onset of the pan-demic and the uncertaintyit brought for people and

societies, every business across theglobe has had to rethink their line ofwork in a different light. The needfor formal clothing also underwenta major transition, especially withthe lockdown and organisationsadopting a work from home setup.Various fashion brands, especiallythe ones which were focussing onworkwear apparel, have had to relookat and redefine their offering in orderto stay relevant as a business.

There are some practices thatbrands should follow, which I believeare important drivers to stay relevantfor businesses across domains intimes like today, when faced withsuch unprecedented scenarios.

First would be to actively reachout and listen to your customers. Forinstance, whether one was requiredto keep their cameras on or off dur-ing WFH had an impact on howpeople were thinking about dressingto ‘work.’ For those who had theircameras on, focus was on top-wearand to look presentable, and while noone was looking for full length for-mal trousers, shorts that gave a pol-ished look was helpful, should theyhave to get up in between. Listeningto customers helps in identificationof these nuances and varied scenar-ios and gives insights into changingneeds and preferences. This bringsto the second driver — that of inno-vation. As customers tell us whattheir problem is, it is upon the busi-nesses to design solutions thataddress those problems. Addingproperties of anti-wrinkle, moving tofabrics offering stretch like knits,shifting to more relaxed silhouettesare some of the key product innova-tions that brands can adopt. Lastlyand most importantly, is agility inacting fast to counter the challeng-ing times. Be it having to changeyour product offering overnight orreorganising teams or creating a newsupply chain altogether, acting fastand decisively is key to stayingahead of the curve.

Having led my business with allthese drivers all through the last year,

there are a few things we can fore-see for workwear and fashion. We seethat many people are still in theWFH setup, while others have par-tially or fully started going back tooffice; but what will be common forall, after spending a year indoors, isa marked shift towards easy andcomfortable clothing. In the newnormal, while we won’t see peoplemoving back to pre-COVID struc-tured and body-hugging styles, wewill neither see them moving backto stay-at-home casual clothing fortheir office look. What is on the riseis something in between — stylesthat will help us break the monoto-ny and make us feel a sense of fresh-ness, vibrancy and positivity.

Thinking of specific categories,bottom-wear will undergo the mosttransition. People are moving awayfrom formal trousers to those that

are more comfortableand relaxed. We arelikely to see moreskirts and dressesthan before as theybring that element ofease. Within topwear,people will opt forstyles that requireless ironing and givean elevated look.Shirts will becomeless relevant and topswith a fresh andvibrant feel, be it inpastel summershades or brightercolours and prints,will be on the rise.Even smarter teesmay be adopted andacceptable as a work-look. Fabrics like cot-tons and linens, being

breathable, will be ago-to choice, and more relaxed andbreeze fits silhouettes will be intrend. Overall, there is a need forclothes that would allow one toseamlessly transition from work tohome to an outing in the evening,keeping the look polished yet com-fortable.

(The writer is the founder andCEO of FableStreet.)

����������Widowed soon after marriage, a young woman

grapples with an inability to grieve, quirky relatives anda startling discovery about her late husband. StarringSanya Malhotra, Sayani Gupta and Ashutosh Rana, thefilm releases on March 26.

�����������In this uplifting musical, a troubled teen takes a leap

of faith by attending summer camp — and unexpectedlyfinds love, friends and a place to belong. Starring KevinQuinn, Bailee Madison and Jahbril Cook, the filmreleases on March 26 on Netflix.

���������������Hell-bent on exacting revenge and proving he was

framed for his sister’s murder, Álex sets out to unearth muchmore than the crime’s real culprit. Starring ManoloCardona, Ginés García Millán and Carolina Miranda,Season 1 releases on March 24 on Netflix.

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It has been increasingly realised over the past fivedecades that for all kinds of development, it is

important for human beings to be developed at apersonal level. Even if a country is industrially, eco-nomically or technologically considered as a devel-oped country, it cannot, in real terms, be consid-ered as “developed” or “advanced” if the humanbeings dwelling in that nation are backward.

