· 2021/2/21 · lection of mutations, which make them spread more read-ily or cheat vaccine-immunity , said the experts. Dr Guelria stated that herd immunity for coronavirus is

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While Covid-19 cases aresteadily rising in

Maharashtra and Kerala,AIIMS director Dr RandeepGuleria has sounded an alarmbell, warning that the newIndian strains of infectionfound could be highly trans-missible and dangerous.

He also added that thenew variant can even cause re-infections in people who havedeveloped anti-bodies to thevirus. After reporting decline incases in last few months, Indiahas reported close to 87,000cases of the coronavirus in thelast seven days, with the high-est addition on Sunday whenthe country saw 14,264 freshinfections within a span of 24hours.

Incidentally, the rise ininfection has come in the back-drop of identification of newvariants in Maharashtra.

India now has all threecoronavirus variants that havecaused a massive resurgence ofcases globally — B.1.1.7, firstdiscovered in the UnitedKingdom; B.1.351, dominant inSouth Africa; and P.1, fromBrazil. These have a unique col-lection of mutations, whichmake them spread more read-ily or cheat vaccine-immunity,said the experts.

Dr Guelria stated that herdimmunity for coronavirus is a

“myth” in the country becauseat least 80 per cent people needto have antibodies for thewhole of the population to beprotected.

India has been witnessinga rise in the Covid-19 activecaseload over the past few dayswhich is pegged at 1,45,634 ason date and now consists of1.32 per cent of India’s totalinfections.

“More than 74 per cent ofthe active cases of the countryare in Kerala and Maharashtra.Of late it is seen that there hasbeen a spike in the daily casesin Chhattisgarh and MadhyaPradesh also. Punjab andJammu & Kashmir too arewitnessing a surge in dailynew cases,” the Ministry said.

In the last four weeks inKerala, the average weekly caseshave fluctuated between a highof 42,000 and a low of 34,800.Similarly, in the last four weeks,the weekly positivity in Keralahas ranged from 13.9 per centto 8.9 per cent.

In Maharashtra, in thelast four weeks, the weeklycases have shown a risingtrend and have increased from18,200 to 21,300; while theweekly positivity has alsoincreased from 4.7 per cent to8 per cent.

The areas of concern arethe Mumbai suburban areaswhere the weekly cases haverisen by 19 per cent. In

Nagpur, Amravati, Nashik,Akola and Yavatmal, the week-ly cases have increased by 33per cent, 47 per cent, 23 percent, 55 per cent and 48 percent, respectively, the Ministryunderscored.

Punjab is rapidly assumingcritical dimension in respect ofthe spread of Covid-19 infec-tion, the Ministry highlightedadding in the last four weeks,the weekly positivity rate in theState has increased from 1.4per cent to 1.6 per cent, whilethe weekly cases in the lastfour weeks have seen a risefrom 1300 to 1682.

The Centre has advised allthese States to improve theoverall testing numbers byfocusing on increasing theproportion of RT-PCR tests.

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The CBI probing the multi-crore coal scam on Sunday

issued notices to the wife and sis-ter-in-law of Diamond HarbourMP Abhishek Banerjee who isalso the nephew of the ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee. TheCBI swung into action a dayafter a local court asked HomeMinister Amit Shah to appearin person or through a lawyer onFebruary 22 in a defamation casefiled by Abhishek.

Both the notices wereserved under the Section 160 ofCrPC asking the respondentsto appear before the investi-gating agency as witnesses to anumber of cases, includingsome alleged transfer of moneyin banks situated in Thailand.

Reacting over it, the ChiefMinister said, “Some people are

trying to threaten us with jail…they are trying to break mybackbone as they have done tomany leaders… but let me tellthem that we are made of dif-ferent material… we havefought against bullets so we arenot afraid of jails.”

Comparing herself withtigers, Mamata said, “We aretiger cubs and have foughtwith more dangerous ene-mies … what these rats will doto us … we are not at allafraid. Let them do whateverthey want.”

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Two more MLAs of theC o n g r e s s - D r a v i d

aMunnetra Kazhagam alliancein Puducherry resigned onSunday, delivering yet anotherjolt to Chief Minister VNarayanasamy, a day before heis scheduled to face a floor testin the Assembly to prove hismajority.

The resignation byCongress MLA KLakshminarayanan and DMKlegislator Venkatesan furtherreduced the strength of the rul-ing alliance to 11, while theOpposition has 14 MLAs in the33-member Assembly, whichhas seven vacancies.Lakshminarayanan andVenkatesan submitted their res-ignation letters separately toassembly speaker V PSivakolundhu at his residencehere, the both said.

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Many migratory birds fromEurope, Siberia, Central

Asia and China visited Delhithis winter. On Sunday, on theBig Bird Day-2021 (BBD-2021), the bird count was heldat seven wetlands which hostPied Aocet, Marsh Harrier, Ferruginous Pochardand Grey Headed CanaryFlycatcher and it was report-ed that the YamunaBiodiversity Park (YBP) gainedfirst rank in hosting wingedguests with total bird count at101.

“Today, there are sevenbiodiversity parks in Delhispread over 3,000 acres inwhich Yamuna BiodiversityPark is the oldest (2002) andthe South Biodiversity Park isthe youngest (2019),” said DrFaiyaz Khudsar, DU Professor.

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All international fliersexcept the ones coming

on flights originating from theUnited Kingdom, Europe andthe West Asia will have to sub-mit a self-declaration form onthe Air Suvidha portal beforetheir scheduled travel fromMonday night.

As per the Ministry ofCivil Aviation’s new guidelinesfor international travellers, thenew Standard OperatingProcedures (SOPs) will be ineffect from 11pm on February22. The South African coron-avirus strain has been found infour people in India, while thevariant from Brazil has beendetected in one person. In lightof these developments, theGovernment has decided toimplement the new guidelines.

The new guidelines saidinternational passengers willalso have to upload a negativeCovid-19 RT-PCR report withexception of those traveling to

India in the exigency of deathin the family.

For seeking exemption,the travelling entity will haveto apply to the online portalwww.newdelhiairport.in atleast 72 hours before boarding.

The test should have beenconducted within 72 hoursprior to the journey and eachpassenger will also have tosubmit a declaration withrespect to the authenticity ofthe report.

At the time of boardingthe flight, only asymptomatictravellers will be allowed toboard after the thermalscreening.

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Taking cognisance of theincreasing Covid-19 cases

in the State, Maharashtra ChiefMinister Uddhav Thackerayannounced temporary ban onpolitical, religious and socialevents, even as he gave anultimatum to the people thatafter eight days he woulddecide on re-imposing thelockdown if they did not mendways and follow pandemicnorms strictly.

Meanwhile, the authori-

ties on Sunday clamped nightcurfew in Pune city and theneighbouring Pimpri-Chinchwad.

“Movement of people willalso be restricted between11pm and 6am when onlyessential activities like medicalservices, milk supply will beallowed,” Pune’s divisionalcommissioner Saurabh Raosaid. “Schools and colleges inPune and its sister city ofPimpri-Chinchwad will remainclosed February 28.

Detailed report on P5

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Chhattisgarh Chief MinisterBhupesh Baghel, who also

holds the Finance portfolio, willtable the Budget for fiscal 2021-22 on March 1 during theBudget Session of the Assemblystarting on February 22.

Addressing the media,Assembly Speaker Dr CharanDas Mahant said the budgetsession will conclude on March26 after 24 sittings.

The session will commencewith the address of GovernorAnusuiya Uikey. The Motion ofThanks to the Governor'saddress will be taken up for dis-cussion on February 25-26.

The obituary reference forformer Parliamentary SecretaryOm Prakash Rathia, formerMinister of undivided MadhyaPradesh Dr BhanupratapGupta, former ParliamentarySecretary of undivided MadhyaPradesh Laxman Ram and for-mer MLA of ChhattisgarhAssembly Roshan Lal will bemade on the second day, saidthe Speaker.

The third supplementaryappropriation bill will betabled on February 23 and it

will be debated the next day.On March 1, Baghel will pre-sent the budget at 12.30 pm.

March 2 and 3 will seediscussion on income andexpenditure in the budget.The department wise discussion will be held fromMarch 4 to 23.

The final discussion isdue on March 24.

Dr Mahant said t i l lFebruary 20, 2,350 questionshave been received frommembers. This could go up.

He added that 24 noticesfor adjournment motion and117 for call attention havebeen received.

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Rejecting as “misinterpreta-tion” the media statement

quoting him on extension ofproposed suspension of thefarm laws, Punjab ChiefMinister Capt AmarinderSingh on Sunday said that itwas mischievously taken out ofcontext to give the wrongimpression on his stance.

“The message sought to becommunicated from my inter-view was totally incorrect, aswas evident from the rest of mystatement on the issue,” said theChief Minister, allaying theapprehensions of some farmers’leaders that he was trying tointerfere in their agitation.

Even as he categoricallyruled out any interference, oreven direct mediation unlesssought by both sides, CaptAmarinder said that he had cat-

egorically stated that “Fromwhat I understand is that someof the farmers are agreeable tothe laws being put on hold for18 months but may go up to 24months”.

“I am also on record asstating in the same interviewthat an extended period forputting the laws on hold con-tinued to be in active discus-sions (between the govern-ment and Kisan Unions),” headded.

The Chief Minister saidthat his statement was clearly inreference to the feedback orinputs received on the issuefrom certain farmer unions,which was taken out of contextand presented as his personalsuggestion for a compromise.

“Instead of being put in thecontext of his full statement,this particular point (on 24months’ suspension of the

farm laws) was played up as aseparate communication,” hesaid, terming it as factuallyincorrect.

While he maintained thatan early resolution was criticalto the safety of Punjab, whichhad witnessed a surge in smug-gling of weapons into the statefrom across the border in thepast five to six months, theChief Minister asserted that he,and his government, continuesto stand with the farmers onthe issue.

He pointed out that evenhis speech, submitted to NitiAayog for circulation atSaturday’s meeting, had cate-gorically underscored the needfor “urgent resolution” of thecurrent agitation “to the satis-faction of the protesting farm-ers by addressing all theirgrievances”.

It is the farmers who have

to decide what is in their inter-est and to what extent they arewilling to compromise, if at all,on their demand for repeal ofthe farm laws, said the ChiefMinister.

He reiterated his stand thatthe Central Governmentshould not stand on prestige onthe issue and should be willingto revoke the legislations to findan effective, long-term solutionto the problem.

Expressing surprise at NitiAayog vice-chairman RajivKumar’s claim that no one

spoke about the farm laws inthe sixth governing councilmeeting held on Saturday.

Capt Amarinder said thatthough he could not personal-ly attend the virtual conferenceowing to ill-health, his speech,which was submitted to the NitiAayog on Thursday, had clear-ly highlighted the issue.

“Not only had I reiteratedthe Government’s stand thatagriculture is a state subjectand law-making on it shouldbe left to the States in the truespirit of cooperative federal-ism, besides further under-scoring, in black and white,the need to resolve the farm-ers’ issues on urgent basis,”said Capt Amarinder whilecategorically and unequivo-cally rejecting the Niti AayogVC’s claim as false and base-less.

The Chief Minister assert-

ed that his, and his govern-ment’s, stand on the farm lawshad been consistent allthrough, at every forum, and

the state amendment Bills,passed in the Vidhan Sabha,were an endorsement of thesame. It was unfortunate that

the Governor was sitting overthese Bills instead of forward-ing them to the President forassent, he said.

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Reacting strongly to thestatement made by Punjab

Chief Minister CaptAmarinder Singh regardingthe ongoing farmers’ move-ment that the farmers’ shouldaccept the proposal of theCentral Government, theAam Aadmi Party (AAP) onSunday said that it provedCapt Amarinder’s doublestandard on the issue.

“Under collusion with theCentre, he is trying to sup-press the farmers’ movement,”said Cheema adding that CaptAmarinder’s recent statementregarding the farmers’ protestthat the farmers should acceptthe Central Government’sproposal which will halt theimplementation of the centralfarm laws for two years, was“reprehensible and an anti-farmer statement”.

Cheema said that the

statement made by CaptainAmarinder Singh proves yetagain that he had been com-promised and was acting atthe behest of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi. “He hasproved yet again that he hassome internal setting withthe ruling dispensation. BothCaptain and Modi are hand inglove and are working to sup-press the farmers’ movementby opting various tactics andmaneuvers,” he added.

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Asea of people converged atBarnala grain market to

attend the historic ‘Kisan-Mazdoor Ekta Maha Rally’ onSunday to send across a clearmessage — we stand unitedagainst the Centre’s three“black” farm laws.

Tens of thousands of peo-ple hailing from all sections ofsociety, irrespective of age,gender, and religion attendedthe rally, which was one-of-its-kind and was one of the largestgatherings held in the statesince the farmers’ protestmoved out of the state to theborders of Delhi.

In a massive show ofstrength, the farmers’ unionand the agricultural labourers’union came together on oneplatform to agitate against therepressive state.

Organized by the BharatiyaKisan Union (Ekta-Ugrahan)— Punjab’s biggest farm union,along with Punjab KhetMazdoor Union, the grandrally was attended by the lead-ers of Sanyukt Kisan Morcha —the umbrella body of theprotesting farmers’ union —Balbir Singh Rajewal, RulduSingh Mansa, among othersbesides the leadership of BKUUgrahan Joginder SinghUgrahan, Sukhdev Singh KokriKalan.

Symbolizing their standwith the union, several womentook part in the rally in hugenumbers donning yellowdupattas, with men and chil-dren holding farmers’ flag.

Also signifying secularismagainst the Centre’s claims offarmers’ agitation limited onlyto the Sikhs, many Muslimmen and women also partici-pated in the maha rally.

“Our thanks to everyonewho attended Kissan-MajdoorEkta Maha Rally at Barnala.The government tries to sepa-rate us by religion, by gender bywhatever they can…But thepictures keep coming showinghow we refuse to be divided,”said BKU Ugrahan spokesper-son.

The rally was attended bythe farmers and farm labourers,mainly from the Malwa regionof Punjab. “The ongoing farm-ers’ protest is the first time thatthe people of India havemounted a challenge to the fas-cist and communal govern-ment,” said Bharatiya KisanUnion (Ekta-Ugrahan) presi-dent Joginder Singh Ugrahan.

As the farm agitationagainst the Centre’s three agrilaws entered its 86th day onSunday, the farmers’ leadersoutlined the plans to mobilizefarmers and farm workers fromacross Punjab.

FARM LEADERS DAREDELHI POLICE TO ENTERPUNJAB

Alleging that notices arebeing served on people back-ing the agitation against thefarm laws, prominent farmers’leader and BKU (Rajewal)president Balbir Singh Rajewalon Sunday asked the farmers togherao Delhi Police personnelif they come to their villages to

make an arrest.Rajewal also asked the

Capt Amarinder Singh-ledPunjab Government that thestate police should not coop-erate with the Delhi cops.

“If the Delhi Police per-sonnel come to arrest you,gather the entire village andoppose them,” Rajewal toldthe farmers at a ‘Kisan-Mazdoor Ekta Maha Rally’.Notably, Haryana’s BKU pres-ident Gurnam Singh Chadunihad also made a similar appealtwo days back.

Rajewal asked the farmersnot to appear before the DelhiPolice if they get notices forjoining investigation and toldthem to ‘gherao’ the DelhiPolice personnel if they cometo make an arrest.

Speaking in unison,Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ekta-Ugrahan) president Joginder

Singh Ugrahan also dared theDelhi Police to enter Punjab forarresting the Red Fort vio-lence accused.

Claiming that theNarendra Modi-ledGovernment at the Centre isscared of the farmers’ agitation,Rajewal alleged that those serv-ing ‘langar’ or extending helpto farmers at the protest sitesnear Delhi borders are beingissued notices by police.

“Those who are bringing‘langar’ material or extendinghelp to us in whatever mannerthey can, they are being slappedwith notices. It is in my knowl-edge that many FIRs have beenlodged against unknown per-sons by the Delhi Police,” hesaid.

“I want to make it clear toall farmers and labourers thatif anyone gets notice, do notbother, forward one copy to us.

No one needs to appear beforepolice,” he said, adding that itwas a “moment of test” for thePunjab Government, whichshould tell the state police notto cooperate with the DelhiPolice.

Rajewal further said thatthe farmers’ agitation againstthe laws has now turned into a“jan andolan” (people’s move-ment). “It is a question of yourfuture and children,” he said,adding that they would notreturn until the farm laws arewithdrawn.

He also praised village pan-chayats for their decision ofsending people to the protestsites on a rotational basis.

Rajewal said that the UnionGovernment had no right tobring the laws as agriculture isa state subject.

He also defended com-mission agents (arhtiyas), say-

ing that they only charge fortheir “service” and accused theCentre of bringing corporatesas “middlemen” with theselaws.

On farmer leaders’ multi-ple rounds of meetings with thegovernment earlier, Rajewalsaid: “We told the governmentthat when they are ready tomake many amendments inthese laws, what is the problemin rolling them back.” The BJPhad propagated that theyframed these laws keeping inview the farmers’ interests butwe confronted them and askedwhere farmers demanded thelegislations, he stated.

Addressing the gathering,BKU (Ekta Ugrahan) presidentJoginder Singh Ugrahan saidthat his outfit has planned tohold a big gathering in Delhi onFebruary 27 and decided toobserve International Women’sDay on March 8 in the nation-al capital.

Referring to the RepublicDay violence, Ugrahan saidthat it was done by a groupwhich acted at the behest of theGovernment.

He asked the farmers toprepare for a long battle againstthe farm legislations. “This isnot a fight of a religion or caste.It is a fight of secular people.This agitation is for occupation.It is a fight of the country’sfarmers,” he said.

BKU (Ekta Ugrahan) gen-eral secretary Sukhdev SinghKokrikalan also sought releaseof labour rights activist NodeepKaur, lodged in a Karnal jail.

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Haryana ChiefM i n i s t e r

Manohar Lal onSunday directed theofficers that alongwith providing hous-ing loans on plotsreserved for ValmikiSamaj in Sector-16,Karnal, a survey ofthe people living inModel Town shouldalso be conductedwho have not beenallotted plots yet.

The Chief Minister gavethese directions while redress-ing the grievances of peopleduring his visit in Karnal. Onthis occasion, most of the prob-lems were resolved on the spotby the Chief Minister.

For the remaining griev-ances, Manohar Lal directedthe Deputy Commissioner,Commissioner MunicipalCorporation and the concerneddepartmental heads to takenecessary action immediately.

During the pubic griev-ances programme as many as25 people, including represen-tatives of various social orga-nizations raised their com-plaints before the ChiefMinister.

While redressing the griev-ances raised by Play SchoolAssociation regarding opening

of playschools in the residen-tial area, Manohar Lal assuredthe association members thatthe matter will soon be resolvedafter holding talks with theheadquarters officers.

In another complaint madeby senior nursing staff workingat Kalpana ChawlaGovernment Medical Collegeregarding seniority, the ChiefMinister gave a patient hearingto both the parties and assuredthat the matter will soon beresolved by the headquartersofficers.

MLA GharaundaHarvinder Kalyan, KarnalMayor Renu Bala Gupta,Deputy Commissioner andChief Executive Officer, KarnalSmart City Ltd. Karnal NishantKumar Yadav among otherssenior officers were also pre-sent.

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After already extending thelast date to administer

the first dose of COVID-19vaccination for the health-care workers twice, the PunjabGovernment on Sundayissued them a warning in casethey failed to get themselvesvaccinated.

“The healthcare workerswho do not get vaccinated toboost their immunity forCOVID-19, despite beinggiven repeated opportunitiesand in case they get the infec-tion at a later stage, they willhave to bear the cost of theirtreatment and they will not beallowed to avail quarantine orisolation leave,” said the stateHealth and Family WelfareMinister Balbir Singh Sidhu.

As of now, about 79,000(38 percent) healthcare work-ers and 4,000 (2.20 percent)frontline workers have beenvaccinated, out of 2.06 lakhand 1.82 lakh, respectively,registered. The Ministerpointed that the coverage hasnot been up to the mark.

Notably, the StateGovernment had extendedthe last date to administer thefirst dose vaccination for thehealthcare workers fromFebruary 19 to 25, and that offrontline workers to March 6.Earlier, the last date for avail-ing the first dose of vaccina-tion for HCW was extendedfrom February 12 to 19.

While extending the dates,the Health Minister had stat-ed that in light of the recentresurgence of COVID-19cases in other States and thediscovery of new virus strains,“it is crucial that a maximumnumber of healthcare workersbe vaccinated as they are per-

forming their duties at thefrontline to deal any out-break”.

Pointing out that therecent few days have seen anuprising trend in the numberof COVID-19 cases in Punjab,the Minister said that with 358cases being reported onFebruary 20, now about 3,000COVID positive cases areactive in the State while therewere only 2,000 active cases(33 percent rise) three weeksback.

“There is a dire need toget vaccinated for all thehealthcare workers to dealwith any unprecedented situ-ation. Punjab is among the sixstates of the country whereCOVID cases are rising andwe should prepare to fight itlike a second wave,” he said.

The Minister said thatthese rising cases indicatedthat COVID-19 is not over yetand Punjab may witness asurge in the number ofCOVID cases. “This high-lights the need for followingCOVID appropriate behaviorslike social distancing, wearingof a mask, hand sanitization,and respiratory etiquettes,” hesaid.

Urging the healthcareworkers, Sidhu said that theyshould shun hesitancy andcome forward to get vacci-nated at the earliest for thesake of their own safety andthat of their family membersand near and dear ones.

Expressing concern overthe low rate of vaccinationamong healthcare and front-line workers, Sidhu said thatso far, 2.06 lakh healthcareworkers and 1.82 lakh front-line workers have been regis-tered for COVID-19 vaccina-tion.

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RAIPUR | MONDAY | FEBRUARY 22, 2021

chhattisgarh 03

STAFF REPORTER nRAIGARH

Asix-year-old boy kid-napped allegedly by his

family cook fromChhattisgarh's Raigarh dis-trict was rescued from neigh-bouring Jharkhand early onSunday, police said.

The incident took placeon Saturday evening and allthree kidnappers have beenarrested, RaigarhSuperintendent of PoliceSantosh Singh said.

The accused had plannedto seek a huge ransom fromthe boy's family but gotcaught before they could doso, he said.

Shivansh Agrawal, son ofKharsia town-based trans-porter Rahul Agrawal, wentmissing from his house

around 6 pm, leading to apolice complaint.

CCTV footage showedthe child going with the

family cook, identified asKhilawan Das Mahant, on

a motorcycle, the officersaid.

Two of the at least sevenpolice teams set up to solvethe crime went to Jharkhandbased on clues.

After searching for abouteight to nine hours, the teamsrescued the boy from Khuntidistrict in Jharkhand with thehelp of local police, Singhsaid.

The cook, his relativeAmardas Mahant and associ-ate Sanjay Sidar were arrest-ed. A car used by the kidnap-pers was seized, Singh said.

Chief Minister BhupeshBaghel has appreciated thequick action of Raigarhpolice.

Chhattisgarh DirectorGeneral of Police D.M.Awasthi also patted the policefrom his Twitter account.

STAFF REPORTER nRAIPUR

On the initiative ofChhattisgarh Chief

Minister Bhupesh Baghel,rivers, drains and naturalwater sources in the state arebeing revived through theNarva (Nala) DevelopmentScheme to conserve andrecharge ground water.

The Narva DevelopmentScheme operated in the stateis actually a component ofNarva, Gurwa, Ghurwa, Bari(NGGB) of the Chhattisgarhgovernment's ambitiousSuraji village scheme. Rapidtreatment of drains is beingdone to save rain water.

In the first phase, 1,385Narvas have been identified,out of which 1,372 drains are

being built by erecting struc-tures like boulder checks,street plugs, brush hoods andpercolation tanks with a view

to retain rain water.So far, 71,831 structures

of various types have beenapproved to conserve rain

water in 1,310 drains. Of this,51,742 structures have comeup. Another 9,685 structuresare being raised.

The almost two years ofwork has led to positiveresults vis-a-vis water conser-vation.

The Central governmenthas not only appreciated thecampaign but felicitatedSurajpur and Bilaspur dis-tricts with the National WaterAward.

There has been anunprecedented increase inthe ground water level in theareas where Narva treatmenthas been done.

Due to water logging inthe drains, farmers have start-ed cultivating green vegeta-bles along with crops. Thewater in the drains is usefulfor irrigation purposes.

Along with the conserva-tion of water, organic farmingis being encouraged toimprove the production ofnutritious food grains, fruitsand vegetables so that villagesbecome prosperous.

STAFF REPORTER nJASHPUR

The Jashpur DistrictCollector on Sunday told

the Tehsildar of Manora tostop the mutation of the 24.88acres of tribal land bought byan Ashish Bhagat in villageGutkiya in Manora block inthe Chhattisgarh district.

Collector MahadevKawre visited Manora blockand met the Pahadi Korvatribal families. AdditionalCollector I.L. Thakur andother senior revenue officialswere present, an officialcommunication said.

In his interaction, theCollector sought details of theland sale and assured themthat the district administra-tion will help them. He prom-ised a thorough investigation.

The communication saida sale dead regarding 24.88acres of land (Khasra No 9)

was registered on January 22.Mahindra and Sahindra, whoare tribals, on February 9lodged a complaint with theCollector to stop the mutationof the land records.

The Collector set up a

committee under the SubDivisional Officer (Revenue)Jashpur. The panel submitteda primary report on February20. Based on that, the orderwas issued to stop themutation process.

STAFF REPORTER nBILASPUR

The Bilaspur ForestDivision on Sunday

organized a ‘Hamar Chirai-Hamar Chinhari’ (BirdFestival) in village Kopra topromote forest conservationand create awareness on cli-mate change.

Apart from the BirdFestival, environment relatedphotography, painting andrangoli competitions wereheld and awards were givenaway to the winners, an offi-cial communication said.

MLA Takhatpur RashmiSingh told the gathering thatthere was a need to createmore awareness on protectingand conserving environment.

With birds migrating

from foreign countries andbreeding in different waterbodies, the villagers needed toprotect them from poaching,he said.

The villagers and organiz-ers took part in a drive tomake the area plastic free andalso cleaned the banks around

the Kopra reservoir. Visitorstook photographs of the birdsfrom a watch tower at the site.

Bilaspur CommissionerSanjay Alang, StateBiodiversity Board memberArun Pandey and ChiefConservator of Forests AnilSoni were present at the event.

STAFF REPORTER nRAIPUR

Three improvised explosivedevices (IED) were on

Sunday detected and defusedby security forces inChhattisgarh's Kanker district,police said.

A joint team of the BorderSecurity Force (BSF) andDistrict Force was on an anti-Naxalite operation when thelandmines were seen buried inthe Amabeda-Bodagaon roadnear Shuklapada area,Additional Superintendent ofPolice G.N. Baghel said.

The security forces foundthe IEDs in pressure cookers.They were planted to inflictserious casualties on the secu-

rity forces, Baghel said.Police also found some

bomb related explosives and awalkie-talkie at the scene.

STAFF REPORTER nBILASPUR

Chhattisgarh Police onSunday busted a Pakistan

Super League (PSL) cricketbetting racket in Bilaspur cityand arrested three persons.

The three were identifiedas Dinesh Tekwani (55),Amit Wadhwani (36) andYara Khan (24), all residentsof Bilaspur city.

Bilaspur Superintendentof Police Prashant Agrawaltold the Pioneer that they

were nabbed with Rs 19,580in cash. Betting recordsdetailing transactions ofaround Rs 96 lakhs wereseized from them.

Nine mobile phones, aLED TV, a laptop and a set-top box were also seized.

Police conducted a raidlate on Sunday after getting atip about the racket run frombehind a school in Dayalbandlocality on a match playedbetween Lahore Qalandarsand Peshawar Zalmi, Agrawalsaid.

Six-year-old boy abducted,rescued in Jharkhand

Jashpur Collector stopsmutation of tribal land

Security forces detect,defuse 3 pressure IEDs

Rivers, drains getting new life in Chhattisgarh

n IANS

Researchers have estimatedthat a total of 20.5 million

years of life have been lost dueto Covid-19 worldwide withan average of 16 years perindividual death.

The years of life lost rate is

the difference between anindividual's age at death andtheir life expectancy.

The life years lost rate dueto the pandemic has beenbetween two and nine timesgreater than the mean years oflife lost rate associated withseasonal flu, said the studypublished in the journalScientific Reports.

"Our results confirmthat the mortality impact ofcovid-19 is large, not only interms of numbers of deaths,but also in terms of years oflife lost," said the authors,who consider their study asnapshot of the situation of

the pandemic in early 2021.The study by a group

researchers from severalinternational universitiesand research centres,including Hector Pifarre iArolas and Guillem LopezCasasnovas, bothresearchers at the Centre for

Research in Health andEconomics at UniversitatPompeu Fabra in Barcelona,Spain has estimated the pre-mature mortality impact ofCovid-19.

They have done so by cal-culating years of life lost (YLL)due to covid-19 compared toYLL for other common ill-nesses, such as the flu or car-diovascular diseases.

The study involved datafrom 81 countries. Theyanalysed data on lifeexpectancy and made projec-tions of total deaths fromCovid-19 by country.

Of the total years of life

lost, 44.9 per cent occurred inindividuals between 55 and 75years of age, 30.2 per centamong people under 55, and25 per cent in the over 75s,said the study.

In the countries for whichrecords of the number ofdeaths by sex were available,

YLL was 44 per cent higher inmen than in women.

In 35 of the countriesstudied, the data coveragespans at least nine months; inthese cases, this suggests thatit will probably include the fullimpacts of the pandemic in2020, or at least its first waves,while for other countries,these figures are still rising.

The authors warned that"these results must be under-stood in the context of anongoing, evolving pandemic;this study is a snapshot of thepossible impacts of Covid-19on years of life lost on January6, 2021".

Over 20 mn years oflife lost worldwide dueto Covid-19: Study

Bird Festival in Bilaspur topromote conservation

PSL cricket bettingracket busted, 3 held

STAFF REPORTER n DURG

Atwo-day ‘ChhattisgarhiKhel Madai’ (Traditional

Sports Festival) ended onSunday in Patan in Durg dis-trict, with the Bhilai Municipal

Corporation finishing as theoverall champion andRajnandgaon the runners-up.

The event was organizedby the Chhattisgarh OlympicAssociation (COA) and theSports and Youth Welfare

Department.On Sunday, competitions

for Sankhali, Tuve Langarchi,Gedi, Naugodiya Bhaura,Gilli Danda, Sur Pittul,Pudhav Puk, Fugdi and Kho-Kho were held.

In individual sports,Dikeshwari from Patan vil-lage bagged the first positionwhile Dhanishtha (Raipur)and Reena Nishad(Bemetara) came second andthird in Fugdi.

Parmeshwar Barre(Rajnandgaon), Akash Bagh(Patan) and Bharat Sahu(Gariaband) secured the first,second and third positions inPudhav Puk.

Karan Sahu(Rajnandgaon), GopalNishad (Patan) and LalitRazak (Bilaspur) were the topthree in Naugodiya Bhaura.

Raipur team was the winnerin Gilli Danda and Gariband therunners-up. Raipur won SurPittool (Durg was second),Balodabazar team won GediGend and was followed byDhamtari, Patan team won TuveLangarchi while Raipur took thesecond spot, Durg team wonSankhali and Dhamtari fol-lowed. COA Secretary GeneralGurucharan Singh Hora gaveaway the prizes.

Chhattisgarhi Khel Madai ends, Bhilai on top

The securityforces found theIEDs in pressurecookers, plantedto inflict serious

casualties onthe security

forces

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Focusing on reducing tensionat the Line of Actual

Control(LAC) at the earliest,India and China will soonhave another round of talks atthe military level. It may firmup the mutually acceptableprocess to pull back troopsfrom the friction points includ-ing Hot Springs, Gogra andDepsang plains.

These were the takeawaysfrom the marathon 16-hourlong talks between the CorpsCommanders of India andChina on Saturday at Moldo inChushul sector of Ladakh.Meeting for the first time sincewithdrawal of the troops fromthe Pangong Tso(lake) onThursday last week, the twosenior military official alsoreviewed the pull-back andappreciated the smooth with-drawal.

A joint statement issued byIndia and China later onSunday said “On February 20,the 10th round of China-IndiaCorps Commander LevelMeeting was held on theChinese side of theMoldo/Chushul border meet-ing point. The two sides posi-tively appraised the smoothcompletion of disengagementof frontline troops in thePangong Lake area noting thatit was a significant step forwardthat provided a good basis forresolution of other remainingissues along the LAC inWestern Sector.

“They had candid and in-depth exchange of views onother issues along the LAC inthe Western Sector. The twosides agreed to follow theimportant consensus of theirstate leaders, continue theircommunication and dialogue,stabilize and control the situa-tion on the ground, push for amutually acceptable resolutionof the remaining issues in asteady and orderly manner, so

as to jointly maintain peace andtranquility in the border areas.”

The smooth pull back atthe Pangong lake and the twosides lauding it was seen as thefirst step in the long process torestore normalcy at the LAC inLadakh after the ten-monthlong face-offs. Efforts werenow on the lend momentum towithdrawal from the other fric-tion points and the twoCommanders held extensivediscussion on Saturday in thisaspect, sources said.

The 16-hour long talksbeginning at ten am onSaturday and ending at two amon Sunday primarily focusedon hasten up disengagementfrom the Hot Springs, Gograand Depsang, they said. Indiawas represented by Lt GeneralP K Menon while MajorGeneral Liu Lin headed theChinese delegation.

On Saturday evening,sources had said bringing downthe tension in the region wasthe broad priority of the talks.India has all along been main-taining that disengagement atall the friction points was nec-essary to de-escalate the situa-tion in the region.

Officials were hopeful ofearly agreement to mutuallypull back troops fromPatrolling Point 15 and 17A inGogra as normalcy wasrestored to a large extent in theadjacent Pangong region.

However, a mutuallyacceptable plan to disengagefrom the Depsang plains couldtake longer, sources said. Thisregion in the past also sawstand-offs and intervention atthe higher levels were resort-ed to defuse tension, theyadded.

Sources said the tension inthe Depsang Plains was due toChina blocking Indian patrolparties from accessing PatrolPoints (PP) 10, 11, 11A, 12 and13. That was due to the rea-son that the Indian patrols

have to go beyond a featurecalled Bottle neck area onfoot.

Also, the region is strate-gically important for India asit has the advantage of moni-toring all activities at theKarakoram range and highwayand nearby regions. Moreover,the Daulat Beg Oldie airfieldthere has added muscle toIndia’s military strength as itcan shore up its logistics by airin a short time.

Given the smooth with-drawal of troops fromPangong, sources said Indiawas hopeful that pull backcould take place soon from theother friction points too.

On February 11, DefenceMinister Rajnath Singhannounced in Parliament thatIndia and China reached anagreement on disengagementin the North and South banksof Pangong lake that mandatesboth sides to “cease” forwarddeployment of troops in a“phased, coordinated and ver-ifiable” manner.

Under the agreement, hesaid China will pull back itstroops to east of Finger 8 areasin the northern bank ofPangong lake while the Indianpersonnel will be based at theirpermanent base at Dhan SinghThapa Post near Finger 3 in theregion. Similar action wouldtake place on the south bank ofthe lake as well, he said.

The sources said troops ofboth sides have retreated topositions in line with the agree-ment.

The disengagementprocess began on February 10.

In his statement inParliament, the defence minis-ter also said it was agreed toconvene the next meeting ofsenior commanders of bothsides within 48 hours of com-pletion of the disengagement inthe Pangong lake areas so as toresolve all other remainingissues.

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Congress President SoniaGandhi on Sunday accused

the Government of “profiteer-ing” off “people’s misery” anddemanded an immediate roll-back of the increase in prices.

In a letter to PrimeMinister Narendra Modi, shesaid the truth is that as GDP“nosedives”, the prices of gas,diesel and petrol continue torise unchecked.

“I write to you to conveyevery citizen’s anguish anddeep distress regarding thespiralling fuel and gas prices.On one hand, India is witness-ing systematic erosion of jobs,wages and household income.The middle class and those atthe margins of our society arestruggling. These challengeshave been compounded byrunaway inflation and anunprecedented rise in price ofalmost all household items andessential commodities,” theCongress chief said.

Stressing that fuel pricesare at an “historic and unsus-tainable” high, Sonia Gandhisaid petrol has breached the�100 per litre mark in manyparts of the country and thesurging price of diesel hasadded to the escalating woes ofmillions of farmers.

“Sadly, in these distressingtimes, the Government haschosen to profiteer off people’smisery and suffering,” SoniaGandhi said.

The increase pushed thepetrol price to �90.58 a litre inDelhi and to �97 in Mumbai.This was the 12th straight dayof price hike and the largestdaily increase since oil compa-nies started to revise rates on adaily basis in 2017.

“What baffles most citi-zens, is that these prices havebeen increased despite moder-ate prices of international crudeoil. To put it in context, thecrude oil price is nearly half ofwhat it was during the UPAgovernment’s tenure. Therefore,your Government’s act of rais-ing prices (continuously for 12days till February 20th) is lit-tle less than a brazen act ofprofiteering,” she said.

What is equally distressingis that despite being in powerfor almost seven years now, thegovernment continues to blameprevious regimes for its owneconomic mismanagement, shesaid in her letter to Modi.

To set the record straight,domestic crude oil productionhas fallen to an 18-year low in2020, Sonia Gandhi said.

Governments are elected toease the burden of people andat the very least, not workdirectly contrary to their inter-ests, the Congress chief said.

“I urge you to roll backthese increases and pass on thebenefit to our middle andsalaried class, our farmers andpoor and our fellow citizens. Itis they who are battling anunprecedented economic slow-down, widespread unemploy-ment, wage reductions and joblosses, high prices and erosionof income,” she said.

“I hope you will agree thatit is time for your governmentto focus on solutions instead oflooking for excuses. Indiadeserves better,” Sonia Gandhisaid.

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The Department ofEmpowerment of Persons

with Disabilities, under theUnion Social Justice andEmpowerment Ministry, haswritten to the Union HealthMinistry to include the PwDsas one of the priority groups forits ongoing Covid vaccinationprogramme.

KVS Rao, Director of theDePwD, in a letter to GayatriMishra, Joint Secretary in theUnion Health Ministry, urgedfor inclusion of PwDs includ-ing Thalassemia-major patientsin the priority list of Covid-19vaccine to ensure their safetyfrom the infection.

According to healthexperts, persons having comor-bidities like diabetes as wellPwDs are vulnerable to theCoronavirus because of theirlow immunity. Hence theyneed to be immunised on thepriority basis, said the experts.

In fact, last month around30 disability rights organisa-tions had written to PrimeMinister Narendra Modi andHealth Minister HarshVardhan in this regard.

The disability rightsgroups, including the NationalCentre for Promotion ofEmployment for DisabledPeople, Ektha and Sama

Foundation, counted reasonslike physical vulnerabilities,preexisting medical conditions,communication barriers, closecontact needed with others forpersonal care (activities of dailyliving), social isolation anddisruption in social networks,discrimination in access tohealthcare facilities resulting indeprioritisation in times oflimited resources.

‘It is vital for personal careattendants, health workers andpersons with disabilities,chronically ill people to haveaccess to the vaccine. Theyshould (also) be part of deci-sion-making about vaccine pri-orities and planning for howfuture public health emergen-cies are handled,’ said ArmanAli, Executive Director,NCPEDP.

Further, collectively, thesector has demanded clarity onscheduling the Covid-19 vac-

cine for persons with disabil-ities.

Ektha co-founder RajivRajan said persons with dis-abilities are the most vulnera-ble groups when it comes tothe pandemic.

‘Many of us lack immuni-ty. Most of us cannot maintainsocial distancing because weneed support for our day to dayactivities. Many of us cannotunderstand what is going onaround us as modes and meansof communication are notaccessible to many of us,’ he said.

Following approval of twovaccines — Covaxin developedby Bharat Biotech andCovishield from theOxford/AstraZeneca stablebeing manufactured by theSerum Institute of India — foremergency use in the country,currently the government isvaccinating healthcare workersand frontline workers.