As a result, the term – Human ResourceDevelopment (HRD) – was coined, which definesthat ‘human development is essential for develop-ment of all resources.’ This has become an integralpart of every industry, business, administrative ser-vices, etc, as it providesthem with opportunitiesand avenues for the develop-ment of their staff and ser-vice personnel who, in turn,brings the benefit of theirdevelopment to the organi-sation. This aspect of devel-opment has now become sopopular that in many coun-tries, the ministry of educa-tion has been renamed asthe Ministry of Education &Human Resource Development. However, duringthe last one decade, it was felt by many that humanbeings are not a resource in the sense as natural andother resources are. Hence, they are not to be con-sidered as a means for economic development andthe latter need not be considered as the goal. Becausedevelopment of human beings is, in itself, a goal andnot a resource or a means.

Thus, the development of human beings neednot be for some economic or other material or extra-neous gains but it is, in itself, a gain. It is an endrather than a resource. There is no doubt in the factthat development of human beings would bring, inits wake, other kinds of developments and benefits.Hence, considering human beings to be a resourcewould mean that we are reducing their dignity andvalue. Off lately, this kind of argument or percep-tion or philosophical objection has been gainingmore strength so much that during the last decadeor more, some thought that it would be wise tochange the term from Human ResourceDevelopment to ‘Human Response Development.’Perhaps, the school of thought is that while this termdoes away with the objectionable world, ‘resource’retains the initials of the whole term that has nowgained currency and popularity. In this replacement,though the emphasis is on the term, ‘response,’ andalso on ‘human,’ which also gives the sense of‘humane’, the complete term, however, does not con-vey the actual concept or philosophy and it falls shortof giving expression to the necessity and the impor-tance of this new discipline.

However, most of the corporate gurus feel thatit’s necessary to have a proper term for it becausethis is an age in which we all are talking of somekind of development, be it industrial, urban, socialor economic, etc. Hence, it becomes very impor-tant that this term should distinguish itself from allthese kinds of developments. If we call it ‘HumanCapabilities Development’, then it would have almostthe same meaning as ‘The Development of HumanPotential.’ In that case, it would be better and sim-pler to name it something like ‘HumanDevelopment’ for human beings have capabilitiesor potential for good as well as for bad but we donot intend to develop the potential for the negative.The term, ‘Self-Development’ would also be appro-priate because unless the human being himself orherself makes effort for his or her own development,no salubrious change in a human being can occur.

Keeping aside all this discussion about what theterm should be called, one thing that is undeniableand is acceptable to all is that that the developmentof human beings themselves is the most essential,for, else, the society suffers from illiteracy, crime,ill-health, undignified treatment to one another andso many problems that arise from lack of observanceof human and moral values. So, as it is said, ‘What’sin the name?’ What we as a society need to focusis on a holistic and an all-round development of ahuman being, whereby s/he achieves her/his high-est potential while helping others to achieve thesame.

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Are you dealing with thestressful symptoms of

PCOS? Be it missed periods,excessive hair growth on theface or body, weight gain, acneand fertility issues. The pan-demic made it all the more dif-ficult to consult our doctorface-to-face to deal with theseproblems, but digital healthcareplatforms have made it easierfor women dealing with suchqueries to consult the right doc-tor.

The COVID-19 pandemicmay have accelerated the shifttowards digital healthcare prac-tices in India, but its adoptionamong women in 2020 — espe-cially in non-metro cities — hasbeen significant. Registeringan overall growth of more than212 per cent from the previousyear, online consultationsemerged as one of the preferredmodes of consulting doctors bywomen in India, according todata from Practo.

According to Practo, morewomen in non-metro citiesopted for online consultationsin 2020 — growing at an aver-age rate of 550 per cent, com-pared with 400 per cent record-ed among women in metrocities. This means that even asthe majority (65 per cent) of thetotal number of online consul-tations done by women in 2020were from metro cities, therehas been a steady increase inthe percentage of women fromnon-metro cities adoptingtelemedicine. In fact, this trendhas been developing over thepast three years.

PCOS, skin allergy, weightloss, thyroid, depression, hair-fall, and UTI were some of themost discussed queries bywomen from non-metro cities

last year, says the health plat-form.

Women with PCOS havenumerous cysts in their ovaries,caused by an overproduction ofhormones called androgens.Polycystic ovary syndrome

(PCOS) is a condition thatprevents the ovaries from func-tioning properly. PCOS is alsoa red flag for the inception oftype 2 diabetes, explains PrabhaAcharya, Homeopath, who alsoconsults on Practo.

For few women, gainingweight can influence their hor-mones. If you’re obese or over-weight, this might help getyour hormones back to normal.Losing 10 per cent of your bodyweight may help your menstru-

al cycle become more pre-dictable. This should help youget pregnant.