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Suspicion, however strong,cannot take the place of

proof, the Supreme Court hassaid, stressing that an accusedis presumed to be innocentunless proved guilty beyond areasonable doubt.

There has to be a chain ofevidence so complete as toshow that in all human prob-ability the act must have beendone by the accused, a benchof justices Indira Banerjee andHemant Gupta observed whileupholding an order of theOrissa High Court whichacquitted two men accused ofmurdering a home guard byelectrocuting him.

“It is well settled by aplethora of judicial pro-nouncement of this court thatsuspicion, however strong can-not take the place of proof. Anaccused is presumed to beinnocent unless proved guiltybeyond a reasonable doubt,”the bench said.

As per an FIR lodged with

the police by Gitanjali Tadu,her husband Bijay KumarTadu had been working deput-ed at Chandabali police sta-tion.

The woman has allegedthat the accused BanabihariMohapatra, his son Luja andother accomplices killed herhusband with an electric shockafter administering some poi-sonous substances to him.

The apex court said thepost mortem report revealsthat the cause of death was

electric shock and there is noconclusive evidence that thedeath was homicidal.

“The mere fact that thedeceased was lying dead at aroom held by the accusedrespondent No 1 and that theaccused respondents hadinformed the complainant thatthe deceased had been lyingmotionless and still and notresponding to shouts and calls,does not establish that theaccused respondents murderedthe deceased,” the bench said.

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Air India (AI) on Sundaydenied allegation of

“harassment” of TokyoOlympic prospect ManuBhaker by two of its staff at theDelhi airport and said its asser-tion was based on CCTVfootage.

In a statement, AI claimedthat “legitimate” documentswere asked for from Bhakerwhen she was boarding itsflight along with her mother forBhopal from Delhi on February19, contrary to the allegationsmade by her against the airline.

The 19-year-oldCommonwealth Games andYouth Olympics gold medallistpistol shooter had soughtaction against two employees of

the airline, for alleged “harass-ment” and “insulting” her.

She had alleged that shehad to go through the “ordeal”despite carrying all valid doc-uments and clearance fromthe Directorate General of CivilAviation (DGCA) for travellingwith her weapons and ammu-nition.

Stating that as a responsi-ble airline, it always “adheres”to the rules and regulations gov-erning operations, it said that“in this case also, Air India wasonly following the protocolregarding such a sensitive activ-ity like the carriage of arms onboard”.

“Our employee ManojGupta was at the counterthroughout and had, at nopoint, communicated directly

with Bhaker. This is also cor-roborated by the CCTVfootage. Hence, the allegation ofmisbehaviour by him simplydoes not arise,” Air India saidin the statement.

The CCTV footage alsonullifies the passenger’s allega-tion of bribes being asked forand snatching of mobile phone,it said.

According to Air India,during check-in at the Delhiairport counter, Bhaker told itscheck-in employees that shewas carrying an Air Pistol and a 0.22-bore gun.

“She was advised by ourcounter personnel to get thedocuments, mandatory to carryarms and ammunition, verifiedby Air India security officials,”said the statement.

After verification of docu-ments shown by Bhaker, thesecurity officials informed herthat the document requiredfor exemption of payment ofhandling charge for carriage ofarms, as per laid down norms,is not there.

And, they said fixedcharges for the carriage of armswould have to be paid, the air-line clarified in the statement.

It was explained to Bhakerthat the document for exemp-tion shown by her was not“valid” as it was signed only bythe assistant secretary of theNational Rifle Association.

As per rules, details ofwhich are available on the AirIndia website, signature of onlythe secretary or president of abonafide association is recognised for waiver of thecharges, Air India said.

“Subsequently, the applica-ble charges – that is �5,000along with 5 per cent GST; fortwo, a total �10,200 – were con-veyed to Bhaker, who request-

ed for 10-15 minutes from ourpersonnel to procure therequired document for waiverof charges for carriage of herarms on board,” said the state-ment.

The moment she furnishedthe required document to theAir India check-in and securi-ty personnel, her baggageincluding the arms were accept-ed for carriage, the statementsaid.

Air India said though theDGCA permit allowed her car-riage of arms from February 20,in view of the Rifle Associationcertificate with bonafide signa-ture, it extended courtesy tohave her on board with thearms on February 19 itself.

“Subsequently, Bhaker withher mother proceeded for theirsecurity check and were facili-tated to board the aircraft,” theairline added.

Air India has alwaysencouraged and has the high-est respect for sports andsportspersons, it said.

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The much awaited CowScience exam known as

‘Kamdhenu Gau VigyanPrachar-Prasar Examination’,for which there is no registra-tion fee, has been postponed.It was earlier scheduled forFebruary 25, 2021. No infor-mation on the new date hasbeen provided yet. A note onkamdhenugvppexam.org says,“Please note that onlineKamdhenu Gau VigyanPrachar Prasar Exam/Pratiyogita which was sched-uled for 25th Feb 2021 includ-ing Mock Examination on21st Feb 2021 has been post-poned.”

The University GrantsCommission has earlier writ-ten to Vice Chancellors of900 universitites in the coun-try to encourage the studentsto write the Central govern-

ment’s “indige-nous cow sci-ence” examina-tion.

The brain-child of theR a s h t r i y aK a m d h e n uAayog set up in2019 under theCentral Animal

Husbandry ministry, studymaterial on its website saysalmost what Bengal’s BJP chiefDilip Ghosh had said. ThatIndian cows have somethingspecial in their humps thatturn sunshine into gold whichgives their milk its yellowcolour”.

For the one-hour onlineexamination, the study mate-rial shared by the RashtriyaKamdhenu Aayog says thatcow dung is used as a protec-tion against radiations innuclear centres in India andRussia. It had protectedBhopal residents from the gasleak too. The material alsostates that Indian cows have aspecial power to absorb thesun’s energy with the help ofthe solar pulse situated intheir humps. As a result, mak-ing Indian cow milk, cowdung, and cow urine nourish-ing.

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The Special Crime Branch(SCB) of CBI, Patna has

taken over a 2017 case ofArgora police station in Ranchifollowing a directive fromJharkhand High Court where-in the complaint (victim’smother) had alleged that herhusband Dr SubhashishSannigrahi had killed theirson Antariksh in a plannedroad accident on July 25, 2016.

The victim had met with aroad accident on July 25, 2016and succumbed to his injuriestwo days later on July 27,2016.

The complainant RupaliMohanty, mother of the victim,has claimed that the said acci-dent was a planned one andwas allegedly conspired by hishusband Dr SubhasishSannigrahi and other membersof his family.

The Argora Police Station,Ranchi had registered a case in2017 against the complainant’shusband and other relativesDebashish Sannigrahi, SujoyChandra Sannigrahi and

Jharna Sannigrahi underIndian Penal Code (IPC)Sections relating to murder,criminal conspiracy and com-mon intention.

In response to a WritPetition (Criminal) No 419 of2017 seeking direction to theCBI to take over the probe intothe Argora police station casenumber 180/2017, theJharkhand High Court in anorder in December last yeardirected the CBI to take overthe probe following which theagency on Thursday re-regis-tered the case.

“The facts mentioned inthe complaint discloses com-mission of offence under IPCSection 302 (murder), 120-B(criminal conspiracy) and 34(common intention). HenceRegular Case (FIR) RC0922021S0001 dated18.02.2021 is re-registered andentrusted to Rajesh Kumar,Inspector of Police, CBI, SCB,Patna for investigation andreport,” reads the order byAdditional Superintendent ofPolice/Head of Branch, CBI,SCB, Patna, Rajesh KumarSinha.

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With E Sreedharan throwinghis hat in the political ring

by deciding to join the BJP,senior Congress leader ShashiTharoor on Sunday said thetechnocrat is likely to have a“minimal” impact on theupcoming Kerala Assemblypolls, and asserted that the BJPis not a serious contender exceptin a few seats in the State.

Tharoor also said it will bevery difficult for the BJP toimprove upon its performanceof winning one seat in the 2016assembly polls and the high

point of Sreedharan’s impacton Kerala elections will turn outto be the announcement ofjoining the BJP itself.

In an interview with PTI,Tharoor said he was surprised atthe announcement thatSreedharan was going to enterthe political fray and join the BJP.

He said Sreedharan’s entrycame as a surprise to himbecause the technocrat had along innings executing engi-neering projects, not making orimplementing policies in a frac-tious democracy. “It’s a very dif-ferent world,” he added.

Asked what kind of impact

Sreedharan could have on theKerala Assembly polls, the MPfrom Thiruvananthapuram said,“Since he has no political back-ground or experience, I think hisimpact is likely to be minimal.”

“When I joined politics at53, I thought I had left it toolate to make the kind ofimpact I felt I was capable of.What can I say about some-one who is 88?” Tharoorsaid.

On whether Sreedharan’sentry will make the Keralapolls a three-way contest andthe BJP will emerge as aserious contender alongside.

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Union Home Minister AmitShah said on Sunday that

the new education policyreflects the commitment ofthe Modi Government towardsthe preservation, developmentand empowerment of all Indianlanguages.

In a message on the occa-sion of the InternationalMother Language Day, Shahsaid the mother tongue is apowerful medium of expres-sion.

“Our new education poli-cy reflects the commitment ofthe Modi government towardsthe preservation, developmentand empowerment of all Indianlanguages,” he tweeted inHindi.

The home minister saidmaximum efforts should bemade for the use of mothertongue and foster the wisdompassed on by it to strengthenthe foundation of the country’sculture in children.

“Greetings on the occasionof the International MotherLanguage Day. This dayinspires us to stay connectedwith our cultural heritage,” hetweeted.

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Master artisans and crafts-men can contribute big

time to the country's economyand the Central Government'saim is to take the rural indus-tries' annual turnover of about�80,000 crore to �5 lakh crorewithin the next two to threeyears, Union minister RajnathSingh said on Sunday whileinaugurating the 26th edition of'Hunar Haat' here.

More than 600 artisans andcraftsmen from over 31 statesand Union Territories are par-ticipating in the MinorityAffairs Ministry's 'Hunar Haat'being held at the JawaharlalNehru Stadium here on thetheme of "Vocal for Local"from February 20 to March 1.

The official inauguration, how-ever, was held Sunday.

The artisans and crafts-men have a very important rolein contributing to the country'seconomy and GDP, DefenceMinister Singh said.

"This is the irony that ourrural industries did not get thekind of encouragement theyshould have. But our govern-ment is focused on promotingrural industries," he said.

"The turnover of ruralindustries per year is approxi-mately �80,000 crore and ourgovernment aims to take thisturnover to Rs 5 lakh crorewithin the next two to threeyears," he said.

Hailing the 'Hunar Haat'initiative of the Minority AffairsMinistry,

Singh said it would go along way in achieving the objec-tive of 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat'.

Singh said the 'Hunar Haat'brings together indigenous arti-sans and craftsmen from acrossthe country

This Haat is a beautifulexhibition of our traditional artand craft and more important-ly our cultural mosaic," he said.

Artisans and craftsmenfrom states such as AndhraPradesh, Assam, Bihar,Chandigarh, Chhattisgarh,Delhi, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana,Himachal Pradesh, Jammu andKashmir, Ladakh, Kerala,Puducherry, Tamil Nadu,Telangana, Uttar Pradesh andWest Bengal, are participatingin 'Hunar Haat' to display andsell their products.

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Addressing a rally to cele-brate International Mother

Language Day or MatribhashaDiwas on Sunday, West BengalChief Minister MamataBanerjee said, “Even if they putme in jail I will continue toshout from there Jai Bangla, JaiBangla like the Banga Bandhu(Mujibur Rehman).”

She asked the audience to“respond saying “Jay Banglainstead of hello whenever youpick up a phone call to empha-sise your feeling as a Bengali.”

In what critics called a bidto fan up “Bengali sentiments”ahead of the elections, Mamatasaid how her Government hadsubmitted the proposal ofrenaming Bengal as “Bangla”four years ago but “they are sit-ting on it and have not yetcleared it,” apparently on theground that there is a separatecountry called Bangladesh.

“So what if there is a coun-

try called Bangladesh … that isa country after all and we area State that wants to berenamed as Bangla … why theCentre will not respect our sen-timents? Why if there can beStates called Odisha and

Andhra Pradesh … why ifthere can be a Punjab in Indiawhen there is a separate Punjabin Pakistan we cannot call ourState as Bangla,” Mamata saidadding “this is not the onlyinstance when they treat us ina step-motherly manner …there are numerous other occa-sions too.”

Whenever someone refersto Bengal in Delhi “they say Oforget it is the worst place …”Banerjee said wondering “whythis treatment to Bengal …why this perception problemregarding Bengal when will itchange.”

Referring to how “our iconslike Netaji Subhas ChandraBose, Rabindranath Tagore,Vidya Sagar, Shyam PrasadMukheree, Raja Ram MohanRoy have always been ignoredby them …” Mamata said,“This is a clear example of howif anyone from Bengal goes upthey will pull that persondown.”

��

CHENNAI: It has been more thana fortnight since V K Sasikala, theformer aide to J Jayalalithaa, walkedto the free world after her four year-long imprisonment in connectionwith the disproportionate assetcase. Though TTV Dhinakaran,general secretary of the AmmaMakkal Mennetra Kazhakam hadclaimed that Sasikala’s return toTamil Nadu would have a cascad-ing effect in the AIADMK politics,nothing of that sort has happened.Not even a single office bearer of theAIADMK, Sasikala’s parent party,has bothered to pay a courtesy callto Chinnamma at her mansion inChennai’s T-Nagar.

Last Monday marked EdappadiPalaniswami completing four yearsas chief minister of Tamil Nadu.

Palaniswami and his cabinet col-league D Jayakumar reiterated thatSasikala and her relations were notwelcome to the AIADMK.“Dhinakaran’s declaration that heand Sasikala would retrieve theAIADMK from Palaniswami andothers has been proved to be a hol-low exercise and nobody is believ-ing it anymore,” said KolahalaSrenivas, author and political com-mentator.

He said Palaniswai had con-solidated his position as chief min-ister and the co-cordinator of thesteering committee which admin-isters the party. “He had beenappointed as chief minister bySasikala in February 2017 as she hadto surrender to the prison author-ities in Bangalore to serve her jail

term. But Palaniswami, throughhard-work, perseverance and prag-maticism established himself asthe leadfer.

The looks of a farmer andopenness in communicating withthe people are his forte and this hascompensated for the lack of charis-ma associated with MGR andJayalalithaa, his predecessors,” saidSrenivas.

With no known leaders both-ering to call on her, Sasikala hadapproached the Madras High Courtto speed up the hearing of a civilpetition filed by her in 2017 chal-lenging the authority by whichPalaniswami, O Panneerselvam andothers in the AIADMK operate. Thecase has been scheduled for March15. PNS

� ��( � �� '1$+��3�&��0-��-��,�� !��"��New Delhi: Defence MinisterRajnath Singh on Sunday inau-gurated the 26th “Hunar Haat”of indigenous artisans andcraftsmen from across thecountry at Jawaharlal NehruStadium in New Delhi.

Lok Sabha MP MeenakshiLekhi graced the occasion asthe Guest of Honour. Secretary,Union Minority AffairsMinistry P. K. Das, other seniorofficials and dignitaries werealso present on the occasion.

On the occasion, RajnathSingh said that “Every region ofthe country has an amazing tal-ent and brilliance. The artisansof “Hunar Haat” are not only“Ustad” of art and craft; they

are also “Ustad” of destiny.Rajnath said that “Hunar Haat”has been playing an importantrole in strengthening the coun-try’s economy.

Modi Govt is promotingthe indigenous artisans andcraftsmen of the country.“Hunar Haat” brings togetherindigenous artisans andcraftsmen from across thecountry.

Rajnath Singh said that,“Hunar Haat” is a beautifulexhibition of our traditional artand craft and more importantlyour “cultural mosaic”. “HunarHaat” is doing branding oftraditional legacy of artisans,craftsmen.

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The CPI(M) and the Congress werehands in glove to appease the

minorities in the State of Keralaaccording to Yogi Adityanath, ChiefMinister of Uttar Pradesh.

“While the Government of UttarPradesh has brought in laws banningLove Jihad and terrorist activities, theKerala Government is taking steps toencourage love jihad and help ter-rorism. The CPI(M) Government isalso encouraging setting up of HalalBank in the State,” said the UP ChiefMinister while inaugurating the VijayYatra of the Kerala BJP fromKasaragod in the north toThiruvananthapuram in the South.

The Yatra being led by KSurendran, Kerala BJP chief, wouldpass through all assembly con-stituencies in the State, getting readyfor the upcoming assembly election.A huge crowd had gathered atKasaragod to greet Adityanath andlisten to him.

The UP Chief Minister who flewdown to Mangalore from Lucknowtravelled by car to Kasaragod to flagoff the rally. Most leaders of the fac-tion-ridden Kerala BJP were presentat the inaugural function. P CThomas, a leader of the KeralaCongress faction who was with theCongress-led UDF till last week had

turned up for the inaugural function.Thushar Vellappalli, who had beengrilled by the UAE Police in connec-tion with a case of financial embez-zlement too was present to greet therally.

Adityanath reminded the audi-ence that the people of Tripura haddumped the CPI(M) which ruled theState continuously for more than 25years and voted for the BJP in the lastassembly election because of theauthoritarian and corrupt CPI(M) government. “It is for the people ofthe State of Kerala to vote out the cor-rupt CPI(M) government in thisState. The government led byPinarayi Vijayan is enmeshed in cor-ruption while thousands of youth aredemonstrating in front of theSecretariat for jobs due to them. Butthe CPI(M) is violating all norms andappointing relatives and associates ofparty leaders into government ser-vice,” said Adityanath.

The BJP had opened its accountin the Kerala Legislative Assembly forthe first time in 2016 when its nona-genarian candidate O Rajagopal wonfrom Nemam inThiruvananthapuram district.

Though BJP leaders claim thatthe party would win considerablenumber of seats in the State, fac-tionalism and charges of corruptionhave dampened the spirit of the cadre.

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Silchar (Assam): A 'KargilVijay Smarak' was unveiled insouthern Assam's Silchar townto remember the Indian Armymartyrs in the Kargil waragainst Pakistan in 1999.

Renowned sculpturistSwapan Pal made the fibresculpture of Indian Army mar-tyrs in seven months andinstalled them as the 'KargilVijay Smarak'.

Ruling BJP MLA DilipKumar Paul has taken the ini-tiative to build 'Kargil VijaySmarak' at a cost of Rs 17 lakh.“From my MLA Local AreaDevelopment fund, I havegiven Rs 7 lakh and Rs 10 lakhsanctioned from the AssamChief Minister's discretionaryfund,” Pal said.

BJP MP Rajdeep Roy said

that the newly-erected 'KargilVijay Smarak' in Silchar is thefirst such memorial in theentire northeastern region.Senior Army officer PankajYadav, retired Army officialsand family members of martyrsjointly unveiled the memorialon Sunday.

On July 26 in 1999, theIndian armed forces had recap-tured posts in the Kargil sectorthat had been occupied byPakistan.

Codenamed 'OperationVijay', the Kargil war wasfought at an altitude of around16,000 feet wherein 1,042Pakistani soldiers and mili-tants were killed and 527Indian soldiers made thesupreme sacrifice in the line ofduty. IANS

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The disengagement of troopsof the Indian Army and

China's People's LiberationArmy (PLA) from the LAC inthe eastern Ladakh sector hasraised hopes of tour operatorswaiting eagerly for the touriststo flock the cold desert regionin the coming weeks.

On its part the UnionTerritory administration inLadakh is also fully geared upfor the long tourist season andfocusing more and more onpromoting adventure tourism.

On Sunday the Tourismdepartment,Ladakh alsolaunched the second edition ofLadakh Winter Conclave. Themajor attraction of the eventwas the heritage walk in OldLeh town.

“The heritage started fromLAMO Centre and ended at theLeh main market. The guestsalso enjoyed traditional delica-cies at the Central Asian

Museum. There were also danceperformances at Leh Palace”,spokesman of the UT adminis-tration said.

Earlier, three parallel ses-sions on different themes suchas mountaineering & trekking,discovering Ladakh’s landscape,and rural tourism-homestay,were organised.