Therefore, weight loss priorto conception helps improvelive birth rate in obese womenwith or without PCOS. In sim-ple words, living a healthylifestyle and following diet,with regular exercise, no smok-ing, less stress, and control ofdiabetes and other medicalconditions prescribed by yourdoctor should improve yourfertility odds. To lose weight ona PCOS diet, re-frame yourthinking to eating to live, notliving to eat.

Here are quick tips fromthe doctor:

�Drink a lot of water andkeep yourself well hydrated.�Eat foods low on the glycemicindex. Low glycemic indexfoods are carbohydrates that

break down slowly in the body,not causing a dramatic spike andthen drop in insulin levels. Eatoats, brans, whole grains, broc-coli, apples, etc. Avoid foods thatare sugary and starchy such as:syrups, sugar, jams, scones, whitebread products etc.�Eat more fruits and vegetablesfor good fiber intake. Fiberhelps promote healthy estrogenmetabolism which aids in thereduction of elevated levels ofandrogens. E.g. whole grains,apples (with skin), green leafyvegetables, etc.�Eat small frequent meals in aday and avoid skipping anymeal and especially the first mealof the day i.e. breakfast.�Include lean protein in yourdiet. E.g. lean chicken, fish, egg,nuts, legumes, pulses, low fatdairy products, skimmed milk,etc.�Eat healthy Omega-3 fats indiet. Sources: fatty fish, olive oil,walnuts, flax seeds, etc. Andavoid foods that are high in sat-urated fat, such as meats, cheeses,and fried foods.�Get some sun rays for 10-15minutes for your Vitamin Drequirement. Great food sourcesof vitamin D are cod liver oil,eggs, salmon, etc.�Exercise daily. Exercise plays ahuge role by keeping weight incheck, this helps regulate the hor-mones and increases chances ofovulation. Distress yourself. Tryyoga.�Avoid drinking aerated drinks.Avoid processed, junk food, quitsmoking and alcohol. Regularvisit to doctor for follow up.

Follow your plan and mostimportantly believe in yourselfbecause only you have thepotential to change your circum-stances!

Worried about the dying artforms of Kashmir, particular-ly its handicrafts, a group of

young men from the valley have cometogether to promote its different artforms in national and internationalmarkets through an online platform.

Arif Irshad, a 29-year-old documen-tary filmmaker, has been photographingKashmiri handicraft products for differ-ent e-commerce websites. Seeing the tra-ditional artisans and artforms suffer atthe hands of modernisation, he alongwith three young men formed an e-com-merce website ‘Kashmir Origin’ in 2018.Through the website, they promoteKashmiri handicrafts and provide aplatform for artisans to sell their prod-ucts. “Hundreds of artisans have asso-ciated with us since we began the ven-ture. We provide online support andworldwide platforms to these talentedartisans and support them to promotetheir products. To attract internationalbuyers, we also assist them to adapt thetraditional artforms to the contemporarytaste of art lovers,” said Arif, a residentof Srinagar’s Natipora.

Arif, who has shot over 20,000products for different e-commerce web-sites, during his interaction with the arti-sans, realised their struggles and suffer-ings. “They would share how withoutearnings, they were unable to make theirends meet,” said he. It was then that healong with Maurifat Ahmad, AdilAhmad and Sameer Ahmad started thee-commerce website. Except Arif, allthree co-founders belong to the familiesof artisans and have closely experiencedthe difficulties that pose a great threat tothis community in Kashmir.

The worldwide popularity ofKashmir’s handicrafts can be contributedto the high-quality, precision and the factthat they are handmade. Gulf andEuropean countries form a major cus-tomer base for Kashmiri carpets andPashmina shawls. Presently, handicraftsbring around `1,700 crore as foreignexchange every year to Jammu &Kashmir. Despite the popularity, the art

(and artisans) has suffered greatly as itremains largely unorganised with poorexposure to newer technologies and lackof proper marketing.

In Kashmir, there are approximate-ly 2.5 lakh people associated with hand-icrafts including carpets, papier-mache,shawl weaving, wood carving and cop-per crafts, who are finding it difficult tofeed their families and earn a livelihood.Several artisans have been forced toswitch to other jobs. Elaborating on howthey are helping artisans, Arif informedthat the intermediaries were creatingobstacles for artisans to grow theirbusiness. “Artisans associated withKashmir Origin contact customersdirectly. They go live on social mediaplatforms and make video calls to showcustomers how various handicraft itemsare produced. We put their items on tope-commerce websites where they get bet-ter returns,” shared Arif.