Representatives from AllLadakh Tour OperatorsAssociation (ALTOA) spokeabout realising the full potentialof the scope of mountaineeringand trekking in Ladakh. Therewere discussions on the poten-tial of Ladakh becoming a hot-spot for adventure tourism,provided there are adequateinfrastructure and policy onadventure tourism, training ofmountain guides, the availabil-ity of equipment and ease ofissuing permits for touristsinterested in adventure tourism.

A case study on the Chadartrek was also presented duringthe presentation.

In the session on discover-ing Ladakh’s landscape, panel-lists Pranay Lal, Tara Sharma,Sonam Wangchuk and MunishPandit, discussed the impor-tance of Ladakh’s landscapeand its relevance to the cultureof the region.

Similarly, panellistsTsewang Namgyal, ManishaPande, Kumar Anubhav, GauravGaur and Sonam Parvezstressed the need to develop aresilient homestay or villagetourism model in Ladakh dur-ing the session on rural tourism-homestays.

Post-lunch, there were threemore parallel sessions. In thesession on extreme sport, therewas a discussion on promotingLadakh as a destination forextreme sports such as rockclimbing & bouldering, moun-tain biking, and ice climbing.

Similarly, panellists KingJigmed Namgyal. Darshan

Dudhoria, Yutaka Hirako,Neeraj Bhagat, Shoba Mohanand Monisha Ahmed discussedthe need to keep heritage alivethrough the restoration of oldtraditional homes and the eco-nomic viability of such projects.

Administrative Secretary,Ravinder Kumar stressed theneed for a comprehensive pol-icy for UT Ladakh. He alsohighlighted facilities providedby the Administration fortourists, such as choppers dur-ing rescue operations and 100satellite phones in case of emer-gency.

Director, TourismDepartment, Ladakh, KunzesAngmo, informed that theTourism Department is for-mulating a comprehensivetourism policy for Ladakh. Shealso highlighted the impor-tance of working towardsresponsible and sustainabletourism.

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Members of the Panchamasalisect of Karnataka's powerful

Lingayat community held a mas-sive rally in the city's Palacegrounds on Sunday to seek inclu-sion in the 2A reservation catego-ry for Government jobs and seatsin state-run educational institutes.

“If the state government doesnot include our community in the2A reservation category for gov-ernment jobs and educationalseats, we will intensify our agita-tion and lay siege to the stateSecretariat,” Panchamasali seerBasava Jaya Mruthyunjaya Swami warned.

Over a lakh of the politically-dominant community's membersreached the city since Saturdayfrom Kudalasangama in the state'sBagalkot district after a 37-daymarch (padayatra) in support of theirdemand.

“We took police permission tostage the march fromKudalasangama and other 17 dis-tricts to hold the rally peacefully forensuring social justice to us, as wehave been neglected over the last70 years,” Lingayat PanchamasaliMahasabha president VijayanandKashappanavar told reporters here.

Besides scores of the sect'spontiffs, community leaders, leg-islators from the ruling BJP, includ-ing minister Murgesh Nirani, andopposition Congress and JD-Sparticipated in the rally andaddressed the gathering.

In his speech, Nirani saidChief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa

was committed to ensure reserva-tion to the Lingayat sect andefforts would be made to amendthe law soon to include the com-munity in the 2A category.

State Information MinisterC.C Patil, senior rebel BJP leaderBasangouda Yatnal and Congresslegislator Lakshmi Hebbalkar andothers spoke at the rally and urgedthe state government to include thesect in the 2A category.

Another seer VacahnandaSwami, who marched to the cityalong with hundreds of the com-munity from Basavakalyan in Bidardistrict, said though the previousBJP government in the state had setup a sub-committee for draftingthe law during its 2008-13 tenure,they have not been given reserva-tion as members of other com-munities. “When Jagadish Shettarwas the BJP's third Chief Ministerafter Yediyurappa and D.V.Sadananda Gowda, a legislativepanel was set up in 2012 to studyour demand. The panel report saidPanchamasalis should be includedin 2A,” he said.

Of the 108 sub-sects in theLingayat community, 34 are in the2A category, while about 70 are inthe OBC (Other Backward Classes)category.

Earlier this month,Yediyurappa told reporters that hewould do his best to provide reser-vation to the communities, includ-ing Panchamsalis and Kurbas.

“I will not ask the pontiffs lead-ing the agitations to stop their fight,but give me some time. I will workhard to meet their demand,” hesaid.

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Primary Government schools in Uttar Pradesh are gear-ing up to welcome children from March 1 -- almost

after a year -- after Chief Minister Yogi Adityanathordered reopening of schools for classes 1 to 5.

Preparations are going on in full swing to decorateschools with colourful balloons, flowers and festoons towelcome students on the first day of the reopening ofthe schools following a year-long break due to the pan-demic.

The Basic Education Department has directed allschools to create an environment that would encouragestudents to return to classes.

Students who have been away from school for abouta year and have been attending online classes during thisperiod, can expect many surprises when they revisit theirschools.

Apart from finding colourful decorations of the class-es and gates, the students will also get corona vaccineshots.

According to Lucknow BSA (Basic Shiksha Adhikari) Dinesh Kumar, teachers have beeninstructed to decorate schools in order to create a fes-tive atmosphere so that children do not

hesitate to re-enter school premises due to thelong gap.

The schools are also making arrangements for pro-viding safe running drinking water for children.

The schools have been directed to install submersiblepumps for the purpose.

It is noteworthy that over 1.83 crore students studyin 1.5 lakh schools run by the Basic EducationDepartment in the state.

Besides, over one lakh schools have already under-gone transformation during Covid-19 pandemic on theinitiative of Yogi Adityanath.

Schools have been decorated with colourful paint-ings and meaningful slogans.

Schools have also been equipped with the facilitiesfor smart classes and libraries.

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Varanasi (UP): Social organi-sations and even individuals,performing 'Ganga Aarti' atvarious ghats will now have toget registered with the VaranasiMunicipal Corporation(VMC).

The decision has beentaken by the district adminis-tration to check encroach-ments on the riverfront, whichis a public property.

The municipal authoritieshave also been asked to preparethe records of the 'Ganga Aarti'.

District magistrate KaushalRaj Sharma has asked themunicipal authorities to pre-pare the records of the Gangaaarti and complete the regis-tration process by March end.

Thereafter, no such activ-ities would be allowed on theghats without the registrationand prior permission of the

VMC.“The riverfront is a public

property owned by the stategovernment and being lookedafter by the Varanasi MunicipalCorporation,” said the districtmagistrate in a letter to VMC.

“It has been noticed thatquite often that some peopleindulge in disputes over hold-ing Ganga Aarti. The munici-pal corporation should make aspecific regulation for organis-ing the Ganga Aarti along theghats. The VMC should regis-ter the aarti organisers with theallotment of space, whichshould be renewed every year.

Besides, it should also beensured that no aarti is organ-ised by any individual or organ-isation without the VMC's per-mission,” he said. IANS

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Taking serious cognisance of the increas-ing Covid-19 cases in the State,

Maharashtra Chief Minister UddhavThackeray announced temporary ban onpolitical, religious and social programmes,even as he gave an ultimatum to the peo-ple that after eight days he would decide onre-imposing the lockdown if the people didnot mend ways and follow pandemic normsstrictly.

Interacting the people across the statevia Facebook live, the chief minister won-dered: “I would like to know from youwhether we should re-impose lockdown ornot. .. I am waiting for feedback from youfor the next eight days. How will I get yourfeedback? No. But I will observe those whodo not want re-imposition of lockdownwould wear masks, wash hands and main-tain social distancing. Those who want lock-down will roam around freely without masksand not adhere to norms. Let’s see what hap-pens during the next eight days”.

Expressing serious concern over thechanged attitude of a section of the peoplewho have lowered their guard and are notfollowing the Covid-19 norms, Uddhav said:“Corona is once again swinging like a swordover heads. We will get to know in the next10 to 15 days whether there is a second waveof Covid-19 in the state. This is especiallyso after the increase in Corona cases in thewestern countries”.

“Lockdown may and may not be theanswers, but I would like to tell you we haveto break the chain of the virus. Hence weneed to follow the restrictions,” he said.

Announcing the ban on political, reli-gious and social programmes, the chief min-ister said: “Time has come for us to stopcrowds in public places. As the heads ofpolitical parties, all of us want our respec-tive parties to grow which we want to do bygoing to the people. But this is not the timefor that. Our priority now is fight Corona.My appeal to all political parties to sus-pend/cancel political meetings, rallies, mor-chas and protests, where there would becrowds. Similarly, we have decided to banon religious and social programmes... Insome places we are intensifying restrictions.Night curfew is being imposed in Amravatidistrict where the number of cases have goneup.

The chief minister’s interaction with thepeople across the state came on a day whenthe authorities imposed several restrictionscities like Mumbai, Pune and Nashik, whilea week-long night curfew was imposed at

Amravati in eastern Maharashtra, wherethere has been increasing incidence ofCovid-19 case in the last few days.

Alluding to the first phase of vaccina-tion, Uddhav said that as many as 9 lakhfrontline Covid-19 workers had beenadministered vaccines. “My appeal to allsuch Covid workers who have so far notreceived the vaccine should immediatelyavail the vaccine. As far as the administra-tion of vaccines to the rest of the people inthe state, I cannot say for sure when it willhappen, since it is not my hand”.

During the course of his interaction, thechief minister announced that the state gov-ernment was launching a new initiative ‘MiJawabdar’ (I am Responsible) to fight thepandemic. “Last year, we had launched“Majhi Kutumb, Maji Jawabdari’ (MyFamily, My Responsibility). We imple-mented that well. Now wqih the increase inthe Covid cases, we are launching a new ini-tiative ‘Mi Jawabdar’ (I am Responsible),which obligates each and every person totake care of himself or herself”.

Dwelling upon the increase in thenumber of cases, Uddhav said: “Today, caseshave risen by nearly 7,000 whereas the samewas between 2,000 to 2,500 a fortnight agowhile on the other hand the active cases thatwere around 40,000 now the figure has goneup to 53,000”

“There are indicators that the cases arerising but we cannot stop running the econ-omy. We have the people’s demands likeopening of restaurants, reopening of tem-ples, restarting of local trains for the gen-eral public in Mumbai since the situationimproved. But at the same time, I would liketo point out that people have stopped tak-ing precautions and not wearing masks,” hesaid.

Meanwhile, Deputy chief minister AjitPawar announced that schools and collegeswere in Pune and its sister city of Pimpri-Chinchwad would remain shut till February28. “Movement of people will also berestricted between 11pm and 6am whenonly essential activities like medical services,milk supply will be allowed. The hotels,restaurants and bars will not be allowed tooperate beyond 11 pm,” he said.

“One-week complete lockdown remainsin force in Amravati district excludingAchalpur city, beginning 8 pm Monday,”women and child welfare ministerYashomati Thakur said. Meanwhile, in aneffort to check the spread of Covid-19, theauthorities on Sunday clamped night cur-few in Pune city and the neighbouringPimpri-Chinchwad.

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rich and the poor was social-ism. Apart from clampingdown on business growth withthe Monopolies Commissionand other such laws, shenationalised 19 banks, theentire coal industry as well asgeneral insurance. Little did sherealise that the whole publicsector represented State capi-talism and not socialism at all.It would have socialism, pro-vided the common peoplewere given an opportunity toinvest and obtain dividends.Even according to Karl Marx,socialism was “from eachaccording to his ability, to eachaccording to his opportunity”.

Thus Indian businessmenwere denied the scope to growand mature into industrialists.Those who did, managed toset up small and mediumindustries by even over-bor-rowing from the nationalisedbanks. Then Prime MinisterPV Narasimha Rao did yeo-man’s service to the economyby liberalising the proceduresand abolishing many a restric-tion. But in his temptation toget re-elected for another fiveyears, he went easy on hisreforms in the second half ofhis term. If one looks at hisyears in supreme power, hedid more for India politicallythan economically. Ayodhyawas his biggest achievement

and the first step in nationalrevival in centuries.

Keeping all Indian condi-tions in mind, the PSUs whichthe Government desires to pri-vatise should be managerial-ly toned up. Only industrialmanagers, and not bureau-crats, can do that. If they arestructurally imbalanced, someof them may have to bemerged with other suitablePSUs. The treatment of toningup would differ from unit tounit. The toned-up unitsshould offer through one ormore public issue of shares asper the SEBI and stockexchange rules. So long as theIndian State retains at least 40per cent shares, let the publichave shares. Many individualshave savings that they wish toinvest but do not find suitableavenues. On debt instruments,the interest rates have fallen solow that they have been ren-dered unattractive.

Let us clarify that most ofour bureaucrats, IAS and oth-ers, are first-rate administratorsbut they are unlikely to beeffective managers. The formerare primarily wedded to rulesand procedures whereas thelatter’s priorities are decisions,production and profits. Thetwo cultures are quite dis-tinct. Therefore, a PSU man-aging director should not be

reporting to a bureaucrat butto his shareholders. The solu-tion lies in the President ofIndia parting with the sharesof all PSUs to financial institu-tions like the LIC, GIC and itssubsidiaries, banks, Unit Trustof India, and so on. When thishappens, these new holderswould behave like investorsand not zamindars. Moreover,politicians would not anylonger have ready access to rec-ommend their candidates, usetheir guesthouses and cars, andso on. The PSUs would thenoperate like business andindustries, not like jagirdaris.

If for nothing else, for tak-ing share investments in com-panies from the panelledoffices of the upper classes tothe masses, the late DhirubhaiAmbani needs to be hon-oured. The best way to do sois to have the public as part-ners in preference to banks.His logic was that loans costinterest, shares do not. Sharescompel the management toperform and deliver lucrativedividends, which is whatIndians expect of the PSUs.Karl Marx believed that reli-gion is the opium of themasses. It can be that loansare the opium of the classes.

(The writer is a well-knowncolumnist and an author. Theviews expressed are personal.)

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@�,�� ,�� In India, it is better to go

public fundamentallybecause we do not havesufficient number of entre-

preneurs with enough freewealth to pay for the public sec-tor undertakings (PSUs). Manyhouses, although efficient, havealready borrowed more thanideally desirable, which explainswhy the Government’s privatisa-tion push has so far been behindschedule. At this stage, a brieflook at history would be useful.

At Independence in 1947,India had many more tradersthan industrialists. Take thetextile mills, of which India hada fairly large number. Howmany have survived? Withmost mills, the problem waswith the weaving looms. Theywere outdated and needed to bechanged. Alternatively, the millscould be trifurcated into one,carding/spinning, two weav-ing and three finishing/packing.Instead, they carried on as longas possible and when theycould not, the owners surren-dered to closure. That theNational Textile Corporation(NTC) inaugurated the expan-sion of what could be called thehospital sector of industry; itwas really not public sectoralthough the bureaucrats choseto mix up the two.

When the NTC could notabsorb more sick mills, theywere allowed to wind up, selltheir fixed assets including theland, pay the employee dues,and then compensate the share-holders. New hotels, officebuildings or residential flatshave come on the graves of thewound-up mills. Yet peoplecontinue to dress up well, bet-ter than earlier. Spinners, newweavers called power loomsand finishers are functioningprofitably in place of many ofthe expired mills. The littleindustrial tragedy is one reflec-tion of the industrial limitationsof some of our entrepreneurs.

On the other hand, therewere business houses which werefunctioning laudably well buttheir hands and legs were tieddown by Nehruvian socialism,also vigorously practised by IndiraGandhi. Her plea was that theonly way of co-existence for the

SOUNDBITE�� Sir—This refers to the editorial ‘King Cong’(February 20). The anti-incumbency fac-tor notwithstanding, the Congress baggingas many as 1,373 out of 2,218 seats in therecently-concluded civic polls in Punjab hasreally come as a shot in the arm of the partythat is already on the wane following theinternal faultlines and the damages conse-quent upon it.

The poll strategies of all otherOpposition parties including the SAD, BJP,AAP and BSP seem to have fallen flat. Withthis thumping win, Captain AmarinderSingh’s popularity has strengthened whilethe AAP’s hopes of resurgence it had pinnedon these civic elections in Punjab have takena severe beating.

But with the AAP overtly and instru-mentally standing by the ongoing KisanAndolan all this while, the party’s bounce-back in Punjab cannot be ruled out either.Interestingly, AAP chief and Delhi CMArvind Kejriwal has already made publichis ambition of fielding candidates inPunjab a month back. On the other hand,the BJP has met with defeats even in its bas-tions. What it boils down to is that theGrand Old Party has emerged as an inter-im king in Punjab; whether or not the partysucceeds in keeping its kingdom intact inthe forthcoming Assembly polls is yet to beseen. But BJP’s prospects in Punjab politicsare certainly bleak seeing the present situ-ation and the stand which the saffron partyhas taken over the farmers’ agitation.

Azhar A Khan | Rampur

�� Sir —It is matter of pride for every Indianthat Swati Mohan is among about adozen scientists and engineers of Indian-origin in NASA’s Mars exploration team,attesting to the diversity of US scientificand technological prowess that rests large-ly on its expansive immigration history.

She has played a critical role in NASA’sstep towards exploration of life on the redplanet. Though Swati grew up inWashington DC and Virginia after her par-ents moved to the US from Bangalore

when she was only one year old, she is stillattached to the Indian values and roots asat home, Swati speaks Kannada, and is apractising Hindu.

It also reflects American culture thatis diverse in the true sense as thePerseverance rover team was made up ofpeople from various cultures comingtogether to successfully execute this daunt-ing mission. NASA is a multiculturalorganisation with scientists and engi-neers from various countries, ethnicitiesand races collaborating at multiple loca-tions across the US. That diversity was alsoreflected in the black bindi that SwatiMohan was seen in, as she announced thetouchdown. We must make all out effortsto educate our daughters and make themselect careers of their choice.

P Senthil | Mumbai

� �� Sir —Climate change and pollution havenegative impacts on lives and livelihood.In the backdrop of over-exploitation of nat-

ural resources, the most gruesome real-ity is the scarcity of water. Across theglobe, from Cape Town to Michigan, andfrom rural, sub-Saharan Africa to Asia’slargest urban centres, all are reelingunder the shadow of water crisis.

About 844 million humans have noor limited access to clean drinking wateraround the world. The tale of two cities,Chennai, India, and Cape Town, SouthAfrica, has showcased the bleak future of‘Day Zero’, when one fine morning,cities just run out of drinking water.

A country such as India, known forits water resources and dotted with life-giving rivers like the Ganga, Narmada,Tapti, Mahanadi and many more isunder the clutches of “water scarcity”.Though, several Government pro-grammes offer hope, a lot more isrequired to be done.

Debasis Behera | Sambalpur

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Should State-run madrasas be shut and con-verted into regular schools like some Stateshave proposed or its better if Muslim

scholars and educationists prepare a road mapto initiate modern education in Islamic seminar-ies across the country? The Assam Governmenthas decided to close the 740 State-run madrasasand convert them into general educational insti-tutions. Madrasa education was introduced inthe Assam education curriculum in 1934 and theState Madrasa Board was also created then.

If we examine the history of Muslim educa-tion we find madrasas have been part of theIslamic learning system since very early times.They were usually part of mosques. Thesemosques became social focal points for grow-ing communities; they doubled up as schools forlearning the Quran, basic instruction in Muslimrituals and language instruction in Urdu, withaccommodations for education and social needs.Throughout much of Islamic history, madrasaswere the major source of religious and scientif-ic learning, just as church schools and the uni-versities were in Europe. It is only lately that edu-cation in these seminaries became ossifying andthere were calls for reforms.

The reformists of madrasa education insistthat knowledge in Islam is one whole, and thatthe division between dini (religious) and duniyavi(worldly) knowledge — with the two opposedto each other and which many contemporaryulema seem to have accepted — has no sanctionin the Quran. The Quran is quoted as repeated-ly exhorting the believers to ponder over themysteries of creation as signs of the power andmercy of God. In the entire scripture, there areabout 600 verses directly commanding thebelievers to reflect, to ponder, and to analyseGod’s magnificence in nature, plants, stars, andthe solar system, and far from leading to doubtand disbelief, scientific investigation — if con-ducted within properly defined Islamic bounds— can deepens one’s faith in Islam.