While sharing his experience of howthe e-commerce website has benefittedartisans in the last couple of years, AbdulRashid Khanday, a 45-year-old shawlweaver from Srinagar’s Eidgah said thattheir products are now getting globalrecognition. “People across the world

now know about our products and theirauthenticity. We get the money imme-diately after selling our products. Thiswasn’t the case earlier. Also, we are nowdirectly dealing with the customers as therole of intermediaries has been reducedthrough this intervention,” he informed.

Shedding light on other reasons fordecline of Kashmiri artforms, Abdul said,“Machine-made products have gainedpopularity among artisans as it doesn’trequire much hard work. Another rea-son is that some people are selling fakeproducts as Kashmiri art,” he rued.

To tackle the issue of fake Kashmiriproducts in the market, they have start-ed placing a Geographical Indication(GI) tag on Kashmir’s shawls. “Kashmiriartisans produce shawls of pure quality.Some people here, however, purchaseshawls from other states and cheat cus-tomers by selling them as Kashmiri ones.To stop this practice, we have startedplacing a GI tag on products of our arti-sans,” Arif told us.

GI tags are indications which iden-tify a product as originating in that ter-ritory, where a given quality, reputationor characteristic of the product is essen-tially attributable to its geographic loca-

tion and origin. All this information isavailable on the website along with otherdetails of the products.

“Customers, based on the informa-tion provided on the website, can nowchoose from a wide range of products.Before 2018, customers hardly had anyknowledge about Kashmiri products orthe artisans who make these products.Through this platform, customers cannow know everything about productsprior to making any purchase. They pur-chase things only after satisfaction andthere is no scope of cheating. If anybodyis not satisfied with the quality of prod-uct, he can file a complaint and also sendfeedback,” shared another Pashminashawl weaver, Shabir Ahmad, 41, aSrinagar resident.

Ahmad believes that one of the rea-sons why artisans have been suffering forso long is due to the poor implementa-tion of government schemes meant forartisans. “We have no knowledge aboutsuch schemes. This unawareness isrequired to be addressed immediatelyonly then our community will be able tobenefit from such schemes,” Ahmad said.He believes that setting up a marketplacein Kashmir for artisans to showcase their

work at a platform will help sustain bothart and the artists.

Like Ahmad, Arif also believes thatKashmiri handicraft items have a hugemarket if promoted properly. The art-forms of the region, he believes, requirestrategic promotion. Although onlinebusinesses have flourished in the valleyin the last few years, the biggest hin-drance has been the low internet speed.Post August 5, 2019 (revocation ofJ&K’s special status), the internet was sus-pended for months in Kashmir. After 551days of ban, the 4G internet was restoredlast month (February 2021). The lowinternet speed had caused heavy lossesto the young entrepreneurs.

“We were not able to open our web-site and check customers’ orders whenthe internet services were blocked andlater, when only 2G was allowed. To runan online setup properly, high internetspeed is a prerequisite. We suffered 75per cent losses because customers inKashmir were not able to access the web-site due to no or low internet speed,” saidArif who is hopeful that restoration of4G internet in the valley will help themrecover from the losses.

—Charkha Features

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The South African women’steam’s top-order batters

fired in unison and helpedtheir team clinch the five-match series against India witha seven-wicket victory in thefourth ODI here on Sunday.

Chasing 267, Lizelle Lee(69), Laura Wolvaardt (53),Mignon du Preez (61) and LaraGoodall (59 not out) shone asthe visitors completed the taskin 48.4 overs for an unassail-able 3-1 lead in the rubber.

A poor squad selection bynew committee under NeetuDavid cost India dearly as thehosts paid the price for ignor-ing Shafali Verma’s flair inbatting and Shikha Pandey’sexperience in bowling.

The win meant seasonedPunam Raut’s third ODI hun-dred and veteran HarmanpreetKaur’s scintillating 35-ball 54went in vain.

South Africa were in thegame when the opening duo oflast match centurion Lizelle Leeand skipper Laura Wolvaardtwere going great guns, puttingon 116 runs in 23 overs.

Mixing caution withaggression, both kept the score-card moving at a fairly rate untilHarmanpreet Kaur effected ahaving the dangerous Leetrapped in front of the wicketfor a 75-ball 69.

Joined by Lara Goodall,Wolvaardt could not stay longenough after Lee’s dismissal,getting out shortly after reach-ing her half century.

Goodall got a life whenSushma Verma missed astumping and in the next deliv-ery, the batter stepped out andplayed an inside-out shot for aboundary.

After that, Goodall hit off-spinner Deepti Sharma waist-high full toss outside off to thecover boundary.

Du Preez then smashedleft-arm spinner Radha Yadavfor three successive bound-aries— two through the pointregion and one into the deepsquare leg fence — as the vis-itors brought the equation to 61runs in the last 10 overs.

Du Preez had, in fact, setthe ball rolling by hittingPoonam Yadav for a six andfour in the 34th over, lifting herteam from 148/4 to 162. Theyneeded 97 in the last 15 overs.

Du Preez carried on in thesame vein until she fell toRajeshwari Gayakwad whiletrying to loft one over mid-on.

But Goodall stayed till theend to guide her team to vic-tory.

Earlier, the 31-year-oldRaut struck 10 boundaries inher unbeaten 104.

Raut added 103 runs forthe third wicket with skipperMithali Raj (45 off 71 balls),who became the only player inwomen’s cricket to complete7,000 ODI runs before getting

out in the second powerplay.Failing to make most of a

chance she got in the previousover, Mithali drove one in theair for Shabnim Ismail tocomplete a good runningcatch.

The century partnershiplaid the foundation for a chal-lenging total against a SouthAfrican side that won boththeir matches in the five-match series while chasing.

After Mithali’s dismissal,Raut joined forces with theflamboyant Harmanpreet toadd another 88 runs in quicktime.

Harmanpreet was in herelement straightaway, hittingtwo boundaries to kick-starther innings. In her inimitablestyle, the India T20 captainwent about playing her strokesas the 200 came up in the 41stover.

What aided Harmanpreet’sfree-flowing game was thepresence of a well-settled Rautat the other end, who was con-tent to keep the scoreboardticking as her swashbucklingpartner went after the SouthAfrican bowlers.

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Indian bowlers pulled things backbrilliantly in the last five overs torestrict England to 164 for six in

the second T20 International here onSunday.

Sent into bat, England sufferedan early jolt in the form of Jos Buttler

(0), who was adjudged offBhuvneshwar Kumar in the third ballof the innings.

Jason Roy (46 off 35) and DawidMalan (24 off 23) shared 63 runs off47 balls to take the England inningsforward.

But the dangerous-looking part-nership was broken by Yuzvendra

Chahal in the ninth over when hetrapped Malan LBW in front of thecrease as India got the review righton this occasion.

Just when Roy was looking dan-gerous, he was caught at deep squareleg by Bhuvneshwar off WashintonSundar’s bowling in the 12th over.

Washington struck again in his

next over when he has JonnyBairstow (20) caught by debutantSuryakumar Yadav at deep squareleg.

England captain Eoin Morgan(28 off 20) was the next casualty asin search of big hits, he edged aShardul Thakur slower delivery toRishabh Pant behind the stumps.

At 130 for four in the 15th over,England looked well in course ofreaching a near 200-run target butthe Indian bowlers bowled brilliant-ly to concede just 34 runs in the lastfive overs.

Washington (2/29) and Thakur(2/29) were the pick of the bowlersfor India.

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Skipper Prithvi Shaw’smarauding 73 off 39 balls

followed by former skipperAditya Tare’s unbeaten hundredguided Mumbai to their mostdeserving Vijay Hazare title tri-umph with a crushing six -wicket victory over UttarPradesh in one of most lop-sided final on Sunday.

Opting to bat, UP rode onopener Madhav Kaushik’sunbeaten 158 to post 312/4, butit was overshadowed by theShaw blitzkrieg which set theplatform for Tare to finish offthe chase in style with as manyas 51 balls remaining.

This is Mumbai’s fourthHazare title and the one toremember for Shaw (827 runs),who now holds the record forhighest runs scored in singleedition of this competition.

Shaw (73 off 39 balls; 10x4,4x6) and fellow openerYashasvi Jaiswal (29; 3x4; 1x6)gave the side an aggressivestart by conjuring 89 runs in 9.1overs.