But madrasas are not immune to change.Many of them are trying to forge a Muslim iden-tity that is compatible with modern culture andresistant to the blandishments of radicalisation.Likewise, few ulema could claim to be complete-ly satisfied with the madrasas as they exist today.Indeed, leading ulema are themselves consciousof the need for change in the system.

The negative stereotypes presented in somesections of the media do not present the true pic-ture. The majority of these Islamic schools actu-ally present an opportunity, not a threat. Foryoung village children, these schools may be theironly path to literacy. For many orphans and therural poor, these provide essential social services.They continue to serve parts of developing soci-eties that Governments never reach. For par-ents mired in poverty and forced to work longhours with limited breaks, madrasas serve a vitalrole in ensuring their children are supervised,fed and taught to read and write.

As their graduates go out and take up a rangeof new careers and as pressures from within thecommunity as well as from the State and themedia for reform grow, these Islamic schools, too,are changing. Far from typifying one end of thepolarising spectrum of traditional versus mod-

ern and religious versus seculareducation, the State must contin-ue to use Islamic seminaries as partof the regular educational para-digm. It must evolve an education-al grid that allows constant move-ment between madrasas and main-stream educational institutions.

The policymakers need to paycloser attention to how transitionsfrom madrasas to mainstreamspaces can be seamlessly achieved.The State should not interfere inreligious instruction, which shouldbe the business of private individ-uals and associations. Second,those who carry out the inspec-tions should be properly orientedto the traditions of learning inMuslim communities and the his-tory and status of madrasas in par-ticular.

The general consensus is thatmadrasas can play a vital role inbringing secular and religiouseducation. Since the students aretaught in classical and modern sci-ence as well as secular and religiousthought, they are better able to spotscriptural distortions. They alsotend to be more connected to theirown communities as well as to themainstream society and their sta-ble sense of identity, religious andotherwise, shield them from rad-icalism. The madrasas are allies inIndia’s fight against extremism.

Some recent reform effortshave focused on modernising theteachings. This includes the addi-tion of computer proficiency and

English language classes, whichstrengthen employment potentialfor madrasa students. However, theintroduction of computer skills atmany Deoband-type madrasas isfocused only on equipping themwith functional literacy and notenabling them to engage with themodern technological revolution.

Thus, apart from equippingmadrasas with tools of moderneducation, we have to orient themindset of students so as to attuneit to social realities and sensitisethem towards emerging socio-cultural paradigms. This must bethe fundamental objective of themodernisation process ofmadrasas. The efforts to stay“politically correct” have con-tributed to an absence of struc-tured debate and discussion onhow to make modern educationaccessible to millions of poorMuslim youth so that they get jobs.We must remember that culturalisolation would only lead to stag-nation. The madrasas betray adeeper dissatisfaction and fatiguewith a redundant learning system.

Shibli Nu’mani, a renowned20th century scholar from withinthe madrasa circles has himselfnoted: “For us Muslims, mereEnglish (modern) education isnot sufficient, nor does the oldArabic madrasa education suffice.Our ailment requires a compoundpanacea. One portion eastern andthe other western.”

While it is true that most

madrasas have outlived their role,they need not be decimated. Whatthey need is essentially a makeoverin a way that respects traditionalsensibilities and attempts to syn-ergise classical and modern learn-ing.

Some of the modern progres-sive seminaries have turned a newleaf and many more are mod-ernising. Students unfamiliar withthe intricacies of their own faithcan be swayed by arguments thatseem to call for jihad when takenout of context. But students com-ing out of these new generationreligious schools are grounded inboth classical and liberal values.

The right approach would beto temper classical and tradition-al learning with liberal thought. Itcan foster a culture which willengender the two streams of learn-ing to nourish each other. This willenable the students of these sem-inaries to lead lives that are as trueto their faith as attuned to modemneeds. It will build them intoempowered stakeholders in theshaping of their own future as wellas of their communities.

An enlightened and productivehuman capital is the most preciousasset of a society, and madrasas cancertainly be key enablers in thistask. Modern subjects can also helpthe students gain a good ground-ing in secular subjects and techni-cal skills so that they do not loseout in an increasingly competitiveand globalised workplace.

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In various developed coun-tries, the manner in whichpolitics and society have

unravelled in the last decade,suggests that certain factors thatcontributed to this had eitherbeen missed or were systemat-ically hidden from the rest of theworld i.e. developing countries.

My research in religiousextremism, historical distor-tions in school textbooks, con-spiracy theories and reactionaryattitudes towards science, hasproduced findings that are uni-versal. This century’s seconddecade (2010-2020) saw somestartling political and social ten-dencies in Europe and the US,which mirrored those in devel-oping countries. Before 2010-2020, these tendencies had beenrepeatedly commented upon inthe West, as if they were specif-ic to poorer regions. Eventhough many Western histori-ans, while discussing the pres-ence of religious extremism,

superstition or politicalupheavals in developing coun-tries, agreed that these existed indeveloped nations too, theyinsisted that these were presentduring their teething years.

In 2012, a British politicalscientist and an American his-torian emphasised at a confer-ence that the problems thatdeveloping countries face, i.e.communal violence, a suspectdisposition towards science andcontinual political disruption,were present at one time indeveloped nations as well, buthad been overcome through anevolutionary process, and by theconstruction of political andeconomic systems that wereself-correcting in times of crisis.

What they were suggestingwas that most developing coun-tries were still at a stage that thedeveloped countries had been200 years ago. However, eightyears after that conference,Europe and the US, it seems,

have been flung back 200 yearsin the past. Mainstream politi-cal structures there have beeninvaded by firebrand Right-wing populists and dogmatic“cultural warriors” from theLeft and the Right are battling itout to define “good” and “evil.”In the process they are wreckingthe carefully constructed pillarsof the Enlightenment era onwhich their nations’ whole exis-tential meaning rests. The mostoutlandish conspiracy theorieshave migrated from the edges ofthe lunatic fringe into the main-stream and science is beingperceived as a demonic force.

Take for instance, the prac-tice of authoring distorted text-books. Over the years, someexcellent research cropped up inPakistan and India that system-atically exposed how historicaldistortions and religious biasesin textbooks have contributed(and still are contributing) toepisodes of bigotry. However,

this is not restricted to develop-ing countries alone.

In 1971, a study by a groupof US and British historiansshowed that out of the 36 Britishand US school textbooks thatthey examined, no less than 25contained inaccurate informa-tion and ideological bias. In2007, the US sociologist JamesLoewen surveyed 18 Americanhistory texts and found them tobe “marred by an embarrassingcombination of blind patriotism,sheer misinformation, and out-

right lies.” In 2020, historians inthe UK wrote an open letterdemanding changes to the his-tory section of the British HomeOffice’s citizenship test. Thecampaign was initiated by theBritish professor of history andarcheology Frank Trentmann. Adebate on the issue, through anexchange of letters betweenTrentmann and StephenParkinson, a former HomeOffice special adviser, was pub-lished in The Spectator.Trentmann laments that theproblem lay in a combination oferrors, omissions and distortionsin the history section pages,which were also littered withmistakes. Not only are histori-cal distortions in textbooks auniversal practice, but the manyways that this is done are equal-ly universal and cut across com-peting ideologies.

Historian Joanna Wojdonsays the methods that wereused by the State in this respect

in communist Poland (1944-1989) were similar to the onesthat were used in various formercommunist dictatorships suchthe Soviet Union and its satelliteStates in East Europe, and inChina. The same methods inthis context were also employedby totalitarian regimes in NaziGermany, and in fascist Italy andSpain. One can come across var-ious similarities between how itis done in liberal democraciesand how it was done in totalitar-ian set-ups.

I once shared this observa-tion with an US academic. Hesomewhat agreed but arguedthat because of the Cold Warmany democratic countries werepressed to adopt certain propa-ganda techniques that wereoriginally devised by communistregimes. I tend to disagree.Because if this were so, then howis one to explain the publicationof the book ‘The Menace ofNationalism in Education’ by

Jonathan French Scott almost 20years before the Cold War?

In a nutshell, no matterwhat ideological bent is beingwelded into textbooks in variouscountries, it has always beenabout altering history throughengineered stories as a means ofpromoting particular agendas.This is done by concoctingevents that did not happen,altering those that did takeplace, or omitting events alto-gether. This is a problem that isinherent in the whole idea of thenation State, which is largelyconstructed by clubbing peopletogether as ‘nations’, not onlywithin physical but also ideolog-ical boundaries. This leavesnations feeling vulnerable andfearing that the glue that bindsa nation together, through fab-ricated ideas of ethnic, religiousor racial homogeneity, will wearoff. Thus the need is felt to keepit intact through continuoushistorical distortions.

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Protesters gathered againSunday all over Myanmar,

a day after security forces shotdead two people at a demon-stration in the country’s secondbiggest city. A funeral was alsoheld for a young woman killedearlier by police.

Mya Thwet Thwet Khinewas the first confirmed deathamong the many thousandswho have taken to the streets toprotest the Feb. 1 coup that top-pled the elected Government ofAung San Suu Kyi. The womanwas shot on Feb. 9, two daysbefore her 20th birthday, at aprotest in the capital Nayptitaw,and died Friday.

About 1,000 people in carsand bikes gathered Sundaymorning at the hospital whereher body was held amid tightsecurity, with even the victim’sgrandparents who had traveledfrom Yangon, five hours away,denied entry. When her bodywas released, a long motorisedprocession began a drive to thecemetery.

In Yangon, Myanmar’sbiggest city, about 1,000demonstrators honoured thewoman under an elevatedroadway.

“I want to say through themedia to the dictator and hisassociates, we are peacefuldemonstrators,” said protesterMin Htet Naing. “Stop thegenocide! Stop using lethalweapons!”

Another large protest took

place in Mandalay, wherepolice shot dead two people onSaturday near a dockyard assecurity forces were trying toforce workers to load a boat.The workers, like railway work-ers and truckers and manycivil servants, have been takingpart in a civil disobedience

campaign against the junta.Shooting broke out after

neighbourhood residentsrushed to the Yadanabon dockto try to assist the workers intheir resistance. One of the vic-tims, described as a teenageboy, was shot in the head anddied immediately, while anoth-

er was shot in the chest anddied en route to a hospital.

Several other seriousinjuries were also reported.Witness accounts and photos ofbullet casings indicated that thesecurity forces used live ammu-nition, in addition to rubberbullets, water cannons and

slingshots.The new deaths drew quick

and strong reaction from theinternational community.

“The shooting of peacefulprotesters in is beyond thepale,” said British ForeignSecretary Dominic Raab onTwitter. “We will consider fur-

ther action, with our interna-tional partners, against thosecrushing democracy & chokingdissent.”

Britain last week frozeassets of and imposed travelbans on three top Myanmargenerals, adding to alreadyexisting targeted sanctions.

Singapore, which togetherwith Myanmar is part of the 10-member Association ofSoutheast Asian Nations, issueda statement condemning theuse of lethal force as “inexcus-able.”

Urging “utmost restraint”on the part of security forces,it warned that “if the situationcontinues to escalate, therewill be serious adverse conse-quences for Myanmar and theregion.”

Another shooting deathtook place Saturday night inYangon in unclear circum-stances. According to severalaccounts on social media,including a live broadcast thatshowed the body, the victimwas a man who was acting asa volunteer guard for a neigh-bourhood watch group. Suchgroups were establishedbecause of fears that authoritieswere using criminals releasedfrom prison to spread panicand fear by setting fires andcommitting violent acts.

Another live broadcast onFacebook showed the wife ofactor Lu Min describing toneighbours how her husbandwas arrested and taken awayfrom their home shortly after

midnight. He was one of sixhigh-profile people in theentertainment industrycharged last week with incitingcivil servants to stop work andjoin the protest movement,which he and the others havepublicly championed.

On Sunday, Facebookannounced it took down thepage run by the Myanmar mil-itary information unit “forrepeated violations of our com-munity standards prohibitingincitement of violence andcoordinating harm.” It hadalready taken down other accounts linked to themilitary.

The junta took power afterdetaining Suu Kyi and pre-venting Parliament from con-vening, saying elections lastNovember were tainted by vot-ing irregularities. The electionoutcome, in which Suu Kyi’sNational League forDemocracy party won by alandslide, was affirmed by anelection commission that hassince been replaced by themilitary. The junta says it willhold new elections in a year’stime.

The coup was a major set-back to Myanmar’s transition todemocracy after 50 years ofarmy rule that began with a1962 coup. Suu Kyi came topower after her party won a2015 election, but the generalsretained substantial powerunder the constitution, whichwas adopted under a militaryregime.

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The head of the UnitedNations’ nuclear watchdog

met Sunday with Iranian offi-cials in a bid to preserve hisinspectors’ ability to monitorTehran’s atomic programme,even as authorities said theyplanned to cut off their sur-veillance cameras at those sites.

Rafael Grossi’s arrival inTehran comes as Iran tries topressure Europe and the newBiden administration intoreturning to the 2015 nucleardeal, which President DonaldTrump unilaterally withdrewAmerica from in 2018.

Iranian Foreign MinisterMohammad Javad Zarif, whounder President HassanRouhani helped reach thenuclear deal, said the camerasof the International AtomicEnergy Agency would be shutoff despite Grossi’s visit to fol-low a law passed by parliament.

“This is not a deadline forthe world. This is not an ulti-matum,” Zarif told the gov-ernment-run, English-languagebroadcaster Press TV in aninterview aired during Grossi’svisit. “This is an internal

domestic issue between theparliament and the govern-ment.”

“We have a democracy.We are supposed to implementthe laws of the country. And theparliament adopted legislation— whether we like it or not.”

Zarif ’s comments markedthe highest-level acknowl-edgement yet of what Iranplanned to do when it stoppedfollowing the so-called

“Additional Protocol,” a confi-dential agreement betweenTehran and the IAEA reachedas part of the nuclear deal. TheIAEA has additional protocolswith a number of countries itmonitors. Under the protocolwith Iran, the IAEA “collectsand analyzes hundreds of thou-sands of images captured dailyby its sophisticated surveil-lance cameras,” the agency saidin 2017.

�� 720-31�2'-062�

UN chief Antonio Guterreshas voiced appreciation

for India’s leadership in theglobal fight against the coron-avirus pandemic and its effortsto bring a “much-needed sup-ply” of the Covid-19 vaccinesto the world market.

India’s PermanentRepresentative to the UNAmbassador TS Tirumurtitweeted on Saturday thatGuterres, in a letter datedFebruary 17, “extends his per-sonal gratitude” to ExternalAffairs Minister S Jaishankarfor “India’s offer of 2,00,000doses” of Covid-19 vaccines forUN peacekeepers.

The Secretary-General says“India has been a global leaderin pandemic response efforts”,Tirumurti tweeted, expressinghis gratitude to the UN Chief.

In an excerpt of the lettertweeted by Tirumurti, Guterressays, “Indeed, India has been aglobal leader in pandemicresponse efforts having pro-vided critical medicines, diag-nostic kits, ventilators and per-sonal protective equipment tomore than 150 countries.

“Efforts by India in devel-

oping and manufacturing oneof the two vaccines currentlygranted Emergency Use Listingby the World HealthOrganization bring a much-needed supply to the globalvaccine market. I also appreci-ate your continued efforts tosupport and strengthen theCOVAX Facility to ensuremore equitable access.”

COVAX is is a global ini-tiative aimed at equitable accessto Covid-19 vaccines.

On Wednesday, India,which has been hailed as thepharmacy of the world,announced the gift of 2,00,000Covid-19 doses for UN peace-keepers.

“Keeping in mind the UNPeacekeepers who operate insuch difficult circumstances, wewould like to announce todaya gift of 200,000 doses forthem,” Jaishankar said, address-ing the UN Security Councilopen debate on the imple-mentation of resolution 2532(2020) on the cessation of hos-tilities in the context of theCovid-19 pandemic.

Quoting the BhagavadGita, Jaishankar had said “Doyour work with the welfare ofothers always in mind.”

He told the meeting that itis this spirit in which Indiaapproaches the COVID chal-lenge and urged the Council towork collectively to address itsdifferent dimensions.

The 200,000 doses essen-tially mean that it will be pos-sible to administer the requireddouble doses of COVID vac-cines to all UN peacekeepersacross missions.

According to UNPeacekeeping, currently, a totalof 94,484 personnel are servingin 12 peacekeeping operationsacross the world led by theDepartment of PeaceOperations.

A total of 121 nations arecontributing uniformed per-sonnel to the UN peacekeepingmissions. India is traditionallyamong the largest troop-con-tributing countries to peace-keeping missions.

Stephane Dujarric,Spokesman for the Secretary-General, had told PTI inresponse to a question on theSecretary General’s thoughts onthe announcement by India,said that Guterres is “extreme-ly grateful” for the gift of2,00,000 Covid-19 vaccinedoses for UN peacekeepers.

�� 4'�502�-62

Donald Trump will be mak-ing his first post-presi-

dential appearance at a con-servative gathering in Floridanext weekend.

Ian Walters, spokesmanfor the American ConservativeUnion, confirmed that Trumpwill be speaking at the group’sannual Conservative PoliticalAction Conference on Feb. 28.

Trump is expected to usethe speech to talk about thefuture of the Republican Partyand the conservative moment,as well as to criticize PresidentJoe Biden’s efforts to undo hisimmigration policies, accord-ing to a person who spoke oncondition of anonymity to dis-cuss the plans.

CPAC is being held thisyear in Orlando, Florida, andwill feature a slew of formerTrump administration officialsand others who represent hiswing of the GOP, including for-mer Secretary of State MikePompeo, Florida Gov. RonDeSantis and South DakotaGov. Kristi Noem.

Trump has been keeping arelatively low profile since he

retired from the White Houseto Palm Beach, Florida, inJanuary, but reemerged lastweek to conduct a series ofphone-in interviews to com-memorate the death of con-servative commentator RushLimbaugh.

Trump has a long historywith CPAC, which played a keyrole in his emergence as apolitical force.

�� 4'�502�-62

The last time MerrickGarland was nominated by

the White House for a job,Republicans wouldn’t evenmeet with him.

Now, the once-snubbedSupreme Court pick will final-ly come before the Senate, thistime as President Joe Biden’schoice for attorney general.

Garland, an appeals courtjudge, is widely expected to sailthrough his confirmationprocess, which begins Mondaybefore the Democratic-con-trolled Senate JudiciaryCommittee, with bipartisansupport.

“Judge Garland’s extensivelegal experience makes himwell-suited to lead theDepartment of Justice, and Iappreciated his commitment tokeep politics out of the JusticeDepartment,” Sen. JohnCornyn, R-Texas, said in astatement.

“Unless I hear somethingnew, I expect to support hisnomination before the fullSenate.”

Biden’s choice of Garlandreflects the president’s goal ofrestoring the department’s rep-utation as an independentbody.

During his four years aspresident, Donald Trump hadinsisted that the attorney gen-

eral must be loyal to him per-sonally, a position that batteredthe department’s reputation.

Garland’s high court nom-ination by President BarackObama in 2016 died becausethe Republican-controlledSenate refused to hold a hear-ing.

Garland will inherit aJustice Department thatendured a tumultuous timeunder Trump — rifle withpolitical drama and controver-sial decisions — and abundantcriticism from Democrats overwhat they saw as the politiciz-ing of the nation’s top lawenforcement agencies.

The department’s prioritiesand messaging are expected toshift drastically in the Bidenadministration, with a focusmore on civil rights issue,criminal justice overhauls andpolicing policies in the wake ofnationwide protests over thedeath of Black Americans at thehands of law enforcement.

Garland plans to tell sena-tors the department mustensure laws are “fairly andfaithfully enforced” and therights of all Americans areprotected, while reaffirmingan adherence to policies to pro-tect its political independence,with the attorney general act-ing as a lawyer for theAmerican people, not for thepresident.

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Sudan took the unprece-dented but expected step of

floating its currency Sunday,meeting a major demand byinternational financial institu-tions to help transitionalauthorities overhaul the bat-tered economy.

The flotation is the boldesteconomic measure taken by thejoint military-civilian govern-ment that has ruled the Africancountry after a popular upris-ing. The revolt led to the mil-itary’s overthrow of autocratOmar al-Bashir in April 2019.