Shaw started with a cover-drive, off left arm seamer YashDayal. He got a life on 5, afterbeing dropped by KaranSharma at mid-off, and hethen smashed three fours in thesecond over off Aaqib Khan.

He then took on Dayal,hammering two boundariesand a six over mid-wicket, histrademark pull-shot, asMumbai raced to 32/0 after

three overs.Shaw continued his

onslaught and notched up his50 in only 30 balls, with a six,another pull shot, but thenholed in the deep off ShivamMavi when another hundredlooked imminent.

Jaiswal and Tare added38-run stand but the left hand-ed opener gave ShivamSharma his first wicket, afterbeing caught by Mavi butMumbai were already oncourse with a run-rate of 8.5runs per over.

Veteran Tare, who ham-mered 18 boundaries in his107-ball knock, anchored theinnings and found an able allyin Shams Mulani (36), as theduo took the game deep, asMumbai cruised to the target,with 174/2 after 25 overs.

Tare and Mulani keptplaying shots at will as the duoadded crucial 88-runs for thethird wicket. But Mulani per-ished in the 31st over, withMumbai still needing another98 runs.

However, Tare kept the

momentum going as he ham-mered Dayal for three bound-aries in the 33rd over, even asShivam Dube (42 off 28 balls;6x4, 1x6) played a fittingcameo.

Tare completed his centu-ry in 91 balls, his first in ListA cricket, with a single. TheTare-Dube duo took Mumbaion the cusp of a win, adding88 runs for the fourth wicketbefore the former skipperplayed a back cut betweenpoint and short third man tocomplete the formalities.

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Afghanistan beatZimbabwe by six

wickets in the secondTest at the SheikhZayed Stadium here onSunday to square theseries 1-1.

In a match thatwent down to the finalsession of Day 5,Rahmat Shah’s 58 andhis 81-run stand withopener IbrahimZadran (29) helpedAfghanistan chasedown a target of 108.

Zimbabwe captain Sean Williams was unbeaten on151 earlier as Rashid Khan’s seven-wicket haul helpedAfghanistan dismiss Zimbabwe for 365.

Zimbabwe started the second session on 330/8 andAfghanistan took 12 overs to take the last two wickets.Rashid took the last wicket, having bowled as many as62.5 overs in the innings. Earlier, a partnership of 187runs between Williams and Donald Tiripano helpedZimbabwe escape an innings defeat and even gave thema chance at drawing the match.

The series thus ends 1-1 after Zimbabwe had wonthe first Test by 10 wickets. Zimbabwe were chasing theirfirst series win since 2011. The two teams now face eachother in a three-match T20I series from Wednesday.

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Manchester City only needs to winfive of its remaining eight games

to secure the Premier League trophy.A 3-0 victory over Fulham on

Saturday moved Pep Guardiola’s side 17points ahead of second-placeManchester United, but having playedtwo games more.

Everton was previously in the titlemix but a 2-1 home loss to Burnley wasthe latest setback in its attempt to makethe top four.

It’s Chelsea in the fourthChampions League spot even after a 0-0 draw with Leeds. West Ham can movelevel on points with Chelsea on Sundaywith a victory at Man United and stillhave a game in hand.

��4� ������City is set to make it three titles in

four seasons by dethroning eighth-placedefending champion Liverpool.

After beating Liverpool last week,Fulham held off City for 47 minutesuntil John Stones tapped into the backof the net from a ball sent into the boxby Joao Cancelo.

A fortunate rebound allowed Cityto extend its lead in the 56th minute.Joachim Andersen cleared the ballinto Fulham teammate Ivan Cavaleiro,

and it rebounded behind the homebackline and into the path of GabrielJesus.

He had enough time and space toround goalkeeper Alphonse Areolabefore putting the ball in the back of thenet.

The third goal came on the hourafter former City defender TosinAdarabioyo pushed Ferran Torres in thebox and referee Andre Marriner point-ed immediately to the penalty spot.Sergio Aguero then fired the ball intothe corner of the goal for his firstPremier League goal in 14 months.

�����������Burnley took a step closer to safe-

ty by denting Carlo Ancelotti’s bid fora top-four finish.

Dwight McNeil curled a superbleft-footed effort into the top corner inthe 24th minute after Chris Wood’sopener to clinch the win that tookBurnley seven points clear of the rele-gation zone.

Johann Berg Gudmundsson hit apost as Burnley looked to make it threebefore Dominic Calvert-Lewin pulledone back in the 32nd minute.

“It is a big disappointment but whatcan we do, we can't give up,” Ancelottisaid. “We want to still fight for theposition in Europe.”

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He had no option but togo back to drawing

board, rectify his mistakesand come back stronger likenever before which Mumbaicaptain Prithvi Shaw didwith aplomb after beingdropped from the Indianteam.

The former India U-19captain after a disastrousAdelaide Test was benchedfor the next three and thendropped from the nationalteam for the England series.

However it did won-ders for the right-hander,who created a nationalrecord in Mumbai’s VijayHazare triumph, endingwith 827 runs in the tourna-ment.

“It was a bit difficult butyou know, my only thingwas go-back and work hard,just those small mistakes,what was happening inAustralia, just to fill thoseblanks and come backstronger..,” Shaw said at thepost match presentationwhen asked how did hecome back strong after theAustralia tour.

With a pronouncedback-lift and the bat comingdown at an angle from gully,

made Shaw a candidate forbowled and leg before todeliveries coming in.However nothing of thatsort has been visible in theHazare Trophy where hesmashed four tons includinga record double hundredagainst Puducherry.

Did captaincy help hisbatting “I (have been) doingcaptaincy from a very youngage, so I have done U-14, U-16 and U-19. I have doneIndia-A as well. I reallyenjoy captaining the sideand you know focused everyball, so I just love doing thisand it affects my batting aswell, so I am more focused,”said Shaw.

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Indian women’s ODI teamskipper Mithali Raj on

Sunday said her bowlerslacked the right kind ofpreparation before enteringthe five-match series againstSouth Africa.

“Even if we scored morethan 266, it wouldn’t beenough, the way the SouthAfricans batted. Our bowlingdepartment needs to work onpreparation before a series.We lacked that,” Mithali saidat the presentation ceremony.

“We are not a bad field-ing side but there are thingswe can improve on,” sheadded..

“We missed Jhulan’sexperience but it was anopportunity for the otherbowlers to step up and takeresponsibility. Our spindepartment is experienced. Iexpect them to come backstronger,” Mithali said.

Laura Wolvaardt, whoset the tone with a 116-runopening wicket stand withLizelle Lee, called it a “mas-sive team effort”.

“I’m fresh to the job andI used the senior players foradvice and help. The plan wasto be as attacking with the ballupfront as we could be. Wehave a world-class attack.One in the top four has to batthrough for us. It’s somethingwe haven’t done in the past,”Wolvaardt said.

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The pitch for the day-night Testbetween India and England in

Ahmedabad has been given anaverage rating by the ICC, escapingsanctions after the game got overinside two days on that controver-sial surface.The ICC in its "Rules andRegulations" page has updated theratings of all recent games and thepitch at Motera was rated "average"for the third 'Test' and "Good" forthe final Test. It was rated "VeryGood" for the first T20International.Incidentally, the pitch at the SCG forthe tird Test between India andAustralia was also rated "average".India had won the pink-ball gameby 10 wickets with both teamsunable to past 150 on that rank turn-er. India made 145 and 49 for no lossand England were blown away bythe Axar Patel juggernaut, foldingup for 112 and 81 in their twoinnings.A substandard pitch could haveattracted sanctions for the refur-bished Narendra Modi Stadium.The pitch was a subject of intensedebate during the four-match serieswhich India won 3-1 to qualify forthe World Test Championship final.

The second Test in Chennai whereIndia won to level the series has alsobeen given average rating. However,the first Test pitch on which Englandwon has been rated very good by theInternational Cricket Council (ICC).The fourth Test was held on a goodpitch as per the ICC.The ICC receives a rating on theperformance of the pitch and theoutfield for every Test Match, OneDay International and Twenty20International played between thecountries. Pitches and outfields aremarked after the match has endedby the ICC Match Referee on dutyat the match.“The rating is then provided as feed-back to the host Member Board toassist in future pitch and outfieldpreparations for internationalmatches at the relevant venue.“In addition, if a pitch or outfield ismarked as substandard the relevantHome Board and the venue arerequired to explain why the pitchand/or outfield performed below therequired standard. A pitch or out-field is deemed to be substandard ifit receives a rating of poor or unfit.“Sanctions may be applied by ICCto a venue that presents a substan-dard pitch or outfield for interna-tional cricket,” read an ICC note.

Motera pitch gets average rating for D/N Test


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