The country has since beenon a fragile path to democra-cy with daunting economicchallenges representing a majorthreat to that transition.

The flotation move couldprovoke a popular backlash asthe price of goods and servicesrise in response to the fall of thepound’s value and possiblehike in the price of fuel andother essential goods.

There were already spo-radic protests over dire livingconditions in the past couple ofweeks in the capital, Khartoumand other parts of the country.

The US dollar had beentrading at over 350 pounds tothe dollar on the black market,while its official rate was at 55pounds to the dollar. Followingthe flotation, local media report-

ed banks were selling the dollarat an average of 375 pounds, andbuying the U.S. Currency for anaverage of 390, in an attempt toattract those trading in theunofficial currency market.

Sudan’s currency will nowfluctuate according to supplyand demand, according to astatement by the Central Bankof Sudan. It said the flotationis part of measures the transi-tional government hasembarked on to help stabilizethe country’s economy. TheCentral Bank said the flotationwould help “normalization ofties with international andregional financial institutionsand friendly countries toensure the flow of grants andloans” into Sudan’s economy.

“Our economy is in a situ-ation that cannot be addressedwithout making such a deci-sion,” Finance Minister GibrilIbrahim told a news conferencein Khartoum.

“It is in our interest, in theinterest of the country, and inthe interest of the citizen.”

He said they have takenmeasures to counter possiblehikes in the price of essentialgoods. He did not elaborate.

The US embassy inKhartoum welcomed the“courageous” move, saying itpaves the way for debt relief andsignificantly increases the impactof international assistance.

�� 4'�502�-62

President Joe Biden paid avisit Sunday to former Sen.

Bob Dole, days after the WorldWar II veteran and 1996Republican presidential nom-inee announced he’d beendiagnosed with stage 4 lungcancer. Biden, who served inthe Senate with Dole for morethan two decades, arrivedSaturday afternoon at theWatergate complex where Dole,97, and his wife, Elizabeth, havemaintained a longtime resi-dence. The White Housedescribed Dole as a “closefriend” of the president.

“He’s doing well,” Bidensaid of Dole, after departingHoly Trinity Catholic Churchlater Saturday evening.

Dole said this week heplans to begin undergoingtreatment on Monday.

“While I certainly havesome hurdles ahead, I alsoknow that I join millions ofAmericans who face significanthealth challenges of their own,”he said in a statement announc-ing his diagnosis.

Dole, a native of Russell,Kansas, represented the state inCongress for almost 36 yearsbefore resigning from theSenate in 1996 to challengeDemocratic President BillClinton.

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Turkey’s President saysmutual interests with the

United States outweigh theirdifferences and has called formore cooperation withPresident Joe Biden’s new USadministration.

In a video message lateSaturday, Turkish PresidentRecep Tayyip Erdoganacknowledged that Turkish-American relations were “seri-ously tested” but stressed thattheir strategic partnership has“overcome all kinds of diffi-culties.”

Erdogan’s conciliatory tonefollows his strongly wordedaccusations that the US sup-ported Kurdish militants, daysafter Turkish troops found thebodies of 13 Turkish hostagesheld by the Kurdistan Workers’Party, or PKK in a cave com-plex in northern Iraq.

Ankara has been infuriat-ed by American support for aSyrian Kurdish fighters in com-batting the Islamic State group,saying they are linked to thedecades-long Kurdish insur-gency in southeastern Turkeythat the US also lists as terror-ists. Erdogan said Saturday theUS did not give Turkey the“desired support and solidari-ty” in fighting the PKK andlinked groups, demanding a“clear stance” from Turkey’sallies.

Islamabad: Pakistan is unlike-ly to exit the ‘grey list’ of theFATF as some European coun-tries have taken the stand thatIslamabad has not fully imple-mented all the points of a planof action set by it, a media reportsaid on Sunday, on the eve of theplenary meeting of the globalwatchdog for money launderingand terror financing.

The Paris-based FinancialAction Task Force had placedPakistan on the grey list in June

2018 and asked Islamabad toimplement a plan of action tocurb money laundering and ter-ror financing by the end of 2019but the deadline was extendedlater on due to Covid-19 pan-demic. The virtual FATF ple-nary will be held in Paris fromFebruary 22 to 25 to considercases of various countries onthe grey list, including Pakistan,and a decision will be made atthe conclusion of the meetings,Dawn newspaper reported. PTI

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American security contrac-tor Erik Prince, a close ally

of former US President DonaldTrump, violated the UN armsembargo against Libya alongwith three United ArabEmirates-based companies andtheir top managers during anoperation to help a rebel mili-tary commander take the cap-ital Tripoli, UN experts said.

In a key section of a reportto the UN Security Councilobtained Sunday by TheAssociated Press, the panel ofexperts outlined “a well-fundedprivate military company oper-ation” called “Project Opus”

designed to provide militaryequipment to eastern-basedcommander Khalifa Hifter.

“The Project Opus planalso included a component tokidnap or terminate individu-als regarded as high value tar-gets in the plan was first report-ed by The New York Times andThe Washington Post.

Oil-rich Libya was plungedinto chaos after a 2011 NATO-backed uprising toppled longtimedictator Moammar Gadhafi andsplit the country between a UN-supported Government in Tripoliand rival authorities based in thecountry’s east, each side backedby an array of local militias as wellas regional and foreign powers.

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The 34th Garden TourismFestival organised by Delhi

Tourism in association withGovernment of Delhi was inau-gurated by Manish Sisodia,Deputy Chief Minister &Minister of Tourism,Government of Delhi onFebruary 19. With the objectiveto create awareness about theenvironment and showcase therich floriculture of Delhi, thisthree week festival celebratesthe hues of Mother Natureand the fervour of SpringSeason, and is themed‘#Colours of Nature’ this year.

Over the weekend theevent witnessed visitors in largenumber visiting the Garden of

Five Senses to experience theunique varieties of flowers.His Excellency Mr. Walter J.Lindner, Ambassador, Embassyof Federal Republic ofGermany, graced the festivalwith his presence. He was seentaking numerous pictures at thevenue soaking in the ambienceand enjoying the visual expe-rience of colors of nature.

�� 234�13*50

Ahead of its ‘Bharat Bandh’call on February 26,

traders’ body CAIT on Sundaywrote to Prime MinisterNarendra Modi raising issuesrelated to the GST regime, andalleging violation of e-com-merce rules by major e-tailers.

In its letter to the primeminister, the Confederation ofAll India Traders (CAIT) calledfor setting up of a “specialworking group” at the centrallevel comprising senior offi-cials, CAIT representatives andindependent tax experts toreview the GST structure andmake recommendations to thegovernment. It also suggestedthat a “District GST workingGroup” may be constituted ineach district to monitor smoothGST implementation and totake steps for widening of tax

base and augmentation of rev-enue.

In the letter, CAIT saidthat a few recent amendmentsin GST have given “arbitraryand unfettered powers” to thegovernment officials.

It said this goes muchagainst the PM’s mission for‘minimum government, max-imum governance’, and theseamendments have created astate of ‘tax terrorism’ in thecountry.“The principle of nat-ural justice has been greatlyviolated through such amend-ments where the traders havebeen denied any sort of show-cause notice or opportunity ofhearing before taking any penalaction,” the traders’ body saidin the letter to PM.

It alleged that the domes-tic e-commerce landscape hasbeen greatly vitiated by somemajor e-commerce companies

“who are continuously andopenly violating the FDI poli-cy, law and rules without anyfear of law”. They are indulgingin predatory pricing, deep dis-counting, loss funding, con-trolling inventory and sale ofbranded products, CAITalleged. “These e-commercecompanies have found variousescape routes in Press NoteNo.2 of the FDI policy andtherefore, a fresh Press Noteblocking all escape routes andabolishing all such provisionsthat may prompt these com-panies to violate the rules orpolicies should be prepared,”CAIT said. It also called for set-ting up of a regulatory author-ity for the e-commerce sector.Such authority should beempowered with due rights totake any penal action againstthose who violate the law orpolicy, the traders’ body said.

�� 234�13*50

India-UK bilateral relationswill touch a new high in the

post-Covid world, as India islikely to be a priority countryfor the UK, leading to anenhanced economic partner-ship, according to a report.

According to the BritainMeets India report, developedby CII and Grant ThorntonBharat, FDI inflow from theUK to India for a particularyear increased from USD 898million in 2015-16 to USD1,422 million in 2019-20.

Sandeep Chakravorty,Joint Secretary (WesternEurope), Ministry of External

Affairs, said, “Besides a freetrade agreement, mobility andan interim trade deal, we areworking on a 10-year 360degree roadmap to strength-en our relationship with theUK. Going forward, we seeinvestments in India’s cleanenergy sector coming fromthe UK.”

Pallavi Joshi Bakhru,Partner and India-UK CorridorLeader, Grant Thornton BharatLLP said, “Our research iden-tified 572 UK companies inIndia with a combinedturnover of around INR 3,390billion, tax payment of aroundINR 173 billion and employing416,121 people directly.

New Delhi:The Governmentmay consider privatisingOriental Insurance or theUnited India Insurance Co astheir financial health hasimproved after a series of cap-ital infusions, people aware ofthe development said. To fur-ther strengthen their financialhealth, the government isexpected to infuse Rs 3,000crore in the public sector gen-eral insurance companies dur-ing the current quarter.

Both Oriental Insuranceand the Chennai-based UnitedIndia Insurance may be able togenerate interest from the pri-vate sector because of theirimproved financials, sources

said. The process of choosing a

suitable candidate for privati-sation has just started and willtake some time to decide,sources said while not rulingout the possibility for listedNew India Assurance, wheregovernment stake stands at85.44 per cent.

As per the plan, NITIAayog will make recommen-dations to the government forprivatisation and Departmentof Investment and Public AssetManagement (DIPAM) underthe Ministry of Finance willtake the proposal to its logicalconclusion.

PTI

�� 234�13*50

Continuing their buyingspree, foreign portfolio

investors (FPIs) invested Rs24,965 crore in Indian marketsin February so far as variousorganisations predicted higheconomic growth for the coun-try and the Union Budgetboosted investor sentiment.

According to depositories’data, FPIs pumped in Rs 24,204crore into equities and Rs 761crore in the debt segment, tak-ing the total net investment toRs 24,965 crore duringFebruary 1-19.

In the preceding month,FPIs were net investors of Rs14,649 crore.

“Various organisations,both national as well as inter-national, have predicted a higheconomic growth for theupcoming year and the yearafter for India,” said HarshJain, co-founder and COO atGroww.

S Ranganathan, head ofresearch of LKP Securitiesadded that FPIs remained pos-itive on Indian markets as IMFpredicted India to be the fastestgrowing economy in 2021.

“A pro-growth Budgetaimed at leveraging the digitalrevolution

is transformational and weexpect FPI flows to continuenext month as well aided byMSCI rebalancing,”Ranganathan added.

In addition, the earningsseason also turned out to begood, said Rusmik Oza, exec-utive vice president, head offundamental research at KotakSecurities.

For emerging markets,Oza said flows have beenmuted in emerging marketsthis month to date.

Taiwan havereceived meaningful FPI flowsthis month to date, he added

Regarding debt segment,Himanshu Srivastava, associatedirector manager research,Morningstar India said, FPIshave stayed away from Indiandebt markets for a long timenow “mainly on concernsaround COVID-19, calibratedsupport by RBI and low inter-est rates.”

Going ahead, the focuswill be on how soon India gainseconomic momentum.

“However, the way mar-kets are headed and given highvaluations, there is a strongpossibility of profit-bookingat regular intervals, whichcould slow down the pace ofnet flows,” Srivastava said.

�� 234�13*50

The Centre plans to permitsale of 50 per cent of

coal/lignite produced by cap-tive blocks, a move aimed ataugmenting the productionand increasing the availabilityof dry fuel.

The government plans todo so through incorporation ofa provision in the Mines andMinerals (Development andRegulation) Act, 1957(MMDR).

“In the note for consulta-tion of Ministry of Mines, it isproposed to incorporate a pro-vision in the Act to allow saleof 50 per cent of coal/ligniteproduced by captive mines onan annual basis. Further, anadditional amount will becharged on the merchant salesof coal/lignite by the captive

miners,” the coal ministry saidin brief note.

The ministry said that ithas invited comments from thestate governments of coal-bear-ing states andstakeholders/general public onthe said proposals.

The Ministry of Mines hasalso invited comments of thestate governments, among oth-ers, on the proposals for addi-tional amendments being con-sidered in the MMDR Act.

“The ministry of mineshas also sought comments ofMinistry of Coal on the saiddraft proposal. Some of the saiddraft proposals are applicable inthe case of coal/lignitealso....Before sending the finalcomments/response to theMinistry of Mines, it is con-sidered appropriate to seekcomments of state govern-

ments of coal bearingstates...On issues relating tocoal/lignite,” the coal ministrysaid.

In India, the import of coalis increasing on year on yearbasis. In 2015-16, the countryimported 203.95 million tonnes(MT) of coal which wasincreased to 248.54 MT in2019-20 and consequentspending of around 1.58 lakhcrore in foreign exchange.

Coal being an importantinput for various core sectorindustries, increasing avail-ability of coal will lead toAatmanirbhar Bharat.

Allowing sale of coal fromcaptive mines will help inincrease in production of fos-sil-fuel from captive mines andincrease availability of dry fuelin the market, leading to reduc-tion in import of coal.

�� 234�13*50

The GST revenue shortfallfaced by states is likely to reduce by about

Rs 40,000 crore in the currentfiscal on improved collectionsover the past four months, anofficial said.

The sharp decline in GSTcollections was estimated tolead to Rs 1.80 lakh croreshortfall in GST revenues ofstates. This includes Rs 1.10lakh crore revenue loss onaccount of GST implementa-tion and Rs 70,000 crore onaccount of COVID-19 pan-demic. The centre had set up aspecial window to borrowfunds and pass on to the statesfor meeting the Rs 1.10 lakhcrore GST revenue loss.

The official said thatimproved goods and servicestax (GST) collections couldbring down the total shortfallamount to around Rs 1.40 lakhcrore.

“We have done some cal-culations which show that theshortfall could be lower byabout Rs 30,000-40,000 crore inthe current fiscal,” the officialtold PTI.

The official further saidthat Rs 1.10 lakh crore wouldbe borrowed through the spe-cial window as planned andhigher mop-up would beutilised to compensate for the

loss of revenue due to COVID-19.

The centre has already bor-rowed and releases to the statesRs 1 lakh crore under the spe-cial window.

The official further saidthat for next fiscal beginningApril 1, the GST council willdecide on the mechanism forcompensating states in itsupcoming meeting in March.

“The revenue loss next fis-cal would be much less com-pared to this fiscal. However,meeting the 14 per cent rev-enue growth would be diffi-cult,” the official added.

Under GST law, stateswere guaranteed to be com-pensated bi-monthly for anyloss of revenue in the first fiveyears of the GST implementa-tion from July 1, 2017. Theshortfall is calculated assuminga 14 per cent annual growth inGST collections by states overthe base year of 2015-16.

GST collections, whichdirectly reflect the state of eco-nomic activity, had plummet-ed to a record low of Rs 32,172crore in April 2020, after thegovernment imposed a nation-wide lockdown to curb thespread of coronavirus. Sincethen, collections started pick-ing up; and the four straightmonths of October to Januaryrecorded over Rs 1 lakh croremop-up.

�� 234�13*50

Goods and services worthover Rs 1 lakh crore are

expected to be procured fromthe public procurement portalGeM in 2021-22 on account ofa sharp increase in buyingactivities by ministries likedefence and PSUs, a senior offi-cial said.

The Government e-Market (GeM) portal waslaunched in August 2016 foronline purchases of goods andservices by all the central gov-ernment ministries anddepartments.

GeM CEO Talleen Kumarsaid that the order value in2020-21 is projected at Rs37,000 crore, up from Rs 22,896crore last year. “With theonboarding of the Ministry ofRailways getting completed byMarch 2021, GeM is headedtowards an order value of morethan Rs one lakh crore next fis-cal, which will be a ‘3X’increase over current levels,”Kumar told PTI.

The public sector units(PSUs) procured goods andservices worth over Rs 3,372crore on GeM so far this year.Similarly the Ministry ofDefence has bought goods

and/or services worth over Rs3,406 crore this year so far.

He said that onboardingrailways involves the develop-ment of 42 railway-specificfeatures and functionalities.Kumar also said that the GeMis steadily moving towards thevision of a UnifiedProcurement System with anaim to consolidate all govern-ment procurement onto a sin-gle, cohesive platform whichcan lead to economies of scale,more efficient price discovery,and sharing of best practices.

To promote the sale ofMade in India goods, he said,GeM is capturing the ‘countryof origin’ data for productsalready on the platform.

“GeM has also enabled aprovision to indicate the per-centage of local content inproducts on the platform.Hence, government buyers cannow view and filter acrossgoods for both their ‘country oforigin’ as well as ‘percentage oflocal content,” he added.

Further, he added that thenext version of the platform -GeM 5.0 - is stepping up theuse of new technologies like AI(artificial intelligence) includ-ing machine learning and deeplearning.

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As the Indian equity marketgoes on a consolidation

mode, global markets alongwith the GDP data scheduledto be released later in the weekis likely to steer the domesticstock markets going ahead.

Vinod Nair, Head ofResearch at Geojit FinancialServices, said that the marketwas largely in a consolidationphase throughout the weekfollowing weak global cues.

Bears took control of themarkets across the globe asworries of increasing US Bondyield and inflation keptinvestors’ mood gloomy, hesaid, adding that PSU banksoutperformed during the weekdue to developments aroundprivatisation, while the sectorwitnessed profit bookingtowards the end of the week.

“We expect the domesticmarket to continue followingthe global markets in the com-ing week due to lack of any

major domestic events. TheGDP data for the third quarterwhich is to be released towardsthe end of next week is expect-ed to show signs of economicrecovery adding positivemomentum in Indian mar-ket,” he said.The economy isexpected to record positivegrowth for the October-December quarter after the 7per cent contraction in the pre-vious quarter.

As per the recent projectionby ICRA, India’s GDP is expect-ed to record a year-on-yearrise of 0.7% in Q3FY21.S.Ranganathan, Head of Researchat LKP Securities noted that thatweek ended Friday belonged tothe PSU Bank Index whichrose close to 11% with Midcapstate-run banks and non-lifeinsurers posting hugegains.“During the coming weekwe expect investor interest com-ing back to large banks as FPIflows this month of over Rs24,000 crore reflects the appetiteof foreign funds,” he said.

�� &32�'*787

IT czar Azim Premji onSunday Said more than 90

per cent of the workforce in thetechnology industry of thecountry continue to work fromhome, and lauded the hybridmodel of work.

“Within the first few weeksof the (COVID-19-induced)lockdown, over 90 per cent ofthe technology industry wasworking from home and eventoday over 90 per cent of peo-ple continue to work fromhome,” he said.

Addressing an interactivesession hosted by the BangaloreChamber of Industry andCommerce, Premji said the ITindustry and the governmenthave appreciated the value of apermanent hybrid modelwhere people would work part-ly from office and home evenafter the end of the pandemic.Stating that the hybrid modelwould have huge comparativeadvantage, he said it woulddrive inclusive growth, betterparticipation from all parts of

the country and greater num-ber of women who would haveflexibility to work from home.

“Technology is becomingthe lifeline for us as individu-als and also businesses,” he said.

If there was any doubt, theyear 2020 showed how funda-mental technology has become.

Technology played animportant role in ensuring thatthe government’s socialschemes and assistance pro-grammes reached the masspopulation, according to him.

Availability of digital infra-structure in tier-2 cities hashelped greatly many business-es to thrive, Premji said.

He emphasised the needfor people to engage in someacts of philanthropy and char-ity.

“The culture of philan-thropy is as basic to India asIndia itself. Charity and phil-anthropy has always been a partof India’s culture and tradition”,he added.

Premji stepped down asWipro chairman and managingdirector in 2019, handing overthe company’s reins to his sonRishad.

The septuagenarian cur-rently holds the position ofWipro founder-chairman andnon-executive director.

(��8��9:;�� 234�13*50

Amid skyrocketing pricesof petrol and diesel, Maruti

Suzuki India (MSI) is lookingto cash in on the accelerateddemand for its CNG vehicles,expecting nearly 50 per centgrowth in the ongoing fiscalyear, according to a seniorcompany official. The com-pany, which offers CNGoptions in eight models out oftotal 14 available in the Indianmarket, is also actively workingto expand the portfolio.

“This year CNG (vehicles)in the industry has grownalmost 37 per cent at a timewhen the overall growth isnegative (18 per cent decline)in April-January period. Itmeans CNG is growing verywell,” Maruti Suzuki IndiaExecutive Director (Marketing& Sales) Shashank Srivastavatold PTI.

Explaining why thedemand for CNG vehicles hasgone up, he said as the pricesof petrol and diesel as a fuelhave gone up dramatically, therunning costs have alsoincreased.

“The cost of running CNGis only Rs 1.5 per km whereasfor petrol and diesel it is almostRs 4 per km. People are nowpreferring CNG as the runningcost is very low so there is agrowth in sales of CNG vehi-cles,” Srivastava said.Citing Maruti Suzuki’s ownexample, he said,”In the mod-els that we have CNG, the pen-etration level is almost 21 percent. Our CNG volumes lastyear were around 1,06,000units. If you look at 2020-21 wehave already crossed 1,19,000units and we will end up theyear with about 1,55,000 units.It will be almost 50 per centincrease.

“In Mumbai and Pune, theCNG penetration of Celerioand WagonR is almost 70 percent. In Delhi, CNG penetra-tion of WagonR is 50 per cent,he added. Stating that thegrowth of CNG sales was 18per cent last year, Srivastavasaid in the last five years, MSI’sCNG vehicle sales were atabout 75,000 units in 2016-17,which grew to about 106,000units last fiscal year.Another reason for the rise in

demand for CNG vehicles isthe increase in the number ofcities under CNG stations net-work, he said adding four yearsago, the number of CNG sta-tions in India was 1,200, whichhas doubled to 2,400 at present.

“By next year thenumber of stations will be4,500. So if you look at it, infour years it will go up from1,200 to 4,500. Also the num-ber of cities covered will go up.It has already gone up from 145four years back to 240 this year,”he said. Moreover, FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharamanhas said in the Budget that thegovernment would increase itto 100 more cities. In March2022, it is expected that therewill be almost 375 cities cov-ered, he noted. “The net-work is also increasing. Thusthe availability of CNG is get-ting better...The government isalso helping by expanding theCNG network. We can sell innew cities where CNG was notpreviously available. Then thewaiting time for CNG filling isalso going down as the numberof stations are going up,” hesaid.

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Nifty earnings are likely togrow at a Compound

Annual Growth Rate (CAGR)of 24.2 per cent over FY21-23,said an ICICI Direct report.

“Going forward, we expectNifty earnings to grow at 24.2per cent CAGR over FY21E-23E.

Using a bottom upapproach and giving discountto target weighted average PE,we now value the Nifty at16,300 i.e. 22x P/E on FY23EEPS of Rs 740 with corre-sponding Sensex target at54,600,” it said.

It noted that corporateearnings gained momentumduring the third quarter ofFY21 as economic activityrebounded in the post-Covidunlocking era with optimismfuelled by the festive season.

The Q3FY21 earningsstaged an impressive showand were broadly ahead ofestimates as corporates con-tinue to benefit from lowerraw material costs andrealised leaner cost struc-tures, it said.

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��Ludacris partners with James Beard Award-

nominated chef Meherwan Irani to advance his culinaryskills by attempting to master one of his favorite cuisines.Irani gives the rapper a master class in Indian cuisine,teaching him everything from layering spices to makingcurry while chef Aarti Sequeira swings by to offer someadvice. It premieres on discovery+ on February 25.

�� Discover the story of pioneering modern-day

megastructures in this series. Behind every seeminglyimpossible marvel of modern engineering are the historictrailblazers who designed new building techniques, tookrisks on untested materials and revolutionised their field.Using 3D graphics, archive and specially shot footage,each episode details how record-beating structures andcutting-edge ships, trains and planes are built and work.It premieres on discovery+ today.

��After being dumped by her boyfriend, Lucy creates a

gallery for the items love has left behind and discovers sheis not the only one who needs a little help letting go. Thefilm releases on Amazon Prime on February 24.

7 � 5 5 � ,

Actor Radhika Madan has partneredwith an online dating app Bumble to

encourage single Indians to make thefirst move towards healthy andequitable connections as the appaims to bring fun back into dat-ing in 2021.

She shares dating tips andtricks, and breaks down the bar-riers around dating.

When asked what datingadvice she would like to give to sin-gle people in India, Radhikasays, “If you are someonewho is an old schoolromantic just like me,don’t play by the rules,make your own rules!”

Speaking of herassociation with theonline dating app, shesays, “My experienceworking withBumble has beenreally great. Theyare the changemakers, theyhave broken a lotof taboos. It’salways fun part-nering up withthem and I’mlooking for-

ward to working with them again.”“It’s very important to normalise

women making the first move. It’s a verydated concept that guys should make

the first move. A lot of times youfind someone cute and you wantto talk to them. It’s not just aboutdating them but just wanting toknow them or having that curios-ity but because of the condition-ing and social pressure fromyour friends, you end up not talk-

ing to that person, which Ifeel is a lost opportunity.So, kudos to the app fornormalising this andinspiring a lot ofwomen to make thefirst move,” she adds.

Speaking about thepartnership, SamarpitaSamaddar, BumbleIndia PR Directorshares, “As singleIndians overcome chal-lenges and barriers tothis new world of dat-ing, we hope peoplewill be inspired byRadhika to make thefirst move and forgenew connections in2021.”

Since the start of the year,Pooja Hegde has been giving

out some major fashion inspira-tions which make for a perfectgo-to look for this wedding sea-son. From the AlaVaikunthapurramuloo reunionoutfit to her purple sparkle let’shave a look at top five outfit inspi-rations for your occasional wear:

� ��Pooja’s purple floor length

straight down kurta with intricategolden embroidery paired withplain mauve trousers under canbe a great look for weddings as abridesmaid, topped with longgolden earrings complimentingthe dress. The right amount ofheavy and new design cut in thisAnita Dongre outfit completedwith a golden jutti and a mauvebelt around the waist is a comfort-able yet elegant look that will def-initely make you sparkle.

��The pastel coloured outfit

worn by her would make for aperfect choice for those whowant to opt for a subtler yet glamlook with the pista green shortkurta and a similar colouredsharara. The kurta with deepdesign in pink at the neckline andhems makes it subtly heavy alongwith the embroidered recurring

print on the sharara. What makesthe look stand out is the prettypastel blue dupatta with workdone in pink. Pair the sleevelesskurta with jhumkas and you’re allset to dazzle.

��Donning the baby pink flo-

ral outfit for her Ala

Vaikunthapurramuloo first yearreunion, Pooja looked delightfulas ever. The short pink kurta withmatching sharara had intricatethread work done in the shape offlowers in slightly darker pink andyellow colours making the outfitoccasion ready. The dupattapaired with the outfit was a plainpink with pink thread work while

the border of the sharara lit upwith alternating lines of yellowflowers. Just the perfect day timeevent look topped with pink ear-rings and a diamond bracelet inone hand.

��Pooja’s green suit with a

touch of purple makes for a

beautiful combination. ThisManish Malhotra outfit includesa green frock kurta with a shadeof purple at the bottom andgolden gota at the hems matchedwith plain green leggings. Theflare in the kurta makes this sim-ple outfit chic paired with aplain lavender and golden bor-dered dupatta. You can completethe look with long mint greenearrings and a statement ring.

�� The last one worn by Pooja

is this Indo-western outfit thatpairs a dreamy combination of anivory blouse with a heavy sea blueskirt. With puffed cut sleeves inthe blouse and deep neckline, ithas a western touch while theskirt stands out with its intricatesilver embroidery from the waistdown till the centre while the bot-tom flows in plain sea bluecolour. It makes for a perfect lookfor the wedding day! As Poojahad, you can finish the look withlarge diamond studs and adesigned bracelet.

The pandemic, certainly, createdhavoc in the entire world andhas affected all aspects of

human lives. With the unprecedent-ed speed of COVID-19 vaccine devel-opment, it has generated a number ofmisconceptions that have fueled skep-ticism among people. Now that effec-tive COVID-19 immunisation isrolling out in various countries, accu-rate information is of utmost impor-tance. So here are some prevalentCoronavirus vaccine myths and factsbehind the medicines designed tocombat COVID-19:

Myth 1: COVID-19 vaccine is not safebecause it was developed quickly.

Fact 1: The COVID-19 vaccine issafe and has been approved or is in theprocess of being approved by regula-tory authorities in many countries.

Millions have now been vaccinated.Reports of serious side effects havebeen very rare and no long-term com-plications are reported. The world-wide impact of this pandemic hascaused the pharmaceutical industry toinvest heavily in research and produc-ing the vaccine. Several phases were

conducted parallelly, thus, shorteningthe overall development timeline. Noshortcuts were taken; every vaccinecandidate had to go through thestrict process of clinical trials and safe-ty reviews by respective global andnational Stringent RegulatoryAuthorities.

Myth 2: You can get Coronavirusfrom the vaccine.

Fact 2: For viral diseases to setin, a live virus needs to be able tomake enough copies of itself in thebody. None of the currently autho-rised vaccines contain live virus, andtherefore, you cannot get the virusthrough the vaccine. You mightexperience mild flu-like symptomsafter the injection such as fatigue,body aches and fever. It’s a normalreaction of your immune system tothe vaccine and will stop after a dayor two.

Myth 3: I have already had COVID-19 so I don’t need to be vaccinated.

Fact 3: Most authorities adviseeven those who have had COVID-19infection to take the dose, although,you may be advised to wait for at least90 days after your infection. Speak toyour doctor for an individual recom-mendation. We do not yet know howlong the protection from your immu-nity developed by a COVID-19infection will last.

Myth 4: The fatality rate of COVID-19 is so low, so you don’t need to bevaccinated.

Fact 4: The vaccine protects

you, your family, colleagues andyour community. They reduce therisk of severe infection and hospital-isation. People, who are vaccinated,are probably less likely to transmit thedisease. When the majority of thepopulation are vaccinated, it will pro-tect the community, including thevulnerable and those who cannot bevaccinated. While vaccination is vol-untary, all those who are medicallyeligible are encouraged to get itdone.

Myth 5: No need to wear a mask ormaintain social distancing afterreceiving the vaccination shot.

Fact 5: While vaccines are effec-tive, they do not stop every case ofCOVID-19 infection and transmis-sion. Therefore, everyone mustremain cautious and continue to wearmasks, practice social distancingand observe enhanced hygiene rou-tines.

Myth 6: The vaccine will alter theDNA

Fact 6: One of the first COVID-19 vaccines approved for emergencyuse is mRNA vaccine (messengerRNA). Upon injection, mRNA vac-cine will instruct the cells in the hostbody to produce the viral protein thattriggers an immune response againstCOVID-19 virus in the body. mRNAdoes not insert itself into the hostbody’s DNA, thus, it does not alteryour gene DNA (it cannot be trans-mitted to the next generation). ThemRNA vaccine will naturally degradeand be eliminated after being used inthe host body within 48 to 72 hours.

Myth 7: People with underlying con-ditions should not be vaccinated.

Fact 7: Some people are not rec-ommended to receive the vaccine.Follow the local health authorities’guidelines in determining your med-ical eligibility and speak to your doc-tor for an individual recommendation.

Myth 8: COVID-19 vaccines are noteffective against the new variants.

Fact 8: Experts are watching thisvery carefully. So far, they believe thatthe current vaccines are still effective.If a change in vaccine needs to bemade, the vaccines can be quicklyadjusted for new strains, in a similarway that flu vaccines are adjusted eachyear. It is important to be immunisedas soon as possible, and continue topractice preventive measures to breakthe chain of infection.

Myth 9: Severe side effects of the vac-cine is common.

Fact 9: Minor expected sideeffects, such as a sore arm at the injec-tion site and a mild fever, are com-mon. Reports of serious side effectsare very rare. Discomfort usuallysubsides after a day or two. Side effectsmay be more pronounced after thesecond dose of vaccine.

(The writer is the Medical Directorat International SOS, India.)

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Recently a veteran actor from the Hindi film indus-try was given the Highest Civilian Award for his

contribution towards spreading cultural values acrossthe globe through his acting career. While he was giventhe award, everyone in the audience stood up to givehim a standing ovation to the legend, who brought somany characters to life on celluloid screen. We all haveexperienced this euphoria in theatres, while a heroiccharacter makes an entry on screen, there are loudcheers, whistles, applause and more. And at the endof film, the hero wins the audience’s hearts and stealsthe show. Whether he plays a prince or a pauper, it doesnot matter as his fans throng the theatres to catch aglimpse of him. The beauty of his performance lies inhis ability to internalise the character to the extent thathe and his role seem one to his fans. But even whiledoing it, he is very much conscious of the fact that heis merely an actor in aparticular drama, his roleis carved, his dialoguesare scripted and the cos-tumes are designed forthat particular character.Hence, his greatness liesonly in playing the role tothe best of his capability.On his long journey tostardom, every actoroften turns a spectatorand critiques his ownwork so that he canimprove upon his act. Itis this element of detach-ment from the different roles he plays that allows himto progress, play multiple roles simultaneously withclarity and then return to his personal life at the endof the day.

Not many of us know that the world cycle is verymuch similar to this drama in which all of us are actorswith unique parts. Everyone is the protagonist in hislife and can become a hero who draws applause.However, today we hardly find anyone cheering forthe other person because there is great dissatisfactioneither with each other’s performance or the script. Asa result, the drama appears to have become a tragedy.There is widespread chaos with actors criticising eachothers’ performances instead of theirs. The reason forthis trouble is that most of us act without the knowl-edge that the earth is a stage and we have all come hereto play our individual roles. Each actor’s role is uniqueand pre-scripted and hence, trying to match it withanybody else’s is futile. The biggest law of the worlddrama is that it is ever beneficial for everyone. In theabsence of this understanding or its consciousness, weget attached to our roles, forget to change our costumesand make-up, and lose the flexibility to adapt to eachpart.

Take a simple example of a person who plays a son,a husband, a father, a friend and several other rolesat the same time. If he is in the consciousness of beinga male, he could dominate his wife at home or lookdown upon his female staff at office. At work, he wouldstick to his role of being a boss so much so that he for-gets to become their colleague when they need his help.On the other hand, if he is conscious that he is an actorand must act like a hero to win everyone’s hearts, thenhe would understand the requirements of his charac-ter and become active, accurate and attractive at what-ever he does.

Living the peaks and troughs of each character weplay, we drain ourselves and are unable to musterenough strength to meet the demands of each role asa result of which, there are emotional upheavals andsorrow becomes a regular visitor when the purposeof the drama is to help the actors experience joy andhappiness. On the other hand, if we become detachedto the roles we play and keep faith in the eternal lawthat the drama has been scripted for the universal ben-efit, the feeling of loss and gain, comfort and painwould begin to dissolve and our mind would stop ques-tioning the developments in every scene and a peace-ful equanimity will begin to settle in our mind. It willhelp us to enjoy the drama, review our performance,be patient and forgiving towards others. So the moralof the story is that we should be detached and yet beinvolved in the part we are playing. That’s the quali-ty to be a superstar in this world drama.

Worldwide, an estimated 12million girls are wed everyyear before the age of 18. In

India, as per UNICEF, 1.5 million girlsget married before the legal age of 18every year. Fortunately, the combinedefforts of the respective stategovernments and non-governmentorganizations engaging communitylevel workers in remote villages areproviding agency to adolescents tofulfill their dream. In Odisha, as perthe National Family Health Survey-4(NFHS-4), underage marriages havereduced from 37. 2 per cent to 21.3 percent over a decade and is better thanthe national average of 26.8 per cent.Although, there are 16 districts wherechild marriage is above the state’saverage percentage, but the sincereefforts are going on to control thesituation here.

Two years ago, parents of Kanchanwho was just a 15-year-old then, hadfixed her marriage against her wishes.A school-dropout, Kanchan wasengaged in household works besideshelping her mother in agriculturefields.

“In poor families like ours, parentsdo not seek consent. Girls areconsidered a burden from which theywant to get rid of as soon as possible.My parents were no different whenthey had fixed my marriage,” sharedKanchan over phone, now a 17-year-old pursuing her studies again.

It was the result of regularcounseling offered to Kanchan’sparents by village Anganwadi workerGeetanjali Rana that helped save herfrom early marriage. Not just Kanchan,but due to Geetanjali’s sincere efforts tofight this menace, not a single childmarriage happened in the villageRugudipalli in Odisha’s Subarnapurdistrict. Her regular counseling ofparents, mothers, older groups, youngboys and girls about the repercussionsof child marriage made Rugudipalli thefirst ‘child marriage free’ village in thisEastern Indian state.

Describing Kanchan’s incidentGeetanjali said, “I had attended aworkshop titled Say No to ChildMarriage organised by Action Aid, aninternational non-government

organisation, in Bhubaneswar in 2018.It was my first encounter to understandthe repercussions of child marriage.After returning from the workshop, Idecided to start a campaign against thisill-practice in my village Rugudipalli.In the first adolescent group meetingwith all the girls of the village, I wasinformed about Kanchan’s marriage.”

Geetanjali sensitised all the peopleof the village on Prohibition of ChildMarriage Act (PCMA), 2006 andProtection of Children from SexualOffences (POCSO) Act, 2012. She alsodiscussed the impact of early marriageson the health of adolescents and howearly pregnancies threaten the lives ofyoung girls.

Within a few months, Geetanjaliwas able to stop 10-12 child marriagesin her village. To make Odisha childmarriage free by 2030, the stategovernment has directed all authoritiesto take appropriate actions. To supportthe PCMA, state rules have been

amended and a state monitoringcommittee has been constituted toreview the implementation of PCMA.All Child Development ProtectionOfficers (CDPOs) have beendesignated as Child MarriageProhibition Officers (CMPOs) and aseries of training and capacity buildingprogrammes are being organised.

�Patriarchy, poverty, social normsand safety issues: The reasons forgetting married at an early age aremany. Girls being denied propereducation is one of the major reasonswhich makes them vulnerable to childmarriage. “It is the patriarchal mindsetthat does not allow them to continuetheir schooling. If they will be allowed,it will give them the agency to deny theforced marriages,” said GhasiramPanda, Programme Manager, ActionAid.

In tribal dominated districts, age-old cultures such as jhinka vivah, kania

jhinka and udulia are forcing younggirls to get married early.

�Challenges during the pandemic:Suchitra, 16-year-old, hails from a poorfamily and wanted to complete herstudies. Her parents were alsosupporting her. However, during thelockdown, when her father lost all theopportunities to work as a daily wagelaborer, her relatives suggestedmarrying Suchitra to a man 10 yearsolder to her.

Just a day before the wedding, herclose friend called up Childline. TheCMPO, Supervisor, Police and officialsof Childline visited their house andstopped her marriage.

“There have been many caseswhere these little girls are convincedthat getting married is the right step tominimise the burden on their families,”shared Rakesh Pradhan, SubarnapurDistrict Coordinator, Action Aid.

�The need of engaging adolescents:The lack of engaging with adolescents,especially with school dropouts pose ahurdle in their decision making. Inremote villages, most of the girls dropout from schools after finishingeducation till upper primary. They helptheir mothers in household andagriculture work. As they have noother engagement, they find marriage

as an alternate option.A scheme, Advika (every girl is

unique), has been recently started bythe Women and Child Development(WCD) Department of the state toengage, sensitise and empoweradolescent girls in remote villages. Aspart of it, girls will be encouraged toparticipate in different sessions onSexual and Reproductive Health(SRH), nutrition, safety, rights, gender-based violence, financial literacy,marriage and relationship. Theobjective is to equip them withknowledge to take informed decisionsabout their lives, career, relationships,education and rest everything. Alongwith knowledge, there is also a need tocreate infrastructural support toengage them because only sensitisationcannot reduce child marriages.

It was in 2017-18 that the OdishaGovernment had rigorously startedresponding to the issue of childmarriages but the pandemic severelyhampered all the gains made so far.Social vulnerability and financial issuespush them into worst situation andgirls fall prey to child marriage.Hopefully, the actions taken will set thefight against child marriages back ontrack.

(The names of girls have beenchanged to protect the identity.)

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Deep into this pandemic winter, itcan be hard to remember what a

refuge gardens were last spring andsummer. In those frightening earlydays of COVID-19, victory gardensand household vegetable plots sprangup all over. Seed companies reportedshortages. Hardware stores saw a runon garden tools. Millions foundcomfort, release and a sense of safetyoutdoors with their hands in the dirt.

That feels like a long time ago. Wedreaded this winter, and we weren’twrong: January was the deadliestmonth yet from the virus. Politicalviolence shook Americans’ sense ofsecurity and shared purpose.Businesses and household incomes arestruggling. And the humaninteractions that might help us processall this anxiety and grief arediscouraged.

Yet the garden is still there,hunkering down too. And it can stillhelp. Even in winter, it can providesolace, inspiration and perspective.Fresh air. And an assurance thatspring is coming.

“From December to March, thereare for many of us three gardens — thegarden outdoors, the garden of potsand bowls in the house, and thegarden of the mind’s eye,” Katherine SWhite, an editor and writer at TheNew Yorker and an avid gardener,wrote several decades ago.

As we round the bend intoFebruary, and with the hope thatvaccines will bring real change, allthree of those gardens offer a promiseof light.

THE GARDEN OUTDOORSTo the eye, there’s little in a winter

garden that can compare to spring andsummer’s binge-worthy drama ofgrowing, blooming and buzzing. Only

the most serious gardeners (or thosein warmer climates) can keep thegrowing going outside, using coldframes, fabric or plastic tunnels, andother techniques.

But there are smaller joys to behad. The trees’ bare branches make forbeautiful silhouettes, and better viewsof birds and sunsets. Landscapephotographer Larry Lederman, authorof the recent book Garden Portraits,recommends getting to know yourgarden better in the winter, when

“everything is bare and you can see thebones of the landscape.”

More significantly, gardensremind us that winter is just oneseason in a cycle. Death is everywherein a garden, all year round, but itmakes rebirth possible. The specieskeep going.

“The return of spring each yearcan be endlessly relied on, and in(plants) not dying when we die, wehave a sense of goodness goingforward,” Sue Stratis-Smith writes in

her new book, The Well-GardenedMind: The Restorative Power of Nature.

“This,” she says, “is the garden’smost enduring consolation.”

Of course, the constancy of theseasons these days can’t be taken forgranted as in the past. So winter is alsoa good time for reevaluating our ownyard-size battles against climatechange. We can start or continuecomposting. And we can researchservices, products and methods tohelp make next year’s garden — andthose beyond — more sustainable.

THE GARDEN INDOORSHouseplants are hot now, and

Instagram is full of plant influencersposting photos.

New technologies make it easier togrow plants anywhere indoors, with orwithout soil. The plants offer not onlybeauty, but the rewards of caring forliving things and seeing them grow.

Indoor vegetable gardening, too,has become especially popular both asa food source and as a family activity.For instance, you can buy organicmini-farms in Mason jars, cans andboxes — all intended for thewindowsill. You can grow mushroomsin their cardboard box with just aspritzer, or set up a large jar oftomatoes adding nothing but water.

Sales of backyard greenhouses andgrow lights are up, and seedcompanies are already reportinganother year of high demand. Johnny’sSelected Seeds, a high-end, mail-orderseller based in Winslow, Maine,recently suspended orders from homegardeners temporarily, saying thatbecause of COVID, order volume “hasexceeded our capacity to pack seedand to ship orders quickly.”

Some gardeners have alreadystarted planting the seeds of cold-

weather vegetables in flats indoors —seeing the sprouts of cabbage, onions,spinach and more. In just a couplemonths, perhaps, they can think abouttransplanting them outdoors if theyhave the space.

As the Vermont Bean SeedCompany says in its 2021 springcatalog: “In each seed and seed-bearing fruit, there is a promise of anew beginning.”

THE GARDEN OF THE MIND’S EYEWhich brings us to the third

garden: the one we imagine and plan.“I shall never have the garden I

have in my mind, but that for me is thejoy of it; certain things can never berealized and so all the more reason toattempt them,” the author/gardenerJamaica Kincaid once said.

The new seed catalogs carry thepromise that, this year, you can makeyour garden better. Maybe that meansconverting more lawn to flowers andvegetables, choosing more nativeplants, reducing water use, putting inpaths and water features. A garden isnever finished.

Planning it is creative and hopeful.And as our second pandemic springapproaches, those hopes are beingbuoyed by the rollout of vaccines, too.

As Amanda Gorman said in herinauguration poem last month, in ashoutout to Lin-Manuel Miranda,who was quoting George Washingtonand Alexander Hamilton, who werequoting the Bible: “Everyone shall situnder their own vine, and fig tree,And no one shall make them afraid.”

The garden as metaphor for peace,safety, prosperity, calm. Not a badplace for the mind’s eye to rest,particularly in this most unsettling ofwinters.

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Novak Djokovic’s Australian Opendominance is intact - nine finals, nine

championships.And he keeps gaining on Roger

Federer and Rafael Nadal in the GrandSlam standings, now up to 18 overall, twoaway from the men’s record shared by histwo rivals.

Djokovic used superb serving and hisusual relentless returning and baselineexcellence to grab 11 of 13 games in onestretch and beat a visibly frustrated DaniilMedvedev 7-5, 6-2, 6-2 on Sunday for athird trophy in a row at Melbourne Park.

The 33-year-old from Serbia improvedto 18-0 combined in semifinals and finalson the hard courts of the Australian Open.

Looking at the bigger picture,Djokovic has won six of the last 10 majortournaments and is assured of remainingat No. 1 in the rankings at least throughMarch 8. That will give him 311 weeks inthe top spot, breaking a mark held byFederer.

The No. 4-ranked Medvedev wasappearing in his second Grand Slam final- he was the runner-up to Nadal at the2019 U.S. Open - but is still left trying col-lect his first such championship.

Djokovic ended the 25-year-oldRussian’s 20-match winning streak.Medvedev also had won his previous 12matches against Top 10 opponents.

But going up against Djokovic inAustralia is a much different challenge.

By the second set, as things slippedaway, Medvedev bounced his white rack-et off the blue court, then absolutelydestroyed it with a full-on spike. By thethird, he kept looking up at his coach withpalms up as if to ask, “What can I possi-bly do here?” It is a familiar senti-ment in this stadium, on this court, at thistournament. Federer, Nadal, AndyMurray, Stan Wawrinka, Dominic Thiem- all Grand Slam champions, all defeatedby Djokovic in semifinals or finals inMelbourne.

So place the nine triumphs inAustralia alongside five at Wimbledon,three at the U.S. Open and one at the

French Open for Djokovic.The math looks good for Djokovic. He

is about a year younger than Nadal and 61/2 younger than Federer, who turns 40

in August. Federer hasn’t competed inmore than a year after having two kneeoperations but is expected to turn to thetour next month.

On a cool, cloudy evening, an eventdelayed three weeks because of the coro-navirus pandemic concluded with anannounced attendance of 7,426 at RodLaver Arena. Spectators were barred

entirely for five days earlier in the tour-nament because of a local COVID-19lockdown, but they eventually were letback in at 50% capacity.

A majority favored Djokovic on

Sunday, so plenty of choruses of his nick-name rang out - “No-le, No-le, No-le!” -and Serbian flags dotted the stands, flap-ping in a swirling breeze.

Medvedev’s flat, wrap-the-racket-around-his-neck forehand was iffy atfirst, missing wide, long and into the netin the initial 10 minutes. Djokovic grabbed13 of the match’s initial 16 points and aquick 3-0 lead.

Soon enough, though, it was 3-all,because Medvedev cleaned up his mis-takes, while Djokovic faltered a bit, get-ting broken after a game in which heflubbed a drop shot, then an overhead, themost glaring - only? - weakness in hisgame.

But from 5-all, Djokovic stepped up,and Medvedev stepped back. Djokovicheld at love, then broke to claim the setwhen Medvedev slapped a forehand intothe net just after someone in the crowdcalled out during the point.

There were frequent extendedexchanges at the baseline, both mencapable of covering the court well enoughto swallow up each other’s potentialpoint-ending shots. Medvedev rarelystrayed from the back of the court unlesslured forward by one of Djokovic’s rela-tively frequent drop shots.

Djokovic began the second set with afault into the net, then shook out his leftarm and flexed his shoulders. That pointended with him missing a backhand intothe net, and he hunched up his shouldersand stared over at his guest box. Anothernetted backhand gifted Medvedev a breakand a 1-0 lead.

There might have been reason tobelieve Djokovic was just a tad more sus-ceptible this time around. First of all, hewrenched his midsection during a slip inthe third round against American TaylorFritz; after that win, Djokovic said he hadtorn a muscle, but by the time he playedhis semifinal, he declared himself pain-free.

Plus, entering Sunday, Djokovicalready had ceded five sets through sixmatches, the most he had dropped in anyGrand Slam tournament en route to afinal.

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Set to play in only his secondpink ball Test, India open-

er Rohit Sharma on Sundaysaid he will be “extra cautiousand focussed” while battingduring the twilight phase ofthe upcoming day-nightmatch against England here.

Rohit, who scored a daz-zling 161 in the second Test inChennai, had featured in thefirst day-night Test held inIndia against Bangladesh inNovember 2019 but did notbat during the twilight phase.

“So far I have only heardthat it kind of plays on a bats-man's mind . I played just onepink ball Test againstBangladesh but didn’t get tobat at that (twilight) timewhen sun was about to set butI have to try and understandwhat exactly happens duringthat time,” he said during avirtual press conference aheadof the third Test againstEngland, starting here on

Wednesday.“It’s obviously a little chal-

lenging, the weather and lightsuddenly change. You have tobe extra cautious andfocussed, you need to talk toyourself. All batters are awareof these challenges. We justneed to be mindful of the sit-uation and play accordingly.”

Apart from this, Rohit isalso concerned about adjust-ing to the lights and sur-roundings whilefielding inthe newly-built Sardar PatelGujarat Stadium in Motera.

“Whenever you play in anew stadium, there’s always achallenge to get used to thelights. Tomorrow we will bepractising under the lights sothe focus will be on gettingused to those lights and seatsbecause the seats are new andthey will be shiny,” he said.

With a World TestChampionship final spot atstake, the ongoing series holdsgreat significance for bothIndia and England.

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An “unbelievable seamattack and incredible bats-

men” make India formidablebut England will have theedge in the pink ball day/nightTest here as the tourists aremore adept at playing inseaming conditions, feels bats-man Zak Crawley.

With the series locked at1-1, the two teams are set totake on each other in theday/night fixture starting atthe Motera Stadium here onWednesday.

When asked if Englandwere favourites playing againsta moving ball, Crawley, in an

interaction with British mediaon Saturday, said, “I think itwill play into our hands.”

“We have grown up withthose conditions, trying toplay the ball late in seamingconditions, so you would saywe would be more adept at itthan the Indians.”

“That’s probably why theyare unbelievable players ofspin, because they havegrown up with it,” Crawleyadded.

However, the 23-year-oldis well aware that the hosts arearmed with a potent seam

attack as well as skilful bats-men making them capable ofhandling all conditions.

“That said, they have anunbelievable seam attack andincredible batsmen so it won’thelp us too much. They will bemore than capable,” he saidreferring to line-up spear-headed by the redoubtableJasprit Bumrah and compris-ing seasoned warhorses likeIshant Sharma and new findMohammed Siraj.

Although the pink ballswings more than the redcherry, Crawley feels spin-

ners will still play a huge rolein the outcome of the Test.

“(The pink ball) seems tobe swinging more than the redball, doing a bit more for theseamers. I expect a bit moreseam in this game and for theseamers to have more of achance than perhaps they didin the last couple of Tests.

“It also seems to be a bitharder so the spinners areskidding it on a bit more. Thespinners are still going tohave to play a big role and Iwould be surprised if theyproduce an absolute green

seamer.”The Kent batsman had

missed the first two Tests as hehad slipped on the marblefloor of the Chepauk dressingroom, thereby injuring hiswrist ahead of the series open-er. However, Crawley is fit toplay and has also been includ-ed in the squad for theday/night Test.

“I have improved quite abit, doing plenty of batting inthe nets, making sure I am asfit as possible for this Test andthat there is a chance I can beselected,” said Crawley.

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Prithvi Shaw’s blistering 105, after animpressive show by the bowlers, set

up Mumbai's seven-wicket win overDelhi in an Elite Group D match hereon Sunday as the domestic giantsbegan their Vijay Hazare Trophy cam-paign on a winning note.

Mumbai bowlers, led by experi-enced pacer Dhawal Kulkarni (3/35),restricted Delhi to 211/7 despite avaliant unbeaten 106 off 145 balls byHimmat Singh and then cantered to thetarget in 31.5 overs, as Prithvi tore intothe Delhi attack.

Shaw took the Delhi attack to thecleaners, hammering 15 boundaries andtwo sixes in his match-winning inningsand was ably supported by Iyer, who ismaking a comeback after missing theSyed Mushtaq Ali tournament.

Brief Scores: Delhi 211/7 (Himmat

Singh 106 not out, Shivank Vashisth 55;Dhawal Kulkarni 3/35, Shams Mulani2/33) lost to Mumbai 216/3 (PrithviShaw 105 not out; Suryakumar Yadav50; Lalit Yadav 2/32) by 7wickets.

��?�A superb knock of 141 by opener

Jay Bista powered Uttarakhand to a six-wicket win over Meghalaya in a PlateGroup match of the Vijay HazareTrophy here on Sunday.

Bista scored his runs in 119 balls,striking 18 fours and three sixes.

Chasing 243 for victory, Bista andskipper Kunal Chandela (55 off 80 balls)set up the win with a second-wicketpartnership of 126 runs in 142 balls.

Though Bista fell eight runs shy ofthe target, Uttarakhand got home with5.5 overs to spare.

Earlier, R Sanjay Yadav's whirlwind81 off 49 balls (2 fours, seven sixes)

helped Meghalaya recover and post 242for 6 in 50 overs, having slipped to 123for 4 in the 34th over.

In other matches, Assam thrashedManipur by 10 wickets in a game short-ened by overnight rain and Nagalandoutplayed Sikkim by 98 runs.

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en India call-up with a 39-ball 73 buthis effort went in vain as Chandigarhsecured a thrilling three-wicket win overHaryana in their Vijay Hazare TrophyGroup E opener here on Sunday.

Tewatia, who was named in theIndia T20I squad for the five-matchseries against England, clobbered sixsixes and four fours.

Chandigarh skipper Manan Vohraled a stiff 300-run chase with a 120-ball117 (9x4, 2x6) before Ankit Kaushikprovided the finishes touches with his

brisk 78 from 66 balls (4x4, 3x6).Chandigarh completed the chase

with three balls to spare.Earlier, Haryana got off to a solid

start with a cracking 102 (125 balls;11x1, 1x6) by Himanshu Rana and his115-run opening stand with ArunChaprana.

Chandigarh bowlers fought back totrigger a middle-order collapse beforeHaryana rode on Tewatia's strong fin-ish to post a challenging 299/9 fromtheir stipulated 50 overs.

Tewatia, the explosive RajasthanRoyals left-hander, raced to his third ListA fifty in 32 balls and then wentberserk, scoring his next 22 runs offonly six balls before getting dismissedby Jagjit Singh (3/36).

Having made a group stage exit inthe Syed Mushtaq Ali T20s, Bengalopened their campaign with a compre-hensive 70-run win over Services at

Eden Gardens.Middle-order batsman Kaif Ahmad

hit a stellar 53-ball 75 (11x4, 2x6), whileskipper Anustup Majumdar providedhim fine support with a 61-ball 58, asBengal piled 315/6 after putting in byServices.

The top-three, comprisingShreevats Goswami (28), Vivek Singh(39) and Abhimanyu Easwaran (39), toochipped in before the duo of Majumdarand Kaif took charge for a 92-run part-nership.

In reply, fifties from skipper RajatPaliwal (90) and Pulkit Narang (53)were not enough as Bengal put Servicesunder pressure with consistent wicketsbefore bowling them out for 245 in 49.4overs.

The pace trio of Ishan Porel,Mukesh Kumar and Akash Deep, alongwith left-arm spinner Shabaz Ahmed,picked two wickets each.

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Finally rewarded for his con-sistency, prolific Mumbai

batsman Suryakumar Yadavdescribed his feeling as “surre-al”, a day after he earned amaiden India call-up for theupcoming T20 Internationalseries against England.

Suryakumar was over-looked for the limited oversmatches in Australia late lastyear despite a fine IPL, leavingmany in the Indian cricket fra-ternity surprised.

“The feeling is surreal,”tweeted Surya along with hispicture at the DY PatilStadium.

The 30-year-old Mumbaibatsman, who has been a con-stant performer in the IndianPremier League for his fran-chise Mumbai Indians and

also in the domestic circuit,was rewarded for his perfor-mances on Saturday.

Surya, who has captainedMumbai in Ranji Trophy andother domestic tournaments,has played 77 first-class match-es and amassed 5,326 runs.

Some former India crick-eters also took to Twitter toexpress their satisfaction atthe right-handed batsman'sselection in the national team.

“So good to finally@surya_14kumar in TeamIndia. Good Luck," wrote vet-eran off-spinner HarbhajanSingh.

“Finally the wait is over for@surya_14kumar congratula-tions buddy. Goodluck@ishankishan51 @rahultewa-tia02 for your debut guys,”said former India seamer IrfanPathan.

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Filip Polasek and Ivan Dodig have wonthe men’s doubles title at the

Australian Open with a 6-3, 6-4 win over2020 champions Rajeev Ram and JoeSalisbury.

Ram, a 36-year-old American whospent two weeks in hard quarantine afterarriving in Australia last month, wasattempting a double at Melbourne Parkafter winning the mixed doubles title with

Barbora Krejcikova on Saturday night.The 35-year-old Polasek dedicated

the victory to his newly-born babydaughter.

Ram saved a championship pointwhile serving in the ninth game and held,but Polasek sealed the title in the nextgame.

Novak Djokovic is bidding for aninth Australian Open singles title in thefinal later Sunday against fourth-seededDaniil Medvedev.

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On the sidelines of a RanjiTrophy game in 2019,

Ishant Sharma had called him-self “the last flicker in a lamp”while politely making hisreluctance known to threescribes, who had approachedthe self-effacing beanpole foran interaction.

Ishant was then standingat 96 Tests. Nearly 14 monthslater, during which he missedfive Tests due to an injury,Indian cricket's most adorable‘lambu’ is shining bright.

He is on course to becomeonly the second Indian fastbowler, after the great KapilDev, to complete 100 Tests forthe country.

“Arre yaar mera interviewkarke kya karogey? Main tohbujhta huya diya hoon (Whydo you want to interview me?I am like the last flicker in alamp),” Ishant had said at theKotla.

In terms of sheer talentand craft, Ishant wouldn’t bein the same league as ZaheerKhan, Mohammed Shami orJavagal Srinath but with hislongevity, he has proved that“workhorse” isn't exactly anabused word, which is used tosum up the veteran pacer.

“I think I will say this withcertainty...,” former Indiawicketkeeper and Ishant's ex-Delhi teammate and coachVijay Dahiya said. “Ishantwill be the last Indian fast

bowler to play 100 Test match-es. I don't see anyone playing100 Tests. With majority of thefast bowlers preserving them-selves for IPL and white ballgames, it will be increasinglydifficult to play 100 Tests forIndia,” Dahiya made a state-ment.

Ishant’s mate for the last16 years, Pradeep Sangwan feltthat even when Virat Kohliand Ishant attended Delhi’s U-17 trials, he looked a classapart.

“He was so tall and thatlong flowing mane of his, weused to pull his leg and teasehim, “dekh le bhai, lambaShah Rukh aa gaya brothers,the tall Shah Rukh has comeSangwan said.

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Documents

· 2021/2/21 · lection of mutations, which make them spread more read-ily or cheat vaccine-immunity , said the experts. Dr Guelria stated that herd immunity for coronavirus is